The time has come for The Brad to visit the remaining four ladies’ hometowns. We’re down to Chantel, Shawntel, Ricky Bobby, and Ashley.
First stop: Seattle! Chantel is excited to “take this relationship to the next level,” which these people say about as often as I say, “I wonder what to have for lunch.” Chantel lives four streets away from her parents, with her two cats and her dog. The Brad admits right away that his new wife (whichever lucky lady that might be) would have to move to Austin.
When they arrive at her apartment, Chantel’s tiny dog is wearing a sweatshirt, which is not a good look for either of them. They drink Corona on her leather couch. The Brad actually asked this question, while looking at Chantel’s three pets: “How many of these would be coming with you?”
Chantel’s parents live in a McMansion, and her mother has had a LOT of plastic surgery. You know what? So has her father, Wayne Newton. Ewww! What would you do if your mother had giant fake boobs? Their house has enormous fake columns and everything is a different shade of faux-finished taupe. I think her father has hair plugs, and he’s dressed like a twenty-year-old. Chantel actually seems surprisingly normal, given her parents.
Then Chantel’s father takes The Brad outside and shows him a giant bronze sculpture that “his friend introduced him to.” It’s a man carving himself out of stone. “The concept is self-made man,” Chantel’s father says. I literally cannot breathe I am laughing so hard. Then they bond over their history of brick-laying, or something. The Brad tells Chantel’s father that he is going to be a damn-good father. A damn-good father! He repeats it.
Chantel and her mother sit in the living room and cry. The Brad and Chantel’s father hang out in the wine cellar, and pronounce each other “great men.” That was fast. I think my money is on her, if only because The Brad wants to inherit that house someday.
Now we’re in Madawaska, Maine! Ashley is practically Canadian. Their first stop is at a restaurant where she worked as a teenager. “Isn’t that cute?” Ashley asks. The French-Canadian waitress brings over some poutine. Where’s my poutine? Ashley feeds The Brad a fry and says, “Oh, I can see your crown!” She’s a dentist, which I suppose is impressive, given that most of these women don’t have real jobs. I wonder if The Brad is threatened by that. Probably. I bet he wishes she was a personal trainer. Next stop, lobster shack! Farm stand with an honor system! I am moving there, I’m not joking.
Ashley’s family looks really normal, and she seems genuinely excited to see them. They all crowd together around a dining room table and eat some giant lobsters. Ashley’s dad is wearing a plaid shirt, and seems soft-spoken and kind. Oh, okay, it turns out Ashley is still in dental school. That makes sense, given that she’s 24 years old. I would rather hang out with Ashley’s father any day of the week. Ashley’s sister has lots of tattoos and a cool haircut and I want Brad to fall in love with her instead.
BEST PART OF THE SHOW: An actual commercial for Shawntel’s family’s funeral home. Incredible. I wonder if they’d make my book trailer. The Brad is now on his way to Chico, CA, where he is going to get freaked the fuck out. Obviously he goes straight to the funeral home to make out with her. She takes him on a tour of the mausoleum. She asks him whether he would like to be cremated, and then shows him where she would put his ashes. To the crematorium! The Brad is just walking around, shaking his head. To the prep room! “It fascinates me that you embalm people,” Brad says. I wonder what he thinks ‘fascinate’ means. She walks him through the process, and shows off her tools. Girl, there is a man out there for you, but this is not the one. “I don’t handle death well,” Brad says. You don’t say.
Shawntel’s family welcomes The Brad with open arms. They eat macaroni and cheese and drink wine and she has a younger sister named Destiny. The Brad is a total liar and tells us he can see being a part of their family. Then the hammer drops: Shawntel is supposed to take over the family business. Awk-ward! Dad, don’t worry: there is no chance in hell that Brad is going to propose to your daughter. I really wish that Shawntel was Claire Fisher, and Brad had to deal with Ruth and David and Nate and Rico and dead Lili Taylor right now. How is it that those people were so much more real than any of these wooden chucklefaces?
Welcome to Charlotte, home of the NASCAR Hall of Fame! Ricky Bobby (who I will now call Emily, which is her actual name) and her tiny clone of a daughter are hugging in the park, and lookee, here comes The Brad! Emily’s daughter, Ricky, has zero interest in talking to Brad. She’s very cute. Watching Brad try to talk to this little girl is really painful. He’s trying, and she is shutting him down like it’s her job. But then they start flying a kite, and Brad says he would relish the opportunity to be a father-figure to little Ricky. Maybe we shouldn’t bring up his Daddy-issues right now. Maybe that would be mean.
