Right under a brilliant blue sky, a stun gun was recently discharged into a sea of shocked baseball fans from coast-to-coast.
New York Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter, ``Captain Clutch’’ or ``Mr. November’’ if you prefer, stunned the baseball world on Wednesday afternoon in announcing that the 2014 baseball season, his 20th season in pinstripes, will be his last.
The five-time Gold Glove winner dropped the bombshell, not in a stuffy press room packed with sharp-elbowed reporters or cameras whirring and hot lights beaming down on him, but through his Facebook Page http://is.gd/j2M64x .
After explaining how difficult last season was during his injury-plagued season and thanking fans for their unwavering support over the last two decades, the All-Star shortstop went on to write: ``It is time for the next chapter. I have new dreams and aspirations, and I want new challenges. There are many things I want to do in business and philanthropic work, in addition to focusing more on my personal life and starting a family of my own. And I want the ability to move at my own pace, see the world and finally have a summer vacation.’’
According to a Facebook spokesperson, the online social networking service wasn’t at liberty to disclose the total number of page views Jeter’s announcement received, but as of this writing, his posting was liked by 72,758 online users, shared by another 55,994 and received 12,449 comments. All-Star numbers, to be sure.
Now, let the bidding begin.
As soon as the stunning announcement reached baseball fans ears Wednesday afternoon, a great many of those fans undoubtedly punched in the regular season schedule on an Internet search in order to find out when the Yankees, and their exceptionally gifted captain, would blow through town for the final time.
As you might imagine, tickets for the aging matinee idols final curtain call will come at a steep price. At Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park, in particular, tickets for Jeter’s final games at either of those baseball rich stadiums are in a league of their own compared with other ballparks around the country.
Forbes Magazine http://is.gd/nQHPPj reported that Jeter’s final regular season game at Yankees Stadium on September 25th has registered an average ticket price of $1,153, up 279 percent since the news broke around 2:00 p.m. eastern time.
According to Connor Gregoire, Communications Analyst at SeatGeek http://is.gd/F7ZyKj , a website that provides search and price forecasting for consumers purchasing sports, concert, and theater tickets on the secondary ticket market, the cheapest tickets available for Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park are hovering around $310-$330 at this point with standing room only tickets for game 162 in Boston available for $300.
The $1,000 or more ticket prices that are being reported by different news organizations and online sites is really just the asking price, the average amount buyers are actually spending on tickets since Jeter's announcement yesterday, is closer to $500 per ticket for each game-still a hefty amount; and according to Gregoire, ``far and away the highest average we've seen for a regular season game since we started monitoring the secondary market in 2009.’’
Within the last 24 hours, other cities listing the most dramatic fluctuation for the all-star’s final tour have been Detroit (Aug. 26-28), St. Louis (May 26-28) and Baltimore (Sept. 12-14), but Gregoire is quick to stress ``there's been an uptick in the number of sales and the price of tickets for almost all of his last stops. ''
Jeter's last games in Queens (Mets) and at Wrigley Field (Cubs) are clearly the most expensive (outside of Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park), while the cheapest are in markets like Cleveland, Tampa Bay and Toronto that historically have some of the lowest ticket resale prices in baseball, Gregoire informs me.
The difference of ticket prices between the North and the South Sides of Chicago is striking: A ticket for Jeter’s last game at U.S. Cellular Field for a White Sox game can be scooped up for an economical $22, a third of what a ticket for Jeter’s final game at Wrigley on the North Side is going for: $62.
While tickets for the future Hall of Famer’s final hurrah are likely to be pricey, it’s worth pointing out; just like the best laid plans of mice and men can often go awry, so too can they go awry for the boys of summer.
The ticket price for Jeter's final games will be determined by a number of factors, the most prominent being his health, that is, if he doesn't land on the DL before the end of the season; the other determining factor is tied to the Yankees playoff chances.
According to Gregoire, ``if Jeter lands on the DL in the lead up to any of these games, prices will fall. If the Yankees are running away with the AL East in mid-to-late September, the same thing will happen for the regular season finale in the Bronx.’’ ``On the other hand’’, Gregoire says, ``if they're eliminated or likely to miss the playoffs at that point, prices for that game could go even higher.’’
What follows is a brief breakdown of the current average ticket price and minimum asking price for Jeter's farewell games outside of the Bronx and Boston.
9/17...Tampa Bay: $76 / $39
9/17...Tampa Bay: $76 / $39
9/14...Baltimore: $97 / $42
8/31...Toronto: $82 / $22
8/28...Detroit: $81 / $42
7/30...Texas: $83 / $34
7/10...Cleveland: $74 / $30
7/6...Minnesota: $90 / $39
6/15...Oakland: $118 / $33
6/12...Seattle: $98 / $29
6/9...Kansas City: $96 / $36
5/28...St. Louis: $118 / $44
5/25...Chicago (AL): $90 / $22
5/21...Chicago (NL): $141 / $62
5/15...New York (NL): $144 / $72
5/11...Milwaukee: $78 / $34
5/17...LA/Anaheim: $125 / $38
4/3...Houston: $129 / $46
Source: SeatGeek Inc.
***
-Bill Lucey
February 13, 2014
Jill Abramson, left, a New York Times managing editor, during the announcement in 2011 that she will succeed Executive Editor Bill Keller, center, who became a full-time writer. Dean Baquet, right, became the managing editor for news. (Photo Credit: Fred R. Conrad/New York Times).
***
I’ll admit when I first caught sight of the headline on Twitter Sunday evening, which read: ``Bill Keller, Former Editor of the Times…..’’, my heart skipped a few beats-I thought, just for a moment, another former editor and prized journalist bit the dust.
Thankfully, the news wasn’t nearly as gloomy. The screaming headline was just an announcement, a stunning one at that, reporting that the Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist was leaving the Times to become editor in chief of The Marshall Project, a nonprofit journalism start-up focused on the American criminal justice system.
Keller, 65, will remain at the Times through the end of next month.
In an article published on the Times’ website Sunday evening, http://is.gd/65p4p2 in expressing his reasons for leaving, Keller said, ``It’s a chance to build something from scratch, which I’ve never done before, and to use all the tools that digital technology offers journalists in terms of ways to investigate and to present on a subject that really matters personally.”
In addition to earning a Pulitzer Prize in 1989 for his ``resourceful and detailed coverage’’ of events in the U.S.S.R., as a Times’ correspondent in Moscow, Keller served a tour of duty as chief of The Times bureau in Johannesburg from April 1992 until May 1995, where he covered the end of white rule in South Africa and the election of Nelson Mandela's African National Congress as the governing party in 1994. Keller is the author of “The Tree Shaker: The Story of Nelson Mandela,” published in January, 2008, by Kingfisher.
Prior to being named managing editor in 1997, he served as foreign editor from June, 1995 through 1997; and for two years, beginning in mid-2001, contributed articles to the paper's Sunday magazine as a senior writer and also wrote a bi-weekly column that appeared on the op-ed page.
Keller first landed at the Times in 1984 and was assigned to its Washington bureau, where he covered labor, agriculture and military affairs.
The multifaceted journalist’s most profound impact on the Times clearly came when he was named executive editor on July 14, 2003 amid a tumultuous storm of embarrassing scandals which damaged the paper’s credibility and accuracy. Upon assuming the editorship, Keller said, ``This organization is a national treasure. I will do everything in my power to uphold its high standards, preserve its integrity and build on its achievements.’’
And that he did.
The California native introduced a public editor position in October, 2003 for the first time in paper’s history, with the independence to address readers' comments about The Times’ coverage without interference from the editorial division. Under his commanding leadership, The Times captured 18 Pulitzer Prizes, while he shepherded the paper through a difficult period of financial challenges, including expansion of the paper’s website as reader’s migration to the web picked up steam. Keller also introduced an editor’s forum in which a different editor would address readers concerns and questions about the Times’ coverage in a week long online Q & A forum.
Keller experienced a few bumps along the way during his distinguished reign as executive editor, the most biting criticism came when the Times learned, just prior to the 2004 election, that the U.S. government was secretly monitoring communications between Americans without a warrant, a surreptitious act in violation of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), considered a felony. The Times was reportedly prodded by the George W. Bush administration to withhold reporting on it until December, 2005, more than a year after the U.S. presidential election.
Still, when Keller officially stepped down as executive editor in September, 2011 to return to writing as an op-ed columnist, Forbes Magazine hailed him as ``the man who rebuilt the confidence of The New York Times newsroom after the Jayson Blair scandal’’; sentiments echoed by Hendrik Hertzberg of the New Yorker, when he wrote of Keller’s legacy, ``the quality and quantity of Times journalism remain unsurpassed on Planet Earth.''
So while his new venture at the Marshall Project represents an ideal opportunity to focus on a raising public awareness of the state of the American criminal justice system (a sorely underreported topic), Keller’s departure has left a great many of his friends and colleagues stunned with their spirits downcast, even though wishing him nothing but the very best with the next chapter of his life.
What follows is a collection of reactions to the end of the Bill Keller era, at least at The New York Times.
He's also the best traveling companion a foreign correspondent can want. We've had days in Shanghai and Tokyo and Washington where Bill's dry humor, his refusal to take himself too seriously, and his sense of history made the travels more memorable than whatever story we were working on. He'll make this new venture a great success because everything he touches improves as soon as he puts his hands on it. I'll miss him at the Times.''
-David Sanger, New York Times National Correspondent.
• ``Brilliant job for Keller. Think Neil Barsky’s Marshall concept is inspired. Criminal justice reform is a really cutting edge issue now and recruiting Keller brings the launch immediate authority and heft.''
-Tina Brown, Co-Founder and former editor of The Daily Beast; currently President & CEO, Tina Brown Live Media Founder, Women in the World.
• ``Two reactions. As a Times person I'm truly sad. When someone like Bill leaves the paper we are diminished. As a friend of his, I'm thrilled. He will build something special on a big topic. And he will have much fun.''
-Dean Baquet, Managing Editor for news at The New York Times.
• ``Bet on Keller. He covered epochal shifts in South Africa and the Soviet Union, and he lived (and led) through one at the Times. The criminal justice system is on the cusp of such a moment. He's the right guy for the time and task.''
-Jim Dwyer, New York Times Columnist (``About New York'').
• ``The darkest period I witnessed at the Times was in the aftermath of the Jayson Blair scandal. Bill Keller inherited a newsroom that was reeling from management disarray, bitter morale and serious credibility issues. His calm, rational leadership proved essential to getting the Times through that time of crisis, when there was little room for error. Anyone who values the paper as a fundamental American institution owes him a debt of gratitude. ''
-Frank Rich, former New York Times op-ed columnist; currently Writer-at-Large for New York Magazine.
• ``Bill Keller is a towering figure in modern journalism and the template for the ideal editor, which is to say one with a deep reporting background, a prose style of exceptional grace, a wry sensibility, a mature temperament, moral courage, and a default mode of curiosity, skepticism and impartiality. He was once asked, in a casual conversation on an airplane, how long it takes to write a Times story. He had three answers: (1) very fast, if need be (2) thanks to a reporter's expertise developed over perhaps decades (3) informed by the culture and values of a newspaper that has existed since before the Civil War. His departure is a hard blow, but it is tempered by the point of what he said on the plane: he has shaped the place in ways that will linger for a long time. ''
-Adam Liptak, U.S. Supreme Court reporter for The New York Times.
• ``I'm not sure people appreciate what a brilliant job he did, stepping in as executive editor at a time when the newsroom was badly disrupted by the Jayson Blair episode and everything surrounding it. His intelligence and steady leadership restored stability and a sense of journalistic mission that was exactly what The Times needed in that moment.
I'm sure he would have been an excellent executive editor under any circumstances, but I'm not sure anyone else would have been better for that time.''
-Tom Jolly, Former New York Times' Sports Editor, currently, Associate Managing Editor at the Times.
• ``Great for Bill, great for the issue of justice, and pretty damn good news for those of us involved in figuring out new models for financing vital journalism.''
