World Baseball Classic 43- Everything (Finals G6 Posted)

[Free Republics]

Sporting World

WBC 43: Now a Free Agent, Namo Busque comes up big again in Game 5 as Free Republics stun Super-Llamaland 4-1
by: Clarice Cormier

Former El Fierro Seals ace Namo Busque continued his emergence as an international superstar at the World Baseball Classic, holding the #1 ranked Super-Llamaland Tigers to a single run while striking out 17 Tiger batters as the Free Republics defeated the reigning World Baseball Classic champs to advance to the semifinals. His amazing performance came just hours after the surprise announcement that the El Fierro Seals had released their ace in accordance with the Baseball League of Malifornia's new policy prohibiting players from playing on mixed-gender teams or against teams that contain non-male players during the offseason. Free Republics starting catcher Brock Shield was also released by the Los Martires Martyrs in accordance with the same policy. The new policy is believed to be designed to appease the Salvation Circle, which runs the Malifornia Charter Society. The Salvation Circle was infuriated by the National Baseball Team's successful Stand Up to Sexism campaign that forced the New Republican Wrestling Conglomerate to re-hire an executive who was fired due to pressure from radical Christian groups. Busque will undoubtedly be a highly sought-after free agent even though the club baseball season is set to begin anew in about a month and most teams have already reported for spring training.

Both Busque and Super-Llamaland starter Justin Zheng started off the game in dominant fashion. The first 11 batters that stepped up to the plate in game 5 all went down on strikes. Republican third baseman Hollie Rogers stepped up to the plate. Zheng's first pitch was a fastball right down the middle. Rogers somehow missed the pitch by an inch for strike 1. After the second and third pitches went outside for balls, Zheng tossed a changeup and Rogers took it for strike 2. On a 2-2 count, the Tiger pitcher went with a high fastball that was actually just outside of the strike zone. Nonetheless, Rogers made contact with it and everybody in the Brattleboro stadium knew it was gone from the moment it left the bat. The Free Republics had a 1-0 lead and Zheng's aura of invincibility was broken. Brock Shield would reach on a line drive single to left field, left fielder Julie Brodeur would move Shield to third with a single and right fielder J.L. Longoria would draw a walk to load the bases for Ferrau Bergeron. Bergeron would hit a routine grounder to Tiger shortstop Markus Wright who flipped to second baseman James Hao for out #3, stranding 3 runners.

Namo Busque took a perfect game into the 5th inning. Lucien Russo, the right fielder, led off that inning for the Tigers. Busque tossed a nasty 92 mile per hour slider to start the at-bat. Somehow, Russo connected, sending the ball down the line in right. J.L. Longoria chased after it, scaling the wall, but he could not come down with the catch as the ball landed in the aisle a few rows from the front on an ice-cold beer can that had just been sold. The customer, a Republican fan, would be handed the ball along with the beer and would threaten to throw the home run ball back before deciding to hang onto it at the insistence of his wife and son.

It did not take long for the Free Republics to answer as star shortstop Honomi Kamei doubled, advanced to third on a Nicholas Fisher sac fly and scored on an Oskar Bjorgum sacrifice bunt as Republican fans applauded Bjorgum's unselfish decision to put the team first. The Free Republics would add a third run in the 6th inning on a Brock Shield home run to lead off the inning that knocked Zheng out of the game. Caroline Wladecki relived Zheng and got her team out of the inning with 3 quick outs on just 6 pitches. Wladecki stayed in the game for the 7th inning and got another 2 outs before getting into trouble after Nicholas Fisher doubled, Oskar Bjorgum reached on an infield single and Hollie Rogers drew a walk. Jason Van Dijk came in for the Tigers, got ahead 0-2 on Brock Shield and then lost control of a pitch, hitting Shield to bring in the 4th Republican run. Moments later, Julie Brodeur's popup in foul territory ended up in the glove of Nicholas Rousseau, ending the inning. While Super-Llamaland would manage to get 2 runners on base in the 9th inning, Namo Busque would strike out their designated hitter Carsten Riviera for the 27th Tiger out and the 17th strikeout to close out a complete game and send the Free Republics to the WBC semifinals for the first time!

In the semifinals, the Free Republics will face Abanhfleft. Both teams are competing in their first WBC semifinal ever. Abanhfleft are in competing in their 13th consecutive World Baseball Classic. The Free Republics are competing in their 2nd consecutive World Baseball Classic, 6th total and 5th out of the last 6. This is a sharp contrast from the other semifinal featuring 5-time champions Newmanistan and 4-time champions Schiltzberg battling to determine whether Newmanistan will have an opportunity to regain sole possession of the record or whether Schiltzberg will have the opportunity to tie Newmanistan and Super-Llamaland once again. The WBC semifinals will be broadcast live on FBC unless you live in Malifornia, where the local FBC affiliates are now allowed to show WBC games due to the Salvation Circle's sexism.

Clarice Cormier is Sporting World's international baseball correspondent and our lead beat writer for the Republica Vipers of the X Baseball League. She is a graduate of the Barteaux University School of Journalism and an alumnus of the Barjavel Academy at Republica. Clarice is a former cheerleader who has always been a huge baseball fan. After graduating college, she decided that she would rather do sportswriting instead of political reporting and, luckily for her, Sporting World has always been happy to hire young journalists straight out of college. She has also appeared in our annual lingerie issue 5 years in a row!

[The Sherpa Empire]

To: Namo Busque
From: Kalden Wang, Khumbu Icefall Doctors General Manager

Dear Mr. Busque,

I am sorry to hear that you were released by the El Fierro Seals as a result of BLM's sexist policies, and I respect your decision to defy those policies by playing in the World Baseball Classic. But in every problem there is an opportunity. If you are interested in coming to the Sherpa capital, Lukla-Namche, where your performance in the Classic is considered an impressive accomplishment rather than an affront to the sexist sensibilities of fundamentalist Christians, I have ₹5.4 billion available over the next 6 years for a good starting pitcher.

The Sherpa Empire is somewhat conservative when it comes to gender issues, but the Khumbu Icefall Doctors organization does not believe that anyone's talent should go to waste because of gender politics. If you join us, it would not be a problem for you to play on the Republican national team in the offseason.

Good luck against Abanhfleft!

Best regards,
Kalden Wang

(Khumbu has kind of lost interest in pursuing Bendtner after he had a problem with the prospect of being behind Ihawa in the rotation. They think Busque would be a better fit with their organizational culture, which favors stability and usually leaves the more hot-headed hot-shots to teams like Bengal. The exchange rate is still ₹108=$1. Guiyang still wants Bendtner and hasn't really noticed what's going on in the Free Republics. Even if they did notice, they might be reluctant to do something that could be interpreted as a political statement in the context of all the gender issues that are going on in both the Free Republics and the Sherpa Empire.)

[Newmanistan]

THE ROCKET REPORT

SCHILTZBERG SERIES SET TO BEGIN

by Brianne Henry,

Ok, so now that you see why I never became a poet, it is time to look at this series a little more with Schiltzberg. I have to admit, a point made by the New Schiltzbierg Times is a good conversation piece. Was the run that they had to get four more impressive then the run that we did. They have to be given some credit, after all, as they did win four titles in five tries. Is that more impressive? Well, it probably is. The Rockets are a team that have never won back to back championships, and it seems as though every Classic that they did win a title, they have one of their more disappointing efforts as a follow up. The last Classic in Free Republics was a textbook example of that. The offense never got going, and Newmanistan was quickly dismissed by Darmen. Although while Schiltzberg’s run was immediately impressive, that four of five has now become four out of 10. Newmanistan won their fourth title in their eleventh try. Is it more impressive to have more sustained success over that span? I am pretty sure you’re answer will depend on what nation you are reading this from.

This is an exciting series for many of our Rockets. After all, players like Hannah Bates or Courtney Duvall were teenagers when the Poets (my nickname for them, since they don’t have one) were dominating. No doubt they watched the World Baseball Classic and wondered what was going on. Hannah Bates even told me that she was rooting for Schiltzberg back then. “It was a historic run, and since we didn’t seem like we were ever going to be back, I kind of got into it a little bit. I did root for them in 37.” Courtney Duvall, however, said the opposite, “No, I rooted against them, actually. The first one or two, sure, I had nothing against them, but I didn’t want them to tie the record. Of course that last one was against Super-Llamaland, so someone was going to.”

Newmanistan came back in World Baseball Classic 38. They’ve had several run ins with Super-Llamaland since then. Schitlzberg has had many with Cassadaigua. But the stars never really aligned properly to see our two teams meet until now. Duvall says she can’t wait, “I have wanted to pitch against them for a long time. It is playing teams like them and the Tigers (Super-Llamaland) where one can really prove what they are made of. I love the test.” Duvall will have to wait a couple games, though. Youngster Hannah Lee takes to the hill in the first game, with Jennifer Hughes tossing the second. Game 3 will be Courtney Duvall, and game 4 Shannon Kelly, if needed. Game 5, if necessary, is undecided at this point.

A lot of people out there might be looking at this as being the championship. With the Free Republics knocking off Super-Llamaland and Abanhfleft eliminating Nova Anglicana, things have been far less predictable on that half of the bracket. The winner of this series, be it Newmanistan or Schiltzberg, will have a very uplifting and spirited series victory, but each will need to remember there is still a series after this. Hopefully the Rockets take care of business. Historically, they have not fared all that well when a title was decided in Cassadaigua, regardless of the sport. Maybe this year, things can be different.

[Cassadaigua]

(4) Free Republics vs (8) Abanhfleft

Game 1:

Abanhfleft             0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0  4
Free Republics         0 0 0 2 0 2 2 4 X 10

Game 2:

Abanhfleft             0 0 4 0 0 1 0 0 0  5
Free Republics         0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0  0

series tied, 1-1

(2) Newmanistan vs (3) Schiltzberg

Game 1:

Schiltzberg            0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  1
Newmanistan            2 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 X  5

Game 2:

Schiltzberg            1 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0  4
Newmanistan            0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1  3

series tied, 1-1

[Schiltzberg]

Ode to the Jocks

Can an arrogant person be lonely?
Can an arrogant person be lonely?
Does a prideful man frown
When there’s no one around?
Can an arrogant person be lonely?

