Alice in Wonderland has nothing on Leftists in Fantasyland.on July 14, 2021 at 8:32 pm

The Barbershop: Dennis Byrne, Proprietor

Alice in Wonderland has nothing on Leftists in Fantasyland.

Alice in Wonderland has nothing on Leftists in Fantasyland.on July 14, 2021 at 8:32 pm Read More »

‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’: Please, make the rapping Porky and clapping Pennywise stopRichard Roeperon July 14, 2021 at 7:00 pm

I’ll say this for the Big Game sequence in “Space Jam: A New Legacy” that goes on and on and on and ON:

I’ve never seen anything like it. I also hope to never see anything like it again, and I wish I could unsee what I HAVE seen.

Warner Bros. presents a film directed by Malcolm D. Lee and written by Juel Taylor, Tony Rettenmaier, Keenan Coogler, Terence Nance, Jesse Gordon and Celeste Ballard. Rated PG (for some cartoon violence and some language). Running time: 115 minutes. Opens Friday at local theaters and on HBO Max.

Here’s the deal. We’re inside a virtual world known as the Warner Bros. Server-Verse, with LeBron James and the Looney Tunes gang a.k.a. the Tune Squad taking on the evil Goon Squad, and the stakes couldn’t be any higher. Every single one of LeBron’s millions of followers on social media has been sucked into this vortex — and if the Toon Squad loses, they’ll all be trapped in the Server-Verse forever.

Ah, but the best courtside spots for the game are occupied by a myriad of characters from the Warner Bros. vault, including Dorothy and the Wicked Witch of the West; various iterations of Batman, Robin, Catwoman, the Joker and the Penguin; Agent Smith from “The Matrix,” Stanley Ipkiss/the Mask; White Walkers from “Game of Thrones,” etc., etc. These hologram-looking creations aren’t the actual actors from the aforementioned projects; they’re approximations that jump up and down and cheer, and often seem as if they’re not looking directly at the action. Throughout the game, during the action sequences and especially during the timeouts and strategy sessions, the “celebrity” fans are a huge distraction — and making things even more bizarre, their numbers include Pennywise the Clown from “It” and the murderous, rapist gang known as the Droogs from “A Clockwork Orange.”

Who in the name of Bugs Bunny thought this was a good idea? Has no one on the Warner Bros. lot actually SEEN “A Clockwork Orange”?

Insane.

As was the case with the fondly remembered (by some) but quite mediocre “Space Jam” from 1996, the spiritual sequel isn’t so much a movie as it is a product placement mashup utilizing the technology of the day to combine live action with animation, with a slow buildup to a climactic hoops contest that lasts longer than the final minutes of an NBA playoff game. After a prologue set in Akron in 1998, with young LeBron James learning a valuable lesson about staying focused, we go to “The James Residence, Los Angeles, Present Day,” with LeBron (played by LeBron James, and I’m pretty sure he didn’t have to audition for the role) at odds with his son Dom (Cedric Joe), because Dad wants his son to concentrate on his basketball potential while Dom is all about video games and virtual reality, and has in fact created a badass basketball video game that favors fun over fundamentals. If only there was some way for the well-meaning but rigid LeBron to open his eyes and let his son follow his own path!

Conveniently enough, LeBron takes Dom to a meeting at Warner Bros. studios, where a rogue artificial intelligence entity known as Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle, a great actor who is miscast as the comedic/evil villain) has created a program that will insert LeBron into any and all company properties, e.g., there’s LeBron playing Quidditch at Hogwarts! LeBron says it’s an awful idea, one of the worst ideas he’s ever heard, and he rejects the pitch — and then the movie pursues the exact same path after acknowledging it’s a terrible concept.

LeBron’s son Dom (Cedric Joe) is duped by an evil A.I. entity called Al-G Rhythm (Don Cheadle).

LeBron and Dom are sucked into a virtual universe filled with Warner Bros. properties, and that’s exactly what “Casablanca,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Mad Max,” “Game of Thrones,” et al., feel like — properties to be exploited, not works to be treasured. As Al-G Rhythm (ugh, that name) co-opts Dom by pretending to be his friend and encouraging his dreams, LeBron and Bugs Bunny round up the Looney Tunes gang, all of whom have been inserted into — you guessed it — Warner Bros. properties, e.g., Daffy Duck is in a Superman adventure in Metropolis, Yosemite Sam is at Rick’s Cafe from “Casablanca,” Lola Bunny is about to take the speed and endurance test to become an Amazon a la “Wonder Woman.” With the exception of a few clever one-liners and visual gags, it’s more exhausting than amusing.