-Joe Sexton, former New York Times metro and sports editor, currently senior editor at ProPublica.
• ``Bill Keller excelled as a correspondent, editor and columnist, but many of us who have worked with him will remember him best for the decency and sure-handedness with which he steadied the ship as Executive Editor after the storm that battered us in 2003; and, beyond that, for the good stewardship that saw us through the worst of the economic crisis of recent years before he handed over in 2011 to Jill Abramson, his masthead partner through those torturous times. On a personal note, I'm indebted to Bill for the unfailing support he gave all of us who covered the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq in the years when he was at the helm in New York. Here's a fare-thee-well for your new venture, Bill.''
-John F. Burns, Chief Foreign Correspondent, The New York Times
• ``I get it, and I love the fact that he's still looking for new things to do. I'm just really sorry to see him go; I was a big fan of his column and I thought he did a terrific job as executive editor, steering the paper through some really tough times. He should be awfully proud of his tenure here.
I can't figure out what's more challenging: To be an ex-president or to be an ex-executive editor of the New York Times. It's like, what do you do next?''
-Adam Nagourney, L.A. Bureau Chief for The New York Times
• ``In addition to being a great journalist (as everyone knows), Bill was also a great boss and manager (which may be less well known). More than once I've heard Jill Abramson say Bill was the model in many ways for her own approach to leadership. One more thing: Bill is a first-rate critic and literary writer, and we were always delighted when he accepted Book Review assignments. (Pamela Paul, the current Book Review editor, will confirm this.) Of the several fine essays he wrote for us, I recommend in particular his meditation on the late Christopher Hitchens.''
-Sam Tanenhaus, writer-at-large for The New York Times.
• ``An awesome journalist and guy. They're lucky to have him. The spirit of adventure he shows here is just one more thing to admire about him.''
-Jonathan Landman, former New York Times culture editor; currently Bloomberg View editor-at-large.
• ``Bill Keller is one of the great print journalists of our time. His reporting from Moscow in particular set a standard that has rarely been equaled and never surpassed. So we'll miss him here at the Morning Miracle, but I look forward to watching him apply his talents to criminal justice issues.''
-Nicholas Kristof, New York Times columnist.
• ``I’m a big fan. I look forward to seeing what Bill can do with this new venture. He’s always been a great supporter of investigative reporting and I have no doubt that he will turn this new venture into something formidable. It reminds me of the tremendous good fortune ProPublica had in landing Paul Steiger as its founding editor.''
-Stephen Engelberg, former New York Times Investigative Chief, currently Editor in Chief of ProPublica.
• ``The yardstick for determining greatness in journalism has always been, in my mind, "in whatever they wrote/edited/managed, did that person make the journalism better as a result?" During his distinguished journalism career, Bill Keller made it better. And he did it on his terms at the highest level--the New York Times. And had the integrity to match.''
-Neil Amdur, former New York Times sports reporter.
***
Bill Lucey
[email protected]
February 11, 2014
Have you ever wondered what the newspaper culture is like in Russia compared with western countries, such as in the U.S. and the U.K.?
With approximately 13,000 journalists approved with press credentials for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games beginning on Friday in Sochi, a city located on the shore of the Black Sea, at the foot of the Western Caucasus mountain region, the environment should be ripe for a blistering amount of newspapers, tabloids, and broadsheets being absorbed by tourists and local inhabitants at restaurants, cafes, and the lobby’s of plush hotel rooms.
But when discussing the newspaper culture in Russia, you need to keep two things in mind: The first is that the vast majority of Russians rely on state-controlled television rather than print newspapers for their information. The other is that we’re well into the 21st century and living in the age of the Internet, smartphones, and other mobile devices; so print news publications, much like the U.S. and U.K., are becoming less relevant.
If you were to pop your head into a café or bakery in any major city in Russia, you’ll likely find most customers not flipping through a newspaper, but more likely combing the Internet on their ipads , smartphones, or parked in front of an Internet bank.
According to the global market and research firm TNS; the number of Internet users in Russia has leaped to 70 million, representing 50 percent of the population. In April, 2012, Russia’s largest browser Yandex, moreover, reported 19 million visitors a day, more than the popular state-controlled Channel One with an audience of nearly 18 million.
This is not to suggest that Russia is without worthwhile print news publications.
William Pomeranz, Deputy Director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies of the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., tells me, ``at the very top, there are some very strong quality newspapers that have strong economics and foreign affairs sections and discuss Russian politics and foreign affairs without getting to close to specifically discussing [Russian president] Vladimir Putin. ‘’
And though many of these newspapers have limited circulation, Pomeranz admits, ``they allow the engaged middle class to follow these debates in an informed manner. The quality newspapers have a lot of good information.’’
The problem of plummeting circulation, prevalent with so many metro dailies in the United States, Pomeranz informs me, isn’t much different in Russia; only that it’s much worse in the Russian regions, where there is markedly less money to support newspapers.
And many newspapers, some might be surprised to learn; don’t shy away from some of the more contentious issues gripping the Russian Federation. When the feminist protest band, Pussy Riot, were locked up for staging a blasphemous performance in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior in February, 2012, a number of newspapers in Russia editorialized about the world wide outcry and were surprisingly highly critical of the jailing, not so much of the strong arm tactics of Putin specifically, but of the process and how the law was interpreted, according to Pomeranz.
By and large, however, despite freedom of expression and of the press guaranteed in the Russian constitution, at least on paper, in practice, accessing information, whether through the judiciary or other government institutions is a mighty tall order, if not impossible, for a great many journalists. Russia's powerful and corrupt court system, many argue, are used to silence those journalists bold enough to report widespread governmental abuses.
More troublingly, according to Freedom House, an independent watchdog organization dedicated to the expansion of freedom around the world, ``journalists in 2012 faced the threat of intimidation or physical attack when covering sensitive topics such as the situation in the restive North Caucasus, government corruption, organized crime, police torture, electoral violations, and opposition activities and protests.''
According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), two journalists were killed in Russia in 2013, Akhmednabi Akhmednabiyev, a deputy editor of the independent news outlet Novoye Delo who was gunned down outside his home; the other was Mikhail Beketov, former editor of the independent newspaper Khimkinskaya Pravda in the Moscow suburb of Khimki, who died in the hospital after a choking incident.
Buck Ryan, an associate professor of journalism at the University of Kentucky and director of the Citizen Kentucky Project of the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, who in September 2013 spent 10 days in Moscow speaking with journalism faculty and students at Russia's premier journalism school at Lomonosov Moscow State University, says freedom of expression in Russia is a ``negotiated dance.’’
``I've done newspaper workshops on four continents’’, Ryan told me, `` but Russia was the only place where opening remarks were provided by the government official/news media handler for the district.’’
Despite the restrictive press freedom, Ryan emphasizes that the most open forms of expression in the country can be found online, most prominently through social media, either affiliated with the few independent newspapers or through the 42 million blogs, such as drugoi [photojournalistic online magazine]; or ibigdan [news aggregator].
Another way to better appreciate the dissemination of news in Russia is to understand that newspapers are not nearly as influential as The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal are in the United States. Rather, newspapers in Russia not only have much less circulation, but more importantly, they’re largely balkanized with different segments of the Russian population gravitating toward the publication consistent with their particular viewpoint. So, for example, Rossiskaya Gazeta, a Russian government daily newspaper of record, which publishes the official decrees, statements and documents of state bodies, is predominantly read by officials and bureaucrats and those wanting to understand the official viewpoint, while Kommersant a nationally distributed daily newspaper devoted to politics and business, is for the most part consumed by the business elite.
Greg Simons, a senior researcher at the Department of Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University and a lecturer at the Department of Communication Science at Turiba University in Riga, Latvia, remarked that newspapers in Russia, periodically, are bought by business elites for a variety of reasons: to gain political capital by promoting the owner’s interest, damaging the reputation of a chief rival, or other times merely to advance their own agenda through unabashed self-promotion. Such scenarios, Simon says, ``was especially obvious during the so-called Information wars of the mid-1990s when there was an all out and very bitter and open struggle between rival businessmen.’’ ``Hard news’’ Simons argues, ``is becoming more problematic to work in due to it becoming very politicized.’’
An additional reason for the sinking newspaper circulation in Russia, Simons stresses, has to do with disposable income. The price for many news publications have increased (they were subsidized during the Soviet regime); and with money being so scare-most Russians opt for the free medium in acquiring news, which is television, even though most viewers know they may not be getting the full story of a particular issue, since the Kremlin, beginning in the 2000’s, secured control over the most popular channels.
So as we inch closer to the official start of the Winter Games in Sochi; let's hope the biggest stories splashed across a good number newspapers around the world involves the herculean efforts of the athletes from 88 countries valiantly competing for medals; and not about the repressive climate for information gatherers and that full media freedom will be extended to the estimated 13,000 journalists with press credentials.
-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
February 4, 2014
***
Brief Historic Overview of Newspapers in Russia
• Vedomosti was the first printed newspaper in Russia, issued by the decree of Emperor Peter the Great on December 16, 1702.
• Russia's first privately daily newspaper was the Severnaya Pchela (Northern Bee) which started publishing daily in 1838, a publication chiefly charged with echoing the imperial prerogatives of Emperor Nicholas I.
• Nicholas I appointed a special committee to censor the press, forcing writers such as I.G. Golovin and Alexander Herzen to publish their journals and books in other major cities outside of Russia, such as Paris and London.
• In an effort to improve education and increase literacy, Russian Emperor Alexander II, beginning in 1855, encouraged the creation of privately owned newspapers through the relaxing of censorship restrictions, permitting street sales, and extending freedoms to commercial advertising.
• The first independent commercial newspaper was Golos (The Voice), a reformist daily founded by Andrei A. Kraevsky in Moscow in 1863.
• By 1870, there were 79 Russian-language newspapers in operation, nearly five times as many as a decade earlier.
• In 1881, Alexander II was assassinated by nihilists of "Will of the People" only to be succeeded by Alexander III, who enacted a series of anti-terrorism laws, restricting civil rights and freedom of the press.
• After the 1905 revolution, the press for a brief period, was freed from prepublication controls, resulting in increased newspaper circulation.
• Once Bolshevik publications such as Iskra and Pravda founded by V.I. Lenin in 1900 and 1910 respectively, increased their hostile attacks on the imperial regime, a fresh crackdown on independent newspapers ensued.
• When Lenin assumed power in 1917, he closed over 300 opposition papers and established a system of tight controls, including the banning of the conservative American press from Russia.
• During the Leninist period (1917-1925), an official newspaper for the Soviet state (Izvestia) was founded to go along with the Communist Party paper Pravda.
• A formal censorship office, referred to as Glavlit was established in 1922.
• A state information system run by the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) was created in 1925.
• 1990: 28th Party Congress; Supreme Soviet passes a law to lift censorship from the press.
• 2006: Two Russian newspapers closed after publishing the Danish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that ignited worldwide demonstrations with one of the editors being charged with inciting hatred.
• Most recent figures suggest that there are 8,978 newspapers in Russia, with a total annual circulation of 8.2 billion copies.
Source: ``A Historical Dictionary of Journalism’’ By Ross Eaman; ``The Media In Russia’’ By Arutunyan, Anna
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About Sochi
• Sochi is a southern Russian city located in the Krasnodar Region, stretching approximately 90 miles along the eastern coast of the Black Sea.
• Founded in 1837 as a military fortification.
• In 1898, the Special State Commission designated the region as an ideal setting for a health resort.
• In 1909, the first real estate complex, Caucasian Riviera, consisting of four hotels, a restaurant, a theatre, a hydropathic and an electric power station was introduced.
• Helped by generous state subsidies, the region experienced rapid growth beginning in the 1930's, transforming the city into a flourishing health-resort, receiving 4,000,000 tourists annually, including 200,000 from abroad.
• During World War II, given its large supply of hotels and sanatoria, one of the largest military hospitals was established in Sochi.
