Fenway Flashback: On and on and on and on

June 4, 2007
McAfee Colliseum

The Sox finished losing to the Yankees on Sunday night after a 4 hour game and hopped on a flight to Oakland. They got in around 5am for a night game against the As. Tito attempted to rest a bunch of regulars and put forth a line-up that looked like he expected an easy win. Varitek, Lowell, Lugo, and Crisp were all on the bench. But four hours and 11 innings later, everyone had played... Papi got bored and was caught reading in the dugout:

The game ended in the 11th with a walk-off homerun for the A's 3rd baseman. While I would have liked to see a Sox win, I was grateful that the game ended before Beckett had to pinch hit ;)

A Little OCD?

Watch how perfectly Beckett aligns his stuff in the dugout. =)

Fenway Flashback: Yankees Win, Manny Dives, Pigs Fly

June 3, 2007

Beckett's perfect (8-0) record was looking like it might come to and end, until this sweet bases clearing double by Dustin Pedroia. I just love love love this clip, because it has (1) Dustin's giant swing, (2) Coco Crisp has to slow down to keep from running over Willy Mo on the basepaths, (3) Big Papi hobbling all the way into a triple, and best of all (4) Josh Beckett cheering from the dug out!

And then there was this super fun, kinda surprising slide, I mean, dive, by Manny.

Then shocking things happened -- Oki gave up the tying run to blow the save and Papelbon gave up the winning run to A-Rod to get the L.... in the darkest moments, the Fenway Faithful chanting WHERE IS ROGER? Clemens postponed his middle-aged, drug-enhanced comeback yet again.

Good game ruined, not by the final score, but the horrible announcing of ESPN. If you want to get wasted, drink everytime they mention Manny playing shallow in left field.....

Captain and Captain

I came across this on bostondirtdogs:

Captain Jason Varitek and Captain Hook =)

Fenway Flashback: A-Hole??

June 2, 2007

Fox put together a nice, albeit very short, clip illustrating why the world doesn't like A-Rod (except for my friend Adrienne who thinks he's hot)..

Later in the broadcast, they interviewed Terry Francona. Watch Big Papi behind him...

The game was a crazy rollercoaster that ended in a sox win and was highlighted by Lowell and Varitek hitting back to back homeruns (again). I sometimes think these two have some kind of bet -- anything you can do, I can do better =)

Santana Clause

I never wanted Santana. And I'm not just saying that because it's looking like we won't get him. I don't want the Sox to buy success when they don't need to. I don't want to trade Ellsbury or Lester or Buckholz. I don't even want to trade Coco Crisp. But I'm all about the loyalty.

Don't get me wrong though.. I can sure see the benefits of two Cy Young candidates in the rotation! But nonetheless, I came across this at yahoo! today and felt a little relieved....

The trade talks with both the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees are stalemated, however, the President of the Minnesota Twins told the St. Paul Pioneer Press Wednesday the team is serious about keeping Johan Santana in the Twin Cities.
The Twins have offered Santana, who already is guaranteed $13 million for 2008, an additional four years for a guaranteed $80 million. That contract would make Santana the highest-paid pitcher in baseball with a multi year deal.
"That remains our goal, our first choice, and I'm not going to veer from that," Minnesota team president Dave St. Peter said. "We are comfortable with that scenario if that's the best thing for the Twins' organization. Right now, Johan Santana is our opening night starter against the Los Angeles Angels and Torii Hunter, and I like our chances (of winning)."

New York Post Flashback

The game I'm watching is in rain delay, so I took the opportunity to do a little searching for pictures to better illustrate yesterday's flashback in case you might have forgotten...

June 1 2007


Usually when I'm all proud of being a Sox fan, it's because the Sox rock, but sometimes it's because Red Sox fans freakin' rock!

Fenway Flashback: YANKEES SUCK!

June 1, 2007

I was hoping for a nice little Christmas day spent watching the Sox beat the Yanks, but instead, I was stuck with a seemingly endless Wakefield loss. It was, however, not without it's entertaining moments... like when Manny hit an RBI single without the RBI:

and then threw out A-Rod who thought he hit a double:

(Notice the fans with the masks -- this was just after A-Rod's infamous outing with that mysterious blonde who was so not his wife. I LOVe Fenway fans!)

Later, Manny ducks and dives to avoid a throw:

And finally, Proctor gets thrown out for throwing at Youk's head. Benches clear. I LOVE it when benches clear! Makes me wanna chug beer from a can and crush the can against my head. .. or maybe date someone who does... Listen to what's left of the crowd as it comes to life in a round of YANKEES SUCK!!

The thing about this one is that Youk gets hit all the time. I don't know if his horrible batting stance says HIT ME...or maybe it's his unbeatable hitting streak. But Youk always takes it for the team, shakes it off and prances down the first base line. He never seems pissed he got hit, but this time, he's up like a shot, ready to pounce. If Youk thinks it's intentional, then I think it's intentional... and Beckett probably thinks it's intentional which means the Yankees better watch out...

Fenway Flashback: Run, Youk, Run!

May 28, 2007

In order to prove he's faster than Pedroia, Youkilis hit the crap out of a ball and ran like the devil was chasing him:

I don't think I've ever seen an inside-the-park homerun before!

