alocispepraluger102

Wow, that's a bit harsh. I think he has done more for the Cowboys than either of those two. I think at the very least he's toughened them up mentally (with the exception of Bird Brain Owens). I will say I think he's better at acquiring talent than he is as a game day coach. contract negotiations between parcells and the cowboys had recently broken down. here's a recent SI article on parcells by peter king. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writ...ells/index.html

(when will the jazz indies get together?) if and when they get big, they will probably act big. (from english al jazeera) Bands such as the Pixies could sell more of their music online via Myspace [GALLO/GETTY] Thousands of independent record labels have agreed a deal to sell downloads of their music via the networking website, Myspace. Merlin, a new agency representing the labels, has agreed the deal with San Francisco-based firm Snocap, and will use their retail initiative - Mystore - to enable music to be downloaded via websites including Myspace. The deal opens up new revenues for the labels behind bands such as the Arctic Monkeys and the White Stripes. While indie record labels account for about 80 per cent of new music releases, they represent only 30 per cent of total revenues. The announcements were made at the music industry's influential five-day conference in the French town of Cannes. Merlin said it would act as the "fifth major" in the world with a view to rectifying the "poor cousin" status of deals previously offered to independent labels. Martin Mills, who heads the indie music organisation Beggars Group, said: "We'll be the largest major company in the world if we act together." Corporate deal Indies in all the European countries as well as Australia, Brazil, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa and others have joined Merlin. The deal with Snocap, which was founded by Napster creator Sean Fanning, is the first of its kind. A co-founder of Myspace, Chris DeWolfe, said last year that the group hoped to be one of the biggest digital music stores available. The hugely popular social networking website is now owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. The major music corporations - Universal Music, Sony BMG, EMI Group and Warner Music - account for 70 per cent of world music sales. Source: Agencies

willis jackson-live action

Blah........... The most watered down stout known to man. cream stout is the lightest drink i ever imbibe. it is watery but passable, and sam smith's oatmeal is a bit sweet for me, as well. i cant always be drinkin' a kalamazoo, or expedition, or blackout though i would love to. there has been no bell's distributor in my town for the last month.

the other culpepper and the hefty lefty couldnt play qb.

did pats quickly concede last touchdown feeling they could come back and score td?

Believe me, this was hashed out in a variety of conspiracy theories. Bottom line was that it was poorly managed (moderators would disappear for months on end) and there was a lot of silliness. Then Norah fever hit, but BN's own bulletin board wasn't exactly head over heels in love with her. So the prevailing theory was that with Norah fans coming to the board and most people dissing her, BN pulled the plug. What was most disappointing was that the forum had an "Ask Tom at Blue Note" subforum where you got the straight poop from one of the bigwigs. Not that Tom came by every day, mind you, but it was nice to have that communication link. did tom wander over here?

