Those Red Sox People Are So Amusing
Here’s the headline that generated my laughter today.
2011 Red Sox Will Challenge 1927 Yankees for Title of Greatest Team in Major League History
It was from a blog on NESN that was brought to my attention by Paul Lebowitz’s blog earlier. Now don’t get me wrong; the Red Sox made terrific deals to upgrade their team this off-season, and my Red Sox fan friends (yes, I do have a few) are rightfully delirious with their shiny new acquisitions, just as we were when CC, AJ and Tex landed in our laps. But “the greatest team in major league history?”
That’s just plain hilarious. For starters, I wouldn’t be caught dead writing a headline like that, given how superstitious I am. (Talk about a jinx.) For another thing, isn’t it a little nutty to make such a grandiose prediction this early, particularly after 2010 when the Red Sox were supposed to be locked and loaded and instead ended up sending everybody to the DL? And finally, the author of this masterpiece decided to compare the 2011 Red Sox with the 1927 Yankees?
There’s a reason the ’27 Yanks were called “Murderers’ Row.” (And it wasn’t because they had a bunch of murderers on the team, which reminds me: Did everyone read about O’s pitcher Simon? Allegedly, he shot and killed a guy in the Dominican over the weekend and wounded another. I hate when that happens.) Babe Ruth hit 60 homers that year and Gehrig 47, and the others in the lineup were no slouches either. The team dominated, absolutely dominated. So my question is this…Will the 2011 Red Sox dominate in the same way? Can any team dominate in the same way, given the competition these days? And who would comprise Boston’s Murderers’ Row? Crawford and Gonzalez are really good but are they Ruth and Gehrig? Are Pedroia and Youkilis? No doubt they’ll all score a ton of runs, but I’m just not ready to anoint them as the “greatest team in major league history.” That’s like saying the chicken and barley stew I made last night was the “greatest comfort food in culinary history.” I mean, it was excellent, if I do say so myself, but….Well, you get my drift.
Confessions of a She-Fan 
“Brag is a good dog.”
That’s a very very old Canadian (?) rural expression that my dear old granny would say whenever she detected someone puffing themselves up beyond belief. It was always meant to be sarcastic, and since she died when I was only 20, I never did think to get her to tell me what the origin(s) was/were. But even at naive tender ages, it hit me that bragging was surely a “dog,” i.e. NOT a good thing. As you may know, Canadians are known (or perceived) as NEVER bragging (you brag about what?)…
And there ain’t nuthin’ I love better than learning about a team that thinks its feces stopped creating any odor…in any sport…BEFORE they even take the field…with apologies to Reggie Jax, I disagree strongly with his “It ain’t braggin’…” comment, and always will… but obviously, we lowly fans of other ballclubs should just dance around the Red Sawx bus and throw rose petals in its path when the High Priests of Hubris come to our towns and grace us with their imperial presence, all singing Sweet & Sour Caroline as we go…after all…brag is a good dog…eh??!
Wow! I think I’d wait to at least see how the season starts before bragging about the best team in HISTORY! I didn’t realize the Red Sox worked as fortune tellers during the off season. I’m not feeling so good about the team we have right now, but if there is one thing about the Yankees that I do know, it’s that they may be down, but you can never count them out.
Saw “The King’s Speech” the other night. It was fantastic!!
Hope everyone has a happy and wonderful 2011.
The shoutout makes it reason #9,897 that I worship Jane Heller.
http://paullebowitz.com.previewyoursite.com/blog/?p=167
I love your granny’s expression, Dave. And Canadians don’t brag, do they. (They just throw waffles at hockey players. LOL.) I get that NESN is a house organ and they need to pump up the troops. But there’s such a thing as hubris. That headline just begs the gods to strike them down, which would scare the bejesus out of me.
Yes, usually it’s customary to wait until you’ve actually done something before bragging about it, dj. That’s what struck me about that article. As for our Yanks, I keep thinking Cashman MUST have something going on, so we’ll just have to wait to see what it is. I loved King’s Speech too. I think it’ll be a Best Picture nominee along with Black Swan, The Fighter, etc., and that Colin Firth is a good bet to win Best Actor. Happy New Year to you!
Wow. The 27 Yanks won the league by 19 games, out homered the league 3 to 1, and averaged 2.4 runs more per game than their opponents. Can’t see any team ever dominating a league or division like that again.
http://wrigleyregular.mlblogs.com/
LOL, Paul. I can’t help it if I get my news from you sometimes. On my own I don’t usually cruise the NESN web site:)
The ’27 Yankees were incredibly dominant, russelw. And as I said in the post, I think it would be very difficult to duplicate that dominance in an era when there are so many good teams. The AL East is a bear, but the Rangers and Phillies aren’t exactly chopped liver. Besides, the Giants weren’t supposed to win it all last year and they did, so it’s just a bit too soon to call a winner this year.
Those A’s were mighty good, phan52. I just think it’s kind of a crazy game to call any team “the best in history.” There are so many variables in addition to the stats.
Yeah, it’s kind of ridiculous to compare the current Red Sox team to the ’27 Yankees.
But the 29-30 A’s were the best MLB team in history.
Yeah, that is a pretty bold, fate tempting comparison. I would be willing to bet a lot of Red Sox fans are pretty unhappy with article. I would be if I were them, especially after such an injury plagued 2010.
– Kristen
http://blithescribe.mlblogs.com/
“Bold” is one way to put it, Kristen. It’s that tempting fate part that would scare me.
Jane,
I read this blog and thought how utterly demented. The 2011 Red Sox have not even taken the fieldfor 2011 and someone annoints them better than the prestigious “Murder’s Row”?
Really?
Hopefully the author of this piece will revisit it in early October and do a re-write…..hopefully either apologizing or showing good reason for us to debate the two squads further…..Insanity is the only excuse to annoint a team without a single win yet as a collective group in comparison to a Yankee 1927 team that would even dominate the MLB today.
Rays Renegade
http://raysrenegade.mlblogs.com
.
“Demented!” Now that’s a good word for NESN, Renegade. LOL. I agree that it’ll be fun to take a look on the guy’s post in the fall. If the Red Sox are, indeed, the best team in major league history, he will be a prophet. If not, a laughingstock.