Harold Reynolds is back

Newsday’s Neil Best is reporting everyone’s favorite huggable baseball analyst will be returning to television. Reynolds, who has been working for MLB.com, will appear as a studio analyst for SNY, the cable home of the New York Mets.

Most people remember and came to enjoy Reynolds for his work on Baseball Tonight.  But an unfortunate incident of sexual harassment occurred and Reynolds was shown the door. While many questioned the whole episode and rallied behind the popular Reynolds, he found himself from the Worldwide Leader to the little used MLBtv. An unfortunate “fall from grace” so to speak. Reynolds did sue ESPN and, after a long process, it was settled last week.

So congrats and good luck to Reynolds, although if you’re outside the tri-state area, you probably won’t see him on a regular basis.

Robbins steps down at Virginia Union

Some shocking news came out of Richmond yesterday as Dave Robbins, head coach at Division II Virginia Union, announced his retirement after 30 years at the helm of the Panther program.

Now, to those who didn’t grow up in the area, or are not familiar with CIAA basketball, this means nothing to you. But, for the rest of us, this was a monumental announcement. For starters, in today’s age, any coach who stays at a school more than 10 years has made a major accomplishment. Robbins did that, plus more. But being the first white coach hired in a conference of Historically Black Colleges and Universities was perhaps Robbins most difficult task to overcome.

For years, Robbins was “affectionately” known as the “Shadow” among his coaching colleagues and fans alike. It could have been easy for Robbins to let this get to him, and it probably did — sometimes. But, methinks that was part “test” by those in the CIAA to see how real he was and part jealousy.

Whatever it was initially, Robbins put his stamp on the CIAA and Division II basketball and leaves one the most successful coaches in history.  In his 30 years at Union, Robbins compiled a 713-194 record, won three Division II national championships and coached three future NBA players — Charles Oakley, Terry Davis and Ben Wallace.

Good luck, Coach Robbins.

Aldridge leaving the Philly Ink

Kudos to the boys over at The Starting Five for this news.  It appears columnist and NBA guru David Aldridge is taking a buyout from the Philadelphia Inquirer. From Jackie Mac to Sam Smith, it appears, lately at least, that this is sadly becoming a trend in the newspapaer business.

Back to Aldridge, for as long as I can remember, he’s been one of the go-to voices of the NBA in the print/TV media. And while I honestly haven’t kept up with his writing at the Inquirer, he was always solid on ESPN and now on TNT. It appears Aldridge is worn out from working tow job and is going to focus on his television work, which is fine by me. i wish him the best.

However with Aldridge taking the buyout, that means in the past year, the Inquirer’s sports section has lost two of most prominent columnists, both of whom happen to be black — Aldridge and Stephen A. Smith. Now I’m sure this isn’t on purpose and we know both of these guys have solid tv gigs to fall back on, but there are now two fewer black sports columnists in the print media. And that’s not a good thing. Sure, there’s the dot-com/online wave of the future, but for the most part young sports journalists get their start in newspapers and with black columnists dwindling, who are the role models?

Many young journalists see the “glory” of some of these prominent journalists who’ve “made it” but don’t know their story of how they got there. And if these faces aren’t in the newsroom, that’s a problem.

Dumbass

The next time you’re involved in a conversation with someone or you read a blog (including TBQ) and the subject is how the black athlete is always wrongly stereotyped by fans and sometimes the media, stop and think about players like Chris Henry.

It is because of the stupidity that he and others (Pacman) have shown, that messes it up for the masses who are behaving like they’re supposed to. It’s because of players like Henry that some folk think that a lot of our black athletes are just a bunch of overpaid thugs. Is it right, no? But when you hear stories about Henry, what do you expect the reaction to be.

In the latest entry to the Henry off the field saga, the 24-year-old was arrested for the fifth time this week after being accused of punching an 18-year-old in the face and breaking his car window with a beer bottle.

Seriously? WTF is this guy thinking?

For reasons unbeknowst to me, the Bengals kept giving Henry chance after chance after chance. And time after time, he kept finding himself in trouble. Part of me wonders who is giving this young brother advice and part of me feels sorry for him. But, on the other hand, part of me is like — you’re a grown man who has an opportunity that hundreds would do anything for, and you can’t behave? That, to me, is a problem I can’t solve.

But the team finally released the troubled wide receiver  today, saying “His conduct can no longer be tolerated.”

