A Mrs. Brady Lappie for you !

Just a little warm, comfort and distraction from this hellish Boston winter! Please leave an appropriate tip.

Hamstring Gate

I just recently took the under in Vegas on JD Drew’s total number of games played this upcoming season. At under 120 starts in right field I think I have a very good chance of cashing in on JD’s hamstring malaise. JD arrived in Camp Feel Good in Fort Myers this past week and immediately told everyone within earshot that he “felt bad” because his chronic hamstring problem is lingering. WTF - he had the whole off-season to address this and shows up in FLA and drops this bomb on Red Sox Nation.

My strategic hammy thinking goes like this: JD has always been hurting or on the verge of hurting and has the lowest pain tolerance in professional sports, he turns 35 soon, this is the final season in a 5 year $70million deal and is looking forward to retiring, he probably won’t bat any higher than 7^th, he is coming off career worsts of BA .255, OBP .341 – 46 points below career average AND he only hit .205 against lefties! Therefore, he will not see many/any left handed pitchers and with Mike Cameron, Darnell McDonald, Ryan Kalish and Josh Reddick in the wings this looks like a LOCK!

Ouuuuuch!

    

Labor Pains

    

 The NFL’s labor related work stoppage is quickly approaching. The collective bargaining agreement between the NFL’s 32 teams (owners) and the NFL Players Association expires on March 3, 2010. NFL owners will probably lock out the players. A lock out is when an employer (owners) won’t let the employees (players) go to work. The purpose of a lock out is to pinch off the employee’s cash flow and benefits flow. The reason it’s a lockout and not a strike? The owners are dissatisfied with current agreement (60% of gross revenue) and want it more league (owner) friendly.

     How do you split a $9billion dollar pie? That is essentially the issue. Sure, there are some smaller issues; 18 game season, rookie wage scale, drug testing, pensions, concussions, retirement programs-all of it is secondary to the split.

     Owners say they need a bigger piece of that pie to grow the business; fund new stadiums, grow the game overseas and explore new business ventures. The owners say the down economy and all has shrunk their bottom lines. The NFL Players Association says show us your books, but the owners hate that NFLPA will see their books w/ all monies and bottom lines.

     What now? Worse case-drawn out lock out causing a shortened season-essentially fucking up mine and your fall/winter. Best case-mediation defuses the emotional counter-parts and they find a middle ground with a normal season start.

     There are a lot of dynamics at play here. Let’s start with the situations each point man is facing. NFLPA kingpin Demaurice Smith is trying to defend a deal the players saw them realize unprecedented gains. Will he bend to get a deal done? Is his constituency strong enough to stand behind him?

     NFL commissioner Roger Goodell is in a similar spot. He’s representing 31 men accustomed to winning at the bargaining table. The loss they suffered in 2006 has them pissed. If they don’t bend, can he bring them around?

     I suspect some very heavy handed maneuvering to be done. The owners will say the players haven’t bargained in good faith and try to impose a best-last offer and make the payers work under it. The players may then opt to strike. Or the players can de-certify their union and then the National Labor Relations Board could get involved. That would be bad for the owners because then their antitrust exemption would fall under scrutiny.

My guess? It will come to heavy pushing and ugly shoving and the players will break. With more than 700 free agent players and 200 rookies not guaranteed paychecks the need to get paid will win out. Their will be no winners or losers only people who’ve lost less.

 

Texas Bud

I received this gift, a bottle of Texas Bud, from a buddy who made the mistake of attending SB XLV. My buddy threw the dice and bought cheap airfare tixs to Dallas when our Patriot’s were steam rolling thru the NFL and had just demolished the J-E-T-S, 45-3. Ironically it was those same Jets that ruined our post season and made for a less appealing reason to visit Dallas in February. Dallas is a toxic mix: a hell hole covered in a sheet of ice with no salt/sand/snow plows, the only reason to visit Dallas is to visit the infamous book depository/grassy knoll with a  museum that remembers the tragedy in ’63 when they shot a person with Massachusetts roots (which makes me very uncomfortable), many strip clubs, rednecks, rednecks, and more rednecks, hate groups, muchos Mexicans, socially retarded Texans, "Texas on the Brink", a very red state of inbred republicans with a very limited gene pool, Texans driving trucks with gun racks and hosting the biggest football game of the  2010-2011 season SB XLV. The big event took place @ JerryWorld which seats 110,000 people unless you are one of those 600 poor fans that JerryWorld couldn’t seat-oooops! Oh, don’t forget The Jerry-Tron the world’s biggest video screen-that looks like an IMAX and a blue whale had a baby. SB in Texas, no thanks!

