Tossing Batting Practice.....while wondering if Stephen Gostowski had to yell FORE! after each of his kicks on Sunday.

Reason number 4,301 why Jets fans bring absolutely nothing to society, Fans showing up to the game with their Pennington jerseys on so they could cheer either way.
Seriously, name me a Jets fan who is famous, or a contributing member to society? They're entire fan base can be summed up by Kevin James, who looks creepily enough like Mangini that I could almost wonder if he was prepping for a role and actually replaced Mangini three weeks ago.

There is some justice in the world, that Man-rat was fired, but it doesnt take all the luster off. Brett Favre should immediately be removed from first ballot hall of fame consideration for that INT he threw to the DLineman. Thanksfully the the NY media won't let him off the hook, but it was putrid to see Peter King blame the injuries for him.

Seriously who hires Man-Fredo now? He can't get hired as a head coach again right away, because he clearly still has some learning to do. But what head coach in their right mind hires this guy to be on his staff? Not only will he take all the team secrets with him, he clearly has no problem burning bridges for those who have helped him.
Those are definitely qualities I look to avoid in an assistant coach. College may be his only option right now.
Someone in the League will likely hire him, and I look forward to him screwing whoever eventually does. A rat is a rat, that's just who they are, maybe he can sign Kazcur with him.

I wish a I knew a Cowboys fan this week, but then the other 51 weeks every year I'd probably regret being friends with one. So I guess I'll just let it go.

Hey Joe Flacco, if a nice Maryland girl inivites you back to her place under the guise of making you crabs for dinner, stop, turn around and go home. Or wait, actually proceed without any caution whatsoever. It'll be ok.

Long live the prohopet Conan O'Brien, who stated this summer "the Jets acquired Brett Favre this week. He was willing to come to NY because he wanted to see what this whole losing thing is all about."

17weeks ago I stated football was dead to me, so for that I'd at least like to thank Matt Cassel and the rest of the team for making things intersting for the fall and giving me a reason to destroy my liver, spend lots of money and enjoy the hell out of every Sunday this year.

Except for you Kazcur you should be sentenced to an eternal existence of eating cheese, running mazes, and getting stomped on by defensive lineman.

Football is dead to me now, but may be the BCS has it all right at least in that scenario the Pats are in the playoffs.

Now I guess I'll focus on basketball, but with the move to Deliverance I'm stuck with only relying on ESPNs coverage of the Celtics. I already know I miss the Celtics comcast commercial with the KG dunk, and the anythings possible scream.

But its 61 degrees in Gainesville, Georgia today, so I guess I can make a sacrfice or two.

Tomorrow will be the start of my drive down to a whole new life, so if anything of interest pops up along the way I'll be sure to document, and mock it.

I'm taking another shot at this for a bit. With my new mobile phone I can post from anywhere, and I think the prospect of me assimilating into southern life has great comedic potential. I will also attempt to porovide a view from the "outside", of the region since its warm enough to be outside before april here.

In honor of the tiny keys these will now likely be a series of tinier posts than previous forays into internet blogging however they'll be more frequent as I can simply type ideas as they come.

Punctuation and spelling will likely be at an all time low.

Tossing batting practice like a lefthanded cancer survivor….(the bitter version)

Well since I grossly misjudged the ’07 Sox after falling behind in the LCS, I figure I’ll try it again and hope for the best, after all the LCS really doesn’t start until the Sox are facing elimination

Its almost like Comcast sports expected the worst, because Drive for 17 has tempered my bitterness just slightly, or gave me more bloodthirst for a title…one or the other.

I knew Lester was in trouble in the first, mainly because the Raqys cheerleaders (a first in baseball btw) were touting the fact Lester throws a lot of strikes, and yet he got out of the inning in five pitches.
That told me the Rays would go up there hacking, at fastballs early in the count, and two innings later the Sox were down 5-0.
The lone solace I take is that I hope someone smarter than me took notice of this, and we’ll see more early count breaking balls if we’re somehow lucky enough to get this to a game 6 or 7.

Its time for a reverse ’07 here, and pull Jacoby for Crisp. It’s like watching spring training in Major League with him now, except he hasn’t dropped to give Tito 20 pushups after he pops up. I will just refer to him as Willie Mays Hayes from here on out.

The game tonight turned when Maddon basically dared Francona to pull Ellsbury and hit Coco, a switch hitter against a lefty. Unless Ellsbury has astronomical numbers against Howell, that include a crooked number before the decimal point he should not have been hitting in that situation.

Things I think I liked about tonight’s game

That Varitek knew where third base was on Cora’s Single, after all its been a while since he’s been on base running all over the place.

Things I know I disliked

I know we all love Pedey for his big swing, and clutch play, but come on, see an f’in strike before swinging at that soft pus Howell throws at you in the first AB.

Seriously, someone in the Sox clubhouse needs to tell Papi he’s due for a B-12 shot, and inject him with one of those Miguel Tejada shots. Or possibly petition major league baseball witht eh idea that for the best interests of baseball Ortiz needs to be allowed to bat from second base so he can hit home runs again.
After all chicks dig the long ball. (of course his wife is a hideous Wisconsin cheesehead, so I guess this metamorphosis into, “not good enough to avoid being cut by the Twins” Ortiz might explain how he wound up with her in the first place)

I was disappointed Youk didn’t get more distance on the bat toss when his K ended an inning. You’re already ruing a generation of N.E. little leaguers with your childish acts, so you might as well go full out in terms of petulance.

I really cant believe that Lester or someone else who throws hard hasn’t buried a fastball into someone’s back for the Rays. Longoria and Upton look a little too comfortable up there, and sadly that message can’t be conveyed tomorrow with the Special Olympic Hurdler taking the mound for the Sox. (if Roger’s the Rocket, then that’s what Wake is)
Hitting is about timing, and pitching is about disrupting timing, if off speed pitches aren’t disrupting the timing enough, then leaving stitchmarks and a tattoo of the word Rawlings on someone’s ribs can do the job just as effectively.

I am officially the last convert of the Nation to the Anti-Varitek side. That passed ball was gross, and whether he got crossed up or not, that was Gedman-esque. He can’t hit at all, and honestly if I see one more shot of him looking into the dugout, calling a pitch; and then TBS telling the world that he calls a phenomenal game I will snap.
I haven’t seen such gross misrepresentation since this (hint scroll down to 75)
For those who don’t bother to scroll through, its merely the d-bag of an assistant coach I had, who is taking credit once again for being the head coach last season.

And, one bonus Patriot complaint, if nothing else, it was a successful trip to SD if Kazcur tore his Achilles.
Though it was tough to see Cassel getting pounded, and not be able to blame that rat **** for the missed block.

Tossing batting practice….while being thankful that Usain Bolt now takes me off the hook as the world’s fastest man...though an ex gf or two of mine might disagree…

I know its been a while since the last post, but a combination of factors precluded another one.
First, I was busier this week than I was the previous week. Second, track was the dominant sport of week two, and its just a lot harder to follow. None of the events were live, and it was difficult to avoid finding out the result. Also, unlike swimming where the likes of Michael Phelps and crew swim multiple events, only precious few like Bolt actually run multiple events.
There are so many track athletes, so many events they literally come in and out of our lives in the blink of an eye.


Whoever was Tom Hammond’s analyst needs to stop talking about the track athletes as if they’re horses in time for London

The steeplechase is an interesting concept, but really I just want someone to fall, or for their to be a carnivorous animal in the water.


Until today Kenya had never won an Olympic gold medal in the Marathon, that’s ridiculous.

I am going to miss table tennis, tonight we even got a couple long range Forest Gump style rallies.

Carlos Boozer is a two-time Olympian? Really?

I refrained from speaking of this earlier, but its been a nice harkening back to the old days for NBC with the Roundball Rock theme being played coming in and out of commercials.

Trivia Time, who actually wrote that song?

As an American every non-Celtics fan should thank Paul Pierce for motivating Lebron in these Olympics.
Wow, Gasol with a quick three point play, even taking some contact, I don’t even have a joke there, I’m just that surprised.

“They don’t know it’s a damn show, they think it’s a damn fight!”
And the US is a bit sluggish to start, as they now face their largest deficit of the tournament, which lasted as long as it took you to read that before Chris Paul beat the defense down the floor for a layup.

Memo to the Nuggets, if you want Carmelo to reach his potential, somehow find a way to lure Jim Boeheim to Denver.

And in the blink of an eye the US has gone on a big run to take a 13 point lead

Spain has made a terrific game of this, but with a tenuous five point lead Kobe comes up with a huge three and a foul, for an 8 point lead.
Somewhere Laker fans are wondering where that was two months ago.

Spain comes right back and cuts it to four again, but Wade drills an open three, to go back up seven. He’s been absolutely huge tonight with 27 points in very limited minutes.

And Kobe with what looks like the clincher, a runner in the lane, followed by a great defensive stand.

While I rooted for Spain to keep it a game at least, in the end it was great for a US victory and return basketball to its rightful place.
They played as a team and actually defended when they needed to which was a nice diversion from previous Dream Teams.

I miss the Olympics already, and look forward to 2012 for more badminton, team handball and 1meter kayaking on a daily basis.

Trivia Answer – John Tesh

Tossing batting practice…while reevaluating my life at the moment as I flip back and forth between badminton and trampoline action on a Saturday afternoon.

I have found my mission in life….judge of Olympic Racewalking, the opportunity to dole out yellow cards like a European soccer official drunk with power, all while uttering the phrase, “whoa slow down buddy!” seems too good to pass up.

ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso missed his calling, he should be pointing a no. 2 pencil into the chests of these racewalkers who are pushing the limits, with a stern, “not so fast my friend!!!!”


