- The Los Angeles Clippers have a new look this season, adding All-Star point guard Chris Paul and immediately raising expectations from fringe playoff contender to borderline favorite in the Western Conference. With that new look has apparently come a new attitude. When they were the hapless, bumbling Clippers who missed the playoffs every year, the Clippers tolerated super fan Darrell Bailey, an 11-year season ticket holder who is better known as "Clipper Darrell." Bailey attends home games dressed in a half-red, half-blue Clippers-themed suit, does dances and leads cheers. He has been one of the only entertaining parts of attending Clippers games over the past decade and not surprisingly, has used his quasi-fame to cash in whenever possible. He has his own website and has clashed with the team in the past because it has allegedly prevented him from securing endorsement deals as Clipper Darrell, while the team has
Bailey has often complained about the team has been upset that he has sold merchandise and booked public appearances on his website using the Clippers name for years. It was on his site that Bailey announced that the team had asked him to refrain from using the name "Clipper Darrell" and cease acting as if he represents the team in any capacity. "I have been told by Clipper management they no longer want me to be Clipper Darrell, a name that was given to me by the media because of my unwavering support and team spirit," he wrote. "I am devastated!" Clippers players Chris Paul and Blake Griffin rallied to his defense, with Griffin tweeting, "Bring back #ClipperDarrell." Bailey admitted he was depressed about the decision and claimed the team not only wants him to stop attending games as Clipper Darrell, they also do not want him to dance, leads cheers at games or wear his special suit. The Clippers issued an unnecessarily angry written statement in response to Bailey's claims on Wednesday. "The Clippers have done absolutely nothing wrong or inappropriate as it concerns Darrell Bailey. His claims are absurd and unfounded. He has never been an employee or representative of the Clippers organization, and therefore cannot be terminated," the team said. It sounds as if both sides could use an attitude re-adjustment here, but it’s never a good sign for a team when its own players are siding with a fan over them……….
- Epic fail, federal Judge Richard Leon, epic fail. Judge Leon had a chance to deliver a major kidney punch to the cancer stick industry on Wednesday and failed miserably when he ruled against a federal mandate requiring tobacco companies to place graphic images on their products warning of the dangers of smoking. This judicial joke said the requirements were a violation of free speech. The case before him centered on the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, passed in 2009, which would have required nine written warnings such as "Cigarettes are addictive" and "Tobacco smoke causes harm to children." On top of those messages, the warnings would include wonderfully colorful alternating images of a corpse and smoke-infected lungs. "Unfortunately, because Congress did not consider the First Amendment implications of this legislation, it did not concern itself with how the regulations could be narrowly tailored to avoid unintentionally compelling commercial speech," Leon wrote in his 19-page ruling. Sorry judge, but not seeing the problem here. By siding with a group of tobacco companies led by R.J. Reynolds and Lorillard, you have dealt a blow to everyone, everywhere who does not enjoy choking down air polluted by filthy secondhand smoke. Who (besides wealthy tobacco company executives who profit from giving the masses lung cancer and emphysema) does that hurt? So what if the warnings would dominate the packaging and damage promotion of a particular brand? That’s a positive, not a negative. Why should the legal question be whether the new labeling was purely factual and accurate in nature, or was designed to discourage use of the products? Shouldn’t the legal question be: Is smoking, filthy, disgusting and vile? If the answer is yes, rule the warnings to be constitutional and move on with it. "The graphic images here were neither designed to protect the consumer from confusion or deception, nor to increase consumer awareness of smoking risks," Leon said. "Rather they were crafted to evoke a strong emotional response calculated to provoke the viewer to quit or never start smoking." So freaking what? If seeing a man smoking through a tracheotomy hole in his throat, smoke wafting from a child being kissed by her mother, a diseased mouth presumably from oral cancer linked to chewing tobacco and a woman weeping uncontrollably is the only way to stop a person from smoking, then do what it takes.………..
