rician blast

and my point is that everyone blows this crap out of proportion. Let's give the Patriots a little more credit than to think they needed some "extra drive." They are so well prepared, so on the same page with one another, so in-tune with BB's philosophy that that crap doesn't enter into it as much as the media would like us to believe.

I missed this fight...did Liddell kick the snot out of Ortiz?

yeah there is a snag in the deal. Drew/Boras are annoyed at the Sox being unwilling to install a Tampax dispenser in the men's room for when Drew gets his period.

let me just throw a few names out there.... Yaz is in the Hall Reggie Jackson is too. Eddie Murray, Dave Winfield, Gary Carter and Kirby Puckett are also in. Christ, fkn Ryne Sandberg is in! None of thse guys could hold Bonds jock, drugs or no drugs. Bonds should be in or ya mighta as well end the whole concept. Oh, and Pete Rose should be in too.

going somewhat off topic....to a non-Sox or Yankee player...one of my favorite players of all time is George Brett. An absolute competitor.

Crunch, seems to me way back in the BH forum...I mean WAY back...there was a user who went by the name "Thurm's Flight Trainer" to bust on the Yankee fans in retaliation for the user name "Ted's Frozen Head". He also took that name to a Yankee fan and immediately was banned. good times, good times. I hear he's a CF now.

ya had to go into other sports, didn't ya, Sean? Hockey: Ulf Samuelsson Adam Burt Kevin Dineen Pat fkn Verbeek...holy crap I hated his friggin guts Rob Ray Clark Gilles Nystrom Billy Smith Potvin (I liked Mike Bossy) Mario Tremblay Claude Lemieux Yvon Lambert Gainey Chelios corson Richer Bill Barber Nilan, when not on the B's Linseman, when not on the B's

Enough of the ballwashing of opposing players. Who, on teams other than the team of your affection, do you, or did you, hate/root against/wish would choke on a ham sandwich, etc. Remember, these guys are our entertainment, don't take this sh*t too seriously: For me, as a kid following baseball starting in the late 60's, Some Yanks I dislike/disliked: I hated Greg Nettles...prancing, cheap-shotting pu$$y who made big plays and unfortunately got the last laugh...couldn't stand that fker. ARod..simply for his arrogance and posing on the field. Piniella...I like him now, and I always said I'd have loved to have him on my team, but as an opposing player I despised him. Mickey Rivers...the only thing he did that I liked was when he went back to the Fenway wall, leaped to make a catch and the ball came off the wall and hit him in the head...that was beautiful. Other than that he was a cocky motha, flipping the bat, flapping his gums, etc. Ricky Henderson...just for being himself. what a jerk-off he was. Karim Garcia...bling-wearing "tough guy" who ran into the BP to throw a shot at a Fenway employee who was already held to the ground...about as classless as they come.

last night's game was a disgrace in more ways than just the score. A proud franchise, once down about 7-2, would have beat the snot out of the opponent, especially having lost to the same team by a wide margin just several days ago. A couple of roughings and one fight? Chara should have pounded someone into oblivion, but the team simply had no heart last night.

What the FO is doing )or attempting to do) is build bullpen depth, provide the team with options throughout the year, and then likely settle on a closer and two set up guys in the last 1/4 of the season and through, God willing, the playoffs. It worked in 2003, folks. Only GRady Little f*cked it all up. But it did work.

Wakefield and Mirabelli will be partners in a business...working once every five days.

Who cares who is on the list? Does this mean that anyone NOT on the list has never used any performance enhancing drug? What about all the players who likely used before there was any talk about testing? I don't really care what these guys put in their bodies, they're not my heroes, or friends, or role models.

I hear ya Crunch but Theo has a big-time hard-on for the kid AND I think they want to boost his value AND I think there is a certain amount of egg on their face over Hanley that they might want to force the issue with Pedroia. Of course if he flops it'll show the fanbase that the FO has no clue who their better prospects are. Risky proposition, but I'm afraid he's the man this April. Christ, I even heard some apologists stating that his tough start could have been due to a wrist injury that hadn't fully healed. Funny..it didn't hurt him in AAA.

I saw what I described months ago as a player that, best case, might be a David Eckstein some day, but would more likely resemble Tony Graffanino. However, if they are inclined to let Loretta walk away, I'd prefer giving this kid a shot versus playing Cora there...or worse yet, bringing in someone like Tony Graff. The other side of this is the following...we're all aware of the scouting reports on the kid and he was very highly touted, but right now he is worth less than when he was a promising AAA player. As an organization looking beyond the issue of who starts at 2nd on opening day I expect the FO will be inclined to do what they can to raise his value. That's only going to happen if he (1) gets the opportunity to play in the bigs and does reasonably well or (2) goes down to AAA and absolutely rips the s*** outta the ball. I just don't see him going down, so my hunch is he's the starting 2B in April.

Schilling - Politics, representing the religious right, and ultimately winning a seat in the US Senate while wearing a bloody tie. Ortiz - will endorse a product that rivals George Foreman's grill...called the "Happy Papi Grillmaster" Mike Lowell - Gillette Track 10 adds...it takes 10 blades to bust through that barbed-wire beard of his. Mirabelli - will attempt to generate support behind a bill he'll ask Schilling to bring to Congress that states ALL Americans only have to work one day out of every 5. JD Drew (yeah I know he's not a Sox player,yet, but I can't resist) - will be the subject of scientific experiments designed to investigate whether it is possible for a man to grow a set of balls after the age of 25. Matsuzaka - will run an extremely profitable mail-order bride business, pairing very wealthy Americans with unproven Japanese brides who have "potential".

please tell me you like him from his Yale days and that you are not a Habs fan.

First off I want to wish everyone and their families a happy, healthy holiday...have fun but stay safe. Tonight its a seafood meal...calimari, scungilli, shrimp, lobster rolls and some pasta for those who like to dump their stuff on top. I think tomorrow is an antipasto, then worm soup (pastate? not sure how to spell), lasagna and a pork roast in the evening. Once again I'll swear I'm not going to overeat tonight...but somehow that plan almost always goes out the window.

Vinny says: "Chan Ho Park - Curse of the Dodgers." all credibility is lost when you claim there is a curse.

?????????

Could a return of Nick Johnson work for the Yankees if they could swing such a deal? I like this guy, over .900 OPS last year, 23 dingers, walked more than he K'd, good OBP.

Yup. This is what leads me to suspect such guys as Trot, Beltre, Nomar, Bagwell, Brett Boone, Aubrey Huff, Lowell, Luis Gonzalez, Garrett Anderson, Lance Berkman,etc. Not that all these guys went down the crapper, but their power numbers generally decreased quite a bit.

I absolutely agree that the FO deserves some credit, and I gave them that credit for not blinking when Boras attempted to use the media to peddle the idea that this kid was due $15m per year despite the fact that the posting system took away his leverage. My comments were in response to those who called this a steal...a steal implies that they got him for less than he could have gotten elsewhere, which is not the case...the player and his agent had very little leverage, the Sox FO realized this and they came to terms. Very nice job by the FO all around...just not a steal and Boras wasn't beaten.