GarageGabs

Wow, you’ve got to love the internet. Shortly after top ranked UNC was defeated 82-80 by Marland on national television Saturday, several rival message boards began to float the idea that they had heard a racial slur as Maryland walked off the court. Soon after that, thanks to the modern miracle that is YouTube the slur was brought to life. As Maryland walks off the court you can clearly hear someone sitting in the stands yell “Go back to the ghetto”. Now, it was already embarrassing enough for the Heels that all the sorority type girls were crying on TV over a regular season loss, but this only adds insult to injury. A couple of assumptions to note:

1. The fan that made the comment can not be seen, so, one can only assume that a UNC fan said it. Assumptions probably won’t hold up in court, but in the world of common sense they work just fine. First of all, Maryland players were leaving Chapel Hill, so they would be the only ones being told to go back anywhere. Secondly, at the time, they were walking by the UNC student section, so take that for what it’s worth.

2. The word ghetto. Yeah, it can have many meanings and be interpreted in many different ways. Not necessarily a racial slur. Again, I’m going with common sense here. I’m just guessing that a young girl upset at her beloved Heels losing a basketball game didn’t tell the other team to return to a section of the city where Jews likely live. I’m going out on a limb and guessing that she was referring to race and or socio-economic restrictions. Just a guess.

Anyway, here it is for your viewing and listening pleasure.

Now, I’m sure you’re thinking, “big deal, one fan in 20,000 said something a bit out of line”. I happen to agree with you on that. I’ve heard FAR worse things said (and done) at sporting events. However, it really isn’t UNC athletics, the institution, or even the student body that I want to take to task here. It’s the media, local and national.

Ya see, a couple of years ago current NBA star Chris Paul was making his rounds in the ACC. Paul & his Demon Deacons made a visit to North Carolina State. Reportedly, a few State fans made some comments about Chris Paul’s deceased grandfather. The problem this time was that a local opinion writer named Barry Saunders decided to print this story and call for North Carolina State to officially apologize for the incident. Basically, Saunders was offended by this type of behavior and felt the university should apologize for the actions of a few fans. State fans quickly called Saunders on his bluff, noting that he was exaggerating his material. It was later learned that only 3-4 fans were yelling at Paul and they were actually being reprimanded by other students. Didn’t matter though, the damage had been done. Local & national radio ran with the story & spun it as Pack fans were upset at being called out on their ignorance. Fine, it happened. Given, it was an isolated incident, but it did happen.

Here is the News and Observers reply to the article: ” Taunting Coverage Angers State Fans “

Get where I’m going with this? Fast forward to this weekend. Here we are, just 2 days before Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and we have a UNC fan yelling “go back to the ghetto” on NATIONAL television. Local media? Mum. Barry Saunders? Nothing. Local paper? The News and observer ran an article noting that there is “Still More to Do” in regard to racial equality in North Carolina but not a peep about daddy’s girl telling Maryland to go back to the ghetto. I mean, that’s what this reeks of right? Since she was bold enough to put Maryland’s basketball team in a ghetto we might as well theorize that this girl is a spoiled white girl going to UNC on daddy’s dime….correct? Where is the out-cry? Where is the condemnation of this remark? Why doesn’t the school apologize? Am I to make another assumption? Should I assume that this type of behavior is ok?

I know, this is such a petty non-issue. But we live in a society where people get taken to task for minute levels of non political correctness. If you’re going to take one to task, you take them all to task. You do not show favoritism. One person isn’t let “slide”. You don’t look at the context of a situation, rules are freaking rules. Does Barry Saunders know this happened? You can bet he does, rival fans have probably flooded his in-box. In fact, when this is all said and done, that might be the only response you get out of Saunders or any other media. They’ll probably say “rival fans are upset” but never actually touch on the issue at hand. When you don’t want to talk about it……..spin it.

The Long Version Of The Video

*UPDATE* 1/22/08

WRAL, the local news affiliate which is basically located on NCSU’s campus ran this story today-

Tech’s Hewitt Puts RBC Center Incident Behind Him

Go figure, they take the time to drudge up a nearly 2 year old story with still no mention of the UNC comment.

Even More Updates:  A few local blogs are catching on to this “non-story”

UNC Girl Celebrates MLK Day In Style    ( 850 the buzz blog)

 

Tears In, Class Out In Chapel Hill  (ACC Now Blog) 

 
Quick, tell me who these guys are….Oleg Maskaev, Rusian Chaqaec, Wladimir Klitschko,and Shannon Briggs.  Hmmm, how about these guys: Tito Ortiz, Randy Couture, Royce Gracie, and Ken Shamrock.  Chances are, you’ve heard of a couple guys from the first group.  If you are an avid fan of boxing, you’ve probably heard of all 4 of them.  However, if you are a casual UFC fan (like myself) you know all the guys from the second group.  This is what’s wrong with boxing.  The first 4 guys are each heavy-weight champions in each of boxings 4 organizations.  Out of the 4 of them, I’ve seen Klitschko fight….one time.

