OK, so this one is for you Liverpool fan. I'm here to tell you all about the Boston Red Sox and what life is going to be like for you and for your Anfield experience in the coming years. Buckle in boys, it'll be interesting.
First, a little about the Red Sox. Not quite America's team, but nonetheless, very popular throughout the game's history, especially since 1967 when the team went from last place in 1966 to Game 7 of the 1967 World Series.

Miffed over an article published in the Boston Globe last month that seemingly blamed their club's supporters for inciting many of the violent incidents between their side and fans of Old Firm rivals Celtic, Rangers FC has reportedly decided to pull out of a scheduled summer tour of the United States.

John Henry
It's not a done deal, but there's a good chance that Liverpool fans will finally get the new ownership they've so desperately craved. No more Tom Hicks, no more George Gillette; instead, the Reds might just end up in the hands of NESV, the group that owns the Boston Red Sox. Consisting of Tom Werner, Larry Lucchino and other investors, the leading figure in the group, at least in terms of pure wealth and presumed stewardship, is John Henry.

Ask any New Englander and you'll find that there's only one football to be found in the region. Sure, the local MLS side, the New England Revolution, may play in the same stadium as the NFL's New England Patriots (both owned by billionaire Robert Kraft), but the general public consciousness and amount of media coverage among the two organizations is not even comparable.

It seems that the Brits are having a tough time getting to grips with the name of the Boston baseball team, the Red Sox. Both on Sky Sports News (see above screen capture) and in conversation (see video below), the Brits keep on calling them the Boston Red Sex.

Or maybe it's a Freudian slip or a joke?

Liverpool owner John W Henry has admitted that Kop idol Steven Gerrard could have been sold in the summer if he had taken over the club sooner.
Henry and Anfield's new chairman, Tom Werner, are committed to following the strategy which has underpinned their success at baseball club the Boston Red Sox.

Many of you may have already seen this movie, or read the book on which it was based. I recently re-watched Fever Pitch again for the first time in a few years. It's a movie that, at the heart of it, tells the story of the childlike enthusiasm the protagonist has for Arsenal. The movie is an adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel of the same name, intertwining the love life of the main character with the 88-89 season that culminated in Arsenal's first championship in 28 years.

Glasgow Celtic will meet Portugal's Sporting Lisbon on July 21 at Boston's Historic Fenway Park. This will be the 19th soccer match played at Fenway and the first since 1968.

"During its 98-year history, Fenway Park has been privileged to witness some of the best in athletic competition, not only in baseball, but in football, boxing and most recently in hockey with the 2010 NHL Winter Classic.

New England Sports Ventures, the company bidding for control of Liverpool, is on a collision course with the city's council over plans to redevelop Anfield. The Liverpool chairman, Martin Broughton, has confirmed the club's prospective new owners NESV – which has a track-record in redeveloping a sports stadium with the Boston Red Sox – will consider upgrading Anfield if a £300m offer to gain control from Tom Hicks and George Gillett is accepted in the high court next week.

The Board of Directors have received two excellent financial offers to buy the Club that would repay all its long-term debt. A Board meeting was called today to review these bids and approve a sale. Shortly prior to the meeting, the owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett sought to remove Managing Director Christian Purslow and Commercial Director Ian Ayre from the Board, seeking to replace them with Mack Hicks and Lori Kay McCutcheon.

I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU

Today's the day. The day Liverpool's followers around the world have been waiting for: refinancing day. And whole lot of something is definitely starting to go down.

This was the day when the Royal Bank of Scotland was officially supposed to be able to call in the debt and banish Hicks and Gillett to the vortex.

Liverpool Football Club today announces that the Board has agreed the sale of the Club to New England Sports Ventures:

First and foremost, "The sale is conditional on Premier League approval, resolution of the dispute concerning Board membership and other matters." We'll provide our analysis in due time once the situation becomes more apparent, but until now it is important to recognise and process the raw, immense information coming out of Anfield.