Can an arrogant person feel bliss
While surrounded by blank emptiness?
They’re the center, so it seems,
Of the world in their dreams,
But it seems to me that they would miss:

The sounds of the people who spin all around
With themself at the center of every crowd,
And the chat and the banter,
The hullabaloo,
And all of it is about you…

Does an arrogant person feel lame
When there’s no one but him in the game?
When there’s no one at all
To watch him throw the ball,
Does an arrogant person feel shame?

After carefully thinking, I’ve found
That selfish people need others around
To spin around them a little
With themselves at the middle,
So the arrogant one can sleep sound.

Arrogant people do stem
From the stupidest, jockiest men.
You’d be laughed out of a room
If you ever assumed
That schoolwork meant something to them.

Doesn’t it seem so amiss
To make teams out of people like this,
Who meaning no jest
All think they are the best
And are anxious to talk about them?

What would a selfish guy do
If there weren’t any women to do?
He would say, “I’m alone
With nobody to bone,”
And that likely would make him feel blue.

What would a selfish boy feel
When there’s no one but him on the field,
No one watching his game,
No one chanting his name,
No one in his little fantasy world?

[Newmanistan]

THE ROCKET REPORT

SERIES EVEN SO FAR

By Brianne Henry,

On the first pitch of they would face from Schiltzberg pitching, Newmanistan gave the “Poets” an example of how the Rockets have been so successful for so many years. Sure, our great pitching gets most of our press, I will admit, but after that, it is our speedy baserunners at the top of the lineup. Hannah Bates, on the first pitch she saw, dragged a beautiful bunt down the third base line, and despite Richard Tress doing all he could to field it, he had no chance to get Bates out at first. Knowing Hannah might try to steal, the Poets pitched out on the first two pitches of the Lexi Alcorn at bat, but Hannah was not running. On the third pitch, she took off, and easily reached second. William McVey (OOC: Don’t know who the starter would be actually, so I am just going to the top of the rotation, I will change if asked), was now down in the count, 3-0, as well. He came back with a strike on his next pitch, but would walk Alcorn. Two pitches later, a double steal. All it took then were consecutive fly outs from Stephanie Reynolds and Mallory Harris, and it was 2-0 in our favor. Sure, Schiltzberg had it scouted this could happen and made a game plan, but they learned that as much as you try to prepare for it, stopping it is never easy. Bates struck again in the second, with Covington on first, Kent on second, and two outs. This time, Hannah lined a shot into the right field corner, allowing Covington and Kent to score easily, making it 4-0 Rockets, just like that. Schiltzberg settled in after that, but the damage was done, and the Rockets won the first game without much trouble. “Beautiful way to start the series!” manager Ashley Stevens declared.

The second game saw Schiltzberg bounce back, with Ducky Fitzhugh showing why he was pursued by the Southport Tigers, and launching a 440-foot homer to left to put the “Poets” up by 1. The Rockets answered in the second on an RBI single from Michelle Covington, and the game was on. Ultimately, Jennifer Hughes was okay in this game, but was beaten. In the bottom of the ninth, down 4-2, the Rockets showed that even when you beat us, we’re going to make you sweat it out. Down to their last strike, and with the Schiltzberg fans clapping in anticipation of the final out, Rachel Landry homered to right to make it 4-3, the first homer hit by the Rockets in the series. Hannah Kent followed with a double, but pinch hitter Kenzie Magee could not drive in the tying run, though came close, with a drive to the warning track.

The series is now even, and Courtney Duvall will go to the mound to try and restore the lead for the sky blue. The team is still in good spirits, and feels confident that they will get the job done. “This is a team that we have to prove that we can beat,” Mallory Harris said after the second game, “Right now, it’s even, but I don’t think anyone was expect us to sweep them. We’ll be back, and we know we have Courtney going for us!”

[Free Republics]

Sporting World

Brock Shield Signs 5 Year Deal with Republica Vipers
by: Clarice Cormier

Free Republics National Baseball Team starting catcher Brock Shield has signed with the Republica Vipers of the X Baseball League. His 5 year, 64 million thaler contract is a major move for the last place team, which is coming off of a 66-102 season that was nonetheless a 2 game improvement over their previous last place finish. The Republica Vipers have been notorious for poor pitching and poor signal calling behind the plate over the 2 year history of the X Baseball League. The former Los Martires Martyrs star, who is coming off of a season where he hit 38 home runs with a .374 on base percentage while throwing out 44.2% of would-be base thieves, is a major upgrade over the platoon of Fleur Givry and Paul Ortiz who combined to hit .250 with 5 home runs for the Vipers last season with substandard defensive play.

The Republica Vipers have been in the running for a number of top free agents this offseason including the former Tohoko Giants ace Tougo Sakurai who ultimately signed with the Latroit Ligers and the 21-year-old Sanctii first baseman Andreas Aufidius who ultimately decided to stay in Saintland after King Paulus XVI announced that the island theocracy's sports leagues would begin paying players and that players who play their league games abroad would not be considered for future Sanctii national teams. The team, led by superstar shortstop and team captain Honomi Kamei, was prepared to head into opening day with no significant additions. Then, the Baseball League of Malifornia decided to force the releases of Brock Shield and Namo Busque to punish the players for the National Baseball Team's Stand Up to Sexism campaign.

Within hours, new Republica Vipers general manager Novel Vasiliev reached out to Brock Shield. The 27-year-old star catcher is one of a handful of professional baseball players who eschew hiring an agent in favor of negotiating their own contracts. Vasiliev traveled to Cassadaigua and met with Shield and Honomi Kamei over dinner at a restaurant in Brattleboro. According to my sources, the Republica Vipers GM discussed his plans to rebuild the Vipers into a contender built around Shield and Kamei. Reportedly, the meeting went well but Shield asked for more time to make a decision. While Vasiliev reportedly hoped to sign Shield to a contract during that meeting, he reluctantly agreed to wait a week so Shield could consider other offers.

My sources within the National Baseball Team report that Honomi Kamei was largely responsible for his decision to change his mind less than 48 hours later and sign with the Republica Vipers. Kamei has reportedly been campaigning aggressively for the star catcher to come to Republica. The two players were photographed entering a local movie theater together today on the scheduled off day between games 2 and 3 and have been repeatedly seen together over the past few days. While we may never know why Brock Shield decided to change his mind so quickly and sign with the Vipers, we know that this signing puts the X Baseball League on notice that the Vipers intend to be much more competitive this year.

Shield's signing with the Vipers leaves former El Fierro Seals starting pitcher Namo Busque as the only Republican National Baseball Team player who remains a free agent. Reports indicate that Busque has already received interest from multiple foreign teams plus interest from a number of clubs within the Federation of Free Republics. I can confirm, however, that the Republica Vipers are not interested in Busque's services as they are reluctant to invest big money in a 31-year-old starting pitcher. According to my sources, the Baseton Bullies and Petrograd Green of the X Baseball League are both interested in Busque as are the Latroit Ligers, Lambridge Accountants, Yellow Bay Lumberjacks, Osoko Buffaloes and the Bears sports club of Acedonia. Busque and his agent are reportedly still waiting for additional offers to come in. Sources close to the National Baseball Team worry that the circus surrounding his club contract may prove to be a distraction should he end up being called upon to pitch another game 5...

Clarice Cormier is Sporting World's international baseball correspondent and our lead beat writer for the Republica Vipers of the X Baseball League. She is a graduate of the Barteaux University School of Journalism and an alumnus of the Barjavel Academy at Republica. Clarice is a former cheerleader who has always been a huge baseball fan. After graduating college, she decided that she would rather do sportswriting instead of political reporting and, luckily for her, Sporting World has always been happy to hire young journalists straight out of college. She has also appeared in our annual lingerie issue 5 years in a row!

[Schiltzberg]

SCANDAL: SO-CALLED "WHISTLEBLOWER" TURNS OUT A PHONY

For those of you who aren't aware, first of all, get out from under a rock, but we will give you a full update as to the situation of scandal in Schiltzberg right now. Last month, a shocking classified video was illegally leaked to the public media by longtime government security worker Angela Eather. The video showed what appeared to be Schiltzberg's monarch, Grand Duke Lucas V, kicking a somewhat large brown object, sending it flying into midair, at Schiltz Mountains National Park in central Schiltzberg, and then the person apparently roars with laughter after doing this act. Upon its release to the public, Eather claimed that the video showed "Grand Duke Lucas V," who was "kicking a badger" within the national park, which would be very illegal. Initially, this video, which soon went viral, sparked much uproar in the Schiltzberg community, and some demanded that the Grand Duke stand trial in front of the Justice Council for his apparent "crime."

We are happy to report that the government has confirmed that this video is indeed not what it seems. You see, the "big, brown thing," although it may appear to be a badger at first glance, was in fact a large plastic bag that had been laying around in the national park due to someone else's poor decision to pollute our great nation's parks. The bag appears to have a head and tail because it was a promotional item distributed at a Sandbergian grocery store, made out of even more plastic, because of their lack of eco-friendliness. The person in the video was actually doing Schiltzberg a great favor by kicking the bag into a nearby recycling bin, and he should be regarded as a national hero for his actions. Although our esteemed leader, Grand Duke Lucas V, undoubtedly would have behaved in the same way as this fine gentleman because of his great care of the environment and general thoughtfulness, the person in the video is not actually the Grand Duke, but in fact, someone else. The fact that the person was wearing full royal attire is explained because the person must have been very patriotic and wanted to represent his country. The Grand Duke could not have been the one in the video, because at the time that this video was taken, he was volunteering at a local arborist tree-planting event. The Grand Duke has commented that he wishes he could give this person the highest civilian honors, but unfortunately, no one has come forward at this time. Perhaps he is just a "Good Samaritan," so to speak, and we will never find out who he is officially, but if he is reading this publication, we would like to thank him for his service to his country.

Now, as for the self-proclaimed whistleblower, Eather has been charged on crimes of perjury and treason for her involvement. Although her current location and condition are unknown, the State Department has confirmed that she is "somewhere," although it may be worthy of note that she has not been seen or heard from in over 96 hours.

This Is Your New Schiltzbierg Times Sports News!

