Ben Wilson: ESPN 30 for 30 Documentary Raises More Questions Than It Answers

The story of the short life and death of Ben Wilson was resurrected in "Benji." The latest episode of ESPN's 30 for 30 series offered a look into the circumstances surrounding Wilson's death but also left the details of the tragic death in question.
Providing an answer to why Wilson was shot wasn't the focus of the documentary, though.
Chicago-born director Coodie Simmons had a more altruistic goal in mind. He wanted to reach and connect with at-risk youth in his home town and across the U.S.

Our whole thing was we wanted to make thugs cry. You know what I'm saying?
They say these kids today are immune to death, but that was a greater death. It was something really powerful for Ben Wilson to die.

The death certainly was powerful. It ripped Chicago to the core in 1984. His passing left a mother without one of her sons, a city less one hero and, most importantly, meant one more child would grow up without his father.
Sad and tragic as it was, I'm not convinced "Benji" will evoke tears in most viewers, let alone the targeted "thugs." But it should at least make them recognize the potential reach of their actions.
Viewers are left questioning exactly what did happen on the streets of Chicago.
It was widely accepted that Wilson was the victim of a robbery. When he refused to surrender his wallet he was shot twice and died the next morning.
Billy Moore was convicted of the crime but painted a different version of the altercation. He stated Wilson was the protagonist in the shooting and that the gun shots were made out of fear.
Regardless of the circumstances, this story is a cautionary tale that is even more fitting now than in 1984.

Some kids might be out there that we can never reach and recover, but there's a whole new generation of kids coming up.
If they can see this movie and be inspired to figure out what their potential and passion is...I think this story transcends past the passion of basketball.
Chike Ozah, filmmaker and co-director of "Benji"

This story will continue to be told in one shape or another. If it isn't the story of Ben Wilson, it will be Michael Haynes, who was shot and killed over the summer while attempting to mitigate a dispute.
Or it will be the senseless shooting of another Chicago youth, Kordero Hunter, who was killed in 2011. He had transferred from Northern Illinois University to Central State and appeared to have his life on track prior to being lost in a nightclub shooting in Dayton, Ohio.
This movie doesn't pretend to offer answers to the underlying issues of poverty and lack of hope, but perhaps it will give desperate people pause before they add another name to the tragic list of senseless deaths.

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Ann Coulter, get a thesaurus

Pundit and author Ann Coulter finds herself in a controversy again over one of her Twitter comments. (Lawrence K. Ho / Los Angeles Times / October 24, 2007)

 

 People on both sides of the Atlantic are in a swivet because of something Ann Coulter said.
I know, I know. Surprise.
In this instance, people are angry for the wrong reasons. No, that’s not correct; they’re angry for not enough of the right ones.
Sometime during or right after this last presidential debate, Coulter tweeted: “I highly approve of Romney’s decision to be kind and gentle to the retard.” By which she meant, of course, President Obama.
There was, naturally, an incensed reaction to her casual use of a word that has not been accepted in polite company for many years, a shorthand for the phrase “mentally retarded,” which the medical establishment is phasing out, and which Congress dropped from federal laws in 2010, to be replaced by “intellectual disability.” In signing that bill, the president quoted the brother of a little girl with Down's syndrome for whom the law is named. “What you call people,” Obama quoted the boy, “is how you treat them.”
And a 30-year-old Special Olympian named John Franklin Stephens posted an open letter to Coulter, noting in part: "I thought first of asking whether you meant to describe the President as someone who was bullied as a child by people like you, but rose above it to find a way to succeed in life as many of my fellow Special Olympians have.
"Then I wondered if you meant to describe him as someone who has to struggle to be thoughtful about everything he says, as everyone else races from one snarkey sound bite to the next.... Well, Ms. Coulter, you, and society, need to learn that being compared to people like me should be considered a badge of honor. No one overcomes more than we do and still loves life so much."
A blogger named Ellen Seidman, who has a special-needs son, pointed out that Coulter referred to “the retarded vote” in a tweet about a video Obama made for the National Forum on Disability Issues.
One British paper characterized Coulter’s tweet as a misstep. It is not. It is calculated. It is her stock in trade. Controversy, more than content, is oxygen to her fire.
Here, for example, is her idea of a clarification. Last year, on MSNBC, her remarks about GOP senator and former presidential candidate John McCain were offensive enough to be digitally blurred, which led amateur lip-readers to speculate that she had called McCain a “douchebag.”
No, no, no, she said later on the Joy Behar show. She had not called him a “douchebag.” She called him a “dickweed.”
Here is my second reason to be distressed by Coulter’s choice of words in her tweet.
She is quoted and courted far and wide by the conservative media. She commands reported $20,000 speaking fees.
And this was the best she can do? An outdated, third-grade playground insult?
This woman who writes so many books that it seems to take longer to read one than she takes to pen one, who forages around in her immense brain, and that’s the choicest insult she can come up with? “Retard”?
Twitter’s enforced brevity is no excuse. In one of Shakespeare’s shortest plays, Macbeth, he managed to get off the briefest of insults: “Thou cream-faced loon!” What’s that, two dozen characters?
Coulter should read Edmond Rostand’s “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Cyrano out-insults the man who lamely insults Cyrano’s big nose with a string of swift and stylish zingers mocking his own schnozz much better than the insulter ever did.
The coarsening of political discourse in this country is worrying, but it also seems to be profitable. There is one more thing about Coulter’s use of this word that smacks of the elementary school playground, and it is her evident need for attention, any kind of attention. And so long as we go along with this by giving her this attention, she will almost surely keep topping herself to try to get it.

