And make him play defensive back.
Seriously, he can't be any worse than what the Patriots are trotting out right now can he?
Okay, I don't want T.O. to come to New England. Here's what I do want. When his whole fiasco started I made a concious decision to wait it out and not comment on it until the end. There is no creativity in blasting T.O. or Drew Rosenhaus anymore, everyone has done it and there is no way I'll ever be able to do it as well as Steven A. Smith. (Good lord did he let them have it. I'm not a Steven A. fan by any means but that was quality ranting and raving.) So, what I do want is to give my opinion on the situation and be done with it. Everyone is sick of talking about it, everyone is sick of writing about it, and most of all everyone is sick of hearing about it. A few paragraphs and then as far as the Slant is concerned it's over.
The most encompassing thing that I've taken from this situation is that T.O. is crazier than a kitten in a sock drawer. He's crazy to think that he can badger the Eagles into giving him a new deal just 1 year into a 7 year agreement. He's crazy to think that he can rip his quarterback and other teammates and coaches in the media and not have a backlash. He's crazy to think that his talent will allow him to behave in manner he chooses. He's crazy to think that he is being wronged by his supension. He's just crazy.
But, and I say this only to show both sides, T.O. has some excuses for being crazy. He was literally whipped as a child by his grandmother. Whipped. He was never allowed to leave the yard to play. He developed a potentially incestuous relationship with the girl who lived across the street from him when he was 12 because he was unaware that she was his half sister. (Yes, his father lived right across the street from him for 12 years and he didn't know it.) He was given every opportunity and every impetus to fail from every possible influence in his life.
Forget the movies, television, or other media, parental influences can screw a kid's head up worse than playing Doom, while watching a snuff video, and listening to Marilyn Manson.
Are these set backs excuses for his behavior? No way. Everyone has crosses to bear, his might be heavier than others but it does not justify a fight with a teammate, public slander of your team's leader, and financial extortion of your company.
You simply cannot, in this age of the NFL make yourself larger than the game. We may be heading towards a league in which you can do so, but while the model for success still resides in Foxboro with coaching, discipline, game planning, and execution players like T.O. will always find themselves on the periphery of acceptance.
That being said there is no doubt that he will find a home next year. He's just too talented not to. He's a jerk and a locker room cancer no one can deny that anymore. His past two teams have said, "We'd rather lose without you than win with you." In a league where results hold a premium a step beyond all others this is an incredible statement to see once, nevermind twice. Still, someone will take a chance on him with a one year deal. They'll sign him to an incentive based contract off of a minimum base salary and hope that somehow they'll be able to keep the ship righted from July to February. But no one will go into it with their eyes closed anymore, there are no more second chances for T.O. just desperate GMs.
The ultimate irony is that when this all started in the off season it was about money. Now by getting suspended and proving that he is without a doubt the worst teammate in the NFL and guaranteeing that he'll never see a long term deal again he has probably cost himself upwards of 50 million dollars over the course of his career. So out of all this he has lost a job, lost his considerable salary, aliented a fan base with long memories and spiteful grudges, and distanced his unreachable personality from his undeniable talent. Not even an idiot of Owens' ilk can look at that and be proud.
One last note on this. The Eagles should cut him and let him play elsewhere if someone is willing to take a chance on him. This suspension and subsequent promise to deactivate him is essentially cutting him off at the knees and that isn't fair. He may have been a cancer to their organization but they should just get rid of him plain and simple. If you get fired from a real job they can't tell you that you aren't allowed to get another one, why should the Eagles be allowed to do so here?
Other News:
- Am I the only one who thinks that the manager of the year award is one of the most predicatable awards in sports? The season is so long that it becomes so obvious who is making the most out of what they have that to suggest that there is any mystery in it is just untrue. I don't like Guillen but he combined luck, guts, and an unconvential attitude to make a great team. Cox took probably his least talented Braves team of their 14 year run and still took the division easily. They are both deserving, but not surprising.
- Another potetial BCgate this weekend against N.C. State at home. Prepare for a meltdown if they lose this one.
- I'm done apologizing for why the Patriots lost on Monday, stop antagonizing me about it. Yes they lost, no the Colts are not the Super Bowl Champions yet, and I know that this defense is just bad. Thank you, but I got the picture.
- Speaking of the Patriots (I can't believe I'm about to say this) but this game against the Dolphins on Sunday is a must win. Look how far we've fallen, a game in Miami is now a must in. Hopefully Gus Frerotte won't shred their secondary like P-town.
- If you have Larry Johnson on your fantasy team do a backflip and jump for joy. Not only do you now have a runner in one of the most prolific offenses in the league but you just had your carries per game doubled and are guaranteed every important/goal line carry for your boy.
- I can't write another whole blog on this and keep my sanity, even though it deserves a month's worth. The Red Sox cannot trade Manny right now. From a baseball standpoint and almost as importantly from a public relations standpoint you CANNOT trade your best player after allowing one front office executive to mortage your future in a clash of egos.
- I can't remember if I mentioned this earlier but it's so amazing that I don't care if I did. No bathroom has been so fortunately graced as the ladies room at Bananna Joes in Tampa which was the site of the infamous cheerleader sex scandal. Apparently 2 Carolina Pathers cheerleaders, (get this) a nurse and a student, were occupying the bathroom for a little too long while engaging in...er...Skinemax behaviors. Another woman complained as they exited the stall and one of the cheerleaders punched the woman in the face. Bad thinking, the other was underage with a fake ID. Both were arrested, fired, and then offered shoots in Penthouse. It's the American way.
Friday, November 11, 2005
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
Time For Another Installment Of...
Am I taking crazy pills?
What the hell were they thinking?
I'm starting to feel as though the only way you can realistically evaluate Boston College sports is to be an alum and watch the games. Clearly no one in the college basketball or football worlds does this. How, after watching these teams routinely lay down in front of inferior competition and get blown out by superior competition can anyone in their right mind rank them among the tops in the nation?
Not only did BC football climb as high as number 13 this year (only to show their stripes and their inept coaching against North Carolina) but their basketball team is ranked pre-season 11th. And if that wasn't enough Craig Smith, a shorter and blacker Greg Ostertag, was named a pre-season first team All American. How, how, how? Does anyone remember watching this team get run over like a deer on route 81 against Pittsburgh last year? Did anyone watch their tournament game against 12th seeded Wisconsin - Milwaukee? Is anyone aware that Sean Williams, probably the best defensive player on BC's roster is suspended indefinitely? And most importantly did the entire world go to sleep and forget that this team, led by Smith and ... is now playing in the ACC against Duke (1), Maryland (24), Wake Forest (18), North Carolina (defending national champions), and a host of other programs home to impossible places to win on the road?
Obviously Smith is a good player, but who else do they have to help him when he is doubled and shut down? Jared Dudley? Louis Hinnant? Come on, let's be serious here. The 20-0 start by the Eagles last year was an aberration aided by a weak early season schedule and a couple of good wins. They essentially snuck up on everyone and took teams by surprise. They will not be doing that this year. With 4 starters returning they have basically the same team that finished ranked 19th last season eliminating any mystery about them from the start.
Even more shocking than their ranking is Smith's selection to the All-American first team. At 18.0 points and 8.0 rebounds a game last season Smith had solid numbers and deserved his first team all Big East commendation. He may even deserve his first team All ACC selection this year, but to consider him one of the 2 best front court players in the NCAA is just absurd. First of all, he's only 6'7" so without Sean Williams in the middle he won't command the interior and at his height it will be difficult for him to maneuver through heavy traffic as the only inside force. Secondly, with all the attention he got after the season last year he will be the target of every opponent's defense. They will be keying on him more than ever before and I don't think that he has the skills, the poise, or the supporting cast to handle the pressure of being a top tier player. Finally, there are other players that deserve to be on the first team more than he does. Rudy Gay from Connecticut is a legitimate star with the tools to be a fist teamer, as is Justin Gray from Wake Forest, although he's a guard so that doesn't really apply. The point here is that we as BC fans know where this is going.
They'll probably start out strong (no worse than 5-1 against Dartmouth, Shawnee State, Buffalo, Drake, Oklahoma State / TCU, and Sacred Heart) but won't blow any of those teams out. They'll stay in low teens in the rankings. Smith will be averaging 16 points and 6 rebounds per game. Their defense will be stout (but not great without Williams) but their offense will be stagnant.
Then they'll play the top 5 worthy Michigan State team and get demolished by 30 on ESPN. They'll fall after that game to somewhere in the mid to high teens. Then 5 days later they'll lose to Maryland in a relatively close, boring game at Maryland and fall in the rankings to the high teens or low twenties. Smith will have one good and one awful game in those two, keeping his averages the same and showing the country that he was not worthy of the pre-season All American status.
Then they will win their next 5 (Texas Southern, Harvard, Duquesne, Rhode Island, and UMass) with at least one very close scare. That will put their record at around 10-3 heading into conference play with their ranking sitting in the neighborhood of 15.
Of their final 17 they have 2 guaranteed non-conference wins (Holy Cross, Stony Brook). Within the conference they have 6 games they should win (2 against Miami, 2 against Virginia Tech, 1 against Clemson, 1 against Florida State). Let's give them 5 of those, assuming that there will be a slip-up somewhere along the way. That puts their record at 17-4.
Now it gets interesting. They will lose to Duke, now they're at 17-5. They will likely split the series with Georgia Tech, 18-6. Give them another split with NC State and they're at 19-7. An interesting matchup could take place on January 25th at UNC. Nobody knows what to expect from the Tar Heels this year having lost most of their championship team to the NBA. However, Roy Williams at home against Al Skinner is like Belichick at home against Dave Wannstedt, no comparison, UNC takes that one to push BC to 19-8.
Now I've left 2 games on the schedule as the highlight "BCgate" games of the season. Every season since I've been associated with BC sports there have been games that have epitomized BC's failures. Huge games against either comparable or inferior competition that have kept them mired in mediocrity and have stripped me of my confidence in them. The first of these games will be at Wake Forest on February 8th. Since the beginning of conference play BC should be at this point somewhere in the area of 16-6 giving them wins at home and losses on the road in their split series. Looking at Wake's schedule they should be around the same level, maybe a little bit better. Their rankings should be similar. The game is on ESPN. Do I even need to draw out this picture for you? They will inevitably lay an egg in this game, similar to the Pitt game last season and if they get blown out their national status will take a huge hit, just like it did last year.
If by some miracle this does not become BCgate, my name for everytime they fail to show up in a big (or even random) game for no reason at all, then we will move to game number 2 which might fit my theory even better. February 21st at Virginia. Virginia is one of two whipping boys in the ACC hoops world. They get beat on regularly by the big boys but usually steal one at home from a top contender (last year they beat Duke). This game will be the Syracuse (football), Pittsburgh, Wisconsin - Milwaukee, North Carolina (football) for this season. If the Eagles get past the Wake Forest game they could conceivably be 20-6 coming in to Charlottesville and could be ranked in the top 18 or so. Even before they play any of the games this looks like it could be the one that makes all of us shake our heads and say, "typical BC." Highly ranked but under achieving BC comes into Virginia and gets beat by 7, never really mounting a charge until 11 minutes left in the second half and by then it is too late for their meager offense led by freshman guard/forward (insert random player who shows up for this one game here) and his 4 second half threes.
They'll lose, fall to 19th, finish the season 20-9, get a 5 seed, and lose in the first round to this year's Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Craig Smith will average his 16 an 6, the numbers will be down from last year due to the extra attention and the stiffer competition. He'll be second team All ACC and everyone who voted him a pre-season All-American will look at BC grads like us and say, "We should have known."
It's just sad that you KNOW that this is going to happen. It's like knowing that Cody Pickett is going to find away to give the Giants a chance to win last week, or knowing that Bledsoe will go color blind on Parcells and cost the Cowboys a playoff berth at some time this year.
Some things are inevitable, BC sports are merely predictable.
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
One Man's Take
Shockingly, despite last night's events the sun still rose this morning. So before we start rationing water and finding candles let's take a look at what happened in last night's debacle.
It seems to me that this game draws parallels with 2 games in recent Boston sports history: last season's regular season matchup with the Steelers and the opening game of this year's Red Sox season against the Yankees.
Heading into the Pittsburgh game last year much of the talk was about the Steelers needing to put on a positive show against the Patriots to legitimize their stock as an elite team in the AFC. Both were undefeated but the Steelers were new to prominence and playing a rookie QB. As in last night's game the win meant much more to the Steelers than the loss meant to the Patriots who were coming off of a Super Bowl win and had a huge win streak that was getting far too much attention. Similarly the Patriots had a dominating streak against these Colts which was inevitably going to be broken and better for it to happen now than in the AFC Championship game. In both cases the consequences of a loss for the Patriots' opponent would have been far worse than the consquences of a loss for the Patriots. Ben Roethlisberger may not have been the miracle savior who couldn't lose in the regular season and the Colts would still be haunted by ghosts in Foxboro.
The second parallel with the Yankees is more of a stretch but what hell I'm feeling limber. Opening night in Yankee stadium this past season was a day that came too soon for the Red Sox and not soon enough for the Yankees. As we all know the last time they met on that field the Red Sox completed the greatest comeback in the history of sports and went on to win the World Series while the Yankees went home to contemplate the worst choke imaginable. The Yankees made a huge off season acquisition in Randy Johnson and were going to show him off in the first game against their hated rivals. He was to be matched not by Curt Schilling, which would have made the game more crucial for the Red Sox, but by local fat man and ex/wanna be Yankee David Wells. Obviously the Yankees had to have this game for their fans and for themselves, for the Red Sox it was just the first game of 162 in the "year after." It parallels the Pats v. Colts game because of the matchup. Manning and his Colts could simply overmatch the Pats and their depleted secondary last night just as Johnson and the Yankees overmatched the Red Sox in April. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that this was a game that mattered much more to the Yankees (NY Post headline the next day: Yankees Win Game 8 - ALCS Tied 4-4) just as last night's game mattered much more to the Colts. Both were getting the monkey off their back momentarily, but in the end will it matter?
The point here is what happened in the long run with both of these big wins for Patriots' (and Red Sox) opponents. In the AFC Championship game the Pats pounded the Steelers on their home turf and proved that one game on Halloween does not mean much. In baseball the Yankees and Red Sox tied. So these huge earth shattering games don't mean anything if they are not followed up by a championship. If the Colts are polishing their rings in February they may look back at this as the game that got them over the hump. If not they are just 1-7 against the Pats, and if they lose to them in the playoffs the cloud above Manning's head will get even heavier than it was before he dispelled it last night.
The major difference that may hurt these comparisons is that last night's game was at home while the other two were on the road. Home losses hurt more, but regardless the game was still more important to Indianapolis.
Now a few notes on the game itself: (most of these were written at 2AM last night and only slightly edited, I apologize for their anger)
This secondary stinks. Everyone was open all night. I was there, high up in offensive coordinator type seats, seeing plays develop and it was clear that I could have made those throws. So could Kyle Orton, Chad Penninton, Gus Ferrotte, and Cody Pickett. This game was nothing special for Manning, and everyone knows that he still has to prove he can beat New England when they're healthy.
2 plays decided this game, a fumble by Corey Dillon at the end of the first half. At the time it was 14-7 and the ball was on the Colts' 25. Without that fumble they go into the locker room at worst 14-7, probably 14-14 and everyone would have settled for 14-10. The second play was the on-side kick. I have no problem with that since they hadn't stopped them yet, why not take a shot, worst comes to worst you give them the ball on the 30 and save yourselves 2 minutes. Too bad they didn't get it though, had they this game would have been a lot more interesting.
The Colts scored on 7 of 9 possessions, the only punt came in the last 2 minutes when it was already over and the other was an interception. Had this game been closer they wouldn't have punted at all. The last time we saw this was in the epic shootout in KC during the playoffs a few years ago when Manning and the Colts were "unstopable." Remember what happened that year in New England?
The Pats still own the Colts psychologically - want to know why? Ask Tony Dungee why he went for two when leading by 19 with under 5 minutes left. He won't tell you, but he was scared that they would lose, he was playing for the tie and assuming that that Pats would score 3 times. Didn't happen, but that's how badly this Pats team has damaged their heads.
Throw it, run it, whatever, they couldn't stop the Colts in any aspect of the defensive game. In the first quarter James was averaging over 6 yards per carry, and they still managed to throw it all over the field. I don't even want to know how many third down conversions they made, I really don't. The one that killed me was when the Patriots had them pinned on their own 6 on 3rd and 15 when it was still 21-7. Manning hit a wide open Reggie Wayne at the 22 and the air went out of the building. The crowd was hardly in it after that.
Bill Belichick can't cover wide receivers. Neither can Randle Gay, Asanti Samuel, Eugene Wilson, Dwayne Sparks, or anyone else New England marched out to try to stop the Colts' passing game. Unlike we have thought for the last 4 years, coaching isn't everything when you don't have the horses. Game plan cannot account for lack of talent.
Peyton Manning played a great game, but don't break out the trumpets, meats, and cheeses just yet. He played a great game against a terrible secondary and while it's true that he orchestrated great play calls he didn't do anything that Jake Plummer or Drew Brees were unable to do. In my opinion Tom Brady played a better game against a better secondary and under incredible pressure to score everytime they touched the ball.
Does anyone miss Rodney Harrison? That weak first half hit from Asanti Samuel that allowed a first down and still spawned a chest bump made me sick and Rodney probably broke a crutch off in his ass in the locker room afterward.
Belichick's press conference was 1:42, Brady's was :32 seconds. They're pissed. Sorry Mr. Saban that's really unfortunate scheduling for you.
