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Classical Music News of the Week, April 14, 2013
Berkeley Symphony Announces 2013-2014 Season
The season is highlighted by world premieres from Edmund Campion and Samuel Carl Adams, in addition to Bay Area premieres from Esa-Pekka Salonen and Kaija Saariaho. The programs also feature masterworks from Rachmaninoff, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Beethoven and introduce audiences to mezzo-soprano Kelley O'Connor, pianist Alessio Bax, and violinist Anthony Marwood.
Music Director Joana Carneiro and Berkeley Symphony today announced programming for the 2013-2014 season including a world premiere by Edmund Campion, co-commissioned with Cal Performances; a world premiere work for violin and ensemble by Samuel Carl Adams; and the Bay Area premieres of Esa-Pekka Salonen's Nyx and Kaija Saariaho's Adriana Songs.
Recognized for its exuberant spirit and steadfast commitment to presenting original and unique programs, Berkeley Symphony has received ASCAP awards for adventurous programming in eight of the past 11 seasons. The Orchestra continues this commitment with a 2013–2014 season that combines important contemporary works alongside masterworks of the standard repertoire including Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, Brahms' Symphony No. 2, Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3, and Beethoven's Symphony No. 5.
"I am thrilled to continue the Orchestra's passionate devotion to performing new works and to explore the relationships between composers past and present," says Music Director Joana Carneiro. "Our audiences continue to welcome this exploration which enables us to pave the way for the repertory of tomorrow. I am honored to present two new world premieres by Berkeley composers, whom I have long admired, in addition to bringing Bay Area premieres by two of the finest contemporary composers of our generation. And with the combination of perhaps some of the most defining classical masterworks in history, our season will showcase the best of both worlds."
For further information, visit the Berkeley Symphony Web site: http://www.berkeleysymphony.org
--Karen Ames Communications
Mezzo-Soprano Denyce Graves Performs Brahms's Alto Rhapsody With National Philharmonic at Strathmore, North Bethesda, MD
Superstar mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves will perform Brahms's Alto Rhapsody with the National Philharmonic, led by Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski, on Saturday, May 4 at 8 pm and Sunday, May 5 at 3 pm at the Music Center at Strathmore. The concert will also feature the composer's Symphony No. 4 and Schicksalslied ("Song of Destiny"), performed by the Philharmonic's nearly 200-voice Chorale.
Maryland-based mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves has garnered popular and critical acclaim worldwide for her expressive and rich voice, elegant stage presence and exciting theatrical gift. Recognized worldwide as one of today's most exciting vocal stars, Ms. Graves continues to gather unparalleled popular and critical acclaim in performances on four continents. USA Today identifies her as "an operatic superstar of the 21st Century," and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution exclaims, "if the human voice has the power to move you, you will be touched by Denyce Graves."
Her career has taken her to the world's great opera houses and concert halls. The combination of her expressive, rich vocalism, elegant stage presence, and exciting theatrical abilities allows her to pursue a wide breadth of operatic portrayals and to delight audiences in concert and recital appearances. Ms. Graves has become particularly well known to operatic audiences for her portrayals of the title roles in Carmen and Samson et Dalila and in 2012-13, she brings into her repertoire the roles of Mrs. Miller (Doubt); Herodias (Salome); Katisha (The Mikado); and Emelda (Champion). Her concert tours abroad have included performances in Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Peru, and Japan.
A work for alto, male chorus and orchestra, Brahms's Alto Rhapsody was written in 1869 as a wedding gift for a daughter of fellow composers/pianists Robert and Clara Schumann. The Rhapsody is a setting of verses from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Harzreise im Winter poem, which portrays a suffering misanthrope who attempts to find spiritual sustenance.
Schicksalslied ("Song of Destiny"), a beloved work for chorus and orchestra, is characterized by lush harmonies and beautiful Romantic melodies. A choral setting of a poem written by Friedrich Hölderlin, the Schicksalslied is considered to be Brahms's greatest choral work.
The concert's final work, Symphony No. 4, one of the cornerstones of the symphonic repertoire, has been described as "elegiac" and a "character symphony," reflecting the introspection of Brahms's later years.
Led by dynamic Music Director and Conductor Piotr Gajewski, the National Philharmonic is known for performances that are "powerful," impeccable" and "thrilling" (The Washington Post). The National Philharmonic boasts a long-standing tradition of reasonably priced tickets and free admission to all young people age 7-17, assuring its place as an accessible and enriching component in Montgomery County and the greater Washington, DC area.
As the Music Center at Strathmore's ensemble-in-residence, the National Philharmonic showcases world-renowned guest artists in time-honored symphonic masterpieces conducted by Maestro Gajewski and monumental choral masterworks under National Philharmonic Chorale Artistic Director Stan Engebretson.
For more information, visit www.nationalphilharmonic.org.
A free lecture will be offered at 6:45 pm on Saturday, May 4 and 1:45 pm on Sunday, May 5 in the Concert Hall at Strathmore. To purchase tickets to the all Brahms concert on May 4 and 5, please visit nationalphilharmonic.org or call the Strathmore ticket office at (301) 581-5100. Tickets are $28-$81; kids 7-17 are FREE through the ALL KIDS, ALL FREE, ALL THE TIME program (sponsored by The Gazette). ALL KIDS tickets must be purchased in person or by phone. Parking is complimentary.
--Deborah Birnbaum, National Philharmonic
Merola Opera Program 2013 Summer Festival
The Festival will include Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro. Everett Auditorium and Nourse Theatre have been added as new performance venues, joining Yerba Buena Gardens and the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, California.
Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia and Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro highlight the Merola Opera Program's 2013 summer season which also includes the annual Schwabacher Summer Concert and the traditional Merola Grand Finale. Everett Middle School has been named as the new performance venue for the staged operas and the Schwabacher Summer Concert due to simultaneous renovations on both Herbst Theatre and Cowell Theater.
Britten's The Rape of Lucretia opens the season at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 11 and 2 p.m. Saturday, July 13 at the Everett Auditorium at Everett Middle School and will be directed by Peter Kazaras and conducted by Mark Morash. The annual Schwabacher Summer Concert, conducted by Kevin Murphy and directed by Roy Rallo, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 18 at the Everett Auditorium at Everett Middle School and again at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 20 in a free outdoor concert at Yerba Buena Gardens. The season continues with W.A. Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, August 1 and 2 p.m. Saturday August 3 at the Everett Auditorium at Everett Middle School directed by Robin Guarino and conducted by Xian Zhang. Maestro John DeMain leads the annual Merola Grand Finale at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 17 on the main stage of War Memorial Opera House.
Throughout the summer, the Merola artists will participate in various master classes and private coaching with such luminaries as Neil Shicoff, Jane Eaglen, Martin Katz, Warren Jones and Patrick Carfizzi, among others. Scheduled this year to be held in the historic Nourse Theatre, these master classes and behind-the-scenes events are open only to Merola members. Festival ticket buyers who wish to attend these exclusive events can join Merola as a member for as little as $10.
Led artistically by San Francisco Opera Center Director and internationally acclaimed soprano Sheri Greenawald, the Merola Opera Program is an independent nonprofit organization which operates in collaboration with the San Francisco Opera. Founded in 1957 and named for San Francisco Opera's founder, Gaetano Merola, the Program is recognized as one of the most prestigious operatic training programs in the world. The Merola Opera Program typically receives more than 800 applications for approximately 30 positions. In addition to the public performances and master classes mentioned above, participants – who include singers, apprentice coaches and an apprentice stage director – also receive training in operatic repertory, foreign languages, diction, acting and stage movement.
Festival ticket packages will be on sale in April to Merola members and May for the general public. Tickets for all performances may be purchased by calling San Francisco Opera Box Office at (415) 864-3330.
