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Tagged: Brian Sweeney
Interest Sparked: The WBC
It was another Saturday night, I didn't have nobody. I had some money, because I had just gotten paid. How I wished I had something to do – and then I went on Twitter and saw that David Wright of the New York Mets had crushed a grand slam homer for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, putting them ahead 6-2 in front of Team Italy.
I flipped on the game.
OK. So the guy from the other New York team hit a bomb. To me, the World Baseball Classic was still meaningless; a pointless, glorified exhibition which simply takes players away from Spring Training, the players competing for seemingly nothing. Japan won the two previous WBCs (2006, '09), and my philosophy remained,
"The World Baseball Classic is a joke. Spoiler alert: Japan will win it again, its players will come to the USA/MLB…and suck for their entire careers."
Daisuke Matsuzaka is my case in point.
But as I continued to watch Teams USA's game vs. Team Italy, my feelings slowly changed. By the end of the night, I was actually interested in the WBC, a position I never imagined I'd be in when the tournament commenced. A couple of storylines have put me over the top.
First off, Robinson Cano has been an absolute beast in the WBC, playing for his homeland, the Dominican Republic. The studly second baseman was named MVP of Pool C, cracking four extra base hits (including an opposite-field home run), five RBIs, while batting .600 over the first three games.
The DR went on to advance in the WBC; Cano ready to lead his squad against Wright and Team USA tonight, in fact.
Given the concerns and recent, unexpected injuries the Yankees have suffered (Mark Teixeira and Curtis Granderson) it's overly encouraging to see Cano slaughtering the ball the way he's been in the WBC. Come April 1, if Cano keeps it up, there won't be much to worry about when he steps into the batter's box.
There was also a second piece of WBC business that piqued my interest. Italy had a familiar reliever on its roster: my paison, Brian Sweeney. I only say "had" because last night Team Italia was ousted by Puerto Rico, a come-from-behind effort by way of sloppy Italian defense leading to the Azzuri's downfall.
I was pleasantly surprised – and in a big way, proud – to see my fellow Mercy College alumnus on the hill in front of a worldwide audience and a packed house at the new Miami Marlins ballpark. As most readers of the blog know, I interviewed Sweeney in July, 2010, weeks after he faced the Yankees in the Bronx.
He went on to make several appearances vs. the Bombers over that summer, and got the likes of Teixeira, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher, and Brett Gardner out. Using his signature changeup which he learned pitching for Mercy, some of the most powerful Yankees didn't stand a chance against Sweeney.
And during the WBC, Sweeney added some more names to his list of big outs.
In Wright's first at-bat following his trip to granny's, Sweeney got the Mets' third baseman to pop out. He followed suit by walking the Marlins' own Giancarlo Stanton, Sweeney's changeup painting the black; barely missing the outside corner for a walk culminating a 13-pitch at-bat. He went on to get catcher Joe Mauer (Minnesota Twins) to fly out to left field and first baseman Eric Hosmer (KC Royals) to foul out behind third.
Not a bad night at the office for a Mercy College grad.
Team Italy had two more losing efforts vs. Cano's Dominicans and Team Puerto Rico – both narrow losses; one-run games. Over the course of those two games, Sweeney struck out Alejandro De Aza (Chicago White Sox) swinging, and got both got Jose Reyes (Toronto Blue Jays) and Hanley Ramirez (LA Dodgers) to fly out.
Unfortunately Sweeney was on the hook for the loss in last night's elimination game to Puerto Rico, although the decision was more reflective of shoddy defense: particularly on the left side of the infield's behalf. Italy's shortstop Anthony Granato was eaten alive on a number of ground balls, and third baseman Alex Liddi didn't curb the problems, missing an easy out by coming off the bag at third on a force play.
Yet Sweeney's participation in the WBC wasn't what made me entirely proud. After the loss, the 38-year-old journeyman right-hander stood on the top step of the dugout and tipped his cap to the fans and to Team Puerto Rico – a class act, all the way through. Despite the ousting, he showed great sportsmanship and a graceful attitude.
That's a Mercy College guy for you.
My hope now is that he catches on with a team this spring. Hopefully for him, it's the Seattle Mariners, seeing as how he told me in the interview he always wanted to pay dividends for them. They gave him a chance in the show; I suppose he feels he owes them.
As for the rest of the WBC, my interest has been sparked. Next time there's a night within the next couple of weeks before Opening Day and I don't have nobody – regardless of whether or not I just got paid, I'll have something to do: watch the WBC.
YES, please!
I have been told in life there are three types of people: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.
As a current high school sports reporter and MLBlogger trying to take the next step in his career, I'm at the point where I want to make it happen. And what I have in mind might provide me with that chance.
Recently I was tossing ideas around in my head, thinking of companies to apply to while job hunting, and I somehow managed to venture over to the YES Network's career page. In the past I've checked out the YES Network's career page, but there was never anything listed. This time was a little different; there was one job posted:
Social Media Specialist.
As soon as I noticed the listing, I jumped on it. I tweaked my resume, pieced together an appropriate, well-written cover letter, and gathered the right material together to apply for the job – the right material basically being proof of all the times YES has used my insight via social media on its TV shows.
On May 8, 2010 YES used a comment I posted on its official Facebook page for the "Extra Innings" postgame show. There were no words to describe my excitement level, seeing my name and comment on TV when it first happened.
Fast forward to April 10, 2011. I wrote in another Facebook comment, and once again YES used my name and my words on "Extra Innings."
June 9, 2012, same thing.
All of this YES Network social media craze reached new heights on Aug. 6 this year when YES actually used my question during the "YES Network Games," a contest designed for viewers to tweet in trivia questions with the commentators trying to answer them.
After my name appeared, a few of my friends attempted to stage a Twitter hashtag rally entitled, #HireAJMartelli.
The YES Network should already know (just based on the history) how finely tuned my skills are when it comes to social media. In fact ESPN should also have the same idea, considering two of my comments made it onto the exclusive Baseball Tonight show during the "Chatter Up" segment in 2008 and 2009.
It's also not as if I'm an uneducated, inexperienced stranger. My past work in other media outside of social media speaks for itself. If I could show something to the YES Network right now, this would be it; some highlights of my young career:
- B.S. in journalism from Mercy College (class of 2010) where I served for two years as the sports editor of the Mercy student newspaper. The Mercy student paper won two New York Press Association awards while I served as sports editor, and I was awarded two Quill Awards (2009, '10) for sports reporting, given to me by Mercy's media studies department.
- Interviewed former Yankee and current YES personality John Flaherty while at Mercy and wrote a feature story about his career for the paper.
- Interviewed Brian Sweeney, a Major League relief pitcher who had faced the Yankees weeks before I conducted the interview.
- Worked for the Hudson Valley Renegades in 2010, assisting with baseball operations.
- Went on to cover the 2012 Hudson Valley Renegades this past season. The 'Gades captured the New York-Penn League Championship, beating the Tri-City Valley Cats. For their successful and winning campaign, the Renegades were voted the 2012 Minor League Baseball team of the year.
- Interviewed two-time Super Bowl Champ and MVP Eli Manning at the sixth annual Guiding Eyes for the Blind Golf Classic this year.
- Have worked for the past two years (and continue to work) as a high school sports reporter. To coincide with the Yankee motif, one of my favorite times covering a high school game was sitting next to Bernie Williams, covering his daughter's basketball game this past February. I even wrote an OP/ED that ran in the paper about how interesting it was, sitting next to a Yankee legend while working.
But I think what puts it all over the top for me is what you're reading right now. Yankee Yapping has been lauded by MLB. It has been ranked in the top three MLBlogs and featured multiple times; it has garnered a solid amount of fanfare since I launched it in July, 2009.
The bottom line is, I have done a lot of work and paid a lot of dues. And now, if there is a chance to move up the ladder, I'd like to take it.
To anyone reading this with a Twitter page, and would like to help, tweet the link to this blog to @YESNetwork and help #HireAJMartelli.
Together, we can make it happen. Not watch it happen, or wonder what happened.
In the meantime, I have high school ice hockey to cover this weekend after the holiday. And if you were to ask me what I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving, it's having a job in the print media field, covering sports. No matter what level it happens to be on.
End of the Year Awards
As the end of the 2010 regular Major League Baseball season rapidly approaches, the Yankees once again have lived to play autumn baseball in New York. At the very least, the Bronx Bombers will go into the postseason as the American League Wild Card team. Yet they can still capture the American League Eastern Division over the Tampa Bay Rays.
At press time they are a ½ game out of first place in the AL East.
With only three games left after tonight's 8-3 loss vs. the Toronto Blue Jays, it is once again time to hand out the Yankee Yapping End of the Year Awards. Last year I gave out various commendations to numerous Yankees who showed what being a Bronx Bomber is all about.
Since 2010 was a stark contrast to 2009, there are new awards this year to accommodate what each player has done or accomplished this past season. Without any further ado, here are the 2010 Yankee Yapping Awards!
