Ga. Woman Has 1 of 2 Winning Lottery Tickets
A Georgia woman who bought just one ticket and used family birthdays and
lucky No. 7 to choose her numbers was one of two winners of the $636
million Mega Millions jackpot, the second-largest in U.S. history.
Lottery officials in Georgia identified the winner as Ira Curry, of
Stone Mountain, which is east of Atlanta. Curry will take a lump sum of
$123 million after taxes, Georgia Lottery chief executive Debbie Alford
said.
"She has not decided how she'll spend those winnings," Alford said at a news conference that Curry did not attend.
The other winning ticket was sold at a gift shop in San Jose, Calif. There winner there has one year to come forward.
Curry was driving to work Wednesday when an announcer on the radio
talked about the Mega Ball being 7. Curry knew that was her Mega Ball
number, so she called her daughter to check the ticket.
"Between joyful tears and laughter on the daughter's part, she relayed
to her mother that her mother had won the lottery," Alford said.
Alford wouldn't say where Curry worked or how old she was. A person who
answered the phone at a listing for Curry said, "We are not interested
in any publicity, thank you for calling" and then hung up.
Curry, her husband and other family members came to the lottery
headquarters to claim the prize, surprising lottery officials who
thought the winner may take some time to get their affairs in order
before coming forward.
Alford said she didn't think Curry believed she had won until lottery officials told her congratulations.
"She said she was just in a state of disbelief," Alford said.
The winning ticket in Georgia was sold at a newsstand in Buckhead, a
financial center of Atlanta about 10 miles from Stone Mountain Park. The
park features an 825-foot-tall mountain that covers about 1 square
mile. There are golf courses, camping, bike and walking trails there as
well as a carving depicting Confederate heroes of the Civil War,
including Gen. Robert E. Lee.
Curry's house is just a few miles from the park. A man who answered the
door at her home in a neighborhood of brick and stucco houses with
manicured lawns also said the family did not want to speak. The
two-story home had a two-car garage and a basketball hoop.
Neighbor Kaliah Ladler, 18, said the Curry family was humble.
"Some people get big headed but I don't think they'll get big headed. They will probably use it for good," she said.
Francis Boudreaux, who lives across the street from the Currys, said he
was happy for the family but sad because they will probably move now.
"I think they will start doing a whole lot of traveling," he said.
The ticket was sold at the Gateway Newsstand in the Alliance Center
building, which is home to a variety of offices, including lawyers,
financial services professionals and even the Brazilian Consulate
General.
The newsstand is a small, narrow shop with one register. It can hold about 10 people at a time and it is located near the lobby.
Young Soo Lee owns the store with her husband, Young Lee. She grinned as she arrived Wednesday morning.
"I'm so excited and so happy now," Young Soo Lee said. "I love my store and the customer."
Earlier media reports indicated the couple would receive a bonus for
selling a winning ticket, but Georgia Lottery spokeswoman Tandi Reddick
clarified that's not the case.
"They do have the distinction of being known as the lucky store now, and that's always great news for them," Reddick said.
Georgia winner comes forward for share of $648 million jackpot, officials say
Thuy
Nguyen cheers knowing he will receive a $1 million bonus for selling
one of the winning lottery tickets for the $636 Mega Millions jackpot.
A
Georgia woman came forward Wednesday to claim half of the $648 million
Mega Millions lottery jackpot, the second-largest in American history.Lottery officials identified her as Ira Curry, 56, of Stone Mountain, an Atlanta suburb. A person who answered the phone at that listing told NBC News: “We’re not interested in any publicity at all.”
According to a statement released by lottery officials, Curry said of winning: “It’s unreal. It’s like I’m still dreaming.”
Curry bought one of two winning tickets for the drawing Tuesday night. The other was sold in California, but the winner did not immediately come forward.
Georgia lottery officials said that Curry bought only the one ticket, a last-minute decision, and played a combination of family birthdays and her family’s lucky number, seven — the critical Mega Ball in the drawing Tuesday night.
“She was just in a state of disbelief,” said Debbie Alford, the Georgia lottery president.
Curry selected a single-payment option, rather than an annuity, and will take home about $120 million after federal and state taxes, the officials said.
Curry, who lottery officials said was driving when she heard about the winning numbers, did not appear at a Georgia lottery press conference. Lottery officials said they had spent a couple of hours with her and her husband, and that “she’s gonna take some time and think about it.”
Curry's employer congratulated her in a statement released Wednesday: "Aspen Insurance congratulates Ira Curry, a vice president based in Atlanta, on winning yesterday's Mega Millions jackpot. Ira is a valued long-term employee with Aspen, and the entire Aspen team is thrilled for her and her family. It could not have happened to a nicer person, and we are excited for her good fortune."
The winning tickets were sold at an office-building newsstand in Atlanta and at a shop in San Jose, Calif. And fortunes were very different for the two sellers. Because of differing lottery rules in their two states, one gets $1 million, while the other has to settle for publicity.
For selling a lucky ticket at his store, Jenny’s Gift & Kids Wear in San Jose, owner Thuy Nguyen will get a $1 million bonus. California lottery rules provide a retailer bonus of 0.5 percent of the prize, up to $1 million, a spokesman said.
Nguyen was called by state lottery officials Tuesday and rushed to his store. He said that he was so excited he wouldn’t be able to sleep.
“I feel good! I feel good!” he told NBC Bay Area. “I’m a lucky person.”
Nguyen, who bought the store only four months ago, said he wasn’t sure who hit the lucky numbers — 8, 14, 17, 20, 39 and Mega Ball 7 — but figures he probably knows them: “Mostly my customer here is my friend.”
Asked what he planned to do with the money, he said: “For my family, a house. And try to invest.”
David Tulis / AP
Owner Young Soo Lee basks in the attention at her newsstand on Wednesday in Atlanta.
Georgia retailers that have sold winning tickets in the past have also received giant fake checks to display.
“Of course, this location now has the distinction of being known as a lucky store, which is exciting news for them,” Reddick told NBC News in an email.
The owner of the Atlanta newsstand, which is in the upscale Buckhead neighborhood, is Young Soo Lee, 58, a Korean immigrant who said that she came to the United States in 1980.
There was some confusion at the Atlanta store after word arrived that one of the winning tickets was sold there. A CNN crew informed the store owner that she, too, was getting a $1 million bonus.
“Oh, my gosh!” she said, clutching her heart.
She told NBC News later that she was “a little mad” that she wasn’t getting the retailer bonus, but still excited that her store won.
In years past, according to news accounts, Georgia stores that have sold winning Mega Millions tickets have received a $25,000 bonus. Reddick, the spokeswoman, did not immediately respond to a question about when the bonus was phased out.
The winners beat odds of about 259 million to 1. The jackpot was the second-largest in American history, trailing only a $656 million draw last year, and could have approached $1 billion if no one had won.
In Nipton, Calif., so many people lined up to buy a ticket that the line stretched into the next state over, Nevada — because it’s one of seven states that don’t offer Mega Millions.
The surge of spending pushed the prize closer to the record U.S. jackpot of $656 million, won in March 2012 in a Mega Millions drawing.
The Mega Millions jackpot started growing Oct. 4. There were 22 drawings without winners before Tuesday night, Paula Otto, the game’s executive director, told The Associated Press.
