...while wondering what ever happened to W. Wilson Goode

The sun came up in the West. The Earth revolved around the moon. A woman stayed in love with me for more than a week. This is the scale we're talking here. I was walking through a skybridge on the way to my office the other day when I read the words, "Suspect in JonBenet Case in Custody". I was litterally stopped in my tracks. As I read on, all I could say was, "She didn't do it?" No less than three people passing commented, "I know, can you believe it?!?!" Wow. Now I realize that this guy may just be a freak who wants attention but still, it comes as an absolute shock to me that it is now very possible that Patsy Ramsey was innocent all along. Well, not innocent. I mean, dressing your five year-old like a hooker does tend to draw just the kind of pedophile that aparently killed JonBenet, still it would appear as though her mother did not actively participate in her killing. As to our decade-long condemnation of the late Mrs. Ramsey: my bad. But OJ's still guilty...Eating Crow, Take II: We're always a little wary of a Spike Lee "joint", but his When the Levees Broke, A Requium in Four Parts is, through Act II, an amazingly powerful work. The presentation has been muted, balanced and very moving. Credit was given where due -- most notably to the US Coast Guard -- and blame distributed, to this viewer's eyes, fairly. One troubling part was the complaints of evaccuees about having to go to Utah (insert joke here). Look, help is help and getting out is getting out. How about a little gratitude? Also, there were claims that families were intentionally split up in the evacuation, with, "babies ripped out of their mothers' arms." Sorry -- not buying that one. Still, through the first half, Mr. Lee has acquitted himself quite well. HBO also made a wise choice in spreading the telecast over two nights. Four consecutive hours of this trajedy would have been too much... To donate to Hurricane Katrina relief efforst, click here...Why is Maurice Clarrett all over my sports sections? He has never played in an NFL game -- pre, post or regular season. He was a third round draft pick who got cut in preseason. Last year. He is not a sports figure. He’s a guy whose life didn’t work out precisely how he wanted it to, so he turned to crime. And isn’t a pro at that either…Why is LAClippers’ owner Donald Sterling not all over my sports section? He pays millions of dollars to black men to play basketball for him, yet will not accept thousands of dollars from black families – and children of any ethnicity – to live in his rental properties in the Koreatown section of Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. Now I understand the concept of adult only communities and I am ok with them. But to systematically deny housing to people with children by making certain units “unavailable” or to employ other deceptive practices to discourage their letting is not only clearly illegal, but cowardly as well. It goes without saying that the race-based aspect of this discrimination is disgusting as well. When an athlete (more often than not black) is caught with drugs or beating his wife, it’s front page news. Hell, Maurice Clarrett doesn’t even play and he’s splashed all over the news. When the white D. Sterling continuously refused to ante up and pay his players, that was all over the news. But it turns out he’s a racist and – nothing. A little blurb on espn.com. Not even a story on the irony of the fact that Elton Brand couldn’t rent a house in Beverly Hills from the guy who pays him the money with which he would pay for it. Perhaps Mr. Sterling took the title Owner literally…Going back to our favorite Ohio State running back for a moment, Line of the Week goes to Gene Wojciechowski, of espn.com who, when writing about Columbus police officers’ failed efforts to taser the suspect – because he was wearing a freaking bullet-proof vest! – resorting to pepper spray and a “team of officers”, commented, “Yeah, that sounds like Clarett -- always tough to bring down with one defender.”…They say an NBA playoff series does not start until the road team wins a game. In much the same way it can now be officially declared football season, as our beloved Cleveland Browns have lost a game...Just for shits and giggles, go to www.google.com . Type in "failure". Hit enter.

Until next time,
Paz