Nerds on Sports

Thursday, October 25th / Weymouth, MA / 10:30 p.m.

The driving rain and swarming defense prevented Matt Ryan from taking to the air.  Bud Foster gameplanned it perfectly.  The Virginia Tech defensive ends and linebackers speed-rushed the offensive line for the first 55 minutes, preventing Ryan from planting his feet and throwing.  He was hurled to the soggy carpet over and over again as one of the best defenses in college football consistently beat the Boston College blockers.  On offense, the Hokies were doing enough to win.  Sean Glennon moved the ball just enough to get 10 points on the board against the Eagles.  It was agony to watch.

With five minutes left, I said goodbye to the two friends I was watching the game with and walked across the condo complex to my car.  I was silent and so was the black night around me.  Read more »

Bottom of the ninth inning and David Ortiz stood in against Mariano Rivera.  The bases were loaded, there were two outs and the Red Sox were down by 1 against the Yankees.  Fenway was shaking with energy, with waves of noise cascading down from the Faithful on to the field as their Hero cocked his bat against the fireballer.  Could Papi do it again?  Or would the Best Closer In Baseball notch another save in the most enemy of enemy territories?  A Sox win would extend out their lead in the East to five and a half.  A Yankees win would keep the pressue on Boston down a grueling final stretch.  Ramifications of a single at bat, a singular moment in time as watched by millions of fans.  If a scientist were to distill an entire season to get the extract of pure Sport, he would get this.  Mariano winds and delivers…

But alas, I wasn’t watching it.  A diehard Yankee fan in front of a television on a Sunday night five miles from Fenway, and I wasn’t watching it.  In fact, I wasn’t even thinking about it.  I was awake, and in my right mind, but had no interest in the outcome of the game at that moment.  It was only this morning that I realized I don’t know how the game ended.  I turned it off when Pedroia was batting, and so had to check the final score on my cell phone at 8:30 this morning.  It was a stark realization on this windy day.  The team I grew up rooting for was not my biggest sports priority.

It was a pretty jarring thought, and one that I wanted to make my peace with as soon as possible.  Thank goodness I write for a sports blog, eh?  On my commute to my office, I counted all of the sports-related concerns that were on my mind last night that took precedence over my Sox/Yankees interest.  I shuddered when I realized that this relatively important baseball game barely cracked the Top Five.  For sake of healing, I am putting my Top Five here:

1.  Patriots/Chargers Sunday Night Football - Read more »

Every time I go into a liquor store there is always a large stack of these Red Sox charity wines. It’s like “Get Drunk, Help Children.” So I decided that a tasting (and getting drunk to help the children) was necessary. I had one tasting with RJ (and other non Nerds on Sports) that involved watching Red Sox, eating cheese and drinking wine. Then I had a second tasting with Peiser that was a precursor to a beer tasting event later in the day.

For tasting 1, I paired the Wakefield Caberknuckle with some Cheddar, Monterrey Jack, and Gouda (from Ireland). Ok, I didn’t really choose the pairing, I chose the cheese and gave the guests the choice of Manny Being Merlot or the Caberknuckle. The Caberknuckle describes itself as being well paired with grilled meats, burgers, pasta, and pizza. Sadly all I had was cheese and crackers, so that would have to do. Now before I go any further into this “review” I want to say that I’m not a wine person and when I do drink wine I usually drink something whiter and/or cheaper.

The bottle describes itself as showing “a deep red color with aromas of blackberries, currants and a hint of spice. With it’s long smooth finish, this [is a] well-balanced red.” I have to agree that the aroma (Don’t the winos call this the “nose?”) is good. I don’t know what a currant smells like. Hell, I don’t even know what a currant looks like. The aroma of this 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon is delicious. I could have just smelled my glass for a while but I don’t know if I would classify it as blackberries and currants - there was definitely a grape scent in there too. But maybe there’s some unwritten rule about not talking about the grapes. The taste, on the other hand, wasn’t as great. Nowhere near as fruity as the scent led me to believe and I think it had a bit of that “spice” that was supposedly in the aroma. It wasn’t for me. Read more »

When I was buying my Red Sox tickets for the year back in January, I had no real rhyme or reason to the dates I ended up picking. The priority was more for finding dates that were actually available. But I do remember, in considering dates for the Labor Day weekend, that I picked Friday on the chance that something - road trip with friends, etc. would be happening the rest of the weekend. Little did I know back then that in late August I would be looking forward to that weekend as a chance to be relatively low key, making that decision moot, and the reason why Willis and I attended that game instead of this one the following day.

