Virtual Postcard from North Carolina: Wool E. Bull Sez Hello....

These scores from last night (Wednesday night) will be outdated very shortly, but since there was apparently no rain all along the east coast and areas in the Midwest east of the Mississippi River, all of the scheduled games in the Triple-A level International League were played last night.

For those of you in Sweden or Malaysia who may not understand how the minor league baseball system in America works, some players who need to work on some skills play three levels of baseball in the hopes of playing for a major league team like the New York Yankees or the St. Louis Cardinals.

Wool E. Bull (pictured top) is the mascot for the Durham Bulls in Durham, NC. The team has been successful on the field as they are perennial contenders, and the team was the subject of 1988 film "Bull Durham" with Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. Over the weekend, Sarandon became the latest celebrity to have ice water dumped over head in a bucket to raise awareness for ALS.

Here are last night's scores; home teams are in (*):

1) *Norfolk 5 Charlotte 1

2)  *Gwinett 8 Durham 1

3)  Buffalo 6 *Scranton 5 (first game)

4) *Scranton 8 Buffalo 3 (second game)

5) Columbus 9 *Toledo 4

6) *Lehigh Valley 5 Pawtucket 1

7) *Syracuse 4 Rochester 3

8) Louisville 8 *Indianapolis 3

http://www.thisisdurham.com

 http://www.durham-nc.com

Movies of Our Youth (8 of 12)- "Bull Durham"

Congrats to the Durham Bulls from Durham, NC, , who won the Triple-A World Series over the Memphis Red Hawks by a 5-4 margin (the game lasted 11 innings, and it was broadcast on ESPN-2) in Oklahoma City last night.

Since they won the game, I thought I would feature the 1988 comedy hit "Bull Durham" as the latest entry in our series. At the time of the film, the Durham Bulls were in the Single-A Carolina League along with my hometown team the Salem Bucs from Salem, Va., (now the Salem Red Sox). But, the Bulls are now a triple-A franchise of the Florida Marlins.

Though I am considerably more politically moderate (I consider myself a centrist Democrat) than two of the film's stars, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, I admire their outspokeness against capital punishment which also happens to by my position on the highly controversial issue.

Robbins and Sarandon met on the set and quickly fell in love. They have co-habitated for a number of years but apparently they are not married. Both are also avid New York Rangers fans.

PS- This is NOT me in this photograph, but it is the mascot of the Durham Bulls.