Tipping Point On Radfem Transphobia?

The British Transphobic Feminist Troika unleashed their hate speech upon the world last week probably thinking they would get pushback from the trans community they and their acolytes could spin and demonize them with until it quickly blow over.

Not this time. 

This time it isn't just our British trans cousins who are pissed off about the transphobic scribblings.   They got reinforcements from various trans bloggers around the world and pushback from the surprising direction of feminists, allies and other justice minded folks tired of the radfem transphobia making them, their nation and their movement look bad.

All I can say is thanks and what took y'all so long?   

It also leads me to ask this question concerning the international kerfluffle that has been stirred up on the Net by the Transphobic Feminist Troika.   Is this a tipping point sign that like the trans community, feminists are also tired of the transhate speech that has been said in their names for over 40 years?

We transpeeps can only hope that's exactly what is happening, but only time will tell in that regard.  We still have radfems on this side of the Pond who revel in spouting hate speech on a regular basis 

Are we going to see this year and from now on serious efforts to root out the cancer of transphobia in feminism, or is feminism just going to go back to business as usual, decry it in private and allow the radical feminists around the world to continue pushing trans hatred in their name?

2013 Williams Watch-On To The Third Round

The first week of the 2013 Australian Open continues with my fave tennis playing siblings still kicking butt and taking names in women's singles.

Both won their second round matches in straight sets with Venus taking 77 minutes to complete her straight set 6-3, 6-3 victory over France's Alize Cornet and Serena taking 75 minutes in her straight set 6-2, 6-0 demolition of Garbine Muguruza of Spain to move on to the third round.

While Serena will be taking on Ayumi Morita of Japan in her third round singles match, Venus will have her work cut out for her when she takes on number 2 seed Maria Sharapova of Russia.

The first round of the Australian Open women's doubles competition finally got cranked up with Little and Big Sis taking on the duo of Camila Giorgi of Italy and Stefanie Voegle of Switzerland.

As in the singles competition, the Williams sisters made quick work of their first round doubles opponents, taking only 70 minutes to handle their tennis business with a 6-3, 6-1 straight set win. . 

They move on to a second round doubles match with the duo of  Vera Dushevina of Russia and Olga Gorvortsova of Bulgaria

Happy 49th Birthday Madame First Lady!

Today is the 49th birthday of First Lady Michelle L. Obama, who I am deliriously happy to say will be living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue until January 20, 2017.

Looking forward to seeing he discuss her various policy initiatives and representing our country now and throughout her husband's second term.   It will also be interesting to see what she does after she leaves the White House as well. 

So happy birthday Madame First Lady!    May it be a day as beautiful as you are filled with blessings, and may you have many more of them.

A Trans Radio Show In DC-InsighT

Thanks to Consuella Lopez I was advised about another radio show you folks may wish to listen to.

If you're wondering where you've heard that name before, she's the same girl like us whose lovely visage is on one of the Washington DC Office of Human Rights anti trans discrimination campaign posters 

Consuella is now part of the broadcast team bringing you InsighT,  Washington DC's transgender talk radio show.

Consuella is joined by Wesley Garson, Kisha De'javu Allure and Sami Haidar on their show which is broadcast at 6 PM EST Sundays on WLVS Radio.

You can check InsighT out via this link at www.listenvisionlive.com
Best of luck and much success for the show.



   

Damn Secretary Powell, You Just Now Figuring Out The GOP is Intolerant?

You just now figuring out Secretary Powell that your party has a 'dark vein of intolerance'?

Hell, any African-American on the street and yours truly could have told you that.


 

'Can We Talk For Real' Show Appearance Tonight

Just a reminder that your favorite blogger along with TPOCC Executive Director Kylar Broadus and Chicago's Kokumo Kinetic will be discussing the Trans Human Rights Struggle with the 'Can We Talk for Real' broadcast team of Terry Boi, Michelle and Ina starting at 10:30 PM EST; 9:30PM CST; 8:30PM MST; 7:30PM PST. 

You can take part in the sure to be lively discussion tonight on the Can We Talk For REAL  podcast or listen to the show if you're not near your computer by calling 347-215-8985.

