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Winter ball: Snowy offseason ideal for Sneed

The question would come shortly after Cy Sneed would write his name on the chalkboard. A young hand would rise into the air, and Sneed would brace himself for the chuckles that were sure to soon fill the classroom. "Are you a lumberjack?"




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Samuda to make strong push for regional pro football league

JAMAICA OLYMPIC Association (JOA) President Christopher Samuda believes that his sports administration experience will aid him in helping to finally shape a professional football league in the Caribbean. Concacaf announced Samuda’s appointment to...




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COVID-19 crippling Caribbean football – McNab

FORMER NATIONAL footballer Aldrick ‘Allie’ McNab is concerned about the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Caribbean’s football development. The coronavirus has caused the postponement, suspension, and cancellation of a number of sporting...




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Former national footballer Lattimore passes

Former national footballer Arthur Lattimore has died. Lattimore, who represented Jamaica in the 1970s, lost his battle with throat cancer at his home in Florida on Thursday. Lattimore, who was known as one of Jamaica's most skilful left-sided...




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Winter pressures - "You run the risk of dropping the ball"

Winter pressures on NHS services have kicked in a little bit earlier than usual. So here to discuss that, and also the issue of how local NHS leaders can support staff in times of extreme pressure. Discussing that with Rebecca Coombes, The BMJ’s head of news and views, are Matthew Inada-Kim, a consultant in acute and general medicine at...




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Uniform patch to mark 150 years of pro baseball

All 30 Major League teams will wear special "MLB 150" patches on their uniforms for the entire 2019 season in honor of the 150th anniversary of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first openly all-salaried professional baseball team.




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Uniform patch to mark 150 years of pro baseball

All 30 Major League teams will wear special "MLB 150" patches on their uniforms for the entire 2019 season in honor of the 150th anniversary of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first openly all-salaried professional baseball team.




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Taiwan baseball league to allow fans back in ballparks amid pandemic

A limited number of fans will be allowed to enter ballparks for games in Taiwan for the first time this season as stay-at-home orders continue to loosen amid the coronavirus pandemic.




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Ex-MLB players in spotlight as world turns to Asia for baseball

Playing in Taiwan once was a last option Justin Nicolino had to continue a professional baseball career. Now the former Miami Marlins pitcher is one of many ex-MLB players who provide entertainment for U.S. sports fans.




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Weekend live sports include UFC 249, 14 baseball games in Asia

UFC 249 will be sandwiched between 14 live baseball broadcasts out of South Korea and Taiwan this weekend for American sports fans to watch as they wait for major sports leagues to return.




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Men take Guinness record for ping pong ball catches in shaving cream

A pair of Idaho men tackled an unusual Guinness World Record by most table tennis balls caught in shaving foam on the head in 30 seconds (team of 2).




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'Shoeless' Joe Jackson baseball card from 1910 sells for $492K at auction

A "Shoeless" Joe Jackson baseball card from 1910 sold at auction for $492,000 this week.




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Report: South Korea tested new ballistic missile with larger warhead

South Korea's military tested a ballistic missile capable of carrying a 2-ton warhead in March, according to local reports on Thursday.




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UPI News Quiz: Asian baseball, Grimes' baby, scary insects

Asian baseball, Grimes' baby, scary invasive insects -- how well did you follow the news this week? Take the UPI News Quiz for May 8, 2020.




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Trade can spread economic toll of local disasters globally, study finds

Damage from a natural disaster in one place can spread globally due to urban trade networks, a Yale study said Monday.




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California to send mail-in ballots to all voters

California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday signed an executive order requiring mail-in ballots be sent to all eligible voters for the November election.





