Blogging on Meds

Papelbon takes it easy. JD Drew, ASG MVP, hits 7th inning homer.

Best All Star Week Ever? ASG in Review

On Monday night I sat in Yankee Stadium’s right field lower deck, two rows back from the foul pole, just barely in fair territory. Great seats for a Home Run Derby. And a perfect vantage for watching Josh Hamilton’s dingers fly during his record breaking first round. By home run number 12, all 55,000 Bronx fans chanted “Hamilton, Hamilton!” Corny as it sounds, the chills were a-goose-bumpin. When he railed like 13 straight with 7 outs, most to the upper deck or deep into the bleachers, my awe-factor reached boner status. Ending with a dead center shot, Hamilton’s 28 homers broke Bobby Abreu’s record of 24 and earned him a long standing ovation and place in Yankee lore (barf).

It was my fourth or fifth time at the Toilet this year. On previous visits, as much as I tried to get nostalgic for The House That a Bad Trade Built, it never hit me—until Hamilton. Seeing an entire stadium—the biggest in the majors—packed with baseball nuts on their feet cheering for some guy who spent his early 20s smoking crack was beautiful. I’m hardly a mystical, metaphoric baseball fan (it’s just a game), but I love communal energy focused on pure athletic power and talent.

This was my second Derby. Back in 99, I was at the Home Run Derby in Boston. Then, Mark McGuire hit 13 homers in the first round, a record, some of which flew above the old Green Monster Coke bottles to heights still unmatched in Fenway history. Like Hamilton, McGuire lost the Derby (to Ken Griffey Jr). Like Hamilton, McGuire’s performance legitimized the Derby, making it more than just a dunk contest or some dumb spectacle. When a guy like an Ortiz or Abreu goes on a Derby tear, it becomes a once-in-a-lifetime oppurtunity to see the hardest feat in sports at the highest level.

Yesterday I went up the All Star parade on 6th Ave in Midtown. Arriving late, and finding it sparsely attended, I missed A Rod and Jeter, but caught JD Drew and Captain Tek sitting together in the back of a Chevy truck (official MLB sponsor). The fifty people on the corner of 57th barely booed, but boo they did. Mo Rivera drove by wearing the worst brown-on-brown biz casual/Latin yuppie outfit.

Then Josh Hamilton came by and was given the best non-Yankee response. Doing his best Tom Brady, Hamilton, in a white shirt tucked into chinos, was all humble smiles. The “Josh” chants, overwhelming cheers, and so many happy onlookers (”That’s him!” screamed a girl in a sundress to another, who responded, “The cokehead who hit all those home runs last night! He’s hot!”) made me realize this guy’s about to score some big time endorsement deals. You don’t come to New York and steal the spotlight without Madison Ave noticing. Look for a Hamilton NIKE deal by week’s end.

When the most hated man in NYC, Jon Papelbon, rolled by in a grey suit and tie, he flicked off the crowd with a World Series ring. (Love it.) Boos and “faggot” chants came in response. Pap’s comments the day prior to reporters, saying him not Mo Rivera should close the ASG, were plastered with a “Papelbum” headline on the back of the day’s Daily News. He later blamed the News for blowing up a non-story, “My wife was really upset. We got threats, everything. I wish I hadn’t taken her.”

I don’t know why, but before every All Star Game people always say, “I only care about the first two innings. These game’s usually suck.” Except they don’t. And last night was maybe the greatest ASG ever. 15 innings. 7 Red Sox. 4 Yankees. 34 strikeouts. 3-3 tie for seven innings. An amazing 11th inning . JD Drew hit a 7th inning game tieing two-run shot and the whole Stadium cheered—for a Red Sox! Obviously, The Rivalry was the true star (Jeter-A Rod/Pedroia-Youk starting infield, the Papelbon-Mo closer beef, Terry managing at the Stadium) even if ESPN and the Steinbrenners want you to believe the Stadium was.

On ESPN Derek Jeter said New York has the “Most intelligent fans in all of sports. They pay attention to detail here.” Incorrect. Boston has more knowledgeable fans. I’ve been to The Stadium enough to know that Yankee fans don’t pay attention to nearly as much Sox fans do. In Boston, the Red Sox are all people have. New Yorkers actually have lives outside baseball.