Emily’s house is much nicer than everyone else’s. It seems like she actually lives there, and has a modicum of good taste, though there are too many throw pillows. Brad tells Emily that he respects her too much to kiss her, and she is not having it. “I guess I’m just a weird guy, and that’s that,” Brad says, and for one of the first times all season, he and I agree. Girlfriend takes matters into her own hands and grabs him by the face. Finally. Wait, so he doesn’t meet her parents because she has a daughter? That’s kind of weird. It seems like an implication that she has an adult life that the others don’t, as if they’re all still virgins and live with their parents. I think he should have met Emily’s family. I’m surprised the producers didn’t make him meet the dead father’s parents. Let’s get real, ABC.
Back in New York, The Brad is staying at the Gansevoort Hotel. His buddy Chris Harrison comes to visit, and Chris reminds him that Ashley didn’t tell him that she loved him, which is obviously So Fucked Up. The women are all wearing prom dresses, and looking very uncomfortable. The Brad is now entering the phase of the Bachelor where he doesn’t want to send anyone home, and would rather have a harem. Oh wait, that was just inside his head. The first rose goes to Ashley. The second rose goes to Emily, who has the whitest teeth I’ve ever seen. The third and final rose goes to Chantel, who my eloquent husband describes as “Boobs.” Sorry, Shawntel, that means your time here is up. We all saw this coming as soon as she whipped out the scalpel and said the words “corotid artery,” did we not? She is never going to forgive her father for this. Honey, may I suggest the internet? There are so many guys who would want to lie on your table, if you know what I mean. It’s going to be a long limo ride back to Chico.
Next stop: South Africa! For no reason! Time for the fantasy suites. I can tell you right now who is going to give it up: Ashley and Chantel. Repeatedly.
Florida is home turf to some amazing comics: Brian Regan and Monique Marvez to name a few, but Comedy Central is heading to the Sunshine State with Doug Benson, Bill Burr, Adam Carolla, Kevin Hart, Gabriel Iglesias, Kathleen Madigan, Wanda Sykes, among many others to be announced.
08/29/2010 - Wanda Sykes and guest - 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards - HBO's Post Award Reception - Arrivals - The Plaza at the Pacific Design Center - Los Angeles, CA, USA ? Keadrick D. Washington / PR Photos
Hopefully Regan and Marvez can be added to this list.
The sixth annual South Beach Comedy Festival will take place from March 2 through March 5, it was announced today by Geof Wills, president, comedy at Live Nation. Tickets For The 2011 South Beach Comedy Festival On Sale Nowsouthbeachcomedyfestival.com
From Comedy Central:
Now in its sixth year, the South Beach Comedy Festival continues to grow and remains the premiere comedy festival for top comedic talent and fans across the country. To accommodate the burgeoning audience, Live Nation and COMEDY CENTRAL have added more featured performances in South Beach. The Festival will utilize multiple locations to highlight its exciting variety of talent.
Acts will perform at The Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater, Colony Theater and for the first time the recently opened New World Center.
The Free Live Comedy Stage on Lincoln Road will once again offer up outrageous laughs nightly, Thursday, March 3 through Saturday, March 5 to any and all attendees. This year's performers will include up-and-coming comedians Rachel Feinstein, Michael Kosta, Theo Von and Sheng Wang.
DWAYNE JOHNSON ON HIS RETURN AND MORE: COMPLETE RECAP By Mike Johnson on 2011-02-14 23:33:12 Highlights from Dwayne Johnson's WWE.com chat with fans after Raw went off the air.
