XM MLB Chat

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Great radio ad opposing Mayor Bloomberg's 16 ounce beverage ban

I heard a terrific radio commercial against Mayor Bloomberg's large beverage ban during the Yankee game Friday night. They have a website for those who are interested. "Mayor Bloomberg is proposing to ban sales of sugar-sweetened beverages over 16 ounces in New York City. Fountain and bottled beverages over 16 ounces could no longer be sold in restaurants, movie theaters, sports venues, coffee shops, food trucks and street carts.

According to the mayor, New Yorkers need help deciding what size beverage is appropriate.

If this now, what’s next?

Won’t you join us?"

  • ---------------------------------------

(I liked the commercial because it sounded like a real conversation between normal people who were shocked that Bloomberg would intrude into their lives in this manner. ed.)

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Friday, June 29, 2012

Rep. Tierney brother-in-law says Tierney sat with bookies in Fenway Park but Tierney denies it

He knew everything that was going on in my family for years,” Eremian told the Herald. “He sat with bookies in Fenway Park [map].”" (Tierney denies this). "The solon’s name is John Tierney, but his constituents on the North Shore know him simply as “Pockets,” on account of his exalted ethical status. Yesterday, outside a federal courtroom in Boston, Pockets was verbally excoriated by a crook who also happens to be his brother-in-law.

This doesn’t happen very often, a racketeer putting the blast on a politician. Professional courtesy and all that.

But Daniel Eremian, age 62, is under a lot of pressure. This morning, he begins a three-year bit for racketeering, conspiracy and illegal gaming. An admitted alcoholic, he also had to forfeit $7.7 million in ill-gotten gains.

His sister, Patrice Tierney, also known as Mrs. Pockets, has already done a month in Club Fed. She handled $8 million for Dan and her other brother, Robert, who remains on the lam in a sunny place for shady people.

The very ethical Rep. Pockets has claimed he knew absolutely nothing about the $8 million flowing through his bank account. He and Patrice have a “21st century marriage,” he explained.

For two years, Dan Eremian dummied up. He wouldn’t tell you if your coat was on fire. Think omerta — silence. But yesterday, outside the courtroom, he told the Herald about his brother-in-law, the extinguished, I mean distinguished, statesman.

Lemme tell you something about Tierney,” the raspy-voiced hood began. “He’s the biggest liar in the world. ...”...

But Tierney to this day sticks to his Sgt. Schultz defense. He knows nothing. His brother-in-law begs to disagree.

He knew everything that was going on in my family for years,” Eremian told the Herald. “He sat with bookies in Fenway Park [map].”

Oh really? Anyone we know?"...

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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The great Mike from Mahopac on WFAN with Mike Francesa, Tuesday, June 26, 2012 with impressions of Mad Dog and others

The great Mike from Mahopac with Mike Francesa on WFAN, Tuesday, June 26, 2012. This link should go to ITunes. There may be better routes but this was the best I could find for the moment. At first I thought Chris Russo was in the studio with Francesa but it turned out to be master impressionist, Mike from Mahopac. WFAN website, list of Francesa podcasts.

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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Schedule for WFAN 25th Anniversary, Sunday, July 1, 2012

WFAN revised schedule as of 6/26, from NY Radio Message Board:
  • "Start Finish Show
  • 12:00AM 2:00AM Tony Paige
  • 2:00AM 6:00AM Lori Rubinson
  • 6:00AM 8:00AM Bob Salter
  • 8:00AM 9:00AM Sports Edge
  • 9:00AM 11:00AM Ed Randall
  • 11:00AM 1:00PM Russ Salzberg & Steve Somers
  • 1:00PM 1:30PM Dave Sims & Eddie Coleman
  • 1:30PM 3:00PM Chris Carlin & Kim Jones
  • 3:00PM 4:00PM Len Berman
  • 4:00PM 5:00PM Spencer Ross
  • 5:00PM 6:00PM Richard Neer
  • 6:00PM 7:00PM Howie Rose & Eddie Coleman
  • 7:00PM 7:25PM Top 25 Moments Countdown
  • 7:25PM 12:00AM Mets at Los Angeles"

NY Radio Message Board commenter wonders if Chris Russo is secret special guest on Friday, June 29.

