Time Machine: Us and Them Pt. 8 (Comprehensive Observation)

For those of you who are reading my thoughts but don't know who "the thinker" is, I feel it's important that I bring you up to speed.

I am King Anthony Derrell Williams, I. I call myself "King" because I treat my son as royalty, a "Prince" if you will. I tend to try and live up to the name, but I guarantee you that regardless of how arrogant/cocky I may come off (or may actually be), I'm much more than a ball of ego-waste.

Growing up as an Army kid, you learn not to create strong attachments with anything outside of your home, because nothing else is constant... You're going to have to move away at some point and leave behind your school, your friends, your regional hobbies... this means I never got too involved in school activities before we finally settled in TX (in other words, I've never played organized sports).

Moving to Texas would further prevent any involvement in extra-curriculars. We were renting a house in San Antonio while trying to sell our former homes in Clarksville, TN and Woodbridge, VA. Paying 4 rents (my dad lived in an apt. in Marlyand) with one household income means alot of things...

1. Moms was working 2 jobs...


2. I had no ride to/from school other than the bus


3. no ride meant no extra-currics/sports for me


4. The extra hours weren't going to leisure buys, so I was still that dude in school with only one new pair of shoes per year and no name brand clothing.

By the time I was in high school, the fam's financial situation started to improve, however it was too late to do sports because of the way things are in SA. If you don't play in middle school, you'll never get PT in HS, simply because the coaches want as many students as possible to get scholarships, so they push the best/most proven ones forward. The reason they can't just promote everybody is because there aren't enough scouts that visit SA; there aren't very many flights that arrive straight into SA (as opposed to Austin, Dallas, or Houston), so when scouts do arrive, their attention is boss-hogged.... I digress... It wasn't a problem, I just realized that I couldn't play sports... that doesn't mean that I couldn't be cordial with my fellow students... right?
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I would soon find that regardless of if I looked like them, knew the same people they knew, or hung out at the same places they did... we didn't belong around each other. Tony and athletes (mainly football players) and like oil and water. I've always been very vocal about my contempt for those people... i was about to say "individuals" but that's the problem... if they were "individuals" I wouldn't feel the need to lump them into a special category of random coons I'd rather ignore... "individuals" who plays sports have always had my respect. However, people who are simply a part of the athlete pack don't really get much attention from me unless I'm observing the dumb shit they're getting into.

But how is that right Tony? How can you "hate" on them like that? What did they do to you?

I've always had to field these questions to the people who try to defend the others, as if they're helpless. Essentially, it's not right for me to perpetuate another unjustified venue of self-segregation within the Black community... and if you're a reader, you know that I don't HATE these coons, I just dislike them and I believe that to be harmless... but what did they do to me? Some answers aren't as concrete as an event, or a justification.... sometimes it is possible to just not like a muthafucka...

I mean over the years, I tried (... I really tried...) to find redeeming qualities for the GROUP that I have repeatedly exhibited verbal disdain toward. I'm reminded of a time where sports brought large populations together for a common trivial purpose, to be entertained by competition. The entertainers/athletes began to realize their importance to this trivial cause. Some used it as a platform to liken themselves to superhuman/hero status... others actually became heroes...I'm reminded of Black athletes breaking important ground in arenas where we were once not allowed to play... I remember stories of INDIVIDUALS such as Paul Robeson, Fritz Pollard, Arthur Ashe, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Tommie Smith and John Carlos... I mean I'm reminded of a time where these really were heroes because some leagues, and more specifically some teams (and other teams) just didn't want US playing in their sport... I think somewhere between Malcolm and Martin being taken from us and forced integration, people forgot about the struggle... and not what it means to struggle, but the fact that we ever had one... Instead we're stuck with a bunch of Pac-Man Jones-ass dudes walking around campus like the concrete they walk on is sacred.

Ever since High School, they (the one's who helped me form my negative opinions about them all) have been offered care-free rides through the same paths that I had to achieve my way through. They end up being spoiled and handed everything where in the past their requests/needs would've been completely ignored, but they ignore that fact. And while other students are on campus trying to ensure the retention of our rights and privileges as Black students (including the athletes), we got these coons making a case for anybody with views in opposition to our contention....and I'm supposed to be cool with these muthafuckas?!? WELL BREAK OUT THE FRIED CHICKEN AND LET'S HAVE A PARTY... THE ATHLETES ARE HERE!!!

