PPS Plan needs another overhaul

Pittsburgh Public Schools had an open comment period on a long-term plan. A few groups I know of took the plan to the carpet and poked wide holes in what was put out for review in early October.

The plan needs another review and revision period with another round of public comment.

There were so many constructive points already delivered, I didn't send in a formal point by point critique.

Furthermore, if the revision is sent to me -- or made available on the web (as in a Google Document) -- I'd be most happy to re-post it within a wiki to allow for easier, more effective edits and input, (with the rollback capacity).

I understand that there is a need to get a plan to Harrisburg. But, garbage in and we'll get garbage out. If it is worth the effort -- it is worth doing well.

Now what?

So, now what?

We can expect a special election for city council in the district of Dan Deasy. Dan is going to be a state rep and will be departing city hall for Harrisburg.

We can expect a race for Jim Motznik's seat too. He is expected to run for a D.J. seat. That would be a wide open race as there are already a number of folks getting geared up for that.

Some school board seats are filled in 2009 as well.

Photo above is from the Adidas booth on The Olympic Green.

Summary pointers

Official PA election results:
http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/ElectionsInformation.aspx?ElectionID=28

Congratulations to Jim Barr (CP) in getting 14.4% in his district:
http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/ElectionsInformation.aspx?ElectionID=28#C7-20

and David Posipanka (LP) in getting 11.1% in his district:
http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/ElectionsInformation.aspx?ElectionID=28#C7-35

and Titus North (GP) for his 8.7% in his Congressional district (BTW: great commercial during the Colbert report):
http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/ElectionsInformation.aspx?ElectionID=28#C5-14

The Libertarian Party should get Minor party status with Betsy Summer's returns of 3% statewide:
http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/ElectionsInformation.aspx?ElectionID=28#C3-0

other interesting maps that include third parties:
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/president/allcandidates/

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/election_night_2008/election_map_premium/index.html?SITE=MASPDELN

Hat tip to Dave Powell for this posting.

Open Letter to Obama from Nader

One learns plenty about a person in both victory and defeat. This letter went out on election day.

Open letter to Senator Barack Obama

Dear Senator Obama:

In your nearly two-year presidential campaign, the words "hope and change," "change and hope" have been your trademark declarations. Yet there is an asymmetry between those objectives and your political character that succumbs to contrary centers of power that want not "hope and change" but the continuation of the power-entrenched status quo.

Far more than Senator McCain, you have received enormous, unprecedented contributions from corporate interests, Wall Street interests and, most interestingly, big corporate law firm attorneys. Never before has a Democratic nominee for President achieved this supremacy over his Republican counterpart. Why, apart from your unconditional vote for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, are these large corporate interests investing so much in Senator Obama? Could it be that in your state Senate record, your U.S. Senate record and your presidential campaign record (favoring nuclear power, coal plants, offshore oil drilling, corporate subsidies including the 1872 Mining Act and avoiding any comprehensive program to crack down on the corporate crime wave and the bloated, wasteful military budget, for example) you have shown that you are their man?

To advance change and hope, the presidential persona requires character, courage, integrity -- not expediency, accommodation and short-range opportunism. Take, for example, your transformation from an articulate defender of Palestinian rights in Chicago before your run for the U.S. Senate to an acolyte, a dittoman for the hard-line AIPAC lobby, which bolsters the militaristic oppression, occupation, blockage, colonization and land-water seizures over the years of the Palestinian peoples and their shrunken territories in the West Bank and Gaza. Eric Alterman summarized numerous polls in a December 2007 issue of The Nation magazine showing that AIPAC policies are opposed by a majority of Jewish-Americans.

You know quite well that only when the U.S. Government supports the Israeli and Palestinian peace movements, that years ago worked out a detailed two-state solution (which is supported by a majority of Israelis and Palestinians), will there be a chance for a peaceful resolution of this 60-year plus conflict. Yet you align yourself with the hard-liners, so much so that in your infamous, demeaning speech to the AIPAC convention right after you gained the nomination of the Democratic Party, you supported an "undivided Jerusalem," and opposed negotiations with Hamas-- the elected government in Gaza. Once again, you ignored the will of the Israeli people who, in a March 1, 2008 poll by the respected newspaper Haaretz, showed that 64% of Israelis favored "direct negotiations with Hamas." Siding with the AIPAC hard-liners is what one of the many leading Palestinians advocating dialogue and peace with the Israeli people was describing when he wrote "Anti-semitism today is the persecution of Palestinian society by the Israeli state."

