This reasoning sounds so familiar. Where could I possibly have heard it before? A bunch of rich people refusing to properly reimburse those responsible for helping their multi-million dollar operation run smoothly because of their age. Hmm, could that be the same line of thinking that corporations use when prepubescent children in third world countries make pennies on the dollar for knitting their Nikes? Interesting thought process. Might want to take that one back to the drawing board before stepping to a podium and saying it out loud in front of a bunch of headline hungry media members.
Before we absolutely crush this guy for his completely incoherent response, I want everyone to ask themselves one question. What would you have accepted as a good answer? I actually think this guy should be applauded for even attempting to muster up something that could potentially be mistaken as rationale. It's better than his only other option, which was to say "no comment" and get out of there as quickly as possible. I know that 18 year olds, by law, are actually adults, but we have all been in this position before. We have all done something stupid and not had a good excuse as to why we did it. Maybe you were too drunk and got into a fight with a friend, or slept in and were extremely late to work. Don't the proceeding conversations in which you are trying to explain yourself ALWAYS go poorly? That's what Oliver Luck was dealing with. Let's face it, there is no logic behind college athletes not getting compensated for what they contribute to an organization that is making money by the truckload. There is nothing he could have said that would leave people saying to themselves "well, that makes total sense". This guy was fighting a losing battle as soon as he stepped up there and started fielding questions about paying players. There was one way that interaction was going and it was down hill. So yeah, the answer he decided to go with has more gaping holes than a creampie compilation, but you tell me, what answer wouldn't? P.S. Has there ever been a face that looked more prone to saying some regrettable shit in a public place?
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There are a lot of things to lead me to believe that Roger Goodell doesn't care enough about concussions. For one, the multitude of rule changes that were made on behalf of the player's safety were only implemented after the NFL was the recipient of millions upon millions of dollars worth of lawsuits. If that's not enough for you, then his strong push to have the NFL's regular season elongated to 18 games certainly should be. However, I'll tell you what I am not taking as a telltale sign that Roger Goodell doesn't take concussions seriously, and that is his decision (yes, it was a conscious decision) to laugh at a concussion joke.
What else are you supposed to do when a joke is made at your expense? Sit there stern faced like a stick-in-the-mud? It's not like he was in hysterics. That was the most forced, awkward laugh/smile I have ever seen. You know when you are sitting with your friends, and one friend goes just a little too far over the line? Do you make a big deal out of it and kill everyone's vibe, or do you call him an asshole under your breath and laugh it off? That's basically what Roger Goodell just did. He wasn't slapping his knee or wiping tears from his eyes. He knew he was on camera. He was just humoring an NFL legend's fairly impressive attempt at humor. I'm not going to sit here and tell you that Roger Goodell is the most clairvoyant person in the world, but he knew that his reaction to that joke was going to be a story no matter what it was. People would find a way to criticize him regardless, so why wouldn't he choose to loosen the tension in the room for the time being? He wasn't laughing at concussions, he was laughing at himself. If nothing else then at least I can respect his ability to do that. Did Leafs' Nazem Kadri, A Muslim, Just Use Donald Trump's Stupidity To Take A Cheap Shot At America?12/11/2015 Fox Sports- If Trump's idea of a ban applies to athletes as well, Kadri would presumably be prevented from traveling to the U.S., something which would clearly be an issue for an NHL player who frequently travels between the U.S. and Canada for games.
"I think he’s hurting his own campaign, to be honest,” Kadri told the Toronto Star. “I mean, I think he’s pretty delusional. But his opinion’s his opinion.” "It’s unfortunate that this is what it’s come to. But I mean, that being said, I’m lucky to live in a country like Canada, where people of political stature don’t say those kinds of things to make people feel out of place." That's it, shut down the borders, and I am not talking about the the ones that border the Southern states. Sorry Canadians, but Nazem Kadri just cost you your freedom to enter the best country on Earth. It's not a Muslim thing, just a pride thing. Bring in all the refugees, I have no problem with the people that want to be here. It's the people throwing shade from beyond our "walls" that I would rather leave standing out in the cold. What the fuck was that Nazem? Couldn't just take a shot at Donald Trump and his blatantly racist "campaign" without taking an unwarranted jab at Big Brother? You know most Americans think Donald Trump is delusional too, right? You know we don't endorse the ridiculous things he is saying? In fact, until the part where you basically implied that you are lucky you don't live in the United States, your quote on Trump was fairly complimentary. A person of political stature? That's like the nicest thing someone above the Mason Dixon line has ever said about Donald Trump. Sorry Nazem, didn't mean for America's celebrity "politician" to offend you, but in this country we value free speech, even if Donald Trump's speech happens to call freedom into question. At least in Toronto you don't have to worry about people in positions of power doing and saying absurd things strictly for publicity, right? By the way, tell Rob Ford I said hello. I'd love to grab a beer and take a couple pulls of crack with him next time I'm in town. You think he's free now that he's no longer the Mayor of Toronto, or is he too busy making a mockery of his current position as City Councilman? I get it. I would probably be pretty pissed if some douchebag in a neighboring region was denouncing the entirety of my religion too, but that's no reason to take aim at the country for which he's doing it in. Especially when your own country has had it's fair share of issues with politicians of questionable intent... Sean Payton Hopes To Get C.J. Spiller More Touches, And I Genuinely Don't Know What That Means12/11/2015 NOLA-"We're going to get a chance to see him now," Payton said. "I think the training camp injury set him back some and then it's just a matter of the confidence and explosion off that knee, but he will play a significant role as will Tim Hightower and even (Marcus) Murphy."
