The Rob Bironas show

Today I’m watching the NFL Network replay of the Titans/Texans game from last October. I was in Vegas and missed most of the game since the Titans had a huge lead early. Yes, I am that big of a fan.

Who could pass up on watching the game with an NFL record eight field goals from Rob Bironas? Bironas made about 500K in this game alone.

Not only is this a field goal fest, it’s a game started by Kerry Collins.

It’s week seven, and the Titans haven’t scored a point in their opening drive. Bironas nails it from 52. Collins made some nice timing throws early in the drive, and as the Titans do, they stalled out.

I watched the early part of the game in a sports book. I found it to be even more depressing than being in a sports bar alone on a Sunday. Only later did I figure out that the game was on the line.

Jacoby Jones catches consecutive screen passes and fumbles the second one. Jones was coming back from a shoulder injury (nice little insets by the Network). Harper recovers for the Titans. I have a feeling that this will be a short drive.

LenDale White is excellent at gaining three yards on first down.

Scaife takes a short pass and fumbles it back to the Texans. This is going to be uglier than I remember.

Wait, I just found out that the draft starts at 3 p.m. on Saturday. Has that been the start time all along? I so confused.

Titans get the ball back and Collins fumbles. DeMeco Ryans runs it in for a touchdown. Ryans was unblocked. Collins didn’t even have time to think about not avoiding the pressure.

There was a turnover, but NFL Network decided to fast forward to the middle of the first quarter.

There’s not much TiVo fast forwarding in this game. No filler. Courtland Finnegan came in on a safety blitz and took Matt Schaub. Bye, Schaub.

Sage Rosenfels comes in and throws an interception to Nick Harper. Kevin Walter does the “I was interfered with” hand, which never works.

Norm Chow must have had a hundred six yard pass patterns. Roydell Williams gets crushed on a crossing pattern and it’s field goal time.

Collins can throw the ball well. He hit Williams on a deep in. The replay goes directly to the field goal try. That’s number three and a 9-7 lead for the Titans.

They’re not even showing Texan possessions anymore. Gage makes a nice third-down play.

There’s a defensive pass interference call on third down that gives the Titans first and goal at the one. Can you say running play? LenDale White punches it in. It’s 16-7.

Again we’re looking at the Titans with the ball. They’re already on the Texans side of the field. Third-down play fails and it’s field goal time. 19-7.

Schaub comes back. He got hit by Haynesworth and it was a 15-yard penalty. Haynesworth put his head to Schaub’s left, so he made the effort to avoid the head to head hit.

Rosenfels comes in and fumbles the first snap. That’s two straight turnovers from my view. Titans don’t make a big effort to score a touchdown. 22-7.

The ball got to the end zone twice in that half. It’s a very conservative game plan for the dominance the Titans showed. It’s a 233-24 yardage advantage.

Rosenfels comes in to start the second half. Nick Harper gets his second interception.

LenDale White may have no speed, but he can get two yards on third and two.

25-7, here we come. Again, we go directly to a Titan offensive series.

Chris Henry got free on a long run and was tripped up by a safety. He actually looks pretty solid. He scores his first NFL touchdown. 32-7.

CBS shows Texan fans tailgating already. The remaining crowd cheers the offense as they start to build momentum. There are less than 17 minutes left in the game.

As the fourth quarter starts, it’s 32-7. The Titans have a 231-yard offensive advantage entering the quarter.

David Anderson, called “little guy” by Dick Enberg, catches the first touchdown. There’s a shot of George H Bush in the stands. Texans go for two and get it. 32-15.

Kevin Walter makes a nice catch. He had a minor breakout year for the Texans. 47 catches before last year and 65 catches in 2007.

The defense is getting tired. Texans started at their one and are moving like a hot knife through butter. Matt Schaub, still wearing his helmet on the sideline, looks ticked off. Anytime an injured player keeps his helmet on while he’s on the sideline, that’s comedy.

Kevin Walter scores and it’s 32-22. Can you stop this train? There’s 8:15 to go.

Titans go three and out. Texans take over with 6:52 left.

The Texans fumble the ensuing punt. That’s five turnovers for the Texans. The Titans pass on a field goal attempt from the 35. Rosenfels throws and interception to Keith Bulluck, who fumbles but Nick Harper gets the ball.

It’s LenDale White’s first 100-yard game. Titans take it easy and give Bironas one more field goal. It’s 35-22 with 3:47 to go.

