Only two shopping days left until Christmas... and if you're still scrambling around looking for that perfect gift for the rabid Sox fan in your life, look no further! They may own every Red Sox book, DVD, shirt and Wally doll ever made-- but I bet they haven't gotten ahold of most of these things yet.

Commemorative Scrabble Game

One of those "slap a World Champions logo on a product and try to cash in on the Red Sox mania" things... but this one's actually kind of cool. The board is shaped like a baseball field (cute!). Even better- the letter tiles are BASEBALLS (cuter!). Keep your Scrabblin' skills honed and sharp - you never know when a certain Southern closer might challenge you to a game.

Hint: don't try and use the word "enphatically"... Josh tried that once, and it wasn't pretty.

The Boston Baseball Band CDs

They might have every Dropkick Murphys CD ever made. Their CD collection might already contain CDs from Daisuke Matsuzaka and Bronson Arroyo. But it's a safe bet that the Sox fan in your life hasn't yet gotten their hands on these two CDs from The Boston Baseball Band.

Go Red Sox! contains gems like "Advice to Grady Little", "Jerry Remy's Laughing Fit" and "Manny Being Manny" (there's even a track dedicated to NESN's Hazel Mae) -- and the newest CD 11 in 10: Celebrating 11 Red Sox Victories in October 2007 follows it up with "Papelbon Dance", "J.D. Drew, We Forgive You" and "Josh Beckett's Ex-Girlfriend". Now that's just poetic.

Witch Hat

I don't know what this has to do with Christmas, but I saw it for sale at MLB.com and just had to include it... because IT IS A RED AND BLUE RED SOX WITCH HAT. This makes no sense at all and therefore is awesome.

LOTS MORE SOX GIFTS, AFTER THE JUMP!

Continue reading »

A very Merry Christmas to each and every one of you who celebrate this holiday today - and for those of you celebrating other holidays (or not at all!), let me substitute in a wish for a happy holiday season and wintertime instead. There's no snow on the ground here in the boonies outside Houston, but it always feels like Christmas anyway when there are carols playing, and hot chocolate brewing.

Hopefully Santa was good to everyone - he sure knew just what to bring me this year (RED SOX STUFF, OF COURSE). I would love to hear what Sox-ian gifts everyone got this season!

And I want to take a moment to thank all of y'all for helping to make this year so special for me. I am constantly cracking up at the witty and funny comments around here - and learning a bunch about baseball and our team at the same time. And you'll never know how much those emails you send mean to me as well -- whether it's a quick little note about some news item you ran across that interested you, or a picture of Josh Beckett, or kind words about the blog. I cannot overstate how much fun it is to hear from y'all- I am tickled pink every time. I am always available to talk Red Sox or baseball or sports, period- so feel free to email anytime (just forgive me if I'm slow to respond!). I am so very thankful to have such a great group of readers... I can't wait to see what 2008 brings!

ESPN's Jayson Stark put together a collection of some of the weirdest things to happen in baseball this year -- and, not surprisingly, the Red Sox made an appearance in a whole handful of those tidbits.

• Just for Starters Dept.: We should have known what kind of World Series we were in for when the first inning of Game 1 featured a leadoff homer by a fellow who hadn't hit a leadoff homer all year (Dustin Pedroia) -- off a pitcher who hadn't allowed a leadoff homer since 2004 (Jeff Francis).

• Just Getting Warmed Up Dept.: The Red Sox had a longer winning streak in the postseason (seven games) than they had at any point in the regular season (five games).

• October Sky Dept.: Even more amazingly, the Red Sox scored 11 runs or more in three straight postseason games (Games 6 and 7 of the ALCS, Game 1 of the World Series). Before that, they'd done that once in all 107 of their regular seasons combined. But heck, that's only about 16,500 games.

• Farm Land Dept.: In the whacked out California League, a three-game series between the Lancaster Jet Hawks (Red Sox minor league affiliate) and the Lake Elsinore Storm produced a 30-0 game one day, a four-homer game the next day (by Lancaster's Alan Bates), a cycle the next day (by Lake Elsinore's Yordany Ramirez) and a total of 83 runs, 95 hits and 23 home runs in one series.

• Sum of All Fears Dept.: And for the 10th straight year since the release of "Good Will Hunting," the Red Sox lost on Ben Affleck's birthday (Aug. 15).

