I really don’t remember a game being as hyped as this one or that had better stories than this one. The Harbaugh brothers, Ray Lewis retiring or Beyonce’s halftime show… which for some was THE highlight of the whole thing. I’m not the biggest Bey fan but I gotta give it to her... SHE RIPPED IT!!! Knocked the power out of the Superdome. WHO DOES THAT?!

I’m just sayin after all that who don’t need the day off from all that?! Let alone the GRUB-A-Thon that was goin on simultaneously with the DRANK-A-THON that I was a part of… who can work after that?! NOBODY.

So Mr.Obama you wanna get all these folks on your side who have no reason not to like you… well I can think of one but anyway… give em the day off… think of the advantages:

A natural 3-day weekend, that alone could be the kicker

No at the job fights over who won or lost… a day to let cooler heads prevail is always a good thing

A national day of cleaning up… like really clean. I my small mind the holiday season ain’t really over till the Super Bowl is done. Especially after all the bad eating you do over the holidays. Who really is gonna start any kind of resolution after NYE and in 30 days get it ripped to shreds by wings, pizza , beer and 7 layer salad? NOBODY

So there it is… write your congressman, call your governor, start a petition… I another day off for America is in everyone’s best interest… specially mine…. I’m Jus’ Sayin… whew

The way I see it 1000 Island Dressing is such a great tasting, soothing, delicious was to not only enjoy your salad but… you can make a Big Mac AT THE HOUSE… that special sauce? Put it on some lettuce with a burger… matter fact add two all beef patties. Cause the last Big Mac I had been awesome, it always is and they put a ton of lettuce on it so… it’s kinda like a “Salad” burger anyway.

My point is if we can put a man on the moon, McDonald’s can figure out how to get that sandwich under 300 calories. Cause sometimes I want one sometimes sooooo bad but because the FDA says it has like…. 100,000 calories in it I refuse and I’m like “why? it’s got lettuce and salad dressing on it?!”. Makes me mad…. so mad I wanna shoot somebody and THAT’S… why I don’t need an assault rifle.

So… what’d we learn? Big Mac+Fewer Calories= Less Gun Violence… so I’m gonna have one today so I can get my MLK on in the name of non violence. Might gain 4 lbs and still be fat but everybody knows fat people are happy and because of that… I won’t kill anybody.

Now Fries… those are the devil…. I’m Jus’ Sayin’…

A lot of people questioned the Washington Nationals for shutting down pitching phenom, Stephen Strasburg before the end of the season due to concerns over his recently rehabbed elbow being able to hold up. I was one of those people. Strasburg showed no visible signs of his elbow being weary but the Nationals decided to err on the side of caution and shut him down when he was pitching phenomenally. Perhaps his DC counterpart who plays quarterback for the Washington Redskins could have used the same kind of cautious and caring coaching staff around him.

I’m talking about none other than Robert Griffin III also known as RG3. A few weeks ago, Griffin injured his knee when he failed to slide on a short yardage scamper against the Baltimore Ravens. knocking him out of the game. His injury was initially reported a sprained knee and he was listed as questionable. He would subsequently miss the next game, that the Redskins actually won by the way with fellow rookie quarterback Kirk Cousins at the helm. While most said that it would take at least 3 weeks for Griffin to return, he was back the week after Cousins’s successful start, wearing a big bulky knee brace. Griffin’s lack of mobility was very noticeable in the games that followed his initial injury. None so noticeable as this past Sunday’s game, when Griffin who had gotten the Redskins out to a 14-0 lead over the Seahawks in the early stages of the game. After he rolled out to his right and attempted to plant and throw the ball, anyone with a functioning pair of eyes could see that Griffin had re-aggravated his knee injury. He got up from the sideline with a profound limp, but stayed in the game.

That brings me to my Damn Fool of the Week, Mike Shanahan and The Washington Redskins coaching staff. Prior to the start of the game, reports surfaced that team physician and world renown orthopedic surgeon, Dr. James Andrews, said he never had a chance to look at Griffin during the game when his initial injury occurred and that he was nervous about Griffin playing on Sunday because his knee wasn’t completely healed.

