Fireworks
Fireworks are a class of low explosive pyrotechnic devices used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. The most common use of a firework is as part of a fireworks display, a display of the effects produced by firework devices. Fireworks competitions are regularly held at a number of places. Fireworks take many forms to produce the four primary effects: noise, light and floating materials, they may be designed to burn with colored flames and sparks including red, yellow, blue and silver. Displays are common throughout the world and are the focal point of many cultural and religious celebrations. Fireworks are classified as to where they perform, either as a ground or aerial firework. In the latter case they may be shot into the air by a mortar; the most common feature of fireworks is a paper or pasteboard tube or casing filled with the combustible material pyrotechnic stars. A number of these tubes or cases are combined so as to make when kindled, a great variety of sparkling shapes variously colored.
A skyrocket is a common form of firework. The aerial shell, however, is the backbone of today's commercial aerial display, a smaller version for consumer use is known as the festival ball in the United States; such rocket technology has been used for the delivery of mail by rocket and is used as propulsion for most model rockets. Fireworks were invented in medieval China around the early 9th century. One of the cultural practices for fireworks was to scare away evil spirits. Cultural events and festivities such as the Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival were and still are times when fireworks are guaranteed sights. China is exporter of fireworks in the world. Colored fireworks were invented in Europe in the 1830s. Modern skyrocket fireworks were invented in the early 20th century; the earliest documentation of fireworks dates back to about the early 9th-century medieval Chinese Tang Dynasty. The fireworks were used to accompany many festivities; the art and science of firework making has developed into an independent profession.
In China, pyrotechnicians were respected for their knowledge of complex techniques in mounting firework displays. Chinese people believed that the fireworks could expel evil spirits and bring about luck and happiness. During the Song Dynasty, many of the common people could purchase various kinds of fireworks from market vendors, grand displays of fireworks were known to be held. In 1110, a large fireworks display in a martial demonstration was held to entertain Emperor Huizong of Song and his court. A record from 1264 states that a rocket-propelled firework went off near the Empress Dowager Gong Sheng and startled her during a feast held in her honor by her son Emperor Lizong of Song. Rocket propulsion was common in warfare, as evidenced by the Huolongjing compiled by Liu Bowen and Jiao Yu. In 1240 the Arabs acquired knowledge of its uses from China. A Syrian named Hasan al-Rammah wrote of rockets and other incendiaries, using terms that suggested he derived his knowledge from Chinese sources, such as his references to fireworks as "Chinese flowers".
In regards to colored fireworks, this was derived and developed from earlier Chinese application of chemical substances to create colored smoke and fire. Such application appears in the Huolongjing and Wubeizhi, which describes recipes, several of which used low-nitrate gunpowder, to create military signal smokes with various colors. In the Wubei Huolongjing, two formulas appears for firework-like signals, the sanzhangju and baizhanglian, that produces silver sparkles in the smoke. In the Huoxilüe by Zhao Xuemin, there are several recipes with low-nitrate gunpowder and other chemical substances to tint flames and smoke; the Chinese pyrotechnics have been written about by foreign authors such as Antoine Caillot who wrote "It is certain that the variety of colours which the Chinese have the secret of giving to flame is the greatest mystery of their fireworks." Or Sir John Barrow who wrote "The diversity of colours indeed with which the Chinese have the secret of cloathing fire seems to be the chief merit of their pyrotechny."Fireworks were produced in Europe by the 14th century, becoming popular by the 17th century.