Rosenfels throws one right at Thornton. No dice.

With 1:55 to go, the Texans have the ball at the Titan 43. Fourth down. Rosenfels hits Owen Daniels. David Anderson catches a nice sideline pass inside the ten yard line.

Jeb Putzier scores with 97 seconds left. It’s 35-29. The 100 people left in the stands are enjoying it. Texans get the onside kick but there’s a penalty on the Houston. The odds of two consecutive successful onside kicks is “inconceivable.” Ben Hartsock had the ball but he fumbled it. Texans take over with 92 seconds to go.

Anderson catches the ball to the Texans 48 with less than 70 seconds left. Andre Davis catches the deep ball on the next play for the touchdown. Calvin Lowry was really out of place. It looked like he was trying to catch the ball and Davis took it.

Sadly I have to leave for dinner. TiVo will save the dramatic finish for later tonight.

There are 57 seconds left. The Titans have the ball at their 20. There are three timeouts left. I think this will represent the only Titan offensive rally for a victory last year. 2006 seems so long ago.

Collins hits Roydell Williams on an out for 15 yards. 50 seconds left.

Incomplete pass to LenDale White, who was bracketed.

Justin Gage drops a 20-yard gain with 39 seconds left. Would I have any hair left at this point?

Collins hits Roydell on Von Hutchins and hits him with a laser shot. It was a one-handed grab. Great throw.

LenDale takes it up the middle for six. Titans call a time out with two seconds left. Holy drama, Batman!

Kubiak calls a time out. It wasn’t a last-second call.

Oh yeah. Victory time.

I delete the TiVo recording. A game that strange is worthy of just one viewing. I’m currently taping a show on gravity.

The dream draft

Let's say for fun that the Titans could pick any guy they wanted from this year's draft pool, and for kicks, I get to be the GM. Who would I take? Let's face it, there's a notorious lack of sexy in the top draft picks. You have Jake Long, who's one of those "can't miss" guys even though scouts think he would be a better right tackle. Chris Long has character oozing out of his pores but feels like a tweener. Vernon Gholston has an issue with his "motor". He looks like one of those freak athletes who may not be what they call a football player. One Ben Troupe in a decade is enough for me. Darren McFadden is the consensus top running back. The Titans have dealt with players overflowing with baby-mamas and the need to borrow money from a club paying him seven figures a year. Last year I didn't have a bad feeling about Adrian Peterson due to his talent. I had a bad feeling due to his injury-proneness. Sedrick Ellis seems small for an "elite" defensive tackle.

I'd take Glenn Dorsey. He was the best player on the best college team last year. With him and Albert Haynesworth in the middle, the Titans wouldn't have to worry about their lack of DE depth. Haynesworth might even make an effort after an inevitable long-term deal is struck if his line-mate outperfomed him on a regular basis.

I make this theoretical pick because there's no one at the 24 pick that excites me. The draft is all about hype and the hyped players with the eight-figure signing bonuses will be gone well before the 24th pick. I'm still a little unsure after last year's draft which looks like reach central.

Speaking of reach picks, ESPN re-ranked the 2005 draft class, and Michael Roos was selected eighth overall. Khalif Barnes, selected by the Jaguars a couple of picks later, was considered a much better prospect. Barnes went 21st (to the Jags) in this post-mock.

I'm purposely trying to ignore the White Sox's incredible start. What's most amazing is that Jon Danks and Gavin Floyd are pitching well. The key to the Jon Garland deal was that at least one of the young starters had to pan out. Danks has had three great starts and one stinker and Floyd has a 1.4 ERA, albeit with a 10/8 K/BB rate. Danks gave up seven of his eight earned runs in one start. Danks is 23 and Floyd is 25. That's good because the minor league system is pretty much dead.

The two White Sox hitters slumping the most are Jim Thome and Paul Konerko. Guess who I own in the AUBL? Juan Uribe is batting .153, but that's close to his career average. There isn't much out there to challenge him at second base, sadly. Next is a three-game set against the fourth-place Yankees. I love saying that.

This week I take on the top team in the AUBL. I'm currently 6.5 games out of first. It's time to go to work.

