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Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Darren Sharper -- Hall of Famers Rally Against Him ... 'He Isn't Getting In'

Hall of Famers Rally Against Him 'He Isn't Getting In'

3/25/2015 1:02 PM PDT BY TMZ STAFF

EXCLUSIVE

Several NFL Hall of Famers tell TMZ Sports ... they are united AGAINST the possibility of Darren Sharper joining their elite group ... with one star putting it bluntly, "He isn't getting in."

As we previously reported, Sharper is still eligible to make the HOF -- despite the fact he's a convicted rapist -- because voters are instructed to IGNORE the players' off-the-field lives.

But multiple former NFL stars who are currently enshrined in Canton tell us they don't like the fact that Sharper could join them one day. Here are some of the strongest quotes:

John Randle(inducted 2010) -- "My gut says he'll never get in. At the end of the day, it looks bad upon the Hall if someone in prison for rape receives that honor. It taints the group."

Willie Roaf( inducted 2012) -- "If Sharper was inducted, it would shine a bad light on the Hall. He would have to do a complete image makeover. I don't know if that's possible."

Dan Hampton(inducted 2002) -- "Darren Sharper has no business being considered for induction into this exclusive fraternity. The systematic commission of these heinous crimes that [he] has committed should preclude him from any HOF consideration. Simple as that."

Another HOFer who wished to remain anonymous went even stronger -- "He isn't getting in. I don't care what the rules say about only considering what happened on the field."

Source: http://www.tmz.com/2015/03/25/darren-sharper-nfl-hall-of-fame-john-randle-willie-roaf-dan-hampton/

Outside Lands 2015 Lineup Announced! Here's A Playlist To Get You Pumped

Every summer, audiophiles descend on Golden Gate Park for Outside Lands, a weekend of stuffing your face full of churros, sipping whiskey on blankets, getting lightly trampled, having at least one crippling case of agoraphobia, and, oh yeah, listening to tons of live music. Last year, Kanye West, Tom Petty, Macklemore, and Disclosurerocked it out, andthis years roster isjust as good!

Elton John is set to continue the trend of an English Sir headlining (Paul McCartney did the honorsat Outside Lands two years ago). Sam Smith and DAngelo, a.k.a. the voices to which innumerable babies have beenconceived, willromance the pants off you. If you want to propose to your boo, maybe you can convince Billy Idol to let you on stage duringWhite Wedding. Kendrick Lamar, fresh off his amazing surprise album, will be there to blow your mind. AndMumford & Sons and Wilco will be representing the folksy set. I could go on about how pumped you should be, but the power of music does it so much better, so heres a mix to get you ready for Outside Lands 2015!

And heres the full lineup:

Elton JohnMumford & SonsThe Black KeysSam SmithKendrick LamarWilcoAxwell & IngrossoTame ImpalaDAngelo and The VanguardSt. VincentPorter RobinsonBen Harper & The Innocent CriminalsBilly IdolG-EazyHot ChipSlightly StoopidCaribouMilky ChanceChet FakerThe Devil Makes ThreeNate RuessODESZAFirst Aid KitToro Y MoiRL GrimeLake Street DiveMac DeMarcoGeorge EzraLindsey StirlingIrationAngus & Julia StoneDJ MustardSt. Paul and The Broken BonesGlass AnimalsLaura MarlingJames BayGreen Velvet & Claude VonStroke: Get RealDjango DjangoClassixxKarl Densons Tiny UniverseSky FerreriaLeon BridgesRobert DeLongUnknown Mortal OrchestraSZAAllah-LasShakey GravesDan DeaconBenjamin BookerMisterwivesLanghorne Slim & The LawRyn WeaverBroodsHurray for the Riff RaffGiraffageGIVERSAlvvaysTwin PeaksThe Family CrestThe RevivalistsMETZStrand of OaksSpeedy OrtizFantastic NegritoDMAsNatalie PrassAlex Bleeker & The FreaksThe Sam ChaseDevon BaldwinThe Tropics

Source: http://ww2.kqed.org/pop/2015/03/24/outside-lands-2015-lineup-announced-heres-a-playlist-to-get-you-pumped/

Darren Sharper -- Eligible For HOF ... Despite Rape Conviction

Eligible For Hall Of Fame... Despite Rape Conviction

3/24/2015 3:01 PM PDT BY TMZ STAFF

EXCLUSIVE

Despite the fact he'll be locked up for the next 9 years, convicted rapist Darren Sharper is still eligible to be elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame -- and based on his numbers alone, there's a real possibility it could happen.

