Newsday's Tom Rock brings us more news from Gang Green
Jets re-sign Poteat; Barlow let go
BY TOM ROCK
tom.rock@newsday.com
February 21, 2007, 9:31 PM EST
Anyone who paid attention to the final quarter of the Jets' season would not be surprised by the moves the team made Wednesday, re-signing cornerback Hank Poteat and releasing running back Kevan Barlow.
Poteat went from training camp casualty, cut just before the regular season, to starting right cornerback for the final six regular-season games and the playoffs. Eligible to become an unrestricted free agent next month, Poteat signed a one-year deal worth $635,000.
In contrast, Barlow was brought in late in training camp as a possible successor to Curtis Martin; the Jets traded a fourth-round draft pick to the 49ers to get him after a deal for the Browns' Lee Suggs fell through. But Barlow was inactive in five of the last six games, a decision Jets coach Eric Mangini pointed out had nothing to do with injury.
Barlow ran for only 370 yards on 131 carries but managed six touchdowns. His best game as a Jet was a 75-yard effort in the mud in a November win over the Patriots, but he had only 30 carries after that.
The Jets, already a healthy $25 million or so under the salary cap, will avoid the $3.25 million Barlow was due to earn in 2007 but still will be docked two-thirds of the guaranteed million dollars they gave him in a restructuring in September, according to a source.
The Jets also released offensive lineman Trey Teague, who was signed last spring to help replace Kevin Mawae at center but broke an ankle in minicamp and never played a down. They signed safety Raymond Ventrone to a reserve/future contract.
The team also made a formal announcement regarding several previously reported coaching changes, most notably naming former Patriots receivers coach Mike Daboll as quarterbacks coach. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer handled those duties last season, and Daboll, who was close with Mangini in New England, could become the Jets' offensive coordinator if and when Schottenheimer leaves for a head coaching opportunity.
and my View: Barlow was slow to learn the system and would have only been a minor contributor to the offense at best.
still, he came east with great promise, and his next stop will be?? Teauge never got off on the right foot(Ohhhh my bad!)
so to speak, he never recovered from the broken ankle even though he worked very hard. Truth is, Nick Mangold will be the Jets center for the next decade+ if he stays healthy. Tannenbaum is making all the right moves here.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Barack Obama In Los Angeles - SF Chronicle - Carla Marinucci
Los Angeles eagerly embraces Obama
Presidential hopeful addresses black community, then schmoozes with Hollywood elite
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
(02-21) 04:00 PST Los Angeles -- Illinois Sen. Barack Obama brought his campaign to the heart of the city's African American community Tuesday, drawing thousands of enthusiastic supporters eager for a first look at the black man looking to be president.
Emboldened by the air of excitement filling the park in the city's Crenshaw district, the Democratic hopeful moved beyond the stump speech he made in San Francisco on Monday night and touched on front-burner issues for this urban community: education, health care, the number of black men in the prison system and the sense that the country's African American communities have been overlooked by the Bush administration.
"Yes, we can gather up all those young men who are languishing in jail ... and we can say to those young men, we're not going to give up on you,'' Obama said, as people in the crowd hollered. "That's right."
The event in South Los Angeles brought out an estimated 7,000 people, including hordes of uniformed school kids from the neighborhood. Many of the people lined up hours before Obama arrived, giving the event the energized feel of a campaign rally just weeks before the presidential election and not a year before the primary.
At times, Obama's talk took on the cadences and themes of a revival-tent sermon. The world, he told the crowd, "may have its problems ... but what God wants us to do is to help close that gap, not just with words, but with deeds."
Those deeds, he said, include rebuilding the heavily black city of New Orleans, devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
"Yes, we can rebuild New Orleans,'' he said, pledging that "something like this will never happen again, because we are part of a single American family.''
While the speech was long on vision and short on specific plans, he ignited the crowd, which chanted "Obama, Obama," as he took the stage.
Many in the crowd challenged the notion that Obama, the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, has not worked hard enough to woo African American voters and would suffer politically by not having a connection to the same slavery roots as most black Americans.
