"It's Like Cancer"

Though Manny Ramirez had many supporters during his stint with the Boston Red Sox, some were glad that he was traded. A former teammate of Ramirez, Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon, had things to say about Ramirez's departure from the team.

According to Courant.com, Papelbon had a lot to say. "He was on a different train! And you saw what happened with that. We got rid of him, and we moved on without him," Papelbon was quoted in the April issue of Esquire. The story was posted on the magazine's Web site Thursday.


"So Manny was tough for us," Papelbon added. "You have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ball game, he can dictate the outcome of the game. And for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man! It just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that's exactly what was happening."


Papelbon was happy with the three team trade that the Red Sox participated in, because the outfielder they received in return has a great job fitting into the role he has been put in. Jason Bay, former Pirates outfielder, has done quite a great job replacing the hard hitting Ramirez in the Red Sox lineup.


Ramirez became a free agent after the past season, but just last week signed a 2 year, $45 million deal with the L.A Dodgers.

DECA Winners

On March 10th, the members of DECA competed in a conference against other schools. The following students were recognized at the conference:

Rob Diloreto - Automotive Services Series - 1st

Anthony Ditomasso - Marketing Management Series - 1st

Peter Goode & Brett St. John - Business Law & Ethics Team Management Event - 1st

Devin McMahon - Accounting Applications - 1st

John Rivosa - Buisiness One-on-One Series - 1st

Nick Snietka & Ryan Popper - Financial Services Team Management Event - 1st

Ted Alexander & Anders Blomquist - Travel & Tourism Team Management Event - 2nd

Joanna Michalski - Business Services Series - 2nd

Sean Hughes - Quick Serve Restaurant Series - 3rd

Sean Burns & Cameron Ware - Internet Marketing Team Management Event - 3rd

Kevin Trippel & Casey Zammetti - Buying & Merchandising Team Management - 3rd

Laura Reynolds - Business Services Series - Finalist

Andrew O'Loughlin - Automotive Services Series - Finalist

Mike Kearns - Automotive Services Series - Finalist

Matt Jonas - Marketing Management Series - Finalist

Eric Bourassa - Sports & Entertainment Series - Finalist

Krystine Carey - Restaurant & Food Service Management Series - Finalist

Ashley Desjardins - Apparel & Accessories Series - Finalist

Sean Goodwin - Accounting Applications Series - Finalist

Mike Trapp - Accounting Applications Series - Finalist

Kathryn Turlo - Accounting Applications Series - Finalist

Brittany Yeager - Hotel & Lodging Series - Finalist

China-U.S. Naval Incident in South China Sea

After Monday's confrontation in the South China Sea (see the BBC's map of the incident here), in which a number of Chinese ships sailed dangerously close to a U.S. Navy ship making submarine charts, both the Department of Defense and the Chinese government have traded accusations of misconduct. China claims that the USNS Impeccable, the ship in question, was operating illegally in China's Exclusive Economic Zone guaranteed by international law. The U.S. has countered that the Impeccable's operations were routine and legal.

Regardless of the truth of either side's statements, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chinese Foreign Minster Yang Jiechi have met in Washington to avoid any escalation. Mrs. Clinton went on record to say that the U.S. and China must work together to prevent such encounters in the future.

Upcoming Purse Snatchers Show

The Purse Snatchers, a band made up of RHAM alumni Ian Fischer, Andrew Nuzzolilli, and Tom Mango will be playing at Wrench in the Works on March 27th. Wrench in the Works is located at 861 Main St. in Willimantic, CT. Other bands that will be playing include Bruhder, Saintseneca, Bombs Away, Old Hannah, Letters to the Moon, and Sinforiano Diaz. Tickets to the show are five dollars and a vegan potluck will be served.

RHAM News has reviewed the Purse Snatchers' EP "Liberty and Union". That review can be found here: http://rhamnews.blogspot.com/2009/01/purse-snatchers-liberty-and-union-music.html

Image courtesy of: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v299/Xionith/tps.jpg

Watchmen: Winning the Battle, losing the War.

As the highest number of screenings of any R-rated film in movie history, Zack Snyder's "Watchmen" is already losing steam. The highly anticipated adaption opened on over three thousand screens across the nation on Friday and was number one in the US and Australian box offices for its opening weekend. The movie took in an impressive $55,214,334 in just three days, but many analysts expected at least $71 million for its opening weekend. Ticket sales took a massive tumble from the initial rush of Friday-Saturday to Saturday-Sunday. The producers of "Watchmen" claimed to have aimed the revolutionary and unique style of the film toward a younger American audience. However, Warner Bros. Executive claim that 65 percent of the audience was male and 54 percent older than 25. For most blockbusters in movie history, the second weekend is always the deciding factor. Many believe that "Watchmen" will take a bigger fall its second time around. This weekend at the box office, "Watchmen" will be going up against much tougher competition against Disney's "Race to Witch Mountain," and the remake of Wes Craven's classic "The Last House on the Left." However, there is hope as movie theatres across the country reported attendance to have been up 14.85 percent this week.

For more information, please visit http://www.imdb.com/

Game Review: HALO War

From developer Ensemble Studios comes a game that brings the Halo universe back to what it was originally intended for. Halo Wars is the first Real Time Strategy Game to appear on a Console like the XBox 360. In Halo Wars instead of controlling just one man the player takes control of entire armies. The events of HALO Wars takes place 20 years before the first HALO and lead right up to the start of the first game.

Halo Wars is a game where if you don't like the genre of Real Time Strategy then its just not for you. As a Halo game though it lives up to the name. Twists and turns in the story line keep players guessing right to the end. I would give this game a 4 out of 5 overall. The replay value is very good.

image from xbox.com

EPOCH Arts Show

This coming Friday, March 20th, there is a show at EPOCH Arts in East Hampton. Playing in this show is Exit Ghost which is a band of RHAM graduates, Sean Baker, Ian Bates, and Nathan Whitehouse. Others that are playing are: Naked Sunday, Sound Relief, and Chris Uscinski. The show starts at 7pm and goes until about 11pm. Ticksts are $4. Come and support the musicians, and just have a good time.