Gooseys Gabbings-The World of Weird Bizarre and Odd News

> Gooseys Gabbings-The World of Weird Bizarre and Odd News

Friday, March 30, 2007

NIT Championship Shirts Misspelled

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- Ouch! These T-shirts are hardly worthy of the NIT champions.

They say "West Virgina." That's right, no "i" before the "a."

The Mountaineers wore them anyway after their 78-73 victory over Clemson on Thursday night.

WVU sports information director Shelly Poe said the NIT printed the shirts. Calls to tournament officials were not immediately returned Friday.

West Virginia coach John Beilein also could not be reached for comment. He and the team were on their way back to West Virginia after winning their first NIT title in 65 years.

Goosey's Gabbings...

Well, could have been worse than Virgina...

I guess that hiring good work for the 66th-best team in the country is hard to come by. Better luck next time.

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Cincinnati Little League Bans Negative Chatter

(Paul Daugherty, Cincinnati Enquirer)

In a few weeks, 23,000 kids in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky area will celebrate the 75th anniversary of Knothole baseball by filling the springtime air with the nostalgic sounds of the game we all grew up with:

Hey, battuh-battuh. Please swing if it makes you feel good about yourself!

The Knothole Club of Greater Cincinnati has decided to eliminate "chatter." Unless the chatter is "positive" and directed at your own team. You can't say "We want a pitcher, not an underwear stitcher!" unless, maybe, you grew up in a culture that idolizes underwear stitchers. Standings for the Feelgood Division of the Self Esteem League will be available any time now.

Until then, a moment of silence for the death of an American tradition. Proponents of the new edict say it was a necessary response to increased incidents of taunting. They cite one especially ugly example from June, involving a game in Colerain Township between two teams of 14-year-olds in the A-2 division. One parent received 15 stitches after a player whacked him on the forehead with a metal-spiked baseball shoe.

The incident began with a coach being ejected for arguing a balk call and escalated into a full-scale brawl.

Apparently these days, one kid's "no batt-uh" is another kid's "let's throw down."

"We didn't want Knothole to get a bad name for anything," Knothole president Dave Epplen explained. "If you're saying, 'Swing, batter,' and this poor little kid is swinging at everything, he feels bad and maybe he turns to the catcher and gets mad. Honest to gosh, I didn't have any trouble doing this."

Knothole follows the Rules of Major League Baseball. Rule 4.06(a)(2) states, "No manager, player, substitute, coach, trainer or batboy shall at any time, whether from the bench, the coach's box or on the playing field or elsewhere, use language which will in any manner refer to or reflect upon opposing players, an umpire, or any spectator."

Coaches and players found guilty of "negative" chatter will be warned once, then suspended for a game. Maybe they'll be sentenced to watching "Oprah" for a month, too.

"We're going to follow the rule as it's written," Jim Pecot, umpire coordinator for District 34, said.

Practically speaking, there is reason for the move. Taking their cues from the pros, kids have raised (or lowered) the level of chatter to suit the times. It isn't enough now to tell a pitcher he has a glass arm. You also have to question his heritage or disrespect him after a home run.

Given that some of the umpires working lower-level Knothole games are as young as 12, it can be hard for them to differentiate between good-natured chatter and over-the-top woofing. As Pecot put it: "It goes from 'Hey batter, batter' to telling the pitcher he sucks. It gets out of hand. Sometimes, that can be tough for a 13- or 14-year-old umpire to handle."

Well, OK. Kids can be cruel (always have been); young umps can be, um, callow (always have been); and parents, coaches and anyone else who should know better can release their inner-ogres when it comes to kid sports (always have). Any adult ragging a 10-year-old player or a 12-year-old ump should be sent to his room with no "SportsCenter."

But, c'mon.

There are some truths we hold self-evident. Big stuff, such as life, liberty and all that. And there are other, more vital verities, such as the right to shout mildly denigrating things at the other team's pitcher. Or to tell a batter to swing. Or that a catcher's underwear is showing. Great, all-American stuff.

Only now, that's out. You can't have little taunters screaming "Pitcher has a glass arm!" and not expect Attica to break out.

"Chatter is the foundation of youth baseball," said Nick Lutz, a coach in the Loveland Youth Baseball Organization's D-Rec League of 8- and 9-year-olds. "If my self-esteem had been damaged by Knothole, I'd have killed myself by now. I was probably a .190 hitter. I still had fun yelling 'hey batter-batter.' "

The kids on Lutz's team have varying opinions. Essentially, they come down to "Do we still get a snack after the game?"

