Sammy Sosa’s drastic change in appearance points to some sort of skin pigmentation disorder. Many people believe that Sammy Sosa is suffering from the same skin disorder like Michael Jackson was. In his new pictures his complexion was looking totally different and whiter than before. This drastic change in his complexion leads to a number of question like:

• Is Sammy suffering from Vitiligo?
• Did he bleach his skin?
• Why he wanted to be white?
• Which product did he use?
• Why he turned against dark complexion?
• And many more……..

It is believed that Sammy Sosa may have bleached his skin to disguise his vitiligo but no one can predict that what actually happened to Sammy Sosa just by looking at his pictures. His fairer complexion has become a big mystery and people are anxious to know that what really happened to him.

When Sammy Sosa was asked that whether he was suffering from any pigmentation disorder, he denied and told that he is not suffering from any skin pigmentation disorder like vitiligo. He revealed that he was using a cream for smoothness of his skin and was applying this cream on daily basis before going to bed. For further clarification he said that flashing lights of cameras made him look even more fair.

What I believe is that before doing anything he would have considered the negative side effects of skin bleaching.

Man what the hell is going on with Sammy Sosa?  Dude look weirder than yellow baby shit.  Whenever I see celebs doing this stupid shit I often wonder what their parents have to think.  Or do the parents give a shit at all?  Maybe it’s some sort of rebellion against the parent/parents?  Such as the case with Michael Jackson.  He didn’t want to look like Joe Jackson because Joe was sort of a Pootie Tang before his time.   Did you ever think that little Michael possibly needed his ass whooped?  I mean I have three boys of my own, so I can image how bad five can be and besides I seen that Jackson’s movie on VH1 and I would have whooped his ass for throwing that shoe too.

Where do you  have to be mentally to decide you want to bleach your skin?  Especially if you’re rich,  personally I think it’s the final step for some of these people, it’s like saying “Okay I’m rich, I got a white wife, my kids look white so now all I have to do is become a white guy and I’m done.”  For some of these people I think it’s the final stage of success and for some I think it’s just an issue of self hate.  From what I understand this shit is  already a growing trend in “Bollywood” but that doesn’t shock me coming from a country that created the “caste system” but what does surprise me is it’s popularity places like China where the people are already light skinned.  I mean what the fuck?  Maybe this new “Twilight” sensation is affecting people more than we think……….hmmmm

What a day for the modern professional athlete! I don’t know about you, but I wanted to just wrap my arms around some of my sports heros today, give them a hug and say “I still believe.”  Sigh…this wouldn’t be altogether legal and most of them wouldn’t be comfortable with such a display, so I’m left to write them appreciative fan letters. Here are the beginnings of some letters to my favorite, troubled, publicly embattled athletes.

• “Dear Mr. Eldrick Woods,  I’ve been trying to break the back window out of my Escalade for some minutes now and would like to know how your wife managed it. Which club did she use? Was it a Nike driver, and if so, can you tell me what kind of grip she used? How was her follow through and what kind of angle did she present with the club head? Did OnStar come on and say ‘Mr. Woods? We show that someone has busted your window with a golf club. Would you like assistance?’ Hopefully OnStar can offer help when us regular guys get clubbed by our wives after cheating with Australian girls who look like Stephen Tyler. Sincerely, your biggest fan.”
• “Dear Slammin’ Sammy Sosa, congratulations on becoming white! It must have been hard for you all of those years just hitting juiced up homers when all you really wanted was to look like Derek Jeter with the flu. Many athletes have a hard time making the transition to broadcasting after their careers end. Isn’t there anybody in the industry you could have slept with to avoid having to become white? There’s always NASCAR, which seems to work for Brad Daugherty. Oh well. In the grand scheme of post athletic career longevity, it’s still better to turn caucasian than to be O.J.”
• “To Serena Williams from a fan, I just read that you were fined $82,500 for threatening a line judge at the U.S. Open. There is a ton I could do with that amount of coin. I could get Sammy Sosa treatments, for starters. I could buy gold chain bikinis for the U.S. Olympic Swim Team. The women, too, while I’m at it. $82,500. I’d be able to take my mistress to Jimmy Johns for a sandwich. Sure, my wife might smash the back window out of my Honda, but thats the price I’d pay for living on the edge. Thanks. By the way? Midol is cheaper than these fines and since we’re both men Serena, I can confide that the stuff flat-out works for male headaches and anger, too.  P.S.-Since both you and Celine Dion are actually men, who’d win in a caged match? I pay to see that. $82,500? No.”

What is it about success in sports that makes you immediately dumb? Well, not everyone’s successful and dumb; some are successful and smart and really worth our caring about them. Like this guy.