[Newmanistan]

THE ROCKET REPORT

WITH FUTURE IN PLACE, CAREY FOCUSES ON PRESENT

by Taylor Larson,

Since I am beating Brianne pretty handily now in the Brianne vs Taylor prediction contest, which next year should be renamed Taylor vs Brianne, I have been given this opportunity to have an amazing interview with Kayla Carey, formerly of the North Charlotte Wildcats, who will now be heading to Vargas City to play for the Lions in Super-Llamaland. It was an honor for me to sit with her as we get set for the third game of the series between the Rockets and the whatever they call themselves from Schiltzberg.

Larson: Hey Kayla, I am honored to have this chance to interview you!

Carey: Hi Taylor! So they gave Brianne the boot from this article for picking Alpine Union to beat us?

Larson: Yeah, I don’t know what was up with that. So, this is one of the things that I have earned, this great chance to sit here with you while Brianne works on her poetry.

Carey: Sounds good to me, good to have this chance with you. I know you are a hard worker as well.

Larson: When the World Baseball Classic started, you were a free agent. Now, you know where you are going. Many people are surprised that you are leaving Newmanistan. What led to that decision?

Carey: Just the desire to do something a little different. I guess I have never been conventional in how I have done things, but that’s all it was. It is really the same reason a guy like Justin Zheng goes to Newmanistan from Super-Llamaland. Just for a different challenge, because the game of baseball is amazing, but there is so much great baseball out there. Both of these leagues are great, so why not get a chance to play in both of the leagues. Baseball is a truly international game.

Larson: How difficult will it be to leave North Charlotte behind?

Carey: I had a great time there. A big part of why I decided to go outside of Newmanistan was that I couldn’t gear myself up to play for teams that had been rivals for so long. That’s why I wanted to start fresh.

Larson: Why not remain with the Wildcats then?

Carey: That was a difficult decision. I’ll leave it at that.

Larson: Now that it is over, how good is to focus on this again?

Carey: I never really lost my focus on this, but I get what you’re saying. The focus was always there, but it is good not to have the other stuff on the back of your mind. You are seeing this time of year, when the Classic is played, where domestic leagues look to sign players from overseas, so I’m not the only one dealing with it.

Larson: You had a strong series against Alpine Union, and are 2-for-8 with a single and a double in this series so far. How are you feeling in regards to this series?

Carey: I feel pretty good. We obviously played better in game one then we did in game two, but we still were resilient late in that game. Some aspects are thriving, and other aspects are looking to bust out. I think Mallory and I are ready to knock one out of the park in this series, but we are grateful to have players like Hannah Bates and Lexi Alcorn on our team. Covy (Michelle Covington) has hit the ball very well too.

Larson: You were young when Schiltzberg won their first title. What went through your mind of their run of four in five when the Rockets were not a part of the Classic anymore?

Carey: I didn’t pay much attention to the Classic then. We weren’t in it, so I didn’t feel the need to pay attention to it. All Schiltzberg was doing then, in my teenage mind then, was taking advantage of the fact that we weren’t there.

Larson: Maybe you were right, as they haven’t had one since we came back!

Carey: Yeah, it’s been more Super-Llamaland. I guess for me that’s good now.

Larson: Do you want to go to Vargas City and show off the six titles if we won this?

Carey: (laughs). Nah, I’ll be all business then. Too much of a jinx to comment on that now, Taylor. We still have to win six more games.

Larson: Should you knock off Schiltzberg, is there a preference between the other two teams, Free Republics or Abanhfleft.

Carey: We want Free Republics. You know, we didn’t do very well there in the last Classic. Their team had nothing to do with it, but we want to remind their fans that may have enjoyed our early and premature exit that we still are a great team. It will definitely be motivating to take them on, don’t worry.

Larson: Abanhfleft doesn’t carry the same amount of motivation, does it?

Carey: Maybe not, but it doesn’t mean that it can’t start. They have done well. If we make the championship series, it does not matter who the opponent is, we’re ready.

Larson: Well I will let you be on your way. I’m excited to watch Courtney Duvall pitch this game three against Schiltzberg.

Carey: I think we all are, unless you are from Schiltzberg.

[Cassadaigua]

(4) Free Republics vs (8) Abanhfleft

Game 3:

Free Republics         0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1  3
Abanhfleft             0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0  1

Game 4:

Free Republics         3 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 2  9
Abanhfleft             1 0 0 2 3 0 1 0 0 0  7

Free Republics wins series, 3G-1

(2) Newmanistan vs (3) Schiltzberg

Game 3:

Newmanistan            4 3 0 0 1 0 2 2 0 12
Schiltzberg            0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0  1

Game 4:

Newmanistan            0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0  2
Schiltzberg            0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 X  3

series tied, 2-2

[Schiltzberg]

A Maiden Fair

Come now, muse, and play for me a song
That in its glory explicates a thought
That I’ve been thinking of forever long
That nevermore should ever be forgot.

Oh muse, give me the words to now portray
The charm and beauty of a maiden fair,
Whose love for me has never waivered stray,
Nor mine toward her, for in this act we share.

With modesty and meekness, I do claim
This sweetest woman, marked by gentleness,
To be my love, and me be hers whose name
The angels shan’t pronounce for humbleness.

This woman’s shining eyes, liquid and dark,
That gaze with patient virtue, oversee
The transfer of the message of the spark
Of kindness and compassion meant for me.

Below these soulful eyes, there lie her lips
From which her lines of love and care do speak.
How fine it feels to grip her fingertips,
My mouth on hers when in a kiss we sneak.

When smooth and silky tassels of her hair
Do fall upon these hands that can’t pretend
To be deserving of a touch so fair,
My mind, gone numb from bliss, cannot contend.

The shoulders on which falls this hair of grace
Do boast the warm and prettiest of skin,
Except for on the beauty of her face
About which I know not where to begin.

About her slender torso I’m entranced
By every single time that we embrace.
Her loving hugs, so sweet, are quite enhanced
By feeling her fair hair, hands interlaced.

And all of this is strong as straw compared
To that soft tenderness, which is her heart,
Emitting rays of love that aren’t impaired
By anything this world could bring apart.

And so, I have exposed to you my love
That I do feel toward this dear girl of mine
Who must be from the heavens up above,
For who could be like her but the divine?

I know that I shall never let her go,
Our dawning love like any rising sun.
I love her more than anyone could know,
And my loving has only just begun.

So sweet has she been always unto me,
An undeserving, indigently friend.
She’s there for me in times of good and bad.
I hope our love shall never, ever end.

[Newmanistan]

THE ROCKET REPORT

ROCKETS ROLL IN GAME 3, THOUGH CAN’T CARRY MOMENTUM

by Brianne Henry,

Game 3 was truly enjoyable if you were rooting for the Rockets. With Courtney Duvall heading to the mound for this one, we always liked our chances. The Schiltzbergers had never hit against her, but have certainly become familiar with how dominant she had been. Surely, they wanted to be the ones to have a big game against her in the playoffs. Unfortunately for them, it was 4-0 before they even faced a pitch from her.

Surely, Hannah Bates would not try to lead off the first inning with a drag bunt again, much like she brilliantly executed in the first game. If she did, then surely, it would be fielded a lot better. On the first pitch she faced, she squared around and acted as if she was going to do the same thing, but quickly moved out of the bunting stance, into her regular stance, and blooped a single over the head of 3B Richard Tress, and into left field. She thought about two, but knew she could just steal the base. Hannah likely figured that Simmons would not pitch out on the first pitch, since McVey had a tough time with it in game one, so she took off, and stole the base. Moments later, Lexi Alcorn hit a deep fly ball to right-center, that went all the way for a triple to make it 1-0. Stephanie Reynolds grounded out to second, but Alcorn scored on the sacrifice to make it 2-0 in favor of the sky blue. Mallory Harris and Kayla Carey hit consecutive singles, and were driven in on a 2-run double by Michelle Covington, who is having a great series right now. Simmons got out of the inning, and before the “Poets” could see Duvall, they had a big mountain to climb.

Or at least they thought it was a big mountain, because they actually hadn’t truly seen the size of it yet. Duvall pitched a 1-2-3 inning, and then led off the second by singling up the middle. Up came Hannah Bates, who would be retired on a pop out, a rare victory in a clutch situation against her by Schiltzberg pitching. Lexi Alcorn struck out. Maybe Simmons was going to get himself out of this without that much trouble. Next up, Stephanie Reynolds, who grounded to Richard Tress, but the third baseman bobbled the ball, and Reynolds reached safely on the error. You can’t give Newmanistan four outs in an inning like that, especially with Mallory Harris coming to the plate and looking for her first home run of the series. Well, wait no longer, as she knocked a 3-run shot over the right field fence to make it 7-0 in favor of the Rockets just like that. Kayla Carey almost went back to back with her, but was robbed by Ducky Fitzhugh. See, there were some highlights in this game if you wanted Schiltzberg to win.

Duvall kept mowing them down. She’d only allow one run on five hits, walked one and struck out nine. Another complete game for the master, and the Rockets were a game away. That didn’t come in game 4, even though Shannon Kelly tossed five no-hit innings to start it off. In the seventh, a two-run double by Mallory Harris gave the Rockets the lead, and perhaps control of the series, but this time Schiltzberg found a way to pull it out.

This leaves us all square at two, with Free Republics awaiting the winner. Ashley Stevens is not skipping over Cassie Burke for Hannah Lee, and is going to let the #5 pitcher pitch this game. She will probably have a short leash, but Burke has been good this entire Classic, and this would be a huge confidence boost for her. Cassadaigua is a natural place for her to have a big game as well, which coach Stevens joked about in the pre-game conference this morning. This Rockets team does not seem nervous, and appears confident that they are going to be playing Free Republics, and not Abanhfleft, for their next series.

[Free Republics]

News Magazine

Nessex Primaries & Vorita Caucuses Leave Moderate Liberal Conservatives, Radicals No Closer to Nominees
By: Matthew DeRose

The First-in-the-Federation Nessex primaries have concluded and party bosses for two of the major parties will be none too pleased with the indecisive results that leave their parties still without clear frontrunners even as Liberty Party frontrunner Scarlett Nicholls and Responsible Progress Party frontrunner Sebastian Trudeau coasted to landslide victories over fields of fringe candidates. Trudeau and Nicholls are currently riding high in the hypothetical polls for a general election with a combined 75% of the vote against a field of generic opponents as Republican voters continue to prefer celebrities and businessmen over traditional politicians.

