FLIP THE SCRIPT!

Rule #1 to keep a successful blog:

jsua — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:57:41 +0000

A solid Internet connection! Mine has been down for the last week or so, limiting my ‘net time. And you thought my life and mind had slowed down. Shame on you! But I’m working on it….

Where in the world is Bo Jackson?

jsua — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:55:25 +0000

ESPN knows. (I guess this is ESPN week on my blog.) Here’s a nice article on what the man has been up to lately.

Sean Taylor, 1983-2007

jsua — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 16:04:49 +0000

Taken from ESPN.com:

Taylor dies after being shot at home

Associated Press

MIAMI — Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor died early
Tuesday, a day after the Pro Bowl player was shot at home by what
police say was an intruder. He was 24.

Family friend Richard Sharpstein said Taylor’s father told him
the news around 5:30 a.m.

“His father called and said he was with Christ and he cried and
thanked me,” said Sharpstein, Taylor’s former lawyer. “It’s a
tremendously sad and unnecessary event. He was a wonderful, humble,
talented young man, and had a huge life in front of him. Obviously
God had other plans.”

Taylor died at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he had been
airlifted after the shooting early Monday, Sharpstein said.

Two carloads of mourners, including the athlete’s father,
arrived at the house Tuesday morning. They remained inside and did
not speak to reporters. A single bouquet of flowers was left by a
palm tree just outside a front gate. Beside the mailbox, an
untouched newspaper lay with news of Taylor’s shooting.

Doctors had been encouraged late Monday when Taylor squeezed a
nurse’s hand, according to Vinny Cerrato, the Redskins’ vice
president of football operations. But Sharpstein said he was told
Taylor never regained consciousness after being transported to the
hospital and that he wasn’t sure how he had squeezed the nurse’s
hand.

“Maybe he was trying to say goodbye or something,” Sharpstein
said.

Taylor, the fifth overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft following
an All-American season at the University of Miami, was shot early
Monday in the upper leg, damaging the key femoral artery and
causing significant blood loss.

“According to a preliminary investigation, it appears that the
victim was shot inside the home by an intruder,” Miami-Dade County
police said in a statement. “We do not have a subject description
at this time.”

But police were still investigating the attack, which came just
eight days after an intruder was reported at Taylor’s home.
Officers were sent to the home about 1:45 a.m. Monday after
Taylor’s girlfriend called 911.

Sharpstein said Taylor’s girlfriend told him the couple was
awakened by loud noises, and Taylor grabbed a machete he keeps in
the bedroom for protection. Someone then broke through the bedroom
door and fired two shots, one missing and one hitting Taylor,
Sharpstein said. Taylor’s 1-year-old daughter, Jackie, was also in
the house, but neither she nor Taylor’s girlfriend were injured.

Police found signs of forced entry, but have not determined if
they were caused Monday, or the previous burglary.

The shooting happened in the pale yellow house he bought two
years ago. Eight days before the attack someone pried open a front
window, rifled through drawers and left a kitchen knife on a bed at
Taylor’s home, according to police.

“They’re really sifting through that incident and today’s
incident,” Miami-Dade Detective Mario Rachid said, “to see if
there’s any correlation.”

Taylor’s death comes nearly a year after Broncos cornerback
Darrent Williams was killed in a drive-by shooting following an
argument at a Denver nightclub on Jan. 1. University of Miami
defensive lineman Bryan Pata was shot to death in November 2006
several miles from Taylor’s home in an unsolved killing.

Taylor starred as a running back and defensive back at Gulliver
Prep in Miami. His father, Pedro Taylor, is police chief of Florida
City.

A private man with a small inner circle, Taylor rarely granted
interviews. But, behind the scenes, Taylor was described as
personable and smart — an emerging locker room leader.

“From the first day I met him, from then to now, it’s just like
night and day,” Redskins receiver James Thrash said Monday. “He’s
really got his head on his shoulders and has been doing really well
as far as just being a man. It’s been awesome to see that growth.”

After Taylor was drafted, problems soon began. Taylor fired his
agent, then skipped part of the NFL’s mandatory rookie symposium,
drawing a $25,000 fine. Driving home late from a party during the
season, he was pulled over and charged with drunken driving. The
case was dismissed in court, but by then it had become a
months-long distraction for the Redskins.

Taylor also was fined at least seven times for late hits,
uniform violations and other infractions over his first three
seasons, including a $17,000 penalty for spitting in the face of
Tampa Bay running back Michael Pittman during a 2006 playoff game.

Meanwhile, Taylor endured a yearlong legal battle after he was
accused in 2005 of brandishing a gun at a man during a fight over
allegedly stolen all-terrain vehicles near Taylor’s home. He
eventually pleaded no contest to two misdemeanors and was sentenced
to 18 months’ probation.

Taylor said the end of the assault case was like “a gray
cloud” being lifted. It was also around the time that his daughter
was born, and teammates noticed a change.

“It’s hard to expect a man to grow up overnight,” said
teammate and close friend Clinton Portis, who played with Taylor at
Miami. “But ever since he had his child, it was like a new Sean,
and everybody around here knew it. He was always smiling, always
happy, always talking about his child.”