And then there’s the latest candidate for the Wooden Head of the Year, Tiger Woods. More words have been spilled in assessing Tiger’s Thanksgiving weekend ‘accident’ outside his Florida home than on something truly important, like the State Dinner Crashers (Hmmmm, movie idea for Favreau and Wilson). But I’ve got something to say.

“Tiger, talk once and it will end forever!”

I can’t repeat that enough. During my journalism career, I learned quickly and completely that the best way to end a negative story is to talk about it. The press doesn’t want to spend too much time on those that explain as much as possible, and apologize if necessary. Then I spent some years doing PR work and saw that reality from the other side. When we had a story that we weren’t happy about during my time at the NHL–an attempt by a former League exec to fix his election to the Hall of Fame, for example–we got in front as best we could, told what happened, apologized for letting it happen and explained how we were working to make sure it couldn’t happen again. Done. End of story. Do you remember the name of the exec who tried that shenanigan? I didn’t think so. (No fair, googling the answer.)

Instead with Tiger Woods we have this:

Did he drive his car into a fire hydrant and tree by accident? Was he trying to escape his understandably angry wife? Did Tiger leave his shoes under a bed that wasn’t hers? Were his cuts the result of flying glass or a flying five-iron?Are his apparent marital problem going to affect his No. 1 athlete in the world status?

You know, Tiger’s advisors should have sat him down two weeks ago when that titan of American Journalism, The National Enquirer, first told the world about Tiger’s apparent unfaithfulness to his beautiful wife Elin, and said: “Look, this is going to get uglier. Whether you did the deed or not, it’s not going away so be prepared.”

Then in a scenario that even the world’s weakest screenwriter can envision, the story got out of hand right at home. Thanksgiving celebrations rarely end in happy houses at 2:25 in the morning with the head of household tearing ass out into the night in an out of control Cadillac Escalade–with the possible exception of the New Jersey home of Tony and Carmela Soprano.

By the time the news fully leaked out–mid afternoon on Friday–Tiger and his functionaries should have been ready for a statement. Tell what you can; tell what you need; but tell. Don’t let the story–and his wife–swing in the wind for two days.

For good examples of athletes who have come clean and asked forgiveness I refer you to Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte of Jeter’s Yankees. For those that didn’t, I give you Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens.

Now Tiger’s not going to his golf tournament scheduled this week in California, claiming injury but surely not wanting to meet the media. Do they deserve to know more? Does the public? Doesn’t really matter does it? The time for asking those questions has passed.

—-

Can’t let a discussion of wooden heads in sports end without a knock on the noggin of the New York Rangers managing genius Glen Sather. Last season the fan favorite Blair Betts had his season (and Ranger career) ended by a cheap shot by the Washington Capitals Donald Brashear.

So what does brilliant Sather do in the offseason–cuts loose Betts, cuts loose Rangers tough guy who stood up to Brashear many times, Colton Orr, and he signs BRASHEAR. The fact that Brashear can no longer skate and seemingly cannot even fight any more makes this all the more mystifying two months into the NHL season.

With the recent play of the Rangers (someone described them as the Knicks on skates), the fans are getting restless. The last two games have been losses by 6-1 and 8-3. Pretty bad for a team that was supposedly strong on defense. If it continues or gets worse, I suspect Mr. Sather will have some splaining to do to the fans like my friend The Mouth.

In the news . . .

Prolific spammer sent to prison for more than four years.

White House comes out in favor of net neutrality.

Michelle Obama Google bomb raises censorship questions.

Director Roman Polanski granted $4.5 million bail, but Swiss government has ten days to appeal.

Prison tweeting sends Pulp Fiction writer Roger Avary out of work furlough program and back to full-time custody.

New twist in the medical marijuana debate–should kids with ADHD be granted access?

Baseball player Sammy Sosa sued for $203,000 by businessman who, among other things, allegedly helped sell Sosa’s house and arranged for Don Omar to sing at Sosa’s 41st birthday party.

Trouble on the horizon? With no app censorship for Droid users, obscenity may be on the rise as company launches first “adult only” app store.

Believed to be first of its kind in UK, British pub owner fined $13,000 after patron unlawfully downloaded copyrighted material over pub’s Wi-Fi hotspot.

Even though a Bush-era request to conduct blanket searches of computer files was rebuked by judges, the Obama administration is now pushing to have the decision reversed, according to court documents filed the week of Thanksgiving.

U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, an Obama appointee, and twenty other government attorneys submitted a brief to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals, making a very extraordinary request. They want their position heard again, this time by all 27 judges in the region.

In August, an “en banc” panel of 11 judges from the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals decided federal prosecutors went too far when they seized the drug test results of 104 pro baseball players five years earlier. The ruling included guidelines for computer search conduct designed to protect Fourth Amendment privacy rights, in the style of Miranda rights.

