Brady is Frustrating Like No Other

It always seems to be this way.  Tom Brady shreds teams during the regular season.  We are on that page together. 11-1 record after coming back from the four game suspension.  Yup.  28-2 Touchdown to Interception ratio.  Yup on that one too.  Highest completion percentage since 16-0 to boot.  He is the greatest regular season quarterback of all time.

But then you get him into the playoffs and things change.  With the 34-16 drubbing of Houston a couple of days ago, Tom Brady has played in 32 playoff games.  The math is easy now because that is two complete seasons.  His record turns to 11.5 and 4.5.  His TD/Int ration goes to 29/15.  His completion record drops by almost 3 percentage points.  What's the deal?

A couple of things are at work causing Brady to go from regular season MVP to Phillip Rivers.

1.  Teams Finally Execute the Game Plan.  We all know the best way to stop the Patriots' defense.  Getting to Tom Brady.  Now sacking him is too easy.  What I really mean is hitting him every chance one gets.  This takes patience and a lot of hard work.  During the regular season, team defenses struggle to execute that game plan because teams are too banged up and conserving energy.  Once the playoffs come around, teams put all of that aside and go after him with reckless abandon because they don't have anything else to lose.

2.  Patriot's Meta Schedule.  This is one that has been dragged around for years.  The Bills, Jets and Dolphins all suck.  Now not every year, but you can generally count on 2 of the 3 teams to suck every year.  This leads to an easy 5-6 wins every year.  What also is at work is that the AFC has a lot of bad teams, not just int he AFC East.  The Raiders and Browns have been bad for years.  Same with the Jaguars and Titans.  The Chargers and Bengals, while making the playoffs, are always soft.  Really, except for the Ravens, Steelers and Broncos, the entire conference is soft and the Patriots get 2 games against them.  Its not a division thing, its a conference thing.

3.  Brady Isn't Clutch.  Now this is a red herring, but this stands to reason.  He does have the third most game winning drives in history with 49 (only Manning and Marino have more).  But the Houston game is a perfect example of the clutchness issue.  He never seems to have good games int eh playoffs.  He always seems to do just enough to win most games, but you never say that Tom Brady was the reason that the Patriots won the so-and-so game.  The 2007 and 2011 Super Bowls are other good examples of this phenomenon.  Some players are just not as good when it counts.

So as the Patriots enter into the AFC Championship against the Pittsburgh Steelers (and their own shaky QB), it will remain to be seen if Brady can look like the Brady that will win the MVP.

Great Wolf Lodge is Not for Kids Over the Age of 12?

Great Wolf Lodge Day!!

At $500 a night, one would expect to be near a beach in Miami or a ski chalet in Aspen or perhaps a suite in Nantucket.  One would not expect  a random December day in Fitchburg.  But here we were in Fitchburg at Great Wolf Lodge.  A paradise for children of "all ages" featuring arcades, water parks, activities and restaurants.  Here is our review.

DLG and I arrive first and walk in to the front entrance.  We are met by a warm fire and frowning faces at check in.  The line must have been 40 people long and with kids running to and fro, no one seemed too thrilled.  Let me check to see where your Mom is, I told DLG, believing that she would take care of everything for us. 

Unfortunately, that would not be the case since C and G walked in and were startled by all of the little kids running around in painted faces.  G's memory of the place coming here with his buddies was probably much different since he did not come to this place during Christmas break.  But really, there are a lot of little kids running around.  We decide to get Mom involved with us.

At least it wasn't snowing.

And even she can't get anywhere as Mom finds out that our room is "almost ready" but there would be no guarantees.  Looking to avoid the lobby with the screaming kids (not ours at least) we decided to get something to eat and then head over to the arcade...

TWO hours later...the kids have spent all of the money that we gave them for the arcade games and Mom and I have two drinks in us - drowsiness starts to set in.  The kids have decided to pull their tickets together to get a mini basketball hoop, a bouncy ball and some cheap candy.  Sounds good to me.  Incidentally, C barely contributes to this endeavor since he spent most of his money on a claw game trying to win a watch that was probably made of plastic.  At least we were sitting near a pizza place that served beer on draft while they searched for the prizes.

The boys start roaming around after another 15 minutes and I decide to follow them.  We go to the other part of the lodge where there is bowling, mini golf and some other activities - none of which seemed geared toward kids older than toddler age.  The bowling alley was about half the size and the mini golf was similar to those derelict courses attached to Howard Johnsons. There was a mini rock climbing wall and a couple of rides.  Dave and Busters this was not.  Six Flags this was not.

"G, are you sure that this is the place you came with your buddies?" I wonder.  We get a laugh at the mini bowling especially, since it looked like it was geared for toddlers, just without the rails.  Maybe the water park will save us.  G seems incredulous that this is not kicking ass as much as it did before.  C seems somewhat disinterested by anything other than the Dunkin Donuts that was located on site (He must have gone there 4 times in 24 hours).

