Has it really come to this?

Donald Fehr took over as head the MLBPA almost three decades ago. The men he was appointed to lead saw their income rise by almost 600 percent, he stopped the ownership of his constituents from colluding to keep salaries down, winning a judgement of almost $300 million, fought for and won pension and benefits that are unsurpassed in the modern day working world to name just a few things.

And Mr. Sheridan would have us believe the Don is responsible for the lack of integrity, ethics and morals now prevelant in the game.

Really?

It’s Donald Fehr’s fault A-Rod stuck a needle in his ass? It’s Donald Fehr’s fault Manny took a female hormone to regulate his testosterone levels? It’s Donald Fehr’s fault that ‘allegedly’ the greatest players of our generation cheated their asses off because being great was just not enough?

It’s Donald Fehr’s fault that we players stood in front of Congress and either lied our asses off or didn’t ’speak our minds’ about the catastrophic and illegal conditions we players willingly chose to work within?

It’s Donald Fehrs fault that owners paid salaries to a level that has driven the “common fan” away from the bleachers?

It’s Donald Fehr’s fault that the sports media, like eveyrone else, took the 1997, ‘98 seasons at face value, and believed in the huge biceps, skulls and stats as honest and hard working gains?

That ’saving the game’ during that period of time was anything but stupid men, with insane God-given talent, choosing the wrong path at almost every turn?

So Phil would have us believe that in addition to running the union, he was supposed to visit each player individually and parent them to make the right choices for the good of the game? Isn’t that what parents are for? Isn’t that what society is supposed to do????

We LIVE to give people a second chance. Short of murder (and even then we sometimes are OK with it) and crimes against children is there really anything a human being can do and NOT get a clean slate?

That’s not a bad thing, but it sure as hell isn’t Donald Fehr’s fault that major league ballplayers, GROWN MEN with wives, children, pets and homes (oh, and hundreds of millions of dollars) made stupid and in some cases illegal choices with which to live their lives and perpetuate fraud on the fans.

Donald Fehr did what he was paid to do, and he did it pretty damn good too.

We, the players (well former player here) are the ones completely and totally responsible for the lack of ethics, integrity, and morals so prevelant in sports today. Drugs, spouse abuse, animal abuse, DUI, DWI, vehicular manslaughter, murder, rape, extortion, gambling, last I checked Mr. Fehr had never been accused of any of those crimes, but there are police blotters around the country with athletes names on them.

A name often dismissed in the last 10 years is Rick Helling. Check him out. As someone who played with him I can attest to the fact that he was everything nice anyone could say, and honest to a fault. If more of us had acted on the feelings we had, which he did, things could have been different, things could have changed. We didn’t, and for that our generation, the generation we played in now defined as the “Steroid Era”, got it’s name.

That’s on us, the owners, and the Commissioner, but it sure as hell isn’t on Don Fehr.

Thanks for the hard work Don.

Patience is not a virtue to me. Hell, it’s not something I’m even remotely familiar with.

I sat by the phone all morning long, into the afternoon. I waited, waited, and waited some more. I had known all winter I was on ‘the list’, but I had no idea who’s list, and where.

My roommate (and eventual JC Player of the Year Brian Deak) was a sure-fire pick, and a high one at that. I skipped classes (a not all too uncommon occurrence for me back then considering I knew if I was drafted in the 400th round I was signing) on draft day, sat by the phone and waited.

Worst part is I can’t even remember the phone call. I know it came in the afternoon sometime, and it was the Red Sox. Red Sox??? Damn, I was hoping like hell my favorite team (the Pirates) had drafted me.

Ray Boone, the scout who recommended me, called me, I think. I am not sure I can remember or explain the feeling, but I know it was a good one. The Sox had taken me in the second round. This was the same
winter draft Jeff Shaw went first, and Moises Alou was drafted. We went on to have a storybook season, getting all the way to the JC World Series in Grand Junction Colorado. It was one of my favorite teams and years of all time.

Deak was JC Player of the year, hitting 40 HR and driving in like 200 runs. We had Brad Hebbets at first, Tim Stanley (funniest man ever and a future Montreal Expo) at second, Pat Swift at SS (was the guy on 2nd when Deak hit the walk off HR to win the regional tourney!) Paul Wegner, Albert Mendibles at third (gold glover), Danny Diaz, Kelly Clairmont, Bradi Brogni (still a close friend and one of the most talented players I ever
played with. Also the longest home run off me and has the biggest nose ever…) and one of my best friends ever, Ty Van Dyke. Ty was the guy who went to Iraq last year with me. In 23 years of pro ball I still talk to fewer teammates than I do from the JC team. It was that fun.

Paul Wilhemlsmen, tallest LHP ever (including RJ!) Gary Weems, Danny Rodriguez (who had the plaque) and some other incredibly talented guys.  We were coached by “Coach Kemp” — great guy and someone who didn’t think I was as funny as I thought I was — and managed by one of my all time favorite people, Dave Dangler. A man who came along at a huge time in my life and inserted just enough discipline to keep me out of jail for that one year away from home. He basically told me that winter that I was “pitching for dollars” and it was no longer just a game. He was right. I’ll be forever thankful of his mentoring me at a time when I needed it.

So we had this great year, went to the World Series, and lost to Brevard in the semi-finals in a rip off… a sham! Then lost to eventual winners San Jacinto.

I’d love to tell you this long drawn out story about negotiations, but it didn’t happen. Baseball was all I knew, and all I wanted. I signed less than an hour after the game ended. I vaguely remember Mr. Boone
calling me and letting me know they were going to offer me 15K to sign, and I came back and said I wanted 25K, and he said “Good luck in college next year.

That was the extent of the negotiations.

I signed right then, right there. We bussed home to Prescott the next day. Deaker and I drove home
to Phoenix that night (and ran out of gas about an hour from home) in the “new” Jeep CJ7. I bought it from Ty, and it was a heap, but it looked cool!

The next day I was packed, and on a plane to the lovely city of Elmira, New York, and my career began about two weeks later in my first professional start of my career, against the St. Catherine’s Blue Jays.

Not really all that glamorous, but man it was to me.

Question: What do you think of the way the Braves dealt with Tom Glavine?

Me: Incredibly sad to see someone who played his entire career in one place and do what he did, to have it end that way. But it’s another reminder for those fans who scream about player loyalty to remember clubs, pretty much 99% of the time, are about dollars and cents and results, like any other business

Question: What’s your opinion on Steven Strasburg?

Me:  What’s not to like? BIG kid, mechanics are a lot more refined that I expected, ridiculously live arm, polished with more than 1 pitch, unfortunately he’s going to Washington, or the Independant League this summer…

Question: How do you feel about Bob Watson handing out suspensions to both Beckett and Burnett for intentionally throwing at - but not hitting - the batter? Is this setting a good precedent for the future?

Me: Bob Watson was the GM in Houston when I was there, so I know and like him, but I have felt that he’s horribly mismanaged, HORRIBLY mismanaged the ‘policing’ of the game. As someone that played in the era he did, on the teams he did, there is a very popular opinion that the man forgot what the game was like as a player. THere is literally ZERO logic to fines and suspensions, horrid inconsistency as well. 

Question:  What do you think about Laird bunting in the sixth inning of a no-hitter last night, having had Ben Davis do the same thing to you a few years back?

Me:  Please remember, and refresh yourself if need be, I NEVER, EVER commented on Ben’s bunt other than to say I was surprised by it, never. It was a 2-0 game. The Tiger game was 4-0 and I don’t know Gerald Laird at all so I don’t know how or what his thinking was other than to think he felt he couldn’t do much to put the ball in play, so he took his best shot at getting something going.

Question: Curt, shed a little light if you could on how the Sox pitchers might feel right now w/ the less-than-stellar defensive play from the SS position to date this season…

Me: Totally meaningless, not something you ever think about when you are on the mound, at least I never did.

Question: What do you think of Randy Johnson’s 300th win?

Me:  Pretty impressive, and I think it’s going to be the last one we’ll ever see, unless the game and mentality on pitching and pitch counts, and conserving arms changes, which it likely will not.

Question: What’s the deal with Dontrelle Willis? The guy is a shell of his former self.

Me:  That delivery with that amount of effort is a major factor in losing ’stuff’ quickly. Ken Hill was the same way, though he lasted longer. You put that much effort into throwing the ball that often, it’s very hard to keep your stuff IMO, but I thought that after I saw his first start in the ML.

Rob Bradford:  Producer Brett has been walking around the halls of Entercom Boston pretty confident about the wager regarding David Ortiz hitting 20 HRs this year. Are you still confident he’ll reach 20?

Me:  I keep expecting him to bust out, and it’s not happening. I think there is something else going on, something we don’t know or can’t see

Question: After missing out on Mark Teixeira this past offseason, do you see the Sox making a push for Joe Mauer with the timing of his contract expiring as well as V-teks?

Me: Yes, I thnk the Sox will be in the Mauer hunt but I see the Yanks grossly overpaying for him, pricing him above the Sox value point. But the bigger part to that is what kind of kid he is, if he’s a small town Minnesota boy neither may get him.

Question: How was E3?

Me: E3 was spectacular, it’s returning to its former self, which is cool.

Question: Do you think John Smoltz will be effective this season?

Me:  If he’s healthy, yes.

Question: Going back to Ortiz, did you know of any other hitters who identified vision as their problem and turned things around?

Me:  No.

Question: Who does Smoltz replace in the rotation if Penny doesn’t go?

Me: I don’t think anyone. I think they find a way to work in 6, or alternate starts with someone. But I also think they’ll need him

Question: What’s the thinking behind the Big Huge Games acquisition? Looking for a revenue stream?

Me:  Thats certianly part of it. The bigger piece was jumping ahead 3 years in dev and about 35m in cost of a PS3/X360/PC single player RPG based on the copernicus IP

Question: Do you think Theo will eat Lugo’s money once Lowrie comes back?

Me:  Hypotheticals work worse here than anywhere, and you all continue to think or believe status quo will be maintained, haven’t we all learned it never works out that way:)

Question: If you were Tito, how much longer would you give Papi to get things straightened out before you started platooning him or seriously looking for a viable Plan B for DH?

Me:  Whatever the result the Sox will be as perfectly positioned as possible come Aug 1

Question: What do you think about the new lineup?

Me:  I am not in that clubhouse, and thats a HUGE part to anything like that, any thoughts about what ‘you’ would do. You don’t know what’s going on, nor do I, but rest assured Tito will do whats best for the team. I remember you all hollering for blood in 04 when Millar was hitting like 076 with 4 Rbi’s in June, and Tito kept running him out there, how’d that work out? Trust that he knows better than you what’s going on and who its going on with. Did they win today? Ya? Then I like the new lineup…

Question: How do you believe the Josh Beckett contract situation will play out? Can you see him working out a long-term deal to finish his career in Boston?

Me: If the money is right yes. Tito and Jon F will be HUGE pieces to that IMO

Question: Who do you think would be a better fit in Boston, Matt Holliday or Jason Bay. Both good players, obviously

Me:  Bay Mon-Sat 2x on Sunday. He’s a star, plus Rob will draft him and trade him to me next year.

Question: Any thoughts on the criticism BC’s Mik Aoki & Texas’ Augie Garrido have taken for letting their pitchers go as long as they did in the NCAA game this past Sat? Are people like ESPN’s Keith Law going too far?

Me:  Nope, and yes. Keith Law has never stood on a mound trying to decide what’s best for his team and player while hearing the player demand to be kept in:) But he’s right, there are some serious long term issues that could present themselves after that. It’s a business now, all the way through to High school.

Question: Do you think Ellsbury will ever become a patient hitter? He is hitting .313/.351 obp but with a slump could be .280/.318 I think that is why the Sox dropped him in the order. Drew is only hitting .253 but with a .374 obp and they prefer that type of player.

Me: I never really knew what to believe before money ball, but in 23 years the one thing I have rarely, ever seen a hitter ‘learn’ is patience, because it’s a mindset to me, and not a skill

Question: Curt,do you pass on any of the info you have collected on hitters you have faced to other pitchers if they ask or are you opposed to doing that?

Me: I haven’t spoken to a player since January I don’t think, so no:)

Question: Do you think manny should play in the all star game?

Me: No. And you idiots shouldnt vote him in, those that voted for him.

Question: Youk learned patience, didn’t he?

Me: No, he was always that way.

Question: Why can’t managers/players pick the All Star team? Have the fans select the final 2 instead of 1 to each roster? Manny getting in is absurd.

Me: Because the game is for the fans, you vote on who you want to see, not who deserves it all the time, plus players put value to other players in ways fans/writers don’t and wouldn’t.

Question: Is the tribute to Gehrig coming up?

Me: It is, July 4th, every major and ML park in the country

Question: What did you think of MIT when you visited Sloan?

Me: Me and MIT? Felt like a whore in church….

Question: What are they doing for the Gehrig tribute, do you know?

Me:  Celebrity’s and Heroes reading his speech, uniform patches I think, lots of other stuff, local ALS chapters are all putting events together.

Question: Curt you seem to be someone who doesnt have to filter what the truth is, can you tell us why Orlando Cabrera didn’t work out here? We have all heard rumors but I dont understand why we never re-signed him.

Me: The Sox had ‘issues’ with his ‘lifestyle’ away from the park, and lost a stud. He was an AWESOME teammate who showed up and played his ass off every single day. I loved him to death, not to mention he was one of the best SS I ever threw in front of. Oh FWIW they had issues with someone who did far less away from the park than a butt load of others.

Question: With Remy out sick, and the fill in patrol helping D.O. out in the booth, what are the chances we will see you up there doing color for some games this year?

Me: I’ve been asked 6 times, and been 100% HAPPY to say no each one. I have ZERO ambition to do that, but I LOVE Orsillo, he’s awesome.

Question: Speaking of charity events, will we see you on the mound at the 100-inning baseball game this year? 

Me: I’ll come to the event, but probably not pitch

Question: Curt, your thoughts on Rodney Harrison retiring and him working in the media. I’m sure you’ve learned, a good media member can’t be afraid to criticize, meaning great things to come from Rodney. Also, thanks for 2004, it meant a lot to me and my father before he passed away!

Me: Thanks! Rodney should do well

Questionn: I know Wakefield has had some very good starts but also some very bad ones. And overall a below average year (4.50 era career 4.33) Do you see him being the odd man out at some point this season?

Me: Can’t see it, at his age, and with his body I can’t see him going to the pen and being able to pitch enough to warrant the move, not to mention who would you bump in the pen?

Question: What was your all time favorite team you played for? And by the way, Justin M thanked you for 2004 but I want to thank you for 2001. It couldn’t have been done without you.

Me: Favorite team? 1986 Yavapai Roughriders, 2001 DBacks, 04 Sox

Question: Curt, what are your thoughts on Brad Penny this year? He’s gotten a bad rep from the people in LA, but seems to fit in nice with Beckett, etc. and has pitched well. I think it’s foolish to simply trade him away to make room for unproven others.

Me: It will all work itself out. Brad is a great kid and Larry Bowa is good for 2-4 stupid quotes a half. I love pee wee but he’s another guy who forgot how hard it was to play the game sometimes, Love him to death and could play for him anytime, but he’s a red ass of the highest order and sometimes says stuff, but he didn’t feel Brad worked hard enough, and said it, I respect that he never holds back but not sure how true or untrue it was. Some players hate to be told the truth and Pee Wee isnt afraid to scream it.

1. Do you think there will ever be another 300-game winner?

Never say never but I am not sure the game is situated for it to happen again. First off you have to have hall of fame talent, and there are certainly a lot of guys out there with that. But the other things MUST fall in line:

A. Play on a winning team EVERY year

B. Miss VERY few games due to injury

C. You basically need to win 15 games a year for 20 years. I think

Maddux is the only guy to even sniff something close to that. Otherwise you need to win 20 for a few years, hard enough in and of itself, and have a ton fo 17-19 win seasons, and sprinkle a few 23-25 win seasons in there as well.

2. When did you realize RJ had what it took to reach such a milestone?

After I watched him pitch his first game, in person.

3. When he went to the Yankees did you think that was a bad fit, and why do you think he had such a hard time there?

I never thought it would work out for a ton of reasons off the field. I certainly thought he’d win, and he did, but I didn’t see him enjoying even a minute of being there. He’s very much an introvert most times, and the RJ I knew had major issues with ‘publicity’ away from the ballpark that wasn’t controlled, and NYC is the king of unwanted publicity away from the field.

4. What is one of your favorite RJ stories?

Nothing really funny, but my favorites were watching him stroll out of the bullpen for relief in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series, the night after throwing 100-plus pitches in Game 6. Watching him strikeout 20 vs the Reds, and get a no-decision.

5. What is your second-favorite RJ story?

The fact that after three years I took about 100 shirts from him in golf, to his 1.

Question: What should the red sox do with their abundance of starting pitching?

Me: As far as Penny, Smoltz and the gang, if they keep the two vets, there is no reason to think they can’t go 6 man later in the year to keep eveyrone fresh. I don’t trade ANY pitcher right now, too much can happen, too many days left to start thinking like that, plus if you float that now and don’t trade him, or can’t, you end up with a guy in your rotation that knows you tried to trade him.

Question: How close were the Sox to going with a six-man rotation last year?

Me: It was much closer to reality than people think, I tihnk if I had not been hurt it might have happened a time or two.

Question: How do you explain Jon Lester’s early-season struggles?

Me: Inconsistent. Fastball command is again his main issue. Stuff looks fantastic, he looks very healthy and he’s getting that red ass you want your top of the rotation guys to have. he’s always had that, but it’s showing more now, which is a good thing. He’ll be ok, pencil him in for 15-16 by years end and a few more in October.

Question: Jim Rice suggested Ortiz could snap out of it and hit 25 home runs. What do you think?

Me: If there isn’t a hidden health issue, which I don’t think there is, and he’s able to focus on baseball 100% he will come around, but based on what I saw last night he’s still having trouble and I think he is having a major confidence crisis right now. One thing David could ALWAYS do, is crush Fastballs, from 88-98, and right now he’s having trouble. He used to see 3-4 FB strikes a game, now guys are just pumping one after the other, a David Ortiz with his focus and confidence crushes them.

Question: What kind of advice can you, as a pitcher, give to Ortiz to help him with his slump? Do hitters normally listen to pitchers thoughts?

Me: Sometimes, as I think the case is right now with him, less is more. Mags is the perfect guy to help him because he’s as intrusive, or elusive, as hitters need him to be. If David keeps grinding it out he should find a way out of this.

Question: Do you think Lester’s issue is lack of focus late in his starts?

Me: No, lack of focus is far from a problem for him. Sometimes he overdoes it, he’s still young and learning that Maddux philosphy of ‘less is more’ is hard. When the hitter, fans and umps all know the pressure is on, you as the pitcher dial ‘back’ a bit, let hitters get themselves out, instead of forcing the issue every pitch, that’s a hard lesson to learn as a young pitcher.

Question: Curt, what do you think of the fact that Manny and A-Rod are doing so well in All-Star voting?

Me: It’s an embarassing testament to society and what we say, and what we do, are two very different things.

Question:  Are you saying once a player is suspended (like Manny) or admitted (like ARod) in the course of a season they shouldn’t be eligible for the All-Star Game that season? Or Post-season awards?

Me: Yep.

Question: I’m sure you saw the Carlos Zambrano meltdown … in your experience do umpires hold grudges after something like that or do they let it go?

Me: Umpires ABSOLUTELY hold grudges, and I’ve experienced and watched them take out vendettas DURING games.

Question: Do you have any stories?

Me: 1992 Bob Davidson: Cincy-Bob is mad at Darren Daulton behind the plate, pissed that Dutch is still mad about a called third strike.  I can’t throw a ball if I want to, command is awesome, Bob makes a bad call and then calls 3 balls in a row to walk a guy, when I approach him he says “Dutch is pissing me off, I’ll get back to the game and making better calls but he needs to chill out….”

Question: Do you think that there is any way to somehow make the strike zone with umpires more consistent? It seems every game can be so different.

Me: The only true way to make a consistent true strike zone would be electronically, but if you did that, and ruled the strike zone by the book, the batting champ would hit about .275.

Question: Is there anything you would like to see the MLB change to improve the game?

Me: Yes, I would like to see the games umpires held to a stricter code of conduct, fitness and ethics, as well as having them enforce rules uniformly rather than personally.

So in the interest of urgency, here are a quick look at the last match-ups for the first round…

Cy Young Region

8.Billy Pierce vs. 9. Jim Bunning

Walter Johnson Region

8. John Smoltz vs. 9. Dennis Martinez

Lefty Grove Region

8. Bret Saberhagen vs. 9. David Cone

Christy Mathewson Region

8. Don Sutton vs. 9. Kevin Brown

Are we at the point now where that has morphed into, “I hope he didn’t,” or, “I’m sure he did,” and both sentiments carry as much validity and weight as the initial belief? I’d sure as heck love to think not, but what possible defense could I offer up that would carry an ounce of weight?

Oh and before going any further, please spare me the “That taints your two World Series with the Sox!!!” emails. A larger load of crap I have yet to hear.

Because if you honestly think that in the last 10 years one team for even one season had NO PLAYERS using Steroids or HGH you’re kidding yourself. As horrifying and pathetic as it sounds, players cheated their way to a level playing field of a different sort. Please save the, “Oh but this guy only did it for one year,” and, “No one knows how long he was doing it.” Save that.

The only thing sadder than the continued “revelations” of new names and new drugs are the excuses following them. Female Estrogen? I didn’t know what I was taking? I had no idea it was steroids? Every one makes me appreciate Pettitte, Segui and the men that made their peace and moved on even more.

Do you honestly for one second think ANY player, ANY professional athlete who has been caught up in this allowed a cream to be rubbed, a needle to be stuck, or a pill to be taken and wasn’t aware that the substance was or was not a steroid? Really? I do believe one guy. I think J.C. Romero did buy an over-the-counter substance that contained something that got him in trouble. I could be completely hoodwinked but as far as I know he’s the only guy that’s actually done something to legally rectify the situation and clear his name.

I’ve never taken steroids, I’ve never taken HGH, and I am not saying that to clear my name or make a statement, I’m saying that because even though I did not, I’ve never drank a protein shake from my strength coach, I’ve never taken medication from a doctor or the team, I’ve never gotten an injection from a team doctor or otherwise that I didn’t ask and wasn’t told exactly what it was. I’m far from svelte or ripped, and never have been. I was never a fitness freak or gym rat — those are the guys that measured every milligram, count every tablet in their regimen. Yet somehow we’re hearing these same people talk about being struck momentarily stupid when West African bullfrog semen is found in their blood. “What? How’d that get there????” Their routines, from reps to nutrition are as mapped out as scouting reports. They eat a certain way, train a certain way, and they play a certain way. There is no ‘black hole’ or ‘hidden formula’ happening in these instances. So you get up at 5am? You eat at 6am? Thirty minutes of cardio, upper body, lower on alternate days, whirlpool for x minutes, maintain x calories of protein and carb intake? You do all that, and at some point you let someone stick a needle in your ass, or throw a ‘protein shake’ or rub a ‘crème’ on you, and for that 30 seconds to 5 minutes you have absolutely no thought, care or concern about the product? A step recognized as vital to strength gain, or recovery, a step to setup the acceleration of your recovery or magnification of gains from your hours of work and you just go dumb?

I heard the news about Manny and was asked for my response. “Not surprised” was all I could really muster. I got emails remarking “how does it feel to be right” or “that’s gotta feel good, huh?”

Nothing could be farther from the truth. Who wishes that on people? Why? I have no respect for the guy for a laundry list of reasons that have to do with actually playing the game and being a teammate, but further ruining the image of the game is certainly not what I’d call anything close to consolation. What goes around comes around for everyone.

More kids are let down today, more parents turn from athletes as their kids’ role models (which is NOT a bad thing) every time these stories hit the news. The sad part is you know somewhere there is someone in the media who’s made it their life’s mission to get those 103 other names on “The List,” and that’s going to find it’s way out. The only reason I’ll be relieved that it does will be that I’ll stop receiving “Your name is on that list, isn’t it?” emails.

For the past 19 years or so I’ve had suspicions, some stronger than others, but to sit here today and say I played on even one team that was totally clean would be denying reality I think. I’ve never personally seen a player inject, ingest, swallow HGH, or steroids but like every other player I played with that had his eyes open I saw the huge weight gains in one winter, I saw the hat size increase, I saw the acne in places a camel would be embarrassed to have it. I watched the player hit 20 more homers in one year than they ever had, then revert back, I saw the pitcher throwing 87-90 come to spring training throwing 95-97, I saw all of that. None of those are ‘no brainers’ — none — but they were hints, and when you get enough hints you can see the answer clearly if you are looking.

I played pretty much my entire career in the Steroid Era.

There, I said it. Not rocket science, not an earth shattering revelation, just an enormously disappointing recognition of the label that will accompany the era in which I was allowed to play this game.

I did so never taking Steroids, HGH, cow urine, horse feces, or West African bullfrog semen, and for that yeah, I am proud. Proud of something that really doesn’t deserve praise, does it? Not committing a crime is something to get lauded and applauded for? Are we really that bad off as a society that we’re looking for the ‘few, the proud,’ the non-felons?

The ONLY saving grace today was that I was mentally a million miles away from all this. I had the honor of visiting with the front line officers of the 4^th Infantry Division in Colorado Springs, Colorado. These incredible men and women are being deployed to Afghanistan in the coming weeks. A real dose of ‘hero’ and ‘courage’ and ‘honor’ to quell any ills from this crap.

So after all the BS, I was allowed to say thanks to true Heroes, true Warriors, true Americans, and it felt pretty damn good.

So stop making athletes your icons, they’re supremely gifted, extraordinarily talented human beings, period. After that they’re no different than you, not one bit. They endure the same hardships at home, divorce, drugs, domestic violence, DUI, and every other thing you can read about on page A1 of any newspaper. Don’t make the mistake of thinking the size of the paycheck is relevant to the core of the man. Don’t place more responsibility on them, or accountability, because life doesn’t work that way.

Relish in the Halladays, Rolens, Sabathias, Lowells, Counsells, Variteks, Garnetts, Jameses, Bruschis, Vrabels, the Jason Bays of the world. Relish in men of supreme character and tireless work ethic who respect the game and their teammates and suit up every day to leave it all on the field. If 100 more names come out I can still give you my word there are a lot more great men and phenomenal people in the game than not….

Then go home and raise your own damn kids with your own set of values, integrity and morals. Be accountable to them and responsible for them and stop blaming video games or the 25-year-old kid from the Dominican who can hit a baseball 455 feet but you don’t know and never will, for the ‘problems of today’s youth”. It starts and ends under your own roof. Your kids idolize the people you allow them to, and believe things you don’t refute or discuss, and that’s no one’s fault but your own.

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Curt Schilling on Dennis & Callahan

I have given many speeches over the years.  This is one is by far  the hardest. It is one thing to speak from the heart about your own experiences and another to speak from the heart about one of your children.

When our third child was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome almost two years ago all I can say is that my heart was aching. A child that I had raised to that point like his siblings, I couldn’t understand how he could be so different.    I was in the doctors office when I heard the words ” On the spectrum of Autism” Aspergers.

For one brief second the puzzles pieces made sense and there was relief.  What followed was such a sense of loss, pain and guilt it’s hard to describe.

I remember for days thinking to myself “just write down” what I was feeling.  The emotions were so strong that I became numb.  I struggled so hard as a parent to reach Grant and I was now sure that I would never know how to communicate with him.

The school year was just beginning and I went in for his IUP meeting.  I was so overwhelmed I cried the entire time.  I didn’t know how to handle Grant and I was looking for anyone to tell me “Hey, no need to worry, we can help”.

I starting sitting up nights, scouring the internet, downloading anything I could find on Aspbergers. Digesting in small bits as it was all so overwhelming.

Some people read everything they can get their hands on, all I wanted was the comic book version. Which by the way I have never found.

That fall of 2004 we went on to win the World Series and I just tried to keep distracted.  I really wanted help but honestly I just wasn’t ready for it.  I tried to watch Grant and see what I could do .  I listened to the teachers and administrators give me tips and techniques to help Grant at school.

It wasn’t till after Christmas that year when I decided to take the schools advice and reach out for help. I was ready to accept this different life and the new adventures it would bring to us. I spoke to other parents who were always eager to share problem solving that worked for them.

One name that kept coming up in conversations was this wonderful camp called Youth Care.

We tried summer camp before his diagnosis and every day I would have a full report from my daughter on what Grant had done to make the councilors mad.  I was mortified and humiliated that he just couldn’t follow there rules.  I knew that I couldn’t go through another summer like that.  So I made the call to YOUTH CARE.  Grant and I went to the interview meeting.

I have to tell you that I was so nervous that he would act normal and they wouldn’t accept him.   Needless to say it took 30 seconds for them to agreed he was a fit. As he walked in he touched every single object in the room, never looked her in the eye, and couldn’t answer any questions due to being so distracted in a new room with so many new shiny things to look at, and touch!  Hooray we were in.

I really had no idea what YOUTH CARE had to offer as I had heard that kids and parents learn so many coping and life skills and this camp was second to none for kids like Grant.

I felt relief and empowered that I was making the first good decision for him.

The day of camp orientation arrived.  I listened as he met his councilors and watched as he interacted with the other kids in his group.  They explained to him the great things that he would be doing that summer and he was excited.  He counted down the “Sleeps”  until camp would start.

The first day arrived.  He was up early and checking to make sure he had everything he needed.  I pulled into the line and watched as each kid was greeted by his councilor.

When our turn came Grant jumped out of the car almost forgetting to give me a kiss, which he never forgets. The camp councilors were so warm and affectionate in greeting each child that morning, this was truly going to be a place Grant would be accepted, and welcomed.

He walked away and I started home.  I drove out of the campground and without warning tears were flowing down my face.  For the first time since this journey began I was crying tears of joy.  Grant was safe and most of all wanted.  He would be surrounded by people who would watch out for him, understand him and be patient with him.

As a mother that is all I wanted.  I learned strategies that would help both Grant and our family.  I was open to suggestions and eager to try the new things that we learned would work so well for Grant.   Grant had a wonderful summer.  A super summer camp experience.

Curt and I are so grateful that Youth Care exists and for all the wonderful people that work so hard to help our children.   What we hope to do  by sharing  our family story is to help even more families who do not have funds to this amazing opportunity to have that chance.

Take it from two parents who are walking this journey with our son.  If you have the means to give a child and his family a chance it is the biggest return on your investment that you will ever make.

Thank you and God Bless

Shonda and I are truly grateful to Scott McLeod the camp director and want anyone affected by this to reach out to the camp and any of the other services provided to see if there is help for you or your children. This is a daily battle that will never end. Much like most everything else I look at this in only one way.

