Category Archives: History

It is the most iconic, most brilliant play in the career of New York Yankees Hall of Fame shortstop Derek Jeter, the play that personifies his remarkable combination of athleticism, agility and, most important, awareness. It is one of the most famous plays in the history of postseason baseball, one that has been replayed hundreds of times every October for 20 years. Like many unforgettable plays, it has a nickname. It will always be known as The Flip.

It occurred in the 2001 American League Division Series between the Yankees and Oakland Athletics. Oakland held a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series but trailed 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning of Game 3 on Oct. 13. With two outs and Jeremy Giambi on first, Terrence Long hit a hard ground ball over the first-base bag. Yankees right fielder Shane Spencer fielded it in the right-field corner but overthrew two cutoff men -- second baseman Alfonso Soriano and first baseman Tino Martinez. Jeter raced across the diamond, fielded the ball on one hop in foul territory between first and home, and made a backhand flip to catcher Jorge Posada, who tagged out Giambi on a very close play at the plate. The Yankees won the game 1-0, then won the next two to advance to the American League Championship Series and ultimately the World Series.

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"You've opened up an old wound for me," says Art Howe, then the A's manager. "Jeter was a thorn in my side for a long time, but it was an amazing play he made. The flip was incredible, but to be in that position, I really don't know what he was thinking. And there he is, in the perfect spot.'"

What makes The Flip even more intriguing is the debate still surrounding it. Should Giambi have slid on that play? Most involved agree that he should have, and likely would have been safe. Was Giambi really out at the plate? Oakland pitcher Barry Zito, and several other A's, said at the time that he was safe. Was Giambi told to slide by Ramon Hernandez, the on-deck circle hitter? Would Giambi have been safe if Spencer had hit one of the two cutoff men? Would Giambi have been sent home if either of the cutoff men had been hit? And what was Jeter doing all the way over on the first-base line on that play, anyway?

The best part about that play, though, is that no one involved in it had ever seen it made before, or since.

"I've never seen that play," says then-Yankees manager Joe Torre, who has spent 60 years in the major leagues as a player, manager and executive. "I'm certainly happy the first time watching it was in Game 3 of the division series."

Howe says he had never seen that play.

"And you'll never see it again," he says.

3:07

Take a look back at Yankees icon Derek Jeter's most memorable moments.

Derek Jeter"I am big on preparation. I always just run through all the possible scenarios in my head before they happen. You know athletes talk about how they slow down the game, they slow down when you prepare. You know, you have a guy on second base, you're playing shortstop and you know where you're going to go if you go to your left or your right, you're coming in, you know the speed of the runner, you know the different circumstances, you know which runners run hard, which don't. You have all these checkpoints in your head. So when [Long] hit the ball down the line, it was something I had prepared for. I was in the position I was supposed to be. That's the way I always looked at it."

Tino Martinez, Yankees first baseman, 1996-2001, 2005"It's one of those plays where it's a sure triple as soon as it goes over the bag. It's a double cutoff play, an automatic double-cut play on that ball down the right-field line."

Ron Washington, A's third-base/infield coach, 1996-2006, 2015-2016"I heard they practiced that play. They probably did."

Joe Torre, Yankees manager, 1996-2007"To this day, when people talk about the play, I tell them that we work on that play in spring training, and they sort of laugh at me. There's a reason we did work on it. You have to have someone athletic like Derek to make a decision on where the play is going to be."

Jorge Posada, Yankees catcher, 1995-2011"We practiced that play in spring training. We don't have that play happen the whole year. It just happened to come against the A's in the playoffs."

Jeter"My job in that situation is to be the third cutoff man. And 99.9% of the time, it's just to redirect the throw to third base. You would assume that one of the first two cutoff men would be hit, but in that situation, he overthrew both of them. If you think about it, if he hit either one of them, Giambi would have been thrown out by about 15 feet at home. I saw it go over both of their heads. If you go back and look at the hop, it would have taken Jorge away from the plate because the throw sort of started to check up, up the line."

Art Howe, A's manager, 1996-2002"He would have been out from here to next week at home if he had hit the cutoff man."

Martinez"I was the second cutoff man. I was the trail guy, but I stayed around the first base area in case he overthrew the first cutoff man. Shane's got a pretty good arm. He airmailed both of us. I jumped and didn't even have a chance to catch it. If he hits Soriano, now Soriano has to make the perfect relay throw to the plate to get him. It's almost like it turned out in our favor that that happened because a perfect relay is pretty hard these days. It almost worked out better that he airmailed both of us because Derek was in the right spot."

Shane Spencer, Yankees outfielder, 1998-2002"[Laughing] The game was going so fast; with Mussina and [A's starter Barry] Zito pitching really well, there was no action, so when the ball got hit down the line, [Martinez] just assumed [Paul] O'Neill [the every-day right fielder, who didn't start against Zito, a left-hander] was out there, and the ball was going to go all the way to the wall. So I cut it off before it got to the wall. I turned around and chucked it. It was like, 'Hey, whoa, there's nobody there.' It was probably one of my best throws ever. So, the one time I miss a cutoff man, because they both weren't really in the right position, I get the overthrow and he gets the ESPY."

Mike Mussina, Yankees pitcher, 2001-2008"I ran toward [the A's] dugout to back up the play, and looked for the ball wondering if it was going to second or going home, then I would veer one way or the other."

Torre"Winning 1-0, two outs, there's a good chance the play will be at the plate ... if there is going to be a play. We don't care if [the batter] goes to third, you just want to keep the guy from scoring. Derek's athleticism, and he has great instincts, made that play. You have to be in the mindset of the third-base coach. I don't think in any instance he's going to stay at third base. They're going to take their shot, and rely on somebody having to make a play."

Washington"If [Spencer] had hit either one of those cutoff men, I would have stopped Jeremy at third."

Howe"[Laughing] Knowing Wash, I don't know if that's a true statement."

Mussina"The weird part is, that situation comes up every 10 years, and for Derek to do it right. ... We do things out of habit, I run to back up home on that play out of habit, but this was not habit. The right fielder overthrowing both cutoff men is not habit. And Derek was still there at the right time in the right place."

Torre"If you throw over one cutoff man, there's a 50-50 chance you will throw over two of them. Spencer in right field is just going to wheel and throw, he's just going to give it to somebody else. It's like a pitcher pulling a fastball: He threw it and just held on to it a little too long, and it wound up in foul territory. That's a long distance from the cutoff man."

Spencer"If I throw it to Tino, I don't know if he has the arm strength to get him out. If I get it to Soriano, he has the arm strength, but would it be accurate? Who knows?"

Posada"As soon as I saw him overthrow the two cutoff guys, I took two steps forward away from the plate to get the ball. I was going to go get the ball, and try to throw [Long] out at second base. But thank God I saw [Jeter] out of the corner of my eye. I had completely vacated home plate. Then, when I saw Derek, I retracked and went back."

Washington"Spencer threw it out of that corner and missed them all ... and there was Derek Jeter."

Spencer"I've seen so many different angles. You got to go 50-50 on that one. Friends of mine think the throw would have beat him anyway, and originally, Posada said it would have. But when you watch it, it would have been a bang-bang play either way. I don't know. I don't really care. All I know is that I get asked the question all the time, whether it's from kids when I do clinics: 'Wait a minute, you're the one that threw the ball?' I say, 'Yeah, yeah, that's me.' As I'm coaching, it's like, 'OK guys, now let's hit the cutoff man.'"

Jeter"It's tough to say that anything went wrong on that play because we got him out at the plate. But if Shane had hit one of those two cutoff men, we wouldn't be sitting here talking about it now."

