Vanessa: Unplugged!

Tiger Woods: Trying to Control the Uncontrollable

The truth about Tiger Woods’ early morning automobile crash is still elusive as public curiosity escalates. It seems that Tiger Woods and his team (including his wife) are set on keeping the real story about his accident private. Unfortunately, that’s not the reality when you are a public figure.

Inarguably, the circumstances surrounding this incident are questionable at best. Woods’ rumored infidelity with Rachel Uchitel and the expected confirmation and denial by those involved add fuel to the gossip fire.

Tiger Woods is one of those squeaky-clean celebs that one does not expect to hear anything negative about. He has managed to avoid that spotlight until now. No matter what is known publicly and the speculation by insiders, Woods, and his wife know what happened. Once the incident occurred outside their home and public property damage resulted, that was all she wrote, the media would certainly grab it and yeast it up as if it was a major international incident.

If Woods wanted to do damage control, he should have spoken to the public on Saturday instead of allowing Paris Hilton, TMZ and media outlets to make this situation a major story. Now that Tiger has refused to meet with police a third time, it really doesn’t look good for him in his desire for privacy.

Could Tiger have had an affair? Sure, he’s no different from anyone else. His celebrity status makes him even more desirable and folks don’t care that he’s married with children. If we just think about our lives and people that we know, it’s easy to imagine the challenges Woods and his wife have to endure. I see how women push up on men without Woods' wealth and status; his marriage has to be super strong to last.

Then there is the business aspect to this situation. Tiger has made gazillions from endorsements. In addition to his supernatural golfing talent, there’s his image --- and it’s not of a philanderer. Sponsors will drop him like a hot potato is his image is tainted. Ask Kobe Bryant.

My unsolicited advice to Tiger: come clean and do it now. While you may want to control this situation, you can’t. Talking now is much better than feeding the media frenzy later.

 

Photo: GETTY IMAGES

 

Rest In Peace: Marie Olbermann (1929-2009)

I just watched a moving tribute to Marie Olbermann, mother of MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on his show Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Sadly, Mrs. Olbermann passed away.

She was quite a lady and well-known for her love of major league baseball. I have not been a Keith Olbermann fan long enough to know of her getting beaned by Chuck Knoblauch and the subsequent celebrity to follow. She seemed to be quite feisty and a lot of fun to be with.

My prayers are with Keith Olbermann, his dad and the rest of Marie Olbermann's family, friends and loved ones. Ashe'.

Read Keith Olbermann's tribute to his mom here.

Buddha, Games and Why we must FREE TIBET

Ignorance is bliss. After watching the CNN special, Buddha's Warriors, I know that I will not watch any of this year's Olympic Games. All that I do not learn about The Games from news reports or through communication with others, I just will not know and don't feel the least bit bad about it.

Some folks say that politics and the Olympics should not mix. Some folks say that the athletes should not be denied the right to compete against other athletes in purity of their sport. Well, you know what? That all sounds well and good but I find it unfathomable to justify supporting a government that is so cruel to peaceful law-abiding people. Where is the outrage on the part of our government?

I know that I've posted about the situation in Tibet previously. I know that I've seen some of the videos on YouTube that readers have directed me to. CNN investigative reporter Christiane Amanpour provided great objective perspective on the crisis in Tibet and its impact on the people especially the Tibetan monk. I strongly encourage you to watch it in re-broadcast.

She also showed the emergence of a new generation of monks not as willing to allow Chinese rule without protest. These men, while still peaceful, have been tortured and tormented by the Chinese military. The Chinese military have killed many protesters and forced many to flee all without real condemnation by the United States. Let's not even get into the Chinese connection in the genocide in the Sudan.

While atrocities are being committed everyday and have been for many years in Tibet, I couldn't care less about the Olympics, any world records or any of the wonderful human interest stories that are used to sell the event. Ignorance is bliss. The truth can be a hard pill to swallow but it is what it is.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2008/08/dalai-lama-talk.html

http://one-just-world.blogspot.com/2008/07/letter-to-hu-jintao.html

President Bush Should Boycott the Olympics Opening Ceremonies and the Entire Games

Protests of the Olympic Games have been successful in disrupting the international run of the Olympic torch. There are some people who say that politics has no place in the Olympic Games but how can that be when human beings are participants in the Games.

It is disingenuous and short-sighted to focus only on the athletic completion without considering the human factor. China is a terrorist country. Their treatment of the people in Tibet and role in the genocide in the Sudan must be addressed by the world community.

It is highly disgusting that the International Olympic Committee selected China to host the Games anyway; shame on them.

There have been calls for President Bush to not attend the opening ceremonies. That's all well and good but he should boycott the Games. Period. The statement is not strong enough by just boycotting the opening ceremonies. China has been showing its collective behind to the US and the rest of the world when it comes to human rights. How our government can participate and thereby condone such behavior is beyond me.

Because of China's economic stronghold on the U.S., it's not likely that President Bush will show any signs of protest. Let that be a lesson to all of us as to the priority of human rights in the grand scheme of things.

In the meantime, prayerfully, the peaceful protests will continue to shine a light on China's human rights violations in Darfur and Tibet.

In a subsequent post I'll highlight the sponsors of these Olympic Games; some of them may surprise you. It may be time to put them on blast for participating in such human rights atrocities but I'll save that for later.

 

Will Venus and Serena be Forced to ‘Denounce and Reject’ their Dad?

According to reports from The Miami Herald, Richard Williams, father of Venus and Serena, is a loose-cannon. The latest comments attributed to Williams are particularly controversial in light of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright drama of late.

