Below you will find a video (if I do this right) featuring a Michigan high school wrestling official grabbing one of the wrestlers by the throat to stop a confrontation. It's apparently pretty big news up there. The video comes courtesy of the Tecumseh Herald, which posted it to youtube.com.
Couple of key points to remember while watching: The ref involved is a 30-year vet. Also, we don't get to see what prompted him to grab the kid (of course, that's a little like saying we don't know what the photog said to Kanye in the airport).
So, watch and let me know what you think. Did the ref go too far? Might he have a good reason for his actions? Should he have swept the leg? Should the kid have gone to the crane? Lot of different ways to go here -- let me know by posting in the comment section or -- and for some reason this seems to be the method of choice for people -- emailing me at jmoon@gannett.com
I have a couple of things to say about Mr. Tebow, Herschel Walker fighting and the very-G Serena Williams. I know many of you have been sitting at your computers hitting refresh all day on The Moonraker, so away we go.
Tim has no shot
Look, I know Tebow was sick most of the week at the Senior Bowl. I know it was just one week and one meaningless game. And I know it was his first time out of the spread system since Pee Wee ball.
But good Lord was he awful. He threw for just 50 yards, fumbled twice and tossed a couple of passes were just embarrassing. But even worse, everyone got a clear picture of just how slow he is.
Slow throwing. Slow running.
He's projected as a second-round guy, but I think that's waaaaaayyyyyy too high. If his name was Tim Smith, there's no chance he'd even sniff the fourth round. But as it is, we've got people making excuses for him and trying to manufacture a spot for him to play in the NFL.
Unfortunately, there isn't one for a slow guy who can't block.
Herchel Walker's a Bad Man
I hate MMA fighting. Call me a girl, but I just don't enjoy watching some guy take a knee to the noggin. Not my thing.
That said, I do respect the fighters and the training they go through to compete. It's not easy, especially for a 47-year-old.
In case you missed it, former Georgia running back Herschel Walker made his MMA debut Saturday night. He beat the brains outta some guy who can now go back to bagging groceries. (Actually, Walker's opponent was a legit fighter.)
But more impressive was the way he looked doing it. A good 13 years since he last put on pads, Herschel is one ripped up fella.
Holding a Grudge I can't let the Serena Williams-line judge thing go.
The funny thing here is I couldn't possibly care less about tennis. I'd rather watch Nancy Grace, because there's at least a chance she'll fall down and I'll be entertained briefly. Can't say the same for tennis.
But every now and then -- mainly when ESPN airs one of the 8,023 Opens in professional tennis -- I have to sit through some long segment during "Sportscenter" in which I routinely learn that Serena has won another match/set/game/frame. (I have no idea what happened to Venus. Gone to the same house of irrelevance as Roebuck and that dude who co-hosted "Idol" with Ryan Seacrest the first year, I guess.)
But now, all I can think about when I see this extremely large woman is her threat to shove a ball down that poor lineswoman's throat. And I don't know why I'm so caught up on it.
Maybe it's because she's a woman and displayed such anger. Maybe it was because she was so intimidating to the little Asian lineswoman that day. I don't know.
I just know I don't really like Serena now ... even though I know almost nothing about her.
If you live out of state or like to roam around having watched no TV news or listened to no radio news, you might not know that Governor Bob Riley's gambling task force thingy (and that's a technical law enforcement term) raided Victoryland in Shorter and Country Crossing in Dothan this morning.
Actually, allow me to rephrase: The task force thingy took a lot of cops and state troopers and stood in the parking lots of the two aforementioned places of business for several hours. Then, everyone went home mad.
If you want the specifics, go here www.montgomeryadvertiser.com and read the reports from our own Scott Johnson, who was fortunate enough to be at Victoryland this morning when the officers began to invade/chitchat quietly in the parking lot. We also have a fine photo gallery and some video. We're all over it, baby.
Anyway, I'm not here to report -- I'll leave that up to the people who have been following this -- or to take a stand, despite what the blog's subject title might lead you to believe. Instead, I'm just here in search of cheap hits and to play this thing aggravatingly down the middle. Personally, I could care less if we gamble or if we don't gamble. Not a big thing to me. But I do wish we'd stop wasting money trying to figure out what we're going to do. Plus, I'm no expert in law enforcement management, but I have to believe that there were better things for 200 troopers to be doing this morning. Or are we leaving everything up to traffic cams now?
All that said, if we're going to have more of these raids, I plan to find out early and set up a coffee and donut stand in the parking lot.
The blog subject title is a bit misleading, but pay no attention to that. The hot names get the lead, but this post is mainly about our own Mr. Fortson, who turned in one of the greatest halves of college basketball in the history of the game on Thursday night. I'll also have a little something on the Matthews-Obama racism thing at the end. Against Mississippi State in Arkansas, Courtney Fortson, who played his high school ball at Jeff Davis, dumped in 33 second-half points and led the Razorbacks to a come-from-behind win over the Bulldogs, who were leading the West Division coming in. For the game, Fortson had 35 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the field and 14-of-18 from the free throw line.
