News to Start Your Weekend 4.27.07
Posted by Nick Marsico on 04.27.2007
White people are bad! Hulk Hogan isn't nearly the draw he thinks he is! TNA uses backwards logic! These are things I'm sure everybody already knows. I expand on those thoughts and more inside, though.
I haven't been watching much wrestling recently outside of most of what's on TV, so I can't recommend anything new this week. I can, however, tell you that the bed I sleep on nightly has a leak in it. No, not a waterbed, thankfully – I sleep on one of those Aero bed mattresses that is raised up so it actually looks like and is the same size as a regular bed. I spent last weekend at home, and when I came back on Monday, I came back to a bed that was greatly deflated. I thought nothing of it and put some air back into it, but it didn't stay. So I took all of the air out of it and just started over and refilled it all the way. Now for the past couple days I've been doing that and waking up in a crevice on a very deflated air mattress. I can't sleep in any way other than on my back once the bed has lost a bunch of air, and if I roll a little bit, I roll right off the bed. It's ridiculous. Oh well. Maybe I'll sleep on the floor for a while before I replace it. Or I'll just keep going to sleep on a nice firm bed and waking up in a soft mess. So that's that. Let's move on.
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So that big Memphis show with Hogan vs. Paul Wight is happening tonight, and finally we have a full list of the matches that will take place on the card:
- Hulk Hogan vs. Paul Wight
- Brutus Beefcake & Bubba the Love Sponge vs. The Assassins
- Buff Bagwell vs. Brian Christopher
- Abdullah the Butcher vs. Al Greene
- Koko Ware & Kid Cash vs. Bill Dundee & Dutch Mantell
- The Barbarian vs. Moondog Cujo
- Greg Valentine vs. Mr. Hughes
- Ricky Morton & ? vs. 2 Cool II
- Jazz vs. Christie Ricci vs. Miss Passion
That's BIG~! Todd "the shitty, insincere, two-faced, stomach-stapled but still fat radio guy" Clem teaming with a guy who only ever got a shot to come close to being a star because he was good pals with Hogan? Classic stuff, I gotta say you'd be a fool to miss that. Buff Bagwell in a match? Awesome! Plus he gets to take on the less talented half of the old Too Cool tag team! Yes! Abby gets to take out some of his frustrations, whatever they may be, on another one of Hogan's friends who got to play 60 different gimmicks in WCW, Koko B. Ware and a guy I'm assuming is Kid Kash don't get to use their real names and get to take on a couple of older gentlemen, and the Barbarian will take on Moondog Cujo, who at least has a ‘feud of the year' credit to his name from 1993 and was big in the Memphis area. The ugliest man in wrestling takes on MR. HUGHES~! Ricky Morton won't get a chance to team with his long time partner Robert Gibson against 2 Cool II, whoever they are, because WWE continues to do whatever they can to screw over Hogan. Finally, three tough chicks will go at it, in what may turn out to be the least embarrassing match of the night.
I love that this show has sold maybe 6,000 tickets at the most, even though Hogan claimed that they could still sell out the 15,000 or more seat venue with or without Lawler. Yeah, Hulk, you and your fans sure are bigger than WWE! The Howard 101 channel on Sirius Radio will be airing the Hogan and Bubba matches. Wrestling on the radio. Now that's a concept. Ya know, even though Hogan is a piece of shit, at least at one time in his life and career he was entertaining and made waves in his business. Bubba has never done ANYTHING and he's a fat piece of unentertaining trash. His radio show sucks, too.
Just a little venting, that's all.
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- None of the Deep South wrestlers are being fired and they have been told they will all be relocated. One of the reasons that is coming out on the situation is that management wasn't happy about was Jody Hamilton allowing Bill DeMott to keep hanging around after he was fired. Also, they wished that he would have run some more house shows to give the talent some more experience in front of different live crowds on the road and were unhappy that Hamilton signed a TV deal with Canada's Fight Network without permission. Hamilton does want to keep the promotion going, but the reality of that is yet to be seen.
