Conflicted

I knew that this day would come. I just didn't know how to prepare for it. This Sunday my home team, the Washington franchise plays my "other" home team the Ravens.

What's the big deal? While I still live in DC, I spend a lot (a lot!) of time in Baltimore. If I'm there on game day,  I usually go over one of my boyz houses to watch, not the Washington team, the Ravens. I actually have watched more Ravens games over the last couple of years then the Washington team.

Let me be clear, I love it!! In part because it's not just a couple of guys getting together drinking some suds (As Seinfeld would say, "not that there's anything wrong with that."). It's an event. It's usually (at least) 30-40 people over, the grill is lit and it's a party. I was there every game the year Baltimore won the Super Bowl. Yea, it's was exactly what you're thinking. I have also been accepted by the Ravens fans as one of their own. And it's because I am.

It's here that I must say that it's not just the party atmosphere that I enjoy. Baltimore is the place where I transitioned from boyhood to manhood. I went to college here and it's where a lot of my boyz there are among my best friends in the world.

And that's from the heart.

But then I harken back to the good times in Washington as I grew up. Before the word Redskins was a bad word in some circles. My favorite player of all time is still the running back Larry Brown. That kind of commitment and love for my home team is still in my DNA, in spite of it's recent years.

So now it has come down to this. Washington is trying to get above .500 for the first time this year, while the Ravens are a little hot after losing their first game this past week to Oakland.

What do I do? Do I root for Washington? Do I root for the Ravens? Do I root for both? Is that even possible? It's not like I have family on both teams.

But then again, I do.

Kap

There I was, in my dark place of solitude like Billie Holiday sings in her song doing my fantasy football research, when I got caught up in a discussion on my TCN. TCN is my personal acronym for Tribal Communication Network. These are simply communications from my boyz that fly around my superhighway (either by text or e-mail) about, well, possibly anything.




This particular topic was about 49er quarterback Colin Kaepernick's refusal to stand during the playing of our country's national anthem. I didn't really get involved in the conversation directly in part because we don't use Messenger for direct conversation so I generally don't know who said what when, but also (like I said) I was researching for three fantasy football drafts that I have on the same day. Regular readers of my blog know what that means for me.




But then, I got a direct shout-out from one of our more respected members of my crew. It was even more impactful with me because we have a kinship on a career related level. Long story short, when he asked me directly for my opinion, I have to come out of my cave.




When I first heard of this, I was kind of thrown off. After all, according to news accounts, he has not stood for any of the preseason games this season. A very quick cursory review of his Twitter feed indicates a somewhat sincere sensitivity toward "people of color". In fact, he has a personal affection to a organization called Camp Taylor, a camp for children with heart disease.



When you talk about symbols that are representative of our entire nation, they mean so many different things to so many different people. For example, to our military, it is a very important symbol to them, including my boyz that have served. As one of them said, "...you have to give respect to get respect.' This is also sensitive to me because I have two brothers who served. For other various movements, who I will not get into, the flag means things both positive and negative.




There are various other (and more effective) ways that Kaepernick could address his concerns. He could always join the thousands of organizations that have a much louder voice. He even could create his own organization to exactly address his concerns. He could work in conjunction with people who he thinks could help him towards his vision.




I just think that it is pretty ironic that Kaepernick is being called out for simply exercising his rights that are actually offending some people that give him the opportunity to exercise that same right. You can bet that he wouldn't be able to do the same thing in Russia or China. Now while I don't agree with what he did, I don't have a problem with him exercising his (and any other American's) right to do it.


After all, this is America...land of the free and home of the brave.

What if...?

With Jeff Henderson's win in this year's men's Olympic long jump, America continued it's dominance in this event. In the last 28 Olympiads, The US has won it 22 times. Multiple winners in this event include Carl Lewis who won four gold medals and Ralph Boston, who won one of each (gold, silver and bronze) on his way to be the first to break the 27 foot barrier. These two guys alone would be great stories of their own to blog about. But I wanted to go back to where all began.


DeHart Hubbard first caught the eye of a University of Michigan alum who saw his stats in both the long jump as well as the 100yd dash in the local newspaper. Within a few months, the Cincinnati native got an opportunity to take his talents to Ann Arbor.


For the haters, excuse the LeBron reference. Just wanted to maintain your interest.


While he couldn't run (and jump) with the varsity his freshman year, he still managed to tie the University’s indoor 50-yard-dash record and long-jumped more than 24 feet. Within two years, he won the Big Ten championship in both events (setting a record in the dash), earning a spot on the 1924 Olympic team and a trip to Paris, France.


