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Robin Ventura new Chicago White Sox manager at Fan Fest

2012-01-28T09:51:00.003-05:00

New Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura greets fans at Fan Fest, Fri. Jan. 27, 2012, ap

Valentine speaks at UConn baseball team preseason dinner

2012-01-28T06:59:00.005-05:00

"Lee Mazilli's son LJ is a junior infielder for the Huskies."...

1/27/12, "Baseball: Bobby V proud of UConn sports," New Haven Register, Jim Fuller

"While Boston Red Sox fans may hope otherwise, there may not be a scene where Bobby Valentine is more at ease than in a crowded room full of baseball fans and Connecticut baseball fans as well. Valentine, hired as the Red Sox manager in November, came to UConn to speak at the UConn baseball team’s preseason dinner because “he was asked.” Make no mistake, Valentine did his share of talking, listening and displayed a wit and charm that may have won over even

the New York Yankees fans inside the Rome Ballroom.

Valentine was handed countless items of baseball paraphernalia as he engaged in a give and take with fans who plucked down nearly $100 per person for the fundraising dinner. Whether it was listening to tales of the exploits of his father in law Ralph Branca or the time as a baseball prodigy in Stamford when a mammoth homer resulted in a broken window, Valentine was in his element. Before making his way to the public appearance, he spoke to the UConn baseball team and kept

the crowd entertained wherever he went on Friday evening.

While Valentine knows that most people would like to talk to him about the prospects of the Red Sox, he didn’t lose sight of where he was.

“This is one of the great sports programs in the world,” Valentine said.

“When you start hosting (baseball) regionals and continue to get national attention going to football bowl games, Final Fours in basketball it makes it among the top dogs in the world. I am proud of them, I’m from Connecticut.” Valentine appears ready to enter the boiling pot that goes with being the manager of the Red Sox. He knows that he will be under scrutiny on a daily basis and knows that the expectations of winning the World Series comes with the territory. However, he is more focused on the short term.

“It is what everybody’s (goal) is,” Valentine said. “I don’t like to be like everyone. I am thinking of the first day of spring training, that is what excites me.”

Among those in attendance was Lee Mazzilli, who was Valentine’s teammate with the New York Mets in 1977 and 1978. It was more than just friendship that brought Mazzilli to the event as his son LJ is a junior infielder for the Huskies."...

Bleacher Report to hire twenty writers to lead amateur crew

2012-01-27T01:10:00.005-05:00

"Bleacher Report is also syndicating its content to national and regional partners like USA Today and Philly.com."

1/26/12, "Bleacher Report To Hire More Real Writers To Lead Amateur Army," PaidContent.org, Jeff Roberts

"Bleacher Report is using part of the $22 million cash infusion it received last summer to hire twenty bona fide writers. The move will likely improve the quality of the popular site which now relies almost exclusively on rabid fans to churn out buckets of barstool-style sports chatter.

Since its launch in 2008, Bleacher Report has been a disruptive presence in sports reporting. Its army of amateurs has led it to acquire over 20 million unique visitors a month and placed it in the top ranks of sports sites behind gorillas like ESPN (NYSE: DIS) and Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) Sports.

Bleacher Report’s new hires, who will cover specific fields like baseball and soccer, will join the five existing “Lead Writers” who were brought on last year to provide football-centered coverage.

The lead writers are in part responsible for guiding the thousands of volunteer contributors who produce a slew of often-absurdly specific content along the lines of ‘5 reasons Albert Pujols will like the french fries in Anaheim better than St. Louis.’

“We see this growth as another big step in creating a purer meritocracy for sports content creation on the Web,” wrote Dave Finocchio, Co-Founder and Vice President of Content and Product at Bleacher Report.

While the site is often derided by other news outlets, it’s hard to gainsay its business model which relies on sports team devotees to produce free content lapped up by insatiable fans. A spokesman described a typical Bleacher Report writer as “a guy who works by day and is a 49ers fan by night.”

The move to add more professionals may in part be to persuade advertisers that it’s a quality brand. In October, Ad Age reported that sponsors find Bleacher Reports hyper-specific demographics appealing but that at least one advertiser chose not to renew its contract because of the questionable content.

In addition to selling ads, Bleacher Report is also syndicating its content to national and regional partners like USA Today and Philly.com. Last week, it launched a tablet version of the site."...via Poynter.org

Rally for Egypt Revolution in Times Square on Jan. 21 for those who missed

2012-01-26T14:14:00.004-05:00

Many more great pictures from Silent Majority website.

1/26/12, "Jan 21-Times Sq: Global Day in support of Egyptian Revolution ( vid and pics)," TheSilentMajority.wordpress.com, AmericanValues via Atlas Shrugs

Jorge Posada on NY Daily News front page

2012-01-25T05:56:00.004-05:00

NY Daily News front page, Wed., Jan. 25, 2012, the day after Posada's retirement was announced at Yankee Stadium

Kim Jones to leave YES Network after 7 years-Neil Best

2012-01-25T00:26:00.005-05:00

"YES had offered Jones a new contract, and the parting was amicable."

1/24/12, "Kimberly Jones leaves YES after seven years," Newsday, Neil Best

"Kimberly Jones, YES' lead pregame and postgame reporter for the past seven years, will not return to the network for the 2012 season.

"It was a terrific seven years, especially when I didn't know if I'd make it through the first one, and neither did anyone else,'' she said, laughing. "It was filled with highlights and moments that only the Yankees can provide. I couldn't be more grateful for the opportunity at YES."

YES had offered Jones a new contract, and the parting was amicable. "We would love to have her on the YES team this season, but certainly understand her decision," YES spokesman Eric Handler said. "She was a valued member of our Yankees broadcast team, and we wish her nothing but the best."

Handler said YES is "looking at a number of options" to fill Jones' job. Jack Curry will remain in his current role as a studio analyst at the network.

As for Jones, she said there is "nothing at the moment that I can tell you" about her next job, but the NFL Network is believed to have interest in her.

Jones has been a popular semi-regular at WFAN and has worked extensively with afternoon host Mike Francesa. But a full-time move to the station appears unlikely because there is no apparent fit in the current schedule."

Thank you Jorge Posada

2012-01-24T06:52:00.009-05:00

1/9/12, "And he was constantly underrated."

Above, 2003 ALCS game 7, bottom of the 8th, Posada 2 run double to tie the game. Yankees win in 11, 6-5.

Above Posada ALCS game 3, 8th inning in Anaheim, 10/19/09, getty

Above Posada throwing in Boston, 4/26/09, getty

Above, Posada ALDS game 3 in Detroit, signals to Russell Martin, 10/3/11, ap

Above, Core Four, 9/21/08, getty

Above, 4/4/10, opening night at Fenway Park, Posada's hit clears foul pole for a home run, getty.

Above, Mariano and Posada, World Series game 3, 10/31/09, ap. 5 pitches for Mo, Matt Stairs, Jimmy Rollins, no save.

Above, Mo douses Posada, 9/21/11, after Yankees clinch AL East. getty

9/25/11, "Posada takes a curtain call after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning of the first game of a doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium," ap

Newsday back page, 9/16/2009, Pettitte and Sabathia accompany Posada, 9/15/2009 game v Blue Jays. Brawl happened in bottom of 8th, Cervelli replaced Posada behind the plate in the top of the 9th. Blue Jays 10, Yankees 4. More pictures of brawl.

Letterman hosts Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Derek Jeter, and Hideki Matsui, 11/05/09, after World Series win. photo from nyyfans.com

Fan sign from World Series at Yankee Stadium, Nov. 2, 2001

11/2/2001, "Mystique, Aura, and Timely Hits," Tim Sullivan

-----------------------

Derek Jeter speaks to media after Posada retirement announcement, 1/24/12, getty

Posada family at his retirement announcement, 1/24/12, ap

Posada and his family enter the press conference, 1/24/12, reuters

Posada and Jeter, 1/24/12, reuters

Posada at retirement announcement 1/24/12, getty

11/13/2007, "No Place like Bronx for Jorge Posada," Mike Lupica, NY Daily News

"He sat in the visitors' clubhouse at Comerica Park one year ago, after another Yankee postseason had ended in the first round. To the end, Jorge Posada stayed in there. He kept swinging. There was a two-out single in the seventh inning, when it was already 8-1 for the Tigers. Then came a two-run homer in the ninth, Posada making the last game of the season, 8-3.

To the end, he was a great Yankee.

It was quiet in front of his locker 30 minutes later. It is usually quiet there, unless Posada has something to say. Then he lets you have it.

"It's the thing people don't always see from Jorge," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said yesterday. "How emotional he can be. It's mostly because he's always wanted to win as much as anybody we have."

That day in Comerica Park, some Yankees already were out of the shower and dressed and thinking about the bus to the airport. The first moments of next season are always the same when you lose the last game, whether you are home or on the road. They are looking to go, especially when it ends 8-3 and one of the only ones fighting is the catcher. The catcher wasn't going anywhere. He was still in uniform, sitting there in front of the locker. He had at least made that one last swing. He had not made the last out of the season. A year later, against Joe Borowski of the Indians, he just missed hitting a ninth-inning home run that would have brought the Yankees to within a run and scared the Indians half to death. At Comerica, in October of '06, one of the writers came by and told him that this might not be the time to say it, but he was going to say it anyway,

what a great Yankee Posada was.

Posada thanked the guy, shook his hand.

"You never think it will end this soon," he said. "Not after what we used to do."

He gets paid now by the Yankees for all of it, what he used to be and what the Yankees used to be, for being

one of the last members of the Class of '96 - class in all ways - who is still here."...

-----------------------------

1/9/12, "Jorge Posada career highlights," Chris Jaffe, Hardball Times

"On Saturday, news surfaced that Jorge Posada intends to retire after 17 years in baseball. In that time, he combined two things that rarely go together. He was a longtime New York Yankee, and he was constantly underrated. Players for the game’s marquee franchise usually get at least their share of attention yet, somehow, Posada slipped through the cracks."...

Cardinals post season MVP David Freese, Yankee reliever David Robertson at NY Baseball Writers awards dinner

2012-01-23T04:26:00.010-05:00

Above Yankee reliever David Robertson with Cardinals 1B/3B post season MVP David Freese, 1/21/12, at NY Baseball Writers annual awards dinner, via David Robertson twitter MLB.com article about dinner.

Mariano Rivera and David Robertson with their awards at NY Baseball Writers awards dinner, 1/21/12, photo from David Robertson twitter via Lohud Yankee. MLB.com article

Beckett tells Valentine his slow pitching was to gain 'competitive edge against the Yankees'-Ken Davidoff

2012-01-20T23:59:00.005-05:00

1/20/12, Ken Davidoff, Bobby Valentine addressed the World Baseball Coaches Convention at Mohegan Sun Friday night: "In virtually non-stop travel mode since his hiring in early December, Valentine has either met or spoken with all of Boston's key players. He addressed the concerns of pitcher Josh Beckett, who didn't like being criticized by then-ESPN commentator Valentine during a game against the Yankees. "He told me that he used a slower motion as a competitive edge against the Yankees,'' Valentine said of Beckett.

He described himself as "pleasantly surprised'' by his meeting with Jacoby Ellsbury, who has been publicly portrayed as unhappy despite putting up an excellent season.

"If anything was bothering him last year,'' Valentine said of Ellsbury, "I want to find what it is and bother him again this year.''

Valentine said he thinks leftfielder Carl Crawford, who recently had surgery to repair his injured left wrist, will be ready for the start of the regular season.""

1/20/12, "Bobby V inspired by Yanks' rotation," Newsday, Ken Davidoff, Montville, Ct.

Media prefer baseball analogies to describe political debates-Stableford

2012-01-20T22:24:00.010-05:00

"Gingrich saw the pitch coming...was looking for a fastball and proceeded to knock it out of the park."...Politico

1/20/12, "Baseball analogies dominate media’s debate analysis," Yahoo Cutline, by Dylan Stableford

"The Republican primary debate in Charleston, South Carolina on Thursday night was a slugfest, with Newt Gingrich leading off the ballgame with a home run off CNN starter John King, who tried to slip an "open marriage" fastball by the former House Speaker.

