title: Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester

text: The Duchess of Gloucester has accompanied the Duke of Gloucester on his official visits overseas: her first visit was in 1973, when they represented the Queen at the 70th birthday celebrations of King Olav V of Norway. Other joint visits have included Australia, Belgium, China, Denmark, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Israel, Japan, Luxembourg, Nepal, New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tonga, Tunisia and the United States. Birgitte has also travelled overseas in support of her own patronages and military units, including a visit to Iraq in December 2008.


title: Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester

text: She and her husband represented the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the state funeral of King Tāufaāhau Tupou IV of Tonga on 19 September 2006. They also represented the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the coronation of King George Tupou V of Tonga on 1 August 2008 in Nukuʻalofa.


title: Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester

text: Birgitte is sponsor of two Royal Navy ships: and . She is also the royal patron of the Bermuda Regiment. She is patron of SeeAbility, a charity for people with learning disabilities and sight loss; The Lullaby Trust, a baby charity aiming to prevent unexpected deaths in infancy and promote infant health; and Music in Hospitals & Care. She regularly attends functions at schools of which she is president or patron: St Paul's Cathedral School; the Friends of St Paul's Cathedral; the Cathedral Music Trust; St John's School, Leatherhead; Bridewell Royal Hospital (King Edward's School, Witley); the Royal Alexandra and Albert School; the Children's Society; Parkinson's UK; Hope for Youth Northern Ireland; Scottish Opera; Lawn Tennis Association; the Royal School of Needlework; Turn2us; Missing People; and Princess Helena College. After the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, Birgitte became president of the Royal Academy of Music. She is also the patron of Prostate Cancer UK, and in March 2006, she opened the Prostate Centre.


title: Brianna Keilar

text: Brianna Marie Keilar (born September 21, 1980) is an Australian-born American journalist who formely was the co-anchor of "New Day" with John Berman on CNN. She previously worked as a White House correspondent, senior political correspondent, Congressional correspondent and general assignment correspondent for CNN in Washington. Prior to that, Keilar worked at CNN Newsource as a national correspondent, also in Washington. Before joining "New Day", She was the host of "CNN Right Now with Brianna Keilar".


title: Brianna Keilar

text: Keilar was born in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Her father Glenn is Australian, and her mother Miriam was American. The Keilars were stationed in Australia at the time of Brianna's birth. In 1982, Keilar and her family moved to the United States and settled in Orange County, California. Keilar graduated from Mission Viejo High School in 1998, where she was voted homecoming queen in her senior year. Keilar then attended the University of California, Berkeley, from which she graduated in 2001 with dual bachelor's degrees in mass communications and psychology.


title: Brianna Keilar

text: Keilar began her on-air career in Yakima, Washington, at the CBS affiliate KIMA. She also co-hosted the morning drivetime show "Billy, Blue and Brianna, too: The Morning Zoo" on contemporary hits station, KFFM. She then moved to CBS News, where she served as an anchor, reporter and producer for a CBS newscast that aired on MTVU, MTV's college network. She was also a fill-in anchor on the CBS News overnight newscast, "Up to the Minute", and a freelance reporter for the weekend edition of "CBS Evening News".


title: Brianna Keilar

text: From CBS, Keilar joined CNN as a correspondent for CNN Newsource, providing breaking news coverage and reports from the nation’s capital for approximately 800 CNN Newsource partner stations. As a general assignment correspondent for the network, she covered a wide range of stories, including the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, where she was the first CNN correspondent at the scene.


title: Brianna Keilar

text: While covering Congress, Keilar earned the 2009 National Press Foundation Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress for her fall 2008 coverage of the $700 billion bank bailout. While covering the Obama White House, Keilar earned the White House Correspondents' Association's 2014 Aldo Beckman Memorial Award for her coverage of the rollout of Obamacare.


title: Brianna Keilar

text: Keilar, a military spouse, began writing a column called "Home Front" in 2019, which tells stories of military families and tries to bridge the civilian-military divide.


title: Brianna Keilar

text: On September 15, 2022, it was announced that Keilar will leave her role on New Day with John Berman later this year. She will continue to co-anchor the show until the new CNN revamped morning show debuts. She will be assigned a new anchor role at the network.


title: Brianna Keilar

text: Keilar married Dave French on May 2, 2009. They later divorced. In July 2016, Keilar announced that she was engaged to Fernando Lujan, an active duty Green Beret who was then a director on the National Security Council at the White House. During CNN's "New Year's Eve Live" on December 31, 2016, Brooke Baldwin announced that Keilar and Lujan had married the previous evening in Las Vegas. She gave birth to a boy on June 8, 2018.


title: Brianna Keilar

text: On December 17, 2021, Keilar announced her breakthrough infection with COVID-19 and remarked she was symptomatic.


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: "Bagman" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of the American crime drama television series "Better Call Saul", the spinoff series of "Breaking Bad". Written by Gordon Smith and directed by Vince Gilligan, the episode aired on April 6, 2020, on AMC in the United States. Outside of the United States, the episode premiered in several countries on Netflix.


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: In the episode, Jimmy McGill agrees to travel to the desert as a "bagman" to pick up the $7 million that will serve as bail money for Lalo Salamanca. Once there, Jimmy finds himself in the middle of a shootout, where he encounters Mike Ehrmantraut. Together, the pair begin their journey back to civilization, while Jimmy's wife, Kim Wexler, begins to get worried.


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: The episode's director, Gilligan, said that "Bagman" was one of the most challenging episodes he had to direct in his career. "Bagman" took 18 days to film, which was nine days more than average episodes, and was shot on location at the Tohajiilee Indian Reservation, with Marshall Adams serving as a cinematographer for the episode. Additionally, Daniel and Luis Moncada made guest appearances in the episode as the Cousins, Leonel and Marco Salamanca.


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: In its initial airing, "Bagman" was seen by 1.42 million viewers in the United States. The episode received universal acclaim from critics, who called it one of the best episodes of "Better Call Saul". At the Primetime Emmy Awards, the episode received three nominations, for Outstanding Sound Editing, Outstanding Sound Mixing, and Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: The Cousins arrive at a Mexican cartel site to pick up Lalo Salamanca's bail money. As they depart, an informant inside the building makes a telephone call to report their presence. Lalo gives Jimmy McGill directions to a remote desert pickup site. Jimmy reluctantly agrees to pick up the money after Lalo promises him $100,000. Kim Wexler begs Jimmy not to go, saying he is an attorney, not a "bagman" for drug dealers, but he says he will do it because it will be easy and no one will suspect him of being the courier. The next morning, the Cousins deliver two duffel bags of cash to Jimmy at the pickup site.


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: Jimmy starts his return trip but several trucks cut him off. Numerous gunmen exit, take the money and prepare to kill him. The gunmen are suddenly attacked by an unknown shooter. All but one are killed and their vehicles are disabled. The surviving gunman escapes in the only drivable truck. The unseen shooter was Mike Ehrmantraut, who was tracking Jimmy for Gus Fring. He finds his truck was also disabled in the shootout, so he places a still-shaken Jimmy and the money in Jimmy's car and begins driving back to Albuquerque. Jimmy's car soon breaks down. With no cell phone coverage and no vehicle, they push the car over the edge of the road and walk cross-country with the money in order to avoid the surviving gunman. As they camp overnight, Jimmy tells Mike that Kim knows of his work for Lalo; Mike warns Jimmy that if she knows details about the Salamancas, Kim is now "in the game." Jimmy and Mike resume their trek the following morning.


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: When Jimmy fails to return, Kim pretends to be Lalo's attorney to visit him in prison. She tells him she is Jimmy's wife and asks for Jimmy's location so she can search. Lalo refuses and tells her Jimmy will be fine because he is a survivor. A dehydrated and sunburned Jimmy reaches his limit and collapses, and Mike fails to motivate him to go on. Mike spots the surviving gunman, but rather than hide as Mike directs, Jimmy regains his motivation and runs into the road to attract the gunman's attention. When the gunman is close enough, Mike shoots and kills him. The gunman's vehicle flips and is destroyed. Jimmy and Mike resume walking, this time on the road.


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: "Bagman" was directed by series co-creator Vince Gilligan, who considered the episode one of the most challenging episodes he had to direct in his career. Gilligan had made arrangements to direct one episode in the fifth season after completing post-production of "". Both co-showrunner Peter Gould and writer Gordon Smith, knowing this would be Gilligan's episode, planned for his directorial skills and continually teased Gilligan that the episode was well-suited for him in the weeks prior to filming. They had compared the episode to "Lawrence of Arabia" in terms of how they wanted it to look, and even had considered renting out the lens used to film that movie, but were worried about the liability if they had damaged it.


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: The episode took over 18 days to shoot, compared to the average of nine days for most other episodes. Most of the filming location was located on the To'hajiilee Indian Reservation, about two hours outside of Albuquerque by car, though the pickup location where Jimmy meets the Cousins was only about 15 minutes away from the Albuquerque studios. Gilligan credited his production team for making sure the cast and crew were protected from heat and had plenty of water to assure the shoot went on without any issues. Gilligan wanted Bob Odenkirk to employ method acting techniques, and did supply him with a pair of heavy tote bags to carry. Gilligan praised the script from Smith, which he felt established the bond between Mike and Jimmy that was seen in "Breaking Bad" but otherwise absent in "Better Call Saul" previously. Gilligan's associate producer Jenn Carroll and assistant Melissa Ng helped to identify elements to add to Smith's script to further connect the relationship between Mike and Jimmy to what was seen in "Breaking Bad".


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: The shootout scene between Mike and the gunmen was a challenge for Gilligan, and he considered it "the most complicated single scene I've ever directed". He wanted to have Odenkirk visible in all shots, even while the stuntmen and practical effects were going off around him, as to show the shootout from Jimmy's point of view as much as possible. The overall sequence took about four to five days to complete. To film the scene with the flipping truck while Jimmy was in-shot, a temporary green screen was placed on site. Odenkirk's reaction in front of the screen was filmed first, followed by the truck flip without changing the camera's location after Odenkirk and the screen were removed. The Suzuki Esteem that had been shot up and pushed into a gully was a duplicate of the one they normally used in filming; the original was still kept at the local studios, allowing them to reuse it for any later flashback scenes as needed.


