Below are the 8 most recent journal entries recorded in halliestickels' InsaneJournal:

Monday, April 25th, 2011
8:51 am	Yankees use three-run 11th to beat Orioles 6-3 http://cheapshopping.blog.hr/ The New York Yankees blew a late lead, had a runner thrown out at the plate in the 10th inning and stranded nine. And still - as usual - they beat the Baltimore Orioles. Russell Martin singled home the tiebreaking run in the 11th inning after Mariano Rivera gave up the lead in the ninth, and the Yankees escaped with a 6-3 victory Sunday. "We found a way to get it done," New York Cheap Football Jerseys manager Joe Girardi said. "That's the bottom line." Rivera, who blew his second save in nine tries, said, "Thank God we won the game. To me that's the most important." The thriller of a game had a bit of everything, including a 40-minute rain delay in the 11th inning. Baltimore rallied against Joba Chamberlain and Rivera; both teams missed a chance to win in the late innings; and the Yankees ultimately prevailed on the strength of three infield hits and a couple of Baltimore errors in a wild 11th. Robinson Cano led off the 11th with a double off Jason Berken (0-1). After Nick Swisher failed on a bunt attempt, Cano was caught between the bases. Catcher Matt Wieters threw to second, and Cano scampered safely to third. Swisher struck out, and after an intentional walk to Eric Chavez, Martin hit a grounder deep in the hole to shortstop Robert Andino, who threw wildly to second in a desperate attempt to start a double play. "It's just a firm groundball that was hit in the right spot," Orioles manager Buck Showalter said. "Robert tried to make a great play and I applaud him for it." One out later, Derek Jeter hit a slow roller to third, and Mark Reynolds' throw went awry on what was ruled an infield hit. Curtis Granderson followed with an RBI single off the glove of second baseman Brian Roberts. Boone Logan (1-1) got four outs, and Buddy Carlyle retired the final two batters. Jeter had four hits for the Yankees, who earned their sixth straight series win at Camden Yards. New York is 41-17 against Baltimore since the start of the 2008 season. After Reynolds hit a two-run homer off Chamberlain to make it 3-2 in the seventh, the Orioles drew even in the ninth. With runners on first and second and two outs, Roberts bounced a double into the right-field corner. One run scored, but Andino was thrown out at the plate by Cano, who took the relay from Swisher. "A perfect relay is what it takes," Girardi said. "Swish comes up and hits the cutoff man, hits Robbie, and Robbie makes a good throw and we get Andino." The throw kept the Yankees alive, but Rivera still felt badly about giving up the lead. "They were a couple of close pitches, the umpire called them balls. I just battle, just battle," the right-hander said. "At the end, Brian put a good ball inside the base. You can't do nothing against that." In the top of the 10th, New York had runners at the corners with one out when Alex Rodriguez lifted a fly ball to medium center. Jeter tagged up at third and Adam Jones uncorked a dart that reached Wieters in the air. Wieters had the plate blocked, and he tagged Jeter for the final out. "Pretty simple," Jones said. "Who cares about the cutoff man in that situation? If I one-hopped it or anything like that, he would have been safe." Freddy Garcia pitched six innings of two-hit ball for New York and left with a 3-0 lead. He struck out seven and walked two in his second start with the Yankees. The right-hander permitted one runner past second base and retired 13 of the last 14 batters he faced. "I was throwing strikes, changing a lot of speeds," Garcia said. "That's my game. I have to go out there and throw strikes." With the score 3-2 in the eighth, the Orioles got runners on the corners with two outs against David Robertson. Rivera came in to face Luke Scott, who hit an opposite-field liner to left that the speedy Brett Gardner snagged just short of the warning track. In a rare outburst of emotion, a grinning Rivera thrust his right arm upward before walking off the mound. "It's a game-saving play is what it is," Girardi said. Orioles starter Jake Arrieta gave up three runs, five hits and three walks in six innings. The right-hander had a career-high nine strikeouts. New York needed only four pitches to take a 2-0 lead. After Jeter singled on Arrieta's first offering, Granderson hit a 1-1 pitch into the right-field seats, his team-high seventh homer of the season. Arrieta rebounded from his poor start to keep the Yankees in check until the fifth, when Granderson doubled and scored on a grounder by Rodriguez. (Comment on this)
Friday, April 1st, 2011