Life often times gives us ‘choices’ when it really doesn’t. Our son has Aspergers, there is nothing we can do about that other than turn over every leaf, in trying to make sure we as parents provide every possible outlet and resource to him, and to us as parents, to make the world a place Grant can thrive and succeed in. Our son is brilliantly smart (as many children with Aspergers are) and way ahead of many of his peers in certain academic areas, but there are social issues and to many people those have far more potential to be harmful than anything else in a young childs life.

This is the opposite of a ‘why us’ or ‘poor us’ story, this is the first chapter of a story that will see us take on a charitable cause, and ask each and every one of you for help (whether that is time or money, I don’t care, both are needed) as we move down this path in our lives.

This city has never shied from helping Shonda and I in every charitable endeavor we’ve taken on and we are forever grateful to all of you for everything you’ve done.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me through this blog if you are looking for help, or offering it.

Thanks

Curt and Shonda Schilling

Cy Young Region
7. Catfish Hunter vs. 10. Tommy John

It’s sort of become fashionable to knock Catfish as an all-timer over the past couple of years. And while he pitched for championship teams and really only had a couple of great seasons there is no doubt that he belongs on this list. Okay, I’ll buy that five 20-win seasons with the A’s and Yankees in the 1970s isn’t staggering. Bert Blyleven would have won 25 games a year with those teams. But Hunter was still a top pitcher, leading the league in WHIP twice as well as ERA in his 1974 Cy Young season. And how about 30 complete games in 1975? No pitcher has reached 25 complete games since (Tim Wakefield has 32 CG’s in his career). I count three seasons from Hunter that I would term “great” — 1972 (21 wins, 2.96 ERA), 1974 (25-12, 2.49 ERA, .986 WHIP) and 1975 (23-14, 2.58 ERA). Not enough to be among the top 25 pitchers of the last 50 years, but easily fits in the top 64. Tommy John is a medical marvel and did win 288 games, but I’m not sure he was ever one of the top five pitchers in baseball. He did win 20 games three times, but did so for some terrific Dodgers and Yankees teams in the late 70s-early 80s (the three teams that he won 20 games for (1977 Dodgers and 1979 and 1980 Yankees) averaged 97 wins a year). But he did stick around forever, pitching until he was 46. At his peak Hunter was a better pitcher, and by a fairly decent spread. Does 64 extra wins (over 11 seasons) give John an argument?

Walter Johnson Bracket
7. Don Drysdale vs. 10. Orel Hershiser

I know people don’t want to hear this, but Drysdale was largely a product of where he pitched. At home in his career? 114-74 with a 2.53 ERA in 261 starts. On the road? 95-92 with a 3.41 ERA in 257 starts (this is all in a pitcher’s era, remember). It’s the Jim Rice argument. Can anyone who was average for HALF of his career really be viewed as an all-time great? This matchup is a tough one to call. Hershiser pitched in the same ballpark as Drysdale for the majority of his career. His splits are also significant (3.17 ERA at home in 256 games, 3.81 ERA in 254 road games), but not as glaring as Drysdale. Both have a Cy Young Award. Career records are pretty much a push (Hershiser 204-160, Drysdale 209-166). Of course Hershiser broke Drysdale’s shutout innings streak. Both guys were superb in the playoffs (2.95 ERA for Drysdale, 2.59 ERA for Hershiser). Pretty close to a coin flip, but here’s why I’d vote for Hershiser: His two best seasons (1985, 19-3 with a 2.03 ERA and 1988, 23-8 with a 2.26 ERA) are better than any season in Drysdale’s career. Throw in a slight postseason edge and you’ve got an upset.

Lefty Grove Bracket
7. Johan Santana vs. 10. Dwight Gooden

And the battle to be the second-best pitcher in Mets history is pretty much down to these two, right? Santana is in the middle of his prime, and I fully expect another two or three Cy Young Awards before his career is done. In career adjusted ERA+, only Pedro Martinez, Lefty Grove and Walter Johnson are ahead of Santana. He’s also top 10 all time in Ks per nine innings (9.3, fifth) and winning percentage (.681, eighth). He is easily the strongest of the seven seeds and is, in reality, a lot closer to a four or five. Today Gooden is remembered as potential wasted, but if you look past that and just focus on his numbers he had a nice career. In the Non-Pedro department I would count Gooden’s 1985 season as the best in my lifetime (24-4, 1.53 ERA, 16 complete games, eight shutouts and 268 Ks). That was as a 20-year-old, and followed a 1984 season that may be the best ever produced by a rookie pitcher (17-9, 2.60 ERA and 276 Ks in 218.0 innings). If you had asked me to guess after those two seasons how many career wins Gooden would finish with I would have gone with about 330 or so. Well, he didn’t get to 200 (he ended up with 194). But he won 19 games in 1990, 18 in 1988 and 17 in 1986. He was a victim of his own early greatness (and the drugs, of course). Probably he was one of the top 10-15 pitchers in the majors from 1986-1991, but that wasn’t nearly enough for Mets fans. I’m not sure there is a comparison that fits today. Tom Brady was Super Bowl MVP (not really, but he won it) in his first year as a starter and led the league in TDs in his second. If he has five or six seasons with 17 TDs and 12 picks you’d be pretty close.

Don’t act like idiots, don’t throw stuff on the field, don’t be stupid. Be a Sox fan, have class, act like you’ve been there before, act like winners.

DON’T reach over the fence on a ball down the line when it’s hit by a RED SOX player!!!

Don’t reach over the fence to catch a ball in the air when it’s hit by a YANKEE player!!!

Keep enforcing that thing you’ve always had, make Fenway a nightmare for visiting players. Boston fans have some of the smartest sign making fans around, get them out there. Remind players who spurned you, that you won’t forget, but don’t be idiots about it. Remind the Yankees why this is a horrible place to be a visiting player, and at the same time remind your home town team why they can’t be beat here.

Boo the ever living hell out of the opponents, make it a hellish weekend, but do it with intelligence, class, dignity and style, it’s funner that way.

If you can rag the crap out of a player without an F bomb or using ‘your mother’, you’ve got something, otherwise you’re carbon copies of the gang that sits behind the dugout in Yankee Stadium because that appears to be all they ever had for ammo…

Cy Young Region

6. Jim Kaat vs. 11. Vida Blue

Kaat won at least 10 games in 15 straight seasons (1962-76) and won 20 three times, including a league-best 25 in 1966. 283 wins and 16 Gold Gloves, but Kaat seems largely forgotten today. Maybe it’s because he stuck around too long at the end of his career (he was a long reliever for his last five years). Blue, of course, is best known for his remarkable 1972 season (24 wins, 1.82 ERA, 301 Ks) that landed him both the CY Young and MVP. The truth is that he had a pretty solid career, finishing in the top 10 in ERA six times and strikeouts seven times. His win totals from 1973-1980? 20, 17, 22, 18, 14, 18, 14 and 14. If you look at the prime of their careers Blue was a slightly better pitcher than Kaat. I guess the question is how much value do you place on the eight or nine average seasons Kaat tacked on.

Lefty Grove Region

6. Mike Mussina vs. 11. Mel Stottlemyre

Teacher vs. pupil. To me, Mussina is a Hall of Famer. Forget 300 wins as a standard, in the five-man rotation era 250 wins is the new 300. Mussina finished up with 270, and his career .638 won/loss mark is 38th all time. He never won the CY Young, but finished in the top five six times. (And just to show you how caught up Cy Young voters can get when it comes to wins, look at 2002. Clemens won it, he finished 20-3. Mussina finished fifth, his record was 17-11. ERA? Clemens 3.51, Mussina 3.15. Innings pitched? Clemens 220.1, Mussina 228.0. Walks? Clemens 72, Mussina 42. Complete games? Clemens zero, Mussina four. Shutouts? Clemens zero, Mussina three. First Place Cy Young votes? Clemens 21, Mussina zero. Shameful.)  And how about 11 top tens in ERA for the Moose? Final Four sleeper. Stottlemyre pitched on some terrible Yankees teams in his short (11 year) career. A shame, because he was a terrific pitcher, retiring after the 1974 season with a 2.97 career ERA. Three 20-win seasons, twice led the league in complete games. Nine really good seasons isn’t enough to get past Mussina, however.

Walter Johnson Region

6. Curt Schilling vs. 11. Roy Halladay

I’m not sure how to handle this one, so I’ll just present this in defense of Schilling:
Here are the pitchers in Major League history with at least 200 wins, 3,100 strikeouts and a winning percentage of .590
Randy Johnson
Walter Johnson
Greg Maddux
Roger Clemens
Tom Seaver
Bob Gibson
Pedro Martinez
Curt Schilling

The other seven guys are slam-dunk first-ballot Hall of Famers, right (not taking in the Misremember Factor)? Throw in the postseason stuff (11-2, 2.23 ERA) and it’s impossible to doubt Schilling’s credentials as an all-timer. If we do this again in 10 years I wouldn’t be surprised if Halladay was a top-six seed. Four top five Cy Young finishes (with a win in 2003) and two 20-win seasons (and a 19-win season). And his .668 career winning percentage (13th all-time) is even more impressive when you consider that he has never pitched for a playoff team. Halladay did not really begin his career until he was 25, so he’s not going to finish with monster numbers, but he could get to 220 wins or so (he’s 32 years old and has 133 career wins). Tough first rounder for Schilling but he should move on.

Christy Mathewson Region

6. Jack Morris vs. 11. Dave Stieb

There is a case for an upset here. Morris had the benefit of pitching for some great teams, which makes it a lot easier to gain a reputation as a “winner”. Stieb was stuck with some lousy Toronto teams for the first four or five years of his career (though they improved greatly in the mid 1980s) and had some seasons that were ignored simply because his won-loss record wasn’t eye-catching. Take 1983. Morris wins 20 games with a 3.34 ERA and finishes third in the Cy Young voting. Stieb wins  17 games (and loses 12) with a 3.04 ERA and doesn’t receive a single Cy Young vote. Career seasons with an ERA 3.25 or under? Morris one, Stieb seven. Morris was more durable (finished with 254 wins in 18 seasons vs. 176 in 16 seasons for Stieb) and is the author of the best big-game performance of the last half-century. But I think Stieb was a better pitcher.

For the 10 years I was in Philadelphia Harry was the only member of the media ever allowed to ride on the players bus. He was in the truest sense of the meaning, one of us. He was as close, if not closer, to some members of the team than other teammates.

In addition to the professional accolades he was one of my all time favorite people. I had the privilege and honor of sharing some great and personal memories with Harry throughout my time in Philadelphia.

If you were to put a Mount Rushmore of Philadelphia sports up, Harry would have to be one of the four faces on that mountain.

Personally speaking I can honestly say that hearing Harry’s voice as the ‘call’ on some of my professional accomplishments is an all time memory and incredible honor I’ll be forever grateful for.

Harry you will be greatly missed as someone who never “swung and missed! Struck him right on outta there”

God Bless and Rest in Peace

Was slotted first, ten team league, snake draft…

Avg/R/HR/RBI/SB for offense, W/S/K/ERA/WHIP for pitchers

1) (1)Hanley Ramirez SS This scoring system, this player? Other than Reyes scores across the board at this position as well or better than anyone else

2 (20)Brian McCann C Another guy that gives a positional edge over 90+% of the league

3 (21)Jon Papelbon RP What’s not to like?

4 (40)Felix Hernandez SP I think this is the year it all comes together. Polished 4 pitch guy

5 (41)Kevin Youkilis 1B The homers were no fluke. 41st pick nets me a 4 category guy…

6 (60)Matt Kemp OF Didn’t know a ton about him until the research started, then surprised he was still there…

7 (61)Brad Lidge RP Lidge/Papelbon? Oh my…

8 (80)Ichiro OF With the offense already in place is going to help tons in 3 categories….

9 (81)Chris Carpenter SP I believe he’s fixed (and if he is he’s a 1st or 2nd rounder), 1st outing backs that up…

10 (100) Chipper Jones 3B I think one of the steals of the draft. Too many people think he’s past being good, I’m not one of them

11 (101)Andre Either OF Hate having 2 guys in the same lineup, but both have potential to boost multiple categories

12 (120)Joba Chamberlain P Going to put up good to great K/ERA/WHIP and possibly wins as well

13 (121)Jermaine Dye OF Needed a huge assist in the HR department and hoping he helps me there

14 (140)Heath Bell RP another closer, could be a sick bullpen

15 (141)Chris Young SP Wins will suffer, but great ball park, will give me WHIP, ERA and some K’s

16 (160)Erik Bedard SP Could be a HUGE steal if he’s healthy

17 (161)Clayton Kershaw SP Took a flier. Stuff is unquestionable

18 (180)Howie Kendrick 2B needed best multi-category guy I could find at 2B, almost went with Aviles but used personal experience to make this pick…

19 (181)Shin-Soo Choo OF could be another huge steal if he gets off on a good note and stays consistent

20 (200)Todd Helton 1B Personal memory killed me here. In addition to being the last hitter I ever faced, I just can’t see him not being an awesome offensive player (so awesome I moved him for Adam Lind 30 minutes after the draft)

21 (201) JJ Putz RP nice filler for the pen and the occasional save along with great WHIP seemed appealing (until I moved him after the draft for Grant Balfour)

Players I wanted and missed by a pick Greinke, Oswalt, Capps, Bonifacio, . Players I had on list but didn’t take at the end, Werth, Burrell, Verlander, Hoffman.

The most rewarding things you do in life are often the ones that look like they cannot be done.~ Arnold Palmer

Off of that someone at 38 Studios sent me one from a book on Teddy Roosevelt that I thought was not only spot on, but pretty powerful.

It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

Terry Francona will manage the personnel to their maximum effectiveness, regardless of what any second-guessing couch potatoes want to think or know. Tito knows more than you about his players, and always will.

The best managers in the game aren’t the men who “X” and “O” better than everyone, they’re the men who manage their people the best. Tito is as good as anyone I’ve ever been around at that. While he may suck at Cribbage, he can manage people. He may be a bit off-kilter since this is his first season as a ML manager without me on his team, but I’ll cut him some slack…..

First the divisional prediction. Cop-out time. I will make the same claim I made last season. The winner of the AL East will be between NY, Boston and Tampa. Whichever team has the fewest DL days of the opening day starting rotation’s five guys and closer will win the East.

One exception to the above rule is this. I think of the three teams that are legitimate contenders (I would add Toronto as a factor but even having Butter on the bench as a General is not enough to overcome the big 3 in my opinion), only the Red Sox could manage a big injury to the staff and not get buried. Not that they will, but I think they could.

The East has been a war of attrition for years and this year people are going to take Tampa for real as a player in this fight. The same folks who last year spent the whole season saying “this month is it,” “they can’t keep it up,” “they’re ready to go down” about Tampa are the same folks this spring saying “they’ll come back to the pack” or “they’ll come down to earth.”

Problem is those comments were made with no logic behind them. Tampa won this division last year with not one player having anything close to a career year. They did it with their ace on the DL for part of the season. They did it with no 40 HR guy, no batting title contender. They did it because Joe Maddon can manage his people, and he got his younger players to understand that winning games is far cooler than being a star. You can have both. Now add to the mix Gabe Kapler, someone who will have a profound impact on superstar young players, a healthy Scott Kazmir, a more seasoned James Shields, Matt Garza and others and I don’t see them ‘fading.’ I think it’s going to be a challenge for sure, but they’ll hold their own in my opinion.

The Yankees? Well in addition to opening what many will come to realize is the most kick-ass new stadium on the planet, they spent about $14.5 trillion in the off season to add more studs and horses. That the formula refused to work in the last eight years didn’t stop them from continuing it. The difference now is they are mixing in some young homegrown studs at the ML level who are impact guys.

Joba Chamberlain has all the makings of being a true top of the rotation guy, or the next Mariano. His numbers and stuff don’t lie, he’s the real deal and I love the makeup I’ve seen so far.

CC, well, he’s CC. That means a guy who will scream for the ball every five days if not every four, want to be on the mound in the 9th and be pissed at less than perfection. What’s not to love? That’s an ace, that’s what you HAVE to have at the top of your rotation.

Now add Tex to the mix and once again it’s a lineup to worry about. If I am not mistaken the new ballpark dimensions mirror the old, which means LHH are going to continue enjoying hitting there. Missing A-Rod will not help them early, no matter what you think, but starting the season without that media BS in the clubhouse every day should be some sort of bonus.

The bigger piece coming into play for them now is the top end of their prospect list. Austin Jackson appears to be a five-tool guy everyone is excited about and supposedly isn’t that far off. People got complacent or just totally missed the fact that having Bernie Williams out there for a decade was an insane luxury. That CF area is enormous ground to cover and having someone out there that brings some pop at the plate will be a huge lift for them. Melancon, Brackman and McAllister are all potential big upside arms. Melancon is being mentioned as Mariano’s heir apparent and that’s not a bad thing for either guy. Meaning one guy is still far from done, but this kid supposedly has the tools and makeup to be the next one. I still think Chamberlain ends up in that spot. Brackman is the wild card. At 6′10″ and 270 pounds you are talking massive potential with massive consistency issues. Moving that much mass, under control, consistently, is incredibly hard to do and teach. If they do, and he progresses, you are talking about a right-handed Randy Johnson if he can pan out. That’s ace, top-of-the-rotation stuff that comes along every 20 years. Anytime you hear ‘middle of the rotation’ mentioned in a prospects accolades it means three things.

1) We may never hear his name again
2) He could be an ace
3) Not one of his pitches wows you.

The reason that never bothers me is they continue to do this to kids in their late teens and early twenties, before velocity gain and physical growth has stopped. Many kids getting these labels are in growth spurts and are trying to adjust to new bodies, both in height and weight, as well as learning how to get guys out as the McAllister kid is.

Jesus Montero is listed as a catcher, but with his offensive ability and his size, he’ll switch positions.

One thing to watch out for in the next two years: if Boston doesn’t get that catcher of the future, and Minnesota doesn’t re-sign Joe Mauer, he’s going to go off the charts after the 2010 season as a free agent when the Sox and Yankees will be at the front of the line.

So New York needs to stay healthy, get 30 or so from Burnett and Sabathia, 25-30 from Chamberlain and Wang becomes as good as any #3 in baseball, right alongside Dice or Lester. The Yankee defense, if it’s not solid, could prove to be a huge issue for them this year as far as Wang is concerned. He’s won consistently with a below average defense and he won’t suddenly start striking guys out. I expect his numbers to remain the same, or maybe improve outside W/L. He is a guy that could have across-the-board improvement in all categories but W/L if he doesn’t get consistent defense.

If they get that many starts from their rotation they are going to be very very good.

Boston, and yes there may be some bias here but it’s because I know them and I understand how they are approaching things, is the favorite for one reason. They won the wild card last year, were within nine outs of a World Series, and never had their ace. Josh had a tough year last year. He was far more hurt in the playoffs than anyone knew. You put him out there healthy, which he is, with Jon Lester, Dice, Wake, Penny/Smoltz/Masterson, and you can’t help but feel good.

The top three pitchers have a legitimate shot at finishing in the top 10 in Cy Young voting. It would not surprise me if two things happened I don’t think anyone is expecting this year:

1) Jon Lester is better than he was last year.
2) Dice is as good, if not better, than he was last year.

The Lester progression to me is natural. Given his makeup, his stuff, and the Farrell factor if he stays healthy there is no reason his numbers won’t continue to improve over the next few years. Add in the life experience (which cannot be underestimated imo) and you have a perennial Cy candidate.

Dice is just smart. He ‘grew’ last year and progressed and the W/L total, while surprising given the IP, was not a fluke. There are pitchers with marginal stuff who can throw out the occasional W/L % like he did last year, and then there are pitchers with good stuff who know how to make pitches in big spots. Dice is the latter. He knows how to execute when he’s in a bind and that means he gives up far fewer runs than you might expect. If he can improve his command and mindset early in counts, he can move into lofty company.

After those three you figure the combination of Wake, Smoltz, Penny, Masterson, Buchholz needs to make 72 starts. Can they do that and win 45 of them? Absolutely.

If Justin masters getting ahead and beating LHH he’s looking at a long and prosperous career as a starter in the big leagues. When your feature pitch is a sinker with more tail than sink, left-handed hitters can be a huge issue (reason being the ‘tail’ sees the ball move more to the barrel of a LHH’s bat than happens with sink, when the ball has dominating downward movement; Kevin Brown and Brandon Webb have massive sink). Few guys can do that and master the inside part of the plate to LHH. The key for Justin is that it’s something identified already and being addressed. Believe it or not, identifying the problem has been the most missed step in the process in the past. Even so, identifying it is one thing, but properly addressing how to ‘fix it’ never seems to get put in the mix.

You do that, imo, with command of the inner half of the plate to LHH through a cutter/FB mix. Greg Maddux was a master at this. He threw a sinker and a cutter to BOTH sides. If you know what side of the plate I am throwing to that can be an advantage. But if I can throw two pitches to that side of the plate — one that moves TOWARDS you and the other moving AWAY from you — it’s almost to my advantage that you ‘guess’ right as long as I am throwing the ‘other’ pitch. Add his pitching IQ and knowledge of hitters to the mix and you get 350 some odd wins and 100% of the HOF ballot. Justin will need to, again imo, be a guy that learns hitters more than some guys. He’ll need to learn LHH’s tendencies and create an ebb and flow that keeps LHH guessing and uncomfortable. If he can do that he’s going to win and win a lot.

Brad Penny remains the potentially biggest bargain of the year. I’ve known Brad since early in his Florida days and he’s a fantastic kid. Unfortunately, and fortunately, for him he’s got a high-maintenance body. Speaking as someone with experience in that department he’s got to keep on top of that and it appears he knows that and is doing that exact thing. If he’s healthy and pitches like he can, with Tek, Farrell and this bullpen, he could be a 15-20 game winner. That’s a lot of ifs, but certainly not out of the question. If he is in fact healthy then he immediately becomes the best #4 or 5 in the game and the Sox could win 110.

Smoltz, damn. Another “if” but I’ve heard nothing to think he won’t be healthy. If that is the case then things get even brighter. I bet you any amount of money, if you asked every manager in the game what rotation they would NOT want in a best of 5, or 7, it would be a healthy Sox rotation. Two of the best big-game pitchers in baseball (Smoltz and Josh), along with Dice and Lester? I’ll match that group with anyone all time in October.

That’s another huge if. October is a loooong way off. As a fan though you have to feel good knowing that the training staff, led by Paul Lessard, along with Tito and John, will manage their guys and the innings in the best possible manner to see that this staff arrives in October as healthy as possible.

I don’t even need to go into depth on the bullpen. Another “if,” but if they are healthy they present the one thing every opponent dreads. The ’seven-inning game’. In the late 80’s and early 90’s it was the Reds. Mid 90’s it was the Yankees with Rivera and Wetteland. A few years ago you had the Angels with Rodriguez and Percival.

Managers manage different, offenses play different. You know on nights when everyone’s available that not having a lead after seven pretty much means you lose. It’s not a “fait accompli” but you know going in….

This bullpen not only has that potential with Saito, Paps, Okie, but you have multiple arms able to fill both spots. Not just any arms either, but power arms. This is where I see the Sox having a huge edge given the coaching. You won’t have a “pitch Scott Proctor until his arm falls off” scenario here. They will be able to mix and match on almost every night and not burn any one guy out. That’s just huge, even more so in the East.

The offense? Let’s put it this way. Manny’s gone and there’s only one Manny. At the plate there is no comparable player in the game when he wants to play. Having said that, this offense is going to score runs and wear out pitchers. One of the keys will be Jacoby and his progression. On base he changes everything about the game for the hitter, pitcher and defense. Not many players can say that.

The Yankees have two players you could legitimately see as top 10 MVP candidates. The Rays? Not sure they have one beyond Pena right now. Longoria certainly could be that guy, Upton as well, but if you were betting and using track record there is nothing in the numbers that says Petey, Youk and David couldn’t be as well. If David is healthy, which it appears he is, he’s going to see his protection come back. No matter how the lineup shakes out Papi is the ‘don’t let him beat you’ guy, but he’s also surrounded by four guys who can beat you just as well: Petey, Youk, Bay and Drew. Don’t discount a healthy Mike Lowell either. The lineup is just so damn deep that other teams are going to have a hard time winning a series in which they don’t run out a No. 1 or 2.

The Red Sox lineup, like the Yankees, just crushes mediocre pitching. Not only that but the series in which you start your 4 or 5 in game 1, or 1 and 2, can get away from you fast because there are many games that these lineups are in your pen in the 3rd inning. I’ve watched many managers in the past five years lose all three games of a series in the first five innings of game 1 by mismanaging the bullpen.

What people miss is not the immediate effects, which often times are obvious, but the lingering ones. You use your pen for six innings in game 1, three in game 2 and three or four in game 3, and that’s 12 of your 27 innings being thrown by your pen. You arrive at the ‘by availability’ day when you have at most two or three guys available and the starter craps the bed again. That first game of the previous series can take you out of games for a week if a manager mismanages the bullpen.

No one wants to be considered ’strong’ in middle relief. It’s a calling card for teams that suck because middle relief is something you want to use 1-2 times a week tops. It’s the spot many teams park their 11th or 12th arm, or the young developing kid. Teams with payrolls like NY and Boston manage to park very talented, somewhat expensive veterans or young, up-and-coming studs in that roll. Their staff never misses a beat and combined with these offenses they end up turning three or four games a year every other team loses into wins.

One of the mandates of the Epstein era was revamping and recreating a truly deep minor league system. Is there any question as of today as to whether that’s happened or not? You’ve got a stable of arms that are primed and close to ready to make a difference in the big leagues and they are catching up on the position player pool as well.

I never thought having stacked prospects in the position player area was a major concern simply because having tons of arms means you have the ultimate bargaining chip in any trade.

Take a poll of GMs around the game and I would bet you’d see the ratio 2-1 or higher as to ‘untouchable pitching prospects’ vs. position prospects.

How many teams could create a package of talent that would garner a front-line catcher with one or two minor league pitchers and maybe a position player? Not many.

So there you have it. Another long winded post and another opinion…..

My call is the Sox win 105 games this year, the Division as well. No post season predictions yet.

Oh and I also think the Cy will go to a member of this staff: Beckett, Lester or Paps.

Fergie Jenkins (82 percent) over Frank Viola (18 percent)

Gaylord Perry (94 percent) over Milt Pappas (6 percent)

Tom Glavine (97 percent) over Larry Jackson (3 percent)

Juan Marichal (91 percent) over Mike Cuellar (9 percent)’

Now, the next round:

Cy Young Region

5. Early Wynn vs. 12. Roy Oswalt

300 wins, five 20-win seasons and a Cy Young winner in 1959, Wynn also finished in the AL top 10 in complete games 14 times. So why only a five seed? His career ERA was 3.54, not significantly better than the average league ERA for his career (3.77). Compare that with Oswalt, who owns a 3.13 ERA against an average league ERA of 4.36. Tough to pick a guy with just eight seasons  over a 300-game winner, but there is an argument to be made for Oswalt. Five top-five Cy Young finishes, a .688 winning percentage and a pair of 20-win seasons. In career Adjusted ERA+ Oswalt ranks 16th. Wynn? Tied for 422nd.

Walter Johnson Region

5. Robin Roberts vs. 12. Don Newcombe

Roberts won 20 games in this third season in the majors (1950). He would win 20 in each of the next five seasons, including 28 in 1952. Never won 20 again after 1955, he was actually little more than an average pitcher over the last half of his career. Still finished with 286 wins, though. Newcombe only pitched 10 seasons (missed two of his prime years to the military, also spent time in the Negro Leagues), but won 20 games in three of them. His 1956 season was his best, as he won 27 games and picked up the MVP and Cy Young Award. Newcombe was breaking down in his early 30s, so even if we give him credit for those missed seasons I doubt he would have matched Roberts’ career totals.

Lefty Grove Region

5. Bert Blyleven vs. 12. Jimmy Key

Blyleven should be a Hall of Famer. Just bad luck, pitched for some terrible teams. Put it this way: There are are eight pitchers that rank among the top 20 in wins, strikeouts and shutouts since 1900. Seven (Don Sutton, Tom Seaver, Gaylord Perry, Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Fergie Jenkins and Walter Johnson) are in the Hall of Fame. The eighth is Blyleven. Ten seasons with an ERA of 3.00 or less. Would’ve won 320+ games if he had pitched for good teams his whole career. Final Four sleeper. Key was a really consistent pitcher. Save for 1995 (he missed most of the season with an injury) he won between 12-17 games in each season from 1985 to 1997. Two second-place Cy Young finishes and a 3.15 ERA in 14 postseason appearances.

Christy Mathewson Region

5. Phil Niekro vs. 12. Andy Pettitte

Niekro is remembered for the knuckleball, of course, but he was a terrific pitcher for some lousy Atlanta teams. Take 1978. Niekro throws 334.3 innings (22 complete games) with a 2.88 ERA. His record? 19-18 (the team won 69 games that season). He was also stuck in a hitters’ park for the great majority of his career (career home ERA was 3.50, road 3.20). He still managed to post 13 seasons with at least 15 wins. I’m not sure we’d be talking about Pettitte if he had pitched in Kansas City for his entire career. Still, he’s been a 15-18 game winner almost every season (two 20-win years). Not sure what to make of his best season. 17-9 with a 2.39 ERA for the Astros in 2005 (league ERA was 4.23). Was HGH a factor? That’s where this stuff gets tricky.

Nolan Ryan (96 percent) over Dean Chance (4 percent)

Pedro Martinez (92 percent) over Bob Welch (8 percent)

Whitey Ford (67 percent) over David Wells (33 percent)

Sandy Koufax (97 percent) over Rick Reuschel (3 percent)

Here are the winners from the No. 1’s vs. the No. 16’s, and the No. 2’s vs. the No. 15’s.

Now comes the next round (with guest commentator, resident bracketologist, Kirk Minihane supplying the particulars for each match-up):

Cy Young Region

4. Fergie Jenkins vs. 13. Frank Viola

Jenkins won 20 games seven times in his career, including six straight seasons (1967-1972). Pretty impressive, even more so when you realize he spent the majority of his career pitching in hitters’ parks (12 of his 19 seasons in Wrigley or Fenway). Five top three Cy Young finishes. Viola won a Cy Young in 1988 after a 24-7 season with the Twins and was a real solid pitcher for a nine-year stretch (won at least 13 games in each season from 1984-92, including five seasons with at least 16 wins). A nice career, but he just wasn’t in Jenkins’ class.

Walter Johnson Region

4. Gaylord Perry vs. 13. Milt Pappas

The first pitcher to win a Cy Young in both leagues, Perry used that spitter to win 314 games. For an idea of how the game has changed, look at the number of complete games Perry had each season from 1969-1976: 26, 23, 14, 29, 29, 28, 25, 21. Johan Santana has nine in his career. Milt Pappas is best known as the guy traded to the Reds for Frank Robinson but he had a decent career, winning 209 games. Problem is that he never won 20 and his best career Cy Young finish was ninth in 1972. Big edge to Perry here.