'Can We Talk For REAL' is a Blog Talk Radio Show geared toward discussing the important issues of the LGBTQ Community including many issues that are hard to discuss within the community

Looking forward to chatting with everyone tonight and having an informative discussion on trans issues.

2013 Williams Watch-Handling Their Tennis Business

My favorite tennis playing siblings are in Melbourne handling their tennis business and playing in the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2013 tennis season in the Australian Open.   Venus and Serena both played their first round women's singles matches and easily breezed into the second round.  

They have yet to play their first round doubles match against the duo of Camila Giorgi of Italy and Stefanie Voegle of Switzerland.

In the women's singles tournament 25th seeded Venus needed only 60 minutes to dismiss Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan in a 6-1, 6-0 straight set victory to move on to the second round and her match with Alize Cornet of France   .

3rd seeded Serena however had a little more drama in her 54 minute 6-0, 6-0 blitzing of Edina Gallovits-Hall of Romania.  While leading 4-0 in the first set she slipped on the Hisense Arena surface and lay motionless for several minutes before receiving lengthy medical attention for a rolled ankle. 

After the medical timeout she was in noticeable pain, but not enough to resumed kicking butt and moving on to a second round match against Garbine Muguruza of Spain. 

She said in an interview after the match that she will be ready to play her next scheduled match on Thursday Melbourne time

Sure hope so because she has been on a roll lately.  If she goes on to claim the Australian Open singles title she would regain the world number one ranking.   But there's a lot of tennis that needs to be played before she gets to that point.

Happy 105th Founders Day, AKA!

January 15 is not only Dr. King's birthday, but is also the 105th anniversary of the founding on the Howard University campus of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

Proud AKA women  are celebrating this day along with the hundreds of thousands of college-educated women around the world who proudly wear the salmon pink and apple green colors of the world's first Greek letter sorority founded by and later incorporated for African-American women.

Those proud AKA women  include my mom, sister and several cousins.

AKA has expanded its ranks since its January 15, 1908 founding to include women of all ethnic backgrounds who have been invited to join, and I hope one day those invitations get extended to trans women down with the historic mission of the sorority.

AKA women can be found in many fields from education to sports to business to politics, and are trailblazing leaders in mine and other communities in the States and around the world.   You can bet that if an African-American woman is blazing trails in various fields, she is wearing salmon pink and apple green

Happy Founders Day AKA!

Happy 84th Birthday Dr. King!

Today would have been the 84th birthday of the Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. has an assassin's bullet not violently taken him away from us in 1968.

Interesting to note that as we approach the latest King Day holiday next Monday, we will see the second term inauguration of our nation's first African-American president.  We will also continue to observe post Sandy Hook massacre an extremely contentious debate over sensible gun control regulation that the NRA and other gun groups have vigorously opposed.

Renee of Womanist Musings and I were having a conversation last week as to what would have happened had Dr King and Malcolm X both been around past April 4, 1968 to now.

Since today is Dr. King's actual birthday I'm going to focus on the Dr King end of our conversation, but we came to the consensus he would have continued to criticize the Vietnam War until the troops came home.  He would have decried the Kent State shootings, Watergate, been a critic of the attacks on unions, the growing inequailty in America between the superrich and the poor  the rising tide of gun violence, the mass shootings and the coarsening of our culture.. 

I believe Dr King would have been a strident critic of apartheid in South Africa and called for the release of Nelson Mandela from prison.   He would have continued his role of nonpartisan criticism of Presidents Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, GHW Bush, Clinton, GW Bush and Obama when they failed on human rights issues and other important issues of the time and praised them when they did something right.. 

And speaking of presidents, I believe he would have been exceedingly proud as many African-Americans are that Barack Obama is in the White House. 

But you can bet Dr King would have been pushing him like he did LBJ to do better every chance he got.to be the transfomative president he can be.

Based on his words about voting, he would have also been a harsh and unrelenting critic of the GOP's reprehensible attempts to suppress our voting rights and the hypocrites of the Religious Right and in Dr King's words their  'Dry as Dust religion'.

And based on the words of his wife Coretta and his longtime friendship with Bayard Rustin, I believe he would have been a supporter of the LGBT rights movement because as he once said, 'injustce anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere'.

But unfortunately he is not here to be our drum major for justice and the moral compass for our people and our nation. The United States and the world are both poorer for that.  