Free Frank Thomas

For the first time since 1990, Frank Thomas is not on a major league roster in April. The two-time MVP asked for his release after the Toronto Blue Jays reduced his role in the wake of a recent slump. Thomas had 10 hits in 60 at bats this year, which wasn't cutting it. He kept his usual impressive on-base rate with 11 walks in the same span. It seems like a short amount of time to give up on the man who hit 26 homers last year and, release or not, was to receive $9 million this year. There was the matter of the 2009 option, which was $10 million and automatically kicked in if Thomas had 360ish at bats.

I'd rather not see things end like this for Thomas, who's nearing his 40th birthday. He's been a prickly guy over the past decade. I'm not sure if the long stretches sitting alone in the dugout as a DH did that, or the slew of injuries that slowed his Hall of Fame career starting in 2001. In any case, he's an all-time great hitter, with the record for homers as a DH. Perhaps a team like the Mariners will pick him up on the cheap so Thomas can continue his bid for 2500 hits and 500 doubles. That .302 career batting average would be at risk. As much as Thomas likes to look at his numbers, anything under .300 would be an eyesore.

Matt Stairs and Rod Barajas will platoon at DH for the Blue Jays. When a Stairs/Barajas platoon is preferrable, it might be time to hang up the spikes.

The NFL draft will be over a week from now. As of this moment I have no idea what the Titans will do. It's looking like they will search for help on the defensive line. Drafting a wideout seems less likely. No rookie is going to boost the group of mediocre talent that performed so decently last year. Getting a dynamic running back to help ease the load, and minds of Titan fans, of the White/Henry duo, is a must, but that can be accomplished any time in the first day of the draft. I wouldn't be surprised to see a trade down as a team like the Falcons moves up to pick up Brian Brohm. I just want to enjoy draft day, which is a bit like Christmas Day for obsessed NFLers. I like it that everything NFL-related is hyped to the rafters. Most of the time, the hype is unwarranted. Some times you get a Super Bowl 42 or a 46-yard TD dash in overtime by Vince Young. If you don't watch, you might miss the magic.

Farewell to Mr. McNair

Steve McNair announced his retirement today. I am of the opinion that his jersey will not be retired. By the Ravens.

There was discussion about his number being retired by the Titans this morning on the Sirius NFL channel. I wouldn't mind seeing a group number ceremony featuring Frank Wycheck, Eddie George, and McNair. You could call it the Hall of Very Good ceremony.

Some will say that McNair didn't reach his full potential due to injuries. I would say that Jeff Fisher's run-centric ways prevented McNair from opening things up until his seventh year in the league. In his senior year at Alcorn State, McNair had nearly 5800 yards of total offense. He almost won the freaking Heisman as a 1-AA one-man team. In the NFL, he mainly handed the ball off to George and threw seven-yard curls to Wycheck.

McNair started all 16 games three times in 13 NFL seasons. He exceeded 20 passing TDs only three times. His 3590 rushing yards for a QB is fifth all time. That's not bad considering that he stopped running after 2002. Note that McNair finished with more interceptions than touchdowns only in injury-shortened 2004 and 2007. Yeah, Vince Young has a long way to go to live up to McNair's career.

I'm tired of all the whiners who said that McNair didn't deserve his co-MVP in 2003. If it weren't for a stray piece of turf in Atlanta that caused him to miss two games, he would have taken it as a solo job. His passer rating, yards per attempt, and yards per completion led the league.

It's too bad that his one chance at a Super Bowl victory was so early in his career. The last-gasp drive was a thing of beauty, with McNair avoiding sacks and hitting receivers who couldn't get open against a solid high school squad. McNair set the record for QB rushing with 64 yards on eight attempts. Jackie Harris was the leading receiver with 64 yards.

It's possible that he had more to show us, but we saw plenty. The bitter contract dispute that led the Titans to trade McNair for a fourth-round pick was a low point in franchise history. The salary-cap follies that led to McNair, Derrick Mason, and Samari Rolle becoming Ravens was completely embarrassing. The Ravens didn't get much out of that investment.

I don't think any Titan fan feels cheated with what McNair delivered. There's a bias against players who are injury prone. Some think that injuries are a result of laziness or a lack of commitment. I think it's a mixture of bad luck and as a QB, taking a few too many hits fighting for that extra yard. There’s a reason why good running QBs become good pocket QBs if they want to have a lasting career. McNair left it all on the field. We can't deny that.

The NFL owns my soul

What's worse, the fact that I set up my day at work so I could take my "lunch" break at the same time the NFL schedule was announced, or my excitement at being able to TiVo a replay of the game last year when Rob Bironas kicked eight field goals against the Texans?