Lefty Grove Region

4. Tom Glavine vs. 13 Larry Jackson

Over 300 wins and six top three finishes in Cy Young voting (two wins) for Glavine. He also led the league in wins five times. And he was a horse, placing first or second in the NL in starts eight times. Jackson chalked up a bunch of 16-18 win seasons in the 1960s, and even had a 24-win season in 1964. He just didn’t pitch long enough 12 seasons as a starter to have any chance against Glavine.

Christy Mathewson Region

4. Juan Marichal vs. 13. Mike Cuellar

I guess I can see how Marichal never won a Cy Young Award, but how is it possible that he never received a first-place VOTE? Six 20-win seasons, five top-three finishes in ERA, even led the league in WHIP twice. How about his 1968 season? Thirty-eight starts, 30 complete games, 26 wins and a 2.43 ERA (granted it was the Year of the Pitcher, but still). Cuellar was a very good pitcher for a decade or so and won 20 games four times with those great Baltimore teams of the 1970s. Not a Marichal, but probably the best pitcher out of the four 13 seeds here.

I used to wait with bated breath for Don Meredith to start singing that on “Monday Night Football.” Normally, it was sweet music if the Steelers were playing.

If I could get him to sing it again, I would. This party has officially ended. After being blessed to experience 23 years of playing professional baseball in front of the world’s best fans in so many different places, it is with zero regrets that I am making my retirement official.

To say I’ve been blessed would be like calling Refrigerator Perry “a bit overweight.” The things I was allowed to experience, the people I was able to call friends, teammates, mentors, coaches and opponents, the travel, all of it, are far more than anything I ever thought possible in my lifetime.

Four World Series, three World Championships. That there are men with plaques in Cooperstown who never experienced one — and I was able to be on three teams over seven years that won it all — is another “beyond my wildest dreams” set of memories I’ll take with me.

The game always gave me far more than I ever gave it. All of those things, every single one of those memories is enveloped with fan sights and sounds for me. Without the fans, they would still be great memories, but none would be enduring and unforgettable because they infused the energy, rage, passion and “feel” of all of those times. The game was here long before I was, and will be here long after I’m gone. The only thing I hope I did was never put in question my love for the game, or my passion to be counted on when it mattered most. I did everything I could to win every time I was handed the ball.

I am and always will be more grateful than any of you could ever possibly know.

I want to offer two special thank you’s.

To my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for granting me the ability to step between the lines for 23 years and compete against the best players in the world.

To my wife Shonda and my 4 children, Gehrig, Gabriella, Grant and Garrison for sacrificing their lives and allowing baseball to be mine while I played. Without their unquestioned support I would not have been able to do what I did, or enjoy the life, and I am hopefully going to live long enough to repay them as much as a  Father and Husband can.

Thank you and God Bless
Curt Schilling

Jim Palmer (96 percent) over Dave McNally (4 percent)

Bob Gibson (95 percent) over Chuck Finley (5 percent)

Randy Johnson (88 percent) over John Tudor (12 percent)

And in the closest race to date, Roger Clemens 4,199 votes (53 percent) over Dave Stewart’s 3,696 votes (47 percent)

(And, in case you missed it, here were the 16’s vs. 1’s)

Now comes a great round with some fantastic pitchers!

Cy Young Region

3. Nolan Ryan vs. 14. Dean Chance

My Take: Eight Cy Young top 10’s, six top fives, 324 career wins and more strikeouts than Adam Dunn in a decade! The definition of power pitcher, in my opinion the greatest ‘power guy’ to ever take the mound. His neck-rope and subsequent pummeling of Robin Ventura (great guy in his own right!) was stuff of legends. Dean Chance will get laughed off but his career was shorter than it should have been and he was good when he played. Sub three ERA in a career spent entirely in the AL speaks volumes. But this might be the biggest mismatch to date.

Walter Johnson Region

3. Pedro Martinez vs. 14. Bob Welch

My Take: A .684 lifetime win-loss percentage, eight top 10 Cy Young finishes including three wins, two seconds (I think there are a ton of seconds that are wins in literally any other season), one third and a fourth. Should have won an MVP if George King wasn’t a hypoicritical idiot as well. Also, 3000-plus strikeouts. And in my opinion his 1999 and 2000 season are two of the top five pitching seasons in the games history. Now I’ll inject some personal bias. Bob Welch, sure he doesn’t match up with Petey, few can, but he was a damn good pitcher and a better person. My pitching coach in Arizona in 2001.  I learned as much from him as anyone I’ve ever been around and thank God he was someone I got to know in life. Personal issues aside, he can’t match up with Petey in a competition like this, but in real life I’d take him in a one-on-one matchup!

Lefty Grove Region

3. Whitey Ford vs. 14. David Wells

My Take: What should be the closest matchup to date. Whitey was seen as a stud and post season horse with an incredible .690 lifetime win-loss percentage, far higher than Boomer’s. Boomer has three more lifetime wins and played on teams that were not nearly as good on a consistent basis. ERA is where Whitey pulls away, though a strong argument can be made for the era these guys pitched in. Whitey was 10-8 with a 2.71 and Boomer was 10-5 with a 3.17 when he didn’t have gout in the post season. I gotta give that edge to Boomer. I’m voting Boomer.

Christy Mathewson Region

3. Sandy Koufax vs. 14. Rick Reuschal

My Take: The mismatch of all mismatches. Sandy Koufax, despite only winning 165 games in his career, has to be considered when talking about the best of all time. In a career cut way too short he did some things that to this day have yet to be repeated. Three Cy’s, one 3rd, a 2.76 career ERA, more than a K per inning. His 1963 to 1966 four year run has four seasons that could be in the top 5 of all time. In that 4 year span he went 97-27 with an ERA of 1.86, OVER FOUR YEARS! Add to that a post season record of 4-3 with an ERA of 0.95. In my opinion he’s a STRONG candidate to find a spot in the Final 4, with ONLY his short career being a drawback.

Greg Maddux (91 percent) over Jerry Koosman (9 percent)

Warren Spahn (96 percent) over Tim Hudson (4 percent)

Steve Carlton (98 percent) over Steve Rogers (2 percent)

Tom Seaver (97 percent) over Don Gullett (3 percent)

While most of the No. 15’s vs. the No. 2’s figure to stay true to form, there is some potential for some shock-waves (especially in the Christy Mathewson Region). Here they are (Note: Polls will close at 10 p.m. Wednesday Thursday)

Cy Young Region
2. Jim Palmer vs. 15. Dave McNally

My Take: Three Cy’s, two seconds, a third and a second in the MVP, a .638 lifetime winning percentage, and a 2.86 CAREER ERA! Spent entirely with ONE team in the American League. Decent post-season numbers, but I am amazed at the average to what could be labeled real bad K/BB ratio. Never gave up a grand slam. Said he would, and did, walk a hitter with the bases loaded rather than pitch to a threat in that situation. Still managed a sub 3.00 ERA in the AL. Not sure how incredible that sub 3 is compared to the era’s league wide ERA, but this is another mismatch, and also our first match up of real teammates. Oh, and Palmer was an eight-time 20-game winner! McNally was a much better pitcher than I knew about. Won 20 four consecutive years and ended his career with a won-loss percentage over .600. Three consecutive top five Cy finishes put him on track for a real nice career. Palmer should win this walking away.

Walter Johnson Region
2. Bob Gibson vs. 15. Chuck Finley

Think intimidator, or fastball, and Gibson’s name comes to mind. I had the pleasure of sitting down and doing an interview with him for the Sporting News back in the ’90’s and he struck me as an incredibly kind and honest man. Said he never intentionally tried to hit anyone, but never worried if he did. Told me Frank Robinson was someone he may have hit more than anyone, and he tried NOT to ever hit him, because Frank would ALWAYS hit a HR off him after he did. Had 3,117 career K’s and one of the best post season careers in the game’s history. Completed an astounding 255 of his 482 career starts! How about this post season line: Games started, 9; ERA, 1.89; IP,  81; Hits, 55; Walks, 17; Strikeouts, 92. ALL OF THAT added up to a win-loss record of 2-1!! This guy basically made nine starts and threw nine complete games worth of innings. His 1968 season of 1.12 ERA in 304 innings is one of the top three pitching lines in the games
history. Getting seeded against Gibby is a no-win really. Finley was barely 20 games over .500 and struggled for the most part in the post season. Nice career with 200 wins though.

Lefty Grove Region
2. Randy Johnson vs. 15. John Tudor

I remember Jon Tudor growing up, as the first ‘thumber’ that I ever watched dominate. His changeup was incredible and throwing 10 shutouts in a career is a nice feat, much less a season. But matching up against
a guy that will likely retire as the top left-handed power pitcher in history just isn’t fair. RJ will retire with 300 wins, over 4000 strikeouts, and five Cy Young award. The most dominant lefty to ever pitch in my opinion. Tudor was an awesome guy, but this is a mismatch.

Christy Mathewson Region
2. Roger Clemens vs. 15. Dave Stewart

Clemens had 354 career wins, seven Cy’s, 12 Top 10 Cy finishes, an MVP, seven Top 10 MVP finishes, more than 4,000 strikeouts and some of the greatest numbers ever vs. 168 career wins? Total mismatch? No way. For me everything done after the 1992 goes out the window. In my opinion he cheated, and I think he cheated up until he retired. No one is more upset about that than I am, but that’s what I believe. Add to this that Stewart owned Clemens in head to head, Stewart was a post season stud, and had four Top 4 Cy finishes as well. I don’t think this is the walk it might appear. If it were me, everything from the day of admission or the day someone is caught cheating goes out the window. He hasn’t been caught, he hasn’t admitted, but I believe he did do what people are claiming he did, and while it sucks, it’s what I
go on.

Here is the premise: We have taken what we deem the top 64 pitchers in the post-World War II era, seeded them, and sorted them into four regions/brackets. Every few days we will post some of the match-ups along with a bit of commentary, along with a poll for you to vote on who should advance.

Today we start with the No. 1 vs. the No. 16 seeds:

Cy Young Region
1. Greg Maddux vs. 16. Jerry Koosman
My Take: My odds on favorite to be in the final pairing vs. a very good LHP. Koos had a very nice career. (Did you know he made three World Series starts and was 2/3 of an inning pitched from three complete games? That’s impressive.) He won 222 games, but just barely finished as a .500 pitcher. He’s taking on my pick (all things taken into account) as the guy that should be recognized as the best ever.

Walter Johnson Region
1. Warren Spahn vs. 16. Tim Hudson
My Take: Warren Spahn, Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton Carlton? Someday Tom Glavine? All arguably the best left-handed starting pitchers ever. Spahn with 363 wins … damn! And 382 CAREER COMPLETE GAMES. (Ya the game hasn’t changed much!) Could be, and in some circles is, considered the best ever. Tim Hudson, man I thought he was going to be a huge winner and stud when I first saw him. Hopefully getting healthy and back on track, but already with a fantastic lifetime win-loss percentage. No matter when his career ends he’s going to have had a good one, but he’s not Warren Spahn.

Lefty Grove Region
1. Steve Carlton vs. 16. Steve Rogers
My Take: Considering where he played and what he did there, could be a Final Four candidate. A true horse and stopper. His 27-10 season was the benchmark used for great pitchers on bad teams. Four thousand-plus punch-outs, four Cy’s, never dominated in the postseason (except for 13 IP in the ‘83 NLCS) like you would have thought, but one of the greats of all time. He goes up against a career Expo. A great guy, but not really deserving of a vote in this match-up. Surprised to see top five Cy finishes. I don’t remember him being that good, but his 82 season was pretty impressive.

Christy Mathewson Region
1. Tom Seaver vs. 16. Don Gullett
My Take: One of the first modern era guys I remember hearing about being a true power pitcher, along with Nolan Ryan. His career numbers don’t seem to reflect that as much as I expected with 1100-plus fewer strikeouts than IP. But what a career. Three Cy’s, two runner ups and three other top five finishes means he was the best, or near best, in his league eight of 13 years from 1967 to ‘80. His ‘drop and drive’ was rampantly taught as I was growing up. Then some folks finally realized that was something very unique to him and his mechanics/body. Definite first round mismatch. Seaver should garner 100 percent of the votes. Don had a very good career featuring a win-loss percentage of .686 and an 8-3 postseason win-loss record, but Seaver is a legit Elite 8 candidate.

Mike Monsoor, a Navy EOD Technician, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for jumping on a grenade in Iraq, giving his life to save a group of Navy SEALS.

During Mike Monsoor’s funeral in San Diego, as his coffin was being moved from the hearse to the grave site at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery , SEAL’s were lined up on both sides of the pallbearers route forming a column of two’s, with the coffin moving up the center. As Mike’s coffin passed, each SEAL, having removed his gold Trident from his uniform, slapped it down embedding the Trident in the wooden coffin.

What a country we live in.

The slaps were audible from across the cemetery; by the time the coffin arrived grave side, it looked as though it had a gold inlay from all the Tridents pinned to it.

This was a fitting send-off for a true hero.

This should be front-page news.

I am proud of our military. If you are proud too, please pass this on.
If not then rest assured that these fine men and women of our military will continue to serve and protect.

God Bless our Troops

Some tips based on my experiences, spring training and in-season.

In Spring Training, at Fort Myers, one of the cool aspects of the complex is the closeness the fans and players have. However I’d offer this advice.

Ask players on their way out to the fields, and on their way off the fields.

Do NOT ask players going between fields during workouts, for the following reasons:

1) There is a schedule and groups are going field-to-field to get their drills in
2) Any player not working his ass off or concentrating on getting his work in that morning, you don’t want his autograph anyway:)

Ask players outside the dugouts during games, but not players doing warm ups and getting ready.

Do NOT ask DURING THE GAME!! I cannot overstate this strongly enough. This is neither the time nor the place to ask and you’re likely to become the butt of jokes if you hang your head over the dugout and shout “Hey Youk! Sign my JERSEY!” 30 seconds after he’s punched out.

Ask players after games who are done with their work on the main fields.

DO NOT ask players at the entrance or exit of the parking lots, or wait on the street corners and flag them down.

During the season, this is for you folks that on the rare occasion come DOWN TO THE DUGOUT while the game is being played. Tito has a bench there to give him clear access to the field, the players and the game, not to be more accessible to sign during the game, don’t ask:) I can 100% guarantee you aren’t going to get it signed, and it’s so ‘not right’ it’s borderline funny to watch.

Ask players NOT in their cars in the players lots.

Above all else, please PLEASE PLEASE abide by these two rules:

1) Let the kids up front to ask before the adults
2) Always, always say please and thank you.
3) Don’t ask to get more than one thing signed

If you follow the above and a player won’t sign, you don’t want his autograph anyway, or, trust that there is something being done schedule-wise that doesn’t permit him to sign.

My biggest issue, and the hardest thing I think to get across, is that rarely, if ever, are you asking alone. I never wanted to walk away leaving people behind when I had signed, so if I stopped to sign I tried to sign for everyone there; if I could not I usually did not. And because you ask by yourself, doesn’t mean the crowd won’t swell rapidly, especially here in Boston. Some players may bitch about it but other than 1-2 occasions every time I’ve had a public situation fans have been incredibly kind and respectful of my time, space and family. That’s another thing, there’s no need to get ‘into my space’ to get an autograph:)

The autograph and the process has become something players detest for reasons that might be hard to understand, but they exist none the less. Fifty percent or more of the people ‘wanting’ the autograph want it to turn a profit, and I have yet to find a player, myself included, that feels I ‘owe’ it to that person to do that.

People by and large have become incredibly rude and incredibly entitled, feeling players ‘owe them’ an autograph. I NEVER had issues signing and never refused when time permitted and I could accommodate. But I had no issues when ‘that fan’ showed up, making everyone very aware that they were by no means in need of the autograph, but I sure as hell owed it to them.

In public, out to eat or at the mall, please don’t start with “I really HATE to do this” or “I don’t want to do this but my friend wanted me to ask”… Don’t do that, just ask politely. If you truly hated to, you wouldn’t.

I promise you the please and thank you are two of the biggest pet peeves, kids rarely EVER do it anymore and most times it’s at the behest of mom or dad.

Be polite, be courteous and if the player doesn’t reciprocate just know you didn’t really miss anything - the player who isn’t signing is one you don’t want your kids to look up to anyway.

There are and always will be exceptions to every rule but I promise you most players really enjoy or don’t mind, as long as there is order, respect and some semblance of control when in public.

I generally never sign when out with my family because, believe it or not, I have some added concerns when in public and I prefer to have our eyes on our kids 24/7 and even though I feel bad about it, it’s something I try to stick to.

Players, again for the most part, are good guys. Most of us were fans before we were players and signing autographs is and can be a cool thing and a fun experience, but the most important thing is that treating us with the same respect you’d ask of anyone you didn’t know that walked up to you in public and asked you for something.

It never was a comfortable thing, always awkward (at least to me) and in certain public situations it can make others uncomfortable, but if you’re always polite it becomes very easy to tell the many great guys from the very few bad ones.

So let’s see, this year the Sox are paying two of the top three MVP candidates, and what will likely be a left-handed power No. 1 less than $10 million total. Right around 15mm or so next year for all three, less than 25mm for all three in 2011, on out until 2012. Notice that all three have their contracts staggered in ending dates as well.

So for around $110-or-so million, two lineup cornerstones and a No. 1 are locked up for the next four years at least. Club options on all three could keep them together through 2013.

Did they leave some money on the table? Absolutely not. There isn’t a penny of this money ‘left on the table’. These players bought lifetime’s of security, and the club got All-Star talent and cost certainty, as a ‘great price’. You can’t leave ‘money on the table’ for a time that hasn’t arrived yet.

I couldn’t be happier for all three guys. They are all great kids, all have fantastic work ethics and not one of them has hit his ceiling yet. Anyone looking for regression, meaningful regression, need look again. Dustin will only get better, it’s part of both he and Youk’s makeup. Jon as well. He’s so damn young as a pitcher, considering how many innings pitched he has career-wise, there’s no reason to think he can’t be a top 10 Cy guy for the life of this deal, every year. Not to mention he’s making about $23 million less than Santana this year.

Things look great for this group. I’d expect to hear Jason Bay’s name more and more in the coming weeks, as well as some discussions with Josh as the season rolls along.

Add this mix and the incredibly young, incredibly talented and deep pool of arms coming through the minor leagues and you can’t help but golf clap that Theo has delivered on his promise to rebuild this organization starting with the draft, scouting and the minor league system.

All of these things will continue to add up and be attractive to the free agents that are out there, looking. This team is poised to be a contender for the next 5 years at a minimum, and it should be fun as hell to watch.

Now cross your fingers Minnesota gets confused and doesn’t re-sign Mr. Mauer this year …

Team was made up of some pretty incredible talent. Kendall, Javy Lopez, Giambi, Garciaparra, Manny, Garrett Andersion, Sosa, Delgado, Wagner, Leiter, Hoffman, Gordon and more. I think our starting lineup in game 1 had 300+ home runs….

At the time I had no real idea, but it would prove to be the wrong decision. The team took the month of October off, and met in early November to work out and fly over.

The problem didn’t surface, for me anyway, until we got over there and walked onto the field. See prepping for something like this was much like Spring Training. We hit, we threw bullpens, but replicating the energy and adrenalin of playing in front of 50+ thousand screaming fans is impossible.

The WBC is no different in my opinion, and actually you could argue far worse. Without a season of conditioning you are tasked with ‘ramping it up’ at a time when slow methodical preparation is the norm. I’ve always felt and looked at the pre-season as a multi-layered process.

That first step is when you start long tossing.
The second step, or next ‘push’ from a physical exertion standpoint happens when you get on the mound.
Step three is batting practice.
Step four is that first spring game.
Step five is a real game.

Those steps happen rather easily right up to the last 2. Going into that first spring game for me was a huge jump in effort and energy. Live hitters, wearing different uniforms, fans in the stands.

That final step is one you just can’t ‘be ready’ for until you are truly ‘ready’. Until you’ve worked your pitch counts up, had a tough outing or two in the spring, stepping into a ML stadium full of fans ramps it to a whole new level.

Say what you want about the fact that the games ‘don’t count’ or ‘aren’t real’ but I can speak as a pitcher to the fact that those games, to me anyway, were live ‘get after it’ events.

I can’t speak to position players because their lives and their preparation are so vastly different than pitchers, but I can tell you as a pitcher that the last thing on this planet I would want to do would be to be asked to go ‘full tilt’ (and make no mistake about it, what you are seeing from them is everything they have at that point) at this incredibly early time in the season.

I said when we returned from Japan that I would never do it again. It was an awesome experience but I was as sore as I’d ever been (and ultimately wound up with a shoulder injury and was operated on, as were 3 other pitchers on the team) and I think the tour hurt my chances of being healthy immensely.

If I were, and I know I am not, a GM I would have some sort of protection in contracts prohibiting any pitchers on my 40 man roster from participating.

I completely understand the desire to get the global appeal of baseball out there, however I’m of the opinion it already is. I think it’s much more valuable to the Japanese market to have Dice pitching in October, in the World Series, than in the Baseball classic. One thing about Dice though, and Japanese pitchers in particular, is I don’t think they ever experience true ‘down time’ during the off season. It could be a completely different mind set and approach for them because for all I know (and it could certainly be the case) he shows up at spring training ready to throw 110 pitches on day 1.

It does make for good theater in some cases, but to ask ML pitchers to get lineups of the quality these countries are running out on a daily basis, at this date on the calendar, is asking for trouble when you are truly trying to win, which I think they are.

“I’m not sure if I am coming back or not, but yes, I’d definitely be interested the Cubs, and in Tampa if I did”

Became

“I’m definitely coming back and would play for the Cubs”.

I have said to no one, including myself, that I am definitely coming back, because it’s not true. However if I did, the Cubs, and Tampa, were they to need a starting pitcher for the 2nd half of the season and into October, would be 2 situations I’d be very interested in.

Little ‘misquotes’ lead to news that really isn’t news. First off a team has to want you to make anything of this sort work. I love Joe Maddon, always have, and I’d play for Lou Pinella in a heart beat.

So I’ll be clear here. If I do feel I can be better than I was in 2007, and I do decide to come back, AND either of those teams is in the market for a starting pitcher (because lets face it, both teams have what could be outstanding rotations) I would DEFINITELY be interested in both. The Cubs present as much of a cool challenge for me as the Red Sox did in 04, and Tampa has a roster of guys I’d love to play with.

Oh and for what it’s worth, that’s not an all inclusive list, those were the teams mentioned. People asking about the Sox should understand they are always a potential but this team is stacked with starting pitchers, in addition to having 2 of the better October arms in the history of the game in Josh and Smoltz (and soon to be Lester after another huge year)

2) Shonda and I have moved over 40 times, I have moved over 50, since my career started.

3) The 1 year I spent at Yavapai JC was one of my top 5 teams of all time. Definitely one of the funnest years of my life.

4) My top teammates (not all inclusive) list would start with a few names: Doug Mirabelli, Craig Counsell, Gabe Kapler, David West, Kevin Jordan, Pete Harnish, Bob Milacki, Ben McDonald, Brady Anderson, Todd Pratt, Jason Varitek, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Mike Lowell, David Ortiz, Bill Mueller, Dustin Pedroia, Jeff Bagwell, Ken Caminiti, Greg Swindell, Dan Plesac, Brandon Webb, Todd Stottlemyre, Greg Colbrunn, Tony Womack, Mickey Morandini, Lenny Dykstra, Dave Hollins. Many more but that’s where it would start

5) Most incredible win I’ve ever been a part of? Elimination game to go to the JC World Series. Brian Deak hit a 2 run HR with 2 outs, bottom of the ninth, down 1 vs. Pima CC.

Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS-Knowing that game was over from about the 3rd inning on and that I was part of a team that had done something that no other team in baseball history had accomplished

Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. From World Series Goat to World Champion in about 3 minutes…

6) Most heart wrenching loss? PV East LL Championship game to go to LL World Series. 2 outs, bottom of the 7th, up 1, bases loaded. Ground ball to me, throw home for first out, throw to first is overthrown when runner slides into Mike Niles, our catcher, ball sails into Right Field and Dan Hale, the opposing pitcher, scores all the way from first to eliminate us…

Losing 5-4 to the Mets, in 1998 I think, after entering the 9th with a 4 hit shutout. I gave up ALL 5 RUNS in the bottom of the night to lose the game. Jon Olerud came up with 2 outs, bases loaded, Lieberthal comes out, asks me what I want to throw, I reply “I have nothing to make him swing and miss, so I don’t care, I’ll throw what you put down”, a fast ball away later, game over. First pitcher in like 50 years to blow that sort of lead on my own… So proud!

Game 5 of the 2001 World Series. Just couldn’t believe BK could have that happen 2 nights in a row.

7) Most dominating offensive player I ever played with? Manny Ramirez, not even a close second

Most dominating offensive Season I ever watched in person? Either Luis Gonzales in 2001 or David in 2004. Luis’ April was the most dominating month I have ever seen. David had a year that will be hard to match as far as clutch goes.

9) Most dominating pitcher and season? Same guy. RJ in 2001 and 2002 outlined HOF to me. Every 5th day I was on the edge of my seat not able to comprehend what I might see. His 20k night was incredible, made more incredible by him getting a No-Decision. Made worse by the fact I had to go out and try and top whatever he did the next day.

9a) Most dominating post season by a pitcher? Keith Foulke in 2004. I still think it’s the most underrated performance in history. He was the MVP of every single series in our minds, hands down. Took the ball every night and did it as well as humanly possible.

10) Best “Team” I ever played on? 1993 Phillies or the 2004 Sox. Both teams came to the park and knew we were going to win. The 93 team had more swagger than any team I was ever part of. The 04 team took on an “Us against the world” mentality and honestly used it for the entire season.

11) Hitters I hated to face: Mark Lemke, Delino Deshields, Lance Berkman, Todd Helton

12) Hitters I didn’t mind seeing at the plate: Andres Galaragga, Todd Hollandsworth, Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Gonzo, Sosa, McGwire, Bonds

13) Players I want my sons to emulate: Scott Rolen, Jason Varitek, Bill Mueller, Craig Counsell, David Eckstein

14) Favorite Coaches: Brian Butterfield (all time favorite) Johnny Podres, Robin Yount, Jim Presley, Dale Sveum, Terry Francona, Dave Wallace, Mark Connor, Bob Welch, John Vuckovich (my 2nd dad), Art Howe, Bob Cluck, Demarlo Hale, Dave Magadan, Bob Melvin, Chuck Cottier, Dave Dangler, Mike McQuaid, Walt Mcconnell, Dick Bosman, Bill Lemoncelli, Dick Beradino. There’s more but all I can name right now (And HOLY CRAP! I left off one that would no doubt be in my all time top 5, hands down! John Farrell!! Sorry Shre…. Err John!)….

15) I started carrying a laptop in the early 90s, before it was ‘in’, and got no shortage of stares from Macho Row.

16) I left for the ballpark exactly 6 hours before the first pitch of any game I pitched. I started pre-game warm ups/stretching exactly 2 hours and 30 minutes before the first pitch. Dugout 55 minutes before. Bullpen 38 minutes before. Sprints 25 minutes before and first toss at 20 minutes before every game I started the past 15 years.

17) I have never been more focused or locked in than the 2001 post season.

18) The Cards/Dbacks NLDS is, imo, one of the most overlooked and underrated post season series ever.

19) After 216 wins, 11 more in October, the game I for some reason am most proud of is the 2007 start in Oakland. After all the hub-bub over losing the no-no with 2 outs in the ninth I didn’t care. I’d started a game on the heels of a 4 game losing streak, and thrown a shut out. That was far more important to me than anything. I think it had to do with how hard that entire year was, how hard each start was to just get to the mound.

20) My most memorable inning? Two really. 1) The ninth inning of game 1 of the NLDS, having to get three outs in game 1 to win 1-0. Watching Edmonds ground out to Gracie and squeezing the life out of him. 2) Bottom of the 5th inning, I think it was 1997. Facing Kevin Brown in Philadelphia. My first ‘tie my shoes’ moment. I walked the bases loaded on about 11 strikes thanks to Gary Darling going temporarily blind. I stepped off the mound and bent over to tie my shoes. I said to myself “Self, you have two options, throw in the towel and piss this one away (because Brown was just filthy that year) or nut up, focus and empty the tank right here, right now.” I went 3-0 on the next three hitters, K’d Hundley, K’d Hollandsworth and Beltre grounded out to end the inning. We scored 6 in the top of the next inning to rout them. I started using ‘tie my shoe’ moments from that day on to compose myself.

Really?

Hey, pro, don’t want to be a role model? It’s not your choice.
by Rick Reilly

This is a story I want to tell ALL athletes who think that what they do, how they act, the little kindnesses they give or withhold from fans don’t matter.

It’ll take only a minute. …

To read the entire story, click here.

545 PEOPLE
By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY
do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we
have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does. You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don’t write the tax
code, Congress does. You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the
Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a
federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority.
They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking
thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to
accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to
determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their
fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal
human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of
the House? The leader of the majority party. He/She and fellow House members, not the president,
can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they
agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand
convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single
domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain
truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what
exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it’s because they want them in IRAQ.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people,
it’s because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can
abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the
power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into
the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like ‘the economy,’ ‘inflation,’ or ‘politics’
that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses

Charlie Reese is a former columnist of the Orlando Sentinel Newspaper.

What you do with this article now that you have read it is up to you, though you appear to have
several choices.
1. You can send this to everyone in your address book, and hope’ they’ do something about it.
2. You can agree to ‘vote against’ everyone that is currently in office, knowing that the process
will take several years.
3. You can decide to ‘run for office’ yourself and agree to do the job properly.
4. Lastly, you can sit back and do nothing, or re-elect the current bunch.

This is not a new issue or one our generation has created. It’s been a part of our culture and our society far longer than many would like to believe.

You can read it here…

When you see a signing like this you can’t help but think where the game must be economically.

Not that we don’t already know it’s just a staggeringly bad time for this country but a signing like this, on this date, is a clear indication of how far things have gone.

Brian Butterfield, in addition to being a dear friend and one of my favorite coaches of all time, knows baseball. When Orlando was first in Toronto I asked Butter about most of their players, often more than once. Over the course of the season Orlando was a guy Butter thought highly of, and as the season went on, that opinion rose.

Described as a defensive ‘game changer’ Orlando brought a swagger and a chatterbox to the field not many young players did. As a pitcher I won’t lie, it was annoying, but the kid played, played hard, and was damn good to boot.

This, and there will be a few others, signing is one that won’t get the ink it should, but could have a very significant impact on the NL West this season. A division that is already very tight can swing with the signing of just one player, especially one of Orlando’s caliber.

