Thursday, March 10, 2005

Wake Up Call


WVU Mountaineers 78
#7 BC Eagles 72

Boston College threw out any chance at a 1, 2 seed and now a 3 would be unlikely. BC threw out playing the first two games of the tournament in nearby Worcester and will now be playing in Boise, or Tuscon, most likely. They played like absolute shit in the 1st half and although they came back in the 2nd half, they still were making big mistakes. They were down 44-22 at halftime and got it within 4 points in the 2nd half but they just didn't have the energy to take the lead. This seems to be a trend at BC. They were on the verge of capturing a Big East title in football and all they had to do was beat lowly Syracuse in Chestnut Hill and they got blown out. They beat WVU with ease twice this season but when it mattered most, they fell. They started the season 20-0 and finished it 4-4 with losses to Villanova, Pitt, Notre Dame, and West Virginia. They don't look like a team ready to do damage in the tournament but maybe, just maybe, this game was a wakeup call for them.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Celtics to Subpoenas

I probably mispelled subpoena but hey who cares.


It is actually fun to watch NBA basketball again and I think alot of it has to do with the return of this man. At first I was worried that we'd go back to the 3 point taking and missing shoot or miss team we were a few years ago but Walker seems to have more energy and that seems to have rubbed off on the team. With Walker, Pierce, and Davis, we have 3 really good players to take alot of our shots. I can't wait to see how this team does in the playoffs. I don't think we'll win the conference but we might be a factor.

Congress subpeonas ballplayers
There are two names that stand out on this list and the lack of one causes notice. Curt Schilling and Frank Thomas do not have much of a history of being accused of steroid use. I think their presence is simply because they've been around and know who might be doing what. Schilling is a very outspoken person and even publicly stated that he beleived Bonds was on HGH. However, Bonds didn't get subpoened by Congress. Neither did Gary Sheffield.

The Red Sox beat the Twins 7-4 and were rained out today. They're 6-2 in Spring Training, 4-2 in the Grapefruit League, and 2-1 in the Mayor's Cup.

West Virginia beat Providence in the 1st round of the Big East Tournament. They'll play the BC Eagles Thursday. BC beat the Mountaineers twice this season. They beat them 73-53 in Morgantown, WV and won 62-50 in Chestnut Hill. There is no reason for BC not to advance.

By the way, it doesn't really matter, but it is bullshit that UConn was presented with a Big East trophy and BC wasn't. BC had a better overrall record and beat UConn in Hartford. The Big East is obviously pissed at Boston College for leaving for the ACC. BC has never been the focus of the Big East behind Syracuse and UConn in basketball and Miami and Virginia Tech in football. Why the hell should it be loyal to a conference that is collapsing and never really featured BC to begin with? This screw job will only make a Big East tourney win even better.

Holy Cross was the first New England team into the NCAA tournament after winning another Patriot League title. Every year it seems as though HC almost has a huge upset but every year they fall short. One of these years, they'll be the first 16 seed to beat a 1 seed.

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Some Bullshit

Tim at Bullshit Memorial Stadium had a great quote on his site:

Let the Yankees have this one. We win the important games- in October

We've all heard Yankee fans say this whenever we won the early series in April and May and we've never really had a response to it. Now we do, which is awsome.

For those of you who don't know, Boston Dirt Dogs is perhaps the most well-known of the Red Sox blogs. It is so well-known that the Boston Globe sponsors it. I've posted on stuff like this on my previous blog but I'll talk about it again. People need to realize that their blogs are not media outlets. If you want to be a media outlet, you have to be serious and unbiased, or at least attempt to be. Blogs are a way of expressing opinions. No-one goes to my site looking for how the Red Sox did. They can go to a real media outlet's site for that. People want to read my opinions on the Sox. I don't know why but seemingly some people do. Anyway, here's the story.

Here's the latest Dirt Dogs story to be completely made-up: Nomar doesn't want World Series ring. It's a typical Dirt Dogs article. A funny headline with a large picture. The "article" itself is ridiculous. First of all, the Mesa, AZ part is not accurate because the story wasn't filed in Arizona, it was filed wherever the Dirt Dogs are. That part is supposed to make it look like a real newspaper article. This "Jessica" isn't a correspondant. She apparently e-mailed the Dirt Dogs. Now, I don't get too many e-mails with suggestions for the site but I often get e-mails about dirty secretaries who want to sleep with me tonight. Do I post that crap? No, because it isn't true and if it is, I can't verify it. The Dirt Dogs go on to say they were the lone internet voice of support for the Nomar trade. WOW! Now, I wasn't posting when the trade went down, but I did support the trade, very much. My first post since the trade went like this:

The Sox are rolling though. They're 24-8 without Nomar. I think the deals made really gave this team a winning character.

My archives

Boston Sports Media Watch has an article on the whole affair. Here's the link. A key paragraph is this one:

BSMW has learned in the last 24 hours that the original email was a hoax, and that the warning came from the same person who sent the original email. It was done on purpose by the person to see what Silva would do with the information. Copies of all emails from the exchange (with internet headers intact) are now in my possession. (note: BSMW had nothing to do with the original emails, we learned about all this after the fact

I think the worst part of this story is the willingness of other media outlets to run with the story even thouugh their sole source is a biased blog whose sole source is a semi-anonymous e-mail. What the hell happened to responsible journalism? Checking your own facts, et cetera. I guess CN8, ESPN, and The Globe are past responsible journalism and are more interested in sensationalistic journalism.

