James Loney is the Forgotten Man

In the blockbuster trade that sent Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford to the Los Angeles Dodgers - of yeah Nick Punto too - and three very good prospect to Boston, the forgotten man in all of this is the Dodgers' First Baseman (and now Red Sox First Baseman) James Loney.  When I announced this trade to the boys when it first broke, the common answer I received was "Who's James Loney?"

That's a good question.  He's been in Matt Kemp's shadow for the last 3 years in Los Angeles, so his profile has been low ever since coming into the league in 2006.  The trade now gives him a chance to hit in the middle of the batting order of a high profile team.  Even though said team is putrid and out of the Playoff hunt.  This begs the question though.  What is James Loney going to do when the season ends?

It was not that long ago that Loney had back-to-back 90 RBI seasons despite hitting behind RBI machines in Los Angeles, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier.  Hell, even his 162 career averages are pretty good (.284/.341/.763), so this guy is not just a throw away in this deal.  And while he is arbitration eligible after the season, the question again is whether Loney should be kept around after the 2012 season concludes. 

The Free Agent Pool for the 2013 season is iffy at best.  There are no First Basemen free agents for the 2013 season, so the Red Sox might be better off keeping Loney around for another couple of seasons.  I wonder if the Red Sox are regretting moving both Josh Reddick and Lars Anderson in 2012.  I guess we are all set next year when the Red Sox play in the National League next year at First Base without any controversy as Papi will be able to play all of the games.  Oh wait, David Ortiz is moving on after this season too, I forgot.

It's a good question.  Loney is hitting modestly so far in Boston.  Maybe the Green Monster is suited to his swing.  Maybe the change of scenery works both ways and Loney will flourish in Boston.  I do know that Mauro Gomez is not the answer and neither are any of the "prospects" in Portland.  Loney might be it.  Has John Henry finally succeeded in turning the Red Sox into the Florida Marlins he used to own?

Welcome to the Boston Red Sox 2.0.  So how's Liverpool doing?

Mt Sunapee's Not Just for Skiing Anymore

So we were invited to our friend's Condo up at Mt. Sunapee earlier this week.  "Oh no!" I thought to myself.  Not more skiing!  Although it was about 90 degrees outside as I was thinking about skiing again, I was afraid that the mountain somehow figured out how to make snow even in this heat.
But not this time.  We were invited to eat some barbecue, go do some swimming and generally enjoy some beautiful scenery with the kids and their friends.  So what would our three day weekend look like up at Mt. Sunapee?  I did read that the Mount Sunapee Adventure Park opened up recently and it looked like something that all of the kids would enjoy.  A good start already. 

No Skiing today!

Treetop Obstacle Course.  At the Mount Sunapee Adventure Park, this looked really cool.  The obstacles included ziplines, rickety bridges, rope walks and (amongst some of the children) horror.  Sounds like a good time for the kids.  Even G, who generally has to be talked into things like this, ran down the intermediate zipline.  He would have done the advanced zipline down the mountain, but Mom was not having any of that.  At 65 bucks a pop, no way were we going to allow 5 minutes of yelling and screaming (and that was from Mom).  Overall though, I think everyone had a great time.  Even now the kids keep talking about it.  Three and one/half stars out of four.

Boating Down Lake Sunapee.  On a lark, our friends decided to see if a boat was available to rent so we can go cruising down the lake from Sargent's Marina at the north end of Lake Sunapee to Sunapee Harbor.  It fit the 10 of us and on a beautiful day this was a perfect activity to take on.  we checked off all of the boaters dreams.  We did a cruise to Sunapee Harbor, some tubing and some football on the sand bars down the East side of the Lake.  I think the kids started getting tired though since we had to start break up some fights toward the end.  Still it was a beautiful day and a perfect activity.  Three stars our of four.

The Falls at Pollards Mills. This was the best thing for the kids.  It was our last day and we wanted to try something a little different.  One of our friends who spent a lot of time at Sunapee growing up suggested we got to the Falls.  When we got there it was a very peaceful surrounding.  Although "falls" is a misnomer since the highest falls that we saw was maybe 10 feet.  It was a beautiful setting though.  Even campers were sleepily waking up to morning coffee.  The kids ended up going to a rock formation slide, and jumped into the pool from a 6 foot cliff.  After two hours and a lot of fun, they were all disappointed that we had to leave.  Another sign of a good time four stars out of four.

