Pats Coach Poor Sport, No-Shows CBS After Defeat

New England coach Bill Belichick doesn't handle losing all too well, and he blew off CBS' customary postgame interview with the coach of the losing team after the AFC championship game.

 CBS analyst Shannon Sharpe wasn't impressed and called him out for it with some harsh comments.

 "There's something to be said about being gracious in defeat," Sharpe said on CBS' postgame show. "We've seen the New England Patriots five times in the last 12 years be victorious [in the AFC championship game). We've seen the opposing coaches who lost come out and talk to our Steve Tasker. Coach [Bill] Cowher did it when they lost to them, we saw this last week.

 "Bill Belichick makes it real easy for you to root against the Patriots. You can't be a poor sport all the time. You're not going to win all the time, and he does this every time he loses. It's unacceptable."

 Those are strong words from Sharpe, but it's tough to argue. There are certain unpleasant commitments that come with being an NFL head coach, and a certain class that should be displayed in defeat. Granting an interview that coaches are expected to give after big playoff losses, including Super Bowls, to a television partner that pays a big percentage of the NFL's bills is part of that....More

Read More

WH Saves Piers From 100K Who Want Him Deported

 The White House has responded to the petition seeking the deportation of Piers Morgan with a statement from press secretary Jay Carney explaining the First Amendment.

 The petition, which received well over 100,000 signatures (25,000 are required for a White House response) was led by conservative radio host Alex Jones. He wrote, "British Citizen and CNN television host Piers Morgan is engaged in a hostile attack against the U.S. Constitution by targeting the Second Amendment. We demand that Mr. Morgan be deported immediately for his effort to undermine the Bill of Rights and for exploiting his position as a national network television host to stage attacks against the rights of American citizens."

 In Carney's statement explaining the White House's decision to allow Morgan to remain in the U.S., he acknowledges that the Second Amendment does guarantee citizens the right to bear arms, but reiterates the First Amendment guarantees the freedom of the press...More 

Read More

Gore Faces Inconvenient Truth, Sells Failed TV Channel

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Al-Jazeera, the Pan-Arab news channel that struggled to win space on American cable television, has acquired Current TV, boosting its reach nearly ninefold to about 40 million homes. With a focus on U.S. news, it plans to rebrand the left-leaning news network that cofounder Al Gore couldn't make relevant.

The former vice president confirmed the sale Wednesday, saying in a statement that Al-Jazeera shared Current TV's mission "to give voice to those who are not typically heard; to speak truth to power; to provide independent and diverse points of view; and to tell the stories that no one else is telling."

The acquisition lifts Al-Jazeera's reach beyond a few large U.S. metropolitan areas including New York and Washington, where about 4.7 million homes can now watch Al-Jazeera English.

Al-Jazeera, owned by the government of Qatar, plans to gradually transform Current into a new channel called Al-Jazeera America by adding five to 10 new U.S. bureaus beyond the five it has now and hiring more journalists.

Al-Jazeera spokesman Stan Collender said there are no rules against foreign ownership of a cable channel — unlike the strict rules limiting foreign ownership of free-to-air TV stations. He said the move is based on demand, adding that 40 percent of viewers on Al-Jazeera English's website are from the U.S.

"This is a pure business decision based on recognized demand," Collender said. "When people watch Al-Jazeera, they tend to like it a great deal."...More 

Read More