He added: "I think the injury in training camp affected him. It's the one player that I'm trying to figure out what are the touches and I think that put him behind and hopefully down the stretch we can give him enough touches to see." Let's start with what I do know. I know that the next four games will still us Saints fans just how big of a waste of money C.J. Spiller was. Sure, that's been a storyline since the beginning of the season, but it got moved to the back page with Mark Ingram making headlines and developing into a versatile all purpose back. When the starting running back is the best offensive weapon on the field it becomes easy to forget that the backup running back is also making $4 million dollars a year while touching less balls per game than I touch per shower. Well, the lead is out for the season and it's time for the understudy to earn his keep, or you can add him to the growing list of terrible contracts the Saints have given out over the last five years. Hey Sean, what do you mean HOPEFULLY C.J. Spiller will get more touches? You know you call the plays, right? Isn't that kind of your responsibility? With Mark Ingram's season cut short, and Brandin Cooks nursing a concussion, there's not exactly a wealth of proven hands to feed. Don't hope. Just do. What the hell do we have to lose? A couple more football games? At this point that's just par for the course. You know what I hope for? I hope I make millions of dollars. I hope that a supermodel randomly approaches me in a bar and asks me to come back to her place for a nightcap. Sean Payton saying he hopes he can get C.J. Spiller more touches is the equivalent of me standing at the foot of Adriana Lima's bed, with the winning PowerBall ticket in my hand, and her legs spread eagle in front of me, and saying "well gee, I'm not exactly sure what to do here". I don't know Sean, maybe stop standing there with your dick in your hand and just give the ball to C.J. Spiller? Maybe just leave all the hope for the guy starting him in fantasy football on a wing and a prayer, because saying that you hope C.J. Spiller gets carries is basically the same thing as saying "I hope I show up to work on Sunday". LBS- Boston Celtics GM Danny Ainge may be the biggest Chipotle fan around. And he’s not about to let an E. Coli outbreak at some of their stores scare him away.
Ainge joined Toucher and Rich on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston Thursday, and one of the first things to come up was Ainge’s taste for the company’s burritos. “The guys at the office refer to me as the ‘Jared of Chipotle,'” Ainge quipped, referring to Jared Fogle, the Subway spokesperson. Ainge has been known to stop by the Chipotle in Waltham, Mass. nearby the team’s practice facility on a regular basis. “It’s even better now; the lines are short!” Ainge said about the E. Coli problems. “I’m there! I’ll eat there again today — I’m not worried about it! Those are my people. Those are my friends at Chipotle.” Well that nickname, to put it mildly, could use some tweaking. Has Danny Ainge been living under a rock? I understand the premise, and I know that you can't go around frivolously changing your own nickname, but maybe it's time to distance yourself from all things 'Jared'. If the guys at the office are the ones constantly calling him that then he should abuse (no pun) his power to get new guys at the office. Shit, there are probably average, run-of-the-mill dudes named Jared that were sprinting down to the courthouse to change their name to 'Gerard' upon hearing that the sandwich diet dude was touching teeny boppers. Meanwhile, an NBA General Manager is on the radio openly slapping that scarlet letter right across his chest. Jared is no longer 'the Subway guy', so Danny Ainge saying he is the 'Jared of Chipotle' no longer makes him a rich, happy-go-lucky spokes person whose diet lacks variety. It makes him a creep by association. Jared no longer triggers the thought of crappy lunch meat. It triggers the thought of child pornography. There's no if's, and's, or prepubescent butt's about it. There's not a single circumstance where I hear the name 'Jared' and doesn't send a little quiver down my spine. If I saw someone with a name tag that said 'Jared' I would probably drink at the other end of the bar. Calling yourself the 'Jared of Chipotle' is like wearing a coogi sweater to a holiday party and calling yourself 'the Bill Cosby of Christmas'. You don't want to be the Bill Cosby of anything just like you don't want to be the Jared of anything. Those names are officially off the market in terms of comparisons. Unless, of course, you want people to think that you don't belong within 1,000 yards of a school or a public park. P.S. I love Chipotle, but anyone that eats it for every single meal might as well be named Jared, if you catch my drift. This Lady That Got Sexually Harassed By Her Tesco Delivery Driver Has No One To Blame But Herself12/10/2015 Metro- A woman has claimed she was harassed by a driver who sent her lewd text messages following a Tesco delivery.
