According to the AJC, Chris, his wife Nancy (her former ringname was Woman, and she was the ex-wife of Kevin Sullivan) and his son Daniel were all found dead at their home in Fayetteville, Ga. Officials would not report the cause of death, other than to say they didn't die of gunshots.
Benoit was supposed to appear at WWE Vengeance: Night of Champions on Sunday night, but did not appear because of a family emergency. Sources from the PW Torch said that Benoit stated both his wife and child were coughing up blood on Saturday night. WWE had not heard from him since Saturday night, and officers found them in the home on Monday afternoon.
Interesting take on why San Antonio Spurs foward Robert Horry didn't play in last night's blowout against the Warriors.
Take a look at the box score and look for Horry's name.
And just in case Yahoo Sports fixes it, here's proof:
HILARIOUS.
And it had to be purposely done by one of the Yahoo geeks. ESPN's box score doesn't have it (they don't list inactives). Nor does CNNSI, nor NBA.com. So, someone's going to catch hell if this is found, and considering I found out via OkayPlayer, it's only a matter of time, I'm sure.
This was in last night's Saints victory against the Philadelphia Eagles, on the first drive of the game:
W-I-C-K-E-D. Now THAT'S how you lay the wood to someone.
And for god sakes...
Don't try to get up. We know you got your dome rocked; just lay there and get your marbles together for a second. Nobody's gonna think bad about you if you just lay there for a minute.
This is a pretty big weekend in the NFL this season. Usually this has been known as a throw-away week, as a number of teams bench their key starters in order to prepare for the playoffs, but this year there are a number of teams either vying for a playoff spot, or are vying for a first round bye in the playoffs.
For all intents and purposes, every game except possibly three this week has playoff implications. Here's what it looks like:
- Saturday: NY Giants vs. Washington. Giants need this win to get into the playoffs though a tie breaker. Green Bay has to lose or tie, or they can win the "strength of victory" comparison in order to clinch.
- Sunday: Minnesota vs. St. Louis. St. Louis is still in the running to get a playoff bid, albeit a long shot. The Giants, Carolina, and Atlanta has to lose or tie.
- Carolina vs. New Orleans. Carolina needs to win for a possible berth. They also need the Giants and the Packers to lose or tie.
- NY Jets vs. Oakland. Jets clinch a playoff spot with a win.
- Dallas vs. Detroit. The Cowboys can clinch the NFC East with a win, if Philly loses.
- Pittsburgh vs. Cincinnati. Cincinatti needs a win, plus a Jets loss...OR, a win with both Denver losing and Kansas City winning.
- New England vs. Tennessee. First, this is an exciting game, as it'll be interesting to see what Bellichek can come up with to stop Vince Young. Second, Tennessee gets in the playoffs if they win, Cincy and Denver loses, and Kansas City wins.
- Jacksonville vs. Kansas City. This screams playoff scenarios, because KC's outcome has long-ranging effects. For Jacksonville to get into the playoffs, they need a win, a Jets loss, and Cincinatti and Tennessee to both lose or tie. For Kansas City to get in, they need a win, Cincinatti and Tennessee to lose or tie, and an outright Denver loss.
- Miami vs. Indianapolis. Indianapolis can clinch a first-round bye with a win and a Baltimore loss.
- San Francisco vs. Denver. Denver needs a win to clinch a playoff spot.
- Buffalo vs. Baltimore. Baltimore's wrapped up the AFC North, and they need a win to clinch a first-round bye.
- Atlanta vs. Philadelphia. Atlanta needs a win, an outright Carolina loss, and a Green Bay and Giants loss or tie. Philadelphia needs a win to clinch the NFC East and a wild card game at home.
- And Sunday night....Green Bay vs. Chicago. Ugh.
Green Bay needs:
1. A win plus a NY Giants win + GB clinches strength of victory tiebreaker over NYG OR
2. A win plus a NY Giants loss or tie plus a St. Louis loss or tie OR
3. A win plus a NY Giants loss or tie plus a Carolina win OR
4. A win plus a NY Giants loss or tie plus an Atlanta win OR
5. A tie plus a NY Giants loss plus a St. Louis loss plus an Atlanta loss or tie plus a Carolina loss or tie
God. Green Bay needs to simply lose so we don't have to worry about this crap. If this confuses you as much as it confused me, maybe this will help. Regardless, we won't know who's in the playoffs until about 11pm EST on Sunday night.
