VARITEK AWARD FOR MOST OVERRATED PLAYER OF THE DECADE

Boston fans tend to overrate many of their athletes. This Award was a tough one to narrow down to nominees, then to actually pick a winner.

Nominees:

Jason Varitek - Red Sox
Tedy Bruschi - Patriots
Antoine Walker - Celtics
Brian Scalabrine - Celtics
David Ortiz - Red Sox
Richard Seymour - Patriots

And the winner is...

Tedy Bruschi.



I'll preface my remarks by noting that I'm a Tedy Bruschi fan. I have a silver Tedy Bruschi jersey (like the one he's wearing in the above photo after picking off the Dolphins for a score in a 12-0 win). I think TB54 is a sure-fire Patriot Hall-of-Famer. But he's not going to Canton, OH. When he retired this year, believe it or not, there were some out there who felt that's where he belonged.

Bruschi fit perfectly into a scheme. He and his defensive cohorts made big plays because they each did their jobs. Ted Johnson, Willie McGinest, Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison, Ty Law, and him all helped each other out.

But he's not great. He's good. He's solid. But he's not great. In fact, his last few seasons were subpar or worse. He missed tackles, missed assignments, couldn't cover, and was negligible as a pass rusher.

I'll honor Tedy Bruschi as a key part of championship teams, but he's nowhere near as great as most people in New England think so.

VARITEK AWARD FOR MOST OVERRATED PLAYER OF THE YEAR

This is a new addition to the BBS Awards. Jason Varitek is one of the most overrated players in recent Boston sports history. I liked Varitek until he set Scott Boras on Theo and the front office, trying to bilk the Sox for $10 million. The $5 million in checks he cashed from '09 is still too much.

This Award also goes to guys who get free passes.

The winner/loser is David Ortiz.



Ortiz hit 28 homeruns, and you'd think he hit 38 or 48. I find it laughable that his reaching 28 homeruns is considered a great achievement because he didn't hit one until May 20. 28 homeruns in a 128 game span is a nice accomplishment. But it's a 162 game season.

Even with Ortiz's 28 homeruns, he hit .238 with a .332 OBP (career .377 OBP). He only slugged .462. He hit .213 on the road, .253 with runner's in scoring position, .210 late & close, and .083 in the ALDS. He had a bad year. But nobody wants to say it.

Oh, and it was also revealed that he took PEDs. Yet nobody in New England took his feet to the coals over it. He delayed giving his side of the story, eventually fed a blatant fable to the media, and everyone ate it up.

Nobody wants to say it, because he's so beloved here, but he's not the same David Ortiz anymore. Perhaps it's the lack of juice, or the lack of Manny. Maybe he's just one of those Roger Maris type players that can have 3 or 4 good seasons, but then slumps. He's a DH, who struggles to hit his weight. He's not a slugger anymore (32nd in MLB in HR, 66th in slugging), and he's not clutch.

SOX SIGN BELTRE JUST TO PISS ME OFF

Adrian Beltre, who hit .265 last year, with a .304 OBP (Varitek's was .313), and only 8 homeruns, will now be the Red Sox third baseman, at least part-time. Why? I don't know. But the fact that the Sox are touting his defense speaks volumes as to how inadequate he truly is.

Thankfully, he's been signed to a 1 year deal. At least that's what all the reports are saying. That fits in with the whole "bridge" idea that the front office was talking about a few weeks ago.

So here's the Sox lineup these days:

1. CF Ellsbury
2. 2B Pedroia
3. C Martinez
4. 1B Youkilis
5. RF Drew
6. DH Ortiz
7. 3B Lowell/Beltre
8. LF Cameron
9. SS Scutaro

I can sum that up in one word: yikes

The Sox did score 872 runs last year, which was 3rd in baseball. But they struggled with clutch scoring, or scoring OnDemand as I call it. They'd put up 8 or 9 runs against crappy pitching, but struggle to get more than 1 or 2 against decent arms.

And this "bridge season" is starting to look like The Bridge of Death from The Holy Grail.

A-ROD AWARD FOR BIGGEST CHOKE/DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE DECADE

There are certainly instances of teams and players choking that stand-out. But the most painful is one I've tried very hard to forget. I'm talking, of course, about Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.



