Rockies fans await 'Rocktober'

• Rockies fans hold sign, Brewers' Ken Macha seen in dugout below, 3rd inning on Todd Helton's homerun in Denver, 9/30/09. ap photo

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Toronto Blue Jays fan cheers Adam Lind at Fenway Park

• A Toronto fan cheers Adam Lind's third home run of the night in Fenway Park,
• happening in the 7th inning. reuters photo, US Sport Baseball

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Rockies radio voice Kingery departing after this season

9/28: "To paraphrase Jeff Kingery's home run calls, the Rockies broadcaster "is going out of here and ain't coming back."

• Clear Channel Broadcasting will announce today that Kingery, a voice of the Rockies since the team took the field for the first time in 1993, will exit the KOA 850 AM booth at season's end.

• "It's entirely my decision," the 58-year-old Kingery said. "Meryl (his wife) and I have decided to move on and do other things at a time in our lives when we are healthy and financially secure." They have no children.

Kingery will be ending a 28-year KOA career that started in 1981 as a play-by-play announcer for the Triple-A Denver Bears. He then became the voice of the Nuggets for 11 seasons.

• Kingery said he initially told Lee Larsen, president and market manager of Denver Clear Channel properties, of his desire to leave at the end of last season. But, according to Kingery and Larsen, Kingery agreed to stay through the current season that ends his contract.

"This was strictly Jeff's decision," Larsen said. "Obviously we wanted him to stay."

The two met early in the season, but Kingery had not changed his mind.

• Both emphasized that Kingery's controversial outburst against a Los Angeles bus driver in June played no part in his decision to leave.

• Rockies management barred Kingery from traveling on the team bus and plane during road trips.

• Kingery has been paying his own travel expenses, while Clear Channel continued to pay for his hotel room and other expenditures.

Larsen has said on numerous occasions he was "completely satisfied" with Kingery's work on KOA.

• Rockies management will allow Kingery to travel with the team during the final three-game series with the Dodgers in Los Angeles.

And two sources say that if the Rockies make the playoffs, it will be business as usual between Kingery and the team.

• Kingery admits that some might tie the bus incident with his upcoming departure.

"There's no connection," he said. "But some people will believe what they want to believe. "That event is behind me. I'm proud of my 28 years of broadcasting in Denver."...

• Bus Driver incident referenced by commenter:

"Mrzuki wrote:Jeff covered the Rockies since their inception in 1993. So he has be considered part of the family yet he did something so awful towards a LA bus driver that he is banned from team transportation. I don't know what he did but it had to be bad. I am going to guess that his attack on this anonymous bus driver has something to do with his retirement.

• Actually it was the final straw in a litany of incidents since his time with the Rockies.

• It was a news item: http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_12856560

You can note where the Rockies official says

• The club also has banned him from the team bus and team plane. One Rockies official said Thursday that the outburst was "unacceptable behavior for anyone associated with the Rockies. From my understanding, Jeff was warned about this before."

According to another source close to the team, Kingery was warned by the Rockies regarding his rude behavior last season. His removal from the broadcast booth for road games has nothing to do with his on-air work, according to sources."

• from Denver Post column by Dusty Saunders. 9/28/09, "KOA's Jeff Kingery Calling it a Career"via Radio Daily News

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Yankees win AL East for first time since 2006

• Top, Mark Teixeira, Mariano Rivera and Jose Molina celebrate winning the AL East division
• at the stadium. Final score 4-2 over the Red Sox. top 2 photos reuters, Segar, bottom photo reuters stapleton, US Sport

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Panama's President doesn't throw like a girl

• Panama President Ricardo Martinelli throws ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium, 9/25/09. reuters photos, Stubblebine, US Sport Baseball

• And he wears normal blue jeans.

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Colorado University makes internet bashers use real name

Colorado University "will not provide press passes to websites lacking a print or broadcast component unless they disallow pseudonymous posts or anonymous comments"...a policy they've followed for several years. "CU fights anonymous bashing with press-pass policy," Denver Westword by Michael Roberts. via Poynter.org/Romenesko

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KABC personality moves to 5a-6a slot at WABC New York

Doug McIntyre becomes new 5a-6a man on WABC radio in New York taking the place of Charles McCord. NY Radio Message Board posters figured out the connection between this move and Charles McCord, longtime Imus newsman and wonder if it signals any changes for the Imus show. OC Register, 9/23/09, "Morning Host Doug McIntyre Leaves KABC," by Gary Lycan, via RadioDailyNews.

