When I wrote yesterday’s blog, I thought to myself that perhaps I am the only one who shares my sentiment on when will all this steroid crap in baseball will be over. In speaking with my co-worker (who is a Yankee fan) he believes the same thing. We are we going down this road again?
My feeling on the subject is this, the only industry that benefits from any of this is the Media. Sports Illustrated will sell more magazines, ESPN will get more viewers, and Sports Talk shows will sell more advertisements. If you think that I am just blowing smoke rings, I understand. But, how is that this article mysteriously comes out a week after the Super Bowl, which just happens to the be the week before pitchers and catcher report to Spring Training?
I know how this is going to play out. We hear about this all Spring and Summer. Names will come out every so often and people will scoff and be disappointed. Fine. But, this will never end. At least not until they hang Barry Bonds.
What gets me is that Baseball was all but dead by the end of the 90’s. If it wasn’t for Sammy Sosa and Mark McGuire in that historic home run chase, we may not be enjoying the same sport. No one complained about the home runs and no one complained when the Yankees dominated during those years. So the issue is why complain now? Major League Baseball had no sanctions on any of this stuff until 2004. They turned their backs.
I still do not like Alex Rodriguez. But, I commend him for admitting taking an enhancement. I do not believe that makes him any less of a player. I am a firm believer that steroids can not make you see the ball better, cannot make you hit it better, cannot make you dive for the ball at the right moment, cannot make you slide the right way, and cannot make you catch/throw the ball more accurately. No one can prove what steroids does in terms of performance. The only thing we know is that it makes you recover faster. Who would not want that?
I am not saying that people need to take steroids, however, none of us really know what that pressure it is, to succeed at a high level. Then you have to take into account that these athletes make millions of dollars and need to perform to justify that pay. So what now? Do you mean to tell me that no one in NBA or NFL are not taking them? Where are those Sanctions?
Author: latinegro
I should be happy about this, but I am not. I stuck answering this question: when does it end? Clearly I am a New York Mets fan, clearly I am not fond of the Yankees, and if you know me well enough then you know I cannot stand Alex Rodriguez. He is arrogant, an asshole, and a liar. I felt that way before this new steroid allegation. I should be excited that he is finally being brought down a notch. But, I am not.
The fact of the matter is, I am huge baseball fan. I live for the sport. I can watch any team play. I am normally in 2-3 fantasy leagues. I can talk all day about baseball. This whole steroids nonsense once again is not good for Baseball. I thought we were past this? Clearly we are not. Reporters feel that this is an issue that needs to be brought up again and again. For what? So that baseball fans can be more upset and not watch America’s Pastime? You would think that the media would understand that many fans don’t care all that much.
Granted, you don’t want a cheater to be on your team but, in 2003 just about everyone was using some form of enhancement. The owners didn’t care, the manager didn’t care and the majority of fans did not care. So here we are back to where we were several years ago when Barry Bonds broke the home run record.
If you read the right articles you see how many people still blame Barry Bonds of all of this. For those who do not know, there was no real testing for steroids until 2004, which was around the time of the Balco investigation that has taken a life of its own.
My feels on the subject is that we need this to end. This can of worms, that has now been re-opened by Sports Illustrated, needs to emptied. Nevermind the fact that A-Rod’s name should have never been leaked in the first place. But, now we might as well hear all of the names that are on the list of 104 players testing positive in 2003. Nevermind the fact that those test were confidential. The person who leaked these names has endangered the existing and future contracts between the players association and Major League Baseball because that confidentiality was breached.
A few weeks ago when I was in NYC, I met up with some of my old friends from grammar school. Thanks to Facebook, we were all able to reconnect and set a meeting in the Bronx. I had a great time and we all talked about the past and what happened to this person to that person. I made me think of so many things, both good and bad.
One could argue about how happy I was during my childhood, between watching my parents marriage crumble and the constant thought in my head that I was never good enough. I had always thought I was the ugliest one in class. I was mad short. My teeth were messed up. Getting braces was just another problem. I got picked by both boys and girls. So, grammar school wasn’t all that fun in my opinion. On the other hand, I learned to defend myself with words. I learn how to be sarcastic and cruel when I needed to be. But, in the end. I think we all just took it for what it was worth. I mean, we were kids after all.
