Much of this blog is being written as I sit on the back of my boat along the Bangor waterfront listening to Pitbull.
It wasn’t that many years ago we never would have imagined an artist like Pitbull entertaining 13,000 people on the banks of the Penobscot. That would have seemed as unlikely as the Red Sox finishing in last place this year.
More on that in a minute.
Waterfront Concerts is the best thing to happen to the Queen City in a long time. I work my best with music in the background. Although he is a bit loud.
OK, back to the aforementioned Red Sox. While this is probably not the case, I still feel like this franchise has no idea what they are doing. I understand the team was within two wins of the World Series last year. But this year there’s no way — by rolling out those bunch of has-beens as starters and that absolutely crappy collection of arms in the bullpen — that they really intended to compete.
And then at the trade deadline it’s as stunning as Pitbull’s dancers that they didn’t send away a couple of players to bring back some legit prospects. In interviews they kept saying they thought they would be able to compete this season. I guess that’s what you say to keep selling tickets.
It’s over. Fans have given up. The team, too.
I will have been to Fenway Park two times in the last three weeks, and not to see the Sox either time. I’d rather make that trip and spend the money to see Def Leppard and Motley Crue or even Imagine Dragons with my daughter in a week than make that pilgrimage to watch this disaster of a team.
A few songs into Pitbull now. Pretty sure this is not my cup of tea. Basically dance club type music. I did just hear the opening chords of “Sweet Child O Mine” so that’s pretty cool. I’ll hang a bit longer.
I’ve said before that I’m not a huge fan of the Little League World Series. I just feel like that’s an inordinate amount of pressure on 11- and 12-year-old kids to perform on national television. At that age, they should be just enjoying and learning the game and playing it for the fun of it.
Having said that, I did find myself in front of the TV Thursday night cheering on Bangor in hopes that they would beat Massachusetts and advance to Williamsport. It didn’t happen, but it still was an amazing experience for those kids. I’ve got a lot of great sports memories in my past but none of them involve being televised on the Worldwide Leader.
Not great news for NESN that Dennis Eckersley is retiring. He certainly makes Sox games more entertaining. Eck is generally a fan favorite for sure. We had it pretty good when it was Don Orsillo, Jerry Remy and Eck.
Personally, I still hold a little bit of a grudge against Eckersley for what he did to the Red Sox as a member of the Oakland A’s in the late ’80s and early ’90s. He was the dominant closer in baseball. I remember in one playoff game he struck out Dwight Evans, his former teammate and friend, and pointed at him. Not cool.
But I suppose if Red Sox nation has let bygones be bygones I should probably fully appreciate that, even with his success in Oakland, he seems like he bleeds for the Sox.
Speaking of bleeding, after 45 minutes of Pitbull I think my eardrums are seeping plasma. I’m too old for a waterfront rave. This laptop and I are heading home.
I’d almost rather watch the Sox than listen to this.
Almost.
