35 YEARS AGO TODAY.

Red Sox Nation's most memorable moment prior to 2004.

Cuppa Sports Chowdah Runneth Over- Pats Get Past Ravens W/Help of Sturdy Branch; B's Off to Capital Start; BC's Woes Continue

NFL: Well, that was pretty awesome. I managed to tune in just in time for the 4th quarter of Sunday's Baltimore/New England game with the Ravens leading 20-10. That was answered by a drive that started on the Pat's own 40 and was capped by a Brady TD pass to Deion Branch (who hardly looked as though he missed a practice) to make it a 3 point game. The Ravens would get as far as mid-field on their next possession, but punted it away on 4th and 1.

The game-tying drive for New England started on their own 14 yard line and threatened to sputter when the Pats were penalized 15 yards after advancing the ball to the Ravens 35 yard line, but a 24 yard completion from Brady to TE Rob Gronkowski brought up 2nd and 1, where the Pats would drive the ball inside the Baltimore 10, but have to settle for the game-tying field goal to cap off a methodical drive that burned nearly 7 minutes off of the clock.

After going three and out from their own 20, Baltimore punted and Wes Welker had a 22 yard return to put the ball at mid-field with 45 seconds left in regulation. However, Brady would get sacked by Haloti Ngata before Brady's hail-mary pass was intercepted in the end zone for a touchback as regulation expired with the game tied at 20-20.

Overtime started off with each team going three and out, although Baltimore was able to string together some first downs, they still ended up punting. However, they were able to keep the Patriots pinned deep on their own end of the field- at least until rookie Romanian punter Zoltan Mesko booted the ball 65 yards from their own 14 to put the Ravens inside their own 20. The Ravens subsequently went three and out, giving the Pats good field position for another sustained drive, distributing the ball between Welker, Branch and Algie Crumpler before Stephen Gostkowski kicked a relatively easy field goal (with just under 2 minutes left in OT) to give New England the 23-20 win.

Tom Brady went 27-44 with 292 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions and got sacked three times. In his first game for New England since Superbowl XXXIX, Deion Branch had 9 receptions for 98 yards and a touchdown. For Baltimore, Joe Flacco went 27-35 with 285 yards and 2 TDs and getting sacked three times. Ray Rice was the Ravens leading receiver with 88 yards and Derrick Mason had 100 yards on 8 carries to lead Baltimore's rushing game.

Not a bad way to come off of the bye week. The Patriots have won 3 in a row and are now 4-1. This weekend, they'll travel to southern California to take on the San Diego Chargers at 4PM ET, 1 PM Pacific.

OTHER PATS NEWS: Brandon Merriweather issued an apology to Ravens TE Todd Heap after a helmet-to-helmet hit. Merriweather and two others were fined earlier this week for what the NFL called dangerous and flagrant hits. Merriweather was fined $50,000 for the his but faces no suspension

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: Speaking of Southern California, former Pats, Chargers and Dolphins linebacker Junior Seau was released from a La Jolla, CA hospital with minor injuries after the SUV he was driving plunged off of a seaside cliff in Carlsbad, CA on Monday night. The accident came within 12 hours of his arrest and release by police in Oceanside, CA on domestic violence charges after an argument with his 25 year old girlfriend. Seau told investigators he fell asleep at the wheel- Carlsbad police say that the lack of skidmarks on the seaside highway are consistent with Seau's account. Moreover, they say that no drugs or alcohol were present.

Greg Fiume/Getty

NHL: The Bruins are back in the continental United States and off to a pretty good start. I caught most of their 4-1 win over New Jersey on Saturday, and on Tuesday night, they travelled to Washington DC to take on the Caps in which the game was quasi-nationally televised on Versus. David Krejci and Milan Lucic got the scoring started for Boston with a goal each and just over two minutes apart in the 1st. Washington's Marcus Johansson managed to cut the Bruins lead in half in the 2nd period, but Matt Hunwick put the game away with some insurance in the 3rd to make it 3-1. Caps netminder Michal Neuvirth was pulled after allowing the two Boston goals in the first and has since been listed as day-to-day with flu-like symptoms while Tim Thomas stopped 35 of 36 shots faced.

