- Opposing players, coaches and fans tend to hate New York Jets coach Rex Ryan and his bombastic, boastful ways. Turns out, some of his own players may occasionally share that sentiment. Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, rocking a disturbingly tight, low-cut, fitted man-shirt on the cover of the current issue of GQ magazine, says in an interview inside the mag that he wanted to brawl with his own coach raged last season when Ryan told reporters he considered benching his quarterback in the third quarter of a December loss to the Miami Dolphins. "I wanted to fight him," Sanchez fumed. "I was really mad." Ironically, the episode may have been key in the Jets reaching the AFC championship game for the second straight season. Sanchez was at the time building his credibility in the locker room from incidents like standing up to his coaches during a tense confrontation in practice and playing in pain in a key win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was after his Sanchez's poor performance against the Dolphins, his second straight subpar outing, that Ryan spoke about considering a change at quarterback. Sanchez chafed at the idea and spoke about it at length in the GQ interview: "Rex is super honest. I wish he wasn't that honest at times, especially to say that." The man who would have taken over had Sanchez been benched was veteran Mark Brunell, who had received extra snaps in practice during the time period in question. When coaches told Sanchez to come out and let Brunell get more practice reps in, the third-year quarterback refused to yield to Brunell. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer stepped in to order get Sanchez out of the huddle, reiterating that Ryan wanted Brunell to take reps. Sanchez stood his ground and demanded that Ryan come and talk to him. "It was a tense moment. ... To see him fight back and press back with that, it was good to see," veteran guard Brandon Moore recalled of the incident. Sanchez never apologized for his actions and even Brunell applauded his stance. Sanchez responded by playing one of his most efficient games of the season, leading the Jets to a 22-17 victory. The team eventually reached the AFC championship game, losing in the final quarter as the Pittsburgh Steelers rallied for the win in their home stadium…………
- Protests can take many different shapes, forms and sizes, from the one-man uprising in the street to a horde of thousands with pitchforks, torches and bad intentions storming the palace gates. And of course, one man setting himself on fire is an option too. Such was the choice of a Buddhist monk in a troubled ethnically Tibetan region of western China, a man who allegedly monk set himself on fire Monday for reasons that are still not clear. The reports of his actions come from Chinese state media, so that in and of itself renders the story dubious at best. But the Xinhua News Agency claimed the incident took place Monday in Sichuan province's Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. Left unsaid was whether the monk died or any details of how he carried out his supposed act of self-arson or the aftermath of his demonstration. Garze and other extremely remote and heavily Tibetan parts of Sichuan have seen repeated outbreaks of violence in recent years, often sparked by pissed-off Buddhist monks angry with government restrictions on monastic life. Governments across China have learned repeatedly that you do not, unless you want a brawl, f*ck with the monks. While Chinese media did not provide much information on this brave monk, the Free Tibet Network in London identified the monk as Tsewang Norbu and said he shouted "Long Live the Dalai Lama" before setting himself afire. That, of course, would be a direct reference to the famed and the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, for when China bans public veneration. Despite (sadly) stepping down from the political aspects of his post, the Dalai Lama remains Tibet’s spiritual leader and is still intensely popular among Tibetans. Popular enough, it would seem, to inspire at least one man to douse himself in accelerant, light a match and burn, baby, burn…………
- It took TLC long enough to realize that Kate Gosselin is a camera-loving attention whore willing to cash in on her eight children to keep herself in the spotlight, but at long last the nightmare that is TLC’s long-running plan to keep her and her brats in the center of the reality show spotlight is over. Okay, so that’s not why the cable network has decided not to renew its reality show "Kate Plus 8,” but is the reason really that important here? The network tried to blow a bit more sunshine up Gosselin’s ass before canceling her show and issued a ridiculously praise-filled statement to do so. "By the end of this season Kate Plus 8 will have hit the 150 episode mark (including Jon & Kate Plus 8); an exceptional milestone," TLC said in a statement, which held out the possibility that the show would not die entirely. "TLC hopes to check in with Kate and the family periodically with specials in the future." The rest of us hope you forget about your hopes, TLC. Anyone who has blocked Gosselin’s entire deplorable existence out of their consciousness may not remember that she has been the centerpiece of a new incarnation of a show that began with she and her D-bag ex-husband Jon teaming up to exploit their eight children via reality TV. After their marriage improbably dissolved (after living their lives in front of reality cameras……stunner), the show went from “John and Kate Plus 8” to “Kate Plus 8” and centered on Kate’s existence as a single mother of twins and sextuplets, as she negotiates single-parenting, taping a reality show and whoring she and her family out to anyone willing to put them in front of a camera. She did an interview last week with HLN and did not let on that the ax was about to fall on her sorry show. "It's going great," she lied. "We're still having fun. We have some pretty interesting things coming up. A little bit of stress and drama." When pressed as to why her show was not on TLC's fall line-up and if it was in danger of being canceled, Gosselin again stonewalled (or she’s just that clueless). "I know, everybody is saying that," Gosselin said. "But I don`t control TLC's programming and I don't understand. All I need to do is do my thing on camera and then when it leaves me, I don't know what happens." Clearly, there is a lot Kate Gosselin does not know…………
