Perfect day for baseball. Lets play two. It seems as if everything was in perfect order for opening day of the 2009 WAWBL season in East Hartford, CT at Gorman Park Sunday. The weather is gorgeous, everyone is in a good mood, and no one is throwing up yet (like the championship last year). It seems too good to be true........
We have 32 eager guys ready to go, enough wiffle balls and bats for all eight teams, and NO FIELD.
Commissioner Alex Hurleys first mistake of the year, and it happens before the first pitch is even thrown. Mr. Hurley assumed that because there were no scheduling conflicts last year, that the same would be true this year. You know what happens when you assume Mr. Hurley? You make and ass out of you, and yourself.
Instead of planning ahead of time, or calling the park department to ask for schedules of parks, or even reserving the field himself, Mr. Hurley waited until the day of the first game to go down to the park to see if anyone was using the field, and it turns out there was. Not only was it just anyone, but it was Mr. Wood, the King of the Babe Ruth League. And let me tell you something, there is no kicking Mr. Wood out. He's the man of the family....If it were Derek Wood, then sure, we could just push him off the field because he wouldn't do anything to stop it. But taking your chances with Mr. Wood is like taking your chances against the Power Rangers, you just can't win. Especially if you disappear if you get hit in the "Z" belt buckle.
Commissioner Hurley also had a horrible day on the field today. Regarded as one of the top 5 players on "Jake Dumonds Big Board", Hurley did not live up to ANY expectations. Batting about .250 on the day with a measly 1 home run, it is safe to say he was the sole reason for the "Mustached Bandits" 0-2 start. Even Bryce Dumond, regarded as one of the laziest liabilities in the game, hit his first home run by hustling out an in-the-parker!!!!!
Mr. Hurleys bad day STILL didn't end there. Not only did he lead his team (as captain and supposed best player) to an 0-2 start, he then, frustrated, tried to not just trade Jake Dumond (his best player), he actually offered to GIVE HIM away. Mr. Hurley called Jake a word that started with a C, and ended with a You Next Tuesday. He did this even in front of Mckenzie, who came to support her fellow friends since she was not allowed to play***
****Side Note - Mckenzie was not allowed to play because Commissioner Hurley thought it would be a great idea to tell girls they can't play. Apparently he thinks we started a club for 8 year olds, or he just doesn't like quality competition of people like Mckenzie, and Nicole Lauer.
Back to the C-word. After Hurley unfairly called Jake the C word, and said he would be willing to trade him, there were immediately three different offers from 3 teams. The most intriguing ones so far were from Ryan Bjorkman who offered, 20 dollars, a 30 pack and Mike Natalie, for Jake Dumond in order to create the greatest dynasty in the history of the world. The second was offered by Kevin Macilvaine who offered 5 dollars, a wooden nickel, and a hand job. The only better offer, that would never be refused, would have been this.
It has yet to be heard if Mr. Hurley will accept any of these offers. It has been confirmed though that Jake Dumond is looking to be traded, not because he didn't have fun today, or thinks his team could do well. He wishes to be traded after being called a See You Next Tuesday, even though he kept his mouth shut the entire day, and had more home runs, RBIs, Hits, and lowest ERA, out of everyone on his team. Even after Jake did this, he did not live up to his "bad boy" (Shout out to Diddy) reputation by bragging and yelling, he simply just accepted defeat and said "we'll get them next time". Apparently Captain Hurley, or as I like to call him, Captain Fag, thought this was bad behavior and wishes to trade him.
So lets recap so far. Commissioner Hurley almost ruined the WAWBL before it started by not having a field. He was saved by assistant commissioner Dumond who recommended playing in Glastonbury. Captain Hurley then lead his team to an 0-2 start, then criticized his best player and offered to trade him.
So you would think Mr. Hurleys bad day would end there right? Wrong. Mr. Hurley then never gave Assistant Commisioner/Stat Keeper Dumond (is there anything this kid can't do), the stats at the end of the game, causing everyone to anxiously await the stats until further in the week. Without those stats, Jake will not be able to post anything else about opening day or how the teams are looking. I haven't seen someone crack under pressure like Mr. Hurley did since this kid.
