title: Ramon Novarro

text: According to the prosecution in the murder case, the two young men believed that a large sum of money was hidden in Novarro's house. The prosecution accused the brothers of torturing Novarro for several hours to force him to reveal where the (non-existent) money was hidden. They left the house with $20 they took from his bathrobe pocket. Novarro died as a result of asphyxiation, having choked to death on his own blood after being beaten. The two perpetrators were caught and sentenced to long prison terms, but released on parole in the mid-1970s. Both were later re-arrested for unrelated crimes for which they served longer prison terms than for the murder of Novarro. In a 1998 interview, Paul Ferguson finally assumed the blame for Novarro's death. Tom Ferguson died of suicide on March 6, 2005. Paul Ferguson died in 2018, while serving out a 60-year sentence for rape in Missouri.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Angel Stadium of Anaheim is a baseball stadium located in Anaheim, California. Since its opening in 1966, it has served as the home ballpark of the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB), and was also the home stadium to the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL) from 1980 to 1994.


title: Angel Stadium

text: The stadium is often referred to by its unofficial nickname The Big A, coined by "Herald Examiner" Sports Editor, Bud Furillo. It is the fourth-oldest active ballpark in the majors, behind Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, and Dodger Stadium, and hosted the All-Star Game in 1967, 1989, and 2010.


title: Angel Stadium

text: ARTIC (Anaheim Regional Transportation Intermodal Center) servicing the Metrolink Orange County Line and Amtrak Pacific Surfliner, is located nearby on the other side of the State Route 57 and accessed through the Douglass Road gate at the northeast corner of the parking lot. The station provides convenient access to the stadium, the nearby Honda Center, and Disneyland from various communities along the route, which links San Luis Obispo, Los Angeles, and San Diego. The Anaheim Resort Transit stops at the center along with Orange County Transportation Authority buses.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Aside from professional baseball and football, Angel Stadium has hosted high school and college football games, the short-lived World Football League, two crusades by Evangelist Billy Graham, nearly 20 consecutive annual crusades by Evangelist Greg Laurie, Eid el Fitr celebrations, and concerts, and 2 to 3 AMA Supercross Championship races a year.


title: Angel Stadium

text: The stadium also houses the studios and offices of the Angels' owned and operated flagship radio station, KLAA (830 AM).


title: Angel Stadium

text: Angel Stadium and its surrounding parking lot are roughly bounded by Katella Avenue to the north, the Orange Freeway to the east, Orangewood Avenue to the south, and State College Boulevard to the west.


title: Angel Stadium

text: The landmark "Big A" sign, which originally served as a scoreboard support in left field, is located near the eastern boundary of the parking lot. The halo located near the top of the tall, 210-ton sign is illuminated following games in which the Angels win (both at home and on the road). Broadcaster Victor Rojas would refer to the halo by saying "Light that baby up!" after a victory.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Angel Stadium has been the home of the Angels since their move from Los Angeles. On August 31, 1964, ground was broken for Anaheim Stadium and in 1966, the then-California Angels moved into their new home after having spent four seasons renting Dodger Stadium (referred to in Angels games as Chavez Ravine Stadium) from the Dodgers. (In their inaugural season of 1961, the Angels played their home games at Los Angeles' Wrigley Field.)


title: Angel Stadium

text: The stadium was built on a parcel of about of flat land originally used for agricultural purposes by the Allec, Russell, and Knutzen families in the southeast portion of Anaheim. Consistent with many major-league sports stadiums built in the 1960s, it is located in a suburban area, though one that is host to major tourist attractions.


title: Angel Stadium

text: The field dimensions (333 feet instead of 347 or 350, for example) were derived from a scientific study conducted by the Angels. Based on the air density at normal game times (1:30 pm and 8 pm), the Angels tried to formulate dimensions that were fairly balanced between pitcher, hitter, and average weather conditions. The Angels tinkered with those dimensions several times, expanding or contracting parts of the outfield by a few feet here and there, to try to refine that balance. is the shortest center-field in the American League, and tied for 3rd-shortest in the major leagues with Petco Park behind only Oracle Park's and Dodger Stadium at .


title: Angel Stadium

text: None of this seemed to matter to their Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan, who threw two of his record seven no-hitters in this ballpark, and racked up 2,416 of his 5,714 career strikeouts in eight seasons with the Angels (Ryan stats from "The Sporting News Baseball Record Book"). One of the no-hitters, on June 1, 1975, was his fourth, which tied Sandy Koufax's career record, one Ryan would eventually surpass with seven by the end of his career in 1993.


title: Angel Stadium

text: In the late 1970s, Los Angeles Rams owner Carroll Rosenbloom was looking for a more modern venue than the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and also wanted a stadium that would be small enough to keep Rams games from being blacked out on local television. The Coliseum seated almost 100,000 people, and the Rams had trouble filling it even in their best years. Rosenbloom brokered a deal by which the Rams would move from Los Angeles to an expanded Anaheim Stadium. To add more seats (eventually about 23,000) for football games, the mezzanine and upper decks were extended completely around the playing field, resulting in a roughly trapezoidal, completely enclosed stadium. An elevated bank of bleachers was built in right field, and temporary seats were placed underneath, to be pulled out for football games. Another bank of bleachers was built in left field. As a result, the view of the local mountains and State Highway 57 was lost.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Additionally, the Big A scoreboard support that stood in left field, and was the inspiration for the stadium's nickname, was moved to its present site in the parking lot, adjoining the Orange Freeway beyond the right-field stands; its usage changed from scoreboard to electronic marquee advertising upcoming events at the stadium. A black and amber scoreboard/instant replay video board was installed above the newly constructed upper deck seats in left field. Swift technical innovations in scoreboards in the 1980s quickly made the 1979 display obsolete, and the visual quality was washed out during day games as it was in direct sunshine, thus in 1988, a Sony Jumbotron color board replaced it, with amber matrix displays installed about the right field upper deck and along the infield balcony. A triangular metal spire was added to the top of the Jumbotron to evoke the original emplacement of the "Big A".


title: Angel Stadium

text: As with the addition of football seats to Candlestick Park a decade before to accommodate the rival San Francisco 49ers, the changes would be to the disadvantage of the Angels, their fans, and the stadium atmosphere. No seat was further than from the field when first designed for baseball. However, as was the case nearly everywhere else where the multipurpose stadium concept was tried, most of the new center field seats were too far from the action. Also, while the expanded capacity allowed the Angels to set attendance records that still stand today, on most occasions even crowds of 40,000 left swaths of unusable and empty seats. It also didn't completely solve the television blackout issue which inspired the Rams to move from the Coliseum, as the stadium would not sell out if the Rams weren't competitive or the opposing team did not draw their own fans to Anaheim to sell out the game.


title: Angel Stadium

text: The expansion was completed in time for the 1980 NFL season, and the Rams played in Anaheim Stadium from then until their move to St. Louis after the 1994 season. The Rams would return to Los Angeles in 2016, playing their games at the Memorial Coliseum again for four seasons; the team moved into the new SoFi Stadium in 2020.


title: Angel Stadium

text: The January 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake on Martin Luther King Jr. Day caused the left-field Jumbotron to collapse onto the upper deck seats beneath it. As the Rams and Angels were both out of season and it occurred in the pre-dawn hours, nobody was injured. The damaged section was deconstructed and rebuilt with a new scoreboard structure and Jumbotron, eliminating the A-frame spire that evoked the Big A.


title: Angel Stadium

text: In 1996, The Walt Disney Company, a minority owner of the team since its inception (the stadium is located less than 3 miles (5 km) east of Disneyland and across from the Honda Center, the home venue of the then Disney-owned Mighty Ducks of Anaheim), gained enough support on the board to effectively take control of the team. Soon afterward, the Angels and the city of Anaheim agreed to a new deal that would keep the Angels in Anaheim until 2031, with an option to leave the facility after the 2016 season. As part of the deal, the stadium underwent an extensive renovation, returning the stadium to its original role as a baseball-only facility. Before the 1997 baseball season, the section behind the outfield wall was demolished. Disney briefly considered moving the Big A scoreboard to its original location, but decided against such a move, citing costs, as well as the fact that the Big A had become a Southern California landmark in its parking lot location.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Despite the fact that much of the stadium was still a hard-hat zone, the demolition and construction being only half-completed, the Angels played their 1997 season in Anaheim. Fans were greeted by a restored view of the San Gabriel and Santa Ana Mountains, the Brea Hills, and the 57 freeway beyond the outfield.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Work that didn't interfere with game play continued throughout the 1997 season, with major renovations resuming in the winter of 1997. These included the installation of outfield bleacher pavilions, a video display board and an out-of-town scoreboard below the right field seats. All of the multicolored seats were replaced by green seats. The exterior of the stadium was also renovated. The concrete structure and ramps were painted a combination of green and sandstone. Much of the façade of the stadium was torn down to create a more open feeling for visitors.


title: Angel Stadium

text: The most notable feature of the entire renovation, however, was a "California Spectacular" in which geysers erupt and a stream cascades down a mountainside (Pride Rock) covered with real trees, artificial rocks behind the left-center field fence, and new bullpens. Fireworks shoot out of the display at the start of games, after every Angel home run and after every Angel win (they had been shot off from a parking garage before then).


title: Angel Stadium

text: The field dimensions of the renovated stadium became somewhat asymmetrical, with the high fence in right center field (which earlier hid the football-only bleacher section) replaced by a high wall which contains a scoreboard displaying out-of-town scores of other games. A plaza was built around the perimeter of the stadium, and inside are statues depicting longtime Angel owner and chairman Gene Autry and Michelle Carew, daughter of former Angel Rod Carew, who died of leukemia at the age of 18.


title: Angel Stadium

text: The main entrance includes two giant Angels hats complete with New Era tags on the sweatband (including one indicating the hats' size: 649½). The hats were originally blue and featured the Angels' "winged" logo designed by Disney for the 1997 season, and were repainted red and decorated with the present-day halo insignia for the 2002 season. Also outside home plate gate is a full-sized brick infield complete with regulation pitcher's mound and lighted bases, with bricks at each player position engraved with the names of Angels players who played at that position on Opening Day of each season since the Angels began play in 1961. For a fee, the green infield bricks can be engraved with fans' names or personalized messages. The Angels opened their "new" stadium on April 1, 1998, with a 4–1 victory over the New York Yankees. The renovated stadium has 5,075 club seats and 78 luxury suites.


