E.A. Sports: It's NOT in the game

Salud Blogosphere, Sir Marcus here....

So apparently, a couple of weeks or so ago, the one and only Erin Andrews was staying in some hotel and a guy drilled a hole in a wall and watched her walk around her room naked and perform trivial tasks such as iron clothes, brush her hair, etc. Anyone who isn't familiar with her should: first of all, GET OUT FROM UNDER THE ROCK THAT YOU HAVE BEEN HIDING UNDER, and GET FAMILIAR. Secondly, you should know that she is perhaps the foremost female sports sideline personality, at least in the present-day sports landscape. I would venture to guess that perhaps there has never been a more popular and/or swooned-over female sideline reporter. Her nickname on various internet websites and pages is "Erin Pageviews" because just a mention of her name normally results in a huge boon in online traffic for that particular site, and rightfully so. Anyone familiar with the sports world knows who she is, and I would say that, at least for me, outside of her being very good looking on a superficial level, her a

ttractivenes comes from a mixture of her knowledge of sports, her seemingly down-to-earth, unassuming, good-girl-next-door nature, and a certain aura of mystery around her. What I mean by th

at is that she has a certain distant-yet-accessible charm to her, and that she sometimes wears form-fitting clothing to give an idea of her body's assets, but since she has to always be a professional first and foremost, we know that the likelihood of ever seeing her wear anything  that is too stimulating to our eyes is VERY slight; She certainly won't be popping up in Maxim magazine photo spreads anytime soon. That's certainly disappointing, but it's all apart of her allure. 

Now, not to make light of something that is clearly a serious offense, but who does all that stuff naked? Am I the only one who found that weird? No, I have not seen the tape, because I would feel like I was personally disrespecting her, but if I had seen the tape, I can't help but think that I would laugh at the relative absurdity of someone doing that type of stuff COMPLETELY IN THE BUFF. Even in the comfort of our own homes, I would think that most of us don't do a whole 'lotta stuff  completely naked. Besides obvious privacy concerns, it just seems like a weird thing to do. That all being said, many people ask "what was the guy that did that thinking?" Now farbeit from me to take the side of this clown, because what he did is absolutely reprehensible and I don't condone it whatsoever. But I would say that he was just a guy who has more than a passing interest in Miss Andrews and though many guys would love to see her naked, most of us aren't crazy enough to drill a hole in the wall of a hotel room to get a look at it. That shit's just wrong on so many levels. I mean, what part of the game is that? What a douche-cannon. 

All of that stuff came to light a week or two ago. Today I just found out that she recently placed a call to 911 to report two paparazzi guys who were sitting outside her house in Atlanta, presumably waiting for her to come out. In the call, in vintage Erin Andrews style, she was reasonably calm and collected, and while she did drop a few expletives (***good girl image shatters***), she didn't sound to be too shaken by the whole incident. But, I worry that these events will eventually lead to us seeing less and less Erin Andrews as opposed to the more Erin that we crave. It certainly wouldn't come as a shock, because even the coolest people have their breaking points, as I'm sure Erin and ESPN are going into damage control at the moment. 

This recent development, compounded on top of the hotel room fiasco, are just a small taste of what life in front of a camera can lead to. Of course, this just opens up the can of worms that is the debate of when exactly paparazzi crosses the line, which is an entirely other argument for another day. Erin has always seemed to embrace the attention in a most gracious and appreciative manner, but that was, understandably, when the worst thing she ever had to endure was jealousy and/or a negative comment or rumor here and there about her borderline unprofessional flirtatious behavior in team locker rooms. When you're drooled over as much as she is and you're named Playboy's #1 Sexiest Broadcaster two years running, those are just things that will come with the territory. But when the attention starts leading to stuff like this, it can wear on people and may even lead to an eventual complete fading out of the spotlight. It's certainly happened to worse people than Erin Andrews, so if it happened to her, it would be a damn shame, because she never really bargained for any of this. As she so aptly put it in her 911 call, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I'm being treated like fucking Britney Spears." Well put Erin, I couldn't have said it any better myself. 

