Saturday, October 10, 2009

My (Current) Hometown

I was wondering in times of recession, as municipalities have less and less money to spend on programs and services as do their citizens, why it is that the public libraries whose hours are usually one of the first things to shrink as a money-saving idea, tend to become more popular as those with limited incomes seek entertainment and information.


It was sort of like shooting fish in a barrel to find sources to support the level and breadth at which this has been happening across the USA, just by clicking here. At the time I entered the phrase in a search engine (sorry, Bing, you're not my choice), there were 1.4 million mentions identified in less a quarter of a second.

I got to thinking, not about cell phone bandwidth (yesterday I learned a new thing, though I would've preferred, Rabbi, that you take a crack at my Thermos question), but about how long it would have taken me to have gone to the public library to have found, basically, the same references as the computer did in an eye blink.

And that in turn led me to wonder why people go to the public library, no matter the season or the economic climate. Those motivations and needs are, I imagine, as diverse as the folks who patronize the public libraries. In Norwich, many offer as a truism that 'those people' (and we know who that is and whom we mean, trust me on this one) congregate outside of the Otis Library in downtown, just down the block from the Saint Vincent De Paul Soup Kitchen and not all that far away from some of the underpasses where those whose boats were NOT lifted by the last decade's rising tide of prosperity have come to anchor.

If I had a dime for every time I've read a reference to 'those people' in a local newspaper or heard someone speak of them, I'd have enough money to buy the Norwich YMCA (not as funny a joke as I'd first hoped especially if we, the taxpayers, become the punchline). Whenever I go downtown, and I walked through it on Monday to visit City Hall (speaking of taxes, as I was, to go to the Assessor's office) and then across town to the Post Office, I NEVER see any of 'those people' outside (or inside) the library or anywhere else.

Norwich doesn't have an especially vibrant downtown though there's a lot of individual efforts by small businesses and property owners. I love walking past the old Woolworth's (I suspect that's what it was back in the day) not because I'm happy for the day-laborer business that's taken up shop inside (though for many people in search of a job, it's a different reaction) but because I can remember being a kid, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and how much fun stores like Woolworth's and J. J. Newberry were and how they were so much a part of everyday growing up life in a town about the size of Norwich--New Brunswick, New Jersey.

It was as true in Brunswick then as it is in Norwich now, that people look to a public library in an urban landscape the way the fingers of the hand look to the thumb. There are so many services and so many products available, everyone meets in the same space and place. Public libraries, by accident or design, may be the most distinctly iconic symbol of American democracy, up there with Old Glory and the Bald Eagle (which is NOT my nickname, yet).

This morning, and you have something similar going on in your neighborhood I'll bet, we have in the Otis Library, starting at 10:30, some, part or all of the Democratic slate seeking election to the office of Mayor and the City Council (and maybe, but I'm not sure, the Board of Education members as well), hosting a forum in the upstairs community room of the library. It's another chance to learn more about the candidates and their positions and goals (and how they intend to achieve them). I'm told they'll be taking questions.

"Now Main Street's whitewashed windows and vacant stores, seems like there ain't nobody wants to come down here no more. They're closing down the textile mill across the railroad tracks. Foreman says these jobs are going, boys, and they ain't coming back to your hometown." Start with that one and ask them what they intend to do about it. And no rush, the Otis Library is open 'til three on Saturdays.

Obama's Nobel Peace Prize

It seems a shame to call President Obama's Nobel Peace Prize a joke, but how seriously can you take a prize that has yet to be earned?
More than anything else, the timing of this award suggests it's actually the Thank God You're Not George W. Bush Nobel Prize, Given So That You Won't Send More Troops to Afghanistan. We understand the impulse, not having been impressed by Bush's leadership. But where has peace broken out since, and because of, Obama's election? Or is it because he dropped plans for a missile defense system in eastern Europe, or simply because he hasn't invaded any countries since his inauguration just nine months ago?
Less cynically, Obama may have won the prize because he inspires hope in so many people in so many places. That's a real gift, and something that may pay many dividends for Americans and others. But hope for peace is different from peace. If Obama won in part because of his undeniable oratorical gifts, his speechwriters should share in the honor.

This is not the first time the Nobel Peace Prize caused a good deal of head-scratching. Today, the political right is howling about Obama's prize, but the left was apoplectic in 1973 when, during the Vietnam War, then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger won the Peace Prize, along with North Vietnamese Politburo Member Le Duc Tho, for arranging a cease fire that didn't last. Kissinger was seen by many as one of the architects of an immoral war.
Obama, himself, seemed to recognize the preposterousness of the award. Speaking to reporters outside the White House on Friday, he said he wasn't sure he had done enough to earn the award, or even deserved to be in the company of the others who had won it before him, including just two other sitting American presidents, Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. Instead, Obama wisely spun it forward, saying he would accept it "as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the challenges of the 21st century."
In that statement, Obama showed again that he is a supremely intelligent and capable president, one who possesses the talents and inclinations that might someday lead him to truly deserve this award. But he doesn't yet. Not this year. In awarding it to Obama, the Nobel Committee has once again shown that this prize is more about politics than it is about peace.

The Boys from Brazil is an absorbing story

The Boys from Brazil is an absorbing story. This is a rather complicated, yet absorbing story – you have to read almost halfway to get the essence of the mystery.
Yakov Liebermann’s mission in life was to hunt for Nazis, especially those who had participated in the cruel slayings of Jews during the world war. Dr Joseph Mengele (Angel of Death) had a major project.
Most of the details of the project were not revealed to his team, who were only told that they were working for the fatherland, in hopes to rebuild the Nazi greatness. Initially the plan was to kill a total of 94 men - unremarkable men in their 60s, unimportant careers, mundane lives.
This plan was secretly taped by an amateur Nazi hunter; he managed to pass the news to Lieberman.

Lieberman was zealous in his investigations - questioning, probing, analyzing. He soon found out about the sons of the dead men - teenage boys who looked so similar that they might have been the offspring of the same man.

The story is simply amazing. A total of 94 clones were made in hopes of building a small group of Hitlers. Mengele was astute enough to look into the probabilities of success and failure.
This story was written at a time when cloning seemed a figment of the active mind. Ira Levin’s stories are really thought-provoking. It takes some time (and patience) to follow through though. However once you pass the preliminaries, it is simply spell-binding.
The suspense started building, and from there, it is difficult to put the book down. A truly eerie story; it is beyond rational thinking how far the Nazis would go to realize their dream about the perfect race.

The Scenester: Couples Weekend



 Couples Retreat — C-


First we have our dysfunctional couples … : Couples Retreat didn’t screen in time for publication, but I did you a favor and saw it anyway. Here’s what I said:
Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau go way back, first starring together in 1996’s Swingers, as young bucks ready to take Los Angeles by storm. Thirteen years later, the two have reached middle age, now at the top of their Hollywood game. But where Swingers thrived on freshness and energy, Couples Retreat is complacent. Jason Bateman and Faizon Love join Vaughn and Favreau as the XY contingent of a group of couples persuaded to go to Eden, a therapy retreat, by Bateman and onscreen wife Cynthia (Kristen Bell) — two uptight PowerPoint lovers who convince their buddies that they won’t have to take part in planned healing activities. Except when they arrive, as it turns out, it’s all mandatory. They’re faced with a choice: Stay in paradise and listen to some touchy-feely quack, or bail and head back to kids and responsibility? The couples stick to Eden and spend the next couple of hours doing everything you’d expect them to. I don’t know what’s more disconcerting: the fact that four genuinely funny men willngly play into their own typecasting (Vaughn as the fast-talking wiseguy, Bateman as a less-hilarious Michael Bluth), or that Vaughn and Bateman’s onscreen wives look a fraction of their age and they think no one will notice.


