Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Bird Brained Subway ‘Gunman’




BRONX, NEW YORK, August 8- Police nabbed a real bird brain near the Westchester Square Station when a suspect tried to sneak on the subway with a “gun.”

At around 4:30 p.m. on August 7, police were conducting bag screenings at the Westschester Square Subway Station on the Number 6 line. Officers observed a man with appeared to be a handgun in his front pocket.

Sergeant Reinaldo Colon and Police Officer Rafael Baez followed the suspect out of the station and stopped him on the corner East Tremont and Westchester Square. Cops found the suspect to be in possession of a BB gun, which looked very much like a 9mm handgun. 

Police arrested 25-year-old Alexis Santillan of Pelham Bay and charged him with criminal possession of a weapon.





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Monday, August 6, 2012

Bravest Beat Finest in Tennis Tourney




BRONX, NEW YORK, August 6- The burning ambition of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) carried them to victory over the New York City Police Department (NYPD) — defending champions of the last six year’s EmblemHealth Bronx Open. All eyes watched the much anticipated rematch at the seventh annual battle of the badges, which took place on the tennis courts of Crotona Park, the Bronx, on Saturday, August 4th.

The FDNY vs. NYPD tournament was free and served as the kick-off to the EmblemHealth Bronx Open, a USTA Pro Circuit event, which runs from August 5 - 12 at Crotona Park. This is the 20th year of the tournament operated by New York Junior Tennis & Learning (NYJTL), which provides after school and summer tennis and educational programs for more than 75,000 New York City youth.

In addition to being the finest and bravest on the New York City streets, the police and fire departments also boast a number of outstanding tennis players who look forward to this annual competition.

The tournament took place on Saturday morning prior to the start of the EmblemHealth Bronx Open qualifying event. EmblemHealth made a contribution of $2,500 to both the FDNY and NYPD education scholarship funds, and the winning team was awarded a trophy.  Each player received a miniature trophy.

The NYPD Color Guard and the FDNY Bagpipers performed at the official opening ceremony of the tournament at 10 am.

The EmblemHealth Bronx Open features 32 of the top women players in the world. Players vie for the $50,000 in prize money in singles and doubles at the final USTA Pro Circuit Event prior to the US Open. Proceeds from the tournament benefit the New York Junior Tennis & Learning (NYJTL).

"It’s great to help make professional tennis available to community residents, especially young people, while supporting an event that benefits the NYJTL,” commented Frank J. Branchini, President and Chief Operating Officer, EmblemHealth. “We’re also pleased to support education funds that assist the FDNY and NYPD and their families.”

The EmblemHealth Bronx Open is played on the same hard court surface as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, home of the US Open.

General admission is free Sunday, August 5 through Saturday, August 11. General Admission tickets for the Women’s Final on Sunday, August 12 are $10, and box seats are $25.  Admission is free daily for all children 12 and under. 

NYJTL provides FREE tennis lessons daily from 5 - 7 pm for children 6 to 18 years of age. Refreshments will be sold on-site, and there is free supervised parking.

For more information on the week-long tournament, visit www.nyjtl.org.


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Soccer Returns to Bronx




(Photos by NY Yankees)


Immediately after the conclusion of Sunday’s 6-2 Yankees win over the Mariners, the Yankee Stadium grounds crew began transforming the field for the soccer match taking place on Wednesday at 8:00 p.m between Real Madrid and A.C. Milan at Yankee Stadium.

A limited number of tickets for the match are still on sale at www.yankees.com/soccer. For information updates regarding soccer or other non-baseball events at Yankee Stadium, please follow @yankeesevents and @yankeespr on Twitter.

The match on Wednesday represents a meeting of the two most successful teams in European Cup history, as Real Madrid has won the cup on nine occasions (1956-60, ‘66, ’98, 2000, ’02) while A.C. Milan has been crowned champion of Europe seven times (1963, ’69, ’89, ‘90, ’94, 2003, ’07).

Earlier this summer on July 22, the 2012 European champion, Chelsea FC, and French Ligue 1 favorites Paris Saint-Germain played to a 1-1 tie in front of 38,202 fans in the first-ever soccer match at the current Yankee Stadium.







