I never said I was a good editor.
And, speaking of nuns, I won't come back until I have redeemed myself.
-JDE2
Friday, October 24, 2008
Please forgive Mr. Enright
Editor that he is -- he made a nasty boo-boo in a recent post.
"Matt and I's friend"? What the hell grammar book did you read to come up with that, Sparky? How's about "Matt's friend and mine"? Even "Matt and my friend" would have been better.
And you claim you were taught by nuns. Pshaw!!! I'm rapping your knuckles next time I see you.
-- MJM
"Matt and I's friend"? What the hell grammar book did you read to come up with that, Sparky? How's about "Matt's friend and mine"? Even "Matt and my friend" would have been better.
And you claim you were taught by nuns. Pshaw!!! I'm rapping your knuckles next time I see you.
-- MJM
I did not know that
Fascinating stuff you pick up while having the History channel on for background noise as you do things: Portland, Ore.'s name was decided by a coin toss. The two guys who wanted to name it wanted to do so after their hometowns. Thus, Portland, Maine, beat Boston, Mass.
Speaking of Portland, here's a look at my friend Ben McLeod's 52 IPAs blog (mmmm. . . . beer). Ben, who just moved out to Portland this year, has set a goal of sampling and photographing 52 IPAs this year. Hey, you gotta strive for something. Wish I had his ambitions.
And if nothing else, this blogging has given Matt and I's friend Maureen an outlet for her opinions. Her blog can be found here.
-JDE2
Speaking of Portland, here's a look at my friend Ben McLeod's 52 IPAs blog (mmmm. . . . beer). Ben, who just moved out to Portland this year, has set a goal of sampling and photographing 52 IPAs this year. Hey, you gotta strive for something. Wish I had his ambitions.
And if nothing else, this blogging has given Matt and I's friend Maureen an outlet for her opinions. Her blog can be found here.
-JDE2
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Re: Buckner
Does Rep. Yarmuth not know that Bill Buckner threw out the first pitch at this year's Fenway opener, in one of the nicer (and far more overdue) moments in baseball this or any other year?
How about the fact that Buckner received a deserving, not to mention lengthy, standing O from the Fenway fans when he hustled his butt off to make the team out of spring training in 1990? Less than four freakin' years since the error, and a decade and a half before the 2004 title!
How about the fact that Game 6 was lost long before Mookie Wilson came to bat? Let's start with John McNamara yanking the best pitcher in baseball for a rookie pinch-hitter. McNamara says Roger Clemens asked out, but why did Clemens grab a bat and helmet and was in the on-deck circle when he was pulled? Not in the dugout. The ON-DECK CIRCLE!
How about the fact that Boston fans have buried any animosity toward him or others who committed famous gaffes (Mike Torrez in 1978. Bill Lee in 1975. The list goes on. 2004 atoned for a lot of sins)? And true Red Sox fans are embarassed that Buckner felt he had to move to Idaho or Montana or wherever to escape his notoriety.
How about the fact that Johnny Pesky, still considered the "goat" of the 1946 World Series for allegedly holding a relay throw for too long, is now a beloved elder statesman of the team (since long before the 2004 title) who got to hoist the 2004 championship banner at Fenway? And if Buckner were to come back as, say, a hitting coach, he would be welcome with open arms? Especially if he straightened out Varitek. . . .
The fact of the matter is, ESPN and FOX have gotten far more mileage out of the video of that error (quote Vin Scully with me now: "slow roller down to first . . . . behind the bag! It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight, and the Mets win it!") than the one of Keith Foulke tossing the ball to Doug Mientkiewicz at first for the 2004 title. And even though it's had an 18-year head start, the error will continue to be played more than the putout. Sad but true.
So let's get this straight: Boston does not hate Buckner. The national media thinks it does.
-JDE2
How about the fact that Buckner received a deserving, not to mention lengthy, standing O from the Fenway fans when he hustled his butt off to make the team out of spring training in 1990? Less than four freakin' years since the error, and a decade and a half before the 2004 title!
