Seacoast Patriot's Dock By The Bay

nfl 2009 <> the new season is upon us

2009-09-14T15:48:00.017-04:00

the "mean nothing" games are done ... injuries were kept to a minimum ... tom brady remembered how to play the game ... optimism abounds across new england ... the new england patriots will open their 2009 season tonite at gillette stadium against the buffalo bills

what's interesting to me on the eve of a new season is how many really believe this edition of the new england patriots can accomplish what the 2007 team fell short of ... 19-0 ... my response ... not a chance

my predictions ... the patriots should win their opener against buffalo ... they will then lose 2 of the next 3 games ... the jets (9/20) in ny, atlanta (9/27) and baltimore (10/4) at gillette ... after that stretch the patriots will lose just 2 more games ... at indy (11/15) and at new orleans (11/30) ... new england will finish the season 12-4, win the afc east and be the #3 seed in the afc playoffs (following pittsburgh and san diego) ... in the end, pittsburgh will be the afc and super bowl champions

has my foxboro kool-aid been sitting in gg's refrigerator too long ... has it soured ... not so much ... rather foxboro kool-aid has always given me strength to look at the realities ... to ignore the poison pens of those who never played the game ... and to laugh at the mindless thoughts of the fellowship of the miserable ... the realities of the 2009 edition of the new england patriots look like this

the starting offense that put up record yardage and scoring numbers during the 2007 regular season ... and then lost the biggest game of their season ... returns pretty much intact ... 8 of 2007's 11 starters will return tonite ... these starters are now 2 years older ... the 3 new 1st teamers will all be older than their predecessor ... and the leader of the offense hasnt played a game that counted in 12 months ... the offensive starting lineup on opening night will look like this

72 ot matt light (9 years / 31 years old)
70 og logan mankins (5 years / 27 years old)
67 oc dan koppen (7 years / 30 years old)
61 og stephen neal (8 years / 33 years old)
77 ot nick kaczur (5 years / 30 years old)
12 qb tom brady (10 years / 32 years old)
21 rb fred taylor (12 years / 33 years old) #
81 wr randy moss (12 years / 32 years old
83 wr wes welker (6 years / 28 years old)
13 wr joey galloway (15 years / 39 years old) #
86 te chris baker (8 years / 29 years old) #

# indicates position started by another player in 2007

defensively this is very much a team in transition ... the question that will be answered this season is just how far along the patriots are in their youth movement ... gone from the defense are lb mike vrabel (traded to kansas city), s rodney harrison (retired/moved to nbc), cb ellis hobbs (traded to philadelphia), lb tedy bruschi (retired/moved to espn) and dt richard seymour (traded to oakland) ... that's 10 super bowl rings and the heart of clubhouse leadership ... and just a bit of aging ... left are 3 veteran studs, a 2nd year defensive rookie of the year and superstar in the making, a couple safeties with promise, a group of untested kids and a bunch of jags

another defensive transition we think is underway ... after 8 years of the 3-4 defensive formation ... and a couple years of playing with morphing back and forth between 3-4 and 4-3 ... we have believed the 4-3 would be the patriots base defense this season ... but tonite's starting lineup sure doesn't support this belief ... what it does say is we really just don't know enough about this defense to have an abundence of confidence it is anything more or less than average ... opening night defensive starters will be

97 dl jarvis green (8 years / 30 years old)
75 dl vince wilfork (6 years / 27 years old)
94 dl ty warren (7 years / 28 years old)
96 lb adalius thomas (10 years / 32 years old)
51 lb jerod mayo (2 years / 23 years old)
59 lb gary guyton (2 years / 23 years old)
95 lb tully banta-cain (7 years / 29 years old)
36 ss james sanders (5 years / 25 years old)
31 fs brandon merriweather (3 years / 25 years old)
24 cb jonathan wilhite (2 years / 25 years old)
23 cb leigh bodden (7 years / 28 years old)

transition on defense is not the only change that could impact the performance of this year's new england patriots ... gone are longtime vice president of player personnel scott pioli <> offensive coorinator/quarterbacks coach josh mc daniels <> tight ends coach pete mangurian <> special assistant/secondary coach and former head coach dom capers <> longtime special teams coach brad seely

now on board are nick casario as director of player personnel <> veteran executive floyd reese as senior advisor <> former wide receivers coach bill o'brien as quarterbacks coach/offensive coordinator in training <> former coaching assistant josh boyer as defensive backs coach <> former coaching assistant shane waldron as tight ends coach <> from minnesota, chad o'shea as wide receivers coach <> and from denver, veteran scott o'brien as special teams coach

there remains continuity at the defensive coordinator's position ... dean pees returns for a 4th season since taking over for manjudas back in 2006 ... unfortunately pees has yet to produce a standout defensive unit

nascar 2009 <> before and after week #26

2009-09-13T20:55:00.006-04:00

the first portion of the the 2009 nascar season is in the books ... the regular season is done ... the big winners were mark martin, tony stewart and jeff gordan ... big losers would be kyle busch, matt kenseth and dale earnhardt, jr ... now it is on to new hampshire and the chase for a championship ... should be an awesome 10 weeks coming up

pool standings AFTER WEEK #26 <> chevy rock & roll 400 at richmond

floyd -- 3461 points / 2 winners
jim -- 3370 (-91) / 4 winners
tom *-- 3330 (-131) / 3 winners
jason -- 3186 (-275) / 5 winners
robin* -- 3057 (-404) / 3 winners
rich -- 2509 (-952) / 1 winner
kevin -- 2478 (-983)

*denotes rookie competitor

pool picks FOR WEEK #26 <> chevy rock & roll 400 at richmond (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- brad keselowski (09) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jim -- david stremme (12) <> denny hamlin (11)
tom -- marcos ambrose (47) <> denny hamlin (11)
jason -- brad keselowski (09) <> kyle busch (18)
robin -- juan pablo montoya (42) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- jeff gordon (24) <> kevin harvick (29)
kevin -- jeff gordon (24) <> kevin harvick (29)

a genius at work again

2009-09-07T21:57:00.009-04:00

the genius that is bill belichick was in full bloom on sunday when he stunned the football world by trading his veteran starting defensive left end/tackle to the oakland raiders for the raiders #1 pick in the 2011 college player draft ... i fully understand some will suggest i am drunk on the foxboro kool-aid ... if i am, it is only because foxboro kool-aid has been so refreshing and fulfilling the last 8 years

ok, i'll concede ... short term, the trade adds to the many questions about the strength of this year's defense ... vrabs is gone to kc ... rodney to nbc ... tedy to espn ... and now the big sea to oakland ... that's alot of rings ... that's alot of leadership ... gone ... quickly ... clearly the defense is being retooled around vince wilfork, ty warren and jerod mayo ... three days ago the defensive line unit was a known strength ... now there will be questions about jarvis green, derrick burgess, ron brace (r) and myron prior (r)

longer term, this trade is grand larceny ... this trade is just one more example of why many say bill belichick is often 3 steps ahead of everyone else ... kinda like a 4th round pick to oakland for randy moss

the facts

richard seymour was a first round draft pick (6th overall) of the new england patriots in 2001
8 years a starting defensive end/tackle for the patriots
3 times a super bowl champion (xxxvi, xxxviii and xxxix)
5 times selected to the pro bowl (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006)
in the last of a 3 year, $30 million contract
a $3.65 million salary cap hit to the patriots in 2009
a free agent at the end of the 2009 season if not resigned or franchised by new england
the patriots would have received a 3rd round compensatory pick in the 2010 draft if/when seymour signed with another team as a free agent
traded to oakland for the raiders #1 pick in the 2011 draft

the variables

the patriots were not going to resign or franchise (@ $12 million) seymour after the 2009 season ... allegedly richard requested a new deal at the beginning of training camp ... and the patriots said no thanks
the oakland raiders have sucked as a football tean since early in the decade ... and with owner al davis in charge of the franchise and quarterback jamarcus russell leading the team's offense ... the raiders will probably still suck in 2010 ... meaning their 2011 1st round draft pick should be top 10
the nfl should have in place a new collective bargaining agreement which would govern the 2011 draft ... this new agreement may well include a rookie salary cap making a top 10 draft pick far more valuable than it is today with out of control rookie salaries

what are the experts saying

mike lombardi of national football post has this to say

christopher price of weei.com wrote this

cold, hard football facts says this

more to come

nascar 2009 <> before and after week #25

2009-09-07T21:36:00.005-04:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #25 <> pep boys auto 500 at atlanta

floyd -- 3412 points / 2 winners
jim -- 3275 (-137) / 3 winners
tom *-- 3223 (-189) / 2 winners
jason -- 3137 (-275) / 5 winners
robin* -- 2951 (-461) / 3 winners
rich -- 2509 (-903) / 1 winner
kevin -- 2437 (-1104)

*denotes rookie competitor

pool picks FOR WEEK #25 <> pep boys auto 500 at atlanta (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- kyle busch (18) <> jeff gordon (24)
jim -- martin truax, jr (1) <> kyle busch (18)
tom -- david ragan (6) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jason -- martin truax, jr (1) <> tony stewart (14)
robin -- martin truax, jr (1) <> dale earnhardt, jr (88)
rich -- martin truax, jr (1) <> kyle busch (18)
kevin -- kyle busch (18) <> dale earnhardt, jr (88)

nascar 2009 <> after week #24

2009-08-22T23:22:00.003-04:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #24 <> sharpie 500 at bristol

floyd -- 3283 points / 2 winners
jim -- 3180 (-103) / 3 winners
tom *-- 3159 (-124) / 2 winners
jason -- 3042 (-241) / 5 winners
robin* -- 2856 (-427) / 3 winners
rich -- 2509 (-774) / 1 winner
kevin -- 2308 (-975)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> for week #24

2009-08-22T01:37:00.031-04:00

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just 3 more races until nascar's chase for the sprint cup begins here in nh at loudon ... officially or not, tony stewart (1), jeff gordon (2) and jimmie johnson (3) and their hendricks horsepower will race for a championship ... as of now, ryan newman (9), greg biffle (10), matt kenseth (11) and mark martin (12) are in the top 12 but very much on a bubble ... sitting just outside the top 12 are brian vickers (13), clint bowyer (14) and kyle busch (15) ... if i had choices ... mark martin would make the chase ... biffle and kenseth would fall out of the top 12 ... and be replaced by brian vickers and kyle busch ... but instead of me choosing the top 12 ... nascar will run the races at bristol tonite ... atlanta on sunday of labor day weekend (9/6) after a off week ... and richmond 3 weeks from tonite (9/12) ... to decide the 12 drivers who will chase for the 2009 championship

closer to home ... after richmond we will reset our pool for the chase for $$$ ... if our reset were to occur today ... it would look like this

1 floyd -- 120 points (100 for 1st place + 20 for winners picked)
1 jim -- 120 (90+30)
1 jason -- 120 (70+50)
4 tom -- 90 (80+10)
4 robin -- 90 (60+30)
6 rich -- 60 (50+10)
7 kevin -- 40 (40+0)

congratulations to brad keselowski ... keso has put jr motorsports on the nationwide circuit map ... dale, jr gave brad an opportunity ... rick hendricks gave brad the best engines ... brad has gone head to head with the sprint guys on the nationwide circuit and won races ... and he won at taladega on the big stage earlier this year ... for his efforts it sure looks like brad keselowski will drive roger penske's #12 car in 2010 ... replacing david stremme on the sprint cup circuit ... in pre-race interviews last night ... brad smoothly deflected all questions about contracts and next year ... based on the big grins i saw ... i'm guessing the paperwork is done but for signatures

pool picks FOR WEEK #24 <> sharpie 500 at bristol (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- matt kenseth (17) <> carl edwards (99)
jim -- david ragan (6) <> greg biffle (16)
tom -- casey mears (07) <> kyle busch (18)
jason -- jeff burton (31) <> tony stewart (14)
robin -- clint bowyer (33) <> mark martin (5)
rich -- jeff burton (31) <> tony stewart (14)
kevin -- greg biffle (16) <> jimmie johnson (48)

nascar 2009 <> after week #23

2009-08-16T21:24:00.008-04:00

following-up on his 2nd place finish in yesterday's nationwide race ... brian vickers wins the big boys race at michigan ... congrats to brian ... it's been a long time coming ... and thank you ... before today my single memory of brian vickers was of your ugly victory at taladega back in '06 ... back when you were driving rick hendrick's beloved #25 ... back when you wiped out both teammate jimmie johnson and dale, jr just before you crossed the finish line ... thank you for giving me a new memory ... a better memory ... i'm thinking brian vickers was a winner twice today ... watch finish ... watch post race interview

pool standings AFTER WEEK #23 <> carfax 400 at michigan

floyd -- 3149 points / 2 winners
jim -- 3059 (-90) / 3 winners
tom *-- 3025 (-124) / 1 winner
jason -- 2940 (-209) / 5 winners
robin* -- 2746 (-403) / 3 winners
rich -- 2407 (-742) / 1 winner
kevin -- 2251 (-898)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> for week #23

2009-08-15T23:15:00.007-04:00

impressive finish to today's nationwide race at michigan ... watch ... if rick hendrick doesn't soon find a way to put brad keselowski in a sprint cup car full time in 2010 ... someone else will ... keselowski qualified 12th for tomorrow's race ... after the impressive finish came a less than impressive confrontation ... watch ... brian vickers said "i'm sorry, i forgot it was the kyle busch show" ... it wasn't until kyle made it so ... when i was a kid we called them "sore losers" ... today it's probably more correct to say kyle seems not to handle "not winning" well

and, oh by the way ... when brian vickers says he didn't know the 88 was closing fast in the high line ... the only way he is going to know about keselowski is if his spotter or crew chief tells him

pool picks FOR WEEK #23 <> carfax 400 at michigan (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- martin truax (1) <> tony stewart (14)
tom -- brad keselowski (25) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jim -- joey logano (20) <> juan pablo montoya (42)
jason -- jamie mcmurray (26) <> tony stewart (14)
robin -- jamie mcmurray (26) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- martin truax (1) <> tony stewart (14)
kevin -- abstained <> abstained

one down <> three to go

2009-08-15T02:40:00.010-04:00

meaningless breeding ground for injury preseason game #1 is seemingly safely in the books ... the patriots went down to philly and came away with an "interesting" 27-25 win ... it would have been "interesting" even if the eagles had won 27-25 ... so what did i learn

after 9 seasons of a base 3-4 defense ... what we saw almost exclusively last night was a base 4-3 defense ... the current roster of linebackers is a vulnerability ... the middle linebacker is a star in the making ... and there is a lot of big, tall talent along the defensive line ... this mix seems a much better fit for the 4-3 than the 3-4

bernard pollard shreaded tom brady's knee ... tom brady had reconstructive knee surgery ... tom brady had been absent from football for 11 months ... the super bowl mvp married a super model and is expecting a super child ... apparently one of those crazy dream sequences ... except for the part about wife and expecting ... tom brady played 4 series/24 snaps ... his production <> 10/15 <> 100 yards <> 2 td <>1 int ... randy caught 3 for 54 yards with the long being 35 ... brady/moss would have hooked up for a longer 46 yarder if asante hadnt grabbed randy's arm at the last minute ... pass interferance got the yards ... touchdown passes were to a guy who wasnt even a part of the record breaking 2007 offense ... welcome chris baker "the touchdown maker" ... bottom line is tom brady looked excellent considering it really wasn't a dream sequence ... and he still appears to have a favorite receiver ... the open receiver

speaking of open receivers ... who the devil is julian edelman ... 7th round (232 overall) draft pick from kent state ... played the slot receiver with the first team ... wes welker didnt dress for this one ... endelman catches a game high 5 for 37 yards ... looked like the slot machine's all grown up love child ... oh yeah, endelman also returned a punt 75 yards for a td

its possible the patriots have found their safety net in case of injury or lapse into incompetence to matt light ... 4th of 4 second rounders sebastian vollmer played exclusively on the left side ... the protector of tom brady's backside

laurence maroney ... still indecisive ... still running east/west ... anyone still not understanding why teammates filled maroney's locker with diapers back in '07 ... if laurence maroney doesnt learn to run downhill soon ... he will spend his 4th and last year as a patriot on the sideline buried behind sammy morris, fred taylor, kevin faulk and benjarvis green-ellis

