- While I’ve never been a mixed-martial arts guy and don’t anticipate that changing any time soon, you don’t need to watch dudes beat the sh*t out of each other in the octagon to appreciate the story of UFC fighter pat Barry. The heavyweight out of New Orleans had a bout at UFC 104, the company’s most recent pay-per-view, and the fight was even more important for Barry than normal. Coming into the fight, Barry was admittedly going through incredibly tough times. He had he had little to eat in Los Angeles the week of the fight and was so far behind on his rent that he was about to be evicted. "I still had my apartment but if something would've happened and the fight had been canceled, I would've been evicted six days later," he explained. He didn’t ask anyone for money because he didn’t want to become reliant upon the charity of others every time life got tough. "I could ask someone but then at the same time, how hard are you going to work for something if everytime you get in trouble somebody catches you? I did something to put myself in this position I have to work my way out of it," he stated. Barry didn’t tell his family or his trainer what dire straits he was in and instead went out for what was literally the fight of his life against Antoni Hardonk. The bout was so good and Barry’s victory so resounding that he scored Knockout of the Night and Fight of the Night and earned $120,000 for the effort. When he received his $120,000 bonus check last Tuesday, he hopped into his truck to head to the bank. Unfortunately, his truck wouldn’t start and Barry had to get a jump from a fellow motorist before he could drive to the bank rocking his black eye from the fight, wearing pink striped shorts and looking to deposit more than a hundred grand into his account. "I go to the bank, I'm sweaty, I've got the black eye, I haven't shaven in two days, I'm strung out because I haven't slept, I have green circles under my eyes so I'm like 'Can I have a deposit slip ma’am?' She gives it to me, I fill it out hand it to her. She looks at the deposit slip, then the check, then looks at me and says 'Excuse me I'll be right back.' Then a manager comes out, a guy in a suit and says 'What seems to be the problem?' I was like 'Well I have a black eye, that's the only problem I know this looks really ridiculous.' So he asks me for my ID, I hand him my license an he's like 'Your license says Pat Barry, but this check was written to Patrick Barry.' So I decided to be funny and tell him Pat Barry is in my trunk right now. He didn’t laugh,” Barry recalled. “So I told him take your time man do whatever you need to do because I have nowhere to go and my truck probably wont start when I go outside so you can just do whatever you need to do. An hour later he came back and everything was fine, the check was in my bank account.” A good story, no doubt, and I love to see good people who are down on their fortunes able to battle back (literally in this case) to recapture success and get up off the floor………
- Looking for the optimal place to commit your next crime, America? May I suggest Webster, N.H., a town with a decided police protection problem. No, the officers in Webster aren’t lazy, out of shape or corrupt – I don’t think so, anyhow. The issue is that at present, the Webster Police Department has only one police officer left. Homeowners in Webster are worried about the town's future without police protection after a town selectmen's meeting Monday night in which they were informed that where they once had five officers, three of whom served full-time and two who worked part-time to serve and protect the town, they now have one. Worse yet, the town selectmen wouldn’t explain what was going on with the police department or how a police force of one can reasonably be expected to protect and serve a town of 1,800 people. That has residents wondering if they'll be able to keep the remaining officer, who I’m going to affectionately call officer Skip because I don’t know his (or her) actual name. Granted, justice isn't exactly an expedient process in a place where town hall is only open certain days of the week, but you probably want more than one cop. What happens when officer Skip has a cold and can't go to work? Does officer Skip now get no vacation time because there will be no one to enforce laws in the town if he leaves for a couple weeks? I’m sure the selectmen would argue that the residents should have known this was a possibility when they voted to cut the budget by $110,000 back in March. That decision prompted the cuts to the police department despite claims by a group calling itself Concerned Citizens of Webster which stated that residents were told by selectmen that the budget cuts would be spread across the board. The immediate solution for the black hole of law enforcement that has developed is an increased reliance on aid from other towns or state police if there's a problem when officer Skip is off duty. Who knows, maybe it won't be a major issue. I grew up in a town that has never had its own police force and it was twice the size of Webster, so perhaps this is much ado about little. One aspect of this that I don’t understand is how the town’s leaders are handling the situation. Given the fact that this all revolves around a budget problem, the pronouncement by selectman David Klumb that the town has hired a consultant to help figure out the fate of the police department is perplexing. "We're waiting for our report from our consultant, Don Gross, who has got some good ideas, but they're not ready for prime time," Klumb said. Color me financially stunted, selectman, but if you don’t have the money to keep a respectable police force, then how the hell can you afford a consultant? Why not use the money you are paying your boy D. Gross to keep one additional officer on at least a part-time basis. For now, all of this remains in flux and the residents of Webster are simply going to have to sit tight and enjoy the ride. Heck, it’s not like there can be that much else to do in the town……….