How about the fact that Game 6 was lost long before Mookie Wilson came to bat? Let's start with John McNamara yanking the best pitcher in baseball for a rookie pinch-hitter. McNamara says Roger Clemens asked out, but why did Clemens grab a bat and helmet and was in the on-deck circle when he was pulled? Not in the dugout. The ON-DECK CIRCLE!
How about the fact that Boston fans have buried any animosity toward him or others who committed famous gaffes (Mike Torrez in 1978. Bill Lee in 1975. The list goes on. 2004 atoned for a lot of sins)? And true Red Sox fans are embarassed that Buckner felt he had to move to Idaho or Montana or wherever to escape his notoriety.
How about the fact that Johnny Pesky, still considered the "goat" of the 1946 World Series for allegedly holding a relay throw for too long, is now a beloved elder statesman of the team (since long before the 2004 title) who got to hoist the 2004 championship banner at Fenway? And if Buckner were to come back as, say, a hitting coach, he would be welcome with open arms? Especially if he straightened out Varitek. . . .
The fact of the matter is, ESPN and FOX have gotten far more mileage out of the video of that error (quote Vin Scully with me now: "slow roller down to first . . . . behind the bag! It gets through Buckner! Here comes Knight, and the Mets win it!") than the one of Keith Foulke tossing the ball to Doug Mientkiewicz at first for the 2004 title. And even though it's had an 18-year head start, the error will continue to be played more than the putout. Sad but true.
So let's get this straight: Boston does not hate Buckner. The national media thinks it does.
-JDE2
Remember "Candlepins for Cash"?
I sure do. I loved that show as a young kid back in the '70s. I can even still remember its mega-cheesy local TV theme song. I even used to set up plastic bowling pins in the hallway and play my own games of Candlepins for Cash, with me being both the contestants and the host, Bob Gamere.
Oh, where have you gone, Bob Gamere?
The Boston Globe tells us where today, and it's not pretty.
By Globe Staff
Robert Gamere, the former host of the local TV show "Candlepins for Cash," has been arrested on charges of transporting and possessing child pornography.
Gamere, 69, of Brookline, is charged in a three-count indictment with transporting child pornography videos on two separate dates last year and with possessing child pornography on his home computer, the US attorney's office said in a statement.
Federal agents who executed a search warrant at Gamere's residence also allegedly found printed-out images in a locked drawer in Gamere's bedroom.
Prosecutors said Gamere had sent multiple people emails with child pornography videos attached.
Documents unsealed in federal court today showed that the case began when an undercover agent received an email with a child pornography video attached. The agent was able to determine that the video file had been sent previously by someone with the screen name "GreatGamere." That screen name was subsequently traced to Robert Gamere, prosecutors said in a statement.
Gamere is to be arraigned this afternoon in US District Court. If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 20 years on the transportation counts, and a maximum of 10 years on the possession count.
Gamere, a veteran sportscaster who worked at a number of local TV and radio stations, told the Globe a year ago that he was "semi-retired," though he had been doing some announcing at Boston University track meets and was until recently calling horse races at the Brockton Fair.
Gamere said he still got stopped on the street by people who appeared on Candlepins, which ran from 1973 to 1980.
-- MJM
Oh, where have you gone, Bob Gamere?
The Boston Globe tells us where today, and it's not pretty.
By Globe Staff
Robert Gamere, the former host of the local TV show "Candlepins for Cash," has been arrested on charges of transporting and possessing child pornography.
Gamere, 69, of Brookline, is charged in a three-count indictment with transporting child pornography videos on two separate dates last year and with possessing child pornography on his home computer, the US attorney's office said in a statement.
Federal agents who executed a search warrant at Gamere's residence also allegedly found printed-out images in a locked drawer in Gamere's bedroom.
Prosecutors said Gamere had sent multiple people emails with child pornography videos attached.