And the weirdest event in all of baseball this year is courtesy of the Red Sox bats - namely, Manny Ramirez, J.D. Drew, Mike Lowell & Jason Varitek.

• Strangest But Truest Event Of 2007 How the heck did this happen? Yankees rookie Chase Wright, a pitcher who had given up four home runs to the previous 673 hitters he'd faced (in the majors and minors), needed a mere 10 pitches to serve up four home runs in a row to the Red Sox on April 22. Naturally, the four hitters who bashed them had combined for only four homers all season before that, in 218 at-bats.

Dontrelle Willis, newly signed to the Detroit Tigers (gulp! the '08 Tigers scare me more than a little bit) appeared on WDFN last week to talk about all kinds of stuff - and portions of the interview were reprinted in the Detroit Free Press. I love me some D-Train, crazy antics and all (how could you not heart a pitcher with that insane throwing motion?)- but there was one little throwaway line in there that really made me smile.

Where do you get your energy from?

Aw, man, I have no idea. I'm just very appreciative of the opportunity. I know how hard this game is and I think I've been very blessed to play with some guys that play the game the right way like Juan Pierre, Mike Lowell, Jeff Conine, Todd Jones and like I said, Pudge Rodriguez to steer me the right way. Guys are very appreciative. Obviously you can see their work ethic and how they go about their business.

Everybody hearts Mike Lowell- it's just an undeniable fact of life.

It is your challenge- nay, your duty - to get yourself on over to ESPN post haste and vote Josh Beckett onto the All-SportsNation Team for 2007.

Josh is one of 30+ athletes vying for one of five spots on the 2007 All-SportsNation Team -- and one of only three major league baseball players to make the ballot (the other two are C.C. Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez). Other Boston favorites on the list are Tom Brady and Randy Moss, along with my darlings Brett Favre and Tony Romo.

You can vote for FIVE different athletes on your ballot - and there is no registration required, so get on over there and vote for Josh. He's only got 5.2% of the vote as of the time of this posting- we can do so much better than that. Especially since A-Rod has 13.1% -- we cannot let that stand!

Vote early, vote often!

Here's what passes for hockey in Texas (not Dallas):

I'm headed out to the Toyota Center to watch some awesome (cough) Aeros action. I haven't seen a hockey game since I worked for the Ice Bats in college... no, I am not kidding- the ICE BATS. The team played their games on an iced-over dirt floor in a rodeo arena. No, I am not kidding.

Surely Aeros hockey can't be any worse than hockey played in a rodeo arena, right? RIGHT?

Scout.com compiled some of what they thought were the best quotes from Red Sox players and personnel this year - three articles worth of quotes, in fact. I've distilled down that big long list of quotes of theirs down to these below, my favorites of the bunch:

"Consistency. Rock. Professional. Good teammate--really good teammate. He's a grinder. He's a baseball player. He's a guy that fits the mold to play in this city."
--Jason Varitek on Mike Lowell

"I'm not worried about making the error. I'm worried about trying to help the team win and trying to get an out any way we can."
--Kevin Youkilis after he won the Gold Glove at first base following an errorless season

"I don't know how many I have left, but honestly, no, I never really thought I would be pitching this long. My wife and I kind of kid each other. She says 'You keep going and going and I don't know when you're going to stop.' I know I'm closer to the end than I am to the beginning, I'll tell you that."
--Mike Timlin on entering his 18th season and how much longer he thinks he'll play

"Before this contract, I had financial security. So I like to believe that I'm not all about money and I feel like I'm more of a baseball player than a businessman.
-- Mike Lowell after re-signing with the Red Sox

"I don't know how anybody ever hits him. I mean, he has I don't know how many losses this year [seven]. But I have no idea how it ever happens. You get up there, he's got every pitch in the book that are off the charts and the determination and his ability to go out there and just will wins out there. Obviously, it's a little bit more [than] will, because he throws 98 mph with his snap dragon [curveball]. His focus during a game--he's pretty laid-back when he's not pitching, but when he's in the game, he doesn't want to high-five anybody until he's done. He's got a job to do. And he's going to go out there and get it done."
--Doug Mirabelli on Josh Beckett's dominant season

