The Braves' Announcers Were WILDLY Unaware That There Are Multiple Athletes Named JaCoby Jones3/28/2017
You know, my first instinct was to make fun of Braves' announcers Chip Carey And Joe Simpson for being so negligent in their pregame preparations that they couldn't tell the difference between a former black wide receiver and a current white outfielder. Thinking Jacoby Jones and JaCoby Jones are the same damn person, and that the narrative of an athlete changing skin colors and taking up a second professional sport in his 30's somehow flew completely under the radar is almost as idiotic as publicly speaking about it - at length - before fact checking. Unfortunately, I think I have to respect how little they give a shit about spring training. They definitely need a crash course in the NFL, but - as far as the MLB goes - they are keenly aware of the part of their schedule where they can cluelessly skate by. I'm honestly kinda shocked that there was even one person out there that was paying enough attention to this broadcast to catch two dudes just carelessly shooting the shit about something that made no absolutely no damn sense whatsoever. I imagine Chip and Joe were just sitting there with their feet up thinking they were being used as nothing more than background noise in the living rooms of the elderly. Think about it this way. They fabricated the most ridiculous career path in the entire history of sports. Then they let dead air sit like a stale fart. Then they ever-so-casually admitted their fuck up like it was an easy one to make. They assumed off name recognition alone that a retired kick returner and an up-and-coming bat of completely different races were one and the same for multiple minutes and then dropped the professional equivalent of a "whoops, my b". I don't know what that says about their critical thinking, but it definitely tells me they think the people spending their March afternoons listening intently to them are more hopeless than their football knowledge.
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Now that's what I want to see out of a leader. I probably could have done without the frantic, slightly less than masculine backwards shuffle, but literally any man with a pulse would have done the same if they thought they were about to step on a rattlesnake. The fact remains that Sean Payton went to put his trusty club back in his bag, and he didn't let the presence of a viral sensation disguised as a venomous reptile deter him from doing just that. Lesser men would have said "fuck this stupid driver" and went running, but Sean Payton looked in the rubber face of perceived danger and did what he had to do. I know "bring the wood" was the motto of the 2009 Saints, but it might need to get brought back for 2017 after the dedication their head coach showed in refusing to let go of his. After all, there are definitely worse seasons to recreate...
------- It takes a special type of loser to leave harshly worded written reviews of businesses on Facebook. It also takes a special kind of loser to internet stalk an NCAA official that called a game where the outcome didn't work out in their favor. You can probably guess what I think about the people that seek out the referees that they think wronged them just to publicly criticize the business that they haven't even used before on Facebook. That being said, I don't feel bad for John Higgins. He asked for the backlash that he's getting online. I'd be willing to bet that in reality he's at least a 3.5-star shingle layer, because I'm pretty sure that below average roofers ruin houses and homes thus making them 0-star roofers. Still, it was his choice to use his ridiculously underappreciated public platform as a marketing tool for his livelihood. The only time someone wants to know a referee's name is when they are prepping themselves for a lifetime of directing irrational hatred toward them. No one is googling John Higgins - and ultimately stumbling upon the "rooferees" - because he called an extremely fair game. Consistent whistle blowing won't have incensed college kids holding you in high regard as a person, but even a hint of bias - whether it's completely fabricated in their own head or not - will have incensed college kids trying to ruin any aspect of your life made available to them. I'm not defending the people that - ironically enough - want John Higgins to end up without a roof over this head because obviousssssly it was his fault that John Calipari didn't call a timeout before the game winning shot. However, advertising himself as someone that also works in thee most disrespected profession is equally as indefensible as far as promotional efforts go. The Auburn Softball Player That Got Into It With Florida's Head Coach Got Exactly What She Wanted3/28/2017
TheBigLead- Auburn defeated Florida in softball 1-0 today. In the handshake line, there was some animosity. Auburn shortstop Haley Fagan did not have her hand up in the line. Florida coach Tim Walton, whether he was on autopilot or offended by the gesture, tapped Fagan on the shoulder. She turned around and gave him a push in the back. She had some words in the general direction of her opponents before being restrained by her teammates.