The Moderate Liberal Conservative primary in Nessex ended with Gloria Lord and Bella Parer sitting on 24% of the vote. Lucille Tollmache finished third with 22% and Addolorata Pisano reached 20% of the vote. Ultimately, the Republic's 22 delegates will be split among the four candidates proportionately with Lord and Parer receiving 6 delegates apiece and the other 2 leading candidates receiving 5. This comes on the heels of a deadlock in the Vorita caucuses that saw each of the 4 candidates receive an estimated 10 delegates. Needless to say, none of these candidates will be gaining any momentum from these results and it could take a long time before we know who the Moderate Liberal Conservative nominee will be.

The Radical primaries, however, are now held under winner-take-all rules as the Radicals desire to avoid a repeat of the situation that happened 8 years ago when the late great Consul Venicio Piazza's sons ended up splitting the party in half because neither could secure the nomination or compromise upon a single nominee. Thus the winner of the Vorita caucuses is still unknown as the delegates chosen at the various local caucuses have to go to the Radical Alliance of Vorita Republic-wide caucus in a couple months to choose a slate of delegates hand-picked by one of the campaigns. The Nessex primary ultimately saw Tsukihiko Fukuhara prevail with just 7% of the vote out of a field of 40 candidates. Fukuhara is believed to have received heavy support from the local Taiyouese population as he is of Taiyouese descent and the Nessex primaries are open primaries. An obscure member of the Falatulu legislature, Fukuhara is not considered to be a serious candidate for the Radical nomination.

Nevertheless, as the primary was finally called for Fukuhara around 24 hours after the polls closed, he quickly returned to Nessex to give a victory speech and introduce himself to the nation. The Falatuluan state legislator stated that, "Tonight, the people of Nessex have chosen a new Radical vision focused on making the Free Republics the most pro-immigrant nation in the multiverse. Tonight, I thank the people of Nessex for entrusting me with their support and I thank my campaign manager Yui Kokura for her support. I also thank... ...Now, I wish to talk to you about how I'm going to improve the Free Republics if I have the honor of serving as your Consul. First of all, I will begin a campaign to encourage people from all over the multiverse to move to the Free Republics. Secondly, I will focus on expanding our international trade. To do so, I will remove all trade barriers and establish unilateral free trade. I will also reform our intellectual property laws. For too long, Republican companies have been stealing intellectual property from abroad. I wish to end that and to provide the protection offered by copyright law to all works, including works made by foreign people and foreign companies. I will also take initiative to return the Free Republics to the World Assembly and to harmonize all of our laws with the resolutions of the World Assembly's General Assembly. I intend to interpret all international law according to both the letter and the spirit of the law and to make the Free Republics an exemplary global citizen. The only way we can move the multiverse forward is if all the nations of the multiverse come together as one. I believe that globalism is the answer to secure lasting peace and prosperity in this multiverse. If that means we need to discard our outmoded Constitution to join the rest of the multiverse, then so be it."

Needless to say, this speech, which aired shortly after the Free Republics defeated Abanhfleft 9 to 7 after 10 innings of game 4 to advance to the World Baseball Classic finals, was widely panned throughout the Free Republics and has already sent the Radical Alliance's generic ballot numbers tumbling from 10% to just 3%. Republicans are generally not interested in allowing foreigners to dictate the way things are in our country and we're certainly not going to elect some immigrant who wants us to permit the World Assembly to rewrite our laws and destroy our way of life. That's not what we stand for here in the Federation of Free Republics and its certainly not going to win an election for the Radical Alliance.

Radical Alliance leader in the Federation Assembly Abelino Greece, formerly the President of Falatulu, distanced himself and his party from Mr. Fukuhara, putting out a statement. "The Radical Alliance stands for freedom. We wish to reduce the power of the state over the individual because we believe that a limited government is a necessary step toward that eventual glorious day when the state withers away and all men are free forevermore. Unfortunately, a candidate who believes in a form of statism called globalism was victorious in our Nessex primary and said candidate gave a speech misrepresenting what our Alliance stands for. I want to make it very clear that we as a party stand against those who want the Free Republics to be subject to unelected WA bureaucrats and foreign governments. We stand against the extension of intellectual property laws to apply to foreigners. We stand for private property rights and we do not support an absolute right to immigrate to the Free Republics. We disavow Tsukihiko Fukuhara and we urge him to drop out and consider running for a different party's nomination instead of misrepresenting what the Radical Alliance stands for." We asked Mr. Fukuhara for a comment regarding this statement and he did not disappoint. "So far, the Radical Alliance has held one primary and I won that primary, so I will not be dropping out. If my views were not representative of what the Radical Alliance stands for, would I have been the choice of their voters for Consul of the Free Republics?" It is hard to argue with Mr. Fukuhara's logic but in fairness to Abelino Greece, Fukuhara did attain just 7% of the vote in the Nessex primary.

Matthew DeRose writes about the Federation Government. He is a graduate of the University of Republica with bachelors degrees in Journalism and Political Science. During his time in college, he interned with the Republica Post. Although the Post didn't have any openings for him upon his graduation, he had left an impression on their editor, who recommended him to Admiral Theriault.

[Cassadaigua]

(2) Newmanistan vs (3) Schiltzberg

Game 5:

Schiltzberg            0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0  2
Newmanistan            2 0 2 1 3 0 0 1 X  9

Newmanistan wins series, 3G-2


CHAMPIONSHIP: BEST OF SEVEN: (2) Newmanistan vs (4) Free Republics @ Concord Heights Stadium, Concord Heights
(Newmanistan is home team games 1,2,5*,7*)
(Free Republics is home team games 3,4,6*)
*- if necessary

THIRD PLACE: BEST OF FIVE: (3) Schiltzberg vs (8) Abanhfleft @ Brattleboro Stadium, Brattleboro
(Schiltzberg home games 1,2,5*, Abanhfleft home games 3,4*)

[Schiltzberg]

Word On the Streets

Two random Schiltzbergian baseball fans are observed having the following conversation.

Person 1: Dang, Schiltzberg lost.

Person 2: Yeah, but it was a good series.

Person 1: Yes, and at least they improved on their last two seasons, so that is what we were hoping for.

Person 2: Yeah, to be honest, at the beginning of this season, a semifinals appearance was all I was realistically hoping for, and it's still a great accomplishment to make it to the final four in a season where there were seemingly a record amount of competitive nations.

Person 1: That's very true, but it still would have been cool to be in the finals.

Person 2: Who's next again?

Person 1: Abanhfleft.

Person 2: Oh yeah, the Revolution? Haha, I remember when they were good.

Person 1: Apparently they are good again and shouldn't be taken lightly.

Person 2: Oh, come on, the last time they played, Schiltzberg was unranked and Abanhfleft was the number one seed and we easily took them out.

Person 1: Well, either way, the stakes are a lot lower now that both teams are officially eliminated from the winning bracket, so you never know how teams will adjust to this change.

Person 2: Historically, Schiltzberg has done well in the third place series, so let's hope they can win it.

Person 1: If they win this series, they will tie Milchama on the all-time Hall of Fame rankings, so that's exciting. Milchama's last season was Schiltzberg's first season, and they never played each other, but surely without a doubt the two teams must have a great respect for one in other, as both teams have had a great amount of success.

[Newmanistan]

THE ROCKET REPORT

ROCKETS ADVANCE TO FINALS FOR 10TH TIME

by Brianne Henry,

This is the 43rd edition of the World Baseball Classic, and for the 10th time, a team from Newmanistan will be participating in the finals series. This makes it 23.2% of the time, in the history of the tournament, that we have made it that far. That even considers the fact that Newmanistan did not participate in Classic 1-6, or the long spell from 20-37. Altogether then, this is the 19th Classic that we have been in, meaning we have advanced this far in over half of the Classics attempted. This is indeed a fact that is truly remarkable, and something that I know that each and every one of us takes for granted in the most extreme of ways. There are people from Nova Anglicana, Maklohi Vai, West Phoenicia and Ko-oren, among others who would settle for only a small fraction of what we have done.

Now, I know that for most Newmanistanians, the number they want to attain is six, and not this ten. While we can look at our titles in five editions of the Classic, there are also four teams that made it to the finals and lost. With the winners that we have, it easy to forget the teams from Classics 7, 9, 11, and 14. They were great teams that we had as well, and why we do not really get into comparisons right now between our first tour of duty and the current one. Consistently getting this far is what made people like Stacey Keisler, Jessica Brasfield, Carrie Nicolette, or manager Christina Sanders to be Newmanistanian legends. For some, in the early days, it was about the finals appearances we were losing, rather then winning. We lost our first two tries. Then went 1-3. Chances to have had a stronger start to our campaign, much along the lines with how Schiltzberg was flying out of the gates, were wasted. In the 12th Classic, we won the second, but again followed a finals victory with a finals defeat in the 14th Classic. The Rockets were now 2-4 in the finals series. Imagine if we won all six by World Baseball Classic 14. What an amazing run that would have been, so while were fortunate to get to all these finals series, we were not proving to the world that we could step up in them. That number changed one Classic later when we won the 15th edition over Zwangzug, and then two Classics later we had the amazing comeback from being down three games to none to beat Tarrentum four games to three. For the first time, Newmanistan won two finals series that they had competed in, in a row. In World Baseball Classic 41, following our long hiatus, we would win again, extending that streak to three. It not only marked our fifth title, but the first time we had won more finals series then we had lost.

In Cassadaigua, we will have the opportunity to go to 6-4 in finals series, and win our fourth in a row that we competed in. If we are able to find a way to beat Free Republics, it won’t only be that sixth title, but we will be able to exorcize some demons that linger over our legacy of being a team that really could not get it done once they made the finals. Newmanistan will be considered the favorite for the series, and as Free Republics searches for their first title, they will likely have the support of pretty much everyone that doesn’t call themselves Newmanistanians. Perhaps some other countries who have stood up to the unusual and sometimes controversial politics of the Free Republics will support us, but otherwise we have to accept the fact that in this fight, there’s a lovable underdog going up against the favorite that everyone else is tired of seeing get this far.

