It's really October and I was wrong and right

It's October, the Red Sox are playing to get to the World Series (most likely against the Phillies it looks like) and Manny Ramirez is playing in Dodger blue. Funny, when the Red Sox won the World Series on 2004, they got rid of Nomah, this year they got rid of Manny, coincidence?

I wrote back in June that the Sox were in trouble - well I was a bit off to put it mildly, however it's clear that though they've made it this far, after what I saw from Becket last night, our Sawx going to have to lean, really lean hard on John Lester. Lester is another guy I got wrong, really wrong. It's great to be wrong when your team wins, thankfully for this life-long Sox fan I've been very wrong this year.

Why do the playoffs have to be covered by the most knucklehead commentators? I mean, Buck Martinez and Ron Darling? PULLEEEZE. Bring back Al Leiter, dump Martinez and McCarver, put in Uecher, get some entertainment instead of idiocy.

Anyways, this is becoming an interesting October.

They're winning but I'm concerned

Well, it's late June and my Red Sox are in first place but my pre-2004 worries are coming back. If it weren't for J.D. Drew and a somewhat steady pitching staff I doubt that first place would even be on the radar screen. I watched both games on ESPN this week and it was clear that not having Big Papi even in the lineup, let alone 100%, could have made a huge difference against Herren on Monday. What last night showed me is that Randy Johnson has become a smarter pitcher than he was before. However, his velocity and slider location are more in the average range and that's what hurt him last night. Tim Wakefield is fun to watch. There are, what? maybe three pitchers who currently throw the knuckler? When Wakefield retires I wonder if we'll ever see the knuckle ball again. He made their hitters look silly, almost like a bugs bunny routine trying to swat the "slow-ball".

Back to the point, the Red Sox are in trouble. They have a decent makeshift lineup and their pitching has been mostly reliable (though the bull-pen is sketchy), BUT, without Dice-K, Schilling, Ortiz, and Buckholtz this team is going to struggle. If they can't win on the road consistently they will not make the Wild Card, let alone win the AL East. The most pleasant surprise this season has been watching Jacoby Elsbury - he already owns the rookie record for steals by a Red Sox player and I see him possibly joining the 30/30 club (the last Red Sox player to do that was Tommy Harper I believe, back in the 1970's). He has great instincts on picking up where the pitcher is going from the stretch. The fact that the Red Sox aren't the team I always knew (slow, slower, and slowest but could hit home runs) is in many ways a lot of fun. I don't feel as nostalgic for the days of Fisk, Lynn, Rice, Remy, Burleson, Hobson, Scott, Evans and whatever farm hand they used on the mound. Speed opens up so many possibilities and creates the opportunity to manufacture runs if your big hitters aren't doing it for you. Having Crisp and Lugo is also a plus since both have good speed (though Lugo needs to hit better, my word, his paycheck is not deserved).

With all that in mind I can see the Sox being competitive, but I suspect that if Ortiz doesn't make it back and if Dice-K is really injured it will not be another repeat of an AL title.

Manny - summer and silly Washington area fans

Well, Manny Ramirez has reached and surpassed the 500 homer threshold. I didn't like him much when he was in Cleveland since he killed the Sox in the playoffs, however, he's become something altogether different from those days. Joe Morgan on ESPN loves Manny - it's fun to listen to Morgan do color/commentary instead of Tim McCarver (cannot stand the man, plus the fact that he's a HUGE anti-Red Sox commentator - he had to eat so much crow when the Sox came back in 2004 over the Yankees). Manny did it in the Red Sox's second home, Camden Yards, with their favorite punching bag providing the fun. I watched all of the games and it is still amusing to me to see the huge amount of Sox fans in the seats in Oriole Park (official name of the baseball field). I went to Memorial Stadium when I first moved to the DC area and I found myself and maybe three others in the whole place who had Sox paraphernalia on. Nowadays the reverse is true, where there are so few O's fans you have to really look hard to find black and orange (horrible colors) apparel on someone not hawking it to someone else.

I get a kick out of listening to Jim Palmer talk about the Red Sox, he's really a big fan of how they do baseball and not a fan of the current Orioles (or for the past six years it seems) crew they've got going. That's my impression from listening to him this past weekend, even when the O's won on Monday night (let's see, lose three straight and then win one, yeah, that'll keep you in last place). Palmer is so nostalgic for the "Oriole Way", too bad that the team hasn't had a winning season since, um, was Clinton president then?
Washington area fans spend so much time on the Redskins here that they miss out on baseball and other diversions. I've never seen such homers in my life. Oh, wait, that's right, I have, but that's for another time. DC United has won four championships in the past 12 years, the Redskins have made the playoffs three times in the same time frame. Do Washington fans even know that? I highly doubt it. When it comes to baseball Washington fans are ambivalent at best (I'd venture slightly retarded at times) which is unfortunate because the Nationals are a decent mediocre team. Kinda like Houston really, nice ballpark but the product between the lines will lose more than win but are gamers mostly. With a huge potential fan base the Nationals are poised to become a 2nd tier team (up from bleacher bench seats) - they'll not get much higher until they start trading for pitching and start building some good support minor league teams. The Washington Post does some fair coverage of the Nats but I get the impression they're waiting for the prom queen to take off her brassiere and prance around center field. The cynicism in regards to the nationals is really annoying. The Post or the Times will do everything possible to have kids over the Redskins and the Nats are acknowledged as a strange relative even though their stadium is better, is better situated, and has better food.

