Clean slide.

In baseball, there is the right way to break up a play at home, and then there is the Tampa Bay way. Check out this potential leg breaker of a 'slide'.

It looks even worse on video. Check out the attempt to break a catcher's leg here. Watch how he leaves his feet, studs showing, quite literally trying to injure Victor Martinez.

You stay classy, Tampa.

Superbowl sleeper.

Looking for a sleeper, value, potential Super Bowl winner?

Let’s face it, we all are.

How about the Tennessee Titans? Fantasy isn’t everything, but one of their players (Mr. Chris Johnson) was picked first in 90% of NFL Fantasy Football drafts the last week (including by me!). Their coach, Jeff Fisher is a very accomplished gentleman and has the third most wins of any active NFL coach, lagging behind only Belichick and Shanahan, with an outside chance of passing the latter this year. You want longevity? I’ll give you longevity. He has been their coach since 1994, a feat practically unheard of in this modern age.

Quarterback?

Vince Young was 30-2 as a starter in college and is a sterling 26-13 as the starter in the pros. Young isn’t a classic pocket passer, but he wins games. Of that there is no doubt.

30-2 and 26-13.

Let those numbers seep in for a second. Young has battled and seemingly beaten some personal demons, and looks set to weave some of his Texas Longhorn magic this coming season, with the freedoms allowed by teams keying in on the amazing Chris Johnson.

How about form? Tennessee finished 2009 on an excellent 8-2 run.

Well right now, at this very moment, you can walk into a bookie (well, those of you in the States can buy a gun, but can’t walk into a bookie, but you know what I mean) and place a considered, adult wager on the Titans at a freely available 28-1 to win the Superbowl. Let that sink in for a second. 28-1.

Hey, it’s no lock, for sure, there are no ‘sure things’ anymore in sports, just ask last years hot favourite Colts. It’s all about the value, and 28-1, that’s value!

Meet your 2010 Tusken Raiders

In the words of the immortal Pete Carroll, I am both pumped and psyched about The Tusken Raiders, my 2010 Fantasy NFL team. Myself and nine good friends from Baseball Ireland are about to embark on our fifth season running, playing the game against each other. This is far and away the best team I have been lucky enough to assemble.

Where to start? Running backs? How about these four gentlemen. Chris Johnson, Beanie Wells, Ryan Grant and Justin Forsett. Forsett is my back up plan should any of the other three get hurt or suffer a dip in form. Pretty psyched to have Johnson, but also very excited about Beanie Wells. You can’t beat seeing the action with your naked eye, and Beanie not only has an absolutely awesome name, he looked superb in the latter stages of last season. Massive upswing potential.

The Tusken Raiders marquee player: Chris Johnson

The boys at the helm of this juggernaut? Only Matt Ryan and Donovan McNabb. A little context, both were very late round picks, after most of the ‘big guns’ had gone, so to get these two fine gentlemen so late was a bonus. Really excited about Ryan’s potential coming into his third year in the league. Meanwhile, you think McNabb isn’t going to be firing on all cylinders trying to show the Eagles what they are missing? He is a fine, proud athlete, and fits in nicely to the Tusken Raiders.

The great Lorcan Sherlock commented on the Tusken Raiders receivers describing them as ‘somewhat weak’, I beg to differ. Vincent Jackson, Pierre Garcon, Jacoby Jones and Julian Edelman. Jackson and Garcon are tier one guys. Both should see plenty of ‘looks’ and will be hauling in passes from Rivers and Manning respectively, not exactly a shabby crew. Jones is a very exciting prospect, plugged into that Houston attack, while Edelman is a bit of a gamble, call him 'Wes Welker insurance'.

I could not be more pumped and psyched about my two tight ends. Owen Daniels and John Carlson. Both are big, young and talented players with great hands. Daniels should see plenty of action while Carlson is a nice backup plan.

Team defence? How about the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers? Kicker? Only Robbie Gould! The accurate and clutch Bears kicker.

My opening speech to the guys before week one?

‘The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself, now go out there and play the heck out of some Fantasy Football games!’

