- So after weeks and weeks of wrangling, this is the deal that Derek Jeter and his agent, Casey Close, came away with in their negotiations with the Yankees? He spent weeks dragging this thing out all so he could go from a three-year, $45 million deal to a three-year, $51 million deal that contains a player option for 2014 and some absurd incentive clauses that he has no hope of reaching? He and his agent tried to back the Yankees into a corner, Close said nasty things about the team in interviews and the team returned fire….and for what? Because unless you believe that a 36-year-old shortstop coming off the worst statistical season of his career is going to, a) miraculously rebound and win an MVP award in 2011, '12 or '13, b) win a Silver Slugger in any of those years, c) win a Gold Glove in any of those years, d) win an LCS MVP award in any of those years or e) win a World Series MVP award in any of those years, then you’re probably taking drugs as strong as the ‘roids Jeter will need to ingest or inject for any of those things to happen. He would receive a $4 million bonus for an MVP award and the bonuses decline from there to $500,000 for a World Series or LCS most valuable player award. Better yet, there is no limit to how many times he can earn any of those escalator payouts. The only cap in the deal is on his possible 2014 salary, which cannot exceed $17 million, meaning he can earn no more than $9 million in increases. He’s also guaranteed salaries of $15 million next year, $16 million in 2012 and $17 million in 2013, with $2 million of that money deferred without interest in each of those seasons. Hopefully that bizarre, layered player option was worth dragging his reputation through the mud and turning many Yankee fans against him, because Jeter managed to do those things without winning much more than a $6 million bump in his total salary for the next three seasons and the player option for 2014, along with the ridiculous incentives. For a player who is already incredibly rich and accomplished, that battle would seem to be a near-total waste of time at the expense of the stress and loss of face suffered. Not only is he no longer the face of the franchise and fortunate to still have his starting job, he has about as much chance of winning the MVP award ever again in his career as I do. As always, hope that was worth it………..
- I’ve heard of checks getting lost in the mail or in the back of a drawer in the kitchen before, but this takes that trend to a new extreme. Tippecanoe County (Indiana) Treasurer Bob Plantenga recently received a check dated June 6, 1883 in the mail. Let me repeat that: June 6, 1883. The check came from a man in Lafayette, Ind., who found it in a very unique place. "His son was mowing in a cemetery and he mowed over a check. He had the check at home and thought it would be a lot more valuable to the county than to him,” explained Plantenga. "This check is in remarkably good condition for a check that's 125-years-old.” No word on how the check came to be at the cemetery (perhaps falling out of the pocket of a person being buried there?), but oddly enough, the paper check is slightly torn, but still readable. How it didn’t disintegrate over the past century or so, I’ll never know. The only problem for Plantenga is that he cannot read all of the writing on the check, which is a very ornate, cursive style. "The writing is so fancy back in those days,” said Plantenga. "I can't exactly read what the reason of the check was. Clothing was in there." From what he can make out, Plantenga knows that the check is written to William Shively for $19.75. According to the Tippecanoe County Historical Association, Shively owned a clothing store on South 3rd Street in 1883. Plantenga is determined to find out as much as he can about the check, numbered 122, before framing it and displaying it in his office. "It's a nice piece of memorabilia of our history and how things looked then,” he said. It also provides a nice surge of hope and credibility for all of you out there trying to tell your cell phone company, electrical company or cable provider that the check really is in the mail and will be in there hands soon. Hey, if a 127-year-old check is still around, then it’s never too late………
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! What’s more inspiring than the little guy rising up and striking back at The Man for trying to cut into his paycheck or prevent him from earning a better living? There’s only so far you can push impoverished garment workers in a Third World country before they fight back and Bangladeshi garment workers have had enough. For too long, they’ve waited on the government to increase the minimum wage and on Sunday, their anger boiled over in the form of violent clashes with police in an industrial zone in southeastern Bangladesh. Angry garment workers in Chittagong, Bangladesh took to the streets to demand the implementation of a new minimum wage and brawled with police, leaving up to three people dead and 100 hurt. Predictably, The Man responded with excessive force, opening fire and unleashing tear gas after thousands of courageous rioters attacked factories and smashed vehicles at the Chittagong Export Processing Zone. Organizers picked a great location for their riot, as the zone houses about 70 foreign companies that mainly manufacture garments, shoes and bicycles, and employ about 150,000 workers. In other words, it’s the very sort of place where major international conglomerates set up shop and exploit cheap labor to produce good that they turn around and sell for hundreds of times more than it costs to produce them. Chittagong has the country's main seaport and many local and foreign businesses have their offices there, so an attack on factories there is a great way to draw attention to any cause. At first, protestors went a little Stone Age by hurling rocks at police and buildings, but things escalated from there and damaging vehicles is a logical next step for any protest. The final spark to set off Sunday’s protest appeared to come from a South