Good night for Boston sports teams

Red Sox win 17-8 vs. Los Angeles Angels at Fenway Park.

Bruins win 3-2 vs. Philadelphia Flyers at TD Garden in Boston to take 2-0 series lead heading to Philly for games 3 and 4.

Celtics win 104-86 at Cleveland Cavaliers to tie series at 1-1 heading to Boston for games 3 and 4.


I was flippin' back and forth between the three games all night.

grad-yee-way-shun and a no-no

Yesterday my youngest sister graduated from college... again. This time with a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.

Everyone say "Oooooooh! Aaaaaaah!

Actually I'm very proud of her accomplishments. Congrats, C. All the best to you.

I have to say though that as I was listening to all the speeches and associated graduation crapola that goes along with it, I couldn't help but chuckle at the idealism, hopefulness and anticipation of going out into the "real" world that I heard laced in every speech.

Sure, some in her graduating class might make it big or make a noticeable impact on society, but more than likely most of her graduating class will struggle to make ends meet and suffer through interminable job after interminable job, like most of us inevitably do.

Gee, do you think I'm a wee bit jaded, or what??

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Unlike last time, I didn't miss this one. (hello, Esther!)

Well, at least I saw the last three innings of Jon Lester's no-hitter tonight against the Kansas City Royals.

Because I'm a sports geek, one thing that I love is all of the neat statistics that ESPN and other media outlets dig up when someone pitches a no-no, like:

The Red Sox, as a team, have thrown 18 no-hitters in their history, second only to the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Red Sox are tied with the Yankees and Marlins for the most no-hitters since 1993 with four.

Lester's no-hitter was his first complete game in his major league career. He's 24.

Lester is the first Red Sox lefty to throw a no-hitter since Mel Parnell did it on July 14, 1956.

Jon Lester's no-hitter was the first no-hitter in the majors since teammate Clay Buchholz threw one last season. The last team to have two straight no-hitters was the Angels in 1974 and 1975, when Nolan Ryan threw both.

The Royals were no-hit for only the second time in franchise history. The first time was in 1973 by the Angels' Ryan.

It was only the second time that there has been a no-hitter in consecutive seasons at Fenway Park (1916-1917).

Red Sox Catcher Jason Varitek set a major league record, catching his fourth career no-hitter with four different pitchers (Hideo Nomo in 2001, Derek Lowe in 2002, Clay Buchholz in 2007 and Lester).

World Series Champs

Someday, as a Boston sports fan, I'll look back on these days with pride and amazement. Pride in the fact that I'm a lifelong Boston Red Sox fan (since 1975) and amazed that this team won its second World Series (sweeps no less) in four seasons.

We're talking uncharted water here, folks. Even the powerhouse Red Sox in the 1910's (four World Series titles, no defeats in the decade) never accomplished this. Jayson Stark of espn.com agrees, pointing out some very interesting statistics along the way.

But for me and many Red Sox fans, winning this World Series had a much different feel to it than the win in 2004. In '04, the Red Sox had to conquer the mountain (86 years and four heartbreaking seven game world Series defeats between titles) which included coming back from a 3-0 deficit to the Yankees in the ALCS before steamrolling St. Louis. That World Series was all about redemption and the "Aren't World Series supposed to be painful experiences?" mantra of fans for more than a generation. This World Series was simply fun from the get-go. No pressure, no problem.

But, if you haven't lived and died with the Red Sox over the years, you probably wouldn't understand the difference in the two championships.

You'll note that I apparently gave the Rockies too much credit in my World Series prediction. My bad. Even I didn't expect the Sox to sweep the Rockies.

As game 7 last night was winding down I predicted, at least 15 minutes before the award was given out, who the World Series MVP would be on a team full of worthy candidates... Esther can back me up on this too, as she and I were talking on YM when the game finally ended around 12:15 AM.

And here's a stat I never thought I'd be able to legitimately write: In the 21st century so far, the Yankees are 0-2 in the World Series (losing in 2001 and 2003) and the Red Sox are 2-0 in the World Series (winning in 2004 and 2007).

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If that weren't a glorious ending to the sports landscape here in New England this weekend, we sure had a heck of a beginning. #2 Boston College did nothing in the first 56 minutes against Virginia Tech last Thursday, yet won the game, 14-10 in the last four minutes with two touchdown passes by QB Matt Ryan (being dubbed "Matty Heisman" recently around here, as one of the leading candidates to win that award this season).