Lev Izmailov, ambassador of Peter the Great, once reported from China: "They make such fireworks that no one in Europe has seen." In 1758, the Jesuit missionary Pierre Nicolas le Chéron d'Incarville, living in Beijing, wrote about the methods and composition on how to make many types of Chinese fireworks to the Paris Academy of Sciences, which revealed and published the account five years later. Amédée-François Frézier published his revised work Traité des feux d'artice pour le spectacle in 1747, covering the recreational and ceremonial uses of fireworks, rather than their military uses. Music for the Royal Fireworks was composed by George Frideric Handel in 1749 to celebrate the Peace treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, declared the previous year. Improper use of fireworks may be dangerous, both to bystanders. For this reason, the use of fireworks is legally restricted. Display fireworks are restricted by law for use by professionals
The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock band formed in Jacksonville, FL, in 1969 by brothers Duane Allman and Gregg Allman, as well as Dickey Betts, Berry Oakley, Butch Trucks, Jai Johanny "Jaimoe" Johanson. The band incorporated elements of Southern rock, blues and country music, their live shows featured jam band-style improvisation and instrumentals; the group's first two studio releases, The Allman Brothers Band, Idlewild South, stalled commercially, but their 1971 live release, At Fillmore East, represented an artistic and commercial breakthrough. The album features extended renderings of their songs "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed", "You Don't Love Me" and "Whipping Post", is considered among the best live albums made. Group leader Duane Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident that year – on October 29, 1971, the band dedicated Eat a Peach to his memory, a dual studio/live album that cemented the band's popularity and featured Gregg Allman's "Melissa" and Dickey Betts's "Blue Sky".
Following the motorcycling death of bassist Berry Oakley one year and 13 days on November 11, 1972, the group recruited keyboardist Chuck Leavell and bassist Lamar Williams for 1973's Brothers and Sisters. This album included Betts's hit single "Ramblin' Man"; these tunes went on to become classic rock radio staples, placed the group at the forefront of 1970s rock music. Internal turmoil overtook them soon after; the band reformed once more in 1989, touring heavily. A series of personnel changes in the late 1990s was capped by the departure of Betts; the group found stability during the 2000s with bassist Oteil Burbridge and guitarists Warren Haynes and Derek Trucks and became renowned for their month-long string of shows at New York City's Beacon Theatre each spring. The band retired for good in 2014 with the departure of Derek Trucks. Butch Trucks died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on January 24, 2017, in West Palm Beach, Florida, at the age of 69. Gregg Allman died from complications arising from liver cancer on May 27, 2017.
The band has been awarded seven gold and four platinum albums, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Rolling Stone ranked them 52nd on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time in 2004. Duane Allman, his younger brother, grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida. Gregg was first to pick up the guitar, but his brother soon surpassed him, dropping out of high school to practice constantly; the duo formed the Escorts, which evolved into the Allman Joys in the mid-1960s. By 1967, the group spent time in St. Louis, where a Los Angeles-based recording executive discovered them. Duane moved back to pursue a career as a session musician in Muscle Shoals, while Gregg stayed behind in Hollywood bound by contractual obligations with Liberty, who believed he could hold a solo career; the two were apart for the first time for a year, but managed to reconvene in Miami, producing an album-length demo with the 31st of February, a group that included drummer Butch Trucks. At FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Duane Allman became the primary session guitarist, recording with artists such as Aretha Franklin and King Curtis.
Duane suggested to Wilson Pickett. FAME signed Duane to a five-year recording contract, he put together a group, including Johnny Sandlin and Paul Hornsby. Duane recruited Jai Johanny Johanson after hearing his drumming on a songwriting demo of Jackie Avery, the two moved into his home on the Tennessee River. Allman invited bassist Berry Oakley to jam with the new group; the group had immediate chemistry, Duane's vision for a "different" band — one with two lead guitarists and two drummers — began evolving. Meanwhile, Phil Walden, the manager of the late Otis Redding and several other R&B acts, was looking to expand into rock acts. FAME owner Hall became frustrated with the group's recording methods, offered the tracks recorded and their contract to Walden and Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, who purchased them for $10,000. Walden intended the upcoming group to be the centerpiece of his new Atlantic-distributed label, Capricorn. Duane and Jaimoe moved to Jacksonville in early March 1969, as Duane had become frustrated with being a "robot" of those at FAME.