Headhunters

Are the Yankees paying their pitching staff by the HBP?

''Bautista connected off righthander David Robertson (2-4) in the eighth, one at-bat after taking exception to a head-high pitch from Yankees starter Ivan Nova, who was making his first career start. Both benches and bullpens emptied when Nova fired one over the head of catcher Francisco Cervelli to begin the sixth. Bautista exchanged words with Nova and took several steps toward the mound while plate umpire Jerry Meals warned both dugouts. Yankees manager Joe Girardi raced out to get between the two, and there was no physical contact.''

Of course you have to bear in mind their pitchers aren't ejected even after a warning, so, it's easy for them to throw at people.

2011 ALCS: Game one - Yankees @ Red Sox

A glimpse into the future, as the Red Sox take on the Yankees in game one of the 2011 ALCS


Clay Buchholz (26 years old) out pitched an erratic AJ Burnett (34) as the youthful Red Sox blasted past the ageing Yankees 8-0 in last night’s opening ALCS game in front of a rowdy, sold out Fenway Park. Boston, riding the wave of their break-out 106 win season, took their grip on the game early and never let go.

Buchholz: dominant

In the first inning, Jacoby Ellsbury (26) was hit by a pitch leading off as Burnett continued to have control problems. The Yankees ace by default (earning $16.5 million) thanks to Sabathia’s health/injury riddled season, hit the speedster Ellsbury (earning $496,500) with the first pitch of the game. Ellsbury took off on the next pitch and stole second easily as once again Yankee catcher Jorge Posada (40 years old earning $14 million) and shortstop Derek Jeter (37 years old earning $23 million) failed to connect. All season long teams have been stealing on the ageing Yankee catcher and shortstop, both slowed by several niggling injuries and the rigors of a long MLB season.

28 year old MVP candidate Dustin Pedroia brought Ellsbury home to score with a line drive single to right that was bobbled by one of the youngest players on the Yankees playoff roster, 30 year old Nick Swisher.

Buchholz, who won 19 games in the regular season as part of the Red Sox young, talented rotation (Hard to believe the Red Sox paid Buchholz a stunningly low $443,000 in 2010), put of zeroes early and often, mixing his pitches well to navigate through the Yankee lineup, struggling with the absence of (36 year old earning $34 million) Alex Rodriquex, once again held out of the lineup because of an undisclosed ‘health issue’. Many are speculating that this is the same ‘health issue’ that signaled the start of the end of known steroid abuser Jason Giambi’s career. Rodriguez lost weight, went into a 3 for 52 slump and was placed on the DL by the Yankees, who reports say are distraught to be on the hook for 30 million a year for the next several years for the self admitted steroid abuser.

The Red Sox knocked Burnett out of the game early and then feasted on the paper-thin Yankee bullpen, shorn of its once great closer. The crucial inning was the fifth. Youkilis led off with a ball hit to Derek Jeter’s left that the creaky infielder couldn’t get to. Victor Martinez, fresh off his superb 30 home run, 110 RBI season, followed with a double to right leaving runners at second and third with no outs. A clearly angry Girardi lifted the ineffective Boone Logan (5.60 regular season ERA) for the equally inefficient Chad Gaudin. Gaudin walked Adrian Beltre on four pitches and then gave up a booming, deep grand slam to right hit by the Red Sox promising young outfielder Ryan Kalish (only 22).

Given a lead the Red Sox young, ferocious bullpen slammed the door on the Yankees. The Red Sox were 78-4 during the regular season when leading after the seventh inning, thanks to the young, hard throwing combination of Dubront (22), Bard (25) and Papelbon (29). One of the highlights of the game from a Red Sox perspective was Bard striking out the side in the eighth innings on final pitches of 99, 100 and 101 mph. Dubront, who showed signs of breaking out in ’10, had a stunning ’11, proving completely unhittable to left handed batters throwing mid nineties with a killer curve. Dubront abused the only batter he faced, striking out the clearly over matched left handed Nick Swisher on three pitches. Papelbon came in for the ninth despite the score needing some work, and set the Yankees down 1-2-3.