Documents unsealed in federal court today showed that the case began when an undercover agent received an email with a child pornography video attached. The agent was able to determine that the video file had been sent previously by someone with the screen name "GreatGamere." That screen name was subsequently traced to Robert Gamere, prosecutors said in a statement.
Gamere is to be arraigned this afternoon in US District Court. If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of five years and a maximum of 20 years on the transportation counts, and a maximum of 10 years on the possession count.
Gamere, a veteran sportscaster who worked at a number of local TV and radio stations, told the Globe a year ago that he was "semi-retired," though he had been doing some announcing at Boston University track meets and was until recently calling horse races at the Brockton Fair.
Gamere said he still got stopped on the street by people who appeared on Candlepins, which ran from 1973 to 1980.
-- MJM
Leave Bill Buckner Alone!
It's been 22 years and two World Series championships, but poor Bill Buckner still can't catch a break.
The following is from a Bloomberg News Service story about former Fed charman Alan Greenspan's testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform today. SEC chairman Christopher Cox former Treasury Secretary John Snow also tesified. (And, yes, don't be so surprised that the simpleton sports goons know who these three guys are. We have failing 401(k)s too, you know!!!")
"Addressing the trio that oversaw the U.S. financial markets as the housing bubble developed, Representative John Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky, characterized them as "three Bill Buckners,'' referring to the Boston Red Sox first baseman whose fielding error some fans blame for the team's loss in the 1986 World Series."
Enough with the Bill Buckner already!!! Let the man live in peace!!!
-- MJM
The following is from a Bloomberg News Service story about former Fed charman Alan Greenspan's testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform today. SEC chairman Christopher Cox former Treasury Secretary John Snow also tesified. (And, yes, don't be so surprised that the simpleton sports goons know who these three guys are. We have failing 401(k)s too, you know!!!")
"Addressing the trio that oversaw the U.S. financial markets as the housing bubble developed, Representative John Yarmuth, a Democrat from Kentucky, characterized them as "three Bill Buckners,'' referring to the Boston Red Sox first baseman whose fielding error some fans blame for the team's loss in the 1986 World Series."
Enough with the Bill Buckner already!!! Let the man live in peace!!!
-- MJM
Random B's thought
If this keeps up, the Bruins' slogan for the 2008-09 season will be, "Playing for the Point." I know it's early, but c'mon guys. . . .
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Re: Greatest Story Ever
Mike Figueroa? Any relation to former Yankee Ed Figueroa, best known as the "other" 20-game winner on the 1978 Pinstripers?
Don't suppose Joba can blame this on bugs swarming around his head? At least he tips well . . .
-JDE2
Don't suppose Joba can blame this on bugs swarming around his head? At least he tips well . . .
-JDE2
Greatest Story Ever
From today's New York Post: This has all the makings of a classic ... an overhyped, big-headed (in more ways than one), insufferable Yankee pitcher; a pro-Sox insult; several drinks; an automobile; and a strip club. Yankees fans, this is your hope for the future. :) The guy registered a .134 on the Breathalyzer! I don't think John McNamara was that loaded during Game 6 of the '86 World Series!
CLASH: A patron at a Nebraska strip club teased Joba, "Too bad you didn't play for the Red Sox."
By AUSTIN FENNER in Lincoln, Neb., and LEONARD GREENE in New York
Taunts about his team's lousy season prompted Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain to storm out of a Nebraska strip joint just before he was busted for alleged drunken driving, associates said yesterday.
The pitcher was spotted tossing back at least two Grey Goose vodka drinks at a friend's watering hole before hitting a topless club, where patrons said he had been enjoying the sights and tipping big - before stomping out early Saturday morning after a customer teased him about the Bombers' poor performance.
"Too bad you didn't play for the Red Sox," the customer said, according to another patron at the club. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be sitting here in a strip club in Nebraska."
The 6-foot-3, 235-pound Chamberlain rose in anger, but several friends intervened before the tiff escalated beyond pushing and shoving.
A furious Chamberlain left, and moments later, cops nabbed him for allegedly speeding in his 2006 BMW 750i. They hauled him off to a detox center after they smelled alcohol on his breath and saw an open container of alcohol on the passenger seat.
