Sedition in Red Sox Nation

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There really hasn't been a whole lot to smile abou...
2007-04-16 06:51:00
There really hasn't been a whole lot to smile about on my end, what with the Red Sox on a tear, it's depressing but true. They've won 5 of 6. I had expected that the Anaheim Angels would prove to be a more formidable opponent than they have to this point. For some reason, as good as he is, I just don't like Vladimir Guerrero. He keeps letting me down in big moments against the Red Sox. I am not a fan of the Angels manager. At a certain point (I'm referring to the infamous time he nearly fought Frank Robinson), you're not a tough guy, or a legit guy for that matter, when you try to throw down with a 70 year old man, even if he is a hall of famer and a member of the 500 HR club.I was talking to my source for information on the Cubs today, and even though the team suffers from a chronic lack of clutch hitting, he gave me some info that brightened my day a bit. It wasn't baseball related, either. I was flipping through the channels when I talked to him, mostly because I couldn't...
More About: Smile , Mile , Real , Here , Hole

Bill Simmons is an amusing man. He has now taken i...
2007-04-13 21:24:00
Bill Simmons is an amusing man. He has now taken it upon himself to lead the charge against the Celtics' team management. It is true that he has been sharply critical of Doc Rivers for some time now, but the Sports Guy has now moved on to criticize Danny Ainge and the buffoons who write the checks. Suddenly, now that a writer with an exponentially larger profile than mine has joined me, I am not enjoying the anti-Banner 17 movement as much as I should.Simmons is convinced that the young players have not developed to the extent that many casual observers have been led to believe under River's slightly less than inspired leadership. That is clearly true, unless you consider Gerald Green winning the slam dunk competition as some tangible form of progression in genuine basketball skill and not raw athletic ability. The lone bright spot has been the continued development of Al Jefferson.I must say once again I am not convinced that Al Jefferson is going to continue progressing. Last ni...
More About: Bill Simmons , Sing , Amusing , Bill

You're walking away and they're talking behind you...
2007-04-12 03:05:00
You're walking away and they're talking behind you They will never forget you 'til somebody new comes along Where you been lately? There's a new kid in town Everybody loves him, don't they? Now he's holding her, and you're still around Oh, my, my There's a new kid in town-from The Eagles song "New Kid in Town" written by Don Henley, Glenn Frey and John David Souther Tonight marks the one year anniversary of the first post in the history of Sedition in Red Sox Nation. And what a night for it. There's nothing like seeing the mighty Red Sox fall victim to a 21 year old pitcher throw seven innings of no hit ball. If that weren't enough, there were two subplots that may go largely unnoticed as the mainstream media and the fans of Red Sox Nation embrace their small moral victories and silver linings in the form of Daisuke Matsuzaka shutting Ichiro down and JD Drew's seeing-eye single to end the no-hit bid.The impressive pitching performance of Felix Hernandez inspired me to pre...
More About: Walking , Talk , Talking , King

Thanks to the good people over at Deadspin, we hav...
2007-04-11 04:07:00
Thanks to the good people over at Dead spin, we have another tool of note segment to bring to your attention tonight. And for the first time, it is a member of the Boston Red Sox. Newly acquired relief pitcher JD Durbin is a tool. In fact, he might even be an archtool. Just look at the picture below, where he is rocking a cooler as a garment.The only good thing to say about him wearing a cooler as though it counted as clothing is that it nearly conceals the fact that he is also rocking a banana hammock. I think we all know that the odds of a dude who has rocked a banana hammock at any point in his life being cool (or even remotely well-adjusted) are not very good. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it would be impossible for a guy who had ever worn a banana hammock to be cool at any point thereafter if I didn't believe in miracles.There are those who might say the Sox acquired Durbin because they are in dire straits in the bullpen. Those who know a little about the business of b...
More About: People , Over , Good , Spin

I really don't like posting twice in one day, but ...
2007-04-10 02:06:00
I really don't like posting twice in one day, but I just couldn't get the post I wanted to finish last night done until the middle of the day today. These things happen. I thought about waiting until tomorrow to post again, but I decided I ought to go ahead and write this while the subject was still fresh in my mind.After watching ESPN baseball coverage last night and tonight, with apologies to Charles Dickens, it was the best of quality starts and the worst of quality starts. The best - Curt Schilling overpowering the mighty Texas Rangers. The worst - Carl Pavano squeaking past the lowly Twins. The Yankees are in bad trouble this year.When you look at the stat line alone, Schilling would seem to have an edge because he allowed only one run over his seven innings of work. Pavano also went seven against the Twins tonight, allowing two runs in the process. Pavano only struck out two batters, but he didn't walk anybody. Schilling struck out six, walked only one and allowed only four...
More About: Real , Sting , Like , Really , Twice