I won't complain about the Titans' schedule for obvious reasons. It's going to happen, and there's nothing my wife can do about it. I have to decide if I really want to go to Chicago in November to see the Titans in the freezing cold. The entire Law clan will be in Nashville for Titans/Steelers in late December. It's interesting that the Titans open with the Jags (albeit at home) and finish at the Colts, which gives them the same bookends as last year.

It's going to be tough for the AFC North, who has to play the AFC South and the NFC East this year. The AFC East gees the AFC West and the NFC West. It's like seven bye weeks.

Any time a guy in my fantasy league pulls off a jerk move, I'm going to call it Pulling a Pac. Pacman decided not to apply for reinstatement until after the Cowboy deal is done. If I'm the Titans, I'm holding onto him like a royal flush. All the Titans have done is stand by Pac during his arrestapalooza. I hope he rents a house with Tank Johnson.

It's pretty bad when I'm hoping that I get Juan Uribe in my GDR league. I have Carlos Guillen and Derek Jeter and neither are playing at the moment. My Mike Napoli/Jeff Mathis catcher tandem is money.

The pain and the sorrow

I was briefly in Nashville last weekend. One of the Tennessean columnists, I think it was David Climer, wrote a very informative article on how he had no idea what the Titans would do with their first-round pick. If I ever become a paid columnist, I hope that I don't produce work of this caliber. It was neither informative nor entertaining. In a sentence, it said "I don't know what this team is going to do and frankly, nor will I try to speculate." We are in the truthiness portion of the pre-draft mania, where teams will float any kind of rumor to ensure that "their guy" is available on April 26.

I did like ESPN the Magazine's attempt to re-do the ridiculous draft-value chart that Jimmy Johnson created, oh, a decade ago. When people get worked up about the Big Tuna calling the shots in Miami, think back to Jimmy Johnson's reclamation project with the Dolphins. Not too impressed, eh? Parcells had diminishing returns with each team after the Giants, so it makes sense for him to "earn" seven figures as an actual figurehead.

There is a downside to a draft chart that makes a 32nd overall pick 70% as valuable as the number one pick. Right now it's worth 1/5 of the top pick. JaMarcus Russell, last year's top pick, signed a six-year, $61 million contract. $32 million is guaranteed. Anthony Gonzalez, the 32nd overall pick, got a 5-year, $7.5 million contract. $5.4 is guaranteed. According to the salaries, the top guy gets about six times what the 32nd guy gets. That has to change. After all, Gonzalez had a much more successful rookie year, and he scored a playoff TD. Will Russell even make the playoffs in the next three years?

The man of pac will file for reinstatement tomorrow. Maybe this will help get the ball rolling for renewed trade talks. The Cowboys want to give a sixth rounder and the Titans want a fourth rounder. Call it a five and move on.

One player who could be on the Titans' draft board for the #24 pick is Chris Johnson. Johnson is a super speed burner from East Carolina. Upside for this pick is that Johnson gives them a stellar kick returner and third down back. Downside is that the Titans just signed Chris Carr to return kicks and Chris Henry is the third-down back. Most people don't see LenDale White as the long-term answer so maybe it makes sense.

I heard a little tidbit about Chauncey Washington today. He was in the same recruiting class as Reggie Bush and LenDale White at USC. Due to injuries and trouble staying eligible, he barely played. After Washington ran a nice 40 at the USC pro day, people talked him up as a possible third-round pick. Word around the campfire is that Washington has nice straight-line speed but not much else. Does that sound familiar to Titan fans? The indelible moment of Chris Henry's 2007 was him getting crushed by Darrell Reid on a kickoff return in the season finale. If Henry does anything for the Titans, it will not be as a kick returner. Of that I am certain.

Kiss your sister

Hold your breath, here comes a kickball update. In week three, we played a team called Sand.

I'll begin this week's recap with a story about the first CompuCredit softball team. We were the worst softball team in the history of softball teams. We couldn't hit, pitch, or field. Other than that, we were all right. What made the entire season so frustrating was the experience we had in the opening week. I was our first pitcher and couldn't finish the first inning because there's a league rule that states that no team can score more than ten runs in an inning. I did get two outs for those ten runs. We were getting obliterated early, but we rallied. In the top of the final inning we tied the game. The other team had runners at second and third with no outs. It's almost impossible to not give up a run at that point. Somehow we managed out one, two, and three. The game was over. We tied, and it felt like a win.

