- Welcome to the University of Florida football team, where our policy is that you can play in the game on Saturday as long as the felony charges are dismissed by kickoff! Yes, I know that UF defensive back Tony Joiner had the felony burglary charges against him dropped by state prosecutors after the owner of the impound lot Joiner broke into did not want to press charges. Coach Urban Meyer took the “massive” disciplinary step of….brace yourself…..stripping Joiner of his position as one of the team’s captains! Boo-yah, take that, Tony! Yeah, I’m sure that’s a devastating blow. Meyer also promised that Joiner will “pay a heavy price” with internal team discipline in the weeks ahead, which translates to some extra wind sprints and probably practicing with the second stringers, whoop-de-do. If Meyer does as he’s expected to and allows Joiner to play this week, he’s showing how little value he truly places on discipline and responsibility for his team. If that’s how you want to play it, that’s fine, just don’t pretend you’re some legendary hard-ass disciplinarian who’s really going to teach this kid a lesson. Don’t allow the lot owner not pressing charges to be confused with Joiner not having broken the law. Spencer Mann, chief investigator for the State Attorney's Office, said the charge was dropped because the towing company “believes it's a big misunderstanding. The victim is adamant that he sustained no loss or damage and does not wish to pursue criminal charges,” Mann said. “Based on that information, we cannot sustain a criminal charge. Without a victim, I have no crime.” Call me crazy, but if this were any normal student at UF, one who wasn’t an athlete, he or she would still be facing those criminal charges and the lot owner would be out for payback. You skated on this one, T. Joiner, hopefully you realize that.
- Radiohead have always marched to their own beat, musically and otherwise, making mostly great music in the process. Ten years ago, the melancholy rockers released the album OK Computer, which set the music world on its ear with a unique, computer-guided vibe. Now, the band is doing something even more revolutionary by releasing its newest album, In Rainbows, on its website and allowing consumers to decide how much they want to pay for it. Literally, you can download the entire finished version of the album for free, or you can decide to pay $5, $10, $15, etc. The decision has infuriated many in the music industry who already wrongly view the fight against listeners downloading music online for free as the battle their inudstyr needs to fight and win. Radiohead is currently without a record deal and are also one of the only artists of note not selling any of their songs on iTunes. Thus, if you want your copy of In Rainbows, you can go to www.radiohead.com beginning Wednesday and get it for whatever price you decide to pay. Obviously this isn't going to set an example for most bands to follow, because most bands don’t have the massive, loyal fan base and deep pockets that the members of Radiohead have. Still, it’s a novel approach to take and I’m really interested to see what the effect of this will be.
- The 2007 Chicago Cubs are the worst, most undeserving playoff team in the history of Major League Baseball. I may not have seen every playoff team from the past century plus of MLB postseason action, but I don’t need to because I know that there can not possibly be a single playoff team in the history of baseball that was as inept in every phase of the game as this year’s edition of the Cubs. In getting swept right out of the playoffs on their asses by the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Cubbies showed an astonishing lack of skill and execution on offense, a shocking level of awfulness in their pitching and all the defensive skill of a team of drunken baboons wearing blindfolds and trying to field the ball with cast iron skillets strapped to both of their hands and cinder blocks tied to their feet. In all seriousness, Major League Baseball needs to amend it rules so it can go back and retroactively award the playoff spot the Cubs wasted to a team that actually would have shown up for a game or two. The New York Mets may have flamed down the stretch, but I bet they would have at least won or been competitive in a game or two of their series, unlike the Cubbies. They struck out in timely situations, grounded into double plays like they were being paid to do so and pitched like it was batting practice all series long. Also, it has to be disheartening for every Cubs fan to know that their team has thrown away $136 million for this year and the next seven years on the contract they gave to Alfonso Soriano this past off-season. Soriano grounded out, flew out, struck out and found most every way there was to not get on base, not move runners up and not drive in runs, proving that he is as undeserving of an 8-year, $136 million contract as any player could be. He contributed absolutely nothing good to the team all series long, which is the same thing all his teammates contributed as well, but the fact that Soriano is making more than any of them makes this so much worse on his part. Good riddance, you losers, the playoffs will be a much better place without you. There is no curse on the Cubs, there’s just a roster full of incompetent, choking players who are never going to win a playoff series, let alone a world championship.
- An interesting TV note for all you fans of the short-lived NBC series The Black Donnellys, the entire series, including episodes that never aired on NBC but were only available at NBC.com, is now available on DVD. Since the series didn’t get a full 26-episode season, the DVD doesn’t have as much content as a normal DVD set for one season of a TV show, but in spite of NBC’s cancellation, I still argue that Black Donnellys was a very good show that could have gotten a lot better if given a chance. There are also some cool bonus features on the DVD, and although I might want to wait a bit longer to watch it so it doesn’t piss me off so much to know that the show was canceled as I’m watching it, this is a DVD that will be worthwhile to have.
- It’s a small crack in the wall of Myanmar’s military junta, Gen. Than Shwe, but it’s a crack nonetheless and a sign that the strong resistance of the country’s government is finally starting to have an impact. Gen. Shwe has hinted that he might be willing to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained democracy activist who has become a figurehead for the anti-government movement in Myanmar, but only if she stops urging international sanctions against the country and ceases urging her countrymen to confront the country’s military regime. On the one hand, it seems like selling out your principles a bit to stop opposing a government you are rebelling against and trying to overthrow just to get a meeting with its leader, but I believe San Suu Kyi should accept the stipulations and get the meeting, for several reasons. One, the resistance movement isn't going to stop doing what it’s doing just because San Suu Kyi is no longer urging them to rebel. They have momentum, they’re taking their stand and they believe in what they’re doing enough that the cause has force sustaining behind it, with or without San Suu Kyi’s words. Second, she only has to stop doing these things until she gets the meeting with Shwe, then she can right back to speaking out against this fascist regime. Or, if she so chooses, she can continue complying with the general’s demands, pass her messages along to someone else within the opposition movement and have that person or persons spread them. Regardless, I think San Suu Kyi should do what she needs to do to secure this meeting, although she also must approach it with extreme caution, because Gen. Shwe and his men should not be trusted under any circumstances. They could be setting up a trap of some sort with this meeting and might plan on using it to threaten and intimidate San Suu Kyi, so she should beware. Also, Shwe could be using this meeting to make a phony gesture to the rest of the world that he’s willing to hear the opposition out, but in reality he isn't planning on changing a thing. Bottom line: this meeting isn't likely to solve or resolve anything, but it is an interesting turn of events that could take this whole saga in a new direction.
No comments:
Post a Comment