• In the early 1960's, the coastal strip encompassing several towns, some tens of villages, including the city of Sochi were incorporated into a new administrative unit-of Greater Sochi.
• Greater Sochi is some 93 miles long, making it the world's second-largest metropolis after Los Angeles.
• Most of Sochi's territory consists of mountains and foothills of the Western Caucasus, covered with forests.
• Sochi is reportedly the warmest place in Russia. The climate is subtropical and the city records about 200 sunny days a year. Temperatures average 24 ˚ C (75 F) during the day in the summer and 5 ˚ C (41 F) in the winter. Tourists typically take to the sea for swimming from April until October with skiing taking place from October through May.
• Sochi has a population of more than 400,000, comprised of more than 90 nationalities, including Russian, Armenia, Ukrainian, Georgian, and Greek.
• Over two million tourists visit Sochi annually with its spa facilities numbering over 250.
***
Key Facts about the Winter Games
• 88 countries will participate in the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
• 98 sets of medals will be awarded in 7 Olympic sports.
• 6,000 Olympic athletes and team members are expected in Sochi for the Olympic Winter Games.
• An estimated 3 billion television viewers throughout the world will be watching the Sochi 2014 Winter Games.
• There will be 17 days of competition.
• Seats at the opening ceremony on February 7 are priced at between $793 and $1,838.
• About 213,000 visitors are expected to come to Sochi, which borders Russia's tumultuous North Caucasus republics. Two suicide bombings killed 34 people in Volgograd on December 29, 2013, roughly 434 miles north of Sochi.
• The North Caucasus, approximately 62 miles east of Sochi, is considered the most dangerous place in Russia, ranking it among the top five most dangerous places in the world involving terrorism.
• The Washington Post recently reported that from January to September of 2013, 375 people were killed and 343 wounded in the North Caucasus region, including 68 civilians, 100 police officers and 200 terrorists. Between October and December, three suicide bombers-trained in Dagestan (300 miles east of Sochi)-killed more than 40 people.
• President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly indicated security will be guaranteed in Sochi, with about 40,000 personnel firmly entrenched in the area.
• According to The Wall Street Journal, the price tag of holding the Olympics in Sochi has reached $50 billion, making it the most expensive Olympic Games in history, more than the approximately $40 billion spent by China on the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia, by contrast, cost more than $7 billion.
Source: The Embassy of the Russian Federation http://is.gd/6sqjOs ; Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee Press Service http://is.gd/IN1R3K
Tiger skipper Jim Leyland expressing himself in 2011. Photo Credit: AP
****
The winds of change are blowing across the American landscape.
Never more so than with our national pastime.
Just last Thursday; all 30 teams approved expanded instant replay for the upcoming season at Major League Baseball’s quarterly owners meetings in Paradise Valley, Ariz.
Prior to this historic change, replays were limited to boundary calls involving home-runs, when the umpire-in-chief, at his sole discretion, would gather with his crew to review a questionable call.
With this new and approved replay system, 90 percent of calls are now subject to review, including ground-rule doubles, fan interference, boundary calls, bang-bang plays at first base, force plays, tag plays, fair-foul and trap plays in the outfield, hit by pitch, touching the base, passing runners and any dispute involving ball-strike counts, outs, score or substitutions.
Based roughly on the NFL model, each manager will have one challenge a game. If his challenge is upheld, he keeps the challenge; otherwise he’ll lose the option of challenging a call for the rest of the game, even if a clearly botched call occurs. A manager will never have more than two challenges per game.
Beginning in the 7th inning, the crew chief has the ability to initiate a review.
Unlike previous seasons when umpires would review disputed home run calls themselves, under the system recently approved, all reviews will be conducted at the Replay Command Center at MLBAM headquarters in New York.
Another significant change approved by the league that will unquestionably be a big hit with fans is the provision that allows stadiums to show replays, including controversial or disputed plays, on their in-park video boards.
Clearly, expanded replay was long overdue; its execution was just a matter of time. Umpires, after all, aren’t as ubiquitous as we would like them to be; they are, at times, out of position to make the correct call, at times their eyes play tricks on them, other times, they fall prey to human error and simply blow the call.
The only question is if expanded replays means fans can expect to stay in the yard for up to 4 ½ and 5 hours, especially during the early days of this new system, when managers will be experimenting with their new privileges, egged on in many cases by fans, who after seeing a replay that went against the home team splashed on the scoreboard, will undoubtedly voice their displeasure with an earsplitting chorus of boos.
And with replays being reviewed not by the umpires at the game, but from MLB headquarters in New York, you wonder if this is setting the stage for a painful, time-consuming process that will stretch the game to an uncomfortable length.
With this in mind, I put these very questions to a number of seasoned baseball beat writers and sports columnists in order to get their take on this momentous change with our national pastime.
Here, then, are some responses:
``My guess is that a very high percentage of challenges will be upheld. (You'd think 50-50 or 60-40, my guess 90-10. But just a guess.) So, there will be very few time-wasting (rejected) challenges. As a result, fans will probably accept the slight added time because, in most cases, there will be a change of a "bad call" into a correct call. Also, you'll save the "argument time." Nobody will argue. (Too bad.) A lost challenge may be considered a fairly major screw up. Ironically, it's possible baseball will be the only sport where one challenge (before the late innings) will be enough.
There's little/no chance that it adds a lot of time in my opinion. Unless it turns out that umps are awful and miss a ton of calls which really need to be challenge/changed. I doubt that's the case. But we'll see. I'm really looking forward to it. You can (in theory) always go back to the "old system." At worst, maybe some damage/delay. At best, and I think it's a possibility, baseball turns out to be the best-suited game to replay. What's fun is that it's easy to anticipate the impact but hard to actually know it.’’
-Thomas Boswell, sports columnist, The Washington Post.
***
``I'm sure most people -- fans, writers, baseball people -- like the replay idea, but I say if pitchers, hitters and fielders can make mistakes, why not umpires? Players cost their teams far more games than umpires do. Everyone makes mistakes. If everyone were perfect, games would become boring.
The best thing to come out of this is eight more umpires get major league jobs and don't have to languish in the minors. It'll actually be more than eight because those eight will get in-season vacations just like the others.’’
-Murray Chass, former sportswriter for The New York Times; who continues to write on baseball at his personal website: http://www.murraychass.com . Mr. Chass recently devoted a column to the expanded replays in which he was decidedly critical of the new system. His column can be read at the following link: http://is.gd/GKWvfu
***
``I think the expanded replay generally will work well, although I do expect some hiccups at the start. I do not think delays will be a major issue. Many games won’t have any reviewable calls, and I think only rarely will there be more than one in the same game-although the ones with multiple reviews invariably will be the most high-profile games.’’ Given that, I think it will add significantly to time in only a small amount of games. The way the rules have been explained, I can envision arguments over whether plays at second base should be reviewable because of drops, or not reviewable because of the `neighborhood play’ exclusion.’’
-Ron Blum, AP sportswriter.
***
``Concerns are significant and legitimate, and they go all the way to the top of baseball. The greatest concern from those at the league instituting replay wasn't the technology. It was the pace of game and what replay would do. Most of the time, I think, the home office is going to do a lot better than the on-field umpires would. And ultimately, if the technology is there to get the call right, it's incumbent on the league to do as much.
Hopefully, over the next few years, not only will the league streamline replay to make it as efficient as possible but enforce simple rules like staying in the batter's box that could knock time off the game. Will it be enough? Much of it depends on the effectiveness of MLB's system. I'm OK with it for now, but then I'm someone who can sit and watch a four-hour game without pause. The greatest litmus test will be the average fan, and once a reply takes too long or doesn't overturn a wrong call, the howls will come and the complaints will flow. Over time, as long as the league recognizes and acknowledges them, they will abate.''
-Jeff Passan, lead baseball columnist at Yahoo! Sports
***
``I agree it could extend the time of games.
Imagine a Red Sox-Yankee game which regularly drags on to 3 1/2 hours or more? Add several challenges and the required reviews and you'd have to take a nap to get through. Baseball already suffers from games that are too long for the modern society to cope with. We have become an ADD world, unfortunately. Add several replays a game and TV sets will be shut off across America.
Lastly, when did human error in a sporting event become actionable? The history of sport is filled with - and better for - the occasional human error. That should not only apply to the players. Umpires are proven right most of the time. Not all because they are not in fallible. Human error makes the whole exercise more, well, human!’’
-Ron Borges, sportswriter for The Boston Herald
****
``I cover the Yankees. Four-hour games were already a possibility every time I went to work. I'd rather see them get the plays right. If it takes a few minutes longer, so be it.’’
-Mark Feinsand, Yankees beat writer for the N.Y. Daily News
***
``Before the technologies in replays, particular digitally, were common, everyone was concerned about the length of games. Umps were encouraged to do all they could to speed up play. Length of games no longer became a topic of conversation. But now that mistakes are blown up on screens the size of moving vans, the mistakes are more obvious. That, apparently, has trumped everyone's list of grievances, including length of games. I could see this adding five to 10 minutes to games, but I don't think it will be a big problem. The important thing is to get it right, even if it takes a little longer.’’
-Kevin Sherrington, sports columnist, Dallas Morning News
****
``My first impulse is, too much too soon. But I think what would've been better would've been a limited intro so we could see for a full year just how much time we're talking about game to game, and how quickly disputes will be resolved.’’
-Mike Vaccaro, lead sports columnist for The New York Post
***
``There will be hiccups. But I talked with Tony La Russa about it, and he's confident that the delays will be minimal. They need to make sure on challenge plays that no argument allowed. ‘’
-Troy Renck, Colorado Rockies beat writer for The Denver Post
***
``I don't think the time of game issue is terribly significant. There really aren't that many plays in the average baseball game that will require review (probably an average of two or fewer) and the time taken to review them should be offset by the time not taken for the manage.''
-Peter Schmuck, sports columnist and blogger for The Baltimore Sun
***
``I haven't studied the new rules to the point of making a full judgment. But I'm against challenges in any sport. Once you've run out of challenges (before the 7th inning, in MLB's case), you can't use the technology. And I fear the games will run long with managers deciding whether to challenge. Apparently, they or their coaches will be able to check replays before making that decision. I also think the umpiring review crew should be on-site, and that they should make all decisions on whether to watch replays.’’
-Bruce Jenkins, national sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.
****
-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
January 23, 2014
The New York Times, today, released their most viewed stories for 2013.
As might be expected, 3 of the Times’ top 10 stories dealt with the tragedy of the of the Boston Marathon bombing, while Angelina Jolie and Vladimir V. Putin drew international attention with their respective op-ed pieces.
Rounding out the most viewed stories on all platforms, was the election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio, the 76-year-old Jesuit Archbishop of Buenos Aires as the 266th Pope of the Catholic Church, who selected the name Francis in honor of Saint Francis of Assisi.
In addition to the most viewed stories over all platforms, The Times has released the most viewed stories on individual platforms, including NYTimes.com, multi-media & interactives, mobile devices, top videos, ipad, and iphone apps.
-Bill Lucey
The Year's Most Visited All Content - Multiplatform 2013
1.) HOW Y'ALL, YOUSE AND YOU GUYS TALK, by Josh Katz & Wilson Andrews (December 21).