"9am-11am: Ed Randall (an original WFAN personality) hosting Talking Baseball which will include a look back at 25 years of Mets and Yankees. Mets have been on WFAN since day one, July 1, 1987.

  • 11am-1pm: The Schmoozer and the Sweater: Steve Somers and Russ Salzberg

1pm-1:30pm: Dave Sims (live from Seattle) with a special guest appearance from his former partner and current Mets beat reporter and Mets pre-game host Ed Coleman.

  • 1:30-3pm: Chris Carlin with special guest Kim Jones (they co-hosted a 5-6am show for a year and Chris also did solo shows plus did sports reports on Imus in the Morning and Boomer and Carton programs here at WFAN).

3-4pm: Len Berman long-time WNBC-TV sports anchor and a former midday host at WFAN

  • 4-5pm: Spencer Ross—also a former WFAN midday host. Currently does weekend sports on our sister station 1010WINS. Spencer is well known for calling play by play of may New York teams including the Jets, Yankees, Knicks, Rangers and the original New Jersey Americans (later became the Nets).

5-6pm: Richard Neer -- current WFAN host who has been with the station since 1988. Richard has hosted a Saturday morning 6-10am show continuously since 1992 and also hosts a variety of other shifts on the station.

  • 6-7pm: Howie Rose and Ed Coleman. Howie hosted nights on the FAN from 1987-1995 then went off to do Mets baseball on TV. He returned to WFAN as the radio play by play man of the Mets. Howie called Rangers games on the Fan for a number of seasons and has been doing Islanders play by play on TV for the past 17 years.

7-7:25pm: A countdown, in order of the Top New York sports moments of the past 25 years as voted by listeners this past March.

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Early July 4th, 2012 fireworks over the Triborough Bridge last night

As seen from my living room on the east side of Manhattan around 9:30 pm, June 25, 2012.

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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Overheard on Yankee Radio

Suzyn Waldman relates chatting with Mets bench coach Bob Geren about the Yankee problem of hitting with runners in scoring position and Geren saying, "The Yankees have runners in scoring position whenever they have someone at the plate." Suzyn mentioned today's crowd for Yankees-Mets (June 24) was the largest ever at Citifield.

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Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards at Citifield for Yankees-Mets game

Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards at Citifield for Yankees-Mets game, 6/23/12, final 4-3 Yankees, reuters

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Saturday, June 23, 2012

NBC News ratings continue to tank. That happens when you doctor footage to create a false impression and get caught 3x in 6 mo.

6/22/12, "NBC News ‘Struggling,’ ‘Slipping,’ and ‘Adrift’ in the Ratings War," NY Magazine, Joe Coscarelli 6/19/12, " NBC has been caught again, for the third time this year, of selectively editing news footage to create a false scenario.... I mention this story only to emphasis how completely unreliable NBC is as a source of news information. Sadly, none of the other media networks are much better." Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com

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Green Jesus at Sustainable Fest in Rio, MLB shares green spirit, but the real Jesus would likely say a sin was committed in Rio

Update, 7/2/12, The real Jesus would likely say a sin was committed in Rio by not informing America-hating participants that the US has drastically lowered CO2 emissions, has lead the world in this regard since 2006-without signing UN treaties, dealing in unregulated

June 2012, Rio De Janeiro Earth Summit, "Many have said that if Jesus Christ were alive today, he would recognise the moral imperative of stopping our killing of the Earth. Indeed, the whole of humanity is in jeopardy if we don’t step up to the challenge and really change the trajectory of where we are headed. Here in Rio, a green-lit “Christo Redentor – Christ the Redeemer – watches over the city, serving as an important reminder that we are in desperate need of new leadership…..and if it’s not going to be Jesus, then who?...

When I arrived at the World Congress on Justice, Law and Governance for Environmental Sustainability (a pre-Rio conference) I was full of hope that just maybe we might be able to come up with some concrete legal solutions (i.e making Ecocide a crime), to halt humanity in its current trajectory of destroying the environment.