That is, if you were to borrow a baseball analogy--which the media has been all-too-eager to do lately.

"I think Gingrich saw a fastball coming," CNN's David Gergen told Anderson Cooper. "And in front of this audience, he smacked it right out of the park."

Gergen wasn't the only pundit mining the national pastime for quips.

"Newt did knock it out of the park," Ari Fleischer said later on CNN. "Well, I think, putting it in baseball terms, Mitt Romney is a doubles hitter. He hit more doubles tonight, but he's not hitting enough doubles to win South Carolina. Rick Santorum had his best night yet -- he hit a triple."

Fleischer wasn't done.

"Newt swings for the fences, and he connected tonight," he said. "Also, when he swings, he can have some spectacular whiffs. And we don't know from day to day

if he's going to hit one or strike out."

Meanwhile, Politico's Maggie Haberman's top takeaway from Thursday's debate sounded a lot like Gergen's:

1) Newt Gingrich saw the pitch coming

Gingrich was looking for a fastball and proceeded to knock it out of the park. Yes, it's a sports cliché, but it's a fitting one here. Gingrich knew full well that CNN moderator John King would ask him about his ex-wife's claims that he had sought an "open marriage" over a decade ago. And CNN made a clear choice to open with it, knowing that would make the network a part of the news story.

John Baldoni of CBS' "Money Watch" thought Newt cleared the fences, too: "Newt Gingrich hit a home run the other evening in South Carolina when he took moderator John King's question about his former wife's allegation of his request for an open marriage and turned it into a media bashing moment."

Boston.com's Garrett Quinn put it another way: "Gingrich has found a way to turn what should be a single into a home run. Tonight, though, was a grand slam for him."

Of course, Thursday's debate was not the first time the media likened Gingrich to a GOP Babe Ruth. Earlier this week, Ed Rollins said Gingrich smacked a home run during Saturday's Fox News-hosted debate, turning around a question about race from Juan Williams. "I think it's put him back in the game," Gingrich said. "He looks strong."

A blogger for Norcalblogs.com took the baseball analogy even deeper:

Gingrich hit home run after home run, but his biggest hit came at the expense of Juan Williams. Juan pitched a race baiting fastball that Newt hit with the sweet spot of his bat. When he finished, the crowd erupted [in] the first ever standing ovation at a debate. Fox News was forced to take a commercial break to calm things down. It wasn't his only big hit, but it was his best.

On Thursday, Fleischer added: "To use the baseball expression we started with here, I think we're into the fourth inning with too many players on the field, maybe three. So people thought maybe the game would be over here after three races, three innings, and Romney would win it. If he wins in South Carolina, that's the likelihood. I don't think that's going to happen."

Then again, it's anybody's ballgame." via Big Journalism

Arod with Torrie Wilson at ribbon cutting for new gym in Mexico City

2012-01-20T04:37:00.007-05:00

Above Arod in Mexico City for ribbon cutting of new Energy Fitness gym with Torrie Wilson and Mark Mastrov founder of 24 Hour Fitness, Jan. 19. 2012, reuters

Arod with Torrie Wilson at Miami Heat game v San Antonio Spurs Jan.17, 2012, getty

Yu Darvish day at Texas Rangers ballpark

2012-01-18T23:44:00.007-05:00

"Japanese media stand outside Rangers Ballpark in Arlington in anticipation of the Texas Rangers signing Japanese pitching sensation Yu Darvish, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, in Arlington, Texas." ap photo "From left to right, Texas Rangers CEO and president Nolan Ryan, general manager Jon Daniels, Yu Darvish representatives Arn Tellem and Don Nomura...during a news conference to announce the signing of Japanese pitching sensation Darvish, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2012, in Arlington, Texas. The two-time defending AL champions signed a multiyear deal with Darvish before their 30-day negotiating window ended Wednesday at 4 p.m. CST. Texas last month bid a record $51.7 million under the posting system to win the right just to negotiate with the 25-year-old pitcher." ap photo Yu Darvish at press conference in Sapporo, Japan, Jan. 6, 2011, ap

White House celebration for World Champ Cardinals takes place without La Russa or Pujols

2012-01-17T23:38:00.009-05:00

1/17/12, "Obama honors St. Louis Cardinals without La Russa, Pujols," CBSSports.com

"President Barack Obama on Tuesday dubbed the St. Louis Cardinals the "greatest comeback team in the history of baseball" thanks to their thrilling late-season charge into the playoffs and death-defying, seven-game triumph in last November's World Series.

The Cardinals were 10 1/2 games back at the end of August, but rallied to win a National League wild card spot on the last day of the regular season. They trailed in each playoff round and were twice within a strike of elimination in Game six of the series with the Texas Rangers before David Freese's walk-off home run in the 11th saved them.

"That has to be one of the best baseball games of all time," Obama said to applause and cheers as he welcomed team members in the East Room.

Leading off at the event was first lady Michelle Obama, celebrating her 48th birthday. And with a swing of the bat, she nearly stole the show.

Mrs. Obama was present at the series opener, and she thanked the Cardinals for all they do for military families. Then team owner Bill de Witt gave both Obamas team jerseys and souvenir bats.

"I'm a little bit worried about giving my wife a bat," the president joked. "If I mess up..."

His wife deadpanned, "I'll take my bat," then hefted and glancing meaningfully in Obama's direction, as Cardinals players, team officials and Missouri lawmakers chuckled.

Two key figures of the championship season were absent. Manager Tony La Russa retired after the series. And star Albert Pujols signed a $240 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels in the offseason....

He (Obama) noted in late August, Las Vegas oddsmakers had the Cards 500-to-1 underdogs....

"This team essentially played two months of elimination games," Obama said."

getty photo. (Keep laughing Obama. ed.)

Mike Francesa on WFAN transits out of name 'Mike'd Up' and jingle, new jingle pending-NY Radio Message Bd.

2012-01-17T03:27:00.004-05:00

Mike mentioned the pending jingle and name change on his Sunday NFL show, says NYRMB poster. YES Network has always called it 'The Mike Francesa Show.'

1/16/12, "CBS/WFAN loses Mike'd Up name license," NY Radio Message Board poster

"Mike Francesa started his show without a jingle today, noting that CBS was unable to come to terms with NBC on renewing the license to use the name "Mike'd Up" for the WFAN radio show. NBC owned the name from Mike's Sunday night TV program - it had been in place while the WFAN show was still Mike & the Mad Dog. After Russo left in 2008, CBS was able to license the use of the name for WFAN. Mike said a new name and jingle package was being worked on, and could be ready

as soon as Tuesday Jan 17."

Cardinals Caravan in Jonesboro, Arkansas, January 16

2012-01-17T02:52:00.004-05:00

"Chris Clayton, 12, gets his shirt autographed by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Alan Benes on Monday, Jan. 16, 2012, in Jonesboro Ark., during Cardinals Caravan" ap

MLB owners concerned about Moorad finances-Bill Madden

2012-01-15T21:36:00.004-05:00

1/14/12, Bill Madden, "DESERT STORM"

"That was quite a bit of unexpected drama that occurred at the owners’ meetings in Scottsdale last week when they sought to get Bud Selig’s two-year extension on the agenda. Because a 10-day period is required for getting any issues on the agenda, there has to be a unanimous vote of the owners to waive that.

But San Diego Padres owner John Moores was infuriated when the owners put off approving his sale of the team to former agent Jeffrey Moorad and, in protest, cast a dissenting vote. That promoted another vote to put the extension “on notice” for 10 days and once again Moores was the only “nay.” Finally, after the owners elected to vote on the extension right there and then instead of by e-mail within the 10-day period,

Moores was again the only one to vote no on Selig.

It remains to be seen if Selig makes Moores pay for his rebellious streak, but MLB sources tell me that, in the wake of the Frank McCourt-Dodgers mess, there is real concern among the owners

about Moorad and whether he is sufficiently financed." (p. 2)

1/14/12, "Yankees GM Brian Cashman has best offseason with Michael Pineda trade, Hiroki Kuroda signing," Bill Madden, NY Daily News

New Red Sox spring home JetBlue Park cost Lee County $78 million to build

2012-01-15T01:26:00.002-05:00

1/13/12, "A Lee County official said today the Boston Red Sox’s new spring time home, JetBlue Park, is down to the finishing touches.

With about six weeks left until the stadium’s Feb. 25 grand-opening, workers are touching up the paint, laying carpet and installing electrical fixtures, Lee County Project Manager Bob Taylor said...

The stadium cost Lee County an estimated $77.9 million to build."

1/13/12, "Boston Red Sox's new spring training home, JetBlue Park, receiving finishing touches," News-Press, Ft. Myers

Fans line up for Minnesota Twins spring training tickets

2012-01-15T01:11:00.008-05:00

Above pictures, 1/14/12, "Baseball fans brave the cold for Twins spring training tickets, " News-Press, Tim Ritter, Ft. Myers, Fla. photos by Hirton, News-Press

Back pages for Yankee deals, 'Up in Arms,' Newsday, 'Arms Race,' NY Post, Pineda-Montero, Kuroda

2012-01-14T00:38:00.008-05:00

'Up in Arms,' Newsday back page, Sat. Jan. 14, 2012. Kuroda signs with Yanks, Jesus Montero and Noesi lost in exchange for Mariners Michael Pineda.

'Arms Race,' Yanks deal Montero for Pineda, sign Kuroda, NY Post back page, Sat., Jan. 14, 2012

NY Daily News back page, 'Staff Injection,' Sat. Jan. 14, 2012

Nelson Doubleday and Fred Wilpon, Jan. 24, 1980

2012-01-13T02:06:00.004-05:00

"Jan. 24, 1980: Doubleday & Co. purchases controlling interest in the Mets from the Charles Payson family for $21.1 million. Minority partner Fred Wilpon’s share is a reported 5 percent." photo David Pokress. "Aug. 13, 2002: Agreement is reached on the sale of Doubleday’s 50-percent interest in the Mets to the Wilpon family for $135 million. The deal is officially completed 10 days later." Newsday

BBWAA member Dave Krieger gives up Denver Post column for radio job at KOA

2012-01-13T00:14:00.006-05:00

12/23/11, "Vinny Castilla is getting at least one Hall of Fame vote," Hardballtalk, Craig Calcaterra

1/10/12, "Dave Krieger on why he's leaving Denver Post for full-time KOA gig," Westword.com, Michael Roberts

"Dave Krieger is one of the truly outstanding newspaper sports columnists at work today -- not only in Denver, but the country as a whole. Yet as of next week, he'll be giving up his role at the Denver Post in favor of a full-time co-hosting position at KOA radio.

Why? Krieger reveals that he'd hoped to find a way to balance the jobs, but the Post wouldn't go for it.

"I've been doing both for a while," says Krieger, who's co-hosted the afternoon-drive staple now known as The Dave Logan Show since the June departure of Lois Melkonian, Logan's former sidekick; she's now doing radio in Houston. "I had been subbing with Lois for Dave throughout the football season in 2010" -- Logan, who also coaches Mullen High School football, has practices in the afternoon -- "and that was sort of what I was anticipating doing again. The Post didn't seem to have a problem with that, since they have a lot of people with other gigs," including longtimer Woody Paige,

a regular on ESPN's Around the Horn.

Now, "it's a different situation," Krieger continues. "There's another spot next to Dave, and when Dave is gone, there are two. I was doing the show and doing the column as well, because it was a fill-in gig, and KOA didn't have a problem with me doing both -- and I didn't hear anything from the Post one way or the other. But when Dave's football season ended, KOA had to make a decision about who was going to work with him going forward and asked if I'd like to. And I said, 'Yeah.'"

