I love NPR’s Tell Me More.

This time, I have to just post this segment by host Michel Martin because she brought the heat, dropped the mic and walked off the stage!

Well said Michel!

Read her segment (or listen here) and let me know what you think in the comments section below.

When Players Step Off The Court, Should Colleges Step Up?

“Finally today, I have to say something about Kevin Ware — the Louisville basketball player who suffered a gruesome injury during an NCAA tournament win against Duke last Sunday.

You don’t need to have seen the injury itself — a compound fracture of the right tibia — to know that it was awful. All you have to do is look at the faces of the young men on both teams, many of them tearful and filled with shock. Thankfully Kevin Ware seems to have gotten appropriate medical attention then; he’s getting a lot of emotional support now. He seems to be both positive and tough, which is something you need in a situation like this. And it seems entirely possible that he will play again, and at a high level.

But as we wish him well, let’s take a moment to ponder what happens if he does NOT play again, either because he can’t or because he doesn’t want to. What happens to all the love from fellow students, University officials, and the basketball program?

Can I Just Tell You, that is why it is as good a time as any to revisit the question of how colleges treat so-called student athletes, and what exactly many of the players get out of the whole deal. And we’re not talking about the shocking video of the Rutgers University coach cursing and physically abusing his team. That’s a whole other conversation.

No, we’re focusing on the ongoing scandal in big time college sports that the players who power these teams and who bring people not only to games but to their campuses too often get too little out of the experience.

Now many say that these kids are getting a college education. But, come on, we know too many are not. This year’s annual survey of college graduation rates — conducted by the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Diversity and Ethics In Sport — DID show improvement from years past, especially for African American male basketball players. The graduation rate for them was 65% on average —which is actually BETTER than for black male college students over all. But that still compares to 90% among white players…and for some colleges, the actuall number is a miserable 25 or 30%. And let’s not forget how many kids are tripped up over NCAA violations for things like selling autographs to get pizza money.

Let’s also talk about what it takes to graduate. For example, the team Louisville defeated Sunday after Ware’s terrible injury, the Duke Blue Devils, regularly manages to graduate most and often ALL of its elite athletes — black and white and male and female. But we don’t often think about what those athletes endure to get there

In an interview with the Blue Zone, a blog that follows Blue Devil Sports, former Blue Devil Brian Zoubek talked about that. Zoubek, a member of the 2010 national championship team and a history major, had tweeted to question why the previous Sunday’s game against Creighton — another school with a strong graduation record — had to start at 9:40 pm.

Why does that matter? It matters, he said, because it meant the game ended at midnight, followed by 30 minutes of mandatory media availability. And that meant that the team would not leave Philadelphia until around 1:30 am, and would not arrive back on campus until after 4:00 am.

Zoubek said that those who think the Duke students would just forget about class have it exactly wrong. He said they WOULD go to class on Monday and Tuesday, because those are the only days they would be able to go. And that’s why — he said — students often end the season exhausted, stressed and physically spent. He added in a tweet: “It’s not about money at all right? What a joke.”

This is not a brief for paying student athletes — there are in fact other ideas. One Florida professor suggested allowing them to major in their sport in the same way student actors and musicians can major in their professional interests. But it is simply to say that if we REALLY care about the kids who provide us with so many exciting moments, and examples of courage, character and strength, our support can’t end when they leave the court, whether on a stretcher or their own two feet.”

Source: http://www.npr.org/2013/04/03/176130225/should-colleges-support-players-off-the-court-too

“The Bible” History Channel Series: A Review.

Read a great review by another blogger that I wanted to share.

Check it out and well stated Marc!

CSD

Wow.

When I brought up the hidden race-game that I thought was being played in History Channel’s The Bible (read here), I did not see this one coming.

Seems like the series is also taking heat now because the Devil in The Bible tends to have a striking resemblance to, well…

Hey, I’m just saying.