Yankee Yapping Most Valuable Player
Winner: Robinson Cano
The Yankees are very lucky to have a player like Robinson Cano. This season, the slugging second baseman has put together an MVP caliber season with 28 home runs and 106 RBIs to this point. His numbers indicate a great year, but he did not win the YY MVP simply because of his offensive production.
His defense and overall character put him over the top.
In 155 games at second base this season (talk about durability!) Cano has only committed three errors. He has also helped turn 111 double plays and has secured a fielding percentage of .996.
Can you say Gold Glove?
Cano has also had the most consistent season among all Yankee hitters. Derek Jeter is currently hitting under .300, Mark Teixeira got off to a tortoise-like start, and Alex Rodriguez spent time on the disabled list. Cano did not slip under .300 this year, nor did he start off slow or get injured.
His season has all the makings of a valuable player.
Congrats Robinson!
Yankee Yapping's Most Pleasant Surprise
Winner: Marcus Thames
I'll be the first to admit that when the Yankees let Johnny Damon go…or he let himself go…that I thought picking up Marcus Thames was a bad idea. He had already been a Yankee in 2002, although he was not what we would call a real Yankee.
Everyone knows that, in his first stint in pinstripes, Thames clubbed his first career home run in his first career at-bat off brand-name future Hall of Famer Randy Johnson. What most people don't know is that home run was the only long ball Thames hit in his first go-round with the Yankees and he only played seven games.
2010 was his second chance and he certainly took advantage of it.
To go along with his batting average of .291, Thames has smacked 12 home runs this year and has driven in 33 runs. Two of his homers this season stand out to me.
First off, his third home run of the year, which came on July 11–only because of who he hit it off: Brian Sweeney of the Seattle Mariners.
As almost everyone knows by now, I interviewed Sweeney over the summer and he is a graduate of my College. That home run was bittersweet for me. I was happy to see Thames get around on a hanging curveball and smash a homer, but at the same time I felt bad for Sweeney.
Being such a nice guy and, without any sarcasm, the best interview I have ever conducted, I had no choice but to feel remorseful for my fellow Mercy alumnus. But Thames did a fantastic job of clubbing the ball!
The second home run that sticks out was his walk-off blast against Jonathan Papelbon and the Boston Red Sox on May 17. After A-Rod tied the game with one swing of the bat, Thames played the role of hero and swatted Papelbon to a loss.
A glorious home run to cap off a glorious victory over Boston in the Bronx.
I may have said some harsh things about him at the beginning of the year when he struggled, but he has proved me wrong. Congrats Marcus!
Yankee Yapping Player Who Needs to Improve for 2011
Winner: A.J. Burnett
He had a terrible season. I know. All of Yankee Universe knows. The whole world knows.
A.J. Burnett has one more start this season (on Saturday in Boston) and will finish 2010 under .500. He is currently 10-15 with an earned run average of 5.33. In his last 10 games Burnett is 1-6 with an ERA of 6.26. Opponents are hitting .286 against him and he has allowed 107 earned runs this season.
If that doesn't scream the words "off-year" I really don't know what does.
Many Yankee fans are skeptical about how he will perform in the postseason and would not trust Burnett with the ball in an important game. Yankee Universe also feels he should be bumped from the number two spot in the starting rotation; some are even going as far as saying he should be put in the bullpen.
I agree. He should be bumped from the number two spot and I doubt that he will be plugged into any spot in the starting rotation, at least for the American League Division Series. If he goes to the bullpen, he might be able to carve a niche for himself, the same way Phil Hughes did last year in relief.
Although Burnett had an abysmal year, the one thing I will not do is give up on him. I understand how poorly he produced over the summer, but something many fans forget is that he began the year at 4-0 with an ERA under three. He got off to the best start of his career only to have it collapse on him; the most successful start of his life tragically morphed into the worst season he has ever had.
The other day I was asked if the Yankees would trade Burnett over the off-season because of his poor season.
The answer is easy: No. Here are three reasons Burnett is staying in pinstripes.
1) His salary. He is owed $49.5 million over the next three years. Give me the name of a team who is going to pick up that tab? Oh, that's right. You can't.
2) His trade value. With his lopsided numbers, who would want him?
3) The Yankees' faith in their big free agent pitchers. Anyone remember Carl Pavano? He was owed less money than Burnett, pitched worse than Burnett, and the Yankees held onto him without even trying to shop him.
It's no contest. Burnett will be in pinstripes for awhile.
And while he is in pinstripes, he needs to learn how to handle himself, go out and win games. I have seen how physically capable Burnett is really is when he is pitching. He can throw 96-98 mph fastballs, something not even Mike Mussina could pull off in 2008, the year he won 20 games.
I think it's all mental when it comes to Burnett's struggles. Perhaps he should consult the team psychiatrist. Wait, is there a team psychiatrist?
At any rate, it's a not a particularly good award to win, A.J. But I still have faith that you can improve, bounce back, have a solid postseason like last year and return strong in 2011.
I still believe in you, A.J. We A.J.s have to stick together through thick and thin.
Yankee Yapping Sayonara Award
Winners: Javier Vazquez and Nick Johnson
First of all, allow me to explain the nature of this award. I am handing out this award to two players who the Yankees signed, are not under contract for next season, and are most likely not coming back next year.
I had no choice but to give it Javier Vazquez and Nick Johnson.
When the Yankees decided to acquire Vazquez during the off-season, I was unbelievably confused. With a somewhat failed season in pinstripes already under his belt (2004) it shocked me that the Yanks went out and traded Melky Cabrera for Vazquez during the winter meetings.
This season just proved to me that Vazquez is not and never was suited for pinstripes. The reason the Yanks wanted him was because of how well he pitched last season, but what they did not take into consideration was that he pitched in the National League.
Vazquez made the move from the NL to the AL, and not just the AL–the AL East, where the best of the best play. And when he made that move, he traveled to a 10-10 record this year with an ERA over five.
That's enough to say, "Thanks, but no thanks. See ya, Javy."
Now onto Johnson…
Talk about a waste of money and time. I think his uncle, Larry Bowa, should chastise him for being such a mediocre and otherwise useless ballplayer. The Yanks signed Johnson to be an everyday designated hitter and replace Hideki Matsui in the lineup.
His numbers: 24 games played, two home runs, eight RBIs, and a .167 batting average.
Sorry, I had to run to my bathroom and puke.
Both Vazquez and Johnson are no longer under contract for 2011. Thank God.
Congrats on the award, fellas. Have fun on another team next season!
Yankee Yapping Ace of the Year
Winner: CC Sabathia
When all the dust had cleared at the end of 2009, CC Sabathia had 22 wins, including the postseason. The postseason has not even begun this year and the Yankees' number one man has 21 wins. With that, he became the first Yankee to win 21 games in the regular season since Andy Pettitte, who accomplished the feat in 1996.
If the regular season is any indication of how Sabathia will perform in October, the Yankees will be in excellent shape every time he toes the rubber. Just as Burnett has had the worst season of his career, Sabathia has statistically had the best season he has ever had.
Needless to say, he is a shoe in for the Cy Young Award. CC might very well be "Cy Cy."
Sabathia logged 237 2/3 innings this year, coupled with 197 strikeouts. He made 34 starts, tossed two complete games, and opponents only hit .239 against him.
If all goes right for him again, he could capture another postseason MVP award, as he was the American League Championship Series MVP in 2009. Either way, I have no doubt that Sabathia will have more hardware in his trophy case very soon.
Until then he is the Yankee Yapping Ace of the Year. Congrats CC!
*Note: CC has won this award for the second year in a row!
Yankee Yapping Best Trade Deadline Pickup
Winner: Kerry Wood
When the trade deadline neared the end, the Yankees picked up three notable players: Lance Berkman, Austin Kearns, and Kerry Wood. Without a doubt, Wood has made the best impact of all three players.
Wood was the Cleveland Indians' closer and the Yankees needed to add a reliever to aid their scuffling bullpen. Suffice it to say, they added the right man. Wood has posted a low ERA in pinstripes and has really become a solid arm in relief.
Throughout his career, Wood has taken a lot of criticism because of his injuries; I am sure the Yankees knew about that when they traded for him. However, he was a former National League Rookie of the Year (1998, with the Chicago Cubs) and certainly possessed the capability to change the atmosphere of the bullpen.
It's almost as if when Wood arrived, things started to turn around for them.
I remember his first outing as a Yankee against the Tampa Bay Rays. When Wood tossed that knee-buckling breaking ball and caught Evan Longoria looking like a deer in headlights, I knew right then and there he would fit in right away.
And he has.
Looking at his last 10 appearances alone is proof of that: 10 innings, no runs, four hits, five walks, 12 strikeouts, and an ERA of 0.00. He has flourished in his role as a late-inning relief pitcher and if he keeps it moving, he will be a wonderful asset when the playoffs begin.
Congrats Kerry!
Yankee Yapping Reliever of the Year
Winner: David Robertson
I know what everyone is thinking: how in the world could I have not awarded this honor to Mariano Rivera?! I would just like to say that The Great Rivera is his own "Walking Award," so-to-speak. Rivera won it last year and he followed that up with another Mo-like season.
