- Minor league baseball is supposed to be just about the most fan-friendly sport there is. Minor league teams roll out all sorts of giveaways, promotions and other events to draw fans in and ticket prices are minimal because you’re trying to entice fans to come see guys who aren’t good enough to be in the big leagues. It’s going to be a lot harder to get fans to come to Dayton Reds games from here on out, what with opposing players now hurling projectile baseball into the stands and drilling fans. The fan beaning took place during a massive in-game brawl in which fifteen players and both managers were ejected. The fight lasted 10 minutes and cleared both benches, all of this over hostilities in Class-A minor league game between affiliates of the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs on Thursday night. The game was suspended after the fight, but the ejections were reversed by league president George Spelius and the game was completed with Dayton winning 6-5. The injured fan was taken to the hospital after being hit by a ball thrown by Peoria pitcher Julio Castillo, who was throwing at the Dayton dugout but missed during the first-inning melee between Midwest League teams. If he’s missing that badly on that throw, what is dude even doing on the mound in the first place? The fan, who remains unidentified, was treated at Miami Valley Hospital and released. Castillo got to spend the night in jail after was arrested and now faces one count of felonious assault. Sadly, you could actually see the wheels coming off for him early in the game. After a Peoria player was hit in the top of the first, Castillo hit two batters in the bottom half -- one in the head. That’s a no-no, because if you want to retaliate against the opposing team for dotting one of your guys, there is plenty of flesh to hit below the neck, where you aren't endangering a guy’s life. That second hit batsmen by Castillo, Angel Cabrerra, made an aggressive slide into second to break up a double play. Castillo, clearly not the most calm, rational individual on the field, decided that the right choice was to kick it up a notch by sending his next pitch up-and-in to the next Dayton batter. Dayton manager Donnie Scott came out of the dugout to complain to the home plate umpire and interim Peoria manager Carmelo Martinez -- filling in for Ryne Sandberg also came out to talk. Ever mindful of setting a good example for their players, the two managers began arguing, and when Martinez pushed Scott, the benches emptied. The casualty report in the aftermath of this debacle included Dayton shortstop Zack Cozart, who had to leave the game after being hit in the head with a pitch, and Peoria second baseman Gian Guzman, who went out with a broken left leg. Following the brawl, there was an hour-long delay during which the teams protested the ejections by phone to league president George Spelius, saying they didn't want pitchers playing in the outfield to complete the game. Suspensions and fines will be forthcoming once Spelius has a chance to review video footage of the game. All told, not the best night to be taken out to the ol’ ballgame….not unless you enjoy leaving it in an ambulance.
- Dorks, your day has come, You’ve gone mainstream, you’ve become a destination for Hollywood’s famous faces and it’s all happening at ComiCon, the annual convention of dorks that is being held this weekend at the San Diego Convention Center. With film adaptations of comic books becoming all the rage in Hollywood, the film industry is sending its top executives and biggest stars down to ComiCon. With
“Dark Knight,” “Iron Man,” “Hulk,” and “Hellboy” among the list of recent box office hits based on comic books, dorks are no longer the pimply, glasses-wearing, pasty losers everyone makes fun of. Well, we still make fun of them, it’s just that some of the things they love are now being embraced by pop culture. Hollywood studios large and small send development executives down to the festival to prospect for new ideas While Warner Bros. and Marvel Comics can draw from their own collections of comic book heroes, other studios bid on the popular graphic novels and the smaller independent producers try to gamble on new characters who haven’t made it big yet. So important is this convention of the dorks to the film and TV industries that they come here to market all their comic-related properties, releasing trailers, showing clips of films, hosting panels and star-studded autograph fests. If you go by the financial bottom line, those efforts are properly directed. Lifeless nerds like those attending ComiCon were the driving force behind the tremendous response to the midnight showing of "The Dark Knight," which brought in over $18 million at the box office for that screening alone. In looking for that next big hit, Lions Gate is making a big promotional splash at the convention around its December release "The Spirit," based on the popular Will Eisner graphic novel. Stars from the film including Scarlett Johansson and Samuel L. Jackson will hit the showroom floor. TV is also making its push here, with heavy promotion of the J.J. Abrams sci-fi TV thriller "Fringe," which debuts this fall on Fox. Heck, even non-sci-fi films are being rolled out here. Four major comedies are being previewed -- "Tropic Thunder," "Pineapple Express," "Hamlet 2" and "Disaster Movie." So maybe dorks and nerds can expand their horizon, embrace new genres and use this moment in the sun to become more than…who am I kidding? Once a dork, always a pasty, reclusive, never-kissed-a-girl dork……