Because we need some excuse to get LeBron and the Looney Tunes gang on the virtual court against Dom and an All-Star collection of pro basketball stars such as Damian Lillard, Anthony Davis, Nneka Ogwumike, Diana Taurasi and Klay Thompson — all of whom have been turned into hybrid animated figures with superpowers — the evil Al-G Rhythm proposes the aforementioned challenge. If the good guys win, the players and the fans will be allowed to leave this virtual world behind and return to their lives. If they lose, the humans will be trapped in the Server-Verse — and the Tunes will be deleted. The game itself features all sorts of CGI pyrotechnics and even a brief rap interlude featuring Porky Pig as “The Notorious P.I.G.” (sigh), and the visuals can be eye-popping — but then we catch another glimpse of Pennywise clapping or Mr. Smith cheering, and we’re just praying this thing doesn’t go into overtime.

‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’: Please, make the rapping Porky and clapping Pennywise stopRichard Roeperon July 14, 2021 at 7:00 pm Read More »

City Council committee OKs lease for Boys & Girls Club on campus of new police and fire training academyFran Spielmanon July 14, 2021 at 6:56 pm

Critics of the $95 million police and fire training academy slated to be built in West Garfield Park have called it a symbol of former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s misplaced spending priorities.

Now, the sprawling campus on the 4400 block of West Chicago Avenue may become a symbol of something more positive and potentially transformational: the first new Boys & Girls Club to be built in Chicago in a generation.

The City Council’s Committee on Housing and Real Estate made certain of it on Wednesday, agreeing to lease 20,000 square feet of land on the 34-acre-campus to the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago at $1 a year for up to 75 years.

That will pave the way for an $8 million, 18,000 square foot youth development center with an open-air plaza between the club and the training academy.

“This new club represents a transformational opportunity for young people in Chicago to promote healing and build bridges where few currently exist. To break down barriers that have stood in the way of dialogue and understanding,” Mimi LeClair, president and CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago, told aldermen.

Ald. James Cappleman (46th) called the project a quadruple-win — for young people, their parents, the Austin and West Humboldt Park communities and Chicago police officers.

“It’s not just the youth seeing police in a different way. It allows police officers to see youth in a different way,” Cappleman said.

Ald. Ray Lopez (15th) added: “If we’re focusing on rebuilding trust, you can’t do it when you’re separated from each other. It has to be together. We have to learn how to co-exist. What better way to do that than when you have an academy full of young police … alongside those trying to do something positive with their lives?”

Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) applauded local Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) for, as he put it, “doing what’s right — not what’s popular.”

Before agreeing to bankroll the new facility, the Boys & Girls Clubs held a dozen focus groups with local youth, including students at Orr Community Academy.

The reaction was overwhelmingly positive.

“They said, ‘We deserve a safe space. We deserve a beautiful space. And we will feel safe knowing that we’re on this particular campus,'” LeClair said Wednesday.

“They would say things like, ‘What we have now isn’t working and, maybe, this is a wonderful opportunity to, at the grass-roots level, have joint programming with the first responders training. We could listen to what they have to say and they could listen to what we have to say.’ ”

Even so, Ald. Daniel LaSpata (1st) voiced concern about the “potential for inter-action” between police and disconnected youth with, as he put it, “a troubled past” or a “troubled present.”

“I also know from some public comments from police leadership and from the experience of some of our youth that, sometimes, our officers — I’m trying to find the delicate way of saying this — they may not view young Black and Brown Chicagoans the way they deserve,” LaSpata said.

“There are times when our young people — particularly our young people of color — are viewed as threats when they’re not really doing anything wrong. They’re just living their lives.”

LeClair assured LaSpata there would be “no forced interactions” between young people and police.

“If there are one or two young people who are interested in this, we will work with them to pursue that. If there are more than that, we will work with them. But they set the tone. We are first and foremost about what … will make them feel emotionally, physically and psychologically safe,” she said.

For years, the training academy has drawn opposition from Chance the Rapper, college students in Chicago and across the nation and local youth organized online under the #NoCopAcademy banner.

During countless protests, they argued the money would be better spent on mental health initiative, as well as on recreational and education programs for young people.

When Lightfoot announced the decision to build the new Boys & Girls Club on the academy campus, the #NoCopAcademy movement called it a “slap in the face” to Black youth.

Destiny Harris, a youth organizer for the #NoCopAcademy campaign, said a Boys & Girls Club of Chicago is a “beautiful thing.” But, not on the site of the police academy that young people fought so hard to stop.

