Have you looked at ESPN lately? Is there a certain “tone” that appears to be in replication more frequently in their debate oriented programming? Is one debate show in particular swallowing the Network despite the grumblings of more “dignified” journalists working at the network, and more importantly will it subsided anytime soon? First Take is fastly becoming the Goliath within the Goliath, the Hot TV show that is making the go to sports outlet the place to be for many of us the first thing in the morning. Even Sports Center is taking a backseat to the show, instead of the highlights of the game many of you want to see what Bayless and Smith think of the game. The show is directly responsible for making ESPN a cultural phenomenon that attracts a list Rappers as well as Regis Philbin for the same reasons and that is hard to do. We’ve all been riveted for the last couple of years to the Frazier Ali synergy of Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith but it is the bombastic tone and tenor of Smith that makes the show a staple for African American sports fans. What is the appeal of a voice that can often get too loud, too obnoxious and too overbearing at times? The appeal is the cultural link to the haven of all black sports debate, the Barbershop. We love Stephan A because as African Americans we all have a friend like him, loud, opinionated and filled with low-metric “facts” that often don’t matter. He’s that homeboy that will bombard you with statistics and a little bit of trash talk to keep the crowd alive while everybody is sitting around waiting for their turn in the top barber’s chair. It’s a familiar tone and style, part preacher; part Muhammad Ali,-part Rucker Park and when you mix it with the relentless Skip Bayless you have TV magic. All of this success is to the chagrin of those who kneel at the altar of the Sports Cathedral.
Newsflash: Fans never felt close to the Academic, “Fuddy Duddy” shows where journalists tried to outsmart the room when talking about something that isn’t (and shouldn’t) be viewed on par with world events….Sports.
ESPN is in the business of entertainment because the truth is Sports is something that was designed to keep us from pondering much more serious matters like the Federal Reserve-and it works. The African American style of Sports debate is provocative at times but is often a tongue and cheek entertaining way to elicit response. Let the media outlets who are getting reduced to irrelevance by ESPN strive to “enlighten”, hell ESPN can beat them at that too. Stephen A. Smith’s overreaction to Skip Bayless’s “Tebow” love is all barbershop shtick, evoking Muhammad Ali’s cat and mouse game with Howard Cosell in the heyday of their verbal rivalry. If you examine the debate format shows African American personalities appear to have brought a more freeform style to the shows that make them more entertaining while manifesting a basic truth about sports, regular folks don’t debate it, we argue about it. ESPN despite being the only ballgame in town is more hip than it’s ever been without alienating a core audience of guys who see the change but aren’t averse to it. But, with that Barbershop style there are gray areas and pitfalls that force us to re-examine how far the network may be willing to go in embracing that kind of style. This reminds me of when Hip Hop went mainstream and corporate, the masters of industry knew the influence was strong in the suburbs but they still had to frame it in a way with respects to the fact that Mom still had the checkbook. Last week Rob Parker was suspended indefinitely for making disparaging remarks about RG3, questioning whether the Skins QB was a “cornball brotha” or “down for the cause”. I’m not even sure where the complaints came from, but I’m sure they came from a powerful place because I was satisfied when Stephen A. checked him on it in real time and i wouldn’t have been offended if the “Hollis Howler” called him an idiot. The Biggest Network known to man (owned by Disney) is a Corporate Animal beholden to Political correctness. But the Black Barbershop is the most politically incorrect place in the world so tread lightly.
We do talk about interracial marriage, and we do question how certain successful brotha’s behave within the Celebrity they have achieved-and we do cast generalized BS character assessments often to an Apollo Amateur Night Response. Unfortunately we are just a bunch of guys waiting for a haircut and Rob Parker is on TV; he may have thought he was slipping one under the “PC Police” but once he mentioned “Real Brotha’s” in the Barbershop this goose in the loud suit was cooked. The game called “the dozens” is another way we communicate in the Barbershop, we take shots and if your thin skinned or take yourself too serious (like advertisers) you shouldn’t be trafficking in that cultural environment. The major sports leagues traffic in predominantly black area’s and trust me Robert Griffith is no stranger to African American Barbershop “chatter” despite rocking the braids and being a Military brat. He’s the face of a major sports franchise, so I’m sure he’s just as oblivious to black criticism as Tiger Woods is which is Parkers point and Griffith’s luxury to ignore his BS. Athletes love the show and respond to it directly more than any sports show on TV, and this would have to be something that the so called “more dignified” Sports Shows ENVY. Jay Busbee over at Yahoo Sports may call Skip Bayless’s branding Chris Bosh “Bosh Spice” sports manure, but black folks call it shit talking, and Bosh came on the show to handle it. ESPN can’t plug every leak in a genre they’ve clearly invested in without robbing it of the authenticity that makes it entertaining-in fact nobody at the network even found it necessary to edit out the idiocy on the second airing-because it worked. ESPN is responsible for giving us smart, dignified African American Sports Journalists like the late Ralph Wiley but we aren’t (and shouldn’t be) bound to the Sidney Poitier model of presentation because our passion (even when displaced) is a part of the noise that makes Barbershops great.
Unfortunately when you venture into what one would call a more organic form of dialogue one can risk rankling the many partnerships and sponsors that don’t take kindly to how Black folks “signify”. TV One can have shows centered around Black Men being (As Parker put it) “Down for the Cause” and presenting us as politically monolithic because of the partnerships they have and their audience. ESPN is dealing with a larger slice of the population who may not find the Barbershop so funny when brotha’s venture into the kind of territory we often venture into. So, if Rob Parker wants to speak more frankly about sports in a style that is consistent with what we really are “used to” my suggestion is a cut in pay and a call to BET or TV One. But he should be wary that like everyone else nobody can step to ESPN when it comes to viewership and influence, just ask Dan Patrick who entered Witness Protection once he left the Network. If he and a group of African American Sports Journalist aren’t willing to bravely take that Barbershop style to a new network and challenge the “Big Boys” then Parker should bite his tongue. And deal with the realization that he just may be the “Cornball Brotha” he hinted at RG3 being.
Newsflash: Parker Apologizes to Network and Griffith.
Next, FOX News will sic the Irish Bloodhound on him and force him to admit he’s a deplorable racist worthy of deportation. This segment will come after they accuse Obama of somehow being involved with Parker; I mean he does have to tighten up his fade every other week right?.
Newsflash: Parker Apologizes to Network and Griffith.
Next, FOX News will sic the Irish Bloodhound on him and force him to admit he’s a deplorable racist worthy of deportation. This segment will come after they accuse Obama of somehow being involved with Parker; I mean he does have to tighten up his fade every other week right?.