For quite some time I've always had English leanings in the direction of Liverpool, as they remind me so much of the local team I grew up in the shadow of, save for one fairly significant area: championships. Liverpool had 'em, my team didn't and famously at that.

Funnily enough, they started getting those championships once John Henry came to town and bought the local team, the Boston Red Sox.

For quite some time I've always had English leanings in the direction of Liverpool, as they remind me so much of the local team I grew up in the shadow of, save for one fairly significant area: championships. Liverpool had 'em, my team didn't and famously at that.

Funnily enough, they started getting those championships once John Henry came to town and bought the local team, the Boston Red Sox.

Even though it's bumping this morning's post off the top, as promised, a good friend of this blog, Mike Anton, chimes in with his thoughts on the Red Sox ownership group. There are a lot of well-placed baseball fans giving their opinions on Henry et al today (see LFCNY and the Liverpool Echo for two), but I thought Mike was a good source for a few reasons.

By AVI CREDITOR

Williams. Yastrzemski. Ortiz. Gerrahd?

Liverpool is on the verge of being sold to Boston Red Sox owners John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino for a reported $477 million. Liverpool's board has approved the sale, and the Premier League has reportedly released a statement in which it will be ready to approve the sale later this week.

There's a new soccer team in Boston. Well, not really- but New England Sports Ventures, the company that owns the Boston Red Sox, has just bought English Premier League side Liverpool FC for $477 million. An agreement was reached over the selling of "The Mighty Reds" on Tuesday night.

Of course, Liverpool will not go into Red Sox hands without a fight.

George Gillett and Tom Hicks look set to be on their way out of Anfield, with a High Court ruling giving Liverpool power to push through a takeover.
The American duo, who have co-owned the Reds since 2007, have been reluctantly forced to concede that they cannot block a £300million bid from New England Sports Ventures.

Liverpool's new owners insisted on Saturday that Roy Hodgson's job is safe and vowed he would be given time to turn around the club's dismal start to the season.
After hearing their manager describe Sunday's 2-0 defeat at Everton as "our best performance of the season", John W. Henry and Tom Werner could be forgiven for already changing their minds.

The last month has finally seen the end of the long drawn out sagas at both Liverpool and Portsmouth, no doubt to the relief of fans at both clubs. They can now look forward to a more sustainable future.

The end game at Liverpool was nothing if not dramatic as Tom Hicks and George Gillett tried to retain control of the club.

Roy Hodgson wants to give youth a chance but Liverpool's stars of the future may have to wait a bit longer to get a Premier League opportunity.
Securing the likes of Dani Pacheco, 19, and Martin Kelly, 20, on extended two and three-year contracts showed how keen the Merseysiders are to hang on to their up and coming players.

LIVERPOOL, England Liverpool is giving away free tickets to youngsters accompanied by a paying adult in the latest bid by the team's American owners to win over supporters. Boston Red Sox and Liverpool owner John Henry is trying to repair the Premier League club's frail relationship with fans after buying the team in October [.

You know a manager is feeling the pressure when he starts to blame the fans, and that is exactly what Roy Hodgson did today.

Hodgson's side are only three points above the relegation zone after last night's 1-0 defeat at home to bottom side Wolves and he was not happy to hear the Kop singing the name of former player and manager Kenny Dalglish, a living legend at Anfield, and also ironic chants of "Hodgson for England".

photo credit: CLF

David Beckham's World Cup is more than likely over as he has apparently torn his Achilles Tendon in a Serie A match this weekend. Basically, the English are crying right now, but I think it's time for the English side to get it together and make this into a rallying cry.

Edtior's note: Please welcome Mr. Bill to the TSF blogging family with his first feature article...

Opening the season against a brand new team? Check. Live music and a great new tailgating atmosphere? Check. Perfect weather for an evening outdoors? Check. Everything was in place for a great turnout at WakeMed last Saturday night.

Kristine Lillyis a slam dunk for the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame whenever she retires (and after 23 or so years as part of the U.S. Women's National Team, who knows when that will be?), but she is getting another great honor while she's still kicking.
The U.S. WNT legend and Boston Breakers co-captain has been chosen by Boston's The Sports Museum for a special honor at The Tradition in 2010.

