Can BC stop their slide against undefeated Wake?

Boston College just defeated previously undefeated North Carolina, pushing their win streak to double digits and improving their season record to 13-2. All was good in superfan country until they decided to mush their season by printing those gay ass "we got your number" tshirts. Well karmas a bitch cause they've since lost 2 straight at home to Harvard (that's right guys, they lost to fricken Harvard, bonus points to anyone who can name a single hoops player on their team in the last decade) and The U.

On paper - WF led by All-Everything guard Jeff Teague should dominate Tyrese Rice and the slumping Eagles. Not to worry though Superfans, WF probably doesnt even realize they're in Chestnut Hill right now as they're still hungover from their win against the Tar Heels and will be looking ahead to their date Saturday with undefeated ACC rival Clemson. Boston College takes advantage and steals a game they have no business winning.

The Big Q's lock of the day: BC +3.5

and just for shits and giggles - PSU wins/covers the 5 point spread against MSU tonight. Go Nittany Lions!

The Bruins are nasty

Source: Boston.com article

During the second shift of the night, Tom Kostopoulos, Montreal's third-line grinder, tried to make a statement. Kostopoulos saw Zdeno Chara along the wall, whirred up his legs, and charged at the Bruins captain. An instant later, it was Kostopoulos who was dragging himself up off the ice, knocked flat on his back. The Boston strongman had seen the hit coming, braced himself, and dropped Kostopoulos. The message was clear: not in our house.

Let me just make this statement loud and clear: Boston's here. It's always fun watching the Bruins win, and it's extra sweet when we beat the fuckin Canadiens (or Habs or whatever you wanna call those douchebags). We clearly played the more physical game, as we have all season, and it's really paying off. Keep in mind, the B's were without three of our top forwards: Phil Kessel (mononucleosis, what the hell is that?, out for a month), Marco Sturm (knee injury, OUT FOR SEASON), and Milan "the Body" Lucic (undisclosed injury, day-to-day). Also, we lost defenceman Aaron Ward last night as well and we still beat their asses. Does this remind you of something? You're damn right. It's like the fuckin Patriots. Someone goes down, someone takes his place and still produces. I'm loving the depth on this team. Every line is a bonafide threat to score or to beat your ass into submission. And our goaltending situation is pretty damn solid. Yes, I know we're only a little over halfway through the season, but it's been awhile since anyone has been able to feel really good about this team. I realize that the Bruins made the postseason last year, but we lost 5-0 in game 7 to guess who? The fuckin Canadiens. So I'm sure they're eager to get that nasty stench out of their mouths and show everyone in the league who is boss. No, not Bruce Springsteen, but the Bruins.

Side note: The Bruins should be more solid in NHL '10 for PS3 next year. I played my roommate in NHL '09 (he chose the Bruins before I could and I ended up being the Red Wings), and I ended up beating him in all 3 fights. This is clearly not a realistic game if the Bruins are losing fights to the Red Wings. Anyway, NHL '09 is solid. It takes a little while to get used to the controls, but once you do, the game really takes off. It's not like those old games like NHL '95 where you can just skate across the crease and score top shelf every time. It actually takes some skill to score here. I like the challenge.

Baseball news

Congratulations Jim Rice on FINALLY being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF)! It's about F-ing time. This guy deserved to be inducted years ago, but it seems like his previously unfriendly relationship with the baseball writers (who vote for Hall of Fame inductees) was what was causing this delay. Hey, maybe his numbers were borderline for the HOF, and maybe I'm just a Boston homer, but this guy deserved it. He was one of the most dominant hitters for over a decade. He was top 5 in MVP voting 6 times and even won the MVP award in 1978, where he led the American league in hits, slugging %, OPS, games played, at-bats, plate appearances, total bases, triples, home runs, RBIs, extra base hits, and was 3rd in batting average, and 2nd in runs scored. Read that again. HOLY FLUCKING SCHNIT! Oh by the way, he was also an 8-time All-Star. For more statistics, just go here. His numbers speak for themselves.

Also congrats to Rickey Henderson, the STEAL CHAMP of major league baseball. Best leadoff hitter of all time. This guy stole more shit than Winona Ryder. Welcome to the Hall of Fame mister Henderson. Also, take a peek at funny Rickey Henderson quotes.