While I’m not in Hollywood, but I have slept in a Holiday Inn Express before, I know NOTHING happens by mistake when making a film. Everything from where people stand, to what they look like, what they say, how many times they say it and to who they say it to is all controlled…and that’s to name just a few areas.

Now my wife, and in full disclosure she is not of a darker-skinned people group, noted that it’s interesting that the devil even favors anyone “black”, when there’s no making that mistake with Jesus! Let me go as far as to say (my apology, Jesus doesn’t have blond hair), I think Jesus resembles one Brad Pitt a little bit!

However, one thing’s for sure.

Nobody’s confusing Jesus for another guy who was from that part of the world:

I don’t think, and I could be wrong, that had the Jesus character resembled old-boy up above, that no one would not have noticed.

I’m yet to watch episode #3, but early word on the street is that the enthusiasm of many Christians about the mini-series is declining. The unnecessary violence, loose interpretation of scripture and lack of context is causing a bit of a backlash.

May I also mention, the racial overtones as well may make me turn off.

Fox News reports, “The couple behind the show, Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, dismissed what they called “foolish” reports that their show’s villain looked like the President.

“This is utter nonsense. The actor who played Satan, Mehdi Ouzaani, is a highly acclaimed Moroccan actor,” they said in a statement sent to FOX 411. “He has previously played parts in several Biblical epics– including Satanic characters long before Barack Obama was elected as our President.”

Downey added: “Both Mark and I have nothing but respect and love our President, who is a fellow Christian. False statements such as these are just designed as a foolish distraction to try and discredit the beauty of the story of The Bible.” – (http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/03/18/bible-creators-history-channel-deny-show-satan-resembles-president-obama/)

Okay, if I give them the benefit of the doubt, Mehdi Ouzaani may not have been chosen because he looks like the president. But, how did they not notice his transformation after make-up (see photo below)? Also, regardless of what he played in the past, why did his skin become so dark?

Sounds like the old O.J. Simpson Newsweek cover.

As a matter of fact, why didn’t Mehdi Ouzaani play Jesus?

Paul says in Philippians 2:2-4

2 Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, ² then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴ not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Sometimes we as Christians just assume that everyone thinks and sees the world as we do, but anyone who is part of the non-dominant people group in any region can attest that this is not true. We need to ask, “Is this offensive, does this offend the people I’m trying to reach?” That’s not being “PC”, that’s having the mind of Christ and it also builds up unity in The Church.

Would the public accept this “Jesus”?

But what do you think?

Is this a big deal about nothing? Let us know in the comments below!

Anyone remember this one?

I remember my college professor making the point that the problem with visual representations “based on facts” is that they do not become “based on”, but “facts” when introduced to a wider audience. With this thought in mind, I offer many criticisms of The Bible that is airing on the History Channel up until Resurrection Sunday.

Why am I being critical? Because this series is being aimed right at families, churches (as you can see in the photo above), and non-Christians since it’s being featured on the History Channel. As a fan of the channel, I’m even a bit trusting on the facts, so I’m going to expect them to do a good job on this one since we all have the script right?

I watched episode one, and I just had a chance to catch up on episode two just in time before three airs. While I thought about writing about one, two had me punching the keys on the computer.

So, here we go…

– Not enough time spent on creation and the fall of man.

The entire book is based on the events in Genesis 1-3, so I think much more time should have been spent here.

– I’m not against “historical realistic” violence if you will, as Schindler’s List, Roots, and other realistic portrayals of what mankind has done to one another is something I generally do not shield from my children.

The Bible itself does not do that. That said, the violence in this flick is not in The Bible! Where Scripture gives us details, put them in, but why add violence to accounts where the Bible is silent? Secondly, you know families are going to be watching this together, so why make it so graphic? Trust me, when I see someone’s head being held by a guy then his sword goes across his neck, I don’t need blood to convince me that he’s being killed. My kids get the message as well. So it is earning its TV14 rating, but for the wrong reasons in my opinion.

