I got my list of guest ready for this year’s Thanksgiving dinner. Should be real nice. Last year was pretty hectic because I had just moved and was still getting things in order. I will be in Miami on December 6th shooting as many females that call me. So like I said earlier – We are hiring so get your apps in so you wont get passed over.
Peace.
If ABC hoped to generate a little bit more buzz for �Monday Night Football� and �Desperate Housewives,� its steamy intro to the Dallas-Philadelphia game sure did the trick.
Two days after the network aired the segment featuring Eagles star receiver Terrell Owens and actress Nicollette Sheridan, coaches and players were still talking about it.
Reaction ranged from amusement to anger. Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy found it racially offensive.
�To me that�s the first thing I thought of as an African-American,� Dungy said Wednesday.
�I think it�s stereotypical in looking at the players, and on the heels of the Kobe Bryant incident I think it�s very insensitive. I don�t think that they would have had Bill Parcells or Andy Reid or one of the owners involved in that,� he added, a reference to the coaches in the game.
ABC�s intro showed Sheridan wearing only a towel and provocatively asking Owens to skip the game for her as the two stood alone in a locker room. She drops the towel and jumps into Owens� arms. Owens is black and Sheridan is white.
�If that�s what we have to do to get ratings, I�d rather not get them,� Dungy said. �I realize that ratings pays us in this league, but if that�s what we have to do, I�m willing to take a pay cut.�
Philadelphia quarterback Donovan McNabb wasn�t quite as vocal, saying he didn�t find the segment offensive and believed people were overreacting. (Owens wasn�t at practice Wednesday, excused for what the team said were personal reasons.)
�Some people do different things,� McNabb said. �Not saying that my wife would allow me to do that, but it�s just something that was done, and you move on.�
Michael Powell, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, had a different view, questioning ABC�s judgment in airing the scene.
�I wonder if Walt Disney would be proud,� he said.
ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. The FCC will review complaints and decide whether or not to open an investigation that could result in a fine against the network.
�It would seem to me that while we get a lot of broadcasting companies complaining about indecency enforcement, they seem to be continuing to be willing to keep the issue at the forefront, keep it hot and steamy in order to get financial gains and the free advertising it provides,� Powell told CNBC.
The segment drew complaints from viewers and the NFL. ABC Sports apologized for using the introduction to promote its show, �Desperate Housewives.� Dungy�s comment, however, was the first that mentioned race. He also said the segment played off stereotypes of athletes.
�That athletes are sexual predators and that that stuff is more important than what�s going on on the field. That a guy was more concerned with that than the game, that�s a terrible message to send,� Dungy said. �I�m particularly sensitive to that. It could have been any player and I would have been outraged, but being an African-American, it particularly hurt me.�
A decade ago Dungy was outspoken about the lack of black coaches in the NFL. There are currently five, including Dungy and Lovie Smith, whose Bears will face Dungy�s Colts on Sunday.
�I thought it was in bad taste also,� Smith said. �You could say that it was pretty close to pornographic, so any time that happens on prime time, something is wrong.�
But Smith didn�t find it racially offensive.
�I really can�t go that far,� he said. �I saw a naked lady with an athlete, period. Black, white, that doesn�t really matter an awful lot to me.�
Dungy said ABC had asked the Colts, who played on Monday night last week, �to do some things I thought would make our players look a little bit silly (although) nothing like that.�
�We kind of declined,� he said.
Some players were also shocked.
�My mouth dropped when I saw that,� said Washington tight end Mike Sellers, who was watching the game with his wife. �I said, �Did they actually plan this on TV?��
But at least one of his teammates wasn�t bothered.
�I thought it was kind of cool, myself,� linebacker Marcus Washington said. �I enjoyed the skit.�
The Santa Monica Police Department issued a warrant for the arrest of G-Unit rapper Young Buck on Tuesday (November 16) in connection with the melee at Monday’s Vibe Awards.
After reviewing a videotape of the fight, investigators believe Buck (born David Darnell Brown) stabbed 26-year-old Los Angeles native Jimmy James Johnson after Johnson assaulted Dr. Dre during the ceremony at the Santa Monica Municipal Airport hangar (see “Dr. Dre Attacked, Man Stabbed During Melee At Vibe Awards”).
Buck, who will be charged with assault with a deadly weapon, was one of three men seen on the videotape with knives. The other two have not been identified.
“Mr. Brown is seen lunging over another male and swinging the knife at Mr. Johnson’s upper body while Johnson is looking away from him,” Santa Monica Police Department spokesperson J.T. Butts Jr. said at a press conference Tuesday (November 16). “He is clearly depicted holding the knife after the assault and was a number of fight participants sprayed by pepper spray. Brown then fled the scene and was not identified until earlier this morning. … We are asking Mr. Brown to surrender himself to the Santa Monica Police Department immediately.”