secondary ... impressive overall ... performances give us hope this group will be much improved over last year ... second year cb jonathan wilhite <> 2nd round rookies safety patrick chung and cb darius butler <> free agent signee cb leigh bodden <> emerging star safety brandon meriweather ... all got significant playing time ... free agent signee cb shawn springs did not dress for this one

linebackers ... this may well be the weakest, least impressive collection of linebackers of the belichick era ... beyond outside lb adalius thomas and 2nd year inside lb jerod mayo ... the linebacking group is a bunch of jags <> tedy bruschi <> pierre woods <> gary guyton <> shawn crable <> paris lenon ... ugh ... in the event of injury, replacing either a.d. or mayo from this group is a scary thought... mayo wore the miked helmet calling defensive signals ... that job was handled last season by mr vrabel

back-up quarterback ... a lot is being made of the fact andrew walter followed tfb rather than heir apparent to matt cassel's spot on the sideline kevin o'connell ... there may be some truth to the notion the move was some sort of wake-up call to o'connell ... but the bottom line is belichick needs to find out quick if walter has the potential to play in the partiots system ... and the best way to evaluate is live game action ... two thoughts on his performance ... he's been in new england 10 days and he wasnt playing with the same weapons brady was ... there was no julian endelman

tight ends ... competition in practice rumored to be strong ... ben watson didnt dress ... chris baker caught the 2 brady td passes ... david thomas lined up at fullback a number of times ... alex smith and tyson devree were not memorable ... it is possible the team will carry 4 te's with no fullback on the roster

matt cassel

2009-08-13T18:12:00.014-04:00

the new football season begins tonite in new england ... but reality is we are about to be treated to 4 weeks of blah blah blah preseason football ... lets just hope the players stay healthy through these meaningless games

im going to take some of this preseason time to comment about a couple offseason issues ... first up, MATT CASSEL

just 7 minutes into the patriots 2008 season ... kansas city chiefs safety bernard pollard lunges at tom brady's left knee ... shreading brady's acl and mcl ... ending tom brady's season before it ever gets started ... enter brady's back-up ... matt cassel ... 4 years a back-up to heisman trophy winners carson palmer and matt leinart at usc ... in his 4th year as back-up to tom brady (and at times former heisman trophy winners doug flutie and vinny testaverde) with the patriots ... this 2005 7th round draft pick had not started a football game since his chatsworth high school days ... enter matt cassel ... matt started 15 games ... the patriots finished the season 11-5 ... matt cassel was a big part of 11 patriots wins ... 21 touchdowns <> 11 interceptions <> 3,693 yards ... matt cassel was not the reason new england ended last season the 1st team to win 11 games and not make the playoffs

early in february new england used it's franchise tag on free agent to be matt cassel ... that move guaranteed matt $14.65 million for 1 year with the patriots ... on march 1st ... the 3rd day of this year's free agency signing period ... new england traded matt cassel and his guaranteed $14.65 salary to the kansas city chiefs for a 2nd round draft pick (34th overall) ... in mid july scott pioli and the kansas city chiefs signed matt cassel to a 6-year, $63 million ($28 million guaranteed) contract

some would comment that bernard pollard ... the man who took out tom brady ... made matt cassel a $63 million dollar man ... i would suggest bernard pollard's unfortunate hit on tom brady's knee opened an opportunity for a loyal, bright, hard working company man ... who seized the moment and made the absolute best of the opportunity ... and made himself a $63 million dollar man ... now matt cassel and bernard pollard are teammates in kansas city ... thank you matt cassel for leading the patriots through a challenging 2008 to a successful conclusion ... and best wishes for much success out in kansas city (as long as it is not against the patriots)

since the day matt cassel was drafted ... comparisions to tom brady have been made ... one i'd make ... each just seems to know the right things to say ... and each says it well ... click to listen to the nfl network's preseason interview of matt cassel

opening night 2009

2009-08-13T17:54:00.007-04:00

it's been a long time since we've talked patriots ... it's time ... first preseason game is tonite in philly ... OPENING NIGHT 2009 ... new england patriots at philadelphia eagles ... preseason game #1

so many things to talk about ... optimism abounds ... tom brady says he is ready ... randy moss and the slot machine (wes welker) return ... veterans joey gallaway and fred taylor join in the hunt for rings ... big vince wilfork, richard seymour and ty warren once again anchor the defense ... behind them, the linebacking core and the secondary has been upgraded ... welcome derrick burgess, shawn springs, lee boden, darius butler and patrick chung

all the big names and resumes of accomplishment ... all the new guys ... veterans and rookies ... all important in the quest of a super bowl championship ... more important ... no, most important ... GOOD HEALTH

good health ... injury avoidance is all important to any chase for a ring ... and no one knows this better than the new england patriots... so as the air around patriot nation is filled with optimism ... we wish the 2009 edition of the ned england patriots GOOD HEALTH ... and much success ... starting tonite in philadelphia!

nascar 2009 <> after week #22

2009-08-10T20:33:00.002-04:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #22 <> heluva good at the glen 300 at watkins glen

floyd -- 3049 points / 2 winners
tom* -- 2934 (-115) / 1 winner
jim -- 2913 (-136) / 3 winners
jason -- 2873 (-176) / 5 winners
robin* -- 2679 (-370) / 3 winners
rich -- 2307 (-742) / 1 winner
kevin -- 2251 (-798)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> for week #22

2009-08-06T21:41:00.006-04:00

pool picks FOR WEEK #22 <> heluva good at the glen 300 at watkins glen (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- marcos ambrose (47) <> juan pablo montoya (42)
tom -- juan pablo montoya (42) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jim -- marcos ambrose (47) <> marcos ambrose (47)
jason -- kyle busch (18) <> tony stewart (14)
robin -- marcos ambrose (47) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- boris said (08) <> jeff gordon (24)
kevin -- jimmie johnson (48) <> jimmie johnson (48)

nascar 2009 <> after week #21

2009-08-04T22:10:00.003-04:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #21 <> sunoco red cross pennsylvania 500 at pocono

floyd -- 2874 points / 2 winners
tom* -- 2784 (-90) / 1 winner
jim -- 2738 (-136) / 3 winners
jason -- 2698 (-176) / 4 winners
robin* -- 2504 (-370) / 3 winners
rich -- 2246 (-628) / 1 winner
kevin -- 2119 (-755)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> after week #20 / before week #21

2009-08-02T03:47:00.005-04:00

pool picks FOR WEEK #21 <> sunoco red cross pennsylvania 500 at pocono (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- jeff gordon (24) <> tony stewart (14)
tom -- jeff gordon (24) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jim -- jeff gordon (24) <> jeff gordon (24)
jason -- kasey kahne (9) <> tony stewart (14)
robin -- joey logano (20) <> tony stewart (14)
rich -- reed sorenson (43) <> tony stewart (14)
kevin -- dale earnhardt, jr (88) <> jimmie johnson (48)

pool standings AFTER WEEK #20 <> allstate 400 at the brickyard

floyd -- 2732 points / 2 winners
tom* -- 2642 (-90) / 1 winner
jim -- 2596 (-136) / 3 winners
jason -- 2538 (-194) / 4 winners
robin* -- 2422 (-310) / 3 winners
rich -- 2188 (-544) / 1 winner
kevin -- 2040 (-692)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #20

2009-07-26T12:59:00.005-04:00

pool picks FOR WEEK #20 <> allstate 400 at the brickyard (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- reed sorenson (43) <> tony stewart (14)
jim -- dale earnhardt, jr (88) <> tony stewart (14)
tom -- reed sorenson (43) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jason -- a j almendinger (44) <> tony stewart (14)
robin -- tony stewart (14) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- tony stewart (14) <> jimmie johnson (48)
kevin -- denny hamlin (11) <> mark martin (5)

nascar 2009 <> after week #19

2009-07-19T21:39:00.004-04:00

daytona, then chicago ... two awesome finishes in a row ... one with a fiery last lap crach, one with no crash at all ... one with awesome pit stops all day (stewart-haas), one with a gutsy late lap pit stop (letarte-gordon) ... 4 wins for mark martin ... hendricks motorsports dominates again, as has come to be expected ... doule file restarts are what i thought they would be ... awesome

pool standings AFTER WEEK #19 <> lifelock.com 400 at chicagoland

floyd -- 2608 points / 2 winners
jim -- 2541 (-67) / 3 winners
tom* -- 2508 (-100)
jason -- 2435 (-173) / 4 winners
robin* -- 2242 (-394) / 2 winners
rich -- 2008 (-600)
kevin -- 1979 (-629)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #19

2009-07-11T14:42:00.010-04:00

nice paint scheme smoke!

pool picks FOR WEEK #19 <> lifelock.com 400 at chicagoland (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- david reutimann (00) <> kevin harvick (29)
tom -- joey logano (20) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jim -- kasey kahne (9) <> tony stewart (14)
jason -- jimmie johnson (48) <> kyle busch (18)
robin -- denny hamlin (11) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- abstained <> abstained
kevin -- abstained <> abstained

nascar 2009 <> after week #18

2009-07-05T01:49:00.014-04:00

i'll get to the points part of this post sometime sunday evening ... for now a couple of quick thoughts after tonite's 4th of july daytona extravaganza ... while fresh in my mind

congrats to tony stewart who was awesome fast all night ... and his pit stops were near flawless ... he deserved this win ... he earned this win ... he worked for this win
oh so many say he is the most talented race car driver on the track ... but all of kyle busch's considerable talent cannot overcome the laws of aerodynamics and stop a faster race car at the same time ... but when you're kyle busch you try ... if you don't try you're not kyle busch
the incredible safety of a sprint cup car was on full display again tonite ... kyle busch was hit 4 times ... and he was hit very hard ... tony stewart <> the wall <> kasey kahne <> joey logano ... he climbed from race car remnants and was not so willingly escorted by no less than 4 nascar officials to the mandatory medical wagon
wouldn't be much of a news flash to say mark martin ... essentially done after 13 laps ... still hates restrictor plate races
jeff gordon led lap 1 ... got himself into the sucker hole on lap 3 ... was 26th in a flash ... and never was a factor ... coincidentally, it was brad kesolowski who hit jeff behind one of the earlier cautions ... pretty much condemned both to middle of the pack finishes
the final laps of this race ... double file restart ... 4 dominant cars all night ... 14 <> 18 <> 48 <> 11 ... 4 great race car drivers ... stewart <> busch <> johnson <> hamlin ... then single file ... bumper to bumper ... a finish for the ages ... a finish for the new nascar hall of fame ... what daytona under the july lights is all about
historically this race has also been about pepsi ... this was the pepsi 400 ... now coke zero powered by coca cola 400 ... where oh where has pepsi gone?

pool standings AFTER WEEK #18 <> coke zero powered by coca cola 400 at daytona

floyd -- 2481 points / 2 winners
tom* -- 2399 (-82)
jim -- 2371 (-110) / 3 winners
jason -- 2288 (-193) / 4 winners
robin* -- 2087 (-394) / 2 winners
rich -- 2008 (-473)
kevin -- 1979 (-502)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #18

2009-07-03T22:27:00.006-04:00

pool picks FOR WEEK #18 <> coke zero 400 at daytona (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- kevin harvick (29) <> dale earnhardt, jr (88)
tom -- clint bowyer (33) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jim -- brad kesolowski (09) <> tony stewart (14)
jason -- kevin harvick (29) <> tony stewart (14)
robin -- david reutimann (00) <> dale earnhardt, jr (88)
kevin -- brad keselowski (09) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- jamie mcmurray (26) <> dale earnhardt, jr (88)

nascar 2009 <> after week #17

2009-06-29T21:07:00.006-04:00

rookie joey logano wins at his home track ... tony stewart (5th), jeff gordon (2nd), kurt busch (3rd) and jimmie johnson (9th) dominate again ... hendricks engines rule once again (2nd, 5th, 6th, 9th, 13th and 14th) ... david reutimann (4th), kasey kahne (10th) and sam hornish jr (8th) are impressive again ... and whats not to love about taladega winner brad keselowski (6th) ... who is this brash young kid from the nationwide series who can flat out drive a race car ... doesnt seem to matter if he's driving jr's car, a hendricks motorsports or james finch car ... nationwide or sprint car ... he drives the car into the money just about every week

the most unusual performances of the weekend ... rousch-fenway drivers ... greg biffle (18th), carl edwards (19th), matt kenseth (22nd), jamie mc murray (33rd) and david ragan (38th) ... how far this team seems to have fallen ... it has always been an odd mixture of characters ... im thinking rousch-fenway heirarchy and drivers had a late night on race eve ... attending the inside fenway park wedding reception of boston red sox owner (which includes fenway sports group which is the fenway in rousch-fenway) john henry ... the wedding ceremony took place saturday afternoon on john henry's yacht ... somewhere in the atlantic ocean

pool standings AFTER WEEK #17 <> lenox industrial tools 301 at loudon

floyd -- 2396 points / 2 winners
tom* -- 2323 (-73)
jim -- 2270 (-126) / 2 winners
jason -- 2193 (-203) / 3 winners
robin* -- 2032 (-364) / 2 winners
kevin -- 1888 (-508)
rich -- 1878 (-518)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #17

2009-06-27T23:16:00.005-04:00

pool picks FOR WEEK #17 <> lenox industrial tools 301 at loudon (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- clint bowyer (33) <> jeff gordon (24)
jim -- clint bowyer (33) <> tony stewart (14)
tom -- kurt busch (2) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jason -- ryan newman (39) <> tony stewart (14)
rich -- kurt busch (2) <> jimmie johnson (48)
robin -- kurt busch (2) <> jimmie johnson (48)
kevin -- bobby labonte (96) <> mark martin (5)

nascar 2009 <> after week #16

2009-06-21T17:17:00.006-04:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #16 <> toyota / savemart 350 at infineon raceway in sonoma

floyd -- 2293 points / 2 winners
jim -- 2167 (-126) / 2 winners
tom* -- 2153 (-140)
jason -- 2112 (-181) / 3 winners
rich -- 1878 (-415)
robin* -- 1862 (-431) / 2 winners
kevin -- 1783 (-510)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #16

2009-06-21T03:31:00.005-04:00

happy father's day to jason, tom and our newest dad, rich!

pool picks FOR WEEK #16 <> toyota / savemart 350 at infineon raceway in sonoma (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- juan montoya (42) <> robby gordon (7)
tom -- robby (crash) gordon (7) <> tony stewart (14)
jim -- juan montoya (42) <> tony stewart (14)
jason -- juan montoya (42) <> tony stewart (14)
robin -- robby (crash) gordon (7) <> juan montoya (42)
rich -- juan montoya (42) <> robby gordon (7)
kevin -- ron fellows (09) <> kyle busch (18)

nascar 2009 <> after week #15

2009-06-15T19:35:00.009-04:00

who won this battle ... jimmie johnson (48) or greg biffle (16) ... neither ... mark martin saved his gas ... johnson and biffle didn't ... mark martin wins again ... hendricks motorsports dominates again

pool standings AFTER WEEK #15 <> lifelock 400 at michigan

floyd -- 2143 points / 2 winners
tom* -- 2093 (-50)
jim -- 2017 (-126) / 2 winners
jason -- 1962 (-181) / 3 winners
robin* -- 1802 (-341) / 2 winners
rich -- 1728 (-415)
kevin -- 1701 (-442)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #15

2009-06-15T19:26:00.002-04:00

pool picks FOR WEEK #15 <> lifelock 400 at michigan (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- brian vickers (83) <> carl edwards (99)
tom -- tony stewart (14) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jim -- david reutimann (00) <> kurt busch (2)
jason -- carl edwards (99) <> kyle busch (18)
rich -- matt kenseth (17) <> dale earnhardt, jr
kevin -- abstained <> abstained
robin -- matt kenseth (17) <> dale earnhardt, jr (88)

nascar 2009 <> after week #14

2009-06-08T13:31:00.003-04:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #14 <> pocono 500 at pocono raceway

floyd -- 2005 points / 2 winners
tom* -- 1947 (-58)
jim -- 1911 (-94) / 2 winners
jason -- 1797 (-208) / 3 winners
rich -- 1728 (-277)
kevin -- 1701 (-304)
robin* -- 1699 (-306) / 2 winners