Chief Judge Alex Kozinski wrote at the time that the government “must maintain the privacy of materials that are intermingled with seizable materials, and … avoid turning a limited search for particular information into a general search of office file systems and computer databases.”

In 2006, the 9th Circuit initially sided with the Bush administration against the Major League Baseball Players Association in a 2-1 decision.

Back in 2003, the warrant in the hands of the prosecutors allowed them to search urinalysis records of ten pro baseball players at a Long Beach drug-testing facility. They claimed the information on other players found in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet was in plain sight, and therefore lawful. But the Court of Appeals argued agents could have selected, copied and pasted only the rows listing the specific players named in the search warrant.

Instead they scrolled to the right side of the spreadsheet to peek at the test results of each player. The names of four players not linked to the warranted BALCO investigation were later leaked to The New York Times. In the public eye, power-hitters David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa may never scrub clean the taint. Sosa will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2013, along with controversial star Barry Bonds.

The player’s union accused The Times of breaking the law. “The leaking of information under a court seal is a crime,” he said in a statement. “The active pursuit of information that may not lawfully be disclosed because it is under court seal is a crime.”

Michael Schmidt, the reporter, insists he did nothing wrong, “It is the choice of the source to talk. I believe it is legal and ethical for me to ask questions of people who may be covered by court orders.”

During the slow news week of Thanksgiving the Obama administration took action, seeking to reverse the 3-month old decision. Wired Magazine and libertarians had applauded the dramatic reductions to the government’s search-and-seizure powers, but the government now claims “computer searches have ground to a complete halt” in some districts.

Inside a 27-page brief submitted to the San Francisco-based court Nov. 23 (and made available on the Wired Magazine website) Solicitor General Kagan and twenty other undersigned government attorneys insist the 9th Circuit Appeals judges must “withdraw the en banc panel’s decision.” In other words, throw out the 11-judge ruling and review the case again with all 27 of its judges, an unprecedented request.

“The United States is mindful that this Court has never granted full court en banc,” the brief states. “Indeed, the federal government has never asked the Court to do so. But the broad issues unnecessarily addressed in the en banc panel’s opinion are of surpassing importance and compel that extraordinary action.”

The court said rather than copy an entire drive, the government should cull the specific data described in its search warrant. Otherwise, use an independent third party to comb through files under court supervision, providing nothing else to government agents. So, which Fourth Amendment protections are unnecessary?

The government is pointing to a nauseating rape case to argue investigators are now the ones in handcuffs. “Agents did not obtain a warrant to search the suspects’ computers,” the government wrote, “because of concerns that any evidence discovered about other potential victims could not be disclosed by the filter team.”

After the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, the last avenue available to the solicitor general would be a review from the Supreme Court.

This story was originally written for RawStory.com by Gavin Dahl.

Bud Selig is planning on leaving the position of Commissioner of Major League Baseball in 2012. (Sign of the end of times?) He says he wants to pursue other interests. I’m wondering what this means for Major League Baseball. My first instinct is that his departure will be good for the MLB. It is impossible to be certain though. Whatever things he’s done or failed to do has led up to baseball being where it is right now. And where is that? Well it’s still a very profitable place to be and it’s still a very popular place to be. While these two facts don’t necessarily mean he was awesome, to me they at least mean he did a fine job.

Plus, we have to remember that he came at a very difficult time, with the steroid era and the strike of 1994. But maybe it can be argued that he made it a very difficult time. Surely steroids weren’t his fault but he could have pursued them aggressively when the whispers in the clubhouses began. Not when Canseco’s book, Juiced, dropped. Or maybe the blame lies with Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds and all the others. (Don’t you love how we praise McGwire for helping resurrect baseball after the 1994 strike and then, out of the other side of our mouths we tear him apart for hurting baseball with his steroids use and the unethical way he rewrote the record books?)

I do firmly believe that Fay Vincent should have never been forced out of the commissioner’s office. He was a great leader and he truly put the best interests of the game first. Selig? I believe Selig put money and the owners ahead of the game. But it is what it is. And it’s not that bad.

So where will it go from here? I’ll be content if it maintains the status quo on most levels. I don’t want to see any large steps taken toward reaching parity. I don’t want to see increased revenue sharing or salary caps. I don’t want expansion, but I really don’t want contraction. I don’t want the length of the season altered in anyways except to make there less days off during the playoffs. I would love to see a commish dedicated to making sure that the public understands that baseball games are important even when a team from the Northeast or West coast isn’t involved. I would also like to see limited instant replay introduced in the postseason.

All that to say I’m leaning towards being excited. But baseball is thriving when companies all over America are failing. So maybe I shouldn’t be too excited to see Selig leave.

