Friday was the day the Red Sox brought the 2007* World Series Trophy to Connecticut. (Fairfield County, the only county in New England that doesn't get NESN, was ignored as usual.)

What they don't tell you, though, is that at the end of the night, the trophy ended up at the main Red Sox bar of New York City, Professor Thom's. Quinn was there. Click here for his summary. Leggett was there, too.


* I love that I have to specify which year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Indians to change "Jacobs Field" to silly corporate name.

I like how the guy in the article is quoted as saying the insurance company they chose to name their stadium after is a "perfect fit."

What a chance they had to change their team name (I still say "Dragons") and, along with that, name the park after the team. Dragon's Lair, Drag-Net Park, Fire-breathing Stadium....

I love how the Red Sox still get knocked for being the last team to integrate (while the second-to-last team is off the hook!) fifty years ago, but the Indians are still called the fucking Indians.

Was just about to do the very un-Jere like thing of going to bed in a time that ends with PM. And I thought, I should throw a blog entry up. Maybe. Thought about going with "I saw (some of) Look Who's Talking tonight for the first time, and the main thing I noticed was the fact that it was supposed to take place in New York, yet it clearly was not filmed there. Grass on the sidewalk, sunny, wide-open streets, and even mountains in the background."

Yeah, real interesting. I was gonna scrap that and just leave you with whatever my last post was.

Until!

Minutes ago, I get an email from the Mighty Quinn. He sends me a link to a story about an upcoming dinner near Hartford featuring three former Red Sox players. Can you guess who they are? Clue: Name, like, three of Jere's favorite Red Sox of all-time. I don't even know who I'd consider the headliner on this list, so I'll call them:

The father-- Bill "Spaceman" Lee.

The son-- Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd.

and,

The holy ghost-- say it with me, in bold caps: RICH GEDMAN.

Link to article here. It's 40 bucks to get in. I gotta go. Will I? We'll see. But how could I miss this?

Did you know this?

On September 11, 1985, Rose was thought to have broken Ty Cobb’s all-time hits record with his 4,192nd hit, a single to left-center field off San Diego Padres pitcher Eric Show, though a subsequent review of Ty Cobb's hits revealed that two of his hits were counted twice. As a result, Pete Rose actually broke the all-time hits record against the Cubs' Reggie Patterson with a single in the first in the Reds 5-5 called game against Chicago on September 8.

I've been searching for info on this for a while, to the point where it's starting to sound vaguely familiar. Maybe. I don't think I knew this. So this means my birthday is the day the all-time single-season HR record was broken (in '98) and the date the all-time career hit record was broken. (By a juicer and a gambler, woo-hoo!)

When did this happen? Was there a press conference? Did Eric Show commit un-suicide when the news broke? The whole thing only seems to be mentioned on a few sites. Many official sites say nothing about this "later research."

Vote for Pedro. In this ESPN ranking thing about best single-season accomplishments. He's not getting that much respect. Then again, there are only five baseball players on the whole list. Pedro's behind Ruth, Ted, and Gibson, and is ahead of Bonds. It's funny, Bonds has three times as many first place votes as, say, Jerry Rice, who has 30,000 more total points. Which means the Bonds fans ranked him first, but the Bonds-haters left him off or put him way down the list. Terrible job in Pedro's description, where they neglect to mention which year they're talking about. I hope he gets more votes, because he was truly dominant as we all know. Wilt the 20,000 man is running away with the thing as of now.

I started changing the number in the url to see their other polls, and I came across this one. I noticed after I voted, that I was the first to vote, even though it was dated December 18th. I changed the number again, and a similar poll came up. They must've scratched the first one and only linked to the second one. The topic was best story of 2007. Terribly, in the poll they used (change the "70" to "69" in the url), the Red Sox winning the World Series--AFTER BEING DOWN 3-1 IN THE ALCS, AFTER HOLDING ON TO WIN THE DIVISION AFTER EVERY STUPID NEWS AGENCY WROTE BULLSHIT STORIES TITLED "WHY THE RED SOX WILL BLOW THE DIVISION"--was not an option. So go to that link, and vote for the Red Sox, even if only we will see it. The first person to go there will notice that only my two votes are showing up. Red Sox lead all with two first place votes, and A-Rod is dead last. Let's make it a blowout.

