- Old man power and confidence are in full effect in
professional sports. Former NFL great Herschel Walker recently said that he
could contribute as a running back at the age of 49 and now, one of the
all-time great age-defying stars of professional baseball is stepping back onto
the field – albeit at the independent league level. Three-time All-Star and 1991
American League batting champion Julio Franco was one of the truly amazing
tales of Major League Baseball through his 23 seasons. Known early on for his
unorthodox batting stance in which he held the bat directly above his head,
parallel to the ground, Franco was an All-Star MVP for the Rangers in 1990 and
played for the Phillies, Indians, White Sox, Brewers, Rays, Braves and Mets in
addition to Texas. His best-known feat, however, is remaining a viable major
leaguer until he retired in 2008 at the age of 49. After developing a reputation
as a guy who knew how to party at the outset of his career, he morphed into a
man of faith who was such a “body as temple” guy that he woke up at 3 a.m. to
drink protein-packed fruit smoothies and famously refused to eat a piece of the
birthday cake his teammates brought to the clubhouse late in his career to
celebrate one of his many birthdays while in baseball. Now, six years after
retiring, Franco is making a comeback of sorts. He has agreed to join the Fort
Worth Cats of the United Baseball League as a player-coach during the club's
first homestand. The comeback begins Tuesday and runs through May 28. "I'm
very excited about the opportunity to play and coach in Fort Worth and
reconnect with my friends, former teammates and Texas Rangers staff
members," Franco said. "I love Fort Worth and I'm very excited about
the opportunity to work with the younger players and entertain the fans."
It isn't exactly an on-ramp to the majors, but merely playing any sort of
professional baseball five years short of his 60th birthday is a feat only
someone like Julio Franco would attempt……….
- Police in Harare, Zimbabwe are angry. How angry? Angry enough to start blasting illegal
private taxis traversing the streets of the country’s capital with club shots
that crack windshields and deliver loud messages. Numerous scenes of officers
using their sticks to shatter glass windows on taxi minivans have been
witnesses by tourists and reporters and even the government admits such actions
are rogue behavior by the police. Officers are taking the issue of
the illegal industry of private taxis into their own hands and the results are
terrifying for drivers and passengers alike. Sure, the taxis under attack are
often in terrible condition and their drivers show no concern for – or
knowledge of – the rules of the road, but if a person wants to attempt a
death-defying taxi ride in the name of getting across town, so be it. Harare
doesn’t have a reliable public transportation system, so even a taxi ride with
a 50/50 chance of survival sounds appealing at times. Oh, and there are also
the accusations of police corruption and windows being smashed because drivers
refuse to pay bribes, so add that to the mix as well. Isn't a Harare taxi trip
starting to sound like so much fun? Maybe the engine will blow up midway through
the trip, maybe a tire will blow….or perhaps your driver hasn’t paid enough
bribe money this month and a cop will use his club to obliterate the windshield
as you pass through the wrong part of town. Charity Charamba, a spokeswoman for
the national police, insisted the government is dedicated to eradicating
corruption within its ranks and that any officers who smash windshields are
breaking the law and should be reported to authorities. Reporting the police to
the police can be tough and there have been numerous reports of drivers of
illegal taxis, also known as "kombis," speeding away dangerously to
evade arrest and getting into accidents. Just another day on the mean streets
of Harare……..
- Once again, science has pegged itself a new largest
dinosaur ever to walk the Earth. This time, a team of Argentinean researchers
claim to have found fossils of a dinosaur so large that it would have made
Tyrannosaurus rex seem anorexic by comparison. Dr. Ruben Cueno, director of
Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio in Trelew, Argentina, and his team
unearthed fossils of a sauropod dinosaur that they estimate was the largest
creature to have ever walked the earth. Based on the fossils located, Cueno
estimated that the dinosaur would have weighed at least 77 tons and grown to
three times the size of a Tyrannosaurus rex. Initial credit for the find goes
to a “It looked like a bone, but it was absolutely different from the bones [he
recognized like] horse, llamas and sheep,” Cuneo said. The farmer relayed his
find to Cueno and the research team started its dig not knowing exactly what
they would find. As they dug up more and more dirt, they found a veritable treasure
trove of fossils. So far, the team has found bones for seven dinosaurs, each
the height of a seven-story building and stretching 120 feet from nose to tail.