"You know, it's the same theme though. Twenty-five different guys, but we have the same team. We have the same heart, we have the same right. We have the same never say die attitude. These guys fight the whole way and it's just unbelievable."
--Mike Timlin comparing the 2004 Sox to the 2007 Sox

"I love it when somebody just let's me get the milk and I can go home. You know, it's funny, though. It's an uncomfortable situation--give you an example, the other day at the drugstore. This lady is behind the counter and she goes, "I know you". Okay, so what do you say, just trying to pay for the deodorant. And the guy next to her that's working there, he says, "That's the manager of the Red Sox." She says, "No, it's not." I'm not going to argue with her that I am. I'm more comfortable just going home."
--Terry Francona on being recognized in public

And I thought these quotes from some of the Sox baby prospects were very interesting as well:

"I want you guys to be right about me. In a couple of years, [he wants to] beat the Yankees. That's; the ultimate dream. I'm happy that this happened, but I'm never going to be satisfied with anything. I'm never gonna say, OK, well, I got to Double-A. This is pretty good. That'll never happen for me."
--Sox draftee Brock Huntzinger on draft night

"I guess I look uglier with them. So everybody's a little more scared if you're ugly, right? I wasn't doing too well to start. Then the goggles made me a little uglier."
--Double-A reliever Hunter Jones on the effect of the goggles he wears on the mound

I am so very sorry, Dustin - but I must say that I hope you will be in pain tonight, crying your eyes out in misery. Because that will mean your Arizona State Sun Devils will have taken a nosedive against my Texas Longhorns in the Holiday Bowl... and nothing would make me happier than that.

Hook 'Em Horns!

EDIT: Yeehaw!! Texas 52 - Arizona State 34
(and that's even with the head coach's stepson almost farking the game up for us completely)

Dustin - as the winner, I will accept the spoils of victory from you, as the loser, in the form of Red Sox game tickets and/or merchandise.

If there's another player out there who gives more insight into the game, his team and his psyche than Curt Schilling, I'd like to know who that is. Curt sat down for an extra in-depth interview with the Maynard Beacon-Villager, and (as per usual) serves up a whole host of excellent material for Sox fans.

I distilled the interview down to the parts that relate more specifically to the Red Sox, but you can see the entire (very, very lengthy) interview here. I also bolded some of my most favorite quotes from Curt.

LVO: I read on your blog that you yourself really, enjoy playing these games. Are you doing that while traveling?

CS: I'm playing MMO's - the massively multiplayer online games...One of the things that you have as a professional athlete is an immense amount of free time. Most of that is when you're traveling. I'm married with children so the social life that I might have had when I was twenty or twenty-one no longer exists. And we're in a culture and in a day and age when going out into the public can result in bad things even if you don't have bad intentions. So you know what? You remove any doubts any chance of something like that happening by just not doing it. And, some people may say, "Well geeze that's a rough way to live." Well it's not. During the season I have commitments to keep and usually as we travel I'll have business meetings around the cities we're traveling in and I'll keep in touch with everybody on the internet but it's what I do. These games allow me to literally hang out with my kids as well, because they're home and they get online and we'll play together and so it's just another little bit of a connection for us.

LVO: As far as pitching.... You're in a very high stress job out there. How do you keep your cool before, during and after the game?

CS: Before the game I'm not cool. I'm probably as nervous as anybody by far.

Continue reading »

Here's what happens when I don't write these here Sox On The Town posts as often as I should: approximately one kajillion things happen, and then the post is so long it takes up the whole page. So, how's about I break the post up- post some now, and some later. That way, it's not quite so long.

First up, football! David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Curt Schilling and John Henry were all at the Patriots-Dolphins game at Gillette Stadium last weekend to take part in a pregame ceremony honoring the Red Sox. The Pats played a 2007 Sox highlight film (set to "Dirty Water") on the jumbotron, and Youk (in a Tom Brady jersey), Schilling (Tedy Bruschi jersey) and Big Papi (Laurence Maroney jersey) brought out the '04 and '07 WS trophies for the crowd. The Sox and Pats guys also apparently had a grand old time yucking it up on the sidelines - comparing championship rings, perhaps?

"The Red Sox put a lot of pressure on us," said wide receiver Troy Brown, who got a pre-game hug from Ortiz. "They did a tremendous job."

Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said the team got some well wishes from the Red Sox trio on Sunday. "We wish them the best and they wish us the best," Harrison said. "I don't know about Tom Brady being a Red Sox fan, but most of the guys on this team, we enjoy that."