During your visit to Israel this summer, you scheduled a mere 45 minutes of your time for Palestinians with no news conference, and no visit to Palestinian refugee camps that would have focused the media on the brutalization of the Palestinians. Your trip supported the illegal, cruel blockade of Gaza in defiance of international law and the United Nations charter. You focused on southern Israeli casualties which during the past year have totaled one civilian casualty to every 400 Palestinian casualties on the Gaza side. Instead of a statesmanship that decried all violence and its replacement with acceptance of the Arab League's 2002 proposal to permit a viable Palestinian state within the 1967 borders in return for full economic and diplomatic relations between Arab countries and Israel, you played the role of a cheap politician, leaving the area and Palestinians with the feeling of much shock and little awe.

David Levy, a former Israeli peace negotiator, described your trip succinctly: "There was almost a willful display of indifference to the fact that there are two narratives here. This could serve him well as a candidate, but not as a President."

Palestinian American commentator, Ali Abunimah, noted that Obama did not utter a single criticism of Israel, "of its relentless settlement and wall construction, of the closures that make life unlivable for millions of Palestinians. ...Even the Bush administration recently criticized Israeli's use of cluster bombs against Lebanese civilians [see www.atfl.org for elaboration]. But Obama defended Israeli's assault on Lebanon as an exercise of its 'legitimate right to defend itself.'"

In numerous columns Gideon Levy, writing in Haaretz, strongly criticized the Israeli government's assault on civilians in Gaza, including attacks on "the heart of a crowded refugee camp... with horrible bloodshed" in early 2008.

Israeli writer and peace advocate-- Uri Avnery-- described Obama's appearance before AIPAC as one that "broke all records for obsequiousness and fawning, adding that Obama "is prepared to sacrifice the most basic American interests. After all, the US has a vital interest in achieving an Israeli-Palestinian peace that will allow it to find ways to the hearts of the Arab masses from Iraq to Morocco. Obama has harmed his image in the Muslim world and mortgaged his future-- if and when he is elected president.," he said, adding, "Of one thing I am certain: Obama's declarations at the AIPAC conference are very, very bad for peace. And what is bad for peace is bad for Israel, bad for the world and bad for the Palestinian people."

A further illustration of your deficiency of character is the way you turned your back on the Muslim-Americans in this country. You refused to send surrogates to speak to voters at their events. Having visited numerous churches and synagogues, you refused to visit a single Mosque in America. Even George W. Bush visited the Grand Mosque in Washington D.C. after 9/11 to express proper sentiments of tolerance before a frightened major religious group of innocents.

Although the New York Times published a major article on June 24, 2008 titled "Muslim Voters Detect a Snub from Obama" (by Andrea Elliott), citing examples of your aversion to these Americans who come from all walks of life, who serve in the armed forces and who work to live the American dream. Three days earlier the International Herald Tribune published an article by Roger Cohen titled "Why Obama Should Visit a Mosque." None of these comments and reports change your political bigotry against Muslim-Americans-- even though your father was a Muslim from Kenya.

Perhaps nothing illustrated your utter lack of political courage or even the mildest version of this trait than your surrendering to demands of the hard-liners to prohibit former president Jimmy Carter from speaking at the Democratic National Convention. This is a tradition for former presidents and one accorded in prime time to Bill Clinton this year.

Here was a President who negotiated peace between Israel and Egypt, but his recent book pressing the dominant Israeli superpower to avoid Apartheid of the Palestinians and make peace was all that it took to sideline him. Instead of an important address to the nation by Jimmy Carter on this critical international problem, he was relegated to a stroll across the stage to "tumultuous applause," following a showing of a film about the Carter Center's post-Katrina work. Shame on you, Barack Obama!

But then your shameful behavior has extended to many other areas of American life. (See the factual analysis by my running mate, Matt Gonzalez, on www.votenader.org). You have turned your back on the 100-million poor Americans composed of poor whites, African-Americans, and Latinos. You always mention helping the "middle class" but you omit, repeatedly, mention of the "poor" in America.