So, only three games this week - Seattle/Tampa Bay, Cleveland/Houston, and San Diego/Arizona - don't matter. Seattle and San Diego have already locked in their spots, and the others somehow have been eliminated from playoff contention. How those teams managed to be that bad in a year where it seems almost everybody had a realistic shot at the playoffs is amazing.
The NFL realizes how important this week is, and they responded; for the first time, they are allowing double doubleheaders on Fox and CBS. That means, unless you live in a franchise market, you get to see four games this week; two at 1:00 EST and two at 4:00 EST.
I know what I'll be doing around that time. Do you?
Someone gave me a heads up on this...it's coming out this Spring:
Sounds interesting. The documentary is called "What Black Men Think". Created by Janks Morton, it's supposed to help combat a number of negative stereotypes and myths surrounding black men in America.
The idea that such a film is made is both positive and sobering at the same time. It's sad that the social identity of black men has fallen as such in a time where racial tensions are at a pretty low point in America. However, this film serves as an example to a growing mass among black people in America that are tired of the regressive cultural traits that tend to blanket all blacks and plague the whole community, and they want to set the record straight. It's some of us, but not all of us.
It's been a while since I've done this, so let's go.
- Scanning the whole NFL landscape, it's hard to find that one team that really stands out from the rest. At the top of most people's lists are two teams, the Colts and the Chargers, who have traditionally had strong regular seasons just to fizzle out during the playoffs. Right under them are the Ravens, the Bears, and the Patriots, all of whom have great defenses but are very questionable in certain areas on offense. There really isn't a frontrunner as we head down the stretch.
- Dallas is looking pretty scary right now with Tony Romo at the helm. If you would have told me a year ago that Romo would be the key piece to making Dallas a Super Bowl threat, I would have said you were on crack. But Romo is athletic, and his footwork and quick thinking gives Dallas the poise they need in the pocket.
Romo couldn't ask for a better receiving corp in Terry Glenn, Terrell Owens, and Patrick Crayton. And Romo's quick release opens up the intermediate passing game to the button hook passes to your WRs and screen passes out to running backs Julius Jones and Marion Barber. Thus, defenses now have to worry about giving up the big play as well as losing YAC (yards after catch) on the flats. That's giving defensive coordinators fits, because they have no clue on how to adequately challenge the Cowboy offense.
Can Romo keep this up? Time will tell. He threw 5 touchdowns on a relatively easy Thanksgiving night against the Bucs. Yeah; the Bucs are 3-8, but they do have a relatively decent defense, and Romo made it look easy. If they beat the Giants on Sunday they have to be considered the top team in the NFC.
- I might as well mention this now, but my "You Idiot!!" decision of the year goes to me for benching Tony Romo this week for Phillip Rivers on my fantasy football squad. Doh. I lost this week, too.
- I'm conflicted with the situation with Atlanta, as the Falcons are on a 4-game skid after losing to the Saints on Sunday. Falcons owner Authur Blank has pretty much put guys on notice: if they don't make the playoffs, there will be major changes. That could mean either Vick or Mora could be gone.
Vick does deserve a good amount of the blame for the Falcons' offensive struggles, but is he the primary problem? On Sunday, Vick only managed 90 passing yards, but he did run for 166, and his receivers dropped a five key passes in that game. One of the drops by Roddy White was absolutely horrible.
But the bottom line is, Michael Vick has never scared anyone with his passing skills throughout his NFL career. Everyone's worried about how well the Falcons run, but never how well they pass. And it showed in New Orleans's defense, too. New Orleans mainly sat in a Cover 1 defense; puting it plainly, the Saints only had one safety playing deep in the middle of the field. THIS IS THE NFL, folks. If a team is playing a cover 1, then somebody seriously sucks; either it's the defense, or the offense. And considering the 31-13 score, it's pretty obvious which one that is.
