Upon receiving the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award, Jodi Foster recently thanked her longtime companion, Cydney Bernard, saying "my beautiful Cydney who sticks with me through all the rotten and the bliss". Although she didn't come right out and say she was gay, this was a pretty big admission for the very private Foster. Too bad the whole "coming out" or "not coming out" thing has to be such a big deal...doesn't matter to me one way or the other.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Rich Rodriquez in Talks with Michigan
West Virginia's Rich Rodriguez meets with U-M today
December 14, 2007
By MICHAEL ROSENBERG and MARK SNYDER
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITERS
Michigan has a new leading candidate to be its new football coach: West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez.
Rodriguez met with Michigan athletic director Bill Martin and school president Mary Sue Coleman in Toledo today to discuss the open position, two people at U-M confirmed to the Free Press. The Sporting News first reported the meeting this afternoon.
Rodriguez, who is set to make $1.8 million this season according to a USA Today study of coaches' contracts, signed a second amendment to his contract in August 2007. His contract now runs through the 2013 season.
The major obstacle to a potential deal could be his buyout clause, which stands at $4 million if he leaves Morgantown, W. Va., before Aug. 31, 2008. That was part of the amendment signed last year that boosted his pay from its previous total of around $1 million.
After Rodriguez flirted with Alabama almost exactly a year ago, with some reports even stating he had accepted the job, he decided to remain at his alma mater. At the time, that contract offer was reported to be six years, $12 million.
His career record is 60-26. The Mountaineers have won at least 10 games in each of the past three seasons and are headed to the Fiesta Bowl to face Oklahoma this year after just missing out on a trip to the Bowl Championship Series national title game when they lost the season finale to Pittsburgh.
Rodriguez has coached West Virginia since the 2001 season, after coaching as an offensive coordinator under Tommy Bowden first at Tulane in 1997-98 and then 1999-2000 at Clemson.
He played three seasons at West Virginia under legend Don Nehlen, a former Michigan assistant under Bo Schembechler.
freep.com - Detroit Free Press
freep.com Rich Rodriquez
December 14, 2007
By MICHAEL ROSENBERG and MARK SNYDER
FREE PRESS SPORTS WRITERS
Michigan has a new leading candidate to be its new football coach: West Virginia coach Rich Rodriguez.
Rodriguez met with Michigan athletic director Bill Martin and school president Mary Sue Coleman in Toledo today to discuss the open position, two people at U-M confirmed to the Free Press. The Sporting News first reported the meeting this afternoon.
Rodriguez, who is set to make $1.8 million this season according to a USA Today study of coaches' contracts, signed a second amendment to his contract in August 2007. His contract now runs through the 2013 season.
The major obstacle to a potential deal could be his buyout clause, which stands at $4 million if he leaves Morgantown, W. Va., before Aug. 31, 2008. That was part of the amendment signed last year that boosted his pay from its previous total of around $1 million.
After Rodriguez flirted with Alabama almost exactly a year ago, with some reports even stating he had accepted the job, he decided to remain at his alma mater. At the time, that contract offer was reported to be six years, $12 million.
His career record is 60-26. The Mountaineers have won at least 10 games in each of the past three seasons and are headed to the Fiesta Bowl to face Oklahoma this year after just missing out on a trip to the Bowl Championship Series national title game when they lost the season finale to Pittsburgh.
Rodriguez has coached West Virginia since the 2001 season, after coaching as an offensive coordinator under Tommy Bowden first at Tulane in 1997-98 and then 1999-2000 at Clemson.
He played three seasons at West Virginia under legend Don Nehlen, a former Michigan assistant under Bo Schembechler.
freep.com - Detroit Free Press
freep.com Rich Rodriquez
Chris Evert, Greg Norman Engaged
Chris Evert, Greg Norman Are Engaged
PAARL, South Africa (AP) — Chris Evert and Greg Norman are engaged, less than a year after divorces from longtime spouses. The couple got engaged Sunday night, said Tami Starr, director of Chris Evert Charities in Boca Raton, Fla.
"They're not sure of a wedding date yet," Starr said. "They're both extremely happy they've found each other."
Evert, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, wore a large diamond on her ring finger at a news conference Friday to announce a new tennis center at Pearl Valley Golf Estates, which is hosting the South African Open. Norman is playing in the tournament.
Evert and former husband Andy Mill, a World Cup and Olympic skier from Colorado, divorced last December after 18 years of marriage. The 52-year-old tennis great previously was married to British tennis player John Lloyd.
In September, Norman reached a multimillion-dollar divorce settlement with his wife of 26 years, Laura Andrassy. The 52-year-old Australian won the British Open in 1986 and 1993.
Associated Press
AP Evert Norman
PAARL, South Africa (AP) — Chris Evert and Greg Norman are engaged, less than a year after divorces from longtime spouses. The couple got engaged Sunday night, said Tami Starr, director of Chris Evert Charities in Boca Raton, Fla.
"They're not sure of a wedding date yet," Starr said. "They're both extremely happy they've found each other."
Evert, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, wore a large diamond on her ring finger at a news conference Friday to announce a new tennis center at Pearl Valley Golf Estates, which is hosting the South African Open. Norman is playing in the tournament.
Evert and former husband Andy Mill, a World Cup and Olympic skier from Colorado, divorced last December after 18 years of marriage. The 52-year-old tennis great previously was married to British tennis player John Lloyd.
In September, Norman reached a multimillion-dollar divorce settlement with his wife of 26 years, Laura Andrassy. The 52-year-old Australian won the British Open in 1986 and 1993.
Associated Press
AP Evert Norman
I Am Legend Review
Man, this looks good...I'll be first in line.
Review: 'I Am Legend' a taut thriller
By Tom Charity
Special to CNN
(CNN) -- If anyone's going to be the last man on Earth, then Will Smith seems like an ideal candidate.