I'll go ahead now and ask the question that's on your mind: We couldn't use this guy at Auburn/Alabama?
The answer: Yes, you could have. But it would've taken work, and neither the Tide nor Tigers put in the same effort that Arkansas did. The Razorbacks recruited Fortson in high school and never backed away from him, even when grade issues popped up and a trip to junior college became a necessity. As far as I know -- and I asked Fortson about this during his senior year -- only Arkansas, Cincinnatti and Alabama State stayed with him all the way. Maybe there were others, but those were three teams who he felt had a shot and who never backed off.
Of course, we shouldn't overplay this, either. The guy was lighting up the scoreboard last tonight, but he was also suspended for a few games and hasn't exactly been the model teammate at Arkansas. I mean, we're not talking Wall, Bledsoe or Cousins here. But he is a guy Auburn or Alabama could have used. I mean, he wouldn't help Auburn as much as any guy over 6-foot-6 would, but hey, who could?
Anyway, congrats to Mr. Fortson. Nice to see a local guy do well.
Now, for the Matthews-Obama uproar.
This is stupid. In case you don't know what's going down, following last night's State of the Union address, Chris Matthews, who is one of the talking heads for one of the endless number of network news shows that tell us what we should think and why, said he had forgotten during the speech that President Obama was black. Obviously, Matthews, who is a big Obama supporter, apparently meant it as praise -- implying that Obama's presidency has helped some, including Matthews, I guess, take a significant stride forward when it comes to race relations.
Unfortunately, the comment wasn't exactly viewed as a positive by many people.
Several black leaders have criticized Matthews for inadvertently treating being black as if it's some sort of disability. Basically, they say the goal isn't to make anyone forget they're black, it's to eliminate the discrimination that comes because they are.
Two things here.
1. If we're ever going to get to a point in this country where race is truly no big deal, everyone has to stop making every little incident or statement a big deal.
2. White people, please stop trying to tell black people that everything's OK now and the dream has been achieved.
We here at The Moonraker have enjoyed an evening chock full o' entertainment (around various Advertiser-related writing projects, of course). First, we caught the Prez spreading slightly less hope and change than he was a few months ago. Then, we took in a little "American Idol" -- we roll DVR style, thus the order is reverse on our viewership. Finally, we wrapped up the evening with a dose of "Tosh.0" and a late-night "Sportscenter."
Thoughts:
When President Obama speaks, there's like a four-hour period in which you actually believe that things could possibly change. That gives the dudes on Fox News enough time to pick apart his speech and tell you why what he said was borderline communist, and it gives the guys over MSNBC time to dissect it and tell you why what he said was pure, unadulterated genius. It's a shame we'll never again get a truly original thought or feeling from most American voters. I have a feeling that we wouldn't be nearly so angry and hateful in this country if we didn't have these people telling us we should be.
I'm not sure why, but just watching Nancy Pelosi is incredibly annoying. Maybe it's that she seems to be trying waaaayyyy too hard to act natural.
I have no idea how good Ellen will be hosting on Idol, but she'll have to be rather awesome to top Neil Patrick Harris, who filled in as a guest judge on Wednesday's show. Funny, witty, assertive and not annoying. Harris, who is awesome as Barney Stinson (Suit Up!) on "How I Met Your Mother," was equally fantastic at judging. Joe Jonas, on the other hand, could have given the same performance asleep. Not that I'm complaining. I got exactly what I want out of all the Jonas brothers -- quiet.
Daniel Tosh -- and yes, I'm aware that 90 percent of you have no idea who he is and have never watched "Tosh.0" -- is one of the funniest men on TV. If you're easily offended, he's not your guy. But if you like inappropriate jokes and funny/obscene Internet clips, this is your guy. It's on Wednesday nights at 9. (And since it's a Comedy Central production, it's replayed roughly 2,322 times throughout the week.)
Gilbert Arenas is insane. How do you go from a nobody to a $111 million player to an inmate in the span of a few years? Think about what this guy did. He took four guns -- FOUR GUNS -- into the Wizards locker room to play "a joke" on his good palJavarisCrittenton. The same JavarisCrittenton who Arenas had reportedly threatened to shoot just hours earlier. He took the guns into his workplace and placed them on a chair in front of Crittenton's locker along with a note instructing him to "Pick One." And his two-fold defense is: 1. I was joking, and 2. They weren't loaded ... I think I speak for everyone when I say, Oh, well, not loaded and you were joking, well, by all means, our apologies for making such a big deal about it. Dope.
The NFL's decision to change up the Pro Bowl -- a game that no one has ever cared about -- is one of the dumbest decisions I've ever seen. First, who thought Miami would be a better destination than Hawaii? And who thought playing it a week before the Super Bowl, thus preventing 14 players from the Saints and Colts from playing, would be appealing to anyone? Apparently, the game is returning to its old format next year. But still, what a screwup. The line of players criticizing this year's setup includes pretty much every player involved in the game, every player not involved in the game and both fans who were planning to watch.
