Tag: ESPN

Round of applause…

On By kassienetteIn Controversy, NASCAR, SportsLeave a comment

I have been debating all morning about which topic I want to write about, Oscar Pistorious or Danica Patrick. I woke up this morning and saw that Oscar was trending on Twitter so I was leaning towards that until I watched ESPN First Take. One of the topics of debate was Danica. There has been a lot of chatter about Danica not deserving the “hype” surrounding her.

I agree that Danica has gotten a lot of publicity and “hype” that is typically reserved for those who have proven over a period of time that they are winners. I agree that a lot of the “hype” stems from the fact that she is a pretty woman and in our society women are typically judged on how they look, first, before they are even recognized for their abilities. However, that is not her fault and I do not think she should be ridiculed for it. Has she capitalized on it? Absolutely. Who wouldn’t? Happens all the time. Just ask the dude who sings “Gangnam Style.”

The media hypes up the “next” such and such on a daily basis. It happens all the time in football, ie Ryan Leaf, JaMarcus Russell, Reggie Bush. It happens all the time in basketball, ie Kwame Brown, Adam Morrison, Michael Olowokandi. Do I need to continue? What has happened to Danica is no different than what has been happening for years. The difference is she wears makeup and everyone I listed does not.

No one knows what type of career Danica will ultimately have but I find it deplorable that members of the media, especially women, have taken it upon themselves to call her out for what she has not done opposed to what she has done. Yes, I know she has participated in almost 200 races and has only been declared the victor in one. By society’s standards she has failed. In my opinion, she has succeeded. She is participating in a male dominated sport, one where there is not a separate league for women. Her peers do not look like her. Just because she has not won a lot does not mean she does not have an impact. I think her not winning speaks louder than winning does. It shows us that even when the odds are against her she is willing to get in the ring and fight even if she knows she has little chance of winning. That is what life is all about, right? Getting knocked down and continuing to get back up to continue the fight.

Even if Danica never wins another race, she has already helped pave the way for female drivers that will follow in her footsteps. The truth of the matter is not everyone will make it to the mountaintop. Some of are here to make the path easier for others to follow. That could be Danica’s purpose. Judging by her actions, I think she is ok with that. And for that, she deserves a round of applause.

Until next time…TOODELLS.

Follow me on Twittter @KassieNette

Welcome Back Robin!!

On By kassienetteIn Heroes, Love, Uncategorized2 Comments

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Today is a good day! Unless you have been living under a rock, then you are aware that today is the day that Robin Roberts returned to Good Morning America(GMA). With so much tragedy dominating the headlines, it is great to wake up to this type of story.

As most of you know, Roberts was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome and received a bone marrow transplant from her sister, Sally-Ann. In a very tear jerking announcement last year, Roberts announced to the world that she would be taking a leave of absence of fight the disease. It was clear during her announcement that she intended to win the battle, just like she did when she beat breast cancer in 2007.

I have been a big fan of Roberts since the early 90s. As I have stated before, back in my middle school days my mornings consisted of Rocky & Bullwinkle, cheese toast and SportsCenter. Roberts was one of my favorite anchors. I could not wait for her to do a segment so I could hear her yell out her famous catchphrase, “Go on with your bad self!” Although I was disappointed when she left ESPN, seeing her have so much success on GMA has been a joy to watch.

As a person who truly admires Roberts, I want to join the rest of the world in saying WELCOME BACK ROBIN!!! When I joined the Twitterverse, I would often chuckle when I would see people tweeting celebrities. I would be thinking in my head, “They have hundreds of thousands of followers. They are never going to see or respond to your tweet.” However, I found myself being one of “those people” during Roberts time away from GMA. I have often tweeted her scripture and inspirational quotes, not in hopes of getting a response, but to simply do what I could to keep her encouraged. To give back to her what she has given to millions. Roberts has often stated that the tweets she receives from her followers keep her motivated and I felt like my tweets were simply my way of saying thank you. I hope that one day Roberts gets to read this post because she has truly been an inspiration to me. In the last few months, I have endured some difficult tests and trials. During those moments when I felt like giving up and throwing in the towel, I often think of people who have faced hardships and have overcome every obstacle that has stood in front of them. People such as my mother, my grandparents, my aunt, my cousin Nellie, my friend Quincy and on a more recognized level Josh Hamilton and Roberts.