"Some black leaders say he's not black enough - and I don't know why,'' said Algene Moore, 71, a retired African American vocational instructor from Baldwin Hills. She said that while she appreciated the campaign of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front runner, Obama's effort as a serious African American contender for the Democratic nomination felt like history in the making.
"I have been waiting a long time for this ... a long time,'' she said with a broad smile. "I say, at long last.''
Tuesday's schedule was a tale of two worlds for Obama, as he followed the South Los Angeles rally with a glitzy fundraiser among Hollywood royalty at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where he was expected to collect $1 million for his presidential campaign.
Even with the $2,300 price tag, the maximum amount that can be donated to a presidential primary candidate, the event was considered a hot ticket in a town usually jaded by hot tickets.
A parade of movie industry glitterati jostled to meet the candidate as curiosity seekers filled the hotel lobby and the sidewalk around it. Making their way into the ballroom were actors Eddie Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Anniston, Ben Stiller and his wife, Christine Taylor, along with a gaggle of other celebrities, including producer Norman Lear and director Ron Howard.
But an even more exclusive event followed -- a late-night dinner at the Beverly Hills mansion of Dreamworks executive David Geffen.
While Obama and his young campaign continue to enjoy a high-profile honeymoon with voters intrigued by his celebrity and with media looking for the next big political thing, cracks in the nothing-but-good-news facade have begun to appear.
The senator is flying from California directly to Iowa, skipping a labor forum in Carson City, Nev., this afternoon that features all the other Democratic candidates. That has prompted some critics to suggest that Obama, who was elected to the Senate in 2004, might be unprepared to answer detailed questions about policy issues like health care and the war on terror.
Obama said he had made previous plans to be in Iowa and promised to return for a future Nevada Democratic candidates' debate.
The senator also was the subject of an investigative piece in the Los Angeles Times this week, which suggested that he has taken too much credit for projects to rid Chicago public housing of asbestos in his days as a community activist.
Obama's campaign refuted the story, saying that organizers, and early newspaper accounts, agreed with the candidate's recollections -- and that, in any case, he never tried to take undue credit.
"There are two elements to deal with in running for president,'' said Bill Whalen, a research fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford. "That is that the media will build him up until he is seen as the cure for cancer -- then they will attempt to paper cut him and study every word, and try to punch a hole in him.'' That, he said is "an unfortunate product of the way politics is being done in this country.''
Mary Hughes, a Democratic consultant in San Francisco, after watching Obama Monday in San Francisco, said that as a candidate, Obama "demands consideration ... because of his willingness to speak plainly" and "a natural big-heartedness, and he has an extraordinary (life) experience which touches almost everyone.''
But he will also have to compete for the Democratic nomination in an unusual year, one in which the three top contenders "encompass issues of gender, race and class'' -- with Clinton being the first major female candidate for president, Obama representing change as a leading African American contender and former Sen. John Edwards, the son of a mill worker who has gone on to become a successful trial lawyer and legislator, raising issues of poverty and class.
Presidential hopeful addresses black community, then schmoozes with Hollywood elite
Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writer
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
(02-21) 04:00 PST Los Angeles -- Illinois Sen. Barack Obama brought his campaign to the heart of the city's African American community Tuesday, drawing thousands of enthusiastic supporters eager for a first look at the black man looking to be president.
Emboldened by the air of excitement filling the park in the city's Crenshaw district, the Democratic hopeful moved beyond the stump speech he made in San Francisco on Monday night and touched on front-burner issues for this urban community: education, health care, the number of black men in the prison system and the sense that the country's African American communities have been overlooked by the Bush administration.
"Yes, we can gather up all those young men who are languishing in jail ... and we can say to those young men, we're not going to give up on you,'' Obama said, as people in the crowd hollered. "That's right."
The event in South Los Angeles brought out an estimated 7,000 people, including hordes of uniformed school kids from the neighborhood. Many of the people lined up hours before Obama arrived, giving the event the energized feel of a campaign rally just weeks before the presidential election and not a year before the primary.
At times, Obama's talk took on the cadences and themes of a revival-tent sermon. The world, he told the crowd, "may have its problems ... but what God wants us to do is to help close that gap, not just with words, but with deeds."
