Category Archives: History

Just 89 days from now, West Virginia will kick off the 2022 college football season against its biggest rival.

The revitalization of the Backyard Brawl 11 years after the last time the two programs met on the gridiron is one of the most highly anticipated games of the Neal Brown era.

With that in mind, it gives us a good opportunity to look back on some of the best, or most-anticipated, season-opening games in program history.

Editors Note: This list features games played from 1950 to the present, as prior to that West Virginia largely began its season against regional opponents that are now Division-II schools.

The second year of the Will Grier era at quarterback got off to a fantastic start.

West Virginia and Tennessee fans engaged in plenty of back-and-forth chatter leading up to the game, which only heightened the anticipation for the first contest of the season.

Grier and company were up 10-0 after the first quarter and outscored the Volunteers by 20 after halftime to secure a 40-14 season-opening victory.

Grier completed 25-of-34 passes for 429 yards and five touchdowns. David Sills V and Gary Jennings each eclipsed 100 receiving yards and caught at least one touchdown.

This is one of those games where a couple of plays made a world of difference.

Coming off a 4-8 season, expectations varied for the Mountaineers entering the 2014 campaign, which started against an Alabama program that had won three of the previous five national championships.

The Crimson Tide held just a three-point lead heading into halftime, but the Alabama defense limited the Mountaineers to just six points in the second half. Nick Sabans squad earned a 33-23 win.

A dropped pass near the goal line on WVUs first drive cost the Mountaineers some points, and wound up leading to one of the bigger What if? games for the program in this century.

It did begin a dominant season for wideout Kevin White, who hauled in 13 passes for 216 yards and a touchdown against Alabama.

To date, its the most recent playing of the Friends of Coal Bowl.

It also was the first game played following the 70-33 shellacking of Clemson in the 2012 Orange Bowl.

Behind the programs all-time leading passer in Geno Smith, West Virginia dismantled the Thundering Herd defense in the 2012 season opener.

Smith completed all but four of his 36 pass attempts, threw for 323 yards, and added five total touchdowns. Shawne Alston led the WVU rushing attack with 123 yards and a pair of scores.

The Mountaineers just missed hitting the states interstate speed limit, winning 69-34.

From the most recent playing, to the return of the Friends of Coal Boal.

The 2006 playing of the WVU-Marshall rivalry game marked the first meeting between the two in-state programs since 1997.

Rich Rodriguezs Mountaineers started the season as the No. 7 team in the country, and his starting quarterback, running back, and full back were on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Steve Slaton, part of that famed trio, ran for 203 yards and scored two touchdowns. Pat White completed 10-of-14 passes for 168 yards. Defensively, West Virginia limited Marshall to just two scores in the 42-10 victory.

It was a dominant start to a dominant season, during which WVU rose to as high as third in the national polls, and finished the year ranked No. 10 in the country.

Its not often that the No. 1 team in the country comes to Morgantown. But that was the scenario to kick off the 1998 season.

A total of 68,409 fans the third-largest crowd in Milan Puskar Stadium history crowded around Mountaineer Field to watch the 11th-ranked Mountaineers host the top-ranked Buckeyes.

Despite a high-powered home offense that included Marc Bulger, Amos Zereoue, and Anthony Bect, it was Ohio State that flexed its abilities on offense. The Buckeyes scored 17 points in the second quarter, which propelled them to a 37-17 victory over Don Nehlens group.

Of note, Zereoue became WVUs all-time leading rusher in this game.

Some fans will remember this as the first football game between West Virginia and Marshall since 1923, ending a 74-year drought of gridiron matchups between the two in-state programs.

Others will remember it for one man, and he wasnt wearing the home uniform.

That man is Randy Moss.

Despite recording just 85 receiving yards in the game, Moss continued to show why he was one of the premier talents in the country. His second of two third-quarter touchdown grabs gave Marshall a 31-28 lead.

Zereoue, however, rushed for 180 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-sealing score as part of the Mountaineers 42-31 win.

On November 24, 1995, West Virginia shutout rival Pittsburgh, winning by a final score of 21-0.

Just over nine months later, the Mountaineers blanked the Panthers again. This time, it happened in Pittsburgh.

Zereoue got the scoring started, as he took his first-ever carry against Pittsburgh 69 yards down the field for a touchdown. The Mountaineers led 17-0 at halftime and went on to win by a final score of 34-0.

That was 54 unanswered points scored by the Mountaineers between the 95 and 96 editions of the Backyard Brawl.

It is also the last time that WVU and Pitt played in any season before mid-November.

That is, until September 1, 2022.

1988 is arguably the most famous season in WVU football history. It marked the first of two undefeated regular seasons under Nehlen and it led to West Virginias only appearance in college footballs national championship game.

None of that happens, though, if the Mountaineers stumble out of the gates against Bowling Green.

The 16th-ranked Mountaineers started by scoring 24 points in the games opening quarter. There was no looking back from there, as West Virginia cruised to a 62-14 victory on a nearly perfect day in Morgantown.

While the game itself may not have been all that highly anticipated, especially with games against Maryland, Pittsburgh, and Virginia Tech on the horizon, it did get WVU off to a good start to what became a historic season.

Don Nehlen versus Barry Switzer.

West Virginia at Number 9 Oklahoma, playing in front of 75,008 Sooner fans.

Advantage Mountaineers.

Oklahoma was the overwhelming favorite heading into the game, but Jeff Hostetler and WVU had other plans.

Hostetler tossed for 321 yards and four touchdowns in his first start for the Mountaineers. After trailing 14-0, West Virginia ripped off 20 straight points, including 10 in the final 15 seconds of the first half.

The Mountaineers used a big fourth quarter to earn its first-ever win over the Sooners by a final of 41-27. Nehlen later said that the victory over Oklahoma that day, pretty much put West Virginia on the map as a major college football team.

The 1969 WVU football team had a pair of players Bob Gresham and Jim Braxton who went on to play in the National Football League on its roster.

