Green Monster Research Articles

The Green Monster Hiding in Front of Cas A: JWST Reveals a Dense and Dusty Circumstellar Structure Pockmarked by Ejecta Interactions

JWST observations of the young Galactic supernova remnant Cassiopeia A revealed an unexpected structure seen as a green emission feature in colored composite MIRI F1130W and F1280W images—hence dubbed the Green Monster—that stretches across the central parts of the remnant in projection. Combining the kinematic information from NIRSpec and the MIRI Medium Resolution Spectrograph with the multiwavelength imaging from NIRCam and MIRI, we associate the Green Monster with circumstellar material (CSM) that was lost during an asymmetric mass-loss phase. MIRI images are dominated by dust emission, but their spectra show emission lines from Ne, H, and Fe with low radial velocities indicative of a CSM nature. An X-ray analysis of this feature in a companion paper supports its CSM nature and detects significant blueshifting, thereby placing the Green Monster on the nearside, in front of the Cas A supernova remnant. The most striking features of the Green Monster are dozens of almost perfectly circular 1″–3″ sized holes, most likely created by interaction between high-velocity supernova ejecta material and the CSM. Further investigation is needed to understand whether these holes were formed by small 8000–10,500 km s−1 N-rich ejecta knots that penetrated and advanced out ahead of the remnant’s 5000–6000 km s−1 outer blast wave or by narrow ejecta fingers that protrude into the forward-shocked CSM. The detection of the Green Monster provides further evidence of the highly asymmetric mass loss that Cas A’s progenitor star underwent prior to its explosion.

X-Ray Diagnostics of Cassiopeia A’s “Green Monster”: Evidence for Dense Shocked Circumstellar Plasma

The recent survey of the core-collapse supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) with the MIRI instrument on board the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) revealed a large structure in the interior region, referred to as the “Green Monster.” Although its location suggests that it is an ejecta structure, the infrared properties of the “Green Monster” hint at a circumstellar medium (CSM) origin. In this companion paper to the JWST Cas A paper, we investigate the filamentary X-ray structures associated with the “Green Monster” using Chandra X-ray Observatory data. We extracted spectra along the “Green Monster” as well as from shocked CSM regions. Both the extracted spectra and a principal component analysis show that the “Green Monster” emission properties are similar to those of the shocked CSM. The spectra are well fit by a model consisting of a combination of a nonequilibrium ionization model and a power-law component, modified by Galactic absorption. All the “Green Monster” spectra show a blueshift corresponding to a radial velocity of around −2300 km s−1, suggesting that the structure is on the near side of Cas A. The ionization age is around n e t ≈ 1.5 × 1011 cm−3 s. This translates into a preshock density of ∼12 cm−3, higher than previous estimates of the unshocked CSM. The relatively high n e t and relatively low radial velocity suggest that this structure has a relatively high density compared to other shocked CSM plasma. This analysis provides yet another piece of evidence that the CSM around Cas A’s progenitor was not that of a smooth steady wind profile.

