prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: When did the majority party in the House of Representatives gain control of the body which approves members of the Cabinet?

The following are given passages.
Context 1: Passage 1:
2014 United States Senate elections
The 2014 United States Senate elections were held on November 4, 2014  A total of 36 seats in the 100-member U S  Senate were contested  Thirty-three Class 2 seats were contested for regular six-year terms to be served from January 3, 2015, to January 3, 2021, and three Class 3 seats were contested in special elections due to Senate vacancies  The elections marked 100 years of direct elections of U S  senators  Going into the elections, 21 of the contested seats were held by the Democratic Party, while 15 were held by the Republican Party 
The Republicans regained the majority of the Senate in the 114th Congress, which started in January 2015; the Republicans had not controlled the Senate since January 2007  They needed a net gain of at least six seats to obtain a majority and were projected by polls to do so  On election night, they held all of their seats and gained nine Democratic-held seats  Republicans defeated five Democratic incumbents: Mark Begich of Alaska lost to Dan Sullivan, Mark Pryor of Arkansas lost to Tom Cotton, Mark Udall of Colorado lost to Cory Gardner, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana lost to Bill Cassidy, and Kay Hagan of North Carolina lost to Thom Tillis  Republicans also picked up another four open seats in Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia  Democrats did not pick up any Republican-held seats, but they did hold an open seat in Michigan 
This was the second consecutive election held in a president's sixth year where control of the Senate changed hands, the first being in 2006  This was also the first time that the Democrats lost control of the Senate in a sixth-year midterm since 1918  With a total net gain of nine seats, the Republicans made the largest Senate gain by any party since 1980  This is also the first election since 1980 in which more than two incumbent Democratic Senators were defeated by their Republican challengers  Days after the election, the United States Election Project estimated that 36 4% of eligible voters voted, 4% lower than the 2010 elections, and possibly the lowest turnout rate since the 1942 election As of 2022, this remains the last time that a Republican has won a U S  Senate election in Colorado  This is the most recent Senate elections where any Republican flipped an open Democratic-held seat  This is also the most recent election where the party winning control of the Senate won the popular vote  It also remains the last time that the president's party has suffered a net loss of Senate seats in a midterm 

Partisan composition
For a majority, Republicans needed at least 51 seats  Democrats could have retained a majority with 48 seats (assuming the two Independents continued to caucus with them) because the Democratic Vice President Joe Biden would become the tie-breaker  From 1915 to 2013, control of the U S  Senate flipped in 10 of 50 cycles, or 20% of the time  Republicans had lost ground in the 2012 elections, leading to an internal fight among the Republican leadership over the best strategies and tactics for the 2014 Senate races  By December 2013, eight of the twelve incumbent Republicans running for re-election saw Tea Party challenges  However, Republican incumbents won every primary challenge  Although Democrats saw some opportunities for pickups, the combination of Democratic retirements and numerous Democratic seats up for election in swing states and red states gave Republicans hopes of taking control of the Senate  7 of the 21 states with Democratic seats up for election in 2014 had voted for Republican Mitt Romney in the 2012 presidential election compared to just 1 state with a Republican senator that voted for Barack Obama  Democrats also faced the lower voter turnout that accompanies mid-term elections Poll aggregation website FiveThirtyEight gave the Republican Party a 60% chance of taking control of the Senate as of September 28  Another poll aggregation website, RealClearPolitics, gave the Republican Party a net gain of 7 seats  Due to the closeness of several races, it was initially believed that Senate control might not be decided on election night  Both Louisiana and Georgia were seen as competitive, and both states require a run-off election if no candidate takes a majority of the vote 
Two independent candidates (in Kansas and South Dakota) refused to commit to caucusing with either party  In the final months of the race, polls showed them with viable chances of winning, leading some analysts to speculate on the possibility of an "Independent caucus" that could also include Maine Senator Angus King and possibly Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders  However, no Independent won a Senate race in 2014, and King and Sanders continue to caucus with the Democratic Party following the 2014 election 
By midnight ET, most major networks projected that the Republicans would take control of the Senate  The party held all three competitive Republican-held seats (Kentucky, Kansas, and Georgia), and defeated incumbent Democrats in North Carolina, Colorado, and Arkansas  Combined with the pick-ups of open seats in Iowa, Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia, the Republicans made a net gain of 7 seats before the end of the night  Republicans defeated three incumbent Democrats, a task the party had not accomplished since the 1980 election  Five of the seven confirmed pickups were in states that voted for Mitt Romney in 2012, but two of the seats that Republicans won represent states that voted for Barack Obama in 2012 (Colorado and Iowa)  Of the three races that were not called by the end of election night, Alaska and Virginia were still too close to call, while Louisiana held a December 6 run-off election  Virginia declared Democrat Mark Warner the winner of his race by a narrow margin over Republican Ed Gillespie on November 7, and Alaska declared Dan Sullivan the winner against Democratic incumbent Mark Begich a week later, on November 12  Republican Bill Cassidy defeated Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu in the Louisiana runoff on December 6 

Election spending
Altogether, at least $3 67 billion was spent by candidates, parties, committees and outside groups in the 2014 election  Spending on the 2014 Senate elections by outside groups (i e , organizations other than a candidate's campaign, such as super PACs and "dark money" nonprofit groups) more than doubled from 2010  In the 10 competitive races for which data was available, outside groups accounted for 47% of spending, candidates accounted for 41% of spending, and parties accounted for 12% of spending  The Senate race with the most outside spending was in North Carolina, at $80 million, a new record The top outside spenders in the 11 most competitive Senate races were the following:

On the Republican side, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Crossroads GPS, U S  Chamber of Commerce, Ending Spending Action Fund, Freedom Partners Action Fund, American Crossroads, and the NRA Political Victory Fund 
On the Democratic side, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, Senate Majority PAC, and NextGen Climate Action Committee 

Results summary
The Republican Party made a net gain of nine U S  Senate seats in the 2014 elections Going into the elections, there were 53 Democratic, 45 Republican and 2 independent senators (both of whom caucus with the Democrats)  In all, there were 36 elections: 33 senators were up for election this year as class 2 senators, and 3 faced special elections (all from Class 3)  Of all these seats, 21 were held by Democrats and 15 were held by Republicans 

Colored shading indicates party with largest share of that row 

Source: Clerk of the U S  House of Representatives

Change in composition
Before the elections
After the elections
Gains and losses
Retirements
Four Democrats and two Republicans retired instead of seeking re-election 

Resignations
One Republican resigned four years into his six-year term 

Nomination withdrawn
One Democrat was originally to seek election for a full 6-year term in office but withdrew 

Defeats
Five Democrats sought re-election but lost in the general election 

Race summaries
Special elections during the preceding Congress
In these special elections, the winners were elected during 2014 and seated before January 3, 2015 — except that one was seated on January 3, 2015, the effective date of the predecessor's resignation 

Elections leading to the next Congress
In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 2015; ordered by state 
All of the elections involved the Class 2 seats 

Closest races
In seven races the margin of victory was under 10% 

Final pre-election predictions
Predicted probability of Republican takeover
Several websites used poll aggregation and psephology to estimate the probability that the Republican Party would gain enough seats to take control of the Senate 

Predictions
Republicans needed to win at least six in order to gain a majority of 51 seats and Democrats needed to win at least seven in order to hold a majority of 50 seats (including the two independents who currently caucus with the Democrats) and the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Joe Biden 

Alabama
Three-term incumbent Republican Jeff Sessions had been re-elected with 63% of the vote in 2008  Sessions sought re-election  Democrat Victor Sanchez Williams ran against Sessions as a write-in candidate  Sessions won with 97 3 percent of the vote against assorted write-in candidates 

Alaska
One-term incumbent Democrat Mark Begich had been first elected with 48% of the vote in 2008, defeating six-term Senator Ted Stevens by 3,953 votes (a margin of 1 25%)  Begich was 52 years old in 2014 and was seeking re-election to a second term  Stevens, who would have been almost 91 years old at the time of the election, had already filed for a rematch back in 2009, but was killed in a plane crash the following year 
Republican Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell, 2010 nominee Joe Miller, State Natural Resources Commissioner Daniel S  Sullivan, and Air Force veteran John Jaramillo ran for the GOP nomination  In the August 19 primary, Sullivan won the Republican nomination with 40% and defeated Begich in the general election 

Arkansas
Two-term incumbent Democrat Mark Pryor had been re-elected with 80% of the vote without Republican opposition in 2008  Pryor was running for a third term Freshman Representative Tom Cotton of Arkansas's 4th congressional district was the Republican nominee  In the general election, Cotton defeated Pryor 

Colorado
One-term incumbent Democrat Mark Udall had been elected with 53% of the vote in 2008  Udall was running for re-election Congressman Cory Gardner of Colorado's 4th congressional district was the Republican nominee; his late entry into the race caused numerous Republicans to withdraw their candidacies  Gaylon Kent was the Libertarian Party nominee  Unity Party of America founder and National Chairman Bill Hammons was the Unity Party nominee 

Delaware
Democrat Chris Coons won in the 2010 United States Senate special election in Delaware caused by Joe Biden's election as Vice President, winning by a 57% to 41% margin  Coons sought re-election  His Republican opponent was engineer Kevin Wade, whom Coons went on to defeat in the general election 

Georgia
Two-term incumbent Republican Saxby Chambliss had been re-elected with 57% of the vote in 2008 in a runoff election with former state Representative Jim Martin; Georgia requires run-off elections when no Senate candidate wins over 50% of the vote  Chambliss did not seek a third term Political activist Derrick Grayson, Representatives Jack Kingston of Georgia's 1st congressional district, Paul Broun of Georgia's 10th congressional district, and Phil Gingrey of Georgia's 11th congressional district all declared their candidacy for the Republican nomination, as did former Secretary of State Karen Handel  In the May 20 primary, no candidate received a majority of votes, so the top two candidates faced each other in a runoff; Perdue narrowly won against Kingston in the runoff primary election on July 22 with 50 9% of the vote Michelle Nunn, CEO of Points of Light and the daughter of former U S  Senator Sam Nunn, won the Democratic nomination  Other declared Democratic candidates included former State Senator Steen Miles, psychiatrist Branko Radulovacki, and former US Army Ranger Todd Robinson  Amanda Swafford, a former Flowery Branch, Georgia, city councilwoman, received the Libertarian Party of Georgia nomination 

Hawaii (special)
Daniel Inouye, the second longest serving United States Senator in U S  history, died on December 17, 2012, after respiratory complications  Hawaii law allows the Governor of Hawaii, to appoint an interim Senator "who serves until the next regularly-scheduled general election, chosen from a list of three prospective appointees that the prior incumbent's political party submits"  Governor Neil Abercrombie did so, selecting Lieutenant Governor Brian Schatz to fill the Senate seat  Inouye had been re-elected in 2010 with 72% of the vote  Schatz was challenged in the Democratic primary by Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa of Hawaii's 1st congressional district, who Inouye had hoped would be his successor  Schatz defeated Hanabusa in the primary with 48 5% to 47 8% Campbell Cavasso, former State Representative and nominee for the U S  Senate in 2004 and 2010, was the Republican nominee 

Idaho
One-term incumbent Republican Jim Risch had been elected with 58% of the vote in 2008  Risch sought a second term Boise attorney Nels Mitchell was the Democratic nominee 

Illinois
Three-term incumbent and Senate Majority Whip Democrat Dick Durbin had been re-elected with 68% of the vote in 2008  Durbin ran for a fourth term State Senator Jim Oberweis was the Republican nominee  He defeated primary challenger Doug Truax with 56% of the vote 

Iowa
Five-term incumbent Democrat Tom Harkin had been re-elected with 63% of the vote in 2008  Harkin announced on January 26, 2013, that he would not seek a sixth term  Congressman Bruce Braley was the Democratic nominee State Senator Joni Ernst was the Republican nominee Doug Butzier, who was the Libertarian Party's nominee, died in a plane crash on October 13, 2014, but still appeared on the ballot 

Kansas
Three-term incumbent Republican Pat Roberts had been re-elected with 60% of the vote in 2008  Roberts sought a fourth term  He faced a primary challenge from radiologist Milton Wolf, a conservative Tea Party supporter  Roberts defeated Wolf in the Republican primary by 48% to 41%  Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor won the Democratic nomination  Randall Batson from Wichita was on the general election ballot as a Libertarian  Also, Greg Orman qualified for the ballot as an independent On September 3, Taylor announced he was dropping out of the election, leading to speculation that Democrats would support Orman's candidacy  On September 18, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled that Taylor's name had to be removed from the ballot 

Kentucky
Five-term Republican incumbent and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had been re-elected with 53% of the vote in 2008  McConnell sought re-election to a sixth term  McConnell defeated businessman Matt Bevin in the Republican primary on May 20 Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, with support from much of Kentucky's Democratic leadership, won the Democratic primary  Actress Ashley Judd publicly claimed to be considering a run for the Democratic nomination, but ultimately decided against it Ed Marksberry pursued an independent bid after dropping out of the Democratic field in September 2013 

Louisiana
Three-term incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu had been re-elected with 52% of the vote in 2008  Landrieu ran for a fourth term Louisiana uses a unique jungle primary system that eschews primaries in favor of run-off elections between the top two candidates; this run-off can be avoided if the winning candidate receives over 50% of the vote  Democrats Wayne Ables, Vallian Senegal, and William Waymire ran against Landrieu in the election, as did Republicans Bill Cassidy (representative of Louisiana's 6th congressional district), Thomas Clements (small business owner), and retired Air Force Colonel Rob Maness  Electrical Engineer Brannon McMorris ran as a Libertarian Because Republican candidate Maness took almost 14% of the votes in the primary, there was a runoff election on December 6, 2014, between Landrieu (42%) and Cassidy (41%)  Cassidy won the runoff with 56% of the vote 

Maine
Three-term incumbent Republican Susan Collins was seeking a fourth term  Shenna Bellows, former executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Maine, was the Democratic nominee 

Massachusetts
Five-term incumbent and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry had been re-elected with 66% of the vote in 2008  Kerry resigned in early 2013 to become U S  Secretary of State  Governor Deval Patrick appointed Democrat Mo Cowan to the seat  Democratic Congressman Ed Markey beat Republican Gabriel E  Gomez in the June 25, 2013 special election by a 55% to 45% margin  Markey had served the remainder of Kerry's term before running for re-election to a first full term in 2014  Hopkinton Town Selectman Brian Herr was the Republican nominee 

Michigan
Six-term incumbent Senator and Chairman of the Armed Services Committee Democrat Carl Levin, the longest-serving senator in Michigan's history, had been re-elected with 63% of the vote in 2008  Levin announced on March 7, 2013, that he would not seek re-election 
Three term Democratic Representative Gary Peters of MI-14 was the Democratic nominee  He defeated Republican former Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land who was unopposed for the Republican nomination 

Minnesota
One-term incumbent Democrat Al Franken unseated one-term Republican Norm Coleman by 312 votes in a contested three-way race with 42% of the vote in 2008; the third candidate in the race, former Senator Dean Barkley of the Independence Party of Minnesota, won 15% of the vote  Franken sought re-election  State Representative Jim Abeler, St  Louis County Commissioner Chris Dahlberg, co-CEO of Lazard Middle Market Mike McFadden, bison farmer and former hair salon owner Monti Moreno, state Senator Julianne Ortman, and U S  Navy reservist Phillip Parrish ran for the Republican nomination  McFadden won the Republican primary and was the Republican nominee in the general election Hannah Nicollet of the Independence Party of Minnesota also ran 

Mississippi
Six-term incumbent Republican Thad Cochran, re-elected with 62% of the vote in 2008, ran for re-election  Cochran was the last incumbent Senator to declare his plans, leading to widespread speculation that he might announce his retirement Tea Party candidate Chris McDaniel, a conservative Mississippi state senator, ran against Cochran in the Republican primary  Neither McDaniel nor Cochran was able to get 50% of the vote in the first round of the primary, so a runoff election was held June 24  Cochran won the runoff election by 51% to 49%, with the help of Democratic voters eligible to vote in the state's open primaries who chose Cochran as their preferred Republican  McDaniel filed a lawsuit to challenge the results of the run-off, but the challenge was rejected on appeal by the Supreme Court of Mississippi Former Congressman Travis Childers was the Democratic nominee 

Montana
Six-term incumbent Democrat Max Baucus, the longest-serving senator in Montana's history, had been re-elected with 73% of the vote in 2008  Baucus announced on April 23, 2013, that he would retire in 2014, rather than seek re-election to a seventh term  Baucus was appointed as the United States Ambassador to China, leading him to resign from the Senate in February 2014 Following Baucus's confirmation as ambassador, Governor Steve Bullock appointed the Lieutenant Governor John Walsh to fill the vacant senate seat  Former Lieutenant Governor John Bohlinger was defeated by Walsh in the Democratic primary  Amid controversy over alleged plagiarism in a 2007 research paper, Walsh pulled out of the race  The Montana Democratic Party held a special nominating convention on August 16 to choose a replacement for Walsh  First-term State Representative Amanda Curtis won the nomination, thereby becoming the new Democratic nominee Congressman Steve Daines won the Republican nomination over state Representative Champ Edmunds of Missoula and David Leaser of Kalispell 

Nebraska
One-term incumbent Republican Mike Johanns had been elected with 58% of the vote in 2008  He did not seek a second term  Term limited Republican Governor Dave Heineman considered running for the Republican nomination, but ultimately decided not to do so  Former state Treasurer Shane Osborn, attorney Bart McLeay, banker Sid Dinsdale, and Midland University President Ben Sasse ran for the Republican nomination  In the May 13 primary, Sasse won the Republican nomination 
Trial lawyer David Domina was the Democratic nominee 

New Hampshire
One-term incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen had been elected with 52% of the vote in 2008  Shaheen ran for re-election  Shaheen defeated Republican nominee Scott Brown, who had represented neighboring Massachusetts in the Senate from 2010 to 2013 

New Jersey
Incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg had been re-elected with 56% of the vote in 2008  After announcing he would not seek re-election, Lautenberg died in June 2013, aged 89, after a long period of ill health Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a Democrat, defeated Republican nominee Steve Lonegan by 55%-to-45% in a 2013 special election to replace interim Republican appointee Jeffrey Chiesa  Booker ran for re-election to a full term in 2014  1978 and 1982 Republican candidate and political operative Jeff Bell was the Republican nominee 

New Mexico
One-term incumbent Democrat Tom Udall had been elected with 61% of the vote in 2008  Former Doña Ana County Republican Party Chairman David Clements and former New Mexico Republican Party Chairman Allen Weh sought the Republican nomination  Weh won the June 3 primary but lost to Udall in the general election 

North Carolina
One-term incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan had been elected with 53% of the vote against incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole in 2008  Hagan was seeking re-election State House Speaker Thom Tillis was the Republican nominee  Sean Haugh won the Libertarian nomination 

Oklahoma
There were 2 elections in Oklahoma, due to the resignation of Tom Coburn 

Oklahoma (regular)
Three-term incumbent Republican Jim Inhofe had been re-elected with 57% of the vote in 2008  Inhofe sought re-election  Matt Silverstein, an insurance agency owner, ran for the Democratic nomination 

Oklahoma (special)
Two-term incumbent Republican Tom Coburn had been re-elected with 71% of the vote in 2010, and was not scheduled to be up for election again until 2016  However, Coburn announced his intention to resign at the end of the 113th Congress  A special election to fill his seat took place in November 2014, concurrent with the other Senate elections  Congressman James Lankford was the Republican nominee  State Senator Connie Johnson was the Democratic nominee 

Oregon
One-term incumbent Democrat Jeff Merkley was narrowly elected with 49% of the vote in 2008  Merkley was running for a second term  State representative Jason Conger, attorney Tim Crawley, IT consultant Mark Callahan, neurosurgeon Dr  Monica Wehby, and former Linn County Republican Chair Jo Rae Perkins all ran for the Republican nomination, with Wehby ultimately winning the nomination in the May 20 primary 

Rhode Island
Three-term incumbent Democrat Jack Reed had been re-elected with 73% of the vote in 2008  Reed defeated Republican nominee Mark Zaccaria in the 2014 election 

South Carolina
There were 2 elections in South Carolina, due to the resignation of Jim DeMint 

South Carolina (regular)
Two-term Republican Lindsey Graham had been re-elected with 58% of the vote in 2008  Graham won the Republican nomination over a field that included state senator Lee Bright  State Senator Brad Hutto won the Democratic nomination 

South Carolina (special)
Jim DeMint had been elected to a second term in 2010, but resigned from the Senate in January 2013 to become president of The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank  Governor Nikki Haley appointed Congressman Tim Scott as DeMint's replacement  Scott, an African-American, was the Republican nominee to serve out the remainder of DeMint's term  Scott is the first African-American Republican since shortly after Reconstruction to represent a Southern state  Richland County Councilwoman Joyce Dickerson won the Democratic nomination 

South Dakota
Three-term incumbent Democrat Tim Johnson had been re-elected with 63% of the vote in 2008  Johnson announced on March 26, 2013, that he would not run for re-election  Former Congressional aide Rick Weiland was the Democratic nominee Among Republicans, former two-term Governor Mike Rounds announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination on November 29, 2012  Rounds won the Republican nomination over state senator Larry Rhoden, state representative Stace Nelson, and physician Annette Bosworth Former Republican U S  Senator Larry Pressler and Republican State Senator Gordon Howie ran as independents  Pressler did not commit to caucusing with either party, while Howie said he would caucus with the Senate Republicans 

Tennessee
Two-term incumbent Republican Lamar Alexander had been re-elected with 65% of the vote in 2008  Alexander sought re-election to a third term  On August 7, 2014, Alexander won the Republican nomination over six challengers, including State Representative Joe Carr On November 4, 2014, Alexander faced Democratic nominee Gordon Ball, Libertarian Party nominee Joshua James, Constitution Party nominee Joe Wilmothm, and independent Danny Page also ran in the general election 

Texas
Two-term incumbent Republican John Cornyn, the Senate Minority Whip, had been re-elected with 55% of the vote in 2008  Cornyn sought re-election, and won the 2014 Republican primary with 59% of the vote  David Alameel, a dentist, and Kesha Rogers, a volunteer for The Lyndon LaRouche Policy Institute, faced each other in a run-off election for the Democratic nomination  Alameel won the run-off and was the Democratic nominee 

