- Give San Francisco 49ers tight end Vernon Davis points
for honesty. He may not win points with fans for much of anything else in the
near future, but at least the perennial Pro Bowler is owning the fact that he has stayed away from the 49ers' voluntary
sessions this offseason and is toying with the idea of not showing up for the
49ers' mandatory minicamp because he wants more cash in his already-flush bank
account. Writing a column that laid out his position, Davis explained that it’s
all about one thing for him: Straight cash, homey. "In 2010 I signed a
five-year, $37 million contract extension with $23 million guaranteed. It was
the biggest contract for a tight end in league history," Davis wrote.
"Four years later, and I'm playing at a higher level than I was then,
which brings me to why I'm holding out. It's all about getting paid what you
deserve. It's not that complicated. I want the 49ers to win the Super Bowl, and
I want to be on the field this summer working towards that goal, but I have to
worry about my future first." It’s not the message fans want to hear and
there
is every chance Davis shows up for camp and continues to
whine about his deal, which is a time-honored tactic for disgruntled NFL stars.
Becoming a holdout seems glamorous, but being fined and antagonizing teammates
and fans isn't all it’s cracked up to be. Earlier this month, Davis addressed
the issue and was curiously cryptic. "If
it's mandatory, I think I should be there. My foot could get stuck in the
grass, and I may not be able to get out ... but if it's mandatory, I think I
should be there,” Davis said at the time. Stay tuned on this mess in the
making……..
- Who could have seen this one coming? Hoarders, the filthy
and mentally troubled stars of basic cable reality shows because of their
proclivity for stockpiling 275 umbrellas or 7,551 identical Tupperware
containers because they got a great deal and needed a place to store 75 years’
worth of Time magazines, are asking for an untimely demise on account of their
revolting collecting habits. At some point, the general filth and squalor in
which they live is bound to do them in and if not, the diseased rodents or
other wild animals living under the piles of junk in their decrepit homes will
kill them. Either that or their own home will finally collapse under the weight
of all the crap being stored inside of it and crush said hoarder in an odd
slice of karmic justice. That was the fate of 66-year-old Connecticut resident Beverly Mitchell,
whose body was found in her home Saturday, two days after a postal carrier
called police to request a welfare check because her mail had been piling up
for at least a week. Officers arrived at the house and in a fitting twist,
found the hoarder dead under a pile of debris after the first floor of her
Connecticut home collapsed into the basement under the weight of all the
clutter Sgt. Kevin O’Donnell said officers went to the house Thursday, but
could not find anything that suggested evidence of life and simply figured that
Mitchell wasn’t home. They didn’t sift through the stacks of clutter to the
ceilings along the walls and waist-high piles in other areas and therefore didn’t
realize that the first floor had collapsed until a day later. They finally found
Mitchell’s body on Saturday afternoon and later learned that officers had been
to Mitchell’s house many times over the years responding to requests for
welfare checks by neighbors and other people. Those efforts were ineffective
and in the end, hoarding literally crushed this sad, old woman………
- F*ck the police…. but not the casting director. Yes, the
long-awaited biopic about iconic and seminal rap outfit NWA is rolling ahead
and three major steps forward were taken over the weekend when the three
leading roles in “Straight Outta Compton” were cast. For those who don’t know
and aren’t cool enough to know the history of N*ggas With Attitude, the
legendary rap trio was comprised of Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and the late Eazy E and its influence
has been felt by every hip-hop artist of the past 25 years. Numerous reports
have sketched out the casting choices, with O'Shea Jackson Jr. set to portray his father, Ice Cube. That fitting
casting selection will be paired with Marcus Callender, a relatively inexperienced
actor who has previous roles in “Criminal Justice,” “Blue Bloods” and “Elementary”
and will portray Dr. Dre on the
big screen. According to multiple reports, Dre wanted to have better-known
actor Michael B. Jordan in the role, but Jordan was busy telling people he’s
not THAT Michael Jordan, but rather the one who is committed to the
reincarnation of “The Fantastic Four.” For the final member of NWA, Eazy
E's widow Tomica Wright has signed off on newcomer Jason Mitchell playing her late husband. Mitchell is a totally
unknown commodity who was literally working in a kitchen when he read for the
role. The director for the project
is F. Gary Gray, who helmed the well-done 2003 remake of the action flick “The
Italian Job,” which starred Mark Wahlberg, Edward Norton and Charlize Theron. Trying
to recreate the magic of NWA is another endeavor entirely, but one Gray should
be up to………
- Is everyone ready with their favorite “Hangover” joke?
Hopefully so, because when a bachelor party in the middle of the desert
stumbles across something incredibly valuable in the midst of their bro-tacular
awesomeness, those are the easiest and cheapest jokes around. For a group of
dudes hiking
through Elephant Butte State Park near Albuquerque, N.M. in what could only be
described as one of the worst ideas for a bachelor party ever, there was no booze-addled
debauchery – but there was plenty of “Holy sh*t”-ness going on when they
spotted a large object protruding from the ground. Inexplicably sober and
extremely far from the nearest bar serving Irish car bombs and Guinness, they
not only saw the protruding object clearly, but dug into the ground around it
and discovered what was later identified as a 3 million-year-old stegomastodon
skull. Once they had unearthed enough of the fossil to realize they had found
something noteworthy, the group snapped a few photos and sent them off to the
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque. There, archaeologists
determined that the skull, which weighed about one ton, belonged to a
prehistoric relative of the elephant that lived during the Ice Age. The
creature is believed to have gone extinct around 10,000 years ago. "It's
almost a complete skull. The only thing that's missing is the bottom jaw. The
teeth still have enamel on them," said Randall Gann, the museum's public
information officer. "It's really hard to wrap your head around something
being 3 million years old." The specimen was eventually excavated and will
be studied further, while the bros who found it have arguably the least-b*tchin’
bachelor party tale ever………
- Sweden tends to come at life issues differently than the
rest of the world. The central Swedish town of Hallstahammar not only has a name
that is silly enough to make most Americans chuckles because inside they are
all 5 years old, but it is also making waves with a possible educational
breakthrough that should delight lazy teachers everywhere. Members of the city
council discussed the advantages of abolishing homework in schools at their
monthly meeting, instantly sparking an intense debate on both sides of the
issue. The concept came from members of a Left Party called Vänsterpartiet, who argued that teachers
should teach all necessary lessons in the classroom and not be compelled to
assign any work for students to do once they leaving the building. "Students
shouldn’t have to take home their work and burden their parents with it," said
Christina Aspenryd, chairman of Hallstahammar's children and education board. "When
the students come home they should be free to do what they like.” In making her
case, Aspenryd noted out that students would still have the option to do school
work at home, but the actual assigning of mandatory homework would stop under
this plan. Her rationale…. is dubious at best. "We are aware that children
have very different situations at home," Aspenryd added. "Some
parents are not able to help their children. It’s better that all children get
help in the classroom." Believe it or not, this idea does have a slight
chance in a country with a decidedly liberal reputation when it comes to its approach
to education… unless you ask Education Minister Jan Björklund of the Liberal
People’s Party. Björklund denounced the idea, insisting that homework isn’t a
topic town councils need to address. “If this proposal is passed, I will take
the initiative to change school laws so that cities will not be able to butt in
and affect this kind of pedagogical decision,” Björklund said. Despite that
sound counterpoint, Aspenryd said the proposal will be explored further this
fall, to determine what resources would be necessary to make changes………
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