32 saves and a puny 1.32 ERA. Typical Mo.
But I am giving it to David Robertson simply because of how far he has come this year. At the outset of the season, Robertson could not get anyone out. He was placed in easy-going situations and lost control of everything.
Case-in-point: Opening Day vs. the Los Angeles Angels.
Robertson came into the game in a situation where there was absolutely no pressure; the Yankees were ahead 7-1 in the top of the ninth inning and he allowed that pressure get to him. He wound up surrendering a grand slam to Bobby Abreu and he nearly gave up the game because of it.
Yet, what struck me was what he said the day after it happened. I remember reading in the news the next day that he grabbed his glove before the game and had two words:
"New day."
That's precisely the attitude that won him this award. Well, that and his 67 strikeouts in 59 2/3 innings pitched this season. He never gave up, battled back from defeat, and is a solid and trustworthy arm out of the bullpen.
He deserves the honor. Congrats David!
Yankee Yapping Warrior Award
Winner: Mark Teixeira
As I mentioned before, Mark Teixeira began the season awfully slow. He was singled out on ESPN and every other sports media outlet about how he was not producing along with being criticized for his low batting average and meager power numbers.
But by around June it all changed and the sleeping giant woke up.
The power-hitting first baseman flipped the "on switch" and quickly became the dangerous hitter he has always been. Teixeira will finish 2010 with over 30 home runs and 100 RBIs for his second straight year in pinstripes.
He has 33 home runs and 107 RBIs at press time.
The reason he is regarded as a warrior is because he has been playing for a number of days, possibly even weeks, with a broken toe. Despite a relatively painful injury, he managed to keep himself in the lineup and at first base every day.
Obviously playing in pain, Teixeira maintained his season and never let it affect him; Paul O'Neill, revered as the consummate "Yankee Warrior," would certainly be proud of him.
Congrats Tex!
Yankee Yapping Grand Slam Champion
Winner: Alex Rodriguez
Whip out the mustard and rye: it's grand salami!
Not once. Not twice. But three times this season Alex Rodriguez has delivered with the bases loaded. The former three-time AL MVP clobbered three grand slams this season, which accounts for 3/10 of the Yankees' grand slams this year.
In fact, the Yankees tied their single season record for grand slams, originally set in 1987–Don Mattingly led the Yanks that year with six grannies out of their 10.
On May 14, Rodriguez visited granny for the first time this season. Minnesota Twins reliever intentionally walked Teixeira to pitch to Rodriguez–a strategy that never seems to pay off, according to the numbers. The Yankee third baseman responded by crushing a go-ahead grand slam over the left field wall to give the Yanks a 7-4 edge.
They went on to win 8-4.
On May 31, merely 17 days after the slam vs. the Twins, A-Rod stepped up to the plate against the Indians. With a full count, Rodriguez smashed a bomb into Monument Park, a glorious grand slam home run to give the Yanks a 6-1 lead over the Tribe.
Once again the Bombers cruised to a victory, 11-2 over Cleveland.
Rodriguez struck one last slam on July 6 in Oakland vs. the Athletics. A-Rod helped slam the Yanks to a 6-1 win. He came up in the top of the third and blasted a grand slam off Trevor Cahill, driving in four out of the Yankees' five runs that inning.
In addition to his slam, Rodriguez later came up in the sixth and hit a solo homer, as he knocked in five of the Yanks' six runs by himself.
A-Rod's excellence and ability to come through when the bases are loaded earned him this award. Hopefully he can continue to rake when the postseason starts.
Congrats Alex!
Well that does it for this year. Either way it goes, the Yankees have an opportunity to repeat as World Champs. While whether they win it all or not remains to be seen, it's clear these standout players made a difference in New York this season.
Congrats to all the Yankee Yapping Award winners and to all of the Yankees.
We'll see you in October. Good luck!
My Summer was Baseball
If I could sum up my summer in one word it would be baseball. Then again, if I could sum up my existence in one word, it would probably be baseball.
Now that the summer is over and school is back in session (for most of us, but not all of us–I graduated college!) I thought I would reflect on everything that was special about this summer. Never in my life have I ever spent a summer that involved the sport of baseball so much. Here are a few reasons baseball has dominated my life for the past three months.
Yankee Games
What would a summer be without a few visits to Yankee Stadium to see the Yanks play? Well, it would be a very dull and sad summer. Thankfully that was not the case, as I was able to attend three Yankee games over the vacation.
The first game I went to was on June 15, my 23rd birthday; a World Series rematch with the Philadelphia Phillies, in which the Yankees won 8-3. When I walked into the Stadium that night I remember thinking to myself, "The last time the Yanks and Phillies met at this ballpark, the Yanks hoisted the 2009 World Series trophy over their heads." I felt very lucky to be at that game.
Five days later I made another trip to the big ballpark in the Bronx for the rubber game of the Subway Series. Yankees vs. Mets; CC Sabathia vs. Johan Santana; it doesn't get any better than that. Mark Teixeira made it a special day by clubbing a grand slam home run, the only offense on the afternoon. The Bombers went on to beat their cross-town rivals 4-0.
I once again experienced the thrill of Yankee Stadium on Aug. 18 when the Yankees played the Tigers. For the first time I got into Monument Park in the new house and it was nice to see Johnny Damon make his return to the Bronx–as a Tiger. The Yanks won, 9-5. Plus, before the game we got very close to the field. We could practically reach out and touch Joba Chamberlain!
All of these games of course were over the summer. I also attended Opening Day, which was a great way to kick off my baseball summer.
The Yankees were 4-0 at games I went to this year and they are 8-0 at games I have been to in the new Yankee Stadium. My only hope is that they keep winning whenever I go to see them.
Trip to Cooperstown
I don't want to say this experience changed me at all, but in a way it did. On July 3, my friends and I took a day trip up to Cooperstown, N.Y. to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
I have already written about everything that happened that day, so I won't re-hash every little detail of the trip. Yet, I will say that the trip increased not only my appreciation for the sport of baseball, but my love for the sport as well.
It was almost as if I was whisked back to the past; Cooperstown provides such a rich history and gives you an old-time feel.
What's more, as a huge Yankee fan, it relieved me to see that about 80% of the museum was filled with Yankee memorabilia and historic artifacts. Everything from World Series rings and trophies to Babe Ruth's jersey was on display for all to see.
Every baseball fan needs (and I stress the word NEEDS) to go to Cooperstown at least once in their life. If you do not go, you are truly missing out and history and quite possibly a life-changing experience.
Hudson Valley Renegades
Working for a minor league baseball team all summer certainly played a huge part in how much I was involved with the sport of baseball this summer. I have shared several stories about things I have done, players I have spoken to, and how much fun it was to get to know my coworkers.
The 'Gades' season ended on Sunday and it was a great way to go out: a win over the Lowell Spinners, who are a farm team affiliated with the Boston Red Sox. The Renegades finished with a winning record of 39-36 and it was pretty cool that I got to be a part of their family for the summer.
As it turns out, Rick Zolzer, one of the main bosses from the organization, took notice of "Yankee Yapping" and now wants me to take over the Renegades blogging. He also knows some writers at MLB.com and he said he would mention me to them, which makes me really happy; I would be ecstatic to get my foot in MLB.com's door. After all, writing and working for them is my ultimate goal.
Working for the Renegades will undoubtedly pay dividends for me.
Interview with Brian Sweeney
One of the best things about this summer was actually talking to an active player on an MLB team. Brian Sweeney of the Seattle Mariners talked to me about his life, his background, and his family; he shared some great stories with me and I feel truly blessed that I was able to conduct an interview with him.
I'll always remember what Sweeney said when I called him to conduct the interview: "Sure we can do the interview now…as long as it doesn't go longer than about an hour because I have to head over to SafeCo for the game."
In awe, I had three words in response: "Wow, that's awesome."
The way he said it just left me amazed. He just said it so "matter-of-factly," if you will.
Sweeney became the first active MLB player I have ever interviewed. I interviewed and wrote a story on John Flaherty last year, but he is retired and now a broadcaster on the YES Network. It was a bit different, considering Sweeney is still playing and he pitched at Yankee Stadium this summer.
What also made it special was that Sweeney and I graduated from the same college. It was nice to discuss what our experiences were like at Mercy, and we were able to relate to one another through that common achievement.
Hopefully Sweeney is not the last MLB player I interview. I'm hoping for a lot more where that came from.
Now that the summer is over, there is still more baseball to look forward to. The Yankees are playing for their postseason lives and need to pick things up. 1-5 in their last six games is not a good sign, but they can pick up the slack and regain their livelihood.
Tonight CC Sabathia toes the rubber against the Tampa Bay Rays in hopes of playing the role of "stopper."
The Yankee ace is also looking for his 20th win of 2010.
Believe: An Interview With Seattle Mariners' Reliever Brian Sweeney
Believe. It's a motto Seattle Mariners' reliever Brian Sweeney goes by. Believe in yourself, believe in God, just believe and you will be fine.