It was a roster that had the makeup for putting together the best season of the Jim Carlen era. And it delivered.

Starting with the season-opener against Cincinnati, the 1969 Mountaineer team scored 30 or more points in seven of the 11 games it played that season. WVU scored a season-best 57 in a lopsided, 46-point win over the visiting Bearcats.

West Virginias lead was 34 points by the time Cincinnati finally got on the board in the third quarter.

WVU went on to complete its first 10-win season since 1922.

There was no way of knowing then the type of a football career Navys quarterback would ultimately have, but fans on hand at Old Mountaineer Field on Sept. 21, 1963, would soon believe it.

West Virginia welcomed the ninth-ranked Midshipmen to Morgantown to begin the 63 campaign. Leading the way for Navy was that seasons Heisman Trophy winner, Roger Staubach.

WVU didnt have much of an answer for Navy that day, as Staubach completed 17-of-22 passes, and handed the ball off to a bevy of skilled tailbacks.

No. 9 Navy won easily 51-7 to kickstart a 4-6 season for WVU.

Another season that got underway against the Panthers. For the second year in a row, the Mountaineers would face a nationally ranked Pittsburgh team.

Statistically, West Virginia out-played Pitt in every way that afternoon, except for one. Quarterback Mickey Trimarki threw four interceptions.

WVUs defense held the Panthers to just 96 yards of total offense, but couldnt keep Pitt out of the end zone in the third quarter.

Four interceptions and a missed PAT in the second quarter were the difference.

Pittsburgh 14, West Virginia 13. A near-capacity crowd at Old Mountaineer Field filed out disappointed.

That was not the case in the season-opener two years prior. This time, the Mountaineers were on the road against a ranked foe.

South Carolina held the No. 15 spot in the preseason rankings that year. But Art Lewis group was coming off an 8-2 season, and was keen on repeating that success.

Weston, West Virginia native Fred Wyant led the Mountaineers on scoring drives in each of the first three quarters. Wyants one-yard scoring run gave WVU a 13-0 lead at halftime, and an identical scoring run in the third quarter put West Virginia ahead by 20.

The unranked Mountaineers defeated the Gamecocks by a final of 26-6 in the first of two road victories over ranked teams in the first three weeks of the season.

It also avenged a loss from November of the previous season, which was the only blip in an otherwise perfect regular season.

West Virginia was Number 16. Pittsburgh was Number 17.

This marked the first time in the history of the Backyard Brawl that both teams were ranked on the date they squared off.

Wyant scored from one yard out to put WVU ahead, but Pitt evened up the score at seven points apiece before halftime. A short field goal gave West Virginia the lead in the third quarter, and another rushing touchdown in the fourth quarter put the game away.

WVU went on to win each of its first seven games of the year and fell just seven points shy of going 9-0 in the 1953 campaign.

West Virginias victory in the 53 playing of the Backyard Brawl also marked the first time in 30 years that WVU had beaten its archrival in back-to-back seasons.

WVU begins the 2022 regular season versus Pittsburgh at Heinz Field on September 1.

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Looking back on the most-anticipated season-openers in WVU football history - WBOY.com

With many cities kicking off their June Pride festivities this weekend, we thought we could take the time now to look back at some of the most important moments in Texas Pride History.

The June Pride month commemorates what is now known as the Stonewall uprising, an important moment in the history for LGBTQ liberation. After the Greenwich Village bar the Stonewall Inn was raided by the New York Police Department on June 28, 1969, LGBTQ patrons (many of whom were people of color) and their neighbors rioted for over six days.

In Texas, Pride events have been happening since the 1970s. Austin Monthly chronicles how organizations like the Gay Liberation Front and Gay Womens Liberation held events in 1970, a year after the Stonewall riots. Austin Mayor Jeff Friedman would declare a Gay Pride Celebration Week in June, 1976.

The first official Houston Pride parade occurred in 1979, but OutSmart Magazine gives a great overview of events that happened in the years prior that made an official parade possible. One person who marched in 1976 was Annise Parker, the activist turned mayor of Houston.

The following year in Houston in 1977, a seminal event occurred for the LGBTQ community in June: Anita Bryant came to town. Bryant, a moderately successful singer and a onetime Miss Oklahoma, found a second career as a hateful anti-gay rights activist. Houstonia provides a rundown of the boycott that took place outside the Hyatt Regency, where Bryant was performing. Over 10,000 showed up to the boycott, making it one of the largest public events in Houstons history at that time. In 1980, Florida Orange Juice officially canned Bryant as their spokesperson.

Dallas held its first official Pride parade in June 1980 (though there was an important and impromptu march from gay rights organizers that occurred in 1973). An organization of LGBTQ bars and nightclubs called the Tavern Guild took over the parade in 1983 and moved it to September to honor the court case Baker v. Wade, which overturned a Texas sodomy law (which would be later reversed by a court of appeals).

As the AIDS epidemic tragically escalated throughout the 1980s, many Pride events in Texas took on a more dire need. San Antonio held its first Pride Picnic in 1982. San Antonio Magazine notes that first event happened as a result of the activism of real estate developer and nightclub owner Arthur Hap Veltman.

Veltman died of complications from AIDS in 1988. A recent documentary from filmmaker Noi Mahoney examines his legacy on the San Antonio LGBTQ community. One of Veltmans colleagues, Gene Elder became the director of the Happy Foundation Archives, a resource named after Veltman to document gay and queer history in San Antonio and Texas. The University of Texas at San Antonio houses much of those archives.

Though not directly related to Pride, an important court case known as Gay Student Services v. Texas A&M University was upheld in 1984. In 1976, Texas A&M refused to recognize the group Gay Student Services on the basis that homosexuality was illegal in Texas. A court of appeals sided with the student organization, and the Supreme Court declined to take the case, thereby upholding the court of appeals ruling. Texas A&M unveiled a new LGBTQ+ Pride Center last year.

