Hate Mail!

Strange as it may sound, hate mail is my favorite part of this gig. I’ve never understood what prompts people to just rail on folks, so this provides me a glimpse of a small piece of insanity that i was neither blessed nor cursed with.
Yesterday, following the joint on the Falcons, I got a few doozies.

We’ll start with Michael. His e-mail was titled “Son of a Bitch Racist.” I’m assuming Michael lives in Atlanta, though he must have some cousins or something in Durham.
“And people still went out and bought tickets in July and August. With so many
adventurous souls in the Atlanta metro area, it’s no wonder the lottery is so big
’round those parts.”
Click here for the piece
If I ever see you in person at a game in Atlanta or just walking the streets in
Durham, I will blind side your ass and beat the living shit out of you. Your racist
idealogies are from years past and ppl like you don’t deserve to have their racist
filled hate messages posted on major sites. I fucking dare you to come to ATL and
show your face. FUCKING DARE YOU!
This is interesting. First, the lottery is huge ’round these parts. Anyone that lived in Atlanta in the late ’90s and early portion of the new millennium got tired of hearing Ray Charles singing about how great that lottery is. You know, that lottery that uses the poor to subsidize the college educations of the middle class. Anyway, that’s a statement of fact, but Michael seemed to think I was making a diss toward backward Southerners. Again, that’s interesting. Anyone that knows me will say that I would have been down to ride with Robert E. Lee were it not for, yanno, slavery.
Even funnier, though…how would that be racist? I asked buddy, and he said you could be racist regardless of your skin color.
Okay, and? Either way, I thought I’d gotten to a point of rationality with him, and he told me to “bring a left tackle to protect my blind side.”
See, here’s the thing with hate mailers. They say things on the ‘Net that they’d never say in person. That’s punk behavior where I’m from, but some people were just raised like that. What I guess he doesn’t understand is that challenging me to a fight in Atlanta just ain’t the way to go. I would have loved to say, “come through the crib so we can talk,” only to have a herd of folks here waiting on him.
Think I’m coming to deal with a stranger alone? I got too much to lose. At the same time, I know lots of folks that don’t. Cats can get it how they live. That’s no threat, though. Like before, that’s a statement of fact. Folks really need to pump their brakes once or twice.
Another gentleman invited me to “come to a Falcons game wearing a name tag.” That guy and I have struck up a better dialogue through e-mail, so he’s cool with me.
War is not the answer, readers. Trust.
A gentleman named Carl was even more upset with Young Baba. Check this one.
Why are you writing for a business called “Black Sports Network”? I have
served over 20 years in the Military and grew up in the “Dirty South” when
the bashing and killing of black people by the white man was a daily
occurence. You bash the black man more than the white man. Nothing is
worse than a Black redneck because we never know which side you are on; but
I guess since you are not brave enough to stand-up to the white man, you
might as well join him.
Maybe David, my boss at the BSN, could answer that one better than I could. That’s pretty funny, though. I’m not allowed to get on black folks when they mess up? I wasn’t aware, I swear. And, of course, I love nothing more than a man that signed up for a life fighting for The Man to tell me that I won’t stand up to the white man. I’m such a punk.
Also, I’m not sure what white men he’s talking about that are easier on niggaz than I am. He must have come across a different circle of white folks than I did growing up.
Carl gets decency points, though. Never did he challenge me to a fight. Good one, Carl.
Thsi one’s from Robbie in Ayden, NC. Robbie’s got the folk all figured out.
have you ever heard of loyalty and faith?..you`re an insult to sports
writing and sports fans..i`ve been a falcon fan since 1968 and believe me i
suffered thru all your hateful article said but we`ve got alot to be excited
about..things are looking up for up for the falcons and you`re just one of those
that doesn`t want to see the team succeed or is it you`re scared to stick
your neck-out?..whose your favorite nfl team?..what did you say about the red
sox all those years?..your journalism is baloney and like bob dylan said “you
just want to be on the side thats winning”
robert
I would let Robbie slide for being young, but he’s clearly over 40, unless he was a Falcons fan before his birth. I’m not sure if Robbie needs a job or if he just needs a better one.
Well, here’s the most interesting thing about hate mailers–they rarely read the pieces they hate. Usually, you can direct them to go read again, they’ll reply, and then they’ll be come fans for life. In fact, I’m sure there are a couple of people that are on this site right now because they eased up after sending me off a scorcher. For that reason, these notes never offend me. Most of them are pretty damn funny. One cat called me an Uncle Tom once–apparently, saying I was friendly with a white boy from South Boston named Bill Simmons sent him through the roof–and then he asked me a few weeks later to help him with a self-published book he wrote.
Really, classic stuff.
Oh well. And I’m going to Atlanta tomorrow. No, I haven’t moved back.
Yet.