Here is a look back at a few key trades involving the Cleveland Indians over the past 50 years. This is my entry for BCSWeek3. April 17, 1960 - The "Curse" Begins: Few players captured the imagination of a town the way Rocky Colavito did in Cleveland and Tribe fans were stunned on the day that GM Frank Lane traded him to the Detroit Tigers for AL batting champion Harvey Kuenn. Colavito spent four seasons with the Tigers and enjoyed the best year of his career in 1962 when he hit .290 with 45 dingers and 140 RBI. Kuenn spent one uneventful season with the Indians before beinig traded to the Giants. Many still consider the Colavito/Kuenn trade responsible for the ensuing decades of baseball mediocrity in Cleveland. "The Curse of Rocky Colavito" lives on to this very day. Colavito did return to the Tribe in 1965, but his best seasons were behind him and on July 29, 1967 the Indians once again traded "The Rock", this time to the Chicago White Sox.

U.S. candidates blitz states as Super Tuesday looms

The same can be said of her forced plan for Socialized Medicine. A program which is failing miserably in such Nations as Canada and the United Kingdom. Canada, as just one example, is now experiencing a dramatic shortfall in physicians.

The second noteworthy commentary was Hillary's closing comment, a subtle and exceedingly well choreographed re-play of the "victim card" which has thus far been so eminently successful for her. Holding back the tears, Hillary inferred that she was the most qualified to be Commander-In-Chief because she "had been tested" by the public humiliation that she was forced to endure with the forced admission of Bill's Monica caper. The unfortunate truth is that in the absence of the "blue dress", Hillary would have led the savaging-brigade against Monica precisely as she had done against Jennifer Flowers, Juanita Broderick, Paula Jones, Kathleen Wiley, etc., etc..

Pat McKee: High School Q&A

Question: I would like to know what was the most high school basketball ever to participate in on year? is there a book or website I could go to find out. Also I would like to find all the nicknames of the schools? (Bill from Westfield)

Answer: There is a book called "Hoosier Hysteria" by Herb Schwomeyer that includes all kinds of fact about Indiana high school basketball. Its last publication was in 1997. Another book with lots of information is called "Tourney Time" by Bill May. It has info on Indiana high school basketball from 1911-2003.

As for a place listing nicknames going back, a booklet called "Where in the World is Wes-Del, Westview and Wapahani" by Harley Sheets provides all kinds of school info, including nicknames, consolidations, etc.

All three are available through the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, which of course has numerous other books about Indiana high school basketball, too.

Oscar and Hollywood in splitsville!

In years gone by, this generally took the form of disdainful cinephiles bemoaning the Academy's atrocious taste. ("Ordinary People" wins over "Raging Bull"! "Dances With Wolves" wins over "GoodFellas"! Yul Brynner wins over Olivier! And so on.) More recently, we've heard the inverse of that criticism, in which the Oscars have become an inward-looking, bicoastal-elite, anti-populist celebration of arty niche movies that no regular folks out there in cud-munching middle America have actually seen. You know, weird obscurities like "The Departed," "Chicago," "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," "A Beautiful Mind" and "Gladiator" -- all of them 21st-century best-picture winners, with a cumulative $1 billion-plus in domestic ticket sales.

Astrakhan Region

Winter precipitation is in the form of snow, wet snow, and rain. In summer, torrential rains are accompanied by thunderstorms and sometimes hail. The average yearly temperature is from 8.5 to 10 C with a maximum of +42 C and a minimum of -30 C. About 70% of the region is desert or semidesert. The topography is flat with salt dome uplifts.

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