- Have you ever wondered what it would be like to learn that you’re dead? It happens to individuals every now and then. News of their death is erroneously reported and that person is left to deal with the flood of emotions that must come when people in your life think that you are deceased when in fact you are not. That’s exactly what happened to former mixed martial arts fighter Kim "Kimo" Leopoldo, who was reported dead by several MMA Web sites on Tuesday. The reports stated that Leopoldo, 41, had died of complications from a heart attack on Monday. Other news outlets picked up on the story and next thing you know, Kim Leopoldo’s death is being accepted as fact by many in sports. "According to the media, you're dead," his manager, Ron Kort, recalled telling Leopoldo after hearing the news. Then, in a truly awkward moment, Leopoldo checked the Internet and learned of his reported demise. "When I saw the sites, it scared me," Leopoldo said. "I wondered, are they predicting the future or am I cursed?" As someone who doesn’t believe in curses or being able to predict the future, can’t say as that would bother me, but everyone is different. So what was Leopoldo doing Monday when he was reported to have died? He was actually sentenced to 10 days of community service and referred to a drug diversion program in connection with a February arrest in which he was found in possession of marijuana and wearing a Long Beach police officer jump suit. I’d love to hear the story of how that came about, but it’s always interesting to hear of a person in the state of California arrested for possession of the hippie lettuce because of its limited legality there. But hey, when you were allegedly dead, I suppose that even being sentenced to community service and a drug diversion program is better than those reports of your demise being true……
- Who says Sonia Sotomayor isn’t an inspirational figure? As she winds her way through the confirmation process in the Senate, a case with something of a similarity to Sotomayor’s most well-known case has come before a federal court in New York. U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis ruled that the New York City Fire Department used recruitment exams that discriminated against African-American and Hispanic applicants. It was Sotomayor who heard a case involving a lawsuit by white firefighters from New Haven, Conn. who sued after their test results were thrown out by the city because not enough minorities scored high enough to earn a promotion. In this case, Garaufis ruled Wednesday found that the written tests for the FDNY had "discriminatory effects and little relationship to the job of a firefighter." Furthermore, he decreed that the "examinations unfairly excluded hundreds of qualified people of color from the opportunity to serve as New York City firefighters," thus, he said, constituting employment discrimination. The case encompassed nine years of alleged discrimination, 1999 to 2007. It finally came to a head in a lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against the city of New York, with the suit challenging whether the city's written fire-department exams disadvantaged would-be African-American and Hispanic firefighters. Oh, and the humor quotient of the lawsuit was filled by the Vulcan Society. I don’t mean to belittle their cause, but the word Vulcan always brings to mind those never-kissed-a-girl, basement-dwelling Star Trek dorks speaking Trekkie and attending Star Wars conventions as their primary form of socialization. But I digress…..it was actually the Vulcan Society that complained about the entry-level firefighter tests initially and spurred the fire department to revise the written test early in 2007. This is an important case because the New York City Fire Department is the largest fire department in the United States, employing about 11,000 firefighters. Currently, only 3 percent of that number are black and 4.5 percent are Hispanic. Hopefully those numbers will change to better reflect the number of minorities who make NYC one of the country’s most diverse cities…….
- Dorks, this is your week, go ahead and take it over. If you’re a dork or have a dork in your life, you know what I’m referring to. Yes, it’s Comic-Con in San Diego, California, the place where dorks from around the world make their annual pilgrimage to celebrate their dork-dom with other losers who slam on costumes from their favorite comic book and graphic novels and parade around a convention center doing whatever it is that dorks do at Comi-Con, which I’m guessing doesn’t include kissing any girls, holding any girl’s hand or having any physical contact with girls at all (and with guys for the female dorks). But this year, there will be an added layer of dork-dom in the form of hundreds of losers attending the convention who will transform into zombies tomorrow for a "zombie walk" through the San Diego Convention Center to promote Woody Harrelson's new comedy, "Zombieland.” When you have more than 125,000 nerds on hand, as Comic-Con is expected to attract, sparing a few hundred dorks for a zombie walk is no big deal. You could even argue that these people are always zombies, at least when it comes to the normal things that functioning people with a rudimentary sense of cool engage in. Comi-Con attendees are dead to almost all of these things as they instead plunge themselves into lives of comic book and science fiction film and TV, anime, toys and video games. And no, comic book dorks, just because celebrities show up to promote their work and mingle with you doesn’t mean that your convention of dorks is cool. It simply means that major movie studios and TV networks want to launch their new projects and know you’re their target audience. That’s the case with "Zombieland," where living people are infected by a fast-spreading virus that turns them into "this other being" that is fast, ferocious and flesh-eating. The movie itself required 500 extras to be zombies, which has in turn led to the Comi-Con zombie walk to replicate that impact. Sony has even hired makeup artists to get the volunteers for the walk ready. Instructions for the zombies include no talking and fast, aggressive movement. Whether this stunt will generate substantial interest for "Zombieland" -- which hits theaters October 9 -- I don’t know. What I do know is that for this weekend, San Diego will go from a very cool place to visit to a decidedly dorky one thanks to 125,000 very pale, socially awkward nerds who love them so comic books and graphic novels……..
