I know you're all just JONESING for your daily dose of soccer talk. There's some other blather at the end for you non-footy types. World Cup. FIFA announced yesterday the winner of the Soviet ballot for the 2014 World Cup is....Brazil. Shocking, given they were the only country bidding on the games. FIFA has used a rotating continent procedure for divvying out the World Cup so that it makes it's appearance all over the planet, however stunningly Antarctica has yet to host. This approach...

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ll kinds of Patriot haters running wild today all over the message boards. I'm even reading stuff like, "I hope someone takes out Brady's knees." It's one thing to talk smack, it's another to advocate assault and battery. I've started to come around, I've been slowly convinced, that Belichick is running up scores in a bit of a Flying Fickle Finger of Fate, emphasis on finger, to the NFL. On the one hand I agree, "if you want to keep the score down, stop me." On the other,...

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I spent the better part of the season talking about how mediocre this team was...I guess what I failed to grasp was the balance of this team. Pitching/Hitting. I was wr-r-r-r-ong. I sit absolutely agog. Twice - count them - twice in my lifetime the Boston Red Sox have won the World Series. After the Patriots won the Superbowl the first time, my best friend and I wondered aloud what the City of Boston would be like IF the Sox were to win the World Series. It seems trite, but there were...

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Is there any household chore WORSE than painting a ceiling? Ugh. Perhaps seconded only by installing not one, but two ceiling fans. That don't work. Nothing. Of course it's raining today here in Massachusetts so what with all the working ceiling lights having been ripped out of the rooms' ceiling by yours truly, work must come to an end for the day for want of light.

Of course, work a long time ago had since ceased and the Josh Beckett post game interview bit had been ramped up to full bore.

I told Mrs. Mo I was going to set about with a multimeter to see if I had blown something or if the circuitry was dead. She asked me how long she would have to wait to start dating again.

It's funny how a lot has changed in Red Sox Nation. I actually spoke words I wouldn't have just a few years ago - "Think we should go pick up some champagne, just in case the Sox win it this weekend?" Huh? Did I just say that? The last time I allowed myself such thoughts, it was long about the 6th inning of Game 7 2003 ALCS and there we were in a San Diego hotel room. I allowed myself the luxury of wondering aloud if I could find a cigar and champagne around the neighborhood there before the end of the game. D'OH! I suppose I could have, but I would have simply been handing it over to the guy that was sleeping in the alley way. That sucked.

It wasn't about the prep work - going to get some, just in case - I think a lot of fans do that. It was that I even had the thought...Nothing good comes of this, cookie, nothing.

That's not to say I've lost any nurosis or superstition. I've been wearing this ratty green St. Patrick's Day Sox hat for well over a week - I wore it and they won...so I kept wearing it...and they kept winning. It's a good thing I didn't just decide to wear underwear on the night the Sox starting this playoff winning streak. Phew. Haven't worn those things in ages.... (just kidding folks...it's a joke...the thought of Old Mo going commando should scare most women and children).

Well, I've been bending and contorting and twisting all day only to have to rip the freaking fans out again when they didn't work and reinstall...it's a drag man. I'm sore and I'm angry and I'm...well, I guess I'm just sore and angry.

Rodney, I miss you man. I've got the jitters, man. Can we get this show on the road? The Rox have been on ice for 8 days now. The Sox have been off for a couple of days. In 2003, the World Series started the day after Game 7 - I remember this, because sadly, I was hoping Game 1 would be in Boston. It was not. In theory, this World Series could end on November 1. Good grief and zounds. Can we talk to someone about this? THERE'S SNOW ON THE GROUND for the love of Pete... I'm not liking...

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Here are some Sox chops from Boston.com: Here's one I find particularly entertaining: And another...  And one from Morrisseyweb:  Here's another I just did....  

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Oh man. Three venti Starbucks and a Red Bull haven’t been enough to keep me awake this morning. I fell asleep for a few minutes at the urinal at work – head propped up against the tiled wall above it. Now, on top of bags under my eyes that could hold a pen in place underneath and the tape now holding my eyes open, I’ve got this remarkable little grid imprint on my forehead. I would love to blame it all on the late schedule of the baseball games, but it might have something...