At that point, KOA wanted to make an announcement about its new hire. "So," Krieger notes, "I asked them to approach the Post to see if they could work out some kind of cooperative cross-platform arrangement that would be good for everybody. And the Post said they weren't interested in that. They made it clear

that I either needed to be their full-time columnist or choose."

This stance prompted plenty of reflection, Krieger confirms. His conclusion? "I'm not sure at this point in my career how many more opportunities I'll get to do something new and different, and this is all of those things. So I decided to go with new and different."

The Post scooped KOA on the news, running a recent piece revealing that Krieger's last column will appear on January 19, but leaving out any reference to the machinations that prompted him to take the plunge. Via e-mail, Post editor Greg Moore declines to discuss the details, but writes, "I am grateful for his contributions" -- especially "Spygate II," in which Krieger helped bust the Josh McDaniels-era Broncos for taking surreptitious video of a San Francisco 49ers walk-through -- "and look forward to listening to him when I am out and about during the day." In the meantime, Greg Foster, head of AM programming for Clear Channel Denver, KOA's owner, confirms Krieger's new status and expresses enthusiasm about his decision.

Post readers are likely to be less exuberant. After all, Krieger, who spent more than a quarter-century at the Rocky Mountain News before joining the Post staff in 2009 as one of the all-stars brought over after the Rocky closed, is not just a keen observer of football, basketball and more; he's also adept at looking beyond the world of sports. For prime examples, check out "Crusade," a 2007 Message column about Krieger's insightful and passionate columns about gang life and urban violence in the wake of Denver Broncos cornerback Darrent Williams's murder.

Fortunately, Krieger won't be limiting himself to verbal communication. "I've been a writer my whole adult life, and I will continue to write in some form or another," he notes. "I know KOA is interested in developing online content, so I may put together some kind of sports blog on the KOA website. And once I'm gone from the Post, I'll be free to accept freelance assignments. I don't know if there will be any of those or not, but one way or another, I'm sure I'll keep writing."...

"To be perfectly honest about it, I was hired by the Post principally to help keep Rocky subscribers from dropping. That's probably true about most of the Rocky people, but I was the only one originally hired in sports, and I think it's fair to say that within the sports department, they didn't really feel they needed me. The normal complement of sports columnists at a metro daily is two, and they had two. I became kind of a third wheel, and I'm not sure I adapted all that well to it. It was different from being part of the foundation at the Rocky."

From this reader's perspective, he was foundational at the Post, too. He definitely made a place for himself there, and he'll be missed. Fortunately, fans know where they can find him from here on out: at 850 on the AM dial." via Poynter.org

12/23/11, "Vinny Castilla is getting at least one Hall of Fame vote," Hardballtalk, Craig Calcaterra

"Dave Krieger of the Denver Post has a fine Hall of Fame ballot for the most part: Jeff Bagwell, Larry Walker, Barry Larkin, Jack Morris, Tim Raines and Alan Trammell. I wouldn’t vote for Morris, of course, but I’d gladly take his induction if it meant Raines, Trammell and Bagwell got in, so it’s all good.

Well, not all. See, he’s also voting for a certain former Colorado Rockies third baseman:"...

MLB swells meet in Arizona, Jan. 2012

2012-01-12T02:25:00.023-05:00

Above Orioles owner Peter Angelos, Paradise Valley, Ariz., MLB owners meetings, 1/12/12, ap

Above Brewers owner Mark Attanasio left with Royals owner David Glass, Paradise Valley, Ariz., Jan 12, 2012, ap

Above, Cardinals CEO William DeWitt at MLB owners meetings, Jan. 12, 2012, in Paradise Valley, Ariz., ap

Above Cubs Pres. of Bus. Ops. Crane Kenney, left, with Cubs Chmn. Tom Ricketts after MLB meetings in Paradise Valley, Ariz. Jan. 12, 2012, ap

Above Phillies gen. partner David Montgomery at MLB owners meeting in Paradise Valley, Ariz., Jan. 12, 2012, ap

Above, Toronto Blue Jays CEO Paul Beeston at MLB meetings in Arizona, 1/12/12, ap

Above Mets COO Jeff Wilpon arrives for MLB owners meetings in Phoenix, 1/11/12, ap Above Jeff Moorad, San Diego Padres vice chair and CEO arrives 1/11/12, ap Colorado Rockies Chair and CEO Dick Monfort arrives in Phoenix, 1/11/12, ap Arizona Diamondbacks pres. and ceo Derrick Hall arrives 1/11/12, ap

If Jack O'Connell feels 'agonized' about future baseball awards voting he should quit

2012-01-11T21:23:00.015-05:00

1/10/12, "Steroids Era to consume Hall voters," AP, Ronald Blum

"“It’s going to be agonizing,” BBWAA general secretary Jack O’Connell said after Tuesday’s news conference, repeating the phrase for emphasis."...

----------------------

Suggestion to Mr. O'Connell: If it's going to be so agonizing, why don't you quit?

-------------------------

This 2005 Tim Marchman article may help O'Connell. It mentions steroids and Palmeiro but focuses on the media's "unseemly sense of ownership of the game:"

8/10/2005, "Baseball's own full court press," Tim Marchman, NY Sun

"There has obviously been no shortage of commentary on baseball's steroid crisis this year, but with last week's revelation that Baltimore's Rafael Palmeiro had tested positive, matters got completely out of hand. This is understandable enough, as Palmeiro is the first star player whose drug use has moved out of the realm of leaked testimony, accusation, and innuendo, into the realm of verifiable fact.

Curiously, in the endless acres of newsprint devoted to the issue, it seems one point hasn't been addressed. It concerns the press, not athletes, and simply put it's this: Isn't it more than a bit presumptuous for sportswriters to talk about the damage players do to the game and to their legacies when they use drugs?

And if so, might a bit more humility be in order?

Baseball has always had a curious relationship with the press, which has, rather than merely covering the game, always intervened in its workings and altered the course of its affairs. This has been more true of baseball than other sports. There exists no football equivalent to the coverage - by the black and socialist press - that helped lay the groundwork for the integration of the game, no basketball equivalent of the activist coverage - by writers like the Times's Murray Chass - that helped make every labor stoppage until the last one a defeat for owners.

This is so largely for the same reasons that statistics are so much more important in baseball than in the other major American team sports. Much more than any other sport, baseball really is conscious of its history and legacy and role as a national institution, which leads to a notion of "the game" as something distinct from the players, managers, coaches, scouts, and executives who comprise it. Basketball is Michael Jordan; hockey is Wayne Gretzky; baseball is, simply, baseball.

In baseball, the press is traditionally seen as the guardians of the game. The longest-tenured journalists outlast generations of players, managers, and executives. It's a fact of baseball that is expressed in areas as basic and important as entrance to the Hall of Fame, which is mostly regulated by longtime baseball writers.

This is not wholly, or even mostly, bad.

Baseball writers have always tended, to feel their loyalty is to the abstract notion of the game and the civic ideals with which it is associated, rather than to the men who play it or profit from it. The tradition of honorable activism in baseball journalism cannot be divorced from this loyalty.

The downside of this state of affairs, though, is the unseemly sense of ownership of the game that you find in the writing of many of those who have covered it for a long time. This is no new phenomenon: Spend some time with members of the Sporting News from the 1960s (or the 1920s, for that matter) and you'll read more than you'd ever believe about the ungratefulness and loutish manners of the Young Turk ballplayers of the day.

Read up on baseball's labor history and you'll see that many longtime baseball writers came to identify with management, for the simple reason that they too were fixtures in a game whose players are essentially transient, and that their sense of ownership of the game too often curdled into a sense of bitterness towards players who just wanted their fair share of the money the game was making.

Often, the sense of ownership turns into outright resentment of the players, who after all just play the game but, apparently, don't really understand it.

This is the root of the stock complaint that such-and-such young player doesn't even know who Joe DiMaggio (or whoever) is. It shows up in all sorts of areas, and seems especially to show up in coverage of young black and Hispanic players whose manner of play and self-expression is alien to middle-aged and old white men. Again, this is nothing new - the veteran baseball writers of the 1890s had little good to say about the Irishmen who were increasingly coming to dominate the game - but it is an unpleasant fact that must be dealt with in talking about the way the game is covered.

In this light, the steroid crisis is in a way the perfect baseball scandal. The collective and long-standing sense of the press that the game needs to be protected from the ego, arrogance, and misunderstanding of the men who happen to play it has found its perfect expression, and thus we end up with a variety of stock locutions aimed at players who use, or are thought to have used steroids: They're dishonoring the game, tainting their legacies, bringing shame upon the game, and so forth.

From another angle, though, this isn't really possible. What is the game, after all, if not the sum of the actions of the men who play it? If the more preposterous estimates of steroid use among ballplayers (like the 70% figure bandied about from time to time) are to be believed, isn't there something of a consensus among players that steroids are just an accepted fact of the game,

something to which the rest of us have to adjust?

This isn't at all meant as an argument in favor of throwing up one's hands at the drug problem. Writers do have a responsibility to state clearly that drug use is wrong (if for no other reason than that it exerts pressure on clean players to risk their health) and criticize players who break the laws of the land and the sport by using steroids.

Still, the common arguments about how today's players should be ashamed to be compared to the players of yesteryear (many of whom, like Mike Schmidt, freely admit they'd use steroids if they were playing today) might be seen for the self-serving nonsense they are if writers and readers were more consciously aware of the historical bias among writers towards seeing themselves as the guardians of the game. They - we - aren't.

Excepting the occasional Sunday jaunt in Prospect Park with my cronies, I haven't played baseball since I was in grade school. Palmeiro has played over 2,800 major league games, and countless games in grade school, high school, college, the minors, spring training and the Olympics. Before he takes the field he - like all other ballplayers - goes through a pregame stretching routine

that would make a fair number of those reading this throw up.

Isn't it at least possible that I and my colleagues, while giving the man all the hell he deserves, should at least leave out the lines of attack that revolve around his love and respect for a game to which he's dedicated in a way

no one who doesn't play can really understand?"

---------------------------

Ed. note: It's to Bud Selig's advantage that the media are overly involved. He sees them as his loyal army. In return they get to feel important and reap perks from Selig's prize locker. So nothing is likely to change.

------------------------

In 2006 I sent an email to Mr. O'Connell on the general topic of BBWAA awards:

I asked for the names of the 28 persons who voted for the 2005 AL Cy Young Award & their professional affiliations. Here is his reply: (July 21, 2006)

"Ms. Mullen,

This information is available to BBWAA members only.

Jack O'Connell"

After being turned down by O'Connell, I noted on this blog:

I appreciate his prompt reply to my request, but I need this simple information. I've already asked the HOF & they said they have nothing to do with the Cy Young Award. For an award like this (AL Cy Young) where such a small number of selected voters determines an immortal and often financial outcome, it is important to know the bio and resume of voters, their voting history, and bio and resume of the person who appointed them. The public also needs to know disciplinary history of voters, ie which voters have been admonished or penalized (such as temporary suspension of voting rights) and all details involved. If you claim you are the 'conscience' or 'guardian' of the game, that's nice,

but who guards you (other than Bud Selig)?

----------------------------------

I asked then BBWAA president Peter Schmuck for the same information about the 2005 AL Cy Young voters. I posted his email response on this blog on July 24, 2006:

"That's not information I have at my fingertips, though it is not kept confidential. Those records are kept up in New York. Is there anything in particular I can answer for you? pete"

----------------------------------

It was interesting that Mr. Schmuck said the information was not kept confidential. O'Connell in effect said it was confidential, only available to BBWAA members.

At owners meetings this week MLB swells to decide new 2012 post season dates and tv outlets

2012-01-11T07:08:00.008-05:00

1/9/12, Sports Business Journal, "MLB this week during owners meetings in Arizona will wrestle with the mechanics of inserting an additional round of playoffs into the 2012 schedule, including how to televise the extra games. The league and MLB Players Association in November, as part of a new five-year labor deal, agreed to an expanded postseason in which two wild card teams in each league would play a single-elimination game, with the winners advancing for League Division Series play. The new postseason plan will begin no later than 2013, but both sides would like to

start the revised format this year, if possible.