a masterful brahms 4th------sir adrian

sam adams cream stout

Strength isn't enough: NFL linemen have to be so big, their health may be at risk By JOANNE KORTH, Times Staff Writer Published January 29, 2006 TAMPA - Former Bucs defensive lineman Brad Culpepper rose from behind the desk in his law office on the eighth floor of a downtown high-rise to model his pants. Flat front, very stylish. Gone were the pleats that used to be a staple in his wardrobe. Gone, too, were the extra 70 pounds he carried to be a starter in the National Football League. "If I have hunger pangs, I almost like it," Culpepper said. "I did the opposite for 18 years, just gorging, like going to Thanksgiving dinner four or five days a week. "It's a gluttonous, awful feeling." Culpepper's astonishing weight loss points to a growing and potentially dangerous trend in the NFL. Namely, growth. Fifteen seasons ago, roughly the same time the league began random steroid testing, 39 players tipped the scales at 300 or more pounds. In 2005 there were 338 on opening-day rosters and 552 in training camps. The Steelers and Seahawks will play Super Bowl XL in Detroit with 19 players at 300 or more pounds on their rosters, more than triple the number of 300-pounders who played in the Super Bowl 15 years ago in Tampa. Super Bowl XL, indeed. As in Extra Large. "It would be a poor decision on players' parts if when they're done they don't try to lose that excess weight," said Culpepper, 36, who retired after the 2001 season. "You don't see that many obese, big people living a long time. Your heart can only work so much." For many years Culpepper played beside former Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp. At about 270 pounds, give or take 5 pounds, Culpepper was a good fit for Tampa Bay, which prefers smaller, quicker defensive linemen to massive bodies. Still, it was a struggle. Culpepper ate several times a day: a big breakfast, midmorning snack, lunch, afternoon snack and dinner. At 9:30 or 10 o'clock at night, he hit a drive-through for late-night calories. "It was gross, but it was the way to keep the weight on," Culpepper said. "In the back of mind I thought, "I shouldn't be doing this; it's not healthy.' But then the other side says, "Hey, you have to do what you have to do.' " When the 6-foot-1 Culpepper retired, he lost 80 pounds in eight months. It wasn't that hard. The first 30 melted away and the rest came off steadily as he burned more than he consumed. He rode a stationary bike. He took up running. He lifted weights to tone his muscles, not bulk up. He had his 40-inch-waist pants tailored, but the one-pocket look wasn't too fashionable so he bought new clothes at 36 inches. He bought more at 32 inches, where he has been the past three years. As a bonus, his arthritic left knee no longer hurts all the time. He weighs 205 pounds. "Maybe it's not who makes the most in their life," said Culpepper, now an attorney with Morgan and Morgan. "Maybe it's who enjoys their life and lives the longest." * * * Joe Jacoby made massive fashionable. The 6-foot-7, 300-pounder won three Super Bowls as a member of the Washington offensive line known as the "Hogs" in the 1980s and early '90s. His coach, Joe Gibbs, returned to the sideline in 2004 after an 11-year absence to find 300-pounders like Jacoby no longer were the exception, but the standard. "Certainly, carrying extra weight when you're young, you have to be aware of it," said Gibbs, who left the game in 1992 in part because he is diabetic. "But most of the big guys we have on our team, we don't have fat guys. I think they are well-conditioned. "When they're through playing, obviously, I think it's smart to lose some of the extra weight. But I think players today are extremely well trained and they're not sloppy and carrying a lot of loose weight. My experience is we're just getting bigger and bigger athletes." But how? And at what risk? A 1994 study of 7,000 former players by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health found linemen had a 52 percent greater risk of dying from heart disease than the general population. While U.S. life expectancy is 77.6 years, recent studies suggest the average for NFL players is 55, 52 for linemen. In March the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study that said 97 percent of NFL players during the 2003-04 season were overweight, including 56 percent with a body mass index (BMI) doctors consider obese. The NFL claimed the study, done by University of North Carolina endocrinologist Joyce Harp, was flawed because the BMI uses height and weight for its calculations, not muscle mass and percentage of body fat. Among the long-term health problems associated with being overweight are diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease and joint damage. Of