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Baseball in Panama is an international scandal

A Panamanian politician Franz Wever caused Panama's team to be ejected from its World Baseball Classic hotel and from the games in 2006 for failure to pay an insurance fee.

• Sometime later during the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the same man offered to expose himself to sports media, according to The Panama News reporter Eric Jackson:

Jan. 6-9, 2008: "As Panama's baseball czar --- president of FEDEBEIS --- PRD legislator (Franz) Wever is the goat of the recent (2006) World Baseball Championships in Taiwan.

• He neglected to pay an insurance premium of a little more than $6,000 required by Major League Baseball

to allow players under contract to its teams to participate in the tournament. As a result Panama, which on the field won a spot in the quarterfinals, was eliminated from the tournament and

• the team was kicked out of its hotel.

In the 2006 World Baseball Classic, Panama had a last-minute coaching change. Just before the tournament

• Roberto Kelly, the Panamanian former big league outfielder who will be coaching at first base for the San Francisco Giants this coming season, was forced out as coach

at a FEDEBEIS meeting in which he

• was bombarded with racial epithets, most notably "mierda negra." Wever went on to defend that insult in the local media as just another popular expression.

Major League Baseball owners, who have been trying since the 60s to keep racial strife out of the sport, took notice. For some the reported bottom line is that

• if Wever is still head of FEDEBEIS when the invitations for the next version of that tournament go out, Panama won't be getting one.

There is a movement, headed by former big league player and former national baseball team coach Omar Moreno, to oust Wever as head of FEDEBEIS. Without overtly taking sides on that issue, business leaders and the US Embassy have flocked to events and press conferences put on by Moreno's foundation. The conspicuous approval for Moreno is at least in part intended as a silent slap at Wever.

• In the Supreme Court, there is a pending prosecutor's request to strip Wever of his legislator's immunity from investigation and prosecution for criminal acts,

so that he may face legal proceedings along with other current and former members of the Panamanian Olympic Committee for

• alleged election rigging and financial irregularities.

• Wever's immunity, however, has been hard and durable.

In 2004 witnesses say they caught him buying votes outside a polling place in his Panama City circuit, and

• when the votes were counted, there were
• more votes for legislator than there were ballots issued.

Wever was ruled to be the narrow winner of one of the multi-member circuit's seats and we don't have recounts here in Panama. The Electoral Prosecutor wanted to prosecute, but Wever's colleagues in the assembly refused to lift his immunity. Shortly thereafter the consitution was amended to put such decisions in the high court's hands....

• Machine politics being what they are, the 'we'll blast a bunch of holes in your body if you oppose us' pitch rarely works just by itself. The big boss man has to deliver something. In some places, it has been the Christmas turkey. In other places, you get the one new shoe before you vote and the other one afterwards.

In circuit 8-3, Wever has the resources of FEDEBEIS at his disposal.

• See, in the national baseball organization the PRD influence is not just him.

Four of the presidents of the provincial leagues (and thus members of the FEDEBEIS board of directors) are fellow PRD legislators --- Carlos Alvarado in Chiriqui, Benicio Robinson in Bocas del Toro, Juan Hernández in Panama Metro and Rubén De León in Veraguas. Most of the other leaders and employees are PRD hacks. "...

• by Eric Jackson, "Profiles in Goatishness-Wever's attempt to boost his political fortunes, salvage his position in baseball falls flat" 1/08

Mr. Jackson reports Feb. 2009 that Panama's same Franz Wever offered to expose himself to sports media at the Beijing Olympics:

• "Not specifically mentioned but very palpable were the political implications. I just got a scowl out of Moreno when I mentioned FEDEBEIS president Franz Wever, the disgraced PRD legislator who was humiliated in the primary elections

after an infamous public performance at the Beijing Olympics, where he offered to show the sports press corps his penis.

