Sports Writing

“I promise. I’m not going to the Yankees. I want to stay right here.” (Link) Looks like no matter what happens in offseason negotiations, there’s one team Pedro really dislikes. Fingers crossed.

The Sox are off to Disney World! (link from SoSH)

All right, time to claim all the food wagers. Bloomberg, pony up the pastrami and corned beef. (I love Katz’s, by the way, but I remain unimpressed by Junior’s cheesecake. Also, judging from the list, it looks like Menino took greater advantage of the opportunity to promote a whole range of Boston-area restaurants.) Not that you need the food - hard to eat when you’re choking. Anyway, I know Bloomberg’s supposed to be loyal to New York now, but he’s an ex-Medford boy, and the taunting of his statement was kind of over the top. (Of course, to be fair, Mitt Romney’s “St. Louis is the gateway to the next Red Sox championship” wasn’t much nicer.)

One running joke between Epstein and Francona all season long was the manager’s need to gulp Metamucil about an hour before each game. “He has a nervous stomach, and I teased him about it all year,” Epstein said. “So before Game 4 with the Yankees, I decided what the hell and I had a glass of it, too.” (Link)

Superb work, Terry. You deserve time with the family. Same time next year?

For a team so good it held a lead in part of every inning in the World Series. For the 2004 Sox: Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord

The Sox get the Wheaties honour.

Touched by the right hand of God.

My favourite line in the post-game interviews was from Theo Epstein: “Go celebrate, we’ll do it again next year”

It’s a good thing my cubicle at work is quite isolated, it’s been 4 hours since and I still can’t stop tearing up. All these years of the Sox being good enough to break your heart. Looking at key moments:

(Photo source) To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe, To bear with unbearable sorrow, To run where the brave dare not go. To right the unrightable wrong,

“I gave myself the nickname ‘Cockroach’ the Anaheim series. They kept trying to kill me. I’d find a way to wiggle back to life.” (Link)

Quick thoughts - Schilling, Pedro, Lowe, 20 IP, 0 ER. Brilliant. Lowe 3-0 in the postseason. Foulke with a microscopic ERA. An amazing bench. You want to know how to construct a team? Ladies and gentlemen, Theo Epstein. Reese goes bodysurfing. Grown men crying all over Boston, all over the world. I’m not coherent, and I’ve never been happier.

86 years since 1918. 18 years since 1986. There is no curse. There is no jinxing. There are only the 2004 World Champions Boston Red Sox.

Starting pitching and hitting win games. This is it. This is it. This is it. Pandemonium.

Baby, everything’s all right, uptight, out of sight.

Schilling as inspiration to go to the gym, to not call in sick, etc. Me, I just point to the sky and look upwards at opportune moments.

Between the players voting Nomar a full World Series share, and this nugget (courtesy of Boston Sports Media Watch), there seem to be good vibes all around: Thanks to GM Theo Epstein, there were at least a few Sox fans at last night’s game. Epstein chartered a flight to St. Louis for 80 Fenway workers - a collection of groundskeepers and concessions and security types - so they could catch Pedro’s first World Series start.

You’re out of luck. No one’s going to open at 8am for a baseball game. But Brewerkz is showing a repeat at 8.30pm tomorrow.