I kid you not, the American representatives in the pairs rowing, are Eric and Tyler Winklevoss of Greenwich, Conn. Apparently James Bottomtooth was unavailable to compete.

I still don’t really understand individual pursuit, but what really floors me is that an arena was actually built for that event.

Not only is trampoline an actual Olympic event, there is a full house of fans watching it. They say the Chinese identify athletes early in childhood for rigorous training, well how do they identify who’s going to excel in trampoline?

At least these athletes will have a long career as circus acrobats when they hang it up on international competition. What’s Michael Phelps going to do?

If Badminton athletes can play with a roaring crowd in the background, why can’t tennis players do the same? It might make the sport more interesting.

Our intrepid announcer just called the Indonesians superheroes, deflecting bullets, then asked rhetorically, “where’s the cape?”
I’ve got nothing else to add, I think that speaks for itself.

I understand I have some life evaluations to make, but the thousands of people who bought tickets to the Marathon event, where you simply see the runners enter the stadium, and run around once, all while waiting upwards of two hours, at 9am on Sunday morning., they have some real evaluating to do.

So the Women’s Marathon started at 7:30 a.m. local time, that sucks. You wait your whole life to compete in the Olympics and you’re starting at the crack of dawn.

Brief respite from Marathon watching, because without Bob Lobel and Heartbreak Hill its just not as much fun.
The Little League World Series is on, and this kid from Louisiana has struck out 15 of 16 possible outs while hitting 77 on the gun consistently, and no his last name isn’t Almonte.
Apparently Louisiana is representing the southwest, did that state up and move recently? Because I’ll be honest, I don’t really think of the Cajun country when the Southwest comes to mind.

If I were as far ahead of the pack as this woman is in the Marathon, I’d be running backwards taunting my opponents.

I’m always amused by the concept of the Marathon, the first person to ever do it, actually collapsed and died, and yet we now consider this some sort of athletic achievement, and encourage people to do it.


I shouldn’t care this much, because it is swimming, but this is riveting, what an amazing performance by Phelps to give the relay team a comfortable lead.
To be perfect all eight times, and to swim 17 times in eight days, well I tip my cap to him.
This is why you watch the Olympics, for performances like this. Athletes come and go in these games, but performances like this will stand the test of time.

I shudder to think what the producers of the Michael Phelps DVD would have done with all that wasted footage had he only won five gold medals.

The best part about this is somewhere the next Phelps will come along and aim for nine gold medals, and I look forward to watching that in 2044.

Tossing batting practice while wondering if Michael Phelps’ crazy, drill sergeant coach will be the swimming version of a rambling insane Bela Karoli in the 2024 Olympics…..

So I’ve watched two innings of this Cuba/US baseball game and the announcer keeps bringing up the new tiebreaker rule.
Each time he has done it, the jinx is on as in the 8th a Cuban homered, and in the 10th they got a leadoff triple.
However, the US reliever did a good job to work out of that leadoff triple and leave him stranded.

Bela Karoli is nuts…..like John Madden mixed with Gus Johnson, on acid, all coupled with a Boris Badenoff accent.

I watched a little replay of the gymnastics, and I have to say it was impressive and both handled themselves well. But I felt dirty watching the entire thing.
I felt a great tinge of sadness when I discovered courtesy of myspace, that my 1996 Olympic crush Dominique Moceanu is married with a child today at the tender age of 26. Gymnastics peaked for me as a 14 year old boy, and thus I’ve never been able to look at the sport the same way again.

The first day of track and field started today and thank god, because the swimming has gotten a little (ok a lot) boring.
There is only so much you can write about Michael Phelps.
The first race I came across today was the men’s 1500 meter, and when I heard the voice of Tom Hammond, I did a double take because I thought it was a horse race, but in fact it was just a goofy foreign name, and not some crazy horse name.

Men’s beach volleyball; not as enticing as women’s beach volleyball.

Phil Dalhausser seems like the story of one of those amazingly tall and gangly children, who tries every sport because people assume he’ll be good at it, only to discover they are destined to play in the band.
But somewhere along the line he was convinced to try volleyball and he managed to avoid the destiny of nerdness for life.

Thanks to NBC for switching away from the volleyball game when it was 9-9 in the third and decisive set, for a non-Michael Phelps swim final. Screw you.
Even better they came back with the US up 14-13, only to go away again as soon as the match ended.

Wow that was amazing, Phelps wins by one one hundredths of a second, I think is mother just had a stroke. (pun intended)
Seven gold medals is pretty damn amazing, but to get the seventh in that fashion coming from behind and getting it at the last second, I think tops the relay comeback from Sunday night.

I think we’re all at a loss of words, even Phelps was so I am willing to give Rowdy Gaines the benefit of the doubt, but still let’s try not to refer to another man on national television as “magical” ever again.

So the US baseball team is facing off against it’s longtime border war baseball rival Canada, and a couple of former Red Sox are gracing the Canadian roster.
The original “everday day Eddie” Rheal Cormier is the closer/situational lefty for the Habs, and Rule V pickup Adam-Stern is also in the lineup.
Much like “East Boston’s Jermaine Wiggins, and Hyde Park’s Manny Delcarmen, Stern officially changed his name to Rule V Pickup sometime around 2005.

A sign that hip hop culture has reached all facets of life…..Shalane Flanagan, became the first American woman to medal in her distance running event (its 2am I don’t remember what it was) in a lot a of years, (again the 2am on Friday night thing) so what does she do in her interview, but gives a shout out to Marblehead Mass, her hometown.
So despite being very white, blonde and irish, the rest of America probably thinks Marblehead is some kind of hood, when in fact it is the polar opposite.

Then again its 1:57am on Friday, so I might be the only person without a Marblehead mailing address still watching.

Seriously, has Bob Costas slept at all this week?? I hope he has stock in Visine, because his eyes looked so bulged and white, I thought it was his turn to drive to Jack in the Box with Cheech and Chong.

Ok, I now know its time to call it quits, I just saw a slow motion replay of Race Walkers, (yes race walkers) pouring water all over themselves).

That is all……


Though I’ll probably watch a little more and have better jokes for race walking tomorrow.

Tossing batting practice….While wondering if the inventors of field hockey got together and voted lefties to be considered three-fifths of a righty thus justifying their segregation from the sport.

I wonder if I could have been the Jackie Robinson of field hockey and broken the dexterity-barrier had I simply gotten the ACLU behind me and sued the pants off the US Field Hockey Federation as a child.

Today was kind of a light day, with baseball dominating the afternoon coverage, and really crappy Men’s gymnastics leading most of the night,

With a name like Rowdy Gaines, shouldn’t he be analyzing a cooler sport than Swimming?

Late last night that Crepes loving choker from the 200 relay grabbed the world record in the 100 freestyle prelims, but in what probably is a microcosm of his Olympics, he held it for a grand total of 47.05 seconds, as it was grabbed back by the Australian whom he stole it from moments ago.
He talked the talk earlier this week, but he appears to be walking the walk in cement shoes at the bottom of the pool.
He then subsequently won the gold later on the day….bastard.

It’s nice to see that being traded for CC Sabathia has truly elevated Matt Laporta’s status in baseball circles. He is considered the marquee attraction for team USA baseball, at least according to the Comcast info button, as he allegedly leads the USA into action today. I think that’s more of a statement of who else is on the team, because six weeks ago only the one Brewer fan/sabermetrican who went to Cleveland for the convention last month, and Laporta’s parents knew who he was.

Hey Exxon, instead of trying to solve malaria in foreign countries, how about lowering gas prices and sending some of those record profits back our way. This is the kind of commentary you the reader get when every possible Olympic channel is on commercial at the exact same time.

Olympic baseball can also be chalked up as a sport that’s simply not that interesting on an international stage.

12:42 a.m. Men;s gymnastics or Women’s Badminton? you make the call!

The much anticipated softball showdown between the US and Canada is in a rain delay, and I am treated to more badminton. For the first time in my life I have seen a German of asian descent, taking on some superstar Chinese opponent.

The competition to make the Chinese Badminton team is so fierce, the 2007 World Champion was not selected by the Chinese head coach for the Beijing Olympics.
It’s too bad Coach K didn’t have those kind of gorilla balls when it came down to selecting Kobe and Lebron.

The Chinese have placed such a huge emphasis on winning the Gold Medal count in these Olympics, I can’t help but wonder if a Latvian Table Tennis player, or German Badminton player of Chinese descent wins a gold for their country, will it count for the Communists.

Ha!!! Take that field hockey. Softball may be getting bounced from the 2012 Olympics (take a drink) but it just returned the favor to the entire town of Walpole, watching native daughter Kate McDavitt, and the dozen or so other field hockey fans who anxiously awaited the US showdown with Germany.
Instead the US/Canada game is back from the hour and 15 minute rain delay.

It's nearly 3am, and I now know it's officially time to call it a night because I found myself actually talking myself into the potential of Monica Abbott as attractive.
That was the mythical bartender here at TBP turning the lights on and telling me to go home.

With a 2:15 am start, this could seriously jeopardize my intentions to get up at 8am to watch the US/Greece hoops game in a few hours.

Tossing batting practice….because Charlie Zink was too tired and battered to write this column for me.

I decided to skip some writing tonight because with women’s gymnastics dominating the coverage, I was afraid too much writing about these Chinese gymnasts would force me to register somewhere for something.

Ok, one comment, when the girls look like they couldn’t pass a field sobriety test on the balance beam, they probably can’t expect gold.

I want to personally apologize to Cat Osterman for accidentally confusing her for Monica Abbott to start tonight’s softball showdown between Australia and the US, a rematch of the 2004 gold medal game.

Tanya Harding, no not that one, is in the circle (remember there is no hill) for Australia, and she looks to have aged about as well as the Tonya Harding the rest of America is familiar with, i.e. not well.

