Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Dictator Urban Meyer, Replacements reunite and deer riding in trucks

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- Urban Meyer is one of college football’s great dictators, with a heavy emphasis on the “dick” part of the equation. Channeling his inner fascist, Emperor Meyer has decreed that practice visitors of any sort clad in anything resembling the colors of rival Michigan are not welcome at Ohio State as long as he’s in charge. That apparel ban extends to fans, media members, and, reportedly, NFL scouts.  The policy came as a surprise to two NFL scouts who wore blue while observing Ohio State at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center this month and were given the choice to change their shirts or exit the premises. According to reports from witnesses, the scouts were told to change their shirts after staffers informed them of Meyer's rule and some Buckeyes players even yelled at them. Never mind those scouts were not actually wearing gear representing Michigan, the Buckeyes’ biggest rival, nor the fact that some of the players yelling at them may have been the very players the scouts were there to see. There is nothing like a scout assessing a player’s NFL potential only to have that player take time out of practice and berate him for the color of his shirt. Other NFL scouts who were not directly involved called the incident "embarrassing" and said it could have been avoided. "It's just not something that needed to happen," a scout said. "It could have been handled much better, and if that (blue-shirt) rule is going to be enforced, they could let us know." Potential bloodshed and violence were averted when the school gave the scouts Ohio State shirts to wear while watching practice………




- How good is this? North and South Korea may be on the precipice of war on a near-daily basis, but the two sides can play nice long enough to agree to allow reunions next month of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War….to be decided by a reunion lottery. The meetings late last week were the first three years and the latest conciliatory gesture from the North after spending the spring threatening Seoul with missile strikes and nuclear war. Under the lottery system, 100 people from each country will be allowed to meet family members from Sept. 25 to 30 at North Korea's Diamond Mountain resort, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is responsible for relations with the North. Additionally, 40 people from each side will also be allowed to hold talks by video conference on Oct. 22 and 23, and the countries agreed to meet later to discuss possible November reunions. The news comes with much relief for South Koreans who have gone decades with little or no word about loved ones in North Korea. Holding the lottery follows the North’s common pattern of threatening and menacing gestures, followed by friendly offers designed to win much-needed aid and diplomatic concessions. Millions of families have been separated since the Korean War after mass refugee movement in both directions. The two nations forbid citizens from exchanging mail, phone calls and email, so millions of people don’t know if their loved ones are alive or not. To meet their loves ones, South Koreans must apply for a permit, and a lottery is used to decide who will emerge victorious. Most of those applying for permits are over 70, and nearly 56,000 of the roughly 129,000 applicants have died. In the past, such reunions have been rife with embraced each other and shared news of their lives since separations. In addition to the lottery, the two Koreas also agreed Friday to work toward a "fundamental resolution" of the issue of separated families by making the reunions regular events and to allow families to exchange letters………




- A reunion of one of the most unappreciated punk rock bands of the part several decades took place Sunday night in Toronto as The Replacements played live for the first time in 22 years at the Toronto leg of alt-rock road show Riot Fest. Founding members Paul Westerberg and Tommy Stinson represented the band’s original lineup, with an assist from well-known session musicians Josh Freese and Dave Minehan. "Sorry it took us so long. For 25 years we've been having a wardrobe debate… unresolved," frontman Westerberg told the crowd. The band ripped through 23 tracks including 'Bastards Of Young', 'Can't Hardly Wait', 'Swingin Party', 'Alex Chilton' and covers of Chuck Berry's 'Maybellene' and The Sham's 'Borstal Breakout.’ The show was the first of at least three comeback gigs for the Mats, with show planned at Riot Fest Chicago on Sept. 15 and Riot Fest Denver on Sept. 21. For those ignorant of their beginnings, The Replacements formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1979 and went on to release seven studio albums. Their most successful release, 1989’s “Don’t Tell a Soul,” peaked at No. 59 on the U.S. albums chart. With the sort of critical acclaim of fan following as The Ramones or Clash, the band played their final live show before breaking up in Chicago on July 21, 1991. Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong has hailed them as an influence on his own music (a better compliment before Green Day became mainstream sellouts) and said attending a Replacements gig "changed my whole life.” The Cribs, Goo Goo Dolls and They Might Be Giants have also credited the Mats as an influence. The band's original lead guitarist Bob Stinson, older brother of Tommy, passed away in 1995, hence the modified lineup for the “reunion” show…….




- Unless Chris Farley has come back to life and is traversing the United States selling brake pads with David Spade in a last-ditch effort to save his fathers auto parts company, deer typically do not end up in the back seats of cars. Yet that is precisely what happened a few days ago in Georgia, Vt. Four people were driving along normally on Route 104A in Georgia when their pickup truck suddenly became a ride for four humans and a hooved intruder who was likely just as shocked as his new riding buddies as to his location. All four people somehow avoided major injuries when the deer crashed through their windshield. According to police, the deer jumped into the road and was struck by a van. After the collision, the deer careened through the air and crashed into the truck, which was coming from the other direction. By the time it came to a sudden stop, the deer was in the back seat of the extended-cab truck. "They're pretty fortunate it appears that, you know, they're probably not seriously hurt," Georgia Fire Chief Keith Baker said. Following the collision, the four passengers - two adults and two children - were taken to a local hospital for evaluation. Just remember this incident the next time someone tries to tell you that life in a middle-of-nowhere place such as….er….um…..Georgia, Vt. is never exciting………

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