Thank you Robin Roberts for sharing your story with the world. Your faith, strength, perseverance and determination have served as a blueprint for how to fight and defeat whatever stands in our way. And to see you do it in such a beautiful and graceful way has left me in awe. You are truly an inspiration. GO ON WITH YOUR BAD SELF!!!

Ahhhh, boo…

On By kassienetteIn 49ers, Baseball, Basketball, College Basketball, Football, NFL, Olympics, Sports, WolfpackLeave a comment

Yep, I am still dragging. I have made peace, for the most part with my 9ers losing. I am still somewhat avoiding ESPN. You do not realize how much they talk about the SuperBowl after the fact until your team loses. And if that “I’m going to Disney World” commercial chases me down one more time, I am going to scream. Thankfully, I have had the remote near by every time and I have managed to avoid hearing those words.

Since I have made peace, I am sure you are wondering why I am still dragging. Football season is now officially over. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Say it ain’t so!!!! What am I going to do?? No Olympics coming up to keep me occupied during the summer months. I do love college basketball and baseball though so I guess I will immerse myself in those. Although, my Wolfpack is not doing so well. *insert sigh* I have faith in them though! We will bounce back.

Last night there was not much to watch on tv, as usual. However, March Madness came early. I managed to catch the last nine minutes of the Michigan-Ohio State game. That was good stuff!! The back and forth. The barrage of threes. The defense. Overtime. Last second shots. Two of the biggest rivals in collegiate athletics. You could not ask for much more on a Tuesday night. Although, I am sad about football season being over, last night’s game was a great reminder of why I love March Madness. If last night’s game is any indication of what is to come in March then we are in for a treat.

Yeah, that is all I have for today. Until next time, TOODELLS!

Approximately 23 weeks until NFL Training Camps open!!!!!

Still Forever Faithful…

On By kassienetteIn 49ers, Football, NFL, Sports2 Comments

Ugh. So close. Sooooooooooo close. I still can not believe it. Less than 10 yards away, maybe it was 15 from my team winning it all. Ugh.

This is not the blog I expected to write. I expected to come on here and tell you all about how much I screamed and hollered and lost my voice during my victory celebration. I expected to come on here and tell you all how I cried after my team hoisted the Lombardi trophy into the air. I expected to tell you all that I sprinted out of the house(ala Aldon Smith when he gets a sack) after the clock hit zero. However, it was not meant to be. Ugh.

My 9ers. My 9ers. My 9ers. Oh, my 9ers. They left me with a broken heart. They are making me avoid ESPN for the rest of the night. Um, I will also have to avoid ESPN at least another day. Tragic. They left me deleting posts off my Facebook page from people who wanted to rub it in. Some may call that being a sore loser and that is fine. Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I call it being passionate about my team. In that moment I was sad and I did not want anyone adding to my sadness. Some losses sting. Some losses leave me shaking my head. And some losses just down right hurt. This was one of those hurtful losses. I was sad. Very sad. I think I even had a tear in my eye. To battle back the way that we did and still come up short is aaaah. I do not even have the word for it. Ugh.

I refuse to blame our loss on the refs, the secondary, the defense, the coaching staff, etc. Sure, there were some penalties I thought the refs missed. Sure, the secondary made huge mistakes., Sure, there was some questionable play calling but hey it is all a part of the game. How you react to those factors is what decides who wins and loses. Overall, I still think we had the better team on the field but the Baltimore Ravens refused to be denied. They are to be commended for their effort and for a great season. Although I am avoiding ESPN for another day or so, I am sure at some point I will search for the coverage of Joe Flacco, Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Torrey Smith and offensive coordinator Jim Caldwell all hoisting that trophy. Ok, probably not but it sounded good. I have great respect for those guys and that organization. Congrats to them and their fans. Look at me coming out of my sadness. I did not even end this paragraph with ugh. See :-}.

