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Man I hate Texas... I can see a Red Sox spring training game on ESPN, so I was so excited I actually get to watch the sox. BUT NOOOOOOOO!!! Texas has decided to have near record snow fall and my satellite dish couldn't pick the game up worth s***!!! I don't get many opportunities to watch the Sox down here, so I'm really pissed when an opportunity is wasted.

Oh don't EVEN go there!!!

Can't say I'm a fan. Tons of packers fans in dallas (although that did change once the cowboys started winning again), even a packers sports bar... But I've been against him and the packers since 1996. That's just me though. I hold my grudges.

btw, the whole betting thing doesn't work for me... A common argument to my theory is the Super Bowl. What if your team isn't in the super bowl, can't you pick one and root for them? Honestly, I never have. I don't bet on games (I have horrible luck and am against gambling). So when I watch a super bowl that doesn't have the Pats in it, I root for a good game, and mostly I root for good beer.

[thread jack] Gotta chime in on this one... I've NEVER understood the two team people. I'm a Red Sox fan (first and foremost), Pats fan, Celtics fan, and I've boycotted hockey ever since the strike and rule changes designed to gain the casual fan while pissing off the die hards (but before then, when it was a great sport, I was a Bruins fan). Why the HELL is anyone allowed two teams in any one sport? Seriously! I have to say, I don't understand it. I root for my teams, and my teams only. If I'm not watching my team, and I am just watching a game to get a sports fix, I will root for a good game, or maybe an individual player (case in point, i went to a Rangers and Tribe game last year with a good friend of mine who's an Guardians fan, and I certainly cheered for Trot, cause I still like that guy and he was part of something very special to me). You're not allowed to have 5 teams per sport just to make sure your heart isn't broken by the end of the season! Your team either wins, or loses. You will rarely be happy, but take comfort in misery. That's sports! [/thread jack]

I too, am too cheap for ESPN insider. SO, fill me in... Sox won't pay him, is he demanding a trade or threatening a hold out or something?

When I heard that rumor, I had a feeling he was close to signing with the Pats. Seriously... Moss is great, he's proven he can still play, but Culpepper???

Ah yes, the pink hat brigade... It's fashionable, in Texas, to be a Sox fan. In the DFW area, no one is a real sports fan of any team. All the texans like to jump on whatever bandwagon is most popular. Best example? This is a "football state" or so it's said. Where were the cowboys fans when they sucked??? Believe me, nowhere to be found. They were all Green Bay fans, or Rams fans, or Tampa Bay fans (never Pats fans, thank GOD, I don't want cowgirl fans rooting for my team). It's sickening really. I almost agree with him. My all time favorite was when I was in a sports bar in Irving watching the Sox and Guardians game 1. Of course, I'm from New England. I lived in Prospect, CT and Quincy, MA. I've been to Fenway countless times, I have nothing to prove to anyone. But a guy saw my hat, jersey and tattoo and decided to question me. First, why would you want to pick a fight with a "fellow fan?" He told me how he's been a fan his whole life, and how I probably don't know half the history he knows, and that I probably couldn't even tell him what the pole in right field is called. Of course, it's Pesky's pole. I countered and asked him how it got his name. He said because of the dimensions of the field, the pole is located in a spot where hitting home runs is difficult. I don't understand that logic AT ALL, and can only assume he's of the belief a ball that hits the foul pole is called foul (wrong...). I didn't even have the heart to tell him who Johnny Pesky is, and that the pole is named after him because it was joked (and somewhat proven) that that's the only way he could hit a home run. f*** Texas, I hate this state and their fickle fans. Red Sox Nation???? Sure, why not, but f*** the bandwagon fans, I need die hards.

... and the quote on Dice-K, hysterical! Especially considering the merits of our fearless leader, Dubbya.

This might just be the only day I've enjoyed of his presidency... Sad, really.

geech, AOL.... There's a sports source for ya. I'd hate to think my radio station down here is reporting on AOL news, but that seems to be the case I guess... Thanks man!

The spots radio station down here is reporting the Patriots are close to signing Moss to a 3 year deal $30 million. I've searched everywhere, and can't find anything that backs that up. Of course, this IS Texas, so what does anyone down here know. Anyone have information on the deal?