Larry Brown Sports points out a possible source of the beef: “We know there is some beef between the Fagan family and Walton, as Haley’s sisters, Sami and Kasey, started off at Florida before transferring after being kicked off the team.” At the time of this news, in 2012, Fagan’s father said that his daughters had been released because there had been “an altercation on the team.” --- Far be it from me to call into question the seriousness of the altercation that got Sami Fagan And Kasey Fagan dismissed from Florida's softball team, but it's extremely hard for me to believe that they were justifiably let go. After all, if the maturity of their sister Haley is any indication than there is no way the Fagan's are the type of gals to turn an interaction that is based on mutual respect into an unbearably contentious bitch fest. I haven't the slightest clue what went down inside the Lady Gators locker room in 2012, but clearly the younger sibling learned how to appropriately handle conflict somewhere. Who better to model herself after than her sisters that were booted off a college softball team for reasons that remain vaguely undisclosed?! In all seriousness, I'm not giving Coach Walton a pass here. As someone that's spent years working with college girls, he has to know better than to respond to an obvious act of aggressive passiveness. The slight shove to the shoulder wasn't that big of a deal, but he should have known it was going to be treated as such when the person on the receiving end basically invited it by ignoring his high five. He fell hook, line, and sinker for a clear set-up to an inevitable blow-up that was less inconspicuous than a "it's fine" text. She set the stage with familial pettiness and he stuck his stupid hand right in the damn trap. Christ, I bet this dude is also the type to breathe a sigh of relief when his wife says she doesn't want to do gifts. This altercation is on him, and that's simply because he gave the aggressor the opportunity to play the victim by being too prideful to take it in stride when he was purposefully left hanging. Haley Fagan got exactly what she wanted. She didn't care about showing up an opponent's head coach. It was just bait to reel in the opportunity to scream in the face of the guy that had enough of her sisters' (probably similar) shit five years ago.
This is it. This is the one. This flop/dive/fake injury is the one that is so over the top that it's more of an unintentional comedy than a poorly acted drama. This is a movie that you'll watch every single time it's on, because it's just so goddamn bad that it's actually good. Generally speaking, I find it insufferable when the most physically imposing athlete of my generation makes a complete mockery of himself, but I had the biggest smile on my face throughout this entire sequence of events. The combination of the elbow being so harmless combined with the ludicrous progression from him standing under the basket wincing to writhing around on the ground at half court? Shit, mix in the fact that the Cavaliers were getting absolutely embarrassed, and the lack of subtlety in his blatant attempt to call it an early night becomes quite humorous. I guess I just have one question here. How long will it take for us to believe him when LeBron James actually does suffer a serious injury in the future? I'm not hoping the best player in basketball goes down for an extended period of time, but - due to his style of play and sheer minute totals - his body is sure to break down at some point. It might involve a freak accident, but I would consider it a likelihood that even someone as superhuman as LeBron James ends up on the IR. When that happens, I'm not sure there's any amount screaming, limping, wincing, stopping, dropping, or rolling that will convince me he's actually hurt. I mean, Deron Williams has been LeBron James' teammate for approximately one pay cycle and his level of "concern" had him dribbling around his corpse before standing over him (potentially) thinking "are you done yet?". His resume speaks for itself and he's very much shown he's a grown ass man on the court, but he's also proven - time and time again - that he's "the boy that cried devastating pain" when he's laying lifelessly on it. I have legitimately watched LeBron James die on the hardwood upwards of 7 times, but - statistically speaking - he's taken more personal days for mid-season vacations than games off for actual injuries. If the Cavaliers were losing by more than ten points then I think it make take a protruding bone for me to believe that the injury bug finally bit him. He could tear his ACL and get carried to the locker room by multiple trainers and his coaches would probably be like "feel better Bron, see ya at practice tomorrow morning!". Anything short of him being wheeled courtside in a body cast while his x-ray was displayed on the JumboTron and I would call bullshit. He has absolutely earned these jokes and that skepticism.