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: In its initial broadcast, "Bagman" was watched by 1.42 million viewers in the United States, ranking 29th amongst other American original cable telecasts that aired the same day, and gained a 0.32 rating from the Nielsen Media Research firm.


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: "Bagman" received universal acclaim by critics, with many calling it one of the best episodes of the series. On Rotten Tomatoes, it received a 100% Certified Fresh rating with an average 9.83 out of 10 score based on 13 reviews. The critical consensus is, "Jimmy undergoes a trial by gunfire in 'Bagman,' an unpredictable installment that is given blockbuster suspense by Vince Gilligan's direction." The episode, with numerous long takes with Jimmy and Mike in desert scenes, has been visually and thematically compared to Gilligan's previous works in both "El Camino" and the "Breaking Bad" episode "4 Days Out", as well as to the 2007 film "No Country for Old Men".


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: Writing for "Rolling Stone", Alan Sepinwall lauded the episode for its premise, cinematography, visuals, and acting, stating that "["Better Call Saul"] can get hemmed in by the demands of being a prequel, particularly on the drug side of things, but its individual moments can feel even deeper and more artfully crafted." Steve Greene from "IndieWire" and Darren Franich of "Entertainment Weekly" both gave the episode a grade rating of an "A", with the pair praising the unpredictability of the episode as well as its visual style, and Franich calling it "a marvel to look at, scenes staged with sweaty-exquisite perfection". Nick Harley of "Den of Geek" gave the episode 5 out of 5 stars, who considered it to be one of the best of the series, especially praising Gilligan's direction. Kenny Herzog of "Vulture" also gave the episode 5 out of 5 stars, noting that Kim's decision to ask Lalo about Jimmy's whereabouts was a consequential decision that would cause her to be "in the game."


title: Bagman (Better Call Saul)

text: Donna Bowman of "The A.V. Club" gave the episode an "A" rating, praising the character developments of Saul and Kim, as well as the main desert sequences. David Segal, from "The New York Times", lauded the episode's ending, stating that "It takes nerve and skill to tell a story as grueling as the one told in "Bagman". There is no end. At least there is no end to the suffering." On April 11, "TVLine" named Bob Odenkirk and Jonathan Banks the "Performers of the Week" for their performances in this episode.


title: Brock Purdy

text: Brock Richard Purdy (born December 27, 1999) is an American football quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Iowa State and was selected by the 49ers with the final pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, making him the Mr. Irrelevant of that year. After being named the third-string quarterback to start his rookie season, injuries to quarterbacks Trey Lance and Jimmy Garoppolo thrusted Purdy into the starting role.


title: Brock Purdy

text: Purdy is a native of Queen Creek, Arizona, and played high school football for Perry High School. He is the middle child of Shawn and Carrie Purdy. His older sister, Whitney Purdy, played softball at Southeastern University. Younger brother Chubba Purdy also became the starting quarterback at Perry before being recruited to Florida State as a dual threat quarterback.


title: Brock Purdy

text: Purdy started his varsity football career during the 2015 season as a sophomore for the newly opened Perry High School. In 2016, the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) adjusted the athletic regions, placing Perry in the 6A Division Premier Region, ranked as the sixth toughest region in the nation. Purdy's performance would elevate Perry into the 6A Division AIA State Championship game in 2016 and 2017, losing 65–28 and 48–42 respectively, both to Chandler High School.


title: Brock Purdy

text: During his tenure Perry began to establish itself as a football power in Arizona, competing against Chandler Unified School District's more established powerhouse programs such as Chandler (0–5), Hamilton (4–2), and Basha (2–1). Overall Purdy achieved a 27–13 record at Perry. He was named Gatorade's Football Player of the Year and was "The Arizona Republic" high school football player of the year.


title: Brock Purdy

text: Purdy was considered a three-star prospect by 247Sports. He signed his letter of intent to commit to Iowa State University on February 7, 2018, enrolling in June of the same year.


title: Brock Purdy

text: Purdy entered his freshman year at Iowa State in 2018 as the third string to Kyle Kempt and Zeb Noland. He became the starter after Kempt was injured and Noland was ineffective. Overall he started eight games, completing 146 of 220 passes for 2,250 yards, 16 touchdowns, and seven interceptions for what would prove to be a career-best 169.9 passer rating (sixth best in all NCAA football), and compiling a 72 record for the Cyclones. He also rushed for 308 yards and five touchdowns.


title: Brock Purdy

text: His sophomore season, Purdy started all 13 games, compiling a 76 record. The year was highlighted by 435 yards and a school record 510 total yards, along with three touchdowns against Louisiana-Monroe, five passing and one rushing touchdown in a close 4142 loss against then No. 9 Oklahoma, and 372 yards with three passing and one rushing touchdown in a win over Kansas. He passed for a touchdown in 12 consecutive games, a school record, as were his 39 completions against Oklahoma St. He also led the Big-12 in passing yards with 3,982, and was third with both 27 passing and 35 total touchdowns, which shattered George Amundson's 41-year-old school record of 24 total touchdowns.


title: Brock Purdy

text: His junior year, Purdy had less gaudy statistics, but with the emergence of running back Breece Hall led the Cyclones to a 93 record (tied with 2000 for the best ever) and No. 9 national ranking, their highest in a history stretching back to 1895. He had three touchdowns and no interceptions in a 450 shutout of Kansas St, followed two weeks later by completing 20/23 passes for three touchdowns and rushing for 38 yards and another touchdown in 426 victory over West Virginia. In the Fiesta Bowl, Purdy passed and rushed for a touchdown in a 3417 defeat of Oregon.


title: Brock Purdy

text: In his 2021 senior year, Purdy and Hall again led the Cyclones to a 76 winning record, highlighted by 307 yards and two touchdowns in a 2421 defeat of No. 8 Oklahoma St. He also had 356 yards and three touchdowns against Texas Tech, but lost in a 3841 shootout. The season was something of a disappointment to a team ranked No. 7 entering the season, but Purdy's 71.7 percent completion percentage and 3,188 yards again led the Big-12.


title: Brock Purdy

text: Purdy ended his time at Iowa State as a three-time All Big-12 quarterback, and holding 32 school records including career pass attempts, completion, percentage, yards, and both passing (81) and total (100) touchdowns. His 14 games with 300-plus passing yards was nearly triple the previous school record of five by Bret Meyer.


title: Brock Purdy

text: The San Francisco 49ers selected Purdy with the final pick (262nd overall) of the 2022 NFL Draft, making him that year's Mr. Irrelevant.


title: Brock Purdy

text: On October 23, 2022, Purdy relieved quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo on the 49ers' last drive in the 4th quarter against the Kansas City Chiefs, throwing for 66 yards and an interception in the 44–23 loss.


title: Brock Purdy

text: On December 4, 2022, in the first quarter of the 49ers' Week 13 matchup against the Miami Dolphins, Garoppolo suffered a season-ending foot injury, causing the 49ers to call upon Purdy once again. Purdy performed efficiently, and finished the game completing 25 of 37 passes for 210 yards, two touchdowns—one to running back Christian McCaffrey and one to fullback Kyle Juszczyk—and one interception in a 33–17 win. Purdy became the first 'Mr. Irrelevant' to throw a touchdown pass in a regular season game. Following Garoppolo's injury, Purdy was named the 49ers' starting quarterback for the rest of the 2022 season.


title: Brock Purdy

text: On December 11, 2022, Purdy became the only quarterback in his first career start to beat a team led by Tom Brady, when the 49ers defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 35–7. After the game, the 49ers sent out a tweet dubbing Purdy "Mr. Relevant", a reference to Purdy's having been drafted as "Mr. Irrelevant" as the last pick taken in the 2022 NFL Draft, followed by his sudden jump to importance in the 49ers' season.


title: Wanderlust (British TV series)

text: Wanderlust is a British television drama miniseries written by Nick Payne and directed by Luke Snellin and Lucy Tcherniak. The series is a co-production between BBC One and Netflix, with BBC One airing the first episode on 4 September 2018 in the United Kingdom, and Netflix streaming the show outside the UK. It began airing on 19 October 2018 on Netflix. The miniseries consists of six episodes.


title: Wanderlust (British TV series)