She claims to be 36, but either the sun hasn’t been good to her down under, or she’s was born at the same hospital that verified Miguel Tejada’s birth certificate.

I’m willing to admit it, you know you’re a softball nerd when you’re curious about which bat, every player is swinging.

Do you think the Red Sox could add Stacey Nuveman to the 40 man roster come sept. 1st? she calls a great game too, and probably couldn't hit any worse. And her thighs are in fact bigger, and more muscular than the captain's.

For those of you not familiar with softball, not being able to crack triple digits in kilometers an hour, is slightly better than Wakefieldian…perhaps it could be referred to as Foulke-esque.
And despite that seeming limitation Osterman tossed the second straight no-hitter in these Olympics against one of the better offenses in the tournament.
I won’t bore you any further tonight with softball in what was a mostly ho-hum game.

On to indoor volleyball, where the Venezuelan women appear to be wearing speedo bottoms for uniforms; more analysis coming shortly.

Why don’t you see more fingers broken in volleyball games, these folks just hammer the ball.

In no way shape or form do the colors yellow, or teal appear in the Australian flag, nor do I think of those colors when I think down under, yet their Olympic committee insists every four years upon those colors for uniforms.

Forest Gump where art though?
He is apparently not walking through that door for the US table tennis team. (So I don’t offend the lone table tennis fan, who corrects me in the comments, I wont call it ping pong)

The US women, are currently taking a beating from the representatives from the Singapore. I think it would have been less painful to our civic pride if it had involved a cane and the Singapore government.

Were it not for the announcers telling us which team was which, I would not have been able to discern the Americans from the Singaporeans.

Roommate: “Look at them they’re all Asian, isn’t that stereotypical?”
Me: “No, it’s not a stereotype if it’s true”

Somewhere Steve “Snapper” Jones finds it abhorrent that the US is not breeding it’s own table tennis players. No word yet on whether he thinks of our athletes as traitors to their own country, whatever it may be.

Upon further review, Bill Clement is once again leading the commentary. After trap shooting, Sunday and Table Tennis today, I think we can safely assume that NBC does not think very highly of its lead hockey announcer, nor do they place much importance on keeping him happy.



In any event, I am watching more midget boxing involving what I can only assume, because generalizations are fun, to be a smarmy Frenchman, and a boxer from Uzbekistan.
Not since I was eight years old, riveted to CNN have I rooted so fervently for the citizens of Uzbekistan.
France Sucks…

And its off to bed for a bit before returning shortly for what should be an exciting Women's basektball showdown between the US and Mali and just four short hours.

Tossing batting practice….while wondering how Angola keeps getting invited back to the Olympics in basketball.

A number of African countries have sent natives to the NBA, Hakeem Olajuwon, Manute Bol, and the late great Yinka Dare all come to mind. Yet I don’t think Angola has ever sent one, but somehow they keep qualifying for these games.

I’m sick of the fervor surrounding American players suiting up for other countries in the Olympic basketball tournament. It’s not like these guys turned down the chance to play for the US. Becky Hammon was MVP of the WNBA and didn’t make the US team, since it was basically already picked.

If I had the chance to join Iran or North Korea’s Olympic team, for the opportunity to go through the one in a lifetime experience of being an Olympic athlete I’d do it.
And for the record, anyone with the nickname “Snapper” should spare the American people the soliloquy of what “traders” these people are.
Nobody accused Del Harris of being a Communist when he coached the Chinese basketball team in Athens.

Screw NBATV I want Comcast to keep this international basketball channel full time. Then I can stop watching classic games where I know the outcome.

Universal HD, is making every effort to bring boxing back to mainstream, with nonstop coverage the last few days. By the time the Sopranos comes on A&E at 3pm, I can't get Teddy Atlas out of my head, mumbling like Phil Leotardo on speed.

One glaring difference between communism and capitalism can be seen at the Boxing arena. In America we have the “Corporate Sponsor who gave us the most money Stadium/Arena/Garden."
In China you have the Worker’s Gymnasium. Once again, in theory Communism works.

The worst part about not having taken a social studies class in about 10 years, is not knowing what the flags of these fledging countries, who probably just declared independence, look like.
NBC puts a little too much faith in the average American’s knowledge of world cultures, to not just tell us where they’re from.

I just watched featherweight boxing between two circus midgets from countries, with flags, and abbreviations I could not determine. Sorry former high school social studies teachers of mine.

And I am a certified social studies teacher in the state of Massachusetts.

One Kilometer Kayaking looks like a sport I wish I had discovered earlier in life, or the flume ride at Canobie Lake Park, with a medal involved. Either way I’m sold.

The eventual Bronze medal in Kayaking went to a guy from Togo who just won the first ever Olympic medal for Togo, and then pulled a Bo Jackson and snapped his paddle in half in celebration, I wonder if he won the gold would he have put a hole in the kayak and sunk it?

I feel as though the fervor over Mark Spitz not being invited is the fault of some poor USOC PR intern, who probably got the email to call Spitz sent to their spam box, never to be heard from again.

A quick perusal of wikipedia tells me that, Mark Spitz had a failed attempt to capitalize on his fame in Hollywood, and attempted a comeback in the early 90s that also came up short. He is now a self-employed corporate spokesperson and motivational speaker.
Well, now I know what the future holds for Michael Phelps, once track and field starts next week and we’ve all forgotten about swimming.

Back later on tonight with a few more thoughts, and a pitch by pitch gamecast of the much anticipated (in my house) US/Australia preliminary round softball game.

Tossing batting practice…while warming up in the bullpen for Venezuela

The start of today’s softball showdown between the US and Venezuela is being delayed, and CNBC is treating us to some mixed doubles badminton.

Hehehehehehehe, shuttlecock hehehehehehe.

Ok, now that I’ve got that out of my system, this match does not feature either Brian Urlacher or David Ortiz, but everything else looks strikingly similar to that vitamin water commercial.

In lieu of those two, we have two completely androgynous mixed doubles teams from Indonesia and Korea. One of these teams features, a competitor whose name is pronounced “Wang Yu Mi” which I believe is a line Dunneksi attempted to use at a shady club in Manila while fighting a language barrier and for freedom.

Wang is in fact pronounced like the theatre in Boston, and not like the underachieving pitcher for New York.

Boston 1 NY 0

“Wang has been very good for Korea” hehehehehehehe. (Sorry I just can’t take this sport seriously, but I’m trying.)
The disturbing part of that quote, is that Wang is a she, which is sort of an ironic twist of words from what you might accidentally discover at an Korean massage parlor.

“And Wang can’t deliver!” most drunken Yankee fans feel that pain in more ways than one.

Clearly this announcer, is a little boisterous, and hoping that he might get the call up to a slightly more significant sport if he goes Gus Johnson on us.

While I’m a little disappointed to see badminton go (seriously NBC, if you’re going to give us an all soccer channel, can’t you give us badminton) it’s time for the main event (for me) with the US taking on Venezuela.
I never thought I’d say this, but I miss John Kruk. This announcer clearly has never seen a softball game in his life. At least Bill Clement sounded somewhat informed on trap shooting yesterday.
Meanwhile this guy has never seen the 2nd baseman cover first.

As Jennie Finch grunts and moans through every pitch, a world away teenage boys are doing the same…

For all you college kids out there looking for a reason besides Finch to watch this sport, I urge you to play the “softball will not be part of the 2012 Olympics drinking game” Anytime the announcers over the next 10 days mention in any way this being the last Olympics for softball as a sport, you must take a drink.
Warning, may cause alcohol poisoning or death

Taking a page from TBS playoff baseball coverage, while still awat at commercial we missed a home run from Crystal Bustos, who is still vying for the top spot in People’s least popular annual issue, the 50 most ugly people in America.
Despite her putrid look, she is absolutely must watch tv when she is hitting, think of a more portly Manny Ramirez, and twice as much power.

5-0 after three, and I’m glad NBC has taken the time to inform us of the run rule, so I might be able to get some sleep, or more badminton.

It looks like I found out what my former assistant and current deplorable human being is doing for the summer.....coaching the Venezuela outfield.
I haven’t seen such poor play on popups since, oh about five months ago on a daily basis.

Memo to Michelle Smith, an 11-0 bludgeoning is not the time to try to convince a skeptical and uninformed American audience that the rest of the world is catching up.

And this has officially gotten uglier than Crystal Bustos and Monica Abbot on the cover of the Swimsuit edition, bring back badminton.

Back in the AM with some Angola/US Redeem Team hoops…. Also on the to do list for today is swimming on Telemundo. If they can make soccer sound exciting imagine what they could do with a sprint race. I hope the gooooaaaaaalllll!!!!! Guy is there so he can offer up exclamations of Gooollllddd!

Tossing Batting Practice….while admiring in as heterosexual a way as possible the difficulty of men’s gymnastics.

The reason why you don’t see many Americans succeed in men’s gymnastics, is every time they hang from a cylinder, they’re whistled for a technical foul.

(1:09 a.m) So let me get this straight, Cuba has an indoor volleyball team, but not a beach volleyball team, yet Latvia which from what I understand is near Scandinavia has a beach volleyball duo. Apparently they maximize those two weeks of training they get a year on the beaches of the North Sea.

A request from the audience has come to try and explain scoring in Olympic Boxing, so far I’ve come up empty.

The first bout of the day (or in this case early night) features a Brazilian pugilist, and I can’t help but wonder if given the national obsession with soccer, is a Brazilian who is good with their hands an outcast to most of his country?

You learn something new everyday I guess…there are in fact minorities in Australia, and even down under they take up the sports affluent Australians won’t do (oh wait that’s supposed to say jobs). Case in point, this Australian minority boxer.
The guy has lightning quick hands, and is light on his feet. Which begs the obvious question, does he shadow box against kangaroos for practice? I think there is no other acceptable form of training in that country.

