Texas Tech fires Mike Leach; Twitter explodes with responses

Twitter explodes with responses after Texas Tech fires Mike Leach.

Texas Tech fires Mike Leach

Texas Tech fired Head Coach Mike Leach after a stunning turn of events that started with Redshirt Sophomore Wide Receiver Adam James complaint of Coach Leach' treatment in the wake of James mild concussion. ESPN reports that Texas Tech representatives handed Leach's lawyer Ted Liggett a letter of termination "with cause effective immediately".

This happened as Coach Leach and Ted Liggett were to appear in court today in a court in Lubbock, Texas to determine if Coach Leach application for a Temporary Restraining Order would be granted such that he could coach his team in the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, January 2nd.

Adam James contends that Coach Leach twice ordered him confined to "small, dark places" during practice after James was diagnosed with a concussion. James's father is ESPN College Football Analyst and NCAA Football Star Craig James.

ESPN's Mark Schlereth tweeted the same thoughts I had:

Mike Leach fired at TT! Wow that was quick.
27 minutes ago from UberTwitter

(I think I'll retweet that one.)

Already, Mike Leach is the fourth highest Trending Topic on Twitter as of this writing. The tweets are worth noting:

NWAAlex Mike leach's firing makes three coaches who were rumored to replace houston nutt at arkansas.
half a minute ago from txt

DesNewsEborn With Leach getting canned today, college FB coaches everywhere are taking inventory of their disciplinary methods
half a minute ago from web

Frinklin RT @VeryFakeAlDavis: I hope Leach, Billy Beane, and Shane Battier chip in for a van and a talking dog and start solving mysteries
half a minute ago from web

MarissaCisneros F*CK TEXAS TECH!!! Leach deserves better!
half a minute ago from txt

topgun530 ha! RT@KellisRobinett: Never thought I'd see the day that Texas Tech made Mike Leach walk the plank. #surprisingnews

El_Williams @JaySkillz A WR had a concussion and Leach put him in a dark closet 2 out of 3 days. Leach says a room, player says a closet.
half a minute ago from web

And 316 more tweets were issued in the minute-or-so that I installed the above tweets.

As for me, I don't know what to think because it happened so fast. First, Mike Leach is an innovator of the football passing game, who's Airraid system built the Texas Tech program. He's a legend. But mistreating players is a no-no and fortunately greater concern for the condition of the athlete is shown in 2009 than even in 1999. There's more to this story, but Coach Leach at least should not have punished Adam James in the way he did.

Stay tuned.

Oakland Parking Enforcement Reform Initiative - a follow-up

It's good that Oaklanders are responding to the Oakland Parking Enforcement Reform Initiative, but it's not in any way my idea. There are aspects of the proposal I do not agree with, but that's not my role as I elected to participate in the process.

My desire is to see a policy-formation process started that leads to some meaningful change in our parking law and enforcement system. That process is starting.   It's easy to argue.  Anyone can do it and it takes little thought.  It takes less energy to destroy than to create. But it take a lot of thought and patience to work to bring disparate ideas of different people together.  

There are more people out there who want change than those who don't. And I have to laugh at the one's who say "I follow the laws.." because that's not the point. They really tend to be selfish and refuse to try and think beyond themselves.

This just in: it's not about you.

It's about protecting Oaklanders who have little of means against a system, the City of Oakland, that's just trying to raise money to make payroll. The Oakland Parking Problem is such that we have people who have four-figure and five-figure salaries who are forced via the fines process to pay to save the six-figure-salary jobs in the City of Oakland.

That's what this is really all about.  Otherwise, why not have a 15-percent across the board salary cut?  That would really make a difference, and everyone knows it.  Cut the City of Oakland salaries to reflect decreased property tax revenue.  Then, when property tax  revenue goes up, we can increase the City of Oakland salaries back to where they were.

We're in a very bad economy with what I predict will be a double-dip recession mid-year. We're not producing enough jobs for the people who need them. Oakland has a 17 percent unemployment rate.  To suddenly turn-up the pressure on car driving Oaklanders in the middle of this just to make payroll is abusing the government against the very people it's supposed to serve.

Enough is enough.

So there's a large group of good people - and getting larger - that want change.  I will not for a second tolerate massively sick people contacting me and being nasty because they have nothing better to do. Yeah, it does come with the territory, but I find in the 21st Century, one has to reestablish their territorial bounds.  That's what I'm doing.

(See, in the old media days, people were more respectful and less angry.  The letters-to-the-editor that were published were logical and to the point.  Crackpot letters were tossed into the trash can.  Now, I love New Media, but this idea of free-expression tends to allow nutcase behavior.)  

Here's my bottom-line; we put the idea of many out there to change it. If a person's got a problem with the idea, then share it, but don't attribute it to me. Get involved in changing this. Those few who see me in public and don't say anything to me (and I don't know what they look like), then try to bug me in a really sicko fashion online, are really not good people and have certain moral problems.  Don't be that person.

A good person can disagree and maintain composure in person, not via text message; by contrast, the people I'm referring to are really sick and express themselves only online and for all I know just want to do harm to me for being a black guy who has a platform.

Please.

I'm happy to help people get out the word about an issue, and talk about it. The bottom line is Oakland needs to change in this area, and it will. Sooner, not later.

Happy New Year!

Charlie Sheen update - Brooke Mueller Sheen wants Charlie back

The latest Charlie Sheen update has Brooke Mueller Sheen working to save her marriage to the Two and A Half Men star, and getting a lawyer to protect against the possible charge of making a false police report.



To recap, last Charlie Sheen and Brooke Mueller Sheen had a Christmas morning argument, reportedly over his singing a song to his daughter that he had by another woman. Allegedly, according to RadarOnline and TMZ.com, Brooke Mueller Sheen expressed discomfort with that, which led to an argument. Charlie Sheen was arrested by Aspen, Colorado Police on two felony counts of domestic violence, one misdemeanor count, and a misdemeanor count of "criminal mischief".

In the days after, Brooke Mueller Sheen gave two different stories of what happened, one on the 911 call, and the other to police when they arrived. But the basics are that Aspen Police are said to have found marks on her neck indicating that she was grabbed, which is consistent with her statement that Charlie Sheen was chocking her.

Brooke Mueller Sheen also said Charlie Sheen pulled a knife on her. Aspen Police found a knife in a bag owned by Charlie Sheen that was in the "open" position that Christmas morning. After the discovery of the knife, police arrested Charlie Sheen.

When Aspen Police returned to talk to Brooke Mueller Sheen on Saturday, she refused them. Now, according to TMZ, she has hired O.J.Simpsom's long-time lawyer Yale Galanter to represent her. Yale Galanter will file papers in Aspen court to gain permission for Brooke Mueller Sheen to have contact with Charlie Sheen to save their marriage.

Reportedly, Brooke Muller Sheen didn't want Charlie Sheen to be arrested. At the time of the arrest, both had alcohol in their system, with Brooke Mueller said to have been legally drunk.

Stay tuned.

Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Mel Brooks, De Niro, and Springsteen at Kennedy Center

Wow, what a show! Dave Brubeck, Grace Bumbry, Mel Brooks, Robert De Niro, and Bruce Springsteen were recipients of the Kennedy Center Honor for their contributions to American Culture. But what is really cool about having a President Obama, who gets mainstream American Culture, is that all of these great people and more have been honored while they're still alive.

Now, I'm referring to the Presidential Medal of Honor Award recipients in 2009 at the White House. It was awesome to see Stevie Wonder and Sidney Poitier honored in such a way, just as it was amazing to see Dave Brubeck get the stage he so rightfully deserves.

In an event hosted by Caroline Kennedy, Brubeck was celebrated by Herbie Hancock, who said Dave Brubeck was his musical inspiration. Robert De Niro was feted by 2007 Kennedy Center Award Winner Martin Scorsese. And Frank Langella and Martin Short sang to Mel Brooks, while tributes were given by Matthew Morrison, Harry Connick, Jr, Jack Black, Richard Kind, Jane Krakowski, Shuler Hensley, , and Matthew Broderick.

That's what you get when you have a President who know who Lady Gaga is.

The YouTube, TotLoL story is a cautionary tale for news sites

As a YouTube Partner, I was interested in today's TechCrunch article about how the company TOTLOL's entire business model was harmed by a change in YouTube's "Terms of Service" rules, such that it had to shut down operations. I'm going to simplify the lingo for consumption, and you can read the more lingo-based version of the story at TechCrunch.

TOTLOL

TOTLOL's is a community website that allows you to see videos for kids. It uses a YouTube website building system called a YouTube API, or "Application Programming Interface". The cool aspect of TOTLOL was that one could pick out videos from YouTube to watch that were kid-friendly, which is at times hard to do on YouTube.

The problem as I get it from reading Erick Schonfeld's work at TechCrunch, is that YouTube and Google realized that TOTLOL was making ad money from using its own advertisers and not those with YouTube and Google. So TOTLOL claims that YouTube and Google changed their "Terms of Service" rules to prevent that, thus throwing TOTLOL out of business.

As a YouTube Partner, I know YouTube likes the development of original video content and rewards that. I can say their program is awesome, taking nothing away from anyone else's and just sharing my experience with the YouTube Partner Program.

But this story is different because we're talking about TOTLOL making money off the videos created by others like, say, Cullens ABCs, who specialize in making kids videos and like me is a YouTube Partner. (We know each other). I think YouTube is trying to protect content partners like us in this case.

But in doing so, YouTube and Google may have hit a conflict that would harm use of their API by news sites. Let's say SFGate.com or the NY Times created a website like TOTLOL and sold its own ads. Both would run against the "Terms of Service" set up by YouTube and Google. Now to be clear, we're not talking about a video player, ok?

 So if you don't technically get the difference, a video player is not what TOTLOL is. It's like taking YouTube and remaking it for specialized use. TOTLOL is not a video player slapped on a blog site.  Plus TOTLOL is not making its own videos, which is the issue.

OK? More complicated.

Back to my point. As a YouTube Partner, I think as long as any site like TOTLOL or SFGate.com or the NY Times is causing existing videos to gain views and is using a YouTube API in a creative way, they should be able to use their own ads. YouTube and Google should encourage some kind of ad mixing system, rather than the "it's my sandbox" take they seem to be using.

Doing so would help news website offer more compelling pages with videos. What is interesting to me is that it was TOTLOL that created this problem and not a big news site.

Stay tuned.

Mike Leach was wrong regarding Adam James

Some brief thought late night on Texas Tech Head Coach Mike Leach

I did not want to jump into this via this blog because I did not have all of the facts. But when I heard that Mike Leach and his coaches displined Adam James for poor practice work, he lost me, Leach I mean.

See if a player is not doing well on the practice field then you do not play him. Right?

Right.

You do not punish him.

But that is reportedly what Leach did.

I would love to know what Michael Crabtree thinks. He played for Leach at Texas Tech.

Stay tuned.
Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Berkeley Marina's Adventure Playground in budget trouble

Berkeley's Adventure Playground needs money to remain open.

As we watch the Golden State of California crumble under the collective weight of job loss, poor municipal credit, and high taxation and user fees, events like this one will become more commonplace.

This story comes from the blog Berkeleyside - I should say "new blog" because it takes over where InBerkeley left off. At any rate, the problem is the playground has been closed since December 21st and will be through New Year's Day. While it's supposed to reopen after the 1st of January, in this crazy economy that's not a sure thing.

Now, I've never been to Adventure Playground, but the observation that the 30-year-old venue is a park for kids is enough for me to want to save it. The trouble is, I don't know who to contact to make this happen; Tracey Taylor who blogged about this, didn't suggest a course of action.

Well, there's Tracey Taylor's next blog post!

Brittany Murphy death certificate; cause of death deferred

The death certificate of Actress Brittany Murphy was released this morning. A copy of it, obtained by TMZ.com, reportedly reveals Brittany Murphy's cause of death as "deferred." The manner of death is "pending investigation." Moreover, TMZ points out that while Brittany's father was interviewed, the death certificate lists a father as "unknown".

Brittany Murphy

E! Online interviewed 83-year old Angelo Bertolotti, who's Brittany Murphy's father. The media outlet reported that he did not attend his daughter's funeral.

Mr. Bertolotti said "I was very shocked by it. I can't believe it really. It happened so fast; I'm just trying to figure it all out right now. I'm very upset by it..."If I wanted to go, I would go, but I don't want to see her that way," he says. "She was flawless to me. She was a little bright child. I have only good memories about her. She's a memory to me now. To me she's off making a movie somewhere."

The LA County Coroner's Office is awaiting toxicology reports as of this writing.

TMZ.com also offers that the "informant" who has vital information is listed as "Tayebe Pajooh" who has a North Carolina mailing address. OK Magazine reports that the person's listed as "cousin."

In the leaked Coroner's Report, TMZ discovered that a number of prescription drugs were found in Murphy's bathroom and allegedly used by Brittany Murphy:

Topamax (anti-seizure meds also to prevent migraines), Methylprednisolone (anti-inflammatory), Fluoxetine (depression med), Klonopin (anxiety med), Carbamazepine (treats Diabetic symptoms and is also a bipolar med), Ativan (anxiety med), Vicoprofen (pain reliever), Propranolol (hypertension, used to prevent heart attacks), Biaxin (antibiotic), Hydrocodone (pain med) and miscellaneous vitamins.

The Coroner's Office was furious over the leak, and to this date it's not known how that information was allowed to see the view of the media.

Stay tuned.



Stay tuned.

Former Oakland Raiders lineman Gerald Perry shot by robber

Gerald Perry, who played offensive tackle for both the Oakland Raiders, LA Rams, and the Denver Broncos during his NFL career, was shot by a would-be-robber in Lithonia, DeKalb County, Georgia. The Atlanta Journal Constiution reports that Perry was sitting in his SUV when he was hurt. WSBT.TV Atlanta interviews revealed that the shooter asked Perry for money.

Carla Tillis, a witness and Perry's girlfriend, told WSBT.tv, "The only thing that really saved him was that he put his hand up and the bullet is still in his hand. When he turned, the bullet hit him in the back and went straight out."

Reportedly, a woman approached Perry and asked for money; when he refused, she went to her boyfriend, who came back with his gun and opened fire on Perry.

The gunman and his girlfriend are still at large as of this writing.

Perry is recovering; the bullet is reportedly lodged in his hand.

Megan Fox and Taylor Swift 2009's Internet stars of the Year

Ok, this is my award. Megan Fox and Taylor Swift are Zennie62's 2009's Internet stars of the Year. The reason is simple. Whenever I need some spark in traffic and talk, I can count on Megan Fox and Taylor Swift. It doesn't matter of it's a search for Megan Fox' sexy photos or Taylor Swift's long lyrics, they come through in a pinch.

Megan Fox 

But more than that, Megan Fox and Taylor Swift are just plain interesting. I love Megan Fox for her outspoken personality, and 21st Century feminist-hotty charm. Taylor Swift's the picture of the simple, girl-next-door made good. Even when she doesn't some really questionable things - ok, just one really questionable thing with that Swastika - Taylor Swift does it with the aplomb of of a queen.

But this is not to damn Taylor Swift for that, it's to genuinely praise her. Taylor Swift certainly has a massively great publicist and a production team that's out of this World, but look at the material they have to work with: her. For some odd-duck reason, people want to root for Taylor Swift. And no, it's not blonde-ambition or anything of the kind. It comes through as her soul. My only fear is that she will lose it.

Megan Fox got my attention, first, when she told the truth about the Transformers movie series being a special-effects vehicle and not an acting flick. I liked the way she stood her ground in the wake of Producer Michael Bay's counter-attacks. And finally, her Rolling Stones Magazine interview was the icing on the cake.

Plus, yes. Megan Fox is a lovely, sexy, woman. Tough as nails and great ones too!

Carrie Prejean beaten by Joe Francis for Gawkers' Douche of the Decade

Carrie Prejean, who missed joining Rachel Ray in the Top 100 Sexiest Women of 2009 for political reasons, now has a less honorable award (yes, less honorable award) she just missed: Gawker's Douche of the Decade'.

For this...



Now folks, I think to call anyone 'Douche of the Decade' or 'Douche of the Year' is wrongheaded. Moreover, it's terrible. In fact, it can get one sued, which is what Joe Francis is threatening to do. I also would not think of Carrie Prejean in that way.

First Joe Francis.

Dylan Stableford at The Wrap, reports that after the “Girls Gone Wild” founder Joe Francis learned he was named as Gawker's “Douche of the Decade" he hit the ceiling and called his lawyers, firing off this email:

From: Joe Francis
To: Nick Denton
Subject: Hey Nick, Your Fucked
Date: December 27, 2009 7:22:14 PM EST

Hey Nick,

I am suing you tomorrow personally. You messed with the wrong guy. No one make up lies about me and gets away with it. I lost a 10 million dollar deal as a direct result of you calling me “a rapist”. You will be paying me every dime of that back and more! Are you mentally retarded? Do your research first. I am coming after you harder then I have ever went after anyone. I am going to wipe you off the grid!!!! YOU ARE DONE! I will take everything you have. You, Nick Denton, are truly the “Douche of the Decade” Merry Xmas IDIOT!!! Joe Francis P.S. I sent you an updated picture of how I actually look now so you can masturbate to it because you seem to be quite sexually obsessed with me.

Okay. Joe.

Tila Tequila and Joe Francis

Anyway. According to The Wrap, Nick Denton's response was classic:

Okay, fine. After some consideration, we're sorry for calling you a "rapist" since you are more accurately "an alleged rapist." After all, we've never seen you doing the raping, only read about it.

Man, Gawker Founder Nick Denton takes chances that are...er, ill-advised. He's already got two active lawsuits against him from Eric Dane regarding the McSteamy sex tape (which he's winning), and former ESPN announcer and NFL player Sean Salisbury's suit regarding posted emails.

Now let's turn to Carrie Prejean, who The Wrap says just missed being in the final vote and that's confirmed by Gawker.

I don't think she fits into the category of being publicly mauled in this way. Yes, she took a political stance that was at best retrograde. Sure, she didn't behave well on CNN's Larry King Show. But to be listed as a possible candidate for 'Douche of the Decade' is downright hurtful. I really cry for her.

I'm serious. I do so because I think there's a level of respect that a woman should be accorded even in the 21st Century. Carrie Prejean is not the kind of person projected by Gawker as being what they say Joe Francis is.

I'm not going to go there. I don't know Joe Francis, and I don't know anyone who does. Nick Denton's out there on his own with this one. Good luck, Bro.

Terrorist incident sparks racial profiling talk, Right Wing Racism again

There are millions of people who travel of all shapes, creeds, and colors. But because a really stupid young man who happens to have the name Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is found to be Muslim, Right Wingnuts like Republican Congressman Peter King call for racial profiling of Muslims.



Fear should never be used to restart any action that smacks of the internment of Japanese citizens during World War II. Yet, that's what Congressman King is trying to do. He says we're at war "with them" and so some action must be taken against "Muslim extremists."

What bothers me about situations like this is it's always some older white guy on Fox News who starts yammering this stuff, like Peter King. It may be cathartic for him to talk that way, but it's not helpful at all.  His hate speech can cause good people who happen to be Muslim to be harmed.  Is that what he wants?

We have to rise to a level of thought that eliminates the desire to place people in large racial groups all of the time. Plus, focusing on people that the Congressman Kings' of the World think are Muslim only opens the door for someone who doesn't fit the profile to walk into it.

We have to stop this before it starts and call for a more intelligent approach. Oh, and if's it's "politically correct", so what? Big deal. It's the right approach and an American one at that.

Stay tuned...I know you will.