it's sunday so it's time for a notsopure Chags and Zags column

Well usually Sundays are devoted to a pure Chags and Zags column but guess what, I haven't updated since the Sox won so I have some pictures I want to show and then I'll add some Chags and Zags.
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Now tell me that winning a championship isn't that great, would you look at the Pru;

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And aboard Air Red Sox is this great picture with Tek

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And ofcourse I have to show some pictures that were taken from the Disney Parade.

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The sign that Manny Ramirez is holding has to be one of my favorite signs that I saw all day when I was at the parade down in Boston.

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And the last picture is one that a reader from Texas has been begging me to add to my site and no his name isn't little Pedro as he likes to call him it's Nelson Mandella.

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Now let's Chags and Zags it;
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Chags to the Red Sox for making history and breaking that 86 year old curse, curses were ment to be broken. I didn't think it would happen in my lifetime I'm just thrilled that it did.
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Chags to Theo for doing something that I would never do;
Red Sox GM Theo Epstein has been making one concession to superstition of late, drinking a glass of Metamucil before each Red Sox postseason game -- a ritual he began prior to Game 4 of the ALCS, which launched the Red Sox to a remarkable comeback win over the New York Yankees.

Epstein said he noticed manager Terry Francona drinking the stuff -- which "looks like something a 70-year-old grandma would drink," Epstein said -- and decided to give it a try. "I've had seven glasses of Metamucil now," Epstein said, referring to each of the Red Sox's wins, "and we're undefeated. And I've paid the price."
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Zags to the New York mets for some reports they're coming out with, we're going to trade and get Manny Ramirez,we're going to trade and get Sammy Sosa. Yes you have so much you can give up to get the World Series MVP, you had your chance last season when we put him on waivers but you didn't bite, and I'm sure glad that he didn't because the curse of A-Rod struck again and he still hasn't been to the World Series, nor will he.
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Zags to the fans of the Yankees who tried to ruin a great parade yesturday in Fenway, by shouting you guys are happy with one championship in 86 years. These are the same Yankee Fans who think the Patriots should be broken up, and let me tell you this article I read in Newsday really pissed me off.

The Boston Red Sox now possess the highest payroll of any World Series winner in the history of the game.

What is the architectural framework in which this collection of mercenary ballplayers came to wear the Boston uniform?

Will there be an end to John Henry’s reckless spending and uncontrolled free agent acquisitions this winter?

Will the unbridled greed of the unholy trinity—Henry, Lucchino and Epstein—once again prove fatal to small markets teams who are just trying to compete?

The answers to these questions are both simple and complex.

But once the baseball world wakes up from its misguided hangover, shakes off the biased and unabashedly pro-Red Sox propaganda spewed forth by ESPN, and realizes what just happened, there will be more and more pundits chiming in on an indisputable fact:

The Red Sox are no Cinderella story: they simply out Yankee-d the Yankees. They are Evil Empire II. They have become what they despise. They are the irony of ironies. The Sox are just another high payroll team with no home grown talent.

Unlike the Yankees, who still sport homegrown starters like Posada, Jeter, Williams and relief ace Rivera, the Red Sox had only one homegrown starter on its entire roster—Trot Nixon.

Just one!

Don’t get me wrong, the Red Sox deserved to win. And why shouldn’t they?

They were built better for the post-season and—due in part to Theo's saber-driven expertise in selecting players and in part because of Henry's checkbook—were able to construct a bench in which each player had a specific role. Pokey Reese and Doug (Don’t make me spell his last name) M. in for defense—Dave Roberts in to steal a base—Doug Mirabelli to catch Wakefield (when he didn’t catch Wake, it almost lost them the ALCS.)

The fact remains that Theo Epstein made all the right moves this off-season, and those moves are well-chronicled. The Red Sox are a brilliantly constructed team put together by a brilliant young architect.

But just to prove a point, I’d like to suggest that it was largely plain old good luck (something that has eluded the Red Sox for 86 years) that propelled the Red Sox to the World Series Championship.