Cool and athletic, focused and unflappable, he's not someone who's going to give up on humanity just because the odds are stacked against him. Even at several billion to one, he's still adamant he can fix this thing.
A third movie version of Richard Matheson's classic sci-fi novel "I Am Legend" has been on the table at Warner Bros. for a long time. In the '90s, Arnold Schwarzenegger talked about following in the footsteps of Vincent Price and Charlton Heston (remember "The Omega Man"?).
Smith is such a different type, it's odd to think that he's taken over this mantle. In fact, he's scored consistently well in sci-fi, from "Independence Day" through "Men in Black" and "I, Robot," and there's no reason to suppose the tense, scary "I Am Legend" won't continue that impressive box office run, even if the movie itself flags on the last lap.
The opening couldn't be sharper. A television news report hails a medical breakthrough -- a viral cure for cancer, no less. Cut to New York three years later: abandoned cars, no one in sight, grass growing waist-high around Times Square. Something has gone very, very wrong.
Smith is Robert Neville. The cover of Time on his fridge door pictures a "Soldier. Scientist. Savior?" but that hanging question mark is well chosen, and we divine that his immunity is pure chance.
He's not quite alone. Neville patrols Fifth Avenue in his Mustang with Sam, a German Shepherd (also immune to the airborne virus), broadcasting into the void, then returning home to his Washington Square townhouse to put up the shutters before nightfall.
That's when the "Dark Seekers" venture out: feral, contaminated people with a rabid appetite for flesh but no pupil dilation reflex to protect them against sunlight.
By now, anyone who caught "28 Days Later" or last year's sequel "28 Weeks Later" may be experiencing deja vu -- in fact, if they called this movie "2.8 Years Later" it could pass as the third installment in the series with very little tweaking. Which is not to downplay the special frisson of seeing the Brooklyn Bridge ripped across the middle, for example.
Wisely dispensing with the Luddite rhetoric that bogged down "The Omega Man," "I Am Legend" doesn't have much time for Neville the soldier. While Chuck Heston dedicated himself to exterminating the albino hordes, Will Smith starts out firmly on the other end of the kill-or-cure scale.
At the same time, the film suggests his self-sufficient scientific rationalism is not enough. By day 1,001 he's on the point of suicide -- which is when the movie gets God in the comely intervention of born-again Alice Braga.
If the last half-hour feels thrown together, "Constantine" director Francis Lawrence mostly makes a virtue of the lean script, getting in and out quick, suppressing those inevitable nagging questions (are cockroaches immune?), always stressing Neville's solitary isolation.
So often, sci-fi is overproduced, but "I Am Legend" doesn't look like a CGI extravaganza. It looks like edgy suspense movie shot on the fly in New York City after the fall. And because of that, it's all the more effective.
"I Am Legend" is rated PG-13 and runs 100 minutes. For Entertainment Weekly's take, click here.
CNN Entertainment
cnn.com I Am Legend
Review: 'I Am Legend' a taut thriller
By Tom Charity
Special to CNN
(CNN) -- If anyone's going to be the last man on Earth, then Will Smith seems like an ideal candidate.
Cool and athletic, focused and unflappable, he's not someone who's going to give up on humanity just because the odds are stacked against him. Even at several billion to one, he's still adamant he can fix this thing.
A third movie version of Richard Matheson's classic sci-fi novel "I Am Legend" has been on the table at Warner Bros. for a long time. In the '90s, Arnold Schwarzenegger talked about following in the footsteps of Vincent Price and Charlton Heston (remember "The Omega Man"?).
Smith is such a different type, it's odd to think that he's taken over this mantle. In fact, he's scored consistently well in sci-fi, from "Independence Day" through "Men in Black" and "I, Robot," and there's no reason to suppose the tense, scary "I Am Legend" won't continue that impressive box office run, even if the movie itself flags on the last lap.
The opening couldn't be sharper. A television news report hails a medical breakthrough -- a viral cure for cancer, no less. Cut to New York three years later: abandoned cars, no one in sight, grass growing waist-high around Times Square. Something has gone very, very wrong.
Smith is Robert Neville. The cover of Time on his fridge door pictures a "Soldier. Scientist. Savior?" but that hanging question mark is well chosen, and we divine that his immunity is pure chance.
He's not quite alone. Neville patrols Fifth Avenue in his Mustang with Sam, a German Shepherd (also immune to the airborne virus), broadcasting into the void, then returning home to his Washington Square townhouse to put up the shutters before nightfall.
That's when the "Dark Seekers" venture out: feral, contaminated people with a rabid appetite for flesh but no pupil dilation reflex to protect them against sunlight.
By now, anyone who caught "28 Days Later" or last year's sequel "28 Weeks Later" may be experiencing deja vu -- in fact, if they called this movie "2.8 Years Later" it could pass as the third installment in the series with very little tweaking. Which is not to downplay the special frisson of seeing the Brooklyn Bridge ripped across the middle, for example.
Wisely dispensing with the Luddite rhetoric that bogged down "The Omega Man," "I Am Legend" doesn't have much time for Neville the soldier. While Chuck Heston dedicated himself to exterminating the albino hordes, Will Smith starts out firmly on the other end of the kill-or-cure scale.
At the same time, the film suggests his self-sufficient scientific rationalism is not enough. By day 1,001 he's on the point of suicide -- which is when the movie gets God in the comely intervention of born-again Alice Braga.
If the last half-hour feels thrown together, "Constantine" director Francis Lawrence mostly makes a virtue of the lean script, getting in and out quick, suppressing those inevitable nagging questions (are cockroaches immune?), always stressing Neville's solitary isolation.
So often, sci-fi is overproduced, but "I Am Legend" doesn't look like a CGI extravaganza. It looks like edgy suspense movie shot on the fly in New York City after the fall. And because of that, it's all the more effective.
