SKrashen: An easier, more effective way to enhance literacy

SKrashen: An easier, more effective way to enhance literacy: An easier, more effective way Sent to the Times of India, June 26, 2013. The "Project to enhance reading skills of stu...

SKrashen: An easier, more effective way to enhance literacy

Robert D. Skeels shows Staples Center shooting prowess at Sparks game

"Miller also did it with a style and attitude that forced people to reconsider their own ideas of what women could do on the court." — Dave Zirin


At the August 16, 2011 Los Angeles Sparks game I was asked to participate in the Trader Joe's neighborhood basketball challenge shooting contest. You have thirty seconds to make a lay up, free throw, three pointer, and a half-court shot to win the grand prize.

I made the lay up, free throw on the second attempt, three pointer on the first try, but despite six or seven attempts at the half-court shot I only came close once (in and out of the rim in fact). Still won some very cool stuff though. All of my years of basketball playing and practice paid off last night. That's me (Robert D. Skeels) having just drained the three pointer to the right of the line in the photo on the right.

From what I understand, only one participant ever made the half court shot to win the grand prize during a Sparks game.

My wife and I are long time Sparks season ticket holders, WNBA fans, and avid Title IX supporters. While Dave Zirin certainly is the authority and best social justice writer on sports beat, I have penned short pieces on Bush's attacks on Title IX and Don Imus' despicable comments aimed at Rutgers' Scarlet Knights women's basketball team.

By the way, Yoon Jung participated in the very same contest two years ago, and won a gift certificate by making the lay up! Here she is in action:

Robert D. Skeels shows Staples Center shooting prowess at Sparks game

WNBA May Be Upon Biggest Season Yet

[Click if you can't view the video]

Dave Zirin is a renowned sports writer who is unafraid to speak truth to power, and we are both members of the same political organization. It's really encouraging to hear him talking up the WNBA and women's basketball. Yoon and I are Sparks season ticket holders and avid Title IX supporters. We invite everyone to check out at least one WNBA game in person this year.

Another thing. Dave Zirin has been on the leading edge of calling out the incredible racism coming from Arizona legislators and their supporters. There is a dialectical relation between Dave writing about courageous athletes willing to speak on behalf of social justice, and more athletes being willing to do so. I don't think the TNT's Inside the NBA analysits Kenny Smith, Chris Webber, and Charles Barkley take the principled stand against SB 1070 they took on T.V. recently in the absense of the space Dave Zirin has created with and for athletes to speak out.

Don't forget to Protest/Boycott the Arizona Diamondbacks in Los Angeles!

Here's my parting thoughts on Arizona's most recent racist law: "HB 2281 ensures the only ethnic studies you'll ever receive are Rich White Male Studies!" (I better be careful, the so-called LAPU/Parent Revolution might actually think that's a good idea)

WNBA May Be Upon Biggest Season Yet

Root for Ed O'Bannon to upset the NCAA

Dave Zirin, an east coast comrade has written a very important piece entitled Root for Ed O'Bannon to upset the NCAA about exploitation of the NCAA's student athletes. While exploitation is part and parcel the capitalist system, under which the hardened heel we live, the wanton exploitation discussed in Dave's piece is worth pondering.

I shared a history class with Ed O'Bannon when I had the great fortune of attending UCLA. The next year saw the Bruin's return to glory with a national championship — words can't describe how exciting it was to be a student there during that time. I wish Ed O'Bannon and all the athletes struggling for justice victory against the corporate forces that exploit them. ¡Venceramos!

Root for Ed O'Bannon to upset the NCAA

Road Game Melee

Sparks' Candace Parker at center of late scuffle
Parker Ejected in Sparks Brawl

Road Game Melee

Why is Imus back in the game?

Why is Imus back in the game?

Did Tim Donaghy and crew fixed game 3 of Suns-Spurs?

For those of us that found the Phoenix-San Antonio series highly suspect, a preponderance of evidence confirming those suspicions evolves.

Did Tim Donaghy and crew fixed game 3 of Suns-Spurs?

