The finest in the land!

Many apologies for the long absence. What an enjoyable two months. Capped off today with another comeback. Down 9-1 in the 7th inning, the Cubbage fights back. No lead is insurmountable this year- confidence at an all time high.

The genius of sweet Lou is that everyone gets to play, just like in grade school. Even Jimmy Edmonds joined in the fun today. Murderer's row has now fully come to roost. They have overcome poor pitching, injuries, and even poor hitting to find unconventional ways to win.

More than anything, Lou brings confidence to the dance. Unbelievably the Cubs are playing up to capabilities. We still have Pie and Murton waiting to be called up to revitalize any poor play.

They are on pace to win 102 games- will it happen? Only time will tell, but the showdown with the Sox has never been more exciting.

United !

We all hate penalties to end a soccer game - even one going on for two hours - but since it was Manchester United that emerged on top in the shoot out over Chelsea - well, I'm not complaining. Winning their third Champions League trophy in their history stamps United as the best team in Europe - until they have to prove it again when the season starts again in eight weeks.

And I think they deserved it. The first half was was controlled by United- though largely the second half was Chelsea. The game - played in Moscow under an increasingly harder rain - was very sloppy @ times. Often players on both sides - two teams filled w/ incredible players - stumbled over the ball or slipped. But there was also many great plays on both sides. It was a great game to watch.

I watched it Fado, an Irish bar on Grand and just east of State. I was supposed to meet people @ the bar, but when I got there 45m before kickoff, there already was a line out the door to get it. Packed? Again and again the manager had to walk around w/ fire marshals making sure the capacity wasn't over maxxed. As we didn't get shut down, I suppose we were under the limit.

The crowd was great. More Manchester Red than Chelsae Blue , both sides were in fine singing form. They tended to sing the same songs over and over -and since I entombed myself in one of the Red pockets I heard far more songs about Giggs, Rio , Scholes, Vidic, and Tevez. Very beautiful crowd.

And good. I like songs praising United players. And what a fucking team this is. Take a look @ the line up-

Edwin van der Sar,
Wes Brown (Luis de Abreu Anderson, 120),
Rio Ferdinand,
Nemanja Vidic,
Patrice Evra,
Owen Hargreaves,
Paul Scholes (Ryan Giggs, 87),
Michael Carrick,
Cristiano Ronaldo,
Wayne Rooney (Luis Carlos Nani, 101),
Carlos Tevez

I totally know that many readers will have no idea of how powerful this line up is, but those who do - look @ that shit!! Not many world Cup teams could beat a team like this - but Chelsea almost did.

My favourite Blue? Well, he was red - Didier Drogba, The Blues great forward, was red carded right before penalties. It meant that Chelsea had to play a player down for the last 5m of the match. Playing down for that short amount of time didn't hurt the team, but it did mean that he wouldn't be able to take part in PK's.

Old man as I am, I was glad to see reminders of the 1999 team still around. Alex Ferguson is still coach. Wes Brown and Paul Scholes started the 2008 game. And best of all, Ryan Giggs, on as as sub in the 87th minute, played in his 759th game as a Red - the new record.

The second spot

In a lineup seeimingly sodden with .210 hitters, Ozzie finally did something to try and shake the batters up. Like Tony LaRussa's move to put Carlton Fisk in the two-hole of the '83 Sox lineup, Carlos Quinten -the suprise in the lineup- is now batting 2d behind leadoff batter Orlando Cabrera.

The season started nicely. Although Jerry Owens had won the leadoff spot before injuries shelved him, Nick Swisher stepped in and was getting on almost half the times he came up. Although not a natural leadoff hitter, he performed well the first two weeks of the season.

But then, like last year, the Sox bats stopped hitting. The batting averagres of some of the players are almost jokes (or mirror images of their avgerages last year)= certain starters avgerages read like this = .196, .197, .209, .215, and .220. Ughh!! Now, the OBA's of these players do partially make up for it - but the clutch hits of the open weeks are long gone.

There are bright spots. No major injuries like last year. Pitching, both starting and pen, has been great - seems this is gonna be a more than great year for pitching, even if Gavin Floyd doesn't finally nail down a no hitter this year. Defense has also been great.

