Tuesday Tidbits: Immigration Song

For as long as I can remember, I've been a huge music fan. This far-from-profound statement has nothing to do with anything, but I'll get to that in a minute. Led Zeppelin was, for many years, my favorite band. No one came close to even scraping the surface of their awesomeness. Cecil and I went toe to toe on many an occasion discussing who the better outfit was: Zeppelin or the Stones. I would say the Stones' music was drab and uninventive. He would claim that Zeppelin were nothing but blues-music ripoff artists. That debate, though it still silently continues, is one of another era. The multitude of things I appreciate about Zeppelin span myriad forms. The one I care to mention today is the imagery associated with their music. That is, not so much what the listener imagines, but the actual images produced and portrayed by the band.

One example of this is their dynamic album covers. Most of them are provocative and mystical, Coda notwithstanding. Another of the weaker displays of art would be the cover of III, which is a bit of a tricky album to initially embrace. At least it was for me, and in hindsight, I think that was only the case because of its chronological placement between II and the untitled album more commonly referred to as IV. That said, there are some really powerful cuts on III, but I've often felt it was a mistake to lead off with "Immigrant Song" simply because the jarring power of it drops off a massive precipice in terms of drive and delivery. This is in no means a criticism of the rest of the album's tracks. They are great and good in their own ways, but "Immigrant Song" is for sure the definitive track for that album.

The trouble with the album is its cover art. It's nothing shy of atrocious in comparison with the rest of the band's studio releases. There's no association for the art to go with the music like there is for say "Good Times Bad Times" or "Dazed and Confused" and the image of the Hindenburg on their self-titled debut. You could make this case with most any of their albums: the motley-crew Hell's Angels look of II goes well with tracks like "Moby Dick"; pick any track from IV and the image of the bent-over old man with the bundle of reeds on his back; the famous Houses of the Holy cover with "No Quarter" or "Over the Hills and Far Away"; and of course any dungeonesque track from Physical Graffiti -- I'm looking at you "Kashmir," "In the Light" -- goes well with the abandoned, industrial, post-apocalyptic look of its cover.

The point, though, is that there's an association with "Immigrant Song" and III as an album in its entirety, and the cover art released with that album doesn't fit. This is why I've always associated the image for Swan Song, the band's record label, with III, simply because it kicks off with "Song" and, lyrically, has a mythical feel to it, much like the winged man selected to represent the band's label. And the title for that opening track has had me thinking a lot in recent weeks, especially this current one.

I have, for the last 18 months been out of the restaurant industry and back in the social-services field I once ventured into right after college. It doesn't pay worth a crap. It can be taxing, stressful, and require a lot of driving, but I'm not in a kitchen nights, weekends, and holidays, logging 65+ hours on my feet anymore. And my position is one that has quite the philosophical, maybe political, dynamic sort of twist to it: I'm a bilingual case manager who carries a considerable number of undocumented clients on his load. The twist is that, to be a client for our agency, you must have some sort of mental-health issue or diagnosis in order to qualify. And obviously, yes, we do serve undocumented residents. But we're also a not-for-profit organization, which means we receive bundles of state and federal tax dollars to relieve the pressures of operational costs. Namely: the cost of services for uninsured -- who are as such because they're undocumented -- consumers and salaries for the folks that provide the services, i.e. mine.

In sum, it's likely what I imagine to be the worst-nightmare sort of situation for any conservative/right-wing/Republican type, and it's a prime example of why there is still such tremendous racial divide in this country. The topic of deportation has been in the headlines this week. The front page of The Kansas City Star yesterday discussed it, and today on Yahoo there's a piece about it as well. The latter link discusses the movement spurred by the Obama administration that utilizes fingerprints and allegedly targets illegal aliens whom've committed crimes, be they level one, two, or three variety of offenses.

Now, I don't frequently make the commenter rounds on the Web postings that I read, but I will from time to time. As I write this, that Yahoo piece has over 7000 comments on it, and of the 10 visible on the first page, not one is enlightening. Of course you can follow the link and read some yourself, but there is one that I feel compelled to share, and it comes from the brilliant fingers of one Td40, who calls himself Octavio Leos. And he has (all sic) this to say:

"in dallas on the first day of the month in ghetto neighborhoods the mail runs late why?
because most of the blacks in that neighborhoods that sell dope ,rob,rape,murder,are all getting government checks ssi,food stamp,section 8,and they are constantly talking about new ways to get money from the government and dont provide sht for the land.I say send all the blacks back to africa and give the illegals their citizenship, thay will do alot more than tyrone and shenequa will ever even think about doing"