Hoops, Not Ho's!

Playing incredible defense to reach the NCAA national championship, Rutgers' Scarlet Knights women's basketball team fell to a formidable Tennessee team headed by all All-American Candace Parker and the all time winningest NCAA Basketball coach Pat Summit.

You would think being the second best team in all the land would bring the Rutgers team the accolades they so deserve. Instead the student-athletes have spent the past weeks dealing with the deplorable racist and sexist remarks of radio personality Don Imus.

"That's some nappy-headed hos there" went an Imus' response to a just as disgusting remark by his executive producer. Imus further went on to say "[a]nd the girls from Tennessee, they all look cute, you know..." Later in misogynistic banter between Imus and his cohorts, the Scarlet Knights were described as looking like an all male NBA team.

Don Imus' despicable comments were immediately called out by civil rights leaders and organizations. The NAACP and others demanded his show be dropped by broadcasters. Such pressure resulted in a feeble apology from the radio personality and a belated two week suspension of Imus' simulcast by CBS and NBC.

Not called out is how the comments about Tennessee's Lady Volunteers were just as offensive. Rather than praising their academic success or athletic prowess, Imus is concerned with them "look[ing] cute." Fitting Imus' and his white male associates' narrow notions of beauty allowed Tennessee's players to escape the racist comments reserved for the Rutgers Team, but still suffer under the oppression of sexism.

It is precisely the double oppression of racism and sexism that women of color suffer every day under capitalism. "This has scarred me for life," said Rutgers' guard Matee Ajavon. "I've dealt with racism before. For it to be in the public eye like this, it will be something I will tell my granddaughter."

This controversy occurs in an atmosphere in which Title IX, which provides for advancement of academic, athletic, and other opportunities for collegiate women, has been under attack by the Bush administration since 2003.

The whole incident is summed up by Rutgers' star center Kia Vaughn: "I'm not a ho, I'm a woman. I'm someone's child. It hurts a lot."

We need to continue fighting for a society where women of color and women as a whole never have to experience racism or sexism of any kind.

PS: a friend sent the following to me on April 13, 2007. Dave is a great guy, and a huge inspiration to me since many leftists eschew sports.
Don Imus and the State of Women's Sports
Memo to Imus: You're Fired

Hoops, Not Ho's!

white supremecy on the airwaves

white supremecy on the airwaves

Bush Administration Renews Offensive Against Title IX

Bush has stated his disdain for Title IX on various occasions and even mentioned changing the law which has been in place since 1972. Women's groups and concerned parents forced the administration to reconsider drastic changes in 2003 to satisfy Bush's stated position of being "opposed [to] quotas or strict proportionality." A recent Department of Education Title IX policy under the guise of a clarification now threatens the very foundation of Title IX.

The Bush administration's new policy allows schools to skirt previous requirements of gauging interest in programs through serious research by merely sending out a mass email survey. School can then take non-replies as a lack of interest and not have to commit to "equal" funding. As the Save Title IX site says: "Given the notoriously low response rates to surveys in general and this era of excessive e-mail spam, the Department's new policy undermines the law and its intent to provide more opportunities for women and girls."

Title IX, while still not providing real equality, has been a major factor in advancing academic, athletic, and other opportunities for women over the past thirty years. As Ralph Nader wrote once: "The law gave women access to classes, facilities and opportunities that had historically been male-only." Decades of Title IX opportunities have produced myriad advances for women in various fields and even created conditions for professional women's sports leagues like the WNBA. The current attack on Title IX is part of a broad attack on women in general by the Bush administration. From reproductive rights to educational opportunities, it is time for a movement that fights back unapologetically against Bush's misogynistic policies!