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Will Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast?

I watched many newscasts over the past few hours and there is much excitement about hurricane Sandy and her eventual track. Let me say upfront that the storm could cause big problems for sections of the east coast so the concern is justified. I will not be hyping the storm in the blog, rather I will just present the information as I know it and as it evolves. Right now, the storm is between Jamaica and Cuba moving slowly towards the north. Over the past few hours the storm has become much more intense. There are many possible scenarios that can take place with this storm later this weekend. There is high confidence in the path of the storm through the weekend, its what happens thereafter that is causing so much uncertainly.
I will be tweeting frequent updates about the storm on Twitter at @growingwisdom and check out my latest videos at GrowingWisdom.com
Once Sandy crosses Cuba it will parallel the East Coast and should affect the Bahamas as a strong hurricane. Florida, further away will feel tropical storm force strength wind from the storm. Basically, heavy rain, winds and a rough seas will be the rule for the next couple of days down there.

Overview
Hurricane Sandy will move north and eventually become what is called a hybrid storm. Storms that are tropical in origin are called tropical storms. Storms that originate in colder climates are called cold core storms. Tropical storms, as they move into colder water, often transition into a cold core storm. Sometimes, as will be the case with Sandy, the storm resembles bits of both types and we call this a hybrid. The semantics of what type of storm Sandy becomes when and if it impacts the Mid-Atlantic or New England region isn't important. Meteorologists will, if the storm becomes a blockbuster, debate what type of storm it was for years. We still debate the "perfect storm" from 1991 and whether that should have been named a hurricane. There is also the possibility Sandy remains purely tropical.
The track
You might wonder why the heck the track is so tough to predict. The answer is that the atmosphere, regardless of Sandy, is undergoing a major shift of sorts. This transition is occurring at the same time Sandy is moving northward. When you get a major storm happening during one of these shifts the models meteorologists use are less reliable. The other reason is that the impact of the storm is still 5 days away. By tomorrow and early this weekend we will have a much better idea of what will happen with the storm. One of the larger patterns that we look at to affect east coast storms is the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO). This pattern recently became negative and is forecast to peak in the negative phase in the next few days. Some of our largest storms have occurred when the NAO is negative.
The models
Until the storm hits you will hear a lot and see maps that show something called the 'spaghetti' plots. These plots show a map, like the one below with several different lines on it. Each line is a different model or prediction. You want to notice where most of the lines converge or trend over time to make a forecast. I explain the plots to my students like this. It's like asking who will win the world series in April, August and October. The closer you get to the actual event the more the lines converge on one solution. The closer we get to Sunday and Monday the more these plots are going to show one consensus forecast.

Here in the United States, one of our models, the Global Forecasting System or GFS is run nearly two dozen different ways to get even more tracks. This is called ensemble forecasting when you basically use one model tweaked several different ways. In some ways this is what Cooks Magazine does when they test a recipe for something like brownies. They make slight variations in temperature, type of butter etc. and see how it all turns out.
Jet Stream
In the end, it's the jet stream that will carry the storm. The map below shows the forecast position of the jet Monday. Notice the block up over the northern part of the Atlantic. This is like a traffic jam preventing the storm from moving eastward like normal. While this block is in place the jet stream is coming along and may capture the storm and move it northward. The exact configuration of the jet will determine exactly how the storm moves. It could go into the mid-Atlantic region or come into New England. It still also may move under the block and curve away. That scenario is looking less likely as of this writing.