The encounter began around 7:25 p.m., when Johnson approached Dr. Dre for an autograph and began punching him several times.
“As private security persons attempted to control Mr. Johnson, several males attempted to assault him,” Butts said. “Two uniformed officers attempted to intervene and they themselves became victims when unidentified men threw chairs at them.”
James was stabbed in the chest and suffered a collapsed lung. He was rushed to a local hospital and is in stable condition, Butts said.
James, who is on parole, has not yet been interviewed, nor has Dr. Dre. “We have a call in to him, he has not responded, but we will interview him at his earliest convenience,” Butts said. “This investigation is continuing and we are in the process of identifying several other assault suspects. We have a lot of people to interview.”
Butts said he has no idea what sparked the assault and made no connection between Johnson and Suge Knight, a longtime Dre rival who attended the awards.
Initially only two officers intervened, but Butts said 56 officers were on the scene within minutes, including more than 30 who were patrolling the Vibe Awards. Metal detectors were used at the doors, Butts said.
Young Buck has several arrests in Nashville on his record for minor offenses, Butts said. A spokesperson for the G-Unit had no comment.
The second annual Vibe Awards, an evening meant to honor hip-hop and R&B, was disrupted by a melee Monday night (November 15).
Reports are sketchy, but according to eyewitnesses, as Snoop Dogg and Quincy Jones were getting ready to
present Dr. Dre with the Vibe Legend Award, Dre was attacked near the stage.
Witnesses said Dre was standing next to his wife when the man approached in a friendly manner, and then all of a sudden began throwing punches at the rapper/producer’s head.
When bodyguards and people with the G-Unit jumped in to protect Dre, things quickly got out of control. While there were some reports that a man with the G-Unit’s entourage was stabbed, a spokesperson for the group had no comment on the matter.
After the dust settled at least 10 minutes later, the show went on. Dre picked up his award and told the crowd he wouldn’t let incidents like that one slow him down. Later, the audience at the Barker Hangar in Santa Monica, California, was treated to a performance of “Drop It Like It’s Hot” by Snoop with Pharrell Williams. Jadakiss also performed and was joined by Anthony Hamilton and Common.
The Vibe Awards are scheduled to air Tuesday at 8 p.m. on UPN.
The rap artist O.D.B., who lived a life as wild as his lyrics, collapsed and died inside a recording studio Saturday, his record label said. He was 35.
O.D.B. had complained of chest pains before collapsing at the Manhattan studio, according to a statement from Roc-a-Fella records.
O.D.B., also known as Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Dirt McGirt or his legal name of Russell Jones, was a founding member of the hit rap group the Wu-Tang Clan in the early 1990s. With his offbeat, unorthodox delivery, he segued into a successful solo career and released several hit singles.
But he was frequently in trouble with the law, mostly for drug possession.
In February 1998, he crashed the stage at the Grammy Awards and hijacked a microphone from singer Shawn Colvin as she accepted an award, apparently upset over losing the best rap album Grammy to Puff Daddy. He complained that he spent a lot of money for new clothes because he thought he was going to win. The rapper later apologized. Later in 1998, he was wounded in a shooting during a robbery in his apartment.
In 2001 he was sentenced to two to four years in prison for drug possession; plus two concurrent years for escaping from a rehab clinic. He was released in 2003 and immediately signed with Roc-a-Fella.
O.D.B. would have turned 36 on Monday.
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Former Ohio State star Maurice Clarett accused coach Jim Tressel, his staff and school boosters of arranging for him to get passing grades, cars, and thousands of dollars, including for bogus summer jobs. The school immediately denied the claims Tuesday.
Most of Clarett’s charges, made in an interview with ESPN The Magazine, were addressed as part of an NCAA probe that found the running back lied to investigators, leading to his suspension from the team he helped win the 2002 national title.
Ohio State athletic director Andy Geiger was not surprised by the accusations, saying Clarett had vowed to try to hurt the program.
“In moments of frustration during the investigation, (Maurice) might say something like, ‘I can blow this whole program up,’ or something like that, and so we would then say, ‘OK, blow it up. Tell us what you know,”’ Geiger said.
After being suspended by Ohio State and the NCAA for the 2003 season, Clarett went to court to challenge the NFL’s rule preventing players from entering the draft less than three years after graduating high school. He won initial federal court ruling but lost several appeals and was kept out of the draft.