The Cheap Seats: A Note from the Editor

The Cheap SeatsA Note from the Editor Willie Steele Three years since my last visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame— with the annual Cooperstown Symposium on Baseball History and Culture being canceled in 2020 and shifted to online for 2021— I started writing this note from the deck of my hotel, overlooking Lake Otsego in June 2022. Twenty- four hours ago, I was sitting with my college roommate in the bleachers at Fenway Park, my first game at the iconic park, which opened in 1912. Red Sox fan and noted baseball writer Bill Nowlin gave us access to see the view from the top of the Green Monster in left field and took us to the press box where we listened to him and the Red Sox official scorekeeper reminisce about the games they’ve seen there, the most notable of which was Carlton Fisk’s home run in Game Six of the 1975 World Series. Five nights later, my niece and I were at Wrigley Field, where I finally got to watch my first game there. Sitting in a box above home plate, a friend turned to me and said, “Think of all the history here. Babe Ruth played on this field!” But when they played a video of Harry Caray singing “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” during the seventh inning stretch, I was suddenly twelve years old watching a game on WGN during the few times a year when I could see my Pittsburgh Pirates play on television, singing along with the beloved announcer. It was fitting that my return to Cooperstown be bookended by trips to these iconic ballparks. The four days at the Hall of Fame reminded me of all that has changed in the world, and in baseball, since the spring of 2020. Several of the restaurants and businesses along Main Street have either permanently closed or are open for limited hours, I’m told having fallen victim to the limited visitors during the pandemic. But while the vibe in the village might be a bit different, the exhibits in the Hall of Fame both reassure me of baseball’s ability to survive difficult times and reflect some significant changes that continue taking place in the game. [End Page ix] While I might not be ready to embrace changes like the “ghost runner” rule or the universal designated hitter (that’s a reflection of me growing up a fan of the National League), seeing more women in front office and coaching roles is something that was long overdue. Now that I’ve returned from the trip and am organizing this issue of NINE, I’m reminded once again of how great the game’s history is, warts and all. In these pages you will read about baseball during World War I, various aspects of the Negro Leagues and Black players, the intersection of baseball and politics, and how former players turned visual artists provide a lens through which we can understand psychology. Alongside the traditional articles you are used to reading in this journal, we also include something new: “Loved It or Loathed It,” in which we allow two readers to provide their contrasting views of an iconic baseball book. The idea came from NINE board member and contributor Mitchell Nathanson and is meant to provide readers with a way of rethinking some of the more significant books in the game’s literary history. Our hope is that this new addition will be less like when the White Sox wore shorts as part of their uniform in 1976 and more like when the first major league game was broadcast on the radio in 1921. It will enhance something we think is already pretty solid. Back in Fenway, right about the time my friend and I started thinking the game had changed too much for our liking, a kid who was about eight years old and wearing a Xander Bogaerts jersey stained with chili from his hot dog looked down the row of seats at a random guy wearing a Yankees hat. The boy, leaning over a woman I assumed was his mom, yelled, “Hey! New York sucks!” Without missing a beat...

Attention: Your Brain’s Superpower

Have you ever searched the pages of a Where’s Waldo® book and found it difficult to find him? Your eyes jump around the page scanning for his red-and-white striped shirt, but all you seem to find are other funny characters. Maybe you keep getting distracted by a big green monster that does not look anything like Waldo. After you finally find him, you realize that you looked right at Waldo many times without noticing him. Do not worry! In this article, we explain that this is not because you are a bad detective, but because of the way the brain works when we pay attention.

Experimental study of epidote dissolution rates from pH 2 to 11 and temperatures from 25 to 200 °C

The dissolution rates of Green Monster Mine epidote at temperatures of 25, 100 and 200 °C, and over the pH range 2–11, were determined from far-from equilibrium experiments performed in both batch and mixed-flow reactors. Epidote dissolution rates based on silicon release decrease with increasing pH to pH ∼ 8, then increase in response to further pH increases. The apparent relative metal release rates from epidote at chemical steady-state were found to vary with pH and temperature, in part due to secondary phase formation. At 100 and 200 °C, Al is preferentially released relative to Si at alkaline pH, but preferentially retained by the solid at 2 < pH < 8. This behaviour is interpreted to stem from the precipitation and re-dissolution of Al oxy-hydroxides such as boehmite, diaspore, and gibbsite, as observed in solids recovered after the experiments. Calcium tends to be preferentially released compared to Si and Al at acidic and near to neutral pH. Iron was found to be retained in the solid phase due to the prompt formation of secondary Fe minerals. Nevertheless, neither the dissolution of 20 wt% of the initial epidote mass nor the formation of secondary phases on the epidote surface substantially changed epidote dissolution rates. As epidote (i) is almost three times more Ca-rich than a typical basaltic glass, (ii) preferentially releases Ca at pH typical of CO2-charged water injections, and (iii) exhibits increasing dissolution rates as pH increases at alkaline conditions, it seems likely that the presence of epidote in altered basalts may be beneficial for the formation of calcite and other Ca-carbonates during mineral carbonation efforts. In addition, the relatively rapid rates of epidote dissolution at acidic conditions suggest that epidote has a significant role in the weathering of altered mafic rocks.

Night Walk to the Sea: A Story about Rachel Carson, Earth's Protector by Deborah Wiles