All in all, opening day of WAWBL was a success. It was a beautiful day, I was THRILLED with the turnout, we didn't really have any fights, controversies or cases of dehydration. There were many good games, and lots of DINGERS.
Thank you all for coming to opening day, and PLEASE keep checking back often to see more updates and posts to this blog. Once I get the stats and standings from the Comish I will throw them up here as well. Also, please pass this blog around. The only way to get more people interested in the WAWBL is to inform people. Those who already know about it, thank you for being a fan of the blog and I hope you enjoy it this year, as much as the actual season.
Finally, if we can take one thing away from opening day that we all learned, it would have to be the facts that: Alex Hurley is awful at being
1)A Commissioner
2)A Captain/Coach
3)A Friend
THANKS FOR READING, SEE YA NEXT POST!
Sneak peak of next blog:
Stats, standings and team run downs.
Firsts of the 2009 WAWBL Season
A Recap of how Chris Haines cheated last year....see previous posts as well
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Monday, May 19, 2008
Miss Rhode Island: Casey Barber
For our last project of Roger Williams University ever, the channel 4 news team set out to interview Casey Barber, who is in the midst of competing for the honors of Miss Rhode Island.
The most difficult part of this assignment was finding B-Roll. Unfortunately we were unable to get footage of the meet and greet, because no one responded to our many e-mails and phone calls. (their loss)
Greg did a great job of editing in this process because he had to deal with the little amounts of B-Roll. He used still pictures of Casey instead of background footage, which seemed to work nicely.
I acted mostly as teh camera man for this assignment and I was very proud of the interview set up we had. I thought the lighting was very good, and the background was even better.
I was disappointed that you can see either mine or Brittany's shadow on the lower portion of Casey and I should have been able to see that before we entered the editing process began.
Thank you to everyone who has followed our hard work throughout this semester and I hope you have all enjoyed the news videos. Keep coming back for I will put up some of my own videos and other blogs in the future. So here is the possible future Miss Rhode Island, Casey Barber.
The most difficult part of this assignment was finding B-Roll. Unfortunately we were unable to get footage of the meet and greet, because no one responded to our many e-mails and phone calls. (their loss)
Greg did a great job of editing in this process because he had to deal with the little amounts of B-Roll. He used still pictures of Casey instead of background footage, which seemed to work nicely.
I acted mostly as teh camera man for this assignment and I was very proud of the interview set up we had. I thought the lighting was very good, and the background was even better.
I was disappointed that you can see either mine or Brittany's shadow on the lower portion of Casey and I should have been able to see that before we entered the editing process began.
Thank you to everyone who has followed our hard work throughout this semester and I hope you have all enjoyed the news videos. Keep coming back for I will put up some of my own videos and other blogs in the future. So here is the possible future Miss Rhode Island, Casey Barber.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
S.T.A.N.D.
Our 2nd to last assignment for the semester was a news package we put together about S.T.A.N.D. which is an anti-genocide club assembled on campus. My job in this cycle was to be the camera man. The main footage we as a group wanted to capture was of an event that S.T.A.N.D. was putting on that represented a refugee camp.
Students spent the night in the quad on our campus, sleeping in tents, and painting messages of hope on a giant tent that will be sent either to Darfur or a museum that represents genocides throughout the world. It was difficult to get a lot of good footage because not many kids participated during the day in the event. I went to the quad while the sun was still out and there were only about 5-10 kids there.
I took this time to interview the President and Vice President of S.T.A.N.D. It was very hard to interview the two girls in a quiet place. The event had very loud music blasting over speakers and the two girls could not travel very far in case more people came to sign up for the event. We walked to the end of the quad and I got about 10-15 minutes worth of interviews from the two of them.
I went back later in the night to get some more B-Roll. It was difficult because the sun was going down and there is no light on the flip video ultra. I tried to get some up-close shots of two African Drummers that were brought in to perform but none of the shots came out good enough to use in the final package.
I was able to get some very good shots at this time of kids painting the tent. By this time, many more students made their way to the quad to take part of this great event and they showed their messages of hope on the tent. It would have been nice to get extremely up-close shots of each individual message, however their were many kids around the tent, still painting, without leaving me much space to film. I thought I did a good job of getting the shots I could get with the time, and sun allotting.