Meanwhile the Yankee bullpen is in complete disarray after the once great Mariano Rivera (now 41 years old) was placed on the DL with lower back stiffness. Age appears to have finally caught up on the greatest closer of all time, after a disastrous late season collapse that saw him blow seven out of ten save opportunities.

‘You know, you are trying to close out games with guys who just haven’t been in this position before, yes, of course we really miss Mo’

said a frustrated Yankee manager, Joe Girardi, who is trying to mix and match between injury prone Kerry Wood (34), erratic Jobba Chamberlin and inexperienced David Robertson. Girardi went on to say the Yankees were just going to have to get used to life without Mo. Sources close to the Yankee closer indicate he may be finally close to retiring.

Tonight the Yankees will send struggling CC Sabathia, to face Cy Young candidate Jon Lester. Sabathia, fined coming into Spring training because of his weight gain, struggled early and often to a 12-13 record, seemingly losing stamina late in games, perhaps as a result of his ample girth. The 31 year old Yankee is listed in the Yankee media guide as 290 lbs however sources in the Yankees training staff indicate Sabathia touched 360lbs during the regular season. In previous years he displayed an exuberance and athleticism despite his weight, however this appears to have finally caught up on him. Sabathia was shelled by the light hitting Oakland A’s in his only ALDS start.

Meanwhile, Lester, the heart and soul of the spectacular, young Red Sox rotation, cruised to a 21-5 record at age just 27. Lester’s salary? $3.7 million, dwarfed by the salaries of the top starters in the Yankee rotation.

A boisterous Fenway proved a complete opposite to the morgue like atmosphere at Yankee Stadium in the season ending series between these two sides. With the Yankees ten games out of first and battling for the Wild Card, Yankee Stadium was relatively empty, particularly the exorbitantly priced $2,500 seats that surround home plate. Major League Baseball has denied calling the images of a half empty Yankee Stadium ‘an embarrassment’ however it is no secret the Yankees over priced seats are causing the front office severe issues.

During the broadcast the commentary team alluded to the fact that Fenway was a much more intimidating place to play than the echoey, empty and mystique less new Yankee Stadium. When asked about the Fenway crowd, Dustin Pedroia said;

‘’Hey you know, we love those guys, they fill the seats out every single night, no matter who is playing or whatever, they come on in to see the Laser Show, and of course we ride that to as many wins as we can, you have to play hard for these guys. I don’t know about the Yankees but I wouldn’t be able to get going in that atmosphere, how much are those seats, $2,500? That’s more than Bard and Buchholz are earning, right?’

The latter part was alluding to the young Red Sox pitchers low salaries.

What is clear is the old, tired and injury hit Yankee squad has its work cut out for it against a young, talented squad of Red Sox players, who appear to be entering a phase of domination eerily mirroring the early nineties Yankee teams. Call this a passing on of the torch if you will.

The only problem of course, is the once great but now ageing Derek Jeter might drop said torch on the transfer.

One rule for the Yankees, another for everyone else..

Special privileges

Gotta love those Yankees. In last night’s testy encounter between the Yankees and the Tigers, there were a couple of bean ball incidents, including the Yankees showing their usual class by plunking Miggy Cabrera after he hit two home runs.

God bless those little Yankees. Someone has the audacity to hit two long balls off their pitching staff so they plunk him. You stay classy, New York.

The Tigers also hit a batter, and therefore the umpiring crew issued a warning, meaning that if anybody hit anybody they would be automatically ejected, along with their manager. Sure enough, Yankees reliever Chad Gaudin hit Cabrera, his first batter, in the back to start the eighth.

You know what’s coming, right? He was not ejected from the game. Jim Leyland, the Tigers skipper, went understandably nuts and he himself was ejected instead.

When incident like that happen, you have to think there appears to be a different set of rules for the Yankees.

The Yankees operate with arrogance and ignorance, and it’s a combination of both that may be their downfall. Getting involved in a bean ball war with a team that is to all intents and purposes out of the playoff race is simply idiotic. The Yankees have a lot more to lose than their opponents last night. Imagine another incident similar to last night, but this time Derek Jeter gets hit in the hand with a pitch and the Yankees 57 year old short stop’s season is over.