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Exhibit C is the Patriots weekly dismantling of their opponent. This week's victim was the Washington Redskins lost 52-7. If ever there was a garbage-time touchdown in football, the score by the Redskins was it. Every week I say, "Can it get much better for the Pats?" and apparently it does. The Patriots have scored 331 points in 8 games and 204 more points than their opponents. Only two other NFL teams (Dallas, Indianapolis) so far have scored over 204 points for the whole season. The New York football Giants just miss out with 200 points scored.

There are only two unbeaten NFL teams left through eight weeks (Patriots, Colts). Those two teams will meet on Sunday in Indianapolis. The winner will, in all likelihood, have home field advantage for the playoffs. Right now, Indianapolis has the upper hand. They are the defending Super Bowl champs and have beaten the Patriots three straight times, including the epic AFC title game last January, 38-34. Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning. If you like American football, it doesn't get any better than this. The game will be nationally televised this Sunday on CBS @ 16:15. Tune in to see a great game.

Weekend Wrap-up

Wow, what a busy weekend.

Friday night I met K at Denny's in Nashua, where I picked up V and M. We drove to my parent's house after I completed a few errands.

Activity started early on Saturday morning as V, M and I got up early in order to be out the door by 8. K and the kids competed in a Tae-Kwon-Do tournament; with K meeting us at Tewksbury High School where the competition took place. They broke the athletes up by age and belt level, with the youngest kids competing at the beginning of the tournament. M and V, both green belts at 7 and 10 were among the first to compete. Both V and M only competed in breaking this time, opting not to do forms or sparring.

Every participant in the tournament medaled for participating. Mike won a bronze medal and V won a silver medal.

V and M wanted to see their mom compete which I had no problem with. The tiring part came with the wait, since the kids were done realtively early. K didn't get in the ring until 2:30ish in the afternoon. She competed in two events, earning a gold medal in forms and a silver medal in breaking.

We didn't get out of there until 3:15 or so; much later than I had anticipated.

Watching this tournament was neat and I have the feeling it won't be the last tournament I'll need to attend. Though one thing I know and it was reinforced while I was watching: I have no desire to take up any form of martial arts. I Advanced to an orange belt in karate as a youth but never carried it any further than that.

Good thing for me I brought a book to read during all of the down time, which made it bearable.

Today the kids and I went to church in the morning and afterwards headed up to K's house for M's birthday party. He'll turn 8 on Wednesday. M had invited six school friends to the party and four showed up. Aside from the standard cake, ice cream and unwrapping presents, all Mike wanted to do after was play with his friends. No cheesy "party games" here.

While I was at K's house, I turned on the Patriots game which had just started the third quarter with the score 42-7 in the Patriots favor. I was kind of surprised at that because the Pats have historically had trouble winning in Miami. Not today. The Patriots are that good and the Dolphins are that bad. QB Tom Brady threw 5 touchdown passes in the first half and had six for the game, eclipsing his personal best set last week and setting a franchise record for a single game in the process. They are now 7-0 and look unbeatable at present.

Boston College moved up to #2 in the Associated Press poll this week even though they were idle, mainly because the previous #2 team lost this past Thursday. If the college football season ended today, BC would play Ohio State for the National Champopnship.

The Red Sox have advanced to the 2007 World Series tonight by dispatching the Cleveland Indians 11-2, breaking the game open late and winning the series 4 games to 3. The opponent will be the Colorado Rockies. The World Series begins on Wednesday night at Fenway Park.

What a weekend!

Not only has the weather been nice here in New England over the past week, but it's also been nice to be a Boston sports fan. But for the latter, not just for the last week.

On Saturday, Boston College routed Bowling Green University 55-24 to move up to #4 in both the AP poll and the USA Today/coaches poll. BC is 6-0 for the first time since 1942 and enjoy their highest national ranking ever. BC plays at 1-5 Notre Dame next Saturday.

The Patriots continued their winning ways, improving to 5-0 by beating the Cleveland Browns today 34-17 at Gillette Stadium, setting up a huge game next Sunday at Dallas with potential Super Bowl implications.

The Red Sox completed the three game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels with a 9-1 win at Angels Stadium and will play the winner of the Indians/Yankees series in the AL Championship Series, starting on Friday at Fenway.

