http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/ en Copyright 2008 Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:19:03 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss No time right now for babelfishing, so your help would be appreciated. ]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/mapletoft--austria.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/mapletoft--austria.html Mon, 18 Aug 2008 22:19:03 -0500 more appreciative of less disturbed by this thought… There was a guy here last night draped in the Hawaiian flag. Literally, like a cape, the way the Olympic sprinters do it at the end of a race. (Well, their own flag. Never seen one with the Hawaiian flag.) I love the Hawaiian flag. Really do. Ryan Kinasewich is back with Utah. (Am I still allowed to link to the SL Trib?) Todd Reirden will be Danny Bylsma's assistant in Wilkes-Barre. I should have gone to the press conference. Congrats to ace Carolina beat writer Luke DeCock, who's a columnist now. And RIP, Genuine Risk. ]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/effort_flagging.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/effort_flagging.html Mon, 18 Aug 2008 17:14:50 -0500 esoteric. Sorry.) Phelps. Good gravy. That's just insane. Speaking of anthems, my new blog friends probably wouldn't understand, but you guys probably will: I got to hear the Italian national anthem before a live sporting event for the first time Saturday. It gave me a little bit of goose bumps, actually. A little emotional. And of course I sang along a little. I'd have sung along with Guam's, too, if I knew it. I like it, just from the instrumental. Short but stirring. Then this morning, Italy played Mexico at the big park; I was standing up the hill waiting for the Shelton kids to come out of their dorms. So I got to hear the Italian and Mexican anthems. Awesome. That's a couple of songs, right there. (Here's what happened in that game. How do you say "ouch" in Italian?) May eventually post a long and drawn-out and way-too-personal thing about this week. May not. Teasing an uncertain future again. And finally, RIP, Jerry Wexler. ]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/crowned_and_set_upon_a_height.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/crowned_and_set_upon_a_height.html Sun, 17 Aug 2008 14:37:13 -0500 Little League Blog spreads. Will spread even further tomorrow if there's wireless available. ]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/bloggin_elsewhere.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/bloggin_elsewhere.html Fri, 15 Aug 2008 22:41:47 -0500 There's Kip, in Finland. HIFK. Welcome to South Williamsport. First dispatch is about hockey. Love it. ]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/thanks_commenter.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/thanks_commenter.html Fri, 15 Aug 2008 15:44:01 -0500 Grady Whittenburg on the radio. From the ex-files: Keith Johnson signed with South Carolina, as did fellow former BST camper Matt Scherer. Dan Tetrault, going back a ways, is big news in Port Huron. And finally: Clutch work, Neil Best.]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/80_please_keep_takin_me_away.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/80_please_keep_takin_me_away.html Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:28:45 -0500 Scott Gordon is a heck of a pick. We've had our heart on our sleeve for a while on this matter. Defense, development, all that fun and crazy stuff -- yeah, he's done all right. I wouldn't expect that to change. We won't be on the Island tomorrow, but we'll try to do something with the new Islanders boss sometime around training camp. All right, it worked once: Now who's got a job for Dave Baseggio? C'mon, people.

TEAM	Old	New
PEO	Dave Baseggio (4/16)	Davis Payne (7/8)
NOR	Steve Stirling (4/25)	Darren Rumble (7/22)
ALB	Tom Rowe (6/7 - CAR ass't)	Jeff Daniels (6/7)
SPR	Kelly Buchberger (6/17 - EDM ass't)	Jeff Truitt (6/17)
GR	Mike Stothers (6/18)	Curt Fraser (7/23)
CHI	John Anderson (6/20 - ATL head coach)	Don Granato (7/30)
WBS	Todd Richards (7/23 - SJ ass't)	Dan Bylsma (8/4)
RCK	Mike Haviland (7/23 - CHI ass't)	Bill Peters (8/1)
ROC	Randy Cunneyworth (7/24 - ATL ass't)	---
PHI	Craig Berube (8/7 - Flyers ass't)	John Paddock (8/7)
PRO	Scott Gordon (8/12 - NYI head coach)	---

]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/bandwagon_to_nassau.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/bandwagon_to_nassau.html Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:10:17 -0500 big games. I'm actually a little interested to see Northford. Never been up to Marty Roos' modern palace. Road trip to Albany to start it off, too. E.J. Hradek is on the bandwagon. Brian Leetch, Mike Richter, Cammi Granato and Brett Hull to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. ]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/preseason.