Boston Red Sox: For Better or Worse

Two notes today: one on the awesomeness of sports and the other on why they suck so much sometimes.

First, the good: I tried to stop watching the Red Sox. I really did. For the last month, they’ve been pretty much the worst baseball I’ve ever seen. They’ve dropped balls in the outfield, proved unable to make basic plays in the infield, and been utterly allergic to timely hits. The starting pitchers have been lasting about as long as a bowl of ice cream in front of C.C. Sabathia. The Red Sox best historical comparison? The Cleveland Indians from Major League, before the montage where they turn it around. After Saturday’s shellacking in New York, I vowed not to watch again until April. So of course I turned the game on last night. I don’t know why. I still have the Modern Family season premier stored on my DVR, and I’m pretty sure watching that would have been more fun. And yet, when Jacoby Ellsbury blasted that home run in the top of the 14th? Magic. Suddenly, I feel good again. Maybe there is hope! And maybe the good feeling from last night’s crucial victory will be enough to carry the Sox through these last three games of the season.

Now the bad: this whole John Lackey mess. Every aspect of it stinks. Who knows what’s really going on in John Lackey’s personal life, but he sure came off like a jerk in his press conference after the game (this after he’s carried himself on the field this year like pretty much the biggest jerk in baseball history). Of course, TMZ looks slimy for being typical slimy TMZ. And then even all the people rushing to moral judgment on Lackey look like jerks. The whole thing makes me want to go take a shower. Gross.