The Sox just announced they got Cliff Floyd from Montreal. Gut reaction: YEAH!! This gives them a huge bat in the lineup, and he can DH or play OF or 1B. Maybe Manny DH's. The upshot of this is that at-bats aren't wasted on Tony Clark or a slumping Daubach (which he's not, right now). They traded their two Korean prospects, only one of whom has any major league experience. And Sunny Kim seems like the kind of guy who would have needed four or five more roundtrips to Pawtucket before he was ready to contribute in any big way.

Now a #3 pitcher...

I haven't given up on the odyssey. I just fell a few days behind. Fret not.

Scott Rolen is on his way to Saint Louis, and the Cardinals are now officially the Team To Beat in the NL. It looks like everyone in Budweiserland is pretty psyched about this one, and who can blame them?

In other trade news, someone from the Clippers bound and gagged Elgin Baylor, got on the phone, and made a good trade, getting Andre Miller from Cleveland. With the Clippers taking a good step and the Nets making the Finals, I think the Cavs are now officially the Worst Franchise in the NBA.

Are the Red Sox paying attention? Good trades get everyone excited! And we need a shot in the arm now more than ever!

Let's not think about baseball today. Let's think football. Let's read Len Pasquarelli on ESPN.com talking about how the Patriots haven't let anything go to their heads, and are using the same philosophy going into 2002 as they had last summer. And to keep them motivated, Providence's Jim Donaldson tries to get the lack-of-respect juices flowing early.

ESPN.com just rolled out Sports Nation, the results of a massive survey of sports fans in every state in the nation about their sports preferences and viewer habits.

Like the 2000 election, you could pore over this for days. And like the 2000 election, you can probably find facts to support any theory you had before you started. Jim Caple points out some of the interesting (and scary) facts he unearthed; here are a few I found interesting.

• 30% of sports fans in Hawaii follow the NHL, the same as in Georgia, which has a team. 48% of Connecticut fans claim to follow the NHL, but it always seemed easy to get Whalers tickets.
• The favorite teams nationwide in each sport: the Red Wings, Yankees, Lakers, and...Cowboys. Somebody forgot to inform the nation's frontrunners that the Patriots won the Superbowl.
• The nation as a whole thinks that Green Bay has the best sports fans, and Philly the worst. But folks in NY think Boston has the best fans (other than their own), and folks in Massachusetts gave the nod to the NY fans. That's nice.
• 68% of fans in the Tampa Bay area are baseball fans. 30% of those were shocked to learn that the Devil Rays play all year, not just spring training (OK, I made that last sentence up.)
• I have good friends -- in Boston -- who follow NASCAR, so I'll tread lightly here. But the map of the NASCAR following states corresponds really well with the "states I'd least like to live in" map.
• They gave everyone a sports quiz. Boston beats New York. But the highest-scoring cities were Charlotte (Charlotte?!?) and Pittsburgh. Anyone from Pittsburgh who wants to clarify this, the floor is yours.
• More people in Delaware have sex while watching games on TV than in other state. Here's tourist info.

The long-awaited trade is a reality; the Celtics sent Kenny Anderson, Vitaly Potapenko, and Joe Forte to Seattle for Vin Baker and Shammond Williams. David Aldridge and Marty Burns both say this trade is a humongous gamble for the C's. It clearly is, but I think it's one worth taking.

Vin Baker is the proverbial enigma wrapped in a riddle. When he's focused, he's a huge addition to a lineup -- but he's been wallowing in some kind of funk for a few seasons. The word is that he's been pining for a return to the East Coast, where he is closer to home and doesn't have to bang Shaq and Duncan quite so much. OK...