Full program details including artists and casting will be announced at a later date. Visit www.merola.org for more information.
The Rape of Lucretia
Sung in English with English supertitles
7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 11
2 p.m. Saturday, July 13
Everett Middle School Auditorium, 450 Church Street, San Francisco, CA 94114
Tickets: $60/$40/$25
Schwabacher Summer Concert
Tickets: $40/$25
Yerba Buena Gardens, Mission St. between 3rd and 4th Streets
Sung in Italian with English supertitles
7:30 p.m. Thursday, August 1
2 p.m. Saturday, August 3
Merola Opera Program Presents Merola Grand Finale and Reception
7:30 p.m. Saturday, August 17
War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94102
Tickets: $45 Grand Tier & Orchestra Prime/$35 Orchestra/$25 Dress Circle
Reception begins at 10 p.m. in the Opera House Café
*Reception tickets are an additional $50 each
Festival ticket packages will be on sale in April to Merola members and May for the general public For information on how to become a Merola member, please call (415) 565-6427 or visit www.merola.org.
Seattle Symphony Names Jeffrey Fair New Principal Horn
Music Director Ludovic Morlot and the Seattle Symphony have announced the appointment of Jeffrey Fair to the position of The Charles Simonyi Principal Horn. Fair joined the Seattle Symphony horn section as Assistant Principal in 2003, and has served as Principal Wagner Tuba for six cycles of Seattle Opera's Ring of the Nibelung. He is Professor of Horn at the University of Washington.
"I am thrilled to appoint Jeff to this important position in the Seattle Symphony," said Morlot. "He has been a valued member of our brass family for many years; and, in this new position, Jeff will provide outstanding leadership to our orchestra's horn section. I eagerly anticipate many occasions of great music making with this incredible musician and wonderful colleague. "
Prior to moving to Seattle, Fair was Principal Horn of the San Antonio Symphony for three seasons. He has served as Principal Horn of the Eastern Music Festival and the Arizona Music Festival, and he performs regularly for the Seattle Chamber Music Festival. He completed a Master of Music degree at The Juilliard School as a student of Jerome Ashby. A native of Oklahoma, Fair received a Bachelor of Music degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Oklahoma.
--Ashley Damm, Kirshbaum Demler & Associates
Distinguished Concerts International New York & New York Opera Studio Congratulate Baritone Stephen Lancaster and Mezzo-Soprano Teresa Buchholz Winners of The Nico Castel International Master Singer Competition
Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) and the New York Opera Studio (NYOS) are delighted to announce the winners of the 3rd edition of the Nico Castel International Master Singer Competition. Mezzo-soprano Teresa Buchholz and baritone Stephen Lancaster were declared the female and male "Master Singers" at the conclusion of the finalist concert which took place on Monday, April 1 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Eight candidates performed one oratorio selection and one opera aria each on the evening's concert.
"This year's finalists were all superb singers," commented jury member Jonathan Griffith, DCINY Co-Founder, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor, "Our two winners set themselves apart for their excellent performances in both oratorio and opera genres." Buchholz performed "Laudamus te" from Bach's Mass in B minor for her oratorio selection and Meyerbeer's "Nobles Seigneurs, Salut!" from Les Huguenots for her opera selection, while Lancaster performed "Estuans Interius" from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and "L'Orage s'est Calmé" from Bizet's The Pearl Fishers. The two Master Singers were awarded $1,000 each in addition to a soloist role in a major choral masterwork with orchestra in a future DCINY season. Lancaster was also declared the evening's "Audience Favorite" as determined by audience vote via text message at intermission.
Also on the Finals Jury were legendary artist Nico Castel, conductor Paul Nadler; conductor and pianist Lucy Arner; pianist Tom Muraco; and soprano and language coach Jennifer Ringo Conlon.
Teresa Buchholz's recent engagements include Bloch's Sacred Service with the Israel Philharmonic, Mozart's Requiem at Alice Tully Hall, and Mercedes in Carmen with Opera Roanoke. Her performance of Chausson's Chanson perpétuelle at the Bard Music Festival was deemed "gorgeously sung" by The New York Times.
Baritone Stephen Lancaster has performed the Brahms Requiem, Fauré Requiem, and Carmina Burana; and the roles of Count Almaviva, Schaunard, and Morales, and was the central region winner in the 2012 NATS Artist Awards. He will record a CD of French mélodies with Martin Katz (Centaur Records) this fall.
Founded by Iris Derke (General Director) and Jonathan Griffith (Artistic Director and Principal Conductor) Distinguished Concerts International is driven by passion, innovative vision, a total belief in its artists, and unwavering commitment to bringing forth unforgettable audience experiences. For more information on the Nico Castel International Master Singer Competition please see: http://www.dciny.org/competition.html.
--Shira Gilbert PR
Emerson String Quartet's Final Concerts with Cellist David Finckel
The Emerson String Quartet's final concerts with cellist David Finckel will include performances in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Houston, and at New York's Carnegie Hall on May 4th with Renée Fleming. The Quartet's final public New York City concert with Mr. Finckel will be presented by WQXR at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space on May 6th at 5:30 pm EST.
To mark David Finckel's departure from and Paul Watkins's debut with the Emerson Quartet, all five gentlemen will perform together for the first time on May 11th at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC. Paul Watkins will join Mr. Finckel and the quartet for the final selection on the concert, which will be Franz Schubert's String Quartet in C Major, D 956. The Huffington Post has featured a series of blog posts individually written by the Emerson. The Quartet's Web site, www.emersonquartet.com, has been redesigned as a reflection of the last 35 years and includes a slideshow of iconic images as well as a dedicated slideshow to introduce Paul Watkins. The final album with David Finckel, entitled Journeys, will be released in April on the Sony label and will include Tchaikovsky's Souvenir de Florence and Verklärte Nacht.
About the Emerson String Quartet:
The Emerson String Quartet stands alone in the history of string quartets with an unparalleled list of achievements over three decades: over thirty acclaimed recordings since 1987, nine Grammy Awards (including two for Best Classical Album, an unprecedented honor for a chamber music group), three Gramophone Awards, the coveted Avery Fisher Prize and cycles of the complete Beethoven, Bartók, Mendelssohn, and Shostakovich string quartets in the world's musical capitals. In March 2011, Sony Classical announced an exclusive agreement with the Emerson String Quartet.
Final Concerts Dates:
April 17 - Stony Brook, NY - Staller Center for the Arts
April 24 - Philadelphia, PA - Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
April 27 - Washington, D.C. - Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
April 28 - Schenectady, NY - Memorial Chapel at Union College
April 30 - Houston, TX - Stude Concert Hall
May 4 - New York, NY - Carnegie Hall
May 6 - New York, NY - The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WQXR
May 7 - Buffalo, NY - Kleinhans Music Hall
May 11 - Washington, D.C. - Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 3 & 5 "Emperor" (C...
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Bach: The English Suites (CD review)
The Bolshoi Experience: Highlights from Russian Op...
Monteverdi: Selva morale e spirituale, Volume III ...
Noah (CD review)
Sousa: Music Wind Band, Vol. 11 (CD review)
Bridge: The Sea (CD review)
Auerbach: Celloquy (CD review)
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture (HQCD review)
Gal: Symphony No. 2 (CD review)
Honegger: Symphony No. 3 (CD review)
Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring (CD review)
Rodgers & Hammerstein at the Movies (CD review)
Classical Music News of the Week, April 7, 2013
Bach: Suites Nos. 1, 2 & 3 (CD review)
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (SACD review...
Haydn: String Quartets (CD review)
Mozert: Concertina for Theorbo and Marching Band i...


