“The rain is falling all around, it falls on field and tree, it rains on the umbrellas here, and on the ships at sea.” In my area, we opened the wee hours of the morning with a huge BOOM of thunder that shook the house and woke me from a sound sleep. On the plus side, the pollen seems to be washing from the air (until it dries out at least) and the grass is getting a much-needed natural watering. We had 24 players come out this week (yay, we were EVEN!) including Jeff R and Micah -- welcome back, fellas! OK. First off. We had THREE 28 hands tonight; one in each of the first three games. Congratulations to Bob Hewitt, Glenn McMahon, and Guest-who-we-hope-will-join-soon Kelsey Jobe. Nicely done, everyone! Joe and I go another week without getting our Bronze. Maybe we're just waiting for April. Yeah, that's it! FINGERS CROSSED!!! Having 24 people, we paid out five places and three teams. Mike and Frank, I misread Frank's spread when I did the rankings, Mike, you actually came in 5th. I owe you $6; I'll getcha this weekend. Frank, nothing for you to do... Allan Simpson took 1st with a 16 / 6 / 119 Glenn McMahon took 2nd with a 15 / 7 / 103 Bob Hewitt took 3rd with a 15 / 7 / 80 Pete Amacher took 4th with a 15 / 7 / 70 Mike Due should have taken 5th with a 13 / 6 / 24 Teams (as paid out) First Team: Mike Due and Jeff Raynes Second Team: Kelsey Jobe and Kristy Haught Third Team: Joe Greiner and Ernie Hodgson The full results are on the website; Frank's 13 points put him ahead of Joe this week, and Bob makes entree to the top-10 with his 15 card. Top 10 are below. Apropos of the recent weather, on this day in 1952 "Singin' in the Rain", the musical comedy starring Gene Kelly and Debbie Reynolds, premiered at Radio City Music Hall in NYC. The film charted the rise of the talkies in the early history of film-making. The film took its time to become the popular movie it is today. Many of the dance sequences, choreographed by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen have been replicated and parodied. In 1989, Singin’ in the Rain was one of the first 25 films selected by the United States Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”. From the original review in the New York Daily News on March 28, 1952:
Jerry Gooden had a straight to the Queen Joe Greiner had a club flush, King high Jennifer Johnson had two pairs, 7s and 5s Megan Player had a full house, deuces full of 5s Andy Wagner had a club flush, Ace high Spring Fling happens this weekend; we have 40 for the Friday one-day and 56 for the Saturday 22-gamer. We're hoping for 9 walk-ins for Saturday to break into that next bracket.
So, if you're thinking about coming, come on out! Cash only at the door, please. See some of ya'll this weekend, the rest on Monday! ~ Jennifer
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The first day of spring is one thing, and the first spring day is another. The difference between them is sometimes as great as a month. Happy First Day of Spring! Or, welcome to the middle of Pollen I. The yellow stuff is thick and icky out there -- we could use a good rain to cleanse the air. This week, we welcomed back Curtis Barbour, who tries to get out to club once a month or so, but especially before a tournament... he walked away with a 28-hand this week. Alan Simpson, who's been away traveling and such, was back with us this week. We also had all of the Hachey/Brackett clan. David Hachey makes his way back to Canada this week; safe travels and look forward to having you back next winter! Tracey and Joe Brackett returned with David, and are now official Club 58 members - welcome! We had a whopping 25 people at club this week. It was nice to see us so full again. With that many people, all paying the "full fare", we paid out SIX places this week, and three teams. Visitor Mike Due took 1st with a 16 / 7 / 157 Bob Hewitt took 2nd with a 15 / 7 / 70 Al Robinson took 3rd with a 14 / 7 / 106 Snowbird David Hachey took 4th with a 13 / 6 / 114 Jerry Gooden took 5th with a 13 / 6 / 71 And Linda Thompson-Brennan took 6th, earning her first GRPs, with a 13 / 6 / 64 1st team: Joe Greiner (11) and Roger Doenges (8) 2nd team: Brian Wilson (10) and Andy Wagner (9) 3rd team: Megan Player (10) and Tom Goeschel (8) As you may have surmised, neither Joe nor myself got our Bronze awards, though we did each score at least 2 points. Maybe next week. Fingers crossed! Jerry Gooden is the only top-10 person winning points this week, so the running order looks much like it did last week. The full results are on cribbage.org, but the top 10 are listed below: On this day (March 20) back in 1976, American publishing heiress Patty Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for her part in a 1974 California heist. Hearst, the 19-year-old granddaughter of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, was kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley, California, by three armed strangers on February 4, 1974. Her fiancee, Stephen Weed, was beaten and tied up along with a neighbor who tried to help. Three days later, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a small U.S. leftist group, announced in a letter to a Berkeley radio station that it was holding Hearst as a “prisoner of war.” Four days later, the SLA demanded that the Hearst family give $70 in foodstuffs to every needy person from Santa Rosa to Los Angeles. This done, said the SLA, negotiation would begin for the return of Patricia Hearst. Randolph Hearst hesitantly gave away some $2 million worth of food. The SLA then called this inadequate and asked for $6 million more. The Hearst Corporation said it would donate the additional sum if Patty was released unharmed. In April, however, the