Some Resources for Title IX
Save Title IX
League of Fans - Title IX Action!
Join the Fight for Title IX by Ralph Nader

Bush Administration Renews Offensive Against Title IX

Mwadi's back

Tuesday's game was good in that the return of Mwadi Mabika saw her score 11 and get 7 assists. Her shooting form and first step weren't what they usually are, but I'm sure in time she will be back to normal. From some of the lead passes she made on the break, I have a feeling that Holdsclaw is really going to enjoy playing with Mwadi. Hopefully, this will mark a turn around in the Sparks' consistency this season. The game was a little too close until the end. The Sparks shouldn't be struggling to win at home against last place teams, but that is how this season has been.

The team waived Grubin and Nieuwveen over the last weeks. Dixon didn't play, and I heard rumors on the smoking patio that she needed to have her knee drained again. Saw Caron Butler at the game, I suppose that is before the Washington trade happened.

Mwadi's back

Unexpected encounter

Waiting at the terminal to return home after Socialism 2005 this past weekend, I saw a man sit down across from me. His baggage had little basketballs on all the zippers, which I thought was cool. I got up to throw out an apple core and noticed a WNBA tag on the top of his bag. Although not good at speaking to strangers, I decided to ask the man if he was somehow involved with the league. Very cordially he replied he was a referee and that he was flying to Los Angeles for the Tuesday game. I told him that I was a season ticket holder and we talked ball the rest of the time waiting for the flight. Jeff Smith #53 works WNBA during the summer and men's NCAA during the winter. He was friendly and very knowledgeable about the game. He had played when he was younger and coached for many years before becoming an official. We discussed a great many things things basketball, including Ray Allen's career.

Unexpected encounter

Up and down season continues

I can't remember the Sparks being this inconsistent since their days at the GW Forum. I know the continued absence of Mwadi is part of the problem, as is Macchi's absence and the injuries that Leslie and Teasley are playing through, but please. New York isn't a bad team, but they are a sub-500 team that doesn't have the talent to beat the Sparks at home if the Sparks played with some enthusiasm. Maybe it was the energy they expended Saturday (a game I missed since I was out of town). They looked flat and tired with the exception of Raffaella Masciadri, who continues to play with a great deal of energy.

Again, there were points in the game when I believe they should have dropped the zone defense and played man on man, but Bibby seems quite stubborn. Maybe this will pay off at a latter point in the season, but there have been some games in which it cost them the win. I don't remember them dropping games like this at home in the first place, and what should have been the game to place them in double digits for wins this season was squandered. Chamique Holdsclaw had a miserable game, but considering how well and how many minutes she has played this season she was probably entitled to an off game. She missed shots she nearly always makes, including several lay-ups. Her defense on Shameka Christon made Christon look like a starter instead of a reserve.

Lisa played well, considering how physically Wauters played her. Whitmore missed some of her usually money shots, and was fouled quite a bit under the basket in the second half without the benefit of calls. The Sparks really need to get it together after the All Star break. They probably won't catch the front runners for home court in the later playoffs, but really need to work on at least trying to finish in second place to have home court in the earlier rounds.

Up and down season continues

Coach Bibby needs to rethink defensive schemes

Last night's blowout loss against Connecticut was for the most part due to Coach Bibby's inflexible attitude towards defensive schemes. The Sun are far too good a passing team to play zone against. If that drumming in the first half wasn't evidence enough, he continued having the Sparks play zone in the second half. There was a single possession when they played man to man and it caused nothing less than a shot clock violation. Learn from the experience? No, next possession zone again. Frankly they were lucky to lose by only twenty. Even the aggressive trapping in the backcourt was probably a bad idea. For the handful of turnovers it produced, it also allowed for several layups and other easy baskets by the Sun. Other than Whalen and maybe Sales, the Sun don't really have many players that can create their own shot with any regularity. It would have served the Sparks to at least try to play straight up defense and force them into a half court game.

Earlier this season they allowed Diana Taurasi to have a monster game by leaving her open on the perimeter the entire game. Fortunately, Taurasi's teammates don't share the ball as well as Connecticut or she would have set the WNBA record for points in a game. Bibby's penchant for the zone will certainly spell more problems down the road it there is an unwillingness to try something else when it doesn't work.

Coach Bibby needs to rethink defensive schemes