When you have a potential Hall of Fame player, albeit his first season in the NFL, you make every effort to ensure his safety and longevity of his career. That is, unless you’re Mike Shanahan, who obviously takes a win at all costs approach to the game. When it had become a foregone conclusion for everyone else that Griffin should be taken out of the game on Sunday, Shanahan kept trotting him out there on a bum knee until he eventually went to pick up an errant snap and his knee buckled resulting in him partially tearing his ACL and LCL tendons in his knee.

No one knows just yet how much damage he did to his knee on Sunday or how long of a timetable his recovery might be, but we do know that Shanahan is a damn fool for leaving him in. Not only did he leave him in the game after he was clearly injured, but he continued to call the read option, which is a play that requires the quarterback to run the football depending on what the defensive end does on the play. If that’s not a damn fool, I don’t know what one is. Way to start off the new year, jackass!

And that’s D. Wright’s Damn Fool of the Week.

I was working a club in Beaumont, Tx when I got the call. It was a Saturday. My Brother in Law Maurice called.. he was yelling, almost in hysterics, he put his wife, my sister Avis on… she calmly told me. After that call I cried a bit. I wondered how it happened, if there was anything I could have done to help him had I been there… I wondered if he was afraid, if he had any pain… I had so many questions. No answers.

I had two shows that night…

I went to the club, asked the person there if i could get a drink… he asked what’s the matter?

I calmly said “my father passed away last night sometime…” I’ll never forget the look on his face. He said “man I’m sorry brother… you take all the time you need …we have to get a replacement”.

In that moment I thought about how hard my Dad worked. Had made himself  a respected minister, some called him an orator” … supported a family while asking my mother not to work to stay home and raise us… built along with others what was at one time the largest black Church of Christ in the country… written two books, served on two college boards, appeared on television and radio all over the world… all on an 8th grade education. You’d never know it if you ever had the privilege to hear him speak. He was Amazing.

…and in that split second all that went through my head and I said “no… I’m gonna work… it’ll be fine…”

Cause I know of only few things would keep him out of the pulpit… one was my mother’s passing a few years earlier… so I worked that night.

I performed two shows that night… received two standing ovations… and I know he was right there. He’ll always be right next to me and my siblings… he was the toughest, strongest man I know.. wasn’t perfect but that’s ok… his stern hand kept me and still keeps me out of a lot of trouble… and for that I thank him.

So Dad, happy birthday… Kiss my mother for me and everybody else up there… I hope I get it right so I can see you all again…  ”Up There”…I Love You.. Miss you even more… B

I was in church this past Sunday and the sermon was on Moving Forward, which is kinda the normal theme for the last Sunday of the year…. you know… resolutions,  new beginnings,  a new “me”… but this time it spoke to me in such a different way.

Realizing Potential is something that I haven’t done. I realize that no matter how adept I am at my skill set… seems  I wind up in the same place year after year… some growth yeah but not nearly where I need to be.

So I’m writing on the 2nd day of this brand new year and one of the reasons I have a website is to make you laugh, make you think, make you see something that you missed… can’t do that if I ain’t doing the same.

New to me too is not giving a DAMN about what anybody thinks anymore… my moral fiber is intact thanks to my family so I really am done listening to a bunch of folks who seemingly have good intentions, and for the most part some do… but I’m done. I’m answering to no one but God, my family & my friends…

Friends takes on a whole new meaning to me this year. I’m gonna get rid of the dead weight and put more time into the good weight

Finishing what I start… nuff said…

Forgiving myself… stop beating up on myself for past mistakes… be they personal or professional… letting go of all the drama in my life that has been a hinderance in my spiritual,  personal and professional growth.

Lastly to start Giving more… to people who can’t get it… for whatever reason, not to judge.. cause I don’t know what they’ve been through… to give of my time and resources, my influence and talent to help folks who could benefit from my small part and enjoy the “Giving” rather than anticipating the “Getting” … it ain’t about that… blessings are like love… when you least expect it.