Virginia
One-term incumbent Democrat Mark Warner had been elected with 65% of the vote in 2008; he sought re-election  Ed Gillespie, former RNC Chairman and presidential adviser, ran for the Republican nomination  Robert Sarvis, the Libertarian nominee for Governor in 2013, also ran 

West Virginia
Five-term incumbent Democrat Jay Rockefeller had been re-elected with 64% of the vote in 2008  He announced on January 11, 2013, that he would not seek re-election to a sixth term  Secretary of State Natalie Tennant won the Democratic nomination On November 26, 2012, Republican Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito announced her plans to run for the seat, in hopes of becoming the first Republican Senator elected from West Virginia since 1956  Moore Capito won the Republican nomination and the general election, the first woman to serve as United States Senator from West Virginia 

Wyoming
Three-term incumbent Republican Mike Enzi had been re-elected with 76% of the vote in 2008  Enzi sought re-election  Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, briefly entered the race for the Republican nomination, but dropped her bid in January 2014  On August 19, Enzi won the Republican primary election with 82% of the vote, and Democrat Charlie Hardy, a former Catholic priest, won his party's primary election with 48% of the vote 

See also
2014 United States elections
2014 United States gubernatorial elections
2014 United States House of Representatives elections
113th United States Congress
114th United States Congress

Notes
Passage 2:
114th United States Congress
The 114th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives  It met in Washington, D C , from January 3, 2015, to January 3, 2017, during the final two years of Barack Obama's presidency  The seats in the House were apportioned based on the 2010 United States census The 2014 elections gave the Republicans control of the Senate and the House for the first time since the 109th Congress  With 248 seats in the House of Representatives and 54 seats in the Senate, this Congress began with the largest Republican majority since the 71st Congress of 1929–1931 

Major events
January 6, 2015: Incumbent Speaker of the House John Boehner was re-elected even though several members of his own party once again chose not to vote for him  He received 216 votes, a majority of the votes cast, but two votes shy of a majority of the full membership 
January 20, 2015: 2015 State of the Union Address
March 3, 2015: Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress regarding sanctions against Iran  Netanyahu was invited by Speaker John Boehner without consulting President Obama 
March 9, 2015: U S  Senator Tom Cotton wrote and sent a letter to the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran, signed by 47 of the Senate's 54 Republicans, attempting to cast doubt on the Obama administration's authority to engage in nuclear-proliferation negotiations with Iran 
March 25, 2015: Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani addressed a joint session of Congress 
April 29, 2015: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe addressed a joint session of Congress, becoming the first Japanese leader to do so 
September 24, 2015: Pope Francis addressed a joint session of Congress, becoming the first Pope to do so 
September 25, 2015: House Speaker John Boehner announced that he would resign as Speaker and from the House at the end of October 2015  Subsequently, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the presumptive favorite to succeed John Boehner, unexpectedly withdrew his candidacy for the job 
October 29, 2015: Paul Ryan was elected to succeed John Boehner as Speaker of the House receiving 236 votes (of 432 votes cast)  He is the youngest Speaker since James G  Blaine in 1869 
January 12, 2016: 2016 State of the Union Address
June 8, 2016: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed a joint session of Congress 
June 22–23, 2016: In the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting, Congress debated gun control reform  The U S  House recessed for the July 4 holiday during a sit-in protest held by Democrats that halted business in the chamber for more than 24 hours 
November 8, 2016: Donald Trump and Mike Pence elected as president and vice-president in presidential elections, while the Republicans retain majority at both Senate and House of Representatives 

Major legislation
Enacted
January 12, 2015: Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2015, Pub  L  114–1 (text) (PDF)
February 27, 2015: Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act, Pub L  114-3
March 4, 2015: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2015, Pub L  114-4
April 16, 2015: Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015, Pub  L  114–10 (text) (PDF)
May 22, 2015: Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, Pub  L  114–17 (text) (PDF)
June 2, 2015: USA FREEDOM Act: Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015, Pub  L  114–23 (text) (PDF)
June 29, 2015: Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015, Pub  L  114–27 (text) (PDF)
July 6, 2015: Department of Homeland Security Interoperable Communications Act, Pub  L  114–29 (text) (PDF)
September 25, 2015: Gerardo Hernandez Airport Security Act of 2015, Pub L  114-50
September 30, 2015: National Winstorm Impact Reduction Act Reauthorization of 2015, Pub L  114-52
November 2, 2015: Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, Pub  L  114–74 (text) (PDF)
November 5, 2015: Librarian of Congress Succession Modernization Act of 2015, Pub  L  114–86 (text) (PDF)
November 25, 2015: SPACE Act of 2015, Pub  L  114–90 (text) (PDF)
November 25, 2015: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, Pub L  114-92
December 4, 2015: Fixing America's Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, Pub  L  114–94 (text) (PDF)
December 10, 2015: Every Student Succeeds Act, Pub  L  114–95 (text) (PDF)
December 18, 2015: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, Pub  L  114–113 (text) (PDF)
January 28, 2016: Grants Oversight and New Efficiency (GONE) Act, Pub L  114-117
February 8, 2016: International Megan's Law to Prevent Sexual Exploitation and Other Crimes Through Advanced Notification of Traveling Sex Offenders, Pub L  114-119
February 8, 2016: Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2015, Pub  L  114–120 (text) (PDF)
February 24, 2016: Internet Tax Freedom Act contained in Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, Pub  L  114–125 (text) (PDF)
May 9, 2016: Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act, Pub L  114-151
June 28, 2016: Frank R  Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, Pub  L  114-182
June 30, 2016: Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), Pub L  114-187
July 20, 2016: Global Food Security Act of 2016, Pub  L  114–195 (text) (PDF)
July 29, 2016: Making Electronic Government Accountable By Yielding Tangible Efficiences (MEGABYTE) Act of 2016, Pub L  114-210
September 28, 2016: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act, Pub  L  114–222 (text) (PDF)
September 29, 2016: Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act, Pub L  114-223
October 7, 2016: Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act, Pub  L  114–236 (text) (PDF)
December 10, 2016: Further Continuing and Security Assistance Appropriations Act, 2017, Pub L  114-254
December 13, 2016: 21st Century Cures Act, Pub  L  114–255 (text) (PDF)
December 14, 2016: First Responder Anthrax Preparedness Act, Pub L  114-268
December 14, 2016: Better Online Ticket Sales (BOTS) Act, Pub L  114-274
December 16, 2016: Frank R  Wolf International Religious Freedom Act, Pub  L  114-281
December 16, 2016: United States-Israel Advanced Research Partnership Act of 2016, Pub L  114-304
December 16, 2016: Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery (HEAR) Act of 2016, Pub L  114-308
December 16, 2016: Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, Pub L  114-319
December 23, 2016: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017, Pub L  114-328
January 6, 2017: American Innovation and Competitiveness Act, Pub L  114-329

Proposed
Vetoed
February 24, 2015: Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Act (S  1)
March 31, 2015: A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the National Labor Relations Board relating to representation case procedures  (S J Res  8)
October 22, 2015: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (H R  1735)
December 19, 2015: A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of a rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New, Modified, and Reconstructed Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units" (S J Res  23)
December 19, 2015: A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of a rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units" (S J Res  24)
January 8, 2016: The Restoring Americans' Healthcare Freedom Reconciliation Act of 2015 (H R  3762)
January 19, 2016: A joint resolution providing for congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency relating to the definition of "waters of the United States" under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (S J Res  22)
June 8, 2016: A joint resolution disapproving the rule submitted by the Department of Labor relating to the definition of the term "Fiduciary" (H J Res  88)
July 22, 2016: Presidential Allowance Modernization Act of 2016 (H R  1777)
September 23, 2016: Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act (S  2040) (Passed over Veto)

Party summary
Resignations and new members are discussed in the "Changes in membership" section, below 

Senate
House of Representatives
Leadership
Section contents: Senate: Majority (R), Minority (D) • House: Majority (R),  Minority (D)

Senate
President: Joe Biden (D)
President pro tempore: Orrin Hatch (R)

Majority (Republican) leadership
Majority Leader: Mitch McConnell
Assistant Majority Leader (Majority Whip): John Cornyn
Chief Deputy Whip: Mike Crapo
Deputy Whips:[data unknown/missing]
Republican Conference Chairman: John Thune
Republican Conference Vice Chairman: Roy Blunt
Senatorial Committee Chairman: Roger Wicker
Policy Committee Chairman: John Barrasso

Minority (Democratic) leadership
Minority Leader: Harry Reid
Assistant Minority Leader (Minority Whip): Dick Durbin
Chief Deputy Whip: Barbara Boxer
Deputy Whips:[data unknown/missing]
Democratic Caucus Chairman: Harry Reid
Democratic Caucus Vice Chair and Policy Committee Chairman: Chuck Schumer
Democratic Caucus Secretary: Patty Murray
Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman: Jon Tester
Policy Committee Vice Chairwoman: Debbie Stabenow
Policy Committee Strategic Policy Adviser: Elizabeth Warren
Policy Committee Policy Development Adviser: Mark Warner
Steering and Outreach Committee Chairwoman: Amy Klobuchar
Steering and Outreach Committee Vice Chairwoman: Jeanne Shaheen

House of Representatives
Speaker: John Boehner (R), until October 29, 2015
Paul Ryan (R), from October 29, 2015

Majority (Republican) leadership
Majority Leader: Kevin McCarthy
Majority Whip: Steve Scalise
Majority Chief Deputy Whip: Patrick McHenry
Senior Deputy Whips: Kristi Noem, Dennis Ross, Aaron Schock (until March 31, 2015), Steve Stivers, Ann Wagner
Republican Conference Chairwoman: Cathy McMorris Rodgers
Republican Conference Vice-Chairwoman: Lynn Jenkins
Republican Conference Secretary: Virginia Foxx
Republican Campaign Committee Chairman: Greg Walden
Policy Committee Chairman: Luke Messer
Republican Campaign Committee Deputy Chairman: Lynn Westmoreland

Minority (Democratic) leadership
Minority Leader: Nancy Pelosi
Minority Whip: Steny Hoyer
Assistant Democratic Leader: Jim Clyburn
Senior Chief Deputy Minority Whip: John Lewis
Chief Deputy Minority Whips: G  K  Butterfield, Diana DeGette, Keith Ellison, Jan Schakowsky, Kyrsten Sinema, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Peter Welch
Democratic Caucus Chairman: Xavier Becerra
Democratic Caucus Vice-Chairman: Joe Crowley
Democratic Campaign Committee Chairman: Ben Ray Luján
Steering and Policy Committee Co-Chairs: Rosa DeLauro (Steering) and Donna Edwards (Policy)
Organization, Study, and Review Chairwoman: Karen Bass
Policy and Communications Chairman: Steve Israel

Members
Senate
Senators are listed by state and then by Senate classes, In this Congress, Class 3 meant their term ended with this Congress, requiring re-election in 2016; Class 1 meant their term began in the last Congress, requiring re-election in 2018; and Class 2 meant their term began in this Congress, requiring re-election in 2020 

House of Representatives
Changes in membership
Senate
There were no changes in Senate membership during this Congress 

House of Representatives
Committees
[Section contents: Senate, House, Joint ]

Senate
House of Representatives
Joint committees
Caucuses
Employees
Senate
Source: "Senate Organization Chart for the 114th Congress"  Senate gov  US Senate  Archived from the original on March 28, 2015  Retrieved January 26, 2015 

Chaplain: Barry C  Black (Seventh-day Adventist)
Curator: Melinda Smith
Librarian: Leona I  Faust
Historian: Donald A  Ritchie, until June 1, 2015
Betty Koed, starting June 1, 2015
Parliamentarian: Elizabeth MacDonough
Secretary: Julie E  Adams
Sergeant at Arms: Frank J  Larkin
Secretary for the Majority: Laura Dove
Secretary for the Minority: Gary B  Myrick

House of Representatives
Source: "Officers and Organizations of the House"  House gov  US House  Archived from the original on July 6, 2017  Retrieved January 26, 2015 

Chaplain: Patrick J  Conroy (Roman Catholic)
Chief Administrative Officer: Ed Cassidy, until December 31, 2015
Will Plaster, January 1, 2016 – August 1, 2016
Phil Kiko, from August 1, 2016
Clerk: Karen L  Haas
Historian: Matthew Wasniewski
Inspector General: Theresa M  Grafenstine
Parliamentarian: Thomas J  Wickham Jr 
Reading Clerks: Susan Cole and Joseph Novotny
Sergeant at Arms: Paul D  Irving

Legislative branch agency directors
Architect of the Capitol: Stephen T  Ayers
Attending Physician of the United States Congress: Brian P  Monahan
Comptroller General of the United States: Eugene Louis Dodaro
Director of the Congressional Budget Office: Douglas Elmendorf, until March 31, 2015
Keith Hall, from April 1, 2015
Librarian of Congress: James H  Billington, until September 30, 2015
David S  Mao (acting), October 1, 2015 – September 14, 2016
Carla Diane Hayden, from September 14, 2016
Public Printer of the United States: Davita Vance-Cooks

See also
Elections
2014 United States elections (elections leading to this Congress)
2014 United States Senate elections
2014 United States House of Representatives elections
2016 United States elections (elections during this Congress, leading to the next Congress)
2016 United States presidential election
2016 United States Senate elections
2016 United States House of Representatives elections

Membership lists
List of new members of the 114th United States Congress

Notes
Passage 3:
Svatopluk II
Svatopluk II or Svätopluk II (Latin: Zentobolchus) was a member of the House of Mojmír and Prince in Moravia (maybe of Nitra) from 894 to 899, as which he strove to control all of Great Moravia  He was the son of Svatopluk I son of Morot 

Biography
Svatopluk II was a younger son of Svatopluk I and grandson (according to Simon of Kéza) of Morot  As Prince of Nitra, Svatopluk II was subordinated to Mojmír II, the King of Great Moravia which contained the principality as its province  Svatopluk II rebelled against Mojmír II in 898 in an attempt to take over control of Great Moravia  Their conflict climaxed when Bavarian troops intervened in the winter of 898/899  Mojmír II defeated the Bavarians and captured Svatopluk II, but the Bavarians managed to rescue him and brought him to East Francia  Svatopluk II returned to the Principality of Nitra in 901  He probably died in 906 in fights with the Hungarians, who began to invade the Carpathian Basin in 896  Historical records contain no mention of Mojmír II, Svatopluk II, or their possible successors in connection with the three battles of Bratislava where the invading tribes defeated the Bavarian army 


== Notes ==
Passage 4:
Rita Mayfield
Rita Mayfield is a Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives who has represented the 60th district since July 2010 

Early life and career
She has a Bachelor of Science degree from Columbia College in Computer Information Systems and a Master of Science from Benedictine University in Management and Organization Behavior with an Emphasis in Organization Development 

Illinois House of Representatives
On June 4, 2010, State Representative Eddie Washington died of a heart attack  On July 6, 2010, Mayfield was appointed by local Democratic leaders to succeed Washington to serve in the Illinois House of Representatives from the 60th district  The 60th district, at the time, included all or parts of Waukegan and North Chicago  During the 2011 decennial redistricting process, portions of Gurnee, Beach Park, and Park City were added to the 60th district As of July 3, 2022, Representative Mayfield is a member of the following Illinois House committees:
Appropriations - Elementary & Secondary Education Committee (HAPE)
Appropriations - Human Services Committee (HAPH)
(Chairwoman of) Appropriations - Public Safety Committee (HAPP)
Consumer Protection Committee (HCON)
Elementary & Secondary Education: School Curriculum & Policies Committee (HELM)
Energy & Environment Committee (HENG)
Firefighters and First Responders Subcommittee (SHPF-FIRE)
Insurance Committee (HINS)
Law Enforcement Subcommittee (SHPF-LAWE)
Police & Fire Committee (SHPF)
(Chairwoman of) Product Safety Subcommittee (HCON-PROD)
Small Business, Tech Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Committee (SBTE)
(Co-chairwoman of) Special Issues (INS) Subcommittee (HINS-SPIS)

Electoral history
Passage 5:
Careen M  Gordon
Careen M  Gordon is a former Democratic member of the Illinois House of Representatives who served as a representative from the 75th district from her appointment in December 2003 until leaving office in January 2011 

Early life
Gordon was born and raised in Morris, Illinois and graduated from Morris Community High School  She attended Purdue University and later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from University of Illinois in political science and English  After receiving her law degree from John Marshall Law School she worked as an Assistant State's Attorney in Grundy County, Kankakee County and Will County  In 2001, she became an Assistant Attorney General in the Illinois Department of Justice's Criminal Division, where she worked until she was appointed to fill the vacancy caused by Mary O'Brien's resignation 

Illinois House of Representatives
Gordon was appointed to represent the 75th district, which at that time stretched from Iroquois County in the southeast to LaSalle County in the northwest and included Bourbonnais, Braceville, Braidwood, Channahon, Chebanse, Coal City, Essex, Herscher, Coal City, Minooka, Morris, Seneca and Wilmington  She began her tenure as a member of the House Agriculture and Conservation, Appropriations—Elementary and Secondary Education, Commerce and Business Development, and Judiciary II—Criminal Law Committees She was voted out of office on November 2, 2010, when voters of the 75th district elected Republican Sue Rezin  (However, before she could take Gordon's seat in the House, Rezin was appointed to the State Senate; Gordon was ultimately succeeded by Pam Roth, appointed to take Rezin's place in the House )
Passage 6:
Michael P  McAuliffe
Michael P  McAuliffe (born December 7, 1963) is a former Republican member of the Illinois House of Representatives, representing the 20th district in northwestern Chicago  He was first appointed in 1997, following the death of his father, Roger McAuliffe; between them, the McAuliffes represented northwestern Chicago for 46 years  On June 17, 2019, McAuliffe resigned from the Illinois House of Representatives  He was the only Republican to represent a significant portion of Chicago in the Illinois General Assembly  On June 29, 2019, Republican Bradley Stephens, the Mayor of Rosemont, was appointed to succeed McAuliffe 
Passage 7:
Cabinet of the United States
The Cabinet of the United States is a body consisting of the vice president of the United States and the heads of the executive branch's departments in the federal government of the United States  It is the principal official advisory body to the president of the United States  The president chairs the meetings but is not formally a member of the Cabinet  The heads of departments, appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, are members of the Cabinet, and acting department heads also participate in Cabinet meetings whether or not they have been officially nominated for Senate confirmation  The president may designate heads of other agencies and non-Senate-confirmed members of the Executive Office of the President as members of the Cabinet 
The Cabinet does not have any collective executive powers or functions of its own, and no votes need to be taken  There are 24 members (25 including the vice president): 15 department heads and nine Cabinet-level members, all of whom, except two, require Senate confirmation  The Cabinet meets with the president in a room adjacent to the Oval Office  The members sit in the order in which their respective department was created, with the earliest being closest to the president and the newest farthest away The members of the Cabinet serve at the pleasure of the president, who can dismiss them at any time without the approval of the Senate, as affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United States in Myers v  United States (1926) or downgrade their Cabinet membership status  Often it is legally possible for a Cabinet member to exercise certain powers over his or her own department against the president's wishes, but in practice this is highly unusual due to the threat of dismissal  The president also has the authority to organize the Cabinet, such as instituting committees  Like all federal public officials, Cabinet members are also subject to impeachment by the House of Representatives and trial in the Senate for "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" 
The Constitution of the United States does not explicitly establish a Cabinet  The Cabinet's role, inferred from the language of the Opinion Clause (Article II, Section 2, Clause 1) of the Constitution is to provide advice to the president  Additionally, the Twenty-fifth Amendment authorizes the vice president, together with a majority of the heads of the executive departments, to declare the president "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office"  The heads of the executive departments are—if eligible—in the presidential line of succession 

History
The tradition of the Cabinet arose out of the debates at the 1787 Constitutional Convention regarding whether the president would exercise executive authority solely or collaboratively with a cabinet of ministers or a privy council  As a result of the debates, the Constitution (Article II, Section 1, Clause 1) vests "all executive power" in the president singly, and authorizes—but does not compel—the president (Article II, Section 2, Clause 1) to "require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices"  The Constitution does not specify what the executive departments will be, how many there will be, or what their duties will be 
George Washington, the first president of the United States, organized his principal officers into a Cabinet, and it has been part of the executive branch structure ever since  Washington's Cabinet consisted of five members: himself, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of War Henry Knox and Attorney General Edmund Randolph  Vice President John Adams was not included in Washington's Cabinet because the position was initially regarded as a legislative officer (president of the Senate)  Furthermore, until there was a vacancy in the presidency (which did not occur until the death of William Henry Harrison in 1841) it was not certain that a vice president would be allowed to serve as president for the duration of the original term as opposed to merely acting as president until new elections could be held  It was not until the 20th century that vice presidents were regularly included as members of the Cabinet and came to be regarded primarily as a member of the executive branch 
Presidents have used Cabinet meetings of selected principal officers but to widely differing extents and for different purposes  During President Abraham Lincoln's administration, Secretary of State William H  Seward advocated the use of a parliamentary-style Cabinet government  However, Lincoln rebuffed Seward  While a professor Woodrow Wilson also advocated a parliamentary-style Cabinet, but after becoming president did not implement it in his administration  In recent administrations, Cabinets have grown to include key White House staff in addition to department and various agency heads  President Ronald Reagan formed seven sub-cabinet councils to review many policy issues, and subsequent presidents have followed that practice 

Federal law
In 3 U S C  § 302 with regard to delegation of authority by the president, it is provided that "nothing herein shall be deemed to require express authorization in any case in which such an official would be presumed in law to have acted by authority or direction of the president " This pertains directly to the heads of the executive departments as each of their offices is created and specified by statutory law (hence the presumption) and thus gives them the authority to act for the president within their areas of responsibility without any specific delegation 
Under 5 U S C  § 3110 (also known as the 1967 Federal Anti-Nepotism statute), federal officials are prohibited from appointing their immediate family members to certain governmental positions, including those in the Cabinet Under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998, an administration may appoint acting heads of department from employees of the relevant department  These may be existing high-level career employees, from political appointees of the outgoing administration (for new administrations), or sometimes lower-level appointees of the administration 