Some team will probably give Henry a chance. Maybe not this year, but he’s young enough that he has some time left. I just hope, for his  sake, that he will grown and give himself a chance to play, and not be in jail somewhere.

Is Larry getting a pass?

I grew up in one of the best eras of basketball — the 90s. Nothing was more exciting than coming home from church on Sunday afternoon and watching the NBA on NBC. And, come June, almost knowing MJ and the Jordanaires would contend for yet another title. Some of those great battles were between the Bulls and the Knicks. Jordan vs. Starks, Pippen vs. Oakley, Ewing vs. Cartwright.

Take away Mike and the Knicks probably would have one at least one championship in the 90s. But like the Jazz, Suns amd others, the Bulls were always there, standing in the way.

So even though I wasn’t a fan, the I respected the relevance on the Knicks and what they brought to the league. So, the last couple of years, it’s pained me to watch the team I grew up loving to hate, run in the ground by Isiah Thomas and the Knick management.  

Since the “Ewing era” the Knicks have been on a free fall and, since Isiah took over, the pace has been accelerated. Despite having one of the highest payroll in the league haven’t made the playoffs in seven years.

The blame has falling directly on Thomas, and rightfully so. From assembling a team full of 2-guards to his inept coaching skills, Thomas, unfortunately is the face of the Knicks’ downfall.

Because it’s one of th NBA’s signature franchises and because it’s New York, this situation has been magnified. But a similar situation is going on in Indiana and is slipping under the radar. Hall of Famer Larry Bird is the president of the Indiana Pacers and, like Thomas, has overseen his team fade into obscurity and become one of the laughing stocks of the league. But, unless you live in the Midwest, you probably don’t pay attention or don’t care.

Since the infamous brawl a few years back with the Pistons and coupled the with the retirement of the face of the franchise in Reggie Miller, the Pacers have struggled on the court. Off the court, former Pacer Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson and current players Jamal Tinsley have found themselves in off-the-court issues that have embarrassed themselves and the organization.  But another is going to pass with no playoff appearance for the Pacers. And really, nobody’s going to care. 

So while Isiah gets hammered in the media, where’s the uproar about Larry?

Vogue’n

 

So last week, LeBron James appeared with Gisele on the cover of the latest edition of Vogue Magazine. Smart move for Bron Bron, who has said numerous times he wants to be a a “global icon” To do that he must, from time to time, go against the grain so to speak and increase his cross over appeal. And by appearing on covers like Vogue and others, it’s a step.

But in the midst of it all, a firestorm was brewing. Some folk were appalled and disturbed at the cover. Not because he was on Vogue, nor because he was with “Tom Brady’s girl” It was the because of they way in which James was portrayed in the image. To many, it was racially insensitive. You know, the big black mandigo coming to the rescue of the blonde white woman. The image of dominance. King Kong grabbing the white woman.

While some didn’t think it was such a big deal and shook their heads and the talk of racist imagery, others couldn’t look past the picture in which they feel Bron Bron was painted. Jemele says “Too often, black athletes are presented as angry, overly aggressive and overly sexual. Or sometimes, they’re just plain emasculated.”Hill suggests while the media is partly to blame, athletes like James need to step up and say “No” to issues that can be controversial, no matter how much they’re getting paid.

The issue is that athletes in today’s age really don’t have a sense of history and how these images in the past were seen as racial. And I really can’t blames them. I’m in my 20s and some of the things older black folk get in an uproar about and it just doesn’t hit home with me as much.

So I found it interesting the differences of opinions on this. I curious to see/hear what others think.

March Madness!

So, tomorrow begins the greatest four-week stretch in sports — the NCAA tournament. And, like many of you, I will be a complete slacker at work as I monitor the different games and proceed to rip up my bracket after the first weekend.

In my opinion, this year’s field is one of the most open in recent memory. I can picture any of 10-12 teams that wouldn’t surprise me if they won the National Championship in San Antonio. But nonetheless, we all have to make our predicitions and here are mine:

Final Four

UNC over Georgetown

Texas over UCLA

Championship

UNC 82, Texas 69

Feel free to rip me

They don’t want a bunch of thugs in Oklahoma City

 

 The young man you see above is Kevin Durant.

From the picture alone, he seems like a clean cut, young man. After all, he’s still a teenager.

Durant made a name for himself last year at the University of Texas were he was a freshman sensation for the Longhorns, winning National Player of the Year honors.

 As a result, he was selected No. 2 overall in last year’s NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics.