The Red Sox introduced John Smoltz yesterday. I'm telling you, he's gonna be important down the stretch. You heard it here first...

Celtics

Looks like the Celtics have shown signs of getting out of their funk. They just beat the Raptors in a home-and-home and they got the Nets for a home-and-home. It's pretty hard to beat the same team in consecutive games, so if they can accomplish that twice in one week, I'll be impressed. However, we will be missing Perkins and Tony Allen again, so that hurts our starting lineup and some of our depth. I don't know, not much to say here. The Celtics need to step up their game because the Cavs, Magic, and Lakers are murking teams like the Celtics should be doing.

Patriots

It looks like it's open season on Patriots staff. First, we lose McDaniels to the Broncos, and next we lose Scott Pioli to the Chiefs. I wonder who's next? Honestly, I'm not that concerned. Belichick is the one who gave all of these guys their opportunities to develop and thrive in the Patriots organization. It wasn't vice versa. So we will find replacements or just promote from within like we normally do. Belichick is the genius, everyone else is just an apprentice. I'm glad that all of Belichick's disciples have gone on to get head coaching or GM positions because it really speaks to how prepared, detailed, and successful the Patriots organization is and will be for the forseeable future. Look, we lost Brady for the season and Matt Cassel still guided us to 11 wins. Some people will credit McDaniels for that, which is accurate, but who taught McDaniels and took him under his wing? Belichick. Basically, what I'm saying here is: As long as Bill Belichick is the head coach of the Patriots, we have nothing to worry about.

My Personal Life

Friday night, I went out with Balco and some other teammates to Celebrate Anne's bday. We started off the night at this guy Ross' place in the Back Bay area. Damn this dude has a sweet pad. It was sorta like a MTV Cribs apartment version. Two floors, big ass ceilings, big time TV room, all stainless steel appliances, etc. So we pregamed there, then headed over to Stix, which apparently is right next to Bar 33. It was cool meeting a bunch of new people, as well as hanging out with some heads that I hadn't seen in awhile. The DJ, for some reason, wanted to play eurotrash, but we kept requesting hip hop so the music changed back and forth every hour or so. We all got pretty lit up and I started rapping and dancing to the music as usual. I'm not sure if it's annoying or if people like it, but that's what I do when I'm drunk and listening to hip hop. Sue me. I had to wake up for flag football at 9:30 the following day so we called it a night at like 1:30am.

On Saturday, after my flag football game (we won), I went home, showered, got dressed and then went to my cousin Cynthia's wedding at the Park Plaza Hotel. You know, all wedding ceremonies should be like this. The entire wedding, from beginning to end, was maybe 15 minutes long. It was so fast that women didn't even have a chance to cry and guys didn't even have a chance to get bored. Also, it speeds up the ability to start drinking. After the wedding ceremony, there was a food/cocktail hour which was good and bad. The spread of food was solid, as I ate a bunch of cheese, crackers, shrimp, mushrooms, etc. The only thing that kind of sucked was, not the fact that it was a cash bar, but the fact that drinks were ridiculously expensive. I managed to get 4 heinekens for the low price of 30 DOLLARS. Read that sentence again. I can't even believe I just typed that. I could've gotten 2 lap dances and a Foxy Lady T-shirt for that price. So anyway, we mingled with a bunch of people then went back to my place and watched football and played Red Sox Jenga until the dinner reception at Hai La Moon.

Needless to say, we went to the banquet, got completely hammered, I danced with my mom, fell asleep at News afterwards, watched my cousin Danny slip on a manhole and land on his ass, then woke up the next morning and found out that Danny also puked in the barrel in my bathroom WHILE TAKING A SHIT. Just picture this. You're hungover, your head is spinning, you need to take a shit. You're on the shitter unleashing hell, then suddenly you have to bend over, grab a barrel and puke into it, all simultaneously. Good thing it wasn't me haha. I made him clean it up before I drove his ass home. I pretty much did absolutely nothing all day on Sunday. And that's exactly how life should be on Sundays. That's it for now. I'll write again later this week. Adios.

Pre-Weekend Update

Well it looks like the Celtics have an opportunity to give Cleveland its first home loss this season. Based on the way they've been playing, their chances don't look that great. However, it's Friday and I'm feeling optimistic. Celtics by 5.