The World Congress is a closed-door invitation-only event. It brought together some of the top legal minds in the world; Attorney-Generals, Chief Prosecutors, Auditors-General, Chief Justices, Senior Judges and other legal practitioners to discuss the role of the law in achieving sustainable development and to create a document to be taken to world leaders at the Earth Summit."...image from EradicatingEcocide.com

  • ------------------------------------------------
  • Below SI cover March 12, 2007, MLB gets spiritual
1/11/11, "Sports Illustrated-wrong on Auburn, wrong on global warming," by Ben Lieberman, GlobalWarming.org "Undefeated Auburn beat Oregon to win the BCS championship last night, yet Sports Illustrated magazine failed to include Auburn in its Preseason top 25. Believe it or not,
  • this was far from SI’s silliest error in recent years.
The magazine was even further off the mark with its March 12, 2007 cover story on global warming.

Yes, SI devoted an entire story to global warming, and in particular its impact on sports. The tone was set by the cover itself, which depicted then-Florida Marlins

  • pitcher Dontrelle Willis in Dolphins Stadium.

Presumably he’s on the mound, but it’s hard to tell since he is above his knees in water - the text explains that “the seas will rise and coastal areas, including parts of South Florida, will eventually be underwater.” In fairness, SI’s prediction of sea level rise stretches to 2100, so it cannot yet be disproven. But the cover certainly suggests more immediate impacts, and elsewhere the story stresses that “global warming is not coming; it is here.” Much of the rest of the piece is an anecdotal litany of spectator and participant sports purportedly being ruined by global warming - ski seasons getting shorter, summer heat waves causing canceled high school football practices, and even the bats used by the hitters Willis faces jeopardized by

  • warming-induced insect infestations of ash forests.

Nearly four years later, few of the article’s scary scenarios are standing the test of time. Since 2007, we have seen bad ski seasons have followed by good ones, unusually hot summers followed by mild ones - in other words, fluctuations in weather that are

  • completely normal and nothing for the sports fans - or the rest of us - to be particularly worried about.

The good news is that the public is wisely tuning out global warming alarmism, though Willis may have been convinced by rising sea levels to move inland - he is on the Cincinnati Reds roster for 2011. Either it was global warming or the

  • $12 million a year he is getting from the Reds."
  • ---------------------------------------
SI.com, 3/17/07: "Temperature affects how far objects, such as baseballs, fly through the atmosphere.
  • -------------------------------------------------
""This is very much in line with the best thinking in corporate activity today," said John McHale Jr., MLB executive vice president, administration. "Almost everyone who's a parent hears it from their children when we go home, and it is the way, the model of living we need to embrace for the future.""
  • --------------------------------------------------
April 2009, "Wall Street realized there was money to be made in 'going green.'" Robert Redford
  • --------------------------------------
MLB blared global warming message on freezing night in October at Yankee Stadium: "Last night I was at Yankee Stadium watching the Yanks exciting extra-inning playoff win. Along with 50,000 other shivering fans we had to endure a scoreboard message from Robert Redford sponsored by the National Resources Defense Council demanding that we lower our standard of living to stop global warming. The volume was turned on so loud that Redford's voice could be heard above the howling wind and freezing rain of a mid- October evening in New York City. "...
  • ---------------------------------------------------

7/18/06, A CITGO OIL COMPANY Plaque is enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. MLB.com

  • --------------------------------------------

"As one of the first professional sports leagues in North America to put a major emphasis on sustainability, MLB is blazing trails and creating best practices for sports organizations and venues worldwide to follow."

  • --------------------------------------------------

DemocratsAgainstUNAgenda21.com

  • ---------------------------------

Global warming profiteers like Goldman Sachs have friends in High Places.