"I Am Legend" is rated PG-13 and runs 100 minutes. For Entertainment Weekly's take, click here.
CNN Entertainment
cnn.com I Am Legend
Snow Globe Boy Wants to Set Record
Haha! Ya gotta love this!
Snow Globe Boy Seeking World Record
Ben Eckerson, a 24-year-old production coordinator at McKinney advertising agency in Durham, N.C., has been spending much of the past several days sitting inside a giant inflatable snow globe. As of Friday morning, Eckerson had been in the globe for nearly three full days.
Eckerson's snow globe adventure is being shown live, 24-hours per day, 7 days peer week through a webcam at snowglobeboy.mckinney.com. According to the site, he is hoping to set a world record for time spent in such a spot, and hopes to spread some holiday cheer.
He has been spending all but 51 minutes per day inside the snow globe, and utilizes those minutes away to take care of personal needs. All of his meals are delivered to him inside the snow globe, which is located inside the McKinney headquarters building.
Eckerson also has a number of items in the snowglobe to keep himself entertained, including a Playstation, exercise equipment, games, and paper towels.
The idea initially behind the snow globe was to send out a different, creative, yet green holiday card this year, and so the agency came up with the snow globe idea - sending out digital cards through the website. The idea quickly snowballed, and "Snow Globe Boy" became an internet phenomenon.
He says has hes received so many emails since entering the snow globe that he can't even respond to them all. Eckerson plans to leave the globe Friday to attend the company's holiday party.
Cleveland Leader
clevelandleader.com
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Capital One Launches Card Lab
I gotta say, this is pretty cool...
Capital One launches Card Lab
By Lauren Bell
Capital One Financial Corporation has launched the online tool Capital One Card Lab.
Card Lab is an interactive Web site where consumers can build their own Capital One credit cards. Card-builders can choose from a menu of introductory offers, interest rates, annual fees and rewards. Capital One also provides options for front-of-card designs.
“This whole concept is basically playing off the emerging trend of control shifting from company to consumer,” said Pam Girardo, spokesperson for Capital One. “Consumers want to be in the driver’s seat. This is a new level of control in the credit card space, and we believe it will drive loyalty and confidence in customers. The confidence they get from creating the card themselves will make us top-of-wallet.”
Capital One currently markets the Card Lab with online advertisements, but the
company plans to roll out a direct mail campaign in the future. Girardo said the Card Lab will not replace Capital One’s direct mail and other card-marketing efforts.
Card Lab provides a glossary of account terms, defining options as the user rolls a mouse over a term. The site also grays out choices that don’t work together —a feature that prevents consumers from making unusable card while showing them the effects of their previous selections.
“Card Lab offers a whole new level in transparency, and consumers are getting an education in key credit card accounts terminology,” Girardo added. “It’s putting the trade-off decisions in the hands of consumers and giving a peek under the tent.”
Once a card is fully designed, site users fill out an online application, and, if approved, they receive their card in the mail within seven to 10 days. Applicants will be notified of approval within a few minutes of entering their information on the site. Application information is kept in the same secure database as all of Capital One’s online credit applications.
Enhancements will be added to Card Lab in the coming months. One new feature will be “image card,” which allows users to put an image of their choice — such as an uploaded photograph — on the front of their card.
Capital One owns Capital One Bank, Capital One Auto Finance Inc. and Capital One NA. The company is headquartered in McLean, VA.
Lauren Bell is a reporter covering media, circulation issues, CRM and database. Reach her at lauren.bell@dmnews.com.
dmnews.com
Capital One launches Card Lab
By Lauren Bell
Capital One Financial Corporation has launched the online tool Capital One Card Lab.
Card Lab is an interactive Web site where consumers can build their own Capital One credit cards. Card-builders can choose from a menu of introductory offers, interest rates, annual fees and rewards. Capital One also provides options for front-of-card designs.
“This whole concept is basically playing off the emerging trend of control shifting from company to consumer,” said Pam Girardo, spokesperson for Capital One. “Consumers want to be in the driver’s seat. This is a new level of control in the credit card space, and we believe it will drive loyalty and confidence in customers. The confidence they get from creating the card themselves will make us top-of-wallet.”
Capital One currently markets the Card Lab with online advertisements, but the
company plans to roll out a direct mail campaign in the future. Girardo said the Card Lab will not replace Capital One’s direct mail and other card-marketing efforts.
Card Lab provides a glossary of account terms, defining options as the user rolls a mouse over a term. The site also grays out choices that don’t work together —a feature that prevents consumers from making unusable card while showing them the effects of their previous selections.
“Card Lab offers a whole new level in transparency, and consumers are getting an education in key credit card accounts terminology,” Girardo added. “It’s putting the trade-off decisions in the hands of consumers and giving a peek under the tent.”
Once a card is fully designed, site users fill out an online application, and, if approved, they receive their card in the mail within seven to 10 days. Applicants will be notified of approval within a few minutes of entering their information on the site. Application information is kept in the same secure database as all of Capital One’s online credit applications.
Enhancements will be added to Card Lab in the coming months. One new feature will be “image card,” which allows users to put an image of their choice — such as an uploaded photograph — on the front of their card.
Capital One owns Capital One Bank, Capital One Auto Finance Inc. and Capital One NA. The company is headquartered in McLean, VA.
Lauren Bell is a reporter covering media, circulation issues, CRM and database. Reach her at lauren.bell@dmnews.com.
dmnews.com
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Paris Hilton and All That Gold
I hope she gets a rash...Paris Hilton wears nothing but a coat of gold paint in a new ad campaign for a champagne brand.
Rich Prosecco
The ad for Rich Prosecco shows the socialite posing provocatively in a desert setting.
Hilton was in Berlin Wednesday to promote the drink, which comes in a can rather than a bottle. And she took the opportunity to stump for a boyfriend.
"Right now I'm single but I am looking for a nice boy," Paris told reporters. "He should be funny, smart and loyal."
