Gone Bowling
In a strange twist of fate I will spend the New Year’s holiday at the Rose Bowl. I have no vested interest in either USC or Illinois but by default I’ll cheer on the Fighting Illini. This is based on two factors: Illinois is Jeff George’s alma mater and I was born in the Land of Lincoln. Of course I hate their mascot and generally find it offensive so forthwith there will be no reference to the team’s mascot or nickname. Viva la University of Illinois at Champaign!
Scarlett Johansson: Number 8 With A Bullet
Our kid Scarlett Johansson was named the 8th sexiest movie star by the magazine Empire. Angelina Jolie topped the list. Per their website, the poll was based on votes ‘by you’. I guess the people have spoken but like the last two presidential elections this is another travesty of justice. I have no qualms with Scarlett losing to the superbad Angelina but she is definitely foxier than number 2 Natalie Portman.
Actually there is a nasty trend going down, well actually its Scarlett’s ranking that is dropping. This past May she was 2nd in the Australian/New Zealand edition of FHM and she was 3rd in Maxim’s Hot 100. Despite the dropping value of Scarlett stock I am in for the long haul. I am already vested and the greatest lesson I have learned from Warren Buffett is patience and hastily made choices.
Much success can be attributed to inactivity. Most investors cannot resist the temptation to constantly buy and sell.
- Warren Buffett
Joe Willie
Reporter: “What’d you major in at Alabama, Joe…Basketweaving?”
Namath: “No…Journalism. It was easier.”
News staff writer
TUSCALOOSA –
When Joe Namath was a University of Alabama freshman, his football coach sat the entire class down for a lecture on academics.
“I want y’all to learn something,” Namath quoted Paul “Bear” Bryant as saying. “Go out and become smart men, because you can’t play this game forever. Now don’t go hang out with guys who aren’t as smart as you. Hang out with people smarter than you.”
Occasionally, Namath did. “And some of them are here today,” he said.
After five years of study - and 42 years after he left school to become a professional football player - Namath, 64, will graduate today with a bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies from the UA external studies program.
Standing on the stage in the media room of the Mal Moore Administration Building for a Friday news conference, Namath looked around at his advisers, deans and professors. He expounded on the virtues of teamwork and explained that without their help, he never would have accomplished what he did.
On Friday, Namath was his usual charming, self-effacing, storytelling self. Rather than take credit, he thanked others: Robert Olin, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences; Carolyn Dahl, dean of the College of Continuing Studies; Ana Schuber, his academic adviser; and Robert Halli, his English professor for his 12-hour senior project.
Without a degree, Namath said, he had “a hole in my being.”
Today, he will fill it.
“This is an Alabama family,” he said. “I feel more part of it today than I ever have. But I didn’t do anything any other student wouldn’t do. It just took me a lot longer. This was a team effort, and I’m just lucky to be able to join up. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s too late.”
Dolly Parton Hand Picks Scarlett For Role
Courtesy of http://www.stuff.co.nz/
Tuesday, 11 December 2007
Dolly Parton wants Scarlett Johansson to play her in a movie of her life.
The 9 to 5 singer has reportedly been in talks with Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes about producing the biopic and is keen for blonde beauty Scarlett to take on the lead role.
A source said: “Dolly is a huge fan of Scarlett and thinks she would be perfect for the role. She has approached Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes to see if they will produce the film.
“She’s really excited about the project, and is determined to have the very best people in town working on it.”
Meanwhile, Dolly recently joked her famous breasts will rise like mountains from her grave when she is dead and buried.
The I Will Always Love You singer hopes fans visiting her final resting place will make pilgrimages by mule to the peaks of her mammary mounds.
Dolly said: “I can just see two big mountains growing up out of my grave, and people going around on mule rides to look at them. Throughout my whole career, I’ve been known for two things - I’m talking about my music and my lyrics!”
What? You Couldn’t Find Jeff George? Volume 2
The San Francisco 49ers have signed the 2000 Heisman trophy winner Chris Weinke. The 35-year old quarterback last took a snap for the Carolina Panthers in 2006 when he started three games.
Once again this scribe must ask why wasn’t Jeff George called in to play for the moribund 49ers? Despite being 39, to Weinke’s 35, George is a better option at QB and the numbers don’t lie.