A decision on the 2012 postseason schedule must be made by March 1. Given that this week marks the last set of owners meetings before that deadline and that broadcast plans must be made,

a decision before that date is likely.

MLB executives, after announcing the plan, said they would begin talks on televising the two new playoff games with their existing television partners: ESPN, Turner Sports and Fox. Turner already holds exclusive rights for the League Division Series games, and it televises the League Championship Series games with Fox on an alternating basis between the American and National leagues. Since the announcement, though, the league has been tight-lipped about its progress in squeezing the extra games into a 2012 schedule that already calls for an April 4 Opening Day, an Oct. 3 end to the regular season, and a postseason that would end Nov. 1 in the event of a seven-game World Series. Under the league’s media contracts, Turner has held the right to carry tie-breaking games at the end of the regular season. Those rights came into play most recently

when Minnesota and Detroit played for the AL Central Division crown in 2009.

In accordance with Turner’s contract, media industry sources expect the network to land the rights to the new round of play-in games, but they are waiting to hear definitively that the games are covered by Turner’s current deal. In any event, the creation of new postseason baseball TV inventory represents a valuable addition for both the league and the network that ends up carrying it. Also on the MLB meetings agenda is a vote on a shift of the San Diego Padres’ designated control executive from Chairman John Moores to Jeff Moorad, vice chairman and chief executive officer. Moorad, a former agent, and his investor group are in the midst of a multiyear plan to buy the Padres’ equity from Moores. The San Diego change for its designated control executive — the appointed lead representative for the team with regard to league matters — will be the fourth such change in the league since the beginning of last season, following switches last year in San Francisco, Houston and Texas."

1/9/12, "MLB to make TV, timing decisions on new playoff games," Sports Business Journal by Eric Fisher and John Ourand

Barry Larkin does flip after winning 1990 NLCS

2012-01-10T01:32:00.009-05:00

In Cincinnati at Riverfront Stadium v Pirates, 10/13/90, ap. Larkin, Baseball-Reference. 1990 NLCS MVP's, Rob Dibble and Randy Myers.

XM accounts payable staffer convicted of stealing $1 million from company

2012-01-09T07:42:00.004-05:00

An XM accounts payable employee started embezzling shortly after her first day on the job in 2005.

1/7/12, "XM Radio employee admits to embezzling $1m from company," Washington Examiner, S. McCabe

"A former Sirius XM Radio administrator has been convicted in a scheme to pilfer nearly $1 million from the D.C. office of the satellite radio company.

Brenda L. Jones, 46, of Lothian, Md., pleaded guilty in federal court to one count conspiracy to commit wire fraud in the theft of more than $900,000.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Jones likely faces two to two-and-a-half years in prison and a fine of up to $50,000. No sentencing date was set.

She also must make restitution, prosecutors said.

In 2005, Jones began working at what was then called XM Satellite Radio as an administrator in the accounts payable department in Washington.

Her duties included being responsible for payments to the business commercial vendors.

Shortly after her first day on the job, Jones and another XM Radio employee began to embezzle large payments that were supposed to be paid to XM vendors, but instead were paid from to Jones' personal bank accounts.

Jones then gave a portion of the monies to the other XM employee, identified as an unindicted co-conspirator with the initials "V.P.", according to court papers.

The duo covered up the scheme by altering data in the company's accounting system.

Prosecutors said Jones resigned from XM Radio in July 2006, indicating to management that she got a job somewhere else.

But the checks continued to go to Jones, long after her leaving, prosecutors said.

In fact, most of the money, more than $690,000, went into Jones' bank accounts after she no longer worked for the company, prosecutors said.

The theft was discovered when vendors complained that they had not received their payments. A company investigation revealed that employees paid themselves instead of cutting checks to vendors, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Greenbelt in 2010.

The New York-based company sued Jones and another former employee, Valencia P. Person, of Anne Arundel County. In June, the company won a $2 million judgment against the women.

Person has not been charged, according to a review of federal records.

The investigation is continuing, prosecutors said." via Radio-Info.com

Bud Selig is going nowhere especially making $20+ million a year with a private jet in a legal monopoly

2012-01-09T05:24:00.007-05:00

1/7/12, Bill Madden, "Perhaps that’s because there isn’t a single person in baseball who believes Selig, who turns 78 in July, is going anywhere any time soon − despite his avowed intention of returning to his alma mater, the U. of Wisconsin, to teach the history of sports.... In fact, even Selig’s closest friends find laughable the notion of him walking away from a job that pays upwards of $20 million per year, along with the

perks of a private jet, to teach sports history.

“The fact is, even if Bud really wanted to retire, he can’t,” said one baseball exec who chuckled when I asked if there’d been any talk of a search committee being formed. “Right now, there isn’t anyone out there who could get the votes (necessary three-quarters of the owners). That’s the situation Bud has created.” Another former but still-plugged-in MLB exec similarly scoffed when it was suggested that another motivation for Selig to retire was his desire to get into the Hall of Fame while he can still smell the roses. “You’re telling me he’d walk away from $20 million a year because of the Hall of Fame?

You’ve got to be kidding. That said, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he’s got his people working behind the scenes to get that retirement stipulation for the Hall waived in his case.”

“This is a very divided group of new owners in the game, all of them with different agendas,” another MLB exec said. “They fall into line for Bud because he’s essentially one of them and has been on the job so long and has made a lot of money for them. But it’s really gonna be tough for the person who comes after him.” Or as Selig might say from the comfort of his French history class: Après moi, le déluge. In the meantime, in lieu of that announcement by MLB about the formation of a search committee for a new commissioner, expect Selig to announce shortly that he’s bending to pressure from the owners and signing on for a two-year extension that will enable him to shepherd the Mets, one of baseball’s signature franchises, out of the ruins of their financial morass, and also find some salvation for beleaguered Tampa Bay owner Stu Sternberg."...

1/7/12, "Bud Selig's contract as MLB commissioner may be expiring, but don't expect him to go anywhere," Bill Madden, NY Daily News

Neither of the two LA chapter baseball writers that voted for NL MVP is a traveling beat writer, Ted Lilly noticed

2012-01-09T01:33:00.025-05:00

An MLB.com article cites baseball awards problems but doesn't mention recent example of Eric Gagne. The article allows readers to believe MLB.com employees don't vote in baseball awards which isn't so. On the plus side, the article reveals the outsized influence west coast baseball reporters have in conferring or withholding immortality: because there are fewer of them, the same person can vote much more often than, for example, a New York voter.

12/12/11, "Lilly questions NL MVP choice, voting process," MLB.com, Ken Gurnick

"(Ted) Lilly isn't convinced the (NL MVP) award shouldn't be revoked and transferred to runner-up Kemp, even though Ken Caminiti and Alex Rodriguez didn't lose their awards when steroid use was revealed."...

[Ed. note: The MLB.com writer leaves out the egregious example of Eric Gagne, the 2003 NL Cy Young winner who received 28 of 32 first place votes.

Below is a copy of Eric Gagne's Express Mail receipt from Kirk Radomski, Aug. 9, 2004, from the Mitchell Report. Was this the first time for the 2003 Cy Young winner? Oct. 2003 Dodger notes said "he probably takes medication." There are still over 100 secret 'positives' from 2003 the year Gagne received immortality. Aside from Ryan Braun, only Arod's name is regularly mentioned as a tainted winner and without detail that his was the only name 'officially' leaked from the 2003 list.]

MLB.com reporter Gurnick goes on:

"But Lilly has just as big of a problem with the composition of the award's voting pool, which has changed dramatically while reflecting the change in the media that covers the sport.

"I don't think players are fully aware of who votes for these awards," said Lilly. "I always thought it was the beat writers, and I guess back in the day, it was. But now I understand that some of the beat writers aren't allowed to vote,

so you get a lot of substitute voters

that might not actually be covering their teams and you don't really know how they define an MVP. "

Lilly is correct. For example, the BBWAA has disqualified from membership MLB.com writers for a conflict of interest because they work for Major League Baseball."...

[Ed. note: As of 7/20/2009 twelve MLB.com writers were allowed to vote for Hall of Fame (citation about half way down next to picture with Chicago Bulls sign), also here. This may not be clear to the reader from Mr. Gurnick's depiction. As of 1/9/12, 16 MLB.com vote for Hall of Fame.].

(continuing, MLB.com): "In addition, newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times won't allow their reporters to vote on season-ending awards because of a conflict of interest that exists when such awards can result in financial incentive bonuses for the winning players.

The Dodgers have three traveling beat writers, but only one is allowed to vote for postseason awards. Neither Los Angeles chapter writers that voted for the NL MVP -- Yahoo.com national writer Tim Brown and Los Angeles Times blogger Steve Dilbeck --

is a traveling beat writer,

although both have been in the past.

According to the BBWAA website:

"Two writers from each MLB city are recommended by the local chapter chairman and approved by the national secretary-treasurer to vote for each award. Writers from NL cities vote for NL awards, and writers from AL cities vote for AL awards, making 32 voters for each NL award and 28 for each AL award. Most traveling beat writers will vote for at least one annual award each year. In some chapters, columnists or backup writers may also vote. Any active member of the BBWAA is eligible to vote for annual awards, regardless of his or her number of years in the organization."...

[Ed. note: A 1/8/12 article differs: "Only active and honorary members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, who have been active baseball writers for at least ten (10) years, shall be eligible to vote."]

(continuing, MLB.com): "Most national baseball writers who are active BBWAA members will vote for annual awards. Typically, the writer votes in the chapter where he resides, but sometimes national writers vote as part of smaller chapters that don't have enough qualified voters.

"Beat writers may be asked to vote for two or even three awards, especially in chapters with fewer voters. Writers in two-team markets may even vote for awards in both leagues. Most writers vote for just one award each year."

Lilly thinks voters missed the significance and degree of difficulty of Kemp's season compared to Braun's.

"Matt didn't have Prince Fielder in the lineup," he said. "That's a huge difference. Matt didn't play in a hitter's park, which Miller Park is and Dodger Stadium isn't. Matt plays center field, so there are more defensive demands.

"I'm not saying that Braun didn't have a great season, but if he got the award just because his team went to the postseason, that's no reason to penalize Matt, who had a better season and was more important to the Dodgers. Think of where we'd have been without him.""

----------------------

MLB is doubling down at a time when these awards should obviously be scrapped. In 2012 the awards will be televised for the first time:

12/6/11, "BBWAA awards to be on TV in '12," AP

----------------------

Another citation that MLB.com writers do in fact vote on baseball awards:

1/8/12, "Time to change Baseball Hall of Fame electors," Evan Weiner, Examiner Sports Business "A number of Hall of Fame voters

actually now work for Major League Baseball's website which

brings up another conflict of interest.

Journalists writing for and being paid by Major League Baseball voting on a baseball award or honor seems to be wrong."...

Mr. Gurnick stated: "For example, the BBWAA has disqualified from membership MLB.com writers for a conflict of interest because they work for Major League Baseball."...

This leaves the impression that MLB.com has no awards voters which according to the above 1/8/12 report isn't so. Not to mention a 1/9/12 MLB.com report that 16 of its members including Gurnick voted for this year's Hall of Fame award. "MLB.com writers cast their HOF ballots," MLB.com, John Schlegel. ed.

----------------------

11/23/2010, "ON BASEBALL; Yankees Punished at Award Time?," Kepner, NY Times

(Kepner of course says no. That's his job. I haven't analyzed the 9 MVP awards he references but I like to keep track of statements like this:)

"Nine years in a row, from 1996 through 2004, the A.L. M.V.P. was a player from the West division. The West is the smallest division in baseball, with only four teams, so an individual's contribution tends to stand out even more. In Hamilton, the award is likely to return to that division."...