Paranormal Activity — B

 
Then we have our haunted couples: You may remember how we demanded Paranormal Activity in Philly … and then we got it! We sent Drew Lazor to a midnight screening and this is what he came back with:
It took first-time director Oren Peli just seven days to shoot Paranormal Activity in his own house, with a hand-held camera, two unknown actors and a measly $15,000 budget. Plenty of people are saying what he came up with is one of the most terrifying horror films of all time. That’s an unfortunate overstatement in that it’s created unrealistic expectations for this little movie that could, but it’s unabashedly scary — and it’s worth seeing for multiple reasons, some of which aren’t hair-raising at all. Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston, playing a couple named Micah and Katie, are embarking on an experiment: She’s been deeply disturbed by a insidious presence her whole life, so her cocky day trader boyfriend leaves a high-end video cam rolling while they sleep to sate his curiosity. “Things” start happening — and it’s not long before the incidents begin increasing in volatility with each passing night. That’s all you need to know to embrace that aspect of the movie, but Paranormal’s biggest gifts come in the form of Sloat and Featherston’s performances — both do a superb job of fleshing out the throes of a couple in duress, scrambling from argument to make-up and back again with such gentle chemistry that you might mistake them for your actual friends.

The Boys are Back — B-

 


Coco Before Chanel — B-

 


Crude — B

 

Meet Crude producer Michael Bonfiglio.
And don’t forget to check the Repertory Film listings for your movie goodness!


“Paranormal Activity”: The Strange Story Of Micah Sloat And Katie Featherstone


“Paranormal Activity”, a mocu-horror flick which bears a striking resemblance with the concept and the genre of the famous spine tingling horror flick “Blair Witch Project” has raised quite a buzz in the movie world for its clever construction and brilliant camera work. According to the sources, the film has gathered quite a considerable amount of attention from the horror movie buffs and has been a regular fixture at Tweeter’s trendy topics despite being played at a mere 33 theaters since its release on last Friday. The movie revolves around two central characters, MIcah Sloat and Katie Featherstone. Sources revealed that this week the movie will expand itself to 46 markets where it will be screened through out the day and night in as many as 176 theaters.

The movie opens up with an intriguing title, thereby thanking the fictional family of Micah Sloat and Katie Featherstone as well as the San Diego Police Department, giving the audience a clear indication that the “found footage” is bound to have paranormal activities stored in it. The plot of the story revolves around Micah and his girlfriend Katie who have been staying together for almost three years. The male protagonist gets hold of a video camera to shoot the paranormal activities that have been happening in his two storey building in San Diego. Weird activities have since been occupied Katie whose actual house was burned down when she was eight years old. Since then she has been haunted by a shadowy figure as nightmares plague her normal life. The movie picks up from this point.

The eerie movie which has been shot in the couple’s cookie-cutter dwelling is terrifying due to its unusual way of filming and plot. “Paranormal Activity” has the potential of becoming one of the best horror movies in this genre. The film has already gained a mass appeal.

The End Time Bizarre Cloud Over Moscow

 photo
This is a screen shot of a 33 second video filmed from inside a car in Moscow. LiveLeak video here. Hmmm is is supernatural Or just a Hole Punch cloud Even hole punch clouds rarely form in a perfect circle and persist for a long time as this one did. Bizarre is a good title for this. More and more bizarre things happening lately.This is a screen shot of a 33 second video filmed from inside a car in Moscow. LiveLeak video here. Hmmm is is supernatural Or just a Hole Punch cloud Even hole punch clouds rarely form in a perfect circle and persist for a long time as this one did. Bizarre is a good title for this. More and more bizarre things happening lately.

New ZealandIs this a hole punch cloud formingPlease visit httpwww.mysteriousnewzea…New ZealandIs this a hole punch cloud formingPlease visit httpwww.mysteriousnewzea…
This NASA satellite photo lends itself to the idea that jet exhaust causes vapor to condense into larger ice crystals which then fall out of the sky making the downward cirrus wisps we see in these photos. Also note that barium is hygroscopic absorbs water.This NASA satellite photo lends itself to the idea that jet exhaust causes vapor to condense into larger ice crystals which then fall out of the sky making the downward cirrus wisps we see in these photos. Also note that barium is hygroscopic absorbs water.
NASA hole-punched clouds very unusual could be facilitated by a passing airplane exhaustNASA hole-punched clouds very unusual could be facilitated by a passing airplane exhaust
Heres the clouded winter skies of south western Oklahoma and the sun punching a hole through the clouds to show its still there.Processed the HDR in Photomatix and polished up the image in Photoshop.Heres the clouded winter skies of south western Oklahoma and the sun punching a hole through the clouds to show its still there.Processed the HDR in Photomatix and polished up the image in Photoshop.

NASA Moon Bombing Video

NASA moon bombing video NASA LCROSS. There are reports that NASA LCROSS probe’s findings will be available on Google moon shortly. This will give better view of it and make the viewing more pleasant.
Google Moon is a service similar to Google Maps that shows satellite images of the Moon.

Google Moon was launched by Google on July 20, 2005, the 36th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing.


The landing site of each of the Apollo missions is shown on the satellite image, providing more information on each mission as the user zooms in.

Because the Moon is so far away, it is hard to measure exactly where things on it are.

The Visible and Elevation layers were created using images and data that were aligned to the The Unified Lunar Control Network 2005, the most up-to-date understanding of exactly where things are on the Moon, created by the experts at the U.S. Geological Survey.

These maps are designed for mission planning, but they will probably still need to be updated once the next generation of lunar mapping satellites arrive at the Moon.

The Charts layer includes maps that were made before these updated coordinate systems existed, and so the positions of features in the charts are only approximate.

The high-resolution maps used in the Apollo layer are similarly approximate.

Meanwhile in a press release NASA says that its probe impacted the moon surface.

NASA's Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, created twin impacts on the moon's surface early Friday in a search for water ice. Scientists will analyze data from the spacecraft's instruments to assess whether water ice is present.
The satellite traveled 5.6 million miles during an historic 113-day mission that ended in the Cabeus crater, a permanently shadowed region near the moon's south pole. The spacecraft was launched June 18 as a companion mission to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"The LCROSS science instruments worked exceedingly well and returned a wealth of data that will greatly improve our understanding of our closest celestial neighbor," said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS principal investigator and project scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. "The team is excited to dive into data."

In preparation for impact, LCROSS and its spent Centaur upper stage rocket separated about 54,000 miles above the surface of the moon on Thursday at approximately 6:50 p.m. PDT.

Moving at a speed of more than 1.5 miles per second, the Centaur hit the lunar surface shortly after 4:31 a.m. Oct. 9, creating an impact that instruments aboard LCROSS observed for approximately four minutes. LCROSS then impacted the surface at approximately 4:36 a.m.

"This is a great day for science and exploration," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The LCROSS data should prove to be an impressive addition to the tremendous leaps in knowledge about the moon that have been achieved in recent weeks. I want to congratulate the LCROSS team for their tremendous achievement in development of this low cost spacecraft and for their perseverance through a number of difficult technical and operational challenges."‪

Other observatories reported capturing both impacts. The data will be shared with the LCROSS science team for analysis. The LCROSS team expects it to take several weeks of analysis before it can make a definitive assessment of the presence or absence of water ice.

"I am very proud of the success of this LCROSS mission team," said Daniel Andrews, LCROSS project manager at Ames. "Whenever this team would hit a roadblock, it conceived a clever work-around allowing us to push forward with a successful mission."