A few days later, Brittany recorded her stand-ups and voice over, and Greg spent a great deal of time picking through all the video I had recorded in order to put it all together. So without further a due, I present a Channel 4 News Team Exclusive : S.T.A.N.D.
Students spent the night in the quad on our campus, sleeping in tents, and painting messages of hope on a giant tent that will be sent either to Darfur or a museum that represents genocides throughout the world. It was difficult to get a lot of good footage because not many kids participated during the day in the event. I went to the quad while the sun was still out and there were only about 5-10 kids there.
I took this time to interview the President and Vice President of S.T.A.N.D. It was very hard to interview the two girls in a quiet place. The event had very loud music blasting over speakers and the two girls could not travel very far in case more people came to sign up for the event. We walked to the end of the quad and I got about 10-15 minutes worth of interviews from the two of them.
I went back later in the night to get some more B-Roll. It was difficult because the sun was going down and there is no light on the flip video ultra. I tried to get some up-close shots of two African Drummers that were brought in to perform but none of the shots came out good enough to use in the final package.
I was able to get some very good shots at this time of kids painting the tent. By this time, many more students made their way to the quad to take part of this great event and they showed their messages of hope on the tent. It would have been nice to get extremely up-close shots of each individual message, however their were many kids around the tent, still painting, without leaving me much space to film. I thought I did a good job of getting the shots I could get with the time, and sun allotting.
A few days later, Brittany recorded her stand-ups and voice over, and Greg spent a great deal of time picking through all the video I had recorded in order to put it all together. So without further a due, I present a Channel 4 News Team Exclusive : S.T.A.N.D.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Dan Roberge Has Talent
Our third assignment was to film someone with talent. I assumed the position of producer this turn around, Greg was our camera man and editor, and Brittany was the interviewer.
When we set out to try and find someone with real talent at Roger Williams, I figured who better then Dan Roberge, a sophomore pitcher for the baseball team, who is fresh off the first perfect game in school history, and 14th ever in division 3 baseball.
Dan was nice enough to sit down with Greg and Brittany a few hours before he had to take the mound in game 2 of a double header. The biggest problem we had with the interview was the wind. While using the flip video ultra has many perks, one big problem is there is really no way to block the wind. At RWU, there is always wind. Below is the video, and below that is some more information of what we did during the video, enjoy.
As you noticed, we used "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" in our video to add some element of "pizazz". Although we initially thought it was a great idea, we now realize that it does make the overall video seem a little choppy, but we still like it. We could have turned the audio of the song down a bit and played it throughout the entire interview but we felt it would muffle Dan.
We feel like the interview came out really well, and I really enjoy the cutting from the interview to the B-Roll, and back. I thought the sound of the music matched up perfectly with the B-Roll, especially the 3 strikes and your out.
We want to thank Dan for his time, and congratulate him on his perfect a few weeks ago, and his 1 hitter that he threw on Tuesday. I had a lot of fun trying to find different angles for our B-Roll, and I think Greg did a great job of picking what ones to use. I love sports and baseball especially so I really enjoyed this project, I hope you all do as well.
When we set out to try and find someone with real talent at Roger Williams, I figured who better then Dan Roberge, a sophomore pitcher for the baseball team, who is fresh off the first perfect game in school history, and 14th ever in division 3 baseball.
Dan was nice enough to sit down with Greg and Brittany a few hours before he had to take the mound in game 2 of a double header. The biggest problem we had with the interview was the wind. While using the flip video ultra has many perks, one big problem is there is really no way to block the wind. At RWU, there is always wind. Below is the video, and below that is some more information of what we did during the video, enjoy.
As you noticed, we used "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" in our video to add some element of "pizazz". Although we initially thought it was a great idea, we now realize that it does make the overall video seem a little choppy, but we still like it. We could have turned the audio of the song down a bit and played it throughout the entire interview but we felt it would muffle Dan.
