Constituational Rights for Dummies… Like Sterling

So Sterling pissed me off again.You see, Sterling feels his “constitutional rights” have been violated because he is being punished for his retarded racist ramblings (yay alliteration!). So let’s find out why he’s wrong.

The image above the text contains the exact text of the 1st amendment of the constitution for the United States of America, more commonly referred to as “Freedom of speech”.  People get the meaning of freedom confused as well, so let’s just define that right now. Oxford dictionary defines freedom as “The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint”.  This does not mean there aren’t consequences.

Back to Sterling. Was he at all hindered or restrained from saying what he said? No. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be writing this… article? blog? editorial? Whatever you want to call it.  Were any laws made to forbid his racist remarks before, during, or after they were made? No. Did the United States government take action against Mr. Sterling? No, the NBA did based on their own bylaws. If he finds them unfair, he can counter sue. So, I’m unsure where exactly you feel your constitutional rights were violated.

Freedom of speech doesn’t mean you can say whatever you want without getting in trouble, it just means you can’t be stopped from saying it or punished by the law. If people want to sue, your boss wants to fire you, or the NBA wants to make you sell your team, then they have the freedom to say that as well.

********DISCLAIMER: I’m not a law student************

The World’s Newest Scumbag: Donald Sterling. Still Think Racism Doesn’t Exist?

First off, this was acquired by TMZ, so take it as you will. So Donald’s philosophy, which is heavily based in pure logic, is you should love people who aren’t white, but only in private. You can like them, but don’t take a picture with them, don’t hang out with them in public, and, most importantly, don’t bring them to his fucking games. Don’t worry, he’s not racist, he still loves them.

You can’t do these things not because he doesn’t want you to. No. This is apparently “how our world works”. Hey Donald, Christie wants to know if you’re stupid and Dr. Cox wants to weigh in on this.

But this is just a symptom of racism. If you think he’s the only one who’s done it recently, just take a listen to Cliven Bundy being a fucking dumbass and proving you wrong!

Sean Hannity of Fox News probably enjoyed that.

The FBI estimates approximately 2800 hate crimes were racially motivated. Since this introduces bias because you have to guess the motive, it is only a ballpark figure, but the point is it’s still happening. So, no more racism is over tweets and no more Clippers games. Fuck you Donald.

Flyers Fans No Read. Flyers Fans Drool. (If You Ask Olbermann).

Well this should be interesting. Since I can’t read, this article will probably suck. Olbermann and his obnoxious name (it doesn’t matter if I spell it right. I can’t read, remember?) are native New Yorkers or as they might say New Yawkers, so his dislike for Philly is expected. So instead of logically dissecting what’s wrong with this. I’m going to fight stereotype with stereotype.

At least I’m not racist. Oh, you didn’t know Rangers fans were racist? Well, take a look at this tweet from the rangers fan base. The Flyers have a black hockey player named Wayne Simmonds. “@KyleManger24: @Simmonds17 go slash a banana instead. Douche” and I’m the classless one” ” “Well that’s just one tweet.” Olbermann needed no supporting evidence whatsoever, so I must be right as well.

So racist Rangers, tonight’s worst persons in the sports world. Oh. And fuck you Olbermann I hope we sweep the dirty Rags in the playoffs.

The Super Bowl

Well, that was a waste of time.  In one of the least competitive Super Bowls ever, the Seahawks blasted the Broncos 43-8. That’s the reason a viewer should complain.  However, this morning my social media was filled with complaints about advertisements. What? I never understood this.  You’re shouldn’t like advertisements, since their sole purpose is to take your money for whatever stupid  product they’re trying to sell.  Worse yet, these commercials often do it with things that have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the product.

Let’s talk about Budweiser, since they are notorious for doing just that. What are the first things that pop into your head when you think about Budweiser? I’ll bet there are Clyesdales involved. Maybe some puppies and frogs if you’re really into it.  Now, go ahead and explain what on God’s green earth that has to do with beer.  Nothing? What a surprise.  But Budweiser doesn’t care because people will say that’s a cute commercial and then will be subconsciously predisposed to purchase Budweiser.  Hell, the fact that I said the product name so many times is advertising, so I’ll be waiting for my check.

I still don’t understand why it’s just during the Super Bowl we like commercials.  That’s very selective.  The other 355.875 days of the year, commercials are obnoxious (Fun with math assuming the Super Bowl is 3 hours, that makes it 3/24=1/8 or .125 days, thus 365-.125=355.875), yet for this game they are suddenly the highlight.  Seriously, there are people who watch the commercials and consider the game the interruption.  If that’s the case, just Youtube them the next day. There, problem solved, no interruptions.  Have fun subconsciously wasting your money.