Should you be elected President, it must be more than an unprecedented upward career move following a brilliantly unprincipled campaign that spoke "change" yet demonstrated actual obeisance to the concentration power of the "corporate supremacists." It must be about shifting the power from the few to the many. It must be a White House presided over by a black man who does not turn his back on the downtrodden here and abroad but challenges the forces of greed, dictatorial control of labor, consumers and taxpayers, and the militarization of foreign policy. It must be a White House that is transforming of American politics-- opening it up to the public funding of elections (through voluntary approaches)-- and allowing smaller candidates to have a chance to be heard on debates and in the fullness of their now restricted civil liberties. Call it a competitive democracy.

Your presidential campaign again and again has demonstrated cowardly stands. "Hope" some say springs eternal." But not when "reality" consumes it daily.

Sincerely,
Ralph Nader

NADER vs BARR vs BALDWIN Third Party Presidential Debate at CSPAN Junkie

Just in case you missed it:

NADER vs BARR vs BALDWIN Third Party Presidential Debate at CSPAN Junkie: "NADER vs BARR vs BALDWIN Third Party Presidential Debate

Getting their kicks for Democracy

Press Release November 3, 2008 Contact: Larry Evans 412-445-2951

At Chatham University’s Athletic Field all day Saturday, November 1^st, 45 girls from three under 14 girls soccer teams from Mount Lebanon, West Mifflin and West Virginia competed in friendly round robin games at the second Citizen Athlete SoccerFest of 2008 (the first occurred at Robert Morris University’s Island Sports Center last August). The SoccerFest is a celebration of the historic upcoming presidential election mixing soccer play with voter education games promoting participatory citizenship and sportsmanship.

The Chatham SoccerFest was organized around the University’s Womens Soccer Team’s final home game of the season versus Westminster College during an annual Family and Friends Weekend Celebration held on Chatham’s elegant Shadyside campus. The SoccerFest benefited “EveryBody Vote”, a local coalition of non-partisan and non-profit voter education organizations.

The day of continuous soccer action began with an inspired group “Warm-up like a collegian” aerobic for the three youth teams led by Chatham star players. The University’s players and U14 girls also traded sideline ball hawking services on the plush new fieldturf synthetic grass surface on a beautiful autumn day.

In breaks between soccer games, teams participated in both athletic and academic skills contests, showing off their finely-tuned American Civics and Sports Trivia knowledge as well as their kicking and goal scoring abilities. Medals and ribbons for both physical and mental game winners were awarded. Additionally for all - mock voting and voter registration was available. In the Mock Election, Barack Obama edged John McCain by a mere 6 votes.

In the soccer friendlies, West Mifflin won the day going undefeated. The games were officiated by very capable referees from the Dynamo Soccer Association (Bob Shreve, Frank Correnti, Erik Schmidt, Alex Brown and Josh Axelrod). Participating coaches Girish Thakar (Westminister Titans), Jaime Retersdorf, (Chatham Cougars), Frank Sullivan (Mount Lebanon Kickers), Greg Bourke (West Mifflin Titans) and Cornelius Adamah and Doug Sharpe (West Virginia Fusion) - remained true to the event’s good sportsmanship theme through the 7 games played where not one yellow or red card was issued.

Winners of the Sports Skills Contests included:

Soccer Target: 1^stPlace: Nichole Hammack (West Mifflin); 2^nd Place: Jenny Evans (Mount Lebanon); 3^rd Place: Alyssa Battaglia (Mount Lebanon); 4^th Place: Chanel Burner (West Virginia) 5^th Place: Sara Allas (West Mifflin); 6^th Place: Emma Wise (West Virginia).

Radar Velocity: 1^st Place: Chanel Burner (West Virginia); 2^nd Place: Sujorden Miller (West Virginia); 3^rd Place: Andrea Racic (Mount Lebanon); 4^th Place: Nichole Hammack (West Mifflin); 5^th Place: Gabrielle Mooney (West Mifflin); 6^th Place: Lauren Allas (West Mifflin).