The woman from London posted the texts to Facebook which she claims to have received after having food delivered to her home. The messages read: ‘Hie? I delivered shopping to you this evening my name is Joe (sic). ‘I think your sexy I want u to suck my c*** while I lick your p**** (sic).’ The woman contacted Tesco with her complaint, calling the texts ‘sexual harassment’ and saying that the incident has left her afraid to order home deliveries. ‘Should women really have to put up with this? Are there no more laws on privacy? Never say silent,’ she wrote. Let me guess, too busy to dial 121 and choose mailbox settings? Listen lady, I don't blame you. Just yesterday I found myself fairly annoyed when I was scrolling through a bunch of useless emails from companies I have ordered from years in the past. Granted, 'Omaha Steaks' wasn't trying to 69 with me, but that doesn't mean I don't find their repeated holiday offerings just as intrusive. Now that I think about it, retail outlets are basically the same thing as overly persistent perverts. Just constantly trying to shove unwanted shit in your face. Only becoming more encouraged by a lack of a response. I'm pretty sure that means I have been sexually harassed like 10 times already today and you don't see me crying about it. You were given an out and you didn't take it. All you had to do was dial a few of digits and spent a couple seconds on the line just like all I had to do was click 'unsubscribe'. We both failed to do so, and that's on us, not some sexually repressed delivery driver that is parked on the side of the highway tugging his dick to an issue of 'Hustler' that he scooped from a gas station convenience store in 1999. You left the guy wide open, you can't be mad at him when he takes his shot. Don't get me wrong. Sexual harassment is no laughing matter, but that's why this lady shouldn't have treated an auto-response from Vodafone like it was some kind of joke. I actually agree with her. She shouldn't stay silent. That's how she ended up getting offered blue collar cock in the first place. TMZ- A rep for the SEC tells TMZ Sports the short answer is NO -- but they do admit the pic WAS modified using a filter.
"We didn't photoshop the picture that we posted on social media sites at all," a spokesperson tells us. "The filter we used is the only explanation for Derrick Henry's tattoos not being visible in the picture. We used that particular filter because it's the same one we have used all year for our player of the week posts." Nailed it SEC, nailed it. How long do you think the emergency meeting lasted before they churned out this dogshit excuse? "What do kids these days use to change pictures? Filters? Alright, I don't even know what those are, but filters it is". Crisis averted SEC, crisis averted. Can't believe there would be anyone that will question that completely illogical reasoning. After all, you guys didn't intentionally change the picture to make Derrick Henry look tattoo-less, you just accidentally clicked on the filter that unintentionally makes tattoos invisible Simple mistake. Could happen to anyone. The ink is obviously still there. It's just that the black skin, crimson jersey, and the shiny glare makes it look completely indecipherable to the naked eye. And we all thought that a bunch of stuffy white dudes working for the NCAA were trying to manufacture an athlete's image. Shame on us. The guys that do their damnedest to make sure these kids don't get so much as a free meal as reimbursement for their time and effort would never compromise a player's rights. Maybe if everyone, myself included, used our brains for half second we would realize that the picture in question didn't say #nofilter. That pretty much automatically means it had a filter. Plus, what's more likely, that a bunch of out-of-touch stiffs took the time to make Derrick Henry look more clean-cut, or that changing the brightness of a picture made it's content completely disappear? In other news, the SEC wants to let you know that the warm, smelly liquid shooting from their groin area and running down your leg is totally not piss. Reggie Miller Just Tried To Compare Himself To Steph Curry, And I Think I Feel Bad For Reggie Miller12/10/2015 New Yorker- “He still has a lot of chapters to write,” Miller said, “but, right now, you could certainly consider him among the top five shooters of all time. The streak that Steph has been on since last season rivals the greats of the game. It’s hard to say he’s better than Larry Bird or he’s better than Steve Kerr, his coach, because those guys did it for much longer. But for this short a period he’s in that group. And he keeps improving. If he can beat his own record for most threes in a season, then you’ve got to consider him one of the best ever.”
“All truly great shooters—Dale Ellis, Larry Bird, Craig Hodges, Chris Mullin—we always believed that we were the best shooters in the world,” Miller continued. “So, yeah, I’d take down Steph at my peak. Sure, my form wasn’t as good as his. But it’s all about results, man.” And this, my friends, is why professional athletes struggle to adjust to life outside of basketball. Reggie Miller is one of my favorite players of all-time. I grew up to him terrorizing Knicks fans, and I loved every second of it. That's why I try my damnedest to forget that he is the same person responsible for a barely listenable analysis on TNT. Regardless, the truly great players will never concede that there are players that are better than them, and this is a prime example of that. The competitiveness that fueled Miller's career, is the same competitiveness that makes him look like a buffoon when he says things like this. Do you know how much it pained Reggie Miller to admit that Steph Curry, a guy that broke the record for three pointers in a season last year and is set to SHATTER his own record this year, is only one of the best shooters ever? I appreciate what Reg brought to the game, but Steph Curry, limited sample size or not, puts it to shame. Reggie Miller at his peak won zero MVP's. Reggie Miller at his peak won zero championships. If we are talking strictly shooting then Reggie Miller at his peak shot the same percentage from 3 that Steph Curry shot last year, and Steph is blowing that number out of the water this year. All Reggie Miller currently has over Steph Curry is second place on the list that Steph Curry, barring serious injury, will be on top of before his career is even close to over. Honestly, just making this about shooting is a disservice to Curry. He is in the middle of the single greatest stretch in NBA history. His spectacular shooting obviously plays a large in that, but it's merely a secondary argument when you can say, without sounding like a crazy person, that Steph Curry is playing the best basketball ever. You don't even need to bring up the 45% shooting percentage from beyond the arc. Forget the fact that Steph Curry is a primary ball handler, and his average degree of difficulty is unparalleled. All you have to do to prove that Steph Curry is already potentially the greatest shooter ever is to "look at the results, man". Drop it Steph, DROP IT! The SEC Congratulated Derrick Henry On His Season, But Not Before Photoshopping His Tattoos Off12/10/2015
It must be really hard being an overly conservative, old white male working for the NCAA. Sure, you are making money hand over fist off the hard work of young underpaid employees, but that's just the business model of every corporation in his country. Unlike other corporations, however, you have to worry about those young underpaid employees representing everything you vehemently oppose. For instance, an individual's right to express themselves freely. With society as liberal as it's ever been, that's got to be one of the most time consuming careers a person can have.