If there is one bright spot, it is the fact that we have a very young team that is only going to get better. I am pretty sure we have found our QB. I am pretty sure we still have the best O-line in the game. And I am pretty sure we will be drafting some secondary players this offseason. Once this team can consistently put together a complete game, I think you will see that 9ers dynasty rise, once again, from The Bay. Last year, we lost in the NFC Championship game. This year we lost in the Superbowl. If the trend continues, then this time next year I can scream with pride, Ladies & Gentlemen, the San FranSIXco 49ers!!! And this member of the Faithful still loves the sound of that!!!

Until next time….TOODELLS.

P.S. The 9er motto for the postseason was #QuestForSix. I think without a doubt, the motto for next season should be UNFINISHED BUSINESS. I think I will tweet them and let them know.

P.P.S. What am I going to do until August?! Ugh.

faithful

He admitted it and cancer still does not care….

On By kassienetteIn Controversy, Cycling, SportsLeave a comment

Before I went to bed on Monday night, I browsed my Twitter timeline to see what was happening in the world of the people I follow. While browsing, I begin to notice tweets about ESPN anchor, Stuart Scott. I found out, unfortunately, that he is battling cancer for the third time. I immediately begin pray for Scott, his family and his friends. Yesterday morning, I tweeted Scott a picture of us taken a few years ago at UNC’s Late Night with Roy. Scott in his blue and I in my red. Along with the picture, I tweeted well wishes and my favorite Bible scripture, Luke 1:37. I ended my tweet with the word #LIVESTRONG

…………

Sad. Disappointed. Frustrated. I wanted it to not be true. Confused. Deceived. Relieved. We now know the truth. Lance Armstrong was using performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) during the time that he won seven straight Tour de France titles. In an interview scheduled to air on Thursday night, Armstrong will admit to Oprah Winfrey and the world that he lied for years. Undoubtedly, Winfrey will ask why and we may or may not get a straight answer. There are a lot of questions that can and need to be asked but it may not make a difference to most.

In a sport where doping is normal, many will fail to understand why Armstrong did what he did. I would assume he did it to give himself a better chance of winning. I would assume he kept doing it because “everyone else was.” I would assume he kept doing it because the more he kept winning the more endorsements and exposure for his charity. Maybe I am wrong but I doubt it.

Back in October when I wrote about him, I supported him 100%. At the time, naive as it may sound, I still wanted to believe that he was telling the truth. He had done so much good that I wanted him to be an “hero.” Back in October my stance was that regardless if he did it or not, the man had raised over 500 million dollars for cancer awareness and research. Back in October, I did not want hear what I heard this week.

…………

Sad. Sad that he doped. Disappointed. Disappointed that he felt the need to lie about it for so long. Frustrated. Frustrated because what he did wrong actually helped churn out a lot of good. Confused. Confused about steroid use, in general. Deceived. Armstrong owed it to his supporters to come clean years ago. Relieved. Breathing a sigh of relief knowing that the initial witch hunt is over.

Now what? To completely dismiss Armstrong means you dismiss what the LIVESTRONG movement means to so many. Yes he lied. Yes he was wrong. Yes he has made his supporters look foolish. And yes there is a good chance that the LIVESTRONG foundation would not be the global force that it is today if Armstrong had not taken PEDs. Did the end justify the means? In the world of public opinion, probably not. In the world of cycling, yes. It was the norm. Maybe Armstrong could have accomplished the same feat without the use of PEDs. Maybe the will to accomplish all these things was inside of him the whole time. Maybe, just maybe, he could have had am bigger impact on the world if he had not used PEDs.