As I said I haven't analyzed these 9 awards. The outsized influence west coast baseball reporters have in conferring or withholding immortality may not have factored into these particular awards.

In any case, I don't accept the idea that BBWAA voters are saints, free from bias, just because they say so. They've chosen a highly political and rigid power structure in which to make a living to begin with so they start off impure.

Rob Neyer even acknowledged a way to manipulate votes:

11/5/05, "But you could still manipulate the vote," (Rob) Neyer notes.

"For example, if you're in Atlanta and can't vote for Andruw Jones, just put Albert Pujols eighth.""...

11/5/2005, "The Times, They Are A-Changin' ," Ben Westoff, Riverfront Times

Posada 2003 ALCS game 7, other moments 2008-2011

2012-01-08T05:42:00.027-05:00

1/9/12, "And he was constantly underrated."

Above, 2003 ALCS game 7, bottom of the 8th, Posada 2 run double to tie the game. Yankees win in 11, 6-5.

Above Posada ALCS game 3, 8th inning in Anaheim, 10/19/09, getty

Above Posada throwing in Boston, 4/26/09, getty

Above, Posada ALDS game 3 in Detroit, signals to Russell Martin, 10/3/11, ap

Above, Core Four, 9/21/08, getty

Above, 4/4/10, opening night at Fenway Park, Posada's hit clears foul pole for a home run, getty.

Above, Mo douses Posada, 9/21/11, after Yankees clinch AL East. getty

Above, Mariano and Posada, World Series game 3, 10/31/09, ap. 5 pitches for Mo, Matt Stairs, Jimmy Rollins, no save.

9/25/11, "Posada takes a curtain call after hitting a two-run home run during the third inning of the first game of a baseball doubleheader against the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium," ap

---------------------------------

1/9/12, "Jorge Posada career highlights," Chris Jaffe, Hardball Times

Oakland A's stadium and most California sports construction impacted by Dec. 2011 State Supreme Court ruling-Field of Schemes

2012-01-07T09:37:00.005-05:00

12/30/11, "California's RDA ruling could affect A's, 49ers, Chargers stadium plans," Neil deMause, Field of Schemes

California's state supreme court in late December voted to abolish the 400+ state redevelopment agencies:

"Authorized by law since 1945, the agencies have been responsible for such success stories as Old Pasadena and San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter but also plagued by projects that some argued had little public benefit.... This is big news for the sports world because, as you might imagine, cities have been thrilled to hand out development dollars

when it's not really their money they're spending....

Oakland's Victory Court plan for an A's stadium appears to now be out the window, since that relied on an RDA-based TIF. However, its second "Coliseum City" plan for the A's and Raiders could still move ahead, according to Newballpark.org, as Oakland's existing stadium site is "part of a separate joint-powers agreement which allows the Coliseum Authority to raise money for its own projects.""....

With no relief in sight 'Wilpon group calls in a closer,' Megdal

2012-01-07T08:26:00.004-05:00

1/6/12, "With debts piling up and no relief in sight, the Wilpon group calls for a closer," Howard Megdal, CapitalNewYork.com, via BTF

Bobby Bonilla, Randy Johnson make Top 5 best NY athlete media confrontations-Freier

2012-01-07T04:14:00.008-05:00

Bonilla to Klapisch: "I'll show you the Bronx."

1/6/12, "The Top 5: New York Athletes Confronting The Media," SB Nation, Jeff Freier

"Bart Scott said good-bye to the 2011 football season by flipping off a photographer and growling, "Take a picture of this. Get out of my [bleeping] face." There's a very good chance that Scott won't be back with the New York Jets next season, so the final, lasting memory we have of the chatterbox linebacker is his middle finger followed by an expletive-laced taunt, which earned him a $10,000 fine by the team. Was Scott's kiss-off to the press a rude and boorish act? Absolutely. Behavior we haven't seen before? No way. Scott is just the latest in a long line of a rogues' gallery of New York athletes who have had a run-in with the media. The strong, silent type, such as Eli Manning, Mariano Rivera and John Olerud, is the best bet to thrive in the chaotic world of New York sports. The churlish, prickly kind, and throw in thin-skinned to boot, well...they often find trouble around here. Here are the Top 5 local athletes' encounters

with the media (or should it be called the Bottom 5?)...

5. John Starks: On Feb. 6, 1996, the New York Knicks guard confronted and threatened Thomas Hill of the New York Post, after the writer contacted Starks' family while researching an article. Starks felt that Hill invaded his privacy, and after a practice, Starks got in his face and told him how he felt. The whole tirade was caught by TV cameras, which made the incident headline news.

4. Randy Johnson: New York and the Big Unit just didn't mesh, and we knew it wouldn't work out the very first day he arrived. Johnson hadn't even tried on his extra-long pinstripes yet, when, on Jan. 10, 2005, he shoved a photographer in the street on his way to his physical the day before his introductory press conference, and barked, "I don't care who you are, don't get in my face!" New Yorkers basically said, "Same to you, pal," as he lasted two seasons with the New York Yankees before they shipped him back to Arizona.

3. Bret Saberhagen: The New York Mets were a disaster in the early '90s, on and off the field, with one bizarre, knuckleheaded incident after another. On July 27, 1993, Saberhagen sprayed bleach onto two reporters in the Mets locker room, and for weeks refused to admit he was the prankster. He finally copped to the practical joke gone wrong, apologized and was fined. He had previously tossed firecrackers behind a group of reporters who were interviewing Anthony Young that season (not to be confused with Vince Coleman throwing firecrackers into a group of fans at Dodger Stadium).

2. Bobby Bonilla: "I'll show you the Bronx" has become part of the local sports lexicon, and it was uttered by Bonilla on April 10, 1993, when he expressed his displeasure with reporter Bob Klapisch and his book about the Mets, The Worst Team Money Could Buy. Bonilla threatened and taunted Klapisch in a frightening exchange: "Make your move, 'cause I'll hurt you . . . I'll show you the Bronx."

1. Richard Todd: The abused, disparaged Jet quarterback just couldn't take it anymore. Steve Serby of the New York Post had written a column that basically said the Jets couldn't win with Todd behind center. Serby knew that Todd was angry with the article and went to make peace with the Jet QB before a practice on Nov. 4, 1981. Todd wanted none of it, though, and the two engaged in an angry exchange before Todd charged Serby and slammed him into a locker, briefly knocking out the reporter. Serby went to the hospital, the Post sued the Jets (the charges were thrown out of court, though) and Todd and Serby sort of made peace later in the season."

Texas Rangers renovation of visiting team bullpen, concession areas

2012-01-06T00:46:00.004-05:00

Above Texas Rangers construction of new visiting team bullpen, 1/5/12, ap/Ft. Worth Star-Telegram

Above, Texas Rangers construction of new concession areas and Batters Eye Club, 1/5/12, ap

Communist China cuts entertainment on tv by 2/3, says too much 'western culture'

2012-01-04T05:27:00.005-05:00

Baseball games if any will have to last no more than 90 minutes in prime time.

1/4/12, "China campaign cuts entertainment TV by two-thirds," BBC

"Satellite broadcasters in China have cut entertainment TV by two-thirds following a government campaign, state news agency Xinhua has reported.

An order by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) to curb ''excessive entertainment'' came into effect on 1 January.

The number of entertainment shows aired during prime time each week has dropped to 38 from 126, said the watchdog body.

The news came as the president warned of the influence of Western culture.

In the piece published in a Communist Party magazine, President Hu Jintao also urged efforts to boost the country's own soft power, said Xinhua.

The order, which was issued in October 2011, limits each of the country's 34 satellite channels to two entertainment programs each week and a maximum of 90 minutes of entertainment content every day from 7:30 to 10 p.m.

Broadcasters are also required to air at least two hours of news programming between 6 a.m. and midnight. They must each broadcast at least two 30-minute news programs between 6 and 11:30 p.m.

The country has the most television viewers in the world - an estimated 95% of its 1.3 billion people."

3/16/2008, "Selig: 'This is where it started', Commissioner believes baseball will soon be big in (Communist) China," MLB.com

Mike Francesa will be at WFAN until at least Feb. 2, 2014 for the Super Bowl. Chernoff says, 'We love Mike and hope he's here a long time!'

2012-01-04T04:45:00.009-05:00

Mike Francesa on Jan. 3, 2012 says he just made an off the cuff remark about his future at WFAN which at the moment is scheduled to go until Feb. 2, 2014, the date of the Super Bowl. He didn't intend for it to become a story, says he doesn't normally talk about contract situations. Neil Best of Newsday wrote a story and a kind commenter to Mr. Best's article supplied the above You Tube link of Francesa's remarks on WFAN, Jan. 3, 2012. From Neil Best: "WFAN operations manager Mark Chernoff wrote in an email when informed of Francesa's comments, "We love Mike and hope he's here for a long time!" "Mike Francesa may sign off WFAN for good in 2014," Neil Best, Newsday, 1/3/12. Mike Francesa photo, Newsday, Patrick McCarthy

Arod, Cindy Crawford, Torrie Wilson at Lakers game Jan. 3, 2012

2012-01-04T04:04:00.002-05:00

Arod with supermodel Cindy Crawford (left) and retired wrestler Torrie Wilson as Los Angeles Lakers play Houston Rockets in LA, Jan. 3, 2012, reuters.

Venezuelan Baseball All Star Fan Fest event in Dec. 2011 being sued by former players for breach of contract

2012-01-02T17:13:00.006-05:00

Players were "subjected to continual lies, deception, and eventually nonpayment."

1/2/12, "Former Baseball Players Including Goose Gossage Want Money From Venezuelan Baseball Fan Fest," Business Insider Sports Agent Blog

"A Venezuelan company named Hablemos de Beisbol Magazine and Foundation, run by Omar Gelvis (@Omarcito13 on Twitter), coordinated a Baseball All Star Fan Fest comprising modern Major League Baseball players, retired Hall of Famers, and baseball legends in Maracaibo from December 12-16, 2011. The event received a great deal of press in Venezuela. Autograph tickets were sold and a celebrity softball game occurred where more tickets were sold. However, according to attorney/player agent Dan Rosquete of Boston Sports Counsel, the players involved in the event were taken advantage of and not compensated properly for their participation in the events. Several baseball legends were invited and contracted to attend,

but Rosquete alleges that the poor organization by Gelvis led to many of the players backing out.

Former players anticipated to attend included Gaylord Perry, Pete Rose, Ken Griffey Sr, Ferguson Jenkins and several others. Rosquete says that unfortunately, several players stayed true to their word and went to the event only to be subjected to continual lies, deception, and eventually nonpayment of their appearance fees and costs associated with flying to Venezuela. These players include Goose Gossage, Rollie Fingers, and Juan Marichal. As a result of these events and aside from the mental stress that was caused, the aforementioned Dan Rosquete has been retained to represent these players against Hablemos de Beisbol in hopes of recouping some of the players’ losses and appearance fees. Rosquete has also retained the help of a local attorney in Venezuela to aid him in the civil breach of contract case,

which Rosquete believes may in turn become a criminal case as well."

First batch of MLB licensed Budweiser beer labels approved for 2012 seaon

2012-01-02T04:11:00.003-05:00

12/29/11, "Budweiser Major League Baseball cans approved," BeerNews.org, St. Louis, Mo.

"Anheuser-Busch has received label approval for its first batch of Major League Baseball-licensed Budweiser cans for the 2012 season.

Approvals came through for the New York Yankees, the New York Mets, the San Diego Padres and the Kansas City Royals, the host of the 2012 All-Star Game. The Mets will be celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2012.

Anheuser-Busch is the official sponsor of Major League Baseball and all but a few teams though its relationship with the league is rocky at best. The two sides settled differences and extended AB sponsorship

with a new multi-year contract in December.

Last month, MillerCoors received approvals for Miller Lite aluminum pints for a number of teams with a similar baseball seam design on the labels. While those labels bear statements of official sponsorship, the Budweiser labels do not.

