- Coaches and players in any professional sport go into every game - especially road games - knowing that the other team’s fans are going to do everything possible to get under their skin. Whether sober or rip-roaring drunk, those fans will talk junk about players’ and coaches’ families, personal appearances, on-field performance and off-field antics. Knowing this, athletes and coaches realize they will have to put up with a lot and not react because the instant fans know they’re under a guy’s skin, they quadruple their efforts. St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa should be as aware of this fact as anyone, having spent most of his adult life in Major League Baseball, but he either forgot or was so enraged over various events in St. Louis' 8-7, 11-inning victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night that it temporarily slipped his mind because LaRussa went off on a group of belligerent fans (and others) following the contest. His primary target for rage was reporters who suggested that Cardinals pitcher Jason Motte intentionally hit Brewers star Ryan Braun with a pitch in the seventh inning after the Cardinals’ own star, Albert Pujols, was hit with a high pitch in the top half of the inning. But after ranting at reporters who quizzed him on whether Braun was hit intentionally, LaRussa turned his attention on some fans seated near the St. Louis dugout for at least part of the game. "It's going way too far when they start cursing your family and the funniest one, the guy's yelling, 'I hope you get shingles again,'" La Russa said. "That's just stupid. But when you watch and you ignore our guy get drilled when the other guy gets a little stinger, it's irritating." Hmm…..no one mentioned LaRussa’s 2007 DUI in which he mangled the alphabet worse than any drunk driver in recent memory? But I digress…..according to LaRussa, Brewers officials removed several fans near St. Louis' dugout during the game. For the record, the shingles reference alluded to the 66-year-old manager dealt with shingles for nearly two months earlier this season, missing six games because of the condition. Before his tirade wrapped up, LaRussa also illustrated how thin his skin is by taking a run at the Brewers TV broadcasters for their take on the seventh inning's events. "You would hope that the guys that work for the Brewers have enough guts and enough integrity to call the game as it is instead of worrying about their paycheck," La Russa said. What, you want Brewers broadcasters to side with your team after it intentionally drilled one of their best players with a pitch? Forget for a second how absurd that is and ask yourself, Tony, why you’re allowing some beered-up fans and opposing broadcasters to rankle you that badly…………….
- The Two Ginormous Egos tour will have to wait for a bit. Okay, so technically Kanye West and Jay-Z aren’t calling their upcoming joint tour by that name, but it would be fitting. Of the two, Jay-Z has the game and resume to back up his ego, but they have teamed up for a collaboration called 'Watch The Throne' and are set to tour the United States under the name The Throne. That tour will have to wait, even if no one is quite sure why. The tour was originally scheduled to begin in Detroit on Sept. 22, but will now start a full month later at Atlanta's Philips Arena on Oct. 29. Stories about the postponement are circulating and the juiciest rumor is that the rappers are "barely speaking to each other" after an argument over fees for the tour. Knowing Kanye West’s massive ego, he probably insisted Jay-Z pay fees to have him on the tour and to have the privilege of sharing the same stage with the “legendary” Kanye West. Jay-Z, a savvy businessman for certain, moved quickly to quash the rumors in a radio interview on Monday. “ I know that we're doing something right now. Yes, we get on each other's nerves, but that's part of pushing each other. We push each other. The people who have a problem with Kanye or myself are the people that are complacent in life,” Jay-Z stated. “People don't like to be pushed. It's, like, annoying. It's a thing when people are pushing you to be greater, and we push each other to be greater. So of course there are times when we're in the studio, we're yelling, but that's about it. I would never disrespect that man. I have so much respect for him.” Very smart, J. Put the onus back on those doing the criticizing and speculating and suggest that it’s their own complacency and lack of passion that’s the problem. Even with the tour delayed, the duo will still release the album 'Watch The Throne' on August 8. The current single 'Otis' samples 'Try A Little Tenderness', made famous by legendary soul singer Otis Redding, and has been tearing up the charts. When the tour does get underway, it will roll across the Dirty South (Atlanta, Greensboro) before winding up the east coast for stops in Philadelphia, Boston and Washington, D.C. before sweeping across the Midwest and reaching the west coast. If the two headliners are able to get along and share the stage and the spotlight, that is………….
