- There are some crime stories involving collegiate athletes that can be taken with a dose of humor or at least not with a stern, serious approach. The story of University of New Hampshire quarterback Hank Hendricks is not one of those stories, to be sure. Late last week, Hendricks was indicted on murder charges by a California grand jury after he allegedly beat a professional surfer to death in May. According to a police report, Hendricks and four other men beat Emery Kauanui to death at his home in La Jolla on May 24. Kauanui died a few days later. Seth Cravens, Eric House, Orlando Osuna and Matthew Yanke also are charged with murder, assault and battery for the incident and have pleaded not guilty. I don’t know exactly what transpired, but this goes to show you that when in groups, guys (especially young guys) tend to do really stupid things. Bottom line, though, no matter whether this guy slept with your girlfriend, scratched your car, talked junk to you and challenged your manhood, stole money from you, when you make the decision that exacting revenge by beating him to death is your best choice you show just how dumb your really are. Now, all four of these guys are likely going to jail for a long, long time all because they couldn’t keep their machismo in check. On a side note, how amazing is it that a guy with a potential murder charge hanging over his head not only returned to school this semester but was actually allowed to remain on the football team up until his suspension once the charges came down. To be fair, Hendricks was a backup and didn’t play much last season, but how is he not indefinitely suspended long before now? Just asking. All in all, just a sad story that’s going to ruin the lives of a whole lot of people by the time it’s done.
- Greek ended its first season last night with a great season finale – assuming you don’t demand wall-to-wall happy endings in order to enjoy a finale. In fact, every single significant character ended the season on a downer, with almost none of the omnipresent humor that has been a staple of the show in its first season. The entire episode centered around an anonymous story published in the campus newspaper at Cyprus Rhodes detailing the wealth of inappropriate, shady and often-illegal activities going on in the Greek system at the university. Dean Bowman (guest star Alan Ruck) calls all of the Greek presidents together and lays down the law, promising serious changes to the Greek system next semester. This scene actually provided the only levity of the entire episode, predictably from Cappie as he challenged the dean as if an attorney in a courtroom. Asked by his sidekick Wade if he had once been pre-law (as per the show’s running joke of the many former majors of Cappie), he replied, “Not yet, but I’m digging the suit.” When Zeta Beta Zeta president Frannie leads everyone in a charge to find out who the mole is that has revealed the damaging information in the story, but that mole hunt doesn’t end up being the theme of the episode that you’d expect it to be. The hunt ends quickly when Jen K., ZBZ pledge and girlfriend of Rusty, confides that she’s the mole. In fact, she only rushed the sorority so she could get the inside scoop for the story, which gets picked up nationally, this forcing her to reveal her identity. From there, the dominos fall and close out a great first season with a sad ending. Rusty can’t handle the deception by Jen K. and what she’s done to the fraternity he’s come to love, so he ends their relationship (idiot! Jen K. is hot, smart and she loves him). The scandalous details in the story come largely from Zeta Beta, so a national representative from the sorority (guest star Charisma Carpenter) comes to investigate. This leads to Frannie trying to stonewall her and being ousted as president (sad ending #2), with Casey taking over as interim president after moving to diffuse the crisis. However, Frannie stirs the pot by putting ideas in Evan’s head about why Casey is with him and the resulting tension leads to Evan and Casey breaking up (sad ending #3). On the side was the Calvin-Ashleigh storyline, with Ashleigh kissing Calvin and him revealing to her that even though she dumped her long-time boyfriend, he’s not interested in her because he’s gay. She’s hurt but rebounds and tries to make amends, only to inadvertently reveal to Calvin’s frat brothers at Omega Chi that he’s gay. This leads to the demise of their friendship (sad ending #4) and Calvin’s decision to leave Omega Chi (sad ending #5). As the episode closes, we find that a drunken Cappie has slept with Casey’s nemesis, Rebecca Logan, despite he and Casey still having feelings for each other (sad ending #6). In the last scene, Rusty and Casey drive off into the sunset as the semester ends, capping nine fun-filled episodes. As I said, it was a dramatic finale with little to no real laughs, and it is rare to see a show end a season with an all-around downer like this, but it was still a good episode. The show will return early next year, and I’m already excited about what Season Two has in store.