Manager Ashley Stevens told me that she has already picked up on that vibe. “Free Republics has had quite a good run,” she said, “Everyone knows it is a great baseball nation, after all either they or Saintland, have hosted this thing on several occasions and always do a great job with what they host. Both myself and everyone in the locker room does not see them for their rank, we know they are much better, and after this is done, they will have a rank that is more worthy of what they have accomplished. Probably most of us would be rooting for them if we were not playing them.” While many nations probably support Free Republics, it is not sure really which way the neutral Cassadagan fan may swing, as Cassadaigua is one of those nations that could find itself not in favor of the political nature of Free Republics. A lot has changed, but there is enough of the old Saintland culture and sexist thought that might make us have more support in the stands then we think we can get. On the fans, Stevens said, “We would love to have their support. I think it’s going to go both ways, actually. We’re still a rival of theirs on the baseball field, too.” Cassadaigua, in the early classics they hosted were friendly to first time or underdog winners, as both Sarzonia and New Montreal States won titles in the nation. That swung the other way in World Baseball Classic 40, however, when Super-Llamaland defeated Schiltzberg. In a series like that though, there was no underdog to begin with. Here, there is again. Newmanistan has never won a championship that was hosted in Cassadaigua, in anything. There have been several good runs, like the 3rd place effort in the 40th Classic, but we would love to finally pick up a win here.

Part of the pitching staff of Free Republics includes “Wild” Ralph Fiedler, just 20 years old, who plays in the ENBL for South Charlotte. One of the things the Condors were hoping for in signing the youngster nicknamed “Wild” for a reason was to obviously improve his control issues. Though he still walked 88 batters, his control did show significant progress to rack up 211 strikeouts along the way. With the Condors, he was part of a team that went on a Cinderella run in the ENBL playoffs, let us not forget. Cinderella run all the way to the finals where they were defeated by the Southport Tigers. Fiedler is used to the type of run he is having, and would love to do it for his home country. Of course, we know who else pitches for the Condors: 25-year old Hannah Lee, the ace of the Rockets staff. Naturally we asked Lee about Fiedler, “He is a great young pitcher, and I am proud of him to have got as far as he has in the Classic. When he came here the very first thing he asked me was what he thought I could do to improve his control. While he has embraced his nickname, he also knows it carries a stigma.” As far as facing him in the series, Lee said, “Not sure if we will be matched up against one another until we see their rotation released, but even though, I will be hoping for us to win a close pitching duel, or to win it by beating the bullpen, on the game that he pitches.” Lee says they are still communicating with one another now, but discussing the Classic is off-limits, “We’re friends and we want each other to succeed. We will talk about other things right now, obviously we are careful about talking about the Classic, even before this series started.” As far as the rotation is concerned, Lee will go in game 1. Then it will be Hughes, and Duvall in games 2 and 3. The rotation after that is unclear. While Stevens may not want to skip Cassie Burke, she also would want to get Courtney Duvall in more then one game, so we’ll see. It may be that Shannon Kelly that is skipped over, since while she has pitched well, she has historically been a reliever for us in the Classic, and she was the losing pitcher of record in her last two starts. Skipping her, and pitching Cassie Burke, the pitcher who tossed the deciding game of each of the Alpine Union and Schiltzberg series makes sense as it then moves up Lee to game 5, and gets Courtney Duvall in game 7, if needed.

[Free Republics]

Sporting World

WBC 43: Namo Busque to Start for Free Republics in Game 1 of WBC Finals
by: Clarice Cormier

The Free Republics National Baseball Team will play Newmanistan in the finals of the World Baseball Classic. Game 1 will be tonight. Newmanistani manager Ashley Stevens has already announced that Hannah Lee will be starting for Newmanistan in game 1. Lee is a teammate of Republican pitcher "Wild" Ralph Fiedler on the South Charlotte Condors of Newmanistan's ENBL. While the Newmanistani press has speculated that Fiedler might start for the Republicans in game 1, Kyle Thomas has decided otherwise. The Republican starter for game 1 will be Namo Busque, the 31-year-old highly sought after free agent who has pitched the Free Republics to victories in two game 5s at this World Baseball Classic. Thomas told Sporting World that "We were planning on going with Namo again in game 5 against Abanhfleft but then we surprised ourselves by winning that series in 4. He's been our best pitcher at this World Baseball Classic so we will be putting him out there in game 1. Then, we will follow our rotation through the remainder of the series. I know the Newmanistani fans want to see Lee vs Fiedler but they're going to have to be happy watching Fiedler go in game 3 against Duvall."

One factor that may put Newmanistan at an advantage in the finals is the fact that they do not utilize the designated hitter in their home games. This requires Kyle Thomas to either sit superstar designated hitter Nicholas Fisher or play him somewhere in the field. Unfortunately, Fisher is one of the worst defensive players in Republican baseball. This leaves Thomas with a difficult choice. The Republican skipper has decided to play Fisher at first base in game 1 as both Oskar Bjorgum and backup corner infielder Alexander Capon are left-handed hitters. Playing them against one of the elite left-handed pitchers in baseball is likely to end in an 0-4 with 4 strikeouts line. Utility player Julie Brodeur will also be starting in left field in place of Randy Baran and will bat 7th with Philipp Schmitz batting 6th. Brock Shield, the catcher, will bat 8th and the pitcher will bat 9th. While Fisher will be starting the game at first for the Free Republics, it would not be surprising to see Bjorgum come in as a pinch hitter if the Republicans can knock Lee out of the game early. However, it would be surprising to see Lee knocked out of the game since Newmanistani managers are known for letting their pitchers throw complete games most of the time.

One of the stories to watch in this finals series will be whether Newmanistan's prolific base thieves are able to run against Brock Shield. While Zac Gatehouse's personal catcher Theresa Mrazova and reserve Jayden Riley are known for having average arms, Shield is known for having one of the best arms in the Free Republics. For the Free Republics to win this series, Shield is going to need to take the baserunning game away from Newmanistan, forcing their hitters to advance and drive in runners. Newmanistan's catcher is the 37-year-old Hannah Kent. While she's done an excellent job defensively so far in this WBC, Kent is still 37 years of age and may not be able to hold the many prolific Republican base thieves. While Thomas did not comment when I asked him whether the Republican runners would be more aggressive in this series, I believe he is preparing to unleash his base runners.

Another story to watch will be the battle between two very different philosophies of pitcher usage. Kyle Thomas has confirmed that he will pull his starter after 5 innings if his team has a big lead early as he would prefer to save his best pitchers for important situations whenever they may emerge. Thomas has hinted that some Republican starters may make appearances out of the bullpen in later games of the series, especially if they are well-rested. on the other hand, pitchers may be asked to throw the entire game in pitchers duels. Fans should expect even more unpredictability than usual from the National Team during this series as Thomas will be looking to pull out every trick in his book to beat an aging Newmanistani team that is looking for one last record-breaking WBC title.

The battle of youth versus experience will be an exciting one for baseball fans throughout the multiverse. On one side, there is a Newmanistani team that is one of the perennial contenders to win the WBC. On the other side is the young team from the Free Republics that knocked out both of last year's finalists to get to this point. While the Republican National Football Team may be a bunch of geezers who belong in a retirement home, coached by a sexist old pig who openly admits that he discriminates against women, Republican sports teams have generally been most successful when fielding young teams. Rule Theriault took a team of teenagers with a few "veterans" in their early 20s to the finals of World Cup 68 then he won the Independents Cup last year with a team comprised of teenagers. While the Free Republics always underperform at the Sporting World Cup, for some reason, we have won the Di Bradini Cup in the past and would have won it consecutive years if the Equestrian States didn't field a good team that had an unfair advantage due to being a bunch of highly intelligent talking horses. We also dominated at the X Winter Olympics with a large delegation of athletes, mostly young, who never got another chance to equal their legendary feats due to the political turmoil and financial troubles that have hindered our Olympic delegations in recent years. Today, a young Republican baseball team, mostly comprised of players in their early 20s, has made the finals of the World Baseball Classic from out of nowhere and is now 4 wins away from being crowned champions. You can watch the final battles of their odyssey live on FBC unless you have the misfortunate of living in Malifornia where local FBC stations are forbidden from broadcasting World Baseball Classic games and fans are also forbidden from seeking them out online. The Salvation Circle has already confirmed that their boycott over the National Team's campaign against sexism will continue through the WBC finals and media outlets in Malifornia are also forbidden from reporting upon the WBC. However, this does not apply to media outlets that are not based in Malifornia so if you're one of our Malifornian readers, you can read all about the WBC finals in the pages of Sporting World!

Clarice Cormier is Sporting World's international baseball correspondent and our lead beat writer for the Republica Vipers of the X Baseball League. She is a graduate of the Barteaux University School of Journalism and an alumnus of the Barjavel Academy at Republica. Clarice is a former cheerleader who has always been a huge baseball fan. After graduating college, she decided that she would rather do sportswriting instead of political reporting and, luckily for her, Sporting World has always been happy to hire young journalists straight out of college. She has also appeared in our annual lingerie issue 5 years in a row!

[Cassadaigua]

THIRD PLACE: BEST OF FIVE: (3) Schiltzberg vs (8) Abanhfleft @ Brattleboro Stadium, Brattleboro

Game 1:

Abanhfleft             1 4 0 1 0 0 0 0 1  7
Schiltzberg            1 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0  5

Game 2:

Abanhfleft             0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2  2
Schiltzberg            2 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 X  6

series tied, 1-1


CHAMPIONSHIP: BEST OF SEVEN: (2) Newmanistan vs (4) Free Republics @ Concord Heights Stadium, Concord Heights

Game 1:

Free Republics         0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0  4
Newmanistan            0 0 3 0 2 0 1 5 X 11

Newmanistan leads series, 1G-0

[Free Republics]

Concord Heights, Cassadaigua

The Free Republics had been defeated in humiliating fashion by Newmanistan. Fisher had made 2 errors at first base, including a costly error on a routine throw to second that should have been a 3-4-3 double play. Fisher tossed the ball towards second baseman Ethan Joyner with too little arm strength and it ended up landing halfway between first and second. Instead of 2 outs to end the third inning, Newmanistan ended up with runners on 2nd and 3rd. Later on in the game, Fisher would somehow drop a routine throw to first base, again continuing an inning that should have ended and permitting Newmanistan to score 2 more unearned runs. This would prompt Kyle Thomas to pull Fisher from the game immediately and replace him with Oskar Bjorgum.