But despite the more than good news on the other accounts - there is no hitting. Sure, lots of walks. But this team is in trouble if we cannot score any runs. Last year it just seemed like the whole team lolled around waiting for the bats to start - never. And there is that danger again this year -waiting around.

And the team must NOT wait around.

Sluggers Konerko and Thome - despite the occasional massive homer - are again having dive years. Second baseman Juan Uribe Still hasn't worn out his welcome, although he must be on his last legs. Crede and Dye - station to station hitters. This team relies too much on the home run and the big inning. Off season moves to improve the offense and increase the number of baserunners garnered Swisher and Cabrera but has not resulted in a renewed offense power.

Answers? Speed on the basepaths?

I'm not sure that Jerry Owens is the answer. Although he has potential 60 steal speed, there doesn't seem to be a spot in the lineup for him. Quentin has solidified his spot (league leader in HR's, 3d in slugging, 4th in runs scored, 5th in RBI's) and Dye and Swisher are only going to sit if they are injured.

Outside of a mjor restructering of the offense, I fear that the offense will have problems all year. Somehow in 2005 this team overcame offensive woes of this exact sort - but one can see how badly a team can play if it can't get past it's offensive woes.

We need speed.

This from Gallo.......

.....and the NYT.

Black Sox Faction

9/162ths of the season done, and the Sox show signs of life.

Of course baseball life seemed dull and dismal after a typical " '07 Sox " start to the season - a disasterous start by Burelhe and then a bullpen collapse in the opener, and then no offense. Oi vey!

But a five game winning streak placated fans. The team showed the promise that they showed in spring training. Pitching went well - Danks, Burlehe, Vasquez all had outstanding starts, and the bull pen was a real bull pen - not like last year. There was offense - slow starts by Thome, Konerko, and Cabrera were offset by monster starts by Crede, Dye, and A.J. People were getting on base. Defense was great.

And, importantly, Detroit showed signs of falling apart. They started the season 0-7 w/ help from a Sox sweep and are currently 2-8. They play the Sox today, and I think it's important for the Sox to keep them losing. If the Tigers can fall apart the whole season - think '07 Sox or '06 Indians - then the Sox have one less team to worry about in the Central. Can they match Cleveland? The season has 153/162ths to go.

The important thing is is that they are going for it. I think a great deal of the '07 collapse was due to Kenny Williams insistance on going for '09 or '10 with trades for prospects. It seemed that the team as a whole gave up on the season before it started. But this season is the objective since last fall. Now prospects were traded for veterns - and it shows.

The Sox have a long way to go to be considered a contender - but don't forget the '05 Sox (w/ the losses of Ordonez and Lee) were not favoured in anything.

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Delicious foto-a-likes kin be found @ this Twins blog.

Raining Goals

Wow- for a team that domintates the Fire in the post season, the New England Revolution sure were schooled last nite. The Fire scored four first half goals to put the Revolution out by halftime. The secondhalf was an extended lesson in killing off the clock. The Fire now have four points in two games (a win and a tie), and looked great after a so so opener in Salt Lake City last week.

Raining!! Wasn't THAT bad a nite under the elements, but in the second half a lite (at times heavy) rain covered the crowd and made parts of the 15,553 strong hide under the overhangs of the upper deck. The 15, 553 were loud and strong, especially after the Fire took such an overwhelming lead. Not a bad crowd for a Thursday Nite game; although smallish for an opener. However, this was one of six games scheduled for Thursday Nite games on ESPN2- three hom and three away. I was thinking that because of the nite and because of the rain the crowd would be lite - but it filled out well.

And Section 8. In fits and starts last season they tried to fill out the section next to Section 8's alwayts filled standing room only crowd - for this game, they seem to have made the move to force another section into standing. My guess is that they will be successful - although rainy weeknite games are always where Section 8 diehards shine (they make a bigger % of the crowd than a weekend game, and thus cut through the ambient sound better- it's easier to aurially dominate a crowd of 14k than in a crowd of 21k), the spillover section had it's own leader and stood the whole match. I'm sure over the winter the leaders of S8 and Fire officials brainstomed on how to add that section to the standing areas - initial indications are good.