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Friday, June 22, 2012

Comments about Goose Gossage criticism of Roger Clemens

Baseball Think Factory posted an article about recent criticism of Roger Clemens by Goose Gossage. Following are a few comments about Gossage: "1. Ray (RDP) Posted: June 21, 2012 at 10:00 PM (#4163157)
  • -----------------------------------
2. JJ1986 Posted: June 21, 2012 at 10:01 PM (#4163158)
  • "Who is the second most insufferable Hall of Famer? Is anyone close to Gossage?" Sandberg's pretty bad.
  • ----------------------------------
8. marko Posted: June 21, 2012 at 10:09 PM (#4163178)
  • -------------------------------------
51. Clarence Thomas is a Reyne of Castamere (scott) Posted: June 22, 2012 at 06:23 AM (#4163399)
  • Btw, I remain stunned that Gossage is in the hall considering that by the time of his election, 2008, his numbers looked like crap in comparison to a whole lot of modern day relievers. Now THAT is a situation where no hyperbole is too great. Gossage's induction was worse than Auschwitz, Tamurlane, and Ghenghis Khan COMBINED."
  • -----------------------------------------
Related: Gossage was suspended from the Padres for criticizing the team's drug policy. 9/3/1986, "Goose's Specialty Isn't Golden Eggs, Nor Golden Arches," LA Times, Scott Ostler
  • "Rich (Silly Goose) Gossage, the noted relief pitcher for the San Diego Padres, is in trouble with the front office. Padre president Ballard Smith has suspended Silly Goose for the remainder of the season....Silly Goose got mad at Smith because Smith indicated that the team would not sign free agents with a drug history or those who refused testing. Gossage got even madder when Smith banned beer in the Padre clubhouse in early July. So Gossage called Smith "spineless and gutless.""

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Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Fans flee bat in stands in Arizona

"Fans try to avoid a thrown bat by Seattle Mariners' Brendan Ryan against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the fourth inning" in Phoenix, 6/19/12, final 12-9 Mariners, ap

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Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Nearly 7 million Americans dropped cable tv in 2011 most citing the economy

6/19/12, "Economic bummer: 6.9 million homes ditch cable TV," Washington Examiner, Paul Bedard
  • "It started with homes, then cars, and now penny-pinching Americans, especially minorities, are giving up cable TV because they just can't afford it in the lingering recession.

    Instead, they are switching back to free TV, improved with the recent switch to digital broadcast which requires a special antenna but eliminates the $70-$100 monthly cable, satellite or broadband service fee....

    An ownership survey conducted by GfK Media found that about 6.9 million homes abandoned pay TV last year, a shocking number that industry sources chalk up to the sagging economy. What's more, the survey found that the number of Americans watching only free-TV surged from 46 million to 54 million. GfK said that means about 18 percent of all homes with TVs, or 21 million, watch only free-TV, a jump from about 14 percent just five years ago.

    "When asked why they cancelled TV service, the overwhelming majority, over 70%, cited cost-cutting; cord-cutting because of online options was cited by less than 20%," said Dave Tice senior vice president of GfK.

  • Younger Americans, minorities and low-income homes, socked by unemployment and the economy have jumped the cable ship in the highest numbers. The GfK poll found that minorities make up 44 percent of all broadcast-only homes." via Drudge

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Communist China media billboard displayed prominently in Times Square, China tv exec says journos are 'propaganda workers'

"China is aggressively trying to stake out a place in America's highly competitive media landscape in an effort to get the country presented in a more positive light.

Through state-owned television, newspapers, magazines and online sites, China is trying to reach millions of Americans with its own brand of news.

One of the more visible signs of the growing Chinese media presence in the US can be found right in the heart of New York, where Xinhua, China's state-run news agency, has paid for a huge electronic billboard to display its logo from one of the tallest buildings in Times Square....

The attempts by the Chinese media to be seen as independent in the US have not been helped by the comments made last year by CCTV President Hu Zhanfan.

He remarked: "The first social responsibility and professional ethic of media staff should be understanding their role clearly and being a good mouthpiece."

He reportedly went on to say: "Journalists who think of themselves as professionals, instead of as propaganda workers, are making a fundamental mistake about identity.""... image above from BBC

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Six Sandusky victims had no father or didn't know their father

6/11/12, "Six of the victims had no fathers, or did not know their fathers."

2/18/12, "NYT reports that majority of births to single mothers under the age of 30," Times-Union, Michael Conners. Data as of 2009.