Reviewed by: Night Walk to the Sea: A Story about Rachel Carson, Earth's Protector by Deborah Wiles Elizabeth Bush Wiles, Deborah Night Walk to the Sea: A Story about Rachel Carson, Earth's Protector; illus. by Daniel Miyares. Schwartz & Wade, 2020 [40p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781524701475 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781524701499 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R 4-7 yrs A passing nighttime thunderstorm leaves little Roger more frightened than he's willing to admit, but Great-Aunt Rachel knows just what he needs: a tramp through [End Page 57] the woods and down to the shore, to expend some energy and witness the calmer beauty of his surroundings. Clad in his green monster rain boots, Roger is bent on taming unruly Nature and showing it that his own monster self is in charge; in response, Rachel points out tiny wonders in the woods and engages him in the rescue of a lost and struggling firefly: "'I am a monster who saves fireflies.' 'You are indeed,' said Rachel. 'And you are also a boy who loves all the creatures of the woods and sea. You are their brave protector.'" Wiles conflates two episodes from Rachel Carson's life into this imagined shared encounter between the famed environmentalist and the great-nephew she adopted, capturing the approach Carson articulated in her A Sense of Wonder. Miyares' ink paintings render the deep night as mysterious and welcoming, a lush, velvety place where cozy closeness of the woods gives way to a majestic sea, with a pair of sturdy characters who move lightly through environments that they can appreciate but not fully own. End matter comprising Carson biography, remarks on bioluminescence, and resource materials in varied formats is included. Copyright © 2020 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

A New Song for Herman by P. McAllister

McAllister, Paul. A New Song for Herman. Herman’s Monster House Publishing, 2017.There are many books designed to help children who are afraid of monsters. This is the second book that Paul McAllister has written on the subject. In this one, Herman, a green House Monster turned Barista Monster, works at Sarah’s cafe and is famous for his mochaccinos. However, his work is suffering because he is being kept awake at night by an Attic Monster. It turns out that the Attic Monster is just baking cookies in an old Easy Bake Oven, so Herman offers him a job baking at the restaurant. The text is simple, but includes some repetition of the Attic Monster’s song “humba rumba lumba rumba gurgle gurgle bing!”, which children will enjoy and will want to repeat during a reading. Both the text and the illustrations help children identify with monsters rather than being afraid of them. Emily Brown has made the monsters look like cuddly stuffy toys. Even the Attic Monster who scares Herman turns out to be “the cutest little monster he’d ever seen.” Brown has also included fun details in the illustrations. For example, when Herman is at his most sleep deprived, he makes the coffee with dirt and Brown shows him holding a coffee pot that has a flower growing out of it. This fun book is recommended for public and school library collections.Recommended: 3 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sean C. BorleSean Borle is a University of Alberta undergraduate student who is an advocate for child health and safety.

The menace of the green monster on the postoperative diabetic foot wounds

The menace of the green monster on the postoperative diabetic foot wounds

The Insertion Green Monster (iGM) Method for Expression of Multiple Exogenous Genes in Yeast

Being a simple eukaryotic organism, Saccharomyces cerevisiae provides numerous advantages for expression and functional characterization of proteins from higher eukaryotes, including humans. However, studies of complex exogenous pathways using yeast as a host have been hampered by the lack of tools to engineer strains expressing a large number of genetic components. In addition to inserting multiple genes, it is often desirable to knock out or replace multiple endogenous genes that might interfere with the processes studied. Here, we describe the “insertion Green Monster” (iGM) set of expression vectors that enable precise insertion of many heterologous genes into the yeast genome in a rapid and reproducible manner and permit simultaneous replacement of selected yeast genes. As a proof of principle, we have used the iGM method to replace components of the yeast pathway for methionine sulfoxide reduction with genes encoding the human selenoprotein biosynthesis machinery and generated a single yeast strain carrying 11 exogenous components of the selenoprotein biosynthetic pathway in precisely engineered loci.

Windblown by Édouard Manceau (review)

Reviewed by: Windblown by Édouard Manceau Jeannette Hulick, Reviewer Manceau, Édouard Windblown; written and illus. by Édouard Manceau; tr. from the French by Sarah Quinn. OwlKids, 2013 26p ISBN 978-1-926973-77-7 $16.95 R 3–6 yrs The wind blows a series of random shapes onto the blank white pages of this picture book, shapes that are then arranged as parts of various animals, with additional thin black lines completing details for each critter. A cumulative “House That Jack Built”–style litany accompanies the changing arrangement of shapes: they first take the form of a chicken’s head (“‘They’re mine!’ said the chicken. ‘I saw them lying around!’”), then the head, fin, and tail of a fish (“‘No, they’re mine!’ replied the fish. ‘I’m the one who cut the paper into the pieces that the chicken saw lying around’”), and so on. This continues from chicken to fish to bird to snail to frog, until the wind intercedes and scatters them toward the reader: “They’re yours now too. What will you do?” Although the story is very slight, the shape-rearranging is entertaining and the crisp, bold shapes—a large, light blue semi-circle, an orange pie-shaped wedge, a set of gray and black circles, and a red tulip-like shape—are visually appealing against the plain white backdrop. This title lends itself to a number of uses, from the obvious creative shape-arranging indicated in the book (a printable page of the book’s shapes is available online), to lessons on wind or simple drawing techniques à la Ed Emberley. Pair this with one of Lois Ehlert’s shape-based picture books such as Color Zoo (BCCB 9/89), Emberley’s Go Away, Big Green Monster (BCCB 3/93), or even Matisse’s famed cut-paper collages for a enjoyable lesson/storytime on shape and form. Copyright © 2013 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