Trading Kenny causes PG questions at both ends. The Sonics now have an expensive backup for Gary Payton, who doesn't give up minutes easily. The Celtics don't have an obvious starter at the point. Tony Delk is a 2-guard in a PG body and JR Bremer is a rookie. Maybe this means more of the offense will run through Antoine; I still love the idea of Antoine playing point-forward and letting the other coach deal with the matchup headache (Chris Childs, you'll be guarding a guy who's faster and 8 inches taller than you). Kenny chipped in a lot this year -- we called off the body-retrieval squad -- but there were times, like the NJ series, when Kenny was harder to find than an air-conditioned Green Line train.

A gamble? No doubt. It means the Celtics have admitted their 3 first-round picks last year were 2 1/2 too many (I still have hope for Kedrick), and don't need Rodney Rogers. We'll see...

The Red Sox opened up Fenway today for two sessions to honor the late Ted Williams. And hopefully give people something to remember him by other than this frozen-corpse ridiculousness that's been all over the news lately.

This afternoon's session (I had to work) was free and fans were permitted to wander around left field. Tonight's session, which they sold tickets to but gave all the money to the Jimmy Fund, was an amazing event. I watched it on TV, afraid that I wouldn't be able to hear much or be able to tell who was who.

What I saw was amazingly well-done. It was hosted by Sean McDonough and Peter Gammons and divided into three sections, focusing on 1) Ted's playing career, 2) Ted's militay service, and 3) Ted's dedication to charities. They brought out several notables, including longtime Ted friends Johnny Pesky and Dom DiMaggio. Dom took time out to voice his displeasure with the body controversy, which I'm not sure was in the script. Yaz said that Ted used to beat him at everything except golf and tennis, and Nomar spoke a bit about how his relationship with Ted went beyond mentor/student; he really considered #9 to be a friend.

Sen. John Glenn, who served with Ted in Korea, told a great story about their days together in the service. On leave in Japan, a bunch of kids clearly recognized Ted but couldn't really approach him because of the language barrier. Finally one kid put himself into an imaginary batting stance and motioned at Ted, "is that you?". Ted nodded, then -- of course -- went over to the kid and made some adjustments in his stance. Then he threw the kid an imaginary pitch, the kid swung, and Ted ducked and turned around to watch the ball go into the imaginary bleachers.

Historian Ken Burns gave a wonderful summing-up of Ted's career and what he meant to the city. He said something along the lines of, "Some people think Red Sox history can be summed up by Babe Ruth, B*cky D*nt and B*ll B*ckner...but it's more the history of Cy Young, Carlton Fisk, [long list of names] and most of all Ted Williams." So basically, he says that people who dwell on the bad stuff are missing the point.

Right on cue, next was Dan Shaughnessy, who actually sat back and let his daughter Kate do most of the talking during the Charitable Ted segment. She's a leukemia survivor who got personal phone calls from #9 during her illness. "Daddy, there's a loud man on the phone telling me I'll get better!" It was actually pretty cute.

Then they cranked up the goosebump machine. About 2 dozen Red Sox past and present came out of the dugout holding roses and walking out to their positions. All except Dom Dimaggio were in uniform, and there were some really notable names (Boo Ferriss, Jim Rice, Jerry Remy) involved. Current Red Sox making appearances: Nomar, Damon, Varitek, Wakefield, and Sweet Lou Merloni. All the players then took their roses out to left field, in near silence, and laid them on a big #9 on the grass. Curt Gowdy then took the mike and narrated home-video footage of Ted's last home run at Fenway Park. Chills up spines all around.

Some other notes: Red Sox owners said the 600 Club will be renamed the .406 club in Ted's honor. Bud Selig is now the only man ever to be booed at an All-Star game and a memorial service in the same month (even Kobe only notched 1 out of 2). sooz remarked how cool it was that all these old Red Sox were walking onto the same field they played on (I still am pro-new stadium, though). And best of all...John Henry Williams wasn't selling anything, as far as I can see.

Ted said he didn't want a big funeral or memorial service. So the Red Sox instead gave him a night to celebrate his career and his life. And did it well. Now back to your regularly scheduled bickering over the remains.