What we do know is that a man who “cheated” to gain an advantage in his sport also gave a lot of people hope. They saw he beat cancer and felt they could to. With one single accessory, Armstrong changed a whole world and made it easy to identify all those who were in the fight, literally and figuratively, against cancer. Is that something we just forget because of what he did?

Before he even asks, I accept his apology. I will never understand why he did what he did nor will I try to. I commend him for finally allowing himself to be freed from that dark place. He could have easily, without any positive tests, taken this lie to his grave but he has chosen to admit his mistakes and face whatever consequences are waiting for him on the other side. Often I remind others that none of us are perfect. We all have our skeletons. We all make mistakes. The true test is in how we respond to those mistakes. Do we let the mistakes consume us? Do we crawl into a corner and wither away? Or do we put on our boxing gloves, get into the ring and fight until the end? I look forward to seeing how Lance Armstrong responds in this heavyweight bout.

Now that he has come clean, going forward there is only one acceptable way for Lance Armstrong to respond…..LIVESTRONG Lance. LIVESTRONG.

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I am sorry…

On By kassienetteIn Controversy, Football, NFL, Sports2 Comments

I owe someone an apology. I have never met her. However, over the years, I have found myself making statements about her that have not been very nice.

Behind the humor, big smile and bubbly personality is a sensitive and compassionate woman who turns her head every time she passes an 18-wheeler carrying pigs or chickens on the highway. That compassionate side of me gave me a nice reality check earlier this week. On Sunday, while I was out and about, I checked in on Twitter to see what was trending. I immediately saw that Pam Oliver’s name was trending and thought to myself, “Anytime she is trending, it is never a good thing” I was correct. The usual slander was about the usual topic: her hair. When I arrived at a friend’s house later we discussed the topic and if I recall correctly, I remember saying, “I wish she had some girlfriends who would be honest with her about her hair.” Oh Kass. Smh.

It was not until the very next day that what I said started to bother me. I have commented on her hair for years. Then it hit me. I was essentially doing the same thing I felt Rob Parker did to RG3 a few weeks ago, tearing a person down instead of lifting them up. It was not a good feeling. Had I not learned anything from the Gabby Douglas hair controversy? It was not a good feeling. Then it dawned on me and I had that “ha ah” moment. Had I ever stopped to think that maybe the reason she had not changed her hair is because she likes it? I remember when I made the decision to stop getting relaxers and let my hair revert back to its natural state, there were people who expressed their dissatisfaction in my decision. Yes, my decision. Some of the comments were hurtful but for the most part I was not concerned about what others thought I should do to my hair. IT IS MY HAIR!!!

The slander directed at Oliver has been happening for years and with the emergence of social media, it has only gotten worse. While I would think the comments, to some extent, have been hurtful, she seems to be very confident in who she is and how she chooses to wear her hair. Ultimately, that is all that matters. Instead of focusing on trivial things, we should be focused on cheering her on. She was an all-American in track in college. She is a graduate of FAMU. She is also one of three(I think) black women reporting from the sidelines in major sports. Her employer and former employers seem to not be phased by her hairstyle and neither should we. That is irrelevant. She should not be torn down because she does not conform to a stereotype. She is a pretty woman. She is great at what she does. She has worked her way up the ranks and should be celebrated for that.

From this point forward, I vow to be more conscientious of my words.

I hope that someway, somehow this letter reaches her so she knows that for all those that are tearing her down, there are thousands more lifting her up.

Ms. Pam, I am sorry. Keep doing what you do so well. You are a trailblazer and I thank you for carving out a path for women like myself to follow. YOU ROCK!

Until next time…TOODELLS!

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Oh no he didn’t…..

On By kassienetteIn Controversy, NFL4 Comments

Let me start with saying that I have NEVER been a fan of Rob Parker(an analyst on ESPN). Not necessarily because of anything he has said or done but quite simply because of the way he talks. He whines when he talks. I do not mean that he is whining every time he says something. He literally draws out the last word of each sentence and sometimes he does that to other words in the sentence and it is just downright A.NNOY.ING. The other morning I turned on my tv to watch First Take, saw he was sitting at the debate desk and I promptly turned the channel. Well, after yesterday’s debacle I am sure there were a lot of people turning their tv.

