Tag: Boston Red Sox

Eat My Sports: Big Papi, at a curse-ory glance

It’s one of the big topics in baseball that everyone except for Red Sox fans, and the Red Sox themselves want to address. David Ortiz isn’t Big Papi anymore, and it appears to be more than just a slump, this problem just doesn’t seem fixable. But how? How does the man go from eating fastballs up then spitting them out over the Green Monster to being late on 89 mph fastballs? I’ll tell you why, and for Sox fans, it’s all too familiar, the man who basically broke the curse, is now cursed.

Don’t blame Ortiz, he didn’t do this to himself. It was done to him. 

In a conversation with Bryan McBournie last week during Boston’s 10-5 shlacking of Detroit, Ortiz got a two-run double, joking I said to McBournie “well, Papi’s got his RBI quota for the month now.” Then after having a week to mull it over, McBournie realized the truth and came up with a more than believable theory. What if the attempted burying of an Ortiz jersey during the building of Yankee Stadium in order to curse the building, then having the plan discovered, actually backfired and cursed our beloved slugger? Continue reading Eat My Sports: Big Papi, at a curse-ory glance

Eat My Sports: Early season report

For those of you who don’t follow baseball from early February through October, you wouldn’t know that the season is almost one-third of the way over with. It’s been a weird one, with the Pirates and Marlins contending early, the Rays already fading out of contention, and Roger Clemens not hitting on any underage country stars, yet. But if you have been living a sheltered life and have not been paying attention to baseball, here have been the top five stories of the early season.

5. The rise, fall and rise of the Yankees
No one can figure the pattern of this team out, period. One night they’re hammering a team for 14 runs, the next night C.C. Sabathia is serving up fastballs like his butler feeds him steaks with a donut glaze. The return of A-Rod has brought back some sense of normalcy, but the inconsistent pitching could pose a problem down the stretch for the Yanks. Continue reading Eat My Sports: Early season report

Eat My Sports: Mailbag edition

This week could not be limited to one topic. With so much happening in the sports world this past week, how could I let you, my loyal readers, be cheated by anything other than full coverage of this little circus? And by loyal readers, I mean that this week I’m pretending that people actually write me with questions that they want answers. So, if any of you actually read this, this is what you would be asking me this week.

Bryan, your old pal Manny Ramirez was busted for steroids this week. Given your harsh stance on A-Rod, do you feel the same way about Manny, or was it different because he did it for your Sox?
-Tim S, Lansing, Michigan

If you guys should know anything about me now, is that I will not forgive or pardon any steroid user. I’m thankful that what happened with Manny happened in Los Angeles, however, Manny’s namesake is now sullying reputations of guys like David Ortiz and Pedro Martinez simply because of association. And for guys like that who I will always hold a special place for, it’s wrong, but sadly unavoidable.

The main question I’ve been hearing come up is now the Hall of Fame issue. Should these guys be allowed in? And unfortunately I’m going to have to say “yes.” It’s leaking out that so many were doing it that from a media perspective you have to look at it and say that the playing field was to some degree, level. Does it excuse them? No, but people like Ramirez and Rodriguez will forever have their names associated with steroids, which I think in some respects, is punishment enough. (PS, I completely understand Manny’s mood swings now, he was pregnant for almost eight years in Boston, it all makes sense.) Continue reading Eat My Sports: Mailbag edition

Eat My Sports: I’m shipping up to Boston

Let me start this whole thing off by saying I have an awesome girlfriend, oh and by the way guys, Merry Christmas! The aren’t many things in this world that come close to my passion for the Red Sox, which is why almost five months ago, and well before Christmas, I was presented with my … present.

You see, her intentions for my present exceeded her ability to actually obtain said gift. So round about the second week of December, I was called into our office room and was told the following: “I don’t know how to work this damn thing, I’m taking you to Fenway for your gift, make this work.” Ah, can you feel the romance? Continue reading Eat My Sports: I’m shipping up to Boston

Eat My Sports: No free passes

This past weekend was a relatively quieest one. I wait tables on Saturdays, so I went into work a bit early, and went through my Saturday routine of eating my breakfast while watching SportsCenter. First few minutes, nothing big. There were a few basketball highlights that I could’ve cared less about, the same Michael Phelps’ photo re-played about half a dozen times. Then the bottom line came up with breaking news, Alex Rodriguez, the heir apparent to restore legitimacy to baseball’s hallowed records, had tested positive for steroids in 2003.

The gut reaction was joy. I went through all the signs I could make when I go to see the Sox and Yankees at Fenway in April. “A-Roid” was my favorite, “Material Roid” and “Like A Syringe, Hitting for the Very First Time” were another couple of my timely classics. I high fived some friends and texted my fellow Sox fans, but then the truth settled in, if Rodriguez was guilty, then everyone was guilty. Continue reading Eat My Sports: No free passes

Eat My Sports: Now, more than ever

If any of you out there had grown soft over the New York Yankees because they didn’t make the playoffs this past year, or because Darth Vader Al Davis George Steinbrenner had finally stepped down from the day-to-day operations of the team, then the past few weeks should have been a swift reminder as to why you should hate the New York Yankees.