Jeter"I've been in that area before on a play like that, but I've never fielded it and flipped it home. That's the first time for me. The only time."

Mussina"His responsibility is like a free safety. He read the trajectory of the ball. The ball was thrown too high; no one else was in position to catch it. He ran 60 to 70 feet to get in position because he was paying attention. I was backing up home. I looked over my shoulder and saw him running, and I thought, 'Where did he come from? How did that just happen?'"

Washington"I've seen guys miss the cutoff man, and when it does, it rolls, and someone goes and gets it, but by the time they get it, the run is across the plate. Derek was supposed to be floating in the middle. He recognized that that ball was missing everybody, and, the smart player that he has always been, he left the position he was in and got to the line. He recognized the setup; he saw the ball coming out; and he automatically left because he saw that no one was going to catch that. It wasn't just that he got over there; a lot of smart ballplayers would have gotten over there. As a shortstop, I have run to that spot. But I've never had a ball bounce to me like it bounced to Derek Jeter."

Martinez"It's the same thing for me on a ball down the left-field line. The shortstop and third baseman are the double-cut and, me, the first baseman, runs to where Derek ran, only it's on the third-base line, in an emergency. But I've never had the ball come to me like it did to Derek."

Torre"Derek had the best perspective on the play because he can see Giambi at third base. He was basically going to race Giambi to home plate because he has to get there before he does. Derek has great instincts, and no question, instincts are so important. When the ball was hit, I don't think Derek had anything else in mind but to go home. If he was wrong, and the guy didn't go home, then the worst-case scenario is second and third."

Howe"It was just an incredible play on Jeter's part to possibly foresee that throw. His position is supposed to be a cutoff man towards third base."

Martinez"I turned back, and when Derek was right there, and caught it on the one hop, and it seemed to me, from that point, everything went in slow motion."

Jeter"I know I've run to that spot before. But a lot of things have to happen for that play to happen."

Jeter"I was thinking, 'Just get rid of it as soon as possible.' There really wasn't a lot of time to do anything else. That was the only way I could get rid of the ball in that time frame. It was just catch it and get rid of it in one motion."

Washington"The key to that play was his flip. Most guys go to the outside of the line and try to flip it directly to the catcher, which would make the ball fade on the opposite side. But Derek flipped the ball to the inside. He made it come back to the catcher. He led the catcher right into the runner."

Martinez"He pitched it right back to Jorge, and I describe it as the perfect flip, the perfect pitched ball to the perfect spot. He hit Jorge right at the bottom of home plate, not high where the guy could have slid under him. It was right in front of home plate. The only way Jorge could have made that play is exactly where Derek flipped him the ball. He didn't have time to raise up, catch it and put it back down."

Torre"Derek's back flip was so unorthodox. The thing that was so remarkable about it is that he came so far into foul territory to get the ball, then back flip."

Mussina"You watch a lot of athletes and they talk about just making a play. He just made a play that no one else would make. That's the definition of a Hall of Famer -- 99 times out of 100, that ball bounces two or three times, and now it's too late to pick it up and throw it to the plate. But the one time it happened, he read the play perfectly, he flipped it backwards, on the run, 40 to 45 feet, on target."

Posada"It felt like a second baseman flipping to the shortstop on the double play. He's a shortstop. The way he flipped the ball is not common for a shortstop. The accuracy, and he had some hair on it for me to catch the ball."

Spencer"[Joking] The first time I saw it, I thought, 'What are you doing grabbing the ball? I had him at the plate!'"

Jeter"All that was going through my mind was, 'Tag him.' Then I looked at Kerwin [Danley, the plate umpire], and he signaled out. It's not a play you work on. I had never shovel-passed a ball to Jorge before. He fielded it cleanly; he applied the tag cleanly. I always felt it was the perfect storm."

Torre"As a former catcher, I give Georgie a lot of credit for staying home. He could've so easily drifted to where the ball was, and start heading over there. But he stayed home, caught the ball and made a difficult tag."

Mussina"It was a tremendous play by Posada. To catch it, swipe tag, it was like, 'Holy crap!' To take that throw, with the ball between his legs, how did he not let the ball get kicked out of his hand? It was a classic Yankee play. I saw it so many times from the other side: Everything went their way for 30 seconds."

Posada"It was just one of those swipe tags that you just hope you catch the ball first. It was just a lot of things that didn't happen for them but happened for us. I could have gotten hurt on that play. He could have scissored my hands. I don't know how I caught it. I caught it and swiped back. The ball could have gotten loose. The way I tagged him, with my palm instead of my hand open, that helped out a lot, too. A lot of things went our way. We got lucky with [Giambi] not sliding. The guy that was hitting behind him [Ramon Hernandez] did not tell Jeremy to slide. There were a lot of things that went our way."

Howe"That's not correct. I asked Ramon after the play. To say the least, I was a little livid when the play was over. They were coming back into the dugout, and I asked Ramon right away, 'Did you tell him to slide?' And he said, 'Yeah, I was telling him to get down.' So, I take his word for it. But I don't think he's in any of the pictures."

Washington"If we could go back over that again, and tell Jeremy to hit the dirt, he would have been safe. But he decided to run across the plate. The on-deck circle guy never got up there to direct the traffic. The on-deck circle guy never told him to get down. But in that situation, it's a 1-0 ballgame, Jeremy Giambi is supposed to know he has to hit the dirt. No reason to run across that plate. But, the ball started to move. Everyone had something to do on that play."

Posada"If he slides, he's safe. For sure. 100%. 100%. I just did a phantom tag. To tag him on his calf on the way down to the plate."

Howe"I don't know about that. Posada had his foot in there. He might have been able to block him off the plate if he slides. I would not say that he would have definitely been safe if he had slid. Jeremy did the best he could to score, and he didn't do it."

Martinez"The umpire made the perfect call. It was such a close, close play, with no replay back then, if he calls him safe, and we can't replay that, it could have turned the whole series around, and maybe changed the dimension of the entire postseason."

Washington"I really feel in my heart I made the right play. Sometimes, you make the right call, but everyone has to be on board, and doing what they're supposed to do. I am not blaming Jeremy Giambi, but he's supposed to hit the dirt. The only way you don't hit the dirt is if you see the ball and no one can get to it. You got to hit the dirt."

Giambi declined to be interviewed for this story, but a year ago, he told The Athletic he stands by his decision to not slide:

"Now that we know what happened, it's maybe I should've slid. If I slid and I was out, maybe the question would be, should I have run Posada over? And then I think, well, maybe I should've taken him out. And then I think back to when Pete Rose took out Ray Fosse (in the 1970 All-Star Game) and I think, well, what happens if I ruin Posada's career?

"Those are things we can't analyze. Obviously, I think about it. I don't dwell on it, but I think about it. I think that's part of our competitive nature. I mean, we were going to win a World Series. I know that was the first round, but we always felt like we had to go through the Yankees, and if you got through the Yankees, you had a pretty good chance, at that time. They were the team to beat."

Was Giambi really out at the plate?

Howe"Where's replay when you need it? I really don't think he was out. I thought he tagged him on the back of his calf after his foot had hit the plate. But what are you going to do? Nothing can be changed. But they probably couldn't overrule it on replay. It has to be clear proof that it's one way or another before they overrule a play. I'll tell you that the umpire [Danley] called me after the game and told me if he slides, he's safe. But he didn't slide."

What did Howe say to Giambi after the play?

Howe"Actually, I didn't say anything to Jeremy. I didn't think it was appropriate to get in a player's face over that."

Jeter"Out! He's out! 100% he was out. You can't change it now. It's kind of like the Jeffrey Maier home run [in the 1996 ALDS against the Orioles]. It's a home run. Whatever you want, but it's over now."