TMZ Sports spoke with Joe Horrigan -- Executive V.P. of the Selection Process for the Pro Football HOF -- who tells us there's nothing in the bylaws preventing a convicted criminal from being enshrined in Canton.

Horrigan says as long as the player has been out of the league for 5 years and has made at least 1 All-Pro team ... that person is eligible.

That being said ... the Exec. V.P. says it's POSSIBLE voters will take Sharper's crimes into account when voting for the former New Orleans Saints superstar -- but they're not supposed to.

FYI ... Sharper played 14 seasons in the league and was a 6-time All-Pro ... widely considered one of the best safeties of his era.

Sharper last played in 2010 ... so he would be eligible as early as 2016.

Stay tuned ...

Source: http://www.tmz.com/2015/03/24/darren-sharper-eligible-nfl-hall-of-fame-rape-conviction/

Could there be 11 billion reasons for Alabama to vote for Ted Cruz for president?

So there's an old adage in politics that people oftenvote with their wallet. Put another way, they vote for candidates who they believe will help them the most financially.

It's not an all-inclusive perspective, of course, and it's a broad generalization. However, old political adages become old because there is likely some element of truth involved.

Given that preface, is Ted Cruz the best presidential candidate for Alabama?

Here's the thing: On Monday, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, praised Cruz as a strong candidate- although Brooks stopped short of giving an endorsement of the Texas senator.

Brooks also said this: "He's a strong supporter of human space travel. Redstone Arsenal - both on the military side and the space side - could not hope for a better president than Ted Cruz. Because Ted Cruz is strongly in favor of human space flight, which is what the Marshall Space Flight Center's primary focus is.

"And Ted Cruz understands that the world is still a very dangerous place and just as it's good to have carrots, you need to have sticks in order to secure world peace -- which means you've got to have a strong military."

And that's where your wallet comes in.

In 2012, a study valued the economic impact of Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville at $11.47 billion and about 101,000 jobs. That broke down to about 6 percent of the state's Gross Domestic Product.

Of course, that's not a suggestion that any other candidate would wipe Redstone off the map.

But if, as Brooks said, Redstone (and its $11 billion economic impact) "could not hope for a better president than Ted Cruz," would that cause you to vote with your wallet?

Source: http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/03/could_there_be_11_billion_reas.html

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Your Take: Readers celebrate #NationalPuppyDay

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Susan Lucci waits for a call in early March in her Central Texas home.(Photo: Javier Bustos, Your Take)

What's the best cure for the Monday Blues? National Puppy Day, of course.

Puppies of every pedigree are ready to pose for a place in our top dog gallery, so join the other Your Take friends who are showing off their prized canines.

Tweet us your photos of your furry friends @yourtake or upload them on the Your Take site or via the USA TODAY iPhone app. It's easy to sign up: Just use your Facebook or Google+ account.

BONUS: Readers' photos from International Love Your Pet Day

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Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/1boAi2f

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Source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/your-take/2015/03/23/your-take-readers-photos-national-puppy-day/70331002/

College Basketball Fans Tune-In To NCAA Tournament, Overlook The Negatives

The NCAA tournament generated its highest ratings in over 20 years this past weekend spurred by a bundle of close games and upsets. On Thursday and Friday, 10 of the 32 first round games were decided by a bucket or less with two 3-seeds falling to 14-seeds. Over the weekend, a 1-seed (Villanova) and two 2-seeds, including Kansas, dropped to much lower-seeded teams.

