A Mafia Primer For Billie Jean King

By all accounts the late Bobby Riggs was a hustler, the kind of guy who was neither above throwing a tennis match nor taking it to the grave. Given what the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match symbolically meant to our society we seemed to be alarmed by this despite claiming we’ve “matured” as a country. As a proud father of a beautiful young woman I could care less if the match was (unbeknownst to King)  “fixed”; there are far more egregious crimes that have over time led to unintended positive outcomes- like the original eugenics based aims of Planned Parenthood for example. The only thing I find disturbing is how adamant and defiant King is all these years later, as if the revelation would somehow erase the irrefutable progress women have made as a result of this landmark event. Her response is so naïve that it serves as a primer in what wrestlers used to call “living the bit” and King dare I say is taking  her role as female trailblazer to extreme levels of tunnel vision. So, in the spirit of history and as a little education for my feminist friends who may not be so aware of the Organized Crime resume allow me to present a few of the Mobs “Greatest Hits”.

At the time of “The Battle of the Sexes” the Mob controlled most aspects of human activity in this country through the takeover of unions. In fact you couldn’t do anything in New York including building a skyscraper without paying a Mob Tax. Even the tennis outfit on Kings back had to be transported somewhere, and the Mob controlled the trucking via the garment district. If they chose to squeeze the manufacturer of Kings Garments she wouldn’t receive them no matter how much she was able to pay or the apparel company that endorsed her. All illegal gambling was still being controlled by the mob in 73’, and they probably had their tentacles into the unions of the cameramen who recorded the event. The Chicago Mob shut down the movie industry back in the 40’s by way of union, and even Francis Ford Coppola ceded editorial approval to gangsters when making “The Godfather” only 2 years before your match. That’s right Billie; if Vinnie in Yonkers isn’t satisfied with a kickback the event never happens, and maybe Title 9 is pushed backed 5 years. In fact if certain factions of the Mob wanted you to play the match in Sinatra’s backyard we’d have timeless footage of “Ole Blue Eyes” serenading you with “The Lady is a Tramp” after the match. Your selling them short if you think they couldn’t fix a tennis match in 1973 especially one involving a compulsive gambler who ended up working at the Tropicana ( A Vegas Mob joint) when he couldn’t swing a racket anymore.

The Mob was commissioned during World War Two to protect the New York Harbor from the Germans, imagine the most powerful country in the world needed Lucky Luciano- a guy already in Prison for “Compulsory Prostitution” to flex his street muscle on the waterfront. The Mob also had boots on ground in the “Bay of Pigs” because they lost millions in Cuba when Castro took over; do they teach this history to tennis prodigies? Santo Traficante and Carlos Marcello (mentioned in ESPN’s Outside the Lines piece) are alleged to have had an interest in killing President Kennedy due to that “Bay of Pigs” fiasco and Bobby Kennedy’s dogged persecution of Mob bosses. They also succeeded in “whacking” Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in 1938 and he was sitting next to President Roosevelt when they did it! By lone “nut” of course, your match was just another easy score Billie- not even outside of the realm of “daily chores”.

They are rumored to have fixed the elections of 1948 (Dewey Defeats Truman!) and 1960 so fixing a tennis match is not a problem. The Organization worked on the outer fringes of the criminal world and worked with the CIA for the better part of your life Billie, don’t think for one minute that what you were doing for women was too “big” for men who have taken aim at Political figures foreign and domestic.

But let’s get back to Sports.

Ever heard of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal? Who do you think fixed that series? Arnold Rothstein, the Godfather of illegal gambling-also a man who viewed athletes as “rubes”. The ran the “action” in horseracing and often fed J Edgar Hoover “winners” that he gladly cashed in at the ticket booth, later he would stalk any movement pushing for civil rights. What about that little 1951 College Basketball point shaving scandal that entangled Adolph Rupp’s “holier than thou” Kentucky basketball machine?- ask Connie Hawkins if the mob was prevalent in sports during your time. The Mob ran Boxing when Don King was in diapers (or jail) from the 1930’s through the rise of Cassius Clay- I’m sure you were old enough to remember when “The Greatest” knocked Sonny Liston loopy with a slap to the head. Unlike you he had the termerity to yell "Get up you bum, aint nobody gonna believe this!”  

Sonny Liston didn’t even get a shot at the title until he was well past his prime, he was a union leg breaker for the same kind of men who wouldn’t give a rats ass about the social implications of your tennis match Ms. King. In 1960 the Senate Subcommittee convened an investigation into Boxing and determined Liston should severe ties with the Mob, and they still may have fixed both of his fights with Ali- someone we’ll talk about 100 years from now. If you were “in” to these guys as Bobby “The Happy Hustler” Riggs was the impetus would be to get out of the red before something bad happened, something a lot of sheltered, self-congratulatory hippies don’t understand.