While there, he could have competed in multiple events, but was prevented by the International Olympic Committee. Won't get into the Mary Jane Blige drama as to why.


Long story short, with a jump of 24 feet, 5 1/2 inches, Hubbard became the first Black Olympian to win the gold medal in an individual event. Funny thing...this is kind of like only the beginning.


When he got back, he set it off both on the left and on the right like Strafe. Within the next year, he won the NCAA championship in both the long jump and 100 yard dash, either tying or setting the record in both. During his career at Michigan, he won seven conference championships. He had the Big Ten record in the long jump until some guy named Owens broke it.


He went on to graduate from Michigan (he was one of only eight Blacks to graduate from his class of 1,456) and continued his athletic pursuits to careers in baseball and bowling. He is a member of Michigan's Hall of Honor and the school has a scholarship in his name that is jointly endowed by the school and his fraternity (Omega Psi Phi).   


Just wondering...what if the IOC had let Hubbard participate in all of the events he could have?


 

Crowning

Before I totally got caught up the wave that is the Olympics, I had planned to do a blog about head coach Dennis Green, who recently passed at the age of 67. Part of the reason wanted to do it was that I didn't want him to be mainly remembered for a post game rant.

While I don't think he wanted to be remembered as a trailblazer, he left his mark on the game of football on various leagues in various countries. After playing in the CFL for a year, he started his coaching career at the University of Iowa as a graduate assistant. By 1981 he was the head coach at Northwestern University, the second Black coach at the Division I-AA level. While there he won Big Ten Coach of the Year honors.

He then joined the coaching tree of Bill Walsh at Stanford University. After taking over for Walsh when he left for San Francisco, he ended his career there with the school's best record since 1986, including an upset of #1 ranked Notre Dame.

While on Walsh's coaching staff in San Francisco as a wide receivers coach, he was on the staff that won Super Bowl XXIII.

In 1992, he became the second Black head coach in the NFL when he was selected to coach the Minnesota Vikings. While there he won three out of every five games, won four division titles and made the playoffs eight times in his ten year career at Minnesota.

I believe he has also earned the right to have his own coaching tree. Assistant coaches under him included Brian Billick and Tony Dungy, coaches who won Super Bowls of their own as head coaches.

In researching him, he wasn't who I thought he was. He was much more.

USA!!...USA!!..USA!!

While there is a lot that this country can improve on, there is also plenty that is right with this country. The main ingredient (not the group) is the people.


Ellis Hill, a Uber driver, picked up Liz Willock to take her to the airport. On the way, they struck up a conversation about family, politics and (wait for it) sports. Mr. Hill talked about how his son, Darrell made the U.S. Olympic team as a shot putter. For the novice, basically this event involves taking a 16 pound ball and seeing how far you can throw it. This was my event in a previous life as a athlete both in high school and college.


Mr. Hill talked about how he wished he could see his son compete in Brazil. Ms. Willock offered him the opportunity to do just that. While she was not a rich well to do socialite, she was hope. Within days, she set up a GoFundMe page (a website in which you can directly contribute money for various reasons). In less than two days, she raised more than $7,500 dollars for Mr. Hill to make the trip.


I'm sorry negative people...while I'm fighting to keep from saying that it's stories like this that make this country the country that it is, it is stories like this that show the power of the human spirit. It's also the reason that I keep my glass half full.

Glass

When I started learning the fundamentals of basketball, one of the early skills I learned was the use of the backboard to make shots from difficult angles. It was reinforced when I got to college (yes, I took Basketball) when the first thing they taught about shooting was using the backboard. The difference in backboards progressed as I grew up using tree trunks on my grandparents land in North Carolina  to wooden backboards during my urban upbringing to the Plexiglas that is widely used today. The more conversational language for this material is glass.


No one used the glass more than future first ballot Hall of Famer Tim Duncan, who announced his retirement from the NBA yesterday after 19 years. In classic Tim Duncan fashion, he didn't have a farewell tour or even a final press conference; he simply issued a press release. That was Tim Duncan.


While I will leave the debate for others as to whether he was greatest power forward ever, all I will say is that the 15 time All-Star finishes 14th in career points and 6th in rebounds. What impresses me more is he was either first or second team All-Defensive 15 times. He is also in that rarefied air of great champions, winning NBA five champions, all with the only team he played his entire career with (San Antonio Spurs). Guess that's why he finished sixth in career playoff points. Even represented his country internationally, winning five medals.


