What Gates v. Crowley Really Tells Us

Media pundits are falling over each other to give us condescending  lectures on what the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. by Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley tells us about race and police in America. 

Instead, what the punditocracy is revealing are it's own biases, and the extent that they distort the news. Racial profiling is a serious issue, but simply jumping to conclusions and providing biased coverage of one arrest doesn't help. 

CNN and the New York Times are perhaps the worst in their coverage of the Gates' case. It seems as if every one of their writers or talking heads wants to tell us how Gates is their personal friend (just like President Obama !), or how they've been a victim of racial profiling themselves (just like Gates) --  before giving us their perfectly objective commentary. 

Judith Warner's op-ed column in today's New York Times was striking. She knows exactly what was going on in the officer's head (based on what, her own vast experience in dealing with violence? telepathy?) claiming that Crowley felt "an out-sized sense of vulnerability." Yes, you can see how unreasonable it is for a lone police officer entering a potential burglary site to feel vulnerable. How silly of him. 

Only a few pages removed from Warner's smug piece is another NYT's article about a police officer responding to a 911 call -- where he was shot.  

McEnroe's Team Gets Fines and Suspensions

He may be nearing 50, but John McEnroe still acts like a spoiled adolescent. 

McEnroe's World Team Tennis club has been fined and suspended for "unprofessional conduct", by McEnroe, the coach of his club, and other players during a match on July 16th. 

Assessing California Budget Fiasco

It's difficult to feel any enthusiasm for our political system after watching the fiasco that was the California budget "debate".

This from David Dayen's Calitics blog via Opinionator says it well:

Healthcare Reform Being Sold Out

Economist Robert Reich is following the health care debates closely on his blog and has a number of insightful posts. Today he discusses how political pay-offs and lack of leadership from Obama are sabotaging reform (sorry, no permalinks, so you have to go to the home page):

Gasquet Suspension Blown Away

Normally I try not to be snarky, on this blog at least. Heaven knows there is plenty of that on the Internet already. But reading today that Richard Gasquet, the French tennis player, had his suspension for cocaine use shortened because it was "inadvertent" is irresistible. 

Is France's Mladenovic Next Big Thing in Women's Tennis?

Kristin Mladenovic fell just short of winning the "Junior Channel Slam", but the 16-year-old out of Saint-Pol-sur-Mer, Nord, France looks to have an exciting future in women's professional tennis, which could certainly use some new personalities. (Cont. )

Poor Sportsmanship Awards are in ...

... and the winners are. Rafael Nadal, LeBron James, Serena Williams and Michelle Larcher del Brito. 

Singing The Paul Krugman Blues

If you follow Noble economist Paul Krugman's blog, or read his New York Times column, you can relate to the emotional ups and downs he puts his readers through, as amusingly related by folk singer Loudon Wainwright III's "song for a New Depression" on this hand-held (cell phone?) video:

Is Tennis' Hawk-Eye Infallible?

I'm a big fan of Tennis' computerized instant-replay system. Whatever else you say about the invisible powers that run Tennis, they've done a much better job than other sports of implementing new technology to review calls. 

Not only has reply made calls more accurate, it has all but eliminated the silly tantrums spoiled tyrants such as John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors used to disrupt games and cheat their rivals. Replay has also speeded games (although much of the benefit is lost to prodigious stallers like Rafael Nadal, Novak Djkokovic et al). 

Roger Federer is Houdini, Congrats to Roddick, Too

It's going to take me days to recover from yesterday's Wimbledon final, and I only watched. This was one of the most astonishing matches I've seen, beyond the excellent play, for the competitive intensity.