Page 11 - IAV Digital Magazine #428

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Michael Phelps To Race A Great White Shark For Discovery's Shark Week
by Kevin Skiver
There's naming something cryptical- ly and then there's naming some-
thing Phelps Vs. Shark: Great Gold Vs Great White, which is so blunt it circles past obvious- town and settles right back into vague-ville. Discovery is naming a Shark Week pro- gram this,although it's worth looking just to make sure that that title isn't for a SyFy feature (with a sequel called Phelpsnado: The Gilding). Apparently Shark Week wasn't enough of a meme for the Discovery Channel, so they decided to make humans race huge fish because ... rea- sons.
Discovery billed the event about as dra- matically as one would expect, stat-
ing in a press release:
“They are one of the fastest and most efficient predators on the planet: Sharks. He is our greatest champion to ever get in the water: Michael Phelps. 39 world records. 23 Olympic golds. But he has one competition left to win. An event so monumental no one has ever attempted it before. The world's most deco- rated athlete takes on the ocean's most efficient predator: Phelps V Shark – the race is on! Produced by Peacock Productions.”
The language here is interesting. For starters, Phelps has a lot of competitions left to win. He isn't a national discus champion yet and his chess game
needs a lot of work. Also, some people have probably attempted to out- race a shark. Under different circum- stances, but they probably tried. Some may have even won. Also, Discovery seems to be equating a "champion" with a "predator," which likely only applies to Kobe Bryant.
The capacity in which Phelps will be racing this shark is unknown, but Phelps did share an Instagram post of him cage-diving with a shark, which he called one for the bucket list. Unfortunately, Discovery is going to keep us in the dark until July 23, but until then it's probably safe to assume that this race was pretty "off- the-books."
CONTINUATION FROM PREVIOUS PAGE
citing finger-pointing by everyone involved with no one willing to accept responsibility for the listing or his pur- chase of a property only half the size he thought he was get- ting.
"I've been bounced back and forth since October," he said.
"I've gotten nowhere. I've con- tacted everyone I could and pretty much got down to the point where they say, 'I'm sorry to hear about this. There's not much we can do.'"
CBC News also contacted the owner of the company that sold the property. Sharon Corcoran sa id she submitted a claim on Manning's behalf to her insurer for errors and omis- sions.
However, Manning subsequently received a letter saying Corcoran an d her brokerage are not liable for the error.
"No offer of com- pensation shall be forthcoming on their behalf," the letter said.
Since CBC News contacted Patterson Law, which originally handled the pur- chase for Manning, it has been working with him to resolve the matter.
In an email late Wednesday after- noon, managing partner George
White said "we are pleased to advise that an agreement has been entered into between the parties which should result in a success- ful conclusion." It thanked CBC for bringing the matter to its attention.
Manning isn't sug- gesting anyone intentionally deceived him. A lawyer for Genworth, the com- pany selling the foreclosed property, said in a letter: "I don't think anyone knew of the second PID prior to the sale, including the purchaser and/or the Realtors."
But the first-time homebuyer said the whole situation has created a huge amount of stress since he can't sell the property as it currently exists and he doesn't have the money to buy what he thought was his backyard.
"It's something that could financially
cripple you," he said.
"I put so much money into my home to fix it up, to try to make it an income property."
It turns out the two pieces of land were sold as one when purchased by Joan and Steven Brundin in 1989.
After Steven
died, Joan sold the property, but only the lot with the house was trans- ferred to the new buyer.
She subsequently discovered the backyard lot had not been transferred, so she gave it to the new owner. He is the one who is now offering to sell it to Manning.
The experience has left Manning won- dering, who do you trust when buying a home?
"I don't know how this can happen to someone," he said.
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