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Monday, June 18, 2012

Rafael Soriano lifts shirt up after save

Yankee pitcher "Rafael Soriano takes off his shirt after earning the save against the Washington Nationals," June 17, 2012, final 4-1 Yankees. reuters.

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Sunday, June 17, 2012

Eli Manning and daughter Ava at Mets game for Fathers Day

"New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, right, holds his daughter Ava as he chats with New York Mets third baseman David Wright, left, after throwing out the ceremonial first pitch on Father's Day before a baseball game against the Cincinnati Reds at Citi Field" in New York, 6/17/12, ap.

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Don Cooper's view on why so many perfect games and no hitters-Bill Madden

6/16/12, Bill Madden, "When Don Larsen pitched the only World Series perfect game, Oct. 8, 1956, it was the first such perfecto in 34 years — since Charley Robertson of the Chicago White Sox on April 30, 1922. It would be another eight years until Jim Bunning pitched only the fifth perfect game in modern (since 1900) baseball history, on Father’s Day against the Mets, in 1964. This was how rare perfect games were.

But in the last eight years we have seen no less than six perfect games. That includes two in this still young season, from Phil Humber of the White Sox against the Seattle Mariners on April 21 and, just last week, Matt Cain of the Giants against the Houston Astros. And sandwiched between the Humber and Cain perfectos, of course, we had the first no-hitter in Mets history by Johan Santana. Meanwhile, in case you hadn’t noticed — and how could you not? — runs and overall production have been in dramatic decline in recent years. At the same time perfect games have become practically an annual event and no-hitters (there have been 21 since 2007) a nothing-special occurrence. So what gives?

Well, the one obvious conclusion for the reason we are moving inexorably back to the dearth of the ’60s (pre-DH and lowering of mound), is the 2006 advent of testing for steroids and amphetamines. For, it is in that season that the decrease in runs-per-game, batting average and ERA began. No level-headed person would say this is merely a coincidence. At the same time, however, there are those who maintain this decline can also be attributed to other more natural factors.

Listen to White Sox pitching coach Don Cooper, who has the distinction of having presided over perfect games by two of his pitchers, Mark Buehrle in 2009 and Humber this year.

I’m not so naive as to think steroids and greenies didn’t play a part in the offense explosion in the ’90s,” Cooper said, “but at the same time, we’ll never know who did them, and I don’t think it was limited to hitters. What I do know is, we have more information on hitters today than we ever had in terms of location, what pitches they can’t hit etc. There are no secrets about hitters. You have to have a plan — which pitches they’ll take, which ones they’ll swing at — and you still have to execute that plan. But pitchers today are better prepared than they ever were. In addition, we’ve come up with all kinds of new data for defensive adjustments that you never had before, and there’s no telling how many extra outs instead of hits that’s brought to games.”

Cooper also thinks the pitchers are in general better today.

There are so many new, younger pitchers in the game every year that it takes awhile for the hitters to get a handle on them,” Cooper said. “I’m not talking about just starters, but relievers as well. It seems like everyone who comes in from the bullpen now throws 95-96 mph. The hitters of yesteryear never saw that.”

And as for the perfect games, prolific as they’ve become in recent years, you still can’t overlook the element of luck. Just like Buerhle’s perfecto doesn’t happen without Dewayne Wise’s sensational over-the-fence catch in the ninth inning, Cain’s was similarly saved by Giants rightfielder Gregor Blanco’s diving, “out-of-body experience” grab at the warning track on Jordan Schafer’s sinking liner in the seventh inning.

“I just feel blessed to see two of the 22 perfect games first hand,” Cooper said. “But just to show you how random they really are, Buerhle leads the league in hits allowed practically every year, while Humber’s was even harder to fathom because he’s still trying to establish himself.”"