Fenway Flashback: Bowling For Outs

May 27, 2007
Ranger ballpark

I Love My Sox

This came via email from my sweet sox today:

YES Men

I told you that I like the men over at the YES network even though they are Yankees... check out their commentary about the umpire. It's very funny --

Fenway Flashback: Who Loves Mirabelli??

May 21, 2007
Yankee Stadium

Well it comes as a surprise to me, but I have to say if I can't watch a game on NESN the YES Network is the next best thing. Yes, that's the Yankee Entertainment and Sports Network. Isn't that crazy??

Although the men of YES are clearly Yankees, they are quite respectful of the Sox. I especially enjoy John Flaherty, a former catcher, who actually made his way up through the Red Sox farm system and bounced around the majors before he became a Yankee. Flaherty has only been out of baseball for a few years, so he played with most of the guys out there and gives great insight into what's going on in their heads -- or at least what would be going on in his head. Maybe it's his Sox background that influences the whole staff, but the YES men are far more fair and respectful than other regional networks (like the evil MASN).

Flaherty can't say enough about Tim Wakefiled. Like many catchers, knuckleballs freak him out. He gushes on and on and on about Mirabelli.

Laughs! I especially like that he quotes Varitek as saying Dougie has the perfect personality for catching knuckleballs because he doesn't really care that much. That's funny...

Overall the Wakefield game was pretty rough. Again we gave him no run support. Do you think that the boys are watching the knuckleball while they are in the field, then when they get up to bat, they don't even remember how to swing? Something is definitely wrong with the Sox bats on Wakey's nights...

A few nice memories from the night though -- first there must be nothing scarier in the world than Papi running at you full speed. Especially if your teeny little Jeter:

And here's a nice defensive play by Manny. Yes, you read that right -- a defensive play by Manny! I just really love the look on his face when he gets up, like he's as surprised as anyone..

A-Rod vs. Katie

A-Rod was on 60 Minutes last night, interviewed by Katie Couric. No part of my brain can even venture to guess why they chose Couric to do the interview. She was worse than awful. Couric tried to be hard hitting in her questions, but failed to get much of a response from Rodriguez. Like most athletes, his answers were short, answering yes or no whenever he could. Couric failed run with it, and try to draw out his answers. Instead, she simply went on and read her next question. She didn't even read them well. A-Rod was pretty stoic through most of the interview. The big focus was, of course, whether he'd ever done steroids, which, of course, he said had not. I don't know whether I believe him or not. But this I do believe:

"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, no."

A-Rod showed a led ittle humility and honesty when he was asked about his post season play ("I stunk"), about getting booed by Yankee fans ("It's awful. It's terrible."), and about interrupting the World Series with his announcement about leaving the Yankees ("nightmare"). The blame for a lot of A-Rod's problems can easily be traced back to Boras and Alex did express disappointment in that relationship, but he didn't seem like he had the balls (or is it brains?) to unload the Anti-Christ.
Overall, A-Rod came off a little dumber than I expected. I expected him to dance around questions like he danced around base paths, but he's not quick witted enough to do that. He also came off more honest than I expected. I thought he'd be defensive and cocky. Almost makes me want to believe him... another thing that I do believe though -- when showing Katie his trophy room, he said he'd trade it all for a world championship...

read the transcript of the 60 Minutes interview and watch some video clips here.

Fenway Flashback: The Sun Comes Out

May 19, 2007

It rained and rained and rained in May in Boston. Faced with their second rain out, the Sox faced their second day/night double header, this time against the Atlanta Braves. They ended up playing both games in the rain and the result was the longest, most painful double-header, I've seen. It took me the entire week to watch. The Sox won the first one 13-3. The highlight was an unnecessary grand slam by Mike Lowell. I began mocking to National League to anyone who would listen. Then I ate my words, because the Sox were shut out in the second game 14-0. At least i think it was 14. I wasn't paying that close of attention. I was busy praying for it to end. That game marked the first start that Beckett missed because of that pesky blister. Devern Handsack took the mound and wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm guessing he would have been better if he'd been throwing to Tek, but the double-header-ness forced Mirabelli into a rare, non-Wakefield start. The highlight of that second game was this:

"Rem-Dawg have your colonoscopy with us. GI girls heart the Sox."

May 21, 2007

The sun came out and the Sox redeemed themselves in their final game against the Braves. Because they used 4 pitchers in 3 days with those double headers, they called up yet another pitcher from the PawSox. Welcome Kason Gebbard. Not only did he look hotter than hot, he exuded big league confidence and racked up strike outs.

(Further research indicates that Gebbard is now a Texas Ranger)

Gebbard's outstanding performance made me wonder why the Sox feel they need to buy Santana for $20M per year. The Sox no longer need to buy success. They've got what it takes to build an empire from the draft up. But we need to keep our little rookies, like Ellsbury and Lester, and give them the time they need to become worthy of superstar salaries like Santana. Let's build an empire based on hard work and loyalty . It's exactly what baseball needs right now...

U23D Coming Soon...

