Home Run Quiz: 1) Who has hit the most career homers as a
second baseman? 2) Most homers as a shortstop? Answers
below.
Joseph Farina…Hero
The following incredible account of heroism is taken from an
article written by Tina Kelley which appeared in this Sunday”s
New York Times.
“An off-duty Newark police officer helped rescue 20 people from
a burning apartment building yesterday morning…Seven people
were injured, one critically.
“Around 7 a.m., Sgt. Joseph Farina, a 14-year veteran, smelled
smoke near the downtown building and reported the fire, which
had begun in the vestibule of the four-story brick structure,
according to a statement by the Newark Police Department.
“Following screams for help, he ran through the front door,
where he discovered heavy smoke, the police said. He pulled two
men from the building, one of whom was severely burned.
Sergeant Farina then ran back into the building and pulled several
more people to safety.
[We”re just getting started]
“He then noticed more than seven people were stuck on the fire
escapes on the sides of the building, unable to lower the ladder of
one of the fire escapes to the ground. The sergeant piled garbage
beneath it, jumped up to the ladder, and pulled it down so the
people could climb down safely. He then climbed up the ladder
to rescue a man who was unable to move. He also pulled down
the ladder of the other fire escape.
“Sergeant Farina then climbed up one of the fire escapes and
woke people in upper apartments by breaking their windows.
“”The actions by Sergeant Farina, coupled with the response by
the Fire Department, are why this didn”t become a catastrophe,”
said a spokesman for the Newark Fire Department.”
It was probably a case of arson.
Joseph Farina…hero…quaff an ale to this great American.
Chechnya
The war in Chechnya is getting less attention these days but the
battle goes on. And, as this editor predicted last fall, it has now
developed into a classic guerrilla warfare confrontation, just like
the 1994-96 conflict between Russia and Chechnya did.
The following account is excerpted from an Agence France
Presse piece of April 14. I can only assume it”s a reliable
account. *It”s also very brutal so you may just want to skip down
if you are a little squeamish.
“Russia is torturing detainees at secret ”filtration” camps across
Chechnya despite an international outcry over abuses at the
notorious Chernokozovo prison, witnesses say.”
“Ruslan, 21, spent nearly two months until March 30 in a dark
underground cell in PAP-5 in the depths of a former bus
maintenance depot, where he said guards meted out brutal
beatings, torture and even committed murder.”
“The Russian military denied the site existed when UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson pressed to see it
and neighbouring PAP-1 on a visit to the war-ravaged Chechen
capital a fortnight ago.” [Note: I covered this in a recent “Week
in Review”.]
“The guards would come in and say ”it”s time for massage”,” said
Ruslan, interviewed in his home village near the northwestern
outskirts of Grozny.”
“Placed on a stool, his hands tied behind his back, two or three
masked soldiers would beat Ruslan with rubber truncheons and
rifle butts for half an hour at a time, swinging blows at his legs,
arms and back.”
“”I lost consciousness many times,” the young man mumbled
hesitantly with a pained look on his face, before burying his head
in his hands.”
“On international women”s day on March 8th, the guards got
drunk and decided to experiment on the prisoners, Ruslan said.”
“Pulling up his trousers to show a deep scar in his left leg
stretching up from the ankle nearly to the thigh, he explained:
”They stuck a knife in me and then slowly, very slowly, cut
upwards into my leg.””
“”You are a boyevik (a Chechen guerilla fighter), we know you
are,” the soldier wielding the knife taunted Ruslan.”
“But he was far luckier than others among the nine men squeezed
into his tiny cell.”
“Four were killed, including a 23-year-old from his village, Ruslan
said: ”I heard the shots when they finished them off after beating
them nearly to death” in the nearby interrogation room.”
[In another instance at a different detention camp.]
“One…inmate, Aslanbek, 20, was dying when the guards dumped
him back in their cell, but was refused permission to see a
doctor.”
“His wrists, hands, and fingers broken, he lay rasping as he tried
to breathe, blood oozing out of his mouth. One hour later, the
soldiers took him out of the cell and relatives then found his body
abandoned on the street.”
[In this particular camp, the beatings and torture by elite interior
ministry troops took place in a windowless room, bare except for
a table and chair, with a light bulb dangling from the ceiling.]
“Many had nails torn out and on the back of one 18-year-old man,
Aslan, the guards burnt a drawing into his skin with lighted
cigarettes.”
“Just before a delegation from the Council of Europe led by Lord
Frank Judd visited Chernokozovo on March 12, Ruslan and
others in PAP-5 were threatened by guards nervous the Western
observers might turn up.”
“They warned us, ”If you speak to the foreigners don”t them you
were beaten. If you do, we”ll kill you, they”ll go away in any case
and then we”ll deal with you,” he said.”
A Russian human rights organization estimates there are about 15
”filtration” camps holding several thousand people in Chechnya.
The Chechen fighters, themselves, are also far from angels. But
the world needs to know what”s going on as they assess the new
Russian President, Vladimir Putin.
Bobby Knight
What can I say, I like the Indiana University basketball coach.
Most of you have heard of the video which shows him choking
former player Neil Reed, though it would appear accounts of this
incident are exaggerated. I bet if you took a poll of college b-ball
fans, it would be 50/50 whether Knight should be fired. Probably
the best suggestion I”ve heard is to suspend him for the first
month of the season (which of course screws up the program and,
Knight being Knight, he would undoubtedly quit).
But I was listening to one of the local sports anchors discuss this
issue and, as he pointed out, do you ever hear of any IU players
getting in trouble with the law? Do the vast majority graduate?
Have many of them become incredible successes both inside and
outside the game? Do many of them express genuine fondness
for the man? Yes.
Now, I certainly don”t condone Knight”s abuse of sportswriters
over the years, though, you have to admit, many of them do ask
the most idiotic questions. My guess is that Knight won”t be
back. I just hope that folks realize there are two sides to every
story.
Cal Ripken Jr.
This weekend, Cal became the 24th player in major league history
to record 3,000 hits. If he gets 100 more this season, he would
move up to #17.
Top 3 songs for the week of 4/20/68: #1 “Honey” (Bobby
Goldsboro.I think I got this as a ”45 on the back of a box of
Honey Comb) #2 “Young Girl” (The Union Gap)
#3 “Cry Like A Baby” (The Box Tops).
Quiz Answers: 1) Ryne Sandberg, 275.Joe Morgan, 266.
2) Cal Ripken, 345.Ernie Banks, 277.
Next Bar Chat, Wednesday…More songs that peaked at #4.
Note: Obviously, the site has changed for you regulars. This was
a big undertaking and a special thanks to my friends at CSI
MultiMedia. But, as with most new things on the tech front,
there may be a bug or two. Please send me an e-mail if you have
a problem.
Also, don”t forget to check out our “Web Tips” column, located
up top under “Articles.”
Brian Trumbore, Editor