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'Textra' Mark Teixeira on Newsday back page

  • 'Textra' Newsday back page, Sunday, June 17, 2012
Teixeira safe at first in the 12th v Nationals on overthrow, 6/15/12, final 5-3 Yankees, ap

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George Bush chats with Nolan Ryan at Rangers game v Astros

George Bush chats with Nolan Ryan at Texas Rangers game v Houston Astros in Arlington, 6/16/12, final 8-3 Rangers, Star-Telegram

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Saturday, June 16, 2012

Justice Sotomayor chats with Jeter and Arod

Above Derek Jeter chats with Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor before Yankees-Nationals game, final 7-2 Yankees, 6/15/12, ap Above Alex Rodriguez chats with Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor before Yankees-Nationals game, 6/15/12, final 7-2 Yankees, getty Phil Hughes v Washington Nationals in the first, 6/15/12, final 7-2 Yankees, reuters

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Friday, June 15, 2012

Remembering radio's Pat Evans

6/14/12, "Pat Evans," NY Radio Message Board
  • Posted by Jimmy Fink on June 14, 2012 at 11:09:37:

"Around this time in 1985, Mel Karmazin began to assemble a team to operate a new rock station in New York City. Pat Evans, a young woman from Detroit was his selection to be Program Director of WXRK, soon to be known as K-Rock. With Tom Chiusano as General Manager and Mark DiDia as Music Director, Pat Evans, this special girl from Detroit began assembling a team. She hired a staff including me, Tony Pigg and Marc Coppola from the former New York’s Best Rock, WPLJ and on July 12, 1985, Live Aid weekend, K-Rock signed on the air playing The Who's Long Live Rock as its first song.

I have always felt that if you can ever be part of a new radio station, this is a point in your career that you will always look back on, appreciate and adore and the first two years of K-Rock was just that for me. Everything was new and fresh, every person hired knew they were wanted and under Pat Evans we were free to take the old AOR format in a new direction.

After a few years, Pat Evans left the station and went on to program K-Fog in San Francisco and a couple of years later left radio all together. She became Director of Marketing & Public Relations for the San Francisco Zoo, later was a VP at KQED, the San Francisco Public Television station and eventually settled into a job with Catholic Charities CYO as Director of Communications.

After a few years of searching to reconnect, I finally did so about a year ago, only to find out that Pat was ill and had fallen on hard times. Pat Evans was a warm, wonderful person to me and I will always be indebted to her for putting her faith in me by putting me on the air and allowing me to flourish. She became a friend. This past year I had communicated with her via email and telephone….we laughed, we remembered old times and she cried when she told me about the health challenges she would be facing. Sadly, Pat Evans died last night. May she always live in the hearts and minds of those who cherish her memory and may her soul rest in peace."
  • -----------------------------------------------
"Pat Evans was a major behind-the-scenester, beginning in the late '70s, as programmer at KYA, KSFX, KOME and KFOG (where she hired Dave Morey). She also did a stint in New York, where she worked with one Howard Stern. Now living in San Francisco, she's battling lung cancer and could use help with medical expenses. Donations can go to P.O. Box 31910, San Francisco, CA 94131."

More on Pat Evans and word of a future commemorative from AllAccess.com

  • ------------------------------------------------
Pat Evans was a key programming person for KYA and KYA FM in San Francisco prior to her New York radio career. She was a good friend of my good friend Sharon Rosenbush Kaplan whom I met while working at KYA in the late 1970's. Pat and Sharon worked together at both KYA and WXRK in New York. Pat was a lovely person who probably could have done anything she wanted. As Jimmy Fink described, her talents went beyond radio. If you had to create a stereotype of a rock and roll radio program director, it's unlikely you'd come up with Pat Evans. I was in local radio sales for 20 years and saw a few but none like her. She was one of a kind and much too young to die. Susan

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Foul ball rolls up fan's arm along first base line in Seattle

"A foul ball off the bat of Michael Saunders of the Seattle Mariners rolls up the arm of a fan along the first base line during the game against the San Diego Padres at Safeco Field," 6/14/12, final 6-2 Padres, getty

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With Matt Cain perfect game Ted Barrett becomes first umpire to call 2 perfect games, first was David Cone's