My reflection, however is based on the fact that I feel that people (and I use the term people loosely because I am not sure it is based on anything more than a feeling) thought I would not amount to much. I generally got that sense. I remember thinking about one of the girls in my class that I had a crush on for many years. She was one of the popular was in class and all the good looking boys liked and for the most part she gave them their attention. Well to make a long story short, she belittled me more than one. She also belittled my friends too. I remember thinking that I will not let her do that to me again. I will never give another girl or woman the opportunity be make me feel that I was not good enough.
Even through High School, I would see her every so often and she would kindly wave as she walked by. I am always the nice person, I waved back (although I wanted to throw a rock at her). But, still the feeling was that I will make sure that I am better than she ever thought I would be. This is a feeling that I began to develop over time, not just for her, but for anyone that felt I could not do something. I am not blaming her for this drive I have to be better because again we were just kids. But, it is always a thought in my head.
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Black Super Hero Profile: Mr. Terrific
At a young age, Michael Holt showed remarkable intelligence, reading and assimilating the works of Bohr, Einstein, Planck, and Feynman, the pantheon of theoretical physics, at the age of six. He studied advanced science, space, and time “while other children struggled through Sesame Street. Holt displayed “a natural aptitude for having natural aptitudes”, as he called it, easily picking up and retaining complex skills and abilities that other men spent their entire lives perfecting. Before he began his career as a superhero, he already possessed 14 Ph.D’s (two in Engineering and Physics — including doctorates and masters degrees in Law, Psychology, Chemistry, Political science, and Mathematics) and was a self-made multi-millionaire with a high tech firm called Cyberwear (subsequently sold to Waynetech) and was a Gold medal winning Olympic decathlete. (taken from wikipedia)
I like personally like Mr. Terrific because he is by far the smartest Black Superhero. He has no powers other than his brain. He is the Chairman of a Super Hero group called the Justice Society of America. His trademarks are the T-Spheres that follow him everywhere. The are made of nanites the he created. To my knowledge he is one of the few Black Superheroes that have encountered open racism in his tenure with the JSA.
I give him a 4 of 5 because to me he is definitely on of the better superheroes that exist.
I am not one for political commentary, especially after the election, but l there is a lot to be said about the way this new administration is taking shape. I think that President Obama is the best thing to happen to this country in a long time. So naturally, because of how he won with such a large amount of votes, people are taking notice.
Now, the Republican party has selected a new leader for their party and he is black. This happened on Monday and I wasn’t really sure how to address this. Micheal Steele is not the man for the GOP. Some would view this as progress with the thought that perhaps the GOP will get out of the South and appeal to younger voters. While i understand that, the party values are still the same.I will be interested in seeing how this plays out. I think video below sums it up.
Now, the Republican party has selected a new leader for their party and he is black. This happened on Monday and I wasn’t really sure how to address this. Micheal Steele is not the man for the GOP. Some would view this as progress with the thought that perhaps the GOP will get out of the South and appeal to younger voters. While i understand that, the party values are still the same.I will be interested in seeing how this plays out. I think video below sums it up.
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On a personal note, my taxes are all done and I am happy about that. Times are hard and I hoping that I can catch up on some bills. I am not happy that gas prices have also risen above 2 bucks. So, hopefully this stimulus package will help.
Have a good weekend everyone, but as you know I will back on here tomorrow! No Black Super Hero updates today…
This is not my official post for the day, which means I will write another one by the end of the day, but I wanted to mention again that I am adding my old blogs to this site. It makes me a bit nostalgic at times and sad at others. But, I find it interesting about where my past writings have taken me. I can attribute the gaps in my blogging to the different issues in my life.
The one thing that i have noticed is the I still talk about my place in this world which is a good thing, at least I am consistent. I would say that my writings, particularly anything after 2006 are so raw. I channeled a lot of anger and frustration in my blogs. I remember not being able to write blogs at half the length I am writing them now. The type of language I use is also very different and I think it is because I have become a mature blogger. I no longer feel the need to curse in my blogs (of course, if i am tight…then we will see).
My blogs are also still out there on Myspace and on Xanga. I also had a page on Blogger many many moons ago. I think I have everything but, we will see what I come up with. I wont add everything I have because some blogs are so short there just simply is no point. I do also intend on spell checking any past blogs. I have issues with spelling mostly because I type really fast when I am in my “zone”.
