mr. blackandwhite

That's great kid, now don't get cocky..

Happy Friday everybody! I'm still enjoying the after-glow of the Boston Celtics' 17th NBA Championship. I would have loved to have attended the C's Championship parade yesterday. The weather was great and it looked like a good time was had by all. I went to one of The Patriots' parades a few years ago and it was a blast. I love a Championship Parade.

It's just a great feeling seeing the C's win another championship after 22 years, especially after the horror-show of a season they endured last year. I think I watched maybe three or four Celtics games total last season. It was just too painful to watch them lose night after night.

With the 2008 NBA finals being a Celtics / Lakers throwback to the 80's, it's been funny to look at the old pics from the '86 Championship celebration and see all the people wearing those painters caps and Ray Ban Wayfarers (I still have some of those actually).

I remember when those painters caps were the big thing. You were fully in style if you were wearing the painters cap, Wayfarers and high-top Nikie sneaks with the Sony Walkman headphones jammed in your ears. Ha! Pretty funny.

Now that the C's have won it all, as happy as I am about it, I have to admit to you, I'm almost as relieved as I am happy. It's going to feel nice to be able to just relax for a few months! All these championships are great, but man, they are extremely stressful! My sports related stress-o-meter has been through the roof! I need a break!

I need to decompress a little after the Red Sox World Series, The Pats chase for a perfect NFL record and Superbowl, The B's taking the #1 seeded (and #1 hated) Habs to seven games in the Stanley Cup playoffs and The Celts playing more playoff games than any other team in history en route to their 17th Championship. Whew!! I wonder what my average blood-pressure has been these last few months.

Now it's just nice, soothing Red Sox baseball on a warm summer night and the occasional NASCAR race till Fall, when the pennant race heats up and, hopefully for Sox fans, October, when the MLB playoffs begin.

Let's do it all again (except let the B's and Pats win at the end this time.)

Oh my goodness am I ever spoiled, or what?? Yes. I know it. Hey, at least I openly admit to it! I'm not ashamed of it, but I admit to it! HA.

One of the things I've been reading a lot lately is that the C's winning the championship has eased the pain of the Patriots loss in Superbowl XLII. I have to go along with that. That Superbowl loss was pretty tough. I've thought about it, painfully, for months. Seeing the Celtics get #17 has definetely helped put The Patriots' Superbowl loss where it belongs, in the past.

As Angela's Dad said, 'The Sports Gods couldn’t give up Super Bowl 42 because they were holding out for the Celtics #17.'

Makes sense to me.

Would I trade the C's 2008 Championship for a Pats' win in Superbowl XLII and an undefeated NFL season? Do me a favor and don't ask me that question ok? It makes my brain hurt a little to think about that question.

Ok fuck it, I'll answer it. The answer is no, even if I could, I would not trade it. I love The Pats, Sox, B's and C's and even though The Pats are head and shoulders at the top of the list, I would not, could not wish away one of my team's successes for the betterment of another. Besides it's impossible anyway so why waste time thinking about stuff like that? If I'm gonna wish for something, I'm gonna wish for a paid off mortgage and a swimming pool. And world peace, of course.

The thing that is really great is that The Pats, Sox, B's and C's are all built to remain contenders year after year. That's right Boston haters, the chances are pretty good that we'll be back again for more in a few months. Till then, enjoy your vacation from us!

(Oh yeah I AM spoiled.)

C's in Six. I hope, I hope, I hope.

A 17th NBA Title for the Celtics would have made a really great Father's Day present last Sunday. Unfortunately, as we all know, it didn't happen.

Despite being down by ridiculous amounts of points throughout the game, with a chance to win the NBA Championship on the line, I really thought the C's were going to pull another come-back win out of their collective hats for Game 5.

Much to my very sleepy chagrin on Monday morning, The Celts missed their chance at wrapping things up in La-La Land by a couple of missed free-throws and a turnover.

Just think, if Kevin Garnett didn't miss those 2 free-throw attempts in the final minutes of Game 5, maybe I'm not even writing this. Maybe I'm at a parade instead.

Dang.

Since the moment my head hit the pillow some time after 12 AM-ish on Monday, there has been only one thing in the forefront of my mind: A Celtics win in Game 6.

