Piss Off Hank

Apparently Hank Steinbrenner thinks Red Sox Nation is a bunch of shit. The Steinbrenner boys have been running their mouths quite a bit since daddy stepped back and handed the franchise over to them. “Red Sox Nation?” Hank says. “What a bunch of [expletive] that is. That was a creation of the Red Sox and ESPN, which is filled with Red Sox fans. Go anywhere in America and you won’t see Red Sox hats and jackets, you’ll see Yankee hats and jackets. This is a Yankee country. We’re going to put the Yankees back on top and restore the universe to order.” The above quote is from page 9 of a New York Times online article from this weekends edition of Play, a New York Times sports magazine. If Mr. Steinbrenner trully believes that theres not jacket and hat wearing Red Sox fans across this great nation, he is extremely out of touch with reality, perhaps he should take a walk around New York City for an hour, in that time he will likely see a dozen Red Sox hats atleast, and thats in his teams city. The Steinbrenners should focus on their franchise instead of constantly attacking the Red Sox and it's fans.

Pedroia Receives Rookie Award

Dustin Pedroia was officially presented with his 2007 American League Rookie of the Year award. The award was presented by future Hall of Famer Craig Biggio who retired this offseason after playing for the Houston Astros.

Red Sox Aquire Reliever

The Boston Red Sox have aquired David Aardsma from the Chicago White Sox for Willy Mota and Miguel Socolovich.

GREATNESS

Over the next several weeks three teams will have a say in just how great the New England Patriots are, and yes, if the Patriots fail to win the Super Bowl the season will be a complete failure. However, Super Bowl or not, this Patriots team is the greatest in NFL history. Many people will immediatly throw around teams...1985 Bears, 1972 Dolphins, 1962 Packers, 1991 Redskins or the 1989 49ers. Those teams however suceeded in a time when building great teams was much easier. Teams today have to deal with salary caps, and the Patriots have become the best team and best utilizing its resources. Some fans of football will never recognize the Patriots of 2007 as the greatest team ever if they don't win the Super Bowl, many still wont even if the season ends with another ring and a 19-0 record. There however surely can't be any argument with saying Tom Brady is the greatest quarterback ever. Three Super Bowl trophies after four seasons, a 16-0 record, NFL record for touchdown passes in a season, the most wins in his first 100 career starts. Brady will attempt to win his fourth Super Bowl, which would tie the high mark for a quarterback in just his seventh season, yet even without that achievement he has surpassed his childhood idol Joe Montana as the greatest passer in NFL history.

Say It Ain't So!

Jason Varitek, Mo Vaughn, Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon will reportedly be among the names released today as part of the Mitchell Report. For me the most devestating name on the list is Jason Varitek. I'm not sure I can even put my feelings into words right now.... --More soon-- 2:23PM Whew.... after searching the above names in the official report Varitek and Nixon come up with ZERO hits, Vaughn does come up. Garciaparra does, but only once in a source listing... 420 See Jack Curry, Johnson Stays, but Garciaparra Goes to Cubs, N.Y. Times, Aug. 1, 2007, at Sports 1.

Diving In

Well for those who thought Boston might have a quiet winter once Curt Schilling and Mike Lowell were re-signed, so much for that. Boston has come up in several area's of rumors over the past several days. Johan Santana Obviously everyone knows whats happening here. Boston has been in discussions with the Twins for several days now about a deal to bring the best left-handed starter in the majors to Boston for the 2008 season and beyond. Boston had been unwilling to include Jacoby Ellsbury in a deal for Santana, however ESPN reports that they have decided to make Ellsbury available but not in combination with Jon Lester. Others have said that the ESPN stroy isn't accurate and that Boston has not offered Ellsbury. Still further rumors have said that Boston would be willing to include Lester and Ellsbury together if the Twins added a player, most mentioned are Joe Nathan and Pat Neshek. Erik Bedard Jayson Stark reports that the Sox do have interest in the Baltimore starter. Ben Sheets This is somewhat new. Boston apparently has been in talks with Milwaukee about Ben Sheets, some rumors I have seen suggest a deal that could include several players including Sheets, JJ Hardy, Julio Lugo, Jon Lester and some minor leaguers. --more in a bit--

Henry & Company Leaving After 2010?

Gotta thank Manramsclan over at SoSH for leading me to this. Back on October 12, Boston Herald Deputy Business Editor Frank Quaratiello followed Red Sox owner John Henry for a day and blogged about it. The blog was posted under News & Business and may have not been noticed by many Sox fans, but Manramsclan certainly noticed it and a hats off to him for posting about it. at 4:40 PM Quaratiello posted this bit that Henry said at 3:20. JH goes into meeting with Werner and Lucchino. They discuss changing the date of the partners meeting and the timeline for installing a new center field scoreboard. JH wants it done by 2010. “We may not be here in 2011,” he says. The scoreboard’s got to go. “What we have now isn’t attractive.” They decide to try to get all work on Fenway Park finished by 2010 and also to try to convince PR maestro Charles Steinberg to stay. Steinberg is getting Daniel Vinik, who grabbed Manny’s foul ball during the ALDS to throw out tonight’s first pitch. So this leads us to the question, are there already plans made for the ownership group that has totally changed the history and future of our beloved Red Sox to skip out of town in the next few years? I certainly hope not, they have changed baseball in Boston like no one else has or could. I fear what a new ownership group would do to the Red Sox.

Lowel, Sox Agree

Mike Lowell has agreed to re-sign with the Boston Red Sox for three years at $37.5 million. The Red Sox had set a deadline for today for Lowell to say yes or no to the offer. Boston was unwilling to add a fourth year even though sources indicated Lowell had a four year offer from atleast one team. This deal became more important for Boston when Alex Rodriguez decided to return to New York.

Record Setting Patriots; Pats 56, Bills 10

The New England Patriots kept up their pace to several NFL records and at the same time came away with more then one record on Sunday night. ● New England tied a franchise record with 56 points in their 56-10 win in Buffalo. The record was previously set in a 56-3 win against the New York Jets in 1979. ● The 56 points scored by New England is the most by an NFL road team since 1978. ● Randy Moss became the single season Patriots franchise record holder for touchdown receptions with 16. The previous record was held by Stanley Morgan at 12. ● Tom Brady became the alltime Patriots career leader in touchdown passes. Brady now has 185 touchdown passes in his career. The previous record was held by Steve Grogan at 182. ● Randy Moss tied an NFL record with four touchdown receptions in the first half. ● Tom Brady extended his own franchise record with 38 touchdown passes on the season. ● The Patriots 510 yards of offense is it's most since 1979 when they gained 593 yards in a 56-3 win over the New York Jets. ● The Patriots have scored 54 touchdowns on the season which sets a new franchise record with six games remaining.

Fenway Park Adding More Seats, Amenities

Larry Lucchino talked to NESN about the work at Fenway this winter.