Home > Window on Washington > Archives > 2008 > July > 16
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Mike and Mike and ground-rule doubles
We shall use the above video as a teaching opportunity about baseball, specifically about the most repeated, redundant, recurring mistake made about the game.
The video comes from today’s White House tee ball game, which, as usual was a joyful activity involving kids who are probably too young to realize how cool it is to play tee ball on the South Lawn.
But that’s not the point. The point is about adults, specifically the ones invited to do the play-by-play. On the video you will hear ESPN’s Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic discuss the most impressive hit of the day, a solid line drive by six-year-old Blake Money of North Port, Florida, who lined a one-hopper over the center field fence.
Mike and Mike call it a “ground-rule double.” It is not a ground-rule double. It is a double because the rules of baseball, specifically rule 6.09, say it’s always a double when “a fair ball, after touching the ground, bounds into the stands.”
That’s a book rule, applicable in all circumstances, as opposed to a ground rule enacted to deal with specific conditions at a specific ballpark.
And you can look it up.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Your government at work
Looking for evidence of government in action (as opposed to government inaction)?
Here’s just a brief summary of things that happened as a result of laws signed this week by President Bush:
The U.S. Postal Service facility in Brockton, Mass., is now the Rocky Marciano Post Office, named for the late boxing great (shown above landing a solid right on Archie Moore).
The bankruptcy courthouse in Brooklyn is now the Conrad B. Duberstein United States Bankruptcy Courthouse, named for a late bankruptcy judge.
And Lock and Dam No. 5 of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System near Redfield, Ark., is no longer Lock and Dam No. 5. It is now the Col. Charles D. Maynard Lock and Dam,” named for the late Army Corps of Engineers official who helped design the project.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
You say tomato, I say recession
Members of the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday tried to get the witness on the hot seat — Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke — to admit the country is in a recession.
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, was among those refusing to accept the official definition of a recession, which is two consecutive quarters of shrinking economic output. So far, government statistics show the economy is still growing, though at a slow pace. “Our government tells us, ‘Well, there is no recession, so things must be all right,’ ” Paul said. Despite such assurances, “a lot of people are very angry,” he said.
Rep. Joe Baca, D-Calif., pushed Bernanke: “Do you believe that we are in a recession?”
Bernanke replied, “I don’t know.” He said that calling a recession is a “technical” matter for economists. But he was willing to admit that no matter what the statistics show, “this is clearly a rough time.”
So he did use an R word to describe the economy.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: Washington
Texan Gottesman returns to White House
Former presidential personal aide Blake Gottesman, who left the White House in 2006 to pick up a Harvard MBA, now has that degree and is returning to the administration in a post further up the organizational chart.
The White House today announced that Gottesman, a native of Austin, is now an “assistant to the president” and “deputy chief of staff,” replacing longtime Bush aide Joe Hagin, who recently announced his upcoming departure. Hagin has had a broad portfolio - including overseeing major projects such as remodeling of the White House press area and the super-secret situation room. Hagin also has been instrumental in working out details of Bush foreign trips.
Says Press Secretary Dana Perino, Gotteman is “a trusted aide who understands the tremendous challenges overseeing White House operations.”
“He is well-respected in the White House,” says Perino, “and will do an outstanding job to help ensure the staff continues to effectively serve the American people throughout the remainder of the president’s administration.”
Gottesman, 28, has been working in Boston at Berkshire Partners LLC.
In his previous White House incarnation, he spent four years with the unofficial title of “body man,” a post that put him in close contact with Bush many hours a day, often seven days a week. He delivered presidential speeches to the podium, loaded Bush’s iPod and took care of a large portfolio of tasks aimed at making Bush’s days go smoothly.
The job put him in close contact with Bush at many crucial moments, including 9/11.
His departure in May 2006 raised an eyebrow or two because he was headed for graduate studies at Harvard Business School - a Bush alma mater - though he had done only one year of undergraduate work at Claremont McKenna College in California.