Let's end this thing tonight C's and BEAT L.A..

(Please, I'm beggin' ya Celts. I think I might have a minor breakdown if this thing goes to 7 games.)

I'm hoping The C's come out en-fuego tonight, grab a big lead early in the game, and don't let up off of the gas until the last second has ticked away from the game clock.

I want to see a big, shiny trophy wheeled out onto the parquet floor at The Garden, tonight (or, more accurately, tomorrow morning.. whatever. BEAT L.A.)

GO CELTICS

(notes > links > pics > tunes > drop.io)

Kicks own ass, repeatedly.

Last night was band practice so I didn't watch the start of Game 4 between the Celtics / Lakers. When we finished around 10 PM, one of the guys checked the score. 'Not good' he said, 'they're down by like 20 points.'

Ug.

'Well I don't want to see a massacre,' I thought. 'Hopefully they can get back the series lead in Game 5.'

So I didn't watch a single minute of last night's game. Then this morning, I braced myself, expecting the worst, and checked the final score..

97 - 91, Celtics.

What? Did I read that right? 

I checked it again and the score remained 97 - 91, Celtics, and a 3 - 1 series lead. AWESOME!!

Then a second or two later it hit me: I missed one of the greatest Celtics comeback games, evar. 

Clearly, I am a tool. 

And I'm off to kick my own ass now.

Game 3.. Dammit.

I'm pretty annoyed at the way Game 3 of the NBA Finals turned out, (87-81, Lakers). I'm not gonna let it ruin my day, but DAMN The Celtics let a great opportunity to put a choke-hold on this series slip away last night..

The C's were down by as much as 10 at several points during the game but they were able to battle back every time and keep things close.

The lead changed hands throughout the night and I felt like the win and a 3-0 series lead was there for the taking by the Celtics but.. it was not meant to be. That's just how it goes.

Then again, after losing two in Boston, I'm sure nobody was really surprised to see the Lakers take Game 3. It is what it is. (Yes, clichés are my forte.)

The C's need to win at least one game in La-La Land, but hopefully they can get two. That would be even better.

(I'm sometimes referred to as, 'Master of the Obvious')

BEAT L.A.

(my drop.io)

Odds n' Ends...

Hey what's up everybody? Hope you're having a good week so far. Ok, it's only Tuesday, but I still hope it's been a good one.

Last week was pretty eventful around here; lots of firsts, lots of changes.

We removed the child gate from the bottom of the stairs. Our youngest is now able to get up and down well enough that we don't need it anymore. We now have free access to go up and down stairs. It is very freaky. That gate has been up for so long, I keep reaching for the handle to open it. It's like a big, wide open.. opening now and it feels very strange after having it barricaded with a gate for so long. 

There is still a gate at the top of the stairs, just to prevent any accidents, so we are not totally gate free yet, but losing the bottom one was a big step.

While I'm on the subject of gates, the youngest had the gate removed from her crib this past weekend. She is now in a 'big girl bed'. It's still a crib, it just does not have the gate on one side. She was climbing over the top to get out of her crib, so it was time for the gate to come down. It's taking a little bit of getting used to for her. She's used to having it there when she's asleep and now has to learn where the edge of her bed is. There's a big pillow beneath it in case she rolls out, but she seems to be getting the hang of it pretty quickly.

Other firsts.. last week my band played for the first time in front of people. It was at a local open mic night in a nearby bar. There were a lot of mistakes but it was fun. The bass player kicked out his own guitar cable at the start of one song, which prompted me to say, 'how about we try that again without kicking out the guitar cord this time?' Hey the same exact thing happened to Eddie Spaghetti and Jordan Shapiro when I saw them play a couple months ago. It happens to the pros so I'm not going to sweat that kind of stuff. It's all good. 

As for me, I got some lyrics mixed up and broke a string on the guitar, (thankfully on the last song and not the first). Nothing like getting every screwed up thing you can do out of the way during the first ever live performance. Now we don't have to worry about it happening again. (yeah right!)

I would rate our performance as a solid 'needs more work', but for the first time out, I was happy with how we did. I considered it a success just to get up there and play. If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking until you do.

