Live Chat with Matt at Noon

Matt's Monday Thoughts for Oct. 12th

The Red Sox are the team that my emotions are tied to the most.

One spring morning back in 2003 while living in Alabama, I was driving to work thinking about what it would be like to see a Red Sox championship. My eyes welled up thinking about the parades, the celebrations, and the different world it would be to see my favorite team win it all.

To be a fan of a great team, that’s all most Red Sox fans wanted and if we became hated like Yankees – so what? We would have had our moment in the sun.

A few years later, after the first title for Boston in 86 years, I flew home at the last moment to watch the 5th game of a 5 game series of the Yankees vs. Red Sox. I was in a long distance relationship at the time with someone from Boston and she flew in to meet me at Fenway. It was expensive mini-vacation but we were offered awesome seats cheap so we had to go.

The Red Sox had dropped the first 4 games to New York and were looking at an epic 5 game sweep at home to our hated rivals.

We had 1 championship in our lifetime so both my girlfriend at the time and I could die in peace (or so we told ourselves) but we wanted our team to stop the slide and avoid a historical first to NY. A 5 game sweep in baseball is nearly unheard of. A 5 game sweep at FENWAY to the Yankees was completely unacceptable.

The Red Sox lost that afternoon. I would later look back on that day realize that Yankee Cory Lidle pitched that afternoon for the last time at Fenway. He would die in a plane crash in Manhattan a few months later but after the game I was just pissed off.

I walked out of Fenway and could not believe my team had managed to break my heart again. Even after the championship of 2004 – they could still sting my heart.

On Saturday morning, I jumped a double flight from Des Moines to Boston in order to watch the Red Sox battle the Angels in Game 3 of the American League Series the next day. I had never been to the playoff game at Fenway in my life, only Game 4 of the World Series in Denver in 2007, so my track record was pretty good. Again, I was offered good seats cheap and had to go.

The Red Sox had never lost to the Angels in a playoff series. Dating back to 1986, where the Sox came back to beat the then California franchise on a huge homerun by Dave Henderson in Game 7 of the series, we owned the Angels.

After the 5th inning, Boston was up 5-1 and people were making plans for Game 4 in their heads. I know I was and even though deep down, I knew better.

Welcome to Black Sunday.

On this day in Boston, I got the chance to watch the Red Sox choke away a 4 run lead in person and then watch the Patriots blow a 10 point lead on the road at Denver. More on Pats in a second….

Jonathan Papelbon had not given up a single earned run in his playoff career before Game 3. Over 20 innings of work and nobody had crossed home plate against him.

On Sunday, he allowed a hit that scored 2 runners in the 8th and then gave up 3 runs in the 9th to allow the Angels to beat Boston 7-6 in Game 3. Unreal. Pap walked Tori Hunter to load the bases in order to pitch to Vlad Guerrero…..their clean up hitter who had done nothing in the series but a veteran who took a first pitch, meatball, fast ball and put it in center field. Game over.

My heart stung again.

The Red Sox have been a unique story that went from tragedy to triumph thanks to finally winning but after the past 2 years you have to ask is it over?

1918 to 2004, 86 years between titles and everyone said Boston would never be the same. Those people were right cause Sox fans walking out of Fenway were shaking their heads, not headed for ledges like they would have been in the past.

I couldn’t believe how easy people took the loss. I was pissed off but my family just said “Oh well, they weren’t that good this year”. And they were right to say that cause L.A. was a better team but still…..we lost! Where is the anger?

Sure, I picked them to win in 4 over a Boston team that could not score enough runs in the regular season to catch the Yankees vaunted line up. We all knew the Red Sox weren’t the best team in the American League and I think they would have struggled against at least 2 of the National League playoff teams. Yet I had hope….a hope that was dashed like in the playoffs of 2008 and 2003 and 1999 and 1995 and on through out the history of my baseball team.

Suddenly, 2007 seems like a long time ago for me. But my family’s reaction of “Oh well” made me realize that Boston really won’t ever be the same town that I grew in. 2 Championships in 5 years has created a different type of fan. One that believes that in the future, there are good times ahead even if things suck right now.

Now, all I can only do is hope once again.

*Is it time to say that Tom Brady without Josh McDaniels is a problem? Tom Brady had a record setting performance in 2007 under McDaniels leadership. Then Matt Cassel became a quarterback and became multi-million dollar athlete with McDaniels as his tutor. Now, Kyle Orton has the Denver Broncos undefeated and McDaniels is the hottest name in the NFL for what his doing with him.

