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Tri-Cornered Baseball Game – 1944 Dodgers Yankees Giants

Crowd buys $56,500,000 in War Bonds
Crowd buys $56,500,000 in War Bonds

The three way game played on June 26, 1944 was set up to support the war effort with an unusual exhibition game played by the Yankees, Dodgers, and the Giants at the Polo Grounds. Presented by the War Bond Sports committee in connection with the Fifth War Loan. The First War Loan began on November 30, 1942. The Fifth War Loan was the largest of the eight, and by its conclusion on July 8, 1944, $20.6 billion had been raised. $56.5 million contributed by the Tri-Cornered game at the Polo Grounds. 

  The crowd of 50,000 contributes $5.5 million to attend, while the Bond Clothing Co. pays $1 million in bonds for an autographed program. The overwhelming majority of the money comes from the city of New York, with Mayor Fiorello La Guardia purchasing $50 million worth of bonds. 
Dickey, Pennock, Schang

Dickey, Pennock, Schang

 The three-cornered baseball game started with Hitting, running, and throwing contests. In between contests, Al Schacht, the Clown Prince of Baseball, entertained the crowd of 50,000, and admission to the game was by purchase of series E, F, and G war bonds. The 40,000 general admission unreserved seats cost one $25 war bond; the 5,809 reserved seats in the lower stands went for a $100 bond; the box seats both upper and lower cost the fan a $1,000 war bond. Bleacher seats were free to servicemen. 
Dickey, Pennock, Schang

Dickey, Pennock, Schang

 Between the Contests and the game took center stage at second base where radio and movie comedian Milton Berle “boisterously ushered in” a series of musical numbers. Then former Mayor James J. Walker took charge as master of ceremonies to introduce some New York baseball oldtimers: Zack Wheat, Nap Rucker and Otto Miller of the Dodgers; the Giants’ Roger Bresnahan, George (Hooks) Wiltse, and Moose McCormick; the Yankees’ Wally Schang, Herb Pennock, and U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Bill Dickey.

Giants vs Dodgers vs Yankees
Giants vs Dodgers vs Yankees

Giants vs Dodgers vs Yankees – The setup for a three-way nine inning game was simple: The Dodgers and Yankees played the first inning while the Giants sat out; the Dodgers and Giants played the second inning while the Yankees sat out; the Yankees and Giants played the third inning while the Dodgers sat out. The same order continued to the game’s end.

Scoreboard
Scoreboard

Fifth War Bond

Fifth War Bond

Fifth War Bond

This is a 1944 Dodgers Yankees Giants Tri-Cornered Baseball Game Polo Grounds Fifth War Loan Program. The glossy 16 page, black & white program was issued by the War Bond Sports committee. Listed in the program’s centerfold rosters are the following Hall of Fame members: Dodgers Paul Waner and Leo Durocher, Giants Joe Medwick, Mel Ott and Ernie Lombardi, Yankees Joe McCarthy and Umpire Jocko Conlan. Many other stars of the time are also listed: Dixie Walker, Ed Stanky, Ralph Branca, Howie Schultz, Whit Wyatt, Augie Galan, Billy Jurges, Gus Mancuso, Buddy Kerr, Johnny Allen, George Stirnweiss, Hank Borowy, Joe Page.

Source: http://keymancollectibles.com/publications/threewaygame.htm

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Basketball – March Madness

March Madness 2014

Basketball – NCAA History

Dr. James Naismith

There are three special names for NCAA College Championship rounds (March Madness).

The tournament starts with sixty-four teams. After the 1st round  thirty-two teams remain.

The names begin on the 2nd round:

  • Sweet Sixteen (round 2)
  • Elite Eight (round 3)
  • Final Four (round 4)

At this stage the final two teams play for the NCAA Championship. It’s March Madness!

Basketball History

James Naismith
James Naismith

Dr. James Naismith is known world-wide as the inventor of basketball. He was born in 1861 in Ramsay township, near Almonte, Ontario, Canada. The concept of basketball was born from Naismith’s school days in the area where he played a simple child’s game known as duck-on-a-rock outside his one-room schoolhouse. The game involved attempting to knock a “duck” off the top of a large rock by tossing another rock at it. Naismith went on to attend McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Duck on the Rock

After serving as McGill’s Athletic Director, James Naismith moved on to the YMCA Training School in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA in 1891, where the sport of basketball was born. In Springfield, Naismith was faced with the problem of finding a sport that was suitable for play inside during the Massachusetts winter for the students at the School for Christian Workers.