What does the way you speak say about where you're from? Answer the questions to see your
personal dialect map. http://is.gd/NTNYyZ
2.) BLASTS AT BOSTON MARATHON KILL 3 AND INJURE 100, by John Eligon & Michael Cooper
(April 15). Two bombs exploded seconds apart near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on
Monday, creating a bloody, chaotic scene more than four hours into the race. http://is.gd/EZBaLk
3.) 2ND BOMBING SUSPECT CAUGHT AFTER FRENZIED HUNT PARALYZES BOSTON, by
Katharine Q. Seelye, William K. Rashbaum & Michael Cooper (April 19). The teenage suspect
in the Boston Marathon bombings, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, was taken into custody in
Watertown, Mass., after a search that left his brother dead and the Boston area virtually shut
down. http://is.gd/LmvMZP
4.) MY MEDICAL CHOICE, by Angelina Jolie (May 14). Opening a conversation on women’s
health. http://is.gd/W1HH3O
5.) A Plea for Caution From Russia: What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria
By VLADIMIR V. PUTIN http://is.gd/nDZv7k
6.) THE SCIENTIFIC 7-MINUTE WORKOUT, by Gretchen Reynolds (May 9). In 12 exercises
deploying only body weight, a chair and a wall, it fulfills the latest mandates for highintensity
effort, which essentially combines a long run and a visit to the weight room into
about seven minutes of steady discomfort — all of it based on science. http://is.gd/LueJra
7.) SITE OF THE EXPLOSIONS AT THE BOSTON MARATHON - MAP, by The New York Times
(April 15). Map showing the location of the bombings. http://is.gd/Vag8Ak
8.) INVISIBLE CHILD, by Andrea Elliott (December 9). There are more than 22,000 homeless children in
New York, the highest number since the Great Depression. This is one of their stories. http://is.gd/SKSsVz
9.) THE EXTRAORDINARY SCIENCE OF ADDICTIVE JUNK FOOD, by Michael Moss (February 20). Inside the
hyperengineered, savagely marketed, addiction-creating battle for American "stomach share". http://is.gd/eXlgRl
10.) CARDINALS PICK BERGOGLIO, WHO WILL BE POPE FRANCIS, by Rachel Donadio (March 13). The Roman Catholic Church's cardinals signaled that the faith's future lies in the Southern Hemisphere. http://is.gd/ksdN5T
****
Most Viewed Stories at NYTimes.com
1.) BLASTS AT BOSTON MARATHON KILL 3 AND INJURE 100, by John Eligon & Michael Cooper (April 15). Two bombs exploded seconds apart near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday, creating a
bloody, chaotic scene more than four hours into the race. http://is.gd/EZBaLk
2.) MY MEDICAL CHOICE, by Angelina Jolie (May 14). Opening a conversation on women’s health. http://is.gd/W1HH3O
3.) THE SCIENTIFIC 7-MINUTE WORKOUT, by Gretchen Reynolds (May 9). In 12 exercises deploying only body weight, a chair and a wall, it fulfills the latest mandates for high-intensity effort, which essentially combines a long run and a visit to the weight room into about seven minutes of steady discomfort — all of it based on science. http://is.gd/LueJra
4.) A PLEA FOR CAUTION FROM RUSSIA, by Vladimir V. Putin (September 11). It is dangerous for any country, including America, to see itself as exceptional, whatever motivation. http://is.gd/nDZv7k
5.) 2ND BOMBING SUSPECT CAUGHT AFTER FRENZIED HUNT PARALYZES BOSTON, by Katharine Q. Seelye, William K. Rashbaum & Michael Cooper (April 19). The teenage suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, was taken into custody in Watertown, Mass., after a search that left his brother dead and the Boston area virtually shut down. http://is.gd/LmvMZP
6.) INVISIBLE CHILD, by Andrea Elliott (December 9). There are more than 22,000 homeless children in New York, the highest number since the Great Depression. This is one of their stories. http://is.gd/SKSsVz
7.) CARDINALS PICK BERGOGLIO, WHO WILL BE POPE FRANCIS, by Rachel Donadio (March 13). The Roman Catholic Church's cardinals signaled that the faith's future lies in the Southern Hemisphere. http://is.gd/ksdN5T
8.) THE EXTRAORDINARY SCIENCE OF ADDICTIVE JUNK FOOD, by Michael Moss (February 20). Inside the hyperengineered, savagely marketed, addiction-creating battle for American "stomach share.'' http://is.gd/eXlgRl
9.) APRIL 19 UPDATES ON AFTERMATH OF BOSTON MARATHON EXPLOSIONS, by The New York Times (April 19). The Lede is following the aftermath of Monday’s deadly explosions at the Boston Marathon, which killed three and injured more than 170 on Monday. http://is.gd/geTmi0
10.) HERE IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CAST LINDSAY LOHAN IN YOUR MOVIE, by Stephen Rodrick
(January 10). Paul Schrader, Bret Easton Ellis, Lindsay Lohan and a porn star named James Deen try to make a movie for $250,000 that will save all of their careers. What could go wrong? http://is.gd/QmS737
***
Most Visited Multimedia and Interactives at NYTimes.com 2013
1.) HOW Y'ALL, YOUSE AND YOU GUYS TALK, by Josh Katz & Wilson Andrews (December 21). What does the way you speak say about where you're from? Answer the questions to see your personal dialect map. . http://is.gd/NTNYyZ
2.) SITE OF THE EXPLOSIONS AT THE BOSTON MARATHON - MAP, by The New York Times (April 15). Map showing the location of the bombings. http://is.gd/4zenAI
3.) THE 46 PLACES TO GO IN 2013, by The New York Times (January 11). See our list of destinations to visit, from No. 1 Rio to No. 46 Paris. http://is.gd/M62jb5
4.) 2013 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE, by The New York Times (November 28). The best present ideas, selected by New York Times experts, for the people in your life who love food, music, movies, games, home design, fashion, books, travel and New York City. http://is.gd/0aUckv
5.) LIVE DASHBOARD: THE BOSTON MANHUNT, by The New York Times (April 15). The Boston Manhunt. http://is.gd/bdNAYi
6.) LIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON GAY MARRIAGE, by The New York Times (June 26). The Supreme Court issued a pair of rulings Wednesday expanding gay rights. The Times is providing analysis of the decisions, their implications and the reaction to them. http://is.gd/XLOYeW
7.) HOW 5 COUNTRIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST COULD BECOME 14, by Robin Wright (September 28). Slowly, the map of the Middle East could be redrawn. An analysis by Robin Wright. http://is.gd/HV8rNs
8.) ESSENTIAL THANKSGIVING, by Julia Moskin & Melissa Clark (November 12). Your guide to the year’s most important meal, with our best recipes, videos, techniques and tricks. http://is.gd/QDuRg2
9.) THE HUNT FOR THE BOSTON BOMBING SUSPECTS, by The New York Times (April 19). One suspect in the Boston bombings is dead and the second was taken into custody Friday night. http://is.gd/LLEmsi
10.) LIVE COVERAGE OF THE 2013 OSCARS, by The New York Times (February 24). Respond to David Carr and A.O. Scott on Twitter. We will feature selected tweets. Use #NYTOscars and watch for their responses on air. Tweet with #NYTOscars. http://is.gd/HGSUo1
***
NYT's Most Visited Videos for 2013
1.) SYRIAN REBELS EXECUTE 7 SOLDIERS (September 5). Graphic video footage of Syrian rebels shooting and burying government soldiers. http://is.gd/P6HlyA
2.) SCALDED BY COFFEE, THEN NEWS MEDIA, by Retro Report (October 21). In 1992, Stella Liebeck spilled scalding McDonald’s coffee in her lap and later sued the company, attracting a flood of negative attention. It turns out there was more to the story. http://is.gd/amW0sr
3.) FINDING THE VISIBLE IN THE INVISIBLE, by Erik Olsen (February 27). A team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has developed a computer program that reveals colors and motions in video that are otherwise invisible to the naked eye. http://is.gd/HtRQGn
4.) 35 AND SINGLE, by Paula Schargorodsky (December 9). An Argentine woman shares her intimate search for love and answers: must she settle down or remain a free spirit in order to be happy?http://is.gd/0YdPY9
5.) WITNESSES TO CHAOS AT BOSTON MARATHON, by Brent McDonald & Channon Hodge (April 15). A runner and bystanders near the explosions at the Boston Marathon describe the blasts and the chaotic scene. http://is.gd/whQFt1
6.) THE UMBRELLA MAN, by Errol Morris (November 21). On the 48th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, Errol Morris explores the story behind the one man seen standing under an open black umbrella at the site. http://is.gd/3nroIb
7.) VENEZUELA'S INFLATED VISION OF BEAUTY, by Jimmy Chalk (November 6). In Venezuela, women are confronted with a culture of increasingly enhanced physiques fueled by beauty pageants and plastic surgery. http://is.gd/JPmaiV
8.) THE CORVETTE XP-819, by Stuart Schwartzapfel (January 11). The XP-819 is a one-of-a-kind Corvette developed as a research vehicle by General Motors in the 1960s. The car is now being brought back to life at a restoration shop on Long Island. http://is.gd/H8Nx6i
9.) FIRE IN THE RUSSIAN SKY, by Mac William Bishop, Ben Werschkulm Lisa Desai & Rafael Rosado (February 15). The Times’s Ellen Barry and Richard P. Binzel, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, discuss the explosive event over western Siberia on Friday. http://is.gd/ycbDiO
10.) HOW ABOUT A LITTLE LUXURY?, by Lawrence Ulrich, Emily Hagar, Axel Gerdau (March 22). Luxury vehicles have long pushed the limits of size, but automakers are now whipping up fancy bite-size models, confident that Americans are seeing the upside of small, yet artful, portions. http://is.gd/jKQGVb
***
Most Viewed Stories on M.NYTIMES.COM
1.) BLASTS AT BOSTON MARATHON KILL 3 AND INJURE 100, by John Eligon & Michael Cooper (April 15). Two bombs exploded seconds apart near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday, creating a bloody, chaotic scene more than four hours into the race. http://is.gd/EZBaLk
2.) A PLEA FOR CAUTION FROM RUSSIA, by Vladimir V. Putin (September 11). It is dangerous for any country, including America, to see itself as exceptional, whatever its motivation. http://is.gd/nDZv7k
3.) THE SCIENTIFIC 7-MINUTE WORKOUT, by Gretchen Reynolds (May 9). In 12 exercises deploying only body weight, a chair and a wall, it fulfills the latest mandates for high-intensity effort, which essentially combines a long run and a visit to the weight room into about seven minutes of steady discomfort — all of it based on science. http://is.gd/LueJra
4.) UNDER SEATTLE, A BIG OBJECT BLOCKS BERTHA. WHAT IS IT?, by Kirk Johnson (December 19). Something unknown, engineers say, has blocked the progress of the biggest-diameter tunnel-boring machine in use on the planet. http://is.gd/pxZcbL
5.) CHRIS KYLE, AUTHOR OF 'AMERICAN SNIPER' REPORTED KILLED IN TEXAS, by Manny Fernandez & Michael Schwirtz (February 3). Chris Kyle, a former Navy SEAL, had taken a troubled fellow veteran to a gun range for a kind of therapy session, but the police said the man turned his gun on Mr. Kyle. http://is.gd/9KbZg7
6.) VAST OKLAHOMA TORNADO KILLS DOZENS, by Nick Oxford & Michael Schwirtz (May 20). Homes were flattened, cars flung through the air and at least two schools packed with children destroyed, sending rescuers to dig out those buried in rubble. http://is.gd/qmMVoa
7.) IN GRISLY IMAGE, A FATHER SEES HIS SON, by Tim Rohan (April 16). The family of Jeff Bauman, who lost his legs in the bombings, learned of his fate from an image of the bloodied young man being tended to by a man in a cowboy hat. http://is.gd/vLSFZj
8.) THE EXTRAORDINARY SCIENCE OF ADDICTIVE JUNK FOOD, by Michael Moss (February 20). Inside the hyperengineered, savagely marketed, addiction-creating battle for American “stomach share.” http://is.gd/eXlgRl
9.) BAFFLING 400,000-YEAR-OLD CLUE TO HUMAN ORIGINS, by Carl Zimmer (December 4). DNA from a fossil in Spain most closely matches another extinct human lineage, Denisovans, whose remains have been found thousands of miles away in Siberia. http://is.gd/oDAr6l
10.) THE HOLOCAUST JUST GOT MORE SHOCKING, by Eric Lichtblau (March 1). The Germans had vastly more work camps and ghettos than anyone knew. http://is.gd/ALbp8o
**
Most Viewed Stories on an iPhone App
1.) 2ND BOMBING SUSPECT CAUGHT AFTER FRENZIED HUNT PARALYZES BOSTON, by Katharine Q. Seelye, William K. Rashbaum and Michael Cooper (April 19). The teenage suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, was taken into custody in Watertown, Mass., after a search that left his brother dead and the Boston area virtually shut down. http://is.gd/LmvMZP