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #14

2009-06-07T01:08:00.006-04:00

i know this place ... ive been here before ... yep, ive been to the vast 2 1/2 mile triangle known as pocono raceway ... ive lived inside the triangle for 4 days ... i learned 2 things ... 1) the weather is wierd ... and 2) unless you have a bold pit strategy up your sleeve ...

pool picks FOR WEEK #14 <> pocono 500 at pocono (for most points <> for race win)

tom -- brian vickers (83) <> jimmie johnson (48)
floyd -- tony stewart (14) <> denny hamlin (11)
jim -- ryan newman (39) <> Jeff gordon (24)
robin -- ryan newman (39) <> jimmie johnson (48)
kevin -- aj allmendinger (44) <> denny hamlin (11)
rich -- denny hamlin (11) <> denny hamlin (11)
jason -- marcos ambrose (47) <> kyle busch (18)

nascar 2009 <> after week #13

2009-05-31T18:54:00.005-04:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #13 <> autism speaks 400 at dover

tom* -- 1847 points
floyd -- 1815 (-32) / 2 winners
jim -- 1751 (-96) / 2 winners
robin* -- 1699 (-148) / 2 winners
kevin -- 1682 (-165)
rich -- 1679 (-168)
jason -- 1647 (-200) / 3 winners

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #13

2009-05-31T02:55:00.006-04:00

pool picks FOR WEEK #13 <> autism speaks 400 at dover (for most points <> for race win)

tom -- david reutimann (00) <> kyle busch (18)
floyd -- elliott sadler (19) <> kyle busch (18)
jim -- sam hornish (77) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- elliott sadler (19) <> kyle busch (18)
kevin -- clint bowyer (33) <> kyle busch (18)
robin -- kasey kahne (9) <> dale earnhardt, jr (88)
jason -- joey logano (20) <> kyle busch (18)

nascar 2009 <> after week #12

2009-05-26T19:47:00.005-04:00

so nascar execs met with drivers and owners today to discuss a wide range of issues ... im hoping restarts coming out of a caution were discussed ... with the advent of the lucky dog ... there isnt the need for lap down cars to restart up front ... my preference would be what was done in the all-star race ... double file restart with lead lap cars up front ... leader gets choice of inside/outside

pool standings AFTER WEEK #12 <> coca cola 600 at charlotte

tom* -- 1733 points
floyd -- 1728 (-5) / 2 winners
jim -- 1617 (-116) / 1 winner
rich -- 1592 (-141)
kevin -- 1552 (-181)
robin* -- 1549 (-184) / 2 winners
jason -- 1529 (-204) / 3 winners

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #12

2009-05-21T22:11:00.009-04:00

in the aftermath of darlington 10 days ago ... our pool looks like this

and since darlington ... amazing all-star racing happened last saturday night at lowe's motor speedway in charlotte ... and the winner of $1,000,000

pool picks FOR WEEK #12 <> coca cola 600 at charlotte (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- carl edwards (99) <> jimmie johnson (48)
tom -- ryan newman (39) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jim -- tony stewart (14) <> tony stewart (14)
rich -- david ragan (6) <> jimmie johnson (48)
kevin -- brian vickers (83) <> jimmie johnson (48)
robin -- ryan newman (39) <> tony stewart (14)
jason -- brian vickers (83) <> tony stewart (14)

nascar 2009 <> after week #11

2009-05-10T02:39:00.005-04:00

no one picked mark martin to win at darlington so no bonus points are awarded this week ... for the 3rd week in a row our nascar 2009 pool has a new leader ... floyd has leapfrogged tom and reclaimed the top spot

6 of the top 7 finishers at darlington ... martin (1) <> johnson (2) <> stewart (3) <> newman (4) <> gordon (5) <> kesolowski (7) ... drove cars with hendricks horsepower

can anyone recall a driver who has made or been involved in as many pit road errors as dale, jr has this season ... the number and consistency of the mistakes is unprecedented in my memory

coming into the season ... we anticipated kyle busch would win his share of races ... we expected jimmie johnson and carl edwards would do the same ... we hoped jeff gordon and tony stewart would win ... we said junior just had to win ... none of us expected mark martin to win ... not once ... certainly not twice ... congratulations mark martin on your 2nd sprint cup win of 2009

pool standings AFTER WEEK #11 <> southern 500 by godaddy.com at darlington

floyd -- 1568 points / 2 winners
tom* -- 1558 (-10)
jim -- 1511 (-57) / 1 winner
rich -- 1501 (-67)
kevin -- 1392 (-176)
robin* -- 1374 (-194) / 2 winners
jason -- 1369 (-199) / 3 winners

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #11

2009-05-09T03:49:00.008-04:00

top 5 in points now gets you into our rogues gallery on facebook ... at the top of our pool ... lead change for 2nd week in a row ... tom picked kyle for points at richmond ... kyle produced maximum points ... tom leads floyd by 3 points ... floyd, robin and jason all earned bonus points for picking ky busch for the win ... anyone else hear a thud in the background

in the world of nascar ... late spring means two things ... mother's day and racing under the lights ... this week it's saturday night at the home of the "darlington stripe" ... fox kicks up coverage at 7 pm ... please take a look at your latest roster of available drivers ... everyone has 10 drivers (well, not exactly) they cannot pick for points at darlington

robin ... happy nascar-free mother's day to you

floyd ... something tells me next weekend is very big for you ... let me wish you and your bride-to-be a lifetime of happiness ... i need a pic to feature in my week #11 results post here ... no nascar picks to worry about during your wedding weekend ... next points race is the longest of the season ... memorial day weekend from charlotte

pool picks FOR WEEK #11 <> southern 500 by godaddy.com at darlington (for most points <> for race win)

tom -- matt kenseth (17) <> kyle busch (18)
floyd -- greg biffle (16) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jim -- greg biffle (16) <> jeff gordon (24)
rich -- ryan newman (39) <> kasey kahne (9)
robin -- jeff burton (31) <> jeff gordon (24)
kevin -- greg biffle (16) <> jeff gordon (24)
jason -- tony stewart (14) <> kyle busch (18)

nascar 2009 <> after week #10

2009-05-02T23:18:00.004-04:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #10 <> crown royal 400 at richmond

tom* -- 1419 points
floyd -- 1416 (-3) / 2 winners
jim -- 1359 (-60) / 1 winner
rich -- 1336 (-83)
robin* -- 1247 (-172) / 2 winners
kevin -- 1240 (-179)
jason -- 1199 (-220) / 3 winners

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #10

2009-05-02T02:59:00.005-04:00

pool picks FOR WEEK #10 <> crown royal 400 at richmond (for most points <> for race win)

floyd -- jeff burton (31) <> kyle busch (18)
tom -- kyle busch (18) <> jeff gordon (24)
rich -- brian vickers (83) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jim -- jeff burton (31) <> jeff gordon (24)
jason -- kurt busch (2) <> kyle busch (18)
robin -- brian vickers (83) <> kyle busch (18)
kevin -- jeff burton (31) <> jeff gordon (24)
tommy* -- new york yankees <> boston red sox

* denotes "just for fun"

nascar 2009 <> after week #9

2009-04-26T18:14:00.006-04:00

wow!

sorry ... no one selected brad kesolowski to win at talladega ... no bonus points awarded this week

carl edwards may be one of today's great race car drivers ... but he absolutely sucks at restrictor plate races ... i read somewhere recently that jimmie johnson "didnt have a clue" in his early restrictor plate races ... edwards "doesnt have a clue"

was today the first time we've seen the car of today go airborne? ... can you imagine the disaster if that car had gone through the wire fence rather than bouncing off it

shake-ups at the top ... with his 37th place finish at talladega ... jeff gordon has fallen to 2nd in the driver points standings ... kurt busch is the new points leader by +5 over gordon ... and by +64 and +67 points over jimmie johnson and tony stewart, respectively ... and here in our little nascar pool ... with a 43rd place finish at talladega ... jason has tumbled to 5th in the points standings ... now leading the pack is a trio of former oswego-ites ... floyd, rookie tom (-12) and rich (-28)

pool standings AFTER WEEK #9 <> aarons 499 at talladega

floyd -- 1241 points / 1 winner
tom* -- 1229 (-12)
rich -- 1213 (-28)
jim -- 1194 (-47) / 1 winner
jason -- 1189 (-52) / 2 winners
robin* -- 1114 (-127) / 1 winner
kevin -- 1075 (-166)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> before week #9

2009-04-25T23:31:00.007-04:00

to the anonymous visitor (no surprise there) who posted the comment below ... DILIGAF!

pool picks FOR WEEK #9 <> aarons 499 at talladega (for most points <> for race win)

jason -- mark martin (5) <> kyle busch (18)
floyd -- dale earnhardt, jr (88) <> jeff gordon (24)
tom -- dale earnhardt, jr (88) <> kyle busch (18)
jim -- brian vickers (83) <> jeff gordon (24)
rich -- dale earnhardt, jr (88) <> jeff gordon (24)
kevin -- michael waltrip (55) <> tony stewart (14)
robin -- greg biffle (16) <> dale earnhardt, jr (88)
tommy* -- justin masterson (63) <> andy pettite (46)

* denotes "just for fun"

nascar 2009 <> after week #8

2009-04-19T02:58:00.005-04:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #8 <> subway fresh fit 500 at phoenix

jason -- 1155 points / 2 winners
floyd -- 1066 (-89) / 1 winner
tom* -- 1054 (-101)
jim -- 1047 (-108) / 1 winner
rich -- 1028 (-127)
kevin -- 973 (-182)
robin* -- 963 (-192) / 1 winner

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> everywhere a racetrack

2009-04-18T18:41:00.004-04:00

ever know someone with a mission to see a sprint cup race from every nascar venue ... kinda like jeff gordon efforting to win a sprint cup race at every track ... if you do ... maybe this map will help ... cities in red host 2 sprint cup races ... in black are the 1 race cities ... across the country is EVERYWHERE A RACETRACK

nascar 2009 <> after week #7 -- before week #8

2009-04-18T04:18:00.019-04:00

wow ... now 7 races thru our 2009 season ... the leaderboard is packed with nascar superstars ... 4-time sprint cup champion jeff gordon is the points leader ... 3-time and reigning champion jimmie johnson runs second (-162) to gordon ... 2004 champion kurt busch and 2002/2005 champion tony stewart stand 3rd (-180) and 5th (-191) in points ... and the oh so talented kids with championship aspirations ... kyle busch and carl edwards ... are 7th (-240) and 8th (-265) in driver point standings ... cant get much better than that

jeff gordon's texas win was the 82nd of his career ... next checkered flag will tie jeff with cale yarborough for 5th on the all-time wins list ... two more jeff gordon wins match bobby allison and darrell waltrip for 3rd in all-time wins ... three active drivers "just behind" gordon's 82 career wins ... mark martin (35) <> jimmie johnson (34) <> tony stewart (32)

tonite we are racing from daylight (5 pm pdt) to under the lights around the 1 mile tri-oval that is phoenix international raceway ... it will be a late night for anyone planning to watch the race to its conclusion ... jimmie johnson has won the last 3 races at pir ... hendricks motorsports has won 4 in a row ... jeff gordon won in spring 2007 ... chevrolet has won the last 7 and 9 of 10 phoenix races ... from the desert nascar moves to talladega next sunday ... then under the lights of richmond and darlington leading into all-star weekend and memorial day weekend's coke 600 from charlotte

pool standings AFTER WEEK #7 <> samsung 500 at texas

jason -- 985 points / 2 winners
rich -- 938 (-47)
floyd -- 896 (-89) / 1 winner
kevin -- 876 (-109)
tom* -- 859 (-126)
jim -- 852 (-133) / 1 winner
robin* -- 798 (-187) / 1 winner

*denotes rookie competitor

pool picks FOR WEEK #8 <> subway fresh fit 500 at phoenix (for most points <> for race win)

jason -- kurt busch (2) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- joey logano (20) <> jimmie johnson (48)
floyd -- kurt busch (2) <> jimmie johnson (48)
kevin -- david ragan (6) <> tony stewart (14)
tom -- mark martin (5) <> kyle busch (18)
jim -- mark martin (5) <> jeff gordon (24)
robin -- jimmie johnson (48) <> Jimmie johnson (48)
tommy* -- jimmie johnson (48) <> jimmie johnson (48)

* denotes "just for fun"

nascar 2009 <> after week #7

2009-04-05T15:50:00.009-04:00

two words ... mission accomplished ... congratulations to 4-time nascar champion jeff gordon on his 1st win of 2009 ... his 1st win at texas motor speedway ... his 1st win since october, 2007 in charlotte ... and the 82nd win of his career ... also, congrats to me for picking jeff to win ... and getting my first 10 bonus points of the season

pool standings AFTER WEEK #7 <> samsung 500 at texas

jason -- 985 points / 2 winners
rich -- 938 (-47)
floyd -- 896 (-89) / 1 winner
kevin -- 876 (-109)
tom* -- 859 (-126)
jim -- 852 (-133) / 1 winner
robin* -- 798 (-187) / 1 winner

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> after week #6 -- before week #7

2009-04-04T23:19:00.015-04:00

who was it that said "those who do not learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat its mistakes" ... jimmie johnson has now won six of the last five races at martinsville ... yet only floyd heeded the lessons of recent history at the paper clip oval ... the rest of us ... every one of us ... we went the route of jeff gordon's gonna win one soon ... its been so long ... he's been so close ... he is the master of the short track ... he's the points leader ... today's the day he defies recent history ... oh well, so much for that route ... now here comes texas ... and jeff gordon has never won at texas motor speedway ... he's won 4 sprint cup championships ... he has won at 20 of 22 tracks .. he has never won at texas ... in fact, jeff has finished 43rd only three times in his career ... two of those dead last finishes were at texas ... anyone willing to bet "the lessons of history" will be defied tomorrow in dallas

fox coverage of sunday's race kicks off at 1:30 pm ... if pre-race festivities are texas big ... green flag should wave about 2:30 pm ... after texas comes nascar's easter break ... happy easter to one and all ... on the other side of the break ... phoenix under the lights ... saturday night, april 18th at 8:00 pm edt

pool standings AFTER WEEK #6 <> goody's fast pain relief 500 at martinsville

jason -- 825 points / 2 winners
floyd -- 823 (-2) / 1 winner
kevin -- 803 (-22)
rich -- 778 (-47)
tom* -- 753 (-72)
robin* -- 741 (-84) / 1 winner
jim -- 703 (-122)

*denotes rookie competitor

pool picks FOR WEEK #7 <> samsung 500 at texas (for most points <> for race win)

jason -- matt kenseth (17) <> kyle busch (18)
floyd -- joey logano (20) <> carl edwards (99)
kevin -- joey logano (20) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- matt kenseth (17) <> kyle busch (18)
tom -- kasey kahne (9) <> jimmie johnson (48)
robin -- david ragan (6) <> kyle busch (18)
jim -- carl edwards (99) <> jeff gordon (24)
tommy* -- dustin pedroia (15) <> kevin youkilis (20)

* denotes "just for fun"

nascar 2009 <> after week #6

2009-03-29T23:18:00.005-04:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #6 <> goody's fast pain relief 500 at martinsville

jason -- 825 points / 2 winners
floyd -- 823 (-2) / 1 winner
kevin -- 803 (-22)
rich -- 778 (-47)
tom* -- 753 (-72)
robin* -- 741 (-84) / 1 winner
jim -- 703 (-122)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> after week #5 -- before week #6

2009-03-28T19:30:00.017-04:00

rain washed out friday's qualifying ... points leader jeff gordon will lead the field to the green flag ... rain also cancelled today's practice sessions and forced rescheduling of the truck race to monday ... the sunday forecast down in martinsville, va looks more promising

did you know ... martinsville is a shorter short track than bristol ... around martinsville's pancake flat paper clip oval is .526 mile ... the high banked cereal boval that is bristol measures .533 mile ... this spring's race sponsor is goody's fast pain relief ... last spring it was goody's cool orange ... top 5 last spring <> hamlin <> gordon <> burton <> johnson <> stewart ... last fall's top 5 <> johnson <> earnhardt, jr <> edwards <> gordon <> hamlin ... looking back to spring '07 its the same names <> johnson <> gordon <> hamlin <> ky busch <> earnhardt, jr

thru 5 races ... the "bow tie" is winless ... who woulda thunk ... that means hendricks, childress and stewart-haas are winless ... that means gordon, harvick, stewart, johnson, burton, newman, earnhardt, jr, bowyer and martin are all winless so far ... somethings gotta give on sunday ... cause cheby has won 10 of the last 12 martinsville races ... johnson has 5 wins, 3 in a row ... gordon has won 4 and smoke once

uconn from the big east has advanced to the final 4 ... either pittsburgh or villanova from the big east will move on in the next 30 minutes ... tomorrow louisville from the big east gets its shot at a trip to the final 4 ... and, oh by the way, congrats to syracuse of the big east for an awesome run ... what an amazing year for big east basketball

pool standings AFTER WEEK #5 <> food city 500 at bristol

rich -- 687 points
kevin -- 657 (-30)
jason -- 645 (-42) / 2 winners
floyd -- 633 (-54)
tom* -- 623 (-64)
robin* -- 576 (-111) / 1 winner
jim -- 513 (-174)