"Home plate umpire Ted Barrett waits as San Francisco Giants pitcher Matt Cain warms up before the ninth inning of a baseball game against the Houston Astros in San Francisco, Wednesday, June 13, 2012. Barrett was behind the plate Wednesday night when San Francisco Giants' right-hander Matt Cain pitched a perfect game against the Houston Astros in a 10-0 victory. He also was the home plate umpire when David Cone threw his perfect game for the New York Yankees in a 6-0 win over the Montreal Expos on July 18, 1999. It makes Barrett the first major league umpire to call balls and strikes for two perfect games." ap photo, 6/13/12

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Wednesday, June 13, 2012

White Sox Alexei Ramirez signs for fans in St. Louis

White Sox shortstop Alexei Ramirez signs for fans in St. Louis, 6/13/12, ap

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Former Pres. Jimmy Carter at Braves v Yankees

Jimmy Carter in Atlanta watching game v Yankees, umbrella nearby, 6/13/12, ap

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Foul ball in the stands in Texas

Foul ball in the stands in Texas v Arizona Diamondbacks, June 13, 2011, getty

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Arod's grand slam in Atlanta

Above, Newsday back page, Wed., June 13, 2012

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Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Kid who caught Arod grand slam in Atlanta was Yankee fan from North Carolina at his first Yankee game

6/12/12, NY Times David Waldstein twitter: "Kid who caught A-rod's home run was Yankee fan from North Carolina at his first Yankee game. He and his mother and brother just met A-Rod."

6/13/12, "Waiting outside the Yankees clubhouse for Rodriguez was Randy Kearns, a 15-year-old from North Carolina who caught the laser in his Yankee hat.

Kearns turned the ball over to Rodriguez, who gave Kearns and his friend, Hunter Whitcher autographed balls, a Yankee jersey and a bat.

“He volunteered the game ball back, that’s pretty generous,’’ Rodriguez said of the Kearns, a Yankees fan who made the five-hour drive to see his first Yankees game."...

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/12/3655342/a-rod-ties-gehrigs-grand-slam.html#storylink=cpy
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/06/12/3655342/a-rod-ties-gehrigs-grand-slam.html#storylink=cpy

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1-800-Flowers exec is a Mets invester-NY Times

The Wilpon and Katz families purchased three of the 12 limited shares. "Bit by bit, the investors in the Mets are becoming known.

James F. McCann, the chairman of 1-800-Flowers.com, told The New York Post that he owns one of the 12 limited shares in the Mets. Each share — a 4 percent piece of the Mets — costs $20 million. McCann owns the majority of the share, but his partners include Anthony Scaramucci, a managing partner of SkyBridge Capital, a hedge fund.

McCann told The Post: “I felt it was a reasonable investment, but growing up a lifelong Mets fan, this was more about being able to do something fun and interesting for me and my family.”

McCann is one of a group of old friends of Fred Wilpon, the Mets’ principal owner, who regularly visits during spring training at Port St. Lucie, Fla. His company is also a Citi Field sponsor.

According to company documents, McCann’s compensation at 1-800-Flowers for the 2011 fiscal year ended July 3, 2011, was $2.75 million. The company had revenue of $689.8 million and net income of $5.7 million. In the previous two years, the company lost $4.2 million and $98.4 million.

McCann, who is from Rockaway, Queens, was part of a group with Scaramucci that had voiced interest in paying $200 million for about one-third of the team. The hedge-fund manager David Einhorn entered negotiations to wrap up his bid, but the deal eventually fell apart.

The Mets then decided to sell $240 million through a dozen limited partnerships, deals they said they closed on in March, shortly before Wilpon and the Mets co-owner Saul Katz settled the case filed against them by the trustee for the victims of Bernard L. Madoff’s Ponzi scheme.

Earlier this month, the comedian Bill Maher revealed that he was part of a group that purchased a $20 million share in the team but wouldn’t say what percentage he owned. He joined Steven A. Cohen, the hedge-fund billionaire; the media magnates Robert W. Pittman and Kenneth B. Lerer; Time Warner Cable and Comcast, the Mets’ partners in SNY, which bought four shares; and the Wilpon and Katz families, which purchased three. That appears to leave only one partnership without a publicly known owner."

