the roundup, yeehaw SHUT UP I LIKED BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN A LOT

Theo Epstein returning as Red Sox general manager
Boston Globe, 1/25/06

In the words of Pam, all the way from Australia -- "I freaked out over NOTHING?"

Yawkey Way? Kind of a circus these days. Man, that would rule -- and with the emphasis that this team places on marketability and gimmickry, it's not that much of a stretch. Maybe John Henry will walk the tightrope and a thousand little statistical analysts will come tumbling out of a Mini Cooper while Theo acts as ringmaster. (Ben Cherington and Jed Hoyer are back to cleaning the lion cages.)

On an unrelated note, the above link is not to any specific story, but to Bob Ryan's column this morning. Seriously, I love Bob Ryan. I wish he were my uncle or something. "Power is all that matters. That fellow in Libya has never given himself a promotion. All these years running the country, and it's still plain ol' ''Colonel" Khadafy." Hee. Libya makes me snicker.

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Gibbons, O's avoid arbitration -- I am linking to this almost exclusively because I want to call the player in question "Ugly J. Gibbons." I mean, seriously. Man's face has gotta hurt from time to time 'cause of that. And say what? "The timing has even more profound implications for Gibbons, who plans to marry his fiance, Laura Giuliani, this weekend." I think I speak for all of us at Chickball when I say, "Laura, what the HELL is wrong with you? Do you really want to be Mrs. Ugly J. Gibbons?"

Also, the Orioles will finish seventh in their five-team division.

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A's bang out a deal with Thomas -- that one-year agreement better be an incentive-laden one for my secondary team. Who am I kidding? Of course it is. I worship at the altar of Beane.

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Freel charge dropped -- I have two questions.

1. What the hell is a "pool room-sushi bar"? And why would anyone think that's a good idea?
2. Is Ryan Freel's email address freelmeup@gmail.com?

Wade Miller: another injured pitcher...

since nobody apparently cares about football but me (not that i care, i'm still gonna write about it): <--haha see the double entendre frowny face?

Chicago Cubs sign Wade Miller for $1 million
--Chicago Tribune

So there are 3 teams that are prominently adored here at chickball: the Red Sox, the Astros, and the Cubs. Wade Miller will now have played for all three of these teams. Coincidence? PROBABLY.

The risk is for $1 million. That's the base salary for Miller, although he could earn as much as $400,000 more with 25 starts. He will be added to the 40-man roster but also will be placed on the disabled list until he is ready to pitch, which could be in late May or, more likely, sometime in June.

Yes Jim Hendry, because the thing that the Cubs need most right now is an injured pitcher. OH WAIT NO WE HAVE 2 OF THEM ALREADY. or maybe it's 3....

League Championships 2006

Steelers, AFC Champs
Seahawks, NFC Champs

Guess which one I'm happy about? Poor Broncos got eliminated bad, but the Seahawks completely killed the Panthers (as the enemy of my enemy is my friend**). So overall, an okay day for me. And I won't have to boycott the Super Bowl in protest (which was a possibility if it was Steelers v Panthers).

Highlights of the Steelers/Broncos game:
-I still get to make "Eat a Roethlisberger" jokes.
-Woolly man Jake Plummer really should shave. (okay so that's not a highlight...)
-That's about it.

Highlights of the Panthers/Seahawks game:
-1st Super Bowl for the Seahawks EVER
-Complete shutdown of Steve Smith by the Seahawk defense
-Hasselbeck completed 20/28
-Mike Holmgren might be the first coach in NFL history to lead 2 different teams to a Super Bowl victory

and the highlight of the weekend is....

Joe Buck: "Wow, Delhomme has what could be a bad GPA." (His QB rating was 1.88)
Troy Aikman: "You're probably familiar with those from your college days at Indiana, huh?"

Troy Aikman suggested that Joe Buck had a D average in college. It was awesome.

Two weeks until SUPERBOWL EXTRALARGE. who's excited? I'm saying Seahawks stomp on the Steelers, 28-13.

** But seriously, my mom has always been a huge Seahawks fan, and I follow her football tastes almost exclusively.

return of the jedi, and by "jedi," i mean "GM"

Epstein to rejoin Red Sox
Boston Globe, 1/19/06
Theo Epstein is rejoining the Boston Red Sox, 2 1/2 months after he turned down a three-year, $4.5 million offer to remain as general manager.