I only hope this little primer can enlighten and serve as a little slice of reality to those who are so “cause” oriented they lose track of harsh truths that will never be changed. Bad men sometimes profit from much needed social change, in fact they often fund it for ulterior gains. The Prophets of the 60’s and 70’s were merely human; many of them were brave but were too young and powerless to control the swirling corruption that surrounded them.

If Gloria Steinem can cash a CIA check Billie Jean King can be victim of a gambling coup, the bottom line is my daughter is better for both women having “done their thing”. Ms. King you should be contented in the fruits of the game not the game itself, because without the game the world would be a much different place for millions of women. You my dear are unforgettable, and the shadowy men who may have impacted that particular event are relegated to Biography Channel documentaries and hackneyed Mob movies. History is written by the winners, but we no longer have to blindly take their words as truth, isn’t that what your generation was about? Your victory was much bigger in the prism of history but in 1973 the Mafia was “King”- accept your long-term contribution with the grace and dignity the manicured greens of tennis enforce, you have nothing to be ashamed of Billie.

Love, Set, Match….King

 

Johnny Football: Still Wanna Cast him As Antibellum Saviour?

It’s been a while since black Sports writers have floated the Plantation terminology to describe the NCAA hustle as defacto minor leagues without the pay. The truth is somewhere in the middle because minor league baseball players and D-League “tweeners” don’t travel like the SEC. Colin Cowherd, these guys are working the glue gun at the Nike Factory and I find it hard to believe the average BMOC is somehow “exploited” as he climbs from beneath his hottie pyramid just in time for practice. Jalen Rose won’t talk about the free Nikes, the test takers, lifelong contacts nor the groupies magically appearing in C-Webb’s room- because it would cramp his image as Freedom Fighter. Today we’ll see someone we love to see in the second half of the Texas A&M vs. Rice Football game and I wonder how my fellow brotha’s and sista’s feel about casting him as the one to free all of the slaves chained to the training table.

One Half Suspensions, he’ll be back in the game for I run a spellcheck on this bitch.

When “we” (Black Folks) want to drop napalm we use language to paint endless rows of cotton and an overseer’s whip, we use it to make a point but when things go sideways we back away from it- because it wasn’t fair in the first place. But since the NCAA is a Plantation/Slave labor system lets have some fun, let’s play this shit through and talk about what just happened in the case of the “white slave” that basically let “Massa” know by way of class “they’ll be no whipping here boss”. That’s right, Black and Progressive Sports journalists were quick to cast Manziel as anti-establishment and today proves once and for all he is “establishment”. How do you "Fight the Power" when your daddy “is” the power? I find it imposable that Sports writers are too sheltered to know that if Big Oil can dictate to a President ( and participate in killing one) they give a shit about a bunch of low level crooks like the NCAA. From day one the kid was going to do what he wanted to do, the “whipping” post are for African American athletes who don’t come from “Fuck You” money, sorry Dez Bryant it was never gonna be “fair” and you should know that.

Texas A&M’s Coach Kevin Sumlin certainly wasn’t going to take a lead in this fiasco; his only choice was to be emasculated by the process by a 20 year old who can buy him if he wanted. The NCAA can barely hire Black Coaches let alone allow one they just paid hush money to “be” a moral leader in the vein of a Bear Bryant, in the Plantation system Coach Sumlin was just happy to be there. In ways the handling of this is a reflection of our legal system which is why “Lil Football” never as much as broke a sweat, he’s 20, you think he don’t know there’s different rules for the white and rich? The NCAA will “Stop and Frisk” the poor and the black while telling them they should be thankful they’re giving the brotha a chance to make them money-Manziel knows better. He’s so blatant he often appears on ESPN wearing Bohemian Grove ( a creepy conference for right wing “elites”) apparel- he’s nobodies “slave” he’s from a class of people who view people making $100,000 a year as slaves. All the brotha’s on his team have to kick ass today if they have any hope of getting out of the hell they’ve been subscribed to by birth. All Johnny has to do is make sure he don’t kill his damn fool self in coming years and he’ll be fine, there’s nothing to escape and the world is his plantation.