2.) BLASTS AT BOSTON MARATHON KILL 3 AND INJURE 100, by John Eligon & Michael Cooper (April 15). Two bombs exploded seconds apart near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday, creating a bloody, chaotic scene more than four hours into the race. http://is.gd/EZBaLk
3.) BOMBING INQUIRY TURNS TO MOTIVE AND RUSSIAN TRIP, by Eric Schmitt, Michael S. Schmidt & Ellen Barry (April 20). With one suspect dead and the other lying wounded in a hospital, the investigation into the Boston bombings turned to the men’s motives, and to a trip one of them took to Chechnya and Dagestan. http://is.gd/pln7Bs
4.) REPUBLICANS BACK DOWN, ENDING CRISIS OVER SHUTDOWN AND DEBT LIMIT, by Johnathan Weisman & Ashley Parker (October 16). President Obama swiftly signed a bill funding the government through Jan. 15 and raising the debt limit through Feb. 7. after Senate talks produced a deal amounting to a near total defeat for conservatives. http://is.gd/nVsZim
5.) SUSPICIONS IN BOSTON ATTACK TURN TO MAN SEEN IN VIDEOS, by Katharine Q. Seelye, Scott Shane & Michael S. Schmidt (April 17). In the first major break in the hunt for the Boston Marathon bomber, F.B.I. personnel found security video showing a man they believe may have played a role in planting explosives. http://is.gd/M2a1lr
6.) GOVERNMENT SHUTS DOWN IN BUDGET IMPASSE, by Jonathan Weisman & Jeremy W. Peters (September 30). The federal government will shut down for the first time in nearly two decades after last-minute moves in both chambers of Congress failed to break a bitter budget standoff over the president’s health care law. http://is.gd/BeNTHX
7.) 2 DIE AND MANY ARE HURT AS PLANE CRASHES IN SAN FRANCISCO, by Norimitsu Onishi & Ravi Somaiya (July 6). An Asiana jetliner from South Korea crashed and caught fire, killing two people and injuring more than 180 others. http://is.gd/AgTHNN
8.) DIVIDED HOUSE PASSES TAX DEAL IN END TO LATEST FISCAL STANDOFF, by Jennifer Steinhauser (January 1). Ending a climactic showdown in the final hours of the 112th Congress, the House sent to President Obama legislation to avert big income tax increases on most Americans. http://is.gd/5knyAL
9.) TERROR ON JET: SEEING WATER, NOT RUNWAY, by Norimitsu Onishi, Christopher Drew, Matthew L. Wald & Sarah Maslin Nir (July 7). The pilot at the controls on Asiana Flight 214 was said to have had only 43 hours of experience flying a Boeing 777, and an airline spokeswoman said that it was his first time piloting a 777 into San Francisco. http://is.gd/Zn1OVO
10.) SENATORS RESTART TALKS AS DEFAULT LOOMS, by Jonathan Weisman (October 15). After the House postponed any action, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, and Senator Mitch McConnell said that they had resumed talks on a deal to reopen the government and raise the debt limit. http://is.gd/M7g4bz
***
Most Viewed NYT's Stories on an iPad App for 2013
1.) THE 46 PLACES TO GO IN 2013, by The New York Times (January 11). See our list of destinations to visit, from No. 1 Rio to No. 46 Paris. http://is.gd/pXzFxI
2.) REPUBLICANS BACK DOWN, ENDING CRISIS OVER SHUTDOWN AND DEBT LIMIT, by Johnathan Weisman & Ashley Parker (October 16). President Obama swiftly signed a bill funding the government through Jan. 15 and raising the debt limit through Feb. 7. after Senate talks produced a deal amounting to a near total defeat for conservatives. http://is.gd/75zCYp
3.) 2ND BOMBING SUSPECT CAUGHT AFTER FRENZIED HUNT PARALYZES BOSTON, by Katharine Q.
Seelye, William K. Rashbaum and Michael Cooper (April 19). The teenage suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings, Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, was taken into custody in Watertown, Mass., after a search that left his brother dead and the Boston area virtually shut down. http://is.gd/LmvMZP
4.) THE FINAL INSULT IN THE BUSH-CHENEY MARRIAGE, by Peter Baker (October 10). How Dick Cheney finally lost the president. http://is.gd/Sm4LC2
5.) BOMBING INQUIRY TURNS TO MOTIVE AND RUSSIAN TRIP, by Eric Schmitt, Michael S. Schmidt & Ellen Barry (April 20). With one suspect dead and the other lying wounded in a hospital, the investigation into the Boston bombings turned to the men’s motives, and to a trip one of them took to Chechnya and Dagestan. http://is.gd/pln7Bs
6.) SENATORS RESTART TALKS AS DEFAULT LOOMS, by Jonathan Weisman (October 15). After the House postponed any action, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, and Senator Mitch McConnell said that they had resumed talks on a deal to reopen the government and raise the debt limit. http://is.gd/VtaJnW
7.) BLASTS AT BOSTON MARATHON KILL 3 AND INJURE 100, by John Eligon & Michael Cooper (April 15). Two bombs exploded seconds apart near the finish line at the Boston Marathon on Monday, creating a bloody, chaotic scene more than four hours into the race. http://is.gd/EZBaLk
8.) TERROR ON JET: SEEING WATER, NOT RUNWAY, by Norimitsu Onishi, Christopher Drew, Matthew L. Wald & Sarah Maslin Nir (July 7). The pilot at the controls on Asiana Flight 214 was said to have had only 43 hours of experience flying a Boeing 777, and an airline spokeswoman said that it was his first time piloting a 777 into San Francisco. http://is.gd/B1zZCc
9.) 100 NOTABLE BOOKS OF 2013, by The New York Times (November 27). The year’s notable fiction, poetry and nonfiction, selected by the editors of The New York Times Book Review. http://is.gd/0waXKP
10.) U.S. SHUTDOWN NEARS AS HOUSE WOTES TO DELAY HEALTH LAW, by Jonathan Weisman & Jeremy W. Peters (September 28). The federal government on Sunday barreled toward its first shutdown in 17 years as House Republicans voted to link further funding to a one-year delay of President Obama’s health care law. http://is.gd/kliUP4
Source: New York Times' Web Analytics Group.
Israeli Knesset guards carry the coffin of former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir as he lies-in-state in the Chagall Hall in the Knesset (Parliament) in Jerusalem, Israel, July 2, 2012. A state funeral was held at Mt. Herzl Cemetery. Photo Credit: EPA/ABIR SULTAN
****
As the condition of former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon grows graver by the day, preparations are being made for a state funeral.
Sharon, 85, Israel's 11th prime minister, suffered a brain hemorrhage on January 4, 2006, slipping into a coma from which he has never recovered.
Dr Zeev Rotstein, director of Tel Hashomer hospital in Tel Aviv, recently told members of the Israeli press that ``Sharon's health had deteriorated during the past two days and vital organs were suffering from a critical malfunction.''
The protocol for state funerals in Israel is called Havazelet (lily, the flower). In general, this protocol, according to Maoz Azaryahu, an associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa, places the Ministry of Internal Security (police) in charge of public order, while the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is in charge of the ceremonial phases of the service. The general conduct of the funeral is ultimately decided by the family.
Mount Herzl ("Mount of Remembrance") has served as Israel’s national cemetery since ``The Greats of the Nations'' plot was inaugurated in 1952 (when Eliezer Kaplan was buried there) ; and it has been the burial place of four of Israel's prime ministers: Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin, and Yitzhak Shamir, as well as Israeli presidents, generals, and other leaders, according to Neil W. Netanel, Interim Director at the Younes & Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies at UCLA.
Burial on Mount Herzl is considered the highest symbolic honor that the nation can show its leaders, since it is the burial site of Theodore Herzl, Austrian visionary and founder of modern Zionism, including the burial site of the many soldiers cut down in battle defending the state’s existence. Mount Herzl is located on the western side of Jerusalem.
Most close observers of Mr. Sharon, however, believe the former prime minister will break with tradition and opt not be buried on Mount Herzl at the ``Plot of the Greats of the Nation’’, but rather near his home, alongside his second wife, Lily (who died in 2000) at Havat Hashikmim (Sycamore Ranch) in the Negev. It is located in the northern Negev Desert, near Sderot.
If Mr. Sharon isn’t buried at Mount Herzl, he certainly wouldn’t be the first.
On December 3, 1973, David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of the State of Israel, was buried alongside his wife Paula on the cliff overlooking Wadi Zin in the educational and research center subsequently named after him, Midreshet Ben-Gurion (hereafter theMidrasha). Moshe Sharett (Israel’s second prime minister) was buried in the Trumpeldor cemetery in Tel Aviv; Menachem Begin chose the ``Mount of Olives'' (an old Jewish cemetery) as his burial place; and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (Israel's second president) in a gesture of humility, chose a civilian cemetery in Jerusalem as his final resting place.
In Jewish tradition, funerals are held the following sunset or within 24 hours of death.
Mark Regev, spokesman for current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, however, was quoted in The Telegraph, saying the strict Jewish edict will probably be suspended in an effort to allow world leaders to pay their final respects to Mr. Sharon.
Specific details of the impending state funeral won’t be fully disclosed until the former prime minister dies.
According to David Tal, Yossi Harel Chair in Israel Studies in the Department of History at the University of Sussex, ``Sharon was a major General in the IDF, a member of the Knesset and a prime minister. As such he can be buried either in a military funeral, carried by six major generals, and buried in a military cemetery.’’ ``The other option’’ Tal says, `` is that he will be buried as a former prime minister, in a state funeral.’’
The decision as to what type of funeral Mr. Sharon will have (either military or state) resides with his family, namely, Sharon’s sons, Gilad and Omri, who are reportedly at their father's hospital bedside.
While specific elements of Mr. Sharon’s funeral may not have been disclosed yet, a look back at the funeral of Israel’s first prime minister, might offer a rough blue print of the main features of a state funeral in Israel.
Michael Feige and David Ohana in the ``Journal of Israel History: Politics, Society, Culture’’ [Vol. 31, No. 2, September 2012 http://is.gd/rKiJQc ], chronicle the specific details of Ben-Gurion's funeral in 1973. Among its highlights:
• In the morning after his death, the casket was removed from Tel Hashomer hospital. The chief military cantor recited the “El male rahamim” prayer and Ben-Gurion’s son Amos recited the Kaddish.
• A helicopter carried the casket to the government offices; and from there it was carried on the shoulders of the Knesset guard into the Knesset building.
• As stipulated in his will, there were no public eulogies.
• The director of Israeli Radio, Moshe Hovav, read excerpts from the Declaration of Independence.
• Eight members of the Knesset guard carried the casket with two memorial torches being lit behind it, while four Knesset guard members stood on each side.
• Two military rabbis recited psalms.
• The president, prime minister, ministers, Knesset members, and other official delegations and public figures passed before the casket amid a siren of mourning.
• At approximately 10:00 a.m, the public was allowed in to pay their final respects, which was estimated at a quarter of a million people.
• The following morning, five helicopters carried the coffin and the VIPs to the funeral ceremony in Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Negev desert of southern Israel.
• Six soldiers from the chief military rabbinate took up position on each side of the open grave.
• The coffin arrived in the fifth helicopter that landed at the Midrasha, accompanied by six IDF lieutenant-colonels and four police chief superintendents. After them, the family members descended.
• Among the first VIPs to arrive were the president, the prime minister, and speaker of the Knesset; followed by government ministers and the other dignitaries. Only 150 people were permitted to attend the funeral.