Jeter"I'm going to be honest with you. I don't remember [what it was like in the dugout after the play]. Everyone was excited. We still had to win that game. It was 1-0. You're excited that it happened. But the thought process was, 'We have to win this game.'"

Martinez"The reaction was, 'We still have a one-run lead!' We were getting shut down. The first reaction was, 'Let's get some more runs.' We knew it was a great play, but after the game, when we watched the highlights on ESPN, it was like, 'Wow!' I see it replayed all the time now. It's on at the stadium all the time. I'm sure it's going to be played even more the week he is inducted in the Hall of Fame. It's fun to watch every time."

Posada"It was like hitting a home run to win the game. That was the atmosphere in the dugout. Everyone is pumped. Everyone is high-fiving. Everyone is screaming. Derek is like, 'Let's go!' That kind of feeling."

Howe"That was like a punch in the gut. You know the closer, the big man [Mariano Rivera], he's going to have to pitch more than one inning or two innings if they're going to beat us. And he really wasn't doing that at that time. If we get into their other bullpen guys ... anything could happen."

Mussina"I don't know what the reaction was in the dugout, but I know how Jeter would have reacted: 'I saw the ball; I went after it; I caught it and threw it. Big deal. So what? I did what I was supposed to do.'"

Posada"Derek probably downplayed it a little bit. But this is a very special play made by a Hall of Fame player."

Jeter"I've seen it quite a bit. It seems like when anyone talks about my career, that's one of the first things that they speak of. And I'm fine with that because we won the game."

Where does it rank among Derek Jeter's greatest plays?

Martinez"It has to be in his top five, if not No. 1, because of the magnitude of it, being in the playoffs, changing an actual playoff game in favor of us. I've seen him make so many backhand plays, diving plays, jump throws, over-the-shoulder catches, but they go unnoticed. That had to be his No. 1 play."

Torre"Down two games to none, it's a 1-0 game in the seventh inning of Game 3, I don't think anything comes close to that play, the pressure involved in it."

Mussina"That's a top-two or -three play that I saw him make. I saw him dive into the stands and break his face. I've seen him get so many big hits. But that was his defining moment. It just defined the way that a professional baseball player is supposed to play. His whole career, he was in the right place at the right time; he ran out every ground ball; he battled every at-bat; and he did all of that as the shortstop of the Yankees. He got 3,000 hits, but that play is why he's in the Hall of Fame."

Posada"It's way up there. He's always at the right place at the right time. Even his glove became clutch. There were plays -- the play in the hole, going into the stands in the Boston series, there's a bunch of them -- but this one ... if we don't make that play, we are eliminated. We're winning 1-0, if they tied it at home, it changes everything. It tells you how big and important and clutch that play was. When we talk about Derek Jeter, we talk about that play first."

Washington"I've seen it a thousand times. That play was greater than great. That play is why he is a champion."

Spencer"[I don't know where it ranks] because honestly I didn't even know what happened on that play. I threw it, I threw it where I would usually throw it, and there was nobody there. And I thought, 'Oh, s---!' And I didn't know Jeter was there, I didn't see Jeter make the play. I ran into the dugout, and I remember talking to [teammate] Clay Bellinger, and I asked, 'What the hell happened?' He said, 'Jeter caught it and flipped it.' I said, 'What?!' I'm getting high-fives from people on the bench, and I don't know what happened."

No one really knows exactly what happened on that play ... because no one had ever seen that play before.

Jeter"No, I haven't seen that play [before or since]. That alignment. I don't think I've ever seen another team work on that alignment, which we did. I've never seen it. ... No, that's not completely true. Phil Rizzuto [the shortstop-turned-broadcaster for the Yankees] threw out the [ceremonial] first pitch at home in the game after that. He ran up the first-base line and flipped the ball to home."

Here is the original post:

Derek Jeter enters the Hall of Fame - Oral history of the Yankees shortstop's greatest play, The Flip - ESPN

So Coffman did what she always did: She read. And because she happened to be between jobs, she was free to immerse herself in history for long stretches. She learned about the Civil War, the conflict behind so much of the turmoil in the United States. She read about lost cause ideology, which claims the Confederacy actually fought to preserve high-minded Southern ideals, not specifically the institution of slavery. She brushed up on her knowledge of the Second World War, a struggle more familiar to her.

Maybe the lack of a job, of people to collaborate with, is also what made Wikipedia seem like an attractive pastime. Thats what it was supposed to be: another hobby. At first, Coffman stuck to tentative, sporadic suggestions. But then she was making edits nearly every day; there was so much to fix. She liked the sites intricate bureaucracythe guidelines on etiquette and reliable sourcing, the policies on dispute resolution and article deletion, the learned essays and discussion pages that editors cite like case law. Wikipedia is very regimented, she says. I am good with instructions.

Gday, Peacemaker67 begins his note for K.e. coffman. Its late 2015, and he is concerned about recent changes to an article on Wikipedia (WP for short) about an SS tank division made up of Nordic Nazi volunteers. Sorry but there appears to be some sort of misunderstanding about what should be deleted on WP, and I just want to clarify it before this gets too far down the track.

Coffman recognizes this editors handle. Hes Australian, and his User page says he served as a peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia. He is the same person who invited her to join WikiProject Military History, a group where editors can chat, take classes, win plaudits, and work on articles together.

Not for the first time, Coffman has been removing material from the article about the tank division. She thinks its full of unsourced fancruft, the Wikipedia word for fawning, excessively detailed descriptions that appeal to a tiny niche of readersin this case, those thrilled by accounts of battle. The article tells how the division acquitted itself well even against stiffening resistance, how it held the line and earned the grudging respect of skeptical commanders. One contributor has used the eyebrow-raising phrase baptism of fire. Its as if the editors dont see the part lower down the page where a soldier uses the phrase and then we cleaned a Jew hole.

The glorifying language, Coffman thinks, is a clear sign that this is historical fan fiction. It elides the horrors of war. If editors want such details to stay on the page, at a minimum they should use a better source than Axis History, a blog whose motto is Information not shared is lost.

The interaction starts out politely enough. IMHO it is good that you are deleting citations from unreliable bloggy sources, Peacemaker67 says. But just because material is sourced to them doesnt mean it is wrong.

K.e.coffman replies in less than an hour. Thank you for your note, she writes. Yes, I was surprised about how little I was able to salvage as I was editing the article. She lists 17 bullet-pointed examples of biased language, Nazi glorification, and unreliable claims. Would Wikipedia not bebetterwithout such content? she asks.

Well, people are on WP for different reasons, Peacemaker67 replies. I dont go around deleting stuff because I think it might be dodgy. He cites a page that counsels gradualism in editing, because Wikipedia is a work in progress. Articles have long histories, and there is noWP:DEADLINE, he says.

See the rest here:

One Womans Mission to Rewrite Nazi History on Wikipedia - WIRED

Guest columnist Peggy Spaeth is a member of the Cleveland Heights Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, co-chair of the Friends of Lower Lake and initiator of the Heights Native Pollinator Pathway. This piece is her own opinion and does not represent the views of any organization.

My immigrant grandparents built a house in Shaker Heights in the 1920s. Im a third-generation Heights resident, so I dont come easily to the decision to return Horseshoe Lake to the natural course of the Doan Brook.

However, Ive studied the history of the Shaker Parklands while working to improve habitat with other volunteers at Lower Lake, and I do believe that the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer Districts recommendations are the right thing to do for Horseshoe Lake at this point in history. I also believe that they are the experts we need for the project.

The Shaker Parklands that were deeded to Cleveland in 1896 for park purposes only encompass Doan Brook ravines and floodplains. The parts that sit in Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights are leased to and maintained by these two cities.

