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Monday, March 31, 2008

What Does S.I. Know??

Sports Illustrated is picking the Evil Empire first over our beloved Sox this season, with the Tigers beating the Yanks in the ALCS, then winning the Series over the Cubs.

I may have to cancel my subscription.

But here's one piece that was excerpted from the Dec 6, 2004 issue. With total, reckless disregard to things such as copyright laws, I'm going to quote it verbatim.

"Virginia Muise, 111, and Fred Hale, 113, smiled. Both Virginia, who kept a Red Sox cap beside her nightstand in New Hampshire, and Fred, who lived in Maine until moving to Syracuse at 109, were Sox fans who, curse be damned, were born before Babe Ruth himself. Virginia was the oldest person in New England. Fred was the oldest man in the world. Within three weeks after they had watched the Sox win the Series, both of them passed away. They died happy."

*sniff*

That made me cry.

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Magic Time Machine

I missed last night's game because we were at the Magic Time Machine in Dallas, celebrating Rachel's birthday. She turned 19 yesterday.

We had a really lazy, relaxing day (after watching Dan In Real Life on Friday night), not doing much of anything. I think we played "Tri-Bond" for about an hour. About 5:15 or so, we all got ready and hit the road for north Dallas.

In case you don't know about the Magic Time Machine (I'm not sure how many there are), it's a character-themed restaurant that is loads of fun. All of the waitstaff are dressed up in various character garb, some in elaborate costumes.

Unfortunately, it is a very, very popular place which does not take reservations. Sooo...we arrived around 6-ish, almost didn't find a parking place, got into an extremely crowded front room, to be told that we had a 1 1/2 to 2 hr wait. !! Yeah. So we got on the list and promptly went back outside (where we could breathe) and debated whether we wanted to go try something else (there was a Texas de Brazil close by...the place where for about $35 a person, these people just walk around and keep throwing various forms of meat on your plate until you just can't eat any more) or wait it out. We decided to go upstairs to the "lounge/bar" and see if we could find a place to sit. We did, and so we waited.

After 30 minutes, my wife went back downstairs to get the buzzer (they were so crowded that they didn't have enough buzzers for everyone, so we were told to come back in 30 minutes for the buzzer!), and we were able to move to a large booth that had been vacated right me.

Then we sat and watched strange people for the next hour and drank non-alcoholic Shirley Temple's (basically cherry 7-ups). Finally, buzzer went off.

We went downstairs, and got our table. We waited with much anticipation to see who our server would be. We had waited two hours to be served by....Joe Dirt?? Yeah. Well, he turned out to be pretty good. And we were in a good corner where lots of other waiters walked by, so we got to converse with several. Joe was good, though. He actually resembled David Spade a bit. Fortunately, his mullet was a wig. Heh.

At one point, he walked by and released a blown up, untied balloon in our booth (which by the way, was delightfully decorated in Valentine's Day decor), which absolutely scared the crap out of every one of us. Seriously, we all jumped and screamed, almost in unison. It's a darned good thing none of us was taking a drink at the time. There would have been Diet Coke everywhere!

The food was...was..."delicious" does not even begin to describe it. Falls waaay short. It was immaculate. I had what is called the MTM 3X4, which is a 4oz piece of beef tenderloin (technically a very small filet mignon), a 4oz piece of grilled chicken breast and 4 bacon-wrapped shrimps. The tenderloin was heavenly. The shrimp were "shrimp-tastic" (sorry). The chicken was ok. The garlic mashed potatoes were amazing. Christi and Justin had the blackened, stuffed prime rib, which was apparently very good, judging from the condition of their plates afterwards. Rachel had a basic cut of prime rib and Stephanie got fried catfish and shrimp.

During the night (which started late for us...we didn't get seated until almost nine, mind you), we talked with Wednesday Adams, who was depressingly delightful, we found Waldo, we saw Snow White and Cinderella, and we saw who we finally figured out was the Mad Hatter. He was delightful. He kept walking by and we kept saying hi to him, and one time we were discussing the semantics about a myth being a true myth or a false myth (sling that around in your brain for a while...I tell you, it will hurt), and, totally without warning, the Hatter stuck his head around the corner and said "It's truly false," in a delightful British accent. The significance of that was that meant he had actually listened to our conversation while he was walking by. He was the last person we spoke to as we went out the door, as well.

