From ArenaFan Online - February 19, 2006

GOOD COP, BAD COP

by Adam J Locascio

If there’s one thing that every red-blooded American loves it’s a good cop story. Whether it’s a television show, a movie, or reading about it in the paper, there’s something about reading about the good guys taking on the bad guys.

As wholesome and American as the cop story is, it doesn’t get any better than, what I like to call, the "cop dynamic." It’s that cop dynamic that always makes for the best stories.

Think about it. Danny Glover and Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon), Starsky & Hutch, Ponch & Jon (Chips), the list goes on and on. But in every dynamic, there are always two characters or roles that need to be played: there’s the level-headed, by the book cop and the loose-cannon, do-what-you-have-to cop.

And it appears that the Tampa Bay Storm have found their two cops in mainstay Lawrence Samuels and free-agent newcomer Bobby Sippio.

It was never more evident than on Friday night when the Storm took on the Georgia Force in their first Southern Division game of the season. It was also the Storm’s home opener which was huge for Tampa Bay as they were one of two undefeated teams at home last season. Further, the Storm also boasted the league’s best home win streak at 11 games.

This was also Tampa Bay’s fan’s first opportunity to see WR/LB Bobby Sippio in action. He was the one of the most sought-after free agents this off-season and the Storm were able to lure him away from Orlando.

The game started off hot for the Storm as Sippio was all over the field, reeling in pass after pass as his dreads bounced on his jersey. Quarterback Shane Stafford was enjoying it as Sippio was snagging passes that were slightly off target, including a third-down conversion that was low and behind Sippio. But that wasn’t a problem for Sippio who spun, snared the pass, got the first down, and then still had the presence of mind to let everyone know what he did.

And you couldn’t miss Sippio. When he caught a pass, you knew about it. When he laid a hit on someone he reminded the Force. When the ref missed a call, he politely disagreed. He was entering the Force’s defense without a search warrant.

When it was all over, Sippio racked up eight catches for 124 yards, two touchdowns, and Baby Ruth Offensive Player of the Game.

While Sippio’s accomplishments were most recognized early and late in the game, it was Samuels who bridged the gap between the beginning and the end of the game. Samuels stepped up with two touchdowns of his own, without much hooplah, en route to a 10 catch, 107 yard game to earn the US Army Ironman of the Game award. He also tacked on an interception and 2.5 tackles.

The media used words such as "emotional" and "firey" to describe Sippio’s play prior to coming to the Storm. One report said that Sippio would have a fantastic season if he keeps his temper under control.

Conversely, Samuels is at his most emotional when he’s signing autographs with his right hand and holding his daughter in his left. Samuels doesn’t lose his cool. Samuels doesn’t get riled up. Last season, Samuels caught a swing pass and accidentally stepped on a defender who fell in front of him. Errantly, the refs flagged him for unsportsmanlike conduct. Samuels looked about as upset as someone who found out they had no late fees on their Blockbuster account.

"It’s a great thing. We make things happen," said Samuels after the Georgia Force game. "It’s not a good-cop, bad-cop thing. We’re a team. We’re out there to make plays."

As far as their receivers are concerned, the Storm have always had a fairly conservative cast of characters. Clif Dell, David Saunders, even George LaFrance, never really inspired images of Terrell Owens doing crunches on his driveway.

But Sippio’s fiery style brings something to the Storm that they haven’t had in a long time – attitude. Swagger.

"I’m the bad-cop," said Sippio, with a smirk. "I’ll take you to jail in a minute."

Here they are. Starsky & Hutch. Ponch and Jon. Samuels and Sippio. Doesn’t it sound like it should be on a marquis?

"Coming this summer to a theater near you. The newest cop action duo: Samuels & Sippio. Also starring Jennifer Love Hewitt." You’d go see it, you know you would.

Adam J. Locascio is President of the Tampa Bay Storm Surge Fan Club. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Phoenix and is a five-year season ticket holder for the Tampa Bay Storm.

From The La Cañada Vally Sun (La Cañada, CA) - February 18, 2006

WHEN JUST ANY FOSSILIZED JEWELRY WON'T DO.....

by Geghard Arakelian

Diamonds are a girls best friend but what about fossilized dinosaur excrement?

A La Cañada Flintridge woman and Altadena woman hope to make fossilized dinosaur droppings, or what they refer to as Dino-diamonds, into a marketable new fashion trend.

It all started back in mid-2005 when Altadena resident Mary Shaffer, a private piano teacher, was returning from a dog show in Arizona along with Gemma La Mana, of La Cañada, who is a still photographer for movies.

They stumbled across a National Geographic crew covering a program called "Fossil Wars."

There they came across some excavated dinosaur droppings when Shaffer noticed a pile of rocks while chatting with a fossil digger. Having acquired a few samples, the two returned home oblivious to the inspiration that would soon follow.

"So I sat at the table and it was like a lightning flash hit me," La Mana said, adding that she had spent a good deal of time just staring at the fossil in her hands. Since then the business partners have been shaping the fossils and selling them online. Their client list includes a few celebrities. "I have all sorts of actors wearing [the jewelry] now," La Mana said.

"'No way,' was [actor] Bill Murray's reaction," she said, adding that he repeated himself about six times. Thus far Jennifer Love Hewitt, David Duchovny, Billy Conolly, John Davis, Billy McKinney, Sigourney Weaver, Clint Eastwood and Bill Murray have acquired some Dino-diamonds jewelry.

"People just respond to it because they've never seen anything like it," Shaffer said.

The fossils are available in sliced pieces, necklaces and as individual stones in varying sizes.

According to the Dino-diamonds website, the droppings are found in a layer of earth formed during the Jurassic period 150 million years ago called the Morrison Formation. The formation extends from present day Montana down through Nevada. The Dino-diamonds are found in the formation and are then taken from private land with the land owner's consent.

"In some of the pieces you can see seeds, bones and teeth," said La Mana, adding that dung beetle burrows have also been discovered in some of the fossils.

The marketing duo did come across a minor problem when initially attempting to shape the pieces, La Mana and Shaffer said.

"It's so hard. It's not like a regular stone," La Mana said, adding that the fossils were taken to jewelers to be cut due to their density.

"We took them to these hot diamond dealers," Shaffer said, but most of the jewelers refused to cut the stones because they were too hard. In some cases the jewelers even broke their diamond saws in the process, she said.

The job was ultimately given to a friend who helps collect the fossils and goes by the nick-name of "Harry the Slicer Dicer." Polishing the fossils is a three-week process and cutting them is a six-week process, according to the website.

Shaffer and La Mana will be showcasing their Dino-diamonds at Palm Crest Elementary School's science fair March 1.

Some of the proceeds made from selling the fossils will go to the school, La Mana said. For more information on Dino-diamonds visit www.dinodiamonds.com.

From The Monitor - February 13, 2006

A DAY OF LOVE

by Cari Hammerstrom

The first time Jerry and Jennifer Love met at the Ruth Street Church of God in Bristol, Tenn., “I wanted no part of it,” said Jerry, a 28-year-old Wal-Mart employee and owner of a self-proclaimed “devil cat.”

But a few years later, Jennifer, who is now a 26-yearold certified nurse’s assistant, stole his heart as she graced him with her presence at another church function.

This Valentine’s Day will mark eight years to the day that the young Loves exchanged vows at the same church that brought them together. “I figured it was the perfect day,” Jerry Love said about why he chose to get married on Valentine’s Day. “And I wouldn’t forget it.” Their wedding day was cold. It had snowed earlier that morning. The bridesmaids wore burgundy — a typically romantic color for a typically romantic day. They kept the ceremony small, and they spent their honeymoon in Gatlinburg, Tenn., touring the Great Smoky Mountains and Dollywood. Jerry and Jennifer said their immediate families are small, but the Love extended family is huge, he said. “If I got all my kinfolk together, the Viking Hall wouldn’t be able to hold them all,” Jerry said. He compared the size of Viking Hall to the Dodge Arena.

Love is a very common last name in Tennessee, even though it’s often seen as cutesy or a bit of a joke in the Rio Grande Valley and other western states, said Jerry, who has moved often enough to know. His dad said he’s never been the type of guy who can stay planted in one spot for very long.

“I got teased big-time on my last name,” Jerry said.

“Brother Love,” the kids would say, back when the man on the World Wrestling Federation’s hit syndicated show was hot stuff. Brother Love was a white-suited, smarmy character who interviewed wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and started feuds. He was modeled after a televangelist — a preacher not of the word of God, but of love.

“I loooooove yeeeewww!” he would screech.

The Loves hear the same jokes about their last name over and over and over again, said Jennifer, whose coworkers refer to her as “J-Love” — a strange combination of two celebrity monikers, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Jennifer Lopez. She just shrugs and said it doesn’t bother her that much.

“I just let it go in one ear and out the other,” she said.

As you can imagine, it wasn’t easy being in the service, said Jerry’s father, Jerry Ray, who lives with the couple, their cat and two dogs. Maybe it’s the last name or maybe it’s just because they were married on Valentine’s Day, but Jerry tries his best to tickle his wife’s fancy. He’s given her a teddy bear almost year on their anniversary. “I try to do what I can to make it a special day,” he said.

From NBC News 6 - South Florida - February 11, 2006

PUPPY HEARTBREAK -- PART IV

NBC 6 Investigation

A South Florida pet store is advertising itself as the "No. 1 celebrity kennel in the world," but an NBC 6 investigation, "Puppy Heartbreak," found some of those celebrities are calling it something else.

Maybe you've seen the ads or visited the Web site.

Wizard of Claws sells thousands of the prized teeny tiny dogs, touting happy celebrity clients.

"What do Jon Secada, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Eddie Jones have in common?" the Wizard of Claws commercial says.

"He markets his Web site to celebrities," said Paul Zimmerman, who bought a dog from Wizard of Claws. The store even have billboards.

"My husband said, 'I remember seeing this billboard, Wizard Of Claws,'" said Leslie Finkelstein.

Finkelstein and Paul Zimmerman were drawn in by the image, but when they bought puppies, Nikki and Lucy quickly became severely sick.

"We were very concerned," Zimmerman said. "Tuesday, first thing in the morning, we brought her in, admitted her here, they put her on the IV."

"I was hysterical my puppy was going to die," Finkelstein said.

In fact, NBC 6 found unhappy Wizard of Claws customers across America who claim they got dogs that were sick or genetically defective.

NBC 6 wanted to know, if there were a lot of unhappy "regular" customers, why were the celebrity customers so happy? So, we called them. It turns out some weren't so happy after all.

The drummer for Aerosmith, Joey Kramer, told NBC 6 his dog was so sick he had to give it to his veterinarian and never got his money back.

"As a matter of fact, we had some problems with the dog," Kramer said. "And they wouldn't stand behind the dog."

"Was it ill?"

"Yeah. The dog was ill," Kramer said.

Jennifer Love Hewitt's publicist told NBC 6 her dog has been "sick as hell since she got the puppy."

Pro baseball player Mike Morse said his veterinarian told him his dog would have died had he not sought urgent car.

And, perhaps the most famous of all Wizard of Claws celebrity dogs, Baby Doll Pliner -- the icon for the famous line of shoes -- grew twice the size the store promised and, as soon as they bought her, she, too, became very ill.

"It was really bad," Lisa Pliner told NBC 6.

All of Baby Doll's lower teeth had to be removed.

The Pliners, who could afford the thousands of dollars in vet bills, grew suspicious of Wizard of Claws over something else.

"The biggest problem was getting the papers," Donald Pliner said. "I mean, continuously, continuously calling, 'Where are the papers? Where are the papers to prove where the dog actually came from?'"

"What's the most you've ever sold a dog for?" Burnside asked Jim Anderson, who runs Wizard of Claws.

"Uh, $10,000," Anderson said.

"$10,000?" Burnside asked.

"$10,000, absolutely," Anderson said.

Anderson said an expensive dog is like a Chanel jacket: you get what you pay for.

"We buy the best of the best," Anderson said.

But do they always?

NBC 6's hidden camera investigation went inside two of the Midwestern dog breeding operations that supply Wizard of Claws. Experts called them puppy mills.

"You think you're getting the best of the best. What you're getting is oftentimes a very sick animal with genetic defects who came from a puppy mill," said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States.

"Would you call that a puppy mill?" Burnside asked Anderson after showing him video of two dog breeding operations in Missouri and Oklahoma from where some of his dogs came.

"I would refer to that as a puppy mill," Anderson said.

As a result of NBC 6's story, Anderson has decided not to do any business with the two dog breeding operations.

Some celebrities are happy: the Osbournes and basketball player Eddie Jones, for example.

But, most celebrities NBC 6 spoke to told us they never gave Anderson formal permission to use their images to promote or endorse Wizard of Claws: not Aerosmith, not Jennifer Love Hewitt, not Jon Secada, not Mike Morse.

"Do you want me to go on?" Burnside asked Anderson.

"Yeah, you can go on," Anderson said.

Not rapper Uncle Luke, not actor Enrique Murciano, not NASCAR champ Jeff Gordon, and certainly not the Pliners.

"It's our reputation," Donald Pliner said. "It's like anything that I do, people that has my name on it. People don't know. They might see that we're part of that."

"In essence, almost none of these celebrities that you're using in your marketing are satisfied customers or got healthy dogs," Burnside said to Anderson.

"Your communication with them -- NBC -- and the forwarding of this negative information to them changed the way they think," Anderson said.

But, the celebrity clientele no longer impresses customers like Paul Zimmerman.

"They sold us a sick dog that's only gotten sicker," Zimmerman said. "What was supposed to be something really nice turned out to be something really terrible."

Both Lucy and Nikki are doing fine, and Anderson maintains that most of the dogs he sells are healthy. NBC 6 received e-mails and calls about "Puppy Heartbreak" from around the country, and will continue to follow the story.

From Associated Press - February 8, 2006

VIGNETTES FROM GRAMMY AWARDS

By SANDY COHEN, AP Entertainment Writer

Here's one.....

It was just another day at the office, followed by a night at the Grammys, for actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, who was teaming with the Black Eyed Peas to present the trophy for male R&B vocal at Wednesday night's Grammy Awards.

The actress said she arrived on the green carpet straight from the set of her TV show "Ghost Whisperer," leaving in such a hurry that she didn't have time to remember the name of the designer dress she put on.

"I just left work," a sheepish Hewitt said. "I know! I'm terrible."

She wasn't sure if she would be up for partying after the awards show, either.

"I might go to one of the parties, but I have to be at work at 5:30 in the morning," she said.

"One day you retire, and you get a social life," Hewitt added.