11:16 am	Leading Off: The Face of the New Yankees http://cheapshopping.blog.hr/ The father walked into the house a few minutes before noon after a morning of tending to the farm. Jerry Gardner has about 2,600 acres in Holly Hill, S.C., a two-stoplight town of about 2,500, where he has grown corn, soy beans, wheat, cotton and his prize harvest, an outfielder named Brett. On the telephone, he said he had called it a day cheap football jerseys early because it was getting close to game time in the Bronx and his boy would be leading off the season for the Yankees, ahead of a living legend, Derek Jeter. “I just don’t know how I could get any prouder,” said Jerry Gardner, a former minor league infielder in the Phillies organization. At Yankee Stadium, Brett Gardner stepped in against the Tigers’ Justin Verlander in the bottom of the first inning at 1:19 p.m., swung through a 2-2 fastball tailing away, but that wasn’t the point. If opening day is about pomp, circumstance and symbolism, then Gardner was the ideal table-setter and inspiration for a long-imperious team suddenly in need of a chip on the shoulder of its pinstripes. On Manager Joe Girardi’s roster, it fits best on Gardner, who doesn’t give an inch and has no interest in acknowledging that he is among the more improbable leadoff hitters in the 27-championship history of the franchise. “You want to feel and act like you belong,” Gardner said before a 6-3 victory over the Tigers scripted perfectly to the Yankees’ presumed strengths — power and end-game relief pitching. “It’s an honor to be at the top, especially a lineup that has so many great hitters. But all it means is that I’m guaranteed to hit in the first inning.” Gardner cannot even say that he is the most famous Yankee native from his blink-and-you’ll-miss-it-hometown. Willie Randolph was also born in Holly Hill, where Gardner graduated from a high school class of 22 in 2001 and was not offered a single Division I scholarship. He had feelers from Division II programs but preferred trying to walk on at the College of Charleston. When he didn’t get a callback, he brought his baseball equipment home and figured he was done. His father was beside himself, incredulous and sleepless. “During those days — feels like yesterday — I was up at 3 a.m. day after day,” Jerry Gardner said. One early morning, he sat down and wrote a heartfelt letter to the Charleston coach, John Pawlowski, asking that he take another look at the boy who could put the ball in play with authority and run like the wind. Brett Gardner made the team and by senior year was a first-team all-American, on the Yankees’ draft radar. Last season, mainly batting ninth, he led them with a .383 on-base percentage, a dollop of unbridled scrappiness among aging icons and All-Stars. No team with a $200 million payroll can cast itself in the image of a 5-foot 10-inch, 180-pound overachiever, however. Positioned by experts in the shadow of the upgraded Red Sox, the Yankees can never be the classic underdog, baseball’s Virginia Commonwealth. They just might be Connecticut, if they can cover their flaws and respond to diminished expectations almost everywhere but within their own clubhouse. Begin with the unsettled nature of the rotation, then move on to the left side of the infield, where Jeter and Alex Rodriguez roam, without much range. The middle of the lineup remains imposing, evidenced by Mark Teixeira’s third-inning, three-run blast. But questions persist about the top of the order, where the lefty-hitting Gardner will lead off against right-handers and give way to Jeter when the Yankees face a southpaw. Jeter couldn’t care less if he bats first or second, the two-hole being an old stomping ground, but he was vehemently clear that the subject of his career-worst .270 batting average in 2010 is no longer open for discussion. He will nonetheless be watched closely on his inevitable march to 3,000 hits. He didn’t move closer Thursday but he walked and scored on Teixeira’s shot off Verlander and smacked a sacrifice fly to center that delivered an insurance run after Curtis Granderson’s homer gave the Yankees the lead in the seventh. Gardner helped set up that run with one of two sacrifice bunts (along with two strikeouts). The other one, after Russell Martin opened the third with a single, landed Gardner in a chat with Girardi that was fascinating mainly because Gardner had his arm around Girardi, as if he were mentoring the manager. Afterward, Gardner would only say that he was bunting for a hit and we should leave it at that. There is a big difference between hitting ninth and first, in terms of expectations, as a fretful father would know best. Told that Brett had shrugged off the significance, Jerry Gardner said: “It might be more pressure than he’s letting on. He’s never liked being in the limelight.” Then again, he did bat leadoff for the Yankees on opening day, a decade after his baseball career almost ended. That much, Jerry Gardner could appreciate and celebrate, knowing the alternative for his son might have been the minors or the farm. (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 26th, 2011