I’m not too familiar with New York Mag’s new sportswriter, Will Leitch, but he totally misses the beauty of last night’s game by focusing on the scene at the Stadium:

It is a unique quality of baseball that an event can hold such magnitude that the best tickets are running nearly $10,000 … and then, just four hours later, those same people are leaving before they know who wins. Yankee Stadium looked pretty last night, but it wasn’t an epic sendoff of the old bird. In fact, people couldn’t wait to leave. Considering the sorry lot of the Yankees this year, it’s more than likely this will be the stadium’s last night in the national spotlight. Fox’s last shot? The box seats, nearly empty. “This time it counts.” Obviously, no, it doesn’t.

First off, the assholes paying $10k for tickets are just that—assholes. All Star Games aren’t filled with average baseball fans. They draw show-offs and rich guys trying to impress chicks, especially in the expensive seats.

But really, all the baseball fans I know (mostly AL East maniacs) were texting about this game right up until 2am. No one said, “Please end this.” Rather, I read “Best game,” “Holy shit,” “Am I rooting for or against Mo here,” etc. Some fans I know even went out to celebrate post-game. That’s right folks, an impromptu party for an All Star Game AL win was held at a downtown sleaze den.

To the players and real fans, last night’s game counted. If you think Terry Francona, whose team is in first place, doesn’t want home field advantage for the World Series, you’re high. The game features all the best players in the league, and no one wants to get showed up, especially the young guys from small market teams making a national appearances for the first time—in New York of all places! There were thirty f–king four strikeouts against the best hitters in baseball! These guys weren’t playing an exhibition game (certainly had no meatball tossing like to Cal Ripken back in 01). These guys were playing to win, playing like it counted, because it did.

And finally, what of A Rod, the most amazing human ever? The guy didn’t do much at the game, but he did throw a funny, weird sounding party at 40/40: 

Instead, his mommy, Lourdes, and his new best friends, Guy Oseary and Ingrid Casares, were by his side in a corner booth as he threw back shots. And Casares was then spotted leaving A-Rod’s Park Avenue pad yesterday afternoon.

Reps from Berk Communications, who’d slapped Madonna’s name on their tip sheet for the event, kept insisting she was on her way, but she never showed. Instead, A-Rod was entertained by big-busted hotties who shimmied to Material Girl tunes and desperately tried to make eye contact with him.

Overall, the ASG NYC energized the city and made me happy to live in a baseball-mad town even if I hate both teams that play here. The Derby was record breaking. The gossip and shit talking unprecedented. And the game was the best ever. Now, bring on the second half!

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Last week Steve Nash hosted a soccer game called “The Showdown In Chinatown” in NYC’s, well duh, Chinatown for the Steve Nash Foundation for some cause or another. What a treat to go see NBA players playing another sport, for free, for a charity… I had no clue what the charity/cause was for at the time of the game, but after the game I researched and The Steve Nash Foundation specifically did “support work in Paraguay, Arizona and Uganda.” No matter what the cause was for, there was no way I was gonna miss this game. Especially when you have NBA point guard masters, Baron Davis (sorry G.S. Warrior fans, I still think Baron should have weighed his options a little more before signing with LA’s other team…), Jason Kidd (Oldie but Goody), Steve Nash (Duh - he’s like unbelievable at soccer, and he’s even more amazing at hoops), and then kinda sorta okay good NBAer’s Raja Bell, Joakim Noah and Leandro Barbosa (he’s Brazilian so by default he’s good at soccer (futbol). And also playing was French National Soccer hero Thierry Henry and 4 time American team World Cup soccer bro veteran, Claudio Reyna, was playing as well. Also, well, never mind. It was a great game, until I had to leave for getting heckled for wearing a pink shirt, and being tall.

P.s. Baron’s hat gave me a slight clue about his departure from the Oakland NBA scene. It’s kinda a cool hat though.

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One of Med’s contributors, Anthony Pappalardo, has been working for years on the definitive monograph concerning American hardcore’s aesthetics. Radio Silence: A Selected Visual History of American Hardcore Music (MTV Books) saw its  Amazon listing go live last night. Awesome! So everyone, pass this around and get the pre-orders buzzing. From Amazon:

Book Description
“Each scene was a reflection of its time and place. It was organic to each city.” (Dave Smalley, DYS, Dag Nasty, All, Down By Law) Hardcore music emerged just after the first wave of punk rock in the late 1970s. American punk kids who loved the speed and attitude of punk took hold of its spirit, got rid of the “live fast, die young” mindset, and made a brilliant revision: hardcore. The dividing line between punk and hardcore music was in the delivery: less pretense, less melody, and more aggression. This urgency seeped its way from the music into the look of hardcore. There wasn’t time to mold your liberty spikes or shine your Docs; it was jeans and T-shirts, Chuck Taylors and Vans. The skull and safety-pin punk costume was replaced by high-tops and hooded sweatshirts. The Jamie Reid ransom note record cover aesthetic gave way to black and white photographs of packed shows accompanied by bold and simple typography, declaring The Kids Will Have Their Say or You’re Only Young Once. This new come-as-you-are attitude attracted skateboarders, surfers, BMX’rs, metalheads, and graffiti writers, with each group adding their diverse influences to the scene. This cross-pollination helped to create an eclectic cross section of bands like Bad Brains, Negative Approach, SSD, Big Boys, and 7 Seconds. Radio Silence documents the ignored space between the Ramones and Nirvana through the words and images of the pre-internet era when this community built on do-it-yourself ethics thrived. Without funding, distribution, or exposure, the scene had to be self-sufficient in order to grow. Everyone involved from bands to fans took it upon themselves to book shows, photograph bands, broadcast pirate radio shows, start record labels, design album covers, publish fanzines, or just offer a place for a band to crash. Authors Nathan Nedorostek and Anthony Pappalardo have cataloged private collections of photographs, personal letters, artwork, and various ephemera from the hardcore scene circa 1978-1993. Unseen images accompany to handmade T-shirts and original artwork brought to life by the words of their creators and fans. Radio Silence includes over 500 images of rare records, T-shirts, fanzines, photographs, and illustrations presented in a manner that abandons the aesthetic clichés normally used to depict the genre and lets the subject matter speak for itself.

About the Author
Anthony Pappalardo wrote for Slap Magazine from 1997 to 2002 and has been published in Alternative Press, Mass Appeal, and Magnet. He’s toured and recorded albums for the hardcore bands Ten Yard Fight, In My Eyes, and Get Down, and has produced for other bands including The Explosion.

Many of the monograph’s photos were taken by Erik Lee Snyder, whose work led the Getty Pavilion at the 2008 New York Photography Fair and has appeared in ESPN the Magazine and Surface among others. Below, a Dischord Records collage and portrait of Minor Threat’s Jeff Nelson…

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Sports Blog Wars

I’m Jewish; Nazis suck. But I also recognize that had Hitler not pussied out on Operation Sea Lion and invaded the UK, we’d all be speaking German. Likewise, had he not gone south to annex Czech-ville before heading to the USSR, the German Army may well have taken Stalingrad pre-winter and we’d all be sprechen deutsch. Actually, I’d never have been born, but whatevs.

Somehow, our boy ‘Dolf came up in a b-ball column on ESPN’s website a few weeks ago. A black woman, Jemele Hill, compared rooting for my beloved Celtics as akin to rooting for Hitler. What I think she meant was that it was like rooting for Citi or GE, but her next sentence featured Gorby, so she was on a politically metaphorical level. It was a dumb statement, that’s all.

But these b-ball fans at Red’s Army ran a “Let’s Get Jemele Hill Fired” post:

For those who don’t know,Jemele Hill is a horrible sports journalist. I once watched her host Jim Rome’s show and thought to myself, “A high-school kid could do a better job.” She’s attacking the Celtics in her latest ESPN Page 2 column…but here’s a line sure to piss some people off:

“Rooting for the Celtics is like saying Hitler was a victim. It’s like hoping Gorbachev would get to the blinking red button before Reagan.”

Amazingly, that line made it past the editors at ESPN.com (Journalism 101 - Rule 1.1 - Never reference Hitler). As Deadspin so deftly points out, someone finally had the smarts to take it down. For me, that’s not good enough. Let’s email ESPN and demand Hill be fired for the simple reason that we shouldn’t be exposed to her garbage any longer.

Jemele got fired, and gave this interview:

You posted something on your personal blog saying you got e-mails calling you the N-word. How many such e-mails did you get?

A lot. But I hesitate to get into that because I’m not a victim and I don’t want it to come off like I’m saying, ‘Oh, look what happened to me.’ These are the consequences of my action. It doesn’t give anybody the right to call me that, and this is the nastiest batch of mail I’ve received, ever, in my 11-year career. But I don’t want that to be the focus.

To which Red’s Army responded:

I’m hoping… HOPING… that none of you sent that sort of email to her.  If you did… I would invite you to never come back.  That beyond worse than what she wrote.  What she wrote was dumb.  What people said in those emails was disgusting and hateful.  It kills me to read things like that.