Confirmation process
The heads of the executive departments and all other federal agency heads are nominated by the president and then presented to the Senate for confirmation or rejection by a simple majority (although before the use of the "nuclear option" during the 113th United States Congress, they could have been blocked by filibuster, requiring cloture to be invoked by 3⁄5 supermajority to further consideration)  If approved, they receive their commission scroll, are sworn in, and begin their duties  When the Senate is not in session, the president can appoint acting heads of the executive departments, and do so at the beginning of their term 
An elected vice president does not require Senate confirmation, nor does the White House chief of staff, which is an appointed staff position of the Executive Office of the President 

Salary
The heads of the executive departments and most other senior federal officers at cabinet or sub-cabinet level receive their salary under a fixed five-level pay plan known as the Executive Schedule, which is codified in Title 5 of the United States Code  Twenty-one positions, including the heads of the executive departments and others, receiving Level I pay are listed in 5 U S C  § 5312, and those forty-six positions on Level II pay (including the number two positions of the executive departments) are listed in 5 U S C  § 5313  As of January 2023, the Level I annual pay was set at $235,600 
The annual salary of the vice president is $235,300  The salary level was set by the Government Salary Reform Act of 1989, which provides an automatic cost of living adjustment for federal employees  The vice president receives the same pension as other members of Congress based on their ex officio position as the president of the Senate 

Current Cabinet and Cabinet-rank officials
The individuals listed below were nominated by President Joe Biden to form his Cabinet and were confirmed by the United States Senate on the date noted or are serving as acting department heads by his request, pending the confirmation of his nominees 

Vice president and the heads of the executive departments
The Cabinet permanently includes the vice president and the heads of 15 executive departments, listed here according to their order of succession to the presidency  The speaker of the House and the president pro tempore of the Senate follow the vice president and precede the secretary of state in the order of succession, but both are in the legislative branch and are not part of the Cabinet 

Cabinet-level officials
The president may designate additional positions to be members of the Cabinet, which can vary under each president  They are not in the line of succession and are not necessarily officers of the United States 

Former executive and Cabinet-level departments
Department of War (1789–1947), headed by the secretary of war: renamed Department of the Army by the National Security Act of 1947 
Department of the Navy (1798–1949), headed by the secretary of the Navy: became a military department within the Department of Defense 
Post Office Department (1829–1971), headed by the postmaster general: reorganized as the United States Postal Service, an independent agency 
National Military Establishment (1947–1949), headed by the secretary of Defense: created by the National Security Act of 1947 and recreated as the Department of Defense in 1949 
Department of the Army (1947–1949), headed by the secretary of the Army: became a military department within the Department of Defense 
Department of the Air Force (1947–1949), headed by the secretary of the Air Force: became a military department within the Department of Defense 

Renamed heads of the executive departments
Secretary of Foreign Affairs: created in July 1781 and renamed Secretary of State in September 1789 
Secretary of War: created in 1789 and was renamed as Secretary of the Army by the National Security Act of 1947  The 1949 Amendments to the National Security Act of 1947 made the secretary of the Army a subordinate to the secretary of defense 
Secretary of Commerce and Labor: created in 1903 and renamed Secretary of Commerce in 1913 when its labor functions were transferred to the new secretary of labor 
Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare: created in 1953 and renamed Secretary of Health and Human Services in 1979 when its education functions were transferred to the new secretary of education 

Positions intermittently elevated to Cabinet-rank
Ambassador to the United Nations (1953–1989, 1993–2001, 2009–2018, 2021–present)
Director of the Office of Management and Budget (1953–1961, 1969–present)
White House Chief of Staff (1953–1961, 1974–1977, 1993–present)
Counselor to the President (1969–1977, 1981–1985, 1992–1993): A title used by high-ranking political advisers to the president of the United States and senior members of the Executive Office of the President since the Nixon administration  Incumbents with Cabinet rank included Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Donald Rumsfeld and Anne Armstrong 
White House Counsel (1974–1977)
United States Trade Representative (1975–present)
Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers (1977–1981, 1993–2001, 2009–2017, 2021–present)
National Security Advisor (1977–1981)
Director of Central Intelligence (1981–1989, 1995–2001)
Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (1993–present)
Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (1993–2009)
Administrator of the Small Business Administration (1994–2001, 2012–present)
Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (1996–2001): Created as an independent agency in 1979, raised to Cabinet rank in 1996, and dropped from Cabinet rank in 2001 
Director of National Intelligence (2017–present)
Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (2017–2021)
Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (2021–present)

Proposed Cabinet departments
Department of Industry and Commerce, proposed by Secretary of the Treasury William Windom in a speech given at a Chamber of Commerce dinner in May 1881 
Department of Natural Resources, proposed by the Eisenhower administration, President Richard Nixon, the 1976 GOP national platform, and by Bill Daley (as a consolidation of the Departments of the Interior and Energy, and the Environmental Protection Agency) 
Department of Peace, proposed by Senator Matthew Neely in the 1930s, Congressman Dennis Kucinich, 2020 presidential candidate Marianne Williamson, and other members of the U S  Congress 
Department of Social Welfare, proposed by President Franklin Roosevelt in January 1937 
Department of Public Works, proposed by President Franklin Roosevelt in January 1937 
Department of Conservation (renamed Department of the Interior), proposed by President Franklin Roosevelt in January 1937 
Department of Urban Affairs and Housing, proposed by President John F  Kennedy 
Department of Business and Labor, proposed by President Lyndon Johnson 
Department of Community Development, proposed by President Richard Nixon; to be chiefly concerned with rural infrastructure development 
Department of Human Resources, proposed by President Richard Nixon; essentially a revised Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 
Department of Economic Affairs, proposed by President Richard Nixon; essentially a consolidation of the Departments of Commerce, Labor, and Agriculture 
Department of Environmental Protection, proposed by Senator Arlen Specter and others 
Department of Intelligence, proposed by former Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell 
Department of Global Development, proposed by the Center for Global Development 
Department of Art, proposed by Quincy Jones 
Department of Business, proposed by President Barack Obama as a consolidation of the U S  Department of Commerce's core business and trade functions, the Small Business Administration, the Office of the U S  Trade Representative, the Export-Import Bank, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, and the U S  Trade and Development Agency 
Department of Education and the Workforce, proposed by President Donald Trump as a consolidation of the Departments of Education and Labor 
Department of Health and Public Welfare, proposed by President Donald Trump as a renamed Department of Health and Human Services 
Department of Economic Development, proposed by Senator Elizabeth Warren to replace the Commerce Department, subsume other agencies like the Small Business Administration and the Patent and Trademark Office, and include research and development programs, worker training programs, and export and trade authorities like the Office of the U S  Trade Representative with the single goal of creating and protecting American jobs 
Department of Technology, proposed by businessman and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang 
Department of Culture, patterned on similar departments in many foreign nations, proposed by, among others, Murray Moss and Jeva Lange 
When he was SEC Chairman, Harvey Pitt proposed that the Securities and Exchange Commission be elevated to Cabinet level  In July 2002, The New York Times wrote: "Democratic and Republican members of Congress joined administration officials today in ridiculing Harvey L  Pitt's request that his pay be increased and his job as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission be elevated to Cabinet rank     evoking an outpouring of bipartisan scorn " Pitt had tried to insert a provision into corporate antifraud legislation that would increase his pay by 21%, and also elevate his status to that of Cabinet level, at a time when the stock markets had sunk to five-year lows and some congressional leaders were calling for him to resign 

See also
Black Cabinet
Brain trust
Cabinet of Joe Biden
Cabinet of the Confederate States of America
Kitchen Cabinet
List of African-American United States Cabinet members
List of Hispanic and Latino American United States Cabinet members
List of female United States Cabinet members
List of foreign-born United States Cabinet members
List of people who have held multiple United States Cabinet-level positions
List of United States Cabinet members who have served more than eight years
List of United States political appointments that crossed party lines
St  Wapniacl (historical mnemonic acronym)
Unsuccessful nominations to the Cabinet of the United States
Passage 8:
Dean Sanpei
Dean Sanpei is an American politician and a Republican member of the Utah House of Representatives representing District 63 since his June 10, 2010 appointment to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Stephen Clark  He lives in Provo with his wife, Hinckley, and their two children: Joelle and Timothy 

Early life and education
Dean was born into a military family  His father was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force and they moved around a lot during his childhood  By the time Dean was in the 7th grade, he had attended seven different schools  After graduating from Brigham Young University with a Master's of Public Administration, Dean became the Assistant Director of Planning for Intermountain Healthcare’s Urban North Region  He was part of the core team that planned the rebuild of the McKay Dee Hospital  He worked there for several years, before going to work for the consulting group of Johnston, Zabor, McManus in North Carolina where he was a Senior Project Manager with clients spread from San Diego to New York In 2003, Dean was brought back to Provo and Intermountain Healthcare as the Director of Planning for the Urban South Region, which includes Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, Orem Community Hospital, and American Fork Hospital  In 2006 he was promoted to the central office and later became the Vice President over Planning for all of Intermountain Healthcare 

Political career
Dean served as a precinct chair, state and county delegate, member of the executive committee, and from 2005 - 2010 he served as the Legislative District Chair for District 63  He was first elected to the Utah House of Representatives on June 10, 2010, and last elected on November 4, 2014  During the 2016 Legislative Session, served on the Executive Appropriations Committee, and the House Government Operations Committee 

2016 sponsored legislation
Sanpei also floor sponsored SB 2 Public Education Budget Amendments, SB 3 Current Fiscal Year Supplemental Appropriations, SB 7 National Guard, Veterans' Affairs, and Legislature Base Budget, SJR 8 Joint Rules Resolution on Performance Notes, and SJR 9 Joint Rules Resolution on Request for Appropriations Process Change 

Elections
2016 Sanpei won in the general election by 79 2% of the vote in November against Nathan Smith Jones 
2014 Sanpei won the Republican nomination by 71% of the vote in April against Colby Johnson and then went on to win in the November General Election unopposed 
2012 Sanpei won both the June 26, 2012 Republican primary and the November 6, 2012 General election, winning with 5,057 votes 
2010 Sanpei was chosen from among three candidates by the Republican convention and won the November 2, 2010 General election with 57 6% against Democratic candidate Donald Jarvis, who had run for the seat in 2008 
Passage 9:
Ordinance (India)
Ordinances are laws that are promulgated by the President of India on the recommendation of the Union Cabinet, which will have the same effect as an Act of Parliament  They can only be issued when Parliament is not  in session  They enable the Indian government to take immediate legislative action  Ordinances cease to operate either if Parliament does not approve of them within six weeks of reassembly, or if disapproving resolutions are passed by both Houses  It is also compulsory for a session of Parliament to be held within six months  A total of 679 ordinances have been issued from 1950-2014 

List of Central Government Ordinances since 2003
List of state government ordinances
Uttar Pradesh Recovery of Damages to Public and Private Property Ordinance, 2020
Passage 10:
David J  Robinson
David J  Robinson is a former member of the Ohio House of Representatives  He was appointed to his position when the previous representative, E  J  Thomas, resigned; in turn, when Robinson lost the Republican primary election to Jim Hughes, he resigned so that Hughes could be appointed to his seat and run as an incumbent While in office, Robinson was the sponsor of noise-reduction legislation for trains 
Passage 11:
Mary Ann Love
Mary Ann Love (February 21, 1940 – January 27, 2022) was an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party  She served 4 full terms in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Maryland's District 32  Love was originally appointed to the seat in 1993, but was later elected in her own right  She most recently served on the Economic Matters Committee  Love declined to run for reelection in 2014 

Early life
Mary Ann was born in West Pittston, Pennsylvania on February 21, 1940  She graduated from St  John's High School in 1958  She attended the Wilkes-Barre Business School 

Career
Legislative Notes
voted in favor of increasing the sales tax by from 5% to 6% - Tax Reform Act of 2007(HB2)[1]
voted to support in-state tuition for all graduates of a Maryland public high school, 2007(HB6)[2]
voted for the Maryland Gang Prosecution Act of 2007 (HB713), subjecting gang members to up to 20 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $100,000 [3]
voted for Jessica's Law (HB 930), eliminating parole for the most violent child sexual predators and creating a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years in state prison, 2007 [4]
voted for Public Safety – Statewide DNA Database System – Crimes of Violence and Burglary – Post conviction (HB 370), helping to give police officers and prosecutors greater resources to solve crimes and eliminating a backlog of 24,000 unanalyzed DNA samples, leading to 192 arrests, 2008 [5]
voted for Vehicle Laws – Repeated Drunk and Drugged Driving Offenses – Suspension of License (HB 293), strengthening Maryland's drunk driving laws by imposing a mandatory one year license suspension for a person convicted of drunk driving more than once in five years, 2009 [6]
voted for HB 102, creating the House Emergency Medical Services System Workgroup, leading to Maryland's budgeting of $52 million to fund three new Medevac helicopters to replace the State's aging fleet, 2009 [7]
voted in 2013 in favor of gun control legislation (SB 281) banning certain firearms and placing significant new restrictions on the ability of law-abiding citizens to own firearms [8]

Election results
2002 Race for Maryland House of Delegates – District 32Voters to choose three:1998 Race for Maryland House of Delegates – District 32Voters to choose three:1994 Race for Maryland House of Delegates – District 32Voters to choose three:

Death
Love died on January 27, 2022, aged 81 
Passage 12:
Thomas Chapais
Sir Joseph Amable Thomas Chapais  (March 23, 1858 – July 15, 1946) was a French Canadian author, editor, historian, journalist, professor, and politician 
Born in Saint-Denis, Quebec (then Canada East), the son of Jean-Charles Chapais, a Father of Canadian Confederation, and Henriette-Georgina Dionne, he received a bachelor's degree in 1876 from Université Laval and was called to the Bar of Quebec in 1879 
From 1879 to 1884, he was the principal secretary to the Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, Théodore Robitaille  Turning to journalism, he became the editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper, Le Courrier du Canada in 1884 and from 1890 to 1901 was the owner  From 1907 to 1934, he was a professor of history at Université Laval 
In 1891, he ran unsuccessfully as a Conservative for the House of Commons of Canada in the riding of Kamouraska  He was appointed to the Legislative Council of Quebec in 1892 representing Laurentides  From 1893 to 1894, he was the Leader of the Government  In 1893, he was appointed Minister without Portfolio in the cabinet of Louis-Olivier Taillon  From 1895 to 1897, he was the speaker of the legislative council  From 1896 to 1897, he was the president of the executive council in the cabinet of Edmund James Flynn and was a Cabinet Minister  In 1917, he refused a seat in the Senate but was summoned to the Senate in 1919  A Conservative, he represented the senatorial division of Grandville, Quebec and served until his death in 1946 
From 1936 to 1939 and again from 1944 to 1946, he was the leader of the government in the legislative council  From 1936 to 1938, he was a minister without portfolio in the cabinet of Maurice Duplessis  He was appointed again in 1944 
In 1912, he was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and was its president from 1923 to 1924  From 1925 to 1926, he was the president of the Canadian Historical Association  In 1930, he was a member of the Canadian delegation to the League of Nations  In 1935, he was made a Knight Bachelor by George V 
Parc Thomas-Chapais in Montreal is named in his honour 
Chapais, Quebec is named for him 

Published works
Congrégations enseignantes et le brevet de capacité (1893)
Discours et conférences (1895)
le Serment du roi (1901)
Jean Talon, intendant de la Nouvelle-France (1904)
Mélanges de polémique et d'études religieuses, politiques et littéraires (1905)
le Marquis de Montcalm (1911)
Mélanges (1915)
Cours d'histoire du Canada, 1760–1867 (1919)

See also
Université Laval



ground_truth: January 2015

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What league includes the operating group of Al Janoub Stadium?

The following are given passages.
Context 2: Passage 1:
Huntington Stadium
Huntington Stadium (formerly Ryedale Stadium) is the former stadium of English rugby league teams York Wasps, and York City Knights 

History
The stadium, which was financed by Ryedale District Council and was initially named the Ryedale Stadium, was completed in October 1989 York Wasps played their first ever match at the Huntington Stadium when they lost to Hull Kingston Rovers 36–26 in front of a crowd of 3,105 2009 saw the first ever game at the stadium live on Sky Sports  York were victorious as they beat Oldham 20–18 to go second in the Championship The 2014 season was announced as the final season for the York City Knights  They won the league and lifted the trophy at the final home league game against London Skolars  The final game at Huntington Stadium ended in a 32–24 defeat for the York City Knights by Hunslet Hawks in the Championship 1 Play Off Semi Final 

Demolition and Replacement
It had long been proposed that the Knights should share a new municipal stadium with York City F C  and it was announced in July 2010 that the preferred location would be the site of the current Huntington Stadium A community archaeology project was undertaken by York Archaeological Trust in 2015 to record the site of a Roman Marching Camp Site  The work of the local community project "Dig York Stadium" produced a historical record After the York Dig had concluded on 19 June 2015 it appeared that demolition of Huntington Stadium would be able to commence  However, the project faced more delays after a legal challenge to its planning application The new municipal stadium, known as York Community Stadium, opened in December 2020 
Passage 2:
2014–15 Oman Professional League
The 2014–15 Oman Professional League (known as the Omantel Professional League for sponsorship reasons) was the 39th edition of the top football league in Oman  The season began on 11 September 2014, and concluded on 28 May 2015  Al-Nahda Club were the defending champions, having won their third title in the previous 2013–14 season  On Saturday, 9 May 2015, Al-Oruba SC were crowned the champions of the 2014–15 Oman Professional League with three games to spare after Sur SC was held to a 2–2 draw by Al-Suwaiq Club at the Al-Seeb Stadium  Al-Oruba who had beaten Sohar SC, 1–0 on Friday took their tally to 48 points from 23 matches, gaining an unassailable lead of eight points ahead of second-placed Sur  Sur, which needed to win on Saturday to keep their title hopes alive, and settled for one point to take its tally to 40 points, helping the fierce rivals from Sur city to win their 4th domestic title 

Teams
This season the league has 14 teams  Majees SC and Al-Ittihad Club were relegated to the First Division League after finishing in the relegation zone in the 2013–14 season  Al-Nasr S C S C  however again managed to play in the top division as they won the Relegation/Promotion playoff against Al-Mudhaibi Club  The two relegated teams were replaced by First Division League winners Al-Khabourah SC, runners-up Bowsher Club 
The winner and the runner-up will qualify for the 2016 AFC Cup 

Stadiums and locations
Note: Table lists clubs in alphabetical order 

Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules  Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality 

Managerial changes
Foreign players
Restricting the number of foreign players strictly to four per team, including a slot for a player from AFC countries  A team could use four foreign players on the field during each game including at least one player from the AFC country 

League table
Results
Clubs season-progress
Promotion/relegation play-off
As of 31 May 2015

1st leg
2nd leg
Sohar secured promotion after winning 2–1 on aggregate

Season statistics
As of 29 May 2015

Hat-tricks
OFA Awards
Oman Football Association awarded the following awards for the 2014–15 Oman Professional League season 
Top Scorer: Mechac Koffi (Al-Nasr)
Best Player: Eid Al-Farsi (Al-Oruba)
Most Promising Young Player: Mohammed Al-Najashi (Sur)
Best Goalkeeper: Riyadh Al-Alawi (Al-Oruba)
Best Coach: Philippe Burle (Al-Oruba)
Best Team Manager: Hussain Mustahil (Al-Nasr)
Fair Play Award: Al-Suwaiq

Media coverage
Controversies
The league was the subject of controversies like the refusal of Omani referees to officiate in the league matches and boycott of the Professional League by clubs 
Before the beginning of the 2014–15 season, nine top clubs of the Oman Professional League demanded the cancellation of the Professional League  It was reported that the presidents of the nine clubs (Al-Oruba, Dhofar, Al-Seeb, Al-Nahda, Fanja, Bowsher, Sohar, Al-Shabab and Sur) held a meeting in the head office of Sur SC on 7 June 2014 in order to discuss the experience of different clubs of the professional league  The statement released by the clubs after this meeting sparked a wave of controversy as all these nine clubs decided to hold a meeting with Sayyid Khalid Al-Busaidi, Chairman of the Oman Football Association and demand the cancellation of the 2014–15 season of the Oman Professional League  The reason given out was that the clubs were unable to meet the financial demands laid out by the association and also that the association failed to fulfill the promises made before the beginning of the pro-league system In a major embarrassment for the Oman Football Association (OFA), all its top-division referees boycotted the three-day opening round of the prestigious Omantel Professional League (OPL), which began on 11 September 2014, over a payment issue  This was the first ever instance in Oman of OFA-accredited referees boycotting top-flight domestic league matches over a stand-off  The referees refused to officiate in the opening-round matches on 11 September 2014, 12 September 2014 and 13 September 2014 over long-standing bonus payments from the OFA  The row over pending bonus payments for the referees had been brewing since the conclusion of the inaugural edition of OPL last season  The first round match between Sur SC and Al-Seeb Club was postponed from the scheduled time to another time and the match between Dhofar S C S C  and Al-Khaboora SC which was also scheduled to be held on 11 September was postponed to the next day because of the refusal of Omani referees to officiate in the league matches  The OFA, under the chairmanship of Sayyid Khalid al Busaidy, managed to defuse the crisis by requesting the UAE football body to send match officials to get the OPL started  UAE duly responded, sending 16 officials - eight referees and eight linesmen - who officiated in the seven opening-round matches that went ahead as scheduled from Thursday to Saturday at various venues in Oman On 11 December 2014, defending champions Al-Nahda failed to turn up against Dhofar in an OPL match at the Al-Saada Stadium in Salalah; the Oman Professional League's Disciplinary Committee handed the result of the abandoned match in favour of Dhofar (3-0) and docked Al-Nahda a total of nine points - three for skipping the 11 December fixture and six more as penalty On 11 February 2015, 4 (Al-Musannah, Al-Seeb, Bowsher and Fanja) out of the 14 clubs participating in the 2014–15 Oman Professional League along with 8 other Omani clubs decided to go ahead with their demand for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) with the aim of introducing a no-confidence motion against the association's  board members On 7 March 2015, 10 out of 39 clubs attending a consultative meeting of the OFA walked out in protest midway into the proceedings  walkout was triggered by the OFA's decision to call off an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM), which was originally scheduled for 7 March 2015  However, the OFA which had previously agreed for an EGM, on 6 March 2015 shelved the summit, citing a letter from the FIFA, football's world governing body  On the very next day, the OFA cancelled the membership of 11 clubs (Ahli Sidab, Al-Ittifaq, Al-Kamel Wa Al-Wafi, Al-Musannah, Al-Seeb, Bowsher, Dhofar, Fanja, Ibri, Ja'lan and Nizwa) for illegally withdrawing from the consultative meeting conducted by the OFA 