title: Angel Stadium

text: In 1998, the stadium was renamed Edison International Field of Anaheim after local utility Edison International reached a deal giving it naming rights over the stadium for 20 years, and during this time, the stadium was referred to as the "Big Ed". However, after the 2003 season, Edison International exercised its option to exit the sponsorship deal. On December 29, 2003, the Angels announced that from then on the stadium would be known as Angel Stadium (in full, Angel Stadium of Anaheim); Disney sold the Angels around this time as well.


title: Angel Stadium

text: In 2009, Brookings, South Dakota-based Daktronics installed light emitting diode (LED) displays at the stadium. The largest video display measures high by wide. Two smaller displays flank the large display, and a field-level display sits in the centerfield fence.


title: Angel Stadium

text: During the 2017-2018 offseason, the Angels upgraded the existing video boards in left and right field. The new left field video board measures , while the new right field board measures , the fourth largest scoreboard in MLB. In addition to this, the out of town scoreboard was upgraded, new video ribbons stretch from foul pole to foul pole, and a new sound system was added. Because of the new out of town scoreboard, the Angels moved the home run line in right field down from to , though the height of the right field wall remains the same.


title: Angel Stadium

text: The Angels opted out of their lease in October 2018, largely to avoid a contractual provision which would have forced them to remain in the stadium until 2029, though the club then had no new stadium proposals or moving plans. In December 2019, the city of Anaheim agreed to sell the stadium and surrounding land to an Arte Moreno-affiliated management company for $325 million, with the team committed to remain in Anaheim until at least 2050, with options to remain until at least 2065. The deal, made behind closed doors, has led to allegations of corruption and violations of the state's Surplus Land Act. An ongoing FBI investigation into the city's internal affairs and the stadium sale eventually led to the resignation of Anaheim mayor Harry Sidhu on May 23, 2022, putting the stadium's pending sale into question. On May 24, 2022, the Anaheim City Council voted to cancel the sale to Moreno's SRB Management, in light of the corruption probe.


title: Angel Stadium

text: The stadium was host to the 1967 MLB All-Star Game, the first All-Star Game to be played on prime-time television. This was the first time an All-Star Game was held at night since World War II. Angel Stadium again hosted All-Star Games in 1989 and 2010.


title: Angel Stadium

text: It hosted seven American League Division Series (2002, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2014) and six American League Championship Series (1979, 1982, 1986, 2002, 2005, and 2009). Most notably, it hosted the 2002 World Series, which the Angels won in dramatic fashion over the San Francisco Giants, finally winning one for their late and long-time owner, "Singing Cowboy" Gene Autry (and for his widow and business partner Jackie, who is also honorary president of the American League).


title: Angel Stadium

text: Famous individual baseball milestones attained here include Mickey Mantle's last game-winning home run, Nolan Ryan's striking out of nine straight Boston Red Sox (and two of Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters), Reggie Jackson's 500th career home run, Rod Carew's 3,000th career base hit, Don Sutton's 300th career win, Vladimir Guerrero's 400th career home run, George Brett's 3,000th career base hit, and Albert Pujols' 600th career home run.


title: Angel Stadium

text: On Saturday, August 9, 2014, the stadium hosted its longest game ever: a 6-hour, 31-minute contest between the Angels and the Boston Red Sox. Albert Pujols led off the batting in the bottom of the 19th inning with a walk-off homer, giving the Angels the win, 5–4.


title: Angel Stadium

text: The stadium is currently designated to host softball and baseball events for the 2028 Summer Olympics along with Dodger Stadium.


title: Angel Stadium

text: A "Battle of the Bell" game between Fountain Valley High School and Edison High School was hosted here sometime during the 1970s.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Eric Dickerson broke the NFL single-season rushing record in game 15 of the 1984 season, finishing with 2,007 yards. (He would go on accumulate 2,105 yards that season.)


title: Angel Stadium

text: In December 2017, the Philadelphia Eagles used Angel Stadium as their practice field, as part of the Eagles’ two game west coast road trip.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Anaheim Stadium hosted five group stage matches of the 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup, including two involving the United States national team.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Angel Stadium has played host to major recording acts in concert such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Osmonds, Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, The Grateful Dead, Madonna, Eagles, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, and Toots and the Maytals.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Several major motion pictures have been shot at Angel Stadium. The final sequence of "" (1988) features an electronically manipulated Reggie Jackson trying to shoot Queen Elizabeth II. Exteriors were shot at the ballpark, but most baseball scenes were shot at Dodger Stadium. The 1988 sci-fi comedy "My Stepmother Is an Alien" features a scene shot in Angel Stadium of Kim Basinger speaking to an extraterrestrial counsel. The 1990 comedy "Taking Care of Business" featured a World Series matchup between the Angels and the Chicago Cubs, with the baseball scenes in the movie having been filmed in the stadium. The Disney remake of "Angels in the Outfield" (1994) prominently uses the ballpark; however, many of the interior shots were filmed at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum. The stadium served as a stand-in for Candlestick Park in filming of "The Fan" (1996). Scenes from "" and "" were also filmed here.


title: Angel Stadium

text: On November 16, 1979, Anaheim Stadium hosted Motorcycle speedway when it was the venue for the American Final, a qualifying round for the 1980 Speedway World Championship. Future dual World Champion Bruce Penhall won the Final from Scott Autrey and Dennis Sigalos. Penhall and Autrey qualified to the Intercontinental Final in England held over 6 months later. Penhall qualified through to his first World Final held at the Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden where he finished in 5th place.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Anaheim Stadium has hosted an AMA Supercross Championship round from 1976 to 1979, 1981 to 1987, 1989 to 1996, and 1999 to the present.


title: Angel Stadium

text: Angel Stadium has been the site of annual Christian Harvest Crusades since 1990. It has also hosted Muslim Eid el Fitr celebrations. In 2014, Barack Obama spoke at the commencement ceremony for the University of California, Irvine, which was held at the stadium to accommodate capacity and security concerns.


title: Shiva Rajkumar filmography

text: Shiva Rajkumar is an Indian actor who appears in Kannada films. He is the eldest son of actor Rajkumar. Shiva has acted in more than 100 films. In a career spanning over 35 years, he had a minimum of 3 releases every year for 19 consecutive years from 1992 to 2010 and has had at least two movies in all the years - except on four occasions (1987, 2011, 2012, 2015) until the pandemic disrupted the movie releases.


title: Mouflon

text: The mouflon (Ovis gmelini) is a wild sheep native to Cyprus, the Caspian region from eastern Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.


title: Mouflon

text: "Ovis gmelini" was the scientific name proposed by Edward Blyth in 1841 for wild sheep in the Middle East.


title: Mouflon

text: In the 19th and 20th centuries, several wild sheep were described that are considered mouflon subspecies today:


title: Mouflon

text: The European mouflon was once thought to be a subspecies of the mouflon, but is now considered to be a feral descendant of the domestic sheep ("Ovis aries"), as "Ovis aries musimon".


title: Mouflon

text: Based on comparison of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequences, three groups of sheep ("Ovis") have been identified: Pachyceriforms of Siberia (snow sheep) and North America (bighorn and Dall sheep), Argaliforms (argali) of Central Asia, and Moufloniforms (urial, mouflon, and domestic sheep) of Eurasia. However, a comparison of the mitochondrial DNA control region (CR) found that two subspecies of urial, "Ovis vignei" (or "orientalis") "arkal" and "O. v./o. bochariensis", grouped with two different clades of argali ("Ovis ammon").


title: Mouflon

text: The ancestral sheep is presumed to have had 60 chromosomes, as in goats ("Capra"). Mouflon and domestic sheep have 54 chromosomes, with three pairs (1+3, 2+8, 5+11) of ancestral acrocentric chromosomes joined to form bi-armed chromosomes. This is in contrast to the argali and urial, which have 56 and 58 chromosomes respectively. If the urial is as closely related to the mouflons as mitochondrial DNA indicates, then two chromosomes would need to have split during its evolution away from the mouflon (sub)species.


title: Mouflon

text: Mouflon have reddish to dark brown, short-haired coats with dark back stripes and black ventral areas and light-colored saddle patches. The males are horned; some females are horned, while others are polled. The horns of mature rams are curved almost one full revolution (up to 85 cm). Mouflon have shoulder heights of around 0.9 m and body weights of 50 kg (males) and 35 kg (females).


title: Mouflon

text: The mouflon occurs in the Lesser Caucasus in southeastern Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as in Iran's western Alborz region and the Zagros Mountains spanning across eastern Iraq and western Iran. It was possibly introduced to Cyprus during the Neolithic period.


title: Mouflon

text: Mouflon rams have a strict dominance hierarchy. Before mating season or "rut", which is from late autumn to early winter, rams try to create a dominance hierarchy to determine access to ewes (female mouflon) for mating. Mouflon rams fight one another to obtain dominance and win an opportunity to mate with females. Mouflons reach sexual maturity at the age of 2 to 4 years. Young rams need to obtain dominance before they get a chance to mate, which takes another 3 years for them to start mating. Mouflon ewes also go through a similar hierarchy process in terms of social status in the first 2 years, but can breed even at low status. Pregnancy in females lasts 5 months, in which they produce one to two offspring.


title: Mouflon

text: A mouflon was cloned successfully in early 2001, and lived at least seven months, making it the first clone of an endangered mammal to survive beyond infancy. This demonstrated that a common species (in this case, a domestic sheep) can successfully become a surrogate for the birth of an exotic animal such as the mouflon. If cloning of the mouflon can proceed successfully, it has the potential to reduce strain on the number of living specimens.


