Nailed it!
October 1, 2011 § Leave a Comment
The Boston Red Sox let Terry Francona go on the last day of September 2011, but that was expected. When you blow a nine-game lead with 24 games left in the regular season, heads are bound to roll. When the Red Sox happen to be the team blowing that lead? Well, the greatest manager of the team’s history gets the axe.
Emphasis on 'beloved.' (Photo courtesy of Charlie Walker)
Francona’s demise, however, is hardly the news. Neither is the Sox’ collapse in the final game, for that matter: of course, Boston would lose. The real news, here, is that the Boston Red Sox appear to be back to their roots. « Read the rest of this entry »
‘Straight cash, homey.’
August 6, 2011 § Leave a Comment
August 2011 opened with a bang, as the NFL received a scoop unlike many in recent history: according to his agent Joel Segal, Randy Moss was retiring from professional football at age 34 and after 13 seasons. 
The reaction was two-fold. On the one hand, many people (exhibit a) did not believe him and tried to call Moss’s bluff for what it was: a simple plea for a team or two to give in to his financial demands for a new contract. Never mind that Moss is not Brett Favre, the professional athlete of today whose word you can definitely doubt when he says he’s retired; Moss is not Tiki Barber neither, broke beyond repair and almost forced to try a comeback at 36 years old and after 5 years away from football. Moss’s decision doesn’t make sense when you consider that he had 83 catches for 1,264 yards and 13 touchdowns in the 2009 season. That is why this decision is hard to accept: Moss can still play football, despite what last year says, and it doesn’t make sense for him to retire. « Read the rest of this entry »
It’s too late to apologize, Manny
April 18, 2011 § Leave a Comment
To his credit, Manny Ramirez stayed true to himself and to what he believed in all the way to his retirement from major league baseball.
On April 8, 2011, the MLB bode farewell to one of its most polarizing figures in recent history, Ramirez deciding to end his stellar 19-year career rather than serve a 100-game suspension, ESPN.com reports.
Manny Ramirez in left field during a game in 2007 (Photo courtesy of Ewen Roberts)
For baseball historians, Ramirez’s actions – caught using banned substances – might be a big deal, but not for me. I was raised in the 1990s and probably attended 15 to 20 games of Nos Z’Amours, les Expos de Montréal, before they left for Washington; and I have clear memories of about 5.
(Unfortunately for my sake, one was in sixth grade and the narrative includes such things as “overconfident 12 year olds,” “girls from the suburbs” and the “DGenerationX salute.” Details are unimportant.) Growing up, baseball was not my first love but I watched enough to know that something shady was unfolding. At first however, I mostly just loved the baseball hats. My first, of course, was from the hometown Expos. Then came a Boston Red Sox hat and after, one of the Okland A’s surprisingly — seriously, who wants to grow up to be an A’s fan except for Billy Beane, right? « Read the rest of this entry »
Where money still doesn’t rule
April 1, 2011 § Leave a Comment
The whole world watched on March 30, or maybe it just seemed that way. With close to 1.5 billion citizens between them, India and Pakistan are home to one of every six people on Earth, which means that one of every six people watched the cricket match between the two countries on March 30.
India's Sachin Tendulkar in action in 2006 (Photo courtesy of Srinivasan G)
India defeated Pakistan and reached the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, where it will face off against Sri Lanka. This semifinal was a big deal, and not simply because Pakistan and India are among the world’s most populous countries. No, it was a big deal, because both countries are among the biggest fans of cricket. For both, the sport is bigger than hockey in Canada. « Read the rest of this entry »