Anyway, back to saving boxing.  Supposedly, this past weekends huge pay per view even between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. was going to save boxing.  Long story short….it didn’t.  Ok, I admit, I was pulling for Oscar.  Even so, this fight wasn’t worth going out of your way to watch.  Yeah, I saw the punch count numbers, Mayweather supposedly out-landed Oscar 207-122.  I also saw that Oscar was often times throwing wildly, while not hitting much.  However, Mayweather just didn’t do ANYTHING.  He danced around, threw the occasional combo, stuck his jab in there from time to time….he never came anywhere CLOSE to actually hurting De La Hoya nor did he ever push the issue.  Mayweather flashed sarcastic smiles whenever Oscar would push the issue…you know, those “You didn’t hurt me” smiles…..but honestly, this fight wasn’t a laughing matter.  Rather than retaliate to De La Hoya’s flurries with smiles, how about throw some punches?  How about come out of the corner swinging….make the fight somewhat entertaining.  I’ll tell you why: That is the only way he loses the fight.  Mayweather knows he can sit back and tactically pick apart any fighter….as they relentlessly slug away at him.  It’s a winning mentality, but it’s a boring one as well.  It’s also why I’ll never pay for another Mayweather fight….assuming there is one.

As for Saturday night’s fight, I didn’t have to pay for that one either.  Just so happened that several of my buddies and myself were in Wilmington, NC this weekend.  We looked around town for a place to watch the bout and finally happened upon the “Boars Breath” Saloon.

My group of friends was pretty diverse….a few white guys, a Guatemalan, a black guy, and an Indian.  An odd collection to say the least, but well represented.  The Boars Breath was the exact opposite.  This place consisted of about 100 flaming rednecks.  Not a big deal to us, we just wanted to watch the fight.  We had a little trouble with our table because 2 kids were throwing darts right by our heads….I thought it was strange that anyone would bring 12 year olds into this environment, but what are ya gonna do?  Anyway, as the fight started, something strange happened.  The karaoke  kept going.  I’ve been to a lot of karaoke joints, but this was by far some of the worst American Idol tryouts I’ve ever heard.  Drunk old women crooning “I’m a redneck woman” and some VERY STRANGE kid that kept attempting to turn groups like Pearl Jam into death metal.  It was hideous.  At one point we noticed a woman singing while holding a puppet….using the puppet to mouth the words to the song.  Anyway, they kept the karaoke going strong and the volume to the fight down.

As we moved into the middle rounds of the fight, it became clear that the majority of the Boars Breath was NOT pulling for Mayweather.  They also weren’t the most educated fight crowd.  “Do somethin!”, “Don’t stop hittin him!”, “Kick him in the balls!”, and “Go white guy!” were all heard.  It quickly became clear that this crowd was pulling for De La Hoya….not because of his fighting skill….but because he wasn’t black.  Soon after we realized this one of the patrons made it dreadfully clear.  A man sitting about 2 seats from our group began to talk about Mayweather wearing a sombrero when he entered the ring.  I’m paraphrasing, but it went something like this:  “He wore a sombrero into the ring to try and disrespect a Mexican….and he’s a (insert N word), a damn (insert N word).”  When this guy let the first N word fly, a few people sitting around him sorta gasped, as to say: “watch out Billy Bob, there be some non-white folks in here”, but this guy went on to say it again.  He said it loud enough so that anyone within 30 feet could have heard him….the karaoke was in between songs, there was no volume on the fight.  My friend Ronald, who is black, got up out of his chair and walked outside.  I followed him out and we semi discussed what had happened.  I went back in, took care of my tab and was able to catch the guy by himself on my way out.  I told him he had disrespected us etc., to which he offered a hand-shake and an apology.  I told him I wouldn’t shake his hand nor accept an apology to which he told me he could get some of his redneck friends to join us.  I made it clear I wasn’t interested in going to jail over this and walked outside.  As I waited outside with Ronald all the other rednecks began gathering at the window staring out at the white guy that took offense to a racist comment.  They appeared to be gathering for something….maybe they thought we were waiting for them, I’m not sure.  The rest of my friends soon made their way out and we left.  I did see the entire fight, only from outside.

So, that’s my “Boar’s Breath” story.  I wish my website was ESPN popular so I could ruin this hole in the wall redneck establishment, but honestly, it probably isn’t the bar, just it’s patrons.  In fact, our waitress was outstanding and the wings were off the chain.  I really believe there was some in-breeding going on amongst the patrons though.

