Terrell Owens with Chad Ochocinco at Bengals brings racist media coverage

After a five-team race, Terrell Owens, the six-time Pro Bowl selection, becomes a Cincinnati Bengals player. In joining the Bengals, he's paired with his good friend Chad Ochocinco, making what has to be the most dangerous wide receiving tandem in the NFL. OK, so why the institutionally racist media coverage?

(As a side example, the Hollywoodgossip.com photo has a nasty note on it they installed.  The photo shows Paris Hilton with Owens and other black men. So, the Hollywoodgossip.com blog feels compelled to call her names because she's with black men.  Had they been white men, that message would not have been there.  Instead, we would have got some article about who her next boyfriend was.  Racist?  Yes.)

Terrell Owens with Chad Ochocinco should bring conversations about how the Bengals can scheme to get the most out of each receiver. One really interesting pattern combination is to have both in a slot formation, with Owens to the post from the outside, while Ochocinco takes the corner. Another effective combination is the hitch - corner system popularized by Joe Tiller at Purdue, where we have Owens run the hitch, and Ochocinco the corner route.

Instead of scheme talk, we have talk about the two "entertainers" getting together. Or ESPN's John Clayton wondering if they can share the spotlight.

And the ESPN stupidity continued when Chad was interviewed by ESPN after the news that Owens would join the Bengals. The ESPN anchor asked Chad a question that made this blogger wonder why ESPN hired him: "How well do you know him?"

Any follower of sports knows that Chad and T.O. are friends and have been for a long time, but this ESPN guy had to push the idea that they diddn't know each other, even as Chad explained they were friends for 10 years.

It's the insistence on playing up the "circus" and Chad and T.O. as (without saying it) outspoken and flamboyant black men that really makes me pound my first on the desk. Code words like "entertainer" or "reality show" or "circus" or "trouble" or "flamboyant" pepper ESPN blog posts and television coverage.

It's to the point, where I'm sick of ESPN's low-brow, racist approach. ESPN and the media don't refer to outspoken white players that way. Take the Minnesota Vikings Defensive End Jared Allen. He of the crowd-pleasing sacks who loves the mic as much as Owens and Ochocinco. But you never see the same code words applied to him.

The subtle message all week long is if you're a black guy who's outspoken and walks a different path, you're a threat. It happened when Dallas Cowboys Rookie Dez Bryant said he wasn't going to carry Roy Williams pads. Who did the media compare him too? Terrell Owens. And now, just a day or so later, the silly, racist crap continues in the media. Some of it, delivered by black male sports writers, who should know better.

Just because it's coming from them doesn't make it OK. Word to the media: if you don't know about football strategy, don't write about football. If you can't draw a play and describe it to an audience. If you don't know what a team's doing as it unfolds, don't write about it or talk about it.

The reason is the lack of football strategy understanding is replaced by some commentary peppered with the sports writers prejudices. Frankly, I'm tired of it all.

I'm really sick of the garbage that's coming out of a number of media outlets regarding Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco. Please stop.

Oliver Stone's take on Hitler and Stalin by: Nikky Raney

The 63-year-old director, Oliver Stone, told the London Sunday Times that "Jewish domination of the media...Israel has f***** up United States foreign policy for years."

Stone is creating a 10 hour TV special called "Oliver Stone's Secret History of America."

As if the Jewish remark wasn't enough to make Stone look bad he continues to say:

"Hitler is an easy scapegoat throughout history and it's been used cheaply."

Stone believes that what Hitler did to the Russians was far worse than what he did to the Jewish people.

Stone didn't stop there; he remarks on Josef Stalin:

"Stalin has a complete other story. Not to paint him as a hero, but to tell a more factual representation. He fought the German war machine more than any person."

However, Stone understands that what he said was offensive and has since apologized.

"In trying to make a broader historical point about the range of atrocities the Germans committed against many people, I made a clumsy association about the Holocaust, for which I am sorry and I regret."

Time will tell how this all plays out once his TV special airs.

