Welcome to the my Web site, v. XII. The blog is typically published Monday - Saturday. My primary topics tend to be the Nats, Penn State (esp. football), BeltwayLand, transportation, media, photos and more. The rest of the site gets updated as warranted and is noted on the blog.
Good Heller column on the lost season - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Thursday, August 21, 2008
Good Heller column on the lost season
Dick Heller: Nats' casualties of woe could be Acta, Bowden - The Wash. Times Heller has a strong column that looks at this failed season. He thinks that both GM Jim Bowden and manager Manny Acta might have to go with Bowden being the most likely out. Obviously, I'm on board with the former, but I think Acta should stay. I also think Acta should get to hire his own coaches. Hopefully that means Lenny Harris it out of here, something Heller surprisingly ignored.
Fifty years of Ben's Chili Bowl - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Fifty years of Ben's Chili Bowl
Ben's Celebrates Chili Power - The Post This week is the 50th anniversary of Ben's Chili Bowl*, the venerable U Street institution. Bill Cosby loves it more than Jello pudding:
By far, Ben's biggest celebrity fan is Cosby, who will serve as master of ceremonies for tonight's Lincoln Theatre event. The comic helped propel Ben's to the national spotlight in 1985 when he held a news conference there to talk about his No. 1 television program, "The Cosby Show."
Cosby became a fan when he was in the Navy and stationed in Bethesda in 1958. During that time, he was a regular at jazz clubs on U Street. And he also took his soon-to-be wife, Camille, who was a student at the University of Maryland, to Ben's on late-night dates, where he would eat as many as six half-smokes at a time. Cosby likens a Ben's half-smoke, a plump beef and pork sausage, to a fine wine.
"You can describe it the same way a wine connoisseur would be able to tell difference between a pinot noir and a merlot," Cosby said in a telephone interview. "When you bite into a half-smoke, the skin and the way the texture and firmness and the toppings you can get on it . . . "
His voice trailed off, as if he was caught in the memory of the taste.
Six?! The man had a stomach of steel. By the way, that is not recommended date behavior.
Oh and it looks like I will be taking Cliff there real soon -- his Phillies beat the Nats for the eighth time in eleven games. The Phillies need two more victories over the Nats to clinch a Ben's half-smoke for Cliff. The Nats need to win every remaining game against Philadelphia to win me a cheesesteak. Given that the Nats haven't won in 13 games overall, I am not feeling too good about this one.
*The bandwidth limit was exceeded earlier this morning.
Yesterday's NYC tabs had same frontpage headline - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Yesterday's NYC tabs had same frontpage headline
Mayor Bloomberg wanted to put wind turbines on top of buildings and bridges and that drew obvious responses. Don't worry, it is not going to happen to any of your favorite landmarks.
Riding the rails of the Northeast Corridor - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Riding the rails of the Northeast Corridor
I have used "Northeast Corridor" as one of my blogger labels for some time now. I use it as a way to organize posts about the Washington-to-Boston corridor since cities like Philadelphia and Boston don't get enough coverage here to warrant their own label. I could use it for The District as well, but I figure it is redundant. Anyway, the actual Northeast Corridor is the electrified railroad tracks between Union Station, Washington D.C. and South Station, Boston. I have been along it via NJ Transit and MARC trains and alongside of it on the PATH and of course I-95 and its spurs and loops, but never on Amtrak, which succeeded the Pennsylvania Railroad as the carrier along the line. We determined that it was the most practical way to make our trip to Yankee Stadium.
I ordered our tickets online at amtrak.com and was surprised to see that the standard fare was significantly less than the AAA fare. So, if you are going to be using Amtrak, make sure you check and don't just use AAA or another discount out of habit. For a 6:20 a.m. departure from Union Station and a return trip from Penn Station at 7:55 p.m. it cost $196 total for the two of us. There was a $19 parking fee for that duration at Union Station as well.
The train left right on schedule and and proceeded through New Carrolton, BWI Airport, Baltimore, Aberdeen, Wilmington, Philadelphia, Trenton, New Brunswick, Metropark (Iselin), Newark and finally into Penn Station. I enjoyed looking out the window and "seeing everybody's backyard" as my father put it, as a different view of the major cities we passed through. Naturally, I had my camera out and uploaded about three dozen shots of the journey.
It is hard to beat the convenience we experienced on the ride up. The train puts you right in the transportation heart of Manhattan with several subway lines and other trains available. You can't get that driving or even taking the bus and forget flying. We hopped on the 2 line and switched to the 4 in the Bronx. The snack car was also reasonably priced compared to other travel, no wonder Amtrak is having funding shortfalls.
On the way back, it was dark, so taking photos proved to be impossible for me. We ran into trouble too -- overhead wires were malfunctioning, possibly from a fire. That led to single-tracking between Wilmington and Aberdeen which added an hour to our return trip. Ah, deferred maintenance, you are just as bad as I have heard. Even with that, I was pleased overall with the decision to take the train, and will strongly consider it again, although they need to bring back names like the Yankee Clipper for these trains, which would be fantastic.
Nats chats 08.20.2008 - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Nats chats 08.20.2008
The losing streak is now at 11 and I am hopelessly behind in the Cheesesteak/Half-Smoke Challenge.
Recommended questions: Does ownership realize that they are losing the hearts and minds of the fanbase? They seem to have lost the rest of the area already.
Would "FIRE BOWDEN" chants help or would it embolden the brass to stick with him so as not to let "the fans run the team?"