The Bruins head back for their home opener Thursday night against the Caps with a 3-1-0 record. The puck is scheduled to drop at 7PM ET/4 Pacific.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Damn- they played better than the last three weeks, but Boston College couldn't get off the schnide against Florida State. Turnovers by the Seminoles nearly cost them the game, but with a little over 11 minutes to go, a 42 yard TD run by 'Noles WR Bert Reed put them up for good by a score of 24-19. At least 10 of those points for BC came off of turnovers from Florida State QB Charlie Ponder, but it obviously wasn't enough for the W. Montel Harris had 26 carries for 191 yards, but no TD's.

The Eagles head back to Chestnut Hill and will host 4-2 Maryland on Saturday.

OTHER BOSTON COLLEGE NEWS:

Credit where credit's due, CNN ran this story on BC linebacker Mark Herzlich's overcoming bone cancer to return to the lineup this season. Kinda puts a disappointing 0-4 slide into perspective.

OTHER NCAA FOOTBALL NEWS: Rutgers defensive tackle Eric LaGrande suffered a spinal cord injury during last weekend's game against the Army Black Knights and is said to have no movement below his neck. The junior was rushed to Hackensack University Medical center where he underwent emergency surgery and remained in the intensive care unit. Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano says that LeGrande is in good spirits and is aware "...of the new set of challenges ahead of him". As of Wednesday night, there was no further updates on his condiditon.

UConn QB Cody Endres has been suspended for the remainder of the season for an unspecified violation of school rules. Redshirt freshman Michael Box is listed as Endres' backup. Endres replaced the erratic Zach Frazier halfway through the September 25 game against Buffalo and could also be a possible replacement.

MLB: Holy crap! These games are just flying by, aren't they? The Giants are one game away from their pursuit of their first World Series title since moving out to San Francisco, taking a commanding 3-1 series lead in the NLCS.

Meanwhile, the Texas Rangers have a 3-2 series lead on the Yankees after splitting the first two games at Arlington, TX and winning the first two games at Yankee stadium. The Yankees won Wednesday's game by a margin of 7-2, setting up a Game 6 back in Arlington with Colby Lewis tenatively scheduled to start against the Yankee's Phil Huges on Saturday.

WTF, VFW!? Update: VFW to Dissolve PAC

At this point, all I can say is "about damn time". Habitually endorsing incumbents is not unheard-of by certain PACs. Endorsing incumbents that have showed nothing but disdain and contempt for the group you supposedly represent throughout their entire careers shows a staggering laziness and disconnect that cannot be reconciled.

From Blackfive:

I have reviewed the Political Action Committee (PAC) Board of Directors’ response
to our request to rescind this year’ s Congressional endorsements. I disagree with their assessment.

It is now evident to most of the VFW leadership, both National and especially the
departments, that the VFW has been subjected to extreme negative publicity throughout the nation, and the recent endorsement decisions have, in fact, harmed the VFW’ s reputation and future ability to fulfill our mission.

I cannot let this erosion of public support for our great organization continue. The
apparent lack of the committee to address these concerns will lead to a proposal by me, as Commander-in-Chief, to amend the by-laws at the 112th National Convention for the purpose of dissolving the PAC. Meanwhile, under the authority granted to me as Commander-in-Chief in section 619 of the VFW National By-Laws and under section 620 of the Manual of Procedure, I am withdrawing all PAC appointments effective October 15, 2010.

Accordingly, I’ m asking the council for a vote of “ no confidence” in the VFW PAC as
indicated on the enclosed ballot.

To: National Council of Administration
From: Richard L. Eubank, Commander-in-Chief
Date: October 14, 2010

Also from Blackfive comes word that the VFW Ladies Auxiliary withdrew funding from the PAC effective last week.

Better late than never, but one has to wonder how it got to this point in the first place.

[Hat Tip: Blackfive, Spin Strangeness & Charm]

Borderline Psychosis Update- More Freshwater Piracy at Falcon Lake; Mexican Authorities Tread Cautiously in Cartel-Held Territory

A Colorado man is missing and presumed dead after he and his wife were attacked and pursued by smugglers in the waters on the Mexican side of Falcon Reservoir along the Texas/Mexico border.

