NYC Mayor Bloomberg Does an About-Face on New York Marathon, Rejects Bourogh President's Request for National Guard

After increasing public criticism, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced the cancellation of the 2012 New York City Marathon. This is the first cancellation in the history of the marathon and reverses an earlier decision from the mayor's office to hold the event despite diverting valuable city resources from assisting in the cleanup in the wake of Hurricane Sandy.

Bloomberg, who as late as Friday afternoon insisted the world's largest marathon should go on as scheduled Sunday, changed course shortly afterward amid intensifying opposition from the city comptroller, the Manhattan borough president and sanitation workers unhappy they had volunteered to help storm victims but were assigned to the race instead. The mayor said he would not want "a cloud to hang over the race or its participants."

We cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event — even one as meaningful as this — to distract attention away from all the critically important work that is being done to recover from the storm and get our city back on track," Bloomberg said.

No one can say they are truly shocked at the cancellation, but what can be shocking is the announcement so close to the race. Participants might have been able to delay flights, change bookings and released hotel space to people without shelter after power outages. Bloomberg has a little egg on his face after relentlessly insisting the race will go on all last week, only to reverse his decision a day and a half before the race, when most participants are already in the city. The suddenness of it all forced runners to deal with an unexpected twist, what to do with no race?

Many New Yorkers had pointed out that if the marathon went on as scheduled would've diverted much-needed police, fire and public works resources from parts of the city. The on-again-off-again decision-making for the Marathon isn't the only post-Sandy decision that Bloomberg has been criticized for.

Earlier this week, Bloomberg dismissed Brooklyn Bourogh President Marty Markowitz's request to send National Guard troops to the hard-hit sections around Coney Island.

Mayor Bloomberg has snubbed Borough President Markowitz’s impassioned plea to bring the National Guard to Hurricane Sandy-scarred Brooklyn — arguing that approving the Beep’s request would be a waste of federal manpower and turn the borough into a police state.

“We don’t need it,” Mayor Bloomberg said on Wednesday during a press update on the city’s ongoing Hurricane Sandy cleanup. “The NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns.”

Markowitz demanded the National Guard’s help just an hour before Bloomberg’s press conference, claiming that the NYPD and FDNY are “brave — but overwhelmed” by all the challenges Sandy brought when it visited the borough on Monday night: flooding, power outages, and looting.

“All of our resources have been stretched to the limit,” Markowitz said. “In the name of public safety we need to send more National Guard personnel into Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Red Hook, and any other locations.”
Mayor Bloomberg has snubbed Borough President Markowitz’s impassioned plea to bring the National Guard to Hurricane Sandy-scarred Brooklyn — arguing that approving the Beep’s request would be a waste of federal manpower and turn the borough into a police state.

“We don’t need it,” Mayor Bloomberg said on Wednesday during a press update on the city’s ongoing Hurricane Sandy cleanup. “The NYPD is the only people we want on the street with guns.”

Markowitz demanded the National Guard’s help just an hour before Bloomberg’s press conference, claiming that the NYPD and FDNY are “brave — but overwhelmed” by all the challenges Sandy brought when it visited the borough on Monday night: flooding, power outages, and looting.

“All of our resources have been stretched to the limit,” Markowitz said. “In the name of public safety we need to send more National Guard personnel into Coney Island, Manhattan Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Red Hook, and any other locations.”

There have been sparodic reports of looting in New York's outer boroughs as an estimated 2.5 million households in the New York metropolitan area are without power heading into the weekend.

Hundreds of Thousands Without Power As Death Toll From Hurricane Sandy Expected to Rise

Storm surge from Hurricane Sandy inundating the Inlet section of Atlantic City, NY as seen from above Dan Cuellar photo

From Labrador to South Carolina, much of the eastern seaboard is digging out from the havoc wrought by Hurricane Sandy's impact and local officials are starting to assess the damage as the death toll from the storm is expected to climb.

Hurricane Sandy- dubbed Frankenstorm after some meteorological projections put it on a collision course with another winter storm system moving in from the Midwest- made landfall just south of Atlantic City, NJ on October 30 before moving inland into Pennsylvania. Although it lost strength after moving inland, all five boroughs of New York City were hit particularly hard by the outer bands of Sandy.

