Po' Ass Can't Take a Whuppin'

“It’s a po’ ass that can’t take a whuppin’.” That bit of wisdom came to me courtesy of my uncle, Red Carter, many years ago. It still holds true today. And there is no better example of that than former UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.

The great heavyweight champion, George Foreman, after dismantling a ring opponent back in the early 70s, tempered the praise of ringside announcer, Howard Cosell, by saying, “Anybody can dish it out. A real champion is the man who can take it.” 

Again, it was George who tweeted this to Ronda following her devastating loss to Holly Holm in 2015: “Down goes Frazier! Down goes Foreman! Down goes Ali! We all got back up Ronda. So will you.” 

Except, Ronda is not made of the stuff of those great fighters. Less a champion, Ronda was more a product of UFC promotion, and the public’s twisted desire to parallel the triumphs of women in sports to those of men.

ESPN sports analyst, Max Kellerman, once compared the rise and fall of Ronda Rousey to the ups and downs of Mike Tyson’s career. Let’s see:  Ronda is 14-2, with one knockout and nine submissions by armbar. Tyson is 49-4, with 43 knockouts; the same number of KO’s as Rocky Marciano. (Not quite the correlation they were looking for, huh?)

Perhaps it is in the labeling: During Tyson’s reign as heavy weight champion, they proclaimed him “The baddest man on the planet.” During Ronda’s run, they proclaimed her “The baddest woman on the planet.” Ah… except, there is this rub:  In the fight game, only the heavyweight champion can reasonably call himself, “The baddest man on earth,” for only he is obliged to take on all comers to prove it. The champions of lesser weight classes – middleweight, welterweight, lightweight – are compelled to fight only men their size, or smaller. 

Back in the 40s, a two-fisted bartender, nicknamed “Two-ton” Tony Galento when asked if he could beat then heavyweight champion, Joe Louis, famously replied, “I’ll moider de bum.” Joe took the fight despite being outweighed by 200 pounds. He beat “two-ton” Tony down. Being heavyweight champion, Joe simply did his job. If some behemoth had challenged heavyweight champion, Mike Tyson, in that same manner, Mike would have had to do the same. Such responsibilities come with the territory. 

Proclaiming Ronda Rousey “The baddest woman on the planet,” meant nothing. If a 235-pound female shot putter had challenged bantamweight champion, Rousey, to a fight, Ronda would have laughed and said, “lose a hundred pounds, girlfriend, and then come back to see me.” That would have been a bantamweight champion doing her job. 

Ronda burst onto the UFC scene with one spectacular victory after another, most of which came within the first minute of the first round. Gorgeous, to boot, they packaged and sold her before she knew who “her” was – trumpeting Ronda “The greatest female fighter ever!” at one stage in this ballyhoo, a handler, at the mention of boxing champion, Floyd Mayweather, scoffed, “Ronda would ‘rad doll’ him.” They had gone too far.

Of mixed martial art’s many disciplines – judo, boxing, karate, jujitsu – boxing imparts the most enviable edge. To simply be able to punch ad adversary in the mouth is extraordinarily menacing. Ronda’s principle discipline is judo, where she earned a bronze medal at the Olympics. As MMA fighters go, her striking/punching skill is tolerable; her ability to defend against strikes, atrocious. Ronda was a “one-trick pony.” Deny her the armbar, and she becomes a punching bag for skilled strikers. Holly Holm, with her boxing background, maintained her distance from Ronda with good footwork, and then pounded her to a pulp. 

On December 30, 2016 Ronda Rousey marched on the octagon for what should be the last time. The initial optics were convincing  - she appeared in great shape. She wore her trademark “mean-mug.” But, she had not come to fight. Ronda was there to collect three million dollars and get the hell out of there – one last time – in under a minute. Mission accomplished. She took some punches, grabbed the money, and was out of there in 48 seconds.