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Russia intends to switch to rubles when trading with China
Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Russia Calling Forum announced Russia's intention to switch to national currencies in foreign economic settlements with China and other partners, TASS reports.
As Vladimir Putin said, recently the Russian company Gazprom Neft carried out the first trial oil supply to China for rubles. "In the future, we intend to actively use national currencies in the trade of energy resources, in the implementation of other foreign trade settlements - both with China and with other countries," the president said.
The head of state also added that a corresponding mechanism has been created within the BRICS framework. "We see in the use of national currencies a serious mechanism for reducing risks, new opportunities for participants in economic life," Putin said.
The Central Bank of Russia and the People's Bank of China in August 2014 agreed on a draft agreement on the exchange of assets in rubles and yuan. State-owned companies such as Gazprom and the United Shipbuilding Corporation have announced their readiness to switch to settlements with partners in yuan. Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said in September that if China lifts restrictions on foreign exchange transactions for Russian counterparties, the countries will be able to transfer about half of their trade turnover to yuan and rubles. "The potential is colossal. I think that up to 50 percent of trade can be converted into national currencies, "TASS quotes Moiseev as saying.
Magadan region A different approach
Magadan Oblast needs special criteria for the establishment of TOSER
Amur Region Wait until payday
EastRussia finally managed to figure out the complicated history with salaries for the builders of the spaceport Vostochny
Khabarovsk Krai Khabarovsk Territory: growth centers
What can the regional economy rely on?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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All similar:i don t need plastic in my body to validate me as...
"I don't need plastic in my body to validate me as a woman."
Courtney Love quotes (American Singer. b.1964 in San Francisco, California, USA)
1-10 Quotations of 56
"I want every girl in the world to pick up a guitar and start screaming"
"Cocaine is like really evil coffee."
"I found my inner bitch and ran with her"
"I don't mean to be a diva, but some days you wake up and you're Barbara Streisand."
"I'm not a woman, I'm a force of nature."
"Drugs have nothing to do with the creation of music. In fact, they are dumb and self indulgent. Kind of like sucking your thumb!"
"I used to do drugs, but don't tell anyone or it will ruin my image."
"I might lie a lot, but never in my lyrics."
"I'm driven. I am. I'm driven for some reason. But I don't know where I'm going."
"I like to behave in an extremely normal, wholesome manner for the most part in my daily life. Even if mentally I'm consumed with sick visions of violence, terror, sex and death."


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Samsung Galaxy S8's VR headset delivers refined graphics, so-so controller
S8 comes with new VR headset
By Brian Crecente@crecenteb Mar 29, 2017, 6:30pm EDT
Share All sharing options for: Samsung Galaxy S8's VR headset delivers refined graphics, so-so controller
Samsung Unpacked 2017
Brian Crecente/Polygon
Samsung today showed off its latest iteration of the Gear VR, its phone-powered headset. This new version, due out April 21, has once more been slightly tweaked to make it lighter and more comfortable.
Most importantly, though, the new headset now comes with a controller. You can pick up a bundle for $129.99 or, if you have one of the earlier headsets, you can get the controller on its own for $39.99.
Samsung had the duo on hand at its Unpacked event in New York City today. But they took a backseat to the bigger news of Samsung's next flagship phones, the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus.
The S8 does away with hardware face buttons and wraps the screen seamlessly around the edges, eliminating the bezel on the sides. It's faster, it's slicker, it's more powerful than any Samsung phone that has come before it. But most importantly, the company promises that you can trust it will be reliable (read: won't explode).
The show, which ran for about an hour inside a hall at Lincoln Center, kicked off with a subtle acknowledgment of Samsung's bad year and its disastrous Note 7 launch.
"As you all know, it has been a challenging year for Samsung," said D.J. Koh, president of Samsung's mobile communications business. "A year filled with valuable lessons, hard decisions and important new beginnings."
He said he understood the value of consumers trusting the products Samsung makes.
"This is why our most important commitment is to quality, safety and craftsmanship," he said, "all driven by a passion for constant improvement. This commitment is a foundation for every step that we take.
"We are honored that millions of people around the world trust Samsung Galaxy phones to organize their lives, store their memories and manage their work."
With that he shifted the focus to today, to the day the company spent unpacking the new devices it plans to sell throughout the year. The rest of the hour was packed with cheers, executives popping up on stage to show off gadgets or talk about tech, and lots of smartphone glamour shots.
The Galaxy S8's many colors. (Only black, silver and gray will be available in the U.S.)
The S8 was the big crowd-pleaser, with a beautiful seamless screen that wraps around the device to create what Samsung calls an "infinity display" for both the 5.8-inch and 6.2-inch models.
The redesign does away with a physical home button as well, opting instead for something built into the guts of the system and software. There's also no fingerprint reader on the front; it's been moved around back.
The result is a curved piece of glass that rests comfortably in your hand, displaying, from edge to edge, whatever sort of content you want to consume on the go.
While the phone's front is button-free, the sides, back and bottom of the device all have plenty of ports and buttons, including a 3.5 mm headphone jack. (It's also worth mentioning that this will be the first phone to support Bluetooth 5.) Between the front -facing camera built under the glass of the screen and the rear fingerprint reader, a person can use a password or pattern, fingerprint scan, iris scan, or face scan to unlock their phone.
Your first VR rig might fit in a pocket
There's also Bixby, an AI assistant that seems to be Samsung's attempt at Siri 2.0. (It's currently in beta, so I didn't have a chance to check out the final version.) Bixby promises to not only respond to your requests but to learn from them and to be able to interpret them within the context of who you are and what you're doing.
In the U.S., the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will be available in Midnight Black, Orchid Gray and Arctic Silver. Pre-orders for both Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will begin on March 30. AT&T, Cricket Wireless, Sprint, Straight Talk Wireless, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon Wireless will carry the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in stores beginning April 21.
In addition, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ will be available at all Best Buy stores as well as BestBuy.com, ShopSamsung app, Target and Walmart.
There were plenty of neat gadgets to show off too like DeX, a little charging dock that lets you connect your phone to a monitor, keyboard and mouse. The experience is nifty and gives you a lot more room to work with, but it also doesn't seem to support a lot of native apps. Touch games, for instance, won't be supported at all, one rep told me when I gave it a try.
Samsung also showed off, and gave away, a redesigned Gear 360 camera, which does away with the tripod and replaces it with a small handle and the ability to livestream 360-degree videos.
Finally, the company announced that the S8 would come with a swanky pair of $99 Harman AKG headphones. Customers who pre-order the phone will also get the new Gear VR headset and its controller, Samsung said in a news release.
The new, new Gear VR headset.
After wrapping up the show, Samsung guided attendees back out to the waiting area, which was now packed with hands-on tables for all of the upcoming tech.
I spent a fair amount of time playing with the six games and virtual reality experiences that were loaded up on the S8 Plus models locked into the new Gear VR headsets. (The headset also supports the Galaxy S7, S7 edge, Note5, S6 edge+, S6 and S6 edge)
The headsets do feel lighter and slightly more comfortable than before, though it's likely that most people won't notice. The most apparent difference was how much crisper the view looked, likely more a byproduct of the new phone's 2960 x 1440 resolution than the headset it was mounted into.
The games all featured support for the new controller. A rep told me that Oculus VR expects 70 or so games to come designed with the controller in mind.
Of the various experiences I tried, the most telling was a new version of Drop Dead, a first-person shooter that has you using the controller to kill zombies with a variety of guns. The aesthetic of the game is very cartoony, and the fact that your weapon sort of floats around in the air in front of you is a little weird, but it gave me a good sense of how well the new controller will function for games.