I'm going to this place called Styx tonight, right near Bar 33 in the Back Bay area. It's Anne's birthday. Happy birthday Anne! There is a zero percent chance I'm staying sober tonight because with drinking, "I can't stop once I've started, it stings!" All you Dumb & Dumber enthusiasts will understand the reference.

Tomorrow is my cousin Cynthia's wedding. Congrats Cynthia and Irvin! Wedding is in the afternoon over at Park Plaza, followed by a Chinatown banquet. I graciously agreed to usher people to their dinner tables at the wedding reception, with the stipulation being that I am allowed to drink before, during, and after doing so. Wow, my liver is pretty annoyed with me right now.

What do people think about the NFL playoff games this week? Here are my picks to win:

• Baltimore (their defense is too nasty)
• Pittsburgh (they are well rested and playing at home in the cold weather)
• Carolina (DeAngelo Williams cannot be stopped)
• NY Giants (as much as I hate Eli and the Giants, this is a complete mismatch with Jacobs in the lineup)

Finally, in response to Amit's comment: I'm glad we didn't give up Coco for nothing. We got a solid relief pitcher in return. Plus, Coco would've been unhappy all season being the 4th outfielder and we don't need that type of distraction. With the Baldelli signing, he's fully committed to being a 4th outfielder and it looks like they've been able to diagnose his condition correctly so it can be treated well enough to be available regularly. As far as David Ortiz is concerned, he isn't fading. Up until last year when he got injured and played only 109 games, Ortiz' on base percentage and OPS were increasing every year since he became a member of the Red Sox. Minus last year's aberration, his power numbers may have seemed to be declining, but that's not really the case unless you are looking specifically at homeruns. Look at his total count of extra base hits each year since he joined the team:

• 2003: 72
• 2004: 91
• 2005: 88
• 2006: 85
• 2007: 86

Not counting last year, he's been averaging 84.4 extra base hits per year. Based on the above numbers, it doesn't seem like a regression. It seems like a pretty steady level of production. And remember, during all of those years listed above, Ortiz' OBP and OPS increased each year (again, not including last year's injury plagued season).

My conclusion: Even without Manny, Ortiz will still put up big numbers. It'll probably be a little less than before since he doesn't have the same protection now, but he's still gonna be very effective. Whoever is batting cleanup this year is going to see a ton of hittable pitches.

Have a nice weekend, bitches!

Update (6:30PM): We also just re-signed Mark Kotsay so that's depth at first base and more depth for the outfield.

Sox sign Baldelli and Smoltz

Red Sox news:

• Looks like Rocco Baldelli just signed with the Red Sox. This is good because it adds depth to our outfield after the departure of Coco Crisp.
• John Smoltz also reached a preliminary agreement with the Sox today as well. Hey, it doesn't hurt to add another potential horse to the staff. This guy has been solid his entire career, pitching for the Braves, as a closer and as a starter.

I am a big fan of both of these signings. Rocco Baldelli, when he hasn't been injured, has been pretty damn solid. He's also from the New England area so it'll be a nice homecoming for him. Since he's going to be our fourth outfielder, he'll be able to fill in for Drew when he inevitably gets injured, as well as spell the rest of the outfielders when they need an off-day. Smoltz is a proven workhorse who is probably as professional of a player as you can get. Just a great, stand up guy whose numbers speak for themselves. Plus, after the Braves basically said he's washed up, he's going to be motivated to prove the naysayers wrong.

Yes, both of these players pose an injury risk, but look at it this way. We're going to sign Smoltz for a one year $5 million contract with potentially up to $5 million in performance bonuses. This is basically zero risk. Baldelli's contract numbers haven't been released yet, but I'm pretty sure it's going to be for less than what Smoltz is getting. So look what we have here: a quality fourth outfielder and a solid workhorse for probably around $10 million combined. If they both get injured and never play a game with the Sox, it doesn't really affect us that much. I dig it.

I'm kind of glad we didn't break the bank this year on free agents because everybody knows we're going after Matt Holliday next winter when he becomes a free agent. Well, unless Scott Boras screws us over again, which is likely to happen. My prediction: we go after Holliday, it turns into a bidding war, the Yankees come in at the 11th hour with a ridiculous contract, and he signs with them. You heard it here first.