I consider myself a college football fan. I watched an Alabama game or two this year. Never did it even cross my mind that Derrick Henry had tattoos. If you asked me before I saw these pictures, I couldn't have definitively told you whether or not he was a supporter of body art. That's probably because I couldn't care less either way. Some crusty old white guy with his pants up to his nipples doesn't have that luxury. He has to scour every social media post making sure that it doesn't contain something that could tarnish the NCAA's antiquated brand like a personal message written in ink on a running back's bicep. You think that's easy? I got perfect eyesight and I can barely make out 90% of tattoos on black athletes. Never mind some stubborn old white dude that still refuses to put any of his millions of dollars towards getting lasik surgery. I bet he can't even get a good night's rest after squinting at a computer screen all day trying to find aspects of a player's image that are in need of adjustment. That's just a little thing we call sacrifice. Granted, being detail oriented isn't exactly my thing, but I cant imagine seeing something like the tweet above, pre-photoshop, and having the first thing that caught my eye be the ink on a Heisman candidate's arm. Fuck the intricacy of tattoos, picking them out from afar in the real art. Concerning yourself with the aesthetic characteristics of every student athlete in America? Other than "earning" a seven figure salary to do so, that's no way to live your life. h/t Awful Announcing Matt Barnes Nailed A Game Winning Three From Half Court As Grizzlies Fans Looked On In Horror12/10/2015
"no, no, NO...YES!!!"
What? You thought Matt Barnes was going to make a great play without having little bit of controversy surrounding it? That's not who Matt Barnes is. We can't just have people like Matt Barnes out there playing the hero without first having a grandiose chance of looking like the village idiot. Honestly, the only way for this to be a more perfect "Matt Barnes moment" would be if he fouled the shooter on the Pistons desperation attempt they took with the 1.1 seconds he left them on the clock. Just when you are ready to tar-and-feather Matt Barnes in the Town Square he makes a huge play, and just when you are ready to anoint him as a vital part of your team he does something that reminds you why you wanted to tar-and-feather him in the first place. Coach wants a timeout? Nah. Four seconds left? But who could pass up that great of a look? Just Matt Barnes in a nutshell. Somehow doing pretty much all the wrong things and having them haphazardly work out form time to time. That's why Matt Barnes has had a lengthy NBA career. Even though he's a bit of a loose cannon, and he's not all that great of a player, he knows when to draw you back in. You hear the announcer as that ball left his hands? "What's he doing?". As this clip ends you hear him say "you know what...", and there's a 100% chance he ends that quote by saying "he's just doing him", because that's exactly what Matt Barnes does. Well, that's a weight off my shoulders! I didn't want to say it out loud because I thought a bunch of mentally unstable Saints fans would kill me, but I was worried where Rob Ryan would end up. He just fit New Orleans so perfectly, off the field obviously, that I was concerned that he wouldn't be able to adapt anywhere else. I suppose that gravitating towards his brother was the obvious choice, but let's be honest, the fact that his brother is in Buffalo is a blessing. Can you see Rob Ryan strutting into the facilities in a matching sweatsuit if Rex was still coaching right outside of Manhattan? He'd be an absolute laughing stock. Literally anywhere else and Rob Ryan looks like a goddamn clown for dressing like a middle school gym teacher. You put him in the heart of Buffalo looking like he's straight out of a 'Russell Athletic' ad and people might just confuse him for the mayor. As much as he needed to be relieved of his coaching duties with the Saints, I am happy to see he landed on his feet. Especially in a place that values gluttony, alcoholism, and extra layers. That's the trifecta for the Ryan boys.
P.S. Yes, I realize he doesn't actually have a job there (yet), but him happily taking a lap around the Bills practice field is exponentially better than what I imagined he was doing. Which was aimlessly walking around the airport looking for a flight to a city that fits his interests, and whose citizens don't want him publicly executed for making a classless 'Hurricane Katrina' joke on national television. BSO- A shooter killed a man, then took a trip to a strip club to take his mind off the murder, according to a Riviera Beach Police arrest report.
