2005 -- i miss my baseball glove
Topic: new year
Ok, 3 days into the New Year, and i've decided 2005 sucks already. I'm sick (head cold, drippy nose), there's no baseball actually being played, the Yankees have assembled an all-star team (note to self: draft only Yankee players come the April fantasy baseball draft), and it's cold and i can't even break out the glove. i've been left throwing snowballs at stop signs, and analyzing the shit out of the Sox potential starting rotation with the goofballs on Tony and Pals.

I need a new baseball glove. i can't believe i left it at the Irish American club field in Medford last summer. I miss that thing so much. it was my pride and joy. Mr. Floppy as I called it, because it was so broken in. My defensive skills were enhanced by 150% with that thing. I need a new baseball glove.

No Red Sox related stuff to talk about in this post because, quite honestly, the hot stove has been quite cold over the holidays. We'll see what happens with Beltran and Randy Johnson...

Red Sox Nation - Kicking off the New Year
Well, it's not really a bandwagon anymore, is it?

I mean when you lose, people aren't supposed to be cheering for you. But that's the story of the Red Sox...in fact, that's their historical moto: "You watch, we'll lose."

But now Theo and company have completely rewritten the script. It's not an NBC sitcom anymore, the Red Sox are a reality series. A bunch of hooligans who play with their hearts on their...well, yeah, you get what i'm saying. they're gritty, and we're a happy fanbase now. Prided on a miserable personality and a pact with pessimism, Red Sox Nation now have to carry themsleves differently. we have to act like any other sports fan. Why? because The local 9 are the best team in baseball...86 years and all the folklore begone...world fucking champs. nuff said.

LOOKING FORWARD
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unfortunately, that is all in the past. next season will have a different feel. not because of new faces on the diamond at Fenway, but because their is a new standard...we're not losers anymore (YES..."WE").

Look, i'm not the Red Sox diehard. i lose faith sometimes...not because i'm not loyal, but because i'm too weak, and i'm pretty good with math and probability, probablly too good for my own sake. I know diehards, and i'm not one, i don't have the money...i'm just a Red Sox fan. i've accepted that and i've moved on. but i love baseball, and to that i can claim diehard status.

OFFSEASON NOTES
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Nonethless, here we sit.
a day before 2005 strikes, and spirits are high, and the stove is hot; the Red Sox have retooled. people have second guessed Theo since his first day on the job, but you really can't do it anymore. what 29-year-old do you know has brought a notoriously losing franchise to the World Series (and won) in 3 years time? that's right, you don't know one...just Theo.

so, he showed Derek Lowe, Nomar, and Pedro Martinez the steps to the basement. and, down from the attic he brought in David Wells, John Halama, Matt Clement, Edgar Rentaria, Jay Payton, and big bad Wade Miller. sounds good to me, but what the hell would I know?

I don't even bother second-guessing anything Theo does anymore. Hell, two winters ago, I was sitting at O'Neal's Pub in Malden watching ESPN with my buddy John saying "who the fuck is Bill Mueller?"
A year later, Billy is sitting at the end of the bar with us replying "I'm the 2003 AL batting champ, that's who." Then last week, some guy named Bellhorn walked in the bar and ran down the same schtick...where does Theo get these guys?

Well, whatever. And since there's no bandwagon anymore, and i can't write about a historic season this year because nothing compares to last year's...i'll do my best in recording my thoughts over the 2005 Red Sox. it'll be simple and for nostalgic reasons only...or so we think.

cheers. to baseball.