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/preseason.html Tue, 12 Aug 2008 17:28:02 -0500 Odessa Jackalopes on top of Utah. This may be as much for training-camp purposes as anything. Jackalopes GM Joe Clark is a former Islanders employee and my kind of hockey guy: a former newspaper guy. Paul Gillis is Odessa's head coach, and for the people who will get excited about that, I'm sure I don't have to identify him. (For those who might not: former New Haven Knights and Danbury Trashers coach.) Dubie's apparently in Russia. Jamie Rivers signed with the Wolves. ]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/the_incrediblesawesome_movie.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/the_incrediblesawesome_movie.html Mon, 11 Aug 2008 16:18:52 -0500 is down to three: Bob Hartley, Paul Maurice and -- wait for it -- Scott Gordon. And with all due respect to the NHL vets, those of us who've been around this league awhile aren't surprised. The highlight of new Basingtoke defensman Jason Goulet's career? Bridgeport. RIP, Isaac Hayes. ---- So since I like to have at least a half an idea about the people I'm trying to cover... I've avoided all Shelton National stuff and just tried to figure out where the other 15 teams come from. Here's a bit on each: Waipio LL, Waipahu, Hawaii - Right next to Pearl Harbor; the USS Arizona rests a couple of miles to the southeast. Citrus Park LL, Tampa - Looks like northwest Tampa. They also have a softball team going to Little League's "Big League" World Series in Kalamazoo, Mich., beginning Monday. Canyon Lake LL, Rapid City, S.D. - Western end of the state, 40 miles east of Wyoming. First South Dakota team to make it. I couldn't tell if this was a town or just a neighborhood, but Google Maps has something called "Gossage Memorial" right near where this league is based. Hey, the Hall of Famer ain't dead yet... Mill Creek, Wash. - Just off I-5, about 20 miles north of Seattle. (South) Lake Charles, La. - Used to have a WPHL team. Western Louisiana, about halfway between Houston and New Orleans. Jeff/GRC American LL, Jeffersonville, Ind. - Directly across the Ohio River from Louisville, Ky. They won their regional the other night in 11 innings. Pabao LL, Willemstad, Curacao* - Curacao is in the Netherlands Antilles, off the coast of Venezuela. This league has been to the World Series six years in a row and won it all in 2004. Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico - Just across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, near the delta. Not all that far from where Rich Bocchini works now, actually. Emilia, Italy - Up in the north. Lots of towns and cities whose names are on cheeses. Apparently they're actual Italian kids; the only other team from Italy to make the World Series was a team of U.S. Air Force kids. (Ireland lost all six games in the European tournament. It has done better in golf.) Southern Guam LL, Yona, Guam - Yona appears to be pronounced 'Joan-Ya'. Guam is right next to the Mariana Trench. That's deep. Arabian American LL, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia - Expatriate Americans in Saudi Arabia. When they don't reach Williamsport, something's off. Edogawa Minami LL, Tokyo - Couldn't find much about them. Heard of Tokyo, though. White Rock-South Surrey LL, White Rock, B.C. - Down the block from the U.S. border. (Almost. About four miles.) Near Vancouver. Only about 100 miles from Mill Creek, Wash. Coquivacoa LL, Maracaibo**, Venezuela - Not all that far from Curacao, really. That big lagoon in northern Venezuela? It's Maracaibo Lagoon. The city is at the narrow point, on the west bank. There's one more spot to be had, between Devon Strafford LL (Devon, Pa., near Villanova****) and Hagerstown (Md.) Federal (home of the Suns, just east of that spot where Maryland narrows to almost nothing). Get yourself to Bristol Monday night, and you can watch them play off. *-Curacao was very difficult for me to plunder in Sid Meier's "Pirates!"*** I was terrible at land assaults and at attacks from the west, and that was the only way you could do it. At least they'd trade with you, if you didn't have a notorious-enough reputation yet. **-Maracaibo was much easier. Sea attacks available from both the north and east, which gave you good odds of having no worse than a crosswind. Plus, treasure fleet and silver train visits. ***-I have an old computer, worthless for almost anything else at this point, that I have fixed up solely to continue to play the original "Pirates!" Sad, I know. ****-Dumb fact: Devon Stafford had a shorter trip to Bristol (c. 215 miles, four hours on Google Maps) than it did to the Pennsylvania state final in West Middlesex, Pa. (about five miles from Ohio, but 350 miles and five and a half hours from Devon).]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/be_the_ball_be_the_ball.