Looks like we'll be resigning Mirabelli. That's key. Doug's cool. Next move should be to wrap up our starting catcher, Jason Varitek.

I see articles every once in a while about how the Red Sox have a chance to get Beltran. I know he's a great player, but as far as I'm concerned, we've already got a center fielder. One who was key in making this team World Champs. To go out and get the big superstar at every position would be dumb. The yanks have done it, and proved it doesn't work. All those Brosius types led them to WS victories, and now that Steinbrenner has his claws sunk in the team again, he's just overspending--and not winning. Theo's style has given us the ultimate prize, I hope he just keeps doing what he's been doing (and I'm confident that he will.) By the way, I'm 100% positive the Sox won't be getting Beltran, but I'm just saying, I keep seeing these articles, and I get this little tiny bit of worry that our ownership might get enticed, and make a huge error.

I'm still thinking the Sox will get Pavano, despite dirtdog's source in his lower intestine that claims he's "definitely" going to the Phils.

Went to Mohegan Sun last night. No question what team has claimed southeast CT, if we hadn't already. Although there were a bunch of yankee fans, but as is the new trend, not much eye contact from them. Actually, no eye contact. None. Collective Soul was playing in the Wolf Den. Always great to see crappy bands being forced to play a free show at a casino. I always imagine the singer of these "deep voice" rock bands as having had a regular voice originally, but then when they heard Pearl Jam, they suddenly started imitating Eddie Vedder. Terrible job, Collective Soul. And Stone Temple Pilots. And Creed. Speaking of making fun of Creed, how hilarious was it to see their sorry-ass lead singer singing God Bless America at Game 4 of the World Series? Possibly St. Louis' most pathetic moment of the WS. I knew we had the Series won right then.

(The title of this post is from when I played Little League. We had this kid Doug on the team. His mom would come to every game and yell "C'Mon Dooooog" whenever he was up. Quite annoying. And burned into my brain forever, I guess. You know now that kid as Doug Flutie. Just kidding.)

The natural reaction of most American adults to getting a weekday off is: "Oh my god, I can watch the Price Is Right!" This morning I woke up, flipped on the tv, not even thinking of TPIR, and heard a soothing voice saying the words "Helena-Reubenstein Foundation" and "Sears Roebuck Corporation." Those names sounded familiar for some reason. Then I figured out why when the Mister Rogers theme started. I realized I hadn't seen old Fred for quite some time. So I sat there and watched Mr. Rogers change his jacket and shoes. Then he called a dude named John Costa. Costa said Fred and his neighbors (me) could come over to his son's house, so John Jr. could show us all how to make spaghetti. I got to thinking how Mr. Rogers was pretty important to a lot of kids. And I think I've figured out society. The people that cut you off in traffic, and screw other people for their own personal gain, and don't care about people that are less fortunate than themselves, well those are the people who didn't watch Mr. Rogers.

It's good to see that they're still showing reruns of "The 'Hood."

So that's what I'm giving thanks for. People who teach kids to be kind.

It was a good Thanksgiving this year. I got to see my Sox fan cousins, and my yankee fan cousins. There was lots of good natured (ha!) ribbing throughout the day. And my dad finally got to give the toast we've all (some of us) been waiting to hear our whole lives...

Quiz # 8 has been answered. The persistent Danny came up with the Sox player who had vertigo and wore number 7: Nick Esasky. Nick came from Cincy in '89, grew a red beard, and whacked one ball after another over the Monster. That guy ruled. With him and Randy Kutcher, we seemed unbeatable for a while there...

Quiz #9: Who is Sally Ann Cavanaugh?

I just watched the DVD from the Nirvana box set that came out today. It's very interesting. It shows the band playing at an early practice, then goes through live performances right up until the end of the band. First we see a practice session from 1988 at Krist's mom's house. The looks on the faces of the band's logger-trash friends in the room are priceless. All I could think of was how not one of these people could've known that the dudes they were watching would become the biggest band in the world within four years. One guy, brew in hand (they all have a brew in hand), is watching while Kurt's belting out a tune in his best Johnny Rotten voice, almost admiringly, like he's thinking, "Somebody from this town actually has some talent." But everyone else looks like your average stoner would look watching their friend's band, either bored to death or wishing they had enough energy to be in the band. For whatever reason, (insufficient cord lenghth, I'm guessing) the microphone is set up against the wall. So whenever Kurt is singing, we see his back, as he's right up against the wall, facing it, like the kid in The Blair Witch Project. It gives you the feeling that the guys filming and sitting around the room are forcing these freaks at gunpoint to play loud music for them. It's quite odd. The one time Kurt strays from his wall, he ends up pulling the plug on his own guitar, as he attempts to run up to the camera to do a solo. He's forced to walk back and try to fix it, probably thinking, "See why I stay over here all the time?" and the camera quickly cuts the scene short. They play about nine tunes in this setting, and then there are songs from various live shows, with the audience growing along with the band's popularity. The final clip is Kurt playing drums (in a studio) and singing the cheesy pop hit "Seasons In The Sun," backed by Krist and Dave on guitar and bass. The whole thing is like a little movie. And I've still got the three CDs to listen to. Life continues to be sweet.

I can't believe it's been eleven years since I saw that band as a college kid with no idea what I was gonna do with myself. And here I am listening to the same band, still with no idea. Nice. Voiceover: George Washington Carver died penniless and insane...still tryin' to play a phonograph record with a peanut.