I don't know how I missed the trend, but when did ...
2007-04-09 20:36:00
I don't know how I missed the trend, but when did Easter become a big deal again? I understand the religious aspects of the day, but as the Christian population of this country becomes incrementally less Christian with each passing year, you'd think that Easter would come and go with little notice. And then last night as I watched that travesty in Arlington, Texas, I noticed two fat guys in Red Sox jerseys sitting in the crowd wearing bunny ears. Maybe that's what Easter is in the process of becoming, spring's answer to Halloween - a day which once had religious significance but has become an excuse for adults to act like children and for children to act like even bigger morons than they are on any given weekday. Unfortunately, thinking about Easter more as a day for masquerading than as a day for rebirth might take a little of the bloom of yesterday's impressive triumph over a very mediocre Texas Rangers team.If you read Curt Schilling's blog post on the win, you'll believe ...
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Thank you to the anonymous comment poster who poin...
2007-04-07 03:53:00
Thank you to the anonymous comment poster who pointed out that I managed to insert the wrong link in place of the the proper link to the CHB piece on the hype preceding Daisuke Matsuzaka's debut yesterday. These things are bound to happen, especially in a long post like that on several different topics. The hell of it is that I wasn't even drinking last night, even though you might assume that based on my track record and the fact that the Red Sox won. I think I managed to fix the link issue. But in case you don't feel much like reading yesterday's post or you're as lazy as I am, here's the link again, it's worth going to the page to see Shaughnessy in all his glory, or lack thereof. He's not looking very good. He looks tanned in the sense that leather is treated with chemicals to make it into a durable, wearable material and not in the sense that he was out in the sun for a while. Yikes.At the risk of piling on the CHB today, check out today's column. He called Daisuke Mat...
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In hindsight, I probably should not have reminded ...
2007-04-06 01:29:00
In hindsight, I probably should not have reminded the universe of the remarkable coincidence on Monday afternoon. After today's victory against the Royals, the Red Sox are in first place in the AL East. It is true that the Yankees are playing at the moment, and technically have yet to lose a game, but Major League Baseball will announce at any moment that the aberration on Monday evening will not count against the Red Sox in the standings.Plus Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched seven strong innings struck out ten Royals and allowed only one earned run. That ought to be enough to offset minor inconveniences like a loss here or there. I think most teams are simply going to give up the ghost now that John Buck, Royals catcher and keen baseball mind, has decreed that Matsuzaka has ace-type stuff.As much as Daisuke's stellar regular season debut is a blow to Sedition in Red Sox Nation, it's just one game against a team that has managed to lose quite a few games over the last two decades or so....
More About: Mind , Have , Should , Sigh , Sight

What a difference a day makes. Yeah, I went out on...
2007-04-04 04:02:00
What a difference a day makes. Yeah , I went out on a limb and said I wanted Ohio State to take down the tyrant last night, and it kind of, sort of didn't happen. OK, Ohio State was soundly beaten and Florida became the first repeat champion since Duke in 92. But things could be worse.As painful as it is to backtrack from that pronouncement, it must have hurt Bill Simmons just a bit more to eat his words from Monday's Basketball Blog. The Sports Guy actually said that he could live with Joakim Noah on the Celtics, should they miss the Oden-Durant sweepstakes and wind up with the number 3 pick in this year's draft. After all, I don't claim to be a basketball junkie, a devotee of good basketball and I don't get paid for this.I may not watch 300 basketball games a year, but I could see what Simmons apparently missed. Noah is going to an NBA team, who will waste high pick and a considerable sum to learn a painful lesson. I almost feel guilty for writing what I am about to write in t...
More About: Make , Difference , Ferenc , Went

Every once in a great while, there is a coincidenc...
2007-04-03 00:24:00
Every once in a great while, there is a coincidence so perfect that it reaffirms my faith in a higher power. Today, as the mighty Boston Red Sox sent the best team $145.7 million dollars could scrape together against the lowly Kansas City Royals in Kaufman Stadium, Turner Classic Movies showed Cromwell. Since today's educated American seems to possess a knowledge of history gleaned from the drivel passed off as fact by the competing political and intellectual factions and very little genuine learning, I feel compelled to point out that Oliver Cromwell led the English common people to victory over Charles I in the English Civil War. I am aware that as an American of Irish descent and a Roman Catholic, I have two reasons to despise Cromwell, since he was virulently anti-Catholic and committed vicious atrocities against the Irish in repressing their rebellion, but it's difficult not to admire a man with this type of curriculum vitae.It is only one game, and the start of a very long s...
More About: Great , Here , Ever , While , Once