*ahem*

Dear Red Sox Nation,
Please excuse Theo from work these past three months. He was very tired and stressed -- that Larry Lucchino was being so mean to him -- and Pearl Jam was going on tour. He'll have all his make-up work done by the end of the hot stove season, including the center fielder take-home assignment and filling in the hole at shortstop.
Thanks,
Theo's Mom

baseball is considered low culture in london...

So I'm in London for the semester, and, honestly, a good part of the reason I'm here now instead of last fall when I had originally planned to go is because of October and my inability to fathom missing the post-season. This way, I only have to miss April, and we all know April doesn't really count anyway (as the Astros proved last year), although I am bummed about missing opening day, because I LOVE opening day and that fresh, new, spring's-coming-even-though-it's-still-40-degrees-in Boston, baseball buzz in the air. Of course, now I'm definitely talking about Boston, because the baseball atmosphere in Houston (excepting the past two years) is next to nil at almost any time you can think of. But back to my point. I'm in London, where, as you can see by the title of this entry, baseball is considered "low culture" and looked down upon in comparison to their revered football (soccer, remember, soccer) and whatever else it is they consider "sport" here. And no, they don't say "sports," they say "sport." And it's still funny every time.

At least I can still keep track of what's left of the hot stove, which is more like cooling embers at this point, over the internet, so I do get my baseball fix each day. (Which, by the way, leads me to the point that I can't really decide how I feel about Arroyo getting three years. I mean, good for him for taking the discount price so he could stay in Boston, but ... is he really worth three years for us? At least he didn't get a no-trade option. He's young... maybe he'll stabilize.)

However, the entire point of this entry when I decided to write one was that I left my baseball caps in the States. Yep, that's it. When I was packing to come to London, I had my two Red Sox hats and my Astros hat sitting there on the floor next to my suitcases, debating whether I should take them or not (or even just one of them). But I decided, no, I'm not going to be the stereotypical American with a baseball cap on all the time when living in another country for four months, and I should try to adapt to the English culture as much as possible. So I didn't bring my cap. And now.... I miss it. I don't miss anything else (at least not yet) about the U.S., except for that one thing. Sad, isn't it?

I want my Sox hat.

ouch.

ouch. that's it, just ouch. my bears, who i had such high expectations for, have been eliminated. by the panthers. who we should have handily defeated. ouch.

i'm not the kind of person to talk about failures. especially painful ones. so i'm not going to write a sappy ode about how chicago has loved and lost, which is better than to never have loved. i don't even want to console myself with "next year". just ouch. so let's move along to who IS in the playoffs...

basically, the only team that should be in the playoffs that is in the playoffs is seattle. the colts got their asses handed to them (which just shows to go you that you should NEVER trust field goal kickers, they'll disappoint you every time). the bears we already discussed and will never discuss again. and the broncos were kind of an underdog team from the get-go.

so now we have the following match-ups: panthers at seattle (seattle will win, guaranteed) and stealers at broncos (i got the broncos for this). in the end it will probably be the seahawks.

i want to know what happened to the colts. they were undefeated until december. and then they fell apart. a lot of people will blame it on death and the effects of losing a friend, but i really think that's only half the story. they could have gone all the way, but they really just lost their momentum and their offense. in a depressing turn of coincidence, payton manning and rex grossman had the same completion percentage in the first quarter: 0%. just ouch.

okay, this is too depressing. if you're a broncos, steelers, or panthers fan, i guess you can congratulate yourself. otherwise: yeah, i feel ya man. ouch.

manny, i went with red in the end. so should you.

Manny Ramirez thinks he's staying in Boston
ESPN Deportes, 1/5/06 (thanks to Manton for the link)
"There will be no trade, I'm staying in Boston, where I'm familiar with the system and where I have a lot of friends, especially David Ortiz," Ramirez told ESPNdeportes.com while in Miami on personal business.

...

Oh, hell, I give up. Manny's changed his mind about Boston more times than I changed my mind about my prom dress. I officially divest myself of any responsibility to comment on this situation because it'll drive me nuts. And being nuts will make me bitter. And we all know what happens to bitter sportswriters.