The black plastic controller looks a bit like a remote control with a small, slightly skewed paddle affixed to its top. That paddle is both a touchpad and giant button. Underneath the button are smaller "back" and "home" buttons, as well as a volume control. Around back there's a single trigger.
Inside the games, the controller essentially operates like a laser pointer, allowing you to aim at things. The pad offers another way to manipulate objects. And it seemed to work ... OK — "OK" as in, what you might expect from a light gun game. It's fairly accurate, but it also tends to float around, and the aiming seems to drift slightly over time.
It got the job done, but it wasn't exactly an addictive experience. I suspect, I hope that there are some reasons for that beyond it simply not being very good.
The area was crowded, for instance, so I couldn't fully extend my arm to hold the controller the way I normally would. These are all also early games.
The new Gear VR controller.
I think, I sort of hope, that the controller will feel better as developers have time to refine its use (and when used in a more natural setting). It does feel better than the shape and design of the Google Daydream controller (which looks almost exactly like an old DVD remote I used to own), but they both seem to suffer from that same sort of issue with drifting aim.
Other games had me building plastic models by rotating, moving and then snapping them together with the controller; looking for requested items in a sort of virtual reality hidden object game; and solving a puzzle that involved shifting rocks and teleporting around a cave.
They were light experiences, reminiscent of the sorts of things found on both the Gear and Daydream when both headsets originally launched.
The controller doesn't feel like a game-changer just yet, but that's likely because, ironically, the games themselves haven't changed to adapt to its inclusion.
Giving developers the tools to build games that don't require a player to hold their finger to a temple-mounted touchpad can only be good for what eventually comes to the Gear VR. But from what I saw during my brief time with the controller, no one should be expecting this little chunk of plastic to match the quality or tracking of the controllers used with the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift Touch.


Doooolls are fun and cute.
Previously the highest was around the low 400s.
that emperor guy sure does have a final boss tipe introduction.
Soon, the power will be yours, but what will you do with it!
At least he didn't sell it.
@Neo - I'm curious as to the slight name change there for Garrimon.
Also, that Emporio? Sounds real suspicious.
Emporio means "grocery store" in italian.
You might were thinking of "imperatore" (emperor).
Emporio is Garrimon's first name.
If it means Grocery Store, so be it!
Emporio's Emporium of Empirical emptiness?
@J: It's not that hard to figure out.
Nice to hear the high hit-count neo!
I'm gonna call him Walmart Garrimon from now on!


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THE NHL : Epilogue :...
By ROBYN NORWOOD
They overcame their name.
The Mighty Ducks.
Even club President Tony Tavares was once "adamantly opposed to it." But the players' performances helped stop the jokes.
"That came quick, as soon as we made our first swing through the teams," captain Troy Loney said. "After that, there wasn't too much joking. You didn't hear the Duck quacks."
They overcame having seven months to go from not having uniforms, players, season-ticket holders, radio and TV deals--or even pucks--to starting their first NHL season.
They overcame a roster that was ranked last in the NHL in talent.
And they overcame having to appear in a parade of Disney parades, command performances that gave NHL veterans a new perspective on their importance in the world.
"I'm standing below Chip and I was kind of waving," right wing Todd Ewen remembered. "And then I realized the kids were waving at Chip--and Chip's a small-time character in the Disney portfolio."
But at the end of its first season, the new Anaheim NHL team could look back on these accomplishments:
--It finished with a 33-46-5 record, contended for the playoffs and, along with the Florida Panthers, set an expansion record for victories. Other highlights included a 19-20-3 road record and a 10-4-1 record in Canada.
--It led the NHL in merchandise sales with its Duck-and-crossbones logo. At the team's two local stores alone, the Ducks sold 12,000 jerseys at $75-$180 apiece and 50,000 $10 plastic duck calls.
--It sold out 27 of 41 home games, including the last 25, and filled The Pond of Anaheim to 98.9% of its season capacity. Scoff at the pregame entertainment all you will, the stands were full.
"You can take exception to some of the things we do--and I certainly do--but the vast majority of the crowd is entertained," Tavares said. "I'm not going to get hung up on a purist view that we shouldn't be doing any of this. . . . The 33 victories speak to what we do on the ice."
Why did the Ducks' first season go so well that their chief disappointment was not making the playoffs?
It had to do with smart hires, from the top down to the players:
--Tavares, a driven, no-nonsense boss who speaks his mind--even if it means ticking off Wayne Gretzky.
--General Manager Jack Ferreira, a respected veteran hockey executive with an extra needling motivation to prove the San Jose Sharks wrong for firing him in a front-office shake-up after their first season.
--Ron Wilson, a creative rookie coach who handled his team like a veteran and managed to get outstanding performances from 17 players.
Off the ice, the organization managed to strike a balance with the mammoth Walt Disney Co.--leaning on the entertainment conglomerate that owns the team for many of its non-hockey hires and taking advantage of its entertainment and marketing expertise, while maintaining enough separation to keep Mickey and Donald out of the building.
Disney Chairman Michael Eisner showed he knows enough to know what he doesn't know. Although he's intensely interested in the team and is lobbying the NHL to settle ties with a shootout, he didn't make any trades or involve himself in day-to-day hockey operations.
After the first 20 games, the Ducks were 5-13-2. Then came a 4-0 trip against Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary and Winnipeg.
"At that point I knew we'd be all right," Wilson said. "But after every loss, I still worried that we might never win another game. I'd think, 'It's over. The bubble's burst.' "
Starting with that trip, they went 28-32-3 the rest of the way. Here's how it was done:
Eight NHL teams finished with goals-against averages of less than 3.00 and save percentages of more than .900. The Ducks were one.
More than anything, this is why the Ducks and Panthers were better in their first years than other recent expansion teams. This time, the expansion guidelines allowed existing teams to protect only one goalie instead of two.
Florida got John Vanbiesbrouck, and the Ducks got two young, talented former backups, Guy Hebert and Ron Tugnutt. They were a tag team until Tugnutt was traded in February. Then Mikhail Shtalenkov, a Russian drafted last June, replaced Tugnutt.
Hebert finished with a 20-27-3 record and a 2.83 goals-against average.
Wilson, a Vancouver assistant last season, had never been a head coach except for an interim stint in the minors. But Ferreira picked him, and Wilson, 38, proved to be a perfect fit, designing a defensive approach to keep the Ducks in games, managing to create a positive atmosphere in what has often been a dreary situation, and sustaining a balance between demanding intensity from his inexperienced players and putting debilitating pressure on them.
"I think he's always had this team upbeat. He always had this team believing in themselves," Ferreira said.
CRUCIAL PERFORMANCES
Bob Corkum had never scored more than six goals or had more than 10 points in an NHL season. He finished with 51 points, including 23 goals, despite sitting out the final eight games because of injury. . . . Terry Yake fell a goal short of matching his career high of 22, but he got the team's first hat trick in the sixth game of the season, an upset of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden. . . . Garry Valk was plucked from Vancouver in the waiver draft and became the Ducks' third-leading scorer with 45 points. . . . Joe Sacco had a career-high 19 goals, Tim Sweeney a career-high 18.
Working hard can be a cliche in hockey. A team wins and the players say, "We worked hard." They lose and it's, "We didn't work hard enough." But a team with as little skill as the Ducks had to finish its checks to equalize things.
"I think coming in, my concerns were just that we wouldn't be competitive," left wing Stu Grimson said. "You hear you'll be blown out night after night. . . . But my fears and apprehensions were quashed the first week when I saw how hard-working this bunch was."
Ferreira saw leadership--from Loney, the captain, and alternates Grimson, Ewen and Ladouceur--as one of the differences between the Ducks and his first-year San Jose team, dominated by youngsters.