Sandy's impact on the Big Apple was a double whammy of storm surges coming around the same time as high tide. From lower Manhattan to Queens, streets, tunnels and subway lines were flooded, stranding residents and forcing the NYPD and FDNY to respond to a number of calls by boat. In the Breezy Point section of Queens, as many as 110 homes were lost during a 5-alarm fire since the FDNY's trucks could not navigate the flooded streets to reach the homes until the tide receded.

State Island was the hardest hit out of all the boroughs in New York City. Portions of the island were under an evacuation order, but a number of residents chose to ride it out after Staten Island was left relatively unscathed by Sandy last year. According to officials 15 of the 39 confirmed fatalities in New York City from Sandy were on Staten Island.

Even amid the storm, several New York City hospitals took the unprecedented step of evacuating hundreds of patients as backup generators failed. Bellvue Hospital, which had received patients from elsewhere during the storm, began evacuating about 400 patients to Mt. Sinai. A New York City Health and Hospital Corporation official said that National Guardsmen activated due to Sandy instrumental in bringing in much needed fuel for the generator and assisting staff with transporting patients into waiting ambulances. Some of the patients had to be moved down 17 flights of stairs.

With some subway lines still inundated with saltwater, New York's MTA announced that it will resume limited subway service in Manhattan beginning Friday.

While power had been restored to some 4 million households throughout the region, at least 2.5 million are still without electricity in the New York metropolitan area. Across the Hudson in New Jersey, people have been lining up by the hundreds at gas stations to fill their cars or keep their generators running. Many gas stations are without power and remain closed while the ones that are open sell out quickly and it could be days before they're resupplied. This means that many in the slow-moving gas lines- some nearly two miles in length- will have waited in vain.

Amtrak announced that limited intercity service to Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC will resume out of New York's Penn station beginning Friday.

Downtown Elkins, WV under a blanket of snow from the western portion of Hurricane Sandy. Higher elevations in the Appalachians received anywhere from 2 to 3 feet of snowfall. AP Photo/Vicki Smith

To the west, Sandy dumped several feet of snow in West Virginia and central Pennsylvania. At least 6 people were confirmed killed in West Virginia and an estimated 109,000 customers throughout the state were still without power on Thursday, prompting Gov. Tomblin to seek a federal disaster declaration. At least 36 state highways remained shut down on Thursday due to rising floodwaters, fallen tree limbs and heavy snowfall. The melting snow is also expected to saturate the Potomac watershed in the coming weeks.

Happy Halloween From Not Another New England Sports Blog

Well, for the second year in a row it looks as though much of the Northeast is going to have a Halloween with widespread power outages in the wake of a major storm moving through the area.

In fact, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has ordered that halloween celebrations postponed until Monday due to unsafe conditions throughout the state after the Garden State was particularly hard hit by Hurricane Sandy.

For those of you wondering, the enchanting little bruja [and voyeuristic pumpkin- NANESB!] above comes to us courtesey of pin-up artist Freeman Elliot. According to the Pin Up Files, this work from Elliot dates back to 1950 and is titled This Trick's a Treat.

Whatever your Halloween plans are, stay safe tonight- particularly if you have no electricity right now.

East Coast Battening The Hatches for 'FrankenStorm'

Flooding in downtown Norfolk, VA ahead of Hurricane Sandy's arrival on Sunday night. Martin Cornick photo via twitter.

A 'perfect' storm which weather forecasters say is actually a Categroy 1 Hurricane colliding with two smaller storms is set to hit the East Coast beginning late Sunday. While Hurricane Sandy has weakened somewhat after earlier sideswiping Jamaica, the Dominican Republic and Cuba last week,

Hurrican Sandy reportedly had winds in excess of 110 MPH and a well-defined eyewall more than 20 miles in diameter by the time it had made landfall on the eastern end of Cuba on October 25th. Although it weakened from a Category 2 to a category 1 Hurricane

Projected path of Hurricane Sandy, dubbed 'FrankenStorm' after it was forecast that it would merge with two other storm systems

Governors from the Carolinas to Maine have declared a state of emergency in their respective states in anticipation of Sandy/FrankenStorm's arrival. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey cautioned Garden State residents to take the forecaster's warnings seriously and that their state will likely take the brunt of Sandy while Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick is asking schools and universities throughout the Bay state to shut down in anticipation of the storm's arrival. In Rhode Island, Gov Chaffee and local officials have ordered mandatory evacuations for some of the low-lying coastal towns while in Virginia, Gov McDonnell activated 400 National Guardsmen over the weekend. In New York, Gov Cuomo ordered a shutdown of the New York City subway system as well as the MTA commuter rail and bus services effective Sunday night.

