As the Truth sees it…

Dez Bryant caused quite a stir around the sport’s world Sunday. The rookie out of Oklahoma State passes on being hazed when fellow wide receiver Roy Williams told him to carry his pads after practice. Bryant decided that was not for him and spoke up about it.
“I’m not going to do it,” Bryant said. “I feel like I was drafted to play football, not carry another player’s pads. I just feel like I’m here to try to win a championship, not to carry no one else’s pads. It’s not disrespect or anything.”
This sign of disrespect didn’t sit well with many NFL veterans, who had to endure such ticky tack hazing during their rookie campaigns.
I think if it had been Miles Austin who had told Dez to carry his pads, he would have done it. But coming from where Miles came from, I don’t think he would ask. It’s normally arrogant primodonna who feel entitled that go all out on hazing. And Williams, a former Texas Longhorn, has had that entitled mentality since he arrived in Dallas.
A friend put it to me this way: “Roy might not be a Cowboy in a month. Dez will a Cowboy for at least 3 seasons. He doesn’t want to carry any scrubs’ pads, regardless of tradition. ”
If Bryant had just said “Forget Roy Williams. He’s a Longhorn and I’m not carrying his gear,” then he would be getting much less flack. I guarantee it.
Michael Kinney

First, former Dallas Cowboy coach Jimmy Johnson becomes a spokesman for EXTENZE and now he joins the tv show “Survivor” as a contestant. He must really not want to coach anymore.

I was one of those who fell into the trap. When I saw the initial story on Shirley Sherrod, I responded “that this shows that racism can come from anywhere.”
While that statement is still true, Sherrod was not at fault.
For those who may have missed the story of the day, Sherrod was forced to resign from her post with the Department of Agriculture after a video clip of her making a seemingly racist statement about not helping a white farmer to the best of her abilities was posted on a conservative website’s blog belonging to Andrew Breitbart.
Like me, the NAACP and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack overreacted. Instead of doing their due diligence, they reacted to the clip solely and didn’t do their homework. Without speaking to Sherrod, she said the White House asked her to hand in her resignation.
“They asked me to resign, and in fact they harassed me as I was driving back to the state office from West Point, Georgia, yesterday,” Sherrod told CNN.
However, Vilsack said it was his decision and his alone. But according to a White House official, President Barack Obama was briefed on the situation after Vilsack made his decision and reportedly supported the decision.
But this was before it was found out that the clip of Sherrod had been edited and her remarks were taken out of context. The entire video shows her telling the NAACP that she learned a lesson and that it’s not about race, but the have and have nots.
“I did not discriminate against [the farmer],” Sherrod said. “And, in fact, I went all out to frantically look for a lawyer at the last minute because the first lawyer we went to was not doing anything to really help him. In fact, that lawyer suggested they should just let the farm go.” She was able to find an attorney to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy to help the family stay on the farm.”
The NAACP admits they were snookered and has since apologized to Sherrod. But Vilsack said it doesn’t matter.
“This isn’t a situation where we are necessarily judgmental about the content of the statement, that’s not the issue here. I don’t believe this woman is a racist at all,” Vilsack said. “She’s a political appointee, and her job is basically to focus on job growth in Georgia, and I have deep concern about her ability to do her job without her judgments being second-guessed.”
What this does prove is that whenever people talk about race in America, instead of taking the time to listen and learn, we let emotions and fear take over our thought process. Sherrod’ boss and the White House allowed that to happen before finding out the entire story.
Hopefully, this can be rectified and Sherrod can get her job back. At the very least we can all learn from this and make it a teachable moment.
I know it has been for me.
Michael Kinney

I love the way people have changed their minds on George Steinbrenner now that he has passed on. Critics who used to say he was ruining baseball and buying World Series are now claiming he is the greatest owner in the history of sports.

I’m not saying they should drag his name through the mud, but at least  be honest. The fact that places around New York and other parts of the country are lowering their flags to half-staff is disrespectful to the people who actually mad this world a better place and didn’t get such an honor. He was a great owner and good for sports. But let’s not make him out to be a Saint.

When this entire NBA free agent summer began, I was disgusted with the way LeBron James had stolen all of the attention. For someone who has never won on any level, I was amazed he was getting so much attention.
However, as the days have rolled on, my disgust has moved from LBJ to much of the media outlets who have blown his team search frenzy to Brett Favre status of absurdness.
Yes, I am talking specifically about ESPN, who is giving LeBron a one-hour special tonight to announce his decision on what team he will sign with. I do not fault LBJ for wanting the attention. I may have done the same. But just as it has done with Favre, ESPN has sold its soul as a news organization and tilted even closer to being strictly an entertainment channel.
I will watch a portion of “The Decision,” as it is being billed, tonight. It’s newsworthy to find out where he is going and how that will affect the teams who have been competing for him. Especially if he heads to Miami to join Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh. But that is where my interest ends.
Yet, I’m sure the story will drag on throughout the summer and maybe even bleed into the start of football season. Hopefully then, we can get on with real action on the field, and not this fake drama off of it.