text: Joy Richards, a therapist, is injured in a traffic accident. The accident was caused in part by distraction upon her sighting a former patient of hers, Emily. Emily's husband, Josh (who was also a patient in couples therapy), committed suicide during the treatment. Joy's injuries and her recovery from them exacerbate the marital difficulties she is having with her husband, Alan. Joy meets Marvin at physical therapy, and they have a fling. Alan confesses an affair with a colleague, Claire. Rather than become mutually acrimonious, Joy suggests an open marriage as a solution to their difficulties. Joy's affair with Marvin ends but he rekindles romance with his (now married) former girlfriend Joy. Alan detests Lawrence because Joy had cheated on Alan previously with Lawrence. Episode 5 consists mainly of a long session with Joy's own therapist (Angela), during which Joy comes to realize her self-destructive promiscuity is a sublimation to avoid the real issues in her life: bereavement from her mother's death and guilt over the suicide of her patient, Josh.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Jeļena Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997), also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 19 March 2018, and world No. 9 in doubles, reached on 22 August 2022.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko won the 2017 French Open singles title, becoming the first player from Latvia to win a Grand Slam singles tournament and the first unseeded player to win the French Open since 1933. In addition to her singles career, she has played as a member of the Latvia Fed Cup team. She has won seven singles and eight doubles titles on the ITF Women's Circuit, and she also won the junior singles event at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko was born in Riga to former Ukrainian footballer Jevgēnijs Ostapenko (d. 2020) and Russian Jeļena Jakovļeva. Jevgēnijs played professional football for FC Metalurh Zaporizhya in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia where Jeļena's grandmother lives. Jeļena has one half-brother, Maksim, who lives in the United States. She was introduced to tennis at age five by her mother and idolized Serena Williams while growing up. She also started dancing that age, going on to compete in the National Latvian Championships for Ballroom Dancing. At the age of 12 she chose to focus on tennis, but she credits her good coordination and skilled footwork to her years of dancing. She speaks Latvian, Russian, and English.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Her legal name is Jeļena, but she is known to her family and friends as Aļona. When she was born, her parents' desired name of Aļona was not on the Latvian name calendar, so she was named Jeļena after her mother. Latvian authorities have now clarified, though, that there have been no restrictions in place that would not allow to register the desired name and most likely there has been some misunderstanding. Fans in Latvia and elsewhere in Eastern Europe had always called her Aļona, but the name was unknown in the West until her win at Roland Garros in 2017. She uses her legal name professionally in order to avoid administrative confusion.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko won the singles event at the junior Wimbledon Championships and was ranked the No. 2 junior tennis player in the world in September 2014. She made her WTA Tour main-draw debut at the Tashkent Open, having been awarded a wildcard.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At Wimbledon, Ostapenko defeated the ninth-seeded Carla Suárez Navarro in straight sets (dropping only two games in the match and grabbing her first win over a top-ten player) in the first round before losing to Kristina Mladenovic.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: In September, she reached her first career WTA Tour final at the Coupe Banque Nationale, where she lost to Annika Beck.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: She reached the final of the Qatar Open, a Premier 5 tournament in Doha, beating world No. 8, Petra Kvitová, on the way. She was beaten by Carla Suárez Navarro in the final, nevertheless she rose to No. 41 in the world rankings.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At the French Open, Ostapenko was seeded in the singles at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in her career, but she dropped her opening match to Naomi Osaka.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At the Birmingham Classic, she beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets during the first round, and she defeated two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová in the second. She was defeated by Madison Keys in the quarterfinals. She reached the semifinals of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon with Oliver Marach, but they fell to the eventual champions Heather Watson and Henri Kontinen.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko made her Olympic debut at the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics where she lost to Samantha Stosur in the first round.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At the Australian Open, she advanced to the third round of a major for the first time, losing to Karolína Plíšková in three sets despite serving for the match in the third set.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At the French Open, Ostapenko, then ranked 47th in the world, defeated Louisa Chirico, Monica Puig, Lesia Tsurenko, and Samantha Stosur. She then faced Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals. Ostapenko came from a set down to defeat her, reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal. She was the first Latvian female player to do so and first teenager in a decade to reach the French Open semifinals (the last was Ana Ivanovic in 2007), opposite Timea Bacsinszky on 8 June, the birthday of both players. She beat Bacsinszky in three sets to reach the final, being the first unseeded female player to play in the final of the French Open since Mima Jaušovec in 1983 and the first Latvian player to reach the final of a major. In the final against third-seeded Simona Halep, Ostapenko came back from being down a set and 3–0 to win her first professional title. She became the first Latvian player to win a Grand Slam singles tournament and the first unseeded woman to win the French Open since 1933. Ostapenko also became the first player since Gustavo Kuerten to win his or her first career title at a Grand Slam tournament; coincidentally Kuerten won his first title at the 1997 French Open on the day Ostapenko was born. With the win, she reached a new career-high ranking of world No. 12.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At Wimbledon, Ostapenko beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Françoise Abanda, Camila Giorgi, and fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina en-route to her second Grand Slam quarterfinal. She lost to five-time champion Venus Williams.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Then, at the US Open, she reached the third round by defeating Lara Arruabarrena and Sorana Cîrstea, before losing to Daria Kasatkina. Her performance was enough for her to make her top-ten debut in the world rankings, at No. 10.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At the end of September, she won her second WTA title at the Korea Open in Seoul. In the Wuhan Open, she beat Barbora Strýcová and Monica Puig to reach the quarterfinals, where she scored her first win over a reigning WTA number one, Garbiñe Muguruza, extending her winning streak to eight in a row. She lost to Ashleigh Barty in the semifinal.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: In October, she reached the semifinals of the China Open, losing to Simona Halep. At the WTA Finals, she scored a win over Karolína Plíšková but lost to Muguruza and Venus Williams.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At Indian Wells, Ostapenko beat Belinda Bencic in the second round but lost to Petra Martić in the third. The result meant that she made her debut in the top 5.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: She then played at the Miami Open, where she defeated the ninth-seeded Petra Kvitová in the fourth round and fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals, 7–6, 7–6. In the semifinal, Ostapenko defeated qualifier Danielle Collins to reach the final, in which she lost to 12th-seeded Sloane Stephens.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko entered the French Open as the fifth seed, but failed to defend her title, losing in the first round to Kateryna Kozlova. Following the loss, she left the top ten for the first time since entering. At Wimbledon she beat Katy Dunne, Kirsten Flipkens, Vitalia Diatchenko and Aliaksandra Sasnovich to reach the quarterfinals for a second successive year, then beat Dominika Cibulková to reach her first Wimbledon semifinal, in which she lost to eventual winner Angelique Kerber. The rest of the season was rather disappointing, as a left wrist injury caused her to withdraw from the WTA Elite Trophy, and she ended the season ranked No. 22.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko's first tournament of the year was the Shenzhen Open where she lost in the first round to Monica Niculescu. She went on to play at the Sydney International, where she lost to Ash Barty in the first round. At the Australian Open, Ostapenko was seeded 22nd and lost to Maria Sakkari, again in the first round. One commentator identified her tendency to hit a relatively high number of double faults, and frequent coaching changes, as contributing to her lack of success in 2019. At the French Open, she lost to Victoria Azarenka in the first round, but reached the quarterfinals of the doubles event with Lyudmyla Kichenok, falling to Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko also lost in the first round of the Wimbledon Championships to Hsieh Su-wei. Despite the loss, alongside Robert Lindstedt she reached the first mixed-doubles final of her career, though they lost in straight sets to Latisha Chan and Ivan Dodig. During the tournament Ostapenko twice served a ball on the head of her partner Lindstedt.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At Jūrmala, Ostapenko was defeated in the first round by Bernarda Pera, but she reached the final of the doubles alongside Galina Voskoboeva; the pair lost to Sharon Fichman and Nina Stojanović. At Toronto, Ostapeonko defeated Caroline Garcia and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to reach the third round, before losing to qualifier Marie Bouzková; in doubles, she and partner Lyudmyla Kichenok lost in the first round to Julia Görges and Karolína Plíšková. At Cincinnati, she was defeated in the first round of the singles tournament by Yulia Putintseva, and, partnering with Kichenok once again in the doubles, defeated Raquel Atawo and Han Xinyun in the first round, before falling to Lucie Hradecká and Andreja Klepač, the eventual champions. Finally, she had some success at the US Open where she beat Aleksandra Krunic and 2019 Wimbledon quarterfinalist Alison Riske, in straight sets, to reach her first Grand Slam third round of the season where she faced wildcard Kristie Ahn to whom she lost in straight sets. In doubles, she and Kichenok were defeated in the first round by Caroline Dolehide and Vania King.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At Zhengzhou, she defeated You Xiaodi in the first round, before falling to Aryna Sabalenka. At Seoul, she lost to Tímea Babos in the first round, and also lost in the first round of the doubles tournament where, partnering with Kirsten Flipkens, she fell to Hayley Carter and Luisa Stefani. At Tashkent, she retired in the first round against Katarina Zavatska. At Beijing, she upset the second seed Plíšková in the first round, before falling to Kateřina Siniaková in the second. However, she went on to reach the biggest women's doubles final of her career at Beijing, partnering with Dayana Yastremska; they lost to Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands. At Linz, Ostapenko defeated Tamara Korpatsch, Alizé Cornet, and Elena Rybakina en route to reach her first semifinal appearance since 2018 Wimbledon. In the semifinal, she came from a set and a break deficit to defeat Ekaterina Alexandrova in three tight sets. In her first final since Miami 2018, Ostapenko faced Coco Gauff, to whom she fell in three sets. At Linz, Ostapenko announced that she had hired fellow Grand Slam champion Marion Bartoli to her coaching team.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At Luxembourg, Ostapenko defeated Caty McNally in the first round, and then defeated top-seeded Elise Mertens in the second round. She then defeated Antonia Lottner and Anna Blinkova to reach the final, where she defeated defending champion Julia Görges in straight sets, to win her first title since Seoul in 2017.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko withdrew from the 2020 Auckland Open following the death of her father. At the Australian Open, she defeated Liudmila Samsonova in the first round, before falling to Belinda Bencic in the second round. In doubles, she partnered Gabriela Dabrowski and reached the quarterfinals, and in mixed doubles, she partnered Leander Paes and lost in the second round to finalists Mattek-Sands and Jamie Murray.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: After participating in the 2020-21 Billie Jean King Cup, where she lost to Serena Williams, but defeated Sofia Kenin before losing in the deciding doubles rubber to Kenin and Mattek-Sands, Ostapenko played at St. Petersburg, where she lost to Alizé Cornet in the first round whilst struggling with illness and jet lag.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: In May 2021, Ostapenko reached the semifinals in doubles at the Madrid Open with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeating en route the top seeded pair and world No. 1 and No. 3, Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens. Next she reached the quarterfinals of a WTA 1000 tournament at the Italian Open, her first since 2018, by defeating Angelique Kerber. She had match points against Karolína Plíšková, but lost in a third set tiebreak. In the last tournament of the month, Ostapenko played Sofia Kenin in the first round of the French Open, but lost in the first round, in three sets.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko won her fourth title as a wildcard at the Eastbourne International, defeating Anett Kontaveit in straight sets in the final. She became only the third wildcard to win the title, following Monica Seles in 1996 and Julie Halard-Decugis in 2000.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At Wimbledon, she reached the third round by defeating 31st seed Daria Kasatkina, but lost to Ajla Tomljanovic in three sets.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Ostapenko was a flagbearer for Latvia alongside basketball player Agnis Čavars and entered the singles and doubles tournaments at the Games. She was defeated in the first round in the singles tournament by Elena Vesnina, in three sets. Ostapenko alongside Anastasija Sevastova also lost in the first round of the doubles tournament to Australia's Samantha Stosur and Ellen Perez.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: For the beginning of the US Open Series, Ostapenko attended the Canadian Open unseeded and played against unseeded Kateřina Siniaková in the first round, but lost in straight sets. At the Cincinnati Open, also unseeded, she defeated Tamara Zidanšek in the first round and 13th seed Jennifer Brady (by retirement) in the second before losing to Angelique Kerber in the third.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko reached the third round at the Australian Open, falling to Barbora Krejčíková after taking the first set.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At the Dubai Championships, she reached the final after defeating four Grand Slam champions: Kenin, Świątek, Kvitová and Halep in each round. She won the championship match against Veronika Kudermetova. This was her fifth title, and sixth final at WTA 500 level or above, and third final in the past nine months after a title run in Eastbourne and a runner-up showing in Luxembourg the previous year. She returned to the top 15 at world No. 13 in the WTA singles rankings. At the same tournament, she made also the final in doubles, partnering Lyudmyla Kichenok but they were defeated by Kudermetova and Mertens.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At the Qatar Open, Ostapenko lost in semifinal against Anett Kontaveit. In her next three singles matches at Indian Wells, Miami, and Madrid, she lost in the first round. In Madrid, she reached the semifinals in doubles with Lyudmyla Kichenok losing to Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos. Her woes continued with a first-round loss at the Italian Open. At the French Open, Ostapenko lost in the second round to Alizé Cornet in three sets. In doubles, at the same tournament she reached the semifinals of a major for the first time partnering again with Kichenok.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At Wimbledon, she reached the fourth round in singles where she lost to Tatjana Maria. At the same tournament, she reached the doubles semifinals, partnering also with Kichenok, and mixed doubles quarterfinals, partnering Robert Farah.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: At the Cincinnati Open, she reached the second round in singles, defeating Beatriz Haddad Maia before losing to Madison Keys. In doubles with Kichenok, she reached the final defeating Australian Open finalists Haddad Maia and Anna Danilina and top seeds Kudermetova and Mertens. The pair won their biggest title defeating Nicole Melichar and Ellen Perez. As a result, Ostapenko reached the top 10 at world No. 9 in the doubles rankings on 22 August 2022 and reached a career-high doubles ranking of No. 7 on 12 September 2022 after a third round showing in doubles at the US Open.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko is an aggressive baseliner, with a attacking playing style. In a 2017 article, Steve Tignor of "Tennis.com" described Ostapenko's mentality as "See ball, hit winner." Eurosport labeled her style as "risky, aggressive, fun tennis".


