The Weekly Poll
Results
The 'Take Me out to the Ball Game' Edition
"For lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land."
Ernie Harwell, radio and TV voice of the Detroit Tigers for 42 years and Baseball Hall of Fame member, would intone those words at the start of the first Spring Training game broadcast every year... Ah! Baseball's back! Batter Up!
Are you a baseball fan and, if so, who's yer team? (anecdotes welcome)
Sally(Pal) leads off with...
The PGS - that's MY team!
I just took that picture at his first "game" of the season last week. His team is named, "The Dawg's" because they are sponsored by a Kosher Deli! (Don't you just love it?)
(Needless-to-say, he is the apple of my eye...)
Little League baseball! I love it!
Vic in Alaska bats second...
Red Sox...Bo Sox....Our Sox
Saw then first when I was seven, family took the long ride from the "R" pronouncing side of the state, you know...past where Woosta becomes Worcester. Mom had a crush on Carl Yastrzemski ...I remember on lazy summer days listening to the game as I snoozed on the lawn .I finally had a chance to see them play the Yankees in Yankeeland....September 9 2001....we lost.......
I can not describe the elation I felt when we won the World Series..against all odds, pulling wins out of our ass game after game till at last...at long last....we won
Boy from the Bronx (SallyP's son-in-law) predictably writes...
Born and bred in that infamous borough of NYC called the Bronx, I have been a lifelong Yankees fan. I remember a time when only 20,000 fans attended home games. That's when the team lost 80-90 games a season. I also relish the championships and the history of this proud franchise. I'm the Boy from the Bronx, and a proud fan of the Bronx Bombers.
Charlie in the 'clean-up' spot says...
Though I live near Cleveland now, I lived near LA as a kid, and my earliest baseball memories are of the 1959 World Series, won by the Dodgers in six games over the White Sox. A couple of years later my family moved back east, but I have remained partial to the Dodgers, who have given me more to cheer for over the years than the Indians have. The Tribe finally had their moments in the 90s (but came up a bit short). I see now that though the season is young, the Dodgers (as of May 8), have the best record in baseball, and the Indians are second worse. That said, I don't follow the sport as closely as I used to. Back in the 60s I used to, from Cleveland, listen to Dodger games on a vacuum tube radio by picking up the station of the opposing team. On a good night I could get Atlanta, St. Louis, and even Houston. Another memory I have of that era is going to a game at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, and watching the Pirates get mowed down on a three hitter by the Giants' Juan Marichal. That was in the "Year of the Pitcher," 1968. The memory is pretty distant, of course, but as I recall the final score was 3-0 Giants, and I got to see Willie Mays, who I vote for as the
greatest player of all time, hit one of his 660 career home runs.
Ah, 1968! Didn't my Detroit Tigers win the World Series that year? Why, yes! I think they did! And Tiger pitcher Denny McClain won 31 games, too. The last pitcher to win at least 30 in a season...
Sylvia in Boston in tune with Vic writes...
Red Sox Forever! The team of the Splendid Splinter, Ted Williams, who now has the third tunnel under Boston Harbor named after him; Carl Yazstremski, the namesake of my nephew; the only practicing MLB knuckleball pitcher today, Tim Wakefield; the 2004 team that broke the Curse of the Bambino (Babe Ruth) and won its first champeenship in 86 years; and of course the hand-operated Green Monster scoreboard in history-soaked Fenway Park.
Carlton Fiske . . . Rico Petricelli . . . Wade Boggs . . . Jim Rice . . . Nomah . . . Pedro Martinez . . . Big Papi David Ortiz . . . Iron Captain Jason Varitek . . .
I'll never forget the 2004 playoffs when starting pitcher Curt Schilling, having emergency surgery on the tendon in his right ankle, kept on pitching without a single complaint or "Poor me." While the blood stain on his sock grew and grew. When the chips were down, Curt carried the team on his back, to the surprise of no one. That is the kind of devotion the team inspires and that Red Sox Nation will always remember.
Of course, woe to the player who asks to be traded to the archenemy, the New York Yankees (see above re: Bambino). After the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, center fielder and star hitter Johnny Damon did exactly that. On the Yankees' next visit to Fenway Park Damon got thunderous boos in his first time in a Yankees uniform. That was three years ago. He is STILL booed there today.
We remember devotion, service, and loyalty, and forgive honest mistakes, and slumps, but we don't forgive out-and-out turncoats!
Understandably so, Sylvia!...
Joe S. about says it all fer me...
My team is the Detroit Tigers! "How 'bout them Taggers!" is the proper Springtime greeting in Michigan. It's not a question, it's a statement. I'm not much of a fan anymore, the "juicers" have turned me off, but my number two son is still a big fan, bless his heart, and he (and his wife) love them Taggers.