Good times, folks, good times! I won't mention how much it cost, because, well, can you really put a price on a time like that? Oh, and I almost forgot about the ice cream and cookies birthday "cake" that three of them brought out to Rachel.

And we got some cool pictures from the local popa...paparaz...photographer. (I can't spell that word...heh.) And like a complete dolt, I forgot our camera. *doh*

I will seek out your spirits tomorrow night while we all watch the Red Sox at the same time...

Let the games begin.

Friday, March 28, 2008

Red Sox vs. Dodgers

I'm trying to figure out why Colon is pitching. We aren't seriously considering giving him a spot in the rotation are we?

It's currently 1-0 Dodgers in the bottom of the 4th. Colon looks to be in about as good shape as me.

Alright! Top of 5th, and our boy Ellsbury gets a hit. First one of the night. And what is up with the lineup?? It's totally weird tonight.

Ok. We have bases loaded with 1 out. Looked like Ellsbury was about to try for home, but he went back. Good play. And he scores on a fielders choice by Alex Cora. 1-1 with Tek up.

Tavarez replaces Colon in the bottom of the 5th. Whoa! Did Tek just throw Furcal out at second?? I guess not...the box score says CS Tavarez/Brown. I'm watching
Dan in Real Life at the same time.

Top of the 6th. Ooh. He hit Manny.

Double play?? Lowrie was safe! And we're still tied.

Heh. Kielty's batting now...I guess the goal of this game is...EVERYBODY PLAYS!
Then some guy named Jason Place hits into a double play. And another unknown makes out number three.

And...it's 11:40 here (after midnight for you 'uns on the coast). I think I'm down for the count. I'll have to check the rest in the morning.

I know...I'm a bad fan...but nobody that I know is playing anymore anyway...it's like noob batting practice now.

See you guys later.

Song Contest

This post has nothing to do with baseball. Except that I just mentioned baseball.

This morning, I stepped out on a huge limb.

You see, I wrote a song for my wife about 8 years ago on the occasion of our anniversary. It's called "This I Know."

Well, this morning, I recorded the song on my handy hard-disk recorder (Korg), converted it to an mp3 file, and submitted it, along with lyrics, to American Idols songwriting contest.

Heh.

Wish me luck...the winning song gets performed by the winner, and gets recorded on his/her (it will be a "he" this year, I'm sure of it), and gets, you know, ROYALTIES!! Woot!

Wish me more luck. If it gets selected for the 20 that people get to vote for, I will let you all know.

TTFN, y'all!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Second Game

I've been watching since I got home, and things aren't looking good.

I watched at work until 6:30 Central time, and we've been behind the whole game. It's now the top of the 9th, and the score is 1-5, Oakland. Lowell got off a good single to lead off and, strange as it may sound, Casey is at the bat.

BAHAHAHAHAHA.....

Ooh. Ouch. Casey has not struck out, but Casey has hit into a double play. I think that's worse. So it's all up to Varitek, who is not one of our strong hitters. There goes our perfect season, eh?

I'm trying to figure out why the ESPN graphic has a yellow square at first base...there's no one there.

Oh, yeah! I almost started crying when they came back from commercials during the 8th inning and I heard "Sweet Caroline" over the loudspeakers.

Well, Tek hath struck out. Sigh.

Oh, well. We're still in first place all by ourselves.

And now, they have to come back and play exhibition over the weekend on the West Coast.

Later, my friends.

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

And They're OFF!!!

Brandon Moss just hit his first major league home run to tie the game 4-4 in the top of the 9th. It doesn't get much more exciting than this. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any more across, so we go to the bottom and hope for extra innings.

It's been a pretty rough ride this morning (is it actually tonight in Japan??), as Dice-K was pretty much all over the place this morning. He got behind early, but then the Sox got the lead back while I was driving home from work. But by the time I got in the house, used the bathroom, and came back out to the living room, they were behind again.

Okajima is pitching now in the bottom of the ninth.

Our boy, Jacoby made an amazing catch out in centerfield in the bottom of the 8th. Looks like it hurt a little as his back slammed against the fence, but he came up to bat in the 9th.

And he pulls in another one in the bottom of the ninth.

We have two outs in the bottom of the ninth, a 2-2 count to Ellis, who hit a home run off of Dice-K in the first. He chops back to Okajima, who tosses to first to send us into extra innings.