Can you imagine the nuclear level whining and complaining that would emanate from the Bronx if that happened?

It would not be pretty.

Adrian Beltre facts; the best of

The last week or so Twitter has been awash with #adrianbeltrefacts. They are kind of like the old Chuck Norris facts, but funnier. Beltre has become a cult figure in what is increasingly looking like a lost season of Red Sox baseball. How come? First off, he is pretty quirky, he swings (sometimes) from his knees and doesn’t like anyone touching his head. That and he is absolutely mashing the ball.

Here, for your viewing pleasure, the finest of the Adrian Beltre facts


* Adrian Beltre has never hit into a fielder’s choice. The choice is up to him.
* Adrian Beltre hasn’t made 15 errors. The official scorers have.
* The reason Adrian Beltre throws flat-footed is to slow down the rotation of the earth.
* NASA solved its early problems by having Adrian Beltre throw the capsules into space.
* With the roof open at Rogers Centre, the sun isn’t beating down on Adrian Beltre. Adrian Beltre is beating down on the sun.
* Carl Everett thinks that Adrian Beltre is made up, just like the dinosaurs and outer space.
* Adrian Beltre doesn’t like anybody touching his head because he’s afraid he’ll break their hands.
* Even Chuck Norris is afraid to touch Adrian Beltre’s head.
* Even Adrian Beltre’s helmet is afraid to touch his head.
* The Big Bang was a result of God touching Adrian Beltre’s head.
* Adrian Beltre is the reason McDonald’s discontinued the McRibs.
* Adrian Beltre once watched “Delta Force” on TV. Chuck Norris woke up the next day with three broken ribs.
* Adrian Beltre is the reason baseballs need stitches.
* It took Adrian Beltre only four swings to demolish the old Yankee Stadium.
* Adrian Beltre only appeals to umpires on checked swings so they can feel important.
* Customs officials will have to show Adrian Beltre their passports at the airport tonight.
* When Adrian Beltre does a postgame interview, he asks the questions.
* Adrian Beltre doesn’t wear spikes. The ground knows the only way to survive is not to let go.

The finest of the lot;

* Adrian Beltre pulled a ball to the opposite field.

* Scott Boras is actually an Adrian Beltre client.

* Adrian Beltre won Connect Four in three moves.

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FIFA plays Ostrich, and does it so well. Version 2.0

Is there a more infuriating governing body in World sports than FIFA? Time and time again they display an incredible ineptitude and lack of understanding of grass roots issues in their ridiculous, pompous announcements. The latest? They want to eliminate the draw, the 'tie' during World Cup play.

So we are cool with a large percentage of games ending in farce due to FIFA's Luddite like inability to keep up with modern times and technology, but we want to get rid of the hundred year old football tradition of the draw?

Great to see FIFA have their priorities right on this one. What a pack of clowns.

FIFA gather to make another big decision

Thursday; around the world

A glance at the Worldwide visitors to the Boston Irish blog today, August 12th 2010.
I love this little map! It’s fascinating to see the formations of little ‘hit’ flags, more concentrated in some areas than others.



Looks like we have work to do in Russia, China, South America and Africa! Mainland Europe and the East and West Coast of the States are pretty healthy though.

What on earth is going on in the Mid West of the USA? They like baseball there, right? Maybe they don’t have the Internet there yet? Or is it that they are dizzy from watching too much Nascar?

Thailand had more hits on Boston Irish today (one) than the Mid West USA!

What's going on there?!

25/1, what the what?

Now first things first, this is all about value, this is not a prediction! Today, at this very moment, the Boston Red Sox are available to win the World Series at 25/1. That’s right, 25/1. Boston is currently just three games out in the Wild Card standings, and still within touching distance of the Yankees at the top of the AL East. The realistic target is of course the Wild Card. My feeling is the bookmakers have not adjusted for the fact that Tampa are struggling a little and facing some serious injury issues, while the Sox are about to get seriously healthy in a hurry. Pedroia is coming back. Big Victor Martinez is starting to slam the ball with authority. The pitching is healthy and lining up nicely.