On July 1, Sweeney, a native of Yonkers, N.Y., pitched at Yankee Stadium; a scoreless, 1-2-3 inning in which he got Ramiro Pena, Brett Gardner, and Derek Jeter out. He later went on to face the Yanks on July 11 in Seattle and got the likes of Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, and Nick Swisher out. At press time, Sweeney is 1-1 with a 3.68 ERA.
But his story begins long before facing the Bronx Bombers. Sweeney recently talked to Yankee Yapping about his journey through baseball, where he learned his knee-buckling changeup, and how he was punk'd the night before he was called up to the big leagues.
Yankee Yapping: You started at Archbishop Stepinac High School, and then moved on to Mercy College. Could you describe what it was like to pitch for the Flyers (now known as the Mavericks) and what did you major in while you were there?
Brian Sweeney: Pitching for Mercy was an incredible learning experience. I learned about hard work, dedication and how important it was to not give in, no matter what the circumstance.
Our records each season were not very good but it was not for lack of effort. I learned how to lose which is an important aspect in my professional life.
Learning how to lose helped me want to win more!
We lost off the field as well, because our assistant coach passed away in a car accident my freshman year. I also learned my changeup from my head coach at Mercy that I still use today.
My major was biology.
YY: Growing up, was there any specific team or player you looked up to?
BS: I was a Yankee fan growing up and my idol was Don Mattingly.
YY: You made your MLB debut for the Seattle Mariners on Aug. 16, 2003. What was your initial reaction when you got the call to the show?
BS: There was an unbelievable feeling of satisfaction. I knew from when I was four years old that I wanted to be a professional baseball player. Granted I wanted to play shortstop for the Yankees, but after seven years of work in the minor leagues, I have finally accomplished my goal of getting to the big leagues.
People spend seven years in school to become doctors and lawyers, but I would certainly say my schooling helped me become a big league baseball player.
YY: After you spent a year with the Mariners, you went to San Diego to pitch for the Padres. What was the move like, going from the American League to the National League?
BS: The move wasn't a big deal, except I wanted to stay with the Mariners my whole career. They brought me up and I wanted to pay dividends for them. I guess I can do that now that I'm back in Seattle. Both San Diego and Seattle are classy organizations. I only wish they were closer to home for me and my family, though!
YY: On May 7, 2006, you earned your first career save in a 6-3 Padres' victory over the Chicago Cubs. As a relief pitcher, how did that feel and would you rather have a win or a save?
BS: It was a pretty cool experience considering our closer was Trevor Hoffman. He had pitched, like, five days in a row and he had the day off so they put me in the closer role that day. Everybody in the stands expected Hoffy to run out of the bullpen, but they got me that day.
All things winning are good, so I prefer both.
YY: At the end of '06 you made your way to Japan and pitched for the Nippon-Ham Fighters. The story in the Journal News said, "You could go on all day about the differences between pitching in Japan and the United States." Is there anything that you miss about Japan, now that you're back in the States?
BS: I miss some of the drills that were conducted over there. For instance, they would put the pitchers at shortstop and it really was a great workout. I also miss some of my teammates. I played with Yu Darvish, who is an excellent player and a classy individual. Overall, it was a lot of fun to play in Japan.
I would also say I miss the food there. It was tremendous!
YY: This past April you came back, signed a deal with the Mariners, and then you were sent to the minors. Exactly two months later you were back in the majors. How did it feel to be back, considering you went right back to where you started (in Seattle) Was it a kind of homecoming for you? How happy were your teammates for you?
BS: It felt like I was in a time machine. All I could say was, "Where am I?"
Coming back and getting called up was satisfying, especially since I was able to go back to the Mariners–the team that bred me for seven years. It was like a homecoming, but I also had to get to know a lot of my teammates.
The only one I really knew from my first stint with the Mariners was Ichiro. It was fun to catch up with him and we talked a lot about Japan. It was a learning process to get to know the rest of the players. It took some time, but I got to know them all.
YY: Recently on July 1, you pitched at Yankee Stadium–a scoreless, 1-2-3 7th inning in which you got Ramiro Pena, Brett Gardner, and the legendary Derek Jeter out.
Your family was there, holding signs that read "believe" on them. Could you maybe give me the story behind that, and what did it feel like to be pitching at Yankee Stadium against its most beloved player? Did you change your pitching approach when Jeter stepped into the box?
BS: Believe is a word my children use (they are 11 and 6). It's a strong word that means a lot and it pays dividends over time; believe in yourself, believe in God. My family jumped on that. They made signs that read "Believe" on them and it was meaningful to me that they did that.
I later found out that the Mariners' team expression is "Believe Big." It's just a positive word.
As for Jeter…
I did the same thing with him that I did with the other hitters; same approach. Obviously he is one of the most celebrated ballplayers on the Yankees and he was a nice challenge.
The only thing that was different about him was that he took a long time to get into the batter's box. I wish he had gotten into the box a little faster! Maybe he was trying to slow me down? It could just be his routine.
YY: At the moment your career record is 4-1. Of those four wins, which one would you say (if you can) was the most memorable, or rewarding?
BS: My first win was certainly the most rewarding. On June 29, 2004, San Diego needed a starter to face the Arizona Diamondbacks–and not just the D'Backs, but Randy Johnson.
Johnson had 3,992 career strikeouts and was going for 4,000. In that game, he got to 4,000 and I was two of them; I had to hit against him because it's the N.L. We did however win the game 3-2 and it was a great feeling.
The next day I actually met Randy and talked to him, which also made it memorable.
YY: What's the best story you have from being an MLB pitcher? When I interviewed John Flaherty (a former MLB catcher) he said he was hung over the day he was called up to the majors. Do you have a story like that?
BS: Oh brother! I know John very well and it's pretty funny that he was hung over when he was called up! I have a story like that…
The night before I was called up I was out with a longtime roommate of mine. We had a few beers and then Jim Slaton, one of the coaches said, "I'm fired because the team isn't pitching well." I didn't take it very well and had some choice words.
Finally he stopped me and said, "Just kidding. You're going to the big leagues tomorrow." I practically passed out; all the work I put in had finally paid off.
I was so happy, but I couldn't get in touch with my dad right away because of the massive blackout that hit the east coast in the summer of 2003. I wanted my dad to be the first to know, because he was and still is a huge part of my success.
So Much to Say!
There has been so much going on lately!
Instead of writing a whole bunch of different blog entries, I decided to write a little different this time–just for this time, since there are so many topics I want to cover.
First things first…
- We lost a legend today. Bob Sheppard, at the age of 99, passed away. I put this
loss up there with losing Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio in 1995 and 1999, respectively.
Sheppard was the voice of Yankee Stadium for over 50 years and life will just not be the same without him; it hasn't been, ever since he stopped announcing games at Yankee Stadium in 2007. He officially retired back in November.
Mr. Sheppard, you will ALWAYS be remembered as a classy, dignified, and honorable man. They say true legends will live forever, and you will certainly live forever in the minds of the Yankee fans.
"I have one style of speaking. It's the same, whether it be at Yankee Stadium, at home, in the classroom, or when I lector at Mass."–Bob Sheppard.
- I have been especially busy this week at my job with the Hudson Valley Renegades. After a walk-off win on Friday night, we were beaten on Saturday night at the hands of the Auburn Doubledays.
Although we lost, there was a little ceremony before the game that really made me think. At Dutchess Stadium, there is a Scout's Hall of Fame; a place dedicated to honor important people who helped recruit players.
Last night the Renegades honored Bob Miske, a scout who worked for the Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers, among other organizations. He told a cool story about Tommy Lasorda for his induction speech, and how he became friends with him.
Yet before he spoke, an excellent point was brought up: why is there no Scout's Wing to the National Baseball Hall of Fame? Of course all the legendary players and great writers are enshrined in Cooperstown, but where is the recognition for the people who pick out the young players who go on to become larger-than-life superstars?
It's a great point. When you think about it, someone picked Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez out of a ton of other players. From there, they went on to become who they are today. Shouldn't the person who discovered them get some credit?
I think they should.
The baseball scouts also dedicate their lives to the business. They travel around the country going to high school and college baseball games with nothing but a book, a pen, and a radar gun, looking for the next top player. Since they dedicate such a big part of their lives to the game, they should certainly be recognized for it.
Congratulations to Miske on being honored by the Renegades. We appreciate your effort.
Also on a side note, Renegades' manager Jared Sandberg (who I recently found out is Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg's nephew) was standing right next to me during the ceremony…I snapped a picture of him via my camera phone very discreetly before it ended.
- How nice has CC Sabathia been? His victory over the Seattle Mariners today marked his eighth win in as many opportunities.
The Yankee ace has a total of 12 wins this season and only three losses. He is traditionally known as a "second half player," meaning he usually puts up his best work in the second half of the season after the All-Star break. It's pretty scary to think how many wins he could potentially reach if he keeps winning the way he is.
I'm not necessarily saying he'll win another 12 games over the second half of the year and reach a mind-numbing 24 wins, but 20-21 wins is certainly looking possible at press time. As far as the Cy Young Award goes, it could be him. David Price certainly has a little bit of an edge halfway through the season, but as I said if Sabathia keeps going the way he is, he's a definite candidate.