In a strange fit of irony, the song "1st of tha Month" has been rolling around in my head for the last few days, namely because one of my clients -- with whom I have a tremendous relationship -- was released last Monday from the local juvenile detention facility and farmed out to a group home. My heart goes out to him and his family because they are all in pain and simply could not make it work. But I'm taken back to the song because, right out of college, as I mentioned, I was in this same field in southwest Colorado, and my position was at a group home. At this facility, most of the kids were into hip hop, and at the time, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony were pretty big. If you're unfamiliar, they're an outfit out of the city that used to be known as Cleveland (Editor's Note: We're still calling it Cleveland, but, given its grave condition, that may change post-mortem.) who, more or less, made it big thanks to the late Eazy-E signing them to the Ruthless Records label.

But, at this group home, if you had privileges, you could rock your beats at a reasonable volume, and one of the favorites was Bone Thugs. Many, many were the days that I heard both "1st"



and "Ghetto Cowboy," which the kids always attributed to Krayzie Bone, which is fair, but actually a product of the Mo Thugs family, consisting of Krayzie, Layzie Bone, Thug Queen, Powder, and many others and under many variations of the Thugs nomenclature. Catchy tune, though:



Getting back to "1st," I'm titanically embarrassed to admit that I never, until recently, knew what that song was about. I imagine I used to think it had something to do with celebrating the beginning of a new month and fresh start, which is nothing shy of naive, white-bred, and simpleton of me, but regardless, what the song really is about ties in with that divide I was talking about, that mountain-goat-like head butting that people in this country do, and seem to want to do with regards to the concepts of immigration, race, and equality. I'm not ashamed to admit that, even in parts of this decade, I've wondered if racial tensions had subsided to some degree. What's made me feel ashamed, is that, on occsion, I've substituted the curiosity for some semblance of legitimate hope, and often times I feel that that was a massive mistake.

Working with clients on my mostly Hispanic case load, hanging out at my neighborhood dive, reading the papers, watching professional sports, almost everywhere I go, there it is, lurking in the corners, stomping in the streets. And I'm sick of it.

There are those that claim to try and improve things by bringing things to light, to the surface, but in my humble opinion, they often do more wrong than good. What we need, I think, instead of continuing to highlight the injustices, both alleged and real, are ideas that the majority can get on board with. And when I say majority, it is crucial to bear in mind that I exclude folks like our pal Octavius, who are painfully distorted.

And this is where sports comes in. This whole disaster in Arizona has contributed to the divide, and that's because it announces the message that the state government has made it lawful to request papers from minorities, whereas in our national sports leagues, we, in varying degrees, embrace immigrants, and pay them huge salaries, to come play for our sports teams.

All four of our major professional sports employ immigrants and have been doing so for years. Christian Okoye and Tamba Hali are two Chiefs that come to mind in the NFL. The late Manut Bol, and now Yao Ming of the National Basketball Association are two hoops examples. The two biggest stars of the National Hockey League, Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, are not Americans by birth. And Major League Baseball might be the biggest example, especially with all of the Latin-American talents brought to the United States to, eventually, play for big-league clubs.

Is there a foundation for professional athletes to advocate for immigrants? Can we make one? Look at the statutes created for these talents. Can this be a foundation for other types of immigrant workers? Or does this stuff already exist and I'm just too uniformed to know about it.

Let's get a discussion started in the comments. This means you, lone robot spammer.

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Thursday ThumbTubes & YouNails (now with less sports!): 7-23-09

Awful tired now, boss. Dog tired. If you're still up, peep some stubes and tumbs, yonder.

You know it's a rough season when, um...



...this happens.

The feel-good, non-sports, don't-know-what-it's-about-but-I-like-it Tube:

If you secretly love Don Mattingly, and I know you do,



then you may or may not find this interesting. Actually, don't bother. It's stupid petty gossip, but dare I pass up on an opportunity to mess with Yankee fans? Course not.

Manny Pacquiao will get back in the ring,



and this time, it counts.

Everyone knows about "Sleeping Monkey,"

but how about swimming monkey?

Um,



go here.

If I tell you it's Lima Time,



you better be-leeee dat!

But don't believe...

<a href="http://www.atom.com" target="_blank">Twits</a>

Twits

...those crazy kids and their Tweets.

Know what else is crazy?



Two perfect games by the same dude.