We have an answer for Quiz #8 (What Red Sox player wore #7 and had vertigo?). Someone called Danny guessed it was the subject of the movie "Fear Strikes Out." That'd be Waterbury, Connecticut native Jimmy Piersall. His book was made indeed made into that movie. He didn't have vertigo, he had bipolar disorder. But the man who portyayed Jimmmy in the movie was Anthony Perkins, who also played the lead role in "Psycho," which was a film by Alfred Hitchcock, who also made a film called "Vertigo." So you get some credit for that, heh heh. Also, Piersall wore #2, 24, and 37 with the Sox. (He also wore 37, 34, and 4 for other teams, never 7.)

So the Quiz question is still on the table.

Good guess, Danny.

I'm very psyched about the Nirvana box set out Tuesday.

And surely you've heard the most ironic news story of the year: There they were, minding there own business in the woods. Suddenly, shots rang out, and eight of them were dead.

Deer everywhere are laughing their asses off right now.

Hey everybody, let's stop ALL the killing, okay?

From the following list, select the choice that is most likely the reason why the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004.

A) Jere claims that "this is the year" back in March, despite knowing full well that he's thought that about every other year since as far back as he can remember, always with disappointing results.
B) Jere picks up dirt from the Fenway warning track in November on a tour and puts it in that little inner pocket of his jeans, so that even when the jeans get washed, the dirt stays deep in the pocket.
C) Jere carries around a paint chip from a Fenway seat in his wallet all season.
D) Jere & Pat listen to "Since You've Been Gone" by the horrible 80s metal band Impelliteri on the way to every Sox game they attend during the season.
E) Jere refuses to buy "Yankee Doodles" from the candy machine at work all season, even when he reeeeally wants something a little more filling than a Milky Way.
F) Jere rips down from work cubicle picture of yankee Stadium scoreboard, showing 22-0 Indians win, during ALCS, because even though it seems like a good idea at first, he's tired of looking at that stupid facade (even though he'd drawn cracks in it to try to make it easier to look at)
G) Jere claims yankees are "wasting their runs for the rest of the series" while sitting in bleachers in ninth inning of 19-8 loss in Game 3 of ALCS.
H) Jere refuses to discard Red Sox boxer shorts which have more holes than the yankee pitching staff.
I) Jere wears Red Sox hat every day of season.
J) The Red Sox played really freakin' hard, and never gave up, even though they were in a hole the likes of which no team had ever, in the history of baseball, dug their way out of.

The answer of course is J. (J for Jere, heh heh.) But A through I, and every reason from every other Red Sox fan's personal list were helpful. This probably sounds ridiculous to some people. Like, say, my friend Tim. He hates sports. I respect him for it. Who cares about a bunch of millionaire jocks running around. I probably wouldn't if the Red Sox hadn't been such a big part of my life since birth. I've pretty much given up on all the other sports as it is. Tim always makes fun of people who say "We won!", by saying, "No, THEY won, YOU just sat and watched." And he has a point. But we cheered for this team all year long, all over the country, and we never gave up on them. We helped will this to happen, in meaningless mojo habits and in cheering so loud for this team all year that they fed off of our energy. So thanks, everybody, for doing your part.

I also want to know why if the yankees have a bigger fan base than the Red Sox do, how come when the teams play at Fenway, the crowd is 95% Red Sox fans, but when they play at yankee Stadium, the crowd is no more than 75% yankee fans? (Maybe it's because the "most knowledgable fans in sports" don't "know" when their own team's tickets go on sale.)

"A doctor for your teeth? What's next, a lawyer for your hair?"

The Simpsons, as I said last Sunday, continues to rule. I know people who have stopped watching it, but I think that's only because the classics are so good, they kind of figure the new ones can't be as good. But I'm just sayin,' if you've given up on it, give it one more chance. And after a second time watching it, I'm apparently hooked on Arrested Development. Maybe that's because it comes on right after The Simpsons, with no commercial break in between. Wow, a watchable TV show besides The Simpsons. Someone told me this summer that it was a good show, but I didn't belive the hype. "David Hogan on a new show? Come ON," I said. (David Hogan was the character Jason Bateman played on Valerie/Valerie's Family/The Hogan Family.) My apologies to that person.

Speaking of NBC sitcoms from the 80s, the answer to the last Quiz was "Marla Gibbs." As in "227 is a comedy, it's about Marla Gibbs and her family." Billy from Cleveland got it right. No, actually no one got it right. No one even took a guess, as a matter of fact. But that won't stop me from presenting the next Quiz: What Red Sox player wore #7 and had vertigo?

Finally, a random yankee fan opens his mouth to me. And a whole lot of crap falls out.

I was just at Stop & Shop, and while the cashier was ringing me up, he said something about "...even though you're a Red Sox fan."

"Hey, we're World Champs," I said to the young cretin.

He stuttered out something to the effect of, "Six Championships make you World Champions?"

I don't even need to comment on that one.

Then he starts saying how "if Pedro goes to the yanks, it'll be the curse of Pedro."

"If." I'm hearing that word a lot from the dark side. Funny how since their old argument about dead people haunting the Red Sox has been proven wrong, they now have to say things like "And it'll be another 86 til the next one," and they try to conjure up "new curses." I mean they used to be able to rub in how we hadn't won in a long time, and they had that right. But now that we've won, all they can come up with is a whole lot of "what if's" about how we'll automatically have another long drought. I'm thinkin' the smarter move for them is to just keep their mouths closed. There's nothing that they can say right now that's going to change which team is the World Champion, and which team choked worse than any team ever had before.

Babe, Bucky, Buckner, Boone, 1918?

Bullcrap. Big F'n Deal. 2000.

Life is sweet.