It's great to have an ace/horse like him on our side. If his good friend Cliff Lee had become a Yankee (as it looked like he was going to be on Friday) it would have been VERY scary; to have two number one pitchers like Lee and Sabathia on the same team is frightening. To have them on the same team that already has the best record in baseball, is just plain terrifying.
But of course the Lee deal fell through and he went to the Texas Rangers. But wait until next year. The Rangers are never going to be able to pay him after this year and it's quite possible Lee will be in pinstripes in 2011.
As for Sabathia, it's just business as usual. He is slated to pitch again on Friday vs. Tampa Bay at home. If he wins that game, it's pretty much a given that he'll at least reach 20 wins this season.
- In the fifth inning of today's game Marcus Thames crushed his third homer of the year, a long shot high off the foul pole in Seattle.
It was kind of a bittersweet home run for me.
Thames hit that home run off Brian Sweeney, a fellow alumnus of my alma mater Mercy College and a journeyman pitcher from Yonkers, N.Y. I recently had the chance to talk to Sweeney, and he agreed to do an interview with me for the blog. (He is such a nice guy, by the way!)
Sweeney also pitched on Thursday night; he got Jorge Posada to bounce into a double play and got through the eighth inning without giving up an earned run. I'll admit I was rooting for him. I wanted him to get the Yankees out. After he surrendered the homer to Thames today, he got Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher, and Rodriguez out.
He gave up two runs in the fifth but went 1-2-3 in the sixth. I was proud.
To me, Sweeney serves as an inspiration. He has made me realize that graduates of my college CAN really go on to do great things. I sometimes have very little faith in myself, especially now considering I'm a recent college graduate struggling to find a real job (I like working for the Renegades, but it's an internship; it's going to be over by the end of the summer).
But I look at Sweeney, pitching for a Major League Baseball team. He came from the same place I did and has reached a great place in life. It gives me hope and encouragement and makes me believe that I can do something great with myself, if I work hard enough.
When I heard John Flaherty mention Mercy College on the YES Network this afternoon and on Thursday night, it made me smile; it made me very proud. It also made me wonder if Flaherty would mention when he visited Mercy last year; I interviewed him and wrote a feature article about him when he came, as I was the sports editor of the school paper.
It was, by far, my favorite story that I wrote in college.
I'm actually still trying to get in touch with Flaherty; I'd like to send him the story I wrote on him. Unfortunately, I can't find a way to get in touch with him at the moment. I'll keep trying though and eventually I'll get a hold of him. I'd like for him to see all the nice things I wrote about him.
As for Sweeney: I am proud of him, and I'm sure the rest of the Mercy College community is, too. I'll be talking to him soon and when I get my interview with him, it'll be posted here right away!
Lastly, I'd like to thank my good friend Micheal Robinson for coming up with a new picture for the Yankee Yapping Facebook page. He is a wonderfully skilled person when it comes to graphic design and he is a genius with photo-shop.
It looks great, buddy. I love it and thank you once again!


text:
« IndietroContinua »
no more, nor lose grace, and that therefore he that falls and sins was never truly justified, ... let him be anathema."
In these positions the Council of Trent did but re-affirm that which had been catholic doctrine from the besrinninw. Its voice on these points is the voice of the whole orthodox Church of the Orient. And, aside from the individualistic novelties of Augustine, it is essentially the voice of the whole series of great theologians of the West. And these definitions are final and authoritative in the whole Latin Church to this day.
Thus it appears th.it of the 370,000,000 of Christians in the world at the present time nearly three fourths (Schaff gives 190.00(t,000 of Latins, 80,000,000 of Greeks, and 100,000.000 of Protestants) teach essentially the synergism which has prevailed in the Church catholic from the beginning.
When we now turn to the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century we are confronted at once by the curious fact that the three great founders of Protestantism—Luther, Zwinglius. and Calvin—were decidedly uncatholic and unorthodox on the subject of the relation of divine grace to the action of the human will. They all became entangled in a physicodynamic conception of the action of God on the souls of men. From this resulted necessarily the irresistibility of grace: irrace being a dynamic, an efficient cause per se, it always produces its intended effect. This led to a, partial atonement: Christ did not die for all, otherwise all would be saved; for grace can never be defeated. And this gives rise to the invention of two unscriptural decrees of election and of reprobation. But it was impossible to deny that the Bible proclaims a ready salvation for all men. How is the force of that to be evaded \ By the monstrous invention of a dualistic will in God — a revealed will which offers salvation to all men, and a secret will which nullifies and defeats the revealed will!
Snch was the immense ballast of uncatholic error with which Protestantism was hampered from its very infancy. Why did not the young Church sink under the burden'{ Simply because these errors are of such a nature that it is impossible practically to believe them. They imply that salvation is exclusively from God, that God saves just whom, and when, and how he pleases, and that all the efforts of man are incapable either of preparing, or hastening, or in any way contributing one iota thereto. Now, the logical tendency of such a belief would be to paralyze all human effort and concern about our ultimate salvation. But the dogma is so contradictory to our moral consciousness that it cannot be fully believed and acted upon. Its reflex, its indirect, effect is to awaken in us a very strong, trembling desire that "we individually might also be among the happy number of God's elect." Now, this desire itself is already essentially a humble petition for salvation. It is a thirsting for salvation. It is really a very strong virtualization of man's moral autonomy or ethical freedom of will. It i* an actual co-operating with that grace which is the congenital heritage of every child of Adam. And this right use of present ability conditions, sooner or later, a richer presence of God in the heart—the normal result of all which is a true, orthodox, catholic, synergistic conversion, such as had been taking place in the Church from the beginning.
Thus the erroneous theories of the young Protestant Church were of such a nature as to be simply hiuderances, but not entire barriers, to spiritual reformation. They only retarded, but could not defeat the efforts of good and holy men. Providence uses imperfect instruments. Essentially good movements are often enwrapped in very erroneous speculations. But our healthy intuitional subjectivism will not heed our speculative abstractions, and often arrives at its goal in spite of them.
But that the predestinarian fatalism of the early Reformers was an immense misfortune to the new Church is clearly manifest from two considerations: 1. The cause of God does not need the assistance of theological and anthropological error. And surely the unvarying testimony of orthodox catholicity against an unconditional predestination justifies us in regarding such predestination as an error until it proves itself to be true. 2. The whole history of Protestant theological thought for now three and a half centuries has consisted partly in a vain endeavor to explain unconditional predestination into consistency with our moral intuitions, but chiefly in the work of eliminating and casting it off. Bright names in this great movement of Protestant emancipation and of return to orthodox catholicity are Melanchthon, Arminins, Wesley. The essence of this movement has consisted in simply the self-reassertion of the healthy Christian consciousness.
The final result is, that of the 100,000,000 of Protestants now existing the. very large majority have long since found their way back to the simple synergistic doctrine of oecumenical orthodoxy, while with the remnant the Augustinian errors are held more as a matter of official symbolic thralldom than from hearty youthful conviction. They lurk rather in the scholastic seminaries than in the evangelical pulpit.
We conclude, therefore, by the emphatic re-assertion of our thesis, to wit, that the synergism which was taught by Mr. Wesley is an essential of orthodox catholicity, and, by consequence, that the monergism of Augustine, Luther, and Calvin is an individualistic innovation, destined ultimately to be entirely sloughed off.
Art. II.—IGNATIUS AND HIS EPISTLES.
I. Personal History.
Of the personal history of Ignatius, as of the personal history of the great majority of the Apostolical Fathers, little is known: and this little cannot be accepted with full faith in its trustworthiness. Tradition relates that he was the child whom Christ placed before his disciples as the model of humility, (Matt, xviii, 2-4; Mark ix, 36;) and as the Saviour took the child in his arms, Ignatius was consequently surnamed Theophorus, " Borne or carried by God." * The chief authority for his personal history is the Martyrium Ignatii, a brief narrative professing to be written by those who accompanied him on his voyage to Rome and witnessed his death. Though its genuineness has been questioned by Daille (Dallaeus) and others, it has been regarded by most scholars as the work of Philo, Agathopus, and perhaps Crocus, whom Ignatius mentions as his traveling companions, t Accepting the genuineness and authenticity of the narrative, we learn that Ignatius was bishop of the Church at Antioch at the close of the first and beginning of the
* In the " Martyrdom " (ii) this term is explained as meaning, " He who haa Christ within his breast."
f Epist. lo Smyr., x; to Phila., xi; to Rom., x.
second century ; * that he presented himself as a Christian before Trajan's tribunal on the occasion of that emperor's expedition against Armenia and the Parthians; f that he was condemned to suffer death at Rome; that he journeyed to that city and wrote letters to the Churches on the way; and that on his arrival he was consigned to the wild beasts in the Coliseum. These are the prominent facts in the life of Ignatius. But of his personal characteristics, accepting provisionally the genuineness of his seven epistles, a more full exhibit can be made. As from the footprints on the shore Cuvier or Agassiz determined the species and size of the animal, so from the epistles of Ignatius may be learned his character by means of the impressions which he stamped upon them.
