TV Production on North 3rd Street

I spotted this production crew working on a new show for FX Channel due out this fall.

"LIGHTS OUT"

BTB

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

World Cup 2010 ~ Italy vs. Paraguay

Lorimer Street in Williamsburg appears ready for today's World Cup match between Italy and Paraguay.




Today's match ended 1-1 after 93:00 minutes




Mike    BTB



http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

World Cup 2010~USA vs ENGLAND

GROUP C

USA 

vs. 

ENGLAND

This is a very good English team. 

So how many Cups were they expected to win

over the last four tournaments?

Uh...All of them? 

And they won how many of those?

 I thought so.

They've been talking a lot of smack  

on the other side of the 'Ol Pond.

It's as if they're purposely being overly cocky before hand

in what is really a sloven attempt at intimidation.

Be arrogant Boyz. 

Yea! 

To me it wreaks of FEAR.

All the pressure is on them.  All the expectations weigh on them.

England is under incredible pressure to do well this time around.

That's why they have an Italian coach leading the way.

They're desperate.

We won't get into the more embarrassing eliminations of their recent World Cup tourneys.  Will we?

We, after all, looked pathetic in our elimination last time around.

Club New World Colonists

vs

Her Majesty's Football Club

We're forty minutes away from getting

Revolutionary...again.

USA!  USA!  USA!

BTB

*************************************

Update:

It's not easy being GREEN!
after 48 minutes of first half play:
1-1

 Gerrard scored in minute 4 on a brilliant strike for England.

The USA looks thoroughly outclassed.
As a matter of fact, they look totally out-matched.

In the 40th minute, The English goal-keeper Robert Green had a shot on goal by Clint Dempsey seemingly secured; only to let it slide off his hands and into the net for an American tying goal.
UNBELIEVABLE.
A historic gaffe!

The Americans need to find a way to start putting some passes together and get play moving in the opposite direction.

2nd HALF

At 65 minutes, there remains white shirts loitering all about our box.  England continues to dominate play.

Excellent chances and quality strikes have been traded.
It appears the Americans are more willing to be lucky than strategize a plan to counter England's attack.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.  But I do not think the US can sustain this onslaught of offense by the Brits and not get hurt.  At the 70minute mark...we'll see.

75:30
Where would this team be without the incredible goal keeping by Tim Howard ? 
The Blue-Shirts have been unable to slow the surge of the Brits through our zone.  They've been camped out in our box like a scene out of Woodstock.  Our half of the field has been a
British Invasion all match long.   79:00

We are inside four added minutes of penalty time.

The Americans still resemble little baby sea turtles getting hammered by the surf at shore's edge as they try and make their way to deeper water and relative safety.  Meanwhile, the English continue to crash down in waves of offensive chances upon the sea tur...Americans, and continue to strike like gulls from above.

Time!!!
The whistle has sounded.

FINAL SCORE
USA 1
ENGLAND 1

There will be no celebrations in the pubs of London for this effort; I'm sure.  I know the English Club fanatics can not be happy with this outcome.  English goal-keeper ROBERT GREEN might have to be relocated to Arizona and put into witness protection.
I just hope he has his papers in order  ; )  
I hear A.C. Cowlings is available for "get-away-driver" duty just in case Green is thinking about taking a trip.

What a great outcome for the Americans today. 
The expected blowout never transpired. 
Tim Howard is the biggest reason why.  
At times it appeared he was incredulous about the class of defense being played in front of him.  Consider him as the reason why the Yanks earned a point in their group play.  And yes; Thank Sir Robert Green also. 

The American defenders were mere traffic cones for the English wave of craftsmanship to practice with.  All they did was shave two seconds off the arrival time of another shot on goal.  To call the American defense a "defense" is an insult to swiss cheeze.  The English rush went through an American defense that played with the resiliency of wet toilet paper.

Somehow, someway;
we come away with a point in group play.

For the Americans now..; a chance to qualify for the next round if they can regroup against Slovenia and Algeria.  Those two teams play against each other tomorrow afternoon.

For England? 
They'll advance.  I just fear a more angrier team.