It is really insanely cold outside. I wish I could explain what it feels lie to just walk outside and be bundled up and shit be freezing. It takes may car more than 10 minutes to warm up. It reminds of when I went down to New York City in December and my brother needed to run some errands. I was in his condo chillin with my nephew. We played the Wii most of day and night when we had gotten a chance. My brother saw this particular time as a opportunity to go out and pay a bill. 5 minutes pass and we walks back in talking about “how brick it is outside”. I just look at him like he is wimp.
New York City cold is definitely not like Syracuse cold. It has been Arctic up here here. People think I am joking when I talk about the icicles hanging from my house. I will have to take a picture of them. I think that I can break off a piece, pack it in some frozen type of package, send it to a small town in Central America and irrigate the land. That is how big these glacier like icicles are!
But, this is what I don’t get. I want someone to explain this shit to me. Why is it that I will always see a white person with no coat…not hat…no gloves…just chillin like it ain’t at all cold??? I mean I have seen people in shorts just walking around campus…or women with open toed shoes. How is this at all possible?
It takes me less than 10 minutes to walk from my job to the garage. By the time I get there. I have frost on the mustache! My fingers are numb! I saw this white guy chillin on the phone with no jacket. Now, don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of cold white people that are just as bundled as I am, but you have those few that are just nuts!
Just want everyone to know that I have started adding my old blogs. So if you interested, they are all from dated in 2007 and further.
*****
Black Superhero Profile: Firestorm
Jason Rusch was a seventeen year old teenager living in Detroit, who wanted nothing more than to escape his home city. He lived with his father, who had turned abusive after he lost his hand in an industrial accident. His mother left his father sometime after the accident, leaving the young Jason with his father. Jason later recalled that his father had hit him on four occasions. With the loss of a job he needed to fund college, Jason turned to a local tough for money, accepting a job as a courier. It was on that job that he encountered the Firestorm matrix. (taken from wikipeda)
The original Firestorm was white and when DC comics decided to change this character Black there was a huge uproar amongst fans of this character. There is a message board on the DC comics website that just talked about how much of joke this character was. I has even gotten into words with some fools. While a lot of the discussion was not so much about race, it was clear that many fans were upset that he was now black. What made this change interesting is that books mainly feature Black Superheroes in the main role, do not sell very well. So, many people predicted that this book would not last a year. The book lasted 35 issues, which was 3 years.
In reading this series, Firestorm was treated as any other hero. Not that his skin color did not matter but his relationship with his father and mother was certainly not because he happened to be African American. However, his best friend Micky, was in college and was Latino. There was a point in which he did fight some Neo Nazis, but that fight did not last too long.
I will rate all black heroes I profile from a scale of 1 to 5 based on their cultural significance. I give Firesorm a 4. For being the only Black Superhero in DC to be in his own comic for 3 years, which is a first…
Ever since I was a little kid, I have been reading and collecting comic books. I just could not get enough of them. I am sure that is what has really sparked my passion to read and write so much. As a kid, I spent most of my time and allowance on reading DC comics. I was a particularly a fan of Firestorm, the nuclear man. As a boy, I never saw color or race. So, despite the fact most comic books were of white superheroes, that did not bother me at all. I was into the action and the drama, and of course the art. Firestorm was a very unique character that gained his power from a accident at a Nuclear Power plant that (through nuclear fission) joined two people (Ronald Raymond, high school jock, and Martin Stein, Scientist) into one man.
I loved this character because he was different from the rest. He could beat Superman and Wonder Woman at the same time. Which was always a favorite argument of mine back in the day. Reading Firestorm lead me to read other books that became my favorites as well. Books like the Justice League of America, Flash, and Green Lantern. I will say that Green Lantern became a quick favorite of mine. These books, to me was also very much about the man behind the mask as much as it was about the hero and the powers. At the time, Hal Jordan was always going to be Green Lantern just as Bruce Wayne will always be the Batman.
However in 1983, something curious happened that took me for a loop. Hal Jordan quit being Green Lantern and this sparked a big thing…who was going to take his mantle? Much to my surprise it ended up being a man called John Stewart and he was black. This upset me! How are you going to change Green Lantern? Up to this point, DC had two black superheroes and that was Black Lightning and Cyborg; I was so no interested in either of them! Hal Jordan was a test pilot and John Stewart was an Architect…what fun was that? All of a sudden this book went from an all white cast to a practically all black cast.