Back when the games were on the radio was a magical time. Back when I was a kid. I would go to my Uncle Art's house in the summer and a game was always on the radio. I should say radios, because there was a radio in the basement, the kitchen, the living room, the front porch and in the bathroom window, which was at the back of the house. Wherever you would go the game was on. If the Tigers weren't playing, then he would have one of the Chicago games on.
I learned about far-off mystical places like St. Louis and Cincinnati and Brooklyn on the radio. I learned about larger-than-life men like Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Pee Wee Reese, Yogi Berra, Willie Mays, Jackie Robinson. I learned about stars of the past like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb and Schoolboy Roe. I learned about Mr. Tiger, Al Kaline, and of course I learned about Ernie Harwell.
Baseball on the radio was magical. TV games are not the same, something's missing. I guess it's imagination.
Baseball is the only sport I can enjoy listening to on the radio. I miss Ernie!
And now, because dissent is one of the things that makes this country great is
Adam in NoHo...
No, gods. I never liked sports as a kid, they were generally pre-empting something I wanted to watch on TV (Go Clock! Faster! Faster!
I hate sports in general. The trumped-up sense of teamwork and arbitrary competition are truly distasteful. As for baseball specifically- it's just sooooo boring. The only thing slower and less interesting is golf (which isn't a sport, btw, and barely qualifies as a game). In todays ADD-addled culture I'm surprised this sport persists in it's current form.
Thanks, Adam! Not to worry. I still love ya! But, no hotdogs and apple pie for you, though, haha...
Well, that's it! Great responses, one and all... Yer the best!... And play ball!
BadToTheBoneBob
New Question
The 'Space, the final frontier' Edition...
Star Trek opened this weekend with strong reviews and grossed 76.5 million dollars.
Obviously, there is no lack of support for the Sci-If movie genre..
Set Phasers To "Ka-Ching" - CBS News
Meanwhile, with little notice or fanfare, the space shuttle Atlantis was launched Monday on what has been said is a critical and dangerous mission to repair the Hubble telescope in order to keep it operation for 5 more years until its replacement is ready. NASA's 2010 budget is 18.7 billion dollars which includes a 5% increase under Obama's stimulus plan.
High stakes in NASA's last visit to Hubble
Do you support continued space exploration programs?
Send your response to
Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Harry, Louise and Barack (nytimes.com)
The fact that the medical-industrial complex is trying to shape health care reform rather than block it is a good omen. But I still won't count my health care chickens until they're hatched.
Robert Evans: 5 Great Men Who Built Their Careers on Plagiarism (cracked.com)
As anyone here at Cracked will tell you, without even the slightest provocation, writing is hard. When the strain of coming up with new material becomes too great to bear, a writer has two options: He can pepper his work with penis jokes and pictures of cute animals (see our entry on T.S. Eliot, below), or he can steal his words from a better writer.
Emma Thompson: conscience, celebrity and me (timesonline.co.uk)
The actress on her simple rules for how the famous might carry out their charitable work without the whiff of opportunism.
Froma Harrop: Better Service in Bad Times? (creators.com)
As tornadoes, thunder and lightning rampaged across the Heartland last week, the crowds piled up at Chicago's O'Hare Airport. Every bar stool had someone on it, and restaurant lines stretched down the corridors.
Pamela Rogow: For This Working Mom It's a Real Balancing Act (womensenews.org)
Shana Miller Kennedy has figured out how to balance work and family, quite literally. But the founder of one of the country's few circus-arts schools cautions against multitasking. A good juggler must have total focus. Babysitters also help a lot.
SUSAN ESTRICH: A Different Life (creators.com)
You expect some people to write a book. You see their name when you're scrolling titles or actually looking at books, and you say, of course he or she would write a book. That was not my reaction when I saw that Quinn Bradlee has a new book out.
Rosanna Greenstreet: Q&A (guardian.co.uk)
Fashion designer Paul Smith, on falling in love, bad jokes and missing out on a good education.
Stephanie Lyons: Interview with Emily Wells (afterellen.com)
The talented musician who fuses hip-hop and classical music talks about toy instruments, turning down a record deal as a teenager, and lucky charms.
Dominic Wells: Inside the Pixar dream factory: going Up at Cannes (timesonline.co.uk)
Next Wednesday, when the Cannes Film Festival rolls out its red carpet for the grand opening film, no actress will flash her megawatt smile. For the first time in its 63-year history, it has chosen to open with . . . a cartoon. Mon dieu! And not just a cartoon, but an American cartoon - in 3-D. Quelle horreur! Has this most intellectual and auteur-orientated festival lost the plot?
