So, growing up in Utah, we only had one professional sports team. At least MAJOR league sports team. The Utah Jazz was it in my youth, and I am still angry about Jordan’s push off of Russell in 1998. But that is neither here nor there. Anywho, upon my move to New England seven years ago. I immediately became immersed in the “local” teams here; local in parentheses because Hartford has none, but New England has four (five if you count MLS). Let me explain: Connecticut is more than just a simple rest stop on the way from New York to Boston. Or the state where other New Englanders come to give money to the Indians via the casinos. Connecticut is also the dividing line for sports loyalties. If you live west of the CT River, you tend to root for the New York teams. East of the river (me), you tend to root for Boston. Since I have been here, I guess you could say I enjoy the Boston teams more. I don’t watch hockey, or care about it for that matter, so the Bruins/Rangers/Islanders/Devils don’t matter to me. Don’t really pay much attention to basketball either. But I do enjoy me some football, especially this time of year, though I have always been a bigger fan of college football.
But the reason for this post, and the origin of its title, is the Boston Red Sox. It was exciting for me to see them win their first World Series in 86 years in 2004, and again in 2007. I became a fan, but only because it was either them or the Yankees, and I have always hated the Yankees. A lot of speculation this off season has revolved around the future of The Captain, Jason Varitek. But I am not going to talk about that right now. What I would like to talk about is the recent contract signing by one Dustin Pedroia, the best midget baseball player in the history of the world. He was signed to a contract this week through at least 2014, which is good, if only because he was the AL MVP this year and pretty much set the table for the Red Sox all year. The Sox don’t need to do much this off season, but this was a step in the right direction. The next best thing they can do is to sign Kevin Youkilis to a similar deal and keep these “Dirt Dogs” in Sox uniforms for the next little while. While this signing does not improve the team per se, it allows ownership and GM Theo Epstein to focus on the winter meetings next week and build the team into something that can compete again for a World Series next year. In these times of being a Boston sports fan, it sure is nice to see the Red Sox not have to do much this off season, while the hated Yankees must revamp nearly their entire roster.
Yankees suck!
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