"SPORTS!!!"

I was at Kilowatt last Sunday to catch the Patriots and Bills game with Borix and Knapp. With the commotion of the different games going on in the different sections of the bar, the bartendar felt compelled to just start screaming out "SPORTS!!!". I would've thought Kilowatt to be the anit-sports bar, but money talks especially on Sunday's during the fall. I have been wanting to blog about sports in this day and age and thought this was a good title.

Yes, as you all know very well, it was two years ago last night that the Boston Red Sox won the World Series and a confirmation that ANYTHING (including fatherhood) was a possibility. An amazing year all around acutally, that 2004 --Red Sox won the Series, Patriots won the Super Bowl and Lindsay and I got married (not in any special order, honey). While seeing the Red Sox win it all was an amazing experience, the years following this, not only with baseball but also with football have really changed my perception of the relevancy of "SPORTS!!!" in my life

Gordon Edes is sports columnist for the Boston Globe. He wrote an article about Manny Ramirez last month because he felt he was dishonoring "the code". The code that others on the team like Varitek and Nixon would never violate or dishonor. I felt compelled to email Mr. Edes or Gordo about how I felt about this, an except is below:

This code that you noted in your article, "to honor
the code that is an article of faith"? I just don't
see this being relevant in this day and age. Yes, its
appreciative from the fan's stand-point, but honoring
a code doesn't keep you in uniform. It didn't help
Deon Branch and it's definately not going to help Trot
Nixon this off season.

Granted, guarranteed vs. non-guarranteed salaries --I
agree, but this is just another unfortunate example of
the business of sports. Whatever the professional
sport, there are players and there is management and
we are bound to the decisions of management. Even
though I disagree with the actions, if Manny's going
to be able to play longer and make more money by
sitting out, he's going to do it and there's nothing
anyone can do about it. In a strange, obnoxious way,
I kind of like the gall.

If I may: "don't hate the playa, hate the game"

When the Patriots lost to the Broncos this year, after the game Belechick threw his arm around Shannahan and looked like he wanted to plant a wet one on him because of how well he coached the game. It just didn't seem right and did not sit well with me. The game (especially of non-guarranteed money), has become teams of Gladiators fighting it out on behalf of the powers that be. I'm still rooting for the Patriots and not just because I look like Tom Brady, but because I still buy into the "team" aspect, whether or not that includes coaches and player personnal executives. Plus, no matter what happens, its still so fun to hate the Yankees.