Connecticut’s own Mika Brzezinski, formerly a news anchor at WTIC and WFSB in the Nutmeg State and now a co-host with Joe Scarborough on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, made a stand for, well, actual journalism, by refusing to lead off the news with the Paris Hilton story:

Heh. (Hat tip: Becky.)

This article is a few days old, but Google News Alerts just recently delivered it to my mailbox. Anyway, the New Britain Herald’s Ryan Pipke says the Newington baseball team’s run to the state finals helped NHS end a rough year on a high note:

It’s been a rocky year for the students at Newington High as well as the residents of the town, as several incidents at the school and after-school events drew a heap of negative publicity across the state. [See, e.g., here, here and here. -ed.]

With each story in the news, those around the school had to face questions and endure a growing reputation around town and in the region, an unfair situation for the majority of students just trying to get an education and lead a normal life.

With the baseball team’s success, suddenly the talk around Newington was positive again, according to manager Eric Frank. “I think the town really needed something like this and the community really came together,” Frank said.

It’s always nice when sports can have a positive impact like that.

(more…)

“I did some stupid things. It started with my sense of entitlement, the belief that I deserved whatever came to me, that everything was about me.” –Former Connecticut Governor John G. Rowland, reflecting on the corruption that brought down his administration and sent him to prison, in a lengthy Washington Post article published Sunday. (Hat tip: my dad.)

P.S. Genghis Conn is skeptical. Colin McEnroe is deeply unimpressed. Mark Pazniokas reserves explicit judgment, but points out a few things the article didn’t mention.

An important state Republican figure, until recently the object of much Respect, has given up his legislative leadership post following revelations involving his Family, an alleged Underworld biggie, and a Conspiracy to commit Threatening, among other related matters. (He vows to retain his Senate seat, but personally I’m doubtful about the odds of That shoe staying on much longer.)

June 13, 2007
Associated Press  

HARTFORD, Conn. — Senate Minority Leader Louis DeLuca resigned as leader of the Senate Republicans Wednesday after coming under fire for asking a trash hauler to threaten a man the senator believed had abused his granddaughter.

DeLuca, 73, pleaded guilty last week to a misdemeanor threat charge.

“After careful consideration, and out of respect for this institution and for my caucus, I have decided to step down from my leadership position,” DeLuca said in a written statement. “I promised from the beginning that I would not allow my mistake that I made interfere with my public office.”

DeLuca represents Woodbury and nine other towns. He plans to continue serving as a senator.

He received a six-month suspended sentence and was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and donate $1,500 to charity as part of the plea deal.

…State and federal authorities said DeLuca in 2005 sought help from James Galante, a Danbury trash hauler currently awaiting trial on 72 counts of tax fraud, racketeering, threatening and extortion.

DeLuca said he had sought help from the Waterbury Police, but to no avail. Frustrated by the situation, the senator said he discussed it with Galante in a Woodbury diner, where the trash hauler passed DeLuca a note that asked, “Do you want me to have someone pay him a visit?”

Authorities said DeLuca told Galante “yes” and gave Galante the name and address of his granddaughter’s then-boyfriend. She is now married to him.

Waterbury police have contradicted DeLuca’s claims that he asked police three times for help.

The assault never happened. Prosecutors, who recovered the note in a search of Galante’s home, said they stopped the assault. DeLuca has apologized for his actions, calling them “stupid” and said he never meant to cause any physical harm to the man.

DeLuca has also been criticized for offering to help Galante politically. His comments were captured on an FBI surveillance tape…

More after the break.
(more…)

Joe Lieberman says that we need to “be prepared” to hit back at Iran for killing our troops in Iraq, “and to me, that would include a strike over the border into Iran, where we have good evidence that they have a base at which they are training these people coming back into Iraq to kill our soldiers.”

I think such a strike would probably be unwise, all things considered, but it would certainly be justified if such a base does indeed exist — and I definitely think we should “be prepared” to do it, and should actively consider it as an option (even if it’s ultimately rejected). A strike on Iran isn’t exactly a good option, but neither is standing around idly while they attack our troops with impunity. If we can achieve what we want through negotiation, great — but what if we can’t? Advocates of diplomacy need to remember that it’s a means to an end, not an end in itself.

