WTF

The ONE time ALL SEASON I put on my Brady jersey.

SON OF A BITCH.

This is very disappointing. It was supposed to be the Red Sox, Novak, and New England.

At least they lost to a team I actually like. My grandfather was a HUGE Giants fan, so maybe it's not that bad.

But it still sucks, I cannot lie.

Why didn't they sack Manning when they had the chance?? They never would have scored the final touchdown of doom. What WAS that?!

Monday, August 18

Monday, August 18: Red Sox vs. Baltimore for me! I think I have some good seats to catch a foul ball this year. Monday is not such a hot day for a baseball game but that was the day with the best seats left. And Lord knows I am not making the mistake of going to an early-season game again and freezing to death!

This is the only Sox news I have. There is NOTHING doing.

Well, except for the NFL greatness. If I had bet on the 4 games this weekend, I would have cleaned up. I am (obviously) a Patriots fan, so I would have bet on that. Giants over Cowboys, EASILY (hate Dallas, am from NY). I've always liked the Chargers, so I would have picked them (oh yeah, and am not a Colts fan). And I love Green Bay simply because "Green Bay" is such a fantastic name. So I could be rich right now! It never works out that all the teams I want to win actually win...next year, I must bet!!

More Good News in NE

As expected, New England's Tom Brady was named the NFL's MVP after he led the team to a 16-0 season. I have been out of town and therefore with very little news so I just found this out today, but it comes as no surprise! Just look at his records this year:

Most touchdown passes in a single season (50).
Most games with three or more touchdown passes in a single season (12).
Highest touchdown-interception differential in a single season (+42)
Most consecutive games with three or more touchdown passes (10).
Most touchdown passes in a single month (20, October).
Most consecutive games with completion pct. of 75% or higher in a single season (4 games from 9/9/07 to 10/1/07).
Most completions in first 100 passes of a season (79).
Most touchdown passes in a game since 1970 AFL-NFL Merger (6 on 10/21/07; tied with 11 others).
Highest single-game passer rating (perfect 158.3 rating, 10/21/07; 17th time since 1970)

Pretty good! If only Mike Lowell could have been the AL MVP to complete the NE Goodness.

No Red Sox news to report...except the Mailbag, which answered a question I have always wondered about...

I've always wondered about how lockers are assigned in the clubhouse. Who does the assigning? Who is next to whom? Where are the "best" locations in the room, and who has lockers there? Do veterans get to pick their own locker location? Do players change their locker location? Is it possible to get a layout of who is where or is that private information?
-- Abbe B., Vineyard Haven, Mass.

Red Sox equipment manager Joe Cochran is mainly in charge of aligning the lockers in the clubhouse. Cochran has been with the Red Sox for a long time, and he has a good understanding of the dynamic of the team and how to make everyone most comfortable. I'm sure that in certain cases, Cochran asks Francona or Epstein where to put certain players.

When you walk in to the clubhouse and look to your left, it's a long row of most of your position players. In that row, you will find Pedroia, Lowell, Alex Cora, Julio Lugo, Youkilis and others. Off in their own little corner are Ortiz and Ramirez. To the right is another little corner tucked away where you'll find Varitek, Curt Schilling and Tim Wakefield. To the right of that is "pitchers' row," where you'll find relievers such as Mike Timlin, Javy Lopez, Manny Delcarmen, etc.

At the end of that row is one more corner, where you'll find Hideki Okajima, Matsuzaka, Beckett and Papelbon. Papelbon's space has always gone to a player with some clout on the team. It once belonged to Carl Yastrzemski, and it has been passed on to others such as Dwight Evans, Bret Saberhagen, Pedro Martinez and Keith Foulke through the years.

The Pats Did It

The Patriots just finished a 16-0 regular season. Which is awesome. Except for the eye-poking thing, which was not cool, it was a really exciting game. It was nice that they were losing for so long, it made it much more interesting!

Now for the trophy...

Look at those Patriots

Did you all see that Patriots game last night?

Because I didn't. I freaking fell asleep again! With like 5 minutes to go!

And they won in the last 44 seconds.

Now, I may not be too fond of Tom Brady since he wore that Yankee hat, but I love New England and have a million family members up there, so forever a NE fan I will be. So that game, in which they were mostly losing to the Ravens, was scary to watch. Thankfully, I woke up in the middle of the night and found out they won in the coolest way. Gotta love that last-second excitement!