I'm well aware that you'd have to own an entire rack full of tinfoil hats to consider it a possibility that a rookie who is still fighting for a regular spot while getting acclimated to the NHL actively threw a game late in his first professional season. I don't think I actually believe that Steve Santini had the standings in mind when he relentless tried to give a Dallas Stars' forward scoliosis. I'm pretty sure I am too smart to accuse a proud, hard nosed competitor of intentionally taking a penalty with less than a minute to go in a tie game against a team that was damn near guaranteed to score on the resulting powerplay. Unfortunately, I just can't think of a single reason - other than lottery-fueled sabotage - that someone would respond to getting away with damn near a dozen crosschecks only to take a second to think about it before rearing back and delivering a final, fateful one. I was sitting in Prudential Center and as Steve Santini drifted towards the hashmarks I thought to myself "I can't believe he didn't get a fucking penalty the..." and before I could even finish the sentence in my head he had taken the penalty that ultimately cost the Devils the game. I don't know what sparked his lack of subtlety, but I will say that it looked a hell of a lot like he wasn't going to stop committing borderline penalties until one of them landed him in the box. I want to make this clear. I don't think that professional athletes do stupid shit to increase their chances of defeat. I'm pretty positive that even the shittiest of teams - and the Devils are pretty close to just that - are more worried about their job security than giving their organization the opportunity to draft a mildly more talented teenager. That being said, I wouldn't even mind if Steve Santini came forward and said "I tried to turn Cody Eakin's spine into an accordion because getting a 2nd point in overtime could only be detrimental come June". Not because I want the New Jersey Devils to (purposefully) tank, but because it would make more sense than whatever the fuck was really going through his head at the time. P.S. I'm not suggesting that Blake Coleman retire on top, but he should know that (as long as he's in a Devils jersey, anyway) goals probably won't get much prettier than the first one of his NHL career...
Full disclosure? The possibility - or even probability - exists that someone other than the Raiders current owner registered LasVegasRaiders.com in 1998, and that only recently did he purchase the site from that person. Fortunately, I don't want to live in a world where there is someone that's actually weirder than Mark Davis who spent Christmas - of all days - prematurely buying up domains of non-existent sports teams when the internet was still in it's infancy. Therefore, I have no choice but to assume that the heartless bastard that - ironically enough - looks like the neighbor that the parents of 'WhoVille' don't trust around their children preemptively stole Oakland's football team on Christmas. Something tells me that Al let his (close enough to) red-headed (possibly step) child unwrap the gift of eventual Las Vegas relocation. Probably told a then 40 year old Mark - who was definitely jumping on the couch in his candy cane PJ's - that he could take the necessary online steps on their 150 pound, fat-back family computer, but couldn't put the plan into execution until well after he passed away. Raiders fans have been loyally showing up to the 'The Blackhole' for the last 19 (predominantly) shitty seasons, and they didn't even know the organization they were supporting was basically a savings bond that was collecting interest until they were valuable enough to move. They've been spending far too much money on intimidating costumes for the vast majority of the last two decades, and - if my wildly unsubstantiated assumptions are correct - they've just been unknowingly waiting for the person that somehow looks like an elderly infant to cash in on his late-90's Christmas present. Even if that's not the case - and it's more than likely not - you'd have a tough time convincing the Raider nation diehards that basically spend Sunday mornings bathing in black and silver paint that the boyishly bowl-cutted beatnik wasn't patiently waiting to pull the rug out from under them only to jazz it up and have it rival that of his soon-to-be neighbors at the 'Bellagio'.
Have you ever gone out to eat with a group of people and had to deal with the frugal friend that didn't order an appetizer, and wants to break the bill down by item instead of just splitting it evenly like a normal, socially appropriate human being? Let me tell you, it's one of the most obnoxious things a person can do. By time the check is all sorted out it will have made you wish you just threw your credit card down and paid to avert the embarrassment of public penny pinching. Essentially the arguments and confusion that result from such a scenario become more costly than the unaccounted five to ten dollars that your cheap ass buddy was ready to defend until the death of his pride. What I am trying to say is that USA Hockey's insistence upon only compensating their female athletes well enough to sustain a diet made up entirely of Ramen noodles throughout a 4 year Olympic cycle is more costly to their image than a well deserved pay increase would be to their bottomline. The organization that is responsible for growing hockey in this country looks like it's ready to sacrifice the existence of the internationally competitive teams that this country rallies around just to save themselves some coin. The stain that is now on their reputation could have easily been avoided by opening their checkbook. With the more popular (though less successful) men's team now joining the proverbial picket line, there shouldn't be a figure that's worth more than cleaning up the absolute mess that they actively created with their incessant and disingenuous haggling tactics. I get that USA Hockey is as much of a business as anything else, but - when literally all of your employees (and potential employees) are standing against you in solidarity - it might be time to loosen your wad and pay the due tab you've been skirting for years. If USA Hockey is going to lack representation in a tournament that is being held on their home ice then they might as well cease to exist...like the friendships that get ruined over the price of a round of beers.