10. Derrick Rose- The Apple Knife

“It was a silly incident,” Rose said. “I was cutting up some food and I laid on a knife getting lazy in bed. I went to go get a bottle of water, came back, forgot the knife was there, then sat down and sliced my arm.”

9. Rickey Henderson -Frost Bite

When an athlete hurts a foot or hand they’ll occasionally use an ice pack.  The one problem Rickey had is that he slept with it on his foot and woke up hours later to realize he had frost bite. Oh Rickey!

Rickey Henderson..with a warm foot

8. Plaxico Burris- Shooting One’s Self

We all know the story. Football star. Gun. Bad ending. Plaxico was in a nightclub with a handgun in his pocket. Something happens (we’ll never know the truth) but it’s revealed he shot himself in the leg and due to having an illegal weapon he’s suspended by the league and could face time in jail. Did nobody inform Plaxico of what a holster was?

7. Joel Zumaya- Guitar Hero

The Tigers were entrenched in the 2006 ALCS when relief pitcher Joel Zumaya had to sit a few games due to the inflammation in his wrist and forearm…due to Guitar Hero. Is that what they’re calling it now?

6. Sammy Sosa- Sneezing

We’ve all sneezed. Some have been light sneezes and some have been so hard that they hurt. Well Sammy Sosa had a case of the bad sneezes and was forced to be out of the lineup due to back spasms.

Bless you Sammy

5. John Smoltz- Ironing

Atlanta Braves Pitcher John Smoltz missed a few games due to a burn he caused while ironing his shirt. John denies the report but it’s rumoured he was wearing the shirt in question while ironing it. Seriously what is wrong with athletes?

4. Joe Sakic- Snow Blower

Colorado Avalanche center and captain Joe Sakic was doing what every other Colorado resident does on their property. He was snow blowing. Hopefully the residents are a bit more cautious than Joe who ended up breaking three fingers and causing tendon damage due to his inability to control the snow blower.

3. Jimmie Johnson- Golf Cart

Jimmie Johnson had just won an unprecedented 4th straight NASCAR championship.  At a golf tournament, Jimmie thought it would be fun to ride on top of the golf cart. Naturally, he fell off and broke his wrist. Stick to racing the automobiles Jimmie!

Jimmie Johnson inside the Golf Cart...where he should be!

1. Gus Frerotte- Headbutt

In 1997, Gus Frerotte decided to bang his head into the padded wall behind the end zone after his TD rush, and missed the rest of a key game with neck pains and a concussion

By Gabriel C. Tyler

The before and after of Sammy Sosa. Photo courtesy of Yazmar.com

Out of nowhere, Sammy Sosa ─ legendary baseball player, hero and media-proclaimed poster child for the Dominican Republic ─ has found his new brighter, whiter face plastered across television screens across the world. Headlines that once praised the baseball player now taunt him and his seemingly new physical appearance: “Is Sammy Sosa the New Michael Jackson?” and “Sammy Sosa Bleached, Sammy Sosa White.” He claims that his lighter skin pigmentation is an accident. A result of a skin revitalization cream that he has been using to reverse the harmful effects that playing baseball in the blistering sun for so long has done to his skin. (To read more into the controversy click here.) Those who have viewed photos of the former baseball player claim that Sosa, like many other celebrities of color, has bleached his skin in an attempt to obtain whiter skin and higher social ranking. No conclusive answers exist yet, so all we can do now is speculate. However, whether Sammy’s new skin complexion is an accident or intentional, one thing stands true: among people of color all across the world, there still exist a great distinction and animosity between light-skinned and dark-skinned individuals.

The importance of skin color in the lives of people of color is one that begins early on in life. From preschool to kindergarten, children soon shift from learning to color in the lines to learning to distinguish between colors. This new awareness leads to children separating themselves into groups based upon their own colors, which then becomes the foundation for discrimination and hatred within people of color. With division comes the idea that one group is different from another and in those differences dwell the idea of inferiority and superiority among groups. It seems to be the proclivity of human beings to separate themselves into groups based upon similarities and differences. On a larger scale, these divisions are created between races and classes. However, this idea of division has deep roots in the African-American community ─ some individuals place great emphasis on skin pigmentation, so much so that it becomes a way to evaluate one’s worth.

Even I, as a child and still as a young adult have had to confront issues with my skin color. Everyday I strive to not be pigeonholed by my complexion. Being the youngest of two boys, it’s not unusual for me to be compared to my older brother. He was always referred to as “light,” “fine” and “a looker,” while I faked smiles at being called a “handsome brown boy.” I never fully understood why the words “brown boy” had to be attached to me like a nickname ─ it is apparent to me that my skin is brown but it is not my title. As a young child, I stared at my ceiling many nights, angry at a God who would make me this “brown boy.” I often asked God to make me lighter. Obviously, I never got my request. I just grew into a “brown young man.” The battle with being comfortable with skin complexion is nothing new, especially for those in the black community.

