I just appeared on a New York television show, where two other men and I discussed several current events. For the third time this week, Byrant Gumbel was a centerpiece of the conversation. Gumbel’s comments regarding the winter Olympics have turned the normally innocuous journalist into the center of public controversy.

Finally, tonight, the Winter Games. Count me among those who don’t like them and won’t watch them … Because they’re so trying, maybe over the next three weeks we should all try too. Like, try not to be incredulous when someone attempts to link these games to those of the ancient Greeks who never heard of skating or skiing. So try not to laugh when someone says these are the world’s greatest athletes, despite a paucity of blacks that makes the Winter Games look like a GOP convention. Try not to point out that something’s not really a sport if a pseudo-athlete waits in what’s called a kiss-and-cry area, while some panel of subjective judges decides who won … So if only to hasten the arrival of the day they’re done, when we can move on to March Madness — for God’s sake, let the games begin.

As always, conservative pundits dissed Gumbel for playing the “race card” and many people, including ESPN radio commentator Dan Patrick, called for his firing. Personally, I find it absurd that Gumbel is being made into some sort of hate-mongering race hustler who is using his television show as a bully pulpit for divisive politics. Such a representation conveniently allows us to shift our collective attention away from Dick Cheney’s recent “cap bustin’” incident, as well a myriad of other pressing social issues that deserve our concern. I can’t imagine a worse scapegoat than Gumbel, who has been consistently dissed with the Black public sphere for his “acting white” demeanor as well as the “paucity of Blacks” in his own current marriage.

Besides, let’s not forget that GUMBEL WAS RIGHT. The Winter Olympics are boring and largely uneventful. When granted equal access, Black folk range from highly competitive to dominant in the sporting arena. Unfortunately, the Winter Olympic Games are racially policed by the sports that comprise them (Sidenote: curling is a SPORT???????). The fact of the matter is that many of these “extreme sports” require country club memberships, expensive equipment, and social networks that are inaccessible to many Blacks and Latinos, as well as poor Whites. (Think it’s just a coincidence that speed skater Shani Davis is the first Black person to EVER win a winter gold medal?) For this reason, calling Winter Olympians the best athletes in the world is just as ridiculous as calling pre-integration Major League Baseball players supreme athletes without considering Negro League players like Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson.

Yesterday, Harvard president Larry Summers offered his resignation after an extremely rough five-year tenure that reached its low (or high) point last spring when the faculty gave him a vote of no confidence.  As Richard Bradley details in his fabulous book, The Harvard Rules, Summers’ brash, manipulative, and technocratic managerial style alienated a large segment of the Harvard community and led to the attrition of many prominent scholars. Perhaps the most despicable example of Summers’ bull-in-a-china-shop approach was his mistreatment of Harvard’s world-class African American Studies department and, more specifically, Cornel West. Hopefully, the university will next find someone with a more democratic and inclusive vision of higher education.

The NBA trade deadline is quickly approaching and most fans are waiting to see what their favorite teams will do to make their teams better. I, on the other hand, have a different request for my Philadelphia 76ers: PLEASE TRADE ALLEN IVERSON. I know that it won’t make us better in the short term and it’ll kill ticket sales. Still, it must be done while he still has value. The fact is that in spite of his brilliance, A.I. simply doesn’t have a skill set that is compatible with a championship team this side of San Antonio or Miami. Pound for pound, A.I. is arguably the best guard ever. Unfortunately, there is no middleweight division in the NBA. As such, Iverson is a defensive liability and a world-class ball hog. I’m not saying that he’s selfish, as that would be far too simplistic an explanation. The fact is, anyone that small who scores 30+ points per game needs to have the ball far too much to get his shot off. This makes it impossible to keep everyone involved. Could Isaiah Thomas have scored 30 a night if he wanted? Probably. But it would’ve been at the expense of Lambeer, Dumars, and others. My suggestion: trade Allen for young players now! This way, the Sixers can build around its young guys like Iguadala (who got robbed at the All-Star game), Korver, Green, and Dalembert. Who knows, maybe he’ll get sent somewhere that can use him better, like a team that has a dominant center. Ask Kobe how helpful that is.

I just came from visiting my friend’s grandmother who is recovering from major surgery. As I sat and talked to her for nearly an hour, I was amazed by her humor and optimism. In spite of her immense pain and sudden incapacity, she was able to keep my friend and me laughing. When I commented on the beauty of her spirit, she replied matter-of-factly, “If you can’t make people laugh, what good are you?” A few minutes later, a gospel song came on the cafeteria radio. Soon after, the empty stares and pained moans that filled the room were transformed into bright smiles and faithful hums.  Although it was impossible for me to leave without considering the tragic state of American health care and the inevitability of my own physical decline, I left with something more important. I was reminded of the buoyancy of the human spirit and our uncanny ability to find meaning, possibility, and hope in the most absurd of circumstances.