According to a second, more comprehensive statement to Mexican investigators, Tiffany Young-Hartley, 29, said that she and her husband David Hartley, 30, were accosted by gunmen in three small boats as they were sightseeing along the Reservoir on separate jet skis on September 30. The gunmen opened fire, striking David as the couple fled according to her statement. Both Hartley and his jet-ski have been missing since then.

Mexican investigators were initially skeptical of Young-Hartley's account.

Only ranchers and steers populate the abandoned and partially submerged ruins, as well as a handful of anglers who remain along the Salado river, which flows into Falcon Reservoir. None told investigators they heard anything Thursday while out on the quiet waters.

“How would someone know where the incident occurred?” asked Rolando Armando Flores Villegas, the Tamaulipas State Police commander. “That place is very unsafe. Nobody lives there — only organized criminals. That’s their land.”

Flores has received reports of attacks on Falcon Reservoir, he said. But no one has alleged anything close to what Young-Hartley reported to authorities.

“Since everything is so calm over there, they could hear any noise,” Flores said of the anglers and ranchers in that area. “But they said they didn’t hear any gunshots or anything — and they didn’t even hear a Jet Ski.”

The case took an even more sinister turn last week when commander Flores' severed head was dropped off in a suitcase in front of a Mexican military base at nearby Miguel Aleman. Since then, authorities have suspended the search for Hartley's body.

Investigators in the USA and Mexico and a Texas-based national security think tank believe that the couple was initially mistaken for rival smugglers by the gunmen that accosted them.

ELSEWHERE: The Los Angeles Times accompanied a detachment of heavily armed Mexican police officers who were tasked with delivering US$40,000 in pension and back-pay to senior citizens living in remote towns and pueblas in Sonora.

This was necessary because the region is increasingly cut off from the rest of the country due to a struggle for territorial control between two of Mexico's cartels- the Beltran-Leyva and Sinaloa. Gunmen from the Beltran-Leyva cartel had taken over a string of ranches and pueblas between Altar, Sonora and the Arizona border 50 miles to the north. In retaliation, the Sinaloa Cartel has been patiently and methodically cutting off the area from the rest of the country, choking off food, mail and fuel deliveries to their rivals and an estimated 5,000 residents in the reigon.

I'm not a fan of the LA Times, but read the whole thing. Aside from the high profile and brazen acts of violence in places like Juarez or the grisly discoveries of mass graves in Taxco or Monterrey, the besieged villages in northern Sonora are an example of how the cartels are able to control vast tracts of rural land to expedite their lucrative human and drug smuggling routes.

The Lonely Planet Blonde Guide To Latvia

Well....this could modify my future travel plans somewhat.

From the country that brought us the Blonde Parade comes word that a gender imbalance that skews 8% towards the women has left the Baltic former Soviet republic of Latvia short of men.

While more boys are born in Latvia than girls, the balance shifts dramatically in adulthood.

A high early male mortality rate means that there are 8% more women than men in the country

In the busy entry hall of the University of Latvia, Riga, the gender imbalance is visible.

According to sociologist and lecturer Baiba Bela, there are 50% more women enrolled there than men.

She says this means that women often find it harder to find a partner with an equal level of education.

And by the time women want to settle down, men are dying younger and are four times more likely to commit suicide.

"The first time the gender imbalance appears is between 30 and 40," Baiba explains.

"In this age group the mortality for men is three times higher than the same age group for women."

"Car driving, alcoholism and accidents in the workplace are mainly riskier for men than for women," she adds.

Among the under-30s, there are almost 9,000 more men than women. But between the ages of 30-39, there are almost 3,000 more women than men.

A couple of facts about Latvia- it covers roughly 25,000 square miles and is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, the Baltic sea to the west and Russia and Belarus to the east. The unit of currency is the Lat and although it is supposed to be integrated into the Euro-zone, the economic crisis of the last two years have put those plans off until at least sometime in 2012. Latvia's official language, unsurprisingly, is Latvian. Citizens of the USA, Canada, Australia, the UK, New Zealand and most EU countries do not require visas for stays of up to 90 days.

