- Just
another case of fraternities being fraternities. At Miami
University in Oxford, Ohio, the internal mentality is that of the most arrogant
public university in the Buckeye State, with MU staff, students and faculty
esteeming themselves to be several cuts above the slugs at other state schools.
The wrongness of that mindset could not be more clearly illustrated than it is
in the actions of two fraternities suspended from all activities and another
placed on probation for hazing rituals and conduct violations. These bros are
merely doing what frat bros do - or at least they were until the university put
them on ice. Leading the charge for bro-tastic idiocy was Sigma Nu, whose
members forced pledges to tally how many beers they drank on their chests, encouraging
them to attempt 100. Pouring four-plus cases of Keystone Light down your throat
in a single drinking session is a feat that should probably be attempted in the
parking lot of your local hospital in order to minimize the commute when you
need to be treated for alcohol poisoning, but that was merely the start of the
Sigma Nu shenanigans. The fraternity is also accused of prohibiting pledges
from shaving or showering and then embarrassing the pledges by sending pictures
of their slovenly selves via Snapchat and text messages. For those infractions,
the frat is suspended through 2018, meaning their ban is one year less than the
one Phi Kappa Psi received after officials found "inappropriate"
pictures taken of an individual without consent. Toss in Kappa Sigma’s double
super secret probation for lesser offenses and it’s clear that acting like your
school is better than everyone else doesn’t mean that folks on campus act that
way……….
- The
NHL continues to lag behind the three major American professional sports
leagues - NBA, NFL and Major League Baseball - and a realist might argue that
UFC is on the verge of blowing right by hockey in terms of popularity. That
means NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his stooges
should be doing anything possible to promote their sport and not trying to rein
in its growth by doing stupid sh*t like considering having NHL players skip the
2018 Olympics. The issue came up again this week with news that the World Cup
of Hockey is coming back. That news had some suggesting that NHLers may not
take part in both, but arguably the worst commissioner in American professional
sports (at least the worst not named Roger Goodell) disagrees - sort of. "I
don't think one has anything to do with the other," Bettman said. Still,
Bettman hasn’t publicly gotten behind the league's players going to
Pyeongchang, South Korea. What he does like is the prospect of possibly
skipping a small-time Games in 2018 and exploiting the massive new market that
is China four years later. "The possibility of being at an Olympics in
China is something we have to look at very carefully," Bettman said,
alluding to the 2022 Olympic Games. "There may be a lot of opportunities
to grow the game quicker than any other way possible based on the nature of the
way the Chinese government focuses on sports and initiatives. Not to diminish
South Korea, but in terms of sheer magnitude, it's not the same as China."
Gotta love the, “No offense, South Korea,” because as always, if you’re
promising no offense, someone is about to be offended. International Ice Hockey Federation President
Rene Fasel is trying to resolve the 2018 Olympics dispute with Bettman and NHL
Players' Association Executive Director Don Fehr, but for now the question is
wholly unresolved……….
- Much
to the surprise of no one, Venezuela’s executive and judicial systems have
officially completed their push to bring the hammer down on jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. Lopez was
convicted and sentenced this week to almost 14 years in prison, the maximum
allowed, because he allegedly incited violence as leader of protests last year
in which several dozen people died. With some of his supporters gathered in a
Caracas plaza, Lopez received punishment as his sycophants and government
loyalists clashed outside the courthouse. In his defense, the opposition leader
has repeatedly denied the charges and maintains that he only urged peaceful
demonstration against President/dictator Nicolas Maduro's socialist government.
Lopez is a Harvard-educated former mayor of a wealthy Caracas district who
doesn’t seem to have received a fair trial, not when the court rejected all but
two defense witnesses, both of whom ultimately declined to testify. Oh, and the
court allowed the prosecution call more than 100 witnesses to make its case.
The entire case was such a farce that Lopez sometimes refused to attend out of
protest and his attorneys argued that Judge Susana Barreiros abruptly ended the
proceedings last week even though many witnesses had yet to take the stand. The
only mildly positive news for Lopez is that the judge magnanimously credited
him for time served, topping that off with 13 years, 9 months, 7 days, and 12
hours behind bars. The crux of the prosecution’s case was Lopez's public
statements last year when, under the slogan "The Exit," he and other
hardliners pushed for Maduro's resignation. Critics claim he conspired with the
United States and student demonstrators, while human rights groups immediately
condemned the verdict. Despite this turn for the worst, Lopez continues to be
one of Venezuela's most popular politicians with approval numbers approaching
50 percent, or about 20 percent higher than Maduro’s ratings……….
- Give
“Doctor Who” star Peter Capaldi credit for dreaming big. Capaldi, who
showed up in a recent teaser for the upcoming ninth season of the show, seems
to be thinking rock and roll when it comes to improving the BBC's long-running sci-fi show. Capaldi
said he would like David Bowie and Keith Richards to guest star in forthcoming
episodes, making his pitch during an address to the audience at a special
advanced screening of the first two episodes of the new season. He said Bowie
would make a "very good" guest on the show and truthfully, he may be
right. When you can convince the über-pompous rock icon to show up, he brings a
certain gravitas with him. Of course, he big-timed the 2012 Summer Olympics in
his home country, so getting Bowie to show up as he did when he appeared as
himself in a 2006 episode of Ricky Gervais' sitcom “Extras” is no simple task. Bowie’s most recent run at acting came in a
short cameo as himself in the 2009 teen movie “Bandslam.” Bowie doesn’t seem to have much interest in
playing anyone other than himself and given his penchant for rampant
narcissism, that should surprise no one. Capaldi said during the same speech
that he would love to see "Keith Richards
stumbling around the TARDIS, knocking out a few chords.” Richards has done
quite a bit of acting as well and unlike Bowie, he’s players characters who aren't
himself, including a turn as Captain Teague, the father of Johnny Depp's
character Captain Jack Sparrow, in the “Pirates
Of The Caribbean” films. The ninth season of the revival of “Dr. Who”
will kick off later this month with a two-part episode and alongside Peter
Capaldi's Doctor and Jenna Coleman's companion Clara Osward, a mix of returning
cast members and newcomers should make for an interesting mix………
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