Top of the 10th. Lugo outruns a ground ball to third. Pedroia's up. Dustin gives up a good sac bunt. Almost bunted it too hard, but it worked. Youk is up. Youk strikes out. Here's Papi, with Lugo on second and two out. Oh, my God. They're walking Papi to get to Manny. The last team that did that was the Angels in the Division Championship Series of '07. And we all remember how that worked out. MANNY GETS A DOUBLE OFF THE TOP OF THE CENTER FIELD WALL!!!! WOOHOO! A four RBI game for Manny, and the Sox are up 6-4!

Huston Street comes out of the game, after blowing a save and possibly losing the game. Hah! That'll teach Sports Illustrated to put him ahead of Papelbon in the Relief Pitcher category! And while we're talking about that...SI didn't even list Beckett in the top three pitchers for fantasy baseball! What is up with THAT??

Commercials, commercials, commercials...

Ahahaha...now they're walking Mike Lowell. They brought in a new pitcher to throw balls. What strategy! And they walked Lowell to get to the guy who is responsible for the 10th inning, to begin with. Moss flies out to center.

Here comes Papelbon! Woot!! Can we say "game over?"

Ouch. Paps walks the leadoff batter. And one strike-out. Well...Brown lines one into the gap, scoring one, but he gets caught in a run down between second and third. So there are two out, now. Bad, bad base running. Good for us, too, because the next batter lines one up the middle. Dang...another hit.

Ok. Runners at first and second, 2 outs, bottom of the tenth. Pitching coach is having a friendly visit with Mr. Papelbon. I think he said, "Jonathan, get this next guy out, k?"

WOOT!!! Ground ball to first, toss to Papelbon, game over. Okajima gets the win!

The Red Sox are perfect in '08!

Hahaha...

Monday, March 24, 2008

I Can Feel It Coming In the Air...

It is less than 5 hours until baseball season starts. I'm at work, and, sadly, will still be at work at 5 (Central Time) when this blessed even starts. But I have my DVT set, and I will turn on MLBTV on my work computer. I may not be able to pay real close attention, but the game will be on. Hopefully, I can at least see the first pitch.

I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. I know I join many friends and fans (if you're a Red Sox fan, you're my friend...even Ben Affleck, whom I really didn't like until I saw him and J. Garner at a game sporting "B" hats. Dang it.) in this excitement.

I'm all decked out in my '04 championship t-shirt (my '07 one is in the laundry), my Carl Yastrzemski jersey, and my favorite new hat, the bright red Boston hat with the black B that they all wore during Spring Training.

I need to get another "Red Sox Nation" wristband...mine broke last year. Not sure how you break one of those thick rubber thingies...I think a Yankees fan snuck into my house and cut it with scissors.

Anyway. Just think...in a few hours, we will all be doing something together. United we stand, and all that rubbish!

Woot!!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Belated Happy Easter

I meant to log on and say that this morning (only it wouldn't have been "belated" would it?), but it got late and I was getting ready for church.

So....HAPPY EASTER, EVERYONE!

We had a great day, mostly. Had some issues with Steph at church, but otherwise, nice. We did a new song at church that I wrote last week, and everybody seemed to really like it. That makes me happy. And, Rachel, my 18-almost-19-year-old *gasp*, was back playing guitar with me. That made me even more happy. And proud. She's really good.

So, yeah...great day. And, like Tex, I was pleasantly amazed to wake up and see that Drew had hit another salami. I'm getting goosebumps over the possibilities of 2008 in Boston.

Just-a waitin' for Tuesday morning, 5am. (Central Time)

Oh, yeah...just curious...how does everyone like the new layouts on the MLB sites...I'm not sure yet. It looks sharp.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Josh Hamilton--First Person

I know this is supposed to be mainly about Red Sox, but I was really moved by the one page feature on Texas Rangers new centerfield, Josh Hamilton, in this week's Sports Illustrated, which is almost entirely about March Insanity (blechsketball). So please forgive me...and read it anyway...it's a good article.

I confess.

I read Sports Illustrated.

But mostly only the articles about baseball.

And the only reason I subscribed was to get the premium gifts that they offered after last year's Red Sox sweep of the Rockies in the World Series.

And also, just in case anyone needs to know...I gave the "Swimsuit Issue" to a co-worker without even cracking the cover. So there. :p

Anyway...the point of all this is one of the features in this weeks issue, which is, sadly, mostly about blechsketball (March Madness, doncha know). There's this page in each issue called "First Person," where they give brief quotes from a player about stuff.