Sportscenter: Sports or Talk Show?

So this is a disheartening rant to give.  It is almost an eulogy to the Sportscenter I enjoyed.  Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but my goodness does Sportscenter play favorites.  Their most recent victim is Richard Sherman who has been mercilessly vilified for being excited about winning.  He also had to deal with an endless deal of racism which is maddening to me.  They have milked this thing that shouldn’t even be a story for over a week because, let’s be honest, unless there’s a major injury in practice you run out of things to talk about when you focus on one game for two weeks.  It’s absolutely brutal.

So let’s give another example.  I come home from a long day of classes and jobs or wake up before all of that and think “Hm, I wonder who won this game”. So, I turn on Sportscenter thinking that I will actually get highlights.  I get maybe one or two if I’m lucky jammed between Lebron, Tebow, Hernandez, Sherman, and countless other things that make me think talk show.  Maybe they need to separate these things.  Make one show for all their pointless talking that bores me because I like to draw my own conclusions.  Then Sportscenter can be highlights of actual games with some guy yelling “Bartender!” and Stuart pretending his eye isn’t fake.  That’s the Sportscenter I grew up on.

The Always Controversial Philadelphia Fans

Everyone who watches sports seems to have very intense feelings for Philadelphia fans in all sports.  It is rare to find a sports fan who lacks either a very extreme hatred or a very passionate love for these teams.  I am not really sure why we get so much attention and don’t really observe this happening to any other teams.

A classic example is the Eagles (NFL football team for the city).  Everytime they come up, I always have to hear about snowballs and Santa Claus as though it happened yesterday instead of 45 years ago.  Say what you will about us, but in any sport our games are usually sold out or close to sold out regardless of our place in the rankings.  I think such loyalty attracts attention. After all, the only notable loyalty similar to this may only be the Raiders and their black hole fan section.

Anyways, it’s not just football. In hockey, the Flyers are referred to as the Broad St. Bullies, something I take as a compliment but is meant to be insulting (it’s a complex way of saying we’re classless).  Perhaps it is fitting for the tough blue collar city to have such players.  You call it dirty, I call it tough. This rough philosophy seems to resonate with the city. After all, who hasn’t endured some old fashioned fighting with their brother (brotherly love).

Obviously such passion leads to extremes such as unnecessary violence on other fans.  But don’t even TRY to make us sound like the only city who has that issue. It happens everywhere. Seriously go open a new tab right now and search “sports related deaths” on Google (or Bing if you’re a dumbass). Scroll past the Eagles and rugby (that’s a joke… I think) results and you will see plenty of other cities with this problem.   However, our special attention magnifies this and gives the haters more reasons, isolated as they may be, to hate.

Still don’t believe me? Take last Saturday (01-04-2013) for example. After the Eagles’ playoff loss I was mocked by Cowboys (not in the playoffs), Packers (also lost in the first round), Browns (okay seriously what the fuck worry about your draft pick and coach search), and Ravens (not in the playoffs) fans amongst others. For some reason, us losing made their teams better.  That doesn’t make sense.

Ah well, perhaps hockey will be more sensible. Take the Flyers who missed out on the playoffs last year.  Every fan base in the NHL attacked as though it wasn’t only the second time it’s happened in 18 years (not counting this season it’s not over yet) and somehow improved their teams. Still doesn’t make sense.

In baseball- well baseball isn’t quite as spiteful as hockey and football and, to be honest, I’m not big on baseball, basketball or soccer.  I still keep track of our teams, but I admittedly know only the basics of these sports and am not as passionate about these.  This doesn’t stop me from going to some games, as Philly sports are a great environment when you are part of the fan base. If not, then I wouldn’t want to be you. The only redeeming nature of baseball is the Phanatic (our mascot) is the absolute best.

So why do you hate us? Well, you can comment if you disagree with my assessment or want to play story-time with situations when this hatred occurred to us, but I think it’s two very basic reasons: they’re jealous and don’t understand.  Be honest, if you’re from another fan base and your team is towards the bottom of the rankings, are you going to make an effort to go to the games or watch them on TV or will just read the paper and find out tomorrow? Most honest non-Philly fans would choose the latter which is why they simply don’t get it.  They can’t imagine putting so much effort into supporting their losing team.  They may not completely abandon the team, but they will distance themselves.  But they are jealous that we (real fans, which are plentiful) can somehow do this.

We may not be saying nice things, but we never leave.