I just don’t get people sometimes.

In between these episodes (Red A’s firing campaign, her firing, the n*gger emails, and Red A’s denouncing of n*gger emails), we at Med A engaged in a battle with Red’s A over whether Boston was a racist city. Red A accused Anthony of using generalizations when describing Boston’s racism. In fact, Anthony used specifics. He along with many others at Med A have seen the Boston police single out people of color for lesser crimes than we were committing at the exact same time. We’ve seen entire black neighborhoods paved over to make way for college dorms. And so on.

Red’s A countered by saying: “Racism, obviously, still exists in EVERY city… not just Boston. Boston has gone to great lengths to combat it. But times change… and even incidents of racism in certain cities shouldn’t color the entire city as racist.”

Actually, few northern cities are as racially segregated as Boston. Fewer still have as deep a pervading mistrust of one another as Boston’s blacks and whites.

Finally, it seems Red A’s campaign against Hill led to many-a-racist emails, further proving that racism is a Boston forte. Red’s A should have listened to us when we said a crusade of protest against a young, female, black sportswriter would lead to further racism. We suggested their petition would be better directed at, say, the genocide in Darfur or crisis in Zimbabwe. Or maybe they should have just stuck to sports writing and not ventured into journalism ethics.

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Am I crazy?

From a life long, die hard (and much hated) Laker fan to all Celtics fans out there - just wanted to say, Congratulations. This was your year.  For the past two weeks I wanted to deny the fact that the Celtics would beat my Lakers.  I wanted to think that the Lakers could pull off this somewhat impossible challenge of beating a team of such talent, drive and toughness.  Even a writer for ESPN.com during the pre-season said in his article that he predicted the Lakers wouldn’t even make the playoffs, let alone come out on top of the West - well they did make the playoffs, and came out on top of the west, and had a somewhat easy road to the finals, whereas the Celtics struggled but came out on top of every single series this season.  This playoffs it sure showed that the Boston Celtics’ dudes have huge hearts and huge balls.  Well it was your year and we all knew it from even pre-season.  Paul, Ray, Kevin, and even Doc killed it all season long, segueing right into the playoffs and eventually, the NBA Finals …Enjoy the parade, the celebrations and all the hangovers involved in victory.

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ESPN Page 2 columnist Jemele Hill has everyone heated with her controversial comments that were pulled from her latest article :

Rooting for the Celtics is like saying Hitler was a victim. It’s like hoping Gorbachev would get to the blinking red button before Reagan.

The column got past her editors with this comment which isn’t surprising because they let Bill Simmons submit the same article every fucking day. Just a side note, does he have a “Sports Guy Column Generator” that spits out tired 1980s guy pop culture references in Men’s Mag Slang centered around a Boston team or his latest man-crush? Bad news Bill, Karate Kid sucks, Star Wars sucks, the Godfather is long and fucking boring and you have Bank Teller hair. Now back to Jemele, in keeping with ESPN Page 2’s style, she’s a terrible writer and she used a pretty raw comparison. Hitler and 9/11 comparisons normally result in someone going “Whoaaaa man stop it don’t go there!” as if some imaginary line has been crossed that could only be crossed by a complete asshole. I don’t have a problem with people making such comparisons, when Katie Holmes’ tits are described as the opposite of the holocaust it was cool and what Jemele did is cheap, in poor taste for an ESPN writer but the Celtics fans, especially the ones that call Boston their home are the ones who are offending me right now.

Everyone is upset in Boston, popular fan site Red’s Army is calling for her to be fired and wbztv.com posted some fan responses yesterday :

“We’re not talking about war; we’re talking about basketball,” one fan outside the Garden said. “How can you compare Hitler to a basketball game?”

“I don’t think you can say Hitler is a victim no matter what the circumstance is. That’s over the top,” another fan said.

These responses sicken me, Celtics fans are as fucking soft as the Celtics’ performance in the 4th quarter of Game 5. Boston Massachusetts is a city that was pissed off that a Holocaust Memorial was being constructed downtown too close to whatever the fucking Bank World Dunkin Donut Garden Center was called that week and too close to the Italian district, the North End. How dare they make us remember Holocaust victims while we’re staring at a statue of Paul Revere en route to a Celtics game (who the fuck went to Celtics games in 1995) belly stuffed full of carbs from the North End. This is a city built on racism, where Smitty O’Houlahan can blame anything he wants on a “nigger” and cops will turn the other red alcoholic cheek. Some area Jews didn’t even want the memorial in Boston because they felt it wasn’t an appropriate location. Downtown Boston is so fat and white that Jewish people actually felt bad breaking up that vibration

So now the poor fans are pissed off and are calling for the head of Jemele Hill the latest goat. It probably helps that she’s black as it’s easier for the city to rally against her. There is a bigger task at hand for the Celtics and their fans and that’s winning a Championship not whining about bad journalism and cheap shot comparisons.

