Latest news with #YogiBerra
Chicago Tribune
4 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Andy Shaw: Public officials must cut the fat before begging for taxpayer bailouts
As Yankees baseball legend and iconic quipster Yogi Berra is famously quoted as saying, 'It's deja vu all over again.' Once again the perennially and preternaturally cash-strapped city of Chicago, State of Illinois, Chicago Transit Authority, Metra and Chicago Public Schools are pointing at Washington, D.C., with their hands out, shaking their tin cups and blaming the federal government for letting the COVID cash faucet run dry. The message they're sending Washington, and local taxpayers, is as audacious as it is absurd: 'We're broke because you stopped giving us free money.' Not a word about decades of mismanagement. Not a whisper about institutional waste and inefficiency. And no sign that anyone in Springfield, City Hall, or the transit and CPS boardrooms is willing to make the hard choices that real leaders are supposed to make when times get tough. I watched this sad scenario play out for 37 years as a local journalist and 10 more as a good government watchdog, and nothing has changed. The pandemic didn't break their budgets — it merely exposed how broken they already were. The CTA is projecting a $600 million shortfall next year as federal pandemic aid evaporates. But instead of tackling excessive operating costs, administrative bloat and outdated labor rules, executives are spending their time lobbying for a federal or state bailout — one they know won't fix a single structural problem. Anyone who's taken the Red Line after dark knows the CTA doesn't just need more money — it needs more competence. Meanwhile, transit leadership continues to drive or be driven to work instead of riding, top managers cash six-plus figure paychecks and union contracts are treated like sacred texts instead of the fungible documents they need to be in the post-COVID era. Then there's City Hall, where Mayor Brandon Johnson is asking for hundreds of millions in new federal and state funds to prevent drastic service cuts while also rolling out feel-good programs with questionable funding sources. The migrant crisis, pension time bombs and public safety concerns are real. But rather than prioritize, consolidate and streamline, Johnson's team is cobbling together budget Band-Aids and sending invoices to D.C. or Springfield hoping Uncle Sam or Uncle J.B.— more accurately, taxpayers — will foot the bill. As for the state, the other bailout target of local governments, the picture's not much better. Gov. JB Pritzker proudly touted Illinois' temporary budget surpluses during the pandemic, but those were largely a mirage — the result of federal stimulus funds and delayed spending. Now that the spigot's shut off, the state's back to deficit projections and renewed calls for 'revenue enhancements' — political code for higher taxes on the very companies and people that are already exiting Illinois in record numbers. Finally, few local institutions are as financially fragile, and equally shameless, as CPS, which is projecting a $391 million budget gap next year; and like its sister agencies, pointing fingers at Washington and Springfield instead of looking in the mirror. 'The cliff is coming,' CPS officials say, referring to the end of federal COVID relief funding. But what they don't say is they built their post-pandemic budget on a sandcastle of temporary dollars with no plan for how to sustain expanded staffing and programs once that tide inevitably went out. Rather than using the federal windfall to right-size operations or address glaring long-term issues like special education, building maintenance, union overreach and enrollment-based reallocations, CPS went on a hiring spree, expanded programs without metrics, approved generous union contracts and padded administrative overhead. The real outrage? CPS is bleeding students — enrollment is down by more than 85,000 since 2010, but the budget keeps ballooning. We're paying more to educate fewer children, with less to show for it. Nobody seems willing to talk about the elephant in every government room: Waste, in its multiple iterations; there's enough fat in these budgets to make a butcher weep. But trimming it would require the kind of political courage we haven't seen in decades. It would mean saying no to special interests, rethinking sacred cows and upsetting the apple cart of status quo politics — a cart too many of our leaders are riding in comfortably. Instead, our politicians are taking the easy way out: Blame Washington, Springfield or the allegedly undertaxed wealthy, ask for more money and cross their fingers that voters won't notice the hypocrisy. It's fiscal malpractice dressed up as righteous indignation. And let's be clear about one thing: The federal government doesn't owe them another dime. COVID relief was meant to be temporary — a bridge over troubled waters — not a permanent subsidy for governments that refuse to adapt. If local and state leaders treated those funds as lifelines rather than blank checks, they would've used the past three years to modernize, trim and right-size their operations. Instead, they papered over the cracks, kicked the cans down the road and now expect Washington and wealthy taxpayers to refill the punch bowl. Chicagoans, and all Illinoisans, deserve much better. They deserve transit systems that work, budgets that balance and leaders who don't use crises as a cover for failure. They deserve governments that take responsibility for their own finances before asking others to bail them out. There's a concept in the private sector called accountability. When companies run out of money, they cut costs, restructure or go bankrupt. They don't send letters to Washington or Springfield demanding a lifeline because their customers stopped coming. But in the public sector, failure is rewarded with more funding and fewer questions. That needs to change. And it starts with us — the voters, the taxpayers and the residents. We need to stop accepting the tired narrative that more money will fix everything, and stop rewarding the elected and appointed leaders who espouse that canard. We need to demand audits, zero-based budgeting and creative, humane staff and agency cutbacks. We need to demand efficiency, and call out the bureaucratic inertia that keeps our governments stuck in a cycle of dysfunction. So the next time a city, state or transit agency asks for a bailout, the first question we should ask is simple: What have you cut from your own budget? If their answer is 'nothing,' or obfuscation, our answer to their request should be just as simple: 'No!' And many of those doing the asking should be pointed to the exit door.