The Next Great American Band

It has turned out to be a good show, despite being on FOX. Clearly it is fueled by Johnny Resnick and the outstanding Clark brothers. If you haven't seen the show, RUN to MSN and watch their performances. They are the grown sons of an evangelist and they have the power of the gospel in them. One plays steel, one mandolin, and the last sings and plays either fiddle or acoustic. They are phenomenal and if they don't win, the show is a complete joke.....

now i must get back to reading that damn mitchell report.. 90 pages in and snoring..

Mitchell Report

aahhhhhhh. that's my sigh of relief. I just skimmed over the pdf file (mlb.com/mitchellreport) and the only sox on there were Eric Gange and Brendan Donnelly. Not liking either of them, I am perfectly fine with the fact that they were called out. Rumors that Tek was going to be on that list had me shaking all morning.

I actually suspected that Donnelly might be named since the Sox failed to sign him last night....

The report, itself, is tedious. The players named aren't listed, but each is given a section describing the evidence against them. I tried to read the bit on Clemens but I couldn't get through it. It had me tearing up...

I very much like what Mitchell has to say. He places the blame on the organization and culture within and not on the individuals. Individuals are forced to decide between being lesser than their illegal drug using counterparts or using drugs themselves. This is not a decision that anyone should be forced to make. It is the responsibility if Major League Baseball to keep young men from having to make such a decision.

Mitchell also emphasized that this is about the future of baseball and letting go of the past. Amen...

Papi Slippers?

I'm taking this break from worrying about the Mitchell Report to bring you Julian Tavarez' feet....

he was wearing them in the dugout on May 19th...

Papelbon Day

Centerfield is profiling a player a day as an advent calendar. Today is Papelbon and I haven't laughed that hard in a long time so go here and check out all the funny pictures and videos.

Fenway Flashback: Hinske Who?

May 17, 2007

First, here is the classic 5-2-5-1-6-3 run down executed picture perfectly by the Red Sox. Their little league coaches must be proud!

You know, I missed the drama that went on when the Sox acquired JD Drew, so I was not automatically biased against him. I actually find myself kinda liking him. Sure he strikes out more than he should but so does Manny. He does a good job in right field and seems to have good relationships with his teammates. And he's kinda cute ;) And like a player who'll do anything to get the fans to stop booing him, he tried to take one for the team, throwing himself hard into the bullpen wall. Unfortunately he came up without the ball and with a sore back.

So Hinske started in right field and the Tigers hit ball after ball in his direction, all falling in for hits. It had me really missing Drew. I'm not sure the results would have been any different, but Drew does quietly cover a lot of ground out there in right. But then Hinske did this:

Holy crap! He thought he was Coco Crisp out there... I love Hinske!! Oh don't worry he was okay... in fact, a few innings later Hinske did this:

The Red Sox won and Hinske became my new favorite player!

Papi On Costas

I came across this on Centerfield and loooved it! How can you not love Papi?

Fenway Flashback: Remy Rocks

May 17 2007
It was a long 3 hours between games of the double header and someone got a little giddy...

Fenway Flashback: Before the Rain

May 15 2007

In a dismal loss, the Red Sox again demonstrated a complete lack of run support for Tim Wakefield (although it might be that Detroit's young Verlander is close to outstanding...). However, there were a few defensive highlights to note. First was Manny's throw to Mirabelli:

and then there was Mirabelli's juggling act:

Fenway Flashback: Dice-K's Complete Game

May 14 2007

Daisuke Matsuzaka finally showed fans what all the hype (and money) is about. He threw a complete game, giving up only one run on a homerun... The Sox beat Detroit 7-1... fantastic!

Carrie Gets Married!!

The Sex and the City movie trailer is out and it's fabulous!

See the official SatC Movie Blog!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

The first major winter storm hit the Reno-Tahoe area last night and look what it did to the city:

Fenway Flashback: Mothers Day Miracle

May 13, 2007

First of all it's Mothers Day and the boys are wearing pink wristbands and batting with pink bats. Manly men in pink for Breast Cancer Awareness is the sweetest thing ever...

Lowell is out of the starting lineup and the Sox lineup looks a little like they are handing over the game before it begins. But then again, they have Beckett on the mound. Maybe they assume that with the run support that Josh has been getting, it doesn't matter who is playing defense. With Lowell out Youk is on 3rd and Hinske on 1st. Cora's at 2nd and the rest as usual.

Beckett gives up a couple runs in the first but is awesome thereafter. He racks up strike out after strike out. But then after the 4th disappears into the clubhouse and Snyder starts warming up in the bullpen. ???? Word comes back that Beckett has a avulsion on his finger. Got it? Not a blister.. an avulsion. (Had to look up the spelling on that one). It means that skin tore away. Not a blister because that would be bad. Beckett has a bad history of blisters. Skin tore away. That's supposed to be better.

Well, although statistically the Sox bullpen rocks, I think it's only because the starters rock and the bullpen doesn't have that much to do. And Oki and Paps are able to handle the task easily. In other words, the Sox seldom actually rely on Snyder, Lopez, Romero et al. With Beckett out after 4, the Sox turn to the pen and they give up runs here and there, allowing 3 more runs. In the meanwhile, the Orioles pitcher, Guthrie, is quietly awesome. He pitches a shut-out right up into the 9th. Not big overpowering pitching, not lots of Ks, but the Sox can't manage to even get a runner to 3rd through 8 and 1/3. Then this happens...