Playing the Yankees is like giving an oral report in front of the entire class. You can practice all you want (like playing Tampa) and rehearse in front of the family (like playing Toronto), but until you get up there under the lights with all those eyes on you, you don't really know if you're any good.

So with that in mind, the Sox get a C- for this weekend's series in the Bronx. A couple of comebacks kept them out of D/F range, but the inability of the bullpen to cap off those comebacks was brutal. Nobody can turn a good feeling into a bad one faster than the Red Sox.

Now, realistically, it's time to start hedging our bets and thinking Wild Card. I'm not worried about Anaheim; the Sox have a bunch of games coming up with them and can bury them if they want. Oakland is a different story. Three games from August 6-8 is all that's left against the A's. Those are looming awfully large right now.

All this, of course, assuming the Sox continue to do their homework and keep blowing Tampa and Baltimore off.

The NBA schedule was announced today, so I could finish the schedule for the BunkoSquad Sports Odyssey.

This means, of course, that we can start overanalyzing the Celtics' schedule for next year. They should...should...get off to a 4-0 start (2 with the Bulls, @NY and @Washington) before the Lakers come to town early. They're on national TV a lot, including a Xmas game in New Jersey. They visit the New Orleans Hornets for the first time on January 8th.

When I told my Dad that the 2003 baseball All-Star Game will be played in Chicago, he immediately went to work trying to help baseball come up with a way to save face after the Milwaukee fiasco last week. He let me post his open letter to Bud and other baseball notables.

The thrust of the letter is that since Milwaukee's just a short ride up the road from Chicago, they can finish this year's ASG, giving the cheated fans in Milwaukee a chance to get their money's worth from the Game (if not from years of chronic Brewer ineptitude).

Needless to say, I like the idea. I'll take it a step further (and sillier) and suggest that baseball hold a charity event at Mars Cheese Castle outside of Kenosha. The fact is, nothing MLB does can make the All-Star Game look any more ridiculous than they did last Tuesday.

Here's the letter my dad wrote:

July 11, 2002

Open Letter to:
Bud Selig, Commissioner of Baseball
Bob Costas, NBC Sports
George Will, ABC News
Editor, Sports Illustrated
Joe Buck, Fox Sports
Tim McCarver, Fox Sports
Editor, The Sporting News
Tom Werner, Owner, Boston Red Sox
Bill Simmons, ESPN Sports Guy
Jackie MacMullan, The Boston Globe
John Henry, Owner, Boston Red Sox

Dear Baseball Official/Reporter,

As a baseball fan of many years I have become very disenchanted with the current state of the game and was absolutely appalled to see the way that this year’s All-Star game ended.

Nevertheless, I have a proposed solution to the problem that would help baseball restore face and right the wrong that was done to fans everywhere in general, and Milwaukee in particular. It is a simple solution based on a unique opportunity given the geographical location of next year’s All-Star Game. Here is the solution, with various points to justify it. The solution can obviously be tweaked as necessary to accommodate what baseball officials deem appropriate:

• Since, as I understand it, next year’s game is at Comiskey Park in Chicago, hold the normal All-Star Festivities on Monday and Tuesday. Travel to Milwaukee on Wednesday (since it is only ~90 miles away) and resume and finalize this year’s game on Thursday night in Milwaukee. Resume the regular season on Saturday.

• Use the same roster for next year’s game and the remainder of this year’s. In other words, don’t bring back this year’s team to finish this year’s game but use next year’s players who will already be in Chicago and won’t have any more travel than that additional 90 miles. If new players are added who weren’t here this year, so be it; as long as it is still the AL vs. the NL and this game reaches a conclusion, fans will accept that.

• Perhaps consider making the Milwaukee continuation be for at least 3 innings, so that it would last for at least an hour and not just have the possibility of 4 batters and the game ending on a leadoff homer in the bottom of the 12th. It would also help win back the fans who were so disgusted on Tuesday.