I’m Pretty sure this is not what Lenin, or Mao envisioned years ago….
The men’s beach volleyball duo of Todd Rogers and Phil Dalhausser (who looks like Matt Geiger’s long lost brother, which is not a compliment) suffered from their sunglasses fogging up in their stunning opening round loss. But they are unable to ditch the glasses in round two because of a sponsorship deal, so what do they do? They take the lens off, but continue to wear the frames, in some sort of ode to the Revenge of the Nerds.

Why isn’t team handball more popular in this country? It kind of looks like the NBA, lots of perimeter passing, and nobody goes near the net, say for the occasional penetrator off the dribble.
The difference though, is that players are not allowed within six meters of the net.

One second left, down a goal and the Hungry women’s team handball squad pulls out a miraculous goal and salvages a tie, you know you’re watching the Olympics when you and your roommate simultaneously let out a loud yell at women’s team handball at 4 p.m.

Upon further review, there is one Olympic sport that doesn’t get more exciting because it’s the Olympics. And that is Tennis….Until it’s a Federer/Nadal final, who cares?

Ok, if you’re watching Bode Miller, this is how you’re supposed to back up all the talk of multiple gold medals at one Olympics. Phelps just blasted the field in that 200 meter, he needs a cool nickname like the Australian guy, the Thorpedo.

For the record, I could not remember what Bode Miller’s name was, until I googled the phrase “drunken skier and 2006 Olympics” and he came up.
Probably not the phrase he wanted associated with himself prior to his failed Olympic experience.

I’m starting to understand the complaints and questions surrounding those swimming body suits as world records have been falling like the 50 home run barrier in the mid to late 90s.
I trust someone at NBC will bring this up and inform the viewing audience when the swimming equivalent of Brady Anderson breaks a world record in a prelim.

If the oldest baseball record on the books was a mere eight years old, like in swimming, would Bob Costas have the same fondness for the old days?

Why the rest of the world hates us Part LXIVXI …The post race hug/handshake in swimming.
When an American loses, and the victor gets all Jim Valvano on the field looking for congratualtions, they always get this sour, “I will do this because I have to, and it’s on TV” look on their face, sort of like the post series handshake in playoff hockey.
Meanwhile, the competitors from other countries generally congratulate the winner and celebrate as if they won, I think that’s a sign the rest of the world is rooting against us, in more ways than one.
I guess that makes us the Yankees huh? (pun intended).

Day One of softball is on the slate for the start of tomorrow’s blog…..Jennie Finch gets the ball for game one, and if you know me, you’ll know I won’t be too distracted to discuss the nuances of her game.

Tossing batting practice….while wondering how citizens from landlocked, mostly cold weather countries like China and the Netherlands get involved in beach volleyball to begin with.

The opening round of beach volleyball was played in pouring rain today, I’m pretty sure that there is no group of athletes more ill prepared to compete in foul weather in these entire Olympics.

I was watching a little bit of rowing, and started falling asleep because the announcer was filled with all the enthusiasm of a golf announcer in the final round of a tournament not involving Tiger, or maybe I was watching the PGA Championship, I’m a little out of it.
Anyways I perked right up when the announcer told me that the Italians had won, followed closely by the Cubans. The concept of Cuban rowers brought about so many questions.
Are these two on the national team because the 1 million fastest rowers in Cuba are currently living in Florida?
Did they decide to dedicate their lives to rowing after being unable to out row the Coast Guard?

I think all differences aside, the Cuban government should have let El Duque and Livan Hernandez don the national colors once again and get in a boat and row. Since neither one can pitch anymore, they might be able to restore some pride.

Today’s random way off the cuff sport, was 10 meter trap shooting in the rain. When the analyst, is getting text messages from the US coach, who is actually in China, as opposed to a studio in NY you know that NBC doesn’t care about you. Or maybe a better sign is hockey analyst Bill Clement is the lead announcer.

It wasn’t a sport conducive to TV, but the puff of smoke that indicated a busted target was pretty cool, albeit somewhat rare, kind of like choosing a Pope.
The event did feature a heartwarming comeback story of a shooter who was unable to train for most of the year because his gun license was taken away from him while he was on trial for battering his girlfriend, whom it turned out had made the entire thing up.
Only in trap shooting can your livelihood be truly jeopardized by the ramblings of a crazy woman.

The Chinese not winning a cycling event is sort of like the US not winning at basketball right? Wait, that’s a poor turn of phrase, how about the US not winning at Women’s basketball?

I guess if the event was the fastest time in gridlock from Tiananmen Square to the Forbidden City, then the Chinese would own it.

Is the goalkeeper in water polo the guy on the team who can’t swim, but is excellent at treading water and flailing his arms like a maniac?
And yes, with the shower cap on (I’m still not sure the need to be aerodynamic in this game by the way) these guys have the look of the “wacky inflatable arm waving tube man” from Family Guy.

Wikipedia and Google answer so many questions I have about these fringe sports, such as how deep is the water in water polo, it’s 2.0 meters which according to online conversion, courtesy of google is 6.5 feet.
Imagine how good Shaq or Yao would be in this sport if the water is only 6.5 feet deep? Better still a 6-10 flame throwing Randy Johnson.


President Bush is just livin the dream right now. He looks like a guy who’s about to retire, but was just told by human resources he better use those personal days or they’ll be gone.
So what does he do? Take a five day trek to China for the Olympics. The real world Corporate America equivalent, would be a five day west coast ballpark tour culminating in a weekend in Vegas.

There’s been a lot of clamor about these new full body speedos in swimming circles. However, I just want to go on record as saying I am 100 percent for them in men’s swimming.

The gender ambiguity of the German gymnastics team is a quaint reminder of the old days when there were more communist countries to root against.

(11:26 p.m.) I wish France were better at sports so I could root against them in more events. But I guess tonight’s relay will have to suffice. Seeing their snooty arrogance get crushed will be rather satisfying.
I give them credit for trash talking though and spicing things up, in an otherwise monotonous event.

(11:31 p.m.) Well, that was even more satisfying than could be imagined, France's anchor surrendered that lead like his grandfather surrendered Paris in 1940.
Granted nobody outside of swimming circles will ever remember this by Thursday, but that brought some excitement to these games, and kept Phelps' hopes for the eight golds alive for one more night.
A feat I think only, Phelps, his parents, and NBC care about.

That’s about it for tonight, but I’ll be sure to watch the badminton singles tomorrow morning, so that you don’t have to.

Tossing Batting Practice…..which is what I will likely do in a few hours if I don’t turn off the goddamn tv and go to be before my tournament in the morning.

I did not watch the opening ceremonies, as far as I’m concerned Fencing at 2am is the opening ceremonies of the games of the XXIXth Olympiad. (Somewhere either my 4th grade teacher, or NFL films should be proud of the fact I didn’t need to look that up)

(Saturday 2am ET) Make fun of softball all you want, but women’s fencing, particularly European women are about the most raging lesbians in existence….not that there’s anything wrong with that.

What is worse, one who dedicates their life to fencing, or one who dedicates their life to analyze fencing?
It’s 2:06, roughly four minutes into the coverage of this event, and the Stuart Scott-esque analyst (who may or may not be Gus Johnson’s autistic cousin), has used the term “great action” 6 times, and if he utters the term nice touch one more time I might be required by Comcast to pay $10 for the remainder of the on Cinemax.

This may or may not last beyond this morning, but the random correct sporting term from an obscure sport of the day is sabre.
(And I also can’t help but think of the Aud in Buffalo and those horrific logos of the of Buffalo Sabres)

Transitioning….seriously, those sabres can’t be that sharp looking, why are thsee folks dressed as though they are handling some sort of anthrax laced ebola virus strain?

“This is a big big moment, either she wins or it’s a tie score”…..thanks Joe Morgan, for letting us know that a 14-13 score in a match to 15 is a crucial point.

It is impossible to watch fencing, without hearing the phrase, "my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die!" play insied your head, followed by a hilarious chuckle.

This will likely be a daily feature

The one thing I want to see more than anything (until tomorrow),
Is the American fencer, (who is clearly fighting lefthanded)to be miked up, and dlip the sabre (I will make an effort not to call it a sword) to her right hand, and say,"But I have a secret for you...I am not lefthanded" only to dominate the match? fight? game? I have yet to determine what the proper name for it is.

If a Great Britian “athlete” (let’s be honest we all chucked at that statement) annihilates an Egyptian participant in crappy-weight (anything short of heavyweight will be hereby known as crappy-weight, or something more creative down the road) boxing is that a victory for Christianity, 900 years In the making?

Is there a more out of place human being in all of China, than Teddy Atlas??? His NY accent is so thick, he couldn’t even get work as an extra in Johnny Sac’s crew on the Sopranos…Not even NBC bothered to try to clean him up for TV, I guess that’s why he’s on at 230am.

So the NBC family of networks is giving me multiple options of channel surfing at 2am oin Saturday of day 1, and only a mere 28 minutes until China Vs Spain women’s basketball on the NBCHD basketball channel.

I think this is going to be a long sleep deprived two weeks……

Tossing batting practice…while enjoying the fact that it you can legitimately pay 37 pesos for a gallon of gas in America, near Jay’s new house in El Paso.

So it’s been a while, I know. Things just sort of happened, and I know I should have called, but hey, why didn’t you call me, if you were really that worried or interested???

See, how I was able to turn the guilt toward you?

Anyways, I felt as one of the few Manny supporters (I think apologist is too strong a word) remaining, I thought it would be a good time to state the case. I am fully aware as I write this, that Jason Bay just went 4-5 and is batting .429, but as I contend further down, I don’t think this trade can be judged in the regular season.