For a while, I was looking forward to the new seas...
2007-04-02 03:59:00
For a while, I was looking forward to the new season of Mind of Mencia. I saw his stand-up show, Take a Joke, America about 5 years ago. I've been watching his Comedy Central show since it came on the air. But then I saw the commercials for the season premiere. And it reminded me that there's a lot to be said for the cliche that timing is everything.I think at this point, every joke that can be (and probably should be) made about that astronaut that went on the cross-country spree of insanity. It's too bad for Carlos that his show was on hiatus and he didn't get a chance to beat that to death with the rest of the media when it happened. But it would have been far better to let it go than to cram it into a season opening episode three months after the fact like a little "dee-de-dee" (sorry to steal his catch phrase) trying to force the round peg into the square hole.I said all that because I'm running the risk of making that same mistake tonight. It's been nearly two weeks sinc...
More About: King , Ward , While , Look , Seas

I don't have very much to say this afternoon. I ha...
2007-03-31 23:57:00
I don't have very much to say this afternoon. I hadn't intended to post, but something Bill Walton said at the end of the Bulls-Cavs game deserved notice. Before I begin, I must admit that I hate Walton. I never particularly like him, but I didn't have much animosity against him either until I saw him high fiving New Jersey Nets fans in the Meadowlands a few years ago as the team was in the process of closing the Celtics out of a playoff series. I know he wasn't a Celtic for very long, but that was still a beat thing to do.But today, the Bulls were down two to the Cavs with 9 seconds remaining on the clock in overtime. The Cavs had just scored, and instead of taking a time out, the Bulls proceeded to inbound the ball and go for the last shot without drawing up a play. When the shot failed and the Cavs won the game, the other announcer asked Walton if he thought that the Bulls should have taken the time out instead of trying to score on the run.Walton didn't take the chance to r...
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So, the Final Four is upon us again. I have been v...
2007-03-30 19:30:00
So, the Final Four is upon us again. I have been very hesitant to report on Sedition in Red Sox Nation Bracket Challenge of late. Let us just say that I took a man sized beating. The only team I had in the Final Four which ended up making it was Ohio State. Texas, Kansas and Notre Dame were not the best picks, I guess. So I offer congratulations to the Daniel Bellott entry, which according to my calculations is so far ahead at this point that it cannot possibly lose.If you have the time, and let's face facts if you're reading this you probably do, check out Bob Ryan's take on the Final Four. It's not half-bad. Of course, with the magnitude of the Final Four, you know that I have to offer my irrational and quite possibly insane prediction for the event's outcome.Watching this tournament, I finally realized why I hate Joakim Noah. He's a giant tool who celebrates every little thing like he just cured cancer. It's not just that he celebrates a dunk, or a big shot or block or ass...
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It seems every so often someone has to come out wi...
2007-03-30 03:58:00
It seems every so often someone has to come out with a list ranking something. God forbid anything stand on its own. Ever ything has to be ranked and compared and contrasted. It helps writers of columns and magazine/web content editors fill up space on short notice with a minimum of effort. The list that is bothering me at the moment is Moviefone's list of the top 25 sports movies of all time.Among my many problems with this list is that I don't really consider Jerry Maguire (ranked number 15) a sports movie. Yeah, the title character is an agent, and Cuba Gooding would go on to win Best Supporting Actor playing a character who is a wide receiver. And there are somewhere on the order of 1 million athletes who make cameo appearances. But the movie is only peripherally concerned with sports, and at that it comments on the crass commercial aspects of the sports industry. It's more about the agent's personal growth set against the backdrop of professional turmoil than about sports.My...
More About: Come , Seem , Some