Why return now? "Because I felt the time was right to so something special. Not only can I feed my own need and desire to perform. More importantly than that, do something special for you WWE fans. "
What Johnson Missed about WWE: "The thing I've missed most is the indescribible moment that was tonight. The culmination of the fans, their energy, my energy, my desire to entertain them and their endless desire to be entertained. "
Goals for Wrestlemania 27: "My goal is to create an incredible show. The guys have prepared for this night all year and they are going to put on incredible wrestling matches and I am there to not only support their matches but work with the great WWE production team and put on an electrifying show. That means I will be backstage and in the ring creating unforgettable and iconic WrestleMania moments. "
Favorite Wrestlemania Memories: "My favorite WrestleMania matches of all time were Icon vs. Icon in Toronto vs. Hulk Hogan and vs. Steve Austin in the Houston Astrodome. Both of those matches will go down as two of most memorable. I had the honor of working with two titans of WWE. "
John Cena calling out Johnson in the past: "John Cena said a variety of things that came across my desk which at first I thought was interesting and then I felt was laughable because the comments really didn't make any sense to me. To be clear, not that they ever make me mad. I just thought the comments were an interesting choice of things to say. "
Social Media: " The platforms of social media are fantastic. I started facebook seven months ago and I started twitter tonight. The facebook platform is one I'm very proud of because it has been inspiring, funny, entertaining and motivating. What I'm most proud of is that anyone can come to the page and not only read my posts but read posts from people all over the world and that's a really cool thing."
If you have just tuned into WWE Monday Night Raw, you’ll have witnessed possibly one of the most memorable live events in the history of Raw, not to mention the best thing to happen to the WWE in years – Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock making his return to the ring.
This 20 minute segment alone has sent social media websites into overdrive, and for those of you who are not too familiar with The Rock, we can tell you that it’s been over seven years since he last returned to the WWE.
If you want to watch what happened during Raw, you can tune into WWE.com or YouTube to watch a replay of what happened, we’re going to focus on the impact his return has had on social media. Dwayne Johnson himself took the opportunity to promote his Facebook account during the show, while the WWE themselves decided to jump on the social media bandwagon too, by setting up a live chat with Dwayne Johnson on the official website.
If you head to the social media section of their website here, you’ll be able to see a live chat in progress, in which you’ll be able to participate yourselves by asking The Rock a question. On the Twitter homepage, you’ll see that The Rock’s return has had an instant impact on the social networking website, as the term ‘Dwayne Johnson’ is now one of the Twitter trending topics.
You can also read individual tweets from users by following this link on Google. We wouldn’t be surprised if the WWE receive a significant boost in ratings just thanks to this 20 minute segment by The Rock.
Are you on Facebook or Twitter right now? Have you seen any messages related to the return of The Rock? Once again, don’t miss the opportunity to participate in WWE’s live chat with Dwayne Johnson on WWE social here.
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Revelers swept joyously into the streets across the Middle East on Friday after Hosni Mubarak stepped down as Egypt's president. From Beirut to Gaza, tens of thousands handed out candy, set off fireworks and unleashed celebratory gunfire, and the governments of Jordan, Iraq and Sudan sent their blessings.
Even in Israel, which had watched Egypt's 18-day uprising against Mubarak with some trepidation, a former Cabinet minister said Mubarak did the right thing. "The street won. There was nothing that could be done. It's good that he did what he did," former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who knew Mubarak well and spoke to him just a day earlier, told Israel TV's Channel 10.
The boisterous street celebrations erupted within moments of the dramatic announcement by Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman that Mubarak had stepped down. The success of Egypt's protesters in ousting a longtime ruler came less than a month after a pro-democracy movement in Tunisia pushed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali into exile in Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14.
The breakneck speed of developments, after decades of authoritarian rule in many Arab countries, left some of those celebrating Friday wondering where regime change might come next.
"We are very happy today that we were able to overcome the dictator Hosni Mubarak. Tomorrow will be the turn of the dictators in the entire Arab world," said Issam Allawi, an Egyptian celebrating with dozens outside the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut.
Two of Egypt's neighbors — Israel and the Palestinians — followed the historic moment particularly closely.
Israel's greatest concern in the past two weeks has been that its 1979 peace treaty with Egypt might not survive under a new government, particularly if Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood — the largest and most organized opposition group — gains influence. The Palestinian offshoot of the Brotherhood, the Islamic militant Hamas, seized control of the Gaza Strip, on Israel's doorstep, in 2007.
Israel's government did not comment Friday. However, Israel's former U.N. representative, Dan Gillerman, told Fox News that "if the radicals prevail (in Egypt) then we will have Hamas in Gaza, the Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, which would be devastating not just for Israel but for the stability of the whole region."
Egypt's uprising was led by young secular Egyptians, with the Brotherhood largely remaining in the background.
In Gaza, hopes were rising that a nearly four-year-old blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory might be coming to an end. Egypt had helped Israel enforce the blockade, which has kept some 1.5 million people confined to the tiny territory.
