\/ \/ Picture Receiver Below in a Pats Uni \/ \/

Welcome to the Randy Moss Era in New England. The trade was announced earlier in the day ending a few weeks of speculation. Hopefully Brady is now satisfied with the receiving corps after all of the offseason moves the Patriots have done to acquire wide receivers- Wes Welker, Dante Stallworth, Kelley Washington, and now the one and only Randy Moss. Mix in some Ben Watson, Reche Caldwell, Troy Brown, and hell even a little Chad Jackson, and you have one talented bunch that is easy to get excited about. Hopefully we will be spared Tom Brady’s upset glare at Belichick as he rips of chin strap every time a receiver runs a bad route or he makes a bad pass, and I think we will.
The situation is very similar to Philly in ‘04, and hopefully the terrible breakup won't happen with Moss like with TO. I think New England will be too good of a situation for him like when Dillon was added in '04 and ran for 1600+ yards. Mike and I were talking about the deal, he was upset because Moss didn’t go to Green Bay to catch the last balls of Brett Favre, while I am momentarily excited for the NFL season.
In reality though, it is baseball season, so the Pats can wait while the Sox keep beating the Yanks. After all, football will be have probably finished Week 8 before the Sox win the World Series, so it will be a while before need to pass judgment on the Randy Moss Era.


Dave

Into Enemy Territory...

Quick hit this morning. Another impressive Sox win, and even more proof that you should just feed Wily Mo Pena nothing but breaking balls because when you groove a fastball he hits it 800 feet.
Big night tonight, this guy's off to the Bronx to the slum that is Yankee Stadium to watch Daisuke Matsuzaka's first start in the House That Ruth Built and round two of Sox-Yankees 2007. Here's hoping the Sox keep the good mojo rolling and pick up where they left off last week in Fenway. Expect something on the game (with pictures!!) in the next couple of days. That is, if I survive.
Have a fantastic weekend kids and Go Sox!

-MC

Schillings’s sock and some other notes

I can’t believe the validity of Schill’s sock is now coming into question. I truly believe it was blood, and if I were to find out it was paint it would rock the foundation my life is built upon. Schill’s sock, like the 502-foot Ted Williams seat, are things which you subscribe to as a fan. I refuse to make any other claim.

I made my second visit of the year to Fenway on Tuesday, they game when they got rocked by the Bluejays 10-3. Tek’s bat looks really slow from the left side, I am starting to wonder if Mirabelli should play more (just maybe give Tek an extra day here and there) or if he should stay on the right side.

BC Women’s Hockey head coach Tom Mutch resigned two days ago as the university investigates the possibility of sexual misconduct with his players through the recovery of some provocative text messages. I had the opportunity to meet Tom 4-5 times over the winter when I was covering women’s hockey. He was well liked by all his players and gave a lot of positive insights into his team. He turned around a dying program with great recruiting and coaching, and I am shocked by his resignation and I hope it was just a misconception. I am not ready to jump to conclusions, however I find it interesting that he resigned before the leak came out. I wish him, his wife, and their 6 month old daughter the best in the future.

The Weekend That Was

Wow. Actually, it's more like "Waw: What A Weeekend". The sun came out (finally), the weather got warm (it's about time), and the Red Sox swept the Yankees in a 3-game series at Friendly Fenway. It was as close to as a perfect weekend as you can get. The Red Sox didn't necessarily dominate the Yanks, but they did enough each game, finding ways to win, a hallmark of the 2004 World Series champion squad. And that kids, is enough to get me jacked. Let's dissect this weekend's events and enjoy them for what they were worth.