Agroforestry in the Shadow of a Green Monster: The Politics of Confronting Hunger in the Northern Cauca, Colombia

When driving through the northern Cauca, a state in southwestern Colombia, it is difficult to see anything beyond the fields of green that extend far into the distance, which finally dissolve into the Cordillera Occidental and Cordillera Central mountain ranges that border the Cauca River valley. This sea of green, often known as the monstruo verde (green monster), is composed of vast expanses of sugarcane, a crop that the ingenios (sugarcane processors) own and harvest for national biofuel production. Sometimes, as you drive quickly along the gravel sideroads, a patch of oasis appears in the tall cane. Looking closer, you will notice fruit and plantain trees nestled in around the short brick houses. These little patches are remnants of the type of agriculture that used to characterize the valley – a sort of agroforestry called a finca tradicional (traditional farm), one that only exists today in small fragments.

Galileo, Gauss, and the Green Monster

Using ideas of Galileo and Gauss but avoiding calculus, students create a model that predicts whether a fly ball will clear the famous left-field wall at Fenway Park.

The Green Monster Process for the Generation of Yeast Strains Carrying Multiple Gene Deletions

Phenotypes for a gene deletion are often revealed only when the mutation is tested in a particular genetic background or environmental condition(1,2). There are examples where many genes need to be deleted to unmask hidden gene functions(3,4). Despite the potential for important discoveries, genetic interactions involving three or more genes are largely unexplored. Exhaustive searches of multi-mutant interactions would be impractical due to the sheer number of possible combinations of deletions. However, studies of selected sets of genes, such as sets of paralogs with a greater a priori chance of sharing a common function, would be informative. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, gene knockout is accomplished by replacing a gene with a selectable marker via homologous recombination. Because the number of markers is limited, methods have been developed for removing and reusing the same marker(5,6,7,8,9,10). However, sequentially engineering multiple mutations using these methods is time-consuming because the time required scales linearly with the number of deletions to be generated. Here we describe the Green Monster method for routinely engineering multiple deletions in yeast(11). In this method, a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter integrated into deletions is used to quantitatively label strains according to the number of deletions contained in each strain (Figure 1). Repeated rounds of assortment of GFP-marked deletions via yeast mating and meiosis coupled with flow-cytometric enrichment of strains carrying more of these deletions lead to the accumulation of deletions in strains (Figure 2). Performing multiple processes in parallel, with each process incorporating one or more deletions per round, reduces the time required for strain construction. The first step is to prepare haploid single-mutants termed 'ProMonsters,' each of which carries a GFP reporter in a deleted locus and one of the 'toolkit' loci-either Green Monster GMToolkit-a or GMToolkit-α at the can1Δ locus (Figure 3). Using strains from the yeast deletion collection(12), GFP-marked deletions can be conveniently generated by replacing the common KanMX4 cassette existing in these strains with a universal GFP-URA3 fragment. Each GMToolkit contains: either the a- or α-mating-type-specific haploid selection marker(1) and exactly one of the two markers that, when both GMToolkits are present, collectively allow for selection of diploids. The second step is to carry out the sexual cycling through which deletion loci can be combined within a single cell by the random assortment and/or meiotic recombination that accompanies each cycle of mating and sporulation.

The Green Monster Process for the Generation of Yeast Strains Carrying Multiple Gene Deletions

The Green Monster Process for the Generation of Yeast Strains Carrying Multiple Gene Deletions

Knocking out multigene redundancies via cycles of sexual assortment and fluorescence selection

Phenotypes that might otherwise reveal a gene’s function can be obscured by genes with overlapping function. This phenomenon is best-known within gene families, where an important shared function may only be revealed by mutating all family members. Here we describe the ‘Green Monster’ technology enabling the precise deletion of many genes. In this method, a population of deletion strains with each deletion marked by an inducible green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter gene, is subjected to repeated rounds of mating, meiosis, and flow-cytometric enrichment. This results in the aggregation of multiple deletion loci within single cells. The Green Monster strategy is potentially applicable to assembling other engineered alterations in any species with sex or alternative means of allelic assortment. To demonstrate the technology, we generated a single broadly drug-sensitive strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae bearing precise deletions of all 16 adenosine triphosphate-binding cassette transporters within clades associated with multi-drug resistance.