In 1999, President Bill Clinton declared June Gay and Lesbian Pride Month. He issued the same proclamation in 2000, and President Obama continued the tradition when he took office in 2009. President Biden proclaimed this month as LGTBTQ Pride Month, while also noting the recent heinous attacks on the LGBTQ community.

In Texas, Beaumont hosted its first Pride Event in 2014. Hundreds attended the parade and block party that June. Later that year in August, 24-year-old Texas Tech student Kat Cade organized a pride event in Lubbock, which was covered by Texas Monthly.

Though many activists will point out that Pride Month has morphed into a strange corporation-fueled rainbow celebration with nebulous ties to the protests it once inspired, Texas has been the scene of many important events for the LGBTQ community. And the activism is important.

Texas was the site of numerous anti-LGBTQ bills during the last legislative session (and the subsequent special sessions that followed) including a transgender sports ban championed by that went into effect earlier this year. According to Equality Texas, there were 30 anti-LGBTQ bills filed in the Texas legislative session, an increase of 50 percent from 2019.

The Texas GOP has also backed investigations into the parents of trans children, as well as their medical allies. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has also indicated he wants to bring a bill similar to Floridas Dont Say Gay law to Texas for the next session.

Pride is a celebration, but it also commemorates a protest. Now more than ever, Texas will once again become the site of protests and activism against anti-LGBTQ laws.

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A Brief History of Pride in Texas - The Texas Signal

Sports are defined by moments of What If... Since the inevitable end to Utahs football and basketball seasons back in January and March, Ive been obsessed with watching ESPNs 30 for 30 documentaries or going on YouTube and watching NFL Films Top 10 What if moments as well as other sports documentaries.

After watching these it inspired me to apply those same theories to Utah sports and ask the what-if questions to a number of Utah Sports moments. For example, what if Urban Meyer stayed at Utah and didnt leave for the Florida job, Rick Majerus continued coaching at Utah, or what if Coach Whit left for another job.

Id like to start the series as soon as possible but I also wanted to open it up to our community and get your thoughts and insight. I dont plan on this being an intensive what-if scenario dissecting every potential fallout but more of my general thoughts as well as an open dialogue from all of you. Its also just a great way to kill time over the summer and get more excited for the return of Utah Football.

With that please post your comments about some potential What if moments in Utah Utes sports history and tune in to this thread over the summer.

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What If......? - Moments in University of Utah Sports History - Block U

Historian and TV presenter David Olusoga has said that rightwing newspapers characterise him as an activist and critical race theorist to delegitimise his voice, despite there being no basis for these claims.

Olusoga, whose work has explored black Britishness and the legacy of empire and slavery, said that people feel perfectly comfortable making these comments about me without being able to point to a single reference or footnote in my books. He said that in reality he is an old-fashioned empirical historian who fundamentally tells stories and tries to create empathy and a public understanding of history.

He told an audience at Hay festival: Why the need to describe me as a critical race theorist? Why the need to describe me as an activist rather than a historian? These are all about delegitimising peoples voices.

Olusoga was speaking as part of a debate on how cancel culture has become a blood sport, but said that the phrase did not capture his experience, since it is usually attributed to students, who he thinks are falsely accused of fomenting cancel culture, when in reality it reflects a growing intolerance in rightwing newspapers.

He was also asked for his views on the response to historian David Starkeys comments that slavery was not genocide. Starkey subsequently resigned from his post at the University of Cambridges Fitzwilliam College.

Olusoga said he was conflicted because while what Starkey had said was appalling and inaccurate, he felt its sad that somebody who is a great historian was getting into those debates.

He blamed Starkeys tone on the influence of the Moral Maze, BBC Radio 4s provocative show that has run since 1990, for elevating opinion over expertise. Its taken some who have great expertise away from that expertise and into that carnivalesque world of commentary, he said.

The panel was hosted by the editor of Prospect magazine, Alan Rusbridger. The former Guardian editor said he had observed during his six years as principal of Oxford Universitys Lady Margaret Hall how the increasingly polarised and vitriolic tone of public debate had resulted in a growing fear among academics that one misplaced word or tweet would lead to a pile-on.

Prof Jonathan Bate, who was also on the panel, said that how controversial issues are discussed varied in different countries. While in the UK there is a great deal of heat around trans issues, this is not so fiercely debated in the US, where he teaches at Arizona State University. The hot button in the States, for entirely understandable reasons, is race, he said.

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Speaking generally, he worried that history goes in cycles and an age of liberation is followed by an age of puritanism and that the current mood of polarisation was bringing us into a new puritanism.

Fellow panellist and comedian Shazia Mirza said that when she started out in comedy 15 years ago, death threats were considered serious but that social media had made them so commonplace that they were considered a badge of honour among comedians.

If you get a death threat or hate mail its considered that youre doing well, it means youre making people react, people are talking about you; youre having an effect on people, she said.

She added that although people say that comedians such as Jimmy Carr, Louis CK and Ricky Gervais have been cancelled, in reality its a myth. They are definitely not unemployed, they are still working, earning millions.

More here:

Cancel culture a reflection of rightwing papers intolerance, says David Olusoga - The Guardian

ST. CLOUD The Alexandria baseball team is one win away from securing its fifth state tournament entry in program history and first since 2018, and the Cardinals have two chances to get that win.

Alexandria is the lone unbeaten team left in the Section 8-3A playoffs after beating Willmar (15-7) 8-1 at the Municipal Athletic Complex in St. Cloud on Saturday afternoon. Willmar, Sauk Rapids-Rice and Rocori were all eliminated from the playoffs on Saturday.

The Cardinals (18-5) will play sixth-seeded Little Falls (12-11) at 4 p.m. on Wednesday back at the MAC in St. Cloud. Little Falls beat Rocori 2-1 on Saturday and would have to beat Alexandria twice on Wednesday to win the section. Alexandria beat Little Falls 4-0 on May 20.