So that’s me… same old me… honestly, nothing was too wrong with me in the first place… just had to come to the total understanding that I’ve been shining my light on people who actually dig the darkness… that’s bad math…

If… you took something from this in a positive manner then I promise to be funnier cause that’s my job which means working harder… if you took nothing…don’t take anything else… from me or anyone I know…

You… can do ANYTHING you want to… so can I… so let’s get it tangible or intangible or both… you deserve it… and so do I… I belive God wants it that way…

All the best… All of it for all of you… Thank You… I’m Jus’ Sayin’

On ballots all across the country in this past election and elections over the past several years, there have been measures to vote on amending the Constitution to include or exclude Gay Marriage; something that if allowed wouldn’t kill 30 people all at once even if Frank married Bob 30 times over. As a matter of fact it wouldn’t kill one person. But we refuse to take a long hard look at the Second Amendment, or the right to bear arms. If this tragedy isn’t the eye opener we need to take a look at this, then I don’t know what is. It’s easy to say we don’t need more gun control, we need more idiot control. But, I submit that we need more of both, and we need it in a hurry! God Bless the families of all affected by this horrendous act and God bless everybody that’s reading this right now.

D. Wright

University of Tennessee Football is dead.

Time of death: 8:00 am on December 6, 2012.

Cause of death: Ignorance.

This morning, on the Spanky Brown Show, we all but dedicated 3 hours to the seek-and-destroy method that the University of Tennessee is using to find itself a new head coach. At this present hour, Tennessee still does not have a football coach. Coaching candidates were rumored to include former Ohio State coach Jim Tressell, former Auburn, and current coach at Texas Tech, Tommy Tuberville, and current Florida State head coach Jimbo Fisher just to name a few. The rumor mill that is college football says that Tennessee offered the job to, or at least had meetings regarding its coaching vacancy to the aforementioned coaches along with a laundry list of others. They all declined Tennessee’s offer.

Enter current Louisville coach, Charlie Strong. Over the past 27 years, Coach Strong has coached at some of college football’s greatest programs. Florida, Notre Dame, South Carolina, and Texas A&M to name a few. Over his career, he has accumulated a record of 24-15 (.615) as a head coach. He was the 2010 Big East Coach of the Year. He won 2 BCS, SEC, and National Championship rings as Defensive Coordinator of The University of Florida 2006 and 2008 teams. He served as Florida’s interim head coach in 2004 after the departure of coach Ron Zook.  Currently, his Louisville Cardinals team has a record of 10-2 and are the Big East Champions.

For the majority of Coach Strong’s 27 years in coaching, he was highly touted for his coaching abilities, often being interviewed for coaching vacancies, only to be looked over for other coaching candidates.

Enter The University of Tennessee.

For those of you all who read this post and are not fans of football, or fans of football in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) I should warn you that football is like the gospel in the South. People in the South argue over church, they fight about football.  At the University of Tennessee, this holds true. About 2 weeks ago, Tennessee decided to part ways with its embattled head coach Derek Dooley. Dooley had amassed an abysmal record of 4-7 overall (o-7 SEC)

Rule No. 1 in the SEC: When you fire a coach, you better have somebody in mind. Tennessee, according to rumors, did. Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach, Jon Gruden. Unfortunately for Tennessee, Gruden said no. Other coaches on the “wish list” were notified, all said no. Charlie Strong was called, He listened. He came and interviewed. He was offered. He declined.

Now, somewhere between the offer and the decline, Tennessee (the state) showed it’s ugly side. Tennessee talk radio took off . “If Charlie Strong is head coach at UT, I’ll burn all my Vols stuff!!”…. “I DON’T LIKE HIM!!!! AND YOU KNOW WHY!!!” yelled another. As you can imagine, or maybe you can’t if you don’t know Charlie Strong, some of the other things that  were said  (or some of the things that were too rough for radio) or some of the things that were said behind closed doors, had certain “undertones” to them… Again, if you’re not familiar with Charlie Strong, allow me to let the cat out of the bag; He’s Black….African American if you want me to be PC…He has a White wife, 2 young mixed daughters, and a son.

In eastern Tennessee, Knoxville to be exact, a coach who has a resume that boasts championship rings, a Heisman trophy winner, Coach of the Year recognitions, and numerous former players that play on Sunday, and is highly regarded as one of the best defensive minds in the game…He’s not good enough to be your coach?

