Wednesday, January 30, 2008
'It makes Coughlin a little antsy'
I thought New York would be all over the book-and-parade controversy in Boston. But the Giants have their own psychological-ops problem: Plaxico Burress. Tom Coughlin isn't happy. ... I liked the Pats' reaction to Burress's prediction. Richard Seymour: "Was he serious? ... Sorry to hear that." Rodney Harrison: "Well … how do I want to say this?" Junior Seau: "He said 23-17, Patriots win? ...Oh they win? Well, I think we ought to go pack up our cameras and go home." ... One bulletin-board pin-up is cancelled out by another bulletin-board pin-up. ...
Some of you may have already seen this NYT piece on the embarrassment of sports riches Bostonians now enjoy. Fun stat: The odds of one city fielding three of the best sports teams in a season (Pats, Sox, Celts) are 1-29,000, one enterprising Harvard guy has calculated. But the rest of the article is more than a little condescending. There's the inevitable reference to Boston's 'inveterate inferiority complex.' I'll repeat: I've never met a South Boston native pining for the Bronx. Any 'inferiority complex' here resides within the media/arts/hipster circles. Moving on to other cliches, the article flirts with the lovable-losers/can't-handle-winning angle that I thought was dead after 2004: 'All this winning raises the question: what has Boston lost?' Four years later and they're still hauling out this narrative. But at least the article didn't quote a local English professor about how baseball is a metaphor for life, etc. etc.
P.S. - I'm sure some ham actor somewhere in Boston is feigning oh-woe-is-we angst about the Sox not landing Johan Santana. I'd like to see Johan on the mound in Fenway. But a 5-to-7 years contract at $20 million annually? I'll take Jacoby, Jon, Clay and keep the change.
Update -- Re books: Et tu, Herald II? ... So Amazon also had a pre-order book about a Giants' victory? The competing books cancel each other out as controversy fodder, definitely. Back to the parade and Burress...
Update II -- Soxaholix on the Santana deal: "What a stupid deal though. Everyone waited months for that?" ... Read on to learn how Flushing Meadows got its name. ...
Update III -- OK, here's the Giants' own pre-order book. We'll see how long it stays up at Amazon. ... Also, the NY Daily News is on the books-and-parade controversy. The Giants, um, didn't know they had their own pre-order book. ...
Update IV -- This is getting silly: Giants all wore black suits upon arriving in Arizona on Monday. Funeral for Pats, etc. Get it? ...
I thought New York would be all over the book-and-parade controversy in Boston. But the Giants have their own psychological-ops problem: Plaxico Burress. Tom Coughlin isn't happy. ... I liked the Pats' reaction to Burress's prediction. Richard Seymour: "Was he serious? ... Sorry to hear that." Rodney Harrison: "Well … how do I want to say this?" Junior Seau: "He said 23-17, Patriots win? ...Oh they win? Well, I think we ought to go pack up our cameras and go home." ... One bulletin-board pin-up is cancelled out by another bulletin-board pin-up. ...
Some of you may have already seen this NYT piece on the embarrassment of sports riches Bostonians now enjoy. Fun stat: The odds of one city fielding three of the best sports teams in a season (Pats, Sox, Celts) are 1-29,000, one enterprising Harvard guy has calculated. But the rest of the article is more than a little condescending. There's the inevitable reference to Boston's 'inveterate inferiority complex.' I'll repeat: I've never met a South Boston native pining for the Bronx. Any 'inferiority complex' here resides within the media/arts/hipster circles. Moving on to other cliches, the article flirts with the lovable-losers/can't-handle-winning angle that I thought was dead after 2004: 'All this winning raises the question: what has Boston lost?' Four years later and they're still hauling out this narrative. But at least the article didn't quote a local English professor about how baseball is a metaphor for life, etc. etc.
P.S. - I'm sure some ham actor somewhere in Boston is feigning oh-woe-is-we angst about the Sox not landing Johan Santana. I'd like to see Johan on the mound in Fenway. But a 5-to-7 years contract at $20 million annually? I'll take Jacoby, Jon, Clay and keep the change.
Update -- Re books: Et tu, Herald II? ... So Amazon also had a pre-order book about a Giants' victory? The competing books cancel each other out as controversy fodder, definitely. Back to the parade and Burress...
Update II -- Soxaholix on the Santana deal: "What a stupid deal though. Everyone waited months for that?" ... Read on to learn how Flushing Meadows got its name. ...
Update III -- OK, here's the Giants' own pre-order book. We'll see how long it stays up at Amazon. ... Also, the NY Daily News is on the books-and-parade controversy. The Giants, um, didn't know they had their own pre-order book. ...
Update IV -- This is getting silly: Giants all wore black suits upon arriving in Arizona on Monday. Funeral for Pats, etc. Get it? ...