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The Red Sox also met with the Twins in the late night and early morning hours, and one sign of potential progress -- according to multiple media reports -- is that Boston forwarded the medical records of left-handed starter Jon Lester to the Twins.

Boston has been saying all along it's either Ellsbury or Lester, but not both. I love Lester and think he's a fantastic kid, and I would hate for him to have to go to Minne-freaking-sota, but....it means Jacoby is staying!

Don't get too excited, Laura....but Ellsbury staying through the offseason would make a really awesome few months for me!

The title of this article says it all. Oh, and the results of the vote!

It Happened

Matsuzaka made his debut and everyone's talking about it. He gave up a leadoff double (wha?) but retired the next 6 men he saw. In his 2 innings of work, he threw 25 pitches, 19 being strikes, and allowed only that one hit. I don't know how much a win over Boston College means, and it is of course still very early, but we got a preview of what he's all about, and it was a good one!

Our other Japanese acquisition, Hideki Okajima, made his debut yesterday as well. He had a perfect inning in the loss to the Jays, getting his outs on curveballs and a fastball. I hope he doesn't get lost in the mix, I think he will surely help the bullpen out this year.

And then there was Manny, who fouled out to the catcher and got walked in his two plate appearances yesterday. After he took a huge rip for his first swing, Tito had this to say: "I don't know how a guy can come out of winter and, first at-bat, have your head be so still. I just don't know how you do it. I'm glad he's with us because he's special. Even David [Ortiz] is laughing. He says, 'I don't know how the guy does it.'"

So today, Tim Wakefield and Jonathan Papelbon will both be pitching against the Phillies. They'll each go two innings, and the game starts in about 15 minutes, at 1:05.

And the Patriots apparently picked up a coveted linebacker by the name of Adalius Thomas. I know very little about non-Patriots players, so if they tell me this is a good thing, I'll go with it.

And hey, I just realized I won't have to say Henin-Hardenne anymore, since Justine is separated from her husband. I was wondering why people were just saying Henin...yay! It's a small stupid thing but really, it was annoying having to add that Hardenne!

Pathetic

Pathetic is how I would describe the Bears' performance this Super Bowl 41. Rex Grossman was a disgrace, obviously too nervous to get the job done. It all started out good, with Chicago scoring off the punt return. Things were looking up....and then came the Chicago offense and defense. And man did they suck.

Probably one of the worst SB performances I've seen. At least it wasn't a Bills-type loss, 52-17.

I am positive Criminal Minds will be better than that absolutely awful football game. You know the Patriots would have won that!

Time to Move On

I can't wallow in sorrow about the Patriots forever. Time to move on...and talk about my other favorite sports team!

From the Mailbag:
Can you tell me who was the last guy to start on Opening Day at second base for the Sox in back-to-back seasons?

-- John D., South Meriden, Conn.

Definitely a valid question, considering the turnover at that position in the last decade or so. But the answer to your question is a lot more recent than you would think. Mark Bellhorn started on Opening Day in both 2004 and '05.

A-ha! I always love seeing Mark Bellhorn news, and that's good enough at the moment.

As usual, nothing on J.D. Drew.

And because I love tennis, I must discuss it. James Blake played Gonzalez last night, and he played like junk. I was looking forward to him advancing far in this Australian Open after having such a good year last year, but he was not himself last night. Kind of like the Patriots!

Here's hoping Mardy Fish beats Andy Roddick tonight!

Very Sad

The game started off crazy with a 3rd and inches play a few feet away from a touchdown - Brady handed it off to Maroney, who apparently didn't know he was going to get the ball! He didn't even make an attempt to grab the ball, so it goes down and 3 Colts go after it - somehow the ball got away from all of them and a Patriot grabbed it in the end zone and scored! I don't know how Indy let that one go, but they did, and it was awesome.

Then some bad stuff happened when the Colts kept scoring until they tied the game at 21.

But then Ellis Hobbs had an 80-yard punt return to make up for his pass interference call in the end zone that basically gave the Colts 8 points. So Brady throws a perfect touchdown pass but Caldwell just dropped it. But then a push out got us a TD anyway! Gaffney had control of the ball all the way down and they ruled it a TD, despite Indy's challenge.

So it's 28-28, the Pats are set to score, and Caldwell drops his second wide open pass of the day. He had this shocked look on his face, which all us fans had too. They only got a field goal out of it, which I was not pleased with.

And then...

Indianapolis threw for 52 yards...and of course Vinatieri got a field goal to tie it at 31 apiece.