On the field, Taylor’s play was often erratic. Assistant coach
Gregg Williams frequently called Taylor the best athlete he’d ever
coached, but nearly every big play was mitigated by a blown
assignment. Taylor led the NFL in missed tackles in 2006 yet made
the Pro Bowl because of his reputation as one of the hardest
hitters in the league.

This year, however, Taylor was allowed to play a true free
safety position, using his speed and power to chase down passes and
crush would-be receivers. His five interceptions tie for the league
lead in the NFC, even though he missed the last two games because
of a sprained knee.

“I just take this job very seriously,” Taylor said in a rare
group interview during training camp. “It’s almost like, you play
a kid’s game for a king’s ransom. And if you don’t take it serious
enough, eventually one day you’re going to say, ‘Oh, I could have
done this, I could have done that.’

“So I just say, ‘I’m healthy right now, I’m going into my
fourth year, and why not do the best that I can?’ And that’s
whatever it is, whether it’s eating right or training myself right,
whether it’s studying harder, whatever I can do to better myself.”

His hard work was well-noted.

“He loved football. He felt like that’s what he was made to
do,” Redskins coach Joe Gibbs said. “And I think what I’ve
noticed over the last year and a half … is he matured. I think
his baby had a huge impact on him. There was a real growing up in
his life.”

Redskins’ Sean Taylor in critical condition

jsua — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 16:53:54 +0000

after being shot in the leg. Here’s the ESPN swipe:

MIAMI — Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was in
critical condition after he was shot at his Florida home Monday, police said.

Miami-Dade County police officers were dispatched to Taylor’s
home at about 1:45 a.m. and found him shot. He was then airlifted
to Jackson Memorial Hospital, police Detective Alvaro Zabaleta
said. He didn’t know where on Taylor’s body he was shot.

The Miami Herald reported paramedics found Taylor with a gunshot wound to the groin.
A family friend who did not want to be identified told ABC-TV 10 in Miami that Taylor was shot twice.

A brief statement from the Redskins said Taylor was undergoing
treatment at the Miami hospital and that police were investigating.
His family has asked that no information about his condition be
released at this point, said hospital spokeswoman Lorraine Nelson.

Taylor has a home in the Miami suburb of Palmetto Bay that he
bought for $900,000 two years ago.

Taylor, 24, is in his fourth season with the Redskins after
playing at the University of Miami, where he was an All-American in
2003. He leads the team with five interceptions but has missed the
last two games with a knee injury.

In 2005, Taylor was accused of brandishing a gun at a man and
repeatedly hitting him during a fight that broke out after Taylor
and some friends went looking for the people who had allegedly
stolen his all-terrain vehicles.

Taylor reached a deal with prosecutors last year after they
agreed to drop felony charges against him. He pleaded no contest to
two misdemeanors in the assault case and was sentenced to 18 months
probation.

The man, Ryan Hill, also sued, seeking at least $15,000 in
damages. Hill suffered bruising to his body, incurred medical
expenses and lost wages because of the fight, the lawsuit said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Women, Chicken, Money

jsua — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 07:50:17 +0000

I have no idea what to make of this, but I keep watching the video trying to figure it out. It is at once an ode to Colonel Sanders, a fascinating version of biological anthropology, and, very simply a montage of clips on which the Colonel’s head is photoshopped onto random heads, some emerging from vaginas, some possessing the bodies of apes.

I imagine it is terribly problematic in its theoretical articulations, but that is beside the point.

Defending Barry, by Jemele Hill

jsua — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 04:57:21 +0000

I, too, defend Barry Bonds.

Stocking stuffers for hip hop heads

jsua — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 19:25:34 +0000

Somehow, my radar did not pick up on these two releases until just this weekend. The first is “Jay Love Japan,” a posthumous album by the late, great J Dilla, features more of his great work as a producer and includes some vocal cameos. The second is “Perseverance,” the long-awaited album by the amazing lyricist Percee P, who has definitely gotten his side hustle on as a cameo rapper but deserves full-album treatment. Beats by Madlib and others, to boot.

If you didn’t know, Dilla and Percee P worked together on the Jaylib album. Dilla laid down a simple percussion beat that had a bright timbre to it, I think due to the cymbals. And P killed it, as they like to say. His rhythmic patterns didn’t just use the beat as a background, it engaged with it, much like Dilla’s own rhymes do.

Anyhoo, I know what I’ll be spending some cash on ASAP.

Yay! LA police drop plans to racially profile Muslims.

jsua — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:44:39 +0000

Heard about this on NPR last week; glad to see that the outrage has driven them to stop it, though I don’t pretend to believe it won’t go on covertly.

Cops in Canada are just as ruthless

jsua — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 16:30:26 +0000

and we’re not talking about mounted police, either.

Read this story about a Polish man detained at Vancouver Airport–and then tasered to his death by the police. The story is written in an evocative way, more than you generally find in the news, and so you get a better feel for what went down.

A bomb goes off at the Philippine Congress.

jsua — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:49:17 +0000

Two people died: Basilan Representative Wahab Akbar and his driver, who, of course, was not named in this BBC article. According to this ABS-CBN report, the driver, Ismael Lim, was employed by Gabriela Representative Liza Maza. While it mentions that Negros Oriental Representative Henry Teves also sustained “severe blast injuries and burns,” it does not confirm the conditions of others who were rushed to General Malvar Hospital, especially Kim Ar, Akbar’s bodyguard, and Maan Abustanillo, staff of Teves.