Beantown Sports Guys

Do what we all do and show up to work

I can't understand people like Javon Walker, Terrell Owens, and now Deion Branch. When you're getting paid millions of dollars to play a kid's game, and decide to holdout because you think you have outplayed your contract, you have some issues.

Granted, Branch isn't in the area yet where he makes $10 million a year and wants $12 million. He is definitely underpaid, but he shouldn't be holding out. He should be showing everyone at camp what they should strive for. It would make the team better, and would help what the team thinks of him. In order to prevent this sort of thing, league-wide, I think the league or team needs to step in and offer up a sort of structured deal where when you sign your first contract with the team (must be more than two years) at the end of the contract, there is a period where your performance is evaluated and you can up your contract. Agents would hate it, players would too so it would never happen, but it would make the league better overall. Agents love this crap, they love creating pressure between the teams and players because it almost always ends up in the favor of the player and puts more money in their bank account.

It's tough, because I love Branch and what he brings to the field, but there is a certain time and place for this. I wasn't happy when Seymour pulled this last year, and he didn't holdout the entire time, opting for the smart move: create a little pressure, get the talks moving, and then reporting to camp. Once he did that, they signed a hefty extension and now our defensive line is shored up for a few more years. If Branch is smart, he'll take note of that and do the same.

And if not, and he sits out like Walker, he could create the same issues Walker created in Green Bay in Patriots Nation. I have sinking feeling that Mr. Brady wouldn't be too fond of that and would make sure to spread the ball out to the guys that actually showed up for camp.

Nothing worse than losing late inning games

The Red Sox game just ended, a 5-2 game in which they were leading in the 12th inning 2-1 until Julian Tavarez served up a meatball walkoff grand slam to some guy who has 3 home runs on the season.

I realize it was very late into the game, but it was a wasted opportunity, as the Sox had the bases loaded at the top of the inning and could only manage one run. Alex Gonzalez managed to beat out the double play to score Mike Lowell, but Tavarez seemed intent on blowing the game for the Sox, beaning one guy in the ribs, letting up a ground rule double which was thrown right down the pipe, intentionally walking another player, and then serving up the biggest meatball I've ever seen him pitch before. At first it looked like Trot had a shot at it, but he would have had to have been 30 feet tall to catch that one.

Normally, a loss is a loss, but I cannot stand it when a team you like goes late into a game and loses. A few years back the Sox went into the 19th inning against Seattle, and Mike Cameron hit a walk-off HR to end it. Total game time was something like almost 7 hours, and so many players were exhausted from it, and it deflates the balloon so rapidly. Even when you're on the winning team, you're only just relieved when your team has won, because it means you didn't lose (as stupid as that may sound). You realize it throws off the entire pitching staff, and guys are going to be sluggish the next day and it just ruins everything.

I've never been a big fan of Tavarez, especially after he pulled that crap in Spring Training. I don't really care for his general attitude, even if he is a fiesty player. I just don't think he's good for the clubhouse, and this game doesn't really help me become a fan either.

I do it because I can

Almost one year ago, Pittsburgh Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said in an interview the following about riding a motorcycle without a helmet:

"It's not the law. If it was the law, I'd definitely have one on every time I rode. But it's the law and I know I don't have to and your just more free when you're out there with no helmet on."

This is incredibly ignorant, especially when he has millions of dollars on the line, and now he'll see how truly stupid it is to not wear a helmet, as earlier today he was in a car accident in which he broke his jaw, nose, several teeth, has a 9 inch laceration on the back of his head, and hurt both of his knees, albeit not as badly as first reported.

Living in New Hampshire where our state motto is "Live Free or Die" we share the same mentality: don't tell us what to do. We're not required to wear helmets, we're the only state to not require a seatbelt (our state law supercedes the federal), and we can buy a gun all too quickly. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't wear a helmet, seatbelt, or run out and buy a gun.

In that same interview, Roethlisberger claimed that he only rides with his friends, and that is safe. A couple quotes from ESPN Andrea Kramer's interview was extremely ironic:

"I think it can be a risk. It depends on how you ride. I don't ride a sport bike. If I'm riding a sport bike and trying to do tricks, and going 200 miles down the highway, that's probably pretty stupid. But when you're riding a Harley or a chopper and you're riding with a group of people and you're not on the highway and you're cruising, you're relaxing. I don't think its as much of a risk as people make it out to be."

This is extremely ironic because the accident involved a suped up sports bike, and not a chopper or Harley.

"Well it's just like everything else. You can get injured and killed in a car, too. You can get killed walking down the street. You have to know what you're doing, and I'm not saying anyone didn't know what they were doing, but it's a risk and being in life is a risk."

He's right, you can die from eating too quickly and choking, but motorcycle deaths are completely avoidable: all you have to is not ride them. It's interesting, because had he worn a helmet he would most likely have not broken his jaw, teeth, cut his head, or broken his nose. In essence, he would have most likely gotten away from this unscathed. His broken jaw should take about 7 weeks to heal, which hurts his team if that is the worst injury, because it sets him back in training camp, and the Steelers have to put a lot of faith in Charlie Batch.

The only question I have for Big Ben is a rather simple one: if football didn't require a helmet, would you opt to not wear one just because you could?

It's all in the genes

I was reading the Globe and came upon one very interesting tidbit I wanted to post before I forgot:

"With pick No. 1443 in the 48th round of baseball’s first-year player draft today, the Red Sox selected right-handed pitcher Josh Papelbon from the University of North Florida. Josh is the brother of Sox relief ace Jonathan Papelbon.

The 22-year-old Papelbon led the Ospreys with eight saves in the 2006 season and led the team with 29 appearances, all coming in relief.

The 6-1, 210 pound reliever finished 2006 with a 4-3 record and a 2.81 ERA over 41 2/3 innings of work. He became UNF’s all-time saves leader on March 10, saving a 2-1 UNF victory over Campbell for save No. 20 of his career. Papelbon finished the season with 24 career saves."

If Josh is half as good as his brother, we could have something special. To top it all off, his twin brother, Jeremy, also played for UNF as a pitcher. If one of them is a starter and the other is a middle reliever and the Sox grab Jeremy as well, you could someday see a box score with three pitchers, all with the same last name, all with zeros in the runs and walks categories.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves though and enjoy seeing Josh come up through the farm system.

By a Yankee player

It is incredibly tough to say this, but the play of the year, in all of baseball, happened last night...

...against the Red Sox...

...by a Yankee player...

...by Melkey Cabrera

I may need counseling for this.

To think that I could be impressed by a catch that was above average and not exceptional (it was 80% about the timing, 20% about athletic ability) by a Yankee player.

It solidified Johnny Damon's status of being a Yankee player, as he was celebrating with a fist pump and the biggest grin on his face I can ever recall.

It sunk the Sox, as Manny tried to will the ball over the wall just a bit further which would have tied the game at 2, but there is no guarantee we would have won.

In the big scheme of things it was just one game, but damnit, my heart was ripped out and shoved down my throat all in one swift motion.