And the Fire played well. Up 4-0 @ half, although they did play a mna up after new England had a red card ejection after five minutes. But the offense was continually attacking and had many attempts on goal. Blanco - although he did not dominate proceedings as he ofetn did last year - had many beautiful touches, including those backheel passes that the crowd loves so well. Forward Thomas Frankowski, the new signing by the team, had two goals. Justin Mapp attacked well.

Good home start. More to come.

foto Sun Times

Play Ball!

The Lineup. At first glance it looks like Murder Inc. But after careful review, Pie looks out of place at 8. They will pitch around him to get to the pitcher, but the pitcher today is Big Z- and he can't be pitched around. He is the best hitting pitcher in the league. Ideally Soto should be 8th to protect Pie at 7th.

1.Theriot SS
2.Soriano LF
3.Lee 1B
4.Ramirez 3B
5.Fukedome RF
6.DeRosa 2B
7.Soto C
8.Pie CF
9.Zambrano P


Hopefully no rainout today- a win over Sheets would be great to start the season.

Cub Nation 2008

They're all back and then some; Sweet Lou, D-lee, Fonzie, the Contagion, Delarosa, Aramis, the Italian, Zambri and Woody. This is the year of the 100th anniversary and the team hasn't looked better in years. A few of Lou's mistakes are gone and several upgrades have arrived.

First the Pitching;
1. Zambrano- the horse
2. Lilly- wiley lefty
3. Hill-quickly maturing
4. Dempster- big ?
5. Marquis-must maintian strong start

Middle relief goes to John Lieber. Good choice by Lou to go with experience in Lieber to get us through 5-7. Then comes murderers row- Howry, Marmol, and Wood. If these three stay healthy all leads will be maintained through sheer intimidation. Forget the fact that we don't even have a lefty, Woody hasn't served up a hit all spring!

Even with the doubt I have in Dempster, this is easily the best pitching staff in the NL. The division is weaker with the execption of the Reds. I am calling for the Cubs to win 90 games and the division.

Black Sox faction

So, rite after writing how the Sox are rocking the clocks of teams left and rite this spring training, here comes the other side of the team. In two split squad games on Friday, the Sox were out scored 22-1 and collected seven hits over 18 innings of total baseball. Out scored?? More like pounded out of existence.

Sheesh!!!

Ah, but what of the pitching?? Javier Vasquez gave up five earned runs in 1/3d of an inning, and Nick Masset 3 in 4 innings. Of the ten pitchers used, these two and Octavio Dotel seem to be the only ones who will make the team. However, it kinda sucks to see Lance Broadway give up 5 in 2 innings- an indication of how weak the starting staff is past the top Mark Beurlhe and Vasquez.

They now fall to 5-7, and the bright spot can only be said that the five wins are half way to last years 10.

They're Baack!

According to "Inside Sport" Evander Holyfield, 45, will potentially fight Mike Tyson, 41 for the 3rd time.

Hoyfield said that last week Jeff Fenech, on behalf of Tyson, contacted him to inquire if he was interested in doing it for the 3rd time. Following Hoyfield's disclosure, criticism came from all corners of the sport. But in reality, the heavyweight division is so weak and boring, I beieve it would sell well.

Tyson obviously needs the money, and Holyfield needs more brain damage. Perhaps this is just what boxing needs in order to fully realize that it is on the ropes.

Wrigley Gum Corporation Field

Although the Iowa unwashed are messing the backs of their overalls about the possibility of The Wrigley Gum Corporation Field being renamed after....... uh...... well........ a corporation, the Official Paper of the Cubs (todays space could be declared a tie - Sox got extra column space --due to two games played - the Cubs, as has been the usual all spring -got the front sports page. And the front Tempo page. What- don't believe me? Try reading the Trib. It really seems to be getting worse - maybe they still haven't corrected the balance when the Trib was forced to follow the Sox in '05) had an article from their excellent architecture critic Blair Kamin on the true dangers of this situation. A far more important issue is @ stake than the feelings of the tourists from Iowa - namely that if Zell or whoever gets the city to change landmark status on Wrigley, fucks like him mite use this example to run amok on the rest of the cities landmark buildings and districts.

