Ups and downs of the week.

 AL Rookie of the Year – Dustin Pedroia. Great choice.

 AL Cy Young – Not Josh Beckett. He’s the class of the field, sportswriters be damned.

 Thanksgiving Break – Got most of next week off.

  Thanksgiving Break – Got most of next week off and I need to spend it writing a huge paper.

  Friends in the right places – Good to have.

  Celtics – Undefeated through the first 8 games.

Faux Sports is the worst sports network in the world. My nephew, a soldier just back from Iraq and a major Green Bay Packers fan, and I were sitting here enjoying the GB/Minn game when some idiot at Faux Sports (who decided that he/she knew better than all the folks who tuned in to watch the Packers) switched the coverage to the Philly/Wash game. This strikes me as the ultimate act of arrogance and disrespect. We tuned in to watch the Packers (and the Vikings fans no doubt tuned in to watch the Vikings). If we had wanted to watch Philly, we wouldn’t have been tuned in to the Packers game. What makes Faux Sports believe they have the right to deny the Packers and Vikings fans their enjoyment? What right do they have on this Veterans Day to deny a 3 combat tour veteran the enjoyment of watching his Packers win? How dare they disrespect the wishes of their viewers and decide what’s best for them. Shame on them. 

Ups and downs of the week.

 Red Sox – Took it all. Who’da thunk it?

 DSL – What a pain the butt. Cable is a no-brainer to set up. DSL modems with built-in routers and firewalls are a royal pain. And a big thanks to SBC-Yahoo DSL for chasing all the plain vanilla DSL (read: simple) modems out of the stores. DSL will justifiably become extinct because it is such a pain. Good riddance.

 Chicago – Great city. So many really good restaurants all within walking distance of the river.

  Chicago – Is there ever a moment when you don’t hear sirens? They need to rename the place The Siren City.

 Verizon Wireless Data – Who needs the $10/day hotel wireless? Just hook the Verizon phone to the laptop and surf away. This post brought to you by Verizon Wireless.

 Boston Celtics – I’m not a big (or even small) basketball fan, but I did see the Celts kick royal butt tonight. Maybe they will have a great season. Is a championship in three major sports too much to ask in one year?

Ups and downs of the week.

 Red Sox – So far, so good. They can win big or small. Doesn’t matter to me, as long as they win.

 California wildfires – Rough week for lots of folks.

 Good teeth – Visited the dentist for the first time on 15 years. Thought I might have a cavity, but I only need a cleaning.

Fox Sports – What a couple of bozos. Here’s a hint, guys: the Rockies do not play at Mile High stadium. No free taco for you.

The Onion – America’s Finest News Source. Poor Rockies can’t deal with that thick Boston air.

Those are the two defining characteristics of a Red Sox fan. You doubt they are going to win the big games, yet you always believe they can. You doubt the abilities of players like Lugo and J.D. Drew, but then you believe in them when they come through (still waiting for Lugo, btw). You doubt Francona can manage Little League, but then he delivers the AL pennant. (Although there are plenty of folks who think the Sox won in spite of his management.) You doubt the value of players like Coco Crisp, then you believe when you see him sacrifice himself for a catch even with a 9 run lead. You doubt, and then you…

When you’re a Red Sox fan, it’s easy to forget that no matter how down you get on the Sox, the other team’s fans are worried as well. The Sox were down 3-1 in the ALCS and now the series is tied. The Sox trounced the Tribe tonight. Here are a few excerpts from the Cleveland forums:

Losing like this just sucks. Its like getting the life slowly squeezed from us.

after we lose tomorrow… does Wedge get fired? It will be yet another choke job under him.

Well, another year… without a cleveland championship. pathetic.

This team overachieved even to get here. Let’s be honest. They’re not a great team. Sure, they’re MUCH better than the Sox of ’05, or the Cards of ’06, but Cleveland NEVER EVER catching lightning in a bottle, like so many teams do during this time of year. The ’97 probably did, but in the end, the curse took over.

This is NOT 1997 though. This won’t hurt NEARLY as bad. We simply are getting crushed by the better team. We truly did, “wake a sleeping giant.”

On the other hand, here’s the Red Sox forum from The Boston Globe after Game 4:

this is cleveland’s year. they are just playing better than the yanks and red sox right now.

All of the breaks are going Cleveland’s way,  the home run that Lofton hit was just over Drew’s glove it looked like Drew jumped too soon.  The Sox have hit solid line drives right at folks, and the ball off  Wake’s glove.  The fifth inning has been a killer.  Sometimes you get the bear and sometimes the Bear gets you.

I agree with you.  I will pull for the Sox and hope they win, but it looks like the stars have certainly aligned for this team.

although i do think beckett has a good chance of winning in cleveland tomorrow, i dont see cleveland dropping all 3 to the sox with schilling and matsuzaka potentially being game 6 & 7 starters……like i said the night the yanks were eliminated by them, this cleveland team is for real….i think a cleveland/rockies WS would be pretty entertaining.

I think all of my fellow Red Sox fans have said it, and I don’t need to say it anymore.  I have been venting for so long I am tired of it all.  I can’t watch anymore more games.  It’s over.  See you next season.

Now, of course, the Sox fans are full of hope. The Tribe fans, not so much. I have to admit, I’m a lot more confident in the outcome of Game 7 after reading the Tribe forums. They’ve all but given up. Sort of like us after Game 4. 😉

Ups and downs of the week.

Red Sox – Glad they’re back in Boston, but if only Beckett can win…..

 A Good Year – I like this movie. Screw the critics.

Fox sports – I’ve taken to watching the games with the mute on.

 Casper XP – Did what Ghost could not.

 The Onion – America’s Finest News Source. I was wondering where Gagme went.

Diss the Sox and they always play better.  🙂

Beckett is a god.

Back to Boston.

Tigers have it. Rockies have it. Red Sox don’t. Simple as that. Drew, Dice-K, Lugo, and even Crisp are all cruising along on auto-pilot. Most of the starting rotation can’t get out of the 5th inning. Timlin is doing ok, but he can’t be the only middle relief guy. That leaves Francona with Wavy Lopez, Manny Del Carwreck, or Eric Gag-me. Was this whole season a fluke? Were they just lucky enough to play really bad teams at just the right time? I thought sure in the last two weeks of the season that they’d fall out of the division lead, but the Yankmees choked and let them slip away. Now they’re up against a well-rounded team with dependable, if not spectacular, pitching and hitting. Manny the Show-off and Big Papi are doing their best, but when most of your lineup is batting like old ladies, it’s like bailing out your sinking ship with a spoon. I believe Beckett will be good enough to hold the Indians to a couple runs at best, but if the Sox can’t bring anyone home, it won’t do any good. And the thought of a Game 7 at Fenway in the hands of Dice-K is too painful to think about. It’ll be like watching Bill Buckner replays for three hours. If the Indians are destined to win the pennant, I hope they do it tomorrow night in front of their own fans. Their fans deserve that.

 EDIT: Case in point, from Shaughnessy’s column in The Boston Globe:

Ramírez was not in the Sox dugout when Mike Lowell and Drew made the first outs against Cleveland reliever Rafael Betancourt in the ninth. He came back from whatever he was doing to watch Crisp line to first for the final out.

Yesterday in a rare interview, Ramírez said, “If it doesn’t happen, so who cares? There’s always next year. It’s not like it’s the end of the world or something.”

That should fire everybody up.