News Channel 8 / MyTV9 Blog

Why it was important to see the Milford Crash

Kirk Varner, News Director — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:19:17 +0000

This morning’s email brought a handful of messages from viewers who found it troubling that we would choose to show the footage from the dashboard camera inside a Milford PD cruiser, which documented the horrible crash from this past June that claimed two teenager’s lives.

“What were you thinking???”, one viewer demanded to know.

Still image from police dashboard camera video prior to fatal crash in Orange.

When Nov. Comes In Oct, and Oct in Nov

Dr. Mel — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:27:24 +0000

Back in October, snow was falling out of the sky. A recovery helped at the end of the month, but October finished nearly 2 degrees below normal. I have found that when both October and November average two or more degrees below normal, the winter is rough with more cold and plenty of snow. But with the dramatic reversal experienced this warm month, could it be a lost cause for us snowlovers? Or could it be a bonanza for many people such as my wife? What do you think?

Spare me the details

Rebecca Santillo, Internet Producer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:46:22 +0000

The talk around the newsroom today is the release of the pictures of a Stamford woman who was mauled by a chimpanzee. There seems to be a great divide here on those who want to see the pictures and those who don't.

A Mets eye view of the Yankees

Jeff Bailey, Executive Producer — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:37:52 +0000

We've been giving a lot of good-natured grief to baseball fan Chris Velardi over the past few days. As a long time New York Mets fan, it galls him to see those New York Yankees win yet another World Series. So of course, we assigned him to cover Yankees-related stories for the past two days! This morning we gave him a ticket out of town and said go to the city and cover the parade.

Connecticut Yankees fans on the train to the championship parade in New York City. (Photo: Chris Velardi)

Tweeting from the rails, @cvelardi says "On the train to NYC - they could call this the Yankee Clipper."

Have fun Chris! More of Chris' pictures are posted here, and watch his report tonight on News Channel 8.

Not necessarily the news

Jeff Bailey, Executive Producer — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:29:03 +0000

A bit of premature celebration by the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper Monday. The paper ran an ad congratulating the team for winning back-to-back World Series Championships. That would be on the same day the sports page reported that the Yankees took a three games to one lead in the series.

Ad in Philadelphia Inquirer.

Time For The Results!

Dr. Mel — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:51:49 +0000

Last week I raised the question whether you preferred standard or saving time during late October mornings.....and the response has been overwhelmingly in favor of standard time. It has been too darn dark during the past couple of weeks. In fact, the latest sunrise of the year occurs Oct. 31.....not Dec. 21. And this is because of our clocks remaining on saving time until the last weekend of October.

Spam scams for Facebook users

Jeff Bailey, Executive Producer — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 11:40:05 +0000

If there's any benefit to getting a lot of spam e-mail, it's that I get to also see some of the phishing attempts to get people to give up their personal information. One that has really hit my inbox over the past couple of days involves Facebook.

Fake Facebook login page.

The Perfect Villain

Stephen Donnarummo, WTNH.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:15:23 +0000

I have come to accept certain truths in life. I have to pay my taxes, I have to go to work, and I will never grow up to be Hugh Hefner. I also know that I root for the single biggest villain in all of sports, the New York Yankees.

As Yankees fans around the country gear up for Game 1 of the World Series tonight, there is no question that pretty much everyone outside of those Yankees fans is rooting for the Phillies. And you know what? I have no problem with this. Every story needs a great villain, the Yankees fit the bill perfectly, and the rest of baseball should be thankful for the Yankees.

Think of this in movie terms. Darth Vader, Hannibal Lector, Norman Bates, and so on. All of these characters are far more memorable than their counterparts, and make their respective movies memorable. You root against them, but there is a part of everyone that wishes they could be more like them. That is the New York Yankees. Every sports fan hates them for what they are, but wishes their team was just like them. Name one sports fan wouldn't want their team to be a contender every year, if all it meant was losing favor with the fans of other sports teams? Waiting.... waiting... no one?? Thought so.

Without the Yankees, there is no villain, and the story falls flat. Say what you will about sportsmanship, but people enjoy the games more when there is drama, when there is a clear cut good guy and bad guy. It's the same formula the pro wrestling bases their billion dollar industry on, and in baseball, the Yankees are an entire team of King Kong Bundys, Iron Sheiks, and Randy Ortons. Would you care if this World Series was the Rockies versus the Twins? Of course not. Regardless of the quality of the games, ratings would plummet and the World Series would be a second rate story.

The Yankees are what the World Series needs. People will watch, even if just to root against them. You can call them the evil empire, you can say they buy their players, and you can even say they are what's wrong with sports. But no matter what, the Yankees bring drama, the Yankees bring storylines, and the Yankees make the World Series matter. The Yankees are the perfect villain.