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QC07182013

62 THE QUEENS COURIER • JULY 18, 2013 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com sports YOUNG BALLPLAYER REMEMBERS DAD AT ALL-STAR CLASSIC MAJOR LEAGUE QUESTION BLOOMBERG SAYS, RETRACTS THAT MLS TEAM COMING TO YANKEE STADIUM BY LIAM LA GUERRE lquerre@queenscourier.com The possibility that Queens might have a soccer stadium got another kick backwards. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Yankee Stadium will be the home for the new Major League Soccer (MLS) team, the New York City Football Club, on his latest weekly radio show. “Yankee Stadium will become the home of the New York City Football Club, the fi rst soccer club in the fi ve boroughs since the 1970s,” Bloomberg said on Sunday, July 14, according to reports. However, the mayor apparently committed a foul, and the statement was retracted. “The script for the mayor’s radio address overstated the possibility that the New York Football Club could play some games at Yankee Stadium while they search for a permanent home,” said Julie Wood, a mayoral spokesperson. “No decision has been made on where they will play.” The expansion team, which is jointly owned by English club Manchester City F.C. and the New York Yankees, will not begin play until 2015. Observers have speculated that the MLS has considered building a 25,000-seat stadium in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. Councilmember Julissa Ferreras and Assemblymember Francisco Moya, who has been a soccer fan since he was a child, have been advocating for the stadium. They say it would be an economic and cultural boon to the borough. However, the proposal has drawn opposition from park lovers. “Flushing Meadows-Corona Park is used by residents from all across Queens, and this usage by Major League Soccer would negatively impact park life,” said Councilmember Leroy Comrie, chair of the council’s Land Use Committee. “While there are many soccer fans here in Queens, there are more appropriate places to build this stadium.” Senator Tony Avella, who has suggested the stadium be built in the Rockaways, recently penned a bill apparently aimed at preventing proposals to change parkland use. That bill would require parkland taken for projects to be replaced with three times the space and within one mile of the project. If passed, it would lower the chances of getting the stadium in Queens. The Senate’s Cultural Affairs, Tourism, Parks and Recreation Committee is expected to decide on the bill after the legislature’s summer recess. THE COURIER/Photo by Cristabelle Tumola Brandon Krol, pictured with his neighbor John Reinhardt, hoped to get a photo signed by players at the All-Star Game in tribute to his recently deceased father. ALL-STAR GAME HAS SPECIAL MEANING Boy attends in dad’s memory BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA ctumola@queenscourier.com When Brandon Krol’s neighbor asked him to go to the MLB All-Star Game, the 11-year-old had a dilemma. He could miss his own baseball game, or miss out on the opportunity to see the sport’s top players compete in his hometown. The Tuesday, July 16 New York Warriors game would have been the fi rst Brandon played without his father, Jack, who founded the league. He passed away on June 26 at age 57. “At fi rst I was excited, then I remembered I had a game,” said Brandon of the All-Star invite. His Bergen Beach, Brooklyn neighbor, John Reinhardt, who had an extra last-minute ticket, invited him. “Who better to take to the game than Brandon?” said Reinhardt. “He’s a great ball player, he loves baseball and his dad loved baseball.” Though he did not want to let down his team, Brandon knew that his dad would have wanted him to go to the All-Star Game. “This is the All-Star Game .. It will defi nitely be something to remember,” said Brandon. “I’ll grow up and still cherish this moment.” His dad would have been happy to see him root for their favorite team, the Yankees, and the American League among the sea of Mets fans and National League supporters at the Citi Field event. Brandon was outnumbered threeto one in the group he accompanied to the game. The only one sporting a Yankees shirt, everyone else was a Mets fan. Brandon and his fellow fans may have been in the minority, but the American League beat the National League 3-0 to win homefield advantage in the World Series. Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera was named MVP. His dad was a diehard Yankees fan who loved Mickey Mantle, said Brandon. He even had a “lucky” Mickey Mantle shirt and used to wear it to almost every game, the boy recalled. The young baseball fanatic was hoping to bring home his own baseball keepsake from the All-Star Game. Brandon brought a special photo of his father and himself wearing New York Warriors jackets in tribute of his “All-Star Dad” to get the players to sign.


QC07182013
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