mercredi 31 mars 2010

Suburban Firefighter Killed

Deepest sympathies to the Homewood Fire Department which suffered it's first ever Line of Duty Firefighter death yesterday:
  • Brian Carey, 28, a firefighter with the Homewood Fire Department for less than two months, had dreamed of being a fireman since he was a boy. On Tuesday, he was the first in a line of firefighters to rush into a burning house to save a paralyzed, elderly man, family said -- the first time that he had confronted a fire "of that magnitude."

    "He was your typical redheaded South Side Irish-Catholic kid who wanted to be a fireman. Everyone was so proud of him when he became one," said Jim Duffy, a close family friend and retired battalion chief from Oak Park who used to bring Carey as a boy to the firehouse to let him slide down the fire pole and try on helmets.

Another firefighter was seriously injured in the same blaze which is believed to have been a "backdraft" incident. Prayers and well wishes for both firefighters here only.

Power Struggles

Once again, rumors of power trips and internal strife coming out of 35th Street:
  • Completely off topic: Any truth from Headquarters Dugan got the riot act from Bartender Bea? Heard a rumor that the two have been in a huge power struggle since the Lopez debacle and Masters sided with Cuello. Are they trying to force Dugan to retire when J-Failure leaves..
Every time this crap pops up, the name of Masters is right in the middle of it all. The crooked SWAT Sgt testing, the Wedster cover-up, the Henny-Penny scandal, various dumps of a retaliatory nature, the list goes on. Obviously, there's something to these stories and more obviously, it's part of a concerted effort to extract payback on the Department for assorted transgressions, real and imagined. But the power struggles among the assorted camps at HQ are contributing to the institutional decay prevalent throughout the Department and the increasing disconnect continues to have a negative impact on morale.

Todos los estadios de Sudáfrica 2010.


01.04.2010 - Después de contratiempos, quejas, presiones, presupuestos, licitaciones, promesas, denuncias, huelgas, sicarios y muertos, ensayos y nervios parece que, fuera de tiempo, ya están los estadios mundialistas (click en las monedas para ver).











En este enlace se pueden ver todos los estadios mundialistas en 360º.
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Last Chance to Vote

Densey and Mary have a 5,000 vote lead, but that's down from almost 9,000 last week. The push is on and there are only two days left. If you haven't voted already, if you haven't told all your friends, relatives and social networking strangers, if you have a spare e-mail address collecting dust, now is the time to get it done.

NBC did a nice piece on the Coles and hopefully it will sustain the momentum that's been propelling this event since February.

Go HERE and vote today.

UPDATE: We have been watching the votes for the last 20 minutes and the second-place contestants are getting around 5 votes every 30 seconds or so. If you haven't voted yet, go to the link above and vote. Tell your friends. Tell your family. There is about a 2000-vote difference right now.

Post updated to move to top of the blog.

Elber Galarga vs. Emiliano Pinsón


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Champions League 2010: Arsenal 2 Barcelona 2


31.03.2010 - 62% - 38% en posesión de pelota, 11-3 en tiros al arco y 11-18 en infracciones cometidas son apenas los números de rigor. El marcador fue mentirosa y concretamente 2-2. 

Ibrahimovich (´46 y ´59) ponía las cosas según el juego. Walcott (´69) y Fabregas, en un penal inventado con expulsión de Puyol incluida, lo empató (´85).

Un resultado festejado por el local y lamentado por el visitante. Las diferencias futbolísticas entre uno y otro son enormes. No obstante los números (2-2) dijeron otra cosa en uno de los mejores partidos del torneo.

Piqué, Puyol y Fábregas no estarán en la vuelta del Camp Nou el próximo 6 de abril.
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A Study in Stupidity

Who's watching the cameras? It's way less than you think it is:
  • In less than a decade, residents have seen hundreds of POD cameras or police operational devices go up in Chicago neighborhoods. But what impact have they had on fighting crime?

    The highly-respected Urban Institute in Washington, D.C. has come out with the first comprehensive analysis of the cameras. The group wanted an in depth look at how police use cameras to fight crime in Washington, Baltimore and Chicago. The first two cities remain a work in progress.

    For Chicago, the study's architect says, the early results are quite positive.

Oh really? Get ready for some egghead response that has little or no basis in reality and ignores a key component in the real world. Anyone want to bet us on it?
  • The Urban Institute set out to study the effectiveness of the cameras as a crime-fighting tool. Using a sophisticated model, and three years of data, researchers sought to find - do the cameras lesson [sic] crime? Do they just move it? Is there a cost benefit to their use?
There's the egghead - the "highly-respected" Urban Institute (highly respected by whom?)...
  • Dr. Nancy LaVigne led the study which focused on two neighborhoods - Humboldt Park and West Garfield Park. Each has a fairly high concentration of cameras.
There's the pitch...
  • In Humboldt, the conclusion is that the cameras have had a real impact. Drug, robbery, weapons offenses, and overall crime dropped significantly after cameras arrived.

    The same, however, is not true in West Garfield where there was no signficiant [sic] change pre and post camera.

    So why would they have an impact in one neighborhood and not in another? There are a number of possible explanations, but the short answer is researchers don't know. What they can say, however, is that if you combine the numbers from the two neighborhoods, the cameras still have a significant impact on crime.

And there's the bullshit! Let's break this down from the perspective of some people who actually work in Chicago and not some "think tank" in Washington.

West Garfield Park is a disaster zone. It has been for over 50 years. It's overwhelmingly Black, suffered through the King riots, decades of urban neglect and decay, the Crack Wars, and a series of crooked politicians who took mere pennies to use the entire area as a dumping ground for millions of tons of contaminated construction debris.