This week's player was Josh Hamilton, the new centerfielder for the Texas Rangers. I'm actually going to type in the entire thing (probably breaking every copyright law in the known universe) because I found it somewhat moving. Especially the first one. So, here goes...Josh Hamilton, Rangers Outfielder.



On overcoming his addiction to drugs, including crack and cocaine, which derailed him after he went No. 1 to Tampa Bay in the 1999 draft
I had gotten married (in 2004), and a year later I realized that when I was out using, my wife, Katie, was home praying for me, even when she was pregnant or with the kids. That's when I decided to finally get clean.
(At this point, I'm wiping tears from my eyes...I've met this guy. He's genuinely glad to be given a chance to play again.)

On the trade to Texas after hitting 19 homers as a Reds rookie last year
I was at home (in Raleigh) with my wife and two daughters. We had just finished dinner when Wayne Krivsky, the Reds' general manager, called and said they wanted to send me to Texas for a physical. I'd heard rumors. The next day I flew to Arlington. I was excited that a team needed me and wanted me.

On no longer doubting himself
I really realized I could still do it when I was taking batting practice (at Cincinnati's spring training camp last year) with guys who'd been there a while, and I just hit. I was doing as well if not better than they were.

On a favorite moment
Pinch-hitting in the eighth against the Cubs at Wrigley. We'd had a rain delay. It was bright in the stands, and I couldn't see well. I fould a couple off, 2 and 2. Then I stepped out and said, "God, I need some help here. I can't see anything. I know I said I'd never bring you into games, but just a little help." I hit a bomb over the centerfield wall.

On his favorite part of the game
Runner on third and one out, and a guy hits me a fly ball. I see the ball coming, see the runner. I hear guys saying, "He's tagging, he's tagging." I catch the ball, throw it, and hear the crowd building up. Then there's the play at the plate, and the catcher catches it and tags him out. That's the best feeling.

There you go. I'm actually looking forward to watching this guy play this year.

TTFN, y'all!

Monday, March 17, 2008

Dice-K is Up!

Congrats to Dice-K for getting the start on Opening Day in Japan. I guess it's fitting for him to get to open the season in his home country. That should be exciting for him.

Of course, we wish that Beckett could be healthy for it, but probably better to save him, hoping he can be good for the home opener. Or very soon thereafter, at least.

So we lost to the Evil Empire...as I keep saying about the Rangers, as well, "It's just spring training." And we were letting Colon start, too. For some reason, I've never been quite as excited about ST as some folks get. It does, however, begin to whet my appetite for the real thing, later this month. And I would like to visit Spring Training one year. You can bet, I'll be glued to my...Oh, my God, those games are at 5 am my time. Hahaha...I guess I'll be watching them on MLBTV here at work. How the heck can anyone play baseball at 5 am??? Egad. Well, I will sure DVR the games at home, too. I can watch them after I take Steph to school.

Hah...the scheduling gods are cruel this year. I just noticed we have to play at 6 am ET, then one day later, play on the west coast. Hmm...I also just noticed that, according the schedule, the Japan games are not on MLB TV. What's up with that?? Oh, well.

Ok. Back to work. See y'all later.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Shelley Is A Girl's Name, Anyway

I realized that I got Shelley Duncan's name backwards in a previous post. Well, heck! "Shelley" is a girl's name, innit? Hahahaha....

Also read in our local paper, the Fort Worth Startlegram (Not the real name), where Duncan doesn't see anything wrong with his slide. He just doesn't understand why anyone called it a dirty play.

RIGHT, DUNCAN!!

I SUPPOSED IT'S ABSOLUTELY NORMAL TO SLIDE INTO SECOND BASE WITH YOUR LEFT FOOT POINTING "SPIKES-UP" STRAIGHT AT SOME POOR GUY'S GONADS???

I hope the Yankees wind up in last place this year. I don't know anyone on the planet who will feel sorry for them.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Woot!! Birthday Presents!

I just got presents from my wonderful wife.

First there was a cool tee-shirt that I had picked out from Threadless. It's called "A Voyage of Discovery," and it's all about books. And I love me some books! In fact, my oldest daughter sent me a 10% off coupon for Barnes & Noble and I plan to use it tomorrow (Friday). Lessee if I can link the cool shirt. Here it is.

The second package was the coolest Red Sox hat EVER! Now, I've never seen this hat until this year. I fell in love with it the first time I saw Beckett wearing it on the front page of the website. It's bright red with the black "B". Is this new? Have they had this hat before? They've been wearing them on "away" games during spring training. Anyway, I have one now. It's my new favorite hat.