See also
Passage 3:
Bassel al-Assad Stadium (Homs)
Bassel al-Assad Stadium (Arabic: ملعب باسل الأسد) is a multi-use stadium located in the Baba Amr district in the city of Homs, Syria  It was opened in 2000, and is mostly used for football matches and serves as a second venue for the football clubs of Al-Karamah SC and Al-Wathba SC  Located in the Baba Amr district of the city, the stadium is able to hold up to 25,000 spectators  It was renovated in 2010 During the Syrian Civil War, Baba Amr was the epicentre of fighting in the 2012 Homs offensive  As a result, the stadium  was heavily damaged and the playing surface was entirely deteriorated  However, the stadium was renovated during 2016 and a new turf was installed 

See also
List of football stadiums in Syria
Passage 4:
Saoud bin Abdulrahman Stadium
The Saoud bin Abdulrahman al-Thani Stadium (Arabic: ملعب سعود بن عبدالرحمن), also known as Al-Wakrah SC Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Al Wakrah, Qatar  It is currently used mostly for football matches  It is the home venue of Al-Wakrah Sports Club  The stadium has a capacity of 12,000 seats A new stadium named Al Janoub Stadium is being built in the vicinity in time for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and will be used as Al-Wakrah Sports Club’s home, after the world cup During the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the site was used as the training base for England 
Passage 5:
Al Kharaitiyat SC
Al Kharaitiyat Sport Club (Arabic: نادي الخريطيات) is a Qatari sports club based in the town of Al Kharaitiyat, best known for its football team of the Qatari Second Division  They won promotion 
in 2004 and played in the Qatari Stars League the following season  However, they were relegated the following season  They once again regained their position in the top flight in the 2008–09 season 

History
Al Kharaitiyat is among the newest sports clubs in Qatar, having been formed in 1996 as Al-Hilal  Among the founders were:

Upon its formation, it was entered into the Qatari Second Division  After winning the second division title in 2004, they earned a spot in the top tier, the Qatar Stars League  Shortly after, the club was renamed to its current name, Al Kharaitiyat, on 19 October 2004 by a decision of the vice-president of the Qatar Olympic Committee in order to better represent the district it is located in  The team was relegated from the Stars League in the 2004–05 season after a 3–3 draw with Al Ahli on 6 April, 2005 with two matches left to play in the season In 2008 the team was once again promoted to the Stars League 

Supporters
A fan club was established in 2008 after the team won promotion to the Qatar Stars League 

Stadium history
Honours
Domestic
Qatari Second Division
Winners (2): 2004, 2020
Qatari Stars Cup
Runners-up (1): 2012

Current squad
As of Qatari Second Division:

Personnel
Club staff
Last updated 11 November 2018 

Management
Managerial history
Last updated 20 May 2021 

Notes
Note 1: Sheikh Hamad bin Thamer Al Thani served as the first president of the club 
Passage 6:
Hassan Abyan
Hassan (Arabic: حسان) is a Yemeni football team currently playing in the Yemeni League, where they finished in 2nd place in the 2007 competition  It is based in Abyan   Their home stadium is Al-Shohada'a Stadium 
Passage 7:
San Diego Spirit
The San Diego Spirit was a professional soccer team that played in the Women's United Soccer Association  The team played at Torero Stadium on the campus of the University of San Diego in San Diego, California  The team began play in 2001  The league announced on September 15, 2003, it was suspending operations 
The founding members of the Spirit were Julie Foudy, Shannon MacMillan and Joy Fawcett  The team reached the playoffs in the 2003 season, losing to the Atlanta Beat in the semifinals  Other notable members of the Spirit included Scotland's Julie Fleeting, Brazil's Daniela and Canada's Christine Latham, as well as U S  national team players Jenni Branam, Aly Wagner and Shannon Boxx 

Year-by-year
Players
The "founding players" of the Spirit were Julie Foudy, Shannon MacMillan and Joy Fawcett of the 1999 U S  Women's World Cup team 2003 Roster 
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules  Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality 

Coach: Omid Namazi

Coaches
Carlos Juarez (2001-2002)
Kevin Crow (2002)
Omid Namazi (2003)

League suspension
The WUSA announced on September 15, 2003, that it was suspending operations 

See also
List of soccer clubs in the United States
Women's association football
Passage 8:
Al Karkh Stadium
Al-Saher Ahmed Radhi Stadium (Arabic: ملعب الساحر احمد راضي, lit  'Magician Ahmed Radhi Stadium') is a multi-use stadium in Baghdad, Iraq  It is used mostly for football matches and serves as the home stadium of Al-Karkh  The stadium holds 5,150 people 
The stadium was originally called Al-Mansour Local Administration Stadium and was renamed Al-Rasheed Stadium when Al-Rasheed SC took over the ground in 1984  It became known as  Al-Karkh Stadium after Al-Karkh replaced the dissolved Al-Rasheed in the top division in 1990 
In June 2020, following the death of former Al-Rasheed player Ahmed Radhi, the stadium was renamed Al-Saher Ahmed Radhi Stadium 

Gallery
See also
List of football stadiums in Iraq
Passage 9:
Mohammed Muddather
Mohmad Mdether Driss Rajeb (born 13 April 1988) is a Sudanese born-Qatari footballer who plays for Qatari club Al-Sailiya in the Qatar Stars League 

Club career
Rajeb started his career with Al-Ahly Shendi in Sudan and joined in the spring of 2007 to Qatar Stars League club Al-Wakrah  In December 2011 left Al-Wakrah and joined to Qatar Stars League rival Lekhwiya SC  From 2013 to 2016 he played for Al-Arabi SC  In August 2016, he joined Al-Sailiya SC 
Passage 10:
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization  One of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada, MLB comprises 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada  Formed in 1876 and 1901, respectively, the NL and AL cemented their cooperation with the National Agreement in 1903, making MLB the oldest major professional sports league in the world  They remained legally separate entities until 2000, when they merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball  MLB is headquartered in Midtown Manhattan Baseball's first all-professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was founded in 1869  The first few decades of professional baseball saw rivalries between leagues, and players often jumped from one team or league to another  The period before 1920 was the dead-ball era, when home runs were rarely hit  Professional baseball survived the Black Sox Scandal, a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, then rose in popularity in the following decade  It survived the Great Depression and World War II  Shortly after the war, Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier 
The 1950s and 1960s saw the AL and NL add clubs; some moved around the country  Modern stadiums with artificial turf surfaces began to change the game in the 1970s and 1980s  Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s  In the mid-2000s, media reports disclosed the use of anabolic steroids among MLB players; a 2006-07 investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which found that many players had used steroids and other performance-enhancing substances, including at least one player from each team 
Each team plays 162 games per season, and six teams in each league advance to a four-round postseason tournament that culminates in the World Series, a best-of-seven championship series between the two league champions first played in 1903  The New York Yankees have the most championships with 27  The defending champions are the Houston Astros, who defeated the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2022 World Series 
MLB is the second-wealthiest professional sport league by revenue after the National Football League (NFL)  Baseball games are broadcast on television, radio, and the internet throughout North America and in several other countries  MLB has the highest total season attendance of any sports league in the world; in 2018, it drew more than 69 6 million spectators MLB also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises lower-tier teams affiliated with the major league clubs  MLB and the World Baseball Softball Confederation jointly manage the international World Baseball Classic tournament 

Organizational structure
MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution  This document has undergone several incarnations since its creation in 1876  Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts  MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball  This is due in large part to the 1922 U S  Supreme Court ruling in Federal Baseball Club v  National League, which held that baseball is not interstate commerce and therefore not subject to federal antitrust law; MLB is the only league that has such a status, and has not faced any competition since this case  This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years  The weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates  There were several challenges to MLB's primacy in the sport, with notable attempts to establish competing leagues occurring during the late 1800s, from 1913 to 1915 with the short-lived Federal League, and in 1960 with the aborted Continental League The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, currently Rob Manfred  The deputy commissioner of baseball administration and chief legal officer is currently Dan Halem  There are seven other executives: executive vice president and general counsel, chief operations and strategy officer, chief communications officer, chief financial officer and senior advisor, executive vice president and chief marketing officer, chief revenue officer, and chief baseball development officer The multimedia branch of MLB is MLB Advanced Media, which is based in New York City  This branch oversees MLB com and each of the 30 teams' websites  Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, but it is under the same ownership group and revenue-sharing plan  MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media  MLB also owns 67 percent of MLB Network, with the other 33 percent split between several cable operators and satellite provider DirecTV  It operates out of studios in Secaucus, New Jersey, and also has editorial independence from the league 

League organization
In 1920, the weak National Commission, which had been created to manage relationships between the two leagues, was replaced with the much more powerful Commissioner of Baseball, who had the power to make decisions for all of professional baseball unilaterally  From 1901 to 1960, the American and National Leagues fielded eight teams apiece 
In the 1960s, MLB expansion added eight teams, including the first non-U S  team (the Montreal Expos)  Two teams (the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto Blue Jays) were also added in the 1970s  From 1969 through 1993, each league consisted of an East and West Division  In 1993, the National League expanded with two teams, the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies, to even up the number of teams in both leagues  A third division, the Central Division, was formed in each league in 1994  Until 1996, the two leagues met on the field only during the World Series and the All-Star Game  Regular-season interleague play was introduced in 1997 In March 1995, two new franchises, the Arizona Diamondbacks and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (now known as the Tampa Bay Rays), were awarded by MLB, which began play in 1998  This addition brought the total number of franchises to 30  In early 1997, MLB decided to assign one new team to each league: Tampa Bay joined the AL and Arizona joined the NL  The original plan was to have an odd number of teams in each league (15 per league, with five in each division), but in order for every team to be able to play daily, this would have required interleague play to be scheduled throughout the entire season  However, it was unclear at the time if the interleague play would continue after the 1998 season, as it had to be approved by the players' union  For this and other reasons, it was decided that both leagues should continue to have an even number of teams, and therefore, one existing club would have to switch leagues  The Milwaukee Brewers agreed in November 1997 to move from the AL to the NL, thereby making the NL a 16-team league  At the same time, the Detroit Tigers agreed to move from the AL East to the AL Central (to replace Milwaukee), with the expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays joining the AL East  Later, when the Houston Astros changed ownership prior to the 2013 season, the team moved from the NL Central to the AL West, resulting in both leagues having three divisions of five teams each and allowing all teams to have a more balanced schedule  Interleague play is now held throughout the season In 2000, the AL and NL were dissolved as legal entities, and MLB became a single, overall league de jure, similar to the National Football League (NFL), National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL)—albeit with two components called "leagues" instead of "conferences"  The same rules and regulations are used in both leagues, with one former exception: the AL operated under the designated hitter (DH) rule, while the NL did not  This difference in rules between leagues was unique to MLB, as the other major professional sports leagues in the U S  and Canada have one set of rules for all teams In 2020, the National League (NL) used the designated hitter (DH) rule for the first time  As part of the settlement of the 2021–22 Major League Baseball lockout, this change was made permanent thus making the rules in the two leagues identical 

Teams
An asterisk (*) denotes a relocation of a franchise  See respective team articles for more information 

History
Founding
In the 1860s, aided by soldiers playing the game in camp during the Civil War, "New York"-style baseball expanded into a national game and spawned baseball's first governing body, the National Association of Base Ball Players (NABBP)  The NABBP existed as an amateur league for 12 years  By 1867, more than 400 clubs were members  Most of the strongest clubs remained those based in the Northeastern United States  For professional baseball's founding year, MLB uses the year 1869—when the first professional team, the Cincinnati Red Stockings, was established A schism developed between professional and amateur ballplayers after the founding of the Cincinnati club  The NABBP split into an amateur organization and a professional organization  The National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, often known as the National Association (NA), was formed in 1871  Its amateur counterpart disappeared after only a few years  The modern Chicago Cubs and Atlanta Braves franchises trace their histories back to the National Association of Professional Base Ball Players in the 1870s In 1876, the National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs (later known as the National League or NL) was established after the NA proved ineffective  The league placed its emphasis on clubs rather than on players  Clubs could now enforce player contracts, preventing players from jumping to higher-paying clubs  Clubs were required to play the full schedule of games instead of forfeiting scheduled games when the club was no longer in the running for the league championship, which happened frequently under the NA  A concerted effort was made to curb gambling on games, which was leaving the validity of results in doubt  The first game in the NL—on Saturday, April 22, 1876 (at Jefferson Street Grounds in Philadelphia)—is often pointed to as the beginning of MLB 

The early years of the NL were tumultuous, with threats from rival leagues and a rebellion by players against the hated "reserve clause", which restricted the free movement of players between clubs  Teams came and went; 1882 was the first season where the league's membership was the same as the preceding season's, and only four franchises survived to see 1900  Competitor leagues formed regularly and also disbanded regularly  The most successful was the American Association (1882–1891), sometimes called the "beer and whiskey league" for its tolerance of the sale of alcoholic beverages to spectators  For several years, the NL and American Association champions met in a postseason championship series—the first attempt at a World Series  The two leagues merged in 1892 as a single 12-team NL, but the NL dropped four teams after the 1899 season  This led to the formation of the American League in 1901 under AL president Ban Johnson, and the resulting bidding war for players led to widespread contract-breaking and legal disputes The war between the AL and NL caused shock waves throughout the baseball world  At a meeting at the Leland Hotel in Chicago in 1901, the other baseball leagues negotiated a plan to maintain their independence  A new National Association was formed to oversee these minor leagues After 1902, the NL, AL, and NA signed a new National Agreement which tied independent contracts to the reserve-clause contracts  The agreement also set up a formal classification system for minor leagues, the forerunner of today's system that was refined by Branch Rickey 

Other recognized leagues
Several other early defunct baseball leagues are officially considered major leagues, and their statistics and records are included with those of the two current major leagues  In 1969, the Special Baseball Records Committee of Major League Baseball officially recognized six major leagues: the National League, American League, American Association, Union Association (1884), Players' League (1890), and Federal League (1914–1915)  The status of the National Association as a major league has been a point of dispute among baseball researchers; while its statistics are not recognized by Major League Baseball, its statistics are included with those of other major leagues by some baseball reference websites, such as Retrosheet  Some researchers, including Nate Silver, dispute the major-league status of the Union Association by pointing out that franchises came and went and that the St  Louis club was deliberately "stacked"; the St  Louis club was owned by the league's president and it was the only club that was close to major-league caliber  In December 2020, Major League Baseball announced its recognition of seven leagues within Negro league baseball as major leagues, and in 2021, baseball reference website Baseball-Reference com began to include statistics from those seven leagues into their major-league statistics 

Dead-ball era
The period between 1900 and 1919 is commonly referred to as the "dead-ball era"  Games of this era tended to be low-scoring and were often dominated by pitchers, such as Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Mordecai Brown, and Grover Cleveland Alexander  The term also accurately describes the condition of the baseball itself  The baseball used American rather than the modern Australian wool yarn and was not wound as tightly, affecting the distance that it would travel  More significantly, balls were kept in play until they were mangled, soft and sometimes lopsided  During this era, a baseball cost three dollars, equal to $50 64 today (in inflation-adjusted USD), and owners were reluctant to purchase new balls  Fans were expected to throw back fouls and (rare) home runs  Baseballs also became stained with tobacco juice, grass, and mud, and sometimes the juice of licorice, which some players would chew for the purpose of discoloring the ball Also, pitchers could manipulate the ball through the use of the spitball  (In 1921 use of this pitch was restricted to a few pitchers with a grandfather clause ) Additionally, many ballparks had large dimensions, such as the West Side Grounds of the Chicago Cubs, which was 560 feet (170 m) to the center field fence, and the Huntington Avenue Grounds of the Boston Red Sox, which was 635 feet (194 m) to the center field fence, thus home runs were rare, and "small ball" tactics such as singles, bunts, stolen bases, and the hit-and-run play dominated the strategies of the time  Hitting methods like the Baltimore Chop were used to increase the number of infield singles  On a successful Baltimore chop, the batter hits the ball forcefully into the ground, causing it to bounce so high that the batter reaches first base before the ball can be fielded and thrown to the first baseman The adoption of the foul strike rule in the early twentieth century quickly sent baseball from a high-scoring game to one where scoring runs became a struggle  Prior to the institution of this rule, foul balls were not counted as strikes: a batter could foul off any number of pitches with no strikes counted against him; this gave an enormous advantage to the batter  In 1901, the NL adopted the foul strike rule, and the AL followed suit in 1903 After the 1919 World Series between the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds, baseball was rocked by allegations of a game fixing scheme known as the Black Sox Scandal  Eight players—"Shoeless" Joe Jackson, Eddie Cicotte, Claude "Lefty" Williams, George "Buck" Weaver, Arnold "Chick" Gandil, Fred McMullin, Charles "Swede" Risberg, and Oscar "Happy" Felsch—intentionally lost the World Series in exchange for a ring worth $100,000 ($1,712,780 35 in 2022 dollars)  Despite being acquitted, all were permanently banned from Major League Baseball 

Rise in popularity
Baseball's popularity increased in the 1920s and 1930s  The 1920 season was notable for the death of Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians  Chapman, who was struck in the head by a pitch and died a few hours later, became the only MLB player to die of an on-field injury, a tragedy which led directly to both leagues requiring the placing into play new, white baseballs whenever a ball became scuffed or dirty, helping bring the "dead-ball" era to an end  The following year, the New York Yankees made their first World Series appearance  By the end of the 1930s, the team had appeared in 11 World Series, winning eight of them  Yankees slugger Babe Ruth had set the single-season home run record in 1927, hitting 60 home runs; a few years earlier, Ruth had set the same record with 29 home runs Affected by the difficulties of the Great Depression, baseball's popularity had begun a downward turn in the early 1930s  By 1932, only two MLB teams turned a profit  Attendance had fallen, due at least in part to a 10% federal amusement tax added to baseball ticket prices  Baseball owners cut their rosters from 25 men to 23 men, and even the best players took pay cuts  Team executives were innovative in their attempts to survive, creating night games, broadcasting games live by radio, and rolling out promotions such as free admission for women  Throughout the period of the Great Depression, no MLB teams moved or folded 

World War II era
The onset of World War II created a significant shortage of professional baseball players, as more than 500 men left MLB teams to serve in the military  Many of them played on service baseball teams that entertained military personnel in the US or in the Pacific  MLB teams of this time largely consisted of young men, older players, and those with a military classification of 4F, indicating mental, physical, or moral unsuitability for service  Men like Pete Gray, a one-armed outfielder, got the chance to advance to the major leagues  However, MLB rosters did not include any black players through the end of the war  Black players, many of whom served in the war, were still restricted to playing Negro league baseball Wartime blackout restrictions, designed to keep outdoor lighting at low levels, caused another problem for baseball  These rules limited traveling and night games to the point that the 1942 season nearly had to be canceled  On January 14, 1942, MLB Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis wrote a letter to U S  President Franklin D  Roosevelt and pleaded for the continuation of baseball during the war in hopes for a start of a new major league season  President Roosevelt responded, "I honestly feel that it would be best for the country to keep baseball going  There will be fewer people unemployed and everybody will work longer hours and harder than ever before  And that means that they ought to have a chance for recreation and for taking their minds off their work even more than before "With the approval of President Roosevelt, spring training began in 1942 with few repercussions  The war interrupted the careers of stars including Stan Musial, Bob Feller, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio, but baseball clubs continued to field their teams 

Breaking the color barrier
Branch Rickey, president and general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, began making efforts to introduce a black baseball player to the previously all-white professional baseball leagues in the mid-1940s  He selected Jackie Robinson from a list of promising Negro league players  After obtaining a commitment from Robinson to "turn the other cheek" to any racial antagonism directed at him, Rickey agreed to sign him to a contract for $600 a month  In what was later referred to as "The Noble Experiment", Robinson was the first black baseball player in the International League since the 1880s, joining the Dodgers' farm club, the Montreal Royals, for the 1946 season The following year, the Dodgers called up Robinson to the major leagues  On April 15, 1947, Robinson made his major league debut at Ebbets Field before a crowd of 26,623 spectators, including more than 14,000 black patrons  Black baseball fans began flocking to see the Dodgers when they came to town, abandoning the Negro league teams that they had followed exclusively  Robinson's promotion met a generally positive, although mixed, reception among newspaper writers and white major league players  Manager Leo Durocher informed his team, "I don't care if he is yellow or black or has stripes like a fucking zebra  I'm his manager and I say he plays "After a strike threat by some players, NL President Ford Frick and Baseball Commissioner Happy Chandler let it be known that any striking players would be suspended  Robinson received significant encouragement from several major-league players, including Dodgers teammate Pee Wee Reese who said, "You can hate a man for many reasons  Color is not one of them " That year, Robinson won the inaugural Major League Baseball Rookie of the Year Award (separate NL and AL Rookie of the Year honors were not awarded until 1949) Less than three months later, Larry Doby became the first African-American to break the color barrier in the American League with the Cleveland Indians  The next year, a number of other black players entered the major leagues  Satchel Paige was signed by the Indians and the Dodgers added star catcher Roy Campanella and Don Newcombe, who was later the first winner of the Cy Young Award for his outstanding pitching 

Women in baseball
MLB banned the signing of women to contracts in 1952, but that ban was lifted in 1992  There have been no female MLB players 