Humboldt Park is a former Puerto Rican stronghold that has morphed into a gentrified neighborhood that could rightfully be called a turnaround of miraculous proportions. The shops, stores and loft buildings that occupy former flop houses, abandoned structures and decrepit factories now entertain thousands of yuppie residents. A thriving art, club and music scene provides entertainment to suburban tourists. The site of many riots back in the 1970's, the area has since rebounded and priced out lower income families along with much of the criminal element.

In short, a comparison of West Garfield and Humboldt Parks is a study in opposites. And claiming POD cameras had anything to do with it is to ignore the realities on the ground. And these quotes just make our stomachs turn:
  • Fewer crimes means you spend less on investigation, less on the court system and less on victims of crime.

    "We found that for every dollar spent on cameras, there was over a $2 savings in terms of the money that was averted for the crimes that were prevented," said Dr. LaVigne.

Really? How do they come up with that figure? We suspect they pulled it out of their asses.

How about this - let your Detective Division dwindle by 700 or 800 Detectives - voila! - fewer crimes. Instruct your States Attorney to deny felony charges in most cases, "CI" the other cases, accept quick misdemeanor guilty pleas for forcible felonies and guess what? Less investigation and less court time!

We could go on, but the cops reading already get it. The question is - does anybody else?

El gol de Braña de mitad de cancha.


31.03.2010 - Por la 5º fecha del Grupo 3 de la Copa Libertadores, Estudiantes venció a Juan Aurich en Chiclayo 2-0 jugando sobre césped sintético.
Con zapatillas de fútbol de salón, Braña hizo el segundo gol desde 45 metros.
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mardi 30 mars 2010

Militia Nutjobs

Amid all the hyperactive "reporting" tying a Michigan Militia group to Christians, right-wing hate groups, Tea Party activists and every other entity opposed to the Obama socialist agenda, an old acquaintance of ours writes what we think is about the most accurate piece out there so far:
  • An undercover FBI agent and a cooperating witness were involved in an investigation that led to the arrests of nine people, accused of being law enforcement-hating militiamen who plotted to kill police officers in Michigan.

    A government filing in the case indicates an undercover FBI agent as well as an unidentified cooperating witness helped provide intelligence to a federal grand jury about at least one of the alleged members of the group -- Thomas Piatek, who delivers steel drums for a South Side company.

  • ... When militia members allegedly set an April date to carry out their attack, they crossed the line from "just fantasy," she said. "
There are people on both sides of the political spectrum that hate each and every one of us because we wear the uniform of a police officer. We are the most visible functionary of government. We are easily identifiable by our uniform and are tasked with carrying out the laws passed by the elected legislators, regardless of personal feelings. This makes us targets. And sometimes the targets are well-armed morons who dream up some scary shit.

We won't get into the piss-poor reporting done on this story, nor the media smear jobs twisting this into something it obviously isn't. Violence against the police and government isn't the exclusive domain of either political wing, but it has been advocated and exercised far more often by the leftists than the right.

A Day at the Academy

  • Participants in a media training day Tuesday at the Chicago Police Academy learned that it takes a lot of training and hard work for police recruits to become Chicago police officers.

    Every weekday, as the sun and the flag rise at the Chicago Police Academy training headquarters, about 90 recruits hear a name of a fallen officer - a reminder of what is at stake. Most of the men and women will pass their 1,000 hours of training but it's not easy.

    "It's a rigorous training we go through, everything from physical fitness to education, training us to what life's like when we hit the streets," said Fred Coletta, Chicago Police Department recruit.

    Coletta left looming layoffs in corporate America to become an officer. And what he will learn in 30 weeks, participants in a media training day Tuesday tried to absorb in six hours.

While this may have noble intentions, we've always thought of it as a "gimmick." It's a fluff piece. The fact is police work isn't, and shouldn't be, explainable in 6 hours. Stuff like this convinces many people that police work isn't difficult and enables hundreds of Monday morning quarterbacks to second guess what we do with the tiniest frame of reference.

And it's more than a little disturbing to see reporters get blasted by AirSoft wielding bad guys and them laughing it off, completely forgetting that these "real-life scenarios" are reenactments of coppers getting killed in the line of duty.

Warm Weather

  • Tuesday's sun whispered of spring. And across the city, Chicagoans were counting on the rest of the week to scream of it, with plans to shed their winter wear, ready their rakes and eat under the stars.
Chicagoans are also dusting off the guns, cruising for trouble and getting ready to settle up old grudges that have been nursed through the cold winter months. We've noticed an uptick in calls of shots fired, armed robbery reports, gang disturbances and midweek homicides that we guess can be attributed to the warm weather and spring break.

Be careful out there.

Armed Offender Expires

  • Chicago police said today that there didn't appear to be any wrongdoing on the part of an officer who shot and killed a Broadview man after he allegedly brandished a gun at officers on the Northwest Side.

    But family and friends of William Hardy described the 27-year-old as nonconfrontational and criticized the actions taken Monday night by police.

    "They shot him, and they didn't even have to," said Corey Lofton, a close friend who said he was with Hardy when he was shot about 9:15 p.m. Monday in the North Austin neighborhood.

Well, you see, it's like this. We kind of "had to" since he pointed a gun at the police. All these denials are, once again, from people who weren't there and have no idea what transpired. But the media treats them like gospel.

The cops responded to a call of "shots fired," and 'lo and behold, there's a gun on the scene. Do people really think that this is a coincidence? Cops just happen to show up and there's a gun right there? Oh wait, we forgot - drop guns. Every cop is issued two or three drop guns a night and then spend the rest of the shift looking for people to kill.

Again, excellent job by the coppers.

Two Seasons

Winter and Construction. Here comes Construction:
  • With a congestion-free Congress Street Bridge as a backdrop, state and local transportation officials issued a warning Monday to motorists: Be prepared for big-time delays beginning this week.