Dillon's fumble didn't lose them the game but it did cost them a chance at winning it. Manning had just been intercepted and everyone in the stadium knew that the Patriots were back in his head, if only for a minute. For a few fleeting moments he must have been standing on the sideline thinking, "Not again." Then the Patriots converted an improbable 3-23 and you could feel the old energy coming back and the wind was leaving the Colt's sails with similarly improbable speed. Then Dillon lost the ball at the worst possible time, the Colts took the 2:05 left on the clock and turned it into 7 points, effectively ending the contest.
I was shocked when the Colts came out to start the second half and marched straight down the field on the Patriots defense. Belichick is known for his halftime adjustments and you almost always see a positive change in the team to start the 3rd quarter. Something that the opponent is keying on or getting to easily is taken away. Not so this time, further proving that coaching and adjustments can only take you so far, eventually you have to have players who can execute and last night this Patriots team did not.
Guess what. This game means nothing to New England and everything thing to the Colts. If you want to corronate the Colts the greatest team since the dawn of time talk to me in February if they are wearing a ring, otherwise they still aren't as good as we are and Manning is still a chump. Reality is the Pats are winning the division and making the playoffs, chances are they aren't winning the Super Bowl, but they have just as good a shot as the Colts and give them a chance in the playoffs, even in Indianapolis and I'll be thrilled.
That paragraph is in red because it was written last night when I got home from the game and I decided not to change it. I guess my state of mind wasn't exactly diplomatic or rational but I actually had to delete the paragraph that followed it regarding Sportscenter, Manning's manhood, and the Colts fans brushing their "tooth" (singular). I think I might have anger issues sometimes.
And finally, I can't stop thinking this so I'm just going to say it and be damned if you disagree. The NFL wanted this to happen. If you disagree please explain your reasoning to me because I just don't see it. An early season schedule consisting of teams whose combined record at this point is 19-38. An extremely convenient bye the week before the Pats game. More pass interference penalties than 2 years combined. Not to mention the Patriots schedule, set up to exhaust and inhibit them before the Colts come to town, followed by an easy second half. Where's the balance and how is this fair? I know the Colts are sexier on a national level and that the Patriots and Bill Belichick are boring but stacking the deck in order to place your poster boy on top prematurely is bullshit, plain and simple. It's a business, I understand that, but to use the first half of the season as a marketing tool to change the status of the elite teams to more positively reflect a player you want to highlight reeks of blatent commercial favoritism and that is pathetic.
So where do we stand now? Well we're 4-4 with an easy divisional schedule in the second half and only two games that look like potential trouble, at Kansas City and Tampa Bay at home. They have 5 games remaining within the AFC East, conservatively you can give them 3 wins but they'll probably get 4. After Miami they play New Orleans at home, that's a slam dunk, then they will likely only need one of the Kansas City or Tampa Bay games to win the division at 9-7. If they take care of business in the division they could end up at 10-6 or even 11-5. The problem is we're talking about this team going probably the weakest 10-6 in the NFL and winning the second weakest division (NFC North). That does not bode encouraging things for the post season. It's sad to admit but this team is simply not going to get it done this year and if they were in any other division they would be in serious danger of missing the playoffs. Once you get into those playoffs however, anything can happen with Brady, Belichick and some luck they could make some noise. But this season, it's not going to happen on it's own. They'll need help and luck.
Hey, our run couldn't last forever, but this game is not the nail in coffin. If the Colts knock them out of the playoffs I'll give them that distinction, but they haven't earned it yet.
It seems to me that this game draws parallels with 2 games in recent Boston sports history: last season's regular season matchup with the Steelers and the opening game of this year's Red Sox season against the Yankees.
Heading into the Pittsburgh game last year much of the talk was about the Steelers needing to put on a positive show against the Patriots to legitimize their stock as an elite team in the AFC. Both were undefeated but the Steelers were new to prominence and playing a rookie QB. As in last night's game the win meant much more to the Steelers than the loss meant to the Patriots who were coming off of a Super Bowl win and had a huge win streak that was getting far too much attention. Similarly the Patriots had a dominating streak against these Colts which was inevitably going to be broken and better for it to happen now than in the AFC Championship game. In both cases the consequences of a loss for the Patriots' opponent would have been far worse than the consquences of a loss for the Patriots. Ben Roethlisberger may not have been the miracle savior who couldn't lose in the regular season and the Colts would still be haunted by ghosts in Foxboro.
The second parallel with the Yankees is more of a stretch but what hell I'm feeling limber. Opening night in Yankee stadium this past season was a day that came too soon for the Red Sox and not soon enough for the Yankees. As we all know the last time they met on that field the Red Sox completed the greatest comeback in the history of sports and went on to win the World Series while the Yankees went home to contemplate the worst choke imaginable. The Yankees made a huge off season acquisition in Randy Johnson and were going to show him off in the first game against their hated rivals. He was to be matched not by Curt Schilling, which would have made the game more crucial for the Red Sox, but by local fat man and ex/wanna be Yankee David Wells. Obviously the Yankees had to have this game for their fans and for themselves, for the Red Sox it was just the first game of 162 in the "year after." It parallels the Pats v. Colts game because of the matchup. Manning and his Colts could simply overmatch the Pats and their depleted secondary last night just as Johnson and the Yankees overmatched the Red Sox in April. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that this was a game that mattered much more to the Yankees (NY Post headline the next day: Yankees Win Game 8 - ALCS Tied 4-4) just as last night's game mattered much more to the Colts. Both were getting the monkey off their back momentarily, but in the end will it matter?
The point here is what happened in the long run with both of these big wins for Patriots' (and Red Sox) opponents. In the AFC Championship game the Pats pounded the Steelers on their home turf and proved that one game on Halloween does not mean much. In baseball the Yankees and Red Sox tied. So these huge earth shattering games don't mean anything if they are not followed up by a championship. If the Colts are polishing their rings in February they may look back at this as the game that got them over the hump. If not they are just 1-7 against the Pats, and if they lose to them in the playoffs the cloud above Manning's head will get even heavier than it was before he dispelled it last night.
The major difference that may hurt these comparisons is that last night's game was at home while the other two were on the road. Home losses hurt more, but regardless the game was still more important to Indianapolis.
Now a few notes on the game itself: (most of these were written at 2AM last night and only slightly edited, I apologize for their anger)
This secondary stinks. Everyone was open all night. I was there, high up in offensive coordinator type seats, seeing plays develop and it was clear that I could have made those throws. So could Kyle Orton, Chad Penninton, Gus Ferrotte, and Cody Pickett. This game was nothing special for Manning, and everyone knows that he still has to prove he can beat New England when they're healthy.
2 plays decided this game, a fumble by Corey Dillon at the end of the first half. At the time it was 14-7 and the ball was on the Colts' 25. Without that fumble they go into the locker room at worst 14-7, probably 14-14 and everyone would have settled for 14-10. The second play was the on-side kick. I have no problem with that since they hadn't stopped them yet, why not take a shot, worst comes to worst you give them the ball on the 30 and save yourselves 2 minutes. Too bad they didn't get it though, had they this game would have been a lot more interesting.
The Colts scored on 7 of 9 possessions, the only punt came in the last 2 minutes when it was already over and the other was an interception. Had this game been closer they wouldn't have punted at all. The last time we saw this was in the epic shootout in KC during the playoffs a few years ago when Manning and the Colts were "unstopable." Remember what happened that year in New England?
The Pats still own the Colts psychologically - want to know why? Ask Tony Dungee why he went for two when leading by 19 with under 5 minutes left. He won't tell you, but he was scared that they would lose, he was playing for the tie and assuming that that Pats would score 3 times. Didn't happen, but that's how badly this Pats team has damaged their heads.
Throw it, run it, whatever, they couldn't stop the Colts in any aspect of the defensive game. In the first quarter James was averaging over 6 yards per carry, and they still managed to throw it all over the field. I don't even want to know how many third down conversions they made, I really don't. The one that killed me was when the Patriots had them pinned on their own 6 on 3rd and 15 when it was still 21-7. Manning hit a wide open Reggie Wayne at the 22 and the air went out of the building. The crowd was hardly in it after that.
Bill Belichick can't cover wide receivers. Neither can Randle Gay, Asanti Samuel, Eugene Wilson, Dwayne Sparks, or anyone else New England marched out to try to stop the Colts' passing game. Unlike we have thought for the last 4 years, coaching isn't everything when you don't have the horses. Game plan cannot account for lack of talent.
Peyton Manning played a great game, but don't break out the trumpets, meats, and cheeses just yet. He played a great game against a terrible secondary and while it's true that he orchestrated great play calls he didn't do anything that Jake Plummer or Drew Brees were unable to do. In my opinion Tom Brady played a better game against a better secondary and under incredible pressure to score everytime they touched the ball.
Does anyone miss Rodney Harrison? That weak first half hit from Asanti Samuel that allowed a first down and still spawned a chest bump made me sick and Rodney probably broke a crutch off in his ass in the locker room afterward.
Belichick's press conference was 1:42, Brady's was :32 seconds. They're pissed. Sorry Mr. Saban that's really unfortunate scheduling for you.
Dillon's fumble didn't lose them the game but it did cost them a chance at winning it. Manning had just been intercepted and everyone in the stadium knew that the Patriots were back in his head, if only for a minute. For a few fleeting moments he must have been standing on the sideline thinking, "Not again." Then the Patriots converted an improbable 3-23 and you could feel the old energy coming back and the wind was leaving the Colt's sails with similarly improbable speed. Then Dillon lost the ball at the worst possible time, the Colts took the 2:05 left on the clock and turned it into 7 points, effectively ending the contest.
I was shocked when the Colts came out to start the second half and marched straight down the field on the Patriots defense. Belichick is known for his halftime adjustments and you almost always see a positive change in the team to start the 3rd quarter. Something that the opponent is keying on or getting to easily is taken away. Not so this time, further proving that coaching and adjustments can only take you so far, eventually you have to have players who can execute and last night this Patriots team did not.
Guess what. This game means nothing to New England and everything thing to the Colts. If you want to corronate the Colts the greatest team since the dawn of time talk to me in February if they are wearing a ring, otherwise they still aren't as good as we are and Manning is still a chump. Reality is the Pats are winning the division and making the playoffs, chances are they aren't winning the Super Bowl, but they have just as good a shot as the Colts and give them a chance in the playoffs, even in Indianapolis and I'll be thrilled.
That paragraph is in red because it was written last night when I got home from the game and I decided not to change it. I guess my state of mind wasn't exactly diplomatic or rational but I actually had to delete the paragraph that followed it regarding Sportscenter, Manning's manhood, and the Colts fans brushing their "tooth" (singular). I think I might have anger issues sometimes.
And finally, I can't stop thinking this so I'm just going to say it and be damned if you disagree. The NFL wanted this to happen. If you disagree please explain your reasoning to me because I just don't see it. An early season schedule consisting of teams whose combined record at this point is 19-38. An extremely convenient bye the week before the Pats game. More pass interference penalties than 2 years combined. Not to mention the Patriots schedule, set up to exhaust and inhibit them before the Colts come to town, followed by an easy second half. Where's the balance and how is this fair? I know the Colts are sexier on a national level and that the Patriots and Bill Belichick are boring but stacking the deck in order to place your poster boy on top prematurely is bullshit, plain and simple. It's a business, I understand that, but to use the first half of the season as a marketing tool to change the status of the elite teams to more positively reflect a player you want to highlight reeks of blatent commercial favoritism and that is pathetic.
So where do we stand now? Well we're 4-4 with an easy divisional schedule in the second half and only two games that look like potential trouble, at Kansas City and Tampa Bay at home. They have 5 games remaining within the AFC East, conservatively you can give them 3 wins but they'll probably get 4. After Miami they play New Orleans at home, that's a slam dunk, then they will likely only need one of the Kansas City or Tampa Bay games to win the division at 9-7. If they take care of business in the division they could end up at 10-6 or even 11-5. The problem is we're talking about this team going probably the weakest 10-6 in the NFL and winning the second weakest division (NFC North). That does not bode encouraging things for the post season. It's sad to admit but this team is simply not going to get it done this year and if they were in any other division they would be in serious danger of missing the playoffs. Once you get into those playoffs however, anything can happen with Brady, Belichick and some luck they could make some noise. But this season, it's not going to happen on it's own. They'll need help and luck.
Hey, our run couldn't last forever, but this game is not the nail in coffin. If the Colts knock them out of the playoffs I'll give them that distinction, but they haven't earned it yet.
Thursday, November 03, 2005
Peyton's Year?
After midnight on Monday will Peyton Manning be wearing his traditional, "I can't believe I lost to New England AGAIN! God everyone on this team but me SUCKS!" face or his Shermanator, "It was just time time, it was just my time," face?
I'm afraid that it just might actually be his time. But let's review. The Colts are 7-0 and the Pats are 4-3. The Colts are remarkably healthy and have not played a decent team in their first 7, the Pats are nicked up all over the place and have played 6 playoff teams in their first 7. The Colts are coming off of a bye week, the Pats are a brutal Sunday night game removed from their bye. The deck certainly seems stacked in the favor of the Colts, but don't start the parade down Main Street Indianapolis just yet.
While this game actually doesn't mean that much to the Colts, they are 2 games ahead in the race for homefield with a further cupcake schedule the rest of the way, it's the biggest game of the year in Peyton Manning's mind. Do you think he wants to endure any more montages of his failures in New England, or answer any more questions about why he can't beat Bill Belichick? He is so psychologically damaged by his inablity to win here that it would not surprise me at all to see him lay down on Monday night.
The problem is that this year, even if he predictably lays down there are other players on his cast that can pick him up. Unlike previous visits he has a running game that is torching the league and keeping his fantasy stats down (damn you Edgerrin James!) and a defense this is much improved although untested against legitimate competition on the road. So theoretically it shouldn't matter much if Manning lays an egg because according to "the experts" this is the most balanced Colts team of their recent run. They should win anyway.
The X factor, as always in these matchups is the game plan. Bill Belichick will certainly have some wrinkles in his defense this week, including an increased role for Tedy Bruschi, and there is no doubt in my mind that the Patriots offense will be able to move the ball. But will it be enough?
Everything on paper says no but you cannot discount the Belichick factor and the Manning choke factor. Say what you will but the Patriots own him at home and even while they're down that has to count for something. However, at best that ownership only brings the Patriots chances up to 50/50. Sean Salisbury has learned his lesson. After 2 weeks of prophesizing aboout how the Colts were going to come into New England and destroy the Patriots in the AFC Divisional game last year, only to eat a huge plate of crow, he has learned to never pick against them in this matchup until Manning proves otherwise. I will do the same.
If Manning proves that he can win in New England then it will be the third curse broken in the last 13 months. If not I will laugh and laugh all the way to Peyton's televised meltdown where he gets in a slap fight with Marvin Harrison and then backs over Reggie Wayne with his car in the parking lot, only to go home and sit in his Ray Finkle-style bedroom with Tom Brady's picture all over the walls and the phrase, "at New England" written in pigs blood on the ceiling.
My pick: Pats by 3 in overtime.
I'm afraid that it just might actually be his time. But let's review. The Colts are 7-0 and the Pats are 4-3. The Colts are remarkably healthy and have not played a decent team in their first 7, the Pats are nicked up all over the place and have played 6 playoff teams in their first 7. The Colts are coming off of a bye week, the Pats are a brutal Sunday night game removed from their bye. The deck certainly seems stacked in the favor of the Colts, but don't start the parade down Main Street Indianapolis just yet.
While this game actually doesn't mean that much to the Colts, they are 2 games ahead in the race for homefield with a further cupcake schedule the rest of the way, it's the biggest game of the year in Peyton Manning's mind. Do you think he wants to endure any more montages of his failures in New England, or answer any more questions about why he can't beat Bill Belichick? He is so psychologically damaged by his inablity to win here that it would not surprise me at all to see him lay down on Monday night.
The problem is that this year, even if he predictably lays down there are other players on his cast that can pick him up. Unlike previous visits he has a running game that is torching the league and keeping his fantasy stats down (damn you Edgerrin James!) and a defense this is much improved although untested against legitimate competition on the road. So theoretically it shouldn't matter much if Manning lays an egg because according to "the experts" this is the most balanced Colts team of their recent run. They should win anyway.
The X factor, as always in these matchups is the game plan. Bill Belichick will certainly have some wrinkles in his defense this week, including an increased role for Tedy Bruschi, and there is no doubt in my mind that the Patriots offense will be able to move the ball. But will it be enough?
Everything on paper says no but you cannot discount the Belichick factor and the Manning choke factor. Say what you will but the Patriots own him at home and even while they're down that has to count for something. However, at best that ownership only brings the Patriots chances up to 50/50. Sean Salisbury has learned his lesson. After 2 weeks of prophesizing aboout how the Colts were going to come into New England and destroy the Patriots in the AFC Divisional game last year, only to eat a huge plate of crow, he has learned to never pick against them in this matchup until Manning proves otherwise. I will do the same.
If Manning proves that he can win in New England then it will be the third curse broken in the last 13 months. If not I will laugh and laugh all the way to Peyton's televised meltdown where he gets in a slap fight with Marvin Harrison and then backs over Reggie Wayne with his car in the parking lot, only to go home and sit in his Ray Finkle-style bedroom with Tom Brady's picture all over the walls and the phrase, "at New England" written in pigs blood on the ceiling.
My pick: Pats by 3 in overtime.
Wednesday, November 02, 2005
Top 10 Ways to Tell If Your League Might Be Lame
10. Do you have a franchise in Oklahoma City, even "temporarily?"
9. Is your reigning most valuable player a grunge rocker resembling Canadian?
8. Is the number 1 pick in your league a goonish sloth from Australia, selected almost by default and doomed to almost certain failure?
7. Did the best team in your league nearly guarantee a repeat championship by adding 1 bona fide star and a solid veteran ball handler making the entire season a race for second?
6. Are coaching sub plots more interesting than the games themselves? (see: Jackson, Brown, Riley).
5. Are your playoffs 3 months long?
4. Do your players dog the first 3 quarters of every regular season game, only to miraculously come alive during "highlight time?"
