MAILE VERSUS THE ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT (PART THREE) “BLACK AND BLUE TOUGH FOR BOO”

FIRST OFF MAY 19, 2012 IS HOLO MANI DAY!!!

My friend Katrina MY ONLY TRUE friend who has stuck by me all these years thought of this title. I’m doing a holo for May 19^th Holo Mani Day, but also chose a kind of bruised looking color. The undie I used was the perfect match to what my black-eyes started out to be…

I started with Zoya’s “Cynthia” a really nice blue almost black cream. The pic is 2 coats in the bright Florida sun!

This is 2 coats of Ozotic 744 (from their Holographic Series) over Zoya "Cynthia". I know, it's a multichrome showing purple/blue/pink flashes but its in their holo collection!

I blurred this trying to get more of a holographic effect. 

Ok..in my perverse way..it looks EXACTLY LIKE A BLACK-EYE BRUISE in the first stages of HEALING..all blue with those purple highlights..PERFECT! And totally apropos for today’s Holo Mani Day and my blog posting of my continued saga of Maile Versus the Athletic Department! 

When Katrina came up with the title” Black and Blue Tough For BOO” she was referring to Watkins “Boo” Singletary’s “fall from grace in the state of Utah” Oh..it didn’t happen overnight, like I wanted it to be (that’s me…Ms. INSTANT GRATIFICATION!) however if you want to know what happens to him, please continue reading…..

It was extremely difficult for me the rest of the year. I was still under contract to play in the University of Utah Pep Band for the Men’s basketball games. My bandmates (everyone knew) would throw out “subtle” hints at him while he played. We would simultaneously feign cheering for him (again, our scholarships and the 25.00 per game depended on it) while holding hands around our throats mimicking being choked, while yelling at him whenever he had the ball “don’t choke! Don’t choke” and making gagging sounds (ah yes, I forgot to mention my neck was bruised from his hand being around my throat) a not so subtle double entendre’ that most of the crowd didn’t understand, but the band and the men’s basketball coaching staff and athletic department did.

THAT started and fueled my cynicism and distaste for intercollegiate athletics. It was the reason I pursued a Master’s Degree in Sports Administration for the University of Utah. It was also the motivation why I was a major pain in the University of Utah Athletic Department’s and the Chancellors office’s ass for almost 20 years.

I know some people will want to know what happened to Watkins “Boo” Singletary. Well, I found out after my “run in” with Watkins that the head coach basketball coach, Lynn Archibald had recruited Singletary at a jail in Garden City, Kansas. Singletary was playing junior college basketball for Butler Community College because he was ineligible, intellectually and socially to play for a big time college athletic program. “Boo” was in jail because he had kidnapped and assaulted a former girlfriend of his at Butler CC.

He was not the first or the last student-athlete in REVEUE PRODUCING SPORTS (which means MEN’S basketball and football teams) where this is done. Many university athletic programs scour obscure community colleges looking for “problem children potential blue chip athletes” to beef up their own revenue producing athletic programs, many times finding them in the local jails or in some trouble with the law. That will be another blog entry some day..I mean..I know WHY athletic programs bring THESE STUDENT-athletes into communities where an athlete may NOT be “socially and mentally developed” enough to live among normal human beings ($$$MONEY$$$!!!) for an extended period of time.

So, back to Singletary. The Athletic Department bailed Watkins out of jail, let him loose on the Salt Lake City/University of Utah community where, after me, he continued beating his way though other women on campus. There were a couple of cheerleaders, who the band WARNED that he had a problem, however they laughed at us and said they were “much prettier than that ugly girl bass player and it would never happen to me”…WRONG! We always knew which ones he was “playing” with because they would be suspiciously absent from games (like me..they too were on scholarship..and they HAD to go to the basketball games or lose their scholarships) and then these cheerleaders would show up sporting not too well hidden black and blue eyes also.