As you may or may not know, I'm a bit of a TV fan. Right now, Kim, who I am related to through marriage, and I watch "American Idol," "House," "Chuck," "24," "Grey's Anatomy," The Office," "How I Met Your Mother," "30 Rock," "Big Love," "Desperate Housewives," "Community," "Tosh.0," "The Soup," "Modern Family," "Scrubs," "Human Target," "The Mentalist," "Medium," "Men of a Certain Age," "Damages" and "The Deep End." And we're waiting patiently on the return of "Lost" next week. So, yeah, casual fans of TV. Anyway, I say all of that to pass this along: If you'd like to discuss your entertainment options on a given night, I'm your guy. I'll probably have a post or two here or there on TV, because let's be honest, with football season winding down and the NCAA tournament still a while away, we've got time to kill. Might as well kill it with quality entertainment.
So, here's my first such post: A few thoughts on last night's "Idol."
Avril Lavigne is an idiot. I know this because she sat in front of 20 million people last night wearing a hoodie with horns.
There is little doubt that this show is doomed. The judges have very little quality interaction anymore and there seems to be tension all the time. I can't believe I'm going to say it, but it appears as if PaulaAbdul was much more important to this show than anyone, including the Fox people, ever imagined. Let this be a lesson: If you have a good thing going, try to keep it going.
Kara Dioguardia might just be the most annoying woman on the planet. It is quite obvious that Simon loathes this lady and that she very quickly annoys everyone around her, Katy Perry included.
Speaking of Ms. Perry, a few minutes in the sun every now and then doesn't hurt anyone.
The Idol people better hope Ellen brings a lot to the table, because so far, this baby is sinking fast.
By the way, if you'd like to know who's in the Top 24 this season, ask in the comments or shoot me an email at jmoon@gannett.com and I'll pass the names along. Two of the contestants from last night's show are in.
That's all for now, boys and girls. I'll have another round of Senior Bowl notes this afternoon. Until then, be smart.
Hello again, boys and girls. I'm back with what will be a regular feature here: Obvious Questions.
Allow me to explain the premise. In life, we (and by "we," I mean us sane, rational people) routinely run across things that leave us scratching our heads. Whether it be some ridiculous sports rule or an absurd business practice, we're confounded by the stupidity of others and left wondering about it for hours.
In this spot, probably once or twice a week, I will address some of those questions and I encourage you to use the comment section or my email (jmoon@gannett.com) to work through the issues bombarding you. They need not be sports related, of course.
With that in mind, I come to you with a question that has been bugging me for a couple of days now.
On Friday evening, I stopped by a local retail outlet --we'll refer to it as Mal Wart -- to pick up a few items. As I'm waiting for the cashier to scan my items and charge me at least $100, because there's simply no way you can walk out the door at Mal Wart for less than $100, I think I notice that one item has been mistakenly scanned twice. I bring this up to the cashier and point out the mistake on the receipt.
Now, here's where they lose me. In response to this, the cashier says she'll have to get the manager to conduct a "key turn," meaning that in order to open the register and refund me my cash, she'll need to have a manager insert a key into the register and open the cash drawer for her.
Think about this for a moment.
Over the course of a seven hour and 55 minute day (can't work eight hours because that would put a Mal Wart employee at fulltime, forcing the struggling company to dole out health insurance to the greedy workers), that cash drawer has to open 100 times in order for the cashier to get change for customers. Why does it suddenly require a "key turn" to open that same drawer in order to give me back the money you just mistakenly charged me? It makes no sense.
There's no way that a cashier, even if he or she happened to be the biggest crook in town, could make more than a four or five bucks a week scamming the company this way. Which is probably the same amount of cash that person could make if they just took a little extra out of the drawer while giving change. I don't get it.
But hey, just for reading along and enjoying, I give you the website, www.peopleofwalmart.com. Have fun.
Welcome into The Moonraker blog. You're here for the inaugural post on what is sure to be a very happening, very informative blog. After several months without a blog, I, Josh Moon, am back by demand. (It wasn't so much popular demand as it was boss demand.)
So, what can you expect from this little goldmine on the world wide interwebs?
That's a tough question to answer with specifics, other than to say we likely won't discuss the James Bond series' 1979 Roger Moore flop, "Moonraker," very often after today.
Obviously, we'll be slanted more towards sports here, but that won't be all we talk about here. I guess maybe the best way to describe what you'll find here is an adult conversation. Now, "adult" doesn't mean we're going to be discussing porn. It means we'll discuss things that might come up in a standard conversation among real people -- TV, sports, music, movies, politics, etc. Again, it'll be primarily sports, but we won't be limiting the conversation.
And with that, away we go ...
As you will undoubtedly note, I have a column in Sunday's edition of the Montgomery Advertiser. It covered a variety of topics, including that putz Lane Kiffin, Jeff Lebo and West Georgia's NCAA troubles. Should you have any comments or questions, please feel free to post them up here or shoot me an email at jmoon@gannett.com.
