- Hiring a Hall of Fame coach to lead your struggling
college basketball program has to be great news, right? For Southern Methodist
University, bringing in 71-year-old Larry Brown incurred some criticism because
of Brown’s age and status as a perpetual basketball nomad, but the program
hasn’t won 20 games in a season since 1993. In other words, they’re not hiring
the best of the best, like a John Calipari or Bill Self. Snagging someone who
has won a national championship is as good as they could hope for, but Brown’s
arrival hasn’t exactly been great news for all SMU players. According to
several now-former Mustangs, after Brown conducted an evaluation of the roster
and held individual meetings with players, they were in essence ushered out the
door. SMU athletic director Steve Orsini confirmed the evaluation process and
while he didn’t say how many or which players wouldn't stay on the team, he referred
to "these young men" in his statement released by the school. One of
“those young men” is starting point guard Jeremiah Samarrippas, who told the
school's student newspaper that Brown basically told him that he "wasn't
good enough to play for him." The 5-foot-10 guard started all 31 games
last season and averaged 6.9 points and 4.2 assists a game. Along with Samarrippas,
reserve forwards Leslee Smith, Ricmonds Vilde and Eric Norman reportedly will
not be back. All three would have been sophomores next season. "During
each meeting, there was honest, straight-forward discussion about the future of
the program," Orsini said. "No player was told his scholarship would
not be renewed." Ah, nothing like letting a guy know that he’s not good
enough to play and will be buried on the bench for the rest of his time with
the team, but that he’s welcome to remain at SMU as a student on scholarship.
Then again, a team that was 13-19 last season probably needs to make some
significant changes in order to move forward…………
- There is no easier target than FAT people. And that’s not
just because they’re so large and don’t move well, although both of those
factors do make them easier to aim at. The fact is, the obese are taking a huge
toll on the United States and that’s readily apparent when hospitals are replacing wall-mounted
toilets with floor models to better support obese patients, cities are
equipping buses to support the added girth of passengers and cares are burning
nearly a billion gallons of gasoline more a year than if passengers weighed
what they did in 1960. Yes, the cost of obesity is ginormous and a new study
suggests that the rising financial burden is double previous estimates and
exceeds even those of smoking. Congrats to FAT for blowing right by the menace
of smoking and seizing that top spot on the list of unnecessary medical
expenses. Making matters worse, the cost is being absorbed by the thin. Higher
health insurance premiums across the board are the most obvious example of this
reality. FAT is impacting the population as a whole just as powerfully as
choking down toxic, secondhand smoke-laden air created by loser smokers. This
new study was conducted by the Campaign to End Obesity, which brings together
representatives from business, academia and the public health community. Its
findings were disturbing, to say the least. "As committee chairmen,
Cabinet secretaries, the head of Medicare and health officials see these really
high costs, they are more interested in knowing, 'what policy knob can I turn
to stop this hemorrhage?'" said Michael O’Grady, co-author of the study. Enablers
masquerading as advocacy groups formed to "end size discrimination"
are fighting for the FAT and trying to deny that these facts are true. FAT
enablers are part of the reason the percentage of Americans who are obese has
tripled since 1960, to 34 percent, while the incidence of extreme or
"morbid" obesity has risen sixfold, to 6 percent. Obesity leads to
health problems, health problems lead to missed days of work and decreased
productivity and the ball only rolls downhill from there. If only the obese
paid the price, then the debate might be different. However, those of a healthy
weight pay higher taxes to support Medicaid and higher health insurance
premiums through no fault of their own. Obese women raise such “third party”
expenditures $3,220 a year each; obese men, $967 a year, according to the
study. Time to step your game up, push away from the all-you-can-eat buffet
table and hit the treadmill, FAT people………….
- Can one of the biggest abortions of a weekly TV schedule
be salvaged? Furthermore, how long can a network subsist on the strength of the
teeth-bleaching, overly tanned, tip-frosting tool that is Ryan Seacrest and the
vapid stupidity and superficiality of the Kardashian family? The E! network
isn't going to press its luck and see how long it can ride those two deficient
horses. Instead, the network has announced expansion plans that include a new music
series from "American Karaoke" producer Nigel Lythgoe, a reality
series with the oldest member of the Jonas Brothers and a talk show starring
Whitney Cummings. If none of those sound even remotely appealing,
congratulations because you actually have decent taste in your entertainment
choices. Given Seacrest’s presence on the network, it makes sense (not in a
positive way, but still) that a bad “American Karaoke” rip-off would be among
the network’s new offerings. The Jonas-themed addition will be "Married to
Jonas," featuring Nick Jonas and Danielle Deleasa, a hairstylist in
training, and will debut in August. Lythgoe's "Opening Act," which
conveniently lends itself to “Opening Hack,” debuts July 9. On the show, producers
will pick an unknown musical act that has posted work online and surprise them
with a chance to open a concert for acts like Rod Stewart, Brad Paisley and
Nicki Minaj. Mary J. Blige, an unlistenable hack in her own right, will host
the show. "You'll see us keep our fun and keep our attitude," said E!