Number 6: Wayne Rooney Position: Forward Country: England Club Team: Manchester United, English Premier League American-based Professional Sports Athlete "Soulmate": Jonathan Papelbon, RP, Boston Red Sox When Chancellor Seco, in his "infinite wisdom," assigned me this player to watch piece my initial reaction was one of complete disgust.

Fenway Park to host Celtic FC vs. Sporting Portugal Examiner.com "As the world celebrates football with the 2010 World Cup ," said Sam Kennedy, EVP/COO of the Boston Red Sox and President of Fenway Sports Group, ... and more

Jizz rag was born as a white tube sock in the great state of Mascot-achusets, in a knock off nike factory. He grew up in a small town next door to Scroty the Scrotum. The two became close friends, and went to school with him throughout his teenage years. The friendship seemed like it would be life long, I mean Scroty was Jizz rag's "Old Chub.

Celtic has finally found an opponent to take on at Fenway Park, as Sporting Clube de Portugal has stepped up and will take on the Scottish giants from the home of the Boston Red Sox on July 21st. The Fenway Football Challenge will mark the first soccer game at the legendary facility since 1968, when Pele and Santos FC played against the Boston Beacons.

Bill Buckner was an all-star first baseman for five Major League Baseball teams including the LA Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox. He was the National League Batting Champion in 1981 and achieved over 2700 career hits in his 20 year career. All of this indicates a competent, reliable All-Star if not a million-dollar superstar that the game is built around today.

With the NBA season finished, it's time to actually start paying attention to baseball. If you haven't been keeping track, here's a look at our current baseball power rankings. These top ten teams have a few surprises but the rankings are mostly comprised of the usual suspects.

1. New York Yankees
The defending champs are at it again.

My first memory of Fenway Park goes back to 1989. More specifically, my eighth birthday, which happened to fall on June 21st of that year.Apparently, my dad, perhaps noting my burgeoning enthusiasm for baseball and the Boston Red Sox, bought a series of tickets for us - us, being my dad, my uncle Mike, my cousin Mike, my brother, my bffi at the time and me - to partake in what was simply known as

By Eric and Jordan Beard, writing from Boston

After the highly anticipated "Football at Fenway" match at the Boston Red Sox's Fenway Park between Celtic FC and Sporting Clube de Portugal, which Celtic won on penalties after regulation finished 1-1, Celtic manager Neil Lennon talked about the everything from the match to playing in a baseball stadium.

Foto Reuters, in www.gazzetta.it
Imagem curiosa e inédita do jogo Sporting/Celtic, no Fenway Park, casa dos Boston Red Sox.

Carlos Santana is one of the best prospects in all of baseball. So when the catcher for the Cleveland Indians suffered a knee injury on a collision at home plate, the summer went from bad to worse for Cleveland fans. First LeBron James, now this?

In the Carlos Santana knee injury video below, you can see Boston Red Sox rookie Ryan Kalish sled into his knee.

by Robert Jonas - Center Line Soccer
One of the finest narratives on the game of soccer comes from British author Nick Hornby and describes his relationship to sport using the Arsenal Football Club as his chief muse. Titled Fever Pitch, the book was later adapted into a romantic comedy film of the same title with Colin Firth as the protagonist.

Not long ago, the Tampa Bay Rays were horrible. The Devil Rays, as they were called then, were the laughing stock of Major League Baseball. Rays fans wished that one day their team could contend with the big boys. But now, even when they are slugging it out with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, Rays fans are nowhere to be found.

New England Sports Ventures, the company that owns the American baseball team the Boston Red Sox, has made an offer to buy Liverpool FC.

The New England is one of two groups that are believed to have made offers of between $445 and $475 million for the club. Tom Hicks is said to be not be interested in selling at this price as he makes no money from the deal as Liverpool have debts of around $450 million that need to be paid by 15 October.

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The Mirror Year Ago-
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