Oh wouldn't it be nice if the Yankees would lose tonight and be swept?

Though that didn't happen as the Yankees just won, 8-4.

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Also, I must wish my brother A a Happy 36^th Birthday today.

Summer Update

With the start of the 2007-08 school year just under a month away I thought I'd bring you up to speed on a few small things that have made this summer special, aside from the fact that it's my favorite season.

Swimming in the pool: While conditions have to be perfect for me to take any extended time in the pool, V and M will go in in virtually any conditions. They continue to progress in their swimming ability by leaps and bounds. This year neither of them need a floatation device in order to safely enjoy the water. V is able to stand flat foot in the pool and the water is just over M's head, so that he has to keep bouncing around in order to stay above. They both have become adept at holding their breath and going under the water. It is evident that they are both feeling more at home swimming under the water, which is fantastic. I've always said my kids resemble fish this time of year.

M's interest in playing sports: Starting last summer when M first asked me to play catch with him, his interest in baseball has grown. He's able to throw a lot better this year, though sometimes he doesn't look where he's throwing and does so wildly. This year he's caught on (pun intended) to the proper way to hold his glove and his catching ability has improved substantially in a short period of time.

M's current baseball glove is kind of small and rather than buy him a new one (which would have been cheaper), I decided to have my (circa late 1970's Jim Rice model) old glove re-laced for him, since tanned leather doesn't go bad under normal circumstances (unless it's abused, which wouldn't be normal I guess...) and it makes the glove become an heirloom. This place did a wonderful job and was very efficient in getting the work done and sending the glove back to me. Total turn around was about 10 days from the time I mailed it off. If you have an old baseball glove in need of repair, I highly recommend checking them out for yourself. Unfortunately, M's hand is still a bit too small for the bigger glove, so he'll probably start using it in earnest next spring.

M's interest in football is growing as well. He wanted to participate in his town's flag football program this year. He's in a league and on a team of 1^st-3^rd graders. Twice a week practices started last Tuesday and the coaches are teaching the kids the fundamentals of the game. His league will play games on Sunday afternoons in September.

Like father, like son: Last fall M had more of an interest in watching Patriots games on television with me on Sundays. This season should be better because he's more able to understand how the game is played. He even knows some of the Patriots players by name, position and uniform number. M has had an interest in the Red Sox since the start of the baseball season back in April. He's wanted to watch many games with me and he asked me to teach him how to keep score. As with football, M's knowledge of the game is improving the more he watches and he also too knows some of the players by name, position and uniform number.

V's interest in playing baseball: While not as great as M's, V does enjoy playing catch with us on occasion. She even asked me if I'd get her a glove, which I did for her birthday in May. And she'll never have to share it because no one else in my family at present is a lefty. One more reason why V is so special.

One interest I'll never understand: This isn't particularly a summer thing, but both V and M love collecting and trading Pokemon cards with their cousins. They even like to play Pokemon video games. Harmless fun, I suppose, though I'll never understand the infatuation.

Who is the Sexiest Female Sports Reporter?

Just before I went to bed last night I turned on ESPN to catch some Sportscenter highlights (did you see Coco's catch!!!) and ended up watching "NFL Live" afterwards. Bonnie Bernstein was hosting the 30 minute show last night and I said to myself as I watched, "Is there a sexier female sports reporter other than Bonnie Bernstein?"

The answer to my question was simple: "If there is, I don't know who it could be."

Which got me to thinking about who the sexiest female sports reporter is in the biz today. I realized, in coming up with this list, that sports reporting is no longer just a male dominated profession. Thank God for that!

Here's my list of favorite female sports reporters (in no particular order after #1):

1) Bonnie Bernstein, ABC/ESPN
2) Kara Henderson, NFL Network
3) Rachel Nichols, ESPN (not to be confused with equally as sexy actress of the same name)
4) Tina Cervasio, NESN
5) Melissa Stark, formerly of ABC
6) Hazel Mae, NESN
7) Kathryn Tappan, NESN
8) Jeanne Zelasco, Fox Sports
9) Erin Andrews, ESPN
10) Suzy Kolber, ESPN
11) Dana Jacobsen, ESPN
12) Michelle Tafoya, ABC

So now I'm curious how you would rate these sexy and highly talented female sports reporters? Do you know of some that I missed?