- When does Mariano Rivera pitch in his final All-Star Game? Trick question. The answer is whenever the
hell he wants. If the greatest closer in Major League Baseball history wants to
pitch only odd-numbered innings, change the rules so he’s allowed to. If he
wants to pitch the first and last innings, so be it. One thing is clear as
MLB’s midsummer classic approaches: with 26 saves to lead baseball, a 1.61 ERA
and just one blown save this season, the 43-year-old Rivera is as effective as
ever and will be on the American League team for the July 16 All-Star Game at
Citi Field. There is already pressure on American League All-Star manager Jim
Leyland to start Rivera with the game based in New York. Fan groups are
campaigning to have Rivera start for the AL, but he and his MLB-record 634
saves have a different idea. Rivera would prefer to close the game, not start
it. The New York Yankees closer has made it clear that despite his impressive
success coming back from a torn ACL, he will retire at the end of the season.
He wants his final All-Star Game memory to be a chance to notch his fifth
career All-Star save rather than make his first start. "I've been told
about it, but I don't like it," Rivera said of the push for him to start. "And
the reason why I say that is it's not what I do. What I do is close the games,
I don't start the games. It's a privilege and honor, but I'm not contemplating
it." There are a few viable candidates to start the game, including Detroit's
Max Scherzer, the first pitcher since Roger Clemens in 1997 to get off to an
11-0 start. "I think the right thing is to do it the way it (normally)
is," Rivera said. "I don't want to start the game and give up 10 runs
in the first inning. I'd rather pitch in the ninth than the first." The
sight of No. 42 in Yankee pinstripes busting his cutter in on a batter’s hands
to force a weak ground out to end the All-Star Game sounds just about right……..
- Granny’s got ink. Johnnie Foshee, an 84-year-old great grandmother
from Dunedin, Fla., does not hold the traditional, stodgy old-person view of
tattoos, namely that they are unsightly blemishes on the skin of young punks
who have no respect for their bodies. Instead of hating on the kids who are
getting ink, Foshee decided to join them and cross an entry off her bucket list
in the process. She recently had a Tampa Bay Rays tattoo inked on her arm and
admitted she had considered it for some time. "I've been wanting one ever
since I got in love with the Rays," Foshee said. "So, I got me
their tattoo." She had the Rays’ sunburst emblem on her upper left arm a
few weeks ago and the kind folks at Mom's Tattoos in Dunedin gave her a
discount on her new body art so she could afford it on her fixed income. "That
was my bucket list," she said. The good news for Foshee is that she isn't
ripping through bucket list entries because she is terminally ill and knows how
little time she has left; she simply knows she is old and doesn’t have an
eternity to accomplish those things she most wants to do. "When you're 84,
you have a limited time," she said. Foshee resides at the Emeritus
Assisted Living Facility, where she moves about in a motorized wheelchair with a
Rays flag hung from it. She says she has watched every single Rays game since
the inaugural home opener back in 1998 and when poor attendance led to some of
the games not being shown on local television, she listened on the radio. When
news reached the team about Foshee’s fandom and her tattoo, a team spokesman
extended a standing invitation for the 84 year old to be the team’s guest for
any home game she wants to attend. She admitted that she wouldn’t want to see a
game against the Red Sox or Yankees because so many fans who go to those games
in Tampa are cheering for the visiting teams. “I don't want to watch a Boston
or New York game," Foshee said. "Because all the fans are from Boston
and New York and it makes me very irritated to have too many people screaming
for the opposite team." The next entry on Foshee’s bucket list? Fly an
airplane……..
- Now THIS is what makes technology worthwhile in spite of
all the frustrations and headaches it causes. When the great minds of science
stop attempting to cure diseases plaguing the world, cease with their plans to
create devices that will provide clean drinking water to impoverished people
and focus their energies on what matters, inventions like the one that recently
flew over
the open fields of Baylands Park in Sunnyvale, Calif. happen. Known simply as the
Burrito Bomber, it is a drone that isn't being used to spy on anyone and instead
is designed with the idea of bringing unhealthy Mexican food to the masses. The
BB is the brainchild of two engineers at popular reviews and recommendations
website Yelp and their bean-filled goal is to send the Burrito Bomber into the
wild and wait for a customer to place an order through a mobile app. Then, the
plane will do a fly-by delivery based on GPS coordinates. "You have a
little parachute that kind of hides up here [under the plane]," said Yoni
De Beule. “When the burrito releases, the parachute gets pulled out and allows
for the burrito to drop to the ground a little more safely." De Beuele and
former Yelp engineer John Boiles manufactured custom-made parts to allow for
burrito storage and deployment by using a 3-D printer. They also added a
remote-controlled camera and transmitter to stream live video back down to the
ground during flight. "The plane can totally fly itself," Boiles said.