- TNA decided to go with the Kurt Angle vs. Sting match on TV last night because they're hoping it will be good for the ratings since they are currently negotiating for a longer time slot. The problem with that logic is that they think that just announcing a match one week and having it the next week with no more than 2 or 3 minutes of hype time will actually draw a big number. It's fucking stupid logic and it's one of the reasons why nobody outside of the hardcores watch the show. On that note, though, only about 2 or 3 percent of that audience are actually ‘hardcore' TNA fans, because if all of them were hardcore fans, then TNA would be getting WrestleMania type buyrates for PPVs, not 20-30,000 people ordering. I don't even know if that math is right. Is it? About 1.1 million people watch TNA Impact every week. Isn't 30,000 people 3 percent of that? Fuck math. In the end, very few people who watch the TV show are actually ordering their PPVs. The point of this little rant is that putting on Sting vs. Angle for Impact isn't going to draw bigger-than-usual numbers unless they spend time building up to it. Plus, the way they did it, having it be a very short match with no ending, will just make fans think that any match that gets advertised for television will be like that (which has certainly been the case with Impact), and then they won't bother watching because history has established the fact that TNA doesn't deliver what they promise.
- Gail Kim wrote on her website about her match at LockDown: "the moment was the best of my career". She's really happy about the way it all turned out and says she experienced a great time doing the match. I thought it was a damn fine match and her and Jacqueline showed more fire and passion than some of the men these days do. Bravo to both of them for that.
- Kurt Angle said about smaller crowds: "Those are some great fans. They were incredible. I really did mean what I said - they do kick WWE fans' (butts). I'd rather wrestle in front of those 1,500 fans, which had the charisma and created a hostile environment, than 32,000 people that don't do anything." A lot of guys talk about how smaller, more intimate environments are a lot of fun to work in. I happen to agree, from a fan's point of view, that seeing a huge crowd may look cool, but when they aren't loud and really into it, it really hurts the experience. Small crowds can create an incredible atmosphere that are a lot of fun to watch, and are much, much more fun to be a part of than big crowds. I've been at shows where I'm one of a few hundred or a thousand people and I've been at shows with upwards of 20,000 people, and it's always more fun to be in the smaller crowd, because it's just a better feeling and the intimate setting helps me get into it more than I usually might.
- Sean O'Haire was charged with aggravated assault and battery over the incident at a bar or whatnot that he was involved in a few weeks ago. The other guy involved in the brawl was charged with the same, and both sides claim the other started it. Both guys are currently being held in jail awaiting prosecution.
- Super Crazy tore his MCL earlier in the week during a match in Germany. He'll be out of action for a few months.
- Maryse, the chick who brings SmackDown back from a few commercial breaks each week, is in the newest issue of Playboy, in the ‘Blondes, Brunettes and Redheads' edition. She looks just like all of the other blondes in the magazine. Nothing special here.
- The Women's title changed hands from Melina to Mickie James and back to Melina a couple days ago on the last day of WWE's European tour. Due to it coming out all over the internet, WWE.com has acknowledged it, and has added the title changes to their official title history. Melina is now a 2 time champ and Mickie has held the belt 3 times. It was actually a mistake, as well, as Mickie wasn't supposed to get the pin on Victoria, but the ref counted the pin. Melina's rematch was explained by the Coach saying that Mickie didn't pin the champ, so the champ deserved a rematch. Melina won with her feet on the ropes. If nothing else, that occurrence will do a little bit to build up Sunday's title match since for whatever reason Mickie didn't even show up on air on the go home show this Monday.
- Lance Storm wrote a great article for the Fight Network's website about UFC's buyrates being higher than wrestling. He also talked about why WWE and TNA aren't doing great in that area, and some of it is similar to what I wrote earlier. It's great stuff overall. Check that out here.
- WWE's website had a tiny bit about Orton's misconduct mentioning that action was being taken against him, but all references to it on the site were removed not long afterward. I don't think this man can possibly get himself fired, and I'm completely lost as to why. He hasn't lived up to his potential yet and he's been around for 5 years. He has continually failed and is continually the most mediocre of mediocre. Just get rid of him. Don't be afraid of TNA getting him, either. Not only would they use him poorly, but he's not a name in the wrestling business. If Kurt Angle and Sting didn't do shit to raise the ratings, Randy Orton sure as hell isn't going to do anything. He doesn't have name value. Just let him go already, Vince. He isn't worth it. Even if he were a perfect little gentleman backstage, he still isn't worth it.