Watching in the stands, the Malifornian teens Sarah Fuerst and Emilio Lucchese were in disbelief.

Sarah Fuerst - Why didn't Thomas take him out sooner?

Emilio Lucchese - I guess he wants that bat in the lineup.

Sarah Fuerst - A bat that struck out twice and a glove that made two costly errors?

Emilio Lucchese - There's no way anybody could have thought he'd be this bad defensively. What do you say we leave this one early? Lee's not going to blow this big of a lead.

Sarah Fuerst - I wouldn't be too sure of that. Our National Team keeps finding ways to win. I'm sure they'll come back and make this a game.

A few innings later, Oskar Bjorgum stepped up to the plate with two runners on after Kamei drew a rare walk. Lee made a rare mistake by trying to overpower Bjorgum with a fastball right down the middle. The Republican slugger had made a reputation out of turning pitches like this into long home runs and he did not disappoint, launching a moonshot to deep center field that finally landed in the back row of the highest deck.

Sarah Fuerst - See, I told you we shouldn't leave this one!

Emilio Lucchese - I can't believe Oskar had that in him. That's got to be the longest home run he's ever hit.

Sarah Fuerst - Now, we just need two more runs to tie this game. Come on Hollie!

Moments later, Ashley Stevens headed to the mound to take Lee out of the game.

Emilio Lucchese - Looks like they're taking Lee out of the game.

Sarah Fuerst - Newmanistan's bullpen always blows leads. This should be good for us!

Emilio Lucchese - Isn't that their closer? Why are they bringing him in with 1 out in the 8th inning?

Sarah Fuerst - They're really going to have Meghan Girardi go for a 5 out save? What happened to Shannon Spencer?

Emilio Lucchese - I think they dropped her from the team last year because she kept blowing saves.

Sarah Fuerst - Well, we'll find a way to beat Girardi!

A few minutes later, Girardi had quickly struck out two Republican batters to end the inning. Newmanistan would lead off with Girardi, who drew a walk from Kiyosumi Takeuchi. Takeuchi would give up a single to Hannah Bates then walk Lexi Alcorn to load the bases with nobody out. Moments later, Newmanistan would plate 5 runs off of back-to-back home runs from Stephanie Reynolds and Mallory Harris to go up 11 to 4.

Sarah Fuerst - What's gotten into Thomas today? There was no need to take Namo out of the game. He's pitched well, even after giving up that earned run last inning.

Emilio Lucchese - Yeah, 5 of those runs are Fisher's fault.

Sarah Fuerst - And now, praise Jesus Fucking Christ, here comes Thomas to take this clown Takeuchi out of the game. Hopefully, its time for Luana to come in!

Emilio Lucchese - Yeah, Cremonesi is on her way into the game. She's so young and so talented.

Sarah Fuerst - You can say that again. And before you ask, Emilio, we're staying until the fat dude sings!

Emilio Lucchese - Isn't it supposed to be a fat lady singing?

Sarah Fuerst - We're in Cassadaigua, so no!

The game ended with the score at 11-4. Girardi earned a 5 out save for Newmanistan. Lee was awarded the win with 4 earned runs in 7 and a third innings. Busque was awarded the loss with 6 runs, 1 earned in 7 innings.

Sarah Fuerst - Let's go shopping again! I want some more clothes to take home with me.

Emilio Lucchese - I guess. That's better than visiting Concord Heights Beauty School, I guess.

Sarah Fuerst - I'll be doing that tomorrow before the game. You're welcome to join me but I'd understand if you want to be somewhere else during that time.

Emilio Lucchese - Yeah, I definitely don't want to visit a Beauty School. I'm not a homosexual!

Sarah Fuerst - Of course you're not but there's nothing wrong with being one either!

Emilio Lucchese - Well, homosexuals do get all kinds of horrible diseases like AIDS and have shorter life spans than straight people.

Sarah Fuerst - You don't believe the Salvation Circle's propaganda about other subjects so why are you repeating their anti-gay nonsense?

Emilio Lucchese - Sorry about that. Its hard sometimes to know what's real and what's not when your parents won't let you read anything secular.

Sarah Fuerst - I understand but please don't repeat that stuff ever again.

Despite who they were and what they believed now, Emilio and Sarah were still, to an extent, products of their backgrounds on opposite extremes of the Republican political spectrum. This incident was quickly forgotten by both of them as they traveled around Concord Heights trying to take their minds off of the result of game 1...

---

Free Republics Starting Lineup for Game 2

1: CF Ferrau Bergeron
2: 2B Ethan Joyner
3: SS Honomi Kamei
4: 1B Oskar Bjorgum
5: 3B Hollie Rogers
6: RF Philipp Schmitz
7: LF Randy Baran
8: C Theresa Mrazova
9: SP Zac Gatehouse

[Newmanistan]

THE ROCKET REPORT

BIG WIN IN SERIES OPENER

by Brianne Henry,

Lately, when the Rockets have been winning, they have been winning big. There have been a couple losses sprinkled in between these scorelines, but look at the results of the last five Newmanistan wins: 7-2, 5-1, 12-1, 9-2, and now 11-4. The fact that there are a couple losses to Schiltzberg mixed in with those, lessens the impressiveness of it, but the team has been in sync for quite some time. Margins of victory do not really mean anything, and when the teams meet again in Concord Heights, it doesn’t matter that we won game one by seven, or one it by one.

Newmanistan got a little help in this game. Free Republics first baseman Nicolas Fisher has been used by the Republicans as their designated hitter instead of putting him in the field. This is an interesting quandary that teams that rely heavy on the DH find themselves in when they take part in a game that does not employ it. The home team for the game determines whether or not the DH is used, and since it is not used in Newmanistan, it will not be part of games 1, 2, 5, and 7. When Free Republics is the home team in games 3, 4, and 6, the DH will be used, so Fisher will return to the role that he is best at. He is an important bat for the team, having hit .330 with 42 dingers in the most recently completed X Baseball League season (that’s the domestic league of the Free Republics). Despite the offensive power, Fisher struggles in the field, and was declared by The Sporting World of the Free Republics to be one of the worst defensive players in the XBL. We obtained some clips here at The Rocket Report of Fisher in the XBL from a leading video-sharing site of Fisher, and we can kinda go along with saying that he is not going to win a Gold Glove in his career. If you’re manager Kyle Thomas, though, do you just lose that bat in the middle of the lineup? Chelsea Nicolette of Southport Baseball Tonight, put it pretty good, “This is how having the DH screws you over,” she began in her commentary, “If you are playing in a league where all the teams have to deal with it, then you are not going to notice how it can be a problem, but as soon as you lose that in your lineup, you see how dependent you were on it. It forces tough decisions. Nicolas Fisher is a great hitter, but his glove is such a liability that he can be counterproductive. And we saw that in the opening game of the series. It’s different for a team like the Rockets, who don’t use the DH, to simply add one. You are adding another player, and in our situation, it is Kenzie Magee, who would be a starter on many other lineups, but being a 1B behind Mallory Harris, she is not going to start. Plug her in, and don’t worry about the pitcher spot coming up. That’s the only adjustment we need to make.”

Fisher was a terrible liability in the third inning of this game, and a costly error opened up the floodgates. Both Hannah Lee and veteran southpaw Namo Busque were dominant in the first two innings. Busque has had a great playoff run thus far, with two game 5 wins, including the big win in the Ko-oren series. He was slated to pitch game 5 against Abanhfleft, but the Republicans took care of that series in four. Being a free agent, he certainly is hoping that XBL teams will pay up some extra money now, based on this effort. In the bottom of the third inning, with one away and Hannah Kent on first, Hannah Lee hit a routine grounder to first. Lee uncharacteristically struggled to get down a sacrifice bunt, and down 0-2 in the count, she opted to swing away. Fisher was able to field the ball, but made one of the worst throws I can recall seeing at this level in quite some time. The should have been routine toss to second baseman Ethan Joyner was short, and bounced into the outfield. Given it was Hannah Lee running, this should have been an easy inning ending double play. Instead, Kent, who’s no speed demon herself, took off for third, and on the throw to try and get her out, Lee astutely moved up to second. Guess it was a good thing that Lee couldn’t get down the sacrifice bunt. Now, with the top of the order coming up, giving the Rockets new life was going to be costly, and the third straight Hannah to come to plate, Hannah Bates, singled up the middle to score two runs. Fisher, feeling frustrated in his error, seemed to be quite jittery in trying to hold Hannah Bates on first. This allowed Bates to get a huge lead, and steal second pretty easily despite the strong arm of Brock Shield. He made a great throw, but the base was stolen due to the lead she got from the start. Lexi Alcorn doubled her in, and it was 3-0 in favor of the sky blue.

Free Republics had cut the lead to 3-1, and in the bottom of the fifth, the Fisher blooper reel would have another addition. With two outs, and again Hannah Lee at the plate, the Rockets pitcher hit another slow roller, right back to the pitcher, Namo Busque. An easy out for sure, but the perfectly located throw of Busque right to the glove of Fisher was inexplicably dropped by the first baseman. Again, Lee was on base. An extra out, and the top of the order coming up. Again. Busque was a little frustrated, it appeared, and would walk Hannah Bates. Up came Lexi Alcorn, who hit her second double in as many at-bats, and picking up a couple more RBI’s. Busque would get out of it, though having five unearned runs on one’s pitching performance is something that will never please a pitcher, even if it doesn’t affect one’s ERA. Kyle Thomas actually pulled Fisher from the game after the error, allowing Rockets fans in attendance to give him a standing ovation as he walked off the field, in a most humiliating manner. You have to wonder what this level of embarrassment will do for a player’s morale. We’ve already heard that he will not be playing in game 2. At least, not starting, but don’t rule him out from being used as a pinch hitter. Hopefully Fisher and Thomas can talk things over, because the way he was taken out of the game can cause resentment of one’s coach.

But that’s not our problem. What was our problem was a Free Republics rally in the 8th inning. The lead had been pushed to 6-1, thanks to a solo HR off the bat of Michelle Covington, and the team seemed to be in control. In the 8th, the Republicans began to figure out Hannah Lee a bit. Oskar Bjorgum will only made the second-guessing worse for the decision to initially start Fisher here, when the regular 1B stepped up to plate. Hannah seemed to be losing it a little early, perhaps because of all the baserunning she was doing in this game. With two on, Bjorgum took advantage of a fastball who’s location was screaming, “Hit me hard!”, and he would do so. A towering drive into center, so much so that Hannah Bates didn’t even bother to move. Just like that, it was 6-4. Fortunately, they would get no closer.