“This is strictly a P.R. move. It’s the mayor trying to make this project more palatable so that, when youth of NoCopAcademy are like, `No, we don’t want this cop academy. This isn’t the best use of $95 million,’ that we actually look like the bad people,” Harris said then.

“Then it becomes, we don’t want a cop academy and a Boys & Girls Club, which is actually a really beautiful resource. … We still would like it. Just in another place. … Police officers don’t make Black children feel safe. … How can you expect Black and Brown children to come into this space and feel comfortable?”

City Council committee OKs lease for Boys & Girls Club on campus of new police and fire training academyFran Spielmanon July 14, 2021 at 6:56 pm Read More »

At least five wounded in Gresham shooting — second mass shooting of the day in ChicagoSun-Times Wireon July 14, 2021 at 7:28 pm

At least five people were wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon in Gresham on the South Side, hours after five people were shot on the West Side.

The group was on a sidewalk near a food mart at 79th and Justine streets when a silver car pulled out of an alley and three gunmen got out shortly after noon, Chicago police spokeswoman Michelle Tannehill said.

The trio opened fire, striking four men and a woman, she said.

Two of the victims were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn: A 27-year-old woman grazed in the hip and in good condition, and a 40-year-old man shot in the face and in critical condition.
Two others were taken to University of Chicago Medical Center: A 32-year-old man shot in the lower back and listed in critical condition, and a 50-year-old man shot in the side and also in critical condition.
A fifth person, a 36-year-old man, was shot in the ankle and initially refused treatment on the scene, but he later went to Christ Medical Center and was listed in good condition,

The shooting occurred across the street from the Target DevCorp Auburn Gresham Community Outreach Center, an anti-violence organization.

Autry Phillips, executive director of Target DevCorp, said his team was just starting their shift when the shooting happened.

He said the spot where the people were shot is a “hangout for individuals that don’t work or that’s off work and just needed to blow off some steam so they’re coming outside. It’s a nice day, why not come outside and hang out on the block?”

He said the victims are not gang members and were not hurting anyone. “Unfortunately someone made the decision to pull the trigger,” he said.

Phillips said his team was now working in the community to prevent any retaliation. “What we try to do first to to try to make sure the families are okay.”

Phillips said it was troubling that the shooting happened so close to his organization, but added that these attacks can happen anywhere in the city. “At any time at any place, anyone in Chicago can get hit” he said. “We have shootings that’s next to the Chicago Police Department, we have shootings that’s next to schools.”

Earlier Wednesday, four women and a man were shot as they stood in the 4600 block of West Monroe Street in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, police said. The victims, all between ages 18 and 34, were listed in good condition.

There have been at least 31 shootings this year involving four or more victims, according to a Sun-Times analysis.

The largest mass shooting this year, and among the largest in recent memory, wounded 15 people, two fatally, during a party in the Park Manor neighborhood. A fight broke out between several people attending the party March 14 in the 6700 block of South South Chicago Avenue when gunfire erupted, police said then. Fifteen people were struck, ranging in age from 20 to 44 years old.

In July 2020, 15 people were shot outside a Gresham funeral home, but none of the victims died.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

At least five wounded in Gresham shooting — second mass shooting of the day in ChicagoSun-Times Wireon July 14, 2021 at 7:28 pm Read More »

Mitsu Salmon considers the orchidIrene Hsiaoon July 14, 2021 at 4:45 pm

Mitsu Salmon at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology - MITSU SALMON

In Japan, nobility and samurai cultivated orchids as symbols of bravery, and businesses gifted with them would be graced with prosperity and success. In China, orchids have been used for thousands of years as medicine, prized for their fragrance, and revered as a virtuous plant by gentleman scholars. The Aztecs extracted orchid essence and drank it to enhance their physical strength. “Testicle,” thought the Greek botanist who gave the flower the name we call it by for its tuberous roots. (Orkhis = testes; mythologically, Orchis, the son of a nymph and a satyr, was torn to pieces by beasts for attempting to rape a maenad, then redeemed by being transformed into this flower.)

Orchid: Dormancy and Becoming, an interdisciplinary performance by Mitsu Salmon with a soundscape by La Spacer performed outdoors at the Ragdale Foundation on July 17 and in a private backyard in Humboldt Park at the end of the month, examines the history, ecology, myths, and metaphors of the flower one popular delivery service markets as “exotic” and erotic (“associated with fertility, virility, and sexuality,” “aphrodisiac,” etc.).