Social drugs pumped into the minds of people of color over time have intensified the division between those of different skin complexions. From the plantation to the Jim Crow era, blacks have fallen prey to the idea that the whiter the skin, the greater the opportunities. A culture raped by white blood lines birthed children of various skin tones. Those children, as a result of vicious cycle such as slavery, argued that the brightness of their skin entitled them to inherit the privileges of white men and women. Individuals began to marry into lighter-pigmented families to produce children with lighter skin, and just like that, “light, bright and damn near white” became the ideal for obtaining great social status.

Another large part of this skin whitening process is bleaching, or chemically removing the color from the skin using creams and even lemons turned into bleaching agents by the sunlight. It can be a harmful process for an individual’s skin ─ bleaching agents containing hydroquinone kills off the melanin-making cells, melanolyte, while bleaching agents containing mercury (ammoniated mercury or mercrous chloride) have been scientifically proven to cause mercury poisoning in excess. The bleaching process shows how deeply ingrained the quest for whiter skin is in people of color. People are willing to risk their health for an external appearance. It is as if white skin is so great to certain individuals that bleaching turns into an addiction.

The media perpetuates the ideal of having lighter skin among blacks. The Los Angeles Times did a piece, entitled “The Beyoncé ad and skin bleaching,” about the controversy with Beyoncé’s L’Oreal ads, which feature her with lighter skin than she actually has. For years, people pointed fingers at celebrities, such as Michael Jackson and Lil’ Kim who have apparently had unnatural skin transformations. Womeninquire.com offers women of color the “secret to lighter skin,” claiming that stars, such as Rihanna, Halle Berry, Beyoncé, Amerie and Thandie Newton get whiter skin from their products. An episode of the Tyra Banks show entitled, “Black Women & Their Children Bleaching Their Skin” showed how ingrained the idea of having a lighter complexion still is in the African-American community. Women were not only bleaching themselves, but their children, claiming that “their children would be better, if they were lighter.” It becomes evident that many have sacrificed their mental and emotional well-being for lighter skin ─ it seems the minds of many people of color have been poisoned.

An already fair-skinned Beyoncé next to the controversial lightened L'oreal Ad. Photo courtesy of ClevelandLeader.com

I do not know what the truth is behind the Sammy Sosa scandal. I do not know if there is a simple solution to the divisions among people of color based on skin complexion. However, I do know that black is beautiful (not that white is not), and there is no need to be anything but who you are, whether that be a “brown boy” or a light-skinned boy. When we stop looking at color or physical appearance as an aspect of an individual’s character and value in society, then progress will finally happen. Until then, we’ll keep on bleaching, literally and figuratively, until the scraps of identity that we do possess disappear. What happened to “Black Power” and “Black Pride” ─ are we running from our roots by trying to externally be something that we are not?

No, it’s not a skin condition or his attempt to woo Twi-hard fans.

Sammy Sosa is stepping up to fill the Michael Jackson void as the latest celeb-of-color to become um, less colorful thanks to skin lightening creams. The Root has a great essay on the cultural ramifications of his progression to pale. And Sammy’s not the only one: NPR is reporting that the skin whitening industry is working hard to expand their male customer base. In fact, trade publication GCI Magazine estimates that sales of male skin-whitening products in India could match the sales of female skin whiteners within five to ten years.

Seems like a good time to mention that many skin whitening treatments contain hydroquinone, which has been restricted for use in cosmetics by Canada and the EU, and is classified as a hazardous air pollutant by the EPA.

Oh, and in October, the FDA busted a shipment of Manning Beauty Cream whiteners because they were 8 percent mercury.

Meanwhile, at the other end of skin spectrum, Tom Delay and other Dancing With the Stars contestants broke the silence and spoke out about their spray tan addiction in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. Does the former GOP leader really need a faux six-pack?

At Beauty U, Loretta and Stephanie (two black women with no interest in lightening up) have started bringing their own foundations and concealers because the makeup we’re supplied with ranges only from lily white to beach vacation toasty.

“I never realized that I was so hard to make up because of my skin color,” says Loretta after we’ve all experimented unsuccessfully with mixing shades that leave her chalky and streaked.

“They should have better products!” We all rush to say. “It’s not you, don’t feel bad!”

“Oh don’t worry,” says Loretta. “I know it’s not me that’s the problem.”

What’s your take on the business of skin?