Summer is here again and my oldest just finished his second soccer season. I have high hopes for him and I am trying not to be the pyscho dad (which is doubly hard since I'm now an assistant coach). He's going to soccer camp this summer (I hope he has a blast). My youngest is already out of school and so I've got figure out what he can do, maybe I'll sign him up for tots practice this fall. The hot weather arrived yesterday and the obligatory thunderstorm struck as well (some poor woman got killed by a tree yesterday). DC gets so hot during the summer - the only other place I've been to where it's hotter is the Gulf Coast where the sweat streams out of your body like water fountain. I'm hoping that it will cool off a little bit this summer - another hot summer will kill my $$$ (which I have almost zero anyways). I look forward to a fun summer and maybe I can keep losing weight, but that's for another time.

A weekend of highs and lows

Well, Memorial Day came and went but I got to see some superb lacrosse. The outcome from yesterday's game was, well, extremely disappointing. Syracuse is a great school and has great sports programs. That aside, I can't stand them. Syracuse alums and fans alike are among the most pain the arse people I've ever met outside of Yankees fans. Anyways, Johns Hopkins played so very badly yesterday, I mean, that last goal was because of two stupid plays, of course Syracuse would win, Hopkins couldn't wait to lose! With a goalie who was standing on his head for most of the game and a decent scoring effort what happened to the defense? I mean, hello, GROUNDBALLS?!?!?! Paul Rabil had an excellent game and showed just how awesome he is as an outside shooter. I'll miss lefty Huntley with that cannon he's got. Hopefully, the MLL won't muck it up when drafting the folks who played yesterday.

I liked the coverage and the fact that so many folks showed up to Foxyboro for a lacrosse game, and not just one, but five over three days. Sunday's games showed just how dominant one or two schools are in DII and DIII. Salisbury has only lost once in the past four years, and that was to the team they beat on Sunday. The Gulls are great, I just wish that ESPN would do a better job in covering the lower divisions (which they don't AT ALL). Exposure creates more exposure (look what it's done for lacrosse since they've been covering it on ESPN) and if ESPNU could expand its reach so that the other "college" sports cable network can focus on what it really wants to do, replay the NCAA men's basketball tournament from the past 20 years 24/7. Also, most of the CBS College Sports anchor folks are all from Syracuse (bleech!) and can't wait to act like Yankees fans which makes this Boston/Hopkins fan want to, well use your imagination.

On Saturday, that double overtime was awesome. The UVA goalie played his heart out but that kid Brooks has got a canon, man, he's pretty dern good. I was impressed on Saturday and on Monday with Syracuse's effort in regards to team defense. Their goalie isn't very good, he really isn't, but the defense in front of him plays great. Danny Glading had two of the most amazing goals of the tournament (Huntley's behind the back on Saturday was pretty cool too), I hope he gets some love for next year.

The flashback part of the halftime show was AWESOME! Gary Gait's description of Pietramala was sooo righteous. He said he was the hardest and toughest player he'd ever played against, ever. Petro is a god of lacrosse, as a player, he was awesome, as a coach, he is a dedicated task master, and kids love to play for him even though he's a hard-ass. Look at the players he's gotten, Rabil, Huntley, all the Peyser brothers, Harrison, Schwartzman, the list goes on and on. I still watch that 1989 championship game from time to time and I'm still amazed at how great Syracuse was that year and just how gritty Hopkins was. Petro single-handedly gave his team a chance to win in every instance. Kessnich, who does color for ESPN, was his teammate and goalie for that 1989 team, and mentioned last year about how they interacted during the game. He said that Petro was the most intense player he's ever played with or saw play, ever. As in 1989, 2008 ended the same, Syracuse having the weapons and Hopkins losing.

Syracuse is a different team from just two years ago when they made it to the final four. They place a lot more emphasis on fundamentals (though they got a lot of stupid penalities that almost cost them the game on Saturday). I can't stand them but they are a very good team with quite an upside if their goalie gets any better (he's not very good) and they can find a face-off man like Brennan. I just hope that doesn't happen.

Lastly, the use of the term "extra-man offense" or "EMO" is utter nonsense. The term is misleading for it overtly implies that the team with the ball has an extra man. Guess what? THEY DON'T! They have the same number as they did before the other team sent a player to the penalty box. I don't know why they keep insisting on using that phrase in describing a man-up/man-down situation. It's MAN-UP or MAN-DOWN. That's it, stop with the EMO, it's not even close to being correct.