Electric Scoreboards, Bulletin Boards, and Mimic Diamonds

These days, fans who cannot visit their favorite ball yard need not fret. They can relax at home in a comfortable chair, watching countless games on television with an assortment of snack food at hand. Announcers describe the play-by-play, filling them in on the ins and outs of the contest. A nonstop array of graphics informs them of everything from scores and pitch counts to batting statistics and runners' positions on the bases.Similarly, a visit to a 21st century big-league ballpark is akin to attending a hightech three-ring circus, or setting forth on a family vacation to Disneyworld. Booming heavy metal or salsa cascade through the air as players saunter up to home plate, more music blasts between innings, costumed mascots prance through the stands, and fireworks light up the center-field sky after home runs. Full-color, high-definition scoreboards display oversized player head shots, in-game and season statistics, pitch counts and speeds, and endless streams of factoids of varying relevance (In his last five games at [insert corporation name here] Field, Joe Jones has 11 hits, including eight singles, in 19 at-bats.)This contemporary way of watching baseball is the result of a physical phenomenon that impacts all our lives, but which often is underappreciated: electricity. Starting at the tail end of the 19th century and segueing into the first decade of the 20th, electricity became a major component in how the game was experienced-both in ballparks and outside them.Originally, scoreboards in ballparks were rudimentary, hand-operated contraptions which served a lone purpose: to allow fans attending a game to follow the score inningby- inning. But they were not incorporated into the first ball yards that featured professional games. During the 19th century, fans were encouraged to plunk down a few pennies for scorecards and to record statistics on their own. Back then, club owners were reluctant to offer fans access to game information, preferring that they pay for scorecards. Only in the early 1900's did manual scoreboards become a familiar part of ballpark landscapes.One notable early scoreboard was in Shibe Park, home of the Philadelphia Athletics, which opened in 1909. It first was located down the third-base line, on the left edge of the left-field wall; it only offered data on the game being played, including the names of the players and their positions on the field and in the batting order. In 1913, when bleachers were added to this location, a larger scoreboard was constructed in right-center field. This one offered statistics for both A's and Phillies games. According to Philadelphia Athletics historian Bob Warrington, the scorekeeperstood at the base of the scoreboard during the game and used a ladder and poles to update developments. [A] photo, taken during a game in progress between the A's and White Sox, clearly shows a person at the base of the scoreboard with a ladder and poles leaning against a corner of the scoreboard.... Standing on the field of play, the scoreboard operator had to pay particular attention to the game in order to stay clear of any balls hit to deep centerfield and to avoid interfering with the play of outfielders, especially the centerfielder.Other scoreboards were wooden and rectangular in shape, consisting of a series of portholes, with scorekeepers sitting behind the board and updating a game's run, hit, and error totals by placing numbered panels in the appropriate portholes. Depending upon their design, each ballpark required the scorekeeper to perform a different function. For example, in Fenway Park, the scoreboard, located at field level in left field, was set into the wall that is fondly known as the Green Monster. In order to update the game's numbers, the scorekeeper had to climb up a wooden stepladder. This scoreboard is arguably the most celebrated of its type. It stayed in operation even after the team added its first electric scoreboard in 1975, and remains a cherished throwback to an earlier era. …

The Land Speed Record and the Last Green Monster

One sees a man and a machine that is hard to identify: It might just be a big toy there's something on the right that resembles a key to wind it up, and a wheel about the size of a tricycle's but with a row of flush rivets and a tailfin it looks more like a vehicle designed to go very fast. Of course it could be both. The man is standing on a blanket in booties and zipping up a color-coordinated outfit. All around is what looks like hard sand or ice, or maybe salt, and there are low mountains. Not so immediately evident are long shadows of the sort cast at sunup, the shadows of a handful of people standing off to the left and watching the man and his curious machine. Just a handful, which is in itself curious, as one senses that something dramatic might be about to happen. The white expanse is indeed salt, the deposit left when what we know as Great Salt Lake receded to its present size in the late Pleistocene. Though diminished now, these salt flats covered a hundred thousand acres in 1835 when they were named for a West Point officer who had led a party of explorers and trappers westward from Saint Louis in quest of beaver pelts, which were considered immensely valuable. But the once-teeming beaver streams of the Mountain West had already been decimated, and the men returned emptyhanded, much to the chagrin of their financier, John Jacob Astor. They left behind only a few names on the land, most notably that of their Paris-born leader, Captain Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville.