Man, that rookie learning curve is a real son of a bitch. For most it just results in extended goal droughts that send the player in question bouncing up-and-down and in-and-out of the lineup. That clearly wasn't the case for guy that was no more than two periods into his NHL debut before creating an unforgettable moment while playing on the top line, but that doesn't mean there wasn't something that Brock Boeser could learn from his initial professional experience... Without this three minute interview going viral, Brock Boeser would probably never know how badly he overuses "ya know", ya know? With the jump to the big leagues comes an increased spotlight, and if you're going to use that spotlight to slam home rebounds on a stage you've always dreamed of performing on then you're going to have your conservational crutches exposed when you answer to that accomplishment. He was probably slightly embarrassed as he watched that counter climb to 45(!), but - like most rookie experiences - he'll be better off for it in the long run. After all, nothing will make you cut down on your instinctual interjections quite like watching yourself use the same damn one every four seconds throughout three total minutes of camera time. This really is a blessing in disguise. Only one game into his NHL career and he already knows what he needs to work on. Didn't even need a friend, family member, or teammate to cause an awkward interaction by drawing attention to, ya know, the subtle quirks in, like, the way he speaks, ya know? I would venture to guess that - in the moment - he didn't have any idea how often he was quenching his thirst for filled air by going back to the "ya know" well, but - much like having his parents announce his name in the starting lineup - it's now something he'll never forget...
Luke Maye Showed Up To His 8AM Class The Morning After Dismissing Kentucky With A Buzzer Beater3/27/2017 Last Night:
This Morning:
Credit to Luke Maye for peeling his ass out of bed on a Monday morning after what was undoubtedly the most Saturday-esque Sunday night. I speak from 5 years experience when I say that he's a better man than I, and that's not even a reference to the fact that he's high level college athlete with the brightest of shining moments under his belt. Even the buzzer that he beat wouldn't have gotten me to crack open a single eye after such an eventful weekend, so that round of applause was well deserved. That said, I can't - in good conscience - sit here and let people act like his presence in the classroom was fueled by an unrelenting desire to be the model student-athlete. Luke Maye didn't miraculously make it to his lecture hall and sit in the front row wearing NCAA licensed 'Final Four' memorabilia because he was super excited to fulfill his educational requirements. He did so that he could stand in front of said lecture hall and have due praise rained down on him for playing the hero to an entire university of his peers. His "secret" is safe with me because I would do the same fucking thing if I were a teenager that had the grown man-sized testicles to calmly knock down a jumper under that kind of pressure. However, the only thing that Luke Maye truly learned this morning is that it's currently pretty fucking awesome to be Luke Maye. I'm glad he's not wasting a second of soaking it all in, and by "it" I mean a full week of celebrity, not the intricacies of the finance world.
