Sunday, April 30, 2017

NFL front office cruelty, terrible names for Spanish hash-smuggling gangs and Jack White tries to do it all


- Quick question, America: Which is more terrifying to you, a) a creepy clown or b) a man with a snake? If you took more than half a second to answer that question, then you are a sick, sick freak and you really need some psychological counseling. The answer, as always, is the clown. It’s really redundant to write “creepy clown” because clowns are, by their very nature, creepy to the core. So hearing that North Dakota police say they are investigating a menacing report involving a clown and a man with a snake teaming up to scaring local children is horrifying, but the guy with the snake is the far less terrifying portion of the story. We’ve all known Snake Guy at some point in our life, usually in college when he insists that everyone who visits the off-campus house he shares with four other dudes come to his room and watch him feed a live mouse to his pet snake. According to police, this unsavory situation featured the clown and his weirdo friend, along with a boa constrictor about 3-to-4-feet-long. Amazingly, cops were able to track both men down and the duo could now face a felony charge of terrorizing children. Witnesses told police that the men approached the children, politely ask if they “wanted to see a dead body” and threatened to kill them. What makes this all humorously pathetic is that when the children fled, the two men walked back….TO THEIR OWN FREAKING APARTMENT IN A NEARBY BUILDING. Yes, they were too stupid to even commit their moronic act in a place far enough from their home so people couldn’t watch them walk back to their dwelling and tell police where to find them. Well done, ass hats, well done…….


- Jack White is trying to do it all. He’s been trying for some time now, taking part in multiple bands while juggling his solo career, running a record label and dabbling in other aspects of the entertainment industry, such as his upcoming documentary series, ‘American Epic.’ The series, which airs next month, explores the history of the 1920s, in which record companies traveled across America toting the very first electrical recording rig in search of new artists. White executive-produced the series along with Robert Redford and T Bone Burnett and now that its debut is near, White has also released details for the soundtrack, on which he will play a part alongside an impressive list of artists that includes Alabama Shakes, The Avett Brothers, Beck, Merle Haggard, Los Lobos, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Taj Mahal,Nas, Willie Nelson and Raphael Saadiq, among others. This will be a colossal monstrosity of a project, including a 100-song box set, original archived recordings and studio performances from ‘The American Epic Sessions.” Pairing a new series with an extended companion soundtrack such as this is a great way to maximize profits and coax every last ounce of fan interest out of it and the soundtrack is such an undertaking that it will be released by Legacy Recordings, Columbia and White’s record label Third Man Records. One record label clearly wasn’t enough to handle all of this, even if White seems determined to handle just about every aspect of every project his ever-evolving, expanding career comes to include…….


- The Chestnuts? Seriously, newly arrested drug smugglers taken down by Spanish police in raids carried out in cooperation with Morocco? The real reason to be upset here isn't that 30 drug smugglers were arrested to bust a ring that introduced hashish across the Strait of Gibraltar, although good, law-abiding citizen etiquette would demand that we all say hash is bad. No, don’t be upset that a unit of 150 agents raided 21 homes and warehouses in southern Spain early on Sunday, after which Moroccan police followed up by capturing the gang's leader and several other members who had fled from the raids. Be upset that a gang of people who apparently tried to position themselves as a legit criminal outfit couldn’t come up with a better name than "The Chestnuts" ("Las Castanas" in Spanish). Sure, it’s difficult to agree on a nickname when your enterprise is comprised of both Spaniards and Moroccans, meaning the language barrier could be an issue. But how the hell do you settle on The Chestnuts? The chestnut isn't even the most intimidating nut you could have chosen - everyone knows the walnut wins that battle 11 times out of 10. The name of your gang shouldn’t make people chuckle when they hear of its downfall and unless you’re smuggling all manner of spices and fresh fruits across the water, The Chestnuts cannot be an option. According to police, this poorly named outfit used small inflatable boats with powerful motors to smuggle the drugs into Spain from Morocco, bringing hashish to the masses…….


- There are few crueler things an employer can do than allow an employee to pour countless hours of overtime and sweat equity into a project, only to break said employee off unceremoniously the instant said project is done, with a chance to see it through to its final result. Now-former Buffalo Bills general manager Doug Whaley knows the feeling well because less than 24 hours after he and his staff completed the team’s draft, a process in which they invested thousands of man hours over the course of months and one they hoped would push the team over the playoff hump and back into the postseason after finishing 7-9 last season. The Bills were 30-34 in Whaley's four seasons as general manager and had just one winning season as they extend their postseason drought to 17 seasons. Firing the GM and his staff after that sort of run isn't a surprise, but allowing them to conduct the draft and shape the team’s future while you knew someone else would be dealing with the fruits of that draft seems both confused and short-sighted. "After a thorough review of our football operations over the past several months, Kim [Pegula] and I informed Doug this morning that we will be moving in a new direction," Bills co-owner Terry Pegula said in a statement. "We have enjoyed working with Doug. He is a good person and we want to thank him for his work and commitment to our football team. This was my decision. It was not an easy decision but I believe it's the right one for the future of the Buffalo Bills.”  With Whaley and the entire scouting staff gone, Pegula refused to say exactly why they were fired, but admitted that there were “ a few tears around the building, to be honest with you.” That’s fitting, because there have been lots of tears shed by Bills fans over the past 17 seasons………

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