Tag: Boston

Billion Dollar Bracket

I have never watched more than a few seconds of a division one basketball game.  I did watch a couple of division two games back when I was a student at UMass Lowell.  My radio show did a weekly segment with the men’s basketball coach and DJ Dina and I went to maybe two games to show support.  I remember one game in particular because I left at halftime to drive in to Boston to see Mission of Burma’s reunion show at the Paradise.  Brunch with Burma.  What a show that was.  Unreal.

Anyway.  I just signed up for the Billion Dollar Bracket challenge over on yahoo sports.  I only picked a few upsets, and generally I did it just to suck up to New England schools.  In the end I have Duke beating Virginia 82-79.

Of course I know absolutely nothing about college basketball (see the first paragraph of this post).  Nothing.  Nada.  Nuttin, honey.  Zip, zilch, zero.

But, to paraphrase Geddy Lee on the Bob and Doug Take Off album, a billion bucks is a billion bucks*.

Logging in to yahoo sports also reminded me that I have a free fantasy hockey team out there.  I forgot all about that.  I decided to check in.  Turns out I’m in the first round of the playoffs and I’m the number three cede.  Now that is pretty funny.  I stacked the team with Bruins.  Krejci, Iginla, Bergeron, Rask.  Yeah, I can pick ’em.

Speaking of the Bruins, they beat Minnesota last night.  The win streak is at nine.  Tonight they play New Jersey.  A ten game win streak would sound nice, eh?  Even nicer if they beat the team responsible for removing AHL hockey from the city of Lowell, MA.  Yeah, Devils.  I haven’t forgotten about that.  You jerks.

Go Bruins.

 

*Geddy Lee’s actual line was more like, 10 bucks is 10 bucks.  There’s a subtle difference, you see.

Snowmageddon!

Jen had a training in Boston today. When word of the traffic nightmare trickled in she booked a hotel room to avoid it. Going to Boston cut my snow drive in half, so I joined her. 22 miles in 2 hours and 15 minutes or so. I was stopped enough in town to snap a few pics.

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Bestsy done good tonight, despite the wiper issues.

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And one more from the sidewalk.

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Important Announcement

I have a very important announcement:

We live in a world where the Boston Red Sox are World Series Champions.

AGAIN!

My step daughter came out of her room in the eighth inning or so. She couldn’t sleep. She tried to wear herself out by reading, but she finished her book. So she came out into the living room to sit with me and my beloved wife. In the top of the ninth Jen woke up my step son to see if he wanted to watch the end of the game. He said he’d come out later and immediately fell back to sleep. He didn’t remember it this morning. Funny though, he woke up just after midnight and was convinced that it was 6:00am. I was still awake so I heard the whole thing. He went to the bathroom, then went out to the kitchen to get himself some breakfast, then back to his room to get dressed. I called out to him to go to bed. He said he looked at the clock and couldn’t understand why it said 12:00 and not 6:00. We’ve all been there, buddy! It happens to the best of us every now and then.

By the sound of it my fellow Bostonians were mostly well behaved. There were a few arrests and I’ve heard of one car getting flipped. I will never get that, but it happens. We in Boston are getting pretty accustomed to championships at this point so we know how to act like we’ve been there before.

The rumor is that the victory parade will be Saturday. We have plans early Saturday morning so unless it’s an afternoon celebration (pretty please?) we’ll miss it. That’s okay. I am so happy right now that I can’t even put it into words.

The Red Sox won the World Series.

1903
1912
1915
1916
1918
**then a looooooong drought**
2004
2007
2013

I still cannot believe it. Hell, I’m still stunned over 2004, never mind 2013!

Thank you, Boston Red Sox. Thank you again!

MLB Playoffs

I made my divisional series picks yesterday. Both NL series played game one. Both teams I picked got beaten badly. Pittsburgh got trounced. Ah, can I pick ’em or can I pick ’em? The Cardinals and Pirates are just starting the second inning now. Incredibly, the Cardinals failed to score in the first.

Of course the big deal starts at 3:00. Tampa Bay at Boston in game one. The Rays scare me. Sure, they weren’t all that great down the stretch but they won when they needed to. They also have some awesome starting pitching. Yeah, I’m nervous.

Please, Red Sox, destroy them so that I can stop feeling nervous.

Thanks. Go Red Sox.

Home Field Advantage

Hello and welcome to the final day of the Major League Baseball regular season. As of yesterday, there is nothing left for the Red Sox to play for. Just as the Sox vs Orioles game was starting, the A’s lost their game. That guaranteed the Red Sox home field advantage through the American League playoffs. The AL’s win at the all star game guarantees the AL pennant winners home field in the World Series. So the Sox could potentially have home field all the way through the post season. That has a nice ring to it.