He invited anyone. Dickey Betts, leader of Oakley's previous band, the Second Coming, became the group's second lead guitarist, while Butch Trucks, with whom Duane and Gregg had cut a demo less than a year prior, became the new group's second drummer; the Second Coming's Reese Wynans played keyboards, Duane and Betts all shared vocal duties. The unnamed group began to perform free shows in Willow Branch Park in Jacksonville, with an ever-changing, rotating cast of musicians. Duane felt his brother should be the vocalist of the new group. Gregg left Los Angeles and entered rehearsal on March 26, 1969, when the group was rehearsing Muddy Waters' "Trouble No More" Although Gregg
Buffalo Bisons
The Buffalo Bisons are a professional Minor League Baseball team based in Buffalo, New York. They are the Triple-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays; the Bisons play at Sahlen Field in downtown Buffalo. The Bisons have existed in some form since 1877, most of that time playing in professional baseball's second tier; the Bisons did not play from June 1970 through the 1978 season. The 1927 Bisons were recognized as one of the 100 greatest minor league teams of all time. In 2016, Forbes listed the Bisons as the 15th-most valuable Minor League Baseball team with a value of $34 million. Organized baseball in Buffalo had been around since at least 1859, when the Niagara baseball club of the National Association of Base Ball Players played its first season; the first professional team to play in Buffalo began in 1877. In 1886, the Bisons moved into minor league baseball as members of the original International League known as the Eastern League; this team joined the Western League in 1899, was within weeks of becoming a major league team when the Western League announced it was changing its name to the American League in 1900.
However, by the start of the 1901 season, Buffalo had been bumped from the league in favor of the Boston Americans. This franchise continued in the Eastern/International League through June 1970, when it transferred to Winnipeg, Manitoba as the Winnipeg Whips, due to poor attendance, stadium woes, the Montreal Expos affiliating with the franchise, an saturated Buffalo sports market that saw the Buffalo Sabres of the NHL and Buffalo Braves of the NBA established the same year. In 1969, Héctor López became the first black manager at the Triple-A level while managing Buffalo Bisons—six years before Frank Robinson became the first black manager in Major League Baseball. After stops in Winnipeg and Hampton, the team was suspended after the 1973 season to make way for the Memphis Blues, who were moving up from Double-A. In 1979, by which point the Braves had left town, the Double-A Eastern League's Jersey City A's were forced to leave their city due to the decrepitude of that city's Roosevelt Stadium and opted to move to Waterbury, Connecticut, a city that had an Eastern League team.
Again with Barron leading the effort, the league awarded the extra franchise to Buffalo, the Bisons returned to the field. After six seasons in the Eastern League, the Bisons rejoined the Triple-A ranks in 1985, joining the American Association when the Wichita Aeros' franchise rights were transferred to Buffalo. When, as part of a reorganization of Triple-A baseball, the American Association folded after the 1997 season, Buffalo joined the International League. Since their return to Triple-A baseball in 1985, the Bisons have qualified for the playoffs several times. In 2004, although the Bisons were 10 games behind the first-place team in June, the Bisons won their division. Buffalo won its first-round playoff, against the Durham Bulls, advanced to the Governors' Cup Finals, in which they had home field advantage over the Richmond Braves; the remnants of Hurricane Ivan caused major flooding problems in Richmond and the entire series was played in Buffalo. The Bisons defeated the Braves in four games and won the Governors' Cup for the second time since 1998.
In 2005, Buffalo won the North Division and played the Indianapolis Indians in the first round, winning the first two games in Indianapolis, but losing all three remaining games. With many of its players shuffled to the Cleveland Indians throughout the final months of the season, the Bisons failed to qualify for the playoffs in 2006. In 2007, Buffalo again failed to clinch a playoff spot, marking the first time since Buffalo was parented with the Pittsburgh Pirates that the Bisons missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons; the team has not reached the playoffs since then. After the 2008 season, Buffalo parted ways with Cleveland, as the Indians signed an affiliation agreement with the Columbus Clippers beginning in 2009; the Bisons signed a two-year agreement to be the top home for New York Mets prospects. On December 16, 2008, the Mets announced that Ken Oberkfell would be the Bisons new manager for 2009. At the same press conference, the Bisons unveiled their new logo; the logo paid homage to baseball's history in the city of Buffalo with the city's skyline in the background.
