The Ramblings...

I realized the other day, quite how much I am not over the Patriots lost. I'm still absolutely angry. As one of my students proved the other day with his, Giant's Super Bowl hat, complete with it's, "We Wanted It More" logo, I am angry, I am hurt, and I wanted my Super Bowl ring and even the warm wonderful glow of spring training is not quite warming the ice over my sports heart.

*I live in coastal Eastern North Carolina, and I've been waiting to see this whole Duke / UNC feud up close. A few weeks ago, I saw that match up at a neighborhood sports bar, and quite frankly, I'm tired of hearing about how other rivalries rival the Boston / New York rivalry. I'm sorry, but I haven't seen anything yet to see show me otherwise.

*Does Tiger Woods actually drive a Buick? I don't think so. At least, I hope not. I've seen the picture of his house, and I don't see a Buick parked in that driveway.

*The NBA All Star game uni's did nothing but confuse me. What was the point of those?

*Kelvin Sampson looks like a dick. His demeanor on the sideline, the way he's always yelling and jumping around. He looks slimy. Athletic directors and GM's should take that into account more often? Does the person look like a good person? No? Well I'd rethink that.

*The NCAA constantly reminds me of an Enron like corporation for a lot of reasons, but mainly because you have these coaches who sign massive multi-year deals, recruit, make promises of four year starting and such, and then jump ship at the first instance of a little water in the hull. Players who signed on to a particular coach should be able to transfer with no wait. Why should they have to put their college career on hold because of some coach? That being said, they should not be picking their college on coach alone. They should be picking their college on more important merits, like the ability to get into most bars with white out on your ID freshman year. The ability to order food at 4 am. Oh, and majors and crap.

*I'm not ready for Fantasy Baseball in any way, shape, or form, when you are still mourning the NFL season and you live without NESN, it's hard to get in the proper mode for football.

*This Bill Simmon's wiki entry is hilarious. I have read the SG since I was a sophomore in HS (just turned the big 25) and I have long enjoyed his work, but the things he feels the need to tell us (like hanging out with Tom after the Super Bowl) show that he is not a fan's perspective, but rather that of a fairly famous writer for the world wide leader. I'm not saying I'm not excited to read what he has to say, but I am saying that I find myself identifying with him less and less.

*So Manny hired Satan and isn't interested in talking about a contract extension and the Boston media has their panties all up in a bunch. I am coming to realize more and more that the "good" guys in baseball are those who are always ready with a good quote, like Mike Lowell (not saying Mike isn't great, just saying that he speaks English and Spanish fluently and is always willing to talk), whereas someone like Manny who isn't quite a language master, (as far as we know) isn't quite as able and willing to talk is aloof and crazy and a bit of a jerk. The only Red Sox player I am willing to say is a nice as you would hope is David Ortiz, as he once pinched my cheek, called me sweetie, and gave me a $1,000.00^. True story. One player I know to be a jerk, I know first hand, John Valentine. Had the personality of a stale piece of moldy toast at the freaking Square One Mall where my brother made me stand in line for like, 3 hours to get his autograph and refused to make eye contact. (At the same event, Darren Lewis quite freakly winked at me, in like, a creepy way, when I was like, 14? 15 tops?)

*It's really sad that the Celtics are relevant, albeit, struggling of late, and I hardly ever get them on TV. I can however watch Duke, State, or UNC every freaking night of the week. Did I ever tell you about the time my dad and I won a raffle to play basketball on the old parquet floor at Boston Garden? I was, eh, I'll go with 12 or 13. My brother was a baby and my mom worked in the bakery at Shaw's at night. And she entered a raffle, and won. (I guess I'm good at raffles) . Anyway, because I was going to be nervous, my Dad told me he was taking me to a bun factory in Boston. When I was younger, I had this terrible problem that whenever I was really excited about something, I kind of threw up.^^ Boston was a big deal, save for Disney on Ice, I didn't go in too often. So I had on a white blouse, black pants, dressy shoes for my big trip. And let me just say, I was psyched for the bread tour. I thought it was going to be like Piantadosi and who doesn't love carbs? This blog is aptly titled...rambling. Part of our tour was that we could eat in whatever the Garden 600 Club was and of course. It was open bar. For those of you who don't know my dad, or my family in general, including myself...My Family + Open Bar = bad times. A few crown royal and gingers later, we went downstairs, shot hoops with ML Carr (well, I shot maybe one, then sat on all the seats on the bench so I knew I had sat in Larry Bird's) and then my dad and I snuck away from the group, and went into all the locker rooms...B's, Celts, visitors room. The home locker rooms were pretty nice, and I actually got to sit in Larry Bird's locker, and my dad took a picture that didn't come out. We were found out by a maintenance man that wasn't too amused by us. I told him we got lost looking for the bathroom and ended up in Larry Bird's locker.

On the way home, I dropped ML Carr's autograph out the window. Then I asked my dad if we could go to the bun factory.

*I need the Red Sox in my life, real live Red Sox. So I'm thinking about talking to the principal on Monday and seeing if I can take a Friday or a Monday coming up and driving to Fort Myers and just saying, "Hi Mike Lowell" and turning around and driving home. Is it worth driving 855 miles to say hello to Mike Lowell? Well, let's face it, rarely if ever should I be your base for sanity!

^Okay, it was a gift certificate I won in a raffle at a charity event, but he gave it to me okay?!?!

^^And not about big things, like, one time, my Auntie told me that she was taking me to Toys "R" Us because I got a good report card (I was maybe in 2nd grade), and that I could get whatever I wanted. (It was a simple thing, I was totally getting a Barbie, it wasn't like I was going out with a new bike or something). Anyway, we get about 3 steps into Toys "R" Us and I threw up all over the floor.