*denotes rookie competitor

pool picks FOR WEEK #6 <> goody's fast pain relief 500 at martinsville (for most points <> for race win)

rich -- kyle busch (18) <> jeff gordon (24)
kevin -- mark martin (5) <> jeff gordon (24)
jason -- denny hamlin (11) <> jeff gordon (24)
floyd -- denny hamlin (11) <> jimmie johnson (48)
tom -- kevin harvick (29) <> jeff gordon (24)
robin -- jeff gordon (24) <> jeff gordon (24)
jim -- jimmie johnson (48) <> jeff gordon (24))
tommy* -- boston red sox (1) <> new york yankees (3)

* denotes "just for fun"

quick hitter <> its the right time

2009-03-24T02:22:00.008-04:00

the time has come ... 16 years a major league baseball player ... 14 years with the boston red sox ... senior member of the team ... a starting pitcher ... middle reliever ... a closer ... 178 career wins ... 2 world series championships ... a classy gentleman on and off the field ... a hero down the street at the dana farber cancer institute ... and now at age 42 ... ITS THE RIGHT TIME for tim wakefield to step aside ... with no regrets

after an eye popping performance this spring ... junichi tazawa has been shipped to portland as planned ... for the moment ... michael bowden and daniel bard are now pawtucket red sox ... bowden is obviously not ready for prime time ... he had an awful spring ... bard and his 100 mph lazerballs need to be on the big league roster sooner than later ... he was untouchable all spring ... justin masterson will work from the bullpen ... john smoltz wont become part of the equation until june ... that leaves tim wakefield, brad penny and clay buchholz competing for the #4 and #5 starting pitcher spots on the roster ... if penny's right arm will let him pitch ... he will no doubt be slotted as the #4 starter ... and clay buchholz time has arrived ... he's done everything the red sox have asked of him ... his spring pitching has earned the 25 year old buchholz the final starting spot on the boston red sox roster

out with the old, in with the new ... sounds so cruel ... not meant to be at all ... its just the right time ... time for the tim wakefield era to end with honor and dignity ... and the clay buchholz era to begin with a full time starting gig

nascar 2009 <> after week #5

2009-03-22T20:05:00.016-04:00

amazingly ... the syracuse (3) v arizona state (6) game ended just 2.7 seconds after the green flag dropped at bristol ... the "devo" (eric devendorf) led orange advanced to the "sweet 16" with a methodical 78-67 putdown of asu ... jim boeheim's 799th career win ... next up for syracuse ... a friday matchup with oklahoma (2) in memphis ... if not for a late season injury to superstar blake griffin ... oklahoma would most likely have been the tournament's overall #1 seed (instead of louisville)

pool standings AFTER WEEK #5 <> food city 500 at bristol

rich -- 687 points
kevin -- 657 (-30)
jason -- 645 (-42) / 2 winners
floyd -- 633 (-54)
tom* -- 623 (-64)
robin* -- 576 (-111) / 1 winner
jim -- 513 (-174)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> after week #4 -- before week #5

2009-03-22T04:21:00.015-04:00

welcome back after an off week ... the skiers survived their time out in "josted butte" ... how about the bachelor party boys ... ongoing or day of recovery? ... did we stimulate anyone else while on hiatus kevin? ... has anyone else noticed the value of aig bonuses paid out is rising faster than big dig cost overruns ever did? ... fox tv coverage from bristol starts up at 1:30 pm ... im guessing that means green flag somewhere between 2:00 and 2:30 ... why cant they just publish a green flag drop time ... every baseball and football game has a precise start time ... speaking of precise start times ... syracuse tips off against arizona state at 12:10 pm down in miami ... hopefully the orange will have advanced to the sweet 16 from the south (north carolina) bracket before boogity boogity is heard from bristol motor speedway

pool standings AFTER WEEK #4 <> kobalt tools 500 at atlanta

jason -- 532 points / 1 winner
rich -- 527 (-5)
kevin -- 506 (-26)
robin* -- 503 (-29)
floyd -- 482 (-501)
tom* -- 448 (-84)
jim -- 440 (-92)

*denotes rookie competitor

pool picks FOR WEEK #5 <> food city 500 at bristol (for most points <> for race win)

jason -- elliott sadler (19) <> kyle busch (18)
rich -- jeff gordon (24) <> tony stewart (14)
kevin -- ryan newman (39) <> dale earnhardt, jr (88)
robin -- kevin harvick (29) <> kyle busch (18)
floyd -- ryan newman (39) <> kurt busch (2)
tom -- denny hamlin (11) <> jeff gordon (24)
jim -- kevin harvick (29) <> jeff gordon (24)
tommy* -- tony stewart (14) <> jimmie johnson (48)

* denotes "just for fun"

quick hitter <> dont get it

2009-03-19T20:34:00.006-04:00

as usual ... i DONT GET IT ... this month's details magazine ... story about and photos of a-roid ... all done the very day before "this lady" from sports illustrated was going to tell the world all-world baseball superstar alex rodriguez had flunked performance enhancing drug tests ... he knew it was coming ... he also knows selena roberts is writing a book about him ... a-rod: the many lives of alex rodriguez ... where rumor says she will question his sexual orientation ... and yet he poses of his own free will kissing himself in a mirror ... like i said ... i dont get it

so i am reading the details article ... well written by jason gay ... get all the way to the 5th page ... four paragraphs from the end i read this

"damage control is all about pursuing the best of bad options," says eric dezenhall, a crisis-management expert who has reportedly advised clients like exxon-mobil and procter & gamble. "he's not a cuddly guy, and contrary to all that nonsense about spin doctors, you can't put in what god left out." for now, dezenhall prescribes humility and a little austerity: "no posing next to private jets and rolls-royces. no madonna. no strippers. no asinine behavior."

but posing stretched out on a sealy posturpedic ... lusting after oneself in a mirror ... that's ok ... still not getting it ... obviously neither is a-roid ... a-fraud ... a-cheat ... take your pick

clearly what this man has none of is common sense

quick hitter <> six overtimes

2009-03-13T02:39:00.016-04:00

at what point does the will to win surrender to the need to survive ... the need to overcome exhaustion and attrition ... it really did happen ... all the sports websites are leading with it in these early morning hours ... so i can believe what i just saw really happened ... #18 syracuse 127 <> #3 uconn 117 in SIX OVERTIMES ... what am amazing basketball game ... at the 30th big east tournament ... at madison square garden ... on a thursday night that turned into friday morning sometime during overtime #4

we got rid of him

2009-03-12T16:12:00.022-04:00

becoming manny ... the authorized biography of manny ramirez ... appeared in bookstores around new england on tuesday without much fanfare ... today the april issue of esquire magazine hit the newstands in boston and across new england ... "with fanfare" would be an understatement ... the latest edition of esquire includes a wonderfully written article by chris jones headlined "jonathan papelbon grinds his teeth" ... inside the article are some pretty frank comments from jonathan on last summer's departure of manny ramirez from boston ... paps comments are consistent with and pretty much confirm stories we have heard and read over the winter months ... manny was traded from boston because the situation in the red sox clubhouse had become "carl everett" toxic ... and manny's very teammates essentially "voted him off the island" ... papelbons spicy words about ramirez ...which were actually spoken when writer chris jones visited jonathan and ashley (and newborn baby daughter parker alice) in mid-january at their home in hattiesburg, mississippi ... read like this

"the beautiful thing about our team is, we don’t let anybody get above the team. he wasn’t on the same train as the rest of us." (writer's note: here papelbon starts banging his kitchen table for emphasis, the punctuation marks in his sentences changing) "he was on a different train! and you saw what happened with that. WE GOT RID OF HIM, and we moved on without him. that comes from the manager, and it comes from guys like jason varitek and tim wakefield and david ortiz. nobody is ever going to be allowed to do that. even a guy like me, just heading into my fourth year in the big leagues — if david ortiz gets a little, you know — i’ll tell him what’s up! i’m not afraid to do that. i’m not afraid to put him in his place, because i think everybody needs that. and if somebody does it to me, i understand that. i most certainly understand that. varitek tells me all the time, 'just shut up. do what you’re supposed to do.' so manny was tough for us. you have somebody like him, you know at any point in the ball game, he can dictate the outcome of the game. and for him not to be on the same page as the rest of the team was a killer, man! it just takes one guy to bring an entire team down, and that’s exactly what was happening. once we saw that, we weren’t afraid to get rid of him. it’s like cancer. that’s what he was. cancer. he had to go. it sucked, but that was the only scenario that was going to work. that was it for us. and after, you could feel it in the air in the clubhouse. we got jason bay — johnny ballgame, plays the game right, plays through broken knees, runs out every ground ball — and it was like a breath of fresh air, man! awesome! no question."

as you might expect ... media assclowns have chased paps around the red sox spring training complex in fort myers today looking for more ... and jonathan hasnt disappointed ... give him credit ... papelbon did not pull "a trot nixon" ... he did not for a second back away from his words in esquire ... to the boston globe's not all that pretty amalie benjamin jonathan said

"im not going to sugar-coat anything. it takes 25 guys on a team to win, not 24, and that was blatantly obvious," papelbon said today after the club's workout. "it doesn't matter who you are -- you could be babe ruth -- if you're not in that same cubbyhole with the rest of the guys going to war with you, you're all going to die. that almost happened. it was bad enough to where we weren't winning games. we weren't doing our job. when it comes down to that, we've got to find a cure. jason bay was our cure. it's that simple. we've got a team with one guy, we're not winning games. he leaves, a new guy comes in, and then we start winning games. that's pretty much putting the writing on the wall, if you ask me."

asked how he felt about the trade after it had finally happened ... jonathan had more for amalie
"i was excited because I knew [manny] didn't want to be there, i wasn't excited that he was leaving because I know how good of a player he can be when he wants to be a good player. if you don't want to be a good player, you're not going to be good. if you want to sit out games against certain pitchers or you want to sit out because you don't feel like [it] for whatever reason, I mean you've got guys like [dustin] pedroia that are playing with a broken wrist and guys like mikey [lowell] that are trying to make it through hips that need hip suregery. you've got [josh] beckett with a bad back, everybody in the bullpen that's picking up extra innings that's breaking down. all kind of extra stuff that we're pushing through. when 25 or so guys are pushing through and one guy is not, that creates a problem. a problem was created and we weren't winning games, so we had to do something. it is what it is. yeah, we lost a great player, but we started winning games. so what's more important?"
apparently jonathan didnt limit today's afterthoughts to benjamin ... weei.com has the text of more questions/answers ... the questions this time come from ap's maureen mullen

documenting <> my sports axioms

2009-03-12T02:00:00.004-04:00

wikipedia ... the 21st century version of my encyclopedia britannica ... defines axiom as

"in traditional logic, an axiom or postulate is a proposition that is not proved or demonstrated but considered to be either self-evident, or subject to necessary decision. therefore, its truth is taken for granted, and serves as a starting point for deducing and inferring other (theory dependent) truths."

a few of MY SPORTS AXIOMS ... and im only doing this so i can start to document ... and add to over time as "light dawns on marblehead"

on sports ... "thats why they play the games" ... put another way ... there's a reason they play the games ... all the games

on baseball ... a strong offensive lineup may carry a team through the long grind of a 162 game regular season ... and into postseason contention ... but pitching and defense win in october

on football ... when january arrives ... great defense stops prolific offense ... teams win super bowls with great defense

on sports radio callers ... in a sports town, a region ... sports nations even ... where fans are considered some of the most knowledgeable ... callers to sports radio 850 weei will generally be ignorant ... an embarrassment to the truly knowledgeable

on successful sports franchises ... it starts with committed, forward thinking, marketing focused ownership ... and its not a bad thing to be a fan of the sport

quick hitter <> blogging from the wbc

2009-03-11T20:46:00.003-04:00

he's a rookie of the year ... he's a most valuable player ... he's a video game coverboy ... he's the starting second baseman for team usa in the world baseball classic (wbc) ... and now he's a writer ... or a blogger ... allegedly ... dustin pedroia is BLOGGING FROM THE WBC for weei.com ... you can read pedey's 1st blog post here ... and the 2nd here ... im impressed ... im inspired ... inspired to suggest a poll

who is dustin pedroia's ghost blogger

curt schilling
enza youkilis
rob bradford
kelli pedroia
david wright

quick hitter <> bundchen-brady

2009-03-11T18:12:00.012-04:00

i thought about posting a congratulations message to tom brady and gisele bundchen upon their seemingly sudden or amazingly below the radar marriage back on february 27th ... decided id wait for some decent pics from the event to show up on-line ... thats a lie ... the truth is i put it off cause i really didnt get all too excited by the event ... for me tom brady is one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game of football ... he is the mvp quarterback of my football team ... and i hope he returns for the 2009 season with a healthy left knee ... he is also a 31 year old man with a private life during my basketball and baseball seasons ... on the evening tom and gisele were wed ... i was focused on understanding what had happened on the first day of nfl free agency ... and overcoming shock upon learning one of my all-time favorite patriots had been traded ... the vrabelizer had been shipped to kansas city

in the 12 days since the wedding ... the paparazzi have grabbed a couple shots that have floated around the web ... no wedding photos ... then today appeared an image worthy of a post congratulating the new couple ... so congratulations tom ... congratulations gisele ... ok, the formalities out of the way ... the wounded celtics are in miami tonite to play the heat ... the usa plays someone in a wbc baseball game ... big papi should be back in fort myers now that the great dominican republic has been swept from the wbc by some euro state (netherlands) ... and jay cutler needs to grow up

the image worth using ... the cover on the latest edition of haprers bazaar ... it is a beautiful photo ... the beautiful woman pictured is now gisele brady ... or maybe gisele bundchen-brady ... most likely still gisele bundchen ... im just hoping tom gets to keep his maiden name in this arrangement ... im having great difficulty visualising "BUNDCHEN-BRADY" across the back of new england patriots uniform #12

quick hitter <> doing the math

2009-03-10T22:19:00.011-04:00

DOING THE MATH ... sometimes it helps me to write down the numbers im trying to digest ... so indulge me

through the offseason ... the new york yankees signed left handed pitcher c c sabathia for $161 million dollars over 7 years (with an escape clause for "cc" after 3 years) ... just 5 days after signing sabathia to the offer he neither solicited or wanted (he wanted to play on the west coast and for a national league team) ... the yankees snagged oft-injured pitcher a j burnett for $82.5 mil over 5 years ... total so far is $243,500,000 ... then the big new york spenders picked up gold glove first baseman mark teixeira for a mere $180 mil for 8 years service (with a no trade clause) ... now my calculator says $423,500,000 ... surely no evidence of financial crisis in the bronx

on another page in the ledger it says ... the boston red sox signed american league most valuable player, gold glove second baseman, silver slugger and mlb 09 the show cover boy ... 25 year old dustin pedroia to a 6 year contract worth $40.5 million dollars (including club option for a 7th year) ... they then extended the contract of 29 year old gold glove first baseman kevin youkilis for $41.25 mil over 4 years (again with a club option for a 5th year) ... this time the calculator says $81,750,000 ... now they are on the verge of locking up 25 year old left handed pitcher jon lester with a 5 year contract for $30 mil (also reported to have a club option for year 6) ... the calculator now says $111,750,000

each team signed 3 key players ... the yankees went after free agents to bolster a team that finished 3rd in the al east last season ... the red sox locked up 3 young home grown talents on a team that came within 1 game of another world series appearance ... different directions ... different dollars ... the yankees spent $423,500,000 ... the red sox spent $111,750,000 ... difference according to the trusty calculator $311,750,000 ... (+) or (-) depending on your perspective ... i need to go contemplate these mind numbing numbers a bit ... then maybe ill have some thoughts

nascar 2009 <> after week #4

2009-03-08T23:22:00.004-04:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #4 <> kobalt tools 500 at atlanta

jason -- 532 points/1 winner
rich -- 527 points (-5)
kevin -- 506 points (-26)
robin* -- 503 points (-29)
floyd -- 482 points (-501)
tom* -- 448 points (-84)
jim -- 440 points (-92)

*denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> martin truax, jr

2009-03-07T22:10:00.008-05:00

nascar.com is reporting MARTIN TRUAX, JR has been hospitalized with kidney stones ... first i'll say i hope martin gets well quickly ... have had kidney stones ... dont wish the experience on anyone

nascar's report quotes an earnhardt ganassi racing spokesman saying "as of right now, we expect him to be in the car" ... if i were writing the race team's statement it would read ... "if martin passes his kidney stone(s) before race time, we expect him to be in the car. if he doesnt, martin will not drive the #1 tracker boats/bass pro shops general motors chevrolet monte carlo powered by sunoco racing fuel and goodyear tires. we will not risk his health or safety" ... if earnhardt ganassi racing ultimately allows truax to race with stones in his system ... nascar must step in and stop truax from driving ... for his own safety and the safety of other drivers

the fact truax has been hospitalized suggests acute pain ... would nascar allow him to drive a race car at 200 miles per hour under the influence of painkillers ... kidney stones move ... pain comes and goes ... if truax is pain free at race time ... what is to prevent the pain from returning in a sharp stabbing way during the race ... when the driver is so harnessed to his seat movement to relieve pain is limited ... one of the treatments for kidney stones is drinking lots of fluids ... cranberry juice is often suggested ... im having trouble imagining martin truax following such a regimen til race time ... then sitting in a race car for a 500 mile drive without need of a urinal more than once ... nope, if martin truax is still stoned in the am ... someone needs to step in and stop him from racing at atlanta

quick hitter <> suffer

2009-03-07T20:44:00.012-05:00

"sometimes it’s better off to have a two-year deal in a place that you’re gonna be happy, than have an eight year deal in a place that you’re gonna, you know, SUFFER"

the blood boils ... manny ramirez says he suffered in boston ... at $20 mil per season he suffered ... on 2 world series championship teams he suffered ... in a town that adored him as their very own hitter savant he suffered ... on the occasions he talked about wanting to retire a red sox he suffered ... im beginning to understand better what sweet lou merloni means when he so passionately says "manny thinks totally different from how me and you think" ... he suffered in boston ... yeah right ... in the very home of the "boston dirt dog" ... manny was the antithesis of the dirt dog persona ... yet manny was loved ... "manny being manny" ... loyal dirt dogs across new england used the phrase as code for "overlook" and "cover up" ... manny heard it as his enabler ... and used it as his excuse ... manny was new england's rock star ... but he suffered in boston ... anything you say manny

the real problem here ... manny doesnt understand the english meaning of the word "suffer" ... ramirez has played the "i no speak good english" card his entire career ... and he has no clue what "suffering" really is ... in almost 8 years in boston ... manny made not one 3/4 mile trip down the street to dana farber to visit with suffering children ... not once did manny tag along with his buddy big papi on one of david's regular visits ... given two opportunities as a world champion ... manny twice turned his back on our wounded veterans suffering at walter reed hospital in washington, dc ... the real "manny being manny" ... selfish ... ignorant ... arrogant ... suffering ... sad

nascar 2009 <> after week #3 -- before week #4

2009-03-07T19:10:00.018-05:00

before week 1 at daytona ... all the talk was jimmie johnson, reigning 3-time champion ... and carl edwards, heir apparent to johnson's trophy ... 3 weeks into the new season ... the chatter is jeff gordon, the focused veteran, the points leader ... kyle busch, the gifted one, the rowdy one ... the "mnmnm" guy to matthew ... and tony stewart, the new owner/driver against all odds ... kewl beanies

the original pool rules called for picks to be to the poolman by 12:00 noon on sundays ... so far some have been diligent ... others not so much ... first, ill make the rule easier for all ... picks must be in before the green flag drops each week ... and if they arent, then you didnt submit any picks for the week ... second, to those who have been takin liberties with reportin time ... were no longer on the west coast ... fox coverage starts at 1:30 pm edt from atlanta ... so there cant be any e-mails sent just as the baked potatoes are going into the oven for sunday dinner ... and dont forget ... we turn the clocks ahead an hour tonite ... youre gonna lose an hour's sleep and fretting time over your picks ... you have now been forewarned ... no oversleeping ... no late submissions ... no exceptions ... hehehe

pool standings AFTER WEEK #3 <> shelby 427 at las vegas

robin* -- 428 points
jason -- 402 points/1 winner (-26)
tom* -- 387 points (-41)
rich -- 381 points (-47)
floyd -- 336 points (-92)
jim -- 316 points (-112)
kevin -- 311 points (-117)

*denotes rookie competitor

pool picks FOR WEEK #4 <> kobalt tools 500 at atlanta (for most points <> for race win)

robin -- mark martin (5) <> greg biffle (16)
jason -- dale earnhardt, jr (88) <> kyle busch (18)
tom -- greg biffle (16) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- kasey kahne (9) <> jimmie johnson (48)
floyd -- kasey kahne (9) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jim -- denny hamlin (11) <> jeff gordon (24)
kevin -- kurt busch (2) <> dale earnhardt, jr (88)
tommy* -- carl edwards (99) <> tony stewart (14)

* denotes "just for fun"

quick hitter <> 56 wins and 2 losses

2009-03-02T19:32:00.009-05:00

college basketball is once again alive and well down in storrs, ct ... university of connecticut basketball has played to a record of 56 WINS AND 2 LOSSES this winter ... the lady huskies are 29-0 and ranked #1 unanimously ... for the 17th week in a row ... the men are 27-2 and once again this week #1 ranked ... they had been #1 for 3 consecutive weeks until their mid-february loss to pittsburgh ... pittsburgh replaced the huskies at the top of the rankings ... and promptly lost to providence ... now the #1 tag is back on uconn ... the boys from storrs have just 1 game remaining before the big east tournament ... saturday afternoon (3/7) at pittsburgh ... regardless of outcome ... both teams should get #1 seeds in the field of 65

if both teams ... women and men ... win this year's national championships in basketball ... it would be a tremendous accomplishment no doubt ... but it would not be a first ... uconn women and men each won college basketball championships in 2004 ... for the women it was their 3rd consecutive title

nascar 2009 <> after week #3

2009-03-01T20:25:00.003-05:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #3 <> shelby 427 at las vegas

robin* -- 428 points
jason -- 402 points/1 winner (-26)
tom* -- 387 points (-41)
rich -- 381 points (-47)
floyd -- 336 points (-92)
jim -- 316 points (-112)
kevin -- 311 points (-117)

*denotes rookie competitor

not so stunned

2009-03-01T04:55:00.013-05:00

tom brady's surgically repaired knee had better be as well healed as he proclaimed it to be 10 days ago ... that would be the same day tfb told wbz-tv's steve burton he was not engaged to be married ... because his #1 back-up is now gone ... quatrerback matt cassell has been traded to kansas city ... this time ... NOT SO STUNNED ... the handwriting has been on the wall since the day the patriots slapped the "franchise player" tag on cassell ... and matt became a $14.6 mil salary cap liability ... he was going to be traded ... and it was probably going to happen quickly ... the patriots needed salary cap relief to play in this year's free agent market ... a year ago the patriots could not have gotten a dozen mouth guards in return for matt cassell ... a month ago new england risked $14.6 mil of their salary cap dollars to prevent matt (without acrimony) from becoming a free agent without compensation ... yesterday they got their compensation ... a high 2nd round draft pick (34th overall) for cassell (and mike vrabel) ... and opened up near $20 mil in cap space ... hello vince wilfork ... logan mankins ... stephen neal ... stephen gostkowski ... richard seymour

matt cassel spent 4 years at usc backing up heisman trophy winners carson palmer (2002) and matt leinart (2004) ... he spent 4 years backing up tfb and former heismen trophy winners vinny testeverde (1986) and doug flutie (1984) in new england ... then came the kansas city chiefs to new england for game #1 of the 2008 season ... and reigning mvp brady's season-ending knee injury ... with one hit the chiefs changed matt cassell's career forever ... ironically it is kansas city who will now benefit from cassell's emergence as tfb's replacement in 2008 ... good luck to matt cassell who will be "the man" in kc ... his 8 years of patience as a back-up quarterback have finally been rewarded ... and thanks to one of the "good guys" for a great 2008 season

as with mike vrabel ... bill belichick spoke glowingly about matt cassell as he heads west

"it is very easy to root for guys like matt cassel, who do everything the right way and flourish as a result. as much as we would have loved to continue working with matt, we wish him nothing but the best as he takes this next step forward in his career."

nascar 2009 <> after week #2 -- before week #3

2009-03-01T04:14:00.005-05:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #2 <> auto club 500 at fontana

tom* -- 286 points
rich -- 280 points (-6)
jason -- 241 points (-45)
robin* -- 238 points (-48)
floyd -- 235 points (-51)
jim -- 217 points (-69)
kevin -- 196 points (-90)

*denotes rookie competitor

pool picks FOR WEEK #3 <> shelby 427 at las vegas (for most points <> for race win)

tom -- jimmie johnson (48) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- jimmie johnson (48) <> jeff gordon (24)
jason -- greg biffle (16) <> kyle busch (18)
robin -- kyle busch (18) <> jimmie johnson (48)
floyd -- jimmie johnson (48) <> carl edwards (99)
jim -- kurt busch (2) <> jeff gordon (24)
kevin -- sam hornish (77) <> jeff gordon (24)
tommy* -- jeff gordon (24) <> jimmie johnson (48)

* denotes "just for fun"

still stunned

2009-03-01T02:55:00.019-05:00

i totally understand why he is gone ... but i am STILL STUNNED that mike vrabel is no longer a new england patriot ... we are talking about the guy boston magazine several years ago said "even looked, in profile, like the flying elvis patriots logo" ... mike vrabel is now a kansas city chief

vrabel will be 34 in august ... the patriots need to get younger and quicker on defense now ... vrabel is due a $1 mil roster bonus on 3/2 ... and mike's contract is a healthy hit on the salary cap ... the patriots need salary cap flexibility now ... belichick is faced with the possibility of having to make a most painful salary cap cut ... kansas city needs alot ... they were 2-14 last season ... the chiefs need playmakers ... they need experience ... leadership ... a winner like a 3-time super bowl champion ... scott pioli knows mike vrabel as well as belichick ... scott knows the patriots salary cap position ... and he knows all the personnel decisions belichick is facing ... i understand ... still stunned

i will always remember mike vrabel as the all-pro outside linebacker on 4 new england patriots super bowl teams ... 8 years as #50 ... i will remember his intelligence and leadership qualities ... on and off the field ... i will remember his playoff strip sacks ... i will remember the special relationship he and belichick seemed to have ... most of all i will remember mike's 1-yard touchdown catch in super bowl 38 ... which gave the patriots a 27-22 lead in their eventual 32-29 win over the carolina panthers ... linebacker vrabel caught 10 passes as an eligible tight end in his patriots career ... all 10 for touchdowns ... mike was poster boy for the versatility belichick values so much ... i will surely miss this guy "vrabelizing" patriots' opponents next season ... but i surely do wish mike vrabel a strong finish to his career in kc

bill belichick's comments upon mike vrabels departure ... i wouldnt have expected anything less

"when mike arrived in 2001, we knew we were adding a solid outside linebacker. but where mike took it from there exceeded our highest hopes mike vrabel epitomizes everything a coach could seek in a professional football player: toughness, intelligence, playmaking, leadership, versatility and consistency at the highest level. behind the scenes, mike's wit and personality is one of the things we have all enjoyed about coming to work every day. the toughest aspect of my job is the day I stop coaching people like mike, who did everything in his power to contribute to team success. of all the players I have coached in my career, there is nobody I enjoyed working with more than Mike. In the same way people recognize guys like Troy Brown, we appreciate and thank mike vrabel. He is one of the very special patriots champions."

quick hitter <> very, very unusual

2009-02-25T17:38:00.011-05:00

VERY, VERY UNUSUAL ... manny ramirez is only 37 years ... so age is not really an issue ... not after manny single-handedly carried the los angeles dodgers into last season's october ... ramirez has been the most feared right handed hitter in baseball for the better part of the last 15 years ... the way manny terrorized nl pitching the last 2 months of 2008 is the best evidence why he is still feared ... ramirez has never been considered a steroids user ... manny ramirez owns 2 world series rings ... he is a 12-time all-star and world series mvp ... manny ramirez will one day be a first ballot hall of fame inductee ... so why after 3 1/2 months of free agency ... and 10 days into spring training for a new baseball season ... is manny ramirez still an unsigned free agent ... why has only 1 of 32 major league teams even made a credible offer for his hitting prowess ... 1 year/$25 mil ... why have both new york teams said no thank you (so far) to manny ... like i said ... very unusual

we know manny is represented by supersleezebagagent scott boros ... we know boros told manny last may he could get manny a new 4 year/$100 mil contract ... if manny could get the red sox to not exercise their 2009 option ... we know manny forced (10/5 rights) the red sox into trading him to los angeles where the option would not be exercised ... we know manny accomplished his goal of becoming a free agent ... free to sign that new 4 year/$100 mil contract ... we know manny is still free ... and he aint signed no stinkin contract ... more than unusual ... unprecedented

ill speculate ... players all across baseball talk ... managers talk ... general managers talk ... everyone talks ... or texts ... there are no secrets ... everyone across baseball knows exactly what went on here in boston last july ... everyone knows it was a team of 24 players who turned on their own teammate ... everyone knows the players forced the red sox to give up alot of future value just to get manny out of town ... "inside baseball" everyone understands just how very despicable manny ramirez' behavior became last summer ... so in spite of being a hitter and run producer extraordinaire ... manny's character flaws and lack of professionalism have turned his free agency into a toxic nightmare ... manny's value on the free market has now been defined ... he can still command big dollars in a weak market ... $25 mil was the dodgers last offer ... but he'll have to do it one year at a time ... not exactly what manny had in mind ... not quite what scott boros seeded into manny's mind ... another old adage comes to mind about now ... "what goes around comes around"

quick hitter <> promotions and entertainment

2009-02-24T22:29:00.011-05:00

cousin ed and me ... we had a conversation just last evening about minor league baseball parks and the PROMOTIONS AND ENTERTAINMENT they devise to attract families and young fans ... many of today's minor league venues are wonderful and affordable alternatives to a costly night at the big league ballpark ... and many of the minor leaguers' promotions are unique, ingenious, fun and kid oriented ... so why am i talking about this now ... because today i heard of a minor league promotion that struck me as unique and ingenious ... and funny as hell

the lowell spinners ... the single a/rookie affiliate of the boston red sox ... play their home games at le lacheur park on the campus of university of massachusetts @ lowell ... the spinners website lists a summer's worth of promotions for 2009 ... july 30st ... the eve of mlb's annual trading deadline ... will be "salute to quitters <> one year anniversary of manny ramirez trade" night at the ballpark ... ouch ... but i love it ... awesome

here in new england ... le lacheur field is just one of the kewl minor league venues an enthusiast on a budget can visit for a fun baseball game ... mc coy stadium in pawtucket, ri is the home of the red sox triple a affiliate ... the pawtucket red sox (aka the pawsox) <> hadlock field in portland, me hosts the portland sea dogs ... the double a red sox affiliate <> merchantsauto.com stadium in manchester, nh is home to the new hampshire fisher cats ... a double a affiliate of the toronto blue jays <> holman stadium is the nashua, nh home of dan duquette's independent can-am league team ... the american defenders of new hampshire

nascar 2009 <> guarantee

2009-02-24T03:19:00.009-05:00

in sunday's pre-race rant ... i said "nascar needs a spark right now ... they need kyle busch to win today's race in a way only this young superstar can do it ... nascar needs kyle busch to sweep the race weekend" in southern california ...i probably could have suggested a win by jeff gordon or tony stewart would also have ignited nascar nation ... what i didnt say was a win by jimmie johnson or one of the strange collection of rousch-fenway drivers just wasnt gonna do the job

two weeks in ... im not sure nascar's high speed extravaganza has been much more than alot of turning left ... zzzzzzzzz ... kyle busch gave it a best shot ... he won the camping world truck race and the nationwide stock car race on saturday ... a record setting feat in itself ... then he finished 3rd at california ... starting 10th, kyle seemed stuck in 6th position most of the day ... he finished 3rd but was never a real threat to win the sprint race ... not exactly the fix nascar junkies were hoping for

jeff gordon hasnt won a sprint cup race since early october, 2007 ... when he won back-to-back at talladega and charlotte ... but after what i have seen at daytona and california ... i will GUARANTEE right here and right now ... jeff gordon will win a points bearing sprint cup race this season ... he will win one soon ... he will win more than once ... and his winning races once again will be really good for nascar nation

ahhh ... evidence you want ... evidence to back up my guarantee ... sure ... i have some

jeff gordon is a winner ... 4-time champion as a driver and 3-time champion as an owner
jeff is once again focused on racing ... fatherhood is not new any more
jeff has now had a full year to find his comfort zone in the car of today
jeff ran very strong in this year's bud shootout ... finishing 4th ... my now faded memory of the race ... jeff drove very aggressively ... like he had nine lives and used every one of them ... like a man on a new mission
jeff won his qualifying duel at daytona ... finishing ahead of tony stewart, a 2-time champion ... and jimmie johnson, a 3-time champion
jeff finished the daytona 500 in 13th place ... a tire issue identified during his first run put him a lap down on the 3rd run ... the lucky dog happened ... and when the rains came jeff had his car in position to race for a win ... in the end all of jeff's appearances at daytona featured a consistently strong car
in his last great season ... 2007 (6 wins) ... jeff won his qualifying duel ... and finished 10th at daytona
jeff finished 2nd out in fontana last week ... again a powerful machine kept him up front throughout the race ... only the "clean air" thing kept him from overtaking matt kenseth for a win
in 2007 jeff finished 2nd at california ... just behind matt kenseth

for me ... this is the kind of evidence ... performance ... that grows confidence ... jeff gordon will be back in the winner's circle soon ... count on it!

