Uni Watch Notes from the NBA Draft

The flag behind Schroeader doesn’t quite match any that I’m aware of. It is close to Kenya, though it’s missing the shield-and-spear emblem in the center that makes Kenya one of the world’s best three-stripe flags, and Kenya has a thin white band between each stripe. The pan-African flag is typically red-black-green, not black-red-green. Malawi has black-red-green with no white bands, but it has a rising-sun emblem in the black stripe. And no German state has anything even close to the flag in the photo.

So in any event, it seems likely that someone had to have done some kind of image editing to turn a stock flag into what we saw. A lot of work to get something wrong!

‘I spent 12, but probably closer to 8, months as a mercenary on a college campus and didn’t get within a million miles of a degree or even choosing a major but Rah For Old State U anyway!’

As for the Redskins/Indians/Native Americans ‘not going away,’ perhaps it’s because an item about it is published nearly every day? It’s known as the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy.

I don’t listen to Rush Limbaugh’s radio show (shocker), but Ryan Patrick says Limbaugh had some uni-related comments yesterday

Okay, I’ll take a cookie for the team. Here’s the relevant section from link:

In addition to that, Sports Illustrated has a story on their website. It was just placed in front of me before the previous hour ended.

“Aaron Hernandez Linked to Bristol Bloods Gang — You’re surely aware of the legal trouble New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has gotten himself into. Part of the unearthing of Aaron Hernandez’s secret life was his gang affiliation. Aaron Hernandez was rumored to be affiliated with gangs in his hometown of Bristol, Connecticut.”

Bristol, by the way, is where ESPN is, and I thought they were the gang there. I didn’t know that there were other gangs. I thought ESPN was the gang, but nevertheless apparently there are gangs there in Bristol, and Aaron Hernandez “was rumored to be affiliated with gangs in his hometown of Bristol, Connecticut. Those suspected affiliations have been credited for his slip into the fourth round of the NFL draft.”

It’s being reported that teams knew of his gang involvement, and that’s why he slipped to the fourth round of the NFL draft, rather than being drafted in a higher round. They had character concerns because he’d be a member of gangs in Bristol. “At yesterday’s arraignment it was noticed that amongst Aaron Hernandez’s numerous tattoos was a ‘blood’ tattoo on his right hand. The bloods are a famous gang that has been chronicled extensively in rap music.”

I wonder if anybody will go get that quote of mine now.

I don’t think they will, Mr. Snerdley.

I don’t think anybody will dig that quote up now.

“Now TMZ has discovered a picture of Aaron Hernandez throwing gang signs in high school. It’s worth noting that he is dressed in all red, the color associated with the gang. He was also arrested wearing red shorts, though that could purely be coincidence.” Now, that’s the kind of stuff this has descended to. You want to know something else about colors? I didn’t know this. But there are numerous sportswriters who write about this. As you know, many sports teams have their home uniforms and their away uniforms.

The home uniform is the primary color; the away uniform is white or gray, depending on the sport. Some teams add a third, alternate jersey — or even in the primary home jersey they add a third color, and that is black. I’ve read numerous sportswriters alleging that teams are adding black to their uniforms because it’s a gang color. It is a color that is loved by gangs. Now if that’s true, why would teams do that?

Why would teams encourage the gang mentality by adding black to their uniforms, when black is not part of the color scheme? A number of NFL teams have done it. The Detroit Lions have added black. There’s no black in the Detroit Lions color scheme. There never has been, but there is now. A lot of teams have a third jersey that’s black when black is not part of the color scheme, and there are certain sportswriters who say it’s because it’s a gang color.

Here’s TMZ saying that red is a gang color. Now, the gangs don’t have any exclusivity in terms of ownership of the color. Don’t misunderstand. What is being reported is that because the gangs have adopted these colors, certain teams have gone ahead and put those colors in their uniforms because that’s what their players want. Snerdley said to me mere moments ago, “Rush, what’s going on here is all these guys want to be part of the gangsta culture.” You mean in hip-hop? Is that what you’re talking about?

They all want to be part of gang? (interruption) Well, I guess there may be some of that. There may be some players that want to be in a gang, and some of the gangs want to be athletes. So there may be some overlap or crisscross. Anyway, they claim here that they have discovered… Well, I don’t know if he’s claiming it. Aaron Hernandez apparently was well known as a member of the Bloods in Bristol, Connecticut, and it led to him being drafted fourth round instead of the first or second round.

I googled the quotes, and from what I can tell, he’s not quoting from Sports Illustrated but a blog named Fansided: link

What do Native Americans think about the term Redskins? That’s really all that matters. If enough lead the discussion, then and ONLY then can there be credibility to the push for change. Until then, it’s a bunch of white folks acting upon their shame.

Frankly, the term “Yankee” is an inappropriate way to describe a person from the North. It most certainly is a derogatory term when used in context by a Southerner describing someone of Northern descent.

But “Yankees” across the South are not calling for it to be eliminated from athletic use, simply because it’s derogatory when used to describe them (i.e., as carpetbaggers, etc.).

Obviously, “Redskins” can be deemed a racially insensitive term. However, “Yankees” is a culturally insensitive term. Which is worse?

When the Native American community speaks up and leads this effort … then and only then will it merit serious debate. If they don’t care, I (as about 1/8 Indian descent) don’t particularly like it, but I don’t mind it, either.