December 21, 1891 First Game of Basketball Played in Springfield
December 21, 1891 First Game of Basketball Played in Springfield

Naismith wanted to create a game of skill for the students instead of one that relied solely on strength. He needed a game that could be played indoors in a relatively small space. The first game was played with a soccer ball and two peach baskets used as goals. Naismith joined the University of Kansas faculty in 1898, teaching physical education and being a chaplain.

The original 1891 Basket Ball court in Springfield College
The original 1891 Basket Ball court in Springfield College

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How to Achieve Checkmate in 3 Moves-Chess

fools-mate the fastest checkmate
checkmate 3 moves
checkmate 3 moves

There is the 2-move checkmate, or Fool’s Mate, and the 4-move checkmate, or Scholar’s Mate, but do you know the 3-move checkmate? Grab a friend, play white, and your next game of chess will take longer to set up than to play. You can achieve checkmate in three moves with capturing, or without capturing. For either of these methods to work requires some pretty bad play from your opponent, but maybe you can catch her cold at the start.

One way to do this:

1. Move your King Pawn forward to e4. In both of these methods the key piece for you is your Queen. The Queen is the piece that you are going to use to achieve the checkmate, so your first move should be to open up space for the Queen to move diagonally. Moving the King Pawn forward two spaces to square e4 achieves this (e4).

2. Capture your opponent’s Pawn at f5. Now use your Pawn to capture your opponent’s advanced Pawn by attacking on the diagonal. Notated, that’s e4xf5. Here you are trying to encourage your opponent to move their Knight Pawn forward two spaces to g5, so it is alongside your Pawn.

3. Move your White Queen to h5 (Qh5). Checkmate! Now you can move your Queen on the diagonal to h5 and you have your opponents King pinned. That’s game over! You’ll notice that if your opponent hadn’t moved their Pawn forward two in their last turn they could have blocked off your Queen by putting a pawn in her way by g6.

Call out checkmate! Now you can take the King with your Queen on the diagonal and celebrate a very swift victory. If your opponent has fallen into the trap they will likely be a bit annoyed, so don’t gloat too much!

See the video for a good explanation:

How to Achieve Checkmate in 3 Moves-Chess

Source: Youtube and https://www.wikihow.com/Checkmate-in-3-Moves-in-Chess
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Difference Between Fartlek, Tempo, and Interval Runs? | Runner’s World

Speed Play - The Fun of Fartlek

Here’s a quick breakdown of these three major types of speed workouts.

Fartleks, That’s fun to say
Fartleks, That’s fun to say. Elf.

Hi Jenny, I just read your article, ‘What Should I Do During the Off Season?’. Very helpful, thanks! Could you briefly explain to me the difference between fartlek, tempo, and interval runs? Thanks! Mary

Hi, Mary. Thanks for the kudos. Ask and you shall receive: Here is a brief 411 on fartlek, tempo, and interval workouts.

Fartlek Workouts are not only fun to say out loud, but they’re fun to run. Fartlek is Swedish for “speed play,” and that is exactly what it’s all about. Unlike tempo and interval work, fartlek is unstructured and alternates moderate-to-hard efforts with easy throughout. After a warmup, you play with speed by running at faster efforts for short periods of time (to that tree, to the sign) followed by easy-effort running to recover. It’s fun in a group setting as you can alternate the leader and mix up the pace and time. And in doing so, you reap the mental benefits of being pushed by your buddies through an unpredictable workout. The goal is to keep it free-flowing so you’re untethered to the watch or a plan, and to run at harder efforts but not a specific pace.

Benefits: Stress-free workout that improves mind-body awareness, mental strength, and stamina.