Those deeds, he said, include rebuilding the heavily black city of New Orleans, devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
"Yes, we can rebuild New Orleans,'' he said, pledging that "something like this will never happen again, because we are part of a single American family.''
While the speech was long on vision and short on specific plans, he ignited the crowd, which chanted "Obama, Obama," as he took the stage.
Many in the crowd challenged the notion that Obama, the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, has not worked hard enough to woo African American voters and would suffer politically by not having a connection to the same slavery roots as most black Americans.
"Some black leaders say he's not black enough - and I don't know why,'' said Algene Moore, 71, a retired African American vocational instructor from Baldwin Hills. She said that while she appreciated the campaign of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic front runner, Obama's effort as a serious African American contender for the Democratic nomination felt like history in the making.
"I have been waiting a long time for this ... a long time,'' she said with a broad smile. "I say, at long last.''
Tuesday's schedule was a tale of two worlds for Obama, as he followed the South Los Angeles rally with a glitzy fundraiser among Hollywood royalty at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, where he was expected to collect $1 million for his presidential campaign.
Even with the $2,300 price tag, the maximum amount that can be donated to a presidential primary candidate, the event was considered a hot ticket in a town usually jaded by hot tickets.
A parade of movie industry glitterati jostled to meet the candidate as curiosity seekers filled the hotel lobby and the sidewalk around it. Making their way into the ballroom were actors Eddie Murphy, Morgan Freeman, Jennifer Anniston, Ben Stiller and his wife, Christine Taylor, along with a gaggle of other celebrities, including producer Norman Lear and director Ron Howard.
But an even more exclusive event followed -- a late-night dinner at the Beverly Hills mansion of Dreamworks executive David Geffen.
While Obama and his young campaign continue to enjoy a high-profile honeymoon with voters intrigued by his celebrity and with media looking for the next big political thing, cracks in the nothing-but-good-news facade have begun to appear.
The senator is flying from California directly to Iowa, skipping a labor forum in Carson City, Nev., this afternoon that features all the other Democratic candidates. That has prompted some critics to suggest that Obama, who was elected to the Senate in 2004, might be unprepared to answer detailed questions about policy issues like health care and the war on terror.
Obama said he had made previous plans to be in Iowa and promised to return for a future Nevada Democratic candidates' debate.
The senator also was the subject of an investigative piece in the Los Angeles Times this week, which suggested that he has taken too much credit for projects to rid Chicago public housing of asbestos in his days as a community activist.
Obama's campaign refuted the story, saying that organizers, and early newspaper accounts, agreed with the candidate's recollections -- and that, in any case, he never tried to take undue credit.
"There are two elements to deal with in running for president,'' said Bill Whalen, a research fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford. "That is that the media will build him up until he is seen as the cure for cancer -- then they will attempt to paper cut him and study every word, and try to punch a hole in him.'' That, he said is "an unfortunate product of the way politics is being done in this country.''
Mary Hughes, a Democratic consultant in San Francisco, after watching Obama Monday in San Francisco, said that as a candidate, Obama "demands consideration ... because of his willingness to speak plainly" and "a natural big-heartedness, and he has an extraordinary (life) experience which touches almost everyone.''
But he will also have to compete for the Democratic nomination in an unusual year, one in which the three top contenders "encompass issues of gender, race and class'' -- with Clinton being the first major female candidate for president, Obama representing change as a leading African American contender and former Sen. John Edwards, the son of a mill worker who has gone on to become a successful trial lawyer and legislator, raising issues of poverty and class.
Barack Obama Hosted By Sen. Barbara Boxer In San Francisco
You know you've reached star status when -- even though you're a US senator -- they just call you by your name and not your title. Such is true for US Senator and Candidate for President of The United States, Barack Obama.
They just call him Barack Obama.
Senator Barack Obama (D) Illinois, appeared as the star of a rousing February 19th fund-raiser hosted by Senator Barbara Boxer at The Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco's Union Square.
The event drew almost 2,000 people, if not a little more than that number. (And reports with the estimate at 1,000 are just plain wrong. I was there, and I can count.)