- After benching Brian Leftwich, the Jaguars are getting their just desserts. Don't get me wrong; I like David Gerrard. But when you start listening to ESPN on who to start and when you should change quarterbacks, you get what you deserve.
- You know, Tom Coughlin isn't my favorite coach, but when you choke a three-touchdown lead with 10:00 remaining in the 4th quarter, the last person you can blame for the Giants' woes is him. Instead, someone needs to find those players' hearts, because they surely lost them in that game. Regardless, the players need to stop wining.
- The Panthers? I didn't watch the game Sunday (I had to work on my car), so I don't know what happened. But there are serious problems with the consistency of the offense, as well as a defense continuously giving up big plays (that means you, Mike Minter). Carolina will play well for a couple of games, and then stink for the next couple of games. With wins over Baltimore and New Orleans, it's obviously that they are underachieving. However, wins only count, not potential.
- Vince Young is looking REALLY good right now. The problem is Jeff Fisher is sure to be gone next year, and Fisher is probably the coach that Young needs. Fisher was there during Steve McNair's run, and he knows how to work an offense around a talented quarterback.
- Do you need any more of a reason to fire Lions' President Matt Millen than looking at what Joey Harrington is doing in Miami? Miami's won four in a row with Harrington putting up decent numbers.
- If any other quarterback was putting up numbers like Brett Farve has in the last three years, they would have been out of the NFL at this point. However, he's Brett Farve, so he gets a pass. But the longer he's playing, the more he's going to kill off that Packers franchise.
- If you don't have NFL Network, then it sucks to be you. On top of the Thursday night games being broadcast on the network, the NFL Cheerleader Playoffs is the best show on television. Seriously. Trust me on this.
- Key games this week: Baltimore/Cincinnati on NFL Network Thursday, Seattle/Denver, Dallas/Giants (for the NFC East lead), Minnesota/Chicago (Chicago clinches NFC North with a win).
The Washington buzz going into the new year surrounds Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi and her choice to chair the House Intelligence Committee. A week after the Democrats won the House and the Senate, Pelosi said no to fellow California Rep. Jane Harman, who's a known rival of Pelosi's in Congress, but left open the possibility of Rep. Alcee Hastings, the impeached federal judge turned Florida Congressman, who is the committee's ranking Democrat.
While the criticism against Pelosi is justified, the saddest thing about this scenario isn't the fact that a congressman who was impeached for accepting bribes by drug dealers as well as using secret wiretaps to tip off associates could become the House Intelligence Comittee Chairman.
The saddest thing is that there is a district in America that would actually elect this guy to represent them in Congress after all of these things happened. Hastings had been impeached just over two years prior to being becoming the representative for Florida's 23rd District. It's hard to fathom what kind of people in Palm Beach and Broward Counties would actually vote for an obviously corrupt official just as Hastings. One thing's for sure: such people have no room to talk when complaining about government, because they are part of the problem.
And Hastings isn't letting them down, either (from Front Page Magazine's Andrew Walden):
Hastings has also been reported to be the subject of ethics investigations in 2004 by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct, the Florida Elections Commission and the Federal Election Commission...
Hastings’ trips often include his “staff assistant”, reputed girlfriend Vanessa Griddine, who “earns” more than Hastings’ Chief of Staff. Griddine is not the only member of Hastings’ staff rumored to be romantically linked. Another “staff assistant” Patricia Williams is believed to “earn” as much as $129,000 per year. Williams, who represented Hastings in the impeachment trial, was disbarred in 1992 for “mishandling client funds” – acts which occurred about the time of the impeachment hearings. She is believed to be owed substantial legal fees by Hastings.
This also goes deep into the problem of gerrymandered districts, which comprises of a collective mass of Black voters who would vote for Robert Mugabe or possibly Idi Amin if they moved into their district. Taking a look at the Black representatives in Congress can be quite sobering, especially when you look at the things they've done and the things they've stated. To show you that the phrase, "Birds of a feather, flock together" rings true, the Congressional (Socialist) Black Caucus - a number of them being elected in similar gerrymandered districts as Hastings - supports Hastings' rise to the Intelligence Committee Chair.