list of 104-1=103

2009-02-23T21:47:00.020-05:00

major league baseball's chief union scumbag donald fehr has started his annual roadshow thru spring training camps ... no doubt steroids, aroids and the LIST OF 104-1=103 will be hot topics ... today at florida marlins camp fehr spewed ... “the agreement we had was that information related to 2003 was supposed to be and should remain confidential, and we believe it should” ... i respectfully disagree ... here's why

frank thomas is currently tied for 18th place (521) on the all-time home run list ... tied with hall of famers ted williams and willie mccovey ... frank has spent years speaking out against steroids ... and claiming he has never taken performance enhancing drugs ... and i have believed him ... thomas appeared before congress with curt schilling to speak out against the use of steroids ... he appeared before congress on the same day ... at the same table as rafael palmeiro (and jose canseco, mark mcgwire and sammy sosa) ... where palmeiro spoke to congressmen in his strongest, firmest voice ... he even pointed at them ... and declared "let me start by telling you this: i have never used steroids. period. i don't know how to say it any more clearly than that. never." ... that was march 17th, 2005 ... we all know how that story ended ... less than 5 months later palmeiro was suspended for ten days after testing positive for stanozolol ... the same rafael palmeiro who is right now in 10th place (569) on that all-time home run list

now we have the case of aroid ... so many of us saw alex rodriguez look katie couric in the eyes back in december, 2007 and answer without hesitiation "no" to katie's question ... "for the record, have you ever used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance?" ... and to a follow-up question ... aroid said "i've never felt overmatched on the baseball field. i've always been a very strong, dominant position. and i felt that if i did my work as i've done since i was, you know, a rookie back in seattle, i didn't have a problem competing at any level." ... so many of us believed the glossy lipped prettyboy ... at least we wanted to in spite of the fact he is a creep ... he was baseball's posterboy for greatness in the "post-steroids era" ... baseball's hope of erasing the shame of barry bonds' all-time home run record ... oops ... arod freeking lied out loud to us all ... and this time we're talking about the player who is in 12th place (553) on the all-time on the home run list and rising fast

so, tell me donald dirtbag ... why in the world should i believe frank thomas isn't lying to me too ... or ken griffey, jr ... or jim thome ... or vladimir guerrero ... or albert pujols ... or chipper jones ... or lance berkman ... or david ortiz ... why should i believe frank thomas' 18th place on the all-time home run list is any less performance enhanced than 5 other guys on the list ... bonds #1 <> sosa #6 <> mcgwire #8 <> palmeiro #10 <> rodriguez #12 ... that's 5 of the 8 (62.5%) active players ahead of frank thomas

so again i ask ... why ... why when frank thomas' name could very well be on that list of 104-1=103? ... an old proverb keeps echoing in my brain ... "fooled once shame on you, fooled twice shame on me" ... and after each proverbial echo i promise myself ... "fooled three times not a chance"

nascar 2009 <> after week #2

2009-02-22T22:04:00.006-05:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #2 <> auto club 500 at fontana

tom* -- 286 points
rich -- 280 points (-6)
jason -- 241 points (-45)
robin* -- 238 points (-48)
floyd -- 235 points (-51)
jim -- 217 points (-69)
kevin -- 196 points (-90)

* denotes rookie competitor

nascar 2009 <> after week #1 -- before week #2

2009-02-22T13:01:00.002-05:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #1 <> daytona 500 at daytona

tom* -- 135 points
jason -- 129 points (-6)
floyd -- 120 points (-15)
rich -- 120 points (-15)
robin* -- 87 points (-48)
kevin -- 61 points (-74)
jim -- 52 points (-83)

* denotes rookie competitor

pool picks FOR WEEK #2 <> auto club 500 at fontana (for most points <> for race win):

kevin -- juan pablo montoya (42) <> jimmie johnson (48)
floyd -- jamie mcmurray (26) <> kyle busch (18)
tom -- carl edwards (99) <> jimmie johnson (48)
jason -- david ragan (6) <> kyle busch (18)
robin -- carl edwards (99) <> jimmie johnson (48)
rich -- kurt busch (2) <> kyle busch (18)
jim -- kyle busch (18) <> kyle busch (18)
tommy* -- dale earnhardt, jr (88) <> jimmie johnson (48)

* denotes "just for fun"

nascar 2009 <> need to vent

2009-02-22T03:07:00.003-05:00

in the early morning hours before race #2 of the young 2009 sprint cup season ... the snoozefest 500 from fontana ... i have this burning NEED TO VENT ... a week after datyona ... a week after what was supposed to be the great american race turned out to be the great american disgrace ... i still feel robbed

the preludes to this season opening sprint cup race were tremendous ... happy harvick "squirted like a hotdog outta the bun" to claim the bud shootout in dramatic fashion ... martin truax, jr and mark martin claimed front row positions for the 500 ... jeff gordon and kyle busch won the duel 1 and duel 2 qualifying races in daytona style ... then came the long, tedious raceday wait ... the ever present threat of rain made the wait feel longer and more nerve wracking ... these races seem to start later every year ... then just after the green flag waved came nephew jason's 3:45 pm text message "i'm in orlando and it raining" ... and the sph#$%cter tightened a bit more

then the ugly american race happened ... dale earnhardt, jr embarrassed himself missing his pit stall (too many "pink signs" he said later) ... gordon and steve letarte giggled at the blunder ... nascar embarassed itself penalizing dale, jr on pit road ... if nascar had instant replay ... that call just might have been reversed upon review ... earnhardt, jr embarrassed himself pulling a "carl edwards" move and taking out about a quarter of the field ... including the fastest car on the track, kyle busch ... and my "most points" pick in the pool, jamie mcmurray ... gordon told letarte he would offer commentary on the crash but says he wont so he doesnt hurt anyone's feelings ... nascar embarrassed itself not penalizing junior for causing the big wreck (aggressive driving) ... like they had penalized jason leffler 5 laps on pit road during the nationwide race the day before ... then nascar really embarrassed itself calling the clusterfuck this daytona 500 had become official with 48 of its most important laps still to be raced ... nascar's super bowl ... nascar's world series ... ended due to rain after just a 15 minute wait ... i felt empty ... i felt robbed ... i still do

the strategy for winning restrictor plate races ... stay out of harms way for 150 laps and be in a position to contend with 50 laps to go ... kevin harvick (winner 2 years ago) did that ... so did clint bowyer (with new team) ... tony stewart (with more than just a new team) ... martin truax, jr (the pole sitter) ... jeff gordon (with a long winless streak to end) and mark martin (the lovable old man with a hendricks engine) ... any one of them could have won the daytona 500 ... so could have matt kenseth or aj allmendinger or kurt busch ... but none got the chance ... for nascar's "super bowl" ... that sucks

personally ... i will forever remember matt kenseth's daytona 500 win as tainted ... not well deserved ... lucky ... bogus ... unfair ... disappointing ... a letdown ... fraudulent

there i said it ... now maybe i will feel better ... now maybe i can move on ... look ahead to one of the season's most boring races ... nascar needs a spark right now ... they need kyle busch to win today's race in a way only this young superstar can do it ... nascar needs kyle busch to sweep the race weekend (camping world, nationwide and sprint) in socal ... yikes ... fox coverage of this one doesnt even start til 5:00 pm ... meaning green flag will wave just about when east coast families are sitting down for sunday night dinner

quick hitter <> diminutive and gritty

2009-02-19T22:24:00.001-05:00

are there two more DIMINUTIVE AND GRITTY athletes in one sports town than the "slot machine", wide receiver wes welker (5'9"/185 lbs) of the new england patriots and boston red sox 2nd baseman dustin pedroia (allegedly 5'9"/180 lbs) ... in just 2 years playing their respective sports here in new england ... both welker and pedroia have come to be respected and recognized as much for how they play their game as they are for their amazing accomplishments ... google "napoleon complex" or "little man syndrome" ... if google doesnt bring up wes welker or dustin pedroia ... google needs to be corrected

quick hitter <> manny ramirez

2009-02-19T19:17:00.001-05:00

while manny is fresh on my mind ... i will always remember MANNY RAMIREZ as one of the greatest right handed hitters to play the game of baseball ... i will remember watching his at-bats and wondering how hard or how far would manny hit the baseball this time ... i will never forget the beauty and power of his swing ... i will remember his consistently huge offensive production ... i will also remember his lackadaisical outfield play and atrocious base running ... i will remember him as our hitter savant ... i will always remember manny as an indispensable part of two world series champion boston red sox teams

but i will always remember something else ... in a town with a long history of selfish baseball players ... on a team whose personality has more than once been described as "25 cabs for 25 players" ... there may not have been a more selfish player to wear a boston red sox uniform than future hall of famer manny ramirez

questioned recently about the fact he remains an unsigned free agent into mid-february ... manny's response was ... "understand me, i have goals. i know that if i play six more years, i could get to my 3,000th hit and, who knows, maybe my 700th home run" ... more manny words ... "no, it doesn't bother me. this is a business. you have to continue negotiating ... what matters is what i sign in the end." ... its all about "i" "me" and "my" ... what manny is saying here is ... he's not bothered by being unsigned ... someone will ultimately give him his money ... doesnt matter if its the dodgers or the mets ... pittsburgh or kansas city ... all he wants is his money and a place to hit his way into the record books for himself ... the team is irrelevant ... its not about team ... never has been ... its all about manny ... always has been

quick hitter #9 <> becoming manny

2009-02-19T17:45:00.000-05:00

now this oughta be a wild read ... the "authorized" biography of manny ramirez ... BECOMING MANNY will be out on March 10th ... just cant wait to read how manny spins being dispatched from boston at the request of his teammates ... even more fun will be the mouths this read will lubricate enough to start flapping

manny's book is being co-authored by jean rhodes and shawn boburg ... never heard of either ... but i did hear jean rhodes on the radio last week ... she is a phd and professor of psychology at umass boston ... ms rhodes did her very best to offer some insight into the book in an interview on sports radio 850 weei ... but before you click and listen ... be warned the hosts of the show john dennis and gerry callahan disrespect ms rhodes so badly the interview is almost uncomfortable to listen to ... the way this show works ... if you disagree in the slightest with the polarizing opinions of callahan ... dennis has no original opinions ... you are talked over ... screamed at ... belittled ... wordsmithed to death ... and generally hated on by callahan ... until dennis opens his mouth and says something stupid just to stop the bleeding in his ears for a few seconds

quick hitter #8 <> blood, sweat and tears

2009-02-19T11:21:00.000-05:00

are there two athletes in new england who approach their craft with more focus ... more intensity ... more "BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS" ... and less hair on their heads ... than boston red sox 1st baseman kevin youkilis and forward kevin garnett of the boston celtics

quick hitter #7 <> pure shooting guard

2009-02-19T02:58:00.000-05:00

during the last 30 nba seasons ... has there been a better PURE SHOOTING GUARD than current boston celtic ray allen ... for the present, probably reggie miller ... reggie retired in 2005 after 18 excellent years with the indiana pacers ... and one day his career will be honored by admission into the nba hall of fame ... ray allen is now playing in his 13th nba season ... statistically reggie miller and ray allen are the same player ... seriously, check out the numbers <> career field goal percentage ... miller (47.1%) / allen (44.8%) <> 3-point field goal percentage ... miller (39.5%) / allen (39.7%) <> free throw percentage ... miller (88.8%) / allen (89.1%) <> assists per game ... miller (2.05) / allen (3.8) <> career points per game ... miller (18.2) / allen (20.9)

so let me ask a different question ... during the last 30 years ... has there been a better, more athletic, more graceful pure shooting guard than ray allen ... has there been a sweeter "threeeeeee" from the corner than ray allen's stop, catch, elevate, shoot and "nothing but net" for threeeeeee... i say no

quick hitter #6 <> mlbpa

2009-02-18T23:06:00.000-05:00

in the wake of excellent reporting by sports illustrated's selena roberts and david epstein ... reporting which turned "arod" ... mlb's poster boy for the post-steroids era ... into "aroid" overnight ... the MLBPA has come under criticism for not destroying the results of the 2003 survey drug testing program on a timely basis ... in response to such suggestion ... union scumbag donald fehr released this detailed statement on february 9th ... sounds good ... very precise, detailed, documented ... but i would suggest it is misleading at best

recall the 2003 deal between mlb and the union ... all 1,198 major league players would be tested ... testing would be anonymous ... results would be forever confidential ... if more than 5% tested positive ... on-going mandatory testing would be implemented ... 104 players tested positive ... more than 5%

in his 2/9 statement ... the slimy union chief says "in mid-november 2003, the 2003 survey test results were tabulated and finalized" ... what he doesnt comment on is the time the union spent (wasted) reviewing and/or contesting individual tests for false positives ... attempting to reduce the percentage of positive tests below the 5% threshold ... before survey results could be "tabulated and finalized" ... and destroyed well in advance of the federal government getting into the act

quich hitter #5 <> youthful hockey players

2009-02-18T21:09:00.000-05:00

has there ever been a group of YOUTHFUL HOCKEY PLAYERS on a boston bruins roster with more talent and future potential than on this best in the nhl team

centers patrice bergeron from quebec (23), david krejci from the czech republic (22) and petteri nokelainen from finland (23) <> left wingers milan lucic from brittish columbia (20) and blake wheeler from minnesota via the univ of minnesota (22) <> right wingers phil kessel from wisconsin via the univ of minnesota (21) and byron bitz from saskatewan via cornell university (24) <> defensemen dennis wideman from ontario (25), matt hunwick from michigan via the univ of michigan (23) and mark stuart from minnesota via colorado college (24) <> goalie tuukka rask from finland (21)

quick hitter #4 <> plan of succession

2009-02-18T18:17:00.001-05:00

is there another head of football operations in the nfl who has in place a better PLAN OF SUCCESSION for executives and coaches than bill belichick of the new england patriots

longtime director of player personnel scott pioli was bound to move on one day ... thomas dimitroff was being groomed as scott's successor until he left to lead the atlanta falcons front office last year ... no problem ... nick casario emerges as heir apparent ... and when pioli finally made his move to kansas city a month ago ... bill belichick wasted no time promoting casario to the top player personnel position

when offensive coordinator charlie weis left for notre dame ... rising young star josh mcdaniel was promoted from within ... and when josh was selected as head coach of the denver broncos this winter ... next in line bill o'brien was promoted and is now on track to replace mcdaniel as offensive coordinator

and when romeo crennel became head coach of the cleveland browns ... boy wonder eric mangini was advanced to defensive coordinator ... when mangini prematurely and disrespectfully bolted for the new york jets head coaching position ... belichick was prepared to again fill the position from within with seasoned veteran dean pees

quick hitter #3 <> rocco baldelli

2009-02-17T23:14:00.000-05:00

welcome home rocco ... back in early january ... the boston red sox and free agent outfielder ROCCO BALDELLI agreed to a 1 year contract ... rocco is an alumnus of the "pegasus gifted and talented middle-school program" at lasalle academy in providence ... and graduate of bishop hendricken high school in warwick where he was a three sport star with a 4.25 gpa ... baldelli was the 1st round pick (6th overall) of the tampa bay rays in the 2000 amateur player draft ... and made his major league debut as tampa bay's starting center fielder in march of 2003

listen to rocco talk with dale arnold and michael holley of sports radio 850 weei about joining the red sox

nascar 2009 <> after week #1

2009-02-17T08:09:00.004-05:00

pool standings AFTER WEEK #1 <> daytona 500 at daytona

tom* -- 135 points
jason -- 129 points (-6)
floyd -- 120 points (-15)
rich -- 120 points (-15)
robin* -- 87 points (-48)
kevin -- 61 points (-74)
jim -- 52 points (-83)