Sportsmanship/Citizenship Quiz: 1^st Place: Kathryn Sharpe (West Virginia); 2^nd Place: Cheyenne Smith (West Mifflin); 3^rd Place: Morgan Rubosky (West Mifflin); 4^th Place: Charlotte Vester (West Virginia); 5^th Place: Kristina Faupel (West Mifflin); 6^th Place Sara Mundell (West Virginia).

Finally, invitations to attend the games were delivered to John McCain and Barack Obama in the hope that they would drop by to show Pittsburgh and the world just who got game. Unfortunately they didn’t make it. Hopefully they will realize, as the late Senator Eugene McCarthy aptly quipped – that...“Coaches and Politicians have a lot in common. They both have to be smart enough to know the game and dumb enough to think it’s important”.

Below is the kid-friendly Citizen Athlete Quiz to rack you and/or your family’s brain over on Election Night (see answer key in comments of this blog.)

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Who is the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the USA?

A) General Mills B) General Store C) President Bush D) Joe Paterno E) Major Harris

2. How old do citizens of the United States have to be to vote?

A) 21 B) 32 C) 16 D) 18 E) 25 F) 10

3. What is the highest Court in the United States?

A) The Mitchell Committee B) The Supreme Court C) Judge Judy D) Randy, Paula and Simon

4. What is NOT a right of all United States Citizens?

A) freedom of speech B) freedom of worship C) the right to drive a car D) the right to bear arms

5. Who decides who becomes President?

A) The Electoral College B) Penn State University C) The Popular Vote D) The Supreme Court

6. What National Hockey league team has gone the longest without winning a Stanley Cup?

A) Pittsburgh Penguins B) Chicago Blackhawks C) Montreal Canadians D)Anaheim Mighty Ducks

7. What NFL team was caught spying on other teams including the Steelers?

A) Denver Broncos B) Duluth Bulldogs C) New England Patriots D) McKeesport Little Tigers

8. What is the name of the current President of the United States?

A) Sidney Crosby B) Luke Ravenstahl C) Bill Clinton D) George W. Bush

9. If President Bush can no longer serve, who would become President?

A) Charlie Batch B) Dick Chainey C) Laura Bush D) Al Gore E) Simon Cowell

10. Who said to a Congressional Drugs Committee “I’m not here to talk about the past” ?

A) Jose Conseco B) Barry Bonds C) O J Simpson D) Mark McGuire E) Pacman Jones

11. Who has a tattoo on his arm of his wife’s name in Hindu but it is spelled wrong?

A) David Beckham B) Jason Bay C) Barack Obama D) Troy Polamalu

12. What NY Yankee player has his own cologne brand?

A) Reggie Jackson B) Derek Jeter C) Andy Pettite D) Yogi Berra

13. A Presidential term runs for how many years?

A) four years B) two years C) six years D) for life

14. When asked by a reporter how he felt about making more money than the President of the United States what baseball player answered: “Well, I guess I had a better year!”?

A) Lou Gehrig B) Barry Bonds C) Honus Wagner D) Babe Ruth E) Alex Rodriguez

15. A Senator’s term runs for how many years?

A) 8 years B) 6 years C) 4 years D) for life

16. In what sport does the referee have the absolute say even over the rules of the game?

A) Baseball B) Football C) Soccer E) Basketball F) Ice Hockey

17. Who is buried in Grant’s Tomb?

A) Longfellow Deeds B) Robert E Lee C) Ben Franklin D) U. S. Grant E) Lou Gehrig

18. What Pennsylvanian did NOT sign the Declaration of Independence?

A) Ben Franklin B) Robert Morris C) George Clymer D) Westin William Penn E) James Wilson

19. What was the first National Holiday declared by George Washington in 1789?

A) Thanksgiving B) July 4^th C) Columbus Day D) Veterans Day E) Labor Day F) Mother’s Day

20. Where is the Constitution and Declaration of Independence safely stored?

A) Nicolas Cage’s basement B) FBI Building C) Capitol Building D) National Archives Building

21. The Library of Congress contains:

A) Books you can take out about US History B) The President’s Book of Secrets

C) Every published piece of literature in the world D) Sticky candy vending machines

22. When do we celebrate Independence Day?

A) Memorial Day Weekend B) January 1^st C) Anytime the Movie comes on D) July 4^th

23. If there were no professional sports diehard fans would

A) Be forced to talk to our families B) become responsible citizens and maybe even vote

C) Have to pay reasonable prices for a hot dog and nachos D) all of the above

24. In what city were the 1936 Olympics held when Jesse Owens sprinted past Adolf Hitler’s notions of genetic superiority?

