- Ozzie Guillen is good for baseball. He’s won a World Series, so you know he can manage well enough. However, it’s not Ozzie’s X’s and O’s abilities or his proficiency at creating an effective lineup or managing a pitching staff that make him a truly awesome force in Major League Baseball. No, Ozzie is Ozzie because he’s an outspoken guy who has no filter and will say whatever comes to his mind when he’s pissed, profanities included. Oh, and he’s got his players’ backs in any fight and you know they respect him for that. The latest example of that came after the Cleveland Indians’ pitching staff hit three White Sox’s batters with pitches in Chicago's 8-5 win Saturday afternoon. In response to those plunkings, my man Ozzie issued a stern warning to the rest of the league: Hit our players and we’re coming for you. "Yesterday I get upset, they hit one guy and they throw in into another guy. I got upset. I know for a fact they're not throwing at nobody, but enough is enough," Guillen said. "I have Konerko bruised all over the place. Around the league, be careful because we're going to hit people. I don't care if I get suspended because I need to protect my players." What makes these comments even more awesome is that you know every manager in baseball thinks this way and even says what Guillen says in private, but he has the kahones to say it publicly. Perhaps he’s simply sensitive about the issue because the White Sox have been hit by pitches 45 times this season, fifth in the majors. Honestly, I don’t care what is irking Ozzie, just as long as it angers him enough that he’s threatening to have his pitchers drill opposing hitters multiple times for hitting just on White Sox batter. "If I see someone hit my player, and I know they hit him on purpose it's two guys going down. I don't care if I get suspended," Guillen said. "I rather have me suspended for two games than have my players on the DL for 30 days.” To put it bluntly, Ozzie Guillen is “likes to fight” guy, meaning he’ll go any time, anywhere and for any reason. The most slight act of disrespect can set him off and it’s that volatility that makes him such a welcome presence in MLB……..
- I’ve got a beef with the city of St. Louis and we’re going to tackle this right here, right now. No one likes the idea of forcing people to dress differently and conform to some corporate-style, formalized norm more than me. I understand that for some business and in some sectors of our economy, suits and ties are a necessity and that’s why I stay out of those segments and sectors. However, city employees are not a group that should fall into those categories. So when a city wants to implement a bullsh*t dress and appearance code for employees, you know I’m going to throw down. The new policy includes police officers and civilian employees, all of whom must comply with an idiotic set of rules that, among other things, bans sandals and flip-flops and most offensively of all, bans visible tattoos. Yes, The Man is attacking people with ink and as one such person, that’s a reason to go. Several officers have already been sent home because their ink was showing and the department seems pretty content with its new policy. The head of the St. Louis Police Officers' Association, Sergeant Gary Wiegert, believes that the new policy is unfair to officers who were hired on when it was okay to have ink but I’m concerned because I just don’t hear the sort of ire and rage in his voice that I need to hear. I’m really curious what ass hat came up with this new policy, but something tells me that this individual or individuals is/are a) over the age of 50, b) out of touch with our ever-changing society and c) has no tattoos. What, you think criminals are taking your officers and less seriously because they have ink? If nothing else, tats would make the officers blend in more and look like they actually represent the community they serve. Is some bank robber going to decide whether or not to shoot it out with the cops or surrender based on whether he can see ink on the arms of the responding officers? I know what the argument is going to be from The Man on this one, namely that having visible tats will make it harder for officers to get respect and look professional. Get over your freaking antiquated notions on personal appearance and join the rest of us in the year 2009………
- If this were still the W. administration in the United States, the White House would have already pressured, er, forced, er talked the scientists responsible for this report to “reconsider” their findings. But these are different times and as such, U.S. scientists monitoring shrinking glaciers in Washington and Alaska reported this week that things are not looking good for the world’s largest chunks of ice and snow. A 50-year government study found that the world's glaciers are melting at an extremely high rate and as the study is ongoing, further negative and frightening news could be on the way. Predictions on the melt rate for glaciers were already dire a few years ago, but this latest round of analysis has found that the situation has become even worse. Since 1959, the U.S. Geological Survey has been tracking the