BOSOXBLOG

Every Party has a Pooper...

“Seriously, sports have become an escape for people who live vicariously through their teams in order to avoid the drudgery of their own lifestyles.”

Seriously?

The person who said this to me probably spent a games worth of time thinking up this statement. Oh yes, the thesaurus tool, bringing pretension to an instant message near you. He told me I need to focus on the world instead of sports. The lack of jobs. The falling economy.

The truth is I am fully aware of all these things. As I’m sure are all of you. I mean we have to sift through all the headlines to find the sports page-joking.

But the thing is no matter how much I hate my day job, no matter how bleak the future seems, putting on the Sox game, just sitting here watching the after party brings a Masterson like smile to my face.

If the Red Sox can make it to the playoffs Mannyiless and with nearly half the team injured, anything can happen. Like maybe by next year I’ll have a new job, hopefully that cops’ job at Fenway, and Delcarmen and Papelbon’ll be showering me with champagne.

So tomorrow go ahead and read the entire paper. Just make sure to end with the sports page.  Sports are all about uncertainties. People can talk stats all they want, but we love sports because they remain some of the only stories we don’t know the ends to.  And in Boston there have been enough fairytale endings to keep a city going. Guess it’s a good thing New York has the theater.

Fantasy Ruins Reality

Being a sports fan often people ask me why I don’t do fantasy sports. I don’t and I won’t. I don’t do brackets either. All I do is watch, wait for it, the best TV ever, reality sports. I route for my teams. All I want is to see them win, no strategies involved. Just the real stuff.

Yesterday I was watching what we knew as the first and not last Bradiless Pats game. A sad and hugely important day for us. There I was surrounded by labtops. Instead of watching the game, people were checking their fantasy stats the entire time.

So yes, this is why I don’t do fantasy. Just trying to stick to reality, which, if you’re from Boston right now, ain’t too shabby. Moose and Moss will find a pattern. And for the Sox, finally no games behind!

Timlin: good work out plan, bad pitcher.

Thank goodness for days off. And I’m not even talking about for the players. After Wednesday night I could use a few nights off. I stupidly thought it would be a good idea to do some crunches in the ninth during commercial breaks to pass the time. I could hardly walk yesterday.  Watching, or I guess, really not watching Timlin pitch gave me a chance to really get in shape. Abs of steel, just a few skipped heartbeats.

But it’s a new day and I got an extra job just so I will have even less time to watch Timlin pitch.  Somehow text updates never seem as painful. Even when a game goes to fourteen. If Francona keeps using Timlin I may be going ex-pat again. Lets hope Wake makes it past two tonight.

Sleepless in Boston

If they are keeping Timlin in the game, why am I still watching the game? Why am I not even channel surfing with the score of 13-4 Texas staring back at me from my screen? After a long and crushing day of BC football (last season was just a tease) and work, here I am trying to unwind, to Timlin?

The hunt for October has begun. We no longer have a choice in watching baseball. No matter how tired or busy we are, it’s that time of year again. Where we absolutely have to watch every inning of every game. And the good games (Wednesday, three bunts!) we have to watch twice. I was fortunate to watch that in the park. Nothing beats a day game. Especially when you get to watch it all over again on NESN when you get home.

Somehow, though, I have a hunch I won’t be watching this game again. We all better get a good night of sleep (when this game ends), because tomorrow football season really starts at 1PM. And Monday, well we all know what that brings!