9:35 am	Rangers-Bruins start a full Saturday of hockey Saturday matinees are a hockey tradition in Boston, so it’s not surprising that the Bruins and New York Rangers have an early call this Saturday. The Original Six rivals meet for the third time this season when the Rangers come to TD Garden for a 1 p.m. ET faceoff, the start of a busy 12-game day of NHL hockey. Both teams are coming off home games on Thursday -- but while the Bruins played perhaps their best game of the season in a 7-0 wipeout of Montreal, the Rangers looked sluggish in a 2-1 shootout loss to Ottawa. http://cheapshopping.blog.hr/ In Saturday's other afternoon game, Colorado visits Los Angeles at 4 p.m. ET. The struggling Avs lost 4-3 at home to Toronto on Thursday, the same night the Kings beat San Jose 4-3 in a shootout at home. The action resumes at 7 p.m. ET with five games, all of which have playoff implications. Washington, the NHL's hottest team entering the weekend, completes a six-game road trip at the Bell Centre in Montreal, the same place the trip began 12 days ago. The game can be seen on the NHL Network in the United States and on CBC and RDS in Canada. Toronto goes for a sweep of a three-game cheap football jerseys trip when it visits Detroit, a game that can also be seen in parts of Canada on CBC. The Wings have been off since Wednesday's 2-1 home loss to Vancouver. Buffalo, eighth in the East, hosts New Jersey and Tampa Bay visits Carolina in the back end of a home-and-home series. Philadelphia, trying to hold off Washington for first in the East, visits the New York Islanders. The Flyers, who've tied a League record by playing four consecutive shootouts, lost 2-1 in a tiebreaker to Pittsburgh on Thursday, while the Isles fell 2-1 in regulation to Atlanta. Two more games start at 8 p.m. ET. Dallas begins a five-game trip at Nashville in a battle between two Western Conference playoff contenders. Both teams are coming off home games against Anaheim -- the Stars lost 4-3 in overtime on Wednesday, while the Predators held on to beat the Ducks 5-4 on Thursday. Also at 8, St. Louis visits Minnesota. The Ducks continue their trip with a game in Chicago that gets under way at 8:30. The Hawks, who've had two days off since blanking Florida 4-0 on Wednesday, start a stretch that will see them play nine games in the season's final 16 days. Phoenix can pull even in points with Pacific Division-leading San Jose when the Sharks come to Jobing.com Arena for a 9 p.m. ET start. The Coyotes improved to 8-1-1 in their last 10 games by blanking Columbus 3-0 on Thursday. In the final game of the night, Calgary visits Edmonton in the Battle of Alberta, a game that can be seen as the second half of CBC's Hockey Night in Canada doubleheader. The Flames are desperate for points after concluding an 0-1-2 swing through California with a 6-3 loss at San Jose on Wednesday. Edmonton's 4-0 loss at St. Louis on Thursday was its eighth in a row. Current Mood: bitchy (Comment on this)
Friday, March 18th, 2011
9:31 am	Missouri QB Gabbert showcases skills for scouts http://cheapshopping.blog.hr/ Six head coaches, several general managers and a Hall of Fame passer turned front-office executive joined scouts from each of the 32 NFL teams to watch former Missouri quarterback Blaine Gabbert as he worked out with a chance to be the No. 1 selection in April's draft. The crowd at Missouri's pro day Thursday included Denver Broncos vice-president John Elway and coach John Fox, New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, Jim Harbaugh cheap football jerseys of the San Francisco 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, Leslie Frazier of the Minnesota Vikings and Tennessee coach Mike Munchak. The Carolina Panthers, who have the draft's top choice, sent several representatives. Coach Ron Rivera was scheduled to attend but did not. Gabbert is a likely first-round pick and hopes to be the first quarterback chosen in the April 28 draft ahead of Heisman Trophy winner Cam Newton, Washington's Jake Locker and Ryan Mallett of Arkansas. Some draft analysts project him as the overall top pick. Gabbert, who is leaving Missouri following his junior year, said he embraces the prospect of being a top pick. He's represented by powerhouse agent Tom Condon, whose QB clients include former first-round picks Matt Ryan, Josh Freeman, Matt Stafford and Sam Bradford. Bradford was selected as the top overall draft choice in 2010 by the St. Louis Rams, and, like Gabbert, was a quarterback who had to convince scouts he could transition from throwing out of the shotgun in a college spread offence to taking snaps under centre. Like Condon's other clients, Gabbert chose not to throw at the Indianapolis combine in late February, making Thursday's showcase even more important for the NFL talent evaluators. "This is fun," Gabbert told a throng of reporters after his workout. "I'm going to be happy with whoever picks me." Gabbert completed 44-of-49 throws in a scripted sequence laid out in advance by private quarterbacks coach Terry Shea. The script included hitch passes, fades, deep outs, five- and seven-step drops, rollouts to his left side and more — with a makeshift cast of four small-college, draft eligible receivers whom Gabbert had to rely on thanks to restrictions under the NFL lockout. The receiving corps from Division II schools Central Missouri and Northwest Missouri State and Lindenwood of the NAIA had three drops. But at least one of the crew — wide receiver Jamorris Warren — turned enough heads to earn an invite to private team workouts, including an Arizona Cardinals' session next week in Columbia where he will again play catch with Gabbert. Not all the NFL contingent came to see Gabbert. Sculpted defensive end Aldon Smith, also projected as