Overall, we will never look at Sunapee (or any mountain for that matter) the same way again.  I think there is more to do here in the Summer than there is in the Winter.  We'll be back and that's not soon enough for the kids.

Usain Bolt, Oscar Pistorius and the Summer Olympic Superstars

OK.  The Summer Olympic in London is in full swing and we are trying to set a record for most nights of odd sports in a row we can watch.  Tonight it was track and field.  Even though we are on tape delay here in the States, the evening Olympics coverage has been pretty entertaining.  Not only that, because its tape delayed, the fact that we are watching it on our DVR makes it seem almost fitting.  Anyway, two of the most intriguing athletes in this, the second, week of competition have to be South African Paralympian, Oscar Pistorius and Jamaican sprinter, Usain Bolt.  While Bolt is certainly recognizable to the kids at this point, I have to admit that Oscar Pistorius is only recognizable because he scares the bejesus out of DLG.  She DOES NOT like the biotic robot man.  Anyway, we sit down to watch the coverage.

8am.  Oscar Pistorius will race first in the 400 meters.  Here let me hid DLG somewhere away from the TV before she starts to really freak out.  As I suggest that we go upstairs to watch a quick show, she can tell what I'm up to and tears start to well up in her eyes. 

"I don't want to see the robotic man." She starts to scream.  I shuffle her upstairs.  Oh by the way, Pistorius is up against stiff competition in this 400M semifinal, including favorite Kirani James from Grenada.

Uh oh, he got a bad start, got lapped immediately by some shmoe.  Not looking good.  The announcer chimes in that Pistorius usually has a faster back half of the race.  But unless that includes some sort of bionic Steve Austin-type move, he's not going to win tonight - or even advance for that matter.   In fact, he ends up in last place.  I'm really bummed out.  That was a great, uplifting story that the kids really got into.  Good for him anyway.  In the aftermath interview, he came across as a humble, kindly gentleman.  I'm rooting for him in Rio De Janiero in 2016.

And on to Bolt. 

The boys didn't want to watch the heats and DLG was not budging from her perch several yards away from the robotic man.  So I fast forward to the Finals.

There is electricity in the air at the Stadium as the buzzing grows louder for Bolt against the rest of the World.

"Go Bolt Go"  C starts to chant as he awakens from his baseball-induced coma just in time to watch the race.

"He's so fast!" G says as we watch the 2008 Olympic race he won back in Beijing.

DLG looks out from around the corner of the couch to see if the robot man was running.  He's not.  But she quickly disappears again.  I guess history is not too important to her.  But it will be.  Someday.


I asked the boys who they were rooting for.  The boys both answered Gatlin, Gay, Bailey and Bolt.  That's a lot of guys.  I think they want one of the American to win and then they want Bolt to strike them down with some sort of super human, magical lightning bolt and take the Gold Medal away from the winner.  I'm secretly rooting for Usain Bolt, myself.  Call me a bad American, but at least I don't want anyone to get hurt.

Asafa Powell with his fu manchu and mean glare at the camera scared DLG, just as she was feeling more comfortable with the race.  Back upstairs she goes.  Honestly, he's sprinting in the Olympics, why all the growls?  In DLG's defense, I just don't think track and field is her thing between the bionic man and the scary guy.  Nevermind, the race is about to start.

"Still the King of the 100!"  The announcer shrieks as Bolt wins the race handily, edging out Gatlin to take home the Gold Medal.

"I would love to be Usain bolt right now.  I want to do that lightning bolt pose too Dad"  You aren't really that fast I told him.  Blessed with his Dad's speed and all.  He goes on as he grabs the clicker to rewatch the race.  "What happened to Asafa Powell?  He pulled  up short at the end of the race?  And Dad, look, it looks like someone threw something from the stands!"

We then rewatched the short dude chuck some sort of Evian bottle (isn't that the way?) toward the starting line.  Maybe he thought they were thirsty?  Maybe he was a Powell Henchman?

In the end, Pistorius and Bolt both proved their mettle.  We're all proud of them.   

Olympic Water Polo: Soccer with Hands in the Water

The 2012 Olympics are in full swing by now.  And despite promises to show a variety of strange Olympic sports this time around, we have instead seen a lot of swimming, gymnastics, basketball and European Football.  We're not complaining mind you, but there are only so many complaints I can field about swimming before I start to agree with the kids' assessment that swimming is REALLY boring.  And don't get me started about whether the U.S. team has any members on it other than Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte.

