- Academic fraud is this year’s must-have accessory in
college athletics. North Carolina has its own allegations of players having
work done for them and cheating in African American studies courses and other
schools have had small-scale incidents of their own, but it’s not often a
prestigious place like Notre Dame joins the fun. On the cusp of starting a new
season, the Fighting Irish football program is currently minus four key players, including two starters, who will
not be allowed to participate in football activities as the university
continues an internal investigation into academic misconduct. The school
released a statement explaining that there was "evidence that students had
submitted papers and homework that had been written for them by others." The
four accused players were part of that group, whose alleged actions came to
light on July 29, when evidence was reported to the athletics compliance office.
Say a big hello to KeiVarae Russell, the team's best cornerback, leading
returning receiver DaVaris Daniels, defensive end Ishaq Williams and backup
linebacker Kendall Moore. All four players will be held out of practice during
the investigation, but are still enrolled at the school and have access to
academic and other support services. Russell, Daniels and Williams were all
projected starters for a team ranked No. 17 in the preseason USA Today/Coaches
poll and their alleged indiscretions come one year after quarterback Everett
Golson missed the season after being suspended from school for what he called
poor academic judgment. With four players sidelined, coach Brian Kelly must
find answers quickly ahead of the team’s home opener against Rice on Aug. 30. Athletic
director Jack Swarbrick said Kelly was "devastated" by the news, but
school officials said there is no evidence the coach knew of any wrongdoing.
That won't help the Irish win any games, but it should be helpful in the future
when Kelly is fighting for his job………
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! The sh*t got very real and very
angry Saturday in Pakistan's capital, where an outspoken anti-government cleric led a
massive rally of thousands of protesters in who persisted despite pouring rain
in order to make their demands heard that the country’s prime minister step
down over alleged fraud in last year's election. Cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri added
some star power to his uprising with famous cricketer-turned-politician Imran
Khan and together, the duo have drawn tens of thousands of demonstrators to
dual protests that have disrupted life across Islamabad. Their campaign is
designed to get Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to step down over alleged fraud in
the country's May 2013 election. There is something of a Mexican standoff
between the two sides at the moment, as Sharif has refused to resign and the protesters
have vowed to remain in the streets until Sharif leaves office. None of this
bodes well for the future of a country that only saw its first democratic
transfer of power last year. "Nawaz Sharif should be arrested when he
steps down and he should not be allowed to leave the country," Qadri said,
adding that his followers must continue protesting until they bring about a
"peaceful revolution" complete with the dissolution of Parliament and
fresh elections. For his part, Sharif has labeled Qadri's demands as unconstitutional
and has given no indication he intends to step down. That stance seems to have
only antagonized Khan, who doesn’t sound like a man ready to cave in. "I
will not go back to my home without getting resignation from Nawaz
Sharif," he said. Khan and Qadri have vowed to bring 1 million followers
into the streets of Islamabad, a lofty goal in a city with 1.7 million
dwellers. Hopefully, a round of Molotov cocktails aren’t far off………
- Craig Ferguson decided to bolt CBS when he was passed over
in the search to replace the retiring David Letterman, but the snarky Scot
hasn’t yet figured out where he’s headed next….but a solution is apparently
imminent. Ferguson
is in final negotiations with Tribune Media to host a daily syndicated
half-hour talk show in the 7 p.m. time slot across Tribune Broadcasting’s 42
stations. The show may not have a host with a contract, but it is tentatively
slated to debut in the fall of 2015. Ferguson is rumored to be bringing his ““The
Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson” executive producer Michael Naidus with him
to helm the project. In what will surely be an ambitious effort given its
half-hour run time, the show is set to combine with comedy and talk show
components with the aim of adding juice to the time slot leading up to prime
time. By combining Ferguson with a rerun of one of CBS’ top sitcoms, perhaps
“The Big Bang Theory” or “Two and a Half Man,” Tribune is trying to add
interest to a time when many TV views have other things to do so they can have
time to sit down and watch their favorite shows starting at 8 p.m. One hurdle
for the show is national distribution, with Tribune negotiating with
distributors to carry Ferguson’s new show beyond its own stations, which only
reach 42 percent of U.S. markets but do cover major markets such as New York,
Chicago and Los Angeles. Regardless of who carries it, the show will make
history in that it is the first syndicated show of its kind developed for the
hour leading into primetime - 7 p.m. PT/ET and 6 p.m. CT/MT – in many years. An
established fan base for Ferguson would be a nice building block for this new
endeavor…….
- Is it a dream come true…or a curse? Rock Island, Ill.
barber Miguel Rosas is about to find out after his skills with the clippers
earned him a prize that could bring a greasy, premature and cholesterol-clogged
ending to his life. Yes, Rosas has been rewarded with free Kentucky Fried Chicken for the rest of
his life. He earned the prize by shaving and painting the restaurant’s famed Colonel
Sanders logo in the back of his client’s head. Once it was finished, Rosas and
his client headed down to the local KFC to show off their follicular art. “When
we went inside everybody pretty much just stopped working,” Rosas said. “All
the employees came up to us and started taking pictures of the design.” Later
that day, Rosas received a call from a district manager for KFC who said he
wanted to see the design in person. When they two men met the next day,
excitement for the design was already building. “He told me that they wanted to
possibly get my work on the KFC website and possibly use it on a commercial,”
Rosas said. KFC officials gave him a massive stack of coupons good for free
meals at the fast food eatery and promised there were more where those came
from. “He told me when I run out to call him and he would get me more,” Rosas added.
All of this could not have been on Rosas’ radar when he began cutting hair at
the age of 13 or when he attended barber college as a high school student. He opened
The New Style Barber Shop in 2007 and now employs eight barbers, allowing him
time to begin entering competitions and doing more intricate designs several
years ago and win 12 first-place trophies along the way. Hopefully the fat,
grease and calories he’s about to ingest at his new regular lunch destination don’t
get in the way of his skills in the shop……….
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