Included among Latvia's exports, mezzo-soprano opera singer Elina Garanca (appropriately enough, the blonde in the duet):

On a 100% completely unrelated note, my passport expired nearly three years ago, yet I somehow feel the driving need to get a new one as soon as possible.

Today's Train of Thought- Change is U.P. in The Air; October 17, 2010

The Lake Superior and Ishpeming in Michigan's Upper Penninsula had a reputation for making the most for it's oddball fleet of six-axle ALCos and GE diesels up until the end of the 1980s, where they were replaced.....well....by more oddball diesels. This time around, the replacements took the form of nearly twenty six-axles U30C's purchased secondhand from Burlington Northern. The 3000 HP behemoths had an extensive background hauling coal from Wyoming's Powder River basin to power plants throughout the midwest and would seemingly be at home hauling ore jennies from the mines to the dock along the south shore of Lake Superior at Marquette, MI. The 50-mile line sees most of it's traffic come from mining.

With the leaves starting to change color in Michigan's upper peninsula, railpictures.net contributor Kevin the Krazy 1 caught LS&I U30C #3006 leading a short train from the Canadian National (former Wisconsin Central) interchange through the rock cut at Neagunnee, MI on a brilliant October 2008 afternoon.

While change may come slowly to the LS&I, it does come sooner or later as the shortline is presently leasing nine C44-9s from CIT Group.

Members to VFW- WTF? Veterans Of Foreign Wars PAC Endorses Liberal, Anti-Military Incumbents Over Actual Veterans

Something's rotten at the Veterans of Foreign Wars and their political action committee, and the rank and file VFW membership doesn't like it one bit.

I probably should've noticed something was amiss when the West Hartford, CT chapter of the VFW allowed truth-impaired douchebag Dick Blumenthal to stage his photo-op press conference and non-apology apology from their lodge back in May.

Now, the VFW is in trouble over endorsements their PAC has made for the 2010 midterms, including Barbara Boxer, Henry Waxman, Nancy Pelosi and Alan Grayson. Despite the uproar from membership, the PAC has refused to rescind their endorsements, citing some ambiguous criteria that skews heavily towards incumbents. Even after it was revealed that Boxer and Waxman used their positions to aid a radical leftist anti-war group to travel to Fallujah, Iraq (by way of Jordan) so they could deliver money and aid to families of insurgents. I mean, besides Speaker Pelosi using the military as her own personal Chauffeur for her and her family, we have Sen. Boxer who voted against funding for body armour and treatment of brain trauma for American soldiers back in 2007, much to Joe Biden's chagrin. So....again, I'd be really interested in knowing what the PAC's endorsement criteria is- because so far, it seems to be apple pie gee-aren't-our-GI's-swell-now-vote-for-me platitudes from leftist hacks specifically trotted out in the weeks before the election.

Although the VFW leadership was critical of 0bamacare's adverse effects on already-existing healthcare services for veterans and active-duty military personnel, the VFW PAC not only endorsed a number of candidates that voted in favor of 0bamacare [feel free to cross-reference the VFW-PAC's list of endorsed candidates with THE LIST- NANESB!] but liberal Democrat incumbents who are running against military veterans.

For instance, out of the 10 candidates on the revised Vets For Freedom PAC Operation 10 in 10, the VFW's PAC endorses 8 of their opponents and declines any endorsement in two other races- the open seat in Arkansas' 2nd district and the race between House Financial Services Chair Barney Frank and Marine Reservist Sean Bielat. There are post 9/11 veterans in California, Michigan and Arizona who's opponents are endorsed by the VFW's PAC as well.

This doesn't just apply to Republican candidates, either. The VFW's PAC also declined to endorse Democrat Matt Zeller, who served in Afghanistan and is running for the currently vacant seat in New York's 29th district.

Now, all this raises the rather obvious question. What's the point of having a PAC if it goes directly against the wishes of their membership? Will the VFW allow itself to be done in by its own PAC?