Speaking of crazy...



No. Not the fact that these allegations have come out, but the fact that some listeners on the Sports TalkRadios today wanted to say that ESPN didn't post this story to their Web site yesterday because Big Ben is white. That is, if he were black, they would've posted it immediately. You know, 'cause that's how the man do.

While we're on the ESPN corner,



that was easily the dumbest commercial they've ever made.

We know that Dick Vermeil and Mike Shanahan were at the American Century Celebrity Golf Championship. We just learned, however, that Michael Jordan was there...



...with, um, something awkward in the background.

Tank's empty, kids. Come back next week. Bring more quarters.
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Thursday Thesis: Another El Jay Debacle

For those not in the know, Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson was interviewed by Chris and Cowboy of local sports-talk radio station KCSP, 610 AM. The 23-minute bit aired yesterday morning, and people are still freaking out about it. Rightfully so. It's pretty preposterous, and if you're so inclined, you can hear it here. If you spent any time listening to the station yesterday -- or caught any of it on ESPN or the NFL Network -- you've probably heard the important blips. In a nutshell, they are...

...a re-hashing of what Johnson said after the Chiefs' final game this season: a) his time in Kansas City is done, b) he doesn't care for the city or the organization, c) that his beef wasn't with Carl Peterson, d) that he liked Herman Edwards, and e) that most of his teammates have his back.

Once the Chiefs name their new head coach, which some are speculating could happen today, this will easily be the largest issue for the franchise to deal with as it moves toward the 2009 season. I have a number of thoughts on the scenario that unfolded yesterday, but my largest curiosity centers around what good (beyond ratings and appeal) the station thought would come of the interview, and more importantly, why Johnson agreed to it. Station management had to know this would only increase the rift between Johnson and the organization/fans, and from a self-marketing standpoint, I find it hard to believe that Johnson thinks that this material could cast him in a positive light in the eyes of potential employers.

There was, however, one thought yesterday, that kept hitting my brain as I was in and out of the car, catching various segments of the broadcast day: It's only a matter of moments before someone tries to make this a race issue that it is not. Frankly, I should've known that it wouldn't be a listener that conveyed it, be it via a phone call, a text, or an e-mail message to the show, but an employee of the station. And I should've known that it would be the biggest idiot on the payroll: Nick Wright. I couldn't have applauded 610 more when they finally cut their ties with Rhonda Moss. She. Was. Awful. Their biggest downfall was that they waited many months too long in doing so. And then they moved Wright to a weekday slot, only bringing them right back to the status of a pretty good station with one massive corn on the foot of its staff.

I've voiced my opinions on Wright once before, and I haven't done so more often because I think his show -- though in his intro he touts it as "The Best Solo Sports Talk Radio Show in Town" -- is nothing shy of terrible. Whether his angles are his own or force-fed by management, they are, contrary to Web publishings of his alma mater, the exact opposite of "fresh, colorful style that's smart and street-inflected." That is, they are stale, bland, and wanna-be. Wright boasts his Kansas City nativeness, and that story suggests that he has a "thick, urban, Midwest drawl has a distinct tone that engages the listener." The only credit I'll acknowledge there is that his voice is in fact thick. Thick in undesirable, fat-hangover-tongue way that a body works overtime in removing from its system. Midwest drawl? Does such a thing exist? Distinct? He sounds like he's trying to impersonate Damon Amendolara, who, much as I liked his program, sounded like he was trying to impersonate Jim Rome. Engages the listener? Sure. Engages them to change the channel.

I will say that themes of race were touched on during Neal Jones' segment. He mentioned that he has had African-American colleagues in the past that have been the victim of racial profiling when driving home late at night. Jones, though, didn't dwell on the issue very long, and the reason he didn't was because that's not what this story is about. I will also admit that there were very mild undertones of race in some of yesterday's callers. They were no different than the same vibes that were cast during the prolonged weeks during the Scott Pioli hiring and the Herman Edwards firing. Perhaps they even stretched back to the Carl Peterson resignation week.

And in my mind those sentiments were this: The majority of callers that voiced their opinion of wanting to keep Edwards around appeared to be black. Conversely, the majority of the callers that wanted him gone appeared to be white. There are two caveats to those statements, and they are these: 1) Most of the callers are white, and 2) There were in fact a few black callers that wanted Herm gone, and there were a few white callers that wanted Herm to stay. Those few, however, were very few, the obvious minority. All of this, though, as a whole, remained an undertone.

