We are still living in the 60's I guess

This morning I read an article on ESPN about Chelsea and England skipper John Terry being fined for "racially abusing" another player during a game in October.  Tuesday, Luis Suarez, of Liverpool, was given a 8 match ban and a $62,000 fine for remarks made against a Manchester United player also in October.  Terry's fine of only about $4,000 American, is nothing compared to that of the fine that Suarez received, but to me, a captain not only of one of the top teams in all of the world, but as well as England, should know when to keep his thoughts to himself.  Sure, football is a game of spirited, and heated match-ups, and we all know by reading the lips of our favorite players that the term "gentlemen's game" does not apply any longer, but to honestly not be able to come up with a "your momma is so fat" jibe on the spot is nothing short of ridiculous.  Why is it that so many people revert to racism to get under another person's skin.  We all are guilty of it, even if we don't say it aloud, we think it in our minds.  In North America once Willie O'Ree first stepped on the ice as a member of the Boston Bruins, this battle should have been over.  Yet hockey, being the only predominantly white sport left on the earth, still has its fair share of racially fueled incidents.  Just this season, there has been speculation that Philadelphia Flyers winger Wayne Simmonds has been the victim of racial abuse.  Not helping his fight at all, Simmonds then turns around and verbally abusing the Rangers Sean Avery by calling him a "fag" in the middle of a play, not saying that Sean Avery does not deserve any and all criticism, but this kind of slur is wrong as well.  Today's athletes are bigger, tougher, faster, and smarter than those of our past.  Every day they change the game for the better.  They make higher leaps to catch a football, hit a home run farther than anybody had before, find new and improved ways to deke a goalie out of the net, learn to play a game with 10 other people from 10 different cultural backgrounds, but yet they cannot seam for the life of them to leave the racial slurs at home.  It is a sad day indeed for the English Premier League, and for football all over for that matter.  Even though this happened in England, does not mean it isn't happening in our own back yard as well.  Parents, students, coaches, and players, we all need to be awakened to this.  We are not the ignorant country we used to be, we know better now.  We need to learn how to prove it now.

Have we seen Kobe's true colors finally?

The Chris Paul trade finally went down this week, and much to the dismay of Kobe, CP3 did not go to the Lakers.  Now Kobe is showing his disapproval about the Lakers through the media.  Possibly he is upset that he did not get his perennial back court mate that he wanted, or maybe he knows that he can't compete with the Paul to Griffin combo that the Clippers now have, or maybe even still, he found out that he does not control the NBA anymore.  Kobe has been the lone star on the Lakers in the one horse town of L.A. since the departure of Shaq.  Back then, Kobe was the spoiled superstar that could not win a championship without Shaq.  The media likened him to the next Jordon, and this went straight to his head.  Now that he has won championships without a fellow superstar, Pao being withheld, he truly believes that L.A. is his town.  Had Paul come to the Lakers instead, it would have been a story book style tale, with the good, (the Lakers) possibly meeting the bad (the Heat) for a championship.   But now, it's good vs. bad in the city of L.A., with the Lakers taking the role of the villain in the inner-city rivalry.  Everybody has now joined the Clippers bandwagon, linking them to the Cubs as the nations top "lovable losers."  And Kobe has taken the role of Snidely Whiplash, a bitter old man, who no longer has the NBA wrapped around his finger.  So Kobe, doing what he does best, has taken a media blitz style hissy fit against Jerry Buss nationwide through sports writers, ESPN, and national media.  Kobe is now calling for a trade.  What kind of superstar runs away from a challenge?  You never saw Michael Jordon run away from his team when the going got tough.  True, there was only one team in Chicago, but Jordon knew the NBA was his, Kobe is now realizing that this is not the case for him anymore.  I do believe the higher-ups in the NBA, mainly David Stern, should be shipped off to prison for tampering, conspiracy, and monopolization, but that will never happen.  Bernie Madoff got off easy for what David Stern should have coming to him, but once again, that will never happen.  Kobe Bryant has every right to be angry in this situation, but I believe he is directing his anger in the wrong direction.  David Stern is to blame for this situation.  By taking over the negotiations and making a closed door deal that would secure Billups signing to the Clippers, allowing the addition of Gordon to the Paul trade, single handily manipulated the whole league, Kobe included.  The NBA is now a dictatorship.  Kobe, and every player and fan in the country, have every right to be outraged by this.  But in true Kobe Bryant fashion, he makes it all about himself.  This will be the downfall of his legacy, not the accusations of rape, nor the feuding with Shaq.  Kobe has written his suicide note, and signed it in blood.