Watkins then hooked up with a wealthy booster’s daughter and she got pregnant. She married him, and they moved into her parent's basement. She had 2 kids with him until finally her father got tired of his daughter being beaten up with a THEN washed up FORMER University of Utah basketball player, and kicked him out. But I noticed it was AFTER his career as a basketball player was over and he was of no use to the University of Utah Athletic program, did not have the talent to play in the NBA or even overseas and receive any modicum of an education after his three years at the University of Utah. Being a JC transfer, he was ELIGIBLE to play only 2 years, but he was eligible for a THREE YEAR athletic “academic” (snicker) scholarship.

In 1994, I went to a local convenience store/gas station near my mother’s house…and wow..there he was. Working as a cashier at Rainbow gas. Not 4 miles away from where I lived! At first I was kind of scared, because he was pretty mad at me for “spreading bad rumors about him”, however, by then, I had smartened up and knew that the University of Utah would NOT protect him anymore..and while he had those VIOLENT tendencies still in him..IF he raised a hand to me..NOW I was strong enough to press charges and stuck is ass in jail, and no one would help him. Ok..this was before pay at the pump and well..everyone in Utah paid for gas with a personal check, so I was stuck having to go INTO the store and pay for the gas with a personal check. Great..it had all my information on it. However, again..it’s not like he could do anything to me and he probably wouldn’t recognize me anyway! It had been almost seven years and I was sure I was a dim memory in his dim tiny athletic mind, so I went in and pretended I didn’t have a clue who he was (that was the fun part).

Like I wouldn’t recognize him. How many 6’5” (now) 265 pound black men live in Utah!?? Not many..and even LESS on the East Bench/Cottonwood/Holiday (upper middle class) suburban area of Salt Lake City? But I had dark glasses on..that kind of helped. Watkins was very courteous, but he kept waiting for some kind of recognition, which of course..I just couldn’t do.

I’ve run across many former athletes like that. Walking around desperately trying to garner any kind of attention or glimmer of recognition by strangers to relive some kind of pathetic glory from the past. I guess that would be difficult, going from seeing your name in lights, hearing 10 thousand people cheer for you and call your name (minus the band and a couple of cheerleaders) on local TV/radio, on ESPN and in the newspaper (not that you could read anything other than your name) to ZERO.

In fact, he actually tried to flirt with me asking me to “remove your sun glasses so I can look at your pretty eyes” (haha..right..I can play that game), and I knew THEN, I HAD WON! I wasn’t scared anymore, I didn’t have any fears or even anger. If anything,.. I was amused! I smiled at him and took off my glasses, and he looked at me, trying to get me to say something..ANYTHING..where he would have leverage, power, recognition…and he got NOTHING! I wrote my check, gave it to him, he asked to see my drivers license, I showed that to him too, he wrote down the appropriate information, thanked me, I thanked him and I walked out the door, ELATED!

True to form (they’re just so stupid) that night..the phone rang..and it was “this guy” asking for me by name. But playing the “you know who I am game”. To be obnoxious and to amuse myself even more (obviously it doesn’t take much), I ran though the names of 4 or 5 NBA players I had “dated” over the years (another blog story…maybe) "guessing".  His voice got more annoyed and He finally said “no its ME! Boo!”…”Who?” “Boo Singletary, I played basketball for the University of Utah basketball team!” “Oh…I remember you..I think..so, did you move back to Harlem? How did you get my phone number?” Ok..he’s not THAT STUPID OF AN ANIMAL..well..not by much. And he tells me “you know who I am and I was at the gas station you were at” and I said “REALLY? Wow..I would have thought you would have done something MORE with that COLLEGE education you received.” He let that pass and got to the good part “So do you want to go out sometime?” YES, HE DID!!! ACTUALLY ASKED ME OUT! Holy shit! Can you believe it! I swear it’s true! Katrina will tell you it’s true because I brought him to a party WITH ALL MY MUSIC FRIENDS WHO HELPED ME AFTER HE BEAT ME UP!

As THE SILVERNATOR is always proclaiming...I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON! I WON!!!!!!!

That was a memorable party! Maybe I’ll write about that too!

Bye!

My....!