Ken Brazzle attended most of the biggest sports events in Tucson during the last 20 or so years that the print version of the Tucson Citizen existed. But you'd never know it unless you read the paper the next day.

Brazz, as most everyone knew him, was one of those blend-into-the-background media types. He was there to cover the story, not be a part of it. He had no biases—except maybe to have those late-summer Tucson Sidewinders games end a little earlier, and without causing him to have to change his lede—and would cover pretty much whatever you wanted him to.

Ken Brazzle passed away last week, right around his 63rd birthday. Word of his death didn't start spreading until the weekend, when former Citizen sports editor Mike Chesnick posted the news and the remembrances from ex-Citizen staffers started flooding in.

Brazz was just finishing up a six-month stint with USA Today when I started my journalism career in Tucson, back in 1995 at the Citizen as a high school football "correspondent." He'd been the prep editor before that, and was glad to pass on guidance and advice for covering high school kids. Though I moved over to the morning daily in 1999, I still saw Brazz all over, and loved every moment of it.

Brazz, a native Texan, left the business when the Citizen folded but remained in Tucson, where among other things he served as a deacon in his church.

A memorial service for Brazzle is set for 11 a.m. Saturday at Grace Temple Baptist Church, 1018 E. 31st St.

Last night, in the wake of yesterday's shooting at the Washington Navy Yard that resulted in the death of 13 people, members of the media went all in on trying to understand the suspected shooter, Aaron Alexis (partially because of requests from authorities for more information on Alexis and partially because web traffic), resulting in this story-pushing tweet from The Wall Street Journal:

Suspect in Navy Yard shootings was skilled in first-person shooting videogames, says friend. http://t.co/pwKTaU5wsd— Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) September 17, 2013

The article itself is an interview of an associate of Alexis, who met him at a Buddhist temple. The two became fast friends, sharing a place to live, helping each other move and drinking together. Granted, the headline plays into the cultural narrative claiming that video games are the source of all our world's ills ("Another friend, Michael Ritrovato, a government worker, said he witnessed Mr. Alexis playing first-person shooting games online," which probably isn't the greatest information one could cherry pick from an interview, probably), but that's a rant for another time — probably in about three hours, when Headline News and its ilk lose momentum and they tie the release of Grand Theft Auto V to the incident, somehow.

Later on, an interview from HLN's Dr. Drew On Call tries to paint a picture of Aaron Alexis as someone who was mentally unstable, filled with rage, a quiet sociopath haunted by PTSD from his time aiding in rescue efforts after 9/11...only the show's guest, a friend of Alexis, didn't bite, noting over and over that he was beloved by the patrons of the restaurant in which he worked, and that Alexis was just as affectionate toward them. 

Everyone searches for answers during times like these, after tragedies in which a person goes on a shooting rampage that erases the lives of dozens. TV is blamed, movies are blamed, military service is blamed, video games and books and music are blamed...but even if those could be considered contributing factors, Alexis was just a guy who worked, drank beer, played video games and prayed at his local Buddhist temple.

We might not know what caused the shooting at the Navy Yard — not for some time, at least. But for now, it seems that Aaron Alexis, for all of his faults and issues, was a regular guy like the rest of us.

Which is, honestly, the scariest trait a mass shooter could have.

I like this short film called Connections, but it's not because of Jude Law. Really.

Besides showing two folks sharing some whiskey together from the same bottle in the middle of the London airport, it has a cool message about taking care of each other and being nice and taking some time once in a while to help your fellow man.

But this video also has a true story behind it about how Law helped a theater in Belarus relocate to London after the Belarus presidential elections in 2010.

From The Guardian:

The film Connection — which you can see above — is a metaphor for our story. It is about how we as members of the troupe bridged the psychological gap between two societies; how we attempted to accept the fact that we were persecuted in one and celebrated in another. Jude Law, who co-stars in the film, supported us even before we escaped from Belarus. He performed in a Belarus Free Theatre production at the Young Vic a month before the ill-fated presidential elections of 2010. The theatre welcomed us with open arms, and Belarus Free Theatre soon began to show its performances there. It is no accident that the Young Vic became our London home: it's an open, freedom-loving theatre, that listens keenly to others, with an acute sensitivity to theatrical innovation and freedom of creative expression. Belarus Free Theatre continues to show its performances underground in Minsk, but London is our second home, the place where our performances can be shown on some of the very best stages.

