Friday Faces: Meet Kirk Carapezza

Meet Online Editor/Reporter Kirk Carapezza. Kirk reports and edits stories for VPR News and at VPR.net and oversees Public Post, VPR's online resource for searching municipal meeting minutes and sharing local news from Vermont cities and towns.

Q: We understand you are the originator of a not-so-secret VPR handshake. It’s true. The (un)official VPR Handshake is called the Ham-and-Cheese. Legend has it that a couple of awkward fist-bumps and misfired high-fives in the Fenway Park bleachers led to what some say is the most satisfying handshake of all time, as VPR's Michelle Jeffery and Brendan Kinney demonstrate here.

This handshake's popularity is steadily growing. Franny Bastian deserves credit for making it official, though. She delivered the first one during a staff meeting earlier this week.

Q: Do you have a public radio role model? Who, and why?John Burnett for his courageous reporting and use of sound from the border; Daniel Zwerdling for exposing the hidden wounds of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; Nina Totenberg for her ability to distil even the most complicated questions facing our country and Mike Pesca for his sense of humor, his writing and delivery style. I find that any of their stories can stop you in your tracks and make you stare at the radio as they bring you places you otherwise would not go.

Q: Are the Red Sox going to win their division this year?
It’s early, but this team isn’t showing us very much grit out of the gate. I try to remember that the Minnesota Twins started 2-9 and still went on to win the 1991 World Series. Still, after last season's historic collapse, I’ve told myself that I won’t watch Sox games on TV. Instead, I’ve been listening on the radio.

For now, I’m adopting former General Manager Lou Gorman’s perspective. Gorman approached baseball with a certain fatalism. Responding to reporters about whether the team would reach an agreement with Roger Clemens, he said “The sun will rise, the sun will set, and I’ll have lunch.”

So in a way, sure, this team could win the AL East. But in another, more accurate way, they’ll probably finish fourth behind the Yanks, Rays and Jays.

Red Sox Horror Show

Starter Josh Beckett, right, gives up the baseball to manager Bobby Valentine, left, in the fifth inning of a baseball game Saturday in Detroit. Beckett was relieved after giving up back-to-back home runs. (AP/Duane Burleson)

VPR’s Morning Edition host Mitch Wertlieb is known for his early morning rants — err sports reports. Here’s his Monday morning take on the sluggish start for the 2012 Red Sox:

There was a time in my life when I kind of appreciated horror movies. I didn’t necessarily enjoy being jolted with spasms of fright by the scary films of my youth — “Halloween,” “Nightmare on Elm Street,” the “Friday the 13th” franchise — but there was a certain sensation one got of — accomplishment, I guess — for getting through those films and their worst moments that made it somewhat worthwhile.

But this much I know about those kinds of movies: the sequels had no redeeming value whatsoever. They were still occasionally scary, but they were decidedly dumber, less and less artful in presentation, and ultimately, just getting through them felt less like an accomplishment and more like a serious waste of time.

Point being that the Boston Red Sox 2012 season — merely a week old but with memories still fresh from last summer’s historic collapse – is already taking on the feel of one of the throwaway Halloween sequels — let’s say Halloween 4: the “Return of Michael Myers.”

Here are the gory details in quick summation for those lucky enough to have missed the Red Sox third straight loss to the Tigers yesterday: Starter Clay Buchholz was terrible — gave up seven runs. The Sox were down early 4-0, fought back to go up 10-7 into the bottom of the ninth, but then de facto closer Alfredo Aceves —who’s upset he wasn’t named a starter, and maybe he has a point because he certainly was no closer – gave up a three-run homer to Miguel Cabrera to tie the game at 10. But then in the 11th inning the Red Sox got two more runs to go up 12-10. Happy ending, right? Wrong — because in the bottom of the 11th Mark Melancon gave up a game-winning walk off three-run homer to Alex Avila and the Sox lost, 13-12.

You can listen to Mitch's report here.

Sox Or Yankees?

When you make a pledge to VPR this morning, it doesn't matter what team you root for! That's because we're giving away a trip for two to see the Boston Red Sox vs. the Oakland Athletics on August 8th at Fenway, or the New York Yankees vs. the Red Sox at Yankee Stadium on September 24th, courtesy of Vermont Baseball Tours.

The prize includes round-trip transportation, game tickets, a t-shirt, snacks, and on-board trivia with prizes and giveaways.

There will be two drawings - the first winner gets their choice of trips, with the remaining prizes going to the runner up!

And don't forget to listen to Morning Edition this morning for some baseball rivalry, VPR-style between Sox fan Mitch Wertlieb and Yankees fan Peter Biello (pictured above)

The drawing is at 9 a.m., so make your pledge now, and thanks!

Love That Dirty Water....