What was surprising to me was the number of true voters who turned out. The crowd was most older, white, and liberal, and for the trained eye consisted of some of the Bay Area's most active political citizens. But to be sure, there was a healthy percentage of younger voters as well -- between 20 and 45 years old. And remember all paid between $150 and $2,000, so this wasn't a free event. It sold out the week before it was set to commence.
Personally, I was blown away by Barack Obama. And I've worked for four politicians and donated to several campaigns. Part of Senator Obama's appeal is that he really has his pulse on the problem America faces and that's a belief crisis. Our leaders don't represent us anymore; they stand for their own desires. One doesn't get the impression that Senator Obama has an agenda separate from that of the American People. He knows we're suffering from seeing people killed overseas and going without help in a hurricane-wrecked New Orleans. He knows we're tired of seeing our leaders preside over a vastly imbalanced spread of resources going where they don't help Americans (the Mid East) while people in the South (Louisiana) are still suffering. He gets that we have a massive leadership crisis, yet doesn't step in like Superman, he just has the courage to point his hand in another direction and say "This is where we should go."
I know that's heavy, but it doesn't begin to describe how much people are energized by him and his run for president. It's one thing to hear about it, but you've got to be a part of it to understand.
He's the real deal and with the total knack for saying the right words. All of that is evident in this video.
As a note, you may wonder why I chose the theme song to the television show "Friends." I tried the music as an experiment in part of the video, and was struck by how perfect the message "I'll be there for you" seemed to describe the relationship between Senator Obama and his supporters. The theme, like the Senator's book "The Audacity of Hope" is about hope, and thus is perfect for this video, if not his candidacy.
For more information go to his website at
www.barackobama.com
They just call him Barack Obama.
Senator Barack Obama (D) Illinois, appeared as the star of a rousing February 19th fund-raiser hosted by Senator Barbara Boxer at The Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco's Union Square.
The event drew almost 2,000 people, if not a little more than that number. (And reports with the estimate at 1,000 are just plain wrong. I was there, and I can count.)
What was surprising to me was the number of true voters who turned out. The crowd was most older, white, and liberal, and for the trained eye consisted of some of the Bay Area's most active political citizens. But to be sure, there was a healthy percentage of younger voters as well -- between 20 and 45 years old. And remember all paid between $150 and $2,000, so this wasn't a free event. It sold out the week before it was set to commence.
Personally, I was blown away by Barack Obama. And I've worked for four politicians and donated to several campaigns. Part of Senator Obama's appeal is that he really has his pulse on the problem America faces and that's a belief crisis. Our leaders don't represent us anymore; they stand for their own desires. One doesn't get the impression that Senator Obama has an agenda separate from that of the American People. He knows we're suffering from seeing people killed overseas and going without help in a hurricane-wrecked New Orleans. He knows we're tired of seeing our leaders preside over a vastly imbalanced spread of resources going where they don't help Americans (the Mid East) while people in the South (Louisiana) are still suffering. He gets that we have a massive leadership crisis, yet doesn't step in like Superman, he just has the courage to point his hand in another direction and say "This is where we should go."
I know that's heavy, but it doesn't begin to describe how much people are energized by him and his run for president. It's one thing to hear about it, but you've got to be a part of it to understand.
He's the real deal and with the total knack for saying the right words. All of that is evident in this video.
As a note, you may wonder why I chose the theme song to the television show "Friends." I tried the music as an experiment in part of the video, and was struck by how perfect the message "I'll be there for you" seemed to describe the relationship between Senator Obama and his supporters. The theme, like the Senator's book "The Audacity of Hope" is about hope, and thus is perfect for this video, if not his candidacy.
For more information go to his website at
www.barackobama.com
Barack Obama On His Plans For 2008
This is a video from Senator Barack Obama on his plans for the 2008 Presidential campaign.
JFL Jr. In Video Shot In Downtown Manhattan
This video is a passing shot of the late JFL jr. I show this in a series of videos here of young political leaders.
The Late JFK Jr. With Barbara Walters In An Interview
This interview is a great look at the late son of our most famous president as he talks about his then new magazine, "George" with Barbara Walters.
What John F. Kennedy Would Say To George Bush
This video presents what the late JFK may have said to current President Bush regarding matters of secrecy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)