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Swedish meatballs

400g pork/beef mince 1 egg 1 onion, grated 1/4 cups fresh breadcrumbs 1/2 tsp. allspice 1/4 tsp. ground cloves Pinch of nutmeg 1 tbsp. olive oil 20g butter 150ml beef stock 2 tbsp. brown sugar Lingonberry sauce, sour cream, dill and parsley potatoes, baby cos leaves and cucumber wedges to serve




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Japanese sweet ginger meatballs

1 bunch of spring onions, finely chopped 250 g minced beef 250 g minced pork 20 g grated ginger 1 egg 2 tsps. roasted sesame oil 1 tbsp. cornflour, plus extra for dusting sunflower oil, for shallow frying 1 tbsp. white sesame seeds salt and ground white pepper For the sweet ginger sauce: 30 g grated ginger 3 tbsps. soy sauce 125 ml dashi stock or 1 tsp instant dashi powder mixed with water 2 tbsps. sugar 3 tbsps. mirin 3 tbsps. rice vinegar 1 tsp cornflour




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Baseball and Linguistic Uncertainty

In my youth I played an inordinate amount of baseball, collected baseball cards, and idolized baseball players. I've outgrown all that but when I'm in the States during baseball season I do enjoy watching a few innings on the TV.

So I was watching a baseball game recently and the commentator was talking about the art of pitching. Throwing a baseball, he said, is like shooting a shotgun. You get a spray. As a pitcher, you have to know your spray. You learn to control it, but you know that it is there. The ball won't always go where you want it. And furthermore, where you want the ball depends on the batter's style and strategy, which vary from pitch to pitch for every batter.

That's baseball talk, but it stuck in my mind. Baseball pitchers must manage uncertainty! And it is not enough to reduce it and hope for the best. Suppose you want to throw a strike. It's not a good strategy to aim directly at, say, the lower outside corner of the strike zone, because of the spray of the ball's path and because the batter's stance can shift. Especially if the spray is skewed down and out, you'll want to move up and in a bit.

This is all very similar to the ambiguity of human speech when we pitch words at each other. Words don't have precise meanings; meanings spread out like the pitcher's spray. If we want to communicate precisely we need to be aware of this uncertainty, and manage it, taking account of the listener's propensities.

Take the word "liberal" as it is used in political discussion.

For many decades, "liberals" have tended to support high taxes to provide generous welfare, public medical insurance, and low-cost housing. They advocate liberal (meaning magnanimous or abundant) government involvement for the citizens' benefit.

A "liberal" might also be someone who is open-minded and tolerant, who is not strict in applying rules to other people, or even to him or herself. Such a person might be called "liberal" (meaning advocating individual rights) for opposing extensive government involvement in private decisions. For instance, liberals (in this second sense) might oppose high taxes since they reduce individuals' ability to make independent choices. As another example, John Stuart Mill opposed laws which restricted the rights of women to work (at night, for instance), even though these laws were intended to promote the welfare of women. Women, insisted Mill, are intelligent adults and can judge for themselves what is good for them.

Returning to the first meaning of "liberal" mentioned above, people of that strain may support restrictions of trade to countries which ignore the health and safety of workers. The other type of "liberal" might tend to support unrestricted trade.

Sending out words and pitching baseballs are both like shooting a shotgun: meanings (and baseballs) spray out. You must know what meaning you wish to convey, and what other meanings the word can have. The choice of the word, and the crafting of its context, must manage the uncertainty of where the word will land in the listener's mind.


Let's go back to baseball again.

If there were no uncertainty in the pitcher's pitch and the batter's swing, then baseball would be a dreadfully boring game. If the batter knows exactly where and when the ball will arrive, and can completely control the bat, then every swing will be a homer. Or conversely, if the pitcher always knows exactly how the batter will swing, and if each throw is perfectly controlled, then every batter will strike out. But which is it? Whose certainty dominates? The batter's or the pitcher's? It can't be both. There is some deep philosophical problem here. Clearly there cannot be complete certainty in a world which has some element of free will, or surprise, or discovery. This is not just a tautology, a necessary result of what we mean by "uncertainty" and "surprise". It is an implication of limited human knowledge. Uncertainty - which makes baseball and life interesting - is inevitable in the human world.