Not that big of a deal when you have a 5 run lead and you are throwing a shut out. And it's not like Guthrie walked Crisp to first, the catcher made an error to no fault of the outstanding Guthrie. Yet the Os manager made the unfortunate (for him) decision to pull Guthrie for no reason. I mean, up until that point, the game was dull -- REALLY DULL -- maybe he fell asleep and saw Coco on first and freaked? Nonetheless, he pulled Guthrie and the Os pen came on to save the day and made me realize why our sad bullpen (did i mention we went through 4 pitchers in the innings after Beckett?) has such outstanding stats. The Sox loaded the bases and scored and scored and scored and scored again. With 2 outs, the tying run on 3rd and the go-ahead on 2nd, and Lugio at bat, this happened...

and i am proud to be a Boston Red Sox fan yet again.....

Rock on Foo Fighters!

The Foo Fighters are the proud nominees of FIVE Grammy Awards!

Record of the Year (The Pretender)
Album of the Year
Hard Rock Performance (The Pretender)
Best Rock Song (The Pretender)
Best Rock Album

The Hard Rock Performance category cracks me up. They are up against Ozzy! Now I really can't believe that FF would bother to do a show here in Reno. But I am even more grateful...

U2 got a nod for "Windows in the Skies" for best POP Performance by a Group and for "Instant Karma" for best ROCK Performance by a Group. Very interesting. I wonder who decided that Windows was pop but Karma is rock??

Springsteen got some noms, as did Eddie Vedder for his single off the Into the Wild Soundtrack and Chris Cornell for Casino Royale. Who knew that Song from a Soundtrack would be such a killer category with two of the all time best Rock vocalists, Vedder and Cornell. Did that category used to be all about Celine Dion?

The whole list of nominees can be found here. BTW, did you know that POLKA Album is a category!?!? So is Best Album Notes!

Fenway Flashback: Yet Another Reason to Love Jason Varitek

May 13, 2007

Watch this sweet catch...

Stud!

Fenway Flashback: The Yellow Suit

May 13th 2007

Laughs!

For those of you who aren't going to miss Eric Gagne...

Thanks to Jaid for pointing this one out!

Jack is Back

Jack Johnson bulletined this on Myspace:

2008 is right around the corner, and it's a big year for Jack.

The new album "Sleep Through The Static" hits stores in the US on February 5th (dates will vary slightly around the world, but it will release everywhere the first week of February). There will be a preorder for the new album through www.jackjohnsonmusic.com, and details of that will be posted soon. There is also an iTunes preorder that goes up in the US on December 11th. On that date you'll be able to buy the single "If I Had Eyes" or preorder the album and get the single download immed

I have no idea why...

but the Foo Fighters are coming to town!

Although it doesn't appear on their website, yet, KRZQ has happily confirmed

I had heard the rumors...

but I had to see it for myself...

On May 20, 2006, Josh Beckett became the first Red Sox pitcher since the advent of the DH rule to hit a homerun.

I love how he stands up there all stiff -- like a pitcher with no intention to swing. But boy does he swing....

Fenway Flashback: Manny Being Manny Again

May 9, 2007

Jerry and Don flashback to Manny accidently cutting off Damon's throw. I can't stop laughing...

Fenway Flashback: Birds in a Cage

May 9th 2007

(Not at Fenway, obviously, but I like the alliteration).

Fenway Flashback: Youuuuuk!

May 9 2007

Youk hit a homerun in the first which prompted the NESN boys to reminisce about his first homerun in 2004 and then give some funny commentary about the dp he got stuck in..

Fenway Flashback: Manny Being Manny

May 6, 2007

Yet Another Reason Why I Love Jason Varitek

He gets even more frustrated with Julian Tavarez than I do...

Red Carpet

Check out Schill on the red carpet for the DVD premiere. He's obviously not from LA, huh?

See Francona behind him? Looking very Jean Luc Picard...

One of the Many Reasons I Love Jason Varitek

April 27th BOS@NYY

Fenway Flashback: Papi Being Papi

May 3, 2007

Big Papi got caught in a double play and tagged himself out.

Run, A-Rod, Run

Finally -- here is the clip of A-Rod running from Mirabelli's flying bat....

Damn Yankees

I've spent much of the past 3 days searching the internet for a video clip of A-Rod running from that bat. I can't stand the fact that I can't find it. Someone must have encoded it sometime. Errrr... I logged quite a few hours searching and realized that my time might be better spent encoding my own videos, so now that's my new life goal.

aha! I got it to work via youtube! this blog will be rich in video in no time. SOOooo here's the 4 homeruns from the April 22nd Yankees game:

Fenway Flashback: The Blue Suit

First a little Yankee Stadium flashback. I actually started to feel bad for the Yankees, who were on like a 7 game losing streak. But I didn't really feel bad enough to lose to them. =( Win or lose, it was all worthwhile to see A-Rod run like a silly school girl down the third base line. I also began to appreciate whatever it is that Tim Wakefield does, only because it was so much fun watching A-Rod whiff those knuckleballs.