title: Mouflon

text: The mouflon is protected in Armenia and Azerbaijan. In Turkey and Iran, hunting is only allowed with a special license. The population in Cyprus is listed as a strictly protected species in the Habitats Directive of the European Union and has been listed in CITES Appendix I since November 2019.


title: Mouflon

text: The wild sheep of Corsica were locally called "mufro" (male) and "mufra" (female). The French naturalist Buffon (1707–1788) rendered this in French as "". The male mouflon is denominated in Corsica "Mufro", and the female "Mufra", from which the word "Moufflon" was formed; in Sardinia, the male is called "Murvoni", and the female "Murva", though it is not unusual to hear the peasants style both indiscriminately "Mufion", which is a palpable corruption of the Greek "Ophion".


title: Away colours

text: Away colours (aka. Road colors) are a choice of coloured clothing used in team sports. They are required to be worn by one team during a game between teams that would otherwise wear the same colours as each other, or similar colours. This change prevents confusion for officials, players, and spectators. In most sports, it is the visiting or road team that must change. Second-choice kits are commonly known as away kits or change kits in British English and as away uniforms in American English.


title: Away colours

text: In many sports leagues and competitions, a team wears its away kit only when its primary kit would clash with the colours of the home team, while other sports leagues and competitions may mandate that away teams must always wear an alternative kit regardless of a potential colour clash. The latter is common in North American sports, where "colour vs. colour" games (e.g., blue jerseys vs. red jerseys) are a rarity, having been discouraged in the era of black-and-white television. Almost all road uniforms are white in gridiron football (including in the Canadian Football League, the National Football League and NCAA football) and the National Hockey League, while in baseball, visitors typically wear grey. In the National Basketball Association, the Woman's National Basketball Association, and the NCAA basketball, home uniforms are white or yellow, and visiting teams wear the darker colour.


title: Away colours

text: Home teams in some leagues and competitions may also have the option to wear away colours at certain home games, and the away team then has to wear the opposite (if applicable). At some clubs, the away kit has become more popular than the home version. Replica home and away kits are usually available for fans to buy. Some teams also have produced third-choice kits, or even old-fashioned throwback uniforms.


title: Away colours

text: In many sports, the colour contrast is only required for the upper body garment, and thus a team's home and away kit may both have the same coloured pants or shorts. It has traditionally been the opposite in Australian rules football where the home team wears dark shorts and the away team wears white shorts.


title: Away colours

text: Most teams often wear their "official team colour" at home, with the road team wearing white in most cases. White road uniforms gained prominence with the rise of television in the 1950s. A "white vs. colour" game was easier to follow in the black-and-white television era. According to Phil Hecken, "until the mid 1950s, not only was color versus color common in the NFL, it was actually the norm." Even long after the advent of colour television, the use of white jerseys has remained in almost every game.


title: Away colours

text: The NFL's current rules require that a team's home uniforms must be "either white or official team colour" throughout the season, "and visiting clubs must wear the opposite". If a team insists on wearing its home uniforms on the road, the NFL Commissioner must judge on whether their uniforms are "of sufficient contrast" with those of their opponents. The road team may instead wear a third jersey, such as the Seattle Seahawks' "Wolf Grey" alternate.


title: Away colours

text: The Cleveland Browns wore white for every home game of the 1955 season. The only times they wore brown was for games at Philadelphia and New York, when the Eagles and Giants chose to wear white.


title: Away colours

text: In 1964 the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams wore white regularly for their home games. The St. Louis Cardinals wore white for several of their home games, as well as the Dallas Cowboys; while most teams switched back to colours the next year, the Rams and Browns still regularly wore white until the 1970s.


title: Away colours

text: Until 1964, Dallas had worn blue at home, but it was not an official rule that teams should wear their official colours at home. The use of white jerseys was introduced by general manager (GM) Tex Schramm, who wanted fans to see a variety of opponents' jersey colours at home games. The Cowboys still wear white at home today.


title: Away colours

text: White has also been worn regularly at home by the Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins, Philadelphia Eagles, and several other NFL teams. Teams in cities with hot climates often choose white jerseys at home during the first half of the season, because light colours absorb and retain less heat in sunlight – as such, the Dolphins, who stay white year-round, will typically use their coloured jerseys for home night games. Every current NFL team except the Seattle Seahawks has worn white at home at some time in its history.


title: Away colours

text: During the successful Joe Gibbs era, Washington chose to wear white exclusively at home in the 1980s and 1990s, including the 1982 NFC Championship Game against Dallas. Since 2001, they have chosen to wear white jerseys and burgundy jerseys roughly equally in their home games, but they still wear white against the Cowboys. When Gibbs returned from 2004 to 2007, they wore white at home exclusively. In 2007, they wore a white throwback jersey.


title: Away colours

text: The Dallas Cowboys' blue jersey has been popularly viewed to be "jinxed" because of defeats at Super Bowl V in 1971 (when they were assigned to wear their blue jerseys as the designated 'home' team), and in the 1968 divisional playoffs at Cleveland, Don Meredith's final game as a Cowboys player. Dallas's only victory in a conference championship or Super Bowl wearing the blue jerseys was in the 1978 NFC Championship game at the Los Angeles Rams.


title: Away colours

text: Super Bowl rules later changed to allow the designated home team to pick their choice of jersey. White was chosen by the Cowboys (XIII, XXVII), the Redskins (XVII), the Pittsburgh Steelers (XL), the Denver Broncos (50), the New England Patriots (LII), and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (LV). The latter three teams normally wear colours at home, but Pittsburgh had worn white in three road playoff wins, while Denver cited its previous Super Bowl success in white jerseys (XXXIII), while being 0–4 when wearing orange in Super Bowls.


title: Away colours

text: Occasionally, teams playing against Dallas at home wear their white jerseys to attempt to invoke the "curse", as when the Philadelphia Eagles hosted the Cowboys in the 1980 NFC Championship Game. Teams including the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Giants followed suit in the 1980s, and the Carolina Panthers did so from 1995 until 2006, including two playoff games. The Houston Texans did so in 2002, beating Dallas in their inaugural regular season game. More recently, the Patriots and then-St. Louis Rams tried the same tactic.


title: Away colours

text: The originator of white home jerseys in the NFL at Dallas, Tex Schramm, said he did not believe in the curse.


title: Away colours

text: Starting in 2014, the Panthers, who like many teams typically switch from white to colour in October or November, have worn white at home in the postseason regardless of their opponent; the franchise has never won a playoff game while wearing coloured jerseys, including in Super Bowl 50, when the Broncos (as the designated "home" team) chose to wear white.


title: Away colours

text: While they had only done so twice, both to "jinx" Dallas, during the 21 years they played in St. Louis, since returning to Los Angeles in 2016, the Rams, temporarily playing in the same stadium as they had in the 1960s, have worn white at home as a conscious tribute to the highly successful teams of that era.


title: Away colours

text: Coloured road uniforms were used in the World Football League (WFL) during its short period of existence in 1974–75, with the home team wearing white, and college football teams must base their road uniform around a white jersey.


title: Away colours

text: While a team's primary kit rarely undergoes major changes, the second colours tend to vary over time and sometimes by tournament. Some away kits are a modification of the home colours (for example a reversal of primary and secondary colours), other away kits are considerably different from home kits.


title: Away colours

text: Several club and national sides have favourite away colours which might remain the same more or less continuously. Often these are colours that were used in famous victories; for instance Brazil (blue) and A.C. Milan (white). Many professional clubs also have an official third kit.


title: Away colours

text: Some teams opt to wear their away colours even when not required to by a clash of colours. England sometimes play in red away shirts, as the team wore red when it won the 1966 World Cup. A.C. Milan chose to wear all-white in the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final as they considered it their "lucky shirt" ().


title: Away colours

text: In some title-deciding matches, a team has won the game wearing its away kit, but changed to home shirts for the trophy presentation – most notably when Spain won the 2010 World Cup final, changing from dark-blue away to red home shirts to lift the trophy.


title: Away colours

text: In some cases both teams have been forced to wear their second choice away kits; such as in some World Cup matches "(see section below)". During the 1998-99 UEFA Champions League, Manchester United had to wear their away colours in both of their group stage matches against F.C. Barcelona, not just away at Camp Nou but also home at Old Trafford too due to a ruling by UEFA that in the event of a clash, the home team had to change their colors .


title: Away colours

text: In England in 1890, the Football League, which had been formed two years earlier, ruled that no two member teams could register similar colours, so as to avoid clashes. This rule was later abandoned in favour of one stipulating that all teams must have a second set of shirts in a different colour available. Initially the home team was required to change colours in the event of a clash, but in 1921 the rule was amended to require the away team to change.


title: Away colours

text: In 1927 the Scottish Football Association decreed a different solution, whereby home teams wore white shorts and away teams black shorts, but this rule was rescinded in 1929.


title: Away colours

text: It is normal for individual competitions to specify that all outfield players on a team must wear the same colours, though the Law states only "The two teams must wear colours that distinguish them from each other and the match officials". In the event of a colour clash, the away team must change to a different colour.


title: Away colours

text: Away kits were often worn by both teams in English FA Cup matches. Until 1989–90, its competition rules stated: "Where the colours of the two competing clubs are similar, both clubs must change unless alternative arrangements are mutually agreed by the competing clubs". Clubs sometimes needed to find makeshift third kits for their players. Many FA Cup finals were played under these rules, the last being the 1982 Final and replay. In European competition, the 1968 European Cup Final was played under similar rules.


title: Away colours

text: The old FA Cup rules, with almost identical wording, are still used in semis and finals by many county and district football associations in England.


title: Away colours

text: Three teams have won the FIFA World Cup final in their away colours – in 1958 (Brazil), 1966 (England), and 2010 (Spain); though England was the home team for the 1966 tournament.