- The WWE talent apparently did not enjoy the European tour on the whole.
- TNA will be debuting in Massachusetts with house shows on June 21 and 22. Also, a ‘Best of Abyss' DVD is scheduled to come out on July 31, a second Knockouts DVD is scheduled as is a Jeff Jarrett disc.
- Steve Austin is all over the place this week and is getting a shit load of press for ‘The Condemned'. He's really everywhere. All over the radio, all over TV, the internet, everywhere.
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Here's a big rant that kind of ties in with the Storm article and some other stuff I wrote up there. I wrote this earlier in the week. It's good stuff, and involves SIMPLICITY. I know it seems like a foreign concept these days, but it really does make sense.
Four of the five major angles going on in WWE right now are garbage, and the fifth is only decent right now because the focus is on CM Punk.
Neither of the tag titles have anything interesting going on with them, and the SmackDown belts just got put on a cheap gimmick team that hasn't proven they even deserved a shot. There are a bunch of talented tag teams, but there isn't a true feud and a bunch of great guys are jobbers and being used with no direction.
On top of that, they have Flair and Carlito, a good tag team has chemistry together. But instead of putting some thought into the tag division and using this fresh, fun team, they're going to split them up and feud them. It's yet another case of them putting a pair of guys together solely for the reason of splitting them up and having them feud. It's just AWFUL, and the guys have better matches together than they do against one another.
Nothing interesting is going on. Undertaker and Batista had a decent feud going into 'Mania -- they basically mimicked each other's actions week to week which included them throwing people at each other. That was pretty cool, but decent at best. Now they're doing nothing. Yes, it makes sense that Batista gets a rematch because when you win the belt, there's an automatic clause that says you get a rematch. That's fine. But when nothing interesting happens leading up to a rematch and a stipulation gets added to it for no reason other than to give it a stipulation, why am I supposed to care? They're having a Last Man Standing match. What have they done to each other to warrant it? Nothing. Umaga and Estrada were trying to kill Cena and had management at their side when the last LMS match was made, and the two guys almost killed each other in the match. Nothing close to that level has happened between Batista and Undertaker, so why make that match?
Plus, you'd think that since the match has been made, they'd be getting more intense and trying to do something to each other leading to the PPV. Instead, last week all they did was try to one-up the other in a match where they were once again forced to team together. That kind of booking is fine leading up to a first match, but leading up to a rematch with a brutal stipulation? A rematch for the belt that one of those guys lost to the other? A belt that the guy had to overcome adversity to gain back after he never actually lost it? And all they're doing is squabbling with each other? This week they didn't even interact! They have a LAST MAN STANDING match against one another, yet they don't hate each other enough to even bother trying to beat each other up? It's not like they're being forced to not be around each other. It's bad booking and in no way makes anybody want to see the match.
Kane's getting a push? He's feuding with a pair of guys who haven't gotten any respect whatsoever within the company. No matter how much JBL talks them up, they're basically a pair of glorified jobbers. Having a SmackDown feud with Regal and Taylor, a feud that isn't leading to a match at this month's PPV, is not a push. Plus, he lost his match at WrestleMania to Khali, a guy who hasn't been on TV for 2 weeks. Where's the push?
As far as Orton, fine, be a fan. I don't hate the guy, but he's no where near good enough to be in the spot he is. If he was feuding, as I mentioned in probably that thread I brought up, with Carlito like he was back in September in a midcard feud, even for the IC Title, then he would be in the right place. His abilities aren't up to snuff to being in the main event. Whether you like Cena or not, he's good when given a good promo to cut and always more than carries his weight in big match situations. Orton's not at that level right now, so he shouldn't be in the spot on the card that he is.
Wrestling is RIDICULOUSLY simple to book effectively. It's set up in a way that is very conducive to having a solid direction and interesting stuff going on. There are title belts. There should then be a number of people who want the title belts. Those people fight each other in order to get a chance at the title belts. The champion defends that title. Sometimes there are situations where more than one person should be getting a shot at the title, and they all want it at the same time, so a multi-man match can be booked once and again.