Past History
We can get some idea of how Sandy will move by looking at some past storms that have developed in that region. There are two storms that come to mind that affected our area that formed in the Cuba/Jamaica corridor. The great gale of 1878 and hurricane Hazel in 1954 both impacted New England and caused significant damage. Sandy will take its own path but it is worth noting where other storms have gone this time of year.
Impacts
At the very least New England is going to clouds increase Sunday and then drizzle and light rain will ensue. Monday into Tuesday will be the peak of the storm before we clear out Wednesday. Worst case scenario is that the coast experiences winds gusting to hurricane force, inland areas have 3-6" of rain causing some flooding and power outages become widespread. Coastal beach erosion and even damage could be a problem as well. For now, if you have a boat still in the water it might be prudent to get it out of the water and I would spend time this weekend cleaning out the gutters. Remember, if you lose power it could be out for days, don't spend money stocking up on perishables.
Gardening this week
There are many plants that bloom in the fall. Toad lily, asters, mums, joe pye weed, roses and many others wait or continue blooming into late fall. It's a good idea to have a garden with plants that bloom in all different season. When I design my gardens I select plants that bloom from February to November here in the northeast. Additionally, but adding some special evergreens, I can bring color to the garden all year long.

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Suspect in Jessica Ridgeway death made girls in the area uneasy

Jessica Ridgeway, 10, was last seen by her mother as she left for schoo Friday in Westminster, Colorado.

(CNN) -- His stare stayed with them for days.

The cold, harsh way he looked at them. The unease they just couldn't shake off when he did.

So, when Austin Reed Sigg was arrested Tuesday night, accused of strangling 10 -year-old Jessica Ridgeway, dismembering her and placing her body parts under the two-story home where he lived, many of the girls in that Denver suburb weren't shocked.

"He was so infatuated with the idea of death," Hannah Bane, a college classmate told a local reporter.

Detectives spent a bitter-cold Wednesday at Sigg's home in Westminster, as crime scene technicians gathered more evidence in the gruesome case.

They said they found parts of Jessica's body stuffed in a crawl space under the home.

The bespectacled, blond little girl disappeared October 5 while walking to Witt Elementary School.

Five days later, police first found parts of her body at a park five miles away.

Volunteers formed search parties and continued scouring.

The big break came Tuesday night when Sigg's mother called 911 and handed him the phone.

Sigg, police said, confessed.

The arrest shocked many in the city, known for its interconnected walking trails and lush open spaces.

But Christie Mueller wasn't one of them.

She had bumped into Sigg, 17, twice on an isolated trail in the city. And both encounters startled her.

Sigg was with friends, and the way he stared at her made her fear for her safety, she said.

"It just really freaked me out," Mueller told a local reporter.

She said she brought her dog with her on the trail, a rugged looking pit bull.

"I think if he hadn't been with me that day, I just wonder what would have happened."

Those who know him say Sigg was into forensics.

He won awards in student crime scene investigation competitions.

His father, on the other hand, had a history of committing them.

The father had been arrested many times, local television stations said -- accused of domestic violence, assault, bank fraud.

Sigg's parents are divorced.

The local district attorney said Sigg, a student at Arapahoe Community College, will be tried as an adult. His first court appearance is set for Thursday.

Along with charges related to Jessica's death, Sigg is also accused in the May assault of a 22-year-old woman on a hiking trail.

One woman shocked by all of this was Sigg's ex- girlfriend, who spoke to a local reporter but only under an assumed name.

"The Austin I knew would never have done anything like that. He was my first boyfriend. He was my first kiss. He was my first date," said Danni. "He was so sweet and so kind. I know that heart is still in him."

But in his neighborhood, Sigg was known more for his penetrating stare.

It was so cold, Emily Alexander said, that it bothered her daughter for days.

"She was freaked out by a teenager staring at her at the park," Alexander said. "After Jessica was kidnapped she told me she knew who it was.

"She was sure she knew who it was and it was this teenager. Because he was 17. I didn't believe her."

Now her daughter, like many in the neighborhood, find themselves once again facing that stare -- from Sigg's mugshot as it blares from television newscasts.

And once again, feeling uneasy.

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Sandoval Lifts Giants, Into the Stands

The Giants’ Pablo Sandoval hit a home run in the first inning, in the third inning, and in the fifth inning. His was only the ninth three-homer performance in postseason history. 

