OUT OF TUNE: Jackie Robinson helped usher racism out of baseball, but rapper Jay-Z, who has a song in the trailer for the Robinson biopic “42,” has done his best to bring back racist slurs. (
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In a world gone nuts, what is difficult to miss can be even more difficult to note, tougher to write, speak or even whisper. Some clear-and-present truths are regarded as too dangerous — too impolitic — for one’s good and welfare.
And so the impossible — a wildly popular rapper relentlessly given to calling black men “n—-s” — is chosen for front-and-center attachment to the new movie about Jackie Robinson. Jay-Z even raps an ode to Robinson, a man who suffered the hate and anger of being called what Jay-Z — incredibly, President Obama’s no-questions-asked favorite performer and fundraiser — helped return from the gratefully dead.
But don’t bring that up or it will be twisted — no examination provided — into widespread accusations of being a racist! Run for your life, your reputation, your career!
That’s right, in a world gone nuts, fighting the return of the detestable N-word qualifies you as either a white racist or an Uncle Tom.
So either join the populist party or just move quietly along.
Thus, Jackie Robinson’s legacy and story now will be intentionally and perhaps inextricably attached to the work of a vulgar, hate-spewing, women-trashing rapper — and front-row sports fan — who can’t seem to help, except in the case of his populist, cash-in intrusion in this movie, call black men the very word — the ultimate slur for African-Americans — that Jackie Robinson, far more than most, nearly succeeded in eliminating.
Then there’s Robinson Cano, named for Jackie Robinson, who bolted his agent for Roc Nation Sports, a new agency owned by Jay-Z. Yep, Jackie Robinson’s namesake is now hooked up with an agent who doesn’t consider black men to be men, but “n—-s.”
Suit, pricing suggest Yanks not big on tipping
The Yankees no longer care if it’s a nickel or a bar of gold — they want to remove it from your pocket, put it in their pockets. And you don’t have to be a customer, you can be a Stadium grunt and still catch a beating.
Consider the Yankees are being sued by expensive-seat waiters and waitresses, claiming the Bombers pocketed their tips. That “20 percent gratuity added” that appeared on menus, was glommed by the team.
This season, the price of beer sold by walk-about vendors has risen 25 cents, to $9.75. Ridiculously over-priced, yet not much of a bump, except …
… except that extra quarter now goes into the Yankees’ till rather than the vendors’ pockets, in the form of a tip.
When beer was $9.25 or $9.50 a cup, the buyer typically would hand the vendor a $10 bill (or a $20 bill for two) and tell him to “keep the change.” Now there’s less change for the vendors to “keep,” more for the Yankees to take.
The Yankees now also charge patrons $2 per ticket — for patrons to print their own tickets!
* Dept. of Can’t Make It Up: Reader Bob Fox, NYC, recently was in South Carolina, where he noticed that the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, a Class-A Rangers’ affiliate, play in TicketReturn.com Park. Fox says he will check for us to see if they have a ticket-return policy.
David Cone, on YES Thursday night, revealed Whitey Ford taught him to throw a “resin bag ball.” Michael Kay asked if he ever threw it in a game. “I plead the fifth,” Cone said.
* Baseball in the Age of “Bottom Line” Bud: Padres fans who annually bought Saturday ticket packages received an extra surprise this season — no cost added. Tickets for the Aug. 3 game against the Yankees were not included. They were pulled for added-cost sales.
* MSG will share a recently found full-game tape of Game 5 of the Lakers-Knicks 1973 championship, next Sunday at around 7 p.m. — after Knicks-Pacers. It was an ABC telecast, with Keith Jackson and Bill Russell. The NBA playoffs that season ended May 10.
Man, Rutgers needed lots of lawyers, inside and out, to tell it right from wrong — and they still got it all wrong.
What the hold! That’s a save?
Stats of the Week: Cubs reliever Carlos Marmol, one inning pitched, three hits and one walk allowed, two earned runs allowed — good enough for a save! Three other Cubs pitchers, none working more than an inning and one facing just one batter, were credited with holds. Thursday, four Padres got holds against the Mets.
* The best part of Masters time is when Mike Francesa, while chatting up Jim Nantz, pretends to be tight with all the most famous golfers, referring to them as “Phil,” “Ernie” and “Freddie.”
* With Mariano Rivera pitching, how did Thursday’s Red Sox-Yankees game end on WCBS Radio? According to John Sterling, with “Strike three!” Swinging? Taken? He didn’t say. He’s not much for such details.
* Stan Isaacs, the first sports TV/radio columnist in town — he wrote for Newsday — died Tuesday at 83. Isaacs especially was good at recognizing self-serving nonsense, which especially infuriated Howard Cosell.
* Student-Athletics, Continued: Amari Spievey, Connecticut born-and-raised safety with the Detroit Lions — and recently arrested for assaulting the mother of his child — received his life skills training at the University of Iowa. Last year, seven Iowa football players were arrested.
* If Vince and Linda McMahon were considering a roll call of Wrestlemania performers who died before age 50, for tonight’s Wrestlemania, well, then it would become a two-day pay-per-view.
* Not for nothing — let alone $10 million per — but as much as everyone loves Victor Cruz, he does drop a lot of passes.
* So now the Floyd Mayweather documentary/infomercials have switched from HBO to Showtime.
* Reader Ray Sader wonders whether, if Lucas Duda has a long productive career with the Mets, they will hold a “Duda Day.” And how long, asks reader Jimmy Mitchell, before “Cap Day” is replaced by “Salary Cap Day,” then changed to a night game for ESPN?
* Every time the Jets’ website declares a 75-percent-off sale on merchandise, it’s for jerseys of just-departed players, now including Bart Scott and Dustin Keller.
* Follow the TV money! Little chance of tomorrow night’s NCAA final, scheduled for a 9:23 tip, to end any earlier than 11:30. For a few grand more, the NCAA would let it tip at midnight.
* Golf Channel continues to cover Tiger Woods as if something not too long ago, “happened to him,” and he’s making a wonderful comeback from whatever it was that “happened to him” — as if he were a victim of bad luck, as if, perhaps, he was struck by a meteor.