Just like that, NFL players Jameson Williams and Stanley Berryhill have absorbed a valuable lesson on progress — so-called and otherwise. They’ve learned that the societal norms on what’s acceptable and what’s punishable can shift, yet remain unchanged. They learned how constant friction can create innocent victims and confused observers, in the flash of an eye.
Previously anonymous wide receivers for the Detroit Lions, Williams and Berryhill found themselves in undesirable news coverage last week, forever linking them to NFL gambling suspensions. Say hello to the Wall of Shame, where inclusion doesn’t have to be warranted.
They didn’t do anything close to what the three other suspended players did, but the general public isn’t great at reading past the headlines. Williams and Berryhill can count on folks to ignore the fine print and miss key distinctions. For that matter, media outlets can be just as careless and sloppy, splattering unrelated individuals with a broad brush of guilt.
We know this because Memphis Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks told us. It wasn’t exactly a news flash, especially when you compare the two men. Brooks has been in 20 playoff games; James surpassed that total when Brooks was 11 years old, in 2007.
But sometimes, age ain’t nothing but a number, and grown folks gotta put mouthy youngsters in their place.
The Los Angeles Lakers took a commanding 3-1 series lead against Memphis because James refuses to go gently into the night. Father Time is undefeated, but James is going the distance. On Tuesday he became the oldest player in NBA history with at least 20 points and 20 rebounds in a playoff game.
When a lotta folks think of “Stomp” in an R&B sense, the first tune that pops up might be Kirk Franklin’s gospel banger, especially the remix version with Salt from Salt-N-Pepa.
That’s definitely an all-time jam, kinda automatically though because it samples “One Nation Under a Groove.” But Franklin’s song didn’t come to mind Monday night when I saw what Golden State’s Draymond Green did to Sacramento’s Domantas Sabonis in the NBA playoffs. (Technically I saw it Tuesday morning and the first time in slow-mo, because I can’t hang for West Coast games like before).
No, the song that instantly played in my head and kept looping through replays as Green intentionally and impactfully planted his right foot in Sabonis’ chest, was a No. 1 R&B hit by the Brothers Johnson.
We’re gonna stomp All night In the neighborhood Don’t it feel alright? Stomp, step down in it Put your foot where feel the fit Stomp, you don’t want to quit Put your heel where you’re feelin’ it
Daily soap operas were TV fixtures when I was growing up, and more than a few of us could sit with elders and dissect “All My Children” or cold-blooded Victor Newman on “The Young and the Restless.” Alas, production has ended on most of those dramas.
Our attention nowadays has shifted to “As the NFL Turns,” a reality show.
He isn’t the first heinous owner to become a detested villain among his team’s fans, but Daniel Snyder recast the mold in the district formerly known as Chocolate City. He purchased the highly regarded Washington franchise for $800 million in 1999 and has trashed it ever since — winning few games, losing many fans and sparking multiple scandals. Under intense pressure to sell, with at least four legal or civil investigations probing his hind parts, Snyder reportedly reached an agreement last week.
News flash: Regardless of how you perform as an NFL owner, a fat bag awaits at checkout. For Snyder, it contains $6 billion, crushing the record $4.65 billion that a Walmart heir paid last year for the Denver Broncos. Good for him as he exits the stage and D.C. celebrates an instant holiday.
The state of women’s basketball is similar to the dual
cities Charles Dickens wrote about: It’s the best and worst of times.
You couldn’t see the flip side Monday night if you
looked at Aliyah Boston. The All-America center from South Carolina was selected
first overall in the WNBA draft. You also couldn’t see cloudy skies later when four
of her former teammates were drafted, including first-round picks Laeticia
Amihere and Zia Cooke. Coach Dawn Staley and the bubbling mentees were all
smiles all evening long, rightfully so.
The joy is justified because they went 97-8 over the
last three seasons, reaching three straight Final Fours and winning a national
championship. South Carolina has become a familiar brand atop the rankings, drawing
heightened interest and new fans to the sport. The Gamecocks were riffraff
before Staley started cooking, but now they’re right comfy among bluebloods like
UConn and Tennessee.
Entering the Final Four a week ago, South Carolina was
undefeated and defending its national championship. Focus on the sport only intensified
from there, with ESPN reporting record-high ratings for LSU vs. Virginia Tech and Iowa vs. SC. Those games averaged 4.5
million viewers, up 66% from last season’s Final Four. The latter game, promoted
as Boston vs. Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, had up to 5.5 million viewers, an increase
of 72% from 2022.
But the title match vaporized those numbers. ESPN deemed
it the most-watched women’s game on record, averaging 9.9. million viewers (103% increase)
and peaking at 12.6 million viewers. Sports Media Watch reported that more people watched LSU vs. Iowa than all the 2022 NBA playoff games besides the
Finals. The tournament also set an attendance record for the second straight season.
Nothing about that sounds like bad times. But neither does the quiet before a storm.
The NBA and National Basketball Players Association recently reached terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, a seven-year pact that should ensure labor peace throughout this decade. Fantastic.
Even better, the deal affects way more than the roughly 500 players each season who draw NBA paychecks.
Those guys are set atop the mountain. Their successful climb leaves new terrain for aspirants who hope to follow, including hundreds of thousands of Black boys. Unfortunately for 99% percent of those hoop dreamers, they’ll never reach the NBA summit, no matter how hard they try. Some come to the realization sooner than others, but eventually, all must accept the fact.
Thanks to the new agreement, none will be deluded and distracted by thoughts of jumping straight to the league.
Two Americas squared off over the weekend in the NCAA women’s Final Four. Each won a game.
Louisiana State beat Iowa for the championship Sunday, avenging South Carolina’s loss against Iowa on Friday. Both contests felt like expressions of this country’s culture war, a fight that has escalated since 2016 but has been waged from the start.
Racists and bigots love to talk about a “colorblind” society, misrepresenting MLK’s dream while pushing agendas that harm Black people. “We don’t see color,” they sniff as if adherence to that fantasy proves moral superiority.
But no one must lose their vision in order to achieve King’s dream.
Anyone who says they didn’t notice a glaring difference between LSU/South Carolina and Iowa is either lying or needs an eye exam. It was clear as a chief distinction between Apollo Creed and Rocky Balboa.
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