This is the one and only time you'll see most post anything here about all the nonsense, hoopla and gossip flurry surrounding a certain ballplayer these days -- because he does not play for the Red Sox, and the constant news stories about his personal life only make him more famous, and I quite honestly do not give a shit. But this was too funny to pass up...

Toronto, you are awesome.

First, there was the Bullpen Band of pirates.
Then, there was Jason Varitek kickin' it Captain Hook-style.
Now David Ortiz is joining in on the pirate family.

Big Papi was a co-host (with Maria Menounos ) of the 2008 Captain Morgan All-Star Pose Off Party in New York City last night -- which presented the public with this golden photo opportunity.

This also gives me the opportunity to point out that despite the dire warnings from Mike Timlin about the consequences, Jonathan Papelbon revealed the pirate names of his bullpen mates:

Papelbon - The Cannonballer or The Lost Boy
Lopez - The Bootstrap
Timlin - Admiral Blackbeard
Delcarmen - El Tattoo
Aardsma - The Dutchman
Okajima - The Eastern Wizard
Hansen - cannot be revealed

I have a feeling Craig Hansen's name couldn't be revealed not because it was super secret, but because Jonathan either (a) forgot, or (b) made all these up himself and ran out of ideas.

Hat tip on photo: Larry Brown Sports

What. In. The. Sam. Hill. Just. Happened??

That guy? OTHERWORLDLY. As I said in the open thread, the Rangers just picked up thousands of new fans thanks to the fireworks provided by one Mr. Josh Hamilton.

And thanks to Big Papi for being Johnny-on-the-spot with his patented Papi Hugs, because it gives me the perfect excuse to post this photo:

Justin Morneau may have won the Derby in the end, but all anyone's going to remember (and be talking about) is Josh Hamilton's 28 dingers in the first round.

I think Josh Beckett just found himself a new baseball boyfriend.

Chase Utley earns a gold star not only for dropping the f-bomb on live TV on ESPN, but for dropping it on New York fans. In Yankee Stadium.

Thank goodness the ever-crafty Phillies fans jumped on this golden merchandising opportunity.

Every Tuesday, I'll post a discussion topic or question for everyone to think about and then discuss in the comments section. Tuesday is always one of the most difficult days of the week to get through - you don't have the afterglow of the previous weekend's fun any more, and yet you're still days away from the next weekend. This should give us something fun to do to pass the time.

Tuesday Curveball - Week Nine Even though there's no real baseball on, tonight will bring the All-Star Game and all the surrounding pageantry and hoopla. David Neal of the Miami Herald wrote a very interesting article filled with ways that MLB could shake up the ASG and make it more exciting. What, if anything, would you change about the All-Star Game? How would you change the selection process? The event itself? Not this year, but overall.

As discussion starters, here were some of David Neal's thoughts:

* Not only make all fan voting online, but limit it to one vote per e-mail address. Also, this way, you could require each voter to pass a poll test. I know this has bad precedent in this country, but it would be nice if voters demonstrated more knowledge about the current season than ``Hey, Derek Jeter! I've heard of him!''

* The fan voting wouldn't decide the starters -- it would decide, hopefully, who will decide the game. Fan favorites would play the last three innings after managers figure out how to get everyone else in the previous innings.

* Here's another way to liven up those late innings. There's little riveting about the winning league getting the home-field advantage in the World Series. Give the winning league's fans 10 percent off on all stadium food, beer and programs for the next month and you better believe there will be some serious fan energy off which the players will feed. Folk heroes, which the All-Star Game doesn't make anymore, could be born.

* I'm also for changing the American League vs. the National League format. With so much talk about money in the game today, how about breaking up the teams by salary? Select the players then split them into teams that are economically equal one year, then, the next season, Richer Men vs. Not Quite As Rich Men.

Congratulations to Jonathan and Ashley Papelbon!

Per the Hartford Courant, Ashley is expecting the couple's first child -- no word on the due date yet.