– Next, the racial element.

I think our friends over at Answers In Genesis summarize my next point best:

“The various subgroups we see around the world today remain virtually identical genetically to each other except for superficial, on-the-surface physical traits like skin shade and type of eyelids. Just as the exhibit concluded that there is really only one race, the human race, it corresponds to the biblical teaching that we are all of “one blood” (Acts 17:26). Scripture distinguishes people by tribal or national groupings, not by skin color or physical appearance. Clearly, though, there are groups of people who have certain features (e.g., skin shade) in common, which distinguish them from other groups. We prefer, though, to call these “people groups” rather than “races.” Using the words people groups also helps avoid the evolutionary baggage often associated with the word race.” (http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2009/01/19/race-around-the-nation)

Therefore, if the program is trying to portray this 21st century realism, why still stick with the same old European-looking protagonist in most of the Biblical stories? Then, the one darker-skinned person who is featured is Samson, who is big, black, and loves Philistine (white) women?

Oh yea, he has a bit of an anger problem as well. This guy isn’t exactly Sidney Poitier in Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner. I wouldn’t want Samson around my daughter either! But of all the stories to put in a darker-skinned actor, why choose and mold one into some Old Testament Jungle Fever tale? Sometimes I have to wonder if any of these shows have anyone from another people-group as advisors or in decision-making positions. While the series didn’t say, “This is a tale about an interracial relationship”, that’s exactly the subplot. If it were not, and all of these people were from the same region, why not make the Philistines from a darker-skinned people group as well? Now you completely remove the racial element from the story…just like the Bible does.

If they would’ve asked LeBron, he would’ve told that brotha who played Samson, “Don’t do it man, I took some heat for this one!

Oh yes, speaking of Samson and “race”. I read on one blog where the person asked, “Why did Samson have to be black?” Sounds like we both asked the same question, but perhaps for completely different reasons. Sounds like their contention is that Burnett made Samson “black” when historically he was not, and that was not “right”. So to that kind of reasoning I say…

– Since we do not know what the color of Jesus was, why do we still have the same blond-haired blue-eyed handsome white guy? Charles D. Hackett, director of Episcopal studies at the Candler School of Theology in Atlanta told Popular Mechanics, “The fact that he probably looked a great deal more like a darker-skinned Semite than westerners are used to seeing him pictured is a reminder of his universality, and [it is] a reminder of our tendency to sinfully (emphasis mine) appropriate him in the service of our cultural values.”

Perhaps more Western movies portraying Jesus should put a disclaimer like my daughter did last week

Why did I highlight sinfully? Because the Western image of Jesus is idolatry for many, as any image of Christ does not fit that image is considered untrue. To show anything else in this country would be met with, “That’s not Jesus!”

Well, show me his actual picture and change my mind.

Now I understand why God said,

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
(Exodus 20:4 ESV)

I’m sure this issue will come up again when they actually show “Jesus”.

– Wait, did they just say that it was Samuel’s sons that were sinning before the Lord? What about, 1 Samuel 3?

¹² On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. ¹³ And I declare to him that I am about to punish his house forever, for the iniquity that he knew, because his sons were blaspheming God,^[a] and he did not restrain them.

Come on folks, you at least have to get the people in the story right, we all have the script! If I heard or saw that one wrong, somebody please let me know.

Okay, that’s all for now. I’ll be checking the other episodes just for entertainment purposes alone. But so far, I’ve been greatly disappointed and I expect better. I don’t agree with Mel Gibson theologically (or personally on many issues as I would later find out), but when he made The Passion, he got it right. I was hoping Mark Burnett’s The Bible would come close and in my opinion, he’s headed in the opposite direction. I expected certain portrayals in 1966 when The Bible: In The Beginning was released, as this was a much different country. But overall, at this point, I’d say it was a much better movie than this longer 2013 version.