Hilton also put in a good word for the environment.
"I changed all the light bulbs to energy safe light bulbs and I'm buying a hybrid car right now," Hilton said, adding that she also turned off the lights at home, didn't leave the TV on or the water running when she left the home. "Little things that people can do every day to make a huge difference."
Fox News
Fox News Hilton Story
(Be sure to visit Foxnews.com for their photo essay)
Legendary Ike Turner Dead at 76
Musician Ike Turner dies at 76
By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press Writer
SAN DIEGO - Ike Turner, whose role as one of rock's critical architects was overshadowed by his ogrelike image as the man who brutally abused former wife Tina Turner, died Wednesday at his home in suburban San Diego. He was 76.
Turner died at his San Marcos home, Scott M. Hanover of Thrill Entertainment Group, which managed Turner's career, told The Associated Press.
There was no immediate word on the cause of death, which was first reported by celebrity Web site TMZ.com.
Turner managed to rehabilitate his image somewhat in later years, touring around the globe with his band the Kings of Rhythm and drawing critical acclaim for his work. He won a Grammy in 2007 in the traditional blues album category for "Risin' With the Blues."
But his image is forever identified as the drug-addicted, wife-abusing husband of Tina Turner. He was hauntingly portrayed by Laurence Fishburne in the movie "What's Love Got To Do With It," based on Tina Turner's autobiography.
In a 2001 interview with The Associated Press, Turner denied his ex-wife's claims of abuse and expressed frustration that he had been demonized in the media while his historic role in rock's beginnings had been ignored.
"You can go ask Snoop Dogg or Eminem, you can ask the Rolling Stones or (Eric) Clapton, or you can ask anybody — anybody, they all know my contribution to music, but it hasn't been in print about what I've done or what I've contributed until now," he said.
Turner, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is credited by many rock historians with making the first rock 'n' roll record, "Rocket 88," in 1951. Produced by the legendary Sam Phillips, it was groundbreaking for its use of distorted electric guitar.
But as would be the case for most of his career, Turner, a prolific session guitarist and piano player, was not the star on the record — it was recorded with Turner's band but credited to singer Jackie Brenston.
And it would be another singer — a young woman named Anna Mae Bullock — who would bring Turner his greatest fame, and infamy.
Turner met the 18-year-old Bullock, whom he would later marry, in 1959 and quickly made the husky-voiced woman the lead singer of his group, refashioning her into the sexy Tina Turner. Her stage persona was highlighted by short skirts and stiletto heels that made her legs her most visible asset. But despite the glamorous image, she still sang with the grit and fervor of a rock singer with a twist of soul.
The pair would have two sons. They also produced a string of hits. The first, "A Fool In Love," was a top R&B song in 1959, and others followed, including "I Idolize You" and "It's Gonna Work Out Fine."
But over the years their genre-defying sound would make them favorites on the rock 'n' roll scene, as they opened for acts like the Rolling Stones.
Their densely layered hit "River Deep, Mountain High" was one of producer Phil Spector's proudest creations. A rousing version of "Proud Mary," a cover of the Creedence Clearwater Revival hit, became their signature song and won them a Grammy for best R&B vocal performance by a group.
Still, their hits were often sporadic, and while their public life depicted a powerful, dynamic duo, Tina Turner would later charge that her husband was an overbearing wife abuser and cocaine addict.
In her 1987 autobiography, "I, Tina," she narrated a harrowing tale of abuse, including suffering a broken nose. She said that cycle ended after a vicious fight between the pair in the back seat of a car in Las Vegas, where they were scheduled to perform.
It was the only time she ever fought back against her husband, Turner said.
After the two broke up, both fell into obscurity and endured money woes for years before Tina Turner made a dramatic comeback in 1982 with the release of the album "Private Dancer," a multiplatinum success with hits such as "Let's Stay Together" and "What's Love Got To Do With It."
The movie based on her life, "What's Love Got To Do With It," was also a hit, earning Angela Bassett an Oscar nomination.
But Fishburne's glowering depiction of Ike Turner also furthered Turner's reputation as a rock villain.
Meanwhile, Turner never again had the success he enjoyed with his former wife.
After years of drug abuse, he was jailed in 1989 and served 17 months.
Turner told the AP he originally began using drugs to stay awake and handle the rigors of nonstop touring during his glory years.
"My experience, man, with drugs — I can't say that I'm proud that I did drugs, but I'm glad I'm still alive to convey how I came through," he said. "I'm a good example that you can go to the bottom. ... I used to pray, `God, if you let me get three days clean, I will never look back.' But I never did get to three days. You know why? Because I would lie to myself. And then only when I went to jail, man, did I get those three days. And man, I haven't looked back since then."
But while he would readily admit to drug abuse, Turner always denied abusing his ex-wife.
After years out of the spotlight his career finally began to revive in 2001 when he released the album "Here and Now." The recording won rave reviews and a Grammy nomination and finally helped shift some of the public's attention away from his troubled past and onto his musical legacy.
"His last chapter in life shouldn't be drug abuse and the problems he had with Tina," said Rob Johnson, the producer of "Here and Now."
Turner spent his later years making more music and touring, even while he battled emphysema.
Robbie Montgomery — one of the "Ikettes," backup singers who worked with Ike and Tina Turner — said Turner's death was "devastating" to her.
"He gave me my start. He gave a million people their start," Montgomery said.
Accolades for Turner's early and later work continued to come in as he grew older, and the once-broke musician managed to garner a comfortable income as his songs were sampled by a variety of rap acts.
In interviews toward the end of his life, Turner would acknowledge having made many mistakes, but maintained he was still able to carry himself with pride.
"I know what I am in my heart. And I know regardless of what I've done, good and bad, it took it all to make me what I am today," he once told the AP.