President Suzanne Kolb. "I think you'll see us be a little broader. We
feel like E! is to pop culture what ESPN is to sports and I think we need to
fully realize that." No, Suzy, you’re not. ESPN is a solid outlet that
provides useful sports knowledge to the masses, whereas your network merely
spreads the disease of shallow, empty and mindless entertainment. To add some
star power to its lineup, E! will also add Clint Eastwood and his wife, Dina,
in "Mrs. Eastwood & Company," which begins on May 20 in a show
featuring the actor's two daughters and a singing group that Dina discovered on
a trip to South Africa. The thought behind all of these terrible shows in the
making, Kolb explained, is to increase the network’s original programming so
viewers see fewer reruns. If the shows are all the same low level of garbage,
rerun or new episode doesn’t seem to matter as much………..
- New York City police can’t win. Occupy protestors
b*tched about how the fuzz handled their demonstrations and now, lawmakers are
on the attack as well. Four legislators sued
the city Monday over its handling of the Occupy Wall Street protests. Their
lawsuit is pinned to the belief that the city’s police conduct is so
problematic that the force needs an outside monitor. In their federal civil
rights lawsuit, the city council members argued that the city and police
violated demonstrators' free speech rights, used excessive force, arrested
protesters on dubious charges and interfered with journalists' and council
members' efforts to observe what was going on. "This unlawful conduct has
been undertaken with the intention of obstructing, chilling, deterring and
retaliating against (the) plaintiffs for engaging in constitutionally protected
protest activity," the lawsuit stated. It was filed one day before Occupy
and labor activists were scheduled to hold a massive May Day march. The city
Law Department has yet to respond to the lawsuit, but Mayor Michael Bloomberg
has defended police handling of the protests. "This police department
knows how to control crowds without excessive force. They do allow you to
protest, but they don't let it get out of hand," Bloomberg declared in
response to council members who complained about what they called police
brutality at a March Occupy demonstration. The lawsuit is an upgrade over
previous Occupy complaints, a nearly 150-page compendium of lament with a local
Democratic Party official, freelance journalists and Occupy activists joining
the council members as plaintiffs. They are seeking justice for a police
official's use of pepper spray on penned-in protesters in September, the
temporary removal of demonstrators from Manhattan's Union Square in March and
other offenses. The end goal is an independent eye to review police tactics and
the four lawmakers — Letitia James, Melissa Mark-Viverito, Ydanis Rodriguez and
Jumaane Williams — decided to go over City Hall’s head to seek justice. "We
need accountability, we need relief and we're not going to just sit idly
by," Williams said. Damn right, councilman…………
- Reviving “Titanic” in 3-D form had the potential for
disaster all over again and not just the disaster of men everywhere being
dragged by their significant other to waste four more hours of their life and
another $20 to see James Cameron’s monstrosity of a movie. Movies can inspire
people in other ways and clearly, this particular movie has inspired one very
rich, very bored Australian billionaire who decided to pick up where the creators and
passengers of the original Titanic left off. Billionaire and noted eccentric Clive
Palmer announced Monday he has signed a memorandum of understanding with
state-owned Chinese company CSC Jinling Shipyard to build the Titanic II. The
ship will be a high-tech replica of the Titanic, constructed at a Chinese
shipyard and set to make its maiden voyage in late 2016 from England to New
York, just like its namesake planned. Palmer’s announcement came just weeks after
the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the original Titanic. "It will be
every bit as luxurious as the original Titanic, but ... will have
state-of-the-art 21st-century technology and the latest navigation and safety
systems," Palmer said in a statement. In a true load of politically
correct bullsh*t, he called the project "a tribute to the spirit of the
men and women who worked on the original Titanic." Either that or a
publicity grab and a testament to the lengths rich people will go to in order
to have something to lord over their rich friends and keep themselves amused.
Palmer built a fortune on real estate on Australia's Gold Coast tourist strip
and went on to multiply his fortune in the coal mining business. According to BRW
magazine, he was Australia's fifth-richest person last year with a net worth of
more than $5.2 bullion. He believes his project will succeed where previous
attempts have failed because of better financial backing. The Titanic II will
be modernized while looking as close a replica of its namesake as possible.
Here’s hoping the ship meets a similarly water-logged ending, except before its
maiden voyage begins so no one has to perish this time…………
No comments:
Post a Comment