congratulations to our human slot machine ... wide receiver wes welker has again been selected to the nfl's pro bowl team ... welker currently leads the nfl in receptions with 122 (in just 13 games played) ... 2nd place brandon marshall of denver has 101 catches ... welker ranks 1st in yac (yards after catch), 2nd in total yards gained behind houston's andre johnson and 2nd in receptions for 1st down, one chain mover behind reggie wayne of indianapolis

congratulations to quarterback tom brady, guard logan mankins and nose tackle vince wilfork for being selected to the pro bowl too ... for brady, this will be his 5th pro bowl ... mankins and wilfork will be going for a 2nd time

now let's hope not one of these players actually travels to and makes an appearance in this year's pro bowl

can't remember when i last watched a college bowl game ... have no interest ... the bcs is the ncaa's money minting embarassment ... talk to me when the bcs is finally dismantled and recreated as a playoff system ... instead of oranges or sugar or cotton or roses, i might just watch "the winter classic" ... new year's day ... 1:00 pm ... nbc-tv ... historic fenway park ... hockey game played outside ... philadelphia flyers vs boston bruins ... for the nostalgic, broad street bullies vs big bad bruins ... the latest in manufactured "made for money" sporting events ... the ice skating ring has been in place across fenway park for 10 days now ... will be there another 10 after the big game ... fenway sports group gets $10,000 an hour from groups using the ice rink ... an outdoor nhl hockey game at a venue with historic overtones ... brokers are getting $800-$1,000 for tickets ... the teams will be wearing uniforms specifically designed for "the winter classic" ... the entire collection of winter classic gear has been on sale at your local souvenier shop for weeks now ... the more we spend on "events" like this, the more the marketing geniuses of sport will manufacture circuses like this

the lists are everywhere ... important people of the decade ... memorable moments during the decade, etc ... everyone's giving out awards ... team of the decade, player of the decade, etc ... website after website, blog after blog ... everyone is doing it ... the more i read, the more i think we need to get beyond the decade stuff ... then i start thinking about my wide world of sports life in the 1st decade of the 21st century ... i'm pushing 60 years old ... let's say i've been a sports fan since age 10 ... that's near 5 decades ... so now i'm thinking more good things happened in my sports world this decade than in the previous four combined ... the red sox hadn't won a world series in 81 years ... in 40 years, the patriots had never won a super bowl ... the syracuse orangemen had never won a men's basketball title ... even the boston celtics with 16 championship banners hadn't won anything in 14 years ... so i just had to do it ... i was thinking i'd never do it ... i was bored with it all ... but now ive gone and done it ... my very own recollections of an incredible awesome amazing decade about to come to a close

january 28, 2000

robert & jonathan kraft and the new england patriots hire bill belichick as head coach succeeding pete carroll ... before coming back to new england, belichick was head coach of the cleveland browns for 5 years (1991-95) and the new york jets for 1 day before he announced "i resign as hc of the nyj" ... since belichick was contractually tied to the jets, the patriots sent a 1st round draft pick to new york for the rights to hire the "defensive genius" who had coached new york giants defenses to two super bowl championships (1986 & 1990)

april 16, 2000

with the 199th pick (6th round) in the nfl's 2000 college draft, bill belichick, scott pioli and the new england patriots select 22 year old quarterback thomas edward brady, jr of san mateo, california and the university of michigan

september 23, 2001

new york jets linebacker mo lewis delivers a vicious but legal hit on patriots quarterback drew bledsoe shearing an artery in bledsoe's rib cage ... ouch ... that injury effectively ended bledsoe's football career in new england and launched that of 3-time super bowl champion quarterback tom brady

february 3, 2002

in their 42nd year of existence, the new england patriots stun the st louis rams 20-17 to win SUPER BOWL XXXVI at the superdome in new orleans ... the patriots entered this game as prohibitive underdogs (14 points) to "the greatest show on turf" ... took the field "as a team" after saying no thanks to traditional individual player introductions ... and won the 1st super bowl championship in franchise history on a final tom brady led drive which ended with a 48 yard adam vinatieri field goal as time expired ... vinatieri's game winning field goal made this the 1st super bowl to be decided on the game's final play