immediate concern is sleep apnea, increasingly common among the league's biggest players, which can cause breathing to stop during sleep. The NFL acknowledges the hugeness issue but says it needs more information and a football-specific definition of obesity. "We do recognize that we have athletes that are fitter than most people in society, bigger than most people in society and doing things that are different and more demanding than many people in society," NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue said recently. "But we're very well aware of that and we're staying ahead of the curve in terms of understanding how big they should be, what kind of characteristics they should be able to display, what kinds of performance levels they should be able to achieve." Consuming calories and lifting weights aren't the only ways to add bulk. The perception many of today's bigger, stronger, faster athletes use illegal performance-enhancing substances prompted Congress to join the discussion last spring. Though baseball was its target, the NFL came under scrutiny, too. The NFL has randomly tested for steroids for 15 years and long touted its program as the best among professional sports leagues in the United States. Each week during the season, a computer randomly selects seven players from each team to be tested for steroids and masking agents. Random tests also are done in the offseason. Minimum penalties for a positive test are a four-game suspension for the first infraction, six games for the second and a year for the third. According to the NFL, fewer than 50 players have been suspended and no one has been suspended twice. Any second-time offenders quit before the penalties were announced. Yet, only recently did the NFL toughen its limits for testosterone levels. The league does not check for the Human Growth Hormone, awaiting a reliable urine test rather than a blood test. And designer steroids are developed to avoid detection. In March three members of Carolina's 2003 Super Bowl team - including offensive tackle Todd Steussie, who spent the past two seasons with Tampa Bay - were identified on CBS's 60 Minutes Wednesday as having filled steroid prescriptions written by a South Carolina doctor. None of the players tested positive. Culpepper, the retired lineman, sees a correlation between the inception of the NFL's steroid testing about 15 years ago and the increase in players' weights. With the crackdown on illegal substances, focus shifted from strength to sheer mass. "No longer could a guy be 270 and maul people because he's on steroids and has so many muscles," Culpepper said. "Now you have to be 300 to move people. It remains to be seen what's going to happen to these guys as they get in their 30s and retire." * * * Two 300-pound linemen in the NFL have died in the past four years. In 2001, Minnesota offensive tackle Korey Stringer, who was 6 feet 4, 346 pounds, died of complications from heatstroke in training camp. In August, San Francisco offensive tackle Thomas Herrion, listed at 6-3, 315 pounds but actually 335, collapsed and died in the locker room after a preseason game at Denver. Stringer, 31, was thought to be using a diet supplement at the time of his death and an autopsy showed Herrion, 24, had heart disease. Medical personnel with the NFL point out most athletes who die in their 30s have congenital abnormalities, especially of the heart. As the debate rages, Bucs center John Wade keeps gorging. A veteran of eight pro seasons, Wade is listed at 6 feet 5, 299 pounds, but getting there by game day can be a chore for a player who works to keep his weight up. Wade often eats two dinners. Sometimes he eats the same dish twice, sometimes different entrees. "It's probably disgusting to most people," Wade said. Wade said he could not play at a heavier weight because he would not be able to move fast enough. He anticipates losing at least 50 pounds when his career is over. "We'll see how dedicated I am to the treadmill. That's the only way to get rid of it," said Wade, 31. "I'm not a doctor, but I know 50 pounds less would be nice not to carry around, on your joints, on your internal organs, all that mess." Neither Culpepper nor Wade considers the increasing size of NFL players a problem for the league to solve, though Culpepper would like to see a program to encourage retiring players to lose weight. During their careers NFL players are well compensated for the risks they incur by choice. "If something happens to me because I was carrying weight, then it's on me," Wade said. "I'm the one who chose to be a lineman. If I wanted to play football, I was going to be a lineman. That's the skill I was given. If you're really that worried about it, do something else." © Copyright, St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