Say Boston overtakes a seriously ailing Tampa side for the Wild Card. They go into the playoffs with a short rotation of any three from Beckett, Lester, Bucholz and Lackey, with the extra guy going to the bullpen. You think any team wants a piece of that?

Once again, this is not a prediction, there are plenty of banana skins out there, and a brick wall in the form of the Kajillion dollar Yankees, however 25/1 for a squad as good as the Boston Red Sox have, that’s just crazy.

Value, value, value. It’s all about value. And that’s value!

Don’t sweat it LeBron, ESPN has got your back

A few weeks ago ESPN provided the launching pad for ‘LeBron – the decision’, one of the ugliest pieces of sports television since that abhorrent Barry Bonds ESPN ‘exclusive’. ESPN completely and utterly ceded editorial control in pursuit of high ratings, attaching itself to the LeBron bandwagon like a desperate stripper in a dark nightclub.

Last week, one of ESPN’s reporters spent a night partying with LeBron at a nightclub called ‘Tao’. ESPN LA ran the ensuing, warts and all story but nine hours later ESPN.com pulled it completely off its servers. ESPN are saying they did so as Markazi never explicitly told LeBron he was a reporter. Markazi himself says he made it clear to LeBron’s ‘entourage’ that he was from ESPN. The latter is not being disputed, so if he said he was from ESPN, surely that insinuates he is a reporter?

Either way, it is scary that ESPN are now pulling stories and chastising its own writers for producing interesting, factual material, solely as it may prove embarrassing to the athletes involved.

Thankfully, ESPN doesn’t hold sway over the ‘free’ internet world, and therefore, you can read the story in its seedy entirety right here.

Click on the image to read the original article, and enjoy (I love the bit about Big Baby Davis!)

Glass half full in the AL East

With one game left in the series, the potentially epic Red Sox v Yankees four game showdown could end up in a damp squib tie, 2-2, if Lester does the business tonight. Most Sox fans were hoping for a sneaky 3-1 win on the basis of the pitching matchups, however Dustin Mosley (who!?) out-pitched Beckett and now we’re staring down the barrel of a 1-3 reverses, or 2-2 tie if Johnny L is on his game.

Disaster?

Not so fast! As Boston and the Kajillion Dollar Bronx Bombers slugged it out in the City where money can buy you anything and anyone except LeBron, Tampa were busy completely and utterly self destructing up in Canada.

They were (very) almost no hit (again) last night by the completely underwhelming Brandon Morrow, they have lost five in a row and Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis are possibly heading to the DL. That’s 19 wins total subtracted out of their banged up rotation. Meanwhile supposed ace ‘Big Game’ James Shields is hemorrhaging runs like a BP Oil platform.

I have to say I have never ‘got’ the ‘Big Game’ tag that has been applied to James Shields. Where does this wafer thin reputation come from, exactly? He is 10-10 this season with an ERA hovering around 5 (4.91). Looking at his game log, ‘Big Game’ has given up at least 2 earned runs in every single start bar just one this season. Every other game he has started he has given up at least 2 runs! Is that the stuff of a front line starter?

'Big Game' doing what he does best - giving it up

To get back to the point, Tampa’s implosion couldn’t have come at a better time. A steady few weeks, a couple of winning series from Boston, and they could leap frog Tampa for the AL Wild Card spot.

Just shows, there is always a bright side to every day, despite not making up ground in the AL East, Boston has shown that they can win in the Bronx and has also put themselves in a position to overtake the suddenly panicking Rays.

Stay tuned, it’s going to be an interesting couple of weeks in the East.


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Artie Ziff has really gone and done it this time..

Oh the Internet, the cause of, and answer to, all of our problems.

There’s an acerbic, ‘humorous’, wildly popular sports blog that is running a story about a well known athlete sending ‘personal’ pictures of himself to a female cheerleader turned quasi sideline reporter. The blog is knee deep in dark humour normally, and appears to particularly love running stories that involve male athletes sending pictures of their, ahem, appendage to women.

Normally, and bear this in mind, with evidence.

The editor in chief, who is running this story, is a small, angry, awkward looking man with bad hair, kind of akin to Artie Ziff. In fact let’s call him that from here on in.

A dead ringer

This person doesn’t appear to actually have anything going for him in the writing department other than the ability to churn out short, dark paragraphs joking about a drunken athlete, an athlete having an affair with someone in the sex industry or in some cases, dead athletes. One might wonder about his affection for stories that involve, as Jack Donaghy calls it, the male ‘swimsuit area’. You also have to wonder about the obvious joy, or schadenfruede this angry, bitter little man takes in potentially destroying the lives of athletes.

Jealous much, Artie Ziff?

The piece in the blog that’s running today bases itself on a couple of very vague conversations between the smarmy little editor and the sideline reporter wanna-be, complete with whatever, quadruple D implants and a history for being photographed in skimpy outfits. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever that the athlete in questions sent any pictures to anyone.

Really, you ask, no evidence? This is all Artie Ziff can come up with;

‘’But soon after (the woman) told me this story, she balked about releasing the photos or voicemails she still had on her computer.’’

Now there’s a whopper of a shocker. Today the editor who broke the story without checking if there was actually any evidence pines;

‘’So, the usual. Still haven't heard a peep out of (the woman), but it appears her handlers are "no commenting" the crap out of this right now’’

The above is, in microcosm, the problem with blogging. Sadly people like the angry, bitter little blog owner that is trying to push this ‘story’, give blogging a very bad name. A real journalist would have stopped at the point where the woman in question did not provide any actual evidence, and said, ‘get back to me when you have something solid’.

Heck, even most blog writers would have done same.

This clown, this idiot, went ahead and splashed his story out anyway, regardless of the potential repercussions. In fact, judging by his slapstick blog posts since, he appears to be enjoying the attention, good, bad or indifferent.

The editor seems to be actually getting some sort of masochistic enjoyment out of the barrage of mails, posts and articles coming out against his piece. He writes;

‘’Welcome back to the heaving underbelly of the internet. That incessant hum you hear is because some people are all atwitter about the ethics and legitimacy of a post on this site. Read and enjoy.’’

The underbelly of the Internet? No wonder you recognise it, Mr. Editor, as you are a major part of it. He writes ‘read and enjoy’, a brave comeback to those asking ‘where is the evidence’? His bravery knows no bounds, sitting in his boxers drinking diet Coke courageously posting completely evidence-less and slanderous articles from the safety of the internet.

In terms of motivation, much of his initial article appears to take great pride in having some sort of backdoor, cyber communication with the ‘your 15 minutes is almost up’ woman involved in the story. He frequently references texts, calls and emails, as if we should be impressed that he had some sort of vaguer, flirtatious cyber communication with a woman whose major claim to fame is basically having fake, plastic breasts. That and a willingness to expose them.

At the end of the day, what it all undoubtedly comes down to is the site in question will get millions of hits and generate more internet cash through advertising. Job done, from that point of view.

Sad, though, that the collateral damage could end up in a broken marriage.

That of course, and the fact that the woman and editor in question will never, ever get further or meaningful work on the field they ostensibly are working towards progressing in, sports journalism. Does Artie Ziff really think anybody in sports is ever going to send him a meaningful text, email or other communication ever again? Hopefully he enjoys his 15 minutes to the maximum as it will be the last time he is ever sent anything by anyone of consequence, ever.

At least we have that to be grateful for.

Lois, Lois, Lois..UNTIL you have a child…UNTIL you have a child..

Interesting line from a beleaguered Jacoby Ellsbury in today’s Globe

“I think anybody who has a rib injury will know what I’m talking about,’’ Ellsbury said. “They say for a while you’ll move wrong and get a sharp pain. It’s something I’ll have to play through.