3. Is your pilot network TNT?
2. Does the debate about who is your brightest star contain no less than all of the following: rapist, failed rapper, failed actor, choir boy, Gumby, and a kid who can't legally drink?
1. Does the biggest story on the eve of your season concern an off the court dress code? (And did a Sportscenter anchor utter the phrase, "No bling on the way to the ring," when referencing said dress code?)
9. Is your reigning most valuable player a grunge rocker resembling Canadian?
8. Is the number 1 pick in your league a goonish sloth from Australia, selected almost by default and doomed to almost certain failure?
7. Did the best team in your league nearly guarantee a repeat championship by adding 1 bona fide star and a solid veteran ball handler making the entire season a race for second?
6. Are coaching sub plots more interesting than the games themselves? (see: Jackson, Brown, Riley).
5. Are your playoffs 3 months long?
4. Do your players dog the first 3 quarters of every regular season game, only to miraculously come alive during "highlight time?"
3. Is your pilot network TNT?
2. Does the debate about who is your brightest star contain no less than all of the following: rapist, failed rapper, failed actor, choir boy, Gumby, and a kid who can't legally drink?
1. Does the biggest story on the eve of your season concern an off the court dress code? (And did a Sportscenter anchor utter the phrase, "No bling on the way to the ring," when referencing said dress code?)
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
Pecking Order - The Story I Won't Let Die
24 hours ago Theo Epstein quit, and I just can't let it go. After reading Bill Simmons' piece about it today I think I've calmed myself down from my Luchino lynching rage of last night but another huge question looms in my mind.
A lot of the media attention surrounding this story in Boston has been focused on the fact that the Boston Globe owns 17% of the Red Sox and that as a result their content may be unfairly or unethically influenced by the front office of the team.
Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?
Now if you said that the Red Sox owned 17% of the Boston Globe I could understand how the team could expect to have some say in the publication, but putting it the other way around makes no sense. The more I think about it the more it becomes damning to the Globe's integrity. Naturally since there is a financial relationship between the two parties there is going to be prioritization of information disclosure, i.e. the Red Sox will leak stories to the Globe and leave the Herald scrambling for scraps. However, for the party that has the financial interest of ownership in the relationship to take its cues from a one of it's holdings seems absurd. In reality the Red Sox should have no control over the Globe and so the question remains why would the largest paper in this market allow itself to be used for manipulation and smear?
Of course being involved in a partnership of this nature will lend itself to certain privleges, etc. But to throw your journalistic integrity out the window by running a smear campaign (the Herald's word actually) about a wildly popular GM in the midst of contract negotiations on the basis of that relationship (in which you are the controlling interest) is terribly unprofessional and deplorable behavior by the Globe and Dan Shaughnessy; especially considering that they should be deciding on their own what to publish since they in fact are part of the ownership and not the other way around. Furthermore, for a media outlet to be the deciding factor in any professional negotiation at this level is childish, and while I'm aware that the spotlight of media attention is brighter here than almost anywhere else that spotlight should not cast manipulative shadows based on inappropriate and innacurate leaks from one and only one of the parties. It's kind of like ESPN going to ABC/Disney and telling them to trash Stuart Scott's reputation through billboards in Epcot Center, totally irrational.
Speaking for myself I'm going to have a hard time trusting anything that comes out of the Boston Globe concerning the Red Sox moving forward. How will we know where the information is coming from and if it is unfairly slanted in favor of the organization? We never will and Luchino, Shaughnessy, and the Red Sox front office just robbed Gordon Edes and Chris Snow, the Red Sox beat writers of a lot of trust within Red Sox nation and that isn't fair.
In conclusion I ask the same question that I may have diverted from slightly. Why do the Red Sox have any control over what goes into the Globe beyond what they leak to them, and more importantly why does the Globe allow what is leaked to be published in precisely the slant it was intended without getting any facts from the other side?
This whole situation is a mess and it just keeps getting worse. I promise I'll be able to let it go at some point.
A lot of the media attention surrounding this story in Boston has been focused on the fact that the Boston Globe owns 17% of the Red Sox and that as a result their content may be unfairly or unethically influenced by the front office of the team.
Isn't this putting the cart before the horse?
Now if you said that the Red Sox owned 17% of the Boston Globe I could understand how the team could expect to have some say in the publication, but putting it the other way around makes no sense. The more I think about it the more it becomes damning to the Globe's integrity. Naturally since there is a financial relationship between the two parties there is going to be prioritization of information disclosure, i.e. the Red Sox will leak stories to the Globe and leave the Herald scrambling for scraps. However, for the party that has the financial interest of ownership in the relationship to take its cues from a one of it's holdings seems absurd. In reality the Red Sox should have no control over the Globe and so the question remains why would the largest paper in this market allow itself to be used for manipulation and smear?
Of course being involved in a partnership of this nature will lend itself to certain privleges, etc. But to throw your journalistic integrity out the window by running a smear campaign (the Herald's word actually) about a wildly popular GM in the midst of contract negotiations on the basis of that relationship (in which you are the controlling interest) is terribly unprofessional and deplorable behavior by the Globe and Dan Shaughnessy; especially considering that they should be deciding on their own what to publish since they in fact are part of the ownership and not the other way around. Furthermore, for a media outlet to be the deciding factor in any professional negotiation at this level is childish, and while I'm aware that the spotlight of media attention is brighter here than almost anywhere else that spotlight should not cast manipulative shadows based on inappropriate and innacurate leaks from one and only one of the parties. It's kind of like ESPN going to ABC/Disney and telling them to trash Stuart Scott's reputation through billboards in Epcot Center, totally irrational.
Speaking for myself I'm going to have a hard time trusting anything that comes out of the Boston Globe concerning the Red Sox moving forward. How will we know where the information is coming from and if it is unfairly slanted in favor of the organization? We never will and Luchino, Shaughnessy, and the Red Sox front office just robbed Gordon Edes and Chris Snow, the Red Sox beat writers of a lot of trust within Red Sox nation and that isn't fair.
In conclusion I ask the same question that I may have diverted from slightly. Why do the Red Sox have any control over what goes into the Globe beyond what they leak to them, and more importantly why does the Globe allow what is leaked to be published in precisely the slant it was intended without getting any facts from the other side?
This whole situation is a mess and it just keeps getting worse. I promise I'll be able to let it go at some point.
Monday, October 31, 2005
More Theo
One of, what I'm sure will be many quick notes on Theo's departure.
I think in the past few hours I've been able to figure out what bothers me most of all about this situation and the circumstances surrounding it.
I am Theo Epstein. I'm a kid from Massachusetss who grew up loving the Red Sox and would give anything to work for them in any capacity nevermind as the GM. As it was for him, it would be my dream job (of course I'm grossly underqualified and can't really imagine working 20 hour days so they made a better choice going with him). So for the last few hours I've been thinking, "If I were to acquire said dream job what would it take to make me leave it and 4.5 million reasons to stay?"
I couldn't think of anything, and I would imagine that before these past few weeks Epstein couldn't either. Nice work Larry, way to destroy his dream and mine.
I think in the past few hours I've been able to figure out what bothers me most of all about this situation and the circumstances surrounding it.
I am Theo Epstein. I'm a kid from Massachusetss who grew up loving the Red Sox and would give anything to work for them in any capacity nevermind as the GM. As it was for him, it would be my dream job (of course I'm grossly underqualified and can't really imagine working 20 hour days so they made a better choice going with him). So for the last few hours I've been thinking, "If I were to acquire said dream job what would it take to make me leave it and 4.5 million reasons to stay?"
I couldn't think of anything, and I would imagine that before these past few weeks Epstein couldn't either. Nice work Larry, way to destroy his dream and mine.
Absolutely Disgraceful
Over the course of the next few days you are going to read a lot of stories about Theo Epstein and his fallout with the Red Sox. These stories will contain theories, conjecture, and speculation as to why the organization would let arguably their brightest star walk away spurned after bringing a championship to the most victory starved city in baseball nation. These stories will be wasting words, paper, and your time. There is only one reason that Theo Epstein is leaving the Red Sox and his name is Larry Lucchino, and any spin put on this story by the Red Sox will be an attempt to mask that fact.
This story just broke, but here is what happened as far as I can tell. First, some background, the New York Times, the parent company of the Boston Globe has a 17 percent ownership stake in the Red Sox, creating what is likely the greatest journalistic conflict of interest in sports. This financial relationship lends itself to certain privleges for the Globe, namely leaks and prioritized information but it also limits their ability to criticize to some extent. This has been discussed at great length in the past as some players, managers, and other personnel have felt that the relationship with the Globe was used to cast negative spin on them, for example Manny Ramirez. The Red Sox leaked the story regarding Manny's most recent trade demands exclusively to the Globe. One possible reason for this could be that the Red Sox are trying to cast Manny in a negative light to the fans therby changing their perception of him, diminishing their affection, and ultimately softening their anger should he be delt in the offseason. In a sense the Red Sox used to Globe as a political assistant to change public opinion.
This relationship with the Globe was a crucial pawn in Theo's negotiations as well. On Friday reports from "Red Sox insiders" were that a deal was essentially done, 3 years at 1.5 million per year. However, on Saturday, the Globe's Dan Shaughnessy published a piece about the relationship between Epstein and team president Larry Luccino including inside details about a tense confrontation that took place recently in Colorado. The purpose of this piece, according to Shaughnessy was to assist in bringing the two sides together, which of course is not his job but that's a discussion for another time. Apparently the contents of this story, which were acquired by Shaughnessy presumably from someone within the Red Sox organization, possibly Luccino himself, enraged Epstein. He was particularly miffed about the extent to which the story revealed private details from the meeting in Colorado and was deeply disturbed at the excessive disclosure by someone within the Red Sox.
Jump forward to today. This morning ESPN and other major news outlets led by the Boston Globe were reporting that Epstein and the Sox had agreed to the afore mentioned 3 year contract extension. This apparently was never the case, but the Globe, the news outlet with the closest relationship to the team reported the deal as done. Then at 5:00 PM this afternoon WEEI and the Boston Herald broke the story that not only had Theo not signed the deal but had actually resigned and was currently cleaning out his office.
A few big questions loom over this story. What changed between this morning and this afternoon to make Theo change his mind, if it was in fact ever made up? Why did the Red Sox release reports of a done deal if in fact there was no name on the dotted line? What impact will this move have on the status of the Red Sox on the field given their free agents (Damon, Mueller, Millar) and others who have asked out of Boston (Wells, Ramirez)?
What bothers me the most about this story is the manipulation of the media by the Red Sox to influence the negotiations. One possible reason for the report this morning could have been to put pressure on Epstein to accept the deal. They report it, or at least leak it, then Theo is in a position stuck between a story reporting what all his fans want to hear and his own misgivings about the situation. Also, if a deal was almost finished on Friday why didn't we hear anything about it then and what in the world could have been the point of the piece on Saturday airing all of the dirty laundry about the relationship between Epstein and Luccino especially if things seemed to be settling down nicely?
In the end the use of the media by the Red Sox to make themselves look good and to adversly portray Epstein backfired on them. I think that Luccino and the rest of the organization vastly underestimated Theo as a person. In letting Josh Byrnes go to Arizona to become the GM of the Diamondbacks the Red Sox revealed their intent to resign Theo, but they also revealed their arrogance concerning his potential for leaving. They believed that he was just a good old boy from Braintree who had always dreamed of working for the Red Sox and that there was no way that he would ever leave his "dream job" no matter how much they pushed. But they pushed him too far. Theo is a very private person, as Peter Gammons just reported on Sportscenter, and he was tired (even before these negotiations) of living constantly under the microscope that comes from working in Boston. Now that he has left the stain of this mistreatment lays totally on the Red Sox, they look terrible for a bevy of reasons. First they appear to have spurned and cast off the man who was able to do what so many GMs were not in winning a World Series. Second, they tried to use their own media outlet to bait and switch public opinion on Epstein and in failing made the public more aware that the Red Sox organization is a political machine and that the Globe is their mechanism of manipulation. And finally and most importantly they are without a general manager heading into what would have already been a tumultous off season.
This is shameful and embarassing for an organization that already seemed to be struggling to get out of its own way. With Epstein out and Manny asking for the same the face of the Red Sox in Fort Myers next February could be vastly different from the one that layed down and died in front of the White Sox in October. Without Theo, and if Manny goes with him, I don't like their chances of even having the opportunity to choke in the post season again.
As I fan I am feel terrible for Epstein and will be grateful to him forever for his contributions. I apologize for all of Boston and will certainly miss him.
This story just broke, but here is what happened as far as I can tell. First, some background, the New York Times, the parent company of the Boston Globe has a 17 percent ownership stake in the Red Sox, creating what is likely the greatest journalistic conflict of interest in sports. This financial relationship lends itself to certain privleges for the Globe, namely leaks and prioritized information but it also limits their ability to criticize to some extent. This has been discussed at great length in the past as some players, managers, and other personnel have felt that the relationship with the Globe was used to cast negative spin on them, for example Manny Ramirez. The Red Sox leaked the story regarding Manny's most recent trade demands exclusively to the Globe. One possible reason for this could be that the Red Sox are trying to cast Manny in a negative light to the fans therby changing their perception of him, diminishing their affection, and ultimately softening their anger should he be delt in the offseason. In a sense the Red Sox used to Globe as a political assistant to change public opinion.
This relationship with the Globe was a crucial pawn in Theo's negotiations as well. On Friday reports from "Red Sox insiders" were that a deal was essentially done, 3 years at 1.5 million per year. However, on Saturday, the Globe's Dan Shaughnessy published a piece about the relationship between Epstein and team president Larry Luccino including inside details about a tense confrontation that took place recently in Colorado. The purpose of this piece, according to Shaughnessy was to assist in bringing the two sides together, which of course is not his job but that's a discussion for another time. Apparently the contents of this story, which were acquired by Shaughnessy presumably from someone within the Red Sox organization, possibly Luccino himself, enraged Epstein. He was particularly miffed about the extent to which the story revealed private details from the meeting in Colorado and was deeply disturbed at the excessive disclosure by someone within the Red Sox.
Jump forward to today. This morning ESPN and other major news outlets led by the Boston Globe were reporting that Epstein and the Sox had agreed to the afore mentioned 3 year contract extension. This apparently was never the case, but the Globe, the news outlet with the closest relationship to the team reported the deal as done. Then at 5:00 PM this afternoon WEEI and the Boston Herald broke the story that not only had Theo not signed the deal but had actually resigned and was currently cleaning out his office.
A few big questions loom over this story. What changed between this morning and this afternoon to make Theo change his mind, if it was in fact ever made up? Why did the Red Sox release reports of a done deal if in fact there was no name on the dotted line? What impact will this move have on the status of the Red Sox on the field given their free agents (Damon, Mueller, Millar) and others who have asked out of Boston (Wells, Ramirez)?
What bothers me the most about this story is the manipulation of the media by the Red Sox to influence the negotiations. One possible reason for the report this morning could have been to put pressure on Epstein to accept the deal. They report it, or at least leak it, then Theo is in a position stuck between a story reporting what all his fans want to hear and his own misgivings about the situation. Also, if a deal was almost finished on Friday why didn't we hear anything about it then and what in the world could have been the point of the piece on Saturday airing all of the dirty laundry about the relationship between Epstein and Luccino especially if things seemed to be settling down nicely?
In the end the use of the media by the Red Sox to make themselves look good and to adversly portray Epstein backfired on them. I think that Luccino and the rest of the organization vastly underestimated Theo as a person. In letting Josh Byrnes go to Arizona to become the GM of the Diamondbacks the Red Sox revealed their intent to resign Theo, but they also revealed their arrogance concerning his potential for leaving. They believed that he was just a good old boy from Braintree who had always dreamed of working for the Red Sox and that there was no way that he would ever leave his "dream job" no matter how much they pushed. But they pushed him too far. Theo is a very private person, as Peter Gammons just reported on Sportscenter, and he was tired (even before these negotiations) of living constantly under the microscope that comes from working in Boston. Now that he has left the stain of this mistreatment lays totally on the Red Sox, they look terrible for a bevy of reasons. First they appear to have spurned and cast off the man who was able to do what so many GMs were not in winning a World Series. Second, they tried to use their own media outlet to bait and switch public opinion on Epstein and in failing made the public more aware that the Red Sox organization is a political machine and that the Globe is their mechanism of manipulation. And finally and most importantly they are without a general manager heading into what would have already been a tumultous off season.
This is shameful and embarassing for an organization that already seemed to be struggling to get out of its own way. With Epstein out and Manny asking for the same the face of the Red Sox in Fort Myers next February could be vastly different from the one that layed down and died in front of the White Sox in October. Without Theo, and if Manny goes with him, I don't like their chances of even having the opportunity to choke in the post season again.
As I fan I am feel terrible for Epstein and will be grateful to him forever for his contributions. I apologize for all of Boston and will certainly miss him.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Where to Start?
There isn't enough room in my head for the events of this past week. The World Series, BC v. Virginia Tech, Bruschi's return, Theo's contract issues.
Starting in order of importance...
The Second Team in the Second City is the last team standing or the first in line at the end of a second tier post-season. Think I used enough number or place references in that sentence?
Thank you Chicago, I will take my plate of crow and have it warmed please. At the beginning of the playoffs I said that the White Sox didn't particularly scare me in the ALDS against the Red Sox. In the AlCS I thought that the Angels would have the advantage due to their experience and their "superior" offense. In the World Series I didn't give a damn because the best team in baseball and my pick at the beginning of the playoffs, St. Louis, was out, and Astros and White Sox fans only show up in the playoffs.