(Photo courtesy of Parade.com)

On UK Film Council campaign, Hatchet 2 horror movie, Tron trailer

Save the UK Film Council. Just on the heels of Comic Con and my Friday with the Hatchet 2 cast and crew, comes the news that Britain is considering cutting the UK Film Council. It's one of many ideas that's part of Britain's wrong-headed austerity policy. History teaches us it's better to deficit spend, but people don't learn so well. Instead, Britain takes aim at movies and The UK Film Council.

Britain should keep the UK Film Council as it's key part of the UK's presence in the healthy entertainment industry. The decision by the Department of Media, Culture And Sport is wrong. Moreover, it should see how the movie industry is one of the best systems for the expression of creativity that then realizes a business component. Just see the interviews with Adam Green and the cast and crew of Hatchet 2, made during Comic Con in San Diego in a trip by this blogger and sponsored by The Kings Inn Hotel.





And of course, who can forget the debut of the Tron Legacy cast and the new movie trailer:



Just because all of this seems like fun doesn't mean it's not business, or that it doesn't have an economic impact. The job multiplier for the movie industry is around 4, which means that for every one job in the movie, there are four more created, considering distributors and retailers, lawyers, publicists, and artists. While one may point to the Internet as a threat, it's actually not. It's just another way of doing some of the same distribution jobs; it doesn't happen by accident.

By cutting The UK Film Council, Britain runs the risk of choking off the growth of reborn film companies like Hammer Films, which made its debut at Comic Con San Diego. Hammer is a UK product with a long history and needs the UK Film Council's involvement to grow in the 21st Century.

Save the UK Film Council. Cutting it is a mistake.

Adam Green on Hatchet 2 - how the horror movie came to be

Adam Green is a determined genius. The creator of Dark Sky Films Hatchet and the upcoming Hatchet 2, said (in a limo on the way to Comic Con and part of this blogger's trip sponsored by The Kings Inn Hotel, San Diego) that the horror movies series, which features the murderous exploits of Victor Crowley, was in his head from childhood days, and wanted to get it into the big screen, but a series of rejections forced him to the point of writing the script from scratch in just three days.

Now, with Hatchet 2, Adam Green has a second shot at building on a cult classic released in 2006. The best way to describe the Hatchet series is "old school American 80s horror" where teeth and gums are pulled out, body parts are thrown, and general bloody chaos is the order of the day.

In our limo ride to the San Diego Convention Center where Comic Con was held, Adam talked about how Hatchet 2 was created, but what, or who, took over the conversation was his general family of Danielle Harris, who plays MaryBeth, screen legends R.A. Mihailoff, and Kane Hodder (Leatherface in Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3, and Jason from Friday The 13th, who play Trent and Victor Crowley respectively (and Victor Crowley's father, too, in the case of Kane), A.J. Bowen, Tom Holland, and Jennifer Blanc-Biehl, who, while not in Hatchet 2, is set to start filming The Victim with her good friend Danielle Harris, next week.

Together, and you see this in the video above, these guys are a total riot. Their chemistry is why I think Hatchet 2's going to be a hit. That glue, the bond they have is evident on screen. Hey, if it was all an act for the camera, it was a good one. But I know for a fact that was not the case; they're really good, down to earth people.

This is the second video in a series. The first one I just had to get out first, because it's the funniest and most provocative of the series. Eventually, we'll get to the more serious videos, but these "Hatchet 2 limo ride videos" you'll see only here.  

On John Bolz, John Carroll, Perez Hilton, blogging, and making money

John Bolz is the number on Google Trend as this blog post is written. The problem is no one knows why. But one has to use John Bolz and "grover cleveland alexander" to generate traffic, views, and ad revenue for their blogs.

When San Francisco Chronicle Columnist and all-around good man John Carroll wrote about bloggers and wondered how they make money (in "the blog dilemma" which should have been designed to be found in a search), he looked at it, it seemed unknowingly, from the perspective of one who's used to working for someone else.

Perez Hilton shows the way

Perez makes a business of hounding Miley

The most successful bloggers own their own blogs: Perez Hilton comes to mind. Now, if you're going to tell me what you think of Perez' content, you're not going to learn anything, so you're not the person I'm trying to reach.