Why? Because he’s Black? Now I know you’re gonna say “Race doesn’t have anything to do with it” and usually, you’d be right. Except this time. Charlie Strong has been passed over several times because of his skin tone, or because he has a Caucasian wife….or both… In Tennessee, the thought of actually being relevant for the first time in damn near 15 years takes a back seat because of the color of the coach??? Are you sh*tting me!??!? What you’re telling me that a school like Mississippi State…. The state who’s  mighty Mississippi River still runs red with the blood of former slaves…The state where oak and pine trees still have ropes in them that used to hang the lifeless bodies of men and women, boys and girls, the state that gave you the movie MISSISSIPPI BURNING….You’re telling me that Mississippi State can (and did) hire the first black head coach in SEC history?? You’re telling me that Mississippi is more progressive than Tennessee??!?

Sylvester Croom amassed a 21-38 record at Mississippi State over 4 years. That included a Liberty Bowl  victory in 2007. In 2009, Coach Croom was fired for not being able to succeed at MSU. Justifiably so, in my opinion. He tried, it didn’t work out, MSU had to move on. They did by hiring former University of Florida offensive coordinator Dan Mullen.

Tennessee, your fans have just killed your program. Their racism and bigotry has snuffed out any chance that the “Mighty Vols” will ever be relevant again in the SEC. What message does that send to current and future recruits who will ultimately be recruited by Tennessee? Black boys are good enough  to run up and down your football fields….good enough to root for on Saturday afternoons… but not good enough to graduate, learn the X’s and O’s of the game, and become a coach of your previous university? What ripple effect could that have on other sports at UT? Yes, I will point out that Tennessee has a Black men’s basketball coach. I will also point out that basketball doesn’t fund the UT athletic program the way football does. Pat Summitt has a pillowcase full of SEC and NCAA rings, awards, and trophies. While her accomplishments are many, and are not to be overlooked, they are not what fuels the “Vol Navy”.

Tennessee hasn’t won a National Championship in football since 1998. You’d have to go all the way back to 1967 before that to find any other titles. Do all Tennesseans think and feel the way that the morons who call into talk radio feel or think? I’d like to think not. However, the voices, small mindedness, and perceptions of the few may very well outweigh the true feelings of the many.

 Lionel Forbes is a co-host of the Spanky Brown Show and is a contributor to SPANKYBROWNCOM He can be found on Twitter @FlawdaGator and on Facebook

The Spanky Brown Show can be heard weekday mornings from 8-11 on TENACITYRADIO.COM

Following the 9 shots that he fired into the body of Perkins, Belcher then got into his car, and drove to the practice facility near Arrowhead Stadium where he played football. Once there, he was confronted by Chiefs football coaches and the general manger of the football team. According to reports, Belcher thanked his head coach Romen Crenel, and the GM of the team Scott Pioli for the opportunity that they had given him by allowing someone like him (undrafted, small college player) by signing him to play in the NFL. It was at that time that Belcher heard the sirens of oncoming police cars and in a single second, took his own life by firing a single shot into his head-killing him instantly.

Instantly, the 24 hour news cycle known as ESPN broke the news as most sports fans gathered around their televisions in preparation for a day of college football games. Over the new few hours, we learned more of Belcher, but learned very little about the one true victim of his crime, Kassandra Perkins. According to several news reports, Perkins and Belcher had been together for a while and as I previously mentioned, had just had a child together. Like most couples, Belcher and Perkins had gotten into a spat earlier in the wee hours of Saturday morning when she returned from a concert. Following their fight, Belcher took refuge at a neighbor’s home for the evening to sleep off his anger and rage only to return the following morning and do the unthinkable.

