Told Ya So...

Word is that Stephen Strasburg needs Tommy John surgery and will be out at least for this season and next, and will likely never be the same guy.

Our post from Sunday , five days ago.

Beautiful Photos from my Brother Ed

From his Flickr account. Here's one of a squirrel taking a peanut out of Ed's hand at his house in California. Very nice.

Tim Freaking Wakefield

Hopefully, our long local nightmare is just about over, as maybe this will be his last year in a Red Sox uniform. He has been a beloved innings eater for years...by others. Certainly not by the staff here in Apartment 404.

The last time this "beloved" pitcher had an ERA UNDER 4 was 2002! You can look it up. He's always hurt. Varitek couldn't catch him for most of the catcher's career so the team was forced into playing the suckitude that is Cash and Mirabelli. And this year he's spent a good part of the season complaining about the lack of respect the club's management has given him lately. Respect? Dude, you're lucky to have been cashing paychecks for this club for so long.

Wake is without a doubt the most overrated athlete in the history of Boston sports.

Steroids: Were the Old Timers Morally Superior to the Juiciers?

Short answer: Not on your life.

With Roger Clemens in the news lately, we started to think about the age old question regarding steroids: Would Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, and Hank Aaron have used steroids if they had had access to them? We think it's a no-brainer. Of course they would have. Ruth was known for abusing his body with booze and late nights (certainly shooting a needle in his ass wouldn't have been a big deal), Teddy Ballgame's stated goal in life was to be the best hitter ever, and Aaron was a famously focused ballplayer who fought tooth and nail for every edge, no matter how slight. Of course they would have used roids, if the opportunity presented itself. Mike Schmidt and the others who believe themselves morally superior to the Bonds and Cansecos should take a good hard look in the mirror and ask themselves if they were "better" people than modern day players. No way. Speed was prevelant in major league clubhouse beginning in the 60s. These guys, throughout the history of the game, would try to gain any advantage to further their careers.

We are sick and tired of the ridiculous arguments made by old timers that they were better people than present day major leaguers. They are cut from the same cloth, and would have used steroids given the chance. Morality does not evolve over time, it's pretty much a constant.

Your Newest New England Patriot

Pats traded a future late rounder for this punk.

No, these guys are not saints. Not many of them, anyway. But life in the NFL does not allow for teams to play 22 choirboys.

Frank Rich From Today's Times

Here he points out how sometimes this country will break your heart.

Stephen Strasburg, Meet Mark Prior

So sad.

His upside down delivery will be the death of his career, me and a lot of other people think. Oh, what could have been.

Book of the Week: "Broke, USA"

Here's our brief Amazon review of a fine and important book on the so called Poverty, Inc. portion of our nation's economy.

How do these people who get rich off the gullibility of the poor in the USA live with themselves?

New England Does Well in US News and World Report Rankings of Colleges and Universities in US

See here from the Boston Globe

Interesting. Didn't know Williams was so well thought of. And it is slightly incredible that so many good to great schools are clustered in such a small geographical area of the nation. We here in New England should be very proud of these rankings!

For those who care, our school, Miami University in Oxford, Ohio came in ranked tied for 79th in the nation for universities. Not too shabby. We all had a great time there back in 1984-88. The accounting program, from which we got our BS, is very well respected nationally, though not listed in the top ten in the nation per USNaWR for 2011.

"Mad Men" -- Better and Better

We here in Apartment 404 had our doubts that Matthew Weiner and company could top themselves after last season's entrancing MM episodes. But no fear, the show is better than ever, especially now that Don is rid of his annoying wife and bratty kids (of course he picked her and they are his offspring...anyway...). Great stuff Sunday night...

...which the staff watched this morning, three days after the original airing of the episode. Who watches live tv anymore for anything other than sports? Everything else can wait, especially with all those goddamn commercials every ten minutes interrupting. About the only show we watch live are the Seinfeld reruns at 530. We know them by heart and don't mind cooking dinner through the ads.

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Oh, we love us some MM, especially on DVR!

President Obama = Disappointment

NYT's always enlightening Maureen Dowd weighs in on Obama's wishy washiness concerning the building of the Ground Zero mosque.

There was much hope in this country when Obama was elected two years ago, but man, has that all changed for us here in Apartment 404. At least the staff here could all agree that W. was a bit of a tool and a unthinking, brain limited cad. But what do you say about Obama, who has had the opportunity to truly change the world and write a lot of profound history? Instead of taking advantage of the moments he's been presented, he has frittered away political capital by refusing to take tough and possibly controversial stands on most any issue we can think of, from confronting the lackeys in Congress to simply being the moral compass of the nation and world. He. Is. Just. Another. Politician. Without. A. Soul.

We here at The 'Pent began to worry soon after Obama took over the White House. It seemed that the President we elected and the man running things were two different entities. Where was the passion of the man who gave that great speech about the racial divide in our nation? He was gone, trying to appease others and letting us, the tens of millions who elected him, down. With a great thud, we might add.