The logo, along with the new colors of blue and orange resemble that of the team's new parent club, the Mets. In the 2009–2010 off-season, the Bisons were chosen to host the 2012 Triple-A All-Star Game to celebrate 25 years at Coca-Cola Field; the game was played on Wednesday, July 11, 2012. In late July 2010, the Bisons and Mets agreed on a two-year extension that carried their agreement through the 2012 season; the 2010–2011 off-season saw changes to the Bisons coaching staff. Ken Oberkfell was replaced by Tim Teufel, who wa
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the National League East division; the Mets are one of two Major League clubs based in New York City. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed NL teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants; the Mets' colors are composed of the Dodgers' blue and the Giants' orange, which form the outer two bands of the New York City flag. During the 1962 and 1963 seasons, the Mets played their home games at the Polo Grounds. From 1964 to 2008, the Mets' home ballpark was Shea Stadium. In 2009, they moved into Citi Field. In their 1962 inaugural season, the Mets posted a record of 40–120, the worst regular season record since MLB went to a 162-game schedule; the team never finished better than second to last until the 1969 "Miracle Mets" beat the Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 World Series in what is considered one of the biggest upsets in World Series history.
Since they have played in four additional World Series, including a dramatic run in 1973 that ended in a seven-game loss to the Oakland Athletics, a second championship in 1986 over the Boston Red Sox, a Subway Series loss against their cross-town rivals the New York Yankees in 2000, a five-game loss to the Kansas City Royals in 2015. The Mets qualified to play in the Major League Baseball postseason in 1988 and 2006, coming within one game of the World Series both years. After near-misses in 2007 and 2008, the Mets made the playoffs in 2015 for the first time in nine years, won their first NL pennant in 15 years; the team again returned to the playoffs in this time with a wild card berth. This was the team's second back-to-back playoff appearance, the first occurring during the 1999 and 2000 seasons; as of the end of the 2018 MLB season, the Mets overall win-loss record is 4362–4732, good for a.480 win percentage. After the 1957 season, the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants relocated from New York to California to become the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants leaving the largest city in the United States with no National League franchise and only one major league team, the New York Yankees of the American League.
With the threat of a New York team joining a new third league, the National League expanded by adding the New York Mets following a proposal from William Shea. In a symbolic reference to New York's earlier National League teams, the new team took as its primary colors the blue of the Dodgers and the orange of the Giants, colors featured on the Flag of New York City; the nickname "Mets" was adopted: it was a natural shorthand to the club's corporate name, "The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc.", hearkened back to the "Metropolitans", its brevity was advantageous for newspaper headlines. For the first two years of its existence, the team played its home games at the historic Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan. In 1964, they moved into newly constructed Shea Stadium in Flushing, where the Mets played until the 2008 season. In 2009, the club moved into Citi Field, adjacent to the former Shea Stadium site. During their history, the Mets have won two World Series titles, five National League pennants and six National League East titles.
The Mets qualified for the postseason as the National League wild card team in 1999, 2000, 2016. The Mets have appeared in five World Series, more than any other expansion team in MLB history, their two championships are the most titles among expansion teams, equal to the tallies of the Toronto Blue Jays, Miami Marlins, Kansas City Royals. The Mets held the New York baseball single-season attendance record for 29 years, they broke the Yankees' 1948 record by drawing nearly 2.7 million spectators in 1970. The Mets broke their own record five times before the record was regained by the Yankees in 1999; the 1962 Mets posted a 40–120 record, a record for the most losses in a season since 1899. In 1966, the Mets famously bypassed future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in the amateur draft, instead selecting Steve Chilcott, who never played in the majors, but the following year, they acquired future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver in a lottery. Seaver helped the 1969 "Miracle Mets" win the new National League East division title defeat the Atlanta Braves to win the National League pennant and the favored Baltimore Orioles to win the 1969 World Series.
