Bambino's Curse

Journal intime

Pardon me while I expose my nerdy/geeky side for a moment (or maybe better put as exposing more of this side than normal heh heh). For the past week or so in the server referal logs (i.e., a list of who is coming to the site and where they're coming from), I've seen that someone is regularly translating the Bambino's blog into French. Is that cool or what?

First it's amazing to me still, even in these days of over-hype regarding the web, to sit back and consider the whole world wide aspect of this medium. And to think that there is an international audience, even if it's just one soul somewhere in a French speaking country who may have only accidentally stumbled on this site by mistake, is astonishing. And to think that Google et al can translate pages in a couple of seconds, even if the translations are not perfect, is really something.

But the best part of all for me is seeing Bambino's Curse translated into French. Check it out: La Malédiction De Bambino, Journal intime d'un ventilateur rouge de Sox.

A journal intime, how 'bout that! Everything does have a way of sounding better in French.

Now to turn our attention back to le Sox Rouge, that Hancock kid looks pretty good, eh?

Hancock did just fine in his Sox uniform, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks over 5 1/3 innings.

"He was impressive," manager Grady Little said. "His ball was heavy and had a lot of life to it. If he keeps progressing and gets some innings under his belt this winter, he'll certainly come to spring training with a chance to make the team" (Hohler, Globe).

That'll give us some hope to cling to during the long winter to come. And what a great name for Boston player to have.

Finally can you believe the Red Sox at 51-30 have the best road record in all of baseball? That's one of those tidbits that makes me neither happy nor sad but completely nonplussed in the truest sense of the word.

"Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears"*

ANTONY
The noble Writers
Hath told you Pedro was ambitious:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Pedro answer'd it.

First Citizen
Methinks there is much reason in these sayings.
Pedro is under contract; pitching comes in his place.

Second Citizen
If thou consider rightly of the matter,
Pedro has wrought great wrong.
Mark'd ye his words? He would blow this town;
Go to the Bombers with his Dominican arm!

Third Citizen
Has he, masters?
I fear there will a worse come in his place.
There's not a nobler man in Boston than Pedro.

ANTONY
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
The dint of pity: these are gracious drops.

EDWARD
Y tu readers of La Malediction,
Do you come to bury Pedro or praise him?

Twenty-twenty-twenty four hours to go?

"I learned a lot from this season, too. We can do better. We can all do better. And I feel like we will." -- Grady Little

OK. Me, too.

Every day in every way I'm getting better and better.
(Rinse. Lather. Repeat *)

As the team reaches the 90 win mark for the first time since '99 and somehow manages to stay alive in the wild card race, I can't help but think of the missing games, the ones that were shrugged off with "Well, you're going to lose a few out of 162."

But as the team does manage to stay alive, it's still too soon to be saying that it didn't work.

In all my years of following the team, I don't recall ever being in such a predicament, a Twilight Zone of sorts in which the Red Sox are neither in the race nor out of the race, never so absolutely on the line between light and dark.

Even the players have started to go a little loco.

Nothing to do. Nowhere to go oh …

"Oh, Marilyn... the circles under your eyes. How lovely you look today."

Today is the 67th anniversary of the last game Babe Ruth played as a Yankee. Ironically, the game was against the Red Sox who shutout the Bombers 5-0.

Today is also the anniversary of The Munsters which first appeared on CBS on September 24, 1964.

I mention the two together because whenever someone gets really upset over the notion of a "Curse of the Bambino," their objections ("How can you believe such nonsense!") generally fall into the category of thinking that any mention of the Curse means that one has to believe that an actual ghost of the Babe wanders around in the bowels of Fenway Park waiting for the right opportunity to mess with the Red Sox.

Such a scene always gives me a tickle, as I imagine the head of the Babe on the body of Herman Munster and with Herman's personality and voice.

George Herman Ruth Munster: "Lily, watch as I replace Bucky's normal bat with this corked bat." [Sound of load guffawing]

Lily: "Oh, Herman, stop messing around and go find Spot. He's hiding inside the Green Monster again."

It would make a fantastic skit, if you ask me.

El Wok-a-Mole

When I was living in Corpus there was this restaurant called El Wok-A-Mole, a hybrid buffet featuring both Chinese (wok) and Mexican food (the mole part). I never did eat there, as there were dozens and dozens of 100% Tex-Mex restaurants in Corpitos, and I never really had a hankering for a taco de lengua and an egg roll at the same time.

Still I found the concept both gutsy and amusing. Evidently, so did George W. as he made El Wok-a-Mole a campaign stop in the '98 Texas governor's race. And as someone who loves words, I liked the play on the word guacamole, the pronunciation of which sounds like "wok-a-mole."

So why am I going on and on about this? Because these days its like Wok-a-Mole Mondays around here. I've got a blog totally dedicated to the Red Sox, but I'm also craving to read and write about the Patriots.

So I'm going to fix me a plate of Moo Shu with a bowl of caldo and maybe a sopapilla for dessert, and speak to both the Red Sox and Patriots today.

First we must bow down to the great Pedro:

After having his future cast into uncertainty by severe shoulder problems last year, Martinez' 20th win signified the rebirth of a glorious career.

"Of all of my wins, this is the most significant and the one I'm most proud of," an emotional Martinez said. "I didn't know what was going to happen, but after what has happened this year, I'm very happy and satisfied"(Horrigan, Herald)

Can you believe this is the same guy who was once Pedro in Wonderland?

And then there are the Patriots.

… no one in the stadium or on the sideline was concerned when the Chiefs tied yesterday's game, 38-38, on the final play of regulation. You just knew the Patriots would win the overtime coin toss and you just knew Adam Vinatieri would kick a walkoff field goal. It's hard to remember the last time the Patriots lost a coin flip or the last time Vinatieri missed a field goal (Shaughnessy, Globe).

And that's the truth. As a fan, rooting for the Patriots is the antithesis of rooting for the Red Sox. I couldn't help thinking during the overtime yesterday that had it been the Red Sox, it's almost a certainty they would not have won the coin toss. Or, if they had, something horrible would have happened in their opening drive and the game would have been lost in any scenario you put forth.

Yeah, I know, that's not fair to the Red Sox to be so pessimistic, especially in light of all that has happened in the past few weeks with all the negative media coverage and all the pressure we as fans put on the Red Sox.

Still I'd be lying if I said otherwise. And I'm certain I'm not alone in feeling such. I've been beat down so much over the years from following the Sox, that I can't help but go into a defensive, self-protective duck and cover whenever things get dicey. I'm embarrassed by it. I want to be a better, more confident Red Sox fan, but it's not easy. Meanwhile, the experience with the Patriots has managed to be free of the emotional negativity.

So I'll have a torta milanesa and some of that kung pao chicken, please. Maybe the Patriots can help cure what ails me.

Happy wok-a-mole Monday!