Authorities said Chamberlain, who submitted to a Breathalyzer test at the scene, had a blood-alcohol content of .134 at the time of his arrest, nearly double Nebraska's legal limit of .08.
Chamberlain, 23, was scheduled to appear in court Dec. 17 for a citation on suspicion of drunken driving. Lancaster County prosecutors have not decided on formal charges.
Chamberlain continued to lie low yesterday after issuing an apology a day earlier.
What began as a fun Friday night for Chamberlain sank quicker than the injured Yankee's season after he knocked back two vodka and sodas at Dillinger's, said the bar's co-owner, Mike Figueroa.
"He left at 10:30," Figueroa said. "He left early. I talked to him, and he said he would try to make it back."
Joba never did. Instead, he went to ogle women at the Night Before Lounge, a topless joint in downtown Lincoln.
He spent $45 on drinks and tipped $100, sources said.
"He tipped pretty well, and the girls were excited he was here," one customer said.
Yankee brass said they stand behind their pitcher.
"We're behind him 100 percent," said Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees' executive vice president. "He knows he made a mistake. We've always said we're an extended family."
Additional reporting by Johnny Perez and Irene Plagianos
CLASH: A patron at a Nebraska strip club teased Joba, "Too bad you didn't play for the Red Sox."
By AUSTIN FENNER in Lincoln, Neb., and LEONARD GREENE in New York
Taunts about his team's lousy season prompted Yankee pitcher Joba Chamberlain to storm out of a Nebraska strip joint just before he was busted for alleged drunken driving, associates said yesterday.
The pitcher was spotted tossing back at least two Grey Goose vodka drinks at a friend's watering hole before hitting a topless club, where patrons said he had been enjoying the sights and tipping big - before stomping out early Saturday morning after a customer teased him about the Bombers' poor performance.
"Too bad you didn't play for the Red Sox," the customer said, according to another patron at the club. "Otherwise, you wouldn't be sitting here in a strip club in Nebraska."
The 6-foot-3, 235-pound Chamberlain rose in anger, but several friends intervened before the tiff escalated beyond pushing and shoving.
A furious Chamberlain left, and moments later, cops nabbed him for allegedly speeding in his 2006 BMW 750i. They hauled him off to a detox center after they smelled alcohol on his breath and saw an open container of alcohol on the passenger seat.
Authorities said Chamberlain, who submitted to a Breathalyzer test at the scene, had a blood-alcohol content of .134 at the time of his arrest, nearly double Nebraska's legal limit of .08.
Chamberlain, 23, was scheduled to appear in court Dec. 17 for a citation on suspicion of drunken driving. Lancaster County prosecutors have not decided on formal charges.
Chamberlain continued to lie low yesterday after issuing an apology a day earlier.
What began as a fun Friday night for Chamberlain sank quicker than the injured Yankee's season after he knocked back two vodka and sodas at Dillinger's, said the bar's co-owner, Mike Figueroa.
"He left at 10:30," Figueroa said. "He left early. I talked to him, and he said he would try to make it back."
Joba never did. Instead, he went to ogle women at the Night Before Lounge, a topless joint in downtown Lincoln.
He spent $45 on drinks and tipped $100, sources said.
"He tipped pretty well, and the girls were excited he was here," one customer said.
Yankee brass said they stand behind their pitcher.
"We're behind him 100 percent," said Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees' executive vice president. "He knows he made a mistake. We've always said we're an extended family."
Additional reporting by Johnny Perez and Irene Plagianos
Hindsight isn't always 20/20, but it sure beats having your head up your . . .
It's weird how not blogging in the moment can give you a better perspective. Yes, some might call it "hindsight." But seriously. . . .
I'm not mad at Francona like I was Sunday for leaving Varitek in there to hit in the seventh with runners at the corners. I'm not mad at Papi for apparently losing his mojo these last two seasons - an anomaly which I still think is more injury-related than loss-of-Manny related. They fact the Sox even took this to seven games without Lowell, Schilling, and a completely healthy Beckett was a testament to the team's character. Heck rallying from 7 runs down in Game 5 alone was testament to their character.