Otto said that $336 million in tickets were sold for the Tuesday drawing, beating lottery officials’ expectation of $319 million.
“It was a fun run,” she said. “It was our first holiday run for either of the big jackpot games.”
Did you win? Numbers announced for $636 million Mega Millions jackpot
At least two tickets sold matched Mega Millions jackpot
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: At least two winning tickets were sold, one in California and one in Georgia
- The winning numbers are 8, 20, 14, 17 and 39, with a Megaball of 7
- The jackpot is so large in part because Mega Millions' odds rose with more numbers in play
- The jackpot is close to the record $656 million prize that was split in 2012
One winning ticket was sold in Georgia, and the other was sold in California, lottery officials said.
The winning numbers were 8, 14, 17, 20 and 39, with a Megaball of 7.
Strong sales boosted the
jackpot to $636 million from the previous estimate of $586 million,
lottery officials announced late Tuesday morning.
Mega Millions jackpot could be a billion
Former lottery winner Cynthia Stafford
Lottery agency tracks down winner
Psychiatrist: Lottery fever is good
That's tantalizingly
close to the U.S. record -- a $656 million Mega Millions jackpot split
by three winning tickets in March 2012.
This jackpot was so large
in part because Mega Millions, in a sense, became tougher to win. The
prize rises with each miss, and no one has won it since organizers
increased the pool of numbers to choose from -- making astronomical odds
even longer -- back in October.
In Florida, $8,000 worth
of tickets were sold every minute from 9 to 10 a.m. Tuesday, CNN
affiliate WFTS reported, citing lottery officials. Mega Millions tickets
go for $1 each, though buyers choose to pay an additional $1 for the
Megaplier option, which could multiply lesser, non-jackpot winning
prizes.
A lottery player in the Bronx joked the jackpot wouldn't change his life.
"It would just change my vocabulary. I would say, 'I quit' (my job)," he told CNN affiliate News 12 of New York on Tuesday morning at a gas station in the Bronx's Hunts Point neighborhood.
At Bunny's Superette in Manchester, New Hampshire, a clerk told CNN affiliate WMUR that Mega Millions sales were brisk Tuesday -- she'd gone through four rolls of ticket paper by noon.
One player there, Armand
Lesage, said he'd like to use the jackpot to escape snowy New Hampshire
for a warm vacation. But he'd also share with his large family.
"My mother had 19 of us, and that is a big family, and 14 are still living," he told WMUR.
The chance of winning --
never particularly bright -- got worse in late October, when Mega
Millions increased the drawing's pool of numbers. The odds of hitting
the jackpot, which were 1 in 176 million, are now 1 in 259 million.
You have more than 1,000 times better chance of an asteroid or comet killing you -- and that's using the longest estimated odds for the celestial bodies -- according to Tulane University.
"Winning the Mega
Millions is akin to getting struck by lightning at the same time you're
being eaten by a shark," Todd Northrop, founder of Lotterypost.com, told
CNN.
Previously, lottery
players chose five numbers, ranging from 1 to 56. It's now 1 to 75, but
the sixth, gold ball has fewer numbers from which to choose, as the pool
decreased from 46 to 15.
Mega Millions tickets
are sold in 43 states -- all but Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Mississippi,
Nevada, Utah and Wyoming -- plus the District of Columbia and the U.S.
Virgin Islands.
Winning tickets for $648M Mega Millions jackpot sold in California, Georgia
Lottery officials say a Georgia woman is one of two winners of the $648 million Mega Millions jackpot, while California officials are still waiting to hear from their winner.
The woman was identified as Ira Curry, of Stone Mountain, east of Atlanta. Officials say she bought one ticket and chose the numbers herself, using family birthdays and her family's lucky number, which is 7.
The winning numbers are 8, 14, 17, 20 and 39, with the Mega Ball number 7. The winners can choose to be paid over time or in a cash lump sum, Mega Millions Executive Director Paula Otto told The Associated Press. Based on the $648 million figure, the winners would receive $324 million each over time or $173 million each in cash.
“That’s not bad for a dollar or two investment,” said Russ Lopez, deputy director of communications for the California state lottery.
Otto said the lucky Georgia ticket in Tuesday's drawing was sold at a Gateway Newsstand in the affluent Buckhead area of Atlanta.
Newsstand co-owner Young Soo Lee grinned as she arrived Wednesday morning at the shop off the lobby of the Alliance Center office building. The newsstand -- a small, long shop with one register that can hold perhaps 10 people at a time -- is frequented by workers at the office building, which sits across the street from an upscale mall.
“I’m so excited and nervous too,” Soo Lee told Fox 5 News. She said she sold around 1,300 tickets at the store on the day of the drawing.
Young Lee, the other owner of the newsstand, said Wednesday that he hadn't heard anything official from the state lottery office yet. But still, he said, "this is good for me and my family," noting the publicity that the winning ticket would bring the store, even without a bonus.
Georgia Lottery spokeswoman Tandi Reddick said Wednesday that the owners would not get any bonus beyond the 6 percent commission all retail outlets received based on lottery sales.
"They do have the distinction of being known as the lucky store now, and that's always great news for them," Reddick said.
The California ticket was sold at Jennifer's Gift Shop, which sits along San Jose's tree-lined Tully Road, amid a cluster of Asian restaurants. The store's owner, Thuy Nguyen, told KNTV he doesn't know who bought the winning ticket, but it's likely someone he knows -- most of his customers are his friends. "I feel good! I don't even know, I can't sleep tonight," Nguyen told the station late Tuesday.
For selling a winning ticket in Tuesday's drawing, Nguyen will get $1 million, California Lottery officials said.
"You can understand why that retailer was smiling last night," state lottery spokeswoman Donna Cordova said Wednesday.
Reddick said the winner has 180 days to claim the prize in Georgia. The clock began ticking Tuesday.
Like the policies for store owners receiving bonus money, the number of days and anonymity for the winner varies by state, Otto said in an email to The Associated Press.
Otto, who is also the Virginia Lottery's executive director, said $336 million in tickets were sold for Tuesday's drawing -- they had projected $319 million.
"Sales were a little better than we'd anticipated," Otto said. "It was a fun run, it was our first holiday run for either of the big jackpot games."
The jackpot started its ascent on Oct. 4. Twenty-two draws came and went without a winner, Otto said. She also said a billion worth of tickets were sold during the run, earning the places that offer Mega Millions -- 43 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands -- a total of $300 million.
The jackpot resets to $15 million for the next drawing, which is on Friday night.
"For us, the main thing we'd like to get across is the level of excitement we saw all across California," he said. "At one point, we were selling about 25,000 tickets per minute. It's been an amazing experience. It's unbelievable."
Mega Millions changed its rules in October to help increase the jackpots by lowering the odds of winning the top prize. That means the chances of winning the jackpot are now about 1 in 259 million. It used to be about 1 in 176 million, nearly the same odds of winning a Powerball jackpot.
But that hasn't stopped aspiring multimillionaires from playing the game.
"Oh, I think there's absolutely no way I am going to win this lottery," said Tanya Joosten, 39, an educator at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who bought several tickets Tuesday. "But it's hard for such a small amount of money to not take the chance."
The Mega Millions revamp comes about two years after Powerball changed some of its game rules and increased the price of a ticket to $2 and added $1 million and $2 million secondary prizes. Mega Millions remains $1, and an extra $1 option has been expanded to allow up to $5 million as a secondary prize.