Until next time, this is Sir Marcus T. Williams signing off... Yall take care now.

Weekend Update

Howdy doody blogosphere, Sir Marcus back here

We're gonna keep it short tonight. My main man Ryno came back to CoMo for the weekend to check outta his room, so it was good to see him again. His gf also came back into town to check outta hers, so he spent alotta time with her too. It's certainly something that was expected, so it's all good. I'm sure it'll be like that during the schoolyear too, so either I'm gonna hafta find my own girl to join the fray, or I'll be playing the 3rd wheel alot more during the year. Tricycles are fun though, right?

So I'm now onto stop #2 of my nomadic adventures in between living at Campus Lodge and Gateway. (Though they will prolly never read this, shouts out to Scott and Randy for putting up with me for the past couple weeks; I really appreciated the hospitality. Hope I wasn't too bad a houseguest, fellas). For the next 3 weeks or so, I'll be staying with my ex-roommate from last year and his girlfriend in their cozy little apartment down by Columbia Mall. It's a one-floor 2 bedroom joint, but because they share a room, I've been able to use the other bedroom to sleep and store all my shit. Pretty nice little place they got here, so I wanna say thanks to Chris and Bre for sharing their place with me for awhile. I'm not gonna bother unpacking too much though cuz that'll just make it tougher when I hafta move again. No one wants that. 

In other news, it's a Monday night, and that means a whole 'lotta sittin in front of the TV. Monday nights are STACKED with quality (at least in my opinion) television. First off, I hafta list that there's an hour of Seinfeld on TBS at 7 p.m. (or 6 in Missouri time). To be fair, Seinfeld comes on every weekday, but the fact that it comes on right before all my other shows just helps my argument for Mega Monday night TV. What other shows? I'm glad you asked. 

Between How I Met Your Mother / Two and a Half Men / Rules of Engagement / The Big Bang Theory / Dating in the Dark / The T.O. Show / Weeds / Family Guy / Monday Night Raw (YES, I STILL WATCH PRO WRESTLING), there's no reason for me to leave the comfort of the couch or bed and TV set on Monday nights. And shit, while we're at it, there's also the return of Monday Night Football in the fall. I got my sports, my comedies, my dramas, and even a little dose of reality TV in there (Monday Night Raw), just in case I get tired of the scripted, head-scratching, soap opera-esque drivel of The T.O. Show. God must be using this as a test for me this school year, a test that I will undeniably be failing with flying colors. My only real regret is that all of this good TV is on one night, and most weeks, I can't get this much quality TV from the rest of the weekdays combined. Tis a cryin' shame, I tell ya. 

So let this be a hint to my teachers this coming semester: I will be completely useless and/or unreliable for work purposes on Monday nights between the hours of 6 and 11 p.m; You've been warned. 

Until next time, this is Sir Marcus T. Williams signing off... Yall take care now. 

Shit Happens

What it do blogosphere, its Sir Marcus here

Tonight's Real World was a doozy. This Ayiiia chick is legitimately crazy, and on top of that, she is easily one of the most polarizing figures that I've ever seen on Real World. She now belongs in the pantheon of RW housemates that, at least of the castmates I've seen, until now inculded only Puck from RW:San Francisco and Greg from RW:Hollywood. While Brooke from RW:Denver might be a little crazier, at least people seemed to legitimately like her when she wasn't screaming. I genuinely think that the only reason Ayiiia's roommates are civil with her at all is to keep the piece between blowups. They genuinely do not seem to like her, and I cant blame them. I feel like she's one of my roommates, and I cant stand her.

In other news, apparently the Tace Bell chihuahua from those 90's commercials died today. Wake me when something significant for the here and now happens.