- The New England Patriots were already so easy to despise, they really didn’t need to give us another reason to hate them. Nonetheless, Bill Belichick and Co. have done just that, committing one of the most egregious and despicable examples of on-field cheating the NFL has seen in years. According to the Pats’ opponent from last week, the New York Jets, the Patriots were guilty of having one of their video assistants on the sideline, filming the Jets’ defensive coaches making their play calls during the game. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has decided that the Patriots have in fact violated league rules and he will now research the matter further and levy some sort of punishment against New England. So why is what the Patriots did a big deal, you ask? It’s simple actually. Because an overheard Polaroid picture is taken of every single play in every single game, both prior to the snap of the ball and as the ball is snapped, teams can see what formations and alignments opponents are using. If the Patriots took their video from a given play, saw what signal was sent in and matched that up with the defensive formation the Jets used on that play, they would have a huge advantage. As the game went on, they could watch the signals being sent in and when they saw a particular signal, they would know exactly what defensive formation and scheme the Jets were going to use and adjust to counter that scheme. Speculation is that the penalty for this offense could be one or more lost draft picks or a hefty fine, but I’m hoping for both. Take away the Patriots’ first-round pick this year and a second rounder next year and fine them $1 million. Send the message to a team that already lies, deceives, manipulates and skirts the rules when it comes to being forthright on their weekly injury report that their KGB-style operations and undermining of the competitive balance in the NFL is unacceptable. Wipe the smug smirk off that a-hole Belichick’s face by telling him that he’s just lost those two draft picks and cost his team a million dollars because of his sleazy tactics.
- I just couldn’t let this event pass without one final salute, so you’ll have to forgive me for indulging my inner TV dork. Tonight, for the last time, Gilmore Girls aired on the CW/WB, ending an amazing, fantastic seven-year run for the best TV show I’ve ever watched. Yes, Gilmore Girls did have its official finale back in May, but throughout the summer, the CW has run the entire seventh season in its entirety in repeats and tonight was the re-air of the finale. Next week, the insipidly stupid next installment of TV’s second biggest waste of time (just behind American Karaoke and just ahead of Dancing with the D-List Stars) Beauty and the Geek, kicks off another season. So I, being the ultimate Gilmore Girls honk, felt compelled one last time to say thanks to everyone involved in my favorite TV show ever. So to all of the cast, crew, writers, producers and executives who were a part of any of the seven seasons, thanks so much to all of you. It was a wonderful ride and one that ended far too soon. Yeah, there are reruns on ABC Family and DVDs for all seven seasons (the complete series on DVD comes out in a package deal in November), but it just won't be the same. Watching tonight and realizing it was the last time I would ever see GG in its Tuesday night, 8 p.m. time slot was sad. There is talk of a possible Gilmore movie written by the show’s creator and longtime producer, Amy Sherman-Palladino, who was forced out after the shows sixth season, so keep your ears peeled for news on that. One last time, I just have to say that Tuesday nights just won't be the same without Rory, Lorelai, Luke and the rest of Stars Hollow. So adios to Gilmore Girls, you’ll be sorely missed. Copper boom!
- Y’know, if this continues, you’re going to start seeing more and more holdouts from terrorists training camps around the world. A California man was sentenced to 24 years in prison Monday for attending an al-Qaida training camp in Pakistan and returning to the United States “willing to wage violent Jihad.” Hamid Hayat, a U.S. citizen, was convicted in April 2006 of giving material support to terrorists and lying to FBI agents, crimes for which he could have received up to 39 years in prison. The true irony here as that Hayat had threatened to hold out from al-Qaida training camp unless the organization renegotiated his contract, which currently puts him in the lower 20 percent of terrorists worldwide in terms of annual salary. In response to those demands, al-Qaida had threatened to slap the franchise tag on Hayat, thereby preventing him from signing with other terrorist organizations unless those organizations provided al-Qaida with substantial compensation, such as two early-round picks in the upcoming terrorist suicide bomber draft. Honestly, training camp is a waste of time anyhow, because as we all know, the best terrorists don’t need to be in camp to get ready for the regular season……
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