We get inside and C decides that he does not want to go on the water rides today.  It was tough to tear him away from his phone long enough to ask him if he wanted to go, although he was not causing any chaos either.  G, on the other hand, seemed content going with Mom's friends' kids who met up with us and led them around the water park. Once DLG put her bathing suit on, I could not find her as she zipped around the two room complex; she seemed fine with all of the rides and slides.  Mom tried some of the slides, I was just too cool.

We end up eating in the room after a couple of hours at the water park.  Although they seemed disinterested during the day, C and G at least looked tired (or maybe my eyes were blurry because I was tired, who knows.).  While I did not actually poll anyone, here are our ratings:

C:  5/10
G:  6/10
DLG: 7.5/10
Mom 5.5/10
JMR 4/10

Maybe I'm the kid that this park is not meant for?

The Chris Sale Effect

The Chris Sale Effect. 

It starts as jubilation that the Red Sox obtained one of the best pitchers in the American League.  The pitcher who has finished in the top 6 in Cy Young voting every year since 2012.  The jubilation that the Red Sox now have three stoppers who can compete with the likes of the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers.  That was my initial reaction when I found out about the trade.  "We're going to the World Series in 207!" I thought to myself.

The Chris Sale Effect.

Chris Sale is BONKERS!

That overjoy was then overtaken by a general "meh"  He was barely the best pitcher on an underachieving Chicago White Sox Team in 2016.  Jose Quintana had a lower ERA and their WHIPs and SOs we virtually the same last year.  While he pitched the most innings he had ever pitched in one season, he still only managed to lead the league in complete games and batters hit by pitch.  Further, he has never pitched in a big game in his life, much less Game 7 of a playoff series.  And I've never been high on lefthanders.  Putting Jon Lester aside, righthanders are the pitchers who have the most success at Fenway Park.  Pedro, Clemens, Schilling, Porcello, Beckett and Lowe all had one thing in common.  Except for Lester, I can't think of any southpaw who has had success with the Red Sox since the days of Bruce Hurst.  And don't bring up David Price...

The Chris Sale Effect

Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech could be huge losses for the Sox.  We would have liked a power hitting infielder and power righty.  And while they both had warts - Moncada can't hit a curveball and might be stupid - Kopech is really stupid - they could both become superstars.  While I have not heard of the other two guys who were traded, the first two guys could be huge losses...Yuge!

The Chris Sale Effect

Then there is the batsh*t crazy player himself.  All the apologists were telling us he was just shooting his way out of the Southside.  I didn't believe it.  I think he is an attention-seeking diva.  The cut up jerseys, the tirades about kids in locker rooms, the hatred for throwback uniforms, the outbursts against Gatorade cans.  This guy is as loony as the day is long.  And Boston media-types are going to have a field day with this guy.  The happiest guy might be David Price who while he makes $30 million a year can finally say "now they'll stop bothering me"

And then there are the boys.  C wanted to talk more about Mitch Moreland and G was just pissed that we were losing Moncada.

The Chris Sale Effect, indeed.

Does Steve Bartman Know What's going on in Chicago?

Here come the insufferable Cubs!  I'm not bitter because half of their good players came from Boston.  I promise.  I'm tired of listening to the Cubs talk.  I asked C who he was rooting for int eh World Series.  He scoffed and answered "Cubs!  What you want the Indians to win?"  No, I just don't care as much as everyone wants me to.

The Indians are not that much better.  They lost their last appearance on a walk off single to the Florida Marlins.  Add the fact that Lebron James is glomming on to the team with his Cavs buddies and the Indians are becoming insufferable too.  But we're not here to talk about the Indians.  Although I was expecting James to call Cleveland the "City of Champions."

The Cubs haven't been in the World Series since 1945.  They haven't won since 1908.  The Indians haven't won since 1948.  I get it.  These are Major league Baseball's longest champion  The desperation series.  The Suffering Fanbase Series.  THE FUTILITY SERIES.  Some team will have the longest Champion drought in two weeks.

Steve Bartman in Happier times.

Which brings me to one of the most fascinating stories in all of Baseball history.  Back in 2003, The Marlins (there they are again) were playing the Cubs in the NLCS.  The Cubs were a few short outs (5 actually, but that detracts from the urgency of the curse) away from going to the World Series when a foul pop was lifted into the Left Field stands.  Moises Alou was loping over to the stands when...you know what happened next.

Bartman then went into hiding.  No one was sure what happened to him.  They made a 30 for 30 Film about him.  They purchased and blew up the baseball that Bartman could not grasp.  Everything an insufferable fan base would do make a buck or draw attention to themselves.  When the inevitable questions about Bartman surfaced in earnest last year when the Cubs made the NLCS, all we knew was that he remained in the Chicago area, he had a spokesman and he did not want to be involved anymore.    