I was wrong. St. Louis was clearly the best team, but they were not the best team for 3 weeks in October which is all that matters. Give the White Sox credit, they weren't necessarily able to create their own opportunities but when their opponent or the umpires gave them a chance they took advantage. Which is much more than you can say about the Red Sox, Angels, or Astros. In the World Series Houston was something like 0 for their last 29 with runners in scoring position, in the ALDS the Red Sox left the bases loaded at least half a dozen times, and the Angels made enough mistakes in games 2 and 3 of the ALCS to deserve to lose. The White Sox made the plays and no one else did. I stand by my statement that had any of those 3 teams played well and the umpiring had been fair things would have been different, but you can't tell White Sox fans that, they're out at their team's parade right now. Congratulations.
So what's next for baseball? Will the Cubs continue the parade of "curse" breaking or will they persist onward as the only team mythically doomed to failure. If we are sitting here talking about a Cubs championship next year I'll be shocked, but I would have said the same thing about the White Sox last year. Of course that would be entirely too much love for the city of Chicago and frankly the east coast has the market cornered on excessive arrogance due to success. We want to be the only snobs on the block thank you.
As a season this was not a banner year for baseball. A team won a division with a record just 2 games over .500.
Barry Bonds missed almost the entire year and possibly forfeited a chance to catch Hank Aaron by doing do.
Raphael Palmeiro created more negative water cooler gossip than Bill Clinton's cigar, and steriods marred the entire landscape of the season.
Jason Giambi was given the Comeback Player of the Year award, which is a travesty, coming back from cheating should not be rewarded.
The Yankees stunk for the first half of the season, which while good for Sox fans, is bad for baseball. Then they were able to back into the playoffs as the Red Sox failed to close the deal which enrages all the pundits screaming for more parody and salary restrictions.
The Indians made one of the epic playoff charges of all time, but then choked nearly as bad as the Yankees in the '04 ALCS by getting swept in a crucial 3 game set by a White Sox team with nothing to play for, destroying what was a great story.
The Cardinals once again proved that a roster just loaded with talent won't win you games in October, robbing fans of a chance to see the scariest hitter in the league take a second crack at the World Series.
The Braves won the most insignificant 14th consecutive division title in the history of sports and then predictably lost in the NLDS.
The playoffs lost luster as no major rivalries were revisited and then ended in an extremely dull World Series. For the Series the White Sox scored just 6 more runs than the Astros, the second smallest margin in a series sweep but the games were low scoring and the fans in both cities lack that rabid edge you see in LA, New York, Boston, or the other side of Chicago. Even Joe Buck and Tim McCarver seemed bored with the proceedings, maybe because in the past 2 years there have been the minimum 8 World Series games played.
And finally, it's hard for me to say this but the Red Sox championship of last season cast a shadow over the entire year. It started out as endearing and fun and became an annoyance for the rest of the country by week 2. By the end no one wanted to hear about it anymore and anti-New England sentiment raged and took attention away from legitimate stories. All in all, not a great year for baseball.
Now on to BC v. Virginia Tech. I want to highlight two plays from the game last night. First, it's third down and a mile in the third quarter, Porter drops back to pass (5 words I NEVER want to hear again). There is time, but everyone is covered. The rush gets through on the left side, but Porter decides to roll that way, takes 2 steps, does an Ashlee Simpson on SNL "Holy Shit my lip synching CD is playing on national TV" dance step / turn around, rolls 3 steps in the other direction and throws his most accurate pass of the night... Right into the hands of his ineligible left tackle who is so shocked that he catches the ball and literally doesn't move before being half-heartedly hauled down by two V-Tech defenders who were aware of what happened.
Second play, it's 3rd and a mile again, this time in the 4th quarter. Porter drops back to pass, V-Tech's left defensive end just absolutely torches the BC tight end assigned to block him and sacks Porter halfway through his 5 step drop. What made this play hilarious was the replay, showing the defensive end go around the tight end so quickly that the only contact made was a push in the back of the d-end TOWARDS the quarterback. Then realizing that he was beaten the tight end decides not to pursue the man that is going to decapitate his quarterback, rather he decides to turn back around and put his hands up in a blocking position as if he didn't see the man go right by him and wasn't aware that the he had just killed Porter. I want to be in the film session when this play comes up and they ask the tight end about it.
Coach: So you saw the d-end coming right?
Tight end: Ahh, yeah coach.
Coach: But you didn't block him?
Tight end: Ahh, no coach.
Coach: So then, after you saw him go by you, you pretended that you hadn't seen him at all?
Tight end: Ahh, yeah coach, I turned around to block in case a safety was blitzing.
Coach: A safety? But not the d-end that had just run by you! Are you aware son, that by the time you turned back around Porter was already on his back?
Tight end: Ahh, no coach, you see I was facing the other way so I didn't really see it...
Coach: Get the fuck out of here.
That just about sums it up. They couldn't move the ball when they had it. They couldn't stop Virginia Tech on defense and no one on the field looked like they had any business playing against Marcus Vick. And they got out coached. It was a statement game for both teams. V-Tech said they belong in the top 3, BC said that they belong against the Clemson's and the Wake Forests of the world. Sorry Eagle fans, they're just not that good.
Topic number 3: Tedy Bruschi's imminent return to the Patriots. I wrote a post about this back before football season started and I used two voices, the crazy Pats fan who wants Bruschi back at all costs and the sympathetic person who realizes that a stroke is not something to fool around with. Both voices are still relevant. If he's ready to come back I will welcome his contributions as much as the next guy, but I can't help but think that if the Pats were 6-0 right now that he wouldn't be out there. I hope it's the right thing to do but I'm just not sure. Also, even if he is 100% he will not be able to make an immediate impact with only 10 days of practice. He always has big play potential but chances are he will not change their ability to stop another team on a down by down basis. For example, if he were playing against San Diego, I can't see the outcome being much different. The Pats need a few saviors, not just one, but if he can intercept Manning in week 9 and run it in for a touchdown I'll buy my first ever Pats jersey with Burschi on the back.
Finally, an announcement is expected sometime today about the fate of Sox general manager Theo Epstein. The news on Boston sports radio is that it's basically a done deal that he's coming back for 3 years for somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 million. I hope so. There has been some griping that Brian Cashman and other big name GM's (Atlanta's, whose name I can't remember) who make somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million per year deserve a higher salary than Theo because of their experience etc. I think that's ridiculous. None of those guys, Billy Beane included have had to deal with 86 years of hurt feelings and negativity. None of them have had the guts to make a deal trading away the face of their franchise in an effort to make the team as a whole better. And most importantly, in the 3 years that Theo has been in charge none of them have won a World Series, vanquishing 86 years of demons. He has. He deserves one contract as a reward for bringing redemption to everyone's grandfathers who died without seeing a banner. Pay the man.
Happy Halloween kids.
Starting in order of importance...
The Second Team in the Second City is the last team standing or the first in line at the end of a second tier post-season. Think I used enough number or place references in that sentence?
Thank you Chicago, I will take my plate of crow and have it warmed please. At the beginning of the playoffs I said that the White Sox didn't particularly scare me in the ALDS against the Red Sox. In the AlCS I thought that the Angels would have the advantage due to their experience and their "superior" offense. In the World Series I didn't give a damn because the best team in baseball and my pick at the beginning of the playoffs, St. Louis, was out, and Astros and White Sox fans only show up in the playoffs.
I was wrong. St. Louis was clearly the best team, but they were not the best team for 3 weeks in October which is all that matters. Give the White Sox credit, they weren't necessarily able to create their own opportunities but when their opponent or the umpires gave them a chance they took advantage. Which is much more than you can say about the Red Sox, Angels, or Astros. In the World Series Houston was something like 0 for their last 29 with runners in scoring position, in the ALDS the Red Sox left the bases loaded at least half a dozen times, and the Angels made enough mistakes in games 2 and 3 of the ALCS to deserve to lose. The White Sox made the plays and no one else did. I stand by my statement that had any of those 3 teams played well and the umpiring had been fair things would have been different, but you can't tell White Sox fans that, they're out at their team's parade right now. Congratulations.
So what's next for baseball? Will the Cubs continue the parade of "curse" breaking or will they persist onward as the only team mythically doomed to failure. If we are sitting here talking about a Cubs championship next year I'll be shocked, but I would have said the same thing about the White Sox last year. Of course that would be entirely too much love for the city of Chicago and frankly the east coast has the market cornered on excessive arrogance due to success. We want to be the only snobs on the block thank you.
As a season this was not a banner year for baseball. A team won a division with a record just 2 games over .500.
Barry Bonds missed almost the entire year and possibly forfeited a chance to catch Hank Aaron by doing do.
Raphael Palmeiro created more negative water cooler gossip than Bill Clinton's cigar, and steriods marred the entire landscape of the season.
Jason Giambi was given the Comeback Player of the Year award, which is a travesty, coming back from cheating should not be rewarded.
The Yankees stunk for the first half of the season, which while good for Sox fans, is bad for baseball. Then they were able to back into the playoffs as the Red Sox failed to close the deal which enrages all the pundits screaming for more parody and salary restrictions.
The Indians made one of the epic playoff charges of all time, but then choked nearly as bad as the Yankees in the '04 ALCS by getting swept in a crucial 3 game set by a White Sox team with nothing to play for, destroying what was a great story.
The Cardinals once again proved that a roster just loaded with talent won't win you games in October, robbing fans of a chance to see the scariest hitter in the league take a second crack at the World Series.
The Braves won the most insignificant 14th consecutive division title in the history of sports and then predictably lost in the NLDS.
The playoffs lost luster as no major rivalries were revisited and then ended in an extremely dull World Series. For the Series the White Sox scored just 6 more runs than the Astros, the second smallest margin in a series sweep but the games were low scoring and the fans in both cities lack that rabid edge you see in LA, New York, Boston, or the other side of Chicago. Even Joe Buck and Tim McCarver seemed bored with the proceedings, maybe because in the past 2 years there have been the minimum 8 World Series games played.
And finally, it's hard for me to say this but the Red Sox championship of last season cast a shadow over the entire year. It started out as endearing and fun and became an annoyance for the rest of the country by week 2. By the end no one wanted to hear about it anymore and anti-New England sentiment raged and took attention away from legitimate stories. All in all, not a great year for baseball.
Now on to BC v. Virginia Tech. I want to highlight two plays from the game last night. First, it's third down and a mile in the third quarter, Porter drops back to pass (5 words I NEVER want to hear again). There is time, but everyone is covered. The rush gets through on the left side, but Porter decides to roll that way, takes 2 steps, does an Ashlee Simpson on SNL "Holy Shit my lip synching CD is playing on national TV" dance step / turn around, rolls 3 steps in the other direction and throws his most accurate pass of the night... Right into the hands of his ineligible left tackle who is so shocked that he catches the ball and literally doesn't move before being half-heartedly hauled down by two V-Tech defenders who were aware of what happened.
Second play, it's 3rd and a mile again, this time in the 4th quarter. Porter drops back to pass, V-Tech's left defensive end just absolutely torches the BC tight end assigned to block him and sacks Porter halfway through his 5 step drop. What made this play hilarious was the replay, showing the defensive end go around the tight end so quickly that the only contact made was a push in the back of the d-end TOWARDS the quarterback. Then realizing that he was beaten the tight end decides not to pursue the man that is going to decapitate his quarterback, rather he decides to turn back around and put his hands up in a blocking position as if he didn't see the man go right by him and wasn't aware that the he had just killed Porter. I want to be in the film session when this play comes up and they ask the tight end about it.
Coach: So you saw the d-end coming right?
Tight end: Ahh, yeah coach.
Coach: But you didn't block him?
Tight end: Ahh, no coach.
Coach: So then, after you saw him go by you, you pretended that you hadn't seen him at all?
Tight end: Ahh, yeah coach, I turned around to block in case a safety was blitzing.
Coach: A safety? But not the d-end that had just run by you! Are you aware son, that by the time you turned back around Porter was already on his back?
Tight end: Ahh, no coach, you see I was facing the other way so I didn't really see it...
Coach: Get the fuck out of here.
That just about sums it up. They couldn't move the ball when they had it. They couldn't stop Virginia Tech on defense and no one on the field looked like they had any business playing against Marcus Vick. And they got out coached. It was a statement game for both teams. V-Tech said they belong in the top 3, BC said that they belong against the Clemson's and the Wake Forests of the world. Sorry Eagle fans, they're just not that good.
Topic number 3: Tedy Bruschi's imminent return to the Patriots. I wrote a post about this back before football season started and I used two voices, the crazy Pats fan who wants Bruschi back at all costs and the sympathetic person who realizes that a stroke is not something to fool around with. Both voices are still relevant. If he's ready to come back I will welcome his contributions as much as the next guy, but I can't help but think that if the Pats were 6-0 right now that he wouldn't be out there. I hope it's the right thing to do but I'm just not sure. Also, even if he is 100% he will not be able to make an immediate impact with only 10 days of practice. He always has big play potential but chances are he will not change their ability to stop another team on a down by down basis. For example, if he were playing against San Diego, I can't see the outcome being much different. The Pats need a few saviors, not just one, but if he can intercept Manning in week 9 and run it in for a touchdown I'll buy my first ever Pats jersey with Burschi on the back.
Finally, an announcement is expected sometime today about the fate of Sox general manager Theo Epstein. The news on Boston sports radio is that it's basically a done deal that he's coming back for 3 years for somewhere in the neighborhood of 1.5 million. I hope so. There has been some griping that Brian Cashman and other big name GM's (Atlanta's, whose name I can't remember) who make somewhere between 1.5 and 2 million per year deserve a higher salary than Theo because of their experience etc. I think that's ridiculous. None of those guys, Billy Beane included have had to deal with 86 years of hurt feelings and negativity. None of them have had the guts to make a deal trading away the face of their franchise in an effort to make the team as a whole better. And most importantly, in the 3 years that Theo has been in charge none of them have won a World Series, vanquishing 86 years of demons. He has. He deserves one contract as a reward for bringing redemption to everyone's grandfathers who died without seeing a banner. Pay the man.
Happy Halloween kids.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Why I'm Rooting for the Astros
I can't help it. I want to like the White Sox, I really do but every fiber of my being rebels against everything that has precipitated their rise this post-season. Don't worry I have reasons beyond the fact that they eliminated the Red Sox...
1. The White Sox haven't beaten teams so much as their opponents have beaten themselves. Give them credit, when the opposition has made mistakes they have capitalized but without those mistakes it's questionable whether they would have made it this far on their own. Not to use the Red Sox as an example, but if Tony Graffanino even gets one out on his Buckner-esque blunder in game 2 of the ALDS Iguchi only has the opportunity to tie the game with his home run, changing the whole dynamic of the game. Don't get me wrong, there was no way the Red Sox were winning that series and give Iguchi all the credit in the world for making them pay for the error, but his heroics were preventable and without them that game is in question.
2. Every single bad call, in a post season ridden with terrible umpiring (so much that there is a nationwide call for instant replay in every city except for one half of Chicago) has gone the way of the White Sox. Josh Paul's "dropped" ball that was clearly caught is the most glaring example. Once again you must give credit to Joe Crede for driving in Pierzynski with the winning run but there is no doubt that the inning should have been over. Of course the Angels had enough mistakes in that game to bury themselves regardless, but they should not have had the opportunity to play extra innings stolen from them by a self-concious umpire who was fooled by a sneaky player trying to steal a call. The Astros were burned by the same problem in game 2 of the World Series. Jermaine Dye actually admitted that he was not hit by the pitch that placed him on first and loaded the bases for Paul Konerko to hit his game and series changing grand slam. How did the ump not notice that Dye didn't walk towards first after the pitch? The calls coupled with the errors really lead me to believe that the White Sox are not beating their opponents in the game as a whole, they're just taking advantage of situations they were not even able to create on their own. Good on them for getting the big hits but I'd rather see them win it on their own.
3. They are not a long suffering franchise like Fox is trying to convince us that they are, and if they are it is because Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox threw the World Series. They didn't trade Babe Ruth, there was no goat, they lost on purpose and nearly ruined baseball in the process. If anything deserves a curse that's it. But since we don't believe in curses anymore... The White Sox fans have not had to endure the soul crushing Steve Bartman's, Aaron Boone's, Bill Buckner's or Bucky Dent's in their 88 year losing streak. They don't sell out every regular season game, including Tuesday afternoon day games in April, like the Cubs. They don't have an arch nemesis that has won 26 championships while they have had to sit and watch like the Red Sox. I would be willing to bet that most casual fans were not aware that the White Sox hadn't won the World Series since 1917 before this post season began. Why? Because it has not consumed a city, they are the Mets of Chicago and while 1908 and 1918 are / were catch phrases, 1917 is just an ugly black mark on baseball's history.
4. Bagwell & Biggio. These two guys don't exist in the A-Rod era. Solid players that have been with one team for almost their entire career, despite many tough years and terrible supporting casts. They have never chased pin stripes or huge contracts elsewhere. They have never left citing the, "need for a ring." Rather they stuck it out and waited for their team to develop into contender. And you never heard them spout off at the mouth about how their team/manager/ownership is not committed to winning blah blah blah. They played with class and you have to respect that and root for such loyalty to ultimately be rewarded with a championship in what is probably their last shot, at least together.
5. Cubs fans have been waiting longer, attending more regularly, and have come agonizingly closer than White Sox fans. I don't want to say that the White Sox fans don't deserve it, they do. Every fan that legitimately follows his or her team deserves to see them win a championship, but it's hard to deny the long agony of the Cubs and their more loyal contingent. Maybe I align with them more because they remind me of the Red Sox. Old stadium, rabid fan base, impossible to get tickets, close calls, and long standing misery at the hands of some alleged "curse" that is beyond their control. The White Sox have a new stadium that until this season sometimes stood half full and have no montage of tough breaks that prod the throbbing ulcers of their fans. Now all of the sudden the stadium is packed? It just feels different.
