The Red Sox trade in their road grays for home whites for a few days. (AP Photo)
It's his annual Red Sox article which always seem to get me riled up, and - well, this time is no different. The reason they bother me so much is because I think he's way out of touch with the Red Sox these days, and when his Sox articles are written, they always get top billing over at ESPN, as can be seen by their homepage on the left. The rest of the country then takes his opinions as fact - and that's the end of the story. Most likely I'm just being a hater here, and there are some really interesting stats and opinions in his latest article (i.e. - When he breaks down the time of Sox games over the years) - but the meat of what he's writing about here has already been written about ad infinitum by other Red Sox bloggers.
Saying that the post-2004 Red Sox are boring is nothing new - shit, I wrote a post in May saying basically the same thing he wrote today, just with 30,000 less words. The formula he uses to write these articles is getting a little too predictable as well:
- Mention how awesome Boston *used* to be when he lived here in the 90's, when Fenway was really Fenway, and not the cleaned up nice place it's become.
- Talk about how numerous "e-mails from home" back up whatever position he's writing on.
- Mention the 2004 World Series, because apparently it's impossible to write about the Sox and not mention that, because - ya' know, writing a book on it wasn't enough.
- Talk about the 90's some more.
- Mention talking with his Dad (this pertains to ALL of his articles that have to do with Boston)
- Throw in the obligatory "Yankee Friends" angle at some point, because we all know that over at ESPN you can't mention one team without talking about the other.
- Talk about 2004 and the 90's some more.
All that said, it's most definitely an interesting read, but if you don't have 30 minutes, just skip down to the last part where he talks about the increased time of Sox games, that's worth it. Saying we need to get rid of the DH though? Completely Retarded. I guess this also bothered me because the Red Sox are on the crest of a good run. We're getting people back off of the DL, we just swept the Angels, they're playing in Fenway for the first time in 11 days, and there's real optimism surrounding the team around the city of Boston (where I live...) for the first time all year. But now ESPN's plastered with how the Sox are boring, and will be a talking point on all their talking head shows heading into the weekend. Sigh.
The Links:
- ESPN: Slicing up the Red Sox's boring pie - By Bill Simmons
- Boston Globe: Little Sox chatter as trade deadline approaches - By Peter Abraham and Nick Cafardo
- Boston Herald: Lower ratings don’t tell Red Sox’ story - By Steve Buckley
- Comcast SportsNet: MLB Trade Deadline Live Chat with Sean McAdam
- Surviving Grady: Of Mice And Men - By Denton
- Boston Globe: Lowell ready to be activated - By Peter Abraham
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