April: Please, Please Hurry

Last night was the end of the National Football League’s season. I for one couldn’t be any happier. My fantasy season sucked and my team (49ers) took a step backwards from 2006. As soon as everyone made them the “sexy” or “trendy” pick I knew it was the kiss of death. Also see: Dante Culpepper’s last season in Minnesota.

The Super Bowl marked the first time the ninth or tenth best team in the NFL hoisted the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Giants winning was nothing more than the St. Louis Cardinals winning the 2006 World Series. Bottom line, they just got hot at the right time. I can’t take too much away from them, but they did lose 17-to-41 to the Vikings. At home. They also went three and three in their division which included being swept in the regular season by the Dallas Cowboys. Of course they made up for this in the Divisional round of the playoffs by vanquishing the ‘Boys in Dallas. And what a price I would pay for rooting for that one.

This has been the Giants in a nutshell this year. You just never saw them coming and you never took them seriously. Eli Manning was responsible for more turnovers than any other player in the NFL this season by a pretty wide margin, but here we are, the day after the Super Bowl and another damn Manning is Super Bowl MVP. I’m officially in football hell. Eli’s not so bad (although I dislike him incredibly for putting an end to Nebraska's winning season streak, 38 seasons in a row, while at Ole Miss) it’s more Payton, but I’m still blaming Eli for being brothers with the biggest commercial whore since Sally Struthers. And that lame Oreo commercial. Fuck Peyton Manning, I'm surprised he wasn't on the podium when the Lombardi trophy was presented. Every time Eli does something, Peyton is there. Or his dad Archie.

I wanted the Patriots to win for two reasons. Number one was because it was Boston versus New York, and because my hatred for the Yankees runs so deep, it bleeds over into football teams that have nothing to do with it. Number two was because I’m sick of hearing about the fucking ’72 Dolphins. You know, the team that didn’t play a playoff team until they got to the playoffs that year. New England seemed to encompass everything that was great about a football team. If you buy into the SpyGate crap, you’re an idiot. Sorry, you just are. If you think Belichick and staff were the only one’s doing this, you’re an even bigger idiot. You aren’t a bigger idiot than the guy who was videotaping the Jets sideline and their coaches in the Meadowlands while wearing Patriots gear, however. So feel good about that. People talk about how it will be a long time before a team ever goes 19-0, especially in this era. I think it will take just as long for a team to achieve 18-0 again. It would make sense, since in order to 19-0 you need to go 18-0 first. Anyway...

So last night those old farts popped a few bottles of champagne and toasted to their success when offensive linemen were 6’1” and 240 pounds. Last night Don Shula was still the only coach in NFL history to guide a team to a perfect season, and Mercury Morris did some blow off Larry Csonka’s balls. Hurray for NFL football.

So, what have the Sox been up to? Glad you asked and I’m glad I don’t feel the need to write about football anymore. It's almost 70 degrees in KC today and I've got baseball on my mind.

The Sox are set for camp and there will be new faces and some familiar faces that won’t be seen during the 2008 campaign. Eric Hinske, who was a fan favorite because of his hard nosed style of play was cut in the offseason and is yet to find another team to sign with. I sort of liked Hinske when he’d come in and plow people over at the plate. The problem was he was so damn slow that 90% he’d be out at the plate. He’s also a player who needs to be in the lineup on a daily basis to be effective and get into a rhythm. Sort of like a Wily Mo Pena. Bobby Kielty was also let go after being picked up late last season. He had the “game winning” home run in Game 4 of the Series, but he basically picked up a free ring just because he rode the bench for two months. With Jacoby Ellsbury and Coco still in the fold, there isn’t enough room for him. Jesus Christ, just look at that guy…I’m glad he’ll be gone. Thanks for the homer, but good Lord.

So what about the guys you really know? The lineup isn’t going to see that big of a facelift, and as we saw last year it will change to Francona’s liking. So far this is what is projected for when Spring Training breaks.

2B Dustin Pedroia
1B Kevin Youkilis
DH David Ortiz
LF Manny Ramirez
3B Mike Lowell
RF JD Drew
C Jason Varitek
CF Jacoby Ellsbury
SS Julio Lugo (if he doesn’t get traded)

The starting rotation is probably going to look like this, again, not a big change.

1. Josh Beckett
2. Daisuke Matsuzaka
3. Curt Schilling
4. Tim Wakefield
5. Jon Lester

Did you catch it? No Julian Tavarez! Fuck yeah!

Oh yeah, there are also some new guys too.

As of last Friday, the Sox agreed to a one year $800,000 deal with veteran first-baseman Sean Casey. Talk about an appropriate name for a Boston player, he’ll be backing up Youk and Ortiz when needed. He’s basically replacing Hinske. He’ll likely play first when Youk is on third when Lowell has a day off and could even fill in for Ortiz at the DH spot. I like this addition if he blends well with all the personalities in the clubhouse. He’s a favorite among his past teams and seems like stand-up guy. His career numbers aren’t too shabby either right at 1,336 games he has a .301 average, 130 homers, 718 RBI’s and a .366 OBP. In his final season with the Tigers he contributed with a .296 average while driving in 54 runs with four homers.

In the next few days I’ll put up some of the other acquisitions up so I have something to write about before Spring Training gets going.