Beth has a whole bunch more about the festivities, but here's a picture of Papi and Curt (and follow after the jump for more pictures of the guys in Pats gear).

Curt Schilling (and family) were also in Foxboro to watch the Patriots beat the Steelers - as well as Jacoby Ellsbury and his "galpal" Kelsey Hawkins. I love that word - "galpal". The Herald won't just come out and call her his girlfriend, they're so coy and 1950's about the whole thing. Curt seems to somehow end up at almost every single Patriots game - perks of being a WS champion thrice over, I suppose.

Lest you think the Sox only care about the Patriots- David Ortiz was back courtside at the Celtics game again, this time against the Pistons. Papi looks awfully dapper in that Celtics green, I gotta say.

Doug "Dougie Fresh" Mirabelli spent Christmas Eve day back in his offseason home of Traverse City, Michigan spearheading his second annual coat drive. Doug got together with the Red Sox Foundation and TJ Maxx, and collected over $12,000 worth of coats, snow pants, boots, hats and mittens- which were then distributed to needy kids all over the Traverse City area.

"The whole point was to get these coats out here and get them into hands of kids who need them," said Mirabelli. "That's all we ever wanted it to be, not about Doug Mirabelli, TJ Maxx or the Boston Red Sox."

Kudos to Dougie Fresh for looking out for the kiddos - and that winter-y beard? Very nice, I must say.

Last, but most certainly not least, Jason Varitek was down at Walt Disney World with the wife and kids yesterday. Somehow, some way, someone managed to get him to don pirate gear (my money's on a kid... what won't parents do for their kids at the holidays?)- and thus this awesome picture was born. All we need is Captain Morgan to join them, and we would have hit the Captain Trifecta.

photo courtesy Gene Duncan

Follow the jump to find more Sox-In-Pats Gear photos...

Continue reading »

The New York Times has an interesting piece about the harsh division of sports allegiances in Connecticut- and the vast difference between how the Northern CT sports fan is feeling right about now, versus the Southern CT sports fan. From the article:

[A]cross the spectrum of mass-appeal professional sports, America's greatest regional rivalry has not been a pretty sight for the New York fan, as reflected by The Boston Globe on the morning after Christmas.

Plastered down the sports front page were Jonathan Papelbon in a triumphant crouch, an exultant Randy Moss after another connection with Brady and an open-mouthed, wide-eyed and not-wanting- to-be-pinched Kevin Garnett.

The headline included the numbers 2, 0, 0, 7, separated by the following declarations, aligned with the corresponding photographs: Unstoppable (Red Sox), Undefeated (Patriots) and Unbelievable (Celtics).

What would the 2007 New York equivalent be? Try Undignified (the Yankees making an October off-field spectacle of themselves after losing again in the first round), Unwatchable (the Mets committing the worst September choke in baseball history) and Unbearable (any snapshot from the Knicks' continuing and incomparable dysfunction).

Of course, seeing as how my NFL allegiance (Cowboys) and NBA allegiance (none) each lies elsewhere, the part of the article that I focused on is Red Sox vs. Yankees. The story was accompanied by several comparison photos- and really, doesn't this just sum up '07 baseball pretty perfectly?

Again, from the article:

In 2007, the Red Sox snapped the Yankees' nine-year run of divisional titles, rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the American League Championship Series against the Indians and swept the Rockies in the World Series.

The Yankees bugged out in Cleveland, were eliminated at home and upstaged the rest of the postseason with the tacky Joe Torre saga and the grubby Alex Rodriguez contract intrusion during the Red Sox' Series-clinching game in Denver.

Just to prove that the Yankees and A-Rod still don't get it, they officially announced their roughly $300 million remarriage on the day the Mitchell report on steroids was released and all of baseball should have bowed its collective head in shame.

Speaking of the report, there was scant mention of the Red Sox while the Yankees (and the Mets) were portrayed as virtual home offices for performance enhancement. Keeping with our theme, Boston's Roger Clemens will always be remembered as a comparatively svelte, flame-throwing wonder. New York's Roger Clemens stands accused by the Mitchell report of being a fake.

Come on now- the Yankees just signed LaTroy Hawkins! I'm sure that's going to turn things around!

