One Moment, Many Emotions
Over the last 24 hours, I've listened to many people, read many articles, and given great personal pause to this History in the Making. Some of what I've taken in has been inane drivel (thank you, Messrs. Buck and McCarver), while some could be repackaged as pure poetry. The best articles were cathartic (Tom Boswell2 for the Washington Post3), humorous (Bill Simmons4 for ESPN5), and moving (Jim Caple6, also for ESPN). I'm thankful for all these different perspectives because I'm honestly still at a loss for words regarding this whole thing. I just hope I can sort it all out before I have to tell my grandkids about the Year the Red Sox Won Again.
Friday, October 29, 2004 @ 02:14 » 
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This really was the year ...
Breakfast of champions, indeed.
I'm sure I'll have more to say when last night's victory finally sinks in, but for now I'm ecstatic to be a Boston native, a Red Sox fan, and a witness to the 2004 World Series.
Thursday, October 28, 2004 @ 18:29 » Comments
Ultimate. Sports. Weekend.
Let's not underestimate the significance of this weekend in the annals of Boston sports history. I'll probably be glued to a TV set at some watering hole in the heart of the Hub for 48 hours, hopefully with a good beer and great friends at my side (Yankees fans need not apply).
- Boston Red Sox7
- The Sox made baseball history by becoming the only baseball team in over 100 years of postseason play to come back from a three-game deficit in a best of seven series. Twenty-five teams have faced similar odds and none of them could even force a game seven. The Sox were only the third team to accomplish the feat in 237 attempts when you consider the entire history of the MLB8, NBA9, and NHL10 (the other two were hockey teams). There were too many records broken to mention here (Ortiz had two game-winning hits in the same day, for starters). Now the Sox are making their first trip to the World Series in a generation (18 long years) in an attempt to bring home the team's first championship in a lifetime (86 much longer years). They'll face a team that has dashed their hopes in two of their four failed trips to the World Series since World War I (1946 and 1967). The Cardinals won both of those series in game seven. Keep in mind, the Sox will enjoy home field advantage in this Series because Manny and Papi both homered in the 2004 All-Star game, giving the American League a 9–4 win. This is also the 100th World Series. A Nation of fans that has endured a century of heartache is ready for relief, and a new century starts tomorrow. This will be epic.
- New England Patriots11
- The Pats have set an NFL12 record for the longest overall win streak (20, including post season games), tied the record for the longest regular season win streak (17), and remain undefeated this season. They will face their AFC East arch-rivals, the New York Jets, on Sunday afternoon at Foxboro. Both teams sport 5–0 records, so only one undefeated team will remain atop the conference standings on Monday morning.
- New England Revolution13
- The Revs face the Columbus Crew in game one of the Eastern Conference Semifinals. The Crew is in the midst of a league record 18-game unbeaten streak and they finished the season with the best overall record in the MLS14, so the Revs have their work cut out for them.
- Boston College Eagles15
- Even if you didn't go to BC16, a true Bostonian still roots for the Eagles in this match-up. And this year's senior class has a chance to do something that has never been done before: beat the Fighting Irish for a fourth straight year. They did it in 2001 at BC (21–17), in 2002 at ND (14–7), and in 2003 at BC (27–25). Now the 4–2 Eagles must outplay the nationally-ranked (#24) 5–2 Irish on the road in one of the toughest college football stadiums.
- Head of the Charles Regatta17
- The Head might not attract the same attention as the headliners this weekend, but make no mistake that this is a major competition. It is the world's largest two-day rowing event, attracting 7,000 competitors and 300,000 spectators from dozens of countries. With temps in the 50s this weekend, I'd suggest grabbing a picnic lunch and watching the championship races from the banks of the Charles on Sunday before you settle in for an afternoon of Pats and Sox.
Update: I'm speechless. Boston swept the sports world this weekend. The Sox won both World Series games, 11–9 and 6–2; the Pats upset the Jets, 13–7; the Revolution upset the Crew, 1–0; and the Eagles upset the Irish, 24–23. What more can I say?
Friday, October 22, 2004 @ 14:08 » Comments
Who's Your Daddy Now?
Once again it's come down to this: the beloved Boston Red Sox versus the obnoxious, overpaid New York Yankees. And stoking the flames of this historic rivalry are the numbnuts at MLB who decided to print up a bunch of shirts that seemed to favor the MFYs. Well, Boston.com18 stepped up (along with the Boston Dirt Dogs19) and challenged the Man, prompting him to recall all the shirts. And they went a step further and proposed some alternate shirts for the MLB to offer everyone in the 49 states that don't root for the bad guys. Here are the best suggestions:
- Hey Yankees ... Who's Your Papi?
- You Better Hope There's a Curse
- The Yankees: 86 years of Hard-Bought Championships
- Kevin Brown: Honorary "Idiot"
- Time to Put Daddy in the Nursing Home
- Daddy's a deadbeat! BoSox are here to collect.
- The New York Yankees: Ruining Baseball for Over 100 Years
- Yankees: The Real Definition of MoNYeyball
- Our Daddy can beat up yours. (With a picture of Varitek slamming A-Rod.)
The Dirt Dogs also picked their favorite: a shirt featuring photos of Gary Sheffield and Jason Giambi with the slogan for Nantucket Nectars20, "We're juice guys."
Monday, October 11, 2004 @ 22:45 » Comments (3)
Ansari X Prize
It's not often that you get to watch history in the making, but this morning Burt Rutan and a team funded by Microsoft alum Paul Allen will attempt to win the Ansari X Prize21, a $10 million jackpot to be awarded to the first commercial team to launch two successful flights to the edge of space in a two week span. The Ansari X Prize is modeled after the $25,000 Orteig Prize, which was awarded to Charles Lindbergh in 1927 after he completed his infamous solo trans-Atlantic flight. In the same way that Lindbergh's flight led to a revolution in air travel, the hope is that today's flight will lead to a revolution in space travel. Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin22 companies, has already struck a deal with Rutan's Scaled Composites23 to begin offering commercial space flights in the near future. With business developments like these, space travel will someday—and that day will probably be in our lifetime—be cheap enough for people like you and I to have a shot at becoming astronauts.
Monday, October 04, 2004 @ 09:24 » Comments
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