Boston has 97 wins with one game left to play. After the nightmare horror of last season, I was optimistic that they could win 81 games. Let’s look at the current standings and see where an 81 win season would have placed us. How does second to last in the AL East ahead of only Toronto sound? It sounds like a huge improvement over last year, that’s what it sounds like. It also looks really depressing to finish behind the Yankees yet again. Fortunately, we’re just cruising our way to the best record in the entire American League. I cannot overstate how happy I am with this team. What a great season, and hopefully the best is yet to come.

As for the Division Series match ups, they are set for the Division winners. Oakland plays Detroit and Boston plays the wild card winner. The wild card race is still up in the air. Neither spot in the AL has been clinched yet. With one game still to be played, Cleveland (91-70) has a one game lead over Texas and Tampa Bay (both at 90-71). Tampa Bay plays Toronto today at 1:00, Cleveland plays the Twins at 2:00, and Texas plays the Angels at 3:00 (all times are Eastern). If the race ends with two teams tied for the second wild card spot, there will be a one game playoff on Monday (to decide who gets to play in the one game playoff… confusing, eh? Just wait, it gets worse) with the team that won the season series hosting. If the race ends in a three way tie it gets really strange.

The league has a formula where they designate the three teams as Teams A, B, and C. I am not sure about this, but I think the slotting is based on winning percentage against the other two teams, with the team with the best record getting to chose which slot they want. Cleveland is team A, Tampa Bay is team B, and Texas is team C. What does that mean? On Monday, Cleveland would host Tampa Bay. The winner gets the first wild card slot. On Tuesday, Texas would host the team that lost on Monday with the winner getting the second wild card slot, and the loser getting the opportunity to start Christmas shopping a little early. Then of course, the two wild card teams play each other to determine who wins the chance to lose to the Red Sox in the Division Series.

Part of me is rooting for that three way tie! Imagine having to play three one game playoffs on three consecutive days (I think, the wild card game might be Thursday, but I am pretty sure it’s going to be Wednesday), talk about stress, huh? I don’t really care who wins what, just as long as Tampa Bay doesn’t advance to the Division Series. As far as a Red Sox opponent goes, all three teams scare me, but Tampa Bay’s pitching scares me the most. I would much rather facing the Indians or the Rangers.

We’ll have to hang on and see how it all turns out over the next few days. It definitely looks to be a fun finish to the regular season in the American League, and I haven’t even looked at what’s happening in the National League yet.

Another Celebration

Did you celebrate last night? Did you party into the wee hours? Did you join in the love fest felt all across Red Sox Nation?

We Sox fans have had a lot to celebrate this month. First we clinched a post season spot. While we had our eyes on a bigger prize, we did not get too out of control for that one. Rightfully so. We clinched the American League East. That was the bigger prize. The bubbly flowed free in the Sox clubhouse that night, and many a fan let their glee free as well. Then came the most recent excuse to go crazy in celebration. It happened last night.

The New York Yankees were eliminated from post season contention.

Yeah, baby! Send those damn Yankees home! Give them their little three inch tall participation trophy and wish them a happy off season. I hope you all go on great vacations as you spend your Yankee fortunes. Don’t let the playoff door hit you on the ass on the way out!

It’s only the second time in the last 19 years that the Yankees failed to make the post season.

And it feels so very good.

Go Red Sox

The Red Sox are Playoff Bound

I missed the game last night and do I regret it or what! Lackey took a no hitter into the seventh, and then ended up winning 3-1 in a complete game that clinched a wild card spot for the Sox. We are now officially playoff bound.

The magic number for the AL East is now one game, thanks to the combination of the Red Sox winning and the Rays losing last night. Our team could be celebrating a division win tonight if they beat the Blue Jays. Either way, one Red Sox win or Rays loss and we are the AL East champs.

After last season’s schmucko the clown nightmare coming on the heels of the chicken and beer flavored collapse in 2011, none of us thought this team had a chance. I was optimistic that they might finish the season at about .500. I would have been satisfied with that.

Now? It’s World Series or bust at this point. They have become an elite team in major league baseball. They have four pitchers who can match up with almost anyone in the game. They have an offense that can hit off anyone. They have turned into one hell of a baseball team. There is no reason they cannot win it all this year. Detroit will probably still end up being the favorite to win the American League, but it’s got to be a close call. I believe these Red Sox are up to the challenge.

Just wrap up the division tonight and get on with the playoffs!