Often when athletes retire, the majority of them fade into the sunset. While some get jobs on TV or appear in commercials or movies, the majority go on to try and live normal lives. The only time you hear about these former athletes is when they try to make a return to their sport or something tragic happens.
Sadly, Randall Cunningham has become one of those in the latter. After great years with the Philadelphia Eagles and Minnesota Vikings, the trend setting quarterback left the limelight for the solitude of family life in Nevada with his wife, Felicity and their four children.
That life was turned upside down Tuesday when Cunningham’s two-year old son Christian drowned in a hot tub at the family’s home. Christian was the youngest.
Las Vegas police Officer Marcus Martin, said the death appeared to have been an accidental drowning, but authorities were still investigating.
Cunningham, 47, was out of town Tuesday when the accident took place, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
There is nothing in Cunningham’s career than could prepare him for this. I can only hope the limelight that had avoided him for all these years will have the courtesy to allow the family time to grieve.
Michael Kinney

Monday the conformation hearing for Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan began. But if you listened to the Republican Senators who questioned her, it was Thurgood Marshall who was on trial.
The former Supreme Court judge’s name was mentioned 35 times as they questioned Kagan, who clerked for Marshall in the 1980s.
“Kagan wrote a tribute to Justice Marshall in which she said in his view it was the role of the courts and interpreting the Constitution to protect the people who went unprotected by every other organ of government,” Senator Jon Kyl stated. “The court existed primarily to fulfill this mission. And later, when she was working in the Clinton administration, she encouraged a colleague working on a speech about Justice Marshall to emphasize his unshakable determination to protect the underdog.”
Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions took it even further.
“She clerked for Judge Abner Mikva and Justice Marshall, each a well-known liberal activist judge,” Sessions said.
Marshall was not only the first black judge to sit on the Supreme Court, but he was the winning lawyer in the Brown v. Board of Education case which overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and outlawed segregation. So it doesn’t make too much sense why the GOP would be attacking the judicial Icon through Kagan’s confirmation.
One of Marshall’s statements the senators attacked was “you do what you think is right and let the law catch up.” In their eyes that somehow is tantamount to revolution. But I hope it is a statement Kagan takes to hear if she is confirmed.
Michael Kinney

For three weeks America has taken an interest in soccer like never before. Even I found myself watching a full game, that I wasn’t covering, for the first time in my life. That included today when the USA lost to Ghana 2-1.
Like most Americans who know little to nothing about the world’s obsession with soccer, I was under the belief that the US had a chance to win the World Cup. But we saw today, that there is still a gap between international players and Americans.
However, for three weeks the USA team made soccer popular in America. That is something I thought would never happen. Now the big test is whether it will continue to grow here. In the past, it has not happened. But anything is possible in this new age, I guess.
Michael Kinney

Watching Game 7 of the NBA finals. It’s nights like this that make it tough to be a fan.
An athletic contest should not have the power to change your emotions, but it does. I wouldn’t change being a die-hard fan, but it must be nice on nights like this to have no preference. I am envious, until I remember how good it feels to be a fan when your team wins.
Go Lakers.

People always use the phrase “put your money where your mouth is.”
For Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, I hope they have pretty big mouths.
The two richest men in America have put the rest of the country’s billionaires on notice. They have launched a campaign to get the rest of the billionaires to donate at least half their wealth to charity.
If the members on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans pledged half their net worth to charity, the total could amount to as much as $600 billion.
Say that with me again, $600 billion.
Imagine the amount of food, medicine, school books, clothes and homes that cash could buy.
Gates (worth $53 billion) and Buffett ($47 billion) have been trying to pursue others for the last year to donate their wealth, either during their lifetime or at the time of their death. Only a few have gravitated to the idea, so far. They include Los Angeles philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad; Silicon Valley’s John and Tashia Morgridge and venture capitalist John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins.
If the dynamic duo are successful, they could literally change the world. They have labeled their efforts “The Giving Pledge” and have set up a website, givingpledge.org.
“The Giving Pledge is an effort to invite the wealthiest individuals and families in America to commit to giving the majority of their wealth to the philanthropic causes and charitable organizations of their choice, either during their lifetime or after their death,” the website states. “The Pledge is a moral commitment to give, not a legal contract. It does not involve pooling money or supporting a particular set of causes or organizations. While the Giving Pledge is specifically focused on billionaires, the idea takes its inspiration from efforts in the past and at present that encourage and recognize givers of all financial means and backgrounds. We are inspired by the example set by millions of Americans who give generously (and often at great personal sacrifice) to make the world a better place.”
This could be a transformational idea. One that would rival the Internet, fire and the car.
But, the more interesting question is, how many of the richest people in the country actually will make the pledge and promise to give half of what they have worked to gather.
I want to be optimistic and believe it will be done, but it’s hard to envision.
How many of you would go that far if you were asked to? I know I would have to think about it.
Michael Kinney