 In Closing

During indentured Servitude Whites and Blacks new to this country banded together and went at the landed gentry-we had numbers and they knew it. Race and the purgatory of slavery was created to separate us, it also gave poor exploited whites something (white supremacy) they could hold onto despite being hungry as hell. Johnny Manziel was never a poster child for reforming the NCAA system; he’s an outlier, a rich white kid who can play some damned ball. He was never going to make a big sacrifice to change anything; he’s the product of the kind of men who create such a sweet hustle. It’s not slavery, it’s a racket and American Rackets with staying power are carried out by white men in suites-those carried out by black men in saggy jeans (or Italians in Fedora’s) eventually expire. Reckless behavior will always be about “who” is doing said reckless behavior, Tyrell Pryor’s “reckless” is that of a streetwise borderline criminal “adult” while Manziels Pro styled signing session is the folly of a cute kid. Before Black people giggle at Manziel's attorneys “yeah but can you prove it?” swag understand that if he were black and poor he would be living under a more circumstantial standard of proof. This is true of his teammates who can’t possibly want to follow someone who threw a hurtful reality in their faces, one they always knew was there but nothing they wanted to see in their Quarterback.

Who wants to pick Cotton next to someone who can walk on and off the Plantation at will? And how would William C. Roden and other critics of the NCAA “frame” this. This story was always a class story, another reminder that institutions are put in place for the benefit and protection of the rich not the soon to be rich. Johnny Manziel can openly brand himself and profit from his fame because Oil Money trumps the lightweight money the NCAA mob is making off of the “Black Gold” in poor neighborhoods. Black folks love them some Johnny Football and the fact that he will kick it with LeBron because he can but never forget when LeBron exercised his right to "brand" in Miami after honoring a contract his former owner damned near called him a “runaway”. Manziel may be too small and erratic to ever be a pro, or he may be in the tradition of Drew Breese and Russell Wilson-but one thing he’ll never be is “property”.

He was Never going to be anybody’s “Boy” because he’s a future “Good Ole Boy” in shoulder pads.

HUGH DOUGLASS EXITING STAGE LEFT AFTER BLACK ON BLACK SLUR

ESPN is a corporate media giant who I do not resent; in fact if there was any corporate behemoth I would allow to RSDI chip me it would be them-fuck Facebook. But ESPN is refreshingly augmented by websites like Deadspin who call them on their shit and force them to do stuff that in their usual cold corporate matrix they’d rather keep from you. Colin Cowherd dismisses it as “gotcha media” but what he’s missing is some “gotcha” is extremely important and can lead to much larger discussions on society and ethics. In fact, you almost have to have video evidence of something occurring or monoliths like ESPN will kill the story with the astonishing frequency-it are what they call “the good old days”. Can anyone explain how the network was “posted” up at Eagles training camp to document “racial controversy” when they had one in their own house? They chose Riley Cooper oversaturation, and it’s unfortunate because there wasn’t much anyone outside of the Eagles locker room could learn from it.

What Hugh Douglass said to Michael Smith at the Black Journalist Convention was a slur, but it was in a controlled setting filled with super smart folks who don’t pull out the IPhone when something bad happens. Hugh Douglass was drunk off his ass, and threatening but ESPN is using the fact that his conduct didn’t go “viral” as an invitation to go “old school”- when institutions hid everything from the ignorant masses because they could. But since it was important for us to grow up a little and realize that “Good ole Boys” can be NFL wide outs why shouldn’t we be mature enough to discuss “what black people do to other black people”?

Not one Black ESPN “on air” personality known for intellectual invectives took aim at Hugh Douglass last week- you see it’s much easier when the target for outrage is external so this matter was deemed “internal”. The personalities all “seem” like they are socially conscious African Americans who feel deeply for the community- and yet all of them agreed to a gag order from on high. Michael Wilbon can take on “the” Roger Goodell for not suspending Riley Cooper but not Hugh Douglass for perpetuating the worst in Plantation psyche jobs devouring the mentality of black folks?. Some of us grew up hearing “Uncle Tom” and “House Nigga” from people we knew more than hearing what we heard from “goobers” like Riley Cooper. For all we know many of the black on air talent probably didn’t believe Rob Parker deserved annihilation for his silly RG3 statement, but unlike Douglass Parker’s nonsense was disseminated by millions on air. “Cornball Brotha” is merely code for what Douglass actually said to Smith, something no black man should have to take from another, Smith was within the code of arms to “square up” against Douglass as reported and he shouldn’t have to hold his tongue about it. If ESPN can talk extensively about the N word they can open up the Outside the Lines studio for one black man calling another Black Man “Uncle Tom” and “House Nigga”. The Philadelphia Eagles as a brand didn’t matter enough to spare when the story had social relevance so why the hypocrisy when it’s the ESPN brand?

