Boston Team Allegiances

A Twitter communication (see how I did that @twalk?) last night about the Celtics made me think about the Celtics for the first team all season. I simply don't really follow the Celtics that closely, never have, even back in the 80s. Of course I root for my hometown team to win, but it is never with a bunch of passion or caring. It really is simply because they have the city name on their jersey's. Now this is not to say I don't like the NBA, I actually love pro ball. However, it is the only sport for me that I can watch all the teams play and really not care who wins/losses.

There are several reasons for this, but the real question that popped in my head when I had this realization was, "How do you rate your sports allegiances?". I take several factors into consideration:

1) Pain you feel after a loss.
2) Amount of times you'll re-watch a single game.
3) Percentage of games you'll watch during said season.
4) Amount of time you take discussing off season moves.
5) Money you spend on tickets/shirts/etc for said team.
6) Emotional pull to team unknown to common man (Dad went to UNC, Stan Musial donated a kidney to you).

Going through this list I weighed everything and put together a few lists, which I whittled down yet again after reviewing each. There were some surprises:

1) New England Patriots
2) Boston Red Sox
3) Boston College Eagles Football
4) Boston Bruins
5) St. Louis Cardinals
6) Boston College Eagles Hockey
7) U.S. Soccer
8) Boston Celtics

The first two are a no-brainer, and I've stated to many of you that I've always placed the Pats #1 and Sox a very close #2. I'm guessing most of you flip that around. But the rest of the list makes sense...but only after I thought about it a lot. Rather than dive through my reasons for the way the list is, I want to see your list in the comments.

Jason Varitek's Upcoming Charity Dinner

This charity dinner, put on by none other than Mr. Varitek and his charity, sounds like a solid event. Details below:

Jason Varitek's Captain's Dinner. The proceeds for this raffle will benefit the Celebrities for Charity Foundation. The raffle includes


Winner and three (3) guests will enjoy Dinner with Jason Varitek, on December 17, 2009, in the Greater Boston Area with an intimate group of fans

• Winner and each guest will recieve an autographed baseball from Jason Varitek
• Winner and each guest may bring up to 2 items to be autographed by Jason Varitek
• Winner and each guest will be able to take a picture with the Captain, Jason Varitek

Tickets are only $2 each (min 5) and the proceeds once again benefit the Celebrities for Charity Foundation. Find more information about the raffle or to purchase tickets here.


Photo credit: http://kylepdiddy.files.wordpress.com/

Gut check.

Not that anyone needs to hear it again, but the Pats got killed last night. Whipped.

As always, Belichick and Brady took cold, hard stares at the results -- as captured in this ESPN writeup:

"There's obviously a big gap between us," Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said.

Drew Brees made the Patriots' defensive backs, who had been thriving lately, look like a bunch of XFLers. He bombed them for five touchdowns, something that has never been done to a Bill Belichick-coached team.

"They were better than we were in every phase of the game," Belichick said in the postgame news conference. "I don't know any other way to put it. They were better coached. They played better on offense, defense, in the kicking game, they covered better than we did."

Belichick punctuated his response with incredulity at the questions about how his team failed to compete.

"They were obviously the better team," he said. "You guys had to see that. You were at the game."

So . . . where do the Patriots go from here?

Patriots Offensive Coordinator 2010?

With Charlie Weis going away as Notre Dame's head coach is there any possibility he returns in the coordinator role in New England? If it were a possibility would you even make this move?

What's your favorite sports book?

Aaron touched on this in a post back in April. Elsewhere, I've trumpeted Moneyball and The Blind Side long and loud. But it's a topic worth returning to again.

• What's your favorite sports book -- or your shortlist of favorites?
• What do you look for in a great sports book?
• Which sports are ripest for book treatment?

Part of the reason I'm thinking about this: my eagerness to read Bill Simmons's new Book of Basketball. (Dig this A.V. Club interview with Simmons.)

Another part of the reason: one of these days, I'd like to write a great book on sports, and this crowd is a great place to start tossing around ideas for that.

So, what say you?

4th and 2

The facts are clear, the Patriots had a better chance of winning the game by going for it on 4th and 2 than if they punted.

In fact it is a 78% winning probability going for it on 4th and 2 versus a 70% WP when punting.

Here is the math.

Still hurts though, huh?

Unanswered Questions Starting to be Answered?

