My theory about why people love Scandal so much:
Um, yeah. I think I pretty much nailed this one.
- ACL
Entertainment
The universe can be an odd place at times.
Baseball enthusiasts might remember the name Jim Joyce. Joyce is a seasoned umpire in Major League Baseball, whose career so far has spanned over 25 years. During this time, he has officiated two World Series and three All-Star games. Despite his accolades however, his name made sports headlines across the country for infamously blowing a call which cost Detroit Tigers picture Armando Galarraga a highly coveted perfect game. Here’s the clip, if you can stomach it (sorry, Tigers fans):
After that, baseball fans all over the country were calling for Joyce to be fired. There was even a short-lived Facebook campaign to get him removed from his position. Fortunately, though – for one extremely fortunate young lady – Joyce was able to keep his job:
Major League Baseball umpire Jim Joyce is being hailed as a hero for making a life-saving call before the first pitch had even been thrown at a game between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Florida Marlins.
Joyce, 56, was heading to the umpire’s dressing room on Monday night at Phoenix’s Chase Field when he saw a stadium employee begin to shake and collapse to the ground, according to MLB.com.
Joyce, a 24-year veteran umpire, did not immediately respond to a request for comment today, but he told his story to MLB.com.
“I knew something was wrong,” Joyce told MLB.com. “And I knew if something wasn’t done, this lady could actually die in front of me. It was more instinct than anything else.”
Joyce began performing CPR on the woman to the tune of “Staying Alive,” which is often used to time the chest compressions during the maneuver.
While Joyce was performing CPR, Marlins bullpen coordinator Jeffrey Urgelles arrived to help. Urgelles was a firefighter and paramedic in Florida.
A first-responder arrived with an automatic external defibrillator (AED), which they used while Joyce continued CPR.
The woman, Jayne Powers, was eventually taken by ambulance to Good Samaritan Hospital where she regained consciousness.
Read the rest of the article here.
So following an application of inductive logic:
- Joyce would’ve been fired after the blown call. Which meant…
- He would not have been on staff or at the game to intervene. Which meant…
- A woman would be dead.
OK, my assertions might be a little hyperbolic. Or perhaps, it really does show how certain events in the universe are tied together. In some fascinating way (at least, fascinating to me), you can could almost identify the point at which one person’s life was impacted by what happened in another person’s life. Can we reasonably conclude that Ms. Powers is alive simply because Mr. Joyce wasn’t fired and not in the position to conduct CPR on her? Of course not. If Joyce wasn’t there, it could have just as easily been somebody else who was. But it is interesting to use his not getting fired as a starting point in this chance encounter with – and eventual intervention against – death. It kinda makes me wonder how certain events taking place in my life affect others.
Whatever the case, congratulations Mr. Joyce. A person is alive directly because of your quick thinking and kind heartedness. I hope this ultimate act of humanity will absolve you of some insignificant sin in the eyes of sports enthusiasts. It certainly has with me.
- ACL
Uh boy. Erykah Badu is back to being weird again (warning: NSFW):
Somewhere between the glitter, the blood, and the…um…semen (?) a message is found, I suppose. I just can’t tell what I’m supposed to take away from this. I didn’t lose myself in this video. The only thing I lost was my lunch.
I hate postmodernism.
- ACL
Most boys who grew up in the 90′s are quite familiar with Lark Voorhies, otherwise known as Lisa Turtle from the hit show “Saved By The Bell.” Kelly and Jessie were a’ight. But Lisa stole the show and, indeed, the heart of your intrepid hero along with countless other bruhs I knew. But unfortunately, time (and bad plastic surgery) has a way of catching up to a person.
Lark Voorhies (then):
Lark Voorhies (now):
My response:
- ACL
Yep. Because black people deserve the right to act like clowns in some scripted effort to find love, too:
A pair of African American men expect to file a lawsuit against ABC television and the producer of reality dating shows “The Bachelor” and “The Bachelorette” charging racial discrimination, attorneys said on Tuesday.
The class action, to be filed in federal court on Wednesday, is being brought by two residents of Nashville, Tennessee who claim the popular shows intentionally exclude people of color.
Nashville residents Nathaniel Claybrooks, an All-American football player, and Christopher Johnson, an aspiring National Football League player, will claim that in the 10 years the shows have been on the air — a combined 23 seasons — neither has ever featured a person of color in a central role, according to a statement from the attorneys.
They plan a news conference on Wednesday to discuss the legal action taken “on behalf of all persons of color who have applied for the role of the Bachelor or the Bachelorette but been denied the equal opportunity for selection on the basis of race.”
The lawsuit will be filed against ABC television, Warner Horizon television, Next Entertainment, NZK Productions and Michael Fleiss, the executive producer of the “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” franchises.
ABC could not immediately be reached for comment.
Read the rest of the article here.
Fine. I guess I’ll concede to the notion that the ethnic makeup of shows like the Bachelor and the Bachelorette are in direct conflict with the diverse nature of America’s dating practices. But I’ve watched this show before (Lord knows why), and it really is quite atrocious. So not seeing black folks being represented on this nonsensical programming is a check in the social progress column as far as I’m concerned. All that notwithstanding, I guess this bears asking: don’t people of color have enough legitimate concerns to worry about? When did not being picked to be on some silly, fake, and socially inept reality show become grounds for racial discrimination? Priorities, people.
Besides, if you want the opportunity to behave like a coon on a national TV, I hear auditions are taking place for the next season of Basketball Wives.
- ACL