We feel like the interview came out really well, and I really enjoy the cutting from the interview to the B-Roll, and back. I thought the sound of the music matched up perfectly with the B-Roll, especially the 3 strikes and your out.
We want to thank Dan for his time, and congratulate him on his perfect a few weeks ago, and his 1 hitter that he threw on Tuesday. I had a lot of fun trying to find different angles for our B-Roll, and I think Greg did a great job of picking what ones to use. I love sports and baseball especially so I really enjoyed this project, I hope you all do as well.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
What to do after college?
For our next assignment, we set out to find out what students plan on doing after life at RWU. We originally planned on finding two or three stories, that were completely different from each other. Maybe we would find one person who had their whole career planned out, and others who haven't even began looking. Instead, we found that the majority of the people we talked to were extremly uncertain at what the future held for them.
My job for this assignment was to film all of the B-Roll and find the kids to interview. I spent about an hour to an hour and a half walking around campus trying to film anything and everything that would represent everyday life at RWU. Luckily, it was a beautiful day and I arived in the quad, right when lots of people were coming to and leaving classes. Getting shots around campus was very easy, besides the people who kept trying to walk out of the shot, thinking they would get in the way, even though I wanted them to walk in the shot.
I then found a bunch of my friends and some other people and begged them to let me interview them. Many obliged, so I set out to ask them questions. They were all very cooperative and each interview took about 5 minutes tops. I got a lot of good answers out of all of them, and we ended up using all the interviews except 2.
On Wed, (project due Thursday) Brittany and I brought our cameras to Greg so he can start editing. After we shot Britanny's voice over we noticed President Nirschel walking around outside of the WQRI booth. We ambushed him and asked him to give us a quote or two for our project and he politely agreed. The hardest part of the project was filming the President without a tri-pod as I had to hold the camera as steady as I could, and I think I did a pretty good job with it.
Well heres the final project. I think we all did a great job, and some of the shots we got came out even better than I thought they would. Hope you all enjoy learning about what RWU seniors plan on doing upon graduation.
My job for this assignment was to film all of the B-Roll and find the kids to interview. I spent about an hour to an hour and a half walking around campus trying to film anything and everything that would represent everyday life at RWU. Luckily, it was a beautiful day and I arived in the quad, right when lots of people were coming to and leaving classes. Getting shots around campus was very easy, besides the people who kept trying to walk out of the shot, thinking they would get in the way, even though I wanted them to walk in the shot.
I then found a bunch of my friends and some other people and begged them to let me interview them. Many obliged, so I set out to ask them questions. They were all very cooperative and each interview took about 5 minutes tops. I got a lot of good answers out of all of them, and we ended up using all the interviews except 2.
On Wed, (project due Thursday) Brittany and I brought our cameras to Greg so he can start editing. After we shot Britanny's voice over we noticed President Nirschel walking around outside of the WQRI booth. We ambushed him and asked him to give us a quote or two for our project and he politely agreed. The hardest part of the project was filming the President without a tri-pod as I had to hold the camera as steady as I could, and I think I did a pretty good job with it.
Well heres the final project. I think we all did a great job, and some of the shots we got came out even better than I thought they would. Hope you all enjoy learning about what RWU seniors plan on doing upon graduation.
Monday, April 7, 2008
RWU prepares students for the real world
Over the past week, we have been planning, writing, filming, and editing news stories across the Roger Williams University campus. The class has been broken up into four teams in which we are responsible for coming up with our own story idea, and then after pitching it to our teacher, we set out to make the story happen.
My team consists of Brittany Costa, Greg Walsh, and myself. Our team name is Channel 4 News Team. For our first cycle we decided to do a story on a class offered here at RWU, called Finance 450. The business class is aimed to help prepare students for the real world of buying, trading, and creating a stock portfolio. The students use real money to invest into real stocks, and create a real portfolio.
It is believed the success of the class is not whether the students make money or not (although that is a huge plus) but rather the gaining of real world experience using this hands on learning technique. There are a few new classes here at RWU offers that is creating this unique learning style, which is different than having a teacher lecture at you.
Our next video will be on Roger Williams Seniors, and what some plan on doing after they graduate. We hope to compare and contrast a few students who either have no clue or planning on what they will be doing in the coming months, with a few who are over prepared and maybe already have a job lined up.