With this current WWE title feud, what gives Orton and Edge their shots at the belt? Michaels, sure -- he took Cena to the limit at WrestleMania and Cena respects that and is willing to give him another shot. While Shawn should still have to earn it, I'm fine with him not due to the WrestleMania match. Orton and Edge, however, both lost the match at WM that would give them a shot at the belt. Orton has done nothing in a long time that has made him worthy of a shot. He hasn't won a PPV match since the very beginning of November, and has lost to one of the other contenders, Shawn Michaels, multiple times. Edge is in the same situation, but at least back in the summer he was the WWE Champion. The two guys were just a tag team and have been feuding with each other. Yet Orton gets a random number one contender's match and doesn't win. On those grounds, somehow he gets a title shot anyway. Edge, just because he wants to, also is given a shot. It doesn't make any sense and 2 of the 3 challengers are completely undeserving of their shots.
Honestly, if the stuff leading up to things like the LMS match and the Four Way were exciting, I would care so much that the former stipulation was made for no reason and that the challengers in the latter don't deserve being in the match. The problem is that nothing interesting is actually happening. It's boring, predictable and just not good.
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Hell, as short as I can make it, I'll put together a couple feuds and reasons for matches at Backlash starting from what was going on at WrestleMania:
WWE Title: Cena vs. Michaels - Shawn wanted a rematch and Cena is willing to grant him one. By way of the champion not being able to just choose his challengers, however, Shawn has to prove he deserves another shot. This isn't brought out by Coach or Vince or whatever, it's just something known. How it all goes down... Michaels cuts a promo about how he is going to get a rematch and gets big wins three weeks in a row on RAW. Let's say he beats Nitro, Jeff Hardy and Randy Orton. The second week, the night he beats Hardy, Cena does a backstage interview where he gets asked about Michaels' road to trying to get a rematch. Cena says he respects him and sees that he's being impressive in his victories and that he would be proud to give Shawn another shot. The next week when Shawn beats Orton, he cuts a promo afterward where he says he doesn't want Cena's respect, he wants a title shot. Since he's proven that he deserves it, the match is made. The last two weeks before Backlash they can tag against each other or continue wrestling other guys, and they can cut promos, both directly talking to each other and separately talking about each other. Simple, makes sense, there you go.
Orton vs. Edge - It writes itself. They don't like each other or trust each other, and they've been feuding for a while anyway. Cut some promos, Orton can get Edge back and start costing him matches, they can brawl a bit, and the match is made. They can also hype up that the match has title implications since both guys have been vying for the belt, looked impressive at MITB and have been showing a lot of fire since 'Mania. Once again, simple.
Jeff & Matt Hardy vs. Flair & Carlito: Tag Titles - Hardys win the belts in that battle royal. Flair and Carlito have been looking good in tag matches, and the last men the Hardys eliminated was Cade & Murdoch. Both teams get wins the following week on RAW and a number one contendership match is made between them for the week after. Flair and Carlito get the win, and the new fire that Flair has lit under Carlito's ass leads him to get very confident, very close to cocky, in calling out the Hardys, and Flair, happy with it, goes right along.
Chavo vs. Helms: CW Title - Helms lost his title in that gauntlet match in February. He is forced to team with Chavo in a few 6 man tags, and he visibly is showing that he's not happy with it. He then gets put into a regular team with Chavo. That's already happened, so let's work from what we've been given. He works together with him in order to win some matches and look good. He also is pissed at Yang, since Yang is the guy who pinned him for the title, and he had a problem with him before that. He calls him out one week on SmackDown and the next week gets a match with him that he wins. After the match he grabs the mic and says now that that's out of the way, he's coming for the title that he lost, after holding it more than a year, unfairly against multiple men. Plus, the guy who won the belt didn't even beat him. The next week in the locker room Chavo wants to know what's going on, since he thought things were going well and they they were working well together as a team. Helms knows that Chavo was glad he was working with him in a team because it protected him from having to defend the belt, but now that's over. He made sure to keep himself winning so he could get a shot at the belt, and since he has, he's done with teaming and wants his belt back. So he gets that shot.