Said Ryan Mangan, 9: "It's sort of weird, but it has a point. Some kids don't have the same feelings as you." Will Reverman, 8, allowed that the rule was "dumb." Ryan Lutz said it was "really dumb."

Eight-year-old Michael Staley had a more practical concern: "We can still steal, right?"

Goosey's Gabbings...

Not much more to say about this. Daugherty says it well, and with as much sarcasm snark that should be about this; our PC society with this stuff needs to worry a little more than about what is said on a baseball field.

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When you rob a bank, you may want to avoid using Google to learn how to do it

NORWICH, Conn. Mar 30, 2007 (AP)— A bank robbery suspect was arrested after leaving a trail of cyberclues, including an online search for "how not to rob a bank," police said.

Kevin Fitzpatrick, 32, was arraigned Thursday on charges of robbery and larceny for a Sept. 28, 2005, robbery. He was held on unrelated charges in New York at the time of his arrest.

Police said Fitzpatrick was staying with a woman at the time of the Norwich robbery and spent a great deal of time on her computer. They had met on the Internet and had never met in person when he asked to stay for several days, borrowing her car the day of the robbery and returning with a lot of cash, claiming he won it at the Mohegan Sun casino, police said.

Police allege Fitzpatrick walked into a Liberty Bank branch and handed a teller a note demanding money. A week later, a tip led police to the friend, who said she recognized Fitzpatrick from a surveillance photo posted on a newspaper Web site.

Police said when the friend checked the log of her computer, she noticed a search had been conducted for "Norwich bank robbery."

A police search of the computer revealed numerous searches concerning bank robberies.

"Most times when citizens get involved, relaying honest and accurate information about what they see, it's a benefit to the investigation," police Capt. Timothy Menard said.

Goosey's Gabbings...

Ok, so let me get this straight..he had met this woman on the internet, they had never met before, and then he asked to stay for several days AND she loaned him her car? Ummmm....seriously--I understand there is a basis for trust with some people, but WAKE UP SISTER!!!!

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Student Newspaper has little news, lots of sex; Strangely gets pulled

HAMPTON, N.H. -- Some parents are protesting the "sex" edition of the student newspaper at Winnacunnet High School. Several said they were especially offended by a photograph of two women kissing under the headline, "Why men love women who love women," a quiz question about anal sex, and an interview with an unnamed custodian who said he had found a vibrator in the girls' shower.

"Those articles offended me personally as a parent," said Venus Merrill, a school board member. "It's not something you want to read with your 10-year-old and it's not something that should be going home."

Principal Randy Zito said the Winnachronicle had crossed the line of responsible reporting and that he had dealt with the problem privately. He also said he had pulled copies of the paper that normally would have been sent to middle schools in the cooperative school district.

The newspaper's faculty adviser defended the editors' decisions and said the February edition of the paper was intended to inform students, not shock people -- although they knew it would stir controversy.

"The kids wrote the articles and came up with the topic," said adviser Carol Downer. "They didn't go out to cause controversy, but the Winnachronicle is also not a P.R. piece for the high school. This is a place for students to express their view and talk about issues that are troubling the student body."

The newspaper is not reviewed in advance of publication by administrators. The school board has not discussed the controversy in a public meeting, but parent Paula Wood, of Seabrook, said she wants it on the agenda for the next one.

Zito told her it would have to be discussed in a closed session because it might involve personnel issues, but Wood said she asked the superintendent to hold a public meeting.

"I don't want to discuss personnel," Wood said. "I want to discuss the paper. "I thought it was a vile, disgusting piece of pornography I wouldn't want to be in front of children, let alone paid for by taxpayers."

Wood said she and her children, two boys, discuss sex openly, "but not in a disgusting manner."

The student paper's editor in chief, Katie McCay, and managing editor, Lisa McManus, said they wanted to educate students, nearly half of whom are already having sexual intercourse, according to a 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey at the high school. The true or false quiz was particularly enlightening, they said.

"As we put the pages on the table, the staff said, 'Oh my goodness, that's false? I had no idea,'" McCay said. "This is definitely stuff kids didn't know about."