Relocation and expansion
From 1903 to 1953, the major leagues consisted of two eight-team leagues whose 16 teams were located in ten cities, all in the northeastern and midwestern United States: New York City had three teams and Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and St  Louis each had two teams  St  Louis was the southernmost and westernmost city with a major league team  The longest possible road trip, from Boston to St  Louis, took about 24 hours by railroad  After a half-century of stability, starting in the 1950s, teams began to move out of cities with multiple teams into cities that had not had them before  In three consecutive years from 1953 to 1955, three teams moved to new cities: the Boston Braves became the Milwaukee Braves, the St  Louis Browns became the Baltimore Orioles, and the Philadelphia Athletics became the Kansas City Athletics 
The 1958 Major League Baseball season was perhaps the pivotal season in making Major League Baseball a nationwide league  Walter O'Malley, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers, moved his team to Los Angeles, marking the first major league franchise on the West Coast  Called "perhaps the most influential owner of baseball's early expansion era," O'Malley appeared on the cover of Time as a result of his efforts to move baseball to a more nationwide sport O'Malley was also influential in persuading the rival New York Giants to move west to become the San Francisco Giants  The Giants were already suffering from slumping attendance records at their aging ballpark, the Polo Grounds  Had the Dodgers moved out west alone, the St  Louis Cardinals—1,600 mi (2,575 km) away—would have been the closest NL team  The joint move made West Coast road trips economical for visiting teams  O'Malley invited San Francisco Mayor George Christopher to New York to meet with Giants owner Horace Stoneham  Stoneham was considering moving the Giants to Minnesota, but he was convinced to join O'Malley on the West Coast at the end of 1957  The meetings between Stoneham, Christopher and O'Malley occurred against the wishes of Ford Frick, the Commissioner of Baseball  The dual moves were successful for both franchises—and for MLB  The Dodgers set a single-game MLB attendance record in their first home appearance with 78,672 fans In 1961, the first Washington Senators franchise moved to Minneapolis–St  Paul to become the Minnesota Twins  Two new teams were added to the American League at the same time: the Los Angeles Angels (who soon moved from downtown L A  to nearby Anaheim) and a new Washington Senators franchise  The NL added the Houston Astros and the New York Mets in 1962  The Astros (known as the "Colt  45s" during their first three seasons) became the first southern major league franchise since the Louisville Colonels folded in 1899 and the first franchise to be located along the Gulf Coast  The Mets established a reputation for futility by going 40–120 during their first season of play in the nation's media capital—and by playing only a little better in subsequent campaigns—but in their eighth season (1969) the Mets became the first of the 1960s expansion teams to play in the postseason, culminating in a World Series title over the heavily favored Baltimore Orioles 
In 1966, the major leagues moved to the "Deep South" when the Braves moved to Atlanta  In 1968, the Kansas City Athletics moved west to become the Oakland Athletics  In 1969, the American and National Leagues both added two expansion franchises  The American League added the Seattle Pilots (who became the Milwaukee Brewers after one disastrous season in Seattle) and the Kansas City Royals  The NL added the first Canadian franchise, the Montreal Expos, as well as the San Diego Padres 
In 1972, the second Washington Senators moved to the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to become the Texas Rangers  In 1977, baseball expanded again, adding a second Canadian team, the Toronto Blue Jays, as well as the Seattle Mariners  Subsequently, no new teams were added until the 1990s and no teams moved until 2005 

Pitching dominance and rule changes
By the late 1960s, the balance between pitching and hitting had swung in favor of the pitchers  In 1968—later nicknamed "the year of the pitcher"—Boston Red Sox player Carl Yastrzemski won the American League batting title with an average of just  301, the lowest in the history of Major League Baseball  Detroit Tigers pitcher Denny McLain won 31 games, making him the only pitcher to win 30 games in a season since Dizzy Dean in 1934  St  Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Bob Gibson achieved an equally remarkable feat by allowing an ERA of just 1 12 Following these pitching performances, in December 1968 the MLB Playing Rules Committee voted to reduce the strike zone from knees to shoulders to top of knees to armpits and lower the pitcher's mound from 15 to 10 inches, beginning in the 1969 season In 1973, the American League, which had been suffering from much lower attendance than the National League, sought to increase scoring even further by initiating the designated hitter (DH) rule 

New stadiums and artificial surfaces
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, as baseball expanded, NFL football had been surging in popularity, making it economical for many of these cities to build multi-purpose stadiums instead of single-purpose baseball fields  Because of climate and economic issues, many of these facilities had playing surfaces made from artificial turf, as well as the oval designs characteristic of stadiums designed to house both baseball and football  This often resulted in baseball fields with relatively more foul territory than older stadiums  These characteristics changed the nature of professional baseball, putting a higher premium on speed and defense over home-run hitting power since the fields were often too big for teams to expect to hit many home runs and foul balls hit in the air could more easily be caught for outs Teams began to be built around pitching—particularly their bullpens—and speed on the basepaths  Artificial surfaces meant balls traveled quicker and bounced higher, so it became easier to hit ground balls "in the hole" between the corner and middle infielders  Starting pitchers were no longer expected to throw complete games; it was enough for a starter to pitch 6–7 innings and turn the game over to the team's closer, a position which grew in importance over these decades  As stolen bases increased, home run totals dropped  After Willie Mays hit 52 home runs in 1965, only one player (George Foster) reached that mark until the 1990s 

Scandals and a changing game
During the 1980s, baseball experienced a number of significant changes the game had not seen in years  Home runs were on the decline throughout the decade, with players hitting only 40 home runs just 13 times and no one hitting more than 50 home runs in a season for the first time since the Dead-ball era (1900–1919) The 1981 Major League Baseball strike from June 12 until July 31 forced the cancellation of 713 total games and resulted in a split-season format 
In 1985, Pete Rose broke Ty Cobb's all-time hits record with his 4,192nd hit, and in 1989 Rose received a lifetime ban from baseball as a result of betting on baseball games while manager of the Cincinnati Reds  Rose was the first person to receive a lifetime ban from baseball since 1943  1985 also saw the Pittsburgh drug trials which involved players who were called to testify before a grand jury in Pittsburgh related to cocaine trafficking 
The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike from August 12, 1994, to April 25, 1995, caused the cancellation of over 900 games and the forfeit of the entire 1994 postseason In 2019, Major League Baseball opened an investigation into allegations that members of the 2017 World Series champion Houston Astros stole signs from opposing teams using technology during the 2017 and 2018 seasons  The Astros were found guilty in January 2020 and while no active players faced any repercussions, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow and field manager A  J  Hinch were suspended for the entire 2020 season  The Astros were fined the maximum allowable $5 million and forfeited their first- and second-round picks in the 2020 and 2021 drafts 

Steroid era, further expansion and near contraction
Routinely in the late 1990s and early 2000s, baseball players hit 40 or 50 home runs in a season, a feat that was considered rare even in the 1980s  It has since become apparent that at least some of this power surge was a result of players using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs 
In 1993, the NL added the Florida Marlins in Miami and the Colorado Rockies in Denver  In 1998, the Brewers switched leagues by joining the National League, and two new teams were added: the NL's Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix and the AL's Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tampa Bay 
After the 2001 season, the team owners voted in favor of contraction  Several MLB teams had been considered for elimination in early talks about contraction, but the Montreal Expos and the Minnesota Twins were the two teams that came closest to folding under the plan  Plans for MLB contraction were halted when the Twins landlord was awarded a court injunction that required the team to play its 2002 home games at their stadium  MLB owners agreed to hold off on reducing the league's size until at least 2006 The Montreal Expos became the first franchise in over three decades to move when they became the Washington Nationals in 2005  This move left Canada with just one team, but it also returned baseball to Washington after a 33-year absence  This franchise shift, like many previous ones, involved baseball's return to a city that had been previously abandoned  Not counting the short-lived Federal League, Montreal is the only city to host an MLB franchise since 1901 that, as of December 2022, does not currently have a team 

The modern game
In recent years, with the advent of technologies such as Statcast and its use of Hawk-Eye starting in 2020 as well as with advanced statistics as provided by sites such as FanGraphs and Baseball Savant, MLB has evolved  With the ability to see precise movements of pitchers and batters, teams can assess the mechanics of a player and help them improve  Statcast also provides some features such as tracking the paths of most batted balls, tracking the speed of most batted balls, and tracking the exit velocity of most batted balls  Statcast has allowed for advanced defensive analytics that have not been possible before tracking of players due to how subjective fielding can be 
The rate of teams using a defensive shift has gone up from 13 7% in 2016 to 33 6% in 2022 because advanced statistics support this as an effective way to stop hitters from getting hits  Because the shift reduces the amount of balls in play that result in hits and MLB wishes to increase interest in baseball, MLB announced in September 2022 that extreme infield defensive shifts would be banned starting in 2023  In order to be compliant, there must be two fielders on each side of second base, and those fielders must have both of their feet on the infield dirt at the time the pitch is thrown  If this rule is not followed, the choice of an automatic ball or the outcome of the play is given to the batting team The game of baseball has also slowed down significantly due to an increased number of strikeouts and walks—two outcomes that generally take many pitches to complete—and an increased amount of time taken for a pitcher to pitch  In 2020, it took an average of three hours and six minutes to complete a 9 inning game, a number which has steadily ticked up for years  Along with the restrictions on defensive shifts, MLB announced the introduction of a pitch clock for the 2023 season and beyond, which is something that has been an experiment in MiLB for a few years  The pitch clock starts at 15 seconds  By the time the clock reaches 10 seconds, the catcher must be in their crouch behind home plate  When the clock reaches 8 seconds, the batter must be in the batter's box and be "alert"  Before the 15 second timer reaches 0 seconds, the pitcher must have started their "motion to pitch"  If any of these deadlines are violated, the count of the batter will be increased by one ball if the defending team violated the pitch clock or one strike if it is the offensive team who violated the pitch clock  Additionally, in order to prevent circumventing these rules pickoffs and step-offs which reset the pitch clock are only allowed two times total per plate appearance and, if a pitcher attempts a third pickoff and fails to get the runner out, a balk will be called  Similarly, a batter is restricted to calling a timeout (an action which resets the pitch clock) just once per plate appearance 

Uniforms
A baseball uniform is a type of uniform worn by baseball players, and by some non-playing personnel, such as field managers and coaches  It is worn to indicate the person's role in the game and—through the use of logos, colors, and numbers—to identify the teams and their players, managers, and coaches Traditionally, home uniforms display the team name on the front, while away uniforms display the team's home location  In modern times, however, exceptions to this pattern have become common, with teams using their team name on both uniforms  Most teams also have one or more alternate uniforms, usually consisting of the primary or secondary team color on the vest instead of the usual white or gray  In the past few decades throwback uniforms have become popular The New York Knickerbockers were the first baseball team to use uniforms, taking the field on April 4, 1849, in pants made of blue wool, white flannel shirts (jerseys) and straw hats  Caps and other types of headgear have been a part of baseball uniforms from the beginning  Baseball teams often wore full-brimmed straw hats or no cap at all since there was no official rule regarding headgear  Under the 1882 uniform rules, players on the same team wore uniforms of different colors and patterns that indicated which position they played  This rule was soon abandoned as impractical In the late 1880s, Detroit and Washington of the National League and Brooklyn of the American Association were the first to wear striped uniforms  By the end of the 19th century, teams began the practice of having two different uniforms, one for when they played at home in their own baseball stadium and a different one for when they played away (on the road) at the other team's ballpark  It became common to wear white pants with a white color vest at home and gray pants with a gray or solid (dark) colored vest when away  By 1900, both home and away uniforms were standard across the major leagues In June 2021, MLB announced a long-term deal with cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which includes the FTX logo appearing on umpire uniforms during all games  FTX is MLB's first-ever umpire uniform patch partner  On November 11, 2022, FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection 

Season structure
Spring training
Spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season  Teams hold training camps in the states of Arizona and Florida, where the early warm weather allows teams to practice and play without worrying about the late winter cold  Spring training allows new players to compete for roster and position spots and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play  The teams that hold spring training in Arizona are grouped into the Cactus League, while teams that hold camp in Florida are known as the Grapefruit League  Spring training has always attracted fan attention, drawing crowds who travel to the warmer climates to enjoy the weather and watch their favorite teams play, and spring training usually coincides with spring break for many college students  Autograph seekers also find greater access to players during spring training Spring training typically lasts almost two months, starting in mid-February and running until just before the season-opening day, traditionally the first week of April  As pitchers benefit from a longer training period, pitchers and catchers begin spring training several days before the rest of the team 

Regular season
Each team plays 162 games per season  A team's schedule is typically organized into three-game series, sets of consecutive games against the same opponent, with occasional two- or four-game series  Postponed games or continuations of suspended games can result in an ad hoc one-game or five-game series  All games of a series are usually hosted by the same team and multiple series are typically grouped together  I e, a team usually hosts several series in a row, called a homestand, and follows that by going on several road series in a row  Teams generally play games five to seven days per week  Most games are scheduled at night, although teams will often play day games on Opening Day, holidays, and for the last game of a series to allow teams extra time to travel to their next opponent  Sunday games are generally played during the afternoon, allowing teams to travel to their next destination prior to a Monday night game 
In the current three-division structure, each team plays 19 games against each of its four divisional opponents  It plays one home series and one away series, amounting to six or seven games, against the 10 other teams in its league  A team also plays one of the divisions in the other league, rotating each year, with two opponents in a three-game home series, two in a three-game away series, and one with four games split between home and away  Furthermore, each team has an interleague "natural rival" (in many cases its counterpart in the same metro area) with which it plays two home games and two away games each year 
With an odd number of teams in each league (15), it is necessary to have two teams participate in interleague play for most days in the season, except when two or more teams have a day off  Each team plays 20 interleague games throughout the season, usually with just one interleague game per day, but for one weekend in late May, all teams will participate in an interleague series  Before 2013, interleague play was structured differently: there would be one weekend in mid-May and another period consisting typically of the last two-thirds of June in which all teams played interleague games (save for two NL teams each day), and no interleague games were scheduled outside those dates  (Before 2013, season-long interleague play was not necessary, because each league had an even number of teams  In 2013, the Houston Astros moved to the American League, so that each league would have 15 teams ) Prior to the adoption of the universal designated hitter in 2022, whether the DH was in use depended on whether the home team was from the AL, where the DH was used, or the NL, where it was not 
Starting with the 2023 season, the scheduling formula is set to change, with each team playing at least one series against every other team every year  Each team will play 14 games against teams in the same division, with one 3-game and one 4-game series at each park, six games against teams within the same league but in other divisions, with one 3-game series at each park, and one 3-game series against teams in the other league, alternating home teams each year, except for each team's designated interleague rival, which will continue to consist of two 2-game series at each of the teams' home parks 
Beginning with the 2022 season, teams compete for the six playoff berths in their respective leagues  To secure a berth, a team must either win its division or capture a wild card spot by having one of the three best records among the non-winners in its entire league  With the adoption of a third wild card, the former practice of breaking ties with an additional regular-season game, known as  game 163, was dropped in favor of a tie-breaker formula 

All-Star Game
In early-to-mid July, just after the midway point of the season, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game is held during a four-day break from the regular-season schedule  The All-Star Game features a team of players from the American League (AL)—led by the manager of the previous AL World Series team—and a team of players from the National League (NL), similarly managed, in an exhibition game  From 1959 to 1962, two games were held each season, one was held in July and one was held in August  The designated-hitter rule was used in the All-Star Game for the first time in 1989  Following games used a DH when the game was played in an AL ballpark  Since 2010, the DH rule has been in effect regardless of venue The first official All-Star Game was held as part of the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois, and was the idea of Arch Ward, then sports editor for The Chicago Tribune  Initially intended to be a one-time event, its great success resulted in making the game an annual one  Ward's contribution was recognized by Major League Baseball in 1962 with the creation of the "Arch Ward Trophy", given to the All-Star Game's Most Valuable Player each year  (In 1970, it was renamed the Commissioner's Trophy, until 1985, when the name change was reversed  In 2002, it was renamed the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award )Beginning in 1947, the eight position players in each team's starting lineup have been voted into the game by fans  The fan voting was discontinued after a 1957 ballot-box-stuffing scandal in Cincinnati: seven of the eight slots originally went to Reds players, two of whom were subsequently removed from the lineup to make room for Willie Mays and Hank Aaron  Fan voting was reinstated in 1970 and has continued ever since, including Internet voting in recent years The 2002 contest in Milwaukee controversially ended in an 11-inning tie when both managers ran out of pitchers  In response, starting in 2003 the league which wins the All-Star game received home-field advantage in the World Series: the league champion hosted the first two games at its own ballpark as well as the last two (if necessary)  The National League did not win an All-Star game and thus gain a home-field advantage until 2010; it was able to overcome this disadvantage and win in three of the seven World Series from 2003 to 2009  This was discontinued after the 2016 season MLB All-Stars from both leagues have worn uniforms from their respective teams at the game with one exception  In the 1933 All-Star Game, the National League All-Star Team members wore special gray uniforms with "National League" written in navy blue letters across the front of the jersey On July 3, 2020, it was announced that the 2020 Major League Baseball All-Star Game scheduled to be held in Los Angeles would not be played due to the COVID-19 pandemic  As compensation, Los Angeles was awarded the next available All-Star Game in 2022 

Postseason
The regular season ends after the first Sunday in October (or the last Sunday in September), after which twelve teams enter the postseason playoffs  These twelve teams consist of the six division champions and six "wild-card" teams: the team with the best overall win–loss record in each of the six divisions, and the three teams in each league with the best records other than the division champions  Four rounds of series of games are played to determine the champion:
Wild Card Series, a best of three games playoff between the lowest seeded division champion and three "wild-card teams", the higher seeds will host all three games
American League Division Series and National League Division Series, each a best-of-five-games series 
American League Championship Series and National League Championship Series, each a best-of-seven-games series played between the winning teams from the Division Series  The league champions are referred to as the pennant winners 
World Series, a best-of-seven-games series played between the pennant winners of each league Within each league, the division winners are the No  1, No  2, and No  3 seeds, based on win–loss records  The team with the best record among non-division winners will be the first wildcard and the No  4 seed  The team with the second-best record among non-division winners will be the second wildcard and the No  5 seed  The team with the third-best record will the third wild card and the No 6  seed  In the wildcard round, the No  3 seed will host the No 6 seed and the No  4 seed with host the No 5 seed with the higher team host all three games in the Wild Card Series   For the division series, the matchup will be the No  1 seed against the  winner of the No 3 and  No 6 seed and the No  2 seed against the winner of  No 4 and No 5 seed, unlike the NFL there will be no reseeding   Since 2017, home-field advantage in the World Series is determined by regular-season records of the two league champions, replacing a system used for the prior 14 seasons where the champion of the league that won the All-Star Game would receive home-field advantage Because each postseason series is split between the home fields of the two teams, the home-field advantage does not usually play a large role in the postseason unless the series goes to its maximum number of games, giving one team an additional game at home  However, the first two games of a postseason series are hosted by the same team  That team may have an increased chance of starting the series with two wins, thereby gaining some momentum for the rest of the series 

International play
Since 1986 an All-Star team from MLB is sent to a biennial end-of-the-season tour of Japan, dubbed as MLB Japan All-Star Series, playing exhibition games in a best-of format against the All-Stars from Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) or recently as of 2014 their national team Samurai Japan 
In 2008, MLB played the MLB China Series in the People's Republic of China  It was a series of two spring-training games between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers  The games were an effort to popularize baseball in China MLB played the MLB Taiwan All-Star Series in Taiwan in November 2011  It was a series of five exhibition games played by a team made up of MLB players called the MLB All-Stars and the Chinese Taipei national baseball team  The MLB All-Stars swept the series, five games to zero  At the end of the 2011 season, it was announced that the Seattle Mariners and the Oakland Athletics would play their season openers in Japan  In October 2013, Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune wrote that MLB was considering postseason all-star tours in Taiwan and Korea; baseball is increasing in popularity in both countries The Arizona Diamondbacks opened the 2014 season against Los Angeles Dodgers on March 22–23 in Australia  The teams played each other at the historic Sydney Cricket Ground, which has a seating capacity of 46,000  The two games represented the first MLB regular-season play held in that country  The games counted as home games for the Diamondbacks, so they played 79 home games at Chase Field In 2019, the Red Sox were the home team in a regular-season two-game series against the Yankees  The games, which were the first regular-season MLB games held in Europe, were played on June 29–30 at London Stadium with the Yankees winning both games Together with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB sponsors the World Baseball Classic, an international baseball tournament contested by national teams 

Performance-enhancing drugs
In 1998, both Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa hit more home runs than the record of 61 set by Yankees right fielder Roger Maris in 1961  Barry Bonds topped the record in 2001 with 73 home runs  McGwire, Bonds, and Sosa became the subjects of speculation regarding the use of performance-enhancing substances  McGwire later admitted that he used a steroid hormone that was still legal in baseball during the 1998 season  Baseball's original steroid testing policy, in effect from 2002 to 2005, provided for penalties ranging from a ten-game suspension for a first positive test to a one-year suspension for a fourth positive test  Players were tested at least once per year, with the chance that several players could be tested many times per year A 2006 book, Game of Shadows by San Francisco Chronicle investigative reporters Lance Williams and Mark Fainaru-Wada, chronicled alleged extensive use of performance enhancers, including several types of steroids and growth hormone by baseball superstars Barry Bonds, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Giambi  Former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell was appointed by Selig on March 30, 2006 to investigate the use of performance-enhancing drugs in MLB  The appointment was made after several influential members of the U S  Congress made negative comments about both the effectiveness and honesty of MLB's drug policies and Commissioner Selig The day before the Mitchell Report was to be released in 2007, Selig said, "I haven't seen the report yet, but I'm proud I did it " The report said that after mandatory random testing began in 2004, HGH treatment for athletic enhancement became popular among players, as HGH is not detectable in tests  It pointed out that HGH is likely a placebo with no performance-enhancing effects  The report included substance use allegations against at least one player from each MLB team According to ESPN, some people questioned whether Mitchell's director role with the Boston Red Sox created a conflict of interest, especially because no "prime [Sox] players were in the report " The report named several prominent Yankees who were parts of World Series clubs; there is a long-running and fierce Yankees–Red Sox rivalry  Former U S  prosecutor John M  Dowd brought up Mitchell's conflict of interest, but he later said that the former senator had done a good job  Mitchell acknowledged that his "tight relationship with Major League Baseball left him open to criticism", but he said that readers who examine the report closely "will not find any evidence of bias, of special treatment of the Red Sox" On January 10, 2013, MLB and the players union reached an agreement to add random, in-season HGH testing  They also agreed to implement a new test to reveal the use of testosterone for the 2013 season  The current MLB drug policy provides for an 80-game suspension for a first positive test, a 162-game suspension for a second positive test, and a lifetime suspension for a third positive test  In 2009, allegations surfaced against Alex Rodriguez and David Ortiz, and Manny Ramirez received a 50-game suspension after testing positive for banned substances  In early April 2011, Ramirez retired from baseball rather than face a 100-game suspension for his second positive steroid test  He would later unretire, having the suspension dropped to 50 games, and would serve those in 2012 

