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August 28, 2008

Cuba Gold, South Korea Silver, USA Bronze

Thursday, August 28, 2008 18:57
Filed under: News — TheUmpire

Cuba beat Korea, 3-2, capturing the gold medal for baseball at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Team USA brought home the bronze with an 8-4 victory over Japan.

Cuba’s gold helped propel the country to #8 in the per-capita Olympic medal rankings.

Baseball has been dropped from Olympic competition starting with the 2012 games in London.

Efforts are underway to have baseball reinstated as an Olympic sport, but the competition would not be included until the 2016 Summer Olympics at the earliest.

COUNTRY G S B TOT POPULATION GOLD PER CAPITA TOTAL PER CAPITA RANK BY GOLD RANK BY TOTAL RANK BY GOLD PER CAPITA RANK BY TOTAL PER CAPITA
Bahamas 0 1 1 2 307,451 0.000000000 0.000006505 56 57 56 1
Jamaica 6 3 2 11 2,780,132 0.000002158 0.000003957 13 20 1 2
Iceland 0 1 0 1 304,367 0.000000000 0.000003286 56 69 56 3
Slovenia 1 2 2 5 2,009,245 0.000000498 0.000002488 37 38 10 4
Australia 14 15 17 46 20,434,176 0.000000685 0.000002251 6 5 5 5
New Zealand 3 1 5 9 4,115,771 0.000000729 0.000002187 19 24 4 6
Norway 3 5 2 10 4,627,926 0.000000648 0.000002161 19 21 7 7
Cuba 2 11 11 24 11,394,043 0.000000176 0.000002106 28 12 24 8
Armenia 0 0 6 6 2,971,650 0.000000000 0.000002019 56 30 56 9
Belarus 4 5 10 19 9,724,723 0.000000411 0.000001954 16 13 13 10
Trinidad and Tobago 0 2 0 2 1,056,608 0.000000000 0.000001893 56 57 56 11
Estonia 1 1 0 2 1,315,912 0.000000760 0.000001520 37 57 3 12
Lithuania 0 2 3 5 3,575,439 0.000000000 0.000001398 56 38 56 13
Bahrain 1 0 0 1 718,306 0.000001392 0.000001392 37 69 2 14
Mongolia 2 2 0 4 2,951,786 0.000000678 0.000001355 28 44 6 15
Latvia 1 1 1 3 2,245,423 0.000000445 0.000001336 37 51 11 16
Georgia 3 0 3 6 4,646,003 0.000000646 0.000001291 19 30 8 17
Denmark 2 2 3 7 5,484,723 0.000000365 0.000001276 28 27 14 18
Croatia 0 2 3 5 4,493,312 0.000000000 0.000001113 56 38 56 19
Slovakia 3 2 1 6 5,447,502 0.000000551 0.000001101 19 30 9 20
Hungary 3 5 2 10 9,956,108 0.000000301 0.000001004 19 21 17 21
Netherlands 7 5 4 16 16,570,613 0.000000422 0.000000966 10 16 12 22
Azerbaijan 1 2 4 7 8,120,247 0.000000123 0.000000862 37 27 32 23
Kazakhstan 2 4 7 13 15,284,929 0.000000131 0.000000851 28 19 30 24
Switzerland 2 0 4 6 7,554,661 0.000000265 0.000000794 28 30 20 25
Mauritius 0 0 1 1 1,274,189 0.000000000 0.000000785 56 69 56 26
Great Britain 19 13 15 47 60,776,238 0.000000313 0.000000773 4 4 15 27
Finland 1 1 2 4 5,238,460 0.000000191 0.000000764 37 44 22 28
Ireland 0 1 2 3 4,156,119 0.000000000 0.000000722 56 51 56 29
Bulgaria 1 1 3 5 7,322,858 0.000000137 0.000000683 37 38 28 30
South Korea 13 10 8 31 49,044,790 0.000000265 0.000000632 7 8 19 31
France 7 16 17 40 64,057,790 0.000000109 0.000000624 10 7 34 32
Czech Republic 3 3 0 6 10,228,744 0.000000293 0.000000587 19 30 18 33
Ukraine 7 5 15 27 46,299,862 0.000000151 0.000000583 10 10 26 34
Sweden 0 4 1 5 9,031,088 0.000000000 0.000000554 56 38 56 35
Canada 3 9 6 18 33,390,141 0.000000090 0.000000539 19 14 39 36
Russia 23 21 28 72 141,377,752 0.000000163 0.000000509 3 3 25 37
Germany 16 10 15 41 82,400,996 0.000000194 0.000000498 5 6 21 38
Italy 8 10 10 28 58,147,733 0.000000138 0.000000482 9 9 27 39
Spain 5 10 3 18 40,448,191 0.000000124 0.000000445 14 14 31 40