One of the two things that I will remember about Duncan was his use of the "glass" in his shot attempts. I don't know if we had the same instructor in college but if he had a tough shot to make, you can bet that the glass would be involved. Even in clear and basic shots, he would "go glass" as they say.


The other thing that I remember was how he was liked by both his teammates and opponents. My favorite Tim Duncan story was recanted by former NBA player Eton Thomas. During a game when he was with the Wizards, he drove to basket in a attempt to score on Duncan. He promptly had his shot blocked. Thomas says that Duncan told him later on that he should lean into him to create a better opportunity to get his shot off. Thomas took his advice and tried it. While he didn't make the shot, Thomas said that Duncan told him "...that was better."


That was Tim Duncan.

Ali

While more than enough things will be said about boxing great Muhammad Ali, who passed away at the age of 74, I just want to give my personal point of view about the greatest boxing champion in my lifetime.

I wasn't even born when he started his career of greatness, winning his Olympic gold medal in the light heavyweight division in Rome. I was just six when he lost his heavyweight title, losing to the United States Government because of a conflict of his religious beliefs. Although it took three years, apparently Ali had a point when his conviction was overturned.

Although I started playing sports at a young age, I wasn't really into sports figures. I just enjoyed playing. One of the early figures that I looked up to was actually Hank Aaron, and only because I actually saw him break Babe Ruth home run record live as it happened on TV.

And then came Ali. It's a difference between having confidence and today's more popular word, swagger. In Ali's case, he had both. In fact, saying that Ali had swagger is not really doing him justice. While some people called him a trash talker, for me you're not talking trash if you follow thru and actually do what you say. For me, I never got the flavor of him being a bully.

Except when you called him Cassius.

For an pre-teen urban kid of color in the inner city, Ali helped to give me both the pride and confidence that I could succeed in anything if I put my mind to it. And that was a big deal for me at the time.

Kool-Aid

Paraphrasing the entertainer Ice Cube, this weekend was a good one for Washington sports.

Staring with the Nationals, they were down 4-3 going into the ninth inning. Repeat MVP candidate Bryce Harper, who originally got the day off from manager Dusty Baker, strode up to the plate and (you guessed it) hit his first pinch hit home run to send the game into extra innings. It was his league leading ninth home run of the year. To complete the fairy tale, the Nationals won the game in the 16th inning on another walk-off home run from Chris Heisey. As Homer Simpson would say, " I have no ideal who he is". The win takes Washington to a National League leading 14-4 record.

It's refreshing when I can say the name of the team without any apprehension.

Turning to hockey, the Capitals advanced to the next round of the playoffs with a classic 1-0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. This was after the Caps, who were up 3-0 in the series, had lost the previous two games. Cap fans know what I'm talking about. Next on the block, another Pennsylvania team, the Penguins.

To top it off, we snatched one of the top five corners in the NFL last year in Josh Norman. He became available when his former employer (Carolina) couldn't reach a deal. While we haven't done it in the last few years under the new General Manager, when we really want a guy (and he's in the building), it's a done deal.

As a fan of all our Washington teams, I'm just starting to realize to myself that I am all-in with my teams. I had three types of Kool-Aid this weekend: Baseball (Grape), Hockey (Cherry) and Football (Orange) and they were all cold and delicious. Every time it's on the table, I'm there to partake.

I'm just glad that it's not alcohol.

Icon

Just a few words about the music icon Prince, who passed away yesterday at the age of 57. While you initially think that this should be done by the music critics and fans and not a sports blog, there is a sports connection. Prince Rogers Nelson played varsity basketball while at Central High School in his hometown of Minneapolis. The scouting report on him, according to Prince's high school basketball coach, Richard Robinson was that he "...was an excellent player. He was like the sixth or seventh man. He was an excellent ball handler and shooter." He would have gotten more playing time but he was on a squad that in which the rest of team at least six feet plus. Prince had it rough being only 5 feet 2.

In the big picture, basketball's loss was music's gain. He quit basketball and the rest, as they say, is history.

Prince's music was part of the musical backdrop for my college experience. My freshman year it was the cut Sexy Dancer. The following year, the song was one that you will have to look up on Wikipedia. While "Controversy" was the coming out party for him nationally, I was ahead of the game from hearing his music while doing my internship doing the circuit at the local clubs. He was the one artist that jumped on both sides of the sensuality line when it suited him. But he always did it tastefully. At least for college coeds. The party just continued after college. Years later when he would release a new song, I never called it a comeback.

