As part of my homework for one of my journalism courses, I was responsible last night for watching the State of the Union and picking out newsworthy quotes. As a registered voter in Massachusetts and a citizen of this country in a time of hardships, my interest in politics has been growing. I voted in every election I have been able to vote in since registering to vote in April of 2008.

Last night, I felt President Obama's State of the Union hit the problems this country faces straight on. Greatest of all, he pointed out the unacceptable party line divide that is prohibiting Congress from doing anything useful.

Last week, Massachusetts elected Scott Brown to the Senate, choosing him to finish the late Senator Ted Kennedy's final term. This election eliminated the filibuster in the Senate in which Democrats held the all-important two-thirds majority. I did not vote for Brown and I am still hopeful that this country can achieve health care reform, but I am grateful that Brown's election to the Senate will finally force our representatives in Washington to do what they are supposed to do: go past their party lines and work together to pass legislation that will benefit the citizens of this country.

The biggest issue this country faces today is not a struggling economy, two international wars, health care wrongs or environmental stalemates. Instead, it is the refusal of citizens to support anything that their political party will not support.

"If the Republican leadership is going to insist that 60 votes in the Senate are required to do any business at all in this town, a supermajority, then the responsibility to govern is now yours as well," Obama said. "Just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it's not leadership."

Now, I disagree that saying no to everything is even good short-term politics. What does it accomplish? While achieving agendas solely to benefit their parties, members of Congress are hurting the American people. They are preventing real, beneficial legislation from being created and passed. As George Washington warned in his farewell address,

"All obstructions to the execution of the Laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency . . . However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion."

Political parties are natural, almost an inherent side-effect of democracy. I do not believe that we should completely abandon these parties, but we need to remember that we cannot draw the line at a particular party's platform. Democrats must compromise with Republicans, Republicans must compromise with Democrats. This is why we elected our representatives to serve in Congress, not to vote only Republican, but to discuss and create laws and reforms.

This country is in desperate need of health care reform. It is in desperate need of an economic fix. While it is fine to disagree with a particular bill,  it is a failure of the system to simply say no, I will not vote for that. Rather, it is imperative for Congress to say, "I disagree with that for these reasons, and these are my ideas and solutions for those problems." Nothing productive comes out of simply saying no.

Obama has not yet ended the war, not yet saved the economy, not yet created viable health care reform, not yet changed the way our government works. He has, however, tried to create that change. It is time now for Congress, on the parts of both Democrats and Republicans, to change too. They need to start doing their jobs. They need to try.

In the Republican response last night, Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell said, "Today, the federal government is trying to do too much." Well Governor McDonnell, it is better to try to do too much than to try to do nothing at all.

Though I am a proud member of Red Sox Nation, I am also a proud citizen of this country and a resident of Massachusetts. I have already voted today. No matter who your candidate is, go out and vote. This is what you can do for your country. This is how your voice can be heard.

            2007 was a hallmark year for the top two sports teams in Boston. The Patriots went 16-0 and fell one David Tyree drop away from perfection. The Red Sox, of course, won their second World Series of the decade. Since then, both teams have headed for the cellar.

            On Sunday afternoon, when the Patriots were walloped by the Ravens, they showed that their capabilities this season revolved around dominating weak teams while choking or falling to good teams. They lacked talent on defense and a versatility on offense (the Moss/Welker pair does not count as an abundance of options) that ultimately put them in their place: on their sofas watching the playoffs.

            Last season, the Patriots lost Tom Brady in the first game of the season and still went 11-5. While that's all well and good, a team with a 16-0 record the previous season should be able to win with or without their quarterback. The Patriots fell short of the playoffs, but instead of raising expectations for this season, they engaged in a series of inexplicable moves.

            Matt Cassel's performance in Brady's absence was excellent for his stock, yet the Patriots ended up trading not only him, but also Mike Vrabel for draft picks that they subsequently traded away. They also traded away all of their first round picks and passed on highly touted linebackers the team so desperately needed.

            By the time the Patriots showed up to training camp, they were missing Richard Seymour, leaving only Vince Wilfork as a big name on defense. There was no talent there, and while Belichick is a defensive-minded coach who does have the capability to build himself a defense, he simply didn't give himself enough to work with.

            The Patriots seem to be in the throes of rebuilding a championship caliber team, yet they have not taken that last step in finding enough talent to lead them to glory for unknown reasons. The prices cannot be too high. After all, the Kraft group just built a majestic shopping plaza in Gillette Stadium's front yard. So why the mediocrity?