• A military command car carrying the coffin approached along with a guard of honor of IDF major-generals and representatives of the Israeli police. Those in attendance remained silent. The national flag was removed from the coffin and a representative of the military rabbinate folded the prayer shawl that was under it, and the coffin was then lowered into the grave.
• The chief military rabbi read a chapter of psalms and Ben-Gurion’s son, Amos, recited the Kaddish.
• Directly behind the grave, black rubber bags containing desert soil were distributed by soldiers from the military rabbinate and their contents were poured into the grave until the coffin was covered.
• The cantor recited a prayer, and wreaths were laid to conclude the 45 minute ceremony.
-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
January 9, 2014
****
Biographical Sketch of Ariel Sharon
February 27, 1928: Born: Ariel Scheinerman to Shmuel and Vera Scheinerman.
1942: Age 14, joined Haganah, the underground defense force in Palestine, when it was under the administrative authority of the British government.
1948: Launched his military career as member of the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).
1949: Commanded an intelligence unit of the Golani brigade.
1953; Headed a special anti-terror unit responsible for halting Palestinian incursions into Israeli territory.
October 14-15, 1953: In retaliation for the murder of a woman and her daughters, Sharon's unit stormed the village of Qibya, in West Jordan, where he ordered the dynamiting of forty-five houses, causing the death of sixty-nine persons. This provocative action was condemned by the UN Security Council.
1954-1955: Headed a battalion in a paratroop brigade.
1956: During the Suez-Sinai War, he ignored orders from superiors and occupied the Mitla Pass, which commanded the access to the Suez Canal. The confrontation with Egyptian troops resulted in the death of 36 men. Sharon was accused of insubordination; later tried and found responsible for the deaths of these men.
February, 1967: Promoted to general and commanded an armored division during the Six-Day War.
1969-1973: As chief of the southern command, he demolished thousands of homes in Gaza refugee camps to create roads for antiterror patrols.
1972: Unable to rise to the position of Army chief of staff, Sharon left the military to take up a career in politics, registering as a member of the Liberal Party. With Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Shamir, he participated in the creation of the right-wing parliamentary group Likud.
October, 1973: During the Yom Kippur War, he commanded an armored division on the southern front. Ignoring orders from superiors, he crossed the Suez Canal, cutting the Egyptian Third Army off from its rear, enabling the IDF to force the Egyptian army to surrender. Such heroic efforts catapulted Sharon, in the eyes of Israeli soldiers, to"Arik, King of Israel."
1973: Elected a Likud representative.
1975: Became security adviser for the Labor Party Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin.
1977: In disputes with party leaders, he formed his own party, Shlomzion, which won two seats in the Knesset in the May elections. Soon after, he joined Likud and was appointed minister of agriculture in the government of Menachem Begin.
June, 1981: Became Defense Minister.
1982: Became the principal architect of the invasion of Lebanon (Operation "Peace in Galilee"), during which several hundred Palestinians were murdered by the Lebanese Christian militia at the refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila, while the IDF observed without raising any objections.
February 11, 1983, Sharon was judged responsible by a commission of inquiry headed by Israeli Supreme Court chief justice Yitzhak Kahan for not preventing the slaughter; a decision which forced him to resign as defense minister, but remaining minister without portfolio.
1996: Appointed national infrastructure minister by Benjamin Netanyahu.
1998: Became foreign minister.
May, 1999: Succeeds Netanyahu as Likud leader after Labor's Ehud Barak became prime minister.
September, 2000: Visits Temple Mount in Jerusalem, setting off Muslim riots and an eruption of anger from Palestinians, sparking a revival of the Intifada known as al-Aqsa Intifada.
February 6, 2001: Sharon was elected prime minister, with 62.5 percent of the votes.
March, 2002: Following a suicide bombing at a Netanya resort hotel, Sharon ordered the invasion and reoccupation of West Bank cities under Operation "Defensive Shield." Israeli forces destroyed buildings while capturing hundreds of Palestinians.
May, 2003: Under heavy pressure from the United States, Sharon's cabinet voted to approve the internationally backed "Road Map" for peace.
2004: Presented a plan to disengage from settlements in Gaza and parts of the West Bank.
October, 2004: The Knesset voted to back Sharon's plan in October 2004.
August, 2005: Sharon completes the withdrawal from Gaza of all Israeli settlers and the destruction of all Israeli settlements and completes the withdrawal of the Israeli military on September 11, 2005.
November 21, 2005: Resigned his Likud position, dissolved parliament; then forms a new center-right party known as Kadima (Forward), with new elections scheduled for March 2006.
December 18, 2005: Sharon was hospitalized for stroke like symptoms, later released after scheduling surgery to repair a newly discovered hole in the atrial septum of his heart.
January 4, 2006: Suffered a massive cerebral hemorrhage at his Negev ranch (Havat Hashikmim).
April 11, 2006: The Israeli cabinet declared Sharon incapacitated and ended his prime ministership three days later, naming Ehud Olmert as interim prime minister.
-Bill Lucey
January 9, 2014
Source: Dictionary of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Vol. 2. Detroit: Macmillan Reference USA; Edwards, Richard. "Sharon, Ariel." The Encyclopedia of the Arab-Israeli Conflict: A Political, Social, and Military History. Ed. Spencer C. Tucker and Priscilla Roberts. Vol. 3. Santa Barbara, CA:
Woody Hayes. Photo Credit: ART RODGERS / LOS ANGELES TIMES
Times photographer Art Rogers shows Pasadena police officer Jay D’Angelo how he was holding his camera when shoved by Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes before Rose Bowl football game. Rogers filed a complaint with the Pasadena Police Dept. (Credit: Steve Fontanini/Los Angeles Times).
****
They say the camera never blinks.
Well, it might have flinched, just a bit on January 1, 1973 during the Rose Bowl, when Ohio State Buckeyes celebrated coach Woody Hayes preparing for battle against USC, shoved L.A. Times photographer Art Rogers’ camera into his face. It was reportedly no minor shove, since Rogers required medical treatment.
According to Rogers, he was one of a half dozen persons photographing the coach huddling with his team during warmup drills, just minutes before the start of the game. As the huddle broke, Rogers positioned himself low, using a long lens before Hayes charged out and jammed the camera into his forehead.
“That ought to take care of you, you son of a bitch,” Hayes growled.
Hayes told an AP reporter: ``This photographer kept pushing in and trying to get a picture of me at close range…I turned my back on him and he went around on the other side and stuck the camera in my face again.
“This time I pushed the camera away and made some remark, but I did not hit him. I just made a shoving motion to get the camera out of my face.”
During a post-game interview, when asked to give his version of events, Hayes exploded into a tirade: “Oh, for Jesus Christ’s sake, forget it,” he snapped and threw the microphone he was holding onto the floor. “That’s the end of this interview. Those are really big stories.” Before storming past reporters, the OSU coach, howled: “He (Rogers) wasn’t hurt.”
A misdemeanor battery charge filed against Hayes with the Pasadena Police Department was subsequently dropped by Rogers because he reportedly “had received an ‘appropriate communication’ from Hayes.”
The L.A. Times provides a detailed report of the whole twisted affair of ``Shovegate’’ in their photography blog, Framework. http://is.gd/vVD08W
But the biggest blow suffered during the day, as it turned out, wasn’t the L.A. Times photographer, but the Ohio State Buckeyes who were trounced by the Trojans, especially by USC running back Sam "Bam" Cunningham (who scored four touchdowns), 42-17 in Pasadena.
Bill Lucey
[email protected]
January 1, 2014
What do the Marx Bros’``Duck Soup’’ (1933`) `The Wizard of Oz’’ (1939), ``Citizen Kane’’ (1941), and ``It’s a Wonderful Life’’ (1946) have in common with ``A Christmas Story,’’ the 1983 American Christmas comedy film based on the short stories and semi-fictional anecdotes of author Jean Shepherd?
Believe it or not, all these films were considered box office flops when they premiered, but years, sometimes decades later, they bounced back to life after finding a new audience with a fresh set of eyes-and today are considered motion picture classics.
``A Christmas Story’’ opened 30 years ago, November 18, 1983, drawing $7,291,703 in its first 10 days at 938 theaters in the United States and Canada; and after it closed five weeks later in most theaters, its final receipts totaled a disappointing $19 million. Studio execs considered it a flop. It was out of most theaters before Christmas.
Today, more than 100,000 DVD and Blu-ray copies of "A Christmas Story" are sold weekly during the holiday season; and thousands of passionate fans ( which have included in years past a flood of foreign tourists from Germany, England, China, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, Netherlands, Ireland, Mexico and Thailand), have journeyed to the Christmas Story House and Museum in Cleveland, Ohio, [See their website http://is.gd/g0JQd0 ] to view scenes shot near the house and examine original props, costumes and memorabilia from the film, as well as hundreds of rare behind-the-scenes photos. A ``Christmas Story" convention is additionally held there annually in November.
In December 2012, ``A Christmas Story’’ was one of 25 films selected to be included into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, for its enduring importance to American culture and as a reflection of who ``we are as a people and a nation," according to Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. Congress established the National Film Registry in 1989 to highlight the need for preserving U.S. film heritage.
So how did ``A Christmas Story’’ find its new audience?
Beginning in the 1990’s, the Turner Broadcasting System (TBS) started scheduling marathon 24-hour slots for ``A Christmas Story’’; and with families constantly in hot pursuit for a decent movie to pop into their DVD players around the holidays-films which the whole family can enjoy-``A Christmas Story’’ fits the bill like a pair of winter gloves.
The movie is, after all, more than a Christmas comedy with a scary Santa Claus who spits out a scornful Ho!, Ho!, Ho! Rather, it’s a valentine to growing up in small town America during the 1940s with all its familiar trappings: a family picking out a Christmas tree together, a furnace that never works, fretting over a stern dad (with a heart of gold) coming home; and memories of the school-yard pranks and the terror that came during face-to-face combat with neighborhood bullies; memories, in other words, that no matter how old we get, still seems to cling to our receding, distant past.
Since this is the 30-year anniversary of the holiday classic, I thought it would be fun to look back at some of the original movie reviews from a number of U.S. dailies in 1983.
I found it fascinating that only one movie critic (at least from the list of reviews I found), Jay Carr of the Boston Globe, possessed the sharp eye and keen insight 30 years ago to describe ``A Christmas Story’’ as an ``instant classic, a film that will give pleasure to people not only this Christmas, but many Christmases to come.’’
And kudos too goes to Gene Siskel (bless his soul) of the Chicago Tribune, who wondered why on earth this delightful motion picture was released in the middle of November, practically guaranteeing doom at the box office.
What follows, then, are brief snippets from film reviews written 30 years ago, shortly after the premiere of ``A Christmas Story.’
Boston Globe
A Christmas Story: Film Review:
A CHRISTMAS STORY - DIRECTED BY BOB CLARK, SCREENPLAY BY CLARK, LEIGH; BROWN AND JEAN SHEPHERD, BASED ON SHEPHERD'S "IN GOD WE TRUST, ALL; OTHERS PAY CASH," STARRING MELINDA DILLON,; DARREN MCGAVIN, PETER BILLINGSLEY, AT THE BEACON HILL AND SUBURBS,; RATED PG.
By Jay Carr, Globe Staff
Nov 19, 1983
``This is the kind of movie that risks tripping over its own whimsy, but it stays on track disarmingly. We can believe that Ralphie, often given to daydreaming, is exactly the sort of fellow who'd show up on a voiceover 30 years later speaking of a bacchanalia of peace on earth or, referring to his mother's way of stuffing his little brother into a snowsuit, that "going to school was like preparing for extended deep sea diving." Clark and Billingsley have gambled on presenting the adult world as exaggerated creatures seen through Ralphie's eyes, and won.’’
``In short, "A Christmas Story" isn't just about Christmas; it's about childhood and it recaptures a time and place with love and wonder. It seems an instant classic, a film that will give pleasure to people not only this Christmas, but for many Christmases to come.’’
***
MOVIE REPORT CARD
The Boston Herald, December 8, 1983
Movie Grade: C minus.