I cannot seem to find the archived article, but here is a link to a story in the LA Times that referenced one example, this one about my manager at the time, Buck Showalter.

I took issue with the piece due to the immense number of flat-out lies in it. First off, we weren’t required to wear our socks with the “A” showing. We did fraternize with opposing players before games. Buck didn’t do much of the stuff Pedro claimed at the time the article was written. The article alleged some off-the-field personal conduct issues that Pedro had ‘heard’ about. This made him, in my mind, one of the worst forms of life in the media, someone who used his pen to settle a personal score. After the article was written, I vividly remember walking out of the clubhouse and seeing Buck’s daughter in tears after that game.

So I ‘talked’ to him about it and we agreed we just didn’t like each other. Much like CHB, he made reference to the fact that he’d written ‘nice things’ about me when I was traded to Arizona, as if that made it all OK, and that he should be able to slander teammates and coaches I played with because of it.

Now Buck was no saint. He’ll admit that, and all that goes with that. But I loved playing for him. He was always prepared and never out-managed in a game.

I bring all this up to make sure people understand that Pedro and I have never been real friends.

Why write this now? Here’s why. I am reading ESPN tonight and I happen to see that he’s actually written something someone there deems worthy of print. It’s on A-Rod (surprise), and deep in the article is this comment….

How can I be certain of who has and who hasn’t used PEDs? Obviously, I cannot be 100 percent certain. But the beauty baseball possesses over any other sport is its visual splendor. It’s the only sport with which you can trust your eyes.

Most know what we watched from the early 1990s until the mid-2000s was shady. Those sudden spikes in home runs, RBIs, batting average and miles per hour from pitchers had all of us whispering at the time.

Wow, just wow.

During the 2001 season, in the clubhouse, Pedro and I got into a shouting match about players and steroids. In the middle of the discussion he uttered this statement:

“I personally know of at least three, and more likely four guys on this team that are using steroids.”

Whoa… What?

I asked him how the hell he could “know” that. He said he knew, “people” had told him. I asked him what “people.” He said, “People.” I pushed and asked, “Players?” He said, “Let’s just leave it at people.”

I often times thought of sharing this story with someone from the media just to call Pedro out and see if he denied ever saying what he said to me. In the end it wasn’t worth the time or the effort.

But now this man is going to act as if he was a ‘victim’ of the same thing we all were? Worse yet, so many of these writers and media members are standing on the tallest mountain shouting to anyone who will listen how wrong all of this is, how bad all of it is, and how dare we players sat by idly and did nothing.

These men were privy to the same scenes we were on a daily basis. They saw us dress, and undress, they rolled their eyes the very same way many players did at the guy who ‘worked his ass off’ when he’d really ‘worked his ass on’ and put on astronomical muscle mass in 4 short months.

They saw hitters go from 18 to 40 home runs, pitchers go from 88 to 90mph, to 95-97mph yet we’re the ones who put our heads in the sand? Weren’t these the men and women with the power of the pen?

(For a player it’s far harder than many think to conclude that guy used PEDs. Not every player who increased his velocity by 5mph or hits 20 more HRs cheats. It’s hard, it’s a challenge, but it can be done, some players have and will continue to do that and they’ll do that clean.)

Hell, Pedro said that he KNEW players who did it for a fact. That makes him 100% more informed about users than I am, or ever was. I suspected, I certainly had my own ideas, but I never knew for a fact that ANYONE used steroids or HGH unless they came out since and admitted it.

What makes Pedro, or any member of the media that was so intent on heaping glory and praise on all things Bonds, McGwire, Sosa and others for ’saving the game’ of baseball in 1997 and 1998, any less culpable?

Make no mistake about it, players cared far more and were far louder than people know. One thing that has come out often in the past weeks is Rick Helling and his consistency in bringing up the steroid issue at every player meeting I was ever in. Rick was adamant about implementation of testing and was never shy in saying so.

In Arizona we openly discussed, as a team, not taking the random tests to intentionally fail and insure that we’d exceed the threshold needed to implement testing. I am not sure if any players actually did it, but there was talk on many clubs of doing just that.

In the end it does fall on us, the players, for not acting sooner. It’s not the union leaders’ faults, regardless of what some people think. At 21 or 22 or older, you’re a grown man accountable for each and every one of your own actions.

But please spare me the daily media insistence on lambasting anyone and everyone in the game for this PED nightmare, while at the same time giving a free pass to journalists. It’s as if they are standing on the sideline looking out on the field and saying, “Wow, I can’t believe what you guys have done to the game.”

There are some who bear every bit as much accountability in this as the innocent players who ‘didn’t speak out’ and ‘turn over’ on their teammates and fellow players.

So Much For Hope Over Fear

By Charles Krauthammer
“A failure to act, and act now, will turn crisis into a catastrophe.”
– President Obama, Feb. 4.

WASHINGTON — Catastrophe, mind you. So much for the president who in his inaugural address two weeks earlier declared “we have chosen hope over fear.” Until, that is, you need fear to pass a bill.

And so much for the promise to banish the money changers and influence peddlers from the temple. An ostentatious executive order banning lobbyists was immediately followed by the nomination of at least a dozen current or former lobbyists to high position. Followed by a Treasury secretary who allegedly couldn’t understand the payroll tax provisions in his 1040. Followed by Tom Daschle, who had to fall on his sword according to the new Washington rule that no Cabinet can have more than one tax delinquent.

The Daschle affair was more serious because his offense involved more than taxes. As Michael Kinsley once observed, in Washington the real scandal isn’t what’s illegal, but what’s legal. Not paying taxes is one thing. But what made this case intolerable was the perfectly legal dealings that amassed Daschle $5.2 million in just two years.

He’d been getting $1 million per year from a law firm. But he’s not a lawyer, nor a registered lobbyist. You don’t get paid this kind of money to instruct partners on the Senate markup process. You get it for picking up the phone and peddling influence.

At least Tim Geithner, the tax-challenged Treasury secretary, had been working for years as a humble international civil servant earning non-stratospheric wages. Daschle, who had made another cool million a year (plus chauffeur and Caddy) for unspecified services to a pal’s private equity firm, represented everything Obama said he’d come to Washington to upend.

And yet more damaging to Obama’s image than all the hypocrisies in the appointment process is his signature bill: the stimulus package. He inexplicably delegated the writing to Nancy Pelosi and the barons of the House. The product, which inevitably carries Obama’s name, was not just bad, not just flawed, but a legislative abomination.

It’s not just pages and pages of special-interest tax breaks, giveaways and protections, one of which would set off a ruinous Smoot-Hawley trade war. It’s not just the waste, such as the $88.6 million for new construction for Milwaukee Public Schools, which, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, have shrinking enrollment, 15 vacant schools and, quite logically, no plans for new construction.

It’s the essential fraud of rushing through a bill in which the normal rules (committee hearings, finding revenue to pay for the programs) are suspended on the grounds that a national emergency requires an immediate job-creating stimulus — and then throwing into it hundreds of billions that have nothing to do with stimulus, that Congress’ own budget office says won’t be spent until 2011 and beyond, and that are little more than the back-scratching, special-interest, lobby-driven parochialism that Obama came to Washington to abolish. He said.

Not just to abolish but to create something new — a new politics where the moneyed pork-barreling and corrupt logrolling of the past would give way to a bottom-up, grass-roots participatory democracy. That is what made Obama so dazzling and new. Turns out the “fierce urgency of now” includes $150 million for livestock insurance.

The Age of Obama begins with perhaps the greatest frenzy of old-politics influence peddling ever seen in Washington. By the time the stimulus bill reached the Senate, reports The Wall Street Journal, pharmaceutical and high-tech companies were lobbying furiously for a new plan to repatriate overseas profits that would yield major tax savings. California wine growers and Florida citrus producers were fighting to change a single phrase in one provision. Substituting “planted” for “ready to market” would mean a windfall garnered from a new “bonus depreciation” incentive.

After Obama’s miraculous 2008 presidential campaign, it was clear that at some point the magical mystery tour would have to end. The nation would rub its eyes and begin to emerge from its reverie. The hallucinatory Obama would give way to the mere mortal. The great ethical transformations promised would be seen as a fairy tale that all presidents tell — and that this president told better than anyone.

I thought the awakening would take six months. It took two and a half weeks.

Bogus Bush Bashing

Anyone would think we had just elected a hip, skinny and youthful replacement for God, with a plan to modernize Heaven and Hell – or that at the very least John Lennon had come back from the dead.

The swooning frenzy over the choice of Barack Obama as President of the United States must be one of the most absurd waves of self-deception and swirling fantasy ever to sweep through an advanced civilization. At least Mandela-worship – its nearest equivalent – is focused on a man who actually did something.

I really don’t see how the Obama devotees can ever in future mock the Moonies, the Scientologists or people who claim to have been abducted in flying saucers. This is a cult like the one which grew up around Princess Diana, bereft of reason and hostile to facts.

It already has all the signs of such a thing. The newspapers which recorded Obama’s victory have become valuable relics. You may buy Obama picture books and Obama calendars and if there isn’t yet a children’s picture version of his story, there soon will be.

Proper books, recording his sordid associates, his cowardly voting record, his astonishingly militant commitment to unrestricted abortion and his blundering trip to Africa, are little-read and hard to find.

If you can believe that this undistinguished and conventionally Left-wing machine politician is a sort of secular saviour, then you can believe anything. He plainly doesn’t believe it himself. His cliche-stuffed, PC clunker of an acceptance speech suffered badly from nerves. It was what you would expect from someone who knew he’d promised too much and that from now on the easy bit was over.

He needn’t worry too much. From now on, the rough boys and girls of America’s Democratic Party apparatus, many recycled from Bill Clinton’s stained and crumpled entourage, will crowd round him, to collect the rich spoils of his victory and also tell him what to do, which is what he is used to.

Just look at his sermon by the shores of Lake Michigan. He really did talk about a ‘new dawn’, and a ‘timeless creed’ (which was ‘yes, we can’). He proclaimed that ‘change has come’. He revealed that, despite having edited the Harvard Law Review, he doesn’t know what ‘enormity’ means. He reached depths of oratorical drivel never even plumbed by our own Mr Blair, burbling about putting our hands on the arc of history (or was it the ark of history?) and bending it once more toward the hope of a better day (Don’t try this at home).

I am not making this up. No wonder that awful old hack Jesse Jackson sobbed as he watched. How he must wish he, too, could get away with this sort of stuff.

And it was interesting how the President-elect failed to lift his admiring audience by repeated – but rather hesitant – invocations of the brainless slogan he was forced by his minders to adopt against his will – ‘Yes, we can’. They were supposed to thunder ‘Yes, we can!’ back at him, but they just wouldn’t join in. No wonder. Yes we can what exactly? Go home and keep a close eye on the tax rate, is my advice. He’d have been better off bursting into ‘I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony’ which contains roughly the same message and might have attracted some valuable commercial sponsorship.

Perhaps, being a Chicago crowd, they knew some of the things that 52.5 per cent of America prefers not to know. They know Obama is the obedient servant of one of the most squalid and unshakeable political machines in America. They know that one of his alarmingly close associates, a state-subsidised slum landlord called Tony Rezko, has been convicted on fraud and corruption charges.

They also know the US is just as segregated as it was before Martin Luther King – in schools, streets, neighbourhoods, holidays, even in its TV-watching habits and its choice of fast-food joint. The difference is that it is now done by unspoken agreement rather than by law.

If Mr Obama’s election had threatened any of that, his feel-good white supporters would have scuttled off and voted for John McCain, or practically anyone. But it doesn’t. Mr Obama, thanks mainly to the now-departed grandmother he alternately praised as a saint and denounced as a racial bigot, has the huge advantages of an expensive private education. He did not have to grow up in the badlands of useless schools, shattered families and gangs which are the lot of so many young black men of his generation.

If the nonsensical claims made for this election were true, then every positive discrimination programme aimed at helping black people into jobs they otherwise wouldn’t get should be abandoned forthwith. Nothing of the kind will happen. On the contrary, there will probably be more of them.

And if those who voted for Obama were all proving their anti-racist nobility, that presumably means that those many millions who didn’t vote for him were proving themselves to be hopeless bigots. This is obviously untrue.
barack obama

Yes we can what?: Barack Obama ran on the ticket of change

I was in Washington DC the night of the election. America’s beautiful capital has a sad secret. It is perhaps the most racially divided city in the world, with 15th Street – which runs due north from the White House – the unofficial frontier between black and white. But, like so much of America, it also now has a new division, and one which is in many ways much more important. I had attended an election-night party in a smart and liberal white area, but was staying the night less than a mile away on the edge of a suburb where Spanish is spoken as much as English, plus a smattering of tongues from such places as Ethiopia, Somalia and Afghanistan.

As I walked, I crossed another of Washington’s secret frontiers. There had been a few white people blowing car horns and shouting, as the result became clear. But among the Mexicans, Salvadorans and the other Third World nationalities, there was something like ecstasy.

They grasped the real significance of this moment. They knew it meant that America had finally switched sides in a global cultural war. Forget the Cold War, or even the Iraq War. The United States, having for the most part a deeply conservative people, had until now just about stood out against many of the mistakes which have ruined so much of the rest of the world.

Suspicious of welfare addiction, feeble justice and high taxes, totally committed to preserving its own national sovereignty, unabashedly Christian in a world part secular and part Muslim, suspicious of the Great Global Warming panic, it was unique.

These strengths had been fading for some time, mainly due to poorly controlled mass immigration and to the march of political correctness. They had also been weakened by the failure of America’s conservative party – the Republicans – to fight on the cultural and moral fronts.

They preferred to posture on the world stage. Scared of confronting Left-wing teachers and sexual revolutionaries at home, they could order soldiers to be brave on their behalf in far-off deserts. And now the US, like Britain before it, has begun the long slow descent into the Third World. How sad. Where now is our last best hope on Earth?

I was also forwarded a quote I found a bit more than disturbing.

“Owners of capital will stimulate working class to buy more and more of expensive goods, houses and technology, pushing them to take more and more expensive credits, until their debt becomes unbearable. The unpaid debt will lead to bankruptcy of banks, which will have to be nationalized, and State will have to take the road which will eventually lead to communism”
Karl Marx from “Das Kapital”
1867

It doesn’t make him any less guilty, any less accountable or any less of a Yankee (subtle Yankee jab) but it’s refreshing as hell to see someone say “I f’d up, I made a mistake and I’ll have to deal with it”. He’s fricking human, he made a horrible choice and he’ll have to deal with it.

Do whatever you want, speculate on whatever you want but the guy ‘manned up’, admitted his mistake, that’s enough for me. Nothing we can do about it at this point but move on as fans and players.

I still believe the names of all the positives should be released. That the media chose to only ‘out’ him is a crime in and of itself.

I also believe someone, or many someone’s at the MLBPA should be fired , right now, today, for failure to follow the protocols and procedures outlined in the testing agreement. Same for the MLB offices.

And if it is true, and someone or more than someone at the MLBPA was giving advance notice to players of testing, that in and of itself should cost them their jobs.

This whole situation stinks to high heaven but it’s completely wrong that one guy is being held out there for everyone to pencil whip, flat out wrong.

In a December 2007 interview with ‘60 Minutes,’ three days after George Mitchell’s report on drugs in the sport was released, Rodriguez denied using peformance-enhancing drugs.

… the answer should be “No, never”, period.

Starting with this:

“I’ve never felt overmatched on the baseball field … I felt that if I did my, my work as I’ve done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn’t have a problem competing at any level.” — Alex Rodriguez.

Which, btw, is not a “No, never!” all the way to “Yes”. Anything other than “I have never used Steroids, HGH or any other performance enhancing drugs” has to be considered a “Yes”, doesn’t it?

ADDENDUM!!! I made the horrific mistake I was forever pissed at the media for making and I want to apologize. Alex did in fact flat out deny ever using Steroids, or HGH in this interview and with Katie Couric by saying “NO, I never used them”. I’ll now take a page from my own book and never pull comments or content from a ‘published’ media source and use that as my reference material. So in closing, Alex did in fact flat out deny ever using PED’s in any form.

“You’ll have to talk to the union” and ‘failed to return inquiries’ are terms we’ve all heard before with many folks. If you go back to comments earlier in the decade when many players were complaining about the testing — I know I said it — the main concern was the ability for them to remain “anonymous”.

That’s a very insignificant piece here until someone who is actually innocent is nailed or outed. How will we know who that is? Will it happen?

I’d be all for the 104 positives being named, and the game moving on if that is at all possible. In my opinion, if you don’t do that, then the other 600-700 players are going to be guilty by association, forever.

It’s not about good and bad people, because Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi are two of the kindest human beings ever. Andy Pettite is a fantastic person. That’s seemingly got nothing to do with anything. One hundred and four players made the wrong decision, and it appears that not only was it 104, but three of the greatest of our, or any, generation appear to be on top of this list.

And before anyone asks, I’ll make it clear: My name will not appear on any lists of positive tests. I’ve never tested positive for steroids or HGH, and I’ve never taken steroids or HGH in my life, ever. You don’t need to call the union, or an agent to verify that.

RELATED LINKS:

A-Rod Reportedly Tested Positive For Steroids

Audio: Jose Canseco talking about Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez (4:32 mark talks about introducing A-Rod to a steroid dealer)

Guttenplan: A-Rod Falls Not So Hard

LEEINKS: More Audio … And A Korean Baseball “Fight”

Audio: Sherman: Roberts Writing Book On A-Rod

One person I’ve been friends with since before I came into the industry and who’s actually become a better friends since, is Peter Moore of EA Sports. Peter has his own blog, and his own blemishes. His blog is here. and if you like console sports games he’s the man.

First off unlike many people in this industry he’s honest to a fault. He’s passionate about his company, his products and unlike so many folks that high on the totem pole his customers matter. He’s talks to them through his blog and in talking to him I know he listens.

There’s a good story here though. About a year ago Todd McFarlane and our executive staff were at EA having a meeting about a future potential partnership. Peter made an off handed comment that went something like this.

“Oh I could kick a 50 yard field goal”

Now normally I might let that pass….Well no, I actually would never let that pass. Having known him awhile I responded with “Bullshit, no chance”.

An immediate ‘discussion’ ensued. The best ‘business decision’ might have been to let this all pass, but like many other times in my career when shutting up was the prudent course of action, I didn’t.

Well needless to say the conversation eventually ended up with a ‘put your money where your mouth is” ultimatum.

I should also mention Peter was a damn good soccer player for most of his life, and is a Liverpool fan. Oh and more importantly, Peter is a die hard, dyed in the wool member of Sox Nation. Even ‘commuting’ to Sox games when he worked at Microsoft in Seattle.

Well Todd picked up on this and later in the day, during the meeting, Peter and I were off chatting, Todd got to work and came up with this masterpiece…

That is what's about to happen, in real life!

So Peter comes back, and we all have a good laugh.

The bet becomes somewhat public, not sure how, but as of today peter is (from what I am told by his trusty assistant Tana Billingsley) 7 yards short of his mark.

Normally I’d gloat, but the fact that this guy, at his age, has kicked even a 43 yarder is incredible!

Suffice to say my boys are playing EA games, all of them to date, at a much cheaper price than they otherwise might have been. If Peter does manage to make this happen expect a lengthy and drawn out 38 Pitches blog post about English Futbol at some point…

Keep kicking Pete! And Go MANCHESTER!!

In addition, Jacob’s parents have started a foundation that can be found here. www.kidsvcancer.com

I sincerely appreciate any and all of you that check out the site and contribute time or money to them to assist in raising funds, and awareness.

Thanks

Curt

Starting to mess around with some old hobbies. Had an affinity for model railroading that my dad gave me when I was young, which has been fun. Also playing a lot of different new, and older games. There are a few I am hooked on right now, but the one eating most of my time is this! which, btw, you can download from Valve. Valve will soon be the way to get every game you want. Why drive to the mall or store, or order online, when you can get it cheaper, and immediately via a download service?

“>Also into this facebook thing. It gets addicting. Getting all my photos up and connecting with family all over the world is pretty cool. For you parents of teenagers, it’s a fantastic way to ’snoop’ and keep abreast of what they are up to.

Two other cool links are Twitter and Flickr.

On Twitter and Flickr I am under gehrig38. Twitter is an instant messaging service you can follow friends on, a mobile instant messenger really, and Flickr is a free photo holding site you can upload photos to store for use around the web. Both of the sites you can control access to who can and cannot view your pages and material. Very cool stuff.

As far as baseball goes, I have taken the reins of the All Time Greats Pittsburgh Pirate Team here.

Off to a 16-6 start riding a hot Willie Stargell to a one-game lead over the Brooklyn Dodgers.

The league is being managed by some diehards and there are some cool blog reports on the league action so far. I only just heard about Musial going down:) Poor Cards …

Life has afforded me about a million times more than I deserve, and last night was another occasion. Shonda, Garrison, Gehrig and his friends, Joey, Arthur and Henry, and Joey’s dad, and I ventured down to Tampa courtesy of some deft work by Katie Leighton and the Rooney family.

I mean really, I was hopefully one of many dads allowed to have a moment like this yesterday…

Welcome to Steeler Nation little man!

I’ve known Joanne Rooney almost 10 years. In addition to being married to the family that runs the greatest franchise in sports history, she’s an incredibly kind and philanthropic woman. She’s given immense time and money to ALS over the past decade and has always been a dear friend to our family.

We arrived in Tampa early enough to get to our seats and watch the teams warm up, and the pre-game ceremonies.

To get the important stuff out of the way first there is this: The Steelers won their sixth Super Bowl (2nd in 4 years) when 15 NFL teams have yet to win one. Five teams in the NFL have never even BEEN to the Super Bowl … 

(And for you bandwagon screamers out there, my father was born and raised in Somerset, PA, so I was raised a Pirates and Steelers fan. Stopped being a Pirates fan in January 1986, but will die a Steeler fan.)

Also, a tip of the hat to the Cardinals, Kurt Warner, Larry Fitzgerald, all of them. They played their asses off and gave the NFL and the world a fantastic game. Having been on that side of a world championship I know it doesn’t mean a whole lot, but they did Arizona and the NFL proud last night. He goes 31-for-43 for 377 yards and 3 TD’s vs. that defense is pretty damn unreal. Larry Fitzgerald? On a level all by himself. He’s just unreal.

I was a bit shocked at the Cardinals winning the toss and giving up the ball first. Yes, there is strategy to having the ball at the start of the 2nd half and I am sure they knew what they were doing, but I was thinking that winning the toss they’d have chosen to get Warner onto the field ASAP and get their offense warm early. I thought the Cards would have the ball first no matter who won the toss. Thinking the Steelers would happily give them first crack to get their defense on the field and stop them three and out and create that tidal wave of momentum. They won, and they gave the Steelers first dibs. In hindsight it turned out to be a nice momentum shifter for them when the stopped Big Ben on the 3rd and Goal forcing a FG, when everyone, I think, felt that the drive was so well orchestrated and moved so easliy, they’d have seven in quick fashion.

Cut to the end of the first quarter and three things came to mind:

1. The Steelers flat out DOMINATED the first quarter. It wasn’t even close. That it was only 3-0 was more than a little troublesome to me. Allowing the Cards to hold the ball only three minutes or so and seemingly driving up an down the field at will, the game should have been on its way to a blow out. The Cardinals’ defense came up huge in the red zone. Tip of the cap to instant replay as well. I thought from the shots that Ben clearly was down before crossing the plane.

2. He started 9 of 11, and I think 10 of 12, for nice yardage, but I felt like literally every completion was a very high percentage short dump. When Ben went up top, the two incompletions could have easily been picked off. His stats said great, but I didn’t feel like he was throwing all that well.

3. I wondered for the past two weeks about one, to me anyway, very important storyline. These are pro athletes. Not only that, but NFL football players. For two weeks the Cardinals had to listen to “The Steelers are going to kick their ass”, “The Steelers are far too tough”, “The Steelers are going to pound them into the ground” and I wondered how that would play out. I was worried it would amp up and energize Arizona. It appeared to me to actually hurt Arizona a TON. I thought they tried so hard to be ‘tough’ and ‘bad ass’ that they lost focus and discipline, trying to prove how tough they were, and that resulted in MASSIVELY game-changing penalties for them. Roughing penalties, fighting, all things I would imagine you’d bust your butt to NOT have that happen in a game of this magnitude.

The second quarter saw some very good football and when Fitz caught the pass over the middle and busted in for the TD, capping an 83-yard, seemingly very easy drive, I started to realize my first half concerns. First off the thought that maybe this guy couldn’t be stopped. But more importantly if Warner found a groove it could be a tougher game than imagined. He did find a groove too, but alls well that ends well.

The last 18 seconds will go down as arguably one of the biggest plays, and turnarounds, in NFL history. I was sure the BEST we could get out of this was a 10-10 tie and that made me queasy. If the Steelers could play this well, and NOT be up big, much less tied or down, they could lose this game. The sin of all sins gets committed though, and Warner throws a pick DEEP in the red zone. I think like every other Steeler fan I was ecstatic, but 18 seconds later I was euphoric.

So in what can only be described as the worst, absolute worst, possible result thinkable by Arizona, it happens. The game goes from potentially 14-10 up, or 10-10 tie, to down 17-7 at half. The play itself was mind numbing. How on earth Harrison doesn’t get A) tackled or B) pushed out of bounds, for 100 yards is beyond me. I know it’s not easy to tackle someone of that girth, but damn.

The halftime show featured the Boss and he was very good. Always great to hear talent sound the same in real life, even after what seems like 70 some years of performing.

The Boss stirring up Tampa!

The 3rd quarter started nicely for the Cards, James nets 19 on 3 carries but a crucial 3rd down fumble turned no fumble gets them to pin Pittsburgh at the 18. Ben then runs another clock sucking drive, 79 yards to the Cardinal 3 and they come up huge again. The three huge plays on this drive were all Arizona created though. A facemask, roughing the passer and what I thought would be a game ending unecessary roughness call on a 4th down FG attempt gave the Steelmen the ball, 1st and goal at the 4. They stop the Steelers on 3 straight to give them a FG, on what should have been, to me, a sure fire TD.

Both teams trade drives for no scores into the 4th quarter. When Warner hit Fitzgerald with 7:41 to go I turned to Gates and said, “Remember when I said the one thing I didn’t want was for the Cardinals to hang around and be within a score of the lead in the last half of the 4th quarter?”.

He smiles, I don’t. I was dreading this. Against some teams sure, I would be more than happy at this situation, but when you’re facing a Warner, with a Boldin and Fitzgerald duo to throw to, I can think of a bunch of reasons to be worried.

I didn’t see any issues though, as long as the Steelers could muster at least a FG. A two possession game with that little time left was a lock in my mind. Obviously that couldn’t happen, that would have been too easy.

Three and out and Warner has the ball again. A dumb-ass penalty on Taylor gives the Cards the ball in Pittsburgh territory and now I’m sweating. On 2nd down Breston nets 23 yards and now it’s going to be ugly. On first down though, a HUGE holding call puts Az out of Rackers range and in my mind forces the Cards to approach the series much differently, going from 1st and 2nd and 10, to 1st, 2nd and 3rd and 20. Three straight incompletes and the Cards punt. Special teams is like baseball bullpens. You cannot win without a good one and good ones come up big at big times, which they did. They pin the Steelers on what looks like the 1/2 inch line.

I’m thinking, damn, a safety right here would suck beyond words …

An incomplete pass on, if I remember right, what was a very catchable ball by Ward, and a stuffed run put it at 3rd and 10. Ben hits Holmes on as incredibly beautiful a timing route as I’ve ever seen, and ridiculously clutch I might add, and I am going ape! I see a flag? Oh crap. Please don’t be against Pittsburgh. Holding, safety, oh damn …

Short of a pick returned for a TD right there, which might have even been better since they’d have the ball, they get penalized on the one-yard of field you can’t get penalized no, suck up a safety AND have to punt.

Hmm, OK, no problem. Now is the time for the most famous defense in history to step up, in the biggest game right? Sure? Maybe?

Five seconds after the ball leaves Berger’s foot on the free kick, Warner hits that damn Fitzgerald guy over the middle, short left, and he goes from first to sixth gear in two steps …

Sixty-four yards later my Steelers are now LOSING Super Bowl XLIII, and there’s only 2:37 of clock left. OK, they might lose? Huh? How in the hell did we get here?

Big Ben has got to drive this team 78, no wait … let’s throw in a first down holding penalty … now 88 yards in 2:24. I am a fan, I love Ben and have had the pleasure of meeting him. Fantastic kid and very nice guy to boot. Ben is not by any stretch of imagination a ‘pure passer’, never has been. That worries me because the next two minutes or so are going to be scripted completely through the air.

Color me stupid, disloyal, faithless, whatever you want, because over the next one minute and 42 seconds he does his best Montana, Elway, Brady, all in one. Hitting Holmes four times and Washington once, the Steelers and the nation of Terrible Towels find themselves on the Cards six yard line after what was likely the second biggest play of the game when Santonio rambled 40 yards on a short flat pass to the right!! Could this really be happening?????

On 1st and 6 he puts the ball in the back left corner in what appears to be a badly thrown ball from where I sit. Replays actually show he did lead a little much but the ball goes through Holmes’ hands. I am guessing too long is far safer than too short there?

On 2nd and 6 they pretty much do the same thing, opposite side, and doing his best Moss impression Holmes makes a couple million Steeler fans leap for joy with a fantastic grab and even better ’stay in’ by keeping what had to be the bottom 1/1000 of his toes inside the lines. TD!!!

Did I just actually see what I think I just saw? As clutch a drive in as clutch a situation as he’ll ever be in, no matter how long he plays the game, and the guy was pretty much perfect.

Extra-point is good and the Cards get the ball on their 23 with 29 seconds to go. Short of some miracle it’s over. Sure enough, 33 yards later and Warner is sitting at the Steeler 44. WAAAAAAAY too close to the end zone for a team with Larry Fitzgerald waiting to leap 60 inches in the air and swipe destiny from my Steelers.

BUT … it is not to be. Lamarr Woodley gets his third tackle of the game, jarring the ball loose and recovering the ensuing fumble. He instantly becomes my favorite person born in Saginaw, Michgan, as well as Wolverine alumni!

What a fantastic game and a fantastic event. The NFL should be proud, they did a heck of a job. I thought the MVP could have gone to a few different guys but it’s nice to see a kid we’ve had high hopes for breakout and become a star in the biggest game of his life. Ben could have easily won the MVP in my mind as well, 21 of 30 for 256 with a TD and a pick (a ‘goof’ pick too, tipped ball that could have landed in anyones hands) and he engineered a drive that will go down in Super Bowl history.

Harrison had just 3 tackles and an assist, and winning the MVP on a single play is hard to justify, but if there was ever going to be someone that did, this was it. That play will be shown alongside Franco Harris’ immaculate reception for the rest of eternity.