The Padres and Royals are the only teams with labels approved for both Miller Lite and Budweiser.

Label approvals do not necessarily mean that the beers will come in those packages, just that they have TTB clearance to do so."...

Baseball's SABR relocates to Arizona

2012-01-02T02:39:00.003-05:00

"SABR, along with the Hall of Fame, is a guardian of baseball's past"...

1/1/12, "Baseball-research society now calling Valley its home," Arizona Republic, Peter Corbett

"It's a long way from their origin at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., four decades ago, but the Society for American Baseball Research has found a home in Arizona.

The society of more than 6,000 members moved in April from Cleveland to the Valley, packing along its collective historical wisdom and an umpirelike neutrality on baseball politics and the game's record books.

"SABR, along with the Hall of Fame, is a guardian of baseball's past and a kind of Underwriters Laboratory of baseball," said John Thorn, a society member and the official historian of Major League Baseball.

The society's modest Phoenix office in Arcadia is anything but a musty archive of documents and arcane baseball ephemera. There are shelves of baseball books and some memorabilia, but mostly this is an office where three staffers and Executive Director Marc Appleman publish the Baseball Research Journal twice a year and operate sabr.org, headed by Jacob Pomrenke, Web editor and producer.

The society's first e-book, out last month, is "Can He Play? A Look at Baseball Scouts and Their Profession."

The society has more than 50 chapters in the United States and Canada, the Bobby Thomson chapter in London, the Orlando Cepeda chapter in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and a chapter in Tokyo.

Phoenix's Flame Delhi chapter is headed by Rodney Johnson, William Suphan and David Schollmeyer.

"We have a very dedicated, passionate membership," Appleman said of the mostly male, mostly older members.

The group has connected with younger baseball fanatics who devour statistics to get an edge for their fantasy baseball leagues."...

Jeter and Minka in Paris, NY Post front page

2012-01-01T23:16:00.002-05:00

Jeter and Minka, NY Post front page, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2012

Another shot of Jeter and Minka in Paris taking in the culture, Splash News, NY Post, published 1/1/12

New Year removes 1.7 million Time Warner cable homes from Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, and Buffalo Sabres games

2012-01-01T07:42:00.004-05:00

"MSG made a standard plea to subscribers to switch from Time Warner to DirecTV, RCN or Verizon FiOS."

12/31/11, "MSG leaves Time-Warner Systems," NY Times, Richard Sandomir

"The MSG and MSG Plus networks were removed from Time Warner Cable’s New York metropolitan-area and Buffalo systems at midnight Eastern on Saturday, cutting off subscribers from Knicks, Rangers, Islanders, Devils and Buffalo Sabres games.

In total, the dispute affects 1.7 million cable homes.

Replacing the scheduled programming were messages from Time Warner Cable that included: “We take pride in bringing viewers the best in sports — and work hard to keep the price of TV reasonable.”

The two sides have argued in television and newspapers advertisements for the last two weeks, staking out positions echoing earlier disputes, mostly about pricing, that led to blackouts of local and national sports networks.

“All we have asked is for Time Warner Cable to value our programming in the same way as other TV providers — nothing more, nothing less,” Michael Bair, the president of MSG Media, said in a statement issued at 8 p.m. Saturday. “Unfortunately, they have rejected every offer we made to them for almost two years.”

He added: “In the end, they were simply not interested in conducting serious negotiations on behalf of their customers and instead spent time grossly mischaracterizing our positions to the public.”

In its statement, Time Warner Cable said: “The decision to remove their programming from our lineup rests entirely with MSG. By making that decision well in advance of the deadline, MSG has again shown that they are more interested in holding New York sports fans hostage than in negotiating a deal. Rather than engage in a war of words, they should come back to the table and get a deal done.”

MSG made a standard plea to subscribers to switch from Time Warner to DirecTV, RCN or Verizon FiOS.

But Time Warner Cable’s recent acquisition of Los Angeles Lakers rights in a recent multibillion-dollar deal that will take effect next season

has given MSG some new ammunition.

Bair said, “Given Time Warner Cable’s investment in the Lakers — which features the start-up of English and Spanish networks — we expected that they would be eager to continue to deliver top New York sports programming to their customers,

who are unfortunately caught in the middle of this dispute.”"

Notable corrections of 2011 include origin of name RA Dickey gave one of his bats

2012-01-01T00:09:00.005-05:00

12/29/11, "Ombuds pick their notable corrections of 2011," Poynter.org

"New York Times: Greg Brock, Senior Editor/Standards"

"A report in the Extra Bases baseball notebook last Sunday misidentified, in some editions, the origin of the name Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver, which Mets pitcher R. A. Dickey gave one of his bats. Orcrist was not, as Dickey had said, the name of the sword used by Bilbo Baggins in the Misty Mountains in ”The Hobbit.” Orcrist was the sword used by the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield in the book. (Bilbo Baggins’s sword was called Sting.)."

Philadelphia again scores highest homicide rate among big cities

2011-12-31T23:42:00.004-05:00

12/30/11, "Murders are up again this year in Philadelphia, and the city still has the highest homicide rate of the nation's 10 most populous cities, according to stats provided by each city's police department.

At the same time, fewer murders are getting solved."...

12/30/11, "Kill-adelphia: Yet again, city tops list of homicide rates," Philly.com. via Drudge

Rutgers wins Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium v Iowa State

2011-12-30T22:14:00.002-05:00

12/30/11, "Fans of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights cheer in front of the wall of retired New York Yankees numbers during the New Era Pinstripe Bowl against the Iowa State Cyclones at Yankee Stadium," getty. Rutgers 27, Iowa St. 13.

Goose Gossage and Rollie Fingers lead in blown saves-ESPN

2011-12-29T20:23:00.004-05:00

4/30/11, "It’s a fact that the top two career leaders in blown saves are in the Hall of Fame. If you don't believe me, take a trip to Cooperstown, and you'll see that both Goose Gossage (112 blown saves) and Rollie Fingers (109) got elected." (item at end of article)

4/30/11, "Blown saves are overblown," ESPN, Sweet Spot, Matt Philip

Discussion on how to compute historical blown saves since they aren't listed many places:

Baseball Fever, "Blown saves record for pitcher", Aug. 2008 thread

Terry Francona 'Best Newcomer' in SI.com 2011 Media Awards

2011-12-28T20:00:00.004-05:00

12/28/11, "Media Awards: The best and worst from TV, radio, print, online in 2011," SI.com Richard Deitsch

"Best Newcomer"

"THE PICK: Terry Francona (Fox, ESPN)

Filling in for Tim McCarver for the first two games of the American League Championship Series, Francona was insightful and genuinely funny, both valuable commodities in broadcasting. He laughed at his own clichés and was unafraid to question managers' strategy. He drew raves from fans and critics (Yahoo! Sports baseball writer Jeff Passan tweeted, "Is Terry Francona Wally Pipping Tim McCarver?"). Francona won't be Pipp-ing McCarver, but the former Boston manager has been hired by ESPN to replace new Red Sox skipper Bobby Valentine on Sunday Night Baseball. He'll also be seen on Baseball Tonight. Though I imagine he'll be back in baseball sooner than later, Francona has a chance to be very good if he works at the job."

In December 1992 Greg Maddux left the Yankees standing at the altar

2011-12-28T03:34:00.006-05:00

In 1992 Greg Maddux left $15 million on the table from the Yankees who had won only 76 games that year and signed with Atlanta.

12/10/1992, "BASEBALL; Maddux Bolts, and Yankees Feel Jilted," NY Times, Joe Sexton

"The Yankees suffered another dispiriting setback in their campaign to acquire top-flight pitching tonight when Greg Maddux signed with the Atlanta Braves.

Maddux signed a five-year, $28 million contract with Atlanta, a deal that fell a staggering $6 million shy of the offer the Yankees had presented to Maddux. The final proposal to Maddux by Yankees even included a $9 million signing bonus.

Maddux becomes the game's second-highest-paid pitcher per year, behind David Cone, who signed a three-year, $18 million deal with the Royals on Tuesday.

The failure to acquire Maddux meant the Yankees had been utterly shut out in their effort to sign -- they had hoped to stockpile -- the best pitching available in the free-agent marketplace. Cone signed with the Royals; Doug Drabek will pitch for the Astros; Jose Guzman opted for the Cubs. All had been extended offers by the Yankees. Chris Bosio and Greg Swindell, two more pitchers whom the Yankees entertained notions of pursuing, signed with other clubs, as well.

"This one hurts," said Gene Michael, the general manager of the Yankees, who did manage to trade for Jim Abbott on Sunday. "He's the best one out there. I never thought I could say this. But he's a steal at $28 million. He's a steal."...

"The acquisition of Greg Maddux gives us the most formidable rotation in all of baseball," said Atlanta General Manager John Schuerholz.

The Braves, who won the pennant in 1991 and 1992, now are equipped with a starting rotation that includes Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery. The Braves are so loaded with pitching that they traded left-handed starter Charlie Leibrandt to the Rangers within a half an hour of their Maddux announcement.

"Greg, above all, wanted to win," said his agent, Scott Boras. "The Braves offered him the most substantial degree of assurity of taking the World Series."

A Devastating Reversal

The signing ends months of wild, weird and occasionally bitter negotiating, which included painful relations with the Cubs and a well-chronicled and elaborate showcasing of the New York metropolitan area. Maddux saw Broadway musicals, had conversations with Donald Trump and all the while was considering what would have been the most lucrative contract ever signed by a pitcher. "It was not about using the New York Yankees," said Boras.

The Yankees, though, were devastated by the reversal. For more than a solid week, the organization had poured its energy into its courtship of Maddux. Michael traveled to Las Vegas, Nev., to play golf with Maddux and rekindle the relationship that had begun when Michael was with the Cubs in the early 1980's.

The Yankees then followed up with a proposal for five years and $30 million. In an instant it was inflated to $34 million. On Monday, Michael left the club here and traveled to New York to tour North Jersey neighborhoods with Maddux and then take the right-hander and his wife, Kathy, to dinner at the Post House

and a performance of "Miss Saigon."

It wasn't enough, and that fact became clear today over a stretch of six hours. The Yankees, who had been given a counterproposal of $37.5 million on Tuesday only to have Boras tell them within hours that it was not longer binding because of Atlanta's re-emergence in the picture, began today with the intent to redo their offer to make it more appealing.

The Yankees wouldn't go to $37.5, but they would, in a maneuver that followed one used by the Royals to sign Cone, offer Maddux a $9 million signing bonus.

In the end it meant nothing. Boras, who insists his client was prepared to become a Yankee after Michael's sightseeing tour, had extracted a $28 million proposal from the Braves. Maddux would not come to New York, not for the restructured $34 million or the extra $6 million it represented. Molloy's first telephone call back here came within minutes of Maddux's signing....

The Yankees finally made their pitch to the Colorado Rockies to get their third baseman back. The Yankees left Charlie Hayes unprotected for the expansion draft, and the Rockies grabbed him as the third player picked in the draft.

Today the Yankees met with Rockies officials and offered Hensley Meulens, the player the Yankees had hoped one of the expansion teams would have selected. The Rockies' response: Don't be silly, we could have drafted him.

The Rockies countered by asking for Sterling Hitchcock and Sam Militello, two impressive young pitchers, plus Russell Davis, a minor league third baseman. The Yankees said no to all three. The meeting ended shortly afterward." via Jeff Sullivan, sbnation

12/27/11, "Scott Boras, Greg Maddux, And 1992," Jeff Sullivan, sbnation

"The Braves had been to the World Series in both 1991 and 1992. The Yankees had won 71 and 76 games in those years, respectively. Maddux wanted to win, so he gave up guaranteed money to join a proven winner."...