[Photos: The Root and NPR]

One of the biggest things that stood out to me during that game wasn’t the pitching.  It was so strange seeing Wrigley Field half empty.  I forgot what it was like seeing Wrigley Field empty.  We’ve become spoiled lately with Teams that are capable of competing and big payrolls.  All the ‘Cub’ fans who are booing now need to look back on those miserable years in the 90s and pretty much all of the 80s.  Don’t get me wrong I love winning as much as everyone else, but I want to keep things in perspective.  I’m happy if the Cubs make a good run for the playoffs and have a winning record (maybe I’m part of the problem).   A lot of people wonder how I can still consider Sammy Sosa one of my favorite players.  One of the reasons is he was the only reason to watch the Cubs for a lot of years.  But I digress…  If anyone hasn’t had a chance to re watch that masterpiece of game, I encourage you to watch on MLB network, MLB tv or whatever means you have.  It made me remember why I watch baseball.

Originally, it was only going to two parts to this series, but there have been SOME crazy and insane stories that have been coming out in world of sports and I had to expand and do a continuous series with this madness.  Enjoy.

I also changed the look of the site. I was messing around with some appearances and this themed popped out like an amazingly awesome toy that pops out and grabs your attention when you’re a little kid. I know that’s a horrible analogy, but that’s the only way I can describe it.

Oh Sammy Sosa. What are we going to do with you? You once captivated our hearts by going toe to toe with your buddy and St. Louis Cardinal Mark McGwire as both of you battled for the single season homerun record in the 1999 season. As a Chicago Cub, you captured a nation’s heart with your friendly banter and love of the game.

You were once in trouble for using a corked bat during a game, and your name even surfaced on the infamous 2003 steroid list that included you and 102 of your fellow Major Leaguers. Your career has taken a lot of interesting turns and you even needed a translator at the 2005 congressional hearings even though you’ve played baseball in the states for more than 15 years.

This is not the way you want to get back into the limelight. I understand you went to the Latin Grammy’s in Vegas with your wife earlier this month. It’s a great place to get your picture taken and have people start talking about you again.

But Sammy, you’re gonna walk out with your wife looking like a vampire from the Twilight series? Cmon Dude. Families watch the Latin Grammy’s together. You don’t want to be scaring people now. I know that you said that it’s a facial cream that you’re using to treat your skin, but it doesn’t look good when you look like a zombie and are 100 shades lighter than you normally are. *Sigh* What are we going to do with you? This is not the way you want to be relevant again. Trust me buddy.

Yahoo Sports *Sosa appearance at Latin Grammys*

ESPN *Sosa use of cream for skin treatment*

Chad Johnson. Or is it Estabian OchoCinco? No. It’s Chad OchoCinco Johnson. I don’t know what to call you man. But you my friend are an enigma. You’re a trashing talking big mouth wide-out who brings a lot of attention on yourself, but at the same time, you put up the big numbers. You’re one of the most controversial players in the NFL and you’ve even held up a sign during a game that simply read “Dear NFL, Please don’t fine me AGAIN!!!!” But what you did this last week is pretty crazy. Even for you buddy.

I know that you sent the Cleveland Browns some Pepto-Bismol back in 2004 because you said that their defensive backs would need stomach medicine after trying to cover you. You’ve even sent the Baltimore Ravens some deodorant in week 9 of this season as your Cincinnati Bengals smashed on your fierce division rivals.

But this one takes the cake bro. Before a heated showdown with the Pittsburgh Steelers in week 10, you were planning on sending packets of Heinz mustard to AFC North rivals. Heinz mustard you ask? You see, the Steelers play at Heinz field in Pittsburgh. Chad wanted to stir up some interest before the game. Clever huh?

Well, before you shipped out the many packages of mustard, your coach Marvin Lewis stepped in and told you not to mail those packages. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to send anything this week, thanks to Marvin Lewis. That’s the way to spoil the fun, boss man. I guess I have to talk trash to motivate myself this week,” OchoCinco explained. Chad, you’re a funny guy and you TALK the TALK as much as you WALK the WALK. I can’t get mad at that. Cmon Dude…keep coming up with the clever antics. I am waiting along with the WHOLE world to see what you’re going to pull off next. Keep working Chad. We’re proud of you.

ESPN *Story on Chad Johnson Mustard Packages*

A lot of you might not know who this man is in the picture above, but this SEMI overweight man is Kansas Jayhawks football coach Mark Mangino. He’s led a very successful program at the University of Kansas and it seems like he’s doing a mighty fine job at it. However, Mangino has been dealing with some personal demons that have surfaced in the past few days. Mangino’s former players have come out and explained that their former coach was a very angry and hurtful individual.

You hear that Mark? You’re in some serious trouble. And this is some stuff that you can’t just throw under the rug. Players from all over have chirped in and it’s not helping your cause my friend. Marcus Herford a former player of yours explained the situation and explained at times you have taken personal information that you VERY players confided in you with and have used it against them. That’s not right.