Tonight, I find that I don't have one single topic...
2007-03-28 06:03:00
Tonight, I find that I don't have one single topic to fill a post. I guess after last night's long rant on the upcoming Oden-Hibbert matchup, I'm tapped out. There are a few things that I've been meaning to say, and none of them inspires me enough to write a standard length post. So tonight is a sort of moveable feast of negativity.First, I don't really know why I think this, but I am going to go out on a limb and predict an impressive season for Carl Pavano, the Yankees likely opening day starter. I think he's going to win 18 games, and more to the point, I think he's going to win more games than Schilling and Matsuzaka. Yes, Pavano has only won 18 in a season once and he's lost more than he's won in his career, but I believe in him. He has a forgiving lineup to support him (much more balanced than the Red Sox hitters, who only scare me if they're named Ramirez or Ortiz). The Yankees defense behind him should be much better since they added Mientkiewicz to fill in for Jas...
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In the May 22, 1974 issue of Rolling Stone, Jon La...
2007-03-27 03:43:00
In the May 22, 1974 issue of Roll ing Stone , Jon Landau famously wrote: "I saw rock and roll future and its name is Bruce Springsteen." We haven't seen the future of the NBA yet, but we will this weekend. It really doesn't matter, either, who ends up winning this year's NCAA championship. What does matter, for the future of the NBA, is that we'll see if Roy Hibbert can be the rival Greg Oden needs to save the NBA on Saturday.Make no mistake about it. The NBA needs salvation desperately. Ratings peaked in 1998, and they show no signs of getting back to that level any time soon. There is even a great deal of consternation in some circles that Major League Baseball has scheduled a game between the Red Sox and the Yankees up against an opening round playoff basketball game. Can you imagine the NFL fearing to schedule a playoff game against another sport's regular season game?Anybody who tells you that the NBA's ratings are falling because of the hip hop culture or mainstream white ...
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I don't know if you happened to see this past week...
2007-03-25 22:57:00
I don't know if you happened to see this past week's episode of South Park. It was highly entertaining and strangely thought-provoking. The episode title is Lice Capades, and the plot revolves around an outbreak of lice in South Park Elementary. There is a parallel story from the perspective of the lice on one student's head where one louse tries to convince the others that the world has become aware of their impact and is trying to destroy them. No one listens, and tragedy ensues.That one lone louse who tries to convince the community that they're wrong and he's right reminds me of me as spring training winds down. I know it's not a very flattering comparison, but it seems very appropriate since I am about as significant as a louse, writing an anti-Red Sox blog against a vast tide of material embracing the team. And it seems like I am the only one who has even considered the possibility that Daisuke Matsuzaka will not take the world of North American professional baseball by ...
More About: This , Week , Past , Know , Pene

I'm not as depressed as you might think today. Bas...
2007-03-23 06:05:00
I'm not as depressed as you might think today. Based on last season (which was the single greatest season in the history of modern relief pitching, at least by the standards that made the late not-so great Dick Radatz a regional media icon) and the title of this site, you might think that the local authorities had to talk me down from the ledge this afternoon. Jonathan Papelbon has returned to the bullpen for the Boston Red Sox, and the American League East is clinched with only 162 games remaining.I bet those of you who read this space on a regular basis are expecting me to provide a cynical take on this move, to harsh the proverbial buzz of Red Sox Nation. I was fully prepared to do so, until I read this piece in the Washington Post. Jonathan Papelbon and Terry Francona were losing sleep over the turmoil in the bullpen. Can you imagine? The horror, the horror. I don't think I can summon up the energy to go about my daily activities until I find out with absolute certainty that t...
More About: Today , Think , Esse , Depressed

When I started the tool of note segment (of course...
2007-03-21 03:55:00
When I started the tool of note segment (of course all the way back then, it was the tool of the week segment, but laziness intruded), it was designed to recognize the achievements of the garden variety American tool. Famous people were not supposed to be included in the ranks of the tools of note. Unfortunately, as I've come to discover famous people are often even bigger tools than average people.Jerramy Stevens is truly a prince among tools. Thanks to a reader named Eric, I can bring you one of the most disgusting stories I've heard in quite a while. Apparently, Jerramy Stevens and his friends are not fit to associate with human beings, or at least with the other tenants at the ritzy condo complex he calls home (for the time being). All I can say is what a tool.I've never liked Stevens. I've always thought of him as a dirty player, full of sound and fury but delivering very little when it came time to step onto the playing field. The war of words with Joey Porter prior to Sup...
More About: Note , Tool , Start , Star , Course

GREAT MOMENTS IN RED SOX HISTORY - INSTALLMENT 2 ...
2006-04-27 07:42:00
GREAT MOMENTS IN RED SOX HISTORY - INSTALLMENT 2Dateline: 7/28/04This should ring a bell with most people, since it was recently voted the most memorable Red Sox vs. Yankees regular season game since 1979 by the brilliant men and women who make up the ESPN Baseball Tonight audience.Bronson Arroyo, who is now known in Cincinnati for his bat and his pitching and not his unbelievably terrible music, hit A Rod with his 81 mile per hour fastball. A Rod, tool that he is (bear in mind I write this as a hater of the Red Sox, not a fan of any team), took issue with that. There are a couple of ways to look at this. First, A Rod is a bully and a fraud trying to intimidate Bronson. Or, getting hit by a baseball hurts a bit, and A Rod was just a bi upset, as anybody would be in that situation. It isn't really important which interpretation you favor.Jason Varitek took issue with A Rod's verbal jabs at Arroyo. Then Varitek pushed A Rod, and a fight ensued. The momentum of the game changed, Bill...
More About: History , Great , Tall , Moment , Stor