Last night, we tied and it felt like a loss. I felt like our three and four kickers were solid, but I didn't have anyone behind them to knock these runners in. After working what I thought was a good lineup, we struggled. In the first inning we pushed one run across the plate. After that, it was a pitchers, or rollers, duel. Our opponent must have had some kind of internal rule. Each player had to be a maximum of 24 inches from their beer at all times. One team member wore a chicken suit. The chicken had a pretty solid leg. There was timeless music from Guns and Roses and the "You're the Best" from the Karate Kid soundtrack. It was like they were at a party and a kickball game broke out. As the innings progressed and the field got more chopped up and the egg-shaped overinflated ball yielded few solid kicks, it was obvious that scoring would be at a premium. Every ball kicked to the Reject outfield was caught. When it comes to having any kind of work/social team, you have to trust in players who may or may not be top performers. There were some standout defensive plays from people who I did not expect to do so.

The easiest and best way to get on base when the bases are empty is the bunt. All you have to do is aim your foot toward the third-base line. After suffering through a spring cold, I put myself at the bottom of our order. That's 18 in your kicking order, folks. I was up with one out in the fifth. I knew this was my only at-kick. I was mocked by the opposition for a "man bunt," which apparently is more shameful than owning a "man bag." I thought that we could manufacture a run and frankly I knew I wasn't going to get another chance. I was stranded at second and mocked by our opponents, especially the bastion of self-esteem wearing the yellow chicken suit.

In the sixth Sand got a runner to second with one out, usually a tough spot. The runner prematurely took off and a hard kick to our third baseman led to an easy out. The meat of our order failed to produce another run.

We bring you to the bottom of the seventh inning. It's getting dark and the field between the pitching mound and the plate resembles the surface of the moon. I can throw the ball straight and it might hit a pothole and end up three feet outside. We got the first out. We made the "strategic" move of placing a guy behind the plate to trail anyone who bunts. The woman at the plate bunted, and our guy made a great pickup, throwing to Mr. Funk at first for the out. The ref at first, holding a beer provided by the other team and not looking, calls her safe. Ouch. The next kicker gets on base. We're able to get out number two. It's now or never. A woman starts to move to the plate but she's pulled back and replaced by a guy. Interesting. There is no pinch hitting in kickball. He blasts a line drive between first and second and we're tied. The second runner tries to score, and as she's sliding into home our catcher makes the tag for the final out. Due to time and darkness we have to call a tie. Sand wants to play more but we're done.

It was a tough, hard-fought game. I really feel like it was a team effort and we deserved better. In kickball, you never know how the ball is going to bounce, especially when it's shaped like a football.

After the game, I needed some kind of victory. I joined my buddy Mr. Funk at Mellow Mushroom. It's probably the first time we went to this Emory University pizza joint without ordering a beer. I was still getting over my cold and Mr. Funk is on an alcohol sabbatical. I came three strikes from getting a 300. My 277 was a personal record (yes, I took a camera phone picture of it) and I got my initials on the game. We finished with a three-game Space Invaders series. I beat Mr. Funk, who played Space Invaders in high school. I was a Super Nintendo guy in high school.

I can see why college football went to an overtime system. The "kiss your sister" tie is not satisfying no matter what.

The fightin' White Sox

The White Sox did it again.

The Raiders showed as much interest in re-signing Chris Carr as my junior prom date had with me. The NFL had to notify the Titans that the Raiders had no interest in matching the offer sheet the Titans signed last week. Carr is a Titan. You would think that the Tennessean would find a better picture of him. The picture in the article shows him getting burned by Bernard Berrian.

I will refrain from buying a jersey, although 32 should be available soon.

Sadly, I will not spend the entire 2008 baseball season in first place of the AUBL. I won 10-4, but one team went 14-0. I kind of regret adding the categories plate appearances and k/bb ratio. I did already talk smack to the owner who overdrafted Justin Verlander in the second round. Verlander gave up nine runs to the Sox last night.

I finished 4-2 this week in the somewhat confusing GDR league. I can live with winning more than I lose. I finished second in the league in scoring which is a good thing. So far this week (and it is early), I have -1 points.

In z34 I finally posted the free agent financials. In a stunning move, no one has complained about them yet. I'll bet that there's some pre-draft burnout. I can't wait to start scouting punters.