Well, it’s Super Bowl Sunday and it’s time to determine who will win Super Bowl XLI. With the Super Bowl being the game most watched by “casual fans” I figure what better way to do this than give it to the casual fan.

A.T.: Colts

Lurch: Bears

Mike F: Colts

Chris: Bears

Roger: Colts

Random Bears Fan: Bears

Waffle House Lady: Colts

Ruben: Colts

Brian: Colts

Lora: Colts

Pops: Bears

Ajit: Bears

Tiffanie: Bears

Bryson: Undecided

Miranda: Bears

Brad: Bears

J.C.: Colts

Mike N: Bears

Tecmo Super Bowl: Bears

F**K Da Eagles Girl- Colts

That’s 9 votes for the Colts, 10 votes for the Bears, and one undecided, in what turned out to be a surprisingly close finish. I’ll go ahead and pick the Bears as well, 28-24, making the overall advantage 11-9 in favor of the Bears.

So there you have it. According to our 5 part series the Bears will be Super Bowl XLI Champions.

Venue: Bears

Special Teams: Bears

Tight Ends: Colts

Internet/Media Creativity: Colts

Totally Non Related People Picks: Bears

With the Bears holding a slim 2-1 lead, today’s match-up is of ultimate importance to the Colts. That being said, I figured I’d leave today’s face-off to the “internets”. That is, things I can find on the internet…creative ways for fans to support each team. The winner gets today’s category.

We’ll start with the Colts:

Dr. H has given us 3 youtube videos embracing Peyton’s jock, and given us all more reasons to pull for the Bears. If you haven’t seen them all they are as follows: Peyton Paradise, Damn it Feels Good to Have Peyton, and his latest entry, Dear Peyton. Dr. H slaps Bears fans with a hard right cross to start the fight, but Bears fans can fight back.

The Bears counter with several quick jabs: First they threw a Rexy Back, followed by this:

The quick counter jabs did surprise the Colts, but jabs don’t pack knockout power. So, the Colts loaded up again and fired back….with who else but Peyton Manning:

Mastercard, Mastercard, Mastercard, and of course:

[youtube]2G0loI0Jn5M&mode[/youtube]

Having been hit with actual professional productions, the Bears were staggered….but not out. The Bears countered with Ebay Girl.

Unfortunately, Ebay Girl did not phase the Colts….because they aren’t into girls. Rather than sitting back and allowing the Bears to reload, the Colts quickly poured it on with various photos of the Manning Family:

The quick barrage of Manning photos would have been enough to put most teams away, but the Bears had one last trick up their sleeves…history:

Being hit by Ditka’s “super fans” and the ‘85 Bears put a pretty big scare into the Colts, and even had them staggering just a bit. However, the Colts knew head games when they saw them. The ‘85 Bears were no more, and they figured the super fans had died of heart attacks by now. The Colts countered with the biggest weapon in their arsenal….the super punch so to speak.

That’s right….the Colts have brought out Lil’ Ronnie!  First Lil’ Ronnie hit the Bears with the 2005 version of Super Bowl Bound:

The Bears stood dazed and confused…they weren’t quite knocked out, well, because this was from last year.  They weren’t going to let a 12 year old kid knock them out…..but a 13 year old:
Super Bowl Bound 2007 (the remix) sung by Lil’ Ronnie & the rest of the 31 South Entertainment Crew was more than the Bears could handle.

Well, that’s it folks.  Lil’ Ronnie and the 31 South Entertainment Crew have saved the day for the Colts.  Tomorrow will determine the winner of the Super Bowl match-up as we are now tied at 2.  Peace.

A pair of bronze lions that stand guard in front of the Chicago Art Institute experienced a bit of a head problem this week. Evidently, officials tried to fit the lions with Chicago Bears helmets in honor of the Bears appearance in the Super Bowl. As they attempted to fit the first lion, the helmet broke…apparently the result of cold weather (and obviously a tight fit).

Never fear, these guys know what they are doing. They brought the helmets inside, resized them, and viola, lion helmets!

This isn’t the first time the lions have worn local sports gear. In 2005 they wore Chicago White Sox batting helmets, and in 1985 they wore Bears helmets fashioned from Weber grills. Hmmm, Chicago was granted with championships on both of those occasions.

Believe it or not, Ajit found this story on an art blog called Off Center.

Lions And Bears (Off Center)

A Pre-Super Bowl Wardrobe Malfunction (The New York Times)

Finally, on a more personal note this story reminds me of the man that cut Carolina Hurricanes jerseys off the statues at the State Capital during the Canes Cup Run last season.  I guess humans are off limits but not the king of the jungle.