1. Starting Pitching - The obvious glaring difference between these two teams was the starting pitching coming into the weekend. The Red Sox had their three aces lined up, while the Yankees had an aging Andy Pettite and two guys who had less combined starts than you and I have fingers. The Sox starters gave up a few, but their pitching was good enough to do the job, and keep the Yankees at bay long enough for the Red Sox to expose the Yankees poor pitching starters and bullpen included.
2. Alex Rodriguez - Not a surprise to anyone, the guy can hit. And now even Yankees fans are beginning to realize. The guy was unreal this weekend, especially Friday night when he hit two homers off of Curt Schilling, most notably one on a knee-high fastball on the outside corner that almost severed Coco Crisp in half in the process. However, I'm sure fickle Yankee fans will point to A-Rod's inability to come up in the clutch against the Sox in two at-bats this weekend. The first Friday night when Hideki Okajima and Captain Varitek did an amazing job of setting up A-Rod and inducing a soft line drive to second, and last night when Rodriguez hit a measly ground ball to third to end the contest. I love it. I really do.
3. Jonathan Papelbon & Co. - Honestly, who didn't have a great weekend out of the Sox bullpen. Papelbon picked up two more saves, and is still perfect in the month of April for all of time so far, and Okajima nutted up and came through huge when it mattered, especially Friday night when the Papel-bot was recharging his battery. Good stuff all around.
4. Back-to-back-to-back-to-back - In one of the coolest things I've ever seen, the Sox showed an awesome display of power when Manny Ramirez, JD Drew, Mike Lowell, and Jason Varitek all took Yankee rookie Chase Wright deep over the span of 10 pitches. The coolest thing about the home runs? The dugout's reaction, mainly Manny Ramirez after the deed was done. If you catch the replays again, check Manny's reaction and ensuing man-lovefest with Alex Cora after Lowell's home run. And then store it in your head in case Manny quits on his 'mates later in the year again. For now though, happy times!

So that was the series that was this weekend. This guy's off to look for tickets to Friday night's showdown in the Bronx boogeydown when Mr. Matsuzaka toes the rubber in his and the Sox's first trip to the House That Ruth Built this year. Gonna be a blast. Alright, now stop reading this the four of you that are reading it, and get outside. It's be-a-utiful out. -MC

PS - Go check out this article on Manny Ramirez in The New Yorker. Thanks to Mr. Garland for pointing this one out. Fantastic read, especially the part about how Big Papi describes Man-Ram.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/23/070423fa_fact_mcgrath

The Weekend that Is

Warm weather, girls sunbathing in way too cold wather, and the sox. By golly spring must be here. There really couldn’t be a better weekend for baseball here in New England, and after the Red Sox win last night, I am feeling pretty euphoric. In the spirit of everything great about spring finally being here, I give you the top 5 countdown of things to do this weekend.
1. Play golf- Please, you knew I would put this on the list
2. Have a barbecue- nothing goes down like a nice burger or steak.
3. Watch the Red Sox, outdoors. Get an extra long extension cord and cable cord, and enjoy the sox as if you are at Fenway.
4. Sunbath- For those of us who develop ugly sox tans by mid-June, this weekend should provide a perfect day to shed the sandals let the feet breath, preferably while watching the Sox.
5. Avoid ESPN between 7PM and 12:30. The NBA playoffs are on and I wouldn’t want to have to experience it.
6. Do lawn work. Just kidding, get out there and do one (or all of) the first five. Have a great weekend.

Dave

The Fightin' Phils

Great story out of Philadelphia in the last couple of days regarding the Philadelphia Phillies. Now let me just start by saying how much I hate the Phillies right now. First of all, they suck. In my failed attempt to preview every division (the only division I did was the NL East of course) I picked the Phils to win the East. So of course, they start 3-9, good for dead last, even behind the lowly Washington Nationals. So they're making me look dumb. Not cool. Secondly, Chase Utley is off to a pretty slow start. Which wouldn't bother me at all, except for the fact he was my first round fantasy draft pick. Dude's hitting .245 with 2 homers and 6 RBI. That projects to .245, 27, and 81. Also, not cool. So just when I'm steamed at the Phillies, something comes out of the City of Brotherly Love that doesn't exemplify love whatsoever and is quite funny.

If you haven't seen the video, you must check it out at some point (coming to YouTube soon I'm sure). Phils manager Charlie Manuel basically gets called out by Philly radio guy Howard Eskin who's killed Manuel over his entire tenure in Philly, and then he procedes to challenge Eskin to a fight during the postgame press conference. Manuel, who told Eskin that he'd meet him in his office if he wanted to fight, literally left the press conference to wait for Eskin. Later, in the clubhouse, Manuel had to be restrained. Brilliant stuff really. I find it fascinating that it is the middle of April and the "waste" has already hit the fan. This is what the Phillies get for making me look so dumb. In my opinion though, Eskin is right when he says that Manuel is not a good manager. The Phillies have underacheived under Manuel during his tenure, and it already seems that they're starting to give up on him this early in the season. If things don't get any better, expect Manuel to get the boot before too long as a shot in the arm to try to revive the team. What I just did was brilliant by the way. By saying that, the Phillies will get hot now and Manuel will be manager of the year. Because every prediction I've made in the last 6 months has been awful. Either way, I'm all for a Manuel-Eskin bout.

