Saturday, August 19, 2006
The Losing Edge In Little League and the War on Terror
A Southpark episode called "the Losing Edge" seems prescient with the nasty shenanigans during this year's Little League World Series and with the battlefield tactis in the war on terror:
In the Southpark episode, according to Wikipedia:
The boys of South Park are involved in a Little League baseball team, despite the fact that they all hate the sport; they play because of the enthusiasm of their parents. When they win their final game they are initially elated, thinking the season is over, but then discover to their horror that they have to continue playing in the state championships. They decide to lose their next game, and thereby get out of the running for the championship, but the team they oppose has exactly the same idea. While trying desperately to lose, they manage again and again to beat the other team, whose efforts at throwing the game are more effective.
In the regionals for the 2006 Little League World Series there were two teams that were disqualified for not playing all of their players according to the mandatory play rule. One team realized the error and took it gracefully. The other....
From FreeRepublic.com:
A Vermont coach’s failure to let one member of his team get enough time in the game gave the Portsmouth, N.H., Little League all-stars a victory over Vermont’s team by virtue of forfeit.
The manager’s apparent mental error turned a back-and-forth game - complete with six home runs - into a contest marred by confusion, chaos, tears and two ejections.
Portsmouth lost Friday’s game 9-8 if runs are counted, but the team was awarded the victory and advanced to Monday’s championship because of Vermont’s rules infraction.
The Colchester, Vt., manager Denis Place failed to get a player in the game for at least three consecutive defensive outs and one at-bat - a mandatory Little League rule. That meant the New Hampshire state champions were officially awarded a 6-0 forfeit victory.
In the bottom of the fifth inning with the game tied, 7-7, Vermont scored twice on a Nate Frieberg two-out, two-run homer. Vermont held a 9-7 lead and seemingly stood three defensive outs away from a berth in the title game.
But Vermont substitute Adam Bentley hadn’t received his required share of playing time.
Portsmouth recorded the fifth-inning’s third out before Bentley stepped to the plate. The only way for Vermont to have had a chance to play Bentley would have been if Portsmouth made a come back.
Place told his players what had happened during a huddle at the pitcher’s mound once the first two outs were recorded in the top of the sixth.
Keegan Taylor started the inning with a double and later scored to cut the Portsmouth deficit to 9-8. Vermont attempted to allow Portsmouth to tie the game - so Vermont could avoid a rules violation - with obvious wild pitches and poor throws in the infield.
“Call me stupid, but I didn’t know anything until they wouldn’t pitch to my son (Connor),” Portsmouth manager Mark McCauley said. “When they started to throw the ball into the screen, I was like ’Whoa, wait a minute. This kid just got wild.’ Then one of the (Portsmouth) parents yelled down right after - or maybe it was simultaneous - ’They don’t have a kid that’s in.’
“Once it was obvious to me that they were playing (funny) by throwing the ball into the top of the screen, the administrators called both (managers) over and said, ’You will not make a mockery of this game,”’ McCauley added.
When Vermont continued to try to help Portsmouth tie the game, Place and Vermont pitcher Zach Tandy were ejected.
Tandy’s two blatant wild pitches pushed the potential tying run to third, but McCauley kept his player from advancing any farther. The Portsmouth manager said he also told his players to swing at poor pitches and intentionally miss, to ensure the team could protest.
“It was crystal clear to me that (Vermont’s manager) was not going to let the kids decide the outcome of the game,” McCauley said. “He was going to cover his tail. He was doing what was in the best interest of his team. I had to do the same for my team.”
Executing McCauley’s orders, Stephen Hemming struck out to end the game.
McCauley approached the umpires before they left the field and filed his protest. About two hours later the rules committee in Williamsport, Pa., issued its ruling.
What an affront to America's past-time. And to Americans. We love winners, but we hate losers, particularly bad losers, and the antics in this baseball game rival Maradona's "Hand of God" goal in the 1986 World Cup match. We think cheaters shouldn't prosper. But they do.
