So Johnny Damon is a Yankee, you say? And the Patriots' reign has been usurped this year? What's that? The Bruins are back!?! And the Celtics suck? Well, at least some things stay the same.
I'm sorry if I seem a bit discombobulated, but I've been in a sort of sports detox for the last few months. I was studying abroad last semester, partly at sea and partly in a hippie commune with no cable and little discussion of professional sports.
This may get me fired, but I've got to admit that I can count the number of complete games I've seen this year on one hand. Missed the World Series. Caught a few quarters of the NFL playoffs. I was distracted during the Rose Bowl, and driving through Western Massachusetts on Super Bowl Sunday. Does it count that I caught some of the Australian Open? Don't even ask me about the Pro Bowl.
Admittedly, I have some catching up to do. So to begin my journey back to fandom, here are a few insights and quandaries that I hope to look at in the coming months.
Theo Epstein: he's out, he's in, he's out, he's in; I mean c'mon, pick a job and go with it. What happened here? I love Theo, and the last time I checked, so did the entire Greater Boston region. Yes, some of his trades were questionable, but the Boston media proved once again they can't enjoy a good thing for five minutes. Instead of giving him just a bit of patience, the fourth estate and the Sox front office started second-guessing and "fixing" his moves the second he proved fallible (Edgar Renteria, we hardly knew ye), and now, no matter what happens, the Golden-Boy-Who-Could-Do-No-Wrong will have a huge shadow hanging over him for the rest of this season. But what did his departure prove? He made mistakes - he's human - but he also won a World Series. So let's relax, sit back, and see where the team is headed. The opposite can be said however...
...About Danny Ainge. Great move getting Wally Szczerbiak, but in almost three years as Director of Basketball Operations, that's been about it. Raef LaFrentz has yet to turn into a significant anything. Ricky Davis and Marcus Banks, who were touted as the future faces of the C's, were abruptly shipped off. And Pierce will be gone, too, if the team doesn't achieve some semblance of stability. Which leads me to my next question:
Who the hell is Brian Scalabrine?
I'd heard tales of this Scalabrine character for a few months, but I didn't get a chance to witness the thrill show that is Scalabrine until a few weeks ago. Perhaps it was an off game, but all I saw was a giant red Sasquatch lumbering across the parquet, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. He passed up at least five wide open shots, and he looked like a JV high school player on transition and in defense.
Even if the Celtics are far from hanging number 17 up in the rafters anytime soon, there's something new to help get us through the doldrums that is the space between Super Bowl Sunday and Opening Day. Forget March Madness, the World Baseball Classic is this March and I for one am excited, nay, excitado! Finally the title "World Champions" is going to mean something. This thing has the potential to either turn out to be an All-Star Game-like flop on an international scale, or something truly memorable; either way, when you've got Canadians and Australians in the mix, you know there's going to be some classic shenanigans.
By now you've probably noticed a trend in sports focus. I was raised on the Celtics and the Sox, but this year I'm going to try and branch out. I just may watch my first entire NHL hockey game. I've been training by watching paint dry, and I feel I'm almost ready for the real thing. Seriously, hockey and I have never been that close, but I'll give it a shot.
So, it's back to the land of sport I go. I don't know exactly what's to come, but as Yogi Berra once said, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." It looks like its going to be a fun ride, especially if the other night was any indication:
In between watching the series finale of "Arrested Development," arguably one of the funniest and most irreverent shows on TV since "Seinfeld," I jumped to NBC to check out the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. I was greeted with the image of a blurring red ice skater with what appeared to be a jet pack attached to his back chasing a group of equally indiscernible red skaters to the sound of techno. This was followed by a troupe of skating pine trees accompanied by a row of hobos playing Alphorns. Oh the spectacle! And it was then I realized just how much I've missed this crazy wide world of sports. Game on.