But Holmes, with 9 catches for 131 yards and the Super Bowl winning TD is a great choice. 4 catches for 77 yards on the final 88 yard drive were something to behold. The 40 yarder to get to the Cardinal 6 was the game.

It’s all over, the Steelers take home ring No. 6. Congratulations to the Rooney family, who’ve always taken care of their team and the fans with an unbridled passion for Steeler football. Staying ‘Old School’ all these years (what other team REFUSES to have cheerleaders? That’s old school!!) and staying true to the Steeler way set forth by Coach Noll and his roster of HOF players in the 70’s.

Here’s a few pics from the game:

Yes, folks, that IS David Wells back there! Security must have been slacking at whatever gate he came in!

The Schilling boys and friends, on their way. Garrison (left) Gehrig, Henry, Arthur (if his dad wasn't such a great guy we'd have kicked him to the curb for that jersey) and Joey wearing the Black and Gold of the Super Bowl 43 champs!

It's all about fashion in Steeler land, and now Garrison is 'one of us'. So proud....

He went from semi-enthusiastic to raring to go, very cool.

How many Super Bowls have you been too Garrison? How many have the Steelers won? That's right!

We had no idea what we were going to see...

You don’t have the next Johnny Bench in the wings, you do have some prospects that might potentially be catchers of the future, but you want to win a world series in 2009 and your best possible chance to do that is with Jason Varitek catching. I’m happy for Tek. I wish it would have gone differently but as a friend/fan of his I do know that the process, and the salary will have no bearing on his effort or passion to be as good as he can.

I always enjoy being a customer of good businesses run by good people, with employees that seem to enjoy doing what they do. I have to mention two companies I was a customer of that both left a great impression on me this past week.

I flew SF to LA on Virgin America Airlines. Every single person we ran into from the gate ramp to the plane, to landing and off the plane was beyond kind. A few went out of their way to say hello and have a great day. I love that stuff.

We rented a Enterprise Rent-a-Car, and it was as smooth and quick and easy a customer experience as I’ve had in awhile. It was another company with people that truly seemed to be enjoying their jobs.

I am now a customer of both companies and will use their services over others when I have the opportunity. Oh and neither of those companies is or has paid me a dime to talk nice.

So to the team that flew us to Anaheim on Virgin, and the Enterprise folks at LA and SF, thanks for the nice week. You made the trip bearable.

First off, let’s get a few pieces out of the way.

1.  It’s not my money (literally) but I am making this decision based on the fact that we know a $2 million contract, or $22 million contract, has zero impact on anything this team might do.

2. I don’t have to sign Tek for anything above league minimum if I don’t want to.

3. I don’t have a No. 1 catcher.

So here’s my press release/press conference …

The Boston Red Sox would like to announce the signing of catcher Jason Varitek to a one-year, $8 million contract that contains a performance/mutual option for the 2010 season. If Jason is healthy and performs to standards he has achieved in years prior to 2008, he can earn a total of $10.5 million during the 2009 season.

Depending on your viewpoint you could argue that there was a significant mistake made by the agent in this situation, or that the club erred in thinking Jason would accept arbitration, coming off a year we know he considered disappointing.

Jason has been the cornerstone of two World Championships in the past five years. We have always known and recognized him as a key component on and off the field as well as a risk mitigator for any new or young pitcher we brought into the organization. That he was voted in, by his peers, to the 2008 All-Star Game is a fact that should not go unmentioned. In a day and age when the game, and the Red Sox, have placed so much emphasis on a player’s offensive production, it speaks volumes to the ‘intangibles’ Jason has that they were openly acknowledged and recognized by his peers.

In the past 10 years the Boston Red Sox have finished in the top four in league ERA eight times (finishing first three times). We feel that is attributable to the talented staffs we’ve had, and to the fact that Jason has been behind the plate pretty consistently that entire time.

Our goal every year is to win the World Series; 2009 is no different. Anyone that knows baseball knows that we stand a better chance to win in 2009 with Jason catching and healthy, than without.

So rather than push this situation to a place that might have seen us ’win’ the negotiation, save money, and screw someone that has repeatedly tried to screw us, we didn’t. We wanted to make sure players around the game understand that the Red Sox value their personnel for what they bring both on and off the field, as well as at the plate and in the field.

It is much more important that we win ON the field rather than off of it. Jason is a player we hope has aspirations to retire in our uniform, because we believe this is where he belongs.

We are always on the lookout to improve this club and recognize that while Jason keeps himself in better shape than any catcher in the game, he is nearing a time when catching 130 games a year is not a realistic
option, or the club’s best choice. That is the other reason we felt compelled to make this happen.

Jason has set a standard for catching the “Red Sox way” and both parties agree that part of his responsibility to the team during the 2009 season will be to bring along Mr. Teagarden as the Red Sox next catcher.

Oh and that was the other thing. We’d like to announce a trade. We have traded Clay Buchholz, Pitching Prospect B and Position Player A to the Texas Rangers for Catcher Taylor Teagarden. (Fill in whatever names you need to that makes that trade happen).

Being a right-handed curveball pitcher, he will give up his share of HR’s, but of all the guys in the game today, if I had to call out one guy that I think mirrored my stuff from a power/command standpoint, this is the guy. The other would be Josh, but he was far more of a power guy with power stuff at a much younger period than I was, plus he sucks at golf.

Ben will be 31 this year, so you are looking at a guy who could offer up 3-5 ace years if healthy. That is a big if, but no bigger than some other signings. He should be better than three games over, his ERA in my opinion should be lower, but you put this guy with the medical staff here, and John Farrell/Jason Varitek and he could be the best pitcher in the AL, or a top-three Cy guy.

If I was Ben, my No. 1 concern would be to get with a team that had a state of the art medical team, facility and was very “API”-ish about approaching the season.

I keep waiting to look at the box scores one year and see him at 14-2 at the break on the way to a 24-win season and an 8/1 or 9/1 K/BB ratio.

The other X factor for me is I don’t know him that well. I don’t know if he pitches through pain, if he needs to be 110% to ‘feel good’ or what, but I’ve never heard anything but good things about him.

I would love to see him wind up down in Tampa or with the Cubs.

Oh and one more thing. How the hell is Orlando Hudson not signed? This guy is an impact player on both sides of the line.

While in the WEEI studio for my four-hour stint on ‘The Big Show’ some of you chimed in on the site’s live interactive blog with a few questions. Here are some answers …

Curt, have you seen Luis Exposito play or even meet him? He apparently has the highest ceiling. – Steve in Boston

Answer: Never heard of him.

Do you think Jason Varitek would be interested in transitioning into a coaching role over the next couple of years for the Red Sox? It seems like it would be a perfect fit for him. - Chaz Michael Michaels

Answer: I do think he’ll be a manager someday.

Curt, have you given John Smoltz any tips on New England living? – DrJeff

Nope, he won’t need them.

Hey Curt, is Jonathan Papelbon going to be here for the long term? It seemed like the article I read today suggested he may be looking for a huge payday soon. – Ben F

Answer:I think Paps will be looking for a big payday. How big? I have no idea. I think he’ll be very interested in being at or near the top of the payscale for closers for each year of his arbitration as well as his first free agent run. I am not sure I see much of a hometown discount on that horizon.

Mr. Schilling, who was the other catcher you referred too who is similar to Varitek’s and his ability to call pitches? – Allan

Answer: Todd Pratt

Curt, is Varitek the type of person who out of loyalty, might not sign with the Yankees if given the chance, or does being a Red Sox for so long play nothing into the decision? – Justin

Answer: He is that type of person in my opinion. He wouldn’t. But that’s my opinion only. I’ve never asked him.

Curt, if you come back, is there any chance you would come back in a relief role or are you a starter no matter what? – Will Clark’s Banana Cup

Answer: If I come back where? To the game? No, I will come back as a starter. To Boston? Unfortunately I can’t see any scenario that would have that happen. They are stacked with starters and that’s what I will be.

Curt, are you and the family planning on living in the Boston area after you retire? - DMBMARKT

Answer: Yes.

Have you been in contact with Theo at all about a possible second half return? – August from Maine

No.

How is Lester going to hold up after throwing well over 200 innings for the first time? - Rick

Answer: I think Jon Lester will have a better year than CC Sabathia, W/L record aside.

How much of the success of the rotation is because of Varitek, and how much of it is due to advance scouting and knowing how to pitch to the opposing teams hitters? - Yac

Answer: The advance scouting is done FOR Jason and FOR John Farrell. Advance scouting is what the pitching coach usually uses on a team to address the staff before the series, hoping pitchers pay attention and listen. Here it’s to put together the book for Jason to translate to the staff in real time.

Curt, what was your greatest fear when you came to Boston? – Eric from Maine

Answer: That I would suck.

Curt were the Red Sox managers and coaches the best you have worked with in your career? - Daddydano

Answer: I’ve had a ton of great coaches. Every coach here was fantastic and fun to live with. My all-time favorites is a long list but it would include Podres, Frank Robinson, Tito, Brian Butterfield, Dale Sveum, Gary Tuck, John Farrell, Bob Welch, Bob Cluck, Mark Connor, Robin Yount, Jim Presley, Millsy, Demarlo Hale, Mags, Bob Melvin and a few others I can’t remember this second.

Curt, how much do you and Pedro Martinez push each other in 2004? – Eric from Maine

Answer: I don’t know that we pushed each other as much as RJ did me in Arizona. Pedro had a ton of pride and I don’t think he looked at it like that. He’d done far more than me when I got here and that was without me. I always looked at it as a fantastic motivator though.

Curt, what was the best clubhouse prank you have ever seen pulled? - Mike

Answer: Someone’s entire outfit frozen in a sheet of ice, from socks, shoes and underwear, to their hat.

Curt, you have played in a lot of different cities, have you ever come across a society as a whole who are more passionate about their teams than in Boston? – Ben F

Answer: No, not even close.

Curt, do you ever see yourself getting into any kind of coaching or managerial role? - Eric from Maine

Answer: No.

Was Philadelphia so successful against TB’s 3, 4 & 5 hitters because of better game-calling or better pitching? And if it was game calling shouldn’t the Red Sox /Varitek have had an upper hand over Philly due to the number of games they play against Tampa Bay and their familiarity with the hitters? - Sean

Answer: Philadelphia had a hot ace and their staff executed better than ours did. Not to mention Tampa’s staff threw very well too.

Curt, how’s the new game programming coming along? – Groovinn

Answer: Internally it’s incredible. We have a live playtest up and running and progress is just awesome. Funding is taking some time, still haven’t found the person or people that ‘get it’ when it comes to the multi-billion dollar payout after we launch. It’s too long for most investors, especially in this economy. But I said when we started that it was going to take a special person or group, who truly understood the space we are in to realize what our vision for the IP truly means in 3 years. We’ll get there.

I don’t do this stuff for reasons past the obvious. These are some of the brightest minds on the planet when it comes to the throwing athlete and the throwing shoulder. My last strength and conditioning coach, Dave Page (who’s been a close friend for the last 8 years), is one of the most passionate people alive when it comes to his athletes. Notice I said ‘his athletes’ because that’s the thing that sets these people apart from the rest of the world.

That’s the main reason guys like Paul Lessard are people you befriend for life. They come to the park, work incredibly insane hours and dedicate their lives to making their players feel better. Paulie (Shrek as he’s known around here) and Pager are two of the best guys you’d ever want to meet.

These guys (and gals, such as Sue Falsone, and yes Craig Friedman and Mark V!) are in it for the athlete. They care ABOUT YOU, and what happens to you. They aren’t in this thing to make a name for themselves, they are in it to make you healthier, and a better performer. Well Pagey is part of a new video that I can assure young throwers will help. You can find it here.

The key though is to do the work, as it’s stated and to understand your arm and body as it relates to the work.

Great stuff.

Gary went back to 1980 and looked at every team (what a trooper) and based on my earlier assumptions this was the data that came back.

By the way, that’s a total of 864 teams to start with.

The first stat is one that tells a story in and of itself. Only 35 teams went from having 80 percent-plus of the innings caught by a catcher that’s been with the team for three or more seasons to a next year of less than 40 percent of their innings caught by a catcher that’s been with the team for three or more seasons.

That so few teams have done it only reinforces my belief that they realize how vital this is to a staff’s stability. That’s less than 4 percent of the teams during that period.

Of those 35 teams they breakdown as follows:

- Four showed very little ERA change from Year 1 to Year 2 (less than .10 either way);

- Nine had their ERA decrease by at least 0.10 (two of those by 0.50 or more);

- Twenty-two had their ERA jump by at least 0.10 (10 of those by 0.50 or more).

That so few teams did it is an indicator in and of itself. That 22 of 35 had an increase of a tenth of a run or more, 10 teams by more than a half a run, is telling and really not surprising. There are so many variables that are just impossible to factor in —  health, injuries, new signings, free agents leaving, rookies that impact both ways, but overall it’s to be expected that a team featuring a new catcher would see ERA problems a majority of time due to the staggering work a catcher needs to do to handle 12-20 pitchers in a season.

Add to that the fact that so few catchers actually do it anyway, and I can only feel the argument to have ‘Tek back is even stronger.

The other X Factor is the Red Sox themselves. This team is way outside the box in terms of scouting and preparation. I know for a fact in the past five years we’ve beaten teams before a series started simply by talking to other pitchers and hearing what they do as a staff to prepare.

Throw out what’s happened, it’s meaningless at this point. ‘Tek declined arbitration, the Sox walked away, Boras f’d this up in about 50 different ways. But the facts are that ‘Tek wants to play here, he hasn’t signed yet, and this team doesn’t have it’s starting catcher for the 2009 season.

I’m hoping the past weekend was a good sign in that Jason has taken this on himself and met with Mr Henry to try and make that happen. I can’t imagine him wearing another uniform, I can’t imagine him not being the captain on this team and retiring here.

Here’s to hoping it happens.

P.S. Go Steelers!

It’s simpler than some might think if you reverse engineer this.

Let’s take the “No Tek” approach. There are three (for simplicity sake) possible outcomes.

1) The staff gets better with two new catchers and excels and they win a ton of games.
2) The staff stays somewhat similar and no one excels or declines to any serious degree
3) The staff is worse, some guys stay somewhat the same, a bunch of guys have inconsistent seasons.

The “X factor” in all this is John Farrell. Were it not for John I don’t think this discussion would be happening, Tek would be signed and he’d be tasked with bringing along the next catcher for this franchise. John is the best pitching coach alive (though Dick Bosman and Mark Connor rank right up there, and Bob Welch was awesome). John brings a ton of things to the table that few others do and if Tek is not back his workload will triple (at least) and he’ll have much more coaching to do and preparation as well. I think John makes outcome No. 3 less likely but he alone will be hard pressed to make No. 1 happen without major contributions from behind the plate. Any staff will/would/does have issues making No. 1 happen without a catcher behind the plate that knows lineups and prepares to the degree Tek does. I’d be interested, and my inclination is to make a bet, that in the last 15 years the amount of teams that have won World Series with a brand new No. 1 starting catcher, or a duo that splits catching duties, both new to the team, is minimal.

Actually I’ll check that out right now…

1995
Atlanta: Javy Lopez (after 80 some odd games in 1994) and Charlie O’Brien (VERY veteran presence).
Cleveland: Sandy Alomar (veteran who had been there) and Tony Pena (Vet).

1996
Atlanta: Javy Lopez and Eddie Perez.
New York: Joe Girardi (AH! First year with team, but a very game-oriented veteran catcher, known for commanding a staff) and a young, very young Posada. I think Leyritz might have caught some games.

1997
Florida: Charles Johnson (third year with the team) and a young Greg Zaun.
Cleveland: Sandy Alomar (Vet).

1998
San Diego: Carlos Hernandez (Second year with team) and Greg Myers (Vet).
New York: Jorge Posada with Girardi now backing him up

1999
Atlanta: Eddie Perez/Lopez and Greg Myers (Perez and Lopez had been there a few years at this point).
New York: Posada with Girardi

2000
New York: Posada caught about every frickin’ game.
New York Mets: Piazza, in his third year with the team, backed up by Todd Pratt (veteran who was very well known for his game calling. Having known him since 1988 I can promise you he was into handling a pitching staff).

2001
Arizona: Damien Miller in his third year backed up by Rod Barajas.
New York: Posada backed up with some Joe Oliver and Bobby Estellela.

2002
Anaheim: Bengie Molina in his first year, backed up by Shawn Wooten.
San Francisco: Benito Santiago (his second year with SF), with Yorvit Torrealba.

2003
Florida Pudge Rodriguez in his first year backed up by Mike Redmond, who had been there a long time.
New York: Posada (shocker!) backed up by Flaherty.

2004
Boston: Tek and Dougie
St Louis: Matheny in his fifth year backed up by a Molina brother.

2005
Chicago: AJP in his first year, backed up by Widger.
Houston: Ausmus in his 5th year.

2006
St Louis: Molina now starting after a few years, backed by Bennett.
Detroit: Pudge in his second year, backed by Vance Wilson

2007
Boston: Tek and Doug again.
Colorado: Y Torrealba in his second season.

2008
Philadelphia: Ruiz and Costa both in their third years
Tampa: Navarro in his third season.

It’s not exactly the best study, but in the past 14 years, of the 28 World Series teams, three have made it with their starting catcher being a first-year to the organization guy, none with rookies as starters and no team with two new catchers to the organization.

And make no mistake about it, this team is about winning the World Series. Can it be done without Tek? Sure it can.

But in my opinion it’s going to be far harder to win without him than with him. I don’t care if the new guy hit .350, the issue is behind the plate.

This staff can win, it has immense talent but three are so many factors that are going to be thrown into the mix that a guy like Tek can help smooth out.

Dice is spending most of the spring away from the team. Penny, Smoltz, both will be on different schedules. You’ve got a stable of young arms that have matured under Farrell AND Tek that having Tek back there would, again, in my opinion ONLY, only continue that progression.

There are quite a few new arms here that will take some getting used to, and no one that I have ever thrown to gets into a pitcher and his rhythms better than Jason. Add to that his reputation - which is not a myth, guys around baseball know Tek is good and know how much the staff loves throwing to him - and how many other catchers get talked about in that sense? Few.

The thing I can speak from experience to is getting to know your new catcher, and getting comfortable. They are two very different things. I put a ton of time and effort into getting comfortable with a new catcher more so than anything. Rhythm is such a huge part of the game to many pitchers, me included, that I needed to be in a flow and did not want to be out there shaking off and calling time outs during games.

Could Josh win 20 without Tek? Absolutely. Could Lester continue to get better? I bet he will. But that, and so many other things are much easier roads to travel WITH him catching as opposed to him not catching.

If a month into camp there is trouble with the staff synching up and getting comfortable with the catcher, then what? I know that questions been asked and answered internally and I am 100 percent sure they know what they want to do, but I am just speculating and hoping to see Tek back here.

So then you go the other route, with Tek …

1) The staff gets better, Tek hits .220 again.
2) The staff gets better, Tek hits .250.
3) The staff gets better, Tek has another 2004 like season.

That’s the only three outcomes I can see happening. Obviously much hinges on health and some things outside the teams control, but this staff WILL NOT get worse with Jason catching, it just won’t. There is too much time, effort and preparation on his part to become ‘worse’ as a game caller and staff-handler. Oh, and another thing, all of you defensive folks talking about base stealing and runners being caught, that’s a horsecrap stat because stolen bases are taken off pitchers, not catchers. Baserunners steal because pitchers don’t hold, or don’t pay attention, or aren’t quick to home. With the rare exception catchers throw out baserunners when given enough time. Tek’s times to second base weren’t down last year, or the year before. Runners stole off the staff, they almost always do.

My bet is Jason does NOT hit .220, maybe not .290 but I would take any bet that has me with him hitting closer to .290 than .220. After talking to him and hearing him talk about his body, his swing and his mind-set, I’d be real comfortable saying he’s a guy much more likely to hit .265 with 20 HR than .220 with 10.

In my mind it’s going to be the piece that finishes the puzzle for this team. Thinking of an October rotation consisting of a healthy Beckett, Smoltz, Lester, Penny and Dice with Paps at the back end and Tek running the show is going to make ANY team - ANY team - in the post season hope for another match up until they absolutely HAVE to meet Boston.

Addendum Something that went unmentioned, and probably shouldn’t have. Scott Boras is the reason this situation exists, of that there can be no mistake. He obviously advised his client to refuse arbitration, believing he was going to work his magic, and that failed. I don’t think for a second Tek would absolve himself of blame here either, ultimately it’s his decision.
I am past that part of it, because it is meaningless at this point. He refused arbitration, Scott failed to get a multi-year deal, it’s January 16th, he hasn’t signed, the Sox don’t have their #1 catcher. I just was making the observation that I think both sides want this to happen, Boston for the ‘right price’, Tek for ‘a price’ that isn’t league minimum and !!!!WARNING THIS IS A PERSONAL OPINION ONLY!!!!! maybe a shot at a 2nd year if he performs well. He wants to be here, they want him to be here and they have been able to take significant money off the books. It’s a win-win for both sides if you get Tek and Theo in the same room imo.

Related Links:

Speier: Can Varitek Escape His Predicament?

How Arbitration Effects The Captains’ Future

Red Sox and Varitek Reach A Crossroads

SHADOW GAMES: Baseball and Me
Posted on Dec 22, 2008 10:29 am
By Todd Drew

Cancer can’t change the way it will always be between baseball and me.

I was informed that Todd passed away today and I would like to send my thoughts, prayers and condolences to this Yankee fan, who I have immense admiration and respect for, and his family. I hope you find comfort in the Lord in this trying time.

That letter was posted at Alex Belth’s Yankee Banter Blog

Check out some of the stuff he talks about for pitchers. Some fascinating new stuff coming to light the past few years that many young pitchers would do well to read up on.

Rickey Henderson - Discussion: There is none. Greatest leadoff hitter of all time and if there is any justice we’ll get to hear Rickey say “Rickey” in the third person about 132 times when he’s unanimously elected. Should receive every vote. YES

Alan Trammell - Discussion: A six-time all star with a World Series MVP, four Gold Gloves, three Silver Sluggers and 3 Top 10 MVP finishes. A hell of a shortstop and along with Ripken was one of the new mold breaking offensive guys at this position when I was growing up. A guy I remember being a stud (monster ‘87 season) but from what I gather HOF standards like to look at your best collective seasons. I guess he didn’t dominate for long enough to be a HOF’er, but a stud none the less.

Tim Raines - Discussion: Let’s see, a leadoff hitter who finished in the top 10 in OBP seven times, batting average four times, OPS four times, Runs scored six times (6 STRAIGHT YEARS btw), hits six times, total bases four times, walks six times, stolen bases nine times (led the league from 81-84), runs created six times … ALL of that in a 10-year period (1981-1990). He’s going to get overlooked because of Rickey but in my opinion the second greatest leadoff hitter of the modern era. He did EVERYTHING you ask of a leadoff hitter and more, and he did it in Montreal. If he’d played in LA, NY or Boston he’d be a lock. YES.

Andre Dawson - Discussion: I just remember this guy OWNING the 80’s in right field in the NL. His ‘open contract’ and subsequent MVP season for the Cubs seemed to sum him up in a nutshell. Another player that will see Montreal continue to hurt his chances in my opinion. ROY, MVP, eight Gold Gloves, four Silver Sluggers, four Top 10 MVP finishes, including two second-place finishes (which I think often times means MVP season in many other years). Add eight Top 10 SLG percentage finishes to the eight gold gloves and he was a RF that mashed and played HOF type defense for a decade. He dominated for a decade in the NL, and a decade worth of seasons like that is HOF material in my opinion. Add to all this that he was just a phenomenal guy and it’s an easy one for me. YES.

Bert Blyleven - Discussion: How on God’s green earth is this guy not on a plaque already? What the hell? Nineteen years after posting a WHIP of 1.159 — in 1970 btw — he posts a 1.116 WHIP (a truer standard of a pitchers effectiveness I have yet to see). NINETEEN YEARS LATER!! Oh, and he finished in the Top 10 nine times in between those two years. This guy played on CRAPPY teams!!!!!! CRAPPY! His HOF worthy stats are too numerous to mention so I link them here . Writers do us a favor and put a true HOF’er in the HOF. YES.

Jim Rice - Discussion: See Bert Blyleven … I mean come on. Does it strike anyone as odd that players increase their vote totals as the years go by, AFTER THEY RETIRE???? Look, I know it’s not easy, and I know mistakes are made, some by sheer accident, some by stupidity (see Dustin Pedroia being LEFT OFF the MVP ballot of one dolt this year), but how on earth do vote totals fluctuate for guys AFTER they are done? Does that mean voters are doing MORE work and MORE research as the years go by? Less? Shouldn’t this be taken dead serious by ALL writers afforded the honor of being allowed to vote? Should the process change? This guy finished in the Top 5 in MVP voting SIX TIMES in an 11-year period. Six times people considered him the best player in the AL in an 11-year period! I was more of an NL fan growing up but I’ve been around long enough, talked to enough pitchers from that era in the AL and to a man they are all pretty emphatic that he was without a doubt one of the 2-3 most feared hitters in the game. If he’s reading this he knows I can kick his ass in golf but I’m saying here and now this man deserves to be in the HOF. YES.

Dan Plesac - Discussion: My first “Sack” memory came in Milwaukee in the late ’80’s. He was throwing a pen coming off an injury and they had a gun on him. He was throwing his fastball from 96-99 and mixing in a 92 mph slider … He didn’t remain a closer long enough to merit HOF votes I don’t think but if there was a HOF for awesome teammates with great senses of humor this guy is a first ballot HOF’er. Sack could make you laugh until you cried, funny as hell and a fantastic teammate who I wish I’d been able to play longer with. I still remember walking into the bathroom in Arizona and I hear “GO TO THE WHIP! GO TO THE WHIP!!” and I’m thinking “What the hell?” only to see him come out of the stall. He is HUGE into Horse racing and breeding and has been for a long time.

Harold Baines - Discussion: First Harold Baines memory … Standing on the mound in Texas in 1989 and thinking “Man this guys standing WAY too far off the plate to hit MY fastball, he’s got no chance.” About 15 seconds later the ball bounces off the top of the center field fence and into the bleachers. A consistent producer at a tough spot to be one, this guy did nothing but produce. I think his post season numbers will be underrated but in the end this is the HOF, for baseball’s greatest, not baseballs very, very good.
Also a fantastic guy and from everything I heard an awesome teammate.

David Cone - Discussion: Didn’t win 200, or strikeout 3,000 but this guy was damn good for a long time. A post season monster who had three bad games to spoil his ERA but a 12-3 lifetime record is money, and he was. I remember him being the first real ‘hired gun’ guy in the mid-to-late 90’s. I only knew him a little but he was a great guy and everyone from Lenny D to a few others that played with him swear by him as a teammate. Should get more votes than he likely will but another VERY good player who might be just short of being considered great.

Ron Gant - Discussion: Had he not broken his leg I think Ronnie would have been a 500 HR 500 SB guy, and a lock. One of my all-time favorite teammates. He played the game as hard as it could be played and he played hurt. Fantastic teammate and fantastic person.

Mark Grace - Discussion: Only guy I played with that talked more than me, which in and of itself merits some sort of Hall of Fame. One hundred and seventy-four HR, and more than 2,400 hits don’t get you into the Hall of Fame, but, this guy could flat out play. Was literally a Gold Glove SS playing first base. Four Gold Gloves (and he should have won more) and no one had more hits than Gracie in the 90’s. An OB and Doubles machine, I don’t think Mark will get the votes he should but he never did the ’sexy’ stuff like hit HR’s and drive in boatloads, he was the guy getting on base in front of those guys and if you don’t hit 350 or steal 75 bases people seem to downplay how good you could have been.

I’ll finish the rest tomorrow …

Related link:

Minihane: Who Belongs In 2009?

A-The entire body of work. In addition to being a #1 starter the guy was a HOF closer, who else can make that claim short of Eck? This guy was a stopper as a starter, and a closer. That he’s still a dominant power pitcher at his age, with that many innings is incredible. I’d trust the Sox to have done the medical homework and given the arms they now have they’ll be able to mix and match with the back end of their rotation (which could feature 2 front end guys) as the schedule and their health permits.
Fast forward to October, damn, how would you like to start a series facing Beckett, Smoltz, Lester and Dice?

Q-What’s your favorite moment competing against Smoltz?

A-Guys like John don’t elicit favorite moments, at least not for me. I always wanted Glavine or Maddux, but never because they weren’t as good, but because I knew my offense wanted no part of Smoltz. Glavine/Maddux were frustrating but ‘comfortable’ 0-4’s, John was a painful one and I know of some guys that got “Smotzitis” quite often.

Q-Were you surprised that Smoltz left the Braves to sign with the Sox?

A-Nothing surprises me anymore. I’m surprised at the amount of untruth’s being spewed by someone, but nothing surprises me anymore. The club put a value on him and that value didn’t match what John wanted. After almost 20 years with a team, doing what he did, as a player you always hope for and sometimes expect more loyalty, but that’s just not what teams do anymore, if they ever did.

Q-What is the value of approaching the 2009 season with more than 5 viable starting rotation candidates?

A-Too numerous to list. If you can avoid “accumulation” incentives like starts and IP, and you can get the staff to buy into the process of keeping everyone fresh for August to September, which is not as easy as it sounds, it’s huge. Like I said earlier, you enter October with a healthy fresh Beckett, Smoltz, I don’t care who paid what for whom, you are favorites in any series, 4 or 7 games, no matter who you are playing.

Q-What is your impression of Baldelli as a hitter when healthy?

A-Another great sign in my opinion. First off the big piece is he’s a kid that was raised understanding what baseball means to the New England area and that he really wanted to come here says something about his makeup. That’s a big deal to me. As a hitter? Rocco is one of the 2-3 best high fastball hitters in baseball, bar none. He has the rare ability to go up waaaay out of the zone high, and hammer balls. Very few guys can do that. Many are aggressive up there but few produce in that area. It’s not a great strength to have since good pitchers don’t live up there, but you can KILL mediocre pitching which consistently makes mistakes up in the zone. He’s incredibly aggressive. I liked that facing him because I felt I could get more chase than normal. He’s a superstar athlete, run, throw, smart player. I always felt he was an exceptional baserunner and a ’smart’ player. Didn’t miss cut off men, never a base behind where he should be, always in the right spot. Little things, little things that will come into play in the role he’s going to be asked to fill. I hope he’s healthy because I’d really like to see him put together all the stuff people have raved about since he signed.

Now that doesn’t mean anything other than this is a blog where I post my opinions and thoughts. Don’t take this personally but there is literally nothing in the history of my blog I have ever posted to please you, or meet your expectations. If something I say, or an opinion of mine is something you agree with, cool. If not, that’s fine too.

I don’t, and never will, post for either of those reasons. I post what I think, I post what I believe. Neither of those makes me right or just, they make me, me.