- The Dallas Cowboys may have turned their season around for the time being, but sporting a 5-2 record and not having renowned locker-room cancer Terrell Owens around doesn’t exactly seem to have created a harmonious, unified locker room in Big D. Roy Williams, the Dallas Cowboys' alleged No. 1 receiver, is still failing to live up to the team’s lofty expectations that it had when trading first, third and sixth-round draft picks to Detroit for him last season. Not only that, he’s having major issues with the fact that No. 2 receiver Miles Austin has surpassed him both in production and perception of those on and around the team. Austin has been on a tear ever since breaking into the starting lineup, setting set an NFL record with 482 yards in his first three starts, scoring on five of his 21 receptions during that span. Those totals, compiled in three games, are better than what Williams has produced in 16 games since arriving from Detroit in a blockbuster deal: 33 catches, 447 yards and three touchdowns. Worse still, Williams is none too happy with the trend. "It's just not even close," Williams said of his strained relationship with quarterback Tony Romo. "It's not even funny. Not even close. I'm the No. 1 receiver. But things are just going No. 2's way." Jealous of Miles Austin much, Roy? "He gets the ball thrown correctly his way," Williams said of Austin. "I'm stretching and falling and doing everything. Everybody [else] who's been here's balls are there. Our footballs [from Romo to Williams] are everywhere right now." Now perhaps I’m just being a jerk here, but is it wrong to suggest that if Williams had caught more than 14 of 37 passes thrown his way this season, Romo and the offensive coaching staff would look his way more. Only four receivers in the league who have been targeted at least 25 times have caught a lower percentage of passes aimed at them, so those hands of stone he’s sporting can't be helping. If I were the kind of person who was all about winning and not individual accomplishment and self-promotion, I’d suggest that Williams be happy with the fact that his team is winning (5-2 at present) and currently tied for first in the NFC East. This isn't quite a T.O.-esque blowup for the Cowboys, but going into this season I think most of us assumed that the wide receiver/diva drama was behind the ‘Boys. Guess not…………
- Well this is certainly a change. A prison fight in which the inmates actually come to the aid of guard under duress instead of looking to acquire any weapon they can find and join the beatdown. It happened at a county jail facility in Hillsborough County, Florida, where Deputy Kenneth Moon was alone at his station when an inmate attacked him with no warning. Inmate Douglas Burden, in custody on various drug charges, apparently decided that attacking a 64-year-old dude was a solid idea and he managed to slap a WWE-quality choke hold on the guard and clamp down tight. That’s when the unexpected happened; other inmates jumped into the fray, coming to Moon’s aid. Surveillance footage of the attack shows other inmates pulling Burden away from Moon and punching him in the head. One of the intervening inmates grabbed Moon's radio and called for back-up while the others held Burden down until other guards arrived as one of them extended a hand to help Moon up. Col. James Previtera, commander of Hillsborough County's Department of Detention Services, believes that the inmates "saved the deputy's life" by intervening. "The response of the inmates in this case, I think, speaks volumes as to the fact that we treat these men and women ... in our facilities with a lot of respect," Previtera said. After the fight, Burden was moved to administrative confinement after the attack and Moon emerged relatively unharmed. I’m not sure how I feel about inmates helping out The Man instead of looking for a reason to riot, but I am happy to see an old dude emerged unharmed from a brawl with a hardened criminal………
No comments:
Post a Comment