title: Away colours

text: At international level, away kits are sometimes worn by both teams in a match. FIFA rules state that in exceptional cases, both teams may be asked by the referee or match commissioner to wear different colours. This is most likely to happen in World Cup matches with large numbers of black-and-white television viewers, so that the teams' kits also differ in tone (light and dark). World Cup teams often have to make changes that would be unlikely in domestic or untelevised games. In 1957 Scotland borrowed home team Switzerland's white away shirts to avoid clashing on black-and-white television. In 1970 England and Czechoslovakia were allowed to play in sky blue and white, respectively, which caused confusion for black-and-white viewers and England manager Alf Ramsey. England reverted to red away shirts against West Germany. Netherlands and Brazil played their 1974 World Cup game in white and dark blue respectively, rather than their first choices of orange and yellow.


title: Away colours

text: FIFA's regulations for the 2014 World Cup mandate that "teams need to have two very distinguishable shirts – where one is a lighter colour and the other is a darker one".


title: Away colours

text: At the 2014 World Cup, Croatia were allowed to wear red-and-white checked shirts, instead of blue, against Brazil, only after Croatia appealed FIFA's original decision. England were not allowed to wear red away shirts, and instead were made to wear white against Uruguay, due to an apparent clash with officials' uniforms.


title: Away colours

text: Before the 2014 tournament, FIFA decreed that Spain's all-red home kit and all-black away kit were not sufficient as they were both considered dark tones. FIFA forced Spain to produce an all-white third kit. The match between the Netherlands and Spain was played in the Netherlands' dark blue away kits and Spain's white third-choice kits.


title: Away colours

text: In the 2018 FIFA World Cup third place match, both Belgium and England wore their away colours of yellow and red, respectively, even though both teams were permitted to wear their respective home colours of red and white in their group stage match. Denmark and Australia also wore their away kits in a group stage match, after Danish player Thomas Delaney revealed in a phone call to a radio station that he is colourblind.


title: Away colours

text: For unknown reasons, Denmark and Mexico wore their home colours of red and green, instead of Mexico's white away colours, during an international friendly match ahead of the 2018 FIFA World Cup.


title: Away colours

text: The Australian Football League legislates that the home team has the right to choose what home colours they play in for home games during the home and away season. Traditionally in Australian rules football and first introduced into VFL in 1924 the home team wears dark shorts while the away team wears white shorts. In contrast to other sports, the concept of away colours is not prominent, with clubs traditionally wearing their home guernseys week in week out, with the colour of a team's shorts distinguishing between home teams and away teams. The concept of home and away colours first became prominent during the late 1980s and the 1990s, when the newly admitted Brisbane Bears had colours and jumper designs clashing with that of Hawthorn, which necessitated the need for clubs to come up with away colours. All AFL teams now have designated clash guernseys, which are worn in matches when the home guernseys of the teams playing are deemed to be too similar to distinguish.


title: Away colours

text: The use of only white shorts to distinguish between home and away teams has been criticised for not providing sufficient distinction between teams that play in similar colours or guernsey designs. For example, in 2007, Geelong coach Mark Thompson spoke out about the need for the AFL to take action to prevent guernsey clashes in future AFL matches, after a match between Geelong and Collingwood where spectators had difficulty distinguishing between Geelong's navy blue and white horizontal stripes and Collingwood's vertical black and white stripes even though the game was played in good conditions. Additionally, in the 2021 Anzac Day clash, both Collingwood and Essendon wore predominantly black Anzac Day jumpers, with the only distinction between the teams being Essendon's white shorts, with spectators experiencing difficulty in telling apart the teams. In some cases, individual clubs may have informal agreements around what guernsey designs to wear in order to avoid clashes. For example, Collingwood president Eddie McGuire claimed that he had made a handshake agreement with then-Geelong president Frank Costa in the 1990s in which Geelong would always wear white shorts and a white jumper for all matches between Geelong and Collingwood, with Collingwood wearing black shorts and a black jumper. The AFL's clash uniform policy has also been criticised as an example of Victorian Bias largely due to the fact that Carlton, Collingwood, Richmond and Essendon adhere to the policy less and almost never wear clash jumpers against each other.


title: Away colours

text: In the AFL Grand Final, the team that finishes higher during the regular season has the right to choose the colours they play in, with the lower-ranked team to accommodate this accordingly. An example of this occurred in the 2017 AFL Grand Final between 1st placed Adelaide and 3rd placed Richmond; as the higher ranked team, Adelaide chose to play in their home guernsey, and as the lower ranked team, Richmond was forced to play in their clash guernsey of yellow with a black sash as opposed to their usual black guernsey with a yellow sash, as their home guernsey was deemed to clash with Adelaide's home guernsey.


title: Away colours

text: Originally, Major League Baseball teams were primarily distinguished by the colours of their stockings. In 1882, the National League assigned different stocking colours to the member clubs; the league also assigned jersey and cap colours, but by player position rather than by club.


title: Away colours

text: By the end of the 19th century, it became common for teams to wear white uniforms at home, and grey in road games. Some teams used road uniforms of solid dark blue or black. An early example of this is the Brooklyn Superbas, who started to use a blue pattern for their road uniforms in 1907. Both the home and away teams' uniforms also contained trim in the team colours.


title: Away colours

text: In 1916, on the New York Giants' road uniforms, purple lines gave their uniforms a tartan-like effect and another kind of road uniform was a solid dark blue or black material with white around this time. The Kansas City Athletics home and road uniforms were changed by Charles O. Finley in 1963, to the colours of gold and green. Some teams used powder blue for their road uniforms from the 1970s to the early 1990s.


title: Away colours

text: Aside from the obvious need to distinguish one team from the other, conventional wisdom held that it was more difficult to properly launder uniforms while on a road trip, thus the "road grays" helped to hide accumulated soil. This convention continued well after its original premise was nullified by the issuance of multiple uniforms and the growth of the laundromat industry.


title: Away colours

text: Typically, home uniforms feature the team's nickname, while away uniforms feature the name of the team's geographic designation; there are eight teams that are exceptions to this rules: the Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Angels, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, Washington Nationals, Miami Marlins, Detroit Tigers and New York Yankees.


title: Away colours

text: The Cardinals, Phillies, Rays and Angels wear their team nickname on both home and away jerseys, although the Cardinals now wear alternates with the city name. The Marlins' home and away jerseys feature the city name, but a black alternate has the team nickname. From 1973 to 2008, the Baltimore Orioles were part of this group – the omission of the city's name being part of a largely successful effort to attract fans from the Washington, D.C. area – before returning "Baltimore" to the road jerseys in 2009, by which time their neighbor 35 miles (55 km) to the south once again had a team of its own.


title: Away colours

text: The Tigers, Nationals and Yankees all wear their cap insignia on the left breast of their home jerseys, but the city name on their away jerseys.


title: Away colours

text: In addition to this, some teams have featured mainly their team's location presented on their uniforms both at home and on the road. Examples include the Rangers and Marlins, whose alternate orange jersey is the only one of the team's four to feature the nickname instead of the city or state name. Some teams have alternate home uniforms featuring location such as the Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals. The Brewers have worn a navy jersey with "Milwaukee" on the front frequently both at home and on the road since 2015, while the Los Angeles Dodgers have worn an alternate grey jersey with the nickname instead of the city name for most away games since 2014.


title: Away colours

text: Until the 2017–18 season, the rules of the National Basketball Association (NBA) stated: "The home team shall wear light color jerseys, and the visitors dark jerseys unless otherwise approved. For neutral court games and doubleheaders, the second team named in the official schedule shall be regarded as the home team and shall wear the light colored jerseys." Most teams' home uniforms are white, with some exceptions, such as the Los Angeles Lakers, who wear gold at home (although in 2002, to honour Chick Hearn, Jeanie Buss had a white jersey introduced as the third uniform, worn at home). But, according to this rule, road uniforms are required at every game in the NBA. "Dark" colours worn in road games vary widely among teams.


title: Away colours

text: Beginning with the 2017–18 season, the home team is allowed to designate whether it will wear a white or coloured jersey. The visiting team must wear a jersey of sufficient contrast, whether it be white or another colour.


title: Away colours

text: The use of specially-designed Christmas uniforms in NBA games in 2012 led to several "color vs. color" match-ups.


title: Away colours

text: In NCAA Division I college basketball, the home team almost universally wears white uniforms, while the visiting team wears colours. There are exceptions, such as the University of Michigan, Louisiana State University and West Virginia University wearing yellow at home, or the University of Illinois wearing orange at home, if it sufficiently contrasts with the visiting team's uniforms.


title: Away colours

text: Away kits are a recent development in cricket, which has been played in all-white clothing for most of its history. The first professional match played in coloured clothing was in World Series Cricket in Australia in 1979. The first Cricket World Cup to use coloured kits was the 1992 tournament.


title: Away colours

text: The England team uses one kit for all home and away ODI and Twenty20 matches. India also uses a light blue kit for both.


title: Away colours

text: Australia, however, has a separate green ODI home kit, yellow ODI away kit, and black T20 kit. The home kit is the same colour as the famous "baggy green" cap traditionally worn by Australian Test cricketers, but the yellow away kit is often worn by the Australian team in home matches.


title: Away colours

text: In 2019 Cricket World Cup the Indian cricket team has used the orange dark blue combination jersey to differentiate from the home team England.


title: Away colours

text: In the NHL each team is currently required to have two uniform designs: one with a white base (or sometimes historically, a light colour), and one with a darker-coloured base. From the 1970–71 season to the 2002–03 season, NHL teams wore lighter colours or white at home and the darker colours on the road. When the Third Jersey Program was introduced in the 1995–96 season, some teams wore third jerseys at home, thus requiring the road team to wear the white. This problem was rectified at the start of the 2003–04 season, as NHL teams started to wear the dark colour at home and the white for road games; there are occasional single-game exceptions. The only element allowed by NHL rules to be interchangeable between the two uniforms is the pants.


title: Away colours

text: In the minor leagues, teams historically wore white or light colours at home and dark colours on the road.


title: Away colours

text: Original hockey jerseys were actually heavily knit sweaters. They were light colour for home games and a dark colour for road games. The reason dark-coloured sweaters were part of the "road" uniform was to hide the dirt the sweaters accumulated. The sweaters were not washed during road trips. The light or white sweaters were "home" uniforms as the visiting teams necessarily wore the dark. This tradition fit the needs of "home/away" distinctions necessary for black-and-white television.