Nationals Chat 08.20.2008 - The Wash. Times "Nationals beat writer Mark Zuckerman takes your questions at 1 p.m."
Hopefully it won't crash your browser like it did to mine.
Washington Nationals - The Post "Washington Post Nationals beat writer Chico Harlan will be online Wednesday, Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. ET to take your questions and comments about the Washington Nationals."
Tip, how could you? - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Tip, how could you?
THE BRONX -- I can't help be amused to see the superintendent for the subway station next to Yankee Stadium has the same name as the long-time Speaker of the House from Massachusetts.
Or perhaps, I could turn the question around and say, MTA, how could you?
Welcome Alisa! - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Welcome Alisa!
Courtesy of Brad's Heated Sprinkles comes the news that Sammy has a new sister and Sam & Nicole have a new daughter -- Alisa Nicole. Congratulations to everyone and welcome to the world Alisa!
Save the Babe! A Laufenberg retrospective - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Save the Babe! A Laufenberg retrospective
Rich Tandler has a great piece of QB Babe Laufenberg, the perienniel preseason darling for the Redskins in the mid-1980s. Every year, he'd have an exciting preseason and then get cut. He bounced around the sport for several years after his Redskins glory days, before ending his career as a Cowboy in Troy Aikman's second year. He finished that season and it did not go well. He stuck around Dallas and overcame a speech impediment (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram) to become a Cowboys broadcaster and local sports anchor.
Zimmerman dodges my question - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Zimmerman dodges my question
I emailed a question to a Comcast SportsNet Q&A with Ryan Zimmerman and it was selected. I asked him this question because video of his Opening Night walk-off showed that he was using some colorful language:
Q: In the Boys of Summer, Roger Kahn said "English is superfluous to baseball profanity." Would you agree or disagree with the statement?
William F. Yurasko
A: I really never understood what that meant sorry.
Perhpas it was too out of context, but I though it was a really funny way to ask him about all the swearing.
By the way, tonight is a resumption of
Cliff is up 6-3 in the challenge and a Phillies sweep clinches at least a tie for him. Of course, a Nats sweep, which would be very timely after a 10-game losing streak, ties it all up. There has never been a better time for the Nats to end a reverse course, I've got unhealthy food on the line. Oh and it is "Cheer Everything Night" (Deadspin) at Citizens Bank Park too.
Jim Hall is a worthy successor to Bob Shepherd - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Jim Hall is a worthy successor to Bob Shepherd
THE BRONX -- Bob Shepherd has been the voice of Yankee Stadium since Joe DiMaggio's final season which was also Mickey Mantle's first. Shepherd who is not that far off from 100 years old, has been unable work this season. One of the substitute announcers is Jim Hall, who has a similar voice to Shepherd. Hall will never be Bob Shepherd, but his voice is quite good and I think he would be an upgrade over most p.a. announcers.
Music Tuesday: Theme from "New York, New York" - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Music Tuesday: Theme from "New York, New York"
Since the end of the Yankees game, I have not been able to get this out of my head. This actually wasn't originally sung by Frank Sinatra, but Liza Minelli. However, he took it and made it his own and now they play it after every Yankees game. They used to play the Liza version after losses, but she was not real happy about that for obvious reasons. By the way, what this "to the ball team that lost" stuff Ol' Blue is talking about?"
Oh and I can't help but think of this whenever I think of the Chairman of the Board.
If you have two quarterbacks, you actually have none - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Monday, August 18, 2008
If you have two quarterbacks, you actually have none
Clark, Devlin battling to start at quarterback - CDT Is it just me or is it sounding more and more like Penn State will play both Daryll Clark and Pat Devlin at quarterback? They both sound good on paper, but sample sizes of their play are small and none. Clark, being the older of the two has the edge, but would Devlin even get a chance to be the undisputed starter if he practices well enough?
At the Hammond Organ...Ed Alstrom - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
At the Hammond Organ...Ed Alstrom
THE BRONX -- The Yankees have had an organ since 1967 when then Yankees president Michael Burke bought a Hammond organ and brought Eddie Layton over from CBS, the Yankees owners back then. Layton retired about five years ago and died shortly thereafter. I am glad that the Yankees kept the tradition going by bringing in a new organ player instead of recordings.
L10 - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
L10
With Sunday's loss, the Nationals found themselves in a ten-game losing streak. They also did not sign #1 pick Aaron Crow, who appears to have been looking for more money than the Nationals had in mind all along. Given these two circumstances, perhaps it is time to evaluate the fitness for the job possessed by the general manager. Nah.
A final visit to Yankee Stadium - William World News - William F. Yurasko's blog
Sunday, August 17, 2008
A final visit to Yankee Stadium
THE BRONX -- Erica and I took her parents to their first game at Yankee Stadium. It was my fourth and final visit, the first being 20 years ago. Like that day, the Yankees played the Royals, but this time they won. It took 13 innings and heroics of CF Brett Gardner to win it after an exciting and frustrating day of Yankees baseball. Thankfully, it was a beautiful late summer day and we were sitting in shade, so the nearly five hour long game just flew by.
The Bronx Bombers stranded about ten runners, including leaving the bases loaded at least twice. Were it not for several Kansas City errors, the Yanks might have been shutout. The day also featured the awkward experience of cheering for a pitcher that lacked the character to even play for Peter Angelo$. To his credit, Sidney Ponson pitched a pretty good game.
We were not able to get in the Monument Park line before the game, so I still have not been there :(. I will have to settle for the new Monument Park across the street someday.
I will have several posts about our trip over the next few days.
Washington Nationals, Nats
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