The most prominent characteristic of the author of these letters is courage. Fear is unknown to him. He is bold to apparent rashness. He is eager for a martyr's crown. *' I am," he writes, "the wheat of God, and let me be ground by the teeth of the wild beasts, that I may be found the pure broad of Christ." X "Entice the wild beasts," he begs his friends, "that they may become my tomb." "May I enjoy the wild beasts." "I am eager to die." Courage, braveiT, fearlessness, is the conspicuous element in the character of Ignatius.
The examination of the cause of his courage reveals a second fundamental characteristic—his love of Christ. His affection for the incarnate Lord is burning and impulsive. It is as intense, to compare human things with divine, as the emotion of Abelard toward Heloise, or as self-sacrificing as the love of David for Absalom. Rejoicing in his sentence of death, he sings, "I thank thee, O Lord, that thou hast vouchsafed to honor me with a perfect love toward thee, and hast made to be bound with iron chains like thy apostle Paul." "Let," he
* Traditions differ concerning the episcopal succession. He was probably either the first or second successor of Peter.
\ It is uncertain whether this expedition' occurred in 106-107 or in 114-115. Coins and documents represent that Trajan did not come to Antioch on his Parthian expedition till 114 or 115. The text of the " Martyrium " upon this point is doubtful. It is either " ninth" or "nineteenth." The supposition of Tillemont, of two expeditions, is untenable.
t The translations are taken from the "Ante-Nicene Christian Library," edited by Rev. Alexander Roberts, D.D., and James Donaldson, LL.D. Vol. i. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark. 1867.
exclaims, in the divine aspiration of his soul, " let fire and the cross, let the crowds of wild beasts, ... let all the shatterings of the whole body, let all the torments of the devil, come upon me: only let me attain Jesus Christ." Why, he asks, does he surrender himself to death, to fire, to the sword, to wild beasts? Because he who is near to the sword is near to God, and he who is among the wild beasts is in company with God, provided only he be so in the name of Jesus Christ. Ignatius is, as Novalis says of Spinoza, " God-intoxicated ;" but, unlike the great pantheist, his spirit is aflame with love for the personal, living, dying, and ever-living Christ. In the strength of the incarnate God he is strong. Of his faith in the God-man is born his Pauline courage.
Flowing from his courage and Christian faith is a third element in the author's character—enthusiasm. His beliefs, his thoughts, glow with the white heat of the intensest emotions. They are not cold intellections ; they flash with the furnace-fire of the feelings. The strongest metaphors quiver with the agitation which he throws into them. "It is better for me to die in behalf of Jesus Christ than to reign over all the ends of the earth," he confesses. "Suffer me to obtain pure light," he begs. "Permit me to be an imitator of the passion of my God," he commands. His enthusiasm impels to Trajan's tribunal; it hurries him across the seas to his martyrdom.
But through the warp and woof of this courage, Godward love, and enthusiasm, runs a thread of spiritual pride. In the whirl of his emotions, in the sportings of his imagination, in the extravagance of his exclamations, is discernible a hauteur neither Christ-like nor Pauline. The excesses of his wild metaphors are very unlike the calm assurance of "I have fought a good tight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith." Their intensity breathes not only a sublime faith in the incarnate God, but also a consciousness of nobler experiences than those to which Roman or Ephesian Christian has attained. "I have," he writes, "great knowledge in God," and lest he perish through boasting a constant restraint curbs his words. His Epistle to Polyearp is colored with emotions which hardly deserve a milder term than spiritual conceit. He addresses the disciple of St. John not as an equal, but as a pupil. He implores him to give himself to prayer without ceasing. He

subset: commoncrawl


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This match up was as close they get. Ilan represents Scrum Australia, and has forged partnerships with not only his countrymen, but also with Mike Cohn as an author selected to represent Mike's series of books through Addison Wesley. Ilan is also only 1 of 5 Global CST's, and sets a high bench mark for his contributions within the Agile Community.
Eric took the influencer category with his best selling book, Lean Start Up (90,000 copies sold), as well as his blog following of 75,000+ registered users. While both have contributed extensively to Agile Academia, Eric won the category for his recognition from Harvard, and their inclusion of his material into the Entrepreneurial track.
Neither Ilan or Eric can be accredited with any specific framework, though its safe to conclude their contributions to Agile are still rather substantial. Ilan is more of traditional contributor, given his credentials and certifications. Ilan has helped develop other agile leaders, and continues to pour energy into making connections across the globe. Eric's book has taken the product owner community by storm, and more importantly, set up countless start ups with an approach for helping accelerate Minimum Viable Product (MVP) candidates. This has helped start ups determine whether they should invest energy building against their current platform, or pivot to another nuance that might be more beneficial to their user community.
This match up could be justified as going to either Ilan or Eric, so we had to determine an ultimate tie breaker. In this case, we opted to examine social media presence, and went with twitter presence and followers. In this case, Eric beat Ilan out, 221,000 followers to 786.
Two titans of scaling Scrum for enterprises go head to head in this epic Sweet 16 match up. In the end, Jeff Sutherland takes the 4-0 victory. Jeff has dominated the round with his participation in the creation of Scrum, his continued collaboration in the Agile community through blogs, forums, print media, and Scrum research conducted at Scrum Inc. He is a co-inventor of the Scrum framework and the creator of Scrum at Scale, a direct competitor to Leffingwell's SAFe framework. Without Scrum, Leffingwell's SAFe framework would likely not exist. To Leffingwell's credit, the SAFe framework has proven to be effective in large corporations and government agencies where complete culture shifts to Agile can be abnormally challenging. The Sutherland Express has left the station and this is one train that's going to be hard to derail.
Jim Highsmith got a tough draw for the sweet 16 round. Jim has had a storied career, highlighted by his involvement in the Manifesto creation and signing, as well as 3 books, and the introduction of Adaptive Software Development (ASD). Jim was also one of the founding members of the Agile Alliance, as well as the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN). Jim was also a co-editor with Alistair Cockburn on an Addison Wesley series for Agile Software Development.
Scott Ambler has made significant contributions to the landscape of frameworks, not only making improvements to the Rational Unified Process (RUP) with the introduction of the Agile Unified Process (AUP) and Enterprise Unified Process (EUP) – but most recently with his effort to introduce Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD). Scott also has done work on Agile Modeling and the Agile Scaling Model. Ambler has published 6 books to date and has been a keynote presenter at over 20 conferences since the mid-'90s.
Ambler takes the categories of Influencer, Frameworks, and Academics, with Partnerships being won Highsmith (for his work with Cockburn, and the Manifesto signers). Ambler won out the Agile Community category for his extensive conference participation. Another great match up, and another tough debate!
In a surprising blow out, Ken Schwaber dominated Ward Cunningham during this unexpected Sweet 16 matchup. Ward Cunningham had a strong opening in the first round, sweeping all 5 categories, creating what we thought would be an interactive debate during his matchup with Ken Schwaber in the Sweet 16 round.
Cunningham is most notably recognized as the inventor of the Wiki, authoring his book 'The Wiki Way'. Cunningham is an original signer of the Agile Manifesto, a pioneer using Extreme Programming (XP), and creator of the Framework for integrated test (Fit) in 2002. Additionally, Cunningham is credited with coining the term 'Technical Debt', has a strong social media presence with 32k+ Twitter followers, and was the recipient of the 2012 Dr. Dobb's Award.
Cunningham's list of accolades fell short however in comparison to the magnitude of Ken Schwaber's many contributions to the Agile realm. Schwaber notably co-created the Scrum framework with Jeff Sutherland and is also an original signer of the Agile Manifesto. Schwaber is the only founding member of the 3 major Scrum groups, Agile Alliance, Scrum Alliance, and Scrum.org. Schwaber has authored or co-authored 5 publications including, the 'Definitive Scrum Guide' with Sutherland in 2010. Schwaber actively contributes to the Agile community with his blog posts and has recently launched the Scaled Professional Scrum curriculum and training courses on Scrum.org. Schwaber's depth and breadth of influence and knowledge in the Agile universe proved to be the final blow to any chance Cunningham had in the Agile Madness bracket.
This was another tight match. With Ivar's international consulting company operating in 6 countries and 3 continents, and their gold designation as the leading provider for SAFe training in Europe – Ivar won the Influencer category. Ivar also narrowly took the framework category, with the contributions that helped define Test Driven Development (TDD) and Behavior Driven Design (BDD). Cockburn has Crystal to his credit on the framework side, though not very ubiquitous in use or application. Cockburn easily won the next 3 categories, weighing in with 7 books, a partnership with Highsmith, and bunch of free videos discussing various points of agile development. With Highsmith, Cockburn is not just an editor; they have a variety of articles and interviews they have done together as well. Cockburn is also a regular on the Agile speaking circuit, and is easily accessible on linkedin.
Mary was a dark horse for running her way to the Final 4 prior to drawing Mike Cohn in her bracket. Mary has an extensive catalog of writing, spanning 42 essays, 4 books, and a Jolt Award for Software Development Productivity. She is currently the Managing Director of the Agile Alliance and a teacher at Lean Systems Society. Mary's academic contributions, and her continuous zest for coaching and teaching Lean, has helped cement her as mainstay in the Agile Community.