How does this carry over to human speech?

It is said of the Wright brothers that they thought so synergistically that one brother could finish an idea or sentence begun by the other. If there is no uncertainty in what I am going to say, then you will be bored with my conversation, or at least, you won't learn anything from me. It is because you don't know what I mean by, for instance, "robustness", that my speech on this topic is enlightening (and maybe interesting). And it is because you disagree with me about what robustness means (and you tell me so), that I can perhaps extend my own understanding.

So, uncertainty is inevitable in a world that is rich enough to have surprise or free will. Furthermore, this uncertainty leads to a process - through speech - of discovery and new understanding. Uncertainty, and the use of language, leads to discovery.

Isn't baseball an interesting game?




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Prospect theory in the Moneyball movie

“I hate losing more than I even wanna win.” – Oakland Athletics General Manager Billy Beane (or some creative Hollywood writer channeling Billy Beane) Around 40 seconds in.




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Education Is on the Ballot in These Governors' Races

Voters in three southern states will head to the polls for governors races that have shined a spotlight on educator activism, school funding, and teacher pay.




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Colorado Voters to Decide Nearly 40 Ballot Questions to Support Education

Dozens of Colorado school districts are asking voters next month for more funding for education through bond issues, mill levy overrides, or renewal of a city sales tax.




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Colorado Ballot Measure Tests Voter Appetite for More K-12 Funding

Teachers and other education advocates hope that tax-wary voters will be willing to approve an amendment that would pour more than $1.6 billion more into schools each year.




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Kansas, Missouri renew Border War with 4-game football set

Kansas and Missouri are resuming their bitter Border War in football after the former Big 12 rivals agreed to a four-game series in which each school will play two home games beginning in September 2025. The fourth-longest rivalry in college football dates to 1891, but it has been on hiatus since Missouri departed for the Southeastern Conference. The schools recently announced a six-game series in men's basketball beginning with the upcoming season that includes two games on each campus and two in Kansas City, Missouri.




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NFL wants college football to proceed (but if not would likely move games to Saturdays)

The NFL is indeed discussing the possibility of playing games on Saturdays in the event that college football doesn't proceed with a season from September through December. As one source with direct knowledge of the discussions tells PFT, however, the league's strong preference is for college football to happen, as scheduled. No college football season [more]




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Former Oregon kicker Aidan Schneider details the day his passion for football died

It was subtle and unexpected move for Schneider, but it was the right one.




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'Chris Spielman: A Football Life'

Former NFL linebacker talks about growing up with the game of football.




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NAIA partners with NFL to launch women's flag football as a recognized varsity sport

Women's flag football is set to be an official NAIA sport as soon as 2021.




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'Good Morning Football': Sophomore QBs we're excited to see in 2020

The "Good Morning Football" crew discusses which sophomore QBs and their offensive weapons they're most excited to see play in 2020.




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College football season could be shaped on a school-by-school basis

The NFL wants college football season to proceed as usual in 2020. It may proceed, but there's a good chance it will be very unusual. Via Sports Business Daily, commissioners of two of the Power Five conferences (Kevin Warren of the Big 10 and Greg Sankey of the SEC) have hinted in recent days at [more]




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Roy Lester, former Maryland football coach, dies at 96

Roy Lester, who sandwiched a disappointing three-year stint as Maryland's football coach between a highly successful career at the high school level, has died. Lester's daughter, Amy Lester Greco, said on a Facebook post that her father died Sunday in Rockville, Maryland, due to complications from the new coronavirus. Lester made a name for himself in Maryland during a 10-year run at Richard Montgomery High School in Rockville during which the Rockets went unbeaten six times and had an 86-10-1 record.