once after a half bottle of wild turkey, i used a capital letter. i hereby apologize for my violent behavior.

Wow. I read an article somewhere about the 'conspiracy theories" surrounding Parcell's slow process of decision-making. The one theory I really wondered about was whether his plan was to wait out the other coaching changes to leave Jones in a position with no decent options left. parcells is as masterful at playing the coaching game as hillary at playing the politicking game. tony wins super bowl, leaves for the ministry, and bill steps in as head coach? (jeff fisher, norv turner, houston nutt, for the cowboys?)

paul smith -the ballad touch

vazaro lego

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/usa_religion_museum_dc

you cant lose if you dont play!

that is so weird - that is what i am drinking (not on sunday morning of course). well that and the elliot ness. their blackout and barrel aged blackout stouts are as heavenly as stan getz and albert daley.

15 gazillion people watching these clowns, and 8 people(including family and friends) watching master musicians in their local(if they have one) jazz club. cant stomach it. wont watch.

Yeah. If you followed the AFC in the 70's, especially the AFC West (I lived in San Diego), Davis/Raiders were the ultimate Bad Ass of the NFL. Heck, I even remember those old AFL Raider vs. Chargers games at Balboa Stadium. It's is very sad to see Davis go out like this. .and how he beat the mighty nfl to death in court. for all he has done for football, the picture of him on the cover of sporting news is in extremely poor taste.