Also, the infamous tape of Lebron James getting dunked on hit the TV airwaves today. It was made into a big deal because Nike and/or LBJ had the tape confiscated the day that it happened, for what reason, no one knows. Earth to LBJ/Nike: HE'S A BBALL PLAYER AND AS SUCH, HE WONT LOOK GOOD EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY GAME HE EVER PLAYS. IF YOU ALL HAVE NOTICED, THE REST OF THE FREE WORLD HAS ALREADY MOVED ON WITH OUR LIVES. SHAME ON YOU FOR DRAGGING THIS WHOLE THING OUT FOR A MONTH RATHER THAN THE 2-3 MINUTES THAT IT REALLY WARRANTED. HE GOT DUNKED ON, SO WHAT? LET THIS BE THE LAST TIME WE HAVE THIS TALK.

In ACTUAL relevant news, my laptop has officially hit full-blown P.O.S. (Piece Of Shit) mode. It actually happened before I got back to CoMo, but I was able to squeeze a few more days out of it before I left home. The wear and tear on the adaptor has rendered it virtually useless for the time being, so I will now hafta wait another few weeks to get a new one. This means that I cant use my laptop at all, I can't listen to my music, visit my websites, look at my pictures, or anything that comes with the territory of an owner/ownee(?) relationship. Scotty has been gracious enuff to allow me to use his in the meantime, but I miss my own piece of junk. This shit is wack, son.

Finally, I started working consistently yesterday and now I know the trials and tribulations of cashiers, waiters, waitresses, and any other workers in any field that hafta work on their feet. My dogs are howlin' and I do not appreciate it. But, it's actually not that bad, besides the physical toll it takes on my legs and feet. As long as I stay busy, it's not the worst thing in the world. But of course, when I say "stay busy," I mean do the occasional odd job around the store while filling the rest of the time by walking around with a half-puzzled/concerned look on my face as if I'm tryna figure sumthin out. As George from Seinfeld so aptly pointed out, if you always looked concerned or worked up about something, no one will ask you questions or think you aren't working. Once again, Seinfeld FTW.

Until next time, this is Sir Marcus T. Williams signing off... Yall take care now

That's quite enough, thanks

Yo yo yo blogosphere, once again it's Sir Marcus here

Last night, my mom called me to express her disappointment in the fact that my brother and I allowed her birthday (and to be fair, Mother's Day as well) to pass without much celebration or even acknowledgement. I had been in the middle of another phone call at the time, but I clicked over when I saw it was my mom. When she asked if I was busy, I neglected to tell her about the other call, thinking it would be one of her usual quick update kinda phone calls. But it wasn't, and now she had the opening she needed to preach to me about the problem she had with us. I should have said I was busy when she asked. Damn, I wish I could go back and replay that whole sequence.

Now, before anyone flies off the handle thinking that I'm an insensitive jerk McAsshole, understand that I realize that I fucked up by forgetting her birthday. I was and am still sorry about it, and I truly didn't mean to. I have every intention on making it up to her at some point. But if she didn't do anything to celebrate my next birthday (because let's be honest, it happens), I would be able to move on and I wouldn't call her to remind her.

But with all that being said, her phone call was very indicative of the type of thing that my mom does all the time - go out of her way to ask for recognition - and it bothers me to no end. She's famous for these "unintentional" intentional guilt trips, and yesterday's was copied-and-pasted right outta her handbook of them. I don't mind too much if you say something once, but she likes to harp on one thing over and over again. Case in point: early yesterday morning at around 1 a.m. or so, she texted me to say that she didnt get a text or call from me wishing her a Happy Birthday. While I was annoyed that she brought it up, I realized the error of my ways and aplogized when I woke up later, even trying to make a little chit-chat to show my concern. Many people will disagree with me, but I'm gonna go and and say it anyways: that shoulda been the end of that whole situation. She brought it up once and I apologized for it; why bring it back to me later that day? It wasn't gonna change the fact that I fucked up to begin with, but at least I was apologetic about it, so it shoulda been over there.

When she called, she said that this was just a indicative of something that "has been problematic for you and your brother for quite awhile". She says that we've always kinda taken her for granted and while I agree that there is alot more we could probably do to show our appreciation, she knows us well enough to know that when all else fails, the sentiment is always there, if not always the resources and physical manifestation of those sentiments.