What was the land used for by the Shaker colony for a brief 70 years? These pioneers deforested the land and dammed Doan Brook for commerce. Understandably, there was little thought to the environmental impact of their need for timber and mills in 1836.

What were the lakes used for when the Shakers sold their land in 1892 to the Shaker Heights Land Company of Buffalo, N.Y.? Residential developers, later local ones, advertised them as an amenity, citing a chain of lakes and more than 300 acres of parks.

So, historically, the lakes have been used for subsistence and economic development. But before European development, the area was a heavily forested, biodiverse environment.

What should the parklands be used for today? What is OUR biggest need? A healthier environment.

Our community is not the only one tackling environmental problems that are a result of previous water-management infrastructure. Rivers and streams in our region and all over the globe are now looked at through an ecological lens. Restoration projects abound.

Water is a magnet for all of us, but the man-made Shaker Lakes are shallow, silty and stagnant.

A healthy Doan Brook running through our communities will bring native flora and fauna for a biodiverse ecosystem.

Those of us watching what is happening to the former Horseshoe Lake since it was drained are delighted to see what is now growing in the floodplain. Native plants such as blue vervain, common milkweed and boneset are abundant. They are beneficial to the insects and birds that we so desperately need today.

Like other communities, we also need to address the non-native species that are overrunning Horseshoe Lake park, such as the dreaded Japanese knotweed and privet. An overarching plan to steward the parklands is essential.

Lets re-use the locally quarried rocks lining the pedestrian bridge at Horseshoe Lake to build a low wall along South Park Boulevard or in the front yard of the Shaker Historical Society, where passers-by can sit under the shade of oak trees.

We can honor the past while moving into a healthier ecosystem. How will OUR history of the parklands be written?

Readers are invited to submit Opinion page essays on topics of regional or general interest. Send your 500-word essay for consideration to Ann Norman at anorman@cleveland.com. Essays must include a brief bio and headshot of the writer. Essays rebutting todays topics are also welcome.

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History is an ever-evolving, living thing even at Horseshoe Lake: Peggy Spaeth - cleveland.com

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. When the sun sets in the hills of central Pennsylvania, it casts a light that feels like its from a time gone by. A day when people mainly traveled by riverboat or train, logging was a perfectly profitable business and millionaires lived in grandiose Victorian houses with canopied trees all along wide boulevards. When there was one of everything in town, and that was delightful. In many ways, the Lycoming County seat is idyllically frozen in time.

For all of the hype over movie sets on cornfields in the Midwest, Williamsport is the actual birthplace of Little League, and every year thousands come from across the globe to witness the magical combination of baseball and childhood play for two weeks during the Little League World Series.

None of it is staged or a hallucination, its as real as the tears that flow down the faces of players when they realize they have to go home.

When a group of kids excel at the highest level that is made available to them, it engineers exactly one human emotion: hope.

If you head up Bloomingrove Road, past St. Luke Lutheran Church, and look 100 feet up to your left, youll find American history. Just off the road, a concrete staircase to nowhere leads you onto sacred ground. There, a couple of dozen historic graves sit peacefully, with flags adorning many, in a quietly regal fashion. If you didnt stop, you wouldnt notice it. But if you know its there, itll change your life.

The site is not exactly unknown, nor necessarily hidden, but few people I asked whod been in Williamsport for years had ever heard of it. Theres no parking, outside of someones carport across the street, trust me. But when you finally get up on it, its powerful.

Dedicated in 1993, the marker reads: Freedom Road Cemetery at the top, along with the following:

Daniel Hughes, a lumber raftsman from the Susquehanna, lived here 1854-80. In the years ending with the Civil War, he brought fugitive slaves here from Maryland protecting them before they continued north via the Underground Railroad. Hughes gave part of his land for a cemetery and among those buried here are nine known African American veterans of the Civil War. The cemetery has borne its present name since 1936.

But until about a decade or so, it was effectively unmarked beyond the sign. The fact is, Williamsports history as a stop on the Underground Railroad is equally as important as anything thats ever happened in Howard J. Lamade Stadium. And from an instructive standpoint, not one of criticism, its probably time for that to change, as far as education goes. When kids arrive to play, in normal times, theres a certain amount of pageantry. The parade downtown during which all the local businesses show out, and separately, the teams are given a tour of the World of Little League Museum.

In a year in which 16 American teams were chosen because the pandemic meant no international travel, lets use that as a building block going forward to teach players about a small but important slice of U.S. history right there in town. Nobodys at fault here at all, just something to add to the curriculum as a point of pride. No reason not to. There is symbolism in what it represents of the past, but the place itself is moving.

The site is now marked with flags, a change that was important for at least one person: the guy who first told me about the place at all. On Aug. 20, he pulled me aside and told me to listen. It was he who gave me the aforementioned instructions on how to get there.

Galen Duffy has been in Williamsport since 1991. Hes been working at the Little League World Series for about half that time as security. Of course, in the homespun nature of the facility, that job is a task that largely involves shuffling journalists and parents around on a golf cart, telling kids to stop running so fast between the ballparks and keeping morale up among those lending their time for the tournament.

The fact that no alcohol is sold on the premises makes the entire nature of the affair more palatable than the average major baseball tournament. But for Duffy, hes also noticed over the years that the type of people he comes across in town has shifted drastically.

You never see us doing anything but cook or clean, said Duffy, 62. You see us now, we got doctors, nurses. We got people in finance, various important positions. Its overwhelming to see.

Hes referring to not just those in town, but the humans he interacts with as part of his job, who come to rural Pennsylvania on a rotating basis every summer. One of those people is Martin Bowman, whose 12-year-old son Jalen played for Upper Providence Little League out of Oaks, Pennsylvania effectively Philadelphia. He works in medicine, as does his wife.

Jalen is the best player on the team.

Tom E. Puskar/AP Photo

Its Sunday afternoon, and a bunch of big leaguers are walking around the complex, having a normal one. By that, I mean, grown men are elbowing children out of the way to get autographs and young ballplayers are gawking in amazement at their real-life heroes in the flesh.

As they press the flesh, you realize exactly how special this experience is. The Little League Classic, an annual game played at Muncy Bank Ballpark at Historic Bowman Field, is later that night, an unforgettable experience for all the teams in the tournament. They get to go, interact with the players and watch them from about as up close as theyll ever get to be, provided they dont make it to the majors themselves.

Thats all a long way off for the kid who happens to share the same name as the low-slung ballpark that is now home of the Williamsport Crosscutters, a collegiate summer baseball team in the MLB Draft League that used to be in the minor leagues.

But the effort for the Bowman family, in the moment, is a group one. Jalen is the star of the show. He pitches and plays shortstop, typical for great players at that age. But his dad didnt play baseball. Neither did his mother. They ran track together at the University of Michigan, where they met. So, when their son wasnt very good at the game to start with, things werent easy.

I ran track, so I failed a lot, Bowman, 42, said over breakfast with his other son by his side. So I knew how important it was to teach that lesson and be resilient and all that. All the things that come along with failing and learning from it. From that aspect of it, I wanted him to stick with it. He couldnt hit the ball off the tee. I wanted him to work at it. He couldnt hit it off kid pitch when they started off. I mean, he went a whole season, he went a whole fall season, when he was 7, and didnt even hit a ball once.

Pretty amazing progress in a short time for a player who is also a competitive swimmer when hes not on the diamond. Part of the reason hes been able to develop is because of not just the family support, but the unit around him. The catcher on the team, Sean Kenney, is one of his best friends. Theyve known each other since they were 10 weeks old at day care. So they stuck with it, and now hes the kind of kid who jumps up to flex in front of his friends and family after hitting a triple off the wall in an elimination game to get his squad pumped up.