"The one single thing that pleases me most is the way we competed all year," Ferreira said. "It shows a lot about the character of the guys in the locker room."
So, Year 1 is done. The Ducks could add a lot of talent next season by signing Paul Kariya and Valeri Karpov, two 1993 draft choices, and the No. 2 overall pick they will select in June.
"People say so many players perform above expectations the first year, then reality sets in," Tavares said. "So many teams go through a sophomore jinx. That's something we're striving to avoid."
A MIGHTY EFFORT
Here is how the Mighty Ducks stacked up against other recent first-year expansion teams:
* Florida Panthers (1993-94): 33-34-17
* Mighty Ducks (1993-94): 33-46-5
* Tampa Bay Lightning (1992-93): 23-54-7
* San Jose Sharks (1991-92): 17-58-5
* Ottawa Senators (1992-93): 10-70-4
TAKING A BITE
Duck General Manager Jack Ferreira had something to prove after being fired as San Jose's general manager in a front-office power play in 1992.
The Ducks' 33 victories reaffirmed his ability, but he got no measure of revenge. The Ducks were 0-6 against the Sharks, and their 6-0 loss March 6 all but killed their playoff hopes.
So will Ferreira be pulling for the Sharks in the playoffs?
"There are enough players still there that I certainly wish them well, but players only," Ferreira said.
TOON IN
One of the best things about the Ducks was the animated opening of games on television, with music from Wagner (and "Apocalypse Now") and a squadron assault on a beleaguered opposing goaltender. Crank up the volume. And don't forget the Tinkerbell touch after goals.
Troy Loney, after a 4-0 loss to New Jersey on Oct. 20:
"We can't rest on our laurels. We don't have any."
Coach Ron Wilson, after completing a 4-0 trip against Vancouver, Edmonton Calgary and Winnipeg:
"Break up the Mighty Ducks!"


Home » Racing & Sport » Should PE Be Closed To Cape Raiders?
The small fields in the Cape and the 'truckloads' of visiting horses from that region arriving in the Eastern Cape has fired up a debate between racing folk on social media.
That's the Facebook post from a leading Port Elizabeth trainer and follows a flurry of Fairview winners in recent weeks by Cape trainers, including Candice Bass-Robinson, Justin Snaith and Vaughan Marshall.
Veteran Cape-based racing man Robert Champion writes on the thread that he doesn't want to cause an uproar but feels that if Phumelela, who run Cape and PE racing, put more meetings on in Cape Town, it would not be necessary for them to raid.
"I feel for PE trainers – but the blame does not lie with Cape trainers as like all trainers they owe it to their owners to try bring as much income in as possible. The blame lies elsewhere and not on the trainers in Cape Town," he adds.
Another Eastern Cape assistant trainer writes that everyone is missing the original point.
She writes that she has spent five months in Cape Town with a very small amount of success.
"The horses that make up the fields in the Cape are far superior to the average class of horse that makes up the fields in PE. The majority of PE horse are horses that can't cut it in Cape Town and in the other bigger centres. But there are exceptions. So today I hope our PE exception goes out and comes home to make PE proud," she added in an obvious reference to National Park's bid to win the second of the SA Triple Crown at Turffontein.
In order to discourage this type of thing in the 1950s all visiting horses to Greyville and Clairwood (including maidens) had to carry at least 9 st in the B Division.
I think that Cape Town should get its act together meanwhile how are you going to stop raiders from wherever?
Personally I enjoy seeing quality horses from the Cape running in PE.
Wow. Imagine Gauteng trainers bitching about National Park raiding Joburg…. Its 2019 not 1970 Mr Jayes, the world has changed and anti-competitive measures are as 1970s as Mr Jacobs stereotyping… In my opinion should owners be prepared to shoulder the costs and take the risks why shouldn't they raid?
Raiding is one thing, satellite yards are something completely different and unfair on local trainers.You are either pregnant or you are not and spies are not needed to see if you are actually a satellite yard or a front.
I disagree and blame the Cape trainers entirely. I too have noticed that Cape fields are pretty small on average, so Cape trainers are not entering and running their horses. Even in the peak summer season just past, Cape fields were very small on average. Even the Met and Queens Plate couldn't fill the fields!!!
Absolutely nothing to do with Phumelela. They probably took meetings away because of the poor support for the race meetings that were staged!! Cape Trainers need to get their act together and start racing! Owners don't pay for horses to stand in boxes and eat! Trainers like Piet Steyn with his small string runs his horses more often than the so called big guys with their big strings.
In reply to Steve Reid, I mentioned what the situation was in Durban in the 1950s not 1970. I also was not proposing the introduction of such a situation, merely recording it. They have small fields in Cape Town because a handful of trainers have most of the horses. There was a time, not all that long ago, when owners were not allowed to have more than one trainer in any one centre and there was a limit on how many horses any one trainer could train. The game today has become skewed in favour of a select few and if allowed to continue it is going to get worse not better.
8 days ago, Elusive Silva(3rd in July last year) ran unplaced in a 9 horse field, won by a PE horse. The QT paid R8800 with a Bass horse in the mix. My point is, PE racing is competitive. We cannot have different rules for different centres. If it is so popular for some to raid, then plan 2 PE meetings a week during the Cape off – season. Many of us like Punting in PE, with or without Cape Horses.
If you are good enough as a trainer to compete in any centre your talent and results will come through.Just ask some top jockeys who initially started their trade in minor centres and their potential shone through and were invited to the major centres where they came through with flying colours.If you are good enough as a trainer no owner will send you a second rate horse.What is stopping the leading trainers of PE setting up sattelite yards in other centres?I noticed trainers like Gavin Smith ,Alan Greef etc having huge yards but they seem to be stuck in a comfort zone and not willing to challenge themselves by moving out of PE.So how can the Cape trainers be blamed for showing some enterprize.Yes the fields at the Cape racing has to be improved ie. the size of the fields but how can we be bitter about Cape trainers raiding PE.Its just business.
A question for Mr Jacobs: How many horses do you own?
Raiding for features, yes but not maidens and low merit rated races really, stay in Cape Town for that. Lots of smaller owners in P.E. who depend on having winners in this centre surely if this carries on owners may pull out and P.E racing will suffer while Cape races will carry on as normal.
I have a theory.In all my years of racing, horses that race in PE are considered to be inferior to horses that race in larger centres like Gauteng, Cape Town and Natal.It follows then that any 'raiders ' from other superior centres should be short priced if one is to believe this theory ,after all you dont send s horse for a joy ride ,it costs money.
My theory is that the tote is being raided by some astute businessmen who are prepared to take the risk of the travel costs and at the same time raid the tote..At the time of posting this comment I am of the belief that Gimmee Katrina is still Cape based but if not then her relocation was very recent and regular punters would have picked up on this.
Mr Mattheyse, what has your question got to do with the discussion? I am a punter, are only owners allowed to comment? I see that elitist and superiority attitude is still prominent in racing.
I think everyone is entitled to the pot of Gold. In Europe there are small field races with big money at stake. You don't hear them complaining. Alot of raiders come from all over the world just to have some of that gold in the Europe.
PE trainers have the option to travel they horses to Jhb, CT and KZN.
Why don't The PE trainers fills up the fields in Cape Town?
Less than a handful of trainers with big name horses controlling cape racing and small trainers hardly get a show. Also just a few owners controlling racing and support only the big yards bar one prominent Cape owner i see starting supporting small yards. Same silks you see almost race after race killing smaller owner. PE trainers have many horses and I can't see why they don't raid cape racing especially in off season. It's always great to see visiting trainers so instead of her crying over Cape invaders hit them with the same meds and raid the Cape. Competition is healthy!