In one of the oddest pairings since, well, the Odd Couple: Hideki Okajima and Randy Johnson teamed up for a Phiten/MLB press conference in Tokyo a few weeks ago. According to the photo wire, "An agreement has been reach[ed] for Phiten to produce MLB authorized official health care goods to be used by 30 clubs across the US."

I'm not sure what the Big Unit and Okey Dokey talked about - but since the press conference produced this awesome photo, it had to have been interesting (to say the least):

More photos of Okey & Randy, after the jump.

Continue reading »

David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Manny Delcarmen and a whole host of other Red Sox may root, root, root for the Celtics- but northern Cali boy Dustin Pedroia still stays loyal to his hometown Sacramento Kings. (At least he's not alone in shunning the Celts- since Josh Beckett hearts him some San Antonio Spurs.) Back during the World Series, Dustin proclaimed his Kings fandom:

[Dustin] was asked by a Boston reporter about playing in a sports epicenter, considering the Red Sox are in the World Series, the Patriots are an NFL power, Boston College is No. 2 in the nation and the beefed-up Celtics are a threat to win the NBA title. "I'm a Sacramento Kings fan," said Pedroia, who's from Woodland in Yolo County. "I know they're rebuilding this year, but I don't want to hear about any epicenter."

So when the Kings had BeanTown night on the 26th while the Celtics were in town, it's no surprise Dustin showed up to support his team.

During pregame, Dustin was introduced to the crowd and given a #15 Kings jersey (though he didn't put it on, and wasn't otherwise wearing any Kings gear -- smart guy, after the LeBron James fiasco). The Kings also played a highlight montage on the jumbotron showing off some of Dustin's best plays this year. The SacBee says Dustin got a standing ovation - but Sactown Royalty describes it as more of a "lukewarm reception". Judge for yourself- here's some homemade video of his introduction:

Dustin did give props to Kevin Garnett- apparently, the two became buddies when Garnett was at Fenway earlier in the year to throw out the first pitch:

"[Garnett] came out to Fenway, and what a great guy," Pedroia said. "He's one of my favorite players to watch because he plays the game the right way."

The highlight, though was when the Kings broadcasters brought Dustin up to the broadcast table for a two-part interview while the game was in progress. Dustin gave everyone a great look at his buzzed bald head, and generally was his normal charming, funny self.

Here's the first half of the video:

Follow after the jump for the second part of the interview.

Continue reading »

If there's anyone out there who could not care less about college football- first, I must admonish you for not appreciating the wonder and joy of the only sport that rivals baseball in the awesomeness sweepstakes. (take that, NFL!) Second, let me at least give you some pointers on who you can root for in the remaining games. Maybe the Sox connections can make it a little more exciting- you know, if the overwhelming greatness of college football itself didn't already do it for you.

Who To Root For In College Football If You Are Basing Your Allegiance Solely On The Red Sox And Do Not Otherwise Give A Crap

Games Already Completed

Papa John's.com Bowl - Cincinnati beat Southern Miss
Kevin Youkilis's beard returned just in team to see the Bearcats win.

Holiday Bowl - Texas beat Arizona State
I'm sorry, Dustin Pedroia, but your Sun Devils were no match for my Longhorns.

Emerald Bowl - Oregon State beat Maryland
Jacoby Ellsbury's alma mater rolled over the turtles. Plus, their mascot is the Beaver.

Games To Be Played

Liberty Bowl - Mississippi State over Central Florida
It's no wonder Jonathan Papelbon owns a bulldog- cheer on the State bulldogs from Pap's college.

Alamo Bowl - Penn State over Texas A&M
Even though Josh Beckett fancies himself an Aggie fan, we all must cheer for Penn State in hopes of bringing Josh over from the dark side.

Humanitarian Bowl - Georgia Tech over Fresno State
Jason Varitek (and Nomar Garciaparra) both want you to root for the Jackets,

Music City Bowl - Florida State over Kentucky
I have never ever cheered for Florida State for any reason, but if you are so inclined, JD Drew would be much obliged.

BCS Championship - LSU over Ohio St.
Even though no Sox players went to either school, Papelbon was born in Baton Rouge, LA and Kevin Youkilis was born in Cincinnati, OH. That's a tough call, picking between them- but after the way the Cleveland fans behaved during the ALCS? LET'S GEAUX LSU TIGERS!