- There have to be some very proud college and university presidents and administrators out there right now. The annual lists by Playboy magazine and the Princeton Review detailing the nation’s best party schools have been released and a few distinguished institutions have snagged top 10 slots on both lists. Ranking ninth on both lists was Ohio University in Athens, Ohio (representing the Mid-American Conference, go OU!). Indiana University scored the No. 8 spot on both lists, so all the frats, sororities and stoners at IU should be psyched as well. Other schools making both top 10 lists were the University of Georgia (#6 Playboy/#5 Princeton) and the University of California-Santa Barbara (#5 Playboy/#10 Princeton). Ironically, schools at the top of each list didn’t even crack the top 10 on the other list, with Playboy’s top three of Arizona State at the top, followed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and San Diego State, not among the top 10 on the Princeton Review list. Likewise, the Princeton Review’s top three of West Virginia University, the University of Mississippi and the University of Texas weren’t among Playboy’s 10 best party schools. Among the criteria used were the quality of keggers, foam parties and ice luges on each campus. So major props to schools who made the top 10 by beer-bonging, burning weed, doing keg stands and burning couches with aplomb, you all should be very proud of yourselves for attending such fine institutions of higher learning.
- There are times when you’re just so proud to be an American, that you can barely keep it in. This would not be one of those times. Three white Pennsylvania teens have been charged with the epithet-laced fatal beating of a Mexican immigrant and the killing is believed to be racially motivated. The incident occurred in the northeastern Pennsylvania town of Port Carbon, where Luis Ramirez was brutally beaten to death by multiple attackers on July 12. Brandon J. Piekarsky, 16, and Colin J. Walsh, 17, have been charged as adults with homicide and ethnic intimidation for their roles in the attack. A third teen, Derrick M. Donchak, 18, has been charged with aggravated assault and ethnic intimidation for his part in the beating, meaning that these three tools are basically accused of beating a man to death because they didn’t like the fact that he was a foreigner. Usually it’s Americans traveling abroad who perpetuate that “ugly American” stereotype, but here are three a-holes doing it on our own soil. Ramirez was reportedly beaten after an argument that included several local high school football players, although it wasn’t immediately known if any of the three aforementioned assaulters were football players. In the end, Ramirez died of head injuries and according to his girlfriend, who says she intends to move away from Port Carbon ASAP, he was often the target of racial intimidation. He was called a “dirty Mexican” on a regular basis, so this assault wasn’t something that came out of the blue. This was a steady stream of hate from bigoted, ignorant, small-minded, backwards, socially retarded idiots. Can’t say I’m too proud to be an American today….
- The U.S. Army gave us a great NFL Draft story, but now the bureaucrats of the Army are ripping that same story away before it even gets a chance to get going. Back in April, the Detroit Lions selected defensive back Caleb Campbell late in the draft even though as a West Point graduate he was committed to five years of Army service as an officer. However, a new Army policy offered Campbell a chance to substitute two years as a recruiter while playing in the NFL for his five years in uniform, assuming he made the Lions’ roster. Everyone had a take on the issue, ranging from the smart ones among us who saw it as a cool way for Campbell to serve his country while chasing his NFL dream to the hard-line military honks with bad crew cuts and shrapnel in their asses who saw it as him skating on his obligations. Well, with the Lions on the verge of starting training camp this week, the Army decided to do its own reversal of field and yank Campbell’s chance to play football. Army 2nd Lt. Caleb Campbell and the Lions received a letter from the Army Wednesday informing them of a shift in policy that will require him to report immediately to begin his five years of service as an officer. This change in policy will align the Army with other branches of the U.S. military in terms of forcing graduates of service academies to serve out their time in uniform even if they have a chance to play a sport professionally. I know this is what these guys sign up for when they attend these schools and Campbell isn't complaining a bit, but this still sucks that the Army can just flip-flop like this and get away with it…..
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