A) Athens, Greece B) Munich, Germany C) Berlin, Germany D) Tokyo, Japan

25. When fans booed Jackie Robinson’s appearance in Major League baseball, what Dodger teammate put his arm around him?

A) Duke Snider B) Pee Wee Reese C) Willie Mays D) Gil Hodges E) Ty Cobb

26. Michael Jordon was NOT one of these things

A) An underwear Salesman B) A professional baseball player C) The greatest basketball player D) President of the Charlotte Bobcats E) an American Idol contestant

27. Legendary college basketball coach Bobby Knight is known for his

A) Bad Temper B) Winning teams C) Charitable Giving D) all of the above

28. St Louis Cardinal baseball manager Tony LaRussa is NOT one of these things:

A) Vegetarian B) World Series Champion C) a lawyer D) sunglasses salesman

29. Jim Leyland, once our Pittsburgh Pirate’s winning manager, is NOT

A) Crusty and weathered B) a cigarette smoker C) a brilliant baseball manager

D) Available to come back to Pittsburgh

30. Who is the Governor of Pennsylvania?

A) Lynn Swann B) Matt Smith C) Ed Rendell D) Vince Gastgeb E) Bob Casey

31. What city has NOT been the Capitol of the United States?

A) Hershey B) New York C) Philadelphia D) Washington DC E) Annapolis

32. How old do you have to be to run for President?

A) 18 B) 21 C) 35 D) 45 E) 55

33. How old do you have to be to run for one of the US Senate’s 100 jobs?

A) 18 B) 21 C) 30 D) 40 E) 50

34. How old do you have to be to run for one of the US House of Representatives 435 jobs?

A) 18 B) 21 C) 25 D) 30 E) 40

35. Who is the President of the US Senate and its 101^st member and tie-breaker?

A) The Speaker of the House B) Supreme Court Chief Justice C) The Vice President

D) The First Lady

36. If you are “on the band wagon” you are

A) Riding in a parade B) Voting for whoever is ahead in the polls C) Playing the tuba

D) playing the lottery

37. What was George W Bush’s occupation from 1989-94?

A) Teacher at Harvard University B) Managing General Partner of the Texas Rangers C) Rodeo Clown D) Ambassador to Saudi Arabia E) Gas Station Attendant

38. What was Bill Clinton’s occupation before he became President in 1992?

A) Governor of Arkansas B) Saxaphone Player C) Playboy Magazine Editor D) Teacher at Princeton University E) Peanut Farmer

39. Approximately how many people live in the United States?

A) 50 million B) 100 million C) 200 Million D) 300 million E) a gazillion

40. A comedian once said that what you have in Pennsylvania is Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and what in between?

A) Potholes B) Alabama C) The Steagles D) Breezewood E) The Amish

41. The supreme law of the our land is

A) Declaration of Independence B) The Constitution C) Gettysburg address D) Wives E) Pittsburgh Steeler Playbook

42. The idea of self government is expressed in the first three words of the Constitution, which are

A) Liberty and justice B) Four score and C) We the People D) It’s a Heartache

E) Strawberry Fields Forever

43. Who makes Laws?

A) Supreme Court B) Congress C) The President D) Homer Simpson E) Bud Selig

44. What former NFL QB ran for vice president on Bob Dole’s Republican ticket in 1992?

A) Dan Marino B) Jack Kemp C) Kordell Stewart D) Johnny Unitas E) Joe Namath

45. What former NY Knicks basketball superstar challenged Al Gore for the 2000 democratic presidential nomination?

A) Walt Frazier B) Wilt Chamberlain C) Bill Walton D) Bill Bradley E) Julius Erving

46. Who was the first Jewish major party VP nominee in American history?

A) Sammy Davis Jr B) Joe Lieberman C) Hank Greenberg D) Billy Crystal E) Jon Stewart

47. Who was the first First Lady to ever run for the U.S. Senate from the White House?

A) Hillary Clinton B) Sarah Palin C) Nancy Reagan D) Barbara Bush E) Betty Boop

48. Who said “Age is mind over matter. If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter”

A) Sachel Paige B) Abe Lincoln C) John McCain D) John Franco E) Willie Mays

49. Who said “Domestic policy can only lose elections. Foreign policy can kill us all”?

A) Richard Nixon B) John Kennedy C) Ronald Reagan D) Barack Obama

50. What coach said “Good teams become great ones when the members trust each other enough to surrender the ‘me’ for the ‘we’”?