___
Associated Press Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody in New York and Associated Press Writer Robert Jablon in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
Yahoo News - Ike Turner
Jessica Alba Pregnant
Let's make that "Fantastic Three"...
Jessica Alba, star of the Fantastic Four movies, is expecting her first child with boyfriend Cash Warren.
"Jessica and Cash are expecting a baby in late spring [or] early summer," her spokesman told the People.com website.
Alba, 26, has been dating Warren since autumn 2004. The pair met on the first Fantastic Four film, on which Warren, 28, worked as a director's assistant.
Alba, recently seen in the comedy Good Luck Chuck, was named the sexiest woman in the world by FHM readers last April.
The actress played Sue Storm, aka the Invisible Girl, in 2005's Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel.
Her other films include Sin City, Into the Blue and current US release Awake.
BBC News
BBC News - Alba
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Atlanta Falcons Bobby Petrino Resigns
Petrino resigns as Atlanta Falcons coach after 13 games, heads to Arkansas
ATLANTA - Bobby Petrino resigned as Atlanta Falcons coach on Tuesday, having lasted only 13 games with the NFL team. A person within the league told The Associated Press that Petrino quit to return to the college ranks at Arkansas.
He left Louisville in January to become Atlanta's coach for a five-year, US$24-million contract, largely because the Falcons felt he could help star quarterback Michael Vick reach his full potential.
A few months later, Vick came under investigation for a grisly dogfighting operation that eventually led him to plead guilty to federal charges. He was sentenced Monday to 23 months in prison without ever taking a snap for Petrino.
A source familiar with Patrino's decision, speaking on condition of anonymity because the school had not made an official announcement, said he was going to Arkansas. The Razorbacks have been looking for a coach for two weeks to replace Houston Nutt, who resigned after a tumultuous season and took the Mississippi job.
The school had no immediate comment on its coaching search.
The Falcons declined further comment beyond a terse, two-paragraph statement released Tuesday night. Owner Arthur Blank and general manager Rich McKay were scheduled to hold a news conference Wednesday.
There was no immediate word who would take over as head coach for the final three games, though defensive co-ordinator Mike Zimmer and offensive co-ordinator Hue Jackson would be the most logical candidates.
Petrino did not answer his cell phone or a call placed to his Atlanta-area home. His brother, Falcons receivers coach Paul Petrino, declined comment when reached on his cell phone.
"I don't think I can say anything about it right now," he said. "I'm sorry."
After losing Vick, Petrino tried three starting quarterbacks without success. The Falcons are 3-10 and assured of the 32nd losing season in their 42-year history.
The resignation of Petrino was another jarring blow to the Falcons, who dealt with Vick's legal troubles since the first day of training camp, when a plane flew overhead pulling a sign that said: "New team name? Dog Killers?"
Petrino assembled one of college football's highest-scoring offences at Louisville, but the Falcons were anemic without Vick. They also were plagued by injuries on the offensive line, which forced them to start two players who weren't even drafted out of college.
Just hours after Vick's sentencing in Richmond, Va., Atlanta took its fourth straight double-digit loss, 34-14 to the New Orleans Saints.
"Not a good day," Petrino said afterward.
The resignation had to be a major surprise to Blank, who fired Jim Mora just two seasons after he led the Falcons to the NFC championship game, and lured Petrino with a lucrative contract.
Before Monday's game, Blank said he felt better than ever about his decision to hire Petrino given all the adversity the team faced this season.
"I feel real fortunate we have a terrific guy leading our team, our CEO, in Bobby Petrino," Blank said. "I think he's proven to me he's a better head coach than we thought he was going to be, dealing with a set of cards we didn't see unfold this year, which probably never in the history of the NFL has anything like this happened. Bobby has done a wonderful job dealing with all of these issues. He's kept the players focused."
But there were signs of dissension, especially in the way Petrino dealt with his players.
He ran the team with an aloof style, feeling no reason to share his decisions on personnel with the affected players. He could walk through the locker room without speaking to anyone and was openly criticized by two of the team's stars, Pro Bowlers Alge Crumpler and DeAngelo Hall.
Petrino drew the ire of the veterans with his decision to cut nose tackle Grady Jackson, one of the team's most productive defensive linemen, during the bye week. Quarterback Joey Harrington was clearly perturbed a few weeks ago when, after leading the Falcons to two straight wins, he heard from the media that Petrino still considered injury prone Byron Leftwich the starter.
Against the Saints, the Falcons made another change at the most crucial offensive position, giving Chris Redman his first start since 2002. While Redman threw for 298 yards and two touchdowns, the Falcons lost again.
They have been outscored by an average of 18.5 points in their last four defeats.
After the latest loss, Petrino sounded as though he was still committed to getting the Falcons turned around.
"We'll come back on Wednesday to take a look at it, and then we'll get back to work," he said. "We have to find something to rally around."
But clearly, Petrino already had decided to abandon the sinking ship.
Alex Trebek Suffers Heart Attack
Thankfully, just a minor one...
Trebek Hospitalized With Heart Attack
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Longtime "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek was hospitalized Tuesday after a minor heart attack, a spokesman for the game show said. Trebek, 67, was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center late Monday night and was expected to remain there about two days for tests and observation, said show spokesman Jeff Ritter.
"Thankfully it was a minor heart attack," Ritter said. He did not give other details.
A post on the official "Jeopardy!" Web site said Trebek was "resting comfortably in a Los Angeles hospital, and he will be back in the studio for the next scheduled tapings in January." His heart attack was first reported by "Entertainment Tonight."
Trebek escaped a car crash unhurt in 2004 when he fell asleep at the wheel, sideswiped a string of mailboxes and wound up in a ditch, according to the California Highway Patrol. The Jan 30, 2004, accident happened in the town of Templeton, not far from Trebek's thoroughbred horse ranch.
"Jeopardy!" has been one of television's top-rated syndicated programs for more than 20 years. The Canadian-born Trebek has been its host since 1984.
