I’ve been up since 4:30am and in my earliest two hours of consciousness I’ve taken the first digital steps to act on some jaded ideas and change my life…

  • The last time I was semi-conscious, the Red Sox had a 5-1 lead on the Yankees. As thoughts of burying the dreaded pinstripes danced in my head, the sons of Joe Torre stunned the locals, plating 6 in the 8th for an electric (Well, for them… I’m sure it was a freakin shock for the Sox…) 8-7 comeback win. Sure, it would have been nice to flatline hope in the Bronx with a sweep this weekend, but they’re not “the New York Yankees” for nothing, and unfortunately with that over-actor Derek Jeter in their lineup, they are still capable of greatness. From a selfish Red Sox fan perspective, the playoffs without the specter of the Evil Empire lurking would have made the trip to the World Series less tenuous, but as a baseball fan, a Sox-Yanks ALCS is the best thing about the baseball playoffs…ever. The Yankees guard the gates, and if the Red Sox are to win the World Series, it will require hand to hand combat in the Bronx to do it. I’m happy to report I will attend an ALCS preview tonight with Josh Beckett (18-6, 3.27) facing Chien-Ming Wang (18-6, 3.69). I could be Wong, but if one of these guys leads his 9 to victory tonight, he might just pocket the Cy Young award.
  • Bill, Bill, Bill… It doesn’t matter that we may never know for how long or to what benefit their actions resulted. Bill Belichick’s Patriots cheated. His arrogant flaunting of very clear rules is inexcusable and positions a dark cloud forever over the Patriots 3 SuperBowl wins. Being a glass half-full guy, I think this will light a fire under this loaded team and give them a gigantic “they don’t think we can win without cheating” chip on their shoulder pads.
  • Being a sports fan in the greatest sports city in America does have its downside. Sunday night for example… Sox-Yanks on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball or Pats-Chargers on NBC Sunday Night Football?
  • Unless it’s a life or death situation, I will never use a Bank of America ATM again. I can’t define the line between fair profit and greed, but as former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart replied when asked to define another kind of obscenity, “I know it when I see it.”
  • Like an early 20th century Nostradamus, H.L. Mencken wrote in the Baltimore Sun in 1920, “On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts’ desire at last, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”

Sadly, I did not make this list of the Fifty Most Influential Bloggers, but now I have a goal.