Atlanta Airport Security

Hard to believe but there is an airport that has a less efficient running security area than Hartsfield, I give you...O'Hare in Chicago. Either they were training a bunch of new TSA employees or they were all alerted to some high alert and were checking every bag through the machine with their backwards and forwards couple of inches that the belt travels. Took the seven of us about 20 minutes to walk 15 feet and get through the scanners. That was after having our ID's checked and passed. Gaby got some odd pleasure out of my being picked randomly to have the full body scan. I of course asked for, but did not receive, a cigarette after the scan...

NCIS

When you are confined to hotel rooms, night after night, with two of your kids, what can you do? Watch tv and post on a blog. NCIS is a show made for hotel viewing. Back to back repeats are too tempting to resist. Back to normal in the morning. My wife prefers NCIS LA, has something to do with the male characters, she doesn't get Mark Harmon. LA version is too...sorry...hollywood for me.

Butterburgers

If you've never been to Wisconsin (or Illinois evidently) you've probably missed out on Butterburgers. What exactly is a butterburger? Fast food with a purpose. Butterburgers probably aren't healthy for you. You've probably had a Big Mac, you've probably had a Whopper and anything from any number of fast food joints, all of which are not healthy for you either. Butterburgers from Culver's has them all beat. Great tasting burger with no holding back on flavor because somebody thought they needed to cover all the bases. Good burger (meat) on a butter grilled bun makes this burger really good. Culver's has the whole frozen custard thing going for them too, especially if you have kids you are taking...which I do and did.

Are the Sox the latest version of the Atlanta Braves?

The Atlanta Braves won their division 14 straight seasons from 1991 - 2005 (excluding 1994 which never really existed, thanks Bud/Players). This is a tremendous achievement that remains in conversation to this day in Atlanta sports talk radio. It remains a topic because the Braves converted this amazing run to ONLY a single World Series title. They averaged 97.4 wins in that span.

The RedSox have made it to the postseason in 6 of the last 7 years, averaging 95.5 wins in those playoff years.

So all the pundits are racing around with columns, blogs, podcasts, you name it, telling anybody that will listen how Theo Epstein should work this magic or that magic and retool the Sox in a few hours time. We've heard Terry Francona and Theo Epstein both mention the franchise goal of winning 95 games and getting to the postseason each year.

Is that vision setting the bar high enough?

Lets fast forward to the 2016 offseason and listen in to "Blmeanie and the Bouncing Balls and Pucks" virtual sports broadcast :

blmeanie: "welcome to the show today, hope everybody realizes how amazing it is to be a Sox fan. While the loss yesterday to the Kansas City Royals ended their postseason run, they have given us a lot to enjoy this year again." We welcome into the show one of our favorite virtualizers, Mikey from Dorchester. Welcome Mikey."

Mikey from Dorchester (MFD) : "Yo Blue, sup? What's with the happy face on another postseason loss? It's eat'n me up, ya know? Every freak'n year it's another disappointing loss to some loser franchise. KC this year, Washington last year, Texas the year before that. I'm tired of losing."

blmeanie: "Hey slow down Mikey, when you say losing, don't you mean losing in the postseason? I know most of the other 39 teams around baseball would love to make it to the postseason 13 out of the last 14 years. So we only have 2004 and 2007 for championships, isn't it about the chase?"

MFD: "Ever since the average ticket price went above $150 back in 2013 it doesn't feel the same no more. I mean, I went to a game in August, took my brother and his kid Manny, yep, named for that Manny, anyway, we went down to Fenwa…geesh, sorry, BP Field and there weren't nothin' but suits everywhere. Geesh, I mean, I used to go to games and there was wicked excitement on every pitch, the fans were true fans and the game was the show. Now everybody is playing with their virtual conversation devices (VCD's) and not watchin' the game. Whats up with that?"

blmeanie: "Of course winning so much gave the Sox the power to increase ticket prices each year but there is a price to be paid for winning year in and year out, right Mikey?" Which would you rather be a fan of the Sox and their amazing streak of playoff appearances or the Washington Nationals that won the Series in 2015 in only their first postseason appearance since moving to Washington? Maybe you'd like to be a fan of the Fremont A's? They make a run every 7 years like clockwork and fans have to suffer while they trade away maturing players every other year in between."

MFD: "Ya know, getting into the postseason used to mean more, remember when it was only 4 teams that made it in? Even afta Bud added wildcard teams it was something to get in. Those were the days, getting in meant something back then, I mean, the Pirates are the only team that you can count on never making the playoffs."

blmeanie: "Ancient history Mikey, sure you can dream back to before Commissioner Wendy Selig changed the rules in 2012 to add automatic playoff inclusion for any team with a ballpark at least 100 years old and then the more significant change in 2013 when any team above .500 winning percentage getting into the postseason. These were changes to make the game better, more profitable."

MFD: "I can't believe youse are selling out Meanie! How can it be better when 22 teams made it to the playoffs this year? Is it freak'n hockey?"

blmeanie: "You have to keep up with the times Mikey, some good points, thanks for virtually connecting in today, now we go to Sal in Sommerville, Sal?"