Oh yeah, the Celtics fan side of myself would like to get a jab in though because that side of me is petty, Jemele your gummy grin and bulbous features are as shocking and offensive to me on this Tuesday afternoon as your attempts at journalism. Leave the vulgarity and cheap shot comparisons to bloggers, it’s all we have, you get the pay check, the paid appearances and fanfare, we just want to have exclusivity on swearing and Hitler comparisons if that’s cool with your fat ugly ass. Thanks.

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Pierce drives on Jason Kidd in 2002 playoffs comeback. Pats parade—Green version next week?

The Celtics shocked the world Thursday, staging a record 20-pt comeback against a Lakers team that hadn’t lost a home game in the playoffs. Taking a 3-1 lead, the C’s are poised to win their record 17th title, Boston’s first in 22 years. Two stories today focus on Celtic legend.

The Boston Globe looks back to 2002, when the Celtics staged a similar record playoff comeback against the New Jersry Nets. I hated Jason Kidd back then. We made shirts that said “Wifebeater” over his number. His wife, Jumama or something, was annoying at the games, and Kidd had been arrested for slapping her around. Ever the gentleman, Bob Ryan said on ESPN that Jumama deserved to get hit, forever losing his national pulpit. The shirt sold huge for years. Good ole Antoine Walker comes off like a champ in this story:

But the origins of the comeback might go back even further, to a May 25, 2002, playoff game, when the Celtics overcame a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the New Jersey Nets, 94-90.

“For me, it was deja vu all over again, watching the game [Thursday] night,” said former Celtics guard Kenny Anderson, who is in Los Angeles for a promotional event. “Paul Pierce was the only guy who played in both games, and I knew he was sitting in the huddle saying all the things we said. “He had been in that situation before and he pretty much knew what could be done.”

The Celtics entered Game 3 of the ‘02 Eastern Conference finals tied with the Nets. And the Nets led by 26 points in the second half, but were outscored, 41-16, in the final quarter. The Garden crowd had been booing in the third quarter, but ended up cheering on the Celtics in a chaotic final quarter. At the time, the Celtics said they were motivated by an inspirational speech from Antoine Walker.

“[Walker said] no matter what happens in this fourth quarter, win or lose, we’re just going to go down fighting,” Pierce said after that game. “We’re not going to get embarrassed tonight.” Pierce had been in a shooting slump, connecting on 5 of 34 shots in the series, then scored 19 points in the final quarter.

“Antoine was so positive in timeouts,” former Celtics coach Jim O’Brien said. “He was saying to Paul, ‘You just take over this damn game. You just start carrying us. Attack, attack, attack.’ ”

A Rodney Rogers foul shot with 3:55 remaining started the Celtics’ decisive 13-2 run, Pierce’s free throws giving the Celtics a 91-90 lead with 46 seconds to go. Then Anderson broke in for a layup off a Kerry Kittles turnover to make it 93-90. Walker hit a free throw to complete the scoring.

Before Pierce’s free throws, the Celtics had led for a total of 13 seconds, on Eric Williams’s foul shot in the opening minute of play. After the game, Celtic players embraced Pierce near center court, and when Pierce broke free, he jumped on the scorer’s table and gestured to the crowd.

O’Brien, normally undemonstrative, got caught up in the moment, pumping his fist toward the fans as he went to the locker room.

The NYT, meanwhile, writes about when The Big Three first met coach Doc Rivers and he took them in Duck Boats along the championship parade route. Very cool:

Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen had just become teammates last summer when they were ushered onto one of Boston’s famous duck boats and taken on a tour by Celtics Coach Doc Rivers.

It was a move ripped straight from the Phil Jackson coaching manual — a team-building exercise wrapped in a whimsical diversion. Rivers showed his three superstar players the parade route used by the Patriots and the Red Sox, preaching sacrifice and team defense along the way.

That poetic moment may soon be enshrined in franchise lore, next to tales of Red Auerbach’s cigars, Larry Bird’s twirling towel and, most certainly, Thursday night’s stunning comeback victory over Jackson and the Los Angeles Lakers.