If you don’t like me, or you disagree with me, or you are so bent on the fact that I voted for John McCain you can’t sleep, don’t come here. Why on earth would you?

I am 100% positive I’ve made more than 1 mistake on this blog in the past. I am more than 100% positive I’ve said something that offended someone and I had no intention of offending when I said it.

Case in point. Ya it might be trivial to some, but my epileptic frog jog apparently offended some readers who suffer from epilepsy. That or someone who doesn’t like me posted as such to make the comments. Either way this is not a forum for that and if anyone was offended I apologize, that was obviously not my intent.

Many of you have commented “Stay above the fray”, “Don’t sink to his level” and more, and you’re pretty much spot on. However that’s not what I chose to do. I am flawed, just like every single one of you and speaking my mind and talking ‘off the cuff’ are somehow deemed great qualities and nasty traits at the same time by different people.

I can’t stand someone who makes a big deal about ‘telling it like it is’ or ’saying what’s on their mind’ to emphasize their assertiveness or toughness. Neither of those is a ‘tough’ quality to me.

I do say what I think, I do tell it like I think it is. Neither of those makes me right, they make me, me.

It’s not that hard and sure as hell shouldn’t be that disturbing to people. Not to mention be that big of a deal.

If you don’t want to hear me, can’t stand my opinion, why the hell are you clicking on this link? Better yet, not only are you clicking on the link, you’re signing up for a Wordpress account to leave a comment on a persons blog you can’t stand?? Who does that speak more about?

I don’t care if my opinions popular or unpopular, it’s mine. I do enjoy the back and forth here especially when someone calls me out and I learn something I didn’t know or my opinion changes upon further research, that’s cool.

CHB doesn’t permeate my thoughts or bother me. I get annoyed from time to time and to be honest I laugh like hell at you people talking about “Let him be” and “Why do you care?” when you cannot imagine what it’s like to have someone you have no respect for write demeaning and false things about you or your teammates publicly, most especially when you know them to be untrue.

You learn to deal with it, but there are times when you don’t feel like just ‘dealing with it’ and that’s the times when I say something. That’s certainly not been the best course of action over time for me and I’ve learned a little in the past 23 years.

The thing is, we don’t know each other. Short of meeting me in person, shaking my hand and talking, we never will. What you know about me, my thoughts, my family, my faith in the Lord, my love of the game, all of that, you know because people I don’t know told you.

This blog was a way for me to change that, and I like that. I can write what I want, when I want. Under the blog banner what I write is what I want and how I want. I don’t ‘work in the media’ as a few would like to think. The stuff I do for the column is writing on topics Rob and I think are relevant to sports but I’ve been given complete freedom to write whatever I choose to.

That’s what’s going to make EEI and this site so unique as the writers get more into the flow and the content gets fresher.

So in short, if you are interested in something I say, cool, if not, fine, go to someone’s blog you do like, or better yet start your own. I have no problems with people liking or disliking me, being human I’d prefer people didn’t dislike me but hey, that’s life.

38 Pitches will be blog posts of my thoughts, my opinions, my family and my career. If none of those are of interest to you then by all means please delete that bookmark.

So CHB chimes in on the BC coaching fiasco in about as timely a fashion as reporting on the Lincoln Assassination at the outbreak of WWI. Sweet. In the world of hypocrites he’s vaulted to the top spot.

A guy who was first in line to berate Sosa, McGwire, Palmeiro and me when we were in front of congress -them for some things, me for shutting up for once in my life when he of all people knew that without photographs or physical evidence, dropping names on that day would have been character assassination of the highest order. Yet, strangely, he was also at the front of the line during the HR binge with stuff like this:

“The ball is juiced. Mark McGwire and friends are hitting something that looks and feels more like a Titleist HP Eclipse than an old-time hardball. Today’s ball is wound tighter than Tom Coughlin. It’s not made by Rawlings, it’s made by Wham-O - the company that brought us those cool Super Balls of the 1960s. It’s Flubber. Or Son of Flubber. In an effort to stifle complaints from every pitching coach and meatball artist hurling middle relief, baseball commissioner Bud Selig and his lieutenant, Sandy Alderson, have commissioned a scientific study to determine if today’s baseballs conform to size, weight, and impact standards established by Major League Baseball. The study is being conducted by Dr. Jim Sherwood of the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.”

Really? How does that work? How do we get to play both sides of the fence and not be accountable like you? Where do we apply for that job?

This is the same guy who, late in the Rocket’s tenure in Boston when Clemens LEFT THE PARK before the ending of a game he started and his team lost, wrote what a warrior Roger was, how he couldn’t stand the losing, to the point he couldn’t remain at the ballpark. Yet in 2004, Pedro left the park and CHB couldn’t contain himself:

“Martinez didn’t stick around to talk about things after the game. In fact, team guy that he is, Pedro left the ballpark before the game was over. He must not have been feeling properly respected, or something like that.”

See our little feud dates back to this article. If CHB ever did like me (which he claims he did) it all ended after he wrote this. I called him in the clubhouse, talked about the Clemens piece and then asked him about the Pedro piece. Why the two different views? Why was it, that all the players CHB appeared to rip and detest, from Carl Everett, to Pedro, were not white? Was he a racist? I had to ask, I assumed I already knew that he wasn’t but I had to ask. If not that then what? Star hater? Did he try and find a way to just not like the good to great players here?

His defense was “Why are you yelling at me? I write and have written nice things about you.” Which in a nutshell, summed it up for me with CHB. Did he really think we lived on islands in the clubhouse? Did he really think we were OK with people like him ripping our teammates? How can you play with guys, and mingle with media members that write and say things that often times are outright lies? How can you play with guys and face them everyday, playing both sides of the fence? I can’t, and never have. It’s likely one of the reasons I have so many ‘non’ allies in the press. Maybe it’s the fact that these guys rip on each other daily, people they work at the same paper with, and think that’s how it works, that makes them think this is OK. These guys rip and belittle each other far more than anyone I’ve ever played with yet many of them can’t wait to write a piece on a player doing that same thing.

So few of them are the experts they would have you believe they are. Hell, I promise you there are way more fans in Boston that know more about the Red Sox than people like CHB.

Maz, Bradford, Buckley, Sean Mac, Browne, Benjamin … I do believe they know what they’re talking about more often than not but part of that is because I feel like every one of them is a fan of this team and cares about the team. They are certainly objective for the most part. Maz and Buck can get carried away at times but it’s never out of malice.

How do I know this? I know this because I lived the life, I saw them, I heard them, I saw the inside of the clubhouse and saw the interactions and the goings on and every day I got to see what they wrote and said, and so often it never matched up. It was pure BS for the sake of being the one ‘in the know’.

You see it all the time in sports. Free agent Manny Ramírez signs a contract with the Red Sox in 2000 and it looks great. But when it comes to 2008 and he doesn’t like those two one-year club options at the tail end of his deal, Manny lies down like a dog to get out of the contract and make the options disappear. The team is forced to trade him.

In sports? Really? Only? Or do we see it all the time in sports, and the rest of the world, but sports is the only place we care enough to write about it? Oh, and you spent the last four years lambasting a manager who’s ass you now kiss as the ‘best ever’ for placating and ‘enabling’ the guy you hate so much, all the while knowing he was doing everything within his ability to manage the situation as best as possible.

After the 2007 World Series, Curt Schilling signs a one-year deal for $8 million plus incentives. When he shows up in spring training looking like Chris Farley, unable to throw a Wiffleball because of an injury, the club is on the hook to pay him the $8 million. For no services. The club must live up to the contract.

Really? I wasn’t overweight or out of shape in 2008 when I showed up, where’d you get that? Your ‘inside’ sources? You wrote this same thing in 2007, after I stunk up opening day in KC, you and others, about how ‘out of shape’ I was, and how unprepared I was to start the season. You seemed to fade away after I went 4-0 with a 2.70 ERA in my next 8 starts, you and everyone else. So what, I was out of shape for that one game? How does that work?

Your ‘inside’ sources are crap because you and pretty much everyone else had no idea how the 2007-08 off season went and the events that occurred during that time frame. Your ‘hit and run’ journalism is so far beyond tired and boring it’s laughable.

After all these years and all that crap you’re now on the moral high ground? I have yet to hear the full story from anyone regarding both sides of this story so I can wait until then. How is it though that after all these years you can take this stance? You of all people know how sports and contracts work. It’s not, and never will be, like the ‘Real World’ right? It can’t be. You want contracts to be two-sided when far more teams and schools throw loyalty out the window than any number of athletes ever could. Loyalty in your sense of the word is a selfish and personal thing. It’s only ‘loyalty’ if it offends or pleases you.

Looking back on the Rocket’s tenure here I can’t decide when you hated him, when you loved him, when you hated the Sox and when you loved them. You flip-flop more than an epileptic toad.

Do you stand for anything? Truly? I know life’s been a challenge since that ‘group of frauds’ won it all in 2004 and destroyed a thing you’d created, but someone with your talent in writing certainly has better things to do, or at least more meaningful ones right?

www.alstradeup.com

I can’t calculate the mileage but was going to take a stab at how many times we’ve packed up our things and moved. I consider four weeks or more in one spot a ‘move’ since we toted everything with us.

1986

Arrive in Phoenix after driving from Yavapai JC (on the heels of losing in the JC World Series in one of the funnest and best years of baseball ever) and the following morning I hop on a plane.
1. Phoenix to Elmira (Elmira from June to August). BTW that was all for a whopping $750 a month - pre taxes - which I made it on by renting an attic room for 99 bucks a month!
2. Elmira to Sarasota for Instructional league (September to early October)
3. Sarasota to Phoenix for the winter.

1987

4. Phoenix to Winter Haven (March to early April).
5. Winter Haven to Greensboro, N.C. (April to August).
6. Greensboro to Sarasota for Instructional league (September to October).
7. Sarasota to Phoenix for the winter.

1988

8. Phoenix to Winter Haven spring training.
9. Winter Haven to New Britain, Connecticut (April to July). Traded from Sox to Orioles (Brady Anderson and I for Mike Boddicker).

10. New Britain to Charlotte, N.C. (August)(10)

Called up to the Major Leagues
11. Charlotte to Baltimore (September).
12. Baltimore to West Palm for Instructional League.
13. West Palm to Hermisillo, Mexico for Winter Ball (my only no-hitter!)
14. Hermisillo to Phoenix for the winter.

1989

15. Phoenix to West Palm Beach for spring training.                                    

16. West Palm to Rochester, NY (April to Sept 1).

17. Rochester to Baltimore (September).
18. Baltimore to Santo Domingo, D.R. for Winter Ball.
19. Stayed in Baltimore that winter.

1990

20. Baltimore to Sarasota for Spring Training.
21. Sarasota to Rochester (April to June).
22. Rochester to Baltimore (June to September).
Stayed in Baltimore that winter (also met Shonda the day the season ended)
Traded to Houston that winter (Pete Harnisch, Steve Finley and I for Glen Davis)

1991

23. Baltimore to Orlando for spring training.
24. Orlando to Houston (April-May).
25. Houston to Tucson (sent to AAA, June to early July).
26. Tucson to Houston (July to Sept).
Spent the winter in Houston

1992

27. Houston to Orlando for spring training.
Traded final day of ST to Philadelphia for Jason Grimsley, flew to Miami for one day to meet the team then to Philadelphia. (Shonda was driving to Houston with the wives and heard about the trade on the radio, she pulled over to the side of the road, went to Houston and packed up, headed to Philly.)
28. Philadelphia April to Sept, lived in Marlton, NJ in the off season.

1993-1999

35. Seven straight years of Living in Philly, Clearwater every January through the end of March, back to Philly for the season. We started to go down January 1st every year to workout in the warm weather much earlier. Gehrig was born in 1995, Gabby in 1997, Grant in 1999.

2000

36. Philly to Clearwater.
37. Clearwater to Philly until July.
38. Traded to Arizona for Travis Lee, Omar Daal, Nelson Figueroa and Vincente Padilla
Philadelphia to Arizona for August to October 1st. Spent the winter in Arizona

2001-2003
41. Winter and season in Phoenix and eight weeks apart while we ST in Tucson. Garrison is born in 2002.
Traded the winter of 2004 to Boston for Casey Fossum, Brandon Lyon, Jorge De Larosa and Michael Goss.

2004

42. Phoenix to Ft Myers for spring training.
43. Ft Myers to Boston for the season.
44. Boston to Phoenix for the off season.

2005

45. Phoenix to Ft Myers for spring training.
46. Ft Myers to Boston for the season.
47. Boston to Phoenix for the off season.

2006
48. Phoenix to Ft Myers for spring training.
49. Ft Myers to Boston for the season. Settled into Boston as residents for good, that winter.

2007 and 2008
51. Boston to Ft Myers for spring training.
Ft Myers to Boston for good…

Fifty-one moves. Damn. It’s certainly not a normal number but I wonder how many is “a lot”? Even taking out spring training since it was 6-8 weeks (but it was still a full fledged move, even more so once the family made the trips every year) that’s still a crap load of moving.

Those first few years it was a nightmare on the money I made. Starting at $750 a month I think the most I made in the minors was $2,500 a month or so, pre-taxes. I didn’t sign for much either so I know I made the most of every dollar back then.

Oh, and welcome to 2009. Over/under on how many times you sign or date something 2008? For me I’ll go 10 …

Gman just chilling, Blue Lizard being used in mass quantities!

Gehrig wins: Biggest Bonefish, Most Bonefish and Most Variety, clean sweep!

Lots to be happy about!

It’s New Years, ready for resolutions?

Getting to some of your questions (along with some input from site editor Rob Bradford), starting with some thoughts on two players who look like they might be coming to the Red Sox, Josh Bard and Brad Penny.

I didn’t get to know Josh all that well, but what I did know he was a fantastic teammate and great guy. An incredibly hard worker. Anyone that puts up the numbers he did when he went to SD has to be able to hit, more often than not I find when people do that well in short bursts they either have a glaring weakness in their ability to hit, or aren’t confident in their ability to maintain that success over the long haul

Brad is a great kid. I’ve always loved his arm and stuff but also always hoped he’d be able to dial it back a bit. He’s a max effort guy in delivering the ball and he’s helped by the fact that he’s a very big boy. That being said, your arm can only take so much. I think, if he signs here, he could do incredible stuff working with John Farrell. Get him to dial it back about 10-20 percent and he’ll still be throwing low to mid 90’s with command. Add his makeup on the hill to that and you could get one of the more valuable signings of the entire winter since if he’s healthy he’s a #1 or #2 in either league.

(RB: In my dealings with Bard, he seemed like a good guy who was genuinely thrown off by the criticisms he incurred throughout that 10-passed balls month. He admitted after that it got to the point where he was watching video of Doug Mirabelli catching Tim Wakefield to try and emulate him instead of just doing his thing. As for Penny, I’m thinking that being with his buddy, Josh Beckett, and seeing how his work ethic has evolved might translate into a ramped-up regimen.)

Question: Because you may still be playing in 2009 you may not want to answer this question, but what batter did you NOT want to face? Who had your number?

Answer: I just never looked at it like that. Not to mention it’s a question that is totally situation dependant. Runner on third, less than two outs? Guys that don’t strike out, game on the line, one run, no one on? Healthy Vlad, Helton always killed me too.

Question (Ernie): You said that you went up against Boras during a talk show. Was it about Drew not signing with Philly that year? And if so, why would you be against him?

Answer: 1. Yes. 2. Because I was a Philly and was as upset as the fans were at the whole situation. I wasn’t against JD as much as I was against Scott. I, still to this day, cannot fathom how playing independent league, even for a week, puts you in a better position in the future. That money and experience is never regained.

Question: Didn’t Drew, himself, make it clear that he wouldn’t sign for anything less than $10 million, then Philly drafted him anyway and tried to low ball him. Also, isn’t Boras doing his job by trying to get as much money for his client as possible? I mean, people always complain about how players make so much money and they should sign below market deals. But isn’t that just putting more money in the already a billionaire owners pocket? My point is, why shouldn’t an athlete try to get as much money as possible, especially in MLB where you spend 6 years “under control”?

Answer: Not at all, you are 100 percent right. Being right, in this case doesn’t feel good to me. I was wrong in what I said and how I handled it and made that clear to JD a few years ago, apologizing to him. That being said, I still thought the way it all transpired was bad for the game, the player and the fans.

Question (Ben): What’s your honest opinion on Dice K ?

Answer: Relentless. Perfectionist. Absolutely has the ability to win a Cy Young if he can find a way to gain more command of the strike zone. People putting the ball in play don’t fare well against him but it feels like he pitches away from contact, which is really not unusual. Often though, guys that do that get very few decisions and pitch much fewer innings due to huge pitch counts. If Dice gets into a situation where 110-115 pitches gets him through 7 or into the 8th he’s going to win even bigger than last year. BTW his last season was highly overlooked.

Question (John): As a power pitcher, do you see yourself coming back as more of a finesse pitcher?

Answer: Right now I am working out to get to throwing again. Just to see where my arm really is. If Doctor Morgan is correct — and he has been 100% so far — I’ll be better than I was in 2007. The question that remains is how much.  

Question (Jimmie):  Would you like to be a coach or manager in some capacity anywhere in baseball?

Answer: No

(RB: I would)

Question (Bill): Curt, will you and the family remain in the Boston area and continue to be part of the community?

Answer: Yes. We are settled in Medfield and love it here. Not to mention 38 Studios is in Maynard, so we aren’t planning on going anywhere.

Question (Chpln. O’Connell): Do you think Santa will grant my Christmas wish by making the BIG SCHILL pitch one more year for Boston?

Answer: That wish is far beyond Santa or his helpers to assist with.

Question (Pat):  Do you think the Sox would be better off trying to make a play for Russell Martin, who has proven himself in the Bigs and is the catcher of the future, then say trading with one of the Texas catchers or Arizona’s and signing Tek?

Answer: My first choice, were I on the team, would be to have Tek back and grooming his replacement. After that it’s all guesswork. I’ve heard incredible things about Martin and some of the Texas kids but have not seen enough to call that.

(RB: I think  the dream scenario is Taylor Teagarden and Jason Varitek as your catching duo for 2009)

Question (Carlson): Are you a Hall of Famer?

Answer: No

(RB: Yes — Curt, not me.  Post-season success is the difference-maker)

Bradford: What examples has he seen of an agent steering a client towards a negative outcome?

Me: Define negative? I’ve seen on rare occasion an agent gamble with a players future and cost them years and millions that never come around again, like Jody Reed. But more times than not you can’t blame the agents, post-draft anyway. We’re grown men who need to be accountable for all things happening to and around us. My biggest problem and one of the main reasons I did not want an agent was due to the fact that every time an agent opens his mouth the public hears the player, whether the player said it or not.

Bradford: How important is it for a free agent when the front office/ownership group to flies out to meet face to face?

Me: To me it’s HUGE, HUGE! The three day period of negotiation that went on
in 2003 would never have worked had I not been face to face with them. 

Bradford: Having faced Mark Teixeira (1 for 12), what are his strengths and
weaknesses?

Schilling: Tex never bothered me. I think the main reason was that he was, or I think he is, a guy that studies pitchers and numbers. At least I believe that because I had reports and watched video of a guy  that was patient and very strike zone aware. Against me he chased my split over 90 percent of the time. Very unlike him but I think he expected me, walking as few hitters as I did, to throw more balls in the strike zone than I did. I think he was more aggressive vs. me than normal and I threw some decent
splits to him as well. 

Bradford: How close is Teixeira to being the kind of middle of the order presence Manny was?

Me: I don’t think he is, I don’t think anyone really is. Locked in and wanting to play no one hits like Manny with that combo of patience, awareness and power.

Bradford: When referencing this potential move, some have cited the Yankees decision to go with high-priced talent in the early 2000’s instead of the “heart and soul” guys that were on the championship teams. Is that kind of chemistry/clubhouse influence overstated?

Me: No, no and a million more times no. The easiest way to figure that out is to play fantasy baseball right? Take the 2004 Yankees on paper, play them against ANY other 2004 team and play a 5×5 league. How do they fare? I’d expect REAL well and pretty dominating? There is so much that happens outside the 3-4 hours of games each day
that impact and influence teams in a way no statistician or ‘expert’ can ever hope to define or quantify. It affects wins and losses, it affects clubs state of mind, it affects everything.

Bradford: How awkward is it when a team goes into spring training with a positional overlap, knowing somebody has to be traded, as might be the case with the Red Sox?

Me: VERY awkward and in my opinion underappreciated by teams. It’s the ultimate exposure to this game as a business. I laugh that people continue to call baseball a ‘game’ that we play. As soon as some guy pulls in $15 million a year playing Monopoly I’ll conceded. Until then understand this is a $6+ billion a year business. Someone in spring training limbo is a tough thing to be around but like most other situations it really depends on the player and how he and his teammates handle it.

Oh and one more thing. I really loathe to even mention CHB in anything anymore, due to his irrelevance on the Boston sports scene but I suck at keeping my tongue in places like this. CHB wrote the other day (thanks to the person forwarding this as it’s the first thing I’ve read that he’s written in five months)

“Best part of Curt Schilling’s blog on the WEEI website? Schill claims, ’I don’t get edited.’ Could he be more of a diva? Here’s a clue for the Big Lug - Ernest Hemingway had an editor. And Schill needs an editor more than I need a pitching coach.”

By edited I meant content Curly, because Lord knows I sure as hell need help with anything I write. But your last statement is laughable, because I think — and correct me if I am wrong — I am doing what you do for a living right?

I am pretty sure you’ve never stepped on a mound, well a field of any kind for that matter, and competed for something that truly mattered to people not on the field? So I am comfortable saying I am a lot closer to being able to do what you do, than you are able to do what I did …

Keep spewing the vitriol chief. It seems to be the only bite your writing has any more.

Over the next 2 years: 

.279 Avg; .343 OBP; .467 Slug; 810 OPS; 46 HR; 196 RBIs; 166 Ks; 114 BB(A) 

.290 Avg; .378 OBP; .541 Slug; 919 OPS; 72 HR; 242 RBIs; 248 Ks; 158 BB(B)

Based purely on career averages you get the above numbers. Tex’s power numbers will go up if the new NY stadium has the same dimensions. I think it’s safe to say those power numbers would go down a bit in Fenway. Tex is 28, you are paying him through his Age 36 season. Mike is 34, being paid through age 36 as well. Both are Gold Glove players. 

So you could ask the following question: Would you pay a player with this stat line, 10 million dollars, and guarantee him a no trade – 285 avg; 360 OBP; 500 Slg; 860 OPS; 26 HR; 46 RBI; 82 Ks; 44 BB?

It’s not that easy I know, you need to factor in parks, and lineups and much more but on pure stats that’s the bonus numbers a $10 mm bump in one spot on your roster buys you.

Now, I would agree Tex’s power numbers would go down at Fenway. But I would also make the case that these power numbers can be made up by Ortiz alone, as long as he’s healthy. Yes, he needs protection and this lineup is not going to give him the protection he once had, but he can do it and it’s not a stretch.

Personally I am glad Youk is staying at first and Mike is at third. Adding Mark’s bat is absolutely going to make the Yankees tougher. 

Haven’t we been down this road before? That’s not to say this Yankees team can’t win 110 games, it can. But so much has to happen for that to work out.

Please stop with the greedy bum statements too, all of you screaming that would be saying nothing if the Sox had ante’d up. I’m surprised but I don’t think nearly as much as most others. Why? Because not once, never, did you hear ANYTHING from Mark in this entire charade. This is how Scott Boras works, and his clients love him for it. Mark never said he wanted Boston, sources ‘close to negotiations’ did. That and a handful of nickels will get you a quarter.

Stop being surprised in these deals when you hear comments from EVERYONE but the players. Until the player speaks I am comfortable telling you more than 90 percent of what you hear is what teams WANT you to hear through their media ’sources’. Half of these folks get told things from teams because teams
WANT that message in particular, out there.

Jason Bay is going to be here a full year. That’s 30+ HR, 100+ RBI and a near 900 OPS right there. That helps. He’s a very good defensive player and a very good base runner, not to mention a fantastic club house
presence. 

Tex would certainly have made this lineup more potent, but scoring the most runs isn’t the solution. You need run prevention and the Sox have that too. Now so do the Yanks, but are you believing that the Yanks just put out $400 mm-plus in contracts and all three players will be worth the deals? When has that ever happened ACROSS a free agent class much less one team.

I think the Steinbrenners, coming off a miserable last season in Yankee Stadium, are dead set on opening the new stadium with a World Series and they don’t care how much it costs. Good for them. You can bitch all you want about the Yankees and greed but they spend money in a sincere effort to win it all, every year. What fan wouldn’t want their teams to do that.

Theo’s not done, at least in my opinion. The club is stocked with VERY tradable young talent and you can bet with this economy teams will be hell bent on unloading supreme talent where possible. Teams other than the NY’s, Anaheim’s and Boston’s.

The AL East just got tougher, if that’s possible, and I don’t think the counter punches are done being thrown.

From:
SFC Michael L Peterson
Event Coordinator MWR
Forward Operating Base Bucca
1st Squadron, 102nd Cavalry Regiment

“Curt
The boxes are flowing in on a regular here at Camp Bucca. We have gotten the ones out to visitation for the kids and also the boxes for the soldiers have gone out to the different units also. The kids have been loving the gifts coming in with the different toys and school supplies. Their faces just seem to light up when you give it to them.
The soldiers were shocked to get the boxes with actual gifts already wrapped in them. We sent them out to various units here and I suspect that the senders will be getting a letter written back showing how much they appreciate the gifts. I was going to wait until we they slowed down but it has lifted so many people spirits already I wanted to send you this email on behalf of Camp Bucca just to say thank you…………..
…….Enough people cared enough to read you blog and then cared even more enough to send anything for a small care package up to a large box full of wrapped gifts.”

So thank you to everyone that contributed, for helping to make someone you don’t know, smile this Christmas season. You people are awesome.

Curt

Bradford: When you hear about the kind of negotiations Mark Teixeira is going through, what stands out?

Me: The mass of misinformation everyone works off of. So little of the facts are ever really that. It’s the ultimate form of second-hand information and in many cases you get people making ‘educated’ guesses, figuring if they’re wrong, so what, but if they are right they ‘broke’ the story.

Bradford: How much interaction with Scott Boras have you had, if any? Did you ever contemplate joining forces with him?

Me: Almost none other than going up against him on a talk show in Philly after the JD Drew draft. I’ve thought about it when thinking about next season. Bottom line is if you want to scrap every penny you can from the bottom of the barrel, leave nothing on the table, he’s your guy. That being said I’ve spoken at length with Jason about him, a guy I have a ton of respect for, and Jason considers him a very close friend, so that means something to me.

Bradford: When is important to have an agent?

Me: When you are drafted. When you go to arbitration. The first time you become a free agent. Every time you become a free agent after that if you CANNOT handle the pressure of a negotiation yourself, or if you are not comfortable with any parts of negotiating on your behalf.

Bradford: When should a player contemplate going without an agent?

Me: Depends on the player really. If you are smart enough and pay attention to the market you could consider your first go-around in free agency (though I think I might only recommend that for a college drafted player if at all) but more often than not your second free agent go around would likely be better.

Bradford: What characteristics do players look for when selecting agents?

Me: I hired my second and last agent and went into that process with really only one hard piece of criteria. I told myself I’d interview the 30-plus agents and after the first interviews I’d pare it down and eliminate anyone in the first round that bad mouthed another agent or agency in any way. After 30 some interviews there was only one agency that didn’t do that.

Bradford: How much control does an agent have over the process?

Me: Again that is player dependant. Some agents run the entire process at the players request, others serve as go betweens and advisors. Depends on what you want for your percent.

Keep sending in questions – either on this page, or in the comments section — for a mailbag (coming in the not-so-distant-future).

I spent almost 10 years with a total no-trade clause due to the fact that I was a ‘his choice is to live in’ guy. I can speak from the experience of my situation, as well as what I learned from discussions with many players about this very thing.

The first piece to the decision-making process for me was upbringing. I grew up in a lower middle-class suburban neighborhood, and that had a huge impact on where I lived once I played and had the money to make that choice. I despise big-city living, can’t stand it, and that was the reason behind living 40 minutes outside the city for almost a decade in Philly, 30 or so minutes away from Bank One in Arizona and about 45 minutes from Fenway when playing in Boston.

Don’t get me wrong, I love playing in that big-city, huge-expectations environment; I just couldn’t stand living in it.

You hear many things about Mark Teixeira and his ‘wants,’ ‘needs’ and ‘desires.’ I only know Mark from competing against him but I would make a few arguments on the premise that he won’t sign for top dollar just because it’s top dollar. He doesn’t have to unless someone steps in and beats the #2 offer by 20-30 or 40 million total dollars (which in this day and age is not out of the question).

I would think, based on what I hear, that his incredibly positive experience in Anaheim gives the Angels a very nice inroad if they field a competitive offer (which I hear they did in fact make). I don’t know if he’s a big city guy or a small town guy but Anaheim is a place to get both and be a part of a very good organization run by good people.

I understand Mark is from the DC/Baltimore area and can speak first-hand to the allure of that place. I’m talking Baltimore though. Fantastic city, great fans and you have your pick of big city apartment or house in horse country. Not sure D.C. offers that second option or whether or not that matters, but I know going back to Arizona felt like ‘coming home’ and that was a huge draw for me.

Boston obviously appears to be as interested, if not more so, than anyone. Boston does in fact offer that big city living space, or the small town suburbia home depending on what he and his family are after.

The trump card though, for me anyway, is that Boston offers something far beyond what any team or city can hope to bring to the table. It’s a new age here, there are completely different expectations each year for the Red Sox, and from Sox Nation. I can’t imagine not having experienced this city, the fans, the ballpark, as a hometown player prior to my last year (if this is fact my last one).

Think Packer football, Cowboy football, Yankee baseball, Penn State football, ‘Bama football, all rolled into one.

Boston has become a sports mecca in a way. The Pats are the class of the NFL, the Bruins are the best team in the NHL, the Celts are defending World Champs and the Sox have created a new breed of sports fan. Gone are the loveable losers; now it’s about winning it all, all the time. It’s a 162-game football season with 19 Super Bowls (games vs. Yanks) thrown in. It’s the topic of conversation every day of every week of every month.

But there’s also the feeling that not so long ago it was different. I am not so sure we handled that first title in ’04 with the class we would have liked and it’s also very clear that the nation has taken a very keen interest in hating everything Boston these days. It’s a smidgen of a taste of what Yankee fans endured in the late ‘90s. People hate winners. It’s weird but true. The Sox went from the bandwagon of all bandwagons to social lepers in sports circles. Everyone loves to hate anyone who is on top for a lengthy period of time and this city is on top right now.