Bad franchises: Blame the Raiders' mess on Al Davis Posted: January 18, 2007 There won't be any postseason awards for these teams. They're the worst of the worst. In this week's magazine cover story, Sporting News examines how four franchises ended up in their current mess. s He arrives at the Raiders' practice complex, frequently at night, after most everyone has left. His driver opens the door for him and starts the laborious process of getting Al Davis out of his car and into his office. The driver takes Davis' weakened legs and turns them toward the pavement, then pulls him up so he can put his hands on his walker. Then Davis moves through the dark, slowly, methodically, until he disappears behind the doors at the center of Raider Nation. The man who once would show off his vigor at league meetings by having workout equipment delivered to his room has seen his body fail him these past few years, just as his franchise, the one he has controlled and manipulated for the past 43 seasons, likewise has deteriorated. The once proud and arrogant Raiders -- winners of three Super Bowls, the self-proclaimed "Team of the Decades" -- now are contenders for another title: worst franchise in pro sports. And at the center of everything wrong about the team is majority owner Davis, at 77 increasingly frail yet still firmly in charge of every aspect of the operation, unwilling to step aside, unwilling or unable to move out of the past and deal with today's NFL. Davis and the Raiders exist in a world unlike any in the league. He surely must have been angered by this season and its 2-14 ugliness. Yet until he fired coach Art Shell on January 4, the most visible sign of displeasure from Davis over the past few months came after a perceived slight to his team's legacy. NFL Network ranked the top 20 all-time Super Bowl winners; it placed the Raiders' 1983 champions 20th. Davis was outraged; the organization sent out e-mails to national media questioning how the network could not rate the team as perhaps the best ever. That legacy is all Davis has left, and he guards it with remarkable zeal. Everything about the Raiders is their past, the titles, the Hall of Fame players. But the present? The joke around the NFL is that no one does losing better than the Raiders. Even in the best of times, it is a dysfunctional organization. But the crushing pressure generated by losing this season created an ongoing soap opera of laughable proportions. One star receiver was suspended for complaining about a practice, another admitted he dropped passes because he didn't care, the head coach publicly accused a team personnel executive of undermining the organization to the media, the new quarterback wondered at one point, "What have I gotten into?" The results on the field were truly embarrassing. The Raiders set franchise records for most losses and fewest points scored. In the Davis era, which began in 1963 when he became coach and general manager, they never had been shut out twice at home nor had they lost nine straight games; both happened this season. They finished last in the league in points (10.5 per game), offense (246.2 yards per game), sacks allowed (72), turnovers (46) and takeaway/giveaway differential (minus-23). How bad is bad? The Raiders lost to Houston despite holding the Texans to minus-5 yards passing. They had nary a touchdown in their last three games; LaDainian Tomlinson singlehandledly scored 15 more touchdowns than the Raiders this season. But this was not an anomaly. Since losing Super Bowl 37 after the 2002 season, their 15-49 record is the worst in the NFL, outdoing even the pathetic Lions'. Over the past 12 years, Oakland has had three winning seasons, two while Jon Gruden was coach. Even more telling: The Raiders have not won a Super Bowl in 23 years and have played for the NFL title just once in that span. But until now, they never had suffered four consecutive losing seasons. Until now, they never had gone two years without a division win. If Gruden had stayed, this current mess might not be happening. But he couldn't coexist with Davis, who disliked seeing his coach receive much of the credit for the team's success. Nor would Gruden abide by Davis' constant interference. Gruden welcomed a trade after the 2001 season that landed him in Tampa; he promptly coached the Bucs to a win over the Raiders in Super Bowl 37. In the five years since Gruden's departure, Davis has gone through three head coaches. "Al had the coach he needed in Gruden," one NFL team official says. "If they had been able to work together, none of what you see now would have happened. But Al doesn't want anyone else to be in the spotlight but him. When people began saying Gruden was the reason the Raiders were good, it was only a matter of time before he was gone." Once, coaching or playing for the Raiders was a gem on a resume. John Madden won a Super Bowl and is in the Hall of Fame. Tom Flores won two rings and might get in one day. Now, no proven head coach will work for Davis. And most high-profile candidates won't interview. After the 2005 season, the Raiders even were turned down by a college coach, Louisville's Bobby Petrino, who recently took over the Falcons. Shell's hiring a year ago was a desperate move; he was the loyal Raider who had been fired once, in 1994, by Oakland because he no longer met Davis' expectations. Davis still can sign some big-name free agents -- LaMont Jordan being the prime example -- if the money is right. But it's no longer an honor to be in a Raiders uniform. The Raiders remain undaunted. Chief executive Amy Trask says that any view of them should embrace a bigger picture, that during this decade they've been to two AFC title games and won three AFC West championships, more than any division rival. "It's important that when you look at 2006, you look at it in the perspective of the last seven years," Trask says. "It is really only fair to look at it in that context. We've always been able to regain success. We