The Celtics hold a 3-1 lead in the N.B.A. finals after wiping out a 24-point deficit in Game 4. On Sunday night, they are poised to claim the franchise’s first championship since 1986.

So Rivers was asked to retell the story of three All-Stars, one coach with a team-first sermon and one amphibious vehicle.

“I just thought it was important that they saw the route,” Rivers said Friday of the duck-boat tour. “Paul knew about it. Paul has been in Boston for so long. But Kevin and Ray, I think they thought we were going on a historic trip of Boston. I don’t think they really got it at first until we explained to them what we were doing.”

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Celts blow a million chances, Cavs force Game 7…

Seriously, did Lebron pay off the refs last night? And why can’t the Celtics score? I hate this motherfucker right now, but he is amazing, and did finally speak out against Chinese support of Sudan:

LeBron James, who until now was staunchly apolitical, has joined the growing chorus of athletes to express concern over China’s human-rights record. Last year, James declined to sign a teammate’s petition that singled out China for its ties to Darfur. But James said he had since educated himself and, in an interview that will be telecast Sunday, told ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” that he now felt an obligation to speak out. “There should be some kind of light shined upon it,” James said of China’s record, according to a transcript of the interview. “When you get to a point where you just see human rights not being treated fairly, as athletes, we should all speak up.”

Good boy. Now get to Brooklyn already and join Jigga’s Nets.

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Pictures that make me smile…

That would Manny Ramirez taking BP in Baltimore looking as cool as any ballplayer—nee athlete—in history. The Sox play at 3pm and send Lester to mound. But if they lose by 1 run again I’m boycotting to focus on b-ball until the Celts win vs Clevo.

On right, you see Johnny Gomes scoring the game winning running against the Yankees last night. To wit, it was Mariano Rivera’s first earned run of the season. With the win, TB are now in first place for the first time in May’s history. And since the Rays and I share a name, combined with the fact that they’ve sucked for a decade, I’m very happy for them. Still, the Sox are only a half-game back…

If you’re one of those people who can’t figure out why anyone would be obsessed with baseball, I suggest you follow the AL East for a week (mainly by reading the NY Post, Times, and Daily News; Bos Globe and Herald; espn.com; and the Baltimore Sun). Then tell me American Idol, Gossip Girl, or The Hills is better.

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This is all over ESPN (PTI, Sportscenter, website, etc). While I agree that Tejada’s true age is somewhat “newsworthy” (barely though), I find ESPN’s set-up/sabotage approach to be totally ridiculous and bush-league. Judging by the Tom Farrey’s dramatics, you’d think he was Woodward & Bernstein breaking Watergate.

Tejada’s response is classic - especially when he calls Farrey “bro”.

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(Nationalists, Red Sox and Bulgarian respectively…)

So says Jason Stark of ESPN.com :

If Hank Stenibrenner truly believes there’s no such thing as Red Sox Nation, by the way, he needs to get out more. Not only does Red Sox Nation exist, we’re pretty sure it’s now larger than Bulgaria. And definitely Mauritania.

But Bulgaria’s foreign minister, Uopdank Furkmisch, when reached for comment on vacation in the Black Sea, pointed out, “Bulgarian make 7 million persons in one place and 3 million in not one—in other place.”

(Greetings from Black Sea, Love Uopdnak)

However, New England has a population of 14 million and diaspora of likely another 10 million. Given that 7 in 10 of all New Englanders worship Manny and co, yes, Bulgaria is indeed smaller than Red Sox Nation. (Mauritania only has 2 million inhabitants.)

Later in Stark’s piece, Sox manager Terry Francona explains entertainment is not sport:

“We talk to them all the time about how, once the game starts, we’ve got a baseball game,” says manager Terry Francona. “We’re baseball players. Some people say we’re entertainers. We’re not. We’re baseball players. If people get entertainment out of it, good. But we’re baseball players. And you compete. You don’t put on a show.”

Are you not entertained?

(Manny bows in Japan, Getty pool)

Sox repeat seems statistically decent:

Of the 21 other teams that won a World Series since 1985, only one — the 2002-03 Angels — brought back this many returnees, according to the Elias Sports Burea

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Baseball season is about to begin…

(David Ortiz homers in Japan. AP)

The Red Sox are in Japan. Last night they played an exhibition game against the Hanshin Tigers. David Ortiz smacked a game winner. And Manny Ramirez gave a cocky interview:

“Just another milestone that I’m going to accomplish,” Ramírez said before the Red Sox’ 6-5 exhibition win over the Hanshin Tigers Saturday, of reaching 500 home runs. “But my train doesn’t stop there. Six hundred. I want to play because I love the game. If I play six more years, why not? I’m pretty sure I’m going to reach it. “If my body feels good, I’m going to keep playing. Why stop? You love the game, why you’ve got to stop? Age is just a number.”