There is a world of sports far removed from mere mortals. It steams with testosterone as toxic as the Venusian plains. It is a land of giants – of Shaqs, Gronks, and Phi Slamma Jamma. There, boxing greats like Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Robinson cut other great fighters to shreds, as though they held straight razors in each hand. And hitters, like Big George Foreman and “Iron Mike” lift 200-pound bruisers off the floor with a single punch. It is a land of men, unsafe for women and children. 

Sports, Politics, and ... "Anti-White Lives Matter" Protesters?

 - Have you ever seen so many one-handed catches in football? It must be the gloves. When I see NFL receivers wearing gloves in 75 degree weather, I am convinced the gloves given them an edge. Otherwise, why wear them?

Better to ban all gloves for eligible receivers in the NFL. Let them have their gloves in the college game, the way they allow college baseball players t use aluminum bats. When the cream of that crop reach the Major Leagues, they are stripped of those rocket-launching aluminum bats and made to prove themselves the old fashioned way - like men, with wooden bats. Strip NFL receivers of those gloves; let them earn their money the old-fashioned way - bare-handed, like men. Maybe, then we can see once more who has "great hands," and who doesn't.


- Have you noticed: Nearly everyone in the NFL has an effective two-minute offense. No one seems to have an effective two-minute defense.

- Speaking of football:  Are we tired, yet, of being remind that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote? It's like the losing football team crying out:  "We gained the most total yards!" Who cares?


- Do you know what's wrong with basketball? Too many time-outs, especially at the end of close games. It's pure tedium. I watched this year's WNBA game between LA Sparks and the Minnesota Lynx. Both teams were out of time-outs coming down the stretch. Good. Bang! Bang! Bang! went the finish. It was fun.

Caught this CNN news flash on November 19, 2016:  "White Lives Matter" protesters face off against "Anti-White Lives Matter" protesters in Dallas, Texas.  What the heck is an "Anti-White Lives Matter" protester... and why?

Confederacy Rising

The Confederacy is loving it. Jeff "the Ku-Klux-Klan-don't-bother-me" Sessions is going to be the US Attorney General, and will head the Justice Department. Steve "I-love-the-Stars & Bars" Bannon is to be President Trump's top strategist. "We're taking our country back!" must be the modern version of "The South will rise again."

We often hear people say, "America is a divided nation." Let's be real: All nations are divided in one way or another - between Conservative and Labor, Hutu and Tutsi, Shiite and Sunni, rich and poor. It is natural to take sides. America's divide, however runs deeper than most because of one word: slavery. The Mason-Dixon Line which divided North from South - the Union from the Confederacy - existed long before the Civil War that finished the Confederacy as a physical entity. Relegated to an ideal, that state of mind continues to seethe in the former Confederate states that stretch from South Carolina to Texas.

Slavery is a difficult thing to get past, especially a system of slavery such as the one that existed in America - so rigid, so built to last. It seems, sometimes, that whites cannot get past the fact they once owned blacks. Neither has blacks gotten over that 250 year hump that has metastasized into the meanest callous ever visited upon mankind.

This country has come a long way since the Confederacy's physical body extinguished. But, its spirit lives on; it is divisive by nature. As the poet, Dylan Thomas, would say, it will "not go gently into that good night."

Oh, What a Tangled Web...

It doesn't seem real. Trump. President. I would have bet Kanye West would have had a better chance. Aii, the Democrats have no one to blame but themselves.

The Dems cheated; they cheated their own people. The Democratic National Committee hijacked the democratic process during the Democratic primary. They did it for Hillary. They believed she was entitled. Bill Clinton said it himself, said, "She deserves it." Deserves? Royalty, and "due of birth," deserves. Americans earn.

Trump, despite his boorishness, fought his way through 15 other seeming more competent Republican candidates to get the Republican nomination - candidates which included eight governors, five senators, a Fortunes 500 CEO, and a physician. Meanwhile, Hillary was sailing along, past her only competition - that was by design - a 73 year-old socialist Independent from the quiet state of Vermont. (He made her look young, to boot.) Could her road to the Democratic nomination have been made any easier?