At Daily Kos, of course, this story is fodder for a fresh round of Lieberman-bashing. Writes the poster: “If Lieberman really wanted to stop what he believes are Iranian-sponsored attacks on our troops, well, then, he should be demanding that we bring our troops home.” Ah yes, because abject surrender isn’t just one possible option, it’s the only option.

(Note: I’m not saying that “bringing our troops home” can’t be justified on grounds that would prevent it from being an “abject surrender.” I’m saying that if the stated justification is “we’re bringing our troops home to stop Iranian attacks against them,” then that would be abject surrender. To Iran. Which I tend to think is a bad thing. In other words, that’s the worst argument for troop withdrawal I’ve ever heard.)

(Second note: Nor am I presuming that “abject surrender” might not be the right course of action. Maybe it is! But one should be honest if that’s what one is advocating, and one must grapple with the adverse consequences if so. Surrender, like “peace,” is not costless.)

While NHS teams may have become the Buffalo Bills of CIAC sports :), that doesn’t mean Newington never wins championships in individual sports. On the contrary, I’ve been quite remiss in not blogging more about NHS senior Danny Pilz, a sometime BrendanLoy.com guestblogger and co-champion of the 2004 Living Room Times women’s basketball pool, who has spent much of his high-school career winning races, setting records and capturing championships in both cross country and track.

Most recently, in what I presume was his final high-school event, Danny was the top Connecticut finisher in the 1600-meter run at the New England track championships. His time of 4:17.57 was better than his 4:21.36 in the Class LL meet and his 4:20.13 in the State Open. He finished third in the race and earned All-New England honors. Congrats, Danny!

I’m sure the Living Room Times NCAA pool championship is still his most cherished accomplishment, though. ;)

Newington High School suffered its ninth consecutive defeat in CIAC-sanctioned state championship games Sunday as the baseball team lost to #1-ranked Amity, 2-1.

I don’t know any details about the game yet, but the final score is confirmed by the CIAC website and by SportingNews Connecticut (which had live streaming audio coverage of the game, but I didn’t realize that till after it was over… darn it).

Since winning the state football championship in 1980, the year before I was born, NHS teams have lost every head-to-head CIAC title game they’ve competed in: football in 1988, 1990 and 1991; girls basketball in 1993; ice hockey in 1998; boys soccer in 2000; ice hockey (again) and boys volleyball in 2006; and baseball in 2007.

The boys volleyball team won the state championship in 1994, when I was in seventh grade. But that was before the boys volleyball tournament was administrered by the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, a.k.a. the CIAC, the official governing body of CT high-school sports. (More on Newington’s state championship history here.)

In any event, no matter how you look at it, that’s 13 years without a state championship in any team sport. Bah.

Still, congrats to the baseball team on a great season. It was Newington’s first state championship game ever in baseball, and they did much better against mighty Amity — which has now won two titles in a row — than the blowout many predicted.

Congrats also to the state champion Spartans. I may have photos of the game later, via a correspondent with a camera; stay tuned.

P.S. On the bright side, more good news for former NHS baseball star Joe Serfass:

(more…)

For the 0.2% of my blog audience that’s eagerly awaiting the result of the Connecticut high-school baseball Class LL state championship game between Newington and Amity, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait a bit longer: the game was postponed due to rain and will be played today (Sunday) at 12:30 PM.

It’s also been moved from Yale Field in New Haven to Muzzy Field in Bristol, which is nice for the Indians from a home-field advantage perspective: Woodbridge, home of Amity High, is much closer to New Haven, whereas Newington is much closer to Bristol. (Not that anything is very far from anything else in Connecticut.)

GOOO INDIANS, BEEEAT SPARTANS!!!

Great. I move to Knoxville, and the Lady Vols decide to stop playing UConn in basketball each season, as they have since 1995. Bah.

To be honest, I haven’t been paying much attention to hockey since Buffalo was eliminated, but last night the Anaheim Ducks Formerly Known As Mighty won the Stanley Cup, their first in franchise history, with a 6-2 victory over the Sabre-slaying Senators, wrapping up a 4-1 series victory. (Hat tip: V.)

Also yesterday, the Tennessee Lady Vols softball team lost to Arizona in the College World Series championship round. UT led the best-of-three series 1-0 after winning 3-0 in Game 1, but squandered that edge by failing to capitalize on numerous scoring opportunities in Game 2 before losing 1-0 on a controversial call in the 10th inning. Last night they lost 5-0 as the Wildcats scored five in the fifth.