He brushed off questions about his often turbulent past in Boston, saying, “I ain’t got no trouble with Boston.”

He’s reading, too, moving on from “The Secret” to a book in Spanish whose title he couldn’t quite recall. He’s enjoying his third trip to Japan, after journeys in 1998 and 2004, though the second was cut short when he decided he’d rather not be in the country. He’s spending his time in Tokyo eating sushi and plans on using the offday, Monday, to sightsee, to take pictures, to be a regular tourist.

He’s meditating on his place in the game, on the place that he and David Ortiz occupy in the history of baseball. “We’re the best, the best 1-2 punch,” Ramírez said, before clarifying that he meant “ever.”

Moral philosopher John Rawls, who died in 2002, is best known for his tract “A Theory of Justice.” The Boston Review— who calls Rawls “perhaps the greatest philosopher America ever produced”—just published a letter he wrote in 1981 about baseball being the “best game.” It’s refreshing to hear a philosopher’s logic applied to sport, as opposed to some idiots yelling at each other on ESPN about steroids.

…reasons for why baseball is the best of all games.

First: the rules of the game are in equilibrium: that is, from the start, the diamond was made just the right size, the pitcher’s mound just the right distance from home plate, etc., and this makes possible the marvelous plays, such as the double play. The physical layout of the game is perfectly adjusted to the human skills it is meant to display and to call into graceful exercise. Whereas, basketball, e.g., is constantly (or was then) adjusting its rules to get them in balance.

Second: the game does not give unusua1 preference or advantage to special physical types, e.g., to tall men as in basketball. All sorts of abilities can find a place somewhere, the tall and the short etc. can enjoy the game together in different positions.

Third: the game uses all parts of the body: the arms to throw, the legs to run, and to swing the bat, etc.; per contra soccer where you can’t touch the ball. It calls upon speed, accuracy of throw, gifts of sight for batting, shrewdness for pitchers and catchers, etc. And there are all kinds of strategies.

Fourth: all plays of the game are open to view: the spectators and the players can see what is going on. Per contra football where it is hard to know what is happening in the battlefront along the line. Even the umpires can’t see it all, so there is lots of cheating etc. And in basketball, it is hard to know when to call a foul. There are close calls in baseball too, but the umps do very well on the whole, and these close calls arise from the marvelous timing built into the game and not from trying to police cheaters etc.

Fifth: baseball is the only game where scoring is not done with the ball, and this has the remarkable effect of concentrating the excitement of plays at different points of the field at the same time. Will the runner cross the plate before the fielder gets to the ball and throws it to home plate, and so on.

Finally, there is the factor of time, the use of which is a central part of any game. Baseball shares with tennis the idea that time never runs out, as it does in basketball and football and soccer. This means that there is always time for the losing side to make a comeback. The last of the ninth inning becomes one of the most potentially exciting parts of the game. And while the same sometimes happens in tennis also, it seems to happen less often. Cricket, much like baseball (and indeed I must correct my remark above that baseball is the only game where scoring is not done with the ball), does not have a time limit.

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Terry Hates the Yankees
Winter depression lifting: I’m watching the Red Sox on ESPN right now with Sean McDoungah calling the play by play. I miss him as Jerry Remy’s wingman. As much as I love Don Orsillo, Sean’s funnier and sharper.

Wake-y’s on the mound and Nomar—in Dodger blue—is at bat and looking to the dugout, right at Joe Torre? Dodgers’ owner Frank McCourt is from Boston and he still hired Torre. That’s treasonous. Derek Lowe’s on the mound for the Dodgers. It’s bizarro 2004. Gammons is live from a field box. Jacoby just made a sparkling catch. Maybe I was caught in a World Series glow, but man I didn’t realize how much I missed this game.

Jack Curry checked in with Terry Francona yest:

Was Francona tired of the Yankees and the rivalry and everything about it? No way. When he was asked if he envied Torre because he was managing in a less stressful environment, Francona clarified how he felt about trying to outdo the Yankees.

“I love this,” Francona said. “You can downplay the New York stuff all you want. You can’t downplay it. It’s real. It’s great.”