Yesterday, at the dreaded six o'clock hour when Jones hands the mic to Wright, the host of "What's Wright" kicked off his show by proudly announcing that he was going to dive straight into the race issue, and pound it home because it needed to be done. What he said as a prelude was deeply disturbing, and it (paraphrased) went a little like this:

"I listened to the radio all day, and a significant portion of the callers were angry with Larry Johnson. Not all of them, but most, maybe 20 percent. You could feel the racial tension in their voices, and you could feel a couple of them being very close to dropping 'N' bombs. You could tell that most of these callers are envious and jealous of a young, rich, rapper-looking, hip-hop-listening-to, black man, and the things that he has said, and the off-the-field incidents he's been a part of have done nothing but contribute to their dislike of this professional athlete."

That segment aired right as I was getting home. On my agenda was to tend to the dogs and get dinner ready. I could've gone inside and turned on the program, but I did not. I was torn in that I wanted to hear some reactions to his statement, but I was also furious that this massive doofus with a radio show would fuel the race fire by such allegations as callers to his stations wanting to drop 'N' bombs and being jealous, envious, and angry with a person because of the color of his skin.

Now, I'm not trying to imply that there isn't racism out there, and I don't want to suggest that there aren't Chiefs fans who are racists, or who don't like Johnson. To that end, Johnson claims in his interview that one of "the suits" at Arrowhead told his father and someone else that he knows that Johnson "walks around like a rapper." I don't know exactly what that means, but if a Chiefs executive -- all of whom are white that I know of -- said that, I can't imagine it was spoken in complimentary terms. I only mean to say that I find it disturbing and saddening that a radio voice, one who was deemed by a college colleague as having cred', would dive into a broadcast with such a topic.

Most of the callers that I heard yesterday wanted to voice their opinions on Johnson in either a game-performance or an off-the-field sense. And I get that. The skinny on Johnson, in my humble opinion though, is this: It's both.

In my utopian mind, I want my team to be full of Tony Gonzalezes and Brian Waterses. In his interview, Johnson said he understands why fans really like guys like that, that he wishes he could be like those guys, but he can't because his "situation is different." Gonzalez and Waters are great role models in both senses: They are Pro Bowlers as well as great community leaders. So was Will Shields. So was Trent Green, and so was the figure most often compared to Johnson: Priest Holmes. Holmes, though he had a stigma for being weird and ghostlike and secret, never got involved with any of the bullshit.

Johnson, after his first two legal issues, took over for Holmes and went off, putting together two very impressive seasons. When he got involved with the personal-life stuff, I was disappointed. It didn't help matters for me that he clashed with Dick Vermeil, a coach I very much loved and respected. But he got past those incidents and produced on the field in Pro Bowl fashion. Then he sat out. Then he got his giant payday, and then he got hurt. Soon after, he's having legal troubles again, getting benched, getting suspended, and seldom producing out of the backfield.

Some wanted to point to his yards per carry in 2008. I say it's a misleading stat in this situation. He didn't get the carries he would've liked this year. With a re-tooled offense, he didn't even hit the 200 mark. His 4.5 YPC mark, however, didn't come in the way of finding seams, hitting holes, and breaking tackles every time he had the ball. That stat is largely padded from a few huge runs he had in a small handful of games. He had seven carries of 20 yards or more, three of 40+, and one that went for 65. He also fumbled the ball five times in what one might call limited duty. When you miss four games because of conduct, and cough up the rock at such a rate, you're good for a fumble every two and-a-half games, which, in a rebuilding mode, on a losing team wherein you are the highest-paid player, ain't good.

So it's both. Johnson now has four (that we know of) legal issues in six years as a Chief. You're one of few veterans supposedly responsible for guiding one of the youngest teams in the league, and you're getting arrested/having charges pressed against you once every season and-a-half. And you haven't produced since you got handed big bucks. Sure. Injuries and the offensive system in place are factors. But add to that a now-totalling (at least) half a dozen times where you've told the media that you don't like the fans, the city, the organization, or some facet of all three, and you aren't going to win folks over, black or white.

As for my opinion on his future, I'd like him to stick around. I think with the right general manager, coach, and offensive scheme, Johnson could become the huge asset he's been paid to be. It's unfortunate now, though, that his negative stigma



(clip courtesy of Arrowhead Addict)

is greater than ever, making the career hill he's got to climb, steeper than ever.