Announcement warning of service shutdown at the Long Island RR station in Hicksville, NY. Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

Public safety employees and utility workers have been warned that they should expect to be working extra shifts over the next several days and in the Big Apple, both the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ will be closed on Monday. The Statue of Liberty was slated to re-open to the public this weekend after undergoing a series of renovations, but the official re-open date has been pushed back in anticipation of Sandy's impact in the mid-Atlantic region. Not surprisingly, in addition to commuter rail, Sandy/Frankenstorm has already snarled air service throughout the Mid Atlantic region as thousands of flights have been cancelled. On Sunday, Amtrak announced cancellation of passenger service on the northeast corridor north of New York City while service on the Northeast Corridor between new York and Washignton DC is expected to grind to a halt effective Monday.

Sandy is also affecting the upcoming presidential election with both camps cancelling or postponing campaign stops in Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.

Forecasters anticipate that Sandy/Frankenstorm will move inland in a similar trajectory to Hurrican/Tropical Storm Irene in late August 2011. Vermont and portions of upstate New York were particularly hard-hit, with heavily damaged roads, rail lines and bridges leaving villages in the Green Mountain state isolated from the rest of new England for as long as two weeks.

Hurricane Isaac Makes Landfall in Louisiana Ahead of Katrina Anniversary

Michael DeMocker, The Times-Picayune photo

Evacuation orders were lifted along much of the Gulf coast on Thursday after the considerably weaker but slower-moving Hurricane Issac moved inland in the run-up to the seven year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall.

There was some concern about the possible impact on New Orleans, which is still recovering from Katrina some 7 years later, but the Big Easy was spared a direct hit from Isaac as the storm made landfall twice, coming ashore southeast of New Orleans in Plaquemines Parish for the second time. The storm continued north from there, continually losing strength as it made its way into Arkansas.

While pumps and levees in the Crescent City held up during the city's latest brush with Isaac, suburban and rural areas just outside of New Orleans were hit with flooding as rain from the slow-moving storm overwhelmed neaby bayous.

Earlier in the week, a strengthening Isaac had sideswiped Haiti and the Dominican Republic and forecasters put the hurricane on a trajectory to hit the Florida Gulf Coast around the same time as the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL. Governors Bobby Jindal or Louisiana, Phil Bryant of Mississippi and Robert Bentley of Alabama had pre-emptively declared States of Emergency in the coastal regions of their respective states ahead of Isaac's arrival. The three governors- all Republicans- also cancelled their scheduled visits to the GOP convention to attend to the neccesary disaster prepeartions and cleanup.

Although Isaac was relatively mild compared to other hurricanes that came ashore from the Gulf Coast in recent years, the Cat 1 hurricane still caused widespread problems- particularly in Louisiana. As many as 820,000 residents were without electricity on Thursday- some 39% of the state's population.

Weather Channel Anchor Claims She Was Fired Due To Status as Air Force Reservist

US Air Force Reserve Officer and Weather Channel anchor Nicole Mitchell is filing suit against the Atlanta-based NBC subsidiary network for not renewing her contract due to her military obligations.

The suit claims that when NBC/Universal bought The Weather Channel in 2008, Mitchell was told by the new management that her military schedule "impacts everyone."

She allegedly was harassed for meeting her military obligations, told to clear any military assignments in advance and given less desirable shifts. Mitchell said she eventually was told there was no longer a place for her at The Weather Channel. Management cited "business reasons" and said there were no performance or ratings issues with Mitchell, the press release says. Mitchell said on her Facebook page she has e-mails from the company that clearly violate the Uniformed Services Employment Act.