We cant overthink it too much with us beating them last time, Alexandria senior infielder Reed Reisdorf said. They have nothing to lose. We still have to put all our stuff out there and throw our best game at them.

Alexandria jumped on Willmar early with a second-inning, solo home run from senior JD Hennen.

Brock Lerfald and Caleb Runge drove in third-inning runs with a single and double, respectively, to make it 3-0.

Alexandria then blew the game open in the top of the sixth with four runs. Nate Hammerback doubled to lead off that inning with his third hit of the game. Reisdorf drove in a run with a perfectly-placed squeeze bunt, and Lake Hagen then cleared the bases with a three-run double to make it 7-1. Reisdorf singled in the games final run in the seventh.

That felt good, Hagen said of his sixth-inning double. There was an altercation the last inning, and it felt good to put it in their faces a bit.

Willmar scored its only run in the bottom of the fifth on an overturned call at the plate. Mason Madsen, Jason Malmgren and Carter Schow all singled for Willmar to load the bases with one out.

It was the first time all game that Alexandria senior pitcher Parker Jendro had been challenged, and he got Cullen Gregory to fly out to Grady Anderson in right field for the second out. Willmar sent the runner from third as Andersons throw home brought Hagen a little bit up the third-base line as he caught the ball and placed the tag.

The runner was initially ruled out to end the threat. But both umpires talked things over and ultimately ruled that the runner was safe.

Alexandria head coach Jake Munsch vehemently disagreed with the overturned call as he talked with the umpires before both teams got back on the field. Jendro struck out Brandt Sunder in the next at-bat to get out of the inning with two Willmar runners left on.

They said I was guarding the plate, Hagen said of the play at home. I was playing the ball and it came right to me. He slid into my leg and the call was overturned.

That could have been a big moment in the game for Willmar. Instead, Alexandria came right back and put up the four runs in their next half inning to all but end it.

For sure (it motivated us), Hagen said. We came into the dugout, had a little talk. I think it did motivate us, yes.

Eric Morken / Alexandria Echo Press

The eight runs were plenty for Jendro on the mound. The senior right-hander was dialed in from the get-go as he did not allow a hit until the fourth inning when Ian Koosman singled.

All five of the base hits Jendro allowed were singles. He struck out five and pounded the strike zone without allowing Willmar to make much hard contact all game.

After being used primarily as a reliever on the mound in 2021, Jendro has stepped up as a starter and become a huge part of an Alexandria pitching staff that came into Saturday with a team ERA of 1.93.

Jendro has now throw a team-high 37 innings this season, striking out 34 with an ERA of about 2.50.

Hes a beast, Hagen, Alexandrias catcher, said. He paints corners. He was painting them all day. He made me look good. He did his job today.

Eric Morken / Alexandria Echo Press

The win puts Alexandria in a good spot heading into Wednesdays championship round. If Little Falls were to win game one, the two teams would play again right after that to determine the Section 8-3A champion.

Alexandria won the regular-season matchup with Little Falls, but it was a 1-0 game through five innings before the Cardinals struck for three runs in the sixth. Flyers senior Zachary Gwost threw six strong innings that day to keep his team close, but JD Hennen and Jendro combined to allow just one hit with 11 total strikeouts.

They had a pretty good pitcher, Reisdorf said of Gwost from that game. We struggled with him right away, but once we got going a little bit, our team is really good at rallying around each other. Once one person gets going, everyone gets going.

1/4:Alexandria first baseman Nate Hammerback tosses the ball to pitcher Parker Jendro as Jendro covers the first-base bag on a ground ball during Alexandria's win over Willmar in the Section 8-3A playoffs on June 4, 2022.

2/4:Alexandria first baseman Nate Hammerback makes the catch against Willmar on June 4, 2022 with second baseman Brock Lerfald backing him up.

3/4:Alexandria's Caleb Runge fires a ball to first base for a double play after making a catch in left field against Willmar on June 4, 2022.

4/4:Alexandria's Brock Lerfald slides safely into second with a stolen base as Willmar's Cayden Hansen leaves his feet to try to haul in the throw in the Section 8-3A playoffs at the MAC in St. Cloud on June 4, 2022.

Alexandrias state tournament appearances have come in 1972, 1975, 2017 and 2018. This group is motivated to add another section championship to the record books going into Wednesday.

Its a dream weve all wanted to do, Hagen said. I think this will be our year.

Link:

Baseball: Alexandria one win away from fifth section title in team history after rolling over Willmar - Alexandria Echo Press

Red SoxThe Athletics, openly angling for either a new Oakland stadium or a move to Las Vegas, are drawing fewer than 8,000 fans per game in 2022. Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

COMMENTARY

After Thursday night, the Red Sox are going to have a hard time making their latest series in Oakland notable beyond it happening around its competition across the bay.

Some Red Sox may have been at Game 1 of the NBA Finals; Alex Cora, in a bit of an eye-popper quote, said earlier in the week it was even cost prohibitive for his players. For those that were, itll be quite a 24-hour jump from the $1.4 billion Chase Center on the San Francisco waterfront to a place where the possums run wild and free.

What today is known as RingCentral Coliseum is a relic of a bygone baseball era, and wont be long for the majors if the Athletics bosses get their way. The sports fifth-oldest stadium only eight remain that pre-date Baltimores Camden Yards is almost universally maligned, with the possum story of a few weeks ago joining the feral cats, the sewage overflows, the intimacy tarps, and just the general aesthetic of the place since it was renovated in the mid-90s to win back the Raiders (for a couple decades).

The older of you may remember when the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum was one of the sports jewels, the site of the 1987 All-Star Game right before the Athletics won three straight pennants behind the Bash Brothers, Rickey Henderson, and some long-haired Hall of Fame closer.

And almost all of you likely remember some sliver of Red Sox history in Oakland, because for a place theyve only visited once a year for most of the last two decades, theyve sure had a lot of memorable games there.