The changes in both games were aimed at creating bigger and faster growing jackpots. So far, it looks like it's working.
Armaan Kohli, Bigg Boss Season 7 participant, arrested for alleged physical abuse
Lonavla: Actor Armaan Kohli, a participant on reality show Bigg Boss Season 7, has been arrested by the Lonavla Police for alleged physical abuse.
The 41-year-old actor was arrested following a complaint by fellow Bigg Boss participant and actor Sofia Hayat alleging she was manhandled by Mr Kohli on the show which airs on Colors TV.
Mr Kohli has been booked under sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman) 506 (criminal intimidation) and 354 a (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code. He will be produced in Wadgaon Maval court near Lonavala today.
Mr Kohli allegedly hit Ms Hayat, 29, on the face with a mop which she was using to wipe the windscreen of a car during a task on the show. The British-Pakistani actress and model claims that Bigg Boss didn't air the footage of Mr Kohli hitting her since children also watched the show.
The Lonavla Police had collected the raw footage of the incident from the set of Bigg Boss in the afternoon and after it was allegedly established that Mr Kohli had hit Ms Hayat, the arrest was made late at night.
"A 6 feet two inches man hit me on my face with a stick. I thought he will be evicted but he was not. He is a very violent and aggressive person. He should not be given a second chance to hit any other woman. I don't want to teach him a lesson. I just want to do what is right," she had said in a statement.
"I want Armaan to go to jail for at least a month. He should be punished. The world needs to know that India will not tolerate this behaviour, India stands behind its women," she said.
Ms Hayat was eliminated from the show earlier this month. She had complained about Mr Kohli's behaviour towards her to show host Salman Khan, who told her to be more assertive with Mr Kohli.
The 41-year-old actor was arrested following a complaint by fellow Bigg Boss participant and actor Sofia Hayat alleging she was manhandled by Mr Kohli on the show which airs on Colors TV.
Mr Kohli has been booked under sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 504 (intentional insult to provoke breach of peace) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman) 506 (criminal intimidation) and 354 a (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code. He will be produced in Wadgaon Maval court near Lonavala today.
Mr Kohli allegedly hit Ms Hayat, 29, on the face with a mop which she was using to wipe the windscreen of a car during a task on the show. The British-Pakistani actress and model claims that Bigg Boss didn't air the footage of Mr Kohli hitting her since children also watched the show.
The Lonavla Police had collected the raw footage of the incident from the set of Bigg Boss in the afternoon and after it was allegedly established that Mr Kohli had hit Ms Hayat, the arrest was made late at night.
"A 6 feet two inches man hit me on my face with a stick. I thought he will be evicted but he was not. He is a very violent and aggressive person. He should not be given a second chance to hit any other woman. I don't want to teach him a lesson. I just want to do what is right," she had said in a statement.
"I want Armaan to go to jail for at least a month. He should be punished. The world needs to know that India will not tolerate this behaviour, India stands behind its women," she said.
Ms Hayat was eliminated from the show earlier this month. She had complained about Mr Kohli's behaviour towards her to show host Salman Khan, who told her to be more assertive with Mr Kohli.
Short Hills mall might consider security changes after fatal carjacking, manager says
A mall security guard blocks the entrance to a parking
garage by Nordstrom department store located at the Mall at Short Hills
after Sunday night's shooting and carjacking. The mall's manager said
today the shopping center has good security, but would consider making
changes.
(Robert Sciarrino/The Star-Ledger)
Police are searching for two assailants who fled in Friedland's silver Range Rover after shooting the Hoboken attorney in the head as he returned to his car with his wife around 9:10 p.m. The car was found today behind a vacant house in Newark, near Route 78.
McAvinue declined to comment on the shooting, which he said remains an active police investigation.
"Our number one priority is the safety of our customers and our store employees, and we are doing everything we can to cooperate with police," McAvinue said.
When asked about mall security, McAvinue said the shopping center officials would consider reviewing procedures in response to the shooting.
"We have a very good security program in place. Would we be willing to review that? Absolutely," he said.
The Mall at Short Hills uses an outside contractor, International Protection Corporation, to provide security for the inside and outside of the mall, McAvinue said.
International Protection Corporation, based in Illinois, is a large firm that provides security to malls and shopping centers around the country.
Donald Lantz, International Protection Corporation's senior executive vice president, declined to comment on the Mall at Short Hills shooting or security at the site.
The Mall at Short Hills, located in Millburn, has more than 150 stores and restaurants, including Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom and Saks Fifth Avenue. The mall is owned by Taubman, a Michigan-based retail company.
Violent crime is rare at the mall, though there have been a few robberies reported by shoppers returning to their cars over the last decade. In 2009, a man with a knife robbed and attempted to kidnap and carjack a 56-year-old Randolph woman leaving the mall. In 2006, two women were carjacked at gunpoint outside Joe's American Bar & Grill on the lower level.
The Mall at Short Hills shooting comes a month after a gunman entered the Garden State Plaza mall in Paramus. That mall was evacuated as a 20-year-old Teaneck man fired randomly into the ceiling before eventually committing suicide in a remote section of the building.
Holiday shoppers flocked to the Short Hills mall this morning despite the shooting. By mid-day, all of the mall's surface parking lots were filled and there were lines of cars waiting to get into the parking garages.
Inside, Christmas music played over the speakers and there was a long line of children and parents waiting to take photos with Santa Claus.
Several shoppers said they heard about the shooting, but it didn't keep them away from the mall.
"The place is pretty crowded. People are not staying home," said Helen Kay, of Warren Township, as she left the mall with several shopping bags.
Kay said the carjacking was tragic, but it didn't make her chose another mall to do her shopping.
"If you worry like that, you wouldn't come out of your house," Kay said.
Rick Hendriksen and his wife also listened to news reports of the shooting, but decided to make the trip to the mall from their home in the Somerset section of Franklin Township.
"It's horribly tragic, but you can't stop living," Hendriksen said.
Commando Challenge!!
One random day during OG lunch, Jon asked if I wanted to join Commando Challenge with him, Jaryl and Chang Horng.
They needed 1 more person to form a team (actually you can form a team
of however many you want but forming a team of 4 or more gives you a
team discount.
I was thinking "waaaa commando leh! OK ONZ!!!" hahaha :D
So I went home and signed up for it. Only to find that I didn't get the stupid early bird discount so I spent $100+ on it.
I wanted to check exactly how much I paid but UOB online banking
doesn't let you check transactions that happened more than 1 month ago
:/ lame.
Ok so from the time I paid up, I decided that I have to train for this shit!
We signed up for the Elite category, which is supposed to be a 12km
course with obstacles that commandos go through. I mean, it is planned
by commandos, seems quite credible.
Btw, both Jon and Chang are regulars... And all 3 of them are older than me. HAHAHAHA!
Our team name... Sigh. Jon came up with it. It is not something I
identify with but maybe the 3 of them do? But whatevs, we are a team!
And I'll say loudly and proudly that our team name is HUM SUP KIAS.
Training
So I tried training for it. I increased my training distance cause I
specialise in 10km and 12km is freaking long please!!!! So I ran 8km a few times a week, starting 3 weeks before today. Oops. I started training a bit late la.