Dominion Post
10-05-2025
- Sport
- Dominion Post
No. 13 WVU suffers through another walk-off loss, as K-State pulls off comeback
MORGANTOWN — It just might be possible that the late great New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra could best sum up what's happening to the 13th-ranked WVU baseball team these days. Berra, maybe best known for his witty quotes than even his Hall-of-Fame career, once said, 'It's like déjà vu all over again.' That must have been exactly what WVU coach Steve Sabins and his players felt like Friday night in an 8-7 walk-off loss against Kansas State inside Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan. Kan. BOX SCORE Just three days after losing a four-run lead in the bottom of the ninth inning against rival Pitt and getting walked-off 10-9, the Mountaineers (39-9, 18-5 Big 12) were at it again. This time, Kansas State (29-20, 15-10) erased a five-run deficit in its final at-bats and then won the game on Keegan O'Connor's base hit to right field that scored pinch runner Rohan Putz. For a second consecutive game, all WVU players could do was get out of the way of the instant celebration that ensued and it must have seemed surreal. Two straight games with a combined nine-run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth inning and the Mountaineers gave up a combined 11 runs in those final moments. No way that could happen. It did. The only good news on Friday came from about 1,100 miles away. That's where Arizona State dropped a 6-5 decision against Houston in Phoenix, meaning the Mountaineers' magic number to capture its first outright Big 12 regular-season championship was lowered to two games. The Sun Devils now find themselves in a second-place tie with TCU in the Big 12 standings, both schools three games back of the Mountaineers with five conference games remaining. That likely added very little condolence to WVU, which would prefer to go out on a winning note to take the title. That could still happen if the Mountaineers bounce back and win the final two games of the series against the Wildcats. But it didn't happen Friday night. Instead, it was Kansas State who dominated in the ninth inning. WVU reliever Reese Bassinger was on the mound to begin the inning after having just pitched a scoreless eighth. O'Connor began the inning with a 354-foot solo home run to left field that made it 7-3. Seth Dardar followed with a single and Dee Kennedy doubled. Dardar scored on A.J. Evasco's infield single. That was it for Bassinger, who left with WVU still leading 7-4, but there were two runners on base with no outs. Sabins went with Carson Estridge, who has been the Mountaineers' most trusted reliever of the season, but what followed was true disaster. Bear Madliak hit a ground ball to WVU shortstop Brodie Kresser. What may have been WVU's sixth double play of the game instead turned into Kresser's throw to second base going wide and sailing into right field. That scored Kennedy to cut WVU's lead to 7-5. Pinch hitter Sam Flores then hit a bouncer to third base. The ball went right underneath the glove of WVU third baseman Chase Swain for a single that scored Evasco. Shintaro Inoue walked to load the bases. There still were no outs. The only out of the inning came on Ty Smolinski's groundout to third, but that scored pinch runner Cadyn Karl to tie the game, 7-7. WVU elected to intentionally walk Maximus Martin to load the bases again with the hope of inducing a double play to get out of the nightmare. Instead, O'Connor came up for the second time in the inning and promptly laced a ball to right field that sailed over the head of Armani Guzman – WVU had the outfielders playing in for a possible throw to the plate – and bounced to the wall for the game winner. In all, Kansas State sent 10 hitters to the plate in the ninth inning. They produced six hits, two walks and the one error from WVU. It's just the second time this season the Mountaineers have dropped two games in a row, but they've now lost four of their last six games. The ninth-inning rally spoiled a solid start from WVU's Griffin Kirn, who went seven innings and gave up two runs on seven hits and one walk. WVU's offense came from Kyle West and Logan Sauve, who both had three hits. Jace Rineart hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning that gave WVU a 3-0 lead. Rineart leads WVU with 48 RBIs on the season.