He has been nominated numerous times for daytime Emmy Awards for game show host, winning twice.
Trebek, who holds a philosophy degree from the University of Ottawa, was a TV and radio reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Company before moving to the United States. He became a U.S. citizen in 1998.
He launched his U.S. game show career in 1983 as host of a show called "The Wizard of Odds." Other shows he's hosted include "Pitfall," "Battlestars," "The $128,000 Question," "Double Dare," "High Rollers," "Strategy" and "Reach for the Top." He also hosts the annual National Geography Bee in the U.S. and Canada.
Trebek and his wife, Jean, have two children.
Associated Press
AP - Trebec
Ryan White's Mother Upset Over Huckabee Comments
This isn't the only controversial comment by Huckabee. As reported on www.dailykos.com:
In August of 1998, Huckabee was one of 131 signatories to a full page USA Today Ad which declared: "I affirm the statement on the family issued by the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention." What was in the family statement from the SBC? "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."
The ad wasn't just a blanket, "we support the SBC statement," but rather highlighted details. The ad Huckabee signed specifically said of the SBC family statement: "You are right because you called wives to graciously submit to their husband's sacrificial leadership."
AIDS Comments Alarm Ryan White's Mother
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee's 15-year-old comments that AIDS patients should have been isolated have so alarmed the mother of Ryan White, an Indiana teenager whose life-ending battle with AIDS in the 1980s engrossed the nation, that she has asked for a meeting.
"I would be very willing to meet with them," the former Arkansas governor responded Tuesday while campaigning in western Iowa. "I would tell them we've come a long way in research, in treatment."
The GOP front-runner in Iowa's Jan. 3 caucuses stood by his 1992 comments in a broadcast interview Sunday, infuriating Jeanne White-Ginder, the late teen's mother and a board member of the AIDS Institute.
"It's so alarming to me," she said in a telephone interview Monday with The Associated Press from her home in Leesburg, Fla.
"It's very important to me that we don't live in the darkness" when people thought AIDS was transmitted through casual contact, such as by "kissing, tears, sweat and saliva," White-Ginder said. "We have to treat this disease like a disease, and like Ryan always said, not like a dirty word."
White was 13 when he was diagnosed with AIDS in December 1984, having contracted the disease from the blood-clotting agent used to treat his hemophilia. He was barred from school the following year out of fear the disease was spread casually. He died in 1990 at age 18.
On Tuesday, the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, and the AIDS Institute sent a letter to Huckabee asking him to meet with White-Ginder — who declined in the interview to say what political party she belongs to — and calling his comments "completely beyond comprehension."
In response, Huckabee told reporters in Council Bluffs, Iowa: "I certainly never would want to say anything that would be hurtful to them or anyone else. I would have great regret and anxiety if I thought my comments were hurtful or in any way added to the already incredible pain that families have felt regardless of how they contracted AIDS."
Once an underdog, Huckabee has come under increased scrutiny as he has soared to the front-running position in the important Iowa caucuses and elsewhere over the past few weeks. He's faced criticism, in particular, for his comments on AIDS, and his records on parole, taxes and immigration in his decade as governor, and those issues were all but certain to be raised at a GOP debate in Iowa on Wednesday.
As a Senate candidate in 1992, Huckabee told the AP in a questionnaire that "we need to take steps that would isolate the carriers of this plague" if the federal government was going to deal with the spread of the disease effectively. "It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents," he said then.
In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Huckabee denied that those words were a call to quarantine the AIDS population, although he did not explain how else isolation would be achieved. "I didn't say we should quarantine," he said. The idea was not to "lock people up."
Huckabee acknowledged the prevailing scientific view then, and since, that the virus that causes AIDS is not spread through casual contact, but said that was not certain.
Associated Press Writer Mike Glover in Council Bluffs, Iowa contributed to this report.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Queen Latifah Out and Engaged
Who knew? Apparently everyone but me...
Everyone Wants in on Latifah Wedding
Queen Latifah's possible engagement to rumored girlfriend of four years Jeanette Jenkins is the hottest ticket in town.
No, folks aren't angling for an invite to the ceremony, they're falling all over themselves to break the coming-out news.
MediaTakeOut.com is just one of the sites claiming ownership of the story: "...We can tell you that we're 100% sure on this one. And we can also tell you that ABSOLUTELY NO ONE in the media (no magazines, no bloggers, no TV stations, no radio personalities - NO ONE) else is reporting this story right now."
But the New York Post also wants in on the action, posting a blind item on Monday that asked: "WHICH big Hollywood actress is about to come out of the closet? She's been living with her girlfriend in a small town, where all the neighbors know, and the two are now engaged to be married."
That was picked up by Perez Hilton—fittingly, the self-proclaimed Queen of All Media—with the header "Not So Blind Item" accompanied by a photo of the Queen and her, uh, queen.
Hey, Latifah, mazel tov if the nuptials news is true. But either way, may we suggest you register—stat!—to take advantage of all the attention this story is getting? Just imagine the toasters you could score!
eOnline
EOnline Gossip
Everyone Wants in on Latifah Wedding
Queen Latifah's possible engagement to rumored girlfriend of four years Jeanette Jenkins is the hottest ticket in town.
No, folks aren't angling for an invite to the ceremony, they're falling all over themselves to break the coming-out news.
MediaTakeOut.com is just one of the sites claiming ownership of the story: "...We can tell you that we're 100% sure on this one. And we can also tell you that ABSOLUTELY NO ONE in the media (no magazines, no bloggers, no TV stations, no radio personalities - NO ONE) else is reporting this story right now."
But the New York Post also wants in on the action, posting a blind item on Monday that asked: "WHICH big Hollywood actress is about to come out of the closet? She's been living with her girlfriend in a small town, where all the neighbors know, and the two are now engaged to be married."
