Some Very Random Thoughts

Channeling my inner-sportsguy, here are some random thoughts on a day when a news search for the words "belichick, tom brady, or patriots" with "evil, classless, jerks, shame, asterisk, cheating, spygate" only yielded 10 results (from a previous high of 4000):

• Dwight Freeney might be out for the season. That completely ends the Colts as a threat to beat the Patriots in the playoffs.

• Speaking of the Colts, why is Peyton Manning getting all sorts of props for the job he did on Sunday? Dr. Z (albeit senile) has never been more proud of the guy, and everyone else is filtering in the "he didn't have marvin" excuse. You know, Evil Disrespectful Tom Brady didn't have Marvin the last 6 years either. But he did pretty well. This Manning vs Brady debate is taking a big turn and the Manning defenders are building up excuses for the poster boy of goodness in the NFL.

• The New England Revolution (it's soccer), got into the championship game on a bicycle kick goal. And yet I haven't seen a single clip of this here in Boston. I like soccer in the same way that I like books by JD Salinger and Hemingway. Which means I say I like them to sound cool, but in reality they bore me to death. I still want to see a sports story involving a bicycle kick propelling the local team into the MLS Cup. But if you're looking for a good-bad sports movie involving soccer check out Frodo Baggins in Hooligans about soccer hooligans in England. Real good...pretty bad...very entertaining.

• It's surreal just how watchable the Celtics are again. It really has been 16 years since I've anticipated enjoying a Celtics game as much as I have since the season started. Rejuvenated doesn't even begin to describe the P. G. A.

• One of my favorite surfing addictions these days is to visit the online newspapers for the cities where the Patriots are playing to see what they're saying about them. If you've never done this, it's a great perspective and it's much more enjoyable than reading most of the drivel that comes out of the Globe, Herald, Projo, etc. Except for Mike Reiss, who I swear is publicly campaigning for a film breakdown job with the Patriots.

• Update: If the season ended today the Classless Patriots would have the #4 pick in the draft. And yet I don't think the Patriots would be happy about this because it would mean they'd have to throw out a ton of money to one rookie. I get the feeling this might be the #2 or #1 pick by the end of the season. Which would be freakin hilarious.

• We'll never have this chance again so: Celtics are 6-0, Sox won the World Series (winning their last 7 games), the Revs are in the MLS Cup Finals, the Bruins..., The Patriots are 9-0...is there any way Boston doesn't bring home the coveted "best sports city in america" title from the Sporting News this year?

• Is there anything more ridiculous than Gold Glove Awards? At least some sports pundits agree and don't hold it too highly. But yet when people talk about Greg Maddux they mention 16 (now 17) gold gloves and marvel at a pitcher who can, once in a great while, close his eyes, stick out his glove, and have the ball find his glove.
  

• I f**king hate Starbucks. And I hate everyone who gets suckered into paying $5 for a weak-ass latte. Disclaimer: this excludes my wife in case she decides to read this blog for once.

• If you create a video montage of photos of your 8-year-old stepson and set it to the music of the Ghetto Boy's "Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta" (from Office Space), does that make you a bad person? So far the votes from my family are too close to call.

• The Sox are opening the season in Japan against the A's. I wonder who will have the home field advantage in that one. Here's a suggestion for the NHL. If you want to become economically and socially viable again, why not put a game or two in Moscow? Why hasn't that even been discussed yet? The Russians have always hated that their best players defected to the US and Canada to play in the NHL, now this is a chance to make the sport popular to people who might actually care about hockey.

• Some names on the Playboy contest of America's Sexiest Sports Broadcasters that you make you wonder: Jeanne Zelasko (yech), Hazel Mae (maybe the 2004 Hazel Mae, not the bright orange bloated 2007 edition), ESPN's Sage Steele (cute, but she knows absolutely nothing about sports and doesn't even try..which is a turnoff for a sports broadcaster), Rachel Nichols (who needs to pay a visit to Sunset Tan).

• The Classless organization that is the New England Patriots will be using renewable wind energy to power the stadium on game days and nights. Look for 2008's WindGate when windmills are installed to blow unusually hard during opponent field goal attempts. Ted Kennedy said to plan a boycott of Patriots game because of the unsightly windmills and lack of single malt scotch.