``A silly piece of tinseled fluffabout a nine-year-old boy's efforts to get a Red Ryder rifle for Christmas. Fine performances by Darren McGavin, Melinda Dillion, and child actor Peter Billingsley are wasted by lame direction and a corny script. At the Beacon Hill and suburban cinemas.''
***
The New York Times
November 18, 1983, Friday, Late City Final Edition
FILM: 'CHRISTMAS STORY,' INDIANA TALE
By Vincent Canby
``There are a number of small, unexpectedly funny moments in ''A Christmas Story,'' but you have to possess the stamina of a pearl diver to find them.’’
``The movie's big comic pieces tend only to be exceedingly busy. Though Mr. Billingsley, Mr. Gavin, Miss Dillon and the actress who plays Ralphie's school teacher (Tedde Moore) are all very able, they are less funny than actors in a television situation comedy that one has chosen to watch with the sound turned off.’’
***
San Francisco Chronicle
November 23, 1983
A '40s Christmas and Dreams of BB Gun Glory
By Peter Stack
``The movie softly lit and laid out with the wistful charm of an old easy chair, is certain too to remind us of an age of innocence: radio was king. Oldsmobiles were solid steel, dads were in the habit of reading the evening paper at the dinner table, and mothers stayed home the day long with their feather dusters and recipes that were endless variations on the theme of hash.’’
``This is a movie tailored for people who grew up in the `40's, who remember an America emerging from the dark cloud of a long, terrible war. Still, its funny moments transcend the period tone, and now and then ``A Christmas Story'' sheds affectionate light on the dreams and little disasters that still cling to the yuletide. Santa Claus, it seems to say, really can be a scary guy sometimes, and dad, who never seems to notice when you cry, can be rather heroic in his clumsy way.''
***
The Los Angeles Times
A Trip Back to Christmas in `30s
November 18, 1983
By Kevin Thomas
``Don't expect much Christmas spirit to be oozing out of ``A Christmas Story (citywide). Reportedly, Bob Clark, director of ``Porky's'' has for a decade wanted to make a film of humorist Jean Shepherd's short story. ``The Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid.''
``The result is a kind of grade-school ``Porky's'' minus the raunchiness. And even though Shepherd and his wife collaborated with the script with Clark, the film has little of the subversive humor that made Shepherd such a legend on records and on the radio in the `50s and `60s. Actually, it has little humor, period.''....``That the film isn't remotely as hilarious as it hopes to be only makes it an even greater problem for those of us who possess no-more-war toys sentiments going in.’’
***
The Washington Post
'Christmas Story': Family Fare to Savor
November 18, 1983
BY RITA KEMPLEY
``If you're a Christmas holdout, a true believer who still hears reindeer on the roof, and even on an unseasonably warm Christmas Eve holds out hope of waking to a yard full of snow and branches coated like velvet antlers, then "A Christmas Story" is for you.’’
``It's a heart-warming pastiche of snowflakes, Christmas lights strung across city streets, children's noses pressed against toy- store windows and one little boy's quest for the present of his dreams, a Genuine Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle, with a Shock-Proof High-Adventure Combination Trail Compass and Sundial Set Right in the Stock.’’
***
The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio)
`Christmas Story' is full of charm for whole family.
November 19, 1983
By Roxanne T. Mueller
``Growing up is tough enough for a kid without having parents interfering. So fantasy is an appropriate retreat. The real world is an enigma too and that's the double charm of ``A Christmas Story,'' a movie with a kid's-eye view set in the relatively innocent era of America just before World War II’’.....``It's chock-full of understated wit but avoids the kind of Disneyesque sentimentality that grown-ups and sophisticated kids gag on.''
***
Chicago Tribune
'Christmas' arrives early, with nostalgic gifts for one and all
By Gene Siskel
November 21, 1983
Movie Grade: 3 1/2 stars
``A Christmas Story is a delightful motion picture that is doomed to box office failure. It would appear to be a children's film, but it really is a whimsical piece for adults about childhood. And whimsy is what also closes on Saturday night. Also, the subject of Christmas in the middle of November-well, we can wait, right? Whoever booked this film this early should be shot.''
``A Christmas Story is full of delightful characters and performances. Child model Peter Bilingsley is cute without being cloying as little Ralphie. He looks like a kid in a Norman Rockwell painting. Ralphie's father, a gruff but kindly man, is nicely played by Darren McGavin.''
``The Christmas Story is a movie with a golden glow. Here's hoping someone goes to the see it. As to the prediction made at the top of this review, I'd love to be proved wrong.''
***
Chicago Sun-Times
A Christmas Story-
December 15, 1983
Movie Grade: 3 stars
By Roger Ebert.
``Of course. That's what I kept saying during "A Christmas Story," every time the movie came up with another one of its memories about growing up in the 1940s.
The movie's high point comes at Christmastime, when Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) goes to visit Santa Claus. Visits to Santa Claus are more or less standard in works of this genre, but this movie has the best visit to Santa I've ever seen. Santa is a workaholic, processing kids relentlessly. He has one helper to spin the kid and deposit him on Santa's lap, and another one to grab the kid when the visit is over, and hurl him down a chute to his parents below. If the kid doesn't want to go, he gets Santa's boot in his face. Of course.''
***
The Denver Post
'TIS THE SEASON
HOLIDAY RELEASES CAST AS THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY
December 16, 1983
By Michael Healy
Denver Post Movie Critic
``Not so delightful, but innocuous enough, is "A Christmas Story" which features a lot of merry mugging and Xmas excess all in the cause of getting a laugh. It's the story of a little boy's pursuit of his Christmas wish: a gun. ...’’
The Evening Independent
A Christmas Story' a minor holiday trifle
By Jim Moorhead
November 25, 1983
``I went into this film hoping to like it. I even took my uncritical children along for support. But A Christmas Story is what it is-a shakily spun swatch of nostalgia that is neither lively enough for youngsters nor convincing enough for older viewers’’........``Clark [director Bob Clark] has failed to elicit proper execution, so that it ends up as a minor holiday trifle, and that's too bad. The world can always use another good Christmas story.''
NOTE: The Evening Independent was St. Petersburg, Florida's first daily newspaper, the sister evening newspaper of the St. Petersburg Times. It was purchased by St. Petersburg Times owner Nelson Poynter in 1962 and subsequently folded in 1986. It then merged into the Times in November 1986, initially as part of the Times's "City Times and Independent" section; the "Independent" name was later dropped altogether.
***
A Christmas Story: Footnotes
• Jack Nicholson was considered for the role of playing Ralphie's dad, before the directors settled on Darren McGavin.
• Peter Billingsley, who plays the nine year-old Ralphie in the film is now 42, and has become a producer and director (the films include: "Iron Man," "The Break-Up," "Couples Retreat" and the TV series "Sullivan & Son") with occasional minor acting roles.
• As many as 8,000 youngsters auditioned for the character of Ralphie.
• A Christmas Story" was made for less than $5 million.
• A Christmas Story grossed: $19,294,144.
• An estimated 40 million people watch at least parts of ``A Christmas Story’’ every year on TBS during its Christmas marathon.
• Billingsley reportedly is still in possession of the Red Ryder 200-shot Carbine Action Air Rifle, which served as his holy grail during the movie.
• Jean Shepherd’s book “In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash”, in which the film is based on, is a smattering of semi-autobiographical short stories that he wrote for “Playboy” magazine during the 1960s. He died in 1999 reportedly of natural causes.
• Shepherd is not only the narrator of "A Christmas Story," he also has a cameo as the bearded gentlemen in the fur coat in Higbee's Department Store who tells Ralphie to get to the end of the line.
• Though the movie is set in Indiana, parts of the film were shot in Cleveland, Ohio (most prominently, the city’s downtown Public Square and the old Higbee’s department store), with a vast majority of the filming taking place in Ontario, Canada.
• The exterior of the house depicted in ``A Christmas Story’’ was a 19th-century Victorian home built in 1895, located at 3159 W 11th Street in Cleveland, Ohio, in the Tremont neighborhood, The house was scooped up by San Diego entrepreneur Brian Jones at an Ebay auction in 2004 for $150,000. He plunked down another $250,000 to spruce it up and opened it as a tourist attraction in 2006. Jones later bought two additional houses across the street, one that became a museum, and another, a gift shop, which swung open its doors just this year. Items inside the gift shop, include: Red Ryder guns, ornaments from the movie, a Pink Nightmare Bunny Suit, and, of course, a 50" Deluxe Full Size Leg Lamp from A Christmas Story,
• ``A Christmas Story" was directed by Bob Clark who shot to fame in 1980, when he directed a box office smash hit, "Porky's," an American sex comedy based on his escapades as a Florida teenager in the 1950s.
• A Christmas Story, The Musical, opened on Broadway (for a limited run) in November 2012, earning three 2013 Tony Award nominations: Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical (Joseph Robinette), and Best Original Score (Banj Pasek and Jusin Paul). The show stars John Bolton (gruff dad), Erin Dilly (doting mom), Jake Lucas (Ralphie) and Dan Lauria as the show's narrator, Jean Shepherd.
• Although ``A Christmas Story’’ didn't receive any Academy Awards, the Canadians recognized the film with two Genies (the equivalent of the Oscars) for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, which Shepherd and Clark shared.
• In 1994 there was a sequel to “A Christmas Story" an obscure, rarely seen film, originally called "My Summer Story" and now appears on video under the title "It Runs in the Family." Also written by Shepherd, the movie stars Macaulay Culkin's little brother Kieran as Ralphie and Charles Grodin as Old Man Parker.
• "A Christmas Story 2," was eventually made and released in 2012 direct to DVD, which met with a surge of unfavorable reviews. Even though all the original characters are in the movie, none of the original cast returned. The film takes place five years later and depicts Ralphie's efforts in trying to get his first car.
Bill Lucey
[email protected]
December 23, 2013
Photo Credit: Associated Press
***
Hard to believe another year has almost flown by.
So as the curtain is about to come crashing down on 2013, I checked in with some news organizations to find out which story drew the most web traffic.
It was, after all, a shocking year: with two bombs exploding at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, which killed three and injured 264 others; disquieting revelations that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been conducting a mass surveillance program; and stunning news that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina was elected pope, becoming the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas, and the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere. He took the name Francis, becoming the 266th pope and the 265th successor to St. Peter.
What was most surprising from this survey, at least to me, are the formats of content that is most appealing to readers of online news sites. As will become abundantly clear from the list below, photo galleries and innovative visual presentations seems to be the flavor of the day.
Chris Quinn, Vice President of Content for the Northeast Ohio Media Group, the company that leads the digitally focused news operation at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio, informs me that ``when we set out in August to transition more fully into the digital universe, one of our key goals was to make better use of digital tools.'' ``The top 5 pieces in traffic'' Quinn said, `` so far this year demonstrate that this community very much wants to experience stories in multiple formats.'' The top two items that drove the most traffic at the Plain Dealer's site (Cleveland.com) were photo galleries.
Similarly, Nancy Sullivan, Vice President of Communications at the Los Angeles Times, said 43% of their web traffic on Oscar night (the story of the year that drew the most web traffic) came from mobile devices; while 54% of traffic on Oscar Sunday was driven by photo galleries, such as their dazzling Red Carpet Arrivals gallery.
What follows, then, are the top stories of 2013 (based on page views or most web traffic) that was provided to me by different news organizations and popular online sites.
Top Stories of 2013
• The Guardian: The identity of an American computer specialist, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee, and former National Security Agency (NSA) contractor, who leaked up to 200,000 classified documents to the press, primarily involving a mass NSA surveillance program, is revealed for the first time by The Guardian. Edward Snowden told the British national daily newspaper in a taped interview posted on its website: ``I don't want to live in a society that does these sort of things.''
The Guardian EXCLUSIVE has generated nearly 3.6 million page views since June.