* denotes rookie competitor

quick hitter #2 <> home grown

2009-02-17T08:07:00.000-05:00

has there ever been a more talented group of young, HOME GROWN players on a boston red sox major league roster than at present ... 1st baseman kevin youkilis (age 29) <> 2nd baseman dustin pedroia (25) <> shortstop jed lowrie (24) <> center fielder jacoby ellsbury (25) <> starting pitchers jon lester (25), justin masterson (23) and clay buchholz (24) <> middle reliever manny delcarmen (26) <> closer jonathan papelbon (28)

of this most talented group ... i would suggest the player with the greatest as yet unrealized potential ... justin masterson

quick hitter #1 <> dustin pedroia

2009-02-16T22:45:00.000-05:00

is there another player in baseball history who ... in his first 2 major league seasons ... has collected more hardware and software for his trophy room ... and mega bucks to expand that trophy room ... than red sox 2nd baseman DUSTIN PEDROIA <> world series champion (2007) <> rookie of the year (2007) <> AL all-star 2nd baseman (2009) <> boston red sox most valuable player <> AL most valuable player (2008) <> gold glove (2008) <> silver slugger (2008) <> multi-year contract (2008) <> playstation's "MLB09 the show" cover boy

will he wear a hoodie ... "absolutely"

2009-01-13T02:01:00.000-05:00

congratulations josh mcdaniels on your appointment as head coach of the denver broncos ... you will be missed here in new england for sure ... but you have been well prepared for this next challenge by the very best ... and the denver broncos are lucky to have you as their new leader ... following a legendary coach is never easy ... leaving a legendary coach could not have been easy ... but today begins a new chapter on the legand of josh mcdaniel ... good luck as you begin your nfl head coaching career in denver!

josh mcdaniels introduces himself to denver's football community and says he cant wait to see his new denver broncos hoodie

new england patriots head coach bill belichick issued this statement following josh's appointment:

"josh mcdaniels is one of the finest people and brightest, most talented coaches i have ever worked with. since joining us eight years ago, josh performed a variety of roles and excelled in every one of them. between his work on defense, in scouting, player evaluation and coordinating the offense, josh is a very well-rounded coach whose outstanding body of work speaks for itself. he is the product of a pure football environment which is evident in his approach to the game. on behalf of the entire patriots organization, we thank josh for tremendous success in new england and congratulate him and the mcdaniels family for this most deserving opportunity for advancement."

wow!

not this time ... not this year

2008-10-19T23:40:00.000-04:00

first team to lose 4 games goes home

the boston red sox have run out of losses ... they go home ... congratulations to the tampa bay rays ... and good luck in your first ever world series ... so many times questioned ... they answered every time ... so many doubters ... they made believers ... so many challenges ... many within their own toughest division in baseball ... many for the first time in franchise history ... they met every one ... they beat the best ... the defending world series champion boston red sox ... and those new york yankees ... good luck to joe maddon ... bj upton, carlos pena and evan longoria ... scott kasmir, james shields, matt garza and andy sonnenstine ... you have earned my support ... for the next 10 days ... i am on your bandwagon ... beat the phillies

game 7 <> american league championship series (alcs)

tampa bay rays 3 .. boston red sox 1

winning pitcher <> matt garza (2-0) ... losing pitcher <> jon lester (0-2)

there are no stars in a losing effort

the ultimate elimination game

2008-10-19T14:08:00.000-04:00

game 7 of a best 4 of 7 game postseason series ... a year ago at this time it was the red sox vs cleveland indians ... last spring it was the los angeles lakers vs boston celtics ... cleveland cavaliers vs boston celtics ... and atlanta hawks vs boston celtics ... this time it's the boston red sox vs tampa bay rays ... jon lester vs matt garza ... dustin pedroia and kevin youkilis vs bj upton and evan longoria ... david ortiz vs northeastern's own carlos pena ... tropicana field ... the "catwalk dome" ... sunday night in mid october ... 8:07 pm first pitch ... winners welcome the philadelphia phillies to game 1 of the 2008 world series ... losers get to pass out candy on halloween night ... it just doesn't get any better than this ... the ultimate high for lovers of the game ... the competition ... the sport

every time the rays take the field it seems like something is happening for the first time in tampa bay franchise history ... going all the way back to late august when the rays won their 82nd game ... guaranteeing their first ever season with a winning record ... tonite tampa bay will play their first ever 7th game of a postseason series ... for the boston red sox ... it's more like "been there, seen that, done that, won that"

24 years old

6 ft, 2 in <> 200 lbs

left handed starting pitcher

3 major league seasons

1 no-hitter pitched

1 world series championship winning game pitched

2008 regular season <> 16 wins, 6 losses

career <> 27 wins, 8 losses

postseason <> 2 wins, 1 loss (1-1 in 2008)

2008 regular season <> 33 games started

career <> 59 games started

postseason <> 4 games started (3 in 2008)

2008 regular season <> 210.1 innings pitched

career <> 354.2 innings pitched

postseason <> 29.0 innings pitched (19.2 in 2008)

2008 regular season <> 3.21 earned run average

career <> 3.81 earned run average

postseason <> 1.86 earned run average (1.83 in 2008)

believe! ... 6 down ... 5 to go

2008-10-18T23:13:00.000-04:00

first team to win 11 games wins the world series

october baseball is supposed to be about pitching and defense ... and timely hitting ... game 1 of this alcs was won with pitching and defense ... and now there will be a game 7 on sunday night ... because the boston red sox pitched better, played better defense and had more timely hits than the tampa bay rays in game 6 ... and for the second time in this alcs ... they beat the rays "big game" james sheilds ... aka "big lame" james sheilds ... in last night's post i included a picture of boston's 3 outfielders standing together during a 7th inning pitching change in game 5 ... their look was pretty grim ... at that moment in time they knew their postseason future looked pretty bleak ... tonight i offer up this picture of tampa bay's 3 outfielders ... coward carl crawford, bj upton and ben zobrist ... gathered during a 7th inning pitching change in game 6 ... oh, how things can change in 24 hours

game 6 <> american league championship series (alcs)
boston red sox 4 ... tampa bay rays 2
winning pitcher <> josh beckett (1-0) ... losing pitcher <> james shields (0-2)

#1 star of the game <> relief pitchers hideki okajima, justin masterson and jonathan papelbon
4 innings pitched <> 0 hits <> 0 runs allowed <> 1 walk <> 3 strikeouts

#2 star of the game <> starting pitcher josh beckett
5 innings pitched <> 4 hits <> 2 runs allowed <> 1 walk <> 3 strikeouts <> 78 pitches #3 star of the game <> catcher and team captain jason varitek
4 at bats <> 1 run scored <> 1 hit <> 1 run batted in <> 1 home runhonorable mention #1 <> third baseman kevin youkilis
5 at bats <> 1 run scored <> 1 hit <> 2 runs batted in <> 1 home run honorable mention #2 <> center fielder coco crisp
5 at bats <> 1 run scored <> 3 hits <> 1 walk

from the brink ... 5 down ... 6 to go

2008-10-17T03:11:00.000-04:00

first team to win 11 games wins the world series

or, first team to lose 4 games goes home for halloween

this is not something vaguely familiar ... nope, this is something really, really familiar ... cause we've seen this act before ... more than once

go back ... go back up and take another look at the picture you just scrolled past ... what you are looking at are the boston red sox starting outfielders as they gather and await jonathan papelbon's arrival on the pitcher's mound in the top of the 7th inning ... with the game score tampa bay 5 <> boston 0 ... with 2 tampa bay baserunners poised to add to their run total ... and the red sox on the brink of postseason elimination ... look at the faces ... look at the bodies ... the body language ... jason bay, coco crisp and jd drew ... what do you see ... a) hopelessness <> b) fire <> c) exhaustion <> ) determination ... let me pose a different question ... in the faces of these 3 men ... do you see the fire and determination that they will stage the greatest single game comeback in alcs history ... the greatest single game comeback of the postseason in 79 years ... and walk off with a bottom of the 9th inning 8-7 victory ... after having been pounded by a powerful and relentless rays offense ... upton, pena, longoria, coward crawford, et al ... for 38 runs over the last 34 innings ... and smothered by consistently excellent tampa bay starting and bullpen pitching ... my answer ... not so much

watch fitzy's "reencapment" of alcs game 5 here
bill simmons ramblings during / after an important moment in boston sports history are always a good read

game 5 <> american league championship series (alcs)
boston red sox 8 ... tampa bay rays 7
winning pitcher <> justin masterson (1-0) ... losing pitcher <> jp howell (0-1)

#1 star of the game <> right fielder jd drew
4 at bats <> 1 run scored <> 2 hits <> 3 runs batted in <> 1 walk <> 1 home run

if not for guys like pd and papi ... youk and coco ... jbay, lowrie and kotsay ... jd's home run in the 8th and single to right in the 9th are last gasps in a losing effort ... but on this night ... with the red sox down to their last 6 outs of the season ... and trailing 7-4 on the scoreboard ... jd drew's bottom of the 8th inning 2 run home run turns this into a one run game ... from 7-0 to 7-6 ... and then with boston just 1 out from extra innings with a spent bullpen ... jd's bottom of the 9th inning ground rule double to deep right scores kevin youkilis from 2nd with the walk off ... game winning ... series extending run ... a boston media assclown once asked theo epstein ... "what's the fascination with jd drew?" ... last october we got to know the fascination ... this october we're getting real comfy with this fascination

#2 star of the game <> designated hitter david ortiz
5 at bats <> 1 run scored <> 1 hit <> 3 runs batted in <> 1 home run

pd ignites the fuse ... and "big punish" explodes ... 7th inning ... red sox have just scored their 1st run of the night ... on a pedroia rbi single to right ... the fenway crowd has suddenly come to life ... david ortiz comes to the plate ... tampa bay elects not to go to lefthander jp howell ... righty grant balfour will pitch to papi ... surely an unconventional move by tampa bay ... coco crisp stands at 3rd base and pd is at 1st ... but ... the sox are still down 6 runs ... 7-1 ... they are 7 outs from october elimination ... and big papi is in a miserable slump (1 hit in the series) ... with one swing of big papi's powerful bat ... the tampa bay lead is cut in half ... 7-4 ... on a long blast to right ... and red sox nation explodes

#3 star of the game <> second baseman dustin pedroia
5 at bats <> 1 run scored <> 1 hit <> 1 run batted in

if you start here and read up ... you read the story of a comeback from origin to conclusion ... rather than from conclusion to origin ... but whichever direction you read ... dustin pedroia is the origin of this comeback ... the sorry ass scene at this point ... tampa bay 7, boston 0 ... boston is 7 outs from cleaning lockers ... a player or two might even be making a call to inquire about flights home to wherever ... exhaustion seems to have set in ... to bat comes mvp candidate dustin pedroia ... with red sox runners on base in front of him for the first time in this series ... jed lowrie is on 3rd base after a leadoff double to deep right ... and coco crisp on 1st after singling to left ... as he has done night after night for 6+ months ... pd ignites the offense with a single to right ... sending lowrie home with the 1st red sox run ... 7-1 ... the crowd at fenway is alive ... and the red sox are too ... still alive ... barely ... pd being pd ... mvp ... mvp ... mvp

honorable mention #1 <> center fielder coco crisp
4 at bats <> 1 run scored <> 2 hits <> 1 run batted in <> 1 walk

11 pitches ... 5 foul balls ... coco crisp vs dan wheeler ... the dan wheeler of game 2 excellence ... and on the 11th pitch ... coco singles to right ... scoring mark kotsay from 2nd base with the game tying run in the bottom of the 8th inning ... 7-7 ... historic comeback complete ... coco is also in on the front end of red sox scoring tonite ... coco's two out single to left in the 7th inning ... continues the inning ... moves jed lowrie to 3rd base ... and sets the stage for pedroia's rbi single and ortiz' 3 run home run

honorable mention #2 <> third baseman kevin youkilis
4 at bats <> 1 run scored <> 2 hits <> 1 walk

just despicable

2008-10-15T19:31:00.000-04:00

so far i've pretty much used this blogspace to blither about my hometown favorites ... but tonite im actually pretty pissed off ... so now i'm gonna spew

we've heard the word "despicable" uesd a few times so far this baseball postseason ... tim mc carver called manny's behavior in the final days in boston despicable ... the big lead suggests brett myers is more despicable for smacking his wife around on a boston street corner several summers ago ... so i'll steal it for here ... ken rosenthal's 10/14 foxsports.com column headlined will non-white free agents shun the sox? is despicable ... despicable in content and timing .. i'll get to content in a minute ... but let's talk timing now ... my question is ... why now ... i don't get it ... the defending world champion boston red sox are being beaten and battered by a very impressive, young and talented baseball team ... with a relentless offensive attack ... and pitching worthy of october ... so ken rosenthal decides to focus on the red sox racial make-up ... instead of the really kewl story of the tampa bay rays ... and he does it all the way from los angeles ... where he is covering the national league championship series ... he isn't even here ... the article seems to be talking about free agents ... but it's not free agent season yet ... and this column follows one of less than 5 months ago where rosenthal said of the red sox

"the red sox are a better example of a melting pot, but they are not just a cultural melting pot ... the sox are a blend of players young and old, gifted and ordinary, wealthy and hungry ... the pieces — from manny ramirez to dustin pedroia, daisuke matsuzaka to jonathan papelbon — could not be more disparate ... but somehow, under the leadership of manager terry francona, they all pull toward a common goal"

does this ll-timed turd on the table have it's origins in rosenthal's and larry lucchino's years in baltimore ... is this just another piece in the amazing effort of national and west coast media assclowns to somehow cleanse the image of manny ramirez ... to quote dlowe from several years back ... "i don't get it" ... "can someone explain that one to me"

whatever the explanation ... for me the column is out of context ... dated ... inflammatory ... self-serving ... appealing to the worst in impassioned sports fans ... their hate side ... hatred which has been enabled and intensified by the anonymity of the internet ... if this column had been open to reader feedback ... there would be 1,500 responses by now ... a third acknowledging the red sox ugly past and defending the present ... and two-thirds filled with thoughts of hatred ... in baseball's october ... ken rosenthal is out of order ... as was scott boros when he interrupted last october to announce a-rod's contract opt-out ... and espn's rick reilly during this summer's all-star home run derby ... when he commented so ingorantly and so out of nowhere ... "it looks like a kuwanis club meeting out there or something" referring to the racial make-up of the 8 derby contestants

ok so now it's time to talk content ... and i'm probably going to be long-winded

"the trade of left fielder manny ramirez and loss of shortstop julio lugo to injury left the sox with a predominantly caucasian roster"

manny ramirez ... who was traded by the red sox after manny's "predominantly caucasian" teammates told general manager theo epstein now was the time for manny to go ... considering their "back against the wall" trading position ... the red sox should be applauded for acquiring a more than adequate replacement for manny ... instead, the replacement becomes a bad thing because he is the very caucasian and very canadian jason bay

julio lugo ... who was an offensive disappointment and a defensive disaster at shortstop for the first 100 days of the season ... then spent the next 60 days disabled and nursing a pulled and re-pulled muscle ... maybe here the red sox should be applauded for the depth of their farm system ... for having a major league ready replacement for lugo ... instead, they are chastized because the replacement is the very caucasian jed lowrie

further into the column rosenthal mentions bartolo colon ... the dominican pitcher the red sox signed as a minor league free agent last spring ... the pitcher rosenthal says "didn't last" ... the very bartolo colon who quit on the team the last week of the season ... don't give a damn if he didn't want work out of the bullpen ... he was under contract ... and he packed his bags full of banana cream pies and headed home to the dominican ... maybe bartolo could have made a difference in the extra innings of game 2 against the rays ... and before that in the extra's out in anaheim ... but his teammates will never know ... because he quit on them ... and made them more caucasian

