Nice Return for Buckner
First of all, let's congratulate the University of Tennessee Women's basketball team for winning yet another invigorating women's tournament....I think I actually watched 5 or 6 minutes of this year's classic event. I'm sorry, these women are talented, but after watching the likes of Hansbrough, Curry, Love and Rose.. the women just don't cut it. And can someone please tell me why Candace Parker wore a long sleeve T-shirt in the final 4??? Did she think this was some kind of hot yoga class? I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it, I wouldn't have made 4 laps up and down the court before gnawing those sweaty sleeves off my arms. Anyway, to the meat of this post...
People outside of the Boston sports world may have missed what happened opening day at Fenway Park on Tuesday. All day leading up to the game WEEI (local Boston sports radio) was saying that the person throwing out the first pitch would be special, and "moving." Brainstorming the possibilities the best I could come up with was Kevin Millar, and by no means am I proud of that statement. I mean come on, is there any other player in MLB that would more blatantly rather be on another team? I think Kevin Millar would play for the Sox for free if Theo would let him. (check out this video of Papelbon interviewing Millar, He disects the entire Sox team without mentioning the Orioles. My favorite part is the end of the video where he says" the Sox will win by default--it's cheating").
To my most heartbreaking disappointment it was not Kevin Millar. Sitting on my couch at 2 in the afternoon (yes home from work, 3 bud lights deep), I was shocked to see the infamous Bill Buckner walk out of the Green Monster to the mound to throw out the first pitch. It was a truly touching moment for all Sox fans, and quite apparently to the teary eyed Buckner as well. I don't need to get into the details of what Bill Buckner is famous for, unfortunately this is pretty much all anyone knows about him. What I would like to point out is the other side of the story; the very decent 22 years that Bill Buckner played baseball. First of all, anyone that plays baseball for 22 years in the bigs knows what they're doing, clearly that is not an easy accomplishment. Buckner finished up with a very respectable .289 lifetime BA, 1,208 RBI, and hit over .300 7 times including .324 in 1980. In 5 of his 22 years he even received MVP votes. He finished with a career .992 fielding percentage. 99.2% of the time the guy fielded the ball cleanly....what an unfortunate time to have the .8 kick in huh? Even with that though, the Sox still had the opportunity to win that game (game 6) and game 7 of that series in 1986. So anyway, it was nice to see the Sox fans give Buckner a 2 or 3 minute standing ovation....the poor guy deserved it.
I agree with Rob. I, too, am making a bigger effort to watch the NHL playoffs this season. My Bruins are playing the Canadiens, who have been the Bruins' daddy's all year (7-0 against the black and gold). But it is the playoffs, you never know what can happen with this great rivalry. I will be at the game on Sunday night at the Garden, I'll let you know how it goes....
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As roomates in college, there is a lot of time to pass. Some people listen to music, some people do homework, some people take the real college health route and go to the gym. We watched sports. Now by no means is this out of the ordinary or unique. Sports in its nature can be a commonplace for even the most different and conflicting of people. But it was not simply that we watched sports, but the observations, thoughts and conversations that would ensue because of it.
Standing on opposite sides of the greatest rivalry in sports, there was never a lack of topics to discuss. Our conversations would lead to many things, sometimes more conversations, sometimes laughter, sometimes fits of rage. But probably the most important thing it lead to was a well constructed and fact based list of beliefs, policies, principles, and stances on the vast world of sports. These "tenants" if you will represent for us the bigger picture of sports, the picture that not everyone sees.
Through our posts and discussions on this site, we hope our thoughts and positions will be exposed. While we disagree almost as much as we agree, we always share a respect for plain old good sports. As much as we may root against eachothers favorite teams, we root for the things teams and players do well. We aim to point those "things" out in this forum.
This site is still in its beginning stages and will get better. We would love some comments and feedback. Shoot us an email at outfieldassistguys@gmail.com.
Standing on opposite sides of the greatest rivalry in sports, there was never a lack of topics to discuss. Our conversations would lead to many things, sometimes more conversations, sometimes laughter, sometimes fits of rage. But probably the most important thing it lead to was a well constructed and fact based list of beliefs, policies, principles, and stances on the vast world of sports. These "tenants" if you will represent for us the bigger picture of sports, the picture that not everyone sees.
Through our posts and discussions on this site, we hope our thoughts and positions will be exposed. While we disagree almost as much as we agree, we always share a respect for plain old good sports. As much as we may root against eachothers favorite teams, we root for the things teams and players do well. We aim to point those "things" out in this forum.
This site is still in its beginning stages and will get better. We would love some comments and feedback. Shoot us an email at outfieldassistguys@gmail.com.
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1 comment:
Jonkm
Just to let you know, I watched both the Tennessee women's semifinal and final games. Both LSU and Stanford were 2 seeds. Stanford was coming fresh off an upset of 1 seed UCONN. I have roots in Tennessee as my father hailed from the state and both of my parents attended the University of. Tennessee football, men's and women's basketball are all teams I like to follow. That being said, I have to agree with how poor the quality of play is. These are the cream of the crop in terms of women's division I basketball. As for the men's final, just reference my first April 10th post -- "Where's the Slipper?!". The differences are clear. I mean the amount of missed layups and air balls on anything from beyond 18 feet. The game is slow and low. Meaning the plays develop slowly and the players themselves move slowly. Low meaning they can't jump and there is no play around the rim whatsoever. Men's basketball is fast and high. And actually good.
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