Coco Crisp is back in the lineup and playing phenomenally. He's on base all the time and stealing left and right. He covers most of the outfield with his speed and he ever made a great diving, rolling catch against the As. I've been under the assumption that Coco will go as trade bait since he costs like 10 times what little Jacoby costs, but now I think I'll really miss him.



So back at Fenway, May 1, the highlight was not Coco's catch, but Don Orsillo's powder blue suit. Jerry Remy was obviously quite freaked by it. It made for some very entertaining broadcasting....

The Writer's Strike

Here's an entertaining look at the Writer's Strike from The Daily Show writer Rachel Axler:Picketing But Still Punchy

Can You Say That On TV?

I had a very frustrating night last night. A perfectly good Schilling game was ruined by some horrible announcers from MASN. I've been watching all the 2007 Sox games on MLB.tv. MLB streams the television coverage of every game and for $5/month, you can watch whatever ones you want, whenever you want. It was fantastic until last night! You see MLB.tv doesn't cover the games themselves. They simply stream video from whatever network did cover the game. So If it was a big game (like Yankees vs. Red Sox) FOX or ESPN covers it. NESN covers the other home games. Other regional networks cover the away games.

I am, without a doubt, a biased fan. I was born a Sox fan and will always be a Sox fan. Even when I couldn't watch the games, I would never have rooted for another team. I've never had any interest in another team. I'm sure that there are plenty of things that Sox players do that I cheer or have a good laugh over, while finding the same things unacceptable if a Yankee did them. I'm sure that there are lots of things that Jerry Remy says about the opposing team that I find just lovely that if said by another announcer about my Sox, I'd be appalled. But seriously?

Last night I watched an Orioles game on MASN. The announcers were the rudest, more biased announcers I've ever experienced. They made the game unbearable. I considered skipping the game entirely and had it been a Tavarez game, I would have. But it was a well pitched Schilling game, so I watched on. The only thing that got me through it was the fact that I know the Sox go on to win the World Series, so I could scoff off all their little quips about how the Sox just don't have the defense that they did in 2006. Oh, and the fact that the Sox kicked the crap out of the Orioles.. that definitely helped.

There were lots of little annoyances, like the 4,000 times they said that ALL of the Sox outfielders were so slow that any ball to the outfield would be a hit. Yes, little Coco was resting his poor self after flipping over the bullpen wall and Willy Mo was in his place. But Drew is a very fast runner, despite the fact he's not teeny. And they were constantly putting down Schill, how he's too old and doesn't have what he used to and he's all for show.... AND THAT HE FAKED THE BLOODY SOCK. Seriously steam was coming out my ears. They said Mirabelli told them. Mirabelli was, of course, joking. And they talked about it like it was old news, like they've always known it and Mirabelli just finally confirmed it. That's just bad reporting... And I have another game from MASN to watch tonight and it's a BECKETT game! I will not throw things at the TV. I will not throw things at the TV. I will not...

Baseball in Reno

There have been rumors buzzing around the biggest little city for years about a new minor league baseball team. We had a team once (like when I first moved here). They played down at that ballpark on Moana. And then there are the Silver Sox. Poor Silver Sox get no respect. Are they even still in town? Ahh, I looked it up. They are in town and play up at UNR. They are an independent league, with no MLB affiliate. So anyway, I have much more freetime now that I'm not constantly looking for Mike Lowell information, so I did some research on the new Reno baseball team. They are planning on building on huge stadium -- 10,000 seats -- for the Tuscon Sidewinders. They're an affiliate of the D-Backs, a (gasp) NL team!

I KNEW IT!

I knew Papelbon was a superhero.... Quick -- head on out to CenterField and see lots of the cutest baby pictures ever! = )

I also really like this one of the Papelbon brothers in little Red Sox uniforms =)

Lowell Stays!

Mike Lowell (finally) agreed to the Red Sox offer of 3 years for $36M! Whew! A-Rod may have won the AL MVP today, but the Sox won their own MVP for 3 more years. I'm starting to feel a little optimistic.... Ortiz says his knee is healing well. We have more starting pitchers than will fit in the dugout. We have a Gold Glover on first, Rookie of the Year on second, World Series MVP on third. I'm thinking 2008 is going to be a wild ride =)

Fenway Flashback: Back to Back to Back to Back

April 22, 2007

Sometimes it's so good to be a Red Sox fan, but it doesn't get much better than the Sox hitting FOUR back to back home runs to SWEEP the Yankees....


click to relive the action on mlb.tv

Fenway Flashback: Little Green Men

April 20th Yankees @ Boston.

Maybe it's because it's November and I've got Christmas shopping on my mind, but don't they look like little elves in those green jerseys?

Beckett Undressed

BECKETT UNDRESSED
Life. Order. Chaos. Absurdity.
DIRECTED BY STACEY SPAIN
OCTOBER 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26*, 2007 @ 8PM
MATINEE: OCTOBER 21, 2007 @ 2PM
No lie! That's the name of the play that playing at the downtown theater. I saw the signs on our walk through downtown at dog school. I also saw a man walk into the crowd of dogs and lay on the ground. And a man riding on a bike with a kitchen sink strapped to his back. And I kid you not -- while we were practicing DOWN and STAY on the sidewalk at a busy intersection, a car stopped at the light with the stereo blasting WHO LET THE DOGS OUT.