Perez Hilton owns his own blog, and yet he's "multi-platform:" he has millions of Twitter followers. His videos can be found on his own YouTube channel, where, like me, Perez is a YouTube Partner. That means he earns revenue from his video views. He's got over 62,000 YouTube subscribers as of this writing. Me? I'm just over 5,000 YouTube subscribers, but hey, I love every one of them.

But my point is Perez has his own channel and his own "brand" that's not all in one place.  Regardless of what you think about Perez Hilton, you know what you're going to get when you visit his blog. That "brand" has led to offers of up to $20 million for his blog.

What John Carroll missed is a look at the blogger who's an entrepreneur. Before the days of journalists looking for work as bloggers, there were journalists who did blogging, specifically Justin Hall.

Hall's called a pioneer blogger, but the point here is that Justin did his own thing as a blogger and gained fame doing it.

I encourage people who blog at Zennie62.com, or any of the blogs in the Zennie62 network, to maintain or start their own blogs and cross post their work to mine. I want each person to grow their own online value. That's what John Carroll, ever the good man, misses. But it's also my fault for not following up with Carroll on my desire to video interview him

See, John Carroll is a star. Like many long-time journalists and columnists he has a following, but he's not "branded" in the way Perez Hilton is. He's not on video or mobile devices. He doesn't have his own widget.  He should have all of this, and more.

In short, John Carroll doesn't have that set of platforms that, added together with respect to traffic, he can sell for money, or make money from. It's a welcome direction given the shrinking print media industry.

The problem is the death of print media is forcing people online, where they're quite literally lost in Internet space. Many people: journalists, publicists, and public relations specialists, are totally lost.

And they're not helped by those who are in the same professions who take money from them with these seminars and panel discussions, claiming that they know the Internet way, when in point of fact, those same persons don't even have a clear Internet presence and brand. So, it becomes the blind leading the blind, and both eventually get frustrated either because they aren't making real money or the people have realized they don't know and have stopped paying them.

If you are asked to pay over $100 to attend a social media "how-to" function, run, don't walk, to the nearest exit. Don't do it.

Just do what Former San Francisco Chronicle Columnist Glenn Dickey did, and at my pushing, about five years ago: he started his own website called Glenn Dickey.com. Plus, he's at Examiner.com And while I think he could improve on his Internet presence and website monetization by a ton, he's at least created an online home that has some value (the paywall's a bad idea). The Examiner gives him another platform that helps drive awareness of the "Glenn Dickey" brand and thus, get more traffic.

So, John Carroll, you can make money blogging, but you've got to have your own blog and brand. In short, you have to think not in terms of working for someone else, but in terms building your own media business.

Jack Tatum, 61, Oakland Raiders Legend dies: I saw Darryl Stingley hit

Tatum crushes Stingley (NY Times)

Jack Tatum, the Oakland Raiders Legend dies at the young age of 61, and this blogger is shocked: Jack Tatum is one of those people who, as an Oaklander, is like part of your mental furniture; you just expected him to be there, forever.

That's especially true because I saw Darryl Stingley as he was hit by Jack Tatum at the 1978 preseason game between the Oakland Raiders and the New England Patriots. I was at Skyline High School at the time (in fact, unbelievably, our 30th reunion is this weekend) and went to the game with my good friend Bill Boyd (who you may remember from my Star Trek video, if you follow this space).

Bill and I were nerds before the term was created. In Bill Boyd's case, he was given to a Monty Python-style of humor: he could sing the "LumberJack Song" on cue. (Well, OK, all of us - me, Bill, Lars Frykman, and Craig Prior on a good day - could.)

Anyway, it was Bill's first pro football game at the Oakland Coliseum - I got the tickets from my Mom, who was friends with Raiders Defensive Tackle Otis Sistrunk and Marvin Upshaw, brother of Oakland Raiders Legend and later NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw at the time - and he was in rare form. When the Oakland Raiderettes Cheerleaders were introduced, Bill stood up in his seat and yelled "SEX! SEX! SEX!" When the Oakland Raiders players came out, he got up and yelled "VIOLENCE! VIOLENCE! VIOLENCE!" Well, he was right.

The New England Patriots and Darryl Stingley in particular, were having a field day on offense against the Raiders. I got used to seeing Stingley run after the catch with abandon; Tatum put a stop to that.

