Losers lament the demise of another soap opera, Cuba does what Cuba always does and Tiger Woods' gets a divorce......from one of his sponsors

- I’ve been where you are, fans of the long-running and recently canceled CBS soap opera "As the World Turns" – sort of. I too have suffered the loss of a beloved television program with whose characters I have grown fond. However, the shows I felt that way about were actually good, legitimate shows and not lame, cheesy, crap-tacular soap operas. You may enjoy watching the citizens in the fictional town of Oakdale, Illinois, but don’t confuse your bad taste in TV shows with a legitimate reason to keep said shows on the air. CBS made the absolute right choice in announcing the cancellation of the long-running daytime drama this week. The announcement caused fans of the show to flock to the normal sources to vent their frustrations - Internet message boards, calling their local CBS affiliates, bombarding the network’s corporate offices with phone calls and emails and I’m guessing a support group or two. People like Teria Goode of Greer, South Carolina were so upset that they called their local affiliates and proceeded to waste the time of people working there who have absolutely nothing to do with choosing the programming that the company puts on the air. "She just wanted to know who she could talk to at CBS, and she said she had been talking to friends of hers and wanted to know if she could subscribe or pay CBS to keep doing the show," morning news anchor Fred Cunningham said. "I said I don't think they would do that kind of thing, but I suggested she call the main CBS number." In days past, Goode and those of her ilk would also engage in pointless letter-writing campaigns begging a network to keep a show on the air. Nowadays, Goode has to resort to moronic ideas like asking if there is “some kind of option where we can pay a fee every month to keep our show on the air.” Yeah, because a major television network is going to collect monthly donations from viewers to pay the production costs and actors’ salaries for a soap opera, that’s a great solution. A typical soap opera can be a $50 million investment in original programming that runs daily for 52 weeks a year, which is…..well, a lot more subscribers than any network would ever find to support. Assuming that most people out there have some sort of cable or satellite service, there are far too many other channel and show options each day and besides that, there’s a freaking soap opera network – Soap Net – devoted entirely to reruns of soaps. So start your Facebook groups, b*tch about it on your Twitter feed, just don’t expect that to change a damn thing. Just think how these people would feel if they were lamenting the demise of a show that was good. But at least we can all get a good chuckle out of the idiotic "As The World Turns" fans from circulating petitions and threatening to boycott products made by Proctor & Gamble, the primary sponsor for “As The World Turns” for nearly all of its time on TV. Give it up and find something real to hinge your life upon, losers………

- Unselfishness or insubordination? That’s the question being asked of the Orlando Magic and head coach Stan “Ron Jeremy” Van Gundy after forward Rashard Lewis refused to re-enter a game in the second quarter Thursday night at Utah. Lewis, the team’s starting power forward and an all-star in seasons past, was on the bench in the second quarter and had been replaced by Ryan Anderson, on of the Magic’s reserves. When his coach called on him to re-enter the game, Lewis begged to differ. He declined to go back in to the game, saying that he felt it was in the best interest of the team for Anderson to stay in the game because he was playing well and Lewis was saddled with two fouls. Van Gundy said it was "no big deal" that disobeyed his orders and called the incident "a one-time thing." He excused Lewis’ actions because the player tried to do what he thought was best for the team. "He had thoughts and thought that was what was best for the team," Van Gundy said. "One thing I have confidence in with him all the time -- even if I disagree with him as I did at the time -- he is thinking about the team. He isn't thinking about himself." Still, the veteran coach admitted that he has never had a disagreement like that in the "couple of hundred" games he's coached. "I'm not going to blow that out of proportion," Van Gundy said. "If I got along with everyone else in my life as well as Rashard, then I would be in good shape." I’ll agree with Van Jeremy on this one, largely because Lewis has never had this sort of incident before and he’s generally a well-respected guy in the locker room and on the court. This is not the same as former Chicago Bulls great Scottie “No Tippin’” Pippen refusing to re-enter a playoff game in 1994 simply because the final play of the game was not called for him. Give Lewis the benefit of the doubt on this one and credit him with being an unselfish guy who isn't so focused on his own stats and playing time that he can’t see that having another player on the court in his place might be best for the team………

