Category: The American Game

This really bums me out

~ susie ~ 3 Comments

It’s gotten to the point where we even fix Little League games? Just awful:

12:45 P.M. TUESDAY: The Central Iowa Little League softball team has advanced to the semifinals of the softball world series in Portland, Ore., following a 3-2 victory this morning over the West regional champion from Snohomish, Wash.

The two teams played the game to settle a berth in the tournament’s final four after the outcome of a Monday game involving the Washington squad was called into question because of allegations of throwing the game (details below).

Iowa erased a one-run deficit by scoring two runs in the top of the third inning on an RBI double and a Washington error to take its deciding advantage. Iowa pitcher Mikayla Houge recorded six strikeouts over the final three innings and 11 on the morning to help seal the victory.

Washington stranded a pair of runners in both the third and fourth innings, but did not have a hitter reach base in the final two frames.

Iowa is believed to be the second-seeded team advancing out of its pool, which would mean its semifinal game is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST on ESPN2 against the East qualifier from Warwick, R.I. The other semifinal is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. A full schedule has not yet been confirmed.

This story will be updated when pairings are finalized by Little League.

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9 A.M. TUESDAY: Little League International issued a Tuesday morning news release after the outcome of a Monday game in the organization’s softball world series was questioned.

“The Little League International Tournament Committee recently received credible reports that some teams did not play with the effort and spirit appropriate for any Little League game,” the release states.

Given the circumstances, the release continues, the governing body was requiring “that a tie-breaker game be played between the two affected teams – South Snohomish Little League and Central Iowa Little League.”

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ORIGINAL STORY: A team of Iowa youth softball players won a Little League World Series game Monday, only to become part of a scandal involving another team.

The Central Iowa squad beat a Canadian team 7-0 to finish with a 3-1 record in pool play at the Little League Softball World Series in Portland, Ore.

But then strange things began happening in the following game. Unbeaten South Snohomish Little League of Snohomish, Wash., which was 3-0, lost to a North Carolina team.

Not just a typical 8-0 loss. A no-hitter by North Carolina that resulted in allegations of cheating.

Chris Chadd, president of Central Iowa Little League, said he believes the Washington team benched starters and ordered every player to bunt in an attempt to lose the game.

“It’s clear to everyone that they basically threw the game,” Chadd said.

Chadd said Washington’s players did not attempt to do anything beyond bunting.

“It’s not the girls’ fault,” Chadd said. “It’s the coaches… they should be disqualified.”

The outcome left the Iowans in a three-way tie in their bracket with North Carolina and Washington.

Phillies on a roll

~ susie

phillies odubel-herreraOdubel Herrara with a 12-game hitting streak.

I almost drove out to Allentown this weekend to take a look at the new talent (I love me some minor league baseball), but never quite got it together. Oh well! The major league version just swept the Padres. Crazy! I’ve always said, you know you’re a real Philadelphian when you don’t start paying attention to the Phils until late July, but this is ridiculous.

So now that he’s waived his no-trade clause, will Chase Utley go to San Francisco for the post-season? Stay tuned for these and other questions.

Phillies trade Hamels to Rangers

~ susie

As bad as the Phillies are (worst in the National League — WE’RE NUMBER ONE!!!!), there was some pride in having Cole Hamels. Now we don’t. But we needed to trade him, and hopefully the six players we got for him will kick off the rebuilding. We’ll see:

The Phillies traded ace pitcher and 2008 World Series MVP Cole Hamels to the Texas Rangers in a deal announced late Wednesday evening. In a deal reported by CSNPhilly’s Jim Salisbury and Jayson Stark of ESPN, Todd Zolecki and others the Phillies have sent Hamels, Jake Diekman and cash to the Rangers. They will receive a… Continue reading “Phillies trade Hamels to Rangers” →

The True Benghazi Outrage …

~ Boohunney

One of the more perplexing things regarding the Benghazi hearings was questions regarding the mission’s purpose in Benghazi. The mission performed no diplomatic functions as entertaining dignitaries or issuing passports. Why would a long time American diplomat be assigned to such dangerous post in war torn Libya? Why were there far more CIA personnel in the area than State Department personnel in the area?

Marcy Wheeler ….

What did the CIA know and when did they know it?

That’s the real question that ought to be raised by a recently declassified Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report, obtained by Judicial Watch in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit. The August 2012 document describes how the U.S. ended up on the same general side in the Syrian Civil War as Al Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor to ISIS. “AQI supported the Syrian opposition from the beginning,” the report explained. Meanwhile, “[w]estern countries, the Gulf states, and Turkey are supporting” rebel efforts against the Assad regime in a proxy war, putting them on the same side as, if not working together with, the terrorists now overrunning Iraq.