We have the federal holiday to contemplate what he meant to this country and the world.   A monument of Dr. King that has already drawn over half a million visitors from around the world now majestically stands on the west bank of the Tidal Basin in Washington DC near the FDR and Lincoln Memorials that I have had the pleasure of visiting and seeing lit up at night.  .

There's not a lot lately I agree with Tavis Smiley on, but there is one comment he made said several years ago that I heartily concur with that I'm going to paraphrase.  

Dr. King was the greatest American our people have yet produced, and he is sorely missed.  

Happy birthday Dr. King.

2012 Texans Watch-End Of The 2012-13 Playoff Road

After sending the Cincinnati Bengals home with a 19-13 playoff win at Reliant last week the Houston Texans returned to the scene of the NFL butt kicking five weeks ago in Gillette Stadium with a chance to host the AFC Championship game on the line after the Angry Birds upset the Denver Broncos 31-28 in double overtime Saturday. 

At halftime it was looking pretty good for Texans Nation only being down 17-13 to the defending AFC champs.  That was until the Brady Bunch took the second half opening kickoff, ramped up their high octane offense another notch and scored 14 unanswered third quarter points to bump the Patriot  lead back up to 31-13. 

The Texans rallied but a critical interception thrown by Matt Schaub was converted into the backbreaking early 4th quarter TD that put the Patriots up 38-21 and the Texans in a hole too deep to climb out of.   To their credit the Texans fought and clawed their way back into the game and narrowed the deficit to 38-28.

 They almost recovered the onside kick to give them another opportunity to put points on the board late in the 4th quarter but unfortunately ended their season where last year's did with a 41-28 loss in the Divisional round of the playoffs.

It's another frustrating 'wait till next year' moment for Houston NFL fans just wanting to see their team play in the Super Bowl and win it.   

The Texans took major strides this year in becoming an elite team.  They won the AFC South for the second straight year.  They are sending eight players to the Pro Bowl.  They won a franchise record 13 games and were the dominant team for most of the 2012 season until their late season slide cost them the number one seed and the opportunity to have their playoff run start in the divisional round at Reliant Stadium instead of having to play in the wild card round. 

They are good enough to beat the teams they need to beat.  It's the New Englands and Green Bays of the NFL world they're having trouble with right now that they need to step up and consistently beat in order to get to a Super Bowl.   And don't look now, but Indy rebuilt and retooled their team ahead of schedule.

So now it's up to owner Bob McNair, GM Rick Scott, Head Coach Gary Kubiak and the rest of the Texans coaching staff and management to make the necessary changes to the team starting with the 27th pick in the upcoming NFL draft so they can do precisely that and remain a consistent NFL title contender.

The Texans need to handle their off season business and do what they need to do to get to the next level in their franchise development where NFL pundits are no longer dissing and dismissing the Texans, but praising them.

Kylan, You're Still A Winner In Our Eyes

Miss California USA 2013 was crowned last night, and it's safe to say it wasn't our girl like us Kylan Wenzel.

We would have known if that had happened because it would have shunted most of the Golden Globe Awards media overkill coverage to a secondary story.

The website for the Miss California USA pageant hasn't been updated yet as I write this with Mabelynn Capeluj's photo and still haven't discovered as of yet if Kylan made it to the 20 semifinalists that competed last night.

But that's not important right now because even if she didn't, she made a dream of hers happen and while doing so made a little trans history along the way 

We are proud of you Kylan for following your dreams, representing us with class and dignity and giving all the girls like us in the States and around the world something positive to talk about this past weekend..  

Know that you're a winner in our eyes.   I wish you much success in whatever you choose to do from this point forward. 

Transphobic British Feminist Troika Crying White Women's Tears

I've had several people blow up my e-mailbox and my Facebook page asking my opinion about the vile transphobic scribblings of the unholy trinity of British feminists Suzanne Moore, Julie Burchill and Julie Bindel.

Y'all sure about that?   Because you know I'm not going to hold my tongue about it.

This kind of passive-aggressive crap that white radical feminists have been aiming at transwomen and engaged in for over 40 years now with not a peep of complaint from major white feminist blogs is a prime reason why I can't stand and reject feminism. 