title: Away colours

text: Away colours are used by Jamaica and Australia, two top international teams who both have yellow home kits. Jamaica's change kit is all-black, Australia's is all-green. When the teams meet, one usually changes its kits but there have been games such as a 2011 Test where each team wore predominantly yellow, with Jamaica in black skirts.


title: Away colours

text: It is traditional in rugby (as it was in association football prior to 1921) for the home team to change in the event of a clash. This stems partly from teams touring overseas; it was easier for the home side to get an alternate kit. The World Rugby rules for tours do not state this outright: it is the responsibility of the WR CEO or representative "to resolve the matter", but "in the absence of any agreement to the contrary, the Host Union shall be entitled to wear its home kit." In English RFU level 3 to 5 competition, if there is a clash the away team must change.


title: Away colours

text: At Rugby World Cups, colour clashes are decided by a coin-toss for first choice of kits. In the 2007 quarter-final between France and New Zealand, the recently redesigned French kit was dark blue and black, and clashed with the All Blacks' kit. The toss went in favour of France, and New Zealand wore silver shirts in the game in Cardiff. However, in the 2011 Rugby World Cup Final between those teams, France won the toss and chose to play in its white away kit. France's team manager Jo Maso said this decision was because of "the welcome they’d received from the people of New Zealand, the faultless organisation of the tournament and the honour and pleasure of playing... [at] Eden Park".


title: Away colours

text: England used an all-black second kit at the 2011 World Cup, which caused controversy in the host nation, as black is the home colour of New Zealand. England wore the kit in one tournament match, against Argentina. Critics in England in 2010 said the team was changing away kits unnecessarily and too often as a "marketing ploy". Australia, on the other hand, has rarely worn an away kit except against Romania; a white jersey would have been worn in 2011.


title: Away colours

text: In international rugby, the need for second kits arises most often in the Six Nations, where Scotland, France and Italy all play in different shades of blue. The tournament takes the form of a single round-robin with home advantage alternating each year, and it is scheduled so that each of the three aforementioned sides plays one of the other two at home and the other away in a given season. In turn, this means that each of these three sides will play one home game in its alternate jersey. These have traditionally been white, but in the 2015 Six Nations Scotland and France adopted red as their alternate colour.


title: Away colours

text: Ireland's green jersey is complemented by two away jerseys, one which is white in colour and one which is navy in colour.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: The unification of Moldova and Romania is a popular concept in the two countries that began in the late 1980s, during the Revolutions of 1989. The Romanian Revolution in 1989 and the independence of Moldova in 1991 further contributed to the development of a movement for the unification of the two Romanian-speaking countries. The question of reunification is recurrent in the public sphere of the two countries, often as a speculation, both as a goal and a danger. Though historically Romanian support for unification was high, a 2022 survey during the Russo-Ukrainian War indicated that only 11% of Romania's population supports an immediate union, while over 42% think it is not the moment.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: A majority in Moldova continues to oppose it. However, support in Moldova for reunification has increased significantly, with polls asking "if a referendum took place next Sunday regarding the unification of the Republic of Moldova and Romania, would you vote for or against the unification?" rising from approximately 20% to 44% support from 2015 to 2022. Support for unification with Romania is much lower in Transnistria and Gagauzia than in the rest of Moldova.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: Individuals who advocate the unification are usually called "unionists" (). The supporters of the union may refer to the opponents as "Moldovenists" (). When referring to themselves as a group, opponents of the unification sometimes use the term "Statalists" ().


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: The Principality of Moldavia was a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire and its eastern territories between the Prut and the Dniestr (approximately half of the principality) were annexed by the Russian Empire in 1812, in accordance with the Treaty of Bucharest. The Russians referred to this new region as Bessarabia, taking a name that had previously only applied to a southern portion of the region (known also as the "Budjak") and extending it to cover the entire newly annexed territory. The name derives from the Wallachian Basarab dynasty, who had presided over the southern portion in the Middle Ages. During the Russian Revolution of 1917, a newly formed regional parliament (Sfatul Țării) declared Bessarabia's autonomy within Russia. In 1918, after the Romanian army entered Bessarabia, the makeshift parliament decided on independence, only to review its position and ultimately decide on a conditional union with Romania. The conditions, including the provisions for autonomy, were ultimately dropped. This unification is now commemorated by unionists in Romania and Moldova as the Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania on 27 March.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In 1940, during World War II, Romania agreed to an ultimatum and ceded Moldova to the Soviet Union, which organized it into the Moldavian SSR. In the middle of 1941, Romania joined the Axis Powers in the invasion of the Soviet Union, recovering Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, as well as occupying the territory to the east of the Dniester it dubbed "Transnistria". By the end of World War II, the Soviet Union had reconquered all of the lost territories, reestablishing Soviet authority there. The Soviets strongly promoted the Moldovan ethnic identity, against other opinions that viewed all speakers of the Romanian language as part of a single ethnic group, taking advantage of the incomplete integration of Bessarabia into the interwar Romania.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: The official Soviet policy also stated that Romanian and Moldovan were two different languages and, to emphasize this distinction, Moldovan had to be written in a new Cyrillic alphabet (the Moldovan Cyrillic alphabet) based on the reformed Russian Cyrillic, rather than the obsolete Romanian Cyrillic alphabet that ceased to be used in the 19th century in the Old Kingdom and 1917 in Bessarabia.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In September 1989, with the liberalization in the Soviet Union, the parliament of the Moldovan SSR declared Moldovan as the official language, and asserted the existence of a "Moldovan-Romanian linguistic identity".


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: On 6 May 1990, after several decades of strict separation, Romania and the Moldovan SSR temporarily lifted border crossing restrictions, and thousands of people crossed the Prut River which marked their common border.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: The factors hindering the unification were complex, ranging from the caution of political leaders in Moldova and Romania, the war in Transnistria, and, perhaps more importantly, the mentality of large parts of the population in Moldova (and to some extent in Romania) who were indifferent or opposed to such a project. In his address to the Romanian parliament, in February 1991, Moldova's first President Mircea Snegur spoke of a common identity of Moldovans and Romanians, referring to the "Romanians of both sides of the Prut River". In June 1991, Snegur talked about Moldova moving toward the reunification with Romania, adding that the Soviet Union is not making great efforts to stop it.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: While many Moldovan intellectuals supported the union and wanted a "reunion with the Romanian motherland", there was little popular support for it, with more than 70% of the Moldovans opposing it, according to a 1992 poll. At the same time, Transnistria, the eastern part of Moldova, inhabited by a Moldovians, Russians, Ukrainians approximately in the same proportions, used the putative danger of unification with Romania as a pretext for its own aspirations for staying with Russia.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: Following the declaration of independence on 27 August 1991, the Romanian flag defaced with the Moldovan coat of arms and the Romanian anthem ""Deșteaptă-te, române!"" became the symbols of the new independent Moldova. Following the growing tension between the pro-union governing Moldovan Popular Front and president Snegur, in particular over unification, the president moved closer to the Moldovanist group of Agrarians, and appointed their candidate Andrei Sangheli as prime minister. As a result, and especially after the victory of Agrarians in the 1994 elections, Moldova began distancing itself from Romania. The state flag was slightly modified, and the anthem changed to ""Limba noastră"". The Moldovan referendum of 1994 for an independent Moldova was seen by many public figures to be aimed at implicitly excluding a union with Romania. Furthermore, the constitution adopted in 1994 by the new Parliament dominated by Moldovanist Agrarians and Socialists called the official language "Moldovan", as opposed to the earlier Declaration of independence that called it "Romanian". The attempt by Moldovan president Mircea Snegur in 1996 to change the name of the official language to "Romanian" was dismissed by the Moldovan Parliament as "promoting Romanian expansionism".