*You can only vote once on each computer, and I was on the other one earlier when I found the thing, and now I'm on the laptop. I'm not crazy. I'm not gonna hack into it to try to make the Red Sox get a million votes or something, on a poll nobody is seeing. Eh, check that, I probably would if I knew how. Am crazy. Also note--I never liked when people called Pedro "Pete" or "Petey" (or Jorge Posada "Georgie," for that matter). I see it almost as "I don't know how to say that, here's your American name." But in the title of this post, I called him Pete for pun's sake. Or pun for Pete's sake or something.

I love how Jim Rice doesn't get into the Hall of Fame because the writers hate him, but Goose Gossage, who once said the following, is allowed in.



I love how he sounds just like Eddie Murphy's impression of "pissed-off white guy."

I tried to figure out when this rant was from. Someone in the GooTube comments of this video (courtesy ruffbizness) said Goose said it was from after he blew a save in KC, and the next day he saved both days of a doubleheader, only to be asked about the day before. I narrowed it down to the years he played with Griffey ('82-'83), and saw he only saved both games of a doubleheader once. It was against the Royals, a day after blowing a save in Chicago. That's gotta be it. Either the comment had the story wrong, or Goose did the classic "athlete getting details of anecdote wrong as usual" thing.

Here's the game that preceded the rant. It also makes sense because he mentions Griffey being booed, and he had hit a low point, his average having fallen almost 50 points, and him hitting only one homer in the previous two months. (A far cry from the man George got rid of in his favor, Reggie Jackson.)

The best parts of this, of course, are the "nicknames" he gives to Yankee fans and Steinbrenner.

Add it to the list of great Yankee quotes, I guess:

Lou Gehrig: "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."

Mickey Mantle: "Don't ask me, I'm no cock-sucker." (validity of statement still unclear)

Reggie Jackson: "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth." (What an amazing coincidence!)

Goose Gossage: "I'm fuckin' sick of this fuckin' shit!"

Love this shot. Imagine only 600 people going to a major league game.

I didn't want to search every A's game from '79 to figure out which one it was, but I did search a few, and found this one, with an attendance of 750.

If you're planning on going to see the Sox in Baltimore this year, click here for the O's schedule, and order away. (You'll need a presale password. This will help.)

I got mine already, but our Philly friend was kind enough to make all the arrangements. Thanks, PD!

Check out this awesome gallery. Scroll down and click "Start Slideshow." It's someone's pictures from the Red Sox-Twins game at Fenway Park on July 11th, 1976, two days after Tom Yawkey died. (It then goes on to a 1995 game and a 2002 game.)

So much stuff here. The AL championship flag (flags at half-mast because of Yawkey). The Buck Printing Co. sign, now only barely visible because of the "new" center field message board. The way they just put "Yaz" in the lineup on the board. A deli across from Gate A! The batter's eye--same sections that are blocked out today. The old actual bleachers toward the top of what we now call "the bleachers." The ad on the board selling pieces of the Green Monster (they changed the bottom portion to padding that year, too) for under 8 bucks a pop.

And of course, the outfits of the fans. And much more. Where has this slideshow been all my life?

So, you know how McNamee contacted Clemens, which led to the phone call Roger made, that we all heard yesterday? Maybe McNamee decided the way to solve this whole thing was to ask Clemens to make him a deal: "You give me xxxxxxx dollars, and I come out and say I lied about me injecting you with steroids, which we both know actually happened."

Think about it: McNamee asks Roger for "anything you can do to help."

Then he keeps asking Roger, "what do you want me to do?" Could that mean "....to get you to give me LOTS of money"?

Because since he'd go to jail if he admitted he was lying, he'd need a lot of dough. Remember, he also said, "I'd go to jail for you."

But the main reason he'd need the cash would be to take care of his dying kid, while he's in jail.

And just now, as I was surfing around, I saw someone from the Houston Chronicle already came up with this theory. Oh well. I thought I was so clever right up until this paragraph. As you were....

14 votes shy for number 14, but next year, HE'S IN.

(Edit: MLB said 14 at first, now they're saying 16. Either way, terrible job by the writers who hate Jim, and have obviously talked to each other about who's voting for him and who isn't. Next year, when they reluctantly let him in, he should flip them a double-bird at his induction speech.)

Recommended reading about Roger.

Congrats to Matty and Kara for finishing one-two in the LSU-OSU contest, and to my dad for his team winning another championship.