Brady and the Pats got shutout in the second half in Denver and New England gave up 13 unanswered points including the game winning field goal in Overtime. The Patriots’ offense looked slow and out of synch again as Brady continues to struggle with his timing.

New England is 4-2 on the year and still looks like the best team in their division but in both losses this year – at New York and Denver, the Pats offense has been held in check by dominate defenses.

In the post season, Brady has to be better if the Pats want any chance of winning a 4th ring. He has to get back on the same page as Randy Moss and has to be more accurate with his throws.

Bottom line – Tom Brady needs to play more like Tom Brady is supposed to.

*No show reviews this week as I just got back to Des Moines this afternoon. However, I’ll try to do a mid-week blog post on them. Thanks for reading.

Bluejaycafe.com Live Chat Noon Friday

Matt's Monday Thoughts for Oct. 5th

I experienced something this weekend for the first time in my 10 years as a radio professional.

I went back to a town that I had previously worked in to stay overnight.

Since 1999, I’ve lived in Charlottesville, VA., Huntsville, AL, and Omaha, Nebraska. All great towns but it wasn't until Saturday night that I actually woke up in my old place of living the next morning. It was kind of weird to be honest, especially waking up in a hotel room after living in the city for 4 years.

Being gone only 5 months after my move to Des Moines made it a lot easier to pick up where I left off but it was still an interesting experience to see so many faces that I knew. Yet, there were some changes that surprised me like construction and new bars that had opened up.

I was back in town for a bunch of client meetings for my Creighton website and then I went to the Tucker Max movie and party event. While seeing “I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell” was a cool experience, the party…..well – I only have 1 word and it’s not good for those of you who know of Tucker and would expect a great story:

LAME.

It was at a bar in West Omaha that tries very hard to make you think you are not in Nebraska. The lighting, the drink prices, the music….all trying very hard to convince you that you are aren’t in a city of less than 1 million people and state with less than 2.

A for effort though but the douche bag dudes out numbered the attractive girls 10 to 1 and the vibe of the place was that of a bad frat party.

Not my scene.

I actually was staying at the same hotel as Tucker Max and met him in the lobby as I was checking in. 5’6, probably 160 lb…nothing special to look at but a nice guy and somebody you can tell is still getting used to the spotlight. He’s jumpy at first when you alert him that you know who he is but calms down quickly.

At the overpriced, wanna-be city bar, I talked with Tucker for a minute or two amid guy after guy trying to shake his hand or talk to him or get an autograph. It’s kind of weird to think about his celebrity. All he really did was tell stories about his life.

As I told him – he could be 1 of 100 guys in the country but the difference is that he’s an outstanding story teller. He disagreed with me saying that it was him just being honest. Maybe – but honesty with a talent for putting words together has made him a lot of money.

A lot more than if he would have tried to be an actor. His 1 scene in the movie flopped.

Thank god for the Rose and Crown….my bar in Omaha. That made the night fun and drunk after I left the Tucker worship party.

*Entourage. Season finales are always sad. I hate them to be honest. All endings have been met with a nasty response by me. Even back when my mom used to pick me up from sleep away camp…I hated the final day. No more fun and games.

Well, the ending to this season was awesome. E proposing to Sloan was a gift to me because I was pissed that Jamie Singler was off the show after breaking up with Turtle. You have to give us one of the two and Sloan marrying E keeps her around for good.

As a 32 year old, a lot of my friends are getting married soon or have been married for a while. It was nice to see the real life side of the show poke through.

Next season could be the last. Donna and David’s marriage ended 90210. Maybe E and Sloan’s will end Entourage. They can’t keep going forever.

*Bored to Death. This show is going to be fun. I really like it and the comedy is perfectly matched to me. HBO has a big hit on their hands again.

Now, where is Big Love?

*Boy I feel for Iowa St. Another really tough loss at Arrowhead after the previous one to Florida St. and a game they would have won if they had A-Rob. 3-2 is still not horrible. But where are the 3 W's coming from now for a bowl game?

*Iowa's Ricky Stanzi was having a killer game...until he became Ricky Stanzi again and threw a pick 6 vs. Arkansas St. He's still the 1 guy who might keep them from a Big 10 title.