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Marlins Stadium with windows and roof open

Miami Marlins Stadium v Red Sox, 6/12/12, final 2-1 Red Sox, getty

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Ivan Nova on Newsday back page

Ivan Nova, Newsday back page, Tues., June 12, 2012.

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Monday, June 11, 2012

Atlanta has some Yankee fans

Nick Swisher catches potential Brian McCann home run at the wall in Atlanta, 6/11/12, final 3-0 Yankees, getty

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Russell Martin on front and back pages

Above, Russell Martin, Newsday front page, Mon., 6/11/12 NY Daily News back page, 6/11/12

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Sunday, June 10, 2012

Last day of subway series

Above Russell Martin's 6th inning 2 run HR just makes the fence near Mets Scott Hairston, 6/10/12, final 5-4 Yankees, ap

Dewayne Wise and Arod greet Russell Martin after his game winning home run in the bottom of the 9th, 6/10/12, final 5-4 over Mets, ap. Russell Martin said, "It is a 'walking on air' kind of thing." (nr. end of article).

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Steve Malzberg joins WFAN as update anchor

6/9/12, "Steve Malzberg Joins WFAN As Update Anchor," NY Radio Message Board
  • "Steve Somers just introduced Steve Malzberg to the WFAN audience at Midnight on Saturday morning 6/9/12. Somers mentioned Malzberg's 30 years in broadcasting at such stations as WABC and WOR. Don't know if Malzberg will be in the weekend overnight slot regularly or will move around.
  • Malzberg handled the update smoothly."

Follow-up comment

  • "Steve Malzberg used to fill in for Art Rust Jr. on his Sports Talk program on WABC years ago. And I think he regularly produced that show too. So doing sports reports is nothing new for him, and he may be working toward a bigger Sports Talk future at WFAN."...

Ed. note: I haven't heard Malzberg exactly say he's a Mets fan, but my guess is that he is.

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This is what Mike Lupica thinks of you: you're a racist

6/7/12, "Last time, there just weren’t enough reasons for enough white voters to vote against the black guy, as much as they wanted to."

Unfortunately this describes people like you, Mr. Lupica:

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Saturday, June 09, 2012

Young fans looking for autographs during Mets-Yankees BP

"Friends from Bronxville, N.Y., Mac Leahy, Sean Curran and Jack McSherry are among several New York Yankees and New York Mets fans in the stands looking for autographs during batting practice" before Mets-Yankees interleague game at Yankee Stadium, Sat. 6/9/12, ap

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Friday, June 08, 2012

A discussion of recent voice of WFAN's Steve Somers, that it sounds quite different

From NY Radio Message Board, a discussion about the recent voice of WFAN's Steve Somers;

  • "Posted by Allan Sniffen on June 08, 2012 at 07:03:23:

"Ok... do I not know something here? Maybe those who listen to the station more than I are more up on this than me so I'll admit this might be a question that others have long ago answered...

But, what's the story with WFAN's Steve Somers voice?

Lately, he sounds so different that it almost sounds like an imitation. Is he broadcasting from a different location and it's the mic? Or is there a health issue (I certainly hope this is not the explanation). Steve has been terrific for many years on WFAN so this is not meant as a criticism."
  • (Ed. note: I agree Steve's voice sounds different recently.)

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Mariano Rivera in Panama, November 2005, George Bush signs autographs

11/7/2005, "U.S. President Bush, right, signs autographs for an unidentified Panamanian baseball player, left, New York Yankee relief pitcher Mariano Rivera, center, looks on during a baseball event with Panamanian youth at Ciudad del Saber in Panama City, Monday, Nov. 7, 2005. Panama's President Martin Torrijos is seen at rear." (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak), from NY Post, (don't have link)

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Rainbow over Yankee Stadium

Rainbow over Yankee Stadium as rain delay ends before game v Tampa Bay Rays, 6/7/12, final, 7-3 Rays, reuters

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Thursday, June 07, 2012

Paula Abdul and Phillie Phanatic

Paula Abdul and Phillie Phanatic at Phillies game v Dodgers, 6/7/12, final 8-3 Dodgers, getty

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