LTA Jon Teo said that the obstacles confirm need arm strength one, so I did damn many push ups. Ok fine I didn't. I downloaded an app that encourages you to do push ups and used it once. My max rep was 15X8=120. I was quite proud of that one ^^
Yup, that's about all the training I did. Not too proud of my lack of training.
I was supposed to train pull ups but it's super mafan cause you need a
pull up bar. And the closest pull up bar is... Downstairs, in my
brother's room. Freaking mafan!!!
14th Dec 2013 Night
Wa my gosh I was SOOOO crazy nervous and excited that I couldn't sleep!!!
Plus I ate damn a lot so I was too full to sleep. You know? So
uncomfortable that cannot sleep, not the 'full until food coma' kind.
Shouldn't have eaten so much...... But I guess that's where I got my
energy for the actually challenge from :D
I was also super nervous cause of my lack of training. The running part,
I was quite confident I can keep up. But the obstacles.... Monkey bars
will kill me. And if you don't complete all the obstacles, you're no longer in the running for the prizes!!!!!
I don't race to lose.
Ya so I was quite scared I'd be a freaking burden to my team, my fellow Hum Sup Kias.
I was so scared that I dreamt about it. Apparently there is an
obstacle/are obstacles that require full immersion. In what? I don't
know. But anyway, I dreamt that it was this huge swimming pool and there were CROCODILES in them!!!
Wts! Damn scary!!! But the crocodiles only swim and attack straight. So
just move out of their way and you'll be fine. But there was so damn
many of them that you might move out of one's way and get eaten by
another one straight away. Freaking scary. I didn't know how I was going
to tell their gfs and families that they were eaten by crocodiles while
trying to complete the commando challenge :(
Pre-Commando Challenge
Our flag off is supposed to be at 10am. So we decided to meet at Commonwealth MRT at 9am so we can drop off our bags and all.
I woke up at 7am and decided that I needed more sleep. So I went back to sleep and when I woke up at 8.15am and checked my phone, Jon was freaking there already!!! HAHAHAHA!! He stays damn far in the east.
While I was still getting ready at 8.30am, Chang reached also. Seriously man, I don't know what's with these guys.
But cause I RAN out of my house to the bus stop, without even having
tied my shoe laces, I managed to catch the bus and I arrived at 8.50am,
before Jaryl - our detachment commander (DC). Muahaha!
Surprisingly, no one was late!! Jaryl reached at like 8.58am. Yes, I'm really quite amused about it. Hahahaha!
The commonwealth mrt station was filled with people going for commando
challenge. The start point is damn close by so yeah. But it's obvious
that they are going for it cause of their dressing. Some dressed until
freaking pro!! Like 2XU full tights, bandanas, muscles, sunnies, sports
bra only etc. And there Jaryl and I were, dressed in clothes that we
planned to just throw after the event. I really planned on throwing
everything except my $500 insoles. But actually they are quite old alr, I
might have to go change them soon.
From left: LTA Jon Teo, Jaryl Too Rich, Chang Sir and me.
We took a photo before dropping our bags under a random tree. Hahaha!
The bag drop was really random. But it's ok cause they were going to
transport all our stuff to the end point at Tanjong Pagar.
After we dropped our bags off, we then walked over to the start point where there were many people. On the way there, we met our first obstacle - a trench. Must jump over one ok!!
There are supposed to be 25 obstacles.
From the map, it looked like it was just start, run 12km then do the same obstacles that the Sprint people are going to do, which would be damn lame.
It's held along this thing called the Green Corridor that I never knew existed :/
Anyway, it wasn't the case!! There were obstacles at the start!! :D:D and there was this thing called the BOTTLENECK!! Jon or Chang said they didn't study Accounting I or IT or Biz Ops. Seriously. Poored (this term was popularised by and might even have been coined by LTA Jon Teo) man.
I met Jiang Hao there. Hahahaha freaking hall 14 team of 12
people?! And no girls. Their start time was supposed to be 9.30am but
they hadn't started and weren't even queueing yet when we met them at
like 9.20am. So my goal was not just to win commando challenge but also to catch and overtake them. HAHAHA!
Our race supposed to start at 10am right? We started queueing from 9.45am and we queued for 1 hour and 35 minutes. It was freaking 11.20am when we finally got to start!!! Omgosh. Poored.
By the time we were nearing the front, the queue became 2.5 times the length.
Those people at the back could have gone home or watched a movie or
went to eat breakfast or went to malaysia and came back before it was
their turn. It was THAT bad.
Commando Challenge 2013
When we started, 2 of the 6 obstacles at the beginning were closed already because they were spoilt :/ that's 1/3. Wts?!
So our first obstacle, which was actually the 2nd one on the course, was this mid-height wall (please forgive my lack of proper terminology when describing the obstacles) with rope loops for you to hang on to.
It was almost vertical. Or was it vertical? I kinda forgot. All I knew
is that I was DAMN FREAKING scared I won't be able to make it and I'll
be a freaking burden to the guys :(
But this is why the commando challenge was damn fun. You don't have a freaking choice
(actually you can skip the obstacle but wts?! You pay $100+ to skip
obstacles?! You can pay me half the amount and I'll help you skip all
the obstacles you want.) so you just have to eat up all your fears like it's a freaking creme brulee cheesecake from Cheelicious (refer to my previous post on my trip to JB if you don't get the reference) and do the freaking obstacle.
Throughout all the obstacles, the guys were damn nice!! They helped
me, waited for me and encouraged me! :') I wouldn't and couldn't have
done it without them.
So yeah, I had a boost for the first obstacle and like proper
arrangement of the rope loop so that my foot could fit in properly.
Disclaimer: other GUYS also needed help with the rope loop OK!
The 2nd obstacle was this wooden inverted V shaped things that you've
to climb on, over and then on the next inverted V shaped thing and
repeat 4 times. I couldn't find a photo of what it is but it's
something like the boards companies (like 100 plus) use to line the
finishing line of an event.
I edited a photo so show what it kinda looks like.
But it's wooden. And without the advertisement on them. And there were 4 of them.
It doesn't seem like much but they are quite spaced out and when you're on the top on one, the "valley" looks damn deep and treacherous.
After the first 2 obstacles, I already cut my finger. But it's a small matter so I just didn't bother telling anyone.
Then the 4th obstacle was closed cause there was this MASSIVE jam there. So our 3rd
obstacle was this rope ladder with solid, wooden rungs. You climb all
the way to the top then climb down the other side via this rope
chessboard.
It was something like that but only 1 side.
There were damn many rope obstacles and my conclusion is that it's cause rope is cheap. So just whack rope. Why would they not want to maximise their profits?
The 4th obstacle was just leopard crawling under a net. The grass wasn't very muddy so it wasn't much. But leopard crawling is damn tiring!!!!
5th obstacle: carry a tire and hop through more tires :D hahaha! The ground under the tires were muddy so people were losing their shoes and all. Hahaha it was funny.
That was the end of the first part of the obstacles. Unless you consider
jumping across a small drain like the one leading to the park at my old
house (all the way in the east), crossing a road and sliding down a
hill into a muddy area, obstacles.
That marked the start of the running. The green corridor is
actually really nice! But mega ulu?! I was sure they were either 1)
leading us illegally to malaysia or 2) leading us straight into a
shipping container so that they can ship us off to the rich people who
bought us.