Don’t believe me? Just revisit these few facts:

The Sox secured Curt Schilling last winter from Jerry Colangelo for two cans of baked beans and a crate of lobsters. After demanding Nick Johnson and Alfonso Soriano from the Yankees, Colangelo sent Schilling to the Red Sox in one of the most lopsided trades in baseball history. (Did Theo have a gun or was Colangelo trying to stick it to George? Either way, where was Selig and the ‘best interest of baseball” clause?)

Right after the 2003 post-season ended, Theo put Manny Ramirez, the 2004 World Series MVP, on irrevocable waivers. Anyone could have snatched him (if they wanted to pay his salary.) No one took him, and Manny remained a Red Sox.

Plan B was, of course, prying A-Rod away from the Rangers. Theo spent two back-and-forth months in negotiations.

If the deal goes through, the Sox would have had A-Rod at short and Magglio Ordonez in left. Nomar would have gone to the White Sox, Manny to Texas. Result: No World Series title.

Despite trying his hardest, Theo could not pull the deal off. Luck, or the Gods, intervened and sent A-Rod to the Yanks.

Fast forward to the July 31 trade deadline. Theo is working feverishly to trade Derek Lowe, who was in the midst of a baffling 10 game pitching slump, to the White Sox for Esteban Loaiza.

Esteban Loaiza!

This would have happened if Cashman didn’t swoop in 15 minutes before the trading deadline and offer Jose Contreras to the White Sox.

And now Derek Lowe, he of post-season brilliance, marches off as a post-season hero for the Red Sox. If Theo had his way, he would have toiled for the last two months of the season in Chicago’s South Side.

Of course, The Red Sox wanted Contreras in the first place. And when they lost a bidding war with the Yankess, it prompted Theo to destroy furniture in a Central American hotel and Lucchino to utter the now famous moniker: The Evil Empire.

So the moves that fell through despite Theo’s best efforts were as important as the moves that he made. Theo was resourceful, intelligent and bold, as evidenced by his courage in finally trading away Nomar, but there is no doubt that he was also lucky.

When you succeed because so many of your plans failed, you have to feel fortunate.

There is nothing wrong with luck. Sometimes you need it to win.

And what will be left for the Red Sox and their fans after the parade, drunken escapades, and car burnings are over?

No longer will the Red Sox be that tortured, cursed franchise.

No longer will they have the identity of the underdog.

No longer can they sing Tessie and really mean it.

They will spend more money this winter to beat the Yankees again.

They will spend more money this winter to outdo themselves.

They will no longer do the chasing.

They will be the chased.

Theo, if you need any pointers, give Brian a call.

He’s been there.

I can't believe the Yanks are acting this way and this column there just proves how stupid the Yanks and their fans are, spending money wow that doesn't sound like the Yankees at all, can anybody else on this blog say SOUR GRAPES.
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Zags to terry Glenn who is out for the season, you should have never left New England
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Chags to my Quinnipiac Bobcats for showing Dartmouth what's going to happen when we join the ECAC next year as my unranked bobcats defeated the #12 ranked greentide from Dartmouth. Dartmouth put that in your pipe and smoke it.
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Chags to the Miami Dolphins for finally filing suit against Ricky Williams, it's about time you file and not give him any more chances.
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Zags to Redskins Quarterback Mark Brunell who just doesn't get it. He doesn't feel that backup Patrick Ramsey should play instead of him, he doesn't feel that he's done a bad job. Well if doign a great job is having a 51.2 completion percentage and 5.43 yards per attempt is good then I should be an NFL Quarterback.
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Now my picks for week 8;
BUF over ARZ
GB over WAS
DAL over DET
JAX over HOU
TEN over CIN
IND over KC
NYG over MIN
PHI over BAL
CAR over SEA (yes they continue this losing streak)
DEN over ATL
NE over PIT
SD over OAK
CHI over SF
NYJ over MIA
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That's the blog for today, leave some;
~Chag