And while I'm on that subject, do not ever refer to me as a feminist.   I am a proud womanist, thank you very much.  I consider it an insult to be called a feminist since it is painfully obvious feminism is of, by and for white cis women only.

If you think I'm overreacting or off target with my assessment, peep what Renee of Womanist Musings wrote back in October 2009, 

It comes down to the fact that many self labelled White feminists aren't really interested in equality for all, they are interested in equality with White men.  It's never about tearing down the system, but assuring that they have the power to oppress others.

And when it comes to oppressing transwomen, you have shown that you will gleefully engage in that nekulturny behavior.  When you get called on it, you climb back onto the pedestal of white womanhood, shed those tears, try to play the harmless victim who wouldn't hurt a fly role and assert these people you disrespected and oppressed are being mean to you when you know in your soulless hearts you threw the first sucker punch.

That crap is getting old.  You need to pull up the big girl panties, practice what you screech at others and take responsibility for your reprehensible words and actions.  But then again, you're white women reeking of vanillacentric privilege and will never apologize for the stank shyt you do, so why am I wasting mine and the international trans community's time demanding an apology that will never come?.      

But back to riffing on these across the Pond jerkettes.   This troika of transphobia has some nerve to think that just because they were born white, British and with a vagina they could just write their transphobic screeds and think British transpeople and their allies here in the States and around the world weren't going to justifiably call them out on it.  

But then again, they're white women reeking of vanillacentric privilege, so that level of arrogance shouldn't surprise me.    


News flash for your flat arses, we transwomen could, should, can, and will push back just as hard rhetorically and not give a rat's anus whether your feelings were hurt or we plucked your delicate, precious nerves, because you and your like minded ilk haven't cared about our feelings or our humanity since the 70's. 


We'd be justified in playing the dozens on your behinds being that as usual, you started it.  We're fed up with you radical or whatever kind of feminists you call yourselves disrespecting us and then crying white women's tears when we trans women call your arses out about the stank stuff you do .

But as tempting and temporarily ego satisfying as that would be, then we'd be stooping to your sophomoric WWE level of discourse and I don't feel like going there today. 

The bottom line in case you haven't noticed is this is January 2013, the second decade of the 21st century, not the 1970's.  You can no longer say or write whatever in the hell insulting comments you wish about girls like us as y'all could during the disco era and not think we aren't going to respond to it.   Your vanillacentric privilege will not shield you from the consequences of your transphobic hate speech that you proudly unveiled to the world..


As an African-American transwoman, I'm beyond sick and tired of being sick and tired of your racist and transphobic hate speech that is stoking the white hot flames of anti-trans bigotry and discrimination.  It is not only getting transwomen of all ethnic backgrounds killed, but disproportionately ones that share my ethnic heritage.

Note that despite all your jacked up rhetoric, the world is moving rapidly towards acceptance and integration of transwomen in nations all over the world including Great Britain. 

April Ashley was recently awarded an MBE for her human rights work.  Other transwomen do everything from compete in beauty pageants, walk fashion runways and raise kids to being doctors, lawyers and serving in their nation's parliaments. 

Despite your rhetoric, to paraphrase Maya Angelou's words, and still we trans women rise.

Almost 60 years to the February 13, 1953 day that Christine Jorgensen stepped off her flight from Denmark in New York to the glare of camera flashbulbs and massive publicity, the cold reality is that despite your rhetoric, we're winning the trans human rights battle in Great Britain and around the world.

The wonderful part about that is there's nothing that you three can do or say to stop the inevitability of the arc of the moral universe from bending toward justice and human rights coverage for transpeople. 


TransGriot Update: Surprise, surprise.  Suzanne Moore has apologized for her transphobic remarks and the Observer's editor has taken down the transphobic Julie Burchill piece that she still has not apologized for.  Our British trans cousins were putting together a protest march planned to end at the Guardian and Observer's shared HQ building, which may still happen because of the perception of increased levels of transphobia in the British media 

Stay tuned, the fun is just getting started across The Pond.


TransGriot Note: photos in order from top to bottom are Suzanne Moore, Julie Burchill,  Julie Bindel and April Ashley MBE

Happy Centennial Anniversary Delta Sigma Theta!

