Worst sports collectible ever?

It's the Clint Malarchuk-had-his-throat-slit-by-a-teammate's-skate figurine.




Tags: NHL Buffalo Sabres Clint Malarchuk collectibles

The Times & Courier's Minority Report

Remember Minority Report, the Tom Cruise movie about the ability to arrest people for crimes they will commit in the future? Reading this article in the Times and Courier made me wish this reporter had been just a little quicker with his inquiry:

Hume due back in court to face rape charges
By Patrick Brodrick/ Staff Writer
Thursday, July 6, 2006

CLINTON - A Clinton man charged with rape and sexual assault will be back in court on July 17.

Migisha Hume, 21, of 1 Coolidge Place, Apt. 620, Clinton, is being charged with two counts of rape, assault with intent to rape and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 years or older, after Hume allegedly assaulted a girl in the back of his car while his friend drove the vehicle. Hume will be back in court later this month for a probable cause hearing so the court can determine if there is enough evidence in the case to proceed with a trial.

Hume, who was reached after the assault, told the Times & Courier he did not wish to comment on the allegations being levied against him. (emphasis added)

Was reaching Hume before the alleged assault an option? If so, the reporter certainly should have told Hume that he'd be better off not assaulting someone. That's the trouble with reporters these days, they only report the news after it happens. More:

It was while the vehicle was driving around that Hume allegedly began kissing the girl, then forced the girl to perform oral sex on him. When he tried to remove the girl's clothing, police said the girl told him to stop, at which point the alleged sexual assault took place.

Let me get this straight, Hume allegedly "forced the girl to perform oral sex," yet the report suggests the assault didn't take place until the victim resisted his attempts to strip her? Isn't forcing someone to perform a sex act assault? What am I missing?

Tags: Massachusetts Clinton Crime Assault Times and Courier

Pick up or delivery?

Looks like Boston Globe reporter Russell Nichols (or Political Editor David Dahl, who posted this update) should have grabbed a bite to eat before posting the following update on New Hampshire governor John Lynch:

Governor Mitt Romney is approving more than $500,000 stemming from a dispute with New Hampshire over the cost of flood control dams, his office said Friday.

New Hampshire Governor John Lunch earlier this week demanded $3.2-million from the state of Massachusetts, saying the Bay state has failed to meet its obligations under a 50-year-old flood control compact.

Tags: Massachusetts Boston Globe New Hampshire Mitt Romney John Lynch Lunch

Welcome to the neighborhood

The Sentinel and Enterprise reported this morning that work has begun on the first of 74 new homes to be built off of Willard Street. That won't help traffic much on Central Street (not to mention the increased threat of moose accidents).

I'm always skeptical when a businessman suggests he is doing us a favor by selling us something, so bells went off in my head when I read this:

LEOMINSTER -- Developer Gregg Lisciotti says he plans to build 74 single-family homes on a subdivision off Willard Street.

The homes will each have three bedrooms and a two-car garage, and will be priced around $350,000, he said.

"We're aggressively pricing these and it's going to fill a void that Leominster needs," he said. "I don't think there are any more new homes in that range."

Boy, it seems like we have a lot of homes for sale in town, so I checked Realtor.com to see exactly how many homes in Leominster fit that description. Specifically, I looked for homes that were less than 10 years old and priced between $300,000 and $400,000.

I was surprised to see that there are, in fact, only 19 homes on Realtor.com that meet those criteria.

I don't know how much demand there is for $350,000 new homes and I don't believe that Mr. Lisciotti is building this development out of the goodness of his heart to serve the people of Leominster, but it was refreshing to see that for once, you can believe the hype.

Tags: Massachusetts Leominster Real Estate Realtor Housing Development

Red Sox Natives vs. Red Sox Nation

Ever since Tony Massarotti wrote about the pink hat and cell-phone crowd in the Boston Herald last month, there has been a bit of a blogswarm surrounding who is and is not a true Red Sox fan. Universal Hub documented some of the discussion when it first came up a month ago, and the topic has returned for round two in the last couple of days.

I don't like to say that anyone is more of a "true" Sox fan than another, but there are certainly two types of fans: Red Sox Natives, and Red Sox Nation.

I am a Red Sox Native, and proud of it. I am NOT a member of Red Sox Nation, no matter what Larry Lucchino and NESN and Dan Shaughnessy say.

A Red Sox Native is a fan of the Red Sox as a team, not the Red Sox as an experience. A Native was a fan before the mayhem of 2003 and 2004, and will remain a fan whenever the next Butch Hobson era arrives (heaven forbid it ever does).

As a Native, I have a love-hate relationship with Red Sox Nation. On the one hand, I appreciate the Nation because the team needs the revenue generated by inflated ticket prices, wall-to-wall corporate sponsorship, and yes, the sale of pink hats, in order to put a perennial pennant contender on the field. It's cool to see thousands of Sox fans every night when I watch a game on NESN, whether the team is home or away.