A couple days ago, she texted me and volunteered to help me pay my phone bill, but also asked me if I had moved into my next temporary residence. My response text answered her question about moving first, which she replied to by saying "I didn't see a thank you in there, but I know ur grateful." This also vexed me a bit because I had every intention on saying thanks in my next text, but I wanted to tackle one thing at a time, so I answered the question first. Besides, she couldn't even wait the extra 3 minutes to see if maybe I was coming to a "thank you" on my own???? I'm too old and too respectful a human being to need to be reminded to say thanks, especially since we were still in the middle of the conversation. This sorta thing is representative of one of the problems in our society where we're all so consumed by this desire for instant gratification. Of course we're all guilty of it because I like to be ackowledged as well, but inside the parameters of a conversation being transpired via text message, I don't think it would have been too absurd for her to wait another minute or so. My older brother sometimes gets upset with me for presumably not thanking him enough when he helps me with money too, and I certainly don't mean to offend him in any way, but how many thank-you's are needed? I normally thank him 2 or 3 times when he first pledges to give me money, but if I don't say thanks another couple times after the fact, he gets upset. I mean, I'm very grateful for the help and wouldn't dream of taking advantage of or insulting him at all, but it's not like I didn't thank him at all. Being as huge a fan of Seinfeld as I am, I think he was definitely onto something in that episode where he declares that he's gonna take a stand against all of this over-thanking that society has indoctrinated in us. I feel the same way and think that as long as someone is formerly thanked, then asking or expecting any more than that is just excessive.

Furthermore, though my mom likes to bring up the fact that she willingly does alot of stuff for us that we begrudgingly sometimes do for her, I would argue that it' not her duty as a woman, but it is as a parent. What I mean is that the minute a person knows they are going to have children, they should mentally prepare themselves for a life of giving and providing for those children. That's not to say that they shouldn't be thanked for doing that stuff, but at the same time, your responsibility as a parent SHOULD dictate that you do any and everything for your children. I know it sounds insensitive, but I didn't have a choice about being born, but my parents did and because they chose to go through with it, then doing things to help me was something that came with the territory. I know for damn sure that when I become a parent, I will prepare myself to go above and beyond for my children. I will most certainly teach them to be appreciative and grateful, but I certainly don't wanna hold the things I do for them against them as one would the various charges accrued on atab at the local bar. That's not fair to the children. I'm not saying I need her to be a crutch for the rest of my life, but I don't think it's unreasonable to expect her to be willing to do things for me for as long as it takes. At least until I move out for good and start my own family.

I don't mean to sound callous or to bitch and moan about trivial things, but I legitimately think that we need to stop all of this fishing for compliments and recognition that we've gotten into. Again, I've been guilty of it just as much as anyone, but if it annoys everyone else as much as it clearly does me, then I will be alot more mindful of my own habits, because no one likes that guy and no one wants to be that guy.

Anyways, I just felt these things needed to be said. Until next time, this is Sir Marcus T. Williams, signing off... Yall take care now.

A Blog about Nothing

Howdy blogosphere, Sir Marcus here

Today's blog isn't concerned with any particular topic, just random musings on the day.

So I'm watching Eurotrip on TBS and the things that happen with these kids are so fucking inconceivable that it's hard to take this movie even the least bit serious. Not only are the kids in the movie STILL complete nobodies (except for the girl, who played Harriet the Spy umpteen years ago), but it's hard to believe anyone could have thought that these sorta things would EVER happen to anyone who visited Europe. Their entire trip is just one sequence of ridiculous events after another, many of which make me just shake my head in disbelief. I mean, seriously, how the hell are we supposed to believe that some kid can somehow not only get into the Vatican with no problem, but then INTO THE POPE'S PRIVATE QUARTERS without being noticed? All over some chick he only knows thru email? Now I can't fault him for taking a liking to someone he met online cuz I know I've been there myself, but give me a fucking break, Hollywood. I've been to Rome, and there's NO WAY IN 5 HELLS that any stranger would ever get that close to the Pope's room, supervised or not. I can not, will not, SHALL NOT be suspending my sense of belief to such an extent that something like that could or would happen. Sorry, no sale. What a terrible movie.