As you longtime readers know I grew up in a family full of proud salmon pink and apple green wearing members of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

But I will take a moment to give a shout out to all the peeps and TransGriot readers who are members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc on the 100th anniversary of its founding or as my mom calls them, 'The Disgruntled AKA's."

January 13, 1913 saw the founding on the Howard University campus of the second collegiate African-American sorority by 22 women who were members of AKA, seven of who were officers in AKA's Alpha chapter.   After their October 11, 1912 induction into AKA they became dismayed that the sorority only existed at Howard.    They wanted to change AKA's name because they thought it was just a feminine derivative of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first African American men's fraternity.   They also wanted to change AKA's colors, motto, get more politically active and become more national in scope.   Despite the vehement opposition of one of AKA's founding members and incorporator Nellie Quander, who was the graduate advisor to Alpha chapter at the time, they unanimously voted to do just that and left the organization to found their own. .

After it's controversial founding, Delta Sigma Theta started its political activity by being the only Black women participating in a March 1913 women's suffrage march in Washington DC.  

Delta Sigma Theta has grown to become 100 years later a multicultural international organization with 300,000 proud crimson and cream wearing members in a wide variety of fields. 

Delta's continue their politically active legacy, with service stretching from Dorothy L Height to former national president and current Congresswoman Marcia L Fudge (D-OH)  the new Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus for the 113th Congress.   

Happy Centennial Anniversary Delta Sigma Theta!

2013 Williams Watch- Australian Open Starts Today

Another tennis season is about to start with the first Grand Slam tournament of the year in the 2013 Australian Open and yep, my fave tennis playing siblings are in it to win it as the haters continue to hate..

It starts today on our side of the International Date line (Monday) in Melbourne and runs through January 26..

Serena finished 2012 on a Grand Slam roll in taking 'Williams'-don, the Olympic singles gold medal and the US Open and teaming with big sis Venus in taking the Wimbledon doubles and defending the Olympic doubles gold medal they won in Beijing. 

Serena starts off the chase for a 2013 calendar year Grand Slam in the best shape of her career, is seeded number 3 in the women's singles tournament and won the Brisbane International warm up tournament earlier this month without dropping a set .  Little Sis starts her quest for her sixth Australian Open title with a first round match against Edina Gallovits-Hall of Romania

Venus starts this 2013 Australian Open in pursuit of her first ever title seeded 25 and with a first round match against Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan.   She made it to the 2003 final but lost 6-7(4-7), 6-3, 4-6 to Little Sis. 

And yes haters, the Williams sisters are playing doubles in this tournament.  They are seeded number 12 on the doubles side and in pursuit of their fifth Aussie Open double crown and first since 2010.  They will take on in their opening round doubles match Camila Giorgi of Italy and Stefanie Voegle of Switzerland 

So good luck ladies, and may y'all have long deep runs in the singles and doubles tournaments. 

TAVA Turns 10

This year also marks the 10th birthday of the Transgender American Veterans Association  which was founded in January 2003 by Monica Helms and Angela Brightfeather out of growing concerns for the fair and equal treatment of transgender veterans and active duty service members.

When the June 2010 VA directive came out, TAVA was in the position of seeing their major policy objective achieved.  Even more gratifying to the board members, the feedback they received from their constituents is that it worked.  

Now they are at a critical crossroads as to whether to build on that success or fold the organization.  

As TAVA founding president Monica Helms stated on her Facebook page:

Yesterday was TAVA's 10 year anniversary. Sadly, it may be our last. We did accomplish our primary mission when in June 2010, the VA initiated a directive that shows how to treat trans veterans properly. Two days after that came out, we received E-mails and calls from transgender veterans who said it worked. You don't know how wonderful that felt.

But, all the board members (the ones who are left) are all over 60 and we are tired. Other organizations, such as OutServe and NCTE are taking up the slack. TAVA's board is in the process of deciding how we need to "fade out," and there is some contention on how it should be done. All we ask of our friends is to understand and support our decision, whichever direction it goes. We appreciate all your support over the years. YOU are the ones who helped us fulfill our primary mission. We love you for that.