Meghan Girardi was brought in to close it out, and get five outs. This was not a difficult decision for Ashley Stevens since Girardi had not been used much recently, and was expected to be very fresh. She got out of the 8th, and the Rockets, well, they wanted to add some insurance. Girardi took advantage of the rare at-bat and drew a walk, and would later score, marking the third run scored by a Rockets pitcher in the game. Who needs the DH? Back to back HR's later in the inning from Stephanie Reynolds, and then Mallory Harris made it 11-4. Order was restored, and Girardi tossed a 1-2-3 ninth.

With the 1-0 lead in the series, Jennifer Hughes will start for the Rockets against Zac Gatehouse, who was listed as the #1 pitcher on the Republicans rotation at the beginning of the Classic. The 27-year old right hander went 22-6 with a 2.52 ERA in the XBL last season.

[Cassadaigua]

THIRD PLACE: BEST OF FIVE: (3) Schiltzberg vs (8) Abanhfleft @ Brattleboro Stadium, Brattleboro

Game 3:

Schiltzberg            0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1  5
Abanhfleft             0 1 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0  4

Game 4:

Schiltzberg            0 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 0  4
Abanhfleft             0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3  3

Schiltzberg wins series, 3G-1


CHAMPIONSHIP: BEST OF SEVEN: (2) Newmanistan vs (4) Free Republics @ Concord Heights Stadium, Concord Heights

Game 2:

Free Republics         1 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0  6
Newmanistan            0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1  4

series tied, 1-1

[Newmanistan]

THE ROCKET REPORT

TOUGH START DOES ROCKETS IN

by Brianne Henry,

For as good as the team looks when they are winning, they cannot seem to put a long streak together right now. Perhaps I am being overly critical, which you know, is only natural when you are involved in a tense series like this, but I’d like to see the Rockets put a run together. Since jumping out to a 2-0 lead against Alpine Union, the results have looked like this: Loss. Win. Win. Loss. Win. Loss. Win. Win. Loss. The last time the Rockets had a three game winning streak or more was the bridge between the Liventia series, and the Alpine Union series. I guess I am being a little too greedy here. It’s playoff time, and you can probably say the same thing about Free Republics. But I want to win this title! I think what leads to this likely misplaced frustration is the wins have been big wins. Then, we lose close games. As a fan, you just sit at home and think “Come on guys, save some of these runs for tomorrow, why don’t you?” The second game of the series got off to a rough start, but somehow, the Rockets found a way to make Republican manager Kyle Thomas sweat it out late.

The Republican got to Jennifer Hughes early, with Oscar Bjorgum of the Petrograd Greed (maybe that should also be the nickname of the Jessicaville Millionaires top minor league affiliate?) getting it going in the top of the first with an RBI double, scoring Ferrau Bergeron, who let it off with a single. The member of the Bullies (which I admit, I like as a team nickname, but maybe more in hockey or gridiron), showed he could steal bases as well, stealing second during the Ethan Joyner at bat, and then third in the Honomi Kamei at bat. Hughes ended up fanning both of those batters, but Bergeron is a good example of how the Republicans like to run as well. If you like base-stealing, you can’t have a better series. With Bergeron on third, he scored easily on Bjorgum’s double. Hughes settled in pretty well after that, though conceded a fourth inning dinger Randy Baran, of the Degenerates. (Damn, another team nickname I really like. These guys are good with those!) The game was still in reach until a four-spot was put on the board against Hughes in the fifth, prematurely ending her day.

That was a little odd for Hughes to struggle like that, but she has been prone, at times, to be the losing pitcher in key playoff games. Not that I want to start criticizing her, because she has also pitched quite well in such games, too. The Republicans were now in the driver’s seat, leading 6-0, and seeing Zac Gatehouse toss an absolute gem.

The Rockets struggled with the bats, only managing one hit off Gatehouse through six, and two baserunners, total. In the 7th, however, these Rockets showed the resiliency that they have historically been known for. You might beat us, but when you do, it’s not going to be easy. Stephanie Reynolds led off the inning flying out to left, but then consecutive doubles off the bats of Mallory Harris and Kayla Carey put the Rockets on the board. Michelle Covington, who’s having a great playoff, singled in Carey to make it 6-2. Suddenly, we saw some bullpen action for the Republicans, and Thomas came out to settle down his pitcher. It’d work as he got Rachel Landry to fly out, though Covington did advance. Hannah Kent stepped up with two outs, and lined a shot up the middle to make it 6-3. That’d be it, but the Rockets weren’t done. In the ninth, Mario Rothschild was in to close it out for the Republicans, but facing Harris and Carey to start off proved to be tough, as they again went back-to-back, this time with singles. Michelle Covington then drew a walk after a 14-pitch at bat to load the bases. Rachel Landry flew out to right, allowing Harris to score and make it 6-4. With Hannah Kent coming up and now runners on second and third, Thomas opted to walk the Rockets catcher to pitch to a pinch hitter. That would be Lori Brewster, since top pinch hitter Kenzie Magee was used in the seventh. Thomas hoped for a double play, and a double play he would get. His Republicans survived, but not until the Rockets battled tough.

The third game of the series features Courtney Duvall going to the hill against South Charlotte’s Ralph Fiedler. Duvall was tight lipped when asked about Fiedler, saying, “He proved himself pretty well with South Charlotte. He’s a good pitcher.” Didn’t get as much out of Duvall there as we would have liked. As for Duvall, some wonder if this will be it for her in the Classic. At 35, and coming back from an injury, is this the last Classic? We have said this about several players on our veteran roster, though the consensus has generally been that World Baseball Classic 44, and not this one, would probably be the last hurrah of many. Though if they went out on top, would that change things? That could mean then, this ends up being Duvall’s last Classic start. She could be used in Game 7 if the Rockets skipped over Cassie Burke if the series got that far, and would probably be used in relief if needed in that game. However, it is possible, this is it.

[Free Republics]

Sporting World

How League Sports in the Free Republics Differs from Other Nations
by: Clarice Cormier

With the Free Republics National Baseball Team in the WBC finals, there is alot of confusion internationally about how the league sports system works in the Federation of Free Republics. Many foreign journalists have become convinced that the X Baseball League is our equivalent to their nation's top league and seem to be, from my discussions in the press box, confused about why so many players on the Republican roster are playing in "regional" leagues rather than our "national" league. I feel it is my journalistic responsibility to correct the record and explain just how our domestic system works.

As you may have figured out from the first paragraph of this article, the X Baseball League is not the sole or primary "major" baseball league in the Free Republics. In fact, the X Baseball League was founded just 2 years ago by New Republican Wrestling Conglomerate boss Abelino Sagese. Mr. Sagese's league has built quite a reputation for itself by placing teams in 8 major cities across the nation and making extremely lucrative offers to high profile free agents and top high school and college players. However, the X Baseball League remains an upstart league in its 3rd year that is very much competing with popularity with the World Series system.

The World Series system is the older system of league baseball in the Free Republics. It is an alliance of over 1000 separate leagues spread across the Free Republics, most of which include teams in a single Republic. Every World Series league enters its league champion and, in the case of some of the stronger leagues, its 2nd and maybe even 3rd place team in a nation-wide tournament held throughout the following season to determine the best baseball team in the Free Republics. Since there are too many teams to play the entire tournament during the baseball season, the weaker leagues are required to play quite a few World Series games during the offseason. Other sports also utilize a similar system, which is generally why many Republican National Teams such as Rule Theriault's soccer team and Jak Hamilton's football team use players who specifically compete as part of those teams.

Since baseball is effectively a year-round affair for many players on championship-tier teams, most players tend to barnstorm during the offseason and many teams schedule large slates of exhibition games during the offseason to keep their players in game shape year-round. Generally, an exhibition game with their league team takes priority over their barnstorming teams. Aging players often take the offseason off since their bodies cannot physically handle playing year-round anymore but the overwhelming majority of Republican athletes compete year-round and their performance in offseason exhibition games is closely monitored by gamblers and fantasy league players.

College sports in the Free Republics is run by the Republican Collegiate Athletic Association (RCAA) which organizes the national championship tournaments and protects the integrity of college sports by sanctioning schools that commit academic fraud or routinely put players on the field who fail to graduate from school in a timely manner. While the RCAA restricts scholarships and prohibits player compensation in its lower divisions, RCAA Division 1 schools are permitted to offer an unlimited amount of financial aid and spend however much they wish compensating athletes (which the RCAA regards as "financial aid" rather than payment), including the payment of performance-based bonuses. RCAA athletes, at all levels, are permitted to pursue any and all outside opportunities to profit off of their fame as an athlete, provided such opportunities do not interfere with the integrity of college sports. While most sports leagues permit athletes to place bets on games they are not participating in, the RCAA prohibits bets by their athletes on any college sports whatsoever and also prohibits college athletes from endorsing gambling-related businesses. In addition, the RCAA regards fantasy sports and pickem competitions as "gambling" even when no money is involved. College athletes are permitted to participate in barnstorming games during the offseason but may not receive any payment for doing so while they remain enrolled in college. Since athletes in all sports can go pro straight out of high school or potentially even earlier, top-level Republican athletes generally do not participate in college sports unless they genuinely want a college education and most schools have higher entrance requirements for athletes than they do for non-athletes and a requirement that all non-scholarship walk-ons must redshirt during their first year of school. Graduation rates for RCAA athletes regularly exceed 90% within 5 years even though around a third of regular college students in the Free Republics do not complete their degrees within 5 years.

Many have also noticed from looking at our National Baseball Team's roster that some players on the team play baseball in Noburu Taiyou or Acedonia. While these nations are somewhat obscure internationally, Noburu Taiyou is a former Republican colony located in Esportiva that is now fully independent and Acedonia is a fully independent city-state that borders the Republic of Peloponnesus in the north-western Free Republics. Acedonia is famous throughout Lunia for its strong financial privacy laws. Many wealthy people and national leaders are rumored to have accounts with the Bank of Acedonia to keep their cash secret and secure. Its also worth noting that "Wild" Ralph Fiedler, who will be starting in game 3 of the WBC finals against the legendary Courtney Duvall, plays in the ENBL, which is the Newmanistani baseball league. The remainder of the Republican National Team players play their baseball within the Free Republics for either the XBL or a league affiliated with the World Series.