This began my introduction to a world larger than myself. It is not that I thought black people could be superheroes, it was the was now apparent to me that there just wasn’t enough. Black Lightning quite frankly was wack. Here is a guy who’s mask is attached to his Afro! So to take off his mask he would have to take of his Afro, which is fake. I wasn’t buying it. Cyborg was ok, but I just didn’t connect.
Which brings me to the world of Marvel Comics, which has Spiderman, X-men, Iron Man, and Captain America. I started collecting X-men and Spiderman when I was in High School. At this point, Firestorm was cancelled and I was mad. But, I did keep an eye on the Black Hero situation for both companies. Marvel barely had any either. They had Black Falcon (Captain America’s sidekick…ok), Storm, and Black Panther. Storm, I liked. Strong black woman who could just kick your ass with her powers or just duke it out with you. Black Panther was ok, never saw him all that much. But, what I did know was that he was a King for a country in Africa! With the exception of Storm, these character we just under used. I lost faith in the ever seeing a true black representation in Comic Books.
*****
There was a time that I did stop collecting. In my years in college I just did not have enough income from my work study position to buy comics. But once I graduated and moved back to New York City, I started getting the itch. I need to know what I missed. So, I started buy a small number of comics starting with the Ultimate Spiderman and Ultimate X-men, which is a different spin on Marvel. The main point that shocked me was that the main character in all these books was a man named Nick Fury and he is black. So for those who saw the clip in Iron Man after the credits were done will know why Samuel Jackson was there.
Black heroes were making it in modern comics and I can tell you that they are too many to name. But what really put the icing on the cake was a cartoon called. The Justice League. The main characters of course are, Superman, the Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and Hawk Girl. In role of Green Lantern is John Stewart. Not only was black back in comics but it was cooler than ever.
During this month, I will feature certain Black Superheroes and break them down contextually and conceptually. Some heroes will be dope and some wont. But I will hold no punches in what I analyze. Hopefully by the end you will also see why I love comic books so much.
Oh, and on a side note…Firestorm was reborn…as an African American Teenager. He will be first on my list…
Have a good one!
I am so stumped tonight on what to write. So, I guess I am just going to do this freestyle! I want to thank everyone for the love that I am receiving in regards to this blog. I have thought about importing some old blogs into the archives, just so I can keep in accurate account of all the stuff I have written.
I have just been very distracted today. Today was just a long day at work. I feel that most of my time is spent in meetings. I love how people want to meet about what we are going to do. I can have 3-4 of those a day. Yet, when it comes down to actually doing…I can’t get to it because I am in another meeting.
My co-workers make me laugh though, so that is definitely a good thing. My skills as the class clown are put to good use when I am at work. Making fun of just about everyone just makes my day. Not to mention that it lowers my stress level. I am stressed because I have so many projects to do, so making fun of the world around me is great!
I am also interest in battle blogging someone. It is a little idea I was having to share audience with each other. Each person comes up with a topic that other person has to blog about. It is almost like the guest blogger concept, except for the hosting blogger picks the topic. Just an idea, lets see if I get any takers…
Anyway, I am keeping this one short today, but I want to encourage people to read the blogs I am about to list. These are people I feel have a lot to say and I will eventually have these blog links on the side of this page.
Brookey’s Blogspot
Ruined by a sophisticated education…
Makes Me Wanna Holler – Man, Dad, Husband…
The JoseVilson
Black Cloud Films
Tomorrow is a late night for me, but I will definitely have a topic.
I think I have spent most of my life trying to figure out the definition of Friendship. As a kid, I always seem to call everyone (who didn’t pick on me), my friends. My father would tell me that true friends are there when you need them. I looked up to my dad so much as a kid because I thought he was one of those cool fathers who could slick back is hair and adjust his mustache and he would always look good. He had this aura about him that seem to attract so many people. At, times I thought her had literally a hundred friends. But, in his wisdom, he would tell me that all those people were not his friends. They were associates that only liked him because he had a good job and he was always willing to help someone.