Lacrosse, Primaries, anything else?

Well, it's the Monday after the Face-off classic that was up in B-more. The two teams that I wanted to win did so (I always love it when Syracuse loses, can't stand that team). UVA beat the Orange in overtime, 14-13 (Go Wahooos!) and Hopkins crushed Princeton 14-9 (Princeton's coach, Bill Tierney is a number one prick, met him a few years ago at Maryland for the final four and he was such an a-hole to me because I asked him a question about weak-side D, shyte). I got to see Cornell pull off a huge overtime win against Navy. They were down by 3 with less than 2 to play and they cranked out four straight face-offs and beat the Academy, Streibel accounting for half of the effort there in the last few mins. Sorry, for those of you who aren't into lacrosse or have just a smattering of knowledge about it I apologize. I love the sport and tend to forget that others just don't know the sport. Anyways, things are looking good for a great season (Hopkins just might win it all again, Petro has that team firing on all cylinders) and I hope that teams like Albany, Loyola, or Bucknell can break through and have a great season and make the tournament. Each year there's a surprise team in the Final Four it seems, maybe one can make that leap to winning it all, just maybe.

Has anyone else been a little tired of the Presidential coverage overload? I mean, wow, every burp or fart is covered and the press are blanketing Obama or Clinton like a wet t-shirt. Can't say I'll vote for Obama, but who knows? No way in HELL do I vote for CANKLES, no way.

College Basketball's tournament begins this month and to be perfectly honest, I'm really uninterested. That's a first, I'm just tired of watching b-ball. I am, however, very excited about catching some college hockey, that's fer sure. I miss college hockey down here in DC, there's nothing even remotely close to go and see a game. Maybe Penn State which is around 5 hours from where I live (whooopeee!!!).

Well, the ides of March are in 12 days, make sure you're extra careful and have a good one until next time.

It's finally here!

Lacrosse season has begun. Unfortunately, here in DC the weather has not cooperated and my alma mater cannot make the trek from New England down to "Charm City". I can't wait to start watching the greatest sport this spring. In early March we have the Face-Off classic at Ravens stadium and it's Syracuse vs. UVA and Hopkins vs. Princeton. Last year the right teams won (Hopkins in a thriller in OT, and UVA which crushed Syracuse, yeee haw!) and I'm hoping that the same will occur this year, though Princeton has a great goalie this year and Hopkins is shaky in goal.

I truly enjoy lacrosse above all other sports, having played the sport for four years in college and a little in high school it is near and dear to my heart. Baseball was my first love and I'll always follow the sport, but it pales in comparison to my almost rabid devotion to a sport that is more entertaining than any other around. Football is an institution here in the US of A (I wrote some thoughts about that earlier), but it isn't a very, well, accessible sport as is lacrosse.

I can't wait to get my lacrosse fix satiated, come on inside and be one of us, you won't regret it and your wife will respect you in the morning.

I've been avoiding this

Well, they lost. The only team to lose the one game that mattered. Damnit. God, that sucked, can't believe I wasted my Sunday evening screaming at the TV. Once Samuel let that ball go through his fingers I KNEW IT WAS OVER!

It was a good game, but the end result SUCKED ASS! (sorry Boondock Saints moment)

There's not much else for me to put down here.

Now onto more recent matters. Well, Roger was here in town (saw him from a distance much closer than usual on the playing field, psst, I work about 3 blocks from Capitol Hill so I run into a whole host of folks) and it was worse than sitting in the principal's office with a "he said, no I did, he did, I said" situaiton. I guess, do I believe Roger? NOPE, how can a person go from a middling career to averaging 17 wins for the next five seasons being over 35? Sure, hard work comes into it, but he had to have supplements that aren't usual. Nature is a cruel mistress. I'm 38 and I've kept myself in decent shape (meaning I'm no more than 20 lbs overweight at one time) and I've worked out, two times a day for the past year (finally paying off, now can someone stop the beer fawcett?) and my recovery after a Monday hardcore workout is three days. With steroids and HGH that would get cut by 75% so by Tuesday afternoon I'd be right as rain. It's no surprise that after the drug policy went into place Clemens' numbers went down down down and he was injured pretty quickly as was Bonds and other steroid users.

A follow-up question is this, why oh why does this matter? I mean, how is this different than a spitballer? I mean Hoyt Wilhem, Gaylord Perry, Satchel Paige, even Bob Feller (who's a bit high and mighty for himself) cheated, and Wilhem and Perry prolonged their careers with the spitter. So what that Clemens used supplements to increase his time in playing. Did it hurt the game overall? I mean, do fans really think that baseball is that easy and that if one uses supplements that it's cheating because so many do use them? Integrity smegrity, get over it. When I played Babe Ruth summer ball we had a kid on our team who used to rub the balls with chaw juice between innings to make them softer so the ball wouldn't carry and hit the jogging track in left-center. It worked. The other team's coach knew about and complained but in the end it didn't change much. I have a hard time seeing this as anything different.