What type of $#!t is this? I mean, seriously?? Is this the world in which we live?? I know this happens everyday for people far less popular than a NFL football player. I know that domestic violence is never the answer nor is it a laughing matter. My biggest question of this to society, to the NFL, to each and every one of you is simple: Will you remember this tomorrow?  Remember WWE wrestler Chris Benoit? Took the lives of his own wife and child before killing himself? Remember Junior Seau, NFL Pro Bowl Linebacker? What about Rihanna and Chris Brown, Ike and Tina, or everybody’s favorite trainwreck couple Bobby and Whitney…These are all example of domestic violence, suicide, or a murder suicide combination. What bothers me the most about the murder of Kassandra Perkins is that her loss of life isn’t being remembered properly; yesterday, before the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Carolina Panthers, there were makeshift monuments all around Arrowhead Stadium depicting the #59 (Belcher’s number) and cards, letters, flowers, and other forms of sympathy and sorrow for the loss of their slain football hero. Again, I ask, what type of shit is this?!?? Does Kassandra deserve something more than an moment of silence??? What about all the nameless, faceless victims of domestic violence whose families weep with grief and sorrow because their loved one is no longer here?? What about Tamara Bledsoe a 20 year old mother of a 12 week old baby boy. Tamara was beaten about her neck, face, and hands before having her life cut short by the man she loved, her 31 year old boyfriend Hasan. Hasan said that he was tired of the baby crying all night and keeping him up and ordered Tamara to “Do something about it, or he would” When Tamara went to cover her baby, she was beaten and murderd. Hasan then killed himself. What about Belinda Johnson a mother of 2 who worked two jobs to make ends meet only to fall in love with a man who claimed to love her… only to love her too much. Belinda’s boyfriend took her life and his own because of the way he “Didn’t appreciate the way she looked at a co-worker” Her boyfriend knocked out Belinda and drove her car into a river where it overturned and was swept downstream.  With all due respect to this being placed on Spanky’s website, allow me to paraphrase what I really want to say by say by saying about Javon Belcher….. MAN, %@#& JAVON BELCHER! and if they support this monster, #$%$@ THE KANSAS CITY CHIEFS!!!

“He’s our brother, he’s our family” Okay, I get it.. He’s like a brother and like family to you as a teammate because you played a damn game with him; but wrong is wrong. If my co-host partner and friend, Spanky Brown robbed a bank and killed a security guard in his getaway, should the rest of us get on the radio in the morning and start praising him?  Yesterday I saw something that made me sick to my stomach. A makeshift memorial in the Chiefs locker room. An empty locker where Belcher normally  be getting ready on Sunday afternoons to play the game of football. Meanwhile, outside of the stadium, prior to the game, they were having a moment of silence for victims of domestic violence; but in all actuality, we all knew who that moment was for. If you want to bring some sort of awareness to domestic violence, don’t do it with some last-minute, “we-already-had-this-planned” move,  do it the right way, hand out this. This is a domestic violence fact sheet that should have been passed out to every man, woman, popcorn vendor, cheerleader, sound guy, and custodian in attendance.

Despite what Bob Costas paraphrased from Jason Whitlock’s article at halftime of Sunday nights NBC football game, the gun did not kill Kassandra Perkins, Jovan Belcher did. Costas used Whitlock’s remarks in an excerpt listed below:

“Handguns do not enhance our safety. They exacerbate our flaws, tempt us to escalate arguments, and bait us into embracing confrontation rather than avoiding it. In the coming days, Jovan Belcher’s actions, and their possible connection to football will be analyzed. Who knows?”

“But here is what I believe. If Jovan Belcher didn’t possess a gun, he and Kasandra Perkins would both be alive today.”

