Quotable Quote of the Month

What does it take for Republicans to take off the flag pin and say, 'I am just too embarrassed to be on this team'?".- Bill Maher

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

George Lopez Show Cast Reunion On Lopez Tonight

On the December 15th episode of his new TBS late night talk show, George Lopez was reunited with the cast of his self-titled sitcom. It was cool to see them all together because The George Lopez Show is one of my favorite sitcoms. Not only did I watch it regularly when it aired on ABC, I still catch it on Nick At Nite.

In addition to The George Lopez Show being hilarious, I liked that it showed how the situations Hispanic families face are no different from anyone else. During the course of the series, episodes dealt with such storylines as George's complex relationship with his mother Benny (Belita Moreno), George struggling to accept that Angie (Constance Marie) was the breadwinner after he was laid off, the academic problems faced by youngest child Max (Luis Armand Garcia), and oldest child Carmen (Masiela Lusha) feeling that George favored Max over her.

During the reunion, a comment made by Constance Marie (who played George's wife Angie) stood out. Constance said she wished there was a program like The George Lopez Show when she was a kid, adding that there were no brown people on TV. She has a point. Outside of such performers as Rita Moreno, Gregory Sierra, and Liz Torres, the consistent presence of Hispanic faces was sorely lacking on American TV back in the day. Even with the three I previously mentioned, there was no show on American TV back then where a Hispanic family was the main focus. Hopefully, the continued success of The George Lopez Show (it's gained a whole new audience in reruns) will cause network execs to put on more series that reflect the Hispanic experience. Like Constance said, "brown people are cool too!"

In case you missed it, here is the clip from the cast reunion of The George Lopez Show where Constance Marie talks about the lack of Hispanic images on TV when she was growing up. If you click here, you can watch segments of the entire episode.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Turner Gill Breaks Through the NCAA Football Glass Ceiling

On December 13, the University of Kansas announced that it had hired Turner Gill as the head coach of their football team. The 47 year old Gill replaces Mark Mangino, whose controversial run as the Kansas head coach came to an end when he resigned on December 3rd.

Gill's impressive coaching résumé includes:
  • Serving as the quarterback coach at the University of Nebraska from 1992-2003 and their wide receivers coach in 2004. During his tenure as the QB coach, he helped Eric Crouch earn the Heisman Trophy in 2001 and Nebraska win 3 national championships (1994, 1995, and 1997)
  • MAC Coach of the Year in 2007 and 2008 at the University of Buffalo
  • 2008 MAC Championship
In addition to his coaching career, Gill was highly successful as a player. During his 3-year stint as the starting QB for Nebraska, Gill had a 28-2 record (including a 20-0 record in conference play and 3 straight Big Eight championships).

For those who follow college football, you probably know that the NCAA's track record of hiring qualified minority head football coaches is awful. With Gill's hiring, that increases the number of black head coaches to 11 (with 13 minority coaches overall) among the 120 Division I-A schools.

If you'd like to read an excellent post on this topic, please visit the following link:

Lack of Minority Coaches In NCAA Football

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Tiger and O.J. Are Connected How?!

And the buffoonery continues! During the December 8 edition of his radio program, Glenn Beck (in regards to the medical emergency that happened at the home of Tiger Woods earlier that morning) does a bit of schtick where he compares the troubled golfer to O.J. Simpson! I'm sure the Glenn Beck lovers will defend him by saying it was just a joke. Whatever. Since Beck is fond of telling his fan base to ask questions, I have one for him. Why make the Tiger/O.J. comparison?! Whether or not it's a joke, his linking of the two athletes may provide a window into how Beck's mind works. Could he be implying that a black man in a relationship with a white woman= violence? Let's say that all of the events surrounding the Tiger Woods controversy were the same... but instead of Tiger Woods being at the center, it was white golfer Phil Mickelson. Do you think Beck would have compared Phil to O.J. Simpson?



The next thing you know, Beck will have his followers believing that Tiger Woods was behind the wheel of that white Ford Bronco during the infamous low-speed chase back in 1994. I can see the crazy chalkboard conspiracy now...