Back to reality -sorry I went as long as I did, I really was enjoying myself though. Those conversations have taken place in Atlanta for the last 10 years or so, really since 1995 when the Braves won. Is getting to the playoffs enough for the fans? I agree the mentality of "you have to make it to the playoffs to ever have a chance at winning it all" makes sense. If a franchise focuses on that goal though, don't they sacrifice a little bit of the gambler's mentality of the "roll the dice" moments that could pay off with titles vs. postseason disappointments?

If you are in a market that can be top 10 in payroll year in year out, shouldn't the goal be all about championships?

Read that statement again…and again. If you are shelling out the money anyway, should you pull a “Yankee” and go for it all the time?

I'd take a year or two now and again of missing the playoffs if the moves being made were to elevate the next year to the point that winning a Championship became significantly more likely. Winning a title every fifth year would be great. Unfortunately somewhere in the back of my mind is the fear that 2007 will be it for a while and the claim to fame becomes the run of postseason appearances... sure hope I am wrong.

Put us to sleep already!

While the MLB playoffs have gone from a 10 interest factor for me down to a 6 with the exit by the Sox, the 6 could slip further as the lack of intelligent thought coming out of the league offices has really crippled "America's game" again.

With the Yankee/Angels game tonight the Yankees will have endured 8 days off since the regular season ended. Eight (8) days off. Counting backwards from the final Sunday of the season, the 8th day off the Yankees had was the last day off for the All-Star break. Wow.

Then there are 3 more days off just inside the series with the Angels if it goes 7. Probably a few days off before a World Series starts and then at least 3 days off inside of the 7 game schedule. Why not just schedule once a week like the NFL. Something to look forward to, easier to mentally know when your team is going to play...

Oh yeah, the Angels finished up Sunday just like the Yankees did against the Twins. The Angels were in Boston Sunday. The first game against the Yankees was going to be in NY. Why wait through 4 off days again? I don't know if the Angels flew home Sunday or not. If they did only to fly back to NY then that favors the Yankees for sure.

At least we got the half hour earlier start times, woohoo!

amazing

watch this kid, watch the goalie, especially on the overhead, center ice angle at the end.

from Boston.com : "The video of a youth hockey player from Maine scoring a shootout-style goal at the Garden is making the rounds.

According to the Bruins' web site, the player's name is Oliver Wahlstrom. NESN reports he plays for the Portland Junior Pirates in Maine.

The video was shot during taping for the TD Bank Mini 1-on-1, a promotion that begins Oct. 29 at the Bruins game vs. New Jersey."

Twilight Zone

ok, so Theo Epstein and the Sox made some obvious gambles this past off-season, resting much of their success on injured stars that needed a place to show they were healed and ready to contribute to a winner...

Cue up future HOF John Smoltz. I thought it would work out, thought he would emerge from rehab time and contribute to a run into the postseason...I WAS RIGHT! I only picked the wrong team. Smoltz got smashed in Boston and proceeded to get released/traded and he gets the ball in St. Louis a couple of times now and has one win with a 0.82 ERA and a .727 WHIP. Pretty fancy numbers on a small sample size. Compare them to his 8 starts in Boston, his 8.32 ERA and his 1.70 WHIP. Little bigger sample size but it's like he entered the twilight zone (NL) and voila, his slider slides a little more, his splitter splits a little more. As a (secondary) Brave fan I am somewhat happy for the man...good for him, hope he continues to help out the Cardinals and make a run for another ring.

Cue up Brad Penny. I had doubts about his signing with Boston but felt if he could eat innings and be the 4th or 5th guy that would be fine. He is a big man and I thought big men last long in games...silly me. In his 24 starts with Boston before being released outright, he dazzled the AL to a tune of 5.61 ERA and 1.534 WHIP while averaging 5.4 innings per start. Neither successful nor an inning eater he didn't really pan out. After getting released there is no reason for another team not to take a chance on you, especially if your #5 guy is worse. So the Giants reach into the portal and pull Mr. Brad Penny through to the twilight zone (NL) and today he made his first start. Guess what? He pitched a very economical 8 innings, giving up zero (0) runs on 5 hits and a single walk. I thought I better get the calculator and check how many times he made it to or through the 8th inning for the Sox this year...guess what, his longest outing in a RedSox uni was 6 2/3 innings on May 20th. Bravo to you too Brad Penny. You have found the fountain of youth and it's called the National Pitchers Ready to Retire League.

Ok, so in my next life I want to be an agent for ML pitchers, guess what teams I'm going to negotiate with whenever I have a chance? Yep, NL teams. Seems simple enough. Name 3 (and I will give you 2) dominant NL pitchers that had success in the AL after the NL for more than a single year? C'mon? Pedro, yep. Schilling, yep. Nolan Ryan? Nah, he was dominant but he never dominated. Tom Seaver? Nope, too late in the AL. I cannot think of another, can you?