situation changed dramatically when a surveillance camera took a photo of Hearst participating in an armed robbery of a San Francisco bank, and she was also spotted during a robbery of a Los Angeles store. She later declared, in a tape sent to the authorities, that she had joined the SLA of her own free will. On May 17, Los Angeles police raided the SLA’s secret headquarters, killing six of the group’s nine known members. Among the dead was the SLA’s leader, Donald DeFreeze, an African American ex-convict who called himself General Field Marshal Cinque. Patty Hearst and two other SLA members wanted for the April bank robbery were not on the premises. Finally, on September 18, 1975, after crisscrossing the country with her captors—or conspirators—for more than a year, Hearst, or “Tania” as she called herself, was captured in a San Francisco apartment and arrested for armed robbery. Despite her claim that she had been brainwashed by the SLA, she was convicted on March 20, 1976, and sentenced to seven years in prison. She served 21 months before her sentence was commuted by President Carter. After leaving prison, she returned to a more routine existence and later married her bodyguard. She was pardoned by President Clinton in January 2001. Jerry Gooden had a full house, 5s full of 8s Jennifer Johnson had two pairs, 7s and 3s Megan Player had two pairs, 4s and 3s Andy Wagner had a flush in diamonds Just a reminder that March 31 - April 2, I'm hosting a tournament at the Doubletree RTP in Durham. If you're coming, please bring cash :) If you want to pre-pay on Monday, I can still take a check. My prize boards should arrive by this Friday, and I've got everything else all piled up in my cribbage closet. I'm looking forward to a fun weekend, hope you are too!
On a final note, here is a little information about Grass Roots, GRPs, our club, and a little fun from our guest blogger, Joe Greiner: The Raleigh Grass Roots club has some folks with very good results this season and last. The point results are Grass Root Points (GRP) earned only in your local club, once a week for a 36 week season in 9 game tournaments. There are 7 weeks to go in this current season. We are club 58. There are 42 clubs in the East region and 196 clubs overall in the US and Canada. You must have 12 points or more in a session for the points to be added to your season and lifetime totals. In addition to leading the club so far this year, Larry’s 236 points finds him in second in the region. 1 point out of first. Joe is in 6th and Frank is 7th. Larry’s total also makes him 9th overall nationally. Last season, Jeff Raines total of 331 (!!!!) had him 1st in the region and 5th overall nationally. Jerry as runner-up in the club with a very good 282 finished 7th in the region and 25th in the country. But, guess what?? All of these players are very beatable. I suspect you have beat one or more of them already (some more than once). I bet they remember it. I bet it was fun for you. Keep it up. Make them earn their points. See you all Monday. ~ Jennifer "When life gives you lemons, squirt someone in the eye." We welcomed two new guests this week, Lisa Stevens and Kelsey Jobe. We also welcomed back guests Tracy Brackett and Dave Hachey. Our little family keeps on growing! We hope Lisa and Kelsey had fun, and will consider joining our club! We had 23 players altogether this week. Since Lisa and Kelsey played at the guest rate, we paid out as if we had 21 players, so -- say it with me -- five places and three teams. Stephen Podolski took 1st with a 15 / 7 / 104 Andy Wagner took 2nd with a 15 / 7 / 99 Mike Due took 3rd with a 15 / 7 / 86 Larry Phifer* took 4th with a 13 / 6 / 70 and newcomer, Kelsey Jobe took 5th with a 13 / 6 / 63 First Team: Dave Hachey* (11) and Roger Doenges (9) Second Team: Tom Goeschel (10) and Jerry Gooden (10) Third Team: Liz Henderson (12) and Joe Greiner (6) * Part of my weekly processing is computerized cross-checking. The computer told me that for one game, both Larry and Dave marked their cards as a 2 point win with spread points in the plus column. I confirmed on the actual cards, and by rule, I had to mark them both as losses, and move the spreads to the loss column. Sorry, fellas. On the plus side, even with the two fewer points, each still would have placed where they did money-wise, so no harm, no foul there. Neither Jennifer nor Joe did any good this week, so they are still both sitting at one points-week away from their Bronzes. Hopefully next week! Larry's 13 card extended his lead in club to a probable two-week points lead. That is, if Larry doesn't score for two weeks, and Joe or Frank does, we could have a new leader. The full results are up on cribbage.org, here are the top 10 as of this week's tournament: On this day in history, on March 13, 1852, Uncle Sam made his debut in the New York Lantern weekly magazine. The iconic cartoon is a commonly used personification of the United States government and the manifestation of American patriotism. To this day, the origins of Uncle Sam remain elusive. Many believe he was first used as an army recruitment symbol during the War of 1812. According to legend, Uncle Sam represents a real man by the name of Samuel Wilson. As a well-known meatpacker in New York City, Wilson provided critical food supplies to soldiers during the war. The soldiers knew it was Samuel providing the food, and affectionately referred to the barrels as "Uncle Sam's." But the first reference dates as far back as the American Revolution in 1775. The original version of Yankee Doodle mentions the term Uncle Sam, which was a common soldier's song during the revolutionary war. In 1816, the first written appearance of him was found in Frederick