a first-round pick, impressed scouts with his athletic ability, agility and untapped potential. Center Tim Barnes is also expected to be chosen in the draft. Both Condon and Gabbert said that they have not decided whether to sit out next month's draft ceremony in New York should the labour impasse still be in place. "I'm not really educated on the subject," Gabbert said. "But the draft is a month-and-a-half away. I'm confident they're going to work things out." In the meantime, the courtship continues. Gabbert dined with the Buffalo Bills on Wednesday night, with the Vikings picking up Thursday night's tab. Shea said that he doesn't expect his latest pupil to wait very long before hearing his name called by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. "I see him as the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft," Shea said. "I remember the journey we travelled last year with Bradford. When I first met Sam, the Rams were talking nothing but two great defensive tackles. By the time it was over, Sam Bradford was the No. 1 pick. Blaine Gabbert is in that same class." Current Mood: chipper (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 12th, 2011
9:41 am	Football news http://cheapshopping.blog.hr/ After a brief respite, the issue surrounding college football players and the wrong side of the law has surfaced once again. According to the Detroit Free Press, senior tight end Brian Linthicum and sophomore linebacker Max Bullough were arrested early Thursday morning following cheap football jerseys an incident at an Aspen, Colo., bar. The former was charged misdemeanor third-degree assault and the latter minor in possession of alcohol, while both players were hit with a charge of eluding police. No details of what led to the arrest and charges were released, and the players have a hearing scheduled for April 19. Students at Michigan State are currently on spring break. MSU officials were not available for comment. Linthicum, who had 18 receptions for 230 yards last season, and Bullough are favored to earn starting jobs at their respective positions. (Comment on this)
Saturday, March 5th, 2011
8:49 am	NFL, union agree to 24-hour deadline extension WASHINGTON—America's favorite sport is still in business -- for another day. Tweet Be the first to Tweet this! Yahoo! BuzzShareThis The NFL and the players' cheap football jerseys union decided Thursday to keep the current collective bargaining agreement in place for an additional 24 hours so that negotiations can continue. "The parties have agreed to a one-day extension," federal mediator George Cohen said in a one-sentence statement after the sides met with him for about eight hours. The CBA was set to expire at midnight, which would likely have prompted the first work stoppage since 1987 for a league that rakes in $9 billion a year. "For all our fans who dig our game, we appreciate your patience as we work through this," union executive director DeMaurice Smith said as he emerged from the talks. "We are going to keep working. We want to play football." http://cheapshopping.blog.hr/ Said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell as he left: "We are working as hard as we can." Allowing the CBA to expire could put the two sides on the road to a year without football, even though opening kickoff of the 2011 season is still six months away. The labor unrest comes as the NFL is at the height of its popularity, breaking records for TV ratings: This year's Super Bowl was the most-watched program in U.S. history. If the CBA expires, the owners could lock out the players, and the union could decertify to try and prevent that through the courts -- something the NFLPA did in 1989. It formed again in 1993. NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash said the sides had "good discussions and exchanges," and "we're going to be back here (Friday) morning." A person with knowledge of the talks said the 24-hour extension was an opportunity to decide whether there would be a willingness to extend negotiations further. The person, who spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the talks were supposed to remain confidential, said the sides were apart on economics, but have agreed on other topics. The person would not say what the two sides do agree on. Another person familiar with the negotiations said the two sides were not expected to resume face-to-face bargaining on Friday. Instead they'll meet separately with Cohen to hash out whether to prolong the extension -- and if so, for how many days. Washington Redskins player representative Vonnie Holliday cautioned that the two sides are "still apart" on a pact to replace the current CBA. "I don't see how we can be that close right now unless somebody is going to pull a rabbit out of the hat," he said. "I just don't see it." (Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 22nd, 2011