Apparently, for a lot of fans, the combination of drama, specific match-ups, and telecast times outweigh the negatives. Here are some not-so-nice elements of the tournament:

1. Scrimmages for Top SeedsThe four 1-seeds clobbered their opponents by an average margin of 26 points. In over 30 years of seeding, no 16-seed has defeated a top-seed and only a couple of games have ever been near-misses. In a tournament about drama and competitiveness, these lop-sided games amount to little more than scrimmages. Besides being boring, its a huge advantage to top seeds to have a one-game bye. One solution would be to expand the slate of Tuesday/Wednesday play-in games from four to sixteen, where all of the 13-16 seeds play against sixteen other teams. The winners of these games could then be randomly assigned to games against the 1-4 seeds. (The random assignment could take place in advance so that teams could scout each other.)

2. Detracting from DramaClose games are entertaining but slow-as-molasses finishes are not. The boatload of timeouts available to coaches and fouling at the end of games takes away from the drama rather than enhancing it. The Wall Street Journals Jason Gay aptly described the state of affairs as resembling watching ones grandparents unpack the groceries.

3. Fouls Galore But Few WhistlesFor fans under 35 who have been weaned on players grabbing, bumping, and shoving, the hyper-physical play doesnt seem to diminish enjoyment very much. Its a bit like Soviet citizens who grew accustomed to bread lines. Thats life. For those who can remember the aesthetics of the game before basketball turned into wrestling, its hard to watch at times.

West Virginias Bob Huggins actually gave expression to this obvious devolution and its cause over the last 30 years. Speaking after their upset of Maryland, he said, if we foul 100 times, there only going to call 20. So, he distributes playing time among a dozen players and instructs his Mountaineers to play with an aggressiveness that Attila-the-Hun could appreciate. These tactics bring praise from most college basketball analysts as inspired coaching. The one inaccuracy in his statement is that it is more like 300 times than 100.

Of course, Maryland could hardly complain. Their win against low-seeded Valparaiso came with a saving grab by the Terps Varun Ram on Valpos Keith Carter shown below that analysts have hailed as great defense.

NCAA Tourney in One Picture: Drama and Uncalled Fouls

Source: http://www.forbes.com/sites/briangoff/2015/03/24/college-basketball-fans-tune-in-to-ncaa-tournament-overlook-the-negatives/

A$AP Rocky's New Album To Be Released This Summer: Morning Mix

Did You Hear?

:: In an interview with our friends atVIBEduring the SXSW 2015 festivities,A$AP Rockystates that his sophomore album is finished and will be release during the summer months! As for the title? Its calledA.L.L.A.[Miss Info]

:: Rihannasofficial website, RihannaNow.com, has received an upgrade! The new design reveals the singer is recording her upcoming album under the Roc Nation label for the first time, and that she now has ownership of her masters. Get that royalty check, RiRi! [Rihanna Now]

:: After the messy drama with his label,Earl Sweatshirtsnew albumI Dont Like s**t, I Dont Go Outside: An Album by Earl Sweatshirtis out now and is streaming on Spotify! It is the follow-up to 2013s Doris debut.[Pitchfork]

:: Bad news forLil Twist! The Young Moneyrapper has been chargedwith six felonies for allegedly breaking into Kyle Masseys house and assaulting his brother all according to TMZ. If found guilty, Justin Biebersbuddy could be looking at up to 25 years in jail. Ouch! [TMZ]

Find out below what music you can catch on TV today.

:: Good Morning America (ABC) Tove Lo:: Live With Kelly & Michael (syndicated) Zoe Kravitz:: The Meredith Viera Show (syndicated) Jason Derulo, Kelly Rowland:: Conan (TBS) Incubus:: Jimmy Kimmel Live (ABC) Saint Motel:: The Late Late Show with James Corden (CBS) Modest Mouse

Source: http://www.idolator.com/7585645/asap-rocky-new-album-summer-release-morning-mix