Tuesday Weisblog: Lottery winner pays the ultimate penalty

I don’t know exactly what was going through Abraham Shakespeare’s mind when he won the Florida Lottery in 2006 to the tune of $30 million. I feel pretty confident, however, that he didn’t think he would be deceased, especially since he was only 40 years of age at the time.

Yet here we are three years later, and Shakespeare’s remains were recently discovered underneath a concrete slab in a Polk County, Florida home. I have to hand it to the local Sheriff … he says he views it as a homicide. He’s quick on his feet. He’s already ruled out the possibility that Mr. Shakespeare killed himself, then dug a hole, buried himself – and while buried, poured a concrete slab over the top of himself. He’s also ruled out that he died of natural causes, which would have then been followed by the above unlikely chain of events.

You just can’t put anything past the Polk County Sheriff’s department.

At any rate, they actually do have someone they call “a person of interest.” It seems that a Dorice “Dee Dee” Moore decided to become Mr. Shakespeare’s friend shortly after he hit the jackpot. It is also worth noting that she has been accused of scamming Shakespeare out of some of his money. (She has acknowledged “moving” $2 million of his money into her own account, among other things.)

Oh yeah, almost forgot one other “little” detail … they found Shakespeare’s remains underneath the house she and her boyfriend own. A person of interest? You betcha, as they say in Canada.

For her part, Moore recently told the Tampa Tribune that she “expects to be arrested,” but that she would never kill anyone. “I would never take another human’s life. No amount of money is worth that.”

Guess the courts will decide that, eventually … assuming they decide Dee Dee is “interesting” enough to prosecute.

Abraham Shakespeare was a humble truck driver’s assistant who received the miracle of sudden riches and instant celebrity. He didn’t know what to do with it all. In fact, he allegedly told many people during his last days he wished he’d never won … and now he’s dead.

How sad is that?

Friday Weisblog: With Drew and Peyton ‘Manning’ the QB spots, the Super Bowl will be a ‘Brees’

In my last correspondence, I told you all about what was wrong with this year’s Super Bowl. What’s right with the game deserves equal time, so here goes …

Drew Brees led the NFL in touchdown passes this season. Peyton Manning was the league’s Most Valuable player. It could be rightly argued that each means more to his respective team than any two other players in the entire league – including the elderly #4 in purple.

But the goodness goes beyond that. These are two guys who are genuinely fine, upstanding people. They seem to always do and say the right things – and manage to stay off the rap sheet. What a concept!

Brees signed with the Saints four years ago when he could have gone to teams that were then far more glamorous than the Saints, who had recently suffered the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. He felt it was his calling to play there, and he and the Saints fans have developed a unique love affair for each other. He’s thrown for more than 4,000 yards four years in a row, including a mind-boggling 5,069 in 2008.

Meanwhile, Manning came into the NFL as the the top selection in the 1998 draft – and he has more than lived up to the hype. He’s thrown for more than 4,000 yards 10 of his 12 years, and has NEVER thrown fewer than 26 touchdown passes in any season, including his rookie campaign. The son of Archie Manning, ironically the Saints’ best-ever signal caller until Brees came to town, Peyton may very well go down as the best to ever play the game if he continues on his current pace.

This is a rare year. I will be happy with either team that wins the big game, largely because of their quarterback.

NOTE: Speaking of quarterbacks, kudos to Kurt Warner, who announced his retirement from the Arizona Cardinals today. Another of the league’s true gentleman, his was a true rags-to-riches story. Warner went from bagging groceries to the Arena League to NFL stardom, and he certainly belongs in the Hall of Fame. I think he gets there eventually.

Monday Weisblog: A not-so-super halftime show

Apparently it’s old news by now, but I just found out today that “The Who” will be the halftime entertainment at the February 7 Super Bowl in Miami. I must say that I am stunned by this news.

When I first heard who would be performing, I had to make sure I heard it right. “Who?”

“That’s correct,” was the reply as if it was something out of an Abbott and Costello routine.

Yes, The Who. The very same Who featuring Pete Townshend, the guitar player who in 2003 was arrested for possessing child pornography. (The charges were later dropped despite Townshend admitting he had used his credit card to obtain this material. He said it was “research” because he thought he might have been abused by his uncle when he was a child. Apparently, the feds bought what he was selling, but he was listed as a Registered Sex Offender according to the background information I read.)

In the best-case scenario, this makes him a reeeealllly strange guy. At worst, well, I prefer not to think about that. It isn’t that I don’t feel sorry for him if he was an abused child … but a transaction was made in which he willingly, knowingly purchased images that make a normal person’s stomach turn. No justification for that.