Yes, I always love taking the piss out of Cub fans, but Wrigley without a doubt must be protected. It's one of three -oops, just about two now - remaining old buildings that fans can hoist up the sign "Babe Ruth played here" as they did @ Old Comiskey's last game that sad September day in 1990. Like Fenway and Yankee's, it's nice to sit in the stands and think about all the old players - and all the old fans who were here before. Although never as homey as the Sox's old home - remember Harry's peonna(sic) to Comiskey "Ah ya can't beat fun @ the Old Ballpark"-it's a great place to take in a game -as long as one can get past the yikky yokals. Chicago has lost too many sporting treasures to let anyone mess with Wrigley.

Now they have 'messed' with Wrigley before. The bleachers , for example- no, not adding 2000 seats several years back, but the entire structure itself. The upper deck and the scoreboard are also not original. And it was future Sox owner Bill Veeck who planted the ivy. But to-gether, it works well. By the twin fortunes of its surviving baseballs- and societies @ large- 'tear down era' and that neighbourhood turning from a shitty area to unwashed uppy central (ick!! -I am old enough to rememebr when that neighbourhood actually was a real cool city area instead of what you got now -what, would you hang out there? Really: Where? The Cubby Bear?? Or that place across the street from it? Hey guys - Let's get a drink @ THE CUBBY BEAR. Even Cabaret Metro rarely has kool shows these days) has allowed Wrigley to become an reminder of the old days of baseball. It should be protected. Remember, Cub fans - lose Wrigley and suddenly the Devil Rays mite suddenly become the choice of those from the hamlets of Iowa.

But the issue is more than the survival of Wrigley and grand old buildings like it are @ the center piece of Kamins article. It's more than sports architecture and rivalries. Shitheads like Mayor Daley, the Tribune Corporation, Zell, Trump, real estate developers - fuck, I'll even drop Robert Moses's name - who only see $$$ when we see garish efidices, horrid condo buildings, parking lots where there used to be class structures, and ripped out neighbourhoods - must be counteracted.

Cub fans - now that you have moved off the farm and into the city, please make as much fuss as you can about respecting the integrety of gum corporation baseball grounds. This city has lost way too much to people who do not care. Although the digg on cub fans is that when @ wrigley they do not pay attention to the game - remember, YOU ARE @ WRIGLEY ITSELF, and if you enjoy that atmosphere, @ least strive to protect it. I know that you get an enormous amount of grief from baseball fans, please fite for this. it's not just wrigley - it's the whole city's integrety @ stake.

The Black Sox Faction

Just a few games into the 2008 season, but the Sox have played well. Sox fans have been buzzing by the teams play in the first few weeks. Holes abound still, but there's hope in many areas. Two things the team wanted to work on in spring training so far has given everyone reason for optimism. Only spring training, yes ; but that's the point. Lets hope it continues.

Ozzie has made a point that their terrible record in '07's spring = 10-22-1 contributed mightily to their aweful regular season by establishing that air of losing that characterized the whole campaign. They have started out 3-1 to teams that they have had a 3-22-2 record since 2006's spring. Only spring training, yes ; but that's the point. Lets hope it continues.

The other positive is the hitting. Last years team fell apart partly from the pitching (especially the relievers, but the starters sucked as well), but I always felt that it was the horifying hitting that doomed the team. The big boppers all had awful starts - Konerko, Dye, and Thome (injuries contributed), along with the loss of Crede, all had a heavy hand in the losing atmosphere of '07. This spring, in all four games the Sox have had hit totals in the double digits and have been scoring runs. Only spring training, yes ; but that's the point. Lets hope it continues.

Welcome to beautiful Crate & Barrel Park, home of the Cubs!

Sam Zell might be a brilliant real estate mogul, but he is no baseball guy. Thank god this soulless, spiritually bereft mother fucker is going to sell the team. Unfortunately, this cock sucker, "who only looks forward" ( you wonder if ever wipes his ass, since it is behind him) is going to sell the team and Wrigley Field separately. This robot of a man doesn't even understand that 'Wrigley Field' has more value when it is called Wrigley Field, than if it called (insert corporate name here) Park.