• Have the players who finish the Chicago game start the resumed game in Milwaukee. This will lead to interesting managerial moves, that will also increase fan interest - a manager for example may want to keep Sammy Sosa or Ken Griffey Jr. in the Chicago game until the end so that they can be in at the start of the Milwaukee game as well. In the long run, the fans would rather see (a) Sosa bat 4 times in a game than (b) have him bat twice and his eplacement bat twice anyway, so this will work to the fans’ advantage as well.

• The managers will also have to arrange their pitching staffs to accommodate the innings on Thursday. If, for example, the same starting pitchers were to start the Chicago game next year, Curt Schilling and Derek Lowe, perhaps the managers would keep back Pedro Martinez and Tom Glavine for Thursday’s Milwaukee game, or Barry Zito and Randy Johnson. In any case, again, it makes for more managerial strategy and therefore more fan interest and discussion of the game strategy.

• Let the fans who have ticket stubs from this year’s game in for free to next year’s game. Baseball owes it to them.

• Have the players greet the fans as they come into the park up to an hour before game time. No autographs would be allowed, but maybe there are giveaways for each fan – a picture of the two teams perhaps, or even a pen – just handed to them by the All-Stars themselves as they enter the park. As an NBA season-ticket holder for many years (and, for whatever it’s worth, my first sports love was baseball and I would have been interested in being a season ticket holder for baseball if it were not for being turned off by the state of the game for the last 15 years), I have gone to games where the players greet the fans at the turnstiles before a game and see no reason why baseball should not do that for this one game to win back public support.

• In next year’s game and in games from then on, do NOT make it a goal to get every player into the game. Again, the fans would rather see Barry Bonds play all 9 innings and get 4 turns at the plate than have someone else get 2 and Bonds only 2, so let them have that. Years ago, many players played the whole game and some did not get in. That’s OK. It’s the fans’ game. When I was growing up I would keep score in All-Star games and still have the scoresheets from those games (again my first love was baseball until baseball started losing its level of competition and made itself less interesting). I have the scoresheet for a 15 inning game in 1967 in which the AL used only 5 pitchers and 10 players played all 15 innings. As it turned out, my favorite player, Jim Lonborg, who went on to win the Cy Young Award that year, did not play, but it did not bother me – I saw a great game, with players like Hank Aaron and Brooks Robinson playing the whole game, and that was fine. The fans want (a) to see a good game, (b) have a chance to see the great players play, and (c) have there be a winner, so, again, please give that to them. If the goal switches from playing everyone, then if the game DOES go into extra innings there will be players – and, most importantly, pitchers, available, so Tuesday night’s travesty would not be repeated.

• If I am wrong about next year’s game being in Chicago, I would still advocate doing this second outing in Milwaukee. It would just mean that the travel is more complicated than a 90 mile trip.

Please consider this idea, or some variation thereof, as a way of righting the wrong that was done on Tuesday night.

After that, let’s solve the bigger problem - getting more real competition in baseball so that the best players don’t always go to the richest teams and so that the post-season appearances do not seem pre-ordained.

Ponce de Leon explored central Florida, looking for the elusive spring that would restore anyone's youth and vitality. He was only a little off.

There is a place for weary travelers to restore their youth and vigor, but it's called Tropicana Field, and all the visitor has to do is make a token effort at a baseball game against the gracious hosts. They call themselves the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. They love visitors: come in, enjoy the hospitality, take whatever you want and enjoy your trip home.

The Red Sox hammered the Rays 6-1 tonight but one feels that, if they wanted to, they could beat these guys by 20. If the Devil Rays were contracted and they had a dispersal draft, could any of these guys make another roster?

I'm against competitive imbalance in baseball, but as long as these sad sacks are on the schedule, it's best that the Sox pound them. Two shaky weeks against Detroit and Toronto reminded us to take nothing for granted...except, perhaps, a win in Tampa Bay.

All I can say is, I'm glad and sad at the same time that he doesn't play for my team.