I'm High Tech!

I finally figured out what the RSS logo and XML thing and that little orange ((( icon mean! I've set myself up with google reader and I'm getting the news as it's released. Well, I'm actually only getting Red Sox or U2 news, but what else is there? I've also -- are you sitting because this is really impressive -- clicked the button to add my favorite news stories to this page. See them over on the side there? Those are the ones that i think are really worth reading, so go ahead and click. I know you want to =)

too much red meat....

hey mom -- here's the clip of Luke's heart attack:

The Glass is Half Empty

Maybe it's all those years of experience, watching the sox let all their best players walk away.... Maybe it's the change of the seasons -- the cold is starting to set in... Maybe it's just my nature, but I'm feeling a little pessimistic these days. Four teams have offered Mike Lowell (did I mention I was born in Lowell, MA?) a better deal. It doesn't seem likely that he'll follow Damon over to NY because A-Rod has pathetically crawled back to the Yankees begging for his job back. Guess he isn't worth $350M after all. Surprise, surprise... So the Yankees would want Lowell to play first and why would he want to do that?? I just hope Lowell makes a decision soon and puts me out of my misery...

Speaking of misery, will you take a look at that goatee?? Everyone bags on Youk's facial hair but seriously what the --? It looks like Mike shaves the top of his mustache and beard off. AND it's crooked! I really thought the big attraction for men to grow facial hair was to NOT shave. But this beard requires precision shaving. But all that extra effort has definitely paid off just look at that HOT goatee!

Then there's this whole Japan thing. I read that the sox will have to cut spring training short by 2 weeks which is bad for the team and bad for the fans. And then there's the very good chance that Dice-K won't even go????! !? Mrs. Dice-K will be giving birth right around then. I totally get his dilemma but wasn't he the underlying reason for the trip??

I'm going back to my happy little flashback world of April 2007 when Mike Lowell was clearly a Red Sox, or is it sock? what's the singular of sox? How 'bout sox player. Last night the Sox played the Jays with Wakefield (another town in MA) pitching. Besides boring the hell out me, Wakefield held them to only one run (a HR), dominating the Jay's batting order. Pap closed and (gasp!) WALKED someone. I was quick to blame Mirabelli but Pap came back to strike out 2 and save the game. Whew!

Jerry Remy seriously underestimates the value of the pitcher catcher relationship. Didn't he ever watch Bull Durham??

Fenway Flashback: The Flying Pizza

As you know, I'm reliving the 2007 season from top to bottom. The game I watched Monday was the "Flying Pizza" game. I can't watch this clip without laughing aloud....

I love NESN! =)

1985 Revisted

Duran Duran has a new album! Lol... I was never a Duran Duran fan and I'm pretty certain, I won't become one anytime soon, but I had to listen to the soundbytes. Apparently they worked with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. I can't even type it without laughing, so I had to listen and this was the funniest of the bunch:

1977 Revisted

For those of you who were wondering what all that talk about jumpsuits was about, read this:

Strap in, shut up and hold on. We're going back.

It's a very funny blog about a 1977 Penny's catalog....

turning japanese i think i'm turning japanese i really think so....

so the sox are scheduled to open next season in Japan. Seems like a long way to go to play the A's but a nice thing to do for the Japanese fans, who were so kind to sell us Dice-K and Okajima. I'm excited because this means it'll definitely be on national tv! So even this Reno girl will see it live -- wait isn't there a 12 hour time difference? It's not going to be on in the morning, is it? According to timeanddate.com, a game that starts at 7pm in Tokyo starts at 2am PST. Lol.. It'll have to start at 10am there to air here live at 5pm PST (8pm EST)....

btw, i've just discovered that in lieu of any real candy (read chocolate) tootsie rolls are quite good ;)

going... going.... gone!

I'm still a little cranky this morning about the Cy Young fiasco and the lack of a contract for Mike Lowell. Plus I watched a game from April last night in which the Sox lost to the Jays by one run -- the particular run that Dice-K WALKED in. I was impressed by how well he got himself back together in the following innings, though, but it didn't make up for the loss. And then there was the whole Marie Osmond drama. But that's fodder for a whole 'nother blog. Anyhooo, cranky me came across this and I cheered right up:

Beckett Gets Shut Out

The Sox have been winning awards left and right this off-season, but the win streak came to an end today when Sabathia beat Beckett to win the Cy Young Award. But didn't Beckett beat Sabathia twice during the AL series? That's when it really mattered anyway.... Hopefully we get a press conference out of it ;) and EVERYBODY drinks if he says "I don't get paid to win popularity contests" and CHUG if he drops an F-bomb in there...

(oh - according to Yahoo! Sports, the voting took place before the playoffs.. that makes more sense)

bye bye goatee...