...

Be assured, we are not complaining about our fate, nor are we looking for sympathy. We are strong. We want to work, to tell stories, to build and develop creative projects. Connection is not only a metaphor for regaining a new home, but a sign of communication between people coming together with the desire to create and collaborate; strengthening each other's voice.

A new Guinness beer commercial roaming mad through the internets is getting lots of praise for not having babes in bikinis. Instead, the clip shows a group of guys playing basketball in wheelchairs with a surprise ending that could make you reach for the tissue along with the beer.

But all this talk about bikini beer commercials made me wonder if this lack of fratness was something new in the beer marketing world. Well, no, of course not. Take this old Hamm's beer commercial as an example — a man, his fishing pole and his bear. Evidently, Hamm's is a bear fav.

This week, three Tucsonans kicked off a new Kickstarter campaign for a documentary to challenge and dispel stereotypes we tend to have of the homeless.

About the Project:

In this documentary we wish to dispel the typical stereotypes people have of the homeless. The homeless are homeless for a variety of reasons, just as they represent a variety of backgrounds and situations. 'That could have been me,' will be a major idea the viewer should get from watching Shelter. Life's hardships occur to everyone, but in many instances they manage to derail the lives of our most vulnerable. It doesn't take much, and we believe that many in our society do not realize how easy it is to find oneself homeless. 'Seven out of ten Americans are one paycheck from being homeless.' We believe that a large portion of American society has alienated and placed self-imposed-blame onto the homeless. We would like this film to be part of a process of replacing that alienation and blame with humaneness and connectivity.

The folks involved in the project:

Bobby Burns, Executive Producer — Author of SHELTER: One Man’s Journey from Homelessness to Hope. In the late 1990’s Bobby was a Navy Veteran and teacher when he found himself homeless in Tucson. Out of his experience came a book, and an inspirational book and shelter tour around the United States. Remarkably, the nine-city-tour was via Greyhound Bus! Bobby is now currently a Student Services Advanced Specialist at Pima Community College in Tucson.

Tina Huerta (SurealWorks), Producer / Editor — Tina has been an active award winning Tucson filmmaker since 2005. Not 2B Toyed With not only received multiple awards and viewings in 19 countries, but managed to be displayed as an exceptional example in an Arizona International Film Festival panel. Rita of the Sky, a documentary revealing the hardship endured by a 50-year-old woman speaking her native language as she journeyed over 1,000 miles to Kansas, only to be locked up in a mental institution for 10 years because no one recognized her speech, is an example of Tina’s artistry as a compositional editor.

Steev Hise (Liminal Communications) — Director - Steev is a filmmaker, activist, and artist based in Tucson. His work encompasses documentary, experimental narrative film, video collage, and multimedia. Previous documentary work includes a film about the murdered women of Ciudad Juárez (On The Edge); Wild Versus Wall, created with the Sierra Club, examining the environmental effect of the border wall, and Radical Resources, a look at a now-defunct anarchist community center in Tucson.

I am a DISH Network subscriber, have been for more than three years now. And while it's not the greatest provider in the world, it gets the job done. Besides, I also get to yell HOPPAH! all around the house as I bask in the ability to record six shows at once and watch them in whatever room I choose.

I probably would not be a DISH subscriber, though, if it hadn't picked up the Pac-12 Network last year. Though the channel as a whole is pretty lame, it's what is necessary to watch whatever Arizona football and basketball games don't get picked up by the other channels. And that's important to me, both as a sports fan and as someone who gets paid to bitch about watch sports.

The Pac-12 Network is available on Cox and Comcast, too, so all of you Tucson-area non-satellite people (you know, the old schoolers) are also in luck.

Sucks to be y'all, DirecTV patrons.

The college football season officially begins tonight, with games on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, CBS Sports Network and the fledgling Fox Sports 1 (the channel formerly known as, but never watched as, Speed). So, Pac-12 fans, you're in luck, for at least one night.

But you don't get the Arizona-Northern Arizona game on Friday, nor do you get games involving UCLA or Oregon State (sorry Dan Gibson) on Saturday. And next week you'll miss out on six of the nine games involving Pac-12 schools.

So, why the heck haven't you switched over, like a lot of people (at least according to retweets from Pac-12 people and Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne would indicate) have already done?