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Her forehand and backhand are both hit flat, with relentless power and depth. In a 2016 interview, "Crosscourt View" labeled Ostapenko's backhand her "strongest weapon"; the same year, "Hartford Courant" stated that she "hits a lot of forehand winners". Due to her aggressive playing style, she accumulates significant numbers of both winners and unforced errors. She aims to finish points quickly, either with powerful groundstrokes or deft volleys. Ostapenko moves opponents around the court by aiming long strokes at corners and lines, and then changes direction to hit powerful winners. After putting an opponent in a vulnerable position, she regularly seeks to end the point with a cross-court forehand, a down-the-line backhand, a swinging volley, or a drop shot. Before her participation in the 2017 Charleston Open final, an article on the event's website declared that what was "most impressive about Ostapenko is her willingness to strike big to all corners of the court, be it a cross-court laser or a bold down-the-line winner." One of her major weaknesses is a high error rate due to her high-risk approach. At the 2017 French Open, where Ostapenko won her first professional title, she regularly hit between 35 and 45 winners throughout her matches. Following her quarterfinal performance, she attracted multiple comparisons to Monica Seles. Ostapenko said in an interview at the event that "aggressive is my style of game". After the final match of that French Open, analysts highlighted the differences between her performance and opponent Simona Halep's performance: Ostapenko had 54 winners and 54 unforced errors, while Halep had eight winners and ten unforced errors. ESPN's Simon Cambers wrote "Fear just does not seem to come into [Ostapenko's] vocabulary... Her groundstrokes are simply massive, flat swipes of the ball that left Halep... grasping at shadows."


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: The major weakness in Ostapenko's game is her serve, which is highly inconsistent. Her first serve is powerful, being typically recorded at 106 mph (170 km/h), and peaking at 112 mph (180 km/h), allowing her to serve aces, whilst her second serve is inconsistent. Her second serve is hampered by nerves, and a frequently wayward ball toss, meaning that she double faults frequently. In 2017 and 2019, she was the WTA Tour leader in double faults, hitting 436 double faults in 2019. She also frequently has one of the lowest first serve percentages on the entire tour; in her first-round match at the 2019 China Open against Karolína Plíšková, she served 25 double faults, and had a first-serve percentage of 49%, whilst still winning the match. However, after partnering with Marion Bartoli at Linz, her serve began to show some improvement, and in the final against Julia Görges at Luxembourg, she did not double fault once.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko uses Wilson Blade racquets, but is currently without an apparel sponsor, having previously been sponsored by Adidas for clothing and shoes; and Nike prior to that. At the Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon 2022 she wore DK ONE, a Latvian brand.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Ostapenko is coached by her mother, with her father serving as a fitness trainer. In 2017, she also trained with two-time French Open doubles champion Anabel Medina Garrigues. She parted company with Medina Garrigues at the end of 2017, taking on David Taylor – former coach of Sam Stosur and Ana Ivanovic – to coach her for the majors, with her mother remaining as her full-time coach. In October 2019, Ostapenko partnered with 2013 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli on a trial basis; their partnership resulted in Ostapenko reaching two finals in two weeks, and winning the title in Luxembourg. Bartoli announced that their partnership would continue into 2020, and that she would be Ostapenko's full time coach throughout the year. After a poor start to the 2020 season, and Bartoli's pregnancy, Ostapenko ended their partnership during the suspension of the WTA Tour due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and began to be coached on a trial basis by Thomas Högstedt, the former coach of Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep. This partnership was not extended into 2021, and Bartoli began coaching Ostapenko once again in February 2021, following the birth of her daughter, at Doha. Ostapenko subsequently started working with Ukrainian coach Stas Khmarsky.


title: Jeļena Ostapenko

text: Between 2016 and 2019, Ostapenko was the only player to have won a Grand Slam title (2017 French Open), but lost in the first round the three other times she had competed at the same tournament (2016 to Naomi Osaka, 2018 to Kateryna Kozlova, and 2019 to Victoria Azarenka). This run ended in 2020, as she advanced to the second round after beating Madison Brengle.


title: Jim Thome

text: James Howard Thome (; born August 27, 1970) is an American former professional baseball corner infielder and designated hitter, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for 22 seasons (1991–2012). He played for six different teams during the 1990s and early 2000s. A prolific power hitter, Thome hit 612 home runs during his career—the eighth-most all time—along with 2,328 hits, 1,699 runs batted in (RBI), and a .276 batting average. He was a member of five All-Star teams and won a Silver Slugger Award in 1996.


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome grew up in Peoria, Illinois, as part of a large blue-collar family of athletes, who predominantly played baseball and basketball. After attending Illinois Central College, he was drafted by the Indians in the 1989 draft, and made his big league debut in 1991. Early in his career, Thome played third base, before eventually becoming a first baseman. With the Indians, he was part of a core of players that led the franchise to two World Series appearances in three years during the mid-1990s. Thome spent over a decade with the Tribe, before leaving via free agency after the 2002 season, to join the Philadelphia Phillies, with whom he spent the following three seasons. Traded to the Chicago White Sox before the 2006 season, he won the American League (AL) Comeback Player of the Year Award that year and joined the 500 home run club during his three-season tenure with the ChiSox. By this point in his career, back pain limited Thome to being a designated hitter. After stints with the Los Angeles Dodgers and Minnesota Twins, he made brief returns to Cleveland and Philadelphia, before ending his career with the Baltimore Orioles. Upon retiring, Thome accepted an executive position with the White Sox.


title: Jim Thome

text: Throughout his career, Thome's strength was power hitting. In 12 different seasons, he hit at least 30 home runs, topping 40 home runs in six of those seasons. He hit a career-high 52 homers in 2002, and in 2003 he led the National League in home runs with 47. Due in part to his ability to draw walks, with 12 seasons of at least 90 bases on balls, he finished his career with a .402 on-base percentage. Thome's career on-base plus slugging (OPS) of .956 ranks 19th all-time. In 2011, he became only the eighth MLB player to hit 600 home runs. Thome is the career leader in walk-off home runs with 13. One of his trademarks was his unique batting stance, in which he held the bat out with his right hand and pointed it at right field before the pitcher threw, something he first saw in "The Natural". Thome was known for his consistently positive attitude and "gregarious" personality. An active philanthropist during his playing career, he was honored with two Marvin Miller Man of the Year Awards and a Lou Gehrig Memorial Award for his community involvement. In 2018, Thome was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome was born in Peoria, Illinois, on August 27, 1970, and is the youngest of five children. Many of the Thome family played sports: Jim's grandmother was hired at a local Caterpillar plant solely to play for the company's softball team; his father built bulldozers for Caterpillar and played slow-pitch softball; his aunt Caroline Thome Hart is in the Women's Softball Hall of Fame; and his two older brothers, Chuck III and Randy, played baseball at Limestone High School. Thome learned to play baseball from his father on a tennis court, and also played basketball in what he described as the "ghetto" of Peoria, noting that he was the only white kid there but that he earned the respect of his fellow players. One day during his youth, Thome sneaked into the Cubs' clubhouse at Wrigley Field in an unsuccessful attempt to obtain an autograph from his favorite player, Dave Kingman. Though Thome received signatures from several other players, this experience influenced him to be generous with signing autographs for fans during his playing career.


title: Jim Thome

text: Like his older brothers, Thome attended Limestone High School where he achieved all-state honors in basketball and as a baseball shortstop. He played American Legion Baseball for Bartonville Limestone Post 979 in his hometown, as well. Although he had hoped to draw the attention of scouts, at just he was relatively underweight for his height, meaning that he attracted only passing interest—the average Major League Baseball (MLB) player weighed in 1993. Thome graduated in 1988 and, after not being drafted, enrolled at Illinois Central College where he continued his baseball and basketball careers. After one season, he was drafted by MLB's Cleveland Indians as an "afterthought" in the 13th round (333rd overall) of the 1989 MLB draft.


title: Jim Thome

text: For the 1989 season, Thome was assigned to the Gulf Coast League Indians, a minor league affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. He finished the year with a .237 batting average, no home runs, and 22 runs batted in (RBIs)in 55 games. After his rookie season, he met "hitting guru" Charlie Manuel, who later became his manager and mentor. Unlike most Indians staff, Manuel saw potential in Thome and worked hard with him, particularly on his hip motion while swinging the bat. Thome later said, "[Manuel] saw something in me I didn't." During this work, Manuel suggested to Thome that he point his bat out to center field before the pitch to relax himself like Roy Hobbs did when batting in the baseball film "The Natural". The work paid off; in 1990, Thome hit .340 and totaled 16 home runs and 50 RBI in 67 games playing at both the Rookie and Class A levels of the minor leagues. Thome spent most of the 1991 season splitting time between Double-A and Triple-A where, in combination, he hit .319 with seven home runs and 73 RBI in 125 games.


