The arrival of one Daniel Vincent John Sondreal to the Reserves (I'm still working on a cooler name for our apartment, a la Culligan Manor) has definitely livened up my days, which have almost entirely consisted of job hunting and Madden. Welcome Danny. And wake up soon, I wanna go play.
Due to my recent influx of spare time, I have been able to see quite a bit more of the beloved Sox. By "see", I mean "watch on GameCast while playing Madden." And they have rewarded me by going on a nice little streak, including the 4 game destruction of the ChiSox's pitching staff. I actually got to watch the last two of those games on TV. As Saturday's game reached the 6th inning with both teams combining for just two hits, I was thinking here we go again. A couple hours and 14 runs later, and I was laughing all the way to The Bomb Shelter, a.ka. Lane and Skye's house, where we got innihilated for the second Saturday in a row. After this last week, and even after last night's amazingly predictable loss to the Yanks, I have reached my apex of optimism about the Sox. The bats, which have been mediocre at best in clutch spots, have picked up considerably, as evidenced by the sheer number of 4, 5, or 6 run innings they have accumulated lately. The pitching of Wakefield, and Tavarez in his spot starts has been wonderful. Perhaps most importanly, it looks like the Ortiz/Manny combo is heating up. Even Gagne has settled down. Although I have more confidence in Jon Kitna as my starting fantasy QB than I do in Gagne being reliable in the postseason.
Speaking of fantasy football, as Pauldo has stated on the message board already, why don't they do a serpentine style draft? When Bergman gets both Brees and Tomlinson, Jeff gets both McNabb and Stephen Jackson, French gets both Bulger and Gore, etc. etc. and my team features Brian Westbrook and Jon F'ing Kitna....brutal. Plus both my QBs have the same bye week. So I got that going for me....which is nice. That being said, in retrospect, I would've taken Kitna last year in a second, and avoided the Daunte Culpepper/Byron Leftwich/Damon Huard/David Garrard/Chad Pennington Experience.
I also have gone on a music downloading spree lately, which was must-needed because my current selection was getting a bit stale. Here are some of my favorites****
The WAND- The Flaming Lips
I'm In Heaven When You Smile- Van Morrison
Superhero- Jane's Addiction
Been Caught Stealing- Jane's Addiction
You're My Best Friend- Queen
Shimmy Shimmy Ya- Ol' Dirty Bastard
Generator- The Holloways
Two Left Feet- The Holloways
I Need More Love- Robert Randolph & the Family Band
Touch Me Again- Bernard Pretty Purdie
Dead Reckoning- Clint Mansell (the song from the end scene in Smokin' Aces. No words, but amazing nonetheless)
Heartbeats- Jose Gonzales
Daughter- Loudon Wainwright III
****Keep in mind that the preceding musical recommendations have been given to you by a guy who recently discovered that "Mmmbop" by Hanson has just cracked his top 25 most played songs in his iTunes, and who referenced a Heavy D & the Boyz song for the title of this post. So keep that in mind.