Jeff George:
Height: 6-4 Weight: 214 Age: 39
Born: 12/8/1967 Indianapolis , IN
College: Illinois
Experience: 14 Seasons
Comp: 2,298
Att: 3,967
Pct: 57.9
Yds: 27,602
TD: 154
Int: 113
Rate: 80.4
Chris Weinke:
San Francisco 49ers
Height: 6-4 Weight: 232 Age: 35
Born: 7/31/1972 St. Paul , MN
College: Florida State
Experience: 7th season
High School: Cretin-Derham Hall HS [St. Paul, MN]
Comp : 373
Att : 687
Pct : 54.3
Yds : 3,800
TD : 14
Int : 26
Rate: 61.4
Dark Knight Trailer : Joker
Per Wikipedia;
Origin
Though many have been related, a definitive history of the Joker before the chemical bath has never been established in the comics, and his real name has never been confirmed. He has been portrayed as lying so often about his former life that he himself is confused as to what actually happened. As he says in The Killing Joke: “Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another… if I’m going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!” In Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth written by Grant Morrison, it is said that the Joker’s insanity runs so deeply, that he recreates himself every day. He could have a different personality with different quirks and mannerisms whenever he sees fit.
Ex-Fresno State coach wins sex discrimination lawsuit
Ex-Fresno State coach wins sex discrimination lawsuit
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — A former Fresno State women’s basketball coach was awarded $19.1 million Thursday in a sexual discrimination lawsuit that alleged she was fired because she advocated for women’s rights.
The university argued that Stacy Johnson-Klein was fired because she was abusive, violated NCAA rules and inappropriately scored pain medication from one of her players.
Johnson-Klein told the Fresno Bee the jury’s unanimous verdict was a victory for women in general and proof the legal system works.
“It’s long, it’s hard, it’s not for the weak of heart,” Johnson-Klein said outside court. “But it works, and I’m just very thankful it worked today.”
After an eight-week trial, jurors deliberated about four hours Thursday before returning their verdict.
Fresno State President John Welty said the university plans to appeal.
“This fundamentally has always been an employment case,” Welty said in a statement. “The university will always act when the health and welfare of its students is endangered.”
The university’s lawyer portrayed Johnson-Klein as a self-centered manipulator who ignored her players’ welfare and ran roughshod over university policies in her pursuit of money, fame and power.
Johnson-Klein was fired in March 2005 after less than three seasons as the coach of the Bulldogs. She had more than three years left on her contract.
The university said an investigation revealed Johnson-Klein obtained a half-full bottle of Vicodin in September 2004 from one of her players and acknowledged taking one of the pills.
One of her attorneys, Warren Paboojian, said Johnson-Klein had a prescription for the medication because of a car accident, and had run out when she asked the player for the pills.
Johnson-Klein sued, alleging the investigation was launched only after she complained about gender discrimination, sexual harassment and Title IX violations at the school.
Johnson-Klein’s lawyers did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press on Thursday.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Anti-Ault Website
Courtesy of http://www.fireault.blogspot.com/
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Mission Accomplished: Another “Bowl” Invite
Chris Ault has led the Wolf Pack to yet another default-appearance in the post season. After completely dominating perennial cellar dweller, Louisiana Tech 49-10 on Saturday (in front of approximately 10,000 fans), Ault gladly accepted an invite to the 2nd annual New Mexico Bowl.
The Wolf Pack, 6-6 on the season, “earned” an invite due to the fact that June Jone’s Hawaii football team will be playing the BCS’s Sugar Bowl. Had UH not been invited to a non-WAC affiliated bowl, the Pack would have almost assuredly been left out in the cold. This marks the second consecutive year that the University of Nevada’s football team has accepted a bid to a WAC affiliated bowl game because another WAC team earned a BCS bowl appearance. The Western Athletic Conference is aligned with 3 bowl games.
The Pack fan base has acknowledge this seemingly undeserved bowl-eligbility, by attending home football games in alarmingly small numbers. Chris Ault’s football team is recently drawing an attendance less than that required to remain NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (D1) eligible. Click HERE to read a USA Today blog on the issue of D1 attendance requirements.
The auspicious New Mexico Bowl will be held on December 22, 2007, in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
T.R.O.Y. Evel Knievel
T.R.O.Y. Evel Knievel
Iconic daredevil Evel Knievel dies at 69
Sat Dec 1, 2:59 PM ET
Evel Knievel’s hard life killed him — it just took longer than he or anyone else might have expected.
The hard-living motorcycle daredevil, whose bone-breaking, rocket-powered jumps and stunts made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.
He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs. He had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his many spills. He also suffered two strokes in recent years.
Longtime friend and promoter Billy Rundle said Knievel had trouble breathing at his Clearwater condominium and died before an ambulance could get him to a hospital.
“It’s been coming for years, but you just don’t expect it. Superman just doesn’t die, right?” said Rundle, organizer of the annual “Evel Knievel Days” festival in the daredevil’s Butte, Mont., hometown. (to be continued …)