I'm usually not one for acts of protest that require effort or energy. You won't find me on Yelp! slandering the good name of a 17 year old waitress who is making minimum wage if my french fries don't have the proper amount of crisp. I'm not penning any empty threats if my flight gets delayed 14 times over. I'm not typing out any harshly worded e-mails if the wrong package gets delivered to my apartment. The extent of my response to being personally inconvenienced is using the Lord's name in vain so much that anyone within earshot would think that Jesus H. Christ himself had just cut me off in traffic, and - occasionally - sending out a sarcastic tweet at the expense of the those responsible for the inconvenience. There's really only one case in which I would feel compelled to switch up that philosophy, and it would be if my trusted television interrupted my viewing experience doing a crucial moment in sports history. I come irrationally close to beating my own ass when I accidentally sit it on the remote during a key point in a close regular season game. Just looking at the blank screen that someone else was forced to look at last night made me consider violently attacking an inanimate object. Safe to say I don't think that any Columbus sports' fan worth their salt should rest until they get retribution against a cable provider that found the waning seconds of an Elite 8 matchup between powerhouse programs to be the right time to tell the comfortable and safe to remain comfortable and safe. Not only could this weather warning have been given without a visual that was nothing more than a temporary blackout, but it was basically directed at every person that didn't need it. Seriously, the difference between the video above and this statement below is inconsequential at best... "Hey you. Yeah, you. The person planted firmly on their couch watching college basketball late on a Sunday afternoon. On the off chance you want to actually go outside afterwards instead of mourning the impending death of your weekend - don't. You can probably tell by using your eyeballs, but it's pretty shitty out. Okay, now back to your game. You probably didn't miss anything important." Gee, thanks WBNS! The fine folks of Columbus, Ohio would have never been able to figure out that there were tornado-like conditions by doing something crazy like looking out their window prior to driving into the eye of the storm! You may have ruined an all time classic for an entire region, but at least you kept the people of that region safer than their own common sense could have! You can worry about cleaning up the the technical difficulties in the future, but for now? Sleep well knowing you guys definitely won't be forced to fire someone due to the resulting backlash from pissed off basketball fans that missed one of the maddest moments of March!
I don't want to sit here and act like I am not the kind of person that enjoys blasting collegiate officiating during the one time of year in which everyone is reminded how goddamn awful it tends to be. I will, however, say that I'm glad I'm not the kind of killjoy that would watch the particular play in question and immediately jump off their couch yelling "travel! travel! travel!". Now, it definitely was a travel and I wouldn't have been incensed if they had called it that way, but at the time I was too busy wondering how Randy Moss and Dante Culpepper regained NCAA eligibility in time for the Elite 8. Referees should probably be able to spot a 5 step walk during the closing minute of a hard fought contest, but if they are going to miss one then I'm glad it was one that was a product of a guy collecting himself after making a Willie Mayes-esque one hand snag with a point guard turned defensive back closing in over his shoulder. At risk of speaking for the person that sat underneath the peach basket and originally authored the rules of basketball, something tells me the spirit of the traveling violation wasn't to force streaking players to stop on a dime without taking an extra step or two. Duane Notice wasn't trying to waltz his way out of a precarious situation; He was just trying (and failing) to defy the law of physics. I, for one, am glad that blatant transgression went unchecked. Not only because it was a product of the type of momentum that has #7 seeded South Carolina and their absolute gem of head coach in the Final Four, but also because college kids do enough stupid shit with the game on the line to start whistling their unavoidable mistakes that aren't a result of sheer stupidity.
Oh, the horror! Journalistic integrity completely compromised by a snot nosed little brat that ignored the ever-ticking clocks of true media members in asking a uselessly original, thought provoking question! How will David Caraviello every get his think piece (cough::of shit::cough) submitted on time after having to endure a Q&A that was more intriguing than any that he, himself, has ever been responsible for? Talk about a time crunch! That 30 seconds could have been better spent transcribing a quoted, generic response to a repetitive, uninspiring inquiry and now the he'll never get it back. All the pressure of having to matter-of-factly describe the occurrences of the game to people that more than likely watched it, and now he can't even sneak in a bathroom break between paragraphs?! Who even raised this kid? Didn't they teach him that new angles and fresh opinions are insulting and borderline offensive to those that spend their professional lives rehashing their nauseatingly monotonous ones? I'll probably never find out "what it feels like" for Frank Martin to be in the Elite 8 now that some uppity adolescent cut into press conference to find out the secret to one of the best defenses in all of college basketball. I thought Riley Curry was bad and along comes this kid making everyone think during what has become a thoughtless practice?! We are just a few short years away from children taking over the profession and leaving us with nothing uninteresting to talk about!