We don't understand people who don't play by the rules. The entire concept is so foreign to Americans that we have trouble combatting the tactics employed by poor sports and Islamofascists. We don't understand how to play unfairly on a sport's field or on a war front. It's anathema to us, and those that do it are usually run out of town.
But it's ingrained in the Islamofascists. Their entire religion is built around how to take advantage of your opponents by hook or by crook. Hide behind civilians, fine. No uniforms, fine. Hostages, fine. Lie, no problem. Human rights? you've gotta be kidding me.
On the sport's field, we expect our opponents to notify us if they break the rules (golf), penalize bad play (football), and we throw out "the bums" (every sport). Islamofascists, on the other hand, would just prefer to bomb the stadium and call it a victory.
Are we ready for that type of competition? This time the trophy is civilization itself and we better adjust. There are no rules, and appealing to the rules committee is not an option.
In the Southpark episode, according to Wikipedia:
The boys of South Park are involved in a Little League baseball team, despite the fact that they all hate the sport; they play because of the enthusiasm of their parents. When they win their final game they are initially elated, thinking the season is over, but then discover to their horror that they have to continue playing in the state championships. They decide to lose their next game, and thereby get out of the running for the championship, but the team they oppose has exactly the same idea. While trying desperately to lose, they manage again and again to beat the other team, whose efforts at throwing the game are more effective.
In the regionals for the 2006 Little League World Series there were two teams that were disqualified for not playing all of their players according to the mandatory play rule. One team realized the error and took it gracefully. The other....
From FreeRepublic.com:
A Vermont coach’s failure to let one member of his team get enough time in the game gave the Portsmouth, N.H., Little League all-stars a victory over Vermont’s team by virtue of forfeit.
The manager’s apparent mental error turned a back-and-forth game - complete with six home runs - into a contest marred by confusion, chaos, tears and two ejections.
Portsmouth lost Friday’s game 9-8 if runs are counted, but the team was awarded the victory and advanced to Monday’s championship because of Vermont’s rules infraction.
The Colchester, Vt., manager Denis Place failed to get a player in the game for at least three consecutive defensive outs and one at-bat - a mandatory Little League rule. That meant the New Hampshire state champions were officially awarded a 6-0 forfeit victory.
In the bottom of the fifth inning with the game tied, 7-7, Vermont scored twice on a Nate Frieberg two-out, two-run homer. Vermont held a 9-7 lead and seemingly stood three defensive outs away from a berth in the title game.
But Vermont substitute Adam Bentley hadn’t received his required share of playing time.
Portsmouth recorded the fifth-inning’s third out before Bentley stepped to the plate. The only way for Vermont to have had a chance to play Bentley would have been if Portsmouth made a come back.
Place told his players what had happened during a huddle at the pitcher’s mound once the first two outs were recorded in the top of the sixth.
Keegan Taylor started the inning with a double and later scored to cut the Portsmouth deficit to 9-8. Vermont attempted to allow Portsmouth to tie the game - so Vermont could avoid a rules violation - with obvious wild pitches and poor throws in the infield.
“Call me stupid, but I didn’t know anything until they wouldn’t pitch to my son (Connor),” Portsmouth manager Mark McCauley said. “When they started to throw the ball into the screen, I was like ’Whoa, wait a minute. This kid just got wild.’ Then one of the (Portsmouth) parents yelled down right after - or maybe it was simultaneous - ’They don’t have a kid that’s in.’
“Once it was obvious to me that they were playing (funny) by throwing the ball into the top of the screen, the administrators called both (managers) over and said, ’You will not make a mockery of this game,”’ McCauley added.
When Vermont continued to try to help Portsmouth tie the game, Place and Vermont pitcher Zach Tandy were ejected.
Tandy’s two blatant wild pitches pushed the potential tying run to third, but McCauley kept his player from advancing any farther. The Portsmouth manager said he also told his players to swing at poor pitches and intentionally miss, to ensure the team could protest.