Across Gaza, many thousands rushed into the streets late Friday. Gunmen fired in the air and women distributed candy. "God bless Egypt, it's a day of joy and God willing all corrupt leaders in the world will fall," said Radwa Abu Ali, 55, one of those handing out sweets.
Hamas leaders called on the new Egypt to open the borders with Gaza. "Egypt wrote today a new chapter in the history of the Arab nations and I can see the blockade on Gaza shaking right now," Gaza's Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, told reporters.
Hamas security sent reinforcements to the Gaza-Egypt border to prevent any possible chaos there, including attempts to break through the blockade. In a Hamas-engineered border breach in 2008, hundreds of thousands of Gazans had briefly spilled into Egypt.
The governments of Jordan, Iraq and Sudan said Friday they respect the will of the Egyptian people. "The resignation of Hosni Mubarak is a step in the right direction," said a statement by Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki.
Anti-government protests have erupted in recent weeks in Jordan and Iraq, with demonstrators complaining of corruption, lack of services and rising prices. Sudan is run by an autocratic leader wanted for war crimes he is accused of orchestrating in the country's restive Darfur region.
Across the Middle East, many thousands celebrated in the streets.
In Tunisia, cries of joy and the thundering honking of horns greeted the announcement. "God delivered our Egyptian brothers from this dictator," said Yacoub Youssef, one of those celebrating in the capital of Tunis.
On Lebanon's Al-Manar TV, the station run by the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah faction, Egyptian anchor Amr Nassef, who was once imprisoned in Egypt for alleged ties to Islamists, cried on the air. "Allahu Akbar (God is great), the Pharaoh is dead. Am I dreaming? I'm afraid to be dreaming," he said.
In Jordan's capital of Amman, thousands gathered outside the Egyptian Embassy shouted "mabrouk, mabrouk," Arabic for "congratulations," as fireworks burst into the sky. The crowd included members of the 500,000-strong Egyptian expatriate community in Jordan. Some burned a portrait of Mubarak.
"This is the best day of my life. It's a new era for Egypt," said Hawary el-Saudi, 24, an Egyptian construction worker working in Jordan for the past year. "Hosni Mubarak has been clinging on to power long before I was even born. He made us live a low life. He forced poor people like me to go aboard to work and make money."
Celebrations were also held in several cities in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest nation, where protesters have also taken on the government of longtime leader Ali Abdullah Saleh after the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt. In the capital, Sanaa, more than 3,000 people marched from Sanaa University to the Egyptian Embassy.
In Baghdad, lawmakers from all of Iraq's major political parties cheered Mubarak's resignation as a win for democracy — a system still in its infancy in that nation.
"The resignation of Mubarak represents one of the marvelous days in history," said Sunni lawmaker Jamal al-Battekh, a member of the Iraqiya political alliance. "No one can stand against the will of the nation or especially the will of the youth, who have the ability to say no to the dictator of Egypt."
___
Associated Press writers Ian Deitch in Jerusalem, Ibrahim Barzak in the Gaza Strip, Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, Lara Jakes in Baghdad, Mohammed Osman in Khartoum, Sudan, Bouazza Ben Bouazza in Tunis and Ahmed al-Haj in Sanaa, Yemen, contributed to this report.
Egypt's Hosni Mubarak has resigned as president, handing control to the military after 29 years in power.
A day after announcing he would hand over most of his power to the vice president, Mubarak finally bowed to demands of protesters for his immediate departure amid escalating protests.
Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement on national TV just after nightfall, setting off joyous celebrations in Cairo's central Tahrir Square where several hundred thousand protesters were massed.
"In these difficult circumstances that the country is passing through, President Hosni Mubarak has decided to leave the position of the presidency," Suleiman said. "He has commissioned the armed forces council to direct the issues of the state."
Fireworks, car horns and celebratory shots in the air are being heard around the city of 18 million.
Outside Mubarak's presidential palace in Cairo, crowds chanted: "The people ousted the president."
One opposition leader whose young supporters were among the organizers of the protest movement calls it "the greatest day of
my life." Mohammed ElBaradei tells The Associated Press: "The country has been liberated after decades of repression," and he expects a "beautiful" transition of power.
©2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Posted by: Sue Location: Broadway on Feb 11, 2011 at 03:49 PMBenchmark crude for March delivery was up 30 cents at $87.03 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 2 cents to settle at $86.73 on Thursday.
