State of the Boston Sport Union

Can I just put it in writing how great a year it has been for Boston sports? The Sox have won the series twice now, in under 5 years. And the Pats are attempting to go 15-0 this week. The Celtics are on a tear, Dustin Pedroia was rookie of the year. The downside of all of this, as discussed by many, is the performance enhancing drug situation. I see a guy like Pedroia, 5′9″ 180lbs, hitting the ball consistently, fielding like a seasoned veteran. It makes you wish that baseball, well all sports, were still being played by exciting guys like this, and that monster home runs arent the point of the show. I mean, this is a game. For us fans, who get up every day and go to work, we come home and step outside of life for a few hours and entertain ourselves with these games. We wish (I do) we have that kind of talent to perform like that, but I cant, so I watch others do something I know I cant do. The competition is awesome, the huge stadiums, yelling fans. What must it be like for the athlete, trying to compete in this, especially as they get older, get hurt, or are fighting for the job when a new rookie comes on the squad or high profile player? They cheat. Look at the incentives – fame, fortune etc. I dont know about you guys, but I would never want that pressure. As I was eluting to earlier, I am having trouble with this whole drug thing. What is the difference between steroids and eye glasses? You get a guy who works hard in the off season, is jacked, and can crank the ball – as Bonds did in his first few years. He gets on the bean, and the HR numbers sky rocket. Ok, but he still has to have the skill to hit the ball. But now he is stronger, and with growth hormone, maybe he rebounds quicker. Well, what if he has piss poor eyesight? Without glasses, guy cant hit the ball, on drugs or off. Arent glasses a huge enhancement? Are we trying to make a game with men of natural talent? Then take away everything that the players use that they werent born with – no contact lenses, titanium screws in their knees, vitamin supplements. Who is to say what is fair and what isn’t? You think high school football is fair? Take a poor town vs a rich town. Rich town has great coaches, athletic trainers, nice gym, summer camps. Poor school has old equipment, less successful coaches, certainly no recruitment of players. How can a player from a poor school ever have a chance of making it if he isnt given the opportunities? In this day and age where fans pay astronomical ticket prices to watch sporting events, maybe we are the problem. The players deserve the money because it is the players who we are going to see (if you think their salaries are ridiculous, dont pay to see them) but like everything that revolves around money, obviously the players will do whatever it takes to compete. Maybe some guys do it for the money, some for the trophy. Regardless, how can we bring the games back to where they were? Short answer – we cant. This is the way it is, it starts in high school, if not sooner, and unless you stop it at that level, it will just continue. Maybe I should start watching poker.

Pearl Jam – Hold on

I was just reading a great blog (http://fivevs1.wordpress.com/), and I just find it so cool to be able to talk to people who you have never met, and likely never will, about things you have in common. Call me crazy, but I love Pearl Jam. And this song, Hold On, which debuted on their Lost Dogs album. The chorus – I know… life would be different if I… held on. Held on. I know… I could be something if I… held on.

How about this comparison – it reminds me of that Dave Matthews song, Dancing Nancies, “Twenty three, Im so tired of life, Such a shame to throw it all away, The images grow darker still, Could I have been anyone other then me?” Anyways, as discussed in the 5vs1 blog, Hold On was a track that never made the 10 sessions , and I think most agreed that it didnt really fit there, nor on Vs. But it matches the sentiment of those Ten type songs like once, Alive, and the trilogic (new word) footsteps. I thought I was a big PJ fan, had all the bootlegs, been to so many shows, but when Lost Dogs came out I found myself thinking, why am I going to buy this, I know all these tunes. But as a PJ fan, you just do and with that I heard Hold On for the first time, and 4/20, even Bee Girl was a different rendition then I was used to.

Come on, this is the first day I have ever blogged so I can just rant. Being a fan in the 21st century is crazy, I mean, look how much access we have to music! I can watch PJ videos all night on youtube, listen to every concert a day after the show, and then talk about the songs with complete strangers. Just 10 years ago, this was hardly possible. I was just dubbing tapes for friends, and re-buying all the music on cd’s. What a world.

Curt Schilling

So I am entering the blog world due to Curt. I am a Sox fan, born and raised in the city and after reading his blogs decided what the heck, why not start this blogging thing. This was the post I just entered on his recent comments

Where is the line drawn? These components athletes are taking are typically found naturally in the body – creatine, testosterone, growth hormones etc. So do you ban everyone taking creatine? Protein shakes? What if an athlete genetically over produces testosterone or growth hormone, is he/she banned from professional sports? My personal opinion is that you cannot strip a baseball player of their accolades because you will be penalizing the few who are caught, and not the majority who are using. Jones was stripped of her olympic medals for individual efforts AND the relay but how can you fairly take away medals from say, Clemens, when the batters he faced likely were using some kind of enhancer? In this day and age of medicine, heck, isn’t a knee operation a performance enhancer? Or glasses/contacts? Where is the Darwinism here? Clearly that athlete was not the strongest to survive, but with modern medicine we can put almost any athlete back on the field or improve their output. And what is going to happen in say 30 years when parents genetically design their children to be more intelligent, taller, left handed? Yikes, we are going to need new leagues – the boring natural athlete, and then those that will do anything to be the best. I better take some sleeping pills right now so I can best compete for tomorrows boardroom meeting. And right before, a redbull. We are all competing against each other…

never blogged before, what is blogging? i gotta figure that out

does anyone read this? how do people find these pages? what does blogging mean?