Raymond Brown another one of your former players described in an interview with ESPN the abuse he was receiving. “I dropped a pass and [Mangino] was mad. And I said, ‘Yes, sir. Yes, sir.’ The yelling didn’t bother me. But then he said, ‘Shut up!’ He said, ‘If you don’t shut up, I’m going to send you back to St. Louis so you can get shot with your homies.’ I was irate. I wanted to hurt him, to be honest with you.” This was after Brown’s brother had been shot in St. Louis earlier that year.

There are countless stories and accusations coming your way Mark. There are so many that I can’t even put them all in this blog. Cmon dude. You need some help. Some serious help. First, you need to find Jesus and work out all these demons that you seem to be harboring. And secondly, we need to have you shed some weight. I think that’s a major factor in you being so angry all the time.

You stated in a press conference that you haven’t lost one player on your team. And you’ve even stated that because you’re 5-5 and not 10-0 that people are starting to talk about the “problems” in your program. Mark, your team’s record doesn’t reflect the fact that you have to be CIVIL and treat your team with RESPECT. To be honest, you haven’t lost one player on your team. You’ve LOST THEM ALL. While we’re at it, let’s send out a search party for your brain and sanity as well. I’ll be praying for you Mark. Godspeed.

ESPN *Mark Mangino Kansas Coach*

NCAA Football Fanhouse *Players speak out against coach’s actions*

So who just wakes up one day and decides to become Dan Lauria from Wonder Years?

You need your a** beat.  I mean…I’m Black and you were blacker than me, skin-wise.  Now it looks like you’re trying to not only pass the brown-paper bag test, but also the manila-folder test, the french vanilla test, the the pina colada-flavored Slushee test, I could go on.  I know you speak Spanish and come from the Dominican Republic…you don’t speak “jive” and come from Detroit.  I know you identify more with Goya products than Lawry’s Seasoning Salt.  I know that to you, Dominican Lou is a blood relative and not a Tracy Morgan character.  All that is cool, but…skin rejuvenation?  You’re not even the first person to try and pull of this foolishness.  And to act surprised about the reaction?  Racial issues aside, you look like the living dead! 

Dominican Lou's take on it: "I don't know Papi!"

This is some old school self-hate sh*t.  Back before we had BET and JET Beauty of the Week, before Kiki Shepard and Tyler Perry movies.  Before we had a plethora of good-looking Black people in the public eye, on the big screen and on TV, in all their beige, caramel, chocolate, and blue-black glory.  Naps and perms, weaves and dreads.  It’s all beautiful.  So why in 2009 is Sammy Sosa (without the vitiligo excuse) brightening his skin?  Mental slavery…some folk just don’t wanna be free.

And yes, we know you’re Spanish-Black and all, but… 

I grew up playing and watching baseball as a kid (GO A’S!) and go to games when I can. Not only as a mexican-american but as a latin-american It was nice to see players like Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez become superstars and make an impact on the history of baseball, until it came out that they were cheating. In my mind and in pro sports culture, you can do a lot of bad things in your pro and personal life that are not nearly as bad as doing steroids. I miss baseball when It looked and felt real, guys didn’t have massive necks and arms, guys played hurt and were tough as nails. Where are the Roberto Clemente’s, Hank Aaron’s or Willie Mays’? I know they are all one-of-a kind players but what they all had in common was honesty in their successes and failures.

Now Sammy Sosa is not only a disappointment athletically for the latin-american community but culturally he is sending an incredibly damaging message with his skin-whitening. We as Latinos are beautiful and worthy no matter our skin color, light dark and everything in between. VIVA LA RAZA LATINA!

By R. Renee

News reports and photos of ex-baseball player Sammy Sosa hit the net. It appears that Sosa has changed his beautiful brown complexion. His skin color/complexion is now ghostly white.

I share my thoughts on whether the change in his skin color is the result of self-hatred and internalized racism?

CLICK HERE to listen.

R. Renee is a poet, author and co-host of The Naked Truth Talk Show.  Her latest books are Face Tha Fiyah and The Tithing Hoax.

Sammy Sosa has no sense of humor; or at least that’s what Enrique Santos — a radio DJ and the self-declared King of All Spanglish Media — claims after he was unceremoniously banned from Sosa’s birthday party before he even made it through the doors for showing up in brown-face. Santos arrived looking as though he’d perhaps put a bit too much bronzer on his face, and despite being an invited guest to the party, a publicist came up to Santos and told him “You can’t make fun of [Sosa],” referring to the embarrassing photo of Sosa where he seems to have been bleaching his skin, before kicking Santos to the curb.

“I’m currently using a cream which has darkened my complexion,” Santos tongue-in-cheek told her, “Ironically, Sammy is going through the same process, but the cream he is using is making him white.”