Jacoby! By Jim Davis, Globe.

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Today’s Reads
1. Spencer Platt in Diyala, Iraq
According to Iraq’s former #2 commander LT Gen Raymond Odierno, about 50% of attacks on US soldiers in Iraq come from Shiite militias linked to Iran. The other half come from Sunni extremists. Odierno claims Iraqi Shiites are traveling to Iran to receive training. Iranian President Ahmadinejad, in Baghdad, denies any collusion: “It is the American practice to present others as guilty wherever they are defeated. Is it not funny that those with 160,000 forces in Iraq accuse us of interference?”

Nowhere in Iraq do both Sunni and Shitte extremists thrive like Diyala Province. Located right to the east of Baghdad Province and connecting to the Iranian border, Diyala’s capital, Baquba, is an ethnically mixed warzone. And the rest of the province—a lush breadbasket—is tough terrain for battle.


2007 WPP winner Spencer Platt was in Diyala with US forces over the weekend.

US literally trying to “smoke out” insurgents.

Two IEDs found.

We come in peace.

2. Chavez is a Dick
On Saturday the Colombian military struck FARC guerillas in Ecuador, killing it’s #2 leader Raul Reyes. (The US annually gives Colombia $600 million in military aid.) Colombia’s sovereign violation rightly outraged Ecuadorian officials, who promptly removed their ambassador from Bogota and mobilized troops. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s President Chavez said:

”Mr. Defense Minister, move 10 battalions to the border with Colombia for me, immediately — tank battalions, deploy the air force,” Chavez said during his weekly TV and radio program as loyalists in the crowd applauded. “We don’t want war, but we aren’t going to permit the U.S. empire nor its lapdog to come weaken us.’”

Chavez defends FARC, calling them “freedom fighters” despite the group’s use of child conscription, targeted killing and kidnapping of civilians, and drug running for some 30 years. Of course, the Miami Herald (above link) offers the best coverage. A war between Colombia and Venezuela would send oil prices ever higher, and the US would obviously be involved whether outright or by proxy.

3. Hank Steinbrenner: World Class Shit Talker
All baseball fans should check out Jonathan Mahler’s Yankees story from the Times’ PLAY Magazine. Mahler perfectly details the rise and end of The Boss Era. He calls the new Yankee Stadium “Red Sox Nation’s version of hell.” It sure sounds like earth’s toilet to me:

If the stadium’s exterior, with its limestone and granite façade, is self-consciously retro, the interior will be thoroughly modern. Trost might as well have been talking about a new themed hotel in Las Vegas as he described what would become of one drafty concrete chamber after another: the New York Yankees martini bar, a steakhouse (NYY Steak), a grill room, a Yankees museum, a year-round banquet hall and a conference center. The team’s interlocking “NY” logo will be everywhere, from the door handles to the latticework. Lining the so-called Great Hall that runs from home plate to the right-field foul pole will be huge two-sided banners, with Yankee legends in black-and-white on one side and more recent superstars in color on the other.

Ever since A-Rod’s WS Game 4 opt out, Hank Steinbrenner’s been an amazing asshole. Mahler’s story turns him into an outsized and (almost) sympathetic figure. Hank’s from the horse racing world, and his gambling trash talk is great. The story’s last words:

“Red Sox Nation?” Hank says. “What a bunch of [expletive] that is. That was a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans. Go anywhere in America and you won’t see Red Sox hats and jackets, you’ll see Yankee hats and jackets. This is a Yankee country. We’re going to put the Yankees back on top and restore the universe to order.”

Hmm…I’d say the Nation was more a Dan Shaughnessy creation than ESPN’s, like the Curse of the Bambino. Responding to Hank in the Globe, Shaughnessy the Carrot of Wisdom says:

Entitled Sox fans have virtually forgotten about the hated Pinstripers. It’s been months since a hearty “Yankees Suck” chant broke out at a New England wedding or bar mitzvah. And in Tampa, the hound-dog Yankees now acknowledge they are the ones doing the chasing.

Welcome back to the fight, Mr. Steinbrenner. This is reminiscent of the good old days when your dad regularly lobbed verbal grenades at the feet of Boston baseball fans.

A lot of Sox fans hate Dan S, but I think he’s the best baseball columnist in America, always getting scoops and often LOL funny.

Hank, how do you stop this man?

Two time World Series winner and full time Rastaman Manny Ramirez, by Stan Grossfield, Globe.

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