On the punt, Hobbs brought it back to the NE 46. However, they didn't get much farther, and Gostkowski got 3 points with 3:49 to go. Indy had the ball and basically went nowhere with it, so NE had it back again with 3:33 on the clock. Of course NE did nothing with it, so the Colts got it back with 2:17 to go. And it was bad. They got a whole lot of yardage, there was a flag, and at the 2 minute warning it was not looking good.

The Colts took the lead for the first time the whole game with one minute to go.

And New England cried.

If only Caldwell had caught the ball and they could have gotten 7 points, it would have been tied at 38 instead of being down by 4.

Tom threw an interception with 16 seconds to go.

Largest comeback ever. Gotta say, the Pats threw this one away. And I am very disappointed.

I really hope Chicago wins.

Why Must It Always Be Something?

Is there some feud between the Patriots and Chargers that I didn't know about? I guess I didn't even really know anything was going on, then this morning I saw LaDainian Tomlinson's press conference. This is what I have gathered from various sources:

"..I did see at least one [Patriots] player gesture to the Chargers bench in the form of Shawne Merriman's "Lights Out" dance and a choke sign toward kicker Nate Kaeding after missing the final field goal. I also saw at least one Patriots player stand at midfield and gesture toward the crowd."

"..[LT] went after an unidentified Patriots player, yelling and pointing, and had to be restrained by a teammate and former Charge Reche Caldwell."

"I would never react in that way. I was very upset," Tomlinson said. "When you go to the middle of our field and start doing the dance Shawne Merriman known for, that is disrespectful. They showed no class and maybe that comes from the head coach."

Here's what I think. Yes, some New England players were out of line, and clearly wouldn't have liked it if they were home and the Chargers won and did it to them. Instead of responding with class, LT handled it the wrong way and brought himself down to the level of the people he was referring to. Why involve Belichick like that? The Charger's QB, on the other hand, handled it the right way: "They won and they deserve a lot of credit," Rivers said. "Personally I was disappointed in the way they handled winning. … But that's neither here nor there. They're playing next week and we're not." Let them know you're not happy, but don't make yourself look like a sore loser in the process.

Ahh, if only everyone had the same level of class and decency as Tom Brady.

The Patriots Did It!

It wasn't the prettiest game I've ever seen, but Tom Brady and his team managed to make the plays when it counted. My biggest gripe was they kept trying to run the ball and it clearly wasn't working - note that when Brady threw the ball that was really the only time anything happened. They were losing the majority of the game but the only score that matters is the final one - and that one shows New England by 3. Gostkowski was cool and calm and scored the winning field goal with 1:10 to go...and now they'll face the Colts next week. I am so happy they won!!

I have to say Brady didn't look as sharp as I was expecting him to, but maybe I just had really high expectations. Tomlinson was as awesome as he usually is, but his quarterback Rivers couldn't get in gear. Brady threw 3 interceptions (one with a fumble and NE recovery, which was huge) and was still the better of the 2 QBs.

Next Sunday at 6:30, in Indianapolis, be there or be square.

QotD:
Q - "You're not very popular in the country right now. Does that get to you?"
Dubya - "Not really."
Yeah, why care what the people that you are supposed to be leading think about you?

The Biggest Day Thus Far

It's the big day! The Patriots are the underdogs, which is insane, but everyone seems to think they have their work cut out for them. Little do they know Tom Brady knows all that and is incredibly angry that they are doubting his team, and now he will put on quite a show to prove them wrong. Underestimating Brady...it should be a sin!

So my thoughts on the other games: Obviously, I am upset that the Eagles lost. They are my second favorite team, but at least I can console myself by saying it wasn't McNabb's fault. Plus, I do like the Saints (and I have for many many years), and they have a good story, so I can cheer for them next week.

I like the Colts because I like the Brothers Manning, but I did want them to lose yesterday. Baltimore is close to me, plus that Vinatieri is not my favorite person. And I'm still upset that Manning fell apart and lost to the Steelers last year. But they will lose next week against New England, so it's okay.

It is 71 degrees out and absolutely beautiful, so I'm off to play tennis. I don't care too much about the Bears/Seattle game, but I'd pick the Bears to win. They'll lose to the Saints next week, I hope!

Go Pats!!

What a Win

I may be a day late, but the excitement over the Patriots win has not died out yet. I knew the Jets didn't stand a chance, but they really didn't even put up a fight - the Pats scored 3 minutes into the game! New York did have the lead for a while (10-7), but it didn't take long for New England to take it back.

And Tom Brady was great as always!