In 1973, the Mets rallied from 5th place to win the division, despite a record of only 82–79. They shocked the favored Cincinnati Reds "Big Red Machine" in the NLCS and pushed the defending World Series champion Oakland Athletics to a seventh game, but lost the series. Notably, 1973 was the only NL East title between 1970 and 1980 that wasn't won by either the Philadelphia Phillies or the Pittsburgh Pirates. Star pitcher Tom Seaver was traded in 1977, on a day remembered as "the Midnight Massacre", the Mets fell into last place for several years; the franchise turned around in the mid-1980s. During this time the Mets drafted slugger Darryl Strawberry and 1985 Cy Young Award winner Dwight Gooden. In addition, former National League MVP and perennial Gold Glove winner Keith Hernandez was obtained by the Mets in 1983. In 1985, they acquired Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter from the Montreal Expos and won 98 games, but narrowly missed the playoffs. In 1986, they won the division with a record of 108–54, one of the best in National Le
John Mellencamp
John J Mellencamp known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor. He is known for his catchy, populist brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation. Mellencamp rose to fame in the 1980s while "honing an startlingly plainspoken writing style that, starting in 1982, yielded a string of Top 10 singles, including "Hurts So Good," "Jack & Diane," "Crumblin' Down," "Pink Houses," "Lonely Ol' Night," "Small Town," "R. O. C. K. in the U. S. A." "Paper in Fire,” and "Cherry Bomb." He has amassed 22 Top 40 hits in the United States. In addition, he holds the record for the most tracks by a solo artist to hit number one on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, with seven. Mellencamp has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, his latest album of original songs, Sad Clowns & Hillbillies, was released on April 28, 2017 to widespread critical acclaim. Mellencamp is one of the founding members of Farm Aid, an organization that began in 1985 with a concert in Champaign, Illinois, to raise awareness about the loss of family farms and to raise funds to keep farm families on their land.
Farm Aid concerts have remained an annual event over the past 34 years, as of 2019 the organization has raised over $53 million to promote a strong and resilient family farm system of agriculture. Mellencamp was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 10, 2008. On June 14, 2018, Mellencamp was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, his biggest musical influences are Woody Guthrie, James Brown and the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone contributor Anthony DeCurtis said: "Mellencamp has created an important body of work that has earned him both critical regard and an enormous audience, his songs document the joys and struggles of ordinary people seeking to make their way, he has brought the fresh air of common experience to the glamour-addled world of popular music."In 2001, Billboard magazine editor-in-chief Timothy White said: Johnny Cash called Mellencamp "one of the 10 best songwriters" in music. Mellencamp is of German ancestry, he was born with spina bifida. Mellencamp formed his first band, Crepe Soul, at the age of 14 and played in the local bands Trash, Snakepit Banana Barn and the Mason Brothers.
When Mellencamp was 17, he eloped with his pregnant girlfriend Priscilla Esterline. Mellencamp became a father in December 1970, his daughter, Michelle became a mother at age 18, making Mellencamp a grandfather at 37. Mellencamp attended Vincennes University, a two-year college in Vincennes, starting in 1972. During this time he used drugs and alcohol, stating in a 1986 Rolling Stone interview, "When I was high on pot, it affected me so drastically that when I was in college there were times when I wouldn't get off the couch. I would lie there, listening to Roxy Music, right next to the record player so I wouldn't have to get up to flip the record over. I'd listen to that record. There would be four or five days like that when I would be gone."Upon graduating from Vincennes University in 1974, Mellencamp played in several local bands including the glitter-band Trash, named for a New York Dolls song, he got a job in Seymour installing telephones. At this time, who had given up drugs and alcohol before graduating from college, decided to pursue a career in music and traveled to New York City in an attempt to land a record contract.
After about 18 months of traveling between Indiana and New York City in 1974 and 1975, Mellencamp found someone receptive to his music and image in Tony DeFries of MainMan Management. DeFries insisted that Mellencamp's first album, Chestnut Street Incident, a collection of covers and a handful of original songs, be released under the stage name Johnny Cougar, insisting that the bumpy German name "Mellencamp" was too hard to market. Mellencamp reluctantly agreed. Mellencamp confessed in a 2005 interview: "That was put on me by some manager. I went to New York and everybody said,'You sound like a hillbilly.' And I said,'Well, I am.' So that's. I was unaware of it until it showed up on the album jacket; when I objected to it, he said,'Well, either you're going to go for it, or we're not going to put the record out.' So, what I had to do... but I thought the name was pretty silly."Mellencamp recorded The Kid Inside, the follow-up to Chestnut Street Incident, in 1977, but DeFries decided against releasing the album and Mellencamp was dropped from MCA records.