Commissioner Gammons has a great column on the Sox, hitting a bunch of topics from Varitek, to Bay to the latest in a long line of shortstop prospects:

"Perhaps the most encouraging news thus far this winter has been the play of shortstop Jose Iglesias, a 19-year-old Cuban defector whom the Red Sox signed in July, in his first American experience in the Arizona Fall League. They thought he'd defend, and one National League scout says "He may have the quickest hands I've ever seen. Get a closet for his Gold Gloves."

It is fairly obvious to me, and others smarter than myself, that the Sox are going to sit on the sidelines this year. 2010 is going live or die with the team they pretty much currently have. But 2011 and beyond seem to be really huge years in terms of the depth coming up from the farm and the free agents available. Let me be the first to say it...the '10s will be the Red Sox decade.

Hot Stove topic #2: Patriots.

(Note: It's topic #1 for Kyle Flaherty.)

The Patriots, I'm sure you've noticed, are 5-2, and sit atop the AFC East. Their remaining schedule looks like this:

• Miami
• at Indianapolis
• NY Jets
• at New Orleans
• at Miami
• Carolina
• at Buffalo
• Jacksonville
• at Houston
  

I see a lot of winnable games in there, but you tell me: which of these games do they win, and which do they lose? Where do they slot into the playoffs? And how far will they go this year?

The Hot Stove League is now in session.

Some starter topics:

• What's your ideal starting rotation for the Sox next year?
• What kinds of free-agent acquisitions should the Sox make in the off-season? Which particular players do you have in mind?
• Any Sox farmhands you're looking forward to seeing with the big club next year?
• How seriously should we scheme to put together a BigP Spring Training trip?
  

Thoughts?

~

(Image source.)

I have the ball

OK, not THE ball (we hear the dog ate it), but at least an official replica.

An early birthday gift arrived in the mail over the weekend. And it what can only be termed a so-crazy-that-it-MUST-be-true coincidence, I had been sent a 2007 World Series baseball, signed by ... Jonathan Papelbon himself. No way I could make this up.

Mom and I had a good laugh on the phone on Sunday, when I told her that I "penned" the occasional column on a blog named after the same Sox closer who had autographed my birthday present. She had had no idea.

One other funny twist that ties in here ... I was a 7-year-old in the hospital recuperating from minor surgery in the spring of 1984 when I was given a "best wishes" signed baseball from former Red Sox, Dwight Evans.

I always liked Evans' timely hitting and cannon arm in right field. Plus--and this was probably a bigger deal when I was kid--he and I share the same birthday: November 3.

So, happy birthday, Dewey! And thanks for the ball, Pap! No dogs in my house, so it's safe with me.

Three thoughts on three days' rest.

1. For most of baseball history, three days of rest was the norm for starting pitchers, not some sign of super-duper-awesome-super-toughness.

2. If I had a horse like C.C. Sabathia or Cliff Lee in my rotation, you're damn right I would plan on using them in Games 1, 4, and 7 of an LCS or World Series. At a maximum, that schedule would go on for two rounds of the playoffs, i.e. three weeks, after which the pitcher is guaranteed a winter of rest.

3. Three days' rest isn't for everybody, and I certainly wouldn't force it on, say, today's Pedro Martinez. But would it really be that hard to go with your horse for Games 1, 4, and 7, then apportion the other starts for Games 2, 3, 5, and 6?

Your thoughts?

10 Things I Think I Think

Anyone here read Peter King of Sports Illustrated? I'm assuming most of you have. He writes a weekly column called Monday Morning Quarterback -- a must read if you follow football at all. My main reason for mentioning him is that within his MMQB column, he has a section called "Ten Things I Think I Think." Given my lack of contribution to Big Papelbon (other than in the comments section), I felt like I needed a more substantive post with some current thoughts on the Boston sports scene. Here goes:

1. Missed the Celtics season opener the other night. Saw the highlights on ESPN though and I'll tell you what... the 2009 Celts are going to be a tough team this season provided they stay healthy. What a great combo of veterans (Pierce, Garnett, Allen, 'Sheed, House and Daniels) and youth (Davis, Perkins, Allen and Williams).
2. Following up on point number one, LeBron IS a human highlight film. However, I'm going to reiterate that if he doesn't learn to be more reliant on his teammates (Shaq might help that), championships are going to continue to be elusive.
3. Cliff Lee. Game 1 of the World Series. WOW. Enough said.
4. Sounds like the Red Sox might make a run at Ben Sheets. Yeah, I know that the last few science experiments with Mssrs. Penny and Smoltz didn't work out so well. But this one's got nothing but upside considering the fact that they've already got three legit studs in Beckett, Lester and DiceK and a stud in the making with Clay Buchholz. Sounds like the Sox interest in Adrian Gonzalez is also heating back up. The idea is that Gonzalez (40 HRs in 2009) would play first and Youk would bounce back to third.
5. What about them Patriots? True, they last two teams they've played are a combined 0-12 but good teams beat bad teams soundly. And the Pats have done just that winning 59-0 and 35-7 respectively -- both times in bad weather. Looks like Brady's fate will rise and fall based on the presence of his security blanket, Wes Welker. Nice to see them at 5-2 going into the break. I pity the next nine teams that have to play them.
6. University of Texas has two teams ranked number three in the country right now. Everyone in Austin knows that the men's football team is one of them. How many Longhorn fans/Austinites know that the men's basketball team (preseason coaches' poll) is the other?
7. Good to see the A-Rod we all know and love (kills it in the regular season/chokes in the post season) resurface for the World Series. He's batting a stellar 0-8 with 6 strikeouts. Even if the Yankees win, this makes me oddly happy.
8. If Garnett, Allen, 'Sheed and Pierce can all stay healthy this season (yes, that's a huge IF), the Celtics could win 70 games. Just sayin'.
9. Regarding the Bruins (5-5-1), I hope they do well this season. Beyond that, I got nothing for ya. Not the biggest NHL fan.
10. Best wishes to Brad Mills, former Red Sox bench coach, who was named manager of the Houston Astros. Hopefully he'll bring a little of that Boston/Philly mojo to the 'Stros. It would be nice to see them get back into the hunt.

THAT's why they say . . .

. . . "Good pitching beats good hitting."

Cliff Lee: complete game, zero earned runs, 10 K's in the house of the best offensive lineup baseball has seen in years. Shades of Beckett in the 2003 World Series or the 2007 ALCS -- or, dare we say it?, Hershiser in the 1988 Series.

Even better: he did it with complete insouciance. Did you see that smile he was wearing?

One down, three to go.

Thoughts on Game One? Predictions for Game Two?

A thought on the verge of the World Series.

I'll be happy for the Yankees to win their 27th World Championship . . . right after every other team wins at least one since the Yankees collected their 26th.

World Series predictions?

Same approach as last time -- first you say what you WANT to see happen, then you say what you think WILL happen.

Go.

Should Gus Johnson call every important game in every sport?

I'm thinking yes, and -- given his comments on the previous post and our discussion last night on Twitter -- it seems that Tyson Goodridge agrees with me.

At this point, I'm looking for two things:

1. Any persuasive argument that Joe Buck, Jim Nantz, Al Michaels, et al. should be allowed to keep blocking our enjoyment of Gus's calls for big games.

2. Examples of how Gus Johnson would have called great plays that were underserved by other sportscasters. Start with Tyree's Helmet Catch and go from there. May I suggest your extend your consideration to Y. E. Yang's victory over Woods at the PGA this year?

Playoff Predictions?

Time to exercise your baseball prognostication powers . . .

In the comments, please list TWO things:

1. What you WANT to see happen in the rest of the playoffs.
2. What you PREDICT will happen in the rest of the playoffs.

Go!

We forge ahead.

Pioneer spirit, my friends.

It's easy to say this now with the benefit of hindsight, but I was leery of the playoff chances for the Sox a while before the playoffs even started. When Kyle posted about Paps a month ago, I couldn't get on board. Sure, I wanted him to be great, but I'd seen a couple of outings too many where the "bend, don't break" approach went too far. Is he a great pitcher, even after yesterday? Of course. Was he the freaky, control-the-weather, out-making machine we've seen in the past? No -- and not just yesterday.

We're spoiled. Two World Series wins this decade (plus three for the Pats and one for the Celtics), and a franchise built to go to the playoffs every single year. Changes will come during the off-season, for sure, but the engine is still in place.

So, tell me what you think about these Hot Stove questions . . .

• What happens to Varitek?
• What happens to Lowell?
• What's the everyday starting lineup next year?
• What's the ideal 2010 rotation?
• What are you most excited about for 2010?

Eager to have your thoughts.

Who's it gonna be: Tigers or Twins?

Which team are you cheering for in today's AL Central one-game tiebreaker (TBS, 5:07pm EDT start)?

• Detroit Tigers (visitors)
• Minnesota Twins (home)

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