Salmon’s interest in orchids began with her family history: her maternal great-grandfather, Ryozo Kanehira, was a botanist who studied orchids and other plants on Orchid Island off the southeast coast of Taiwan. “He collected orchids and has several orchids named after him,” she says. “His history combines working in conservation and being part of a colonialist agenda as part of the Japanese occupation of Taiwan [from 1895-1945]. I contrast that to my grandmother, who had orchids in her house but experienced American occupation in Japan after World War II. It became this symbol in my ancestry of being colonized and being a colonizer.”

Mitsu Salmon at Tsung Yeah Artist Village in Taiwan - RICH MATHESON

Initially Salmon focused her research on her family, botany, and imperialism, but protracted incubation during pandemic shutdowns and cancellations prompted the project to develop in more directions. After a cancelled work-in-progress showing in March 2020, Salmon left Chicago for Utah, where she and her partner thought they would remain for just a month or two in lockdown. But as time passed, and opportunities vanished, she found herself considering broader approaches to her theme.

“I got some orchids and most of the time they’re not blooming,” she says. “Creating this work and having these orchids that were not blooming–it really felt connected. All my performances, all my teaching, everything for me had been cancelled. I didn’t have access to rehearsal space. So I was thinking about rest, dormancy, and growth.” A surgery also complicated matters, preventing Salmon from developing movement for the piece for several months. “I was reading and writing like crazy, so I have all this text”–some of which she has collected into a booklet that will be distributed at performances. “I was thinking about this piece while I was just twiddling my thumbs not knowing if it would ever be shown. It’s gone all over the place now in terms of looking at the history of orchids, the importing of orchids, growth patterns of orchids, the environment.”

As reported incidents of violence against Asian Americans increased over the year, Salmon also began to consider her work in the context of racism. When the Atlanta shootings happened, Salmon was beginning a residency at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology in Otis, Oregon. “For the first time I was completely healthy and could get into the movement, but the first days in the studio, I was not able to do anything because I was processing. I was feeling very vulnerable. It started to seep into the work,” she recalls. “The orchid we’re most familiar with and see everywhere is called Phalaenopsis, from the Philippines. It’s mass-produced. All the other kinds are harder to get. Because of that orchid, orchids are often connected with Asia. Orchids are a sexual symbol–people think of them like female genitalia. I connect my own experience of race with being sexualized–they’re often conflated–so I’m thinking of the difference between being sexualized, when you’re made into an object or people project onto you, a negative experience, versus internal sexuality.”

“Orchidelirium,” the mad pursuit of orchids by wealthy English collectors in Victorian England, partially funded by the Opium Wars, also reflected imperialistic conquest of lands and people. “People went into these newly ‘discovered’ places in Asia and the South Pacific to find beautiful and rare orchids,” says Salmon. “At times after collecting the orchids, they would burn down these lands so other people couldn’t collect them. It was like tulip mania, but there they took from their own country, whereas this was going to other countries and extracting and destroying.”

Tropical areas of Latin and South America were also targets of orchidelirium and territories with particularly sought-after orchids. Conversations with musician and DJ La Spacer (Natalie Murillo), who is creating electronic music for Orchid: Dormancy and Becoming, has opened another global perspective on orchids for Salmon: “Mayans use a certain kind of orchid in their food. La Spacer was studying Mayan beats. So I’m looking at relationships between Asians and Latin Americans through the orchid.”

Yet as far-reaching as Salmon’s project ranges, she also notes that orchids are native to North America–and grow (with some difficulty) right here. “Half the orchids in North America are endangered. The prairie fringed orchid is native to Illinois and is an endangered one. The really fancy-looking ones are imported from the tropics–South America, Asia, the Philippines, Mexico, Brazil. But there’s a lot of little orchids that are not flamboyant in North America. They pretty much grow on every continent except Antarctica.” v

Orchid: Dormancy and Becoming, Sat July 17, 6 PM, Ragdale Foundation, 1260 N. Green Bay Rd., Lake Forest, and Sat-Sun 7/31-8/1, 7 PM, private backyard in Humboldt Park (limited audience), mitsusalmon.com, free.

Mitsu Salmon considers the orchidIrene Hsiaoon July 14, 2021 at 4:45 pm Read More »

Want a ‘Hoop Dreams’ souvenir? Shuttered suburban Catholic school at center of documentary is auctioning everythingMitch Dudekon July 14, 2021 at 5:55 pm

The documentary film “Hoop Dreams” made a big splash when it was released in 1994.

