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Wednesday, December 24, 2008

A’s pitcher Ziegler to hitch ride with Blue Angels

Brad Ziegler has been a Blue Angels buff for years. And come Jan. 8, the Oakland Athletics reliever will take a ride with the U.S. Navy’s elite flight demonstration squadron as it begins training near San Diego.

“I cannot wait,” Ziegler said in a phone interview from his home in Springfield, Mo. “I’ve wanted to fly in a fighter jet since I was 4 years old.”

He knows now is the best time to do it, while people still recognize his name — or at least recall his story as the guy who twice fractured his skull in baseball before reaching the big leagues.

The hype surrounding Ziegler’s record-setting rookie season with Oakland this year certainly didn’t hurt his chances of making this happen. His agent was onboard to help and the brother-in-law of Ziegler’s sister is currently training to be a fighter pilot with the Navy.

Ziegler, the lanky right-hander with the sidearm delivery that has done him well so far, tied the major league mark for relievers by pitching 39 straight shutout innings to start his career. He had his streak stopped by Tampa Bay in August.

Vomit, G’s and broken skulls!

Gamingboy Posted: December 24, 2008 at 02:13 PM | 11 comment(s)
  Related News: GeneralOakland

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   1. Golfing Great Mitch Cumstein  Posted: December 24, 2008 at 04:22 PM (#3037974)
Ziegler has another claim to fame. He can be seen being taken deep in Teixeira's ESPN highlight package.
   2. 6 - 4 - 3  Posted: December 24, 2008 at 04:55 PM (#3037993)
As fun as they are to watch (I grew up in and around San Francisco), I really question the wisdom of the Blue Angels for both financial and public safety reasons. The entire team is over 100 personnel. The seven pilots (they rotate) are among the best aviators in the Navy and Marine Core, probably costing several million each to fully train over the full course of their careers. And the aircraft themselves cost around $50M each (they are in the process of transitioning out of the F-18A/B to the newer C/D variants), not to mention several million each in annual fuel and maintenance costs.

Plus, of the ~250 pilots in the ~60 years of operation, 26 have died (10% fatality rate), which seems to me to be an unacceptably high causality rate for a peacetime air demonstration. The fatality rate for non-experimental aircraft on training missions is a fraction of 10%. Furthermore, as the tragic events from a few weeks ago involving the crash of an F-18 (pilot survived, but four people including two children were killed) show, the crash can be devastating to those on the ground. The city of San Francisco talked about banning the Blue Angels for Fleet Week after the 2007 fatal crash, but public was opposed. Still, seems to me that its a major tragedy waiting to happen--and it costs tens of millions of dollars each year to operate.
   3. GEB4000  Posted: December 24, 2008 at 05:33 PM (#3038012)
One-Armed you put the dismal in your science. The Blue Angels are good public relations for the Navy and everybody loves them. It's fun to see them flying by during fleet week in the Bay Area and we (the pilots and the public) know and accept the risks of them performing. Only a bunch of miserable people who want to make everybody else miserable so the won't be alone ever mention stopping the Blue Angels from flying.
   4. HOPE: Madison Obamagarner (Flynn)  Posted: December 24, 2008 at 05:57 PM (#3038028)
I think all that has to be said about the Blue Angels is that the people of San Francisco love having them around.
   5. Swedish Chef  Posted: December 24, 2008 at 06:00 PM (#3038030)
and it costs tens of millions of dollars each year to operate.


You say that as if tens of millions of dollars is a significant amount of money these days.
   6. Exploring Leftist Conservatism since 2008 (ark..)  Posted: December 24, 2008 at 06:11 PM (#3038036)
It's just a war whoop. Gotta keep us excited about the mens and machines that kill for us.
   7. Gold Star 4 Robot Boy  Posted: December 24, 2008 at 06:13 PM (#3038039)
During Fleet Week '99, I think, in Chicago, the Blue Angels buzzed Wrigley Field. While most everyone was terrified, Santo was disgusted: "That's just ridiculous." Still makes me laugh.
   8. Gold Star 4 Robot Boy  Posted: December 24, 2008 at 06:15 PM (#3038040)
After Zeigler's ride, he will be, in the immortal phrasing of Jerry Coleman, throwing up in the bullpen.
   9. Ivan Grushenko of Hong Kong  Posted: December 24, 2008 at 06:22 PM (#3038042)
Isn't this prohibited under a dangerous sports clause in his contract...like skydiving and truck washing?
   10. Steve Sparks Flying Everywhere  Posted: December 24, 2008 at 06:23 PM (#3038043)
The fact that we can fly fighter jets over ballgames or let professional athletes fly in the jets is proof that we are the sweetest nation in the world. Especially considering the fact that we are at war.
   11. Zooooooook (jonathan)  Posted: December 24, 2008 at 07:07 PM (#3038052)
Eh, they're fun. Sometimes it's nice to have things in life that don't serve any utility except as entertainment, even if it isn't necessarily the best idea.


And good for Ziegler.
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