In his lecture to the damn kids on his lawn today about how they don't realize how good they have it, CHB writes:
One of the reasons we immortalize the 1967 Red Sox is because they brought playoff games to Fenway Park for the first time in 19 autumns.
No, that's not one of the reasons we immortalize the 1967 Red Sox, because Major League Baseball didn't institute regular playoffs until 1969.
Adam Pieniazek will not be deterred; predicts the Patriots will win the Super Bowl.
Lewis Forman explains how the Fenway sold-out record has come at the cost of a piece of the soul of Sox fandom:
... It's less of a game and more a destination. It becomes classic blue hats vs. pink hats instead of right handed relief vs. left handed relief. Clam Chowder vs. gourmet pizza instead of a hot dog vs. a box of popcorn. People watching vs. GAME watching.
Papel-blog comes back from an extended blogging break:
The Red Sox are engaged in a three-game set to determine who will emerge in first place in the AL East, and I can't spend the duration of the series making jokes about Derek Jeter's sexual orientation in order to cope. And judging from what went down in Foxboro on Sunday, football is not going to be the stress-reducing distraction from the pennant race that it has been in previous years.
Kristen writes:
I would like to personally thank the Red Sox for at least temporarily, lifting the spirits of a grieving region. Jason Bay would not want us to cry, people. Jason Bay would want us to be happy. And Jonathan Papelbon would probably make some obscene sock puppets to get us laughing again if he thought that'd work. ...
And, of course, no matter what, we'll always have Debbie CHB Downer to tell us what to think:
Dan likes to portray New England fans as little more than infantile sycophants with a lack of perspective. ...
Indeed, harrumphs Soxaholix:
... Let me get this straight, the same fans who endured 86 years of Red Sox futility *and* years of the Patriots as also rans "are lost boys and lost girls"? ...
Dan Kennedy doesn't think Lobel has provided enough proof for his serious allegation against Manny Ramirez (that Ramirez took a dive in an at-bat against Mariano Rivera to protest a huge fine for knocking down the team traveling secretary).
Meanwhile, Dan Shaughnessy admits he reads blogs, in a column in which the CHB airs out his perpetual grievance against Ramirez without ever actually saying Lobel is right. Neat Shanky trick.
Jeff Louderbeck isn't buying Lobel's version, either:
... Like many members of the Boston sports media, Lobel has little credibility. Much like Dan Shaughnessy does with his written words, Lobel stirs the pot with his mouth, speaking before thinking. In fact, Lobel's words have already been dismissed by one of the few credible Boston media members, Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe. According to Edes' 3:46 p.m. post on the Extra Bases blog, Ramirez' fine was wildly overstated. ...
Which makes one wonder why Shaughnessy felt compelled to lead with Lobel's version.
Jimmy: If McCormick is fine with it, we should also be fine with it.
Red wonders if we're really seeing a sudden personality change or some management propaganda to set us all up for them not re-signing Manny when his contract's up.
After a day of pretending to be happy, the true CHB is back, with a column reminding us that it's all downhill from here, that Boston teams used to really, really suck, that kids today just can't appreciate how badly those teams used to suck back in the last century and that Bill Belichick sure sucks.
Meanwhile, Seth Gitell wonders why no special Celtics section in the Globe today.
Shaughnessy's hoping against hope, now that the royalties on his Curse books are dwindling down.
That would be, of course, Dan Shaughnessy, who, on the possible eve of the first Celtics championship in ages, feels compelled to bring up two decades of Celtics failures, from Len Bias dropping dead from cocaine to Bill Walton breaking his foot. It's surprising he didn't mention Rick Pitino (UPDATE: He did mention Pitino, my faith in his ability to leave no depressing stone unturned is restored).
Through the miracle of the Interwebs, Don lets you watch Bob Ryan's and Dan Shaughnessy's takes on last night's Celtics/Lakers game. His conclusion:
... I wish Danny boy would take a buy-out and start writing for the NY Post or something. Moron.
The Outraged Liberal, a Cleveland native, couldn't get past the fifth paragraph in Shaughnessy's column today because it's so riddled with factual errors about his birthplace.
A couple days ago, Rob expressed disgust with the way Dan Shaughnessy compared Kevin Garnett to Alex Rodriguez. He e-mailed Shaughnessy to let him know. Shaughnessy responded:
sorry -- no time for fanboy rants.
shaughnessy
Which Rob also analyzes, concluding:
Could Bob Ryan be blogging about this Curse Boy train wreck of a column when he writes the following?
Have we no institutional memory? People are beginning to act as if something odd is going on in the Celtics-Hawks series, as if we've never seen this before.
If so, that would be so cool.
Because, as Dan Shaughnessy Watch notes, he keeps writing about it:
... Time travel has become Dan's most recent obsession, so much so that one has to wonder if it has bumped Curt Schilling down a peg on the CHB-obsession meter. (If I am counting right, there was only one dig at Schilling all week). ...
Dan Shaughnessy Watch deciphers the code:
State the obvious; criticize the expectations (ones that he feeds with one hand and slaps away with the other); ridicule the fans; state the obvious again; and finally contradict himself undermining the whole premise of his column.
Dan Shaughnessy just can't leave The Curse alone.
Dan Shaughnessy Watch goes What the hell?
Suddenly it's clear, the devil took over the Boston Globe sports department some 20 years ago and left his spawn at the keyboard leaving us all to suffer.
Shaughnessy is in full-bore shank mode today, ripping into Curt "Big Lug" Schilling. Why'd he wait so long? Now that he's getting older, must take him longer to collect all his bile in a jar. Or as Dan Shaughnessy Watch puts it:
... In the end, this was an amateurish hack job. In the ultimate irony....Shaughnessy, the media whore himself, is spread too thin with writing books and showing up on TV to be capable of writing a legitimate piece. I wonder if Shaughnessy wakes up in the middle of night and sees the beady eyes of a monster in the corner and thinks to himself "That must be the Big Lug" before he realizes that he is just looking in the mirror.
Preferably in suppository form?
Yes, The Loss truly sucked, Dan. We get it. But this isn't Baltimore in 1970 after losing three championships in three different sports in one year to New York. So enough with The Curse/Grady Little/Joe Namath crap, you tired old hack.
Dan Shaughnessy Watch reports that the CHB's Curt Schilling column today is basically the same as his Curt Schilling column on Oct. 8:
... Now a little prediction, if Schill gets bombed tonight, the Shank claws will come out in full force ...
And vice-versa? Dan Shaughnessy Watch has been chronicling the CHB's latest affectation.
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