Image from Wikipedia.

Well, it’s actually a voluntary retirement, but the title refers to a comic from a franchise that I am extremely fond of.

Nineteen seasons in the Majors. Seventeen of those with the Red Sox. Tim Wakefield’s legacy is cemented in Red Sox lore already, to be honest, and I think he’s earned his retirement. He’s such a beloved figure in Red Sox Nation and it’s sad to see him go, but he deserves to rest and enjoy his retirement with his family now.

To be honest, I haven’t heard anything bad about Wakefield, like, ever. He’s a class act and he’ll be dearly missed in Boston.

Wake’s retirement presser is going to air on NESN at 5 p.m. tonight if you’re in the mood to cry. I’ve been crying since last night since we lost Gary Carter (I’m a Mets fan, too) and I’m sure this will make me sob, too.

Oh, and one more thing – Dougie’s Going Deep Tonight in your honor, Wake. Somewhere. (Hat tip to @sarah_connors for the link – I didn’t know this still existed!)

Oh, wait – Truck Day is tomorrow?  Truck Day is tomorrow!

Finally.  This interminable winter has to, well, terminate.  It may be because the Red Sox didn’t, erm, play as long a season as they expected to in 2011, but it feels like this offseason’s been endless.  Truck Day, and the sunny, warm Fort Myers promises it brings, can’t come soon enough.

In other news:  hey!  Kevin Youkilis got engaged!  To Tom Brady’s sister!  I know.  This is basically as royal a wedding as Boston gets.  Until I read the Globe piece, I didn’t even know Youk and Ms. Brady were dating.  Huh.

In even other news, Mark Melancon, the former Yankee whom the Sox expect to become a critical piece of this year’s bullpen, apparently spent some time re-familiarizing himself with the rigors of the AL East by swimming with sharks in New Zealand.  This might not quite measure up to Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey’s quest up Mount Kilimanjaro in terms of pure grit and turpitude.  But at the same time, when I go to the beach, I refuse to dip even one toe into the water if I see a single jellyfish.  That’s dead.  On the sand.  So bravo, Mark Melancon.

In still other news, Jet Blue debuted its new Red Sox-themed plane today.  The Airbus A320 features the Red Sox team colors (away uniforms, I assume) on the fuselage, and made its debut trip to Fort Myers.  I couldn’t find a legitimate news source to point to on this, but my friend’s facebook status update said that my friend’s friend told him that this friend’s friend, who was a passenger on the maiden voyage, found a Sox hat and jersey on his seat when he boarded.  So there.

Truck Day!  Tomorrow!  Florida!  Pitchers and catchers!  Just a few more days…

Well hello, Crash.

There are certain movies out there, like Forrest Gump or Steel Magnolias, that I can sit down and watch every time they’re on television, no matter where I pick it up. Even better if I know that movie is going to make me cry like a baby. I’m weird like that. Baseball movies have the same power over me. They make me laugh, cry, cheer, boo, and most importantly, they make me happy. Sure there may be ups and downs, but in the end, you’re usually treated to a victory of some sort.

Let the countdown begin!

#5 – Field of Dreams: How many times have you heard someone say it? “If you build it, they will come.” Years ago, ESPN compiled a list of the top 100 sports movie quotes – this was #11. When I hear it, I immediately picture a young Kevin Costner, hacking away at his cornfield to begin erecting his very own baseball diamond. What happens next kind of made me want to build my own baseball field. Give me chills just thinking about it. Come to think of it, it’s been too long since I last saw this one. *runs off to Netflix queue*

#4 – For the Love of the Game: What can I say? It’s got baseball, it’s got romance, it’s got Kevin Costner. What’s not to love? I’m just a sucker for all of it. And I’m especially a sucker for a nail-biter of a ballgame with the possibility of not just a no hitter, but the holy grail for all pitchers – the perfect game. If I had any complaints about his movie, it would be Kelly Preston. She’s just not one of my favorites.
» Continue reading “My Top 5 Favorite Baseball Movies”

Yup... I'm sad too, Tom.

I know this is supposed to be a Red Sox blog…but I have a few things to get off my chest!

Like many of my fellow Patriots die hards, the past couple of days have been a bit… shall I say… difficult. Actually, I’m not quite sure I’ve entirely snapped out of my funk. It’s times like this when I wish I wasn’t such a sports fan and I didn’t take these losses so personally. I can barely listen to the sports talk guys in the morning without wanting to kick the crap out of my radio. I’m about thisclose to losing my mind over these armchair quarterbacks calling in and claiming to know the exact play that lost the game for New England.

Last I checked, football was a team sport. You know… one guy can’t throw the ball and catch the ball. I know lots of fans want to blame this heartbreaking Super Bowl loss on one bad play made by one player, but in my opinion, you win as a team, you lose as a team. (Right, Gisele?) Maybe the outcome would’ve been different if there had been one less dropped pass… one less careless penalty… one less missed tackle. But when the other team has just one more key play, it’s tough to come out on top.
» Continue reading “Patriots Super Bowl Woes vs. Red Sox Collapse”

Awesome photo from: nogingersclub.wordpress.com

If you’re anything like me, you’ve been sitting on the edge of your seat for the past several months, waiting…longing for the Red Sox front office to make a big ticket move before the start of spring training. Well kids, time is a wasting. With pitchers and catchers set to report in less than a month, new Sox GM Ben Cherington’s window to impress us fans is growing smaller and smaller.