While I will mourn for Prince, I will also celebrate his music. As he said, "life ain't funky unless it's got that pop."

Brothers

If you grew up in a athletic family, one of your hopes is to play with your brother or sister on the same team and have a chance to win championships together. You have the Morris brothers that played together at Kansas and the Lopez brothers at Stanford as examples. They even played in the pro's together. But this next duo is different.

Nate Britt, a guard for the North Carolina Tarheels and forward Kris Jenkins of the Villanova Wildcats will be playing against each tonight for a chance to win the Division I men's basketball championship. While this is a great story on the face of it, this is not even the half of it.

Britt and Jenkins first met when they were eleven years playing AAU basketball. During that early time, Jenkins mother, Felicia, was dealing with a sick daughter and basically stayed with her daughter in the hospital. During this time, Kris basically stayed with the Britt's, continuing to play basketball and living with them. Her daughter, Kori, died at the age of eleven months. Her mother eventually took a job as a head coach at Benedict College in South Carolina. She asked the Britt's if Kris could stay with them. She was noticing a change in her son in the wrong direction. As she said, "..."Understand it was the most difficult decision I made in my life," Felicia Jenkins said. "But I knew I had to make it in order to make sure he had the best opportunity." For the Britt family, it was a no brainer: "I said as a mother, could you imagine going to someone else and saying you want them to take care of your son?" Britt Sr. told his wife. "So how do we say no?"

As for the guys, they took to each other like, well, brothers. While at Gonzaga College High School, they each won their own Player of the Year award.

Tonight's game will not be the first time they played against each other in college. In a 2013 tournament matchup, their competiveness showed. Although in the same room, they didn't speak one word to each other. "They were going back and forth," Nate Britt Sr. said. "They weren't talking. They were texting each other in the same room. It was unbelievable."

By the way, their relationship is not symbolic; the Britts legally adopted Kris in 2007. Like Kris himself said, "...I definitely have two great families. "I consider myself to be very, very lucky and blessed and fortunate to have two great families to take care of me and guide me and keep me in the right place."


While I hope for a great game tonight, I already know that the outcome will be a winning one.

My Final Four picks - 2016 version

How ya doin sports fans! Here is the 2016 version of BreezyG's final four picks. Remember, this is for entertainment purposes only.

 

South: Kansas. I know, California has two or three lottery picks and Villanova is very solid this year, but if you think to balk, go chalk. This team is just as solid as any team in the region. While I'm not using any caveats, Maryland could go just as easy if they don't count their dollars too soon.

 

West: Oklahoma.  Very ho hum region. Personally rooting for Shaka Smart at Texas. The defending champs could go just as easy with one of their patented end of the year runs. By the way, Duke won the title last year. I know...it seems so long ago.

 

East: Kentucky. Funkiest region in the tourney. Carolina, Indiana, Xavier, West Virginia. Any of them can win it. Or someone else. Very consternated about my projected matchup of Carolina and Kentucky. Just decided the winner when I completed this sentence.

 

Midwest: Michigan State. They have a saying at this school: January, February...Izzo. This team is actually one of his better shooting teams. Solid guard play, has the superstar/All-American in Valentine and they play defense. No, really they play defense. If they make it, it will be their seventh appearance this century (10th overall in school history). I'm a fan.

 

If you haven't it out already, the Spartans are also my pick to win it this year. Like I said, I'm a fan.

Roll Call

Last week, the movie Race, which is about the story of Jesse Owens path to winning four gold medals in the 1936 Olympics, was released. While this story in itself is a great one about how Adolf Hitler and his dreams of a "superior" race were stopped in his tracks, the story does not end there. In fact, there were 17 other athletes of color that showed the same bravery in representing their country.

What I particularly take from this story is how these Americans stood tall and represented their country, even when some in corners of our country didn't want them to.

While everyone knows the story of Owens, finishing 0.4 seconds behind him in the 200 meter dash was Matthew "Mack" Robinson. Seems like history runs in his family; Eleven years later his younger brother, Jackie, would break major league baseball's color barrier.

Speaking of family, Fred Pollard earned a bronze medal in the 100 meter hurdles. Football fans would probably recognize him better by his nickname, "Fritz". His father was the first African-American head coach in the National Football League.