Currently a major-select- is assigned to the 403rd wing Hurricane Hunters at Keesler AFB [which you'd think would be a natural fit for a reservist working for the Weather Channel- NANESB], Mitchell pointed out on her Facebook account that the Atlanta-based network would be in violation of The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 by not renewing her contract due to her Air Force reserve obligations. USERRA prohibits an employer from discriminating against an applicant or current employees based on their military service. According to the suit, Weather Channel producers would often complain of having to adjust the network's schedule based on her reserve obligations.

Curiously, the Weather Channel would sometimes include images of Mitchell serving with the USAF's Hurricane Hunters in their promotional materiel prior to her contract not being renewed. It's also worth noting that the same network who decided to hire Keith Olbermann's 25 year old girlfriend in 2009 saw Mitchell's service as an imepdiment to her continued employment with the Weather Channel.

Mitchell's suit comes around the same time as an aspiring Boston firefighter and veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan was spurned from renting an available apartment by an anti-war activist landlady who learned of his military service.

Roads Crumble, Bridges Collapse and Towns Cut Off As Vermont, Upstate New York Lashed by Remnants of Hurricane Irene

Andre Malebra- Burlington Free Press

After making a second landfall on Sunday outside of Egg Harbor Township just outside of Atlantic City, NJ, Hurricane Irene churned north and was downgraded to a tropical storm around the same time she made a third and final landfall near Coney Island in Brooklyn, NY.

However, the storm would continue wreaking havoc with torrential rains and inland flooding as it continued north through the mountain ranges on either side of the Hudson River.



Southwest of Albany, Scoharie County was hit particularly hard by heavy rains and flooding. The rains sent water over the banks and through the main streets of towns like Prattsville and Windham.

Irene did not let up when she crossed over into the Green Mountain state, dumping as much as 11 inches of rain in just under 48 hours, turning placid rivers into swollen torrents of water sweeping away cars, homes, railroads, chunks of highways and even the region's iconic covered bridges.



Portions of roadways and bridges throughout Vermont have been washed out, leaving entire towns severed from the rest of the state. Route 9, a two lane thoroughfare that crosses the southern portion of Vermont linking Bennington with Brattleboro has been closed indefinitely according to the Vermont Agency of Transportation. At least 30 bridges on state highways- from covered to modern- remained closed as well as any number of bridges on county or municipal roads.

The Vermont National Guard was activated to airlift food, clean water and supplies to towns by helicopter where the road links to the rest of the state had been severed. With 55 Vermont National Guard soldiers and 6 Blackhawk helicopters deployed in Iraq, the National Guard from New Hampshire and Illinois sent additional craft and personnel to assist while high-wheeled vehicles were used to traverse stretches of road that had been washed away.

So far the death toll from Irene is 41 throughout 11 states. The storm is also responsible for an estimated $7 billion in property damage from North Carolina's Outer Banks to northern Vermont.

Tempest Sports Chowdah in a Tea Cup, Come on Irene Edition- Aug 29, 2011

RED SOX: After dealing with 104° heat in Arlington, TX for their four-game series against the Rangers (which the Red Sox won the final three in convincing fashion), the Red Sox headed back to Boston just in time for the approach of Hurricane Irene.

Upon returning to Fenway, not only did they have to deal with forces of nature, but an Oakland A's team that was still smarting from allowing an unprecedented three grand slams in one game to the New York Yankees in last Thursday's 22-9 spanking of Oakland (although the A's took the first two to win the series).

Tim Wakefield continued his futile, almost Groundhog Day-esque quest for 200 wins on Friday night- it did not end well, with A's starter Gio Gonzalez getting plenty of run support in Oakland's 15-5 win.

As bad as that was, Hurricane Irene's approach was of more concern. Although the worst of the storm was expected to move out of the region by Monday and the Red Sox had the day off, Oakland was supposed to play Cleveland that day. With the storm expected to arrive on Sunday, it was decided to play Sunday's game as part of a doubleheader on Saturday.

Jon Lester had to wait out two rain delays in Game 1 to get the 9-3 win, including a 2 hour and 15 min dealy in the 7th. Apparently Game 1 couldn't have been made official after 7 innings because that would've effectively cancelled game 2 according to MLB rules.