I won’t defend his actions, thus the reasoning that apologist is too strong a word, I felt it was an abomination and I understand that he had to go according to the players on the team, and I have played with my fair share of superstars who were team chemistry cancers. The heroin addict, convicted felon, All-American who batted .700 at Nationals two years ago comes right to mind.

(As a side note, Manny may have been a pain in the ass faking injuries and what not, but it’s not like any member of the Sox had a teammate who went around saying, “If I go back to the can it’s going to be for a real crime like assault or murder, not f’in drugs”)

However, this trade to me provides a conundrum for all Sox fans that they must answer.

If they had kept Manny, the Sox probably would not have made the playoffs, but if they did, there is no doubt to me they would have won it all.
By trading him, I think it’s all but assured they make the playoffs, but they probably won’t win it.

So that's the million dollar question you must ask yourself, are you a playoffs is good enough person, or a championship or bust type?

(yes I know, you can scroll down about one or two posts to find the last time I made a concrete prediction about this team, and it failed miserably, but hear me out)

I’ve played with enough guys who grew up near the equator to understand a little but about their culture and the way they play the game, it’s not simply a Manny thing, but it’s easy to dump on him. He’ll never be Pete Rose, but name me anyone with Hispanic blood you would say compares to him. A player like that is usually someone, no matter the color or ethnicity who wasn’t handed many god given tools.
The same could be said about Larry Bird, in the NBA, it’s said they don’t make players like him anymore, or that African-Americans today are too flashy, but it’s a culture thing among those athletes and trickles down to all levels of the game, it’s just easy to single out a Manny Ramirez because he makes 20 Million a year.

The swift generalization, aside. To me the quartet of JD Drew, Mike Lowell, Kevin Youkilis, and Jason Bay, to borrow a phrase from Rick Reilly (I apologize) sounds like a Kiwanis Club meeting.
Somewhere Tom Yawkey is thrilled the Sox got a heck of a lot whiter, with one big “I do” or in this case, “deal” from Theo Epstein.

More importantly, I look at this deal as a case of us having, five nickels, three nickels and a dime or two dimes and a nickel, instead of a quarter.

My point is that, sure all these options, equal a quarter and are good for purchase anywhere in America at a storecounter.
But too much change always gets lost, and to count on you constantly carrying all those coins on your person and assuming that they won’t get lost, or fall out of your pocket is taking a leap of faith.
If one of that quartet gets hurt (hello Mike Lowell, and that hip flexor) you’re down a coin, and don’t equal 25 cents anymore.

If it just so happens that you manage to keep all the coins, and you get to the playoffs, well theoretically you’re in good shape right?

This is where I concur. There are plenty of things in everyday life where 25 cents is good no matter the combination, but to me the playoffs is a little different.

In David Ortiz, the Red Sox have a quarter, even with the wrist injury. When we get to October his value is measured in past, and current success, thus even hurt, he still possesses a threat to opponents that have to respect him no matter what. In other words, he’s worth 25 cents, even if it’s a little scuffed.

Manny was a quarter as well, even if he’s in decline, and couldn’t hit an inside fastball over 94 mph opponents still feared him, it could have been scuffed, bent a little, or even Canadian, as far as opponents were concerned, in big spots, late innings, and close games he walked like a duck, talked like a duck and acted like a duck.
So opponents had to fear him and respect him, and pitch to him and by extension, Ortiz accordingly.

With Manny gone, sure we have 25 cents, but I can’t use that combination at the Laundromat, or to feed the parking meter, I need to trade them for a quarter.
That’s what October is against the Angels, or big a series against the Yankees, I need to feed the meter, and a bunch of coins totaling 25 cents won’t to me any good, they are essentially worthless, and even with one quarter, like Ortiz, it isn’t enough.
I need that extra one to get me over the top.

In Bay, Drew, Youkilis, or Lowell, the Red Sox may have another quarter, it remains to be seen. Bay is really the only possibility, since we sort of know the other three are what they are, but he may just be another coin to add to the collection.
It’s a collection that may just be enough for a playoff berth, but right now looking around at the other offenses in the league

I hope I’m as amazingly wrong as I was last October, and right now if the Sox don’t make the playoffs they can state publicly they just weren’t good enough, because they certainly wouldn’t have had Manny if they suddenly faded down the stretch.
But I think they will make the postseason, and ultimately this lineup will mirror the Angels of years past, while they will now mirror us.
An ironic twist of the “can’t beat em, join em, corollary”.

If that’s the case, expect an October failure, one I can’t help but think could have been avoided with Manny Ramirez in the lineup.

The Bottom line is this in my eyes, the Sox were 0-83 without Manny, and 2-7 with him. I'll take that average, and those memories. I will also cherish the fact that diehard Yankee fans like JT celebrated the trade, and admitted, he was glad that the Sox would not make the playoffs now (which I do disagree) because he doesn't think the Yankees can beat Boston in a 7 game series, because of the mental block they have on the Sox.
As a Boston fan, that means more to me than anything, a Yankee fan admitting defeat to a Red Sox fan before the games are played, or even scheduled.
That was a direct result of what Manny Ramirez brought to the Red Sox the past seven and a half seasons. That was worth $160 Million of someone else's money.

***

It’s been four years, since my great Tossing BP, Olympic edition. My it’s been a while, and life has changed (for my betterment if you ask those who hated Jess, which was just about everyone), and I can’t believe its been that long, Mission Hill was good to us, right Dunneski?.
However, I am interested in my intrepid reader (thanks Bill) or less likely, readers opinion.
Given my current situation, of not much to do, and a lot of Olympic coverage on television, if I attempt a regular Olympic blog, mostly making fun of NBC’s coverage, Niche sports, and making wild ethnic generalizations, and off color jokes will people be interested in reading, and not judge me to be a horrible human being???

Oh yeah, and wall to wall Softball Coverage….because I will be watching live, no matter the hour.

You can leave me a comment, or email your answer either way, and I will deliver what the audience wants….

Tossing batting practice….NBA finals style here at the Chateau along the waterfront in Southie. This is unedited, and without the usual filter of Political Correctness.

After catching game 1 from section 321 this is my virgin experience of the NBA finals on tv, and while I don’t dislike these three, there is nothing that makes them stand apart. Couldn’t ABC have borrowed Dick Stockton, since he was in town for the Sox anyway. Or at least have Brent Musberger do an intro?
It took three hours but I managed to successfully turn the NBA on CBS theme song into my ringtone last week, so the nostalgia and the occasional sightings of my dad, sans facial hair and about 175 pounds in the background of those 80s highlights has brought great levity to life at the moment.

C’s lose the tip, and look real tentative on offense, it almost looks like they’re outthinking themselves into believing that the Zen Master has some special tricks up his sleeve for Game 2, as we’ve been told repeatedly the last three days.
Unless he can find some Pistons with nothing to do this week who can past for slow, white chain smoking Europeans who have an allergy to defense, I don’t think he’ll come up with some magic formula this time.

Just a horrible call on KG for a moving screen, here’s hoping we get that back later on. I don’t understand why the same officiating crew doesn’t do the entire series. Like Van Gundy said, moving screens vary from crew to crew, well so don’t most other calls. The three best

Down seven here and things are looking sloppy, the Lakers are effectively doubling in the Post especially on KG and thus he’s gone back to drifter mode on the perimeter.

And there’s the makeup….that was an atrocious call on Kobe, but I’ll take it.

Great ball movement on the last few possessions to get the C’s back in the game and take a two point lead

Not for nothing, but Bon Delaney is officiating this game like he owes money to the mob he put away years ago.....And I think Phil Jackson wouldn;'t be opposed to finding him in a ditch before the end of the series.

10:00 wow, Casell just grabbed Farmar’s arm as he attempted a to chuck a shot up with his back to the basket, fortunately it turned into an outlet and a three from Pierce. Timeout Lakers….it was nice of the Zenmaster to stop the game so we could present Casell with the ball for his first assist of the NBA finals, and potentially the playoffs.

9:30 And welcome to game 2 Kobe, that was a nice little turnaround.

I don’t know who I have a bigger mancrush on right now, Posey or PJ, everything they do seems huge, big open three from Pose there, he’s everything we all though Eric Williams was six years ago, except Posey isn’t over inflated by the home crowd, and PC alums.

7:44 Leon, you don’t need to know the plays if you’re gonna get the line eight times and finish off a three point play like that. It’d be nice if he made a few more freebies, but beggars can’t be choosers.

7:10And it’s been two minutes and I regret taunting Kobe already…back to back from Therapist not a good sign, but he may be pulling a Pedro Cerrano in the next few minutes, and telling Pau and the Crew, “FU I do it myself”

6:11 in the words of the legendary Hank Smith, “Get him out, get him the F*** out” I don’t blame Doc for going to Casell, but you know with him instantly if he’s on or off, and tonight he couldn’t he couldn’t hit Boston Harbor from the edge of Castle Island.

5:40 Words cannot describe adequately the vindication I feel that Perk has turned into a serviceable NBA big man. I don’t get why people wanted to give up on him so early, he’s only 23 and at that age and that size you’re bound to be awkward for a long time as you grow into your body, but by all accounts he’s a hard worker, and he showed a deft little touch to finish that layup as the Spaniard probably hit him as hard as that Soccer Dweeb could and he brushed it off like swatting a fly.

5:20 Seriously guys, gotta rebound better….Too many easy offensive rebound putbacks.

4:42 I’ve been all for the Ubuntu unselfishness thing no matter how hokey it is, but Pierce just turned down a floater in the lane for an 18 footer from KG that clanged.

