Entries from October 2006 ↓
October 13th, 2006 — News
As assault and robbery victim Michael Sandy lay in a coma in a Brooklyn hospital Thursday, his family and friends continued to pray for his unlikely recovery, faced with the agonizing decision of whether to remove him from life-support systems on the day he would mark his 29th birthday.
Sandy is the Black gay Williamsburg man, apparently lured to a public park rendezvous through an Internet website by four White men who allegedly robbed and beat him. He was subsequently hit by a car and left unconscious as he attempted to flee across the Belt Parkway.
Three of the men, John Fox, 19, Gary Timmins, 16, and Ilye Shurov, 20, have been charged with assault and attempted robbery during the commission of a hate crime. They have been arraigned and are being held at Rikers Island without bail. Charges still might be filed against Anthony Fortunato, 20, who was questioned and released, police sources said. All four suspects are from Sheepshead Bay. Police are also looking for the driver of the car that hit Sandy.
More is now known about the flight instructor traveling with New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle when the two crashed a fixed wing private plane into an upper East Side Manhattan condominium Wednesday.
Tyler Stanger, 26, who like Lidle was from California, was described as a skilled, knowledgeable pilot, mechanic and flight instructor who had been hanging around air fields since he was a kid. Friends say he was a safety-conscious pilot who demonstrated maturity beyond his years.
However he was inexperienced flying around New York City, where a maze of regulations separate private non-commercial airplanes, commuter and business helicopters and commercial flights at LaGuardia and JFK airports, and keep airplanes from traveling over densely populated areas like the island of Manhattan. Stanger reportedly had only made one previous flight over New York airspace.
Seventy-five miles up the Hudson River, in Poughkeepsie, a replica of the slave ship The Amistad docked there Thursday on an educational tour designed to teach the history of the slave rebellion that took place in 1838. Fifty-three slaves, captured in Sierra Leone, overtook the ships crew and sailed for 56 days before ending up off Montauk, Long Island, recaptured by the U.S. Navy and charged with piracy and murder.
Abolitionists, including former President John Quincy Adams who offered legal representation, came to their defense. Their case was tried successfully before the United States Supreme Court where in 1841, the court upheld the slaves right to freedom and ordered them released.
Finally, up in the Western corner of the state, 105 miles of the New York State Thruway are closed this morning due to a record October snow storm. Two feet of snow fell overnight, downing trees, and knocking out power to 230,000 people.
Lake effect snow, caused by cold Canadian wind blowing over warm Lake Erie, is falling from Buffalo to Rochester’s western suburbs.
October 12th, 2006 — Baseball
A four hit shutout by Tom Glavine, with help from middle reliever Guillermo Mota and closer Billy Wagner, and a two out, two-run homer in the sixth by Carlos Beltran, propelled the Mets to a 2-0 win over the Cardinals in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series Thursday in New York.
Glavine, making his 33rd post season start, threw 89 pitches through 7 innings, allowing Mets manager Willie Randolph to avoid going to his bullpen until the 8th. His counterpart on the St. Louis side, Jeff Weaver threw equally well through six and two-thirds innings before giving up the home run on a fastball right down the middle to Beltran, in what up until then was a scoreless pitchers duel.
Mets pitchers stymied the heart of the Cardinal batting order. Albert Pujols, Juan Encarnacion and Scott Rolen, their 3, 4 and 5 hitters, went hitless. Mets hitters got six hits total against four St. Louis pitchers.
The one sour note to the Mets victory was the possible loss of leftfielder Cliff Floyd. Floyd re-aggravated an Achilles tendon strain he suffered last Saturday in the NLDS batting in the second inning. If he is unable to play again in this series, his roster spot cannot be filled and the Mets will have to go with 24 men instead of 25. By rule, teams must submit their roster prior to the start of each post season series and stick with them. If the Mets advance to the World Series and Floyd remains injured, only then would they be able to replace him on the roster.
Because of Wednesday nights rain out, Game 2 will be Friday in New York, then Games 3, 4 and 5 if necessary, will be in St. Louis on Saturday, Sunday and Monday respectively.
After a week of off-the-field drama involving that other New York team, it is important to remember that the best New York baseball team is still playing.
Addendum
Friend, avid sports fan (writer, professor) and fellow blogger John Keenea St. Louis native and lifelong Cardinals fanhas agreed to share his thoughts on the NLCS over on his site and well cross promote. We have a gentlemens bet on this series, meaning no money will be exchanged, just a years worth of bragging rights. Unfortunately, this weekend finds him very busy. He was traveling east Thursday and missed Game 1 and may only have occasional opportunities to catch games this weekend.