Upon entering the park, I was deeply disappointed to learn that the batteries in my digital camera had died. It would turn out to be especially unfortunate since this would turn out to be one of the weirdest games I’ve been to. First, I had resigned myself to Wakefield pitching, not because I dislike him as player, but because Wakefield = no Tek. So I was surprised when the rosters were announced, and it featured neither Wakefield (Tavarez in his stead), and Kevin Cash was catching (who?).

The game started off, the Sox took the lead. Willis and I passed the time by playing “Guess the Shirt,” which is, whenever you see someone coming by with a Red Sox shirt or jersey, you guess by their appearance whose name they have on the back. Of course, the chances of getting it right are statistically pretty low: there are so many players on the roster; there are blank shirts/jerseys; people don’t even necessarily have current Red Sox players on their jerseys (I saw a couple of Yastrzemskis. It made me wonder if there were any Renterias out there.)

In the fourth inning, things got interesting; Dave Trembley got ejected from the game, and there was a marriage proposal. From what I could gather, the proposer was more successful than this guy. Also, pretty ballsy to do that pretty early in the game. I mean, if she said no and doesn’t storm off, then there could be all kinds of awkwardness, like in the seventh inning when you just want a hot dog, but that means you’d have to have the money and food pass through her…not a good scene for anyone.

Anyway, also in the fourth inning, the Orioles took the lead, which means the lone Orioles fans in the entire park started getting excited. It was all in good fun; they were high-spirited, their taunts were all in good fun. My favorite cheer of theirs was probably, “Oh-wee-oh….Orrrrr-i-oles…” Most of the people in our section were just amused after they overcame their shock that Orioles fans existed. The one unfortunate exception was a scary, one-toothed man who could not wrap his mind around the fact that they let non-Red Sox fans into Fenway Park and started to get in their faces about it. We other Sox fans were dismissive of him - one guy told the O’s fans that Scary One-Toothed Man needed to shut up, but Scary One-Toothed Man overheard that and words were exchanged. Fortunately, the least intimidating “security personnel” came into our area to make sure nothing more came of it.

Though the Sox were down 9-3 by the end of the sixth, they scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh (ah, I love pitcher’s duels), and when a fan charged onto left field in the eighth, I was reminded of the Mother’s Day game. Alas, though they made it quite interesting in the bottom of the ninth, Varitek ended any chance of a rally by grounding into a double play.

I took in the Red Sox/Orioles game this Saturday, and the experience so dominated my weekend that I must write about it today. Like at all Sox home games, the area around the ballpark was packed with fans wearing Papelbon and Ortiz jerseys and Boston hats of various colors. Kids in oversized red shirts jogged around to avoid their parents, who were yelling after them in every accent from North Shore to Southie. Folks carried bags of souvenirs, gorged on pretzels and drank $2 bottles of water. Just like every other Mardi Gras-esque pregame party on Lansdowne Street.

Only we were about 400 miles away from Lansdowne Street. At Camden Yards. At which the Sox were playing an away game. Could’ve fooled me. Considering the ratio of Sox to Orioles fans both on the streets of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor (10 to 1) and the ratio inside the stadium (let’s say, conservatively 4 to 1), you’d think Baltimore was a stop on the Ashmont-Mattapan High Speed Line. Might as well have been, really. The City of Baltimore makes it very, very easy for a Bostonian to come down and have a great weekend.

If you have never seen a game at Camden Yards, you owe it to yourself to do so. In fact, make a weekend out of it, as I did. Here’s a good itinerary for a Saturday game:

Friday - Take an afternoon or evening Amtrak down to Baltimore’s Penn Station. Read more »

For starters, congratulations to Tom Glavine on picking up his 300th win. The man from Billerica has had a dominant career on a pair of durable legs, and when he’s ready to hang them up, people will see him as a class act and one of the finest of his era. Not a bad way to go out.

Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get to the meat and potatoes. With all the sports buzz bounding about in our beautiful burg of Boston, I want to give a quick snapshot of the four major sports (sorry, Revolution) for the benefit of you out-of-towners. What’s going on right now is a level of multi-faceted sports excitement that fans rarely see condensed into once city. With three teams widely expected to make deep playoff runs over the next year, there is an energy coursing through the Boston’s fans that have apparently nullified any bitterness or latent pessimism that longtime residents might expect to find. So here’s a break-down by team, and how each franchise is contributing to this buzz.

The Boston Celtics - Pierce, Allen, Garnett: The New Big Three. Read more »

This is a continuation of Homer’s Youkissey

[44]Then the oft overlooked Mets replied “Father of all baseball, resident of New York, highest of all baseball teams, aye, verily that Red Sox lies low in a destruction that is their due; so too may any other also be destroyed who also be cursed (like the Cubs). But my heart is torn for wise Youkilis, hapless man, who far from his friends has long been suffering woes in a Rhode isle, where is the navel of Narragansett. It is a state of smallest representation*, and therein dwells a AAA team, daughter of the International League, who was born of 3 leagues — Eastern, New York, and Ontario, and holds tall the Governors’ Cup.

[55]This daughter it is that keeps back the sorrowing man; and ever with soft and hope-filled words she beguiles him that he may forget the majors. But Youkilis, after visiting the majors but sent back, yearns to return to his home, wants to quit baseball**. Yet you baseball teams take no heed of this. Did not Youkilis when in his debut hit a home run. Why then didst thou conceive such wrath against him, O lords of baseball?

[63]Then Selig, lap-dog of all owners, answered them: “My child, what a word has escaped the barrier of they teeth? How should I, then forget “god of walks”-like Youkilis, who is beyond all minor league mortals in consecutive games in which a player reached base, and has paid sacrifice to our Jewish god in Heaven? Nay, it is Bill Mueller, 2003 AL batting champion, who is blocking his advancement to the Bigs. Mueller, the double-grand slammer***, does not keep Youkilis in the minors forever. But come, let us who are here all take though of his return to the majors, that he may come home; and Mueller will retire, for he is on in age, and can not contend with youth.”

[80]Then the oft overlooked Mets answered him: “Father of all baseball, resident of New York, highest of all baseball teams, if indeed this is now well pleasing to the baseball gods, that wise Youkilis should return to the majors, let us send forth Joe Bick, the agent, his agent, to the isle Rhode, that with all speed he may sign a major league contract and the return of Youkilis of the steadfast eye, that he may come home. But, as for me, I will go to Queens, that I may the more entice Pedro Martinez, and free up some salary room for the Red Sox. I will guide him to New York, where he will receive tidings of his father****, if haply he may hear of it.”

*2 Congressmen & 2 Senators
**Probably not true
***I hope you remember that: from both sides of the plate.
****”Who’s your daddy?“

Today I want to tell you about another one of my favorite baseball players: Thor. Now you probably know him by his real name - Eric Byrnes, but I (and my friends) call him Thor. The reason for this name dates back to May 2005 and his time on the Oakland Athletics. I was at Fenway park with a friend or two and we were watching the A’s batting practice. There was one player with blond locks enjoying himself, making some catches, saying hi to the fans, and throwing some of the balls he caught into the stands. I asked around if anyone knew who that was - no one knew, but one answer was “I don’t know, but he looks like Thor.” So Thor was the hero of batting practice.

During the game, we got to see Thor made some great catches and have a good night at the plate (1 for 3, 2B, 2BB, 2Runs), Macha was thrown out, and the Sox were up by enough that Fenway emptied out by the eighth allowing me to move right up behind the plate. So from then on I have started to follow Thor.

Well, Thor and his dog, Bruin, have now hit the big time: They went to the All-Star Game. No he wasn’t selected to the team; he was out in a kayak in McCovey Cove as a player-commentator for FOX (insert stupid robot sounds here). So Thor like to ham it up and be on TV. Another example of this is this short video clip: Read more »