For Game 2 of the doubleheader, Erik Bedard gave up his second single of the day before nature once again intervened in the top of the 5th. After another rain delay (the 3rd on the day) play resumed with Alfredo Aceves on the mound going three hitless innings to get credit for the win.

After riding out the remnants of Irene and an off day on Monday, the Red Sox will host the Yankees beginning Tuesday night. The Yankees took two out of three games played against Baltimore in a series that also required some shuffling and rescheduling thanks to Hurricane Irene. Game 1 will feature CC Sabathia (17-7; 2.99 ERA) going up against John Lackey (12-9; 5.98 ERA). First pitch will be at 7:10 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and the MLB Network.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: The Red Sox sent Ryan Lavarnaway down to Pawtucket this week. The catcher filled in for Big Papi while he missed a week with bursitis, batting .303 and with 3 RBIs over 7 games with Boston. Boston then very briefly called up RHP Scott Atcheson before sending him down to Pawtucket for RHP Micheal Bowden over the weekend. Bowden is 3-3 with a 2.73 ERA for the Paw Sox this season.

Brownwood, TX firefighter Shannon Stone w/son Cooper at fire station- Heather Klein Photo

OTHER MLB NEWS- TEXAS: The Texas Rangers announced plans to erect a statue in honor of Brownwood, TX fireman Shannon Stone who was killed in a fall at Rangers ballpark in Arlington, TX earlier this season while trying to catch a ball tossed up from the field.

The statue will depict Mr. Stone and his six-year-old son Cooper attending a Rangers game. The full-size bronze statue is likely to be located outside the home plate gate of Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

“We feel that this statue will be a most fitting tribute,” commented Rangers CEO and President Nolan Ryan. “It will not only serve to honor Mr. Stone’s memory but also to recognize Rangers fans and baseball fans everywhere.

“I have discussed the project with Jenny Stone, and she and the Stone family will be involved in the design and creation of the statue.”

Jenny Stone issued the following statement:

“We continue to be appreciative of Nolan Ryan and the Texas Rangers as we deal with the loss of Shannon. Shannon and Cooper had a special relationship, and we are touched and grateful that it will be memorialized at one of their favorite places. Our hope is that this statue will not be a symbol of our family tragedy but rather a reminder of the importance of a family's love - love of each other, love of spending time together, and love of the game.”

The Rangers, who will fund the project, are in the early stages of considering sculptors to design and create the statue.

The statue is tentatively titled 'Rangers Fans' and is expected to be completed in time for the 2012 season.

CLEVELAND: Jim Thome arrived back in Cleveland after being placed on waivers by the Minnesota Twins last week. With Tribe DH Travis Hafner out for the season and possibly needing foot surgery, Thome was acquired by the Indians after the Twins went 20 games under .500 and were 16 games out of 1st place before Thome was dealt.

Thome was initially drafted in the 13th round of the 1989 MLB draft and made his debut as a third baseman towards the end of the 1991 season. Thome left for the Philadelphia Phillies in 2003 and has since logged time with the White Sox and Dodgers before the Twins signed him to a 1-year deal in 2010.

Earlier this summer, Thome hit career home run #600 with the Twins- that number is now 602. The veteran DH has a .277 batting average in his 20 year MLB career.

BALTIMORE: UMass alum and Cy Young winner Mike Flannigan was found dead from a gunshot wound to the head on his Maryland property last week. The Maryland state medical examiner ruled his death a suicide and friends and family said he had seemed despondent over financial issues.

Flannigan started out with Baltimore in the 1975 season winning a Cy Young in 1979 and the World Series in 1983. In 1987, he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays where before returning to the O's for the 1991 and 1992 season. The left-hander had a career record of 167-143 and a 3.90 ERA. After retiring, Flannigan worked in the front office in Baltimore before becoming a color commentator on the team's TV network.

NFL: The Patriots might've missed Hurricane Irene with their preseason trip to the Motor City, but they came up empty against the Lions. In a game that was actually less exciting than any of the three rain delays at Fenway, Lions QB Matthew Stafford wetn 12-14 with 200 yards and 2 TDs in Detroit's 34-10 preseason win over New England.