As for Nick thinks-of-himself-as-cutting-edge Wright, God help us.
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Monday Miscellany: 8-11-08

The wide world of sports is full of consistency, change, excitement, and drama, depending on your perspective. Seasons of sports constantly begin and end, and just when the inevitable seems...well, inevitable, a twist can be in the making. Naturally, this isn't a cohesive theme throughout sports in each and every season -- sometimes the drummer beats a new rhythm, other times, it's the same old tempo. For examples completely not related to that incomprehensive attempt at an opening paragraph, jump past the link.

DWil from Sports on My Mind thinks that Matt Jones' return to the field would've been covered much differently if Jonesy was not a whitey. This is a shocking stance for SOMM, as we were unaware that they looked into sporting news stories that may or may not be tainted with racial undertones. What next? With Leather telling us to expect sports and tits? The horror...

It's no secret that I've always referred to former Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway as Horse-Faced Colts Draft, for obvious reasons. I've always respected the game that he played. I've countless times acknowledged that he is indeed the (redacted) fifth-best quarterback to ever play at the professional level, and I've always hated him for thwarting the rules of entry into the league, and winding up on the roster of the team I hate more than icepicks to the forehead. Now, I have even more reason to hate this horse of a man. Juiced Sports Blog, via The Big Lead, has the details. Too lazy to click? Good. I was hoping you'd say that.

"...John Elway donated $2,300 to McCain’s campaign on May 29 and $600 to the Republican National Committee. His wife donated $400 to the Republican National Committee. Overall, the Elways have donated $16,000 to Republican candidates and committees this election cycle.

However, McCain wasn’t Elway’s first choice. Elway originally donated $2,300 to Rudy Giuliani in March, 2007.

Overall, Elway has been a strong supporter of the Republicans since 1990, donating $24,000 to them in that timespan and none to Democrats."

Well done, HFCD. You've got to stand for something, right? I'd show you just what it is you stand for, but I can't. We, based on contracts with our advertisers, can't show horrible images such as the one in mind. That, and we're not a political blog.

Humberto's L.A. Dodgers keep fouling up their chances to take over the NL West Lead. Major League Jerk speculates that it may be intentional, while Eddie V. at Bugs and Cranks thinks that Yankees fans may want to throw in the towel on this season and focus on football. The Bronx Bombers currently sit eight and-a-half games out of first in the AL East, and have the Red Sox standing between them and the Bay Rays. Yikes.

Speaking of football, the Chiefs and Broncos kicked off their pre-season campaigns last week by meeting foes they faced (and lost to) last season. Kansas City nabbed a pre-season win against the Bears last Thursday in Chicago, while Denver left Texas losers again on Saturday.

Finally, Blog of Hilarity takes us to Derober, which has a neat/disturbing look at ladies' Olympic Speedos through the years.
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Your 2008 HoG MLB All-Star Game Interruption

Wait a minute. I'm confused. This is all too much information for me to process. I need the CyberWebs, the Blogosphere, the WWL, someone, to help me make sense of what just happened. Trust me, I'll sit through seven Brett Favre interviews, six picture sessions of Josh Hamilton hitting homeruns in a derby of sorts, and 47 Travis Henry arrests/violations if someone could please point out to me what in the world just happened.

So, here we are at Yankees Stadium. (Editor's Note: This is the last time an All-Star game that will be played at this park because they're building a new one.) We've seen three and two-thirds innings. (Note: Really. The last time. I know. Our breaking news is a bit much to digest. But, really: the last.)

There are two outs, and Texas Ranger Milton Bradley just reached first via a screwy throw from Hanley Ramirez. That was totally weird. I'm completely uncomfortable even as I type. So we're up to our next batter, but there's a throw over to first! That throw was from Carlos Zambrano to Albert Pujols...

...and Bradley is out?!? What? Out? The first-base umpire just called Milton Bradley out for having too big a lead on first base and not getting back to the bag prior to the pitcher's throw to the first baseman, who then tagged him.

This is so f***ed.

Wait, what the...? They're going to commercial! Is this call really going to stand? Jesus. It is!

I didn't tune in in time to catch the names of the officiating team for this evening's contest, but I'm going to do some research and get to the bottom of this. Clearly, they (especially Blue at first) have no idea what just happened. I mean, you can't take a throw from a Venezuelan to a Dominican and call the African-American on base out!

This is so jacked. I mean, did they even stop to consider how this would've panned out if Bradley were a Cuban? Geez...

I'll tell you what: I did. And there's only one result: World War Three. These guys have got to be more careful with their words. Otherwise, trou-ble.
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