Sarah Witness: Interview with Sara Ramirez (afterellen.com)
The 'Grey's Anatomy' star talks about Hollywood, the foundation she started, sexual fluidity, and playing Callie.
RACHEL BEEBE: Sheetal Sheth Tells All (curvemag.com)
She wooed audiences-and sultry Bollywood sensation Lisa Ray-in 'I Can't Think Straight.' Now, Sheetal Sheth takes us behind the scenes of the steamy lesbian romantic comedy.
David Bruce: Wise Up! Mothers (athensnews.com)
Even very good mothers have bad moments. Author Molly Magid Hoagland once read some old journal entries that her late mother had made. In one entry, her mother severely criticized herself because she had yelled at Molly, who was then 5 years old, so hard that Molly was terrified and used her hands to cover her ears. Her mother wrote, "I will never do that again." Fortunately, Molly, who is herself a mother now, says, "I don't remember that incident at all, nor any other episodes of scary yelling, and the fact that I don't is a great comfort to me in my worst moments as a mother."
Cartoon: "Sylvia" by Nicole Hollander
replied:
Alan J A-11 | L-11
Charlie A-10 | L-11
DC Madman A-1 | L-1
Gary G A-0 | L-1
Jim from CA A-2 | L-2
Joe S A-11 | L-11
Sally A-11 | L-11
MAM A-11 | L-11
Maria in Chicago A-7 | L-7
Marian the Teacher A-10 | L-10
Sandra in Maine A-0 | L-0
Tom B A-1 | L-1
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast til mid-day, then sunny.
Union Man
Danny Glover
Actor Danny Glover joined labor, political and civil-rights leaders on one of the first stops of a four-day, 11-state tour supporting U.S. manufacturing workers.
The "Lethal Weapon" star told a crowd of mainly union workers Monday in the Detroit suburb of Hamtramck the "deindustrialization of the nation" began in Michigan, and its workers can be "the architects of their own rescue."
Glover, the son of union members, said he stands with those affected by plant closings.
The event also included the Rev. Jesse Jackson, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow and United Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard.
Danny Glover
Help Ship's Last Survivor
'Titanic' Stars
"Titanic" stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet have thrown their support behind a fund that would subsidize Millvina Dean's nursing home fees.
Dean was 2 months old when the Titanic sank beneath the waves on the night of April 14, 1912. She has been living at a nursing home in the English city of Southampton since she broke her hip about three years ago but has struggled to pay the fees.
In October she sold several Titanic mementoes to raise cash.
DiCaprio and Winslet said in a statement that they hoped Dean could rest easier knowing that her future was secure. The Millvina Fund was launched Monday in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
'Titanic' Stars
Controversial Artwork Removed From Headquarters
European Union
Workmen dismantled a large sculpture mocking European Union member states Monday after its Czech artist demanded its removal from the EU's headquarters.
The 16-metre (52-foot) high "Entropa" sculpture portrays Bulgaria as a squat toilet, Italy as a football ground with players making gestures that resemble masturbation, and the Netherlands as entirely flooded, with only a few minarets sticking out.
It caused outrage when it was unveiled in January, but has attracted many visitors to see it in the entrance of an EU building that is often used for summits.
The artist, David Cerny, said he no longer wanted to be associated with the Czech Republic because its new government involves former communists.
European Union
NM Farmers Work To Preserve Varieties
Native Chiles
Gene Lopez has just finished planting his chile field in the same way he's planted his heat-packed crop for three decades. But as the years pass, there seems to be more immediacy behind each seed he places in the ground.
The 70-year-old retired employee of Los Alamos National Laboratory is not a typical chile farmer. He works his small field in the tiny village of Lyden not for profit but to preserve a cultural and gastronomical treasure passed down for generations: native northern New Mexico chile.
Farmers, researchers and advocates worry that native chile lines could vanish forever, taking with them invaluable plant genetics and the cultural heritage of an entire region.
Charles Martin, assistant professor at New Mexico State University's Sustainable Agriculture Science Center, holds workshops for growers to help traditional chile farmers preserve their crops and compete with the larger elements of the industry.
Native Chiles
Concerts May Face Legal Challenge
Michael Jackson
A music promoter plans to sue to block Michael Jackson from performing in London this year, claiming that a contract signed by the "king of pop" prevents him from giving a concert until July 2010, the head of the promotion company said on Monday.
New Jersey-based AllGood Entertainment Inc contends it signed an agreement in November with Jackson's manager, Frank DiLeo, committing the singer to perform in July 2010 along with his brothers from the Jackson Five and sister Janet Jackson.
