- Has Sam Gagner finally stopping moving, or will he
continue to be that one item that everyone wants to steal at your family’s
white elephant gift exchange every Christmas? For the time being, it appears
that the new Arizona Coyotes center
can settle in and have a reasonable expectation that he need not change
addresses any time soon. That should come as a relief to Gagner after he was
twice swapped on Sunday night, going from the frigid hellhole of western Canada
that is Edmonton to Tampa, only to see Tampa flip him to the Coyotes 90 minutes
after acquiring him. "It's been a roller coaster of emotions," Gagner
said. "I was talking to my agent, and he had said when Tampa traded for me
that there might be something else going on. So it was something that I was
prepared for. I wasn't really expecting to be traded [again] today." To be
fair, few players expect to be traded within two hours of being traded for a
first time, but Gagner had the fortune of never really getting settled in Tampa
before moving on. Gagner initially went to Tampa Bay in a deal that sent left
wing Teddy Purcell to Edmonton and was then sent packing again when he and right
wing B.J. Crombeen were sent west in a deal that sent a sixth-round pick to
Tampa Bay. "We are very pleased to acquire a talented, young center like Sam
Gagner," Coyotes general manager Don Maloney said. "He has the
intelligence, character and skill set we were looking for and we believe he has
further growth in his game. We look forward to welcoming Sam to Arizona."
If Gagner can replicate the 10 goals and 27 assists in 67 games he tallied last
season while battling through injuries, then Arizonz should have itself a solid
center. "I hold myself to higher standards than that," Gagner said of
his play last season. When the weather is nice and toasty this winter in
Phoenix and there are several feet of snow on the ground in Edmonton, that
trade is going to feel even better……….
- Color the world stunned. Six months after Cuba enacted a
new law allowing residents to buy vehicles without a special permit for the
first time in decades, the whips aren't exactly flying off the lots on the
island nation. In a country where the average Cuban earns about $20 a month, it’s
simply unfathomable to comprehend how people aren't rushing to the used car lot
to buy something they can't afford and which would result in them not having
the money to feed their family for a few weeks on end. According to Cuban
authorities, auto dealerships have sold just 50 automobiles and four
motorcycles across the country in the nearly six months since the new law took
effect. A government news outlet reported that sales totaled about $1.3 million
and while that number doesn’t exactly seem robust, it actually works out to an
average of about $23,800 per vehicle. Given the actual quality of the cars that
are being bought and sold, that price tag is every bit as inflated as it
appears and then some. This dour news stands in stark contrast to the scene
that played out in December, when many Cubans celebrated wildly at the
announcement of the new law. Their delight lasted as long as it took for them
to get one look at the sticker price on those new rides they dreamed of buying.
How massive are the markups? A Peugeot family car that listed for $262,000 in
Havana costs $53,000 in the United Kingdom, so a 400-percent bump in price is
about as exorbitant as you’ll liable to find anywhere in the world………
- Andy Serkis has a propensity for portraying weirdos on the big screen.
He’s best known for his role in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy as
Gollum and as Caesar in the new “Planet of the Apes” movie, but Serkis can play
human characters as well and in that capacity, he has revealed that he will
appear in the forthcoming “Avengers” sequel. Serkis, who owns motion-capture
company, The Imaginarium, was already working on the Marvel blockbuster as a
consultant. Perhaps having Serkis around inspired producers to find a place on
screen for him and Serkis hinted at that very possibility. "I'm not at
liberty to mention. But it's all the same to me. I've never drawn a distinction
when playing a role, whether it be live action or performance capture,” Serkis
said. “Acting is acting. It's just basically what you wear to the set that's
different. On Avengers, I've been working closely with Mark Ruffalo."
Whether Serkis finds his way in front of the camera or remains firmly
entrenched behind it in his creative role for what will certainly be one of the
biggest blockbusters of 2015, there is little doubt that the sequel to the “Avengers”
film that dominated the worldwide box office in 2012 will do massive numbers. The
debut date for the project is May 1 and with big names abounding and the hype
machine already cranking for the superhero team-up film, bringing Gollum into
the fold should give fanboys everywhere another reason to queue up for advance
tickets……..
- Dear everyone with the account information and password
for the Dallas Police Department’s official Twitter feed: You may handle loaded
guns on the job every day, but social media sites are a loaded weapon of a
different sort. Whoever was responsible for that Twitter feed over the weekend
got way too far ahead of themselves – and the truth – when it appeared that Denver Broncos
cornerback and Berkner High School graduate Aqib Talib was arrested at a Dallas
night club. Perhaps the officer or office desk jockey who thumbed out that
tweet knew that Talib has a rap sheet, having been arrested in 2009 for resisting
arrest without violence and simple battery and in 2011, police in Garland, Tex.
issued an arrest warrant for him for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
after accusing him of firing a gun at his sister's boyfriend. Maybe that person
was simply overcome with the chance to break the news that an active NFL
players and one of the best cornerbacks in the game was busted by Dallas’
finest…..but either way, it’s typically important for law enforcement to
actually get the facts right when an arrest is made and in this case, that did
not happen. According to the tweet, Talib was arrested for “public
intoxication” and was “throwing bottles causing a disturbance.” It sounded
like typical drunken behavior from a liquored-up professional athlete and it
would have been… had Aqib Talib actually been involved. Unfortunately, Talib’s
agent, Todd France, stepped in to inject some truth into the mix. France had
the temerity to accurately inform the world via Twitter that Aqib Talib was not
arrested in Dallas. Instead, it was the cornerback’s brother, Yaqub Talib. Faced with the truth,
the officer who tweeted out the original announcement was forced to double back
quickly. “#Breaking correction – Yaqub Talib 31yrs old was arrested. My
apologies to Aqib Talib. Original information reported was incorrect,” the
erroneous officer replied. As always, think (and fact-check) twice and tweet
once, social media users…….
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