- The team that inspired the book that inspired Brad Pitt’s foray into sports films may once again take the sort of gamble that started that entire chain of events in the first place. “Moneyball” was all about Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane taking a risk by putting together his team based on the statistically based principles known as sabermetrics, which involves detailed analysis of complicated stats as a means of assessing players’ values beyond traditional baseball rubrics. Beane assembled a motley crew of players other teams didn’t see a lot of value in because those players had qualities like high on-base and slugging percentages. Nearly all of them were calculated risks to sign and although he doesn’t fit the sabermetrics approach to a “T,” embattled slugger Manny Ramirez is nothing if not a calculated risk. Ramirez, who applied for reinstatement to Major League Baseball last month after quitting six games into the 2011 season when he tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs for a second time, is on the A’s radar. Following his positive test and facing a 100-game suspension, Ramirez simply quit on his team, the Tampa Bay Rays, without telling them. He tried to revive his career playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic, but the league had ties to MLB and his suspension would have carried over. Faced with the prospect of a life without baseball, Ramirez chose to apply for reinstatement. Taking into account him missing almost all of last season, commissioner Bud Selig cut the suspension in half. Ramirez can return after sitting out 50 games if a team signs him and the A’s could be that team. A's owner Lew Wolff suggested the move last week and assistant general manager David Forst said Sunday during A's Fanfest held at the Oakland Arena that he is opening to signing the slugger even though the team is not actively pursuing the free agent. "We're open to it," Forst said. "We do have other things going on and we do expect other additions between now and Opening Day. We have never been in a situation where we had too many good players.” Wolf was more enthusiastic, saying, "I think it would be fun. This should be viewed on the basis of talent. Once he's served the penalty he should be free to do what he wants. I don't know what kind of shape he's in, though I hear he's in great shape." Great shape or not, Ramirez will turn 40 on May 30 and was 1 for 17 (.059) in five games last season for Tampa Bay. He’s on the last fumes of his career and for a non-contender like the A’s, signing him is a head-scratching move………….
- Beware the Burmese python. Since 2000, these massive beasts have been slithering their way around the Everglades in southern Florida and 12 years later, their impact is becoming clear. Scientists have been monitoring the snakes’ presence and have discovered that in areas where the pythons have established themselves, rabbits and foxes can no longer be found. Gordon Rodda, an invasive-species specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey, and a team of researchers also found that sightings of raccoons are down 99 percent, opossums 98.9 percent and white-tailed deer 94 percent during the same time frame. ''What if the stock market had declined that much? Think of the adjectives you'd use for that,'' Rodda said. Wait, the stock market isn't down 99 percent? Wow. It’s doing better than most Americans would guess…..but back to the original point. Pythons are causing major problems and the good folks of the USGS are none too pleased. “'Pythons are wreaking havoc on one of America's most beautiful, treasured and naturally bountiful ecosystems,'' USGS Director Marcia McNutt said. Burmese pythons, as their name would suggest, are native to southeast Asia. However, a small number of snake-loving freaks and kooks who brought them to Florida to keep as pets and either let them go intentionally or were simply too inept to keep them contained sprang them on the unsuspecting Everglades area. Burmese pythons can grow up to 16 feet long and weigh nearly 140 pounds. Sighting of the creatures in the Everglades were reported sporadically beginning in the 1980s, but it wasn’t until 2000 that a breeding population was confirmed there. Their numbers have risen sharply since then and according to Everglades National Park official Linda Friar, park rangers have captured or killed 1825 pythons since 2000. Rangers also saw fewer and fewer mammals in python-infested areas. The snakes aren't a threat to humans, but they are to other animals. Using systematic night road surveys done in the Everglades that counted live and road-killed animals, the USGS team tracks the number of mammals in specific areas of the park. They typically do not see the pythons themselves, which are notoriously hard to find and very secretive, but the snakes are indeed lurking. To combat the problem, on Jan. 23 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service started the paperwork to ban the importation and interstate transportation of Burmese pythons, northern and southern African pythons and yellow anaconda because they threaten the Everglades and other sensitive ecosystems. The USGS findings were contained in a paper published on Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.........
