Michael and Don and Duke

I've never listened to Don Imus. Never listened to Howard Stern. I used to listen to the Greaseman by default back when he was on DC101 before he went syndicated and then got fired. I think the Greaseman is back on DC radio somewhere. The only reason I've heard some of the Greaseman's shows is that someone I worked with used to play him non-stop, so I had no choice but to listen. He didn't really bother me. I spent most of the time wondering how he could make that much money in the morning by not doing a whole lot except trying to be one notch more runoff-at-the-mouth than any other a.m. jocks. Hell, I'm pretty damned smart-mouthed in the morning, all day, really, and I've never raked in the money like he did.

Michael Olesker was forced to resign from the Baltimore Sun last year sometime, or was it the year before, due to some information in his column being too close to looking like he borrowed someone's homework without their asking and ran it under his byline.

He's now writing for the Baltimore Examiner. The Examiner is free. I used to get it delivered to my house, not that I asked, because I live in one of the zip codes where everyone gets one unless you say, "Stop!" They stopped delivering to me without my asking. I'll pick one up at a box they have every block or so on busy Baltimore streets, and read it that way.

Today's column is about the whole Don Imus "nappy headed hos" comment, or whatever he called those basketball players. And now, Donny is apologizing himself blue while people are calling for him to be fired, and how dare he, blah, blah, blah.

Michael Olesker is right when he says that Imus goes on Jesse Jackson's show to apologize. Jesse himself back in the day referred to part of New York City, I think it was, as "Hymietown," because of the large Jewish population in that area. There was a pretty funny skit on Saturday Night Live with Eddie Murphy singing a song called "Hymietown" that following week.

Imus also goes onto Reverend Al Sharpton's show to apologize. What was that whole racist bit about Tawana Brawley and the Reverend?

Olesker is right on target when he talks about how both Jesse and the Rev weathered their storms and are still on the radio today.

Racism goes both ways.

What about those horrible, horrible, white Duke lacrosse players who were found guilty by many because they were white and that dancer they "raped" was black? All charges against the lacrosse players were dropped today. The other dancer at that party said that the dancer who accused them told her that she was "going to get some money" out of them. She didn't. But their lawyers sure as hell did. And the taxpayers of North Carolina sure lost a lot of money on her behalf.

As I remember, all the Duke lacrosse players had DNA tests done. The accusing dancer was found to have the DNA of three different men in her panties when they were tested from that night. Not one of those three samples matched the DNA of the lacrosse players accused, let alone any of the other Duke lacrosse team.

Eventually, both dancers stopped cooperating with prosecutors, and all charges were dropped.
If she had really been raped by the three she accused, wouldn't she want to help the prosecutors to the fullest extent?

If that dancer wants to be gang-banging on her own time, that's her business. If she wants to be doing it to "get some money" out of some white boys, then it's not her business. The lacrosse players all maintained their innocence from the giddy-up, and very few people believed them. The two that were still students at Duke (the one student graduated before he was indicted) got suspended from the university. They were invited back after that, but refused the invitation.

I don't know if Michael Nifong actually thought he was being Superman when he went after those men so zealously, but he didn't do anyone any good, including himself. I wonder how he feels today. I wonder if he's able to look those three men in the face. I wonder if that dancer is able to look at herself in the mirror. If she is, she shouldn't be. I don't believe in a god, but I do believe very much in karma. We all do wrong. Some of us do more wrong than others. I don't know what her thoughts are now that the case has been dropped. I do remember reading that she has a child. I only hope that her child is at least 50% moral, which would be 50% more than its mother is. It's a fact that the child isn't going to get rich off the money that the mother got from those nasty, terrible white lacrosse Duke boys who she accused of sexually assaulting her.

Racism goes both ways. Maybe they should have the dancer on Don Imus' show.