As I recall, Stingley caught a slant pass and headed up field; I saw a number 32 cross my binoculars, and then a resounding crack. That was it.

The Oakland Coliseum was the quietest it's ever been. Darryl Stingley was down and Bill and I thought he died. That's a wild something to experience, especially when you're a teenager.

Then, after what seemed to be an eternity, they brought out a stretcher, gently lifted Stingley, and took him to an ambulance.

As you know by now, Darryl Stingley was paralyzed.

That event forever changed Jack Tatum and NFL Football. He played with less abandon after that, and it closed a chapter in Oakland Raiders history where the team was considered to have "criminal elements" on it. The charge came from then-Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Chuck Knoll, who's own players had some of the same claims aimed at them...by the Raiders.

Shortly after that event, and entering the 80s, the NFL liberalized defensive contact rules, allowing receivers to run through defenses without being "chucked" beyond five yards, whereas a defender could hit a receiver and knock the person off course before.

That change paved the way for the wide-open NFL of today.

That ended the Jack Tatum era.

Jack Tatum, whom I met once, was from what I recall a quiet and nice person; not at all like his football persona.

He died too young, but his sprit lives on. Perhaps the modern Oakland Raiders will channel his energy into an NFL Championship.

Stay tuned. What a sad day for Oakland sports. Jack Tatum, RIP.

Charles E. Johnson, San Mateo's Tano Capital, invest in India, China

What's interesting to learn about Bay Area venture capital firms, and on the heels of Thursday's TechCrunch Summer Party hosted by August Capital, is that not every one focuses on the United States.

In the case of Tano Capital, the San Mateo, California investment firm founded by Charles E. Johnson, the former President of Franklin Templeton investments, who's its managing director, has its investment interests primarily in India and China.

The firm, established in 2007, started with a few small investments, but then ramped up its activity considerably in 2009. It started with an investment in AltoBeam Technology, a China-based designer of digital TV chipsets. Then Tano placed $2.2 million in TongXue.com, a Chinese-based social network, that's become one of the 50,000 largest websites in the World (and with a really cool animated activity map).

In 2010, Tano Capital's activity increased, to the point that it has now as many deals in play as it did in all of 2009. And Tano's not totally out of the United States in terms of investment deals: it started the Tano Global Hard Assets Fund, which invests in U.S. hard assets.

Tano does all of this from it's offices in San Mateo, Mumbai, Mauritius, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, and Tianjin.

Terrell Owens is more than just a Reality TV star by: Nikky Raney

Terrell Owens was a well-known football player (former All-Pro receiver) before landing a reality TV show on VH1 (The T.O. Show).

Although some have reported that T.O's career is on the decline he still has hope for the upcoming football season.

The New York Jets are set to possibly be the next to sign Owens, but the Cincinnati Bengals also have their prospects on the star.

Only time will tell which team the star will join, but the fans will definitely be glad to see him back on the field.

(Photo courtesy of Mouth Piece Sports)

Move over Andrew Breitbart, here comes Hipskind!

Darlene Heslop "sighed and rolled her eyes" according to a story in the Chicago Tribune. For that she got ejected from the June 14 meeting of the City Council in Elmhurst, IL.

"Surely nobody expects the committee to conduct its business effectively if citizens are free to make facial expressions in public."

I'm serious.

"Making faces behind the mayor's back is disruptive, in my opinion,"

~Stephen Hipskind

Now, according to the Tribune's Editorial, the Elmhurst City Attorney has been directed to research the legal definitions of disorderly conduct and disruptive behavior apparently as a precursor to drafting an ordinance "to curb non-verbal outbursts." There is already a state law defining disorderly conduct as "an act in such unreasonable manner as to alarm or disturb another, or to provoke a breach of the peace." 

Somehow, to me, neither sighing nor rolling your eyes, even if done more-or-less simultaneously at a meeting of elected officials, seems likely to provoke a breach of the peace. A snort? Maybe. A chuckle or two, even? Perhaps.