- Strikes are fun. A group of workers going on strike and refusing to work because they want a raise and/or better working conditions inevitably provides some quality fun in the form of picketing outside business, angry confrontations and striking workers looking to get in front of television cameras and shout anti-management slogans. When a strike involves government workers, it’s that much better. Toronto is in the midst of just such a strike now, with civic workers in the midst of a strike that has now hit the 30-day mark. Mayor David Miller said attempting to provide as many regular services as possible during the strike is vital. “This is possible because we've been able to re-assign some of Toronto Building's management back to their normal duties as union staff return to work at other locations,” he said. I do have some concerns about this strike because it appears that the strikers are somewhat less than unified and committed to their cause. Already, some 600 strikers have applied to return to work. The city and its two unions, CUPE Locals 416 and 79, which represent outside and inside workers respectively, continue to negotiate a new contract agreement. Negotiations are reportedly creeping along at a snail’s pace, leaving those involved with little hope for a quick resolution. “I continue to be frustrated at the slow pace of the negotiations," Miller said. The mayor also stated that he will not seek back-to-work legislation to end the strike, so this thing could rage on for some time. The sticking points for any potential deal remain wages and the sick day plan remain, with the city looking to end the practice of allowing union members to bank sick days and get a payout of up to six month's wages upon retirement. To reinforce the city’s stance on the issue of sick days, Miller hit the unions with a nice 21st century blast, saying the city’s new plan is the way “businesses and governments operate in the 21st century.” Impacts of the strike can be seen around the city, including garbage collection, childcare and permit applications and in the cancellation of activities including camp, swimming pools and ferry service to the Toronto islands. During the strike, some workers have been picketing in Nathan Phillips square, but not nearly enough. Obviously the non-collection of garbage has been the biggest issue for Torontonians who have had to make do with temporary dump sites being set up in several neighborhood parks. A Web site has also been set up to recruit volunteers to help with the temporary garbage collection need, which I don’t anticipate a huge response. I do feel bad for the people of Toronto, having their city turn into a giant dump, but I am also loving this strike and the back-and-forth sniping between the government and the workers. Either way, whether the dispute rages on or ends soon, I think we’re all winners here - those of us outside of Toronto, anyhow…….
- That certainly didn’t take long. The Los Angeles Clippers have been so chronically inept since moving to L.A. some three decades ago that many fans and experts theorize that the team is cursed. An inordinate number of career-ending injuries, botched draft picks and other bizarre happenings seem to support that theory, although I don’t believe in curses. However, if the mysterious negative energy circulating around the Clippers can affect even a surefire star like No. 1 draft pick Blake Griffin, maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the notion of a curse. Griffin, the clear-cut top pick in this year’s draft, was playing for the Clippers’ Las Vegas Summer League team and was off to a great start. He averaged 19.2 points and 10.8 rebounds during summer league play - right up to the point he suffered a strain to his right shoulder that will sideline him for the next three to four weeks. This isn’t exactly a career-threatening injury and the Clippers are claiming that this is merely a precautionary measure to ensure that their new franchise player fully recovers from what is a minor injury. That may be true, but the fact remains that before he has played so much as one regular-season game, Blake Griffin has already been injured and forced to miss a significant amount of court tine. He also will not participate in Team USA's minicamp starting today as a precaution after being examined by Clippers team physician Dr. Steven Shimoyama and specialist Dr. Lewis Yocum. Does this portend a disastrous career filled with injuries and missteps for Griffin? No, because he’s only contractually obligated to be a Clipper for three years. If he can survive those three years and become a free agent, he’ll have a shot to enjoy the rest of his career elsewhere, with a non-cursed team that actually has a chance to win something……..
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