VPR is 3-0! We had a blast last Saturday as Mitch Wertlieb, Ric Cengeri, and I traveled to Boston for VPR's 3rd trip to Fenway park with a great group of VPR listeners. We took a tour of the storied ballpark, feasted on hot dogs, and watched the Sox take on the Detroit Tigers.

I'm usually a very optimistic Sox fan (unlike Mitch - see his recap of last year's game here), but when we were down 4-0 early in the game and kept leaving men on base, I got a little discouraged. Oddly enough, Mitch was the one who kept saying "Be patient, they can do it."

They managed to come back to make it 4-2 by the bottom of the 9th inning. Tigers pitcher Phil Coke loaded the bases by intentionally walking Kevin Youkilis with one out, bringing David "Big Papi" Ortiz to the plate. Papi hit a double that looked (and sounded) something like this (the hit is around 2:15):



Since everyone was jumping up and down and I'm not all that tall, I didn't even realize they'd won it until I heard the unmistakable opening riff of "Dirty Water" - "buhmp buhmp buhmp, buhmp bah-dump." It was the first walk-off win I've ever seen at Fenway! My favorite part by far was watching Mitch jump up and down screaming and clapping, as if he were 10 years old all over again.

What a day! Great company, great weather, and topped off by a great come-from-behind walk off win. It doesn't get much better than that! VPR is now 3-0 with our trips to Fenway. Hmm...maybe they should have VPR listeners at every game! Check out our photos from the day below.

VPR prEview: VPR Goes To Fenway, Murrow Awards, Live From The Border

I stayed up late Sunday night to watch the Red Sox open their season against the Yankees. When the Sox were losing 5-1 in 5th inning, I’ll admit to being an unfaithful fan: I cut my losses, said goodnight to my friends and headed home. When I found out that the Sox had actually pulled out a win, I tried my best not to take credit, even though it was obviously because I had stopped watching!

The experience was also a reminder that you never know when you'll be surprised. That's true with VPR too – whether it's the multi-part piece on the Pony Express I heard on Weekend Edition or the story about the leopard seal that kept trying to feed penguins to a photographer on the latest episode of Radiolab – you just never know what you might hear or learn.

In this edition of prEview, you'll find details about the third annual VPR trip to Fenway Park and an upcoming live performance by the Tom Cleary Trio. Plus, Vermont Edition broadcasts live from the Vermont-Canada border next week.

Read the rest of prEview here....

A Blast (Lots of 'em!) at Fenway Park

Mitch Wertlieb shares his road journal detailing highlights of a fun-filled day at Fenway Park with VPR listeners. Check our photos from the trip, too! Thanks so much to Jim McGonagle for letting us use his camera after ours was accidentally left behind at the station!



9 a.m.: What a fun bus ride! It felt more like a road trip with old friends than meeting folks for the first time. VPR listeners proved adept at handling even my toughest Red Sox trivia questions (although there was some disappointment that the guy who knew the most was also the only Royals fan on board. Thanks for showing us up, Don!).

1:30 p.m.: A private tour of the oldest, greatest ballpark in America! Every time I take a tour of Fenway, I learn something new. It was also the first time I got to see State Street Pavillion where the Red Sox Hall of Fame is housed. We took a terrific picture of the whole gang atop the Green Monster (what a good-looking bunch!).

2:30 p.m.: We were graced with fine, sunny weather while Vermonters back home were dealing with yet another pounding of torrential rain. Folks fanned out to explore Beantown before the first pitch at 7. It was great timing as the Tall Ships were in town. I grabbed lunch and a house-made brew (Back Bay IPA) at Boston Beer Works with Michelle and Will and then caught up with some old friends in Jamaica Plain.

7:00 p.m.: Settled into our seats by Pesky's Pole in right field for the main event— Red Sox vs. Royals. What a slugfest! The home team hit four home runs (Varitek hit one that landed just 15 feet from our seats, and Youuuuuuuuuk wowed us with two blasts!). In the end, the Sox won 15-9, but not before the Boston bullpen gave up 6 runs over two innings to nearly squander a 9-1 lead! There was a bit of seat-squirming* before rookie phenom Daniel Bard came on and shut them down, thanks to his 99 mph fastball.

The rain started coming down - and hard! - in the 9th inning, but a quick 1-2-3 inning kept us under the wet stuff for just about ten minutes. We scampered back to our bus as fast as possible for the long ride home.

11:30 p.m.: Slightly soggy but in good spirits (sorry, Don), Meesh passed out cookies and we put on the Red Sox movie Fever Pitch for the ride home. We snoozed on and off until we returned to VPR at 3:30 a.m., tired but happy. What a great day! Go Sox, and looking forward to next year.

*Editor's Note: As one of the other VPR staffers on the trip, I cannot refrain from clarifying that when Mitch says "bit of seat-squirming" what he means is visible, inconsolable, nonsensical muttering about how he KNEW this was going to happen, and how the Sox were TOTALLY going to blow it, and WHY does this always happen to HIM.