Mark Buehrle (pronounced “burly”) is a baseball pitcher who recently joined the Toronto Blue Jays.
Buehrle is an extraordinary pitcher. He is one of only 18 people in the game’s history to pitch a “perfect game.” He did that in 2009, just two years after pitching a “no-hitter,” which is also very rare.
The Blue Jays are pinning some of their hopes of winning this season on Buehrle.
However, there is a problem. When Buehrle signed on with the Jays, he had to move to Toronto.
Ontario law doesn’t allow people to keep pit bulls as pets; Buehrle has a pit bull named Slater.
Buehrle doesn’t want to keep his family—including his wife and two children, Braden (5) and Brooklyn (4)—from their beloved dogs. So he has moved to Toronto alone. The rest of his family will remain in St. Louis with Slater and their three other dogs (which are Vizslas). The Buehrles rescued Slater from an animal pound and adopted him.
Buehrle and his wife are animal rights advocates.
They, and other people who argue against the pit-bull ban, say the dogs are unfairly discriminated against because of their tough-looking appearance.
The law against pit bulls was created in Ontario in 2005 after a girl was attacked by a pit bull.
Related links
There is more information about perfect games and no-hitters in this TKN article:
Relatively Unknown Pitcher Pitches A Perfect Game
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
Mark Buehrle and the Province of Ontario have different opinions about pit-bulls. Which side do you agree with? Why?
Reading Prompt: Responding to and Evaluating Texts
Mark Buehrle made a difficult choice, but was it the right one? What do you think he should have done? Why do you think so?
Primary
Express personal opinions about ideas presented in texts (OME, Reading: 1.8).
Junior
Make judgements and draw conclusions about the ideas and information in texts and cite stated or implied evidence from the text to support their views (OME, Reading: 1.8).
Intermediate
Evaluate the effectiveness of both simple and complex texts based on evidence from the texts (OME, Reading: 1.8).
Grammar Feature: Sentence Length
Sentence length is a tool that writers use to communicate different types of ideas.
Read the two sentences below and discuss with a friend the different impact they have.
Why do you think an author chooses to write a long sentence?
Why write a short one?
“Buehrle and his wife are animal rights advocates.”
“They, and other people who argue against the pit-bull ban, say the dogs are unfairly discriminated against because of their tough-looking appearance.”
