- It’s about time someone apologized for putting out a country music album. To be fair, we’re back due on a total of….well, however many country albums have ever been released, that’s how many we’re behind on, but finally, an artist is owning up to his or her crimes against music. That artist would be Tim McGraw, who apologized to fans Tuesday for his latest greatest hits album, saying his label should have instead released a record with new music. Not exactly the apology I was looking for, Timmy, but I’ll take it. “I am saddened and disappointed that my label chose to put out another hits album instead of new music,” says the country singer. “I've only had one studio album since my last hits package. It has to be just as confusing to the fans as it is to me.” Confusing to them, just plain irritating to the rest of us. McGraw, 41, claims that he has been working on a new studio album for more than a year and so far he has debuted three of the new songs on his tour. Despite that, his label, Curb Records, released a greatest hits album instead, to accomplish two things to extend his contract term and make more money from the suckers dumb enough to like country music. Not a good sign when an artist disavows any involvement in one of their own albums, but that’s just what McGraw is doing. “I had no involvement in the creation or presentation of this record,” he says. “Sure, I love the songs and I don't want to take anything away from all the creative people who were a part of making those records. But the whole concept is an embarrassment to me as an artist. In the spirit of an election year, I would simply say to my fans 'I'm Tim McGraw, and I don't approve their message.’” Just curious, though, will you also be refusing to accept and of the profits from this album, T? Or will you gladly cash the check while hypocritically bashing the release of the album? In response to McGraw’s criticisms, Curb Records statement Executive Vice President and General Manager Dennis Hannon says he had “numerous conversations" with McGraw's representatives about "all aspects" of Greatest Hits 3. Whatever…..all I know is that another country album has been foisted upon the world, but at least this time, I have an apology…..
- How about this, United States Supreme Court justices, namely, Chief Justice John Roberts: you all stick to what you do best, namely rendering indefensible and idiotic decisions on important cases and denying the final appeals of death row inmates and leave the creative writing to more qualified people. I say this because on Tuesday Roberts turned a brief dissent in a criminal appeal into something straight out of a cheap, cheesy detective novel. In offering his thoughts about whether a police officer's arrest of a drug suspect was proper, Roberts wrote: “North Philly, May 4, 2001. Officer Sean Devlin, Narcotics Strike Force, was working the morning shift. Undercover surveillance. The neighborhood? Tough as a three-dollar steak. Devlin knew. Five years on the beat, nine months with the Strike Force. He'd made fifteen, twenty drug busts in the neighborhood. Devlin spotted him: a lone man in the corner. Another approached. Quick exchange of words. Cash handed over; small objects handed back. Each man then quickly on his own way. Devlin knew the guy wasn't buying bus tokens. He radioed a description and Officer Stein picked up the buyer. Sure enough: three bags of crack [cocaine] in the guy's pocket. Head downtown and book him. Just another day at the office.” Ahhhh…..hilarious, John. Really, just so, so clever on your part. The reason he was able to flippantly and amateurly write his opinion on a case where in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed out the suspect's conviction on possession of a controlled substance was that seven of Roberts colleagues rejected an opportunity to fully hear the state's appeal. With that in mind, Roberts decided he could go ahead and go all Sam Spade/gumshoe novel. Later on, Roberts did manage to remember that he is a judge on the nation’s highest court, writing, “I think the police clearly had probable cause to arrest the defendant.” Oddly enough, this is a trend for the 53-year-old chief justice, who has previously spiced up his writings with quotes from the likes of Bob Dylan. Props on quoting from “Like a Rolling Stone” in a court case, but how’s about you just stick to legalese from now on, Your Honor? At least pretend to take your job somewhat seriously……
- Love was in the air on last night’s Greek - well, at least feeble attempts to find love. Rusty and Cappie decided that they needed to get back into the dating game. After realizing that he has only dated one girl all year, Rusty decides to attend a speed dating event at Dobler’s and talks Cappie into coming as he tries to get over his breakup with Rebecca Logan. The event proves to be successful for both Rusty and Cappie, who each get matches on half of the girls they checked off as being interested in. For Cappie, that meant 10 of 20; for Rusty that was 2 of 4. But as Rusty’s RA and his sister Casey’s now boyfriend Max pointed out, that meant they had equal rates of success. Cappie ended up using his matches to fill several nights with multiple dates, while Rusty tried traditional dates with each of his two matches and struck out both times. The second date was ruined when, at the local coffee bar, his ex and the girl he’s trying to get over, Jen K., ended up as the server and spilled water all over Rusty because she was so startled to see him. The interruption ruined Rusty’s date, but it did inspire him to call Jen K. and ask her out. The date was going well, despite an annoying Mariachi band at the Mexican restaurant where they ate, but at the end of the night as they were about to hook up in Jen K.’s room, Rusty spotted a framed copy of the article Jen K. wrote back in Season 1 exposing all sorts of raunchy behavior in the Greek system at Cyprus Rhodes. That article hurt Rusty and his Kappa Tau brothers and caused his breakup with Jen K., so seeing it brought up a lot of unresolved issues. That led to Rusty pushing the eject button, declaring that maybe the two didn’t know each other as well as they thought and Jen K. telling him to never call her again. Cappie had better luck with his dates, at least by his standards. He managed to hook up with several girls, prompting a debate between he and Rusty about what college relationships are supposed to be about: lots of casual sex or a more meaningful connection. Rusty’s pal and omega Chi pledge Calvin was also in on the romantic turmoil, questioning his relationship with boyfriend Michael after hooking up with an ex, Heath, last episode. After talking with Omega Chi big brother Evan, Calvin decides to end things with Michael because the two of them are just too different. Michael protests and says Calvin is making a big mistake, but he can’t change the situation. Change is the word of the day over at the Zeta Beta Zeta house as well, with the election for sorority president coming to a close. Casey and arch-nemesis Frannie battle it out, trading lies about who slept with whom, who lied about their past and a bunch of other political tactics designed to sway the sisters. Frannie alleged that Casey slept with Cappie during spring break, while Casey digs up embarrassing pictures of Frannie from high school that prove she lied about her past. Back and forth it goes, right up to the closing speeches, which leave the sisters in an uproar until Casey’s BFF Ashleigh pipes up and pleads for unity. That plea has a bigger effect than she expects because it sways many sisters to stage a write-in campaign that leaves Ashleigh the winner and new president, much to the shock of Casey and Frannie. While Rebecca tells Casey it wasn’t personal and that the sisters and pledges just felt it was time for a change, Casey is devastated. This sets up some major drama in the season’s final two episodes, as Casey and Ashleigh must deal with the new tension between them. A fun episode for the most part, some good laughs but mostly on the serious side. So until next week…..