A) Knute Rockne B) Chuck Noll C) Phil Jackson D) Casey Stengel E) Gene Klein

51. Who said “We must scrunch or be scrunched”?

A) Charles Dickens B) Bill Bellicheck C) Sarah Palin D) Teddy Roosevelt E) Vince Lombardi

52. Who said “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you?

A) Sachel Paige B) John McCain C) Roger Clemens D) Barry Bonds E) Bonnie and Clyde

53. Who said “the trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat.”

A) Richard Nixon B) Lily Tomlin C) George Carlin D) Jimmy Carter E) Blaze Starr

54. Who said “Ninety per cent of the game is half mental”?

A) Yogi Berra B) George W Bush C) Bill Clinton D) Andy Van Slyke E) Bud Selik

55. What celebrity in Cincinnati has not been an embarrassment?

A) Bengals player Chris Henry B) Reds former owner Marge Schott C) former Mayor Jerry Springer D) Outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. E) Reds former player Pete Rose

56. About what basketball player and aspiring future Governor of Alabama did Danny Ainge once remark “I’ve known a lot of bad guys pretending to be good guys, but he is the only good guy pretending to be a bad guy I’ve ever known”

A) Michael Jordon B) Charles Barkley C) Larry Bird D) Allen Iverson

57. What former Baseball Commissioner said “ Unlike war, sex, religion and politics, baseball was within a young boys reach. He could read the newspaper and listen to the radio and know that this game was important and that these men were great men, and then he could go out in the afternoon and emulate their acts”

A) Bart Giamatti B) Casey Stengel C) Bud Selig D) Ford Frick

58. About what baseball player did author David Halberstam write “the timing in 1947 was impeccable. It was the perfect moment to create a broader, more inclusive definition of American Democracy. For it took place right after the victory over Nazi Germany and authoritarian Japan in a great war which was viewed all over the world as good over evil”

A) Willie Mays B) Joe DiMaggio C) Mickey Mantle D) Jackie Robinson

59. What movie star celebrity did not become an elected politician?

A) Shirley Temple B) Ronald Reagan C) Clint Eastwood D) George Clooney

60. Which celebrity athlete did not become an elected politician?

A) Jim Bunning B) Jesse Ventura C) Bill Bradley D) Jack Kemp E) Terry Bradshaw

61. What team threw (purposely lost) the 1919 World Series?

A) St Louis Browns B) Chicago White Sox C) New York Yankees D) Brooklyn Dodgers

62. Senator Hillary Clinton is returning to her “day job”. What is her “day job?”

A) Cooking dinner for Bill B) Writing a book C) Fundraising for Obama

D) Being a US Senator representing New York

63. Who said “He who slings mud looses ground”

A) Confucius B) Bill Clinton C) Bo Diddy D) Chris Rock E) Mean Joe Greene

64. PNC Park’s right field wall is 21 feet high in honor of what former Pirate player?

A) Dave Parker B) Roberto Clemente C) Paul Waner D) Ki Ki Cuyler E) Xavier Nady

65. Who was the only sitting U.S. President to attend a pirate game?

A) William Taft B) Bill Clinton C) George Bush Jr D) Herbert Hoover

66. Which Pittsburgh athlete has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated 13 tmes?

A) Dan Marino B) Tony Dorsett C) Hines Ward D) Arnold Palmer E) Barry Bonds

67. Why is having synthetic turf installed at Heinz field an improbability?

A) Global warming B) expensive geothermal heating system below field

C) The Rooneys love natural grass D) Steelers love to play in mud

68. Who was not an owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates?

A) Kevin McClatchy B) Barney Dreyfuss C) John Galbreath D) Bob Nutting E) Mark Cuban

69. What kind of balls does singer Rod Stewart routinely kick out to his concert fans?

A) Footballs B) Soccer balls C) Volleyballs D) Rugby balls

70. In what song are the words “From California to the New York Island, this land was made for you and me”?

A) America the Beautiful B) Land before Time C) This Land is your Land D) Yankee Doodle

71. In what song are the words “Beat the drum and hold the phone, the sun came out today. We’re born again, there’s new grass on the field.”?