This was always proven to me when my dad used to get into a jam, only few people would help him get out of it. He would look at me at tell me, “Now those are true friends”. Over there years we seems to have the same friends be there for him over and over to the point that when he retired, they all moved to same place in Deltona,Florida.
Now, if you have ever been to Deltona, you will know that it is a very fast growing community. Located about an hour from both Orlando and Tampa Bay. I call in “the little Bronx” because all the old school Puerto Ricans from the Bronx now seem to reside there. I am amazed about all the people he knows there. Every time I go down for a visit, I get introduced to another old “associate: that he used to run with. The conversations would go something like this…
Papi: Anthony, you remember Felix right? He used to live on Story Avenue by the firehouse
Me: uh….no…
Felix: Hey! Papa, remember me? I remember you when you this small!
Me: uh…no..
Papi: He used to take care you when you were little…Remember Carmen, his wife?
Me: uh…no…
Felix: Yeah man, I ran with your father back in the day on Eagle ave….
Repeat that about a hundred times and you will get my drift. Substitute Felix with Willie, or Oscar,or any Spanish name you can think of. Then substitute Carmen, with Lisa, Olga, or Jackie. When he moved, I thought I would be rid of these people. But I digress…
I am stuck in this notion of friendship because I am not sure I have a definition that suits me. Sure, I have friends. Some that disappoint me, some that I disappoint, some I actually love, and others that I hate to love. There also those that I have spoken to in a long time and when you finally have a conversation it is almost like a single day has not passed. But how does one judge a friend? There is no measure sometimes.
I cannot go by how I treat my friends, because I would drive myself nuts. Bad enough I am a Gemini who gets bored easily, which means that I may seclude myself until something excites me. But, I when I am your friend, then I am your friend for life. I may forget your birthday, but if you need something I am there. There will always be a point when I think about via a memory or a glance at your Facebook status (which, by the way, facebook is like crack sometimes).
So what do I ask in return? I am not that picky actually because I don’t expect much. I just expect my friends to be real. I have come to realize that this one thing is hard for some people to do! If you can’t hang out then that is cool, just say so. But the one thing that yanks my chain, is when people say they will do something and they don’t do it. I am not talking about offering to pay dinner or anything like that. I am just saying that I don’t like flakes in my cereal…lol
I have been going back and forth about what I wanted to write today. I get distracted easily and this is very much a lazy Sunday. I wont mention that today is one of the biggest sporting events of the year. Since I have already spoke my peace about the Super Bowl already this week, I will not delve further into it.
So, what do I write about? How do I come up with the subjects on this blog? I do not have a set schedule that is for sure. I just get this feeling and then I start typing.So I sat around today watching movies. I ended up watching Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, College Road Trip, and Desperado. Clearly I was not interested in the 9 hours of pre game show over on NBC. There was also no intention to watch Martin Lawrence in 2 straight movies either. I am the type of person who just puts the TV on from the last channel on which is was set from the night before and go on from there.
Anyway, I was going to write about family because that was what the first 2 movies were about. But, that gets too complicated for my family. I come from a large extended family of cousins, aunts, and uncles. While I can share a whole range of stories, I will pass on that (for now at least). I guess I wanted to stick more to the theme I have set so far with this blog and that is the view of Latinos.
Let me preface this by saying that I love Desperado. The action, the comedy, the sex (of course). Not to mention the ever lovely Salma Hayek. Anyway, it made me think about once again what is the typical Latino look like. In a previous blog, when I mentioned the stereotype of the hot Latino lover and for some reason I think about Antonio Banderas. In the some of the roles I have seen him play, there is the sense that he is dripping sex. There is just an image that he manages to portray. I am sure there are other movies he is that he is not portrayes as this stereotypes such as, The 13th Warrior, but he does play a Muslim man who love god.
So where does that leave me? I made a funny comment on Brook’s Blog which I said that I blame Marc Anthony for what the image of a Puerto Rican male was, so does that mean I should blame Antonio Banderas for our oversexed image? Perhaps. I may have to reflect further on this. I will also say that the lack of (skin) darkness in this movie is not surprise because clearly Black Mexicans do not exist.
Ok…enough of my soap box rantings. I am off to watch the Super Bowl.
P.S. Jennifer Hudson looks so beautiful tonight singing before the game…she amazes me.
Anthony Otero 