Mike Cohn is a juggernaut in this tourney, as well as one of the nicest guys in Agile. Mike is the current owner of Mountain Goat Software, and one of the world's most recognized Agile trainers. Mike was a founding member of the Scrum Alliance, and has 3 books to his credit, notwithstanding his Addison Wesley Signature Series (with authors like Ilan Goldstein, Janet Gregory, Lisa Crispin, Lyssa Adkins, Roman Pichler, Clinton Keith, Jurgen Appelo, and Kenny Rubin). Mike currently uses his twitterverse influence of 21K followers, to help share best practices and offer advice on how to solve some of Agile's most common pitfalls.
While Mary's academic prowess is rarely challenged, Mike pulled out the win with his Signature Series and frontrowagile.com contributions. Mike has also partnered with more than 25% of this Agile Madness Bracket in one capacity or another. Mike has actively responded to our Practice team when we have questions or ask for background on him that we might not find in our own research. Apart from the frameworks category, that is not relevant for either Mike or Mary, Mike takes a clean sweep, and is one step closer to the Final 4.
Leave it to the king of Kanban, David Anderson, to dethrone Robert C. Martin in every category of this round. With over 40-years of experience, 'Uncle Bob' has about a decade's worth more of involvement within the software development community than his counterpart. He also has thousands of views on his YouTube videos that discuss Clean Architecture and S.O.L.I.D. However, Anderson's extensive and continuous contributions to each of our 5 categories allowed him to defeat his opponent. Between authoring several books, maintaining an Agile Management Blog, co-founding multiple networks, and having contributed toward the establishment of Feature-driven Development (FDD) and the revolution of Kanban, Anderson won by means of a royal flush.
In a wild card win, Barry Boehm moved on to face off against Kent Beck in this Sweet 16 matchup. COCOMO could not save Barry this round, with a 4-1 win by Beck. Beck's contributions have changed software and testing methods in the Agile community with the creation of the J-Unit and other testing frameworks. Based on the Boehm Spiral Model, and his partnership with other thought leaders, Beck introduced the Extreme Programming (XP) framework. While this framework is not as widely used today, the underlying components have had significant influence on other frameworks like Scrum. Beck continues to contribute to the Agile community through LinkedIn, blog posts, and through his company Three Rivers Institute. As one of the only remaining software engineers left in tournament, a dark horse seems to be emerging. The only question that remains, is can Beck keep this momentum going in to the Elite 8?


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Abbott's Wink, Bronny Bishop And Essendon's Drug Scandal Clock Up Worst PR Disasters Of 2015 And The Decade
This past year has seen some absolute doozys for PR, from Hockey telling poor people to get a better job, to the most recent calamity from Volkswagen, but whose reputation was besmirched the most?
PR Disasters' analyst and author Gerry McCusker is in his tenth year of acting as the unofficial watchdog of the PR industry, tallying up Australia's biggest blunders.
Using independent data analysis from a global media monitoring company, the Australian PR Disaster Awards highlight the worst examples of business, celebrity, government, media and sports PR "mis-steps".
To qualify as a PR disaster, the incident must result in sustained, negative media coverage for the brand, business or person at the centre of the story.
For 2015, the top five stuff ups were:
- Volkswagen – the auto marque's fake emissions scandal (12,341 pieces of media coverage)
- Joe Hockey – the former Libs treasurer's "get a good job" jibe (7,262)
- Belle Gibson – fraudulent claims of a cancer-curing blogger (6,792)
- Bronwyn Bishop – Choppergate trip took gaffes to a new high (4,390)
- Australian Border Force – show of force turned to a PR farce (3,292)
Looking at the past decade, the monumental stuff ups were:
- Essendon Bombers – supplements scandal (89,685 pieces of media coverage)
- Gillard/Labor Party Carbon Tax – Julia's short-lived legislation (46,439)
- Abbott's wink and 'shirtfront' – the ex-PMs blokey machismo (29,983)
- Qantas' – its grounding of fleet and 'luxury' #socialmediafail (18,868)
- Volkswagen emissions – the emissions cheating scandal (12,341)
"Social media has the ability to turn a misstep into a marathon media nightmare. Cheating and insensitivity – which both rupture trust – are the biggest catalyst of PR and reputation blunders," McCusker said.


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Monday, October 25, 2010
Comic shop comics: Oct. 20
That disappointment aside—and it sure feels like Morrison's run on Batman has been full of disappointment, with so many issues of it being potentially great but for something or other—this is a typically strong issue from Morrison, with quick, sharp characterization and hysterical plotting played straight.
Frazier Irving's artwork is powerful, powerful stuff, although I don't always like the way his human faces turn out.
This is a pretty astounding page though, as much for the pacing of the scenes that precede and follow it as for what's actually on the page:
Brightest Day #12 (DC) Woah hey, this just might be the best issue of the series so far. As I've mentioned repeatedly, the strongest storyline of the book's half-dozen or so has been the Martian Manhunter one, which features the best art by far (by pencil artist Patrick Gleason and…I'm not sure who's inking. Gleason, sure. Maybe Tom Nguyen and or Christian Alamy?). This issue is devoted almost entirely to that storyline, so there's plenty of great art.
J'onn J'onnz has returned to Mars, only to find it partially terraformed into something livable, and the evil alien serial killer lady waiting for him, with a romantic dinner all laid out:Wine, turkey, gravy and a tray of chocolate sandwich cookies…the way to J'onn's heart, apparently.
Since she's the last female Green Martian, and J'onn's the last male Green Martian (with the exception of his evil brother Malefic, who is supposedly dead but probably not really), she thinks they really oughta start doing it in order to repopulate Mars. J'onn's not into this lady, who's name is D'Kay (like "decay," get it?!) because she's a killer and all, so they argue, she unloads her origin story in what looks like a 1,500-word splash-page, and then they fight a lot, physically and mentally, which allows Gleason to draw the whole damn Justice League fighting J'onn for a good three pages.J'onn ultimately loses, which leads to a neat scene where he things he punches Mars so hard with White Lantern power that he brings his race back to life, and he's so happy to see his wife and child that it looks like he's going to eat them:There's a page of Dove and Deadman—the latter of whom really should shave and change clothes at some point—and three-pages of Firestorm and Black Lantern business, but, for the most part, this is an issue of a gorgeously drawn Martian Manhunter comic.
DC Comics Presents: Jack Cross #1 (DC) This is the very first one of the intriguing new format DC Comics Presents books I've actually held in my hands and read and…it's a weird format.
It's certainly enticing. At $7.99, this is around 100 pages and has a spine, making it something of a very cheap trade, although it's in full-color and hasn't been shrunk down to digest size at all, so the usual methods of turning comic books into cheap trades aren't really in effect here. It does still have ads in it though, which is kind of weird. There aren't very many ads overall and, in fact, there are so few that when one appears, it sort of sneaks up on you and surprises you, reminding you that you are not, in fact, reading a trade.
Retailer/Savage Critic Brian Hibbs already noted what seems to be an obvious flaw in the packaging of this particular volume, the fact that there's nothing at all printed on the spine and that writer Warren Ellis' name is nowhere on the cover, despite the fact that he's a popular author who people tend to by books from.
As for the contents of the book?
It's the complete four-issue run of what was originally intended to be an ongoing series, an Ellis-written, Gary Erskine-drawn action thriller about a sort of freelance anti-terrorist, that just never saw a fifth issue (Having read it, now I wonder why; did it sell abysmally or was DC uncomfortable with the politics or violence of it?).
It's a very post-9/11 work, the title character being some sort of bad-ass black ops guy who has retired to help lead the anti-(Iraq) war movement who gets called in to deal with a particularly convoluted terrorist case, which involves a South African terrorist group, the CIA, the Department of Homeland Security, an Iraqi dissident and a rather Warren Ellis-y weapon of mass destruction.
It's not generally the sort of thing that would interest me (beyond trying to parse the politics, which boil over into what sound like statements a few times), but it's very well done. The plot flies along, there are enough twists and turns that I couldn't stop turning pages until the end out of straight curiosity over what will happen next, and Erskine's artwork is as wonderful as it always is.
He and Ellis do something weird with X-Ray-style images during certain action scenes, which are usually accompanied by a slowing down of time to a crawl from panel to panel that is…something different. The way they manipulate time in the sequences is cool, but I'm not sure the looks at the insides of guns being fired added much beyond something different to look at than the exterior of a gun.
There's a complete plot to this story, but it still feels somewhat incomplete, like a pilot episode for a TV show that never got greenlit. There seems to be a lot more to the title character than gets explored here, although generous enough hints are given that one has an expectation that he's not supposed to seem too mysterious for too long.
That is, no doubt, a symptom of an ongoing being turned into a four-issue miniseries. Being turned into a kinda sorta graphic novel five years later.