3:56 Words I never expected to type this season….Good use of a timeout from Doc. Maybe someone finally told him he doesn’t get to take them with him over the summer for use in everyday life.
KG just channeled his inner Lebron by crossover dribbling to nowhere and hucking up an 18 foot fadeaway with a hand in his face. Fortunately the inner KG returned as soon as it left his hand and he got the offensive rebound back, and Doc was able to call timeout before KG could try it again.

3:12 that three from Pierce was huge….got the crowd going, and then Rondo just robbed Pau like he was a european tourist who wandered into Dudley Square at night. Followed by a huge three from Allen.
The Zenmaster isn’t using the proper breathing techniques now as he barks about a foul, but when 6-1 picks 7 feet, you get a little leeway, “he just wanted it more”

2:05 KG needs a layup in the worst way right now, because he looks like he’s been taking shooting tips from Casell.

1:53 No Means No….and Kobe has three fouls. The definition of frustration foul there as he just bulldozed Pierce.

1:20 Another layup from Gasol in the post, and somewhere the late great, second father of mine Ken Harrington is yelling “THREE SECONDS!!!!!”

1:00 Ok, I’ve been stubborn, but let the record show in game 2 of the finals at 10:12 PM on June 8th, I admitted “I was wrong about Rondo’s potential future as an NBA player”
And then he thoughtfully clangs a free throw.

0:00 up 12 at the break, and Kobe has that same humbling/really annoyed look on as face that he possessed every time he stepped into an Eagle County Courthouse.

Halftime: It’s nice to see there are still about 45,000 Clippers fans in LA, because they all appear to be at the Dodger game. I’m waiting to see if Penny Marshall has seats behind homeplate.

The biggest problem facing the NBA today isn’t the officiating (though it sort of rolls into it) it’s the fact that it can take as long to play an NBA playoff game is it takes to play baseball.
The late start times aren’t really an issue, but three hour basketball that moves at the pace of a world series game is one.

12:00 What incredible ball movement on the opening possession of the half. 16 assists on 18 field goals is rather impressive.

10:26 If the Governator is going to pass it as law, then David Stern should intervene and require Kurt Rambis to wear the Clark Kent glasses at all times in Public. He should not be allowed to be a lasik eye surgery success story.

9:30 The way Kobe is shooting right now, he might be the Hero Among Us in game 6, for building a brand new home for underprivileged youth in Boston with all the bricks he personally laid.

8:50 Kobe picks up a T and Breen says he needs to be careful right now. I think for the remainder of this game nothing short of Deflowering Danny Crawford’s daughter or stabbing Paul Pierce will get him that second T.

8:15 A brief shot of Doug FLutie in Green, in the crowd, it’s now officially a Boston event. I think they should dress him as Lucky and let him go flying off the trampoline for Dunks who wouldn’t want to see Dougie flying through the air for a somersault tomahawk?
And I know I just alienated every BC grad reading this, which is fortunately none.

6:30 Maybe we found the Zen Masters adjustment, double Rondo in the inbounds….wait no it just got back in his hands two seconds later. Though I wish after that hard foul we could have seen the Laker bench to see if an evil grin came across Rambis’ face at the sight of the skinny PG getting tackled.
I give him credit for resisting the urge to yell out in satisfaction.
5:00 And Kobe has made his last three, and Gasol hits a wide open foul line jumper to cut the lead to single digits. Timeout Doc…(the sound of one hand clapping in approval)


Every time I see Scalabrine in the leather jacket I can’t help but think of the fungus on your shower shoes joke from Bull Durham. Hey Scal, average 20-10 in the League and you can be a white guy in a leather jacket cheering on the bench and people will call you colorful. But until then, you’re just a slob.

2:55 That timeout seemed to awaken Pierce with back to back buckets, and a horrendous, 2004-esque Kobe fadeaway turns into a layup from PJ Brown back up 15.

1:41 Allen, for 3, and an 18 point lead while the Zenmaster sits and meditates, and ill advised alley oop to a white guy turns into a layup for Leon and a 20 point advantage. Timeout Buddhism.

At the risk of jinxing things like in a no hitter I will not expound upon who clearly has the edge in coaching so far through one and three quarter games.

0.8 A thunderous dunk from Leon on a great pass from Rondo puts the exclamation on the third quarter as the C’s are up 22 and the Beat LA chants are echoing through the Garden.
There is nothing that gives me the chills quite like that, Yankees Suck always had a lot of vitriol behind it, and some overall deep seeded jealousy, but Beat LA is like the last bowl of porridge, just right.

11:07 And Mike Breen sums it up perfectly, “Leon Powe with the game of his life” another layup, that just made Luke Walton his expletive.
When they just cut to Doc, having to tell Leon where to be on an inbounds play 105 games into the season, well America just found out why he only plays when he’s got favorable matchups and is bringing positive energy.

8:30 Do people still want to call the Rondo/Fisher matchup a push? 15 assists, for the non-gang affiliated version of Plastic Man.

8:25 And a cost to coast from Leon for the dunk, just shows how soft the western conference is.


3:48 four minutes of uninteresting AAU type basketball of long threes from the Lakers and tentative jump shooting from the C’s is capped by another Doc timeout with the C’s lead cut to 13. And Posey drills a three out of the timeout, you can keep awkwardly holding onto hugs too long if you’re going to come through in the clutch like this.

2:30 the free throw disparity is now 33-8 in favor of the Celtics, I think I will try to find a prop bet before Tuesday that states Kobe will shoot more free throws than the Celtics in game 3.

1:25 Three from Vucacic makes the lead 6, and a steal from Radmonovic makes it a four point game with 1:03 left, and all my various holiday alliterations I just spent the last 10 minutes researching, for the nearest holiday to today have just gone down the tubes.
The replay of the Vucacic three, shows someone, I think Tony Allen, trying to Superman that Ho, on the bench to distract him.

:45 Rondo clangs a jumper and Kobe gets fouled at the other end, and I’m seeing visions of a Yankee-esque choke job.

:22 My heart just stopped briefly when the whistle blew to send Pierce to the line, and visions of the ’02 Conference finals dancing in my head.
Exhale, he makes them both, and we’re up four.



Timeout: When you allow seven threes, all of which were totally uncontested in one quarter you can rest assured that your 24 point lead will evaporate quickly.


12.6 Vucacic, can’t make the clutch three and my man Pose with the big time rebound/interception that would make Belichick proud. Hey Asante, that’s how it’s done…enjoy Philly.
He makes both, and we’re up 6.

:00 Fisher clangs an three, and the Celtics escape, clearly having the over, and thankfully we don’t go down as the biggest chokers in playoff history.

In the end I think it was a good thing they gave the lead up, because in ’84 the Lakers handed the C’s their worst playoff loss ever, and the Celtics won the series. Then we had the Memorial Day Massacre, and we lost the series. So keeping it close was just for Karma purposes.
As we head to LA, I can only think of this as my final thought, what was more unlikely, D’Tara winning the Belmont, or Leon Powe being the player of the game tonight?

Two to go.

Tossing batting practice….with my popcorn still ready, albeit a bit stale at this point……

Nothing quite soothes the sting of a typical Sox late game collapse in the playoffs quite like hanging damn near half a hundred on the Cowboys in Texas.
For all the whining and complaining the pansies in Dallas have for "running up the score" I have two points.
1. This is professional freakin sports, you don't want to see 48 on the board, do something about it, and don't go calling someone else's accomplishments a black mark and then expect them to take kind pity upon you when it's determined you are playing at the rookie level while we're playing at All-Madden.
2. If they were really trying to run it up, Brady would have dropped back to pass and get a sixth TD, instead they were trying to get a hard working guy at the bottom of the depth chart a touchdown, and a once in a lifetime memory, scoring a touchdown in Texas Stadium.
I see no problem with that.

So if the Pats annihilate the Colts, is Bill Polian going to institute some sort of handicap system for the competition committee to approve?
It can be like golf, where the Patriots are clearly at 0, while the rest of the league is right now at least a 17 handicap.

What's the early over/under for the Colts game? 90? 100? 120?

My favorite quote of the week so far has gone to Tim Floyd, while touting the virtues of O.J. Mayo especially his maturity. Somehow I think we'll be pointing to that in a few months and going "I knew it would go wrong right then and there two days after fall practice started…"

Almost 24,000 showed up for PRACTICE at Kentucky last week. (Allen Iverson likely not one of them) Just to watch a little dunk contest and a less than spirited scrimmage. I may be the vice president of the Billy Gillespie fan club, but even still the lavish praise cast upon him seems a bit much for a guy who's never made it out of the Sweet 16.
With that said, I can't help but see the comparisons to Beelzebub Pitino nearly two decades ago (wow?! I'm getting old).

Perhaps my favorite story of that whole Midnight madness thing was the fact that LSU's football team stayed in the hotel next door to Rupp that night, and could hear the noise all night long.
It sure looked like something affected them, as their vaunted defense gave up 44 points.

By the way is their any context in which you don't use vaunted as sarcasm?

I said Cal and LSU weren't going undefeated…..I just didn't think they'd lose the very next week.

It's old news that the system needs to be shaken up, but when it's clearly rewarding the three teams who went out of their way to schedule anyone who would play them, provided they finished the year before more than seven games below .500 it's time for a new idea.
The anti-John Calipari theory of scheduling…."Anytime, anywhere, any place…..as long as you suck."

I just can't help but feel at the present moment that this entire ALCS ended in the 11th inning on Saturday when the bullpen door swung open.
After getting shut down like they did the last five innings (and really outside of Manny Lowell and Ortiz the whole game) you just knew that Jake Westbrook was throwing a gem Monday night.

Until further notice, Papelbon is never ever allowed to be compared to Rivera again. I thought that’s why we babied him all year, was to have him as a weapon in the postseason.
With our bullpen empty, we needed one more inning out of him. It was the top of Cleveland’s order coming, if we had lost in 12 I would have said ok.