Speaking of playing, (amazing how all these topics blend so seamlessly into one another isn't it?) I tried to record another demo song last night but it was an exercise in total frustration. After about four hours of work I ended up with about 10 seconds that I actually wanted to keep. I'll try and fix it up tonight..

Speaking of tonight.. The Celtics and Lakers will play in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. For those of you living in a cave, The Celts are up in the series, 2-0. The C's are sooo close! Half-way there! We need to win a road game out in L.A. and keep the pressure on. 

It kills me that these games go till around midnight, but I'm gonna try and keep my eyeballs open for this one tonight.

Finally, the other night I had a dream that The Pats were in the Superbowl, a future Superbowl that is, and I was on the team. That was a good dream, especially since The Pats won. It's only mini-camp time in Patriots Nation, but obviously I am looking forward to a new Patriots season. (Ya think?) 

In just a few short weeks it will be training camp time. I'm hoping to head down to at least one session. But I don't want to get too far ahead of myself here.. there's still a lot of awesome Summer weather to enjoy between now and then. I love The Patriots and football season, but I don't mind stretching Summer out as much as possible between now and September! 

Ok that's it. Have a good one and GO CELTICS!

BEAT L.A!! BEAT L.A!!

(my drop.io)

Sponsored by:

Affordable Heath Insurance

B.L.A.

Dinner:

Me: Ok kids, the Celtics are in the NBA Finals against the Lakers, so we need to start practicing our chant. Ready? Beat L.A... Beat L.A... Beat L.A.!!

Kids: Dad, what's 'Bee El Ay' mean?

Wife: It's not 'Bee' it's 'Beat'. 'Beat L.A.'

Kids: Oh, ok. 'BEE ELL AAY! BEE ELL AAY! BEE ELL AAY!'

Wife: Ok, a little loud..

Me: [interjecting]: But that's good, loud is good. We'll need that for the games.

Wife: [continuing] .. and it's 'BEAT L.A.', not 'Bee L.A.'.. Beat. Beat.

Kids: Ok. 'BEAT L.A!!!!'

Me: Right.

Kids: What is 'L.A.'?

Me: It stands for 'Los Angeles'. That's where the Lakers are from.

Son: Los Angeles is a large city in California.

Me: That's right! And we need for the Celtics to beat them.

Youngest [age 2]: BEE ELL AAY, BEE ELL AYY!!!! [giggles]

Me: Good job!

All 3 kids: BEE ELL AYY!! BEE ELL AYY!! BEE ELL AYYYYYYYY!!

Wife: OH-KAY!! A little loud!!

Me: Whatever. As long as the Celtics win.

Kids: Mom, can we have some ice cream?

Wife: If you eat your carrots. WITHOUT. FUSSING.

Kids: YAAAAYYYYY!! ICE CREAM!! ICE CREAM!! ICE CREAM!!

Wife: Let's practice our chanting after dinner is finished..

[Update: I just found out that all the games in the series are starting at 9 PM. At night. No weekend afternoon games. Great planning, NBA.. Guess the kids practiced their chant for nothing.]

(My drop.io)

Celts in Six.. Yes please.

Last night The Celtics played The Pistons in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. I watched until early in the 3rd quarter, but could not keep my eyes open. As much as I wanted to see the end of the game, I had to shut it off and get some z's.

Of course I then lay in bed wondering what was happening in the game until I finally fell asleep. When I woke up this morning the first thing I did was to check the score, and I was relieved to see the Celts had gotten the win, 106-102.

Then it was time to exercise. Instead of walking outside I opted for the treadmill so I could get the recap and see how the game played out. The C's had a double digit lead when I turned off the TV last night, but even as I pressed the 'off' button, I knew that lead wouldn't last.

Detroit managed to cut the Celtics' lead to only one point before the C's finally shut the door for good, way late in the 4th quarter. Whew. Guess it's a good thing I didn't watch.

To be honest I didn't watch any of games 1-4 either and the teams wound up in the exact spot I expected them to be, so there you go. What can I say, I guess I am just a bad sports fan right now. I feel like I've got too much going on to just sit in front of the tube and watch sports. Even last night, I was practicing the guitar while I watched the game in the background.