Mellencamp drew interest from Rod Stewart's manager, Billy Gaff, after parting ways with DeFries and was signed onto the small Riva Records label. At Gaff's request, Mellencamp moved to London, for nearly a year to record and tour behind 1978's A Biography; the record wasn't released in the United States, but it yielded a No. 1 hit in Australia with "I Need a Lover." Riva Records added "I Need a Lover" to Mellencamp's next album released in the United States, 1979's John Cougar, where the song became a No. 28 single in late 1979. Pat Benatar recorded "I Need a Lover" on her debut album In the Heat of the Night. In 1980, Mellencamp returned with the Steve Cropper-produced Nothin' Matters and What If It Did, which yielded two Top 40 singles – "This Time" and "Ain't Even Done With the Night". "The singles were stupid little pop songs," he told Record Magazine in 1983. "I take no credit for that r
Stephen Strasburg
Stephen James Strasburg is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Washington Nationals of Major League Baseball. Strasburg was selected by Washington with the first pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, he made his MLB debut with the Nationals in 2010. A talented but unpolished high school baseball player at West Hills High School, Strasburg played college baseball for the San Diego State Aztecs. There, he became one of the best collegiate pitchers in the country, he pitched for the United States national baseball team at the 2008 Summer Olympics, winning the bronze medal. Two years Strasburg was called the "most-hyped pick in draft history" by ESPN and the "most hyped and watched pitching prospect in the history of baseball" by Sports Illustrated. Strasburg's major league debut on June 8, 2010, produced a franchise-record 14 strikeouts. Several months into his major league career, Strasburg tore a ligament in his pitching elbow; the injury required a year of rehabilitation. He was only able to pitch 24 innings that year.
His 2012 season marked a successful return to form. Strasburg led the National League in strikeouts in 2014, pitches an average fastball of 95.3 miles per hour. Strasburg attended West Hills High School in California. At first, he struggled on the school's baseball team, posting a 1–10 win–loss record in his junior year. A twelve-strikeout game against El Capitan High School in his senior year, in which Strasburg allowed one hit, drew attention from scouts, he finished his senior year with a 1.68 earned run average and 74 strikeouts in 62 1⁄3 innings pitched, with seven complete games. He finished with three varsity letters, set school records in ERA and shutouts, was named his school's 2006 Scholar-Athlete of the Year, he was named second-team all-league and his team's MVP. Despite these achievements, he was not selected in that year's Major League Baseball Draft. Strasburg was not accepted there. Although recruited by a number of schools across the country, he enrolled at San Diego State University, where both of his parents attended school.
He played college baseball for the San Diego State Aztecs, coached by the late Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Tony Gwynn. When he first arrived, he was an unlikely candidate to pitch collegiate baseball at all, he had a difficult time adjusting to college life, moving out of his dormitory and in with his mother after five days. He acknowledged, "I wasn't the most mature guy out of high school. … The dorm was an overload, too much, too soon." Strasburg responded with an intense workout regimen. He worked to improve his mental toughness. Coaches tested him by placing him in high-pressure situations and telling him he needed to get strikeouts. San Diego State used Strasburg as a relief pitcher in his freshman year, he held opponents to a.141 batting average against and was named Co-Freshman of the Year for the Mountain West Conference. In the summer of 2007, Strasburg played for the Torrington Twisters of the collegiate summer baseball New England Collegiate Baseball League, he was named to the NECBL First Team as a closer, was chosen as the Top Pro Prospect and Top Relief Pitcher in the NECBL.