Friends and family members say Clarett has been working out with a personal trainer in preparation for the 2005 NFL draft. He has not spoken publicly in months.
“I have had a chance to read the article, and the allegations as they were mentioned are, simply, untrue. Period,” Tressel said.
According to the magazine, Clarett said Tressel set him up with a loaner car.
Geiger said Tressel did try to help Clarett buy a car through the dealership that leases cars to several Ohio State coaches and administrators. But Clarett and his mother did not meet with the dealer to make arrangements to buy the car, and the dealership came to Columbus several days later to repossess it.
Geiger said Tressel’s actions did not break NCAA rules, adding that the coach put other players in touch with the dealership, too.
Clarett also said members of Tressel’s staff introduced him to boosters who slipped him thousands of dollars in cash — the better he played, the more he would receive.
“When you’d leave, (the booster) sets you straight,” Clarett told the magazine. “They say, ‘You got any money in your pocket?’ They make sure your money’s straight.”
Clarett said Tressel’s brother Dick, a member of Ohio State’s coaching staff, arranged to get Clarett a job working for a landscaper. Clarett said he was paid even though he did not show up for work. The player also alleged that the football staff arranged an academic adviser who set him up with professors who would pass him even if he skipped class.
Former Ohio State linebacker Marco Cooper also told the magazine he had bogus landscaping jobs, received furniture from a booster and borrowed cars from Columbus dealerships in exchange for signed OSU memorabilia.
Geiger said many of the claims were found to be baseless in investigations by the NCAA and the university. He pointed out that Cooper was kicked off the team for drug possession.
Clarett told the magazine he took “the fall” for Tressel and Ohio State when meeting with the NCAA investigators but was subsequently “blackballed” when he tried to return to school.
Geiger expressed faith in the Ohio State coaches, compliance officers and academic counselors.
“We don’t duck. We’re not afraid of what’s coming. We’re not afraid of what’s here,” Geiger said.
Messages seeking comment were left Tuesday at Clarett’s mother’s house in northeast Ohio and with his attorney.
In the article, Clarett says his main reason for speaking with the magazine was to “clear his name” with NFL owners and general managers.
Thom McDaniels, Clarett’s high school coach in Warren, said Clarett will only hurt himself by making the accusations.
“I don’t know how his coming forth with these comments helps him with his stock in the NFL. I think behaving that way only hurts his reputation and his marketability,” McDaniels said. “That is not honorable behavior. At this point, who knows if it’s fact or fabrication.”
Murphy Lee was arrested on Halloween on charges of drug possession and driving under the influence of drugs.
The rapper and St. Lunatics member had been pulled over on October 31 near St. Louis for an expired license plate when police found marijuana in his Mercedes, according to The Associated Press.
Lee was arrested for possessing less than 35 grams of marijuana and driving under the influence of drugs after Sheriff’s deputies allegedly smelled marijuana in his car. He is expected to appear in court next month.
An attorney for Lee, born Tohri Harper, told the AP that the rapper expects to plead not guilty.
The ‘breaking news’ reports on some web sites concerning the shooting of New Jersey rapper Chino XL are completely false.
After checking into the story, it seems one site posted it; and since most of these kind of ‘fan’ sites copy and paste news with out looking into the source, the story just spread
The story indicates that rapper Chino XL was shot in the chest 3 times in Pomona California by a young, 19 year old suspect from California, who reportedly screamed “thug life” as he opened fire. Police are looking at the possibility that the feud between Chino XL and the late Tupac Shakur lead to the shooting.
This is just another example of web mis-information and how ‘copy and paste’ news can spread on the web even if it is false.
Reputable and reliable web news sources post a source for their news and check out things before they post them. That is something to keep in mind.
It never happened…
Damn that time is finally here, time to put up or shut up when it comes to voting. After months and months of this campaigning shit its finally time for America to choose who will be in charge of the country for the next 4 years.
I heard on CNN that a lot of underhanded shit is already going on with the voting process and it seems there will be some sort of controversy over the outcome AGAIN!
No matter how you feel, just get out and vote and let your opinions be known.
The New England Patriots are no longer perfect, all because of a rookie quarterback who still is.
The Patriots (6-1) had won 21 straight counting the playoffs and a league-record 18 in a row in the regular season, but were all but out of this one after Roethlisberger threw two touchdown passes to Plaxico Burress during a 21-point Steelers first quarter.
Maybe all this winning was too much to ask of Boston-area teams. With running back Corey Dillon (thigh) sitting out and Pro Bowl cornerback Ty Law (foot) sidelined for all but a few plays, the Patriots’ record run ended only four days after the Boston Red Sox won their first World Series in 86 years.
