So ESPN Decided to Talk About African Americans in Baseball...

Oh Christ, this can't end well. ESPN began the day on First Take by having a discussion about Rob Parker's latest article which talks about the fact that only 8% of all players in Major League Baseball are African-American, specifically Blacks who are not of Hispanic descent. Rob Parker went on Numbers Never Lie* later that day, which sparked an argument with Michael Smith over the reason why MLB is 8% African-American. Rob Parker claimed it was because MLB decided to "outsource" its training camps to Latin America and start recruiting talent from there, while Smith argued that baseball has a perception of being a White man's sport and as such, is not as preferable to football or basketball. Here's how the NFL, MLB, and NBA break down in ethnicity based on 2011's numbers:


NFL
African-American: 67%
Asian: 2%
Latino/Hispanic: 1%
White/European: 30%


MLB
African-American: 9%
Asian: 2%
Latino/Hispanic: 27%
White/European: 62%


NBA
African-American: 78%
Asian: 1%
Latino/Hispanic: 4%
White/European: 17%


Clearly, the numbers show that the NFL and NBA are dominated by Black players, while baseball continues to be dominated by Whites, despite the increased amount of Latinos.


During First Take, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark made a guest appearance and explained his own history with sports and how he always considered baseball his #1 sport, but his AAU team encouraged him to stick with just one sport, preferably basketball or football. Clark acknowledged that if were not for his AAU team, he probably would have remained primarily a baseball player.


Later on Numbers Never Lie*, Parker made a comment that was slightly racially charged against Latino players which I'm sure ESPN contributors Israel Gutierrez or Beto Duran will not let him live down. Parker claimed that David Ortiz is not black, because he is Hispanic; Ortiz is from the Dominican Republic.

David Ortiz (L), Rob Parker (R)

Uh... Is it just me, or is David Ortiz darker skinned than Rob Parker? Ortiz has a very thick accent, but without hearing him speak, I bet most people would immediately think of him as being Black... which he is. Rob Parker seems to forget that Hispanics/Latinos can be of ANY race. Pau and Marc Gasol are Hispanic, but they are clearly White. Rob Parker also claimed that European NBA players are not really White, which I have heard before, with him claiming that Dirk Nowitski is not a "White player"... despite the fact there are plenty of White athletes who are not from Europe that are not Anglo. Ben Roethlisberger, for example, is clearly of German descent, so by Parker's logic, he is not White.


This isn't the first time Rob Parker has made idiotic race based statements and he does a very poor job at hiding his contempt for the rise in Latinos in baseball. It's not like they're taking jobs away from African-American players. Black kids, especially in the inner cities, find basketball and football to be much easier paths to success since baseball tends to recruit kids straight out of high school rather than from college. By pursuing basketball and football, these kids get a chance to strive for playing professional sports while also getting a chance at an education.


Parker also stupidly suggested that kids in Latin American countries are crazy for baseball and all want to become baseball players. I don't know what planet Parker lives on, but in every Latin American country, the #1 sport is soccer.


Go look up more stupid shit Rob Parker has said over the years. The man makes Skip Bayless look sane.

A New Resident Evil 6 Trailer That Confirms EVERY Rumor to be True and.... a New Release Date?

Get More: GameTrailers.com, Resident Evil 6 - Captivate 2012: C-Virus Trailer HD, PC Games, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

A new trailer for Resident Evil 6 has arrived, confirming every single rumor to be true. The blonde girl is in fact Sherry Birkin. The guy with the buzz cut running around with Sherry is not Alex Wesker, but rather Albert Wesker's son. Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy will appear on screen together and will oppose each other, at least temporarily. And of course, now a new character has been introduced as the main antagonist as well as a new virus, the C-Virus. Not a lot of gameplay was shown, in favor of showing cinematics, but the biggest bombshell was the end of the trailer showed the release date of 11/20/2012, only to have the first four numbers crumble away and replaced by 10/02/2012, meaning Resident Evil 6 has informally gone gold.


The new release date is deliberate. The old release date would have placed the game as the 3rd game in the Fall release schedule after Bioshock: Infinite and Assassin's Creed III, but the new release date places it as the first major Fall release.


