Iowa High School Umpire Knows How To Clear A Room

From Deadspin

High school baseball umpires have a lot of options in handling disputes. They can give teams warnings, ask the audience to control themselves … or just throw everyone out of the game.

No, not the players. The players were cool. The whole audience was ejected. It’s the kind of unprecedented tomfoolery that can happen only in West Burlington, Iowa.

Up 11-3, Winfield-Mount Union’s manager Scott McCarty was fuming over a fair-foul call in the fifth inning. One thing led to another, people said words they weren’t proud of, and umpire Don Briggs decided to toss the entire cranky crowd of about 100. When people wouldn’t leave, he called the police to assist in the dispersal of the whinin’ Iowans.

“I know it sounds like I’m the bad guy – but it was the crowd,” Briggs said. “If I got the control to ask one person to leave, I feel like I can ask them all to leave.”

Remember, Winfield-Mount Union was up 11-3 at this point.

Is Arlington Texas in a paradigm shift?

The economy is hurting just about everywhere. This isn’t news. In fact, some people say the worst is over and we Americans can feel confident that things will be getting better soon. We can only hope so.

With that said, it struck me today if indeed things are getting better, or are we just seeing a paradigm shift?

In case you haven’t heard, General Motors is filing for bankruptcy.  GM has been a major Arlington employer for many years.

And this new bankruptcy from the parent company of Six Flags is equally disturbing. Six Flags has been an Arlington institution for as long as I can remember. So what about this? The new Dallas Cowboys stadium is open now, and Jerry is looking to cash in on the central location of Arlington. Right up the street from Six Flags and the Texas Rangers. Will it be successful? We can only hope so.

Back in my day, when you claimed bankruptcy, it means you lost. You failed at economics. Today, it means you get a second chance and the debt you had, goes away. But it really doesn’t go away. Some other business has to eat it’s losses, and the domino effect cascades down to the lowest level.

So, just because a company stays open after a bankruptcy, don’t think the debt of that company magically goes away. Some poor guy is eating it.

10 Greatest Amusement Park Ride Freak Outs

I saw this on another site and I had to post it.

The only thing better than riding an amusement park ride is being with someone who doesn’t want to ride an amusement park ride. And then making them ride an amusement park ride. The screaming. The tears. Oh, the glorious panic. I love everything about it.

Here are the 10 best.

1. Random thought: If The Clumps (from the Nutty Professor) went to an amusement park. This is exactly how it would go down.