In London, Brent crude gained 49 cents to $101.93 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Mubarak said late Thursday that he would pass some authority to his vice president but would not immediately leave office. Protesters seeking to oust Mubarak said they would hold a massive rally later Friday in Cairo.
Egypt is not a major oil producing country, but it controls the Suez Canal and a nearby pipeline. Egypt's political crisis, which is entering its 18th day, hasn't disrupted oil supplies, but traders are concerned the upheaval could spread to other countries in the oil-rich region.
"There are renewed fears that the events in Egypt will be copied elsewhere throughout the Middle East," Cameron Hanover said in a report. "The possibility of other countries in the region coming under similar assaults seems to grow."
In other Nymex trading in March contracts, heating oil rose 1 cent to $2.72 a gallon and gasoline gained 1.7 cents to $2.49 a gallon. Natural gas futures for March delivery were down 2.2 cents at $3.96 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
By Robert Viagas
and Christopher Reichheld and Anne Bradley
27 Jan 2011
1885 Birthday of master tunesmith Jerome Kern (1885-1945), who will write scores to many Broadway shows, including classics, Show Boat, Sally, Very Good Eddie and Roberta. His songs will resurface in the 2003 musical, Never Gonna Dance."
1895 Birthday of lyricist B.G. "Bud" DeSylva (1895-1950), who supplied words to songs in projects as diverse as Good News, Sally, The Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 and several editions of George White's Scandals.
1895 Yet another songwriter is born on this date: Harry Ruby (1895-1974), composer and/or lyricist of The Five O'Clock Girl and the Marx Brothers' Animal Crackers.
1931 Broadway debut of Noel Coward's romantic comedy Private Lives, with Coward playing Elyot and Gertrude Lawrence as Amanda. It will run 256 performances at the Times Square Theatre, and will go on to be Coward's most-produced work -- seven times on Broadway alone.
1939 Cyril Cusak is Christy Mahon, widely known as The Playboy of the Western World. This revival of John Millington Synge's work plays at London's Mercury Theatre.
1955 Barbara Cook has her first hit in an original musical, Plain and Fancy, set in Pennsylvania Dutch country. The Albert Hague/Joseph Stein musical will run 461 performances and become a staple of stock companies.
1959 Adapted from the film of the same name, Rashomon plays at the Music Box Theatre. Peter Glenville directs Claire Bloom, Rod Steiger and Oscar Homolka in a run of 20 weeks in this Fay and Michael Kanin dramatization from the original Japanese.
1969 Aristophanes' anti-war comedy Peace is updated by Tim Reynolds, and set to music with a score by Rev. Al Carmines. Lawrence Kornfeld stages the 192 performances at the Astor Place Theatre.
1974 Carol Channing stars as Lorelei a Kenny Solms and Gail Parent musical, inspired by the show Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. Jule Styne, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green provide the songs. Direction is handled by Robert Moore.
1982 After it has a successful life in London and stock productions, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice see their first musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, open on Broadway. Laurie Beechman and Bill Hutton are featured in the musical, which attains a run of 747 performances at the Royale Theatre.
1991 Stephen Sondheim's new musical, Assassins, opens at Playwrights Horizons. Featured in the cast are Victor Garber, Debra Monk, Terrence Mann, Patrick Cassidy, and Annie Golden.
1997 John Gray's solo performance, Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus, based on his book of the same title, opens at the Gershwin Theatre. The show includes commentary on the relationships between men and women.
2005Court TV brings the Off-Broadway drama The Exonerated to cable television with Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Delroy Lindo, Susan Sarandon, Aidan Quinn and David Brown, Jr. starring as the wrongfully imprisoned.
2006 A theatrical tradition bites the dust: No more piles of opening night congratulatory telegrams, as Western Union announces it is discontinuing telegram and commercial messaging services after 145 years.
More of Today's Birthdays: Harry Ruby 1895. Benay Venuta 1911. Doretta Morrow 1927. Alan Cumming 1965.
Only a handful of coaches in any sport at any level gets to walk away from the job on his own terms. Strictly speaking, Jerry Sloan took that walk Thursday afternoon afternoon, and strictly speaking, he was entitled to that after devoting 45 years of his life to the NBA, and the last 23 to coaching the Utah Jazz.
In reality, he deserved to go out better than that, as the target of a palace coup. And now, because of that, the target is on the back of Deron Williams.