Jon had a severely sprained ankle that had yet to recover so he led at a
pace that I was super comfortable with also. I'd say it's like a 6min/km pace? Chill one. And at that pace, we were overtaking walkers. Oh yeah! On our way to winning the freaking commando challenge!!!
BUT! Not everyone trained for this ah!!!! >:( hahhahaha!! So
we walked here and there. Ok fine we walked like half the way. That
sounds really sad but it includes the last part where the obstacles were
ok!!
On the way, there were many parts with huge puddles (I've no idea where from cause it didn't rain during the night) and some SUPER MEGA slippery, muddy grass. There were many Michael Jackson moves in all sorts of directions going on. Hahahahah!!
It's also super duper fun to just jump into the puddles and try to get the mud on the people around you. But most of the time, it all just lands back on yourself...
We walk and ran for about 50 minutes when we reached the next
obstacle! It's just some poles laying horizontally, making them steps.
the gap between each is quite wide la so you end up about 1 storey high?
When you reach the last pole, you're greeted with another pole. But
this pole is vertical. So it's like a fireman's pole thingy that you've
to slide down.
Yup it looks something like this.
Now imagine wearing curve cut fbts less than HALF the freaking length
of those guy's shorts and sliding down with your thighs holding you in
place. Yup, that was my story. Freaking abrasions man!!! Hahahaha! I didn't do it the right way and it hurt but that's ok. What's not ok was the screeching, freaking mega embarrassing!!!!
Ran some more then we reached another obstacle course where you just climb more horizontal poles, jump across this gap and then jump down the slightly-less-than-1-storey-high structure in 2 jumps (there's
another platform in the middle). After I jumped down the platform, I
thought it was quite bad for the knees and Jon said that should roll to
make it less harmful. So since we had to double back and do this
obstacle again, we had a pact that if I rolled, the rest of them will roll also. HAHAHAHAH!!
So we entered the area that was supposed to be where the sprint event was held - the main obstacle course.
The first obstacle was this really high inverted V wooden thing that had holes in them for you to crawl/climb up, across and down. Lame, so easy.
Then I can't remember if there was another obstacle but there was A LOT of walking. You can't really run cause
it was super muddy and mega slippery. It's quite retarded cause you
kept having to double back and then walk past the obstacles that you did
just now but in a different "lane". So many cheaters just crossed over the lane lines since there weren't obstacles or checkpoints at the ends anyway. But we were there to complete the course, so we did.
I saw Eileen manning a station! It was the leopard crawl station with a
super muddy pit below! The 4 of us decided that it'd only be fun if we REALLY leopard crawled across all the mud. Almost everyone else was just either walking on 4s or bending down and walking across. How is that fun???
So when we reached the station, there were orders to make sure that the numbers on our race bibs could no longer be seen by the time we were done with the obstacle.
Hahahaha!! Obviously it was damn fun and Chang was being an ass,
throwing mud at me! I ate some mud. I heard it's good for health.
Hahaha!!
Anyway, mission accomplished, all our race bibs were totally covered
in mud and we were officially the dirtiest people in the entire
course!!! Hahaha freaking fun please!
There was this barrel obstacle that was not that difficult.... But it was slippery? Not sure what the tough part about it was.
It looked like this but made with metal barrels and much wider.
Oh ya, the course was very open so you can see the people at the end all
the way from the start. But I couldn't even find JH! Wts. Means they
were actually quite fast. Damnit man.
I can't quite remember the order of the obstacles anymore.
At least 2 of them were spoilt. 1 was this see saw thing that I
suppose you just have to walk across. But when asked, the person
guarding it said that it was closed cause it was too dangerous.... What??
Another obstacle was closed cause the mattress under it exploded. WHAT?!?!?! Hahahahaha!!!
Thank God that was the monkey bar one!!! If not I'd not have been able
to complete an obstacle! And then I'll not be able to wear the
finisher's tee with pride.
There was this obstacle that required you to walk across the tires, like
at the beginning. Just that you didn't even have to carry anything this
time :/
There was also this one where you had to climb over and across this metal frame.
It's not that hard, it's just that the intervals are kinda far apart so
you either have to have really long legs or very flexible. Thankfully
I'm really flexible.... Hahahah!
There was a spider web thing that looks like the above but you're allowed to touch the ropes and there are many, many, MANY more ropes.
It really wasn't a difficult obstacle. It's really just an obstacle
there for the sake of slowing people down... Ok I guess that's what
obstacles are.
Then there was another leopard crawl thing. Not too creative I must say. And seemingly low budget.
Then we spotted this obstacle that required you to run up this slope then balance your walk across this beam that was above a huge container. Chang was like "if there's water inside, I will just jump in man!"
Turns out? There was NO water. Whuuuuut?? It was just an empty container that made you really NOT want to fall in cause it'd just hurt... Hahaha!
From here, it was just running back to the obstacle that we said we wanted to roll from.
On the way, I met Yong Jun! Hahahah! He was still excited and running
and all. Little did he know that he still had to go through the sprint obstacle course that took us 1 hour to complete...
We also met this crew guy who wanted to encourage us by telling us that there was a huge cold swimming pool of water at the end!!!! Omgosh
we were so mega excited!! Not that it was very hot (the weather was
PERFECT!!! No sun, no rain. P.E.R.F.E.C.T!) but we were covered in dried
mud. So yeah whooooo!! That was where the 'fully immersed in water'
part was!!
Hehehe! We reached back to the obstacle and Jon went first. He jumped and rolled, FREAKING COOL! Hahahah!!!
Then it was my turn. I actually wasn't sure what I was doing but I just
anyhow rolled over. In my head, I did Jon's ninja roll but I can't be
sure that that was what actually happened. Hahahaha!!
When I got up, Chang also got up!! So I missed his roll :( but he rolled. Jaryl, on the other hand, DID NOT ROLL!! RAWR >:( hahahahahah!
We then ran past the people who were queueing for the sprint event! They were scheduled to start at 2pm. Siaoooooo.
We turned the bend to reach the last stretch with 4 more obstacles when we spotted Shernise!! She's so nice and so supportive!!! I want to be like her when I have a bf ^^ hahaha.
So she took a post-mud-bath photo of us!
We were standing in the exact same formation as our pre-start photo!
Cool!! Hahaha! Our numbers can be seen here cause we decided that in
order to tag us or send the photos to us, they need to know what our
race bib numbers are! So we cleaned them. Smart right!! ^^ it's mainly
because we took this shot of us walking damn cooly in the mud. Hopefully
the photo(s) come out really nice :D
Then? Woohooo!! The water bath obstacle!!
I didn't see anything at first but I think Chang and Jon went ahead of
me and they were shouting about how freaking cold it was!!
I looked into the huge container and IT WAS FILLED WITH ICE!!!!! I.C.E. There was also water, enough for you to be fully immersed in. Omshit.
You don't realise it until you step in. IT WAS FREAKING MEGA BLOOODY CRAZY INSANELY MAD COLD!!!!!! Freaking freezing!!!!!
As you can see, we were scrambling across the 3 or 4 containers cause it was damn bloody cold!!!
I've no idea what the shit Jon was laughing at cause it wasn't funny.
Maybe cause at the start, it was still quite fun.