Basically everyone just encouraged him. Encouraged him to keep going, and it stuck with him, Bowman explained. And that moment, he got his first hit. I dont remember exactly. But when he started hitting, man, that was a sense of accomplishment for me. And there was a sense of camaraderie, as well.

At that point, a waiter comes over and asks if Bowman has a son in the tournament, and offers up some pins a Williamsport tradition to give to him before his next game. The look of joy that comes over his younger brothers face is far different from the tears that stained his face after he watched him lose with the team the day before.

But Jalen is a resilient kid, and the whitewashed world of baseball isnt entirely unfamiliar to them, because its something Bowman knows well.

My family grew up playing tennis, he pointed out. And so I was his age, watching my brothers, my two brothers at the junior level play. There wasnt any of us there. So there was a familiarity, I guess. But I knew, despite that, how much you can excel. I mean, it helps to have family around. I wasnt ever going to say, well, since I dont see any of us here, right? Were done. Were done. It was more like, I dont care whos around us. Were gonna work.

And show up they did. Bowman brought his five brothers. They came from all over. New Jersey, California, Atlanta, Ohio. They made sure to show up, and that weekend at dinner they were downright overjoyed that baseball, and specifically Jalen, could bring them together again as a unit, even if just for a few days. A couple of Bowmans boys came as well, and brought their sons. They were at regionals, too, before the team made the LLWS. Bowman knows how much of a difference the whole fam-squad made.

I had never seen him [like that], Bowman said, emotionally, referring to the win to get to Williamsport in which his son pitched. That was an amazing game. Ill probably always tear up thinking about it. I just wanted me to go out there and play. So I feel the pressure for him to perform, because I know everyones kind of counting on his consistency. And so when he went out there, and he did what was expected, when he went out there, started chewing that gum. Which he does like a big leaguer and blowing those bubbles, I knew he was comfortable.

He saw his kid become a leader right in front of his eyes.

That last pitch and seeing his reaction made me realize that he realized the moment. And when I saw his two hands go up and he turned and yelled and his buddies came to him, it meant a lot to me.

That Sunday night, after the two had talked earlier in the day, Jalen yelled a joke to Clevelands Triston McKenzie, another lanky Black pitcher with great hair, except, yanno, a major leaguer, it was a special moment. McKenzie had been posting about the fun all day on social media and was having a blast. So, he responded by turning around to the team of youngsters who were sitting right behind the dugout and throwing a ball over the netting as a gift.

It was a perfect strike to his new friend, Jalen.

I was a crackhead for many years of my life. This place saved me.

Duffy is talking to me and Xavier Scruggs, a former big leaguer who is on the LLWS broadcast team, and were killing time during a weather delay. Hed pulled us aside not out of shame, but to get out of earshot of children.

A stout guy who moves well enough to handle rambunctious kids with a lively vigor, he takes off his sunglasses to reveal his striking blue eyes, and explains precisely how he ever ended up here from Philadelphia at all.

Thirty years ago, he had lost control of his life. A grown man at the time, his addiction was rough enough that his older brother had to make a decision. He had to separate his brother from everything he knew, in order for him to get help.

This is a recovery town, Duffy said confidently. They let me borrow their faith. A lot of us came here and it took their will. Me, myself, Ive got to wait.

What hes talking about is the faith of the town in everyone who passes through. Much like the Underground Railroad site he pointed me to, much like the very citizens of the place who show up year after year to see the players on their way into the next phase of their lives. For Duffy, it was the other way around. And he doesnt see himself leaving anytime soon.

Taigen Thorne, Coordinator for Licensing Partnerships, Little League International

The reveal was not exactly shocking, but one of those moments when you remember exactly what life was like for so many Black folks just trying to survive in that era. I know full well how hard the crack epidemic hit this country, because all of the scenes that most of you saw on TV about how the drug ravages cities, many happened in my hometown. Im not talking about The Wire, Im talking about real-life carnage that not only took lives and devastated communities, but also left many with a feeling of urban post-traumatic stress disorder thats difficult to describe but impossible to ignore.

Duffy came to Williamsport in 1991. His brother has since died. That year was the year that Washington was the murder capital of the United States of America. The once-bustling, now ho-hum Williamsport had dedicated itself as a location for people to rebuild their lives back in the 70s, a decision that didnt come without a lot of controversies.

In February of that year, The New York Times ran a story with the headline Towns Good Reputation Has Become Its Problem. The Los Angeles Times headline was more direct: Town Troubled by Image as Drug Rehabilitation Haven.

At the time, it was probably a real shock to the system. An old logging town becoming the safety net for nearby cities that were ravaging themselves through what was effectively urban chemical warfare. Yet, it worked. Duffy is a perfect example.

Im a property owner. You know? Ive got two vehicles. Im mending my family together, Duffy said with exactly the amount of humility befitting of all the hard work hes done. Im learning to help going through the grace of God. The faith.

When you think about the interactions you have with people, it all makes sense. Not to say that everyone in Williamsport is in recovery, by no means. But the kind nature of everyday people that allows a large group of children in the public eye to bare their souls in the name of sport, is exactly the kind of place that a person can find some hope for themselves. Whether its old ballplayers being reminded of that dreamy time in life, or a guy who was the first Black person to receive the employee of the month award at his hospital back when he first arrived. Again, the magic is real.

These people, they embraced me. Its very important for me to point that out, Duffy said, looking out over the hills. Its really overwhelming.

From homeless to head of a sneaker empire, Jaysse Lopez is the Sole SurvivorRead nowAll eyes on Coach Deion Sanders as HBCU football hopes for a renaissanceRead nowWomens College World Series darling Odicci Alexander makes transition from overnight sensation to inspirationRead now

Hope is real as long as you know where to look. In Williamsport, itll be there long after the last out is recorded on the field.

Clinton Yates is a tastemaker at The Undefeated. He likes rap, rock, reggae, R&B, and remixes in that order.

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Williamsport, Pennsylvania: Home to history and hardball - The Undefeated

The rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban left many surprised.

To Ali Olomi, a historian of the Middle East and Islam at Penn State University, a key to understanding what is happening now and what might take place next is looking at the past and how the Taliban came to prominence.

How far back do you

trace the Talibans origins?

While the Taliban emerged as a force in the 1990s Afghan civil war, you have to go back to the Saur Revolution of 1978 to truly understand the group, and what theyre trying to achieve.

The Saur Revolution was a turning point in the history of Afghanistan. By the mid-1970s, Afghanistan had been modernizing for decades.

The two countries that were most eager to get involved in building up Afghan infrastructure were the United States and the Soviet Union both of which hoped to have a foothold in Afghanistan to exert power over central and south Asia.

As a result of the influx of foreign aid, the Afghan government became the primary employer of the country and that led to endemic corruption, setting the stage for the revolution.

By that time, differing ideologies were fighting for ascendancy in the nation.

On one end you had a group of mainly young activists, journalists, professors and military commanders influenced by Marxism.

On the other end, you had Islamists beginning to emerge, who wanted to put in place a type of a Muslim Brotherhood-style Islamic state.

Daud Khan, the then-president of Afghanistan, originally allied himself with the young military commanders.

But concerned over the threat of a revolutionary coup, he started to suppress certain groups.

In April 1978, a coup deposed Khan.

This led to the establishment of the Peoples Republic of Afghanistan, headed by a Marxist-Leninist government.

How did a leftist government help ferment Taliban?

After an initial purge of the ruling Communist Party members, the new government turned toward suppressing Islamist and other opposition groups, which led to a nascent resistance movement.