Both the Pac-12 and DirecTV have said it's the other one that is at fault for why there's still no deal (and likely won't ever be a deal) between the entities. I say bullsh*t, which is the same thing that is said in a much more polished, but just as blunt take on the issue that Awful Announcing put together this week.

You can read that piece over and over, DirecTV subscribers. Meanwhile, I'll be running around my house, yelling HOPPAH! as I watch any and every game involving the Pac-12.

Thanks, caller Ray ! So we're not number two, but 19, because Greatist.com listed them in reverse alphabetical order. So, we switched places with Phoenix from last year and that makes Tucson 19th ... and I'm still left scratching my head ...

I can't help but scratch my head over the reasons that Tucson came in second in 19 is listed in Greatist.com's 2013 list of the 20 Best Cities for 20-Somethings, one spot above behind Washington, D.C., and right behind before third-placed Seattle.

New York City-based Greatist.com, described on its website as "the trusted health & fitness source for the young, savvy, and social," had this to say about Tucson:

Take a deeeeep breath. Tucson is one of the cleanest cities in the U.S., as measured by year-round particle pollution. That should come in handy when we’re panting heavily on a bike, hike, or simple jog. Surrounded by mountain ranges, this year-round sunny city is the place for outdoor activity aficionados, especially cyclists. A program called “Bicycle Boulevards” helps turn city streets into safe pathways for bikers. And unlike some of the other cities on this list (cough New York cough), Tucson’s not a place where we’ll end up blowing our whole paycheck: The city’s been rated one of the most affordable places to rent an apartment. Spend some of that extra dough at the restaurants, bars, and boutiques in the historic Fourth Avenue district.

By the way, last year, Phoenix came in at 19 (Austin came in second). But this year, Greatist.com says it had new criteria for this latest list:

" ... this year we expanded our scope: Does a city provide ethnic and cultural diversity? Can you walk in peace or are the streets packed with cars?"

I forgot to mention the stats listed for Tucson for the 2013 entry:

Average Temp (High, Low): 82, 55
Per capita Income: $20,460
Average Rent for 1-Bedroom Apt: $669
Population: 524,295
Median Age: 33

I love Tucson, but there's the reality of living in Tucson and I'm just not sure where the folks at Greatist.com got their info. Maybe from the hipster travel blog that came through one day, touched some adobe and granted us instant hipster status? Maybe.

First, in the description of the city and the air quality. During the winter, a climb up Tumamoc and look out over the city made the brown crud that hung over our streets instantly obvious before even seeing the Pima County air quality warnings that were issued on and off until some rain finally hit town. Then, the bike paradise designation. Folks who love to ride in Tucson love their bikes, but a good portion of them are constantly involved to making bike riding better and others have been outspoken about dealing with traffic tickets and almost getting smushed by those wonderful Tucson drivers. So, yeah, I'm not sure whose Tucson Greatist.com is talking about.

Looking at the stats, if they talked to a local they might learn a few things: Tucson, with a per capita income of $20,460, is the sixth-poorest large city in the country. One-bedroom rent at $669 might seem like a ganga by Washington, D.C., and Seattle standards. But the truth is that even folks making a little more than the per capita income listed are having a hard time making it. Tucson is a low-wage city with many folks having to smile and swallow when they say, "Well, at least rent is cheap."

Thanks, Greatist.com. You may want to warn those 20 somethings that some fortitude is needed during the summer since the average temp is definitely not 82 degrees come monsoon.

Cheers.

As you might have all recognized by now, Jan Brewer isn't actually making a move to implement some sort of crazy, anti-gay measure in this state, despite what your reactionary family, friends and neighbors have shared on Facebook. That's awesome—but what's not awesome is how these "satirists" are making everyone else look.

As noted last week by the Weekly's Mari Herreras, the "news" that our fair Governor was instituting a change to the public school curriculum that was intended to scare gay kids straight was, thankfully, false.

What's bothers me is that, by my count, this is at least the third "satirical" story that's caught a significant amount of fire in recent memory, with one being the Daily Currant's idea that Egypt issued a warrant for Jon Stewart's arrest, and roughly anything that Andy Borowitz writes for the New Yorker.

Now, while the Internet gives a voice to any idiot with a keyboard and an idea, the work that those idiots produce in the name of being "funny" distracts from real, thought-provoking ideas, becoming the noise that scrambles the signal.

