Olympic Badminton Cheating

Ken AshfordRed Sox & Other SportsLeave a Comment

AP: LONDON — Eight female badminton doubles players were disqualified Wednesday from the London Olympics after trying to lose matches to receive a more favorable place in the tournament. The Badminton World Federation announced its ruling after investigating two teams from South Korea and one each from China and Indonesia. It punished them for "not using one's best efforts to … Read More

Happy Birthday, Fenway!

Ken AshfordHistory, Red Sox & Other SportsLeave a Comment

If you are in the stands behind home plate, you are actually 6 feet closer to the batter than the pitcher is. Great ballpark!   Be sure to visit the Boston Globe's slideshow of pictures of iconic moments from the past century.  Oddly, no pictures of Bucky F. Dent or Bill Buckner. And this afternoon, the Red Soz play the Yankess … Read More

Talking A Little Football

Ken AshfordRed Sox & Other SportsLeave a Comment

I think it's great that God sacrificed his one and only son so that the Denver Broncos could get into the playoffs.  I really do.   I'm sure that is what Jesus had in mind when they hammed spikes through his palms on the cross: not the famines, war, and disease which, every day, kill the faithful all over the … Read More

Raw Deal for Paterno

Ken AshfordRed Sox & Other Sports, Sex Scandals6 Comments

I'm not a Penn State fan; I'm not even a follower of college football. But as I understand it, after 46 seasons, Penn State college football coach legend (he's a "legend" apparently, although I wouldn't know) Joe Paterno has been removed from his position because he supposedly exercised bad judgment back in 2002.  What happened was, he was told by … Read More

FIFA Women’s Final

Ken AshfordRed Sox & Other SportsLeave a Comment

Seriously, just how disappointed can any American be?  Our girls played well and it was a close game. Japan lost 23,000 of its countryman.  The women's soccer team victory in no way compensates for that, but damn if it isn't nice to see Japan getting some good news.

I Don’t Understand….

Ken AshfordRed Sox & Other SportsLeave a Comment

…. the compulsion to burn your city down just because your local sports teams loses in the finals. First of all, they made it to the finals, so that makes them better off than say, most teams in the league. And secondly, what good does the burning actually, you know, do?

Opening Day

Ken AshfordRed Sox & Other SportsLeave a Comment

The Line-up: 1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF 2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B 3. Carl Crawford, LF 4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B 5. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B 6. David Ortiz, DH 7. Mike Cameron, RF 8. Jarrod Saltalamacchia, C 9. Marco Scutaro, SS How does this season look?  Gooooood: As the Major League Baseball season hits full swing this weekend, a Massachusetts professor predicts the … Read More

What So Proudly We Watched At The Twilight’s Last Gleaming…

Ken AshfordRandom Musings, Red Sox & Other SportsLeave a Comment

I was going to give Christine Aguilera a pass for her National Anthem flub in yesterday's Supre Bowl.  "Of course she knew the words.  She was just nervous.  It happens".  I was ready to say that. Except maybe she didn't know the words.  Because [a]ccording to the Daily Mail, her gaffe matched erroneous lyrics published on Wikipedia, which have since been corrected. … Read More

Not That Anybody South Of Connecticut Cares….

Ken AshfordRed Sox & Other SportsLeave a Comment

but the Red Sox signed Carl Crawford, which is a good thing.  He'll be hitting third.  When you couple that with the acquisition of Gonzalez, this may be the strongest Red Sox lineup in the past few years. 1. Ellsbury, CF2. Pedroia,  2B3. Crawford, LF4. Gonzalez, 1B5. Youkilis, 3B6. Ortiz, DH7. Saltalamacchia, C8. Drew, RF9. Scutaro, SS Now, Theo needs to … Read More

Baseball: The Tenth Inning

Ken AshfordRed Sox & Other SportsLeave a Comment

I, like many others, was and remain a big fan of Ken Burns' nine-part, 18.5 hour Baseball documentary series when it came out 1993.  That series was fascinating look at America's favorite pastime since its inception over 100 years ago to 1993.  That series ended with the clear message that baseball had survived wars, depression, and scandal, but it always persevered.  Ironically, when … Read More