I am not a huge baseball fan, but I know that many of you who read and/or post here are. I am, however, a sucker for the really touching, sappy stuff, and this falls into that category, at least for me. While I was watching Mike & Mike today, Greenie told this story. Since Brendan had been (and likely could still be) in Denver, I think it’s fitting :)

Mike Coolbaugh, a first base coach for the Rockies minor league team, the Tulsa Drillers, was killed on July 22nd this year when he was hit by a line drive. He left behind two small children, ages 3 and 5, and a wife who is expecting their third child.

The players for each playoff team get together and vote on how the shares of their teams playoff money gets split between the team. The Rockies players have decided that awarding a full share of the teams winnings to Amanda Coolbaugh, Mike’s widow, is the right thing to do.

I was completely awed when I heard this story. I always think that there is far too much selfishness and greed in today’s sports era. When it seems that more and more pro players are thinking about how long they can hold out in hopes of getting more money, and how much more money they can get by holding out, this small gesture by the Colorado Rockies shows me that there really is more to these players than “more more, more.” I think that perhaps this sport that they call “America’s Pastime” deserves a bit more of my love and affection, if not only because of stories like these.

However, seeing as how Brendan has just picked on the BBD (Big Bass Drum, for you non-Purdue people), I just can’t let that go.

GO BOILERS! BEAT THE IRISH!

(Yes, I realize I may have just forfeited my guest-blogger privileges, lol. It was worth it ;))

Thank you, Brendan. I enjoyed being a guest blogger today. I appreciate you allowing me to show the other side here in PA.

Even though only 32% have reported here in PA, Fox News reports that Senator Santorum has called Bob Casey to congratulate him.

Sad, sad day for PA and the US.

PA voters were deeply peeved about the midnight pay-raise that happened here, but chose to elect (or re-elect) the 2 people most responsible for that. Santorum loses in the aftermath for something he had nothing to do with. Shame on you, PA voters, for blaming the wrong person! Guess y’all weren’t too upset over that midnight payraise after all, huh?

Though many places are calling PA’s senate seat lost to the Dems, only 2% of the precincts have reported so far. Polls have been closed less than an hour. Let’s not call it just yet, lest we end up with another 2004 blunder…

Governor:Rendell (i) (D)- 55%
Swann (R) - 45%

Senate: Santorum (i) (R) - 50%
Casey (D) - 50%

The gubernatorial race is MUCH closer than I expected off the bat. I really hope Swann wins, but his poll numbers have not been great thus far. However, seeing the early returns, I am encouraged that the poll numbers were skewed after all (as I thought they may have been all along).

Congressman Phil English has cast his fair share of votes over the years. But, even the six-term Republican made a mistake when voting at Erie’s Emerson-Gridley school Tuesday morning. According to poll worker Bernie Tomczak, “Some individuals, when they push the vote button, they don’t wait the couple seconds for the screen to come up to say, to push the confirm button.” Tomczak says it’s happening to a handful of folks, despite their best efforts to explain the process to voters. And when those voters walk away — technically before they’re finished — the race is on. He says, “What we do is we try to catch ‘em. But, if their car outruns me, I have to comeback and clear the machine, just like they never voted. So, they wasted their time coming down to vote.” Voter Joel Sirra was one of those people who got flagged down and escorted back to the polling station. He says, “I hit the vote button, but I didn’t get the confirm button. So, that’s why I had to come back and hit the confirm button, then I was all set.” Election officials expected some glitches, both man and machine made, as they make the switch to the new touch-screen machines, but wiping out a vote is something they never want to do. Their advice in this case– wait till the machine shows you a little gratitude before walking away. “When you push the red flashing vote button, you wait a matter of 2 or 3 seconds and go down to the far right and push the green confirm button, and then the machine will thank you. Thank you for voting.” Election officials didn’t have an exact number of lost votes. At Emerson-Gridley, election officials say it was less than ten.

This is my congressman, but also my neighbor (he lives about 5 houses from me).

here in PA. No results yet, but I doubt it will take long. I’ll update as they start trickling in.

Thank you, Brendan, for allowing me to be a guest blogger :)

With such a hotly contested race here in PA, I think we are all on the edge of our seats waiting for the results. I, myself, think that Santorum will pull off the win, despite what the polls say.

There have not been any major reports of problems here in the commonwealth. The only problem I have heard about had to do with a voter smashing a machine when he went to vote in Allentown, PA.

As for my own experience, it was easy. The only minor problem at our polling place, while I was there anyway, was a voting machine battery needing to be changed. We attributed that to it being a machine that they have had out and about for people to practice on. When I asked the ladies there if they liked the machines, they told me they loved them. Much less paperwork for them, she told me.

I will hopefully post more as the evening progresses.