And what better congratulatory gift than a giant media firestorm and the back page of the New York Daily News branding you a "Papelbum"? From the same Courant story:

Jonathan Papelbon was upset over a NY Daily News account of his remarks yesterday. During his 50 minutes of press availability he was asked many times, in many ways, about the who-should-close controversy, and at one point, asked who would close if he was the manager, he said, well, him.

Later in the session, he said if he had to step aside for Rivera, it was okay with him.

Anyway, Papelbon and his wife, who is expecting a baby, were booed during the Red Carpet Parade Monday. "How would you feel?" he said. "I understand it, but my wife didn't feel comfortable."

Just because it's fun to think about all seven of the Red Sox taking over a huge chunk of the Yankees' clubhouse...

From the Hartford Courant:

In case you were wondering: Kevin Youkilis is using Johnny Damon's locker.

Manny Ramirez has a corner locker last used by Carl Pavano.

Jonathan Papelbon has Brian Bruney's.

David Ortiz has Brett Gardner's

Dustin Pedroia has Wilson Betamit's

Jason Varitek has Kyle Farnsworth.

Anyone else out there weirdly excited about the prospect of the Home Run Derby and All Star Game, despite all logic and reason? Yeah, me, too.

We can all use this thread tonight and tomorrow as an open thread to talk about all the festivities going on at Yankee Stadium.

J.D. Drew: MVP.

At this time last year, that's a sentence I thought I'd never utter.

Hacks With Haggs has an interesting Q&A up that he did with Julio Lugo a short time ago, before Lugo landed himself on the DL. It's a great introspective look by Julio back at his early days of baseball - and even more interesting, it's got some great tidbits about Manny Ramirez.

Did you ever, as a kid, watch Manny play when he was with the Indians?

JL: I never went to Yankee Stadium, but I went to go watch him play at Double-A and he was with the Indians and he hit a home run to straightaway centerfield. The crowd starting going crazy. I remember that, and I still have the bats at my house.

One day when I was in the minor leagues I went to go watch Manny play in spring training, and I saw him before the game. I went 'Oh Manny...how are you' and he was like 'Oh...how are you.' We didn't really know each other well, but he told me he was going to give me some bats after the game. And I told all my friends. I was like 'Oh [expletive], Manny is gonna give me some bats.' And I was waiting outside after the game, and I thought that Manny forgot. I was like 'man...', but then Manny showed up a while later and he had the bats with him. I remember that and I still have the bats in my house. It felt so good, and to this day that was one of the best moments in my baseball career.

What's it been like to play with him...a guy you always looked up to?

JL: Everybody knows about Manny and how good a hitter he is. But nobody knows about how good a person Manny is. You've got to be there to understand. When I was struggling last year I didn't want to talk to anybody. But I would check my voice messages and he would leave me messages like 'Hey don't worry about it. You're going to be fine. Tomorrow is your day.' That kept me up all the time. That kept me up. It was amazing. Every time I made a play, I would turn around and he would be like pointing at me. He stole my heart, man. People don't see it on the outside, but he really cares about me. He cares about everyone.

Does that perception about him surprise you given how he is with you?

JL: It's surprising because he don't say much and he doesn't express his feelings that much. You've got to be real close to him for him to express his feelings. But I never hear Manny say anything negative. If something negative happens, he'll be like 'don't waste your energy on it.'

My friends and family know I'm not one to get all googly over babies... but these pictures of the soon-to-be Daddy and Mommy Papelbon are too cute not to share. These were taken at Vitaminwater's MLB All-Star week celebration at Hudson Terrace on July 14, 2008 in New York City.

Ashley looks positively radiant, and Jonathan looks downright proud of himself. "ME MAN. ME MAKE BABY. ME AWESOME."

Nike's just about to unleash their new ad campaign on the world. Entitled "Courage", the video spot features quick shots of a wide variety of professional and Olympic athletes set against the sounds of the Killers song "All These Things That I've Done". And alongside all-time greats like Michael Jordan, Lance Armstrong, Arthur Ashe, Carl Lewis, Mary Lou Retton and John McEnroe, the Red Sox own Jon Lester makes an appearance.