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Yanks Rub Out Mariners



By Howard Goldin
BRONX, NEW YORK, August 6- The Yankees captured the rubber game of the weekend series over Seattle with a 6-2 win on Sunday afternoon. It was the eighth time in the last 10 occasions that the Yankees successfully rebounded from a shutout loss with a victory.
Unlike the previous day’s contest, the game on Sunday hardly featured a pitching masterpiece. Both starters pitched five innings. Mariners’ starter Hisashi Iwamura gave up four runs on seven hits, two walks and a hit batsman. The Yankees scored a single run in four of his five innings on the mound.
The run in the fifth was scored on a solo home run by Raúl Ibañez, the homer was his 14th of 2012 and the major league leading 168th for the Yanks. The team is currently on pace to shatter its single season mark of 244, set in 2009.
In the following frame, Ibañez came to bat with two out and the bases loaded. The veteran drove in two runners with a single.
In addition to Ibañez, Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano and Chris Stewart each twice hit successfully.
Jeter raised his career hit total to 3,228, 24 hits below Napoleon Lajoie. He scored his 1,830th run in the first, which tied him with Frank Robinson for 14th place.
Cano has hit safely in 33 of his last 27 games. He and Jeter began the game with identical team leading batting averages of 
.313.
Suzuki’s double in the seventh raised his consecutive game hitting streak to 12. He also tied Don Slaught for the longest hitting streak at the start of a Yankee career. It also is the longest Yankees hitting streak in which a player had exactly one hit in each game.
Freddy Garcia pitched the requisite five innings to qualify for the win. The victory ended his three-game losing streak. The 35-year-old hurler recorded his 150th career win, a high for pitchers born in Venezuela. Garcia ranks 12th in wins for all pitchers who were born in Latin America. 
Of the accomplishment, Joe Girardi remarked, “It just goes to show how consistent he’s been.”
Garcia gave up five hits and two runs I his five frames. Girardi was quite pleased, “Freddy’s going to give you everything he’s got every time he goes out. That’s just what Freddy does. He keeps us in every game.”
The bullpen easily carried the remaining four innings, allowing only one baserunner in four innings.
The Yanks now embark on a seven game road trip, four games in Detroit and then three in Toronto. Girardi looked forward with hope, “We won a series leaving. Hopefully, this will get us on a good streak.”






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Sunday, August 5, 2012

Supreme Yankee Fan

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor Roots for her Favorite Team at Yankee Stadium
By Howard Goldin
BRONX, NEW YORK, August 5- A very large mid-week matinee crowd of 44,593 were at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday and saw a one-sided 11-3 Yankee victory over the Baltimore Orioles. One of the dedicated Yankees aficionados in the ballpark was Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
The distinguished jurist returned to her place of birth to witness an event she loves, a Yankees game. The Bronx native of Puerto Rican ancestry has been a baseball, specifically New York Yankees, fan since her childhood. Her father, Juan, hails from Santurce and her mother, Celina, is from Lajas, in Southeast Puerto Rico. The youngster lived in the Bronxdale Houses in Soundview and later in Co-op City as a youngster. She attended Cardinal Spellman High School in the borough and later graduated with honors from Princeton University, the NYU School of Law and Columbia University Law School.
Interestingly, in a time of bitter partisanship between the major political parties in the United States, Sotomayor’s credentials led to her being appointed to the bench by presidents from both parties. She was appointed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by George H. W. Bush in 1991. Six years later, Bill Clinton selected her to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. She reached the height of her profession in 2009 when Barack Obama nominated her to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Her visit on Wednesday was neither her first time in the current Yankee Stadium nor her first time at a Yankees game. Sotomayor threw out the ceremonial first pitch before a Yankees game on September 26, 2009 and she spoke humbly and emotionally as the graduation speaker at the NYU Commencement in May of 2012. On Wednesday, her presence was not political nor to gain attention. She wanted to watch and root for her favorite sports team.
In an informal meeting with reporters during the game, she stated, “Having sat in the old stadium bleachers anonymously, there is quite a chord that gets touched when you come back on a day like today and people are screaming out ‘Justice’ or ‘Sonia’ and it brings a little bit of a tear to my eye.”
Of her feeling at being in Yankee Stadium, she emotionally stated, “The spirit of the Yankees is still in the house. It’s very moving to me and important to me that the comfort they gave me most of my life-watching [them] win-continues.”
Before the game began, she joined the “bleacher creatures” in the roll call of the Yankees starters. Of the group of fans she sat with, she remarked, “I pay homage to the bleacher creatures; they are the greatest fans…To sit in sweltering heat when the sun is blazing, to sit out there in the rain, to sit out there on days when we’re losing and not to take it out on the players takes heart…I felt proud to be out there with them”
When asked why she came to the game, she replied, “I went to watch the Yankees play the [Washington] Nationals in Washington, DC and they won and [Media Relations Director] Jason [Zilo] asked me to come and sit in the bleachers.”
She spoke of her greatest Yankee memory, “The Bucky Dent home run against Boston. I was in law school and made a bet with my best friends.”
Asked if she was the only Yankees fan on the Supreme Court, she responded, “Justice [Anton] Scalia is fond of reminding me that he was the first Yankees fan on the Court…I keep telling him the only difference is that I was born in the Bronx and he wasn’t.’” Although the two justices are divided on judicial principles and philosophy, the two are united in support of the Yankees.
Her tribute to the fans of her favorite club is as follows, “We have the best fans in the world; they are so knowledgeable.” 
In 1995, a Sotomayor ruling had a very important impact upon the sport of baseball. The baseball strike of 232 days ended after she issued an injunction that prohibited MLB from unilaterally implementing a new collective bargaining agreement using replacement players.
She still remains loyal to the sport of baseball, to her favorite team, the Yankees, and to her birthplace, the Bronx.