This of course would never happen in Boston, or in New York. Only in Chicago where that team on the southside replaced a decrepit, albeit beloved ballpark with a shopping mall. Where Da Bears put a fucking UFO inside a National Landmark and were so stupid that they didn't have the foresight to put in a dome. Finally, where the second oldest ballpark in all of America will be reduced to nothing more than another corporate sponsored advertising shell. And people wonder why they call this the second city. As far as our sports teams are concerned, they should call Chicago, Second Class city. Why can't they ever do anything first rate here, it really is depressing.

Check out Gene Wojciechowski's article on the same topic here.

Wait for it.

One thing not really being said about last years edition of the Cubs is that many of their hitters had sub par years last season. There were injuries and lack of support from their teammates to be sure, but the potential of the top three sluggers on the team was not fully met.

Soriano= Whether it was injuries or just getting used to the team,
Fonzy batted .299 and had 30 Hr's - very nice. His 70 rbi's were pretty good for a leadoff hitter, especially in the NL. However, 130 k's and a .337 oba leave a lot to be desired.

Derrick Lee= The potential Superstar of the lot had an off year. His .317 BA was great, but his 82 RBI and 22 Hr's in 587 at bats were way below his potential.

Aramias Ramirez= had the best year of these three. He hit .310 and had a .366 OBA. He also had 101 RBI's, a great total for 132 games played. But he has done, and was expected to do, better.

It was just enough to get this team over the poverty Brewers in the lame ass NL Central. Four losses instead of wins, and the Cubs would have been rite when I figgered they'd be = a .500 team. The rest of the division were all below .500.

Now, having written that, one mite think this is a Cub bash. It is not. The genisis of this coloum was my reflection on Lee's non production. Again, there were many factors involved, but it was way below his 'near' Triple Crown season. In a similar way, all three named players can do not just better - but much better.

And that's just it. Despite my mocking the NL Central, the Cubs should have been in the playoffs in '07. They did what they had to do to win the division. True, the sweep by Colorado was justified, but the regular season showed that they played like a team. They, to write the frase, deserved it. If these three - and new acquisition Fukedome - have better years in '08, the Cubs will obviously repeat in the division and may actually have a chance to make some noise in the NL as a whole.

And don't forget - The '06 Cardinals had won 83 games, yet won the World Sseries. The New England Patriots of the NFL were deemed unbeatable last month in the Super Bowl - but lost to the Giants. I state that the Cubs- if they get monster production from these players, production from the others, avoid injuries, and play as a team as they did last year - could even contend against the various frightening Monsters in the Al. Then again, look @ the '05 Red Sox, the '06 Sox, the '07 Tigers - Time is tite.

Spring training. 29. Feb. Anything can happen. I even think the Sox are looking tite. T'ever it is, lovely to hear'm on the radio again.

Congrats

Word on the wire is that Hilts is now a coach @ his fourth City school in the last two decades. This is added to the two Catholic and two City grammer schools he has coached since the early ninties.

Juxtaposition

I know I will be taken to the coals for this, but there was an interesting juxtopisition of articles on golf this week. Mondays NYT had a front page article on the trend of golf playing in America = down. And todays Sun Times had a Mariotti colom on the popularity of great Tiger Woods.

Now for the trouble = Except for fellow dcs writers Jackson and Bonnaix, and two 80 year old men (One an old girlfriends Dad, and the other my sisters dad-in-law), I don't know anybody who actually follows golf. I golfed once - three rounds before I'd had enough. I was @ a golf match - and it was kool -w./ the above writers. But compare - hundreds of people who like football. Hundreds who like Baseball. Soccer, basketball, hockey: same.

I even know more people who like snooker - snooker -than golf.

Yes, Jackson is an MD, so his protestations will show that skew. And Bonnaix is the cousin. The old men are old men*.