Hastings will always be Hastings. However, it's time for black voters to stop covering their eyes to the blatant incompetence and corruption of the public officials from the federal level down to the city garbage collector position and start demanding accountability and integrity. The fact that any person, black or white, would vote for Hastings to do anything other than handclean spit buckets at boxing matches is a affront to a constitutional republic as well as the history of blacks in America.
Mississippi Sen. Trent Lott, ousted from the top Senate Republican leadership job four years ago because of remarks considered racially insensitive, won election to the chamber's No. 2 GOP post Wednesday.
Asked whether he felt vindicated by the 25-24 secret ballot vote, Lott deferred to newly-elected party leader Mitch McConnell.
"The spotlight belongs on him," Lott said of his Kentucky colleague.
The spotlight should be on McConnell, but it gives more ammunition to the Democrats and the media against the Republicans. If you needed more evidence how clueless Senate Republicans are, you got it today.
What makes this even more appalling is the fact that Trent Lott had said a few years back that he was going to make a comeback, and he openly stated that he would get back at those senators that abandoned him after his Strom Thurmond debacle. Yet, Republican senators were willing to fall into this same trap again.
Alexander's crew thought they had enough votes, so it's possible that there was a switch at the 11th hour. Hopefully, it wasn't because of this:
Now remember, before his defeat in the midterm election it was Santorum, not Lott, who was Alexander's chief competition for the post. Alexander worked against Santorum for weeks and weeks. Did Santorum do some work in the final days to throw some of his loyalists towards Lott?
Certainly seems plausible to me. Alexander had the votes, or thought he did. Those votes went somewhere. As to the hows and the whys of how they got there, we can only speculate.
I hope Santorum didn't do that. Trent Lott has symbolized everything that is wrong with the Republican Party, and for Santorum to shift votes to him against Alexander due to a petty rivalry could have damaging consequences. Santorum is better than that, or at least I thought he was.
Soon after Lott resigned as Senate Majority Leader in 2002, Michelle Malkin put it best:
Both liberals and conservatives who are lambasting the vacant Lott as an unrepentant bigot give him too much credit, methinks. The former college cheerleader did at Thurmond's birthday party what he has done all of his life: He mouthed the words he thought his audience at the moment wanted to hear. Lott never actively donned a white sheet, like his Senate colleague and ex-Klansman Robert Byrd, D-West Va. Instead, Lott is, and always has been, on the sidelines of America's race debate. When James Meredith weathered violent riots in his brave quest to integrate the University of Mississippi in the fall of 1962, Lott was neither standing next to him nor standing with the segregationist mob. The Ole Miss alum was holed up inside his frat house, preserving his and his brothers' political viability. There is only one cause, one animating spirit that Trent Lott is committed to: not the South, not the segregationist past, but himself and his future in high office.
Groups like Porkbusters and The Club For Growth are going to have their hands full in the upcoming years. With the Democrats in power and the Republican leadership being placed into the hands of Washington insiders and pork spenders, it's going to be a rough time for anyone who believes in limited government. Although conservatism didn't lose on Election Day, conservatives did.
It's obvious from the aftermath of the drubbing the Republicans got from Election Day that they have absolutely no clue why they are in the situation they're in, or at the very least, they don't care.
It is obvious that the reluctance of President Bush to implement conservative policies through his domestic agenda has been a constant problem during the last six years. On top of that, lukewarm (read: "moderate") Republicans have been just as obstructive and causing as much damage as the Democrats on key issues that have been in Congress, including judicial appointments, social security reform, tax cuts (if a few Democrats hadn't crossed the aisle, this would have been defeated too), tort reform, among other things.
Thus, instead of learning the lessons of November 7's defeat and correcting those mistakes, the Republican Party is bound to repeat them. They're placing pork advocates like Missouri's Roy Blunt, free-ride (read: amnesty) advocates like Florida's Mel Martinez, and Trent Lott - a man who needs no introduction or explanation - to lead the party. It has been the work of legislators like these that have caused a backlash within the conservative base, and among the public. Republicans led the House and the Senate on promises to implement conservative policies, and the failure to do so led to their defeat.
After the election, I said the Republicans would regain the House of Representatives back in four years tops. Now, I think I want to rescind that prediction.