Douglass is gone now, fired unceremoniously, nothing to talk about here folks, besides if blacks stopped hating one another who knows what might happen.

I know I’m talking foolishness; it’s a “dog eat dog” corporate environment where nobody is in the business of showing their own warts to elicit “conversation”. Douglass just kind of disappeared and all that’s left is Smith doing one hell of a job of not mentioning him on a “His and hers” (Aug. 8^th) podcast on the topic of “forgiveness” as it pertains to Riley Cooper. How he could talk about forgiveness for racial slurs while not even hinting in the slightest how he may have some forgiving to do? It must be hard to swallow; until direct deposit kicks in. Listening to @LebatardShow on “790 the Ticket” last week was a tsunami on race, from Riley Cooper to why the white leprechaun “Johnny Football” is the face of NCAA reform despite brotha’s being vilified for the same acts for years- and not a peep about Hugh Douglass. Lebatard admitted it (Manziel) was a “blind spot” and brought in the brilliant Bomani Jones to add black perspective on the topic and it was magic, that is if you like cringe worthy stuff like “race talk”. And yet even he whiffed last week on Hugh Douglass, the one host in Sports Radio who revels in pointing out racial dynamics, the Cuban American who mourns the death of “journalism” has no idea what happened at a journalism conference where most of his friends where.

Such is the nature of “Uncle Tom”, liberals don’t know what to do with the things we do to one another, despite the fact that some of them have endured the same kinds of hazing. Michael Smith wasn’t hearing this for the first time, and had Barack Obama grown up in Chicago instead of Hawai’i he would have surely heard it from some idiot at school. ESPN as a publicly traded company has every right to protect their corporate perception, but you would think a network that has the balls to put on a roundtable regarding race would allow people of color to speak honestly about the ugliness of what Douglass said. Many of us hated when Bill O’ Reilly took the gloves off and called us out on our unwillingness to confront those who destroy our community head on- and he’s right.

God forbid we say anything to Lil Wayne, he’s paid son!

We won’t confront anyone within the community who hurts the community; because our outrage is selective and we nurture a climate that leads to silence in the face of blacks who hate other blacks. Can you imagine if black folks went after glorification of sex and criminality the way they went after Stand your Ground? Hugh Douglass was no drunker than Riley Cooper and his destructive words were more hurtful because many of us have to deal with that pathology in our own damned families. Many of us have to deal with pent up resentments from people we love about aesthetics we can’t control like skin color and diction - it would have been nice to see sports “once again” do what society often can’t. Many of ESPN’s talent had to endure having their authenticity questioned growing up; many of them were surrounded by ignorance just like that shown by Douglass- they deserved to speak their piece last week. If ESPN can ‘kill” this story to the point where nobody can even discuss  “what black folks do to one another” shouldn’t they forfeit the right to sensationalize what others may (or may not) do to us?.

Who was safer, the security guard 20 feet from Riley Cooper surrounded by cellphones or Michael Smith face to face with a 290 lb. ex-Football player and a room full of “company men”?.

 

 

The Devil and Riley Cooper, A Letter of Thanks

Dear Riley,

First off I’d like to send my condolences and prayers to you Riley because you will need them in these unforgiving times. I also send them to the poor woman who was merely trying to do her job on the day she was unfairly slurred by you. We live in a time when technology has robbed us from the opportunity to endeavor perspective and nuance, and the right to take a fully developed picture of a situation and give it context. Sound bites can tear through a person’s humanity and 140 characters can ruin a lifetime of goodwill- Riley, you will have a long fight ahead of you and for that I wish you emotional stamina and a true conviction for change. I don’t have to look at your video more than once to put myself in your shoes; and I’m sad to say there are anonymous MILLIONS old enough to be your parents who may be in your shoes at some bar tonight.

It is part of a sick irony that technology now gives us tremendous access to people we would have never been able to access in the past and yet we are no closer to people like you. I’m sure right now part of this bubble you live in makes you recoil in horror because there has to be something evil about the worst moments of a person’s life being uploaded and “shared” in perpetuity-something the devil had to have made. And yet in your darkest moment I do offer this shred of light, you may have provided some black people clarification on a word that seems to keep us all hostages due to its complicated, and mystifying contextual history.