But to suit up in this uniform, take the field as a member of this team and play for these fans, there’s nothing like it in my 23 years of professional baseball to compare it to. Nothing. Whether I come back or not, part of me will always be tied to this franchise and that roster of 25 guys that believed when no one else did or would.

When CHB called us ‘Frauds’ we busted our asses to not retort and validate anything about him, but we didn’t need a sportswriter to tell us what we woke up and knew every single day. Until a ring was won here it wouldn’t matter how many HR’s you hit, games you won, MVP’s, Cy’s, nothing. Until you won the ring you were just like all the rest. Loveable? Maybe. But no different in the end.

That happened, and when it did this city changed, these fans changed and Fenway Park became a place I wish any player the thrill of playing in as a hometown player. No dollar amount or contract length can replace the things that happen in front of those fans on that field.

If the dollars end up comparable, I can’t imagine spending eight years in a more enjoyable, passionate and winning environment than what has been created here.

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12/4/08      Kuwait           Meet and Greet                 Camp Arifjan     Mixed                                   225

12/4/08      Kuwait           Meet and Greet                Kuwait Naval Base Mixed                               150

12/4/08       Iraq                Meet and Greets              Camp Bucha       Mixed                                   200

12/4/08       Iraq                Boxing Championship       Camp Bucha       Mixed                                1,000

12/5/08       Iraq                Meet and Greet                TQ                      Marines                                  80

12/5/08       Iraq                Meet and Greet               Camp Waleed      Marines                                100

12/5/08       Iraq                Meet and Greet                Al Asad               Marines                                200

12/5/08       Iraq                Meet and Greet               Camp Liberty      Mixed                                     50

12/6/08      Iraq                Meet and Greet                 JSS Hor Al BashMixed                                     80

12/6/08      Iraq                Meet and Greet                COP Bassam        Mixed                                     50

12/6/08      Iraq                Meet and Greet                FOB War Eagle    Mixed                                   100

12/6/08      Iraq                Meet and Greet               Camp Liberty      Mixed                                   200

12/6/08      Iraq                Meet and Greet                JSS Shik Amir     Mixed                                     50

12/6/08      Iraq                Meet and Greet                COP Falahat        Mixed                                     80

12/6/08      Iraq                Meet and Greet                FOB Sab Al Bour Mixed                                  100

Below are addresses for soldiers I’d be personally thankful to you for helping lift their holiday spirits!

This first one is an organization started by actor Gary Sinese that has done incredible things for children of the free Iraqi people

http://www.operationiraqichildren.org/

James B. Selig

Lance Corporal/ USMC

SecFor Bn S-1 Unit Mail Clerk

Al Asad Security Force Battalion, Iraq

Unit 43504

FPO AP 96426-2504

DSN 440-2018

SSG Sheeran, Chris

2 25 SBCT

B Troop 2/14 Cav

6260

APO, AE 09378

SFC Peterson, Michael L

HHT 1-102 CAV

Camp Bucca, Iraq

APO AE 09375

BIG TIME Giants fan!

1LT SOLAITA (Solly)

MNC-I CJ1 PROGRAMS

CAMP VICTORY, IRAQ

APO AE 09342

HUGE SOX FAN!!

Maj Mike Donahue

A Co. DSTB, 4ID (G5)

Unit 43119

APO AE 09344

Scott A. Rainey

LTC, US Army

CJ1, Chief of Programs

Multi-National Corps-Iraq

Baghdad, Iraq

Kelly Greene

B Co STB

XVIII ABN

APO, AE 09342

HUGE Red Sox Fan!

BG Daniel Allyn

HQ, MNC-I

Office of the Chief of Staff

18th Airborne Corps

APO AE 09342

SFC Shannon Lehr

HHT 3BCT, 4ID

Unit 6064

Camp Taji, Iraq

APO, AE 09378

Thanks in advance to anyone sending something to these wonderful people. Also note there are now links on the side of this page to various organizations that assist our soldiers abroad!

Two analogies I thought were ‘appropriate’ in this context.

A table needs four legs to stand, right now Iraq is standing on 2 of its own, and we’re (Coalition of Allied forces) providing the other two.

A football game with 2 minutes left, right now we have a 3 pt lead, the next year or two will be spent increasing that to 20 or more points. Would you rather play the last two minutes with a 3 pt or 21 pt lead? Which one would you feel was more of a lock?

Please look at these powerpoints. I’ll quote the soldiers that sent them to me:

“The Sons of Iraq in this edition of the ComCamDaily is pretty much the Iraqi’s joining their own, “backyard” police to help secure their own villages and neighborhoods. They have joined their own cause and basically want to defend themselves from Al Qaeda.”

Powerpoint One

“These are Iraqi’s trained up like American soldiers. Pretty badass.”

Powerpoint Two

And here are two more links, with a ton of stuff that for some reason I haven’t seen in our papers over here.

http://www.dvidshub.net/units/JCCCI or the http://www.defenseimagery.mil/index.html

Make no mistake, when we leave it needs to be ‘a lock’ or else we’ll be sending these brave warriors back into harms way, when we should not have to.

Enough on that. In summary there is a ton I want to say, and likely will, but there are so many impressions I left with.

In the 8 days I had the honor of meeting these brave soldiers I can tell you with my right hand to God that there was NOT ONE soldier upset, pissed off, disgruntled or mad about their situation. Don’t get me wrong, they all would prefer to be home with their families, but far beyond that was an overwhelming sense of pride that they had and were accomplishing a mission that is going to change the world.

Before you piss and moan about anything understand we met soldiers from the post at Waleed on the Syrian border (a bad ass bunch of Marines I might add) to the FOBs around Baghdad that were still seeing ‘action’ unfortunately. NOT ONE of them was anything but respectful, and dead set on completing their mission.

So all of you “bring them home now” folks who think you are doing some greater good by saying that, are in effect doing the exact opposite. They want to come home when the mission is done, period.

I’ll go one better. I would argue I met over 200 soldiers that WANTED to be posted to Afghanistan. That’s not a typo, they WANTED THAT. Understand that much, they are different people than most of us, me included. They serve a cause far bigger than themselves, and it’s because they want to. For anyone out there questioning that, remember this, the draft left us a long time ago, these are volunteers.

The week was life changing in a way. I had grown up military, my dad served and taught me a profound respect of those that do the same, but seeing them ‘in action’ is truly a remarkable experience.

Few things I noticed. Hearing a .50 cal fired at Quantico is a far different experience than hearing one fired in anger in Baghdad.

The troops eat like champs, almost always. I feel sorry for the folks who let it be known they can cook, because when their units get posted to a FOB they are officially cooks for life:)

The MWRAP and Stryker Assault Vehicles are amazing pieces of technology.

Infantry men and women in the US Army are the best scroungers known to man. They can make an anti-tank protection device out of tin foil and duct tape.

Moms, dads, sisters, brothers, uncles, whatever, know that your relatives are happy, well fed, full of ELAN and an Esprit De Corps unmatched by any fighting force on the planet.

The troops serving at Camp Bucca are doing a mission of world changing implications. They have gone from assault troops and hunter killers, to educators, ambassadors, friends and confidants to a nation starving for a chance. They are doing it flawlessly I might add.

Getting to meet both Iraq citizens and soldiers one thing is VERY VERY CLEAR! They are HAPPY the world cares. They have been shown that the world as they knew it under a regime of staggering oppression is not the real world. They want a chance and are incredibly grateful that our men and women, and armed forces from other allied nations are trying to give it to them.

They need help. They need training, they need support but at the end of the day they need enough time to get propped up and running. Once they have the training and infrastructure and have mobilized the forces needed, I believe they’ll do everything within their power to never be in the place they were.

I think we’ll end up having a force in Iraq very similar to Germany. I also think they’ll want it.

One of the last FOBs I visited was an incredible story onto itself.

The men of 2/14 were telling me about their days. Explaining that locals would come in the morning and they knew the soldiers they could ‘hit up’ for things, money, gifts, whatever. As they were telling me this I wasn’t completely understanding it so I stopped and asked them what they meant.

It went something like this. They were occupying a Government building in a city that housed senior Baathe party officials pre war. The city was at around 50k in population. Post war the city was about 4000 people. That number had now swelled to over 40k and was growing daily and the US base there was in a building that the mayor of the city, and citizens, interacted with on a daily basis!

These soldiers were still on daily missions and at high alert but over the past 5 months things are changing dramatically. Where they used to spend 24/7 hunting down terrorists and extremists in local communities, they were now out and about helping rebuild vital parts of the city, playing games with the local children and integrating themselves into the communities there. The Iraqi’s were blown away at the fact that these soldiers weren’t demons or something worse.

It’s not over, not by a long shot, but we are winning and people need to know that.

In closing I wanted to extend my sincere appreciation to a few people.

Tracey Thede of the USO, the lady who kicked off our tour and made it known to us that the USO and it’s mission are a life’s work for her.

Dave Gatley the photographer who accompanied us all week. Fantastic man who helped us get comfortable quick!

1LT Sale Solaita. A man’s man and a true friend. I can’t fathom what this week would have been like without Solly and am proud as hell to call him a friend.

Major Mike Donahue. Part of our team inside Baghdad. Another soldier who was born to lead. I’d follow either of these men to the ends of the earth and trust my life with them as well. Major Donahue is a life long Sox fan too, so we had some great times hanging out and chatting.

Mike Fitzpatrick and Kelly Greene. Two Soldiers who allowed me the honor of participating in their re-enlistment ceremonies. A higher honor I cannot imagine.
SSG Greene was also a part of our team in Baghdad and I’d like to think Solly, Mike Kelly, Ty and I made some friends for life.

To General Odierno, Brigadier General Allyn and Major General Hammond, three incredible leaders leading a force unmatched on this planet, God Bless you and the men and women that serve under you.

To Ty, my college roomate. I can’t imagine a more perfect friend to have shared this past week with. He got it, and that made it worthwhile.

To Shonda and the kids. For allowing me to be away during the holidays and experience something she knew was incredibly important for all involved.

So thanks, to anyone that followed along, and to the folks that made this possible.

We truly are winning, and it was an honor to be allowed to see it up close and personal.

Before we get to the soldiers I have been made aware of a fantastic program run by Gary Sinese that facilitates sending HUGE quantities of material for Iraqi children. Please check out this website

Al Asad is a HUGE air base, tons of soldiers that are not going to be home for Christmas. TONS and I MEAN TONS of Sox fans, die hard ones!

1LT Solaita was one of the folks that escorted us around in country for the week. A finer man you won’t meet, pretty much a larger version of Major Donahue:) Solly is a guy that likely won’t and never would ask for anything. Oh, and unbeknownst to me the whole week, the guy’s a Giants fan, so GIants stuff might be in order. Also know that anything you might want to send for children in Iraq Solly could help get out there.

1LT SOLAITA

MNC-I CJ1 PROGRAMS

CAMP VICTORY, IRAQ

APO AE 09342

James B. Selig

Lance Corporal/ USMC

SecFor Bn S-1 Unit Mail Clerk

Al Asad Security Force Battalion, Iraq

Unit 43504

FPO AP 96426-2504

DSN 440-2018

Capt Digati and the 2/14 are manning FOBs (Forward Operating Bases) in Baghdad and around Iraq. They are WAY out of the way and in remote areas. Not alot of company but alot of business being done by these brave folks.

ATTN: CPT DIGATI

2-25 SBCT / HQ B-TROUP

2-14 CAV 6260

APO AE 09378

SSG Sheeran and the gang he works with at their base are HARD CORE gamers! I am taking care of their console needs, but these guys have laptops and love to play games, anyone interested in sending them PC titles feel free. They LOVE RTS stuff, heard TOTAL WAR and COMPANY OF HEROES were played and liked and they were looking for more copies.

SSG Sheeran, Chris

2 25 SBCT

B Troop 2/14 Cav

6260

APO, AE 09378

SFC Peterson is a stud, awesome man who helped us around Camp Bucca which is one of the most important bases over there. It contains thousands of US Troops and THOUSANDS of Iraqi civilians. The troops there are working WITH the civilians, their families and many others on a mission to help educate the citizens of Iraq to help take back the country that is rightfully theirs. They are in DIRE need of school supplies. Oh! And another thing, from what I understand they CANNOT get enough soccer balls over there!

The service men and woman can and will take anything. There are quite a few board gaming fans in the mix over there, I know PSP’s, DS’s and many other handhelds are in high demand as well as just everyday stuff. Books, movies, anything. They will appreciate anything they get.

SFC Peterson will the be the ‘go to’ guy on this, sending everything through and to him to get to the folks there:) Just know that there are MANY many Iraqi children in and out of this facility, from newborns to teenagers so clothing can be appropriate as well. If you are not sure of their customs just know to send very plain and NOTHING flashy in the way of clothes.

SFC Peterson, Michael L

HHT 1-102 CAV

Camp Bucca, Iraq

APO AE 09375

I also received this from the mother of a soldier serving over there.

SPC Cheney, Zachary

BSTB4-10 Mtn Div

FOB Loyalty

APO AE 09390-9999

Here is another one! SSG Greene gave me the ultimate honor of participating in her re-enlistment (she re-enlisted “indef” by the way, meaning she’s now a lifer!) when I arrived at the central palace in Baghdad. She’s an M&M JUNKIE so think about that one!!

Kelly Greene

B Co STB

XVIII ABN

APO, AE 09342

I am working on things on my end but anyone wishing to send stuff please feel free. It DOES NOT need to be something expensive, hell a box a slim jims could be a HUGE hit over there:)

Think of some of the nicer but odd american snacks we all have access too, that works!

Games, movies, books, outdoor sports equipment is HUGE, basketballs, boxing gear is big, softball and baseball stuff as well.

I know they’ll sincerely appreciate anything you send.

Sunrise at Saddams Palace in Baghdad

We were up and moving at dawn. Nine different hops today to eight bases with a stop off to meet the brilliant men overseeing this world changing event.

Sully, Staff Sergeant Greene (who re-enlisted indef last night, which I mention because she requested my participation in that ceremony when we arrived, which I was obviously honored to do) and Ty and I were off and running.

The Three Musketeers ride!

We had the honor of being joined today by a soldiers soldier. Major Donahue of the 4th Infantry Division was appointed to assist us in and around Baghdad for the remainder of the tour and this guy was just nails. On point and flawless execution of every detail (although there was one slip up which I think he wanted to discharge his weapon on someone over, which I won’t lie, was fun to watch!)

Major Donahue, 4th ID HOA!

The only cooler person I met wearing a 4th Infantry Division patch was their Commander, 2 Star General Hammond. This was an absolute honor and the man did not disappoint. The mark, for me anyway, of any good leader is his passion for the people in his unit, and this man had it in SPADES. From the second he opened his mouth you could literally feel his commitment to the men and women serving under him. My first thought upon hearing him speak was “General Patton”. A passionate devoted man who I imagine the men and Woman serving in this unit are proud to serve. He mentioned their brothers and sisters lost in combat in this campaign and you could see and hear that these people were his family. A true honor to meet this man and stand in his company. Oh and you want to know why 4th ID does it’s job? This motto in combat “ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK”….

I had a thought after I met him that really hit home with me. The words “hero’ and ‘warrior’ and ‘combat’ are used far too often and far to callously in sports, always have been. These men and women I think feel every bit as uncomfortable when we talk about them in that fashion as well because you KNOW they don’t feel that way, they feel like every true soldier to wear the Stars and Stripes feels, they are doing ‘their jobs’.

But today another word became much more clear to me. Soldier. It’s a word that has far less impact than it should. This man, and the men and women in the room, and the men and women we’ve met, that’s what they are in every sense of the word. True Soldiers on a just mission doing the right thing. You cannot understand the reality of this place and these people without seeing it. What I’ve read, what I’ve seen, is not what’s happening.

To a person they believe in their mission. Not because it’s what they’ve been ordered to do, but it’s because they know for an undisputable fact that what they are doing is right. It’s honorable, it’s just, it’s a mission that absolutely must be done, and they are doing it. Not only that, but they are doing it far better and far more than any of us knew before we got here. Would they rather be home? Hell yes, I think most would. But they also believe in what’s happening here. We’re winning. By that I mean it’s working. Iraq is on the cusp of becoming it’s own self governing, self securing, self sustaining country and it’s working because the people of this nation are seeing that life is not what many of them have been living for the past 40-50 to 100 years.

They are starting to care about each other, care about their homes and care about their country. If the men and women of Bucca continue to succeed, and the men and women in theater do the same, this nation is heading quickly to a time and place where their country will be able to move forward to a place where men, woman and children will flourish educationally, socially and economically and those same innocent people don’t have to live their lives, or die, on the whim of an egotistical maniac.

It’s a life changing thing to witness. A FOB we visited today is in a town that after the initial conflict had 4,000 citizens in it, down from over 50,000 before the war. US and Allied Troops have integrated FOBS all over and are living and working on a daily basis with the cities people and government and that same city, once at 4,000 people, is now over 40,000 people.

I call that a win. They know it’s not over yet, not by a long shot. But they are winning and they are doing so because I think the people of this country have seen that thing we have all known to be true. Every human being on this planet is born with inalienable rights, and no one has the right to take that from them, no one.

So anyway, we were off…

Our birds are ready to go....

We're off and Sully is "ON"

The day would see us hitting eight different FOB’s (Forward Operating Bases) that were manned mainly by 2/14 Air Cavalry units. A mix of 4th and 25th Infantry Division men were manning their posts and on mission all day long.

The highlight in the field today was a deployment ‘outside the wire’ meaning our LZ was in an area not inside the safety of an FOB. We hit the ground, Sully, Major Donahue and SSG Greene were off the bird and met by a six-man assault team providing cover as we debarked. These guys were dead ass serious, safties off and ready. The door gunners were in support as we made our way into the FOB but it was about two minutes of intensity that I wasn’t expecting. In as respectful a way as I can say it this was just cool as hell, watching these people do their jobs.

The FOB we dropped in on had had an incident four days earlier when someone assaulted their position with a hand grenade. The tower glass showed some effects of the incident, one I am pretty sure saw them losing.

I got my first close look at the “Stryker”, a behemoth of a vehicle being used inside the city to patrol. On the way there a WWF match broke out…

I think the dude on tops wins....

One big bad ass machine…

Ty the cool guy...

Now this version of the Stryker features a fully controllable turret mounted .50 caliber MG. This is cool for many reasons, not the least of which this is how you stay safe, and kill bad guys…

Would you swerve knowing I was 'painting' you?

You handle the gun via joystick. Oh by the way, the gunner gives me the ok to handle the MG, and about 15 seconds later says in a rather loud voice “Oh! Don’t pull that trigger!”… I’m thinking that’s information I needed BEFORE I grabbed the joystick (needless to say the gun was saftied at that time anyway, but I didn’t know!).

Traversing the turret as they gave me a ‘tour’ of the surrounding neighborhood. They showed us three former ‘hot spots’ where they had bad guys present. Two of those locations were marked with 50 cal “autographs” all over, the third was a building so shot up by the gun it had collapsed.

These men also ‘taunted me’ into pitching. I have not thrown a ball in about 6 months. Not to mention I had surgery in between to detach my bicep. It ended up OK since no one got hurt, but next time around I’ll be ready for it.

I apologize for not remembering which of the first 2-3 stops it was but Cpt Polak of the 25th Infantry Division, as we are departing, leans to me and says “I want you to have this” and hands me his combat side unit patch, off his uniform. “A lot of blood has been spilled for this badge and I would be proud to give you this”. Ya, how do you respond to something like that? The 25th ID insignia is a lightning bolt, they go by Tropic Lightning with a Hawaiin’esque hand sign, one I am proud to say I learned quickly (in no small part to the big Samoan providing organization and security during our tour here).

Wearing it proud...

So we hop to and fro all morning and below are shots of some things we did. One of my other goals was to get as many shirts and hats from units over here as I could. I always wear this stuff on TV when I can and these folks love that. My prize hat today came from Aaron Dorazio of the 2/14th Cavalry, who handed me their unit hat, and signed it as well.

I also received their coin, a poker chip, which I have learned is a highly sought after item!

So here are shots of our travels and stops in the early part of the day.

Another stop incomming!

Sox Nation is EVERYWHERE!!!

On our way...

Over Baghdad

Air Cav HOA!

Over Baghdad, again...

Cheer up Greenie....

A fraction of what it takes to supply this Army...

About mid-day I was on a visit and allowed honor of viewing a field commendation ceremony. Specialist Fears was presented with a Field Commendation in front of his unit, and damn was that cool to watch. The boys were justly fired up at the end and it was another example of just how crucial every facet of an operation this huge is vital to success.

Lets get moving folks, birds are waiting!

Damn these helmets suck.... Ty you look stupid!

Mid day it was time for the cool part for us, and stress for the men and women towing us around. Seven stars worth of generals were being visited at Saddam’s former palace grounds, and there was lots of co-ordinating to do around those three schedules. Something went awry as we spent 30 minutes basically playing “Where’s Waldo?” in two Blackhawk Helicopters. Major Donahue got things straightened out and we were set to meet General Odierno, the Commander of all Military Forces in the Theater.

The tip off on what this man was like was the fact that to a person everyone we spoke to him about used works like “incredible”, “Awesome” and ‘Phenomenal person”.

Here are some in flight photos leading up to that.

Saddam

More Saddam's pad....

More? Ya, less than a half mile away are people living in mud huts..

So we touch down and enter the Command Center for Allied Forces in the Middle East and this is what we see…..

SWEET! Sox Nation running the show!!

There are better pictures out there but basically a HUGE contingent of Sox Nation is holed up at the CC.

This would have been great except this guy…

Is a DIE HARD YANKEE FAN!!!

Ya, the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces is a life long die hard Yankee fan. Something I might have held against people of lesser stature, but he was so damn cool and so damn nice it was impossible. He and his staff went out of their way, at a time we should have been the least of their concerns, to make us feel welcome. He also presented me with his “Coin” which I assume trumps all right? Isn’t his coin like the King on the Chess Board???

After his gracious reception we met General Hammond and ended the day meeting General Allyn, a HUGE Sox Fan and another great guy. General Allyn is the MNCI Chief of Staff in Iraq. We swapped Sox stories for a bit, got some photos…

That's me on the left.....

After these meet and greets ended we were off to accomplish the 2nd thing on my “Sully list” of things I wanted to accomplish here: A TRUE High Fade…

.........um.....

There's still more to cut...

High fade accomplished. Oh and the guy in the grey T blows things up, and then builds bridges....

After a quick haircut, and a bite to eat, we were off again. 3 more stops and the day would come to a close.

Major Donahue riding shotgun, and no longer ready to rip someones head off...

On the move again..

There's our buddies!

Still hanging!

This sight makes a knot in your stomach flying over a war zone...

Our last few stops were with more men of the 2/14th Cav. We had a great time as we were able to hang out for an extended period of time with all these guys. I know there is a man named Ryker, wounded in action, who’s going to be receiving multiple ‘gifts’ from his buddies in 2 14 with the word “Ass” written on them….

Stryker makes a very solid background....

Oh hell no Sully, anothe Samoan????

Ty, now call sign"Penman" joins the gang...

Ty decides to be"that guy" as the Major and I try to bond and talk Sox!

Our last stop of the night came in the city I mentioned earlier. 2/14 had established a FOB inside a government building that was just gutted when they arrived. Today that building stands in the center of a city nearing it’s pre war population after the seen of intense fighting earlier this year, over 10x the population it had at the end of the initial Allied Offensive. Here are shots of the building and the team on the ground as well as two very special pictures for me. The blurry one in the bunk room came out bad which sucks, but these guys are HUGE HUGE gamers. They’ve rigged their X Boxes up so that eight guys in the platoon can play ‘Call of Duty’ together. This place is the definition of utility. These infantrymen are the masters of making something out of nothing and this was no exception.

No Fung Shwey at all...And ya I know that

Here comes the gang...

Settling in to BS for a bit.

Down here chatting for awhile, hearing the FOB commander talk about their interaction with the Iraqi police and Iraqi army was inspiring. Great things are happening and it’s just fantastic to hear. I turn around and am introduced to Sgt Mortada Rahm Mozel Fleh….

Hanging with Mort! And he's got a Sox lid on BACKWARDS!!

Not long after that he comes back and offers me a small ring, almost like a pinky ring until I am told about the game. Basicallty the troops when out on patrol engage in a game of hide and seek with this ring and adults in the community. You put the ring in a hand and the opponent tries to pick the hand, As the holder of the ring your job is to bluff as best you can. The kids play this game for hours with the soldiers.

Soon after this some senior officers arrive and we get this one..

Mort representing Sox Nation!!

The"Love Tunnel"...

I’ll let that one hang for awhile. SSG Chris Sheeran and his bunk mates in the “Rat Pack” have the MTV Cribs pad of Iraq. This place is the coolest setup we ran across. If they’d let us, Ty and I would have crashed here tonight. Gamers all, and HARDCORE ones at that, there’s nothing they can’t setup!

If ANYONE wishes to spend some money to pick up gifts for the guys in this platoon this holiday season I’ve got a list of things to grab for them, starting with a Philadelphia Eagles Cheerleader Calendar and moving onto PSP’s and games for them (these guys network up to play COD4 and many other EA games that I know of!).

The PSP’s get run into the ground during down time, and they play tons of stuff…

A special shout out to Peter Moore and his Executive Asst. Ms Tana Billingsley, Peter is a GREAT friend and fantastic person who’s helping reach out to the 2/14 and help make some of this happen.

Our last stop before heading out to our billet was Saddam’s ‘Wedding Reception” building… Really? Isn’t a wedding reception a place you hold your ONE wedding reception after you get married?

Check this out….

Al Basrah Suite...

The"john", well one of them anyway

Some bad images but you get the idea right?

Dinner anyone?

Ty drinking a"dew" with all his friends...

The"Foyer"

Entry way ceiling

So ya, this man built what amounts to a million, well LOTS of million dollar huge palacial building, for a wedding reception? Go figure..

The day was ending, and what an incredible day it was. We headed off to find out lodging and call it a night. It’s 0315, and I am wiped. I’ll likely write up a summary of this entire experience on the flight home on Monday. Need a few days to recover from the 7 days of adrenalin.

To the men and women we met today, thank you all!

God Speed and God Bless

It’s been an incredible experience to date, I have a ton of pictures but can only post my IPhone stuff for now.

I want to first off thank Tracey Thede. Tracey was Ty and I’s USO Rep on Days 1 and 2 of our trip and she’s just a fantastic and genuine person. Unfortunately due to ankle surgery she wasn’t able to accompany us into Iraq so we are sad to say she’s gone home. We’re going to abuse her next time we see her though …

Next up is Sully. Sully is basically our protection in theater. To picture Sully just imagine a 250-pound Samoan, with about 5 percent body fat and armed. Ya, that’s Sully. Not only that but he’s the kindest man you’d ever want to meet, knows pretty much every person we’ve seen the past three days and if he doesn’t know them, they know him. If you need something, Sully gets it for you, no matter what. Oh, and he can pretty much snap you in half if need be. Not a bad thing to have him hanging around over here. Sully is doing the 18th Airborne proud for sure.

Day 2 was up and running REAL early. The boys below were tasked with getting us into Iraq and our first stop.

Sox Nation alive and well at Camp Beauhring!

Ty was nervous, I wasn’t (lie, bold face lie).

So we take the Blackhawks into Iraq and our entire second day was to be spent at Camp Bucca. Camp Bucca is a detainee center located inside Iraq. My first thought was “Hogan’s Heroes”. Maybe we’d crest over a hill and see this little camp and it would be cool.

Not even close. It comes into view and it’s massive. It’s also one of the most crucial locations and missions in the entire theater. So much is said and done state side to send ‘messages’ or further agendas but when you are here, and when you see the truth of what this is, who these people are, how they feel, and what their mission is, you realize we get so little of the truth back home.

The men and women of Boca are commanded by the lone Marine stationed on the base. (A fact I referenced that evening at the Boxing match to some boos and hisses from Army and Navy folks). Their mission is to detain truly bad people, and help educate, provide medical care, train and assist all the rest. Every man and woman at Bucca, from US Military to Iraqi detainee is provided the same health and medical care. It’s stunning and the mission is incredible. We were given a complete walk through of the mission these men and women were on by this incredibly kind man.

Ollis was the man tasked with the mundane chore of showing Ty and my’s sorry asses around for the morning. This actually followed a brief from the base commanders where they explained the base’s mission. It was an incredibly informative and surprising intel briefing.

So Ollis basically walked us through the entire process, from the front gate, into the camp, every step an Iraqi citizen takes in visiting loved ones inside the wire. The security is obviously incredibly stringent, but necessary, but more importantly the steps taken to insure the citizens are treated with respect, dignity, courtesy and care is amazing. Every single opportunity to display kindness, compassion and care is taken.

Our impressions were basically every country has bad people, and Iraq is no exception. But at the end of the day the majority of humans are good at heart, and it’s no different here. These men and women have grown up in opression none of us can fathom, so the simplest things, like basic dental care, reading and writing education, are so far from anything they’ve ever known it’s stunning.

Two things resounded with me this morning. The first was stories of detainees who desperately DO NOT want to be let go. They acknowledge that inside the wire, even detained, their lives are enriched far beyond anything they ever imagined.

That was only validated by being allowed to read the incredibly powerful letters written by former detainees, in thanks to the staff at Camp Bucca. The were powerful and moving, and I just wish for one day everyone back home could see the real truth of whats happening over here.

I’ll stop one second to give a shout out to two other men. Our liason at Bucca was “Mad dog” Pederson. And let me say this. Mad Dog fit him as a nickname like short and svelte fits me. This guy could not have been any nicer or more giving than he was. He spent the entire day out in front leading and organizing our visit to insure we had maximum exposure to service men and woman in meaningful time frames. Thanks ‘dawg’!!!

The second man was 1st Lt Paul Capone. Born and raised a lifelong member of Sox Nation, Paul was pretty fired up about the assignment and displayed an eagerness to take care of us. He made sure the day went off without a hitch and that everyone was taken care of and no one got out of line.

Paul wanted to send a message to his brothers Mark and Nick, friends Sean, Mike D, Mike O and Mark.

“I spent the day with Curt and you did not - in Iraq. Love and miss you all”

This guy was just good people but most importantly incredibly passionate about his mission over here and ecstatic at his personal interaction with the Iraqi people. He’s on the front line of the most important battle over here right now, helping these people begin to care for, and about a nation that belongs to them. Great stuff.

Next up was a visit to the local depot and Ty and I got to climb around the MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicle. No pictures on my IPhone for different reasons but check this out.

  

That looks mine resistant to me….

I got to climb around inside, and it was awesome, The turret sporting the M240 on top was remote control and the “best machine gunner on the base” gave me a little assist in familiarizing myself with it. The ranking office on site and a patrol leader walked Ty and I through the logistics of the vehicle and how they operate out in the field. It was just cool as hell.