Losing Locker Room: First and foremost - as ass backwards as it seems - it makes total sense for the entirety of the Phoenix Suns organization to be celebrating a historical individual accomplishment. We are talking about a team that is actively tanking while starting a lineup that's barely old enough to get into a University of Arizona frat party. In terms of statement wins, having one of their own become the youngest player to 60 points (before eclipsing that number by TEN) in a loss is as close as they are going to get. It takes a real killjoy to hate on a team for finding something to applaud during a lost season, especially when that something is a 20 year old becoming only the SIXTH player in NBA history to achieve an eye-popping milestone. The Suns are clearly building for the future, so they probably should be happy that the key cog in that future just proved he's capable of greatness. I know there was some completely unnecessary fouling that led to such a high total, but - as far as stat padding goes - hitting 70 points while shooting over 50% from the field with only 4 made 3's, a damn near perfect free throw percentage, and 6 assists is about as efficient as you could possibly hope for. Winning Locker Room:
Honestly, I was going to take the Celtics silence for apathy. The truth is they had no reason to be jovial after a win over a bottom feeder that was all but locked by the end of the first half. I would have assumed that the subdued demeanor of a team that "looked like they lost" would be the same of a team that "looked like they didn't particularly care that they won". Then something weird started happening... Jae Crowder (bossmann99) - one of the many Celtics defenders that fell victim to a baby faced assassin - felt the need to try and rain on his parade (before instantly getting struck down from his pedestal with some ruthless return fire)... Isaiah Thomas went the "look at the standings" route that is generally reserved for losing teams in winning situations...
You don't even have to look at the boxscore to know how impressive Devin Booker's night was. All you have to do is look at the outpouring of saltiness from the team that should have felt no shame in giving him his due props. The bitchy way the C's reacted to having 70 dropped on them by a guy that can't even buy his own beer is proof positive that doing so is worthy of a couple cheers. Boston responded like someone just told them that Peyton Manning is statistically better than Tom Brady, and it was all because a kid reached such rarified air on their home court. Devin Booker legitimately made the Celtics feel like losers in a game that they won by double digits, and - for a team as hopeless as the Phoenix Suns - that in itself is a win.
Full disclosure? I have never watched an online gender reveal that wasn't super awkward so Kirk Cousins dorky ass was already in a no-win situation here. That said, his inevitable loss was in even more spectacular fashion than I expected. How are you going to damn near miss the target from ten feet away as an NFL quarterback? No wonder why all his wide receivers skipped town. They couldn't even depend on their quarterback to throw an accurate pass when something as important using his unborn child for online approval was at stake! I guess now we now why the Washington Redskins just franchise tagged him for the 14th year in a row. Poor bastard throws like a girl (no offense) when telling the world he's introducing a boy into the family. Two feet shorter on that slant pattern and they would be using this Instagram as an instructional video at the 'Donovan McNabb School Of Just-A-Bit-Outside'. I think I saw his wife's stomach move a little at the end, and I have no choice but to assume that fetus cringed rather than kicked. If that's the accuracy that Kirk Cousins is bringing to the table next season then he might as well buy low and purchase his child a Colt McCoy jersey now.
Your opinion on this play should boil down to one question and only question only - do you think Sidney Crosby is a goddamn ninja with the hand-eye of Mr. Miyagi and the pinpoint precision to smack a fly clean out of the air without looking? If not, then demanding supplemental discipline for a routine slash that happens 45 times a game is flat out ludicrous. I get it. The whack on the hands was completely unnecessary and the result couldn't have been more gruesome, but the only way you can claim this play was excessively malicious and worthy of suspension is by giving the person responsible for it a 'Lifetime Achievement Award'. Sidney Crosby is definitely a dick, and you need not look further than his propensity to use his twig as a medieval castration tool to see that. That's why I don't fault people for paying extra close attention to his extra curricular stick work. I do, however, fault them for going above and beyond like Sidney Crosby attached a razor to his blade with the intent of making Marc Methot look like he was in bad debt to some worse people. The fact that 'The Kid' acted like one in trying to make Ryan O'Reilly choke on his testicles approximately 48 hours prior shouldn't weigh heavily on how you view something that every player does at least once a game. If you want to use it as ammo in the never-ending argument about how much of a bitch the best player in the league is then go right ahead. He definitely deserves it. Just know that even someone with the clout of Ottawa Senators' owner Eugene Melnyk loses the attention of anyone that knows the sport when he starts demanding everything short of a prison sentence for something that goes uncalled about 67% of the time...