• Bloomberg News: Their EXCLUSIVE ``Boston Bomb Victim in Photo Helped Identify Suspects’’ generated the most page views of the year at Bloomberg.com. The story reports Jeff Bauman’s face-to-face confrontation with one of the Boston Marathon bombers may have turned up key clues in the FBI's manhunt of the perpetrators.
• The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio reported on one of the most sensational criminal cases in U.S. history, when it was learned in May that three local women: Amanda Berry, Georgina ``Gina'' DeJesus, and Michelle Knight were rescued in a house they were held captive in by Ariel Castro since their disappearance between 2002 and 2004. Castro was sentenced to life in prison without the chance of parole, but was later found dead in his jail cell (from an apparent suicide), on September 3rd of this year. The events that transpired on Seymour Avenue was captured in a Plain Dealer Photo Gallery, which generated 1.5 million page views, the most popular item at Cleveland.com for 2013.
The second most popular item on its website was another photo gallery, and another remarkable story drawing worldwide attention, surrounding Scott Nagy, a terminal cancer patient who with the help of the University Hospital medical staff (on October 12th) was able to give his daughter away on her wedding day, while lying on a hospital gurney and using a respirator. Nagy died two weeks later.
The third most popular story was The Plain Dealer’s page one splash that Berry, DeJesus, and Knight were found alive , while the 4th most popular was an audio of the 9-1-1 call by Amanda Berry.
• CNN's Photo Gallery: ``People We Lost in 2013'' generated 90 million page views, according to a company spokesperson.
• The most popular story on The Wall Street Journal's website for 2013 dealt with a group of men in their 40's, despite having moved on—to college, careers, families and new cities, have been playing ``tag'' , the playground game for 23 years.
• At Time Magazine's website, the most popular item of the year was a creative interactive article, which invited readers to take a test in order to discover which of the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia best suits their personality trait. Did you know, for example, that West Virginia is the most neurotic state, Utah is the most agreeable and inhabitants of Wisconsin are the country's most extroverted?
• The most popular story at ESPN.com in 2013 was Wright Thompson’s ``Outside the Lines’’-branded story “Michael Jordan Has Not Left The Building” with 2.6 million page views.
• The two top stories of 2013 at FoxNews.com dealt with the Boston Marathon Bombing. Their 3rd and 4th most popular items for the year were captured in photo galleries: the first about a fertilizer plant explosion in the town of West, Texas, which killed up to 15, injuring more than 160 ; and another about a 10-ton meteor that streaked at supersonic speed over Russia's Ural Mountains, setting off blasts that injured nearly 1,100 people.
• The top story at New York Magazine's website for 2013 was an article written by Joe Jonas, the American pop singer, musician, actor, and dancer, reflecting about his life as a Jonas Brother.
The 2nd most popular article was an amusing feature by Maureen O’Connor, chronicling how thanks to social media, ex-boyfriends are harder than ever to avoid. And the 3rd most popular story at NYMag.com was Joe Hagan's feature on Matt Lauer and the dysfunctional family atmosphere at NBC’s Today Show.
• The Miami Herald: The most viewed story at MiamiHerald.com dealt with members of the Miami Gardens police who were caught on camera arresting the same suspects over and over again, at times arresting them for trespassing even though they have permission to be on the premises; officers conducting searches of places of business without proper search warrants; using excessive force on subjects who are not resisting arrest; and other cases of filing inaccurate police reports in connection with the arrests.
• The Los Angeles Times: LATimes.com's digital strategy for its Oscars coverage (February 24th) , which focused on a real second-screen experience, including on-location blogging, tweeting, live video broadcasts from the newsroom during the ceremony’s commercial breaks, social media-based balloting, photography, and other in-depth reporting, resulted in a two-day (Sun & Mon) overall traffic numbers of 34.6 million page views, eclipsing last year's 2-day Oscar record of 21.4 million.
• Dallas Morning News: The most popular item at DallasNews.com was a profile on retiring school teacher, Dale Irby, from Titche Elementary in the Pleasant Grove area of Dallas, who wore the same 1970s-era polyester shirt and coffee-colored sweater for the school picture for the last 40 years. The article is accompanied with a photo gallery of Irby, showing that while his face might have changed over the last four decades, his attire for the school picture remained the same.
• New York Daily News: The most viewed story at NYDailyNews.com was the uproar that erupted over the death of Minnesota Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson's two-year old son after he had been beaten two days earlier, allegedly by his mother's boyfriend.
The second most viewed story at the Daily News’ website was Jets' coach Rex Ryan being spotted sun bathing, while sporting a tattoo that resembled his wife wearing Mark Sanchez’s no. 6 green jersey.
• Newsday: The top local story at Newsday.com came back in September when a vendor, Sang Ho Kim, 63, opened fire, killing one man and critically wounding another at an East Garden City company, terrorizing a busy shopping and business district as police hunted into the night for the killer.
• ProPublica, the independent non-profit investigative newsroom that produces journalism in the public interest, said its most viewed story of the year dealt with a feature about two ``cradle Democrats’’ and passionate supporters of President Obama who had their health insurance cancelled because it did not meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.
Their second most view story concerned an alarming investigation, which reported that more than 1,500 Americans died after accidentally taking too much of a drug renowned for its safety: acetaminophen, one of the nation’s most popular pain relievers.
• FBI.Gov: The FBI's top story of the year was the item that offered a $5 million reward to anyone who can help them locate 13 items stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, including rare paintings by Rembrandt, Degas, and Vermeer. The items were originally stolen on March 18, 1990, representing the largest property crime in U.S. history.
• Cook Political Report: The astute Amy Walter, National Editor of The Cook Political Report, wondered back in April, if the Affordable Care Act or ObamaCare, when open enrollment begins in October, will shift the simmering debate from immigration and gun reform to the perils of President Obama’s signature legislation as Americans begin to see their premiums rise. The potential ``sleeper issue of 2014'' was the most viewed column of the year at Cookpolitical.com.
• At The Smoking Gun, the most viewed story of the year concerned a hacker, using the online alias "Guccifer" breaking into the Bush family e-mail accounts, swiping private correspondence and personal photos, including sensitive emails about George H.W. Bush’s recent hospitalization.
• Weather Channel: At Weather.com, the most viewed article of the year was a fascinating presentation of rare photos of different styles of bathing suits at the beaches, particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, well before the introduction of the bikini in 1946.
***
Internet Searches:
• Google: Top 100 Searches of 2013: http://is.gd/y61fHY
• Yahoo: 2013 Year in Review-The top-searched news stories of 2013: Trials, bombings, Obamacare. http://is.gd/XQ8HJk
• Bing: Top Searches in 2013: http://is.gd/Bg63Qa
***
Social Media
• Top Trends of 2013 on Facebook: http://is.gd/Y6LMuZ
• 2013 on Twitter: http://is.gd/B2iUp0
• Top 10 YouTube Videos of 2013: http://is.gd/X54uqj
• Best of 2013 Flickr Photos : http://is.gd/d9NpHm
-Bill Lucey
[email protected]
December 16, 2013
Where would we be without rules?
There are rules of grammar, essential rules of etiquette, rules governing mandatory health insurance, after the housing collapse-there are now new rules of real estate; Baseball, our National Pastime, will likely approve new rules for the 2014 season; even our favorite social networking sites like Facebook or Twitter have their own set of rules.
So if you are one of those individuals who live by the rules and die by the rules-you’ll probably want to dip into Paul Dickson’s new book: ``The Official Rules: 5,427 Laws, Principles, and Axioms to Help You Cope with Crisis, Deadlines, Bad Luck, Rude Behavior, Red Tape, and Attacks by Inanimate Objects.’’
Beginning in 1976, for reasons known only to himself, Mr. Dickson inserted dividers into a shoebox and started gathering rules that govern our twisted universe, from the ridiculous to the sublime on small sheets of paper. This new enterprise of collecting rules on everything and anything imaginable under the sun was given the flamboyant title: ``The Murphy Center for the Codification of Human and Organizational Law,’’a spin-off, of course, on Murphy’s Law (``Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong" ). Dickson took the liberty of appointing himself its first director; and beginning in 1989, he was promoted to ``Director for Life.’’
Over the decades, this Yonkers, New York native began collecting contributions from journalists, self-proclaimed prophets and philosophers, along with everyday observers of life’s little foibles from sea to shining sea. Of particular help to him have been writer Fred Dryer, Wall Street Journal columnist, Alan Otten, Jack Womeldorf of the Library of Congress; Robert Specht of the RAND Corp; the John Erhman file at Stanford University, and the University of Arizona Computing Center.
Armed with two dozen shoeboxes and two file drawers, in 1978, the Center published its first book: ``The Official Rules’’ alphabetically arranged with special sections. The book took off like a Boeing jumbo jet.
Within just a few months of its release, thousands of letters from readers, listing their personal maxims, rules, principles etc., numbering about 5,000, came pouring in. With so much new material, Dickson turned out a number of magazine articles, including 10 for the Washingtonian magazine between 1978 and 1996. And in 1989, another edition hit the bookstores: ``The New Official Rules.’’
At the dawn of the 21st century, the responses Dickson was receiving continued to be overwhelming, especially in the computer age-when swarms of letters turned into a mountain of emails.
So as we cope with the many trials and tribulations of a new millineuium with its fresh set of challenges and new obstacles and with an eye toward reminding ourselves, now and again, that not everyone’s perfect (even Betty Crocker burned a few cakes) , Dickson has published yet another updated edition of ``The Official Rules.’’
Paul Dickson should be no stranger to readers, especially if you’re a baseball fan. ``The Dickson Baseball Dictionary,’’ which has been published in three editions (1989, 1999, 2009) was described by the Wall Street Journal in 2010 as one of the six best baseball books ever published. In addition to publishing scores of books on baseball and 20th century history, Dickson has authored more than 45 nonfiction books, including: `` Drunk: The Definitive Drinker's Dictionary'', ``Journalese: A Dictionary for Deciphering the News'', ``Slang: A Topical Dictionary of Americanisms’ ‘and ``Toasts: Over 1,500 of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, and Graces.''
In 2012 Dickson was awarded the Henry Chadwick Award from the Society for Baseball Research (SABR) for his lifetime achievements as a baseball researcher and scholar; and in 2011, he was the recipient of the Tony Salin Award from the Baseball Reliquary for his contributions to the preservation of the history of the game.
A founding member and former president of Washington Independent Writers and a member of the National Press Club, Dickson lives in Garrett Park, Maryland with his wife Nancy who works as his first line editor, and financial manager.
So to give you a sense of some of the many gems tucked between the covers of Dickson’s ``Official Rules’’, I listed some which caught my eye:
-Historian Henry Adams.
-John C. Armor, Baltimore, Maryland.
–Yogi Berra.
-Long established motto of Chicago’s City News Bureau, organized a century ago by several newspaper publishers and closed in 2005. It was known for its demanding training of young reporters, including Mike Royko and Seymour Hersh.
-Charlie Cook, Editor and Publisher of the ``Cook Political Report.’’
-Quentin Crisp: from Richard Isaac, M.D., Toronto, Canada.
-Charles Dickens
-Senator Everett Dirksen, U.S. Senator from Illinois.
- (Heard by Tom Gill).
-(From the Sally Forth comic strip of January 9, 1993).
-Dr. Thomas Jones, president of the University of South Carolina.
-President Harry S. Truman
-Samuel Clemens quoted in Richard Lederer’s column, Concord Monitor, November 18, 1985.
*Bonus Round
Bill Lucey's Proverbial Bill of Rights: 1.) ``'Tis impossible to be sure of any thing, but Death, Taxes, and a new Reality Show.'' 2.) ``He who hesitates is last.'' 3.) ``A journey of a thousand miles begins at Terminal 1, Boarding Area B, Gate 20 of United Airlines.'' 4.) ``A fool and his money are soon partying to the wee hours of the morning.'' 5.) ``If at first you don’t succeed-pack up your tent and quit.’’ 6.) ``No news is either good news or a sure sign your local newspaper just folded.’’
-Bill Lucey
December 8, 2013