So now the C's will head out to Detroit where they have a chance to end the series in six games. I sure hope they can. Between the B's and C's in the playoffs this year, I can't take any more of these Game 7's..

C's in six. Say it with me.. C's in six. Make it so.

(my drop.io)

Waiting for quiet-ness...

Ohh, I'm tired. Hey what's up everybody. It's about 9 PM. I'm home alone, my Wife is out at one of her Mom Meetings (or as I call it, excuse to have a margarita). Wait, what am I saying, you don't need an excuse to have a margarita!

I'm going to be heading down to try and work on some recording in a few minutes. Got the kids settled around 8:30 and I'm just waiting here to make sure all remains quiet before I strap on the headphones.

I made a recording last night and I think it came out ok, except for one of the guitar solos, which I am not happy with and I need to re-do, and also the vocals are too high, so I'm going to fix that. Unfortunately these recordings have no bass and only a loop for drums. It's just me and the guitar and a drum loop. Other than that they are pretty ok fine I think.

Since I was recording last night, I did not see John Lester's no-no. I did not even know it was happening till it was already over and my Sister-In-Law called to see if I was excited about it. I was like, 'excited about what?' 

Well, that's how it goes. I guess I am a bad Red Sox fan right now (bows head in shame), but I did make a recording, so that counts for something, in my book at least.

The Celts face the Detroit Pistons in Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals tonight. Here's hoping the C's can win all their home AND road games in this series!!

C's win, Sox win. How about getting the Hat Trick tonight Bruins?

Well it's been a few weeks and there's been some dates added to the list, but it looks like Mike Ness is not going to grace the Boston area with his presence during his solo tour this Spring. Crazy as it may seem, I actually considered making a road trip to one of the NY or NJ shows. In fact, I am seriously considering the Saturday May 17th show in Asbury Park, NJ as I write this, but soon reality will sink in. Dammit.

Oh well maybe Mike will come back around later this year..

In the meantime, The C's won in dominating fashion last night in their first game of the NBA playoffs vs The Hawks, The Sox won today against the Rangers, getting the series sweep I might add, and the Bruins will play in the winner take all, Game 7 of the Stanley Cup quarter-finals tonight vs Montreal.

Let's make it 3 out of 3, a Hat Trick if you will, shall we Bruins? Yes, I think that would be nice, because I need to see more of Cam 'Mungo' Neely as lunatic fan, obviously too pumped up to be able to sit down during the game (I know that feeling) and jumping around like, ah, well, like one of us does whenever the Bruins score a goal. I should try and see if there is a youtube video of Neely's excited antics somewhere because it is truly awesome to behold.

A win tonight for The Bruins would be an almost complete reversal of the B's previous playoff appearance in '04, when the then #2 seeded Bruins blew a commanding 3-1 series lead to the 7th seeded Habs. A win tonight erases that collapse from my mind, something I would very much appreciate. Plus The Bruins have not won a playoff series yet this century. So they need to do that. Tonight.

I will now direct you to this wonderfully written prayer to the Hockey Gods on the Bruins behalf by Hockey Chick Courtney.

LETS GO BRUINS!!

Update:
Well I dug around a little for video of Neely losing his mind in the press box after the B's scored a goal and this is the best I could find. This is pretty funny too.

Yup. M-hmm.

Hey whats up you. Wow could this blog possibly get any more stale? Could it get any stale-er? Is stale-er a word? If this blog were any stale-er than it is now, it would be a crouton and you could put it on your salad to make it crunchy. Salad is good. I like buffalo chicken salad. Do you? Hey it's lunchtime!

So I'm going to change up the design here soon and it's going to totally rawk. Fully AND totally. And that's a lot. It's going to be the website equivalent of when I saw Dokken and Judas Priest back in 1985. Well, actually that level of rawk will be kind of hard to live up to. That rawk level would be a pretty big achievement. Because I was like in the 7th row on the floor for that concert and Rob Halford rode his Harley out onto the stage before Priest played Diamonds and Rust. Or was it Victim of Changes? Maybe it was Turbo Lover.. Fuck I can't remember. But, as far as the site goes, it will have some different colors and stuff soon. Because this current design says 'winter' and I am sick of winter. There you go.

