Got word of this via Dan and had to chime in.

This isn't the worst news we'll ever hear. The Red Sox, until they got rich and smart, had gone a looong time without winning anything.  There have been great Red Sox teams over the years, and great players, but one way or another, until this century, they had been famously futile, playing second fiddle to the high spending/better run Yankees, who racked up championship after championship.

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First off apologies to HollyCornblog ... who I offended by describing September as JBD's birthday month. It is HollyCornblog's birthday month, too ... and that fact should be duly celebrated by everyone ... most especially everyone who likes a nice hoppy beer from time to time!

Second .

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Somehow it seems appropriate that the funeral for Teddy Kennedy should be in the rain. Late summer rain. A grey day sad and kind of empty-feeling. A pause. The end of a season. And much work, many beginnings ahead.

Speaking of work, I have a full plate of it for the weekend so the rain is a relief in some ways.

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Lovely, Chuck ... how much has the insurance industry poured into your campaign coffers? This is cold, cold stuff -- unless you are unimaginably dumb, Senator, which I somehow doubt.

Meanwhile, Cheney is working on his memoirs and waxing slightly more talkative than usual. Watch out, Dubya .

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As Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation approaches crunch time, some GOPers are lining up in opposition. In an op ed in USA Today Jeff Sessions has written "I don't believe that Judge Sotomayor has the deep-rooted convictions necessary to resist the siren call of judicial activism." Say what? My only comment would be to echo Senator Sessions in explaining why I wouldn't vote for him or others of his ilk .

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Quick stuff this morning, as the dogs bark and the sun makes its way through the green leaves and into the blue (for now) sky.

The Phillies lost to the Cubbies yesterday ... so that means their new winning streak begins now! The Red Sox lost another game ... and some more ground to the Yankees.

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By now we have all heard of the disappointing finish for the U.S. in the Confederations Cup against powerhouse Brazil. We all know that the U.S. squandered a 2-0 first half lead and conceded three straight goals in the second half to lose the match 2-3. We all also know that it was the first FIFA final the U.

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Who'd a thunk? I woke up at about 4:30 this morning to the sound of teeming rain -- and wondered how our young plants are keeping themselves from sliding down the hill. Really. As the light returns, I see that everything looks pretty much intact out there -- albeit waterlogged.

Not so intact are the egos of the Red Sox this morning, I'm thinking, as they blew a 10-1 lead and lost to the Orioles.

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Getting back on track after a great weekend ... and I must admit that sleeping in was a big temptation this grey Monday. But the day beckons and time stands still for no one. Yup.

So I see the Phillies avoided a sweep losig two but coming back onSunday and chasing my absolute least favorite of the Red Sox .

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Thanks for your comment on yesterday's post, Alice. I haven't checked out the video Bill Moyers aired - Torturing Democracy - yet, but plan to. Meanwhile, for a never ending stream of despicable and delusional Dickishess there is always the Dick Cheney page on the Huffington Post. I glance at it occasionally in the hope that something bad will have happened to him.

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It's finally Friday, and after work today I'll be driving over Hogback to HollyCornblog's house! She says she'll have the chiminea going and some homebrews ready for sampling when I get there!

In soccer news I see that, apparently, a share of the LA Sol is going to be up for grabs soon. Any buyers?

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Yup - next year Philly gets its own WPS Team - and they'll be playing at the new soccer-specific stadium in Chester - a venue they will share with Philly's new MLS team. I like the combo and am glad that the City of Brotherly Love will be playing WPS soccer next summer!

Turning to the Breakers, here's a profile of defender Sue Weber - a third round pick out of Hofstra who's a solid defender for the Blue!

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Okay so I do, I really do want to be rooting for Obama but what's with this latest appointment? GE's defender on environmental issues, Ignacia Moreno, has been hired to do the legal stuff for EPA? How did Obama explained this decision, I'm wondering. It kind of gives me a weird feeling in my stomach.

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First, the poem - a beauty by Mark Strand from today's Writer's Almanac ...

My Name

by Mark Strand

Once when the lawn was a golden green
and the marbled moonlit trees rose like fresh memorials
in the scented air, and the whole countryside pulsed
with the chirr and murmur of insects, I lay in the grass,
feeling the great distances open above me, and wondered
what I would become and where I would find myself,
and though I barely existed, I felt for an instant
that the vast star-clustered sky was mine, and I heard
my name as if for the first time, heard it the way
one hears the wind or the rain, but faint and far off
as though it belonged not to me but to the silence
from which it had come and to which it would go.

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In a bit of a rush this morning, as usual. Our black lab Willie came up lame yesterday. He has a chronic shoulder problem which something seems to have exacerbated. This morning he seems a little bit better, but still not himself. He'll be turning 10 this summer, so it's worrisome to see him hurting.

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Nice bit here from Dave giving Dick a dose of his own medicine.

Pia has announced the USWNT roster for an upcoming friendly vs. Japan ... 5/20 and 5/23 ... meaning that 17 US players won't be with thier WPS teams for a bit - but for the most part won't miss any matches. I was interested to see that, while the Breakers lose 4 players, one of them isn't Lil.

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Phillies won, Red Sox won .. and I've got the Slingcatcher hooked up and working in Dewd's room!

Meanwhile, the Breakers will be honoring soccer great Maren Meinert at the game with the Freedom on May 17th at Harvard Stadium. WUSA fans remember her fondly as a key ingredient in the Breakers' success - most especially in their final year (with Pia coaching).