It also doesn't help that my intelligence is always challenged or insulted by this mob that lacks individuality. If there is one thing that I will always take as disrespect without exception, it's a shot at my intelligence. I will never be anybody's fool or be considered stupid. And if I am to you, that's fine as well... I just don't respect your system of thinking because I know that to be an irrational conclusion... I will admit (on my part) that it is childish/harsh to assume them all to be of one mind/likeness, but I avoid more potential ignorance that way... there are times that I'd like to be proven wrong... this is one of them, but I remain correct based on my 9 years of "student-athlete" observation.
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Student v. Student-Athlete (Athlete-Student, maybe?)

By definition of purpose, as opposed to action, a student is somebody whose objective is to be educated and recognized for the completion of set curriculum. What this means is if you are at least trying or you at least want your degree you are a student. The issue with this is that most athletes don't seem to care about any type of scholarly advancement... it's usually about getting to the league/getting paid, getting women (at least they don't discriminate by race), or getting attention... no matter how retarded they have to act or sound in order to receive it.

I'm not the only one who has felt this way, that's why over time the black community has developed an "agree to disagree" social construct with the athletes in order to minimize irresolvable disputes... they do them, we do us... and as result, they aren't too much considered "students" by those on the other side of the veil. The athletes may not use the same logical brightline to dichotomize our groupings, however they understand it as well... they hang out amongst themselves the same way we do. This is to be expected though, sports organization is modeled after familial structures which facilitate strong social bonds between teammates. This helps to build their trust for one another and makes cooperative game play more likely and more effective.... they don't to much like applying this theory to anybody who's not on the team though... they don't rely on the same comforts in racial/ethnic similarities that the rest of us do, cuz "Massa" aka Coach, got them covered.

Anybody not accompanying them on the team (via assumption theory) is

1. a benefactor - somebody who gives charitably in order to impart well wishes upon the recipient


2. a bopper - somebody looking to get something from the person in question; these advances are usually only entertained when it's a sexual favor


3. a hater.... because natural if I don't want to give you anything or dont want to take anything from you... I don't like you...????


4. a nobody... and they'll attempt to treat you as such.

Because it's their job to be physical, they run an automatic assumption of physical superiority... this assumption happens to get exposed periodically... most recently/frequently in 2005-06, there were the Football Afterparty fights. Since then, personal beefs have been squashed and we have returned to the "agree to disagree" based segregation of social interests in the community. Sadly, I think things are actually best that way.

Some may be offended by what I'm saying, or question my ability to be cordial/friends with any athlete if these are my opinions... as I stated before, there is a difference between somebody who owns their own identity and happens to play a sport, and somebody who lets the sport define them and who they are (significance v. substance). The issue he is, because of our segregation, the things that define their significance/substance are not the same things that would determine ours... while institution that pays for their "education" lumps them in as a part of the general black demographic (as to suggest they are a part of the community), the truth couldn't be more scarce if you tried to infer from those context clues.

Over time, instead of relying on each other for advocacy, support, camaraderie , or general comfort based on our similarities... students and student athletes have decided to let the differences keep us apart in hopes that we don't bump heads to often.

The main agents in this segregation however would be the students... the ones who avoid contact, conversation, and cordiality with the athletes... yup that'd be people like me. Why? cuz they're not here for what I'm here for (usually). I don't feel the need to give anybody the benefit of the doubt about their motives or their stance as a black college student when they ignore community issues that they could influence (for the better in most cases). I don't underestimate the student-athlete's potential influence... I just refuse to overestimate the relevance or significance of their presence in the community... a National title doesn't help make the campus a place that WE can all "home".... it simply takes more than that.

... While this seems like a random rant, it would end up being a heated debate in the future semesters at UT... especially once Dr. Moore came over from LSU.

**For the record, these observations are of male athletes... I will chill with somebody from the Womens Track Team ANYDAY**