A final preseason game is scheduled for Thursday night this week in which the Pats will take on the NY Giants at Foxboro.

Irene Makes Landfall, Spawns Tornadoes as it Churns Its Way Up East Coast

Hurricane Irene made landfall outside of Nags Head, NC at around 7:30 AM ET today, bringing with it storm surges and winds of 85 MPH. So far, Irene is blamed for at least six deaths in the region since Friday and has left millions without electrical power in the Carolinas and Virgina. The storm also spawned a series of tornadoes that struck parts of an already evacuated Virginia Beach, VA.

In Washington D.C., the District's Department of Public works was giving out sandbags to DC residents in the parking lot of RFK stadium, while Philadephia's mayor declared a state of emergency- the city's first such delcaration since 1986.

New York City took the unprecedented step of shutting down the subway and bus system while issuing a mandatory evacuation order for the lower-lying parts of the city, including the area around Battery Park and Wall Street.

After cancelling trains south of Washington DC, Amtrak announced that they would be cancelling all trains north of Washington DC this weekend, including the Northeast Corridor, Keystone Corridor and Empire service.

In Boston, while fishermen and lobstermen north of the hub were bringing in their vessels and gear ahead of Irene's arrival, airlines are expected to cancel their flights into and out of Logan Airport and MBTA is suspending bus, subway, ferry and commuter rail service on Sunday.

East Coast Braces for Hurricane Irene's Approach

Tourists and truck drivers evacuating North Carolina's Outer Banks by ferry. Photo: Chuck Beckley- New Bern Sun Journal

A mandatory evacuation order for the outer banks of North Carolina is expected to go into effect Friday as Hurricane Irene gained strength while approaching from the south.

Workers from the North Carolina DOT were inspecting the aging Bonner Bridge after Tuesday's magnitude 5.8 earthquake in Virginia- the bridge links North Carolina Route 12 from Cape Hatteras to the mainland and is a key evacuation route. Further inland, residents jammed the aisles of local stores and markets in order to stock up on food, fuel, water, generators and other supplies.

At least 180 flights to and from major east coast airports have been cancelled with Irene's expected arrival. Amtrak trains south of Washington D.C., already hobbled by slow orders from host railroads Norfolk Southern and CSX after Tuesday's earthquake in Virginia, were cancelled while travellers were awaiting word on any possible service disruptions on the busy Northeast Corridor.

To the north, the governors of Virginia, Maryland, New York and New Jersey have declared states of emergency in advance of Irene's landfall. The US Navy sortied more than two dozen vessels from the huge Norfolk Naval station, including the aircraft carrier Dwight D Eisenhower, while further north, four attack submarines were dispatched from their Groton, CT base to ride out the storm in deep water. Naval aircraft was being flown further inland to ride out the storm.

Officials in New York City are considering evacuations of low-lying areas in a worst-case scenario among other preparations.

The city is making preparations to open 65 evacuation centers, seven special medical needs shelters and 75 general population shelters. These facilities can hold roughly 71,000 people; there are about 272,000 people living in the area most likely to be affected.

Officials recommended residents put together a supply kit, including drinking water, a flashlight, a battery-operated radio and a whistle

The Philadelphia Phillies have rescheduled Sundays game against the Florida Marlins to be played on Sat. In Boston, Sunday's scheduled game against the Oakland A's will likely also be moved to a Saturday doubleheader. Aug 27th as a doubleheader and the Orioles are discussing doing the same with their weekend series against the Yankees. In Maine, the Maine Eastern Railway announced that they were cancelling trains for Sunday, Aug 28th.

All these precautions and preparations are underway despite the uncertainty of where exactly Irene is supposed to make landfall. Numerous projections show her coming ashore anywhere from North Carolina's Outer Banks to Cape Cod while possibly increasing to Category 3 in the process.

Even if the eye of the storm misses the most densely populated areas, there could still be extensive damage to metropolitan areas thanks to heavy rains and winds in the storm's outer bands. If Irene does strike New England, she will likely be the first significant hurricane to strike since Hurricane Gloria in 1985. Like Gloria, it's also entirely possible that Irene could make landfall multiple times.