6. Ozzie Guillen, Scott Pierzynski, Paul Konerko, Scott Podsednik, and Carl Everett. I know many of the Red Sox and especially Damon and Millar are annoying but these guys are downright obnoxious. Guillen acts like a street punk for most of the game, Pierzynski knows damn well that the ball was caught, Konerko is mugging for free agent dollars, Podsednik didn't hit a single home run in the regular season and by no means should be hitting walk offs in the World Series, and Carl Everett doesn't believe in dinosaurs or that man walked on the moon. That might be the most biased paragraph I've ever written but from the manager on down there's something about this White Sox team that just gets under your skin and annoys you. And I didn't even mention the closer Baby Huey Jenks who falls into one of my least favorite categorys "Really, (like Orca) Fat Professional Athletes." It's your damn job to be athletic, get in shape.
Now a few reasons that the White Sox winning wouldn't be so bad.
1. Frank Thomas. I love the Big Hurt and would love to see him get a ring as a reward for hanging on waaaaay to long to the game he loves. In his day he was the scariest hitter in baseball and I will never forget seeing him just level a catcher at home plate when he was out by three steps when I was a kid. I don't remember what team it was or who was catching but I think he just regained conciousness this week.
2. Clemens and Pettite are still Yankees in my mind. I will always hate Clemens for reinventing himself outside of Boston and for disrespecting the Red Sox so badly by saying he wants to go into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee. Pettite is not a detestable kind of guy the way Clemens is but he too made his legend as a Yankee and for that I never want to see him win another ring.
3. Before the last week of the regular season Astros fans are as apathetic as the Texans offense. I just can't get behind a team whose fans only show up when it matters and wave stupid white towels. Actually that describes both of these teams so that category is a wash.
I'm sure this won't be the most popular post I've ever written, and I can think of at least one person who is going to really blast me. All I can say about that is I've heard a lot of bashing of New Englanders and Red Sox fans, this is no different and no less valid than those opinions.
1. The White Sox haven't beaten teams so much as their opponents have beaten themselves. Give them credit, when the opposition has made mistakes they have capitalized but without those mistakes it's questionable whether they would have made it this far on their own. Not to use the Red Sox as an example, but if Tony Graffanino even gets one out on his Buckner-esque blunder in game 2 of the ALDS Iguchi only has the opportunity to tie the game with his home run, changing the whole dynamic of the game. Don't get me wrong, there was no way the Red Sox were winning that series and give Iguchi all the credit in the world for making them pay for the error, but his heroics were preventable and without them that game is in question.
2. Every single bad call, in a post season ridden with terrible umpiring (so much that there is a nationwide call for instant replay in every city except for one half of Chicago) has gone the way of the White Sox. Josh Paul's "dropped" ball that was clearly caught is the most glaring example. Once again you must give credit to Joe Crede for driving in Pierzynski with the winning run but there is no doubt that the inning should have been over. Of course the Angels had enough mistakes in that game to bury themselves regardless, but they should not have had the opportunity to play extra innings stolen from them by a self-concious umpire who was fooled by a sneaky player trying to steal a call. The Astros were burned by the same problem in game 2 of the World Series. Jermaine Dye actually admitted that he was not hit by the pitch that placed him on first and loaded the bases for Paul Konerko to hit his game and series changing grand slam. How did the ump not notice that Dye didn't walk towards first after the pitch? The calls coupled with the errors really lead me to believe that the White Sox are not beating their opponents in the game as a whole, they're just taking advantage of situations they were not even able to create on their own. Good on them for getting the big hits but I'd rather see them win it on their own.
3. They are not a long suffering franchise like Fox is trying to convince us that they are, and if they are it is because Shoeless Joe and the Black Sox threw the World Series. They didn't trade Babe Ruth, there was no goat, they lost on purpose and nearly ruined baseball in the process. If anything deserves a curse that's it. But since we don't believe in curses anymore... The White Sox fans have not had to endure the soul crushing Steve Bartman's, Aaron Boone's, Bill Buckner's or Bucky Dent's in their 88 year losing streak. They don't sell out every regular season game, including Tuesday afternoon day games in April, like the Cubs. They don't have an arch nemesis that has won 26 championships while they have had to sit and watch like the Red Sox. I would be willing to bet that most casual fans were not aware that the White Sox hadn't won the World Series since 1917 before this post season began. Why? Because it has not consumed a city, they are the Mets of Chicago and while 1908 and 1918 are / were catch phrases, 1917 is just an ugly black mark on baseball's history.
4. Bagwell & Biggio. These two guys don't exist in the A-Rod era. Solid players that have been with one team for almost their entire career, despite many tough years and terrible supporting casts. They have never chased pin stripes or huge contracts elsewhere. They have never left citing the, "need for a ring." Rather they stuck it out and waited for their team to develop into contender. And you never heard them spout off at the mouth about how their team/manager/ownership is not committed to winning blah blah blah. They played with class and you have to respect that and root for such loyalty to ultimately be rewarded with a championship in what is probably their last shot, at least together.
5. Cubs fans have been waiting longer, attending more regularly, and have come agonizingly closer than White Sox fans. I don't want to say that the White Sox fans don't deserve it, they do. Every fan that legitimately follows his or her team deserves to see them win a championship, but it's hard to deny the long agony of the Cubs and their more loyal contingent. Maybe I align with them more because they remind me of the Red Sox. Old stadium, rabid fan base, impossible to get tickets, close calls, and long standing misery at the hands of some alleged "curse" that is beyond their control. The White Sox have a new stadium that until this season sometimes stood half full and have no montage of tough breaks that prod the throbbing ulcers of their fans. Now all of the sudden the stadium is packed? It just feels different.
6. Ozzie Guillen, Scott Pierzynski, Paul Konerko, Scott Podsednik, and Carl Everett. I know many of the Red Sox and especially Damon and Millar are annoying but these guys are downright obnoxious. Guillen acts like a street punk for most of the game, Pierzynski knows damn well that the ball was caught, Konerko is mugging for free agent dollars, Podsednik didn't hit a single home run in the regular season and by no means should be hitting walk offs in the World Series, and Carl Everett doesn't believe in dinosaurs or that man walked on the moon. That might be the most biased paragraph I've ever written but from the manager on down there's something about this White Sox team that just gets under your skin and annoys you. And I didn't even mention the closer Baby Huey Jenks who falls into one of my least favorite categorys "Really, (like Orca) Fat Professional Athletes." It's your damn job to be athletic, get in shape.
Now a few reasons that the White Sox winning wouldn't be so bad.
1. Frank Thomas. I love the Big Hurt and would love to see him get a ring as a reward for hanging on waaaaay to long to the game he loves. In his day he was the scariest hitter in baseball and I will never forget seeing him just level a catcher at home plate when he was out by three steps when I was a kid. I don't remember what team it was or who was catching but I think he just regained conciousness this week.
2. Clemens and Pettite are still Yankees in my mind. I will always hate Clemens for reinventing himself outside of Boston and for disrespecting the Red Sox so badly by saying he wants to go into the Hall of Fame as a Yankee. Pettite is not a detestable kind of guy the way Clemens is but he too made his legend as a Yankee and for that I never want to see him win another ring.
3. Before the last week of the regular season Astros fans are as apathetic as the Texans offense. I just can't get behind a team whose fans only show up when it matters and wave stupid white towels. Actually that describes both of these teams so that category is a wash.
I'm sure this won't be the most popular post I've ever written, and I can think of at least one person who is going to really blast me. All I can say about that is I've heard a lot of bashing of New Englanders and Red Sox fans, this is no different and no less valid than those opinions.
Monday, October 24, 2005
Road Tripping
Gallavanting all over the Mid-Atlantic / Southeast does little for my sports information upkeep.
(Horrifying revelations coming ahead, prepare to lose all respect for me.)
Until last night I still was not aware that the Astros had beaten the Cardinals.
Until the middle of the game last night, when I happened past a television in a bar I was unaware that the World Series had started.
Until tonight at 10:00 PM I had forgotten that game 2 was being played.
Due to excessive driving I did not watch one second of football today.
I hereby turn in my testicles and my right to comment on sports until at least tomorrow.
On the upside, it's been an absolutely amazing weekend and with everything going on I've barely missed being glued to a box for 8 hours.
Anyway, just thought I'd relate my ridiculous failure as a male and throw myself at your mercy, begging for forgiveness.
Go Astros. I want my Red Sox to be the only curse breaking Cinderella story of this decade, wait until 2014 Pale Ho's, and try to have some absolutely soul crushing defeats (and sell out every regular season game regardless) before you consider yourself truly anguished.
Speaking of, someone please test Scott Podsednik for steroids immediately. With his walkoff tonight he became (I think) the only player in MLB history to have 0 home runs in the regular season and 2 in the post season. Obviously I don't think he's really juiced but give credit to his adrenaline for getting it done. Bobby Jenks you should buy him dinner tonight, or maybe just give him one of yours you fat bastard.
Brad Lidge is sitting in the corner of the Astros clubhouse staring at Podsednik's regular season numbers, blurring them only with the tears of shame dripping off of his chin. That's like losing an arm wrestling match to your grandmother with your girlfriend watching.
Now as this randomness continues, an appeal to Mother Nature.
ENOUGH!
We get it, be nicer to the O-Zone, stop tearing down the rainforests, stop paving everything in the NY metropolitan area, stop genetically producing little dogs the size of purses (no offense Ruby, you're cute).
This latest little Caribbean treat, Wilma, is supposed to make 3 landfalls in the US alone. That's right 3. After a devastating horizontal trip across Florida this lovely lady will turn north, likely making land for the second time as a category one hurrican somewhere in the Washington DC area. Then, after a being joined by a fast moving tropical storm somewhere off the coast it could potentially bring SNOW to New England.
If it snows before Thanksgiving that just might do it for me. Bye bye east coast forever.
Real info tomorrow...maybe.
(Horrifying revelations coming ahead, prepare to lose all respect for me.)
Until last night I still was not aware that the Astros had beaten the Cardinals.
Until the middle of the game last night, when I happened past a television in a bar I was unaware that the World Series had started.
Until tonight at 10:00 PM I had forgotten that game 2 was being played.
Due to excessive driving I did not watch one second of football today.
I hereby turn in my testicles and my right to comment on sports until at least tomorrow.
On the upside, it's been an absolutely amazing weekend and with everything going on I've barely missed being glued to a box for 8 hours.
Anyway, just thought I'd relate my ridiculous failure as a male and throw myself at your mercy, begging for forgiveness.
Go Astros. I want my Red Sox to be the only curse breaking Cinderella story of this decade, wait until 2014 Pale Ho's, and try to have some absolutely soul crushing defeats (and sell out every regular season game regardless) before you consider yourself truly anguished.
Speaking of, someone please test Scott Podsednik for steroids immediately. With his walkoff tonight he became (I think) the only player in MLB history to have 0 home runs in the regular season and 2 in the post season. Obviously I don't think he's really juiced but give credit to his adrenaline for getting it done. Bobby Jenks you should buy him dinner tonight, or maybe just give him one of yours you fat bastard.
Brad Lidge is sitting in the corner of the Astros clubhouse staring at Podsednik's regular season numbers, blurring them only with the tears of shame dripping off of his chin. That's like losing an arm wrestling match to your grandmother with your girlfriend watching.
Now as this randomness continues, an appeal to Mother Nature.
ENOUGH!
We get it, be nicer to the O-Zone, stop tearing down the rainforests, stop paving everything in the NY metropolitan area, stop genetically producing little dogs the size of purses (no offense Ruby, you're cute).
This latest little Caribbean treat, Wilma, is supposed to make 3 landfalls in the US alone. That's right 3. After a devastating horizontal trip across Florida this lovely lady will turn north, likely making land for the second time as a category one hurrican somewhere in the Washington DC area. Then, after a being joined by a fast moving tropical storm somewhere off the coast it could potentially bring SNOW to New England.
If it snows before Thanksgiving that just might do it for me. Bye bye east coast forever.
Real info tomorrow...maybe.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Sunday One Liners
- Never let your girlfriend take you home at 11:50 in front of all your best friends. NEVER
- Football games that live up to the hype are rare, USC v. ND was one of the top 5 games ever.
- The Patriots' schedule is not fair.
- Playing one solid half of football is not enough for the Patriots to win anymore, especially since they are destined to play only playoff contenders for the rest of the season.
- Ladanian Tomilinson is a fantasy God, a touchdown passing, receiving, and running in the same game is just unreal
- I am really allergic to something at my buddy Berth's house, my eye was swollen shut this morning, either that or I got beat up by a townie in Worcester last night.
- Regarding the previous statement, I hate cats.
- I will not go out of my way to watch Houston play Chicago in the World Series, neither will you.
- BC should hardly have moved up in the polls after yesterday's near disaster against Wake Forrest.
- ND deserved to stay at their ranking despite a loss.
- The kids who prematurely stormed the field before the USC v. ND game was over spent the longest night of their lives in jail, if they weren't from ND I'd feel bad for them.
- Matt Leinart has replaced Tom Brady as the official "Guy I Would Choose to Trade Places With" if given the choice. This change was precipitated by the amount of time Brady spent on his back this afternoon.
- Here's the thing, I really don't want to get a job, but I would love some income, who wants to be my sponsor? "NESL, the offical law school of the Boston Slant" or "Gibson Gibson Domain, for real estate truly slanted in your favor" or "The Ways and Means Committee, offically slanting your tax dollars into babysitters for state officals."
- I was clearly not an advertising major.
- What the hell was the point of this post?
- My buddy Mike called a 300 pound girl at midnight last night to tell her to come meet us at the Blarney Stone.
- 2 years ago Berth made out with said 300 pound girl...in a bush.
- Mike clearly called her in hopes he would see the spectacle again.
- StatTracker + hangover = bye bye Sunday.
- Your life is pretty lame when you really look forward to your Monday night old man hoops league...really really lame.
- If anyone has been patient enough to get to this point in the post I thank you, and you get a prize...as soon as that sponsorship kicks in.
- Football games that live up to the hype are rare, USC v. ND was one of the top 5 games ever.
- The Patriots' schedule is not fair.
- Playing one solid half of football is not enough for the Patriots to win anymore, especially since they are destined to play only playoff contenders for the rest of the season.
- Ladanian Tomilinson is a fantasy God, a touchdown passing, receiving, and running in the same game is just unreal
- I am really allergic to something at my buddy Berth's house, my eye was swollen shut this morning, either that or I got beat up by a townie in Worcester last night.
- Regarding the previous statement, I hate cats.
- I will not go out of my way to watch Houston play Chicago in the World Series, neither will you.
- BC should hardly have moved up in the polls after yesterday's near disaster against Wake Forrest.
- ND deserved to stay at their ranking despite a loss.
- The kids who prematurely stormed the field before the USC v. ND game was over spent the longest night of their lives in jail, if they weren't from ND I'd feel bad for them.
- Matt Leinart has replaced Tom Brady as the official "Guy I Would Choose to Trade Places With" if given the choice. This change was precipitated by the amount of time Brady spent on his back this afternoon.
- Here's the thing, I really don't want to get a job, but I would love some income, who wants to be my sponsor? "NESL, the offical law school of the Boston Slant" or "Gibson Gibson Domain, for real estate truly slanted in your favor" or "The Ways and Means Committee, offically slanting your tax dollars into babysitters for state officals."
- I was clearly not an advertising major.
- What the hell was the point of this post?
- My buddy Mike called a 300 pound girl at midnight last night to tell her to come meet us at the Blarney Stone.
- 2 years ago Berth made out with said 300 pound girl...in a bush.
- Mike clearly called her in hopes he would see the spectacle again.
- StatTracker + hangover = bye bye Sunday.
- Your life is pretty lame when you really look forward to your Monday night old man hoops league...really really lame.
- If anyone has been patient enough to get to this point in the post I thank you, and you get a prize...as soon as that sponsorship kicks in.
Saturday, October 15, 2005
A Rainy Saturday
Today, my roommate Dave and I stood out in the rain (rain does not do the deluge which abused us relentlessly justice) for an hour and forty five minutes watching BC do their best impression of, well... BC in an important game against an inferior opponent. It looked like Syracuse all over again. At the half the score was 20-7 Wake Forrest and it easily could have been worse.
So we left.
In the car on the way home I said to Dave, "It would really suck if BC came back to win on some kind of last second miracle."
Sigh...
By the time we made the mile walk back to the car (still in the rain), stopped at Moogy's, and drove back to Somerville the score was 27-21 Wake. BC dominated the third quarter when they decided to actually run the ball instead of throwing a wet ball to receivers with wet hands trying to run on a wet field (i.e. somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000,000 dropped passes). In the 4th Porter did his best impression of Manning in the snow in Foxboro (read: choke) with a terrible floater intended for no one that everyone in the stadium and watching on TV could tell was going to be picked and taken all the way back about half a second after he let it go. It was.
At this point we were feeling good about our decision to leave. We were still soaked as we entered the house and the game appeared to be just about over, especially as Wake Forrest added a field goal to make it 30-21. Typical BC choke.
Right?
Enter Matt Ryan. (Note: You may never see Quinton Porter out of the ball cap ever again.) Less than two minutes later, following a brisk drive through the air capped by a Ryan to Gonzalez touchdown, the score was 30-28 and my emotions were beginning to be torn.
I looked at Dave, and didn't even need to say it. Of course I'm rooting for BC, but good God I hope they don't win on a last second miracle touchdown because after having spent nearly two hours suffering through a monsoon only to leave prematurely it would be a shame to miss a classic finish. Not a shame, a travesty, a sporting cardinal sin.
After a 15 yard penalty on Gonzalez for excessive celebration had BC kicking off from their 20, Wake went three and out from their 40. The punt kicked into the end zone and BC took over with just over two minutes to play and 80 yards to a win. Yes, technically a field goal would have won the game but if you saw last week's game you know that the kicking game is hardly a strength of the Eagles.