Media coverage
Television
Several networks televise baseball games, including Fox, ESPN, TBS, and MLB Network  Since 2008, Fox Sports has broadcast MLB games on Fox Saturday Baseball throughout the entire season; Fox previously only broadcast games from May to September  Fox also holds rights to the All-Star Game each season  Fox also alternates League Championship Series broadcasts, broadcasting the American League Championship Series (ALCS) in odd-numbered years and the National League Championship Series (NLCS) in even-numbered years  Fox broadcasts all games of the World Series  ESPN continues to broadcast MLB games as well, beginning with national Opening Day coverage  ESPN broadcasts Sunday Night Baseball and Baseball Tonight  ESPN also has rights to the Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game each July TBS has aired Sunday afternoon regular season games (non-exclusive) nationally, but beginning in 2022 this will be replaced by Tuesday night games  In 2007, TBS began its exclusive rights to any tiebreaker games that determine division or wild card champions  It also airs exclusive coverage of the Division Series round of the playoffs  TBS carries the League Championship Series that are not included under Fox's television agreement; TBS shows the NLCS in odd-numbered years and the ALCS in even-numbered years In January 2009, MLB launched the MLB Network, featuring news and coverage from around the league, and airing 26 live games in the 2009 season  Each team also has local broadcasts for all games not carried by Fox on Saturdays or ESPN on Sunday nights  These games are typically split between a local broadcast television station and a local or regional sports network (RSN), though some teams only air local games through RSNs or through their own team networks  As Canada only contains one team, Sportsnet broadcasts Toronto Blue Jays games nationally  The channel is owned by Rogers Communications, who is also the parent company of the Blue Jays  Sportsnet also televises Fox's Saturday afternoon games, the All-Star Game, playoff games, and the World Series  In April 2011, TSN2 began carrying ESPN Sunday Night Baseball in Canada  TVA Sports airs Blue Jays games in French Several MLB games are broadcast exclusively on Internet television  After a year of exclusive games on Facebook, MLB partnered with YouTube to stream weekly games on the service beginning in the 2019 season, and extending until 2022  In 2022, MLB made a deal with Apple Inc  to launch Friday Night Baseball on its Apple TV+ streaming service, and NBC Sports to broadcast MLB Sunday Leadoff, a package of early Sunday afternoon games on Peacock 

Blackout policy
MLB has several blackout rules  A local broadcaster has priority to televise games of the team in their market over national broadcasters if the game is not exclusive to the national broadcaster  A market that has a local team playing in a non-exclusive game will receive an alternative programming feed on the national broadcaster  MLB's streaming internet video service is also subject to the same blackout rules 

Radio and Internet
ESPN Radio holds national broadcast rights and broadcasts Sunday Night Baseball weekly throughout the season in addition to all playoff games  The rights to the World Series are exclusive to ESPN  In 2021, TUDN Radio picked up Spanish-language rights to MLB games, starting with that year's postseason In addition, each team employs its own announcers, who broadcast during the regular season  Most teams operate regional networks to cover their fan bases; some of these supposedly regional networks (such as the New York Yankees Radio Network) have a national reach with affiliates located across the United States  Major League Baseball has an exclusive rights deal with XM Satellite Radio, which includes the channel MLB Network Radio and live play-by-play of all games  Many teams also maintain a network of stations that broadcast their games in Spanish; as of 2022, the Los Angeles Dodgers are the only team that produces radio broadcasts in a third language, with selected games broadcast in Korean  Both Canadian teams (the Montreal Expos before their move to Washington, DC in 2005, and the Toronto Blue Jays) have produced radio broadcasts in French MLB games are also broadcast live on the internet  All television and radio broadcasts of games are available via subscription to MLB tv at Major League Baseball's website, MLB com, and radio-only broadcasts are also available via subscription to MLB com Gameday Audio  Radio station affiliates are officially forbidden from streaming games through their Internet feeds  Blackout rules are still applied for live television broadcasts, but not radio broadcasts 

International broadcasting
ESPN Deportes televises many MLB games in Spanish throughout Latin America  Wapa 2 airs games in Puerto Rico, including spring training games and most of the World Baseball Classic games involving the team from Puerto Rico  In Brazil, ESPN Brasil has exclusive rights on TV (ESPN and ESPN2) and Internet (WatchESPN) Five in the United Kingdom previously screened MLB games, including the All-Star Game and the postseason games, on Sunday and Wednesday usually starting at 1 a m  BST  Most recently, Johnny Gould and Josh Chetwynd presented MLB on Five on that station  The channel covered baseball beginning on its opening night in 1997, but for financial reasons, the decision was made not to pick up MLB for the 2009 season  BT Sport ESPN show live and recorded games several times a week—it is available with BT Sport and (on a subscriber-basis) Virgin Media in the UK  ESPN America televised many games in the UK and dozens of other countries; in May 2013, ESPN announced that it would shut down the channel on July 31, 2013 In Australia, MLB games are regularly shown on ESPN Australia (subscription) In the Middle East, North Africa and France, MLB games are broadcast on beIN Sports channels In Germany MLB games will be broadcast from 2022 exclusively on Sport1 until 2026 In Hungary, MLB games are broadcast on Sport1 as of 2020 

See also
Passage 11:
Prince Abdul Aziz bin Musa'ed Stadium
Prince Abdul Aziz bin Musa'ed Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Ha'il, Saudi Arabia   It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Al-Ta'ee   The stadium has a capacity of 12,250 people 
Passage 12:
Pohang Baseball Stadium
Pohang Baseball Stadium is a baseball stadium in Pohang, South Korea  The stadium is currently being used as a second home of the KBO League team Samsung Lions 
Passage 13:
30 June Stadium
The 30 June Stadium is a stadium used mostly for football matches and also sometimes for athletics located in Cairo  It was built by the Egyptian Air Defense Forces  The stadium is the main venue of the Air Defense Sport Village  The stadium has a capacity of 30,000 and it is one of the venues of the Egyptian Premier League  It is the  home ground of the Egyptian Premier League side Pyramids F C 
In March 2019 it was announced that the stadium will host all bar one of the fixtures of Group C in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, as well as one Group A and Group D match and one match each in the round of 16, the quarter-finals, and the semi-finals 

Accidents
Twenty-eight football fans died on 8 February 2015 in a confrontation with the police at the gates of Egyptian stadium during a league match between two Cairo clubs, Zamalek SC and ENPPI  Most of the dead were crushed to death and suffocated when the crowd stampeded after police used tear gas to clear the fans trying to force their way into the stadium  Egypt's hardcore fans are notorious for violent behavior at matches, and Egypt has designated some as terrorist groups 

2019 Africa Cup of Nations
The stadium is one of the venues for the 2019  Africa Cup of Nations 
The following games were played at the stadium during the 2019  Africa Cup of Nations:
Context 3: Passage 1:
Sinead Farrelly
Sinead Louise Farrelly (born 16 November 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for NWSL team NJ/NY Gotham FC and the Republic of Ireland women's national team  Born and raised in the United States to an Irish father, she initially represented the country of birth at the youth international level before switching to represent the Republic of Ireland senior national team in 2023  She previously played for Boston Breakers of the National Women's Soccer League  In 2011, she played for the Philadelphia Independence of the WPS and was a member of the United States women's national under-23 team  She was selected by the Philadelphia Independence as the No  2 overall pick in the 2011 WPS Draft from University of Virginia  She was a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist in 2009 And 2010 

Early life
Born and raised in Havertown, Pennsylvania, Farrelly began playing soccer at the age of five  She attended Haverford High School where she was a four-time team MVP and earned First Team All All-Southeastern PA honors  She was named a 2006 NSCAA Youth All-American and ranked seventh as the nation's top recruit by SoccerBuzz 
Farrelly was a member of the Spirit United Gaels club that was the 2006 National Runner-Up and was played for the Region I Olympic Development Program (ODP) team  During her time with the Spirit United Gaels, the team was a US Youth Soccer National Finalist (2006), a USYS Regional Champions (2006), and a Two-Time State Champions (2005 & 2006  Her team's incredible run in 2006, although cut short by a loss to FC Wisconsin Eclipse in the National Championship in Des Moines, Iowa, won their head coach, Sean McCafferty, the 2006 EPYSA Girls' Coach of the Year Award and 2006 NSCAA Regional Youth Girls' Coach of the Year Award  The Gaels made it through to Regionals the next year on a wildcard after a tough loss to the FC Pennsylvania Strikers in the State Cup Final  Their Regionals drive did not finish as they would have aspired to, as they did not even make the final this year 

University of Virginia
Farrelly attended the University of Virginia and played for the Cavaliers in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC)  As a freshman in 2007, she started all 23 games and ranked third on the team with five goals (including three game-winners) and four assists  She was named First Team All-ACC, Second Team NSCAA All-Mid-Atlantic, and Top Drawer Soccer Co-National Rookie of the Year  During her sophomore season, she started all 23 games and ranked third on the team in scoring with five goals and three assists  She was named to the ACC All-Tournament Team, First Team All-ACC, and NSCAA and Soccer Buzz All Mid-Atlantic Region  As a junior, she started all 22 games and led the Cavaliers in scoring with eight goals and eight assists for a total of 24 points  She was named Second Team NSCAA All-America selection and was a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist  During her senior year, Farrelly was honored as the University of Virginia's top female athlete of 2010–11 after starting all 22 games and leading the Cavaliers with 12 goals and seven assists (for a total of 31 points)  She was named ACC Offensive Player of the Year and was a NSCAA First Team All-American  She earned her fourth straight All-ACC selection and was a MAC Hermann Trophy semifinalist for the second time Farrelly's 90 games started ranks her second to future FC Kansas City teammate, Becky Sauerbrunn in the school's history  She ranked eighth in school history with 84 points scored in her career and eighth for most in a season with 31 

Club career
Philadelphia Independence, 2011
Farrelly was the number two pick in the 2011 WPS Draft by the Philadelphia Independence  She tallied one goal and two assists for the Independence while starting in 13 of 14 games played (1101 minutes)  Her first WPS career goal occurred during a match against Western New York, which ended up being the game-winning goal and solidified a first place standing for the Independence in mid-July  The Independence would later come in second at the WPS Championship 

New York Fury, 2012
After the WPS suspended operations in early 2012, Farrelly signed with the New York Fury in the WPSL Elite 

Apollon Limassol, 2012–2013
Farrelly played for Apollon Limassol from 2012 to 2013 in the UEFA Women's Champions League  She made five starts in five games for the club and scored six goals  During this time  Farrelly broke her arm in their first leg of their first game of the Knockout Stage against ASD Torres CF 

FC Kansas City, 2013
In 2013, Farrelly signed with FC Kansas City for the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League  She scored her first goal for the club in a home match against Seattle Reign FC, helping the Blues notch their first win for the season 

Apollon Limassol, 2013–2014
At the end of the 2013 NWSL season, Farrelly joined Cypriot team Apollon Limassol for a second time, this time on loan from FC Kansas City  The loan spell will end on January 31, 2014 

Portland Thorns FC, 2014–2015
On January 13, 2014, Portland Thorns FC announced that they had obtained Farrelly from FC Kansas City in exchange for a second-round draft pick (16th pick overall) in the 2014 NWSL College Draft 

Boston Breakers, 2016
On October 26, 2015, Boston Breakers announced that they had obtained Farrelly from Portland Thorns FC in a package deal along with McCall Zerboni for first-round (No  2 overall) and second-round (No  20 overall) picks in the 2016 National Women's Soccer League College Draft  Farrelly sat the season out due to neck and back injuries sustained from a car crash In October 2016, Seattle Reign FC selected Farrelly off the NWSL Re-Entry Wire after the Breakers waived her at the end of the 2016 season  However, Farrelly announced her retirement on Facebook on December 2, 2016 

NJ/NY Gotham FC, 2023–
On 25 March 2023, over six years after her retirement from professional soccer, Farrelly signed for NJ/NY Gotham FC on a one-year contract with an option for 2024  She debuted with Gotham FC on 1 April 2023, as a 70th-minute substitute against OL Reign 

International career
Farrelly has represented the United States at the U-15, U-16, U-17, U-20, and U-23 levels In April 2023, Farrelly was called up to the Republic of Ireland national team for the first time  She earned her first senior international cap with Ireland on 8 April 2023, by starting and playing 60 minutes in a friendly against the United States senior team  In June 2023, Ireland called Farrelly up to its squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup 

International appearances
Personal life
During her career, Farrelly was closely connected to former women's soccer coach Paul Riley, playing for three of his teams in three different leagues  She publicly revealed accusations of sexual coercion against Riley for a 2021 story in The Athletic  Riley was fired from his position and both the NWSL and FIFA commenced investigations in the coming days 
Passage 2:
A League of Their Own
A League of Their Own is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL)  It stars Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Lori Petty, Rosie O'Donnell, Jon Lovitz, David Strathairn, Garry Marshall and Bill Pullman  It was written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel from a story by Kelly Candaele and Kim Wilson 
A League of Their Own was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $132 4 million worldwide and garnering acclaim for Marshall's direction and the performances of its ensemble cast  In 2012, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" 

Plot
In 1988, Dottie Hinson attends the opening of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame  She sees many former teammates and friends, prompting a flashback to 1943 
When World War II threatens to shut down Major League Baseball, Chicago Cubs owner Walter Harvey persuades his fellow owners to bankroll a women's league  Ira Lowenstein is put in charge  Scout Ernie Capadino attends an industrial-league softball game in Oregon and likes what he sees in Dottie, the catcher for a local dairy  She is not interested; she is happy with her life while waiting for her husband Bob to return from the war  Her younger sister Kit Keller, however, is desperate to get away and make something of herself  Capadino is unimpressed by Kit's batting and refuses to watch her pitch, but agrees to take her along if she changes Dottie's mind  Dottie agrees for her sister's sake 
Dottie and Kit travel to Harvey Field in Chicago for the tryout  They meet taxi dancer Mae "All the Way Mae" Mordabito and her best friend, bouncer Doris Murphy, soft-spoken right fielder Evelyn Gardner, illiterate left fielder Shirley Baker, pitcher/shortstop and former Miss Georgia beauty queen Ellen Sue Gotlander, left field/relief pitcher Betty "Spaghetti" Horn, second baseman Marla Hooch, first baseman Helen Haley, and Alice "Skeeter" Gaspers  They and five others constitute the Rockford Peaches, while 48 others make up the Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets, and South Bend Blue Sox 
The Peaches are managed by former star Cubs slugger Jimmy Dugan, a cynical alcoholic  He initially treats the whole thing as a joke, forcing Dottie to take over as on-field leader initially  Dugan is also abrasive toward his players  The team travels with Evelyn's spoiled bratty son Stillwell and tightly wound team chaperone Miss Cuthburt  With a Life magazine photographer in the stands, Lowenstein begs the players to do something spectacular, as the league has attracted little attention  Dottie obliges, catching a popped-up ball behind home plate while doing a split  The resulting photograph makes the magazine cover  A publicity campaign draws more people to the ballgames, but the owners remain unconvinced 
The teammates bond  Marla marries a man named Nelson whom she met on a raucous roadhouse outing and leaves the team for the rest of the season, Mae teaches Shirley to read, and Evelyn writes a team song  Lowenstein makes Dottie the face of the league, making Kit resentful  Their sibling rivalry intensifies, resulting in Kit's trade to the Racine Belles 
The Peaches end the season with the league's best record, qualifying for the World Series  Jimmy gives Betty a telegram informing her that her husband was killed in action in the Pacific Theater  Grief-stricken, she leaves the team  That evening, Dottie receives a surprise when Bob shows up, having been wounded and discharged from the Army  Jimmy discovers that Dottie is going home with Bob  Unable to persuade her to play in the World Series, he tells her she will regret her decision 
The Peaches face the Belles in the World Series, which goes the full seven games  Dottie rejoins the Peaches for the seventh game, while Kit is the starting pitcher for the Belles  With the Belles leading by a run in the top of the ninth, Dottie drives in the go-ahead run  Kit is distraught, but gets a second chance when she comes to bat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth  She gets a hit and, ignoring the third base coach's sign to stop, scores the winning run by knocking her sister over at the plate and dislodging the ball from Dottie's hand 
The sellout crowd convinces Harvey to give Lowenstein the owners' support  After the game, the sisters reconcile before Dottie leaves with Bob 
In the present, Dottie is reunited with the other players, including Kit, Capadino and Lowenstein  The surviving Peaches sing Evelyn's team song and pose for a photo  During the closing credits, they play baseball at Doubleday Field 

Cast
Rockford Peaches
Others
Production
Development
Director Penny Marshall was inspired by the 1987 TV documentary A League of their Own, about the AAGPBL  She had never heard of the league, and contacted the film's creators, Kelly Candaele and Kim Wilson, to collaborate with the scriptwriters, Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz, on producing a screenplay for 20th Century Fox  Fox eventually passed on the script and Marshall signed with Sony Pictures, who were eager to produce it 

Casting
On MLB Network's Costas at the Movies in 2013, director Penny Marshall talked about her initial interest in Demi Moore for the part of Dottie Hinson: "Demi Moore, I liked, but by the time we came around, she was pregnant " Debra Winger was then cast as Dottie and spent three months training with the Chicago Cubs in preparation  However, she dropped out of the production four weeks before the start of principal photography, later saying that the casting of Madonna was the reason for her decision  Marshall chose Geena Davis to replace Winger USC assistant baseball coach Bill Hughes was the film’s technical adviser and put the film’s ensemble cast through baseball camp three months before filming 

Filming
Principal photography began July 10, 1991  Filming the game scenes involved many physical mishaps: Anne Ramsay (Helen Haley) broke her nose with a baseball mitt while trying to catch a ball, and the large bruise seen on actress Renée Coleman's thigh was real 
Discussing the skirts they wore playing in the film, Geena Davis said on MLB Network's Costas at the Movies in 2013, "Some of our real cast, from sliding into home, had ripped the skin off their legs  It was nutty " In a 2021 interview, Petty claimed to have broken her foot during filming, but reiterated her enjoyment of the shoot and the understanding of the film's importance at the time The tryout scene, at a fictional Major League Baseball stadium in Chicago called Harvey Field, was filmed at the Chicago Cubs' home stadium, Wrigley Field  The Rockford Peaches' home games were filmed at League Stadium in Huntingburg, Indiana, and the championship game against Racine was filmed at Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana  Additional games were filmed at Jay Littleton Ball Park in Ontario, California  The final week of shooting was during late October 1991 in Cooperstown, New York, where 65 original AAGPBL members appeared in scenes recreating the induction of the league into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988  Due to the length of the schedule, the cast entertained themselves by putting on an elaborate amateur production, "Jesus Christ Superstar Goes Hawaiian "

Soundtrack
A League of Their Own soundtrack was released on CD and cassette tape by Columbia Records on June 30, 1992  The album peaked at #159 on the US Billboard 200 albums chart on July 25, 1992  Although Madonna contributed "This Used to Be My Playground" to the film, featured over the closing credits, her recording was not included on the soundtrack album for contractual reasons 

Reception
Box office
A League of Their Own was released on July 1, 1992, and grossed $13 2 million in its first weekend, finishing second at the box office behind Batman Returns  In its second weekend it dropped just 15%, making $11 5 million and finishing first  It ended up a commercial success, making $107 5 million in the United States and Canada, but only $24 9 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $132 4 million against a production budget of $40 million 

Critical response
The film was well received by critics, who praised the cast 
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 81% based on 79 reviews, with an average score of 7/10  The website's critical consensus reads: "Sentimental and light, but still thoroughly charming, A League of Their Own is buoyed by solid performances from a wonderful cast " On Metacritic, the film received a weighted average score of 69 based 21 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews"  Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote: "Though big of budget, A League of Their Own is one of the year's most cheerful, most relaxed, most easily enjoyable comedies  It's a serious film that's lighter than air, a very funny movie that manages to score a few points for feminism in passing " Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it 3 out of 4 stars and wrote: "The movie has a real bittersweet charm  The baseball sequences, we've seen before  What's fresh are the personalities of the players, the gradual unfolding of their coach and the way this early chapter of women's liberation fit into the hidebound traditions of professional baseball "

Accolades
On December 19, 2012, it was announced that A League of Their Own would be preserved in the United States National Film Registry Jimmy Dugan's (Tom Hanks) remark to Evelyn Gardner (Bitty Schram), "There's no crying in baseball!", was ranked 54th on the American Film Institute's 2005 list AFI's 100 Years   100 Movie Quotes 

20th anniversary Blu-ray edition
A League of Their Own was released as a 20th Anniversary Edition Blu-ray on October 16, 2012 47 former AAGPBL players reunited in New York to celebrate the film and the real women who inspired it  Events included a trip to Cooperstown for a special program at the National Baseball Hall of Fame, reminiscent of the film's final scene depicting AAGPBL players and family meeting to honor the Women's Professional Baseball League  The reunion wrapped up with a game of softball held at Alliance Bank Stadium in nearby Syracuse Former players also made an appearance at Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana on June 6, 2012, where many of the film's game scenes were filmed  Bosse Field still retains many of the Racine Belles themes from the movie  The event included an outdoor screening of the film, and a display of cars featured in the film  In addition to Bosse Field, the production used Huntingburg, Indiana's League Stadium, another Southwestern Indiana field older than Bosse, that was renovated for it 

Spinoffs
A short-lived series of the same title based on the film aired on CBS in April 1993, with Garry Marshall, Megan Cavanagh, Tracy Reiner, Freddie Simpson, and Jon Lovitz reprising their roles  Carey Lowell took over Geena Davis's role  Only five of the six episodes made were broadcast 
On August 6, 2020, Amazon Video ordered a reboot series with the same title as the movie  The series debuted on August 12, 2022 on  Amazon  On March 14, 2023 it was announced that the rebooted series would end with a four-episode second season bringing the total number of episodes of the series to twelve after having aired eight episodes in its first season 