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome made his MLB debut on September 4, 1991, as a third baseman against the Minnesota Twins. In the game, he recorded two hits in four at bats (2-for-4). He hit his first career home run on October 4. Injuries shortened his 1992 campaign, during which he played for both the Indians and their Triple-A affiliate, the Colorado Springs Sky Sox. Across the minor and major leagues that year, he combined to hit .236 with four home runs and 26 RBI in 52 games. In 1993, playing mostly for the Charlotte Knights, the Indians' new Triple-A affiliate, he led the International League with a .332 batting average and 102 RBI, complemented by 25 home runs in 115 games. This performance earned him a late season promotion to the major league, where he hit .266 with seven home runs and 22 RBI in 47 games.


title: Jim Thome

text: After seven consecutive seasons with a losing record, "a new ballpark and a few offseason acquisitions coupled with rising young stars have made the Indians legitimate contenders" for the division title during their 1994 season. The Indians' core of offensive players included Carlos Baerga, Kenny Lofton, Sandy Alomar Jr., Thome, and Eddie Murray. A "promising youngster", for the first time in his career, Thome spent the entire 1994 season with Cleveland, playing in 98 games while hitting .268 with 20 home runs and 52 RBI. With help from the aforementioned core, the Indians held the wild card spot in the American League (AL) and were one game behind the Chicago White Sox in the standings for the AL Central Division lead before the 1994 players' strike forced cancellation of the season's remaining games. During the strike-shortened season, Thome had his first career multi-home run game, hitting two solo home runs on June 22, 1994, against Detroit Tigers' pitcher John Doherty.


title: Jim Thome

text: It was not until 1995 that the Indians' success led to a playoff berth. Thome was among the team's leaders at the plate, hitting .314 with 25 home runs and 73 RBI in 137 games, and the Indians finished with a 100–44 record to win the AL Central but lost the 1995 World Series to the Atlanta Braves in six games. Thome hit .211 in the World Series with one home run and two RBIs. Preceding the Indians' 1996 season, sportswriters predicted that Thome would be moved up in the batting order and bat in the sixth position (he had hit anywhere from the fifth to the eighth positions during his first two seasons). During the 1996 season, Thome hit 38 home runs, once hitting a homer at Cleveland's Jacobs Field, the longest home run ever at a Cleveland ballpark.


title: Jim Thome

text: Before their 1997 season, the Indians moved Thome, originally a third baseman, to first base after acquiring third baseman Matt Williams from the San Francisco Giants. That year, Thome helped the Indians set a new franchise single-season record for home runs (220), contributing 40 of them. Thome also totaled an AL-high 120 walks to go along with 102 RBI in 147 games. Cleveland returned to the World Series, but they lost to the Florida Marlins in seven games; Thome hit .286 with two home runs and four RBI in the World Series.


title: Jim Thome

text: The next three seasons were not as successful as the previous three for either Thome or the Indians. In July 1998, Thome hit his 24th home run of that season while helping the Indians end the Yankees' 10-game winning streak. An article in "Sports Illustrated" published in July 1998 commented that despite Thome's early career success (two All-Star Games and appearances in two of the previous three World Series), he was only "faintly famous" nationally and was not particularly well known outside of Cleveland or his hometown, Peoria. His former teammate Jeromy Burnitz said, "You can't really say he's underrated, because everybody considers him one of the top hitters in the American League, but he's surrounded by so many good players, it's hard to stand out on that team."


title: Jim Thome

text: In August, Thome broke a bone in his right hand and spent several weeks on the disabled list, missing 35 games. He finished the year with 30 home runs and 85 RBI while posting a .293 batting average in 123 games. In Game 3 of the AL Championship Series against the New York Yankees, he hit two home runs off Andy Pettitte en route to a 6–1 Cleveland victory. Cleveland subsequently lost the series to the Yankees in six games.


title: Jim Thome

text: Headed into Cleveland's 1999 season, there were high hopes for the Indians; writers expected Thome to bat in the cleanup spot of the batting order. In May 1999, Thome hit a grand slam against Yankees pitcher Orlando Hernández, which helped Cleveland to a 7–1 victory. In 146 games, his batting average fell to .277, but he increased both his home run and RBI totals to 33 and 108, respectively. In Game 1 of the AL Division Series, Thome hit a game-tying two-run home run off of Derek Lowe that sprung Cleveland's defeat of the Boston Red Sox by a score of 3–2. However, after leading two-games-to-none, Cleveland lost the five-game series.


title: Jim Thome

text: During the 2000 season, Thome hit .269 with 37 home runs and 106 RBI in 158 games. On June 21, he hit his 20th home run of the year against the Chicago White Sox, marking the seventh consecutive season in which he hit 20 or more home runs. On September 29, while in the midst of a tight race for the AL Wild Card spot, Thome led the Indians to an 8–4 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays by hitting a two-run home run. After the game, Thome was quoted as saying, "This team has battled all year, so this was nothing new. Here we are, and we're here tomorrow to play another day." Despite finishing with a record of 90–72, the Indians missed the playoffs. For the 2001 Indians' season, he finished second in the AL with 49 home runs. In addition, Thome had 124 RBI and 111 walks in 156 games. However, he led the league with 185 strikeouts. He and Juan González, who totaled 140 RBIs, powered the Indians to another division title. Despite these numbers, the Indians could once again only reach the AL Division Series, where they lost in five games to the Seattle Mariners.


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome had his best season with Cleveland in 2002, leading the AL in walks (122), slugging percentage (.677) and on-base plus slugging (OPS) (1.122), while batting .304 (16th in AL) with a .445 on-base percentage (second in AL). He also hit a career-high 52 home runs (second in AL) and collected 118 RBI (seventh in AL). The 52 home runs set a new Cleveland Indians' single-season record and made Thome the 21st major league player to join the 50 home run club.


title: Jim Thome

text: During his stint with the Cleveland Indians, when Jim Thome would hit a home run, the scoreboard would often display "THOME RUN" to mark this accomplishment. He was also known as the "THOMENATOR" during this time.


title: Jim Thome

text: On December 6, 2002, Thome, who was a free agent, signed a six-year, $85 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies – he thought the Phillies were closer to winning a championship than the Indians. With the Phillies, Thome's salary rose from $8 million per year to $11 million per year. Thome hit a franchise record 334 home runs in his first stint with the Indians.


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome hit 47 home runs in his first season with the Phillies, finishing one behind Mike Schmidt's single-season team record of 48 in 1980, and tied with Alex Rodriguez for the MLB lead in 2003. On June 14, 2004 at Citizens Bank Park, Thome hit his 400th career home run, surpassing Al Kaline for 37th on the all-time home run list. He ended the 2004 season batting .274 with 42 home runs and 105 RBI in 143 games. In 2004, Thome won the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award, which is given to players who best exemplify Gehrig's character and integrity both on and off the field.


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome missed a significant portion of the first half of the Phillies' 2005 season due to injury; he compiled only a .207 batting average with seven home runs and 30 RBI going into the All-Star break. He had season-ending surgery on his right elbow in August, while his replacement at first base, Ryan Howard, won the NL Rookie of the Year Award. The Phillies traded Thome and cash considerations to the Chicago White Sox on November 25, 2005, for outfielder Aaron Rowand and minor league pitching prospects Gio González and Daniel Haigwood. Though the emergence of Howard made Thome more expendable to the squad, another factor in his trade to the White Sox was his family situation – Thome's mother, the "go-to lady" in his family and his biggest fan, had died a year earlier, and he worried about his father. Since Philadelphia was willing to trade him, Thome waived the no-trade clause in his contract for the good of the team and requested that if possible, they trade him to either the Chicago White Sox or Cubs so he could be near his father.


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome became Chicago's regular designated hitter in April 2006 and flourished in his first season in Chicago. He set the team record for most home runs in the month of April (10), overtaking Frank Thomas's previous record by one. He also set a major league record by scoring in each of Chicago's first 17 games. For the season, Thome hit 42 home runs, drove in 109 runs, and hit .288 in 143 games, though he struck out in 30% of his plate appearances, the highest percentage in the AL. On May 1, 2006, Thome returned to Cleveland to play against the Indians in his first game as a visitor at Jacobs Field, and received an unenthusiastic reception.


title: Jim Thome

text: On September 16, 2007, Thome joined the 500 home run club by hitting a walk-off home run against Los Angeles Angels pitcher Dustin Moseley. Thome became the 23rd major leaguer to reach the milestone and the third in the 2007 MLB season (the others were Frank Thomas and Alex Rodriguez), as well as the first ever to do it with a walk-off home run. Several family members including his father were on hand to witness the accomplishment, which occurred at a game during which the White Sox distributed free Thome bobbleheads to fans. Thome celebrated by pointing upward in homage to his late mother as he rounded the bases.


title: Jim Thome

text: On June 4, 2008, Thome hit a home run—which at the time was the ninth-longest home run in U.S. Cellular Field history—against Kansas City Royals pitcher Luke Hochevar in a 6–4 White Sox victory. He hit a solo home run in the AL Central Tiebreaker game, which proved to be the difference as the White Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins, 1–0. Thome's hitting remained strong during Chicago's 2009 season, as he hit .249 with 23 home runs and 74 RBI in 107 games, including his 550th career home run on June 1. On July 17, 2009, he hit a grand slam and a three-run home run for a single-game career-high seven RBIs. By the conclusion of the season, he had passed Reggie Jackson for 11th place on the all-time home run list with 564 home runs.