P.S. Oh yeah, and in Connecticut high-school sports, the Newington Indians advanced to the state title game with a 5-3 win over Bunnell-Stratford. The title game will be Saturday at Yale Field against mighty Amity-Woodbridge, which was on a 33-game winning streak until a loss in its conference tournament. Amity is 25-1 and ranked #1 in the state; Newington is 21-3 and was ranked #9 heading into states. GO INDIANS!!!

The last NHS state championship in any team sport was in 1994, in boys volleyball, when I was in the seventh grade. But the Indians picked up an individual state title — or a share of one, anyway — when Kristen LaPointe finished tied for first in the CIAC Girls Golf Championship on Tuesday. Way to go, Kristin!

…I moved into my second ZIP code. That is to say, my parents and I moved from Hartford to Newington. I was 4, going on 5.

Also, 11 years ago today, ’twas el dia del fuego at NHS! And of course, last year it was 6/6/6. :)

P.S. Speaking of Newington… the Class LL state baseball semifinals were apparently postponed due to rain yesterday; they’ve been rescheduled for today. Newington plays Bunnell at 3:30 PM. Go Indians!

As minor-league baseball posts go, this one isn’t as exciting as the Mississippi nutso video, but oh well. My high-school classmate Joe Serfass, whose burgeoning pro baseball career has been the subject of several previous posts here, continues to impress. Last week, he had a homecoming of sorts, and it was a very successful one:

Newington’s Joe Serfass grew up attending Rock Cats games with his father, George, and other family members.

So when the former Eastern Connecticut All-American was signed by the Mets in 2004, he knew his journey through the minors could one day traverse New Britain.

“My first goal when I signed a pro contract was to get to Double A, knowing that Binghamton is in the Eastern League and I’d have a chance to play at home,” Serfass said.

The 6-foot-3 righthander pitched two scoreless innings in Binghamton’s 9-2 victory over the Rock Cats on Wednesday. About 50 friends and family members - including his father, mother Bev Nogas and wife Tara - stood and cheered while Serfass lowered his ERA to 1.69 in 16 innings over nine games.

Nice going, Joe!

Meanwhile, the baseball team Joe used to play for — the Newington High School Indians — have reached the state semifinals! They got there by beating Fitch-Groton in a 12-inning thriller yesterday. Here’s another article about the game.

The #3-seeded Indians (20-3) face surprising semifinalist #18-seed Bunnell (16-7) at Yale Field on Tuesday. The winner advances to Saturday’s title game, also at Yale Field, against either #1 Amity (24-1) or #12 Stamford (16-6).

No NHS team has won a state championship since 1994, when I was in seventh grade.

The rare News story with a Happy ending :} ~

TORRINGTON, Conn. — A 10-foot-long yellow anaconda that escaped from its owner’s apartment more than a week ago didn’t get too far.

The snake, named Ana, was found alive in the basement of the apartment building on Birge Street Saturday by a state Department of Environmental Protection conservation officer. It had been missing since May 15.

…Officials warned neighbors to stay away from the snake if they came across it, because of its sharp teeth. Authorities were also concerned that the reptile would not survive long because of the cold nights.

Police Chief Robert Milano said possessing anacondas is only illegal when they create a nuisance to other animals…

Beauchesne gave the snake, which had its own room in his apartment and ate whole rotisserie chickens, to Massachusetts-based Rainforest Reptile Shows after it was found.

Although the foregoing excerpt is only slightly Constricted, here’s where you can writhe the whole Skinny, unless of course you conda Shed your ancient ancestral Fears & inhibitions. ;>

Diane Huffman, with whom I’ve been friends almost literally since the womb, married Josh Krause yesterday in Wethersfield, Connecticut. I was sadly unable to make it, because I’m a groomsman in Andrew and Bea’s wedding in L.A. later today, and the flight schedules made it impossible to reliably make it to two weddings on two coasts in two days. But my mom sent me some photos, and it looks like it was lovely. Here’s one of the happy couple with Diane’s parents, Vicki and Tim, and brother Bill:

As you can see, Diane was a beautiful bride. Here are a couple more photos:

Congratulations, Diane & Josh!

Now, it’s your turn, Andrew & Bea! :)

The Binghamton Mets beat the Connecticut Defenders 5-2 yesterday, thanks to a triple play off Newington’s own Joe Serfass in the top of the seventh, and a grand slam by teammate Caleb Stewart in the bottom of the seventh.