- Most basketball fans aren't making any effort to follow
the FIBA World Cup, so does it really matter of one of the participating teams
isn't exactly going all-out to win games? In case you’re one of those who
hasn’t tuned in, the World Cup brought together 23 of the best basketball teams
in the world – and the B-list squad of guys who didn’t have anything better to
do that the United States brought to Spain for the tournament – and the event
is now down to the final eight teams. One of the team that tried but failed to
make it to the quarterfinals is Australia, but their elimination wasn’t for
lack of trying…by not trying. See, the World Cup schedule determines which
teams will play in the elimination rounds by their position in the group stage
portion of the tournament. Finish in fourth place in Group D and you play the
corresponding team from Group C…and so forth. Entering their final group stage
game, the Aussies were in an awkward position. If they won, they would play the
aforementioned Americans in the round of eight. That would mean a certain exit
and rather than lose and take their party back home, the Australians
(allegedly) took a different approach. Depending on whom you ask, the
Australian team tanked its game against Angola, losing 91-83. After seeing the
game unfolded, FIBA said "it is
widely suspected that Australia lost" on purpose and launched an
investigation. According to the organization, "on-court behavior ...
generated huge disappointment by basketball fans and experts." The result enraged
Phoenix Suns and Slovenia star Goran Dragic, whose team dropped into the spot
Australia tanked to avoid. Dragic took to Twitter to blast the Aussies,
tweeting, “Basketball is a beautiful sport, there is no room for fixing
the game like today Australia vs Angola!! @FIBA should do something about that!”
Australia’s plan failed before it could reach the semifinals when it lost 65-64 to Turkey on Sunday and was
eliminated from the tournament. Loss or not, Basketball Australia has been
ordered by FIBA to "state its case" before a decision on possible
disciplinary sanctions…….
- Mind your Taser, bro. It’s a valuable lesson for anyone
owning a Taser of any vintage, but especially police officers for whom a stun
gun is part of the standard equipment for a day on the job. That lesson would
have served one particular Pulaski, Ark. deputy well after he was stunned with his own Taser during a
struggle with a man resisting arrest at Highway 365 and Dixon Road south of
Little Rock. The deputy was pursuing suspect Marcus Venson after Venson was
accused of pointing a gun at another man. According to Lt. Carl Minden of the
Pulaski Police Department, Venson was "drive-stunned" by a deputy
with a Taser, meaning Taser cartridge probes are not released, but a painful
jolt is delivered to force compliance. At some point during the struggle,
Venson was able to battle through the pain and wrest the Taser away from the
deputy. Once he got the gun, he knew what to do with it and fired it, with one
of the probes striking the deputy in the face just below the eye. Venson tried
to Tase a second deputy, but missed and the two deputies were able to take back
the Taser and drive-stun the suspect three more times before subduing him. The
fight left both deputy and suspect in need of medical attention and both were
treated at a hospital and released. The entire saga began earlier that evening
when police received a complain alleging that Venson had behaved in a
threatening manner toward another man. As it turned out, this upstanding
citizen has a reputation around his neighborhood for carrying a weapon and
using drugs, which seems totally out of character, but nonetheless prompted police
to act. Around 10 p.m., a deputy attempted to apprehend Venson and from there,
sh*t got real……..
- Sun Kil Moon's Mark Kozelek is not always the most audience-friendly
artist. With a well-earned reputation for being eclectic, aloof and eccentric,
Kozelek has done his best to build a barrier between himself and fans despite
his immense songwriting talents and musical gifts. His latest bit of
performance art during a show at the Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh, N.C. should
definitely help in not only keeping that barrier intact, but extending it even
further – much, much further. It appears Kozelek was not enamored with the
behavior of the audience at the Lincoln Theatre and when some members of the
audience got a bit too interactive, he decided it was time to put them in their
place. According to witnesses, Kozelek stopped the show and traded verbal barbs
with several members of the audience. During his mini-rant, he may have stepped
over the line when he described the audience as "fucking hillbillies"
and told people to "shut the fuck up" so he could get on with his set
and get the hell out of their Bumpkinville of a town. "I don't give a fuck
if I get paid or not, I'm gonna walk,” Kozelek allegedly threatened at one
point. The actual intent of those words is up for debate, with Kozelek later
claiming that his remarks were intended as a joke and nothing more. That
viewpoint was not shared by at least one member of the audience who snapped an
Instagram photo of graffiti left outside the venue featuring the words
"Sun Kil Moon Go Fuck Yourself." This would not be the first time an
artist and his fans have had a difference of opinion over a show, but Mark
Kozelek, mellow indie singer-songwriter with a knack for storytelling ballads
and lengthy sonic opuses verbally sparring with a crowd of angry North
Carolinians is a far cry from Tyler, The Creator of Odd Future being on the
verge of fighting an entire crowd of enraged hip-hop fans at the SXSW festival
in Austin. Maybe Kozelek needs to mix in some hot yoga or meditation before his
sets, or he could always channel his inner Kanye and start sampling, rapping
and wearing lots of iced-out jewelry……….
- World, Tunisia needs your help. You might not know where
Tunisia is (northern Africa) and you might not know what its chief natural
resource is (sand), but that should not stop you from lending a hand to a
nation in need. Open your heart, channel your inner compassionate soul and
listen to Tunisia's prime minister as he calls for greater foreign
investment to help support the country's ailing economy and its transition to
democracy. This foolproof strategy made its world premiere at a conference
entitled "Investment in Tunisia: Startup Democracy” and it was there that Prime
Minister Mehdi Jomaa coined the idea that "investing in Tunisia is an
investment in democracy." One might recall that Tunisians overthrew their
dictator in 2011 and are set to complete the democratic transition with autumn
elections, so this is a great chance to get in on the ground floor of the world’s
newest democracy. Opportunities abound and while newly minted democracies such
as Iraq have struggled and devolved into a morass of militant aggression,
murder and genocide in recent months, that in no way means the same thing is
going to happen in an impoverished nation with a faltering economy boasting a
15.7 percent unemployment rate and more than 15 percent of the population
living under the poverty line, up from 10 percent in 2010. Look not at the fact
than government banking official Chadli Ayari said growth for 2014 is predicted
to only be 2.8 percent, while inflation is at 7 percent, but look rather at the
30 countries that attended the conference and ask yourself, “Do I really want
to pass up on such a great opportunity to spend money I’ll never get back?”
Ponder and then pull out that wallet………
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