Pajamas Media: Up-Close View of Hungarian Red Sludge Aftermath

As the cleanup in Western Hungary begins, former Ambassador Andras Simonyi gives readers a firsthand account of the scope and aftermath of the MAL Ajka disaster.

[Hat tip: littleoldlady from Correspondence Committee]

New York, Illinois Elections Officials Fail To Send Off Mail-In Ballots for Overseas Military Personnel In Time

According to a letter sent to the Pentagon by officials from the New York Board of Elections, absentee ballots for servicemen from all five boroughs of New York City as well as Putnam, Westchester, Erie and Niagara counties were not mailed off by the October 1st deadline.

The delay means approximately 50,000 people from New York City now in the military could miss their chance to vote because it can take two weeks for the mail system to deliver ballots to troops overseas. New York State allows for absentee ballots to be counted up to 13 days after Election Day, which is Nov. 2.

The delay also affects overseas voters from New York City's northern suburbs as well as Buffalo and Niagara Falls.

New York had initially gotten a waiver from the 2009 MOVE act because their primaries were relatively late (September 14), but on Wednesday the Justice Department brought a suit against the state of New York after it became clear that at least four counties missed the Oct. 1st deadline.

The Justice Department is also looking into similar reports from Illinois after the Director for the Illinois State Board of Elections Director said that not all of the state's 110 jurisdictions were compliant with the MOVE Act. Without the waiver, the ballots were supposed to be mailed by September 18th.

Now keep in mind that service members tend to vote Republican most of the time while the local, state and federal lawmakers and officials in jurisdictions that have been delinquent in mailing out the absentee ballots are universally Democrat- unelected Democrats in the Governor's mansion in both Illinois and New York, to boot.

So this more or less comes down to two possible explanations- the more sinister being that this is an effort by Democrat officials to disenfranchise uniformed members of the United States military. This would not be the first time the Democrats went out of their way to disenfranchise military personnel serving overseas [Just ask Houston, TX mayor (and Democrat gubernatorial candidate) Bill White- NANESB!]
The other, more 'benign' and plausible excuse would be sheer and utter jaw-dropping incompetence on the part of officials. In either instance, do you think that they've earned your vote?

[Hat Tip: Weasel Zippers, Lonely Conservative, Realwest at Correspondence Committee]

Endgame! Rescuers Begin Bringing Trapped Chilean Miners to Surface

Man oh man...what a year for Chile. First there was that massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake, then they got their asses handed to them in the World Cup. Somehow, I think the latest news out of Copiapo more than makes up for it.

I figure it would only be a matter of time before I updated the saga of the 33 trapped Chilean miners, but as it turned out, it was a little sooner than I expected.

A metallic capsule named 'The Phoenix' was set to start bringing up the miners trapped at the San Jose mine one by one this week. The miners had been trapped since August, although supplies were being sent down to them through a hole roughly the diameter of a grapefruit as rescuers were working on a larger, parallel shaft.

It's been estimated that it may take as long as 36 hours for all the miners to be pulled up to the surface, but the capsule has successfully reached the miners and the first half dozen have made it back to the surface. Along with the head of Chile's state-run copper company, a medic from Chile's navy went down in the capsule to do a cursory examination of the men before the capsule hauled them up. Right now, all of the men have been given sunglasses- even though they were being brought up to the surface shortly after midnight- because of the glare of spotlights from the media and rescuers. The capsules are also equipped with video cameras, an intercom and oxygen masks to monitor their health on the way back up.

Once at the surface, the men were greeted by their families and Chilean President Sebastian Piñera before being sent to a triage center and hospital in Copiopo for further physical evaluation.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the miners, their families and the rescuers for their (thus far) successful rescue that has caught the world's undivided attention. All too often we hear about mining accidents on this scale with very tragic outcomes, so it it very welcoming to get some good news along these lines for a change.

[To honor the end of the miner's plight, I'm listening to this- but playing it backwards, of course...NANESB!]

UPDATE 10/13: The last of the 33 miners, 54 year old foreman Luis Urzua, has reached the surface in the Phoenix capsule tonight. Urzua and the other 32 miners are undergoing examination in nearby Copiapo, but are believed to be in overall good physical health.