title: Jim Thome

text: On August 31, 2009, the White Sox traded Thome to the Los Angeles Dodgers along with financial considerations for minor league infielder Justin Fuller. Thome waived his no-trade clause because he thought the Dodgers could win the World Series, but Thome's only appearances with the Dodgers were as a pinch hitter, due to chronic foot injuries that limited his mobility. Thome reunited with former Cleveland teammate Manny Ramirez in Los Angeles. He hit .235 (4-for-17) with no home runs and three RBI in 17 games with the Dodgers. After the season, Thome filed for free agency.


title: Jim Thome

text: On January 26, 2010, Thome signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Minnesota Twins. Thome hit his first home run with the Twins on April 8, during the Twins' season-opening road trip. The Twins opened Target Field, their new home stadium, on April 12, 2010. This was the third time in Thome's career that his team had opened a new stadium – the 1994 Cleveland Indians when they opened Jacobs Field, and the 2004 Philadelphia Phillies when they opened Citizens Bank Park. On July 3, Thome hit two home runs, passing fellow Twin Harmon Killebrew for tenth on the all-time home run list. The game was stopped and the Twins played a pre-recorded message from Killebrew congratulating Thome on the accomplishment, during which Killebrew noted he was happy Thome did it while a member of the Twins. Thome hit the first walk-off hit in Target Field on August 17, a 445-foot two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning against the White Sox. It was the 12th walk-off home run of his career, tying him for the most all time (a record he subsequently broke). On September 4, Thome again hit two home runs in a single game to tie and then pass Mark McGwire for the ninth spot on the career home run list. Thome surpassed Frank Robinson's home run total on September 11, when he hit his 587th career home run in the top of the 12th inning in Cleveland. Toward the end of the season, Thome commented that playing with the Twins made him feel rejuvenated. He finished the 2010 season with a .283 average, 25 home runs and 59 RBI in 108 games. Thome posted his best slugging percentage since 2002.


title: Jim Thome

text: In January 2011, Thome accepted a one-year, $3 million contract with incentives to continue playing for the Twins. On July 17, Thome hit the longest home run ever at Target Field, a home run into the upper deck in right-center field. He hit his 599th and 600th career home runs (in consecutive at-bats) at Comerica Park in Detroit on August 15, making him only the eighth player to achieve that home run total.


title: Jim Thome

text: On August 26, 2011, Thome waived his contractual no-trade clause to return to his first team, the Cleveland Indians, in exchange for future considerations for the Twins. On September 18, the clubs announced that Minnesota had received $20,000 for him, which Aaron Gleeman of NBC Sports called "silly" and "nothing"; Paul Hoynes of "The Plain Dealer" wrote that ticket and jersey sales alone from re-acquiring Thome covered the money they paid to acquire him. On September 23, Cleveland held a ceremony to honor Thome, and revealed plans to erect a statue depicting him in Heritage Park. In the game, he hit a home run that landed near the proposed location for his statue. While with Cleveland in 2011, Thome played in 22 games, predominantly hitting fifth in the batting order, and he posted a .296 batting average with three home runs and 10 RBI. Through 2011, Thome was second among all active major leaguers in career home runs (604; behind Alex Rodriguez) and RBI (1,674; Rodriguez), and fifth in career slugging percentage (.556; behind Albert Pujols, Rodriguez, Ryan Braun, and Howard). Thome is currently the Indians/Guardians' all-time leader in home runs (337), walks (1,008), and strikeouts (1,400).


title: Jim Thome

text: On November 4, 2011, Thome agreed to a one-year, $1.25 million deal that returned him to Philadelphia. He called coming back to Philadelphia a "no-brainer" in his news conference. He also mentioned that, due to Ryan Howard's Achilles tendon injury, he would "spend the offseason preparing himself to play first base once or twice a week", despite not having played defensively since 2007. Thome started his first game at first base since 2007 on April 8, 2012, during which he started a 3–6–3 double play.


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome experienced stiffness in his lower back in the Phillies' game against the Chicago Cubs on April 28, and early in May, he was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a strained lower back. At the time, he was batting only .100. Thome returned to the club in early June, and prepared for interleague play against the Baltimore Orioles as the DH. Thome finished the nine-game interleague road trip with four home runs and 14 RBIs.


title: Jim Thome

text: On June 17, Thome became the fourth major league player to hit 100 home runs with three different teams, joining Reggie Jackson, Darrell Evans and Rodriguez. Six days later, Thome hit a pinch-hit walk-off home run in the ninth inning off of Jake McGee to beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 7–6. This was Thome's 609th home run, tying Sammy Sosa for seventh all-time in home runs while also setting the new record for most walk-off home runs (13) in the modern era. Thome's last game as a Phillie was an afternoon loss to the Miami Marlins on June 30. After the game (which coincided with Howard's return from the disabled list), the team announced that Thome had been traded to Baltimore to serve as their designated hitter.


title: Jim Thome

text: The Orioles cited Thome's veteran experience on a playoff-bound team as a primary factor in acquiring him. Orioles catcher Matt Wieters said of Thome,


title: Jim Thome

text: On July 20, Thome hit his first home run with the Orioles, his 610th of all time moving him past Sosa for seventh place all-time, against the Indians at Progressive Field. On August 6, Thome was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a herniated disk; he remained on the DL until September 21. In his first game back, he drove in the game-winning RBI in extra innings against the Boston Red Sox. After beating the Indians in a game where he hit his 611th career home run, Thome said, "There's a lot [of] memories. I've had great memories on that side and then coming in here as an opponent against them. Any time you come home, they say, it's very special. It's even more special to get the W's. That's, I think, the main thing. The bottom line is I played here a long time." Orioles teammates remarked at Thome's commitment to talking about the game while in the dugout. Thome remarked, "I talk the game. When I sit in the dugout during games, I talk baseball to these guys. They'll ask, 'Hey, what's this pitcher like?' or 'What about the game?' 'What about all those Indians teams you were on?' I did it to Eddie Murray when he was in his 40s." The Orioles made the playoffs, but lost in five games to the Yankees during the AL Division Series. Thome hit .133 in the playoffs with no home runs or RBI.


title: Jim Thome

text: On July 2, 2013, Thome joined the White Sox organization as special assistant to the general manager. In the future, Thome aspires to be a manager, an aspiration that White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf wholeheartedly supports; Reinsdorf commented, "He can be a batting coach. He'd be a great batting coach, but someday he'll be a manager." In March 2014, Thome clarified that he is not officially retired; while he "loves" his front office job with the White Sox, he would "have to take" a call about him playing again. However, on August 2, 2014, he signed a one-day contract with the Cleveland Indians to retire officially as a member of the team. In addition to his role with the White Sox, Thome currently serves as an analyst for MLB Network.


title: Jim Thome

text: On January 24, 2018, Thome was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. He was formally inducted on July 29, 2018, alongside Trevor Hoffman, Vladimir Guerrero, and Chipper Jones. He was the first person to be inducted as an Indian without the use of Chief Wahoo on his plaque since the mascot's inception in 1947. The Indians retired Thome's number 25 on August 18, 2018.


title: Jim Thome

text: On February 23, 2022, Thome was announced as the new president of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association, succeeding Brooks Robinson.


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome is regarded as a great example of a "pure" power hitter, as indicated by his .278 Isolated Power (ISO) rating. Thome's consistency was a draw for clubs to continue to sign him, even toward the very end of his 22-year career and after most sluggers' productivity fades. In 2011, he was ranked the sixth-best designated hitter in MLB history by Fox Sports. During his career, he compiled a .284 batting average against fastballs but compiled just a .170 batting average against sliders.


title: Jim Thome

text: Since Thome was a pull hitter, opposing teams often employed a defensive shift against him; by playing three infielders on the right side of the field and the outfielders towards his pull side, teams put themselves in better position to field batted balls. In 2011, "Lindy's Sports" described him as an "extremely patient veteran slugger who launches cripple fastballs and breaking-ball mistakes to all fields", though they did note that he struck out frequently, had poor speed, and should serve only as a designated hitter. During his career, he had strong power numbers; in 15 of his 22 seasons, he had a slugging percentage of over .500. He is an example of a "three-true-outcome" player; 47.6% of his career plate appearances resulted in either home runs, strikeouts, or walks, the highest of all time by nearly seven percentage points. Thome averaged 111 bases on balls per 162 games, and currently ranks seventh on the MLB career walks list with 1,747. He led the American League in walks in three seasons, all with Cleveland (1997, 1999 and 2002). He is a self-described slow runner, but has said that he always hustled. He stole only 19 bases after 1994.


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome began his career playing third base and did so until the 1997 season, when he converted to first base to make room at third after the Indians traded for Matt Williams. Injuries, however, took their toll and confined him almost exclusively to being a designated hitter in the latter stages of his career. Overall, he spent 10 separate stints on the disabled list, mostly for his back. By the end of Thome's career, his back prevented him from playing the field effectively—he played first base four times with the Phillies in 2012, which marked the first time he played the field since 2007 with the White Sox. By the end of his career, writers described him as being a "huge liability in the field".