Now I'm really nervous. I won't want to face myself in the mirror if I miss a game winning march down the field for a huge comeback win (in a game I was at!), but then again I won't want to face myself if I root against my school either. A lose / lose situation. At least we were dry.
As I'm sure you're aware Ryan drove them down the field in a little over a minute, scoring on a 30 plus yard fade to the corner hauled in spectacularly by Kevin Challenger (one of the best names for an athlete you will ever see).
After the touchdown, with the camera on Challenger the announcers decided that it was time to give us a weather report. Not only was BC now winning, but also the rain had stopped completely. And I quote, "It's pretty much perfect down there right now."
Insult to injury anyone?
At this point these same announcers reminded us that in their last two meetings Wake Forrest had beaten BC in the last minute of play. The clock read 1:16, perhaps some vindication? The Deacons mounted a bit of a drive, and actually had an open receiver with a clear path to the end zone that was just screened from seeing the ball and making the catch by a diving BC defensive back (who was woefully out of position). The game ended on a sack and my inner debate raged.
Could I have lasted another 2 hours in my state of saturation and near hypothermia?
Is missing a classic finish my punishment for being a fair weather fan and leaving at halftime?
Is it now better to lie and say I didn't even go to the game?
Is it now better to lie and say I stayed for the entirety?
Is it now better to leap out the window of my apartment into traffic, offering myself as a sacrifice for the thousands of BC fans like myself who fully deserted their team when they needed them most?
Will the sun ever shine on Massachusetts again?
Could this blog be more dramatic?
Sigh...
So we left.
In the car on the way home I said to Dave, "It would really suck if BC came back to win on some kind of last second miracle."
Sigh...
By the time we made the mile walk back to the car (still in the rain), stopped at Moogy's, and drove back to Somerville the score was 27-21 Wake. BC dominated the third quarter when they decided to actually run the ball instead of throwing a wet ball to receivers with wet hands trying to run on a wet field (i.e. somewhere in the neighborhood of 1,000,000 dropped passes). In the 4th Porter did his best impression of Manning in the snow in Foxboro (read: choke) with a terrible floater intended for no one that everyone in the stadium and watching on TV could tell was going to be picked and taken all the way back about half a second after he let it go. It was.
At this point we were feeling good about our decision to leave. We were still soaked as we entered the house and the game appeared to be just about over, especially as Wake Forrest added a field goal to make it 30-21. Typical BC choke.
Right?
Enter Matt Ryan. (Note: You may never see Quinton Porter out of the ball cap ever again.) Less than two minutes later, following a brisk drive through the air capped by a Ryan to Gonzalez touchdown, the score was 30-28 and my emotions were beginning to be torn.
I looked at Dave, and didn't even need to say it. Of course I'm rooting for BC, but good God I hope they don't win on a last second miracle touchdown because after having spent nearly two hours suffering through a monsoon only to leave prematurely it would be a shame to miss a classic finish. Not a shame, a travesty, a sporting cardinal sin.
After a 15 yard penalty on Gonzalez for excessive celebration had BC kicking off from their 20, Wake went three and out from their 40. The punt kicked into the end zone and BC took over with just over two minutes to play and 80 yards to a win. Yes, technically a field goal would have won the game but if you saw last week's game you know that the kicking game is hardly a strength of the Eagles.
Now I'm really nervous. I won't want to face myself in the mirror if I miss a game winning march down the field for a huge comeback win (in a game I was at!), but then again I won't want to face myself if I root against my school either. A lose / lose situation. At least we were dry.
As I'm sure you're aware Ryan drove them down the field in a little over a minute, scoring on a 30 plus yard fade to the corner hauled in spectacularly by Kevin Challenger (one of the best names for an athlete you will ever see).
After the touchdown, with the camera on Challenger the announcers decided that it was time to give us a weather report. Not only was BC now winning, but also the rain had stopped completely. And I quote, "It's pretty much perfect down there right now."
Insult to injury anyone?
At this point these same announcers reminded us that in their last two meetings Wake Forrest had beaten BC in the last minute of play. The clock read 1:16, perhaps some vindication? The Deacons mounted a bit of a drive, and actually had an open receiver with a clear path to the end zone that was just screened from seeing the ball and making the catch by a diving BC defensive back (who was woefully out of position). The game ended on a sack and my inner debate raged.
Could I have lasted another 2 hours in my state of saturation and near hypothermia?
Is missing a classic finish my punishment for being a fair weather fan and leaving at halftime?
Is it now better to lie and say I didn't even go to the game?
Is it now better to lie and say I stayed for the entirety?
Is it now better to leap out the window of my apartment into traffic, offering myself as a sacrifice for the thousands of BC fans like myself who fully deserted their team when they needed them most?
Will the sun ever shine on Massachusetts again?
Could this blog be more dramatic?
Sigh...
Friday, October 14, 2005
Ah Fall...
The season of agricultural death and sporting rebirth. Does it get any better than this? The Red Sox are locked in an epic battle with the Evil Empire Yankees for the American League Championship, the Patriots are undefeated, BC is playing well enough to keep me sane...
(Harsh beeping!)
Okay, the alarm says it's time to wake up from my daily sports fantasy about "The Good Ol' Days."
The bubble has offically burst my friends.
The Sox were swept out of the ALDS by a White Sox team that, were it not for a Don Denkingeresque performance by the home plate umpire on Wednesday night, should be trailing 2-0 to the Angels in the CS and haven't been able to sort out the "ass from elbow" mystery since Reta-wreck peacefully ended the Red Sox season last week.
The Patriots have the most utterly unfair schedule in the history of the NFL (call me biased but I will not relent, it's insane!) and are playing on one perverbial good leg. Fresh off their annihilation by the Chargers, a game in which Monty Beisel did his best speed bump impression (twice!) the Pats just eeked past a Falcons team valiantly led by... no not Michael Vick but Matt Schaub who threw for an incomprehensible 3 touchdowns in his Falcons debut. If this team needs Brady / Vinatierri last second heroics to beat a team playing without its top weapon, what will happen when they face a Colts team coming off of a bye week.
* Sidenote: So far this season the Colts have faced: Baltimore on the road (1-3, 25th ranked offense, 2nd ranked defense), Jacksonville at home (3-2, 22nd ranked offense, 6th ranked defense), Cleveland at home (2-2, 16th ranked offense, 28th ranked defense), Tennessee on the road (2-3, 23rd ranked offense, 16th ranked defense), and San Francisco on the road (1-4, 31st ranked offense, 32nd ranked defense). Add it up and their opponents are 9-14 with an average offensive ranking of 23.4 and a defensive ranking of 16.8 .
Meanwhile the Patriots have faced: Oakland at home (1-3, 13th ranked offense, 29th ranked defense), Carolina on the road (3-2, 26th ranked offense, 24th ranked defense), Pittsburgh on the road (3-1, 10th ranked offense, 14th ranked defense), San Diego at home (2-3, 14th ranked offense, 21st ranked defense), and Atlanta on the road (3-2, 12th ranked offense, 22nd ranked defense). Add it up and their opponents are 12-11 with an average offensive ranking of 15 and an average defensive ranking of 22.
Look a little deeper and you will see that of the top 5 scoring (ppg) teams the Patriots have played 3, the Colts will play their first on Monday night (Rams). Of the top 5 scoring defenses (points allowed) the Patriots have played one, the Colts are scheduled to play 1 (Bengals) this entire season. Make of this what you will, but what I make of it is that the NFL would love to see their marquee boy in the Super Bowl rather than those ho hum boring Patriots.
I know that sidenote was totally biased homerism but looking at the schedule and the likelihood that homefield advantage will come out of these first 7 weeks or so it seems blatently unfair that the Pats would play 3 playoff teams from a year ago while the Colts play Bridgewater State every week until they magically get a bye the week before playing the Pats in New England. Come on, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills but this is stacked in Indianapolis' favor!
Okay enough whining.
The point of this blog was to point out that the whimsical ride of fanciful delights New England sports fans have enjoyed over the past few years is offically over. There will be a new champion in baseball (at least it won't be the Yankees) and the Patriots look vulnerable. Hey, we survived twenty-odd years of it before this golden age, we'll survive it again.
So, what will happen?
Well, the four remaining teams in the baseball playoffs all have weaknesses. The Cardinals are my favorite. Will Carpenter at the front of their rotation and Isringhausen at the back they probably have 2 games right there. The problem is their bullpen, Tavarez can't get it together and he's the stud of their middle relief. Luckily for them their offense is strong enough, if aging a bit, to get them past almost anyone... except mabye the Astros with their starting rotation. These Astros are the trendy pick of the week. Everyone says pitching wins championships and they certainly have plenty. Clemens, Pettite, Oswalt, and Backe all seem to be in stride and if they are all hot at the same time there is no reason they can't sneak out of the NLCS into the World Series.
In the American League the Angels, by all rights should have a 2-0 lead. Even tied they still have to be considered the favorites, they came out of Chicago with a split which is always the goal of the team without homefield advantage. However, I think this series could be decided by game 3 tonight. The White Sox have not played half as well as they did in the ALDS against the Red Sox and they need to carry the momentum of dramatically stealing game 2 into game 3. If not they could be finished. Likewise the Angels need to rebound from feeling like they had one stolen from them and if they were to fold in game 3 they could start to feel like it's just not meant to be. In this cruical game I like the Angels based on the experience of both their manager and their roster. The White Sox roster is loaded with players with no post-season experience including game 3 starter John Garland who was just slightly better than average in the second half, and manger Ozzie Guillen who has seemed almost magical in his decision making thusfar, it can't last. (I will not talk about what could have happened if the White Sox played like this in the ALDS, I won't, I can't, it won't let me sleep at night!)
In the World Series I like the Angels if the Astros make it, although Biggio's and Berkman's desire for a ring in what is likely their last stand could carry Houston to make it a competitive series. If the Cardinals make it back to the Series for a second straight year I can't imagine that they will be denied, their lineup is experienced and they still have the best player in baseball Albert Pujols and most likely the NL Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter. I can't see them laying an egg like they did last season.
As for my recently unemployed status and my plans to address it, the unrest there is about as prevalent as the unrest in the Red Sox clubhouse (and front office... a plea: stop low balling Theo and pay him, a lot, you're not going to do any better). I really don't want to spend another winter in New England, I love it here but I'm seasonally miserable. I've already seen the Red Sox win the World Series, the Patriots win 2 Super Bowls and BC win a national championship (hockey). Sporting-wise there isn't much left. I've lived my entire life within the same 50 mile radius (excluding 3 months on Staten Island, a.k.a. Hell on Earth) and I feel as though if I don't make a move now I might wake up 50 years old, pale, fat, with a rotten liver, and a job I could care less about. The weather of southern California calls me and considering what I've heard from friends that live / lived there I think I would love it. It's just that the timing is awkward. If this were September it would be a lot easier, moving for November 1st is incredbily annoying. It's hard to build a life somewhere if you're constantly traveling home to avoid parental and self inflicted guilt about missing holidays. Essentially what I want is an easy way to move out west and spend the forseeable future not worrying about snow and rain and asshole drivers. That probably won't present itself so maybe I'll be here until January 1st but that will be the latest. No more endless February's and snowy March's for me. I just can't stomach it. I know I'd be leaving a lot behind here but this is a great crossroads of my life and to not make the decision that would clearly make me happiest would be a huge mistake, and one that I may regret for the rest of my life.
Aren't you honored, you just witnessed me talking myself into moving west. How often can you say that you were able to follow someone's train of thought that you know (or hardly know, this is the internet afterall) as they make a huge life decision? Now you can. If you think I'm an idiot, let me know, but I'm pretty sure I've got this one right.
This is probably the worst blog ever. Sorry I'm out of shape.
(Harsh beeping!)
Okay, the alarm says it's time to wake up from my daily sports fantasy about "The Good Ol' Days."
The bubble has offically burst my friends.
The Sox were swept out of the ALDS by a White Sox team that, were it not for a Don Denkingeresque performance by the home plate umpire on Wednesday night, should be trailing 2-0 to the Angels in the CS and haven't been able to sort out the "ass from elbow" mystery since Reta-wreck peacefully ended the Red Sox season last week.
The Patriots have the most utterly unfair schedule in the history of the NFL (call me biased but I will not relent, it's insane!) and are playing on one perverbial good leg. Fresh off their annihilation by the Chargers, a game in which Monty Beisel did his best speed bump impression (twice!) the Pats just eeked past a Falcons team valiantly led by... no not Michael Vick but Matt Schaub who threw for an incomprehensible 3 touchdowns in his Falcons debut. If this team needs Brady / Vinatierri last second heroics to beat a team playing without its top weapon, what will happen when they face a Colts team coming off of a bye week.
* Sidenote: So far this season the Colts have faced: Baltimore on the road (1-3, 25th ranked offense, 2nd ranked defense), Jacksonville at home (3-2, 22nd ranked offense, 6th ranked defense), Cleveland at home (2-2, 16th ranked offense, 28th ranked defense), Tennessee on the road (2-3, 23rd ranked offense, 16th ranked defense), and San Francisco on the road (1-4, 31st ranked offense, 32nd ranked defense). Add it up and their opponents are 9-14 with an average offensive ranking of 23.4 and a defensive ranking of 16.8 .
Meanwhile the Patriots have faced: Oakland at home (1-3, 13th ranked offense, 29th ranked defense), Carolina on the road (3-2, 26th ranked offense, 24th ranked defense), Pittsburgh on the road (3-1, 10th ranked offense, 14th ranked defense), San Diego at home (2-3, 14th ranked offense, 21st ranked defense), and Atlanta on the road (3-2, 12th ranked offense, 22nd ranked defense). Add it up and their opponents are 12-11 with an average offensive ranking of 15 and an average defensive ranking of 22.
Look a little deeper and you will see that of the top 5 scoring (ppg) teams the Patriots have played 3, the Colts will play their first on Monday night (Rams). Of the top 5 scoring defenses (points allowed) the Patriots have played one, the Colts are scheduled to play 1 (Bengals) this entire season. Make of this what you will, but what I make of it is that the NFL would love to see their marquee boy in the Super Bowl rather than those ho hum boring Patriots.
I know that sidenote was totally biased homerism but looking at the schedule and the likelihood that homefield advantage will come out of these first 7 weeks or so it seems blatently unfair that the Pats would play 3 playoff teams from a year ago while the Colts play Bridgewater State every week until they magically get a bye the week before playing the Pats in New England. Come on, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills but this is stacked in Indianapolis' favor!
Okay enough whining.
The point of this blog was to point out that the whimsical ride of fanciful delights New England sports fans have enjoyed over the past few years is offically over. There will be a new champion in baseball (at least it won't be the Yankees) and the Patriots look vulnerable. Hey, we survived twenty-odd years of it before this golden age, we'll survive it again.
So, what will happen?
Well, the four remaining teams in the baseball playoffs all have weaknesses. The Cardinals are my favorite. Will Carpenter at the front of their rotation and Isringhausen at the back they probably have 2 games right there. The problem is their bullpen, Tavarez can't get it together and he's the stud of their middle relief. Luckily for them their offense is strong enough, if aging a bit, to get them past almost anyone... except mabye the Astros with their starting rotation. These Astros are the trendy pick of the week. Everyone says pitching wins championships and they certainly have plenty. Clemens, Pettite, Oswalt, and Backe all seem to be in stride and if they are all hot at the same time there is no reason they can't sneak out of the NLCS into the World Series.
In the American League the Angels, by all rights should have a 2-0 lead. Even tied they still have to be considered the favorites, they came out of Chicago with a split which is always the goal of the team without homefield advantage. However, I think this series could be decided by game 3 tonight. The White Sox have not played half as well as they did in the ALDS against the Red Sox and they need to carry the momentum of dramatically stealing game 2 into game 3. If not they could be finished. Likewise the Angels need to rebound from feeling like they had one stolen from them and if they were to fold in game 3 they could start to feel like it's just not meant to be. In this cruical game I like the Angels based on the experience of both their manager and their roster. The White Sox roster is loaded with players with no post-season experience including game 3 starter John Garland who was just slightly better than average in the second half, and manger Ozzie Guillen who has seemed almost magical in his decision making thusfar, it can't last. (I will not talk about what could have happened if the White Sox played like this in the ALDS, I won't, I can't, it won't let me sleep at night!)
In the World Series I like the Angels if the Astros make it, although Biggio's and Berkman's desire for a ring in what is likely their last stand could carry Houston to make it a competitive series. If the Cardinals make it back to the Series for a second straight year I can't imagine that they will be denied, their lineup is experienced and they still have the best player in baseball Albert Pujols and most likely the NL Cy Young winner Chris Carpenter. I can't see them laying an egg like they did last season.
As for my recently unemployed status and my plans to address it, the unrest there is about as prevalent as the unrest in the Red Sox clubhouse (and front office... a plea: stop low balling Theo and pay him, a lot, you're not going to do any better). I really don't want to spend another winter in New England, I love it here but I'm seasonally miserable. I've already seen the Red Sox win the World Series, the Patriots win 2 Super Bowls and BC win a national championship (hockey). Sporting-wise there isn't much left. I've lived my entire life within the same 50 mile radius (excluding 3 months on Staten Island, a.k.a. Hell on Earth) and I feel as though if I don't make a move now I might wake up 50 years old, pale, fat, with a rotten liver, and a job I could care less about. The weather of southern California calls me and considering what I've heard from friends that live / lived there I think I would love it. It's just that the timing is awkward. If this were September it would be a lot easier, moving for November 1st is incredbily annoying. It's hard to build a life somewhere if you're constantly traveling home to avoid parental and self inflicted guilt about missing holidays. Essentially what I want is an easy way to move out west and spend the forseeable future not worrying about snow and rain and asshole drivers. That probably won't present itself so maybe I'll be here until January 1st but that will be the latest. No more endless February's and snowy March's for me. I just can't stomach it. I know I'd be leaving a lot behind here but this is a great crossroads of my life and to not make the decision that would clearly make me happiest would be a huge mistake, and one that I may regret for the rest of my life.