- This is not what you hope for from your elected officials, behavior-wise. In a move straight out of the Kwame Kilpatrick school of governing, Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons has been sued in federal court by a woman who claimed he made advances and threatened to rape her after having drinks at a Las Vegas restaurant just before the 2006 election. Strange campaigning techniques, to be sure. Typically you want to smooth talk potential voters, tell them how you’re going to lower taxes, build better roads and schools, etc. Threatening to rape them is generally something you want to hold off on, a tactic only to be pulled out in desperate situations. In the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Nevada by an attorney for Chrissy Mazzeo, Gibbons is accused of battery, false imprisonment and second-degree kidnapping and lying about the incident later. Well of course he lied, he’s a politician, we just assume as much…..but I digress. To be fair, the first-term Republican governor has denied any wrongdoing and this lawsuit does come late in the game, two years and one day after the alleged incident. Said incident occurred when Mazzeo worked as a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. She has since moved to Southern California, so perhaps she needs the money she’s seeking for a new rack or a Botox injection. She alleges that Gibbons pushed her against a wall in a parking garage, then propositioned her for sex near the restaurant where the two had been drinking with a group on the night of October 13, 2006. Hmm, does that sound like a politician to you? I’m saying yes. But
Gibbons managed to win election as governor in despite the well-publicized accusations. Not long thereafter,
Clark County District Attorney David Roger announced that Gibbons would not be prosecuted because there was insufficient evidence to prove criminal charges “beyond a reasonable doubt.” However, the lack of criminal charges doesn’t preclude a civil lawsuit, so Mazzeo and Las Vegas attorney Robert Kossack can absolutely allege a parking lot exchange between Mazzeo and Gibbons during which Gibbons allegedly told Mazzeo: “I'm going to rape you.” Also according to the suit, Mazzeo resisted, asked if Gibbons was serious and was told “This isn't what I want from you. You have two choices. You can try to run away or you can let this happen.” So what is the governor selling as his story?, Gibbons said he merely caught Mazzeo when she tripped in the parking garage. Oh, okay, I understand, she tripped and you caught her, yet she interpreted that as you throwing her against a wall and threatening to rape her. I can see how that type of occurrence could be easily misinterpreted. It will be interesting to see where this case goes, because clearly someone is not only lying, they’re telling a whopper of a lie. Stay tuned…….
- Congratulations, Will Yeatman, for proving that at least some of the time, stereotypes about football players being dumb, IQ-deprived jocks are true. The Notre Dame football team has decided to move on without Yeatman for the second time in a year because the junior tight end has been suspended from all football activity for the remainder of the season by the school's Office of Residence Life. Why would he be in that kind of trouble, you ask? Well, because on Sept. 21, Yeatman was arrested at an off-campus party. The arrest follows Yeatman serving a previous suspension from the Irish football and lacrosse teams during the spring semester following a January arrest for operating a vehicle under the influence.
Call me crazy, but it sounds like dude has a serious alcohol problem, what with two alcohol-related arrests in one year. But at least he turned in a stellar 2008 season, playing a whopping three games played. That tends to happen when you get arrested two times in one year, the second arrest being on a misdemeanor charge of underage alcohol consumption. That Yeatman was, at least according to his father, Dennis, only rocking a .02 blood alcohol content at the time of the arrest, doesn’t seem to matter to coach Charlie Weis and staff. As for Yeatman's future at Notre Dame, Yeatman does not plan to transfer, which may leave him with one year of football eligibility. Why not two years, given that he played less than the one-fourth of the season usually allowed by the NCAA for a player to take a redshirt year? Well, NCAA bylaw 14.2.4 states that fifth-year hardship waivers are granted only for “incapacity resulting from injury or illness” under specific circumstances.
I’m sorry, but getting busted for underage drinking and suspended by your team doesn’t qualify? Gosh, what a bunch of hard asses at the NCAA offices. You all act like dude made the decision to drink all by himself and that he knew he couldn’t drink legally…..just an all-around sad story…..
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