The images and video collected by the amateur astronomer community and the public also will be used to enhance our knowledge about the moon.
One of the early goals of the mission was to get as many people to look at the LCROSS impacts in as many ways possible, and we succeeded," said Jennifer Heldmann, Ames' coordinator of the LCROSS observation campaign. "The amount of corroborated information that can be pulled out of this one event is fascinating."

"It has been an incredible journey since LCROSS was selected in April 2006," said Andrews. "The LCROSS Project faced a very ambitious schedule and an uncommonly small budget for a mission of this size. LCROSS could be a model for how small robotic missions are executed. This is truly big science on a small budget."

President Obama Nobel brings prestige and pressure

















WASHINGTON - President Obama yesterday won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, bringing the relatively novice leader a new measure of prestige on the world stage but also potential complications in carrying out a foreign policy that includes managing two wars.
In making Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the president's cooperative approach to global issues, a clear rebuke of the Bush administration's aversion to international organizations and treaties.
The prize comes after Obama has been in office less than nine months, and as he decides whether to send additional combat troops to Afghanistan for a war effort that will now be measured against the principles of the peace prize.
His selection from 205 nominees inflamed U.S. conservatives and drew criticism abroad across a political spectrum ranging from the Afghan insurgents he is fighting to Israeli hawks he is trying to bring to the peace table with Palestinians.
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden a few hours after being awakened with the news at 6 a.m., a "surprised and deeply humbled" Obama said he did not view the prize as an affirmation of his accomplishments.
"To be honest," he said, "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize - men and women who have inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace."
"I will accept this award as a call to action," he said, "a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century."
Obama is pushing to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, stop Iran's uranium-enrichment program, pass legislation to slow global warming, and strengthen international nuclear nonproliferation protocols - all of which require broad international cooperation to succeed.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, said he could not think of anyone "more deserving of this honor."

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh argued that it was an attempt by elites in the world to encourage Obama "to emasculate the United States."
In some respects, the prize could make Obama's approach more difficult on issues as diverse as climate change and Afghanistan, where eight years into the war Obama has so far largely failed to secure significant new resources from NATO allies.
"Not only will he be judged in the future against this exacting standard," said William Galston, a Clinton administration domestic adviser now at the Brookings Institution, "but also it may complicate some decisions, such as the one he must soon make concerning Afghanistan."
Obama is weighing whether to send as many as 40,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, potentially exposing himself to criticism that he is not living up to the ideals embodied by the peace prize. "While I hope that such considerations will not influence his decisions," Galston said, "they don't make his life any easier."
White House aides disputed the notion that the prize would be a political liability. They said Obama had not been aware he had been nominated and never lobbied for the honor, which carries a $1.4 million cash award.
David Axelrod, a senior adviser, said Obama has told his staff he wants to give the money to charity "in a way that promotes the ideals he is talking about and that that prize committee honored today."
In announcing Obama as the winner - to gasps of surprise - in the Norwegian capital of Oslo, the Nobel Committee noted that his "diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."
Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said he hoped the prize would add momentum to Obama's efforts. At the same time, Jagland said the committee - five members appointed by the Norwegian parliament - had not "given the prize for what may happen in the future. We are awarding Obama for what he has done in the past year. And we are hoping this may contribute a little bit for what he is trying to do."
In his Rose Garden appearance, Obama said that "we have to confront the world as we know it today." He said he is "the commander in chief of a country that's responsible for ending a war and working in another theater to confront a ruthless adversary that directly threatens the American people and our allies."
The breadth of domestic opposition to the choice suggested a resentment that could undermine his ability to carry out some of his most ambitious foreign-policy goals.
In Afghanistan, Obama will probably need Republican congressional support if he decides to send additional combat troops, a move that much of his own party opposes. Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement that "it is unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights."
The two previous sitting U.S. presidents who won the prize did so in their second terms. Theodore Roosevelt won in 1906 for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese war, and Woodrow Wilson won in 1919 for founding the League of Nations and helping frame the post-World War I peace. Jimmy Carter, who as president brokered the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt, won the prize more than two decades after leaving office.
"Certainly from our standpoint, this gives us a sense of momentum - when the United States has accolades tossed its way, rather than shoes," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, referring to the December incident in which an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during his final visit to Baghdad.
Obama will travel to Oslo in December to accept the award.

Obama's Nobel brings prestige and pressure


WASHINGTON - President Obama yesterday won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, bringing the relatively novice leader a new measure of prestige on the world stage but also potential complications in carrying out a foreign policy that includes managing two wars.
In making Obama the third sitting U.S. president to win the prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the president's cooperative approach to global issues, a clear rebuke of the Bush administration's aversion to international organizations and treaties.
The prize comes after Obama has been in office less than nine months, and as he decides whether to send additional combat troops to Afghanistan for a war effort that will now be measured against the principles of the peace prize.
His selection from 205 nominees inflamed U.S. conservatives and drew criticism abroad across a political spectrum ranging from the Afghan insurgents he is fighting to Israeli hawks he is trying to bring to the peace table with Palestinians.
Speaking in the White House Rose Garden a few hours after being awakened with the news at 6 a.m., a "surprised and deeply humbled" Obama said he did not view the prize as an affirmation of his accomplishments.
"To be honest," he said, "I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize - men and women who have inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace."
"I will accept this award as a call to action," he said, "a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century."
Obama is pushing to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations, stop Iran's uranium-enrichment program, pass legislation to slow global warming, and strengthen international nuclear nonproliferation protocols - all of which require broad international cooperation to succeed.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, said he could not think of anyone "more deserving of this honor."

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh argued that it was an attempt by elites in the world to encourage Obama "to emasculate the United States."
In some respects, the prize could make Obama's approach more difficult on issues as diverse as climate change and Afghanistan, where eight years into the war Obama has so far largely failed to secure significant new resources from NATO allies.
"Not only will he be judged in the future against this exacting standard," said William Galston, a Clinton administration domestic adviser now at the Brookings Institution, "but also it may complicate some decisions, such as the one he must soon make concerning Afghanistan."
Obama is weighing whether to send as many as 40,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan, potentially exposing himself to criticism that he is not living up to the ideals embodied by the peace prize. "While I hope that such considerations will not influence his decisions," Galston said, "they don't make his life any easier."
White House aides disputed the notion that the prize would be a political liability. They said Obama had not been aware he had been nominated and never lobbied for the honor, which carries a $1.4 million cash award.
David Axelrod, a senior adviser, said Obama has told his staff he wants to give the money to charity "in a way that promotes the ideals he is talking about and that that prize committee honored today."
In announcing Obama as the winner - to gasps of surprise - in the Norwegian capital of Oslo, the Nobel Committee noted that his "diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."
Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland said he hoped the prize would add momentum to Obama's efforts. At the same time, Jagland said the committee - five members appointed by the Norwegian parliament - had not "given the prize for what may happen in the future. We are awarding Obama for what he has done in the past year. And we are hoping this may contribute a little bit for what he is trying to do."
In his Rose Garden appearance, Obama said that "we have to confront the world as we know it today." He said he is "the commander in chief of a country that's responsible for ending a war and working in another theater to confront a ruthless adversary that directly threatens the American people and our allies."
The breadth of domestic opposition to the choice suggested a resentment that could undermine his ability to carry out some of his most ambitious foreign-policy goals.
In Afghanistan, Obama will probably need Republican congressional support if he decides to send additional combat troops, a move that much of his own party opposes. Michael Steele, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement that "it is unfortunate that the president's star power has outshined tireless advocates who have made real achievements working towards peace and human rights."
The two previous sitting U.S. presidents who won the prize did so in their second terms. Theodore Roosevelt won in 1906 for his role in ending the Russo-Japanese war, and Woodrow Wilson won in 1919 for founding the League of Nations and helping frame the post-World War I peace. Jimmy Carter, who as president brokered the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt, won the prize more than two decades after leaving office.
"Certainly from our standpoint, this gives us a sense of momentum - when the United States has accolades tossed its way, rather than shoes," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley, referring to the December incident in which an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at President George W. Bush during his final visit to Baghdad.
Obama will travel to Oslo in December to accept the award.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Ashford and Simpson to perform at Long Island University

Ashford and Simpson husband wife duo are set to perform at the Long Island University Campus. This is going to be a big day for the university and for their fans. They have their fans in any corner of the nation.
I don’t remember any other couple reaching to such height together in music industry. They are a successful husband and wife songwriting/production team and recording artists.