Most people think I’m just a bitter Red Sox fan moaning over the fact that my boys weren’t able to land prized free agent Mark Teixeira. They could not be further from the truth. I never understood why Theo Epstein wanted Tex to begin with. We were already loaded with an All-Star infield, and were in no need of a first baseman, especially with Kevin Youkilis emerging as one of the game’s premier players. There was no room or need for Teixeira, or another $180 million on the books. Continue reading Eat My Sports: Now, more than ever

Eat My Sports: The 2008 Hurl Series

As a baseball fan, I am ashamed. I’ve squared with the fact that the season for the Red Sox just continues in March (otherwise known for some as “Spring Training”). However, this World Series has just become a joke. The umpires in this year’s edition obviously belong in the minors, Bud Selig is better served as a special PR consultant to Jose Canseco, and the whole state of Florida can eat my sports for this load of crap bandwagon for the Rays.

Last night’s game should NEVER have happened. MLB knew the forecast for Philadelphia waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay before the game even started. But networks run sports these days, and FOX, which is probably ready to shoot themselves over the ratings, needed a potential championship game. Which, being a media guy, I get to some degree. But on my end of things, it’s easy to be a purest/righteous when it has nothing at stake for me. But that’s exactly why I get to complain about it, so deal with it, commies. Continue reading Eat My Sports: The 2008 Hurl Series

The McBournie Minute: Let’s go, Phillies!

I feel like crap right now. There’s a pretty good chance it was my meal last night of cheese fries and chili, washed down with some Mountain Dew and vodka, but for the sake of my argument, let’s go with ALCS Game 7’s results last night as the cause. Bryan Schools will probably have more comprehensive reviews of the game, so let’s just stick with the fans.

I hate Tampa Bay fans. Say whatever you want about the team, those guys proved they’ve got what it takes this season again and again. However, their fans simply do not. For pretty much the entire season, the Rays were in first place in the American League east, yet they couldn’t fill the 36,048 seats at Tropicana Field all season long, save for when the Boston Red Sox were in town. Continue reading The McBournie Minute: Let’s go, Phillies!

You Missed It: Bleary-eyed and sore edition

And so the sun begins to set on yet another joy-filled week here at SeriouslyGuys. We don’t know about you, but this week has seemed to be a long one, perhaps that is because we were too busy staying up late drinking for one reason or another. In that spirit, let’s examine what made us stay up late this week. If you were busy uncovering a city of the dead, odds are you missed it.

OK, where the hell did that come from?
Despite wishes of most non-committed MLB fans, TBS, and the weeks-old legion of Tampa Bay Rays fans, the upstarts, or “these young Rays” as the announcers keep calling them for some reason, did not manage to win the American League pennant this week. After winning three games in a row, with the ALCS at 3-1 in favor of Tampa and its Bay saw its seven run lead evaporate in just seven outs (which began in the 7th inning). The Boston Red Sox pulled off the biggest single-game postseason comeback (played in a ballpark in the western hemisphere with winds out of the southwest) since the 1920s, winning 8-7. See you in Game 6 (with more booze).

‘Congratulations, Joe, you’re rich’
You may have thought that Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama were campaigning for your vote. You are wrong. They are actually going for Joe the Plumber’s vote. Joe the Plumber is a nickname the two candidates used in this week’s presidential debate for an average guy, a plumber, making $280,000 a year, who wants to buy his business. You know, a guy just like the rest of us. Joe Sixpack, John Q. Public and Joe Cool were visibly distraught to see they had been cast aside by both candidates.

Oh yeah, there was that other game, too
The Philadelphia Phillies clinched the National League pennant this week, defeating the Los Angeles Dodges (who are not, mind you, of Anaheim). This cause for celebration for Phils fans, because they haven’t been there in like 15 years, which is almost the same as the Cubs’ 100 years. Woooooo! The curse is broken!!!!!!!11 However, Dodgers fans are not as happy, because they have to go back to living in L.A. and acting like that’s a good thing. Manny Ramirez was last seen wandering off, muttering something about potato farming in Idaho.

Eat My Sports: Sex and the NFL

I really want to write about the Red Sox this week. That old familiar feeling has come creeping around again, and my boys did it in overly dramatic fashion by finishing off the 100-win Angels with a head-first dive into home plate by Jason Bay. However, I don’t want to tempt fate by calling any of the series this week, so we’ll save it for an Eat My Sports: World Series Edition when the time comes, regardless of if it ends up with a worst case scenario for Fox execs by having a Tampa Bay vs. Philadelphia Phillies Fall Classic. For the time being though, Jed Lowrie, you rock, and Bay, just keep on rolling baby. Continue reading Eat My Sports: Sex and the NFL