- There are plenty of amazing things about Pittsburgh
Steelers linebacker James Harrison. The fact that dude is knocking on the door
of 40 years old and still posts insane workout videos on social media in which
he uses nearly every part of his body to lift massive amounts of weight is one,
still being an effective NFL player at his age is another and if you ask him
and his agent, Bill Parise, the number of times he’s “randomly” drug tested by
the NFL is another. Harrison, who will be entering his 14th season this fall,
recently used his Instagram feed for a new purpose, namely to post a picture of
a test sample while pointing out in the caption that he's received three random
tests in the past three months. Yes, the league can test players up to six
times in an offseason according to the collective bargaining agreement, but
Harrison has said many times that he is unfairly targeted and has been known to
joke about the league's drug-testing tendencies. Parise noted that "they
have the right to test him and we understand that,” but it’s clear that neither
he nor his client are happy about it. Testing is conducted by an independent
administrator and the program uses a computer program to randomly select
players for samples and the league would have you believe that it has no access
to that system, which can test 10 players each week. Players on the
"reasonable cause" list -- for offenses such as flunking a drug test
in college, for example -- can be targeted, but Harrison believes he has been
as well and rejects the idea that his testing is random, especially not after
he was one of five players investigated by the league last offseason over an
Al-Jazeera America report alleging performance-enhancing drug use. The source
for that story later recanted his claims and nothing became of it, or did
it……….
- Living in a state of "profound moral misery" doesn’t
sound like much fun. Such is the alleged state of an unknown individual lurking
somewhere in the shadows in Italy, according to the archbishop of Turin. The
Archbishop Cesare Nosiglia offered that thought on the mental state of a person
posing as a pilgrim who entered a basilica east of the city and stole a glass
case that contained fragments of St. John Bosco's brain. Yes, brain fragments
of a saint’s grey matter are still hanging around and ol’ Bosco is a beloved
saint in Italy, having founded the Salesian religious order there ands pent his
19th-century life tending to the poor. Nosiglia
implored the thief to "give it back immediately, without any
conditions so we can close this painful page and continue to honor the memory
of Don Bosco worthily in his birthplace." His words haven’t achieved their
desired result yet, but police are investigating and have made use of
roadblocks in the area. The thief removed the relic from its place behind the
altar of the church in Castelnuovo and in the aftermath of the theft, that area
of the church was declared off-limits to the public. Thefts in churches
involving relics with organic matter from deceased saints are nothing new in
Italy, as in January 2014, a thief stole a relic containing of Pope John Paul
II's blood from an Italian church. Wanting to have blood, brain matter or other
remaining parts of a deceased person of faith could be sheer profiteering or it
could be a search for something holy to hold onto, but either way, it’s more
than a little creepy…….
- The beef between two iconic rock bands over a show at Tel
Aviv’s Park Hayarkon is amping up the volume as the show’s July 19 date nears. Radiohead
are the band set to play the controversial gig and on the opposing side of the
battle is former Pink Floyd man Roger Waters, who is opening fire on Radiohead‘s
Thom Yorke following recent comments he made about calls for his band to cancel
their upcoming show in Israel. Waters has become a leader of a group called Artists
for Palestine UK, which issued an open letter shortly after the show was
announced, asking Radiohead to “think again” about their decision. The letter
was signed by musicians including Waters, Thurston Moore and
Young Fathers, but their collective gravitas did little to dissuade Radiohead,
as Yorke described the situation as “extremely upsetting,” “offensive” and “an
extraordinary waste of energy.” He went on to light up Waters and his chorus of
haters. “It’s deeply distressing that they choose to, rather than engage with
us personally, throw sh*t at us in public,” Yorke said. However, Waters claims
he’s attempted to speak to Yorke directly about the situations and claimed that
the Radiohead frontman “had misinterpreted my attempt to start a conversation
as a threat.” He added that Yorke isn't telling the whole story and reiterated
that he still wants to speak in person to discuss the situation further and
arrive at some sort of civil conclusion to the matter…….
- Drunk driving mug shots are never pretty and never
something a person wants to remember. But if you’re going to be the star of
one, you may as well make it spectacular, as Nicholas Sherman of Cortland, New
York knows well. Sherman was a bit tanked when he was found wandering on a
private residence in the town of Sullivan, but it’s not his antics there that
earned him an audience with police. According to the homeowners who called the
cops, Sherman drove to the house with another man and they asked him to get off
the property. But the Nick Sherman they asked to vacate their premises looked
less like Nick Sherman and more like the Tin Man, the famed sidekick of Dorothy
and Toto in the “Wizard of Oz.” Yes, this kook was rocking a Tin Man costume
and face makeup to march and surprisingly given his appearance, his
blood-alcohol content level was .19 and he was charged with an aggravated DWI.
The question is how he came to be dressed that way and if his drunkenness
preceded his ridiculous outfit or inspired him to drink. According to Sherman,
he was previously at a business in Chittenango where he'd been hired to play
the role before his evening ended in abrupt fashion in Sullivan, which is about
16 miles east of Syracuse. New York State Police brought the night to its
much-needed end, providing the world with a mug shot that will live on in
glorious infamy………
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