Korean company, YoungOne, which suspended operations at its 13 garment factories late Saturday after workers attacked the facilities. Saturday’s rioting factory workers were demanding the implementation of a new wage structure announced by the government in July and Sunday’s angry mob took up that cause. Kihak Sung, chairman of YoungOne, tried to dispel any rumors of angry workers attacking his company’s factory and tried to blame the attacks on mysterious “outsiders.” He maintained that there was no problem with workers regarding wages, and that his company usually paid more than other companies. So why are the workers so ticked? Well, the government raised the official minimum wage to 3,000 takas ($45) a month from 1,662 takas ($25) several months ago and the new standards technically took effect in November, but workers say many factories haven't implemented it yet. Garment workers in Bangladesh rank among the lowest-paid in the world and have not seen a wage increase of any kind since 2006. That’s a major concern because the country has about 4,000 garment factories which export more than $10 billion worth of products a year, mainly to the United States and Europe. When corporate giants like Wal-Mart, Tesco, H&M, Zara, Carrefour, Gap, Metro, JCPenney, Marks & Spencer, Kohl's, Levi Strauss and Tommy Hilfiger are involved on the tail end of the equation, something tells me that it shouldn’t be too difficult to find a few more dollars a month for those producing the goods………
- This may not have been the debut that Fox was hoping for as The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader hit theaters, but at least there new box office disappointment was good enough to beat out the rest of the lackluster flicks and win the weekend’s earnings race. Chronicles made $24.5 million in its first weekend of release, not exactly setting the world afire for a movie made on a $155 million budget. That feeling is probably shared by Sony, which saw its shiny new gem, The Tourist, suffer a similar fate as it stumbled to a $17 million first weekend, meaning it has just $83 million to go before breaking even. The two newcomers managed to elbow Tangled out of the top spot that it seized just last weekend, with the animated family film making $14.6 million to finish in third. For its first three weeks, Tangled has made $115.6 million and counting. The movie it beat out for the top spot last weekend, dork magnet Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, ended up in fourth place with $8.5 million and in the process, pushed its cumulative total to a whopping $257.7 million. Showing impressive staying power, Denzel Washington’s Unstoppable continued a five-week run in which it has a) never won a weekend and b) never slipped out of the top five by checking in at fifth for the weekend with $3.8 million, meaning it has made $74.3 million thus far. The rest of the top 10 was occupied by: Black Swan (No. 6 and oddly, unable to capitalize on having the always-hot Natalie Portman leading the way, making a scant $3.3 million in its second weekend), Burlesque (No. 7 and about 100 spots higher than it should be with a $3.2 million haul for a running total of $32.6 million for its first three weeks), Love and Other Drugs (No. 8 with an even $3 million in its third weekend, putting the film close to breaking even with a cumulative total of $27.6 million and counting), Due Date (hanging around at No. 9 after six weeks of release and making $2.5 million to up its overall take to $94.9 million) and Megamind (No. 10 with $2.5 million, enough to inch its six-week total to $140.2 million). Dropping out of the top 10 from last week were Faster and The Next Three Days, which checked in at Nos. 11 and 12, respectively………
- Guys, are you looking for just the right opportunity to drag your special lady friend out into the frigid winter air and stare at the sky together? If so, this is your week. On the way to a sky near you is the 2010 Geminids meteor shower, which will make in appearance in the night skies this week. No less an authority than NASA is on the record as saying that this will be the best meteor shower of the year. "The 2010 Geminid meteor shower promises to be lively, with realistic viewing rates of 50-80 meteors per hour and potential peaks reaching 120 meteors per hour," NASA said on the NASA Chats page. Best of all, you have a fight-night window in which to set up your stargazing, although NASA said the night of Dec. 13-14 should offer the best views. Take it from someone whose most memorable experience from a one-month trek through Europe in which the best experience was a free one involving climbing 10,210-foot peak in Switzerland when I tell you that the thrills offered by unique moments in nature can rival anything you’ll see on the big or small screen. For those not familiar with the Geminid meteor shower, the Geminid meteor is actually comprised of rocky debris from 3200 Phaethon, an extinct comet that was once thought to be an asteroid. Each and every yeah, the earth passes through this stream of Geminids, and this passing causes causes meteors, i.e. shooting stars, to split from the Gemini constellation. This phenomenon has been going on since the late 19th century, but only recently did it become a major event. Should you need more details before devoting a large chunk of one of your weeknights to staring at the sky, NASA will host a live chat with meteor experts on Monday and for anyone staying up through the night to watch the shower, NASA astronomer Bill Cooke will be online from 11 p.m. on Dec. 13 to 5 a.m. on Dec. 14 to answer questions and explain what you’re seeing in the heavens. Oh, and for the wusses among you who don’t want to brave freezing temperatures to see this unfold, NASA will provide a live camera feed of the shower on the NASA chats page, meaning the cold-averse can watch the event online. At a time of the year when most prime-time drama and sitcoms are taking holiday breaks, this could be something fun to do with your night………
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