And again, this is not a diss on golf. It is a kool game. And Tiger - negative personality and all - is still a superstar. It was great to see him in action personally a few years back. I'm sure there are millions to be made on its commercials and magazine ads. And I hear that cards and car racing are popular. But from my context, the New York Times article better reflects reality than Mariotti's.

*= no allusion to my usual 'petty morals' kiss off here.

Rex is our Quarterback, we think...

Well, it looks like the Bears have decided to not decide what to do about the most important position on the field, the Quarterback. Rex's one year deal does nothing to solidify the position or clarify what roles Brian Griese or Kyle Orton will have. It continues a long tradition of the Bears refusing to understand that without a solid, stable quarterback to build the franchise on, you will never have lasting success. As far as the deal goes, one year for 3 million is not a bad financial deal, but it will be bad for the team.

Another poor decision by Lovie and the brain trust. Next year, we are probably looking at 8-8 at best. Sad, just two years removed from a Super Bowl.

Yes we can!

He Gone! The bum has left the building, franchise and town. Big Ben was a disaster in the mold of Todd Hundley. The Cavs get Wallace and Smith- we get Hughes, and Gooden. This can only be upside for the Bulls because of Wallace's attitude. Whether his skills are in decline is debatable, but his lack of leadership skills were evident in the Skiles fallout.

Hughes brings some size to an overcrowded back court, but is often injured. Gooden in the key. With Noah now playing center, Gooden's energy will help a lifeless front line.
I honestly believe we won't miss Wallace at all. Smith is another story-he has been one of the only bright spots. He can score, block and defend.

Wallace will fit in well in Cleveland. He has a strong center in Ilkgouskas, which will allow him to play off the ball-his strength. He will also have additional pressure from Lebron to compete hard every night. Smith can easily replace Gooden in their scheme from the bench.

The key for Pax was unloading Wallace who was a cancer on the team. He unloaded his huge contract and got some high energy guys. Will they make the playoffs? Who cares, they will be instantly eliminated by the Bostons of the league. Pax has taken stock and realizes this season has been a complete disaster.

Black Sox Faction

Why not? With the loss of John Garland in the off season, the rumours out today that the Sox are sniffing around signing Bartolo Colon are very interesting. I'm a big Colon fan, and regardless if he signs with the Sox or not, I hope he returns healthy. Although he has lost mouch of the last two seasons to injuries and has had an ERA above 5.00 for three of the last four years, he mite - if healthy- make a great addition to the team. It would be great to see his off speed stuff dansing through the strike zone again.

Yeesh how the mighty have fallen. Once the knockout of the entire league featuring seven outstanding starting pitchers a few years ago, the Sox have only two they can truely count on : Mark Burele and Javier Vasquez. After these two the Sox hope a huge return to form by Jose Contrearas (10-17, 5.57 ERA last year) and some sort of breakthrough by John Danks (6-13, 5.50 ERA) and Gavin Floyd(8-10, 6.30). And yes, those stats are correctly printed here in dcs- good luck attempting to rely on these pitchers this year.

I have high hopes for Danks - although he got beat up a lot, he strung up some good games -err, innings- to-gether. Contrereas was the staff ace @ by the end of 2005 - but that's now three seasons ago. And Floyd? Who knows @ this point.

So, in a typical Sox move to save money, they are trying to tap Colon again. With the disaster staff they are now sporting in this new spring training, a Colon move - presumably with the onus on Colon to prove himself healthy - is a smart one. Even if he can't recover, it'll be nice to see him in the Sox uni again- especially if he can produce.

Did I write 'smart one' about a possible Colon move? I meant ' desperate one '.

Colon's stats here.

Dates and Locations: Soldiers Field via Boston Mass.

Yesterday Rocky fwd me a neat address that listed off results, goal scorers, attendence etc for each game the old Chicago Sting of the North American Soccer League ever played. In truth, they were the soccer team that I loved more than any other team. Fire, Man U., America, U.S.A., all pale for my childhood team - The Chicago Sting.