What kind of release date will Tomb Raider get now?

The Lakers Successfully Pulled off the Most Hilarious Trade in NBA History

Before the start of the NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, and New Orleans Hornets were set to make a blockbuster trade that would have changed the faces of all 3 of their franchises for years to come. The Lakers would have received Chris Paul, the Rockets would have gotten Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom would have been sent to the Hornets alongside Luis Scola, Goran Dragic, Kevin Martin, and the Rockets 2012 1st round draft pick. Commisioner David Stern rejected the trade for "basketball reasons" and then all 3 franchises were left to pick up the pieces from trading several important players only to receive them back. Lamar Odom was so disappointed at being traded for Chris Paul that he demanded to be traded away. Just a few days later, he was sent to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for 2 draft picks. Many Lakers fans called foul at this, as the NBA had just rejected a trade that would have made 3 teams better, but allowed a trade of the reigning 6th man of the year for 2 draft picks and a trade exception to Mark Cuban's Mavericks.


That was in December.


Today, the Mavericks have announced that they will be parting ways with Lamar Odom and will list him as inactive for the remainder of the season and playoffs while they figure out what to do with him in the offseason, preferring to trade him. Odom has played his worst season ever as a professional in Dallas, garnering career lows in points and rebounds. The Lakers got a trade exception (which they have yet to use) and 2 draft picks from Dallas, which could be very favorable to the Lakers if the Mavericks continuing playing like shit.


What makes the trade even more hilarious, is that Odom's wife, Khloe Kardashian-Odom, had just finalized a lease on a condo in Dallas! OOPS!

Amazing Spider-Man: Ends of the Earth Part 1

The past few years, writer Dan Slott has marked his tenure on Amazing Spider-Man with yearly events during the summer. Last year's Spider Island was extremely silly, but it was well received and helped set up the new status quo for 2011-12 of Peter Parker yet again being single due to his trust issues with women, but becoming well known at Horizon for curing the Spider Island epidemic (even though it was his own damn fault) as well as inventing many other things.


This year's event, Ends of the Earth, begins with Spidey battling the Thermodynamic Man, but inadvertently freezes a firefighter's foot to the point that his foot is amputated cleanly and has to be sent to the hospital. Thankfully, the firefighter's foot will be able to be safely reattached because of an invention Peter created, originally to battle Hydro Man, but now used in hospitals to transport organs with more time to spare. Peter goes on a seemingly normal day to have lunch with Mary Jane, noticing people using the inventions he has made at Horizon, most of them reverse engineered from tools he has made to fight super-villains.


His normal day will be ruined however, thanks to Doctor Octopus and the Sinister Six wreaking havoc on the entire western hemisphere by speeding up the global warming process... and then immediately afterwards claiming that Doc Ock can fix global warming, going so far as to publicly demonstrate his mathematics. Doc Ock seemingly wishes to do a good deed for the world since he will die very soon. The scientists at Horizon seem to verify Ock's math and theories, but they are interrupted by mayor J. Jonah Jameson threatening to shut down the entire company because they were "responsible" for his son almost losing his life in space in the previous 2 issues of Amazing Spider-Man. Peter Parker gathers together a new battle armor specifically designed to combat the Sinister Six and heads to the HQ of the Avengers, calling for their help because Spidey knows Doc Ock would never cure global warming without some type of catch.


Dan Slott has proved himself over the last few years to be the definitive writer of Spider-Man since the departure of J. Michael Straczynski. Ever since JMS left, Spidey had been lifeless and full of retcon after retcon, removing Spider-Man's new mystical origin, enhanced superpowers, and stronger relationship with Mary Jane in favor of making him unemployed, single due to retcon, and back with his original origin and powers. Slott reinvigorated interest in Spidey after Joe Quesada appeared to be doing his best to make people hate Spider-Man, by simply writing better and giving Peter Parker a steady job that allows him to work unusual hours, taking into advantage his genius. The art work in this issue is also fantastic, drawn by Stefano Caselli, finally ending the reign of Humberto Ramos, one of the worst artists on Marvel's payroll.


Ends of the Earth will end at the end of the summer, so check out this series!