"But these are nice to have as a backup." The burrito drone must be
launched by hand, but once it hits altitude and a flight plan is in place, it operates
on its own. The two men have a control center located in San Francisco’s Mission
District. Prior to launch, Boiles checks wind direction and fired up the
propeller before De Beule tosses the drone into the air. Seeing a food-centric
drone is a nice development for a world that has previously been teased by the Tacocopter
and taunted by the YouTube footage of Domino's "DomiCopter." The
Burrito Bomber arose from a Yelp hackathon – a two-day event held every quarter
where engineers have a giant brainstorming session of oddities. For now, the Burrito
Bomber must remain a prototype because Federal Aviation Administration
regulations prohibit commercial use of unmanned aircraft………
- A pair of new films teamed up to oust Superman from his
perch at the top of the box office earnings list this weekend. “Monsters
University” rode the family-friendly vibe to the top spot and $82 million in
its debut, doing more than enough to beat back the zombies of “World War Z” for
the top spot. “Z” finished second with $66 million and yet, it still has a long
way to go to earn back its $190 million production budget. “Man of Steel”
tumbled to third with $41.2 million, a 65-percent drop from its opening frame, and
has brought in $210 million domestically in two weeks. “This is the End” ranked fourth in
its second weekend with $13 million and upped its overall take to $57.8
million. It was another productive frame for “Now You See Me,” with a
fifth-place finish and $7.9 million in earnings to pad its total haul to $94.5
million. “Fast & Furious 6” zipped to $4.7 million on the weekend for sixth
place and has amassed $228.4 million in total domestic earnings through its
first six weeks in theaters. The wholly underwhelming run of “The Internship”
continued with a seventh-place result, adding $3.5 million to the movie’s
overall earnings to raise it to an underwhelming $38.3 million in three weeks
of release. “The Purge” purged its way to $3.4 million and eighth place, good
enough to add to its profitable time on the big screen with a $59.4 million
domestic bank roll and a meager $3 million budget. “Star Trek Into Darkness”
dropped down one spot and finished ninth after making $3 million. The sci-fi
blockbuster has notched $216.6 million through its first six weeks. “Iron Man
3” clung to the last spot in the top 10 with $2.2 million to put its eight-week
haul at $403.1 million and counting. “Epic” (No. 12) and “After Earth” fell out
from last weekend’s top 10……..
- Russia had itself quite a weekend. Aside from the
most-wanted man in the world, NSA leaker Edward Snowden, passing through en
route to Ecuador in search of political asylum, the communist nation finds
itself embroiled in an Olympics-related art controversy that arose after one of
its most
prominent modern art figures was fired after refusing to allow an exhibit
examining the darker side of the Sochi Olympics to be axed by censors. Marat
Guelman, a gallery curator, was fired as director of the Perm Museum of
Contemporary Art because he backed the controversial "Welcome! Sochi
2014" exhibit by Vasily Slonov. The exhibition includes images of the
Olympic rings in barbed wire and as nooses. Russian authorities closed it last
week during a cultural festival organized by Guelman and he responded by moving
the pictures to the museum. He tweeted the news about his firing by Igor
Gladnev, the minister of culture for the Perm region. "Gladnev just called
me and confirmed the fact of my dismissal. The Ministry of Culture, it seems,
has confused its role with that of the FSB [the former KGB]," Guelman
wrote. In addition to pink-slipping him, Russian authorities allegedly raided
Guelman’s former offices at the museum and have reportedly launched a legal
case into Slonov's works, alleging he had used Sochi 2014 symbols without
permission. "I had hoped that censorship was impossible and illegal,"
Guelman lamented. "The new trend of Russian politics is to divide everyone
into groups of 'us' and 'them,' and the small liberal islands are getting even
smaller." Ironically, "Welcome! Sochi 2014" works of Slonov
remained on display at the Perm Museum of Contemporary Art on Thursday and the
Ministry of Culture has remained silent on the issue. Sochi continues to be
under the microscope, projected to be the most expensive of all Olympic Games
to date at an estimated cost of $50 billion amidst allegations of corruption
and exploitation of migrant workers in the region leading up to the event……
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