And now fans can buy a keepsake — but the window to do so is closing.

Sporting equipment — and pretty much everything else from the suburban Catholic school that served as the film’s backdrop — is being sold in an online auction.

St. Joseph High School in Westchester closed permanently at the end of the school year and items ranging from basketball hoops to science lab equipment are on the block.

The online auction went live June 30 and the sale of most school-related assets is closing Wednesday. The sale of most sports-related assets closes Thursday.

All bidding prices start at $1.

The documentary followed the basketball dreams of Willliam Gates and Arthur Agee as they sought to overcome life challenges and make a name for themselves on the court.

Basketballs, nets, scoreboards, and banners — including one that went up to retire the number of former NBA great Isiah Thomas, who graduated from St. Joseph in 1979 — are on the block.

“There’s a lot of nostalgic and memorabilia items and quite a few alumni are actively participating, looking to pick up memories,” said Charles Winternitz, president of the fourth-generation, Chicago-based auction house that bears his family name.

“We have over 500 people bidding at the auction,” he said.

Side note: Winternitz is also auctioning items from the now-closed Southport Lanes bowling alley that for decades hosted drinking and rollers at its location not far from Wrigley Field.

The iconic sign that hung over the front door is up to about $3,000, he said.

Want a ‘Hoop Dreams’ souvenir? Shuttered suburban Catholic school at center of documentary is auctioning everythingMitch Dudekon July 14, 2021 at 5:55 pm Read More »

At least five wounded in Gresham shooting — second mass shooting of the day in ChicagoSun-Times Wireon July 14, 2021 at 6:33 pm

At least five people were wounded in a shooting Wednesday afternoon in Gresham on the South Side, hours after five people were shot on the West Side.

The group was on a sidewalk near 79th and Justine streets when a car pulled out of an alley and three gunmen got out shortly after noon, Chicago police spokeswoman Michelle Tannehill said.

The trio opened fire, striking four men and a woman who was grazed in the face, Tannehill said.

Two of the victims were taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and two others were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said. They were all in serious-to-critical condition.

A fifth wounded adult refused medical treatment, he said.

No additional information was available.

Earlier Wednesday, four women and a man were shot as they stood in the in the 4600 block of West Monroe Street in the West Garfield Park neighborhood, police said. The victims, all between ages 18 and 34, were listed in good condition.

At least 27 mass shootings have occurred in Chicago so far this year, according to Sun-Times records.

The largest mass shooting this year, and among the largest is recent memory, wounded 15 people, two fatally, during a party in the Park Manor neighborhood. A fight broke out between several people attending the party March 14 in the 6700 block of South South Chicago Avenue when gunfire erupted, police said then. Fifteen people were struck, ranging in age from 20 to 44 years old.

In July 2020, 15 people were shot outside a Gresham funeral home, but none of the victims died.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

At least five wounded in Gresham shooting — second mass shooting of the day in ChicagoSun-Times Wireon July 14, 2021 at 6:33 pm Read More »

Lego tells company to stop making ‘Block19’ Glocks that look like one of its toysJan M. Olsen | APon July 14, 2021 at 6:19 pm

Danish toymaker Lego has asked a Utah gun company to stop producing a product that makes a pistol look like it’s covered with Lego’s famous multicolored building bricks.

“We have contacted the company, and they have agreed to remove the product from their website and not make or sell anything like this in the future,” Lego said.

The design created a customized semi-automatic Glock weapon that has a strong resemblance to a Lego toy.

On its Instagram account, Provo-based Culper Precision, which didn’t respond to requests for comment, said it had made what it called its Block19 Glock “to create an opportunity to talk about the enjoyment of the shooting sports and the joy that can only be found in marksmanship practice and training.

“We here at Culper Precision are grateful for the attention that Block19 is currently getting across the globe,” the company said, adding that people have a right to customize their property and that responsible gun owners take measures to secure their firearms.

The product page for the Block19 has been taken down.

Shannon Watts, founder of the gun-control group Moms Demand Action, drew attention to the product on Twitter and said mixing a real gun with a toy’s look was “a recipe for disaster.

“We have already seen tragedies happen when unsecured firearms are around children, and they don’t look like toys,” Watts said.

Unintentional shooting deaths by children of themselves or others rose more than 30% between March and December 2020 compared to the same period the year before, the group’s research found.

That increase comes during a record-breaking surge in U.S. gun sales that began as the coronavirus pandemic took hold last year.

Utah, home to the Block19’s maker, has joined several other states in loosening gun laws this year by rolling back requirements for people to get permits to carry guns in public.