Allow me to say that I do not agree with Jason Whitlock, or Bob Costas who appeared to be co-signing on the article. Allow me to ask you this? If there wasn’t a gun involved, what would have stopped him from choking her? What would have stopped him from stabbing her? What would have stopped him from picking up her body, putting into the trunk of his car, and driving it into a lake or river? Rhetorical questions, I know, but the answer, if you want to give it, is: Absolutely. Nothing.  The truth of the matter is, Belcher didn’t fly into a fit of rage upon getting into an argument; Javon Belcher didn’t come home and catch his girlfriend in the bed with another man. Javon Belcher didn’t get dragged onto some reality TV show to be told that his newborn baby daughter wasn’t his. Javon Belcher got into an argument with the mother of his child, at 1 in the morning, left the house, removed himself from the situation and spent the night on a neighbors sofa. From there, he did what so many of us do when we are faced with a conflict: He slept on it. Javon Belcher laid down, went to sleep, thought about how angry he was and took the night not being under the same roof as his mother, child, and girlfriend to “clear his head” Apparently, it wasn’t clear enough because the morning after the argument he got up and did the unthinkable. So to Jason Whitlock, Bob Costas, and to anybody else who thinks that we just can just tighten down the gun laws and these problems won’t happen, allow me to say that in your perfect world of gun safety and gun laws, Javon Belcher still would have been able to get a gun. In your Utopia, Kassandra Perkins would still be dead. So many other faceless and nameless victims would still no long be here. Babies would be motherless and fatherless, and ultimately, we’d forget about them, right? I mean, that’s what we’re programmed to do.

Like I mentioned earlier in the 24 news cycle, news changes by the minute. We live in a world of smart phones, TMZ, Twitter, Facebook, streaming news and reports. We live in a world where we’re OUTRAGED by some dictator warlord by the name of Joseph Kony who rapes and kills children over in Africa… Yeah, remember him? When was the last time you saw a good Joseph Kony viral video? How soon we forget. By the way, does anybody remember if we’re done rebuilding Haiti yet after the earthquake? Forgot about that too, did you? Did OJ ever find the “real killers”… *wink wink* ….The list could very well go on and on. Bottom line is this, quit pretending to be outraged every time the media tells you that you should be outraged. In this tragedy, there are several victims. NONE of which are that piece of trash by the name Javon Belcher. In this tragedy, my heart goes out to the family of Kassandra Perkins. My heart goes out to and absolutely breaks for the unnamed baby girl only 3 weeks old who will never ever know her mother or father. To the family, friends, associates, and loved ones of the Perkins family and the Belcher family, I weep for you. For you are the real victims. For you are the ones left with more questions than answers, more tears than smiles, and more sleepless and heart wrenching nights in this, what’s supposed to be the Christmas season. To the families who now have to move on and bury their children 3 weeks before Christmas, I’m sorry for your loss. The Good Book says that “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning”  For every Kassandra, for every Tamara, for every Belinda…. I assure you that I will remember you tomorrow and the day after, and the day after.

Until we meet again.

Lionel Forbes is a co-host of the Spanky Brown Show. He is also a  contributor to SPANKYBROWN.COM Feel free to follow Lionel on Twitter @FlawdaGator and on Facebook at Facebook.com/FlawdaGator

I got THE BEST KIDS EVUH !!! How’d I get so blessed ?! I love em with everything I have and don’t have cause they have been so patient with me chasing a dream. To them I say Thank you … I still got a plan believe it or not …

I have the BEST FAMILY EVUH !!! I had amazing parents and siblings who are not only my family but my friends .. I love em so much even when they really want to tell me to get a REAL JOB … they just laugh at my jokes even when they ain’t funny… To them I say Thank you…

I got THE HOTTEST S’POSED TO BE BOUT SPORTS SHOW EVUH !!! To Derrick Wright, Lionel Forbes, Greg Henderson and Tone X .. Thank you … for taking this hare brained scheme I have to a place I thought it could but I know God put the right people at the right time in my life and I don’t want to do this show with anybody else .. thanks for helping me find my true “Funny Bone ” again …

I got THE BEST FRIENDS EVUH !!! they put up with my silliness an ideas and ADD and what the hell is that over there ?! My bad got distracted … they always encourage me and push me to get it done… no matter how many times they hear me talk about whatever it is to them I say Thank you …

I hate using the word “Fans” but to the people who come out to watch me perform, even multiple times , the people who listen to the show every morning I say Thank You … I swear I’ll never take you for grated or cheat you when you come to watch me or listen to the show … I thank you for allowing me to use a gift to make you and I feel better …

… and most of all .. Thank you God … for giving me so many chances to get it right …his  grace and mercy is something else … I won’t forget , I’ll always give you the glory … even when I come up short , thank you for loving me enough to let me try again … Thank You

… with God anything is possible … without him everything is impossible …

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone …

Spank