One of the topics of yesterday’s episode was Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III. I do not know what prompted the discussion but I know it quickly went wide left when Parker used the discussion as an opportunity to question RG3’s “blackness.” Yes, I said his blackness. What does that mean you ask? I DO NOT KNOW!!! After reading the transcript of the discussion, I am going to assume it means that if you are black there are certain people in this world who expect you to think, act and behave a certain way because you are black. I guess that is what “blackness” is. The term is stupid and I have a better word for classifying what “blackness” is: A STEREOTYPE.

Parker had the nerve to ask on tv, “if he(RG3) is a brother or a cornball brother?” I find that question to be ironic coming from a man who always looks like he got dressed in the dark. Parker then went on to say, “He’s not real. Ok, He’s black, he kind of does the thing but he’s not really down with the cause…..We all know he has a white fiancee. There was all this talk about how he’s a Republican, which, I really don’t care, there’s no information at all. I’m just trying to dig deeper into why he has an issue. Because we did find out with Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods was like, I’ve got black skin but don’t call me black.” Lawd hammercy. This guy. Just spewing foolishness all over the place. Hidden amongst the broken sentences and incomplete thoughts is pure ignorance.

Let me break these statements down. First, what makes a black man a “cornball brother?” RG3 is educated, articulate, full of integrity and has never been in trouble. If that is what makes you a “cornball brother” then I wish there were more of those around. Second, what is this cause he speaks of? I DO NOT KNOW!! I am black and I was not informed that there was a certain cause I had to be down with. Third, what does him having a white fiancee and possibly being a Republican have to do with his “blackness?” I DO NOT KNOW!!! I know that there are folks in this world who believe people who marry outside of their race are “sellouts.” That is ignorance at its best. Who cares who other folks marry? Is it causing you to lose money on your job? Fourth, what does Tiger Woods have to do with any of this? Tiger Woods is NOT just a black man. Any logical thinking person would have no problem with him not calling himself a black man because HE IS NOT. He is multiracial, in case you missed the memo.

This may come as a shock to some but what Parker did is, sadly, not uncommon in the black community. Some of us live to tear each other down instead of lifting each other up. Some of us do not want to see others succeed, not realizing that when one is successful, that is a victory for all of us. It has taken us a long time to get to the point where we are respected for our works, endeavors, knowledge and service. We threaten the very foundation of what our ancestors went through when we questions people’s “blackness” simply because that person does not live their life the way we think they ought to. I know I may be upsetting some of my readers right now but there is no sugar coating in the world of journalism. Plus, if you know me, then you know I am not about “sugaring” anything. Instead of focusing on those things in RG3’s life that he does not understand, Parker should be focused on how this young black man has revitalized a team, fanbase and even a city. He has restored some pride that has been lost for at least a decade. His success is pumping money into the economy. He is a great role model for not just young boys who look like him but for all young boys across the world.

So after saying all that, I have concluded that I still do not know what “blackness” is. I love to read but I have not read the book that tells me what I need to be doing to prove how black I am. If being black comes with certain criteria then I am going to go out on a limb and say I may not qualify. I love to run. I am attending my first NASCAR race next year and I have Bon Jovi concert dates circled on my calendar. Does that mean I am not black? Ummmm, no. Those things are part of who I am. Despite how I see myself, I know that I am held to a different standard simply because of the color of my skin. I know there are people who expect more out of me because of my skin color and I know there are people who expect less out of me simply because of my skin color. I am kind, passionate, loving and I communicate well. I do not do drugs. I have not been to jail and I have graduated from college, twice. If that makes me a “cornball”, then so be it. I am going to take my two degree having, marathon running, non-profit starting “cornball” self to this Bon Jovi concert next year and sing all the songs as loud as I can. Keep fighting for DC, RG3!! Us “cornballs” are rooting for you!

 

Until Next time….TOODELLS.