Kick that ball

I'm not here to write about the White Sox's surprising start or the exciting 10th anniversary logo that the Titans recently revealed.

Let's talk about the beautiful game. I made the fateful decision to captain a company kickball team. After struggling with the basics, like a league that wouldn't support my company paying for the entire team at once, we were ready to go. Last season, I assumed the captaincy of the team after the original team leader went on a six-week training trip to the Philippines. Out of a 25-person roster, we had trouble getting enough people to play on a weekly basis. I was determined to make sure that didn't happen this year.

Week one was a learning experience. Even though I drove to the field in advance of the game and sent directions, a couple of people got lost. This league is a bit cheap, so instead of having paid refs, teams have to provide refs. I had to attend a ref clinic instead of gathering my team prior to game one. We got a 20-page booklet that explained the rules. I was glad that we would play a game before playing ref.

We had 13 people show up for the first week. My first task was coming up with a "kicking" lineup and figuring out where everyone went on the field. There are 11 people on the field for kickball. It's kind of crowded. Also there is a rule that four females have to be on the field at once. I started week one with a five infielder and four outfielder alignment. I pitched, which is really rolled.

In last year's league, the strategy was to have the pitcher "rush" the kicker, because most of the women bunt. If you bunt to the third base side, it's really hard to throw someone out at first. The ball is ten inches in diameter. One advantage of kickball over baseball is that you can throw people out by hitting them with the ball. If you miss, the ball is still in play. Not good.

Our first game was against a team called Joe T's Warriors. There was no advance scouting reports. At the start the Warriors, even the guys, bunted a lot and we struggled. Our two soccer players, Aedren and Kevin, came through in the three and four hole of the kicking order, knocking in all five runs in a 5-2 win. Was it this easy?

We reffed a 1-0 kicker's duel. During the ref clinic, the WAKA rep told us that an official game was five innings. Our game was over in about 30 minutes. In the nightcap, we found out that a game could go as far as seven innings. We felt somewhat gypped but at the same time we won.

Another quirk of kickball, at least in this league, is that fouls and strikes are not the same thing. It's hard to strike out, since the strike zone is one foot to either side of the plate. Fouling out, which is four fouls, happens every once in a while.

In week two I was smart enough to create a kicking order and put everyone on the field. There were two problems. In week one it was about 70 degrees. In week two it was 50 and cloudy. In Atlanta, that's pretty darn cold. Because of this, no one warmed up prior to the game. We just huddled together and waited to meet our nemesis, Swift Kick in the Grass.

It was a 2-2 tie in the top of the fourth when it started falling apart. We cycled in one of our guys at catcher when the team started bunting a lot. That led to issues in the outfield. With players on first and second, I got a force-out at second when I should have taken out the lead runner. A drop in the outfield led to two runs scoring. We were down 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Three of our players had pulled quad muscles. Kicking the ball is tough on the body, since you have to balance on one foot and kick a somewhat heavy ball. If you're not warmed up, you can pull something.

The inning started with two singles. I came up to the plate. I inserted myself at the second spot of the lineup. It was a mistake, since I hadn't figured out how to kick yet. My first kick was a pop-up (easy to do). I tried a bunt my second time up. Sadly, my bunt didn't go to third. It went directly to the pitcher. The third time I had an epic at-kick.

I took the first two pitches. One was a ball and the other was a bouncy strike. I kicked at the third one and it went foul to first base. I turned on the fourth pitch, which landed just foul to the third base side. That's what I was trying to do. On the fifth pitch I knocked the ball past the third baseman. A run scored. I was on first base, the tying run with our sluggers coming up. We were going to pull off an improbable rally. In two pitches it all went wrong as both guys popped up.

We lost. Our players limped off the field and we chatted for a bit. Way more people asked me how the team did after the loss as opposed to after our victory. It's tough not to take the losses personally. At least as captain I can choose to not listen to the advice of fellow teammates.

Box score line of the week: Dontrelle Willis gave up one hit in five innings against the Sox yesterday. He also walked seven (and struck out zero). The Sox like to swing at almost anything, so being a bit wild can be a good strategy. I'm pretty happy with the start against two tough division rivals on the road. I'd like to see a win in tonight's series finale on ESPN2. It's not like the Sox are going to be a regular fixture on Sunday Night baseball.


Week two wasn't as fortunate. Our opponent was Swift Kick in the Grass.