Kyrgyzstan 0 1 1 2 5,284,149 0.000000000 0.000000378 56 57 56 41
Greece 0 2 2 4 10,706,290 0.000000000 0.000000374 56 44 56 42
Kenya 5 5 4 14 37,953,838 0.000000132 0.000000369 14 18 29 43
Austria 0 1 2 3 8,199,783 0.000000000 0.000000366 56 51 56 44
United States 36 38 36 110 301,139,947 0.000000120 0.000000365 2 1 33 45
Romania 4 1 3 8 22,276,056 0.000000180 0.000000359 16 25 23 46
Zimbabwe 1 3 0 4 12,382,920 0.000000081 0.000000323 37 44 41 47
Panama 1 0 0 1 3,242,173 0.000000308 0.000000308 37 69 16 48
Serbia 0 1 2 3 10,150,265 0.000000000 0.000000296 56 51 56 49
Tajikistan 0 1 1 2 7,076,598 0.000000000 0.000000283 56 57 56 50
Poland 3 6 1 10 38,518,241 0.000000078 0.000000260 19 21 42 51
North Korea 2 1 3 6 23,479,089 0.000000085 0.000000256 28 30 40 52
Moldova 0 0 1 1 4,324,450 0.000000000 0.000000231 56 69 56 53
Singapore 0 1 0 1 4,553,009 0.000000000 0.000000220 56 69 56 54
Uzbekistan 1 2 3 6 27,780,059 0.000000036 0.000000216 37 30 48 55
Dominican Republic 1 1 0 2 9,507,133 0.000000105 0.000000210 37 57 35 56
Japan 9 6 10 25 127,433,494 0.000000071 0.000000196 8 11 43 57
Belgium 1 1 0 2 10,403,951 0.000000096 0.000000192 37 57 37 58
Portugal 1 1 0 2 10,642,836 0.000000094 0.000000188 37 57 38 59
Chinese Taipei 0 0 4 4 22,858,872 0.000000000 0.000000175 56 44 56 60
Togo 0 0 1 1 5,858,673 0.000000000 0.000000171 56 69 56 61
Argentina 2 0 4 6 40,301,927 0.000000050 0.000000149 28 30 46 62
Israel 0 0 1 1 7,112,359 0.000000000 0.000000141 56 69 56 63
Turkey 1 4 3 8 71,158,647 0.000000014 0.000000112 37 25 53 64
Tunisia 1 0 0 1 10,276,158 0.000000097 0.000000097 37 69 36 65
Ethiopia 4 1 2 7 78,254,090 0.000000051 0.000000089 16 27 45 66
Brazil 3 4 8 15 191,908,598 0.000000016 0.000000078 19 17 51 67
China 51 21 28 100 1,321,851,888 0.000000039 0.000000076 1 2 47 68
Ecuador 0 1 0 1 13,755,680 0.000000000 0.000000073 56 69 56 69
Chile 0 1 0 1 16,284,741 0.000000000 0.000000061 56 69 56 70
Thailand 2 2 0 4 65,493,298 0.000000031 0.000000061 28 44 49 71
Algeria 0 1 1 2 33,333,216 0.000000000 0.000000060 56 57 56 72
Morocco 0 1 1 2 33,757,175 0.000000000 0.000000059 56 57 56 73
Cameroon 1 0 0 1 18,467,692 0.000000054 0.000000054 37 69 44 74
Colombia 0 1 1 2 44,379,598 0.000000000 0.000000045 56 57 56 75
Malaysia 0 1 0 1 24,821,286 0.000000000 0.000000040 56 69 56 76
Venezuela 0 0 1 1 26,414,815 0.000000000 0.000000038 56 69 56 77
Afghanistan 0 0 1 1 31,889,923 0.000000000 0.000000031 56 69 56 78
Iran 1 0 1 2 65,875,223 0.000000015 0.000000030 37 57 52 79
Nigeria 0 1 3 4 138,283,240 0.000000000 0.000000029 56 44 56 80
Mexico 2 0 1 3 108,700,891 0.000000018 0.000000028 28 51 50 81
Sudan 0 1 0 1 40,218,455 0.000000000 0.000000025 56 69 56 82
South Africa 0 1 0 1 43,786,115 0.000000000 0.000000023 56 69 56 83
Indonesia 1 1 3 5 234,693,997 0.000000004 0.000000021 37 38 54 84
Egypt 0 0 1 1 80,335,036 0.000000000 0.000000012 56 69 56 85
Vietnam 0 1 0 1 85,262,356 0.000000000 0.000000012 56 69 56 86
India 1 0 2 3 1,129,866,154 0.000000001 0.000000003 37 51 55 87



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August 13, 2008

Brangelina Help Portmanteaux To Tinseltown Title

Wednesday, August 13, 2008 17:25
Filed under: Fiction — TheUmpire

Pandering unabashedly to Major League Search Engines, the fictitious Celebrity Baseball Association (not sponsored by Google) held its annual UniName Game last night in my head.

