Tag Archives: Red Sox Nation

A Long Awaited Fall Update

Posted on by
Reply

It seems as though ages since the last update. So much has happened. Of course our baby daughter has turned one and is far too quickly becoming a baby no longer but a little girl. In fact, in the last six weeks or so she has begun walking and gotten so good that she is on the verge of running. It certainly gets trickier to keep up with her and she is into more now than ever before. Yet, it really is fascinating to see her relish her newfound freedom and curiosity growing. Plus, her personality just keeps evolving more and more, and out kid is definitely a character. Also, she just keeps getting more teeth, as you can see here.

Six Teeth!   Check Out These Bracelets

Look How Well I Stand

Pumpkin   Hadley and Puppy

In other news, right after the school year started I hurt my back pretty severely, which laid me up for about six weeks. It was everything I could do just to get to work everyday. It really cramped my soccer coaching this year. Fortunately, I am definitively on the mend, and while not completely healed I am getting close. Unfortunately, I inherited more than my winning looks and personality from my father. I got his back too. So either of us can have a bad spell any time. Yet, we can stave of too many disasters with some good old-fashioned exercise.

Family at Chowderfest

Walking Out Front   Look at My Leaves

Pumpkin Patch Sign

On the soccer season, my girls will finish this campaign already guaranteed with a winning season, which is always a goal. I am endlessly interested in just how different the character of each team is from year to year. It is one of those bonuses of coaching or teaching anything. This group has probably the widest disparity in talent and skill of any team I have had recently. Mixing them together provided some interesting play and required more tinkering than usual to ensure strong results. In fact, I would blame most of the non-victories on me, as I tried to find the best way to work everyone into the game while maintaining a certain level of play. This season was more challenging, in that respect, than any other I can remember.

Ali and Hadley in the Corn Maze   Mom and Daughter at Cranberry Fest

Sox Playoff Day

Walking with Daddy   Hadley and Pumpkins

Last month, Keri and Ali took a mini vacation and headed north to Toronto. They took in the sites and the Red Sox over a weekend. That left me and Hadley on our own as Ail got a little r-and-r from mommydom.Their consensus was that Niagra Falls was cooler than the city. Still, I have to say I want to take a trip to Toronto at some point and have a look around for myself. Tragically, they were having some camera issues. So the shots from the trip are limited.

Keri's New Boyfriend   Ali's Sweet FriendLunch at the Ball Park   In front of Bridal Falls

So fall is in full swing and the New England leaf peepers and Red Sox Nation are at the end of their glory. Winter’s chill is already starting to nip the air a bit. Sadly, the Sox did not make a repeat trip to the Fall Classic. Still, autumn is the best part of the year, if you ask me. Fall is festival season, and we have been making the most of it. I imagine it won’t be long before we see some snow here.

Aunt Keri and Hadley at the Pumpkin Patch

Hadley, Pumpkins and Rocks

That’s all for now. Hopefully you enjoy the pictures from the last month and half.

New England Sports Dominance & Hadley’s First Halloween

Posted on by
Reply

I have been meaning to write something about the Red Sox since last week. Only a week and a half ago the Red Sox won their second World Series in the last three years and it is already ancient history.

What a transformation.

Apart from the floating rally downtown, Red Sox Nation has simply come to expect post season victories, now the that the curse has been broken. Maybe it was the fact that they didn’t meet the Yankees during October, but this year’s team won and it almost seemed anti-climactic. For all the hype of Colorado’s sizzling stretch run, this one never seemed to be in doubt. Perhaps that’s another reason for the short memories.

Of course, Monday morning, following the celebration in Denver, the Red Sox were very nearly overshadowed by the charging behemoth that is the local NFL franchise. There is no question that this is decidedly a baseball town, and the Red Sox reign. Yet, the Patriot beatdown of the Redskins, earlier that afternoon, was so spectacular that it drew the ire of the sporting world. Moreover, the midseason showdown against the Colts was looming so large on the horizon, it seems these two events stole some of the Red Sox sunshine. Plus, is there a team in the NFL that is likely to beat the Patriots at this moment, because Indy was unanimously the best of the rest and defending champ?

Hadley, however, was ready to go for game four with support for Tito’s team. Witness her below laughing with joy in her Red Sox gear.

On a separate note entirely, Halloween came and went rather quickly too. Yet, we still managed to outfit Hadley with some amusing holiday garb. Aunt Keri had set Hadley up with a peanut costume before birth. Unfortunately it proves hard to tell whether she is a peanut or simply a beige blob. Concerned, Ali secured an alternative for necessary costume changes. The result is a nearly two foot long dog, covered with savory mustard striping. Doesn’t she look positively delicious? Ali often tells our beloved daughter, “I just want to eat you.” Staring at the large all beef looking dog, I suddenly understood this idea on a whole new level.

Beyond that, here are some other pics of the little cutie!

Red Sox Nation Rejoices – Yankees Still Suck

Posted on by
Reply

Well the Red Sox did it. What a difference a week makes. Last week, the question was whether the Fenway side would complete the historic defeat of their hated rivals from the Bronx. No team had ever come back from a 3-0 deficit. Yet, Boston completed the most unlikely of victories. Three Mariano Rivera outs from elimination and the boys from Yawkey Way began a surge that would not stop until they crushed the Cardinals in four straight.

Beating the Bombers was so monumental that winning the World Series was almost an afterthought, if you can believe that. So hated are the Yankees here, that ending an 86 year drought from the baseball’s ultimate crown was not celebrated with near as much vigor as winning the ALCS. Things got so out of hand last week that a young woman was accidentally killed by the police trying to control things. Last night the crowds were swarming but things just didn’t have the same release of tension. Both celebrations marked triumphs away from the home park, but that didn’t stop the hoards from gathering at the shrine. The last series was sweet deliverance, while this series seemed more like sweet relief. Finally, the ghosts were sent packing and all the players past were given a glimpse of the greatness that always resided just out of their reach.

The Red Sox won the World Series and a nation celebrated last night, but all the rejoicing this lacked the drama. Outside of game one the Cardinals never even threatened. For all the runs that the Redbirds tallied, the middle of their line-up went missing, for the most part. Sure Pujols hit, there was just no one on base. Who could believe that Jim Edmonds and Scott Rolen would go a combined 1-28. The only time it was close was when the Red Sox weren’t ripping of runs. If it weren’t for all the superstitions of sports fans, New Englanders should have realized that it was over when the series headed for St. Louis. I actually thought that the Sox had so much momentum that they’d cinch it in five. That proved to be a bit generous.

Perhaps the almost anti-climactic result can be attributed to shock and disbelief. It is almost as if no one quite believes it, yet. Although, I did hear a lot of comments like, “I am just happy we beat the Yankees,” and “Nothing is better than beating the Yankees.” To which my response was generally, “I’m from Chicago, I’ll take winning the Series.”

However, all the large contingent Yankee Haters in Red Sox Nation can rest assured that when the their beloved team hoists the championship flag and receive their rings next year the team on the other side of the chalk will be none other than the Yankees themselves. I think it is at that moment when the sweetness of the victory will finally be felt.

Now the two teams with the longest streak of stymied Series wins both reside in the Second City.