And finally, cross your fingers and toes and, long-haired people, do french braids, as today's the day Jim Rice may finally get into the Hall of Fame. It's so funny to actually hear so many people act like he's making it this time. Good luck, Jim Ed!

Have you been following the Drew Peterson case? This is a dude who's so far gotten away with killing one wife, possibly two, yet he's so smug, you don't even have to see the trail of evidence against him to know he's guilty.

Roger Clemens is the baseball version of this guy.

So he tapes a conversation between himself and McNamee. In it, Brian repeatedly asks "what do you want me to do?" Roger refuses to answer. Clemens' lawyers act like McNamee's the liar because he never says "I injected you with steroids." They don't mention the fact that he didn't say he didn't, either. Or that Roger wouldn't just answer McNamee's question with "TELL PEOPLE YOU LIED."

I think Roger didn't answer because he's the one that's lying, and Brian didn't mention the injections because why would you? If you were under the impression you were having a private conversation with someone you shot up with steroids, why would you say "so, 'member those times I injected you with steroids?"

Then the press conference started, and Roger turned into his usual madman self.

Q. "Are steroid users cheaters"

A. (suddenly sweating) "Arrggghh, RogerMonster no like question, you bad for asking, me good. ME TALK LOUD TO MAKE YOU SEEM LIKE LIAR."

Seriously, what kind of asshole has a chance to clear his name to the public, and ends the session with the "screw you guys, I'm going home" walk-away tactic?

Oh and then there was the part of the phone call where Roger acts like he'd never heard of Radomski, the Mets clubhouse guy. You can just tell he's lying through his teeth, saying "I don't know that cat!" And McNamee's providing specific examples of times he brought the name up. And Roger's just sitting there, lawyers at his side, knowing he can just keep denying, denying, denying.

With America watching the Clemens interview last night, his press conference at 5:00 today, and the college football national championship game tonight, we're all sitting here wondering: Where is A-Rod???

Come on, man, you're losing steam on that fastball! Stage a well-baby rescue, announce a new line of cologne, something--don't let this opportunity pass you by!

Watch, he'll be the "lucky fan" who tries to kick a field goal for a million dollars at halftime...

Speaking of that game, I'm pushing back the deadline for total point guesses to 7:50 PM. Make your guess here.

Amy and Kara have been desperately trying to answer the last kwiz, which I will now finally give the answer to, in the comments there. Click here and scroll all the way down. Nice try, everybody.

The next qwizz will be a weird one. Tell me the total number of points you think will be scored (by both teams combined) in the national championship game Monday night between LSU and Ohio State. The person closest to the total will get 4 points, the next closest will get 2. I won't reveal anyone's guesses until a little before the game. Let's say 7:00 PM. So get your guess in by then. (So, comment here with your guess, but know that it won't show up until 7.)

Current Kwiz standings here as always.

What a score I made today. Imagine if Pee-Wee's Big Adventure in its original VHS box just arrived at your doorstep. Well, that essentially happened to me. Our neighbors were getting rid of a box of tapes, so right there, on the sidewalk out front were the Pee-Wee tape, a copy of Wayne's World in a rental case (complete with artwork, not a blank case), an "SNL Annuals 1992" tape with no case (which I assume means the best of the '91-'92 season), and some label-less tapes, in other words, possible hidden treasures. My one mistake was grabbing a copy of Trippin'. I thought it might've been in the Breakin' vein, although a little more modern. But on closer inspection it's from '99.

Some of you logical types might be wondering why I's want these tapes, considering I most likely (yes, I do) own them on DVD. First of all, to have a movie in a rental box is like having a Mass Pike ticket. The defining characteristic of these items is that they aren't yours. You can do what you want with them for a given timeframe, but you have to relinquish them in the end. Now I've got a rental Wayne's World and a Mass Pike ticket (about ten years ago, one of the toll machines spit out like four of 'em at once at me). And as for Pee-Wee, maybe I wouldn't buy it on VHS, but for free? How could I not add it to my collection, if only as a display piece?

What a movie day it was for us, as Kim & I, after that score, went to the Trident Cafe on Newbury Street and got to watch Ghostbusters as we ate. Granted, there was no sound, but that only made it more fun, as we were able to recite the film--you know, without that pesky actual soundtrack getting in our way. It was just starting as we sat down, at their little bar, right in front of the TV.

So, three of the greatest films ever made, all enjoyed by me, each in a different way, within a few hours. And, that whole thing where Clemens continues to be a liar and a cheater. Everything's comin' up Milhouse in '08.

