Monday, May 11, 2015

Senior prank rules, Spanish farming heroes and reasons to brawl in MLB


- The revolving door turns once more for Canadian faux-glam rockers The Darkness. Justin Hawkins and Co. have had a hard time keeping a drummer behind the high hats in recent months after founding member Ed Graham left at the end of 2014. The band hired Emily Davies a couple months later, but she exited stage left after less than two months and now, The Darkness are hoping that the offspring of an iconic glam rock band will be the answer for their success going forward. The Darkness have hired Rufus Taylor, son of Queen's Roger Taylor, as their new drummer. Guitarist Dan Hawkins confirmed that Taylor will join them for upcoming live dates. "We already have someone, and we actually played our first show with him last night,” Hawkins said. “The drummist will be known as Rufus Taylor, son of Roger Taylor." Rufus Taylor previously played with the band at a London release party for their upcoming album, 'Last Of Our Kind,' which dropped on April 24. To tease their new drumming hire, frontman Justin Hawkins uploaded a clip of Taylor rehearsing with the band to Instagram. If he can stick for at least three months, Taylor will definitely surpass what Davies brought to the table and given the outlandish glam rock image the band have sought to craft for themselves, all he needs to do is be willing to show up for work on a daily basis while dressed in a lot of spandex and with his hair teased as much as humanly possible. They’ll never be the modern Canadian twist on Queen, but some stability on the cymbals would be a nice change given the way the past year has gone…….


- Sometimes, heroes are humble men known only by their first name and with both dirt under their fingernails and few euros in their bank account – assuming farmers in remote southern regions of Spain even need or have ban accounts. Meet Manuel, a Seville farmer who has been described as a hero for his role in the rescue of the two survivors after a military plane crashed, killing four of the six Spanish crew members. Manuel spoke with Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy in the Andalusian capital in the aftermath of his heroics, which saw him hurry to the Airbus A400M military airlift after it plummeted headlong into a field, bursting into flames. Manuel and two other volunteers spotted two crew members who had suffered serious injuries and helped the two pilots – one of whom was described as semi-conscious after the crash – escape from the wreckage through the plane’s smashed windows. In the process, one of the rescuers reportedly suffered minor burns and Manuel’s actions prompted the grandstanding politician to post a Twitter photo of himself with the farmer tagged with the caption: “Talking to Manuel, the farmer who saved the two wounded from the A400M in Seville. A hero for us all.” The two men pulled from the wreckage were described by Seville hospital authorities as being stable but in a serious condition, one with serious head injuries, burns and multiple fractures; the other with wounds to his upper body and abdomen. All six crew members were military pilots before they had started working for Airbus Defense and Space, but Airbus has so far refused to comment on the cause of the accident. Someone probably should in the demise of the A400M, a massive cargo plane the company said was “designed to be the most reliable airlift ever.” Communications between the pilots and the control tower at San Pablo Airport revealed problems from the early moments of the flight and three minutes in, the pilot asked for permission to return to the airport and land. Moments later came the final communication received from the cockpit: “We aren’t going to make the runway.” Two minutes later, the plane struck the ground around one mile north of Seville’s airport and at that point, Manuel and friends sprung into action………


- Add this to the list of reasons to fake-fight in a baseball game. We all knew that throwing behind the opposition’s best hitter, throwing a a pitch at someone’s head and taking too long to admire the home run you just blasted into the second deck in right field were all reasons for the benches and bullpens to empty and fill the field with fake tough guys looking to act tough without having to throw any actual punches. What we may not have known prior to this weekend’s series between the Texas Rangers and Tampa Bay Rays is that we found out that an infielder apparently blocking a running from sliding back into a base on a pickoff attempt is also a reason to pretend that you want to brawl. That’s what happened in the fourth inning when Tampa Bay's Asdrubal Cabrera made a headfirst dive back to the bag and Texas second baseman Adam Rosales appeared to block him. It looked like Rosales' elbow might have made contact with Cabrera and when a rankled Cabrera used his forearm to push away Rosales, the benches and bullpens emptied. The incident also resulted in a manager's replay challenge, but the rage cooled as quickly as it heated up and Cabrera and Rosales were seen chatting amicably before played resumed. "Obviously I don't want to inflict pain on anybody," Rosales said. "I let him know it was not my intention to hurt him." Still, Texas challenged the safe call, which was confirmed after 3½ minutes. "I trust our video people, and they felt that somewhere in there he was off the bag and we made the tag," Rangers manager Jeff Banister said. "[Umpire] Dana [Demuth] explained the tag might have been applied after timeout had been called." Rays manager Kevin Cash termed it “an awkward play,” but it’s further proof that the secret code by which baseball players live and operate on the field has nuances and caveats that literally no one fully understands or knows by heart. Stay ridiculous, baseball……..


-  There are two rules for a senior prank: 1) Make it epic and 2) Don’t get caught. Four forward thinkers in Springfield, Ohio got the first of those rules down, but they didn’t do so well on the second one and as a results, they were arrested and charged with felonies after damaging 24 school buses as part of an attempt to make a name for themselves in the Northwestern Local School District and throughout Clark County. According to Clark County sheriff's officials, a quartet of seniors removed valve stems from tires on buses used by the district and as proof that their prank achieved its desired purpose, the vandalism forced school officials to cancel all classes in the 2,000-student district. The prime suspects in the crime are Taylor Monroe, Stewart Parrott, Anthony Esposito and Justin Weekly, all of whom are charged with vandalism and disrupting public service. According to the sheriff’s office, the students also left behind a message written in chalk that read: "You have been pranked by seniors 2015" and "To have school or to not have school?" Rather than appreciate the fact that these guys had clearly been paying attention during the Shakespeare curriculum in their senior English class, the district and the law chose to focus on the fact that repairs to the buses will cost thousands of dollars. “I’m disappointed in the students,” district superintendent Tony Orr said. “We expect our students to use better judgment. But in this case, they did not.” Find, T., but whatever happened to laughing off young stupidity? "They’re going to have to pay for it,” Orr said, adding that the students caused "some real damage."  He said students might have to make up the canceled day, but graduation will not be affected. And yet, such rage against those (allegedly) responsible……..

No comments: