It’s already been a busy off-season for the Tampa Bay Lightning, who had an awful on-season. Lightning owner OK Hockey laid off about two dozen employees as part of its “restructuring” strategy. Among those jettisoned: David Cole, director of fan development, Jay Preble, media relations specialist, and Matt Hitchcock, who played “ThunderBug.”
Too bad those staying include those responsible for hiring Barry Melrose and trading Dan Boyle.
Evan Longoria: Alex Rodriguez without the hypocrisy. As a player, as a person.
Speaking of A-Roid, he has two strategies available to counter all the awful publicity he has brought on himself. First, he would be well-served to have a monster season, lead the Yankees into the post-season and then – finally – come through in the clutch and lead the Yankees to a World Series win. But that, of course, is problematic. Second, he and his media spinners can see to it that Salena Roberts, the author of that unflattering Rodriguez biography, is continuously referenced as the reporter (New York Times) who was duped in the legal travesty known as the Duke lacrosse team rape case.
Does the football season ever end? Is the NFL draft coverage over yet?
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers no longer have that huge waiting list for season tickets. How humbling. How overdue.
How about a rhetorical statute of limitations on the overuse of such annoyingly trite, football staples as “blue collar,” (plays with a) “chip on his shoulder” and “swagger” (unless, of course, the intent is to actually lament the presence of boorish arrogance). And, of course, an outright ban on athletic “heroes” and “warriors.”
How coincidental that the area’s two dailies both did prominent Sunday features this week on the same successful, brash, Lamborghini-driving real estate agent who bills himself as “The Short Sale Kid.” It’s about foreclosures and same-day flips and lots of lawyers – all in the context of finding profit amid the housing bust. It’s legal and entrepreneurial and, according to some real estate professionals, fraught with red flags over transparency and ethics.
We won’t get any more specific and add to this guy’s publicity coup, but you can’t help wondering: Isn’t this an ironic variation on a theme that got us into this mess in the first place?
Tragically, it has happened yet again. Amid all the awful, sordid news stories out there, is there anything worse than the ones that chronicle the arrest of those accused of killing – and sometimes sexually assaulting – little children? Sometimes babies.
This is something that is beyond psychopathic and perverted. Maybe it’s the manifestation of evil. But one thing is certain. Those who would do such despicable things — regardless of their inner demons and addictions — had access. We don’t know the why, but that’s the how.
Live-in boyfriends, including the unconscionably creepy ones, are a societal norm. Even society’s old-schoolers acknowledge as much. But all bets are off and the dynamics are different where little children are involved. Sharing a bed is not the same as sharing a household that includes the innocent.
These women, making unilateral decisions that impact their children, are not just pitiful, tragic figures. They are negligent, enabling accomplices in a tragedy — and a crime.
In case you’ve forgotten, among the issues the Florida Legislature hasn’t gotten around to addressing – while it wasn’t addressing other stuff such as revenue reform – is that of drivers, especially teens, using cell phones. Oh, multiple bills were filed, so there are those who officially think preoccupied, distracted drivers are an issue, if not an unconscionable menace. But there is still no law in Florida that prohibits or limits cell phone use while driving.
Maybe next year. Or, like revenue reform, maybe never.
The need is more than manifest. After pouring over research, the National Safety Council says that cell phone use increases the risk of a crash fourfold. It equates talking on cell phones — hand-held or hands-free — with drunken driving.
“Public awareness and the laws haven’t caught up with what the scientists are telling us,” points out NSC president Janet Froetscher. “There is no dispute that driving while talking on your cell phone, or texting while driving, is dangerous.”
As a result, the NSC has called for a cell phone ban for drivers. And for the record, adds Froetscher, there are an estimated 270 million cell phone users in the U.S. – and 80 per cent of them talk on the phone while driving.
Then add to the equation the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s finding that teens are three times more likely than the average driver to get into a fatal crash. Also include an AAA study that showed that 25 per cent of 16- and 17-year-olds text-message while driving. And another AAA study that ranks Florida among the worst states for teenage traffic fatalities.
Then add common sense. Even the most vacuous, fatuous cell phone conversations can blind drivers to visual cues, slowing reaction time and situational awareness. Why wouldn’t they?
We all drive. We’re all on the road. We all want to protect ourselves – and our kids. If the call is that damn important, it’s worth pulling over to make it.
The upshot of the Brian Blair libel suit against Kevin Beckner might be this: A landmark, stop-the-presses case that radically alters how far political campaigns can go in the down- and-dirty, rough-and-tumble give-and-take that is candidate bashing.
But chances are, it will be this: Absent convincing proof that statements made against a public official were both defamatory and made with reckless disregard for the truth, the core of First Amendment protections – political speech – will be upheld.
Two points.
Beckner has fired back with a legal filing that seeks to get Blair’s suit tossed out of court. The filing itself is a veritable laundry list of the considerable public criticism incurred by the ex-wrestler and former county commissioner over the years. Ouch. How ironic that the process of reputation reclamation initiates another rehash of “Blair’s Greatest (Reputation) Hits.”
In response to Blair’s contention that “his good name and reputation” have been damaged and need to be restored, the filing — by Beckner attorneys Barry Cohen and Gregg Thomas — countered sardonically that the motion to dismiss does indeed “join in that endeavor.” It said it seeks “to clarify that Blair’s reputation is, in actuality, one that is a discredit to him personally and to the Tampa Bay community.” Double ouch.
Second. If you’re retaining Barry Cohen, you’re serious. You may say the suit is frivolous, but you’re not taking any chances.