10:57 am	Trevor Bayne Makes History in Capturing First Daytona 500 Victory Read more: http://www.foxnews.co DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Trevor Bayne finally made a mistake. Fortunately for him, it didn't happen until he missed the turn pulling into Victory Lane at the Daytona 500. The youngest driver to win the Great American Race gave the historic Wood Brothers team its fifth Daytona 500 victory -- its first since cheap jersey1976 with David Pearson -- and Bayne did it in a No. 21 Ford that was retrofitted to resemble Pearson's famed ride. In just his second Sprint Cup start, the 20-year-old Bayne stunned NASCAR's biggest names with a thrilling overtime win Sunday at Daytona International Speedway, holding off Carl Edwards after fan favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. crashed in NASCAR's first attempt at a green-white-checkered flag finish. "Our first 500, are you kidding me?" said Bayne, who needed directions to Victory Lane. "Wow. This is unbelievable." http://cheapshopping.blog.hr/ Unbelievable, indeed. Just one day after celebrating his 20th birthday and leaving his teenage years behind, the aw-shucks Tennessean who shaves once a week and considers "Rugrats" his favorite TV show captured the sport's biggest race. When he found himself at the front, and victory just two laps away, he never thought it would last. Bayne was content just to say he had been leading at the start of the green-white-checkered. "I'm a little bit worried that one of them is going to come after me tonight," he said. "I'm going to have to sleep with one eye open. That's why I said I felt a little undeserving. I'm leading, and I'm saying, 'Who can I push?"' Bayne thought for sure Tony Stewart or someone else would attempt to pass. Nobody did. "We get to turn four, and we were still leading the band," he said. "It seemed a little bit too easy there at the end." The rookie had been great throughout Speedweeks, even proving his mettle by pushing four-time champion Jeff Gordon for most of a qualifying race, a performance Bayne said convinced the veterans he could be trusted on the track. "I figured they had a chance after seeing that boy race in the 150s," said Pearson, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in May. "I talked to him this morning. I told him to keep his head straight and not to do anything crazy. I told him to stay relaxed. I'm proud of him." With the win Bayne breaks Gordon's mark as the youngest winner in Daytona 500 history. Gordon was 25 when he won the 500 in 1997. "I think it's very cool. Trevor's a good kid, and I love the Wood Brothers," Gordon said. "I'm really happy for him. And I think it's great for the sport. To have a young talent like that -- he's got that spark, you know?" The victory for NASCAR pioneers Leonard and Glen Wood ended a 10-year-losing streak and came the week of the 10th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's fatal accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. This was only the fourth win in the last 20 years for Wood Brothers -- NASCAR's oldest team -- which hasn't run a full Sprint Cup season since 2006 and hit the low point of their 61-year-old existence when they failed to qualify for the 2008 Daytona 500. "When you miss a race, like the Daytona 500, it's like somebody died," said Eddie Wood, part of the second generation of Woods now running the team. "When you walk through the garage and you run into people you see every week, they don't look at you, they don't know what to say." The rebuild has been slow, and they got Bayne this year for 17 races, on loaner from Roush-Fenway Racing, the team that snatched him up late last season when Michael Waltrip Racing -- which gave Bayne his start in 2009 -- couldn't promise a sponsor for this season. So it was on to Roush, which plans for Bayne to run for the Nationwide Series title this season, and a deal was made to get him some seat time in the Cup Series with the Woods. It wouldn't be for points, and he wasn't eligible to run for rookie of the year. But the stunning Daytona 500 win -- and the $1,462,563 payday -- might change everybody's plans. The team already said it will now go to Martinsville, the sixth race of the season, which had not been on its original schedule. Bayne could possibly retract his decision to run for the Nationwide title. "I don't even know if that's an option," Bayne said. Sunday's race had a record 74 lead changes among 22 drivers, and a record 16 cautions that wiped out many of the leaders, including Earnhardt Jr. on the first attempt at NASCAR's version of overtime. It put Bayne out front with a slew of unusual suspects. David Ragan, winless in 147 career starts, was actually leading the field on NASCAR's first attempt at a green-white-checkered finish. But he was flagged for changing lanes before the starting line, then an accident that collected Earnhardt in the middle of the pack brought out the caution, and Bayne inherited the lead. But he had two-time series champion Stewart, now winless in 13 career Daytona 500s, lurking behind with veterans Bobby Labonte, Mark Martin and Kurt Busch, who had collected two previous wins over Speedweeks. All were chomping at the bit for their first Daytona 500 title, but Bayne never blinked, holding his gas pedal down wide open as he staved off every challenge over the two-lap final shootout. "It was too easy," Bayne said. He said he thought for sure he was going to brake, let Stewart in front of him, and push someone