- The news is not good in the northern reaches of Europe, where killer salmonella is on the loose and terrorizing the populace. Well, technically it isn't terrorizing the populace, but there is a new strain of Salmonella resistant to the most powerful antibiotics. This mutated salmonella has been found in the United Kingdom, France and Denmark, but the outbreak emerged in Africa before spreading to Europe. Somewhere along the way, the strain picked up antibiotic resistance, according to a team of international researchers. These alarmists have called on health officials to step up monitoring to stop the "superbug" spreading globally. "We hope that this publication might stir awareness among national and international health, food, and agricultural authorities so that they take the necessary measures to control and stop the dissemination of this strain before it spreads globally, as did another multidrug-resistant strain of Salmonella, Typhimurium DT104, starting in the 1990s," explained Dr. Simon Le Hello of Institut Pasteur in Paris. No offense to the good doctor, but if you really want to stir awareness and action, stop letting the public in on the secret that most of the millions of salmonella infections a year are not serious, causing only mild stomach upsets. Make people believe that everyone is in danger of the same salmonella fate typically reserved for the elderly or in people with weakened immune systems - likely death (just kidding, old people). One American state should be oddly thrilled over this new salmonella strain, as the strain shares its name: Kentucky. The strain, known as S. Kentucky, has developed resistance to the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin, which is the go-to remedy for the most severe Salmonella cases. French researchers began studying the strain after identifying a few cases in travelers returning from Egypt, Kenya and Tanzania. Previous data suggests S. Kentucky arose in poultry in Egypt in the 1990s, then spread to farm animals in various parts of Africa and the Middle East. And no, still no word on how Kentucky was involved in this mess. Whatever name it is assigned, the strain seems to have jumped to Europe and most new cases of late seem to have been acquired there. Cases have been reported in England, Wales, Denmark and France. Of course, the response of most Americans is going to be, “Whatever. Let me know when this actually affects me.” Keep up the indifference, America…………
- Boston Logan International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the United States, but the Trasnportation Security Administration is about to do something that could make the process of going through security checkpoints even slower there. On-the-job training began Tuesday for officers in the TSA's expanded behavior detection program, a pilot initiative to use the practice of simple conversation between agents and passengers as a means to identify terrorist whack jobs who want to blow up or hijack planes. The pilot program will be in place in the airport's Terminal A for 60 days and Logan Airport will be its only location. The basic premise is having agents - in between inappropriate and “You should probably buy me a drink first” gropings - talk with passengers to spot potentially high-risk travelers by looking for suspicious behavior and facial expressions of tension, fear or deception. "The majority of passengers will experience a casual conversation with a behavior detection officer after they provide their boarding pass and ID," said TSA spokesman Greg Soule. "A small portion of passengers may get selected for an extended conversation and if the behaviors are still being exhibited, they may receive additional screening. In some cases, they may be referred to law enforcement." Sounds like a bitchin’ good time at the airport, no? In actuality, more than 3,000 behavior detection officers are already deployed at airports across the nation as part of the Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) program, Soule said. What makes the program at Logan different? As opposed to merely observing passengers, officers will interact directly as a means of detecting possible threats. Logan was a logical choice because the TSA’s behavior analysis program started there in 2003 and was ultimately expanded to more than 160 airports nationwide. The success or failure of the Logan initiative will help the TSA determine whether to expand it to other airports. Soule refused to tease any of the questions travelers may face and would say only that the process will involve a casual greeting. Many security experts are likening the program already used in Israel, where passengers are aggressively questioned by security agents. In fact, Israeli airline El Al ensures that every passenger is interviewed by a well-trained agent before check-in. Passengers at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport are often questioned by more than one security officer and interact with security personnel while waiting in line at the ticket counter as opposed to not seeing officers until they pass through a security screening point. Critics of the new program at Logan Airport have expressed concern about possible profiling (the go-to complaint for airport security haters), but the TSA of course insists no such thing will happen…………
- Fear the wrath of mighty NATO and cower, all creating unrest in Kosovo! The organization with no real teeth and no perceptible muscle behind its threats and decrees has seen the tumult in Kosovo, where border violence left a Kosovar policeman dead and inflamed tensions with Serbia, and is sending several hundred German and Austrian troops to Kosovo to supplement peacekeeping forces already there. Tensions are running high and have been ever since Kosovar special police units in armored cars swept into two border control stations under the cover of night to assert a ban on Serb products. Worrywart European Union officials panicked and pleaded for assistance and NATO obliged with its package of German and Austrian troops. There are big-time issues in play in Kosovo, with many citizens in stark opposition to what they perceive as a cover campaign by Belgrade, Serbia's capital, to gain control of the already-partitioned Serb-majority northern chunk of Kosovo. Haggling over bans on Serb products is a much smaller concern in the bigger battle in the fight centered on Pristina, Kosovo's capital. The official position in the capital is that their independence is not viable without the borders recognized by 77 states, 22 of which are European Union members. Serbia does not recognize Kosovo because it views the Kosovo region north of the Ibar river, a stronghold of Serb hard-line enclaves, as irreconcilable with the Albanian-majority government of Pristina. To the contempt of Kosovars, Serbia currently blocks Kosovo-stamped products from entering its borders, even though Serb products are sold freely throughout Kosovo. The Serbs further infuriated the Kosovars by pulling out of planned talks in June over resolving trade issues. Pristina's Hashim Thaci government responded by ripping Serbia for its unfulfilled requirement to accept free trade and dropping a ban of its own Serb products until the issue is reconciled. The incoming German and Austrian troops will supplement the 8,000 peacekeepers currently in Kosovo. Troops have resided in Kosovo since the NATO-led incursion in 1999 that followed former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic's push to "ethnically cleanse" – Albanians from Kosovo, a historic heartland of Serb national identity. The United States continues to support Kosovo but professed ignorance to Thaci’s plan to assume border point authority. Serbia is worried the dispute will affect its path to full EU membership and wishes to see the matter resolved for that and other reasons. The one potential solution that seems destined to infuriate everyone is a compromise that would involve the partition of Kosovo, something deeply opposed by its citizenry. But hey, a good compromise is one in which both parties feel as if they lost something………….
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