Photo Credit: www.excelsior.edu
Very busy time these days…my first Holy Week as a pastor is pulling in many directions, but I’ll download that from my brain later. First, I have to get some odds and ends out of the way that I’ve been meaning to file.
First, John Hope Franklin has died! Perhaps you’ve heard of people like Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and of course, Cornell West. Well, they (and those similiarly situated) are standing on Franklin’s shoulders. He was the historians historian especially in the context of African American history. At 94 years old, he’s seen and lived a lot; blessing the world with his story and scholarly insight. Franklin visited Baltimore a few times promoting his later books at the Enoch Pratt Free Library and while I never was blessed with the opportunity to sit at his feet; I did get a chance to attend a lecture given by his son some years ago. We should all do ourselves a favor and engage the legacy of Franklin through his own voice via his literary works and countless interviews available online.
Next, T.I. goes to jail. Last summer, I gave my thoughts on this issue. Rapper, T.I. going to jail because of possession of machine guns and such. He and his team were really creative and aggressive in not only satisfying (in part) the court-mandated community service hours, but also in helping to clean up the embroiled rapper’s image while making a ton of money! (T.I. sold about 2 million copies of his lastest CD, Paper Trail.) While away in revival I caught a couple episdoes of T.I.’s Road to Redemption on MTV. I must admit I enjoyed watching T.I. speaking words of life to young people who were on the wrong path. It was like a television portrayal of one of T.I.’s little known songs off of his first album: “Be Better Than Me“. (so little known that it’s hard to find it even on youtube! coincidence?) Anyway, Clifford Harris (T.I.) was sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in prison plus more than 100-grand in fines. Someting in me says that T.I. is going to be a better human being after all of this passes. Nothing says its time to change like trying to explain to your children why Daddy won’t be around for a year.
So of course many in the world have been talking about the domestic violence episode between Chris Brown and Rihanna (Of course I pray that Rihanna gets the help that she needs and that Chris accepts the guidance that he needs), but the reaction – or nonreaction – to the arrest of Bebe Winans for allegedly assaulting his ex-wife is interesting. Unlike what’s going on with Chris Brown, I’ve not heard of any radio stations pulling his music, any corporations pulling their sponsorship of him, and BET certainly isn’t considering dumping him from Sunday’s Best, Pop-Christianity’s version of American Idol. While his estranged wife has done some TV interviews about the incident, Bebe has nothing to say, but has issued a statement on his website. Why the difference in public reaction between Brown and Winans? I’m not trying to rally a “beat down Bebe” mob; I’m just curious. Domestic violence is domestic violence right? Or are there factors that make violence against women more acceptable?
Let’s end this ramble on a lighter note. I’m a big fan of College Basketball and I must say that by the time March Madness rolls around I’m ready to re-live my days on the court. In my world, the NCAA tournament is a strong competitor versus the NFL playoffs as the best sports tournament on television. While the Superbowl blows the tourney championship out of the water in terms of advertising (and probably ratings too), you have got to appreciate the drive of college kids playing the game for free and hungry to have their skills respected on a national stage. Tonight, while I was looking forward to UConn vs. North Carolina; the unpredictable nature of the game has delivered Michigan St. vs. Carolina. Though they blew them out in December, Carolina will have a much more difficult task on their hands tonight as Michigan will be playing with 70,000 fans at their back. Still Carolina prevails with Maryland-native Ty Lawson having an average game, but coming through in the clutch.
Speaking of College b-ball, shout out to Maryland’s own, Jack McClinton, for winning the College 3-point shootout. I told ya’ll the boy was bad. With one of the prettiest shots in college ball, a cool demeanor in game-on-the-line situations, and a knack for coming through in the clutch, McClinton is poised to make one NBA team very happy that he’s in town. Don’t worry about his height. He’s slightly taller and heavier than Chris Paul and how’s he doing in the league?
Sorry no terribly deep stuff in this post. It’s Monday and even pastors need a mental break every now and then.
So…what did I miss?
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Okay, so I was wrong about the NCAA championship game. Carolina routed Michigan scoring a record 55 points in the first half and cruising to a 89 – 72 win. Lawson had a record high 8 steals in the game. The game was decided within the first 5 – 10 minutes. The Spartans were WAY out of their league. Kind of an anticlimactic way to end the season.