“[It’s] a major, major beast that has been discovered for the first time in
Patagonia,” Cuneo added. “It was an amazing discovery.” The digging has only
begun and Cueno estimated that the fully process will likely take up to two
years in order to locate and remove all of the bones at the site. Because not
all of them will be excavated before winter arrives, they will remain in place
as the temperature nosedives, covered by special plaster. A few fossils from
the site have already been transported back to Museo Paleontológico Egidio
Feruglio where a new wing will be created solely to display the new dinosaur
species. Finding the dinosaur means Cueno and his team will get the honor of
naming it. Names are often culled from the geographic area where a species was
first found and can include a tip of the cap to the name of the researcher who
found them. “Super Patagoniasauraus,” Cueno said of one possible option.
“[This] is going to be a major attraction in coming years.” Yes, putting the
word super in front of anything always draws the crowds in……..
- The United States may not be well-prepared for many things
that befall it – wildfires, hurricanes, banking crises among them – but
thankfully, the powers that be are ready for the potential disasters that
really matter. For example, everyone knows the very real danger awaiting the
world should the dreaded zombie apocalypse ever materialize. Having the undead
walking the streets terrorizing humanity is a terrifying possibility and with
that in mind, the U.S. military has a plan of action ready to go should either
an alien attack or a zombie uprising occur. Declassified defense department
documents titled "CONOP 8888” lay out a plan by officials from U.S.
Strategic Command to be used as a training template for how to plan for
real-life, large-scale operations, emergencies and catastrophes. In other
words, they’re preparing for a zombie attack and pretending that it’s all part
of an important, general training exercise. "The document is identified as
a training tool used in an in-house training exercise
where students learn about the basic concepts of military plans and order development through a fictional training
scenario," said Navy Capt. Pamela Kunze, a
spokeswoman for U.S. Strategic Command. Sure,
the document is not an official U.S. Strategic
Command plan, but the fact that their military has a viable strategy for
dealing with the sort of menace not yet seen outside “The Walking Dead” is
reassuring. According to CONOP 8888, zombie life forms "created via
some form of occult experimentation in what
might otherwise be referred to as 'evil
magic,' to vegetarian zombies that pose no threat to humans
due to their exclusive consumption of vegetation, to
zombie life forms created after an organism is infected
with a high dose of radiation are among the invaders the document outlines." The operation has multiple
phases, including zombie awareness training, reconnaissance missions to assess
readiness for re-habitation following a zombie invasion and even rules of
engagement with zombies. "The only assumed way to effectively cause
causalities to the zombie ranks by tactical force is the concentration of all
firepower to the head, specifically the brain," the plan notes. "The
only way to ensure a zombie is 'dead' is to burn the zombie corpse.” Well said,
Pentagon……….
- At least “Guardians Of The
Galaxy”
director James Gunn isn't delusional. Very much proud of his own work with his
new superhero team-up flick, Gunn has heard the words of praise for Marvel’s well-received
“The Avengers” series and wants his movie to receive what he feels is its due
recognition. In trying to nudge “Guardians” up a level, the director reached
for the usually ill-advised Beatles vs. Rolling Stones analogies and said that
if “Avengers” is truly The Beatles, then “Guardians” is The Rolling Stones. "We fit in,
we are Marvel-cosmic, just the outer space wing of Marvel and it is pretty fun.
I think of the Avengers as The Beatles and the Guardians are the Rolling
Stones,” Gunn said. “That is really how I feel about the groups.” Gunn didn’t
explain whether that comment meant that his movie will include copious amounts
of drug use by cast members, multiple run-ins with the law and a fatal riot
during a concert at Altamont, but it is known that “Guardians” will star Chris
Pratt and Bradley Cooper and open later this summer. Because Gunn’s films are
known for their dark sense of humor, the question of whether that style was
injected into this particular film is one to which fanboys have devoted plenty
of time and space on their vaunted message boards. "When I turned in my
first draft to Marvel, they were really happy with the screenplay, which of
course I was overjoyed with,” Gunn said. “The only comment that they had is
that they just wanted it to be 'more James Gunn', and that's what I did.” In
addition to Pratt and Cooper, “Guardians” also includes Zoe Saldana, Vin Diesel,
John C. Reilly, Benicio Del Toro and WWE wrestler Dave Bautista. A possible
sequel is already being discussed internally, with a possible 2016 release date
in the works. To truly match the Stones, about 20 more sequels will need to
follow……….
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