RACIST BAR OWNER MIKE NORMAN OF “MULLIGAN’S” IN MARIETTA, GEORGIA

Think racism isn’t still alive and rearing its ugly head in America?

Check out the t-shirts being sold by an “ultra-conservative” bar owner in Marietta, Georgia. The shirts feature the slogan, “Obama in ‘08.” Above the slogan is a picture of the cartoon monkey Curious George eating a banana.

What an ass!

There was a protest of the shirts in front Mulligans yesterday. A whole thirteen people showed up. So much for the “New South.” Way to go Georgia!

The Boston Herald was one of the first papers to cover this story. They put it in their business section. Judging from some of the comments posted on the Herald’s website I’m sure most of the people in Boston think the shirt is just good business.

Here are a couple of the comments:

The t-shirt is hilarious. Taking offense is no reason for a lawsuit. Good luck!

I am just curious what it actually means.

Hey, calm down fellas, Southerners hate Blacks and foreigners just like the Arabs hate all Americans, what is new about that? Let bygones be bygones and just move on!! And if you really want to deal with it, just bomb the Southerners just like bombing Iraq!! Let’s get rid of all the ignorant bastards around the world !!

Personally, I think the smiley at the end of the posting about bombing everyone was a nice touch.

Publishers of the Curious George childrens book series have threatened legal action against Norman. So have the producers of the Curious George tv show but so far nothing has been done. Meanwhile he’s just gotten all sorts of free publicity for his business and any lawsuit would probably bring even more.

Now I’ve just given the guy some free publicity. Since I’ve already helped Mr. Norman out, I’d like to offer a suggestion for a new sign for the front of his racist establishment:

CNN is reporting that the American government has dropped the reward on the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq from $5,000,000 to $100,000.

Pink Is The New Blog has pictures today of two of the music industry’s biggest drug fiends kissing. Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty making out. It boggles the mind!

I should have know. Anytime you write about anything to do with politics it brings out the crazies.

Yesterday I wrote about Topps (the baseball card company) making cards of the Presidential candidates. I got a lot of feedback. All of it negative.

Of course, it wasn’t so much the people I mentioned. It was the supporters for the candidates I DIDN’T mention that I heard from:

I mean, how in God’s name was I to know there was such a thing as a Dennis Kucinich baseball card?

Good thing they don’t list height on the card’s back!

So, I might as well include the rest of the Topps cards on the off chance that I might offend any Bill Richardson fans out there.

Everybody else was on The Blog yesterday, so get off my back. And it’s not my fault that Topps didn’t make any Mike Gravel trading cards.

Thanks to www.thesmokinggun.com for photographing the front and back of all the candidates cards.

UNTIL YESTERDAY THIS WOMAN WAS THE #1 TENNIS PLAYER IN THE WORLD. CAN YOU NAME HER?

There was a stunning retirement in the world of sports today.

The top female tennis player in the world retired. The problem (for the sport of tennis anyway) is I’ll bet you’ve never even heard of her.

Still guessing? She won 41 tournaments (including seven grand slam events) and has won over $19 million in her tennis career. She has been ranked as the #1 tennis player in the world for the last 100 weeks.

Still don’t know who the woman is?

Justine Henin, the world’s top ranked womens tennis player, has quit the WTA tour. She retires at the top of her sport at the age of 25. There have been several tennis superstars that have retired at a young age. One of them even became a nun:

ANDREA JAEGER

Still, it’s almost unprecedented that a number one player in any sport would retire at the top of their game. Michael Jordan did it…

But he came back.

Other legendary sports figures retired early but there were usually extenuating circumstances.

Following the 1966 season, Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax retired. He was 30-years-old. Koufax was 27-9 in his final season.

SANDY KOUFAX

Koufax had 27 complete games, 323 innings pitched, 317 strikeouts, and a 1.73 ERA and led the league in shutouts in his final year. Koufax went out in style. He won the pitching Triple Crown (leading the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA.) He was a unanimous choice as the Cy Young Award winner, when the award was given to only one pitcher in both leagues combined. The Dodgers also won the NL pennant.

But Koufax was hiding a secret that entire season. He had a sore arm. And 1966 was the days before modern arthroscopic arm surgery. Following the season Koufax was FORCED to retire.

JIM BROWN

Football player Jim Brown of the Cleveland Browns also retired early. He is widely considered the greatest running back in NFL history. Sportswriter Bert Sugar named Brown #1 in his book The Greatest Athletes of All Time.

Brown retired from the Browns following the 1965 season. He was 29-years-old. In his final season, Brown rushed for over 1,500 yards (in just 14 games) and Cleveland went 11-3 going to the NFL Championship game where they lost to Green Bay.

Following the season, Brown went to work on the movie Ice Station Zebra. He soon discovered he could make more money as the 5,000th best actor in Hollywood than as the best player in NFL history. Cleveland’s idiot owner, Art Modell, refused to pay Brown an extra $10,000. In fact, Modell threatened to fine Brown for reporting to training camp late to work on his movie. Brown told him to go to hell and never played football again.

The retirements of Sandy Koufax and Jim Brown were stunning news in their time. Yet, over 40 years later, both are arguably STILL household names.

That’s not the case with Justine Henin. I doubt that %1 of Americans know who she is.

Don’t get me wrong, some female tennis players are famous celebrities. Maria Sharapova is certainly famous.

MARIA SHARAPOVA

However, Sharapova is only famous because she is insanely HOT. In terms of endorsements, Sharapova long ago left Henin BEHIND her.

MARIA SHARAPOVA’S ASS

The Williams sisters (Venus and Serena) are also famous celebrities.

THE WILLIAMS SISTERS

At this point though, both Serena and Venus are known more for what they do OFF the tennis court.

SERENA WILLIAMS: ALSO MORE FAMOUS FOR HER ASS THAN HER TENNIS

And of course there’s Anna Kournikova. Gee, I wonder why she’s famous?:

ANNA KOURNIKOVA

Kournikova may be the most famous tennis player in the world even though she never won a tournament. She’s also retired from tennis. Like anyone noticed.

The point is female tennis players are recognized solely and ONLY for their looks and not their accomplishments on the tennis court.

That’s why noone will miss Justine Henin. Nobody ever knew she existed because she has a face like a horse.

JUSTINE HENIN: FACE LIKE A HORSE WITH THE ARMS OF A MAN

You think that’s harsh? I had dinner with a group of 11 people tonight. The group was about evenly divided between men and women and their ages ranged from 18-into their 60s. My sample group was white and hispanic with one African American and one Native American-a pretty representative cross sample of America.

I asked this group of 11 people one simple question, “Who is Justine Henin?”

And, with my radio background, I even offered a PRIZE if anyone could guess correctly. Not one person could identify Justine Henin.

And, despite her on-court accomplishments, that is Henin’s ultimate legacy. She retired at the age of 25. And nobody cared.

&fmt=18

&fmt=18

&fmt=18

Here’s something I didn’t know-Topps (the baseball card company) actually made cards this year of the Republican and Democrat Presidential candidates. The political cards are part of their regular set of baseball cards.

And I thought THIS was the crappiest Topps card I ever got:

 I guess collecting political cards is a lot like collecting sports cards. Sometimes you get Mickey Mantle:

Sometimes you get Jerry Dybzinski:

And sometimes you get…

Well, I’m not sure who to compare Ron Paul to. Maybe Dick Pole because all I have to do is LOOK at the card and I laugh. Maybe Jose Canseco.

There was an article in the New York Times that said an autographed Barack Obama card was going for over $3,000. Meanwhile the Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson cards were going for 99 cents on e-bay.

That’s 99 cents COMBINED.