"why bring this up now, with the red sox in the american league championship series? ... well, the free-agent market will open in about a month ... the makeup of the red sox's roster could be a concern for players they pursue, whether it's this offseason or in the future"

this paragraph totally confuses me ... rosenthal asks "why now" ... and answers with "the free-agent market will open in about a month" ... and i'm sitting here asking "why now" ... why not "in about a month" ... if his point is free agency ... why not when "the free-agent market will open"

"the sox's composition is surprising in an era in which rosters are more diverse than at any point in the game's history, even as the number of african-american players continues to decline"

surprising mr rosenthal ... hmmm ... and that would be because you singled them out less than 6 months ago as "a better example of a melting pot" ... or because they had 3 dominican players who let their teammates down to one degree or another

"if not for the red sox's past, if not for boston's reputation, the issue might not be even worth raising"

the very fact that "the red sox past" is in the past ... that the "boston's reputation" you refer to is so dated ... makes the non-issue not worth raising ... is mr rosenthal aware that boston is the capital of massachusetts ... where the sitting governor of the state is african-americam ... and where the first african-american president of the united states may well capture a greater percentage of the total popular vote than in any other state in 3 weeks

"the question is not whether the red sox are turning away from blacks and latins ... in recent years, they have parted not only with high-profile dominican stars such as ramirez and pitcher pedro martinez, but also high-profile white players such as outfielder johnny damon and pitcher derek lowe"

toward making the rosenthal case ... this paragraph is essentially a wash ... it is interesting to me for a couple reasons ... first, it is incomplete ... in addition to damon and lowe ... the sox have also parted with world series champion "white players" trot nixon, bill meuller, kevin millar, mark bellhorn and keith foulke ... second, it mentions "dominican stars" ramirez and martinez and "high-profile white players" damon and lowe in a single sentence ... two future hall of famers who had the best years of their careers in a boston red sox uniform ... and at the same time, two of the most selfish, me before team players in red sox history ... with two card carrying members of "dirt dog" nation ... you sure won't find manny or pedro mentioned among the jimmy fund heroes in red sox history ... and you won't find manny's signature in the guest book at walter reed army hospital

"also this season, the sox have added two more white prospects — shortstop jed lowrie, who got his chance when lugo went down with a strained left quad, and reliever justin masterson — to a group that already included first baseman kevin youkilis, second baseman dustin pedroia, closer jonathan papelbon and left-hander jon lester ... youkilis, papelbon and pedroia are all-stars, while lester already has thrown a no-hitter and won a world series clincher ... not even the most skeptical observer could argue with the sox's motives in advancing those players ... their trade of hanley ramirez, a dominican shortstop who became a star, for right hander josh beckett, a white pitcher who became an ace, also made perfect sense"

"not even the most skeptical observer could argue" ... so why are you mr rosenthal ... my hair hurts about now ... and my head keeps hearing dlowe's words ... "i don't get it" ... "can someone explain that one to me"

"to some, though, the perception of the city is still negative. ... in 2004, barry bonds said he would not play in boston because it was "too racist"

for me ... this single sentence evidences better than any the sleezy side of the entire column ... a more fair phrasing might have been "bonds once called the city of boston racist despite never having been here" ... exactly what barry said was this

"boston is too racist for me ... i couldn't play there ... that's been going on ever since my dad (bobby) was playing baseball ... i can't play like that ... that's not for me, brother"

so when barry bonds called boston "too racist" ... he was essentially relying on third hand perceptions ... perceptions formed from his father, the late bobby bonds, back in the 1970's ... perceptions bourne out of bobby's friendship with former red sox outfielder reggie smith ... ignorance comes in all forms

the bigger sin is the sentence is not followed by any comment about how barry felt about boston after he actually visited here last summer ... the problem here is rosenthal googled "barry bonds hates boston" ... and he found a page which he relies on for a good part of this article ... i googled "barry bonds loves boston" and i found this blog entry by boston.com columnist eric wilbur ... on bonds' boston experience, wilbur writes

"bonds once called the city of Boston racist despite never having been here, but it was a statement he seemed to retreat from last summer when his giants visited fenway, saying how much he enjoyed the city ... his son spent time at valley view school in north brookfield, a private boarding school ... and as one teammate summed up the slugger's experience here last summer:

"he genuinely enjoyed himself here ... he walked around the city a lot and people were really nice to him ... they weren't yelling at him, or yelling stuff at him or anything like that ... people were very respectful of him ... i think for a lot of us, this was kind of a test because we heard boston would be rough on him ... in the ballpark, sure there were the asterisks that people were holding up, and the "steroids!" chants and all the things he's seen and heard before ... so that part wasn't any different ... the part that was different is the reception he got on the streets ... and even the reception he got when he hit the home run"

"yet, fairly or not, ramirez's messy divorce with the red sox could raise suspicions that the team prefers a certain type of player — unassuming, conformist, white ... the current makeup of the team's roster might create similar notions, even as the red sox say that nothing could be further from the truth"

"fairly or not" ... "could raise suspicions" ... mr rosenthal i believe you have wasted my time raising unfair suspicions in this column ... "might create similar notions" ... mr rosenthal i believe similar notions find their origins in inflamatory writings like this ... "nothing could be further from the truth" ... mr rosenthal i believe that can be said about your entire premise here

"the sox's agenda is winning ... they would be foolish to start acquiring mediocre non-white players to achieve greater racial balance ... but frankly, my opinion doesn't matter ... the players with choices will decide"

"my opinion does't matter" ... after reading the back and forth of this column ... i'm not really certain what mr rosenthal's opinion really is ... but whatever it is ... i guess he believes if his opinion is right ... it might hinder the red sox ability to sign certain free agents

i probably could say more ... but i'm tired of mr rosenthal's column ... i'm tired of his premise ... i'm most tired of media assclowns like ken rosenthal who write agenda driven garbage like this ... so i will stop soon

somewhere down the road ... after los angeles dodgers owner frank mc court lets "non-caucasian" manny ramirez find his next fortune with the mets ... it wouldn't surprise me to find mr rosenthal suggesting "there might be a perception" mc court's decision was influenced by his upbringing in "racist boston"

rosenthal does a weekly 30 minutes every wednesday on sports radio 850 weei ... he appears on the mid-day show with the very white dale arnold ... and the very black michael holley ... i have listened to this week's discussion several times ... a discussion which occurred just moments before rosenthal's column was scheduled to be posted on foxsports.com ... and i get the feeling dale and michael were treading very carefully in their discussion of this article ... like they wanted to push ... but didn't for fear of making rosenthal break down and cry ... rosenthal's contribution to the discussion ... pure cya

at one point michael asks ken why he ... as an african american member of the media ... would consider joining fox's "all-caucasian" baseball team ... comprised of joe buck, tim mc carver, jeannie zelasko, kevin kennedy, eric karros, mark grace and ken rosenthal ... ken responds the situations are not analogous ... i'm hearing dlowe again

ken says "i can write whatever i want in this country" ... yes you can mr high and mighty media assclown ... you asked that i read word for word ... i have read every word ... over and over ... and what i see is your manipulation of a "fluky snapshot in time" (your words) as "code" (your word) for enflaming 21st century cyberspace enabled hatred among impassioned sports fans ... just like with ballplayers ... over at fox "it's all about the money" ... "hits" mean money ... and hatred in sports gets "hits" ... truly despicable

oh shit ... 3 down ... 1 to go

2008-10-14T23:55:00.001-04:00

first team to lose 4 games goes home

from a yankee's message board ... "the sox looked like they had been running through the field of poppies on the way to the emerald city in the wizard of oz ... tired, sleepy and in need of a long nap" ... hard to disagree

game 4 <> american league championship series (alcs)
tampa bay rays 13 .. boston red sox 4
winning pitcher <> andy sonnanstine (1-0) ... losing pitcher <> tim wakefield (0-1)

there are no stars in a losing effort

stuck on 4 down ... 7 to go

2008-10-14T00:03:00.000-04:00

first team to win 11 games wins the world series

columbus day ... early starting game ... had to work ... so i didn't get to see much of the game ... but what i know is this ... josh beckett and jon lester haven't preformed as we had hoped in this series ... lester's breakdown today was his first loss at fenway since early april ... the offense is aleep ... ellsbury (.000), ortiz (.000) and varitek (.000) have struggled mightily ... so the bottom line is ... if the red sox don't find a spark soon ... this series will be over in 5 games ... and the talented kids if tampa bay will become the biggest story in baseball since the red sox ended an 86 year drought by winning the 2004 world series

game 3 <> american league championship series (alcs)
tampa bay rays 9 .. boston red sox 1
winning pitcher <> matt garza (1-0) ... losing pitcher <> jon lester (0-1)

there are no stars in a losing effort

still 4 down ... 7 to go

2008-10-11T22:47:00.000-04:00

first team to win 11 games wins the world series

5 hours, 27 minutes ... 11 innings ... a tampa bay win

game 2 <> american league championship series (alcs)

tampa bay rays 9 .. boston red sox 8

winning pitcher <> david price (1-0) ... losing pitcher mike timlin <> j (0-1)

there are no stars in a losing effort

re-embiggen?

2008-10-11T19:09:00.000-04:00

you just can't make this kinda stuff up ... hahahahahahaha

belichick believes red sox being disrespected

2008-10-11T18:59:00.000-04:00

another banner rises to the rafters

2008-10-11T15:40:00.000-04:00

the new england patriots have won 3 super bowls (2001, 2004 and 2005) ... the boston red sox have won 2 world series championships (2004 and 2007) ... the boston celtics have won an nba championship (2007-08) ... and the boston college eagles have won 2 ncaa championships in men's ice hockey (2000-01 and 2007-08)

while the boston red sox are at work defending their world series title in the american league championship series (alcs) down in tampa ... matt cassel's new england patriots (3-1) await their next challenge out in san diego on sunday night ... the reigning nba champion boston celtics play exhibition games from the mullins center in amherst to the dunkin donuts center in providence to the verizon center in manchester ... the new england revolution gear up for another run at an mls cup championship ... and the boston bruins open their season with high hopes and a win out west in the rockies ...

... the 2008 preseason #1 ranked boston college eagles men's ice hockey team raised their 2007-08 ncaa championship banner to the conte forum rafters last night ... congratulations to coach jerry york ... and good luck in the new season

4 down ... 7 to go

2008-10-11T00:27:00.000-04:00

first team to win 11 games wins the world series

from april to september ... the los angeles angels beat the boston red sox 8 games to 1 ... but when it got to october the angels couldn't repeat their dominance ... from april to september ... the tampa bay rays beat up on the boston red sox 8 of 9 times at the pinball machine known as tropicana field ... it is october now and the rays are 0-1 against the sox at the trop ... tampa bay's james shields pitched his heart out tonite ... he certainly pitched well enough to win on most nights ... unfortunately, the rays offense waited too long for daisuke matsuzaka to implode ... and by the time they figured out dice-k was not going to hand them the lead with free passes ... it was too late ... the red sox had scratched and clawed for 2 runs off james shields ... tampa bay could not hit dice-k ... the man who was 18-3 with 7 2-hitters and a .211 batting average against during the regular season ... tossed 6 no-hit innings at the rays ... this game was dominated by pitching and defense ... it's october ... did you expect something else

click here for deadspin's live bogging of the game

game 1 <> american league championship series (alcs)
boston red sox 2 .. tampa bay rays 0
winning pitcher <> daisuke matsuzaka (1-0) .. losing pitcher <> james shields (0-1)

#1 star of the game <> starting pitcher daisuke matsuzaka
7 innings pitched <> 0 runs <> 4 hits <> 4 walks <> 9 strikeouts <> 115 pitches

he was 9-1 at the break ... and no one questioned why he wasn't selected to the al all-star team ... he finished the regular season with an 18-3 record and a 2.90 earned run average ... yet no one talks about him as a cy young award candidate ... he is incredibly frustrating to watch pitch on most nights ... espn's buster olney says daisuke's pitching is "rope-a-dope" ... deadspin suggests "effectively wild" and "purposefully deceptive" ... whatever, he's earned a reputation as a 5 inning pitcher ... 5.8 innings per start this season to be exact ... and his 167.2 innings pitched was 39th among al starting pitchers ... who nibbles around the strike zone and walks way too many hitters ... daisuke did lead the al in free passes this season with 94 ... as a point of comparison, aj burnett walked 86 but pitched 55 more innings than matsuzaka ... justin masterson sums up dice-k this way ... " he pounds the zone, eventually" ... he's been called a modern day houdini act ... but he has yet to earn respect as the unhittable major league pitcher he is when he throws strikes ... tonite he threw enough strikes to strike out 9 ... and win a postseason game for his team

#2 star of the game <> relief pitcher justin masterson

0.2 inning pitched <> 0 runs <> 0 hits <> 0 walks <> 0 strikeouts <> 5 pitches

justin masterson is summoned to the pitcher's mound in the bottom of the 8th inning ... tampa bay runners are at 1st and 2nd bases ... there is 1 out ... presumptive rookie of the year award winner evan longoria will bat against masterson ... manager terry francona continues to show supreme confidence in his 24 year old rookie reliever with the "buggs bunny curveball" (from a local dick's sporting goods commercial) ... actually, "it's a slider" ... in this situation, francona is looking for one of two things ... a strikeout with the 96 mph fastball ... or a double play ground ball with the sinker ... on his 5th pitch, masterson induced longoria to bounce into a 6-4-3 double play ... inning over ... threat over ... boston will lead 2-0 going to the 9th inning ... the bridge to "papelbon time" has been crossed without incident

#3 star of the game <> closer jonathan papelbon

1 inning pitched <> 0 runs <> 0 hits <> 0 walks <> 2 strikeouts <> 12 pitches

jonathan papelbon is summoned to close out another win for the sox ... and cinco ocho emerges to get the job done

honorable mention #1<> third baseman kevin youkilis

4 at bats <> 0 runs scored <> 3 hits <> 1 run batted in <> 2 doubles

why only a mention and not a star ... certainly not because of anything youk didn't do ... what kevin did was break an 0-17 streak against james shields with 3 hits ... one a top of the 1st inning ground rule double which prevents dustin pedroia from scoring the first run of the game ... another a double driving in pd with an insurance run in the 8th inning ... kevin's line drive to center in the 8th gave chickenshit coward carl crawford a chance to make himself the defensive goat of the game ... misplaying an apparent out into a run scoring double

honorable mention #2 <> manager terry francona

a typical week in new england ... the assclowns of our media ... and moron sports talk callers know better ... terry francona is bashed and battered after he announces his alcs starting pitchers ... matsuzaka <> beckett <> lester <> wakefield ... tito likes matsuzaka on 2 days extra rest rather than 5 ... and lester with a well earned extra 2 days rest ... the assclowns and morons who may or may not watch but have never actually played the game of baseball ... they say beckett needs to start game #1 and lester game #2 ... in the next sentence they question the health of the guy they want to start game #1 ... and ignore the 224.1 innings the guy they want to start game #2 has pitched this season ... they say if there isn't a game #7, lester will pitch only once in the alcs ... implying if the red sox lose in 6 games it will be because tampa didn't face lester x2 ... and ignoring if the red sox win in 6 jon lester will be set up to start game #1 of the world series ... assclowns and morons they really are