Been waiting to use that one for a while, actually. From NFL Films. So....yeah, I've had no luck today. We're almost four hours in. The Opening Day Pack has been sold out for hours so I don't even know why I'm still trying. Maybe just to get a foursome for an April or May game, but that'd be tough now even if I got through. So I may do the rare "give up." But I'll be back for the big sale in February, when I can get some more summer games.

The first step toward us never seeing Gagne in a Red Sox uniform again.

Tomorrow, a bunch of Red Sox tickets go on sale. I already have 10 games, from my 10-game plan. Problem is, the team still hasn't told me (or posted on their site) which ten games I'll have. So I'm going in blind tomorrow, knowing I might buy tickets for a game I already tickets to. (Which would be okay, since I could then get three friends to go instead of one, but, I'd kind of like to choose which games I do that for. Plus, if I try to buy four together to a game, only to find out I already have two more, then I'd have to find five friends, and so on, and so on.)

Terrible job, right? People with no season-ticket plan no they've got no tickets. They can pick whatever games they want tomorrow. People who do have full or weekend season ticket plans know exactly which games they'll have, so they can plan ahead, too. But we 10-game plan holders are totally screwed. I e-mailed the ticket office this week, just to find out when we'll be hearing from them with the renewal info, and they wrote back saying "soon." As the week went on and I realized the problem I might have, I wrote them back asking to tell me what games will be in my plan or at the very least which interleague team I'll be seeing. (Because if I can't get the Opening Day Sox Pack, I'd shoot for one with an NL team NOT in my plan so I can see two NL teams.)* Still haven't heard back, with about 17 left until the sale.

Also, I've received nothing in the mail at all since the season ended just in general. After the first season of the 10-game plan, we got a DVD. In fact, it was delayed, so they gave us a Red Sox Christmas stocking while we waited. We also have traditionally gotten a "thank you" letter, and in '04, it was in 8 x 10 card form, with a picture of the trophy. This year, no thank you, no nothing, and I still don't know what games I'm going to next year. Get on it, people!

We've got a great Kwiz going! Check it out here. (There are some minor clues scattered throughout the comments.)


*"Wait, don't you hate interleague play?" Thanks for paying attention. Yes. But I'd still like to see teams I've never seen before, or teams playing at Fenway that rarely do. "So doesn't that make you a fan of interleague play?" Eh, no Peg. I do like the novelty of seeing the Cardinals at Fenway or whatever. But I feel it should be treated as a novelty. I don't want novelties counting in the standings. Have exhibition games against NL teams, minor league teams, Greek teams, whatever, and I'd have interest. But don't make them count.

Pitchers: Don't you hate it when your manager writes your name on the scorecard by mistake, so you have to quickly warm up and pitch to the first batter?

Hey, everybody. Blogger sends comments to me through e-mail, but every once in a while, they'll just stop coming in. So after thinking what a quiet day it's been comment-wise, I went to my Blogger dashboard to see there were 12 comments sitting there. They're all posted now, and nobody has the latest quiz correct, so keep trying. In the meantime, check out this video of mine from CNN Headline News Headline Sports from 1992. That's right, 15 years ago, they said Selig would only....well, just watch.



Oh, but the good Blogger news is that I think pictures are back to normal "click and watch them get big without having to go to a Notary Public" style.

Remember the commercial for those Wildlife Treasury cards? There was a kid in his room, and his mom brought him the cards, and he shared with us some of the animal trivia.

I remember exact lines, like mom saying, "Hey Jungle Timmy, more Wildlife Treasury cards just came!" and JT's description, "and a duck-billed platypus has feet like a duck, but is furry." And the kid's voice kind of gargled on "furry." Then the announcer would talk, I think, and both mom and Tim would look into the camera listening. Then mom sadly notes that "you could cancel after the first shipment," to which J-Tim asks, "but we won't, will we mom?"

It's not on GooTube. Somebody put it up. Thanks. Oh, and the cards came in a handy carrying case, or you could send away for it or something. Why do I remember this stuff?

What pro athlete inspired a parody of the song "Hippy Hippy Shake," which included the line "we think your headband's great"?

And as I went to bed last night, I was given only this from the Globe's Extra Bases blog. Terrrible job. I'm no Edes-hater, but Gordon, sometimes it's the articles you don't write that win you the big awards. That one sounded like he taped a conversation in a random office break room in Framingham, and then gathered up some of the more common quotes. He should've just said, "there's no news on Santana."

Funny how the Yanks are trying to be like us so much these days, (well, they want to win, don't they?) that they actually said no to a deal that was Full Huggies, the BreastMelk Man, and two other babes wrapped in pinstriped swaddling clothes...for Johan Santana. It's like the kid who tries to hard and just goes too far. Dude, yeah, it's cool to keep your prospects and not just overspend or give up too much to get whichever star happens to pass by that day, but when you have a chance to get one of the best pitchers in the game (and what did we say about pitching winning championships, Yanks? Ya 'member? 'member?), you just do it! Especially when the other team still hasn't found an offer as good as the one you took off the table! This once-proud organization is gonna figure this all out one day, I juuuust know it.