And thank you Monica and TAVA for your past and continuing service to this nation and the trans community.   But I would submit to you that TAVA's mission isn't done in terms of advocacy for fair and equal treatment of transgender veterans and active duty service members, especially since patriotic transpeople cannot join our military.

Don't Ask Don't Tell still exists for us.

Yes SLDN-OutServe has now added the issues of trans vets to their mission.  They have a transwoman in Allyson Robinson running it that I have much respect for.   But compared to TAVA, the merged SLDN-OutServe are newbies at advocating for trans veterans, understanding our issues and it's still marriage-centric in terms of its advocacy.  We are still dealing with the fallout of DADT not ending for us so GLB peeps could openly serve.  

I haven't forgotten how that organization refused to consider lifting transpeople as they climbed and made excuses for not advocating for transpeople to also be able to openly serve when Don't Ask Don't Tell repeal was being worked on during the Democratically controlled lame duck Congress in 2010 and eventually became a reality for the GLB community in September 2011.

So yes, I'm wary of SLDN-Outserve based on how military transfolks got thrown under the Humvee in the runup to DADT repeal.

I know you TAVA board members are tired after fighting this battle for so long and you want to move on to your well deserved rest and retire.  If you need to recruit younger peeps and train them to handle those issues, fine. 

But I submit TAVA needs to survive.  An organization of, by and for trans veterans is needed, especially when we have returning vets that will be coming home from service in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They will need an org that understands their needs, has the expertise to deal with trans veterans and the unique issues that crop up for them.
But thank you all for what you've done to help advance trans human rights in this arena for the last 10 years..

Alexandra Billings Speaks About Being A Transgender Performer

I love Alexandra Billings and look forward to the day I finally meet her.   In the interim here's an interview in which she discusses being a transgender performer.

Twans Sep Twying To Start Twouble

Was minding my own business Tuesday night when I received an e-mail from Janet Mock that my name was being dragged into a discussion on her FB page about a piece Janet wrote for XOJane..  

Basically it started with the Twitter war between Azaelia Banks and Perez Hilton in which transphobic insults have been flying from both parties.   Janet called them both out for the transphobia and wrote a post for XOjane to clarify her stance.   

I also love this post at Dyssonance and Dyss' take on the Twitter war

Lisa McDonald, the TS separatist who chickened out of a debate with Cristan Williams, tried to start more shyt by going on Janet's FB page and attempting to drag my name into this mess.  She cited this almost year old post in which I called out the WWBT's for their vanillacentric privilege among other issues I castigated them for in the post.  McDonald then proved the point I made in the post about their privilege in the first place by disrespecting Janet on her own FB page.

Sniff sniff.  Probably was mad because their separatist talking points are being blown up and they are being rendered irrelevant   Oh yeah, another message for you and your friends for the 2k13.  Don't start none, won't be none. 

I stand by every word, syllable, and sentence I wrote in that post.   If you Twans Separatists don't like it, too damned bad because you already know I have no love for y'all anyway and your pursuit of pseudo cis privilege .   When you 'Twoo Twanssexuals' stop kissing up to the Whyte Radfem Womyn Gone Wyld, I might be inclined to revisit my assessment of you peeps. . 


So Lisa, another question for you?  When are you going to debate Cristan instead of doing what you seps do best and troll the Web?    Inquiring minds wanna know.  

 
TransGriot Note: Cartoon from TransGirl Diaries.com

Louisville Landmark Lynn's Paradise Cafe Closes

I've talked about the wonderfully quirky Lynn's Paradise Cafe in a previous 'I miss da Ville' post.

But was shocked to read via a post on Angie Fenton's FB's page and commentary from my other Louisville friend's pages that after 22 years in business, the legendary independent restaurant that is Lynn's Paradise Cafe has closed its doors.

I had the pleasure of eating there when I lived in Da Ville and even experienced the tradition of a New Year's pajama breakfast there.  

It's so well known nationally that during Derby it's tough to get a table in it.  Then Senator Hillary Clinton is one of the long list of notable people who have visited Lynn's.  She did so during the May 2008 Democratic presidential primary in Kentucky.

The details are still coming out and the accusations are still flying as to exactly why the doors have closed on this Louisville institution.  But I'll probably be finding out from all my Louisville friends what's up in the ensuing days as more info becomes available.

Whatever the reason, still sad to hear it happened.