else to the win. Then nobody ever passed him. Edwards wound up second in a Ford and seemed genuinely happy for Bayne. "Second place in the Daytona 500 feels way worse than any other position I've ever finished in the Daytona 500," Edwards said. "But that is made better by listening to Trevor and how excited he is. He is really a nice young man, a great guy to represent this sport with this win. "I think the world's going to like him a lot." David Gilliland finished third and was followed by Labonte and Busch. Juan Pablo Montoya was sixth, Regan Smith seventh, and Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Martin rounded out the top 10. Earnhardt Jr. wound up 24th. It was a rough start to the season for Hendrick Motorsports as three of the team's four cars, including five-time defending Sprint Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson, were involved in an early 14-car wreck. (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 6th, 2011
9:25 am	U.K. Panel Questions Readiness To Fix Spill LONDON—In a new report, U.K. lawmakers raised serious doubts about whether the oil industry was prepared to tackle a North Sea oil spill similar to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, but stopped short of recommending a moratorium on drilling akin to that imposed in the U.S. Instead, the U.K. Parliament's Energy and Climate Change Committee called on the government and regulators to compel oil companies to improve their spill-response plans, raise the liability limit for spill costs and install extra fail-safe equipment on rigs. While the committee didn't directly investigate the causes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, it was critical of BP PLC executive Mark Bly's report on the tragedy, particularly his conclusion that the design of the Macondo well played no part in the rupture. "We urge the government not to rely extensively on the Bly Report, given the controversy surrounding the responsibility for the incident and the design of the Macondo well," it said. BP said it hadn't seen the report yet and couldn't comment. Major changes to drilling regulations could have a significant impact on the U.K. because its main deep-water area, west of the Shetland Islands, is thought to be home to the bulk of the country's undeveloped oil and gas resources. For this reason, "a moratorium on deep-water drilling off the west coast of Shetland would undermine the U.K.'s energy security and isn't necessary," said Tim Yeo, the Conservative member of Parliament who is chairman of the committee, in a statement accompanying the report. The majority of U.K. wells drilled in the North Sea have been in shallow areas, but as resources have dwindled there companies have pushed into deeper and more hostile waters in search of new fields. BP, Chevron Corp. and France's Total SA have been searching for oil and gas west of Shetland in water depths of between about 600 and 1,600 meters2,000 feet and 5,250 feet. The Deepwater Horizon was drilling in about 1,500 meters 5,000 feet of water when it exploded in April, killing 11 men and spilling almost five million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. U.K. lawmakers criticized oil companies' readiness for a similar incident in the North Sea. "The offshore oil and gas industry is responding to disasters, rather than anticipating worst-case scenarios and planning for high-consequence, low-probability events," the committee report said. In particular, existing oil-spill plans for the area west of Shetland were inadequate, the panel said. "There are serious doubts about the ability of oil spill response equipment to function in the harsh environment of the open Atlantic in the West of Shetland," it said. "We recommend that the government ensures that any capping, containment and cleanup systems are designed to take full account of the harsh and challenging environment." Current industry provisions for the cost of any cleanup are also lacking, it said. Given the high price tab for the Gulf of Mexico spill, the cap of $250 million set out under the Offshore Pollution Liability Association is too low and the rules as to what kinds of damage are covered by this fund are too vague, it said. The committee's third big recommendation was that an extra precaution be added to the piece of equipment that was the last line of defense against the accident that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon—the blowout preventer. A set of blind shear rams, two large pieces of metal within the blowout preventer that were supposed to close the drill pipe on the Deepwater Horizon, failed to operate, allowing oil and gas to flow freely from the well head and into the Gulf of Mexico for three months. "Blowout preventers on the U.K. continental shelf should have two [sets of] blind shear rams," the committee said. There was only one set of blind shear rams, the current industry standard, in the blowout preventer on the Macondo well in the Gulf. The committee rejected moves from the European Commission to regulate drilling in U.K. waters. It also said there was no need for the U.K. to follow the U.S. in a fundamental overhaul of its regulatory regime. (Comment on this)