Oh, and I got an e-mail back from the Sox--they say the 10-game plan renewal forms will arrive in the mail "soon," and the deadline for payment will be January 15th. I see the web-version of the form is up on the team site already. So I just need to know my exact payment amount, and more importantly, which games I'm getting, so I know before I start buying (other) tickets this Saturday.

I'll keep saying it: We're not giving up Jacoby. I feel like he was never really on the table. How could you give the guy up?

So now with the Yanks pulling a Homer and backing out of any deal, the Twins have to decide between our real offer and our fake Jacoby offer. If they're choosing Jacoby, we're sitting there right now going, "Oh...about that...what do you think of these other guys?" Maybe that's what's taking so long.

Basically, if the Twins won't take a non-Jacoby deal, they're stuck with Santana. That's just what I think, because that's the way I'd play it.

Update: Evan seems to think it's done: Santana goes to us, Jacoby stays.

Okay, here's the latest. It looks like it could be that we get Santana and don't have to give up Ellsbury, a plan that's always been fine with me.

This son-of-George (a prick created in his father's image) is gonna be fun. Just when we thought our enemy was slipping away into his own dimentia, his spawn steps in and gives us an even better one. He's a jerk, he thinks he knows what he's doing, he's effing things up for the Yanks, etc, etc. Perfect.

Here's the latest ESPN article, which talks about the Yanks-Twins talks being in trouble. Read it and tell me what you think. The more I hear, the more it feels like nobody's gonna get this guy because we want to keep these young guys. It's the hip thing to do after all. And honestly, it's the smart thing. Oh, did you see Edes in Extra Bases do a Santana (Carlos) pun? So basic, so terrible. Nothing like mine about the pots. Granted, I had to look up the lyrics, but at least I didn't just say "Oye Como Va!" What kind of a pun is that? You're just naming a Santana song!

I watched the second half of the Pats game tonight. I'm not a fan of the "other" Boston-area sports teams, if you didn't know that. But what an amazing finish. I "live-blogged" it over on Matty's blog. Against his will. Meaning, he probably still doesn't know I was doing it, as he's probably still partying. Oh wait, he just posted.

So, more on this whole "Boston sports as a whole" later. But now, it's back to the real season. Baseball season. We got trades to make, season ticket packages to renew, virtual waiting rooms to wait in. Let it snow, Channukah Harry, it's baseball season.

Santana Update: Just kidding.

Curt Schilling thinks a Santana deal will go down tonight. We'll see, Curt.

Cheers seems to be on an awful lot in Boston. Which makes sense. And I love Cheers, so I'm not complaining. But what's the excuse for the abundance of Mama's Family reruns?

Also, isn't it weird that Lilith ended up being on more episodes than Coach? The moment she passed him is reminiscent of the day Fisk's White Sox game total passed his Red Sox one.

My girlfriend is a soapmaker. She's started a soap company called Stella Marie. Now, I don't know much about soap (you hide a hundred dollar bill from a hippie under it; it's made of whale/human fat; it stings when you get it in your eye; it cleans you and cars and dogs--that's about the extent of it), but I do know this about her soaps: They smell really good. Like, you will want to eat them. (Don't.) After I smelled one that had a brown sugar-type aroma, I had to go to the bag of brown sugar and eat a chunk.

And they have cool names, too. Like a mango soap with poppy seeds called "Big Poppy." And an apple soap called "the Bad Seed." That was my idea. Although my better idea of a crab apple soap called "Stab Apple"--a greenish bar with a red spot in the middle--was rejected. I think I might post any other rejected soap names here as they get turned down.

Anyway, she makes it all from scratch, but still keeps the prices reasonable (from what she tells me.) If you like soap, check it out. Tell your friends.

Remember, only 17 more shopping days until Louisiana Purchase Day! Shop now!

Note: Whenever I do these "plugs for friends/relatives/self," some major Red Sox news happens right after, knocking them down the page. So watch for that Santana deal soon! (I still say we're not giving up Jacoby "& Myers" Ellsbury.)

...and then the Red Sox said they'd unfreeze Ted Williams, and include him in a trade...and then the Yankees decided to dig up Joe DiMaggio, and throw him in the mix...and then the Red Sox offered the Twins four wishes, but informed them that they should think long and hard about possible consequences before making each wish...

The big headline today was that a Santana deal isn't imminent. So look for one to happen five minutes from now. We will not give up Ellsbury. And the Yanks' offer of Breast Melky, Full Huggies, and a Diaper Dandy seems kinda weak to me. So who knows what the Twins will do.

Tonight I watched an old tape I made in '92, and it included a part of a Yankee game where Don Mattingly hits a foul pop, and a young Ivan Rodriguez makes the catch, reaching into the front row. "Baseball" gets pissed at the guy in the stands who allows Pudge II to get the ball. So Donnie proceeds to write a message on a baseball, probably something like "Don't be such an ass, help your team next time," and has the bat boy run it over to the fan. The fan reads it, and then thanks Mattingly by raising his arm and waving across the field. The play-by-play of the whole thing was done by the Scooter, who, when the guy raised his arm, proclaimed, "he gives him the Mussolini salute." I shit you not. I'll have to get that on the web one day. Also, there a Weird Al interview and performance on the Arsenio Hall show. Arsenio, before Al plays an original song, asks Al, "it's funny, right?" Lots of Danny Cooksey on the tape as well. So....