See also
Women in baseball
List of baseball films
Passage 3:
Thelma & Louise
Thelma & Louise is a 1991 American film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Callie Khouri  The film has elements of multiple genres and has been described as a drama, adventure or road movie with elements of a romantic comedy  It stars Susan Sarandon as Louise and Geena Davis as Thelma, two friends who embark on a road trip that ends up in unforeseen circumstances  Filming took place in California and Utah from June to August 1990  The supporting cast include Harvey Keitel, Michael Madsen, Christopher McDonald, and Brad Pitt in one of his first major film roles  
The film was a critical and commercial success, receiving six Academy Award nominations and winning for Best Original Screenplay  Scott was nominated for Best Director, and both Sarandon and Davis were nominated for Best Actress  To date, this is the most recent film to have two actors nominated in the same category for either Best Actor or Best Actress  It influenced other films and artistic works and became a landmark of feminist film 
In 2016, the United States Library of Congress selected the film for preservation in the National Film Registry, finding it "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" 

Plot
Best friends Thelma Dickinson and Louise Sawyer set out for a weekend vacation at a fishing cabin in the mountains to take a break from their dreary lives in Arkansas  Thelma, a housewife, is married to disrespectful and controlling carpet salesman Darryl, while sharp-tongued Louise works as a waitress in a diner and is dating easygoing musician Jimmy, who is on the road most of the time 
On the way, they stop at a roadhouse bar, where Thelma dances with a flirtatious stranger, Harlan  He takes her to the parking lot and tries to rape her until Louise intervenes and threatens to shoot him  As the women walk away, Harlan yells vulgarities at them, so Louise shoots him in a fit of rage 
At a motel they discuss how to handle the situation  Thelma wants to go to the police, but Louise fears that no one will believe a claim of attempted rape as Thelma was drinking and dancing with Harlan and also having no evidence of the rape, and they will be charged with murder  They decide to flee to Mexico, but Louise demands they travel there without going through Texas, as something happened to her there several years earlier which she refuses to reveal  Heading west, they come across an attractive young drifter, J D , to whom Thelma takes a liking  Louise contacts Jimmy, asking him to wire her life savings to her  He surprises her by delivering the money in person, and they spend the night together  Jimmy proposes to Louise, but she refuses  Thelma invites J D  to her room, and they sleep together  She learns he is a convicted armed-robber who has violated the terms of his parole 
The following morning, they discover J D  has stolen Louise's life savings and fled  Louise is distraught, so a guilty Thelma takes charge and later robs a nearby convenience store using tactics she learned from J D   Meanwhile, the FBI closes in on them after witnesses at the bar identify Louise's 1966 Ford Thunderbird convertible  Their whereabouts are also questioned by the owner of the fishing cabin after they failed to arrive 
Arkansas State Police Investigator Hal Slocumb, leading the investigation, questions both J D  (who was caught) and Jimmy, and taps into the phone line at Darryl's house  He sympathizes with the pair's situation and understands why they did not report Harlan's killing (partly due to Louise's own experience in Texas)  During a few brief phone conversations with Louise, Hal expresses his sympathy but is unsuccessful in persuading her to surrender 
Thelma tells Louise she understands if she wants to go back home, knowing she has Jimmy waiting for her, but explains she cannot go back to Darryl  Louise promises they will keep going together  While back on the road, Thelma recalls the incident with Harlan and tries to ask Louise if what happened with Harlan was what happened to Louise in Texas  Louise responds angrily and tells Thelma to never bring it up again 
Later, they are pulled over by a New Mexico state trooper for speeding  Knowing he will soon discover they are wanted for murder and armed robbery, Thelma holds him at gunpoint and locks him in the trunk of his police car  Driving further west, they encounter a foul-mouthed truck driver who repeatedly makes obscene gestures at them  They pull over and demand an apology from him; when he refuses, they fire at his fuel tanker, causing it to explode  The women leave him stranded in the desert furious with the tanker's wreckage 
Thelma and Louise are finally cornered by the authorities only one hundred yards from the edge of the Grand Canyon  Hal arrives on the scene, but the women refuse his last chance to talk them into surrendering  Rather than be captured, Thelma proposes that they "keep going"  Louise asks Thelma if she is certain, and Thelma says yes  They kiss and then hold hands, Louise steps on the gas, and, as Hal desperately pursues them on foot, they accelerate over the cliff to their presumed deaths 

Cast
Susan Sarandon as Louise Sawyer
Geena Davis as Thelma Dickinson
Harvey Keitel as Arkansas State Police Detective Hal Slocumb
Michael Madsen as Jimmy Lennox
Christopher McDonald as Darryl Dickinson
Stephen Tobolowsky as FBI Agent Max
Brad Pitt as J D 
Timothy Carhart as Harlan Puckett
Lucinda Jenney as The Waitress
Jason Beghe as State Trooper
Marco St  John as Truck DriverCredits adapted from American Film Institute 

Production
Development
The idea for Thelma & Louise originated in the spring of 1988 when Callie Khouri, then a music video producer, was driving home from work to her apartment in Santa Monica  She spent the following six months working on her first screenplay, which was noted to have drawn inspiration from her own experience as well as her friendship with country music singer Pam Tillis  She had intended it to be a low-budget independent film, directed by herself and produced by fellow music video producer Amanda Temple (wife of English filmmaker Julien Temple)  After shopping the project around and finding no takers, Temple showed the script to her friend Mimi Polk Gitlin, who ran Ridley Scott's Percy Main Productions (later Scott Free Productions)  Gitlin in turn showed the script to Scott, who expressed great enthusiasm for the project  He agreed to produce the film and bought the film rights for $500,000  Pathé Entertainment, then led by Scott's friend and collaborator Alan Ladd Jr , came on board as a co-producer and financier Scott considered four people for the role of director, all of whom turned down the opportunity  Per Gitlin's recollection, three of the candidates were Bob Rafelson, Kevin Reynolds and Richard Donner  Scott was reluctant to direct the film himself but eventually took on the role, having been persuaded by Michelle Pfeiffer 

Casting
Michelle Pfeiffer and Jodie Foster were originally chosen for the leads; both accepted their roles with enthusiasm  As pre-production of the film dragged on, the two eventually dropped out, with Pfeiffer going on to star in Love Field and Foster in The Silence of the Lambs  Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn then offered to play the leads, but Streep later dropped out due to scheduling conflicts while Hawn was not considered right for the part  Geena Davis (who had been vigorously pursuing the lead role for nearly a year) and Susan Sarandon were ultimately chosen  The two took extensive driving and shooting lessons in preparation for their roles Scott personally convinced Harvey Keitel to take on the role of Hal, the sympathetic Arkansas detective  The two had previously collaborated in Scott's feature directorial debut, the 1977 film The Duellists  Davis recommended her ex-boyfriend Christopher McDonald for the role of Darryl, Thelma's controlling husband  Scott wanted Michael Madsen for Harlan, Thelma's would-be rapist, but Madsen was unwilling; he eventually won the role of Jimmy, Louise's boyfriend  Brad Pitt auditioned for the hustler J D ; however, the part originally went to Billy Baldwin  Pitt eventually secured the role after both Baldwin and his replacement dropped out  George Clooney, Robert Downey Jr , Mark Ruffalo, Grant Show, John Mellencamp, Dylan McDermott, James LeGros and Dermot Mulroney were also considered for the role of J D  Davis did test scenes with Clooney, Show, Ruffalo and Pitt; her advice to the directors was to choose Pitt 

Filming
Principal photography for Thelma & Louise began on June 11, 1990, and concluded on August 31, 1990  Although the setting for the film is a fictional route between Arkansas and the Grand Canyon, it was filmed almost entirely in the states of California and Utah  The primary filming locations were rural areas around Bakersfield, California and Moab, Utah  The Grand Canyon scenes were filmed just south of Dead Horse Point State Park in Utah  Parts of the film were also shot at Shafer Overlook, Monument Valley, La Sal Mountains, La Sal Junction, Cisco, Old Valley City Reservoir, Thompson Springs, Arches National Park, and Crescent Junction in Utah 

Soundtrack
Pete Haycock on slide guitar contributed to Thunderbird, the theme music for the film  In addition to Glenn Frey's "Part of Me, Part of You", which became the film's primary theme song, the soundtrack included songs performed by Chris Whitley ("Kick The Stones"), Martha Reeves ("Wild Night" written by Van Morrison), Toni Childs ("House Of Hope"), Marianne Faithfull ("Ballad of Lucy Jordan" written by Shel Silverstein), Charlie Sexton ("Badlands"), Grayson Hugh ("I Can't Untie You From Me"), B B  King ("Better Not Look Down" written by Joe Sample & Will Jennings), Michael McDonald ("No Lookin' Back"), The Temptations ("The Way You Do The Things You Do" written by Smokey Robinson & Bobby Rogers), and Johnny Nash ("I Can See Clearly Now") 

Release
Thelma & Louise was screened out of competition as the closing film at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival  Theatrical release was delayed due to financial turmoil at MGM-Pathé  The film eventually opened in American theaters on May 24, 1991 and was a box-office success, grossing $45 million within the country In February 2023, The Criterion Collection announced the film would be joining the collection in May that year 

Reception
The film received critical acclaim  Janet Maslin of The New York Times had only praise for the film in her review:

Mr  Scott's Thelma and Louise, with a sparkling screenplay by the first-time writer Callie Khouri, is a surprise on this and many other scores  It reveals the previously untapped talent of Mr  Scott (best known for majestically moody action films like Alien, Blade Runner and Black Rain) for exuberant comedy, and for vibrant American imagery, notwithstanding his English roots  It reimagines the buddy film with such freshness and vigor that the genre seems positively new  It discovers unexpected resources in both its stars, Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis, who are perfectly teamed as the spirited and original title characters 
Roger Ebert also praised the film but withheld a perfect score on the basis of "the last shot before the titles begin  It's a freeze frame that fades to white, which is fine, except it does so with unseemly haste      It's unsettling to get involved in a movie that takes 128 minutes to bring you to a payoff that the filmmakers seem to fear "After watching the film, singer-songwriter Tori Amos wrote "Me and a Gun", the story of her rape several years earlier The final scene, where the two embrace before committing suicide by driving off a cliff, has become iconic  Numerous homages and parodies of the scene have appeared, including alternate film endings, cartoon parodies, video game "Easter eggs", and as a tragic ending to television series, music videos, and commercials  Right after the film's release, there were even a few copy cats who committed suicide by driving off the edge of the Grand Canyon The film also received harsh criticism from those who thought it was biased against men and that its depictions of men were unfairly negative On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 86% based on 147 reviews, with an average rating of 7 9/10  The website's critical consensus reads, "Simultaneously funny, heartbreaking, and peppered with action, Ridley Scott's Thelma & Louise is a potent, well-acted road movie that transcends the feminist message at its core " On Metacritic, the film received a score of 88 based on 12 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim" The film placed second to The Silence of the Lambs as the best film of 1991 in a poll of 81 critics 

Feminism
Numerous critics and writers have remarked on the strong feminist overtones of Thelma & Louise  Film critic B  Ruby Rich praises the film as an uncompromising validation of women's experiences, while Kenneth Turan calls it a "neo-feminist road movie"  In her essay "The Daughters of Thelma and Louise", Jessica Enevold argues that the film constitutes "an attack on conventional patterns of chauvinist male behavior toward females"  In addition, it "exposes the traditional stereotyping of male–female relationships" while rescripting the typical gender roles of the road movie genre In her review for the Los Angeles Times, film critic Sheila Benson objects to the characterization of the film as feminist, arguing that it is more preoccupied with revenge and violence than feminist values In his review for the New York Post, film critic Kyle Smith describes the film as "a misogynist tale about unbelievably ditzy women who lose what remains of their reason under pressure and suffer the ultimate punishment " Smith's review focused on the terrible decisions these female characters make throughout the entire film In an article commemorating the film's 20th anniversary in 2011, Raina Lipsitz called it "the last great film about women" and said that it heralded the achievements of women that caused 1992 to become "the year of the woman"  However, she also said that women-themed films have since been losing ground 

Accolades
The British Film Institute published a book about the film in 2000 as part of a Modern Classics series  On the Writers Guild of America Award's list of 101 best screenplays, it made No  72 

Notes
Passage 4:
Steve Bell (soccer)
Steve Bell (born January 7, 1975) is a retired American soccer midfielder who played professionally in the Continental Indoor Soccer League and USL A-League   He is a play-by-play soccer broadcaster and sideline reporter for the Fox Soccer Channel 

Youth
Bell graduated from Peters Township High School   He attended the Robert Morris University, playing on the men's soccer team from 1993 to 1996  Robert Morris won the Northeast Conference Regular Season title in 1995 with a perfect 8-0 conference record  Bell finished the season with 6 goals and 9 assists (2nd most in the Northeast Conference) 

Professional
In 1997, Bell played for the Washington Warthogs of the Continental Indoor Soccer League  He finished the season with two goals and three assists  That winter, he played as a trialist with the Tampa Bay Mutiny   On February 1, 1998, the Mutiny selected him in the second round (nineteenth overall) of the 1998 MLS Supplemental Draft   The Mutiny released him on June 10, 1998, to free a roster spot for Evans Wise   In February 1999, he signed with the expansion Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the USL A-League   He was a regular starter, but injuries led to his retirement   In 2000, he began working in sales in Akron, Ohio, but also worked as a part-time game announcer for Riverhounds’ games on Fox Sports Radio   In November 2003, Bell and his broadcasting partner, Chris Shovlin, won the March of Dimes Achievement in Radio Award for Best Play-by-Play  In 2006, Bell was named as the Voice of the United Soccer Leagues and was the play-by-play announcer for every game featured on Fox Soccer Channel during the season  In 2007, he was named as the host for the thirty-minute feature show, USL Breakaway on Fox Soccer   In addition to his Play-by-Play duties for the USL and the NSCAA Game of the Week, he was also back in Major League Soccer from 2008 to 2010 as a sideline reporter for Fox Soccer Channel 
Passage 5:
Female buddy film
A female buddy film is a type of buddy film  In these films, women are the main characters and their friendships and relationships with each other drive the story  The plots of female buddy films can share the same concept of male buddy films—opposite personalities go on an adventure or journey of sorts—or they can concern an ensemble group of women  Female buddy films gained popularity in the 1960s from the emergence of the woman's film and the male buddy film genres 

Characteristics
The main characters of female buddy films are women, and the film's events center on their situations



ground_truth: Qatar Stars League

prompt_front: Answer the question based on the given passages. Only give me the answer and do not output any other words.

Question: What character in A League of their Own was played by the actress who played Thelma in the movie Thelma and Louise?

The following are given passages.
Context 3:  The main cast is often female, depending on the plot  Critic Hannah McGill of Sight & Sound wrote, "Films that centralise friendship between women and girls are thus always doing something slightly radical, whatever their other themes and content  They repudiate the message that women are adjuncts to men; they emphasise the fact that women and girls still exist when there are no men or boys in the room "

Background
The buddy film was historically a genre limited to men and rooted in the literature and culture of America, with the fictional portrayal of male bonding in the United States tracing back to 19th-century author Mark Twain's characters Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, as well as Huck and Jim in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  The occurrence of one woman interacting with another in film was so rare that concepts like the Bechdel test originated as a means of measuring the representation of women in fiction  Female buddy films appeared as early as the 1930s, with George Cukor's The Women and Gregory La Cava's Stage Door  Other prominent examples include Dance, Girl, Dance (1940), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), The Group (1966), and Daisies (1966) 1991's Thelma & Louise remains one of the most notable female buddy films to date and had a similar impact on popular culture as buddy film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid did in the late 1960s  Similar films also paved the way for onscreen female friendships such as that between Evelyn Couch and Ninny Threadgoode in Fried Green Tomatoes  Other popular duos and groups include those in Waiting to Exhale and Walking and Talking  Though there are far fewer female buddy films than there are male buddy films, their frequency has increased in conjunction with rising numbers of women in production and creative roles 

Examples
Jonathan Rosenbaum has praised Jacques Rivette's 1974 film Céline and Julie Go Boating as an example of the genre and wrote that he knows "many women who consider Céline et Julie vont en bateau their favorite movie about female friendship " Dennis Lim sees the influence of Rivette's film in other female buddy films, such as Susan Seidelman's Desperately Seeking Susan and David Lynch's Mulholland Drive  Céline and Julie was also an influence on Erick Zonca's 1998 film The Dreamlife of Angels Female buddy films are not limited to lighthearted fare, and some critics argue there is a significance in the representation of complex female friendships on screen  "For women to whom a significant component of equality is the recognition that they embody the full spectrum of human traits, not just the sugar-and-spice ones, the onscreen depiction of ‘toxic’ friendships can be as significant and affecting as the celebration of healthy ones," critic Hannah McGill wrote In 2011, the comedy film Bridesmaids was a major box-office success, crossing over the $100 million mark in just 23 days  The film's popularity arguably ushered in a trend of R-rated female buddy comedies in the following years, such as The Heat, Bad Moms, Snatched, Rough Night, and Girls Trip  Producer David T  Friendly called this phenomenon "the Bridesmaids effect" The genre is crossed with the buddy cop film in the 1988 comedy Feds and the 2013 comedy The Heat  In both films, two female cops who are opposites in personality are paired up together  Other recent examples include Booksmart (2019) and the animated TV series Tuca & Bertie 

See also
Female buddy films by decade
Womance
Feminist cinema
Bromance
Passage 6:
List of Family Guy cast members
Family Guy is an American animated sitcom that features five main voice actors, and numerous regular cast and recurring guest stars  The principal voice cast consists of show creator Seth MacFarlane, Alex Borstein, Mila Kunis (who replaced Lacey Chabert after the first season (her last episode is "Holy Crap," now marketed as the second episode of season two)), Seth Green, and Mike Henry  Recurring voice actors include Patrick Warburton, Adam West, John G  Brennan, Nicole Sullivan and Jennifer Tilly, and repeat guest stars include Phyllis Diller, Charles Durning, Rush Limbaugh, James Woods and Phil LaMarr 
Many cast members provide voices for multiple characters  The voice actors, in portraying the various character personalities on the show, draw inspiration from celebrities and pop culture  Family Guy characters have been played by more than one actor, after members of the show left the series or had conflicting obligations 
Kunis was nominated for an Annie Award for voicing Meg Griffin in the season 5 episode "Barely Legal" and MacFarlane has also won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance and an Annie Award for Best Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production, though no other cast member has won an award for their work on the series 

Current cast
From seasons 1 to 4, Family Guy had four main cast members  Since season 5, there have been five main cast members  The casting of Meg Griffin changed after season 1 

Seth MacFarlane
Seth MacFarlane voices four of the show's main characters: Peter Griffin, Brian Griffin, Stewie Griffin, and Glenn Quagmire  MacFarlane chose to voice these characters himself, believing it would be easier to portray the voices he had already envisioned than for someone else to attempt it  MacFarlane drew inspiration for the voice of Peter from a security guard he overheard talking while attending the Rhode Island School of Design  Stewie's voice was based on the voice of English actor Rex Harrison, especially his performance in the 1964 musical drama film My Fair Lady  The voice for Glenn Quagmire is based on 1940s and 1950s radio commercials  MacFarlane uses his own voice while portraying Brian MacFarlane also provides the voices for various other recurring and one-time only characters, including news anchor Tom Tucker, Lois' father Carter Pewterschmidt and Dr  Hartman   He is the only cast member to be in every episode 

Alex Borstein
Alex Borstein voices Lois Griffin, Asian correspondent Tricia Takanawa, Loretta Brown and Lois' mother Barbara Pewterschmidt  Borstein was asked to provide a voice for the pilot while she was working on MADtv  She had not met MacFarlane or seen any of his artwork and said it was "really sight unseen"  At the time, Borstein performed in a stage show in Los Angeles, in which she played a redhead mother whose voice she had based on one of her cousins  The voice was originally slower (and deeper for the original season), but when MacFarlane heard it, he replied "Make it a little less fucking annoying     and speed it up, or every episode will last four hours "

Seth Green
Seth Green primarily plays Chris Griffin and Neil Goldman  Green stated that he did an impression of the "Buffalo Bill" character from the thriller film The Silence of the Lambs during his audition  His main inspiration for Chris' voice came from envisioning how "Buffalo Bill" would sound if he were speaking through a public address system at a McDonald's 

Mila Kunis
Mila Kunis voices Meg Griffin  Kunis won the role after the auditions and a slight rewrite of the character, in part due to her performance on That '70s Show  MacFarlane called Kunis back after her first audition, instructing her to speak slower, and then told her to come back another time and enunciate more  Once she claimed that she had it under control, MacFarlane hired her  Kunis described her character as "the scapegoat"  She further explained, "Meg gets picked on a lot  But it's funny  It's like the middle child  She is constantly in the state of being an awkward 14-year-old, when you're kind of going through puberty and what-not  She's just in a perpetual mode of humiliation  And it's fun "

Mike Henry
Mike Henry is the voice of Cleveland Brown, John Herbert “The Pervert”, Bruce, Consuela, and various other characters  A Family Guy writer and producer, he began acting on the show as part of the recurring cast repertory (see below) but was promoted to main cast member in 2005  Since the cancellation of The Cleveland Show, he also voices Cleveland's step-son Rallo Tubbs on Family Guy  On June 26, 2020, after twenty years of voicing the character, Mike Henry announced on Twitter that he was stepping down from voicing Cleveland, stating "persons of color should play characters of color " On September 25, 2020, it was announced that Arif Zahir would take over as the voice of Cleveland 

Recurring cast
In addition to both its main cast and guest stars, Family Guy utilizes a deep bench of regularly appearing supporting voice actors  Some appear in nearly every episode each season, while others appear less frequently  Some of these actors specifically play recurring characters, while others mainly play background citizens of Quahog or characters in cutaway gags 
The current supporting cast repertory includes the following actors:

In addition to the above, the following actors were formerly regularly recurring voice actors in the series:

Recurring guest voices
The recurring guest voices include Adam Carolla as Death, Patrick Stewart as Susie Swanson, Scott Grimes as Kevin Swanson, Sanaa Lathan as Donna Tubbs Brown and Emily Osment as Ruth Cochamer  Previous recurring guests included Phyllis Diller in three episodes as Peter's Mother, Thelma, and Charles Durning as Peter's father, Francis  Both characters have since died, but Durning returned once to play Francis as a ghost  Early in the show's run, Fred Willard and Jane Lynch had a recurring role as a family of nudists and James Woods as himself  In 2020, it was announced that Sam Elliott would take over as Quahog's new mayor, Mayor West's estranged cousin Wyld West 