I hope some of you will join me in my "NBA Playoff Boycott". I'm going to do all I can not to watch a minute of teh NBA Playoffs, with one exception. If the Suns play the Mavericks, I might watch, with a strong emphasis on might. Other than that, no thank you. I'm not a huge fan of the NBA, but even less after a mundane season. The most compelling NBA action for me in the next 3 months (yes, 3 months to play four rounds) will be May 22nd. That's right, the NBA lottery. The ping pong balls better bounce the right way for the Celtics at least. That's all I've got though. See ya kids.
-MC

Finding Some Good

While those in Blacksburg, Virginia still try to make sense of everything that happened Monday at Virginia Tech, the Washington Nationals should be commended for their gesture Tuesday night. The Nats, under a suggestion from a fan, donned Virginia Tech caps that they received in the second inning. It was a remarkable gesture that the Nats didn't have to, but it's things like that that go a long way in healing after these kinds of situations. Dave already touched on the situation some, but I join him in saying that our thoughts are with the Virginia Tech community.

Today we are all Hokies…

In the face of yesterdays events, murmurs of which whispers were heard of while watching the Boston Marathon, an as a student in an ACC school who competes with Virginia Tech often enough to own a shirt saying “What the Hell is a Hokie?”, we offer our thoughts to the families of the victims and the entire Virginia Tech community. Some of the most memorable college moments thus far were from games against Virginia Tech, and I am sure many of 33 members were Hokie fans whom our cheers were directed at. Today we stand up and are all Hokies.

Why the Fed Ex Cup is the Greatest Thing You Have Never Heard Of

AND OTHER STUFF
Golf fans, rejoice. After a pretty sweet 2007 Masters, in which sister-loving Gladiator bad guy Zach Johnson surprisingly captured the title like Jeff Ogilvy did at the US Open last summer, we have only a month until the Players Championship at Sawgrass. Thanks to the Fed-Ex Cup schedule, there is one major like event each. May will be the Players, which always entertains and is the site of some of the most unbelievable performances I have seen, like Davis Love’s 64 in the final round in 2003 and Tiger’s “Better than Most” triple breaking putt in 17 in 2001. Of course 17 is always a story in itself, the ultimate challenge of nerves and the cheapest way to get yourself a dozen pro-v1s (if you have scuba gear that is). Anyway after a great Masters I am excited to see the Players in a few weeks, and I think the Tour got something right with the new system.

I also have to put a little something about the Red Sox. While Mike is clearly the baseball expert of the two of us, since I don’t play a varsity sport I have had the pleasure to watch all the games thus far. I wanted to apologize for bashing Drew. I’ll lay off the guy until his average drops to .260 and he is still making 14 million bones. It’s still only April and Trot is hitting .357 too, but for a third of the price.
I still love Dice-K, even after the loss (Seriously though how good is Felix and what is his ceiling?). Daisuke didn’t have his best stuff, it was pretty obvious in the first inning, but he managed to battle through 7 innings only giving up three runs. Sore kudasai, I will take it.
I love the Japanese Dunkin Donuts sign in center, but as a typical American I have to ask, Dice-K, Anata wa eigo o hanashimasu ka? Do you speak English?
Enough of the Japanese phrases, enjoy Thursday everybody.

Dave

Do The Dice-K

A new era in Red Sox baseball is upon us. Daisuke Matsuzaka made his first start today for the Sox, and it was quite the impressive showing. Dice went 7 strong giving up a run on 6 hits, striking out 10 and for those who were concerned about his wildness towards the end of spring training, walking only one. I don't care that it was the Kansas City Royals, the guy cruised today. It was an encouraging sign, very exciting, and quite frankly I'm excited. In no time, perhaps it's even here now, the excitement that accompanied a Pedro Martinez start when he was in town, will come with every Matsuzaka start. When the Dice Man pitches, I find myself feeling the same feeling that I did when Pedro pitched. When the Sox are up, I want them to get 3 or 4 early runs, and then every other time they get up, I almost hope they go in order just so I can see Daisuke pitch. It sounds worse than it is, trust me. But it seems like every time he pitches, 3 runs will be enough. Am I getting too excited too soon? You bet your ass I am. But who can blame me? I'm excited!