Thus, if I may take a moment to not lament the 2022 Red Sox bullpen, a few memories of afternoons and late nights gone by watching Boston spend part of a West Coast trip in the East Bay.

May 27, 1968 Why not salute the first? Especially when, with a crowd of just 6,875 announced for what months earlier was still the Kansas City As, the seats were about as depressingly empty as theyll probably be on Friday?

So, Boston really needs a stadium? They ought to parcel the new one out here into three U-Haul-It trucks and send it to home, quipped the Globes Clif Keane in the next days paper.

Playing the day after Oakland brawled with the Tigers, the reigning American League champs beat the As, 3-2, with reigning MVP Carl Yastrzemski smashing the longest home run in the brief history of the park. (The Oakland Tribune estimated it at 450 feet.)

Two additional notes: May 27 was a notable day in baseball history, as that same night the American League formally voted to split into divisions for the 1969 season, and the National League awarded expansion teams to Montreal and San Diego. (The NL wouldnt agree to divisional play until a month later.)

Also, Bostons second game in Oakland included the 1968 debut of 67 Cy Young winner Jim Lonborg, used in relief after hed torn up his knee skiing the previous Christmas. Though hed pitch parts of the next 12 seasons, at 26, his best days were already behind him.

Oct. 7, 1975 The Red Sox and Oakland have a relatively beefy playoff history. That aforementioned As dynasty of the late 1980s included a pair of championship-series sweeps of Boston, the 1990 version ending with Roger Clemens Ninja Turtles on his cleats, goatee on his face ejected in the second inning.

In 2003, the Red Sox completed a comeback from the Division Series brink in Oakland, Manny Ramirez crashing a game-winning home run and Derek Lowe closing it out with a celebratory crotch chop.

A shoutout, though, to their first postseason meeting, when the Red Sox ended the reign of the three-time World Series winners with an ALCS sweep of their own. Rico Petrocelli put the Sox up in the fourth, Dick Drago got a pivotal double play in the eighth, and Boston won, 5-3, to set up a World Series with the Big Red Machine.

June 7, 2007 The Red Sox and As have played nine 1-0 games at the Coliseum, the visitors winning six of them, none more notable than the one played 15 years ago Tuesday.

When Curt Schilling shook off Jason Varitek.

The big-money Sox were already up nine games in a division race they were never much challenged in on their way to a world championship, but were on a season-worst four-game losing streak that getaway Thursday. They had only four hits that day, but David Ortizs first-inning solo shot off Joe Blanton was enough as Schilling played the stopper, needing only 90 pitches to reach the ninth without allowing a hit.

You likely know the rest: After retiring current As manager Mark Kotsay and Jason Kendall on groundouts, Varitek called for a first-pitch slider to Shannon Stewart who, coincidentally, played his last major-league game exactly one year later on June 7, 2008.

Schilling wanted to throw a fastball. He did, and at 95 miles per hour, it was his fastest of the day. Stewart ripped it past a diving Alex Cora into right field.

I was sure [Stewart] was taking. Tek was sure he was swinging, Schilling told reporters after finishing his third and final one-hitter. I was wrong. . . . And Ive got the big what if for the rest of my life.

I think Eric Hinske said it best, Mike Lowell noted, when he said, Ive never seen our pitcher throw a shutout and we win, 1-0, and were all disappointed.

It was actually the second time a Red Sox pitcher lost a no-hitter in the ninth inning at Oakland Coliseum. Marty Pattin, whom the Red Sox got as part of the trade that sent Lonborg and George Scott out of town in 1971, tossed a one-hitter at the As on July 11, 1972. The only damage was a Reggie Jackson one-out single in the ninth.

No confirmation on whether Pattin, as Bill Lee wrote he frequently did in The Wrong Stuff, threw up after the first inning.

April 21, 2018 Cora, to be clear, had no chance at Stewarts single, but that didnt keep him from lamenting what might have been.

Have I been this close to being a part of [a no-hitter]? he told reporters that day. Not 10 feet.

Eleven years later, another trip to Oakland changed that . . . sort of. Sean Manaea no-hit his rampaging Red Sox, whod opened 17-2, outscoring opponents by nearly four runs per game. That included pounding what would become a 97-win As team in the Friday series opener.

Thats baseball. We talk about being humble and staying hungry, Cora told reporters that Saturday night. Well, we were humbled.

It was not without controversy. Sandy Len reached base in the fifth on a pop up that Marcus Semien, racing toward the outfield, got a glove on. (It was ruled it an error.) In the sixth, Andrew Benintendi appeared to have a hit when he beat out a swinging bunt up the first-base line, but was called out after an umpire huddle for leaving the base line.

In the moment, it was the start of a three-game losing streak, and the Red Sox dropped out of the first place about a month later when Manaea beat them again at Fenway. Their history, however, would not be denied.

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In likely one of Bostons last trips to Oakland Coliseum, a reminder of the Red Sox history there - Boston.com

Lane Thomas entered Fridays game against the Cincinnati Reds with three home runs on the season. He left it with twice as many.

The Nationals left fielder hit three long balls in Washingtons 8-5 victory, becoming just the seventh player to have a three-homer game for the club since it moved to D.C. in 2005. The other names on that list are known sluggers: Alfonso Soriano, Adam Dunn, Ryan Zimmerman, Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon and Kyle Schwarber.

Now, that list includes Thomas, who finished with four RBIs on the day as well.

He was very aggressive, which we like, Nationals manager Davey Martinez said in his postgame press conference, as aired on MASN. Hes a fastball hitter. When he gets the ball in the zone with fastballs/sliders, he hits the ball hard. Tonight is a perfect example.

Thomas was slumping hard prior to the game, having tallied just one hit in his last 22 at-bats (.046 average). Martinez continued to show confidence in him, however, batting him second in the lineup in front of Juan Soto for four of their last seven games including Friday.