The B's lost AGAIN last night. God following that team is an exercise in frustration. At least they are still clinging to that 7th place playoff spot. Just because .500 hockey gets you into the contest does not mean you have to actually PLAY .500 hockey guys. Geez.

At least we have the C's. The Celts are all good times and happiness right now. The playoffs should be good. Hopefully the C's are not a flop once the real games start but the way this team is made up, I don't think that will happen. A 17th banner in the Garden would be really nice. Plus then people all over the U.S. could hate Boston some more. It's the new national fad, which we all truly appreciate.

Alright enough blabbing. I've got some leftover hamburger helper here that is feeling lonely. Have a good Friday!

{mood - Turbonegro: Locked Down, Hank III and Assjack: Disrespectful}

Sad news, Celts great Dennis Johnson has passed away...

I just read the news that Dennis Johnson, former Celtics great, has passed away.

I was extremely surprised and at the same time, very saddened to learn of Johnson's passing. He was only 52 years old. Damn.

DJ was one of my favorite players on The Celtics back in the 80's. I can remember well watching him and the other Celtics greats as a teenager back during the Celts championship years, and I can still hear Johnny Most screaming Johnson's name with excitement after DJ had pulled off a spectacular play.

It's a sad day for Celtics fans. RIP Dennis Johnson.

An Even 50...

After 'Lost' ended, I clicked over to the C's game, just to see how the boyz were doin'.

Like the Bruins, the C's are a team that just can't seem to find itself this season. They have had some nice moments but... there have been a lot of times where it's not been fun to watch. Despite an inconsistent season so far, the C's remain in contention to make the playoffs.

In tonight's game vs. The Cavs, the C's showed a lot of grit, but came up just short. The C's made a game of it and it certainly was exciting to watch. Paul Pierce set a career high with 50 points before fouling out in the 2nd over-time. The effort was there, even if the result was not what we would have liked to see. That counts for something in my book.

Celts kick some butt on opening night...

Celtic Pride Lives. Yes it is true. I was honestly excited for The Celtics opening night tonight. I even let the kids stay up late to watch a little of the game. It was great to see (and hear) Tommy Heinsohn back out there with Mike Gorman cheerleading for The Celts. I love that guy. The Chief was in the house, Red was in the house and Paul Pierce even came out and said a few words to thank the fans before the game started, which I thought was very cool.

My opinion of Pierce had taken a downturn last year but maybe now he's gotten his act together and has dropped the whole 'thug' path he seemed to be headed down. Hope so.

The game was very exciting right from the start and it was a close game right to the end. Unfortunately the C's could not hold onto a late lead and the game went into ovahtime, but the Celts really put the boots on and kicked some ass in the OT period.

Dalante West was the man tonight. He was absolutely en-fuego the whole night. Ricky Davis and Peirce both had great games as well.

It was good to see Pierce moving the ball around and not trying to do it all himself. If there's one thing I hate about the NBA it's when there's a man open and a player that's got the ball and is getting triple-teamed will not pass the ball to a player who can take a shot.

With the current suckage that is the Boston Bruins right now, it's great to see the Celts starting up again. Yes, it's only game 1, but it's nice to have The Green back in the Gahden along with The Black and Gold.

144-100, C's

91-89 9.2 seconds left...

I'm watching this Celtics / Indiana game and there's 9.2 seconds left in the overtime period. The Celts have a 2 point lead but Indiana has the ball. Indiana could tie or take the lead here. The game should have been ovah in regulation but Pierce could not contain himself and committed a totally stupid foul that let Indiana have a second chance at life and they tied the game.. Unbelievable.

Then the Celts bring in a player cold off the bench to shoot their 2 free throw points for the original foul on Peirce, I don't even remember who it was to be honest, and he missed both. That's ridiculous. I don't care if you're cold off the bench or not, your in the frickin' NBA for cryin out loud, you ought to be able to make a couple free throws when you get to this level... Yeah, I know there's pressure and it's not an easy situation, but still...

Game on.

Indiana inbounds and O'neill (who I friggin' HATE) takes the shot but misses. Celts get the rebound and have the ball with 1 sec and change left... Time-out.