Lego — founded in 1932 by Ole Kirk Kristiansen — takes its name from the two Danish words LEg GOdt, which mean “Play Well.”

Lego tells company to stop making ‘Block19’ Glocks that look like one of its toysJan M. Olsen | APon July 14, 2021 at 6:19 pm Read More »

Quite frankly, Stephen A. Smith knew exactly what he was saying about Shohei OhtaniRick Morrisseyon July 14, 2021 at 6:41 pm

All of us have prejudices. Most of us, at some level, know we carry these prejudices. We wrestle with them. Some of us are happy to share our vile views and don’t care that others might be offended by them. Some of us aren’t aware we have prejudices. How many of the unaware dwell among us is unclear, but given the very loud public discussion that has been going on the past few decades, you’d have to live in a cave to not know what’s offensive to certain groups.

And then there are people in the media, every single one of us, who know exactly what to avoid saying or writing if we want to keep our jobs. We’ve been to company seminars. We are reminded again and again to be respectful of people’s differences. And if we’re struggling with the concept of respect for others, we remind ourselves to be careful, out of self-preservation.

If that sounds too pragmatic, I apologize. Racial ugliness should have no place in the media or anywhere else. But from a purely pragmatic standpoint, if you’re a writer or a broadcaster, it’s your job to be aware of what might cause your demise.

So all those defenses were in place to help Stephen A. Smith not say something hateful and dumb.

And he still couldn’t help himself. Which means he meant what he said.

The ESPN commentator recently proclaimed that Angels superstar Shohei Ohtani, who has captivated the sports world by being both a thrower of blazing fastballs and a basher of home runs, could not be the face of baseball because he needs an interpreter. Ohtani is Japanese and doesn’t speak English, neither of which has bothered the legions of Americans who perk up whenever he’s on the mound or at the plate. But that didn’t stop Screamin’ Stephen.

“I understand that baseball is an international sport itself in terms of participation, but when you talk about an audience gravitating to the tube or to the ballpark, to actually watch you, I don’t think it helps that the No. 1 face is a dude that needs an interpreter, so you can understand what the hell he’s saying in this country,” he said.

Here was Smith, who has used his pulpit to rightly rail against discrimination and injustice against fellow Blacks, turning on another minority group that continues to battle against stereotypes and prejudice in this country. The blacklash was immediate.

Not long after, Smith issued an apology, saying he didn’t mean to offend anyone in the Asian community. The next day on “First Take,” ESPN’s morning talk show, he said to a colleague of Korean descent that he, Smith, wanted to be educated on the matter. That he was ignorant.

Sorry, no.

There is simply no way a massively famous media member who has been outspoken on African-American issues could be unaware that Asians and Asian Americans would be offended by his statement. Not in today’s climate. He blurted out exactly what he believed. All that was missing was the sound of a gong and an exaggerated voice saying, “Wise man once say …”

Stephen A.’s instant awakening after the public outcry sure looked like one of those PR apology tours we media members so detest.

ESPN should have suspended him immediately. Instead, there was the sound of nothing from the network. The whole thing played out like your typical NFL crisis. Superstar gets in trouble. Owner, general manager and coach mumble something about a full investigation being necessary before a rush to judgment. What they’re really thinking: “Armed robbery is bad, but so is not getting to the Super Bowl!”

Like him or not, Smith is ESPN. He is its biggest star. For that reason, there was never going to be a suspension.

In 2012, ESPN fired a journalist for a headline that appeared over a story about then-Knick Jeremy Lin: “Chink in the Armor.” It also suspended an anchor for using the same ethnic slur. What the two had in common is that they weren’t Smith.

In his apology Monday, Smith said he “screwed up.” If by that he meant he made the mistake of allowing his true colors to show, then he certainly did screw up. But to say that he didn’t mean what he said – again, sorry, no. It wasn’t an unfortunate word. It was an opinion that involved thought. It didn’t come out of nowhere.

He knew it was insensitive. He knew he shouldn’t say it. And yet he did.

So what’s the lesson in all this? We all carry around baggage. Many of us are trying to rid ourselves of it. Then there’s Stephen A. Smith, who said what he meant, even if he later pretended he didn’t. And suffered no consequences for it, because he’s bigger than everybody else.

He’s the face of our uncomfortable times. And he doesn’t need an interpreter.

Quite frankly, Stephen A. Smith knew exactly what he was saying about Shohei OhtaniRick Morrisseyon July 14, 2021 at 6:41 pm Read More »