can turn this around, and we will turn it around." What does Davis think? The Raiders did not make him available for an interview. Still, the common thread through all of this -- the reign of success, the decay into ineptness -- is Davis. Figuring out how the Raiders got into this present state of disrepair starts with him. There is no doubting that Davis is one of the great football men in NFL history. He already is in the Hall of Fame, and his immense intelligence and keen football instincts built the Raiders into one of the most successful, popular sports franchises ever. "Al is the last of a breed," says Ron Wolf, the former Packers general manager who worked 24 years with the Raiders and Davis. "He is brilliant and still very, very sharp. He knows every part of the franchise -- coaching, personnel, business. He was great in every area. But the game has changed so much -- it's so big now, it just is different from what it once was." But Davis is not different. He continues to be the Raiders' personnel chief. He no longer attends practices, but he reviews practice tape. He has last say on lineup changes, on roster decisions, on hiring assistant coaches, on both the final setup of the draft board and players who are selected. He studies tapes of opponents and has significant input into game plans and schemes. In his last public appearance, in the locker room December 17 after a loss to the Rams, Davis alluded to the strain of his workload. "(Practice tape) takes so goddamn long to go through," he lamented. "It takes three hours to go through offense, defense, special teams, looking at every player and watching what they're doing tactically, strategy and all." As is his habit, he rambled from subject to subject. At one point, he said, "What I say to you is: five decades, five Super Bowls, four head coaches, four different quarterbacks." And: "I want to win. Obviously in life, I like certain things. I like beautiful women more than unbeautiful women. I'm not in any way demeaning the unbeautiful women. I want to win, and I will win, and we will win for the Raiders, and we'll get this thing straightened out." He wears all white or all black. That hasn't changed, either; on this day, white was the choice. As he talked, he leaned on his walker, his face pasty-white and hollow, his eyes reddened, his left leg in a brace, both legs betraying him with every step. "I want to get this (leg) thing well -- it's tough," he admitted. "No one seems to have an answer." Davis won't say what is wrong; evidently it is a nerve problem that has defied treatment and cure. Once, when he was younger, he was good enough to handle all of his multiple tasks at a superior level. But that was before the era of salary caps and free agents, before rules changes hindered his ability to run players in and out, to pay them what he wanted, to cut them at will. His best players were Raiders for life; Madden and Flores were his only coaches for 19 consecutive seasons. Now, things are different. "He has lost his fastball," says one NFL personnel man. "He used to be the best personnel guy in the league. Not anymore. Look at the Raiders' drafts. He still is picking defensive backs early; it's a joke. He is living in the past. The game and the kids have changed so much. It's not like when you had kids who wanted to play, who weren't overpaid, who worked hard. One or two bad guys can ruin it all. He is not willing to change how he does anything. He is going down with what he knows." He never cared about character. If he had, those old Raiders teams, with John Matuszak and the rest, would not have been nearly as fun to watch. But now you get stuck with someone like Randy Moss and his large cap number and the whole roster is affected. "Maybe I need to pay more attention to character," he has told folks in the league. He is difficult to work for, a demanding second-guesser who encourages paranoia, bickering and insecurity within the building. Too many of those employees are sycophants, loyalists whose duty is to agree with him and reinforce the Raiders' legacy and his role in creating it. The Raiders always seem angry, defensive, wary of conspiracies. This season, we briefly got a glimpse of the dysfunction. At a news conference in late November, Shell astonishingly called out a team employee, whom he did not name, and lambasted him for undermining the Raiders by criticizing offensive coordinator Tom Walsh, a close friend of Shell's, to national media. "There has been an attack on my (football) family," said Shell, and he referred to the employee as a "fox inside your chicken coop." Reporters immediately knew Shell was referring to senior personnel executive Mike Lombardi. Amazingly, nothing came of the episode; both Shell and Lombardi continued in their positions. Whatever authority Oakland's head coach might have had in the past now has evaporated. In disputes between players and coaches, Davis inevitably favors the players, particularly the most talented ones. The players know this, and they view their head coach as powerless. During the 2005 season, for example, then-coach Norv Turner benched quarterback Kerry Collins and replaced him with Marques Tuiasosopo, a 2001 second-round choice who has been a bust. Tuiasosopo played miserably in that start, but after the game Turner said Tuiasosopo would continue to be No. 1. Three days later, Turner said Collins had regained his starting role. The coach had been overruled by Davis. This year, receiver Alvis Whitted, blessed with great speed but second-rate skills, remained a starter even though Ronald Curry, who had returned from a 2005 injury, was a better player. Davis favors receivers who can stretch the field, which Curry can't do. Whitted kept his starting position for 13 games, until he was injured. Curry, despite uneven playing time, caught a team-leading 62 passes, 35 more than Whitted. "What's sad is that Al is hiring head coaches he knows can't be successful," says one team executive. Says