In an interview with the Deccan Herald while in India for the Bangalore Open, Papa Williams said, ``The white man hated me all my life and I hate him. That's no secret. I'm not even an American, it just so happens I was born in America. People are prejudiced in tennis. I don't think Venus or Serena was ever accepted by tennis. They never will be. But if you get some little white no-good trasher in America like Tracy Austin or Chris Evert who cannot hit the ball, they will claim this is great.''

OK. Let's see who goes on the next national apology tour after those statements. In spite of the rest of the quote, you know white people are more ticked that he referred to Chrissy Evert as "little white no-good trasher."

Is Richard Williams on medication? I can't imagine what he was thinking when he went off like that. Some of what he said about the treatment Venus and Serena endure is true but was personalizing Evert and Austin necessary? Venus and Serena had better prepare to denounce, reject, repudiate or do something for damage control in this situation.

 

Drinking the Olympic Games Kool-Aid

There is truth to the saying that ignorance is bliss. One of the upsides or downsides of this whole internet thing is becoming aware of what's going on in the world. My personal epiphany regarding the 2008 Olympics in China and that country's involvement in related atrocities around the world have literally given me a headache.

I visited the official website of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The lighting of the Olympic flame in Olympia, Greece is scheduled for March 24. The Olympic Torch Relay is expected to last 130 days. It's not likely the Games will be moved anywhere else with the August 8 start date only months away. It is, however, not too late to boycott the games themselves and reach out to their sponsors.

Get this, the theme of the OTR is "Journey of Harmony" and its slogan "Light the Passion, Share the Dream". Harmony? Dream? What dream? I'm not making this up, folks. I was so outraged when I read that. How insulting!

There's also an OTR website. The information in the box below is taken from the site verbatim.

You should know that Coca-Cola, Samsung, Lenovo are listed as partners of the OTR.

Chinese officials have said that a boycott will not be successful and they could be correct. I have not been able to find a real coordinated protest to address this issue. The recent massive protest in Tibet has focused international on the plight of the people there. All of the rights violations must be packaged together and shared with citizens everywhere.

The Giants Ruin the Patriots Perfect Season; So Why are the Dolphins Happy?

OK, I watched the last 35 seconds of the Super Bowl. I really wasn't that excited about the game and I surely wasn't going to choose to watch over other things I needed to do. So, why didn't I know about the Manning-Manning QB connection? Dang, my football watching was definitely off this year. Too much HGTV!

Anyhoo, the Giants didn't give up and pulled off the win in the last few seconds of the game. Congrats to the Giants and their MVP QB Eli Manning. Peyton last year and Eli this year. Can you imagine the conversation around that family's dinner table?

The collective sigh of relief you heard was the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins team. Too bad this year's team was so horrible.

I am a bit disappointed that I missed the commercials; they are usually a riot. If anyone had a favorite commercial or there was one that sucked big time, let me know here.

Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman apologizes for ‘lynch Tiger’ remark

Surely she regretted the words after they came from her mouth but it was too late; the damage was already done. Kelly Tilghman said that that today's young players should "lynch Tiger Woods in a back alley." Surely she wishes she could reverse time and not make such a statement but she can't.

Tilghman apologized for the statement. There were a few complaints but I guess blacks don't watch the Golf Channel in large numbers. Anyhoo, the word is out and some folks want Tilghman fired.

What say you?

No Electricity and Daunte’s Inferno

The electricity at my home has gone off and on as the rain and thunder and lightning continue. The only respite was during the shellacking that the Raiders gave the Dolphins and Daunte Culpepper exacted revenge.

I am not a Dolfan so I don't usually pay any attention to their games unless they're playing a team that I really like. I didn't like the way the Dolphin management got rid of Culpepper. No faith in Daunte's knees, huh? I'm sure they are rather embarrassed about leeting him go. My dislike for the Dolphins management actually goes back to the way they got rid of Coach Don Shula; it was not cool not matter how they tried to dress it up.

Professional sports is a business but it's still a business that functions because of people. I'd swear that the Dolphins have some kind of curse on them since unceremoniously dumped Shula.

Anyhoo, more important to me than the football game is the fact that the electricity flow is so inconsistent in my neighborhood I counted seven outages today. I'll call FPL on Monday to speak with a supervisor. The electricity poles in the area could be weak or the lights could go out for any number of reasons. Whatever the deal is, FPL won't be able to say it wasn't reported.

Oh, yeah, WAY TO GO DAUNTE!

Basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal and wife Shaunie are calling it quits

The shocking announcement of the impending divorce of basketball legend Shaquille O'Neal and Shaunie Nelson O'Neal dominated the local news in Miami. Shaq is generally regarded as a good guy so the way this divorce plays out will be very interesting. With four children together and one each before marriage, even with a pre-nuptial agreement, Shaq Daddy is going to pay big time.

What is odd about this break-up is that Shaq filed for the divorce and requests a "correct accounting of Shaunie's assets." You can read more at the Miami Herald article that broke the story but it appears that Ms. Shaunie was looking out for her interests and putting a little money away for herself on the side.

If that's the case, I really can't be mad at her. She's a beautiful and obviously intelligent woman. With the divorce rate as high as it is any woman would be wise to consider how to best take care of herself and her children. Far too often women end up on the short end of the stick financially after divorce. When you know your relationship is messy, you'd be wise to plan for life after divorce.

I do hope the O'Neals divorce does not get nasty. There are six innocent children who are a part of this relationship; they don't need their family issues splattered across the internet or other media.