Arod spotted in Boise over the weekend doing light cardio workout, keeping 'low profile'

2011-12-28T03:13:00.004-05:00

12/27/11, "Baseball star Alex Rodriguez spotted in Boise," KBOI2.com, Boise, Idaho

"Major League Baseball star Alex Rodriguez was spotted in Boise over the weekend. KBOI-TV anchor Mike Murad spotted him at a local gym in town. Murad saw Rodriguez doing a light cardio workout. Rodriguez didn't tell Murad why specifically he's in town, however, he did say he was trying to keep a low profile while in the Treasure Valley."...

Lynn Samuels tribute to air Tuesday morning, Dec. 27, 7-10AM on Sirius XM Channel 127

2011-12-26T22:14:00.004-05:00

Lynn Samuels tribute: ""Sirius XM will air a tribute to Lynn Samuels on Tuesday, December 27th on Sirius XM Left 127 from 7-10 AM Eastern."According to several posts on lynnsamuels.com, Bennett will return from vacation to co-host with his fill-in for this week, Richard Bey." ...

"The last two months of Lynn's Sirius/XM shows, are available at the page given below. http://sameritech.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/lynn-samuels-show-the-final-shows/."

2 items above from posters on NY Radio Message Board

NY Post says the cause of death was a heart attack. 12/26/11, "Radio’s Lynn Samuels dies at 69," NY Post, M. Maddux

Lynn Samuels thread at Radio-Info.com

Wayne Hagin not expected to return to Mets radio booth, possible replacements include Duquette, Sample, Carlin

2011-12-25T18:46:00.005-05:00

12/21/11, "Former Mets GM Jim Duquette recently auditioned with WFAN for a spot in the team’s radio booth next season, according to sources. Wayne Hagin, who spent four seasons working alongside Howie Rose, is not expected to return.

Duquette currently hosts a baseball show on Sirius XM Radio. Other candidates for Hagin’s seat, according to sources, include former major leaguer Billy Sample, WFAN reporter Ed Coleman and SNY host Chris Carlin." (item at end of article)

12/21/11, "Mets cut Florida farm team," NY Post, Mike Puma, via NY Radio Message Board

Discussion on NY Radio Message Board

Longtime NY radio host and current Sirius XM host Lynn Samuels passes

2011-12-25T18:11:00.011-05:00

Update, Lynn Samuels tribute: ""Sirius XM will air a tribute to Lynn Samuels on Tuesday, December 27th on Sirius XM Left Channel 127 from 7-10 AM Eastern."According to several posts on lynnsamuels.com, Bennett will return from vacation to co-host with his fill-in for this week, Richard Bey." ...

"The last two months of Lynn's Sirius/XM shows, are available at the page given below. http://sameritech.wordpress.com/2011/12/26/lynn-samuels-show-the-final-shows/."

2 items above from posters on NY Radio Message Board

Update,12/26/11, "Goodbye Lynn, Independent Thinker Samuels did it her way," RadioEqualizer

"Her body was discovered after she failed to report for her 10 a.m. Saturday show at Sirius XM radio."

12/25/11, "Former WABC host Lynn Samuels dies Christmas Eve at 69," NY Daily News, John Hinckley

"Years ago, when she was a left wing host on WABC, Lynn Samuels used to do a change-of-pace Christmas Eve show in which, among other things, she invited listeners to sing Christmas carols.

This year on Christmas Eve, Samuels died. She was 69.

No cause of death was immediately announced. Her body was discovered after she failed to report for her 10 a.m. Saturday show at Sirius XM radio and the company asked police to go to her Woodside, Queens, home.

On the radio, Samuels was exactly what much of the country thinks New York sounds like. She had a city accent she never tried to hide or soften, even when her bosses suggested it would prevent her from ever getting a radio job outside the city.

“This is who I am,” she said.

“She was unique beyond words,” said John Mainelli, her WABC program director and longtime friend. “I'm so glad I knew her.”

Samuels was a self-described progressive who often threw curveballs. She was a long-standing critic of President Obama, saying she didn’t believe he ever really had progressive credentials.

Her periodic unpredictability didn’t serve her well in today’s party-line talk radio, but helped give her a long run in the earlier, looser talk era.

Her criticism of conservatives often extended to her fellow radio hosts, but she would add that she liked a number of them personally. She became close friends with conservative host and writer Matt Drudge,

serving for a time as his call screener.

Mainelli said he exchanged messages with her on Friday, at which time she said she would be doing both her Saturday and Sunday shows live this weekend.

“I am stunned,” Jay Diamond, her one-time WABC colleague, wrote on the New York Radio Message Board. “She sometimes got mad at me, but I loved her, and we were friends to the end. The world of radio, and the world in general, will miss this great talent, and great human being.”

Aside from politics, Samuels would devote long segments to cultural matters like books, music, a movie she saw or the merits and demerits of wearing foundation garments.

Her Christmas Eve show , which she said was not her favorite program, began as an attempt simply to do something fun and different on a night when most people weren’t discussing budget legislation.

Her own politics ran back to the activist movements of the 1960s, about which she often talked. Her radio career began around

1979 with a late-night show at WBAI (99.5 FM).

She moved to WABC in the late 1980s and remained there on different shifts for about 15 years. She was fired three times and rehired twice.

After WABC she struggled at times to stay in the city, taking a job in a laundromat while keeping her hand in radio at Sirius XM.

A very private person off the air, Samuels left no immediate survivors.

But the local radio world was saddened. To the end, said Mainelli, she was “the same as she had always been - lively, full of curiosity, and happy, all existential things considered.”" via Drudge

-------------------------------

Ed. note: As a listener of Ms. Samuels from WBAI through WABC, I recall discussion of her laundromat employment which was before and during her WBAI days when she was poor, not after leaving WABC as the article states. She made and saved a lot of money at WABC so wasn't poor after leaving there.

-------------------------

A liberal notes Sirius XM banished the liberal Ms. Samuels to a weekend slot because she refused to carry water for Obama:

12/25/11, "RIP Lynn Samuels," NY Radio Message Board, commenter Johnlightening

More NY Radio Message Board remembrances of Lynn Samuels.

-----------------------

12/26/11, "Lynn Samuels, a Brash Radio Talker, Dies at 69," NY Times, Vitello

"Bob Grant, the talk radio host, who was a colleague at WABC, said Ms. Samuels was “funny, smart and original.”

“What I admired about her was, she wasn’t afraid. With all these right-wingers around,” he said, referring to her view of him as well, “she just said what she had to.”"

12/26/11, "Radio’s Lynn Samuels dies at 69," NY Post, M. Maddux

NY Post says the cause of death was a heart attack.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T02:20:00.005-05:00

Rockefeller Center a few years ago

Handel: Messiah, For unto us a child is born

Star over Bethlehem

2011-12-24T00:18:00.004-05:00

The Little Drummer Boy

NBC reporter arrested for drunk driving after attending party at Sandusky lawyer's house

2011-12-22T22:59:00.009-05:00

12/21/11, "NBC reporter arrested for drunk driving after 'attending football party at Sandusky's lawyer's house'," UK Daily Mail

"Jay Gray, the NBC News reporter covering the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal in State College, Pennsylvania, was arrested on drunk driving charges after he attended a drunken football-watching party at Sandusky's lawyer's house, reports say.

The Pennsylvania State Police arrested Gray just before 2am December 12 during a traffic stop.

He was allegedly at the home of Joe Amendola, the eccentric lawyer defending Sandusky against allegations he molested 10 boys over the course of several years.

According to TMZ, Mr Amendola invited Gray and several other reporters over to his house to watch the New York Giants-Dallas Cowboys game.

The reporters, reportedly, were all vying for exclusive interviews with Sandusky, who has only further raised public suspicious about himself in two awkward media appearances, says TMZ. ...

During the party at Mr Amendola's State College house, TMZ claims Gray got 'really drunk.'

Around midnight, he got in his car to drive back to his hotel and was stopped by police.

He was released on bail after his arrest.

NBC has not commented on the case and neither has Gray.

Gray is a national correspondent for the network who has covered stories across the country.

According to a report in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, Mr Amendola wants Sandusky and his wife, Dottie, to appear in an exclusive network interview.

Gray and the other reporters were likely trying to win favors to get them the air time, TMZ says." via RadioDailyNews. photo msnbc via UK Daily Mail

Yankee fans have donated $206 million to Bud Selig slush fund known as luxury tax over 9 years

2011-12-22T21:44:00.006-05:00

12/22/11, "APNewsBreak: Yankees hit with $13.9M luxury tax," Ronald Blum, AP, 14news.com

"New York has paid the tax in all nine years since it began, $206 million of the $227 million raised under the penalty for high payrolls. The only other teams to pay have been the Red Sox (a total of $18.8 million), Detroit ($1.3 million) and the Los Angeles Angels ($927,000).

The Yankees pay at a 40 percent rate on the amount of their payroll over $178 million, a figure that includes the average annual values of contracts plus benefits. Boston, which exceeded the threshold for the second straight year, pays at a 30 percent rate. For purposes of the tax, New York's final payroll was $212.7 million and Boston's was $189.4 million.

Under the new labor contract, the Yankees' rate would increase to 42.5 percent next year and 50 percent in 2013 if they continue to exceed the threshold, and Boston's rate would go up to 40 percent next season.

But if in any year a team goes under the threshold, its rate decreases to 17.5 percent the next time it pays the tax.

As an added incentive for the high-spenders to decrease payroll, if they get under the threshold they will become eligible to get back some of the money they contribute in revenue sharing. The tax threshold stays at $178 million through 2013, then goes to $189 million in each of the following three years."...

Steinbrenner High School children still forced to hear Islamist political speaker, Soc. Studies teacher Miliziano in charge

2011-12-19T19:04:00.027-05:00

Update, 1/7/12, "The main person responsible (at Steinbrenner High School) was Kelly R. Miliziano, a teacher in the Social Studies Department at Steinbrenner. And she announced Wednesday that the school has scheduled additional religious speakers to balance the CAIR operative — a Hindu priest or a Christian pastor.

The problem with that is that (Hassan) Shibly is a political speaker. A Hindu priest or Christian pastor won’t counter the poisonous propaganda that Shibly spews to our impressionable young minds. An informed counter-jihad speaker such as Robert Spencer, Nonie Darwish, Wafa Sultan or I myself must be given a chance to speak, so as to counter the lies of Hamas-tied CAIR.

Hamas-linked CAIR should not be speaking at all, but if the public school shills insist on presenting jihadi views, they must provide freedom lovers with the same opportunity.

Further, political speakers should be off limits on school grounds.

Meanwhile, the email exchanges between CAIR and Steinbrenner High School are revealing. Miliziano wrote this in a November 14 email: “Every year I invite a representative from CAIR to speak to our AP World History Students.” After CAIR-Tampa responded favorably, Miliziano wrote again: “Over the years I have had many speakers from CAIR come to my classes, and it has been such a good learning experience for the students.”

Miliziano said that she “regularly asks” Shibly to speak. This is despite the fact that Shibly has a track record of defending jihad terrorist groups and acting as an apologist for the worldwide jihad and Islamic supremacism. Following the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War, Shibly granted legitimacy to the jihad terrorist group Hezb’allah by characterizing it as a “resistance movement” that provides valued social services to the Lebanese people. “They’re absolutely not a terrorist organization,” Shibly said, and “any war against them is illegitimate.”

Yet Miliziano refused to respond to parents’ requests to vet the notorious Mr. Shibly. Instead, she attacked the parents who complained. She even called parents’ concerns about CAIR “baseless and Islamophobic.” Yet although it presents itself as a civil rights group, CAIR actually has many links to Islamic supremacist and jihad terror groups. CAIR’s cofounders Omar Ahmad and Niwad Awad attended a Hamas planning meeting in Philadelphia in 1993 where they conspired with Hamas operatives to raise funds for Hamas. And several former CAIR officials have been convicted of various jihad-related crimes.

This should be grounds for Miliziano’s immediate dismissal. Freedom lovers should urge Steinbrenner’s principal, Brenda Grasso, to fire Miliziano at once, demand equal time for freedom fighters, while calling upon Steinbrenner High cease and desist from inviting Muslim Brotherhood groups to speak to public school students. Call for Ms. Miliziano’s removal. Demand equal time for freedom fighters. Brenda Grasso’s email is brenda.grasso@sdhc.k12.fl.us.