Under the agreement, Michael Jackson cannot give another concert until that Jackson Family reunion show, said Patrick Allocco, managing partner at AllGood Entertainment.
A source at AEG Live acknowledged the company had been contacted and called AllGood's claims meaningless. The source said rehearsals in Los Angeles are continuing in preparation for the July shows at the 02.
Michael Jackson
Suspends Student
Heritage Christian
A northwest Ohio teenager has been suspended by his Christian school because he attended another high school's prom.
Officials at Heritage Christian School in Findlay had warned 17-year-old Tyler Frost that he would be suspended and prohibited from attending graduation if he went to the public school dance over the weekend with his girlfriend.
Frost says he didn't think going to the dance was wrong even though his fundamentalist Baptist school Ohio forbids dancing, rock music and hand-holding.
Frost didn't go to school Monday. Instead, he and his girlfriend are heading to New York for a Tuesday morning TV interview.
Heritage Christian
Bear Attacks
Anchorage
Spring is here and bears are emerging from their dens for the short stroll to Alaska's largest city. Some residents are putting out the NO VACANCY sign.
Anchorage has a reputation for being bear tolerant but after three maulings last summer - including a 15-year-old girl who nearly bled to death when attacked by a grizzly in a city park - a chorus of outrage is building.
Anchorage is unique among mid-sized American cities. The municipality's 285,000 residents share space with at least 65 brown bears and about 250 black bears. The sprawling municipality is surrounded by wild country. Anchorage is next to Chugach State Park, a half-million acre park that wildlife officials have described as a "bear factory."
Deaths from bear maulings are uncommon in the municipality. In July 1995, a mother and son were killed by a bear defending a moose carcass along McHugh Creek Trail. However, the mauling of Petra Davis, followed by another attack on the same park trail later last summer and the mauling of a young man in Eagle River, have some residents demanding a crackdown on the bears.
Anchorage
Beginning To Rise
Sunspot Cycle
It's time for the sun to move into a busier period for sunspots, and while forecasters expect a relatively mild outbreak by historical standards, one major solar storm can cause havoc with satellites and electrical systems here.
Like hurricanes, a weak cycle refers to the number of storms, but it only takes one powerful storm to create chaos, said scientist Doug Biesecker of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's space weather prediction center.
A report by the National Academy of Sciences found that if a storm as severe as one in 1859 occurred today, it could cause $1 trillion to $2 trillion in damage the first year and take four to 10 years to recover.
The 1859 storm shorted out telegraph wires, causing fires in North America and Europe, sent readings of Earth's magnetic field soaring, and produced northern lights so bright that people read newspapers by their light.
Sunspot Cycle
Ghost Hunters Inspect
Old Cuchillo Bar
The former owner of a 180-year-old adobe building hears the door of a potbellied stove opening and wood being stacked inside, but no one is there. Mysterious whispers echo in the current owner's ear. Things fall off shelves for no apparent reason.
These are just a few of the strange goings-on that artist Josh Bond, owner of the Old Cuchillo Bar in the southern New Mexico ghost town of the same name, has asked the West Coast Ghost and Paranormal Society to investigate on his property.
When he saw an advertisement about WCGAPS, a Phoenix-based nonprofit organization, Bond thought the group could at least explain what was occurring.
Only about 5 percent of the group's investigations can't be explained by electromagnetic radiation, thin walls, faulty wiring, lights from passing cars or other normal explanations, said Rice, who called his investigators not ghost hunters, but ghost debunkers.
Old Cuchillo Bar
In Memory
Stephen Bruton
Stephen Bruton, the Texas-based guitarist and vocalist renowned for his work with musicians including Kris Kristofferson and Bonnie Raitt, died in Los Angeles on Saturday due to complications from throat cancer. He was 60.
Bruton was undergoing treatment in Los Angeles, and also finishing work on the Jeff Bridges film "Crazy Heart," where he was acting as music producer and composer alongside T-Bone Burnett. He also played on sessions for Kristofferson's upcoming album "Starlight and Stone."
Bruton got his first big break with Kristofferson in 1972 when he contributed guitars and vocals to the latter's "Border Lord" album.
He went on to work on Carly Simon's 1976 release "Another Passenger" and Bonnie Raitt's mega-selling "Luck of the Draw." His songs were covered by a wide range of artists, including Raitt, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Patty Loveless.
In addition to music, Bruton acted in a number of films, including "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid," "Heaven's Gate," "A Star is Born," "Miss Congeniality" and "The Alamo."
His funeral will be held in Fort Worth, Texas.
Stephen Bruton
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