Ashford & Simpson met at Harlem's White Rock Baptist Church in 1964. After having recorded unsuccessfully as a duo, they joined aspiring solo artist and former member of the Ikettes, Josie Jo Armstead, at the Scepter/Wand label where their compositions were recorded by Ronnie Milsap ("Never Had It So Good"), Maxine Brown ("One Step At A Time"), as well as the Shirelles and Chuck Jackson.

Their own performing career was launched in 1973 with Keep It Comin' on Motown and Gimme Something Real on Warner Bros.

Their first success came in 1977 with the gold-selling Send It, which contained the Top Ten R&B hit "Don't Cost You Nothing."

Is It Still Good to Ya, a second gold album, contained the number two R&B hit "It Seems to Hang On" in 1978. Stay Free, their third straight gold album, contained "Found a Cure," another R&B smash that also made the Top 40 on the pop chart.

A Musical Affair, in 1980, featured the hit "Love Don't Make It Right," but was not as successful as previous efforts.

Meanwhile award-winning songwriters and performers Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson will bring their signature sound to the Kumble Theater for the Performing Arts at Long Island Universitys Brooklyn Campus on Friday, October 30.

The concert event, An Evening of Song with Ashford & Simpson, will raise funds for the Kumble Theater, a state-of-the-art, 320-seat venue that nurtures the creative work of students and other emerging artists and provides the community with free or low-cost access to world-class performances.

Mr. Ashford and Ms. Simpson, who first became acquainted with the Brooklyn Campus through University trustee Steven J. Kumble, the Theater’s benefactor and namesake, received honorary degrees at its commencement ceremony in May 2009. Impressed with the University’s mission of access and excellence, and the Campus’ contributions to downtown Brooklyn’s vibrant artistic community, the duo decided to donate their time and talents to support the Kumble Theater.

“We are excited to welcome Mr. Ashford and Ms. Simpson back to the Brooklyn Campus. Their legendary success as performers, songwriters and producers is an inspiration to our students in the arts,” declared Gale Stevens Haynes, provost of the Brooklyn Campus.

Mr. Ashford and Ms. Simpson are among the most respected and prolific couples in contemporary music. They are perhaps best known for their #1 hit Solid, but they also have produced many Gold records and have penned hits for luminaries like Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin and Diana Ross.

The Kumble Theater fosters the artistic exploration of both developing and established artists, and presents a wide array of cutting-edge and traditional programming. Recent offerings have ranged from performances by the Brooklyn Ballet, the Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center and artists presented by 651 ARTS to theatrical productions such as Dreamgirls.

Concert tickets are available at two price levels, $1,000 and $350. Prior to the concert, ticketholders at the $1,000 level will enjoy cocktails in the Louise B’69 and Leonard Riggio Cyber Caf’; a visit to the Mighty Wurlitzer (the original 1928 organ from the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre, which is now the Campus’ Schwartz Athletic Center); and dinner in Luntey Commons, the former lobby of the Brooklyn Paramount. Immediately following the performance, there will be a dessert reception in the Humanities Gallery during which all concertgoers will have the opportunity to meet the artists. For more information, please call the Office of Special Events at 516-299-3298.

Zack Hample: King of the ballhawks

The cheat sheet goes everywhere. To the ballpark. To the bathroom. On dates. The cheat sheet folds in half, rests comfortably next to Zack Hample's dollar bills, never leaves his wallet. Neatly typed in Geneva font, it features 34 phrases in 34 different languages, written phonetically, all asking the same thing: Please throw me a ball.DAH-may la Bo-la pour fa-VOR. Spanish.
CHOH-toh, boh-OR-roo oh NAH-geh-tay KOO-dah-sigh. Japanese. Nee too-PEE-eh mm-Pee-r(d)a tah-fuh-DAH-lee. Swahili.
I mention that my wife speaks Khmer. Hample perks up.
Zack Hample
Zack Hample Watch out for batted balls ... and for Zack Hample.
"You'll have to get me the translation," he says. "I'll add it. Just in case."
Understand: Hample has rules, ethics, an entire self-generated moral code. No hawking baseballs from little kids. Minor league games don't count. For the cheat sheet, however, he makes no apologies. Because players have both ears and balls. Because the cheat sheet works. It's scorching, sweltering late afternoon in August, a miserable evening for a miserable game between two miserable last-place teams, the Baltimore Orioles and the visiting Oakland A's. Hample couldn't be happier. Lousy weather means fewer fans. Fewer fans means less competition. Less competition means more baseballs. Not that Hample needs them. Over the past 19 years, the 32-year-old has snagged exactly 4,166 baseballs from major league parks across the country -- fouls, home runs, waterlogged balls from the bottom of the right-field fountain at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City -- and tonight he hopes to pad his stats. Expects to, really. Hope is for amateurs, the guys with beers in one hand and HIT IT HERE signs in the other, praying to the baseball gods, angling to catch dingers in the soft pockets of their flipped-over caps. Hample is a pro. He carries a cap for the home team and the visitors (more on that shortly). He has a streak to maintain (at least one ball per game attended since 1993), a reputation to uphold (he's written a book about ball-snagging, which essentially makes him the Dan Brown of books about ball-snagging) and an ongoing competition to win (he's currently in first place in an online ball-snagging league, and yes, there actually is an online ball-snagging league).
More to the point, Oriole Park at Camden Yards is ... a snagger's stadium. (Note: This is exactly what I wrote down in my notepad.)
"This is as good as it gets," Hample says. "I've considered moving to Baltimore, just to attend tons of games here. Maybe the O's will get blown out. More room for me to run."
He pauses, grinning.
"If only it was April. There'd be even fewer fans."
The sun hangs high. We're walking along the warehouse side of the stadium, across from the light rail tracks, heading toward a center-field gate. Batting practice begins shortly. Hample is ready. Ten balls, he says. At least. That's the goal. His Oriole Park career average. (And yes, he keeps track. Duh.) Hample does the math. A ball every five minutes would be extraordinary; every 20 minutes, unfathomably tragic. One ball per 10 minutes would be just about right. Only ... what about the heat? Players could skip practice altogether, robbing Hample of a prime ball-collecting opportunity. He's heard disturbing rumors from Texas, whispers that the Rangers have bailed on BP. Can a big league club actually be that cheap?
I mention that I didn't bring a glove.