Aren't you honored, you just witnessed me talking myself into moving west. How often can you say that you were able to follow someone's train of thought that you know (or hardly know, this is the internet afterall) as they make a huge life decision? Now you can. If you think I'm an idiot, let me know, but I'm pretty sure I've got this one right.
This is probably the worst blog ever. Sorry I'm out of shape.
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Halftime
I am probably too drunk/hungover to be responsibly posting anything in a public forum but the state of the Patriots AFC Championship re-match with the Pittsburgh Steelers is just begging for comment.
Rodney Harrison is done. His leg is either broken or his knee is dislocated or something is torn, forget it. Watching that play over and over again was agonizing, it hurt my knee.
If he's out for an extended period of time that's big trouble (dur...really?). His replacement is a second year man whose name I can't remember but that's not the biggest thing. His leadership and heart is what they'll miss most. Whoever they put out there won't be the veteran rallying point that Harrison has been.
Matt Light was also carted off the field. After he came out the Pittsburgh defense attacked the left side relentlessly and stopped the first half dozen running plays for no gain or a loss. With a rookie replacement on that side another crippling injury could come about, Tom Brady. That's his backside and if Light's replacement, a rookie whose name is something like Kazmir, can't hack it Brady could get killed by Jerry Porter in the second half.
Two red zone turnovers in the second quarter have tipped this game sharply in Pittsburgh's favor. That's a lot to ask the Patriots to overcome against a good team. Assuming they wouldn't score touchdowns on those possessions (not that they couldn't but you can't assume a TD) the score should still be 13-10 Pats.
On the positive, they're moving the ball and they put a hurt on Roethlisberger at the end of the half.
Second half's starting, I'm going to go back to pulling my hair out. More after the game.
Rodney Harrison is done. His leg is either broken or his knee is dislocated or something is torn, forget it. Watching that play over and over again was agonizing, it hurt my knee.
If he's out for an extended period of time that's big trouble (dur...really?). His replacement is a second year man whose name I can't remember but that's not the biggest thing. His leadership and heart is what they'll miss most. Whoever they put out there won't be the veteran rallying point that Harrison has been.
Matt Light was also carted off the field. After he came out the Pittsburgh defense attacked the left side relentlessly and stopped the first half dozen running plays for no gain or a loss. With a rookie replacement on that side another crippling injury could come about, Tom Brady. That's his backside and if Light's replacement, a rookie whose name is something like Kazmir, can't hack it Brady could get killed by Jerry Porter in the second half.
Two red zone turnovers in the second quarter have tipped this game sharply in Pittsburgh's favor. That's a lot to ask the Patriots to overcome against a good team. Assuming they wouldn't score touchdowns on those possessions (not that they couldn't but you can't assume a TD) the score should still be 13-10 Pats.
On the positive, they're moving the ball and they put a hurt on Roethlisberger at the end of the half.
Second half's starting, I'm going to go back to pulling my hair out. More after the game.
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
A Forgetable Weekend
From 7:45 PM on Saturday to midnight on Monday the cosmos of sports finally deemed it was my time to suffer.
Sure, I've been spoiled. A World Series championship, a couple of Super Bowls, decent BC teams, competitive fantasy squads. It's been a good run.
Maybe this good run will continue, but from Saturday to Monday it all just came unglued.
It began with probably the biggest game home game in BC history. #8 Florida State coming to the Heights in the #17 Eagles inaugural ACC matchup on ESPN Saturday night (following Game Day, live on campus...surely for the last time).
All week long the hype was that BC was a program on the rise. Well coached, disciplined, huge upfront, with a big time defense. The Seminoles came in off of a shaky game against Miami with questions at quarterback but undeniable team speed and athleticism.
The game started out looking like a typical BC choke, 2 big interceptions from 6th (that's right SIXTH) year quarterback Quinton Porter and a 14-0 Seminoles lead. Then remarkably, in very un-BC fashion, the Eagles rallied and actually took a 17-14 lead into the 4th quarter.
At this point let me set the stage for you. 50,000 rabid BC fans screaming for blood, thinking about a potential leap into the top 10. A Seminoles team that looked totally impotent and unable to move the ball against BC's defense. All they had to do was hold on, with a lead in the 4th quarter at home, and they would be considered a legitimate big-time program. Asking a lot? Not really, just don't totally implode, maybe get another score and voila!
My buddy even turned to me and said, "Do the goalposts come down tonight?"
Lest we forget however, this is BC. A school plagued by inability to win on the biggest stages and buoyed by dominance in the shadowy second tier of college football. And true to form they choked. Florida State put up two touchdowns and BC failed to respond and in 15 quick minutes the dream was dead.
The capper came with 2 minutes to play with BC on Florida State's 2 yard line with 4 chances to punch it in for a gap-closing score. A penalty gave them 3 more chances. And out of this they netted nada, zip, zilch, squat! 7 chances to pull within one score from 2 yards away and this "program on the rise" failed to ascend the necessary 6 feet. A truly pathetic performance to end a truly disappointing collapse. I won't even mention the dropped pass in the back of the end zone, I won't...
From this carnival of sadness my sporting misery moves to Sunday, 1 PM, Pats at the Carolina Panthers, a Super Bowl contender with a chip on their shoulder and tough week one loss at home to New Orleans still lingering on their taste buds.
This was the first regular season meeting between these two teams since the Super Bowl two years ago and apparently the bad blood from that game persists. That's natural since these are the two hardest hitting teams in the NFL but for the Patriots to be concerned with that seems ridiculous, the Panthers as a franchise are a joke compared to New England and their near comeback to make the playoffs last year merely underscored how miserably they played during the first half of the season.
This game actually started out alright, the Pats went up 7-0 and looked reasonably sound against a very strong Carolina defense (although not as strong without Kris Jenkins). Then things simply went south. The Pats were completely unable to run the ball, despite the fact that Carolina was playing without Jenkins, their 330 pound run stopper in the middle. Brady looked very human constantly throwing high and not sensing the rush and moving to avoid it like he normally does. A costly interception on an out pattern wasn't his fault, that was just a great play by the linebacker but he should have felt the rush coming on his fumble. The defense inexplicably couldn't stop the run even though the Panthers primarily used the ageless Stephen Davis (3 TDs). And even Belichick seemed to be off his game, not challenging a questionable touchdown by Davis, and then again not challenging Brady's fumble.
Despite Brady, Dillon, and Belichick all playing below par the Patriots were still in the contest in the fourth quarter, trailing by only ten with the ball at mid field and 9 minutes to play. It almost (and almost is the key word here) had the feel of another game where the opposition let a struggling Pats team hang around too long and ultimately got bitten by a Brady miracle at the end. Not this time though, they went quietly on the remainder of their possessions and never really mounted a significant charge. Very un-Patriot like.
* I'm going to put an asterisk here because the Patriots are allowed a game like this once in a while. They have won 35 of their last 40 and in reality Carolina can't play any better than that; the Patriots played horribly and the game was still decided by only 10 points. This opening stretch of the season is a murderers row for New England but make no mistake, they're still the champs and while the Colts play Bridgewater State every Sunday until week 9 remember that they have never won a game that really matters against the Brady, Belichick incarnation of the Patriots.
Meanwhile back in Boston, starting at 2 PM the Red Sox were playing the Oakland A's, with Matt Clement going for his 14th win in a crucial game that would give the Sox 3 out of 4 against a playoff contender. With the miracle of split cable the Dockside was able to show both the Pats and Sox games, each on 2 TVs but the volume was dedicated to football so my recollection of what actually happened to start to the Sox game may be a little off.
What I do know is that the A's put up a bunch of runs (7?) in the first inning and that it was never a game after that. Clement lasted just 1 and 1/3 innings and the eventual outcome was a 12-3 bludgeoning by a team that hasn't been able to score runs all season.
There isn't even anything else to say about this game, it was simply a nightmare, especially considering that it came at the worst possible time. Clement's ineffectiveness was only heightened the next night as David Wells got smacked around by the mighty Tampa Bay Devil Rays, lasting only 2 and 1/3 innings giving up 4 runs before being lifted. Two games in a row where your starter lasts less than three innings will do a serious number on your bullpen and thankfully Curt Schilling pulled it together last night, saving a few pitches for the tired Sox relievers.
The only good news on Sunday was that the Yankees lost, but even that train derailed on Monday night with their victory over Baltimore, bringing the Sox lead in the division down to 1/2 game. In reality Monday night's game was more troubling than Sunday's. The Sox committed a bevy of errors allowing punishing unearned runs to a bad team, and then failed to get big hits in two crucial late game situations with opportunities to tie. David Ortiz made it interesting in the 9th with his 800th home run this week but then Manny Ramirez struck out pitifully on a Danny Baez pitch that was grooved right down the middle and was begging to be socked 430 feet by the right handed slugger.
A sad sidenote to all of this Boston sports misery was the performance of my 2 fantasy squads. If this were last season I'd be living the high life, needing only to play my 2 first round picks Dante Culpepper and Peyton Manning each week to have a chance to win. This week however they combined for under 400 yards passing, 0 TDs, and 6 interceptions for a grand total of 2 fantasy points. What makes these performances all the more frustrating (aside from the fact that I HATE Manning and myself for having to root for him now and that the Colts won) is that the rest of my squads had good games and with decent quarterback performances I would have won easily, seeing as I lost both games by only 12 points. Last year Manning would have put up 12 points in the first quarter against the Jaguars, this week, he took my whole team and threw it under the bus. Culpepper has yet to land me a TD pass this season and his net fantasy points through 2 weeks are -4.
What the hell I ask you, what the hell?
So that concludes my run down of one of the worst 3 day spans in a Boston sports fan's life.
Coming soon: My suicidal rant if the Red Sox lose the lead to the Yankees and miss the playoffs.
Sure, I've been spoiled. A World Series championship, a couple of Super Bowls, decent BC teams, competitive fantasy squads. It's been a good run.
Maybe this good run will continue, but from Saturday to Monday it all just came unglued.
It began with probably the biggest game home game in BC history. #8 Florida State coming to the Heights in the #17 Eagles inaugural ACC matchup on ESPN Saturday night (following Game Day, live on campus...surely for the last time).
All week long the hype was that BC was a program on the rise. Well coached, disciplined, huge upfront, with a big time defense. The Seminoles came in off of a shaky game against Miami with questions at quarterback but undeniable team speed and athleticism.
The game started out looking like a typical BC choke, 2 big interceptions from 6th (that's right SIXTH) year quarterback Quinton Porter and a 14-0 Seminoles lead. Then remarkably, in very un-BC fashion, the Eagles rallied and actually took a 17-14 lead into the 4th quarter.
At this point let me set the stage for you. 50,000 rabid BC fans screaming for blood, thinking about a potential leap into the top 10. A Seminoles team that looked totally impotent and unable to move the ball against BC's defense. All they had to do was hold on, with a lead in the 4th quarter at home, and they would be considered a legitimate big-time program. Asking a lot? Not really, just don't totally implode, maybe get another score and voila!
My buddy even turned to me and said, "Do the goalposts come down tonight?"
Lest we forget however, this is BC. A school plagued by inability to win on the biggest stages and buoyed by dominance in the shadowy second tier of college football. And true to form they choked. Florida State put up two touchdowns and BC failed to respond and in 15 quick minutes the dream was dead.
The capper came with 2 minutes to play with BC on Florida State's 2 yard line with 4 chances to punch it in for a gap-closing score. A penalty gave them 3 more chances. And out of this they netted nada, zip, zilch, squat! 7 chances to pull within one score from 2 yards away and this "program on the rise" failed to ascend the necessary 6 feet. A truly pathetic performance to end a truly disappointing collapse. I won't even mention the dropped pass in the back of the end zone, I won't...
From this carnival of sadness my sporting misery moves to Sunday, 1 PM, Pats at the Carolina Panthers, a Super Bowl contender with a chip on their shoulder and tough week one loss at home to New Orleans still lingering on their taste buds.
This was the first regular season meeting between these two teams since the Super Bowl two years ago and apparently the bad blood from that game persists. That's natural since these are the two hardest hitting teams in the NFL but for the Patriots to be concerned with that seems ridiculous, the Panthers as a franchise are a joke compared to New England and their near comeback to make the playoffs last year merely underscored how miserably they played during the first half of the season.
This game actually started out alright, the Pats went up 7-0 and looked reasonably sound against a very strong Carolina defense (although not as strong without Kris Jenkins). Then things simply went south. The Pats were completely unable to run the ball, despite the fact that Carolina was playing without Jenkins, their 330 pound run stopper in the middle. Brady looked very human constantly throwing high and not sensing the rush and moving to avoid it like he normally does. A costly interception on an out pattern wasn't his fault, that was just a great play by the linebacker but he should have felt the rush coming on his fumble. The defense inexplicably couldn't stop the run even though the Panthers primarily used the ageless Stephen Davis (3 TDs). And even Belichick seemed to be off his game, not challenging a questionable touchdown by Davis, and then again not challenging Brady's fumble.
Despite Brady, Dillon, and Belichick all playing below par the Patriots were still in the contest in the fourth quarter, trailing by only ten with the ball at mid field and 9 minutes to play. It almost (and almost is the key word here) had the feel of another game where the opposition let a struggling Pats team hang around too long and ultimately got bitten by a Brady miracle at the end. Not this time though, they went quietly on the remainder of their possessions and never really mounted a significant charge. Very un-Patriot like.
* I'm going to put an asterisk here because the Patriots are allowed a game like this once in a while. They have won 35 of their last 40 and in reality Carolina can't play any better than that; the Patriots played horribly and the game was still decided by only 10 points. This opening stretch of the season is a murderers row for New England but make no mistake, they're still the champs and while the Colts play Bridgewater State every Sunday until week 9 remember that they have never won a game that really matters against the Brady, Belichick incarnation of the Patriots.
Meanwhile back in Boston, starting at 2 PM the Red Sox were playing the Oakland A's, with Matt Clement going for his 14th win in a crucial game that would give the Sox 3 out of 4 against a playoff contender. With the miracle of split cable the Dockside was able to show both the Pats and Sox games, each on 2 TVs but the volume was dedicated to football so my recollection of what actually happened to start to the Sox game may be a little off.
What I do know is that the A's put up a bunch of runs (7?) in the first inning and that it was never a game after that. Clement lasted just 1 and 1/3 innings and the eventual outcome was a 12-3 bludgeoning by a team that hasn't been able to score runs all season.
There isn't even anything else to say about this game, it was simply a nightmare, especially considering that it came at the worst possible time. Clement's ineffectiveness was only heightened the next night as David Wells got smacked around by the mighty Tampa Bay Devil Rays, lasting only 2 and 1/3 innings giving up 4 runs before being lifted. Two games in a row where your starter lasts less than three innings will do a serious number on your bullpen and thankfully Curt Schilling pulled it together last night, saving a few pitches for the tired Sox relievers.
The only good news on Sunday was that the Yankees lost, but even that train derailed on Monday night with their victory over Baltimore, bringing the Sox lead in the division down to 1/2 game. In reality Monday night's game was more troubling than Sunday's. The Sox committed a bevy of errors allowing punishing unearned runs to a bad team, and then failed to get big hits in two crucial late game situations with opportunities to tie. David Ortiz made it interesting in the 9th with his 800th home run this week but then Manny Ramirez struck out pitifully on a Danny Baez pitch that was grooved right down the middle and was begging to be socked 430 feet by the right handed slugger.
A sad sidenote to all of this Boston sports misery was the performance of my 2 fantasy squads. If this were last season I'd be living the high life, needing only to play my 2 first round picks Dante Culpepper and Peyton Manning each week to have a chance to win. This week however they combined for under 400 yards passing, 0 TDs, and 6 interceptions for a grand total of 2 fantasy points. What makes these performances all the more frustrating (aside from the fact that I HATE Manning and myself for having to root for him now and that the Colts won) is that the rest of my squads had good games and with decent quarterback performances I would have won easily, seeing as I lost both games by only 12 points. Last year Manning would have put up 12 points in the first quarter against the Jaguars, this week, he took my whole team and threw it under the bus. Culpepper has yet to land me a TD pass this season and his net fantasy points through 2 weeks are -4.
What the hell I ask you, what the hell?
So that concludes my run down of one of the worst 3 day spans in a Boston sports fan's life.
Coming soon: My suicidal rant if the Red Sox lose the lead to the Yankees and miss the playoffs.
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Fantasy Football
Isn't it funny how every single male on the face of the planet plays fantasy football? You can be standing in line at the grocery store and mention to someone that you drafted Peyton Manning in the first round and expect that he'll know exactly what you're talking about. ESPN has dedicated hours of air time to "preparing" us for "draft day" and there are a half dozen magazines and probably twice as many web sites that will list for you precisely who you need to take and when. Bars are routinely rented out for groups of arm chair quarterbacks to make their selections and guzzle PBR, and wives are left fuming. It's become a surprisingly huge industry.
My question is why?
Essentially, at it's core, fantasy football is about stats, so logically that would lead one to believe that to have an interest in the game you must be interested in the mathematical performances of out-of-market NFL players on a weekly basis. So does every fantasy player care if Nate Burleson hauls in 8 catches in week 4 but only for 36 yards and no TD's. Clearly not. I (obvious statement coming) am a huge football fan, but I honestly could care less if Drew Brees throws for 400 yards with 8 TD's or 100 yards with 4 interceptions (unless he's playing against New England), and yet fantasy football has dominated my limited internet access for the past 2 weeks. Am I a hypocrite, a stat junky in denial, or just very very bored? Okay, I am very bored but that can't be it.