- In need of a scapegoat with its populace in revolt, Egypt’s ruling military has found its man. The country’s military leader fired the general responsible for media affairs in a feeble attempt to improve an image still soaked and stained with the blood of protestors killed by the military, with rampant accusations that the men in uniform are seeking to crush Egypt's democratic revolution still swirling. While the move is superficial and hollow, it is the first change in the military council since the generals took power from President Hosni Mubarak during a popular uprising last February. The military had some good will in the bank for ushering Mubarak out, but quickly squandered that good will by attempting to crush subsequent protests by force, killing dozens. Under intense pressure from the public, the council reluctantly agreed to hand over to a civilian president by June. Even so, the body has continued to defiantly protect its privileges and avoid civilian oversight. A defense ministry source explained that Major General Ismail Etman was "exempted from service and replaced by Major General Ahmed Abu El-Dahab, the director of the artillery division." Etman had been in charge of media affairs for the council and firing him isn't going to fix any of the problems, but oh well. The military’s image is in the crapper and it is no longer viewed as a respected institution to be revered and obeyed. Venturing into politics has sullied that image and the generals who comprise the council are not trusted by many young pro-democracy campaigners. Then again, who would trust an army that killed or injured dozens attempting to suppress protests on the streets of Cairo in November and December? Those videos of soldiers mistreating injured demonstrators led to national and international outrage and that furor has not died down. Observers say the council is concerned about its public image and believe Etman bears responsibility for its decline in the public’s eyes. A source said the move was decreed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the council. Putting someone new in charge of a wide range of issues ranging from media relations to dealing with the concerns of military officers is certain to be viewed as a cosmetic change by opposition groups, especially since Etman is losing only his seat on the council and will remain one of Tantawi's many advisers, positions given to officers closely tied to the army leadership. In short, Egypt’s political and social scenes are still very much f**ked up……….
- If two over-the-hill prominent musical figures do battle and both of their music is unlistenable, does it make a sound? Sadly, it does. Madonna, a.k.a. the Material Skank, is still locked in a pitched fight with Elton John even though both are on the wrong side of 50 and she has yet to make an album that does anything other than make the world - musically and in general - a worse place. This time it was Elton John who initiated the confrontation by tossing a bitchy remark the Material Skank’s way as she prepares for a performance sure to suck at Super Bowl XXVI on Sunday. "Make sure you lip-synch good,” he said during an interview with Good Morning America about the halftime show. "I've never seen a decent one. Never ever. You have to play live, but I don't think you can. In all fairness to everyone who's done one before, you may be able to sing live, but it's really hard to play live." The song the MS will lip-sync, er, sing to is her new single “Give Me All Your Luvin.” She follows the NFL’s trend of picking middling, mainstream artists that the majority of non-football and football fans alike tuning in for the big game will recognize for the Super Bowl halftime show. Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and the Hack Eyed Peas have all performed at the big game in recent years. Ironically, Madonna is still known by many for her infamous raunchy performance of “Like A Virgin” at the 1984 Video Music Awards, but the NFL must feel age has mellowed her. Elton John bitterness or not, the MS is sure to deliver an abysmal pop performance Sunday, although odds are the Rocket Man wouldn’t have been any better. If only both of them would shut up and just go away………..
- Lawmakers are getting mighty uppity the past couple weeks, especially ones from New York. Sen. Charles Schumer jumped on the trend first, pushing for provisions in a new transportation bill that would give police additional tools and training to identify and handle drivers under the influence of drugs. The idea seemed unnecessarily persecutorial of stoners and cokeheads, but compared to the idea being offered up by state Sen. Sen. Bill Perkins, Schumer might as well be Winston Churchchill and John F. Kennedy rolled into one. On the heels of an increasingly popular online video in which one woman informed a fellow passenger who was eating spaghetti on the Manhattan subway, “animals eat on the train” and received a well-deserved face full of pasta in response, Perkins is leading a debate over whether or not passengers should be allowed to eat on the subway. The idea of a ban was thrown into the debate early on, but the Manhattan Transportation Authority (MTA) was unable to enact the ban and that led to Sen. Overbearing to take action. Perkins claims he regularly receives complaints from subway passengers about rats, which seems odd because rats are the official mascot of both the city and subway and a true part of the New York City experience. In response to the whining, Perkins wants to impose a $250 fine on anyone who eats on the subway. His logic, to say the least, is asinine. “Those rats feed off of what we eat or discard in the system. You feed them, you breed them,” he explained. “Not only are they on the tracks, they’re on the seats. Sometimes they even come off out of the subway. If you look in the subway on track, you’ll see them eating pizza.” Right, because New York pizza is freaking awesome and damn near everyone enjoys it. Besides, a ban is never going to work. If the MTA is having trouble keeping trains clean from food, how is it possibly going to have the personnel to enforce a food ban? And what about those with medical conditions who need a bagel or an orange to stave off a health problem, or the person who just gave blood and needs to hop the express uptown to get to the Upper West Side? A ban is a moronic idea and one that will never work because people will continue to eat anyhow. Keep moving and find a better cause, Perkins……….
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