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I could go on, but I think I've proved my point. I just booked four compelling feuds that will lead to good PPV matches, and I did it in about 10 minutes' time off the top of my head. There's logic to all of the feuds, they're interesting and if on TV, it would be entertaining. Something that none of the actual WWE angles have right now. There's my reason.
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Some emails now, starting with Aaron Dorman and his thoughts on Imus and VT:
I didn't have time to respond to your Imus rant last week and I just read your column. You are 100% right in everything you said. Why the media always goes to openly racist people like Sharpton and Jackson is beyond me. They spend all their time just looking for publicity and not actually solving problems within the black community, as can be seen by all the time they spend attack Confederate flags and monuments in the South that ain't hurting a thing(which is my big issue as a descendant of Confederate veterens and that we never get to share our side of the issue, but that's another story). Jackson and Sharpton no longer have any meaningful purpose and just need to go away, but if they do that, they won't make all their money. I also loved how, when the media would talk to the black people that backed up Imus, it was after the thing got blown way out of proportion. How about we actually let the smart, articulate, well educated blacks that don't have an agenda against black people lead the black community instead of Jackson and Sharpton. There's a novel idea.
About the VT killer, yeah it was a pussy thing for NBC to do. The thing is, if you want to kill a lot of people, it is pretty easy. I was discussing this with a buddy of mine yesterday in one of my classes. If you know how to work a gun and are a good planner, you could go to about any college campus and kill 50 people easy. But it's the rich kids and everyone else fault that he had to kill a bunch of innocent people, not his own. If your life sucks that bad, kill yourself and get it over with, don't kill a bunch of other people for no reason. Or hey, maybe make some friends and don't be a little douche that doesn't talk to anyone. It's shit like this that is why America is in the toilet today, the media glorifies people like the VT killer and Anna Nicole Smith, and let racists like Al Sharpton attack any white person who makes a simple mistake.
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Christopher Alden has a response to Marcus Harden's email from a couple weeks back:
Hi, read your column, and I know you probably want to get off of Imus by now, but I have a few things I want to say regarding the comments by Marcus Harden.
First off, Dictionary.com defines "racism" as:
rac•ism /reɪ sɪz əm/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[rey-siz-uh m] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun
1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.
Nowhere do I see anything about racism being the "position of power" and its use against other races. In fact, the only other place I've heard that particular definition was from a particularly nutty instructor I had in Job Corps. I don't just call her nutty because of this belief, either; she once had me escorted away from her classroom and back to my dorm room by security guards because I had worn an Austin 3:16 shirt, and she thought it would offend religious people (and no, I did nothing to bring it on in any way; I was just minding my own business, participating in the class discussion when suddenly two security guards came to the classroom door and she told me to go with them).
But, despite this, let us take Mr. Harden's definition of racism at face value; let us assume that racism truly is the abuse of power against another race. He goes on to say that because of this, only white people can be racist, and it's impossible for a minority to be racist. Don Imus holds no power, political or otherwise. He's a shock-jock (and an increasingly irrelevant one, but that's neither here nor there), a comedian, who was cracking a tasteless joke. Nothing more than that. On the other hand, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton not only have power (in the form of media influence and a rabid following), but have used it to ruin people's lives just because they were white people, and certain black people said they did something bad (Imus and the Duke lacrosse team are the most recent examples of this, of course, but it goes back further than that; ask the folks who were accused of raping Tawana Brawley how they feel about all that Al Sharpton did to bring national attention to that case, as well). So, I must ask, who is being racist in this picture?
Thank you.
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Speaking of Marcus Harden, here he is:
I didn't respond because it's quite obvious that we're on two different sides and won't agree, although reading your column today I see we're ever further away than I thought. Of course I loved the way you used your power and influence in your column to state my opinion as "ridiculous" after telling people to judge for themselves, kind of oxymornic, eh?
It's your column, so whatever. I'll just say this, as a person with a college education, and a masters degree in Clinical Psychology, whom works with minority youth, as well as adults...Please be careful with your assertion that "words are just words", sticks and stones will break my bones is a myth.