The Eagles were also winners in a close one. This time, they won with no time left instead of being the losers with no time left. Yesterday was a pretty good day, football-wise!

Randy Johnson is now back with the Diamondbacks, but I don't really care about that. There's no good Red Sox news...so I present a list of select search terms that brought folks to my site:

what's the deal with bill belichick's sweatshirt
trot nixon 2007
when did david ortiz join the red sox

And my personal favorite:

tom brady is so hot

That person knows the deal.

I Hope It's a Happy New Year

Happy New Year to everyone out there. I hope this year turns out to be a great one, and here are a few things that will help make that happen:

1. Find a closer. The Red Sox once again have their work cut out for them when it comes to closing games - with Papelbon as one of the starting 5, the job is up for grabs. It would be nice if one of the guys we have on the team now would step up during Spring Training and take the job with ferocity.

2. Figure out what the hell is going on with J.D. Drew -- we're all sick of writing about him.

3. The Patriots need to win the Super Bowl. Because we can all use a little more Tom Brady pictures in our lives.

4. David Ortiz needs to be the AL MVP. We all know he has been for the past 2 years, a little recognition would be nice.

5. Josh Beckett and Tim Wakefield need to improve in the way of reliability. Who can forget Josh Beckett's first inning disaster against the Yankees? No more of that, please.

6. Coco Crisp should have a better year. He wasn't right after the injury to his hand in Baltimore (I remember because I was there and I told him not to try to steal that base and he did it anyway), but he should be ready to go in the spring. Plus, he won't have to be leadoff now that Julio Lugo is on the team.

7. Somebody will have to free me from my depression over losing Trot Nixon, Mark Loretta, Gabe Kapler, and my beautiful beloved Alex "The Gonz" Gonzalez. His defense was incredible and, to me, made up for his not-so-hot offense. I will miss the hell out of him, but I am glad he will join Bronson Arroyo in Cincy. I hope he has another great year.

And Trot? What can I say. I wanted him to stay on the team more than anyone (even the Gonz), he was my favorite Boston player. It sucks going to the Red Sox roster site and not seeing Trot there, he's been a staple for so long. One month ago we were reading about the possibility that he might stay in Boston, but... Right field misses him already, and it will never be the same!

Watch Out for the Pats

An early Christmas present!

The game: Some Jaguar named Clint Ingram decided to go head-first into Tom Brady's back, and he was down for a few seconds when I pretty much didn't breathe due to fear of him being hurt. Matt Cassel came in for one play, then Tommy came back and threw right to a white jersey with 3 green jerseys surrounding. Then Laurence Maroney went 27 yards for a touchdown and what was at one point a very scary portion of the game turned into a great part. But Brady might have a bruise tomorrow.

With less than 2 minutes to go and only a 3 point lead, the Patriots punted the ball to midfield. Jacksonville's QB, Garrard, had the ball knocked away and NE recovered..and that was the game! Fantastic finish.

The Patriots are into the postseason! I feel a Super Bowl win...then a World Series victory by the Sox 8 months later.

It Keeps Coming

The bad news/bad luck train is cruising this week. Juan Rivera of the Angels broke his leg yesterday, and the Yankees got slammed with a $26 million luxury tax. AND it rained here yesterday, and as I went to brake my tires locked and I rear ended someone. That was fun. But there was no visible damage to either car...a Festivus miracle!!

So the Sox signed pitcher Runelvys Hernandez, whose name I will not even attempt to pronouce. He was 6-10 with a 6.48 ERA in 21 starts with the Royals. Sounds like another Seanez to me, but hopefully he will prove me wrong.

Patriots vs. Jaguars tomorrow at 1 p.m. Be there or be square, we're gonna clinch!

40-7

40-7! The Patriots had their way with the Texans, who did not stand a chance. They didn't even score until the 3rd quarter. The Patriots' defense was just too good for Houston's offense.

If New England beats Jacksonville next week, they will clinch their division and be on their way to another SuperBowl.

Obviously, Tom Brady's ended relationship did not affect his performance this week. Maybe that's why he was messed up a few weeks ago; but he seems to be over it now!

The Philadelphia Eagles are up by 4 in the 3rd quarter. Here's some interesting trivia: every week since McNabb has been injured, the Eagles have been on TV locally. That figures, since the reason why we like the Eagles is because of McNabb!

And in Red Sox news: J.D. Drew's shoulder is the reason why there's been no official announcement of his pending Red Sox-ness. I hope Boston is making sure they have some sort of Get Out of Jail Free card with this guy and his many, many injuries. More than that though, I hope he has an injury-free season next year!