But, that wasn't enough. Then, Donna Brazile, Democratic National Committee chairperson, lifted a debate question from CNN and passed it on to Hillary. When that question was posed to her in the subsequent debate, Hillary hit it out of the park. Later, after CNN discovered Brazile's breach, the network fired her. The damage was done.

There is an idealism about young people that is precious. For all the talk about Hillary's emails, Benghazi, the Clinton Foundation and "pay for play," the lifted debate question - that deft bit of skullduggery - may have been the drop of water that sent Hillary's cup to overflowing, and swept her away. No matter how much the heavy-hitters - Beyonce, LeBron, Barack, Michelle - implored the millennials to get out and vote for Hillary, those young people could not get the bad taste out of their mouths left by a woman who appeared to have everything, and still stooped to cheat an old gentleman named "Bernie", who appeared to have so little.

The "Machado" Card

Hillary Clinton, the self-proclaimed "champion of women's rights", has pulled out her "Machado card", again. Ms. Machado is the Venezuelan beauty queen infamously slammed by Donald Trump for "getting fat" back in 1991 when he was owner of the pageant. Hillary introduced Machado to Americans at the first presidential debate, seeking to highlight Trump's abusive treatment of women. That swipe sent Trump into a week-long rant.

On November 1, Hillary used Machado again - this time, asking the young lady to introduce her (Hillary) at an Ohio rally. One CNN correspondent described Hillary's actions (rather benignly) as "seeking to bait Trump" - to get under his thin skin, again, and send him off on another tangent.

What appears to go unnoticed is Hillary's cynicism. Her dangling of Machado in front of Trump reminds one of how a matador manipulates a red cape to incite a bull. In essence, Hillary is exploiting Machado in real time - doubling down on the poor woman's victimhood, using the spectacle of Machado's public shaming for her (Hillary's) political gain.

That isn't all of the damage Hillary has done to women, (or inspired them to do to themselves); especially women of color in this campaign.

Debbie Wasser-Schulz, the Hispanic-American congresswoman from Florida, was forced to step down as Democratic National Committee chairperson for wrongs she committed against Bernie Sanders in her over-zealous effort to pave the way for Hillary.

Donna Brazile, an African-American, and CNN analyst who replaced Wasserman-Schulz as DNC chairperson, was ignominiously fired this past week by CNN for stealing primary debate questions from the network and passing them on to Hillary prior to her primary debate against Sanders. When Fox News' Megan Kelly called Brazile out on her indiscretions, Brazile became indignant, and declared: "I'm a Christian woman..." (mumbling some passage from the Bible), and then blamed the Russians.

Meanwhile, Huma Aberdeen, and Arab-American, and Hillary's "right-hand woman," is being chased by the FBI.

Nevertheless, a smiling Hillary stood before a crowd in Ohio and insured them that: "They (the FBI) have nothing on me."

For a moment - I swear - I got a glimpse of Al Capone. "Go Hill!"

America, Your Vote is You

As much as I admire our First Lady, Michelle Obama, I winced when she told a crowd of millennials that a vote for third party candidate, Gary Johnson, is a “wasted vote.”  Where she should have been uplifting those young people, she chose to bully them instead.

The beauty of democracy lies in the ability of every single voter to dream, to imagine that his or her vote holds magic; that maybe… just, maybe…

Imagine 34% of the electorate ignoring Bill, Barack, Biden, and Bernie, and the other “shrill, shills for Hill,” end deciding on Election Day, “I will vote for whom I chose.” Is it not possible to catch “lightning in a bottle;” might not millions of Americans look at those two dinosaurs – Trump and Clinton – and say to themselves, “Too old, too dishonest.” Imagine they then decide to vote for Jill (Stein) or Gary (Johnson).

Might not this be the time to make America a true democracy, and throw off the shackles of a two-party system that increasingly leaves Americans holding their noses while they vote? Instead of voting for whom the polls command them to vote, might not it be time for Americans to take that vote in hand and declare: “This vote is mine!”

