- How dare Ryan Braun have the audacity to say that his team isn't good enough and needs to add pitching if it’s going to contend this season? This guy has a lot of nerve to stand up and say that he wants the team’s front office to make moves that give the Milwaukee Brewers a chance to contend for a World Series title. It never ceases to amuse me when players make a comment to the media cracking back on some aspect of their team and then the team reacts like the player just delivered a copy of the playbook or scouting report to their biggest rival on the eve of a huge game. Braun royally pissed off Brewers general manager Doug Melvin with comments he made following a key series in Chicago which saw Milwaukee lose three of four to the rival Cubs. "[The Cubs] starting pitching is a lot better than ours. They threw the ball a lot better than our starters did. They certainly swung the bats better than we did. Clearly they were the better team. It's nice to get the one win but they clearly outplayed us and outperformed us all series,” Braun fumed. “We're at the point right now where it would be important for us to go out there and acquire somebody.” Hearing what one of his star players had to say, Melvin wasted no time firing back. “It was inappropriate for him to say what he said, and I'm not happy about it," Melvin shot back. “To make the statements he made and also get on his teammates like that, it was irresponsible on his part. It just ticked me off.” Personally I like Braun’s comments, and not just because I’m a Cubs fan and am all for anything creating internal tension with one of their biggest rivals. No, I like the comments because Braun is one of the leaders on his team, a guy who is one of the best outfielders in the National League and whose words should carry some weight in that locker room. He didn’t name names or call out anyone specific, but he did indict his team for their poor play. He also tried to put pressure on his general manager to make trades to improve the team. Will Braun’s words make it easier for Melvin to acquire players or make it more likely for guys on other teams to want to come to Milwaukee? Not really, but it lets the players and fans know how much Braun cares and that he’s not afraid to be honest and speak his mind. Sure, the comments might have been better if shared directly with Melvin in a face-to-face meeting, but general managers and coaches always wildly overreact when a player dares to speak up in the way that Braun did, so I get a good laugh out of it. Stop acting like the guy has been spying for China for the past two decades and sharing crucial state secrets, guys. It’s professional sports, not a matter of national security………
- Quite a country you’ve got there, Honduras. Not that the world was lacking for international political intrigue, but a military coup that leads to a sitting president being escorted from his own country and banned from returning is always welcome in my book. Deposed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya has become quite the international celebrity in recent days, what with trying to push through a public referendum that would allow him to run for re-election, having the Honduran military forcefully stop the vote, getting evicted from his country and going into exile. On Sunday, things kicked up another notch when Zelaya attempted attempt to return to his homeland and was turned away by the military. His jet was denied permission to land Sunday evening in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, where military vehicles were stationed on the runway. Thousands of pro-Zelaya protestors ringed the airport in anticipation of his return, but they were disappointed in more ways than one. Not only was Zelaya’s plane refused permission to land, but police also opened fire on the crowds gathered at the airport and hit them with repeated blasts of tear gas. At least one person was killed and eight in the melee, although protest leaders put the death toll at three. After being turned away from Honduras, Zelaya's plane refueled in Nicaragua's capital, Managua and while there, he met with Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. He also paused to comment on the scene at the airport, claiming that his supporters were merely attempting to remove obstacles from the runway in Tegucigalpa when troops opened fire. “I call on the Honduran armed forces to lower their weapons against the people," Zelaya said. "I want to express my sincere solidarity to the families that made sacrifices during a peaceful march, that the people organized voluntarily to welcome their president, who was elected out of the sovereign will of the Honduran people.” The country’s interim government issued a contradictory statement alleging that the troops fired when the crowds attempted to push their way onto the airport grounds. Things have gone this way since the provisional government took power after the military deposed Zelaya on June 28, with the powers that be looking to defame and sully the reputation of their ousted presidente at every turn and Zelaya claiming that he is following the will of the people of Honduras. The Organization of American States, a 35-nation hemispheric organization, has sided with Zelaya in the dispute and Saturday suspended Honduras' membership for refusing to reinstate him. The U.N. General Assembly has done the same and the United States and World Bank have gone so far as to withhold some aid from Honduras until the situation is resolved. Provisional President Roberto Micheletti is leading the country in Zelaya’s absence and he is spewing non-stop bullsh*t in trying to justify the actions of those now in power. He claims that Zelaya's return could create unrest and chaos in the streets. "I don't want a single drop of blood to be spilled in Honduras," Micheletti said. Either that or you know that Zelaya is the legally, rightly elected president of your country, that you are now heading up a bogus regime using military force to hold power and that his return could mean the end of your fraudulent reign, one or the other. I have a feeling this is going to get worse for you and not better if you keep your borders closed to my man Zelaya, so just welcome him home and let the healing begin……..