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome was known throughout the baseball world for wearing high socks and for his unique batting stance. In 1997, the Indians wore high socks for his birthday in August, but ended up wearing them for the remainder of the season out of superstition and eventually reached the World Series. Upon his return to the Indians in 2011, the club again sported the high socks as a tribute. His batting stance featured him pointing his bat to center field prior to the pitch. Thome adopted this stance from Charlie Manuel, who was the Indians hitting coach, and since then Ryan Howard has also adopted it. Thome credits his calm demeanor to his role model during his early playing years, Eddie Murray, once commenting,


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome's friendly personality has been the subject of much attention. In a 2007 poll of 464 MLB players, he tied with Mike Sweeney for second-friendliest player, behind Sean Casey. After Thome hit his 600th home run, Twins closer Joe Nathan said, "He is the world's nicest man." Teammate Michael Cuddyer added, "He is the nicest, gentlest, kindest guy you will ever meet ... to everything except the baseball, he still hits that really hard." His kindness comes up in conversations with many MLB players. When he signed with the Phillies in the offseason before the 2012 season, Phillies general manager Rubén Amaro Jr. cited Thome's constant positive attitude as a main reason for his signing. As an exercise in remaining humble, he annually visited his high school prior to spring training. A "Sports Illustrated" article said that Thome frequently signs autographs for fans and that he is "endlessly patient with requests". In a piece for "Philadelphia" magazine discussing Thome's Baseball Hall of Fame prospects, sportswriter Stephen Silver wrote,


title: Jim Thome

text: A fan poll in "The Plain Dealer" in 2003 named him the most popular athlete in Cleveland sports history.


title: Jim Thome

text: Despite his injuries throughout his later years, Thome totaled, according to Fangraphs, 71.6 Wins Above Replacement (WAR), a sabermetrics baseball statistic intended to quantify a player's total contributions to a team. He was one of few players whose prime was during the steroid era and who was not suspected of using steroids; Thome adamantly denies ever using performance-enhancing drugs. Soon after the announcement of his front office position (which signified the end of his playing career), writers began to speculate as to whether or not Thome would make it to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and more specifically, whether he would gain entrance in his first year of eligibility in 2018. Writers also questioned whether Thome's candidacy would be hindered by his lack of self-promotion and others' tendency to overlook him.


title: Jim Thome

text: Thome and his wife, Andrea, have two children, Lila Grace and Landon. He has also established funds to put his 10 nieces and nephews through college. During the offseason he lives in Burr Ridge, Illinois. ESPN's "SportsCenter" reported that shortly after his nephew, Brandon, was paralyzed in an accident, he asked Thome to hit a home run for him; Thome obliged, hitting two in the subsequent game. Thome is also a philanthropist and provided help to the communities surrounding the teams for which he played. In recognition of his community involvement, he was given the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award in 2001 and 2004, and the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 2004. In 2013, after the November 17, 2013, tornado outbreak struck Washington, Illinois, just from his hometown, he and his wife pledged to donate $100,000 to relief efforts. Among the philanthropic endeavors Thome and his wife heavily support are Children's Home + Aid, which strives to help underprivileged children predominantly with finding care (e.g., foster care, adoption, etc.), and an annual benefit to raise money for the Children's Hospital of Illinois, continuing a tradition his mother started years ago. Moreover, the Thomes try "to stay connected with at least one or two organizations in each of the cities" that Thome has played.


title: Jim Thome

text: In 2019, a renovated youth baseball field in Cleveland was named the 'Jim Thome All-Star Complex' in his honor.


title: NBA 2K22

text: NBA 2K22 is a 2021 basketball video game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports, based on the National Basketball Association (NBA). It is the 23rd installment in the "NBA 2K" franchise, the successor to "NBA 2K21" and the predecessor to "NBA 2K23". The game was released on September 10, 2021 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. The "NBA 2K22 Arcade Edition" was released for Apple Arcade on October 19, 2021. As of May 2022, the game has sold over 10 million copies.


title: NBA 2K22

text: For the first time in the series, the game features six different cover athletes: the standard and current-gen editions feature Luka Dončić of the Dallas Mavericks, the 75th Anniversary Edition features Kareem Abdul-Jabbar of the Los Angeles Lakers, Dirk Nowitzki (also for the Mavericks), and Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets. The Special WNBA 25th Anniversary Edition features Candace Parker of the Chicago Sky. The Japanese box art features Rui Hachimura of the Washington Wizards. Parker became the first WNBA player to become the cover athlete for the "NBA 2K" series.


title: NBA 2K22

text: The "NBA 2K22" soundtrack features hip-hop, pop and rock songs. This version of "NBA 2K" is the first of the series to update its soundtrack as music gets released. This feature of the game is called "First Friday's" and new music from the day's top artists and new artists will be released.


title: NBA 2K22

text: "NBA 2K22" received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to Metacritic compared to "NBA 2K20" and "NBA 2K21".


title: Painkiller (Judas Priest album)

text: Painkiller is the twelfth studio album by English heavy metal band Judas Priest, released in September 1990. It was the last Judas Priest album to feature long-time lead singer Rob Halford until his return for the 2005 album "Angel of Retribution" and the first to feature drummer Scott Travis.


title: Painkiller (Judas Priest album)

text: "Painkiller" is the first Judas Priest album to feature drummer Scott Travis, who replaced long-time drummer Dave Holland in 1989. Travis was previously a member of Los Angeles band Racer X and with his heavy use of double kicks, Travis gave Judas Priest a new sound and heavier edge. "Painkiller" was described as heavy metal and, due to its relatively intense sound, speed metal.


title: Painkiller (Judas Priest album)

text: The album was recorded at Miraval Studios, Brignoles, France in early 1990 and mixed at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, the Netherlands later that year. It was produced by the band and Chris Tsangarides, marking the first time since 1978's "Killing Machine" that Judas Priest had not worked with Tom Allom and the first time since 1976's "Sad Wings of Destiny" that Judas Priest and Tsangarides worked together.


title: Painkiller (Judas Priest album)

text: Don Airey was brought in to play keyboards on "A Touch of Evil". In a 2020 interview, Airey revealed that he also doubled most of the album's bass parts on a Minimoog synthesizer, to achieve the album's distinctive bass sound.


title: Painkiller (Judas Priest album)

text: Despite the album being finished in March 1990, the album's release was delayed due to the pending, much-publicized subliminal message trial that began on 16 July 1990. The band was the subject of a civil lawsuit alleging their recording was responsible for the suicide attempts of two young men in Reno, Nevada on 23 December 1985. The case was eventually dismissed on 24 August 1990. With the trial behind them, the band finally released the album on 14 September 1990 on LP, cassette and CD.


title: Painkiller (Judas Priest album)

text: The album was certified Gold by RIAA in January 1991. A remastered CD was released in May 2001, including a live recording of "Leather Rebel" and a previously unreleased song, "Living Bad Dreams". The album received a Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards, losing to Metallica's cover of the Queen song "Stone Cold Crazy".


title: Painkiller (Judas Priest album)

text: Critical reaction to "Painkiller" has been overwhelmingly positive, especially from the metal community. Steve Huey of Allmusic, praised the album, saying that it was one of Judas Priest's best albums in years adding that "Travis' thunderous (and crisp-sounding) percussive maelstrom lights an immediate fire under the bandmembers' asses; Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing tear through a crushing, diabolical riff; and Rob Halford starts shrieking like a wicked witch, giving perhaps the most malevolent-sounding performance of his career. It's a startling statement of musical purpose that arrived seemingly out of nowhere, heralding a comeback that rivals George Foreman's." Mikesn of Sputnikmusic gave the album a 5 out of 5, stating that "Painkiller is full of many memorable riffs and leads from Glenn and K.K. Among the finest moments of the album come from the intense riffing combined with Halford's wailing vocals. The songs found on Painkiller are very energetic from start to finish, and each member seems to feed off each other's performances." On metal-archives.com, the album holds an average score of 92% based on 26 reviews.


title: Painkiller (Judas Priest album)

text: Most of the album's tracks were performed live on the Painkiller World Tour, with the title track becoming one of the band's concert staples. "Hell Patrol", "All Guns Blazing", "A Touch of Evil", "Night Crawler" and "Between the Hammer and the Anvil" have all returned to the setlist on later tours, while "Metal Meltdown" and "Leather Rebel" were retired after only a few performances in 1990. "One Shot at Glory" and its intro "Battle Hymn" were the only songs on the album that had not been played live until August 2021, when they were included in Judas Priest's set at the Bloodstock Open Air festival.


title: Painkiller (Judas Priest album)

text: Following the tour for this album, singer Rob Halford left the band in May 1992 and maintained little contact with his former bandmates throughout the 1990s. The reason for this was growing tensions within the band, along with Halford's desire to explore new musical territory by creating a new band of his own, Fight. Contractually, Halford was required to leave Judas Priest to allow sales of any Fight material. Judas Priest remained inactive for several years after Halford had gone; however, the band would eventually re-vamp, record, and tour, recruiting new singer Tim "Ripper" Owens in 1996, who would perform on the studio albums "Jugulator" and "Demolition".


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: The Epistle to the Galatians is the ninth book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul the Apostle to a number of Early Christian communities in Galatia. Scholars have suggested that this is either the Roman province of Galatia in southern Anatolia, or a large region defined by an ethnic group of Celtic people in central Anatolia.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: The language the letter was originally written in was Koine Greek and later translated into other languages.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: In this letter, Paul is principally concerned with the controversy surrounding gentile Christians and the Mosaic Law during the Apostolic Age. Paul argues that the gentile Galatians do not need to adhere to the tenets of the Mosaic Law, particularly religious male circumcision, by contextualizing the role of the law in light of the revelation of Christ. The Epistle to the Galatians has exerted enormous influence on the history of Christianity, the development of Christian theology, and the study of the Apostle Paul.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: The central dispute in the letter concerns the question of how Gentiles could convert to Christianity, which shows that this letter was written at a very early stage in church history, when the vast majority of Christians were Jewish or Jewish proselytes, which historians refer to as the Jewish Christians. Another indicator that the letter is early is that there is no hint in the letter of a developed organization within the Christian community at large. This puts it during the lifetime of Paul himself.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: As with all the Bible, the original of the letter (autograph) is not known to survive. Papyrus 46, the earliest reasonably complete version available to scholars today, dates to approximately AD 200, around 150 years after the original was presumably drafted. This papyrus is fragmented in a few areas, causing some of the original text to be missing; "however, through careful research relating to paper construction, handwriting development, and the established principles of textual criticism, scholars can be rather certain about where these errors and changes appeared and what the original text probably said."