John, for your sake, I hope the series isnt over before you get a chance to settle down.
October 11th, 2006 — News
Police: Attackers allegedly lured men through internet?
NEW YORK (AP)
Four young men were arrested for luring a gay man to a remote location with an online promise of a sexual encounter, then attempting to rob him an incident that left the victim in critical condition after he ran into traffic to escape the attack, a police commander said Wednesday.
The four, who range in age from 16 to 20, were arrested late Tuesday, according to a police commander who spoke on condition of anonymity because the charges were still pending. Police had said they were investigating the Sunday attack as a possible bias incident, but it remained unclear whether the four would be charged with a bias crime.
Michael Sandy, 28, remained in critical condition after the confrontation spilled onto a parkway and he was hit by a vehicle as he tried to escape, the commander said. That vehicle fled the scene, and police were also searching for the driver.
The four attackers, who said they were heterosexual, made incriminating statements and indicated they had previously used the internet to lure and attack gay men, the commander said.
The commander said one of the men had met Sandy on a street corner and convinced him to drive to an isolated parking lot in New York’s Brooklyn borough, where the other three were waiting. His car was later discovered at the former rest stop near Plumb Beach, New York, with the motor still running.
The spot, just east of Sheepshead Bay, New York, is known as a gathering point for illicit drug use and sexual encounters, officials said.
Witnesses told police the dispute spilled onto the six-lane Belt Parkway and halted traffic as Sandy backed away from his assailants when they grabbed at him. A motorist who was forced to stop said Sandy was struck after breaking free and ending up in a lane where cars were still moving.
The four, who were not identified by police, were expected to be arraigned later Wednesday.
Man Is Forced Onto Highway and Hit by a Car in Brooklyn New York Times
Gay ‘Bias’ Victim Clinging To Life New York Post
Cops: Bias may have sparked attack Newsday
October 8th, 2006 — The Blogosphere
Black and brown members of the blogosphere gathered in Harlem Sunday to break bread, connect faces to blogs and just enjoy each others company talking about anything and everything, blog-related or not. Bill Clinton was not invited.
Inspired to a degree by the very noticeable absence of such faces at the former Presidents uptown meeting with bloggers a few weeks back, but motivated more by a desire to build community among our own, it turned out to be a more intimate gathering than originally intended. Some 24 people RSVPd to Donalds evite to meet at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, but all told the final number was about 10 short of that, with a couple of non-blogging friends added. Mostly a five borough crowd showed up, with one New Jersey commuter and a NYC native who now lives in Baltimore also making the trip. With all due respect to those who didnt show, the smaller size allowed us to have a more fun afternoon with friends old and new.
Cameras were in abundance so Im sure youll be seeing plenty of pictures elsewhere. Mine are posted to my Flickr account. Donald toted out the professional gear while the rest of us brought our trusty point-and-shoot digitals.
Heres a list of bloggers in attendance, with apologies if I missed anyone. I hope we can do it again.
Donald Preboot
Taylor Taylor Siluw.com
Kenneth A Day In The Life Of A Divo
Kenyon Every Shut Eye Aint Sleep
Ryan The Ryan Chronicles
Ronn a burst of light
Liza culturekitchen.com
Steven stevengfullwood.org
Philippe Life Up In Harlem Heights
Alvin AlvinAgarrat.com
Nichelle Nichelle Newsletter
Flickr photos Brown Blogger Brunch
October 8th, 2006 — Baseball
The Mets made it a short business trip to LA. They beat the Dodgers in Game 3, 9-5 to sweep the best of five NL Division Series and advance to the National League Championship Series for the first time since 2000. By winning three in a row, they now get to go home, rest their starters and injured outfielder Cliff Floyd, set their pitching rotation and await the winner of the Padres-Cardinals series.
At the start of the playoffs, with the news that they would be without starting pitchers Pedro Martinez and Orlando El Duque Hernandez, some of the so-called experts predicted a grim outcome for the Metropolitans. But the truth is, they have used 13 starters this season and rarely had an entirely healthy roster, in route to 97 wins and the best record in the National League. Theyve done it with a solid bullpen and a powerful offense. They certainly arent out of the woods and the starting rotation remains a challenge, but if they are to get to the World Series, they will need to continue that strategy.
I had three wishes before any of the games started on Saturday, 1) I wanted the Padres to beat the Cardinals, to extend that series at least another game, 2) I wanted Detroit to beat the Yankees, to send them home with their tails between their legs, and 3) I wanted to see the Mets sweep their series and get time to prepare for the next round. My wishes were all answered.
My next wish? Eight more wins.
UPDATE: We now know who we’ll face in the NLCS.