Super Bowl 47 Predictions and Tidbits

In between me being jealous of my media brethren and sisthren partying and occasionally working in New Orleans, there is a game we all want to see Sunday. And if you ask me, it's hard to predict and figure out what could happen.

The red-hot 49ers and their red-hot QB Colin Kaepernick, the 4th Black signalcaller to appear in the Big Game. The surging Ravens powered by an incredible postseason by Joe Flacco and the last game of leader Ray Lewis. Who to choose, who to choose.

Oh yeah, did you hear both coaches are brothers? Don't think I heard that enough yet.

Anyways, picking this game is pretty hard. My inner Cowboys fan wants to say no to San Francisco, the 90's rival I grew up despising and respecting. Yet they have several factors.

Football Wrap: 49ers/Ravens Heading To the Bayou!

I’m bringing it back for old time’s sake. The Return of the Football Wrap to offer some takes on the NFC/AFC title games cause there’s a lot I saw Sunday.

                      

I’ve doubted Joe Flacco for a while. I’ve criticized him as much as anybody. But it’s clear that he’s proved himself. All 5 years of his career has ended with at least one playoff win. He’s been in 3 AFC Title Games and now is in the Super Bowl. He’s called his shot and now he’s backing it up.

What more can you say after outplaying Peyton Manning and Tom Brady in their houses? He's no longer a game manager. Pretty Flacco can win with his arm now and he's starting to live up that nickname I gave him (hat tip to Mos Def)

Even more impressive that the Ravens’ defense shut out New England in the second half.  That was vintage Baltimore – hard hitting, playmaking (3 turnovers) and frustrating a great quarterback. 

NABJ 12 Recap (Long Read but Worth It - I Promise)

So folks have asked me how did I enjoy my 1^st experience at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention & Career Fair in New Orleans? I compare it to attending your first college party – you absorb so much all at once. You shake hands, chat up strangers, make a few friends, take in the sights and sounds and somehow try to sleep afterwards.

Repeat this for 3-4 days and once it starts to become normal, you have to leave and readjust back to your life. But what a fun, amazing experience it was to finally be around so many people in your profession and learn from them.

I’ll keep it simple by just doing recaps of my 3 days there – I won’t count getting there Tuesday where I discovered 1) Gas is 70 cents cheaper – 3.15!!!!, 2) Bourbon Street was a mere 5/6 blocks away from the hotel, 3) An old mentor of mine (Mike Terry, formerly of the LA Times) was also in attendance.

Me and New Orleans

This week, I’m heading to New Orleans to attend the annual convention for the National Association of Black Journalists. There’s a lot of folks who will be there that I’ve admired for years as well as fellow peers and colleagues that I have yet to meet. Is it intimidating? Honestly, yes and I wouldn’t have it any other way because it excites me. The same way going to the National Youth Leadership Conference and NCORE excited me in 2002 and 2005, respectively.

But this trip will be awesome for the simple fact that I’m in the city I’ve wanted to visit again for eight years. The Fatherland as I call it since my Dad called it home. It’s story time, kids, so pull up a chair and listen up.

Katrina 5 Years Later

Thanksgiving weekend 2004 - my family was in New Orleans for a day to watch the Battle of the Bands. We walked along Bourbon Street and watched a step show along with the Battle between Southern and Grambling's bands inside the Superdome - the pinnacle of Southern Black culture. With "Nolia Clap" and "Go DJ" played non-stop in the arena and surrounded by Black Greeks, it was a wonderful time.

That night we watched Black folks celebrate in downtown New Orleans. While I was dreaming of regretting that decision not to apply to Morehouse, I felt like I was getting a taste of the South that so many of us in Cali don't see.

9 months later, that memory was replaced by something else. I remember moving in my senior year of college and hearing that a hurricane was coming to the Gulf Coast. It didn't hit me just how huge this was gonna be. I remember as an 8 year old kid seeing how bad Hurricane Andrew was in Florida so I figured it would be close to that but nowhere the devastation.

Next thing I knew, we saw the Gulf Coast submerged under water. People floating in boats and standing on roofs. Houses nearly covered in water. I'll never forget seeing the chilling photo of a dead woman face down in a pool of water splashed on the front of the NY Times.

My uncle and cousin had to move to Atlanta. The Superdome became a home for the displaced. My dad's hometown was a living waterpark - with poor folks who looked like me struggling a terrible evil.

Looking back on it, I remember these feelings and the lackluster government response. It was a reality to a lot of folks that like John Edwards said, we lived in Two Americas. George Bush watching that response from Air Force One said it all - an America detached from the painful reality of the poor, working class.

(I always wondered what he was thinking. Like his reaction on 9/11)

I was so confused about my feelings of despair and anger that I wrote this blog on MySpace. I didn't want to blame the government at first but that later faded.

Katrina was indeed a hurricane of class and racial issues that this country forgot about. Those issues came up when White with supplies were called surviving and Black faces were called looters. They came up recently when we discovered that officers had the green light to shoot looters at will. It comes up when Bourbon Street and the Superdome have been rebuilt and refurnished while most of the lower wards are still in recovery mode.

And by the way, what about Mississippi and the rest of the Coast? You may hate Kanye West for what he said on the telethon but I admire him for having the balls to say what many of us were saying privately and still needs to be said. David Banner forever earned my respect for not just organizing a concert for Katrina relief, but performing this great poem on Def Poetry Jam reminding us it's not just about New Orleans.

5 Years Later, Katrina reminds me of the outpouring of love we have, the feeling of detachment when it doesn't affect you personally, and a reminder that the federal and local government show who they really care about. I think about what would my Dad have done if he were alive to it and how much he would have given.

This spring, I watched David Simon's new show "Treme" on HBO, which captures a slice of post-Katrina New Orleans for musicians. To me, it not only captures the wide range of emotions after Katrina but it's a reminder that there's resiliency in the area and there's hope. When I talked to a former coworker last year after she returned to NO, she told me the same thing. People are struggling but they aren't giving up -when others forgot about them, they show the same spirit they had beforehand.

Katrina opened my eyes a bit more and it's a bigger reason why I'm passionate about injustice.

In the worst of times, we often see the best of humanity but we leave that memory behind as we move on. Never forget the lessons we've learned and are still learning. That would be a tragedy as well.

One day I'll return and make a pilgrimage to my Dad's birthplace. Reflect and learn again from the city that showed me a great time and exposed me to a new side of my culture.

Here's a great link from the BBC on how post-Katrina New Orleans looks like.