His career platoon splits skewed heavily in favor of facing southpaws and he got the start Friday with Reds left-hander Mike Minor on the bump. After lining out in his first at-bat, Thomas took Minor deep to left on a 1-2 pitch that landed only a few rows up from the wall.

That ball only traveled 349 feet, but the homers got progressively longer from there. Thomas only saw right-handed pitchers the rest of the way. It didnt matter. He hit his second homer off Vladimir Gutirrez on a full count in the fifth, this time to the opposite field 383 feet away.

Home run No. 3 came off reliever Jeff Hoffman, who could only watch as Thomas golfed a 95-mph fastball down and in and sent it 396 feet to left. He hit the ball with an exit velocity of 104.8 mph, well above his season average of 87.7 mph.

He had a chance to go for a fourth homer in his fifth at-bat but flew out to center field. With his big day, Thomas raised his slash on the season to .211/.268/.406, leaving plenty of room for improvement the rest of the season.

But after the Nationals acquired him in exchange for two months of a struggling Jon Lester last summer, the production Thomas has provided to this point including an impressive 45-game stretch to close out the 2021 campaign has already made that move a win for Washington.

Read more:

Lane Thomas becomes 7th player in Nats history with 3-HR game - NBC Sports

A memorial has formed at Robb Elementary School, dedicated to the 19 children and two adults killed during the mass shooting. Many people in Uvalde have a shared history. Brandon Bell/Getty Images hide caption

A memorial has formed at Robb Elementary School, dedicated to the 19 children and two adults killed during the mass shooting. Many people in Uvalde have a shared history.

So many people in Uvalde, Texas have a shared history. Some of that history runs right through Robb Elementary School, a place that was part of the Mexican-American community's struggle for racial equality.

NPR's Vanessa Romo spoke with Eulalio Diaz, Jr. He was the coronor on duty when a gunman massacred 19 children and two teachers at the school. Diaz also went to Robb Elementary and knew a lot of the victims' families. And NPR's Adrian Florido has the story of Robb Elementary and the fight for Mexican-American equality.

In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what's going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

This episode was produced by Matt Ozug, Elena Burnett, Lauren Hodges and Karen Zamora. It was edited by Sami Yenigun, Sarah Handel, Vickie Walton-James and Amy Isackson. Our executive producer is Cara Tallo.

Link:

Robb Elementary School and Uvalde's History of Mexican-American Activism : Consider This from NPR - NPR

Stefani Reynolds / AFP / Getty Images

A metal coat hanger cant speak, but it can send a message. Long a symbol of the dangers faced by people seeking to end pregnancies in the years before Roe v. Wade, coat hangers stand in for a whole inventory of physical horrors, most of which never involved coat hangers, specifically. Over the past few weeks, protesters have mailed hangers to the Supreme Court in an effort to evoke that past era from the so-called back-alley butchers who botched surgical procedures and sexually harassed patients, to the terrible lengths individuals went through to give themselves an abortion at home. The message is simple and brutal: Without safe and legal abortion, the protesters believe, people will die.

In the years since Roe became the law of the land, the medical landscape of abortion has changed drastically. Today, abortion is extremely safe safer than birth. So safe, in fact, that its not always obvious what made illegal abortions unsafe. Or, for that matter, what the coat hangers were for.

And this is why those objects still have important stories to tell us, historians told me. Because while the most physically violent abortion methods of the past have become medically obsolete, the march of scientific progress hasnt eliminated the shame, fear and hopelessness experienced by people who are pregnant, dont want to be, and live in a society where there is no simple, legal access to abortion. Coat hangers dont just tell us about the dangers of bad medicine, practiced shoddily, these historians said. Instead, the hangers also speak volumes about the desperation that can lead people to those dangerous procedures in the first place.

The whole phrase back-alley butcher is an exaggeration because there were lots of good practitioners who were perfectly safe, said Leslie J. Reagan, professor of history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and author of When Abortion Was a Crime.

Even in the past, the dangers of illegal abortion werent about the abortion itself. No one knows how many illegal abortions were being performed annually, pre-Roe, but researchers in the early 1990s estimated it was on par with annual numbers of legal abortions at the time, so more than 1 million. People with money and connections could always get safe ones and plenty of people survived, the historians I spoke with said. Illegal abortions were primarily unsafe for the people who were blocked out of better options.

Legal abortions in hospitals, for example, happened with some regularity. These records were kept hospital by hospital, so its rare to have even city-wide data, but University of Vermont historian Felicia Kornbluh pointed me towards a 1965 paper that found hospital review boards in New York City had approved 4,703 so-called therapeutic abortions between 1951 and 1962. In those cases, the technique actually being used was something called a dilation and curettage, or D&C. Also often referred to as a surgical abortion the D&C is still used today as a treatment for both abortion and miscarriage. Doctors dilate the cervix making the opening between the vagina and uterus wider and use a sharp tool to scrape out the contents of the uterus.

Before Roe, in the 1950s and 60s, getting a legal hospital abortion was not easy. A patient could get a D&C if they were already experiencing a natural miscarriage. Otherwise, patients who requested one would have to make a case to their doctors, who would then have to bring the situation before a hospital review board. The patient would likely be examined by other doctors and might have to answer questions basically, they needed to prove the abortion was medically or psychologically necessary. But necessity wasnt the only factor at play. There are studies that show that almost all of them were done on people with private insurance, Reagan said. Patients without insurance, as well as black and brown patients regardless of insurance status, had a much harder time getting approved. In her upcoming book, A Womans Life is a Human Life, Kornbluh records that Metropolitan Hospital in East Harlem approved five white womens requests for every one Black womans. The hospital was even less likely to approve Puerto Rican womens requests. And Reagan has documented instances of Black women being denied abortions even though they had rubella infections during pregnancy something that can kill a fetus, or leave it with lifelong complications, including deafness, heart defects and intellectual disabilities. (Others were lied to and told they didnt have it.)

