At Least There’s No Talk of a Curse
The Boston Red Sox got out of town just in time, flying west to Anaheim before having to read the local newspaper reviews of their five-game blowout at the hands of the New York Yankees.
Some headlines:
From the Boston Globe: “Wreckage from This Series Leaves a Sweeping Sense of Devastation.”
From the Boston Herald: “Sox Look on Bright Side -- Nothing’s Worse Than This Sweep” and, “Playoffs Are a Wild Idea: These Sox Not Worthy of October.”
Globe columnist Bob Ryan considered what this sweep means to the Red Sox and their fans, writing, “The truth is that in this perverted sports climate, the other team is never just allowed to be better, even for a day, let alone a series or a season. No, no. Blame must be affixed. Heads must be severed.
“Once upon a time, losing brought a brief period of sorrow. Now it brings rage. The rest of the season, I fear, will not be fun.”
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Trivia time: Before Monday, which team recorded the most recent five-game sweep in the major leagues?
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Fine young cannibal: Here’s a sports headline you don’t often see: “Boulahrouz Attempts To Shake Off Cannibal Image.”
According to Reuters, Khalid Boulahrouz, a new defender for Chelsea in England’s Premier soccer league, is hoping to leave his old nickname of “the Cannibal” behind after two seasons at Hamburger SV. In Germany, Boulahrouz was known as “Khalid der Kannibale.”
“Nicknames are always a little bit blown up,” said Boulahrouz, a 24-year-old Dutch international. “When I went to Hamburg, my German was not very good when I tried to explain my style of play.
“I said how I like to control the strikers, but the next day I opened the paper and it said, ‘Cannibal Signs Contract to 2008.’ ”
Boulahrouz says he tries to “play fair and don’t kick people or give them an elbow to the head. I don’t like that and don’t need it.”
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Just like the majors: After a Little League player cursed and was struck by his manager on Sunday, all of it captured on live television, ESPN announced Monday that it will use a five-second delay during the rest of its coverage of the Little League World Series.
Trying to rally his teammates during a 1-0 loss to Lemont, Ill., a Staten Island player used an obscenity that was clearly audible on ESPN’s telecast. It then appeared that Staten Island Manager Nick Doscher reprimanded the player by striking him with an open hand.
According to Sports Business Daily, a video clip of the incident was uploaded onto YouTube.com Sunday night and was viewed 19,000 times before ESPN asked the site to pull the clip.
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Trivia answer: The Red Sox, who swept the Toronto Blue Jays in a five-game series at Fenway Park from July 1-4, 2002.
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And finally: The Chicago Cubs played their first game in Wrigley Field in 1916, the St. Louis Cardinals played their first game in the new Busch Stadium this year.
Quipped Cardinals broadcaster Al Hrabosky: “The Cubs and the Cardinals do have one thing in common: Neither team has won a World Series in their new ballpark.”