february 27, 2002

ownership of the boston red sox is transferred from the jean yawkey trust and it's do-just-about-nothing trustee and president john harrington to a consortium led by former florida marlins owner john henry and former san diego padres owner tom werner ... purchase price, which included fenway park and 80% of nesn, was $700 million ... while neither had roots in new england ... principal owner john grew up a fan of stan musial and the st louis cardinals ... and is a passionate fan of the game of baseball ... chairman tom werner became a fan of the red sox during his days at harvard in the early 70's ... one day after taking ownership of the team, henry and werner fired arrogant general manager dan duquette

january 1, 2003

a private investment group led by local businessmen and lifelong celtics fans wyc grousbeck and steve pagliuca acquire the boston celtics from absentee owner paul gaston for $360 million ... their best personnel moves were their first ... restoring red auerbach's title of team president and hiring danny ainge as director of basketball operations

april 8, 2003

the syracuse university men's basketball team defeats the kansas jayhawks 81-78 to win the 2002-03 NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP in the loiusana superdome ... in his 27th year as head coach, hall-of-famer jim boeheim won his 1st championship after losing to indiana in 1987 and kentucky in 1996 ... as had been the case all season, the orange were led by freshmen carmelo anthony (f) and gerry mcnamara (g), and sophmore hakim warrick (f) ... mello scored 20 points, had 10 rebounds and 7 assists <> gmac scored 18 points on 6 3-pointers <> warrick blocked the potential game tying shot as time expired ... anthony was named the tournament's "most outstanding player" ... watch highlights here

november 30, 2003

37 year old arizona righthanded pitcher curt schilling agrees to waive his no trade clause and accept a trade to the boston red sox ... commenting following the trade, schilling said "i want to be a part of bringing the first world series in modern history to boston, and hopefully more than one over the next four years" ... before his retirement, curt schilling was a part of two world series championship teams in boston ... the 1st teaming with pedro martinez (and dlowe) ... the 2nd with josh beckett (and jon lester)

february 1, 2004

new england patriots defeat the carolina panthers 32-29 to win SUPER BOWL XXXVIII at reliant stadium in houston ... this was new england's 2nd super bowl championship in 3 years ... at the time, veteran sports illustrated writer peter king proclaimed this "the greatest super bowl of all time" ... as in super bowl xxxvi, this game was won in the final 1:08 on the arm of tom brady and the foot of adam vinatieri's with 4 seconds on the game clock

october 20, 2004

the greatest comeback in the history of sport ... the greatest sports moment in my lifetime ... for more, see photo and narrative to the right

october 27, 2004

the boston red sox end an 86 year championship drought, shutting out st louis 3-0 to win the 2004 WORLD SERIES in a 4 game sweep of the cardinals ... of this first in my lifetime world series championship, i will remember many things ... 1) it was oh so fulfilling ... 2) it was to some degree anti-climatic ... 3) it was for the long suffering, and for those who had loved the red sox an entire life and never seen or felt a world series championship ... and 4) no more talk of curses or 1918 or john mcnamara or bill buckner or grady little... thank you manny (world series mvp) and papi and billy meuller and oc and johnny damon and milar and tek and pedro and schill and dlowe and foulkie and all the rest

october 31,2004

the pittsburgh steelers beat up the new england patriots 34-20 ... ending the patriots consecutive game winning streak at 21 (regular and postseason) ... and the league record 18 game regular season winning streak

february 6, 2005

the new england patriots beat the philadelphia eagles 24-21 to win SUPER BOWL XXXIX at alltel stadium in jacksonville ... this super bowl championship was new england's 2nd consecutive and 3rd in 4 years ... and this may well have been the most talented, most complete and most accomplished edition of the new england patriots ever ... this patriots team was 14-2, won it's last 12 games and was the afc's #2 seed in the postseason ... they then shut down the league's #1 offense, smothering peyton manning and the 12-4 indianapolis colts 20-3 ... and shreaded the nfl's #1 defense, beating down the 15-1 pittsburgh steelers 41-27 on their way to jacksonville ... oh what an amazing team of football players this was ... brady <> vinatieri <> dillon <> faulk <> light <> koppen <> neal <> brown <> branch <> givens <> graham <> fauria <> seymour <> wilfork <> warren <> bruschi <> johnson <> vrabel <> mcginest <> harrison <> law <> samuel

june 10, 2007

4-time nascar champion jeff gordon wins the rain shortened pocono 500 culminating an incredible 4-day front row view of turn 3 from deep within pocono raceway's motorhome village ... a decade of thanks to my just-the-best nephew jason, the tony stewart guy ... his lovely wife robin, the dale, jr fan ... and my awesome great nephew tommy, all about jimmie johnson ... my caretakers for the all things pocono trip of the decade