Luckily, USA tends to run Law and Order: SVU marathons on sundays, and apart from it being a legitimately compelling show, I feel that it is my duty to spread the word about Mariska Hargitay, who plays Oficer Olivia Benson on the show.  There's a sexiness about her that I can't exactly explain, but she is the #1 reason that I've become such a big fan of the show. I don't know if she appeals to most guys because she doesn't exactly fall into the "hot" or even the "cute" category, but I truly wonder what a guy like me has to do to get himself a Mariska Hargitay on his arm. I am not joking in the least bit. I NEED TO KNOW. It's something that probably only fans of the show can truly appreciate. Personally I prefer her with long hair, but long or short, I think she looks pretty good. I will speak more on Ms. (Mrs.?) Hargitay when I debut my weekly top 10 lists soon, but in the meantime, those of you in the outside world, please do get familiar with her.

I'm hungry as hell. Randy has recently been imploring me to eat less processed food and get more into fruits, vegetables, and the like. I respect his enthusiasm, but everyone knows I hate veggies and I don't have any fresh fruits on my person, so microwave pasta tonight it is! But keep on fighting the good fight, young Randolph; you might be slowly getting through to me. At the very least, I'm working out just about every day, so that's a start.

Anyways, that's all for now, people. Until next time, this is Sir Marcus T. Williams signing off...

Yall take care.

Sir Marcus on Television

Hola Blogosphere, Sir Marcus here

Does anyone else notice the crap that's on TV nowadays? The shit on Viacom's channels and its subsidiaries alone (BET, MTV, Vh1) is enough to warrant this post, so we'll just tackle those today.

"Frankie and Neffie?" "The Wendy Williams Show?" "Tiny and Toy.a?" What are the requirements to get a fuckin reality TV show? Having seen small bits and pieces of these shows, I can assure you all that having ANYTHING interesting about yourself must be one thing that is absent from the list of prerequisites, because between these five women, not ONE of them would be able to convince me that they should even be in the same building of the set of my TV show (watch out world, it's on the way), much less have their own shows. But hey, that's just my opinion

For those who are unfamiliar with these characters (trust me, you all are the lucky ones), "Frankie and Neffie" consist of the sometimes crazy ex-crackhead mother and just regular-strength crazy sister of R&B star Keyshia Cole (of course, if you don't know her either, then my explanation doesn't really help). We unfortunately "met" the 2 of them on the show that BET gave Keyshia awhile back and I, for one, have been trying to eradicate them from my memory banks ever since. Of course, because BET doesn't care about showcasing some of the
more stereotypically "ghetto" aspects of black culture, Frankie and Neffie's eradic, loud, boisterous, and bizarre antics, if shown in small doses, were guaranteed to get the powers-to-be at BET thinking that this somehow warranted them getting a show of their own; it was only a matter of time.

Wendy Williams is just ur typical know-it-all, mostly wrong-opinionated shock jock radio host. All you need to know is that she sucks on the radio, so giving her a show is basically just bringing a sucky radio host and personality to you in 3-D; Now you hafta close ur ears AND your eyes.

"Tiny and Toya" is a show about the respective baby mamas of rappers T.I. and Lil Wayne. And because they are associated with those 2 guys, they clearly deserved their own TV show. Apparently, BET is in talks with ANY FEMALE WHO'S EVER HAD SEX WITH ANY RAPPER, AT ANY TIME about subsequently getting TV shows for them as well. To be fair, those girls have certainly earned it; chasing rich men can be exhausting, I'm sure.

The worst part about all of this stuff is that my friends and I agree that all of these shows and most of the television that BET has been trudging out for a few years now are just perpetuating most of the stereotypes that are thrown around about black culture. Now, chances are, if BET is doing such a great job of turning off FELLOW BLACK PEOPLE to their programming tendencies, what reason will white/latino/asian have to stop associating black people with the shit they see on a television station RUN BY BLACK PEOPLE? That, my friends, is called shooting one's self in one's foot.