Yes, the better team won. We can admit that. Joe Maddon had more ammo, and the luxury of using a flame-throwing weapon such as David Price only when he needed to - say, for example, turning the lights out on the ALCS. Francona already was without last year's World Series MVP and one of the best postseason pitchers ever.
And it's easy to disparage the Rays' cowbell-ringing fans. But I look at them with envy. They have been given that rare gift of seeing a young team, almost entirely home-grown, put it together at just the right time. And damn, Game 5 aside, they never folded. The last time we had that was the Pats' first Super Bowl championship run. (The two Sox championships were the product of good deals as much, if not more so, than anything else. Same with the Boys in Green this year.)
Very few sports fans get to see that in this day and age of free agency. I hope they enjoy that.
A couple more thoughts (further proof that I've moved on):
1) Help me out here. I can't decide if Joe Maddon looks more like Spencer Tracy in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" or Elvis Costello.
2) Tampa could join Boston and LA as the only cities with three major sports championships this decade. (Bucs Super Bowl in 2003, and the forgotten Lightning Stanley Cup title in 2004). Tampa a sports power? Who knew?
(And to those, including my cohort on this site, who would include NY in that three-sport title talk, I say the Devils have been, are in and always will be the New Jersey Devils. At least Los Gigantes once played at Yankee Stadium. And the Yankees' last title came in 2000, which is debateable for the start of the decade.)
-JDE2
I'm not mad at Francona like I was Sunday for leaving Varitek in there to hit in the seventh with runners at the corners. I'm not mad at Papi for apparently losing his mojo these last two seasons - an anomaly which I still think is more injury-related than loss-of-Manny related. They fact the Sox even took this to seven games without Lowell, Schilling, and a completely healthy Beckett was a testament to the team's character. Heck rallying from 7 runs down in Game 5 alone was testament to their character.
Yes, the better team won. We can admit that. Joe Maddon had more ammo, and the luxury of using a flame-throwing weapon such as David Price only when he needed to - say, for example, turning the lights out on the ALCS. Francona already was without last year's World Series MVP and one of the best postseason pitchers ever.
And it's easy to disparage the Rays' cowbell-ringing fans. But I look at them with envy. They have been given that rare gift of seeing a young team, almost entirely home-grown, put it together at just the right time. And damn, Game 5 aside, they never folded. The last time we had that was the Pats' first Super Bowl championship run. (The two Sox championships were the product of good deals as much, if not more so, than anything else. Same with the Boys in Green this year.)
Very few sports fans get to see that in this day and age of free agency. I hope they enjoy that.
A couple more thoughts (further proof that I've moved on):
1) Help me out here. I can't decide if Joe Maddon looks more like Spencer Tracy in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" or Elvis Costello.
2) Tampa could join Boston and LA as the only cities with three major sports championships this decade. (Bucs Super Bowl in 2003, and the forgotten Lightning Stanley Cup title in 2004). Tampa a sports power? Who knew?
(And to those, including my cohort on this site, who would include NY in that three-sport title talk, I say the Devils have been, are in and always will be the New Jersey Devils. At least Los Gigantes once played at Yankee Stadium. And the Yankees' last title came in 2000, which is debateable for the start of the decade.)
-JDE2
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Postseason Public Enemy No. 1
So the Rays overcame two very bad days and won the pennant. Good for them. They're a young team on the rise. And they beat Jon Lester twice to win. That makes them deserving right there.
Back here in Red Sox Nation we'll do what we do, which is assign blame. My guess is that most of it will fall on the shoulders of the salami-bat catcher lovingly known as Captain.
Such blame would be misplaced.
You don't expect much production from Jason Varitek. Now, granted, his production in the ALCS looked like the stock market in recent weeks. Grim, grim, grim. But he still offers value even when he's not hitting.