I think it's official Dustin Pedroia can't hit in cold weather. Maybe the Sox should send him to some kind of Winter Instructional League in Canada, or make him spend spring training practice with BC outdoors in February.

Tonight's game should have been determined carnival style. Bring both starting pitchers to a nearby school yard, place them 60 feet six inches from it, and give each pitcher 10 pitches.
Whoever can break the most windows with their pitches gives their team the win.

Wakefield gave you a typical Wakefield start, but we needed more tonight, and the fact he hasn’t pitched well since August didn’t make me like our chances too much.
Lastly…my thoughts on this series at the present moment go like this, and I’m a little bit worried that my father, who never agrees with anything I have to say when it comes to coaching thinks I’m right.

Coaching and playing in a short series is all about momentum, the Sox had it early, and basically had it all the way through until that fateful 11th inning. It was then that Cleveland breathed a giant exhale because they had gotten through Boston’s ace.
It’s always a boost when the ace/closer comes out of the game, and it proved to be for Cleveland.
In game 4 Francona had a chance to take the momentum back by putting the stopper back out on the hill. If they lose so be it, you went to the dance with who brung ya. But a win, and now Cleveland starts pressing because they know Beckett is looming in game 7 on full rest. It’s in their heads they have to win both games to have a chance, and that’s when bad things start to happen.
The Sox could have taken control back in this series, now Beckett could toss a perfect game Thursday, but it won’t matter because Cleveland knows that it can touch up the other two guys waiting next in line.
For them Thursday is a freebie, in an ideal world they would prefer not to go back to Boston, but if they do they do.
Cleveland is a young team with little postseason experience, they were going to thrive on momentum even more so than your average veteran team, it’s the old “their too stupid to know they should be nervous” axiom.

If Tito simply came out and said, “I remember what I did to Foulkie, and in my heart I knew I couldn’t do that to Paps or Beckett”, then I’ll respect his honesty. Otherwise there’s no real excuse.

Tossing Batting Practice…..while wondering what exactly Joe Torre's resume and cover letter will look like when it appears on Monster this week…

A happy Christmas in October to Sox fans around the region, I know I rushed down to open the presents that awaited me from the NY Daily News, the Post, Newsday, and even the Times.
It’s become an annual tradition, and one that I’ve grown very fond of in recent years.

It’s nice to see Mystique and Aura are still just dancers in a nightclub.
When the Stadium starts rocking, I always get nervous, but there’s no better feeling than seeing the life get sucked out of the joint when Captain Gasbag bounces into a rally-killing double play. Jeter deserves a lot of blame, but hell likely escape it.
I think A-Rod should opt out of the deal, but he’s enough of a student of the history of the game to want to stay and win with the Yanks.

Eric Wedge certainly had the Midas touch in this series, but leaving Perez in to face A-Rod could have turned out to be a disaster. I did call the meaningless middle inning home run, I just assumed it would be with the Yanks up 5-0, and a curtain call would be following.

If given the opportunity to bat 27 times with a runner on base, I guarantee I could muster one hit, and likely at least one RBI. I will not dispute this.

I hope Troy O’Leary and John Valentin have prominent roles in pregame activities in this series with the Indians, its too bad Denny Galehouse isn’t around anymore.
The really creepy looking girl that popped up in the ad space of his baseball reference page was extremely disconcerting.

After all the pain and suffering I went through with Circuit City over my giant TV, this summer and the fact it took so long to fix, I feel fortunate now. Because after shutting it down for two months it has been a clutch playoff performer this weekend, and will hopefully remain so the remainder of October.
Almost like giving Curt Schilling two months off in June and July and reaping the benefits in October.

It will go down as a dominating performance, but those seven shutout innings sure looked like smoke and mirrors for Schill, whose fastball looked like it couldn't break a pane of glass all afternoon, but had the Angels overmatched like the little leaguers who faced Danny Almonte.

I do not condone the pimping of homeruns, but Jered Weaver needs to win something before he can call out Ramirez and Ortiz for admiring their tee shots. He got what he deserved as far as I'm concerned.

So my Tivo listed 60 minutes as being on for an hour ad a half on Sunday, I was confused to say the least, feeling like I missed the first part of the "yo mamma's so stupid" joke.

I am from the Northeast so to me college football exists as something to watch on Saturday when there’s nothing else to do, and is not the life and death endeavor it is in other parts of the country, but with that said I saw plenty of it this weekend.

The Florida/LSU game was tremendous, I have decided I must attend a night game at LSU before I die. I have always loathed Florida going back to the Spurrier days, mainly because I was an FSU guy thanks to Charlie Ward and Warrick Dunn being awesome in College Football’s National Championship for Sega, but with that said, I have a hard time rooting against Tim Tebow. I don’t know why, he seems kind of like an arrogant jerk, but he makes big plays. I guess it must be the left handed quarterback thing, I’m always a sucker for them.

Someone, please dear God beat Ohio St. twice, so I do not have to suffer watching the Big 10 on TV again this year. I made it through a grand total of 3 plays before vowing not to switch back.

Kudos to Jim Harbaugh for the upset win, but what the hell was up with Versus declaring the player of the game before it was over, while still in doubt. In case you weren’t aware they named a USC DB as the player of the game, only to see him get beat on the 4th and 20 and the game winning TD.

Whatever the opposite of pumped and jacked is, that’s me over the loss for USC, anytime Pete Carroll is prominently involved in the BCS I’m more excited to follow, but now we’re headed for a bunch of one loss teams campaigning for the two spots.
LSU isn’t going unbeaten and neither is Cal.

I laugh at the prospect of BC being unbeaten, and they’ll be summarily trounced in Blacksburg in two weeks, if they don’t gag away this weekend in South Bend.

I’m openly rooting for Cincinnati as this year’s Rutgers, watch out for them though, everywhere Brian Kelly has gone he’s been a winner. Two National Titles at D II, and then took a 1-10 team and made them MAC champions in less than three years. So it’s no surprise to those who have followed him that he’s winning now.

I did manage to watch a good portion of the Celtics preseason tilt with the Raptors Saturday night (yes I’m single and loving it at the moment) I'm excited for this team, but will reserve more judgement and analysis when baseball is over)
One highluight about the new fan interest was me and a diehard hoops friend disecting the Celtics potential offensive sets, with beer bottles, mugs, and shot glasses at a bar the other night.

Not much to say about the Pats I think Manny's "you know you're a bad man" speech sort of covers the 34-17 win just enough.
But I think Randall Gay may have pissed off Belichick in going for the TD in the last minute, especially after he went out of his way not to run the score up bu running it up the middle on fourth down.

I was a glistening 0-4 in my LDS predictions, and aim to keep that streak going for the Championship series round.
Indians in 6.
I think they are riding the team of destiny thing. They have a deep and relentless lineup that’s clearly not afraid to hit with two outs. Plus their pitching is solid too. I can’t see Manny and Ortiz being as hot as they were against Anaheim which means someone else has to step up, and who knows if anyone will.

Diamondbacks in 7.
The Rockies have been phenomenal, but they have to lose sometime right? The D-Backs hit like an American league team, and have decent pitching and a solid bullpen. I’m also very much not looking forward to the possibility of the Rox in the WS if the Sox get there, because their lefthanded pitching could really neutralize the Sox for an entire series.

Tossing batting practice…While wondering what kind of 40 time is needed for the guy is in charge of the challenge flag for Marvin Lewis.

I don’t know how to explain it, but the Patriots are so good now I don’t really even cheer when they make a great play, I just cackle like an evil super villain. I have to say I kind of like it too, especially if non-Pats fans are in the room.

I hate the 16-0 talk by the media because you know they’re just trying to jinx us, but it is really fun to imagine what if….
I know that we desperately want home field advantage, but chew on this, our offense is probably more suited to be playing January football in warm or climate controlled weather, especially since by then Laurence Maroney will probably be in a wheelchair.

Explain to me why it’s imperative your ace has to start game 1? With the Sox choosing the eight day series, and their decision to pitch Dice-K in Fenway wouldn’t it have made more sense for him to go game one, and Beckett game two?
I’d rather have Beckett lined up to pitch the decisive fifth game, or possibly the opener of the LCS. The prospect of Dice-K pitching with our season on the line makes me nervous.
I know he has a reputation as a big time big game pitcher, and I hope that’s true, but the fact is we already have two guys on the staff with the reputation who have earned it on this side of the International Date Line.


It was nice to see the obligatory Orlando Cabrera story in the Globe that includes the “shrouded in mystery” reason he left. It’s aggravating that the media continues to bring it up, and then choose to go no further.
I have no problem with keeping it a secret, but don’t bring it up, either mention Cabrera and his wonderful efforts in the ’04 season, and take the organization to task.
It’s taunting journalism, “I know something you don’t know.” And to me its crap, because 98 percent of the region doesn’t know the story, so it just fuels the fire.
Cabrera, as near as I can tell never says anything beyond, “they didn’t make me an offer.” He never questions it, it’s as if he knows why, and is happy to have had the experience, and is happy to be able to move on with his good name in tact.
(Vulgarity alert)…Sometimes I just wish someone would piss on Cafardo, and simply state, “now that’s yellow journalism.”

There is nothing quite like reading a woe is us sports column from the San Diego papers. I haven’t laughed that hard, well probably since Moss’ TD Monday night, but still.
They couldn’t sell out Petco in their final homestand with a playoff berth on the line, they live in friggin paradise, so yeah, forgive me for enjoying their tribulations just a little bit more than most other places.

I love the story that is the Rockies, but their whole Jesus loving schtick just isn’t for me. Baseball is religion, not Baseball and religion.
In the name of the Father (Ted) the Son (Yaz) and Holy Ghost (Papi)
Amen
That final call in the playoff game was almost as if McClellan was processing the fact that if the Rockies lose, they’ll be blamed for the non-home run (which by the way hit that woman’s wheel chair I believe) and decided screw it, he’s safe.