If not for the World Series title 370 days later, I wouldn't be able to relive this moment. I was drinking heavily in my friend's dorm room at Fairfield University, a mere 42 miles from the Bronx.

A 4-0 lead, chipped away by Giambi homeruns. Then the 8th inning, the Sox up 5-2 thanks to an Ortiz homer, Pedro Martinez at exactly 100 pitches. Only 6 outs from the pennant, Grady Little decided to let Pedro start the 8th.

Pop-out, then a double. Pedro now at 110 pitches and starting to show it. Embree and Timlin, both lights out in the playoffs, available in the pen. Bernie Williams hits a single, knocks in Jeter. Pedro at 115 pitches. 5-3 Sox. Matsui hits a ground-rule double.

So Pedro is now at 118 pitches. He's allowed two doubles, a single, and a run in this inning. Runners on 2nd and 3rd. And he's still on the mound to face Posada. Posada hits a double, knocks in 2 runs. Now Pedro's relieved, Embree gets an out, then Timlin gets the final out of the inning.

The game goes to 11, and we know what happened then.

Perhaps 18-1 was more monumental of a choke, but nothing else compares to the pain of this collapse.

A-ROD AWARD FOR BIGGEST CHOKE/DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE YEAR

Well, maybe I should change the name of this, as Alex Rodriguez had a decent post-season. Then again, i'm a stickler for tradition and a creature of habit.

This is a vague sort of Award. Choke/Disappointment has a broad range. And the winner (loser) this year is...

The offense of the Boston Red Sox.



The Sox scored 872 runs in the regular season, which was 3rd in the Majors. But they only put up 7 runs in their 3 post-season games. They feasted on bad pitching, but couldn't produce runs on demand. Their performance in the ALDS was a monumental choke.

SHAUGNESSY AWARD FOR WORST SPORTSWRITER OF THE DECADE

Well, the obvious winner of the Shaughnessy Award for the 2000s is the one and only Dan Shaughnessy. Don't get me wrong, there were plenty of SpyGate related candidates, and countless national pundits out there who deserve this dishonor. But in this ubersuccesful decade in Boston sports, the most miserable of the now defunct
Fellowship of the Miserable (Shaughnessy) deserves this award more than anyone.

In recent memory, the two worst things Shaughnessy's concocted are his criticism of the eventual-NBA-Champion Celtics for not sweeping the Atlanta Hawks. And earlier this year, he ripped Tom Brady for paparazzi photos of him being fed by Gisele, as if that were a horrible offense.

He just tries to stir the pot. He poisons the newfound positivity in this town in an effort to survive. He's a pest that feeds off negative energy.

SHAUGHNESSY AWARD FOR WORST SPORTSWRITER OF THE YEAR

I'll be honest, nobody really stuck out this year. So even though he's not really a writer much, in spirit he is still eligible for this award. So the winner of the Shaughnessy Award is...

Michael Holley



I used to be able to listen to Dale & Holley while riding my exercise bike. But I got sick of them, and crossed over to the darkside (FM) from 10 to 2. Holley is so pretentious. He never argues about the actual point of a discussion. He comes up with retarded ways to phrase things. He asks lame-brained token sports-talk questions. And he pauses...


at least twice...


every sentence...


for no reason.

I hate you Michael Holley.

FRAZEE AWARD FOR GOAT OF THE DECADE

This one is easy to decide, so I'm going to skip the whole nominee part. Grady Little entered into consideration for half a second, but this guy is the biggest goat in recent Boston sports history...

Manny Ramirez, formerly of the Boston Red Sox.



We tend to forget recent Red Sox history before 2003. But I remember how much criticism Manny Ramirez took. Remember when he was "sick" and was then caught having drinks with Enrique Wilson? Remember when he slid hands-first into home and broke his fingers? Remember all the fly-balls he walked out, all the questionable injuries, all the defensive miscues.

Then through '04-'07, we fell back in love with him. It was sort of like a shaky marriage that had suddenly won the lottery. The problems were still there, but the joy of winning overwhelmed and minimized those problems.

Then he pushed down a Sox employee for not having enough tickets for him. Then he slapped a teammate IN PUBLIC. Finally, he was sent packing after giving the Sox an ultimatum.

Manny won the Goat of the Year Award twice, and this is only the 4th year I've been doing this.

Oh yeah, he also took PEDs.