I don’t know much about Edwin Jackson except that he changes teams almost as much as I change my socks (and he went to the Nats), but I was ready to welcome him with open arms to our somewhat anemic rotation. And then there’s still all this scuttle about Roy Oswalt. SI.com reported as recently as this afternoon that the Red Sox continue to be in the mix, along with the Reds and Phillies. Oswalt seems to be weighing his decision very carefully. And very slowly.

Then it hit me. The Red Sox won’t make any announcements about new acquisitions the week before the Patriots play in the Super Bowl. Are you kidding me? No one tries to one-up Mr. Belichick, sir. I can almost picture him in his best Sunday hoodie, sleeves cut short as to not interfere with his trigger finger. He would show up at Cherington’s office, arms crossed, flanked by a couple of offensive linemen… he’d dole out a few threats to make sure no one takes the spotlight off of the golden boy, Tom Brady.

If I were Ben Cherignton, I would most certainly heed his warning. There’s nothing scarier than a pissed off Bill Belichick. Especially when he’s making another run for the Lombardi Trophy.  Bill strikes me as a pistol whipper from way back. Or maybe a knee capper. I can’t decide. Whatever his preferred form of retaliation is, I’m sure  no one in the Red Sox front office wants any part of it.

So once Super Bowl XLVI is over and the celebrations have died down (hopefully for our side, not theirs), then we’ll hear from our boys from Fenway. An announcement of an addition to the pitching staff (oh please oh please 0h please) would be preferred. I swear if Cherington once again claims he’s comfortable with what he has, I could possibly have a complete toddler-in-the-grocery-store-style meltdown. And it won’t be pretty.

PS – GO PATRIOTS!!

Map of Fenway Park, c. 1917

Today, as you’ve probably heard by now, is this website’s one-year anniversary.  We’re all blown away by the progress that this site’s seen in one year, and we’ve got a lot of amazing planned for the future.  If this is your first stop here, we hope you enjoy the website and make it part of your rotation.  If you’re a repeat offender, then welcome back – we appreciate your support, and it’s a pleasure to write for you.

Anniversaries matter because they give you a sense of place.  They remind you how long you’ve been somewhere, how long you’ve been with someone, how long you’ve been doing something.  They remind you of time passing, and of time standing still.  Anniversaries help structure your memories, and they help you decide where you still need to go.

For the Red Sox, this year marks the 100^th anniversary of Fenway Park’s opening.  If you spend any time at all around Red Sox Nation, you’ve seen the television ads.  You can buy a brick and have it engraved!  You can get tickets for the anniversary season!  You can buy books, magazines, shirts!  Fenway’s the oldest professional sports venue that’s still being used in the United States, and it’s worth celebrating.

What I love most about Fenway Park is that, when you walk in, you can still

Lady Grantham, Red Sox fan?

sense what it was like for the people that showed up for the first Red Sox game in Fenway Park on April 20, 1912.  Do any of you watch Downton Abbey, the PBS show?  I think it’s amazing that people dressed like that showed up at the Fens to watch the left fielder negotiate Duffy’s Cliff.  In fact, Fenway Park opened just four days after the Titanic sank – a major plot point in Downton Abbey, and a worldwide event that pushed the park’s opening off of Boston’s front pages.

When I settle myself as comfortably as possible into one of the old wooden grandstand seats in right field, it’s easy to imagine Downton’s Lady Cora Grantham – or, more entertainingly, her prim British mother in law – sitting next to me.  It’s easy to hear the ball slam off the Green Monster and remember that the Green Monster wasn’t always green.  We watch Mariano Rivera warm up in the visitor’s bullpen, and remember that the bullpen was built there in 1940, in order to shorten the right-field fence for Ted Williams.  The lasting evidence of Williams’ power?  The red seat in the right-field bleachers, marking the spot where his longest home run landed (502 feet, and, legend says, it hit an inattentive Yankees fan on the head).  Since then, only Manny Ramirez has come close – he hit a 501-foot home run off a light tower over the Monster in 2001.  We can see the graffiti marking Pesky’s Pole – it seems a routine that, if you sit near the right-field foul pole, you pull out a black Sharpie and mark your territory.  How many times, you wonder, has the lower ten feet or so of the pole been written on, painted over, and then written on again?

Fenway Park is more than a cool old baseball stadium – it’s a museum, and

a living testament to the faith that’s bound Red Sox fans together since before World War I.  A large part of following the Red Sox is respecting the franchise’s past, and a large part of visiting Fenway is allowing that past to mingle with the present and the future.  When we visit Fenway, we’re reminded of how long we’ve been there.  We’re reminded of where we’ve been, and we’re reminded of where we still need to go.

Happy anniversary, Fenway, and happy anniversary, Aerys.  It’s been an amazing 100 years and a remarkable first year, and we can’t wait to see what the future brings.