Great line by he who Wilks, Josh Wilker, of Cardboard Gods:

"[...] I’m the kind of guy who lets things slide, who daydreams through pitches and at-bats and games. Let’s face it, entire seasons have gone by without me ever really leaving the fetid cycle of impossible thoughts inside my skull."

The ellipses above replace the word "But." I just thought it odd to take a quote out of context and have it start with the word "but." See, this is the stuff a "real" writer would never tell you.

Anyway, I think that's the perfect quote for two AM on a cold winter's night, so far from baseball season, yet much like the way summer would be willed by a young Jere to arrive as fast as possible in the middle of a crawling school year, right around the corner from it. (I also would use my sister's technique of "sitting and staring at the wall" on the last day of summer, to slow down time, hoping that day would never end and the dreaded school year would never start.)

Wilker's post centers on Rickey Henderson's 1980 rookie baseball card, which I have my own memories of. In middle school, we were forced into after-school "clubs." You'd go once a week for half the year, then you'd sign up for a different club for the second half. The first time we had to do this, I saw "Baseball Cards" on the list, and signed my name. I guess I just assumed the few friends I had would do the same. Instead, I found myself in a room with a bunch of strangers from the grade above mine. So I'd just sit there with my cards and my lists, waiting for someone to come up and talk to me--but mainly waiting for the session to end. This was 1986, so I was still big on collecting, but I hadn't yet realized the monetary value of some of my older cards, which dated back to 1979/1980. So those were mixed in with my commons. One day, some kid came up to me, flipped through my cards, and took out the 1980 Henderson. He proposed a trade. Up for a swap, as Bobby Brady would say, was a 1978 Don Baylor.

1978! Remember, when you're eleven years old, a year or two is a huge percentage of your life. Three times as big as when you're 33, anyway, which is the age I'll reach this year. So just the fact that the Baylor card was from two years before the Henderson made me want it more. Add to that the fact that I had no 1978 cards, so it was that much more exotic, and the very key detail that Don Baylor was on the Red Sox at the time, whereas Rickey Henderson was a Yankee (though neither team was represented on either of the cards in question), and I made the deal like that.

I have no other memories from that club. I have to believe I either faked illness on the days it took place, or I just bailed on it. I also remember choosing "fly fishing" one semester--although, again, that's where the memory ends. I know for a fact I never did any actual fly fishing, though. We must have just sat indoors talking about it. Eventually I found "Trivial Pursuit & Pictionary," the first club that gave me any enjoyment, and that had anyone I knew in it.

Within a few years, I started to realize that baseball cards were worth money, provided you kept them in good shape. I'll never forget opening a price guide, and checking out my antique Baylor card: A few cents? Hmmmm.... I checked the Rickey rookie. Its price, surrounded by meager two-digit amounts, jumped right off the page: 9.00.

As with years, a few bucks are gigantic when you're not old enough to drive. NINE dollars. For a baseball card. That I'd had. And was *robbed* of by an older boy who surely knew what he was doing. It's like when I sold my entire matchbox car collection to a grown man at a tag sale for three dollars. I'd say "I hope he can sleep at night," but it's probably pretty hard anyway when your butt hurts that much.

I was pretty pissed, but the Henderson price leveled off over the years. It's not like I could've improved my life had I kept it. (I just checked ebay, and some people are trying to get 50 bucks for it, while others can't get any bids at a starting price of &7.99. The Baylor can be picked up for a cool forty. Cents.)

But I learned my lesson. Some people will try to get anything out of someone else as long as that person is willing to give it up, without thinking about morals or ethics or anything like that. It's like how today people will make fun of sports or concert venues, whining, "They charge five bucks for water because they know they can get it from us!" Then I look on ebay, craigslist, and the slimeball ticket agencies, and those same people are selling their 25-dollar seats to events at those venues for 250 bucks. Why? Because they know people will give it up. Just because you can do something doesn't make it right.

I'm just now seeing, over two decades later, the symbolism in this story. In the world, there are Rickey Hendersons, and there are Don Baylors. The Hendersons will steal from you over and over again, flaunting your former possessions from behind dark sunglasses. The Baylors will stand there, take one in the thigh, and walk away--in a little pain, maybe, but okay with the fact that they've escaped the confrontation.

Find a middle ground. Don't let people walk all over you, but don't be a prick, either.