Oh yeah, Boston Dirt Dogs, it isn't news when you have a headline about Mark Bellhorn's strikeouts. That stuff belongs in box scores. Photoshops are cute but the only time I've ever seen them printed in real newspapers is when the media outlet is trying to fake a story. They usually get heavily criticised once they get discovered. If BostonDirtDogs.com were a newspaper, it would be more childish and graphically orientated than the USA Today, and that's saying alot.

Wang Comes Up Big for Yanks

There are way too many jokes in my head right now. This game really wasn't all that special. I can't beleive people paid $1,500 to see Abe Alvarez face Wang. The Yankees didn't evne have their full team as they played a split squad game earlier in the day against Tampa. The Sox fall to 5-2 in spring training with a 3-2 record in the Grapefruit League. They're still 1-1 in the Mayor's Cup.

I really don't like the idea of Edgar Renteria batting 2nd as opposed to Mark Bellhorn. Bellhorn produced most of the season until he got injured. He put up his best career numbers and meanwhile, the players around him put up career numbers. Manny and Ortiz produced better than almost every other tandem of hitters in the history of baseball. Damon had an amazing year. I know Renteria is faster which means he can steal a few bases but he only took 17 last year as opposed to Bellhorn's 6. I don't think 11 extra bases (plus 10 more times getting caught) is worth taking out Bellhorn's prowess to get on base. The job of the 1 and 2 hitters in this lineup is to get on base for Manny and Ortiz who are capable of knocking them in from any base. I honestly don't think Renteria's ability to take 2nd base a few times (and get caught doing so a few times) is going to make up for his lack of on base percentage compared to Bellhorn.

Sunday, March 06, 2005

Miscellaneous Stuff

The Red Sox beat the Phillies today 5-4. Tomorrow they play the New York Yankees at City of Palms Park. The Sox are now 5-1 in Spring Training, 3-1 in the Grapefruit League and 1-1 against Minnesota for the Ft. Myers Mayor's Cup.

The Hockey East tournament begins Thursday night. 6th seeded Northeastern goes to #3 seed New Hampshire to begin their best of 3 series. On Friday night #2 BU hosts #7 Providence, #1 BC hosts #8 UMass, #4 Maine hosts #5 UMass-Lowell, and #3 UNH hosts #6 Northeastern.

Boston College not only won Hockey East's regular season, but they won the Big East basketball regular season. They earned a #1 seed in the Big East tournament which begins Wednesday at Madison Square Garden when 9th seeded Providence plays 8th seeded West Virginia. On the same day, #7 Georgetown will play #10 Seton Hall and #6 Notre Dame will play #11 Rutgers. BC will play the winner of the Providence/West Virginia game on Thursday. Villanova, UConn, Syracuse, and Pitt also received byes. If Boston College wins the tournament convincingly, they will have a good shot at getting a 2 seed and if some other teams have poor conference tournaments, they might even get a 1 seed.

Right now I think the 4 #1 seeds should be Illinois even though they lost to Ohio State, North Carolina, Wake Forest, and then either Kentucky or Boston College. Both UK and BC have few quality wins and have some losses to unranked teams. I think if UK has a poor SEC tournament and BC makes the Big East finals or wins, BC deserves the 1 seed.

The Celtics lost to Kevin McHale's T-Wolves tonight but since they got Antoine Walker back, they are 4-1. Furthermore, they got Gary Payton back. They basically traded nothing for Antoine Walker. It is the first really good move Ainge has made. The young players look pretty good too. With the additional draft picks the Celtics have amassed, they have the potential to build a solid championship contender in the next few years.

-BFKAP

Early Spring Training

I watched the first game of spring training the other day thanks to MLB.TV broadcasting it online for free. It was nice to see the champions. That's the only way to describe it. It was nice.

The Red Sox began the 2005 spring training season with a 4-3 victory over their crosstown rivals, the Minnesota Twins. The Sox then crushed the Northeastern Huskies 17-0 and beat the BC Eagles 11-5 later that night. Saturday the Sox lost to the Twins 12-7. But they also beat the Reds 8-7. On Sunday, the Red Sox host the Phillies.

Red Sox Records
Spring Training: 4-1
Grapefruit League: 2-1
Mayor's Cup: 1-1

New Season, New Blog

The era of Pedro Martinez has passed. Although I still like Pedro, he is a Met now. Thankfully he is not a Yankee and thankfully, the Sox will not have to face him apart from spring training, interleague play, and maybe even the World Series. I am no longer the PEDROphile. I am the Blogger Formerly Known As PEDROphile. (BFKAP for short)

The last time the Red Sox were champions, there was no such thing as spring training. Only white players were allowed to play. Most games were deseminated via telegraph. There was no system of minor leagues. Games were often called due to darkness. In the 86 years it took the Red Sox to reclaim the World Series trophy, baseball has completely modernized. Spring training is a huge part of preparing for the season. Players of all races contribute to the game. One can watch a game over the internet or listen to one on satelite radio. There are dozens of minor league teams. Games can be played all night long.

Every time I thought about what it would be like to win a World Series, I never ever considered what my feelings would be toward the next season. Would I be as anticapitory as I normally was? I guess I am feeling a different type of anticipation. In years past, I have needed the season to start to get over the failure of the previous one. This time, I WANT the season to begin because I want to take the same ride again.
-BFKAP