• (Moreno had long ago had his falling out with Wever, the former having been removed as the national baseball team's manager for the apparent sole purpose of demonstrating the latter's destructive power.) But Moreno is first among equals in a broad-based if mostly under the surface popular movement to rid the national baseball scene of Wever,

and one of the unwritten sub-texts of this event is that Major League Baseball, sick of Wever's financial abuses, and the US Embassy, eager to help talented young Panamanians and at the same time distance itself from the most flagrantly corrupt members of this country's political class, teamed up with the Fundacion Omar Moreno to put on this series of clinics specifically without involving Wever or FEDEBEIS."...Panama News, "Major League Boost for Panama's Little Leaguers"

• Another story in April 2008 apparently reveals Wever's son, Franz Wever Jr., is an umpire creating more problems for Panama:

4/17/08, "Parity and Controversy in Panama," from De Beisbol, by Carlos Abrego

• "The controversy are staging the manager of Los Santos, Aristides Bustamante and the

• president of the Panamanian Federation of Baseball, Franz Wever.

It happens that the receiver Santeña, Carlos Munoz, was sent off for dissent in the first game against Chiriqui, the Technical Committee of the Federation suspended him a game, but the Federation wants to suspend for two games.

• Now the president of the Technical Committee and Secretary of the Federation, Elvis Polo, and the Technical Commissioner of the party in question, Emilio Castro, submitting his resignation are not being respected his work.

The decision was made based on the referee's report which said the protest was to the criterion of balls and strikes, no aggression towards him, for what it does imply a two-match suspension.

He has seemed strange that this time was not respected his decision, which it had happened on previous occasions.

Polo said:

Why are other times when suspensions were not questioned the decision of the committee?

Is it something personal Fedebeis president, as the umpire of the match was Franz Wever Jr.?

Both Prensa.com as Digital Panama tried to locate him to issue his opinion, but none of the means they could locate."

Eric Jackson article May 18, 2009 on what influence Panama's new president may have on these events: "Martinelli's Team," ThePanamaNews.com

"A baseball revolution?

• Maybe the most thuggish face of the PRD, and one of the principal reasons for its collapse from an appearance that it would surely be re-elected to power to humiliating defeat in little more than a year's time, is the notorious Franz Wever. Wever, a legislator, probably kept his job in the National Assembly by fraud in 2004. The Electoral Prosecutor wanted to investigate him for election crimes, but his colleagues in the legislature forbade any investigation. The more votes counted than cast were dismissed as inadequate to prove that fraud had affected the election results.

  Wever, however, is more infamous as the head of Panamanian baseball's ruling organization, FEDEBEIS,

• and as such a member of Panama's Olympic Committee.

His offer, at the Beijing Olympics, to show journalists his penis became one of the principal emblems of PRD arrogance. Meanwhile, the financial irregularities of both FEDEBEIS and the Olympic Committee have caused tremendous legal battles,

• diminished Panamanian baseball's international image,

and caused the Panamanian team to be ejected from the 2006 World Baseball Championships due to an insurance payment that Wever didn't make.

• There has been an unorganized national movement to rid Panamanian baseball of Wever, and its most noteworthy figure has been former Pittburgh Pirates outfielder Omar Moreno, who once was the national baseball team's manager but was driven out by Wever. Although the US Embassy has generally avoided overt interference in Panamanian politics, one of the exceptions has been that it has shunned Wever and boosted the baseball activities of the Omar Moreno Foundation. (In this stance, the US government has been joined by Major League Baseball, which may have been offended most of all by
• Wever's racist comments about another former national team manager, Roberto Kelly.)

And now Ricardo Martinelli has appointed Omar Moreno to head Pandeportes, the government's sports organization, which owns most of the sports facilities in this country.

So does this presage a baseball revolution? The International Olympic Committee takes a dim view of governments interfering in sports federations under its purview, but FEDEBEIS is a PRD dependency, the product of political manipulations during the dictatorship.

Moreno would have the power to kick FEDEBEIS off of most of the nation's baseball diamonds and in any confrontation with Wever he'd have strong public support."

• top photo from La Prensa, 2007

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Mets' Bernazard and Pena: Neither had a shred of respect from anyone in baseball--Davidoff

"The Mets will fire Ramon Pena in the front office (scroll down, on Buster Olney's blog), and that's good news for Mets fans. More by force than by choice, Omar Minaya has now jettisoned two of his

• most controversial hires, Pena and Tony Bernazard.

• Neither was good at his job, and

• neither had any respect whatsoever throughout the game.

