Play Ball!

It’s been a long winter…but good news: major league baseball is upon us. Recently we made a pitch for your ideas on how to make a great game even better. Several of you took a swing. It’s easy to add comments here, so jump in.

Leading off is Mike: “What bugs me is the constant assault of pumped in noise -- bad music, stupid sound effects and relentless advertising. At some of the stadiums you can barely turn around and talk to your friends. All team operatives who program this junk should be sent to a special rehab center where they are allowed one beer, an easy chair and a transistor radio that plays Vin Scully. Also, cell phones should be banned. Or else there should be a special area where people who want to yak loudly and endlessly on cellphones and wave at the camera can be isolated, and perhaps studied for a National Geographic special.”

George suggests a rule change: “Increasingly, pitchers now walk the power hitters. While that has always been an accepted practice, lately it has gotten abusive. Not good for the game, a bit unfair to the vanity and skills of the power hitters, and a big disappointment to fans who hope to see a celebrity batter do his stuff. Here is a simple rule change to address those concerns without altering the game very much: 4 non consecutive balls equal a walk, and the batter advances to first base, as has always been the case. But under the new rule, 4 consecutive balls and the batter advances to second base.”

Alan writes: “I think to improve major league baseball they should publicly execute Roger Clemens who is a liar and a dirty pitcher. Also, there should be more Jewish baseball players. Hank Greenburg and Sandy Koufax, that's all I heard my uncles and aunts talk about as I was growing up. Why are Jews all stand up comics? We need hitters.


Batting cleanup is Junior, who describes himself as an American citizen and National League fan: “Major League Baseball should dispense with inter-league play. It takes the air out of traditional rivalries and dilutes the World Series. It homogenizes the American and National Leagues, which are truly quite different.”

Richard has several ideas:

*Get the government out of baseball!! Maybe the buttheads that are all worked up about steroids, HGH or Ritalin could spend their time on important things like lowering taxes or saving Darfur from its current holocaust.

*How about scheduling less than 17 home games in April at Wrigley?

*Attach electric shocks to seats of idiot fans who stand up with 2 strikes and 2 outs; it didn’t work in ’03 when the Marlins killed the Cubs with 0 and 2 counts and 2 outs, and it won’t work now.

In that same vein, have a roving enforcer to stuff a baseball down the throats of nouveau fans who boo hardworking players like Derek Lee, Alfonso Soriano and Jacque Jones who do not hit a dinger every time they come to the plate. All 3, among many others were booed when they first came to the Cubs. It makes me sick when they invade sacred ground and show how little they know about the game. The bottom line fact is that Hall of Fame players failed at least 2 out of every 3 times they came to the plate. More to the point, of the tens of thousands of men who played major league baseball for more than a cup of coffee, only 20 batted above .333; the highest lifetime average for a Hall of Famer was Ty Cobb, .366, which of course is barely above 1 out of 3 hits per at bat.”

And finally Jim adds: “All impractical and unattainable but: Free soft drinks for kids under 14. No walking out except between innings. Team gives season ticket "scholarships" to needy families who are big fans.”

Party of the First Part

You may remember that some time ago we asked for party ideas and suggested one of our own, tongue in cheek: "come as your significant other--not in dress, but rather adopt the personality of your significant other for the evening!!!”

This prompted viewer Todd to respond: “Sounds like a fast track to divorce to me !”

Happily married viewer Beth emailed that for 23 years she and her husband Tony have hosted a party, “ honoring American laureate, hero, great light, Walt Whitman.”
The invitation explains: "Song of Myself" will be read through… starting at 9 PM.
Everyone’s invited to participate.
Bring your own beverages or a dessert.
Testimonials to Walt will be lovingly accepted.

Viewer Esther sent us several ideas:

Everyone comes solo - and everyone else has to try to figure out who is a couple.

Everyone brings an ingredient or two ----- to make dinner.

Everyone brings a new person

Everyone brings the last book they read - to swap/share with others

Everyone brings an unfinished project - and posts it -
Everyone offers to help one other person finish !


Peggy’s party idea revolves around food and friendship: “I got 2 friends, and we each invited 5 of our friends. Then we cooked a fabulous dinner ,since 2 of the 3 of us are foodies. Guests loved it. It had no other theme, besides 3 cooks in the kitchen.”

Another viewer, Penny, describes her ambitious parties for her husband Michael.
“I gave Michael a surprise parade for his 50th . The invite asked what the Fourth of July, Gay and Lesbian Day, the Rose Bowl and Michael's 50th had in common. Inside it said, "A parade, of course." It asked for everyone to decorate their car, pet, themselves or whatever and come celebrate. I hired the local High School marching band to head up the parade.