SAN FRANCISCO — It is brief and illustrious, the list of baseball players who have hit three home runs during a World Series game: Albert Pujols, Reggie Jackson and Babe Ruth, who achieved the feat twice. 

Now add to it Pablo Sandoval, the San Francisco Giants’ smiling, rotund third baseman, who slammed homers in his first three at-bats Wednesday to power his team to an 8-3 victory over the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the World Series.

Sandoval’s home runs came in the first, third and fifth innings, inciting hysterics from the announced crowd of 42,855 at AT&T Park and providing a surplus of support to Barry Zito, who pitched five and two-thirds innings to earn the victory. Sandoval’s was only the ninth three-homer performance in postseason history.

“I still can’t believe it,” Sandoval said after the game. “When you’re a little kid, you dream about being in the World Series. But I wasn’t thinking about being in this situation, three homers in one game, you know?”  

Almost as surprising as Sandoval’s outburst at the plate were the struggles of Justin Verlander, the Tigers’ strapping ace, considered by many to be baseball’s best pitcher. Verlander, who was 7-0 with a 0.69 earned run average in his previous seven starts, cast a long shadow upon the series well before it began, but it disappeared Wednesday afternoon as the sun set behind the ballpark.

Leading into the game, a popular train of thought ran that the Giants only had five winnable games at their disposable, so automatic was Verlander — a five-time All-Star, a former winner of the Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards, and perennial strikeout champion — who would start twice for the Tigers.

But Sandoval and the Giants exploded such notions, pestering Verlander through a stunningly mediocre outing. He lasted just four innings, while giving up six hits, five runs and one walk, and striking out four.

“I think you start with giving the Giant hitters credit,” Tigers Manager Jim Leyland said. “They’re very pesky, and obviously the big guy had one of those unbelievable nights that happen once in a while in a World Series.”

The Tigers had last played on Oct. 18, when they finished their four-game sweep of the Yankees in the American League Championship Series, and both Verlander and Leyland conceded that the pitcher, who threw to live hitters to stay sharp during his seven days of rest, may have been out of sync.

“I’m a creature of habit,” Verlander said. “You get a little bit out of your routine, but who cares? It’s the World Series.”

The Giants spent that time turning their home field into a feel-good outdoor festival site. And the collective love on display late Monday night, when the Giants and their fans celebrated the team’s World Series berth under a sudden, surreal downpour, was revived quickly on Wednesday.

In the first inning, Sandoval, who hit a three-run triple off Verlander during the All-Star Game, fell behind to him, 0-2. But Verlander left a fastball high and flat, and Sandoval crushed it into the right-center field seats. It was only the sixth time in Verlander’s career that he allowed a home run on an 0-2 count.

“He’s one of the best pitchers in the big leagues,” Sandoval said of Verlander. “In these situations, you want to face the best.”

But Verlander was far from his best. It was almost alarming: the strikeout king could not put anyone away. In third, Angel Pagan capped an eight-pitch at-bat by chopping a ball off the bag at third for a fortuitous double. Marco Scutaro then finished his own eight-pitch battle by slashing a run-scoring single to center, extending his hitting streak to 11 games.  

After him came Sandoval, who belted an outside fastball into the left-field stands for two runs and circled the bases with his right fist raised. Two home runs seemed unlikely enough, and in the fifth a split-second of stunned silence gave way to deafening cheers when Sandoval clubbed his third, this one off Al Alburquerque. In Sandoval’s fourth at-bat, he merely singled.

“It’s a tremendous night, a night I know he’ll never forget,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said of Sandoval.  

Memories of the Giants’ championship run in 2010 made the night more poignant. Sandoval went 3 for 17 during those playoffs and played in just one World Series game, going hitless. And Zito was excluded altogether, left off the playoff roster, a fact that has made his renaissance this October fascinating.

“It’s definitely kind of a cool thing that we’re both sitting up here after 2010,” Zito said, motioning to Sandoval after the game.

Zito, 34, embodied a sharp contrast to the power game of Verlander, flipping 72-miles-per-hour curveballs and sneaking fastballs around the back alleys of the strike zone. He eased through the early going, talking to himself incessantly while on the bench, and even contributed to Verlander’s misery by driving in a run in the fourth with a swing that resembled a tennis player’s backhand volley.

“He throws this when you’re looking for that, and vice versa,” Leyland said of Zito.

Zito gave up his only run in the sixth, when Miguel Cabrera ripped a run-scoring single to center field. Tim Lincecum ended that inning by coming in and striking out Jhonny Peralta, and he struck out four more over two and one-third innings. George Kontos, trying to finish the blowout in the ninth, gave up a two-run homer to Peralta.