- Been seeking just the right photo op with a camel and haven’t been able to find it? Yes, lining up just the right shot with just the right camel can be tough, but I may be able to help you out. Today, Josh, a dromedary camel from Lempster, N.H., will attempt to become the first camel to trek to the summit of Mount Washington, located in Pinkham Notch, N.H. Mount Washington is the highest peak in the Northeast, so climbing it is no small feat. The climb began before dawn and it is actually the latest in a series of odd attempts to scale the mountain. Other weirdos looking to summit the mountain have included a dude on a unicycle, a freak on a Segway and a man pushing a wheelbarrow containing 100 pounds of sugar. I’m not sure what inspires these odd balls to make such curious attempts, but Josh the camel just might be the biggest-name celebrity to do so. The camel has appeared on the Discovery Channel's "Wreckreation Nation,” so he does have some name value. Josh and his its handlers reached the summit before the auto road to the top of the mountain opened to private vehicles. For the rest of the day, Josh will chill at the summit, posing for photographs and presumably doing a lot of spitting, standing and thinking. Hopefully someone reading this is in the vicinity of Mount Washington and has a chance to join in on the festivities, let me know if you do……
- For my money, Lyle Lovett is still the funny-looking dude with weird hair that once married Julia Roberts and has put out a few albums over the years. I’m not now, nor have I ever been, a fan of his music. With that in mind, I’m not planning to order an advance copy of his next album, which is due out Oct. 20. The album will feature both originals and songs "by some of my favorite Texas singer-songwriters," as Lovett explains it. Here’s a good lesson for all you aspiring musicians out there, a sign that maybe you shouldn’t be recording an album. If the quote I’m about to share from Lyle Lovett rings true for you, consider finding a new profession. “I had a few new songs I was really eager to record, but I just didn't have enough new songs I liked to do an entire album of my songs, to be honest," Lovett stated. If you can’t come up with enough of your own songs for a new album, you should not be releasing a new album. One or two covers is fine on an 11- or 12-song album, but if you are going with a half-and-half blend of your and other artists’ songs for a new album, you are nothing more than a glorified cover band/act. It doesn’t matter if you are covering some truly great songs that are widely known and loved; your albums should be able your material, point blank. For example, Lovett’s as-yet-untitled project will feature songs by Eric Taylor, Vince Bell and Tommy Elskes, as well as Townes Van Zandt's "Loretta," but how good (or mostly bad) those songs are is irrelevant. Fact is, Lovett released "It's Not Big It's Large" in 2007 and he didn’t need to put out another album this year. If he didn’t have enough material for a new album, then put some effort into writing and shoot for a 2010 release. Don’t try to pass off a half-yours, half-someone-else’s album as some sort of tribute to artists you admire. Call it what it is: you looking to make money on album sales and a possible tour without having to put in the full effort of writing an entire album. I’d love to track down my man Lyle during his upcoming summer tour with the Large Band, which begins July 14 in Memphis, and share these thoughts with him myself. However, I’m not inclined to waste any money buying a ticket for one of his shows, so hopefully Lyle will read this and get the message that way. Step your game up, L.L., and either write enough songs for a full album or don’t release one at all……
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! I have a special place in my heart for rural, off-the-beaten-path riots. Rioting/protesting in the big city, where people will definitely see you and you’ll receive a lot of attention, that’s one thing. Doing the same things in a remote, rural locale where you face all of the same dangers and can reap less of the possible rewards is something altogether different and considerably more admirable. So big ups to my peeps in Urumqi, China, who staged a new protest on Tuesday. Several hundred of these brave souls stood tall to demand the release of relatives detained in connection with weekend demonstrations by ethnic Uyghur residents in China's far western Xinjiang region. Better still, the protestors were mostly women and elderly, yet they had the chutzpah to stand up to The Man. The protest shaped up quickly, w. an estimated crowd of 200 to forming as local authorities were taking members of the media on a tour of a neighborhood that was heavily damaged during riots over the weekend. The protestors shouted out the names of their loved ones in custody, but riot police moved in quickly to shut them down. The protest continues a run of social dissidence in the Xinjiang capital, where some bitchin’ recent demonstrations have caused a significant amount of unrest. As you would expect, the authorities in the region are completely overreacting and seeking to keep their iron-fisted, Communist rule intact. They have detained 15 suspects in connection with an incident that may have sparked the rioting in Urumqi – mmm hmm, sure. There are actually a lot of supposed points of origin for the current unrest, but my favorite has to be the incident that took place late last month at a toy factory in Guangdong province. How can anyone not love an outburst of racial violence that has its genesis at a freaking toy factory? This particular outburst of racial violence that has its genesis at a freaking toy factory occurred at the toy factory in Guangdong province after a massive brawl broke out between workers of Uyghur and Han nationalities. Because two Uyghurs reportedly died in the fight, the Uyghurs were understandably upset. To quell the violence, soldiers and riot police have been out in force of late. Curfews have also been put in place in major districts of the capital. As is its custom, the Chinese government is going so far overboard that overboard needs to be redefined. At least 1,434 suspects have been
detained so far, but expect that number to continue rising. Fact is, the Uyghurs are pissed and they show no signs of calming down any time soon. Sunday, thousands of them took it to the streets and were so angry in their chanting and screaming that there was a police lockdown of the city. In a show that only a true riot-lover like myself can appreciate, rioters attacked passersby, burned public buses and blocked traffic. Even police barricades were not enough to contain these angry Uyghurs, nor should they have been. When you’ve got an angry Uyghur on your hands, you know the type of unrelenting fury you’re in for. Because they’re one of China’s minority groups and feel constantly disrespected by the majority Han, Uyghurs need to have an edge to them. If that means roaming the streets in posses, carrying pipes, sticks and cleavers, so be it. I like what you’re doing, Chinese Uyghurs, so keep it up and I’ll see you back here in Riot Watch! again sooner rather than later…….
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