- So maybe Brett Favre isn't really the good ol’ boy who can hop off the John Deere tractor in Mississippi, throw on that dirty baseball cap and walk into an NFL training camp as the conquering hero. Although it wasn’t publicized as much during his stint with the New York Jets last year, Favre was notably distant from his teammates. He dressed in a separate locker room, didn’t bother to learn the names of many teammates and was generally anything but one of the fellas. This year, he did his annual waffling, vacillating act when it came to playing or staying retired and after dragging things out as long as possible, avoiding having to go to training camp and getting as much attention out of it as possible, then decided to come out of retirement to play for the Minnesota Vikings. There was instant speculation that many of his new teammates, who sweated and battled through two-a-days and training camp heat, wouldn’t be down with him waltzing in after missing most of the hard work and simply being installed as the team’s starting quarterback. Come to find out that it was more than speculation and that there are reportedly factions within the Vikings locker room that aren’t cool with the ol’ gunslinger’s act. Reports have surfaced that multiple sources with knowledge of the situation say there is an "issue" in the Minnesota Vikings locker room, an issue that was described Wednesday by a third informed person as a "schism." Favre is the cause of that schism, with some players supporting one of the quarterbacks Favre took a chance at the starting spot from, Tarvaris Jackson, and other supporting the second guy Favre stole that opportunity to start from, Sage Rosenfels. Jackson and Rosenfels were in camp, battling it out for the starting job, while Vikings coach Brad Childress openly courted and lusted for Favre. They were putting in the work to earn their chance to be the man and their head coach was zesting for his chance to sell them out and hand the keys to a reigning division winner to a soon-to-be 40-year-old quarterback with a bum shoulder and the world’s biggest ego. So when I hear that Favre has "little support" in the locker room as Minnesota prepares for its Monday night preseason game against the Houston Texans, I’m not surprised. Sure, if Favre goes out there and looks like an all-pro instead of the washed-up hack he appeared to be last week when he played in an exhibition game against Kansas City, he’ll get that locker room support. The problem is that he’s not that guy and he’s not going to be that guy ever again. He should accept that it’s time to hang it up, but he can’t. Also, an anonymous league sources said these locker-room issues stem back to long before the team signed Favre. Asked about these reports, Childress didn’t exactly throw down an iron fist and insist that his locker room is 100 percent behind Favre. “I've seen the same reports you've seen," Childress said. "Those are opinions. It's hard to shoot holes in an opinion. It's just that -- an opinion. I certainly don't see it.” As an avowed Favre hater (as a football player only, of course), you know where I’m rooting for this to go. Either Favre sucks on the field and creates further dissent in the locker room/loses his starting job or some heat-seeking missile of a linebacker bursts through the line of scrimmage in Week 1, blowing Favre up to the point that his arm literally falls off his body or his knee rips to shreds and he can never play again. Again, either outcome is fine with me, just as long as karma comes around to deliver the proverbial punch to the groin that this guy deserves…..
- I don’t know how you openly despise the Dalai Lama, but leave it to China to figure out a way to get it done. A few scant hours after Taiwan's president announced a planned visit by the Dalai Lama to Taiwan, the Chinese government stepped up to say that it "resolutely opposes" the trip. Beijing opposes the visit "in whatever form and capacity," a spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office said. "Under the pretext of religion, (the Dalai Lama) has all along been engaged in separatist activities," he said. Oh, I get it. You think the Dalai Lama is looking to stir up a rebellion and topple your Communist regime. Yeah, because that makes a lot of sense. The holy leader for millions of people is looking to take down the world’s most brutal, repressive and totalitarian Communist regime. Of course, the Dalai Lama’s spokesman denied there was any political subtext to the visit. "His holiness has received an invitation from several mayors inviting him to Taiwan. He has accepted for the sole purpose (of expressing) his condolences and to share his sorrow for Taiwan's people," Tenzin Taklha said. He also labeled the visit "completely... non-political." So not only does the Chinese government hate the Dalai Lama, they’re also calling him a liar? Let me tell you, I watched Seven Years in Tibet and outside of a solid performance by Brad Pitt, what I took from the film was that the Dalai Lama is a) a small, quiet child who loves American movies and b) a straight shooter. Yet in the eyes of the Chinese government, dude is some sort of renegade looking to storm their borders and launch a revolution. It’s truly amazing, especially given the fact that Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou approved the so the Dalai Lama could pray for the victims of the typhoon-battered island. For the world news-dumb among you, the typhoon in question would be Typhoon Morakot , which hit Taiwan on August 8 and caused floods, mudslides and chaos. More than 400 people died as a result of the storm and having a respected religious leader, especially in that part of the world, like the Dalai Lama visit to pray for the battered nation would probably lift some spirits. Just don’t tell that to the Chinese government, which accuses both the Tibetan spiritual leader and Taiwan of separatism. They contend that the Dalai Lama advocates for Tibetan independence from China, which would actually be a great idea (Uh-oh, now I can’t visit Taiwan either!). As for Taiwan, they have run afoul of mainland China by rejecting China's assertion that there is only "One China" and Taiwan is an inalienable part of it. So way to spread the hate, China, your Commie ancestors would be proud……..
