| Reshaped Braves aim toward spring training
I think it was a very good trade provided Kotsay is healthy, because the Braves only pay $2 mill (A's paying other $5 mill of his $7 mill salary, plus the $350,000 bonus he gets for moving, which was part of his contract). And they give up a hard-throwing reliever who hasn't panned out yet and probably wasn't going to be more than a middle man if he made this year's bullpen. Trading Devine is not akin to trading Adam Wainwright, who had potential to be an ace starter (still does have that potential) and ended up being a closer on St. Louis' World Series championship team. (And personally, I don't think that Drew-for-Wainwright deal was bad, either, because Drew was the Braves' MVP that season and very nearly helped them win a pennant. You don't get difference-makers without giving up talent, folks.
Jan. 16, 1936: Day at the Races, and Your Nag in a Photo Finish
1936: A photo-finish camera is installed at Florida's Hialeah Race Track. It marks the first use of the device for thoroughbred horse racing, the sport with which it is most closely associated. Aside from the ponies, photo-finish cameras are used at track meets, in auto racing and in bicycle racing -- anywhere, in fact, where the winner is determined by competitors hitting a finish line. The photo-finish camera was originally a conventional still camera modified to handle rapid multiple imaging by replacing the focal-plane shutter with a capping shutter and employing a vertical slit-view of the finish line. The camera was elevated to avoid blocking the view of any one competitor. With refinements, which resulted in a dramatic increase in the number of photographs taken per second, this remained the basic photo-finish technology until the advent of digital photography.
'Project Runway' Designers Wrestle With Spandex To Dress WWE Divas
"Project Runway" produced a fashion smackdown this week, when the six remaining designers butted heads with the divas of the WWE. At first glance, judging by the cheap stretch material, rhinestones and half-naked tan women, fans may have thought this was a repeat of the Jersey prom challenge. This time, however, the outfits were meant to push the boundaries of taste inside the world wrestling ring. Let's just say things got ugly. .
Terry McCrann
FEDERAL Treasury and in particular its head, Ken Henry, were slimed in an astonishing comment piece in the Australian Financial Review yesterday. The author, Tony Harris, effectively accused Treasury of conspiring with the former government and in particular the former treasurer Peter Costello to hide Australia's inflation problem before the election. The headline was quite explicit. "Whiff of budget dishonesty". This not only accused Henry and his colleagues of grossly unprofessional conduct but actual impropriety. Indeed, breach of specific obligations under the law. The basis of the Harris article was that the MYEFO - the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook - had benign inflation forecasts. "Inflation is forecast to be 2 per cent in 2007-08 and 2008-09.
Thinking of spring training, Francoeur’s future
It'll be interesting to see if he's pleased with the results, since he's had to fit his workout regimen around getting married and all that goes with that. Francoeur knows he still needs to keep improving on his plate discipline and using the entire field, since he's always more productive and a tougher out during those stretches when he's staying in his approach, hitting line drives and using the whole field, not trying to pull balls over the left-field fence. Again, it's a balancing act. He wants to be a 30-homer guy, because he knows he can help the team by providing another legit power-hitting threat pitchers have to be concerned with (not to mention, he probably knows you get paid a lot for hitting homers). But he also wants to maintain an average between .280-.300.
DeSoto Woman Celebrates 100th Birthday In Style
Frances Wilson was a star Saturday when she marked her 100th birthday. A helicopter flight, a ride in a Bentley and even a walk down a red carpet were on tap for the celebration. The DeSoto woman got the ride of her very long life, taking a "first-ever" helicopter ride. A few hundred family members and friends met Frances Wilson at the end of her maiden flight. But, the 100-year-old didn't sweat the helicopter ride. "I loved it, it was wonderful," she gushed. "No, I wasn't afraid wasn't afraid at all." After the flight, she was whisked to a church reception in a 1963 Bentley, complete with authentic British right-hand drive. Wilson has a long history with the Oaks Fellowship Church in Red Oak.
American Le Mans Series accepts racing challenge to go green
Racing suffers from an image as a fuel-wasting, environmentally unfriendly sport, despite enormous popularity with its fans. But at least one auto racing series has determined to present a "green" image to the public at large.
That's why the American Le Mans Series is teaming up with the EPA, Department of Energy and the Society of Automotive Engineers to create an all-green racing series in 2008.
"The ALMS stands alone in providing a platform of solutions for our nation's automotive, transportation and energy needs," claims Scott Atherton, president and CEO of the series.
ALMS is the first racing series to partner with government agencies and the premier automotive engineering society in the country to advance alternate fuel technology that may eventually find its way into cars you can buy in the showroom.
PIERCE COUNTY: Driver charged in hit-and-run that killed man late ...
Pierce County prosecutors charged a 32-year-old man Thursday in a fatal hit-and-run. John Nicholas Woods will be arraigned today on charges of vehicular homicide, failure to remain at the scene of an accident that resulted in a death and driving with a suspended license. Court documents give the following account: Woods was driving a BMW east on Brookdale Road East just before midnight Sunday. Woods struck Radion Plyut's car as Plyut was turning left onto 157th Street. A crash reconstructionist determined that the BMW was going above the posted speed limit of 35 mph. Woods left the scene. A Pierce County sheriff's deputy found him walking in the 5300 block of Brookdale Road East. Woods had blood on his hands and in his mouth. He also smelled strongly of intoxicants.
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