july 31, 2007

danny ainge and the boston celtics aquire 10-time all-star and 2004 mvp forward kevin garnett from the minnesota timberwolves ... garnett joined the previously aquired (2007/06/28) 7-time all-star shooting guard ray allen and veteran celtics star paul pierce, a 5-time all-star in his own right, to complete the boston celtics' new "big 3"

september 1, 2007

recalled from pawtucket with september roster expansion and in just his 2nd major league start ... 23 year old rookie "untouchable" clay buchholz pitches a no-hitter, shutting down the baltimore orioles 10-0

september 9, 2007

new york jets head coach eric manjudas orders new england patriots' video dept employee matt estrella and his camera be removed from the sidelines during the 1st quarter of the patriots-jets football game in the meadowlands ... what happened after manjudas' former co-worker was removed was subsequently dubbed "spygate" ... without editorial comment, i will just say "most overbown, misunderstood story in the history of sport"

october 28, 2007

the boston red sox defeat colorado 4-3 to complete a 4 game sweep of the rockies and make the red sox 2007 WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS ... this was boston's 2nd world series championship in 4 years ... and the red sox became the 1st team to win 2 world series in the 21st century ... while 3rd baseman mike lowell was named series mvp ... this world series championship was all about an excellent effort by many ... ellsbury <> pedroia <> ortiz <> ramirez <> youkilis <> drew <> beckett <> schilling <> lester <> papelbon

december 29, 2007

the new england patriots come from 12 points down to escape the giants in new york 38-35 and complete an nfl record 16-0 regular season ... it was said at the time this was a game that meant nothing (because both teams had clinched their spot in the postseason) but it was played like it meant everything ... in retrospect, it meant more to the future than most realize ... tom brady set a new nfl mark for touchdown passes (50) and randy moss broke jerry rice's nfl record with his 23rd touchdown reception ... historically, the offensive unit of this patriots team will be viewed as one of the greatest of all-time ... brady <> moroney <> morris <> faulk <> moss <> welker <> stallworth <> gaffney <> watson <> light <> mankins <> kopen <> neal <> gostkowski

may 13, 2008

after toying with the new england patriots, the commissioner of the nfl and and a brain dead senator from pennsylvania for more than 3 months ... former patriots video department employee and serious scumbag matt walsh gets his 15 minutes of fame shame ... in meetings with commissioner goodell and then senator spectator, walsh confirmed what the new england patriots had known all along ... walsh was the guy who held the sideline camera before matt estrella ... after spending 3 1/2 hours with matt walsh, roger goddell said "the fundamental information that matt provided was consistent with what we disciplined the patriots for last fall" ... said another way, matt walsh had absolutely nothing to offer

april 14, 2008

the boston college eagles overcome notre dame 4-1 to win the 2007-08 NCAA MEN'S ICE HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP ... during the decade, jerry york and his bc eagles advanced to 7 frozen four's and 5 championship games ... and won 2 ncaa titles

may 19, 2008

boston red sox lefthander jon lester pitches a no-hitter against the kansas city royals ... any no-hitter is a special accomplishment but this 7-0 victory was extra sweet for the very talented 24 year old who had struggled to recover from non-hodgkins lymphoma the previous season ... a season which culminated in lester winning the final game of the 2007 world series

june 17, 2008

the boston celtics embarass the los angeles lakers 131-92 in game 6 of 7 to win the 2007-08 NBA CHAMPIONSHIP 4 games to 2 ... this 17th celtics championship season was the best single-season turnaround in nba history (from 24-58 to 66-16, +42 games) ... for perennial all-stars paul perce (championship series mvp), kevin garnett and ray allen, this was the 1st nba championship for each

september 21, 2008

the miami dolphins stun the new england patriots in foxborough 38-13 ending new england's nfl record 21 game regular season winning streak ... this 2nd 21 game winning streak in the decade began after a december, 2006 shutout loss in miami ... included an nfl record 16-0 regular season ... and ended in the patriots 2nd game following tom brady's season-ending knee injury ... brady's replacement matt cassell didn't lose this game ... a defense that had no clue against miami's "wildcat" offense ended the winning streak

