Saturday, December 26, 2009

Say It Isn't So

Gator Fans All Over the Nation Are Wishing This is a Big April Fool's Prank!!


No, no! Say It AIn't So!

Thanks,

Preston
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Urban Meyer Steps Down at Florida, Cites Health Reasons
by Clay Travis

from Fanhous



In a move that has already sent the college football universe into a post-Christmas state of shock, the University of Florida announced Saturday afternoon that Urban Meyer would be stepping down as head coach of the Gator football team after coaching in the Sugar Bowl on January 1.

Meyer, who has won two national titles and three SEC East titles in his five years at Florida, leaves with the highest win percentage in Gator football history and a career mark of 56-10. In nine years as a head coach at Bowling Green, Utah, and Florida, Meyer's career record was 95-18.

Immediately the GatorZone website where the official release went up was so flooded with visitors that it became inaccessible. In the release, Meyer stated as follows:
"I have given my heart and soul to coaching college football and mentoring young men for the last 24-plus years and I have dedicated most of my waking moments the last five years to the Gator football program," Meyer, 45, said in statement. "I have ignored my health for years, but recent developments have forced me to reevaluate my priorities of faith and family.


"After consulting with my family, Dr. Machen, Jeremy Foley and my doctors, I believe it is in my best interest to step aside and focus on my health and family." "I'm proud to be a part of the Gainesville community and the Gator Nation and I plan to remain in Gainesville and involved with the University of Florida."

Meyer, just 45 years old, is 32-8 all-time in the SEC, and led his Gators to a perfect 12-0 start to the 2009 season before losing to Alabama in the SEC title game on December's first weekend. In the wake of that game, Meyer was hospitalized and he now cites his health as the reason that he has chosen to resign as Florida football coach.

The Florida Gators, who recently lost their defensive coordinator, Charlie Strong, to the University of Louisville, play on New Year's evening against the Cincinnati Bearcats. In the meantime, the shockwaves from Meyer's abrupt departure will be felt for months, if not years.

Meyer remains the only coach in college football with two consensus BCS titles, and this past summer some were comparing him with legendary Alabama coach Paul "Bear" Bryant. Those comparisons are, for the moment, at rest.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

The Saints Lost

The Saints Lost.

One down.

One to Go.

Colts? You're next!

'72 Dolphins Rule!

In a Nation of over a Billion, There is Only One Half-Black?

I found this on CNN.

Thanks,

Preston
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Half-Black Singer Raises Race Questions in China

By Emily Chang
CNN

SHANGHAI, China (CNN) -- It all started with the lure of the glitz, the glamour and the dream of being China's next pop star. But, as with many reality shows, Lou Jing's instant fame came with unanticipated consequences.

Lou Jing was born 20 years ago in Shanghai to a Chinese mother and an African-American father. According to her mother, who asked not to be identified in this report, she met Lou's father while she was still in college. He left China before their daughter was born.

Growing up with a single mom in central Shanghai, Lou Jing said she had good friends and lived a normal life. "When I was young, I didn't feel any different," she said.

But as soon as she stepped into the national spotlight on a Chinese reality television show called "Go! Oriental Angel," Lou Jing became a national sensation -- not necessarily because of her talent, but how she looked.

"After the contest started, I often got more attention than the other girls. It made me feel strange," Lou said.

The reality show hosts fondly called her "chocolate girl" and "black pearl." The Chinese media fixated on her skin color. Netizens flooded Web sites with comments saying she "never should have been born" and telling her to "get out of China."

Lou Jing's background became fodder for national gossip, sparking a vitriolic debate about race across a country that, in many respects, can be quite homogeneous. There are 56 different recognized ethnic groups in China, but more than 90 percent of the population is Han Chinese. So people who look different stand out.

"We lived in a small circle before," said her mother. "But after Lou was seen nationwide, some Chinese people couldn't accept her."

It has been a shocking ordeal for someone who says she always considered herself just like every other Chinese girl.

"Sometimes people on the street would ask me, 'Why do you speak Chinese so well?' I'd just say, 'Because I'm Chinese!'" Lou said.

But, as any curious child would, Lou Jing certainly thought about why she looked different. In a clip reel aired on the show, her classmates say they tried to protect her from feeling out of place.