No, the guy who deserves the most blame is perhaps the most beloved and gregarious Red Sox. But in October he uncharacteristically came up really small.
Ladies and gentlemen, Postseason Public Enemy No. 1 is ..... Big Papi, David Ortiz.
Here are the DH's postseason numbers: .186 BA, .327 OBP, .349 SLG, .676 OPS, 1HR, 5 RBI in 11 games and 52 total plate appearances. In all he had just 15 total bases in the postseason.
In the ALCS, he hit .174 -- that's four hits in a seven-game series -- with a .321 OBP, .435 SLG and .756 OPS. His contributions were limited to the homer -- granted, an enormous one, in the Game 5 comeback -- and a Game 6 RBI single when the Sox added an insurance run.
In Game 7, when a big hit was desperately needed, here's what Ortiz -- whose only job, mind you, is to swing the bat -- came up with.
8th inning: 2 on, 1 out, score 3-1 TB. Ortiz grounds into a force play, erasing the runner at 2nd.
6th inning: 1 on, 1 out, score 2-1 TB. Ortiz strikes out on a high fastball out of the strike zone on 3 and 2. The puzzling decision to send Dustin Pedroia on 3-2 -- which smelled of panic -- results in an easy double play and a promising inning erased.
3rd inning: 1 on, 2 out, score 1-0 BOS: Ortiz strikes out with Pedroia, who was hit by a pitch and stole second, in scoring position and a chance to add a vital second run.
1st inning: o on, 1 out, score 1-0 BOS: Ortiz walks to follow Pedroia's home run. What looks like a promising inning is undone by a Youkilis fly out and Drew whiff. This is Big Papi's only Game 7 contribution.
But in three of his four at-bats there were runners on base and not a one of them scored:
Two strikeouts and a slow grounder were all the vaunted Big Papi could muster.
Clearly the entire Sox lineup was poor in Game 7 and credit Matt Garza and the Rays relievers for that. But other players -- Youkilis, Bay, Drew -- had so many key postseason hits that they can be let off the hook somewhat.
Big Papi had a lousy October. When he was needed most, he didn't come through. That is one big, loud reason the World Series is not starting in Boston on Wednesday night.
With all respect to Mark Kotsay, wouldn't a healthy Mike Lowell have made a difference in this series?
-- MJM
Back here in Red Sox Nation we'll do what we do, which is assign blame. My guess is that most of it will fall on the shoulders of the salami-bat catcher lovingly known as Captain.
Such blame would be misplaced.
You don't expect much production from Jason Varitek. Now, granted, his production in the ALCS looked like the stock market in recent weeks. Grim, grim, grim. But he still offers value even when he's not hitting.
No, the guy who deserves the most blame is perhaps the most beloved and gregarious Red Sox. But in October he uncharacteristically came up really small.
Ladies and gentlemen, Postseason Public Enemy No. 1 is ..... Big Papi, David Ortiz.
Here are the DH's postseason numbers: .186 BA, .327 OBP, .349 SLG, .676 OPS, 1HR, 5 RBI in 11 games and 52 total plate appearances. In all he had just 15 total bases in the postseason.
In the ALCS, he hit .174 -- that's four hits in a seven-game series -- with a .321 OBP, .435 SLG and .756 OPS. His contributions were limited to the homer -- granted, an enormous one, in the Game 5 comeback -- and a Game 6 RBI single when the Sox added an insurance run.
In Game 7, when a big hit was desperately needed, here's what Ortiz -- whose only job, mind you, is to swing the bat -- came up with.
8th inning: 2 on, 1 out, score 3-1 TB. Ortiz grounds into a force play, erasing the runner at 2nd.
6th inning: 1 on, 1 out, score 2-1 TB. Ortiz strikes out on a high fastball out of the strike zone on 3 and 2. The puzzling decision to send Dustin Pedroia on 3-2 -- which smelled of panic -- results in an easy double play and a promising inning erased.
