ZachIsHere

Recently I acquired a plugin for FireFox called FireNES that is an NES emulator. Basically it means I can play old Nintendo games on my computer. I thought something different would be fun to try out so I started “Little League Baseball Championship Series”.

I had no idea what I was in for.

I start off choosing some teams designating the NY squad for myself and team Japan for the computer. Want to know how the first inning went? I dug myself in a 12-0 hole! Japan got 12 runs on 10 hits. Maybe it was just rough start to an unfamiliar game.

So I “accidentally” exit out of that game and start a new one trading the NY team for the California team with the hopes that some “Bad News Bears” kids were on the Cal squad.

The result? Mercy ruled in the 2nd inning. If you are up by 10 after the 3rd then it is game over.

At this point I am starting to get a feel for what the problem is. The fielders are terrible. You never know which base they are going to throw it too. Unless you are in a situation where there is an out at every base you are rolling the dice by trying to throw someone out at a particular point.

A lot of confusion seems to come from 1st base. You throw to first base and the pitcher acts as a cutoff man to intercept it, which is really nice when you are trying to throw out a runner. Or if by some miracle the first baseman actually gets the ball he can’t run to first base for the tag out…he has to wait for someone else which takes days. There were times where the first baseman would throw the ball wildly into the outfield. We need to get this kid some more practice.

I don’t blame the pitching. Joesph did decent work in there. I think he was frustrated by the team defense.

Japan bunted the hell out of the ball. California had so much trouble fielding it that team Japan routinely bunted for doubles. After the 9th unearned run of the inning the American pitcher decided to just start hitting people which probably wasn’t a terrible move.

Team Japan stepped up and responded with a barage of home runs which called for a lot of celebration amongst the…ehhh…Japanese fans?

Lets not be poor sports. Japan won this fake game of baseball from 1988 fair and square. But our friends from the far easy better be prepared. It is only a matter of time before I play some Track and Field 2!

Destination Go time.

Come out and support local music tonight. Destination Go, The Belated, and Making Moves play @ The Studio Saturday night. Come out and say ‘Hi’ while enjoying adult beverages as Destination Go kindly provides the Rock and\or Roll.

(Via Flickr’s Kansas City Group)

I picked up a copy of this week’s Pitch yesterday at lunch. (It has the Sonic Drive-In guys on the cover.) Late in the afternoon I was flipping through it waiting for the day to be over. I turned to David Martin’s column on page 10 and saw a photo of mine from flickr. It’s certainly not any great photo, but I was shocked to see it in print.

This is the only site I’ve posted this photo on, and I have my photos marked ‘All Rights Reserved.’ I know there is always some risk of your photos being snagged once they are online, but I thought the Pitch would at least ask before publication. The photo is attached to the online story as well (here), also without citation.

So this afternoon I called the editor, C.J. Janovy. She was in a meeting and I left a voicemail. To her credit, she called me back within 15 minutes. I explained my concern regarding the publication of my photo and C.J. agreed. She was actually glad I called because according to her, when they chose the photo nobody could remember where it came from. She thinks it might’ve appeared on a Pitch blog originally, but she’s not sure. C.J. told me they sometimes use photos from flickr, but protocol is to notify the photographer first.

Despite my inclination to barter for concert tickets or a meal with Charles Ferruzza, I told C.J. I’d be fine with a correction run in next week’s Pitch. I just thought this was interesting as I was somewhat amused to see one of my crappier photos used, but somewhat peeved I wasn’t asked. Perhaps some of you in the KC group will see your photos in the Pitch in future issues…hopefully with your permission beforehand!

Oh, just for the record, here’s the photo for what it’s worth:

After reading this I got a bit worked up and my fingers went to town on a post that included a little more saber rattling about the rights of photographers but some time passed and I find myself editing that first draft to a more understanding version. Call it the calmer and gentler Zach. It must have been the beautiful 4th of July weather we enjoyed that softened me. I thought about how I generally enjoy the Pitch and imagined myself trying to keep up with what I am sure is a hectic deadline schedule.

Trying to give the benefit of the doubt here.

Photography is an easy avenue to cut corners in when it comes to print publications. Got a story that needs some a little visual love? Hop on to Flickr and you are a few clicks away from getting a quality photo that is a good match for literally any story.

Publications need to respect the rights of creatives and content producers from all mediums. Maybe this just fell through the cracks. Maybe they were trying to save some money and didn’t think they would get caught. There could be a lot of reasons for this oversight.

In any case there are a lot of great photos out there with creative commons usage rights that allow for publication, or photographers that are very reasonable when asked for permission and\or compensation to use their work.

If all fails and that perfect photo can’t be found?

Hire me.

My contact information is in the upper right hand corner. Not many people have a better beat on KC’s happenings through the shutter.

Related Links:
‘10 Photos of Kansas City you have not seen that belong on your wall’

‘GenKC Event at City Market’

‘KC Zombie Walk 2008′

Be safe.

Have fun.

Eat and be merry.

Former Jayhawk doing a great job adjusting to NFL life.

(Via Profootballtalk.com)

We’ve been able to confirm via two sources the names of the rookies who were involved in a symposium slugfest.

The players were Aqib Talib and Cory Boyd. Talib was a first-round pick of the Buccaneers; Boyd was a seventh-round selection of the same team.

The players were in a budget and finances meeting, where rookies from four teams were gathered. Talib and Boyd had been jawing at each other for a while, and it came to a head during that specific session.

Talib’s draft stock fell due to repeated positive drug test results while at Kansas. As one league source explained Talib to us on Wednesday night, “Trouble just follows Talib. . . . He can’t help himself, and it’s never his fault.”

It’s unknown whether the players were or will be disciplined.

I have been steadily getting into soccer for a while now starting at the tail end of high school. This has really intensified in this past year. There are a lot of really great blogs geared toward fans in the states. They have made an informal coalition known as the “Designated Players”. I frequent “Soccer By Ives” the most but all are good reads.