That was picked up by Perez Hilton—fittingly, the self-proclaimed Queen of All Media—with the header "Not So Blind Item" accompanied by a photo of the Queen and her, uh, queen.
Hey, Latifah, mazel tov if the nuptials news is true. But either way, may we suggest you register—stat!—to take advantage of all the attention this story is getting? Just imagine the toasters you could score!
eOnline
EOnline Gossip
Nutty Buddy - Mark Littel, Protector of Men
Great invention, and the video is kinda funny too...
Meet man's new best friend
December 10, 2007
Mark Littell believes he has a better way to protect your boys, and, as his YouTube video shows, the former major leaguer will risk his manhood to prove it.
Perched on a wooden pallet, Littell braces himself as assistants aim the barrel of a pitching machine between his legs. On cue, the machine fires a baseball that smacks Littell right in the -- well, you know -- with a resounding whomp.
Littell stands and flexes his muscles, unfazed.
"Yes sir, folks," he says into the camera. "The Nutty Buddy: It's mean, it's tough, and it's right there for ya, every time."
Littell, 54, says nine seasons with the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals helped him design an athletic cup that's ahead of the competition.
"All people have to do is try it," Littell says.
At $19.95, the Nutty Buddy is on the high end in price, about twice as much as a typical athletic cup. But Littell is betting parents will buy them for their sons anyway in hopes the better fit will get them to wear the cups more often.
So far, Littell's company has sold 3,500 units through the Web.
Freep.com
Freep.com Nutty Buddy
See the video here:
Nutty Buddy Video
Meet man's new best friend
December 10, 2007
Mark Littell believes he has a better way to protect your boys, and, as his YouTube video shows, the former major leaguer will risk his manhood to prove it.
Perched on a wooden pallet, Littell braces himself as assistants aim the barrel of a pitching machine between his legs. On cue, the machine fires a baseball that smacks Littell right in the -- well, you know -- with a resounding whomp.
Littell stands and flexes his muscles, unfazed.
"Yes sir, folks," he says into the camera. "The Nutty Buddy: It's mean, it's tough, and it's right there for ya, every time."
Littell, 54, says nine seasons with the Kansas City Royals and St. Louis Cardinals helped him design an athletic cup that's ahead of the competition.
"All people have to do is try it," Littell says.
At $19.95, the Nutty Buddy is on the high end in price, about twice as much as a typical athletic cup. But Littell is betting parents will buy them for their sons anyway in hopes the better fit will get them to wear the cups more often.
So far, Littell's company has sold 3,500 units through the Web.
Freep.com
Freep.com Nutty Buddy
See the video here:
Nutty Buddy Video
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Prometa - Drug Cravings Ended Overnight?
Prescription For Addiction
60 Minutes' Scott Pelley Reports On A New Addiction Treatment
(CBS) Word is spreading fast about a new therapy that is said to break the grip of drug addiction in a simple treatment. Addicts who have tried everything and remained hopelessly hooked say their drug cravings ended almost overnight.
The therapy is called "Prometa." As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, it's being promoted by Terren Peizer, a former junk bond salesman whose business is business, not medicine. He skipped the usual medical research and government approvals to rush Prometa to market.
Why the shortcuts? Peizer, who stands to make millions, says there's no way he can sit on Prometa when he believes it's the miracle treatment that millions are dying for.
"And if you had a son. If you had a son or a daughter, and maybe you do. If he's strung out on meth. And he's going to kill himself. Would you, if you had the opportunity. And I said to you, will you treat your son with Prometa?" Peizer asks. "Would you take that option for your son?"
Terren Peizer is selling hope to the desperate. If what he says is true, he's hit on the first medical treatment for methamphetamine addiction -- a therapy that he says works for cocaine and alcohol, too.
An alcoholic getting treatment with Prometa visits a clinic three times, getting one drug, flumazenil, by infusion, and two more, gabapentin and hydroxyzine, in the form of pills; meth and cocaine addicts require two additional treatments later in the month. And patients take gabapentin daily for a month. Prometa's treatment plans also call for nutritional supplements and counseling sessions.
The drugs have been around for years, but none of them was developed to treat addiction.
Dave Smart tried Prometa. He'd been hooked on meth for 20 years. "I tried NA. I tried AA. I tried in-patient treatment centers. I tried outpatient treatment centers. I've been to jail and to prison many times for different crimes due to meth," Smart tells Pelley.
"But, Dave, you've got a wife of more than 20 years. You've got children. You've got grandchildren. None of that was worth quitting for?" Pelley asks.
"All of that is worth quitting for. But it has such a strong hold on me. It did have such a strong hold on me that I couldn't quit. Believe me, I tried. I hated it. I hated my life on dope," Smart says.
Almost two million Americans used meth last year. In Tacoma, Wash., Smart took Pelley to see the damage meth can do.
"We tore this place apart," Smart tells Pelley, outside an unoccupied house.
Addicts swarmed the unoccupied house like locusts, stripped it, and sold the scrap. "All the wiring we took out of there, the wiring out of the house, there was TVs and all kinds of things in the house, all taken out," Smart explains.
"You stole it and you sold it all," Pelley asks.
"That's the bottom line, yes," Smart says.
"You know this is the kind of thing I've seen in Baghdad," Pelley remarks.
"Yeah, that's what we do to get our dope," Smart says.
Eight months ago, Smart was on his way to buy dope when he stopped at a Prometa clinic. He'd heard about it on TV. After about an hour at the clinic, instead of going on to his meth dealer, he went home.
Smart says the cravings were gone overnight. "That's the way it worked for me," he says.
"Dave, you have to understand how that sounds too good to be true," Pelley remarks.
"I do understand how it sounds too good to be true," Smart says.
"You never would have believed it," Pelley asks.
"No, no," Smart says. "I never would have believed it. You're right. But it happened."
