By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Tennessee State University football begins its second year under the leadership of head coach Eddie George with high expectations and some intriguing possibilities to consider. As they faced Jackson State last Saturday night in their final Southern Heritage Classic showdown (Jackson State will no longer participate in the event after this season), there are interesting questions the Tigers must answer in the years ahead. Indeed, HBCU football in general finds itself at a crossroads. The Power 5 conferences are closing ranks, with both the Big 10 and the SEC expanding, and possible consolidation involving…
Author: Ron Wynn
NASHVILLE, TN — It’s hard to believe that a quarterback who last week set a school scoring record may now be in jeopardy of losing his starting job, but that could be the case with Vanderbilt in the wake of their first defeat this season. They lost 45-25 to ACC foe Wake Forest in Nashville Saturday, but the issue that emerged is the ineffectiveness of starter Mike Wright and the boost the offense got from number two QB A.J. Swann. He entered the game late in the third quarter and eventually passed for 146 yards and two touchdowns, while also…
Though neither Coco Gauff or Frances Tiafoe were ultimate winners at this year’s U.S. Open, both became the talk of the tournament. They also represent the future for American tennis, and also the potential successors to Serena Williams and Arthur Ashe as both great tennis champions and also pivotal cultural figures as stars in a sport that for years has been largely white and country club. This week Gauff becomes the youngest American to reach the Top 10 in the world rankings since a 17-year-old Serena Williams did so in 1999. At 18 years and 183 days old, she’s enjoying…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The hit comedy “Abbott Elementary” didn’t get the coveted Emmy Award for Best Comedy series, but its stars Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph were big winners of individual honors in Monday night’s ceremonies which were hosted by “Saturday Night Live’s” Kenan Thompson. It was the first Emmys for both performers. They both also become part of history by winning. Ralph became the second Black winner for supporting actress in a comedy, following Jackée Harry’s win for “227” in 1987. Brunson is not only the creator of “Abbott Elementary,” but a major star and…
Even though this past weekend marked the start of the first really big week of the college football season, the biggest story in sports happened Friday night on a tennis court. There perhaps the greatest career in the sport came to an end, even though there were some suggestive comments made that indicated a return might happen someday. But assuming that comeback doesn’t occur, Serena Williams has ended a career unmatched in her sport and arguably in any other. Williams was defeated by Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic in a thrilling 7-5, 6-7 (7-4), 6-1 third round match at Arthur Ashe Stadium.…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The Tennessee State Tigers did a lot of good things in their opening game on the road against 13th ranked Eastern Washington, but their late rally fell just short in a 36-29 loss Saturday. But there are many positive things that Eddie George’s Tigers can take from this one into their next contest. These include an offense that scored 29 points and brought them back from 10-point deficit. TSU had the game tied at 29 late, before Eastern Washington got the game winning score with 2:39 remnaining. A huge plus was the all-round brilliance…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Victor Wainwright is one of the nation’s premier blues and boogie-woogie pianists, a seven-time Blues Music Award winner, a former Blues Entertainer of the Year and a Grammy nominee. But Wainwright, who’ll be appearing at 3rd and Lindsley Friday night, is particularly happy about the response he’s seeing as he’s now back on the road after enduring, as did many musicians, a long COVID-induced absence from live performing. “Audiences are really eager, they’re so happy to be able to gather together and hear live music again,” Wainwright said last week during a phone interview…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The glittering legacy and cultural importance of Sidney Poitier, as well as the distinctive personality and huge influence of Judy Garland, are now celebrated in a new six story Hollywood mural. Pop artist Tristan Eaton was commissioned to create the spray paint work on the new Aster hotel and club. Ther mural made its debut Aug. 25. It adorns the south-facing side of the Aster club and hotel, The mural was created with spray paint and executed in Eaton’s signature collage style, which mixes pop art and traditional techniques. It’s a salute to Hollywood…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Former President Barack Obama has added yet another award to his impressive list. Over the weekend he became the first president to win a Competitive Emmy. He was the ultimate winner in an impressive list of nominees in the category of Outstanding Narrator. The others nominated were Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, David Attenborough, W. Kamau Bell, and Lupita Nyong’o. The former President won for his narration in the Netflix documentary series “Our Great National Parks.” In addition to Netflix, other participants in the documentary were Freeborne Media and Obama’s own Higher Ground Productions. Before Obama, the…
We live in an age where reason, subtlety and nuance are frequently disdained and ignored in favor of exaggeration, caricature and manufactured outrage. Every incident is the worst someone’s ever seen or heard until the next one occurs, and there’s seemingly a group of folks whose sole duty in life is to constantly tweet about this or that, even before they really know what happened, or when they’re eager to blow things out of proportion. But there’s nothing that can be done about the online world. It’s a totally different thing when highly paid professional broadcasters deal in linguistic excess…