"She used to wonder why she had black skin," said one classmate. "We thought about this question together and decided to tell her it's because she likes dark chocolate. So her skin turned darker gradually."

Another classmate weighed in, "We said it's because she used to drink too much soy sauce."

Even Lou Jing's maternal grandmother admitted in a taped interview, "I told Lou Jing she was black because her mom was not very well and had to take Chinese medicine."

But such explanations were not enough for a voracious Chinese public. Show producers convinced Lou Jing's mom to appear on-air and asked her to address the many unanswered questions.

"Lou Jing did not ask about her father until she was sixteen years old," her mother told the audience. "She said, 'Where is my dad?' I didn't answer, I just cried and Lou Jing never asked me this question again."

On stage this time, it was Lou Jing who wept as she held an arm tightly around her mother, gripping the microphone in the other. The camera zoomed in on audience members tearing up as well.

"Lou Jing would cook dinner for me before I got home," her mother said. "I was quite sad then. In other families a girl her age would have a mom and a dad who loved her."

Although her father has been absent, Lou seemed to be curious about learning more. On the reality show, the host inquired, "Lou Jing, have you ever thought about going to find your dad, to get to know him?"

Lou Jing pauses for a moment and softly responds, "Yes, I have thought about that before."

In this way, the most private aspects of Lou Jing's otherwise quiet life became painfully public. But as the show went on, so did Lou Jing. She stuck with her daily routine, listening to Beyonce, her favorite artist, hanging out with her friends and continuing to go to school.

"I was so angry," said her drama teacher, Tao Yandong, of the Shanghai Drama Academy's School for the Television Arts. "My student had been insulted by others so of course I felt bad, too. But she told me she was fine and wasn't letting these things hurt her heart."

Watching Lou Jing laugh and gossip with her Chinese classmates today, this appears to be true. Back in her modest two-bedroom apartment, it is hard to imagine that Lou Jing and her mother are subjects of national scrutiny.

Instead, they are focused on her future. Her career goals are many, spanning from hosting a television show to becoming a diplomat "to bring people together," she said.

As a college junior, Lou Jing is thinking about graduate school applications, hoping to pursue a master's degree in foreign policy in New York City after she graduates from college.

When asked what she will do without her mother, Lou excitedly said, "My mom is going to come with me!"

Her mom shakes her head and smiles. If anything, their enduring bond as mother and daughter only seems to have gotten stronger. After all, for all their critics, there were just as many supporters.

Until the end of her run on "Go! Oriental Angel," fans continued to vote for Lou Jing show after show. The judges praised her confidence. Lou Jing was eventually eliminated before the finale, but not without a powerful parting message.

"I think I'm the same as all the girls here, except for my skin color. We share the same stage and the same dream. I've tried my best, so no matter what happens, I'll hold onto my dream."
Filed under: World

© 2009 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Elin Leaves House With Police Escort

She's leaving the house.

I found this on aol/Fanhouse.

Thanks,

Preston
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Elin Leaving Tiger With Police Escort Assistance

by Will Brinson of AOL Golf/Fanhouse



Reports have been floating into the internet ether today -- though photographic evidence has yet to emerge -- that Elin Nordegren is rolling out of Tiger Woods' home amidst a heavy police escort in what is being rumored as a likely permanent exit strategy.

Nordegren supposedly wants, as mentioned earlier on FanHouse, a stunning $300 million and custody of their children and is not budging from that stance via a divorce. Such reports -- if true -- would theoretically support her exiting their Orlando home, which X17Online.com (safe for work, despite the potentially misleading name) noted today:

An X17 photographer on the scene tells us, "With Tiger off on his yacht, Elin's had enough. She's ready to take the kids and go back to Sweden. And with this many cops on bikes entering the community, we can only imagine they're preparing a motorcade for her to get herself and the kids to the airport quickly and safely."

Two police choppers are also hovering overhead waiting for the motorcade to start their move.

Now, if anyone is wondering why Elin needs so much security, it should be obvious: Tiger and his wife and his seemingly unending list of mistresses have been the talk of every tabloid, gossip magazine and sports Web site since Thanksgiving, and if Elin leaves the house, she will be dealing with the paparazzi.