The United States saw this as an opportunity and started to funnel money to Pakistans intelligence services, which were allied with Islamists in Afghanistan.

At first, the United States funneled only limited funds and just gave symbolic gestures of support.

But it ended up allying with an Islamist group that formed part of the growing resistance movement known as the mujahedeen, which was a loose coalition more than a unified group.

Alongside the Islamist factions, there were groups led by leftists purged by the ruling government.

The only thing they all had in common was opposition to the increasingly oppressive government.

This opposition intensified in 1979, when then-Afghan leader Nur Mohammad Taraki was assassinated by his second-in-command Hafizullah Amin, who took over and turned out to be a wildly repressive leader.

Soviet fears of the U.S. capitalizing on the growing instability contributed to the Soviet Union invasion in 1979.

This resulted in the U.S. funneling further money to the mujahedeen, who were now fighting a foreign enemy on their land.

And the Taliban emerged from this resistance movement?

The mujahedeen waged a guerrilla-style war against Soviet forces for several years, until exhausting the invaders militarily and politically.

That and international pressure brought the Soviet Union to the negotiating table.

After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, chaos reigned.

Within three years, the new government collapsed and the old mujahedeen commanders turned into warlords with different factions in different regions, increasingly turning on one another.

Amid this chaos, one former Islamist mujahedeen commander, Mullah Mohammad Omar, looked to Pakistan where a generation of young Afghans had grown up in refugee camps, going to various madrassas where they were trained in a brand of strict Islamic ideology, known as Deobandi.

From these camps he drew support for what became the Taliban taliban means students.

The bulk of Taliban members are not from the mujahedeen; they are the next generation and they actually ended up fighting the mujahedeen.

The Taliban continued to draw members from the refugee camps into the 1990s.

Mullah Omar, from a stronghold in Kandahar, slowly took over more land in Afghanistan until the Taliban conquered Kabul in 1996 and established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

But they never took full control of all of Afghanistan the north remained in the hands of other groups.

What was behind Talibans success in the 1990s?

One of the keys to the Taliban success was they offered an alternative.

They said, Look, the mujahedeen fought heroically to liberate your country but have now turned it into a war zone. We offer security, we will end the drug trade, we will end the human trafficking trade. We will end the corruption.

What people forget is that the Taliban were seen as welcome relief for some Afghan villagers. The Talibans initial message of security and stability was an alternative to the chaos.

And it took a year before they started to institute repressive measures such as restrictions on women and the banning of music.

The other thing that cemented their position in the 1990s was they recruited local people through force sometimes, or bribery. In every village they entered, the Taliban added to their ranks with local people.

It was really a decentralized network.

Mullah Omar was ostensibly their leader, but he relied on local commanders who tapped into other factions aligned with their ideology such as the Haqqani network, a family-based Islamist group that became crucial to the Taliban in the 2000s, when it become the de facto diplomatic arm of the Taliban by leveraging old tribal alliances in order to convince more people to join the cause.

How crucial is this history to understand what is happening now?

An understanding of what was going in the Saur Revolution, or how it led to the chaos of the 1990s and the emergence of the Taliban, is crucial to today.

Many were surprised by the quick takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban after President Biden announced a withdrawal of U.S. troops.

But if you look at how the Taliban came to be a force in the 1990s, you realize they are doing the same thing now.

They are saying to Afghans, Look at the corruption, look at the violence, look at the drones that are falling from U.S. planes.

And again the Taliban are offering what they say is an alternative based on stability and security just as they did in the 1990s. And again they are leveraging localism as a strategy.

When you understand the history of the Taliban, you can recognize these patterns and what might happen next. At the moment, the Taliban are telling the world they will allow women to have an education and rights.

They said the exact same thing in the 1990s. But like in the 1990s, their promises always have qualifiers.

The last time they were in power, those promises were replaced by brutal oppression.

History isnt just a set of dates or facts. Its a lens of analysis that can help us understand the present and what will happen next.

Ali A. Olomi is an assistant Professor of History at Penn State University.

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The history of the Taliban is crucial to understanding their success now, and also what might happen next - Lock Haven Express

Roberto Clemente won two championships with the Pittsburgh Pirates, one when he was young and the other near the end of his brief life. For the first, in 1960, everyone else on the World Series roster was white, except for two teammates at the end of the bench. The second roster, in 1971, was much different.

Fifty years ago on Wednesday about a month before the start of a postseason he would make his own Clemente found himself batting third in a lineup unlike any that had come before. For the first time in the history of the National or the American League, a team fielded a lineup that was entirely composed of people of color.

Roberto said to me, Sangy, I never thought Id see that in my life, said Manny Sanguillen, 77, the catcher that night. He was proud to see nine guys playing, and he said, Im glad Im participating in that for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

The Pirates will honor the legacy of that game on Wednesday by hosting a panel discussion at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh with Sanguillen and the three other living members of the lineup: third baseman Dave Cash, center fielder Gene Clines and first baseman Al Oliver. The team will wear commemorative T-shirts before its road game that day and will hold a pregame ceremony before its next home game on Sept. 6.

It means a lot more to me now than it did then, because at that time, we didnt give it much thought, said Oliver, 74, who played first base. The reason we didnt is because the Pirates were always loaded with Black and Latin players, and so it wasnt something that was really noticeable to us as players. I dont know how it was to other people, but to us, it was almost routine.

While Black participation in Major League Baseball has declined in recent years, the 1971 Pirates stand as an early example of the international game M.L.B. would become. In the lineup that Sept. 1 were two players from Panama (Sanguillen and second baseman Rennie Stennett), one from Cuba (shortstop Jackie Hernandez) and Clemente, from Puerto Rico.

Five others were Black Americans: Cash, Clines, Oliver, left fielder Willie Stargell and pitcher Dock Ellis. They were different in birthplace but connected in spirit.

Some people said, Latino, its not the same but its not true; were Black, Sanguillen said, laughing. Like Willie said to me, Your colors even darker than mine!

Such brotherly ribbing was a hallmark of the Pirates in the 1970s, even as they transitioned to other stars of color like Dave Parker, Bill Madlock, Jim Bibby and Omar Moreno. The visual on Sept. 1, 1971, was unremarkable, like the game itself: a Wednesday night affair at Three Rivers Stadium against the overmatched Philadelphia Phillies before 11,278 fans.

Standing in the on-deck circle at first pitch, Phillies shortstop Larry Bowa had the same reaction as Oliver: same old Pirates, the class of the league. Baseball had been integrated since 1947, so a diverse lineup, in general, was nothing new. Twelve different players of color had won the leagues Most Valuable Player Award, including Clemente in 1966.

You look at every one of those guys that night, and they were great players, Bowa said. It didnt even enter my mind that, Oh, wow, thats different. I just looked at the talent out there and went, Wow pretty good baseball team.

Two white Pirates infielders were out of the lineup first baseman Bob Robertson had sprained a knee, and third baseman Richie Hebner was recovering from a viral infection. But the Pirates were so deep that their manager, Danny Murtaugh, had plenty of strong options to replace them.

The first six hitters in Murtaughs lineup were all batting over .300 Stennett, Clines, Clemente, Stargell, Sanguillen and Cash. Oliver, who had a .303 career average, batted seventh. Hernandez, the light-hitting shortstop, was next, followed by Ellis, who had started the All-Star Game that summer.

Im not saying we were intimidated, but you knew youd better play your A game or it would be a long series in Pittsburgh, Bowa said. They were that much better than us. Every one of those hitters used the whole field. They hit balls hard, they could run, they could throw. And all those guys used big bats. Even the ground balls they hit to you, they came at you with authority.