"Good," Hample says with a laugh. "More balls for me."
Hample brought a glove. Always does. A beat-up, broken-down, decade-old Mizuno, refurbished and undead. Blessed with a fold that cups baseballs just so, perfectly shaped for Hample's glove trick. The glove trick trumps the cheat sheet. It's something MacGyver might have come up with, if disarming rouge nuclear warheads required plucking balls from outfield warning tracks.
Hample crouches in the stadium's shade. He wants a moment. To hide. He removes his glove from a backpack. Attached to the glove is 25 feet of string. Hample wraps the string around his hand, over and over, tucks the finished coil inside the glove. The string is a fishing line: If Hample sees an unattended ball on the field, he'll prop the glove open with a magic marker, wrap a rubber band around the outside to form a pocket, lower the glove onto the ball and reel the whole thing in like a hooked marlin.
The trick has netted Hample more than 70 balls this season. He can pull it off in as little as 15 seconds. He places his glove back in the pack.
"I don't want to do this in front of security and make a scene," he says. "It's not illegal. I need to be able to drop quickly and stealthily if a ball is on the warning track. Before an usher sees or a player gets to it."
Hample wears a white T-shirt, brown cargo shorts (more pockets = more balls) and an Orioles cap. Inside his backpack are an Oakland cap and a matching green A's T-shirt, both awaiting a quick change, the better for Hample to lobby the visiting team for balls. Sometimes Spanish isn't enough. "Put this on, and I might be the only A's fan in Maryland," he frets. "I'm worried that players tomorrow will be like, 'Oh, yeah, he's that guy. I'm not tossing another ball. Screw him.'" We come to the gate. People say hello. People know Hample. They know his book, know his MLB.com blog, know him from YouTube clips and appearances on "The Tonight Show" and NPR. The kids at the front of the line have even e-mailed Hample, ancient Delphians beseeching the Oracle, asking for ballhawking advice.
Tip: Show up early for BP.
Tip: Bring a glove.
Tip: Be alert and mobile.
Tip: Have large breasts.
Two lines over, a man in a yellow tank top holds what appears to be a fishing net. Wait. It is a fishing net, also yellow, used to scoop ground balls. Hample frowns. How unimaginative. How lacking in skill.
"Look at this guy," he says. "Part of me is, 'Ah, that's cheap.' But then again, with all of my tricks, who am I to judge?"

Every ball is a victory. Scratch that. Every ball is a freaking triumph. Because Hample is not a cute kid, the parent of a cute kid, a sweet and semi-pitiable old person or an attractive girl with large breasts. He's just some guy. He receives no charity balls, nothing dropped on his doorstep. He has to work the angles, worm his way into players' heads, use an online hit tracker to figure out the best place to stand. Go out there and get the balls, even when they're literally falling from the sky.
"I'm just sort of weird," he admits. "My whole existence is strange. I'm aware of that."
Hample is eating noodles. We're sitting in a Thai restaurant, a few blocks from Oriole Park, an hour before the gates open. Like a Disney Channel heroine -- or maybe Bruce Wayne -- Hample lives two lives. In the first, he resides in Manhattan. Works at his family's bookstore. Has a girlfriend. Belongs to a fiction-writing group.
In Hample's second life, an old bedroom in his parents' house contains five filing drawers filled with 144 baseballs apiece ... alongside seven 32-gallon barrels holding 400 balls each.
Hample has written two books, "How to Snag Major League Baseballs" and "Watching Baseball Smarter: A Professional Fan's Guide," the latter boasting a laudatory quote from Keith Hernandez. (Short story: He has a friend whose ex-girlfriend is married to Hernandez's best friend. Now you know.) Hample caught two of the last 10 home runs belted at old Yankee Stadium -- earning a nod on SportsCenter -- and the final homer hit at Shea Stadium. (He also nearly flipped a railing trying to snag a ball at the House that Ruth Built. Occupational hazard.) This season, he's ballhawking for charity: For every ball he snags, Hample is asking blog readers to donate money to an organization that distributes used baseball equipment to impoverished children around the world. (Totals so far: 40 games, 346 balls, 117 donors, $24.74 per ball, $8,560.04 given.)
"Snagging can be a burden," he says. "On the first date? Worst thing ever. I have to hide it. It's the last thing I talk about when I'm away from baseball."
Hample caught his first four balls in 1990, added 14 more in 1991. The next year, he became obsessed. He was 14 years old, with no friends and no other hobbies. Just Topps cards and playing baseball. Since Hample already rode the subway to and from school, his parents allowed him to attend games solo. He went to 80 Mets and Yankees contests, collected 128 balls. Not enough. Hample could be at the movies, a birthday party, wherever. If a baseball game took place in New York and he wasn't on hand, he emotionally shut down, distraught at the thought of missing a single ball.
"My parents were deeply concerned about me for a while," he says.
Hample went to Guilford, a small Quaker college in Greensboro, N.C, five hours from the nearest major league park (Atlanta's Fulton-County Stadium). The distance was intentional. He wanted to give up ballhawking. And he did. Sort of. He picked up Scrabble instead, spent an hour a day memorizing four-letter words, went scorched-earth on the dictionary until he reached the P's. Suddenly, he stopped. What are you doing? Go enjoy yourself. Hample met a girl, fell in love for the first time. He rode the bench as a freshman pinch-hitter on the school's baseball team, batting .429 (6-for-14). Realizing he would never play in the majors -- never ever -- he quit. Just like that.
"I did it that instant," Hample says. "If I can't reach the highest level of something, why do it at all?"
The first book brought him back. Changed everything. Published in 1999, Hample's ball-getting guide sports a cover cutline reading "more than 100 tested tips that really work," superimposed over a photo of the author clutching eight (!) baseballs in two hands. Hample looks young and earnest, slightly (very) dorky. And yet, the book took the stigma out of Hample's obsession. It made him legit. Earned him respect. Helped his parents relax. Fans began to recognize him. Ushers. Stadium security. The beer guys. Even players. He started interacting with people, making his self-described "obsessive stadium ball-snagging mode" a social affair. Ballhawking was fun again -- still compelling, not as consuming. Hample worked for a minor league baseball team in Idaho, lived in Paris, interned at the American School for the Deaf. He snagged his 2,000th ball on a toss from Joe Roa -- who later added an autograph -- and his 3,000th ball from the Yankee Stadium warning track (glove trick). He researched and wrote a second book, caught Barry Bonds' 724th home run, lent a ball to CBS for a segment with Charlie Sheen, started a cottage business in which aspiring snaggers accompany him to games, learning the tricks of the trade. He never did settle down with an office job, sitting in a cubicle all day, spending his evenings chitchatting at cocktail parties. The mere thought makes him antsy. Hample often feels like the world's biggest 6-year-old, like he has "unofficial ADD times 10."
Nearly a decade ago, Hample set the world record for high score in the 1986 blast-'em-up arcade game Arkanoid. Correction: Hample broke his previous world record by racking up 1,658,110 points in a play session that stretched a single quarter across two hours.
This is probably not a coincidence.
"Where do you draw the line between obsession and passion?" Hample says. "You can't be a master of anything if you're not obsessed. I'm not saying put me on a level with Tiger Woods. I just think you can't achieve greatness without devoting yourself."
Hample grins. He mentions that he used to get made fun of at sleepaway camp. All the time.
"On a very small scale, and not to be cocky, but I know what it means to be the best in the world at something," he says. "It's a cool feeling."