That's just an indisputable fact; Elin knows it as much as anyone else, and taking extra precautions to make sure she doesn't put herself or her children in any harm because of overzealous reporters is a smart idea.

He Won! He Won! Tiger Woods Won!

I found this on AOl/Fanhouse

Thanks,

Preston
__________________________________

Tiger Voted PGA Player of the Year!


PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Tiger Woods was voted the PGA Tour player of the year by the players on Friday, the 10th time in his 13 years on tour that he has won the award.

The PGA Tour does not disclose vote totals.

Woods started and finished the season the same way -- with questions when he would return. He was coming off knee surgery at the beginning of the year, and last week announced an indefinite leave to work on his marriage after admitting to infidelity.

In between, he won six PGA Tour events, captured the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus, won the money title for the ninth time in his career with over $10.5 million, and had the lowest scoring average for the ninth time.

No one else won more than three times on the PGA Tour. It was only the second time that Woods was voted player of the year when he did not win a major. In a peculiar twist, Woods won in his final start before each of the four majors.

Marc Leishman of Australia was voted PGA Tour rookie of the year, becoming the first since Charles Howell III in 2001 to win the award without having won a tournament.

Leishman was the only rookie to reach the FedEx Cup finale at the Tour Championship.

Players voted on the awards over the last month, with balloting ending Friday.

It was the eighth time that Woods has swept all the major PGA Tour honors -- Byron Nelson Award for the lowest adjusted scoring average (68.05), Arnold Palmer Award for the money title and Jack Nicklaus Award for player of the year.

Radio Giant Files for Bankruptcy

Citadel Broadcasting Files for Bankruptcy

I found this on Aol by Jeff Bercovici.

Thanks,

Preston

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JEFF BERCOVICI Posted 12:13 PM 12/21/09 Company News, Media

Faced with the likelihood of breaching its financial covenants, Citadel Broadcasting (CTDB) -- which syndicates such broadcasters as Don Imus (pictured) -- took the initiative Sunday and filed for bankruptcy. The Chapter 11 filing will let the radio broadcaster get out from underneath most of its $2.5 billion debt.

Under a pre-arranged plan approved by more than 60% of Citadel's lenders, the company's creditors will end up with 90% of the reorganized company's equity. In return, they'll exchange $2.1 billion in loans for a more manageable $762.5 million.

Losing out big in the deal is Forstmann Little & Co. The New York-based private equity firm is currently Citadel's biggest stakeholder, with 28.7% of its equity. Forstmann had already written off its investment in Citadel, according to The Wall Street Journal, which included a $1.5 billion infusion in 2001.

Citadel owns 224 radio stations, including WABC in New York and WLS in Chicago. Among the programs it syndicates are Imus in the Morning and The Mark Levin Show. Just three years ago, it was still aggressively expanding, shouldering heavy debt to finance a $2.7 billion merger of its stations with Disney (DIS)-owned ABC Radio. That deal turned Citadel into the country's third-biggest radio operator, behind Clear Channel and CBS (CBS) Radio.

But then the bottom fell out of the radio-advertising market, and the ad economy in general. Citadel's ad revenue was down 14% in the third quarter. Overall radio spending is off an even steeper 19% in 2009, according to the consultancy BIA/Kelsey.

A covenant with its lenders requires Citadel to have $150 million in cash on hand by Jan. 15. As of Sunday, the company had only $24 million.

Lipshitz 6

Lipshitz 6
Reading T Cooper for Christmas

Punk Blood

Punk Blood
Jay Marvin

Breath, Eyes, Memory

Breath, Eyes, Memory

Anonymous Rex

Anonymous Rex
Reading Eric Garcia for Christmas

Vinegar Hill

Vinegar Hill
Reading A. Manette Ansay for Christmas

Nicotine Dreams

Nicotine Dreams
Reading Katie Cunningham for Christmas

Junot Diaz

Junot Diaz
Pulitzer Prize Winner!!!

Edwige Danticat

Edwige Danticat
New Year's Reading

Greed

Greed
This Brother Is Scary Good

One More Chance

One More Chance
The genius Is At It Again/The Rapper CHIEF aka Sherwin Allen

Sandrine's Letter

Sandrine's Letter
Check out Sandrine's Letter To Tomorrow. You will like it, I insist.