“It was crystal clear to me that (Vermont’s manager) was not going to let the kids decide the outcome of the game,” McCauley said. “He was going to cover his tail. He was doing what was in the best interest of his team. I had to do the same for my team.”
Executing McCauley’s orders, Stephen Hemming struck out to end the game.
McCauley approached the umpires before they left the field and filed his protest. About two hours later the rules committee in Williamsport, Pa., issued its ruling.
What an affront to America's past-time. And to Americans. We love winners, but we hate losers, particularly bad losers, and the antics in this baseball game rival Maradona's "Hand of God" goal in the 1986 World Cup match. We think cheaters shouldn't prosper. But they do.
We don't understand people who don't play by the rules. The entire concept is so foreign to Americans that we have trouble combatting the tactics employed by poor sports and Islamofascists. We don't understand how to play unfairly on a sport's field or on a war front. It's anathema to us, and those that do it are usually run out of town.
But it's ingrained in the Islamofascists. Their entire religion is built around how to take advantage of your opponents by hook or by crook. Hide behind civilians, fine. No uniforms, fine. Hostages, fine. Lie, no problem. Human rights? you've gotta be kidding me.
On the sport's field, we expect our opponents to notify us if they break the rules (golf), penalize bad play (football), and we throw out "the bums" (every sport). Islamofascists, on the other hand, would just prefer to bomb the stadium and call it a victory.
Are we ready for that type of competition? This time the trophy is civilization itself and we better adjust. There are no rules, and appealing to the rules committee is not an option.
MAD from the Mullahs Point of View
Link
Bernard Lewis on how the standoff of the Cold War between the US and the USSR's Mutually Assured Destruction standoff can't be followed in the current war between civilization and the Mad Mullah's and Ahmadinejad:
A passage from the Ayatollah Khomeini, quoted in an 11th-grade Iranian schoolbook, is revealing. "I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers [i.e., the infidel powers] wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom. Either we shake one another's hands in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours."
In this context, mutual assured destruction, the deterrent that worked so well during the Cold War, would have no meaning. At the end of time, there will be general destruction anyway. What will matter will be the final destination of the dead--hell for the infidels, and heaven for the believers. For people with this mindset, MAD is not a constraint; it is an inducement.
Read it all and don't say you weren't warned.
A passage from the Ayatollah Khomeini, quoted in an 11th-grade Iranian schoolbook, is revealing. "I am decisively announcing to the whole world that if the world-devourers [i.e., the infidel powers] wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater freedom which is martyrdom. Either we shake one another's hands in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours."
In this context, mutual assured destruction, the deterrent that worked so well during the Cold War, would have no meaning. At the end of time, there will be general destruction anyway. What will matter will be the final destination of the dead--hell for the infidels, and heaven for the believers. For people with this mindset, MAD is not a constraint; it is an inducement.
Read it all and don't say you weren't warned.
For an Explanation of Politics and the SAWB
Link
If you want more info on how the SAWB comment came to be used by Andy Young, I give you an excellent post by Grouchy Old Cripple from 2003.
IDF Channeling the Terminator - We'll Be Back
Link
From Newsmax.com:
Israeli newspapers quoted disgruntled reservists as saying they had no provisions in Lebanon, were sent into battle with outdated or faulty equipment and insufficient supplies, and received little or no training.
Comrades of the two soldiers captured by Hezbollah sent a petition to the prime minister Thursday accusing the government of abandoning the men.
"We went to reserve duty with the certainty that all of Israel's citizens, and the Israeli government, believe in the same value that every combatant learns from his first day in basic training - you don't leave friends behind," the soldiers wrote. "This is a moral low point. The Israeli government has abandoned two IDF (Israeli Defense Force) combatants that it sent on a mission."
No wonder they're mad. Read the rest at the link.
Israeli newspapers quoted disgruntled reservists as saying they had no provisions in Lebanon, were sent into battle with outdated or faulty equipment and insufficient supplies, and received little or no training.
Comrades of the two soldiers captured by Hezbollah sent a petition to the prime minister Thursday accusing the government of abandoning the men.