I will be riding the Cubs and Phillies bandwagon through the NL playoffs, those two cities both deserve one more excruciating heart break.
Though a throwback World Series could be in order with D-Backs/Yankees.

Any chance the Indians take a game in their series? I say no. Yanks in two.

As for the rest, I’m a pessimist and always will be so I say Angels in 5 I just don’t see the Sox getting enough offense, and they can’t create it like the Angels do with their running game.
D-Backs in 4, Webb pitches twice, and Zambrano isn’t poised enough, but I hope I’m wrong.
Phillies in 5…that’s an American League offense, and its really fun to watch Philly fans anguish in torture, on a pitch by pitch basis.

Tossing Batting practice…and practicing my Spanish in case I get that job teaching history to ESL students in Roxbury…

Well, not much more to add about the Patriots complete and utter demolition of the Chargers. I’m happy, f*** them, especially LT, I hope he ruins every fantasy team in the country.
I can’t stand listening to all the trash talk they spew because they simply went 14-2 last year with one of the easiest schedules in the league.
Since it’s pretty obvious that they’ll never be able to stay classy, I’m just going to have to go a different route.
“Go f*** yourself San Diego!”

Moving right along, it’s really really, really premature to say 19-0 is even a possibility, but holy smokes what if,(pinching myself) really, is it possible….no, stop undefeated talk is for crappy pundits. Maybe if they do it, they could just forfeit their playoff game like Chris “everybody blows me, but I’m not particularly insightful in the studio” Collinsworth suggested.
He should be banned from television forever, or at least be stuck on a panel with Ben Wright, Al Campanis, and Jimmy the Greek in a continuous 24 hour all moron channel.

Eric Gagne my patience has worn out….at least we’ll get a first round raft pick for this guy next year. Let’s hope he’s more Clay Bucholz, than Daniel Bard.

Bronson Arroyo, still remains the lone major league pitcher I truly believe I could hit (the 2005 season where opponents collected 135 hits and 17 homers off him is my proof) but good lord that fat hanging splitter to Jeter is maybe the next closest thing.
The only thing that would have been any more obvious that that was coming would have been if the Sausage Guy on Landsdowne Street put on a glove for that at-bat.

Jason Giambi could sweat in a meat freezer, which incidentally is where I hope they find him one day after all those steroids drive him to Caminitti-land.
This week’s Patriots camera thing, (I’m sick of calling it a “gate”) has only multiplied my hatred for the fat cheating turd, because all he did was admit to using banned substances, rat out other players, and he’s back on the field without any sort of suspension or fine whatsoever.
That’s crappy, but I mean after hearing how Belichick somehow has pushed the earth off its axis and the NY press can proclaim that all along they knew he was the anti-christ, I’m sick of the free pass he gets.
I hope Collinsworth goes back and says they should forfeit games because of what he did, when he dies an “untimely” death in his 40s.

As for the rest of that series, well I sincerely hope Papelbon solves this suddenly rampant, I can’t get NY hitters out ailment, before it becomes an acute outbreak of Calvin Schiraldi Disease. (I said it before, how come the Yankees get all the good ailments and injuries named after their players)?

Shelley Duncan, I’m on your side….but I still think you’re father, and brother suck.
Speaking of Duncan is there any form of a waiting period to be inducted to the Shane Spencer Hall of Fame? And what are the landmark numbers for that? A minimum of 25 gushing stories in the tabloids touting your minor league successes before the fans clamor for a call up? No less than three curtain calls in your first week, and at least 12 for the year?

It's annoying as hell that Manny hasn't been able to come back from the oblique injury yet, but nothing angers me more as a Boston sports fan than people who have never suffered an injury like this assuming he just doesn't want to play.
Say what you want about Manny, but he usually only needs one day off, not 25. I'm sure he wants to be out there, its a friggin pennant race for god sake. But if he came out and played tonight, hurt himself, and had to sit another 20 games, well then we definitely kiss any postseason success goodbye.
If we lose the division so be it, you just have to get to the dance, look how bad the Cardinals played last year in almost squandering a lead? or the White Sox in 05?
If it were Ortiz with an oblique we'd be taking about how courageous he is to take batting practice for seven straight days in order to come back.

It’s September so you know BC is 3-0, though for the next three weeks BC High is actually playing a tougher schedule according to the RPI than their college counterparts.
Matt Ryan, Glenn Foley is on the phone and he wishes to speak with you.
On the flip side, Jags, meet Tom Coughlin. How come we never heard about Coughlin’s miserable drill sergeant personality when he was at the Heights?

Charlie, it’d be ok to be 0-3 if you could at least score some points. But if the Irish fire him they can kiss their program goodbye, and the lure of Notre Dame and all that history will only be seen in old video clips…like championship boxing.
If they only give him three years, while firing an alum, who only wants this job how do they expect to ever hire anyone else with any credentials whatsoever.
Weiss can’t recruit with Florida or Ohio St. because Notre Dame kids have to actually be able to read.

Count me in for a casino in Middleboro, though judging by most of the people I’ve met there before in hillbilly country, what happens in Middleboro has always stayed in Middleboro.

Tossing batting practice….after taking some time off because the organizational imposed innings/words limit was rapidly approaching, and I needed to be ready for football/hoops/baseball playoffs.

Sorry for the extended absence, you can blame a number of factors, mainly my boss monitoring everything I do in a given day, along with the fact I’ve written 10,000 words on the Summit Conference for Blue Ribbon, and that has dominated much of my free time. Time management this last month has not been a strong point of mine.
I suppose its tough to juggle a job, five softball games a week, eight notebooks, and moving, while spending much of that time without a car. But alas my plight does not concern the masses. Thanks for those who voiced a concern.

Plus the month of July/August isn’t particularly that interesting, I don’t care any more about dogs than I did a month ago, though I hope Michael Vick is introduced to the rape machine in federal prison. I’m not shocked that an NBA ref might have been betting on the games. And Barry Bonds sucks. I still can’t believe I missed the home run though, after all the time and energy and money put into ordering the baseball package and watching west coast games involving an aging crappy, and boring team (except you Dave Roberts, you’re still the man).
I wanted to watch it to see how I truly felt when it happened, and well there wasn’t much change.

I am extremely proud of the fact I have not touched on any of those subjects at all in this space. (Donaghy may be revisited if anything further comes out).

Not much more can be said about the Pats demolition on Sunday, it was enjoyable, and I look forward to 15 more of these this season.

If the Patriots can manage to steal signs and turn it over that quickly to help them on the very next play, all in under 40 seconds. More power to them, and if you ain’t cheating you ain’t trying.
Instead of whining about it, why not mete out a little street justice. Or I don’t know change the signals up just a bit. If the Pats are known for doing this, then it should be easy to combat. Thumbs down means thumbs up, touching the left arm means what touching the right arm used too. Or quite simply tackle the f’in guy with the ball. Mangenius try that one in practice this week.

Every time the camera panned to Norv Turner on Sunday, I couldn’t help but think the Chargers had hired Dave Barry to coach the team and then write about it from a layman’s perspective.

Watching HBO’s Hard Knocks this summer made me glad that my parents never raised me a Jets or Chiefs fan. Herm Edwards cannot be mocked enough.

The sox are pretty boring to me at this point, just something to watch until Sunday rolls around again. September baseball is fairly boring in my eyes. The races are exciting, but too many teams are packing it up, and the names for the opponents become far less familiar. Plus a steady diet of Devil Rays, Orioles, and Blue Jays isn’t must see theatre.
The Yankees series will be fun (in theory) and thankfully the pats and Sox don’t go up against each other this weekend. But in general, September baseball is just a means to an end. I’m excited for October, and just wish the remainder of the preseason would end.

With that said I do miss my baseball package immensely, after having to give it up in my recent move. I haven’t slept well in 2 weeks without Vin Scully.

J.D. Drew, I’ve defended you and believed in you all year, but I quit. I’d rather watch Jacoby strike out rather pathetically on a fastball down the middle than watch you take another early count strike.
Please, go away and take Youkilis with you.
I wish Youk would hit just a bit down the stretch so we could trade him this winter for something more than a bag of balls. Too bad Oakland has nothing of value to get in return because I’m sure Billy Beane still loves him.


Clay Bucholz, Jacoby Ellsbury, I welcome you to my bordering on unhealthy man-crush (hyphenated or not? you make the call) club. The fact you are both younger than me is slightly depressing, and makes me further disturbed.

I am excited for the KG era with the Celtics…more on this when basketball matters again.

I really enjoy reading Charley Rosen’s take on all things NBA, so when he bashed the Celts for their free agent moves in the wake of the KG trade I was saddened, until I realized he graded everyone with a C or lower. It’s not so much the teams made bad moves, it’s that there quite simply wasn’t anyone to sign.

I know Mike Milbruy and Terry O’Reilly, and you sir Claude Julien are neither, I also know Robbie Ftorek, Dave Lewis,, Mike Sullivan, and Steve Kasper, and you appear to be more like them.
The best bet would have been for the Bruins to hire Jacques Demers, at least then he wouldn’t be able to read all the bad things written about him or the Bruins as they fail this season. (crossing the line?? Perhaps.)

There’s nothing quite like hearing four coaches who combined for almost 100 losses last year tell me this season was the best recruiting class in school history.
I really think George Hill is winning Summit Conference POY, but coming up with two forwards to put on the all-conference team in a guard dominated league…not particularly easy.

If the Women’s World Cup interrupts my morning viewing of Sportscenter one more time, well, I probably won’t do anything, but I’ll be pissed.

I might end up with two posts this week…check back