Now we're going to go through this whole foul thing... We better get one of these free throws... theres like point 7 seconds left in the game at this point. West gets 1 out of 2 free throws. Geeez. What the heck? The guy can't make 2 free-throws?? Anyway... point 7 seconds left with a 3 point Celts lead...

Indiana inbounds but misses the shot

GAME 7. See you back in Boston.

(Oh, happy Cinco de Mayo by the way!)

The Celts... What was that debacle?? Sox vs. Texas...

First off, what is the deal with all the days off between games in this Boston / Indiana playoff series? After what seemed like forever, The Celts finally got back to playing basketball last night. Unfortunately, they did not get back to playing good basketball. The Celt's lost the game last night. I don't even know what the final score was and I don't think I want to know. All I know is they got stomped. I checked in on the score in the 3rd and they were getting their butts kicked. I watched a little bit of the game and said to myself, "They're playing like crap. I'm not wasting my time staying up to watch this..."

I think the long break between games is partially to blame, especially since I became totally confused as to what day the games were on and accidentally wore my good luck Celts t-shirt yesterday, completely screwing up the team's karma. So I guess I can take part of the blame there....

Yes, I am under the belief that my choice of clothing can have an effect on the team's performance. Yes, I know I am a freak. Don't worry though, I'm wearing Red Sox gear today, including Red Sox socks, which are key, so hopefully The Sox will get back on the winning track tonight vs Texas with Wake pitching against Park.

Meanwhile Foulke is aware that there is a problem (how can he not be) and is working to fix it. I have faith in him and I refuse to get down on Foulke. I think know he will work his way out of this funk he's been in.

Meanwhile some more, Wade Miller is close, very close to being ready to go... Oooooo... so tantalizing...

"Keep the Faith"

Various topics and lets not forget, Happy Reward Friday!

First off, it's that day, the day we all wait all week for, REWARD FRIDAY!! So have a good Reward Friday.

My wife had a girls night out last night and did not come home till like 2AM this morning so I was up late worrying about her since she did not call me to let me know she was ok. I can't complain since I've done that to her plenty of times in the past before I learned my lesson, (though I'm not going to give her the silent treatment like I used to get...) In any case, I had a hard time getting up this morning since I only got about 4 hours of sleep.

It was my carpool partner's turn to drive and I was in a bit of a surly mood due to the lack of sleep. He likes WEEI, which is fine, but I can't stand Dennis and Callahan. Cannot. Fucking. Stand them. I hate Mitre too. So, being forced to listen to those jackasses on WEEI's morning drive did not help my mood. Today they were all haughty and uptight about some picture depicting Johnny Damon as Jesus and the other Sox players as deciples. First off, who cares? Get a clue, it's meant to be a joke! 2nd, that picture came out months ago and you're just discovering it now? Get the fuck over yourselves lame-asses... I am continually amazed at the supposed popularity of the WEEI morning show.

Thankfully, being Reward Friday, we stopped at Dunkins before heading into The Software Factory and that immediatly fixed my bad mood. My Dunkin's steak egg and cheese sandwich and medium coffee this morning were perfect. Bad mood ovah.

The Celts will play their first game of the playoffs tonight against Indiana and I have yet to sit through an entire Celtics game. It's going to be rainy this weekend so in true Fair-Weather Celtics Fan Fashion, I will probably watch one of the weekend games. Like I said before, if they get into the second round, I'm set. Everything after that will be gravy. Of course, a 17th banner would be nice, but lets get through the first round of the playoffs first...

Matt Clement pitched brilliantly last night, or so I read, since I did not actually watch the game. My wife was out being a party animal, so I watched the directors cut of "Aliens" and got that out of my system.

Ripley: You know Burke, I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage!

Anyway, just yesterday I was comparing Clement to Rick 'Wild Thing' Vaughn from the movie 'Major League'. Hmmm. Did Clement read my post and say to himself, "Hey, I'm really gonna prove that guy wrong tonight!" Well, you can all thank me now because it worked! (Yah. Right...)

Ok, maybe it was not my post from yesterday that did it, but whatever it is, I hope it continues. The Sox starting rotation has been doing great.

Enjoy your Reward Friday alcoholic beverage(s) of choice this evening after work. I might go with the Jack and Ginger tonight...