Even cooler was the fact that a patrol had just come in. They were cleaning their weapons and basically defusing and trying to relax when we were led over. It hit me for the first time pretty hard just how much stress is on these folks over here. I could see as I was walking up they were pretty spent. I don’t imagine it was nearly as much physical as mental though. Ya it’s grueling physical work, but even more important is that once you cross the ‘wire’ you are ‘hot’ and it’s no friggin joke. There are no second chances, there are no ‘down times’, you are on target and on mission every second, because your life, and your brothers life is on the line. That may sound cliche but these men and women have to think and act in that manner. It’s incredible to watch.

The great part was that once we got over there we had a chance to talk with them a few minutes and laugh over some back home stuff. It was a thrill for us. They had a die hard Yankee fan in the mix, and he was cool as hell. We thanked them and moved on.

Next up…

  

Clint Eastwood I am not….

Ty and I were taken to the firing range. We were permitted to fire the M4 Assault Rifle and the M92 Handgun. I’ll give you a million excuses why I sucked. My shoulder stock was not the right length until adjusted, the sights were set for another shooter, yadda yadda, all true, but none of that would have changed the fact that I sucked. Ty outshot me pretty easily but man what a rush. The M4 was set to burst fire, a 3 round burst, the second magazine and damn was that insane. Pretty sure my three bullet spread would have only hit the same target if the person I was shooting was around 14 feet tall. I started at the knees and the third round left the chamber around 10 feet above the target I think. It was cool as hell and a huge thanks the the men that assisted us. Fwiw the big boy on site was an Air Cav man, proudly wearing his dark blue hat, and it was pretty damn cool looking. Couldn’t help but think Apocolypse Now….

After the range we had our meet and greet and dinner. Oh by the way these boys eat damn good, all day long. We got to sit around and shoot the breeze with them during dinner and then we were headed off to the main event. The Camp Bucca Boxing Title Fights. This night was one of the coolest nights of our lives.

The event started with about 3 minutes Ty nor I will ever forget. We stood for the Start Spangled Banner, and at that very second it hit us both in I think the same way. The young lady singing belted out a thunderous rendition, but the power of being there, in theater, surrounded by men and women, some who’d lost brothers in arms, was so powerful I cannot really explain what it meant. As they all brought up their hands in salute (getting chills writing this by the way) I got pretty damn watery eyed. It was just powerful stuff and I am sure anyone that has served can understand how moved we were.

After that the hooping and hollering was on. 6 fights, 4 for belts.

In match one…

Oh, first off Felix was on the grounds. Felix was a man that operated for the 3 hours that night at a Dustin Pedroia like intensity level, every second of every minute there. Funny as hell, inspiring as hell and just an awesome guy.

I was asked to introduce the first fight. I started by offering an observation. I wondered aloud what it said about the branches present that there were a ton of army, a ton of navy, some air force, and one Marine. And the Marine was the man running the show… Boos and hisses soon followed.

Match one pitted 5′6″ 137lb Albert Cho from Cathedral City, Ca, Task Force 134, against 5′6″ 140 Robert Banks of the 320th MP from Pittsburgh, PA. (Home of the greatest NFL Franchise ever… More boos and hisses!)

Albert won the 3 round fight in a decision.

Fight 2 saw Bryan Leon, 5′10″ 153 pds from Jersey City, NJ, Unit B 2-113th, against Roosevelt Smith from Davenport, Iowa at 5′7″ 157lbs from the 339 MP. Bryan took home the Lightweight title in a 3 round decision. And it was clearly apparent after this fight that there was an enormous NJ contingent on hand….

Fight three featured the ladies. Yep, the ladies. Abby Hartup of the 304th MP, at 5′9″ 155lbs from Murfreesboro, TN went up against Rebecca Archuleta from Las Cruces, NM. At 5′3″ and 145lbs from teh 586 ESFS. Rebecca had a long haul as she was way short on reach and size, but let me tell you something. She lost, but she took a punch better than just about any man I’ve ever seen. They got after it and got at it.

Fight 4 was an AWESOME match. Dishuan Jones, at 5′7″, 165lbs from San Jose, CA and unit NPDB-5 went up against Adam Harry from Jacksonville, Fla. Fighting for the 887 ESFS at 5′10″ and 163 pds these boys just flat out boxed and brawled for 3 rounds. The crowd got way into it and way crazy. Adrenaline and testosterone was present in huge quantities at this point. Adam was bloodied about 10 seconds in and bled the whole fight. The best part was I think he liked it. Every time I got a look he was smiling like a cheshire cat. They fought an incredible match and in a split Decision Dishaun Jones won the Middleweight Title and belt.

Fight 5 was an awesome match as well. Jeffrey Williamson from Woodbridge, NJ and unit HHC 2-113th at 6′ 179lbs went up against Michael Hightower, also from NJ (Newark). Fighting for unit C-250th BSB, at 6′1″ and 178lbs these men were pretty polished fighters. The nights one and only TKO came when the ref called it late and Michael was proclaimed the light heavywieght title winner. Williamson went to the canvas twice (though I am pretty sure one fall was a slip). It was an incredible fight.

The one the folks seem to be waiting for ended the night. The Heavyweight title fight featured 3-0 Edward Gore from Columbus, Ohio. Unit c 3-13, at 6′ and 184lbs up against Josue Gallegos of Kansas City, MO. Fighting for Unit NPDB-5 at 5′7″ and 180lbs these men repeated match 4. They got after it early and often.

Sitting next to the lone Marine watching the crowd go nuts!

  

Big boys throwing the haymakers!

  

For all the marbles!

  

It’s ON!!!!!

Edward Gore ended up the winner and 2008 Heavyweight Champion of Camp Bucca.

It was just an awesome night and an awesome experience. Little did we know it was only going to get better.

We were due to fly out of Camp Bucca and into “TQ”, as it’s known (Camp Al Taqaddum). We had heard and thought that would again be on a Blackhawk Helicopter. That was not the case. About 30 minutes later we heard the prop sounds of something way bigger and faster than a Blackhawk.

Watching in the dark over the blast wall….

  

It’s a bird! It’s a plane! It’s both??? Mongo and Rookie show up…

This weird looking and sounding machine taxied onto the runway in front of us. “Bongo” and “Rookie” had shown up in their V22 Osprey to give us a lift. This machine is just as cool as it gets.

“Bongo” and “Rookie” were the men piloting this machines call signs. I would later learn that “Bongo” is pretty much the man responsible for the creation of the deadliest insertion and extraction aircraft on the planet. The lethality has nothing to do with it’s armament, but the fact that it can deliver a unit of the most lethal ground combatants on the planet pretty much on a dime, anywhere in the world and be gone before the dust cloud settles.

Oh and I asked them both about their call signs. Bongo told me it had “Something to do with this guy named “Mongo” in Blazing Saddles….. Rookie was self explanatory as he looked like he’d just turned 16….

The gentleman were kind enough to allow me to sit in the jump seat (on the first of what would end up being 4 flights on the Osprey this day!!!). Basically the take off experience went something like this. You rolled forward a bit, hovered off the ground still moving forward, the engines moved from cold to ‘hot’ and the aircraft went from a chopper to a ‘jet’ in less than 10 seconds. At that point you go ‘vertical’, and I mean vertical, fast. About 30-45 seconds later when your organs descend from your larynx, if you have not puked (which I had not) you settle in for the ride of a lifetime.

I was allowed to take this ride wearing night vision, which basically made the flight a clear sky unlimited ceiling night flight …

The only ‘hiccup’ came when I happened to have my mic com button depressed and think I said something like “I’d bet you couldn’t make my buddy in the back puke before we land”.

What I can only describe as intense evasive maneuvers, and about 30 seconds later, I feared I’d screwed myself. I was not REAL close, but not that far away, from frantically searching for a location to spew that wouldn’t cover the instrument panel.

I also heard that the men in the back, who were asleep, were asleep no longer.

We touched down at TQ and were taken to our Billet at around 0030 hours. Needless to say we were wiped, totally wiped and exhausted.

I’d like to post this next picture, even though I know Shonda will likely have my ass for it.

  

It’s true….

This is my billet AFTER I was done. As I walked out I knew I had to take this picture because no one would believe me. This is how it looked when I entered, and when I left. I just for the life of me couldn’t fathom walking out of this place and having one of these men and women come in and clean up after ME. I already felt like crap because they had to tote our luggage on and off every flight.

I know it’s not up to regs but it was the best I could do. I couldn’t remember what to do with the OD blanket on the bottom or remember what the regs were for the top fold. Did the best I could.

We got to spend the morning touring TQ and another HUGE highlight ensued. We had a great opportunity to sit and BS with the men and woman there while awaiting our departing Blackhawk. While we did I was asked to participate in a re-enlistment ceremony, which I absolutely agreed to. I was allowed to read off the swearing in of (and I pray I get his name right) Michael Kirkpatrick. What an incredible honor, and it didn’t end with this one.

At this point we were awaiting our chopper only to get surprised again, another Osprey ride! SWEET!

  

Grindal and Angry on the scene! HOA!

Marine Pilots “Grindal” and “Angry” arrived in the V22 Osprey to take us out west to Waleed. This was huge because it’s so far out not many folks make the trip.

These boys pictured below….

  

Semper Fi BABY!

These guys were just AWESOME! Literally out in the middle of nowhere, they are on the border to Syria and doing an incredible job, flawless. They gone from trigger pulling elite soldiers to Ambassadors and you’d never know they weren’t. They are working the border, in conjunction with locals to assist the Iraqi people in doing the vital tasks needed to be done to secure their own country. This was one of the funnest times we’ ve had here because our bird was delayed and we were allowed to just hang out and BS for a few hours with a bunch of them. Patrols came in and out and I hope we got to meet and sign for every soldier out there. I also met the first pooch out there on bomb detail and his handler, a HUGE Sox fan from Mass. It was just cool as hell. Here’s another shot of some of the guys…

  

The rest of the men at Waleed.

After a few hours our ‘taxi’ had arrived. “Grindal’ and “Angry” decided to drop in…

  

Nice and easy boys…

  

Almost there, almost…..

  

Holy #$@! I think I just swallowed 11lbs of dust!

From there it was off To Al Asad. Saddam Husseins personal airfield … Ya, personal airfield. Ya, million of citizens in poverty but I need my own airfield with gold plated toilet seats and hardened bunkers, because I am a man of the people.

Another flawless, smooth and spectacular flight from Grindal and Angry brought us to the airfield at Al Asad.

  

“Appraoch this is G38, I have no idea what the hell I am doing…”

Marine Corps Esprit de Corps was on display for all to see. Our schedule was really skewed and the base was HUGE. I was adamant about not having to rush these folks through lines and making something intense and personal, anything but. Obviously they put another woman in charge (just like our stud Shelly at TQ) to run the show. We managed, I hope, to sign something for every man and women there as well as get them pictures. It was a blast and the schedule at the end of the day allowed us to again hang out for about an hour with some folks at the airfield.

  

HOA! at Al Asad. Ya come F with us now!

Ya that’s me wearing the Marine Corps cover given to me by the men at Waleed, and doing it terribly. I think the lid was too small but I also think I have no clue on how to make it look cool! These folks were just awesome and Ty and I had a blast hanging out and BS’ing Sox baseball. That’s absolutely been the highlight of this trip, just hanging and chatting.

I am forgetting so much from the past two days and I am sorry to anyone who’s name I might have forgotten or messed up. We’ve met so many awesome men and women and I am trying hard as hell to remember them all.

We can’t thank you enough for the memories you’ve already given us and we hope you understand how honored we are to be allowed to visit each and every one of you.

The day ended and we moved on. The nice surpise was the Bongo was in the cockpit again, this time “Joker” was riding shotgun. My ‘challenge coin’ collection grew, as did my unit Badge collection when he presented me with his Commanders Coin and the unit badge from his uniform, The Fighting Griffins are a pretty proud bunch being led by a man obviously without peer in the respect department.

Our night ends here, and it’s about 2 hours from when I thought I would be sleeping and about 3 hours from our wakeup call. Here are a few more shots and I have also put photos up on my Flickr page at Check it out here…

Words cannot begin to express our deep seated respect, pride and honor at being given this once in a lifetime opportunity. Only a few days left and I will hopefully be able to let you all in on where we are and show some incredible images sometime later tomorrow or Monday before we head back.

I have two goals besides the obvious to accomplish before we leave (well more than 2)

1) Fire an M1A1 main gun

2) Fire the chain gun on the Bradley

3) Collect as many unit hats and T’s as possible

4) Finally get the high fade haircut I’ve always wanted and Sully’s promised me!

See ya soon!

Posing with more than four dozen soldiers currently headed home after serving a year in Iraq.                 USO Photo by DAVE GATLEY

I’m taken on a high-speed tour of the harbor in the Persian Gulf port area while manning a 50 cal. machine gun on the foredeck. Honored and humbled by my USO tour overseas. USO Photo by DAVE GATLEY

It truly was all that. We had a chance to see all the things you don’t read about and the men and women we met today said as much.

The most important piece of this post though will come near the end. Since Ty isn’t here yet I don’t have the write ups, but we met and spoke with soldiers who we asked for names and a message home. At the end of this post I will post their name, rank and message home. But I’m waiting for Ty to arrive and he could have passed out already.

The morning started with two wake up calls, both of which I was already up for. Tough night of sleep but the morning went great. We ate at the restaurant in the hotel (The staff has been phenomenal and the service exceptional) and it featured the best buffet I’ve ever seen. Every piece of food was cooked as if it was the only thing being served.

As we were heading downstairs I was thinking about eggs, bacon and suddenly realized Pork is a meat with significant religious implications over here, so I didn’t ask. The food was great though.

We started at 0800 and our first stop today was Camp Arifjan. It was about a 40 minute drive and we were briefed on the way in. First item on the agenda was a meeting with Garrison Commander Lt Colonel Pendergast. This man was a hundred times more accommodating than anyone could or should have expected given his schedule and he briefed Ty and I on the mission inside Kuwait for the US Armed Forces as well as some of the methods and logic behind what was happening over here.

We exchanged Q&A for the hour and I know Ty and I left there a lot more informed and a lot more respectful (if that was possible) of the mission these men and women are on.

So we spent a good while at Camp Arifjan saying hello to the men and women serving there. It was beyond awesome. The hardest part was hearing them, to a person, thank me. It was, and no disrespect intended, incredibly uncomfortable. These men and women are over here, lives on the line 24/7, thanking me for flying over to say hello. Isn’t it supposed to be the exact opposite?

The first set of hello’s back home are:

SFC Alan Currie to his son Austin Currie who is a huge Diamondbacks fan!

SGT Ward Baker to his mother Cindy Courtney (Also a HUGE D-Backs fan!)

SFC Comeau says hello and he misses you to Brian, Ryan and Peyton!

Also a HUGE shout out to Sgt Mark Ansbro who missed the meet and greet because he is on a mission at this time. Hello Mark sorry we missed you and hopefully we’ll see each other over the next 5 days.

We had a blast. The true highlight of the day came at the end. We got a chance to meet and say hello to the 1st 134th Field Artillery Ohio National Guard unit. It was awesome for 2 reasons. The first was that I got to hold an automatic weapon called “The Saw” for the photo, and it was cool as hell.

The second was that these men and women were headed home, literally, in about an hour. They were on the final day of their tour and are in flight right now. They were obviously geeked up and excited and it was an awesome sight to behold.

This is a picture of us leaving the base. By the way, the three letter acronyms were flying early and often. OIF, OEF, DMZ, ABC, XYZ, you name it. If it was more than one word it was broken down to 2 or 3 letters. They must save MILLIONS of man hours talking like that. Problem is if you aren’t ‘in the know’ you are hearing the alphabet, in really bad order…

Heading out of Arifjan

Foe security reasons I can’t publish many photos right now. They’ll come later along with the video ‘blog’ Ty and I are doing while here.

So we headed to the naval base for our next stop. Oh, one more thing. We were allowed to have lunch at the cafeteria while at Arifjan and had the pleasure of sitting with some big time Sox fans. So the second “Hello back home” messages are from:

Sgt Gauthier to his 1 year old daughter Mada, and wife Stephanie “Love you both and miss you very much, will see you soon”

PFC Quinn to his mom Robin and dad Dale “Wish you a Happy Holiday, miss you and Love you”

Spc Moscillo to Jeanette and Robert Ouelette “Love you and will be home soon”

So we arrived at KNB. (One other cool highlight was watching the big rigs bring in a load of Bradley Fighting Vehicles as we left Arifjan)

We met with the ranking commanders of the units stationed at KNB, had a chance to talk to them and take pictures and then it was off to the docks.

Yep, we spent the next hour riding in a 25 and 34 foot patrol boat around the Persian Gulf.

A few highlights.

It was quite obvious the two gentleman driving the boats were from the south, accent and all that, you know. What WASN’T obvious was that these two men were quite obviously NASCAR fans as well….

The first 10 minutes were spent PROVING to us that “turn on a dime” was a literal thing when referring to their boats. We were also briefed before hand that any time they would turn hard right or left, they’d call out “Hard right” or “Hard left”. Well that first ten minutes we heard nothing. I am convinced there was a thought that they might get one of two things accomplished:
1) Throw one of us in the gulf
2) Have one/both of us puke

After ten minutes of neither happening, the kind sir piloting the 34 footer says to Ty “You ever ride a roller coaster?”, Ty says yes, he responds “Did you like it?”, Ty says yes, “Cool, hold on”…..

Now a few things pop into my head simultaneously. First off what the hell had we just done for ten minutes if it wasn’t as close to a roller coaster as you could get a boat to perform? Next was “Damn I wish we hadn’t eaten before this ride”.

About 10 seconds later we hear our first “Hard Right” and I’ll poop you not he meant it. The 34 foot boat was pretty much on its side, and I mean that literally. Oh and it was still moving nicely thank you.

That was quickly followed by “Hard left”…. You get the picture.

I should also add that during the brief they told us “You and the boat” meaning one hand on you, and one hand on the boat AT ALL TIMES. About 20 feet out of the dock waterway you knew why. My ass would have been swimming 10 seconds into this trip if I wasn’t white knuckling the boat with both hands. Oh and they told us “Don’t lock your knees, semi bend to squat to make sure you can move with the boat”.

Ty cramped I think as he basically did a 1 rep set of squats for 30 minutes.

We then swapped boats and got onto the 25 footer. The only ‘perk’ this one added over the other was it was ‘armed’. Twin M60s port and starboard with a loaded .50 cal up front (complete with Uranium tipped armored piercing shells). Not going to lie, I was PRAYING they’d ask me if I wanted to shoot it. Best I got was some Chuck Norris like poses while manning the weapon. I can’t imagine they weren’t a little nervous at that sight.

The trip ended with us back on the 34 footer heading into port. The gentleman commandeering the boat passed by an active, on-patrol boat with what I had to assume were his friends since he basically did a ‘half doughnut’ on them, leaving their boat and parts of the crew a tad wetter than they had been.

All in all an awesome experience with a fantastic group of men and women as well as a new found respect for the term ‘turn on a dime’.

Our day ended at KNB with another meet and greet at the camp movie theater. I sincerely apologize for forgetting the young ladies name I met there, she was a die hard Sox fan. She also gifted me with her units Challenge Coin (an incredibly big deal I was completely aware of before getting here, which is why I brought my own coin and one for Ty). She was super nice and incredibly excited, something I tried to explain to her that 10 minutes talking with my wife would cure that ‘amazement’ thing.

We were done around 4:15 and the day was over, or we could hang out and be allowed to dine with the men and women in the mess hall for dinner at 5. Not going to lie, one thing I had heard about our Armed Forces was that in theater they eat well, EXTREMELY well, and they do.

So once again we had the opportunity to dine with the fine men and women and shoot the breeze for an hour. It was a blast and I promise you I enjoyed the experience ten times more than anyone there did.

All in all a pretty flawless day. With one, well two exceptions. The first was our flat tire.. Ya, we had a flat about 10 minutes outside the city.

Now normally that would be no big deal, but there were some ‘different’ circumstances. The first one being I’d elected to wear my US Army camo top, and was now standing on the side of the road, in a country in the middle east, with a camo top on. The second was the traffic. I am assuming due to the priority list on security issues over here that speeding tickets fall somewhere between loitering and exposing yourself in importance. I say that because there was no shortage of folks driving at speeds usually reserved for the oval at the Brickyard 400 or Daytona National. I don’t imagine there are many ‘fender benders’ over here, especially when you combine that with the fact that child seats are literally non-existent and I think Ty and I were the only 2 HUMANS in the country wearing our seat belts.

So in closing I want to extend a heart felt thank you to the men and women serving at Camp Arifjan, and the Kuwait Naval Base for their incredible hospitality as and respect today, it was and always will be a highlight of both Ty and I’s lives.

Going to try and grab some z’s, it’s 8:45pm ,feels like 3:45am and I need to be up FAR AHEAD of sunrise tomorrow.

Slept zero minutes on the flight over. Watched about 4 1/2 seasons of ‘The Office’, first episode of Heroes (which I’ve never seen), talked to Tracey our USO contact on the flight for awhile.

Pretty amazing to step off the plane into a place like this. It’s a different world.

Ty and I were talking yesterday about saying goodbye to the family, and we both remarked that it was ‘different’. We’re on a USO tour, they’ll do whatever they can to keep everyone safe but it’s a totally different feeling getting on a plane to head to a part of the world where war is openly recognized and acknowledged.

I said goodbye to my dad a bunch of times but was so young I never knew what it meant. Weird. Neither of us are serving, obviously, but there is still a very different feeling when saying good bye for a trip like this.

The one thing that did resonate with me is the men and women who do this as a way of life, pretty awesome and incredible that they serve OUR country and the United States.

Not sure how long I am going to make it tonight. Up VERY early tomorrow for meet and greets, excited as hell.

Ty was at the gate and it was nice to see an old friend. We got settled in for the lay over, which is now only about an hour and a half. We stopped off at a fast-food, taco place, if there is such a thing other than Taco Bell. I’m all about making his 11 1/2 hours as uncomfortable as possible and it appears this is one legitimate way to do it.

Ty’s acquainting himself with the video camera, his only job this entire trip. I brought a camera, with no instructions, should be interesting.

First cool event … We ran into a small ‘squad’ of Soldiers, looked to be some officers, maybe all officers. I very shyly approached them to say thank you, and to pass out the first lot of 38 Studio patches. We said hello and the gentleman I met first I don’t think knew who I was (which I am expecting a lot of this trip), but as always they were incredibly kind and very respectful. We exchanged hellos and I told them Ty and I were headed over. Mentioned my dad served in the 101st and they remarked that the “One-O-One” was serving in Afghanistan. Something I’ve (for some reason, not sure) stayed on top of.

They thanked us — which was nice but incredibly uncomfortable since it’s us that needs to be thanking them — and I gave them patches, they checked out my ‘07 World Series ring and we wished them the best.

We are sitting in the club here and there are two guys that I am POSITIVE are either Rangers or Delta Force guys that checked out Ty’s camo backpack. We could tell they were definitely military due to the haircuts and 2 percent body fat. I told Ty they were checking his bag out and he said they might come back, break his neck and take it, to which I replied, “No need to break your neck, they can have it”. I am also wearing my fourth ID hat. I hope they don’t think I am trying to pass myself off as military, that would suck …

I have a special affinity for Rangers and Delta Force guys since my cousin served in both. He was in the first Gulf War, and a bunch of other conflicts. His unit was the Delta Force unit portrayed in the movie ‘Black Hawk Down’.

Somewhat ‘Funny” story there — My cousin was really sort of my big brother growing up, since I didn’t have one. He entered the Army Rangers out of high school and was a highly decorated service man when his military career ended. I searched high and low for him during the 1993 season, badly wanting him to attend the playoffs. After the season when I finally reached him he apologized and said he was ‘busy’. Not long after that he told me ‘There’s a movie coming out soon, and when it does I hope you’ll understand why I couldn’t be there”. That movie was ‘Black Hawk Down’.

Amazing stuff from an amazing guy. Oh, and Ty has the camera working, so the video blog has begun …

All packed, and I promise you it’s 1/100th what a woman would pack for an eight-day trip and I will NOT have to wear any underwear two times.

The USO doesn’t permit family to travel with you so I am taking one of my old college roommates and good friends, Ty Van Dyke. Ty will likely chime in with a few ‘Curt’ stories (such as the first time he ever saw me, much less met me, I was passed out in a bath tub), and he’s one of the funniest men you’ll ever meet. He’ll also have one responsibility, to video blog the crap out of this trip.

The DOD has rules in place (understandably so) for video stuff so I don’t know what the timing, if any, will be for me to post or put up any video blogging. Likely we will compile everything and put something together when we return.

I’m a bit nervous, won’t lie. Even though it’s a USO trip it’s still an active war zone, and people are trying to kill other people. That being said I can only reiterate what I said earlier in that this is one of the biggest thrills of my entire life.

I have about 3,000 38 Studios patches to hand out, I bought a ton of ’sundries’ that I know folks over there are desperate for as well.

My goal this year for Medfield 4 the Military will be to find folks over there that will be away from their families and see if we can’t help get gifts to their loved ones back here in the states. It will be a challenge but we’ll try.

I’ll update once in DC as we have a lay over there. We depart sometime around 10 tonight and the first two days are spent in Kuwait so I should have some internet access. After that it will be limited at best. I certainly won’t be pushing in line to get access on military bases with soldiers over there trying to get on.

(Update: 4:50 p.m.)

It begins.

Apparently the folks running United Airlines believe their passengers communicate telepathically, or through some other method not used by the rest of the modern world. It took a man well past his 120th birthday to inform me that our flight from Boston had changed departure time, from 4:40 to 5:35. All the while I am sitting like 15 feet from the gate and departure desk, you know that thing with a microphone that most airlines use to communicate travel information with passengers? Ya, that one.

So a slight delay to the start. Ty is already in Washington, having arrived from Flagstaff via the Pony Express to LA or somewhere close that actually has modern transportation!

We aren’t slated to depart D.C. until late this evening so I don’t foresee any issues with connections.

The only thing I’m concerned about on this leg, other than landing safely on both stops, is the rumor I have heard that approximately 50 percent of your luggage is lost in flights into Kuwait. That means I’m possibly landing there with NOTHING to hand out to the troops, or one pair of underwear for 8 days.

So I started a write up about Thanksgiving, 5 years ago, and it will be posted there.

Check out WEEI.COM for all the latest.

Oh and just know that there are some conditions to moving. One of them is that I don’t get edited (though that might be a good thing in the end) and the content I write gets posted as written. That won’t change. I’ll also continue to keep the forum open to responses and posts, but will hopefully move to doing some more interactive Q&A stuff as well as more interesting baseball and 38 Studios stuff as time goes by.

The patch is done! Looks great and I can’t wait to start handing them out! Stay tuned as 38 Studios will be selling these when I return, with a portion of the proceeds to go to families of injured and fallen warriors of the U.S. Military!

December 10th at the Omni Parker House Hotel from 6-9pm Shonda and the SHADE Foundation will be hosting their 3rd Annual Bubbles and Bites Benefit for the SHADE Foundation.

You can check out the details at the link above or call AJ Williams at 617 267 2244 or Crystal Thomas at 602 267 2244 or email at shade@creativeeventsinc.com.

A huge thank you to the Brigham Women’s Hospital Department of Dermatology and the Omni Parker House for sponsoring this years event!

Not often you can get an original Todd McFarlane drawing, of something you want him to draw!

I met Petey 3 years ago while on rehab in Pawtucket and I can assure you the guy you see in Boston is the same red ass ‘kick your teeth in no matter how big you are, or how hard you throw’ guy he was there.

he respects the game, his teammates and he plays the game hard, he plays the game right and there isn’t a pitcher on the planet that he thinks can get him out.

I’d relate a ton of stories but there isn’t one I can tell that doesn’t contain multiple four letter expletives about himself, or the guy that got him out (on the rare occasion that would happen).

He earned this and we’re proud as hell to call him a teammate and a friend.

The launch of Wrath of the Lich King is our first opportunity to service level 70s with content relevant information, the original reason for the Azeroth Advisor way back when. This new content, classes, skills, instances, all of that, is now part of the AA and makes it more useful than ever for WoW players, regardless of your level!

“Please, spare me the Dr. Phil nonsense that Varitek’s personal problems somehow affected his performance this season. If anything, they would affect his mental preparation, not his ability to connect with a fastball traveling above 87 mph.”

In talking about Jason, much has obviously been said and he has a pretty passionate group of supporters on the staff. But to imply the above is a borderline admission of ignorance. To say that there is little to no connection with your mental state of mind, and your physical performance, tells me the person talking has never been asked to, or able to, perform a physical activity at a level few others in the world can.

Jason would be the last, and likely never would, to make any excuses for the poor offensive year and a half he has had. I will tell you that what he had to endure physically and mentally absolutely impacted him in a negative way performance wise. People don’t know that he twice last year had a serious viral sickness. He was completely wiped out on two different occasions. Both times he lost significant weight and strength and he did so in the midst of playing. Back on the field in a time frame I would guess was NOT in his best health interest. The other ’stuff’ are a very big deal here because regardless of what tabloid journalism might have said this guy lived for his children and was and always will be the best father he can be, of that I have no doubt. I’ve lockered next to him for 5 years, he’s as good a man and human as I’ve known. Sure that paints severe bias into the picture but that doesn’t make it false either.

The more important piece to this, and one that was in full view for the pitchers, was the fact that never once did he allow his offensive woes to follow him behind the plate or affect his pre-game preparation, and planning, two crucial elements we as ‘his staff’ valued so highly. The reason I make that statement is that over 20 years of playing at this level that makes him incredibly rare at his position. Few catchers, well none really, that I ever played with put the initial time and effort into game prep he did, but fewer still ever had the ability to separate their offensive woes from their defensive responsibility. As their average went, so did their defensive commitment.

I know the ‘anti’ Tek camp is big, and that’s fine, but at the end of the day his value is far beyond a measurable statistic and I think that’s what rubs so many wrong. You’ll know it when it’s gone, it will be a visibly absent thing.

Do you pay him 15 a year for 4 years, I don’t know but who gives a 36 year old catcher a 4 year deal? If there was ever a guy to get that deal you could argue this was the guy because you know beyond a shadow of a doubt he’ll be in better shape than any catcher in the game for however many years he gets. It really comes down to someone understanding how much of his contract is being paid for those ‘intangibles’ so many argue for, or against.

This guy is the consummate team first, play the game right 24/7 pro. Many don’t care about that aspect, and that’s fine too, there are a ton of utility players that play the same way, but they aren’t worth 15×4 or whatever. But those things matter inside a clubhouse where you inherit a family for 9 months a year. Those things, when absent, can wear a team down fast, but when present they are the things that help a team over the hump as well. This clubhouse has gained, in addition to immense young talent, an incredibly good and deep roster of players with many of those same traits. That bodes well for the coming years, and I would argue Jason is a huge part of that.