I used to work in Southlake, TX, which is one of the area's richest neighborhoods. I really hate that town, but that's besides the point... A MLB player for the blue jays was a frequenter of our shop during the off season, we saw him about twice a week, really down to earth guy, nice family, etc.... The talk came up at one point, he said the talk has gotten out of hand. He admitted that in his opinion, about 25% of players have done SOMETHING, he wouldn't get into much detail though (understandably). He dismissed the notion that over 50% are on something (as many people believe, and said that's ridiculous. I had made the comment that I think Manny is just that good of a contact hitter, and that I don't think he'd be on anything, but Ortiz scares me a little. He said, "Ortiz, nah, that guy's just a freak, he's not on anything..." That was as detailed as he got on the whole conversation, but he seemed pretty adamant on Ortiz being clean. Now, how much are we going to trust this guy??? Especially one that was so tight lipped on the subject? Who knows, but I don't doubt him, he always seemed like a legit guy. Just my two cents in defense of Ortiz.

In all seriousness, thank you! I will look forward to occasional witty banter between all the Sox fans (for all purposes we will call them "those with a special spot in Heaven waiting for them), and yankees fans (whom will be referred to as "those with a special spot in whatever is worse than hell"). hahahaha. I've done some reading on this site, looks like they accept you Gom, not sure how that happened..... In either case, thanks for the welcome and I look forward to ya, especially when the yankees once again fall short of expectations and no longer have Joe to blame for their woes. hahaha.

Let's just hope Francona handles Colon better than Sosa was handled down here when he signed a minor league contract. hahaha. If he's got it, he's got it, but around the 5th or 6th time the ball hits him in the head, I think it's fair to say he's done (funniest head beaning of Sosa happened on Sammy Sosa night down at the ball park. hahaha).

Good! I don't want him... Last thing the Pats need is another old linebacker... For depth, maybe, but I'm not interested. Can we not talk football for a while??? I'm still only 10 steps or so from the edge...

Just to add, if you ARE a mavs fan, the one thing you can like is the Mavs finally have a leader, their own William Wallace, if you will.... hahaha. maybe if Kidd was around last year, the Mavs would have punched back when Golden State punched them squarely in the jaw. Deliver a speech, "THEY CAN TAKE OUR LIVES, BUT THEY WILL NEVER TAKE OUR FREEDOM!!!!" Their leader last year (Dirk??? Terry???? it's up for vote really...), just let the team sit back and say, "Ouch. Wow, that REALLY hurt... Geech, what are we going to do now, that hurt!!!"

Just to chime in from the Dallas area... I'm a life long Celtics fan, so this trade doesn't effect me one way or the other, but everyone in Dallas seems to like this trade- except me. I can't watch the Celtics down here, they're hardly ever on. So I do catch the occasional Mavs game, and although I am no expert, it seems to me the Mavs are just a bunch of soft jump shooters. They get punched in the face (see Golden State), and they just sit back and think about how bad that hurt, and then show they learned their lesson by taking jump shots the defense is happy to give up. Jason Kidd is effective when players go to the net and he can dish, the mavs don't do that. Case in point, Steve Nash. They didn't sign him because Pheonix gave him a huge deal and they thought he was too old to deserve that type of cash. Now look at him. The difference? In Dallas, all the players move around the perimeter, and settle for jump shots. In Pheonix, all the players cut to the net. Pheonix turned Nash from a very nice player into a 2 time MVP. So now they have Kidd. Unless they change their willingness to settle for the jump shot, nothing will change, at all. The hype is that Kidd will get the players the ball in a better position to shoot. I'm not saying this isn't valuable, but the Mavs are NOT a running type of team, so this means: JUMP SHOTS!!! Horrible trade, all the way around.

I concur. haha. Good article. It was a big deal, in Texas, when Buchholz threw that no-hitter- well, let me take that back... It was as big a deal is baseball GETS in Texas, when Buchholz threw that no hitter. Then it was back to Cowboys news, but I enjoyed the coverage. Texas sure does support it's own... I really miss NE.