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: In the past, a small number of scholars have questioned Paul's authorship of Galatians, such as Bruno Bauer, Abraham Loman, C. H. Weisse, and Frank R. McGuire. Currently, Biblical scholars agree that Galatians is a true example of Paul's writing. The main arguments in favor of the authenticity of Galatians include its style and themes, which are common to the core letters of the Pauline corpus. George S. Duncan described the authenticity of Paul as its author as "unquestioned ... In every line it betrays its origin as a genuine letter of Paul." Moreover, Paul's possible description of the Council of Jerusalem gives a different point of view from the description in Acts 15:2–29, if it is, in fact, describing the Jerusalem Council.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: A majority of scholars agree that Galatians was written between the late 40s and early 50s, although some date the original composition to . Jon Jordan notes that an interesting point to be made in the search for the dating of Galatians concerns whether or not it is a response to the Council of Jerusalem or a factor leading up to the Council. He writes, "did Paul's argument in Galatians flow out of the Jerusalem Council's decision, or did it come before the Jerusalem Council and possibly help shape that very decision?" It would have been enormously helpful to Paul's argument if he could have mentioned the decision of the Council of Jerusalem that Gentiles should not be circumcised. The absence of this argument from Paul strongly implies Galatians was written prior to the council. Since the council took place in 48-49 AD, and Paul evangelized South Galatia in 47-48 AD, the most plausible date for the writing of Galatians is 48 AD.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: Paul's letter is addressed "to the churches of Galatia", but the location of these churches is a matter of debate. Most scholars agree that it is a geographical reference to the Roman province in central Asia Minor, which had been settled by immigrant Celts in the 270s BC and retained Gaulish features of culture and language in Paul's day. Acts records Paul traveling to the "region of Galatia and Phrygia", which lies immediately west of Galatia. Some scholars have argued that "Galatia" is an ethnic reference to a Celtic people living in northern Asia Minor.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: The New Testament indicates that Paul spent time personally in the cities of Galatia (Antioch of Pisidia, Iconium, Lystra and Derbe) during his missionary journeys. They seem to have been composed mainly of Gentile converts. After Paul's departure, the churches were led astray from Paul's trust/faith-centered teachings by individuals proposing "another gospel" (which centered on salvation through the Mosaic law, so-called legalism), whom Paul saw as preaching a "different gospel" from what Paul had taught. The Galatians appear to have been receptive to the teaching of these newcomers, and the epistle is Paul's response to what he sees as their willingness to turn from his teaching.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: The identity of these "opponents" is disputed. However, the majority of modern scholars view them as Jewish Christians, who taught that in order for converts to belong to the People of God, they must be subject to some or all of the Jewish Law (i.e. Judaizers). The letter indicates controversy concerning circumcision, Sabbath observance, and the Mosaic Covenant. It would appear, from Paul's response, that they cited the example of Abraham, who was circumcised as a mark of receiving the covenant blessings. They certainly appear to have questioned Paul's authority as an apostle, perhaps appealing to the greater authority of the Jerusalem church governed by James (brother of Jesus).


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: The North Galatian view holds that the epistle was written very soon after Paul's second visit to Galatia. In this view, the visit to Jerusalem, mentioned in Galatians 2:1–10, is identical with that of Acts 15, which is spoken of as a thing of the past. Consequently, the epistle seems to have been written after the Council of Jerusalem. The similarity between this epistle and the epistle to the Romans has led to the conclusion that they were both written at roughly the same time, during Paul's stay in Macedonia in roughly 56–57.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: This third date takes the word "quickly" in literally. John P. Meier suggests that Galatians was "written in the middle or late 50s, only a few years after the Antiochene incident he narrates". Eminent Biblical scholar Helmut Koester also subscribes to the "North Galatian Hypothesis". Koester points out that the cities of Galatia in the north consist of Ankyra, Pessinus, and Gordium (of the Gordian Knot fame of Alexander the Great).


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: The South Galatian view holds that Paul wrote Galatians before the First Jerusalem Council, probably on his way to it, and that it was written to churches he had presumably planted during either his time in Tarsus (he would have traveled a short distance, since Tarsus is in Cilicia) after his first visit to Jerusalem as a Christian, or during his first missionary journey, when he traveled throughout southern Galatia. If it was written to the believers in South Galatia, it would likely have been written in 49.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: A third theory is that Galatians 2:1–10 describes Paul and Barnabas' visit to Jerusalem described in Acts 11:30 and 12:25. This theory holds that the epistle was written before the Council was convened, possibly making it the earliest of Paul's epistles. According to this theory, the revelation mentioned (Gal. 2:2) corresponds with the prophecy of Agabus (Acts 11:27–28). This view holds that the private speaking about the gospel shared among the Gentiles precludes the Acts 15 visit, but fits perfectly with Acts 11. It further holds that continuing to remember the poor (Gal. 2:10) fits with the purpose of the Acts 11 visit, but not Acts 15.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: In addition, the exclusion of any mention of the letter of Acts 15 is seen to indicate that such a letter did not yet exist, since Paul would have been likely to use it against the legalism confronted in Galatians. Finally, this view doubts Paul's confrontation of Peter (Gal. 2:11) would have been necessary after the events described in Acts 15. If this view is correct, the epistle should be dated somewhere around 47, depending on other difficult to date events, such as Paul's conversion.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: Kirsopp Lake found this view less likely and wondered why it would be necessary for the Jerusalem Council (Acts 15) to take place at all if the issue were settled in Acts 11:30/12:25, as this view holds. Defenders of the view do not think it unlikely an issue of such magnitude would need to be discussed more than once. Renowned New Testament scholar J.B. Lightfoot also objected to this view since it "clearly implies that his [Paul's] Apostolic office and labours were well known and recognized before this conference."


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: Defenders of this view, such as Ronald Fung, disagree with both parts of Lightfoot's statement, insisting Paul received his "Apostolic Office" at his conversion (Gal. 1:15–17; Acts 9). Fung holds, then, that Paul's apostolic mission began almost immediately in Damascus (Acts 9:20). While accepting that Paul's apostolic anointing was likely only recognized by the Apostles in Jerusalem during the events described in Galatians 2/Acts 11:30, Fung does not see this as a problem for this theory.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: Scholars have debated whether we can or should attempt to reconstruct both the backgrounds and arguments of the opponents to which Paul would have been responding. Though these opponents have traditionally been designated as Judaizers, this classification has fallen out of favor in contemporary scholarship. Some instead refer to them as Agitators. While many scholars have claimed that Paul's opponents were circumcisionist Jewish followers of Jesus, the ability to make such determinations with a reasonable degree of certainty has been called into question. It has often been presumed that they traveled from Jerusalem, but some commentators have raised the question of whether they may have actually been insiders familiar with the dynamics of the community. Furthermore, some commentaries and articles pointed out the inherent problems in mirror-reading, emphasizing that we simply do not have the evidence necessary to reconstruct the arguments of Paul's opponents. It is not sufficient to simply reverse his denials and assertions. This does not result in a coherent argument nor can it possibly reflect the thought processes of his opponents accurately. It is nearly impossible to reconstruct the opponents from Paul's text because their representation is necessarily polemical. All we can say with certainty is that they supported a different position of gentile relations with Jewish folk than Paul did.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: This epistle addresses the question of whether the Gentiles in Galatia were obligated to follow Mosaic Law to be part of the Christ community. After an introductory address, the apostle discusses the subjects which had occasioned the epistle.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: In the first two chapters, Paul discusses his life before Christ and his early ministry, including interactions with other apostles in Jerusalem. This is the most extended discussion of Paul's past that we find in the Pauline letters (cf. Philippians 3:1–7). Some have read this autobiographical narrative as Paul's defense of his apostolic authority. Others, however, see Paul's telling of the narrative as making an argument to the Galatians about the nature of the gospel and the Galatians' own situation.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: Chapter 3 exhorts the Galatian believers to stand fast in the faith as it is in Jesus. Paul engages in an exegetical argument, drawing upon the figure of Abraham and the priority of his faith to the covenant of circumcision. Paul explains that the law was introduced as a temporary measure, one that is no longer efficacious now that the seed of Abraham, Christ, has come. Chapter 4 then concludes with a summary of the topics discussed and with the benediction, followed by 5:1–6:10 teaching about the right use of their Christian freedom.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: In the conclusion of the epistle, Paul wrote, "See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand." (Galatians 6:11, ESV) Regarding this conclusion, Lightfoot, in his Commentary on the epistle, says:


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: Some commentators have postulated that Paul's large letters are owed to his poor eyesight, his deformed hands, or to other physical, mental, or psychological afflictions. Other commentators have attributed Paul's large letters to his poor education, his attempt to assert his authority, or his effort to emphasize his final words. Classics scholar Steve Reece has compared similar autographic subscriptions in thousands of Greek, Roman, and Jewish letters of this period and observes that large letters are a normal feature when senders of letters, regardless of their education, take the pen from their amanuensis and add a few words of greeting in their own hands.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: Galatians also contains a catalogue of vices and virtues, a popular formulation of ancient Christian ethics.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: Probably the most famous single statement made in the Epistle, by Paul, is in chapter 3, verse 28: "There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." The debate surrounding that verse is legend and the two schools of thought are (1) this only applies to the spiritual standing of people in the eyes of God, it does not implicate social distinctions and gender roles on earth; and (2) this is not just about our spiritual standing but is also about how we relate to each other and treat each other in the here and now.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: Position (1) emphasises the immediate context of the verse and notes that it is embedded in a discussion about justification: our relationship with God. Position (2) reminds its critics that the "whole letter context" is very much about how people got on in the here and now together, and in fact the discussion about justification came out of an actual example of people treating other people differently (2:11ff).


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: Much variety exists in discussions of Paul's view of the Law in Galatians. Nicole Chibici-Revneanu noticed a difference in Paul's treatment of the Law in Galatians and Romans. In Galatians the law is described as the "oppressor" whereas in Romans Paul describes that the Law was as being just as much in need of the Spirit to set it free from sin as humans do. Peter Oakes argues that Galatians cannot be construed as depicting the law positively because the Law played the role it was meant to play in the scope of human history. Wolfgang Reinbold argues that, contrary to the popular reading of Paul, the Law was possible to keep.


title: Epistle to the Galatians

text: Regarding "under the law" (Gal. 3:23; , , 21; 5:18), Todd Wilson argues that "under the law" in Galatians was a "rhetorical abbreviation for 'under the curse of the law. Regarding "works of the law" (), Robert Keith Rapa argues Paul is speaking of viewing Torah-observances as the means of salvation which he is seeking to combat in the Galatian congregation. Jacqueline de Roo noticed a similar phrase in the works found at Qumran and argues that "works of the law" is speaking of obedience to the Torah acting as a way of being atoned for. Michael Bachmann argues that this phrase is a mention of certain actions taken by Jewish people to distinguish themselves and perpetuate separation between themselves and gentiles.