July's been a busy month for dictionary makers

First we have the new verb breitbart, as in "he breitbarted the story," to describe taking something so egregiously out of context that it takes on a meaning opposite from what was originally intended.  Now we also have the new verb hipskind, as in "he hipskinded the event," meaning he caused members to walk out undermining the meeting quorum yet succeeded in wasting tax-payer money by sending an attorney on a wild goose chase - over somebody sighing and rolling their eyes.

Is it any wonder voters seem hard-pressed to trust elected officials to bring value to their work? To delegate to an attorney the task of devising a way to control facial expressions sounds like some farcical Monty Python sketch.  Sadly, it's not - it's the state of the city in Elmhurst, IL.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, Democratic Campaign Manager, journalist, and photographer who contributes regularly to various web sites on topics such as economics, politics, culture, and community. He's glad nobody could watch his facial expressions while he wrote this.

Tom Staub? City of Alameda's City Manger in trouble on SunCal Alameda Point

Victim of a can't do city

This blogger returns from Comic Con to see that Alameda's a big mess. Forget Tom Staub, or Tony Hayward, or Fugazi, or cats that look like Hitler, or any questionable content, the Internet World should pay attention to how Alameda messed up.

The City of Alameda’s rejection of developer SunCal’s Alameda Point redevelopment plan and involvement is an example of the City’s awful political and staff leadership and it will cost the taxpayers millions of dollars and lost jobs over the coming years.

Perhaps just as damaging, unless something with SunCal can be salvaged, my sources say the City’s reputation has been irreparably damaged with Wall Street and the investment community and, now, any major developer would be foolish to even entertain driving through the Alameda Tube.

(Hey investment community, come to Oakland.)

That's too bad for a project, the redevelopment of what was the Alameda Naval Air Station and what we call Alameda Point, which was closed in what was called the "Base Realignment and Closure Act" of 1992.

I was on the first Alameda Base Reuse Committee, and the time table we had called for the project to be underway by now. But, thanks to Ann Marie Gallant, that's not the case.

Alameda’s interim city manager, Ann Marie Gallant is the problem. Period. She's become the Tony Hayward of the investment community in my view, and someone should be royally pissed off; I am. Ann Marie Gallant has been single-handedly behind the collapse of the SunCal project from the view of this space.

Gallant's recent stop-the-development-at-all-costs efforts in which sources say she secretly started reading the emails and correspondence of a well-regarded Councilwoman, Lena Tam, and then hired a private attorney to file claims against Tam, taking her out of the vote for the Alameda Point development and casting aspersions on Tam’s supporters.

While Alamedan’s don’t know the full story about Ann Marie Gallant, it will soon come out in this space, as both Tam’s top attorney John Keker and, separately, SunCal are looking at legal action against Gallant and the City of Alameda.

One of the big issues is the money SunCal spent in paying the City of Alameda's staff during the negotiating period and what the staff did and did not do during that time. To say that Gallant and the City of Alameda are in big trouble is an understatement.

Tom Staub? Forget it.

Stay tuned.

On Leah Siegel of ESPN, Dez Bryant, and Comic Con 2010

Blogging thoughts on Leah Siegel of ESPN and the Dallas Cowboys' Dez Bryant, and posting videos on Comic Con from San Diego International Airport.

Leah and her kids 

Leah Siegel of ESPN

Leah Siegel, is a Dallas-based producer for ESPN, and mother of three, sadly lost her battle with breast cancer Monday at the young age of 43. That news is particularly hard for me, because I will never forget the January 14th day my mother first informed me she had breast cancer.

And although she has survived, 2005 was a year that, between her breast cancer, and losing both my father and step father to prostate cancer in March and October respectively, I'd never cried so much in one year in my life. I hope, before I die, we find a cure for cancer. But for now, we morn the passing of Leah Siegel, who's plight generated an online following.

According to her husband Eric Loehr, writing on her blog, Leah died at 4:30 AM. Funeral service will be held at Friday, July 30th, 2 PM at Sparkman-Hillcrest Funeral Home, 7405 Northwest Hwy Dallas, TX 75225.

Dallas Cowboy's Dez Bryant Is Terrell Owens?