Youkilis shaves for charity....

so he'll go from this:

ooops, i mean, from this:

to the youk of days gone by:

hey he's not a bad looking guy.. who knew?

uneasy feeling

I had a half day for the holiday yesterday. It was lovely. I watched a Beckett game and crocheted half a dress and then fell asleep watching Dancing with the Stars. Wow! Dancing is really quite boring compared to a Beckett game. I woke relaxed and refreshed and I realized that the Red Sox still hadn't signed Mike Lowell!!! Today, he is officially on the market and I've got an uneasy feeling...

Pedroia the Destroyah

Three cheers for Dustin Pedroia!! He was just named ROOKIE OF THE YEAR! And he did it with a broken hand... Dice-K and Okajimi also got some votes... of Pedroia's comments, I really liked this quote: "This game is tough. If you fail seven out of 10 times, you're a pretty good player."

just grown men playing a child's game

Baseball and Yoga

I'm collecting articles to convince the Red Sox organization that they need to hire a yoga teacher to keep their boys off the disabled list... let me know if you come across any...


Devils Rays Do Yoga

Dodger Pitcher D.J. Houlton

and the Marlins!

and Mike Piazza takes it to extremes

it's hard to argue with a 103mph fastball

I have no words...

video courtesy of NESN

This Is Even Funnier...

Watch the guys jump over the bullpen walls to join the fight....

Why the Sox Can Never Sign A-Rod

new shack photos

i put a little slide show on the shack site of our new studio...

http://yogashack.com/photos/

75 HOURS??? Seriously?

I spent all day yesterday trying to figure out what to do about the Shack's teacher training program. Well -- it wasn't ALL day. I spent the hour of General Hospital finishing a scarf and an hour in the evening watching a Wakefield game from April. (I hate knuckleballers -- i fell asleep and missed Dr. Quinn getting kicked off Dancing. I'm out $5. Stupid knuckleballers...). But I digress... my point was that I thought and researched and stressed ALL day and my conclusion is that it can't be done or more precisely is that I cannot, in good conscience, do it. The Yoga Shack Teacher Training Program registered with the Yoga Alliance will end.

The Yoga Alliance is a wonderful idea. The first election of the second Bush created much panic for the alternative health community. No one knew that a war would soon happen and engulf the focus of the government for many years to come. Massage, yoga, herbs, etc, were just starting to grow in popularity and there was a lot of talk about insurance companies potentially covering alternative or preventative medicine. If that were to come to fruition, we all need the government (or insurance companies) would need to regulate these specialties. Not willing to have the government tell them what they could and couldn't do, some teachers grouped together and started the Yoga Alliance. The idea was to set up their own standards, so should the government later decide that needed standards, they would already be in place. The idea was to let yoga teachers decide what qualifications made a good yoga teacher. So they set up a registry of yoga teachers who had a certain amount of experience or training. The idea is not to license or control who teaches and who doesn't but simply to list teachers who met a certain minimum standards.

So it has become the standard. While it is still not necessary to be "registered", it is becoming the norm and some studios won't hire you if you aren't registered. Some of the best and most experienced teachers that I ever worked with aren't registered. It has become almost a necessity of a teacher training program. Graduates want to be able to register with the Yoga Alliance. So I set up my teacher training program to meet the standards and my graduates registered. Sure I had some complaints about the standards. Like they only require 5 hours of practicuum. FIVE hours of teaching DOES NOT MAKE YOU A TEACHER in any way, shape, or form. They require WAY too much Philosophy and Ethics. Seriously, who can teach someone to be ethical. Some of the most unethical people I've met in my life are Registered Yoga Teachers. But I did what I had to and everyone was relatively happy.

But then they changed their standards. They were subtle changes for the most part, but one stood out and has ruined all the fun. They require 100 hours of yoga techniques. That's not surprising, although it sounds like a lot. The catch is that 75 of these hours can longer be from classes that are open to the general public. They have to be from classes that are ONLY OPEN TO TEACHER TRAINEES. Now I require students to get through the entire primary series in Mysore sessions in order to even qualify for teacher training. This is a tremendous number of hours, much of which is one on one. Students have to memorize the order of the postures, the form and alignment, and the breath. And then, according the Yoga Alliance, I'm supposed to spend 75 hours teaching them (and there will only be a couple) what they already know. And the time would mean 36 5-hour sessions. Seriously???

I get why they made the change. I totally get it. Most yoga students are in the back of a room of 100 people and their teacher never gets off their mat. But that's not how it is here. I'm on my hands and knees teaching each person individually. Their one size fits all set of standards just doesn't fit us.

more rant coming soon....

Curt's Deal

$8 million in guaranteed base salary

$2 million in bonuses for 6 seperate weigh ins.

$3 million in IP incentives based on IP totals.

$1 million for receiving a Cy Young vote, any vote.

That's not a joke. OMG, the weigh in bonus makes me laugh so hard. But seriously, this is a beautiful thing. I'm having trouble coming to terms with it, to be quite honest. I'm a Sox fan from the 80s and 90s, when every off season my heroes were let go. I've come to expect the worst. In fact, it never occurred to me that the Sox would even try to sign Schill. It's a whole new Red Sox organization -- one that can win World Series Championships, and one that keeps the men who help win ballgames around. THANKS, THEO.. ..

Check this out..

