- Can we all just agree to stop asking LeBron James stupid questions about things that have absolutely nothing to do with anything relating to his life or career? I understand that every member of the media is looking for their own unique angle or hook to drive up page views and ratings and if they can find a different approach to tie LeBron’s acrimonious departure from Cleveland to something in the town or with the team they cover, then it’s a win for them. Having said that, those attempts lead to a lot of asinine questions and queries and the hypothetical posed to James Monday as he and the Miami Heat were in Milwaukee to play the bucks may be the biggest stretch yet. James was asked if he could relate to Brett Favre's bitter departure from Wisconsin three seasons ago and tried his best to go along with the question and give an answer that didn’t fully convey what a huge moron the questioner was. He explained that Favre had great years in Green Bay and any time a great competitor leaves, no one wants to see it. He went on to point out how the Packers did a great job of regrouping with Aaron Rodgers and believes Cleveland will do the same. I’m sure that patronizing remark will salve the wounds of so many Cleveland fans, LeBron. As for the questioner…..really? Brett Favre played 16 years in Green Bay, won a Super Bowl and then played a game of retirement chicken every offseason late in his career to the point that the team felt it had no choice to move on. LeBron James was the hometown kid who played seven seasons in Cleveland, strung the team out about his intentions while formulating a plan behind the scenes to bolt town and go play with his pals Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade in Miami. He knifed the entire city of Cleveland in the back on a one-hour TV special dubbed "The Decision" and showed no remorse in the aftermath. But you’re right, idiotic Milwaukee media member, the two of them have a lot in common. One is a 40-year-old white quarterback from Mississippi and the other is a 25-year-old black forward from Akron. Again, please just stop with the imbecilic questions and accept the fact that what LeBron did to Cleveland and Ohio in general is unlike anything that any athlete has ever done to a fan base………
- Is there a hole in your 20th-century communist art collection that you just haven’t been able to fill? Do you want just the right painting or sculpture to make your art room pop? If so, I’m sorry to say that you just missed what could have been the perfect opportunity to not only can you find the piece you’re looking for, but to help out a great cause in the process. The Pinter Gallery in Budapest, Hungary held an auction of relics and artworks from Hungary's communist era on Monday to raise funds for the victims of October's flood of toxic red sludge that killed 10 people and left hundreds injured and homeless. Among the items on the auction block were two dozen portraits of Soviet dictator Vladimir Lenin, busts of Bulgarian communist leader Georgi Dimitrov, as well as paintings and drawings in the Socialist realism style exalting physical labor and the supposed friendship between Hungary and the Soviet Union. The pieces came from near and far, with some found in various ministries around Hungary and others collecting dust in state warehouses. Ironically, the most expensive item was a 1957 painting by Iraqi artist, Kadhim Haydar, selling for $7,600. No final figures were immediately available on how much money was raised, but hopefully quite a bit came in to help victims of a terrible tragedy over which they had no control. And in the process, some very fortunate people were able to add some sweet communist art to their homes, offices and dens. I just can’t get over the fact that I wasn’t able to get a truly captivating portrait of my pal Joe Stalin to hang on my wall. Maybe next time………
- Cleveland, you haven’t had a good run lately. After LeBron James returned to town for the first time and kicked your teeth right down your throat in a 28-point mauling and the entire nation watched and simply felt sorry for you. The Cavs chased that loss by going on the road and suffering a humiliating 34-point loss to the lowly Minnesota Timberwolves and a 10-point loss at Detroit. On top of that, the Browns and Indians are both perpetually snakebitten to the point that the Browns’ 5-7 record this season is being hailed as a minor miracle in Cleveland. Winter is here and dumping loads of snow and frigid weather on the city. So what could possibly lift the spirits of Clevelanders and make them feel better about living in a boring, no-personality city with bad sports teams and abysmal weather? How about the Lingerie Football League will coming to Cleveland for the fall 2011 season? Yes, the LFL announced Monday that Cleveland beat out Columbus for a LFL franchise. Not that anyone out there has any excuse not to be familiar with the Lingerie Football League, but I’ll assume that there might be one or two of you out there and lay out the details just in case. The LFL is full-contact and features hot chicks in bras, underwear and shoulder pads in a seven-on-seven game of football. The draw, of course, is seeing technically sound football played by the best athletes around. But the question persists: Why Cleveland? “We could not be more excited to be in a