Harbinger of Spring (and other good things to come)

Being a pathetic baseball fan (pathetic mostly because of being a die-hard Red Sox fan), I spend my late fall and winter (aka baseball offseason) following the Celtics and Duke basketball (who only play a few times a week and even fewer, respectively) and desperately checking MLBtraderumors.com for any updates on the baseball offseason (trades, free agent signings). Those, especially the big and exciting ones, usually happen in December or early January, so by this time of the year, after enduring 4 snow storms in 10 days, I'm growing more and more restless for baseball, which also means warm weather, heading over to the Nationals Park or Camden Yards to catch a game, and hanging out at a ballpark eating junk food and cheering on my teams/players. It also means another chapter in the Boston Red Sox baseball saga, for which I cannot wait. A few days ago the Boston Globe part of the website dedicated to the Red Sox news began to have more posts than in the past few weeks, which could only mean that Spring Training is almost here!!! Some of the Sox players are already in Ft. Myers beginning their preparations for the season (we even got a few pictures to prove it). I can almost smell spring and can't wait for the baseball season to start.

Why 2009 was a horrible year in sports

Still being bitter after the Celtics' demolition on TNT by the Orlando Magic (hey, they do have (young) Superman), it's time to write down the account of some of the painful sporting events that happened last year. It is one thing when someone else, other than your team, wins. However, it is a totally different ballgame (pardon the pun) when it is your most hated rival who gets the ultimate prize. So, here are the reasons that I would like to forget 2009, in the order from worst to bad:

1) Reason 1: The New York Skankees (otherwise known as the best team half a billion dollars can buy) winning the World Series. This also means that everyone on that team that I utterly despise (A-roid, Texeira, Godzilla (Hideki Matsui), the Traitor (Johnny Damon), and yes, even Jeter) got a ring in the first year of the new stadium (oh btw, the attendance at the new toilet was down from last year while Fenway is always sold out---take that!)...Anyway, before I get into a long tirade about how much I despite that organization and how bad it hurts that they bought themselves a World Series, I'm stopping here.

2)Reason 2: LA Fakers winning NBA Championship. This means that Kobe got his fourth ring, Phil Jackson has more rings that Red Auerbach (Celtics legend), and the ugly Europeans with greasy hair (Pau Gasol and Sasha something) are NBA champions. Why, oh why did KG get hurt last year?

3) Reason 3: Carolina winning the NCAA championship. Since I moved away from NC, this hurts a bit less, but I am still a Duke fan at heart so this was very unpleasant.

4)Reason 4: other teams that I rooted for, to win the Superbowl(Arizona Cardinals) and the Stanley Cup (Detroit Red Wings), also lost. At least, these are not "my" teams.

One ray of sunshine last year: my newly beloved UConn women's basketball team winning the championship---you go, Huskie girls!!!

Here is to a better 2010! It is already off to a good start---congratulations, New Orleans Saints (reason for supporting this team: not a fan of the Manning brothers).