The Los Angeles Dodgers Are Now the Most Valuable Sports Franchise on Earth

The MLB Wars have finally ended in the most epic way possible. Last year, Forbes estimated the value of the richest sports clubs in the world, Manchester United topping the list at a worth of $1.86 billion. A group of investors including former Lakers legend Magic Johnson were announced today as being the winners of the bid to own the Los Angeles Dodgers with a winning bid of $2 BILLION. That makes the Dodgers far and away the most valuable baseball team in the world, and most valuable sports franchise on the planet.

The fact alone that Magic Johnson is one of the owners of the Dodgers will create guaranteed ticket sales for the Dodgers, who will be eager to pour in money for the team and the investors can quickly recoup what they spent. Last year, many passionate Dodger fans blatantly avoided going to games to avoid giving Frank McCourt money, although it did lead to bankruptcy for the Dodgers and cutting salaries of Dodger employees, including legendary play-by-play announcer Vin Scully.

Warren Spector and Gametrailers Unveil Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

Although Epic Mickey received an average review score of 72%, it fared very well among fans looking for a good game featuring Mickey Mouse as a playable character again, something not seen very often as Disney is very reluctant to let Mickey be used in games that are made half-assed and even in games they know are of good quality (Kingdom Hearts series comes to mind). Epic Mickey had one universal complaint, the camera that was controlled by the D-Pad on the Wii remote.


Looking to fix that issue and introduce new gameplay elements, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two was just announced. The game features Mickey teaming up alongside his "brother" Oswald the Lucky Rabbit who controls the power of electricity and also features drop-in/drop-off co-op, allowing a 2nd player to join in freely and leave freely, leaving the CPU to control Oswald. The sequel will also be cross-platform, being playable on the Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3, being fully compatible with Playstation Move, but not Kinect. Early reviews of the demo have already stated that the right analog stick on the 360 and PS3 versions leave a lot to be desired when aiming the paint brush and that the visuals do not justify skipping the Wii version, unless you have Playstation Move.

Roger Goodell Unleashes the Banhammer on the New Orleans Saints

The NFL today announced how the New Orleans Saints will be punished for their "bounty hunter" program. Their punishment is as follows:

• Head Coach Sean Payton has been suspended without pay for the 2012 season, effective April 1, 2012.
• Former Defensive Coordinator (now with St. Louis Rams) Gregg Williams has been indefinitely suspended from the NFL.
• General Manager Mickey Loomis will be suspended without pay for the first 8 regular season games.
• Assistant Head Coach Joe Vitt will be suspended without pay for the first 6 regular season games.
• Fine of $500,000
• Forfeiture of 2012 and 2013 2nd Round Draft Picks

After the 2012 season, NFL commisioner Roger Goodell will review Williams' status and whether or not to reinstate him or make his suspension longer. Goodell has also publicly stated that he would have also have announced player suspensions, but the NFL Players' Association wants to review the case first and decide along with the NFL which players should be suspended and for how long. It is very obvious however, that Defensive Captain Jonathon Vilma will be hit the hardest for offering a $10,000 bounty to anyone who could knock out Brett Favre from the 2010 NFC Championship Game.

This is the harshest penalty the NFL has ever given out to a team for violating league policy. Although most people are surprised at how hard the league came down on the Saints, most are not arguing that the punishment is too harsh. The NFL had to send a message that the culture in the NFL must change for the betterment of player safety and paying players non-contract bonuses for knocking players out of games is unacceptable. Many Saints players have vented their frustrations on ESPN and the NFL Network, showcasing their incredible ignorance. Many players have said the NFL is punishing them for hard hits, which is absolutely untrue. Sean Payton and Gregg Williams had a bounty program which they deliberately tried to hide from the NFL. Drew Brees is also displeased, demanding an explanation for why the Saints were punished so hard... so Goodell explained exactly why in an interview with ESPN's lead NFL insider, Adam Schefter.

Goodell made it clear that he is confident there will never be another bounty program in the NFL. If there is one, you can expect a much harsher penalty. Now, I'm not one to usually say certain geographical regions are dumber than others, but just take a look at this poll ESPN took today:

It's not a coincidence the Deep South is opposed to the penalties incurred by the Saints.