If it was any other song, I'd say "Shipping Up To Boston" would have to be retired now that Papelbon's gone. But that's a song that needs to be played at Boston sports venues. But what do you do with it? Our panel of experts, meaning just me, takes a look at the options.

1. Let the new closer use it. Ehh...no, Peg. Bard or anybody we bring in will have his own song, and even if he really likes SutB, I can't imagine he'd switch to it since it was so connected to his predecessor.

2. Let someone else use it. Again, I can't see anybody dissing Pap like that--OR taking the song out of play for every other situation.

3. Retire it. Are you even paying attention? I just said you can't do that with this song. Oh I see what you're doing--you realized you were gonna be stuck with a really short list so you threw this already-crossed out option in here to fatten it up. Makes sense.

4. Play it at random times, like maybe in the post-dong rotation. I could see them doing this, however, we've become used to this song as having a specific meaning, so I say come up with one.

5. Okay, then. Play it at a specific time. Here's my suggestion. You play it in the middle of the ninth inning. This way, it won't be played every night, only when we're tied or trailing after eight and a half. And those are the exact situations when a firing-up song should play. This fills in the late-inning rally song trilogy: Mid-7th: Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Mid-8th: Sweet Caroline, Mid-9th: Shipping Up to Boston (if applicable).

5a. Other specific time possibilities would be to put it in the victory song series, though I feel its beginning would sound odd after Dirty Water or Tessie. Then again Joy to the World feels a little out of place and isn't even played all the way through, so maybe you could replace that one. They could also go ahead and replace Sweet Caroline with it. A lot of people are sick of it--but I'm sure those people are probably sick of Shipping, too. But if they did wanna replace SC, here's their window of opportunity. Taking-the-field music? Nah. We don't use music at that time until the pitcher starts warming up, and then they go into that starter's own song anyway. Another possibility would be to have it be the "pre-top 9th" music regardless of the situation. Guaranteed to play every night, and...nah, doesn't work. What about mid-1st inning? Like, Okay, here come the bats? I don't know, I'm sticking with my mid-9th when applicable theory.