Black Athletes on CBS: Boyce Watkins Says Pay Athletes

Why don't they let Manny be Manny?

By L.A. Batchelor
sports.yourblackworld.com
labatchelor@blackathlete.com

NC-I am so sick and tired of the media bashing Manny Ramirez! First it was the Redsox and the media, then the Redsox players and fans, now Tim McCarver. Did McCarver not learn from ripping Deon Sanders back in the day when he called him selfish for playing in the NFL and MLB and got a champagne shower when Deon finally had to see this judgmental coward? Where does he get the audacity to criticize Manny Ramirez for the last two months in Boston and accuse him of dogging it and faking injuries. Was he in the clubhouse with Manny? Is he Manny's trainer? Was he in discussions and conversations between Manny, the other players and management? The answer is a resounding HELL NO! Instead, McCarver arrived at his opinion the same way everyone else outside the team: through Redsox talking points and propaganda. I heard McCarver say "we as reporters have to report the facts". Since when did McCarver become a reporter? Baseball analyst, barely, reporter, NEVER!What do you want mainstream media? When we come across as angry, we are too militant, when we are happy-go-lucky, we are considered lazy. You can't have it both ways but in your eye racist main stream media, I guess you think you should.

McCarver needs to shut up and stick to analyzing the NLCS and shut up. By the way, McCarver may wanna bring an umbrella when he goes in the locker room when the series is over because the Dodgers will win and Manny may want to shower him with champagne like Deon did.

Your Black World: Vince Young And The NFL's Depression Denial

Vince Young and the NFL's Depression Denial

By: Dave Zirin

Your sports page may have recently induced an unpleasant sense of déjà vu. A pro football star, by all accounts, seemed caught in a spiral of depression. Friends and advisers were worried enough about suicide to call the police. After an ensuing public-relations fracas, the player and the team assured us that it was all a grand misunderstanding.

Two years ago, this was the story of Dallas Cowboys star receiver Terrell Owens. Less than 24 hours after Owens had sleeping pills pried out of his mouth, his PR flack said that the police report was a fabrication and "Terrell has 25 million reasons to be alive" — an ugly reference to the dollars he was due in his contract.

This month it was Vince Young, quarterback of the Tennessee Titans. During a Sept. 7 victory over Jacksonville, Young threw two interceptions, sparking a chorus of boos from the home crowd. Then he seemed to be refusing to re-enter the game — and was injured shortly after he did return. The following night, when he didn't return calls to his cell phone, the police were sent to find him. He had apparently uttered the word "suicide" to his manager, and perhaps a team therapist, and made clear that he was in possession of a gun.

But now Young and the team say that this is a whole lot of noise about nothing.

"I'm fine. I'm good," Young said. "I just needed (time) ... to get through some things. But now I am OK. I was never depressed; I just hurt a little bit. ... When it happens again, I'll know how to handle it."

The response by many columnists and bloggers has been repellent and elucidating. This is why athletes keep these issues under wraps. Jason Whitlock of the Kansas City Star used this moment to write: "I'm going to do my best to avoid turning this into an I-told-you-so column. But the truth is, I told you before the 2006 draft that Vince Young was primed for NFL failure."

In the NFL, there is no worse sin than failure, and players are expected to shake off losses, injuries and criticism. In football, it is well understood that performance-enhancing drugs, legal and otherwise, are part of that process — just not antidepressants.

In such a high-pressure sport, where contracts aren't guaranteed and any play can be your last, depression lurks like a blindside linebacker. This shouldn't surprise anybody. Studies show that repeated concussions are linked to depression. One 2007 study that examined more than 2,500 retired NFL players found that those who had suffered at least three concussions had triple the risk of clinical depression compared to teammates. Those with one or two concussions were one-and-a-half times more likely to be diagnosed with depression.

And yet the NFL is selling a fantasy about professional football: It's all perpetual adolescence and a nonstop frat party. Fans don't want their star players to be human.

As Mike Messner, professor of gender studies at the University of Southern California and author of Taking the Field: Women, Men and Sports, said to me: "Therapists will tell you that it's much harder for men than for women to recognize the signs of depression, and then to ask for help. Quintuple that for a famous man. Being an NFL star is like being put on a national stage as the ultimate man: tough, decisive, invulnerable. Superman isn't supposed to get depressed, so depression gets viewed as a source of shame, like failing at manhood. ... In failing to discuss and deal with the very human reality of men's vulnerabilities, it seems to me the football establishment is once again giving boys and men a very unhealthy message."

In other words, team and league executives don't want to be upfront about Terrell Owens or Vince Young. And they certainly don't want to talk openly about the story of Shawn Andrews. Andrews, of the Philadelphia Eagles, missed days of training camp in August because, as he told reporters, he was depressed. "I'm willing to admit that I've been going through a very bad time with depression," the two-time Pro Bowler said. "I've finally decided to get professional help. It's not something that blossomed up overnight. I'm on medication, trying to get better."

But the Eagles didn't see Andrews' mental health as a legitimate medical problem and fined him $15,000 for every practice he missed. That wouldn't have happened to a player with a sprained knee. Andrews is now back on the field. After Young's episode, Andrews told reporters that depression is the silent scream of many NFL players.

"When we faced the Patriots, those guys were really concerned, and when we played the Jets, a couple of guys were inquiring — told me if I wanted to talk or needed to talk (to contact them)," Andrews said. "A lot of guys, you'd be surprised, are going through what I'm going through and don't admit it. I think guys are sensitive to it. If they haven't been through it, they know somebody who has."

Surely many fans know someone who has endured the darkness of depression as well. But the NFL, rather than take the opportunity to educate fans about a disease millions of men face, just pumps up the music and gets back to the big frat party. Let's hope more people like Andrews break the silence before tragedy strikes.

Reposted From Edge Of Sports

Your Black World: Chicago Bears Suspend Tommie Harris For 1 Game

Even if Tommie Harris' injured left knee is ready to go Sunday, he will not be making the trip to Detroit.

The Bears suspended the three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle today for one game as coach Lovie Smith cited a violation of team rules.

That means the defense will be without two starters as cornerback Nathan Vasher is expected to be held out following surgery on his right hand.

Harris missed this past Sunday's victory over the Philadelphia Eagles after vowing to play in the game. He hasn't been the disruptive force the team has been used to and the plan was to hold him out for a week or two in order for him to heal up...

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Your Black World: Brothers In Flight: A Poem For College Basketball

Brothers in Flight

By: Bruce Edwards

Young brothers ballin’

Dunkin’, shootin’, scorin’

High priced coaches in their Armani best

Corporate logos pinned to their chest

Best teams in the land

All wanting Final Four glory

But behind the hoop and hype

A totally different story

A story of Black Gladiators

Performing incredible round-ball feats

More blacks on the court

Than in the arena seats

Sponsors, media and of course the schools

All making big money

Everybody getting paid

All but those who upon their backs

The money is shamefully made

College basketball

In a sorry, sorry state

All you need do

Is check the black graduation rate

Exploitation

Academic manipulation

The sham and the shame of higher education

NBA training ground

Where brothers think they will play

White players sit the bench and cheer

They are the ones who graduate

While boosting the team GPA

Brothers for hire

Jumping higher and higher

Campus heroes

Some living large

Through a variety of sources

Trying to stay eligible

With bogus and remedial courses

Billions of dollars generated from the game

Brothers in flight

The trade off is a shame

All but the brothers

Have a huge financial stake

Brothers being used

For the millions others make

Financially, it’s unfair

Morally, it’s not right

See them score

Brothers in flight

BE

© 2001