This came on the back of yesterday’s hatchet job on the Red Sox center fielder by Mr Hatchet himself, Dan Shaughnessy. As usual, the most bitter man in Boston sports started his piece saying he shouldn’t tackle a certain subject, and then goes full barrels into his usual hatchet job; ‘’It’s impossible and unfair to measure another man’s pain.’’ he said, after which he then spends an article in length doing what? You guessed it, judging another man’s pain.

Perhaps the most jarringly ridiculous section of the Hatchet Man’s article was this;

‘’ It was not unlike that July night in 2004 when Nomar Garciaparra sat and stewed while Derek Jeter dived into the stands and the Yankees beat the Red Sox in extra innings.’’

Well actually it was very unlike that night. Unless I am mistaken we do not have a situation currently where legendary superstar is sitting on the bench sulking as a season threatened to unravel before the teams eyes. A good, young player with a completely flawless record to date has broken ribs and is finding it hard to play.

Not really contextual, at all.

You would really like to see Shaughnessy try to play a round of golf or whatever it is he does in his spare time, with broken ribs.

Which brings me to my point. I have tried to pitch with broken ribs before. It’s not easy. It is extremely painful, and the pain in turn saps your energy. Ellsbury is a finely tuned athlete, trying to perform at a high level without full use of his usual ‘tools of the trade’. You don’t step on the diamond in Major League Baseball unless you are ready to compete.

Shaughnessy, and anyone else second guessing Ellsbury right now, should crack a couple of their ribs and then try to hit a Major League fastball.

I am guessing they wouldn’t be so mouthy about it after trying it themselves.



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Hey, buddy, need some headphones?

This sounds like a joke, it sounds as if I am kidding. However, absolutely stone cold truth. LeBron James is currently trying to sell his own brand of headphones on Twitter. Seriously. For realsies.


Perhaps the best part is after posting a glib comment trying to get people interested in his headphones, he then posts another explaining what headphones are. You know, just in case you didn’t know, I guess.

This all raises the question, in light of everything that has come to pass in the last few weeks, does LeBron have anything resembling a soul?


Thankfully, for every LeBron James trying to hock us headphones off the back of a lorry, there is an illuminating, entertaining and wildly enjoyable Ocho Cinco Twitter post.



Have been really enjoying ‘following’ Ocho since I signed up on Twitter a few weeks ago, which will inevitably lead to me picking him two rounds too high in this seasons fantasy NFL draft.

• Follow Boston Irish on Twitter
• LeBron on Twitter
• Ocho Cinco on Twitter

Detroit don't like coming to Boston

Interesting comments from the Detroit commentary team the last few evenings. They spent an entire innings saying that Fenway is still the hardest place to travel to. They were lamenting at first that Boston’s patient lineup had reduced their bullpen to tatters. They then came out and said categorically that Fenway was the toughest, most vociferous AL stadium in the league, with the fans right on top of the action. They made a point of saying that the new Yankee stadium held no intimidation at all, and that it was ‘too clean’.

All in all they said that adding the tough, patient lineup and the ‘tight’ feel to the ball park, Fenway was the hardest park in the AL to travel to for a visiting team.

About Ozzie

Yesterday Ozzie Guillen, White Sox manager and general loudmouth, made some comments suggesting that Latin American players are not afforded the same 'luxuries' as Japanese players. His major sticking point appeared to be that Japanese players are given a translator, whilst Latin players aren't.

First of all, isn't it kind of odd for someone to single out a particular minority when complaining about the perceived treatment of his or her minority? What did Hideo Nomo or Dice K ever do to Ozzie?

Secondly, if Guillen had thought about it he might have realised, there is a massive, enormous difference between being a Japanese player in a Major League clubhouse, than being a Latin American player in same.

Every single MLB team has a good portion of Spanish speaking players. Most teams probably have at least half it's squad able to speak Spanish.

Can you say the same about Japanese?

It is a very tricky language, a tough one to even get the basics of by all accounts. Guillen's poorly thought out rant clearly misses this obvious fact.

A Japanese player would be completely lost in an MLB clubhouse without language assistance. A Latin American player? He has players, coaches and general staff to help with any language barrier.

You would like to tell Guillen to put a sock in it, but, we all know he never will.