Minaya desperately needs to run a tighter operation, in which people prioritize doing their assigned jobs

• over acting important and

• sucking up to superiors." from Ken Davidoff, Newsday Baseball Insider, 9/23/09

Post entitled, "Unsolicited suggestions for the Yankees' post season-and we'll have a contest today"

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Ian Kennedy makes season debut in Anaheim

• Ian Kennedy navigated choppy 8th inning waters surviving 2 walks and a hit batsman to preserve the Yankees 3-2 lead. photo reuters US Sports Baseball

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Kurt, Kate and Wyatt at LA Angels game

Kate Hudson, Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt at Angels stadium in Anaheim for game with NY Yankees, 9/22/09. photos reuters, US Sport Baseball

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Gardner steals 2nd in the 9th

Brett Gardner steals safely against tag of LAA's 2B Erick Aybar in the 9th inning in Anaheim, score tied 5-5. reuters photo, US Sport Baseball

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Dave Matthews Band leader criticizes US, doesn't mention his bus illegally dumping 800 pounds of human waste

The news CNN kept to itself about the Dave Matthews Band:

• "CNN: You don't tell people about a lot of things you do. There's no press release that goes out saying, "Dave Matthews Band just donated $5 million to this cause or that cause."

• Matthews: We definitely use our fame and our celebrity to raise money for things we care about."...

CNN.com, "US racism 'everywhere,' says Dave Matthews," by Denise Cuan, 9/21/09

• Chicago Tribune, 3/10/05, "Matthews Band Bus Driver Pleads Guilty to Dumping Waste in River "

"A driver for the Dave Matthews Band admitted Wednesday that he emptied his bus' septic tank over the Chicago River last summer,

• drenching passengers on an architectural boat tour with 800 pounds of human waste (on 8/8/04)....

• Passengers on the tour boat, Chicago's Little Lady, described a downpour of foul-smelling, brownish-yellow slurry that ruined their clothes and made several of them sick.

• He initially denied the charge when interviewed by police, prosecutors said....

CNN story via Free Republic

• The Dave Matthews Band performed at AN MLB PARK THIS SUMMER, A PARK WHOSE OWNERSHIP THINKS IT'S ABOUT AS ENVIRONMENTALLY HIP
• as you can get.

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Newspaper bailout to be considered by Obama

Obama is open to newspaper bailouts. Government Banks, Government Motors, now Government Press (the formalizing of it). He finds non-traditional media not as compliant in selling his message.

• Says blogs don't lead to "mutual understanding" (ie he can't control what is "news" so well with them).

The Hill, Obama speaking to media members: ""I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what

• you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but

• not a lot of mutual understanding," he said."

The Hill, "Obama Open to Newspaper Bailout Bill," by Michael O'Brien

• Shouting was OK when the Silent Majority meekly shut up for the past 8 years while the left had loud protests against George Bush's policies and the Iraq War. Now the left and the press control all 3 branches of government, so they are pleased with the Iraq War. And they absolutely love the war in Afghanistan.
• (Much of the Silent Majority was displeased with Bush's policies and his handling of Iraq, said so at the time, but nobody listened to them. That started them on the road to today's gatherings).

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Giambi hits 1st home run with Rockies

• Giambi after 9th inning 3 run home run greets Yorvit Torrealba and Ryan Spilborghs, game v Diamondbacks, 9/19/09 ap photo

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Goldman Sachs launches son of sub-prime-investors make more if you die sooner

• Regulation? What regulation?:

"Wall St. Wants to do to Life Insurance What it Did to Housing," by Daniel Tencer, Raw Story, 9/5/09:

• "The New York Times reports that large investment banks are lining up to begin securitizing “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell so that they can get cash before they die....

THE FASTER YOU DIE, THE MORE INVESTORS MAKE

• One of the principal dangers in this plan is that it creates an
• incentive to see ill people die quickly. The investors who buy life insurance policies have to pay the premiums on those policies in order to collect when the original holder dies. So the faster an ill person dies, the fewer premiums have to be paid, and the higher the profit....

• The Times names two companies that it evidently believes to be heading up the effort to securitize life insurance. One is the Swiss bank Credit Suisse, and the other

• is investment bank Goldman Sachs.

• "Some financial firms are moving to outpace their rivals. Credit Suisse, for example, is in effect building a financial assembly line to

buy large numbers of life insurance policies, package and resell them — just as Wall Street firms did with subprime securities.