My true hope is that Jason Bay flourishes here and we re-sign him. He seems like a good, hardworking guy who won't be a clubhouse cancer. We have Ellsbury under control for the next few years I think, and JD Drew is still signed for a couple more years. Once Lowell's contract expires, we're moving Youk back to 3rd and most likely calling up our prized prospect Lars Anderson to fill the void at 1st Base. Pedroia will patrol 2nd for the next 6 years or so, and Lowrie can only get better. I'm telling you right now, Ortiz is going to be a monster this year. Theo just needs to sign another latino guy to joke around with him to keep him loose.

As far as the pitching is concerned, I see Dice-K finally putting it all together and cutting down on the walks. I see Lester evolving into an absolute stud. I see Beckett regressing a little bit, but still putting up above average numbers. Now that we got Smoltzy, I see him as a complete mismatch against other teams' 4th and 5th starters. Brad Penny will have a so-so year I think. That was another great signing either way. Low risk, high return all over the place! Wakefield will continue to be an innings eater. And guess what, we still have Masterson, Bowden, and Buchholz! Relief pitching looks pretty good with the acquisition of that Ramirez guy. We still got Okajima, Delcarmen, Javy "lefty-specialist" Lopez and Papelbon. The more I think about it, the better I feel about the team. We are solid all around, except for catcher, which may or may not be the most important position on the field.

Let's talk about Jason Varitek. All signs are indicating that talks are going horribly with the Sox and Varitek's agent. Guess who his agent is? Fuckin Scott Boras. I'm sure Boras put together a nice little video showing Varitek when he actually could hit and is expecting a multi-year deal for over $10 million per year. That's ludicrous. I, like the next guy, appreciate everything Varitek has done for the team, being captain and all, but there is no justification for paying that much money for someone who is an auto-out. Offensively, he's done. He doesn't have it anymore. Defensively, he's still very solid and he can call a game probably better than any catcher in the league.

In a perfect world, I'd love for Varitek to retire and to sign with the Sox as an adviser, but that's not going to happen. If Varitek leaves, that leaves us with Josh Bard as our starting catcher. He performed pretty well during his stint with the Padres but I think we all remember how much of a disaster it was when he tried to catch Wakefield's knuckleball. I'd like to give him another chance and see what he's made of, but we also need some depth. I would not oppose trading Buchholz to Texas for one of its solid core of catch prospects: Taylor Teagarden or Jarrod Saltalamacchia. I dunno, we'll see what happens.

I'm getting really excited for the season. I'm pretty sure that Yankees fans are already printing out World Series championship merchandise since they signed all these big name players. I say hold on a minute. There's 162 games to be played and we all know who's going to win the AL East this year...

The Tampa Bay Rays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just kidding (kinda). 37 days until pitchers and catchers report!

I need some ideas...

Hey guys/girls, I need your help here. I'm trying to come up with a good new year's resolution. If you have any good ideas, please leave a comment. Thanks.

New Year's Recap

I wanna start off with a birthday shout out to Jerry M. Just remember, 40 is the new 30!

My body is absolutely destroyed from drinking for 6 nights in a row. My brain isn't even functioning correctly, but here is an attempt to summarize what happened...

Tuesday 12/30/08 - By request, I held pasta night at my place because everybody loves my fuckin pasta. I gotta admit, it's pretty damn good. It's sweet, but with a spicy kick to it. Just think about that. It boggles the mind. For the record, I only use wheat pasta because it's healthier and it cost the same as regular pasta. As for the sauce, I'm not telling you shit because it's a secret. Plus, I can make the entire meal in about 30-45 minutes. I rule. If you don't think so, then look at the URL to this blog.