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In an interview, former Romanian President Ion Iliescu, who is criticized for failing to unify Romania with Moldova as soon as the latter declared its independence from the Soviet Union, explained that Romania alone, without international support (including from the Western countries) and without the wish of the politicians in Chișinău, was unable to achieve this unification.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: A "Concept on National Policy" was adopted in 2003 by the Communist dominated Parliament, stating that Moldovans and Romanians are different peoples, and that the latter are an ethnic minority in Moldova.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: Before 2005, only the Christian-Democratic People's Party, one of the political heirs of the Moldovan Popular Front, actively supported unification. However, the stance of the Christian-Democrats changed significantly after they started collaborating closely with the ruling Moldovan Communists. During the elections of April 2009, the alliance of National Liberal Party ("Partidul Național Liberal") and the European Action Movement ("Mișcarea Acțiunea Europeană") ran on a common platform of a loose union with Romania, but accumulated only around 1% of the votes.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In 2004 and later, the Romanian newspaper "Ziua" published a series of articles and interviews with Stanislav Belkovsky, an influential Russian political commentator, who proposed a plan of a unification of Romania and Moldova excluding Transnistria. Speculations followed whether his plan is backed by higher circles in the Kremlin, but they were never confirmed. Nevertheless, several journalists and scholars dismissed the plan as a diversion, also pointing out several ambiguities, such as the status of the city of Bender situated on the right bank of Dniester but under Transnistrian control, and, more importantly, the unlikelihood of Moldova's acquiescence to such a plan.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In January 2006, the Romanian president Traian Băsescu declared that he strongly supported the Moldovan bid for joining the European Union and that "the "minimal policy" of Romania is for the unification of the Romanian nation to take place within the EU". The phrase ""minimal policy"" led to questions whether there is also a "maximal policy". In July of the same year, Băsescu claimed to have made a proposal to the Moldovan president Vladimir Voronin that "Moldova join the EU together with Romania in 2007" and that the alleged offer was rejected. Băsescu also added that Romania would respect this decision and would help Moldova to join EU on its own.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In October 2006 the Romanian newspaper "Cotidianul" estimated the cost of a union with Moldova at €30–35 billion, and attracted criticism from the Romanian newspaper "Ziua", as well as "Timpul" for exaggerating the costs and disregarding other dimensions of a possible union.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: After the Moldovan parliamentary election of April 2009, the 2009 Moldova civil unrest, the Moldovan parliamentary election of July 2009 and the creation of the governing Alliance for European Integration, a new wave of speculations about the union followed. The Party of Communists, now in opposition, claimed "the unionists came to power." In a November 2009 interview, political commentator Stanislav Belkovsky declared that the April 2009 election marked the beginning of the process of Moldova's return to Romania.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: Traian Băsescu made a state visit to Moldova along with a number of ministers to announce several projects that would intensify ties between the two countries, and the offer of 100 million euro grant for infrastructure projects. Băsescu called Moldova his "soul project". Private Romanian investments are also expected to increase significantly, with the opening of a Moldovan-Romanian business and investment office, and the takeover of the online news portal Unimedia by Romanian group Realitatea-Cațavencu group, owned by businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vântu.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: On 15 February 2010, the Lipcani-Rădăuți border crossing between Romania and Moldova opened and the remnant Soviet barbed wire fence on the Moldovan side of the border with Romania was dismantled.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In January 2010, Mircea Druc, the former prime minister of Moldova between 1990 and 1991, declared that the unification of Romania and the Republic of Moldova is inevitable. However, acting President Mihai Ghimpu denied in an interview with the Russian language newspaper "Komsomolskaya Pravda v Moldove" that such a move will be taken, stating that a union is not included in the program of the governing coalition. On another occasion he declared that if the people wanted unification, neither he, nor anyone else could stop them. He admitted on several occasions to personally share unionist views. However, in August 2010 he declared that the proposition of an "inter-state union" between Romania and Moldova was "a very stupid" idea.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: On 27 November 2013, a day before participation in the Eastern Partnership Summit in Vilnius, Romanian President Traian Băsescu was invited to an interview at the national TV station, TVR. There he said that the third priority for Romania, after joining NATO and the EU, must be the union with Moldova. "I'm convinced that if there is a unionist current in Moldova, Romania will say 'yes' without hesitation", stated the Head of State. In present, Romania supports the full integration of Moldova into the EU. The Mayor of Chișinău Dorin Chirtoacă welcomed the statements made by Băsescu. On the other hand, the Moldovan prime-minister, Iurie Leancă, described Băsescu's declaration as "creating crucial problems" for Moldova and affirmed his government's support for a sovereign Moldova. Positions similar to Leancă's were taken by the other leaders of the pro-European ruling coalition, Vlad Filat and Marian Lupu, as well as by Vladimir Voronin, leader of the main opposition party. However, in the latter years, Filat and Leancă became supporters of the unification, due to rapid development of the Romanian economy.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: Historian Victor Stepaniuc, known for his Moldovenist position, stated in 2016 that if Moldova cannot succeed as an independent state, then the only solution is the unification with Romania.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In 2017, Dumitru Diacov (founder and honorary president of the Democratic Party of Moldova) said that the unification project is unrealistic at present, and that unification will probably be possible in 100 years.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: Petrișor Peiu (professor at Politehnica University of Bucharest, known for being a unionist advocate) criticized the lack of unionist elements in the speech of Romanian leaders (such as Klaus Iohannis), focusing exclusively on "European integration", not on reunification. He also claimed that he asked Romanian politicians why they don't support the unification, and they answered: "Germany doesn't want it". At the same time, Oana Ursache (USR PLUS), state secretary of the Department for Romanians everywhere, cut off the financing of "Mesager bucovinean", one of the most important newspapers for the Romanian community in Ukraine. Furthermore, during the 2021 Moldovan elections, Romanian defense minister Nicolae Ciucă (PNL) stated that, between unification with Romania and the European integration, Romania supports Moldova's European integration as a sovereign state. In November 2021, Moldovan foreign minister Nicu Popescu said that most of the Moldovan citizens don't support a unification with Romania, and that he also supports an independent Moldovan state.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: Following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, the idea of a union of Moldova with Romania has again become a topic discussed in the press. Supporters of the idea (such as the Romanian historian Marius Oprea) argue that the unification would strengthen NATO's eastern flank and defend Moldova in the event of an escalation of the Transnistrian conflict. Former Moldovan Prime Minister Iurie Leancă said that the only way Moldova can be protected from Russia is to unite with Romania. On the other hand, Moldovan President Maia Sandu said that the Union with Romania can be achieved only if the Moldovan population wants it. Asked about what he thinks about the unification in the new context, Moldovan foreign minister Nicu Popescu stated that only the Moldovan people can decide their future. Furthermore, Moldovan Prime Minister Natalia Gavrilița said the unification with Romania is not being taken into account. She also said that Moldova wants to join the European Union, but not NATO.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: A poll conducted by IPP Chișinău in November 2007 shows that 33.6% of the Moldovan population is interested in holding Romanian citizenship, while 58.8% is not interested. The main reason of those interested is: feeling Romanian (31.9%), the possibility of traveling to Romania (48.9%), and the possibility of traveling and/or working in the EU (17.2%).


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: Between 1991 and 2009, some 140,000 Moldovan citizens obtained Romanian citizenship. According to some estimates, as many as 1 million Moldovan citizens requested Romanian citizenship by 2009. In 2010, the Romanian government created the National Authority for Citizenship to process the large number of applications for Romanian citizenship coming especially from Moldovan citizens. The study "Reacquiring Romanian citizenship: historical, comparative and applied perspectives", released in 2012, estimated that 226,507 Moldovan citizens reacquired Romanian citizenship by 15 August 2011 Between 15 August 2011 and 15 October 2012, an additional 90,000 reacquired Romanian citizenship, according to the National Authority for Citizenship, bringing the total to 320,000.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: A 2013 study by the Soros Foundation Romania found that from the passing of the citizenship law in 1991 until the end of 2012, the number of successful applications from Moldova was 323,049. This is an increase of 96,542 successful applications since 15 August 2011. In the same period, the number of applications was 449,783, meaning that around 125,000 applications still need to be finalised. In 2011 and 2012, 100,845 and 87,015 applications were submitted respectively. The actual number of persons granted citizenship in these applications remains unclear because each application may include minors dependent on the adult filing. The number of persons is estimated to be around 400,000, with a potential of 150,000 more persons if all outstanding applications are successful.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: Between 1 January 2010 and 5 November 2021 as many as 1,027,091 Moldovan citizens acquired Romanian citizenship, of which 746,695 adults and 280,396 minors.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In April 2011, a coalition of NGOs from Romania and Moldova created the civic platform Action 2012 (), whose aim is to "raise awareness of the necessity of the unification between Romania and the Republic of Moldova". Year 2012 was chosen as a reference to the bicentennial commemoration of the 1812 division of historical Moldavia, when the Russian Empire annexed what would later be called Bessarabia. The proponents see the unification as a reversal of this historical division, a reversal inspired by the rather short-lived Union of Bessarabia with Romania (1918–1940) disrupted by the Soviet occupation.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In February 2012, the Union Council was created to "gather all unionists" in order to "promote the idea of Romanian national unity". Among the signatories: Mircea Druc former Moldovan prime-minister, Alexandru Mosanu former speaker of the Moldovan Parliament, Vitalia Pavlicenco president of the Moldovan National Liberal Party, Vladimir Beșleagă writer, Constantin Tănase director of the Moldovan newspaper "Timpul de dimineață", Val Butnaru president of Jurnal Trust Media, Oleg Brega journalist and activist, Nicu Țărnă soloist of the Moldovan rock band Gândul Mâței, and Tudor Ionescu, president of the Romanian neo-fascist association Noua Dreaptă, Valentin Dolganiuc, former Moldovan MP, Eugenia Duca, Moldovan businesswoman, Anton Moraru, Moldovan professor of history, Eugen Mihalache, vice president of People's Party, Dan Diaconescu and others.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: Head Persons: Ion Leascenco (actual leader), Anatol Ursu, Constantin Codreanu (former leader), Oleg Chicu, Lucia Vieru, Vitalie Prisacaru, Artemis Balan, Claudia Iovita


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: On March 27, 2016, the unionists formed the "Sfatul Țării 2", self-proclaimed successor of Sfatul Țării. It included representatives of each district, as well as representatives of ethnic-religious minorities. At the end of the meeting, symbolically, the "declaration of the reunification of Moldova with Romania" was adopted. Among the participants there were Nicolae Dabija, Mircea Druc, Ion Ungureanu, Alexandru Moșanu, Alecu Reniță, Mihai Cimpoi, Ion Negrei, Eugen Doga, , , Ion Varta, Petru Hadârcă, Iurie Colesnic, , , Ion Iovcev, Octavian Țîcu, , , Petru Bogatu, Vladimir Beșleagă and .


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: The newly created Action 2012 and Union Council initiative groups organized several manifestations in support of the unification throughout 2012. The first one was a rally of 2,000 to 3,000 people in Chișinău on 25 March 2012, held as an anniversary of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania on 27 March 1918. Larger rallies took place on 13 May (which commemorated 200 years of the 1812 Treaty of Bucharest and the first Russian annexation of Bessarabia) and on 16 September. A union march was also held in Bucharest in October 2012 and was attended by several thousand people. Smaller-scale manifestations took place in the Moldovan cities of Cahul and Bălți on 22 July and 5 August respectively. Various intellectuals and artists from both countries supported the marches, while Moldovan Speaker Marian Lupu and Prime Minister Vlad Filat opposed them. The rallies in Bucharest were later repeated in October 2013 and October 2014. Also, in September 2014, another rally took place in Chișinău, during which a 300-metre long Romanian flag was carried through the central street of the city. On 16 May 2015, between 5,000 (police estimates) and 25,000 people (organizers' estimate) demonstrated for unification in Chișinău, in what has been claimed to be the largest pro-Romanian protests since the 1990s. Another protest, attracting between 5,000 and 30,000 people (organizers' claim), took place on 5 July 2015 in Chișinău. Around a thousand young people from among the participants headed to Bucharest in the "March of Stephen the Great" () calling for the unification of Moldova with Romania. The march lasted a week, from 5 to 11 July. In the Republic of Moldova, the march followed the route Strășeni–Lozova–Călărași–Cornești–Ungheni. Participants crossed the Prut River, on 11 July at 10 a.m., in a large-scale reenactment of the Bridges of Flowers in 1990. Their march ended in Bucharest, where were greeted by several hundred Romanian citizens in University Square, before making their way to the Cotroceni Palace to call on Romanian President Klaus Iohannis to support the unification project. Former Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin has sharply condemned the march to Romania. In a letter to European Parliament President Martin Schulz, released on 7 July, Voronin accused Bucharest of fomenting "the destruction and annexation of Moldova".