Does Williams now become Magic Johnson, or does he just become the public's latest example of a player deluded about his own entitlements, who wins a battle of wills with a Hall of Fame coach but still loses the war?
Magic, of course, was spectacularly and historically right about pulling rank on Paul Westhead 30 years ago. It opened the door for Pat Riley, Showtime, four more Lakers NBA championships to go with the one under Westhead's leadership, and a reputation that obliterated the one he'd acquired after leading the overturn of the former coach.
But Paul Westhead, with all due respect, was not Jerry Sloan, that one ring notwithstanding. And Deron Williams, so far, isn't on the cusp of becoming Magic Johnson. 
He's not even John Stockton, although he should be closer to being him than he is at this point. Williams was supposed to be this generation's Stockton for Sloan and the Jazz, and the basketball world readily accepted his imitation and was patiently awaiting whom Sloan and the front office would provide to be the new Karl Malone. Williams was getting there; let's not lose sight of that as he takes the brunt of this and, as he already has been, gets tagged with the usual selfish-greedy-spoiled-ballplayer bad-mouthing that the lazy among us toss around so carelessly.
Malone and Stockton, of course, are also in Springfield with Sloan. They had their volatile moments, at least The Mailman did -- his annual outbursts about contracts, roles and respect fade into obscurity as time passes -- but they all kept their partnership intact for as long as possible, found common ground, discovered foundations of trust, and made history of their own.
That's why, when Sloan was asked Thursday if a conflict with a player -- and no one named Williams as a culprit, but he was the elephant in the press conference -- was the reason he was walking away, he answered in his trademark curtness: "I've had confrontations with players since I've been in the league. But,'' he continued, softening slightly, "those things were minor in terms of trying to go forward. And that's how it is.''
As he sat and spoke at the podium in Salt Lake City Thursday, Sloan looked and sounded like he was every day of 68, like a man who had had enough, and not just for the immediate reasons floating about. Again, he had earned the option of leaving when he wanted to, and he sure sounded like he wanted to. But all the other evidence pointed to the idea that he didn't want to on this day, with this nudge (even though Jazz CEO Greg Miller, the son of the late owner Larry Miller, insisted that "nobody pushed him out'').
Williams, as well, surely has the right, even the obligation, to follow his own path, rather than his Hall of Fame predecessors. But if Sloan and his way of doing things was good enough for Karl Malone and John Stockton, it ought to have been good enough for him.
It was worth trying to make it work longer, that's for sure, rather than disrupting the season, driving a one-of-a-kind coach
prematurely into retirement, and putting your own image at severe risk. It's one thing to be labeled a coach-killer -- ask Magic, because that's exactly what many were calling him after Westhead was expelled -- but to be labeled the coach-killer of Jerry Sloan?
And yes, to be clear to anyone scoffing at the relic on stage, who became the Jazz head coach three months before Blake Griffin was born -- this wasn't about these young punks today who don't want to listen to some old-school codger preaching about discipline and sacrifice and pounding the ol' pick-and-roll down everybody's throat in this YouTube and Twitter age.
John Stockton and Jerry Sloan, 1994Sloan's coaching career may date back to the short-shorts days and intersect with the peaks of, yes, Magic and Michael and Larry, but to this day, hardly anyone in the league -- player, coach, scout, executive or otherwise -- had less than the utmost respect for Sloan and the way he performed his job. Keeping the Jazz relevant and successful as the years stretched beyond Malone, Stockton and the 1997 and '98 NBA Finals was no trick. Sloan didn't change. He didn't get the players to change. He just got them to grasp why what he was giving them was worth taking, and that what he gave transcended the generations, from Red Auerbach on through the decades.
As commissioner David Stern put it in his farewell statement about Sloan, "His most impressive qualities were his leadership and his extraordinary ability to encourage his players to subjugate their individual games for the benefit of the whole.'' Believe it or not, there are scores of players, then and now, who get that, despite the ugly stereotypes NBA players are routinely subjected to. Many of those players have come through Salt Lake City and played for Sloan, and have come out the other side better for it, with a lot of wins and without a cross word to say about him and his supposedly antiquated style.
The same goes for Phil Jackson's teams, and Pat Riley's, and Gregg Popovich's -- and none of them are coaching copycats of each other, much less of Sloan. But they all got their players to buy into the most basic and traditional values of the sport. And they're the coaches who kept winding up in the playoffs and the Finals. Anyone in the NBA with a brain understood that.