Justice League of America #50 (DC) Okay, I read a lot of DC superhero comic books, and I read a lot about DC superhero comic books on the Internet, but I'm not an editor of DC Comics, and thus am apparently not as up to speed with the goings-on of their cosmology as I could be (need to be?) to always understand what I'm reading.
So help me out here.
The Alexander Luthor from Infinite Crisis (and, presumably, Crisis On Infinite Earths is an entirely different character than the Alexander Luthor from JLA: Earth-2, right?
He'd have to be, wouldn't he, if COIE/IC Luthor was off in that "heaven" dimension between the two crises, while we saw a Luthor in JLA: Earth-2? (And that one looked older and was also bald).
Well, not to get too spoiler-y here or anything, but apparently the Crime Syndicate from JLA: Earth-2 (Which is actually Earth-3 again, right?) has been in the DCU trying to bring "their" Lex Luthor back to life…and they take the body of the Crisis Luthor from the JLA to resurrect that.
I thought that was a different guy.
OR does it not really matter that their Earth has been destroyed and re-created a couple of times, and that there have been more than one Alexander Luthor from their Earth, because whatever it's number designation, whatever it's status (extant or not), it's essentially the same world? Is that it? That would make story sense but, Jesus, that's complicated.
That Byzantine complication aside, this is actually a pretty fun issue.
It's basically Batman's Angels—the JLA consisting of Batman Dick Grayson, Donna Troy, Jade, Supergirl and Jesse Quick; the other boys are absent—versus the Crime Syndicate, with Dr. Impossible and his Evil Fourth World counterparts finally pulling the trigger on whatever the heck they've been up to over the past few months (before Blackest Night sorta hijacked the plot for a bit).
It's three teams of superheroes with conflicting goals, all fighting each other and about to fight a new threat who is presented as someone I should recognize, but I don't (I know it's not Charlton Heston, anyway) in an annual-or-bigger-sized special issue, all wonderfully drawn by Mark Bagley and just two inkers (But it took nine last time, for a shorter book? What?).
JLoA is still far from perfect, but it's a lot better than it's been in a very long time, and seemingly getting better and better. Hopefully now that Blackest Night and that JSoA crossover is out of the way and the new-new-new team line-up is in place, Robinson and Bagley can start doing their own thing for a while.
Neko Ramen Vol. 2: Curry Is Also Delicious! (Tokyopop) Okay, I'm only on page eight of this, so I can't really review it yet, but I got it at the comic shop this week, so I'm including it in here anyway. From those first eight pages though, it seems to be just as good as the first volume in the same ways that the first volume was good. So, um, you could maybe just re-read my review of that?
Spider-Man: Amazing (Marvel Comics) This is the first volume of the new Spider-Man series, which is the new title of Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, so this is apparently a collection meant to be read after Marvel Adventures Spider-Man Vol. 15, which I didn't read, because God, who can follow this shit?
Like Marvel Adventures Spider-Man, Spider-Man is written by Paul Tobin and usually penciled by Matteo Lolli (three of these four comics are; Scott Koblish pencils the other), and it continues the various storylines and sub-plots from Marvel Adventures Spider-Man.
So why change the numbering and the title and, in the case of the collection, do away with numbering all together?
I have no idea. I was a bit lost, having missed a few issues, but it didn't take long to catch back up. When writing about Tobin's work on MA Spider-Man for the first time, I noted that he "does an excellent job of coming up with something that reads and feels new and original and fresh, while still maintaining enough of old school Spider-Man to feel right." That's still true. I also said that Lolli's art was "a great pleasure to read." That's still true, too.
In this volume, a love interest for Gwen Stacy is introduced, Peter and Chat's relationship gets cuter, the bad guys all use baseball bats and laser guns instead of gun-guns (which is kinda funny), Bullseye is mean to a cat, slaps a bunch of birds and then kills another bird in a gasp-inducing downer of a conclusion, The Blonde Phantom appears repeatedly, and a hair gel company is trying to track down Wolverine to get him to be a spokesman for their product.
I'd liken it to a more Ultimate version of the old Ultimate Spider-Man, one that makes a greater effort to do something new with the character, and certainly suggest it to anyone interested in Spider-Man but daunted by the adventures of the "real" Spider-Man.
I just wish Marvel didn't make following the story so damn hard to do.
Superman/Batman #77 (DC) Look, I don't know who you are exactly, writer Josh Williamson, but you have scripted a really great single-issue team-up comic.
With Superman just kind of meandering around real cities with J. Michael Straczynski and Eddy Barrows and Batman helping ink pages of Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne #6, a different version of the World's Finest team was needed to fill in this month, so Williamson paired Supergirl with Damian Wayne, the current Robin.
It's all really rather straightforward. Supergirl discovers some grisly crime, like the sort they have in Gotham City, in Metropolis. She flies on over to Gotham to find a Bat-person to help her fight a grim and gritty crime, and ends up with Damian. The culprit turns out to be a Bat-villain, the most obvious one for a Halloween-themed issue (Hint: It's not Calendar Man!)
But as straightforward as it is, it's quite well executed. Damian is such an interesting character—Batman, only doucheier, in a little kid's body—that he makes a great foil for pretty much any character, and he's still new enough a character that it's still exciting to see him interacting with super-characters outside his own franchise (Is this the first time Supergirl and Damian have met? I know there was that World's Finest series, but I skipped that).
Williamson writes crisp, sharp dialogue, and does a fairly good job of defining the characters quickly and efficiently, while managing to tell a complete story in just 22 pages. Perhaps the callbacks to Blackest Night were unnecessary, but if you've read that series, they work here (and given how much better BN sells than Superman/Batman, it's probably safe to say that almost everyone who reads the latter also read the former).
The art is by Ale Garza,with Oliver Nome inking, and this struck me as some of his best work (that I've seen). He does a great job of designing certain panels so that they seem bursting with intense energy, not by over-drawing them, but simply by directing all of the lines that make up a certain figure in a certain direction so that they suggest an entire arc of motion despite being a static image.
It's rather animated looking, I guess, and I like Graza's open, expressive designs of the two leads, whose youthfulness is in sharp contrast to all of the other, adult characters.
Oh, and I love his Batmobile:I want to talk a little bit more about Garza's work on this issue later in the week, as this issue gave him an opportunity to offer his own design of one of my favorite comic book characters, whose endless design variations are a subject of some interest to me.
Tiny Titans #33 (DC) I'm sure I've read an issue of Tiny Titans before and then immediately took to the Internet to declare that it was the very best issue of Tiny Titans ever. In fact, I'm sure I've done that six, seven eight times already.
Well, I feel like doing it again: This is the best issue of Tiny Titans ever.
I'm not sure how to go about backing that statement up however, other than noting that I laughed out loud more often while reading this particular issue than I have while reading any previous ones in memory.
I suppose I could try to communicate which gags I found funny, and try to explain why, but that would really only serve to ruin them for you if you haven't read the issue already, and I think I've done enough of that already.
Suffice it to say that this is "The All Robin Issue," so it's full of Robin, the other Robins (Tim, Jason Toddler, Robin Robin, the robin who dresses like Robin), the tinier Tiny Titans all dressed like Robin, the introduction of new characters Stephanie, Carrie and Cassandra (who seems poised to unseat Bumblebee, Kid Devil and even Lil' Barda as the most adorable Tiny Titan), Robin's sweet Photoshop-ed in toys, Alfred's pimp status, alternate, Return of Bruce Wayne-style Batmen (I like Baker Batman, personally), The Red Hood and, of course, the introduction of the Al Ghul family:Man, if I was only allowed to read one DC comic book a month, I'd have a hard time picking between JLoA (which has the most heroes-per-page value) and this, which, at its worse, is a lot of fun and, at it's best, just makes me giddy.
3 comments:
You are right...it is the wrong Alexandor Luthor and makes no sense!!! I am a continuity nut so I know haha but you are wrong about Grant Morrison's Crime Syndicate being from the current Earth-3. They are from the Anti-Matter Earth. Earth-3 is home to the Crime Society.
- Patrick C said...
Yeah, so near as I can tell, the Crime Syndicate in JLoA #50 were the anti-matter versions (previously seen in Morrison's Earth-2).
The Alexander Luthor in that story would be the anti-matter version.
The Alexander Luthor, Jr. from Infinite Crisis and everything else was from the pre-crisis Earth-3 (which ceased to exist, just as Earth-2 Superman and Lois's Earth ceased to exist).
The thing that bothered me was that I wanted Anti-Matter Ultraman to still be a vampire like in the end of Final Crisis
- Dave said...
Actually I think the Crime Syndicate still occupies the anti-matter universe and the Crime Society occupies Earth 3.


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Katherine Stuart van Wormer, MSSW, Ph.D.,
Van Wormer, who grew up in New Orleans, is a sociologist and professor of social work at the University of Northern Iowa. As a student she was actively involved in two civil rights movements, one in North Carolina and one in Northern Ireland. She is the author or coauthor of 20 books on various aspects of human behavior, criminal justice, and oppression. Visit her website.
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Christmas Healthy Lean Vegan Recipes
7 ways you can have a healthier Christmas this year, including two deliciously healthy vegan recipes!
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