Why do we care about Fenway?

Personally, I don’t care that Fenway Park is 100 years old. I’ve never been there, and I don’t feel a particular urge to.  Clearly the LBS staff (not to mention the sports community generally) will differ with me on this. Major sports outlets at the moment are filled with stories praising the glory of standing in a place which was once home to Ted Williams and Babe Ruth, where the strength of generations of baseball history brings an inescapable communion with those who have gone before which immeasurably enhances the baseball experience.  This article, published on Yahoo, is an almost too perfect example of this kind of adulatory journalism, as it extols the virtues of Fenway from the perspective of someone who has never even been there. I have also never been to Fenway, but for me that provokes not a driving urge to go there, but the feeling that I should not judge what I have never sampled.  It could be a nice place, but probably not much nicer than other ballparks. So what’s all the hype?

Congratulations, Tony Bennett

After watching Virginia hang tough with North Carolina today, I think enough evidence has accumulated to prove there has been a seismic shift in Virginia basketball.  Virginia is now a legitimate team, and not just a legitimate team by virtue of a good year or two from a lucky recruiting class, but a legitimate program.  Any team might get lucky and have a chance to pull off a big upset, but how UVA did it shows they will be a team to watch out for in years to come.  How they hung with UNC was not a fluke, but a continuation of how they’ve been playing all year, and all the credit has to start with Tony Bennett.

Randy Moss: Effort and Humility

If Randy Moss were to come back with a perfect attitude, he would immediately improve any team in the NFL.  Anyone talking about how Moss’ play is falling off needs to put things in perspective, because the question is not one of ability.  No matter how much his skills have deteriorated, he is simply a better receiver than whatever scrub is filling out the depth chart on your favorite team.  Hall of Fame talent and experience do not simply disappear in a year.  If nothing us, Moss would be the ultimate decoy and red-zone jump-ball threat.

Why Andray Blatche is the Worst Player in the NBA

(If you haven't already seen it, please watch the video above before you read. Note: Blatche has 20 points, 13 assists, 9 rebounds. That's a good line, right? Reply: Watch the video.)

Let’s imagine the NBA was starting over, and each GM was set to draft a team, out of all the players in the league, that they thought could win a championship.  First pick might be Lebron, second Kevin Durant, etc, stars to build around.  In the 2^nd round each team might look for a solid complimentary player, like Andre Igoudala, or a young guy who might be a real star if they could get it all together, like Andrew Bynum.  As the rounds went on, teams would look for solid role players who could be part of a championship rotation: spot-up shooters, defensive specialists, and so on.  Gerald Wallace might go in the 3^rd or 5^th round, Eric Maynor maybe in the 7^th.  Even someone like Ronny Turiaf, essentially useless, would probably be picked up in the late rounds for a specific skill or intangible they bring to the team.