People who were denied or who never had a hope of getting a hospital abortion were left with only illegal options. Both trained doctors and untrained practitioners offered D&Cs, but that procedure was considerably more dangerous in illegal settings. Without sterilized equipment and ready access to antibiotics and painkillers, doctors used furtive practices that optimized for speed and offered no room for follow-up care, and practitioners sometimes had no idea what they were doing. Carole Joffe, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of California, San Francisco, interviewed trained doctors who practiced illegal abortion during this time and has written about their experiences. One doctor told her that he used to explain the challenges of performing a D&C by telling his residents that it was like being blindfolded and trying to scrape the inside of a wet paper bag without cutting through the paper. Possible, but not easy. D&Cs in competent hands are safe, but in incompetent hands its very easy to perforate the uterus, Joffe said.

To avoid trying to perform the tricky D&C under clandestine circumstances, illegal abortionists sometimes opted instead to simply induce enough of a miscarriage that their patient could go to a hospital and get one without a problem. They did this often by inserting a foreign object like a hollow tube catheter through the cervix. In some cases, they might use a type of catheter with a balloon on one end. Filled with saline, it would put pressure on the cervix, like a fetuss head would towards the end of pregnancy, causing it to fully dilate. Just sticking any catheter in could prompt a miscarriage as the body tried to expel the object. These methods didnt work all the time, though. They could cause hemorrhages and embolisms. And catheters had to be left in for a while, along with gauze packed into the patients vagina to staunch the blood. This could cause infection and with patients trying to hide from authorities, they often didnt seek treatment until near death.

People who couldnt find or afford an illegal abortion often tried to give one to themselves. Its impossible to say how many of these happened every year, but there are records showing thousands of people coming into emergency rooms with septic infections of the uterus and reproductive organs in the 1960s, Reagan said. This is where the coat hangers come in, Joffe said, as one of many objects people would try to insert through their own cervical openings. The goal was not necessarily to complete an abortion at home but rather to induce enough bleeding and symptoms of miscarriage that the person could go to a hospital, say they were having a miscarriage naturally, and get a hospital D&C. But perforation, hemorrhage, and infection were all risks.

Even less reliable, and more dangerous, were an array of suppositories, tinctures, herbs and home remedies that plenty of people tried. One doctor told Joffe about treating a patient who had gotten a catheter into her cervix and poured turpentine through it, literally cooking the inside of her uterus, which had to be removed. Others told stories about potassium permanganate tablets, sold over the counter, which people would put in their vaginas to induce bleeding and get their hospital D&C. But the tablets could easily eat through the vaginal lining, causing hemorrhage and destroying the cervix.

Its very unlikely that anyone will go back to performing back-alley D&Cs or catheter abortions, Reagan and Joffe said. Even if Roe is overturned, doctors and other people who want to defy it are much more likely to offer patients abortion pills. While abortion via pill can be a physically painful and psychologically intense experience for some people, the existence of these pills drastically changes the calculus when it comes to the risks of illegal abortion. Theyre much easier to get and conceal, much safer to use, and if a patient is worried about side effects they can seek treatment knowing no one will be able to tell the difference between the effects of a pill and a natural miscarriage.

But both Reagan and Joffe said the existence of abortion pills wont eliminate risk if abortion becomes illegal. Just as there were some people who could get abortions more easily than others before Roe, there will be those who can do so after, as well. Meanwhile, some of the most vulnerable people poor people, people living in very rural areas, people who cant take time off to drive to another state in search of pills will still end up with only desperate options left. Reagan was particularly worried that websites selling fake abortion pills will deceive people who have no idea they arent getting the real thing. And both she and Joffe worried about how illegality and increased stigma could drive more people towards dangerous at-home methods, with social media becoming the new back alley. Even with abortion still legal, there are occasional instances of people usually young trying to abort on their own, Reagan said.

The methodology of abortion has improved, Reagan and Joffee told me. But as long as desperation for an abortion exists and easy access does not some people will still be in danger.

Read this article:

What The History Of Back-Alley Abortions Can Teach Us About A Future Without Roe - FiveThirtyEight

Name an American leader you admire. Name an American leader you admire.

Toby, 47, white, Republican

Adanma, 43, Black, independent

Daphne, 44, Black, Democrat

Name an American leader you admire. That turned out to be one of the hardest prompts for people to respond to in any of the 11 Times Opinion focus groups held this year. There was a long pause before some of our 11 participants started raising their hands, and even then, several couldnt come up with someone (or named a celebrity scientist and an Indian leader). As the focus group continued, both Democrats and Republicans struggled to point to a moment in American history they were proud of. Their frustrations with America today seemed to cloud their views of America over the sweep of time, of what the country has stood for or fought for in its best moments.

We convened this focus group of parents of high school students to discuss how they think American history and values should be taught in schools today, how issues like race and sexuality should be explored and how parts of our history including the founding fathers, slavery, the U.S. internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, the gay rights movement should or should not be discussed in-depth. Notably, all 11 Republicans, Democrats and independents believed that the good and the bad should be taught; one Republican said that schools should teach the pros and cons about Donald Trumps presidency, regardless of anyones feelings about him.

At a time when many parents nationwide want a greater say in whats taught in schools and when some Republican leaders are restricting access to books and discussions of gender and sexual identity, the focus group wrestled in particular with the idea of facts versus interpretation, with some wanting interpretation taught strictly at home. Others felt interpretations needed to be updated.

Mr. Healy is the deputy Opinion editor. Mr. Rivera is an editorial assistant in Opinion.

Adanma 43, Black, Georgia, independent

Lloyd 38, Black, Ohio, independent

Daphne 44, Black, Maryland, Democrat

Ashish 49, Asian, California, Republican

Toby 47, white, Texas, Republican

Howard 45, white, Pennsylvania, Democrat

April 39, white, Minnesota, Republican

Dennis 54, Hispanic, New York, Democrat

Peter 44, Asian, Oklahoma, Republican

Jim 35, white, Louisiana, Republican

Jennifer 38, white, Wisconsin, independent

Moderator, Margie Omero

Name an American leader you admire thats a president, leader, politician, alive or dead, an American leader that you admire.