- This isn't helping the quest to improve your relations with the United States, Cuba, it’s hurting them and you shouldn’t be needlessly detaining American citizens in your country for legitimate reasons, man. The detained American is a subcontractor for Maryland-based Development Alternatives Inc., an economic development organization, and he has been detained in Cuba for the past week, the U.S. State Department said Saturday.The U.S. Interests Section in Havana has requested to meet with the American as soon as possible, but Cuba hasn’t exactly expedited that request. In other words, this dude has been isolated from anyone who isn't an overbearing Communist a-hole since he detained December 5. "We are confirming his location with the Cuban government at this time," the State Department said in a written statement. . "Our prime concern is for the safety, well-being, and quick return to the United States of the detained individual," Development Alternatives Inc. President and CEO Jim Boomgard said in a statement of his own. "We have been working closely with the State Department to ensure that the detainee's safety and well-being is given top priority." What exactly was this unidentified American’s crime, you ask? Well, he had the audacity to be involved in a new USAID program aimed at helping the U.S. government "implement activities in support of the rule of law and human rights, political competition, and consensus building, and to strengthen civil society in support of just and democratic governance in Cuba." In other words, he was part of a program that acts on behalf of human rights and non-Communist activities, something that the Commie, pinko a-holes in Cuba tend not to take very well……….

- And so the first domino falls in the “will they/won’t they” debate for all of Tiger Woods’ corporate partners and sponsors. Global consulting firm Accenture Ltd. has ended its relationship with Tiger Woods, making it the first major sponsor to sever ties with Woods completely since the world learned that he’s a world-class philanderer. Ever since Woods’ parade of skanks began surfacing and recounting tales of their alleged affairs with the world’s top golfer, sponsors have stood by nervously and tried to figure out what to do about their suddenly troublesome ties to Tiger. Woods hasn’t exactly made the decision easy for anyone as he’s gone all Howard Hughes and hunkered down inside his Florida estate, surfacing only online in statements posted on his Web site. But on Saturday, Woods announced an indefinite leave from the golf to work on his marriage and personal life and Accenture clearly saw this as the opening it needed to dump Woods as a pitchman. The company said Sunday the golfer is "no longer the right representative" after the "circumstances of the last two weeks" and thus ended a six-year relationship with Woods. During that time, Accenture used its "Go on, be a Tiger" campaign to significantly boost its image and raise its international profile by personifying its claimed attributes of integrity and high performance. "After careful consideration and analysis, the company has determined that he is no longer the right representative for its advertising," Accenture said, adding that "it wishes only the best for Tiger Woods and his family." The move leaves Accenture with the burden of transitioning into a new advertising campaign, which the firm plans to do immediately. If you believe advertising experts, the dissolution of the partnership between Woods and Accenture is not entirely based on his fall from grace in the eyes of the public. Because the campaign was based on his excellence on the golf course and Woods is taking an indefinite break from the game, some analysts believe the ads would no longer make sense. A second sponsor, Gillette, announced Saturday that it won't air advertisements featuring Woods or include him in public appearances for an unspecified amount of time in keeping with his step back from public life. As for Woods’ other major sponsors, Nike Inc. said late Friday it supports Woods' decision to take time off and Gatorade, a unit of PepsiCo Inc., said previously it supports Woods. Electronic Arts' EA Sports division, which has been selling Tiger Woods video golf games for a decade, seems to be falling in line with Gatorade and Nike. We respect that this is a very difficult, and private, situation for Tiger and his family," Electronic Arts said Sunday. "At this time, the strategy for our Tiger Woods PGA TOUR business remains unchanged." So just one sponsor lost at this point, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be more to follow suit in the months ahead………

- Enjoy your one weekend at the top of the movie heap Disney’s The Princess and the Frog. The animated flick featuring Disney’s first-ever black princess handily won the race at the box office in its debut weekend, bringing in $25 million nationwide to push its cumulative total to $28 million, including its $2 million from a 2-week limited engagement run prior to this weekend. That run at the top will be short-lived not because of anything to do with Princess and the Frog, but rather the fact that James Cameron’s Avatar juggernaut is on the way. But for now, Princess Tiara and friends can enjoy the top spot. Coming in second was were The Blind Side, which fell only 23 percent its fourth weekend in theaters and added $15.4 million to its $150 million total. The third-place finisher was Clint Eastwood’s Invictus, which opened to a disappointing $9 million. That’s both disappointing and surprising, as films starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman tend to fare better and because the movie tells an amazing, inspiring story of Nelson Mandela’s quest to unite a fragmented South Africa through the sport of rugby. But those who did see the movie rated it well and that bodes well for a strong follow-up in the weeks ahead, hopefully giving Invictus enough staying power for a prolonged run in theaters. Falling to fourth place was The Twilight Saga: New Moon, which grossed an additional $8 million to push its cumulative total to $267 million. Rounding out the top five was The Christmas Carol, which fell a mere 11 percent in its sixth week to $6.8 million. The overall box office gross was up from the same weekend last year and the top 12 was up 8 percent compared to last year at this time, when The Day the Earth Stood Still debuted at $30 million. With the aforementioned worldwide release of Avatar coming next weekend, the box office revenues for the year will likely cross the $10 billion mark. So people out there are still going to the movies, even if there is a recession going on and most of the movies suck on a given weekend………