Anyway, people decided to bring brownie mix and garlic bread to supplement the feast. Thank you Richie, thank you Krissi. Also in attendance was Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) beer and a little game called Cranium. Thank you Ed and Alan, thank you Mei. I'm sure you are wondering why the hell we were drinking PBR. Well here's why. We watched the new Clint Eastwood movie "Gran Turino" the night before. It was great. He was drinking PBR throughout the movie. There's your explanation. As for Cranium, I am declaring this as the best game ever created. It's like a combination of Pictionary, Charades, Trivial Pursuit, and a few other games all combined into one. We had 5 guys and 4 girls, so we decided to split into 3 teams of 3. I was on a team with 2 other girls so my team was the only team with 3 girls. Needless to say, the game was full of laughs, drinking, intense competition, and blatant stupidity, which coincidentally is synonymous with my life. The game was so close that every team had an opportunity to win the game at the end. Naturally, my team lost because God is still punishing me for not going to Church even though I live right down the street. But it sure as hell was fun.

We are now planning on holding a "Game Night" regularly because A) it's a shitload of fun and B) we'll save money by not going to the bars/clubs. If you are interested in this, please let me know. My roommate Jon already ordered Cranium and I might order the Trivial Pursuit 25th Anniversary Edition soon. We also have Guitar Hero fully functioning at this time. Our guitars broke a couple of weeks ago, but we now have replacements. YOU ROCK!

After dinner and game night, we ended up going to Blue 22 for the rest of the evening. It was NiMan's birthday so we chilled, had some drinks, watched some funny karaoke, and called it a successful night.

Wednesday 12/31/08 - New Year's Eve. As you can see from the posts below, I did an ode to 2008 in rhyme form. That's pretty much all I accomplished at work that day. That night, I went to a house party over by Northeastern with Big Ed Wong and Little Krissi Zhou. Unsurprisingly, I ended up drinking like a fish (to the tune of over 20 drinks), apparently did hip hop karaoke, ended up at Blue 22 at 1:30am and drank a ridiculous amount of alcohol in 30 minutes, flopped around like a retard, then went to the Quincy Marriott and passed out, then somehow ended up in my bed at like 4:30am. I'd like to discuss this night in more detail, but unfortunately this is all that I remember. Isn't that what New Year's Eve is supposed to be? Sadly, I did not get laid that night, but I vaguely remember big Dave Wong try to molest me with his boxers on at the hotel. Correction: maybe I did get laid that night.

Thursday 1/1/09 - Woke up New Year's Day WITHOUT a hangover. I was pretty pumped about that. Plus, my ass wasn't sore so I guess I wasn't violated by my Godbrother. I laid around most of the day until I was suckered into going to The Greatest Bar for the Rose Bowl (Penn State vs. USC). My roommate Jon is a Penn State alum so he was all amped up for the game and forced me to go with him. So I, in turn, got Steve-O and Balco to come along as well. The place was pretty damn packed. Apparently, the Greatest Bar is a Penn State alumni home base or something because the entire bar was filled with Penn State apparel. Too bad Penn State didn't win because I wanted to see the entire place go nuts. It wasn't even a contest. USC completely dominated them. I would've been concerned about all the glum faces there, but fortunately I had been drinking throughout the duration of the game so all I was doing was searching for hot chicks in the bar or in the stands on TV. Unsuccessful on both fronts. The only thing I succeeded in doing was dropping a deuce in the bathroom before we left. I wanted to hold it in until we got home, but I had a turtle head sticking out since halftime and I couldn't hold on any longer. We left the bar and went to get Pho before heading home and crashing for the evening.
Friday 1/2/09 - I woke up really early because someone had to fuckin work that day. That SOMEONE was me. So I went to work completely exhausted from drinking for the last 3 days and somehow I actually banged out a bunch of work. Popped into the gym after work, got through a weak workout, then headed home and proclaimed that I would not be drinking or going out that night. And of course, neither of those things happened. Apparently, it ended up being a friend's birthday that night so guess where we went? Yup, Foxy Lady. We decided to "take it easy" that night by only going to the Brockton location instead of making the trek to Providence. The night can be summarized like this: booze, tits, booze, tits, booze, tits, booze, tits. It's very nice inside this place, definitely not a dump. This place could pass as a restaurant if they rearranged it a little bit, and by "rearrange" I mean "remove the stripper poles". Anyway, as far as the entertainment was concerned, they had this cool promotion there where you can get a 2 for 1 lap dance and a t-shirt during certain times of the night. Our group left with a lot of new t-shirts.