Moving on to other sports related topics...
Anyone else hate Joakim Noah? I can't stand the guy. All you had to do was watch the press conference before the National Championship, the game in which Florida took out Ohio State and the absolutely stupid postgame interview. Everyone raves about the guy within the media, but I can barely stomach the guy. Everything out of his mouth just stops you in your tracks with absolute puzzlement and while he does play the game hard, is there a need to pound your chest when you score your first basket with 12 minutes left in the second half of an NCAA tournament game? I really don't think so...What do you guys think?
In somewhate related news, Billy Donovan is staying at Florida to try to win his third national championship in as many years. College coaches take note. Kentucky would have given him the world, but Donovan turned down the rich tradition at UK to presumably make his own rich tradition at Florida. Your thoughts, Nick Saban?
As Dave highlighted in his great column the other day, the Masters is upon us. Is it even worth me making a pick? I'm going with that Woods guy, on a hunch of course.
Anyone know what's going on in the NBA? Let me know if you do, this guy isn't watching.

That's all I can think of for now. I had more, but I forgot what I was going to talk about. I'll be back soon enough, hopefully. Take it easy kids.
-MC

Tiger's Appeal

(Note: this was supposed to run two days ago, but got sidetracked. Also appears in next Thursdays edition of The Heights

Ten years is a long time. Imagine, if you can, where you will be in 2017. College will have past and our lives running ahead at full speed. Now remember where you were ten years ago.
I was only eight, my major obsessions at the time were collecting basketball cards and hanging out with my buddies next door. I really had no idea what golf was. But this week in April things changed. On this week a 21-year old kid with a big smile from Southern California said “hello world” with a 12-stroke win at the Masters. That kid, of course, was Tiger Woods, and after winning on Sunday, April 13th, 1997 he would take the golfing world by storm, going on to win 56 PGA Tournaments and 12 Majors.
After watching one of the most spectacular triumphs ever over that week in April, I was soon lured into golf with a little coaxing of my buddies, hitting the links regularly through middle school and playing on the golf team in high school. I was hooked for life (I play a fade though).
And I wasn’t alone. Across the country, countless kids picked up golf, drawn into the game because of the charisma of Tiger. The smiley 21-year old kid showed the nation his 300-yard drives, his unbelievable short game, and his steadfast putting ability. Soon, many thought, the draw of one man would bring the game of golf to experience the boom it had been waiting for since the dying days of the Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer Era. What had been a sad, faceless decade for golf was about to end because of Tiger and the new wave of players he would soon bring to the game.
It was the Tiger Generation, I admittedly was part of it. This group of young golfers feasted on bombing it off the tee, going for the green in two, and hitting everything hard. While my pursuit of the dream ended after high school, many of the kids from the Tiger Generation are starting to make their way to the Tour, exemplified by guys like Bubba Watson and J.B. Holmes (both will be sitting at home watching the Masters this week).
But despite all the hoopla Tiger creates with his every move, a media feeding frenzy in which he has to buy “Privacy” in the form of a $20 million dollar yacht, golf in America has not been saved by the emergence of a transcendent superstar.
While courses continue to spring up in every nook and cranny of America, golf course play is actually on a decline since the dot com burst in 2000-2001. Less people are playing golf today than they were five or six years ago, and relatively speaking, golf has not experienced the boom it thought Tiger would bring.
Beginning this year, many of the PGA Tournaments will be covered exclusively by The Golf Channel, which is selectively provided on certain cable and satellite networks, meaning that America cannot turn on ABC or CBS on Sunday to see the final round each week. ESPN no longer has midweek coverage, meaning golf highlights, which historically took a back seat on the highlight reel, now barely make it into Sportscenter. Golf is returning to its pre-1997 niche among sports fans and participants.
The Tiger Effect has been one underwhelming for a variety of reasons. Without a consistent foe, it often seems as though there is a Tiger vs. Field mentality of the viewers each week when he is anywhere near the first page of the leader board. While Phil Mickelson might have won back to back majors a year ago, nobody has been able to challenge Tiger the way Nicklaus had Palmer, Lee Trevino, Gary Player, and Tom Watson to challenge him and flat out beat him on a regular basis. After all, Nicklaus finished second 19 times in majors, Tiger only twice.
Other factors contributing to the lack of interest in golf are that people simply do not have time to spend two or four hours without cellphones and PDAs, and often courses price themselves out of the market making them inaccessible to the general public
2007 marks the tenth anniversary of Tiger’s first burst on the scene at the Masters, and instead of his glorifying achievement propelling golf to the national spotlight this week, most of the focus this week will be on NCAA Basketball, a certain Japanese pitcher, and the next arrest of Pacman Jones. Its ten years later, and golf is still on the backburner.
Some things change, some things just stay the same.