Oh what a busy 24 hours it’s been.First, the bad news. My place of employment, the funding source that keeps the lights on in B-Slant land went out of business. Phatt Boys, Harvard Square closed its doors on Monday night permanently after a staring contest between the Phatt Fellas Scott and Fred and the property owner at 50 Church Street ended in a mutual door slamming and curse uttering cessation of business. After a few declarations of bankruptcy (by the phatt owners), unemployment (by the B-Slant) and a necessary change in "phattitude" by everyone involved the future of at least one man is highly in doubt. My feelings on this situation are a bit negative, seeing as a few pay checks owed to me have now bounced, which has in a financial sense ruined me, but my anger is somewhat tempered by the fact that the dream of two restaurant entrepreneurs is now effectively dead. A bad location, an unwillingness to concede to the collegiate surroundings, and a suburban concept killed the Phatt Boys. Regardless, they're good guys and I wish them both the best in future.
As for the B-Slant and his future employment...who knows? I'm obviously searching (feverishly) for another job since I had exactly 0 hours notice on the impending closure of Phatt Boys but leads are scarce and job openings in January are rarer than 65 degree days. If anyone is hiring, or is aware of any hiring going on anywhere please let me know. It's sad times in the checking account right now and any potential assistance would be fantastic.
Anyway, onto happier matters. Well maybe. Theo is back in his old office, as General Manager of the Red Sox. So I guess that settles the little power struggle that was set to take place at the top the Sox front office. Instead of that Ben and Jed get the boot and Theo gets all the power again. What exactly was the point of his resignation again?
Don't be fooled by the idea that all is well in Red Sox nation. Even in their press release yesterday there were blatant inconsistencies between the top dogs, including John Henry declaring that there was never a dispute in the office between Lucchino and Epstein while both parties involved acknowledged that there was and that it had been settled. Further proof that John Henry has exactly no clue what goes on in the offices below him, or he just doesn't care.
On the positive however, the Sox deal with the Indians for Coco Crisp fell apart because Guillermo Mota failed his physical with the Indians. This is actually comical. The Red Sox demanded that the Marlins throw Mota into the deal for Josh Beckett because they were worried about the health of Beckett's shoulder, now it turns out that the insurance policy that the Sox took out against Beckett's health can't pass a physical. Gee whiz guys you really nailed this one, thanks Ben and Jed. Do you think when the Red Sox proposed this deal the Marlins execs were saying to each other:
"Hey Billy, they want us to throw in Mota because they're worried about Beckett's shoulder."
"Mota, he won't even pass a physical, they'll never go for that."
"Sure they will, that Epstein kid is gone, they've gone the ice cream guys running things up there now."
"Really? See if they'll take our Kirby Puckett rookie cards for the Ted Williams seat in right field."
Maybe Babe Ruth is down there in hell saying, "See I told you I could still curse them, I was just too wasted in 2004." RobNeyer thinks that there are just too many cooks in the Sox kitchen. I say there just isn't enough talent left out there to bolster a mediocre lineup that got left in the wake of the aggressive Blue Jays and Mets (wait who?).
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I was watching Inside the NFL tonight on HBO and they did a long piece on Shaun Alexander. While the majority of the story was about his exceptional season and his MVP award they veered wildly off to the side for 5 minutes or so to cover his resemblance to Tike Barber. Normally I would find this annoying and useless but these two guys look exactly alike. Alexander is the third Barber brother that Mrs. Barber decided to give up because she didn't want to raise 3 kids, there is no other explanation. Maybe if either of them decided to grow a little hair at some point I could be convinced otherwise this seems like a genetic slam dunk. Someone get me a paternity test please. This had to have been Mrs. Barber's worst nightmare, the third child that she threw in the dumpster outside the hospital coming back to get famous in the same field as her two "wanted" children. Further proof of my theory, don't have triplets and try to throw one away for fear that all three might someday be famous.
Speaking of look alikes, do you think Ken Whisenhunt got the job as the Steelers offensive coordinator as a part of a child support settlement with a woman Bill Cowher illegitimately impregnated? He has the chin and the receding hairline, minus the slightly wild "prison" eyes that Cowher displays. Good thing for Cowher Whisenhunt ended up knowing something about football huh? It would have been really embarrassing if his little sexual "oops" ended up coordinating the Steelers offense with a primary knowledge of the Boston Ballet choreography and an understanding of the 3:4 in terms of his chances to score at The Golden Banana on a Friday night.
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And finally, the story that BC grads and fans all over the country are priding themselves on today. The bus carrying the BC men's basketball team in Chapel Hill, North Carolina struck and killed a cyclist last night. Yeah....sooo... you have to figure someone lost their job over that one right?
I know the bus company that BC uses is Coach USA, and since I played 4 years of a varsity sport at the Heights I have plenty of experience with the company and their services. Generally they were fine, except for the one trip back from the University of Maine upon which the bus driver fell asleep at the wheel several times and on one occasion hit a guardrail injuring the hand of one of my teammates who was standing in the bathroom of the bus at the time. The bus never stopped. Maybe it wasn't the same company, but that's my story.
Anyway, BC beat number 25 North Carolina tonight for their first legitimate ACC win of the season. Craig Smith actually pulled a reversal of his usual performance, scoring 14 of his 16 points in the second half (still an All-American would not be held to 2 first half points) and Jared Dudley added 17 points and 8 rebounds. It's a nice win for BC, especially given that they needed a road win in conference to offset their crushing home loss to NC State who looks to be better than advertised. With the win BC has pulled back to .500 in the conference, which is probably about where they belong. Maybe it takes the occasional vehicular homicide to get a road win in the ACC...Okay that's just wrong I'm sorry.
Maybe I'll change this to a job search blog...
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