The bank bought a company that originates life settlements, and it has set up a group dedicated to structuring deals and one to sell the products.

The bank bought a company that originates life settlements, and it has set up a group dedicated to structuring deals and one to sell the products.

Goldman Sachs has developed a

tradable index of life settlements,

enabling investors to bet on whether people will live longer than expected or die sooner than planned.

The index is similar to tradable stock market indices that allow investors to

bet on the overall direction of the market without buying stocks.

According to the Economist, the life-settlement market in existence today is worth about $18 billion to $19 billion, meaning that about that amount of life insurance policies is bought and sold every year.

• The Times estimates that a securitized market for life insurance policies could be worth about

• $500 billion."

via mention in Poynter.org article 9/18, Al's Morning Meeting

• Goldman Sachs owns 40% of the YES Network.

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Kiosks open at San Francisco airport selling 'carbon offsets' for non-existent global warming

• Goldman Sachs 'Carbon Desk' approves

Commenter: ""Carbon credits are like a fat man paying a skinny man to lose weight for him. So all you gullible folks swipe that card if it makes you feel better. It'll make somebody else rich. Probably ALGORE"

• (SF Gate): "Travelers flying out of San Francisco International Airport can be the first in the nation to wipe away some of the damage their flights wreak on the planet by swiping their credit cards.

On Thursday, the Bay Area's largest airport unveiled three Climate Passport kiosks with touch screens that determine how many pounds of carbon dioxide a trip will produce, calculate the sum an environmentally conscious traveler should contribute to projects in San Francisco and California that help reduce greenhouse gases, then allow fliers to purchase certified carbon offsets.

• "We realize people are going to fly," said Steve McDougal, executive vice president of 3Degrees, a San Francisco company that helped SFO develop the program. "This gives them something they can do to reduce their impact. This is just one of many small things people need to do."...

Climate Passport contributions fund the Garcia River Forest, a reforestation project in Mendocino County where redwood and Douglas fir trees are being added to a forest that had been heavily logged.

• They also go to the SFCarbon Fund,

which is steering the money to Dogpatch Biofuels, a bio-diesel fueling station in southeastern San Francisco."

• From Reuters by Gavin Newsom:

"The offsets for Climate Passport customers, supplied by San Francisco-based carbon firm 3Degrees, are currently sourced from the Garcia River Forest, a conservation-based forest management project located in Mendocino County, Calif.... Offsets from the Garcia River Forest Project are

• third-party verified against the Climate Action Reserve’s

rigorous, transparent and comprehensive forestry protocol."

• Climate Action Reserve is in the trading business, like a stock or commodities market:

3/17/09: "The Voluntary Carbon Standard Association, which launched trading services in November, is finally adding a global registry to its services.

• However, a key component of the registry that would allow carbon offsets to be traded across multiple registries has been delayed because of technical problems, Reuters reports.

Traders of carbon offsets have awaited such a system that would provide transparent tracking and trading of Voluntary Carbon Units (VCUs).

David Antonioli, CEO of the association, said the system will enable companies to know their VCUs aren’t being double-sold and make them more tradable.

• The system ideally will allow VCUs to be transferred across registries, a feature that might save buyers from having to open accounts in different registries. However, more news on this feature will not be available at least until April 1, Antonioli said.

A criticism of the carbon offset market is that some offsets have been double-traded. Last April, the California Climate Action Registry launched Climate Action Reserve to create voluntary carbon market standards in the United States.

Last fall, Point Carbon put out a paper addressing what it called

• “significant market confusion regarding the

• complex relationship between the renewable energy
• and carbon markets.”"

And finally, inevitably Goldman Sachs appears:

• “We are enthusiastic about the work the Reserve is doing because it provides increased certainty about investing in this sector” said Ken Newcombe, Managing Director and

Head of U.S. Carbon Desk, Goldman Sachs.

• About Climate Action Reserve

The Climate Action Reserve is a division of the California Climate Action Registry that provides accurate and transparent measurement, verification, and tracking of greenhouse gas reduction projects and their inventories of greenhouse gas reduction tons assuring a high degree of environmental integrity in the voluntary carbon reduction market. http://www.climateregistry.org/offsets"

• via Lucianne.com

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Global Warming tax to equal 15% more in personal income tax-Obama dox released

• MLB of course a big promoter of global warming and 'carbon offset' deals. If Hollywood likes it, Selig is there.
• Robert Redford knew an easy target when he said in 2003: "We have to go to sports." Reported in the NY Daily News, 4/21/08 by Filip Bondy.