Fidfaddy's book—The Adventures of Uncle Sam, in Search After His Lost Honor. But it was the famous American illustrator, Frank Bellew, that was credited by Time with creating the first cartoon representation. On March 13, 1852, Uncle Sam debuted on the cover of an issue for the New York Lantern magazine. Bellew's cartoon depicted an aloof man (representing the United States) in criticism of the government's trade policies regarding overseas mail delivery. Standing beside him was a man named John Bull—a popular representation of Britain). The cartoon depicted Britain's mail delivery fleet being faster than the American mail ships. In the following decade, the German-American editorial cartoonist, Thomas Nast, became first to popularize him. Throughout the 1860s, Uncle Sam was illustrated with a white beard wearing the iconic stars and stripes suit. Uncle Sam continued to evolve during the early 1900s. Modern-day depictions were created during World War I by James Montgomery Flagg. This new version now showed him wearing a tall top hat, a blue jacket, and had his finger pointing at the viewer. Flagg copied a similar cartoon pose that was used in a British military recruitment poster of Lord Kitchener. To this date, Samuel Wilson's life is still commemorated at annual memorials in Troy, New York, and in Arlington, Massachusetts. In 1989, the United States Congress designated September 13 as Uncle Sam Day—Samuel Wilson's birthday. Historians continue to debate whether or not the cartoon is a metaphor for the United States or a real person. Heather Chilsen had a straight to the 10. Jerry Gooden had a full house, Jacks full of 8s. Joe Greiner had a full house, 7s full of 8s. Liz Henderson had two pairs, 9s and 6s. Jennifer Johnson had two pairs, 10s and 9s. John Morch had two pairs, Aces and 3s. Andy Wagner had four deuces A reminder that Reister's GRNT has been moved TO 3/25/23 -- NEXT weekend, not this weekend.
Also, all the rooms in the block for the tournament at the end of the month have sold out -- in fact, the entire hotel is booked for that weekend. If you missed out, there are other hotels across Page Road from the Double-Tree. I'm still taking entries, though; either pre-register or register at the door. See ya'll Monday! ~ Jennifer “It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.” Sorry for the delay in posting -- between spring break (my son) and houseguests (friend of son) and this being in-office week and the weekend consisting of the board meeting and being ill, it's been quite a week. BUT, I should be back on track next week. "21" seems to be our magic number. The past many weeks, we've had mostly 21 players come out to peg. This week was no different. We welcomed Bob Murray this week, who was passing through and will tend to stop in if he's traveling around on a Monday. Congratulations to Joe Greiner on his 28 hand, and Joe and Jennifer are ach 2 GRPs away from BRONZE. Let's get 'em this week, Joe! With 21 players, we (again) paid out 5 places and 3 teams: Kristy Haught took 1st with a 17 / 8 / 134 Stephen Podolski took 2nd with a 16 / 8 / 79 Joe Greiner took 3rd with a 14 / 7 / 50 Liz Henderson took 4th with a 13 / 6 / 33 Bob Hewitt took 5th with a 12 / 6 / 37 First Team: Bob Murray (11) and Jennifer Johnson (11) Second Team: Frank Abernathy (11) and Larry Phifer (9) Third Team: Al Robinson (10) and Mike Due (9) Full results are up on cribbage.org; here are the top-10 after this week: On March 6, 1981, Walter Cronkite singed off as anchorman of “CBS Evening News”. Over the previous 19 years, Cronkite had established himself not only as the nation's leading newsman but as "the most trusted man in America," a steady presence during two decades of social and political upheaval. Cronkite had reported from the European front in World War II and anchored CBS' coverage of the 1952 and 1956 elections, as well as the 1960 Olympics. He took over as the network's premier news anchor in April of 1962, just in time to cover the most dramatic events of the 1960s. The Cuban Missile Crisis came six months into his tenure, and a year later Cronkite would break the news that President John F. Kennedy had been shot. The footage of Cronkite removing his glasses and composing himself as he read the official AP report of Kennedy's death, which he did 38 minutes after the president was pronounced dead in Dallas, is one of the most enduring images of one of the most traumatic days in American history. Cronkite would cover the other assassinations that rocked the country over the coming years, including those of Martin Luther King, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy and John Lennon. He also reported on some of the most uplifting moments of the era, most famously the Moon Landing in 1969. Cronkite relinquished the anchor's chair at the age of 65 because CBS mandated that its employees retire at that age. He remained in public life for many years, writing a syndicated column and regularly hosting the Kennedy Center Honors. His replacement, Dan Rather, would hold the job even longer than Cronkite, anchoring the Evening News until 2005. Nonetheless, due both to his near-universally recognized credibility and to the century-defining events he reported to the nation, Cronkite remains a singular figure, quite possibly the most respected television news journalist in American history. He died in 2009. And that’s the way it is.
The hotel discount for the Spring Fling has expired, but I have reserved two extra two-bed rooms that I'm happy to transfer to anyone who needs them. I'll cancel the reservations the Monday before the event.
That's all for this week; see ya'll on Monday! ~ Jennifer |
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