Pats, Celts, Sox, Snowblower

From what I can tell, there is not much to talk about today in the world of sports.


(DreamWorks)

The Pats released Earthwind Moreland and signed a few new assistant coaches. No news on the Pats Offensive Coordinator job...

It's looking like Antoine Walker is coming back to the Celts. Interesting. Very interesting. The deal is not final yet but it looks like they just have to dot the 'i's and cross the 't's and it is going to happen. This should make Paul Peirce happy. I liked Antoine so I'll be glad to see him wearing The Green again. Maybe I'll even watch more than 1 quarter of basketball before the season ends. 'Twan may provide the spark this team seems to need right now.

Curt 'THE MAN' Shilling threw 47 pitches from the mound today down at Spring Training. This article in the Globe reports he was not happy with his performance but Francona and pitching coach Dave Wallace were 'encouraged'. Personally, I'm more than encouraged. I'm thrilled.

In other 'Life in General' news...

The Snow-blower Saga continues... My now famous snow-blower was picked up today so that whatever is wrong with it can be repaired. Normally I would attempt this kind of manly repair-work stuff myself, since a snowblower is really not that complicated a machine, but since I don't have a garage, working on it outside in the middle of winter can be rather unpleasant, especially if your numb fingers run across a sharp edge or drop a bolt or nut or something else important in the snow and it gets lost. Violent swearing and other nonsense usually ensues when that kind of thing happens. So, in my mind, it is worth it to shell out some dough to get it working again. I'm just hoping I can get it back before the next big storm...

Managing Sox withdrawl and other things...

After weeks of non-stop, all Sox, all the time, it is a little strange not having any baseball games to watch. I think I am going through a withdrawl period. Unfortunately, there's not much to help me through it. The Pats only play once a week. Usually, the Bruins would help fill the void but there is no hockey. That makes me wonder, with no B's this year, what's NESN gonna do? Are they just going to show Fan Attic and Charlie Moore shows every night?

There's still the Celts I guess... Yeah... Right. Do I hear crickets chirping? Don't get me wrong. I still love the Celtics even though the NBA is, well, pretty much a wreck. The season is just starting. They've got a new coach and some new players. We'll see how they do I guess. I watched some of the game tonight and saw Waltah's 3 pointer to end the half, followed by Tommy Hiensohn's "I LOVE WALTAH!!!" That brought a smile to my face. I love that guy. "THESE GUYS ARE RIDICULOUS!!"

Things are not well in Patriot-land. I think everybody on the team is hurt. Ok, maybe I'm going a little overboard but the loss of the two Ty's is a difficult one. The backfield is definetely strapped and we are heading into a game against a good passing team. When I said it was ready to start a new streak, I did not mean going the wrong way. Asante Samuel, Wilson, Harrison and potentially Gay will be back there. Not quite as scary for QBs but still... not terrible either. Gay is the weakest link there. Will O.T.I.S be back? Bill (I should have written his name in for President) Belichick, Romeo and Charlie will think of something I'm sure. "In Bill We Trust".

[politics]
Speaking of the election, it's over and Bush won. Can we all move on now? It was not really a surprise Bush won but I thought it would be closer than it was. Folks at work were quite depressed. Not a lot of Bush supporters there. Personally, I'm not exactly a supporter of him either. I just thought the other guy was worse. Anyway, a lot of people were unhappy with the results, in my corner of the world at least. I thought some people went a little overboard with obnoxious pictures stuck on the side of their cubes and stuff... but I won't go into it.

Some of the blogs I read that have the Democrat point of view and support Kerry have really gone off the deep end. A lot of the sites that used to post rational, well thought out and well written opinions have really lost it today and they are already starting with the "Hillary in 08" stuff. Are they insane? I guess so, because they have obviously not figured out what kind of person the people in the U.S. are going to vote for. I knew over 2 years ago when this was all just gearing up, a liberal Democrat from MA would not win. Do they really think people are going to vote for Hillary? I know a lot of Democrats and even they can't stand her...

Personally I just hope somebody, from either side, can produce a candidate that I might actually be happy to vote for but that is 4 years away. Right now we need to do the best we can with the guy we elected and hope things don't get too fucked up. Postive thinking! Positive thinking!
[/politics]