    Repairing the aging bridge -- built in 1956 and slowly rusting away -- is one of four major projects in and around Chicago that will likely frustrate motorists in the short-term.

It will also frustrate west side dope sales to suburbanites jumping off and on I-290 in 012, 011 and 015.

Champions League 2010: Bayern Munich 2 Manchester Utd. 1


30.03.2010 - Alto partido jugaron Bayern Munich 2 Manchester United 1 por la ida de los cuartos de final de la Champions League.

Hubo algún enojo maradoniano a raíz del súbito regreso al campo de Martín Demichelis (mundialista argentino) pero Van Gaal apuesta a todo o nada, exponiendo incluso, meses del central.

Y precisamente Demichelis fue la nota en el inicio del partido. La primera pelota del juego llega al flanco izquierdo local y Demichelis, lento, comete una torpe infracción que se traduce en tiro libre simil córner. Centro, una pierna que desvía la trayectoria y Rooney que conecta en el área chica sin marca: la marca era Demichelis que resbaló y vió desde el suelo como se inflaba la red de su arco. Iban 90 segundos de juego.

Salir del vestuario 0-1 hubo cambiado alguna estrategia alemana y entonces se hizo un partido sumamente atractivo, tensionado y bien jugado.

Si pudiéramos inferir que estos equipos cosmopolitas conservan el espíritu de sus naciones de origen (Manchester United cuenta con 17 ingleses en su plantilla de 46, un 37% y Bayern Munich 13 alemanes de 23, un 56%) pudimos haber visto un encuentro entre el frío pragmatismo de Lord Bacon (inglés) y la férrea sensibilidad de Friedrich Schelling (alemán).

Porque, en primera instancia, el Manchester United aparece como equipo seguro, compacto, ordenado, calculado, esquematizado, pragmático y conocedor de sus dotes frente a un Bayern Munich que depende más de los vaivenes, las circunstancias, los azares, sus jugadores y los estados de ánimo del partido. Podemos ver un Bayern que siente el desgaste frente a un Manchester en piloto automático, un Bayern desorientado y apurado frente a un Manchester agazapado y atento. Y esta vez, el Bayern golpeado, hizo gala de otra de sus cualidades, la persistencia.

Logró volcar el juego a campo contrario recién en el segundo tiempo. Ribery llevando la lanza por izquierda adelante y remando desde el medio, una y otra y otra vez. 

Llegando con tres y cuatro hombres a área inglesa el Bayern hizo de Van der Sar (39) la unánime figura del partido mientras Fergusson, apostando a ganador, metía cambios ofensivos que hacían cierta y constante la amenaza de contraataque.

El mismo Ribery, el mejor jugador (de campo) del partido, logró el empate de tiro libre (´31) en un premio a la búsqueda constante (le pegó mal y el rebote en la barrera desorientó a Van der Sar) y en el minuto 92, a segundos del pitazo final, Olic puso el 2-1 definitivo, buscado y merecido para Bayern que junta ánimo para ir a Old Trafford en quince días.

LICHA LOPEZ SIGUE A LOS GRITOS
En el otro juego de cuartos metió dos para Lyon 3 Bordeaux 1
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Los vaticinios de Zidane.


30.03.2010 - Faltan 9 fechas para la finalización de la Liga española. Valencia, que se ubica 3º en la tabla de posiciones, debería ganar los 9 partidos restantes y esperar que los punteros pierdan al menos 7 para poder llegar a un desempate.

En el marco de su contrato publicitario, Zizú Zidane (llamado por el diario, “el quinto grande del fútbol mundial” detrás de Maradona, Di Stéfano, Pelé y Cruyff) brinda una entrevista a Marca y el medio la anuncia con este título:


Menos jugado que Miguel Angel "Corega" Russo, nada del otro mundo para un hombre medido y asumido en su rol de estrella al que le sacan títulos con tirabuzón, si no fuera por su inmediato pronóstico anterior, en el que, consultado por los merengues y emulando - entre tantos- al Negro Gamboa o al chileno Mauricio Isla, vaticinó una épica remontada del Real Madrid frente al Lyon por los 8º de Champions League.

¿Podemos decir Liga liquidada?

Agradecemos a Sportmaníacos su aviso de que una de nuestras portadas LPND ue premiada por los votos de sus lectores. 

lundi 29 mars 2010

Police Shooting

When they say "March comes in like a lion, out like a lamb," the opposite appears to be true for police shootings in this month:
  • A 25-year-old man was critically wounded tonight in a shooting involving Chicago police in the city's North Austin neighborhood.

    No officers were injured in the incident which occurred at 9:16 p.m. in the 1400 block of North Mayfield Avenue, according to the Independent Police Review Authority.

    The man was taken to Loyola University Hospital in Maywood in "very critical" condition, a fire department spokesman said. He didn't know the victim's age or gender.
Best wishes to the officers involved.

UPDATE: Post corrected for proper lion/lamb reference. Thanks.

More Guns = Less Deaths?

And not published by the NRA. This story is right out the left wing media - MSNBC:
  • In the 1980s and ’90s, as the concealed-carry movement gained steam, Americans were killed by others with guns at the rate of about 5.66 per 100,000 population. In this decade, the rate has fallen to just over 4.07 per 100,000, a 28 percent drop. The decline follows a fivefold increase in the number of “shall-issue” and unrestricted concealed-carry states from 1986 to 2006.

    The highest gun homicide rate is in Washington, D.C., which has had the nation’s strictest gun-control laws for years and bans concealed carry: 20.50 deaths per 100,000 population, five times the general rate. The lowest rate, 1.12, is in Utah, which has such a liberal concealed weapons policy that most American adults can get a permit to carry a gun in Utah without even visiting the state.