Millions of people suffer long term damage because of words, I would actually argue that controlling someones mind through demeaning them or mental anguish is far more damaging then any short term or even long term physichal damage. As a former athelete, trust me, coming back from an injury it isn't the pain of the injury, it's the mental anguish that goes with it.
What's so wrong with saying, "nappy headed?", I'm sure that's a comment tossed about the Jewish community. Someone wrote "why can black people say whatever they want?" Really, we can? That's funny, lets see...All major media outlets, run by, white people. All major governement, white people. All major financial institutions, white people. The country nay the world populated by, people of color. The truth is, black people, hell anyone non-white says "whatever" we want to the extent that the white media allows, not my "racism" just factual. It makes for good quotes and dollars.
You're blantantly targeting a group of people, joking or not. You, and IMUS, also have no idea what it's like to be a minority in this country, and I'm not hollering victim, THAT is fact. At no time did I never defend Sharpton or Jackson, much like the other writer, I'm not a fan of Sharpton or his style, but SOMEONE has to be a voice for groups of people that have traditionally been and still are underrepresente and underserved.
As as as the "hate crimes", why does nobody call it hate crimes when it happens? Because most black crime, is black on black, check your statistics. When they claim whites are hate crimes, it's usually because that's what the MOTIVE is. Not robbery, not rape, but their intent for crime was because the person was black. Hence, why Black on White is not called hate, because their motive was crime in general.
I think what's lost is again, the power of media, IMUS even being IMUS, has responsibility in his medium, and sadly on this occasion he said the wrong joke, at the wrong time, about the wrong person. There are people in this country whom here things about whatever and start to believe, be it panic tactics, be it racial comments. He has a SOCIAL and PUBLIC responsibility as a SOCIAL and PUBLIC figure.
He's not Seinfeld doing standup, he's not Will & Grace making homosexual jokes, he's not Chris Rock dropping the "N-Word". He's a even Howard Stern or the Daily Show whom people take for a grain of salt, he can't have it both ways being both SERIOUS and POIGNANT and then at the same time able to be socially irresponsible, life just doesn't work that way.
Again, he's a multi-millionaire, he'll be alright, and in 4 years when those young ladies are in the work force, he'll still be a millionaire, don't cry for him, please. He was not unjustly fired, there was cause, whether one agrees or not, does not make for unjust. SLavery, that was unjust. Being falsly accused of rape, unjust.(Side note: I as a Duke fan, am happy they were acquitted, that had nothing really to do with race, besides the fact that the woman, HINDSIGHT not being used, was a minority against priveldged young men, hence why it became a race issue)
A millionaire whom has a show that reaches millions, makes an off color comment that was offensive about someone, and getting fired, NOT unjust. If you're so outraged, you should boycott General Motors and the sponsors that pulled, boycott MSNBC, because it really then didn't become about race, it was about money, money that they're scared of losing, even from a demographic that doesn't even LISTEN to IMUS.
Lastly, the funniest thing, the people that probably heard IMUS and were offended the most, probably weren't even black. Anyway, I still enjoy the column, keep up the great work, and trust me, much like other "disgraced" power figures, in a years time when IMUS is back on the air, his millions and white privlege will still be safe. Finally, AGAIN, people of color in AMERICA, cannot be RACIST, race is is a social construct, controlled by those whom control and have power of society, since blacks do not control this society, they cannot be RACIST. They can and everyone IS prejudice.
Racism: The belief that some races are inherently superior (physically, intellectually, or culturally) to others and therefore have a right to dominate them. In the United States, racism, particularly by whites against blacks, has created profound racial tension and conflict in virtually all aspects of American society. Until the breakthroughs achieved by the civil rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s, white domination over blacks was institutionalized and supported in all branches and levels of government, by denying blacks their civil rights and opportunities to participate in political, economic, and social communities.
Prejudice
1. a. An adverse judgment or opinion formed beforehand or without knowledge or examination of the facts.
b. A preconceived preference or idea.