I don't really care about the agent change, it's just Manny being Manny, always was and always will be. He's under contract with the Sox for this year, and if I'm not mistaken there are two option years after that, so we'll cross that bridge when we get there. BUT, I did want to make a proposition. Down here, in DFW, the little radio station 1310 The Ticket has a nickname for Boras: The Anti-Christ. Just saying.... I like it, at least...

Thanks, everyone (except Gom, you and I might have a problem.... haha). Special Kudo's to Coco's Disciples who seems to know where my user name came from. haha. Greatness!

Well, the Rangers could use him down here, this Milton Bradley experiment ought to be interesting at the very least.... hahaha BUT, you don't want to trade with the Rangers, they don't have anything that could help us, aside from Kinsler, but give me Pedroia. I'll take my chances with our kid over theirs any day. Plays with a heart of gold, brings his lunch pail to work every day, all hustle!!! hahaha. In all honesty, let's cue the Benny Hill music for CoCo's career. He's going to bounce around from team to team, I have a feeling. Gotta love him for the defense, but you HAVE to get better production from an outfielder, and I think his bat is about as good as it's going to get. This last season wasn't a fluke. I don't see him duplicating the horrid post-season numbers he had, but if it looks like a rat, and smells like a rat.....

I'm sure there are questions about a Red Sox fan living in Texas... Let me assure you, I am no bandwagon, fair weather, member of the pink hat brigade. My situation is a very sad one. Let me explain. My dad is a die hard yankees fan. He lived his whole life in Morristown, New Jersey before attending college in Boston (Bentley College), where he met my mom who lived her whole life in Hanover, MA. I was the first of 9 grandchildren to my grandfather (who lived his whole life without ever living outside of Massachusetts), who would be damned before any grandchild of his had anything to do with the yankees. For this reason, I will always consider him the greatest man who ever lived. My dad didn't do too well during my birth. As a matter a fact, he fainted (typical yankees fan, but all joking aside I do love my Dad, he's the only one I have) towards the end of things. When things were finally settled down a bit, my grandfather was the first to see me. Luckily he had his red sox hat handy, and he took a polaroid of that hat as close to me as the nurses would allow, and set off to find my dad. You snooze you lose, as the saying goes. I've been to Fenway more times than I could ever count, and since leaving Connecticut (where we lived while in New England), I have yet to miss one single Sox game when they are down playing the poor rangers (who have no fan base. Baseball is nothing to anyone in Texas, it's sad really). My first Red Sox memory isn't a very detailed (or a very good) one. It happened when I was just 3 years old. We were staying with my grandparents for a visit, and my grandfather woke me up from my sleep because the Red Sox were about to win the World Series. Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out, and while I can't honestly say I remember watching the game (I was 3 after all), I do remember taking a VERY long walk down Winter Street in Hanover, MA as my Grandfather tried to get me back to sleep and sort out what he would do with himself. When I was little my favorite player was Mike Greenwell, because his name reminded me of the Green Monster, and stuff like that matters when you don't know any better. It could have been worse, I could have chosen roger clemens. My Grandfather died without ever seeing the Sox win it. He was Korean War disabled veteran and is buried in Cape Cod National Cemetary. My Aunt lives in Sandwich and went down to decorate his grave and his wife's grave with Red Sox stuff the day after they won it all in 2004. She said it was difficult to get to his grave because everyone else had the same idea, and people just cried together. She said it was one of the most emotional experiences she's ever had. My reaction was tears of sadness. I'd love to say they were tears of joy that it finally happened, but I was sad I couldn't celebrate it with my Grandfather more than anything else. I was also sad because I think a large piece of me had decided I was going to die without seeing them win it as well, and for some strange reason, the realization that wasn't going to happen got to me. Strange... And there was guilt involved too. What made me so special that I got to witness it? But the life of a true Red Sox fan is one of suffering, so why should winning be any different? Truth be told, I am not a big message board kind of guy. I am going to try this thing out, and see if I can't contribute anything to this community. Sorry this post got so long, but how can you describe what it is to be a BoSox fan without getting long? haha. Take care!