The publicist was not amused, “I explained to her that it was a special cream I was using that darkened my face and then I asked her, ‘How many women in here are wearing makeup?” but she wasn’t having it. Was I not white enough for Sammy’s party or have the millions gotten to his head–I mean skin?”

[Enrique Sosa]

Uh, Sammy did you really think no one was going to notice that you’re, oh, 15 shades lighter than normal?

It’s not like you’ve been in the public eye for a million years.

It’s not like we don’t have a reference point for how you used to look.

But all that aside, I really get annoyed when people think they’re better looking because they’re lighter-skinned. I believe there are beautiful light-skinned people, beautiful dark-skinned people, beautiful fair-skinned people, beautiful olive-skinned people, albino people, white people.

Its sad that with all Sammy’s accomplished and achieved that he’s obviously unhappy with himself. He had the nerve to say in an interview that he’s not trying to be Michael Jackson. I can’t tell you’re doing the same thing.

Even if you give him the benefit of the doubt that the cream is intended to soften his skin, softening means making it softer not lighter, duh.

Its also sad that if you look at the pictures the skin cream doesn’t balance out his face. He looks splotchy. It looks like he’s wearing white face. If you’re rich and you’re gonna go white, I’m gonna at least need you to get a better bleaching cream.

Uh, Sammy did you really think no one was going to notice that you’re, oh, 15 shades lighter than normal?

Sammy Sosa: After and before

It’s not like you’ve been in the public eye for a million years.

It’s not like we don’t have a reference point for how you used to look.

But all that aside, I really get annoyed when people think they’re better looking because they’re lighter-skinned. I believe there are beautiful light-skinned people, beautiful dark-skinned people, beautiful fair-skinned people, beautiful olive-skinned people, albino people, white people.

Its sad that with all Sammy’s accomplished and achieved that he’s obviously unhappy with himself. He had the nerve to say in an interview that he’s not trying to be Michael Jackson. I can’t tell you’re doing the same thing.

Even if you give him the benefit of the doubt that the cream is intended to soften his skin, softening means making it softer not lighter, duh.

Its also sad that if you look at the pictures the skin cream doesn’t balance out his face. He looks splotchy. If you’re rich and you’re gonna go white, I’m gonna at least need you to get a better bleaching cream.

As we have all no doubt heard, Sammy Sosa, the retired baseball star has recently admitted to using bleaching creams in order to, as he said “soften his skin.” A tragedy is defined as an event resulting in great loss and misfortune, a drama in which the principal character is overcome by some superior force or circumstances.  In 1954, Dr. Kenneth Clark conducted an experiment using young black children and dolls; given a choice, the children preferred the doll that had light complexion in the majority of the cases.  Sadly Mr. Sosa, who hails from the Dominican Republic and has had tremendous success as a star athlete and all the trappings of fame, appears to be saying that he too, chooses the light-colored doll to play with. (Below is a video that explores the issue in more recent times.)

The tragedy here is that not only does he lose his natural color, given to him at birth by a marvelous creator; he also seems to have been overcome by the forces of a world that continues to make some believe that white skin is not only better, but now softer.  The Bible tells the story of the wife of the prophet Lot, whom having been directed out of the pathway of God’s judgment, looks back and is turned into a pillar of salt.

Does Sammy Sosa look back and wish he were born another color, is he salty at having been born a darker member of the human family?  What experiences has he had that make him like that?  As a professional athlete, one who was hailed for his on field performances, what did he feel, see, and hear that makes him desire to destroy God’s gift? 

We recall the furor over Michael Jackson’s transformation as it played out, from young black man to one who at the close of his time on earth looked white.  Yes, Michael is said to have suffered with the skin disease Vitiligo, the larger issue being that there was an issue.  Was Michael trying to get away, not just from being black, but from black people, did he have surgery in order to make his facial features more acceptable to his audience? 

Sadly, the use of bleaching creams is now in wide use in places like Dominican Republic, Jamaica and Trinidad, and yes the continent of Africa. In Europe, many have begun to bleach out the natural color in order to look lighter. Apparently, we have been eating the wrong food.  We have consumed a diet rich in self-hatred, self-denial, self-loathing, and self-defeating attitudes.

On a recent trip, I observed a beautiful Asian woman, and the unique contours of her eyes, listened to Latinos in their interaction and celebrated the ability to communicate in more than one language. I took a wider look around, saw the beauty of the human family, and remembered the words to a song by the great Louis Armstrong, which celebrates the beauty and diversity of life, its richness and wonder.  Here’s hoping that Sammy Sosa, and all who think like him, would reflect that indeed they help to make it a wonderful world, just the way they are.

Bro Richard

THIS IS WHAT COLOR FORMER BASEBALL STAR SAMMY SOSA WAS IN JULY