Restricting entry will not solve the issue but checking the ratings level in PE will dispel or prove the validity of the argument behind the question. So, are CT raiders beating PE horses who are ranked MR equal or above in PE handicaps, more often than they are being beaten?
If the answer is yes then there is a problem with the rating level for PE handicaps i.e. PE horses are likely being over rated relative to their CT competitors. As a further check the question would be; what average rating are the horses who run against CT raiders achieving in races where there are no CT raiders, compared to races where there are CT raiders?
And as a further check for WFA races or fixed weight races; are CT raiders beating their PE opponents, who are equal or higher rated, more often than in comparable races in other jurisdictions?
Perhaps this all sounds ambiguous but these are questions any data analyst working for the NHA should be asking and answering. The aim of handicapping is to equalise all horses chances and for that constant data vigilance is needed, to ensure that no horses or groups of horses are more favoured on average than others.
The question I pose therefore is; Are PE horses being over rated and in doing so are they being put at a disadvantage when competing against CT raiders? Can the NHA answer this question?
To blame the Cape trainers and owners ,I believe , is not the true situation. Because stakes , other than sponsored races , are not allocated nationally but rather in the jurisdictions where the largest amounts are wagered creates a problem in the West Cape whereas Gauteng has higher stakes available. KZN , although under Gold Circle , has the same advantage. Realistically this means that the punter , a vital part of this industry , is aiding the owners and trainers in a particular region.
Because of the above , and I don't blame them , quite a few owners and breeders from the WC are racing their horses in the other centres for the higher stakes available. I know there are also other reasons but believe stakes are a big issue. This in turn has created a problem in the WC in that race meetings have been reduced mainly because of small fields. Racing in the WC , especially for the small owners and trainers , can only be described as a sinking ship and a lot of people in RSA are jumping overboard. I believe and hope that this will never happen.
Everytime a horse from PE wins in another centre , I'm probably one of the happiest followers of racing in the RSA. However one can't blame WC trainers for entering their horses to run in black type races in PE as such races are in the interest of their respective owners. A possible solution is that more sub MR70 races should be available in the WC so as to keep the weaker horses at home and not travel to PE. I'm not requesting a lowering of quality but rather that more races of that kind are available in the WC.
Michael Jacobs thanks I just needed confirmation that you have zero experience in owning horses. So I now know to discard your comments on owning horses.
Forgive me if I treat your comment about elitism with the contempt it deserves. May the rider on every horse you punt, give it a shocker , if perchance he still wins, may he weigh in under and if that fails May a Stipe please disqualify the horse.
So bet wisely with disposable income only please, winners know when to stop.
Mr Jacobs, don't lower yourself to that man's comments. He has a distinct pattern of that sort of attitude/mentality with other bloggers on this site.
Unlike others, I think your comments about the Cape fields are valid. Cape trainers display a pattern of individually complaining about race types here.
This is apart from them naturally wanting to enter their horses in the right races for the own well-being/welfare. That'a all well and good.
Why don't they present a group/joint proposal/plan about the type of races that are lacking on the Cape Town programme for the lesser gifted animals.
William your infatuation with me is concerning. I want to place on record that you should put that infatuation in the bin alongside the massive Zillzaal place bet tickets. In your case I am facing east on my knees hoping that there is a chance you may have extended yourself and are in for some hardship, a little lesson in manners. But alas I must give you credit that you don't look the type to fall in.
Please also bin the idea that you were invited to the conversation, rather watch the animated movie Trolls it is mildly entertaining with some good music.
The playing field is not level. Easy for horses to travel from Cape Town to PE than PE to Cape Town because of horse sickness. Cape Town should allow PE horse to raid at there centre without the red tape.
"has a quiet chuckle and gets the popcorn ready for the inevitable 8 am elitist/entitlement/racist et al reaction from the Julian Assange of racing.
It seems some posters are more equal than others, some topics are more sensitive than others, and some authorities are straight out protected.
As a tip, I understand that spatchcocking is the simplest and easiest way of preparing a baby. The wisdom of Solomon to you Mr. Editor, just take off those very clearly protectionist glasses you have, especially when people post under their names. Differences of opinion are exactly what is needed, or should we have a united we stand, divided we fall mentality?
When PE horses come to Cpt we welcome them all even when they take the honey from the pot.At least when cape horses go to PE the quality of the fields are much better. In my opinion makes for good racing.
This Maythese chap sounds like a proper clown? Who is he, does he own horses?
Don't worry how many horses he does or doesn't own, Mr Jacobs. There's something wrong "their".
That man continues to show a pattern off negative criticism and then replies with nonsensical analogies totally unrelated to the topics.
Unlike your various comments/topics and motivations, his is clearly not intended for the great good of racing.
Its all personal with him.
Your concerns are genuine. Keep it up.
I have certainly ruffled feathers and rattled cages in the racing fraternity, and shaken some elitists out of their comfort zone. My posts, commentary and letters to the Argus has made quite a few people very defensive. The racing elite, like the ANC elite; prefer their lapdogs inside the tent p….ssing out than outside the tent, p…..ssing in! My work here is almost done.
Mr Jacobs, if you don't ruffle feathers then you know their wasn't an issue in the first place. You do not defame anybody personally and aim at the subject matter ….. so well done !
Not so many any more and will keep cutting down, don't want sub-elite people enjoying what I pay for anymore.
Robbie Champion correct it is still summer (MARCH )in cape town but the powers that be have decided NO midweek racing in Cape Town ??????? see race meeting DVLLE Saturday three of the races 6-7 runners.It must be the trainers (lazy) if I own a average horse I would like it to run at least once a month,after all it cost the owner a small sum every month to keep a horse.
Dobrin , I take it that you have authority to make statements on behalf of Phumelela?
Steele, how do you make a small fortune in horse racing? You start with a big fortune! Have a great evening!
Still cant see why we still bringing up the Cape flats?????
Cant wait for the Durban season to start.
Yes Rian, good on you.
Ja, elitism, you have never ridden a horse, you have never trained a horse and I own a horse or a number of horses, so who are you ? … Sies man.
Yes Rian, Ntl season is a highlight. We might not match the total stakes of CT and/or Jozi, but we certainly attract most, if not all the top horses and Jockeys. There is just something special about The July, and for me Gold Cup day as well. Then my home track with the 4 Sprint Races down the straight. LoL, we even welcome the PE guys – hope National Park visit…..
PE horses are not as good as cape town horses. Capetrainers raiding PE is bad for the trainers based there. These trainers try hard to make a living, well I guess all trainers do. It's a tuff industry, it's like trainers in PE are sitting ducks to the cape trainers whom have top horses. Why cape trainers raid PE, I guess you should try and full up Kenilworth on a off season time and see the difference, then there will be no need to raid those poor trainers. Maybe then cape can have racing twice in kenilworth. Un like greyville and the old clairwood and scottsville, even off season there is a crowd there. That's why they race so often. Leave PE to PE trainers to do there job cos horse you cape guys cant train you'll send to them and they get the best out of those wonderful horses.
It's cherry picking for the cape trainers to raid PE with a superior horse and they know exactly what they doing when they nominate.
If a cape trainer raids PE, a rule must be put in place by raising the mr by 8 points that adds up to about 4 lenths that should equal the playing field.
Most of these cape raiders are superior to the PE horses by 4 to 5 lengths that should sort out the superior horses raiding PE.
Cape horses that haven't got the ability to race in the cape let them stay in PE with a PE trainer.
Then you get the people saying what about the owner……yes they are right…..what about the PE owner. THEY HAVE TO PAY TRAINING FEES AS WELL.
I have not analysed MR races available in PE yet , but noted that the Vaal had 2 races with MR's of 65 and 66.
