Tag: patriots

Rest in Peace

Two Boston sports legends passed away this week. First, Boston Red Sox hall of famer Tim Wakefield died of cancer.

Wakefield is an absolute legend. There is no way he should have been as dominant as he was throwing those goofy little knuckleballs, but when he was on he was untouchable. Dan Douquette is a hero for eternity for signing this guy after the Pirates cut him. He could have been a villain for all eternity after Aaron Freakin’ Boone hit that playoff series losing walk off home run off of him in 2003, but he was such a pro and the roll model team player that he was able to rise above it. Taking one for the team as the Yankees were pummeling us in game three in 2004 and thus saving the bullpen to spark the comeback that lead to the Red Sox breaking their 86 year world series drought sure helped to win the doubters back.

Rest in peace, Red Sox hero and two time world series champion, Tim Wakefield.

That was yesterday. Today, we found out we lost former Patriots star tight end Russ Francis.

I am not a football guy, but I sort of was a fan when I was a kid, back in the days when the Patriots were eternally pathetic. I remember Francis from back then… a little bit. I think I may have had his football card, and he was a pro bowl caliber player at a time when the Pats were league renown door mats. I can’t remember actually seeing him play at all. I didn’t get football enough to know who was doing what back in those days, but I do remember hearing his name on the game broadcasts and I knew it was bad news when he left.

Rest in peace, Russ Francis.

As I said, it’s been a bad couple of days for Boston sports fans.

Deflategate

You know what pisses me off the most?  After a number of years of not paying the slightest inkling of attention to the National Football League, I decide to sort of jump back on the Patriots bandwagon for the playoffs.  I watched quite a bit of their two playoff games, and actually watched the first half of the Colts game on the tube before listening to the second half on the radio.

And what do I get in return for starting to almost think about caring again?  Why the Patriots get accused of cheating again.  Oh thank you so much, Bill.  I really wanted to hear this crap.  They provided 12 balls to be used by their offense.  11 were under-inflated.  Now forgetting the fact that as methods of cheating go, this one is just stupid.  Come on, Bill.  Can’t you come up with a better scheme than this?  Couldn’t you have gotten all super villain and done something maniacal like putting Ambien into the other team’s Gatorade?  Why cheat at all?  Wasn’t the fact that Indianapolis doesn’t know what it’s like to play in freezing rain while you play in snow and hurricane horror on a regular basis competitive advantage enough?

I was this close to having fun with football again and boom, my team gets called out for cheating.  That’ll teach me a lesson, eh?

Bad Day for Boston Sports

It’s been a crummy day for Boston sports.  First, the Bruins blew a 2-0 lead over the Penguins last night, all in the late minutes of the third period, and lost 3-2.

Today, the Patriots lose Wes Welker to the Denver Broncos.

And to top it off, I now learn that Terry Francona, ex Red Sox manager, has made a Harlem Shake video with the Cleveland Indians.

Will the pain never end?

Hockey > Football

So the New England Patriots, my home town NFL team, are in the AFC Conference finals for the second year in a row. I’m pleased, but it’s football so I really am not that interested. Tonight I was sitting in the living room at game time so I figured I’d watch for a while. I watched both teams go three and out and then started flipping around the fios channel guide.

What’s this? The NHL network has the Penguins vs the Rangers from Madison Square Garden? Nice! A real game!

The Pats are up 10-7 in the second, but in a game that isn’t painfully boring to watch on television, Pittsburgh leads New York 2-1. I’m hoping to see Rick Nash score at least four goals in a loss. And if the Pats win and earn another Super Bowl appearance, I’d be cool with that too.