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What can I say?  The Boston Red Sox are American League Champions!

I fully believed that once this team was down 3-1 that this series was over.  I didn't believe this team had the heart.  I thought the Tribe was the better team.

All I can say now is, "I BELIEVE!!!" 

"On any given Sunday..." the cliché goes, "any team can beat any other." In the cases of the following games illustrating that not only can any team beat any other, they can do it in the most interesting and inexplicable ways. And not just on Sunday, but any given Monday or Thursday, as the case may be. These are five improbable wins, with improbable circumstances and situations resulting in five memorable football games. There are 2 Monday Night Football Games, 1...

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Despite what I said earlier, if you read closely you’ll see that not only aren’t I really done with the Sox, I’m hopeless. Really. I mean they could tell me to go stick it to myself and I would be mad, but come whimpering back, “You didn’t really mean that, did you?” So here I am. Gray hairs popping out by the minute. Heart rate up. Ulcer percolating.

So, I figured the best remedy is to just jot down some odds and ends to take my mind of stuff.

• For all us Sox fans concerned what Game 5 might bring us, here’s a perfect solution. Long after the last pitch it hurled toward home Thursday night, you can be ready for the real game. Yessir, get yourself prepped for The Josh Beckett Press Conference Drinking Game. Win or lose the baseball game, you the viewer can be the winner here.

• Does anyone else fail to understand the spectacle that is going on in Tampa? For the love of Pete, if I’m Joe Torre, I’ve kind of got the message, “Yeah, you’re ambivalent about me managing.” I’ve made it practice to not want to be somewhere I’m not wanted. I’m trying to figure out what Joe gains by waiting around for some tablet to come down off the mountain. If I’m Joe, I really don’t need this crap and I think I might say that. And no sooner have I written this, I come across a New York Newsday piece saying exactly the same thing. From an outsider’s point of view, this just isn’t the way you treat people. I’m with Vagabondguru here. You know what you’re going to do here, and if you’re just looking for style points, you’re gonna lose in the long run where it counts – in public opinion. Joe may be Safe at Home, but home ain’t at Yankee Stadium.

• I found this very cool web application that basically crunches the major league team records by date since 1901 and creates a “horse race” application, showing where each team was record wise in relation to each other.

• As you’re doubtlessly aware, I’m not above shameless huckstering. I’ve got a couple more articles posted at Associated Content; one on The Two Teams which share the NFL record for Most Fumbles in a Season and one on the Cancellation of the National Lacrosse League 2008 Season. Yeah, I know, you just can’t get enough NLL talk. There’s also a less weighty bit I did on why baseball video review is a bad idea.  I know, I’m a media slut.

• If you’re looking for some good Pats talk, Check out this Page 2 article, then keep looking for some good Pats talk. Perhaps you’re a Colts fan and want to relive last years’ Superbowl glory – forget the DVD, you won’t get the ads there.

• If you haven’t already, check out the Guardian of the Galaxy’s “Wii and Mii.”

I guess that’s it. I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.

A wonderful feeling of calm has washed over me; like some giant prozac dose from the great beyond has worked its way into my system. It gives me that feeling that I remember having waking up one morning and realizing that the relationship with the girlfriend was definitely over. That feeling when you walk into the boss's office and hand in a two-week notice. Yes, that feeling of calm serenity, knowing it will all be over soon. Knowing that after one more tedious conversation, one more "hard"...

Read More "It's Not Me - It's You, Tito"

I've read a few things lately about the Pats that have gotten my dander up.   I get extremely riled up when someone born in 1986 tells me I'm on a bandwagon because I'm a Pats fan; in 1986 I was sitting on those aluminum benches while he was pooping his diapers. What gets me is just crap like all Pats fans are band wagoners, etc. So for giggles, I went back over a listserv archive I moderate and found the following set of posts. For those who wish to throw stones about Bandwagon...

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Hi folks. I guess I did a bit of a disappearing act there for a few days. Allow me to explain. I stopped by felber's place in Syracuse, but no one was home.. So I drove on up to REIGNBLOOD's place in Buffalo, but again no one was home. Since, I was so close now, I decided to drive on over to Niagara Falls, ON. Yeah, the whole fam damnily decided to go to Canada for a few days. I had hoped to get another blog entry out before we left, but it just didn't happen. So the Yankee-in-law...