When the Cubs made the series this year, chatter started about Bartman throwing out the first pitch of Chicago's first home game.  Uh, are you kidding?  What if the Cubs don't win the World Series?  What if Kris Bryant breaks a finger? What if Jon Lester throws a ball away on a come backer? What if Anthony Rizzo strikes out?  It's all Bartman's fault!  Throwing out the first pitch would have been the worst idea in modern history.  Not that Bartman gave it any thought, his spokesman immediately retorted that Bartman unequivocally wanted nothing to do with the Series.  He did mention that Bartman was rooting for the Cubs, although I think more to remove his curse than actually having a vested interest in the team's fortunes.

So here we are.  A vociferous supporter wanted nothing to do with his team's first world Series in 71 years because he was afraid of the backlash.  Maybe he should just come out and say he was rooting for the Indians and move to Northeast Ohio...unless the Indians lose.  Then he would be royally screwed.

Nevermind, stay in Chicago.  And accept the invitation to throw out the first pitch next year on Opening Day. 

2016 Sandwich Tournament Triumph

I had watched too many of these Sandwich Summer Blast Tournaments.  First C from when he was 9 years old until he was 12.  Then G at the same time.  8 years, really.  In those 8 years, I had seen 1 win.  1 WIN! And I had seen perhaps 18 losses and a couple of ties.  I wish I were exaggerating. 

Star of the Game

You see the Sandwich Tournament, held ever summer for 8-12 year olds, typically pitted some of the best teams in eastern Massachusetts against each other.  And while C and G both had good teams, they were no match for Walpole, Milton, Braintree and the Cape teams.  We just did not take baseball seriously enough in our small little corner of the world.

And 2016 didn't seem to be that different.  We went 1-2 in Williamsport and 1-2 in the Pembroke tournament.  And while we had a winning record in our regular season, the tournaments were where things could really be defined.  Was G's team a good team?  Or was it a team that excelled when it really didn't matter. Although I did not coach the team anymore, I was hopeful that some of the raw talent that I had seen would actually start to show itself.  And I really wanted to beat the teams that we normally lost to.

Thursday.  The draw could not have been better.  We drew the Sandwich B team for our first game.  Usually the worst team in the tournament year after year - well one of the worst teams - it would be nice to start the tournament on a high note and gain some confidence going into the weekend.  A 22-0 win did the trick.  G even got a star of the game award for going 4-4 in the game.  I think he was pissed though because he was thinking to himself that he would not get another one.

Saturday.  Usually moving day in this tournament.  We faced a tough Martha's Vineyard crew who had tied us two of the three previous years.  Not this time though as we proceeded to slaughter rule them 14-4.  The hitting was certainly off to a good start.  And the hitting didn't stop in G's start as we beat a hungry Westwood team 8-3.  G surrendered only a couple of runs and our hitting was instead led by the bottom of the lineup as a couple of kids who had never hit home runs before in their lives struck it big in this game.  We are now 3-0 and very likely the #1 seed.  I can see all of the other teams chuckling; thinking that this was a mirage...a joke.

Sunday.  And yes we were a #1 seed and got to face Sandwich B again.  Knowing that we would beat them handily, we started one of the pitchers who had never started before.  Although he gave up a couple of
runs, we still easily dispatched them 16-4.  Or something like that.  Come on.  Net up was Hingham.  Oh this would be a good game.

And Hingham would prove to be a good game...for us.  Notwithstanding that this team of clowns (not the scary clowns that are terrorizing college campuses, but the dumb clowns) brought in a couple of ringers to specifically play this tournament, they could not handle our lefty specialist.  And G hit a couple of ringers himself.  Our 13-3 win could not happen to a nicer crew of guys and kids.  Onto the semifinals.

And in the Semifinals, we would play arguably one of the best teams in the tournament, Walpole American.  They had one kid bigger than me and a couple of kids who looked like they played for Walpole High School.  But that was daunting to big G as he hit a 3 run Homer to give us an early 3-0 lead.  And while we would eventually enter the 6th inning tied 8-8 after we blew an 8-0 lead, our gutsy play would get us a to a walk off win, 9-8.  Onto the finals!

And what a finals.  G was going to be the starter for the championship game.  Honestly, I don't think I have ever been so nervous for one of my children.  but he was rocks solid.  Again, after the first tow batter reached base int eh First Inning, G came up and hit another 3 run Home Run, just like the game before!  YES!  And that was all we needed.  He pitched a great game (After pitching 4 innings yesterday against Westwood, he pitched another incredible 5 innings in this game, giving up just one run).  And Scituate came away with one of the most improbably Sandwich Tournament wins ever.  I mean ever!

And then after 4 games on Sunday, G, looking exhausted, asked "When is Cooperstown?"  The following week.  The following week.