Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

With everyone focused on the IRS scandal which keeps getting worse and worse - this would be a good time for Hillary Clinton to come clean on Benghazi. She can say that she was trying to protect the President and regrets her actions. She could say that she was confused about the expectations from this administration versus those of her husband. People would accept that...  The NCAA is looking worse and worse regarding U Miami and using Nevin Shapiro as their star witness... This may be a little thing but I'm really not a fan of parents telling kids "Don't you dare" as a warning. Don't you want your kids to dare? especially to dream?...  I think Adrian Beltre not wanting to be touched on his head and his teammates doing it anyway is funny. That's something a little brother would do to a big brother... With Elementary done for the season and the new season of Sherlock not showing in the US until September - I'm having some Sherlock Holmes withdrawal... Wow - this pinpointed map of unemployment is incredible. Look at how employment seems to end at the borders of California.

Miami Scandal II

Interesting article that notes that Yahoo! Sports never bothered to interview owner of Lucky Strike bowling alley where infamous Donna Shalala beaming at $50,000 check from Nevin Shapiro took place.

"We were going to introduce Frank Haith and at some point Nevin said, 'Can I have the mic I'd like to say something,'" Elias said. "So he grabbed the mic and literally, spontaneously said 'I'm going to make a donation for what I think was $50,000.'

"We were all stunned. It's funny when you look at the picture, Donna is looking down at the check smiling because I think she was stunned. So naturally, you see the picture and we were all smiling. When you're trying to fundraise and get a check like that, it was a huge success. But I just think the way this picture has been talked about in articles, it demonizes her. And that couldn't be further than the truth."

I think you are going to many holes poked into the Yahoo! Sports story before it is all said and done. (PS - I have no idea why some of my text is being shaded)

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Based upon Tom Brady's numbers last night - how soon will we see articles about him breaking his own TD's in a season mark? Personally I really wouldn't be surprised to see him surpass 50 TD's. Seriously - would that surprise you?... Nana said that?... I have to agree with the opinion that Roger Goodell's ruling on Ohio State QB Terrelle Pryor is nothing less than proof that the NCAA is a defacto professional minor league system for the NFL. Somebody explain to me why NCAA revenues should not be taxed?... Yesterday was the anniversary of back in 1920 when the 19th Amendment gave women the right to vote. That reminded me of this classic Man Show bit... "So Dark the Con of Shapiro" What Dan Brown would have named the Miami Hurricanes story if he wrote for Yahoo! Sports... Former White Sox slugger Frank Thomas has his own Big Hurt beer... Many believe that George H. W. Bush lost his chance at rel-election when he declined to remove Dan Quayle from the ticket as VP. What are the chances that as his opinion polls continue to drop that Obama decides to replace Joe Biden as VP with Hillary Clinton? It's not like Delaware is crucial to re-election. He has to do something... Your anagram for the day: Mark Sanchez New York Jets = Throws A Jerk Enzyme Snack... About one in every 4 million lobsters is born with a rare genetic defect that turns it blue. One in every 30 million is yellow. About one in every 100 million is born a Rock Lobster.

Miami Scandal

Something bothered me from the moment I first read the reporting on Nevin Shapiro and the U of Miami scandal. The Yahoo! article talks about Shapiro paying for an abortion on behalf of a player:

In one instance, Shapiro described taking a player to the Pink Pony strip club and paying for a dancer to engage in sex with the athlete. In the ensuing weeks, Shapiro said the dancer called one of his security providers and informed him that the player had gotten her pregnant during the incident. Shapiro said he gave the dancer $500 to have an abortion performed, without notifying the player of the incident.

“I was doing him a favor,” the booster said. “That idiot might have wanted to keep [the baby].”

Due to the sensitivity of the allegation, Yahoo! Sports has chosen not to name the player allegedly involved.

The logic here immediately bothered me. A prostitute tells Shapiro that she's pregnant in the "ensuing weeks" and Shapiro just takes it for granted that the baby belonged to the player? My BS meter went off at this. The baby - if there ever was a pregnancy - could have belonged to whoever was screwing the "dancer". Don't try to tell me that she only had sex with just that one guy. Don't try to tell me that she knew she was pregnant and that the baby belonged to the player after just a couple of weeks passing. Don't tell me that Shapiro just gave her $500 without insuring the procedure was actually performed. Don't tell me that Yahoo! printed this most inflammatory and scurrilous of accusations without more evidence than Shapiro's word that it happened.

Almost every retelling of the U of Miami scandal includes the flabbergasted phrase "HE EVEN PAID FOR AN ABORTION". Well what if Shapiro didn't pay for an abortion but instead was simply scammed out of $500 by a whore? If this accusation falls apart what about the rest of the story? I think when all is said and done there may be more smoke to this story than fire.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

The Knicks are 5-1 in their last six games. Looks like New York coach Mike D’Antoni is really starting to earn his money (although I probably just put the hex on the Knicks game tonight)... I enjoyed the 30 for 30 show The U about the rise of Miami's football program. I was disappointed in two things though - first they didn't even mention Doug Flutie's Hail Mary pass and second you would think they could have interviewed Bernie Kosar when he was sober... So I'm looking at the stats for the top scoring rookies in the NBA and it hits me that I can't remember who the Celtics took with their first pick in last year's draft. Not sure if that says more about my memory or the quality of their pick. I looked it up and the pick was Lester Hudson in the 2nd round. That makes me feel better about my memory... I think if I saw that ESPN NBA Winnebago driving on the highway - I'd try to run it off the road... Lyford has a couple of very good posts that you should check out:

- On the Red Sox "Philosophy"
- This is just outrageous - I agree that someone should lose their job over this
- Some data on the John Lackey signing and other Red Sox moves