The last box was waaaaay cool. You gotta remember, I turned 50 today, so I've seen a lot in my days. This box had "Youth in a Box" written on the top flaps. It was full of...

toys.

I'm not kidding. There was a slinky. Not one of these phony plastic ones either. This slinky is shiny, shiny metal!! There was Silly Putty. There was a package of those plastic paratrooper guys...remember those? You throw them up in the air and they sail gracefully down on their 'chutes? Unless the strings get tangled and then they drop like a rock. There was one of those balsa wood gliders. There was a paddle ball (is just me, or are those things darned nearly impossible to do?). There was one of those "helicopter on a stick" doohicky thingies that you spin between your palms and it flies up in the air (or comes right back in your face if you spin it the wrong direction...). And there was an old vintage copy of Lassie. It smells really nice (I looooove the smell of old books). Oh, yeah...there was some little board game with pegs and dice. Anyway...very cool stuff, very silly stuff, but that's ok. I loved it all. Especially the slinky.

In the words of the great Peter Pan..."I won't grow up..."

I have only one comment about baseball today...

THEY RELEASED DOUGIE?????????????? AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Yankees Already Playing Dirty

It's fun to see the Evil Empire already getting distracted by on-field antics. It's clear that they feel that they are going to have to play rough this year.

As shown in this article, the Yanks and the Rays are getting off to a bad start, relationally speaking. Apparently, Duncan Shelley, when faced with getting thrown out by half the distance from the base, decided that the only choice he had was to attempt to castrate Aki Iwamura. Fortunately, his aim was bad and he only gashed Iwamura's thigh.

Wackiness ensued.

Johnny Gomes plowed into Shelley, and the benches cleared. I can't wait to get home from work so I can watch a clip of this. (I can't download the proper application at work due to company restrictions...) Several ejections also ensued, including the Yankees hitting coach and third base coach.

And does anyone think Girardi will last the season as manager? Didn't he get fired from his last job because of arguing with the owner? Like the Steinbrenners are going to put up with that. Hah.

I'm really loving what I'm seeing in the Evil Empire's camp this season, because they are rapidly turning into a team of old has-beens. Yeah, A-Roid is still a great player, I'll give him that. But no team has won with A-Roid on it. No one. And look at the rest of the lineup. The catcher is getting old. Giambi-juice will soon disentegrate from steroid use. He's already pretty much worthless. And who do they have pitching this year?? I recognize two of their starting pitchers on the roster.

Don't get me wrong...the Yankees will always be a force with which to reckon. I just don't see them being a powerhouse this year. I don't think they have done well during the off season. I could be wrong...I have been often. Hang on...I've got to get their web page off my computer before my monitor starts melting...

In other news, I am, as of 2:45 this morning, officially 50.

Been loving the Red Sox for at least 40 of 'em.

Funny...I don't feel a day over 49. Well, maybe one day...

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Dropkicks

I'm not sure when my hearing will return to normal.

You know, I may be getting to old for this...

Nah...

But, that being said, it was one of the loudest things I've ever heard.

We had an entertaining night at the House of Blues in Dallas Saturday night, seeing the Dropkick Murphys live. Unfortunately, both of the warmup bands were really bad. I'm not sure I ever got the name of the first band, but the second was called "Big D and the Kids Table." Ugh.

They struck out with me before ever playing a note when the rolled out a huge banner that said "Stop Global Warming." Don't even get me started on the biggest scam that has ever been foisted upon our nation.

Anyway, they were basically "ska." I didn't know anybody still played "ska." The lead singer was whiny, rude, and obscene (many, many "f-bombs").

Finally, around 10p, the Murphys came on. I don't remember how long they played, but it was a good length, not too short. I'm majorly disappointed though. They did not play "Tessie." I guess maybe they've gotten a little burned out on that...whoa! Was that lightning??

Where was I? Lessee...guess maybe they've gotten a little burned out on that song. But still...there were a lot of Red Sox fans there, and I'm sure we would have all sung every word.

Oh, well. Didn't let it ruin my evening. They gave us "Shipping Up to Boston," "Captain Kelly's Kitchen," "The Fields of Athenry," "Flannigan's Ball," "Citizen CIA," and a whole bunch of songs I really didn't know very well, because I didn't go back past "Warrior's Code" and listen up on their older stuff.