Below you will find a Channel 4 News Team Exclusive of Finance 450. This is our first real news package we have put together and we are all very happy with the result. A lot of time and effort went into this and we all hope you enjoy.
My team consists of Brittany Costa, Greg Walsh, and myself. Our team name is Channel 4 News Team. For our first cycle we decided to do a story on a class offered here at RWU, called Finance 450. The business class is aimed to help prepare students for the real world of buying, trading, and creating a stock portfolio. The students use real money to invest into real stocks, and create a real portfolio.
It is believed the success of the class is not whether the students make money or not (although that is a huge plus) but rather the gaining of real world experience using this hands on learning technique. There are a few new classes here at RWU offers that is creating this unique learning style, which is different than having a teacher lecture at you.
Our next video will be on Roger Williams Seniors, and what some plan on doing after they graduate. We hope to compare and contrast a few students who either have no clue or planning on what they will be doing in the coming months, with a few who are over prepared and maybe already have a job lined up.
Below you will find a Channel 4 News Team Exclusive of Finance 450. This is our first real news package we have put together and we are all very happy with the result. A lot of time and effort went into this and we all hope you enjoy.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Major League Baseball Predictions 2008
With opening day (in America) less then 24 hours away, I decided that it's about time I make some Major League Baseball Predictions for the year. The reason I like to predict the winners of each division and the playoffs before the year starts is so I can look back in October and realize that I know absolutely nothing.
2008 should be a great year for the MLB, with lots of parody in every division. From teams who've made great moves in the off season (Detroit Tigers), to teams who've practically changed nothing (Boston Red Sox). From questionable pitching staffs (New York Yankees), to pitchers coming home (Tom Glavine to Atlanta), 2008 is going to be a crazy year.
Now some of my predictions may seem a little far fetched in some areas, and pretty obvious in others. The reason I like to make bold predictions is because if they come true, I look like I know a thing or two more than the professionals, but if they fail miserably, I can always just say I took the long shot and didn't expect it to actually happen.
Before we get into the winners of each division and of coarse the World Series, I'd like to make some slightly bold predictions that you may or may not agree with.
1.Hunter Pence will hit 35 home runs and steal 35 bases
2.Manny Ramirez will hit over 50 home runs
3.Rick Ankiel will hit over 40 home runs (others have predicted this as well)
4.Erik Bedard will win the AL Cy Young Award in a landslide.
5.The Washington Nationals will lose over 100 games. (Tampa Bay 96 losses most last year)
6.Kerry Wood will have over 40 saves.
7. Dice-K will have over a 4.30 ERA for the second straight year.
8.Miguel Cabrera will be top 3 in all Triple Crown categories, winning 2 of them.
9.Randy Johnson will win at least 15 games.
10.Albert Pujols will hit less than 25 home runs and bat under .300
AL MVP=Miguel Cabrera
NL MVP=Matt Holiday
OK, lets move on to how each division will turn out.
AL East
Winner: Boston Red Sox
2nd Place: Toronto Blue Jays
Surprises: Orioles will finish last, even behind the Rays
AL Central
Winner: Cleveland Indians
2nd Place: Detroit Tigers
Surprises: Detroit will not win the division
AL West
Winner: Seattle Mariners
2nd Place: Oakland Athletics
Surprises: The Angles will not finish top 2
NL East
Winner: Atlanta Braves
2nd Place: New York Mets
Surprises: Florida Marlins will finish 3rd over the Phillies, and Nationals lose over 100
NL Central
Winner: Milwaukee Brewers
2nd Place: Chicago Cubs
Surprises: No one will care or follow the NL Central (not much of a surprise)
NL West
Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers
2nd Place: Colorado Rockies
Surprises: The top 4 teams will be separated by less than 2 games at the end of the year. San Fransisco will be very far behind.
AL Wild Card
I want to say the Blue Jays, but playing in the AL East is just too tough for them to come out with a good enough record, so I'll pick the Detroit Tigers.
NL Wild Card
Colorado Rockies for the 2nd straight year.