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: On 22 September 2015, the Governments of Romania and the Republic of Moldova held a bilateral reunion in Neptun, Constanța county, where over 300 unionists demonstrated. Their representatives obtained access to the meeting, discussing with the Minister of Foreign Affairs about common projects. The unionists announced the "Reunification Agenda 2018", some of their claims being accepted and decided within the intergovernmental meeting.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In 2018, centennial celebration of the Great Union, a demonstration called the Centenary March was organized by several Romanian and Moldovan activists for unification. It started in Alba Iulia on 1 July 2018 and ended in Chișinău on 1 September 2018. One of its main objectives was to achieve the unification of Moldova with Romania. The participants tried to collect 1 million signatures for the organization of a referendum. Although at first the Moldovan authorities prohibited the participants to cross the border, they were allowed to enter later.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: The International Republican Institute in partnership with Gallup, Inc. regularly conducts polls in the Republic of Moldova on several social and political issues. The following results reflect the public stance in Moldova on the question of reunification:


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: A poll conducted by IRI in Moldova in November 2008 showed that 29% of the population would support a union with Romania, while 61% would reject it.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: The pro-Unionist NGO "Romanian Centre of Strategic Studies" published reports claiming significantly higher support for the idea:


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: The Public Opinion Barometer (BOP), released twice a year in Moldova at the initiative of IPP (Institute of Public Policy), included beginning with its November 2015 edition a question about the reunification


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: The Socio-Political Barometer, released several times a year by IMAS Moldova, also included the question about the reunification


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: The company iData has regularly included a question about unification in its polls. One from the second half of March 2021, with 1,314 participants, stated that 43.9% of Moldova would vote to reuniting with Romania if given a referendum within a week, and 67.8% of Moldova wanted to join the European Union (EU). Another poll from the same company, conducted between May 19–28 of 2021, with 1,227 participants, determined that 41.6% of Moldova would vote to unite with Romania if given a referendum within a week, and 67.3% of Moldova supported joining the EU.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: Another poll was organized in June 2021 by a group of several companies. On it, 35.0% of Moldovans said they would vote for unification with Romania and 47.3% said they would vote against. The number of people in favor of the unification increased to 41.2% as shown by a poll from iData made between 21 and 28 July 2021 with 1,065 participants, including some from Transnistria. The collaboration between the two countries during the COVID-19 pandemic has also led to an increase in the number of supporters of the unification.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In September 2021, iData made a new poll, in which 70% of Moldovans expressed their desire to join the European Union and in which 40% of Moldovans declared they supported the unification of Moldova and Romania. In October 2021, 43.8% of participants of a poll of the same company voted for the unification with Romania, this number being 41.2% in a November 2021 poll.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: A January 2022 poll from iData showed that 38.4% of Moldovans would support unification with Romania. Later, a January–February 2022 poll by CBS Research showed that 34.4% of Moldovans would want to unite with Romania and that 49.9% would oppose this. A posterior poll conducted between 27 April and 6 May 2022 showed 35.2% of Moldovans favored union while 50.6% opposed it. Another poll made between 5 May and 14 May showed 34.7% of Moldovans supported union and 49.7% of them opposed it.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: In May 2022, a poll in Moldova found that 30.7% supported reunification, while 27.1% were in favour of recognizing Transnistria's independence. In June 2022, another Moldovan poll found 35.2% supported unification. In September 2022, 34.6% of Moldovans did so. This increased to 39.7% in a 29 September–11 October poll, believed to be because of changes in Romanian legislation that allowed the sale of electricity to Moldova at preferential prices to combat the country's energy crisis at the time. According to a poll conducted between 16 and 23 November, 42.5% of Moldovans would vote in favor and 57.5% against.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: A poll conducted in November–December 2010 and extensively analyzed in the study "The Republic of Moldova in the Romanian public awareness" (Republica Moldova în conștiința publică românească) addressed the issue of reunification.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: A similar survey carried out in Romania in June 2012 by the Romanian Centre of Strategic Studies showed the following results:


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: According to a poll conducted by the Romanian Institute for Evaluation and Strategy (IRES) on 29 November 2013, 76% of Romanians agree with the union of Romania and Moldova, while only 18% oppose a possible union.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: The Republic of Moldova would bring an addition of 2.6 million inhabitants and an increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$12.7billion (4.8% of Romania's GDP) to Romania. However, GDP per capita would fall to $14,400, as the current Romanian GDP per capita is estimated at US$15,980, while the Moldovan GDP per capita stands at US$3,700. It is estimated that unification would cost US$10 billion, that Moldova would be able to cover a US$1.5 billion, and that Romania would have to cover the US$8.5 billion difference. It has been proposed that the European Union would cover part of the cost.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: If Moldova decided to unite with Romania, the status of Gagauzia, a "national-territorial autonomous unit" of Moldova with three official languages (Romanian, Gagauz, and Russian), would be unclear. While the autonomy of Gagauzia is guaranteed by the Moldovan constitution and regulated by the 1994 Gagauz Autonomy Act, the laws of Romania do not permit ethnic-based territorial autonomy and any other official language than Romanian. The selection of a capital city would also be in question.


title: Unification of Moldova and Romania

text: When it comes to Transnistria, a non-recognised self-proclaimed state with three official languages (Moldovan, Russian, and Ukrainian), it is not clear what would happen upon unification. In fact, the popularity of unification idea contributed to the outbreak of the Transnistria War in 1992, when Transnistria declared independence from Moldova. The UN still recognizes Transnistria as part of Moldova. One version of the unification proposal would exclude Transnistria.


title: Meat Puppets

text: Meat Puppets are an American rock band formed in January 1980 in Phoenix, Arizona. The group's original lineup was Curt Kirkwood (guitar/vocals), his brother Cris Kirkwood (bass guitar/vocals), and Derrick Bostrom (drums). The Kirkwood brothers met Bostrom while attending Brophy Prep High School in Phoenix. The three then moved to Tempe, Arizona (a Phoenix suburb and home to Arizona State University), where the Kirkwood brothers purchased two adjacent homes, one of which had a shed in the back where they regularly practiced.


title: Meat Puppets

text: Meat Puppets started as a punk rock band, but like most of their labelmates on SST Records, they established their own unique style, blending punk with country and psychedelic rock, and featuring Curt's warbling vocals. Meat Puppets later gained significant exposure when the Kirkwood brothers served as guest musicians on Nirvana's MTV Unplugged performance in 1993. The band's 1994 album "Too High to Die" subsequently became their most successful release. The band broke up twice, in 1996 and 2002, but reunited again in 2006.


title: Meat Puppets

text: In the late 1970s, drummer Derrick Bostrom played with guitarist Jack Knetzger in a band called Atomic Bomb Club, which began as a duo, but would come to include bassist Cris Kirkwood. The band played a few local shows and recorded some demos, but began to dissolve quickly thereafter. Derrick and Cris began rehearsing together with Cris' brother Curt Kirkwood by learning songs from Bostrom's collection of punk rock 45s. After briefly toying with the name The Bastions of Immaturity, they settled on the name Meat Puppets in June, 1980 after a song by Curt of the same name which appears on their first album. Their earliest EP "In A Car" was made entirely of short hardcore punk with goofy lyrics, and attracted the attention of Joe Carducci as he was starting to work with legendary punk label SST Records. Carducci suggested they sign with the label, and Meat Puppets released their first album "Meat Puppets" in 1982, which among several new originals and a pair of heavily skewed Doc Watson and Bob Nolan covers, featured the songs "The Gold Mine" and "Melons Rising", two tunes Derrick and Cris originally had written and performed as Atomic Bomb Club previously. Years later, when the Meat Puppets reissued all of their albums in 1999, the five songs on In A Car would be combined with their debut album.


title: Meat Puppets

text: By the release of 1984's "Meat Puppets II", the bandmembers "were so sick of the hardcore thing," according to Bostrom. "We were really into pissing off the crowd." Here, the band experimented with acid rock and country and western sounds, while still retaining some punk influence on the tracks "Split Myself in Two" and "New Gods." This album contains some of the band's best known songs, such as "Lake of Fire" and "Plateau." While the album had been recorded in early 1983, the album's release was delayed for a year by SST. "Meat Puppets II" turned the band into one of the leading bands on SST Records, and along with the Violent Femmes, the Gun Club and others, helped establish the genre called "cow punk".


title: Meat Puppets

text: Meat Puppets II was followed by 1985's "Up on the Sun". The album's psychedelic sound resembled the folk-rock of The Byrds, while the songs still retained hardcore influences in the lengths of the songs and the tempos. Examples of this new style are the self titled track, "Enchanted Porkfist" and "Swimming Ground." "Up On The Sun" featured the Kirkwood brothers harmonizing their vocals for the first time. These two albums were mainstays of college and independent radio at that time.


title: Meat Puppets

text: During the rest of the 1980s, Meat Puppets remained on SST and released a series of albums while touring relentlessly. Between tours they would regularly play small shows in bars around the Phoenix area such as The Mason Jar (now The Rebel Lounge) and The Sun Club in Tempe. After the release of the hard-rock styled "Out My Way" EP in 1986, however, the band was briefly sidelined by an accident when Curt's finger was broken after being slammed in their touring van's door. The accident delayed the band's next album, the even more psychedelic "Mirage", until the next year. The final result included synthesizers and electronic drums, and as such was considered their most polished sounding album to date. The tour for Mirage lasted less than 6 months, as the band found it difficult to recreate many of this album's songs in a concert atmosphere.