When “Hill’s shills” tell American voters that there are only two options – Hillary, or utter dissipation – they harpoon the very magic that makes democracy the dynamic force it is meant to be. 

Listen, America; especially you young people:  Your vote is you.  It is an irresponsible vote only when you deny your conscience, and put someone else in charge of it. You must believe. Otherwise, democracy is a farce, a failed experiment. 

To the Black Community: Conduct Yourself Like "Black Lives Matter"

The African-American community is in crisis. Nothing so illustrates its plight as the carnage that has become the streets of Chicago. That city – where, on average, 12 people are shot daily – is a furious and unfortunate snapshot of black communities across the country. That group, Black Lives Matter, is marching. Individuals like LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick are lending the light of their celebrity to illumine African-America’s dire straits. They mean well, but they deal in platitudes when they rail against guns, drugs, police brutality – the usual suspects – and give a pass to the supreme culprit – ourselves. 

Earlier this year, at Henderson State University in Arkansas, the administration banned excessive profanity, loudness, and sagging pants.  The black community immediately branded their action “racist” for daring to call out transgressions the black community apparently owns, and feels obliged to defend. That tells us that the insanity driving the destruction of the black community includes presumably sane leaders who shelter the cancer that threatens to devour that community from the inside, out. 

It is convenient for minority communities to villianize the police, whom many feel exist for the protection of the majority community from when they come. Certainly, there are bullies and racists among the police, and those rogues must be challenged, asked: “Why are the police so much more likely to ‘shoot to kill’ a black suspect than a white one?” Even so, the police exist on the periphery of our lives, just as does this specter of “black oppression.” And so, what if “black oppression” exists in America? What chance does such watered-down bigotry have against a people who have ascended through centuries of “fierce oppression,” and did it with dignity and resolve? Stop whining, African-America, and start doing a better job of policing yourself. 

The devastation being wreaked upon the black community today comes not from drugs, guns, or the police. It is spawned by the most destructive force in civilized society – undisciplined boys who grow to become undisciplined men. They are pandemonium personalized – walking around with their pants down, spewing obscenities, while making babies right and left, and teaching them nothing. These people disrespect their elders, endanger the children, and despoil the very air with their racket. They live by chaos. Chaos make them feel needed; gives them the impression that they are in control. In a way, they are. Decent society fears chaos. Each time these brigands pique our fears, they tweak their control over our lives. 

Today, Americans are armed to the teeth – 300 million guns in the hands of the public; 40% of all the public-held guns on Earth. We are armed out of fear – not fear of ISIS or Al Quaeda, but fear of young, black men.

I was born in ’52, and cut my teeth on the detritus of “Jim Crow.” We knew segregation, sit-in, race riots. We marched into the breach created by black men and black women who marched before us. We fought and bled and died. We won. History books call it the “Civil Rights Era.” I call it “African-American’s finest moment”, or simply, “The Struggle.”

Perhaps today’s young people long for such a struggle - one that will define their moment in American history. I respect that they care. I trust that, they, too, have courage. But their message loses its resonance when many of the people they march for, they should be marching against. 

We fought for black women forced to give up their seats so that white men could sit down. We fought for black men lynched for speaking to white women. We fought for four black kills killed in the bombing of a Birmingham, Alabama church. Today’s activities fight for the likes of Michael Brown, Freddie Gray, and Dequann Jackson – hoodlums, bullies, habitual offenders, tramplers of the rights of the defenseless in their own neighborhoods. We won the civil rights struggle of the 50’s and the 60’s, not because we were brave, but because we were right. When today’s activities line up to champion the lives of people who defile their own communities, they are not right, and no one will win. 

Time for the black community to pivot, and march on itself. Instead of trying to convince white people that “black lives matter,” let’s tell that to our black children. Better yet, let’s not say anything – “Love” is an action word. Show them that their lives matter by spending more time helping to shape their lives, and less time seeking to satiate our own. At a time when black children are dying in record numbers, there is far too much fun, adult fun, being had in the black community.