A tale of two countries;
*one game with the same result for both*

How you feel about it is a matter of perspective I guess.

Mike
BTB

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

 

World Cup 2010~Argentina 1; Nigeria 0

Argentina wins their 5th straight World Cup opening match.

GROUP B

In 94 minutes the Argentine Club put 20 shots on goal.

A header from Hienze, off a corner kick from Peron, put Argentina up early in the first half.  The one goal lead held and Diego Maradonna's club gained victory

over Nigeria this morning.

Argentina had many opportunities to increase their goal total; many quality chances.  I will gladly accept the opportunities and deal with the missed shots.

On the other end...Too much of the play was taking place in the Argentine defensive half of the field in the second half. 
An uncomfortable preponderance of that time came in
the last 15 minutes.

It all matters not now.  The 1-0 victory is written in the books.

Argentina wins.

Final

1-0

Next:

Thursday  June 17, 2010

Argentina

vs

South Korea

BTB

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

World Cup 2010

U.S.A.

Let the games begin!

LET'S GO USA!

First Match

USA  vs  ENGLAND

Saturday, June 12, 2010  2:30 pm

y La Hinchada Argentina..

!Viva la ARGENTINA!

Pais de mi Padre

Primer partido

ARGENTINA vs NIGERIA

Saturday  June 13, 2010  9:30 am

Good luck to all!

My souvenirs from

World Cup 1994

Mike ~ BTB

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.mlblogs.com/

Mets pick-up Catcher; AA-Mets

The Mets re-acquired the contract of their one time catching prospect Salomon Manriquez from the Lancaster Barnstormers of the Independent Atlantic League and assigned him to Double-A Binghampton.

I read about this transaction on the Atlantic League's website.  http://www.atlanticleague.com/
There's a nice big picture of Manriquez for you Met fans out there.

At the time of the trade he was batting .328; good for 6th best in the League.  In 2009 catching for the Newark Bears, he also finished 6th in the League in batting for the season.

At face value, what's not to like Met fans?  Sometimes trades like this don't even make a blip on the radar but somewhere down the line everyone gets taken by surprise and asks, "where'd this kid come from?"

Only time will tell.  Additionally, after some restructuring following Tony Bernazard's release from his position with the Mets, the Binghampton Mets are still bobbing above and below the .500 level under Tim Teufel.  Maybe Manriquez can bring something that will help the B's be more competitive as a reciever for the pitching staff and with a supposed quality bat at the plate.

Mike  BTB

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

Last Wash at the Cascade Company est.1898

Myrtle Avenue and Marcy Avenue - Brooklyn

... A titan of a neighborhood.  A complex comprised of multiple extensions and additions blended together into one factory and serving as one of the neighborhood stalwarts of stability and employment.  Their steam towers rising high above the intersection cast morning shadows upon the very Housing Units Brooklyn's own Jay-Z used to call home.

Cascade Building Lobby

Upwards to 300 Cascade Uniform and Linen Supply Company employees showed up for work to collect their last pay checks.  A company started back in 1898 which outlived the breweries of near-by Bushwick, the hey-days of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and more recently, just a few blocks away, the closing down of the Pfizer plant, is now out of the business having sold off their business operations.  The property itself will be up for sale.  I could not get information on how the compound would be redivided - if at all.

The last wash came on May 24th, 2010.  Not only was there a time when this company was the largest linen and uniform supply company this side of the Mississippi, they never forked over one dime to Con-Edison for electricity expenses.  They generated their own power, making themselves one of the few if any, totally self-sufficient entities in the city, with regards to energy consumption.

 

1948 photo with old Myrtle Ave. El Train over head.

Cascade ad at Brooklyn's famed race tracks of days past.

Lobby

It's been 112 years since their first wash, and they too will now take their place in Brooklyn's glorious past.  But it also serves as a stark reminder: Time Changes Everything.  Brooklyn has seen its old traditional core industries disappear in steady succession.  Yes, there are new ventures and opportunities developing all over the Borough.  The Domino Sugar plant is another example of our great past being lost and discarded.  But will new opportunities rise to the challenge and be to the Borough what these once major players used to be?

the Cascade truck fleet.

