Quick Thoughts - August 9th
Quick Thoughts while enjoying the pseudo-holiday…
n Gotta love Rhode Island some days… The second Monday in August is “Victory Day”, which is the new politically correct name for “Victory over Japan (or V-J) Day”. Rhode Island had a large Naval community back in the day, which is why it’s the only state in the union to still celebrate the holiday. Not that I’m complaining – I got a free day off yesterday to clean my house and watch the Sox unimpeded by such trivial things as traffic or “work”. Plus, it gave me a reason to use the word “day” in various forms about 27 times in the past three sentences…
n I apologize for not writing anything up here last week, which naturally was about the busiest Boston sports week in about 8 months. Between “MannyGate” with the Sox, Training Camp opening for the Pats, Antoine Walker being traded (again) by the Celtics, and the Bruins completely squandering their chances to be a marquis franchise with the fantasy-league-like free agent pool in the NHL, I really didn’t know which way to turn first. Throw in the two Hall-of-Fame ceremonies, the whole Rafael Palmeiro mess and Jose Canseco’s watershed interview on WEEI last week, and I don’t think I could have had more material if I tried. Of course, I got swamped by my “real” job and my “fun” job, and never got around to posting. Let’s try to hit these topics one at a time…
n Mannygate: He’s an idiot. He’s a child in a man’s body. He probably has an IQ somewhere between Johnny Damon on the low side and a boulder on the high side. His antics are grating on everyone who has to play with or manage him and even more so on those of us that watch him loaf around the bases for $20M a year. But he’s one of the top two or three right-handed hitters in the majors, and will end his career as a Hall-of-Famer and probably one of the top 10-15 hitters ever. I just don’t see any way to trade him. With Nomar last year, the Sox got rid of a clubhouse cancer whose skills were clearly diminished. Manny’s still a .295/35/130 guy. He’s never been a Gold Glover, and if he ever is, I’ll print out this page and eat it. I don’t think you can trade away a guy like this and expect to compete. Trade him for Pujols, trade him for Sheffield, trade him for Tejada or A-Rod. Those are the only guys who might be able to provide equal value. Otherwise, live with him until the contract expires.
n Pats’ Training Camp: Well, this is a pretty simple topic to address: In Belichick (and Pioli) We Trust. No Tedy Bruschi, Ted Johnson, Ty Law, Charlie Weis or Romeo Crennell? No worries – Bill will find his guy. That’s the approach we have up here these days. If there’s one team in all of professional sports whose management has earned the benefit of the doubt from their fans, it’s the Patriots. And you have no idea how strange that is for me to type as a lifelong Pats fan. To go from being one of the most perpetually mismanaged franchise to one of the best managed in all of sports, I mean, how can you even explain that?
n Good-bye (again) Antoine: I can certainly understand why this move was made. The Celtics had no intention of re-signing Walker for what he believed he was worth. More importantly, if they believe that Al Jefferson is the real deal, then they needed to move Antoine in order to make room for Big Al to get the playing time he needs to develop. In the end, they got rid of a player who they weren’t going to keep anyway, plus they got some players who can be dropped to free up cap space, and a trade exemption that I’m sure will come in handy sooner or later. Now all they have to do is either convince Paul Pierce to tank the season and give them the #1 overall pick to get the Oden kid from Ohio, or else they’ll have to deal Paul away for about 10 cents on the dollar come February once he unintentionally tanks the season and forces his way out of Boston.
n The Bruins Free Agency Debacle: Actually, I’ll cut them some slack. Mike O’Connell might have gotten a little rusty with all of the downtime between seasons. I’m not giving up on the season already – they still have a pretty solid core group of players. The way I look at it, they’re going to have to wait and see if Thornton and Samsonov sign the 1-year qualifying offers or if they actually re-up long term. If they take the 1-year deals, the Bruins will have to go for broke right away. If they sign the long-term deals, the B’s can actually form a plan to win consistently and over a longer period of time. Personally, I think Thornton takes the 1-year and Samsonov signs long-term.
n Raffy’s big mistake: I can’t even begin to describe the shockwaves that I felt when the announcement came over the air last week that Rafael Palmeiro had tested positive for a banned substance. I mean, here was a guy that wagged his finger at Congress and vehemently denied ever having used any performance-enhancing drugs, and not 4 months later he’s testing positive for one of the most hardcore steroids available? Is he going to end up as MLB’s sacrificial lamb for their steroid policy? Or is he simply the stupidest man on the face of the Earth? From my perspective, I’m voting for #2.
n I would delve into Jose Canseco’s interview on WEEI, but I don’t think I could truly capture the magnitude of it in words. Let’s just say that he believes that MLB controls the US economy, and that within the next five years, human clones will walk the Earth in test programs, but only in the “major-market” cities. I wish I were kidding about any or all of this…
Now, onto more pressing issues…
n The NFL has finally started. I couldn’t be happier. Between the American Bowl and the Hall of Fame game, I’ve watched enough football now to tide me over until the Pats first preseason game later this week. Let me pose a serious question to all of you though: Am I the only person out there who printed out and then laminated each individual week of the 2005 NFL schedule… three months ago? I thought not…
n Speaking of football, I’ll be posting all of my weekly picks as usual up here once the season starts. After going 146-100-10 last season, I can only imagine what I’ve got in me this year. 170 wins? 180? I think 200 might be a little lofty of a goal, but who knows…
n Of course, I could fall back to Earth and only reach the 60-win plateau in Week 16…
n Does anyone else listen to Johnny Damon speak and immediately think of “Sling Blade”? Just wondering…
n Of course, I’m the same guy who had such a speech impediment in youth that he wasn’t even supposed to speak until age 13. Hence, the writing…
n Ty Law signed with the Jets. This is a great signing for Ty, and a pretty good signing for the Jets. There’s a lot of money over a 7-year deal (honestly, anyone that thinks Ty will play more than 3 years, raise your hand and be laughed at…). But it gives New York the shutdown corner they need (not to mention keeping him away from the Pats & Steelers), and it gets Ty into a camp to be able to get back into football activities again. All-around good deal.
n I updated my “Boston: City of Champions” desktop wallpaper in the past week or so. Now the championship rings are all correct. Take a look by clicking here. Actually, right-click on that and goto “Save Target As…”
n And while I’m here, I appreciate all of the nice comments I’ve gotten about my 2004 Red Sox Video. Glad to see I’ve still got a few creative bones in my body.
n And finally, I’ve made my way onto ESPN.com’s Page 2, albeit in a reader submission section. Scroll down about halfway through the page, about four stories past “The Battle Scorecard”, and you’ll find a story that most of you have heard or were a part of. I’m listed under “Big D, Boston”. The full version of the story can be found here, along with my picks form the first week of the 2003 NFL Playoffs. Enjoy.
That’s it for now. I’ll be in Vegas again next week, so there probably won’t be another post until the end of August. And I’ll be in Jersey for Labor Day, so for a little while, this blog is going to be a bi-weekly thing.
Lata.
posted by Big D @ 9:48 AM
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