The Word NIGGER

You see Riley your young enough to be my son and Black folks your age grew up hearing the word from people they admire, Rappers who have money and access to a larger culture-people who can afford to be “Nigga’s”. A lot of them can’t speak well, have over-tattooed their bodies conspicuously and can hardly make it through an interview but them view the word as a benign replacement for “friend”, “male” or “person”. They aren’t to blame Riley, and I’m sure you’ve sweated and bled with a lot of “Nigga’s” yourself, those 20 something’s were born that way based on what “we” of Generation X led them to believe. We “OG’s” had little regard for our parents struggles when we were coming up in the 1980’s and we took full advantage of the right to be ignorant, aimless and unobligated to history. Black people in the 80’s were hell-bent on transcending race so we left the word and it’s context to the young who (in typical rebellion) commoditized it and made it “chic”-you know like a pair of Jordan’s.

There was more actual racism back then, and frankly the way you said that “word” reminded me of the way I used to hear it (old school) from the Corvettes that patrolled the white neighborhoods in my Midwestern hometown. It never seemed to soften then, and we had little respect for the fact that we had the “right” to confront those guys in the Corvette once we saw them again- we didn’t realize 20 years previous we’d have died for even thinking about retribution. We were a generation full of inconsistency and hypocrisy Riley, we’d hunt those white boys down while at the same time poking fun at any older person who actually “lived” through Jim Crow. So I thank you for saying it with malice and vicious (yet fitting) intent, the way the word was always meant to be said because at this unique time in our history in America we needed to hear it.

 

Limousine Liberals and intellectuals can talk until they’re blue in the face but nothing is more effective than the darkness WE ALL have in our human spirit. We all have prejudices and hang-ups and they come up when we’re “letting off steam”. They come out when we are amongst the tribe that “trendies” at MSNBC tries to tell us no longer exists, our racial tribe. They also come up in Black barbershops as quickly as they do at Kenny Chesney concerts, vile words come up when we are comfortable. I would assume you have a lot of “steam” competing in a violent competitive game, and playing a position that is stereotypically played by blacks- welcome to the “not so welcome” minority Riley. I’m sure in your environment you’ve seen all kinds of “darkness” and yet Football gives you all (like Mike Vick) a chance to grow and work together for a common cause, despite some of the faults and prejudices you’ve picked up along the way. No wonder some view Football as the one true “religion” in America. Black folks are far from an NFL team, because an NFL team is intolerant of any lack of unity and focus- “Nigger” is one of the hundreds of things we can’t seem to agree upon, and if we were a “team” we’d be 8-8, talented yet often our own worst enemy. You grew up around “us” I’m sure of it, so there’s no doubt our conundrum about identity confused you in some way indirectly. I’m pretty sure our hang-ups about the word only contributed to the antilocution you experienced growing up around your white peers, we may no longer be “strange fruit” Riley, but we are still a strange people.

Just look at a former Eagle Hugh Douglass, and how easily alcohol caused him to use hurtful slurs towards another black man, words that date all the way back to Bullwhip days.

I forgive you Riley, and I know your contrition will aide you in your sensitivity moving forward even though I don’t believe one can be trained to be politically correct at all times. If we could all be cured of hateful words (and attitudes) in 4 days we would all be mandated under compulsory service to do so, in my case the 12 day package would suffice.  Life isn’t politically correct and I’m sure NFL locker rooms can be the least “correct” places in the world so hopefully your teammates practice some empathy like they do “special teams”. Forgiveness is a subjective art, and I’ve made the decision to view what you did as not uncommon and certainly not out of the realm of youth- but I don’t to trust you to hold on to the ball either. I choose to focus more on viewing your viciousness and tenor as a “gift” to the confused community I hail from; a reminder that nothing inherently ugly can ever be spruced up to resemble something beautiful. Thanks to you the lipstick put on this “pig” by countless Rappers and 2 apathetic generations will never make that “pig” anything more than a pig. You aren’t a Rapper, nor did you rationalize what you said, you were one drunk pissed off dude who went for the vilest thing you can say in a moment of rage and I can totally relate to that.

I can also relate to how disgusted you are in yourself right now; and all of your real friends will see that and honor it-trust me I know. However I can’t relate to power, the kind that stems from being white, male and wealthy like yourself- I have more in common with the security guard you yelled at and like her I won’t forget. I also won’t forget that your mistake can be a “teachable moment” for us all, and we never get too old for self-examination. Instead of hating you we should see this as a moment of catharsis for ourselves,  a moment too valuable to put a value on, and we all know Rappers don't do anything for free. Apathy is the opiate for a myriad of sins, and without apathy the devil is never able to do his “work”, in other words evil isn’t something you play zone against- and for too long Blacks have played “Cover 2” on this word while you proved we should always be in “press cover man to man”. And for this we (who see this for what it is) thank you and I for one wish you nothing less than redemption.

Sincerely,

A Black Man