Former Oklahoma State Wide Receiver, and Dallas Cowboys 1st Round Draft Pick Terrell Owens is being compared to former Dallas Cowboys Wide Receiver Terrell Owens, and for a really stupid reason: he will not carry Roy Williams pads!?

To that I saw, Roy Williams and the media need to grow up. No disrespect to the great Roy Williams, but he made this a really bone-headed story by running to reporters, who were eager to take it, and form it into another, drum-roll please, "BLACK MAN WON'T DANCE" tale. Want proof: they played the "Terrell Owens" card.

Oh brother.

That Roy Williams is black, which someone's going to blurt out with, as if that's significant here, is of no matter. According to ESPN, Williams said he carried pads, paid for dinners, and did other things NFL veterans asked him to do because he "didn't want to be that guy."

Roy Williams knows, and anyone else culturally honest enough to admit it will say, that being "that guy" means being a black guy who does not play by the rules set out for him by society. Thus, the "Terrell Owens" mention by the media.

It's an institutionally racist way of society reminding a black guy of his place, and aided by another black guy, in this case Roy Williams.

Considering that the Cowboys having won an NFL Championship since the '90s, maybe Dez Bryant's the guy the need. Roy Williams seems more worried about Dez Bryant being a black guy "who dances," rather than an NFL player who can help them win a ring.

Williams could have just talked to Dez Bryant privately about the issue, and not ran to the press. That was awful on Roy's part.

Dez, just play ball.

Comic Con 2010 is History

A sad Monday and not just for the news of Leah Siegel's passing, but for the end of Comic Con 2010. With the exception of the unfortunate stabbing incident, I've never seen so many happy people in one place in my life. Every day of the five days I was here, my days at the San Diego Convention Center started with seeing smiling people, young, middle-aged, old, and even toddlers. That was cool.

On the matter of the stabbing incident, I talked to David Glanzer, the Director of Marketing and Public Relations on Comic Con on video, here:

.

Briefly, Glanzer and San Diego Police Officer Sargeant Cecena both said that two friends got into an altercation and that the pen stabbing accident (more that than an assault) was "minor." It took 40 minutes to get the show back to normal that Saturday evening. Glanzer said he "could not remember anything that this happening at all" in the 41-year history of Comic Con. Part of the problem may be the sheer size of Comic Con.

Glanzer said they've outgrown the San Diego Convention Center, and even though they experimented with expanding events to the nearby hotels, they had to turn away 400 exhibitors. If an average booth cost is, say, $400, then Comic Con turned lost $400,000 because of lack of space at the San Diego Convention Center.

But fear not, Comic Con will be back in San Diego for 2011 and 2012; it's 2013 and beyond that's the issue.

Glanzer and the Comic Con staff will take a week off, but come next week they will be "right back at it" looking at proposals from Anaheim, Los Angeles, and San Diego for the future.

Buffy The Musical closes Comic Con

One of the most fun events I attended (the other being not really an event, but the day spent with the Hatchet 2 cast and crew, and I've got a lot more to blog about for that) was the last one called Buffy The Musical.

Basically, an audience of about 3,000 or 4,000 people watched and sang along to Buffy The Musical's songs, using the subtitled lyrics as a guide. Some people knew the songs by heart. My favorite song was "Where do we go from here."

Did I sing? Yes. But then, that's what happens when you're a black guy who doesn't dance.



A really good question. But I'd like to thank Lila King and my friends at CNN iReport for giving me a cool Flip Video Camera Mino HD, specially designed for CNN, and a nice CNN hat.

Stay tuned.

2 can play @ Breitbart's editing game!

By now you've learned what great lengths Andrew Breitbart will go to editing video to make people, such as Shirley Sherrod, look as though they're for something they're against - hey, video clips don't lie, right?

Right.

Now the folks at MoveOn have released the perfect counterpoint: video of Breitbart talking about having cocktails with terrorists while disparaging the people you and I think of as normal.

Mr. Breitbart's remarks, excerpted from a presentation at February's Conservative Political Action Conference -- months before he deftly edited Ms. Sherrod to defame and discredit her -- are shocking, really.  

But don't take my word for it - go see for yourself!

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, Democratic Campaign Manager, journalist, and photographer who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community.