One parent of a Steinbrenner student, whose child went through Shibly’s indoctrination, wrote me that his daughter told him that Shibly said that “only 4% or 6% of Muslims were terrorists,” and that his presentation was so positive toward Islam as to be “borderline proselytizing.”

This parent went to Steinbrenner the morning of December 5 and spoke to Kelly King, the Assistant Principal for Curriculum. King confirmed that the speaker who addressed his daughter’s class was indeed a representative from Hamas-linked CAIR. “I explained to Ms. King,” wrote the parent, “that I strongly objected to CAIR being involved in the school, and recited some of CAIR’s more infamous highlights. She replied that the presentation was part of a history of religion unit in their history class. I told her that I have no problem with students being taught the history of Islam, but if the school was going to have a speaker do that, they should invite an Imam, not a representative from a religious based political organization, particularly one with such a dubious history.”

In response, King equated “a Christian pastor to a PAC” and ultimately referred the parent to Miliziano, who said that she regularly invited Shibly to give presentations, and “that the statements I had made about CAIR were baseless and Islamophobic,” even though the parent had expressly told her that he had no problem with the school bringing in an imam to discuss the history of Islam. When the parent tried to explain to her that “the school was associating itself with a religious-based political organization that propagandizes for Islam & Sharia, and are terrorist apologists,” Miliziano

“completely dismissed these concerns.”

And despite Miliziano’s assurances that a Hindu priest and a Christian pastor would address the class, so far only Shibly has done so.

This is unconscionable. Freedom lovers must demand equal time."

1/7/12, "Pamela Geller, Big Government Column: Hamas-linked CAIR in Your Kid’s Classroom," Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs

---------------------------------

8/21/2009, "Steinbrenner High School getting ready to open," St. Pete Times

"Its hard enough for adults to deal with propaganda but its almost impossible for children." "Mass silence led to mass murder."...

12/19/11, "Hamas High School in Florida" Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrugs

"Why is a representative of a terror-linked organization a defender of jihad terror groups and an apologist for Islamic supremacism welcome to speak in public schools?"...

Ed. note: On Dec. 4, 2011 Pamela posted a CAIR-Tampa press release (copied below) announcing completion of presentations to area high schools. High schools weren't named in the press release.

(continuing, Atlas): "However, now we have been able to identify one school -- Steinbrenner High School -- where a representative of CAIR spoke to students. An informed source tells me it was the notorious Hassan Shibly.

Shibly has a track record of defending jihad terrorist groups and acting as an apologist for the worldwide jihad and Islamic supremacism.

Following the 2006 Israel-Lebanon War, Shibly granted legitimacy to Hezb'allah by characterizing it as a "resistance movement" that provides valued social services to the Lebanese people. "They're absolutely not a terrorist organization," Shibly said, and "any war against them is illegitimate" -- more on that here.

Nonetheless, he was welcomed into the school and spoke to several classes throughout the day,

including AP World History, World History, and World Religions.

The email exchanges between CAIR and Steinbrenner High School are revealing. Kelly Miliziano, a World History teacher at Steinbrenner, wrote this in a November 14 email:

"Every year I invite a representative from CAIR to speak to our AP World History Students."

After CAIR-Tampa responded favorably, Miliziano wrote again: "Over the years I have had many speakers from CAIR come to my classes, and it has been such a good learning experience for the students." She added: "I would prefer to have a speaker for each period of the day so that students can really interact with the speaker and ask questions."

"Every year"? "Many speakers from CAIR"? "Each period of the day"? Hamas-linked groups are regularly talking to high school students? Unindicted co-conspirators in the largest terror funding trial in our nation's history are being given a platform to mislead impressionable teenagers? Miliziano suggested topics that would have given CAIR a magnificent platform to spread their disinformation among the students:

Topics can range from :
The mission of CAIR
Basic beliefs, practices, history of....
Confronting stereotypes and misconceptions (a favorite of students)
Sharia
Why does Islam look differently around the world?
Human Rights and Islam
Women and Islam in different countries
Any other topic you think students should know about.

These are important subjects for students to study, but Hamas-tied CAIR is the last place where they can find out the truth about them. Is this what our public schools are doing with our children -- subjecting them to indoctrination and propaganda? That is child abuse. Where are the counter voices? Where are the voices of freedom?

Steinbrenner High School officials should have known that CAIR is a Muslim Brotherhood, Hamas-linked organization that is dedicated to spreading disinformation about Islam and terror, opposing anti-terror activity, and defaming freedom fighters. CAIR was one of the many Islamic groups that were named an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas jihad funding trial. They are in the top five of the AFDI Threats to Freedom Index.

Saudi Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal buys $300 million stake in Twitter

2011-12-19T04:45:00.003-05:00

12/19/11, "Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's Kingdom Holding Company has announced a $300m (£194m) investment in social media site Twitter.

The investment follows "several months of negotiations", a company statement to the Saudi stock exchange said.

The prince, who is one of the world's richest men, owns stakes in many well-known companies, including News Corporation.

He also has investments in a number of media groups in the Arab world.

"Our investment in Twitter reaffirms our ability in identifying suitable opportunities to invest in promising, high-growth businesses with a global impact," Prince Alwaleed said."

12/19/11, "Twitter gets $300m Saudi cash injection," BBC

10/12/2001, "$10 Million? NYC Says No Thanks," CBSnews.com

Oct., 2001: "Mayor Giuliani at first accepted the $10 million check from Prince Alwaleed."

"A Saudi prince who gave the city a relief check for $10 million, then said U.S. policies were partly to blame for the World Trade Center attack, received a stinging rebuke from the mayor and a rejection of his donation. ... During his visit to the wreckage Thursday, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal called the Sept. 11 terrorist attack "a tremendous crime" and said the suspected mastermind, Osama bin Laden, "does not belong to Islam." "We are here to tell America and to tell New York that Saudi Arabia is with the United States wholeheartedly," he said. But in a written statement handed out by his publicist, the prince said: "At times like this one, we must address some of the issues that led to such a criminal attack. I believe the government of the United States of America should re-examine its policies in the Middle East and adopt a more balanced stance toward the Palestinian cause."

Giuliani, who had attended a memorial service with Alwaleed and accepted his $10-million offer to help victims' families, had a harsh response when he learned about the statement. "There is no moral equivalent for this attack," Giuliani said. "The people who did it lost any right to ask for justification when they slaughtered 5,000, 6,000 innocent people. Not only are those statements wrong, they're part of the problem." Sunny Mindel, the mayor's communications director, told The Associated Press: "We are not going to accept the check — period." The prince, an outspoken member of the Saudi royal family, is a major investor in American companies and was No. 6 on Forbes magazine's 2001 list of the world's richest men, with a worth of $20 billion."...ap photo

AAU chief child molestation charges don't make news perhaps because no one's rioting about it

2011-12-19T01:10:00.009-05:00

"The new and hollow standard, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the kids”...doesn’t cut it."

12/18/11, "'Lines' shows truth beyond scandal headlines," NY Post, Phil Mushnick

"Does it get any worse than these Penn State and Syracuse assistant coach stories, those making sustained big news?...

The Bobby Dodd pedophilia accusations story, now a week old, should be as big and as ugly as those unraveling about Jerry Sandusky and Bernie Fine. Bigger, given Dodd’s position in sports.

But it hasn’t. It has barely made a sound here.

Are we bored by such stories, or is it that if there’s no big-time sports teams and rooting and perhaps rioting interests in the mix, we don’t care as much, or even at all?

Dodd, until late last month when he very quietly resigned, was for 19 years the president and CEO of the AAU, a kingdom that does good, and in too many sneaker company-controlled cases, bad, for tens of thousands of sports-playing boys and girls throughout the country.

Dodd, as of last week, became the latest to be publicly accused of using his position in sports to target, lure, then sexually abuse male children in his charge, starting in the 1980s.

That’s where ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” enters. So often buried by ESPN in low-viewership time slots, OTL, hosted and steered by Bob Ley, continues to be well worth finding.

Last Sunday it pursued the Dodd story, providing the on-camera testimony of Ralph West, now 43, who as a kid played AAU basketball in Memphis in a program headed by Dodd. Although West claimed that he wasn’t good enough to make a team that produces college and NBA stars, “I somehow made the team” — Dodd’s team.

West said that Dodd first went out of his way to befriend him as both a religious and sports mentor, then sexually pursued him, even providing him his own motel rooms during AAU road trips — rooms Dodd would enter to sexually assault him. Eventually, said West, he barricaded himself in his rooms.

Apparently moved to act by the accusers of Sandusky, West presented OTL an email he sent to AAU’s compliance office, dated Nov. 7,

claiming that he knows Dodd to be a pedophile.

West and a childhood friend who was contacted by OTL, also claimed that while at Dodd’s home as kids, they helped him move a file cabinet they found loaded with child porn and piles of waist-down photos of kids he coached.

Another former AAU player of Dodd’s testified, anonymously, on OTL to much the same, adding that as a 15-year-old in Dodd’s care, his drink was spiked by Dodd to try to ensure his sexual compliance.

Dodd, 63, did not return OTL’s phone calls and emails, and would not speak with correspondent Tom Farrey who went to Dodd’s Florida home.

However, 15 minutes later, according to Farrey, Dodd emailed that he has cancer and that he retired from the AAU on Nov. 29. Yet, no public announcement had been made that the president and CEO of the AAU had retired. And not until OTL called the AAU’s No. 2 man was that confirmed.

OTL also reported that the AAU, based in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Disney World property — Disney owns ESPN — the previous week

claimed to be unaware of these allegations against Dodd.

But on the day after OTL called the AAU about Dodd — and before OTL’s report first aired — the AAU contacted authorities in Memphis to alert them that “serious allegations” have been made against Dodd.

Thus, the stench of a cover-up — saving face before saving kids from sexual predators — is again on the wind.

A week later, this story, I figured, would have made significant news.

It hasn’t, not even on ESPN beyond OTL.

We better not become inured to such stories just because there are plenty more where these come from. And the perverse practicality of pedophiles exploiting sports to bait children is far too normal among the abnormal to be disregarded as aberrational.

And, unless the perps operated within big-time college programs, the depravity of such crimes, alleged or proven, is too great to treat with a shrug or with the new and hollow standard,

“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the kids.” That doesn’t cut it."

Welding inspector says he won't take his kids to new Marlins stadium due to safety concerns

2011-12-18T18:30:00.007-05:00

Jose's hammie minder best check out Marlins stadium for potholes.

12/14/11, "Marlins stadium inspector: "I won't take my kids to that place"," Field of Schemes, Neil deMause

"As if a parking garage tax controversy, an SEC probe, and crimes against typography weren't enough, a former welding inspector at their new stadium says he won't go to there because he's afraid it'll fall down:

What [Roy] Fastabend said he found shocked him.

Engineering specifications ignored. Contractors cutting corners to save time and money. He even caught a fellow inspector falsifying records and signing off on welds he never examined.

"If people knew what was going on there or how they did things, I mean, I won't go to that stadium, I won't take my kids to that place," Fastabend told CBS4's Jim DeFede in an exclusive interview. "Sadly, it looks beautiful but there are questions."

Marlins execs say that the inspector caught faking records was fired, and the team has now belatedly begun reinspecting all the welds to be sure they're legit. So with any luck, this will pass like the New York Yankees' crumbling concrete controversy, and the only catastrophic failure in Miami in coming years

will be Jose Reyes' hamstrings."

12/13/11, "Roy Fastabend has been a welder for 35 years and a certified inspector for the last fifteen. It was his job to make sure the columns and beams connected to the retractable roof at the Marlins Stadium were constructed and welded correctly."

12/13/11, "Whistleblower: Marlins Stadium Contractors Cut Corners," miami.cbslocal.com