another personnel man: "They haven't adjusted to today's times and today's football and today's players. They're still trying to strong-arm people with their tactics. They still try and go by the old Raider mentality, where they shouldn't flex as much as just make better decisions with a little better judgment." But there's more. "Until they solve the quarterback situation, they won't get any better," says ESPN analyst Joe Theismann. "And they have to change their offensive philosophy. I remember when Magic Johnson tried to coach the Lakers. He lasted just a few games, he couldn't talk to the new generation, it didn't work. That's what happened to Art. You need someone running the offense who is up-to-date." Since Super Bowl 37, the decline of the Raiders has been steady and stunning. Bill Callahan, who coached that squad after replacing Gruden, lasted one more year. Following a 4-12 season in which Callahan called his team the dumbest in America, Davis fired him and hired Turner, who had one playoff team in his seven years as Redskins coach. At the end of his two-season tenure (9-23), Turner was haggard and jittery. The players had lost respect for him -- particularly Moss, who was obtained from the Vikings in 2005 to help restore the Raiders' vertical passing game. Moss wasn't happy, Collins deteriorated, and the Raiders finished 2005 with a six-game losing streak. Davis then turned to Shell, who vowed to restore the team's swagger and toughness. And his offense? "Run it and strike deep," he said. Back to the old Raider Way. Instead, 2006 became the antithesis of everything Davis had created with the franchise. The defense finished an impressive third in the NFL. But on offense, it was horrid: # Shell clashed immediately with receiver Jerry Porter, who had 76 catches in 2005. Porter wanted to do his offseason training in Florida; Shell wanted him at the Oakland facility. Then Porter complained loudly about a lengthy October practice; Warren Sapp said he had heard "a lot worse." But Shell kicked out Porter and the Raiders suspended him for four games, a penalty cut in half after a compromise with the NFLPA. Yet, inexplicably, Oakland neither traded nor waived Porter. He was inactive most games and finished the season with just one reception. # The self-centered Moss was appointed offensive captain for the season, an awful decision. He became a barometer for all things wrong with the offense. On a radio show before the first game, he complained: "There's a lot of funny things going on in this organization. ... It's fishy around here, so actually we're walking on eggshells around here." In early October, he said: "I'm doing fine. I'm not even concerned with football right now. I'm just loving life." Asked if he was concerned about the team, he answered: "No, because it doesn't seem like nobody else is concerned, so why should I?" Asked about a trade, he said: "If it is good for this team for me to be traded, of course." In November, he attributed his numerous dropped passes to "a bad mood" affecting his concentration and focus, all stemming from his unhappiness with everything Raiders. He sat out the final three games with an ankle injury and finished with 42 catches. # Walsh was hired by Shell and Davis as offensive coordinator even though he had not been in the NFL since he was fired as part of Shell's 1994 staff. Walsh was running a bed and breakfast in Idaho when called back by the Raiders; the offense he installed was so basic and unimaginative that it became an embarrassment. Finally, before the 12th game, Shell demoted Walsh and handed over the offense to another assistant, John Shoop. Under Walsh, the Raiders averaged 12.0 points; under Shoop 7.2. # Davis dumped Collins after the 2005 season and brought in free agent Aaron Brooks, a former starter in New Orleans who was considered merely a quality backup by most of the league. Yet Davis liked Brooks' strong arm and hoped he could get the ball downfield to Moss and Porter. But Brooks, who struggled with injuries all season, instead demonstrated the same bad decision making and error-ridden play that had soured the Saints on him. He did not win a game as starter. In December, he admitted wondering, "What have I gotten into?" The Raiders offense he had dreamed about? "I have my PlayStation for that," he said. The real Oakland offense? "I see a lack of motivation, enthusiasm, excitement and skill. Right now, we need a miracle to get something done offensively." # The Raiders traded receiver Doug Gabriel to the Patriots the week of the first game even though Porter was the one in Davis' doghouse. New England cut Gabriel in December. The Raiders claimed him off waivers. Now the Raiders have the No. 1 pick in the draft. That last happened in 1962, pre-Davis, when they chose quarterback Roman Gabriel first in the AFL draft. But he never signed with them. The obvious choice this year would be a quarterback. But with so many needs, Oakland could opt to trade the selection for multiple choices and/or veteran players. Davis has drafted only three quarterbacks in the first round, and all three (Marc Wilson, Todd Marinovich and Eldridge Dickey) have been mediocre or worse. He seems better at finding retreads such as Jim Plunkett and Rich Gannon, who unexpectedly flourished as Raiders. Davis' latest attempts to fix the offense have failed. His line, composed mostly of recent draft selections, is a mess; Jordan, a big-bucks free-agent running back, hasn't proved he is a top runner; Davis' best players, Moss and Porter, have created what teammate Jarrod Cooper called a circus; and none of the 16 offensive players taken in the past four drafts has become a star. But Davis is entertaining no thoughts of stepping aside. "To the contrary," Trask says, "He is energized and eager to get started on the 2007 season." That may be the worst possible news for Raiders fans everywhere. Senior writer Paul Attner covers the NFL for Sporting News. E-mail him at attner@sportingnews.com.

