Re: Idle Chatter

1786
I live in Charlotte, and we are just completing a AAA Stadium in downtown (just a few blocks from my condo! I am already a season ticket holder.) Urbanplanet has a debate about Charlotte sports, and I just pulled this off to share.

Random thoughts due to recent reading:

1. The Tampa Bay Rays, despite making the playoffs (again, thanks Blue Jays....) will finish DEAD LAST in attendance this year...again (http://espn.go.com/mlb/attendance). This is fairly remarkable considering the issues in Miami and Houston (Houston recently garnered a 0.00 Nielsen rating for game in Houston).

2. The owner has publicly stated that they were "hoping" to be 27th or 28th in attendance...that was their goal coming into the season. Now they are stating this will definitely affect their payroll. The payroll is currently 28th in baseball. http://deadspin.com/...eams-1383429121

3. The most telling quote from the article above (maybe it's hot air, but I doubt it) is from the Rays owner.

"Major League Baseball is going to vaporize this team. It could go on nine, 10, 12 more years. But between now and then, it's going to vaporize this team. Maybe a check gets written locally, maybe someone writes me a check. But it's going to get vaporized."

4. Lastly, while this is just a blog, it gives some great stats on Charlotte as a potential MLB city. http://www.beyondthe...city-the-top-10

From the article, note: " Charlotte is one of few metro areas that sits in a truly ideal location. Charlotte is 400 miles from Washington, D.C., 480 miles from Cincinnati, and 245 miles from Atlanta. Relatively speaking, in terms of baseball, Charlotte is out in the middle of nowhere."

"When run through the attendance simulator, an average team in Charlotte would draw an average of 29,380 fans per game."\

So the moral of all this is: We have the Knights now, but 10 years from now could be a very different story. Support the Knights, hard. And we could very well be looking at a potential MLB team in Charlotte by the early 2020's, possibly sooner.
UD

Re: Idle Chatter

1794
In 2014 aand 2015, four straight full lunar eclipses will fall on Jewish Holy days resulting in blood red moons as follows:

April 14, 2014 - Passover
October 8, 2014 - Feast of Tabernacles
April 4, 2015 - Passover
September 28, 2015 - Feast of Tabernacles

This will be the 8th time four full lunar eclipses have occurred on Jewish Holy Days since the time of Christ. The previous two in our life times as follows:

The United Nations recognized Israel as a nation in 1948. The Arabs attacked Israel in 1949 and were defeated. The blood red eclipses fell on Passover in 1949 and 1950 and on the Feast of Tabernacles in 1949 and 1950.

In 1967 the Arabs again attacked Israel and again were defeated. I believe they called this the 6 Day War. The blood red eclipses fell on Passover and Feast of Tabernacles in 1967 and 1968. Israel took control of Jerusalem as a result.

Something major will happen within the next couple of years involving Israel. I suggest war again with the Arabs. The result will be, in my opinion, something similar to the previous 2 tetrads of full lunar eclipses. I would guess Israel will gain the right to erect a temple not far from the Mosque of Omar. See Psalm 83 for what looks like a war. For sure Ezekiel 38 and 39 describes a major war. If it is the latter, Russia will be involved and Iran which changed it's name from Persia in 1935. See Isaiah 17:1 for the eventual fate of Damascus. Also Ezekiel 29 & 30 for Egypt's fate. I don't know which war will occur, but I do believe one will occur. There could be a 7 year peace treaty signed by September or October of 2015. This could be the time of Jacob's trouble. To expound on all of this would take a lot of time. Suffice it to say that something major is going to happen within the time frame of these four eclipses. Also, a partial solar eclips will occur on September 13th of 2015. That would be on the Jewish new year, or Rosh Hashanah.


160 days until the first full lunar eclipse of the upcoming tetrad as of Nov 6, 2013

Re: Idle Chatter

1795
Interesting! I learn something new every day. Thanks for the post Husker!
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller

Re: Idle Chatter

1797
Image
Cheerleader now carries a rifle

Eagles honor their own hero

Rachel Washburn once carried pompoms for the the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles. Now she carries an M4 carbine and has a Bronze Star.

(CNN) -- Rachel Washburn once carried pompoms. Now she carries an M4 carbine.

The military brat who became an NFL cheerleader is today a first lieutenant in the United States Army.

On Sunday, she was honored as a Hometown Hero by the Philadelphia Eagles, the team she cheered for from 2007 to 2009.

The Bronze Star recipient served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, including one as a member of the Army's new Cultural Support Program.

It was a dangerous and stressful job, where she would go on missions with special operations forces and help search and talk to Afghan women and children.

"We could be their voice during missions for engagement to ensure security on objectives, and we could help search and secure the females and the children during missions," she told the Philadelphia Eagles website.

Spoken like a true soldier -- which is not surprising given her father, Lon, served many years in the Army and Air Force as a pilot.

Rachel Washburn, 25, said she learned during her Army training to think of a happy place when confronted by stress. For that, she liked to think of her first game as an Eagles cheerleader. It was a beautiful August day and she was lined up for the pregame dance. It is one of her best memories, she said.

She also recalled fondly her trips to hospitals in Philadelphia and a USO trip to Iraq. Cheerleading is more than just dancing on the sideline and looking pretty, she said.

"We're all beautiful women who are there to be entertaining at games, but also, we are incredibly involved in the community, which is something that I am incredibly proud of," she told the Eagles.

Washburn is not a Philly native. She said she is "from a little bit of everywhere" after having moved at least a dozen times while growing up.

But she loved Philadelphia from her visits there and applied for an Army ROTC scholarship at Drexel University. She also joined the dance team.

Her next steps took her to tryouts for the Eagles cheerleading squad. She made the team on her first try.

After she graduated, Washburn joined the Army and went to Afghanistan, where near the end of her first tour she helped deliver a baby during a snowstorm while communicating with medical personnel by radio.

She told USA Today that during her second tour she was a platoon leader of an intelligence unit. She is considering re-enlisting next year, she told the paper.

Her father nominated her for the Eagles honor.

"I watched her go through two tours in Afghanistan and all of the things that she sacrificed," he said. "It was not a very easy couple of tours and I just really kind of thought, 'Man, what a homecoming that would be if (the Eagles) recognized her for that.'"

She returned from Afghanistan in November and is stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia.
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller

Re: Idle Chatter

1799
The weather out here in the mid-west is brutal. Present temps are 11 below with wind chills hovering around the -40 degree mark. And what did I just see walking in the video section of the library........four teenagers in sandals, bermuda shorts, tee shirts, and hoodies. I hope they have health care coverage because I will be pissed if I have to pay for their psychiatrist/doctor/hospital bills.

Oh! We're supposed to get rain on Friday.
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”
-- Bob Feller