the mouse attack on black american males

The Ultimate 'Mouse' Trap
ESPN's attack on Black America

by Gary Norris Gray, BASN Staff Reporter,

It is very sad to see the changes in television sports network programming and the way they currently report the news; with a specific reference to ESPN.

Provocative stories sell, sex catches your attention; a racially-tinged story sells; football player Adam "Pacman" Jones making it rain at a strip club is a story. Oh -- for those who don’t know what "making it rain" means, throwing money at scantily clad women.

Michael Vick being arrested for organizing dog fighting on his property. Michael received his first day of freedom this past Monday, and lastly, the murder-suicide of Steve McNair by his white 20-year-old girlfriend.

The recent reports of McNair's blood alcohol count last week, which had nothing to do with his death, only sought to further defame McNair.

All of these men are African Americans and they were the lead stories on this network. What scares me about this kind of reporting is that other local news networks are beginning to follow suit.

There is a constant drum beat coming from the studios of Bristol, Connecticut against African American athletes. For those who don’t know what The Mouse means, it's ESPN, which is owned by the Walt Disney Corperation thus The Mouse.
Do your homework for the next two weeks. Listen to the words of eachbroadcast on The Mouse, then make your own decision. The drum beat is loud and clear.

The Mouse is fulfilling its agenda on America airwaves constantly attacking prominent African American athletes. This covert action by this network is not fair, or right.

Why because Americans get most of their sports news from this network. It is not fair because there is not an objective equivalent television sports networkto rival or refute The Mouse when they are incorrect.

ESPN has a monopoly in the Television sports industry even to the extent thattheir own ABC local stations only give the scores of their local teams. Now that is complete power and complete control.

Undoubtedly there is a need for a web site similar to Black Athlete Sports Network. Writers would be unable to write an article like this and most news papers or magazines would not print it.

In the past, race and sports were not an issue. Sports fans could enjoy watching their games without thinking about anything political, it was fun. Well my fellow Americans, The Mouse has drasticly changed that.

Now it’s about steroids, contracts, conduct, and the way you look or what the Black athlete did after the game. Too much information, just too much information.

Just report on the score of the game and the strategies of the game, please.
The most recent example is Brett Favre, former quarterback for the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets. The 40-year-old Favre should have retired two years ago.

This year, he's trying to tender another contract with the Minnesota Vikings.

This was a non story until The Mouse created this story this spring and they praise him every week. When the Mouse airs a story on a white athlete it’s seldom reports a negative comment.

Can you imagine what The Mouse would be saying if Brett Favre were African American? A Black Favre would be a self-centered egotistical player, A Black Favre would not be a team player, and a Black Favre would be aloof in thelocker-room.

Actually Favre could be called all of these things but you will never hear this from mouth of The Mouse of Bristol, Connecticut...

The current Favre story just makes many football fans frustrated. Come on now lets be honest; would a professional football team want a 40-year-old quarterback black or white with a recurring shoulder injury, playing on artificial turf?

As John McEnroe would scream, “You cannot be serious”.

Yet Favre is the little darling of The Mouse. Most knowable football fans know that Tarvaris Jackson, who is Black, should be the starting quarterback for the Minnesota Vikings this year, not Favre.

Jackson can run faster, throw farther and is much stronger than Brett. Also, Jackson carried the team to the playoffs last year while Brett Favre and the Jets stumbled into an early winter vacation.

NFL statistics state that Favre is only nine games away from surpassing Jim Marshall, an African American defensive lineman who also played for the Vikings, for the most consecutive games played.

Interestingly there are probably bonuses in his contract if Favre breaks the record. This network has not been honest.

The Mouse gave a pass to Olympic Swimmer Michael Phelps who was caught smoking a bong this past winter. The Mouse gave a pass to Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi who was drinking and driving this past week.

In addition, it gave star quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots a pass twice. Once having a baby out of wedlock a few years ago and the other the shooting incident last summer at a wedding party in the Islands.