market like Cleveland with its storied history in support of its pro teams, whether they won or lost. LFL Football will translate incredibly well and based on the initial fan support, we suspect Cleveland will a top market for the league,” said founder and chairman of the LFL Mitchell S. Mortaza. A fair assumption, as there’s scarcely a dude around who doesn’t like seeing hot chicas in lingerie playing the game they love. Of course, the LFL is known for putting on pay-per-view games during halftime of the Super Bowl in an attempt to raise its profile, although that doesn’t seem to have done much damage thus far. The Cleveland franchise will be called the Cleveland Crush and the name was picked from roughly 7,500 name submissions. For any good-looking ladies in Northeast Ohio who feel like they have what it takes to demean themselves playing fourth-rate football in which a few hundred desperate dudes are there merely to ogle them and pay no attention whatsoever to the football action, the Crush will hold open-call tryouts before the first day of mini-camp in April. Even if you don’t have what it takes to become a low-paid sex symbol on the field, the team is also looking for front office and operational personnel, so opportunities abound. Oh, and home games will be played at Quicken Loans Arena, perhaps helping to expunge the facility of any lingering bad memories of the LeBron James era………
- It was only a matter of time. Credit cards had their day in the sun as the preferred method of payment for forward-thinking people and with the rise of smartphones and their use as everything from an organizer to a way to check in for your flight without a paper boarding pass, we’ve clearly been headed for a phone-as-cash setup when it comes to buying everything from movie tickets to meals to a tank of gas. Sure enough, the three major U.S. wireless carriers -- Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile -- are joining forces to launch Isis -- a mobile payments system that aims to replace credit and debit cards as well as alternative payment services like PayPal. To accomplish its goal, Isis will need to overcome the many potential fears and even paranoia that people will undoubtedly have when it comes to linking something as easily stolen or hacked into as their cell phone. Isis is based on near-field communication technology, which is being integrated into lots of Android, iPhone, Nokia, and Blackberry phones. Survey firm Juniper Research predicts that one in every six mobile users worldwide will have an NFC-enabled phone by 2014, so the change is clearly coming. The way near-field communication works is for customers who have mobile-payment-enabled phones to swipe their phone near an Isis terminal, with charges billed directly to their credit card. As you can imagine, that means getting retailers on board with the idea so they will install Isis terminals in their stores. But as with one of the very means of payment the makers of Isis are seeking to replace, credit cards, a major issue will be how much the cost will be to use Isis, as well as what kinds of interest charges and fees might apply. Merchants must believe that the system is a good deal for them and those who have joined up with PayPal and done so recently. Heck, it was only July when PayPal launched a mobile version of its Express Checkout service. Mobile payments are already a common occurrence on the business landscape in Japan, South Korea, and parts of Europe, but there is substantial doubt that they will become so ubiquitous in the United States. Some cynics believe that it could literally be decades before mobile phone payments are commonplace in the U.S. Central to those beliefs is the speculation that many Americans will fear the possibility of someone pick their mobile pocket just by standing near them or bumping into them with a makeshift mobile terminal. Ah, the wonders of technology………
- Not that Hollywood will heed this sage advice, but we should all be able to agree that you’ve gone to the well for a movie franchise one too many times if the latest installment in the series has gone or is about to go straight to TV and/or DVD. I’m willing to give studios leeway if they are able to convince someone to give their film a shot in theaters, but if your movie is so bad or low-rent that it goes directly to the discount rack at Wal-Mart or basic cable…..you need to stop. Immediately. Permanently. With emphasis. I say this not to hurt anyone, but merely for the benefit of the producers of Mean Girls 2, which will debut on ABC Family Sunday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m. The network announced the plan today, trumpeting its smarts to score the initial rights to the follow up to the original Mean Girls, which starred everyone’s favorite coked-up, lush actress currently doing her 24th stint in rehab, Miss Lindsey Lohan. This time around, the chief Mean Girl will be Meaghan Martin as Jo, a new student, whose plan to avoid high school social politics is thwarted when she befriends Abby, the object of scorn for the “plastics.” Should you be looking to heap scorn and derision upon those responsible for this disaster, send your messages of mockery to writers Cliff Ruby, Elana Lesser and Allison Schroeder, and director Melanie Mayron…………
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