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First off, from ChristopherCornblog, here's something you've gotta see!

In soccer news, Daniela was named WPS Player of the Week after her 2-goal performance against the Freedom. Sadly, I am guessing that she is lost to the Athletica for the rest of the season after what looked like a bad leg injury.

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Wow - what a race! I've watched the video twice and still can't quite track how it happened. Red Sox, Phillies and Celtics all won their respective games yesterday ... and the Breakers came back after a disappointing and lackluster performance against the Red Stars to beat Marta and her LA Sol at Hahvard!

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No Phillies game last night - and the Red Sox got pounded. Love the Sox, but Josh Beckett? Not so much. If games like last night taught him some humility, I'd come around. But most likely, it'll just sharpen his already nasty, cocky edge. You're a dink ... and thinking about you is just getting my morning off to a bad start!

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I've been remiss in not posting this picture of HollyCornblog's Hop Trellis circa April 2009!

As you can see, she's done an awful lot of work (backbreaking work, I might add) to give these hops a fighting chance at thriving.

I for one am quite interested to see how hops do under the Obama administration.

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It was a good run, Red Sox ... but now it's up to the Phillies to take the devil out of those Rays, I guess.  A rested Philadelphia team meets the Rays in Florida for game 1 on Wednesday night.  Here's hoping for either a good, exciting, long Series or (my personal favorite) a four [...] Click to continue reading...

Guess we missed out on the basil this year!  This morning there's serious frost everywhere.  Stern frost.  Dour frost.  A layer of it whitens the windows and powders the ground.  The nasturtiums still look miraculously green, but the zinnias and cosmos are brown.  November brown.  This frost will disappear as the sun rises and warms [. Click to continue reading...

No baseball to report on.  No debate.  I am forced to move to Plan B.  (Don't try this at home.) What brought me to this?  It began with my morning visit to Woot - a site that HollyCornblog turned me onto some years ago. I check it first thing and sometimes find really good deals.  [...] Click to continue reading...

Amazing!  Unbelievable!  That's the Red Sox in October.  Coming back from a 7-0 deficit the Red Sox mounted a comeback for the ages and nipped the Rays in the 9th, 8-7.  Hang on to your hats, folks, and tune in on Sunday night.  It ain't over ... and a Sox-Phillies Series may still be in [...] Click to continue reading...

It really wasn't a contest at Dodger Stadium last night ... and wasn't one at Hofstra, either. The Phillies clinched their sixth-ever World Series berth in just five games, with a 5-1 win over the Dodgers, behind good offensive production and the strong arm of NLCS MVP Cole Hamels!  I'd love to see them face the [. Click to continue reading...

Check out Susan's comment on Alison's post yesterday (and Welcome, Alison - I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say here)!  Speaking of the Electoral College, I heard an interesting piece on NPR about the Electoral College - kinda scary how little people know about it! And speaking of scary, the McCainiacs are getting [. Click to continue reading...

 The Time Finder posted information about some great computer shortcuts this morning - along with a link to the NY Times article by David Pogue.  Who knew, for example, that you can use Google like a calculator?  And here's a cool tip that I found in the "Comments" - A little less known one I enjoy [. Click to continue reading...

I'm very excited to be heading over to HollyCornblog's house today for a weekend visit. We'll be doing some chores at the lake like bringing in the dock, bringing in HollyCornblog's sailboat, etc. I'll also be inspecting the amazing and gargantuan work that she and CharlieHopbrew did on the new woodshed up there. Click to continue reading...

I read on The Writer's Almanac that it's William Carlos Williams' birthday today.  He wrote one of my favorite poems - The Red Wheelbarrow. so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens. It makes me think of looking into crystalline water ... absolutely transparent and absolutely mysterious! Click to continue reading...

Yes, it's true.  Turdblossom (aka Karl Rove) has spoken out about the excesses of the McCain campaign ads.  To my mind the fact that he would do this publicly speaks, not to any new found sense of decorum or fair play in the doughy sleazeball, but to the fractiousness and internecine warfare within the Republican [. Click to continue reading...

To my mind, this was one of the finest moments in quite a collection of 'em over the past couple of days.  Bill came through last night, too. The historic milestone that Obama's nomination represents is both cause for celebration and cause for sadness ... because in 2008 we should be well beyond celebrating this [. Click to continue reading...

1st Schalke What You Know: If baseball's Chicago Cubs had a baby with the Red Sox prior to 2004, Schalke would be the offspring. What You Don't: All things both good and bad must end. What to Expect: Yes, Campeones! I say that, bucking all trends, and knowing full well that Schalke could be leading the league by 6 [. Click to continue reading...

On the USWNT front, Lindsey Dolich has posted a nice preview on ESPNsoccernet about this post-Abby team. Abby's injury "forces the issue" as far as the USWNT's transformation goes. And I have my suspicions that the "liberating" aspects of the change may be quite strong for this team that has played laborious and [. Click to continue reading...

Just to keep you up to date ... the Red Sox lost and the Phillies won ... and there's nothing from Beulah yet. Rest assured that I'll post as soon as I see anything! Last night I dreamed that I had a quick breakfast with Pia Sundhage and April Heinrichs. (April joined us midway [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Pia Dreams, USWNT News, and a HollyCornblog Update, Too! Click to continue reading...