    The decline in gun homicides also comes as U.S. firearm sales are skyrocketing, according to federal background checks that are required for most gun sales. After holding stable at 8.5 to 9 million checks from 1999 to 2005, the FBI reported a surge to 10 million in 2006, 11 million in 2007, nearly 13 million in 2008 and more than 14 million last year, a 55 percent increase in just four years.

So Shortshanks, J-Failure and just about everyone who claims there are too many guns are pretty much on the wrong side of every single reputable study out there. And as the CPD manpower continues its downward trend, more citizens are going to have to take responsibility for their own security in their homes.

We offer this advice - regular practice, sight alignment, smooth trigger pull. Results may vary.

No Money?

Fusco and Novak hit another one out of the park. No wonder there's nothing left for first responders:
  • Humbert began working for the City of Chicago in 1967 in the first of a series of construction and maintenance jobs, records show.

    In 1993, at age 56, he took early retirement from his janitorial job with the Chicago Board of Education and began collecting his city pension.

    After that, he went to work for Cook County as an operating engineer.

    Then, in 2001, Humbert heard about a job at McPier.

These are Outfit-connected people we're talking about. We're going to go out on a limb here and speculate these were Tony Soprano-type "no-show/no work" type jobs. And incentives for buyouts? Oh yeah:
  • By that time, he had been working in government for about 35 years. That made him eligible for a McPier "reciprocity" program "in which vacation credits are given for prior government service," according to Stacey White, a McPier auditor. In other words, McPier would pay him for vacation days he didn't earn at McPier.
Really? Might this be part of the hidden costs driving conventions, conventioneers and their business away? This might explain the $200 cases of soda, $100 boxes of donuts and whatever other inflated prices are attached to everything to do with McCormick Place?

Pigs get fat, hogs get slaughtered. It's about time for a slaughter.

Rogelio Funes Mori



29.03.2010 - No hay suficientes respuestas para la búsqueda de razones del rating deprimido de los partidos de fútbol de nuestra querida Primera División. Se elaboraron tesis atadas con alambres a intereses que es mejor no mencionar pero es insoslayable que el nivel futbolístico es el cómplice en cuestión.

Si tomamos que al Fútbol para Todos le tocó una temporada donde Boca, Ríver, Rácing y San Lorenzo penan en el fondo de la tabla, poco queda por dilucidar.

Pero si le sumamos que Ríver vaya televisado un lunes, el día más resistido de la semana, donde empiezan, como los crónicos castigos de Prometeo, los sacrificios del mundo trabajador y consumidor de fútbol, cuál diversión, distensión o alegría (?) podríamos inferir que en el calendario televisivo (que comanda el calendario futbolístico) existe una mano negra (?).

Si seguimos sumando podríamos apuntar, en complicidad, al cuerpo técnico (y/o dirigencia) riverplatense (?) que, teniendo en el banco a Mauro Rosales insiste con poner de titular a Funes Mori… un lunes.

Argentinos Júniors le ganó a Ríver (1-0) en el Monumental, bajo la suela de Ortigoza, la gambeta de Coria y los piques de Sosa (autor del gol ´20) haciéndole precio en el primer tiempo y regulando (dejándolo venir a Ríver) cuando las piernas ya no daban, en el segundo.


No podemos decir que le falta actitud a Ríver. No le falta actitud, ni ingenuidad, ni inconexión, e imprecisión. ¡Mi puesto por una brújula! Puede bramar Astrada.

Ver a Almeida multiplicarse (sólo para destruir), a Rojas y Afranchino jugar mirando a su arco, a Canales en el círculo central, a Ferrari contra molinos de viento… como si todos llegaran hasta ahí para que alguien (?) se haga cargo y meta la pelota en el arco contrario…

Rogelio Funes Mori (?)

El pibe (18) que salió de Buenos Aires a Dallas para ganar el “Sueño MLS” (reality), viajar a Inglaterra para practicar con el Chelsea y volver a Buenos Aires para probarse en Ríver y en seis meses pasar de quinta a Primera, no sólo no aprendió aun a moverse según la ley del off side sino que, en excelso homenaje al mejor Cuqui Silvani, le erra a la pelota tantas veces como Astrada insiste en ponerlo de titular.

Es demasiado para un lunes.

Hasta mañana.

Boca 2010

29.03.2010
"Se habla de renovación en Boca desde la época en la que Brindisi era el técnico, en 2004"  Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

dimanche 28 mars 2010

Fed Up Yet Chicago?

The next great revenue grab:
Yes, that's a photo enforcement Stop Sign. Click for a full size pic. Another shot:The sender tells us this is on the far northwest side, where people have jobs and actually pay bills, fines and fees. We have no idea if or when these went active, but we heard they had been testing some in 008 on 63rd Street? Anyone have the scoop?

UPDATE: Read the post please. We state the following:
  • "We have no idea if or when these went active..."
That's a question for info, not an invitation to harass us or whomever sent these in. And if it is unincorporated Norwood Park Township, that borders city limits for a few miles and might be of interest to our northside dwelling brethren. We also mention that we heard they were testing them on 63rd Street, so Shortshanks is obviously looking at these to use somewhere.

Area 4 Scandals?

This one is just dumb:
  • ...any one hear anything about The Weisel going off on Area 4 and their Overtime. Hear he wanted to indict everyone there.
Well, if you don't promote Detectives for over two-and-a-half years, someone has to pick up the slack. Otherwise, the "X" doesn't get moved, the case doesn't get suspended, the crime doesn't get solved. Why not just disband the D-Unit all together and just admit we don't solve crimes anymore - we just let the insurance companies pay out.

