UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Boy, you get a promotion at work and they expect you to actually work. What the heck is the deal with that! Seriously, as I write this on the train ride home from the city, I am just past the ten month anniversary for BostonSportPage.com and just want to thank everyone who stops by for some good old-fashioned New England ranting and raving. The number of readers goes up each month and I am totally blown away on a consistent basis by how many people actually stop by the site. So thank you to all of you reading, and especially thanks to the hottest webmaster on the planet, my wife Kathy, for all her hard work on the site design and promotion. I love you, babe!

* * *

And now, a little something that needs a consistent name, but basically is the occasional clearing out of all the little yellow sticky notes stuck to my laptop when I get an idea that I want to comment on, but does not tend to warrant a full extrapolation:

THE BIGGEST FREE AGENT SIGNING OF THE OFF-SEASON:

A.J. Burnett will end up in St. Louis. I have no real reason, just a hunch that the Redbirds realize they are a number two starter away from making the World Series and the window is closing rapidly in front of their eyes.

* * *

4-4-3:

Romeo, oh Romeo, wherefore art thou, Romeo? Why is the Ravens, with a depleted secondary plays the 4-4-3 (4 defensive linemen, 4 linebackers, and 3 defensive backs) and the Patriots trot out six different safeties? I want Bruschi 15 yards off the ball decapitating wide receivers already! Is there a reason the Pats cannot play a 4-4-3? Exactly, they did not think of it. Get out there and do it already!

* * *

MY MANNY TRADE:

Manny to the Mets via Oakland. The Sox get Barry Zito from the Athletics and Cliff Floyd and his huge salary from the Mets, the Mets get Manny, and Oakland gets Lastings Milledge and a couple more prospects from the Mets and the Sox (not A+ prospects from the Sox, however). So the Sox get Zito and Floyd; the Mets get Manny; and Oakland gets their prospects. Alas, it makes too much sense.

* * *

I WANT CANDY:

But not the Kandi-man. If Michael Olowokandi joins the Celtics, I quit. No more FSN for me. I mean it.

* * *

SORE ABOUT SORIANO:

Hey, I am all for it: Alphonso Soriano in centerfield is a great fit for the Red Sox. Bring on the Rangers GM. I have Trot Nixon and Bronson Arroyo just dying to play in Arlington, TX.

* * *

J-E-T-S, JETS, JETS, JETS:

I’ll play Beavis right now: Brooks Bollinger, that guy, like, sucks. Heh-heh-heh.

* * *

MORE TIKI PLEASE:

No, not the email my wife is sending Giants coach and former Boston Catholic coach Tom Coughlin, but rather there is apparently room in the greater New Jersey area for more than one Tiki/Tike as the Flushing Mutts acquired Tike Redman from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Sadly enough, in September when the Mutts are coasting into another 82-80 finish and Pedro is already in the Dominican eating plantains, Tike Redman will be looked on as the best move of the winter by Omar Minyana.

* * *

YANKEES OFFSEASON OF JOY:

No B.J. Ryan. No Billy Wagner. No Flash Gordon. No Trevor Hoffman (likely). No bullpen bridge to Mariano Rivera to hold off the charging Blue Jays and Red Sox. Sweet.

* * *

WILL YOU BE MY FANTASY:

If Heath Miller had been held to 2 receptions for 24 or less yards in the Monday night game, I would have won my fantasy league head-to-head match-up with my brother-in-law Tim. Miller’s stats: 4 receptions for 26 yards. Yes, that was me that woke up the neighborhood with the GOD-DAMMIT FREAKING ROETHLISBERGER FIND A WIDE RECEIVER ONCE-IN-A-WHILE YOU OVER-RATED CHUMP screaming last night.

* * *

THE SAD STATE OF HOCKEY IN THE HUB:

The amazing thing is not that Jumbo Joe has 23 assists for the Bruins, but that the team has scored 23 goals this season. I expected this team to come out of training camp flying down the ice and putting 40+ shots on goal each game. I thought that visiting goalies would be circling the Bruins game as the one where their hamstring would be a little tight and they would throw the back-up out there to face the barrage. Instead, I see a team that is horrible on defense, cannot mount any type of attack unless they have a power play, and cannot score with consistency unless they have a two man advantage.

Twenty-five games into the season, and other than Jumbo Joe and Sergei doing their usual quiet and consistent non-leadership roles, everyone else, AND I MEAN EVERYONE, has been a disappointment. Glen Murray is inconsistent and appears to be playing with the ghost of Ulf Samuellson hanging onto him, Brian Leetch has been injured, the kids have played like kids on defense, Hal Gill is the equivalent of a orange cone on the ice, does anyone know if Zhamnov is actually on the team or off in a bar in Russia counting his rubles, and what ever happened to Patrice Bergeron? This team needs to be ripped apart and rebuilt immediately. The good will is gone. Come March, with these same bozos on the ice, the Garden crowd is going to look like that of a Pee-wee hocky game: a bunch of fans massed around the red line and a few stragglers out in the cheap seats.

Fire the GM. Fire the Coach. Trade off the players like Thornton, Samsonov, Murray, Leetch Gill, and Slegr. Rebuild the franchise on the fly is what I say.

* * *

Comments