- The
end of the NFL season is like the end of a calendar year for NFL players. They
conclude their year and head off into the offseason with all sorts of goals and
resolutions to accomplish, all in the name of becoming a better player before
next season begins. Like millions of Americans, Green Bay Packers running back
Eddie Lacy’s mission in his football new year is simple: Say no to General Tso,
lay the smack down on the lo mein and get his fat ass on the treadmill. That
edict was laid down by Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who didn’t look to spare
his star running back’s feelings when discussing Lacy’s performance this season
and what he needs to do to be better next year. "Eddie Lacy, he's got a
lot of work to do. His offseason last year was not good enough, and he never
recovered from it," McCarthy said. "He cannot play at the weight he
was at this year." Calling a player out publicly is typically a last
resort, but McCarthy is running out of options. He benched Lacy twice during
the season and while one of those came after the portly ball carrier missed
curfew the night before the team's Dec. 3 game at Detroit, it was clear based
on playing time that Lacy had fallen out of favor with the coaches. The
case-in-point play came in the team’s 26-20 overtime loss to the Arizona
Cardinals on Saturday in the NFC divisional playoffs, when Lacy broke off a
61-yard run against the Cardinals but gassed out and seemed on the verge of
passing out as he all but stopped and begged for a defender to tackle him and
end his terrifying brush with cardiovascular activity at the end of the run. He
looked nothing like the bruising back who tallied 1,100-yard seasons his first
two seasons in the league……..
- Polish
president Andrzej Duda: desperate leader trying to push his country into a more
prominent position within the European Union or bonafide prophet of doom for
the loose confederation of nations? It’s tough to tell at this point, but no
one can dispute the fact that it’s entertaining to hear him “warning” everyone that
the European Union could face collapse if Britain decides to leave the bloc
following a referendum that could come as early as this summer. His comments
come as the 28-nation EU is negotiating a reform of EU rules aimed at
discouraging a British exit. The EU is aiming to reduce red tape and restore
some decision-making back to national capitals and rushing the changes through
ahead of the referendum on continued EU membership for Britain that Prime
Minister David Cameron is seeking is a crucial matter for the other member nations.
That referendum could decide Britain should remain a member and the rest of the
EU is reticent to see it leave with its free-market orientation, robust foreign
policy and nuclear capabilities. Britain has been a reluctant member at times,
keeping its own currency like Denmark, Sweden and Norway, but Duda said a
departure would be devastating. His theory is that "it would lead to a big
crisis and even a collapse if the U.K. left” and given the fragile state of
that union and the weight of the various migrant and economic crises facing it,
it’s difficult to argue that he’s wrong………
- The
theme song may have promised that, “I’ll be there for you,” but the cast of
“Friends” definitely won't be, not when it comes to a possible reunion movie. Rumors of the six-member cast reuniting
for one reason or antoehr have arisen and dissipated over the past decade and
even a possible get-together at NBC's tribute to sitcom director James Burrows
on Feb. 21 has been dampened by news that cast member Matthew Perry won't
attend because he is in London rehearsing for his play “The End Of Longing.” A reunion movie is something of a pipe dream for
fans of most shows and almost never happen, but that hasn’t stopped “Friends”
fans from dreaming that dream. We’ll see how many of them try to keep it alive
now that Marta Kauffman, co-creator of the iconic sitcom, has flat-out rejected any possibility of such
a movie. "There will never be a ‘Friends’
reunion movie," Kaufman said. It’s similar to a statement she made last
year in which she explained that, "Friends
was about that time in your life when your friends are your family and once you
have a family, there's no need anymore." It wasn’t clear whose family and
friends she was talking about - the characters’, the actors’ or her own - but the
bottom line is that Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc,
David Schwimmer and Perry have all moved on and having a pre-recorded video
message from Perry and the other five together for a tribute show to their
director is as close as anyone is going to get to bringing the series back to
life…….
- Who
wants a shiny, new $1 billion icebreaker ship? Well, aside from all of us
because that kind of transportation is pretty badass even if your nearest body
of water is a koi pond. But in this case, the leaders of the drive for a
hulking new toy for the Coast Guard are Sens. Lisa Murkowski, an Alaska
Republican, and Angus King, a Maine independent, with support from Coast Guard
Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft. That trio led a group calling for the advanced
vessel at an event at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and
International Studies, with Zukunft warning that Russia was militarizing the
Arctic and accusing Vlad Putin and his crew of "saber-rattling" by
conducting unannounced military drills in the Arctic area involving thousands
of troops. His concerns were echoed by Adm. Mark Ferguson, commander of U.S.
Naval Forces Europe, who also pointed out that Russian submarine activity was
at its highest point in 20 years. "Russia is watching what China does in
the East China Sea with the 'nine-dash line' and is working to define what the
continental shelf looks like, to establish a claim and declare its sovereignty,"
Ferguson said. For those not nautically minded, the nine-dash-line refers to
China's claimed territorial waters, which extend hundreds of miles to the south
and east of its island province of Hainan. With China, Russia and everyone else
with more than a dinghy to their national name in the mix, supporters of
spending 10 figures on an icebreaker ship to help get a tighter grip on Arctic
superiority are looking to do all they can to make their expensive ship boat
dreams come true………
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