Stanley Daily

Blogging the Roberts Nomination

Stan@StanleyDaily.com — Wed, 07 Aug 2005 21:45:00 PST

A number of blogs are doing a good job following the nomination of John Roberts to the Supreme Court. Here are a few; follow their blogrolls to find even more:

Campaign for the Supreme Court, by Fred Barbash of the Washington Post
Supreme Court Extra by a group at ThinkProgress
Supreme Court Nomination Blog by a group at SCOTUSBlog
Judicial Nominations topic at ACSBlog
LiveCurrent Supreme Court blog at the LA Times

Guy Ledez and AnonymousHero

Stan@StanleyDaily.com — Wed, 03 Aug 2005 23:54:00 PST

Two bystanders, car rental employee Guy Ledez and a so-far-anonymous other person, helped folks out of yesterday's Air France crash. Then, when the flow of exiting passengers ended, the two men entered the burning plane and did a sweep to make sure nobody was left on board.

Hilda Hoy of the Toronto Star has a detailed report. (free registration required).

"We each took an aisle," Ledez said. The two men did a sweep of the plane to ensure that nobody had been left behind.

Inside, it looked like "disaster had hit. It was really hard to see. Stuff was everywhere. It was very smoky."

Satisfied the craft was empty, they headed to the front of the plane, where the exit didn't have an emergency chute. The first man jumped, but just as Ledez was about to, an explosion rocked the rear of the plane. He jumped at least five metres to the ground and just started running. "The only time I had a rational thought was when I was in the plane and about to jump out. I thought, `Oh my God, I could die.'"

Here's a photo gallery (free registration again required) of the crash. Major acts of courage to enter that flaming fuselage and look for stragglers. Huge salutes to Guy and his partner in goodness.

Hall of Fame Speeches

Stan@StanleyDaily.com — Wed, 01 Aug 2005 23:42:00 PST

Baseball added two players, an announcer, and a sportswriter to the Hall of Fame this past weekend. In the following, each new HOFer's name links to the full transcript of their speech:

Ryne Sandberg of the Cubs:

I love to play baseball. I'm a baseball player. I've always been a baseball player. I'm still a baseball player. That's who I am. ... I was a baseball player when I was ten or 12 years old pretending to be Willie Stargell or Johnny Bench or Luis Tiant, when my bat was an old fungo, my ball was a plastic golf ball, when the field was the street and my older brother Del and I would play all day.

Wade Boggs of the Red Sox, Yankees, and Devil Rays:

I have a message for the young kids. Life is about obstacles, endeavors in life are not to be overlooked. Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but how we react to what happens, not by what life brings us but the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.

Jerry Coleman of the Padres:

The next exciting moment I had in broadcasting took place in Kansas City, a hot day like this, twice as hot, humid. Broadcasters on television took off their jackets and in this case their pants to stay cool. And don't laugh yet. It gets worse. And finally I had to go from the radio booth to the elevision booth, which I did, a little cat walk. I went right across there and it was wonderful and I'm sitting down doing the game happily and all of a sudden a hand on my shoulder. I turned around. It was a policeman. He said, "Put on your pants." Some woman had complained. I didn't think my legs were that bad to be honest with you.

Peter Gammons of the Boston Globe, Sports Illustrated, and ESPN:

...baseball more than any sport is who we are. It is reflected in our immigration patterns, our history because we're all immigrants. We should want the world to see us not for our politics, not for our business, but for baseball as our metamorphic soul, inclusive, not exclusive, diverse, not divisive, fraternal, not fractionalized.

If any of you are familiar with the Cape Cod League you probably might have heard of Arnie Allen, a special needs gentleman who for 40 years was a batboy for the Falmouth Commodores. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in the summer of 2002. 72 hours later a duffel bag of Angels paraphanalia arrived in Falmouth, courtesy of two Falmouth players, Darin Erstad and Adam Kennedy. Of course the Angels went on to the world series in 2002 and after winning one incredible sixth game coming from five nothing deficit in the eight inning. Before game seven Erstad and Kennedy pulled me aside before they went out to stretch, they told me, we know you are going to be speaking at the Hall of Fame in deductions in two weeks on the Cape. They said in unison, "as you speak, could you do us a favor, Arnie will be there probably for the last time. Could you just tell him that Darin and Adam Kennedy said, we are thinking of him before they went out and won the World Series?"

For we who love baseball and its participants, each of these tugs at the heart. The Gammons speech especially brought forth tears. Thanks to all these greats, and to the immortal American game they've added their lives' energies to.