But this morning, we were finally treated to some different sports.  First it was Equestrian, with some cousin who was 40th in line to the British throne winning some sort of medal.  That didn't really pique any one's interest, but then one of my favorite sports came on - water polo. According to FINA, the quick rules are as follows. Teams try to score against a goal keeper, there are a bunch of small, ordinary fouls and players can only use one hand on offense and defense.  Mostly the rules revolve around not mauling players, particularly the player in front of the goaltender - the hole set, I believe his or her name is.

The game we watched didn't even feature the United States, instead it was a classic grudge match between Hungary and Montenegro.  As I was about to confirm that Hungary is a world power in men's water polo (How exactly does that happen?), the boys start asking me questions about this new sport.

"Dad, this looks like Soccer with hands in the water!"  G exclaims as the players start the match swimming after the ball at half court (Is that what they call it?)

"It's not, dumbo!"  My 10 year old chimes in.  Please hold on while I send the 10 year old to his room.  Too bad its 7 in the morning otherwise it would be bed time.

OK, we're back.  I'm personally confused about the green line and the red line.  Not because I don't understand what the meter lines mean, but that they couldn't figure out how to make it un-wavy - isn't there some sort of Physics that they could have performed to make this better.

"I'm just glad that Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte aren't swimming.  Wait Dad, Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte aren't swimming on this team, are they?"  I honestly think that my 8 year old would leave the room if Phelps' mug showed up on our screen against.

"Dad, actually it looks like Serbia is the Olympic favorite, not Hungary."  Whatever.  I did mention - since I read it - that Hungary hadn't lost in water polo since 2000.  They are like the Harlem Globetrotters in the water, except that this is real sports.  Interestingly enough, Serbia is also fighting this same Montenegro team for the Gold Medal.  So the favorites for the Gold Medal are Serbia, Hungary and Montenegro?  Seriously?  Three landlocked countries in Eastern Europe are the favorites for the Gold Medal?  The boys look at me like I have two heads as I ask these questions to myself under my breath.  Sorry.

Ultimately, Hungary lost to Montenegro 11-10.  One of the perennial powers in the sport is now 0-2 and in danger of not making it pas the First Round. Off with their heads!

For more information about water polo, I found this site about fan-friendly water polo to be especially helpful.

JMR's Guide to the Strange Summer Olympic Games

One thing that the Olympic Games always bring, beside the usual Olympic heroes that swim or run really fast, is a showcase on sports that I don't think are even played outside of the Olympic Games much less televised in the United States.  The kids expressed an interest in the 2012 London Olympic Games, much more than the Beijing Games from 2008.  So I decided to challenge them in an academic sort of way.  I gave them a list of real games that are being played in London later on this month and asked the kids what their thoughts were.

Trampoline

C:  Trampoline is an Olympic Sport?  It is probably where you jump on one and do tricks and see who wins.

G:  You jump on a bouncy thing.  It goes really high.  It is really fun.  Everybody likes the trampoline sport in the Olympics.

S:  Flips on a trampoline.

Cycling Sprint.  I did indicate to them part of the strategy of winning was to go slow and even stop so the other biker has to go first and then you are cycling on a draft

C:  Why would you stop trying not to be first? What is this?

G:  Cycling sprints looks fun too.  But you run really fast.  Everybody likes it.  Even the runners.  (I don't think G fully understands what kind of sprint this really is).

S:    Ride on a bike and stops halfway.

Synchronized Swimming

C:  I think synchronized swimming is when 2 people dance around in the water and see who wins.  I think I want to watch this to see if the U.S.A. can win.

G:  2 Dancers swim in the water to dance moves.  It is really fun.  It is fun for them too.  It is really cool.

S:  Doing the same thing at the same time.

Table Tennis

C:  It is where you hit a ping pong ball around and whoever it gets passed the most loses.

G:   In table tennis, it is tennis but you play on a table.  It is very fun.  Everybody likes it.  You play with a ping pong ball and ping pong paddles.  Table tennis is ping pong.

S:  Ping Pong.

Badminton

C:  Badminton is where 2 people have like tennis rackets and they have like a ball with wings or something.

G:  Badminton is where you hit something over a net.  You play with a birdy.  This sport is very fun.  Everybody likes it.  The people who play love it.

S:  Hitting a birdie back and forth.

We are really getting psyched for the Olympic Games...I think.  I guess we still have Michael Phelps.