Thursday, November 17, 2016

Mexican real estate fire sales, dorks honor Harry Potter and college football espionage


- As if football coaches weren't already one of the most paranoid groups in all of America, this isn’t going to help. Odds are that Wake Forest was going to get its ass kicked in last week’s matchup with No. 4 Louisville, but in the wake of a defeat in which the Demon Deacons jumped out to a 12-0 lead against the Cardinals before losing 44-12, the losers are lamenting something unusual. Yes, Wake Forest is launching an investigation into possible college football espionage, claiming there may have been a breach of its game plan prior to the contest. The suspicions arose after Wake Forest discovered documents inside Louisville's stadium that showed specific plays the Demon Deacons had never run previously and now, head coach Dave Clawson wants to know how his team’s traveling party stumbled across these documents. "There somehow was a breach and I've shared it with our AD and we are trying to figure out what happened, and how it happened,” Clawson said. "We're trying to figure out what happened. We're trying to figure out how information got out of our office and that's where we are with it now. We're trying to figure out how a breach happened and we're doing everything we can internally to make sure that all of our information that pertains to us stays in-house." Here’s hoping interrogation sessions with spotlights, two-way mirrors and good cop-bad cop routines are happening in Winston Salem this week and before dismissing the allegations, just realize that notorious liar and scumbag Bobby Petrino is the head coach at Louisville. A guy who has lied and quit on virtually every job he’s had in the past decade-plus, had an affair with a graduate assistant half his age and shown the integrity of an Enron executive crossed with Bernie Madoff wouldn’t steal information from a rival team, right……..


- For too many years, there has been a lack of gender equality amongst our first responders. No, not when it comes to women being given a fair chance to do all of the same physically demanding jobs their male counterparts do, although that’s important because anyone who is physically capable of doing a task should be allowed to perform it regardless of their gender. And not in terms of equal pay for equal work and an atmosphere of respect for everyone in the workplace regardless of their gender, although those definitely matter. Sadly, the one area where the ladies have been forced to lag behind is the all-important world of pinup calendars featuring firefighters, where the long-running mental image most people have is of chiseled, hunky male firefighters wearing nothing more than a hard hat, suspenders and a smile while they strike a pose in front of the fire house. The obvious truth is that there are attractive women fighting fires too and they deserve their chance to shine if they choose to exploit their attractiveness in the name of raising funds for the charity of their choice. Maybe that can change with efforts from heroes like the women of the Tampa Fire Rescue calendar, where the ladies are developing a tradition of raising money for pediatric burn victims by doffing their fire-retardant suits, putting on some makeup and wearing next to nothing in the name of the kids. Those brave beauties gathered recently in downtown Tampa’s Curtis Hixon Park for a photo shoot with the palm trees surrounding them and the city skyline in the background. The odds of anyone purchasing the calendar noticing either the trees or the skyline - or caring about helping children - are low, but the money still benefits those in need and in the process, helps level the playing field for female firefighting hotties all around the nation……


- Harry Potter may have retired from the movie world, but the legions of dweebs he helped inspire live on - and their “sport” with them. Yes, tools in the United Kingdom are honoring the fake sport made famous in the world of Potter by launching the all-new Quidditch Premier League. Quidditch is the fake sport created by JK Rowling in her Potter book and the reason it’s fake is because in the real world, human beings can't zip around the sky riding broomsticks like Potter and his Hogwarts pals. Instead, a bunch of tools running around on the grass holding broomsticks between their legs try to throw balls through hoops, a bastardized offshoot of Quidditch that has been honored in the form of the Quidditch World Cup held biannually since 2005. The UK Quidditch Premier League will be the first long-term effort to expand the sport and will run from May to August 2017. Those who want to take part from anywhere in the world will need to a) find a way to attend tryouts in April and b) live in the U.K. during the season so they can play for the London Monarchs, Southwest Broadside, Southeast Knights, Eastern Mermaids, Northern Watch, Yorkshire Roses, East Midland Archers or West Midland Shredders. Each team of tools will represent a different region of the country. “The Quidditch Premier League is an exciting opportunity and development,” said director Jack Lennard. “It’s an opportunity for the sport to grow and gain prestige on a greater level nationally and internationally than ever before. And most importantly, it’s an opportunity for more people in more places to find out about this incredible sport.” According to the league, each team’s manager will pick 30 players for their roster and of that 30, 21 will be active for each game. Prepare now, losers, for your short at wizardy glory approaches fast……..


- When you’re going out of business, what better way to head for the exits than with a massive going-out-of-business fire sale? No one had to tell that to the former governor of Mexico's Caribbean coast state of Quintana Roo because, according to authorities in the state, ex-Gov. Roberto Borge priced everything to sell and refused no offer when it came to selling state-owned properties to associates at prices far below their market value. In a state that’s home to tourist paradises and resorts such as Cancun, Playa de Carmen, Cozumel and Tulum, one would expect to pay exorbitant prices to own a piece of the real estate pie, by according to the state's chief auditor, Bargain Bob Borge sold nearly 23,500 acres of land around those resorts at prices that "in some cases did not even amount to 1 percent" of market value. Since when is one cent on the dollar - or peso - not a good return on a piece of land? And how did HGTV not give this real estate innovator his own show, complete with a snappy title and a sexy female co-host? According to auditor Rafael Antonio del Pozo, Borge flipped these parcels to “people and businesses that were personally linked to the ex-governor,” which could be construed as corruptly pawning land off to your friends for a few measly pesos, but let’s not rush to judgment here. After all, the government land serves as a buffer against development and a reserve for future tourism projects, so a corrupt governor wouldn’t be the worst problem, right? Either that or Borge sold nearly half the reserve before leaving office in September, but one or the other……..

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