All or Nothing

All or Nothing

Editorial Reviews of All or Nothing

New York Times--". . . a cartographer of autodegradation . . . Like Dostoyevsky, Allen colorfully evokes the gambling milieu — the chained (mis)fortunes of the players, their vanities and grotesqueries, their quasi-philosophical ruminations on chance. Like Burroughs, he is a dispassionate chronicler of the addict’s daily ritual, neither glorifying nor vilifying the matter at hand."

Florida Book Review--". . . Allen examines the flaming abyss compulsive gambling burns in its victims’ guts, self-esteem and bank accounts, the desperate, myopic immediacy it incites, the self-destructive need it feeds on, the families and relationships it destroys. For with gamblers, it really is all or nothing. Usually nothing. Take it from a reviewer who’s been there. Allen is right on the money here."

Foreword Magazine--"Not shame, not assault, not even murder is enough reason to stop. Allen’s second novel, All or Nothing, is funny, relentless, haunting, and highly readable. P’s inner dialogues illuminate the grubby tragedy of addiction, and his actions speak for the train wreck that is gambling."

Library Journal--"Told without preaching or moralizing, the facts of P's life express volumes on the destructive power of gambling. This is strongly recommended and deserves a wide audience; an excellent choice for book discussion groups."—Lisa Rohrbaugh, East Palestine Memorial P.L., OH

LEXIS-NEXIS--"By day, P drives a school bus in Miami. But his vocation? He's a gambler who craves every opportunity to steal a few hours to play the numbers, the lottery, at the Indian casinos. Allen has a narrative voice as compelling as feeding the slots is to P." Betsy Willeford is a Miami-based freelance book reviewer. November 4, 2007

Publisher’s Weekly--"Allen’s dark and insightful novel depicts narrator P’s sobering descent into his gambling addiction . . . The well-written novel takes the reader on a chaotic ride as P chases, finds and loses fast, easy money. Allen (Churchboys and Other Sinners) reveals how addiction annihilates its victims and shows that winning isn’t always so different from losing."

Kirkus Review--"We gamble to gamble. We play to play. We don't play to win." Right there, P, desperado narrator of this crash-'n'-burn novella, sums up the madness. A black man in Miami, P has graduated from youthful nonchalance (a '79 Buick Electra 225) to married-with-a-kid pseudo-stability, driving a school bus in the shadow of the Biltmore. He lives large enough to afford two wide-screen TVs, but the wife wants more. Or so he rationalizes, as he hits the open-all-night Indian casinos, "controlling" his jones with a daily ATM maximum of $1,000. Low enough to rob the family piggy bank for slot-machine fodder, he sinks yet further, praying that his allergic 11-year-old eat forbidden strawberries—which will send him into a coma, from which he'll emerge with the winning formula for Cash 3 (the kid's supposedly psychic when he's sick). All street smarts and inside skinny, the book gives readers a contact high that zooms to full rush when P scores $160,000 on one lucky machine ("God is the God of Ping-ping," he exults, as the coins flood out). The loot's enough to make the small-timer turn pro, as he heads, flush, to Vegas to cash in. But in Sin City, karmic payback awaits. Swanky hookers, underworld "professors" deeply schooled in sure-fire systems to beat the house, manic trips to the CashMyCheck store for funds to fuel the ferocious need—Allen's brilliant at conveying the hothouse atmosphere of hell-bent gaming. Fun time in the Inferno.

At Books and Books

At Books and Books
Me And Vicki at Our Reading

Bio


Preston L. Allen is the recipient of a State of Florida Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature and the Sonja H. Stone Prize in Fiction for his short story collection Churchboys and Other Sinners (Carolina Wren Press 2003). His works have appeared in numerous publications including The Seattle Review, The Crab Orchard Review, Asili, Drum Voices, and Gulfstream Magazine; and he has been anthologized in Here We Are: An Anthology of South Florida Writers, Brown Sugar: A Collection of Erotic Black Fiction, Miami Noir, and the forthcoming Las Vegas Noir. His fourth novel, All Or Nothing, chronicles the life of a small-time gambler who finally hits it big. Preston Allen teaches English and Creative Writing in Miami, Florida.