Tempo Workouts are like an Oreo cookie, with the warmup and cooldown as the cookie, and a run at an effort at or slightly above your anaerobic threshold (the place where your body shifts to using more glycogen for energy) as the filling. This is the effort level just outside your comfort zone—you can hear your breathing, but you’re not gasping for air. If you can talk easily, you’re not in the tempo zone, and if you can’t talk at all, you’re above the zone. It should be at an effort somewhere in the middle, so you can talk in broken words. Pace is not an effective means for running a tempo workout, as there are many variables that can affect pace including heat, wind, fatigue, and terrain. Learn how to find your threshold and run a tempo workout that is spot on every time here.

Benefits: Increased lactate threshold to run faster at easier effort levels. Improves focus, race simulation, and mental strength.

Interval Workouts are short, intense efforts followed by equal or slightly longer recovery time. For example, after a warmup, run two minutes at a hard effort, followed by two to three minutes of easy jogging or walking to catch your breath. Unlike tempo workouts, you’re running above your red line and at an effort where you are reaching hard for air and counting the seconds until you can stop—a controlled fast effort followed by a truly easy jog. The secret is in the recovery as patience and discipline while you’re running easy allows you to run the next interval strong and finish the entire workout fatigued but not completely spent. Just like rest, your body adapts and gets stronger in the recovery mode.

Benefits: Improved running form and economy, endurance, mind-body coordination, motivation, and fat-burning.

Happy Trails.

* * *

You can ask Coach Jenny a running question on the Ask Coach Jenny Facebook Page or email your question here. Follow her on Twitter @coachjenny.

—Source: www.runnersworld.com/training/a20852351/whats-the-difference-between-fartlek-tempo-and-interval-runs/

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The Three Umpires

Give me a break ump!

Three Blind UmpiresThree Blind Umpires

One weekend the junior umpire, the senior umpire, and the master of all umpires got together to discuss their craft.

After hours and hours of deliberation and thoughtful discussion, the junior umpire stands up and he says “I call ‘em the way I see ‘em“.

The other umpires nod, but then the senior umpire stands up and he says “I call ‘em the way they are”.

The room is silent. Finally, the master of all umpires says “Gentlemen, they ain’t nothing till I call ‘em”.


The Three Umpires by Norman Rockwell
The Three Umpires by Norman Rockwell

Tough Call – also known as Game Called Because of Rain, Bottom of the Sixth, or The Three Umpires – is a 1948 painting by American artist Norman Rockwell, painted for the April 23, 1949, cover of The Saturday Evening Post magazine.

Robert M Woods

Among the many conversations I have had with Great Books students over the years, none is more lively than when we discuss various theories of truth.

It seems to always come up when we are reading and talking about Thomas Aquinas’s Summa. In order to make immediate connection with them, I tell the story about three umpires in a bar after a game. These officials are discussing what really happens when they call balls and strikes. What they are really doing is discussing the relationship between reality and human apprehension of said reality.
The umpires are discussing the relationship between the pitching of the ball and the calling of said pitch by the umpire. It goes like this:

1) When it comes to making calls behind the home plate, I call it the way it is….
2) When it comes to making calls behind home plate, I call it the way I see it….
3) When it comes to making calls behind home plate, it ain’t nothing until I call it….

1) Is it possible that this umpire would ever admit to being wrong?

2) Is the reality of the ball and strike rooted in the perception of the umpire?

3) What if the pitcher threw the ball twenty feet over the catcher’s head and it struck the press box and the umpire called it a strike, it would be, but he would be fired–why?

Those of us who have played or enjoyed the game of baseball get the import of this conversation. The truth is that it is easy to hear what each is saying and recognize the legitimacy of their respective claim. Additionally, it is also relatively easy to extrapolate from their statements and expand them to the point of seeing how wrong they are in their claim.

Source:http://www.theimaginativeconservative.org/author/robert-m-woods

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World Cup 2018: Lionel Messi hits hat-trick as Argentina hammer Haiti before heading to Russia | The Independent

Argentina showed once again how reliant they are on Lionel Messi as the Barcelona forward scored a hat-trick in their 4-0 World Cup warm-up win over Haiti on Tuesday. With Javier Mascherano making his 143rd appearance to put him one ahead of Javier Zanetti as Argentina’s most capped player, Messi got the opener from the penalty spot after 17 minutes.
— Read on www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/world-cup-2018-argentina-lionel-messi-haiti-friendly-match-report-highlights-a8375216.html

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FIFA 2018 Top 3 Players

PARIS SAINT-GERMAIN

  1. NEYMAR
    The most expensive player in the world, Neymar recently headed for Paris in a move that shocked the football world. While still slightly below Messi and Ronaldo, Neymar is in the upper echelons of the talent-packed history of Brazilian football. His 92 Pace makes him one of the fastest players out there, and his 94 Dribbling is reminiscent of Ronaldinho at his peak.