With that in mind, why on earth would you pick this group as halftime entertainment on the most-watched television event of the year? What, Courtney Love had another gig? Amy Winehouse didn’t return calls? Bobby Brown was busy? Someone has to explain this one to me, because I just don’t get it.

The Who hasn’t even been relevant for 30 years or more. Now don’t get me wrong … I am not advocating trotting out Lady Gaga or Katy Perry for this event, either. But there must be someone who bridges the generation gap of Super Bowl viewers better than The Who – and certainly someone who paints a better image.

I, for one, will be changing the channel during the halftime “festivities” of the NFL’s greatest game.

Is Wade going to sink as Cowboys captain?

I feel sorry for Wade Phillips – and it’s for much more than his team getting completely dismantled by the Minnesota Vikings in this past weekend’s divisional playoff round.

I feel sorry for him because he gets absolutely no respect. He’s the real-life Rodney Dangerfield of the NFL.

He is a little frumpy looking and doesn’t lash back at those in the media who make him the butt of their jokes. These two things by themselves make Phillips an easy target, but what makes matters even worse for him is that the team’s owner, Jerry Jones, seems to enjoy keeping Phillips off-balance when it comes to his future employment with the team.

I completely understand that the NFL is a results-driven league, but how can a coach function when the team’s owner is five feet away from him looking over his shoulder while he’s attempting to win a football game? Jones didn’t do that to Bill Parcells when the Tuna was coaching the Cowboys, nor did he do it to Barry Switzer or the wavy-haired Jimmy Johnson.

If the team owner doesn’t give the coach the respect he deserves, why would the media? Why would the rest of the NFL?

Despite all his perceived shortcomings, here’s a guy who has gone 81-54 in his NFL head coaching career. Bet you didn’t realize his record was that good, did you? He also guided the Cowboys – a team not nearly as good as their press clippings might indicate from a talent perspective – to an 11-5 record this year and their first playoff win in more than a decade.

Folks, there are a lot of so-called legendary coaches who don’t have a winning percentage that good. This year, he led the Cowboys to a division championship and their first playoff win in more than a decade.

There should not be any debate over whether or not he’ll be retained as coach. (I’d be thrilled to have Wade head to Florida and coach those hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers right now.)

Yet here it is, one day after the game and speculation is alive and well all over the Internet. This speculation is happening for one reason … Jerry Jones is allowing it.

Now, today comes word that Jones is leaning toward giving his coach a contract extension. Now there’s one more reason to feel sorry for Wade Phillips.

Tuesday Weisblog: She was going pee when her fellow commissioners were going, “Yay,” or “Nay”

OK, so I had to resort to a little bathroom humor. A little juvenile, perhaps. But it actually fits … keep reading.

Wake County, North Carolina is not a big place. They have just seven county commissioners, and one, Democrat Harold Webb, had just suffered a stroke and was forced to step down. The candidate up for replacement was one Tony Gurley, a member of the GOP.

Discussion was spirited and the votes continued to come back 3-3 over and over again … in fact, they voted 13 times that way. At that point, Betty Lou Ward could take it no more and made an unscheduled “pit stop.”

When she returned, there was Gurley sitting in the commissioner’s chair, the result of a 3-2 vote that took place while she was using the facilities.

“Thanks, guys,” she said, tongue-in-cheek, when she returned from her powder room respite and saw him sitting there.

If that’s not strange enough, the commissioners’ next order of business was to elect a vice chairman. This time, the vote came down to a choice of Ward or Commissioner Paul Coble. Again … multiple deadlocks at three. More than five hours later, it still was not settled, and Commissioner Stan Norwalk, a diabetic, made a motion to order sandwiches due to his medical condition. This vote barely passed 4-2!

By 11 p.m. the commissioners voted more than 100 times, each one coming in at 3-3; the Democrats voting for Ward and the Republicans for Coble. Motions to recess or adjourn the meeting were dismissed, and the madness continued.

Finally, at 2 a.m. Commissioner Norwalk again asked for a recess because he hadn’t gotten his insulin shot. Coble then ended the political posturing, proclaiming that he “would not sit here and put Mr. Norwalk at risk.” A new vote ensued and Ward won 5-1, with Gurley being the sole Commissioner voting “no.”

It just goes to show that sometimes in the world of politics, it’s the party whose members have the strongest bladders that win the day.

Note: Thanks to my friend Trace who told me about this rather unusual political gathering.

Tuesday Weisblog: Too much of a good thing?

Folks, business is good. At the current time, it’s very good. While that could change, for now something has to give.

For the foreseeable future, I will still do this blog frequently, but will not be held to a daily schedule.

I will continue to send out e-mails when a new blog has been posted. Let me know if you are not on my list and would like to be added to it.

Thanks for reading!
John