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Cam Newton Mentors Next Generation of Football Stars | Bless the Babies Ep 1

Cam Newton is more than a quarterback. He's a father, a son, a coach. And to three young men from Georgia and Alabama, a mentor. Look back as the 2018 class of Cam Newton's 7 on 7 football team begins their journey.




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Brian Flores won’t accept sloppy football when football returns

NFL coaches might be deprived of their beloved routines, but they're not giving up expectations. For Dolphins coach Brian Flores, that means harkening back to a lesson from one of his New England mentors as he embarks on an offseason of change. With so many new parts arriving in free agency, a new quarterback in [more]




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DiMaria: The Difficulties Of South American Football

The Difficulties Of South American Football




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How does the Big Ten play football without open campuses?

Less than four months before the scheduled kickoff of the college football season, not one of the 14 schools in the Big Ten Conference can say for sure it will have students back on campus this fall - a crucial step for sports. Uncertainty about how the coronavirus pandemic will unfold through the summer has kept universities from making a definitive decision about the fall semester, which typically begins in late August. The football season, for now, is due to begin Aug. 29, though Big Ten schools don't begin play until the following week.




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Big 12 schools intend to open in fall, giving football hope

All 10 schools in the Big 12 Conference expect their campuses to be open in the fall, a key step toward launching fall sports. The coronavirus pandemic has shuttered sports at all levels, and conference commissioners have stressed to Vice President Mike Pence college athletics cannot resume until campuses reopen. The season is slated to begin Aug. 29, though Big 12 schools don't begin play until the following week.




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Patchwork decisions throw wrinkle in college football plans

There are 130 major college football teams, spread across 41 states and competing in 10 conferences, save for a handful of independents. The goal is to have all those teams start the upcoming season at the same time - whether that's around Labor Day as scheduled or later - and play the same number of games. Despite the best intentions of conference leaders, the possibility exists of college football being played in SEC country before it begins in Pac-12 territory - or something else entirely.




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Homecoming: Seven Legends of College Football Return to their Alma Maters | The Players' Tribune

Reconnecting with mentors, friends, coaches and professors, these football greats reflected on the experiences that they carried with them well beyond their college years. While they all share different stories, their journeys to the NFL were each met with adversity, and whether on or off the field, these obstacles served as tests for each individual athlete to overcome. These challenges made them stronger, earning them valuable lessons and helping them create special connections with the university they will always call ‘home.’




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More than half of ACC football schools aim to reopen in fall

Nine of the 14 football-playing members of the Atlantic Coast Conference are making plans for reopening campuses this fall while three others have publicly said they are exploring scenarios for a return following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. Reopening campuses for in-person instruction is a crucial step toward restarting college sports, which were shut down in March. Commissioners of the nation's major football conferences told Vice President Mike Pence last month that college sports couldn't return until campuses have reopened, while the NCAA's chief medical officer said last week that widespread testing for COVID-19 would be critical to restarting sports.




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Why Oregon Football is one year away from winning a College Football Playoff

Geoff Schwartz joins the latest Talkin' Ducks Podcast with host Jordan Kent




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Oregon State AD Scott Barnes reassures Beaver football will be played

"One scenario we are not working on is not playing football."




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The South is playing football this fall, pandemic or no pandemic

The south is going to play, so should the west coast.




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Gabriel Jesus on Football in Brazil

Gabriel Jesus breaks down football in Brazil.




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Oregon football lands four-star, All-American OT Bram Walden for class of 2021

Another piece to the TakeFlight21 puzzle




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Five questions about college football's return

What middle ground does college football need to continue as normal this season? Here are the five biggest questions looming over the sport’s return.




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John Doyle's Bushtown and the green ball of death.

A dystopian science fiction bordering on reality and fantasy, each page accompanied by a high-quality illustration -- Australian authors.




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BUTTERBALL Goes to the Beach.




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The Suburban Footballer.




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Australian island arks : conservation, management and opportunities / editors: Dorian Moro, Derek Ball and Sally Bryant.

Islands -- Australia -- Government policy.