The Tigers’ bullpen was more worrisome. Jose Valverde, the Tigers’ former closer who has been hit hard in recent weeks, began the seventh inning and gave up run-scoring singles to Scutaro and Buster Posey before being removed.

“You know, it’s a little bit puzzling, to be honest with you,” Leyland said of Valverde’s problems, which seemed like the team’s biggest headache this postseason.

But that was before Verlander turned shockingly normal Wednesday, before Sandoval swatted his way into one of baseball’s most exclusive groups.

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Zynga surges on higher sales, casino gaming plans

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Expectations for social gaming company Zynga were pretty low before their third quarter earnings report Thursday. But sales topped forecasts, sending Zynga (ZNGA) shares up more than 15% in after hours trading.
Zynga, best known for FarmVille and other -Ville franchises, reported sales of $317 million for the quarter. That was up 3% from a year ago and surpassed the $256 million in sales that analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were predicting.

The company reported a net loss of $52 million, but excluding the compensation costs, Zynga broke even, in line with expectations.
In addition, the company announced a partnership with bwin.party, an international gaming operator that will enable real money casino games like poker, slots, and roulette in the U.K. That opens up a potentially lucrative new revenue stream for Zynga.
"We view this as a first step into real money gaming." Zynga CFO Dave Wehner said on the earnings call. "We believe it's a good first step, but only a first step towards what we think is a big opportunity for Zynga."
The earnings report comes a day after the company laid off 5% of its employees and said it would shut down 13 games under the Zynga umbrella. Several weeks ago, the company lowered its outlook for 2012, citing delays in launching news games and reduced expectations for web games.
Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said Zynga's last couple of months have been "challenging," on the earnings call but highlighted the success of the company's newest game FarmVille 2, calling the 3D web-based game a "breakthrough."
The company has lost more than three-quarters of its market value this year. As such, Zynga also announced Thursday that it was planning to repurchase $200 million's worth of Zynga shares. Stock buybacks often are viewed favorably by investors since they reduce a company's share count and increase earnings per share.
Zynga has struggled to keep users shelling out cash for virtual goods on its biggest platform: Facebook (FB). On Facebook's earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg cited trouble with gaming.
"Overall gaming on Facebook isn't doing as well as I'd like," he told investors during the call. According to Zuckerberg, Facebook posted a 20% decline in payments revenue from Zynga over the past year.
As more gamers switch to their smartphones, Zynga has focused on mobile, acquiring gaming company OMGPop, the maker of the popular game Draw Something. But Zynga CEO Mark Pincus said the game had "underperformed versus our early expectation" when Zynga cut its guidance earlier this month.

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Autumn Pasquale's mother says daughter was treated like "piece of trash"

(CBS/AP) CLAYTON, N.J. - The mother of 12-year-old Autumn Pasquale, a New Jersey girl who was strangled and dumped in a recycling bin, said Wednesday that the teenage brothers accused of killing her had treated her daughter "like a piece of trash."
Pictures: Body of missing NJ girl found
Authorities found Pasquale's body Monday night while acting on a tip from the boys' mother, who was alarmed by something she read on one of their Facebook pages, authorities said. The arrests came Tuesday after police searched the home of the boys, age 15 and 17, and found the bike Pasquale had been riding and other possessions she had with her when she disappeared over the weekend.
In their first interview since their daughter's body was found, her parents, Jennifer Cornwell and Anthony Pasquale, talked about how strong their daughter was and the horrible ending to her life.
"She was a tough girl, a tough cookie," Cornwell said.
Pasquale said he knew the family of the boys arrested in the death, saying that "everybody knows everybody," in the town of 8,000.
The parents said they had been overwhelmed by the support from the community and the donations they have received, and knew their daughter would want them to stay strong.
Funeral services were set for 2 p.m. Saturday at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Glassboro, following a public viewing set to start at 8 a.m.
Because the brothers were charged as juveniles, authorities have not made their names public. They are expected in court for a detention hearing Friday. Gloucester county Prosecutor Sean Dalton said it is likely he will ask that the case be moved to adult court, where all the proceedings would be public.
The teens were charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, disposing of a body, tampering with evidence and theft. The younger boy also was charged with luring.
Dalton said the 15-year-old persuaded the bike-obsessed Autumn to come to his home so they could trade BMX bike parts, and that the brothers stole her prized bike, but he would not discuss a possible motive for the killing.

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