Official G:TB Stock Market Meltdown Anthem

Buy the dip, my friends.

Happy Belated Birthday Biggie

Yesterday I realized that zsister and Chris Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G. share a birthday (May 21), and I've previously noted that zson was born on the anniversary of Biggie's death (March 9). zsister said this was meta. I think it's gully.

But not as gully as Biggie's 21st birthday party which was captured in part in this preposterously NSFW video:



This is exactly like my 21st birthday party, except I didn't have three hiphop icons performing at Unit M.

The Ballad of Rosy Waugh

This is @rosiexwaugh. Best I Could Do.

In 1938, colorfully named William & Mary pitcher Rosy Waugh won 10 games for the Tribe's nine. Until this month, nobody else in Green and Gold baseball history had matched him.

Last Thursday, John Farrell (not THAT John Farrell) gave up two earned runs in six innings at home against Georgia State, and his teammates backed him with 15 runs to give the senior righthander his tenth win on the season. Farrell's 10-2 mark and 2.42 ERA earned him first-team All-CAA honors, making him only the sixth pitcher in school history to make the league's top team. Farrell tied for the CAA lead in wins and finished second in ERA.

First-year Head Coach Jamie Pinzino earned CAA Coach of the Year honors as the Tribe finished with a 35-20 mark, including a school-record 17 conference wins. W&M finished second in the CAA, better than all but two seasons in the 320 years in which Tribesmen have played baseball. Or rounders. Or other ball and stick games. The Tribe was second in the league in both 2001 and 2002, as well.

Actual John Farrell Here.

While W&M was last in the league in homeruns and at the bottom of the conference in most offensive categories, Pinzino's squad won on the strength of a dominant pitching staff. The Tribe led the league in ERA, had twice as many shutouts as any other team in the conference, and allowed 55 fewer bases on balls than any other league foe.

Farrell and sophomore Jason Inghram (2.53) both finished in the top five in ERA, with Ingrham recording the league's best opponent's batting average (.219) and finishing second in strikeouts with 94.

That 2001 team earned the second of W&M's only two NCAA Tournament appearances, defeating JMU, 6-5, in the final game of the CAA Tournament. W&M opens the 2013 CAA Tournament tomorrow against the winner of the Delaware/JMU opener. Only seven teams are eligible for the championship in this, the year of the CAA's discontent.

So you're sayin' there's a chance. The Ghost of Rosy Waugh is sitting up and taking notice.

High Finance

I don't know precisely how Marissa Mayer intends to deliver a return on the $1.1B Yahoo! is investing in Tumblr, but I think it's a pretty short path from monetizing puns to profit.

(h/t, Gheorghe: The Tumblr. Obviously.)

Footy Filler

In typical Gheorghian fashion, we've waited until the final day of the Barclays Premier League season to bother writing about soccer. We'll make up for it with a mishmash of semi-related footie items.

In Paris yesterday, David Beckham played what will likely be the final match of his storied career, as Paris Saint Germain topped Brest, 3-1. While his international celebrity outpaced his on-pitch performance, Becks will go down as one of England's all-time greats. Very few in the history of the sport can match the accuracy of his service and his ability on set pieces. Check out arguably the most famous goal of his career, the 2002 strike against Greece that sent England to the World Cup and inspired the movie, 'Bend It Like Beckham':


David Beckham goal - England v Greece 2002 by fatv

If you're reading this before 11:00 you've still got time to turn on Fox Soccer Channel to catch Tottenham Hotspur taking on Sunderland in a final bid to overtake Arsenal and snare the BPL's Champions League berth. The Gunners play at Newcastle at the same time, needing a win to ensure the all-important 4th place finish.

Matheson's late goal gave Canada bronze at the 2012 Olympics

Closer to home, the Washington Spirit beat the Seattle Reign, 4-2, earlier in the week to capture the franchise's first-ever National Women's Soccer League win and improve to 1-2-3 on the season (combined with DC United, local professional soccer squads are a dismal 2-11-4 in league play this year). Canadian national team stalwart Diana Matheson scored the Spirit's first goal, her league-leading 4th of the season. Matheson also paces the NWSL with 10 points. More importantly, she's also my daughter's favorite player. We've attended two Spirit games this season, and the 5'1" Matheson was, by far, the smallest woman on the field. Nonetheless, she tallied goals in each of those games, inspiring my little one, who will be lucky if she makes it to 5'1". You can have 'Bend It Like Beckham' - we're Driven Like Diana up in here.

