- For anyone who makes a public racist or sexist comment, bouncing back is difficult. Your bounce back ability depends on a lot of things, including how well liked you are, what the word or phrase was, the context in which you said it, the quality of your apology, etc. Also in the mix is the number of times you used the particular term, which is where Duane “Dog the Bounty Hunter” Chapman is screwed. He used the n-word six times in a phone conversation with his son as a means of denigrating his son’s girlfriend, who is black, and his son turned around and sold the tape of the conversation to a tabloid. Now Chapman is on full spin mode, issuing apologies, denials, clarifications and anything else he thinks might help. His series, Dog the Bounty Hunter, has been pulled from the air by A&E and he’s being vilified worldwide, so what does he have to say? “I was disappointed in his choice of a friend, not due to her race, but her character,” Chapman reasoned. Umm, Dog, the n-word doesn’t really pertain to a person’s character, it’s a racist term, the root word being race, not character. If you wanted to attack her character, you could have called her a liar, a jerk, a b*tch, uncaring, mean-spirited, a bad person, etc. But using the n-word, that screams race first, last and always. You can say you’re meeting with your spiritual advisor and want to meet with black leaders, but don’t think this one is going away any time soon.
- The civil unrest continues in Venezuela (and who loves civil unrest more than I do? No one), where angry citizens continue to protest and demonstrate against the oppressive, dictatorial constitutional reforms being shoved down their throats by president/despot Hugo Chavez. Soldiers used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to subdue tens of thousands of angry protestors who took to the streets in Caracas this past Thursday to speak out against reforms that would allow Chavez to continue his reign of terror, er, run for re-election indefinitely. The demonstration was the largest in months and was spurred on by rallies in preceding days staged by university students, so once again a salute to those students for reviving the anti-Hugo revolution. He appears strong and entrenched, but you can dislodge him if you push hard enough, so don’t give up the fight….
- It was a bad weekend for the top teams in the BCS and nearly a catastrophic one, if not for the late-game surge put on by Ohio State. The Buckeyes, the top team in the BCS, were at home against an injury-depleted Wisconsin team that was missing its top two running backs, P.J. Hill (leg injury) and Lance Smith (prohibited from leaving the state for road games by orders from the judge in his assault case). It looked to be a sure win for OSU….right up to the point where they blew a 10-3 halftime lead and fell behind 17-10 in the third quarter. After that, the Buckeyes laid the wood to the Badgers, coming back to win 38-17. The same can’t be said for #2 Boston College or #4 Arizona State, which both lost Saturday and saw their national title hopes go bye-bye. BC’s loss was worse, 27-17 at home to a mediocre Florida State team in bad weather conditions. With the Eagles looking for a late rally to win or tie while trailing 20-17, FSU linebacker Geno Hayes intercepted a pass by BC quarterback Matt Ryan and returned it for a touchdown, ensuring BC’s first loss of the season. Arizona State at least was on the road against another Top 5 team in Oregon in their loss, 35-23 in Eugene. Oregon sprinted out to an early two-touchdown lead and held on for the win despite losing star QB Dennis Dixon to a minor leg injury. These two losses opened the door for many one-loss teams, including Oregon, Oklahoma and LSU, as well as unbeaten Kansas, which took full advantage of the fact that Nebraska coach Bill Callahan and his team have quit on the season to whip the Huskers 76-39. Speaking of tanking your season….when I joked last week about South Florida follow Cal’s trend of former #2 teams losing three straight games after reaching No. 2, I didn’t actually expect it to happen, but happen it did. South Florida lost its third straight game, 38-33 to Cincinnati, a loss that should drop the bulls from the Top 25 entirely. The other big story of the day was Arkansas running back Darren McFadden going absoluter berserk on South Carolina, running for 323 yards and a touchdown and throwing for another TD in the Razorbacks’ 48-36 drubbing of the Gamecocks. McFadden may have just won himself the Heisman Trophy, although Dennis Dixon still has time to rip it from him. All in all, a good weekend of action and one that sets up the final three weeks of the season to be a breathtaking affair.
- I’ve been asking myself this question over and over, trying to figure out the answer and the only one I can find is this: for the same reason a dog eats his own vomit – because he can. The question, by the way, is why anyone would want to steal a soapbox derby car built to look like a giant toilet. The commode car, measuring 7 feet high and 7 feet long and painted white with a blue velour seat and tank cover and a red flush handle, was found in King County, Wash., a long way from Colorado Springs, Colo., where five friends built the racer. It was brought to Seattle last month for a race and heisted there, not to be found until King County sheriff’s deputies found it hidden beneath a tarp on a property in the rural southeastern area of their county. Again, I have to ask why you steal a commode-themed car with no engine and which needs to be pushed down a hill to go anywhere, but my guess is that teenage boys, alcohol and possibly illegal drugs were involved. If you get enough teenage boys together and fuel them up on beer, any moronic thing you can imagine may happen. Glad that the crapper car has been found, hopefully it is in good enough shape to race again.
- So Britney Spears is bad with money and is just about the most irresponsible person alive, is anyone surprised? When court documents in her custody battle with K-Dirt were made public, much talk broke out about the fact that B. Spears saves basically none of the $737,000 she makes each month and that she blows most of her money on clothes and entertainment. Umm, I assume by entertainment you mean supporting her drug and alcohol habits, of course. Those things, as well as road tripping to Vegas, taking her kids out on outings with the court-appointed parenting coach she’s mandated to have on hand and buying every piece of clothing imaginable except underwear do cost money people, so what’s the big deal? Plus, when you’re still paying monthly spousal support to your leech of an ex, that drains the finances as well. It’s not as if she has any legitimate talents or abilities to increase her income either. Her one asset was her appearance when she was still able to squeeze into that Catholic schoolgirl outfit, but now that she’s packed on a pound or sixty and looks like she’s aged fifteen years or more, no one wants to put up with her gawd-awful music, which was never good but made tolerable back when she at least looked hot. So thanks for confirming things we all already knew…..
- Be careful what you’re asking for, residents of the Republic of Georgia. The former Soviet republic has a controversial leader who is clearly steering the country away from democracy and back toward communism (hey, sounds a lot like Russia right now), and residents are demanding that President Mikhail Saakashvili stop leading their country away from a democratic style of government. Tens of thousands of angry protestors gathered in the capital city of Tbilisi to demonstrate against Saakashvili and they’ve vowed to keep on demonstrating until he responds. On a side note, if you want him to respond, looting, rioting and property damage always expedite the process, Georgians. Make your voice heard and make it heard in stereo surround sound with flames, smoke, overturned cars and skirmishes with police. Just be aware that when your president, being the swell guy he is, responds, you’re probably not going to like what he has to say. Assuming you’re prepared for that, let’s up the intensity of your protests and blow the top off this mo-fo.
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