The loss of comfort with our surroundings is why change unsettles us.  We are left to our anxieties, wondering what comes next, who is friend and who is the novice foe?  With the dizzying pace of change transpiring throughout the Borough, that's the unknown.

A gentleman was agreeable enough to furnish me with these little tidbits of information.  I didn't want to pry too deeply.  Number one, I am not a reporter.  Two, I'm just opportunistic in these matters and don't mind making a decent post when the situation presents itelf and especially where it concerns my home of Brooklyn.  My point of contact today respectfully requested to remain anonymous, and I will oblige.  He was kind enough to indulge my curiosity ... And I Thank Him.

Take these snapshots and file them into your memories.  Change is upon us once again.  It's always fun to look back.  But the present is where anxieties grow.  What comes next across the street from Jay-Z's old stomping grounds is any-body's guess right now. 

Gentrification has taken to Brooklyn like a California brush fire. 

That means many things for many different people.  The intersection and the neighborhood itself have been many things to many people; sometimes for the better and unfortunately many times
for the worse.

We don't know what will rise next across the street from Marcy.  It is my sincere hope something positive comes to the location.  Something that benefits the neighborhood; something that will enhance and strengthen a much maligned community.

Bring something tangible that the people can reach out and touch and have it be beneficial to them.  Bring jobs, and positive development, and something which reduces idle time among the youths and promotes productive activity.  Obviously the relationship between NYC law enforcement and the local citizens is strained.  The local male youth feels targeted in and around Marcy Houses and greater Bed-Stuy.

Well, there's an old adage; - Busy hands are happy hands.  Bring something that people can actually benefit from and effectively improve the collective civic goodness.  It's all about opportunity.

Only 1000 feet or so away the Pfizer plant at the location laid-off most of its employees.  Cascade represents another 300 people out of jobs by their count as told to me as/of Thursday 3rd of June.

I'm a better sports fan than I am addressing matters such as this.  But, once in a while, it doesn't hurt to chime in.  Once upon a time Brooklyn was considered the capital of the East Coast.  In my fantasy I want for that time to exist again for all my fellow Brooklynites in all our neighborhoods.

"Do the Right Thing" on Marcy Avenue

Myrtle Ave., urban Art

BTB

Instant Replay ~ No Thanks

I do not want replay in Baseball.

Yes, we hold it to a different standard, even when compared to other sports. Why?

Because it's Baseball. We like it that way. One can argue that Football has become the National Passion. But Baseball is still the National Pastime.

I love the way Hockey does it. The way Football does it is yawn inspiring!

Why do people today feel the need to qualify everything? Why are we so self-absorbed in our perceived humanistic omniscience?.

Why do we need to take this game out of the hands of officials. That renders the Boys in Blue impotent and leaves them wide open for increased disrespect.

Baseball was incorporated with players and an official oversee'er. Baseball has always been a living game; evolving with the times and invention. But whatever rule changes were made in the past still boiled down between players and the official's judgement.

I am not willing to surrender my Pastime to a never ending search for perfection, because we think we're capable of capturing that. How self-absorbed is that by us?

The game itself is already perfect. Anything else is plastic surgery and artificial enhancement. Please do not take the natural elements of this game away. As a society we've surrendered too much already to technology. That's why we're so protective of Baseball.

Please don't let the modern age imperialize a game that doesn't need fixing in an unrealistic chase for perfection.

I much rather and enjoy to have these stories of blown calls, etc. become part of our Baseball mythology and our folklore of the game. That's Baseball.

Baseball giveth and baseball taketh away. Baseball is cruel at times. But Baseball always lets you come back.

Galarraga didn't blow his top because he knew he was dealing with something improbable. He didn't suddenly get bent out of shape because the expectation is not being able to pull off a perfect game in the first place. The deflation wasn't that deflating; just very frustrating. And that's all.

No Replay!