Thank God for the breaks in between so you can defrost for a split
second and you will have to use some energy so you can heat yourself up.
When we were out, omgosh our legs and feet were a bit numb already! It was THAT cold!!
Then??
THE NEXT OBSTACLE WAS EVEN WORSE!!!!!!!!
It was the same thing just that YOU HAD TO GO BELOW THE BARRIERS!!
They were so low that you really basically had to be flat and walk with
your hands under the water.
This is everyone's face when they finally managed to get the freak out of that container of torture! Hahahaha!
Hahaha Chang!!
This is the I-CAN'T-FEEL-MY-LEGS-AND-HANDS face! Hahahahaha! It was really SUPER bad.
Jaryl flying out with style siol! Hahahaha!
And me still stuck in that torture chamber.
I took a while to get out not because I liked the cold but because I was FROZEN.
Jaryl so nice, coming back to help me!
Bloody hell, one of the crew members kept pressing my head down from outside so I'd have to go lower into the water!!!! Ok he could have been doing so cause I was going to knock my head on the barrier but IT WAS SO FREAKING PAINFULLY PAINFUL!!!!
But actually he just came back to ask me to hurry up. HAHAHAH! Just kidding!!
I literally couldn't feel my legs and feet. I was screaming that
out the whole way to the next obstacle. It's quite embarrassing cause
there are a million people watching but there and then, that was the
only thing I could think about!!! It was damn painful!!!!!
I was so glad the ice was over, the next obstacle required super good hand, feet and eye coordination.
Such coordination was necessary cause you can no longer feel your feet so it had to be tackled using them eyes.
Some people's is better than others. Jaryl was damn nice, he just waited for me to be done, no pressure :)
Chang and Jon :)
Just when you thought "we are done!!!".....
THERE WAS ANOTHER ICE BATH THING OMGOSH OMGOSH OMGOSH!! ANOTHER
CRAWLING ONE!!!!! WTFREAK MAN! WHAT. THE. FREAK!!!!!!!!!!! Omgosh :'(
Just before going in, you look up and see that the finishing line is really after this last obstacle. Filled with adrenaline, you jump in and you realise...
F.R.E.A.K T.H.I.S B.L.O.O.D.Y T.H.I.N.G!!!!!!!!!!
You really step in, feel the froze bite biting your leg off, slam the rest of your body into the coldest teh bing ever and crawl/swim/wriggle as fast as freaking possible! Then you look up in anticipation for the end where you haul yourself up and find that you are not even half way there!!!!!! HELP LAH! (another phrase popularised by LTA Jon).
You also see what's ahead of you. TONS and TONS of ice and the mist from how freaking cold it is. It's actually quite scary cause then you wonder, am I going to make it? Then you relax when you realise that you'll be so well preserved that your family and friends will be able to identify you and if medical advances reach such a point, you might be able to be brought back to life in a few hundred years while looking as young as you currently do.
When I climbed out that that black hole of coldness and endless misery, I was so so so cold I was shouting all sorts of things I can no longer remember. I highly doubt they were in hokkien though.
There was ice freaking hiding in my sports bra!!!!! I was already
so damn cold and the ice still hid in there?!?!?! I am fully aware that
what I did was very UNglam but it wasn't a choice. I had to get rid of
the ice!!!! The spectators were laughing at me and there were cameras
pointed in my direction. I just hope that nothing was captured on film
:/ hahahah!
Then the 4 of us crossed the finishing line with arms around each other :')
The sense of achievement I feel is really quite great! It was so much fun!! None of the obstacles were crazy difficult but each required some strength of some sort - patience (the waiting is an obstacle, we are sure of it), strength, agility, endurance and resilience.
CONQUERED COMMANDO CHALLENGE!!!
I'm really happy I got to go with the 3 guys :) they were so much fun :):):)
Huge thanks to Shernise for the photos!!!
And for being my role model to be a good girlfriend! Hahaha :):)
I can say with gusto that I completed the Elite Commando Challenge!
Thank You Lord that I didn't die and I didn't give up. Thank You for
the awesome weather and for the friends I went with! It was an amazing
experience and I wouldn't have wanted to go with anyone else! :) thank
You that none of us were eaten by crocodiles. For You, Lord :):) <3
The Killers Announce Direct Hits, Set For November 11th 2013
Ten years ago today, on September 16th, 2003,
four young men from Las Vegas left America for the first time to play
their first ever London show,
appearing fourth on the bill at Camden's Dublin Castle. It was the first
time they had played a gig outside of North America.
Fast forward to 2013, that band - The Killers - has gone on to sell over 20 million albums worldwide, headlined festivals across the globe, performed at The White House, and picked up myriad awards. Each of The Killers' four studio albums has yielded some of the most amazing songs of the last decade, and, this summer, amidst various festival headlining shows all over the world, they reached a summit very few artists have ever managed: headlining Wembley Stadium to an ecstatic capacity crowd of 70,000. These shows - from their masterful showing headlining this year's Lollapalooza to their crowning achievement commanding the stage at Wembley - reaffirmed what millions everywhere already know: The Killers have released some of the finest, most memorable, most loved songs of the last ten years, and they're still going strong.
In celebration of their first decade together, The Killers will release Direct Hits on November 11th, 2013 on Island Records. A collection of singles from their four albums, plus two brand new songs, the album begins with the band's breakthrough hit - and first song they wrote together - "Mr Brightside." It follows the group from debut album Hot Fuss and its further singles, "Somebody Told Me," "Smile Like You Mean It," and "All These Things That I've Done," through Sam's Town's "When You Were Young," "Read My Mind," and "For Reasons Unknown," via Day & Age's singles, including massive 2008 hit, "Human," and last year's stunning Battle Born album singles, kicking off with "Runaways." A brace of brand new songs completes the set: "Shot At The Night" was recorded with M83's Anthony Gonzales, and will be released as a singleTOMORROW, September 17th via iTunes. The video for the song was directed by Robert Schober and was shot entirely in Las Vegas. "Just Another Girl," meanwhile, was produced by long time Killers collaborator Stuart Price, who produced 2008's Day & Age.
The Killers have also prepared a special Fan Deluxe Edition that will contain the Deluxe CD, a documentary DVD of The Killers career, as well as 5 10- inch vinyl records comprising all songs on Direct Hits.
The deluxe edition of Direct Hits will additionally feature the original demo of "Mr Brightside" and a new remix of "When You Were Young" by Calvin Harris, as well as Battle Born's "Be Still." Full tracklisting is as follows:
1. Mr Brightside
2. Somebody Told Me
3. Smile Like You Mean It
4. All These Things That I've Done
5. When You Were Young
6. Read My Mind
7. For Reasons Unknown
8. Human
9. Spaceman
10. A Dustland Fairytale
11. Runaways
12. Miss Atomic Bomb
13. The Way It Was
14. Shot At The Night
15. Just Another Girl
Deluxe Version Also Includes...
16. Mr. Brightside (Original Demo)
17. When You Were Young (Calvin Harris Remix)
18. Be Still
**Plus a never-before-seen Killers Documentary DVD**
The Killers are: Brandon Flowers (Vocals), Dave Keuning (Guitars), Mark Stoermer (Bass) and Ronnie Vannucci (Drums).