- Just what is the link ‘twixt obesity and an earlier death? Not what most of us believe, if a new study published in the Canadian Medical Journal is itself to be believed. While it is common knowledge that being obese can endanger your health and even your life, weight alone may not be enough to predict serious health problems in all individuals. Researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered that the current method used by doctors to define overweight and obesity — body mass index (BMI), which is a ratio of height and weight — falls short of predicting which people are most at risk of early death from weight-related problems such as heart disease and diabetes. Using data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Dr. Raj Padwal and his team tracked deaths during the study's follow-up period of nearly two decades and tested a new measure of the health effects related to obesity: the Edmonton obesity staging system. This new system utilizes a basic five-stage system, from 0 to 4, for classifying obese patients. Padwal’s group constructed a rubric that takes into account a person’s particular medical history, including everything from high cholesterol and sleep apnea to diabetes, heart problems and even organ damage. It also reflects lifestyle factors, like how well a person can move around and complete daily activities. Here’s how the system functions: the more health conditions a patient has, the higher his or her Edmonton score. The end goal is providing both doctor and patient with a more accurate reading of how dangerous that person's obesity is to his health. What researchers found was that participants with scores of 2 or above were 1.5 times as likely to die during the study's follow-up as those with scores of 0 or 1, while those who scored a 3 were 2.5 times as likely to die during the same time period. "We were surprised by how differently people accumulate [these] comorbid conditions," said Padwal, the study's lead author. "You can take two patients, both of whom are obese, and one might be relatively light compared to the other. Yet that individual might have severe diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and may have disabling joint disease. It never ceased to surprise us." The good doctor was quick to point out that the study’s findings don’t necessarily mean that being obese is a health state, or that some obese people may not need to lose weight to protect their health. Thank God for that, because there are far too many FAT people in the world who think their level of physical conditioning is acceptable. But according to Radwal, the Edmonton system is an indication of the deficiency of BMI in predicting health outcomes. He theorizes that because BMI combines only height and weight, it ignores other, perhaps more important factors associated with obesity that can harm your health. "The major deficiency of the BMI and waist-circumference classifications are that they don't capture the dramatic spectrum of problems that occur with obesity," he stated, "such as joint problems, heart problems, cancer associated with obesity, mental illness, physical limitations and difficulties with daily activities." So……not all obesity is created equal. Big whoop. By simply getting up off the couch, putting down the tablet or remote control, throwing away the 2-liter of Mountain Dew and Oreos and heading outdoors for some much-needed exercise, an obese person can render all of this science irrelevant by dropping a few (dozen) pounds. Now wouldn’t that be world-changing…………
- Have you been shopping all summer long for that perfect landscaping addition and not been able to find it? Or perhaps you’re one of those classic overachievers who start their Christmas shopping before Easter and you just cannot nail down the ideal gift for the person on your list who is the most difficult to shop for. In either case, that state of New Hampshire may have a perfect option for you. This item is rare, it is unique and you can be certain that no one else will buy one like it for that special person on your Christmas list. Yes, the object does present its share of challenges when it comes to transporting and wrapping it, but those can be overcome with the ample time between now and the holidays. The item is none other than the sale and removal of the historic Memorial Bridge. Yes, a veritable hard labor fantasy camp can be yours, with the added bonus of getting to take home your bridge once you remove it. The bridge, which spans the Piscataqua River from Portsmouth all the way to Kittery, Maine, is being sold in three parts: the concrete Portsmouth approach span, the lift bridge and the steel Kittery approach span. Purchasing all three is going to take tact, negotiating skills and a willingness to act quickly. The only downer in a potential sale is that the purchase price does not include plaques or signs on the bridge. Of course, a skillful negotiator can always rework a deal in his or her favor, so those signs could probably be had for the right price. Also, who wouldn’t love the chance to gather a slave labor crew of friends, drive into the scenic New Hampshire countryside and remove a bridge to take home with them? It’s certainly better than any pinecones or pictures you could procure for yourself on a lame-o New Hampshire nature hike…………
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