McCullagh, CBSNewsBlog, 9/16/09: "The Obama administration has privately concluded that a cap and trade law would

• cost American taxpayers up to $200 billion a year,

• the equivalent of hiking personal income taxes by about 15 percent.

A previously unreleased analysis prepared by the U.S. Department of Treasury says the total in new taxes would be between $100 billion to $200 billion a year. At the upper end of the administration's estimate, the cost per American household would be an extra $1,761 a year. "...

• Of course MLB thugs are high on the global warming scam. Everyday Americans buy into multi-millionaires pretending like they care about the common good. They can't wait to give these phonies their last dime.
• Our betters--jet setting, carbon-spewing hogs like Bud Selig will continue to wear the mantle of do-gooder as long as people let them.
• Global warming does not exist. Cap and trade is a giant fraud built out of thin air
• and intimidation.

World's richest investors gather to force government to come up with their scams...9/16/09: "More than 180 of the world's largest investors, with collective assets of $13tn, put their combined weight behind a passionate call

• for strong US and international action on global warming in New York today.

"We cannot drag our feet on the issue of global climate change," said Thomas DiNapoli, who heads the

• $116.5bn New York state pension fund.

"I am deeply concerned about the investor risks climate change presents, and the human cost of inaction is unthinkable."

The summit drew together managers of the world's leading investment funds, including those from HSBC, Henderson, Schroders, Société Générale and Scottish Widows, and pensions funds from California public employees to the BBC

• and Church of England.

It was aimed at overcoming entrenched opposition within the US and elsewhere to climate change legislation, by showcasing the scale of investor support for climate change action and the potential for mobilisation of private capital."....Guardian, UK "Investors Call for Action on Global Warming"

• "State Pension Fund Turning Green" Albany Times Union via Free Republic

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No revenue sharing-rock concerts in MLB stadiums don't have to pay

• Mets, Phillies, Red Sox, Cubs, and Nationals ballparks hosted concerts:

"Concerts at MLB stadiums this summer, led by pop superstar Paul McCartney and the touring tandem of Elton John and Billy Joel, resulted in sellouts and

• windfall paydays for the Mets, Phillies and Red Sox.

Not only is the concert revenue welcome at a time when everyone in sports is battling the effects of the recession, but MLB clubs do not have to share their portion of concert revenue with other teams.

• The three teams struck traditional rent deals with promoters,

• rather than promoting the concerts themselves, as a few organizations have begun to do.

Under the rental arrangement, the acts take most of the ticket revenue, and

• the teams make their money on ticket fees, concessions and parking.

Aramark's food, beverage and retail per caps average $20 to $23 for concerts at Citizens Bank Park and Fenway Park, team officials said.

• In New York, Aramark's per caps exceeded $27 for three McCartney shows at Citi Field, the new ballpark's first concerts. Fan spending on concessions was comparable to a Mets game, said Dave Howard, the Mets' executive vice president of business operations. With a top ticket price of $275, the former Beatle grossed $12.8 million in ticket sales with 108,000 in attendance, Howard said.

The Mets privately built and operate their new ballpark, and exercised their option to add a

• third McCartney date on a Tuesday after a pair of weekend performances sold out.

"The benefit we have is that we are now a one-stop shop for concerts," Howard said.

• "At Shea Stadium, we had to negotiate with the city on rent.
• We are now the sole negotiator for the venue, which allows us to fashion a deal in a number of ways."

At Citizens Bank Park, two Elton John/Billy Joel performances generated more than $11.8 million with total attendance of 89,690, Billboard Boxscore reported. The ballpark also has played host to Jimmy Buffett (twice in 2005 and also in 2008), Bon Jovi (2006) and The Police (2007).

• "I would say they were two of the more profitable shows we've had," said John Nickolas, vice president and chief financial officer for the Phillies. "The key is to sell the place out, and we probably set a record for the most people in the house compared with the (five other) shows we've had the past four years," Nickolas said.

The Phillies also share concert revenue with Global Spectrum, their next-door neighbor at Wachovia Center that helps the team operate the park;

• owns New Era Tickets, the system the Phillies use to sell concert tickets;

• and books the acts through Live Nation promoter Larry Magid.