And this one is just really really dumb:
  • a little birdy friend in IAD retiring next month let me in on the next A4 embarrasment....seems IAD cameras were put in a certain district supplies room to catch pos stealing. the good news? no pos stealing. the bad news? 2 pos bumping uglys. investigation put on backburner cuz of pennys case, but hammers ready to drop on this now. pos looking at some hefty time off. maybe they can take the time off together and screw away from the job to. jealous soon to be ex spouse got wind of it and dropped da dime. OUCH.
Seriously? We have enough scandals with people allegedly taking money, recommending towing companies, beating bartenders, driving drunk. Now we're going to be treated to a sex scandal? Is there anything this department can't do?

Summer Preview?

  • Multiple gunshots in Chicago Friday night left four dead and three injured in the hospital.
April 15 or thereabout is the first day of what could be a long summer. The numbers we've heard are in excess of 100 officers leaving on this first day of the "55-and-out" provision (115 was the last number we heard.) The numbers for the rest of the year are supposedly on pace for previous annual totals, so that means we still have another 400 plus retirements to go.

What no one is sure of is how many people might just get fed up and decide to go. That's the big variable.

Excuses Excuses

The excuse, "These aren't my pants" has just been supplanted by, "That isn't my bullet wound"
  • A career-burglar picked the wrong house to steal from when he targeted the home of a Chicago cop’s family Friday morning, prosecutors allege.

    Lamont Ferdinand, 21, hobbled into court Sunday morning bare-chested and bandaged, after a bullet recovered from his body was matched to the officer’s gun.

    [...] Though Ferdinand claimed he was shot in a drive-by shooting, the recovered bullet matched the officer’s gun and Ferdinand’s jacket was recovered from near the officer’s home, the report says.

    Ferdinand, who has three prior felony convictions and was on parole at the time of the alleged offense, is charged with aggravated assault to a peace officer and residential burglary.

On a side note, shotgun pellets don't leave ballistic signatures. Slugs either.

Clausura 2010: fecha 11 - TAPA nº 145


LA ESPALDA DE IBRAHIMOVICH
ERIKSSON DT DE COSTA DE MARFIL
EL GOL DE NIÑO TORRES A SUNDERLAND 
CAROL MADELON NUEVO DT DE CENTRAL


Turco Mohamed, el Fergusson de Colón.


28.03.2010 - “Me retiro del fútbol cuando Mohamed se vaya de Colón” dijo Bichi Fuertes (37), goleador histórico de Colón y la provincia de Santa Fe. 

Suena a humo o cuando menos, exageración de voluntarismo en tiempos en que los equipos y los grupos no logran superar la sumatoria de individualidades.

Días antes, cuando Arsenal le hizo 3-0 a Colón en Sarandí (fecha 8, 03.07.10), el Turco Antonio Mohamed exclamó que “ningún técnico resiste tres derrotas seguidas” y dejó correr rumores de su salida de Santa Fe. El equipo venía de perder (3-1) ante Bánfield (fecha 7) y, después de comerse 6 goles en dos fechas continuas, creyó encontrarse (?) en el oscuro y cada vez más conocido pasillo donde retumban la actitud y los resultados.

Pero el asunto se tornó más confuso. Los ecos se multiplicaron y después del partido siguiente (fecha 9, Colón 1 Gimnasia 1) el Turco salió, “dolido”, a desdecirse:

“Porque escuché muchas cosas que son mentiras, que me perjudican y que crean un ambiente feo. Que se diga que no tengo buena relación con los jugadores, que me voy de Colón, que tengo contratos arreglados con no sé cuántos clubes, que tengo problemas con los dirigentes, que hay problemas entre los jugadores (Rivarola – Fuertes) y no sé cuántas cosas más, son mentiras, falsedades totales y nadie o muy pocos se ponen a pensar y ven que este problema que tenemos y del que saldremos enseguida, es estrictamente futbolístico”.

EL Turco intentó hacer “la gran Basile”, la declaración semioff que lleva implícita la amenaza de renuncia, pero se la complicaron.

“ …hablé de generalidades, porque hoy el fútbol argentino es así, pero jamás se me pasó por la cabeza la idea de irme de Colón. Esperaba, eso sí, que el equipo tuviera una reacción contra Gimnasia, y la tuvo. Se mejoró mucho en la actitud, a pesar de que no jugamos bien... Yo me voy a ir de Colón cuando los dirigentes quieran o cuando pierda diez partidos seguidos y esto no dé para más. Pero jamás se me cruzó abandonar el barco ahora… "lo que busqué fue una reacción anímica, quizá me apuré en declarar".

Después de empatar con Gimnasia (1-1), Colón empató con San Lorenzo (2-2) y el equipo parece quedar en una meseta que antes lo encontraba en los primeros puestos.

No obstante, Germán Lerche, presidente de Colón, lo respaldó clara y públicamente:
“Estuvimos analizando esta semana junto a Mohamed el partido con Gimnasia y hablamos con él de la posibilidad de renovarle el vínculo por mucho tiempo más. Voy a exagerar un poco con lo que les digo, pero con el Turco no nos sentamos a firmar un contrato, para que se den cuenta que cuando las relaciones van en el orden de las buenas conductas, el afecto y del compromiso, la letra fría del contrato de nada sirve”.

Con este panorama y con la gente de Santa Fe que ya se ganó al DT y viceversa, después del empate con San Lorenzo por la fecha 10, el Turco Mohamed llegó al partido nº 80 dirigiendo a Colón ininterrumpidamente, superando los 77 del Patón Bauza al frente del equipo, convirtiéndose en el entrenador más regular desde que el sabalero volvió a Primera División (1995).

Y esto no es todo: el reciente 24 de marzo, Mohamed cumplió dos años en el cargo de entrenador ("la prioridad es salir de la promoción y mantenernos en primera", decía) hecho que, a la luz de los resultados y del vértigo cotidiano, lo convierte en el Fergusson de Colón.

