Roy Exum: Fire The Bums & More

  • Thursday, January 11, 2018
  • Roy Exum
photo by Roy Exum
I’ve gotten two more letters that called me a racist in the last week but, trust me on this, I’ve never been called a prude. I have a carefully picked and well-cultivated email list where I send my pals some of the hysterical emails that I get every day from around the country. Actually, it is an exchange because there are almost 200 on my “bad boy” list and every one of them forwards me any funny stuff that they receive. (And I am not a racist, as the Legion of the Miserable is wont to claim.)
A lot of my funnies are R-rated and many are political – poking fun at liberals and conservatives alike.
I laugh at myself more than anyone else I know so it is fun for me to share my giggles. But here’s what you must know … I love funny but I detest vulgar. If anyone sends me stomach-turning filth, they get deleted from my list and they need letters from three pastors and a seated judge to get back on my “bad boys” list. It is meant to be fun – never filthy.
Some days I’ll get close to 200 emails – no way can I answer most of them. If I took just three minutes to respond to each … do the math. I don’t have the time. I try to read every one, to savor the contents of each, but I’m a one-band man and I simply can’t help it.
This is to say on Tuesday morning of this week I got two emails that made me sick to my stomach. During Monday night’s NCAA championship game, the halftime show was a crotch-grabbing rap singer, Kendrick Lamar, a Grammy-winning, platinum performer. Rolling Stone magazine just called him the best rap singer of our time.
“In each year of the College Football Playoff, we’ve been able to build upon the experience of the last,” said Ed Erhardt, president, ESPN global sales & marketing. “This year is a true first for college football – and it makes sense that the hottest performer of the moment, Kendrick Lamar, would usher in this new era for the national championship game.”
Really? “Cornrow Kenny,” from his publicist, not me, claims his biggest melody right now is called “Humble.” One line goes like this: “Then Lamar said, “I’m so f****** sick and tired of the Photoshop/ Show me somethin’ natural like Afro on Richard Pryor / Show me somethin' natural like a** with some stretch marks.”
Again, this charmer is on network TV, commanding halftime when ESPN’s ratings are out the roof. There is a website, SongLyrics.com, where I was able to see word-for-word what Kenny was laying down. I believe this guy borders on believe a pervert and that our young have no business trying to ingest the filth this guy spews,
Take it before any court in the land in face of what our “me-too heroes” are now bringing forth. I believe this chump should be arrested for public profanity, violation of decency, and any other laws that grossly offend the American people, belittle women in a way you have never witnessed, and have a horrifying effect on our young.
But if we place Kenny in shackles before his mouth gets washed out with the strongest soap, you’ve got to know those who foisted this creep on the American people should also answer. Too many on the selection committee who approved this slime-ball knew the truth. NCAA president Mark Emmert and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey should be held accountable. This isn’t what college athletics is about. This has no place at the NCAA title. It is nauseating. Somebody should be held accountable. Emmert and Sankey should be pumping gas somewhere it is really cold by this time next week.
* * *
POINT PARK’S STATUES AND DR. KING
It is pretty simple to understand why the National Park Service is opening Point Park all day for free on Monday. America will be celebrating Martin Luther King’s birthday on January 15 and one of his best lines in the famous “I Have a Dream Speech” in 1963 made mention of Lookout Mountain, where Point Park looks over the valley below.
Over 200,000 listened to the speech and the line went: “Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California, from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.”
Nobody knows exactly what caused Dr. King to mention Lookout Mountain but, then again, nobody knows what caused the leaders of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park to overlook the fact that Point Park is chock full of Civil War statues. How is this going to work out for you …
Last year was known for the crazies blaming statues – many over 100 years old -- for our current social woes. Just this week Dolly Parton’s ‘Dixie Stampede’ dropped the word ‘Dixie’ from its name and the senseless desecration of American History is saddening. Anyone who fears statues doesn’t realize that most ‘Deep South’ boys remember and study the Civil War with two words most prominent: “Never again.”
* * *
TUA TAGOVAILOA NAMES FAVORITE
Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa wasted no time in giving thanks Monday night after the freshman led his Alabama teammates to a rousing overtime victory over Georgia. 
"Excuse me," Tua Tagovailoa said during a post-game interview with ESPN. "First and foremost, I'd just like to thank my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. With him, all things are possible. That's what happened tonight."
Just a freshman, Tagovailoa was expected to transfer if he didn’t play in the championship game. Yet he was the hero in the 26-23 thriller that earned Alabama its sixth national title in the last nine years. Nick Saban’s six titles are more than any other active coach and ties Saban with the legendary “Bear” Bryant for the most in history.
ESPN’s metered ratings were 16.7, making the game the second most-watched college game ever.  That’s a nine percent increase over last year’s National Championship where Clemson beat Alabama in the waning seconds. (The biggest rating – 18.8 – was in 2015 when Ohio State played Oregon.)
Tagovailoa gave the glory to God. This echoed the spirit of his "Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." Jesus, whom Christians believe was the very Son of God, spoke humbly, saying things like, "I can do nothing of myself" (John 5:30).
Giving Jesus the praise before he mentioned his parents or his teammates, Tagovailoa said Jesus taught that the poor in spirit and the meek are blessed, and lived a life of meekness and humility, as an example to His followers. ("Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" — Matthew 11:29.)
Jesus submitted to the will of His Father, becoming obedient even to a painful and humiliating death, so God elevated Him, giving Him "the name above all names, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11).
Jesus told His disciples, "For if any man is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels" (Mark 8:38).
* * *
33 PERCENT LESS NFL FANS
An exclusive poll by SurveyMonkey.com and the news site OZY shows a whopping 33 percent of Americans stopped watching or attending NFL football games this fall. Almost half said the reason was players kneeling, disrespecting the national anthem and the flag. Understand, those who votes could pick more than one reason.
Over 32 percent did so in respect of President Trump, 22 percent said it was in solidarity with the NFL players kneeling at games, 13 percent said they had no interest in the teams that were playing, 12 percent were in solidarity with Ousted 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, 11 percent said it was because of brain trauma to players and 8 percent said the games were boring.
Early estimates said the total losses in all revenues would be in excess of $500 million but also remember the league itself is a $14 billion (with a “b”) business.
USA TODAY is reporting the overall NFL TV ratings were down approximately 10 percent.
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