Now, are any of these people even REMOTELY famous enough that they should get their own show? Of course not. But, in BET's defense, television stations are as much apart of a copycat league as the MLB, NFL, NBA, etc, and unfortunately, there has been a precedent set for this sorta thing. BET sees E give Kim Kardashian - a beautiful and by all accounts truly nice girl, but let's face it, she's a nobody - her own show, and soon her two sisters - in all fairness to Kim, two MUCH bigger nobodies - their own show. Flava Flav and Bret Michaels are somewhere smiling everytime VH1 gives someone a spinoff show from "Flava of Love" or "Rock of Love" (there are literally too many to count at this point), and even those were pseudo-spinoffs from The Surreal Life. Shit, MTV even gave MySpace sensation (a joke in itself these days) Tila Tequila her own dating show and when they figured out that she was either A) not interesting enough, B) not pretty enough, C) not stupid enough, D) not quite irritating enough or e) All of the above (backhanded compliment?), they made the obligatory sequel show and replaced her with the Ikki Twins (who I certainly didn't know of before then, and have since then, as Mike Tyson would say, "faded into bolivion"). Did I mention that one of the guys from Tila's show had his own spinoff that I swear could only have been on TV for 3 weeks? What's the matter, Dominico? Did the women that MTV handpicked for you get tired of ur schtick as quickly as America clearly did? Damn son, that shit is wack.

My point is that when BET sees their main rivals doing this sorta stuff, why wouldn't they do the same thing? Except they could do everybody one better and make black people feel bad as they continue to enforce some of the stereotypes that are associated with them, and other cultures feel bad for associating those stereotypes with blacks? A rarely-seen trauma/shame 2fer!

In closing, we gotta do sumthin to stop all these regular-ass, clown-ass people from getting their own TV shows. But since that doesnt look like it's gonna stop anytime soon, I might as well put in a bid for me and my boys. I guarantee you all that if someone sent TV cameras to just hang around me and my boys back home, they would get an infinitely better reality TV show outta the deal then "Frankie and Neffie." The gauntlet has been laid down, BET; your move.

Until next time, this is Sir Marcus T. Williams signing off...

Firstest Blog

What up blogosphere, Sir Marcus here

Since this is my first blogpost, I'll keep it simple and just update no one in particular on my goings on this summer. I guess I just wanted to get into this blogging thing because anyone who knows me knows that I tend to be a bit wordy, so it's only natural that I find an arena to be able to talk talk talk without worrying about annoying those around me; Man, what would we do without the internet?

Started shaving this summer. I've been telling myself that if I did, the chinstrap beard and full mustache/goatee thing would start growing in. It's prolly not gonna happen that way, especially since the only facial hair I've ever grown has been sideburns and the neck/throat fuzz, but a guy can dream, right? Age 21 seemed like as good a time as any to try to turn this thing around. I'm taking charge, dammit.

Anyways, I've been back in Columbia (Missouri) for a week now and I haven't done very much. To be honest, it's the same thing I complain about when I go back to Richmond (Virginia), but for some reason it doesn't bug me quite as much back here in CoMo. I suppose it's because ever since I started college, I've just loved (mostly) anything associated with college, even if that means choosing to be bored and idle in CoMo rather than being bored and idle in RVA. That's not meant so much as a slight to Richmond as it is.... well, actually it is. My people back in Richmond are tight, but being there, for the most part, is the opposite of "where it's at."

I start working as a temp. (bitch?) in the bookstore Monday, can't wait to start doing the bitch work in the back. Gotta make sure to stack those books and tape those boxes up just right, lest someone takes their books outta the box in the wrong order and all hell breaks loose. But, it will temporarily generate some cash flow outside of the Plasma Center, so it won't be so bad. A brotha gotta pay the bills, ya know; being grown-up really sucks balls sometimes.

Anyways, that's good for now, but stay tuned people, cuz as always, I'll be working on some stuff. Until next time, this is Sir Marcus T. Williams signing off...