Crash brings conspiracy theorists out
Any normal explanation for Flight 447 too simple for some
The conspiracy theorists are out in full force on the crash of Air France Flight 447.
Weather? Please. How naive can you be? It had to be a bomb planted by a terrorist. Or a missile. Or a collision with a spy plane. Or a UFO. Or an asteroid.
Or what about this. Flight 447 crashed on 5/31/2009. Add the first three digits (5+3+1) and you get 9. Add the last four digits and you get 11. That's 9/11! What, you think that's a coincidence too?
"This whole story seems a bit fishy to me," reads a post on Yahoo!
"Even on the first day following the crash, they said the chance of survivors was 'nonexistent.' Early reports said another pilot saw a flash of orange light in the sky . . . now a new report of a bomb threat at the French airport. . . What the ---- is the story anyway?"
The first response to this post:
"I think they are on the island with Jack and Kate."
Why not. That's only slightly less plausible than those other theories.
Many of the reports about Saturday's Belmont Stakes noted the winner, Summer Bird, is the "half brother" of Mine That Bird, who finished third in the Belmont, second in Preakness and scored that huge upset in the Kentucky Derby.
Indeed, Birdstone is the sire of Mine That Bird and Summer Bird. But there's something very Dreamworks-animated-film about describing Summer Bird and Mine That Bird as "half brothers."
It's not as if they're princes who had the same father but different mothers. Without getting into the details we all know about the stud business, suffice to say Birdstone probably didn't have long relationships with the mothers of either of those two thoroughbreds -- and it's a safe bet to say Mine That Bird and Summer Bird don't keep in touch.
In fact, I don't think they even recognized each other at the Belmont Stakes.
Elsewhere in the sports media, I keep reading and hearing about White Sox rookie Gordon Beckham facing "impossible expectations," as a headline in the Tribune put it Sunday.
Presumably mocking media hype, Sox manager Ozzie Guillen referred to Beckham as "The Savior" when the sweet-swinging infielder was called up last week.
A.J. Pierzynski echoed the theme, saying, "He's not the savior. He's just one piece."
Again and again, we're told there's too much of a frenzy surrounding Beckham and we should all calm down. When Beckham went 0-for-6 in his first couple of games with the Sox, we were given the "told you so" treatment: See? He's not Baby Ruth. Give the kid a break.
But who was putting these unreasonable expectations on Beckham? More than a few sportswriters and radio and TV guys kept talking about the Beckham hype and cautioning us all to calm down -- but they were the ones fueling the talk in the first place. It wasn't the fans, at least not the fans in my family, or my friends who are Sox fans, or the Sox fans who contact me all the time, or the Sox fans who sit near me at the Cell.
None of us was honking our horns or setting off fireworks when Beckham was brought up last week. In fact, many of us were saying we felt the Sox were rushing Beckham and it would have been better if the kid had played a full year in the minors.
Granted, many fans stood and applauded when Beckham was introduced last week. But these days, some fans will give a standing ovation to pitchers who give up four runs and nine hits in a six-inning stint.
I love it when we in the media hype something to the sky, and then caution the audience not to get caught up in in the hype. It's like creeping up behind someone, yelling, "BOOOO!" and then saying, "Why are you jumping? There's nothing to be scared about."
Paris Hilton was at the Chicago nightclub Enclave last Saturday night, reading a passage from The Great Gatsby and encouraging everyone to attend the Printers Row Lit Fest.
Ah, probably not. Word is Ms. Hilton participated in her strong suits of dancing, partying, yapping mindlessly and posing for photos -- which she has been doing consistently for nearly a decade now.
If you were at Enclave and you got all worked up when Hilton entered the room and you tripped over yourself to capture her image on your cell phone camera, a Monday morning question for you:
Why?
If there's any response other than the unacceptable and more than a little sad "because she's famous," I'd love to hear it.