But some strangers giving him a ride home from the club phoned police after he told them he killed someone earlier that day, police said. The caller and two other men in the car told police that Chavers, whom they didn’t know, asked them for a ride after getting kicked out of Sugar Daddy’s, an adult cabaret business in West Palm Beach. Police used witness statements and surveillance video to link Rodney Chavers, 41, of Riviera Beach, to the killing of Tarrie Wilder, 42. Chavers was arrested Monday on a second-degree murder charge. “Mr. Chavers stated that he just shot someone earlier today. Mr. Chavers further explained that a subject punched him in the face and that he shot and killed him for doing so,” a detective wrote in the report, based on the man’s statement. After telling the men about the killing, Chavers explained he went to the strip club to “get his mind off of what happened,” according to the report. Here are the facts. I don't know the deceased and you don't know the deceased. So while I don't endorse murder, if you know a man well enough to punch him in the face, then you should probably know him well enough to know that he's not afraid to pull a gun on you. That's why I refuse to view this story as anything less than hysterical, but as hysterical as it is, it's also kind of predictable, no? Never killed a man, but I certainly wouldn't know where to go after if I did. You can't go home. You're not going to go to a friend's place. I suppose you could go to the bar, but that's far too cliche for me, and apparently it is far too cliche for Rodney Chavers. With all those options off the table, why not go to a strip club? No better way to get a felony off your mind then by going to a place that will send all your blood flowing to an area of your body that has never encountered the feeling of shame. I bet by the second lap dance this guy had already forgotten that he completely overreacted to a fist fight and took another man's life, and that's what his main goal was in the first place. If anything, this story just did a complete disservice to everyone out there that temporarily solves their problems by having exhibitionists with daddy issues violently grind on their dick. Where are all the homicidal maniacs going to go now? The mall? Do a little Christmas shopping for those people in their life that they haven't savagely murdered yet? Maybe grab a bite to eat and wash away the taste of guilt and regret? Those choices sound terrible. A strip club should be a safe zone for people that just committed horrendous crimes. Let them squeeze in one last night of people bending over backwards for them, before they are bending over backwards for others. It's only fair. Sure, this guy killed someone, but at least he was honest enough to admit it to people after. He just want to blow one more premature nut into his favorite pair of jeans before he did. I am not even sure we need to put him behind bars and waste the space in our prisons. All things considered, he seems like a standup guy. Plus the conditions of that titty bar look far worse than any jail cell I have ever seen on TV.
I'm not going to lie, I want to sit here and applaud the Clippers for overcoming an underwhelming first half, and a mediocre, by his standards, performance from Blake Griffin to gut out a win on the road. I want to congratulate J.J. Redick for having a heat stroke in the 3rd quarter and ultimately leading his team to victory. I just can't do it. I don't have it in me. Not in the wake of the Milwaukee Bucks having to set the hours for Greg Monroe's wake. That would be incredibly disrespectful, So when you click play on this clip make sure you do so knowing that it contains explicit content. In fact, you might want to hit the mute button too, because Greg Monroe deserves that moment of silence. I probably shouldn't have unsubscribed from those 'Pro Flowers' emails earlier today, because I feel at least a dozen carnations worth of guilt from deriving so much enjoyment out of a man's untimely demise.
As fans we sit and watch players get posterized and a lot of the time our first reaction is "fuck that, I would totally get out of the way. You're not putting me on a poster". I guess my question is how far do you have to be from the rim to think you are safe from DeAndre Jordan damn near impaling you with his knee? Greg Monroe is 6'11 and was standing outside the restricted area. He probably thought he was set to challenge a jump hook, not get literally jumped through by someone that's the same damn height as him. If I were playing defense against the Clippers I would be more paranoid than a freshman that smoked a little too much weed before class. I don't even care if I was out defending around the three point line. DeAndre Jordan could fake like he was about to jump and I would sprint through the tunnel. Greg Monroe is one the toughest, most athletic big men in basketball and even he was so surprised by that turn of events that he looked like a sniper hit him from the last row of the arena upon contact. I bet he actually wishes that was the case right about now, because if the facial didn't kill him then the internet undoubtedly will. Thoughts and prayers to Greg Monroe, he's going to need every last one of them.
Over the course of the last two seasons there hasn't been a Devil that has received more criticism than Travis Zajac, That's not to say he wasn't deserving of it, but on a team that was underwhelming at every position except goaltender, he took the brunt of the fan's frustrations. Well, times have changed, and so has Travis Zajac's importance to this team.