Surely you remember the F**K DA EAGLES Girl. Well, seems that wearing a shirt with the F-word on it on national TV gets you a photo spread these days (I’m gonna have to try that). Anyway, there are lots of photos and even a video. She explains that she was drunk at the game and also noted:

“before the game I was drinking Red Bull and vodka and pouring Pop Rocks into my mouth, letting it foam out.”

So, now we finally know her name: Heather Rothstein. She also goes on to explain that her and 7 or 8 others simply walked into the stadium with the T-shirts on:

“I just walked right in. I mean, it’s New Orleans. I was with seven or eight people that had the same shirt on. You can buy shirts downtown that say, “I got shit-faced on Bourbon Street.” It’s just part of New Orleans. Nobody thinks anything of stuff like that.”

Also, Maxim got a Super Bowl pick out of Heather:

I’m going to have to go with the Colts. I had a really crappy experience in Chicago. People threw eggs, donuts, beer and snowballs at us. And they were cowards about it. They would throw something at us, and then we’d turn around and nobody would be there. I mean, if you have the balls to throw an egg at me you better have the balls for me to kick your ass.

I can’t say that that’s surprising. Anyway, stay tuned, maybe we can have F Da Eagles Girl vs. Bears Ebay Girl!

VS.

F**K Da Eagles Heather (Maxim Online)

Sarah Spain Is Actually Maybe Kinda Nice (With Leather)

We’ve been waiting for the guy known as “Dr. H” to release his Super Bowl edition of his Peyton Manning videos. Well, it’s out, and I gotta say, he really doesn’t disappoint. In my opinion, this is his best work yet, although for some reason Dr. H reminds me of Napolean Dynamite during this video. Anyway, here it is:

[youtube]wXy9t9v9LzY&eurl=[/youtube]

I have no idea how he figured out all this personal information on many of the Bears players. Also, I love the part where he says they’ll just kick it out of bounds to defend Devin Hester….”the 35 yard line, how’s that sound!?” Simply classic.

Previous Work From Dr. H

Peyton Paradise

Damn if feels good to have Peyton

First things first….remember the Bears fan who put herself up for bid on E-bay as a companion for someone willing to part with a ticket? Well, turns out, Axe (you know, the body spray) rewarded her with 4 tickets and she is holding open auditions for the 4th and final ticket. Deadspin has the entire scoop on her, but that’s not what I’m here to talk about.

If you do by chance fall into her good graces and obtain that Super Bowl ticket, don’t expect to be doing any tailgating. CBS4 in Miami is reporting that the Super Bowl XLI has BANNED tailgating within 1 mile of the stadium.

“There is no tailgating allowed in the Dolphin Stadium parking lots,” Sue Jaquez, a member of the Super Bowl XLI Host Committee, confirmed on Tuesday. “And there is no tailgating anywhere within a one-mile radius of the stadium.” “And there are no RVs allowed.”

The rules put in place say that if you are caught “grilling or drinking alcohol” you “could be charged”.

Ok, not to get picky, but this is a bit much. No tailgating at the Super Bowl!!? What? One game a year where you have this great collection of fans from both teams assembling on a neutral site and you can’t tailgate? A really bad idea. Don’t eat burgers within a mile of the stadium, UNLESS you pay 8 bucks for the concession ones. Oh yeah, and don’t crack any beers open….unless of course you buy the watered down tap stuff on sale for 8 bucks a pop. First, they send Thursday and Saturday night games to the “NFL Network”…now, you can’t tailgate at the Super Bowl. What’s next, a foam finger ban? Will they ban me for wearing the jersey of my favorite player?

This whole ban leaves me with a few important questions:

1. What if I happen to live within one mile of the stadium? I know there probably aren’t any homes in this radius, but just what if? Would they bust in my house and stop me from making those tasty grilled cheeses I like to make?

2. Does this have something to do with the Miami Heat?

3. I wonder what exactly will constitute “tailgating”. If I pull into a parking space and simply sit on my tailgate am I going to be asked to leave?

4. I know they offer the whole “NFL experience” to all ticket holders. Are they going to add a “tailgating experience” to make up for the lack of the American tradition? Instead of throwing footballs into a tire, or kicking extra points, they could have the kids line up for “beer bonging” and give away pieces of watermelon saturated with everclear.

5. Finally, maybe this is a worthy ban….god forbid terrorists craft a bomb from charcoal, chicken wings, condiments, and your drunk uncle Joe.

Whoever is behind this ban……..you suck.

A Happy Ending For That E-Bay Bears Lady (Deadspin)

Tailgating Forbidden On Super Bowl Sunday (CBS 4 Miami)

With Leather has dug up the dirty on the girl that put herself up for bid as a Super Bowl companion.

Your Gratuitous Sarah Spain Update (With Leather)