There is one way I am in favor of it.  An official eye in the sky/booth monitoring the games and wired up with the crew chief.  There is no reason the booth ump can't make the final call on the fly.  There is no need for a challenge, umpires leaving the field, delay and wasted time or the minutia of how to implement such a plan.  Let the five officials work as a unified team to get things right instantly.  Otherwise...Fugheddaboudit!

Mike

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/
http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.mlblogs.com/

ARE YOU KIDDIN ME!!!???

How do you blow this call?

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!???

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!???

C'MON!!!

Indians at Tigers

The Imperfect Game

Unbelievable!

Un-B-Freakin-Lievable!!

BTB

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

Derek Jeter

Last night on (ESPN Radio) the Bill Daughtry Show, the topic of conversation was Derek Jeter.

Highlights of the discussion:

* Derek Jeter will be turning 36 years old later this June.
* Concerns exist about Derek's ability to continue playing short-stop effectively in the coming years.
* Renewing an old conversation about Jeter making a position change.
* Derek Jeter's impending free agancy; the kind of commitment needed to retain him; and what's a fair deal for Jeter when ARod's contract is taken into consideration.

Bill Daughtry threw out this beauty of a factoid:
No team ever won a World Series with a short-stop over the age of 35. The oldest starting/regular short-stop to be on a World Series winner was Pee Wee Reese at 35 yrs of age for the '55 Brooklyn Dodgers.

Then I called the show to add in my two cents worth of Jeterian opinions.

I say this in jest, somewhat. But don't ignore the double sentiment. The Yankees created a problem for themselves at first base by signing Mark Tex. Of course it sounds silly coming off last year's Championship. The problem is still ahead of the Yanks. The Yanks needed firstbase and the DH spot to let Jete, Posada and ARod wind down their careers gracefully. With Tex here, Father Time may wreak havoc on Yankee logistics moving forward.

More specific to Jeter, I think two things are more important to Jeter than monetary compensation or length of years in a contract.

Above all else I think Jeter is most protective of his lifetime .300 batting average and will not hold on too long and allow himself to drop below that standard. I believe Jeter, the most iconic Yankee since Mickey Mantle, possibly references Mantle and does not want his lifetime average to drop like the Mick's did.

I believe Jeter is content to play long enough in order to collect his 3000th Major League career hit. Jeter is well aware he will be the first and only New York Yankee player to achieve that milestone. I believe Jeter only will play long enough to accomplish this.

I think Jeter will be content with a three year deal and ride off into the sunset on top of his game around the age of 40. I do not believe he will let us witness noticeable deterioration like a generation watched with the Mick. No,- Instead I think Jeter will try to exit on a high note; on top and relatively close to his usual form we came to expect of him. He'll exit on his terms in a manner more reminiscent of the Yankee Clipper; Joe DiMaggio.

And that was my thought of the night.

Mike

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/
http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.mlblogs.com/

Lafayette Avenue

83 degrees and sunny.

MEMORIAL DAY

To those who gave this country their lives in order to create, protect and defend America;

the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave...

And to all who have served and to those presently in harms way...

Your efforts are not in vain.

I salute you all.

1/7 Cav; 1st Cavalry Division

4/4 Cav; 3rd Infantry Division

All the Way!!

BTB

Angel in my Outfield

Angel Pagan; Center Fielder; New York Mets

For a while it was fair to say of him; If it wasn't for Bad Luck,
he'd have no Luck at all.

Injuries are a reason he does not figure more prominently into the minds of Mets fans and less so in the collective Baseball thinking.  I fought the Pagan fight hard on the radio shows when everyone played the role of naysayer against him.  In spring training of 2008 he was having a tremendous spring and I believed he was winning the day and deserved to be the Mets' starting left fielder because of it. 

An injury short circuited that campaign and the Mets wound up signing another useless aged body for the position that year (eh..hem).  I remember being a little saddened in 2006 when we traded him to the Cubs and did nothing to really speak of there.  I was very happy when we re-acquired him for the 2008 season.