New York Post
08-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Post
The Knicks are not just beating the Celtics, they're in their heads
Let's just save everyone in two cities some time on Saturday afternoon. Skip the first half of Game 3 of the NBA's Eastern Conference semifinals, spot the Celtics a 20-point lead, put 16 minutes on the clock and see how long it takes the Knicks to stage an epic comeback. Yogi Berra once said, 'Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.' Well, after a second straight 20-point road rally to victory by the Knicks, this second-round playoff series now is 100 percent mental, and the Celtics' physical advantage — superior talent — is meaningless.
USA Today
03-04-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Best place to eat at Masters? Players say locker room, caddie hut. Hooter's got a mention
Best place to eat at Masters? Players say locker room, caddie hut. Hooter's got a mention This is part of the Golfweek Masters Survey 2025 series 'Nobody goes out anymore; it's too crowded' is a classic Yogi Berra line but it could also be used to describe the thinking of Masters competitors looking for a place to eat at around Augusta National. One of the findings of conducting the annual Golfweek Masters Survey is that the majority of competitors hire their own chef to cater meals so they don't have to fight traffic or wait for a table after a long day at the course. It used to be you could go to T-Bonz and see Fred Couples in one corner and Ernie Els in another. While John Daly still sets up shop at the local Hooters on Washington Road, it's becoming more of a rarity to see players out at Augusta's many fine dining establishments. That was the question for this survey: Where's your favorite place to eat in Augusta? Here are some of the answers of those who still like to frequent some of the local fare. Adam Hadwin My wife and I go to the Bonefish Grill quite a bit. We don't see too many of those anymore. Adam Scott It's hard not to say the Champions Locker Room. I do like the Grill Room. It has a nice view of the course, which you don't get in the Champions Room. Akshay Bhatia We ate at Carrabba's (Italian Grille) every night. Gary Woodland The locker room. The burger is delicious and I love the soup. Just the history in there and sitting there and looking out is pretty special. I'd like to eat in the Champions Locker Room. That's the next goal. Jason Day The caddie hut. I never go eat in the locker room. I always hang out and eat in the caddie hut. Justin Thomas My rental house. We get a chef. Keegan Bradley The clubhouse. I got to eat dinner there once with a couple members and it was spectacular. Kevin Kisner Beck's. Matt Fitzpatrick The players lounge. Russell Henley Frog Hollow. That place is good. Webb Simpson Locker room looking out to No. 1. Wyndham Clark I didn't eat many places but I did eat at the famous Hooters. Xander Schauffele I've been fortunate to have my brother come cook for me. I enjoy his home-cooked meals. Zach Johnson I typically have somebody cook for us just because it makes the week so much easier. But sometimes you go early and on those occasions, I love Abel Brown's, an oyster, steak joint with a pretty good bourbon menu and it's right there in that French Market area.
Wall Street Journal
01-04-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
The Trade Deficit Isn't Such a Terrible Thing
Jeremy Siegel provides an excellent explanation that 'Trade Deficits Are Capital Surpluses' (op-ed, March 13). An important point to consider: In his hypothetical of an American buying a $40,000 Toyota, nobody was taken advantage of, so long as the transaction was executed freely by both parties. Both sides ended up better off after the exchange, or else it wouldn't have happened at all. If we insist that somebody was taken advantage of—or that one benefited less than the other—then it was Toyota. The American has in his hands the real good. Toyota has in its hands pieces of paper that may, in the long run, turn out well or poorly. If the company holds U.S. stocks, they may lose value if the government pursues growth-adverse policies such as tariffs. If Yogi Berra were alive today, he might have told us that imposing such levies is an exercise in 'self-inflicted suicide.'