november 18, 2008

boston red sox 2nd baseman dustin pedroia wins the american league's 2008 MOST VALUABLE PLAYER AWARD ... the little guy with the big swing and unending desire hit .326 (2nd) with 213 hits (1st), 54 doubles (1st), 118 runs scored (1st), 61 multi hit hames (1st), 17 home runs, 83 rbi's and 20 stolen bases ... the man they call "pedey" had previously won the 2007 rookie of the year award ... and gold glove and silver slugger awards in 2008

april 11, 2009

boston university terriers outlast miami of ohio 4-3 in OT to win the 2008-09 NCAA MEN'S ICE HOCKEY CHAMPIONSHIP ... for coach jackie parker, this was his 3rd ncaa finals win

<> <> <> <> <> <>

and my MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT of the decade ... that one's easy ... the 2004 AMERICAN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES ... 3 super bowl championships, 2 world series championships, an nba championship and an ncaa men's basketball championship ... all memorable moments ... they just don't rise to the level of the 2004 alcs

new year's eve 2010 ... 46 days til the daytona 500 opens the 2010 nascar sprint cup season on sunday, february 14th ... in the meantime, eligibility rules for this year's bud shootout, the pre-season exhibition the saturday night before season-opening race weekend, have been announced ... qualifiers will include (estimated 23 drivers)

• participants in the 2009 chase for a championship <> johnson, martin, gordon, ku busch, hamlin, stewart, biffle, montoya, newman, kahne, edwards & vickers
• past nascar champions <> gordon, johnson, stewart, ku busch, kenseth, b labonte & t labonte
• past bud shootout winners <> harvick, earnhardt jr, stewart, hamlin & johnson
• past daytona points race (february & july) winners <> kenseth, stewart, newman, ky busch, harvick, mcmurray, johnson, gordon, earnhardt jr, waltrip, biffle & j burton
• reigning rookie of the year <> logano

wasn't the original qualifier for this pre-season event winning a "bud pole" the previous season ... and now it's not a qualifier at all ... i'm thinkin martin truax, jr (3 poles) and david reutimann (2 poles) get screwed by these changes

postseason scenarios ... going into the final weekend of regular season football, new england and cincinnati are tied for 3rd in the afc with identical 10-5 records ... if the season were to end today, the patriots would be seeded 3rd and the bengals 4th based on the fourth tiebreaker ... strength of schedule (115 vs 105 opponent wins) ... new england would host the jets, baltimore would travel to cincinnati ... but the season will not end until near midnight on sunday when the cincinnati vs new york jets game is done ... so, going into the weekend, playoff possibilities look like this

win or lose, the patriots and bengals are division winners and will host a playoff game wild card weekend ... who will be seeded 3rd and 4th is now dependent on the outcome of sunday's new england at houston and cincinnati at new york jets games ... and if the tiebreaker is needed, on results of games involving teams on the patriots and bengals schedules

if the new york jets (8-7) and baltimore ravens (8-7) win their sunday games, they are in the playoffs as wild card teams ... if either loses, the door opens for other 8-7 teams <> denver, jacksonville, pittsburgh and miami in that order

big east game #1 ... #5 syracuse 80, seton hall 73 ... thanks to comcast's subscriber freebies ... i was able to watch this game right on my puter via espn360 ... no espn or espn2 tonight ... welcome to the big east wes johnson and rookie brandon triche ... syracuse was down by as many as 12 in the 1st half ... and by 6 in the 2nd half ... they recovered from both deficits with 14-2 and 15-0 runs respectively ... johnson was once again a 2nd half superstar (13 points/12 rebounds) ... kris joseph (25 min/16 points) and scoop jardine (26 min/10 points/3 assists) were again solid off the bench ... turnovers were an ugly issue (20) ... a 38 point performance by an opposing player speaks to defensive breakdown

overall, not bad for an opening night challenge in the big east ... away from the dome (although anywhere in ny/nj the cuse plays there is a huge following) ... against a creditable opponent (now with 3 losses, all to ranked teams) ... next up is pittsburgh (9-2/1-0) at 12:00 noon on saturday from the dome