Now think about this - if any one of the three incidents mentioned above had been committed by an African American athlete what would The Mouse had broadcasted it?

The drum beat would be loud and clear.
CALIFORNIA (BASN) -- This year before the NFL Draft, ESPN analysts were grading players. When a black player was the subject, the player was depicted as incompetent.

These reports would state that the Black player can’t do this or he can’t do that or he's too selfish, too short, does not understand pro style offenses or defenses, or that he simply can’t catch the football.

Given the harsh scrutiny, a lawsuit shouldn't be that far behind.

The NFL teams listen to this nonsense and usually drop the African-American player down in the draft to the lower rounds, costing them hundreds and thousands of dollars.

The constant drum beat goes on and on, Black athletes are not good enough yet they keep playing and keep winning games.

While this phenomenon has being ongoing since ESPN's existence, clear evidence of this came to a head six years ago, when the Mouse hired Rush Limbaugh to fill the set on "NFL Countdown" Sunday mornings.
It would not be long before Limbaugh would speak his mind.

Limbaugh stated that Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles was anoverrated Black quarterback and that the liberal media was babying these new Black quarterbacks and they are not good enough to start.

Rush overlooked the clear fact that McNabb took the Eagles to four straight NFC title games and a Super Bowl appearance. So what was your point again, Rush?

The Mouse knew that he would pontificate on the issue of Black quarterbacks. The Mouse did not expect the national reaction to his comments. Limbaugh would resign a week later.

In Major League Baseball, The Mouse started this scenario in 2001 with Barry Bonds and the BALCO Steroid Scandal. Bonds became the Mouse's poster boy for steroids.

That year, Bonds broke the single-season home run record.

In 2007, the Mouse wanted to broadcast many San Francisco Giant games to keep track of Bonds chasing Henry Aaron’s all-time home run mark, but whenever The Mouse showed up at AT&T Park, Bonds was a no-show interviewee.

It would be later revealed that Barry did this on purpose as a silent protest of the way he was being portrayed on this network. Barry never forgot the way the media treated his father Bobby and wanted no part of this circus.

The Mouse finally got wise and stopped broadcasting Giant games resortingto network cut-ins when Barry would come to the plate. The Mouse never questioned Commissioner Bud Selig nor have they questioned the owners, trainers, or managers about their knowledge of steroid use by the players.

Selig, the owners, and the MLB Players Association continues to pick and choose which players will be leaked from an alleged secret and confidential list of player drug tests from 2003.

The drum beat has been steady and constant through the years.

Another example could be Harold Reynolds, a man that has earned the respect of the fans because he is a knowledgeable man; an African American malethat played professional baseball.

Reynolds had been broadcasting the College World Series for The Mouse for many years. During one of the semifinals, Reynolds made a statement that there were not many African American baseball players on college diamonds and that it troubled him.

Within that same year Reynolds was released by The Mouse, citing allegedsexual harassment by a female employee.

This drum beat continues, on ESPN2's morning show, “1st and Ten”, with SkipBayless and his guest. Bayless makes outlandish statements and his guest (foil) would respond.

If the guest is Black and makes a logical, intelligent and forthright answer, the guest would not be seen again on the show. But if he played the game with Bayless, they would be invited to return.

Bayless continues to disrespect LeBron James by calling him prince insteadof king which he is known. Bayless does not like Kobe Bryant either, calling him a selfish and self centered player.

Kobe has won four NBA Championships. Bayless has called Shaquille O’Neal lazy even though Shaq is one of the few centers in the League that has stayed relatively healthy for the most of his career.

By the way, Shaq also has four championship rings, Mr. Bayless.

Bayless has also been critical of Donovan McNabb, and Terrell Owens. Thelast time I checked neither player has played on a losing team.

Bayless has also criticized Manny Ramirez, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez,Miguel Tejada, and Sammy Sosa for steroids use. All of these men are men of color. When was the last time Mr. Bayless criticized Mr. Mark McGwire?

Didn't Mark also take an enhancing performance drug, Mr. Bayless?