See, I really didn't get into them until sometime last year. Here's how it happened. We were getting ready for our trip to Boston last year, and I was searching on Yahoo! Music Unlimited for songs about Boston to put on my mp3 player. I found a lot of them, some by groups/people I had never heard of. I learned that I really like "Boston" by Augustana... I also found two songs by the Murphys, "Shipping Up to Boston," and "For Boston." Well, I was exploring the album, "Warrior's Code," and I saw this song called "Tessie" down at the bottom. Being the curious type of person I am, I clicked on it. Imagine my surprise when the opening of the song was that Boston radio announcer calling the final play of the '04 series with Keith Foulke underhanding that ball to first base to end the game.

Then the song started. I was hooked. I spent the next week researching the Royal Rooters, "Nuf Ced" McGreevy and "Tessie." I even have the original recording of the song on my player now.

Having been a fan of the Sox for as long as I have, I'm actually kind of ashamed that I didn't know about McGreevy and the Royal Rooters before last year, but I love the history, the story, and it's tons of fun.

Anyway, that's when I began to really like the Dropkick Murphys and the rest of their music. It started when I realized they were Red Sox fans, but blossomed from there.

In the concert, their lead singer, Al Barr, well, he looks really angry all the time. Intensity, I guess. My wife described him as a "caged cat" when he wasn't singing. It was like he was pacing, but only had a limited area to pace in.

Unfortunately, the volume was so loud that we really couldn't understand any of the words. Well, not very many of them, anyway.

For one of the last songs, Ken Casey invited a bunch of girls up on the stage. It was pretty wild. I think some of them had had just a tad too much to drink. Ya think?? Heh. Then for the final song (or two) the whole stage was full of fans that had been on the floor area. Very crazy finish. Looked dangerous to me. I don't know if I would want a bunch of drunk, crazed people that had been whipped into a frenzy by an hour and half of Irish punk music anywhere near my expensive musical equipment. Hahaha....

Anyway, it was good fun, even though they didn't play "Tessie."

Now, it's time to really get serious about some baseball. I ordered my yearbook and media guide Saturday. I've got my MLB TV subscription so I can actually watch Red Sox games live. I'm hoping to get one of those new all red hats for my birthday. I really like those. I don't remember seeing those before this year. I should have my tickets to the three games in Texas very soon. I'm ready.

Ok, ok....back to work with me...

Friday, March 7, 2008

Shipping Up To Boston...

Well, not really, but I am going to see the Dropkick Murphys in Dallas at the House of Blues tomorrow night (that would be Saturday, March 8). It's a sold out show, so that should be cool. Several bands I've never heard of opening.

I sure hope they play "Tessie." I'll be wearing some Red Sox gear, probably my Yaz jersey and one of my hats over my "Shipping Up To Boston" teeshirt.

Good times!!

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Dear Mr. Steinbrenner...

So, Hank. You think it's a "Yankees Nation" do ya?

Obviously, you've never been to a Boston Red Sox game at Rangers Ball Park in Arlington. You would see more than half of a sold out stadium (almost 50,000 capacity) chanting "Let's go, Red Sox" in near perfect unison while Rangers fans sit on their hands.

Sure there are plenty of Yankees fans at Rangers Ballpark when the Evil Empire comes to Texas, but they are nowhere near as plentiful, nor are they as united. You see, there is a bond in the "Red Sox Nation" that is not found anywhere else in sports. When one sees another hat with the characteristic "B" on the front, one knows that he/she has an instant friend. Not so with the Yankees brand. Matter of fact, when one sees the annoying "NY" on the front of a hat, there is a 50/50 chance that that person is a thug or gang member.

You are right...the Yankees brand is popular, but apparently, it is for entirely different reasons than the Red Sox brand.

But you, sir, are entirely wrong when you say that ESPN "invented" the Red Sox Nation. Although it is true that the official entity that is called "Red Sox Nation" has only existed for a few years (I am even one of the "founding members" according to my first card), the true Red Sox Nation was founded by one Michael T. "Nuf Ced" McGreevy, owner of the "3rd Base" bar, just up the road from Huntington.

Heh. The words of a Dropkick Murphys song keep coming to mind, for some reason...

Anyway, you show your extreme ignorance, Mr. Steinbrenner, with the comments that you have made. Learn your history, then take your honorary Red Sox Nations membership from John Henry and shut up.

Oh, yeah...I almost forgot:

YANKEES SUCK!!