Search: there
open group / 1 members
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The goal is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team (the batting team) take turns hitting against the pitcher of the other team (the fielding team), which tries to stop them from scoring runs by getting hitters out in any of several ways. A player on the batting team can stop at any of the bases and later advance via a teammate's hit or other means. The teams switch between batting and fielding whenever the fielding team records three outs. One turn at bat for each team constitutes an inning; nine innings make up a professional game. The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins.
Evolving from older bat-and-ball games, an early form of baseball was being played in England by the mid-eighteenth century. This game and the related rounders were brought by British and Irish immigrants to North America, where the modern version of baseball developed. By the late nineteenth century, baseball was widely recognized as the national sport of the United States. Baseball on the professional, amateur, and youth levels is now popular in North America, parts of Central and South America and the Caribbean, and parts of East Asia. The game is sometimes referred to as hardball, in contrast to the derivative game of softball.
In North America, professional Major League Baseball (MLB) teams are divided into the National League (NL) and American League (AL). Each league has three divisions: East, West, and Central. Every year, the major league champion is determined by playoffs that culminate in the World Series. Four teams make the playoffs from each league: the three regular season division winners, plus one wild card team. Baseball is the leading team sport in both Japan and Cuba, and the top level of play is similarly split between two leagues: Japan's Central League and Pacific League; Cuba's West League and East League. In the National and Central leagues, the pitcher is required to bat, per the traditional rules. In the American, Pacific, and both Cuban leagues, there is a tenth player, a designated hitter, who bats for the pitcher. Each top-level team has a farm system of one or more minor league teams. These teams allow younger players to develop as they gain on-field experience against opponents with similar levels of skill.
open group / 9 members
Family Guy is an American animated television sitcom, created by Seth MacFarlane, for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family which consists ofPeter, Lois, Meg, Chris, Stewie, and their pet dog Brian. The show is set in the fictional town of Quahog, Rhode Island. The show uses frequent "cutaway gags," jokes in the form of tangentialvignettes which parodies American culture.
Family Guy was conceived by MacFarlane after the show's predecessor Larry shorts was canceled. MacFarlane changed the design of the protagonist Larry and devolved the character into Peter, and also changed the design of Larrys dog Steve, whom he developed into Brian. Shortly after the third season aired, the series was canceled. Due to DVD sales and high ratings on syndicated reruns, the network renewed the show. The show takes place in a partially fictional town in Rhode Island, based on MacFarlane's upbringing and education.
Family Guy has been nominated for eleven Primetime Emmy Awards, of which it won three. The show has also been nominated for eleven Annie Awards, and won three times. The show has also been nominated for a Golden Reel Award three times, winning once. In 2009, it was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Comedy Series, the first time an animated series was nominated for the award since The Flintstones in 1961. Family Guy has also been challenged with negative criticism, including three notable lawsuits and low reviews for its similarities to the adult-themed animated series The Simpsons.
The series has also spurred the release of other merchandise. Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story was a straight-to-DVD special released in 2005. Family Guy: Live in Vegas is a soundtrack-DVD combo released in 2005 featuring music from the show as well as original music created by MacFarlane and Walter Murphy. A video game and pinball machine was released to the public in 2006 and 2007, respectively, and since 2005, there have been six books published by HarperCollins based on the Family Guy universe. In 2008, MacFarlane confirmed the cast was interested in producing a feature film and that he was working on a story. In 2009, a spin-off series The Cleveland Show, created by Seth MacFarlane, Mike Henry, and Rich Appel will premiere on Fox.
Goof Blog: The Georgia Guidestones
Goof Blog: Perpetual learner and dreamer
Goof Blog: Fast Fubar
Goof Blog: Jerk, rattle, and roll