Sports

Over the Monster explains why last night's Sox game was, all in all, decent, except for Lester getting the loss instead of, say, Aceves or Padilla.

For local fans of Liverpool FC, it was the chance of a lifetime: To watch their soccer heroes in a match at Fenway Park. Unfortunately for An Tua Nua, a march of Liverpool supporters from Kenmore Square to Fenway on July 25 proved far more successful than its organizers had hoped, leading a BPD detective to write the place up and landing it before the Boston Licensing Board earlier this week.

Fox Business News reports.

Go ahead, find a scalper in Kenmore Square tonight and point at him and laugh hysterically. Just be sure you can run fast; he might not appreciate the humor of the situation.

How bad is it? Scott Thorn tweets:

I've had an ad up on Craigslist all morning for 3 tix to Thursday night's Sox-Yanks game at face value. Not one email so far.

Tickets of Boston adds:

We're selling seats 2 for 1 ($45 for $94 loge seats) for the Yankees, unheard of.

A disgusted citizen used the city's Citizens Connect complaint service last night to post a photo from Fenway Park:

They losing, wtf?

Ed. note: If only this complaint had been filed earlier in the season, the DPW might have been able to do something. Also, based on the photo, looks like the complaint did not come from this group of fans at last night's game.

BU released its report on hockey culture along Comm. Ave. today:

Our assessment has shown that a culture of sexual entitlement exists among some players on the men's ice hockey team, stemming in part from their elevated social status on campus. This culture of sexual entitlement, as evidenced by frequent sexual encounters with women absent an emotional relationship or on-going commitment, can also involve unprotected sex. This culture is actively supported by a small subset of BU’s undergraduate population. The absence of systematic processes for sexual assault prevention training for members of the men's ice hockey team, and for BU students more broadly, contributes to behaviors that place many University students at risk. Substance abuse, including heavy alcohol use in particular, can be an important part of students' social and sexual culture. Institutional practices and educational efforts relating to sexual health and substance abuse - for the men's ice hockey players in particular, and for the undergraduate student body in general - do not provide sufficient information or guidance to our students.

Academic performance data show that with some exceptions, the academic performance of the men's ice hockey team falls below that of the undergraduate student body as a whole.

The 1962 Mets were one of the worst teams in the history of baseball. The 2011 Red Sox suffered the worst collapse in the history of baseball. How will the 2012 Red Sox stack up against the September records of these two teams? We'll compile the daily "standings" from here through Sept. 30:

Sept. 30

                 W     L   pct
2012 Red Sox     7    19   .269
2011 Red Sox     7    20   .259
1962 Mets        6    18   .250

Recap: Month ends with 2012 Sox barely ahead of the 2011 Sox and the 1962 Mets. Unlike those teams, the 2012 Sox still have three more games to play.

Sources: Ultimate Mets Database - Game Results and BaseballReference.com.

So as long as nobody spots Valentine rolling a couple of ball bearings around in his hand, we should be as OK as we can get in this season of diminished expectations, right?

Copyright Redsox223. Posted in the Universal Hub Pool on Flickr.

Redsox223 was among the throngs watching the parade through Needham for Olympian Aly Raisman.

More photos and comments from folks who grew weary of politicians droning on forever:

Ouch.

Gone, already forgotten?

Credit: Boston.com

Gordon Edes tweets the Sox are sending Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and Nick Punto to Los Angeles for dinner for six at Sonic several players.

Seems Bobby Valentine told ESPN:

I would do anything to change the numbers. I’d sell my soul.

Where have we heard that before?

Bostonians tuning into NESN to watch the tribute in Baltimore to Johnny Pesky and, oh, yeah, a ballgame, instead got a test pattern tonight, followed by some Rolling Stones, followed by a blank screen.

UPDATE: The signal came back on just in time to hear Jerry Remy say "Buenas noches, amigos!" and watch Mr. Text Message get himself out.

Joy of Sox is no longer getting much joy from Sox games - and not just because of what's going on on the field:

NESN gives us worthless "tours" of concrete hallways in other stadiums and asinine non-baseball segments. Worse than that, the network often fails to show the action on the field.

Announcers Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy have become sad parodies of themselves. While Orsillo still calls a decent play-by-play, he also swamps viewers with waves of useless information between pitches and batters. Remy, ostensibly an analyst, offers no analysis whatsoever.

Steve Buckley at the Herald tweets Pesky died this afternoon. He was 92.

Mostly retiring after 44 years:

So why now? It's time; that’s all. I’ve covered the events I wanted to cover. I reached a goal with the Bruins' Stanley Cup run in 2011 to have covered championships in all four primary pro sports. I've covered 29 Final Fours. London has been my 11th Olympics. I even did a dog show. I am fulfilled.

But there is something else. I occasionally come across some things I wrote years ago, and I say to myself, "I did that?" And I know in my heart I really couldn't match that effort today. That's all a writer needs to know.

Comcast Sportsnet reports on the grim scene in the clubhouse last night after yet another stupid loss:

Lackey was so busted up after the latest defeat that he was strutting around the clubhouse with a can of Bud Light in each hand, or what is known as "double-fisting" on every college campus in the history of mankind.

Who says football coaches don't have a softer side?

Some background info on the ad.

Garden officials revealed that fact at a hearing before the Boston Licensing Board today.

"There's significantly more beer drinking at Bruins games than at Celtics games," one Garden official told the board.

Of course, the officials and their high-priced lawyer from Ropes & Gray did not make their way to the eighth floor of City Hall just to discuss relative beer consumption. They were there to answer a citation issued by Boston Police on April 4 of this year for a drunken 16-year-old holding a beer and creating a disturbance during a Celtics/Spurs game.

Over the Monster is, of course, talking about the Red Sox season, wondering whether we've gotten to the point where it's just a bandage-covered scab and it's time to just rip the bandage off in one fell swoop rather than suffering two more months of slow pain.

Mats Tolander posts some photos of Nava in a gray plaid shirt.

Kevin Youkilis addresses Red Sox fans.

That final game at Fenway was the most emotional day of my life on the baseball field. It could not have been scripted any better. And to all those kids out there in Red Sox Nation, I can give you my Dad’s advice. "Life is like a throw to first base, always aim high."