Bowa worked two walks off Ellis, helping force the Pirates bullpen into the game in the second inning. The Pirates would win, 10-7, and the pitching star, as The Sporting News noted, was white.

Ironically, the paper reported, it took six innings of strong relief by Luke Walker, a Caucasian from Texas, to quiet the Phillies.

The Pirates unique lineup was treated more as an amusing footnote than a watershed moment. The Sporting News story was a brief item tucked in the corner of a box score page. The Pittsburgh newspapers were not publishing because of a strike, and The Philadelphia Daily News made only a passing reference the next day to the Pirates all-soul lineup. A United Press International reporter took more of an interest.

When it comes to making the lineup, Im colorblind, Murtaugh said in that report. And my athletes know it. They dont know it because I told them, but they know it because theyre familiar with the way I operate.

Murtaugh, who died in 1976, insisted he did not even notice the racial makeup of the lineup. In that way, he was like Red Auerbach, the impresario of the Boston Celtics, who always maintained that he did not realize he had used the first all-Black lineup in N.B.A. history when he did so on Dec. 26, 1964.

Murtaugh was a man that wanted to win, and it didnt matter what formula he had to come up with, he was just looking at who was the best fit for that particular game, said Roberto Clemente Jr., who was 6 years old at the time. Obviously, it was a historic moment, but I dont think he really even thought about it. He just wanted to have the best lineup to win that game.

Oliver said the distinction had only dawned on him in the third or fourth inning. But Stargell who would effectively replace Clemente as the Pirates leader after Clementes fatal plane crash on Dec. 31, 1972 was keenly aware. In the clubhouse later, Clines said he was sure the Pirates had started nine brothers before. Stargell corrected him.

This is the first time, he said in the U.P.I. story. Back in 1967, in Philadelphia, Harry Walker started eight of us, but the pitcher, Denny Ribant, was white.

Stargell died in 2001, on the very day the Pirates opened PNC Park, which replaced Three Rivers Stadium. Ellis died in 2008, and Oliver eulogized him at his funeral in California. Most fans remember Ellis for claiming to have thrown a no-hitter while on LSD, or for wearing rollers in his hair. Oliver said his friend had a more meaningful legacy.

I dont think too many people knew that what Dock was really doing out in Los Angeles was saving lives, he said. Because I recall at his funeral, when I was looking out over the congregation, most of the people there were the people that he had brought out of addictions and saved their lives.

Though he pitched only briefly that night 50 years ago, Elliss presence helped the Pirates do something for the very first time. Before long, Clemente would lead them to a place he had been once before: the World Series.

He was on a mission, the younger Clemente said. He knew he was here for a short period of time. As he told my mother, he was going to die young, and I believe thats how he lived his life, in a flash. So understanding that he wanted to win that World Series, that is something that needed to happen.

The Pirates started September by symbolically flipping a league that had once been all white. They ended October as champions.

Excerpt from:

50 Years Later, the Pirates' Lineup of Color Still Resonates - The New York Times

History was made at the Belgian Grand Prix Sunday and it had nothing to do with the racers.

Max Verstappen was declared the official winner of the Belgian Grand Prix when the race was stopped after two laps due to bad weather. According to F1, the top 10 racers will take half points from the race.

The Belgian Grand Prix is typically 44 laps, but disastrous weather conditions forced officials to call the race after just two rounds. This is Verstappens sixth win of the 2021 Formula One championship.

Its been a tight competition this year between him and Lewis Hamilton, the reigning Formula One champion. Hamilton entered Sundays race with an eight-point lead on Verstappen atop the leaderboard. Lando Norris, Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Perez followed in a distance third through fifth.

Next weekend, the circuit is headed to Circuit Zandvoort in North Holland, Netherlands for the Dutch Grand Prix. This is the first Dutch Grand Prix since 1985.

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Belgian Grand Prix winner: Max Verstappen wins shortest race in F1 history due to bad weather - DraftKings Nation

Originally Published: 29 AUG 21 02:39 ET

Updated: 29 AUG 21 12:36 ET

By Jay Croft, CNN

(CNN) --Hurricane Idais beginning to move ashore and is set to make landfall early this afternoon likely tied as Louisiana's most powerful storm ever.

The current forecast calls for sustained winds of 150 mph when Ida hits on the 16th anniversary of the historically devastating Hurricane Katrina.

That's just 7 mph below the Category 5 ranking, and if Ida arrives at that level, it would be just the fifth to do so on the US mainland.

Last year's Hurricane Laura and the Last Island Hurricane of 1856 share the current record at 150 mph.

The northern eyewall is moving onshore along the southeast Louisiana coast, according to the 12 p.m. ET update from the National Hurricane Center. The eyewall is the most dangerous part of a hurricane and contains the highest winds.

The center of Ida was around 25 miles from Grand Isle, Louisiana. A wind gust of 104 mph was recently reported at Southwest Pass, Louisiana. Ida will be making landfall around 1 or 2 p.m. ET when the center of the eye is halfway over the coast. Extreme winds and surge will accompany landfall over the next several hours.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said Sunday he expects Ida to be "a big challenge for us."

Edwards told CNN's Jake Tapper on "State of the Union" that his state "is as ready as we can be," but he expects Ida to be "a very serious test of our levy systems, especially in our coastal Louisiana."

The state invested significantly in shoring up the levy system after the catastrophic fail after Katrina. Edwards said Ida "will be the most severe test," but he expects the levees to hold. "The next 24, 36 hours are just going to be very, very critical for us here in Louisiana."

Ida became a Category 4 storm early Sunday morning, rapidly intensifying to sustained winds of 150 mph, according to theNational Hurricane Center.

Ronald Dufrene, a commercial shrimper, plans to ride out the storm on 100-foot shrimp boat in Jean Lafitte, Louisiana, with his wife. He said he's stayed on his boat for every storm for the last 42 years.

"I rode out three of them last year. Don't get me wrong. This is a buzz saw we have coming," he said. "Mother Nature's a beast.

"I feel it's the safest place for me and my family is on that boat. You get on the highway and you drive 10 to 15 hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic. ... I've got enough food and water for months."

Sharlette Landry evacuated Grand Isle, Louisiana, and watched her security camera feeds, which showed water quickly rising before her home lost power Sunday.

"I did prepare, but you can never be prepared for this magnitude of a storm," Landry,who posted a video onFacebook, told CNN. "I was very surprised at how fast it rose. I've never seen it that high and I'm sure it's higher now at my place."

On Twitter, Wyatt Northrup wrote from Alabama, "Wind and waves really starting to pickup with #Ida in Fort Morgan."

A tornado watch is in effect until 8 p.m. ET for parts of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Quick-moving, brief tornadoes will be possible throughout Sunday.

There is also a danger of life-threatening storm surge Sunday in areas along the coasts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.

Sign up for email updates for significant storms

Ida will become the fourth hurricane to slam Louisiana since last August and the state's third major hurricane landfall in thattime span.

Live updates: Hurricane Ida heads toward the Gulf Coast

A Sunday strike would also fall on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina'sGulf Coast landfall, which led to the deaths of more than 1,800 people in the region.

TRACK IDA'S PATH >>>

Hurricane Katrina made landfall in 2005 as a Category 3 storm with 125 mph sustained winds. Storm surge with Katrina measured up to 24-28 feet, according to the NHC.

The water topped levees and flood walls, and more than 80% of New Orleans flooded. More than 1,500 people in Louisiana died.

Katrina brought storm surge of 15 to 19 feet in eastern New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish, and Plaquemines Parish, while the surge was 10 to 14 feet in western New Orleans along the southern shores of Lake Pontchartrain, according to the NHC.