Hample is hawking blind. Can't see the batter, can't see the game, can't see anything save a couple dozen beer-drinking fans leaning on the fence above the right-field warning track. We've come to Oriole Park's standing room only section, where Hample hunches by a large metal trash can, glove on his hand and hands on his knees, under a green and white sign reading WATCH OUT FOR BATTED BALLS.
An alcohol compliance officer in a bright orange shirt walks past, casing the fence-leaners. Hample points to one of them, a fellow ballhawk named Erik, also with glove, standing on his tiptoes.
"He's making a common mistake," Hample says. "Maybe it works for him. If he gets a short home run, he's all over it. But anything deep ... "
Hample gestures to the rather large and imposing foam-padded flagpoles dotting the right-field plaza, each topped with an American League team flag, an obstacle course of potential Grade 1 concussions.
" ... and I've got it. It's easier to move forwards than backwards."
Like a manager making a late-game switch, Hample is playing the odds. He always plays the odds. Has to. Game-used balls don't come easy. A third out ball -- that is, when a player flips a baseball to fans above the dugout -- happens once a game. A foul ball happens every other game. A home run? In all his years of chasing baseballs, Hample has caught nine of those, ever, one with a self-imposed asterisk. (The ball bounced on the field and was tossed to Hample, which he dubs an assisted play.) Balls are the product of circumstance, he says. And so he runs. Probably more than most of the players. (Now I understand the Thai noodles: needed carbohydrates.) Hample scampers around Oriole Park until his shirt is soaked with sweat and -- what the hell? -- dirt, dodging peanut vendors and red-faced fans with tottering trays of beer. He spends an inordinate amount of time pretending not to run, too, the better to pacify scolding ushers.
When a left-handed batter such as Oakland's Adam Kennedy comes up to bat, Hample stations himself in a concourse tunnel, behind home plate and to the right, the best spot in the stadium to snag a foul ball; when a right-handed batter comes up, he moves to the opposite tunnel; when a power-hitter like the A's Jack Cust digs in, Hample sprints along the aisles to the SRO section in right. (In this regard, he probably trumps Billy Beane as a "Moneyball" beneficiary: Increased major league plate discipline means more time to shuttle back and forth without missing a batted ball.) Hample can tell you the best ballparks to catch fouls (Milwaukee, Arlington) and the worst (Philadelphia, a "crowded place with no aisle, and it's not like I've lost my athleticism"), plus the one place where changing into the road team's jersey will get you pushed and elbowed (Yankee Stadium, either iteration). He has scouting reports on players and ushers. (Of one Oriole Park usher: "She's trouble." Shaking hands with another: "Nice guy. His name is Lamont.") If Hample can't see the action on the field, he'll have his girlfriend, Jona, flash him hand signals.
"People e-mail me, 'Who are the nicest guys to throw balls?'" Hample says. "I always say, 'Don't focus on the players. Focus on the situation.'"
Back among the right-field flags, Hample waits. He studies the foul pole, the same pole that once robbed him of a Nick Markakis home run. A pause in the game. The Orioles are changing pitchers. Please be a righty. A right-handed reliever would increase the chances of the A's deploying left-handed batters, in turn upping Hample's chances of snagging a homer. He runs to the fence. No!
"A lefty!" he says. "Mark Hendrickson. Mark effin' Hendrickson."
Hample pulls a homemade team roster out of his pocket. If not for Hendrickson, the next batter would have been left-handed. He shakes his head.
"The home run gods are against me."

Maybe so. But not during batting practice. A few hours earlier, I spot Hample in the left-field stands, three rows above the 364 FT wall marker. He waves, promptly ignores me. Someone on the Orioles is hitting bombs. Two balls land near Hample, one after the other, smacking against the green plastic seats.
Hample collects both. He flashes three fingers. Another ball lands behind him. Two other fans converge, but Hample beats them to the prize. (Hustling from row to row, he is deceptively, disturbingly fast. Like, magic fast.) Moments later, he catches another ball on the fly, right in his glove.
Five balls. Eight minutes. Pretty good. Between BP rounds, Hample removes the balls from his cargo pockets, marks each one with a number: 4168, 4169 ...
"What's the most you've ever gotten in a game?" asks Matt Hersl, a 43-year-old city employee who works down the street.
"Thirty-two," Hample says.
"Thirty-two? What happened?"
"Kansas City. That's what happened."
It's true: In mid-June, Hample snagged a personal -- and possibly world, but who's counting? -- record 32 baseballs during a single game at Kauffman Stadium, clambering down into a gap between the bullpen and an outfield wall to grab 11 balls and using a homemade strings-and-kitchen-colander contraption to capture three more. (True story: To get the hang of using the using the colander, Hample fished tennis balls out of a lake. Willingly.)
A fly ball sails overhead, hitting the concrete steps behind us before ricocheting onto the field.
"I misjudged that one," Hample says, surprisingly nonplussed. "One thing that makes me feel better is that if you watch a major league outfielder, even he will be drifting to the last second. He'll break a step the wrong way. Out here in the seats, I don't have that luxury. I have to dodge seats and the railing."
The Orioles conclude BP. The A's are forthcoming. Hample changes into a green Oakland shirt. So does Erik Jabs, a Spanish teacher from Pittsburgh who founded the online ballhawk league, which tracks Average Balls per Game, Balls Caught by Device and other metrics you've almost certainly never heard of. Looking around, I notice a half-dozen kids pulling the two-shirt trick. This is what Hample hath wrought. Jabs says he's working a 71-game streak, and that he once rolled his ankle chasing a ball. Hample counters that he previously cracked a rib.
"Zack's the king of ballhawks," Jabs acknowledges.
The sun slips behind the upper deck. The left-field seats are filling up. The King of Ballhawks is getting antsy, stuck on eight balls. He paces his row, tugging his shorts, no room to run. Too many bodies. An usher leads a family of five to their seats. Hample has to move. Who comes and sits in their seats during batting practice? He asks an Oakland player for a ball in Spanish. The player flips a ball to someone nearby. All around, fans are jabbering on cell phones, hooting and hollering, exchanging fist bumps, excited if a ball lands anywhere near them. Hample is quiet. Stone-faced. He points at an usher.
"If she doesn't look over here," he says, "I'll have a ball in two minutes."
Zack Hample
Zack Hample Make enough great grabs and you'll find yourself on TV more often than not.
Between the bullpen and the left-field seats is a concrete walkway, a 20-foot drop from where we're perched. Atop the walkway lies a baseball. Hample stands on a seat, leans against a chicken wire safety fence. Trick time. He lowers his glove, string attached. It hits the ball ... but pushes it farther away. Hample winces. Horrendous, he says. I just botched it. A cop walks through the bullpen.
"Sir, may I please have a ball?"
No luck. Hample peers through the fence. He looks up. Looks down. Nobody's watching. He sticks a marker back in his glove. Lowers it again. Closer ... closer ... almost there. The usher approaches.
"Young man, may I see your ticket, please?"
Defeat. We retire to the seats above the Oakland dugout, gulp bottled water, take a breather. Hample lays out his dream: sponsorship for a full season, maybe from a glove company. Five games per stadium. A thousand balls. For charity, of course. He scans the field. Oakland's coaches and catchers are tossing balls down the left-field line. Sometimes, he says, he still feels like he could be down there. Like he was meant to be a ballplayer.
If you can't reach the highest level of something, why do it at all?
"What would Adam Kennedy be if he wasn't a ballplayer?" Hample says. "And then I realize, you're looking at it. I'm the answer to my own quest -- "
Kennedy emerges from the dugout. Hample makes a beeline, A's shirt yanked over his shoulders. "Adam, right here!" Ball No. 9. He jogs to the coaches. Checks his pocket roster. "Hey Ron! Toss one up!" Oakland bullpen coach Ron Romanick happily obliges. Ball No. 10. Hample returns with his tongue jutting out -- first strutting, then dancing along the aisle.
"I got my 10!" he says. "As I should have."
A slight pout.
"But again, I should be at 11 or 12 now."