A) Centerfield B) Take me out to the ballgame C) Who’s on First? D) Glory Days

72. In the movie “A League of their Own” what actor said “there’s no crying in baseball!”?

A) John Wayne B) Tom Hanks C) Geena Davis D) Robert Redford E) Kevin Costner

73. What dying NY Yankee player said” I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth”?

A) Babe Ruth B) Mickey Mantle C) Lou Gehrig D) Billy Martin E) Joe DiMaggio

74. When going for a foul ball in the stands you may knock over

A) kids B) elderly C) disabled D) women E) any grown man wearing a glove

75. Who wrote “For when the Great Scorekeeper comes to write against your name

He marks – not that you won or lost – But how you played the game.”

A) Mark Twain B) Bob Prince C) Harry Carey D) Grandland Rice E) Rick Reilly

True or False Questions

1. T or F Our American flag has 13 stripes because they represent the 13 original colonies

2. T or F When playing a sport becomes a job it is probably not as much fun

3. T or F Richard Nixon was the first President to witness a triple play while at a game.

4. T or F When a NY Yankees home game concludes, “New York, New York “ is played

5. T or F At 47, Barack Obama is the youngest presidential candidate since JFK

6. T or F At 72, Republican Candidate John McCain is the oldest presidential candidate

7. T or F George W Bush has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

8. T or F Vice President Martin van Buren was the last VP to bring loaded pistols to work with him while presiding over the U. S. Senate.

9. T or F When Lincoln was accused of being two-faced, he replied “Now I ask you, if I had another face, would I be using this one?”

10. T or F 1912 in America, the Titanic went down, the Boston Red Sox opened Fenway Park, the fourth down was added to football, Suffragettes marched on New York’s Fifth Avenue demanding women’s vote and there was no personal income tax. It was also the year which saw a sitting president (Taft), a past president (Teddy Roosevelt) and a future president (Wilson) in a three way battle for the White House.

11. T or F Robert Taft was the last President to keep a cow in Washington.

12. T or F In 1960, Americans chose the youngest man ever elected president – Jack Kennedy – to succeed the oldest man at that time to ever hold the office – Dwight Eisenhower

13. T or F In 1964, Ben Hur was the Best Picture, the new 50-state flag was unfurled to include Alaska and Hawaii, Red Sox Ted Williams homered in his last at bat, Yankee Casey Stengel was fired after winning ten pennants in twelve years and “The Great Debates” between Nixon and Kennedy brought presidential politics into the TV era.

14. T or F In the 1988 presidential election, all three candidates (Bush, Clinton and Gore) were left handed.

15. T or F Because of WWII, in 1943 the Steelers joined with the Eagles to become the Steagles

16. T or F Most of the Founding Fathers were actually smugglers who opposed British taxes and tariffs

17. T or F “Yankee Doodle” was an insulting term used by the British to describe American colonists

18. T or F During the American Revolutionary War, George Washington fought nine battles, winning only three.

19. T or F “Old Hickory” Andrew Jackson defeat of the British in the Battle of New Orleans in 1814 was unique because the battle was fought after the war was already over.

20. T or F In 1492, Christopher Columbus made his America-discovering voyage partly to prove that the Earth was round.

21. T or F Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGuire, Marian Jones and Sammy Sosa probably took performance enhancing drugs

22. T or F Ted Williams not only was the last baseball player to hit over .400 but he also was the last to serve in two wars sacrificing 5 years of his career

23. T or F Soccer’s World Cup is the most watched sporting event on earth

24. T or F The Pittsburgh Pirates earned their name by stealing players from other clubs

25. T or F It doesn’t matter if you win or lose, it’s how you place the blame

(see key within the comments)