Does he have the scoring touch of a Mike Cammalleri or a Kyle Palmieri? He unquestionably does not. Does he have the creativity or playmaking ability of an Adam Henrique? Fleetingly, at best. Still, the player many depended on to help lead this team offensively after the departure Zach Parise and Ilya Kovalchuk has finally gotten the free start he so desperately needed and he's taken full advantage of it. That's why his absence has been so glaring in a lineup that, to a significant degree, depends on his abilities. Look at the last three games, including tonight's against the Maple Leafs. The Devils have played some of their worst hockey since opening up the season on a four game losing streak. Sure, they have been able to eek out points, and even a victory, but a powerplay that had remained amongst the best in the league has done wonders in covering up this team's recent flaws. Without much debate, the Devils have largely been outplayed in every game since Zajac went down to injury. That's not a coincidence. There's a reason you have spent more time biting your nails, and it's because the puck has been spending a lot more time around the Devils net. A net that is usually protected, in part, by one of the best defensive forwards in hockey I don't think it's a secret that, despite the Devils surprising start, their offensive players are playing over their heads. Their 4th liners are mostly AHLers. Their 3rd liners are probably better suited as 4th liners. I think you're catching my drift. Well, those deficiencies only become exacerbated when the team's 2nd line center, who also happens to be their best defensive forward and most proficient face-off taker, is out of the lineup. Whatever skills Travis Zajac lacks in the offensive end, he makes up for in spades in his own end. Ever since earning a hefty, long term contract Zajac has been an easy target for criticism, especially when the Devils are struggling. While he may not resemble a $6 million dollar per year player on the stat sheet, he is undoubtedly that valuable to the Devils current lineup. For an organization that is still very much dependent on keeping pucks out of their own net, Travis Zajac is worth every penny. That has been all too evident as the Devils have been unsuccessful in the face-off circle and spent far too much time hemmed in their own end over the last few games. This Devils team has plenty of heart, but one thing they don't have is the depth to overcome a nagging injury to a player in their top 6. That's why they need Travis Zajac back as soon as possible. He does the little things to help this team win, and with the margin for error being so small given their talent level, Zajac is an invaluable piece to a puzzle that's much more than sum of it's parts.
P.S. Pray for Adam Henrique...
Uproxx- “It was just like a reaction,” Rousey says about her decision not to touch gloves with Holm before the fight. “I was like, ‘The last time I saw you [at the weigh-in], you were putting your fist on my chin and trying to get a cheap hit on me, then you turn around and you want to touch gloves? You have to be one way or the other. So if you want to be that way with me, that’s the way it is.'”
Hey Ronda, we don't believe you. It was just a reaction? No. Making the conscious decision not to touch gloves with someone isn't a reaction. Automatically touching gloves, like every other fighter has done so many times before, is a reaction. You felt disrespected by Holly Holm at the weigh-in? What exactly makes Holm's decision to put her fist against your (apparently glass) jaw anymore disrespectful than your decision to go on a worldwide media tour proclaiming how badly you were going to beat her? We are talking about a weigh-in. It's meant to be a spectacle. The UFC, just like professional boxing, wants something noteworthy to happen. If they didn't they could very easily just have you to step on a scale behind closed doors, instead of in front of an auditorium full of people and and litany of news cameras. Unless one fighter legitimately swings at another, which undoubtedly did not happen here, then nothing that happens at a weigh-in should be taken seriously. The ring, on the other hand, is a different story. You don't have to like someone to touch gloves before a fight. You don't even have to respect someone to touch gloves before a fight. Touching gloves has very little to do with your opponent. It's simply a gesture to show how much you both respect the sport. A refusal to acknowledge said gesture shows a lack of appreciation for the sport, and in Ronda's case, it's a sport that has blessed her with a seven or eight figure bank account That lack of appreciation was evident when Ronda Rousey was laying on her back looking like the daughter of Mr. Potato Head and a Picasso painting. That's not to say that Rousey didn't train properly for her fight, but she was far more concerned with embarrassing Holly Holm than beating her. That was obvious just from watching her preconceived dismissal of Holm's glove tap. No one is stupid enough to think that you just did that on a whim Ronda, and no one thinks that this explanation is anymore than some retrospective, manufactured response. Next time maybe touch gloves, respect your craft, and hopefully you won't have to worry about your facial structure taking a bigger beating than your reputation. BSO- You’ll recall the Wu’s “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” was recently sold to an anonymous buyer, and now Bloomberg says Shkreli is the guy who pulled the trigger — dropping $2 million to snatch up the album.