Obama is just another politician. And that is just about the most damning condemnation we could possibly imagine attaching to the country's first black president. Who could have imagined the guy simply doesn't appear to have the guts of an LBJ, a Kennedy, even a Reagan, to make tough calls and live with the backlash?

We are disappointed beyond words at this point. Can anyone tell us why we should hope the next two/six years will be any better than the first two?

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There is a great article by John Richardson in this month's Esquire about Newt Gingrich in which the former speaker's second (he's on his third at the moment) wife points out that Newt basically has no opinions but has lived his life in the pursuit of absolute power. Nothing else. He, according to the woman, will do anything to get ahead. A moral vacuum really. Is that what our President is? Is it a good thing that we can see that? Will things get any better? What will history say about the Presidency of Barack Obama? These are questions that would seem, at this early stage, to contain disappointing yet sobering answers for those interested in pursuing them.

The Boston Globe Online: Getting Better and Better

Here's some reader concert photos. Good stuff, starting with The Boss.

Frank Rich on Gay Rights from Today's NYT

See here

Steve Rushin is Back at SI.com!

Long recognized as the very best sportswriter in the nation prior to his retirement/long vacation, Sports Illustrated's Steve Rushin has written, in the last few weeks, three columns, all gems. Good to have him back doing what he does best.

Interesting Discussion of the History of the New England Patriots Under Owner Bob Kraft

From SonsofSamHorn.net.

For Pats fans only. Otherwise it might get kinda tedious. But it fascinated the hell out of me.

"The Other Guys" -- Whatever Happened to Ferrell and McKay??

Didn't these guys used to be funny? We here at The 'Pent enjoyed "Step Brothers" and "Anchorman" thoroughly; "Talledega Nights" not so much, but at least that one wasn't painful.

Trust us: "The Other Guys" is. Painful, that is. It's brutally bad despite the mostly glowing reviews it's received throughout the weekend from print media (check out this ridiculous review from Entertainment Weekly). And we aren't the only ones who think it's a turkey: In the 2/3's full theatre we saw the show in tonight one could hear a pin drop during most of the film. Nobody was having much fun, on screen or off.

A script that must have been shredded early in production offers no help to the actors. Most scenes are nonsensical shouting matches that appear to be attempts at improv between Ferrell and whomever else is in the shot. Really brutally bad stuff. A complete waste of tens of millions of dollars. And the capper on the fiasco was the the stuff added to the credits about all the financial waste that goes on in this country: Fellas, look at yourselves first when discussing how to blow millions of dollars.

The only blessing to our eyes was the appearance of the greatly missed Michael Keaton in a thankless role as the police captain who's seen better days. But even he has a hard time saving anything in this mess.

Avoid this one at all costs and go see "The Karate Kid", "Cyrus", or "Toy Story 3" again (seemingly the only decent movies to come out this summer in wide release).

911 Call From the Connecticut Killer of 8

Audio. Four minutes long.

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This is a frightened young man with easy access to guns. A sure fire recipe for murder made so easy for so long by the gun nuts in this country. How do they live with themselves?

Mr. Thornton sounded lucid and calm in the call, not mentally ill in the sense of hearing or seeing things that weren't there. Just a gun nut who decides to get some, we suppose. How tragic and sad, but certainly not shocking. We here at The 'Pent got cut off in traffic by someone two days ago. If we had a shotgun in our car, would it have been alright to shoot the bastard? ---> Having the "people" he said goodbye to on the call defend his behavior on the grounds of name calling is beyond repulsive. He killed eight fucking people and they think because someone called him a terrible name that that is justification? This country and its many tens of millions of morons is fucked sometimes.

Old Family Photos: "Why You Gotta Show Dat?"

Sweeney family photos courtesy of our older sister Maureen Frei.

What a treat! Keep 'em coming, Maureen!

A Great Day For All

Prop 8 overturned....for now.

It will be years before the Supreme Court weighs in on this issue, but for now we all can celebrate a wonderful victory for human rights.

Minor League Baseball: Bargain Entertainment

The 'Pent's local minor league baseball team, the Portland Sea Dogs, charge just eight bucks for a reserved seat in their 7,368 seat stadium. That's cheaper than most movies and much cheaper than a concert. Such a deal.

And the talent that comes through Portland's AA stadium is remarkable. Last year, the best player we saw was Madison Bumgarner, a 6 4 pitcher with great stuff and control who is now dominating in the big leagues for San Francisco. This season, we witnessed the emergence of Ryan Kalish for the Dogs. Kalish is now the starting left fielder for Boston in the bigs. Not bad for eight bucks.

Check out your local minor league affiliate. You may see the next star of the majors.

SI's Joe Posnanski: The Best Sportswriter in America

Here's his latest...

Does this man ever sleep? He seems to have a major article in the mag every other week or so. Along with his blog he is as prolific a writer as we here at The 'Pent have ever seen in the sports world. And it's all extraordinary stuff. You go, Joe!

Classy Versus Not

Classy...

Vs

Um...Not.

Just sayin.