As far as blueprints go, a 4-2 loss to a borderline playoff team that was close, yet never really in doubt is a pretty fucking depressing one. The best thing you can say about the Devils' humdrum effort against the Toronto Maple Leafs was that it was watchable, and - to be quite honest - watchable works for me as long as it results in ZERO net points. I wasn't sure I meant it when I said that I wanted that overtime win over the Rangers to be their last win of the season. After ever-so-contently watching the young'ns battle to an inevitable defeat that would have been excessively frustrating if not for the Devils increasingly stagnant spot at the bottom of the standings, I can happily say that I have got my scuba gear and am ready to back this team in their plunge to the furthest of depths. With the way they were somehow able to suck even Cory Schneider into their midseason slump they've finally put themselves in a position to get a blue chip prospect. It figures that it's in a pretty mediocre draft, but it's a pretty mediocre draft that the Devils absolutely need to take advantage of. If sliding even one more spot into obscurity can increase their likelihood of adding a future game changer than I couldn't be more okay with treating the remaining schedule like it's the pre-(off)season. Obviously the back-to-back against the Flyers will feature at least one obligatory shit-kicking, but that's just the cost of child support when you play 'Daddy' to an entire franchise. Unfortunately Philadelphia is New Jersey's slump buster, but the best case scenario for this team is to have a slump to be busted. Here's to hoping they don't fuck themselves out of top three pick in the process, and go back to impotently increasing their chances of having their next most important victory comes via the draft lottery. TheSportingNews- The Jaguars are looking to expand their footprint in London by building a permanent practice facility in the UK's capital city.
According to London news site City A.M., Jaguars officials have informally discussed with local representatives proposals to build the facility near Wembley Stadium, which would make it easier for the team to prepare and travel to the site for future games. The Jaguars have played in London every year since 2013 and are committed to playing there at least once a year through the 2020 NFL season. It's possible the facility could serve more than just the Jaguars: Jacksonville owner Shahid Khan could also make use of it for his London-based Fulham Football Club, a soccer team that is currently playing in England's Championship League. The proposed facility also makes sense for the NFL, considering the league not only wants more games in the UK but is also considering creating a permanent London franchise. The league has a slate of four London games in 2017 alone, with the Jaguars set to take on the Ravens in Week 3 or 4 next season. ---- Do we think that the Jacksonville Jaguars know they are being prepped to Unite the Kingdom with one NFL rooting interest? Do they just think they are in an ongoing fling with London? I got to be honest, building a training facility overseas feels like the equivalent of the classic "I'll just leave an outfit or two here because it's more convenient". I don't know how long it's going to take, but I get the impression that one day they are going to wake up to the distinct smell of tea and crumpets and come to the "oh shit, I live here now, don't I?" realization. It's like they are being eased into eventual deportation. I've never been through it, but you know there's always that one guy at the office that is increasingly asked to do work off-site until the new site has basically become his full time work space and it somehow happened in such a way that it doesn't even feel like a huge change. Assuming they would rather remain in South Florida rather than moving due North of France, the Jacksonville Jaguars are basically getting the 'Milton' treatment. I hope no one takes their metaphorical red stapler, because that moment of clarity could result in some fireworks. I don't know if this means anything more than the Jaguars wanting to have a piece of home away from home, but it does seem like they are being groomed to play in a new home with grass that's as moist and unreliable as the grey skies that frown down upon it at 9AM Eastern Standard Time. All things considered, this wasn't all that bad of a play by USA hockey. In fact, short of opening their fat wallets and actually paying their most consistently successful team wages that are more fitting of international competitors, this was the only move. Attempting to turn groups of females against each other so that they sabotage their own advancement is a strategy that's older than women's suffrage itself. If there was a way to put this obvious inequality on ice then it would be to start some proverbial hair-pulling between the current team and their younger peers who are being offered their spot. Something tells me that practice is more likely to work in a high school cafeteria than it is to work in negotiations with proud female athletes that have embraced the spirit of 2017 by being woke as fuck to their marginalization. However, as a last gasp effort to not get completely embarrassed by lacking representation on their own soil, trying to use the innately catty characteristics of femininity to combat feminism wasn't an awful idea. If there are lessons to be learned from 'Mean Girls' they are that Lindsay Lohan is the face of wasted potential and women are their own worst enemy. Make no mistake, using the allure of the red, white, and blue in an effort to recruit a brand new team instead of properly reimbursing the one that has brought your program so much pride is obviously a terrible look for USA Hockey as a whole. Treating well-decorated women as if they are replaceable as soon as they ask for a raise is not exaccccctly the type of behavior you'd hope for from an entity that is supposed to be representing a progressive, enlightened country. That said, when your initial response to a boycott is publicly fabricating finances and making an insulting counter-proposal can you really claim you still care about your reputation? The Producers On P. Diddy's Music Channel Are Claiming They Were Fired For Being Old And White3/24/2017 PageSix- A group of white employees is going to war against Revolt TV — claiming the music channel owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs canned them because they weren’t young and black, according to a new lawsuit.