32-year-old Shkreli is the hedge fund manager and pharmaceutical exec who made headlines earlier this year for jacking up the price on a cancer/AIDS medication … from $13.50 to $750 per pill. Shkreli, who grew up in Brooklyn, said he loves the Wu-Tang classic “C.R.E.A.M.” … naturally. Unbelievably, he also says he hasn’t listened to ‘Shaolin’ yet! He says, “I could be convinced to listen to it earlier if Taylor Swift wants to hear it or something like that” … but otherwise he’s saving it for a rainy day. As part of the Wu-Tang purchase, Shkreli has to keep the music under wraps for 88 years — so, he’s gonna die with it. And you can start pouring the haterade now because he’s already bragging about his next potential purchase. There is only one fate worse for a piece of lyrical art forged by the Wu-Tang Clan than never being heard, and that fate is being heard only by potentially the biggest scumbag in the world. As much as I hope this guys suffers a terribly painful, untimely death, I can't not respect his decision to purchase the $2 million dollar Wu-Tang album. This is just what Martin Shkreli does. He's a professional troll. He's got all the money in the world. He's not worried about pissing away seven figures on something he doesn't even really want all that bad. He wants the publicity of doing so. He gets off on it. I would say that he loves playing the villain, but I am all but certain that he's not acting. He's like the Joker in Batman. He just wants to see the world burn. Raising the price of a drug that could potentially help the victims of an oft-terminal disease by over 5,000%? That's not good business, it's just bad publicity. Bad publicity that this self inspired sycophant relishes in. Buying a Wu-Tang Album that probably isn't all that good, and has the resale value of Ghostface Killah's sweatpant collection, serves no purpose other than to make everyone that cherishes 90's hip hop die a little inside. The fact that no one else can have it makes it worth 2 million dollars to him, because nothing is more valuable than the misery of others. He's a sick, sick man, but don't you dare tell me he's not a calculated sick man. A calculated sick man who only wants one thing out of life and that is for everyone else to get nothing out of it. Now knowing the identity of the monster that purchased their treasured secret work, the price tag on this douchebag's head has to be higher than the sticker price of that album, no? If there is one thing I could count on Wu-Tang never to do, it's sellout. I hope this guy has his $2 million dollar investment hidden pretty well, and it better not be under the mattress, because that's the first place the Wu is going to check when they murder this guy in cold blood. Remember the scene in 'Training Day' when Denzel thinks he's invincible and gets shot a billion times in the street? That's how I imagine Martin Shkreli dying. Just standing in the middle of a gated community screaming "KING KONG DOES NOT HAVE SHIT ON ME!" in his squeaky little white boy voice before getting sent to hell in a hand basket. Again, I have to tip my cap to this guy for going all in on being a filthy rich troll, but the Wu-Tang Clan is undoubtedly not the group I would take aim at to make a statement. Gather the troops RZA. Empty 36 chambers into is skull Meth. Serve him a nice cold plate of revenge Raekwon. Do it for the children!!!
I don't want to believe this. Not only because Mark Ingram has been the lone consistent player on an overrated offense, but because ragging on Sean Payton has been literally the only thing I have been able to take constant pleasure in this season. Learning that Mark Ingram has been severely beaten up for the last few games gives his Head Coach a valid reason for limiting his carries, and I hate when he has a legitimate excuse. I just want to be able to curse out Sean Payton's decision making under my breathe without silly things like injuries standing in my way. Is that too much to ask for in a season that has given Saints fans nothing other than an increased likelihood of clinical depression?
A lot, and I mean A LOT, of people questioned whether or not signing Mark Ingram to 4 year extension was the right move. Given the fact that he was a first round draft pick, that went to a team whose offensive philosophy doesn't require a bell cow running back, he was put in a bad position from the start. That doesn't mean that he started off his career making the most of his touches. Far from it, in fact. For a player whose success was predicated on a heavy workload in college, trying to turn a couple carries here and there into a successful afternoon was basically fruitless. Well, I think that what we learned this year is that Mark Ingram is the least of the Saints worries. He is actually one of the very few players whose effort, and results for that matter, has been unquestionable throughout this entire dumpster fire of a season. Even with limited touches over the past few weeks, that I am being forced to believe were a result of a shoulder issue, Ingram made a difference on the ground and through the air that no other player in the Saints backfield has come even relatively close to replicating. I don't want to put it all on the Saints front office for trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, because I do believe that Ingram struggled mightily to adjust to the NFL. However, he has proved this year that it's amazing how much the perception of a player can change when they are favorable suited for the role they are given. Mark Ingram is finally in a position for which he can succeed, and succeed is exactly what he has done. It's unfortunate how potentially unwatchable these next four games could be without him, but I am glad he has been able to throw the criticism, among other things, back in our faces.
P.S. Fuck you C.J. Spiller.
Mirror- This is the perfect snack for those moments when you just can't get enough pizza.That's right - a restaurant has begun dishing up a pizza , with mini pizza slices on top.
And the mini slices also have mini slices on them - creating a kind of never-ending pizza multiverse. The Mini Vinnie Pie is the work of Vinnie's Pizzeria, in Brooklyn, New York. Tiny slices of the cheesy, doughy Italian goodness perch lofty on top of the classic big apple snack. People might be taken aback here, but when the pizza is of a high enough quality I am not really a topping guy. I suppose that may be an exaggeration, seeing as I would never turn down a good sausage, or pepperoni, or (insert any other type of meat here) slice. Still, nothing is better than a slice of cheese pizza that can stand on the merit of it's cheese, sauce, and crust. The only problem with with a slice of cheese pizza is that it's hard not to fold it, and in folding it, while it remains the same exact amount of pizza, you drastically reduce the surface area of pizza for which to bite. This pizzeria is Brooklyn just solved that problem. In fact, my first move upon receiving this would be to turn all the mini-slices over. Boom. You get the effect of folding over the slice without having to worry about making your food too efficient to eat. You give me one regular slice of cheese pizza and I am likely empty handed with a layer of skin burned off the roof of my mouth in two minutes. You give me a slice with a bunch of mini slices on top and that consumption time become at least 5 minutes. That's probably only because you're nearly doubling the amount of food, but in my head it's still one slice. One slice that will probably only become two or three slices instead of four, and keeping that number as low as possible is better for everyone's self esteem. Most importantly about this slice is that, even without the mini slices on top, it looks goddamn delicious, and that's the most critical aspect of any solid tomato pie.