The accompanying Nike website says of Jon:

On August 31, 2006 , doctors discovered Jon Lester had enlarged lymph nodes, and a few days later he was diagnosed with anaplastic large cell lymphoma. On October 27, 2007, Lester clinched the World Series for the Boston Red Sox. On May 19, 2008, he threw his first career no-hitter.

So I realized late last night, in those dwindling half-lucid moments just before I fell asleep, that I had forgotten something.

My train of thought went from planning my budget for the next few weeks, to picturing the July calendar in my mind's eye, to realizing it was already July 17th, and then thinking back on what I was doing this time last year (in Chicago! quit my job! going to baseball games every week!). And then I realized... it had been over a year since I started this here lil' blog adventure. And I had completely forgotten.

It all started with Deadspin, and its patented irreverent, sarcastic and sometimes delightfully crass way of examining sports and the athletes who play them. A group of eight women commenters decided that while the KSK boys were more than adequately representing the ultra-male voice of fans, there wasn't really a group of women out there to counterbalance them. So we dreamed up our own little spot where we could drool over eyeblack and forearms, but also drool over VORP, an alley oop and the nickel defense. From there, it was only a matter of months before I discovered I was overrunning the place with baseball talk, and rather than dial it back... I decided just to create my own place where I could go on and on (and on) about baseball to my heart's content. And so I worked on the design and making the place all pretty and shiny for a month...

And then on July 7, 2007, Center Field made its grand debut. With a post about what an old-school hottie Yaz was. Of course.

Things were a little up-in-the-air for that first month or so, but CF pretty quickly settled down into all Red Sox, all the time. Second post? Papelbon kicking over a water cooler. Third post? Stating the obvious truth about Dusty Baker's amazing ability to suck. See, things haven't really changed that much after all. Mostly because Dusty Baker will always suck - it's a constant.

Since that time, I've been fortunate to enough to join the illustrious Babes Love Baseball team, co-manage the 1986 Toronto Blue Jays to third place in the AL East, and somehow manage to keep this place going for over a year.

Now comes the time when I get to thank everyone who's helped me out along the way. And so I should start with Will (now here) - who was really the catalyst that started this whole chain of dominoes way back when. Huge thanks to my posse of fellow Sox writers, who have been nothing short of phenomenal with support, and links, and laughs - Ian, Dan, Beth, Red & Denton, Kristen, Dan D., Erin, Sarah, Tex, Caroline & Jennifer and Allan. Thanks and undying affection also go out to my pals who don't happen to be Sox fans, but do all happen to be fantastic baseball writers and great supporters: Caryn, Tim, Kevin, Michael, David, Bernadette, Rob & CTC, Tuffy, Enrico, Jon and Eric. I'd also like to pay homage to other sports-obsessed folks who provided assistance, inspired me with their wit, and became trusted confidantes and friends: Orson, Holly, Peter, Jimmy, T. Kyle, J-Money, Jebus, Sarah, Brian, the cabal, Margaret, Francine, the Ladies, Sooze, Lizzy & Sarah, and Clare. I can't say thanks enough to Janelle, Gwen, Kat, Amiee, Greg, Laura, Clint and Angela for all the memories of endless days spent at a ballpark or football field, and the memories of countless nights filled with whiskey-soaked sports rants. And last, this whole thing is thanks to my dad and brother, who I blame in equal parts for making me a sports fan.... hook 'em.

Same time, next year?

Fess up. Who is the insane Red Sox fan that is bidding $8,250.00 (not a typo) for an 8 1/2 foot tall (also not a typo) reproduction of this:

Seriously? Stop the madness. What exactly would one do with a near-9 foot tall fugly fake Statue of Liberty plastered with Sox logos? Other than set it on the front lawn at Halloween to scare away kids.

I suppose it could be worse. The Sox statue is neither as fug as the Pirates one, nor as racist as the Indians one. Although neither of those teams have found any insane people to bid on those monstrosities... yet. There's still 4 hours to go, though.