They also got a lot of feedback about the article on lesbians, she said.

"We thought it was an important topic to address," McCay said. "Being in a high school, it's something I've seen and something other kids have seen in the hallways."

In an editorial, McManus wrote that the students were aware they were dealing with a taboo.

"These stories have been edited and re-edited for content and delivery, keeping in mind that the job here is to inform, not shock," the editorial said. "It's about sex. Deal with it. ...

"It is something parents hope their children remain ignorant about until after marriage. It is something faculty members and administrators hope not to deal with, but something that almost all students have experienced or been exposed to."

Goosey's Gabbings...

"It's about sex...deal with it..." Hmm...that sounds like something President Clinton should have said.

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10-year olds redefine "Little Rascals" in attacking homeless man

(CNN) -- Egged on by a 17-year-old, two 10-year-old boys joined in the attack of a Florida homeless man, leaving him bruised and bloody, police said.

The incident highlights an upswing in violent crime across the U.S. against the homeless.

In 2006, there were 142 attacks and 20 murders, several involving teenagers seeking a vicious thrill, according to the Washington, D.C.-based National Coalition for the Homeless.

Tuesday's incident, which took place in Daytona Beach, Florida, may make history, said the nonprofit's acting executive director Michael Stoops.

"If we're talking about 10-year-olds, that means we've hit an all-time low," said Stoops. "The youngest person to have ever been arrested for a crime like this is 13."

Daytona Police Sgt. Billy Walden said the teen and two boys were walking in their neighborhood around 9 p.m. when they saw 58-year-old John D'Amico. They began throwing rocks at the homeless man.

The 17-year-old, Jeremy Woods, punched D'Amico who then fell over a concrete wall. As he lay on the ground, one of the 10-year-olds -- whose names are not being released -- used parts of the concrete to bash D'Amico in the head, a police report shows.

The three boys made their first court appearance Wednesday wearing ankle shackles and handcuffs, and white jail jumpsuits too big for the two tiny 10-year-old frames. Judge Peter Marshall assigned them public defenders.

Goosey's Gabbings...

Wow...I guess this is just another example of our society's crumbling when it comes to violence. I am sure someone will blame the music they listen to or the TV they watch or the movies they've seen, but no one will discuss the responsibility of teaching right and wrong from the parental side of things. At least with a maximum sentence they'll be able to skip that awkward "prison puberty" stage.

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Man tries to illegally smuggle geckos in his socks

A MELBOURNE man allegedly caught hiding three native geckos in his socks will be charged with wildlife offences.

The Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) says the man caught the protected native lizards then hid them in socks while transporting them through central Victoria.

DSE north west region wildlife officer Shaun Burke said the Marble-velvet Gecko, an Eastern Spiny-tailed Gecko and a Three-spot Knob-tailed Gecko are believed to have been taken from the wild in New South Wales and brought into Victoria.

Police from Heathcote, near Bendigo, found the lizards during a search of the man's car and alerted wildlife authorities a week ago.

Mr Burke said the man's home was searched but no other protected wildlife was found.

Mr Burke said some species of geckos were popular pets and could fetch high prices on the black market but removing them from the wild had serious consequences.

"The removal of animals like these can heavily affect the local populations from which they were taken, and potentially transmit diseases into other reptile communities," he said.

Unlawfully taking wildlife can attract fines of up to $24,000 or two years' jail or both under the Wildlife Act 1975.

Unlawfully importing wildlife into Victoria attracts a penalty of up to $10,000.

Goosey's Gabbings...

Well, he may be penalized 10,000 eventually for his actions, but he saved much more on his car insurance.

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Teacher arrested for stealing Toilet Paper

OSAKA -- A staff member of an Osaka Prefecture high school has been dismissed for stealing toilet paper from the school, the Osaka Prefectural Board of Education said.

The 44-year-old female staffer was allegedly caught putting toilet paper -- worth 37 yen -- into her bag on Aug. 23 last year. The principal of the school subsequently filed a report with police.

The woman was summarily indicted and fined 100,000 yen. She reportedly has admitted to the allegations, but said she "didn't know" when asked why she had stolen the toilet paper.

The woman's colleagues had apparently been watching her behavior after toilet paper began running out at an abnormally fast pace around September 2004. (Mainichi)

Goosey's Gabbings...

I am pretty sure this woman will not be able to wipe this stain from her record.

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