So "brothers" don't watch Seinfeld?!?

So “brothers” don’t do Seinfeld?

I was watching “Pardon the Interruption,” one of my favorite shows yesterday and they were talking about the UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea coming up. BTW, I hate both teams equally as an Arsenal fan, but if I had to see one win, I would pick United. Of course, Kornheiser and Wilbom don’t know shit about soccer so they start naming players that make no sense. At the end, Wilbolm says that “brothers don’t do Seinfeld and soccer!”

Oh really!?!

I’m glad he made this statement because it’s going to launch my multi-part series about what’s perceived as what’s reality of what people watch based on hidden racist undertones. I’ll focus how people say that they don’t watch certain sports because of race like hockey, how idiots like Torii Hunter talk about how there’s a crisis in MLB because there are “no black players,” how black people will say that they don’t like rock music because its white music even though rock is based on gospel and blues music played mostly by black people back in the day. I can go on for days about these because they’re personal issues for me. I’ll focus on music, sports and other things. For now, we’ll focus on television.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m black for those of you who have read this and never actually seen my picture.

Seinfeld is one, if not, my favorite show of all-time. Millions of people have talked about how great it is and I’ll save some of your reading time and just tell you that it’s an incredible show. I’ve always liked the show because it’s funny. Did they have a prominent black cast member? No. Honestly accept for Jackie Styles, Kramer’s lawyer, the owner of Monk’s, the coffee shop they always go to or George’s co-worker with the Yankees, I can’t think of many instances that black people appear on the show. Does that make it not funny? Of course not. However, you’ll have jackasses like Wilbolm making these statements and I know the bullshit he’s coming with. He doesn’t like it because it’s probably considered to unhip because they’re aren’t any “brothers” on the show. Therefore, if he doesn’t think it’s cool, then that means all black people don’t like the show.

It’s like when a famous black person makes a statement; it’s considered the belief of all black people. I’ll save that for another time as well. Writing these posts are going to be fun.

Now, I know that the worst thing to ever happen to ESPN and the epitome of trying to cater to the "brothers” in a fake way, including speaking in slang on a national sports broadcast, Stuart Scott, used to make the joke that “brothers” weren’t watching Seinfeld, they were watching Martin in the 1990’s, so this isn’t a foreign concept and Wilbolm isn’t the main culprit of this issue.

Um, what about watching both and enjoying both equally. I knew plenty of white people who watched both Seinfeld and Martin and enjoyed both equally. However, it seems if I would ask my black friends if they liked Seinfeld, it was an insult to their race that they would admit to liking the show.

Now, I’m not saying Seinfeld isn’t for everybody and everyone must find it as funny as I do. However, when people don’t give it a chance because of the racial makeup of the show, that’s sad.

I’m just tired of people looking to their skin color to qualify for what they should like and don’t like.

This issue even springs into an interesting lightening rod of “black” television shows, the Cosby Show. All races watched the show and loved it because it was just a great show. However, I’ve spoken with black people and actually studies articles in college discussing how the show was unrealistic because it was a black family with a doctor father and lawyer mother living in Brooklyn with money. How is that unrealistic? Does every show with a majority black cast have to be based on living in the lower class in urban settings? Think about it. How is it that shows with a white cast can pretty much have any plot imaginable, yet when black people are portrayed in a successful setting, its impossible?

That’s just not right and I don’t like it.

I honestly don’t care what the racial makeup of the cast is, if the shit’s funny, it’s funny. Just like I don’t need to see black players in a sport to watch it or black musicians in a band to listen to their music. Those posts will come up later, but that’s all for now.

Let's get a cup of coffee "or something"

On our way to Florida, the baseball team and I watched some Seinfeld episodes and that was good times. One of the episodes was about the time that George asked out a waitress at their coffee shop. So they are out on their date and they are just walking and talking in Central Park when George starts talking about horse manure. She then mentions something about her boyfriend. George then talks to Jerry about how he was duped. George says that he told her that they should go out or something. Anyway, the “or something” part was decided to declare the event a date.

I turned to Ross, aka the Tennessee Tornado, and the Tornado and I shook our head and acknowledged that this has happened to us in the past.

The last time that I misinterpreted interaction with a girl happened earlier this year. For the sake of this post, we’ll call her Joan, because I know that she reads this blog often and some of you may know her.

So I met Joan in January and I immediately thought she was cute and had a cool attitude. We had to go to an event off-campus one day and after it was over, we spoke near her car and I was actually getting a positive vibe from her. I asked her if she wanted to go out to coffee or something. Sound familiar?

Joan said that she would like to and I sealed it with one of my patented bear hugs. One advantage to being a big man is that I give good hugs. The ladies love hugs, just don’t hold them too long because they start to get creeped out. If you want advice on hugs, just ask me.

Anyway, Joan and I start exchanging e-mails and even start making lists together, including the top-five albums that was the focus of a post I made last month. Go ahead, check out the post. Just come back.

So, throughout all of this, there is no mention of a boyfriend.

I mention something to Joan about her Facebook profile because she mentions that she likes a sports website I visit often as well.

I send Joan an e-mail telling her that I like the web site too. Joan responds that her boyfriend recommended it to her.

Really, a boyfriend!?!

I tried to play it off cool and when we saw each other later, I actually apologized to her for hitting on her and wanting to go out with her. Joan said that she just forgot to mention the boyfriend in our previous interactions.

Joan and I have actually become friends over the past few months, still do lists together, even though she owes me one, and actually keep in touch with each other more now then when we first started talking to each other. I’ve actually met the boyfriend and it was an interesting meeting to say the least.

Out of respect to him, I’ve kept it friendly with Joan because I don’t pursue someone else’s woman, even though I think very highly of her. Actually, since I haven’t been trying to date Joan, we’ve gotten to know each other better because I care about how she’s doing.

Every few days, I send Joan a text message to ask about her and make sure she’s feeling good. I do this because I really care about her as a friend.

So, in the end, getting swerved by Joan was a good thing because I made a good friend in the process. However, if she ever broke up with her boyfriend, I would like to finally have that cup of coffee or something.