En ese mismo lapso, del 24.03.08 al 24.03.10, seis entrenadores pasaron por el banco de Rácing (Juan Manuel Llop, Claudio Cristofanelli, Ricardo Caruso Lombardi, Juan Barbas, Claudio Vivas y Miguel Ángel Russo), cinco por el de Independiente (Pedro Troglio, Miguel Ángel Santoro, Claudio Borghi, Miguel Ángel Santoro y Américo Gallego), tres por Boca (Ischia, Basile y Alves), tres por Ríver (Simeone, Gorosito y Astrada) y tres por San Lorenzo (Ramón Díaz, Miguel Angel Russo y Diego Simeone).

A Republican, eh?

Vengeance for Shortshanks? For daring to run for office? Or for making noise about running for aldercreature?
  • It appears J-fed got to chop the heads off two hispanic bosses, Capt Morado sent to 007th district and Lt Garrido sent to 21
At least this time, no one got demoted, just exiled.

Updating Graft and Corruption

  • In an effort to streamline unethical practices and boost illegal profiteering, Mayor Richard M. Daley announced sweeping new plans Monday to overhaul his city's "antiquated" system of graft.

    According to Daley, Chicago's once-great fraudulent institutions have grown obsolete, and City Hall is no longer bilking taxpayers out of as much money as it once did.

    "It's been business as usual for too long in Chicago, and now it's time to find more efficient ways to misuse authority for personal gain," said Daley, who has served as Chicago's mayor since 1989. "We must modernize our illegitimate activities right now, today, before it becomes impossible for public officials to act in my best self-interests."

Yes, we know it's satire. We only wish we wrote it. Go read the whole thing.

CPS Cuts

Someone mentioned that the schools were cutting jobs via e-mail. Whether or not that was true, at least they're cutting in the right places according to this article:
  • Chicago Public School officials on Saturday confirmed a major transition of the administration, affecting 280 jobs through layoffs and closure of vacant positions.

    The layoffs began last week and will continue through Monday. They are part of a broader wave of major cuts at the central office that new schools chief Ron Huberman has undertaken.

    The layoffs come amid the high-profile resignation of David Pickens, a top aide for former schools chief Arne Duncan. Last week the Tribune revealed that Duncan's office kept lists of people -- many politically connected -- who dialed up the office seeking help in landing a seat at a top school.
The "central office" seems exactly like many of our bureaus - a place to hide numerous middle managers with no discernible function or talent for anything. The schools (and our Department) are still too top heavy.

Perhaps instead of J-Failure and crew telling everyone to "police smarter," they ought to start a course called "manage better."

We're Back


Someone broke the Internet last night. We had nothing but problems even trying to log in to take care of business. Good thing it was a Sunday morning.

Open post while we catch up with things.

samedi 27 mars 2010

Rácing 1 Newells 0


27.03.10 - A lo Rácing. Desordenado, metiendo, empujando le ganó a Newells (1-0) en el Cilindro para volver a salir de la promoción.

En líneas generales jugó mejor que la visita pero, a lo Rácing, sufrió con las esporádicas contras rosarinas. Porque todo el equipo se adelantaba sin conjugar regresos y relevos. Se repitieron las presencias de la última línea en el área rival y, de hecho, el único gol del partido lo hizo Matías Martínez (stopper) tras remate de Aveldaño (líbero).

El primer tiempo (0-0) mostró la actitud y las limitaciones de Rácing. Con un esquema 4-4-2, con Rosano por derecha y Lucero como única pieza de armado (sólo presente por la lesión de Falcón), el equipo aparecía notablemente partido desde ¾ y , mientras Bieler pivoteaba, llovieron los pelotazos y centros a Hauche (1.70 m.) en un área comandada por Schiavi y Alayes.

Newells, con Formica como carta de desnivel y Schiavi patrón de área, apareció tibio y resguardado. Entonces Mercado se lanzaba por derecha y Cahais, menos punzante, por izquierda. Pero parecía que podían jugar tres días y el cero no se movería. Sólo un error de última línea o un cambio de esquema podían cambiar la historia.

Atento al clima espeso de Avellaneda y a que el partido no se resolvía, Russo, que puso como titular al juvenil José Luis Fernández (22), hizo los cambios populares: Luguercio por Hauche que no logró escurrirse entre los zancos de Schiavi, Fariña por Lucero y Castroman, más ofensivo, por Rosano. 

El gol llegó al minuto 76 a partir de una pelota recuperada por Fariña en el borde del área visitante, tres toques y Martínez que empuja el rebote dado por Peratta.

Ganó Rácing. Jugó mejor que Newells (o buscó más) pero pudo empatar o perder. Porque no tiene identidad de juego y sufre los problemas de los crónicos cambios de proyecto. 

Rácing compró delanteros según proyecto Vivas (plenamente ofensivo) y hoy, con un DT más conservador que retrasa las líneas, no tiene generación de juego (ni Castroman ni Luguercio son compatibles a la función). Entonces se lo ve a Bieler, de buenos gestos técnicos, pivoteando en ¾ y rematando de larguísima distancia y a Hauche conminado a desenredarse del banderín del córner.

La alegría se duplica en Avellaneda, el equipo no se tiró atrás a cuidar el resultado y la derrota de Rosario Central (0-2) ante Huracán que acaba de eyectar de su banco al DT Ariel Cuffaro Russo lleva aire a Avellaneda pero…


PD: para ver más cómodamente el post clickear en el título de la entrada.

Volvió Demichelis


27.03.10 - Después de la fractura múltiple (malar incluido) sufrida el 3 de marzo en el partido Argentina 1 Alemania 0 (golpe de Michel Ballack), Martín Demichelis volvió (al estilo Robin), en tiempo récord, a jugar al fútbol. Entró faltando 9 minutos para finalizar el partido en que su Bayern Munich perdió con Stuttgart (1-2) después de once meses de invicto local.