Such as with the National Report, which sounds enough like the National Review to give the illusion of credibility; or the Daily Currant, which is one letter away from becoming the name of a legitimate news source and not a berry; or The New Yorker's Andy Borowitz, who is a damn fine writer, but should have the same rules applied to him regarding satire as sex offenders get regarding schools (not allowed within 500 feet of, regarded with disdain and disgust for his past acts, etc.).

Satire should be biting—it should call attention to the main issue by distorting reality; it should at least sound smart; it should be funny; and (most importantly) it shouldn't distract people from the point by stirring up outrage for page views.

And that's the problem with these websites —  they're too desperate for attention to realize that they're screwing themselves, their message, and incidentally, anyone who writes anything on the Internet

The Report's "Brewer Teaches the Gay Away" post sounded plausible because it was too busy citing CNN and Fox News as sources and falsifying quotes from (often deserved) liberal targets such as Brewer and Joe Arpaio to distort reality.

If you write satire just to screw with people and get pageviews, you're not just hurting your own image, but you're hurting the public's depiction of the medium you've chosen. For every savvy person out there who realizes that there are people who make things up on the Internet, there are 10 people out there who don't think critically enough about what they're reading to realize that it's bullshit. They screw up the curve for everyone else, causing people to further distrust what they're reading—and not in the "question everything" way, but in the "this is all lies, I have to follow the only folks I can trust" way.

These are the people who are de-legitimizing thought-provoking writing on the Internet, because they're too busy trying to put themselves and their work over to do real, actual good—or at least be entertaining, like The Onion.

In other words, the National Report and its ilk are responsible for Fox News.

Thanks, dicks.

Excited to accept job as afternoon host for @foxsports910 in Phoenix http://t.co/zkfMk6XwMx Will have much more to say on Mondays Happy Hour
— Jody Oehler (@jodyoehler) August 23, 2013

Jody Oehler, the host of ESPN Radio's Happy Hour afternoons for seven years and 2011 Best of Tucson winner, is leaving for Phoenix's Fox Sports 910 AM to host their afternoon show. The station recently took over University of Arizona sports, so Oehler's addition makes a lot of sense, even if it means he'll likely have to start pretending the Cardinals are worth discussing on a daily basis. Can't have it all, I suppose.

I understand the peril of having to come up with content on demand, so I'm sympathetic to the fact that every column by Sarah Garrecht Gassen isn't going to be scintillating (she definitely a sharp thinker and a good writer), but today, she takes on the troubling fact that ads seem to follow you around the internet these days. In her case, she looked up something on an online store selling suspenders AND NOW IT'S SUSPENDERS EVERYWHERE:

I search for recipes for quinoa (does anyone really know what to do with it?) and he’s there. The New York Times, the Washington Post, and many others. He’s in the corner, leaning against the porch rail, lasso rope in hand.

He even made a cameo as I tried to find the obituary of a friend’s relative. There he was, offering suspenders of condolence.

This man — not smiling but not smiling in that man model way — has been sporting his suspenders of ubiquity across my online life for days.

Don't worry, there's a larger context. This isn't just the story of the modern state of internet advertising and how something somewhat banal online annoyed a local editorial writer, but a larger question of what is really real online.

Our online selves have the potential to be nothing like us in real life — part of the allure, I suppose. We can “be” whoever we want to imagine ourselves in some ways, but in others we’re increasingly defined by the choices we make, or that are made for us by some magical computer brain....

Suspenders man is part of a larger phenomenon — how easy it is to create these landscapes of what we see, based on what we have already seen.

It’s a tomato soup and toasted cheese existence — my favorite lunch, consumed with remarkable consistency as a child. I know its gooey goodness, its familiarity. I know it will make me feel content because it has hundreds, if not thousands, of times before.

Contentment has its place. But it’s not a challenge. It’s not a thrill. It’s safe. There’s no way to be surprised or expand ourselves with words, art, music, food, experiences we don’t already know. What a limited existence.

She loses me somewhere in there, but regardless, someone should pass on to Ms. Gassen that she can dump suspenders man by clearing cookies, using a privacy mode or a dozen other ways. Or, as someone who makes a living via the ads that appear next to her content, just accept that ad folk are going to try to find largely inoffensive ways to sell you things based on your perceived interests. Sometimes a man in suspenders isn't anything other than that.