Greyville , on Sunday , had 2 x MR 64 and a MR race of 62 while CT never has a MR race of lower than 68. In fact the average race in CT for both colts and fillies is in the mid 70's (analysis of other centres not available) So where do CT owners take a struggling novice to race? They are always going to race under sufferance in CT.
Something , therefor has to be done to create races for weaker CT horses to keep them there.
It's not just a matter of superiority between horses but indicates the problems created by the MR system when comparing horses from different centres.
The programming in CT is clearly geared to catering for the fact that the region has a higher number of high rated horses running there. There is another factor which plays into this and that is that the top 4 rated horses in MR handicaps win more than their fair share of races. On average in the season 2017/18 the top 4 MR rated horses won 58% more races than would be fair, compared to the MR 5th-20th rated horses.
The handicapping system in its current guise is clearly still not fair! Fair in this case is a handicap which on average favours no individual horse or group of horses and where a horse ranked 10th in an MR handicap has the same chance as a horse ranked 1 in that MR handicap. Last season, on average, a horse ranking 1st in an MR handicap had an 85% higher chance of winning that handicap than his 10th rated opponent.
The CT horses raiding PE are most likely within the top 4 MR rated horses and therefore are more than likely winning more than their fair share of those races, purely because MR handicaps on average favour the top four rated MR horses.
This favouring of the top 3-4 horses in handicaps is a worldwide phenomenon so not just an SA issue. The BHA data show exactly the same trend. Just how to solve it is a matter of much debate.
Jay that was very informative. The situation is further exacerbated by CT only having 8 races on a card as well as no mid week meetings lately. Looking at April and May racing there are only 3 races over 1800m ranging from MR74 to MR80. Over 2000m there are 6 races with averages of MR79 and MR83 for fillies and colts respectively. In other words weaker CT horses either go to PE or race in CT under sufferance.


text:
by John Patishnock
Best in the Booth
Photo by Steve Manuel
Good friends and consummate pros, Steve Jones and Jack Ham bring insight, history, and a commitment to excellence to their roles as the voices of Penn State football. By John Patishnock '05
Walk through an open gate on the west side of Beaver Stadium, stroll under a canopy, and step into a nearby service elevator. Push the button for the second floor, exit and take a dozen or so steps to the left. Arrive at door No. 210, marked "Penn State Sports Network."
If you want to reach the broadcast booth that Steve Jones '80 and Jack Ham '71 have occupied together since 2000, this is the route you take.
Once inside, the first thing that jumps out is the view. It's absolutely breathtaking. Two open windows give way to a beautiful portrait of a picturesque green field sitting amid a sea of blue and white. Mount Nittany peaks over the southeast corner of the stadium, which today hosts the annual Blue-White scrimmage. It's for this event, the first home contest for new head coach James Franklin, that roughly 72,000 fans have converged on State College on a sun-splashed Saturday that feels like early fall.
The wind blows a bit, while temperatures reach into the high 60s. After a miserable winter, State College isn't experiencing just nice weather. It's football weather. And it couldn't have come any sooner for the guys calling the game.
"It's the kind of thing we enjoy doing, just getting back out in Beaver Stadium on a day like this," Steve says. "It whets the appetite for the fall."
Blue-White offers a different experience for everyone, including Steve and Jack. There's still plenty of patented give-and-take between the two, but on a day when fans can park and watch the game for free, there's a celebratory feel that permeates the atmosphere.
Penn State football is back, if only for a day.
Earlier in the day, director Jeff Tarman '85, '88g and engineer Roger Corey ensure everything is ready. Both are staples of the broadcast, the ones who make everything happen behind the scenes. Jeff's dad, Jim, is the former Penn State athletic director who helped usher the school into the Big Ten Conference. Jeff serves as the director of broadcast operations for Penn State, and started working football games in 1991. Roger dates back nearly a decade earlier, helping with production since the early '80s.
During some downtime, a particularly funny exchange transpires when Jeff and Roger remember a time when equipment needed modifying, right on the spot. A hiccup occurred right before a broadcast as the guys were setting up. One of the plugs to a wire needed fixing, so instead of simply replacing it, the guy, a protégé of sorts, soldered the broken wire — keep in mind, this was before the digital age.
Jeff remembers the guy being so nervous, his hands shook nonstop and sweat poured out. Corey recalls the moment, too, though he points out the guy made the necessary changes and fixed the equipment. "It's a good thing, because he'd have never made a surgeon," Corey says, laughing.
Shortly after, Steve and Jack arrive. Steve's clad in khakis and a Penn State polo shirt, while Jack, sporting blue jeans and a white dress shirt, arrives to a hero's welcome. For the time being, the broadcast booth morphs into part clubhouse, part cigar room, with lifelong friends sharing stories and catching up. The chemistry these guys share is obvious on so many levels, and it carries over to the broadcast.
Steve calls play-by-play, while Jack serves as color analyst, but nobody holds a stopwatch, waiting for his turn to talk. The two kick the conversation back and forth easily. Nothing is forced. And they provide much more insight than simply what's happening on the field. When running back Jack Haffner picks up a few extra yards after breaking a tackle, Steve not only describes the play, but also mentions he racked up 2,000 yards while rushing for State College High School. And when wide receiver Geno Lewis fires a touchdown pass on a trick play, Steve points out that Lewis was a high school quarterback in Wilkes-Barre.
Quarterback Austin Whipple enters the game, and Steve and Jack know right away that his father coaches UMass, an opponent later this season and a team that Franklin and his assistants are familiar with: Vanderbilt played UMass the last two seasons. All these tidbits aren't mentioned after looking at the roster. Rather, the information has all been absorbed.
During the game, the guys do a live interview with the Big Ten Network, which shows a replay of the game later in the day. Jacks talks about Mike Hull's transition from outside linebacker to inside this season, something Jack did during his All-American senior season at Penn State. If the down linemen can provide a push, Jack surmises, Hull should make plenty of plays this year, especially considering he's one of the strongest players on the team.
"He's the difference-maker in a broadcast for a fan, because he gives them extra eyes to see — especially things away from the ball," Steve says of Jack. "He's the best analyst in football. Period. So if he makes a point and extends into a play, I can just pick it up wherever, because I think it's just that important. Neither one of us cares who's doing what; in the end, it's whatever we think is best for the fan."
Steve and Jack don't just watch Penn State football. They consume the action, digest it and distribute it to the masses.
During the game, they're not peeking at notes or looking down at pre-scripted dialogue. The running conversation between Steve and Jack is fluid, organic and real. And it's not that they're making stuff up as they go along. It's just that they've spent so much time preparing for this game, watching practices, talking to coaches and players, immersing themselves in the program, that the game becomes a canvas for everything they've seen and heard during the previous couple of weeks.
"The two of us go to enough practices, where I think it's our job to then relate what we've actually seen in the previous three weeks, as opposed to what we're watching out here today," Steve says, "because the previous three weeks is really where the football team's being built, not today.
"You're trying to do this so the fans walk out after listening to us, feeling they have a better feel for the football team. The game is almost a backdrop."
Extra excitement surrounds this year's scrimmage, with Franklin and a new coaching staff leading Penn State. Both Steve and Jack speak to the importance of Franklin's ability to connect with players, and Hull recently said Franklin broke down a proverbial wall that the players had formed when the new coach arrived. Franklin's ability to network goes beyond this current team, Steve notes. He's invited back lettermen, alumni and families. The night before the game, he even visited the overnight RV lot, where fans camped out.
"His outreach is great," Steve says.