So here are some reasons that I think fantasy football is so huge.
1. It makes football more interesting. Let's face it, if you're a real fan you only truly care about one team and their game. Sure you'll watch the Colts play the Cowboys at 1 but really you're just waiting for the Pats v. Jets game at 4. The other games are chances to heat up the wings and get a good angry buzz on before kickoff. But throw some fantasy implications into that Colts v. Cowboys matchup and all of a sudden you're glued to the TV with StatTracker open on your lap top and a printout of your lineup on the TV tray next to your nachos. It's only natural that you are more interested in something when you have a stake in it, and fantasy football gives all of us something at stake in nearly every game and on almost every play.
A quick sidenote, how much of a bombshell is fantasy football for the NFL. It must attract hundreds of thousands of viewers in fantasy playoffs to meaningless week 16 games between two out of playoff contention teams as long as there is a statistical stud on the field. It must have at least marginally boosted the ratings among casual fans.
2. It's like IMing without being a post adolescent odd-ball and e-mailing without needing addresses and something worthwhile to say. Every league comes with a message board which, since most leagues are organzied by groups of friends is more often used to keep in touch than for actual football discussion. I know for me personally I am in 2 leagues, one with my friends from high school and one with my friends from college, were it not for these leagues I would likely be in far less contact with them than I am. It's easy, non-commital communication. You don't feel like an idiot calling your buddy just to chat (guys don't do that) and it's much less effort than tracking down everyone's e-mail address, you just throw up a quick note while you're setting your line-up for the week and voila, you keep in touch with friends throughout the country. Not to mention you get to talk smack but with the advantage of being able to think about your responses for a few minutes, i.e. if you're not that quick on your feet you can still rebut a moronic statement without stuttering and looking foolish.
3. It gives you poor office folk (by the way I'm looking at the sun setting over Hyannis Harbor from the restaurant office right now, God I love managing...) something to do while you're slammed in a cubicle / office for 9 hours per day. Work for an hour, check the waiver wire, put up a post, propose a trade, wow look it's lunch time, work for another hour, set the line-up for the weekend, bam it's happy hour. They should do a productivity study on how many man hours are lost each year between the middle of August and the end of the regular season, it's probably a negative billion dollar a year habit. Toss in cigarette and bathroom breaks and fantasy footballers with habits and small bladders might not work a single minute through the entire fall.
4. It's "competitive". Okay it's not as good as playing touch football or pick-up basketball but there is a certain degree of satisfaction that comes from winning a fantasy game, especially if you crafted your lineup perfectly based on bye weeks, match-ups, home field advantage, and the like. And if you didn't there is still satisfaction in beating that guy who never looks at his lineup and still thinks that Emmitt Smith is a viable fantasy starter. You know every league has that guy, that when you're looking at the schedule you just check off his weeks as wins because you know that whatever his lineup is at the beginning of the season it's going to stay that way regardless of injury or cuts or acts of god.
5. It gives idiots like me something to talk about on lazy Thursday afternoons in September when they're managing very quiet restaurants staffed entirely by Polish immigrants whom they can no longer stand to be around without ear plugs. Some might call this the same thing as number 3, only in my line of work, and I guess that would be accurate. Procrastination applies to everyone I guess, even those of us whose work is essentially procrastination from growing up.
So there you have it. Next time someone asks you why you play fantasy football, send them here and they'll understand. Or maybe, if that person is your boss you will be fired.
Good luck this season.
My question is why?
Essentially, at it's core, fantasy football is about stats, so logically that would lead one to believe that to have an interest in the game you must be interested in the mathematical performances of out-of-market NFL players on a weekly basis. So does every fantasy player care if Nate Burleson hauls in 8 catches in week 4 but only for 36 yards and no TD's. Clearly not. I (obvious statement coming) am a huge football fan, but I honestly could care less if Drew Brees throws for 400 yards with 8 TD's or 100 yards with 4 interceptions (unless he's playing against New England), and yet fantasy football has dominated my limited internet access for the past 2 weeks. Am I a hypocrite, a stat junky in denial, or just very very bored? Okay, I am very bored but that can't be it.
So here are some reasons that I think fantasy football is so huge.
1. It makes football more interesting. Let's face it, if you're a real fan you only truly care about one team and their game. Sure you'll watch the Colts play the Cowboys at 1 but really you're just waiting for the Pats v. Jets game at 4. The other games are chances to heat up the wings and get a good angry buzz on before kickoff. But throw some fantasy implications into that Colts v. Cowboys matchup and all of a sudden you're glued to the TV with StatTracker open on your lap top and a printout of your lineup on the TV tray next to your nachos. It's only natural that you are more interested in something when you have a stake in it, and fantasy football gives all of us something at stake in nearly every game and on almost every play.
A quick sidenote, how much of a bombshell is fantasy football for the NFL. It must attract hundreds of thousands of viewers in fantasy playoffs to meaningless week 16 games between two out of playoff contention teams as long as there is a statistical stud on the field. It must have at least marginally boosted the ratings among casual fans.
2. It's like IMing without being a post adolescent odd-ball and e-mailing without needing addresses and something worthwhile to say. Every league comes with a message board which, since most leagues are organzied by groups of friends is more often used to keep in touch than for actual football discussion. I know for me personally I am in 2 leagues, one with my friends from high school and one with my friends from college, were it not for these leagues I would likely be in far less contact with them than I am. It's easy, non-commital communication. You don't feel like an idiot calling your buddy just to chat (guys don't do that) and it's much less effort than tracking down everyone's e-mail address, you just throw up a quick note while you're setting your line-up for the week and voila, you keep in touch with friends throughout the country. Not to mention you get to talk smack but with the advantage of being able to think about your responses for a few minutes, i.e. if you're not that quick on your feet you can still rebut a moronic statement without stuttering and looking foolish.
3. It gives you poor office folk (by the way I'm looking at the sun setting over Hyannis Harbor from the restaurant office right now, God I love managing...) something to do while you're slammed in a cubicle / office for 9 hours per day. Work for an hour, check the waiver wire, put up a post, propose a trade, wow look it's lunch time, work for another hour, set the line-up for the weekend, bam it's happy hour. They should do a productivity study on how many man hours are lost each year between the middle of August and the end of the regular season, it's probably a negative billion dollar a year habit. Toss in cigarette and bathroom breaks and fantasy footballers with habits and small bladders might not work a single minute through the entire fall.
4. It's "competitive". Okay it's not as good as playing touch football or pick-up basketball but there is a certain degree of satisfaction that comes from winning a fantasy game, especially if you crafted your lineup perfectly based on bye weeks, match-ups, home field advantage, and the like. And if you didn't there is still satisfaction in beating that guy who never looks at his lineup and still thinks that Emmitt Smith is a viable fantasy starter. You know every league has that guy, that when you're looking at the schedule you just check off his weeks as wins because you know that whatever his lineup is at the beginning of the season it's going to stay that way regardless of injury or cuts or acts of god.
5. It gives idiots like me something to talk about on lazy Thursday afternoons in September when they're managing very quiet restaurants staffed entirely by Polish immigrants whom they can no longer stand to be around without ear plugs. Some might call this the same thing as number 3, only in my line of work, and I guess that would be accurate. Procrastination applies to everyone I guess, even those of us whose work is essentially procrastination from growing up.
So there you have it. Next time someone asks you why you play fantasy football, send them here and they'll understand. Or maybe, if that person is your boss you will be fired.
Good luck this season.
Thursday, September 01, 2005
Nobody on the road...
nobody on the beach...
Amazingly summer '05 is in its twilight. For me it endures, at least as far as employment is concerned until the middle of October but for all intents and purposes the "white" season ends Monday.
This end brings more than colored leaves and cool evenings. It brings the best sporting months of the year. The last 35 games of the Red Sox season and the beginning of Patriots and BC football slip and slide right into the first hockey season since 1943 and the beginning of basketball. It's a virtual (why does everyone always use virtual to precede...) cornicopia (are there such things are real cornicopias?) of blogging vodder.
Sure I'll be mired in Dockside hell with one lonley drunk roofer to keep me company for the next 6 weeks and I'll blow the remainder of my summer savings on cheap Cape Cod moonshine, but at least there will be sports to watch.
Heading into this stretch there are questions galore. Will the Red Sox hang on to win their first division title since 1995? Will the Yankees out pace the A's / Angels to take the Wild Card giving us all a reason to add to our prodigious stress ulcers still festering from the past 2 playoff runs? Will the Patriots overcome (?) their key losses at linebacker and coordinator to continue their dominance? Will BC be able to compete in the utterly stacked ACC or will they simply be annihilated by Florida State and Miami, and if they do compete will they roll over and die in the big game at the end of the year against an inferior opponent as the always do? Will anyone ever watch hockey again? What in the heck am I going to do with my life in October? (Forget that last one I don't even want to think about it.)
To even put on my prognosticators hat at this stage seems totally premature but what the hell, no one reads this anyway. Maybe I've caught stupid from watching too much "1st and 10" with the two worst sports reporters in the history of suck-ass (yes that is a word) sports reporting.
The Red Sox will win the division, IF the pitching holds. They cannot keep staking teams to 5 run leads like they have the past 2 nights against Tampa Bay. It's great that both Schilling and Wakefield were able to turn it around after shaky starts but on the road Mueller's wall balls are outs and the shots Damon catches just in front of the triangle are home runs. The offense will be there regardless of who is playing first or second base. This race will not be decided by Graffanino and Cora or Millar and Pettagini. Rather it will be Schilling, Timlin, and Foulke. You know what you're going to get from Wakefield and Arroyo, Wells is fat and I can't fucking stand him and I strike him from this blog for being so T.O. like in his press conference after his suspension came down, and I don't see any suprises from Manny Delcarmen or Abe Alvarez in the next 4 weeks either. The three guys listed above are the key, Foulke needs to close Timlin needs to continue to be the 7th and 8th inning horse and Schilling needs to figure it out, his stuff might not be there but he needs to win with guile and craftiness regardless. The sad truth here is that in one bad week this could all come unglued without a true stopper in the rotation. If Schilling returns to form he is that guy, and I'd feel a whole lot better knowing that there was someone out there who could stop the bleeding at least every fifth day if the rest of the staff goes into the tank. Deep down I think they're going to pull away a bit and win by 5, after that as we know anything can happen.
The Patriots are going to win the division but there will be no talk of going undefeated and they will be favored just because they are the Patriots once we get into the heart of the season. Their schedule is almost unfair it's so hard and even within their own division their competition has vastly improved. The Jets added, obviously Ty Law and other defensive help, the Bills got rid of 34 interceptions per season just by ditching Bledsoe, and the Dolphins have essentially the same team as 3 years ago when they were competitive with the return of Ricky Williams. They have to go to Indianapolis where maybe the mystique of their dominance over Peyton Manning will be lessened, and that is only the cornerstone of a very arduous road schedule. However, they still have the only three things they simply could not afford to lose, Bellichick, Brady, and Dillon. Take Weiss, take Crennell, take Law, Bruschi, and Johnson. It doesn't matter. In this his fifth full season as a starter Brady has a greater command of his offensive scheme than any quarterback in football save that country bumpkin in Indianapolis. Bellichick may have lost his right hand men but don't think for even a second that he did not see this coming and hasn't had someone groomed for each position and at the end of the day he is the brains behind the operation, Weiss and Crennel were, as the new coordinators will be, just the arms and legs. Corey Dillon with a year under his belt is ready to explode as a premier back, just look at his rating on every fantasy football site, he's always in the top 10 even though he only had 12 TD's last year, they see it coming and so do I. So my prognosis is that until someone rears their head to beat them the Patriots are the favorites, the Colts can't beat them, Roethlisberger is bound to take at least a half step backward and both of the Pittsburgh running backs are hurt, and the Eagles are prone to completly implode on the back of one pompus ass. At this point all the legitimate challengers are unimpressive, that will likely change however as this is the NFL and everyone is good enough to win every week.
I don't know a freaking thing about BC's team this year aside from the fact that some of the girls I swam with thought the starting quarterback was hot when he was a freshman. Actually check that I know another thing, Quinton Porter isn't taking us anywhere and he certainly isn't going to ride us through Tallahassee and Miami. I see a "correction" coming but they are ranked 22 to start the season and I'm quite sure that those who make the rankings are much more informed that I. One thing I am sure of is that I will be there, drunk.
Technically I'm managing right now so I guess I ought to head back downstairs and put out any fires the stupid Polish waitresses have set in my absence. There was a reason you made Polish jokes when you were a little kid, sometimes stereotypes are true.
Last chance to see the Cape at it's best this weekend. Way to make it down here tons this summer....
Amazingly summer '05 is in its twilight. For me it endures, at least as far as employment is concerned until the middle of October but for all intents and purposes the "white" season ends Monday.
This end brings more than colored leaves and cool evenings. It brings the best sporting months of the year. The last 35 games of the Red Sox season and the beginning of Patriots and BC football slip and slide right into the first hockey season since 1943 and the beginning of basketball. It's a virtual (why does everyone always use virtual to precede...) cornicopia (are there such things are real cornicopias?) of blogging vodder.
Sure I'll be mired in Dockside hell with one lonley drunk roofer to keep me company for the next 6 weeks and I'll blow the remainder of my summer savings on cheap Cape Cod moonshine, but at least there will be sports to watch.
Heading into this stretch there are questions galore. Will the Red Sox hang on to win their first division title since 1995? Will the Yankees out pace the A's / Angels to take the Wild Card giving us all a reason to add to our prodigious stress ulcers still festering from the past 2 playoff runs? Will the Patriots overcome (?) their key losses at linebacker and coordinator to continue their dominance? Will BC be able to compete in the utterly stacked ACC or will they simply be annihilated by Florida State and Miami, and if they do compete will they roll over and die in the big game at the end of the year against an inferior opponent as the always do? Will anyone ever watch hockey again? What in the heck am I going to do with my life in October? (Forget that last one I don't even want to think about it.)
To even put on my prognosticators hat at this stage seems totally premature but what the hell, no one reads this anyway. Maybe I've caught stupid from watching too much "1st and 10" with the two worst sports reporters in the history of suck-ass (yes that is a word) sports reporting.
The Red Sox will win the division, IF the pitching holds. They cannot keep staking teams to 5 run leads like they have the past 2 nights against Tampa Bay. It's great that both Schilling and Wakefield were able to turn it around after shaky starts but on the road Mueller's wall balls are outs and the shots Damon catches just in front of the triangle are home runs. The offense will be there regardless of who is playing first or second base. This race will not be decided by Graffanino and Cora or Millar and Pettagini. Rather it will be Schilling, Timlin, and Foulke. You know what you're going to get from Wakefield and Arroyo, Wells is fat and I can't fucking stand him and I strike him from this blog for being so T.O. like in his press conference after his suspension came down, and I don't see any suprises from Manny Delcarmen or Abe Alvarez in the next 4 weeks either. The three guys listed above are the key, Foulke needs to close Timlin needs to continue to be the 7th and 8th inning horse and Schilling needs to figure it out, his stuff might not be there but he needs to win with guile and craftiness regardless. The sad truth here is that in one bad week this could all come unglued without a true stopper in the rotation. If Schilling returns to form he is that guy, and I'd feel a whole lot better knowing that there was someone out there who could stop the bleeding at least every fifth day if the rest of the staff goes into the tank. Deep down I think they're going to pull away a bit and win by 5, after that as we know anything can happen.
The Patriots are going to win the division but there will be no talk of going undefeated and they will be favored just because they are the Patriots once we get into the heart of the season. Their schedule is almost unfair it's so hard and even within their own division their competition has vastly improved. The Jets added, obviously Ty Law and other defensive help, the Bills got rid of 34 interceptions per season just by ditching Bledsoe, and the Dolphins have essentially the same team as 3 years ago when they were competitive with the return of Ricky Williams. They have to go to Indianapolis where maybe the mystique of their dominance over Peyton Manning will be lessened, and that is only the cornerstone of a very arduous road schedule. However, they still have the only three things they simply could not afford to lose, Bellichick, Brady, and Dillon. Take Weiss, take Crennell, take Law, Bruschi, and Johnson. It doesn't matter. In this his fifth full season as a starter Brady has a greater command of his offensive scheme than any quarterback in football save that country bumpkin in Indianapolis. Bellichick may have lost his right hand men but don't think for even a second that he did not see this coming and hasn't had someone groomed for each position and at the end of the day he is the brains behind the operation, Weiss and Crennel were, as the new coordinators will be, just the arms and legs. Corey Dillon with a year under his belt is ready to explode as a premier back, just look at his rating on every fantasy football site, he's always in the top 10 even though he only had 12 TD's last year, they see it coming and so do I. So my prognosis is that until someone rears their head to beat them the Patriots are the favorites, the Colts can't beat them, Roethlisberger is bound to take at least a half step backward and both of the Pittsburgh running backs are hurt, and the Eagles are prone to completly implode on the back of one pompus ass. At this point all the legitimate challengers are unimpressive, that will likely change however as this is the NFL and everyone is good enough to win every week.
I don't know a freaking thing about BC's team this year aside from the fact that some of the girls I swam with thought the starting quarterback was hot when he was a freshman. Actually check that I know another thing, Quinton Porter isn't taking us anywhere and he certainly isn't going to ride us through Tallahassee and Miami. I see a "correction" coming but they are ranked 22 to start the season and I'm quite sure that those who make the rankings are much more informed that I. One thing I am sure of is that I will be there, drunk.
Technically I'm managing right now so I guess I ought to head back downstairs and put out any fires the stupid Polish waitresses have set in my absence. There was a reason you made Polish jokes when you were a little kid, sometimes stereotypes are true.
Last chance to see the Cape at it's best this weekend. Way to make it down here tons this summer....
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