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I am frustrated because my old school the University of Illinois was once a powerhouse in the Big !0 but now is only a shadow of what it used to be. Chicago is a gold mine of young athletic talent, but these high school players are intensely recruited by other schools and seldom end up playing for their home state. The alumni are really disheartened by this. In addition to the corruptness at all levels in sports, there are the health hazards that show up later in life in the form of dementia, arthritis and other ailments, not to mention the immediate threats of injuries, fatalities and mental stress. Sports are about games and games are a microcosm of life; individual stars and outstanding teams all competing for the holy grail of victory while the herd cheers on the side they identify with. Over time, a situation has developed to the extreme detriment of those who provide recreation for the spectator population. Modern day gladiators risk their lives and their well-being for glory and the adulation of the roaring crowd. Rah! Rah! Rah. Let's hear it for winning at any cost! All of this is a sign of the times which include the computerization of a society wherein the organic is being replaced by the electronic, eroding the sensibility and humanity of a significant portion of our population, We are seeing the result of embracing the new because it is new rather than because it is better. If this keeps up we are going to evolve ourselves into oblivion. HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

John Lennon once said the Beatles were more influencial than Jesus Christ because their music and its message reached milions of more people. To me, posing this question is like asking which was a better means of transportaion; a Model-T Ford or a Cadillac sedan. Marcus Garveyand W.E.B Dubois were men of their times, as is Troy. As we have been currently discussing, Troy, winning is the name of the game. To the Victor go the spoils! Black people are where they are, because the white race was and is better at doing the things that create power, control, longevity and triumph.They are more efficient at being ruthless, unscrupulous, cruel, and foresighted. Africa and its diaspora were and are outdone. This is about the big picture, not the snapshots, the overview, not the episodes. You are a soothsayer, a voice in the wilderness. In time, it is possible that things will come full circle, and the last will be first. But time is the operative word because it answers to no man. IMO.

I know the Fighting Illini people are simply crushed every darn year. Your shining basketball jewel Simeon produces the best basketball player in the country every year, but Illini never lands their own kids. That's primarily a shoe issue. Kids go to the schools that their shoe programs/AAU teams direct them towards. That's how the cash keeps flowing. The Mean Streets program pushes guys towards the premier programs based on the shoes they wear. Simeon's Derrick Rose wore Adidas and went to Memphis with Coach Cal (on fraudulent test scores...) Simeon's Jabari Parker wore nike and went to Duke Both guys were number one picks Jahlil Okafor (Whitney Young) was a Nike kid he went to Duke as well. I mean the story for Chicago is so deep and twisted it's amazing. You are right again though.

Sunday Night is Walking Dead night for us so that's what we watch. I didn't even realize SNL was doing a 40th year show. The show pretty much sucks unless they are doing something music related. In other words the best skits aren't even SNL cast members, they all involved Justin Timberlake or the Andy Sandberg rapping with T Pain. I did see an Adele skit, but once again it was music based. The sketch comedy is dead since the writers have failed to expand their rosters to include the backbone of the comedy world which is Black America. I did watch the Kanye performance on Okayplayer.com which looked like it didn't have any place on a comedy show. As far as Empire is concerned, I really like the show. I grew up in a single parent household and my mom watched Dynasty and Dallas and be default I watched those shows and soap operas like One Life to live and All My Children. Empire is like those shows. Not well constructed, but full of drama and characters that you just like to watch be inept. It's a break from the norm for me. Just like The Walking Dead is. I enjoy both reading and watching television. We set aside the last 30 minutes each night to read. We go through a pretty fair amount of books each year like this and we get to enjoy television. It's a good balance. We liked Power, and we watch Being Mary Jane. We also watch a ton of food shows. It would seem that running a small biz would occupy a lot of the day, but I have such a good routine there are always times for me to do everything I like doing. Besides, I use everything I do for blog content which earns me a few extra bucks a month.

Firstly you are alive. You are a combination of the talented tenth yet you are a real brother. You have single handed created a space or site for books and specifically about AA. You created an enveionment for the discussion of events ideas history sociology pathology . You also have large sections to your editors to run as the see fit. And you have no competition. Most people can see history when they are in the middle of it. You are historic and either you don't know or you don't care because it is meaningless to you. You are both feeding people intellectually spiritually and emotionally