"We went to reserve duty with the certainty that all of Israel's citizens, and the Israeli government, believe in the same value that every combatant learns from his first day in basic training - you don't leave friends behind," the soldiers wrote. "This is a moral low point. The Israeli government has abandoned two IDF (Israeli Defense Force) combatants that it sent on a mission."
No wonder they're mad. Read the rest at the link.
Friday, August 18, 2006
Mark Taylor Supports his Racist Spewing Campaign Manager
Link
The Associated Press is reporting that Mark Taylor (D) Lieutenan Governor of Georgia is going to keep his racist spewing campaign manager Andrew Young.
Andy resigned from a job with Working Families for Wal-Mart, a group that provided public relations assistance for the retail giant, for racial comments made in an interview with the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper.
In response to a question about whether Wal-Mart ought to be concerned about driving "mom and pop" stores out of business:
"Well, I think they should; they ran the 'mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood,"... "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us — selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."
During questioning about his resignation he went for the full ankle swallow and added:
"Things that are matter-of-fact in Atlanta, in the New York and Los Angeles environment, tend to be a lot more volatile," and he said working with the group was "taking more of my time than I thought."
Wow...
Translation:
Since I was once the mayor of a chocolate city, all the smart ass white boys there didn't dare challenge my comments. I also thought those Public Relations Token Black Jobs were all parties and face time, not like actual, ya know, work.
Evidently Mark Taylor is going to behave like the good ole Georgia Smart Ass White Boy Andy is used to dealing with here in the ATL.
The AP also reports that "Young was one of Taylor's most visible supporters during his primary battle, appearing in a television ad and hitting the campaign trail with him. Taylor won the primary with strong support from the black community."
Here in the other chocolate city of the south, firing Andy would have been political suicide for a SAWB for sure.
Andy resigned from a job with Working Families for Wal-Mart, a group that provided public relations assistance for the retail giant, for racial comments made in an interview with the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper.
In response to a question about whether Wal-Mart ought to be concerned about driving "mom and pop" stores out of business:
"Well, I think they should; they ran the 'mom and pop' stores out of my neighborhood,"... "But you see, those are the people who have been overcharging us — selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they've ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it's Arabs; very few black people own these stores."
During questioning about his resignation he went for the full ankle swallow and added:
"Things that are matter-of-fact in Atlanta, in the New York and Los Angeles environment, tend to be a lot more volatile," and he said working with the group was "taking more of my time than I thought."
Wow...
Translation:
Since I was once the mayor of a chocolate city, all the smart ass white boys there didn't dare challenge my comments. I also thought those Public Relations Token Black Jobs were all parties and face time, not like actual, ya know, work.
Evidently Mark Taylor is going to behave like the good ole Georgia Smart Ass White Boy Andy is used to dealing with here in the ATL.
The AP also reports that "Young was one of Taylor's most visible supporters during his primary battle, appearing in a television ad and hitting the campaign trail with him. Taylor won the primary with strong support from the black community."
Here in the other chocolate city of the south, firing Andy would have been political suicide for a SAWB for sure.
Flying with the Woodstock Generation
Link
From the Washington Times:
"A self-described peace activist responsible for the diversion of a London-to-Washington flight Wednesday acted bizarrely for hours, made references to al Qaeda and hijack training flights, and was restrained by two passengers after she urinated in the aisle"
Seems the woman in question was experiencing flashbacks to groovin' terror-training pill poppin parties because we all know how kooky krazy they have to be to blow something up. Authorities expect she will land on her own in two to three days.
"A self-described peace activist responsible for the diversion of a London-to-Washington flight Wednesday acted bizarrely for hours, made references to al Qaeda and hijack training flights, and was restrained by two passengers after she urinated in the aisle"
Seems the woman in question was experiencing flashbacks to groovin' terror-training pill poppin parties because we all know how kooky krazy they have to be to blow something up. Authorities expect she will land on her own in two to three days.