Another of Owens teammates, David Albritton, who won the silver medal in the high jump, attended both the same high school and college (Ohio State) as Owens. Albritton went on to represent Ohio in their House of Representatives.

Archie Williams set the world record earning his medal in the 400 meter run. He later became a flight instructor in the Tuskegee program. Yep, that same program.

As for the women's side, Tidye Pickett and Louise Stokes were two Tuskegee University students who were the first African-American women to earn a spot on the Olympic women's team. They both also made the 1932 squad as well.

In all, 14 medals were earned by Americans of color. So much for the master race.

Roll Call: Jesse Owens, Ralph Metcalfe, Mack Robinson, Cornelius Johnson, Dave Albritton, James LuValle, John Woodruff, Archie Williams, Fredrick Pollard, John Brooks, Jack Wilson, Art Oliver, Howard King, James Atkinson, Willis Johnson, John Terry, Tidye Pickett, Louise Stokes.

He was first...again

As a reporter, whether real or imagined, one of the best things you can get is a tip from a solid source for a story. I wanted to do my annual Black History little known sports fact, but nothing crossed my laptop. In the past I had great ones like boxer Joe Gans who coined the phrase "bringing home the bacon" when winning championship fights and Charles Follis, the first professional football player.

Last night I got a text from one of my boyz about Gene Baker. My "source" has been a supporter of my blog from day one. But he never directly sent me anything until now. He doesn't even know about my sports fact thing. He just sent it because well, you know.

Gene Baker's career as a baseball player had it's highs and lows. A career .265 hitter, Baker was actually the first player of color signed by the Chicago Cubs in 1953 after playing for the Kansas City Monarchs. A few days later Mr. Cub, Ernie Banks, was signed. They eventually became the first double play combination of color in the major leagues. Baker made the All-Star team two years later. After a trade to the Pirates, he was on the Pirates 1960 World Series championship team. He retired a year later.

He was selected to manage the Batavia (N.Y.) Pirates, becoming the first Black manager of a minor league team. He went 65-59 that year. But that's not the first I'm talking about.


He was promoted to the Pirates major leagues team in 1963. He was the second Black coach to make to the bigs. Buck O'Neill was hired six months earlier by the Cubs.  

I promise it's coming.

On September 21st 1963, the Pirates played the Dodgers. The Pirates were up 3-2 in the eighth inning when a Pirate rally was ended on a close call. Both managers Danny Murtaugh and Frank Oceak were tossed out of the game for arguing to the umpire. Upon returning to the dugout, Murtaugh told Baker to take over.

He said, ‘Skip, are you sure?’ ” recalled former Pirates pitcher Vern Law. “ ‘Yeah, you’re the man.’ ”

That simple. Baker became the first person of color to manage a major league baseball team.

Baker later managed in the minors for another year before becoming a scout for more than 23 years.

Bob Friend, a teammate said it best: “He was a good, solid baseball man. He knew what he was doing. Organizations latch onto people like that. You don’t have a guy stick around in an organization — unless he is liked or he is producing — as long as Gene Baker spent with the Pirates.”

There's something to be said for being in the right place at the right time. Especially if you're first.

10,000

This blog post has special meaning to me. By the time you finish reading this, you may have been my 10,000th page view for my blog.

In today's digital world of page views and "hits" 10,000 is not that big of a number. Especially since my first blog entry was July 2nd, 2010. This was just a way to release my inner journalist. I didn't realize how much I enjoyed doing this, even when I was a reporter and editor in college. I guess I did want to be a sports reporter when I grew up.

While I talked mainly about the big sports, I try very hard not to be redundant about the issues I talked about...unless I felt real strong about it. I also try to educate my audience. One of my favorite pulls was finding out that Charles Follis was the first professional football of color. I had never even heard of the guy until I stumbled onto him researching a different topic for my blog. To paraphrase Redd Foxx, '... I like stuff like that."

To be honest, I never thought my blog would go this far. While it is the internet, I just figured to be one voice of many. Then I started getting comments, not just from my crew but also from people I never met. In different parts of the country as well as the world. I just hope that Google is not fibbing.

In either case, none of this would be possible without you. I appreciate you and will always continue to thank you for your support.

Regular readers of my blog know that I am undefeated in my Super Bowl picks since I have started my blog. The BreezyG mo train has picked such teams as the Giants, who won three road games before knocking off the undefeated Pats that year. This year's pick is the Carolina Panthers. Even though they have been at home while making this run, it still has been an incredible run on both sides of the ball. They will really test that adage that says "Defense wins championships."