Life Is Just A Passing Parade

Suddenly, all my friends and i
We heard a sound
It was loud
Music all around us seemed to make us free


Life is just a passing paradise
Life is just a passing paradise
- Carlos Santana

Thank You

From everyone who has ever
Broke a wishbone
Blown out candles
Tossed a coin in a fountain
Saw a shooting star
And wished for nothing
except a Red Sox World Series Victory (I've done all of these)
We say

THANK YOU 2004 RED SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Win It!

It's too late to provide pictures, links, or summaries. Following the passion of a Sons of Sam Horn thread, here are my dedications.

Win it for Bill Buckner and Johnny Pesky, so those horrible film clips will never be shown with the same feeling of tragedy again.

Win it for Dan Duquette, who traded for Pedro, D-Lowe, and Varitek, and signed Manny, the core of this soon-to-be Championship team.

Win it for Tommy Harper, my favorite player as a kid, who fought the racism that was rampant throughout the Red Sox organization, and still holds our record for stolen bases in a season.

Win it for my Mom, who learned to score Sox games over the radio with her Dad, and died of the illness that Curt Schilling leads the fight against, ALS.

Go Sox!

A Little History

I hadn't seen it anywhere, so I decided to look it up myself. The question? Have there been other teams to win four straight in the LCS, and then the first two in the World Series? And if so, how have they done?

The first thing I learned is that you can't go back very far, as the LCS did not become best-of-seven until 1985. But since then, there have been two such occurrences. Here they are.

1985 St Louis Cardinals. The Cards lost the first two of the NLCS to the Dodgers in LA, then won the next four. They then went on the road to KC in the World Series and won the first two. Their luck ran out however, as they eventually lost to the Royals in seven.

1995 Atlanta Braves. The Braves swept Cincinnati, then won the first two against Cleveland at home. They never trailed in the series, and finished off Manny's Indians (with the 100-44 record) for their only championship.

That's not really great news for Red Sox Nation. I was hoping to find much more than a fifty percent success rate. If you want to look on the bright side, there have been teams that have won six in row in different formats - 3 in the LCS and 3 in the Series, 2 in the LCS and 4 in the Series - and all of those have won Championships, most recently the Yankees in both 1998 and 1999.

Go Sox!

It's A Bell, It's A Horn, . . No . . .

It's Mark Bellhorn! And man, when he starts swinging that bat, you sure hear a lot of noise. Reprising Todd Walker's 2003 role of Powerhouse Second Baseman, Bellhorn overcomes the Curse of Manny's Flaws. It wasn't pretty, and I'd feel better if Foulke didn't have to throw 36 pitches, but I'll take it.

And you know what? Red Sox Nation should be as thrilled with this win as any, because I thought this was a game the Cards absolutely needed to win. St. Louis is now in a situation where they're going to have to win four out of six, with Schilling, Pedro, and Lowe starting five of them. The Drought(a much more appropriate term than Curse) can end this year. Everything is in place, and I feel more confident thatn ever that it will happen.

One big question, though. Isn't it time we start looking for a defensive replacement for Manny? Francona hasn't pulled him once yet, and I wonder if we can keep getting away with it.

Who's Your Daddy?

Watching the post-game discussion of game 7 on ESPN, you couldn't help but overhear the few hundred or so Red Sox fans chanting "Who's Your Daddy?" in an otherwise empty Yankee Stadium. Sweet relief! For the first time, Red Sox Nation had become a Conquering Nation. Yankee Stadium was ours, even if just for a few moments. It's hard to imagine anything as a sports fan being more satisifying.

That is until you realize that the World Series, The Final Hurdle, begins this weekend. For the next week, you're going to hear endless reminders on Fox and ESPN about our last World Series trip in 1986, with the over-under on Ball Going Through Buckner's Legs video set at 47. But I got to thinking, maybe this is the wrong 1986 analogy. How about the 1985-1986 New England Patriots?

In December of 1985, The New England Patriots beat long-time division rival the New York Jets for their first NFL playoff victory ever.

The 2004 Boston Red Sox had to beat long-time division series rival Oakland A's.

In January of 1986, The Patriots went into Miami and beat their long-time divisional nemesis the Dolphins, the first time they won in Miami in 18 years. Squish The Fish!

This year's Sox had to go into New York and beat long-time divisional nemesis the Yankees, the first time they'd ever done that in a playoff series, to go back to the World Series for the first time in 18 years. Who's Your Daddy?!

Of course, we expect this year to end differently, as it's very unlikely the Sox will have to endure the shellacking the Pats got from the 1986 Chicago Bears. Nor will the Sox be underdogs going in. But it's that Squish The Fish mentality that I think most closely resembles this feeling, so I thought it might be nice to look back at one of the prouder moments of pre-Tom Brady Patriot history.

Or maybe not. What the hell, Go Sox! Deal Those Cards! Kick Some Astros!

Big Papi!

If it wasn't against Jewish tradition to name your children after living people, I'm sure my wife and I would be naming ours after David Ortiz. And if I had the opportunity, I would ask him if there was anyone he would like to honor with the naming of our child, and I expect that we would grant him that as well. For Big Papi has stepped into his own spotlight, standing alone and apart from all other Red Sox Legends. Is there any player ever who has ever won two such important games on consecutive nights? I know Teddy Ballgame didn't do it, or Yaz. If Fisk had done it, we'd had won the 1975 Series. But he didn't.

Congratulations to you, Big Papi! Thank you for the ride!

College Football Weekend Review

For some reason, this site is getting hits. Not a lot mind you, but a fair amount seeing that I haven't been writing here at all. Now there's a scary thought - is this site more popular when I'm NOT writing?

Here are the current ECF (Yes! The ECF Returns!) standings, a perfect distraction from the pre-ALCS mania about to overtake all of us.

Unscathed Teams Who Have Beaten a Top Ten Team (3)
Auburn*, Oklahoma*, USC*

All Other Unscathed Teams (9)
ASU, Boise St, Louisville, Ok St, Navy, Purdue, Utah, Virginia, Wisconsin

Teams With Half-Acceptable Losses (3)
FSU, Miami*, S Miss

Teams With 1 Acceptable Loss (7)
BC, Cal, Memphis, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri

Teams With 1.5 Acceptable Losses (1)
WV

Teams With 2 Acceptable Losses (2)
N Illinois, Tex Tech

Teams With Unacceptable Losses Protected By The Three Weeks Rule (3)
Texas A&M, UAB, UCLA

If you're somebody who is an old fan and has been dropping by from time to time to see what's going on, drop me a quick note, and I promise to thank you profusely.

Dave's Email

A Funny Thing Happened . .

Irony of the day: The success of The Captain and Shaquille may be leading to it's own demise, or at least it's own morphing. Subsequently, Eisenberg Sports may be back in business soon, as someone is interested in my Miami Heat postings, but nothing else. And Cap and Shaq without Shaq is, well, kind of pointless. So without further ado, I am welcoming myself back. Maybe.

In the meantime,

GO SOX!