Sunday, January 20, 2002

Fair Weather Fan

OK. I've got to confess. With the Patriots down 10-3 in the 3rd quarter and looking overmatched by Oakland, I switched channels on the TV and went to bed a while after that without ever flipping back to check the score. I didn't want to face the oncoming loss. Worse, despite my public claim last week that a Patriots loss (or win) wouldn't mean that much to me, clearly my actions show that wasn't the case.

So this morning as I read about one of the greatest comebacks in New England's history, my happiness is tainted by a touch of shame for my very fair weather behavior. My only excuse is that really, truly, I don't approach football with the same passion as baseball.

Speaking of baseball, while we've been speculating such, it is now official that the new owners plan to fire Duquette:

New Sox owners John Henry and Larry Lucchino have contacted Marlins assistant general manager Al Avila in the last two days about a job with the Red Sox, and informed him that incumbent general manager Dan Duquette will not remain with the team in his present capacity, major league baseball sources said yesterday (Edes, The Boston Globe).

And more good news, yesterday we found out both Nixon and Urbina were signed for the 2002 season. Urbina is still an unknown in my mind, but I'm glad he'll be in the pen when the season starts. And Nixon? Well, who doesn't like this guy?