Allen Iverson, the incredibly-skilled Sixers guard, turned himself in to Philly police to face charges that he busted into a cousin's apartment with a gun in a domestic matter. Experts say he probably won't face jail time, but there's a decent chance of a conviction on assault or weapon-possession charges.

How do you frame a discussion of this? Can you separate Allen the dazzling basketball player from Allen the apparently-loving father from Allen the punk? 'Cause it's not like this is the first time Allen's been in trouble. And to think about how all that talent's contained in a body topped by such a messed-up head...well, it makes my head hurt. And to think how quickly we'd all make assumptions about a young black man in legal trouble if he wasn't fabulously talented...well, that makes my head hurt too.

I just hope his legal troubles don't cause Allen to miss practice. And I hope the NY/NJ fans who got so self-righteous and sanctimonious about the heckling Jason Kidd got in Boston this spring remember their newfound decorum and manners when Iverson comes to town this fall.

And I remain glad - talented though he is - that Allen's not on my team.

With nothing more than a light heart, 400 mix tapes, and a 16-inch thick wad of tickets, I've begun the virtual BunkoSquad Sports Odyssey.

The NY Post reported today that the Red Sox are interested in reacquiring Mo Vaughn from the Mets. Mo's career tanked after he left Fenway and the neighborhood of the Foxy Lady.

I think this may work out better for the Sox than the Jim Thome idea. Mo would be rejuvenated playing in front of the fans he broke into the majors with. No official word on what the Mets would want, but Tony Clark's name came up (see ya) and the Post indicates that the Amazin's would be happy to ship Mo, his huge contract, and his lavish postgame buffet requests out of town.

Mike Lupica thinks the Yankees spend a lot of money...Tony Massarotti says the Yanks are scared of the Red Sox...Michael Holley is shocked that the Jays won two...Bill Plaschke says the Dodgers are hitting the panic button...Bob Smizik says the union and Don Fehr will be to blame when there's a strike...Shira Springer wonders if Joe Forte is ready to be an NBA player...Stephen Smith wonders what will become of Allen Iverson...Stephen Holder on La Salle grad Rasual Butler's summer-camp show for the Heat...The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has some Southern ideas for the Red Sox (Weird. Very weird).

Two of the local teams have been involved in big trade rumors the last few days. The Sox are reportedly trying to rescue 1B Jim Thome from the Titanically-sinking Cleveland Indians. I've never been a huge Thome fan -- he's just a big galoot -- but the Sox sure could use his bat in the lineup.

From the diamond we go to the hardwood. Bruce at Boston Sports Media Watch has an intriguing blurb from ESPN's Insider that says the Pacers are talking to the Celtics about a deal that would send Kenny Anderson to Indy for Austin Croshere and Jamaal Tinsley.

As soon as I saw this, I called my Dad and we both agreed we were positively giddy about the idea. Tinsley is an up-and-coming young PG, whereas Kenny manages a nice balance between still being a question mark and being too old to run a team effectively. So that's an upgrade. Croshere's got a touch of the stiff in him, but it allows the Celtics to say farewell to the shaky Rodney Rogers.

I wasn't sure why Indiana was so keen on this deal; the Indianapolis Star reports, however, that they want to dump Croshere's salary and make a run at Italian star George Fucka (yes, it's his real name). Apparently the Pacers have seen this Fucka play and think he can help them out. He's 7-1; that's one of the biggest Fucka's I've ever heard of. OK, that's out of my system.

The good news is that, unlike the Bruins, two of the teams around here are trying to improve their lots. What a concept!

Poor Bud Selig. He's now being villified and mocked for halting the ASG last night in a 7-7 tie. Personally, I think Bud should have pitched for both teams until the game ended, but whatever. If you missed the game last night, Tony Pierce has an amazingly cool photo primer.

