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Build the Wiffle-Ball Field and They (lawyers) Will Come |
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Written by By Peter Applebome, The New York Times
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Jul 13, 2008 at 08:56 AM |
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(From the New York Times) By Peter Applebome GREENWICH, CONN. -- Vincent Provenzano, 16 years old, experienced his Kevin Costner moment one Sunday afternoon in May after a thrilling day of Wiffle ball in a friend's backyard. He came home, gazed at a field of weeds, brush and poison ivy in an empty lot off Riverside Lane, turned to his friend Justin Currytto, 17, and proclaimed: "If we build it, they will come."  After three weeks of clearing brush and poison ivy, scrounging up plywood and green paint, digging holes and pouring concrete, Vincent, Justin and about a dozen friends did manage to build it - a tree-shaded Wiffle ball version of Fenway Park complete with a 12-foot-tall green monster in center field, American flag by the left-field foul pole and colorful signs for Taco Bell Frutista Freezes. But, alas, they had no idea just who would come - youthful Wiffle ball players, yes, but also angry neighbors and their lawyer, the police, the town nuisance officer and tree warden and other officials in all shapes and sizes. It turns out that one kid's field of dreams is an adult's dangerous nuisance, liability nightmare, inappropriate usurpation of green space, unpermitted special use or drag on property values, and their Wiffle-ball Fenway has become the talk of Greenwich and a suburban Rorschach test about youthful summers past and present. For the rest of the article, click here Write Comment (1 comments) |
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Mears' Term with Hendricks Motorsports Will End This Year |
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Written by By Jim Pedley, Kansas City Star
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Jun 28, 2008 at 10:21 AM |
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When a driver gets into a Hendrick Motorsports car these days, it's assumed that success is just a couple of hundred laps away. Hendrick cars and drivers have, after all, won three Sprint Cup championships and 76 races in this decade alone.
But racing is a quite a bit more complicated than that. In racing, stuff happens. For Casey Mears, who came over to Hendrick at the start of the 2007 season, lots of stuff has happened. In the shops and on the tracks. So much stuff that it was announced Friday that Mears would not be back with the team next year. For the rest of the story, click here Write Comment (0 comments) |
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Celtics-Lakers Series a Return to Happier Days |
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Written by By Norman Chad
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Jun 10, 2008 at 05:56 AM |
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By NORMAN CHAD -- The Couch Slouch The writers' strike ended just in time for David Stern: A year after surviving a Spurs-induced somnambulant NBA Finals and the outlaw ref Tim Donaghy, the NBA czar splurged on a DreamWorks-like script to give us a Celtics-Lakers fairy tale. It's morning again in America. I half-expect to look outside and see Norman Rockwell mowing my lawn and gas at 29 cents a gallon.
Here is Couch Slouch's viewing guide - somewhat tainted by a dislike at the moment of all things sporting Boston - for the series that takes us back to better, simpler days: • I'll be honest with you - I've hated the Celtics since I was a kid. If you grew up in any other NBA city in the 1960s, you had no choice but to despise Celtics Green. Not only did they win every year, it seemed like they won every series in Game 7 at Boston Garden. To this day, I will not dine in any home that has any parquet flooring. If memory serves, I don't think any Celtic ever fouled out of any big game, and the Celtics usually went to the foul line, like, 35 times more than their opponents, give or take. • Is Kobe Bryant better than Michael Jordan? This reminds me of the "Is Itzhak Perlman better than Isaac Stern?" debate that rages on violin talk radio nationwide. I'm partial to Kobe and Itzhak, but it's possible I dismiss the earlier greats just because they came before I had ESPN and VH-1. If the Lakers beat the Celtics, Bryant will have four NBA titles at age 29; Jordan had two at 29 en route to six. I believe Kobe also will make it to six and, then, in a surprising show of good judgment, turn down a Hanes commercial deal. Write Comment (1 comments) |
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Only Danica Could Have Saved Indy 500 |
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Written by By Jason Whitlock, The Kansas City Star
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May 26, 2008 at 05:36 AM |
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INDIANAPOLIS -- They're too stupid to let her win the only race that matters. And now we know they're too stupid to let her fight.In a valiant, last-ditch effort to breathe life into the 92nd running of the Indianapolis 500, Danica Patrick dropped her gloves and marched angrily down pit road on a collision course toward Ryan Briscoe. This was drama, something that was in short supply Sunday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Scott Dixon's dominant, yellow-flag-slowed victory generated the kind of buzz and excitement usually reserved for second-place finishers in a regional bowling tournament. So far, IndyCar unity is overrated. Sunday's race needed a blast of hostility, and Danica Patrick wanted to provide it. For the rest of Whitlock's column, click here Write Comment (0 comments) |
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Atlanta Columnist Bemoans Lost Tradition in Baseball |
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Written by By Furman Bisher, Atlanta Constitution
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May 07, 2008 at 06:28 AM |
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Baseball used to be a game played with nine men to a side, two managers, four umpires, and the major-league season always opened in Cincinnati. Come to think of it now, that would be sort of like “Gone With the Wind” opening in Valdosta. But Cincinnati had a deal, see For the rest of Bisher's column, click here Write Comment (0 comments) |
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