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The Professional Baseball Hall of Fame identifies the Kansas City Royals as having been one of the most successful expansion teams at the time of their World Series win in 1985.

So, what makes a successful team? The Yankees, as the gold standard of major league baseball has a lifetime winning percentage of .567 - 9383 wins, 7162 losses. Here's a look at the Major League Expansion teams.

Using the metric of winning percentage, the most successful expansion franchise is the 1998 addition, Arizona Diamondbacks with a .505 winning percentage.

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This football season marks a milestone – Brett Favre of the Green Bay Packers passed Dan Marino’s National Football League (NFL) record for touchdowns thrown in a career, a record he had held since November 26, 1995 when he hit Keith Byars against the Indianapolis Colts.  Interestingly enough, Keith Byars caught the record breaking pass for most completions in a career as well five weeks earlier against the same Indianapolis Colts.

 
This article looks at the other three men making up the Top 5 list of most prolific touchdown passers; Fran Tarkenton, John Elway, and Warren Moon.

So in all four series, there is a 2-0 lead. First time since 1995. This could be a very short Division Series. The Yankees couldn't seem to keep the Tribe off the base paths tonight, the Indians just couldn't seem to bring anyone of those guys home. It took 11 innings, but Travis "Pronk" Haffner did the job driving in the walk off run. Danny Vinnick. Remember that name...way to go kid...of course his dad is one of the limited partners of the Red Sox. I was wondering how...

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The New England Revolution, of Major League Soccer, won the 94th Lamar Hunt US Open Cup on Wednesday at Frisco, Texas against Dallas FC, also of MLS. The Revolution have lost the MLS Cup final at Pizza Hut Park twice in their two visits to the finals at the soccer only stadium. While the team has represented the MLS Eastern Conference in the MLS Cup three times and second time at the US Open final, this was the first championship ever for the "Revs." They had failed in the three MLS...

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There's nothing quite like a little white water rafting to set your summer right. Some camping in the wilderness of Northern Maine accompanied by friends. A day trip down a semi-tamed Penobscot River, a fine way to commune with nature and enjoy a small part of paradise.

We camped at Pray's Big Eddy Campground in Millinocket, ME, not far from the Canadian Border. In fact, we were closer to Canada than we were to home in Massachusetts. This area is the largest forested area in the United States on the west Branch of the Penobscot River. If you want to be away from everything, this is about as close to away from everything as you can get.

There were several other folks who had come along on the trip our friends had arranged, but we didn't really know them so the group of folks - about 8 of us - that we did know camped together, and rafted together. We had our laid back group while the rest of the bunch were...well, a little more "hearty" than were we. It seems they were interested in investigating their libation options.

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On June 12, 1880 the first perfect game thrown in professional baseball was thrown in Worcester, Massachusetts at what is now the quad on the grounds of the Weller Academic Center at Becker College. An historical marker on the site reads:

"ON JUNE 12, 1880, THE FIRST PERFECT GAME IN PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL HISTORY WAS PITCHED ON THIS SITE (THE FORMER WORCESTER AGRICULTURAL FAIRGROUNDS) BY J. LEE RICHMOND OF WORCESTER AGAINST CLEVELAND IN A NATIONAL LEAGUE GAME."

John Lee Richmond of the Worcester "Worcesters" - there appear to be differing accounts as to a nickname by which the team was known, referring to "Ruby Legs," "No Names," and "Brown Stockings" - of the National League was the first perfect pitcher in professional baseball against the Cleveland Blues. Incidentally, he was also the first pitcher to give up a grand slam home run.

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Why does the American League seem to be the stronger of the two leagues world series competition? This is one theory and it has nothing to do with Designated Hitters, softer competition, or quality of pitching.

The answer may lie in the statistical analysis on the topic of how many games it would take each season to achieve a statistically significant result at the end of the year.

According to E. Ben-Naim and NW Hengartner, physicists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory , the best team will have the best record if the total number of games should be about the cube of the number of teams. So, for the National League the answer would be a 256 game season - sixteen teams - and for the American League - 14 teams - the answer would be a 196 game season.

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