You may be aware that I've long held a dream of taking a major sports-related road trip. Inspired by Bob Wood's Dodger Dogs to Fenway Franks and countless other folks who've visited every major league ballpark, I eventually would love to take it a step further. So for the last couple of years, I've finagled a schedule that would, with enough money, gasoline and Mountain Dew, get me to a game at every baseball, football, hockey, and basketball venue in one wild winter.

I've made the schedule - at least the baseball and football portion - for the 2002-2003 winter. The football part is the toughest, since there's a very finite number of days when any games are played; the trick is to find a Sunday game in a city that allows you to get to the Monday night site. Very difficult. But not impossible, assuming one can actually get from Phoenix to Denver in just over 24 hours.

So here's my dilemma. I can't do it this year, as you may expect. But I'm tinkering with the idea of doing a "virtual" road trip. It would entail a new blog, with box scores of the games I "go to", links to various local websites of note and roadside attractions I see along the way, and prominent links to the web sites of people I virtually crash with in each city.

This is either a really cool idea or the crowning achievement in my Dork Career. I honestly can't tell which. So I put a poll on the right to see if this would be any interest to anyone at all. The "trip" would "begin" next Wednesday (Giants at Cardinals in St. Louis) so vote quickly.

Trevor Hoffman: "We're not talking about how far the ball is going to travel in the Home Run Derby. We're talking about what these issues are."

Tom Glavine: "...it's unfortunate that so much of this is taking away from the fun and the excitement of the All-Star Game."

Mike Piazza: "Obviously, there are some issues that need to be addressed, but I hope the fans can enjoy this event and put (off-field issues) on the back burner for a while."

Curt Schilling: "This is about the All-Star Game, and I'm going to have fun, and worry about that when the time comes."

Derek Jeter: "Obviously, there are story lines off the field, but you hope that you can forget about that for a few days."

Well, sorry, guys. But speaking as one of the dwindling number of people who care about baseball, and one of the microscopic number who think there's a chance they might still care after another strike, I think you'd damn well better worry about these issues. Because, frankly, I'd like to know whether I should bother watching another game or checking another box score or reading another article. Because if you can't worry about the very future of the game, why should we?

A few random thoughts on last night's Home Run Derby and associated festivities:

• As you know, I'm down on the players these days because of the whole strike thing. But, man, it's cool to see them with their kids and video cameras having a blast during All-Star Monday. And as a bonus, if they do strike and ruin baseball, all the cameras will be available on eBay pretty soon -- maybe some will still have the ASG footage loaded!
• I loved seeing all the mascots up in Bernie Brewer's loft. I can't see Billy the Marlin without giggling a little. And when a Sammy Sosa homer made them all bounce around in unison...priceless.
• Memo to Chris Berman: Enough. I think you're great on the NFL postgame highlight shows, but 2 hours of you calling the Derby had me clawing the walls. When we've heard "BACKBACKBACKBACK!" for the 20th time...we get the idea.
• I can't decide how I feel about Miller Park. Some of the newest stadiums - Detroit, Pittsburgh, San Francisco - look like they've really raised the standard for the new ones to come. Miller looks sort of like a cross between Camden Yards, Tropicana Field, and an airport terminal. Just weird. And I'm dismayed that Bernie doesn't slide into a beer stein anymore; I hope that's not a lame attempt at political correctness, considering both the team and the stadium have beer-related names.
• (From the celebrity/oldtimer game) Nothing sums up the changes in baseball better than seeing the '82 Brewers stars hanging around. At the time, they were the biggest, toughest, hardest-hitting team for a decade. Now, in person and on ESPN Classic, they (physically) look like they'd be best suited as utility infielders. Even Stormin' Gorman Thomas looks little next to current shortstops.

The Major League Players Association is meeting in Chicago next week; tops on the list of discussion items is setting a strike date, possibly this August or September.

You may remember a year ago, baseball made a big deal about its unique ability to unite and bond this country. And today, seeing the clips of all the 1999 All-Stars gathering in awe and tears around the ailing Ted Williams, reminded me that baseball can be really really good when it wants to.