Just wondering-what do you think a regional version of Boston Bud would have on the label-baked beans, cod, the Zakem bridge, Old North Church, Cheers, Samuel Adams, Mayor Curley, Mayor Menino or Old Ironsides. Leave me your ideas in comments, thanks.                 

                  

February Thaw !

February sucks big time! It’s grey and snow crusted mid winter with absolutely no light at the end of the miserable winter hell-hole tunnel in sight- where the f’ is spring!?! I always suffer my annual heavy duty, head-clogged & chest twisted cold for 2 weeks. So I start a very heavy self medication program of alcohol and random medicine cabinet mix of mystery pills therapy. The NFL football season is sadly over after the first weekend and there is a serious threat of an NFL lock out-OUCH! Yes, the Red Sox’s start throwing balls in Fort Myers but the NBA and NHL are in meaningless, mid-season cruise control games. The only 2 redeeming things for month #2 are; 1. February is only 28 days(usually) and 2. SI’s annual swimsuit issue… YUMBO! I got immediate mid-winter defrost therapy in my mailbox this AM!

Benedict James- "Boston game 5 we watched you quit" !



UNLIKE !

           

“I am taking my talents to South Beach” is an uber-bitch slap to the entire city of Cleveland/state of Ohio. I am not upset that he made the change of teams BUT how he did it. He humiliated an entire city/state on national television with the single MOST self indulgent event ever. Mother F-ing Benedict James sold out his hometown city for the shallow flash of tanned and beautiful Miami. Fuck him!!! I am a life long Boston Celtic fan but those 8 words were the most egregious ever uttered by a professional athlete and have enraged me. So, yes I attended the Celtics/Heat game this past Sunday and I witnessed Benedict James MISS a very crucial free throw in the final moments to help Miami lose to my Celtics!!!!! And Rondo masterfully defended the NBA’s pathetic Benedict Arnold :)!!!!!

Benedict James

Good seats and comped!

Patriot's Trifecta

Ohhh shitttttt!!!!!

     Our steam-rolling Patriots have just completed one of the great five game runs in Patriot’s history and are three games away from a triple: Executive of the Year, Coach of the Year and MVP.

Clearly, Tom Brady is going to have to completely fall apart to lose the MVP momentum after another brilliant game. QB12 hit 27 of 40 for a season-high 369 yards, 2 TD, 0 INT and a 113.4 QB rating against one of the league’s best defenses – in a blizzard! Our Patriots kicked frosty bear ass while winning 36-7.

Coach Belichick is in a two-man race for Coach of the Year with Mike Smith of Atlanta, and the edge has to go to the hooded one. The restructuring of the offense in the middle of the season, combined with an overhaul on defense, should not add up to 11 and 2. Atlanta has matched the record, but not the achievement.

Coach BB might get edged out by Smith, or even a long shot like Raheem Morris in Tampa or Todd Haley in Kansas City if their teams win out. But our sweat-shirted savant seems to have the clubhouse lead.

And director of player personnel, Nick Caserio, might be considered second to Belichick in the front office, but the same was true when Scott Pioli won Executive of the Year honors in 2003 and 2004. New England’s 2010 draft delivered seven major contributors, they got a third-round pick for the useless Randy Moss, they got the superior Deion Branch for a fourth, and they added Danny Woodhead off the street. That’s a lot of good work in one off-season, and a lot of payoff. Big D, we will see you in February!