movements of the South Cascade glacier in Washington and the Wolverine and Gulcana glaciers in Alaska. Those three glaciers represents three different climate zones and three diverse elevations, so they are used to represent expected melt rates for thousands of other glaciers. “These changes are taking place in Washington State and Alaska in three different climate regimes," said Edward Josberger, the lead researcher on the study with the USGS Washington Water Science Center in Tacoma, Washington. "So we feel it's definitely something going on, probably on a global scale, and of course, if you look at other such measurements around the world and put it all together, yes, glaciers are retreating and retreating rapidly.” You may be asking just how these statistics are calculated and what is factored in. Well, the study records the amount of snow that falls on the glaciers each winter and on how much ice melts off each summer. It’s a simply formula to tell scientists whether the glacier is increasing in size or losing mass, which is obviously bad. Melting glaciers mean rising sea levels, which then result in water levels in lakes, rivers and other bodies of water rising and encroaching on land. Glacial melting depends on the thickness of the ice and also the temperature, with a change of only one to two degrees impacting on the environment significantly. Those factors have led to Washington's South Cascade glacier losing half its volume in the past half-century and being predicted to lose half its current volume in 100 years. Do with that data what you will, but clearly the whole global warming issue isn’t going away and its consequences are being felt more and more………
- The dust has settled, the smoke has cleared and the end result of Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler’s fall from a stage at a concert in Sturgis, South Dakota is now known. Tyler has broken his shoulder and also received stitches in his head and back, resulting in the indefinite postponement of the band’s summer tour with ZZ Top. Tyler accidentally stepped backward off a catwalk while performing "Love in an Elevator" for a crowd of thousands at Buffalo Chip Campground in Sturgis. The concert was approximately halfway done when the accident occurred and Tyler was airlifted to a hospital. For the time being, his bandmates have returned to their Boston base to ride out the latest setback in a series of touring snafus. Last month, the band was forced to postpone seven shows after Tyler pulled a muscle in his leg. Prior to that, guitarist Brad Whitford missed the first few shows of the tour while recovering from surgery after hitting his head while getting out of his Ferrari (one of the perils of being rich). Shortly thereafter, bass player Tom Hamilton left the tour to undergo what a spokeswoman described as "noninvasive surgery" from which he has yet to return. It’s a bad run for Aerosmith, but if the band could weather the non-stop drug usage and infighting that nearly killed the band forever in 19179, then I think they can withstand this downturn in fortune. Of course, they’re a lot older now and may not bounce back as quickly in a physical sense, but don’t count them out……
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Let’s go penal for this one, visiting Chino, California for a prison riot that was quite the doozy. The riot broke out overnight (always love a night riot, they don’t happen often enough) at the California Institution for Men in Chino, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles, and more than 250 inmates were injured in the melee. Of those 250 injured, 55 inmates were taken to area hospitals with serious injuries, said Lt. Mark Hargrove, prison spokesman. Oddly enough, none of the facility's employees was hurt in the melee, which I suppose is a positive. Let the convicts brawl amongst themselves and beat the sh*t out of each other, no worries. Injuries from the riot included stab wounds, slashes and head trauma, or as I like to call it, a fun night in the clink. These inmates made use of what they had to create weapons and broken glass appears to have been one of the more popular tricks of the trade for this riot. The festivities kicked off at about 8:20 p.m. Saturday at the Reception Center West facility and raged on until just before 7 a.m. Sunday. Ground zero for the riot was a collection of seven units, each of which houses about 200 inmates at the medium-security housing facility. What I especially love about this riot is that there were multiple fires set and one housing unit was heavily damaged by fire. It took some 80 officers to quell the riot, using pepper spray, "less lethal force, and lethal force options" to regain control. As you might expect, the institution was placed on lockdown pending an investigation of the cause of the riot and visiting privileges were suspended. This isn’t the first riot for this prison, as you might expect from this impressive rioting effort. A similar riot broke out in December of 2006 and I’m guessing that a few of the inmates from that first riot were on hand to help make this one such a success…….
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