MORE INFORMATION:
http://directhits.thekillersmusic.com
Fast forward to 2013, that band - The Killers - has gone on to sell over 20 million albums worldwide, headlined festivals across the globe, performed at The White House, and picked up myriad awards. Each of The Killers' four studio albums has yielded some of the most amazing songs of the last decade, and, this summer, amidst various festival headlining shows all over the world, they reached a summit very few artists have ever managed: headlining Wembley Stadium to an ecstatic capacity crowd of 70,000. These shows - from their masterful showing headlining this year's Lollapalooza to their crowning achievement commanding the stage at Wembley - reaffirmed what millions everywhere already know: The Killers have released some of the finest, most memorable, most loved songs of the last ten years, and they're still going strong.
In celebration of their first decade together, The Killers will release Direct Hits on November 11th, 2013 on Island Records. A collection of singles from their four albums, plus two brand new songs, the album begins with the band's breakthrough hit - and first song they wrote together - "Mr Brightside." It follows the group from debut album Hot Fuss and its further singles, "Somebody Told Me," "Smile Like You Mean It," and "All These Things That I've Done," through Sam's Town's "When You Were Young," "Read My Mind," and "For Reasons Unknown," via Day & Age's singles, including massive 2008 hit, "Human," and last year's stunning Battle Born album singles, kicking off with "Runaways." A brace of brand new songs completes the set: "Shot At The Night" was recorded with M83's Anthony Gonzales, and will be released as a singleTOMORROW, September 17th via iTunes. The video for the song was directed by Robert Schober and was shot entirely in Las Vegas. "Just Another Girl," meanwhile, was produced by long time Killers collaborator Stuart Price, who produced 2008's Day & Age.
The Killers have also prepared a special Fan Deluxe Edition that will contain the Deluxe CD, a documentary DVD of The Killers career, as well as 5 10- inch vinyl records comprising all songs on Direct Hits.
The deluxe edition of Direct Hits will additionally feature the original demo of "Mr Brightside" and a new remix of "When You Were Young" by Calvin Harris, as well as Battle Born's "Be Still." Full tracklisting is as follows:
1. Mr Brightside
2. Somebody Told Me
3. Smile Like You Mean It
4. All These Things That I've Done
5. When You Were Young
6. Read My Mind
7. For Reasons Unknown
8. Human
9. Spaceman
10. A Dustland Fairytale
11. Runaways
12. Miss Atomic Bomb
13. The Way It Was
14. Shot At The Night
15. Just Another Girl
Deluxe Version Also Includes...
16. Mr. Brightside (Original Demo)
17. When You Were Young (Calvin Harris Remix)
18. Be Still
**Plus a never-before-seen Killers Documentary DVD**
The Killers are: Brandon Flowers (Vocals), Dave Keuning (Guitars), Mark Stoermer (Bass) and Ronnie Vannucci (Drums).
MORE INFORMATION:
http://directhits.thekillersmusic.com
Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston wins Heisman Trophy
New York (CNN) -- Florida State University
quarterback Jameis Winston was awarded the 79th Heisman Trophy on
Saturday, an honor that comes amid lingering questions about a rape
allegation that has cast a pall over his claim to the coveted bronze
statue.
Heisman finalist finds special friendship
Lawyer: Winston case a 'complete failure'
Winston, who was considered a frontrunner by many college analysts, led the top-ranked Seminoles as a freshman to an undefeated regular season and a chance to play for a national championship in January.
"It's a blessing. I don't
even know what's going on right now, honestly. I'm just so happy. I'm
overwhelmed," Winston told an audience during the presentation in New
York.
But even as Winston
became only the second redshirt freshman to win the Heisman, questions
swirled about a rape allegation made against him more than a year ago
but made public only last month.
Heisman finalist finds special friendship
Lawyer: Winston case a 'complete failure'
Prosecutors declined this
month to file a charge against Winston, but a news conference by his
accuser's lawyer the day before the Heisman presentation kept fueling
the story.
Asked about the case on
Friday, Winston -- who has maintained the sexual activity was consensual
-- told reporters: "I knew I did nothing wrong."
On Saturday, shortly
before being awarded the Heisman, he told the audience that he wanted
people to know that he was a family man who loved his life and his
college experience.
"People just got to know I love life," he said.
Winston recorded 3,820
passing yards and 38 passing touchdowns this year. He is only the second
redshirt freshman to win the Heisman. The first freshman winner came
last year, when Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel took the honor.
At age 19, Winston is
the youngest player to win the Heisman. He also is the third FSU player,
behind Charlie Ward and Chris Weinke, to claim the honor.
Winston led Florida
State to a 13-0 regular season, setting the Seminoles up to take on the
Auburn University Tigers in the BCS National Championship on January 6.
The game will be played on Winston's 20th birthday.
Winston, who received
686 first-place votes according to Heisman trustees, finished ahead of
Manziel, Auburn's Tre Mason, University of Alabama's AJ McCarron,
Northern Illinois University's Jordan Lynch and Boston College's Andre
Williams.
Winston's Heisman honor
comes one day after attorney Patricia Carroll called on Florida
officials to investigate how authorities in the state capital handled
the now-closed investigation into the alleged sexual assault of her
client.
Carroll accused the
Tallahassee police detective who handled the case of spending time and
resources investigating her client instead of Winston.
More than half of the
248-page investigative file authorities released to her consisted of
records related to her client's telephone, social media and other
records, Carroll said. She said only 11 pages of the filed contained
references to Winston, and some of the material released by authorities
differed from those obtained by the woman's family.
The lawyer also
questioned how investigators handled and tested evidence in the case and
said authorities failed to get warrants to examine video surveillance,
Winston's apartment and other potential evidence that could have proven
crucial to the case.
Earlier this month,
Willie Meggs, the state attorney for the 2nd Judicial Circuit, which
includes Leon County and Tallahassee, announced that Winston would not
be arrested. A key factor was the accuser's recollection of the events
during the December 2012 incident, in which she alleged Winston raped
her after she had been drinking with friends at a Tallahassee bar,
according to Meggs.
"We have a duty as
prosecutors to only file ... charges if we have a reasonable likelihood
of a conviction," Meggs said at the time. "We did not feel we could meet
that burden."
The prosecutor said investigators did not have even probable cause to arrest Winston, which requires a low standard of proof.
Winston's attorney, Tim Jansen, has said his client had consensual sex with the woman.
Florida Attorney General
Pam Bondi has spoken with the head of the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement about the possibility of an inquiry, but no formal request
has been received, spokesman Jenn Meale told CNN on Friday.
According to police
documents, the woman told investigators she had been drinking with
friends at a Tallahassee bar called Potbelly's. She said an unknown man
gave her a shot glass of liquid before they left the bar. She said she
did not remember much of what happened next but told investigators she
remembered winding up in a ground-floor apartment, where a man took off
her clothes and had sex with her despite her objections. She reported
the alleged assault to campus police that night.
The woman came forward a
month after making her initial report to accuse Winston, but
Tallahassee's interim Police Chief Tom Coe said last week that she
"broke off contact" with investigators in February and said she didn't
want to go forward with the case.
The woman's family has
claimed that a detective had warned her attorney that Tallahassee is a
"big football town" and that her life could be miserable if she pursued
the case.
Carroll said the woman
is not contemplating any civil litigation and is focusing on finishing
final examinations at Florida State under special accommodations made by
the school.