The club's deal with Global Spectrum prohibited Nickolas from disclosing the revenue splits between the two parties.

• In Boston, where Fenway Park had a record five concerts this baseball season, two McCartney shows in August grossed about $7.7 million with 68,626 in attendance, Live Nation officials reported.

• Those dates followed Fenway's two Dave Matthews Band dates and one Phish show in May. Combined, those three concerts grossed more than $6.5 million in ticket sales.

The Red Sox and promoters negotiate a separate charge, usually $5, on top of the ticket price that the team uses as a "restoration fee" to ensure Fenway's field is put back in the same condition it was in prior to the shows, said Larry Cancro, senior vice president of Fenway affairs. That money can be used for ballpark renovations, Cancro said.

• Although local residents are split in their opinions over whether concerts at Fenway are good for the neighborhood, nearby bars and restaurants get a huge boost in business, Cancro said.

• For them, McCartney's shows produced the two biggest nights of the year in revenue....

McCartney could return to play a few more ballparks in 2010, said Barrie Marshall, his longtime manager who was particularly impressed with Citi Field's amenities. The Phillies, Red Sox and Mets already are talking to agents and managers about next year's possibilities, team officials said.

• The Elton John/Billy Joel tour also hit ballparks in Chicago and Washington, D.C.

• In Chicago, two shows at Wrigley Field grossed $11.1 million with 77,000-plus in attendance, according to Billboard Boxscore. The Cubs, who own and operate the stadium, declined to comment.

In Washington, Nationals Park had one Elton John/Billy Joel date, its first concert since the facility opened in 2008. Team President Stan Kasten wouldn't discuss ticket revenue but said the team would like to book more shows in 2010."

• Don Muret, Sports Business Journal, 9/16/09, "Let the Music Play: MLB Franchises Profiting from Concerts" via the Sporting News

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Anaheim fans at Fenway Park

'Flew Here from Anaheim' fans cheer in 7th inning v Boston. reuters photo

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Chris Mad Dog Russo heard today on XM MLB 175

At around 3:40pm my XM 175 radio screen said Chris Mad Dog Russo so I turned up the volume and sure enough there he was talking baseball with Kevin Kennedy and Jody. Chris of course a big baseball and San Francisco Giants fan so is still engaged with the season. It turns out the MLB guys were guests on Chris's XM Sirius show Mad Dog radio, which 175 kindly simulcast. By the time I tuned in they were wrapping up happenings in the National League. Chris sounded great and it sure would be nice for him to drop by XM 175 more often to talk about baseball. I don't think he would object as it gives him a bona fide reason to take a break from football talk.

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Brawl, Newsday back cover

• Pettitte and Sabathia accompany Posada, September 16, 2009

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Brawl photos, Jays v Yankees

Top, Sabathia restrains Posada, photo NY Times, Silverman; 2nd, Posada leaves the field, photo via Newsday; 3rd from top photo by John Dunn via Newsday. 2nd from bottom, Rod Barajas gestures after brawl; bottom brawl in 8th inning. Suzyn said Joe Girardi had a little bit of blood on him, just from trying to separate people. bottom 2 photos by reuters

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Kate Hudson sees Yanks play Angels

Ms. Hudson at Yankee Stadium, 9/14/09, getty photo.

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Apparently not waiting for a home run

Top photo Brett Gardner running home for the go-ahead run v the Angels in the 8th inning. Bottom photo as he makes it through a slightly errant throw from Angels catcher to 3B. reuters photos

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Chien-Ming Wang at Yankee Stadium today

Chien-Ming Wang seated next to CC Sabathia at the stadium for game v the Angels, 9/14/09, reuters photo. Wang of course still on the DL.

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Boston Dirt Dogs remembers those brutally slaughtered on 9/11/01 while MLB/Obama choose to whitewash the day

• "Never Forget," post from Boston Dirt Dogs lists names of people murdered on flights leaving Boston that day.

Obama chose to permanently diffuse the anniversary of September 11, declaring it a day to paint houses, work in soup kitchens, and the like. Things many Americans do 365 days a year anyway.

• Obama was photographed by the AP painting the interior of someone's house for the occasion.

There are many services that could use the help directly related to the terrorist attacks, such as supporting rescue dog organizations, donating to police and fire departments so they have the most up to date and functioning communications equipment for handling emergencies, etc. But Obama with MLB's help has diffused awareness of the day.