FC BARCELONA

  1. LIONEL MESSI
    In a constant battle for best in the world (and of all-time), it’s hard to say anything about Messi without stretching into hyperbole. His 95 Dribbling is the highest, and very few defenders are able to even come close to stopping him when he’s playing his best. Combined with 89 Pace and 90 Shooting, Messi may usually start on the wing but he always finds a way to get in front of goal—where he rarely misses.

REAL MADRID

  1. CRISTIANO RONALDO
    There are few things that Ronaldo cannot do on a pitch, and few attacking positions in which he won’t excel. His 93 Shooting is evidenced by the unreal number of goals he’s scored in the past few seasons, and Ronaldo’s 90 Pace and 90 Dribbling make him virtually untouchable when in top form. Sometimes deployed as a forward, Ronaldo can dance into the box and dispatch the ball into the net without skipping a beat. He is probably at his best on the left wing, where he can create chances for teammates, or as he does more often, cut inside and lash the ball past a helpless goalkeeper.

Source: EasFifa.com

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Cristiano Ronaldo World Cup 2018 hat-trick goal: Portugal star makes history with stunning free kick against Spain | The Independent

Cristiano Ronaldo scored a late free-kick to complete a remarkable hat-trick in a thrilling 3-3 draw with Spain on Friday night. The Real Madrid man had scored twice in the first-half of the Group B match, but the reigning European champions looked to be headed to a gruelling defeat thanks to Nacho’s wonder-strike midway through the second-half. However with time running out, Spain conceded a free-kick in a dangerous position when Gerard Pique fouled Ronaldo twenty-five yards out from goal.
— Read on www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/world-cup/cristiano-ronaldo-goal-free-kick-hat-trick-video-watch-portugal-vs-spain-world-cup-2018-a8401436.html

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Big 3 Basketball 

Big3
Big3

THE CONCEPT

The BIG3 is the American 3-on-3 professional basketball league. Combining superstar players and fan interaction before and after the games make this an exciting live experience. The entire league is operated and managed by the players. No outsiders. No politics. Just highly competitive basketball played as it’s meant to be.

THE GAMEPLAY
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German rider pulls off historic three-peat at Rolex Kentucky

BY LINDA BLACKFORD

lblackford@herald-leader.com

Michael Jung
Michael Jung
German rider Michael Jung and his mare fischerRocana FST pulled off a third consecutive win at the Rolex Kentucky Three Day Event, the first time that milestone has ever been achieved.

Virginian Kim Severson won Rolex three times aboard Winsome Adante, but not consecutively. British rider William Fox-Pitt has also won Rolex three times.
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Triathlon 

triathlon
triathlon
triathlon

A triathlon is a multiple-stage competition involving the completion of three continuous and sequential endurance disciplines. While many variations of the sport exist, triathlon, in its most popular form, involves swimming, cycling, and running in immediate succession over various distances.

The order of a traditional triathlon swim/bike/run is based on two things: safety issues and smooth transitions. All race organizers want to keep their participants safe. Triathlons are grueling tests of endurance, but they shouldn’t put anyone’s life at stake.

How long is an Olympic triathlon?

Triathlon Distances
Name Swim Bike
Sprint 0.5mi (750m) 12.4mi (20km)
Olympic / 5150 0.93mi (1.5km) 24.8mi (40km)
ITU Long 1.86mi (3km) 49.6mi (80km)
Half / 70.3 1.2mi (1.9km) 56mi (90km)

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Alleyoop

Alleyoop
Alleyoop
1. used to encourage or draw attention to the performance of some physical, especially acrobatic, feat.

nounBASKETBALL

noun: alleyoop

1. a high pass caught by a leaping teammate who tries to dunk the ball before landing.