CSD

My man Earl Ofari Hutchinson wrote a book called The Assassination of the Black Male Image. While many seem to believe that many African-American men are just being hypersensitive and race-baiting when this topic comes up, I find it hard to argue with the images put out there by the media for all the world to see about black men.

We all know that every people group has their “dark side” and the money to be made through reality TV shows mean that even the dominate group gets exposed with shows like Honey Boo Boo. However, for every “Honey Boo Boo”, there are shows like “The Bachelor” showing a rich and handsome prince having his pick of numerous dainty-damsels. African-American’s get Flavor Flav and Ray J. complete with ladies that…well…lets just say they appear to never have had a father in any stage of their lives.

Now the dominate culture has polygamous Kody Brown, who stars on TLC’s hit, “Sister Wives”. The show displays a loving guy who is just living a normal life with his four wives and 28 children.

What image is put on TV showing the African-American male?

Shawty-Lo and ten mother’s of his children, aka “baby mommas”.

I was hoping this is a joke, but after reading the article below and the accompanying video on the website (parental discretion is advised if you choose to watch the video), I’m afraid it is not. It just appears to be another project that gets the green-light from Hollywood because it fits into every stereotype about African-American men, women, and children.

Somehow, I don’t think they would want to do a show on my Christian, homeschooling, cross-cultural family (interracial to use the inaccurate term). No, black people and white people don’t get along like that and that’s not compelling TV.

But let me give some CSD advice to Shawty Lo (actually, I have a lot of advice I’d like to give him):

Do your people group a favor. If you want to do a reality show, why don’t you marry all those women and have more kids so we can at least say you’re the black Kody and that you’re trying to be a good dad and husband. While I’m not down with polygamy, that’s much more palatable and a greater ambition. Because right now, you need to have that “Dave Chappelle moment” where you realize that the people putting together that show and hyping up your antics are not laughing with you, but laughing at you.

…and likely millions of others will be doing the same at you, your girls, and your children.

At least think about your kids, because in the world of Google and Youtube, what you and the mothers are doing in front of the camera will live long after you are gone, and one day your children will have to live with the consequences. They may not be willing to sellout for fame and money like momma and daddy did, at least I sure hope not.

Oh yea, check out the podcast that I did with J-Sizzle, as we discussed what being a real father is all about: here.

“Someone at the Oxygen network has truly scrapped the bottom of the barrel for this one!

The cable network has announced the production of a new one-hour special, “All My Babies’ Mamas,” which features the day-to-day drama-filled shenanigans of Atlanta rapper Shawty Lo (pictured), his 10 baby mamas and their army of 11 children, reports TV By the Numbers.

The one-hit wonder rapper and G-Unit member, whose actual name is Carlos Walker, is surrounded by the women he bedded as well as their offspring. The project focuses on how everyone is vying for the attention of the homestead’s head honcho (who, by the way ain’t nothing at all to look at) and anti-birth control poster child.

Each baby mama has an eye-catching title such as the ‘First Lady E’Creia,’ who handles Lo’s finances and who was actually engaged to him at one point after he already had three children. Then there’s Angela, the “Fighter Baby Mama,” Amanda, the “Jealous Baby Mama,” Sujuan, the “Wanna-be Bougie Baby Mama” and Tamara, the “No-Drama Baby Mama.”

(I know, the names take “ratchet monikers” to another level.) 

Lo, 36, also has a 19-year-old girlfriend, Ashlin, who is also featured on the show and who claims to be madly in love with him. The clueless young woman met Lo when he already had 10 children and is actually a year younger than his oldest child. My guess is that she, too, will soon make her shameful announcement of a bun in the oven so that Lo will have an even dozen.

The special, which in no way can be likened to the 60′s classic “The Brady Bunch,” is set to air in spring 2013. And, if the one-hour show gets green-lighted into an actual series, I for one, will cancel any connection to Oxygen that I agreed to with my cable installer!”

Source: http://newsone.com/2113581/shawty-lo-all-my-babies-mamas-oxygen-reality-show/