On the other hand, I hate all of those fans who cheer for the Red Sox because it's the thing to do, because Fenway is the place to be seen, because in New England one almost has to be a Sox fan in order to be anything. I hate that they don't know the language of the game, don't know what a "good out" is...that they boo Johnny Damon because they feel like they have somehow been jilted.

I hate that they talk about the Curse of the Bambino, and curses reversed, and all of that mystical hokum instead of understanding that the Sox were victims of bad pitching, bad defense, bad management, and bad baseball for all those years.

I hate that at least one citizen of the Nation is on his or her cell phone on my TV at all times. A Native would never risk missing a pitch by even having their phone on, never mind calling someone.

I hate that citizens of the Nation buy jerseys and T-Shirts with things like "Karaoke Guy" on the back (you know who you are). If I'm going to buy a jersey, I sure as hell am not going to but a home jersey with a name on it, since they don't exist in the real world. And nicknames? Ugh!

I hate that citizens of the Nation talk about how beating the Yankees in the playoffs was more fulfilling than winning the World Series, and that winning the World Series wouldn't have meant as much if they'd had to play the Twins or someone else. A Native realizes that we had won the pennant before, winning the World Series was all that mattered.

A citizen of the Nation is so happy that Bill Buckner can be finally forgiven. A Native remembers that we forgave Bill Buckner when we gave him a standing ovation on opening day, 1990. In fact, we realize that if anyone is to blame for game 6, it's either Bob Stanley or Rich Gedman, depending on if you believe that errant palm ball that allowed the tying run to score was a wild pitch or a passed ball.

A Native wears a hat that the team wears in a game (Blue, or 70s throwback Red). Citizens of Red Sox Nation wear whatever.

Red Sox Nation considers Wally the Green Monster as one of them. Natives booed Wally off the field when he was introduced.

Citizens of Red Sox Nation aren't necessarily bad people, they just don't know what they don't know. And while they cheer for the Sox in blissful ignorance, they annoy the snot out of Natives like me.

Tags: Boston Red Sox Nation World Series 1986 2004

July 4, 1776

(via Crawford's List)




Tags: Declaration of Independence Independence Day July 4 1776 Sesame Street

New England, The Patriots, And We

It's got kind of a "We are the World" vibe. I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't find this nearly as bad as I remembered it. I suppose that's just the nostalgia...



(via Boston Sports Media Watch)

Tags: New England Patriots Super Bowl 1986

Norman Mineta...Arrrr!

I guess when one is in a high-pressure job--Secretary of Transportation, for instance--he needs to get as far away from that as possible when relaxing. But pretending to be a pirate?

When [Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta] pilots the Rhode Runner, a 29-foot 1986 Chris-Craft cuddy, he can take off his shirt, clip on his Leatherman knife, and cruise, drop anchor or drift.

And one more thing.

"I imagine I'm a pirate," Norm said. "Of the Caribbean."

.....

He looked through the windshield, scanning the water through a splat of osprey muck, at the wave runners, the sloops and the powerboats zipping by.

"Those are the treasure ships," he said, with a straight face. Those were the boats that Norm would plunder. He'd been a respected Democratic congressman for 20 years, secretary of commerce under President Bill Clinton, and immortalized by the Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport. But on his own little boat, inside his imagination, Norm wore an eye patch, a black pirate hat and a hook hand.

"As the captain of the ship, I'd be directing my crew," Norm said quietly. "I'd have cannons, depending on how large the target I'm after. I always like to think my boat is more powerful, at least 160 feet -- a multi-masted 200-footer."

(from the Washington Post, via Wonkette)

Tags: US Government Norman Mineta Department of Transportation Pirates

The Herald broadens it's readership

Apparently, it can now be found on the streets of Kuala Lampur, per Anna Husarska in today's Globe:

AT FIRST SIGHT, Kuala Lumpur is the Geneva of Southeast Asia, with its elegant Petronas Twin Towers, impeccable lawns, malls, and fast-food chains. It has a touch of zaniness, too. The day I arrived, the newspaper headlines read: "Robbery foiled, but cop loses gun" and "Robber fired twice at cop . . . and missed."

Tags: Boston Herald

Is State Senator Barrios a Bush crony?

A Telegram and Gazette reader thinks so:

Lawmakers should prioritize issues

While our boys and girls are getting killed or coming home with no arms or legs in a war that shouldn't be, the big guys are all upset over peanut butter and marshmallow. They should be thinking of bringing our boys and girls home. I have a granddaughter in the National Guard whose time is up in December. Instead of coming home, they're sending her overseas for two years. Is that right? Bush and his cronies have lied to us from the beginning of the war.

GLORIA FARLEY
Northbridge

So the real reason Democratic State Senator Barrios attacked Fluff was to divert attention from the war...makes as much sense as anything else, I guess.


Previous T&G Letters to the Editor:
Rem-Dawg Debate Rages in Worcester
Jerry Remy has "lost all touch with reality"

Tags: Massachusetts Iraq Fluff Jarrett Barrios George W. Bush