title: Meat Puppets

text: Their next album, the ZZ-Top inspired "Huevos", came out less than six months afterward, in late summer of 1987. In stark contrast to its predecessor, "Huevos" was recorded in a swift, fiery fashion, with many first takes, and minimal second guessing. These recordings were completed in only a matter of days, and along with a few drawings and one of Curt's paintings taken from the wall to serve as cover art (a dish of three boiled eggs, a green pepper, and a bottle of Tabasco sauce), were all sent to SST shortly before the band returned to the road en route to their next gig. Curt revealed in an interview that one of the reasons for the album being called Huevos (meaning 'eggs' in Spanish) was because of the multitude of first-takers on the record, as similarly eggs can only be used once.


title: Meat Puppets

text: "Monsters" was released in 1989, featuring new elements to their sound with extended jams (such as "Touchdown King" and "Flight of the Fire Weasel") and heavy metal ("Attacked by Monsters"). This album was mostly motivated by the Meat Puppets' desire to attract the attention of a major label, as they were becoming frustrated with SST Records by this time.


title: Meat Puppets

text: As numerous bands from the seminal SST label and other kindred punk-oriented indies had before them, Meat Puppets grappled with the decision to switch to a major label. Two years after their final studio recording for SST, 1989's "Monsters", the trio released its major-label debut, "Forbidden Places", on the indie-friendly London Records. The band chose London Records because it was the first label that ZZ Top, one of their favorite bands, was signed to.


title: Meat Puppets

text: "Forbidden Places" combined many elements of the band's sounds over the years (cowpunk, psychedelia, riffy heavier rock) while some songs had a more laid back early alternative sound. Songs include "Sam" and "Whirlpool," and the title track. Despite being a fan favorite, "Forbidden Places" is now out of print, and as such it remains a highly sought-after collectible online.


title: Meat Puppets

text: In 1992 following his departure from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, guitarist John Frusciante auditioned for the band. Cris Kirkwood stated "He showed up with his guitar out of its case and barefoot. We were on a major label then, we just got signed, and those guys had blown up to where they were at and John needed to get out. John gets to our pad and we started getting ready to play and I said, 'You want to use my tuner?' He said, 'No, I'll bend it in.' It was so far out. Then we jammed but it didn't come to anything. Maybe he wasn't in the right place and we were a tight little unit. It just didn't quite happen but it could have worked."


title: Meat Puppets

text: In late 1993, Meat Puppets achieved mainstream popularity when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, who became a fan after seeing them open for Black Flag in the ‘80s, invited Cris and Curt to join him on MTV Unplugged for acoustic performances of "Plateau", "Oh Me" and "Lake of Fire" (all originally from "Meat Puppets II"). The resulting album, "MTV Unplugged in New York," served as a swan song for Nirvana, as Cobain died less than 5 months after the concert. "Lake of Fire" became a cult favorite for its particularly wrenching vocal performance from Cobain. Subsequently, the Nirvana exposure and the strength of the single "Backwater" (their highest-charting single) helped lift Meat Puppets to new commercial heights. The band's studio return was 1994's "Too High To Die", produced by Butthole Surfers guitarist Paul Leary. The album featured "Backwater", which reached #47 on the Billboard Hot 100, and a hidden-track update of "Lake of Fire." This album features a more straightforward alternative rock style, with occasional moments of pop, country and neo-psychedelic moments. "Too High To Die" earned the band a gold record (500,000 sold), outselling their previous records combined.


title: Meat Puppets

text: 1995's "No Joke!" was the final album recorded by the original Meat Puppets lineup. Stylistically it is very similar to "Too High to Die", although much heavier and with darker lyrics. Examples of this are the single "Scum" and "Eyeball," however the band's usual laid-back style is still heard on tracks like "Chemical Garden." Though the band's drug use included cocaine, heroin, LSD and many others, Cris' use of heroin and crack cocaine became so bad he rarely left his house except to obtain more drugs. At least two people (including his wife and one of his best friends) died of overdoses at his house in Tempe, AZ during this time. The Kirkwood brothers had always had a legendary appetite for illegal substances and during the tour to support "Too High To Die" with Stone Temple Pilots, the easy availability of drugs was too much for Cris. When it was over, he was severely addicted to cocaine and heroin. When their record label discovered Cris' addictions, support for "No Joke!" was subsequently dropped and it was met with poor sales figures.


title: Meat Puppets

text: Derrick recorded a solo EP under the moniker "Today's Sounds" in 1996, and later on in 1999 took charge of re-issuing the Puppets' original seven records on Rykodisc as well as putting out their first live album, "Live in Montana." Curt formed a new band in Austin, Texas called the Royal Neanderthal Orchestra, but they changed their name to Meat Puppets for legal reasons and released a promotional EP entitled "You Love Me" in 1999, "Golden Lies" in 2000 and "Live" in 2002. The line-up was Curt (voc/git), Kyle Ellison (voc/git), Andrew Duplantis (voc/bass) and Shandon Sahm (drums). Sahm's father was the legendary fiddler-singer-songwriter Doug Sahm of The Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados. The concluding track to "Classic Puppets" entitled "New Leaf" also dates from this incarnation of the band.


title: Meat Puppets

text: Around 2002, Meat Puppets dissolved after Duplantis left the band. Curt went on to release albums with the groups Eyes Adrift and Volcano. In 2005, he released his first solo album entitled "Snow".


title: Meat Puppets

text: Bassist Cris was arrested in December 2003 for attacking a security guard at the main post office in downtown Phoenix, AZ with the guard's baton. The guard shot Kirkwood in the stomach at least twice during the melee, causing serious gunshot injuries requiring major surgery. Kirkwood was subsequently denied bail, the judge citing Kirkwood's previous drug arrests and probation violations. He eventually went to prison at the Arizona state prison in Florence, Arizona for felony assault. He was released in July 2005.


title: Meat Puppets

text: Derrick Bostrom began a web site for the band about six months before the original trio stopped working together. The site went through many different permutations before it was essentially mothballed in 2003. In late 2005, Bostrom revamped it, this time as a "blog" for his recollections and as a place to share pieces of Meat Puppets history.


title: Meat Puppets

text: On March 24, 2006, Curt Kirkwood polled fans at his MySpace page with a bulletin that asked: "Question for all ! Would the original line up of Meat Puppets interest anyone ? Feedback is good – do you want a reunion!?" The response from fans was overwhelmingly positive within a couple of hours, leading to speculation of a full-blown Meat Puppets reunion in the near future. However, a post made by Derrick Bostrom on the official Meat Puppets site dismissed the notion.


title: Meat Puppets

text: In April 2006 "Billboard" reported that the Kirkwood brothers would reunite as Meat Puppets without original drummer Derrick Bostrom. Although Primus drummer Tim Alexander was announced as Bostrom's replacement, the position was later filled by Ted Marcus. The new lineup recorded a new full-length album, "Rise to Your Knees", in mid-to-late 2006. The album was released by Anodyne Records on July 17, 2007.


title: Meat Puppets

text: On January 20, 2007, Meat Puppets brothers performed two songs during an Army of Anyone concert, at La Zona Rosa in Austin, Texas. The first song was played with Curt Kirkwood and Cris Kirkwood along with Army of Anyone's Ray Luzier and Dean DeLeo. Then the second song was played with original members Curt and Cris Kirkwood and new Meat Puppets drummer Ted Marcus. This was in the middle of Army of Anyone's set, which they listed as "Meat Puppet Theatre" on the evening's set list. The band performed several new songs in March at the South by Southwest festival. On March 28, 2007, the band announced a West Coast tour through their MySpace page. This is the first tour with original bassist Cris in eleven years. The tour continued into the east coast and midwest later in 2007.


title: Meat Puppets

text: The band parted ways with Anodyne, signed to Megaforce and began recording new material in the winter of 2008. The resulting album, entitled "Sewn Together", was released on May 12, 2009.


title: Meat Puppets

text: In the summer of 2009 the band continued to tour across America. They appeared in Rochester, Minnesota outside in front of over 5,000 fans, after playing Summerfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin the night prior. Meat Puppets performed at the 2009 Voodoo Music Experience in New Orleans over the Halloween weekend.


title: Meat Puppets

text: As of November 2009, Shandon Sahm was back as the drummer in Meat Puppets, replacing Ted Marcus. The band was chosen by Animal Collective to perform the album 'Up on the Sun' live in its entirety at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival that they curated in May 2011.


title: Meat Puppets

text: The band's thirteenth studio album, entitled "Lollipop", was released on April 12, 2011. The Dandies supported Meat Puppets on all European dates in 2011.


title: Meat Puppets

text: Meat Puppets have played several gigs in their hometown since 2009, such as the Marquee show in June 2011 with Dead Confederate.


title: Meat Puppets

text: As of early 2011 Elmo Kirkwood, son of Curt Kirkwood and nephew of Cris Kirkwood, was touring regularly with the band playing rhythm guitar.


title: Meat Puppets

text: Meat Puppets also contributed to Spin Magazine's exclusive album "", playing Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit".


title: Meat Puppets

text: In June 2012, a book titled "Too High to Die: Meet the Meat Puppets" by author Greg Prato was released, which featured all-new interviews with band members past and present and friends of the band (including Peter Buck, Kim Thayil, Scott Asheton, Mike Watt, and Henry Rollins, among others), and covered the band's entire career.


title: Meat Puppets

text: In October 2012, it was announced that the group had just completed recording new songs. "Rat Farm", the band's 14th album, was released in April 2013.


title: Meat Puppets

text: In March 2013, Meat Puppets opened for Dave Grohl's Sound City Players at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas.


title: Meat Puppets

text: In April 2014, Meat Puppets completed a tour with The Moistboyz, and in the summer of 2015, they toured with Soul Asylum.


title: Meat Puppets

text: The Meat Puppets were picked to open for an 11 show tour as support of The Dean Ween Group in October 2016 after Curt Kirkwood and drummer Chuck Treece contribute to "The Deaner Album". Also the same year, Cris either produced and/or played with the following artists for Slope Records - The Exterminators, the Linecutters, and Sad Kid.