great lakes edmund fitzgerald porter

shame shame....... matana has been discussed a few times here. i bought from her a self produced hand painted solo recording of all ellington music, dedicated to the then recently departed steve lacy, and will buy more. when she lovingly investigates ellington's songs, some beautiful influences emerge, not the least of which is ravel. she is most delightful and gracious. when she is playing her horn, it doesnt matter what her sex or attire. she is a dedicated, dead serious, accomplished, masterful, sensitive artist.

"On top of their game" is a very generous overstatement (at least as far as Mitchell, Braxton and Smith are concerned), IMO. I will try to catch them live, of course, but my expectations are not too high. Your smug attitude is sad. Please demonstrate the "degradation" of these musicians and explain your "expertise". Don't bother going to the gigs. Please detail your reasons for dismissing their current work. Amen!

nday, January 14, 2007 Alice Coltrane - a jazz supreme Alice Coltrane, the jazz performer and composer who was inextricably linked with the music of her late husband, legendary saxophonist John Coltrane, has died in Los Angeles. She was 69. Here, in tribute, is an article I ran in August last year. It's a Sunday afternoon in the Fillmore section of San Francisco, and at the Church of St John Coltrane the service is in full swing. The church's founder, His Eminence Archbishop Franzo King, a tall, stick-thin 60-year-old dressed in a white cassock with a green scarf and a fuchsia pink skullcap, is dancing in front of an 8ft-high Byzantine-style icon that depicts John Coltrane holding a saxophone with flames emerging from it, a gold halo around his head. The archbishop's son, Rev Franzo King Jr, on tenor saxophone, is playing a version of Lonnie's Lament, from Coltrane's album Crescent, that eventually merges into Spiritual. A choir led by Archbishop King's wife Marina is singing the Lord's Prayer over the music, while a four-piece band (with his daughter Wanika on bass) accompanies them. Thirty or so congregants are crowded into the tiny room, the air thick with the smell of incense. Some are dancing and clapping and saying Hallelujah! while others are sitting with eyes closed in silent meditation. In a corner, the 11-year-old Franzo King III blows on his own horn. The centrepiece of the "Coltrane liturgy" is his 1964 album, A Love Supreme, what the church calls his "testimony". As the band goes into Acknowledgement, the first part of A Love Supreme, the choir sings the words to Psalm 23. When they reach the part where, on the album, Coltrane chants the words "A Love Supreme" over and over like a mantra, Archbishop King walks among the congregation with a microphone. "Let's have some love!" he yells. "Don't just take it! Give!" From Ministry of sound in the Guardian. And now hear A Love Supreme Part 1 complete (7' 43") and watch the video online. John Coltrane saw his album-length suite A Love Supreme as his gift to God. The album was recorded by John Coltrane's quartet on December 9, 1964 at the Van Gelder studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The album is a four-part suite, broken up into tracks called "Acknowledgement" (which contains the famous mantra that gave the suite its name), "Resolution," "Pursuance," and "Psalm." It is intended to be a spiritual album, broadly representative of a personal struggle for purity. The final track, "Psalm," uniquely corresponds to the wording of a devotional poem Coltrane included in the liner notes. A Love Supreme is usually listed among the greatest jazz albums of all time. It was ranked eighty-second in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time. The elements of harmonic freedom heard on this album indicated the changes to come in Coltrane's music. * For more on the African Orthodox Church of St John Coltrane, 351 Divisadero St. San Francisco, CA follow this link. Notes on A Love Supreme based on Wikipedia. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk If you enjoyed this post take An Overgrown Path to Love of the blues Posted by Pliable at Sunday, January 14, 2007 Labels: african orthodox church, alice coltrane, Jazz, john coltrane, san francisco

Report: Waters' suicide tied to brain damage January 18, 2007 NEW YORK (AP) -- Brain damage caused on the football field ultimately led to the suicide of former NFL defensive back Andre Waters, according to a forensic pathologist who studied Waters' brain tissue. Bennet Omalu of the University of Pittsburgh told The New York Times that Waters' brain tissue resembled that of an 85-year-old man and that there were characteristics of early stage Alzheimer's. Omalu told the newspaper he believed the damage was related to multiple concussions Waters sustained during his 12-year NFL career with the Philadelphia Eagles and Arizona Cardinals. Waters was 44 when he committed suicide last November. Omalu said trauma was a significant factor in Waters' brain damage, "no matter how you look at it, distort it, bend it." The pathologist also told the newspaper the signs of depression that family members described Waters as exhibiting in his final years likely was caused by the brain trauma. Had he lived, Omalu said, the former player would have been fully incapacitated within 10 years. The Alzheimer's Association Web site reports "there appears to be a strong link between serious head injury and future risk of Alzheimer's." The statement did not distinguish between a single catastrophic trauma and lesser repetitive injuries. "Whatever its cause, Andre Waters' suicide is a tragic incident and our hearts go out to his family," NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Thursday. "The subject of concussions is complex. We are devoting substantial resources to independent medical research of current and retired players, strict enforcement of enhanced player safety rules, development and testing of better equipment, and comprehensive medical management of this injury. This work over the past decade has contributed significantly to the understanding of concussions and the advancement of player safety." Omalu began his research at the request of Chris Nowinski, a former Harvard football player and professional wrestler whose career was ended by multiple concussions. After hearing of Waters' suicide, Nowinski called Waters' sister, Sandra Pinkney, and asked permission to do further investigation on her brother's remains. Pinkney agreed. In mid-December, Nowinski shipped four pieces of Waters' brain from Florida to Omalu in Pennsylvania. Nowinski chose Omalu because he had examined the brains of two former Pittsburgh Steelers players who were discovered to have brain trauma after sustaining concussions -- Mike Webster, who suffered brain damage and became homeless before dying of heart failure in 2002, and Terry Long, who killed himself in 2005. Waters' family said they hope further research will change the way the NFL -- and all athletic organizations -- treat concussions. "I just want there to be more teaching and for them to take the proper steps as far as treating them," Kwana Pittman, Waters' niece, told the newspaper. "Don't send them back out on those fields. They boost it up in their heads that, you know, 'You tough, you tough."' Updated on Thursday, Jan 18, 2007 5:55 pm EST