Saturday 1/3/09 - Rolled outta bed around 11ish and somehow gathered enough strength and motivation to go to the gym with Jon and Balco. Ran into a bunch of Waltham heads there and played some hoop until I wanted to puke, then did a quick lifting workout and got the F outta there. We then completely wasted everything we worked out for by eating a massive meal at Burger King on the way home. I decided to lay down for the rest of the afternoon, watching college basketball and playoff NFL football. I ended up going to Blue 22 that night (which resulted in the first image of this blog) and proceeded to DRINK AGAIN! For the umpteenth time, I AM AN IDIOT. I am clearly a social alcoholic. Had another 20+ drinks that night, got shitcanned and made my way home somehow. Drinking this much is clearly not a good idea considering I am taking supplements that already dehydrate me to begin with.

Sunday 1/4/09 - My cousin Rob called me that morning to meet up for lunch, so I rallied the troops and we ended up having about 9 people go to Hai La Moon for dim sum. Nothing really to talk about here other than the fact that my Dad showed up, ate, then left without paying in what is referred to as the "chew n screw". I applauded that move. After dim sum, a few of us headed back to my place to play an intense hour of Red Sox Jenga, which consisted of red blocks and blue blocks. Basically, it's like regular Jenga except you roll a dice that has different baseball terms on it which indicate what move you're supposed to make. For example, if you rolled "RBI", it means you had to remove a red block. If you rolled a "Walk", you had to remove a blue block, and so on and so forth. Since I am the epitome of 'calm under pressure', I was the only one who didn't knock the Jenga tower over. We actually had someone knock the tower over on the first pull and she wasn't even drunk. That takes skill.

After Jenga time, I watched football and then headed over to Maggiano's at 4pm for family dinner. By family dinner, I don't mean just my immediate family. We had 25 fuckin people there. We put the Last Supper to shame with this one. My Mom organized the whole thing, which consisted of tons of wine, calamari, stuffed mushrooms, and two types of salad for the appetizer, chicken piccata, salmon, mashed potatoes, and spinach for the main course, and profiteroles and tiramisu for dessert. Did I mention that all of these dishes were BOTTOMLESS. This means that they would keep bringing more and more as long as we kept finishing the plates. I don't know, I felt like I had to explain that since people might misconstrue the term 'bottomless' as a sexual connotation. Well if you need your sexual fix, get this. The girls at the Foxy Lady on Friday night were BOTTOMLESS. There ya go.

Somehow this dinner lasted 4 hours. I don't even know how that's possible, but it happened. It was so long that I managed to take 3 shits in the restaurant during dinner. I only mention this because one of the times I went into the bathroom, a big black guy walks out of the stall and goes "you ain't gonna want to go in there for awhile", smiles, washes his hands, then leaves. I tried waiting to let the bathroom air out, but it got to the point where I had to go in there to crap. I walked into the stall and the stench hit me like a right uppercut. I had to pull my shirt over my head just to neutralize it a little bit. This is my life.

So I FINALLY got home close to 9pm, showered (I had to considering I was sweating from eating and my ass was dirty), and immediately laid down and passed out.

Other news:

• The video section is now full of clips from Wedding Crashers. I chose that feed because not only are the clips hilarious, but my cousin Cynthia is getting married this weekend so I thought there were some parallels here.
• I'm watching the Celtics game right now and somehow we're in overtime versus the Bobcats. What the fuck is going on here? We should be dominating these peons.
• I'm going to the Celtics vs. Rockets game tomorrow night. The Celtics better fuckin win. I'm sick of all of these losses to shitty teams. By shitty teams, I mean "any team other than the Celtics".
• The Bruins have lost 2 in a row. The ship is sinking!!!!!!!!!!!
• Yesterday was the 89th anniversary of the Red Sox selling Babe Ruth to the Yankees. Good move guys. Coincidentally, today was the first day Mark Teixeira was officially announced as a Yankee. They're not winning shit this year. They have no chemistry. Next year they'll be dangerous though.
• Looks like the Patriots are gonna franchise Matt Cassel, which means that they'll be paying him about $14 million next year. I think that this is a good backup plan in case Brady doesn't come back at full strength. If Brady does, the Patriots can always trade Cassel. That wouldn't be a problem since so many other teams are looking for a competent QB.
• The Celtics just lost to the Bobcats. Please light me on fire.
  
• I need a haircut. Look at the picture below.

BARBARIC!

2009 is here!