In 2008, as a sophomore, Strasburg was converted to a full-time starting pitcher. He went 134 strikeouts in 98 1/3 innings. Four of his thirteen starts in 2008 were complete games. On April 11 of that year, he struck out a Mountain West Conference record 23 batters in a game versus the University of Utah, he gained eight miles per hour on his fastball working in the upper 90s and touching 100 mph. Strasburg finished his junior year, the 2009 season, 13–1 with a 1.32 ERA, 59 hits allowed, 16 earned runs, 19 walks, 195 strikeouts in 109 innings pitched. In his final home start on May 8, 2009, Strasburg threw his first career no-hitter while striking out 17 Air Force Falcons batters, his lone loss came against the Virginia Cavaliers in the NCAA Regionals as Virginia advanced toward the College World Series, but he still struck out 15 in seven innings during the loss. He won the National Pitcher of the Year Award. Strasburg was named to the United States national baseball team on June 24, 2008. In that role he appeared in the 2008 World University Baseball Championship.
The United States won the gold medal in the competition. Strasburg was the lone collegiate player selected for the United States national team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In his first start at the Olympics, Strasburg one-hit the Netherlands over seven innings, striking out five of the first six batters he faced and 11 overall; the lone hit Strasburg allowed was a seventh-inning single to Sharnol Adriana. With the United States having secured a spot in the semifinals medal round, manager Davey Johnson held Strasburg from what would have been his second start on August 20 in order to pitch him in the first round of the semifinals against Norge Luis Vera of the Cuban national baseball team, on August 22. Vera outdueled Strasburg with six innings pitched and only two runs, one earned. Strasburg, lasted only four innings while giving up three runs, two earned. Cuba won the game 10–2. Strasburg ended up with a 1–1 record, a 1.67 ERA, a bronze medal for the Olympics, as the United States won its following contest aga
Association football
Association football, more known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport; the game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal. Association football is one of a family of football codes, which emerged from various ball games played worldwide since antiquity; the modern game traces its origins to 1863 when the Laws of the Game were codified in England by The Football Association. Players are not allowed to touch the ball with hands or arms while it is in play, except for the goalkeepers within the penalty area. Other players use their feet to strike or pass the ball, but may use any other part of their body except the hands and the arms; the team that scores most goals by the end of the match wins.
If the score is level at the end of the game, either a draw is declared or the game goes into extra time or a penalty shootout depending on the format of the competition. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, which organises World Cups for both men and women every four years; the rules of association football were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863 and the name association football was coined to distinguish the game from the other forms of football played at the time rugby football. The first written "reference to the inflated ball used in the game" was in the mid-14th century: "Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe"; the Online Etymology Dictionary states that the "rules of the game" were made in 1848, before the "split off in 1863". The term soccer comes from a slang or jocular abbreviation of the word "association", with the suffix "-er" appended to it; the word soccer was first recorded in 1889 in the earlier form of socca.
Within the English-speaking world, association football is now called "football" in the United Kingdom and "soccer" in Canada and the United States. People in countries where other codes of football are prevalent may use either term, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now use "football" for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is evidence. Cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net, it was remarkably similar to modern football. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established. Phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup. Athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda and harpastum were played involving hands and violence.
They all appear to have resembled rugby football and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified "mob football", the antecedent of all modern football codes, these three games involved more handling the ball than kicking. Other games included kemari in chuk-guk in Korea. Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other ball games played around the world FIFA has recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe; the modern rules of association football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the varying forms of football played in the public schools of England. The history of football in England dates back to at least the eighth century AD; the Cambridge Rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, were influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting attended by representatives from Eton, Rugby and Shrewsbury schools.
They were not universally adopted. During the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various forms of football; some came up with their own distinct codes of rules, most notably the Sheffield Football Club, formed by former public school pupils in 1857, which led to formation of a Sheffield FA in 1867. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School devised an influential set of rules; these ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association in 1863, which first met on the morning of 26 October 1863 at the Freemasons' Tavern in Great Queen Street, London. The only school to be represented on this occasion was Charterhouse; the Freemason's Tavern was the setting for five more meetings between October and December, which produced the first comprehensive set of rules. At the final meeting, the first FA treasurer, the representative from Blackheath, withdrew his club from the FA over the removal of two draft rules at the previous meeting: the first allowed for running with the ball in hand.
Other English rugby clubs followed this lead and did not join the FA and instead in 1871 formed the Rugby Football Union. The eleven remaining clubs, under