The Hollywood Portmanteaux celebrated a three-peat by mauling the Mighty Mighty Morphemes, 11-4.

The Portmanteaux took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Brangelina hit a sacrifice fly to send Ashmi streaking in from third.

The Morphemes battled back to 3-2 in the fourth when Beyonce’s ball bounded beyond a diving Filliam H. Muffman in right field for a bases-clearing stand-up double.

The teams traded runs in the fifth when TomKitten misread a sign and broke away from her parents TomKat at third and stole home.  Sting stung for a solo homer in the bottom of the inning.

The Portmanteaux threatened again in the seventh when Romber beat out an infield single and then promptly stole both second and third.  However, Madonna flashed some “League of Their Own” leather with a tremendous grab of Spederline’s deep ball in center, thus stranding the Survivor couple at third base.

The big blow of the game came in the top of the ninth when Billary slid an eight-run grand salami just over the left field fence scoring Brangelina, Bennifer, and Vaughniston.

(more…)




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August 11, 2008

McCain Bobbles, Needs Miracle To Beat Obama

Monday, August 11, 2008 14:10
Filed under: News — TheUmpire

Obama and McCain Bobblehead Dolls The sixth and final Bobblection Week 2008 vote takes place tonight at Hammond Stadium where the Fort Myers Miracle host the Dunedin Blue Jays at 7:05 PM.  Gates open and voting begins at 6:00 PM. 

Upon entry, fans will be directed to election booths to cast their vote and receive a bobblehead doll of their candidate.  The candidate whose doll supply runs out first shall be declared the winner.

Barack Obama holds a nearly-insurmountable 3,500 to 2,846 lead over John McCain through the first five sites. 

The Mike Veeck-led Goldklang Group owns the six teams participating in Bobblection Week 2008. 

Results thus far:

Date / Location Obama McCain
August 6 - Hudson Valley Renegades (NY) 750 719
August 7 - Brockton Rox (MA) 500 456
August 8 - Charleston RiverDogs (SC) 500 360
August 9 - St. Paul Saints (MN) 1250 906
August 10 - Sioux Falls Canaries (SD) 500 405
August 11 - Ft. Myers Miracle (FL) 500 419
Totals 4000 3265

UPDATE:  Barack Obama shuts out John McCain, 6-0, for an overall 55%-45% win.




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August 8, 2008

The Sox and I

Friday, August 8, 2008 13:13
Filed under: General — SandraP

As a pre-teen, living on the south side of Chicago, it was an easy transition from plastering my bedroom walls with photos of Roy Rogers and Trigger to pictures of the Chicago White Sox. The White Sox of the 1950’s were an exciting team to watch (far more so than the struggling Cubs!) My heroes were Nellie Fox, Chico Carrasquel, Eddie Robinson, Billy Pierce, Minnie Minoso…the list was long.

My friends and I chewed pounds of bubble gum to acquire baseball cards, which we traded at recess in the spring. We memorized information on the players, and used the baseball cards as flash cards to test each other.

We listened to White Sox games on the radio, and occasionally journeyed to Comiskey Park to see our heroes in action. We became avid autograph seekers. The best place to get autographs, we discovered, was in front of the hotels where the visiting players boarded team buses to go to the ballpark. We also haunted the apartment hotels where some of the White Sox lived. Thanks to my nervy friends, I was able to collect a number of autographs: Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra, Dizzy Dean, Jim Piersall, Dom DiMaggio, Allie Reynolds, to name just a few.

Wish I could find that autograph book now!

By Sandra Pollock

(originally published in Baseball Ink Vol. 1, No. 1 - June 2000)




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August 5, 2008

Luke’s Birthday

Tuesday, August 5, 2008 13:36
Filed under: General — MarkD

A funny thing happened the other day. While visiting a lifelong friend, I had occasion to spend quality time with his 11-year-old son, Luke. I found Luke sorting his collection of baseball cards and leafing through an old copy of “Beckett’s Official Price Guide to Baseball Cards.” He stared directly at me and asked “MD, where are your baseball cards from when you were young?” “In my mom’s basement,” I replied. The conversation, as most with today’s youth, rapidly changed direction. Afterwards I stopped by my mom’s house, ransacked her basement, and found my baseball cards from when I was 11 years old. (more…)




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