Douglas Goodstein and four other Caucasian producers — who are each over age 39 — worked on the televised version of Revolt’s popular urban talk-radio program “The Breakfast Club.” The producers say they had experience on other famous programs, such as “The Howard Stern Show,” but were treated by bosses “worse than other employees who were younger and African-American,” the Manhattan Supreme Court suit claims. Executive Vice President Val Boreland “was always rude, condescending and dismissive towards the [team] . . . Ms. Boreland, however, treated the African-American staff in a much friendlier and respectful manner.” Execs turned a blind eye to the behavior of “African-American employees who arrived to work intoxicated or hung over,” the suit says. One production assistant “often came to work late, drunk and slept on the editing floor during work hours,” the suit says. Yet he “suffered no repercussions for this behavior.” When producer Todd Baker complained about the lack of punctuality of the show’s guests, production manager Cherisse McKenzie allegedly said “he just did not understand the ‘culture’ of the show’s guests and on-air personalities.” ---- Rude?! Condescending?! Dismissive?! And in a workplace that was apparently giving blatant preferential treatment to the people who were acting in such an exclusive manner?! Never - and I mean never - throughout the entire course of the American television industry has such intolerance been so openly enabled. I don't know how I am going to sleep at night knowing that aging, white producers are being marginalized - and ultimately fired - for trying to expose the inherent privileges of their African American peers! Listen, all allegations of discrimination - no matter how much they make you roll your eyes - should be taken relatively seriously, but let's clear one thing up here. These dudes weren't canned for being old and white, they were canned for being too old and too white. They aren't unemployed because of their age and skin color, they are unemployed because they too accurately fit the cornball stereotypes of the people that happen to share their age and skin color. It takes a certain type of middle-aged white dude to work in a predominantly black environment. It's probably not the type that is constantly pointing out the double standard of BPT (black people time), and it's definitely not the type that immediately tries to take legal action upon their termination. It was either adapt or die, and the latter was inevitable if Douglas Goldstein, Todd Baker, and friends were showing up to the offices of 'The Breakfast Club' like they were showing up to a dinner date. You know who else wouldn't last long at their job? A black 20-something working at a Ford dealership in South Carolina that was constantly questioning the necessity of gun racks. I'm not saying that black on white racism/agism doesn't exist, but you better have a pretty fucking compelling case if you want to claim you were a victim of it. I don't think "we were fired because all these black people act so much differently than us" fits that bill when the place of employment is a hip hop station. Maybe I am wrong, but I have reason to be believe they weren't axed because of their oldness and whiteness. They were axed for drawing attention to their oldness and whiteness with their inability to grasp the lifestyles of the young and black. Tough to feel sympathy when 93.6% of African Americans have had to hide their true personalities since the first day they were allowed to have desk jobs. P.S. Greatest response ever. White people will never win a battle of dueling race cards.... Val Boreland’s brother Anthony Boreland and the assistant director of the show allegedly said that “Caucasians harbored racism against African-Americans.” |
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