I can remember when I was first exposed to them up close- it must have been summer of 1977 and the Marquette Park Day camp I was in had a field trip to old Soldiers Field. Jump on the yellow buses, crowd of screaming kids to go, and deposited #@ Old Soldiers. We were given demonstrations and gifts from a team I'd heard about, but didn't really know too much about- but it was enough: this old man thinks (looking back) two things, probably even more than the actual 'beautiful game', attracted me mightly and made me a fan:

1) They gave us old game programs. They were thick magazines full of the history of the game, bios of the players, and stats stats stats. Like most of us, I was an obsessive reader when I was young, and the three programs gave me reading materials that I read and re-read. Sting public relations worked well on me.

2) It was different. we were all Sox, Cubs, Bears, Hawks, and Bulls fans. However, who was a soccer fan back then? Moho, for sure, and my circle of frenz. but as I have been and continue to be someone who is attracted to 'different', the Sting were my thing.

Many memories from then. But this Wednesdays Memories concerns a specfic game- and here's the line from that link(from 1983 season):

709 H S Tulsa Roughnecks 1-2 SO L 8-6 73 10,276 Karl Heinz Granitza

Wasn't @ the game that was played in front of 10, 276 fans @ old Soldiers Field That summer, the Summer of the Weight Sox (as it turned out to be-but the Fall was all Baltimore) my Mom, Sister.1 and Sister.2 and I visited our four uncles and their families in Boston. We stayed a whole week @ my Uncle Mikes, and like mine, it was the large, young and bawdy family. We fit in, suprise suprise. Crammed into a long room with two of Uncle Mikes sons - the other got stuck in the basement to make room for me. The extended family of an already large and extended family. Thousand miles away from home, but we were in a place that was recognizably home.

But it wasn't the only scene that I fit in to- I hung out with my like aged cousins and their frenz. I was instantly a ' part of the gang ', and accepted as such. I remember playing football - mutherfucker if the Boston kids didn't tackle as hard as my Chicago mates- and baseball. Someone lent me a Rawlings. Ah, but young mens minds do not stop @ sports, hard as it seems to be - we also attended teenage beauty contest in Quincy Market. I can't remember much, just young men watching like aged girls being put on display for us. Sexism is markets young to us all, n'est pas?

And the experssions !! This was my first exposure to adjectives like 'wicked' and 'mad' - both to denote "a lot of", as in.....well, 'mad beers' or 'wicked beers'. And then there was the fashion statements.

Back in those days there wasn't the incessent coverage of sports on tv like today - but ESPN did exist. I can remember walking to the cornershop to look- but not buy - @ the morning papers for the Sox box scores*. But there was one Chicago sports highlite that was shown on Boston tv - Granitzas goal in that July Sting game. Yes- I couldn't get Sox highlites, but here was a teaser to 'come back after the commercial' with a flash of a goal in a Sting game - and a Sting goal.

But what a fucking goal- in all honest, it may be the greatest goal ever scored in soccer history. What I saw flashed up on the tv screen was old Soldiers, the game clock counting down from 10 seconds, and the ball 120 yards away from the Tulsa goal and in our goalies hands. But that flash on tv: the goalie Victor Nogueria dropkicking the ball linedrive style to midfield- Ricardo Alonso, the tall lanky Argentinian heading the ball forward from the center circle - rite to the chest of Stings greatest player ever, the German Karl Heinz Granitza. With his back to the goal, he deadened the ball perfectly, and just as time ran out - he biked it into the enemy goal.

And then a bleeding commercial.

I'll give it away - the game ended in tears. It went to a 'shootout' and the Sting lost ((but, in accordance to the rules of the N.A.S.L., they got two points for the shootout loss and one for a goal scored - Tulsa only got five points (four and one) )). This I only found out when I got back - because we were on our way to somewhere, I could not wait till after the commercial to see the goal again and hear the story. I only found out that Granitza goal was not the winner, but only the tier(sic) back home. No internet then to find out, for example, the time of the public league semifinal this weekend, the scores of Sting games from way back - or if the Sting won that game in 1983 . The only option? No good. Boston Globe didn't carry N.A.S.L. scores.

But, a gametying goal, as time ran out, by advancing the ball totally airborne 120 yards - it was the greatest goal I have ever seen.

You should have seen it.

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*= this will be revisited some Wednesday to come, for the baseball aspect.