Se calculaba su regreso al fútbol en un plazo de 5 semanas pero se adelantó: "Tuve cinco fracturas y me pusieron cinco placas. Una debajo de la nariz, otra entre la ceja y el ojo derecho, y tres más por la fractura del malar. Además se me rompió parte de la mandíbula, por lo que me aplicaron varios puntos en las encías"

¡No me pidan que cabeceé!

vendredi 26 mars 2010

FOP Wins FTO Lawsuit

Once again, a bad decision by the command structure comes back to bite the city in the ass:
  • In September 2008, the Department changed the Training Districts and required all FTOs assigned to other districts to either, transfer to the new Training Districts, or resign their FTO position and give up the D2 pay.

    The Lodge filed an Unfair Labor Practice Charge with the Illinois Labor Board. The Board conducted a hearing and today, March 26, 2010, the Administrative Law Judge issued an order requiring the Department to rescind all the changes made in the FTO program.

    This means the new Training Districts go back to the old Training Districts. The forced reassignments and resignations are rescinded and the Department must pay those FTOs who resigned back pay with 7% interest on the D2 pay they lost.

    The City has 30 days to appeal, and we fully expect they will. We will notify the membership as soon as we hear more.
Back pay, seven percent interest, a return of the D-2 pay, the stripes sewed back on. We imagine there will have to be a return to old units for FTO's that were forced to make an unwanted bid.

The FTO program, what should be the most important part of training up new officers to be the police, has been beaten, battered, bruised, abused and pretty much treated like shit since its inception. Attempts at making it "legit" were (and still are) undercut at every opportunity by exempts who refuse to allow FTO's to fail or retread recruits. Expectations of surrendering working relationships with partners, forced exoduses from watches and the elimination of legitimate training districts turned this entire experiment into a joke.

Off Duty Police Shooting

  • An off-duty Chicago police officer shot a burglar who broke into his South Side residence this morning, law enforcement sources said.

    The officer, who was inside the home when burglars entered the house in the 7600 block of South Vernon Avenue about 9 a.m., shot one of the suspects, the sources said.

    Shortly after the shooting, a man with a gunshot wound went to St. Bernard Hospital, and detectives were working this morning to confirm whether that man was the burglar who broke into the officer's home.

We look forward to this being a regular headline once the Supreme Court strike down the handgun ban in Chicago. And to all the commentators over at BreakingNews.com who claim they'd be jailed if they had shot a burglar, nothing could be further from the truth. You might have received a summons and lost your gun in the past, but that was rare in the first place and will cease to occur sometime after June.

Look for J-Failure and Shortshanks to credit CAPS or more "effective" policing for the double-digit drop in property crime for the second half of 2010.

Surprise! Shortshanks Unhappy

  • Mayor Daley warned Friday that Chicago would kiss its middle class goodbye by allowing teachers — or any other public employees — to live outside the city.

    One day after the state Senate voted 40-to-7 to lift the residency requirement for teachers in the Chicago Public Schools, Daley lambasted the idea as the beginning of the end.

    "Go to Detroit, St. Louis, the rest of ‘em. When they allow government employees to live outside the city, they lose all their middle-class," the mayor told reporters after a City Council meeting.

Shrtshanks discounts the entire auto industry collapsing in Detroit and the aircraft builders leaving St. Louis as primary motivators for the middle class to abandon those cities. Where there are no jobs, there will be no middle class. And as Chicago continues to lose its manufacturing base, decent paying jobs are rapidly becoming a thing of the past. Combine that with the business-and-middle-class unfriendly tax rates, you can see why Chicago is caught in a Detroit-like death spiral.

Government jobs shouldn't be the only middle class jobs in a healthy economy. And in an economy like this one? It's a slow death sentence.

TRES AÑOS

27.03.2010

Vimos campeones a San Lorenzo, Lanús, Ríver, Boca, Vélez y Bánfield. Vimos a Argentina bicampeón olímpico, a Boca y Estudiantes campeones de América, Arsenal de la Sudamericana, Licha López y Lucho Gonzalez hipercampeones en Porto, Tévez en Manchester, Zanetti en Inter, los récords de Palermo, Messi en la gloria…

Vimos los retiros de Simeone, Sorín, Navarro Montoya… las renuncias de Basile, la asunción de Bielsa en Chile…

Los regresos de Almeida, Verón, Riquelme, Gallardo, Ortega, Sessa, Ayala, Cappa, el fin de la era Aguilar, la reestructuración de Rácing, la vuelta a Primera de Huracán, la muerte de Pipo Rossi, de Fontanarrosa, de Fútbol de Primera, los 100 años de San Lorenzo y Huracán, el 30º aniversario del Mundial 78, la tapa de Olé, el debut de Diego DT, los declives de Ríver y Boca, la apertura del fútbol televisado, la agónica clasificación argentina…

Más de 1300 posts arañando el medio millón de visitas nos dejan algo satisfechos y un principio de perspectiva porque, como dicen los pibes, siempre hay cosas que mejorar.

Apadrinado, por ahora, por Beto Márcico y Rafael Bielsa, nominado por DeporTea como blog deportivo argentino, citado por El Gráfico, Olé y Crítica y premiado por algunas webs deportivas, La Pelota No Dobla, en nombre de todo su staff y colaboradores, agradece muy sinceramente los clicks lectores sin los que no habría retorno.


P-Diddy y Jay-Z en el fútbol inglés.


[Adrián Pertoldi] El mundo del rap se sostiene bajo algunos elementos esenciales para su comprensión: lujos, chicas sexy y letras, en algunos casos livianas de contenido, que han repercutido desde principios de la década del ´70 hasta la actualidad en la vida cultural norteamericana y que se ha desplazado a diversos puntos del mundo. Entre sus principales referentes en la actualidad se encuentran Jay-Z y P-Diddy (antes llamado Puff Daddy), ambos multimillonarios y que, además de una vida excéntrica, plagadas de ostentación, deciden invertir en el fútbol inglés.

