By Eric Berry

Sterling Brown

The first thing I did this morning was play the Sterling Brown YouTube video that has gone viral. Brown, a guard for the Milwaukee Bucks, was arrested for a parking violation back in January. After watching the video, I was sick. As I write this, I am sick.

The definition of “police” is this: the civil force of a national or local government, responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the maintenance of public order.

You watch the video and tell me what form of “maintenance of public order” does this police officer exude during his conversation with Mr. Brown? My opinion-zero. The officer says Sterling Brown got in his face. He is asking questions which Brown is certainly answering. Brown is illegally parked, that isn’t in question by anyone I don’t think. I think we can all agree this situation could have been handled way differently. The officer could have either just simply asked Sterling Brown not to park like this again and move on. However, if you watch the video it’s clear he feels like there is more to the “story” with Brown. They shine the flashlight in the car looking for this, that, and whatever. The officer could have just said that he was going to give him a warning for being illegally parked.

What happens instead? 5 other squad cars show up. 5! Then, after Brown puts his hands in his pockets the officers tackle him, and then taze him! It’s beyond ridiculous. In my opinion the initial officer should be let go from the police force. It’s not “policing” what he did. It was profiling. Now I get it, these officers put their lives on the line every time they go out to perform their job. But this is different. No one was being a felon here. Think about it. If Mr. Brown had drugs, or guns in the car that were illegal, would he blatantly park illegally? Probably not. I know, the officer can’t take a chance, but a little common sense would go a long way here. I do think Mr. Brown could have just backed off a bit. I think he should have come right out and apologized for parking the way he did, and probably should have played his trump card. You know, I’m Sterling Brown of the Milwaukee Bucks! There’s probably a reason he didn’t. He probably wanted to see how he would be treated. He wasn’t treated correctly, and someone is going to pay big Bucks! Pun intended.

The NFL’s new rule

I only know what I heard, but, it appears the NFL made a rule in which the whole world will continue to be on the opposite side of the fence, er, locker room, er field. It appears that you must stand for the national anthem(which I believe everyone should anyway) if you are out on the field or the team will be penalized and you will be fined. However, if you choose to be in the locker room during it’s playing, you can obviously do whatever you want. So now the narrative for every broadcast will be “who stayed in the locker room and who didn’t”. Sometimes these people make the most absurd rules ever at the NFL. Let’s face it, you can get fined if your socks aren’t pulled up correctly.

I believe this may just divide the players, and the league even more so. I have also gone on record in saying that players should stand for the national anthem. I feel like there are other ways in which they can effect change in our country. I think that change needs to be a two-way street too. I also believe the media plays a huge role in shaping public perception on these matters. We only see the negative stuff. We don’t show when black and white athletes celebrate or embrace on the field-or point that part out. The media just points out all things negative. That too needs to change.

The Celtics, LeBron, Sox and Yankees

With the C’s win last night, they are one game away from the NBA Finals. They still have to traverse Mt. Everest. Having to win on the road against LeBron James is just about the same thing. There will be a Game 7. I’m still skeptical they will be able to get the job done. Too many poor decisions by Jaylen Brown AND Jason Tatum sometimes in driving the ball to the basket 1 on 4. Tatum played great overall last night so you take the good with the bad. It was mostly good. And Brown was solid overall, too. Horford has got to play better. He was basically nonexistent all game. He hit a 3 pointer that really didn’t matter late in the game. I do feel for him because he gets hammered trying to post up and no one cares.

LeBron looked ill last night. Something isn’t right. Remember in Game 4 when he took a knee from a Celtic inadvertently? Could that be it? Either way, last night something was affecting him, whether he admits it, or not.
The Sox and Yankees continue their assault on the rest of the league record wise. Granted, the Yanks have lost two in a row to a poor Texas team, but they still boast the league’s second-best record. Meantime the Sox have won 4 in a row and have taken a 1 and a half game lead over their rivals. Before any Red Sox fan gets fat, dumb, and happy(a line my college hoop coach, Skip Pound coined several times during my playing career) let me remind you that the Houston Astros currently have the top 3 pitchers in ERA right now. TOP 3! Gulp. The ‘Stros are starting to heat up. That’s not good news for the Yankees or Red Sox.