The Topic of the Moment

The Topic of the Moment = trading Manny Ramirez. Everyone seems to be talking about it, there's the question of getting equal value (which is almost impossible) and who we could get in return. Let's discuss.

Manny is an elite hitter. If he leaves, and we end up with pitchers (which we need), that is BAD. Of course, we need relievers (since ours are quite bad at the moment). But to screw Ortiz like that is just wrong. If he has no one formidable to hit behind him...I don't even want to think about it.

On the other hand, who can we get that's a power hitter? To trade one for the other seems odd and not likely. We'd have to take prospects, which wouldn't do the job. We can't just get pitchers in return. Could Drew fill the hole with a .283 average and 20 HRs? The answer is, of course, NO.

Simply put, without Manny, we lose a lot. A whole lot. And it's going to be really hard to replace him...oh wait, you can't replace him, you just try to make do.

FYI, Kevin Millar re-signed with the O's for another year, and the Patriots are currently in the 2nd quarter, down 7-3 to the Detroit Lions. But they'll come back!

Patriots 1, Bears 0

The Patriots/Bears game this afternoon was completely controlled by the defense. It was a really great show by both defensive lines, and it seemed like every time either team would get close to scoring, the defense would intercept a pass, recover a fumble, or block a field goal attempt. I'm telling you, it was a great game to watch.

It looked good for the Patriots with 2 minutes to go; they had the ball with a 17-13 lead. Then they fumbled it and Chicago recovered it with 1:46. All they needed was a TD to win...but the very next play, Asante Samuel made his THIRD interception of the day to give New England the win. Fantastic game! Except for those 8 turnovers, of course.

On a completely different note, someone got to my site by searching under "Dustin Pedroia sucks." And I was the 7th result! Of course the words weren't in the same order, but it's always interesting to see what people search for. Some of the terms that send people to my site...good stuff.

A Very Black Friday

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I decided to venture out to do some shopping at Best Buy this morning, and did not have a pleasant experience. It was my third time sitting outside Best Buy to buy something on Black Friday, but this year was different. I got there at 11:20 pm and was 87th in line! A couple years ago I arrived around 1 am and was one of the first people, so I was not at all expecting so many people. The first person in line got there at 4:30 pm. That is INSANE! So needless to say, I didn't get the laptop I wanted. Guess I'm stuck with this one (until I find another sale, that is).

No news on the Red Sox front, with the holiday and all. The Patriots take on the Chicago Bears Sunday, who currently have a record of 9-1. It should be 9-2 at the end of the weekend.

Want to hear something depressing? ESPN.com has Boston's closer for 2007 projected as Mike Timlin. We all know what happens when Timlin is left to finish the game..

Football

The Patriots put on quite a show today. I don't know that actually, because I missed the whole game to play the final match of the fall tennis season, but the score indicates they were quite awesome. 35-0 against the Packers shows me 2 things: the offense is back (with a bang), and the defense was either really good or Green Bay's offense was pretty bad. I'm going to side with New England's defense was great.

I am sad to actually have to write this, but...Donovan McNabb is out for the rest of the season with a torn right ACL. McNabb, one of the nicest guys around, is now out for 8 months to a year. With him out, Philadelphia is effectively out of the running. I love the Eagles, so this kills my dream of a Patriots/Eagles Super Bowl repeat (with the Pats winning again, of course).

No Sox news today. Maybe Monday morning!

Allow Me to Complain

The best shortstop in the American League got screwed. Of course, by best shortstop I mean the Gonz. How did he lose the Gold Glove to Jeter when Gonzalez has superior numbers? Jeter made 15 errors, Gonz made 7. Jeter's fielding percentage was .975 to Gonz' .985. In what way is that the right decision? Help me out, I'm confused.

I'm eagerly anticipating Wednesday, when we find out how much teams bid for Matsuzaka. I'm thinking Boston probably won't be the highest bidder; they'll determine how much they think he's worth, bid that, and another team (NY?) will outbid them. You know things like this don't usually go our way!

Another day I can't wait for: Sunday. Another be there or be square game. The Patriots welcome the Colts and Adam Vinatieri to their city, and the Colts must lose. I imagine there will be boos at the start, but they'll probably dissipate as the game goes on. I just really really hope the Pats win this one..

Also, Bill Haselman, the first-base coach, is expected to be leaving the position due to family considerations. Whatever that means.