World Series Match Up
Cleveland Indians vs. Atlanta Braves
World Series Winner
Atlanta Braves
Now I completely understand that some of my predictions may seem far fetched to some of you but sometimes I like to go against the grain. Whats the fun in picking the Tigers or the Red Sox as the favorite to win teh world series when everyone else does. Wheres the fun in having another Red Sox Yankees 1, 2 finish in the AL East or just picking what all the so called "experts" pick. So hopefully you can look at these predictions and not think I'm too crazy, and actually give me a little credit if some of them do come true. And if not one comes true I hope you can look at this and say, well at least he tried.
I am going to try and get some of my friends on camera to make their predictions for the world series and a couple surprises and if I manage to do that it should be up in the next few days. In the mean time enjoy ripping all my picks apart.
2008 should be a great year for the MLB, with lots of parody in every division. From teams who've made great moves in the off season (Detroit Tigers), to teams who've practically changed nothing (Boston Red Sox). From questionable pitching staffs (New York Yankees), to pitchers coming home (Tom Glavine to Atlanta), 2008 is going to be a crazy year.
Now some of my predictions may seem a little far fetched in some areas, and pretty obvious in others. The reason I like to make bold predictions is because if they come true, I look like I know a thing or two more than the professionals, but if they fail miserably, I can always just say I took the long shot and didn't expect it to actually happen.
Before we get into the winners of each division and of coarse the World Series, I'd like to make some slightly bold predictions that you may or may not agree with.
1.Hunter Pence will hit 35 home runs and steal 35 bases
2.Manny Ramirez will hit over 50 home runs
3.Rick Ankiel will hit over 40 home runs (others have predicted this as well)
4.Erik Bedard will win the AL Cy Young Award in a landslide.
5.The Washington Nationals will lose over 100 games. (Tampa Bay 96 losses most last year)
6.Kerry Wood will have over 40 saves.
7. Dice-K will have over a 4.30 ERA for the second straight year.
8.Miguel Cabrera will be top 3 in all Triple Crown categories, winning 2 of them.
9.Randy Johnson will win at least 15 games.
10.Albert Pujols will hit less than 25 home runs and bat under .300
AL MVP=Miguel Cabrera
NL MVP=Matt Holiday
OK, lets move on to how each division will turn out.
AL East
Winner: Boston Red Sox
2nd Place: Toronto Blue Jays
Surprises: Orioles will finish last, even behind the Rays
AL Central
Winner: Cleveland Indians
2nd Place: Detroit Tigers
Surprises: Detroit will not win the division
AL West
Winner: Seattle Mariners
2nd Place: Oakland Athletics
Surprises: The Angles will not finish top 2
NL East
Winner: Atlanta Braves
2nd Place: New York Mets
Surprises: Florida Marlins will finish 3rd over the Phillies, and Nationals lose over 100
NL Central
Winner: Milwaukee Brewers
2nd Place: Chicago Cubs
Surprises: No one will care or follow the NL Central (not much of a surprise)
NL West
Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers
2nd Place: Colorado Rockies
Surprises: The top 4 teams will be separated by less than 2 games at the end of the year. San Fransisco will be very far behind.
AL Wild Card
I want to say the Blue Jays, but playing in the AL East is just too tough for them to come out with a good enough record, so I'll pick the Detroit Tigers.
NL Wild Card
Colorado Rockies for the 2nd straight year.
World Series Match Up
Cleveland Indians vs. Atlanta Braves
World Series Winner
Atlanta Braves
Now I completely understand that some of my predictions may seem far fetched to some of you but sometimes I like to go against the grain. Whats the fun in picking the Tigers or the Red Sox as the favorite to win teh world series when everyone else does. Wheres the fun in having another Red Sox Yankees 1, 2 finish in the AL East or just picking what all the so called "experts" pick. So hopefully you can look at these predictions and not think I'm too crazy, and actually give me a little credit if some of them do come true. And if not one comes true I hope you can look at this and say, well at least he tried.
I am going to try and get some of my friends on camera to make their predictions for the world series and a couple surprises and if I manage to do that it should be up in the next few days. In the mean time enjoy ripping all my picks apart.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