2. The act or state of holding unreasonable preconceived judgments or convictions.
3. Irrational suspicion or hatred of a particular group, race, or religion.
You're using semantics now, sir. Whether you feel it's right to use the word or not, there are A LOT of black people that hate white people and blame lots of things on white people. Those people, whether you want to admit to them being racist or not, absolutely are prejudiced. Hell, your definition itself proves that, right along with the rest of what you wrote. You are insane, sir. You're just another one of those people, and yes, by that I mean YOU PEOPLE, that have this big conspiracy theory about how the white man, even in 2007, are holding the black man down and that the white man is the problem and the reason why blacks have so much trouble in this world. You know why white people are so prejudiced? Yeah, while the news does portray black people in a negative light while rarely… rarely painting them positively, there are still a shit load of black people, including rappers, who certainly don't do anything to try to dispel the negative views on black culture.
Did you see the comments that idiot Cam'ron said recently? Because it would hurt his street cred and hurt album sales, apparently, he said that he wouldn't tell the cops about a serial killer, even if he was living right next door to him and could easily get the guy off the streets, thus saving lives in the process. Because complying with the cops is a bad thing. Oh, that's a great way he's portraying black culture in this country.
As far as the ‘nappy-headed hos' comment… do you HONESTLY believe that the Rutgers women were really mentally scarred by being called that? Please don't tell me you do. That isn't going to be putting mental anguish on them. They were called a silly name by a stupid old man. If you truly believe that such a comment would make such a huge mark on their lives that it would stay with them forever, you're insane. The experience will probably now stay with them forever, but that's only because they were completely and absolutely exploited by the media, yes, the white media that you hate so much. Guess what, I hate them too.
Not because they're holding down the black man or controlling the world and thus harming you and yours, but because they're a bunch of unfair, illogical, insincere, irresponsible douchebags. Yeah, the media sucks, but they aren't holding down black people. You should find yourself as an example of that. You're a college graduate who is enjoying a great career. It's 2007, not 1960. Minorities, you say, can only say what the white people are allowing them to? Have you heard some of the bullshit that black stations are spewing? There's a channel on XM Radio that has completely militant black shows that talk about how white people are the bane of the world and outright say that white people are the problem and must be eliminated. Ya know, kill them all. That's what they're saying. On radio. Tell me again that black people can't say whatever they want. I fucking dare you.
Once again, sir, you're completely delusional. It's not a matter of opinion, it's the truth. You are completely off base and you think things exist that don't. You're not the victim, sorry. Do black people get a bad rap? Yeah, they do. Of course. But to the extent where you're basically powerless? A black man, whether he wins or not, is one of the top possibly candidates for the PRESIDENCY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. If everything truly was as you say it is, that wouldn't be a reality. Please, dude, get real.
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Finally, mister Matthew Alan Roberts ends us on a bit of a lighter note, replying to what I said to him last week:
I should start by thanking you for printing my response to your prior column. Your response to them was incorrect, but at least you acknowledged my prior comments. You seem to feel your view is the only right view, which makes further discussion rather pointless, but I had a couple of other comments to make. Also, I wanted to write to you to say that I hope your future columns will focus more on wrestling as they are much better when focusing on wrestling.
1. You are clearly an Imus mark so arguing about Imus with you is fruitless. Your attacks on Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are correct, but do not excuse the actions of Imus or mean he should escape punishment. Your attacks on them as a method of trying to extricate Imus are a logical fallacy as you are trying to shift the attention off of the real issue that is Imus. The bottom line in money, which Imus was not drawing near what he did in his prime 30 years ago prior to this incident, and which he was going to draw even less of as legitimate corporations have no interest in being linked to a person who makes racist comments for shock value and fun.
Since I have not listened to Howard Stern in over 7 years you were wrong in your conclusion I was a fan of his. I just happen to know the truth about what a scum bag Imus is even if you do not want to see it since you are a fan of Imus. I will say that Stern at least has a job still, unlike Imus, and makes enough money at that job to buy and sell Imus 1,000 times over. It has been so long since Imus has even been a minor rival to Stern that I can not even remember when that was.
