is hockey going mainstream?

the NFL is locked out.  and in case you weren't paying attention over the long weekend, the NBA is now locked out too.  so while it may turn out to be the most boring winter ever, the NHL is definitely sitting pretty at the moment.  there's a decent chance that the next pro sport we see start up again will be the last one that just ended: hockey.  and they're coming off the highest rated stanley cup final in years, with a champion from one of the few cities that can actually claim to have legitimate hockey fans.  so come october if the NHL is the only thing going, there's definitely a possibility that people will start watching.  the versus network has got to be going nuts right now.

or everybody might just watch a lot more college football/hoops.

and what about this: is there a chance canada is somehow behind the duel lockouts?  is this the beginning of their attempt at world domination?  first they force feed hockey down our throats, then who knows what's next; full scale invasion?

there really is a movie coming out later this month called "cowboys and aliens"

i remember seeing the commercial back during the superbowl, and as i was watching it thinking maybe it was a joke; like "is this an ad for a fake movie that's really an ad for something else" type of deal.  but clearly it's real.  and i gotta say i've kinda done a 180 on it.  i think the premise is pretty cool.  alien movies always happen in the present day.  but seriously, if earth was going to be invaded, isn't it just as likely to have happened in some other time period?  i hope it does well enough that they make a prequel and call it "dinosaurs and aliens."  harrison ford is a big deal,  and so is the new james bond guy.  and i love olivia wilde, every since that "black donnellys" show on NBC a few years back that was kinda awesome even though it failed.  also john favreau is the director, so clearly it has the potential to be good.  the problem is i know the ending is gonna suck and i'll be disappointed, because that's what happens 98% of the time when a movie looks like it has a cool premise.

middle relievers aren't very good

during the sox pregame show the other day they were talking about how daniel bard could have made the all star team.  i read an NYC blog yesterday that mentioned david robertson has great numbers as the yankees set up man, and that he should have been selected.  i disagree.  no middle reliever should ever make the all star game.  that would be like a guy who comes off the bench in the NBA being an all star (i know there are rare examples like kevin mcchale, and maybe bard really is that good, but the principle is sound).  good pitchers are turned into starters.  every once in a while they become closers.  everybody left over ends up as middle relievers.  it blows my mind when teams spend lots of money on non closer bullpen help.  or like a few years ago when the red sox traded coco crisp for ramon ramirez, i never understood why.  bullpen guys are a crap shoot.  sometimes they're good and sometimes they're not.  they may have one solid year, and be terrible the next.  i think whatever prospect you have who's next in line at AAA is generally just as good.  and for anybody who doesn't recognize him, on the right that's rich "el guapo" garces, the ultimate middle reliever.

july 4th. edgartown.

and if you're looking to try something new today and impress your friends, last week i invented a great summer/beachy/daytime/vacation cocktail:  blueberry vodka.  grapefruit juice.  club soda.  big cup.  lots of ice.  lime.

real blogs start again july 5th.

come on, i need help!

ok, seriously, enough is enough.  i know it's 4th of july weekend.  and i know everybody's on vacation.  but that was an awesome blog i wrote yesterday, and nowhere near enough people read it.  manny ramirez in the HR derby?  that would be absolutely redonculous television!

i know there's people who read this a lot and enjoy it.  so i'm calling you out.  you know who you are.  go back and find one of your favorite blogs.  repost it on facebook.  retweet it if you're on the twitter.  tell your coworkers to read it cause there's a crap load of worse things you can do for 37 seconds a day.  and tell them maybe it's something really cool that they don't even know about. 

if the trends keep going the way they're going, i'm gonna to have to give up soon.  and then this time we both lose johnny.  (and for the well pop cultured reader: yeah i quoted "old school." and then "point break," possibly via barstool, but i promise i've been using that line since 1992).

big papi get's to draft his friends for the HR derby. hmm...

MLB announced the other day that david ortiz and prince fielder are the "captains" of the HR derby, and they can ask whoever they'd like to compete.  i like the fact that baseball is trying something new in order to add interest to the event.  which brings me to two points:

first, papi should without a doubt ask manny to come back and do it.  i know that realistically there is no way it will happen, 0% chance.   but it would be amazing; must see television.  tons of people would watch just hoping to see him fail.  steriod jokes/speculation would be all the rage.  how would his interactions with the other players go?  and what if he did well?  i can think of a million reasons why it would be GREAT entertainment, which is something nobody can deny manny always brought to the table.

and second, the reason papi is a "captain" this year is because he won the thing last year.  which i had totally forgotten ever happened.  i honestly don't remember if i even watched it.  so that brings me back to my first point.  i'm pretty sure if manny was in the derby this year i would both watch and remember. 

something happened yesterday that i am kind of ashamed to admit

let me start by saying that i was on the vineyard and i had a friend staying with me.  we were out of the house all the time, and i barely turned on the tv, checked my phone, or used my computer.  but even after saying all that, i'm still kind of embarrassed.  the red sox played a game yesterday afternoon, and i never even knew it was happening until it was already over.  that's so out of character for me that i actually remember the last time it happened.  it was a saturday in july 2002, when a game scheduled for 7 pm was moved up to 1 pm.  wow.  i'm still kind of in shock.  i gotta refocus and get my head back in the game. 

on another note, if you'd told me 2 days ago that pedroia and varitek were going to hit back to back home runs out of the 4 and 5 spots in the order, i'm pretty sure i would not have believed you.