But it can also be really really bad.

I addressed my feelings about this strike a few months ago; for once, I'm on the owners' side. I don't, however, want to play a simplistic game of "let's blame the greedy players" -- Edward at Bambino's Curse pokes some pretty good holes in that line of reasoning.

But just to make it all perfect, I hope the players' union sets a strike date of September 11. On the anniversary of the most horrible, surreal day any of us have lived through, let the players go to the media and explain what the intolerable conditions are that made them take this drastic step. Let them (and to a lesser extent, the owners) try to rationalize and spin their positions while the rest of the nation pauses to honor the memory of that incredible day.

But keep checking back. If the Yankees trade for Pudge Rodriguez, Jim Thome and Cliff Floyd and build a 12-game lead by September 1, I'll be as ready for a strike as anyone.

"All I want out of life," Williams once told a friend, "is that when I walk down the street folks will say, 'There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.'"

Bruins superstar Bill Guerin saw the handwriting on the wall and went to Dallas today, thus continuing the Bruins' tradition of constant rebuilding. Star goalie Byron Dafoe is reported to be next to leave. Said Guerin:

"From the owner on down, to have a guy like [Hicks] come out and meet with guys and the GM and coach and [special assistant] Guy Carbonneau. Mr. Hicks wants to win big-time. All you can ask for is a chance to win every year and he's going to provide that."

Kirk Luedeke of bossports.net has a good column about what this means to the Bruins and their fans. It seems to me, as the most casual of hockey fans, that the Bruins are doing everything they can to field a team good enough to compete for a playoff spot but not at the risk of spending any of owner Jeremy Jacobs' precious money. The fact that they finished first in the East notwithstanding, they're on a treadmill. Some teams (all out West, except the Rangers) have realized that the Yankees and Lakers keep winning by spending money on great players. Some teams, like Calgary and Buffalo, can't spend that kind of money. The Bruins won't.

Which makes me wonder why people like Jacobs own sports teams. You'd like to think that sports owners own the team with the goal to win championships, not turn the largest profit possible. I think Jacobs is one step away from laying off his players and moving the whole operation to Mexico.

It's So Tough Being Me, Part 342

Every time a superstar leaves town in a hail of badwill and uncleared air, there always has to be the obligatory "no one understood me" story.

Which brings us to Terry Glenn.

Glenn, who spent most of the Patriots' dream season (They won the Superbowl! I know you know that but, dammit, I can't say it enough) being suspended for various combinations of violating league substance policies, skipping practice, not contacting the team about same,faking or nursing injuries, and other stuff I can't or won't remember. Now he's in Green Bay, and all of a sudden...drumroll...he's ready to show us in New England what we missed!

"I do drift away sometimes. For some reason, I don't want to be bothered. Not that I don't want to be bothered by people, I just don't like being bothered with all the things that'll be going on. That people will say about you. It's just madness that's out there in this world. Because it was to the point last year that I couldn't even turn the channel without seeing my name on the channel. And I was like, 'Gawd, why are these people saying these things about me. They don't even know me.' They were making stuff up, somebody was giving them backdoor lying information. So it was a bad time over there in New England, a bad time."

Making stuff up? The league doesn't make stuff up when it suspends you. We all saw you sitting in your SUV in the parking lot while the rest of the team was practicing. We all saw your memorable TV interview when you admitted you were faking an injury in a contract snit. It all adds up to...well, you do the math.

So go freeze up there, Terry. The Pats won without you before.

The Good Ship Lollipop (our 2002 Sox) nearly got shipwrecked while playing interleague play the last few weeks. The combination of facing good pitching and not being able to hit led to the Sox getting swept 3 times, at the hands of Arizona, LA and Atlanta.

Enter Pedro. And enter the Blue Jays. Now everything's rosy again. And the Tigers and Devil Rays loom on the horizon. Sometimes it's good to be in the AL.