Cave News

Red Sox manager fired after epic collapse

Terry Francona (pictured), who led the Boston Red Sox to World Championships in 2004 and 2007, is being held accountable for their historic collapse in the wildcard race this season.

The Sox lost the wildcard race to the Tampa Bay Rays in dramatic fashion on the last night of the season when they blew a 3-2 lead to the Baltimore Orioles in the ninth inning at the same time the Rays were rallying from a 7-0 deficit to beat the Yankees in 12 innings.

The Red Sox’s 7-20 record in September was their worst since 1952 and after a doubleheader sweep of the Oakland A's on Aug. 27, they never again had back-to-back wins.

Besides the overall failure of the Red Sox to live up to expectations, sources told the News that owner John Henry's primary displeasure with Francona was a perceived lack of discipline in the clubhouse and the manager's resistance to statistical analysis.

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A tale of two baseball teams . . .

Thrill of victory

The Tampa Bay Rays celebrate their regular season which ended in a wild-card playoff berth.

Agony of defeat

Bullpen coach Jim Wright #55 and pitching coach Bob Apodaca #36 slowly walk off the field after another poor pitching performance by the Colorado Rockies in front of a capacity crowd at Coors Field in Denver.

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The Tampa Bay Rays drew 1,529,188 fans in 2011.
The Colorado Rockies drew 2,909,777 fans in 2011.

Rays estimated payroll $72 Million.
Rockies estimated payroll $84 Million.

The Rays ended the season with 91 wins 71 losses and into the playoffs.

The Rockies ended the season with 73 wins 89 losses and a next to last place finish in their division.

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The Rockies drew 1,380,589 more fans than the Rays.

The Rockies team payroll is $12 million more than the Rays.

The Rays owners are getting a lot of "bang for their buck," while the Rockies owners are cheating their fans by not spending their superior ticket sales income for higher quality players and by retaining managers and coaches that are not getting the job done.

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It was announced that Rockies manager Jim Tracy and all of the assistant coaches will return for the 2012 season.

note: injuries are no excuse for a poor season - all teams have injuries.

Umbrella's are useless in a typhoon

People brave strong winds and rain as a typhoon hits Haikou in south China's Hainan province.

"Occupy Wall Street" demonstrators at home in Zuccotti Park

Demonstrators with "Occupy Wall Street" sleep in Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan.

The demonstrators are protesting bank bailouts, foreclosures and high unemployment.

So, why aren't they protesting the White House, the real reason for bailouts and high unemployment?

Poll: NJ Gov Chris Christie even with Obama

A poll (found at the link below) shows New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (shown on left) essentially even with President Barack Obama - and Christie isn't even running.

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8 of the 10 cities with highest unemployment rates are in California

Cities with the highest rates - August, 2011:
El Centro, Calif. 32.4
Yuma, Ariz. 29.4
Merced, Calif. 17.5
Yuba City, Calif. 17.0
Stockton, Calif. 16.1
Modesto, Calif. 16.0
Fresno, Calif. 15.8
Visalia-Porterville, Calif. 15.7
Hanford-Corcoran, Calif. 15.3
Palm Coast, Fla. 14.9

Cities with the lowest rates - August, 2011:
Bismarck, N.D. 3.0
Lincoln, Neb. 3.6
Fargo, N.D. 3.9
Portsmouth, N.H. 4.4
Rapid City, S.D. 4.5
Sioux Falls, S.D. 4.5
Omaha-Council Bluffs, Neb. 4.6
Burlington, Vt. 4.6
Midland, Texas 4.8
Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, La. 4.9

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Obama illegal alien uncle giggles in court

A giggling Onyango Obama (pictured), the president’s illegal alien half uncle, made a brief appearance in Framingham District Court today on charges he was drunk when he nearly struck an unmarked police cruiser last month.

The 67-year-old half uncle of the president was visibly amused at the media spectacle, stifling laughter several times before his 30-second court appearance where a judge set a Nov. 17 pre-trial conference.

When he was arrested by Framingham, Massachusetts police on suspicion of drunken driving Aug. 24, he suggested his first call should be to the White House. A spokesman for the president told the Herald that call was never made. He actually called his boss at Conti’s Liquors.

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How will Red Sox fans deal with the most epic collapse in sports history?

The Boston Red Sox poor performance has been dubbed "the most epic collapse in sports history."

The agony of defeat. The big choke.

How will the always loyal Red Sox fans deal with it? Never, ever speak of this again ... and wait for the 2012 season.

That's loyalty.

Every team should have fans that loyal.

Sign in New Orleans shows Obama in diapers

The anti-Obama signs shown below are on private property in Uptown New Orleans.

This sign shows Obama in diapers with the words, "change me I stink."

This sign shows Obama as a puppet of George Soros.

This sign shows Obama with a dunce cap.

The home is owned by Timothy Reily, who declined to be interviewed about the signs.

OnStar drops spying for profit plans

General Motors invokes the old slang term "kings x" to their Big Brother plans with OnStar.

General Motors’ OnStar division has dropped plans that would have allowed it to track detailed personal driving information about both current and former subscribers.

The decision was not made without intense criticism from Capitol Hill and calls for a government investigation.

The telematics subsidiary had advised users that it was changing its terms and conditions to permit it to track a vehicle’s speed, location and other data including whether or not a motorist was wearing a seatbelt.

A driver who dropped OnStar would still be linked to the service unless specifically opting out. And the company said it reserved the right to sell that information to third-party marketers or even government and law enforcement agencies.

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