Cougars' # 7, not so lucky anymore.

University of Houston's quarterback, Case Keenum, is out of the season for good. Despite this valuable loss, cougar fans' are encouraged to continue supporting the team.

During a game against UTEP, Keenum was injured. He was carried off the field with the help of two paramedics and wearing a face expression that said it all: dissappointment. The game continued and Keenum's absence was not much felt- for his job was already done; he had made wonderful strategic passes that had helped his teammates score and establish a leading significant difference between UH versus the adversary.

Days later, his medical condition was still unknown. No comments were made. The silent from the athletic administrators and those in the same circle were killing everyone. Not talking about the subject made everyone more concerned. The Daily Cougar, the school newspaper, was only reporting on how UH had earned a fantastic victory, with a brief (that could be reduced to nothing) mention on the injury. Speculations started to circulate regarding Keenum's participation in an upcoming game against UCLA. Fans feared. "Will their star not play in such an important game? How bad was his knee?" Finally, the day before the game, an announcement was made: Keenum would play.

As both team stepped on Rose Bowl, UH students were expecting that their star would play as good as he did before what had happened against UTEP. Those in the stadium, and those watching the game on TV hoped that their quarterback would lead the team to a game well played. Unfortunately, that did not happened. Keenum was injured once again, and with that so did the end of his era.

Now that his injury is of more severe than the first one, UH football coach Kevin Sumlim, has been more public about the Keenum's condition. He has issued a statement declaring Keenum's absence of for the rest of the season. If Sumlim had been more public since the beginning, UH fans would not have been as disappoinment as they are now. Their hopes would not have fallen as bad as they did on Sunday night, when Sumlim spoke to the press. Now, the UH Athletic's PR department will have to work on a campaign that may motivate students to be even more supportive to the school's football team than before. An editorial on the Daily Cougar is already doing its part. It reads, "It may seem terrible a change in direction for the Cougar's 2010 season, but now is the time for Houston fans to truly shine. As always we'll be at Robertson Stadium for the Cougar's next game, and we hope to see the stands overflowing again."

Keenum's athletic debacle has been put under a magnifying glass. Let's hope it is managed better. One lesson Slim should learn is to never try to hide something he can't.

China airplane crash...again

For a while, I have not watched on the news or read in the newspapers anything about the Chinese airplane crash. I know it's been about a month since the tragedy, but I was expecting that media would give at least a last update before "closing the case." If one googles the news, no results show updated information. The last reports date August 26 or (if your lucky) August 28. The only newspaper covering the story is an Asian newspaper.

On their latest article, it is reported that investigation dealing with the airplane crash has come up with a new issue affecting the airline. Apparently, due to the recent rapid grow of the airline traffic and subsequent demand for pilots, many pilots lied about their qulification on their resumes. "Some of hte pilots changed their jobs many times, and they constantly distorted their resumes," a CAAC cited report said. "Some of them were former mlitary pilots and became civil pilots."

I really don't see how Henan airlines will recover from this one. More and more issues keep popping out and none of them have been addressed directly by the company. They're not taking any steps toward the cleansed of their name. The only steps they're taking is to an unrecoverable debacle. Perhaps a change of name would be suitable in this instance.

Source: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/Li15Ad01.html

BOOM! Explosive news on Ferrari

The image of a Ferrari's exploding is more likely to be associated as part of a scene in an action movie, but this became true last week in many cities across the U.S and overseas. Not very Hollywood, I must say.



For high speed car aficionados, a Ferrari is a dream come true. They can go from zero to 60 mph in just over a few seconds. However nobody is a fan of fire breaking out of their $253,000 car, especially while driving it.

Five owners of the newly launched 2010458 Italia reported catching fire while speeding. The innovative technology of the car was expected to surprise the public but it ended up disappointing them.

So far the company has said that an adhesive close to the engine is likely the cause of the fires. "This adhesive can melt due to overheating and ignite flames," Ferrari spokesman Stefano Lai said.

Incidents involving the 458 had been reported for a couple of months but the reports were thought to be isolated instances, not something that required a lot of attention.

Car dealers have asked their customers get their cars checked for a replacement of the engine. With the objective to prevent more incidents, cars not yet purchased were pulled out of the market for further inspection. Numbers average 1,100 cars.

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1 incident should have been enough for the company to take action. How many reports were they expecting to receive? In addition to ignoring the signs of the problem, when notified that this was serious, the company didn't issue a statement to let their customers know of the situation. With the late response they may jeopardize the trust of their customers

Although a well-known brand, Ferrari is not a company of the masses. They don't produce that many cars for the general public. Obviously, their market is for those who are most afluent. Considering this, if someone would have gotten hurt, their lawyers would be sweating like crazy right now. They better look at the signs next time.

Sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/02/business/main6830054.shtml
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/tn-dpt-0903-ferrari-20100902,0,5231106.story