Even before this season started I wanted very much for Pagan to be the starting center fielder with Carlos Beltran still rehabbing from surgery.  The Mets incredulously brought in Gary Matthews Jr. who is presently accumulating outs at an 84% clip.  I keep screaming and kicking something every time I see him waste any of our precious 27 outs we get per game.  OUTS are like WEEDS.  If they were hard to come by everyone would want them.  But having Matthews here to fail miserably did solidify Pagan's role in center field.  I'm very happy he has also remained injury free so far.  The Mets would be in even deeper doodoo we think we are in, if it weren't for him playing a solid center field and being equally capable behind the plate.

I'll admit it.  I have a Man-Crush on Angel Pagan.  It's not something new.  But it is to you.
This is my 10th year of Crush for Pagan.

In 2001 the Brooklyn Cyclones (A-affiliate of the NY Mets) were born right here in my backyard;
Coney Island.
The first year in the New York-Penn League was a magical year for us Brooklynites cheering on our Cyclones; ecstatic to have Baseball back in the Borough.  We won our division and advanced through the first playoff round.  We were actually playing for a championship in our first year.

Angel Pagan was an outfielder for that Cyclones team and a crowd favorite.

The Brooklyn Cyclones and the Williamsport CrossCutters were tied at one game apiece in the Championship series, with the deciding game to be played in Brooklyn on a Tuesday night.

That game was all I had on my mind that morning.  My thoughts about Brooklyn winning a championship were the very thoughts swirling in my head, right up until the moment the events of 9/11 started taking place and changed everything.

That Championship Series was never resumed and both teams were declared co-Champions.

But like all teams we root for who do well, or were special to us, You Remember.  This isn't a tie-in, in any way to the events of that September morning.  This is merely to tell you, from their June Opener till that Sept. morning, how special that team became to me.  From that morning on, I can't live without them.

Angel Pagan was a member of that team.
 He was one of the swirls in my head when things started to transpire downtown.
Teams, players, years, and sometimes tragedy are unforgettable, to say the least.
And that's where Angel Pagan stays safely tucked away; indelibly branded in my memories regardless of how the rest of his career here goes.

As someone who is committed to the notion Carlos Beltran and the New York Mets are irreconcilably divorcing eachother, I'm glad Angel Pagan was finally able put together a good enough sample to warrant confidence with his baseball abilities.  It's not like Beltran is getting Wally Pipp'd here.  This has to do more with my CRUSH on Pagan and less to do with our Beltran situation.  Is Pagan the player of Beltran's callibur?  No.  Hardly.  But he's been a tremendous help around here and I hope he enjoys many more years to come in a Met uniform.

As for Mets fans...  If you're clinging to a hope that Beltran will come back and help, if not be a force on this team again?  Let Go!  Beltran is not going to do anything to jeoperdize next year; his contract year.  Having said that, I believe I already informed you I was one of Beltran's biggest fans; still am. 
But that ship has sailed.   (yes...Already).

I'm satisfied with my Angel in our Outfield.

BTB

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.mlblogs.com/

Now I'm ready for World Cup

This afternoon I find myself unpleasantly trapped in the Staten Island Mall because the members of my close little family wanted to come shopping. As Papa Bear of this family, I guess I had no choice but to consent to this little jaunt in the woods while their porridge cooled down.

But to my delight, as I found myself in the ridiculously over priced M*cy's store, my adventure into the retail inferno suddenly became a worth while trip.

I dropped seventy bucks on a jersey I always wanted to get. It was there calling my name begging me to reach in my pocket and pay for the right to take it home.

In preparation for World Cup 2010, I purchased the iconic Argentine National Team's jersey; country of my father.

World Cup action is right around the corner. I am a native New Yorker of Brooklyn. Of course I have USA's best interests at the forefront of my rooting interests. But these games transcend something more than sport. This is about family.

Let's go USA!!! Viva la Argentina!!

...from the Staten Island Mall.... Mike.

BTB

http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/

Halliday Weekend

Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game for the Philadelphia Phillies tonight against the Florida Marlins.
He faced the minimum 27 batters; no walks; 11 strike outs; Dominant!

It was the 20th Perfect Game pitched in Baseball history.
Check out the MLB.com WRAP here.

BTB


http://thebrooklyntrolleyblogger.blogspot.com/