Peter, 44, Asian, Oklahoma, Republican

Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Toby, 47, white, Texas, Republican

I respect and I admire George W. Bush. Probably get a lot of kickback on that, but thats OK. I admire what he did and how he didnt back down from anything.

Ashish, 49, Asian, California, Republican

Ill say Gandhi.

Howard, 45, white, Pennsylvania, Democrat

Martin Luther King Jr.

Adanma, 43, Black, Georgia, independent

Stacey Abrams in Georgia. Im a fan.

Moderator, Margie Omero

Is this a tough question for folks? What makes it a tough question?

Toby, 47, white, Texas, Republican

In this day and age in our country, its really hard to think of someone that I admire thats in a high position or a political leader. I have to rack my brain to think of someone who has integrity.

Daphne, 44, Black, Maryland, Democrat

I couldnt think of anybody.

April, 39, white, Minnesota, Republican

I mean, depending on which news channel you tune in to, youll hear two completely different stories about somebody. So its really hard to know whats actually going on. You dont know whats true.

Moderator, Margie Omero

So let me ask another question. Is there a moment in American history that you feel proud of?

Dennis, 54, Hispanic, New York, Democrat

The Industrial Revolution. You have Ford. You have J.P. Morgan. You have Edison. These are the great creators that basically created the concept of the American dream. Thats like the Renaissance for America.

Peter, 44, Asian, Oklahoma, Republican

I think the period right after 9/11 was really gratifying, just because it didnt matter what political party you were from. We all came together as a country. It just the feeling of togetherness and being united instead of against each other.

Howard, 45, white, Pennsylvania, Democrat

Unfortunately, it took a disaster and tragedy like that for us to come together. I thought wed be building momentum, going forward, to bond as a society. And the wheels fell off the track.

Adanma, 43, Black, Georgia, independent

I kind of agree, but I also disagree with the 9/11 example. I know people, my family included, who were discriminated against based on how they looked. I have a cousin who looks like she could be Middle Eastern. And she got a lot of negative things from the United States of America. And shes a United States citizen. So not everybody was united.

Moderator, Margie Omero

OK. Now let me ask the flip side. Is there a moment in American history that you feel ashamed of?

Howard, 45, white, Pennsylvania, Democrat

Now.

Toby, 47, white, Texas, Republican

Absolutely.

Moderator, Margie Omero

April, youre nodding. Why right now?

April, 39, white, Minnesota, Republican

We just cant agree on anything. Well find anything to fight over.

Howard, 45, white, Pennsylvania, Democrat

My grandfather fought for this country. I love the armed forces. But sometimes, Im embarrassed to be an American and would even think about leaving. Its just so sad whats going on in this country, the division and the gun violence and the lack of respect for law enforcement. The financial discrepancies of the rich getting richer, the middle class shrinking. I worry about my daughters all the time what kind of world are we going to leave them?

Raise your hand if you agree with this.I believe American history shouldbe taught in high school in a neutral waythat has both the good and the bad. And raise your hand if you agree with this. I believe American history should be taught in high school in a neutral way that has both the good and the bad. 11 people raised their hands.

Adanma, 43, Black, independent

Lloyd, 38, Black, independent

Ashish, 49, Asian, Republican

Toby, 47, white, Republican

Howard, 45, white, Democrat

April, 39, white, Republican

Dennis, 54, Hispanic, Democrat

Peter, 44, Asian, Republican

Jim, 35, white, Republican

Jennifer, 38, white, independent

Raise your hand if you agreewith this. I believe high school Americanhistory should be taught in a positiveway that highlights Americas best qualities. Raise your hand if you agree with this. I believe high school American history should be taught in a positive way that highlights Americas best qualities. 0 people raised their hands.

Adanma, 43, Black, independent

Lloyd, 38, Black, independent

Daphne, 44, Black, Democrat

Ashish, 49, Asian, Republican

Toby, 47, white, Republican

Howard, 45, white, Democrat

April, 39, white, Republican

Dennis, 54, Hispanic, Democrat

Peter, 44, Asian, Republican

Jim, 35, white, Republican

Jennifer, 38, white, independent

Ashish, 49, Asian, California, Republican

Its about awareness of the good and the bad. Right now, with Ukraine, Im proud of the fact that were actually helping. I think theres a lot of good. And theres also a lot of bad. And I think we need to keep that in perspective.

Lloyd, 38, Black, Ohio, independent

Its important to give all sides of the story. You cant just tell people what you want, because then they dont really have the full picture.

Adanma, 43, Black, Georgia, independent

You hear that history is written by the winners. But if were going to be working toward a more equal and fair nation, then we should hear from other perspectives.

Moderator, Margie Omero

Everybody said, when we contacted you, that you have a high schooler in your life. Whats the best part of having a high schooler in your life?

Peter, 44, Asian, Oklahoma, Republican

Oh, gosh. Well, my daughter is the high schooler. So shes on her second boyfriend, so thats, like, the worst part.

Howard, 45, white, Pennsylvania, Democrat

I wasnt a terrible student, but I could have been a lot better. And I watch my older daughter, whos the high school student. I watch how shes grabbed school and really just loves it and is in honors classes, and shes killing it. And the knowledge she brings home Im just in awe.

Adanma, 43, Black, Georgia, independent

I just appreciate seeing my daughter around her friends. Theyre accepting. Theyre good examples of how we should be acting.

Moderator, Patrick Healy

When you think about your kids or your family, what are the values that are important that you raise your kids with or that you think schools should focus on?

Go here to read the rest:

Opinion | 11 Parents on How They Want Kids to Learn About History, Racism and Gender - The New York Times