- Never stop Scott Boras-ing, noted Major League Baseball
über-agent Scott Boras. Boras has been known for years for demanding, fighting
to the death for and sometimes getting insane, over-the-top contracts for his
clients, whether their on-field performance warrants it or not. One of his
current clients is Chicago Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta, who just two years ago
was averaging 94.6 mph on his fastball, won 20 games and also captured the
National League Cy Young award. Arrietta has been much less successful the past
two years and has seen his velocity dip 2.5 mph on his fastball, which might be
one of the reasons he’s surrendered 10 home runs this year and is rocking a
4.92 ERA. But ask Boras, clearly with an eye on Arrieta’s next big deal, and a
loss of heat on his fastball doesn’t mean the right-hander isn’t an elite
pitcher. "The question becomes what's [Clayton] Kershaw averaging?"
Boras said. "He's throwing 92.5 mph. [Zack] Greinke is throwing 91.8 mph.
[Max] Scherzer, when he was a free agent, was throwing 92 mph. We're going to
sit here and evaluate a player on a 60-day moment or a 10-start moment when he
has three years of history. Don't do it. That's not fair. That's not an
evaluation." Sure, but Kershaw's fastball velocity has dropped just 0.6
mph since 2015, and Greinke has lost 1.4 mph since then and both Kershaw (2.01
ERA) and Greinke (3.24 ERA) are performing much better than Arrieta this season
and after allowing two home runs in his start in L.A. this weekend, his
trajectory is heading the same direction as his velocity………
- Tensions between the public, politicians and police are
high these days and while there have been mistakes made on all sides in recent
years, perhaps none was as needless and embarrassing as the one made by
Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley and his staff - which is currently in serious
need of a fact checker and proof reader. Cranley had to rush out a hurried
apology after his office inadvertently issued a proclamation naming a day in
honor of a cop killer instead of saluting the lives and remembering the
sacrifices of fallen officers. Trying his best to unring that bell, the mayor
issued the apology, saying that the proclamation never should have been
approved. “I am sorry that my office, that we mistakenly issued a proclamation
on behalf of a man that killed-- murdered-- Sonny Kim,” Cranley said,
announcing the proclamation’s retraction. What the mayor’s office did was to
declare June 1 “Tre Day” in Cincinnati, which is a problem because prosecutors
say Trepierre Hummons ambushed officer Sonny Kim, a 48-year-old father of
three, on a Cincinnati street on June 19, 2015. Despite being shot, Kim was
able to wrestle away Hummons’ gun and a second officer who responded to the
scene shot and killed Hummons. Last week, Cincinnati honored Kim and other
fallen officers, though the initial proclamation said in part that the
sacrifice of Hummons “will save lives of children for generations to come,” a
blunder that didn’t sit well with officers who posted messages on the Facebook
page of Cincinnati’s police union wondering what was going on and demanding an
explanation……
- They may not seem like a likely group, but Edgar Wright,
Rian Johnson, Dwayne Johnson and Lin-Manuel Miranda are (allegedly considering)
teaming up for a project that seems more up Miranda’s alley, but could be an
interesting cinematic proposition. The quarter is set to tackle a potential
Simon and Garfunkel movie universe, which makes sense for a strong musical and
theatric performer like Miranda, not a chiseled action star like Dwayne Johnson
or a central cast member for the most recent round of Star Wars films like Rian
Johnson, but building on the model of taking the lead with shared universes
across Marvel and Star Wars, DC is trying to do the same by making a sort of
universe out of the discography of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. Superheroes
and aliens it ain’t, but a Twitter joke from “Hot Fuzz” director Edgar Wright
spurred Johnson, Johnson, Wright and Miranda to respond. “I have ‘Baby Driver’ out in June &
@MarcW has ‘The Only Living Boy In New York’ in August. Where is the ‘So Long
Frank Lloyd Wright’ movie?” Wright said, nudging fellow filmmaker Marc Webb
with a digital elbow in the side because Wright’s new driver-action movie takes
its title from a Simon and Garfunkel track. Hollywood does love franchises and
universes these days, so don’t be stunned if this one actually gains some traction
in the near future……
- Paranoid much, Indian government? You seem awfully on
edge, what with government forces enforcing a strict curfew in parts of Indian-controlled
Kashmir on Sunday. Sure, you provoked any outrage that might be percolating
with the killing of a prominent rebel commander by Indian soldiers, sparking
massive protests in the disputed region. Knowing the reaction that could
precipitate, the government dispatched armed police and paramilitary soldiers
to patrol deserted streets and ordered residents indoors in the region's main
city of Srinagar and other towns to stop their anti-India demonstrations.
Giving a symbolic middle finger to that order, thousands of people assembled in
the southern Tral area to take part in the funeral of the rebel leader, Sabzar
Ahmed Bhat, chanting slogans calling for Kashmir's freedom from Indian rule. It
was an unusual scene, coming on a day marking the beginning of the Muslim
fasting month of Ramadan. Bhat and another militant were killed in a gun battle
with soldiers on Saturday, resulting in massive protests and clashes across the region,
leaving one civilian dead and dozens of others injured. Still, there’s no
question that anti-India sentiment runs deep among Kashmir's mostly Muslim
population. That means most residents support the rebels' cause against Indian
rule despite a decades-long military crackdown to fight the armed rebellion and
often rally behind efforts like the one in which separatist leaders who
challenge India's sovereignty over Kashmir called for a general strike on
Sunday and Monday. This fight of rebels seeking independence against the
government has been raging since 1989, not as long as Led Zeppelin’s iconic
track named after the region has been rocking the world, but long enough for
nearly 70,000 people (and counting) to be killed in the fighting…….
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