Should we be afraid of the Green Monster?*

Should we be afraid of the Green Monster?*

Taihu Lake Not to Blame for Wuxi's Woes

The algal bloom observed in Taihu lake in the summer of 2007 and sensationalized in a News Focus story (“Doing battle with the green monster of Taihu Lake,” 31 August 2007, p. [1166][1]) is certainly a serious environmental and ecological problem. However, the issue that drew public attention to

Wait 'Til Next Year: The Saga of the Chicago Cubs (review)

Reviewed by: Wait ’Til Next Year: The Saga of the Chicago Cubs Frank Ardolino Rick Bernstein and Ross Greenburg. Wait ’Til Next Year: The Saga of the Chicago Cubs. HBO Sports, 2006. Obviously, the people who made Wait 'Til Next Year: The Saga of the Chicago Cubs are emulating two Red Sox documentaries, The Curse of the Bambino (2003) and The Reverse of the Curse (2004). By promoting the idea that the Cubs have been and continue to be cursed, they hope to endow the team with the tragic fate and eventual triumph of the Red Sox. Acknowledging the curse can result in its being lifted. The Cubs and the Red Sox—and their documentaries—share many similarities. Both teams play in the oldest and quaintest parks in MLB: Fenway Park, built in 1912, with its "Green Monster" left-field wall and Wrigley Field, built in 1914, with its ivy-covered walls. Both teams were dominant in the early days of baseball; in the first sixteen years of the World Series from 1903 to 1918, the Red Sox played in and won five Series, and the Cubs also appeared in five and won two in 1907 and 1908, their only Series victories. In 1918 the Cubs were defeated by the Red Sox, which was their last Series victory before the 2004 sweep of the Cardinals. Overall, the Cubs have appeared in ten World Series, seven since 1908, and have lost three playoffs in 1984, 1989, and 2003. The Red Sox have won six of ten World Series and two of six playoffs. Both teams have lost playoffs and Series in strange ways. In 2003 the Cubs and Red Sox collapsed against the Marlins and the Yankees, respectively, in eerily similar and all-too-familiar fashion with only 5 outs to go. In addition, fans of both teams point to key errors by first basemen on ground balls, Leon Durham in 1984 and Buckner in 1986, as major milestones of futility. Further, both teams have memorialized two players as their bogeymen: Bucky Dent of the Yanks for his "Green Monster" special in 1978 and Steve Garvey, former Dodger stalwart, for his dismantling of the Cubs in the 1984 playoff series after they had taken a 2-game lead over the Padres. Finally, Cub fans claim they suffer under a curse inflicted, like the now dispelled Curse of the Bambino, after a single event, the ejection of a goat owned by Greek restaurant owner William Sianis from the fourth game of the 1945 World Series, which the Cubs lost to the Tigers in seven games. This putative incident may have been included in the Cubs mythos because it adds a sense of Greek tragedy, whose origin some scholars have traced to a goatskin mummery performed during Dionysian rites. The Cubs' decline into their prolonged futility did begin in the decade of the goat, 1941–50, with a .472 winning percentage, which was followed by five decades of sub-.500 baseball. In the decades preceding the fatal '40s, the Cubs finished with the best winning percentage in the National League in 1931–1940 [End Page 129] and second best in 1901–1910 and 1911–1920. However, their so-called curse is hardly equivalent to the personalized curse of Babe Ruth, as comedian Jeff Carlin declares in Wait 'Til Next Year. Refusing a goat entrance into a ball game does not initiate a curse, but continued losing creates a tradition of futility. This is the major difference between the two teams: the Cubs are noted mainly for their prolonged futility, but the Sox are noted for coming tantalizingly close and losing via a bizarre play or two. In the decade following the trade of Ruth to the Yankees (1921–1930), the Yanks had the best winning percentage and the Red Sox had the worst percentage in the American League, .375, after leading the league in the previous decade with a .573 percentage. However, unlike the Cubs, the Red Sox finished with above .500 percentages in five of the ensuing seven decades. Wait 'Til Next Year, like the Red Sox documentaries, consists of commentary by colorful, articulate, and diehard fans mixed with a running...