2012 TransGriot NFL Picks-Divisional Round

The 2012-13 NFL playoffs have moved on to the divisional round with both division champions winning in the AFC playoff bracket but Seattle taking out the Washington Redskins on the road in the NFC.wild card playoff bracket.

I'm happy my Texans won their deja vu playoff game over the Bengals, but it earned them a return matchup with the New England Patriots.  There are also return matchups between the San Francisco 49ers and the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens. 

So how will the Divisional Round shake out?    Here's how I think it will happen, and here's Mike Watts' opinion about the Divisional Round of the playoffs will go.   He got all four games right and I was 3-1 during Wild Card weekend.

Saturday's Divisional Round Games

Baltimore at Denver

This is a rematch of a December 16 game at M&T Bank Stadium in which the Broncos came into it with a 10-3 record and winners of 8 straight at that Week 15 point in the season.   The AFC North champion Ravens were in a funk at the time, missing Ray Lewis, Dannell Ellerbe, Marshall Yanda and Bernard Pollard from their defense and had just lost games with their AFC North arch rivals the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Washington Redskins in OT.  It continued with a 34-17 loss to Denver that dropped them to 9-5 at the time. 

But this is the playoffs.  It's hard to beat a team twice in the same season, and the 13-3 AFC West Division champion Broncos come into it holding the number one seed, which hasn't always been a ticket to playoff success either.   They also have to deal with an emotional 11-6 Ravens team who is now healthy,  motivated to play hard for their inspirational leader Ray Lewis, and kick it up another notch in the playoffs.   

But this game is in Denver, when they only lost once at home during the 2012 regular season.  Peyton Manning will be motivated in his first playoff game for the Broncos and so will their defense.

Once again, it comes down to which Joe Flacco shows up and how many times the Angry Birds give the ball to Ray Rice. 

If the All-World Joe Flacoo shows up like he did last week along with the old Ravens defense, this could be a very interesting game.  If the football flaccid Flacco shows up and the Ravens defense can't keep Peyton in check, it will be a long sad last game for Ray Lewis.and the Ravens fans in Charm City.

I'm betting bad Flacco shows up.   Denver to win this one.

Green Bay at San Francisco

This is also a rematch of their season opening September 9 game at Lambeau Field in which the NFC North champion Packers stumbled and trailed 23-7 before putting on a furious 4th quarter rally that fell short and resulted in a 30-22 loss.   They were 2-3 out of the gate with one of the losses being the infamous 14-12 'Fail Mary' game in Seattle before they eventually sorted out their issues and finished 11-5.  

Alex Smith was the starting quarterback for the 11-4-1 NFC West Division champion Niners for their season opener, but after suffering a midseason concussion in that Week 10 tie against St Louis that forced him to sit out the next game, he found himself being replaced by Colin Kaepernick.  The second year quarterback made the most of his opportunity and compiled a 5-2 record as a starter.  One of Kaepernick's signature wins was a 41-31 triumph on national TV against the New England Patriots in Foxborough. .

This playoff rematch will be at Candlestick Park, and you'll have a playoff hardened Aaron Rodgers who just sent the Minnesota Vikings packing last week against a second year quarterback getting his first taste of NFL playoff action.   Both teams had solid defenses but different offensive styles and it will come down to which one imposes their style of play on the other. 

I repeat, it's hard to beat a team twice in the same season.  If 12-5 Green Bay turns this into a track meet, they win.   If the Niners get the lead and can play that ball control chew up the clock style game while pounding on Rodgers with that defense, they'll move on to the NFC Championship game.

It's going to be a close game, but picking the Packers to win

Sunday's Divisional Round Games 

Seattle at Atlanta

It's the 'Battle of the Birds' at the Georgia Dome in the early game between the 12-5 Seattle Seahawks and the NFC South champion Atlanta Falcons.   Seattle has a defense featuring their 'Legion of Boom' defensive secondary that is big (all 6'3"), fast and revel in lighting you up.  They have a Rookie of the Year candidate quarterback in Russell Wilson that has proven to be impervious to pressure and rolled to a 24-14 wild card round win in Washington last week. 

Atlanta's no slouch either defensively, but will be motivated to prove it in front of the home fans.  