• MLB opted to recognize Hollywood celebrities on 9/11, highlighting
• Ashton Kutcher, who made a video urging children to be a "servant to Obama":

MLB.com, 9/10: "Kutcher has emerged the past year as one of the most popular figures on Twitter, and he used that pulpit to tweet the "official" first word of this initiative to more than 3.5 million followers worldwide. He tweeted it into his mobile phone in the middle of Times Square, in the middle of applause from the very VIP crowd -- a true sign of the times. "...

• If Obama wants to help, why doesn't he pay for his Aunt Zeituni's expenses, or at least reimburse Massachusetts taxpayers for monies taken from their wages for her support in the Boston projects?

• photo by AP from CBS News, via Gateway Pundit. MLB.com article by cheerleader Mark Newman, 9/10/09: "MLB Ushers in 'I Participate' Initiative"

Sign from 9/12 protest, via Vodkapundit

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ESPN 890 in Boston signs off

The weak signal didn't help ratings. ESPN programming will sign off Monday but may re-surface elsewhere on the dial:

• Boston.com, Finn: "But ESPN, the powerhouse sports network, may not lack an outlet in the Boston market for long. According to multiple industry sources, ESPN is in discussions to air some of its national programming on WEEI-AM 850 during nights and weekends, with WEEI intending to move to an FM station within months."....

And ESPN's roll-out of local websites continues this week with ESPNBoston.com.

• As always, commenters know best. From Boston.com

1. waynebloom

• "Ugh, we lose Mike and Mike and are stuck with Callahan,
• thank god for XM!"

Reference, Boston.com, "ESPN Radio's Boston Affiliate Set to Sign off," 9/12/09, via Radio Daily News

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NY Times no longer necessary-Kurtz

• This is just one example of many. Until recently in news or sports, it simply wasn't known unless the NY Times and a few others decided you should know it:

Kurtz, Washington Post: "But now the middleman --

• the journalistic gatekeepers of yore --

• may no longer be necessary.

By the time White House environmental adviser Van Jones resigned over Labor Day weekend,

• the New York Times had not run a single story.

Neither had USA Today, which also didn't cover the resignation. The Washington Post had done one piece, on the day before he quit. The Los Angeles Times had carried a short article the previous week questioning Glenn Beck's assault on the White House aide.

• There had been nothing on the network newscasts."...

9/14/09, from "Unamplified, Beck's Voice Still Carries," Washington Post column by Howard Kurtz (Kurtz also works for CNN). via Lucianne.com

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Silent no more

Out of control government (going back to George Bush the first) brings the Silent Majority from the shadows. photo 9/12/09, Washington DC by Mary Katherine Ham via Instapundit, via Gateway Pundit.

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Jeter reaches new Yankee hit record

September 11, 2009, photo by reuters, Stubblebine

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Orel Hershiser: Chamberlain not a good starter

Dan Shulman (ESPN) on XM175 with Rob Dibble and Jody was asked about his partner Orel Hershiser's opinion of Joba Chamberlain.

• Shulman: Orel has said all along that he's not a good starter, belongs in the bullpen. Among other things notes 97 mph as a reliever, 92 as a starter and still mainly using 2 pitches. Heard about 4:40pm ET. (Dibble concurred).

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To Obama and Selig: Please be advised, we already gave. September 11, 2001

MLB drooling with Obama propaganda, hijacking the anniversary of Islamic terrorist attacks on the United States.

• A commenter not buying the double standard crap from Selig's steno pool:

"DHawk wrote:

• I'm w/ cap'n jack. This is nonsense. Stop and think about the arrogance of Obama:
• He acts as if

• Americans aren't already "giving back" and "serving" and "participating".

He's the one who talking about being his brother's keeper, but his brother lives in a hut in Kenya on the equivalent of US $12 / year, and

• his aunt lives in the slums in Boston. He's not "giving back."

And when true Americans want to "participate"

• in the dialogue about health care,

• he sends out union thugs to try to intimidate them into silence,

and he sets up snitch websites to monitor those who disagree with him.

• MLB should have stayed far from this.

9/10/2009 9:12:34 PM" comment to MLB.com article, "MLB Ushers in 'I Participate' Initiative, League takes forefront in President Obama's call to action"

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