Another successful party was the roast I had for Michael's 40th. When he walked in, everyone was holding a caricature of his face on a stick. After a delicious meal, friends from all times and segments of our lives roasted him. He loved it.

And finally, speaking of roasts: Rich says there is nothing like roasting a pig to bring people together:

“There is a company here in Boulder that sells whole pigs all set to put out on the grill. They will even rent you the big gas powered grill that comes on its own trailer. We threw wood chips on the fire for flavor. The pig is very easy to carve. You slow cook (smoke) it all day and by the time it is ready, the meat literally falls off the bones. We had the apple in the mouth just for effect. We also cooked vegetables inside the pig for flavor and moistness.”

Now that’s what I call a party animal.

Back to School Part 2

We inadvertently forgot to include this suggestion for improving education with the others:

From Sharon:"I've always thought that the grade school curriculum (at almost every level) would be much improved by having yearly themes from which individual subjects would draw and all would overlap. For example, if the theme was FOOD, a class might use actual recipes in math class and for science experiments--research regional dishes for history and sociology, write and produce a cookbook for an English and art project. I've always thought students would appreciate learning as a 'whole' experience more than they do the unrelated pieces of knowledge we sometimes seem to be handing out to our children."

Back to School

In addition to the ideas featured in this week's Ampolo video, we received several other thoughtful suggestions for improving education:

From Robin: "Smaller class size! My daughter is in a high school with 3,000 kids, and it's so easy to fall through the cracks that way, especially if you're a student that's 'no trouble.'"

From Libby: "Require every student to speak English; teach diagramming sentences and grammar; reward teachers and teachers’ unions for flunking students; make remedial/summer help required in order to advance.

From Alan: "Pay more money to teachers."

From Chuck: "Extranet sites filled with school news where teachers can post homework assignments, students can communicate with each other, and selected outside contributors can add content."

And from Bob: "I believe the key to establishing a quality education system throughout the country begins with quality teachers. Currently I don't see any correlation between what school districts spend on their teaching staffs and the teachers' performance. The longer a teacher works, the more the teacher is paid. This formula doesn't work, especially in the districts that need quality teachers the most. There's no incentive.

"Teachers' compensation should be tied to teaching results. Base initial salaries on a measurable, weighted formula, including school location, skills, etc. After one year, add test score results to the formula. In addition, bonuses should be paid to reward a particular school, programs within a school, a group of teachers, etc. By incentivizing teachers with higher salaries for performance, the higher paid teachers would be less likely to leave the schools they're currently at, including high need, inner city schools. The result would be retaining and adding quality teachers at the schools that need them most. Because teachers are paid according to a formula, if their results diminish, their salaries are reduced. If they fall below a certain formula guideline, they should be moved out and replaced. Finally, if they fall below a minimum standard, they should not be retained."

Thanks to all. We welcome more comments.

You Gotta Have Art

We hope you will enjoy this week’s episode, in which two viewers shared with us their favorite works of art—public and personal. We heard from others as well, and we’d like to direct you to their special pieces.

Darrell directed us to Franz Winterhalter’s Portrait of Countess Olga Shuvalova, 1858

Linda wrote: “The Song of the Lark by Jules Breton comes to mind. I’ve always loved that painting, and had a poster of it in my room. I must have identified with her peasant look: bandana, outfit, machete. Seriously, tho’, I find the painting serene and earthy.”

Howard reported: “I am now interested in a new artist, Cheryl Warrick, who is not too well known. I saw her work at the print fair in NYC in November.

And Adar wrote: “Two images came to mind immediately, both public art. One is a mural on a house in Belfast. It promotes the loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Freedom Fighters. I saw this mural, amidst a wash of others, walking down Shankhill Road. A few days later, I saw a piece of stenciled graffiti art in Dublin. It looked similar to this.”

Nora is sitting in front of one of our favorite pieces of art. It is Issue #1 (by Miranda July) of The Thing, an object-based quarterly.

Power from the People

Hmm. I see a transportation theme developing these last few weeks. Episodes on tollway charity days and reduced-cost vehicle stickers for eco-friendly cars followed by episodes on bike lanes and, this week, a bike-powered work station. Clearly Ampolo is becoming a vehicle for social change.

Mileage Rewards

One of the rewarding things about doing Ampolo is that we get to meet with and then introduce our viewers to people devoted to making a difference in the community. In past weeks, you've seen Gabe Lyon, who along with husband Paul Sereno, is bring science to under-served high schoolers through Project Exploration. You've also seen Joan Brunwasser, who was way ahead of the curve in recognizing that we probably can't trust today's voting machines. This week we introduce you to Lali Watt, a village trustee in Wilmette, Illinois. As she explains, her novel, but remarkably simple idea to improve the environment is, at this point, largely symbolic. But she hopes, as do we, that what begins as a symbol can grow into a movement