In speaking to Jack before the game, he said practices are more physical and involve more hitting. He also remembers Franklin running over to meet him during that first practice he attended, even amid everything that Franklin oversees. It's no secret that the head coach is the guy in charge, but Franklin's tenacity has transferred over to players and assistant coaches, some of who have been highlighted in videos produced by the athletic department for their upbeat demeanor and tenacious attitude.
"He sets the tone, and that's what the head coach does," Jack says. "He's got a great staff around him, but he's the guy, he's got to orchestrate the entire thing. And immediately when I came up here to watch my first practice, that's what I noticed, the energy he has right now, and it becomes infectious."
It's Steve and Jack's job to convey all of this first-hand information, and they do this at the Blue-White game amid a flurry of pre-game commotion. Every few minutes leading up to kickoff, someone new pokes a head through the door, mostly friends wanting to say hello. More formal business is also required, however. A Penn State student stops in, asking if Steve has time for a pre-game radio interview, and a local high school student arrives, ready to shadow Steve as part of a class assignment.
An athletics official also informs Steve and Jack that because of media requests, they'll need a new candid shot of the two. Steve Manuel will pop in sometime during the game and take the photo. Then, with only about five minutes before the broadcast, the Big Ten Network still isn't finished setting up in the booth. At one point, Steve walks in to find his seat moved and a BTN operator feeding cable outside the window.
The whole time, Steve and Jack handle everything like pros. A few minutes later, the broadcast starts, with no hint to the extra activity within the booth just moments before. No problem. No worries. These guys have seen it all before.
People continue to stop by the booth throughout the game, and all the visitors are given the same gracious demeanor. There's a non-stop buzz in the booth and plenty of factors to consider, but Steve and Jack make all their visitors feel like their top priority.
The windows are open. Other stadiums across the country feature different set-ups for radio and television broadcasts. At Indiana University, for example, the hometown radio guys have essentially a private suite, with tall, glass windows encapsulating them inside.
Not so at Beaver Stadium. There's a certain understated charm with Steve and Jack's booth, which places them in closer proximity to cheering fans than anything else. Steve and Jack not only are all right with this setup, they love it. They don't want to just call a game, they want to be a part of the action.
"No matter where we are, no matter what the weather is, we open the windows, because he and I like to have the feel of the crowd," Steve says. "To me, we don't want this to be a studio broadcast, we want it to be a football broadcast."
Maybe it's partly psychological, but the field doesn't seem so far away when the windows are open at Beaver Stadium. The same goes for the fans, who sit only a few feet below. If someone were tall enough and so inclined, they could jump up and exchange a hi-five with Steve or Jack. During Blue-White, muffled conversation is audible from the bleachers, as is a baby's periodic crying. A television studio, their booth is not. Steve and Jack say they always keep the windows open, and when they say "always," they mean it. Even during last year's game against Kent State, which was played during relentless rain showers, the two didn't close the windows.
Only once in their time calling games have Steve and Jack had to operate within a closed booth. That happened years ago at Iowa, before Kinnick Stadium was renovated. Steve and Jack still remember that situation, recalling it with disdain and making faces like a child who's rejecting a plateful of vegetables.
"You feel like you're closed in," Steve says of that time in Iowa. "We did the Kent State game, the rain was coming in here, they had everything covered up, but you're still in it; the fans are down below, the game's here, you're in it. You don't want to feel like you're sitting in a hotel room."
"If we did that, you could do it in a hotel room in that town," Jack continues. "It doesn't matter what the weather is, these windows are open. I would be so uncomfortable doing a broadcast if we had this thing shut."
In a way, Steve and Jack are never off the clock. They absorb information seemingly every minute of every day, and it comes through in their broadcast.
During the scrimmage, Steve talks of his ride into the stadium earlier that day, when nearly every vehicle he passed carried children on their way to the game.
"That was great to see," Steve says during the broadcast, "That's your next generation of football fans."
This isn't just a footnote for the day. Steve speaks to the importance that fans have the opportunity to attend the game and park for free, which isn't the case at other spring games. Ohio State originally charged $20 a ticket before lowering the cost to $5. To get into Nebraska's scrimmage, fans paid $10 apiece. Florida and Wisconsin each charged $5 a ticket.
The weather certainly helped, but it's important not to overlook the outreach effort from Penn State, Steve and Jack say. Engaging the fan base and allowing families to attend without needing to buy tickets helps cultivate an ever-widening fan base. Throw in the extra bonus that spectators, especially kids, could run on the field after the game, and whatever revenue Penn State missed out on seems worth it.
"It's a great billboard for the program, you couldn't have scripted it any better," Jack says. "Franklin controls a lot of things, but he can't control the weather. We could have had sleet going into our broadcast booth. Everything culminated into a perfect day for the fans and kids and everybody. You talk about a great family day out there."
Penn State football has experienced a tremendous amount of change recently, arguably more turnover in the past three years than in the previous three decades. Steve and Jack have seen all of this, and they'll continue keeping fans informed during games; at the beginning of last season, the two signed a three-year extension with Penn State.
There are plenty of jabs that fly back and forth — at times, Steve and Jack seem as much like fraternity brothers as professional colleagues — and they both understand how crucial this camaraderie is to connecting fans to the action. They've been calling games together for the last 15 years, and have been involved with Penn State for decades more. Two Penn State alums, two guys who love Penn State football.
They defer to one another during interviews and broadcasts, each in effect acting like a modest youngster who's thrilled to spend the day with his big brother. They've never forgotten why they're up in the booth in the first place: to let the fans into the game, or to use Steve's words, to "paint a picture" for the listener. It's why they're eager to make everyone who visits their booth feel welcome.
After the game, the high school student asks Steve a few questions, one of which is what does he not like about his job. After some playful banter with the other guys, Steve takes a serious tone and says there isn't anything he doesn't enjoy about this job. No arrogance. No hubris. No boastful attitude. Just a couple of guys who love what they do for a living.
"When somebody doesn't have an ego about who says more words than the other guy, you talk about the word 'chemistry,' that's why it works like that," Jack says. "We care about having the best broadcast we can do, and it's worked from day one."
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Obituary: Samuel Piibe
Nature lover, inspiration
Samuel Henry Piibe died on Thursday, September 8, 2016, at the very young age of 21 years old.
He had just started his senior year at Loyola Marymount University, majoring in psychology with a minor in biochemistry. Sam was also a member of the Surf Club and the Student Brewing Company.
As a pre-med student who volunteered at the Venice Family Clinic and the UCLA Santa Monica Clinic, he was planning to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather to become a physician. He was a vibrant young man who was an avid surfer, hiker and all-around great outdoorsman.
Sam was an Eagle Scout and he grew up going on many Boy Scout expeditions with his father and brothers. He studied Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and was a wrestler and water polo player at Claremont High School, where he graduated in 2013. He had an artistic side as well, and could regularly be seen drawing in his sketchpad.
His father, Dr. Remy Piibe, died on June 21, 2016. Sam is survived by his mother, Julie Piibe; his brothers, Quinn and Brian; his grandparents, Gerald and Shirley Rude and Aleksandra Piibe; his uncle Gregory Rude (Leslie, Maxwell and Cameron) and his aunt Pamela Dvorak (Pavel, Jeremy, Jacob and Jonah). He also leaves his uncle Roger Rude (Kristin, Connor and Katherine); uncle Alary Piibe (Anne-Marie, Aleksandra and Thomas); aunt Nora Frolick (Stuart, Japhy, Phoebe and Schroeder) and many friends and loved ones.
Memorial contributions on behalf of Samuel can be made to the Boy Scouts of America.
Service announcement: Dr. Theodore E. Alexander
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Obituary: Phyllis Chamberlain
Obituary: Mollie G. Ornelas
Obituary: John Eichinger
Obituary: Edmund Warner "Ted" Fisher, Jr.