"This tool is different. This tool has a unique and powerful biological response that is very robust," says Dr. Matthew Torrington, the medical director of the Prometa Center of Los Angeles.
Dr. Torrington has done addiction research at UCLA. He started prescribing Prometa two years ago. Torrington says for an addict, Prometa is like brakes on a car.
"You're asking them to go down the arduous road of recovery without the ability to stop. And their brain says 'Go,' and it's on! Okay, and they just don't have the
ability to say no," he says. "Because their brain told them that they were hungry for drugs the way you would be hungry for air with a plastic bag over your head. Okay?"
The three drugs used in Prometa were approved by the FDA years ago, but not for addiction treatment. One was approved to treat overdoses of sedatives, another to treat seizures, the other to calm anxiety. In the 1990’s, a Spanish doctor put them together. The theory is they alter brain chemistry to end craving.
One patient explained it to Torrington like this: "He said, 'Look, Torrington, before the treatment my thought went, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, after the treatment my thoughts went cocaine, I wonder what happened to that rental car I lost, I wonder what happened to my cell phone I wonder what happened to my luggage boy I met my mom is mad at me, boy am I hungry, boy am I tired, cocaine.' It wasn’t like he couldn’t remember cocaine anymore, it was that cocaine went from all he could think about to being just another thing on the list," Torrington explains.
CBS News
CBS News - Prometa
60 Minutes' Scott Pelley Reports On A New Addiction Treatment
(CBS) Word is spreading fast about a new therapy that is said to break the grip of drug addiction in a simple treatment. Addicts who have tried everything and remained hopelessly hooked say their drug cravings ended almost overnight.
The therapy is called "Prometa." As correspondent Scott Pelley reports, it's being promoted by Terren Peizer, a former junk bond salesman whose business is business, not medicine. He skipped the usual medical research and government approvals to rush Prometa to market.
Why the shortcuts? Peizer, who stands to make millions, says there's no way he can sit on Prometa when he believes it's the miracle treatment that millions are dying for.
"And if you had a son. If you had a son or a daughter, and maybe you do. If he's strung out on meth. And he's going to kill himself. Would you, if you had the opportunity. And I said to you, will you treat your son with Prometa?" Peizer asks. "Would you take that option for your son?"
Terren Peizer is selling hope to the desperate. If what he says is true, he's hit on the first medical treatment for methamphetamine addiction -- a therapy that he says works for cocaine and alcohol, too.
An alcoholic getting treatment with Prometa visits a clinic three times, getting one drug, flumazenil, by infusion, and two more, gabapentin and hydroxyzine, in the form of pills; meth and cocaine addicts require two additional treatments later in the month. And patients take gabapentin daily for a month. Prometa's treatment plans also call for nutritional supplements and counseling sessions.
The drugs have been around for years, but none of them was developed to treat addiction.
Dave Smart tried Prometa. He'd been hooked on meth for 20 years. "I tried NA. I tried AA. I tried in-patient treatment centers. I tried outpatient treatment centers. I've been to jail and to prison many times for different crimes due to meth," Smart tells Pelley.
"But, Dave, you've got a wife of more than 20 years. You've got children. You've got grandchildren. None of that was worth quitting for?" Pelley asks.
"All of that is worth quitting for. But it has such a strong hold on me. It did have such a strong hold on me that I couldn't quit. Believe me, I tried. I hated it. I hated my life on dope," Smart says.
Almost two million Americans used meth last year. In Tacoma, Wash., Smart took Pelley to see the damage meth can do.
"We tore this place apart," Smart tells Pelley, outside an unoccupied house.
Addicts swarmed the unoccupied house like locusts, stripped it, and sold the scrap. "All the wiring we took out of there, the wiring out of the house, there was TVs and all kinds of things in the house, all taken out," Smart explains.
"You stole it and you sold it all," Pelley asks.
"That's the bottom line, yes," Smart says.
"You know this is the kind of thing I've seen in Baghdad," Pelley remarks.
"Yeah, that's what we do to get our dope," Smart says.
Eight months ago, Smart was on his way to buy dope when he stopped at a Prometa clinic. He'd heard about it on TV. After about an hour at the clinic, instead of going on to his meth dealer, he went home.
Smart says the cravings were gone overnight. "That's the way it worked for me," he says.
"Dave, you have to understand how that sounds too good to be true," Pelley remarks.
"I do understand how it sounds too good to be true," Smart says.
"You never would have believed it," Pelley asks.
"No, no," Smart says. "I never would have believed it. You're right. But it happened."
"This tool is different. This tool has a unique and powerful biological response that is very robust," says Dr. Matthew Torrington, the medical director of the Prometa Center of Los Angeles.
Dr. Torrington has done addiction research at UCLA. He started prescribing Prometa two years ago. Torrington says for an addict, Prometa is like brakes on a car.
"You're asking them to go down the arduous road of recovery without the ability to stop. And their brain says 'Go,' and it's on! Okay, and they just don't have the
ability to say no," he says. "Because their brain told them that they were hungry for drugs the way you would be hungry for air with a plastic bag over your head. Okay?"
The three drugs used in Prometa were approved by the FDA years ago, but not for addiction treatment. One was approved to treat overdoses of sedatives, another to treat seizures, the other to calm anxiety. In the 1990’s, a Spanish doctor put them together. The theory is they alter brain chemistry to end craving.
One patient explained it to Torrington like this: "He said, 'Look, Torrington, before the treatment my thought went, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, cocaine, after the treatment my thoughts went cocaine, I wonder what happened to that rental car I lost, I wonder what happened to my cell phone I wonder what happened to my luggage boy I met my mom is mad at me, boy am I hungry, boy am I tired, cocaine.' It wasn’t like he couldn’t remember cocaine anymore, it was that cocaine went from all he could think about to being just another thing on the list," Torrington explains.
CBS News
CBS News - Prometa
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