- Thanks for the clarification, AT&T. The company clarified its data policies Thursday for slowing data speeds for high-volume data users. The police will slow the speeds of those who exceed either a monthly limit of 3GB of smartphone data or 5GB of data on the carrier’s 4G LTE network. Previously, AT&T has said that it would slow data speeds for the top 5 percent of data users who had been allowed to keep their older, unlimited plans. Those customers s pay $30 per month, the same as users who buy a data plan with a 3GB cap. That led to complaints from unlimited plan customers who claimed that their speeds were being limited after using around 2GB data and they were being forced to pay the same price for less data than tiered plan customers. Company officials promised to clarify the plan and what customers can expect. “Our unlimited plan customers have told us they want more clarity around how the program works and what they can expect,” said AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel in a statement. The revised plan will still affect about 5 percent of AT&T’s customers, who will be notified via text message if they approach the data limits. The announcement came one week after a Simi Calley, Calif. judge ruled that AT&T should pay iPhone user Matt Spaccarelli $850 in a small claims court after he argued that his bill showed he had used between 1.5 and 2 GB of data before his data speeds were reduced. Spaccarelli challenged the motive behind the throttling policy, which AT&T defended in other cases by telling users their speeds were being limited because they were among the top 5 percent of data users in their region. Studies have shown than users on tiered plans and unlimited plans generally use the same amount of data, so perhaps the entire discussion is pointless on a certain level. Or maybe AT&T is simply bitter after the federal government nixed its proposed bid to acquire T-Mobile and is looking to exact revenge. Either way, game on………….
- This is a proud day for the Lifetime network. No longer can haters label it that chick’s channel airing all of the sappy, dramatic movies about abused women gaining revenge on their abusive husbands or overcoming traumatic life experiences. Instead, Lifetime can now hail itself as the network hitching its ratings wagon to the dysfunctional offspring of bat-sh*t stupid former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. Yes, the network announced Wednesday that it has picked up a new reality series focusing on Bristol Palin, daughter of 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and former contestant on ABC's “Dancing With the (D-List) Stars.” Palin, who appears to be embracing her destiny as the sort of life failure whose existence is sustained almost entirely by the reality TV circuit, will be at the center of Bristol Palin: Life's a Tripp," which was picked up for 10 half-hour episodes and will offer an insight into the life of the young mother as she raises her 3-year-old son, Tripp. Not only that, the Mama Grizzly herself, ass-hatted former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, will also have a role because the show will also focus on Bristol Palin’s relationship with her parents. "From the first moment she was thrust into the public eye, Bristol and her son have been the subjects of a huge amount of curiosity and misunderstanding," said Rob Sharenow, executive vice president of programming for Lifetime Networks. "This show will reveal the real Bristol Palin and her journey as a young woman making her way in the world." Probably something the world did not need revealed to it, Bobby. Those who barely recall why Palin is kinda, sorta, quasi-famous might recall that she gave birth to her son, Tripp, in 2008 at age 18. It was a minor scandal because she was not married to the father, then-18-year-old Levi Johnston, and her mother was part of a presidential campaign based on upstanding family values. Since the birth of her son, Palin has ironically worked as an advocate for the prevention of teen pregnancy, speaking to teens about the importance of abstinence. In 2010, she competed on ABC’s ridiculous ballroom dancing reality show with fellow fake celebrities Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino from "Jersey Shore" and actress Jennifer Grey. Johnston is undecided on whether he will appear in the Lifetime series, although not having him would lower its idiocy quotient slightly…………
- Never let it be said that the French are a weak and mild people. They are bold enough to chase President Nicolas Sarkozy through the southwestern city of Bayonne and force him to take refuge in a café while hundreds of angry protestors clashed with riot police outside. The mini-riot took place during a campaign stop in the country's southwest Basque country. A group of protestors comprised of Basque nationalists and others carrying posters of rival Socialist candidate Francois Hollande chased Sarkozy into the Bar du Palais in central Bayonne, where he remained for about an hour as riot police swarmed in to protect him. Sarkozy travels with a relatively small security entourage that has grown smaller at recent events as he has attempted to connect with voters. While he weathered the riot inside the café, Sarkozy took a few minutes to meet and greet locals and also to denounce "the violence of a minority and their unacceptable behavior." Wrong-O, Mr. President. The display was inspiring, uplifting and an example of what makes democracy and free speech so great. Just look at the eggs hurled at the windows of the café by rioters during Sarkozy’s time there for proof of that fact. Besides, Sarkozy trails Hollande, the front-runner, in the two pronged April and May presidential election and needs all the publicity he can get if he hopes to remain in office. Being a quasi-hostage in a small-town café could even bring a few sympathy votes, so Sarkozy should stop whining. "Here, we're in France, on the territory of the French republic, and the president of the republic will go everywhere," Sarkozy said once inside the cafe. "And if that doesn't please a minority of troublemakers, too bad for them." It really is disappointing that Sarkozy couldn’t simply enjoy the sight of the narrow streets of the historic center of Bayonne, in the French Basque country, packed with protestors. He instead denounced the riot and mocked those responsible for it. His campaign spokeswoman, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, further underscored the president’s lack of understanding by asking the angry Socialists to "respect the rules of democratic debate." This IS democratic debate, numb nuts…………
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