The Falcons and their quarterback Matt Ryan are tired of being dissed by the NFL punditry and eager to atone for their past playoff flameouts.  Two years ago they had the number one seed and got waxed at home 48-21 by the Green Bay Packers who moved on to claim the Lombardi trophy two weeks later at the Jerrydome.  Last season it was the New York Giants ushering them out of the playoffs in a 26-2 blowout win at MetLife Stadium enroute to claiming the NFL title in Indianapolis 

Seattle is making their second consecutive road trip east from the Pacific Northwest.   Didn't affect them last week.  The fun matchup to watch will be the 'Legion of Boom' versus Atlanta's receiving duo of Roddy White and Julio Jones.  Ageless tight end Tony Gonzalez is still seeking that elusive Super Bowl ring to cap off a stellar sure bet NFL Hall of Fame career. 

Seattle will give them a battle, but picking Atlanta to win this one.

Houston at New England

In the Sunday afternoon game, it will be the rematch that should have been at Reliant but isn't between my 13-4 Texans and the defending 12-4 AFC champion New England Patriots.  

No one outside of Loop 610 gives the Texans a chance in this game.  Vegas has my hometown NFL ballers as 9.5 point underdogs.  Radio DJ Tom Joyner and his 'Joyner Jinx' is still rooting for the Texans.  The NFL punditry thinks it will be just like the 42-14 blowout game back in December that started the Texans late season swoon that cost them the AFC number one seed.  Ron Gronkowski will be back for this game, but so will Owen Daniels for the Texans. 

I'm sick of the Dallas Cowboy Harris County Fifth Column snarkily predicting another loss.   And what time does your playoff game kick off at Cowboys Stadium again?
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But as Herm Edwards says, that's why you play the game.   The NFL South Division champion Texans aren't chopped liver and have 8 Pro Bowl selections for a reason.  The Bulls on Parade looked good in the 19-13 playoff win over the Bengals.  Arian Foster had 140 yards rushing and when he does that, the Texans win..

As a Texans fan, they can't play any worse against the Patriots than they did that night, and what a lot of people fail to realize is that all the breaks went the Patriots way.   Kareem Jackson fails to recover a Stephen Ridley fumble on the Pats opening drive, the next play they score.   JJ Watt forces a fumble that ends up getting recovered for a Pats TD. 

The Texans are putting together a nice drive trailing 7-0 that ends up with Schaub getting picked when he tried to force a pass to Andre Johnson.  Arian Foster gets held to 46 yards on 16 carries. The Bulls on Parade get almost no pressure on Brady and that will kill you, especially if you're trying to play man coverage against this team.

And I'm going to repeat this one more time,  it's hard to beat a team twice in the same season.

Yes, the Patriots made it to the Super Bowl last year but they lost.  They had a similar situation in 2011 in which they were 14-2, had the number one seed and faced a Jets team they'd blown out 45-3 in Week 13 in the divisional round of the playoffs.  But it was the Jets who walked out of Gillette Stadium with a 28-21 win to face the Steelers in the AFC championship game. .

They are also facing a Texans team who has no pressure on them because everyone expects them to lose and want to atone for getting embarrassed on national TV.  . 

They won't if the following things happen.   They get their ball control offense cranked up and make Tom Brady sit on the sidelines picking splinters out of his uniform.  I don't know of any NFL offense that can score points while sitting on the sidelines.   The Buls on Parade show up and show out by putting Brady on his GQ behind a few times, force turnovers, and Shaub and the offense turn Patriot turnovers into touchdowns while minimizing their mistakes.   

And you know what, I think they'll shock the NFL world and do precisely that.  Texans in an upset.  .

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Kylan Steps On The Miss California USA Stage Today!

Kylan Wenzel makes history today when she steps onto the Pasadena Convention Center stage along with 229 other contestants vying for the Miss California USA title.

She's the first ever out trans person in the United States to compete in the Miss Universe pageant system and has the goal of attempting to become the first trans Miss USA and trans Miss Universe. 

But the first and hardest leg of the journey happens today as she tries to become one of the 20 women left standing for Sunday's semifinals.

She was interviewed on Anderson Cooper's talk show yesterday, and here's the video from it.



Good luck, Kylan!