Some outlets have concluded that this means “the West intentionally sponsored violent Islamist groups to destabilize Assad.”

But as Juan Cole counters, the report that western powers supported rebels “doesn’t say that the US created sectarian groups and it does not say that the US favors al-Qaeda in Syria or the so-called ‘Islamic State of Iraq.’” Cole continues, ”It says that those powers (e.g. Turkey and the Gulf monarchies) supporting the opposition wanted to see the declaration of a Salafi (hard line Sunni) breakaway statelet, in order to put pressure on the al-Assad regime.”

In a nutshell, Cole Aagues that the U.S. didn’t support Al-Qaeda in Syria directly. But its allies certainly did.

Two months after the report laying out AQI support for the rebels — another of the documents obtained by Judicial Watch shows — the DIA provided a detailed description of how weapons got shipped from Benghazi to Syria, presumably for rebel groups. “During the immediate aftermath of, and following the uncertainty caused by, the downfall of the [Qaddafi] regime in October 2011 and up until early September of 2012,” the report explained, “weapons from the former Libya military stockpiles located in Benghazi, Libya were shipped from the port of Benghazi, Libya, to the ports of Banias and the Port of Borj Islam, Syria.”

The report obtained by Judicial Watch says that the weapons shipments ended in “early September of 2012.” But note what event this second report conspicuously does not mention: The Sept. 11 attack on the State Department and CIA facilities in Benghazi at the same time that the flow of weapons stopped ….

Read the rest. It is fascinating.

 

Chris Rock, are you listening?

~ susie

Urban black kids have drifted away from baseball. Major League Baseball started a foundation to being baseball back to the inner cities, but what’s really needed is a black baseball-loving role model.

This Village Voice writer thinks baseball needs Chris Rock.

chris rock

Describing himself as “an endangered species — a black baseball fan,” Rock argued that the game of baseball has stubbornly alienated African Americans: “Every team is building a bullshit, fake-antique stadium that’s supposed to remind you of the good old days — you know, the good old days with Ruth, DiMaggio, Emmett Till.” Even as the world has sped up, he contends that the sport has slowed down, operating under an outdated unwritten code that discourages the kind of flamboyance exhibited in professional basketball and football, sports that are more popular among blacks.

And blacks are staying away in droves, on the field and in the stands.

“I don’t care about any of this as a black guy, I care about this as a baseball fan,” he said. “We don’t really need baseball, but baseball needs us. The fact is, black America decides what’s hot and what young people get excited about.”

Judging from the social-media shares and the YouTube views — nearly 750,000 of the latter at last count — Rock’s rant scored.

Something about the whole thing troubled me, though. Rock takes the position that baseball needs to change its ways. On that score, I completely agree. At the same time, his argument hinges on the fact that he needs baseball.

Baseball could certainly use him.

So writer Tom Finkel wrote him a letter:
Continue reading “Chris Rock, are you listening?” →

The church of baseball

~ susie

Of course it is!

Anyone who has ever been to a religious service is aware that the level of pious intensity occasionally abates; intensity must be relieved. All religious services therefore include what look (and sometimes feel) like intermissions.

Muslims, for example, are instructed about the when and where of the breaks in the sequence of their daily obligatory prayers.

Jews often separate afternoon and evening services (the Mincha and Ma’ariv) with a brief lesson (the Shiur) from an elder or rabbi that frequently discusses the sacred texts just recited in light of experiences in everyday life. In some Conservative congregations, as the Sabbath nears its completion, there is a longer pause to break bread, a chance not only to reflect but also to bond before continuing the prayers.
Baseball.As_.A.Road_.To_.God_-668x501
And Christians reserve time for choral or musical interludes that provide a few moments between rituals. From Christianity’s earliest moments, there has been an imprecise division, imprecise but no less real, between the preparatory part of the service and the part where believers affirm their central faith or take communion or both. And in some liturgies, this transition is marked by the “kiss of peace” or the “holy kiss.” Whatever it’s called, it is another break in the worship, one that most definitely enhances the feeling of fellowship. But the atmosphere is different from the moments of communion with God. The kiss of peace serves, as do the musical interludes, as a pause—meaningful but different, a break in the intensity of the action.

Baseball fans get this. At the midpoint of every seventh inning, we need no announcement, no request, much less a command. We simply rise from our seats. For some ninety years, this collective move has been accompanied by music in most major league cases a very, very familiar song that dates to the early-twentieth-century days of Tin Pan Alley. The Wave may have come and gone, beach balls have bounced into distant memory, but the seventh-inning stretch lives on in every baseball congregation. Possibly the most famous pause in American culture, it is an occasion to salute the game. And it is a break in the intensity of the action.