About that cracked rib: The injury happened in Anaheim, about a year ago, and did not involve: (A) running into another ballhawk, (B) falling over a safety rail while performing the glove trick, (C) getting beat up after swiping a ball from a little kid. No, the rib was pure stupidity, entirely Hample's fault. (His words, not mine.) Hample was working the right-center seats during batting practice, no one within 20 feet. A ball went over his head, landed a few rows behind him. It bounced. Trying to snag the rebound, Hample lost his balance, then fell sideways into a metal armrest.
"I can't remember if I picked it up off the ground, but I got the ball," he recalls. "My 1,000th ball outside New York."
So it was worth it?
"It was totally not worth it," he says. "It hurt! The worst pain I've ever experienced in a baseball situation."
Reaching for a ball at Yankee Stadium, Hample tore off a thumbnail. A tipped home run ball once hit him in the face, breaking his nose. ("Slightly," Hample clarifies. "The whole thing wasn't disintegrated.") He shows me a yellow-purple mark on his leg, a two-week-old bruise produced by the wrong end of a folded-down seat. We're sitting under the Oriole Park upper deck, waiting out a rain delay. Hample is eating pizza. Milli Vanilli wafts from the stadium P.A. system -- softly, painfully -- while out on the field, the infield tarp glistens under the lights.
"Wow," Hample says, "this is beautiful."
Biting. Chewing.
"Also, players are going to have to warm up their arms. I might get a ball out of this that I wouldn't otherwise."
The rain subsides. The grounds crew emerges. Tonight is Hample's 41st game of the season. Years ago, he would attend 80-plus. He used to show up solely for batting practice, focused and determined, far less mindful, hurdling railings and jumping seats, gobbling balls like Pac-Man. No longer. He's getting older. He has his girlfriend, his blog, the ballhawk community, a third book underway (about baseballs, of course). He makes a point of giving away balls, particularly to children. He has a growing appreciation for the moment, a far greater appreciation for game-used balls -- each one a memento, a tangible reminder of beating the odds.
"They are so hard to get," Hample says. "Game home run balls are the holy grail."
Baltimore's pitchers come out of the bullpen, make their way across the outfield grass. Is Hample obsessed? Strange? I'm not sure he's all that different from the ballplayers below -- or from the rest of us. Everyone scheming and sweating and striving. Everyone at the mercy of fate -- a baseball falls your way, or it doesn't -- yet still determined to massage the odds, to bend the long arc of luck toward opportunity.
"I wonder if those guys have a ball," Hample says. "Ahhh. The ushers won't let me all the way down there, anyway."
Hample narrows his eyes, unblinking.
"Oh my God! He has a ball in his hand! Let me out!"
Hample scrambles down the concrete steps, glove in hand. From the still-soaked lower concourse walkway -- a good 30 feet from the field -- he gestures frantically, a man with a plan and a cheat sheet in his wallet. Throw me a ball! Right here! Throw it to me! The world will always belong to those who swing from the heels. As for the balls? It helps to know a little Swahili.

Mark Teixeira and Joe Duffy Come Through in MLB Playoffs


 Mark Teixeira homers in the 11th to give the New York Yankees a 4-3 win over Minnesota and give them a 2-0 series lead. Bigger than that, Grandmaster sports handicapper Joe Duffy is now 5-0 in the MLB postseason versus the MLB odds.
Next up was Rodriguez, who slammed a Craig Breslow slider well over the left-field fence in the 11th inning of the following day's game, leading the Yankees to a 6-4 win on May 16.
"He's one of the few guys who have the ability to do this fairly often," manager Joe Girardi said that day of Rodriguez, who homered off Nathan in the ninth inning on Friday to make Teixeira's walk-off shot possible. "Not everybody can hit a ball 500 feet, but he has the ability at any time."
Perhaps feeling left out, Damon continued the walk-off trend the following day, launching yet another homer to give the Yankees a 3-2 victory in 10 innings over the Twins on May 17.
Those three hits marked the first time the Yankees had walked off in three straight games since doing so Aug. 27-29, 1972.
"With the way we've been doing things this year with all the walk-off hits, it's almost like you expect it," said reliever Phil Hughes, who would have been Friday's losing pitcher if not for his team's comeback effort. "We're spoiled."
The Yankees finished the regular season with 15 walk-off victories, their highest total since they set a franchise record with 17 back in 1943. And it has not grown old.
The Yankees also finished the regular season 7-0 against the Twins, thanks in large part to those walk-offs. Now, with two games of the Division Series complete, they have extended that mark to 9-0.
Burnett will not be bringing his stock of whipped cream with him to the Metrodome, where the Twins will have last licks and the Yanks cannot walk off. But his teammates will be bringing with them all the buoyancy of this latest walk-off win, which they hope will translate into one more victory in Minnesota.
"Obviously," Burnett said, "the walk-off definitely keeps our spirits way high."

Houdini act sets up Teixeira's heroics

NEW YORK -- As the crowd of 50,006 at Yankee Stadium waited for what would be a fateful bottom of the 11th inning between Minnesota and New York in Friday's Game 2 of the American League Division Series, one question loomed large: How did the Yankees escape a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the top of the frame?

In a sense, it was magic, as rookie Dave Robertson -- making his postseason debut -- retired Delmon Young, Carlos Gomez and Brendan Harris in a emotionally-charged display that sent the home dugout into an uproar and brought the sellout crowd to its feet.
And Mark Teixeira kept them standing, opening the bottom of the inning with a walk-off homer for a 4-3, 11-inning Yankees win that's destined to be an instant postseason classic.
"We called him Houdini after that," Yankees captain Derek Jeter said of Robertson. "That's a tough jam to be in. We were fortunate they hit that one ball to [Teixeira], but I liked his demeanor, his expressions. He looked like he was unfazed the whole time out there."
Despite the calm exterior, Robertson joked he was so nervous he didn't even know if he was breathing. Knowing he would likely get the ball to face Michael Cuddyer, Robertson watched Damaso Marte give up back-to-back singles to Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel before he was summoned to face the Twins first baseman, who promptly delivered a single to center. But Mauer was held at third on the hit, leaving the go-ahead run at third.
That's when Robertson, lauded by manager Joe Girardi for his ability to get big strikeouts, instead relied on his defense. Young ripped a line drive down the first-base line that Teixeira snagged, and Gomez followed with a grounder that was also deftly played by the Yanks first baseman, who threw home to force Mauer at the plate for the out No. 2.
The unthinkable -- leaving the bases loaded -- became a possibility, and Robertson ended the threat by getting Harris to fly out to center.
"That was incredible," Teixeira said. "Bases loaded, game on the line, maybe series on the line with how well those guys play in Minnesota. Coming up with three big outs in a row, that's impressive for a young pitcher."
And it was equally devastating on the other side of the field.
"I'm not feeling too well right now," Mauer said. "I'm slowed up a bit. We had our chances to win. We had bases loaded and no outs. We just couldn't get it done."
Minnesota's 17 runners left on base Friday night ranks fifth worst all-time in postseason history, dating back to 1903.
Now staring at an 0-2 series deficit and one loss from elimination, it's situations such as Friday's 11th inning which will have the Twins wondering: what if?
"Those sort of defensive stands -- you almost feel like you are going to score a run the next inning, because it deflates [the Twins] so much," Yankees reliever Phil Hughes said. "To have bases loaded, nobody out [and] not be able to score, that was just a really good job by [Robertson]."