what is it about red sox contract offers of 4 years/$60 million ... back in 2004, the red sox offered nomar garciaparra a 4 year/$60 million contract extension ... nomar declined the offer and was subsequently traded ... in retrospect, garciaparra should have taken that deal without a second thought ... now comes the case of jason bay ... at this year's all-star break, boston offered bay a 4 year/$60 million contract ... jason declined ... the red sox made their 4/$60 offer again at season's end ... jason again declined and expressed a desire to explore the free agent market ... now as the new year approaches, jason bay is unsigned ... and his only known offer is from the new york mets ... an offer to flush the next 4 years of his career into long island sound for $66 million ... an offer jason bay has yet to accept ... i'm thinking the last place bay wants to spend the next 4 years playing baseball is flushing, ny ... jason should have taken the red sox offer and never looked back

what happened out in indianapolis early sunday evening was unconsionable ... the look on peyton manning's face as he watched helplessly from the sideline ... as he stood with arms folded and watched his undefeated season come to an end in the name of some "organizational decision" ... the look on his face spoke volumes ... if i were a fly on the inside of that face i would have heard the 2009 mvp-to-be saying to himself ...

"can't believe we're just giving up on an undefeated season so the entire offense can rest up for the super bowl ... can't believe it ... it was all set up for us to do what new england couldn't ... our schedule was a cakewalk ... new england was our only tough game ... and they had to come out here for a 3rd year in a row ... we beat them with some of the usual help ... and some that wasn't so usual ... but damitol, we snuck by ... can't believe it ... i have to stand here and watch this dumb "organizational decision" and the pathetic new york jets end my march into another history book"

i'm with peyton ... i can't believe it

based on the nfl's scheduling model ... new england will play the teams of the afc north and nfc central in 2010 ... they will play the other 1st place finishers in their conference ... and they will play their division rivals X2, as always ... this being the case, new england's 2010 home opponents will be the buffalo bills, miami dolphins, new york jets, baltimore ravens, cincinnati bengals, minnesota vikings, green bay packers and indianapolis colts ... the patriots will visit the buffalo bills, miami dolphins, new york jets, pittsburgh steelers, cleveland browns, chicago bears, detroit lions and san diego chargers ... cousin ed will be pleased the colts will be coming to new england in 2010 ... hopefully putting to rest his conspiracy theories about the patriots having played in indianapolis the last 3 years

a month ago, the minnesota vikings (10-1) were a popular pick to be the nfc's super bowl entry ... the vikings have now lost 3 of their last 4 games ... more recently the new orleans saints (13-0) were a trendy pick to get to miami ... the saints have lost their last 2 games ... not exactly the belichick blueprint for developing a team over 17 weeks that peeks just in time for the postseason ... in minnesota, the rift between coach and quarterback may well be their undoing ... and down in new orleans, is it possible drew brees and his offense peeked too soon (week 12 against new england) ... as we approach the final weekend of this nfl season, i'm thinking the philadelphia eagles (11-4 with 6 consecutive wins) may be the team to beat on the nfc side of the bracket

syracuse's starting backcourt tandem of senior andy rautins and freshman brandon triche have several interesting things in common ... both are local kids, their high school diplomas say jamesville-de witt ... both led j-d to state championships, rautins in 2003-04 and triche in 2007-08 and 2008-09 ... and both are related to former standout hoopsters at syracuse ... andy rautins' father leo played under the dome from 1980-83 ... brandon triche's uncle howard (1983-87) played on the 1986-87 team that lost a national championship to indiana ... and his cousin jason hart played for the orange from 1996-2000

is there a better wide receiver in today's nfl than wes welker ... he was aquired from miami for 2nd & 7th round draft picks in 2007 ... in his 1st season as a patriot, welker led the nfl (along with tj houshmandzadeh) with 112 catches and broke troy brown's single season receptions record ... in 2008, welker caught 111 of matt cassell's passes, good for 2nd among all wide receivers ... and was selected to play in his 1st pro bowl ... now, thru 16 games of the 2009 season, the human slot machine leads the nfl with 122 receptions ... and that total has been accumulated in just 13 games ... welker did not play in games 2 & 4 due to a knee injury

syracuse (12-0/5th ranked) begin's big east conference play tomorrow night at seton hall (9-2/unranked) ... the pirates took 6th ranked west virginia to overtime before losing 90-84 in saturday afternoon's big east opener ... if you believe the pundits & polls, the orange's toughest competitors for a big east championship will be wvu, #8 villanova, #10 uconn and #13 georgetown ... reality is, the big east will once again be the best in the country top to bottom ... and come march of 2010, the big east will send 7-8 teams to play "march madness"