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/be_the_ball_be_the_ball.html Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:20:22 -0500 Team3-in-3sBack-to-backsGP in FebALB101512BIN52512BPT121515CHI91513GR101713HAM91612HFD81813HER131312HOU15610IOW111512LE101415LOW81512MCR91513MTB52614MIL81512NOR121312PEO81713PHI101411POR111414PRO18314QC101711ROC141014RCK82013SA71814SPR131313SYR81913TOR131311WBS91312WOR131013 Like last year, this was compiled under duress, so this might not be perfect. I'm pretty sure it's close, though. Double-checked some of those outlying numbers. --- Well, I'm going to Williamsport. Though I heard someone slip and say "Williamsburg" today. As long as they meant this one and not this one, that would have made my life so much easier. (My reaction might have been different if I hadn't been supposed to be on vacation at the end of this week.) Anyway. Portland may keep its captain as well as its coach, as Buffalo signed Tyler Bouck. (It is going to take a while for me to get a handle on this Buffalo-Portland marriage, probably the way it took a while to get that Lowell-Albany swap down. It took a few seconds to be reminded why Bouck-to-Buffalo mattered.) Chris Elsberry on the Brakettes' financial plight, which means an uncertain future. Their immediate future is more straightforward: win five games Sunday, or go home without a trophy. Meanwhile, this is simply awesome. To answer a comment, it's way, way too early to know what's going on travel-wise in November. I'll push for things, but, well, somebody's got to pay for them. And right now, unlike the 2002 Texas trip, that somebody probably can't be my brother and me. We'll see what happens. And I know I'm not going to Moncton, and not only because of precedent: A buddy of mine is getting married that week, and Camp ranks lower than Campoli. (Again, no relation.) If Shelton National shows up in Summerside, though, all bets are off. RIP, Bernie Mac. The Bernie Mac Show=underrated. Don't watch it nearly enough. And finally, thanks much to our photog Tracy Deer-Mirek for her guidance on Friday's project. Tracy's leaving us for Sacred Heart, so join me in wishing her well, eh?]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/yeah_right.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/yeah_right.html Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:48:10 -0500 this blog! It's all Shelton National, all the time! It's "Soundin' Off On Shelton National" from now on! ]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/ok_thats_it_.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/ok_thats_it_.html Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:35:33 -0500 We're Hearst. And I for one welcome our new (non-insect) overlords (1F13).]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/flip_parts_1_and_2.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/flip_parts_1_and_2.html Fri, 08 Aug 2008 15:14:21 -0500 zonked by that eight-games-in-10-days stretch, finishing with four losses in a row, left chasing Albany again? This one is worse. Feb. 6-March 3, they play 17 games in 26 days. That includes an 8-in-10, Feb. 13-22, which is then followed two days later by a 4-in-5. That one began with a northeast tour, Worcester-Portland-Providence; this one begins with a trip to Norfolk. So which will have the bigger effect, the home finish or the February march? The home-friendly schedule will help. But if there's nobody left to play those games after the February war of attrition... ...well, then there may not be any April travel. (No one else plays only four games in April, BTW. And that final Sunday, April 12, is Easter, which is why there are only three games. And I just noticed that the NHL and AHL seasons are back to ending at the same time. Question for tomorrow, I guess.) Other bits of interest: 12 three-in-threes, one more than last year (but two fewer than 2006-07). The 1 p.m. Sunday start returns in January, for three games anyway. And Fridays are 7 p.m. starts, as Saffan promised last season. Cool Fun 101 (which should be deeply into graduate study by now) is Nov. 5. The Texas teams come in Jan. 7 (Houston) and Feb. 11 (San An). --- By the way, for those four games in a row (and only those four), don't forget to factor in time changes, if you're going off the AHL site. Translated to Eastern, they're 5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., 5:05 p.m. and 8 p.m. starts, in order. --- I have two St. John's stories, maybe, to share. Maybe this weekend. --- Doug Gilmour is joining the Marlies' coaching staff. Congrats to Ted Lindsay, Phil Housley, Brian Burke and Bob Naegele on the Lester Patrick Trophy. Soundin' Off Book Club: Vaccinated, by Paul A. Offit, from last year. About Maurice Hilleman, who developed most modern major vaccines, and about the others who've developed them, too. Moving story, brightly told; great read. There are, as of daybreak Friday: 42 days to Islanders camp; 52 days to Sound Tigers camp; 63 days to opening night; 71 days to the home opener. And finally, at least I'll get to see a team from ManchVegas once this year... Who knows where we can get a good meal in Williamsport? *-We demand concert reviews.]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/i_dont_go_around_with_the_local_crowd.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/i_dont_go_around_with_the_local_crowd.html Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:53:12 -0500 Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island get the other two. More later. ]]> http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/notable_feature_38_home_games.html http://forum.connpost.com/soundinoff/2008/08/notable_feature_38_home_games.html Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:44:19 -0500