Love Baseball Trivia? Follow Bat Boys, Stat

You’ve seen them hit the upper decks, throw wicked fast balls and execute double plays with graceful efficiency, but did you know that some Houston Astros players get hyped listening to Bad Bunny and Drake? Or why Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Bailey Falter doesn’t have a walk-up song? That if he weren’t playing ball, New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor would be a dentist? Or the story behind San Diego Padres pitcher Sean Manaea’s tattoos?

Most of the reporting on the teams that made it to this year’s postseason—including the two now facing off in the World Series—doesn’t mention these kinds of fun facts. But Washington-Liberty High School alum Liam Holland and Yorktown alum Eric Shellhouse do. Bat Boys Baseball, the social media platform they created in 2020, is all about capturing players’ quirks, back stories and personalities.

See more at arlingtonmagazine.com

Two Breast Cancer Survivors Describe Their Journeys, From Diagnosis to Treatment

Breast cancer is one of the most studied forms of the disease, largely because it is the most common type of cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute. More than 290,000 people in the United States are expected to be diagnosed with it this year, including approximately 2,700 men.

Those are scary stats, but Dr. Molly Sebastian, medical director of the Reinsch Pierce Family Center for Breast Health at Virginia Hospital Center, says the disease’s prevalence leads to additional research and new treatment options.

See more at northernvirginiamag.com

Arlington Ranked as “America’s Fittest City”

Arlington is the country’s fittest city for a record fourth year in a row, according to an annual fitness index released today by the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) and the Anthem Foundation.

Minneapolis, in the No. 2 spot, and Seattle round out the top three. Washington, D.C., came in at No. 6 on the index.

Besides claiming the overall top position with 86.1 points out of a possible 100, Arlington holds the No. 1 spot for personal health and community/environment, plus eight other indicators that factored into the study.

See more at arlingtonmagazine.com

When 911 calls require a mental health response

With the number of 911 calls related to mental health on the rise, a pilot in Durham, North Carolina, looks to integrate mental health case management into the city’s computer-aided dispatch system.

See more at gcn.com

How a Virginia county wooed Amazon and Boeing

Happenstance had nothing to do with Amazon’s selection of Arlington, Virginia, for its second headquarters in 2018 or Boeing’s announcement last week that it will relocate its headquarters there. County government departments play an important role in attracting major technology companies by offering tax incentives, access to dark fiber and deep talent pools. The underlying reason for the effort is the betterment of all stakeholders, experts say.

“We talk a lot about public/private partnerships. It’s really not that. We’re orchestrating an ecosystem, where, basically, government and private, government, commercial, education, higher ed are all collaborating in a way that benefits one another,” said Jack Belcher, chief information officer for Arlington County. “It’s really determining how each of us can develop win-win situations.”

See more at gcn.com

Why data centers call Virginia home

Northern Virginia is home to the largest data center market in the world, with a significant percentage of global internet traffic running through Loudoun County alone. The key to this success is two-fold, experts say.

First is history. Vinay Nagpal, president of InterGlobix, a consultancy and advisory firm focused on the convergence of data centers and subsea and terrestrial fiber, points to AOL’s establishment of its headquarters in Dulles in 1996, although the company’s founders set up the company, initially called Quantum Computer Services, in the region 11 years earlier.

See more at gcn.com

DC luxury hotel managers optimistic about post-pandemic future

Luxury hotel managers in the nation’s capital are optimistic that the hospitality industry here will rebound quickly as restrictions put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19 are lifted.

Right now, most businesses in D.C. are no longer operating under any constraints, a welcome change for hotels that saw occupancy levels — and revenues — drop by as much as 80% in 2020. And then there are the 27 hotels that closed for a portion of last year and the nine that closed permanently, according to Destination DC, the District’s official tourism marketing organization. That included some big names such as the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

Two main themes emerged as managers discussed plans for making a comeback. One is innovation and the other is improving the leisure experience.

See more at washdiplomat.com