Latimer Williams

Last year we had a pair of first in the Super Bowl. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith as the first African-Americans coaches to led their teams to the Super Bowl with Tony Dungy being the first African-American coach to win the Super Bowl with his team, the Indianapolis Colts. It was a historical moment in the NFL and sports.

Today in Super Bowl XLII we have another set of first for African-Americans. Mark Carey will be the first African-American head referee in a Super Bowl. Mark Cary will be the leading a team of referees that include 2 other African-Americans, line judge Carl Johnson and field judge Boris Cheek.

The other first is Jerry Reese GM of the New York Giants. Jerry Reese is the first African-American General Manager of an NFL team to have his team in the Super Bowl. Reese in is first year as GM drafted 8 players in the 2007 draft and all 8 play significant minutes for the New York Giants. Jerry Reese was promoted as GM after serving as a scout for a couple of years.

Let’s celebrate these two men and the accomplishments that they have done.

Well he has done again, and this time there is tapes and witnesses. The “Juice” just couldn’t stay out of trouble and avoid giving the powers that be a reason to arrest and persecute his butt. It’s amazing how this man has gone from being a man loved around the world to this shell of his former self. O.J. Simpson is the poster boy for a person falling from grace. We can blame everyone in the world for O.J. Simpson’s problems since the trial in 1995, however the only person to blame in this case is O.J. Simpson himself. He just can’t stay away from the spotlight. It can be good or bad if O.J. Simpson is in the news , that seems to be fine by the “Juice”!

So I think it’s time for him to just go away and in a few years he can be on the Sureal Life or some other reality show that TV personalities who’s careers are over. Until then he needs to go away whether it be jail or just to some remote island where there is a TV continuously playing all of his commercials and movies. That way he will be happy and it will be O.J. Simpson on TV 24 hours a day

until then just go away O.J. ….. GO AWAY!

By Latimer Williams

Well he did again, Tiger Woods won the PGA Championship to make it his 13th PGA major’s title. Tiger is only 5 wins away from catching the record of 18 PGA major wins held by golfing great Jack Nicklaus. Even now it’s just hard to imaging how dominating Tiger Woods has been since he turned pro. Keep this in mind it took Jack Nicklaus 53 tournaments to get to 13 major titles, it has taken Tiger Woods only 44 tournaments. His father certainly taught him well and he is the new gold standard by which all other professional golfers are judged…black or white. That is certainly from even 20 years ago where you hardly ever saw an black face on TV when it came to Golf, it doesn’t mean they were not there in the ranks , you just didn’t see them on TV. Let’s name a few black pioneers of golf that you may have never heard of before now:

• 
  Dr. George F. Grant - Dr. Grant has 2 great accomplishments, he is the first black man to graduate for Harvard College to become a dentist. The reason he is on this list is because Dr Grant invented the Golf tee and was smart enough to get a patent for it in 1899.
• 
  Charlie Sifford - The first black man to play on the PGA tour and the first black man to win a PGA event, the Greater Hartford Open in 1967.He also won the 1969 Los Angeles Open, the Long Beach
  Open, the Puerto Rico Open and the Sea Pines Open. In 1975 he won the PGA Senior Championship. He was inducted in to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1980.
• 
  Lee Elder - Lee Elder joined the PGA tour in 1967 and become the first african-american to qualify for the Masters in the Augusta,GA.He also won the Houston Open, Greater
  Milwaukee Open and the American Express Westchester Classic.
• 
  Calvin Peete - Calvin Peete was the original african-american face of golf before Tiger Woods. He
  turned pro in 1971, leading the PGA Tour in accuracy for 10 consecutive
  years. He played on the Ryder Cup teams in 1983 and 1985 and earned
  $2,302,363 on the tour.
• 
  Renee Powell - Powell competed as a
  collegiate at Ohio State University. She is also one of the few African
  American women to compete on the LPGA Tour. In 1979, she
  became the first woman to serve as head professional in the United
  Kingdom.

These are just a handful of many black people who have had a hand in the evolution of the Tiger Woods franchise. As great as Tiger Woods presence is in golf today, he is the only black person on the PGA tour. We have to encourage our kids to seek out all channels to be successful. Visit the The African-American Golf Digest and pass it along to everyone especially our kids so they can see it’s not just Tiger Woods playing golf, maybe they will become inspired!

By Latimer Williams

Well Barry Bonds finally broke the home run record of Hank Aaron and congratulations to Barry Bonds on this great accomplishment. The steriod talk does not talk away the fact that steroids does not help you with patience at the plate, a good eye and hand eye coordination, not to mention that for years the MLB had no drug policy what-so-ever so if you think Barry Bonds and the other sluggers were the only ones taking steriods you are crazy!

But enough of that , Barry Bonds had a lot of great stars congratulate him by video on the night he got the home run record. Everyone from Micheal Jordan to “Hammerin” Hank Aaron himself. There was one gentleman I wish could have sent a video acknowledgement also. The original home run king, Joshua “Josh” Gibson of the Negro Leagues. Considered the Greatest Catcher of all time Josh Gibson was said to have the eyes of Ted Williams and the power of Babe Ruth. Although he is credited in the Baseball Hall of Fame as having “nearly” 800 homeruns, many have disputed that the number was well over 900. Either Number is amazing when you consider that he died when he was only 35 years-old. Barry Bonds was 42 when broke the record of 755 and Hank was in his 40s as well. The sad part of his career is that he never got to showcase his talent in the MLB. Josh died 3 months before Jackie Robinson intergrated the MLB.

He may be gone but let’s not forget the orginal Home Run King Josh Gibson, he was called the black Babe Ruth but I won’t insult his legacy by naming him that , he was his own man and he was just Josh Gibson.

By Latimer Williams

Well it’s the summer and I have been on vaction the last couple of weeks enjoying the outdoors with my family. The great part is that I feel rested and energized and I couldn’t wait to get back to blogging as I put myself on a self-imposed Technology strike, no laptops, blackberries, and limited cell phone activity. It was refreshing.

But as the summer is moving on, we have our usual rapper who is involved in a shooting and runs incident. This time its a female representing for the ladies out there. Remy Ma was involved in shooting on Saturday where another woman was shot in the hip. The police found the car of Remy Ma a few blocks down and it was abandoned with Remy Ma nohwere in sight. There was an apperent altercation between the victim and Remy Ma. The rapper who’s real name is Remy Smith turned herself into Police on Sunday and will be charged with attempted murder. Remy Ma pleaded not guilty and she paid the $250,000 bail.

With the NAACP burying words in real ceremonies it seems that we forgot to bury to things that are holding our people back, responsibility and accountibility comes to mind. I am also tired of alot of these rappers user their background as an excuse to act up in public and blame it on the streets. I don’t hold this to just African-Americans I hold all people accountable for their actions however it is no secret that black people are judge the majority of the time on the actions of others and everytime something like this happens the entire hip-hop industry must bear the weight of this action.

The kids usually pay the most attention to these situations as rappers like Remy Ma have become their role models. The message is redundant and clear to these kids from these artist: Shoot and ask questions later, if someone disagrees with you or doesn’t bow down to you, destroy them. It has become to common a theme with these kids and it seems to be growing, and everytime someone in the limelight such as Remy Ma gets arrested it’s like validation to their actions.

As parents we have to keep a constant watch over everything our kids come in contact with and the messages that are sent to them in videos and songs and TV. It is become all to easy to let the TV and the computer babysit our kids, but it is time to stop and take back the power from the outside influences. It’s as hard as you make or as easy as you make it. The choice is all of ours to make.