Clarice Cormier is Sporting World's international baseball correspondent and our lead beat writer for the Republica Vipers of the X Baseball League. She is a graduate of the Barteaux University School of Journalism and an alumnus of the Barjavel Academy at Republica. Clarice is a former cheerleader who has always been a huge baseball fan. After graduating college, she decided that she would rather do sportswriting instead of political reporting and, luckily for her, Sporting World has always been happy to hire young journalists straight out of college. She has also appeared in our annual lingerie issue 5 years in a row!

---

OOC: The following is based on a real "feature" contained in the "free" versions of Microsoft Office 365 that many employers and universities give away to their employees and students.

News Magazine

RepublicSoft Contact 24/7 Backdoor Allows Company to Reset Phones of Employees to Factory Settings
By: Alacoque Belisle

RepublicSoft stock tumbled today on the New City Stock Exchange after the exposure of a malicious "feature" in RepublicSoft's popular Work 24/7 suite that permits employers to remotely wipe the phones of their employees. The "feature", which is part of RepublicSoft's Contact 24/7 mail app, grants an institution a remarkable amount of control over the personal mobile devices of anybody who voluntarily installs this malware on their phones, tablets, smart watches or other devices running . This includes the ability to restrict what kind of password you use to unlock your phone, force you to change your password on a regular basis and prevent you from reusing the same password on your own personal device. It can also prevent you from "jailbreaking" or "rooting" your device to gain full freedom over it, prevent you from taking screenshots, force remote backups to servers you don't control, prevent you from backing up your own data to your own devices, remotely block your device from connecting to the Internet, censor what kind of entertainment you can view on your own devices and even erase everything on your device. This malicious app can do all of these nasty things if you are running RepublicSoft's Doors Phone operating system or Citrus Computing's cOS operating system or an unfree version of Googol's Cyborg operating system such as the standard version of Cyborg and the stock versions that come pre-installed on most mobile devices.

This disturbing technology came to light recently when Quadrato Lettiere, an employee of the Yellow Bay, Vorita government school system traveled to Newmanistan to watch the National Football Team participate in the World Bowl, using a week of his paid vacation days to do so. While he was waiting during his layover at Tohoko International Airport, the Yellow Bay schools were attempting to utilize this feature to disable the school-provided phones of truant students. The secretary, who was a new hire, accidentally forgot to restrict the command to wipe all phones currently located outside of the school to the student group and ended up sending the wipe to Mr. Lettiere's phone while he was in the middle of a phone conversation with his wife, a nurse who works night shift at Yellow Bay General Hospital. Suddenly, his phone cut out and the screen faded to black and would not turn back on. Mr. Lettiere told me that, "While it was scary to see my phone shut down in mid-conversation, what was even scarier was the fact that I could not let my family know I had arrived safely in Newmanistan until I got to my hotel and could send an email to my wife that she didn't read until the following day. At the time, I thought my phone's battery had died, so I tried charging it but that didn't work. I then had a tech support shop in Newmanistan look at it and they could not figure out what was wrong with it but told me that they suspected I had some kind of malware on my phone. I didn't find out until I returned home from my trip that the school had done this. I can understand the school having the power to do this to the cPhones and cPads we provide to our students, which are school property and should not be used for non-educational use, but the school should not have the ability to wipe my phone that I paid for with my own money!"

RepublicSoft and Citrus Computing did not respond to a request for comment in time to meet our deadline. A Googol spokeswoman did respond, informing me that "Googol is aware of the malicious 'features' contained within the Contact 24/7 app and we have removed that app from our Googol Run app store for violating our policies against malware and have set up Googol Run Shield to inform users who installed this app about its malicious capabilities. We will attempt to monitor apps more closely in the future to prevent malicious apps such as this one from being published to the Run Store. Furthermore, we have suspended RepublicSoft's ability to monetize apps for 90 days and will be disabling RepublicSoft's access to our ad and in-app purchase servers to enforce this suspension." At least Googol did something to stop malware from being spread over their app store! That's the least they could do since their operating system is an insecure piece of shit that allows malicious apps like these to wreck havoc on the system.

If you want a safe and secure mobile experience, you should not be using closed, proprietary operating systems such as Doors Phone and cOS or partially open operating systems like Cyborg. Instead, you should be using a free operating system such as Perestroika Mobile or FreeBorg. In addition, you should be running an open operating system on all of your computers. RepublicSoft may claim that Doors 13 is "backdoor-free" and Citrus may claim that the latest version of Orange OS respects your privacy but unless you are running an open operating system like Perestroika or Neckbeard, your computer is at the mercy of whoever wrote its operating system and that is bad for you and bad for your data.

Alacoque Belisle is News Magazine's lead tech news reporter. She is a graduate of the Baseton College School of Journalism with a minor in computer security. She is a longtime user of the Perestroika operating system who has been annoying her family about the dangers of proprietary software for years and has now channeled that passion into exposing the many ways in which companies like RepublicSoft and Citrus Computing endanger the safety of computer users.

[Cassadaigua]

CHAMPIONSHIP: BEST OF SEVEN: (2) Newmanistan vs (4) Free Republics @ Concord Heights Stadium, Concord Heights

Game 3:

Newmanistan            0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0  3
Free Republics         0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0  2

Newmanistan leads series, 2G-1

[Newmanistan]

THE ROCKET REPORT

SITTING DOWN WITH DUVALL

by Brianne Henry,

Henry :I am here with Courtney Duvall, who just threw 121 pitches in a nine inning victory over Free Republics in the third game of the final. It was a nail biter, but the Rockets pick up the 3-2 win. Thanks for joining me, Courtney.

Duvall: Always good to do one of these, Brianne.

Henry: This was a tough one. But I guess in retrospect, given the Rockets recent trend of wins by large margins, but not being able to pull out the close ones, this feels good.

Duvall: I don’t think we worried about not being able to pull out a close game. A lot was made of the margins of victory in the wins, and I get that. Those were in the Schiltzberg series, mainly, and then against Alpine Union. We know we are in the Alpine Union’s head. As for Schiltzberg, they also beat us twice. In this series, game one was a close game that we made not be so. It was 6-4 in the bottom of the eighth, and we pulled that one out. Scoring five in that inning made it look like it was not close, but that game was tight as well.

Henry: After the Republicans tied it at 2, what was going through the mind of the team in general?

Duvall: That it was only the sixth inning. (Laughs)

Henry: That simple, huh?

Duvall: Well I don’t want to sound like I am minimizing the intensity of the game. But there was no panic at that time. We expect these games to be close, and there was still time left.

Henry: Lexi Alcorn had the big hit, with the RBI single, scoring Hannah Bates, who drew a walk, and now has four stolen bases in three games. I know pitchers love the quick answer.

Duvall: Yes, I love that. You are locked into a pitching duel, and when you give up the tying run, it can be a little frustrating. Getting it right back is immediate redemption for giving it up in the first place.

Henry: You were locked into a pitching duel with Ralph Fielder, a pitcher for the South Charlotte Condors. He had a strong year in the ENBL and has come a long way to now pitch for the Republicans national team. Did that help the team in any way?

Duvall: It didn’t really help us in any other way then the fact that we had better scouting reports on him, and mostly everyone on this team had at bats against him recently, something that we don’t have on their other pitchers. However, when you are a good pitcher like Ralph is, you have those same reports, and can use that to your advantage. I believe, honestly, that situation is better for the pitcher then it is for the hitter.

Henry: Spoken like a pitcher!

Duvall: Yeah, maybe. (Laughs)

Henry: Were people looking to pick Hannah Lee’s mind about Fiedler, since they are teammates in South Charlotte?

Duvall: Absolutely not. We are all respectful of their domestic relationship, and would not put Hannah in a tough spot.

Henry: You threw 121 pitches in this game. In most other countries, given the situation of the game, the closer comes in during the ninth.

Duvall: We all know what other countries do, and Ashley did ask me if I was good to go for the ninth before going to Meghan. But you have to remember, Ashley, Meghan and I are all Leopards. We all know each other exceptionally well, and all root for her. I felt good, after all, I don’t know if I will get in another game in this series. So what would I be resting for? I still felt effective, and that was the important thing. The 9th was a 1-2-3 inning for me, so it all worked out. Meghan knows what its like to be my closer (laughs). I’m sure she would have been more surprised to hear she was going in, then to be told I was staying in.

Henry: You had an arm injury in the ENBL, coming in Tundra Falls. Many wondered how effective you would be this Classic. Is this redeeming?

Duvall: Not really. I think there’s a difference between people wondering if I would be still be as effective, and people questioning if I could be as effective. It’s fair for people to wonder. Now if it was questioned, that would be different. I never felt as though it was questioned other then from the people who are always my haters.

Henry: The average age of the team is getting up there. It’s the dark elephant in the room. Though, most of the pondering was that the next Classic, and not this would be the last hurrah of many. Does that change if you win this title?

Duvall: That’s something we, as a team, have agreed not to address unless we actually win the title. We’re not going to jinx it. We have two more games to win against a great and hungry opponent.

Henry: There are some parts of the Free Republics and some organizations which are known to be very sexist. What is your opinion on that, and is it something you talk about in the locker room?

Duvall: In these tournaments, you play nations with all kinds of political storylines about them. For me, and most of us, we know its there, but the Republican players are not the ones making those laws. So, it doesn’t enter our mind. Plus, in Cassadaigua, it’d be pretty dumb for one of them to declare they support sexist policy.

Henry: You aren’t going to answer this question, but I know that you know I am obligated to ask it. How do you think your career compares to that of Stacey Keisler?

Duvall: I have no problem answering that. I am not as good as her, and will never be.

Henry: Not interested in the comparison?

Duvall: In the Classic, she led this team to more then I ever have, in terms of the rotation, even if we did win this title. She’s a role model but the best I can hope for is to achieve something close to what she has.

Henry: Alright, well, I guess it is time to wrap this up. It has been a pleasure, as always, to talk to Courtney Duvall.

Duvall: Always nice to be cheered for in Pocono City, Brianne! (Laughs)