Como los jeques árabes o el ruso Roman Abramovich, estos dos raperos neoyorquinos quieren meterse de lleno en la Premier, con amplitud de clubes con severísimos problemas financieros y a la búsqueda incesante de capitales que les permitan sortear esta compleja situación. 

P-Diddy está en tratativas para quedarse con la totalidad de las acciones del Crystal Palace, con pasado reciente en Premier y que en la actualidad se ubica en los últimos puestos de la segunda división. Según The Sun, su deuda asciende a € 545 millones y el rapero tendría todo apalabrado para manejar los destinos de esta institución en una riesgosa apuesta económica para sacar a flote a uno de los históricos clubes de Inglaterra.

Por su parte, Jay-Z, esposo de Beyoncé, adquirió su fanatismo por el Arsenal luego de ver a Thierry Henry con la camiseta de los Gunners. "Cuando le vi pensé que era un jugador increíble, desde entonces he sido un gran fan del club y aún hoy en día practica el mismo fútbol vistoso de aquella época".

Su participación no sería tan extensiva como la de su colega en el Palace. Se presume una participación minoritaria en el conglomerado de acciones que forman parte del Arsenal. Por su admiración hacia el astro francés, Jay-Z anhela formar parte de la estructura de la institución de Londres. No sería su única inversión en materia deportiva, debido a que también posee parte de las acciones del equipo New Jersey Nets, de la NBA.

Rap y fútbol unidos a la sombra de billetes verdes, lo que les hace falta a los clubes ingleses y les sobra a estos extravagantes raperos, que se inscriben como partícipes del planeta fútbol.


jeudi 25 mars 2010

Astrada: Me encantaría dejarlos últimos.

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Yet Another Police Shooting

  • Charges have been filed after a police involved shooting Wednesday in the Lawndale neighborhood on the Near Southwest Side -- the sixth police involved shooting since Sunday -- in an incident that sent three Chicago Police officers to a hospital with minor injuries, police said.

  • Officers tried to stop the vehicle at 3146 W. 15th Pl. when Dorado allegedly used the SUV to hit and injure three police officers and also hit three police vehicles and a light pole -- before fleeing at a high rate of speed, the report said.

    After Dorado allegedly struck them with the SUV police fired at least one shot but did not hit Dorado, police said.

The officers involved should be OK. But six shootings in five days is a bit disturbing. Watch yourselves and watch out for each other.

The Door Opens...

  • Teachers at Chicago Public Schools would be able to live outside the city limits under a measure that won approval today in the state Senate.

    Sponsoring Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, said the legislation would expand the hiring pool, perhaps bringing in more quality instructors.

    "The quality of the teacher first and foremost really indicates how well that child is going to do," Steans said. "I think making sure that we can draw on the broadest employment pool for teachers in the city is good educational policy."

    The measure passed 40-7, with nine voting present.

Expanding the hiring pool would be great...if there was any hiring going on in the first place. In any event, it's a crack in Shortshanks' armor that ought to be exploited, even if it's just for the cheap publicity.

Opportunity

With the Obama Healthcare backlash and endless bad headlines here, the republicans really ought to be pushing harder for Illinois races:
  • A diverse group of House lawmakers today threw their support behind Rep. Art Turner to be Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn’s running mate and warned the governor could suffer politically if he doesn’t go along.
This is an opportunity to exploit a democratic bloc. They aren't going to vote for a republican, but they will stay home.

And even better:
  • Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn made an about-face on his choice for a running mate and plans to unveil Sheila Simon, the daughter of the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, as his preferred candidate for lieutenant governor, sources familiar with the selection said tonight.
Quinn's reasoning for picking Simon? She supports his massive tax increase in the midst of a recession/depression. This should be in every single ad running this summer and fall.

Los afiches de Boca a Ríver.



EL PARTIDO: BOCA 2 RIVER 0
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Boca 2 Ríver 0


En un tedio previsible de 80 minutos, gracias a San Pedro, Boca venció sin dudas a Ríver 2-0. Tardó diez minutos en hacerse de la pelota y el terreno (hasta entonces el juego era un ríspido fútbol tenis en el mediocampo) hasta que en el minuto 13 Riquelme pifia un tiro libre que sale de rastrón y tres hombres de Boca llegaron para conectar en el área chica mientras la defensa de Ríver seguía esperando el centro: Gary Medel adelantó el pie y puso el 1-0.

Sin elaboración de juego pero con suma concentración, la última línea de Boca junto a Medel, Méndez y Giménez apretaron todo el partido para quitarle la pelota y los espacios a un Ríver demasiado pálido que no podía ser comandado por un (ex) jugador como Gallardo.

En el segundo tiempo, ante la pasiva confusión visitante, Boca apuró el trámite y Gary Medel puso el 2-0 definitivo empalmando una pelota dejada por Gaitán en la medialuna rival (´3).

Ríver, también en economía de guerra, apuesta al único plan previsible: soportar y transcurrir con los juveniles que quedan. Podríamos decir, por ejemplo, que no es un buen momento para estos chicos que alcanzan su sueño de primera en un Ríver sin alma ni puntos suficientes como para trazar caminos y proyectos. Sin embargo y paradójicamente, es esta misma situación de pobreza futbolística y financiera, la que permite que jugadores como Funes Mori mantengan la titularidad en este equipo.


No es fácil ver un superclásico de este vuelo en una Bombonera repleta que se disfrazó de fiesta (?). No esperábamos mucho más. Al menos vimos dos goles y una expulsión (todo de Gary Medel) y algún toque de Riquelme entre las hachas de Giménez, Medel, Méndez y Almeida.

Alves respira, Boca suspira, al menos, hasta la semana que viene.


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