- Muslims in Malaysia should consider themselves the most fortunate people on the face of the Earth right about now. Their government has barred them from a concert by the biggest musical menace facing the world today, the Hack Eyed Peas. If only other governments would follow suit - using religious reasons or anything else they want - we could eradicate the plague that is the HEP. But the ban in Malaysia is because the event is organized by beer giant Guinness, which is pertinent because there is an ongoing crackdown on alcohol consumption among Malaysia's Muslim majority. For example, a Muslim woman visiting Malaysia who drank beer in public was sentenced to caning by an Islamic court last month, though that penalty is currently under review. Laws have also been put in place to curb alcohol sales in one of the country’s central state. Those rulings aren’t what dings my radar; it’s the brilliant decision to spare people from the horror of having their ears assailed by the crap-tacular garbage the HEP try to pass off as music that I’m applauding as loudly as possible. These ass clowns will perform at a theme park near Kuala Lumpur on Sept. 25 as part of worldwide celebrations marking the 250th anniversary of Guinness' flagship brewery, although I am confused by that. After all, if you’re looking to celebrate an important milestone, wouldn’t you want someone who doesn’t totally suck as a performer? Anyhow, this show is one of five Guinness concerts worldwide and the Malaysian show's official Web site said "the party is only open to non-Muslims aged 18 years and above.” This is a welcome departure from an HEP show in Malaysia in 2007, which was open to Muslims.
"Muslims cannot attend. Non-Muslims can go and have fun," an official at the Ministry of Information, Communication and Culture explained. This official sent on to say that the concert would not have been permitted at all because government regulations forbid alcohol companies from organizing concerts., but authorities made an exception because they felt it might help boost tourism. Way to sell out your values and beliefs for the almighty dollar, Malaysian government. Nothing screams devotion to your values and morals quite like throwing them out the window when you think it will make you some extra cash. No immediate word was given on how the ban on Muslims will be enforced, but there are rules in place for Guinness’ involvement in the proceedings. Guinness must not use its logo in concert publicity material and they will obviously have the government looking over their shoulder at every turn. All in all, the people I am happiest for are Malaysian Muslims, who will now not have to attend the most terrible concert by the biggest abortion of a music act that will ever visit their country. Sure, it would be tough to top abominable acts that have visited the country previously, acts like Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne, but the HEP are worse by a wide margin and everyone who is banned from attending this show should be forever grateful……..
- Nearly everyone makes mother-in-law jokes, whether they’re a comedian or not. So it seems perfectly natural that veteran comedian Sunda Croonquist would use a few jokes about her in-laws in her act at some point. In fact, Croonquist has relied heavily on her mother-in-law jokes, but her mother-in-law appears to have a beef with that. Ruth Zafrin, her daughter, Shelley Edelman, and Shelley's husband Neil are suing the comedienne for her jokes, alleging that she is guilty of spreading false, defamatory and racist lies with her in-law jokes. She is a regular on the SoCal comedy club circuit and has appeared in specials on Comedy Central, so plenty of people have heard her jokes. The irony is that Croonquist is half-black, grew up Roman Catholic and married into a Jewish family, so she could just as well be the target of this type of humor. She has even joked about her first visit to her mother-in-law's house, saying: "I walk in, I say, 'Thank you so much for having me here, Ruthie.' She says, 'The pleasure's all mine, have a seat."' Then, in a loud aside, 'Harriet, put my pocketbook away.’” In responding to her in-laws’ accusations, Croonquist said there was a time when her in-laws would laugh with everyone else at the black-member-of-a-Jewish-family jokes. "They played my tape at Passover one year, and they loved it!" she said. The tipping point seems to be when Croonquist posted information on her Web site about upcoming gigs in New Jersey. For some reason, her in-laws believe that this information clues people in to their identities and does irreparable harm to their reputations. In response, they sued in April in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, where they live. Their lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and demands that Croonquist remove any offensive statements from her Web site, routines and recordings. To her credit, Croonquist is being fair about this whole matter and is willing to drop any language her family finds offensive. However, she rightly refuses to pay any settlement. Simply put, her in-laws are being a bunch of whiny b*tches who need to grow a sense of humor. Unless this woman is up their on stage assailing your character and calling you by name, get over it. Hopefully the motion to dismiss that Croonquist’s lawyer has filed will be granted once a judge is scheduled hears it on Sept. 8. Her argument makes sense, that her in-laws should know full well that she’s not anti-Semitic because she converted to Judaism before she met her husband and keeps a kosher house. I rarely take rooting interests in civil lawsuits, but I’ll make an exception here and land squarely on the side of a comedienne I’ve never heard of………
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