2. Let me get this straight, I am supposed to believe these "actual figures" reported from unnamed sources with no proof over the official attendance reported by the mainstream news media, Vince McMahon's publicly traded company, and the venue that actually held the event. Vince McMahon (who can go to jail for lying about figures to investors) forced Ford Field (who "actually" counted the people coming into the stadium) to lie and made up a number all on his own, which the news media who lives to crucify wrestling just ignored. Please consider the irrationality and ridiculousness of that before continuing on with the absurdness that there is a conspiracy to work the attendance of Wrestlemania. Give me conclusive proof of the "actual figure" (which was "actually" just made up by the usual anti McMahon brigade on the internet and TNA) or do not bother continuing this nonsense, unfounded, internet rumor.
3. The Big Slow saying he was a slave was news on the internet to wrestling fans. If the media was not busy taking care of Imus it would have been even bigger news. If not for Imus being the same week at the least Big Slow would have gotten the Memphis show shut down and maybe Hogan Knows Best cancelled. In my view, what Big Slow said was worse than what Imus said and I am glad the Memphis show will flop huge.
4. I never said Shelton "no expletive needed" Benjamin was trying to screw McMahon, so you made that up. Hogan and Lawler tried to screw McMahon and they are paying the price they should pay. Lawler did not ask permission of McMahon to do this show, he did everything behind McMahon's back betting that once he had everything set up and going McMahon would not pull the plug on it. Lawler was wrong (like bad children, bad old, washed up, worthless wrestlers need to be taught a lesson some times) and should join the "kiss my ass" club for real as thanks to McMahon for not firing his washed up ass.
5. Lastly, speaking of washed up, old, worthless, ungrateful wrestlers, we have their thumb upping, cheap popping, poster child Mick Foley. A show all about him kissing his own ass over what a great humanitarian he is will be a colossal failure and a torture for anybody who dares watch it. His last book already totally sucked ass for many reasons including his shameless self promotion, abrasive leftist political views, and need to kiss his own ass over what a great person he is, so taking that and putting it on television should cure insomnia. I can not believe I was once a Foley mark, but he changed that by turning into a caricature of himself and hanging around long after he should have retired.
Corporations have no interest in advertising for people who use racial comments for shock value and fun? Have you ever heard of Howard Stern? Basically, if Jackson and Sharpton didn't make such a big deal about it, it wouldn't have been the big deal it was. The advertising would still be there and Imus would still be around. I'm not a big Imus fan. I only really know anything about him because I'm an Opie and Anthony fan, and so is Imus. Imus made a lot of references to O&A programming on his show and promoted them a lot, and he along with Rob Bartlett were hilarious on the show. Also, he's a scumbag? Yeah, a guy who raises multiple millions of dollars for sick children for almost 20 years really is a terrible, horrible person. He has a ranch for kids. The hospital my mother went to when she had cancer over the summer had an entire wing for cancer than Don Imus paid for. Yeah, what a scumbag that guy is. Terrible person. Helping save lives. How dare he?
What does TNA have to do with Vince McMahon and PPV numbers?
Stop being so sensitive. Show doesn't hate black people and he isn't making slavery out to be a joke by him comment. You do know that slavery isn't exclusive to America, right? You do know that black people in the south in the 1800s weren't the first or only people to be slaves, right?
Lawler wasn't trying to screw anybody. As an announcer and not an active wrestler, he is allowed to work other shows that aren't related to WWE shows. It's part of his agreement with the company, same as Al Snow, same as Tommy Dreamer back when he wasn't an active performer with the company. He was just doing something for the fans in Memphis that his contract completely allows. This has nothing to do with Lawler screwing Vince. It has everything to do with Vince and his problems with Hulk Hogan. Taking Lawler off the show wasn't to "show Lawler" or to discipline Lawler, it was to shove it in Hogan's face.
I understand your opinion on Mick, and as far as that is concerned, to each his own. As far as me coming off as though my opinions are the only ones that are right, I'm sorry if I like to use logic and truth in what I say. Is the attendance figure stuff up for debate? Sure. But just as much as I claim that Vince is pumping up the numbers for his TV audience, you at the same time are claiming that TNA is involved in some big conspiracy. One may be true, neither may be true. Hell, you said what you said about me immediately after saying that my "response to them was incorrect". How can my opinion be incorrect? Don't come down on me for saying that I'm right and that's how it is and then go on to do the same thing yourself.