Finally, if you want an entertaining (and far more knowledgeable) take on all things footie, check out FOG:TB John Day's stylings over at Dangerman Futbol. Maybe next season, anyway.

This is My Wife

You're undoubtedly aware, at this point, of the many ways that cancer (you motherfucker) has impacted Team G:TB. Today's guest post comes courtesy of Work Jerome von Dumbarton, a long-time FOG:TB and current Buffalonian (may not be a word). This post is actually reposted from Jerome's blog. It'll both impress you (at one woman's courage) and piss you off (at fucking cancer, again).

If somebody tells you that 36 hours from now Angelina Jolie is going to temporarily flip your world upside down would you believe them? I wouldn't but that's what happened to my family. Yesterday morning the world awoke to find that Ms. Jolie underwent a double mastectomy. As sometimes happens the local media jumped to find ways of bringing a national story home.

Not everybody knows this but approximately six weeks ago my wife, Madeleine, underwent a double mastectomy at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. Somebody from Roswell got a hold of my wife's story and she spent the better part of yesterday and this morning making the rounds on local media. It's worth noting because women are making this same decision every day. This is her story.

 

My wife broke the news to me in the summer of 2012 while we were still living in Washington, DC. It was, in a word, stressful but her OB's recommendation was clear. Double mastectomy and, for kicks, removal of both ovaries. There was a lot going on at the time so we put off the inevitable while contemplating the next phase of our life, which include relocating to Western New York. It was a little abstract but it was always there lurking in the shadows. I'm fairly certain it was attached to the U-Haul trailer.

 

Jump ahead to February 2013. We're sitting at Roswell meeting with the various surgeons. Shit just got real. I quickly learn how courageous my wife is to go through this for her family. It's important to note that if you have a strong family history you have options and you should investigate them all. For the few, including my wife, with the BRCA1 mutation it means statistically the best option is a double mastectomy. We (meaning my wife) reviewed all the research, considered all the options and then we consulted with the surgeons; who confirmed what we already knew. We made the decision to have the surgery primarily for the twins. Kids need their mother. I think Madeleine explains it best to the listeners of WBEN (here) and viewers of WIVB (here). What the hell - here too.

 

The surgery was Tuesday, March 26th. We arrived at 9:00a. Madeleine went under the knife shortly before 1:00p. I saw her next at 8:00p. Over the next two weeks, including three days in the hospital, I really understood Madeleine's strength. She took a short walk less than 24 hours after going under, was eating and sitting up shortly after, and off her pain medicine less than a week after the surgery. Then it was just clearing drains regularly, rebuilding strength, a few weeks of physical therapy and visiting nurses and we are done...with Part I.

 

Then it was regular filling of the expanders (you can Google it). At the end of July Madeleine begins the reconstruction process. The entire show should be over by the end of the calendar year. The twins, at the ripe old age of 3, have been remarkable through this process. The support of friends and family is immeasurable.

 

I am telling this story to brag. Not about my connection to Angeline Jolie or about Madeleine's 15 minutes. I am, however, bragging about my wife - her strength, her courage, her love and sacrifice for others. We are telling this story so others have a better understanding while making this important decision. Hopefully many other women are telling their stories as well. Also, F-You Cancer.

 

Us - 1

Cancer - 0

Drink With Me

An ode to the ingenuity of man. One of these was particularly enjoyable.

Old Time Hockey

I don't usually post random pictures of hockey players as filler, but when I do, it's usually something sensational. As you all know by now, the Boston Bruins came back from a 4-1 third-period deficit last night, scoring two goals in the final 82 seconds with their netminder, Tuukka Rask, pulled for an extra attacker, to tie the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Then, 6:05 into the do-or-die Game 7 overtime, the B's Patrice Bergeron (below, center) - who scored the game-tying goal with less than a minute to play - tallied the game-winner to send Boston to the Eastern Conference Semifinals against fellow Original Sixer, the New York Rangers.

We've written about overtime playoff hockey before, but I can't imagine what the TD North Garden was like in the frantic last minute-plus last night. I just saw the video and I've got goosebumps.

Sports, man.