Sunday, October 3, 2010
Front Page Putt, Pitch, and Punt
Jim Furyk paid $39 for the used putter — a Yes! Sophia model — and went on his way.
Two days ago, when Furyk stood over a 2-foot par putt at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, that $39 putter did not fail him. With it he claimed an $11.35 million prize.
That's what disgusts me about sports: the avarice as so many in America suffer.
Hey, the rich have to dispose of all that wealth they are swimming in somehow.
What do you expect them to do, give it back and provide health care for all?
No, they would rather spend it on their real-life toys.
When Furyk’s putt dropped to win the FedEx Cup, a handful of people who had an indirect role in placing that once unwanted club into his golf bag reacted almost as demonstratively as he did....
Click.
--more--"
Looks like I missed.
Better try another game:
Long before the Red Sox reached the brink of elimination from postseason play, there was a sign the end was near: A parking spot in lots near Fenway Park was only $20, discounted from the usual $35 or more.
“I’ve never, ever, seen that before,’’ said season ticket holder Warren Downie before a recent game.
As the prospects of even a wild-card berth in the playoffs slipped away in the last month, revenue for restaurants, shops, and vendors around Fenway also slumped. For each postseason game not played, businesses collectively lose an estimated $2.5 million, according to the Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau. For World Series games, it’s double that.
Related: Boston Globe's Broken Bat
Also see: Boston Globe Takes You Out to the Ball Game
I'm sick of seeing the SELF-SERVING SPORTS on the FRONT PAGES, aren't you?
And now they want me to start paying twice for this crap?
This would be only the second year since 2003 that businesses surrounding the ballpark have no vested interest in the playoffs.
But the Globe and those it serves sure has one.
The Red Sox regular season will end at home Sunday against the playoff-bound New York Yankees in what the schedule-makers surely had hoped would be a super-charged finale.
Sox fans are used to it.
The team’s slide into oblivion has been a slow one, however, allowing time for both fans and businesses to gradually come to terms with the disappointment.
Like the fortunes of the Boston Globe. You are seeing one of the reasons why right here.
Above-the-fold on the front page!
“There’s a feeling of going through the motions on game days,’’ said Garrett Harker, owner of the Eastern Standard restaurant on Commonwealth Avenue.
That is what I did with the whole week of unmarked Globes on my desk.
Flip, flip, flip, flop.
Lately, burgers and beers have ruled, Harker said, with fewer patrons opting for ribeye steaks and fine wine.
And here we have allegedly been in a "recovery" for a year or so, blah, blah, blah.
“We’re seeing a crowd that’s more casual, more happy to have a night out,’’ he said. “What you lose is maybe that corporate white-collar crowd; they fade away a little bit.’’
We used to call them FAIR WEATHER FANS!
Steve DiFillippo, owner of Davio’s at Arlington Street in Park Square, called this year’s truncated season “a bummer.’’ His restaurant has been a popular haunt for opposing teams. Former Yankees manager Joe Torre was a regular, and Derek Jeter has been known to stop in for pregame chicken parmigiana.
I'm reaching the point in the article where I wonder why this is front-page news -- and why am I still reading it?
At Copperfield’s Bar on Brookline Avenue, the tourist crowd has dwindled as the team’s prospects have dimmed. General manager Bill Crowley said that compounds the misery of staffers, many of whom not only are fans, but rely on tips.
“For us, it’s a real double-whammy,’’ Crowley said.
Others with a vested interest in the ripple effects of the Red Sox economy are coping by turning their attention to a team in a three-way tie for first place: the New England Patriots.
Oh, yeah, they get a front-page photo when they win -- but not when they lose! Ha-ha-ha!
Pat Moscaritolo, chief executive of the convention and visitors bureau, said the lackluster baseball season has made his home life more harmonious.
“My wife is first and foremost a Patriots fan,’’ Moscaritolo said. “So at least we don’t fight over the remote.’’
It is taking me a while to size up the shot, isn't it?
Now you know what watching golf on TV is like, sigh.
Change the channel, old man!!
Although the postseason money has been a welcome boost for the city, its absence certainly won’t drive the local economy into another recession, according to economist Nick Perna, an adviser to Webster Bank in Connecticut. Given the modest numbers, he said, postseason play might be more of a psychological balm than economic stimulus.
But it does give the Globe something to fill its s*** sheet pages.
Perna recalled the punch line of an old joke about the difference between a hot dog sold outside Yankee Stadium and one sold outside Fenway: You can still get one in New York come October.
“At least this season gives life to old jokes,’’ he said.
Good thing they won the Series a few years back or that still would not be funny.
Red Sox officials did not respond to requests for information about how the team’s revenues might be affected by a lack of playoff games.
What?
In the past, the team has said postseason play is not a windfall because of the expenses of ballpark operations, hotel rooms, and other factors. (The Globe’s parent corporation, The New York Times Co., owns about 17 percent of the Sox.)
Well, couldn't the NYT get the BG newsroom the numbers?
And you NOW you SEE why the AGENDA-SERVING, SELF-INTEREST gets a FRONT-PAGE PUSH!!!
Despite the threat of an untimely ending to the season, business outside the park has not dropped off altogether.
On a recent weekday, a group of tourists from Spain flooded the Souvenir Store on Yawkey Way. They happily discovered a rack stocked with dozens of jerseys bearing pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka’s name. Alvaro Nunez, 17, said he was not familiar with Matsuzaka but bought a shirt because it was half-price.
Tired of the Globe putting a shine on a turd yet?
Marcus Ortiz, visiting from Arizona, bought a David Ortiz shirt for his daughter because she shares the same last name with the designated hitter.
Hasn't a clue who he is?
A Dustin Pedroia jersey is one of the top sellers, said Brian Maurer, general manager of the shop, which is operated by Twins Enterprises Inc.
Maurer said Pedroia’s popularity seems to sum up the season. “He is the face of the franchise,’’ Maurer said, “and he’s injured.’’
So am I -- by this incessantly insulting "investigative" journalism.
--more--"
Sox didn't make the cut, huh?
Related: A young Yankees fan has a ball at Fenway
Of course, I would rather see that crap than this:
A city enraged; Toddler, 3 others slain in Mattapan; officials vow arrests
Lurking violence long a part of life for Woolson Street
We’ve hit a new low in depravity
Ah, happens in Boston all the time. That's why I live waaaaaayyy out here!
Victim’s home may hold clues in deadly shootings
Kin recall aspirations of those lost
Key evidence in shootings recovered
Arrest made in Mattapan killings
Lives of violence, deaths of innocents
Man held in Mattapan case has a long record of arrests
Also see: US won't try Bishop in '93 mail bomb case
Some terrorists never stand for trial.
Look at all the links I gave them from buying their stinking paper, and consider how ungrateful they are for wanting me to pay again to report them to you, readers.
Time to punt: Yes, there’s life after football
Tell that to my well-meaning, yet still s***-headed fellow citizens who are so immersed in the stuff, please. I've had quite enough of "football."
Related:
"The Dorchester Eagles Pop Warner football players join the ranks of children traumatized by gun violence in a swath of the city where even sports fields are crime hot spots."
Brings you back to Mattapan.
Of course, sending kids off to be traumatized by wars and occupations based on lies is fine.
Applauded even.
Also see: Rutgers remembers freshman at game
It's all part of the agenda, folks.