That is a short summary of Kevin Durant — exactly the type of young man the fine folks in Oklahoma City don’t want invading their precious community.

Darnell Marberry, fellow HBCU grad and NBA Insider from the Oklahoman, had an interesting piece in response to last week’s vote that downed the idea of the public paying for improvements to the Ford Center.

In Mayberry’s reported, he came up several instances in which local residents were not keen on the NBA coming because it would, among other things, drag down the city and increase crime. Citizens on local talk shows and message boards claimed the NBA has an image problems with a bunch of fatherless children and hoodlums.

To rehash, the New Orleans Hornets spent two great seasons in OKC in wake of Hurricane Katrina and it appears now, the Sonics are on their way there in a couple of years. But if this is who my fan base potentially will be, I’m looking elsewhere.

I’m not going to dispute the fact that the NBA has some image problems, but too often we see the misinformed make ignorant statements characterizing an entire league based on a few incidents. If the Sonics do move to OKC, I’m not Jeff Green won’t pose a threat. Nick Collison and Luke Ridenour probably won’t be rollin’ through the streets of Oklahoma City 20 deep. Who knows.

But it’s statements like this that shows we have a long way to go.

Mike Freeman’s not feeling “Psycho T”

 

Well, at least not the media slurping of him.

In a recent column, CBSSports.com’s Mike Freeman questions and essentially calls out members of the media for the anointing of  UNC star Tyler Hansbrough as the face of college basketball.

Freeman calls into question some media members — Dick Vitale — who often characterize Hansbrough as the “toughest guy in college basketball” and one who plays “with more desire than any player in the history of college basketball.”

 To his credit, Hansbrough is an outstanding college player. Recently named Sporting News player of the year, the junior is consider not only the best player on the No. 1-ranked team in the country, but along with Michael Beasley, is considered the top player in his country.

Notice the emphasis on “college” While I’ve watched my share of UNC games this season, I think Hansbrough is great in the college game and that’s were it will end. At about 6-8 or so, the things he does in the college game will be null and void in the NBA.

Here’s where I agree with Freeman. To take Hansbrough’s toughness and hustle — all of which he does — and elevate him to the toughest player in college basketball is ridiculous. There are 300-plus Division I basketball programs in the country and I’m sure each and every player plays with “desire” and “passion” just like Hansbrough.

So why the lovefest?  Is it a racial issue? Freeman thinks so.

From the column:

“I thought the media hadn’t gotten beyond the “black guy-talented, white-guy-tough” silliness, but the coverage around Hanbrough demonstrates maybe we haven’t.”

I can’t speak for Freeman, but the issue is not Hansbrough, it’s the constant slurping we see of the white athletes from the media. I agree with the quote above. Not that it never happens, but more often black athletes are characterized as athletic and cocky as opposed to smart and tough.

It’s one of those stereotypes that is not specific to a certain sport. You hear it too often and hope one day it changes.

Candidate joins ESPN

For all the criticism ESPN garners, whether deserving or not, one of their biggest accomplishments is maintaining a level of diversity. From ESPN.com to their many television entities, theirs is always adequate representation of different race, age and gender. Because of this tWWL provides different “voices” to its fans and accurately reflects the many fans who come to the site, listen to their programming and watch their shows.

But for all the good stuff, I still felt they needed more black female anchors in-studio in Bristol. While Lisa Salters is a recognizable face at various events, prior to last year, there were no black females on any of the network’s flagship shows. It is well-documented that current GMA anchor Robin Roberts was the first black anchor ESPN hired and over the course of her time at ESPN/ABC, she has set the standard for black female sports anchors.

Last year, ESPN hired Sage Steele and since then, Steele has become a familiar on “First Take”, which airs every morning on ESPN2.  While no Roberts, Steele is solid at her job and, in my opinion, is quite fashionable as well.

The newest black female on-air talent at ESPN is Reischea (REE-SHAY) Candidate (pictured). Maybe it’s because I don’t watch ESPNEWS that often, but today was the first time I’d seen her on air. Apparently, she’s been in Bristol for about a month or so. Candidate didn’t have to come far as she was most recently a sports anchor/reporter for WNYW FOX in New York.

It’s good to see ESPN making moves to hire a diverse team, including young, attractive black women. I wish Candidate the best and I hope she does well.

As as, you know, she doesn’t follow in the footsteps of the last black female anchor at ESPNEWS.

**Update: A reader points out that ESPNEWS anchor Cindy Brunson is also a talented minority female anchor. She completely slipped my mind.