I caught the first 1/2 hour of Silence of the Lambs this weekend and I was struck by the familiarity of the put the lotion on the skin girl. Sure enough.....

=

Yup! It-puts-the-lotion-on-the-skin girl is Dr. Hahn on Grey's AND the Peter's ex-wife on Weeds!

YOOOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUKKKKKKKKKKK!

Not only does he have the hottest goatee in baseball ;) but now he has a GOLD GLOVE!! 135 consecutive errorless games! rock on, Youk....

i think i'm gonna hurl...

Can you identify the thing in the picture that's not a dime??

It's Terry Francona's discarded chewing tobacco/gum and it's up for auction on ebay. No joke. It's bid up to $100 so you'd better get on over and bid!

Curt Confirms

From Curt Shilling's blog over at 38 Pitches:

Talks with the Red Sox are moving. Theo and I have spoken multiple times daily over the past week and given the current situation I am feeling very confident that we will be able to finalize a 1 year contract to allow us a chance to finish our career as members of the Red Sox organization.

There are some things to iron out and details that must be finalized for both sides but barring something unforseen or outrageously odd happening I feel very comfortable that I will finish my career here.

Warms my heart...

Schilling deal lookin' good...

Rumors are starting to circulate that Theo and Curt are getting close to a deal. Supposedly Curt is willing to take less to stay with the Sox which warms my little heart. I would really like to see Curt retire with the Sox rather than get a little more money for one year and play his last year who knows where... I love it when LOYALTY trumps EGO! Go Curt! (and in case you are wondering I found out that my man Theo is a newlywed =( )

Rumors also abound for Coco Crisp. Seems like everyone wants our boy... which makes me want to keep him more than ever, but love love love me that jacoby ellsbury and i hear that little jacoby only makes like 400,000/yr. What a bargain!!

i guess i'm sneaky promiscuous ;)

this is funny..

whose fans are the sluttiest

whose # would you wear???

Quiet Day in Baseball

The world series buzz seems to be settling. I did come across this quote from the great Theo Epstein (anyone know if he's single?)...

"I haven't talked to Scott (Boras) for a while," said Epstein concerning A-Rod's agent. "I'm sure we'll touch base with him here, just general, touching base with him. Right now we're focussed on our own guys. We're trying to survey the landscape. We're trying to see if you we can sign our own guys. See if anything makes sense and move on from there."

I found that quite reassuring...

Steve Carell is funny too

Oops the Carell video is broken. It was funny though. He's from Boston and said he's been a die-hard sox fan for 3 weeks. He explained his fascination with a player name Coco Crisp and believes that only a team with a player named Fruity Pebbles could beat them. Carell was so pumped up for that joke, he almost blew it and started laughing in the middle.

Papi Being BeDazzled

Papi was on Late Night with Conan, with a Bedazzled lambourghini on his jacket....

Okay, it's really a scorpion, but Papelbon has him pegged! I never used to like Conan, but he's truly funny in this clip....

Manny Being Manny = Funny!

Manny on Leno...

Next Great American Band

or something like that. It's a reality show on Fox. In the vein of American Idol, this is American Band. MUCH MUCH better than idol -- not even in the same league.. but not as cool as Rockstar. These are real bands competing and they have real talent, so it's worth a watch. However talented, these guys FREAK me out. I can say no more. You just have to watch for yourself...

Susan is always right

and she never forgets a thing. So if you feel compelled to argue with her, don't bother! She ridiculously claimed that Olivia Newton John had a mullet back in the day and sure enough, here it is.....



now i eagerly await the day sus has the same haircut! ;)

Wakefield Will Return

The Red Sox resigned veteran pitcher Tim Wakefield, which means that they'll sign his catcher Mirabelli as well. They also resigned Farrell, the pitching coach, and Curt Schilling wrote on his blog that just because he hasn't been blogging about the Sox doesn't mean that they haven't been talking. So far so good....

Did you miss the parade?

I saw in on the baseballchannel.tv. Hours of coverage. Honestly WAAAAY too much coverage, but here it is..... click me BTW, If you are watching to see the infamously camera shy Josh Beckett, turn it off after the little interview at the beginning. Trust me, there are no more sightings!

Big Papi on Regis and Kelly Minus the Regis

I don't know who the co-host was, but he's a huge sox fan and was very excited to meet Papi. Very funny...

country music never sounded so good....

i'm not really a stalker, i just play one on the internet

i love this little behind the scenes look at Red Sox Flight Home...

and how sweet it is....Varitek hands out autographs to trick or treaters

pap-pap-papelbon!

If you missed Papelbon on Letterman, it's a MUST SEE! He is hilarious, especially with Letterman by his side.

A blog? Seriously? Who do I think I am?

A lifetime ago I dated a guy who started a blog. A what? A blog. He described it as an online diary. He wrote about stupid things that I didn't even want to hear about. I thought it was ridiculous. Seriously ridiculous. Who out there wants to read what he has to write. Ironically, a million years later, here I am writing a blog.

The thing is that I have a lot of websites. I have a myspace page, a facebook page, a business site, and another business site. But I don't have a place that my mom can come and find a link to a red sox video or anything else. So I thought I'd give this a try...