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Friday, July 27, 2012

Tennis Returns to the Bronx





BRONX, NEW YORK, July 27- Tennis
fans from around the world will once again descend on the Bronx next as part of
the yearly EmblemHealth Bronx Open.






The event is held from August
5-12, 2012 at Crotona Park, Bronx. This year's EmblemHealth Bronx Open is a
$50,000 USTA sanctioned Challenger Event, attracting some of best Women Tennis
Professional players in the world as they prepare for the US Open Championships
at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.


EmblemHealth is the title
sponsor of the EmblemHealth Bronx Open, an USTA sanctioned $50,000 women's
tennis tournament Challenger Event. The tournament is held at Crotona Park, in
the Bronx, New York from August 5-12, 2012. Fans have the opportunity to watch
WTA Tour professionals from around the world ranked in the top 200, some of
whom who will compete in the main draw of the 2012 US Open Championships at the
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens.


Tennis players, enthusiasts
and spectators are invited to a fun-filled week of free special events at
Crotona Park, the Bronx.


Activities include adult and
junior tennis clinics, EmblemHealth Fitness Day For Kids, New York's Bravest
(New York Fire Department) vs. New York's Finest (New York Police Department)
Tournament, and the Disney Kids' Around the World Day Parade displaying the
enthusiasm and artistic talents of NYJTL participants proudly marching with
their 10-foot banners. 


2011 EmblemHealth Bronx Open
Women's Singles Final Recap:


In its 18th year as title
sponsor of the 2011 EmblemHealth Bronx Open, EmblemHealth continued to partner
with the New York Junior Tennis League (NYJTL) to promote education and leading
a healthy, active lifestyle for children and families in New York City.


Andrea Hlavackova, of the
Czech Republic, was the winner over Mona Barthel, 7-6, 6-3, in a hard-hitting
singles final played indoors at Riverside Tennis Club in Riverdale when the match
had to be moved due to torrential downpours. It was the second time in the
tournament’s history that the event final was played indoors.



Throughout the tournament, special events were geared to the dual messages of
using tennis to boost academic and athletic performance. Activities included
Kids’ Fitness Day, daily free tennis lessons, and distribution of more than
2,000 free books to kids. At the Disney Kids’ Day Parade, more than 2,000
children from NYJTL programs marched through in Crotona Park with banners they
designed during their summer programs.



Cablevision has supported the EmblemHealth Bronx Open for the six years
broadcasting the finals, filming ancillary tournament events, and packaging the
final product to air on Cablevision’s Neighborhood Journal. 


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Thursday, July 26, 2012

Jerry Seinfeld to Play Lehman




BRONX, NEW YORK, July 26- For the first time in 14 years, Jerry Seinfeld is presenting full performances of his signature stand-up comedy in New York City. Seinfeld will perform five stand-up shows – one in each New York City borough – on five Thursday nights this Fall.





Seinfeld, a New York native, got his start as a comedian in the City in the 1970s, but other than appearing at benefits and occasional short sets at local comedy clubs, he has not performed a full show in a NYC theater since his sold-out Broadway engagement, “I’m Telling You For The Last Time,” at the Broadhurst Theater in 1998, shortly after the final episode of his iconic TV show, Seinfeld.

"I was born in Brooklyn, went to school in Queens and started out as a comedian in Manhattan. I feel like New York City taught me how to be funny. I'm so excited to perform a special series of shows for my beloved home town," said Seinfeld.

Seinfeld’s five-borough performances will all fall on Thursday nights – the same as the television show that bore his name – and will feature special guest Colin Quinn, who Seinfeld directed in the hit Broadway show “Colin Quinn: Long Story Short” at the Helen Hayes Theater in 2010-11.
Tickets for all five-borough shows go on sale to the general public on Monday, July 30 at 10 am. All performances begin at 8pm. 

PLAYING SCHEDULE:
Manhattan
Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 8pm
The Beacon Theatre located at 2124 Broadway
Tickets are available online at www.BeaconTheatre.com or by calling 866-858-0008

Bronx
Thursday, October 11, 2012 at 8pm
Lehman Concert Hall located at 250 Bedford Park Boulevard West
Tickets are available online at www.LehmanCenter.org or by calling 718-960-8833

Queens (Flushing)
Thursday, October 18, 2012 at 8pm
The Colden Auditorium at Queens College located at 65-30 Kissena Blvd.
Tickets are available online at www.KupferbergCenter.org or by calling 718-793-8080

Staten Island
Thursday, November 1, 2012 at 8pm
The St. George Theatre located at 35 Hyatt Street
Tickets are available online at www.TicketMaster.com or by calling 718-442-2900

Brooklyn
Thursday, November 8, 2012 at 8pm
The Walt Whitman Theatre at Brooklyn College located at 2900 Campus Road
Tickets are available online at www.BrooklynCenter.com or by calling 718-951-4500



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