As someone that roots for the Clippers, this video was, in a word, sobering. Obviously, there were some imitations that were exaggerated. For instance, Chris Paul making three different hesitation moves after getting by his defender, or JJ Redick going on a hike to get open, but still, they were all at least relatively rooted in truth.
What was worse than the scenes that were done for dramatic effect, however, were the scenes that looked like they were straight off the Staples Center floor. Austin Rivers melodramatic head fake and the subsequent two second hesitation before he releases his incredibly mediocre jump shot. Spot on. Jamal Crawford going behind the back multiple times in a row happens so often in real life that you would think it's a requirement before he does anything else with the ball. Paul Pierce, in the twilight of his career, does fall into his shot like he is trying to will it into the basket. If he was playing beer pong he would be the guy that nearly everyone would accuse of shamelessly leaning. When this dude was slowly dribbling between his legs before taking a half hearted jumper I felt exactly how I felt when Josh Smith has the ball at the top of the key. You can literally see him becoming overwhelmed by his thoughts when he has room to work and you just know that a forced jumper is coming seconds before it does. Lance Stephenson making an erratic, yet effective, move around a screen and not being able to pass the ball without making it look like he is auditioning for an 'And 1 Mixtape'? Wonder why that looks so familiar? Last, but not least, the Clippers giving the ball to Blake Griffin at the top of the key and saying "make something happen". I feel like that has been their most effective offense this season, so it makes sense that it was the only basket scored in this whole video. My complaints? This guy didn't look nearly uncomfortable enough at the line to "be" DeAndre Jordan, and it was an obvious miss not to include "Doc Rivers" yelling at someone in a referee's shirt. Still, this reenactment was pretty solid. When the Clippers are playing good they look great, but when they playing poorly, much like this video, they are a goddamn parody of themselves. Mirror- A property developer denies rape claiming he may have penetrated a teenager after falling on top of her, a court has heard.
Businessman Ehsan Abdulaziz, 46, allegedly forced himself on the girl as she slept on the sofa in his plush flat in Maida Vale, West London, following a night of drinking. When arrested, Abdulaziz responded by telling police "She'll have to prove it", the court was told. The 18-year-old had met Abdulaziz in the Cirque le Soir nightclub in the West End on August 7 last year where she had been spending the evening with a friend, a jury heard. Abdulaziz offered to give the pair a lift home from the celeb hotspot in his Aston Martin, Southwark Crown Court heard. He invited the two girls into his flat for a nightcap before taking the alleged victim's friend into a bedroom for sex, the court was told. The complainant woke in the early hours of the morning to find Abdulaziz on top of her forcing himself inside her, it is alleged. Prosecutor Jonathan Davies told a jury: "She woke up with the defendant kissing her and his penis in her vagina, she was wearing shorts and he had pulled them to one side. You know what, there is a lot going against this guy, but I think, against all odds, I actually believe him. That excuse is just too stupid not to be true. It's so ridiculous that it's less of an excuse and more of an age old joke that people make every time someone says "I didn't mean to sleep with her". I have faith that if a business man were to lie about something like this then he would come up with something more believable than "I tripped and fell inside her". If this guy was going to try to manufacture the truth then he would have claimed this was simply a post-consensual sex money grab, or something of the sort. He wouldn't admit to falling on top of her. If a tree falls in the forest and there in no one there to hear it, does it even make a sound? If a person falls in their apartment the only way they are telling someone is if their landing spot was a half naked girl nearly 30 years their junior. That's when you have to come clean and admit your a klutz. It's better than being a squirrelly old man that's just trying to find another nut before the sun comes up. Bottomline, no one is going to lie about falling, because falling is generally pretty embarrassing. Sure, a 46 year old man brought a couple of barely legal girls back to his place. Sure, he brought one girl in the bedroom, "presumably" for sex. Sure, the other girl awoke with her panties pulled to the side and an old man's erection poking her in the private parts, but hey, a man can't help where his dick ends up when he falls. A 46 year old man with an boner should be so lucky to tumble into some pussy when he trips. Usually a man of that age range ends up in the hospital, although something tells me he would probably prefer that to the courtroom he's in now. I am not saying that a rape didn't take place. I am just saying that I am more skeptical than most. A skepticism that could have been avoided if a couple of teenagers didn't enter the flat of a clumsy middle aged man. There's no fall/rape confusion if these broads didn't make this guy think he was getting Cirque Du So-laid. That's not victim blaming, it's more like victim advising. P.S. Totally raped her. This guy essentially couldn't decide between two menu items so he ordered both and took the second one to-go. Everyone knows it's never as good when you are forced to stuff it into a box. |
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