She said the woman's sorority has been subjected to threats and has had some tires slashed.
Jameis Winston wins Heisman
More from ESPN.com
Jameis
Winston has been through a lot over the last month, but he became the
youngest ever recipient of the Heisman Trophy on Saturday, writes Ivan
Maisel. Story
• ACC blog • Nation blog
He is the second straight freshman to win the Heisman after Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel last season.
"I cannot explain the feeling that I have inside right now," Winston said. "I'm so overwhelmed. It's awesome."
When his name was announced, he popped from his seat and quickly made his way to his mom and dad for hugs and kisses. He smiled and laughed through most of his acceptance speech.
He talked about trusting in the "process" on the field and in life and "after all the things I've been through this past month." He got choked up a bit when talking about his parents.
"When you see your mom and you see your dad and they've been struggling through this whole process and now you see a smile on their face, it comforted me," he said later.
Winston ran away with the ballot, earning 2,205 points. Alabama quarterback AJ McCarron was second with 704 points. Northern Illinois quarterback Jordan Lynch was third with 558 points.
Boston College's Andre Williams was the top running back, coming in fourth with 470 points. Manziel was fifth with 421, while Auburn Tigers running back Tre Mason was sixth with 404.
The margin of victory was the seventh largest in Heisman history. Winston earned 668 first-place votes while McCarron was first on 79 ballots.
Winston was the overwhelming favorite to win the award after a sexual assault complaint against him in Tallahassee, Fla., was closed without charges being filed earlier this month. The controversy may have shown in the Heisman voting -- Winston was left off 115 of the 900 ballots entirely.
"Everyone has their own opinion," Winston said. "It's basically a numbers game, and I was blessed to have the majority vote."
The Heisman Trust mission statement says: "The Heisman Memorial Trophy annually recognizes the outstanding college football player whose performance best exhibits the pursuit of excellence with integrity."
"I really believe that people actually just trusted me. People obviously saw us play. But that comes from my team, too," Winston said.
Winston set freshman records by passing for 3,820 yards and 38 touchdowns while leading No. 1 Florida State into the VIZIO BCS National Championship against Auburn.
SportsNation: Winston Wins Heisman
Jameis Winston has won the 2013 Heisman Trophy. Will he win it again in 2014? Vote »The Alabama native is on pace to break the NCAA record for passer efficiency rating (190.1). He also leads the nation this season in adjusted QBR (90.9) and yards per attempt (10.9).
"I can't explain how truly intelligent he is," Florida State coach Jimbo Fisher said. "He always wanted to know why he had success or why he had failure so he could either repeat it or fix it."
Winston Earns Heisman in a Runaway
Julio Cortez/Associated Press
Jameis Winston set Football Bowl Subdivision freshman records for touchdown passes, with 38, and passing yards, with 3,820.
By GREG BISHOP
Published: December 14, 2013
Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston spent the past week on college
football’s postseason awards circuit, cycling through banquets and red
carpets and trophy presentations. That culminated Saturday in Manhattan,
where Winston won the Heisman Trophy, his sport’s pre-eminent honor.
Jameis Winston of Florida State was not charged after a rape accusation that had clouded his season.
Wherever Winston traveled, an accusation of rape clouded the
celebration. Florida officials said this month that Winston would not be
charged in the year-old case. But as the Seminoles wrapped up an
undefeated season and their spot in the Bowl Championship Series title
game, scrutiny of the investigation only intensified.
Last December, a college student accused Winston of rape after a party.
The accuser’s lawyer came forward a year later to say that the
Tallahassee Police Department had pushed her not to press charges, and
the lawyer held a news conference Friday to skewer the investigation.
Winston’s lawyer has said that Winston and the accuser engaged in
consensual sex.
Winston wrapped his arms around the Heisman Trophy late Saturday, after
an hourlong television special in which the only suspense centered on
how much he would win by. The assembled cheered loudly, and Winston
hugged his parents and thanked God.
At his news conference, Winston said that he had expected to win but
that doubt had remained until he heard his name called. Someone asked
about the vindication he had spoken of earlier in the week.
“I really don’t want to talk about that right now,” Winston said,
“because this is a moment I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
All the off-field scrutiny appeared to have had a minimal impact on the
actual vote, although 13 percent of the 928 voters left Winston off
their ballots. He received 668 first-place votes and secured 2,205
points, 1,501 more than A J McCarron, the Alabama quarterback who came
in second. It was the seventh-largest victory margin in Heisman history.
The accusation played a minor role in Saturday’s proceedings and a
larger one in the lead-up to them. On Friday, Winston settled in front
of a bank of television cameras at a pre-Heisman news conference. His
lawyer stood behind him, as did university officials. While Winston
smiled and answered questions, they watched, with arms folded. While
Winston sidestepped questions about the investigation like wayward
defenders, the officials scolded reporters for broaching the subject.
It made for an awkward dance. At one point, after three questions
related to the accusations, Kerwin Lonzo, a Florida State sports
information official, told reporters that Winston would answer only
questions about football and the Heisman. A reporter asked whether
character should be considered in the selection of the winner, and Lonzo
snapped: “Next question. Only football.”
While the five other finalists switched tables during the interview
session, Florida State officials whisked Winston down the nearest
hallway. He eventually returned. They chalked up the missed time to
confusion.
At the second table, someone asked Winston if he wanted to tell his side
of the story. It was among the first direct questions he had taken
since the accusation surfaced.
“I knew I did nothing wrong,” he said. “That’s why I knew that I could
respect the process and I’d eventually be vindicated. It was more about
me being silent for my family, because I didn’t want to put my family in
those situations.”
So it went for Winston, who set freshman records this season in the
Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of college football, for
touchdown passes (38) and passing yards (3,820). Florida State won each
of its 13 games by double-digit margins. The Seminoles will play Auburn
on Jan. 6 in Pasadena, Calif., for the national championship.
That was no longer the sole focus this season. Winston and Florida State
tried to move on after Dec. 5, when a Florida state attorney, William
N. Meggs, held a news conference to say Winston would not be charged.
Meggs said the accuser had given inconsistent statements. He said he did
not have enough evidence to go to trial.
CODY WALKER « Fast and Furious » : Paul Walker remplacé par son frère ?
Selon le Daily Mail, le frère de Paul Walker, Cody Walker, aurait été approché par les studios Universal pour tourner les scènes manquantes de Fast & Furious 7 dont la production est s'est arrêtée depuis la mort de Paul Walker, le 30 novembre et enterré samedi à Los Angeles.
Cody Walker, âgé de 25 ans, qui a travaillé comme cascadeur sur certains tournages, serait à même de combler le vide créé par la mort de Paul Walker, écrit le tabloïd britannique. Les studios Universal ont cessé la production après l'accident, mais ils se sont rapidement rendu compte qu'ils avaient besoin de quelqu'un de ressemblant à Paul Walker pour terminer le film. Le Hollywood Reporter indique que Chris Morgan révise le scénario écrit pour Paul Walker.L'idée serait de filmer Cody Walker de dos, depuis une certaine distance, et s'il faut le filmer de face, des images de synthèse seront utilisées, écrit le Daily Mail. Le quotidien poursuit en expliquant que Universal Studios va aussi travailler avec la famille de Paul Walker pour faire sortir le personnage de Brian O'Connor de la série Fast & Furious.