Casting changes
Lacey Chabert voiced Meg for the first production season (14 episodes), but, because of a contractual agreement, was never credited  Chabert left the series due to time constraints with her acting role in Party of Five, as well as schoolwork 
Jon Cryer voiced Kevin Swanson in his first appearance before the role passed to Seth MacFarlane  The character was written out of the series for several years, with Scott Grimes taking over the voice when the character returned 
Fairuza Balk was the original voice of high school bully Connie D'Amico until Lisa Wilhoit took over the character from the third to eighteenth seasons 
Natasha Melnick was the original voice of Meg Griffin's Friend Ruth Cochamer until Emily Osment took over the character in the eleventh season 
Beginning in 2021-onward, Arif Zahir took over voicing Cleveland Brown from Mike Henry 

Awards and nominations
See also
Television portal
Passage 7:
List of Grand Slam women's doubles champions
List of women's doubles Grand Slam tennis tournament champions:
The only pairing to complete the Grand Slam is the team of Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver in 1984, and their eight consecutive major win-streak remains the all-time record  Maria Bueno in 1960 and Martina Hingis in 1998 also won the Grand Slam, though with multiple partners Six players have completed a Career Golden Slam by winning an Olympic gold medal and all four majors during their respective careers: Venus Williams and Serena Williams while paired together, Barbora Krejčíková and Kateřina Siniaková as a team, and individually Pam Shriver and Gigi Fernández  The latter four also achieved the Career Super Slam, by achieving a Career Golden Slam and winning a Year-End Championship in their careers 

Champions by year
Champions list
Most Grand Slam doubles titles
Individual
Record title holder and tournament record indicated in bold  Players with five or more Grand Slam titles are included here 

Team
Record title holder and tournament record indicated in bold  Teams with four or more Grand Slam titles are included here 

Grand Slam achievements
Grand Slam
Players who held all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously (in a calendar year) 

Non-calendar year Grand Slam
Players who held all four Grand Slam titles simultaneously (not in a calendar year) 

Career Grand Slam
Players who won all four Grand Slam titles over the course of their careers 

The event at which the Career Grand Slam was completed indicated in bold 

Individual
Team
Career Golden Slam
Players who won all four Grand Slam titles and the Olympic gold medal over the course of their careers 
The event at which the Career Golden Slam was completed indicated in bold 

Career Super Slam
Players who won all four Grand Slam titles, the Olympic gold medal and the year-end championship over the course of their careers 

The event at which the Career Super Slam was completed indicated in bold 

Multiples titles in a season
Three titles
Two titles
Tournament stats
Most titles per tournament
Most consecutive titles
Overall record
At one tournament
Grand slam titles by decade
Grand Slam titles by country
Note: Titles, won by a team of players from same country, count as one title, not two 

All-time
as of 2023 French Open 

Open era
as of 2023 French Open 

See also
List of Grand Slam–related tennis records
List of Grand Slam men's singles champions
List of Grand Slam women's singles champions
List of Grand Slam men's doubles champions
List of Grand Slam mixed doubles champions
Passage 8:
Vivian Alamain
Vivian Alamain is a fictional character from Days of Our Lives, an American soap opera on the NBC network  Created by head writers Richard J  Allen and Beth Milstein, and introduced by executive producers Ken Corday and Al Rabin, the role is notably portrayed by actress Louise Sorel  In addition to Sorel, the role has subsequently been portrayed by Marj Dusay, Robin Strasser and Linda Dano 

Casting
Louise Sorel, who was previously best known for playing Augusta Lockridge in NBC soap opera, Santa Barbara, was cast in the role of Vivian in 1992  The Days of Our Lives casting director contacted Sorel's new agent about the role of Vivian and described her  Sorel's agent explained that they managed the actress to the casting director, who was familiar with Sorel's work in Santa Barbara  Other actresses were being considered for the role, but Sorel was eventually cast as Vivian  Sorel signed an initial one-year contract with the show  Sorel was released from her contract after only five months  Marj Dusay was cast in the role, appearing for a total of five episodes  When producers learned that they would have to continue paying Sorel, despite her departure, she was brought back to the role  In 1993, it was announced that Vivian's nephew, Lawrence Alamain (Michael Sabatino), and her nemesis, Carly Manning (Crystal Chappell), were to both leave Days of Our Lives  Sorel's future with the show was subsequently in doubt  However, it was confirmed that Sorel would remain on the show regardless  In December 1993, The Herald Journal reported that Sorel had signed a new multi-year contract  In 1995, Sorel signed a third contract term with the show In October 1999, it was announced that Sorel was to leave Days of Our Lives when her contract expired in January of the following year  Of Vivian's departure, executive producers, Ken Corday and Tom Langan, said "We love the character of Vivian, and hopefully she will return sometime in the near future " Producers confirmed that the role would not be recast  Vivian and Sorel were dismissed from the soap, and the actress admitted that it felt "horrible"  Vivian departed on February 22, 2000 In July 2009, it was announced that Sorel would be reprising the role of Vivian  Executive producer, Gary Tomlin, contacted Sorel and invited her to return to the show  Sorel was surprised as Tomlin invited her to return over the telephone without seeing her current appearance  Sorel told TV Guide "[Tomlin] didn’t ask me how I’m looking these days  For all he knew, I’ve gained 250 pounds " The actress commuted from New York to California, where Days of Our Lives is filmed, for the role  Sorel signed an initial one-year contract  Sorel was planning to sign a longer contract, but since relocating to New York, she could not speculate on her long-term future with the show  Sorel returned to filming in September 2009  Vivian's return was broadcast on October 30, 2009  Sorel's return coincided with the return of Chappell as Carly  In June 2011, it was revealed by TV Guide that Sorel had been let go following the departure of head writer Dena Higley; she last appeared on September 22 of the same year In August 2017, it was announced that Sorel would reprise the role once more  Originally reported to reappear in January 2018, Sorel made her first appearance on December 29, 2017  Sorel departed on May 23, 2018, when the character was presumed dead  In February 2019, it was reported that Robin Strasser had joined the cast in an unknown role; months later it was revealed that she had been cast as Vivian  She appeared from September 2 to October 7 of the same year In December 2019, it was announced that Sorel would once again reprise the role  She returned on June 30, 2020, and wrapped up her stint on July 20 of the same year  On December 11, 2020, it was announced Linda Dano had been cast in the role  She first appeared on February 3, 2021, and departed on April 22 of that year 
In March 2023 Sorel herself revealed she would once again return as Vivian Alamain  Her return on screen is set for later that year 

Storylines
1992–2000
Vivian, the aunt of Lawrence Alamain arrives in Salem on March 2, 1992  She is determined to take over Alamain corporations, but is foiled when John Black inherits them  Vivian looks to be rich, and powerful, so she pursues wealthy crime lord, Victor Kiriakis  Vivian marries Victor for business purposes, but the marriage is short lived  After Victor leaves her for Kate Roberts, Vivian sets out to destroy Carly Manning  Vivian is taking herbal pills from Dr  Wu, which makes her loopy  She begins to target Carly's patients, by injecting them with cleaning fluids   The police begin to investigate Carly for murder  Carly learns Vivian is the one killing off her patients, and sets out to prove it  A crazed Vivian gives Carly a strong dose of morphine to put her in a very deep sleep  Vivian gives Carly a serum that gives her a deathlike paralysis  Carly is pronounced dead, and Vivian buries Carly alive in a coffin, built with a low oxygen supply, and little water  Vivian stops taking her herbs, and realizes what she is doing is crazy, and with the help of Lawrence she digs Carly up  Vivian is arrested and put in Pine Haven Sanitarium where she meets and befriends Laura Horton  Laura sees Vivian as her ticket out of the Sanitarium, and so Laura continues her friendship with Vivian in order to get out of the Sanitarium and get back to Salem Vivian is released, and sets her sights on destroying Kate, and Victor's marriage  She finds out that Kate can't produce a male heir, so she carries Kate & Victor's baby   Vivian is now pregnant with their child, and tries to seduce Victor who doesn't fall for her tricks  Vivian gives birth to Philip Kiriakis, and Kate tries everything to get custody   Vivian also tricked Victor into marrying her by replacing Kate during the wedding rehearsal and made it the real deal   When Kate finds out, Vivian drugs Kate's coffee, but the coffee is given to the pilot of a plane Kate is on  The plane crashes, but Kate lives although they can't find her body  She and Victor make love, after they can't find Kate's body  Kate returns, and wants custody of Philip, and gets it   Vivian takes comfort in Rudolfo (who is actually Stefano DiMera) and unwillingly helps with his plan   She and Ivan are accused of helping Stefano kidnap Marlena Evans, but Stefano signs an affidavit exonerating them   She and Ivan are named accomplices in Kristen DiMera 's scheme trapping Marlena in a secret room and are arrested   In exchange for her freedom, Vivian agrees to divorce Victor and gives up her wealth 
Vivian receives bad news when she learns she is fired from Titan   She and Ivan begin taking odd jobs to make ends meet   She meets Steven "Jonesy" Jones, an elderly man whom she thinks is wealthy, but is merely a caretaker for Stefano DiMera   She marries him after a brief romance, and he dies on their wedding night after making love to her   She inherits his belongings, which makes Stefano romance her in order to get his possessions back   He implants a device in her tooth allowing him to control her moods   After they are married, she discovers what he did and files for divorce   He gives her the townhouse and money in exchange for her silence  She begins to look for alternative methods to cure Victor after he suffers a stroke   Once Victor recovers, he returns to Kate  Vivian leaves Salem with her sidekick Ivan to get a fresh start  They travel around the world, and live off Ivan's lottery winnings 

2009–2011
Vivian returned to Salem in 2009, seeking revenge on Carly Manning for killing her nephew Lawrence  She arranges for someone else to take the fall for her nephew's killing as she wants to deal with Carly personally  She discovers that Carly had an illegitimate child, the result of an affair, and that Lawrence had forced her to give up the child  Vivian resolves to find the now grown child, and kill her in order to hurt Carly  A vision of Lawrence encourages her in this scheme  Victor, her old flame and a fellow adversary of Carly, invites Vivian to live in his mansion and offers to help her in her vengeful scheme  With the help of her new manservant and henchman Gus, Vivian learns that Carly's daughter is Melanie Layton, who is engaged to Phillip  Victor forbids her from killing Melanie, and tells Viv to focus on Carly instead  Vivian ignores him and befriends Melanie  She helps with the wedding and poisons a comb that she gives Melanie to wear on her wedding day  Gus holds Carly hostage in a warehouse where she will watch her daughter's death  Carly attacks Gus and steals his phone  She texts Vivian, calling her to the warehouse  Vivian arrives and is attacked by Carly, but Hope has discovered Vivian's plot also  Hope arrives and stops Carly from killing Vivian by revealing that Melanie is fine  Victor discovered Vivian's scheme and switched the poisoned comb with a safe one  Hope begins to cuff Vivian and arrest her, but Gus awakens behind a stack of crates and topples them onto Hope and Carly  Vivian returns to the wedding at the Kiriakis mansion and lures Melanie to the rooftop terrace to hurl her off  Carly follows with Hope's gun and is about to shoot Vivian but Melanie steps in front of Vivian and is shot and falls into a coma  Victor scolds Vivian for defying him and threatens to turn her over to the police if Melanie dies  Vivian and Carly are both arrested after Hope's statement implicates Vivian  Bo interrogates Vivian to no avail  Victor has hidden all evidence pointing to Vivian's involvement and she is freed  Phillip and Daniel Jonas, who has recently learned that he is Melanie's father, also threaten Vivian  Melanie lives and Victor warns her that he will hand the police the evidence against her if she makes another attempt on Melanie 
Vivian, nevertheless, makes another attempt on her life, but Melanie wakes as Vivian is about to suffocate her in her hospital bed  The dazed Melanie tells Vivian to kill her, and reveals her tormented childhood to Vivian  Vivian is moved and relents  She tells the vision of Lawrence that she refuses to kill the young woman and, with Victor's encouragement, she focuses on Carly  Gus is arrested and questioned by Bo and Hope Williams Brady, but does not give up his mistress and is released  Vivian moves out of the mansion temporarily when Phillip tells Victor that he will not return with Melanie while Vivian is there  She soon returns, however, and makes a deal with Carly  She will leave Carly and her loved ones alone if Carly will plead guilty to shooting Melanie  Melanie, angry at finding out that Carly is the mother who gave her up, does not help and is hateful towards Carly, to Vivian's delight  Hope, however, brings Melanie around, and as Carly is about to be sentenced, Melanie exonerates her by telling the judge that the shooting was an accident  Vivian is not pleased, and threatens to kill Carly, and continues to torment her, even in spite of Bo's warning to leave her alone 
Bo goes to Vivian and threatens to kill Vivian, even if it means jail time, in order to protect Carly  Victor, who does not want Bo in jail or Vivian dead, offers to marry Vivian if she will stop her vendetta, and she agrees  She learns, however, that Carly has been threatening to ruin Chloe Lane's relationship with Daniel due to an affair Chloe had with Phillip  Vivian offers her support to Chloe in dealing with Carly  Vivian is married to Victor in a somber ceremony, both Victor and the attending guests are bitter and cynical about the bizarre proceedings  Chloe, however, turns to Vivian for help  Vivian gives Chloe the number of one of her past henchmen and tells Chloe to ensure that Carly is in an elevator at the hospital when the henchman instructs  Chloe is uncomfortable with killing Carly, but Vivian convinces her that it is the only way  When the time comes, however, Chloe attempts to stop the killing several times, finally pushing Carly from the elevator and ending up being dropped herself when the cable malfunctions 
Vivian, meanwhile, is on her honeymoon and Victor notices her preoccupation  He threatens to end the marriage and make her life very difficult if anything happens to Carly  Vivian, however, discovers that Chloe was in the elevator and has survived  She vows to punish Chloe for failing to kill Carly  Now, Vivian wants to get rid of Maggie, whom she thinks Victor has eyes on  Her evil plan is similar to Carly's but putting her in a sarcophagus and try to bury her alive  With her henchman, Gus, she may be able to pull it off, but Melanie thinks Maggie is leaving town  Under the ruse of creating a celebration of Isabella Toscano's (Brady's mother and Victor's daughter) life, Vivian commences her plan to kidnap and entomb Maggie in a new sarcophagus, which has supposedly been purchased to contain Isabella's remains  Vivian gets overly confident, and, hence, sloppy in the final stages of her plan  Her trusty assistant, Gus, gets cold feet and quits  Brady happens upon her plan and discovers what Vivian has planned and that she has deposited his mother's remains in a pet cemetery  Brady ends up interring Vivian in the sarcophagus rather than Maggie, to Vivian's horror  Vivian is freed by Gus and they entomb Maggie  Victor frees Maggie and plans for Vivian to be arrested but Brady decides she deserves to be free  Vivian and Gus are then dropped on an island but Brady rescues him in June  We discover that Vivian had an affair years ago and has a son Quinn who is a pimp  Quinn is blackmailing Chloe into becoming a prostitute but no one besides Chloe and Taylor knows what his occupation is  At first he doesn't get along with Vivian because she abandoned him but he soon turns around and agrees to give his mother a second chance much to Gus's dismay   Carly develops a drug addiction to Vivian's delight, however Quinn helps Carly through it and Vivian disowns him  Months later, Vivian and Quinn reconcile and Vivian's side-kick, Gus frames Quinn for a series of assaults on prostitutes when in reality, he is the culprit  On September 21, 2011 it is revealed that Quinn is innocent and Gus is guilty when Gus' latest victim (Chloe) comes out of the coma caused by his attack on her, at which time Gus takes Nicole Walker hostage in the police station  Gus is eventually wrestled to the ground and hauled off to a jail cell to await trial  Vivian’s friend/former-henchman, Ivan suddenly returns to Salem, shows her the great wealth he has acquired as a Bollywood movie director/producer, expresses his undying love to her, and then takes her with him to India to make her a movie star, and open a new chapter in their lives together as equals 

2017–2023
On New Year's Eve, 2017, Vivian crashes the DiMera family's New Year's Eve party claiming to have been accompanied by Stefano  In actuality, she is accompanied by her and Stefano's son, Stefan O Dimera (Tyler Christopher)  Vivian watches in admiration as Stefan seizes control of DiMera Enterprises and lays claim to the DiMera mansion  Vivian is scheming with Andre DiMera, but their plans end when Andre is killed by Abigail Deveraux (Marci Miller)  During a confrontation with Kate, Vivian is shot and presumed dead  Kate tells everyone it was self-defense  In 2019, Vivian (Robin Strasser) is revealed to be alive  She shoots and buries Kate in the cemetery, and later pulls her tubes out when she is in hospital recovering  During an altercation with Lani Price (Sal Stowers), Stefan (Brandon Barash) is shot and presumed dead after trying to save his mother, leading to a devastated Vivian leaving town  In 2020, Vivian (Sorel) makes a surprising return during Lani's wedding to Eli Grant (Lamon Archey)   She was arrested after threatening Lani with a gun  In police custody  she was convinced that Jake was Stefan brought back from the dead   Ivan explained that she had twins unknowingly due to her passing out and Jake was taken from her before she awakened  She faked her death shortly after to avoid prison and disappeared again  In 2021 Vivian (Linda Dano) got arrested after participating in the kidnapping of Eli and Lani's twins 
On January 30 2023 Vivian (Louise Sorel) returns, she is heard during a phone call (from prison) to Stefan in which she attempts to jog his memory of who he is 
In March 2023 it was revealed Louise Sorel was back on set as Vivian Alamain and episodes would begin airing from August or September 
Passage 9:
That Certain Something
That Certain Something is a 1941 Australian musical film directed by Clarence G  Badger and starring Megan Edwards and Thelma Grigg  The plot concerns an American film director who decides to make a musical in Australia  It was the last film directed by Badger, a noted silent era director 

Plot
A famous director, Robert Grimble, comes to Australia to make a film about pioneering women and seeks for an unknown to play the lead role  He casts socialist Miss Hemingway, who soon proves to be temperamental  She is tricked into walking off the job by Jimmie Jones who wants his girlfriend Patsy cast  He succeeds and Patsy becomes a star 

Cast
Production
The film was the first from Argosy Films and was made with the assistance of a bank overdraft from the New South Wales government  It was directed by Clarence Badger, a Hollywood director who had retired to Australia  The original title was Daughters of Australia Megan Edwards had only appeared in a few stage shows before being cast in the lead  She later received a three-year contract from a Hollywood manager The seven-week shoot took place at Pagewood Studios, the first movie made there in three years  The colonial sequence was especially researched  The camera crew included notable cameraman John Howes, who died aged 29 

Release
Despite securing distribution from RKO, reception to the film from critics and the public was poor 
Passage 10:
Thelma Hopkins (athlete)
Thelma Elizabeth Hopkins (born 16 March 1936) is a Northern Irish athlete, who competed in the high and the long jump 
On 5 May 1956 she broke the world record in high jump in Belfast with a jump of 1 74 metres, breaking the record of 1 73 metres set by Aleksandra Chudina of the USSR on 22 May 1954  Her record was broken on 14 July 1956 in Bucharest by Iolanda Balaș of Romania Her achievement in breaking the world record is commemorated by a plaque in Cherryvale Playing Fields, South Belfast 
Hopkins was born in Kingston upon Hull  She competed for Great Britain in the 1956 Summer Olympics held in Melbourne, Australia, in the high jump event, where she won the silver medal jointly with Maria Pisareva  In the 1954 Commonwealth Games she won a gold medal for Northern Ireland 
As well as athletics she excelled at hockey where she was a regular choice for the Ireland women's national field hockey team, playing at forward and winning 40 caps  She also represented Ireland as an international Squash player 
She was one of many signatories in a letter to The Times on 17 July 1958 opposing 'the policy of apartheid' in international sport and defending 'the principle of racial equality which is embodied in the Declaration of the Olympic Games' 
Passage 11:
Thelma, Kentucky
Thelma is an unincorporated community in Johnson County, Kentucky, United States  The community was originally known as Buskirk, after a local family  But, when the community received its first post office on June 5, 1905, it was renamed Thelma after the daughter of Warren Meek  Meek was a successful pioneer in the newspaper field in the Big Sandy Valley Thelma's ZIP code is 41260 
Thelma is located at an elevation of 636 feet 
Passage 12:
Breakwater Cat
Breakwater Cat is the tenth album by American singer Thelma Houston, released in 1980 on RCA Records  The 12" single "Suspicious  Minds" became a popular club hit  Breakwater Cat contains five songs written by Jimmy Webb, who was also the executive producer of the album 

Track listing
All songs were written by Jimmy Webb; except where indicated 

"Breakwater Cat" – 3:55
"Long and Lasting Love" – 5:30
"Before There Could Be Me" – 3:12
"Gone" – 3:43
"What Was That Song" – 4:19
"Suspicious Minds" (Mark James) – 4:15
"Down the Backstairs of My Life" (Eric Mercury, William Smith) – 3:00
"Understand Your Man" (Alan Gordon) – 3:27
"Lost and Found" (Daniel Moore) – 4:20
"Something We May Never Know" (Shelby Flint) – 3:38

Personnel
MusicThelma Houston – vocals
Sonny Burke – piano, arrangements
Matthew McCauley – string and horn arrangements
David T  Walker, Tim May, Steve Beckmeier, Carlos Rios, Steve Hunter, Fred Tackett, Greg Poree – guitar
David Shields, Eddie N  Watkins Jr , Keni Burke, Scott Edwards, Dennis Belfield, Reggie McBride – bass guitar
Gary Morse - steel guitar on "Something We May Never Know"
Jerry Peters - keyboards
James Gadson – drums
Jerry Hey - horn
Paulinho da Costa – percussion
Clydie King – backing vocals
Greg Wright – backing vocals
Oren Waters – backing vocals
Tom Kelly – backing vocalsProductionJames Gadson – producer
Michael Stewart – producer
Mike Vickers – assistant producer
Jimmy Webb – executive producer
Brian Christian – engineer
Frank "Cheech" D'Amici – engineer
Mark Linett – engineer
Rick Hart – engineer
Rick Ruggieri – engineer
Gribbitt! – art direction
Henry Vizcarra – art direction
Tim Bryant – art direction
Charles Veal, Jr  – contractor
Jerry Hoff – contractor
Sid Sharp – contractor
Lynne Morse – A&R coordinator
Linda Gerrity – production coordinator
Glenn Parsons - design
Gribbitt! - design
John Arrias – mixing
Ron Slenzak – photography



ground_truth: Dottie Hinson