The drum beat continues with the show called “Around the Horn” A showof competitive banter with four guests from different newspapers across the country.

However, anyone who watches the show one can decipher a pattern. The African American guest wins showdowns only on Thursday or Friday. For 14 straight weeks, this has happened with a few exceptions.

The drum beat marches on with “Pardon the Interruption” or PTI hostedby Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, an African American.

During the 2009 Wimbledon Championships, Mr. Wilbon stated that he would not watch the remainder of the Women’s Finals after the blonde-haired, blue-eyed Russian bombshell Maria Sharapova lost in the quarterfinals.

Hold up, wait a second.

Didn't African Americans Venus and Serena Williams play in the finals and didn't they also win the Doubles Championship, for the fifth time? How very discouraging hearing this from an African American man.

There is a void of praise for his African American sisters of great talent.

It is incomprehensible how self hatred is imposed on Blacks by Blacks. The Mouse continues to exploit this attitude with their Black reporters.

The drum beat continued weeks ago with the airing of the Disco Demolition Night at Old Comiskey Park, Chicago. When will this nonsense end? How can The Mouse continue to insult the intelligence of African-Americans, as well as other American sports fans?

My question to the Mouse and the American Public is -- Why did the Chicago White Sox and the Chicago Police Department not press charges against station WLUP, the disc-jockey, or the participants for the destruction of property?

What if African Americans had an anti-soft rock or hard rock night at any ball park that promoted the destruction of records by Aerosmith, Abba, Linda Ronstadt, Fleetwood Mac, etc?

There would have been tear gas in the Chicago air. Baton swinging men in blue would have been hitting any black human that moved. Chicago jails would have filled with Black people. White Middle America would have been furious.

There is an obvious double standard in this country and there always will be because we don't respect each other. Americans dishonor each individuals' talent or special skills.

The Mouse uses this wedge to their advantage as they advance their hidden racial agenda, all to gain ratings as they play to old racial stereotypes.

On Sunday July 19, the Mouse maybe called a temporary truce by airing a feel good story about Hall of Famer Jim Rice, of the Boston Red Sox. Rice is an African American. Back in 1982, Rice saved a nine-year-old's life after being stroke by a line drive foul ball.

Rice jumped into the stands grabbed the boy and took him to the Red Sox’s training room where the team doctor examined him and treated him the best he could with a fractured skull.

The little Red Sox fan was then transported to the local hospital for a speedy recovery. The immediate action by Rice saved the little Red Sox fan's life.

These are the kinds of stories the Mouse should be broadcasting. Don’t hold your breath this was a once in a lifetime moment. It is so easier to trash somebody or trash a culture.

America loves a train wreck no-matter how bad it looks. No doubt the continuous Drum Beat will return Monday morning. Broadcasting the ESPY’s last week Black host Samuel Jackson does not give you a pass because within 24 hours it will be business as usual.

Just as expected, The Mouse’s slow drum roll started again last Tuesday afternoon. This Network spent a half hour on the aspects of dog fighting and the life after jail with Michael Vick.

However, The Mouse did not spend a second on the latest breaking story of the day -- the alleged rape charge of Pittsburgh Steeler starting quarterback Ben Roethlisburger in Lake Tahoe, Nevada.

The next day on "The Batchelor Pad", BASN football reporter Lloyd Vance stated that ESPN sent an in-house e-mail to all their sports news agencies to crush this story."

Can we get Ms. Janet Jackson sing “CONTROL”?

Thursday morning, three days later the smoke had cleared, The Mouse decided to mention it. This was after the report that Lake Tahoe Police would not be pressing charges.

Again, if "Big Ben" were African American it would have been the lead story all week long instead they (The Mouse) crushed the story not knowing the outcome.

Like my parents stated many years ago you can’t change a dog's spots (pun intended) and The Mouse will always play this nasty game with African-American athletes.

ESPN, Please stop the hidden racial hype!!! You maybe gaining ratings but you are distorting and destroying young African American lives with these antics.