Deron Williams has a brain, and uses it well on the court. It just appears that, in this instance, he let some other part of him guide him. The odds are that as accomplished as he is now, he'll wish someday that he'd made amends with Sloan and allowed them both to go out on the high note they both deserve.
The only way he'll escape that is if his career takes the Magic Johnson-Pat Riley track. That would make him one of the greatest players the game has ever seen.
And the luckiest.
Watch Jerry Sloan's press conference:
NEW YORK, Jan 31, 2011 (PR Newswire Europe via COMTEX) -- See video from Rotary International at: http://www.thenewsmarket.com/Releases/StoryDetailPage.aspx?GUID=cf0ca925-b68d-4d6f-ba91-173e0219b8e6&lr=ls# After more than 25 years of hard work, Rotary and its partners are now "This Close" to eradicating polio, and a wide array of public figures and celebrities have signed on to help Rotary spread the word. Headlined by Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates, this diverse lineup of influential leaders and personalities includes Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, action movie star Jackie Chan, conservationist Jane Goodall, premier violinist Itzhak Perlman, Grammy Award winners A.R. Rahman, Angelique Kidjo and Ziggy Marley, golfing great Jack Nicklaus, and peace advocate Queen Noor of Jordan. In a series of print, broadcast and outdoor public service advertisements each uses a simple hand gesture to show Rotary is "This Close" to wiping out polio worldwide. Nicklaus, Perlman and Tutu are themselves survivors of this crippling disease. Broadcast television commercials feature a mix of celebrities and non-celebrities around the world saying, "We are this close to making history. We are this close to changing the world. We are this close to ending polio--all we need is you." To view or download the materials in high quality, please click on the related media below. About thenewsmarket.com thenewsmarket.com delivers free broadcast- and streaming-quality video and multimedia content directly to media around the world, 24/7. More than 25,000 media outlets in 190+ countries use thenewsmarket.com, including the AP, BBC, CNBC, CNN, France 24, N24, nytimes.com, RAI, TVE, ZDF and a lot more.
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Google’s fourth quarter results on Thursday are expected to be impressive, but analysts aren’t betting on any real upside revisions to their 2011 growth targets. Mobile, Google Instant and search rates are expected to be hot topics.
The search giant’s fourth quarter results are expected to be in line with expectations. Google (GOOG) is expected to report earnings of $8.09 a share on revenue of $6.05 billion. Wall Street is looking for revenue growth of about 22 percent in the fourth quarter compared to a year ago and 10 percent from the third quarter.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said that Google’s fourth quarter has tracked well with paid clicks in finance, travel, automotive and retail showing strength. However, Google will continue to invest in its business.
Overall though, Barclays analyst Douglas Anmuth said that Google’s search business was strong, monetization improved and mobile is a good avenue for future growth.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Jordan Rohan said:
Our checks indicate that solid paid search increases and ad display trends were bolstered in-part by increased usage and success of Google’s remarketing (retargeting) application. While retargeting has been popularized by companies such as FetchBack, Google rolled out the initiative in earnest this summer and the usage gained momentum in 4Q.
Here are the key mileposts to consider for Google’s fourth quarter:
Expenses: Whatever Google reports, analysts will closely watch the search giant’s expenses. Anmuth writes:
Strong top-line results may be tempered by Google’s ramp in investments, capex, continued headcount additions, and 4Q bonuses, bonus accruals, & 2011 salary increases—which we estimate could cost ~$400 million this year.
Another key thing to ponder: What did Google’s purchase of 111 8th Avenue in New York City cost?
Cost per click rates: Analyst say that cost per click (CPC) pricing and volume was strong in the fourth quarter. However, return on investment for advertisers declined as they focused on volume.
What’s the Google Instant hit? The fourth quarter is the first full 90 days with Google Instant leading the search results. Google said the revenue impact would be minimal and may lead to higher paid click rates. We’ll find out.
Non-search revenue. Google will also talk a big game about mobile ads as well as display. The company could also reveal YouTube’s gross revenue rate. Some analysts expect YouTube revenue to pass the $1 billion mark. Another thing to watch: What’s the market share of DoubleClick’s Ad Exchange. Oppenheimer analyst Jason Helfstein said in a research note that non-search revenue could deliver revenue of $3 billion in 2013.
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