Take this with a grain of salt because it's coming from a hockey junkie without the pleasure of an NHL fix this season, but the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship (Dec. 25th - Jan 4th) has been a pleasant surprise.
The tournament is taking place in Grand Forks, North Dakota and features the best 20 and under hockey players in the world including a few NHLers and tons prospects including Sidney Crosby of Team Canada (the 17 year old that is supposedly the next Gretzky), Russia's Alexander Ovechkin (the NHL's #1 pick overall in the 2004 draft), and Hall of Famer Ray Bourque's son, Chris (Team USA).
Team USA plays Sweden in the quarterfinals on New Years Day. It will be televised on ESPN2 at 8:30pm EST.
Christmas brought an extra special gift for Red Sox fans as Jason Varitek officiallysigned a four year contractwith the Sox and was even named team captain. It'srefreshing to see a "good guy" in professional sports every once in a while.
We celebrated yesterday with a brew of Glogg. Here is our version of the traditional Swedish holiday drink. Watch out, it's potent!
2 750ml bottles Cabernet Sauvignon Red Wine
1 1.75 liter Vodka
1 lb Sugar Cubes
Peel from 3 Oranges, cut in strips
3 Cinnamon Sticks
10 Whole Cloves
1.5 Cup Raisins
20 Cardamom Pods (available on the spice rack)
10 Dried Figs
*Whiskey or brandy can also be used in place of the vodka.
Preparation 1. Pour vodka and wine into a large pot. Add orange peel, cinnamon sticks, cloves, caramom pods, raisins and figs. Bring ingredients to a temperature just below boil.
2. Stir in sugar cubes and carefully ignite the mixture with a match.
(Throw the lit match into the brew, quickly step back and wait for the flames to subside. Make sure that nothing nearby will be ignited by the flame. Don't worry, your eyebrows will grow back in 4-6 weeks.) When sugar has melted, cover pan with lid to extinguish. Remove match from brew.
Check outComedy Central's hilarious spoofof the Mastercard commercial that had everybody in New England "giving their first born child" or their "motorcycle" or in Dennis Leary's case something even more valuable for the Red Sox to win the World Series. Well apparently Mastercard has everyone's promises on tape...
So Boston’s not good enough for Pedro? That’s fine. Honestly, I am sad to see the guy go because he is a phenomenal pitcher, but four years and $54 million for one of the moodiest players in the game? Four years and $54 million for a guy that, even though he is still one of the best, had gotten worse and less consistent every year for the past 4 years? No, thanks. I would have loved to have Pedro stay, but we can’t break the bank to sign him.
I’m still confused as to WHY he wanted to leave. I guess it’s something you just can't understand unless you are in the game, but to me, I would rather stay in Boston for three years and 30-something million, stay with my friends, stay in a place where the manager is understanding of you cutting out to go home to the Dominican every now and then, and stay in a place where you just won the freakin’ world series for the first time in 86 years.
Instead Pedro will be pitching in front of the Mets defense, which for the past few seasons has used the Swiss cheese approach. This alone could add more than a point to Pedro’s ERA, but that’s not all that he has working against him. Pedro will also experience a colossal drop off in run support. Sure Pedro strikes people out more than any other pitcher in the game right now, but he simply will not win as many games with out Manny and Papi hitting bombs for him.
Furthermore, Pedro’s health is always a concern. Throughout the season, Francona treated Martinez with kid gloves. 100 pitches and out. No ifs, ands, or buts. You can’t lean on the guy like you can Schilling. He’s not a horse. Furthermore, Pedro has been known to hit batters in his time. He has a reputation for this, and he uses it to his advantage. If he continues to do this, he’ll take a heater to the noggin before April is through, because he is now an NL pitcher, and as we all know, this means he will have to step into the batter’s box. If he does not continue to pitch inside and sometimes bean people, he will not be as effective.
The bottom line is that even if Pedro pitches slightly better next year than he did this year, he will look worse. If Pedro is anything but great, the Mets will look very very stupid. Which they are. I almost feel bad for them.
Die hard Red Sox fans, don't forget to wake up at the crack of dawn tomorrow for your first chance to buy Red Sox tickets for the 2005 season!
The Sox are hosting an event called "Christmas at Fenway" Saturday, December 11th and Sunday, December 12th to offer fans the earliest ever opportunity to purchase "Sox Pax" and single game tickets to 16 selected April and May games. The event will begin at 9am at Fenway Park on both days.
You may also purchase single game tickets starting tomorrow at 9am by calling 617-482-4SOX or by going online to www.redsox.com. Fans who wish to purchase "Sox Pax" can buy online at www.redsox.com or at Fenway Park.
Three of the "Sox Pax" include tickets to the Opening Day game at Fenway against the Yankees. It will be tough to get a single game ticket to that game, so if you really want to go, pick up one of the "pax" if you can. Also, if you are giving Sox tickets as a gift, don't forget to include a "Yankees Choke" t-shirt. Wink wink.