3rd inning: 1 on, 2 out, score 1-0 BOS: Ortiz strikes out with Pedroia, who was hit by a pitch and stole second, in scoring position and a chance to add a vital second run.
1st inning: o on, 1 out, score 1-0 BOS: Ortiz walks to follow Pedroia's home run. What looks like a promising inning is undone by a Youkilis fly out and Drew whiff. This is Big Papi's only Game 7 contribution.
But in three of his four at-bats there were runners on base and not a one of them scored:
Two strikeouts and a slow grounder were all the vaunted Big Papi could muster.
Clearly the entire Sox lineup was poor in Game 7 and credit Matt Garza and the Rays relievers for that. But other players -- Youkilis, Bay, Drew -- had so many key postseason hits that they can be let off the hook somewhat.
Big Papi had a lousy October. When he was needed most, he didn't come through. That is one big, loud reason the World Series is not starting in Boston on Wednesday night.
With all respect to Mark Kotsay, wouldn't a healthy Mike Lowell have made a difference in this series?
-- MJM
I Don't Believe in Reality Anymore
They won Game 6. The Red Sox are nine innings away from going down in the books as the greatest clutch team in baseball history.
Seriously -- I'd have wagered on my becoming a captain in a Sicilian crime family before I'd ever think the above words, much less write them.
Then again -- how do you know I'm not a captain in a Sicilian crime family? The mafia doesn't exist, you know...
It got me to thinking that I can decisively say I know one person who was convinced the Sox would come back in game 5, 7-run deficit or no.
He's a Yankee fan.
Heckuva guy, that John DiStaso. He's an ace political reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader, where I used to labor before the newspaper business started to look like Matt Cassel under a heavy pass rush. The man's entire universe changed during the Glorious Uprising of 2004. Where he once confidently watched his Bombers rule over all and waited patiently for the inevitable Red Sox collapse, he now expects the Red Sox to get the job done no matter what the circumstance. For the past four years, every time the Sox overcame a big deficit, he'd say, "I knew they were going to do that." The man was completely confident that Boston would overcome last year's 3-1 arrears to Cleveland and I'm sure he said the same thing all day Thursday about this year's 3-1 shortfall to Tampa Bay.
But while even the most optimistic citizens of the Nation thought it was over with three innings to play in Game 5, I have no doubt that: 1. Mr. DiStaso sat and waited for the comeback he was certain would come; or. 2. Mr. DiStaso went to bed fully expecting to wake up Friday morning to find the Sox had done what they did.
When even the Yankee fans have confidence in the Red Sox, why shouldn't the rest of us?
-- MJM
Seriously -- I'd have wagered on my becoming a captain in a Sicilian crime family before I'd ever think the above words, much less write them.
Then again -- how do you know I'm not a captain in a Sicilian crime family? The mafia doesn't exist, you know...
It got me to thinking that I can decisively say I know one person who was convinced the Sox would come back in game 5, 7-run deficit or no.
He's a Yankee fan.
Heckuva guy, that John DiStaso. He's an ace political reporter for the New Hampshire Union Leader, where I used to labor before the newspaper business started to look like Matt Cassel under a heavy pass rush. The man's entire universe changed during the Glorious Uprising of 2004. Where he once confidently watched his Bombers rule over all and waited patiently for the inevitable Red Sox collapse, he now expects the Red Sox to get the job done no matter what the circumstance. For the past four years, every time the Sox overcame a big deficit, he'd say, "I knew they were going to do that." The man was completely confident that Boston would overcome last year's 3-1 arrears to Cleveland and I'm sure he said the same thing all day Thursday about this year's 3-1 shortfall to Tampa Bay.
But while even the most optimistic citizens of the Nation thought it was over with three innings to play in Game 5, I have no doubt that: 1. Mr. DiStaso sat and waited for the comeback he was certain would come; or. 2. Mr. DiStaso went to bed fully expecting to wake up Friday morning to find the Sox had done what they did.
When even the Yankee fans have confidence in the Red Sox, why shouldn't the rest of us?
-- MJM
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