By comparison, Hurricane Ida is forecast to bring a lower storm surge of 12-16 feet to some areas of southeast Louisiana, the NHC says. And near New Orleans it's expected to be even lower: 8-12 feet outside New Orleans and 5-8 feet along Lake Pontchartrain.

That's because the wind field was larger for Katrina: 90 miles from center at landfall, compared to 50 miles for Ida.

Since Katrina, the levee and water control systems in New Orleans were improved: Pumps were upgradedwith backup generatorsand gates were added at key canals to help block water from entering the city during storm surge.

"This is a different city than it was August 28th 2005, in terms of infrastructure and safety," Ramsey Green, New Orleans deputy chief administrative officer for infrastructure, told reporters Saturday at a News Conference ahead of Hurricane Ida's landfall.

Green called the city's levee system "an unprecedentedly powerful protection for the city," which has three lines of defense: the coast, the wetlands and the levee system.

"From that perspective, we need to be comfortable and we need to know that we'll be in a much better place than we were 16 years ago," Green said. "That said, if we have 10 to 20 inches of rain over an abbreviated period of time, we will see flooding. We don't know at this moment -- we see 15 to 20 inches over 48 hours or less, and we can handle it, depending on the event."

Officials throughout the state have implored people to evacuate, with some issuing mandatory orders to do so.

Arnold urged people to stock up on enough food and water for at least three days.

"We say the first 72 (hours) is on you," Arnold said. "The first three days of this will be difficult for responders to get to you."

The NWS warned of "structural damage to buildings, with many washing away" as well as winds that could bring "widespread power and communication outages."

Airlines canceled all flights arriving to and leaving from Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport on Sunday, theairport said.

Tulane University in New Orleans is closed Sunday and Monday, less than a week after students returned to campus.

In Mississippi, at least 15 school districts and universities will be closed Monday, with the majority of schools announcing plans to resume classes on Tuesday, pending the weather forecast.

Nearly 65,000 power outages have been reported across Louisiana, poweroutage.us.

Energy Louisiana said Sunday some of its customers could be without power for weeks.

The company warned that while 90% of customers will likely have their power restored in a timely manner, flooding and storm damage may prevent crews from accessing certain areas.

The company said it expects to deploy around 16,000 restoration personnel once the storm passes.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell announced Friday evening that the National Weather Service and Edwards had indicated there was no time to implement contraflow traffic, meaning New Orleans could not issue a mandatory evacuation for areas inside the levee system.

Contraflow is when authorities use some lanes of traffic for travel in the opposite direction of what was intended so more vehicles can leave an area.

Cantrell on Saturday said that if people planned to voluntarily evacuate -- which she recommended -- it was time to go.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said Friday that once the storm starts, people need to stay off the roads to protect first responders.

As the storm approached, mandatory evacuations were ordered for parts of at least seven Louisiana parishes as well as the towns of Grande Isle and Port Fourchon. Voluntary evacuations were issued in six parishes.

With 2,450 patients in the hospital with Covid-19, Edwards reiterated his concern that Ida is colliding with a fourth wave of infections throughout the state.

"I will tell you it's going to be a very, very challenging storm for our state, and it comes at a very difficult time as well," he said.

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Hurricane Ida is moving ashore with history-making power on the anniversary of Katrina - ABC 57 News

With the doldrums of the offseason here in the NBA, now is the time to look back on history and acknowledge some greats in the franchise history of the Philadelphia 76ers before looking ahead to the excitement of a new season.

In this edition, we are going to take a look at some of the best passers in the history of the Sixers. The guys out on the floor who led the team on offense making sure everybody is in the right position so things can run smoothly out on the hardwood.

Most of the players on this list are point guards, but others are bigger players while some focused mostly on scoring while out on the floor. Here is the list of the top 10 assist leaders for the Sixers:

Cheeks has his No. 10 jersey hanging from the rafters at the Wells Fargo Center after a decorated career with the Sixers. The Hall of Famer made an All-Star game four times in his career and he helped the team win a title in 1983. He averaged 7.3 assists in his 11-year career in Philadelphia.

Greer also has his No. 15 jersey hanging at the Wells Fargo Center and he helped the franchise win a title in 1967. He spent the entirety of his 15 seasons with the Sixers and he averaged 19.2 points and 4.0 assists as scoring was his main focus for this team.

Much like Greer, Iverson was obviously known more for his scoring rather than his passing skills, but when he had to get his teammates involved, he did. He ended up averaging 6.1 assists for his career with the Sixers and he won a league MVP in 2001 while guiding the team to an NBA finals appearance.

Erving was also known more for his scoring than his assists, but he did play long enough to garner up a ton of assists in his career in Philadelphia. He averaged 22.0 points and 3.9 assists in his career with the Sixers and he guided the team to a title in 1983.

Schayes led the Syracuse Nationalsthe franchises name before they became the 76ers in 1963to a title in 1955. As the teams big man, he averaged 18.5 points, 12.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in his 15-year career with the Sixers.

Iguodala was a do-it-all forward in his eight seasons in Philadelphia. He averaged 15.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 4.9 assists leading the team to a handful of playoff appearances while being named an All-Star in 2012.

Snow was just a solid point guard during his time with the Sixers. He was not a flashy player by any means, but he is a guy who could be counted on to get the ball to Iverson and the other scorers. He averaged 9.7 points and 6.6 assists during his time in Philadelphia.

Costello spent 10 seasons with the Nationals and he was named an All-Star six times while being a part of Philadelphias 1967 NBA title team. He was also named to the All-NBA Team in 1961 and he averaged 12.9 points and 4.7 assists while with the Sixers.

Cunningham was also a big part of Philadelphias 1967 title team and he was named an All-Star four times in his career. He averaged 20.8 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 4.0 assists with the Sixers on his way to a Hall of Fame career.

Seymourwho is No. 5 in the photo abovespent 11 seasons with the Nationals and he averaged 9.6 points and 3.9 assists with the franchise. He was a part of the 1955 NBA title team as he helped Schayes get the job done.

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A list of the top 10 assist leaders in Philadelphia 76ers franchise history - Sixers Wire

Days after she became the first female journalist to interview a Taliban representative on live television, news anchor Beheshta Arghand fled Afghanistan, after several members of the media receivedintimidating messages from the Taliban.

Arghand, 24, worked for the TOLO news station, and conducted her groundbreaking interview on Aug. 17. She told CNN Business it wasn't easy to sit across from the Taliban spokesman, but "I did it for Afghan women." When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s and early 2000s, women were oppressed, forced to wear burqas and unable to hold most jobs. Arghand said she went to TOLO's offices so the Taliban couldn't say "ladies don't want to work," and when she was face to face with the representative, told him, "We want our rights. We want to work. We want we must be in society. This is our right."

On Aug. 19, Arghand interviewed activist Malala Yousafzai, who survived being shot by a member of the Taliban in Pakistan, in what TOLO said was Yousafzai's first-ever interview with an Afghan television station. Following her interview with Yousafzai, Arghand said she contacted an activist and asked for help escaping Afghanistan, and was able to flee with several of her relatives on a Qatari Air Force evacuation flight. "I left the country because, like millions of people, I fear the Taliban," she said.

Arghand told CNN Business that if the Taliban "do what they said what they promised and the situation becomes better, and I know I am safe and there is no threat for me, I will go back to my country and I will work for my country. For my people." TOLO's owner, Saeed Mohseni, told CNN's Reliable Source on Sunday that nearly every one of the station's "well known reporters and journalists have left. We have been working like crazy to replace them with new people."

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Female journalist who made history interviewing Taliban representative flees Afghanistan - The Week Magazine