Teixeira's homer in 11th gives Yankees 4-3 win


 Mark Teixeira had experienced a bit of everything in his initial season in New York, from a horrific early-season slump to some torrid stretches of hitting and a Gold Glove-caliber season in the field.
But missing from his resume was his involvement in a sticky Yankees tradition - receiving a pie in the face from A.J. Burnett, the spoils awarded to those providing walk-off victories in 2009.
Teixeira dramatically became involved Friday night, lasering a 2-and-1 pitch by Jose Mijares on a line off the top of the leftfield wall and into the seats for a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning, sending the crowd into hysterics and Burnett back into the clubhouse to load up the whipped cream.
The shot gave the Yankees a wild 4-3 victory over the Twins and a 2-0 lead in their American League Division Series.
"A.J. told me, 'I finally got you,' " Teixeira said with a smile. "So if I'm going to get one this season, I'm glad I waited to the postseason. It was fun."
Teixeira said that at contact, he thought the ball was going to stay in the park. "I really thought it was going to be a double because I hit it with so much topspin," he said. "I hit it hard, but there was so much topspin I thought there was no chance it was going to get out."
It was the Yankees' fourth walk-off victory over the Twins this season and ninth win in nine games. "It's really disappointing," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "I've been walked off enough here."
But the reaction to Teixeira's walk-off was only the second loudest by the Yankee Stadium crowd of 50,006. The first was in the bottom of the ninth with the Yankees trailing 3-1. Alex Rodriguez, whose two-out RBI single had tied the score in the sixth, crushed Joe Nathan's 3-and-1 pitch into the centerfield side of the Yankees' bullpen for a tying two-run homer.
"You grind out an at-bat against one of the best closers in the game," A-Rod said, describing his battle against Nathan. "And you get to a favorable count and you get a pitch in your wheelhouse and obviously you don't want to miss it."
Teixeira had led off the ninth with a single. Two innings later, he and A-Rod were co-heroes.
In Game 3 Sunday, Andy Pettitte will take on the scourge of Yankees fans everywhere, Carl Pavano, at the Metrodome.
Rodriguez, who is 4-for-8 with five RBIs - including three two-out RBI singles - in the series, seems on his way to burying his recent history of postseason failures. "I've said all along, I think he's in a great place this year, I really do," manager Joe Girardi said. "He's been huge in the playoffs so far for us."
The Twins left 17 runners on base to the Yankees' five. They had 12 hits, seven walks and two hit batsmen to the Yankees' seven hits and three walks.
That the Yankees were in position to break a tie in the bottom of the 11th was a story in itself.
After the Yankees put runners on first and third with one out in the 10th but couldn't score - Johnny Damon lined into a double play - Damaso Marte started the top of the 11th by allowing consecutive singles to Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel.
Earlier in his at-bat, Mauer lined a drive down the leftfield line that hit Melky Cabrera's glove in fair territory, landed fair, bounced into the stands and incorrectly was ruled a foul ball by umpire Phil Cuzzi, a call that crew chief Tim Tschida later called "clearly an incorrect decision."
David Robertson replaced Marte and gave up a single to Michael Cuddyer to load the bases. With the infield pulled in, Delmon Young lined out to Teixeira and Carlos Gomez followed with a grounder that Teixeira threw home for a forceout. Robertson escaped the inning by inducing a flyout to center by Brendan Harris, who earlier had an RBI triplein the sixth and a key single during the Twins' two-run eighth against Phil Hughes.
"A big sigh of relief," Robertson said of his thoughts walking off the mound after getting out of the jam.
Then Teixeira lined Mijares' fourth pitch of the bottom of the 11th for the winning homer.
"Seems like there's been a lot of magic so far this year here," said Derek Jeter, who doubled and scored in the sixth. "Hopefully, there'll be a few more of those moments."

Yankees: Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira

The Odd Couple? Hardly. They became friends in Texas, and are both Scott Boras clients.
When Alex Rodriguez rejoined the Yankees in Baltimore in May, they had lunch together "and talked about some things," A-Rod said. Teixeira had struggled in his first five weeks.
A-Rod homered in his first at-bat, Teixeira started hitting, ...
and they have become a potent 1-2 punch in the middle of the lineup. "It's a pretty unbelievable feeling as a manager when you get to put those two guys in your lineup every day," Joe Girardi said.
Rodriguez hit his biggest post-season homer as a Yankee, tying the game against Joe Nathan tonight. (probably his second biggest hit was an extra-inning hit off Nathan in Game 2 of the 2004 ALDS).
Teixeira, who singled before A-Rod's homer, won the game with a homer in the 11th. So both earned their pinstripes on the same night.

"You can enjoy it for a couple of hours," Teixeira said, "but if you don't take care of business, it loses it's magic, I think."
It's on to Minneapolis. I'll be there by mid-afternoon Saturday and begin posting ASAP. See you then.

Burnett effective with pitches, not catcher

NEW YORK -- And so after all the talk, all the first-guessing and second-guessing and all the days of armchair managing, the verdict on catchers Jorge Posada and Jose Molina is ... inconclusive
Starting due to his comfort level with A.J. Burnett, Molina helped guide his pitcher through six innings of one-run ball in Friday's American League Division Series Game 2, in a plotline that became buried beneath layers upon layers of late-inning dramatics that gave the Yankees a 4-3 win over the Twins in 11 innings. And Posada still took his hacks, pinch-hitting for Molina in the sixth and finishing 1-for-3 with a single.
"Now you guys have nothing to talk about," Molina cracked. "We're just having fun with it. Jorge and me, we love each other. We don't have a problem."

In the days leading up to the game, Posada grew frosty in response to the news that Molina, who started behind the plate in each of Burnett's final six starts of the regular season, was to start Game 2 of the Division Series as well.
In 16 starts throwing to Posada this season, Burnett was 5-5 with a 4.96 ERA and a .270 opponents' batting average. In 11 outings with Molina, Burnett was 5-2 with a 3.28 ERA and .221 opponents' average.
All the while, Burnett insisted that his personal successes hinged upon his own ability, not upon his catcher. And that appeared to hold true on Friday, when Burnett flashed some of his best pure stuff of the season in keeping the Twins in check.
His mid-90s fastball and sharp curveball -- not the man he was throwing them to -- led to six strikeouts over six innings. His inability to completely harness those pitches -- not the man in the dugout -- led to two walks and two hit batsmen. But the most important piece of Burnett's final line was the fact that he allowed just one run, keeping the Yankees within striking distance of the Twins on a night when opposing starter Nick Blackburn was sharp.
"One run on three hits in six innings -- I think that's more than a good outing," Molina said. "He gave me everything out there, and that's what you expect from a guy that a lot of people were talking about the last couple of days. That says a lot about A.J."
And despite all of the controversy surrounding his time on the bench, Posada wound up taking three at-bats, compared to just one for Molina. In the sixth, Posada flied out to center before striking out in the eighth and singling to spark what nearly became the game-winning rally in the 10th.
Even third-string backstop Francisco Cervelli, an afterthought in the Yankees' catcher controversy, spent an inning behind the plate.
By that time, Burnett had long since left the game, briefly dropping out of the spotlight after the first postseason start of his career. It was not until Burnett dashed onto the field and slammed one of his signature pies in the face of Mark Teixeira that the Yankee Stadium crowd had a chance to salute him, breaking out into a raucous cheer.
Moments earlier, Burnett had been sitting in the Yankees' clubhouse, watching the 11th inning of the game on television. Problem was, the broadcast was on a slight delay, so Burnett actually felt Yankee Stadium shaking before he saw Teixeira launch the game-winner out of the park.
After a brief embrace with Joba Chamberlain -- "grown men hugging" was how he put it -- Burnett sprinted out to the field, leaving thoughts of a catcher controversy far behind.
"They weren't lying," Burnett said. "This is the best place to play.

 
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