            Similarly, since winning it all in 2007, the Red Sox seem unwilling to pay or acquire the type of players necessary to bring baseball glory back to Boston. During the summer of 2008, Manny Ramirez forced his way out of Fenway, so the Red Sox brought in Jason Bay as a replacement. Bay was phenomenal in Boston, the kind of quiet, team player that everybody needed in the aftermath of the Manny circus.

            Yet removing Manny from the roster meant the lineup card would be missing the hugely important intimidating bat. The Red Sox had a bunch of players who were good, but none capable of greatness the way Manny was. Ortiz has watched his numbers drop over the last few years, and while Youkilis, Pedroia, Lowell and Bay are good hitters, they do not have the power to change the course of any one game with a single swing of the bat.

            During the off-season after the 2008 post-season (where the Red Sox played above their capabilities before eventually falling to the Tampa Bay Rays), the Red Sox refused to spend the money to upgrade their team. Why? I could not tell you. All I know is that the Red Sox began the season with a mediocre line-up, a question-mark-filled pitching rotation, and a shaky bullpen. They exited the season in much the same way.

            A line-up where most of the power is coming from J.D. Drew? No thank you. Jed Lowrie and Julio Lugo platooning (until Julio was traded and Lowrie was injured . . . again) at short? Shoot me now.

            This off-season, the Red Sox are starting to spend money. They acquired John Lackey, Adrian Beltre and Mike Whoever-he-is, which is an improvement over last year, but they still have not found that much needed bat for their lineup or a bullpen that looks like it can hold a lead.

            Perhaps this is just a play-off loss hangover, but it seems that the winning ways from the first half of the decade are but a distant memory. Sure, I'm lucky that I was able to witness so many championships in such a short time, so I shouldn't complain, right?

            I wouldn't complain if I saw a good reason for both teams to low-ball it financially and put together a half-hearted roster. The Patriots and the Red Sox have the resources to do more, attract better players, coach stronger, yet neither team is fully taking advantage of those resources.

            If I felt the NBA had any redeeming qualities, perhaps I would just move on to the Celtics, yet I don't foresee much basketball-worshipping in my future. I guess for these next 36 days before Spring Training starts, I'll dwell on my fan-hood misfortune.

            Wait. It's an even numbered year . . . olympics or bust!  

Standing at a $165 million payroll, $5 million below the luxury tax cap, there have been questions abound about whether the Red Sox will continue their hunt for players like Adrian Beltre and Adrian Gonzalez. Theo Epstein and Co. answered those questions in a big way today by coming to terms with Beltre in a 1-year, $9 million contract with a second year option.

The Red Sox had a mediocre lineup last season. Losing Manny Ramirez meant losing an explosive bat in the lineup that Jason Bay, Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia could not recreate. While Beltre has not come close to replicating his 48 home run season in 2004, he does have the potential for a 20 home run season or more every year. His 8 home runs last season were a bit of an aberration, especially considering he was playing with injured shoulders and a torn ligament in his thumb. Beltre also hits home runs heavily towards left field, so he is sure to make friends with the monster.

Beltre brings quality defense to an already defensively strong team. If the starting infield consists of Youkilis, Pedroia, Marco Scutaro and Adrian Beltre, the Red Sox will have four golden glove caliber players right behind the pitcher. Beltre's most glaring weakness on defense is his tendency to not wear a cup.

The years and money could not be better for the Red Sox. $9 million is a decent price for a statistically declining Beltre, who earned $13 million from the Mariners last year. A second year for Beltre is worth even less, which works well for both parties. If Beltre does not improve this season, the Red Sox will only owe him $5 million should he choose to stay next season. If Beltre does improve, he can earn more money either here or elsewhere, giving him the incentive throughout the season to perform at his very best.

The Red Sox also escape an awkward situation with Mike Lowell. Casey Kotchman has not yet proven himself as an improvement over Lowell and Youkilis at the corners, but with the Red Sox foiled attempts to trade Lowell, it's clear that Lowell does not figure heavily into their plans for 2010. Yet starting Kotchman over Lowell would be unwarranted, as Lowell did prove himself as a solid player when healthy with the Red Sox, even earning the 2007 World Series MVP honors. With Beltre, however, the Red Sox have a more defensively sound, younger, and somewhat healthier starter who is statistically comparable to Lowell over an extended period of time. While the Sox could try to trade Lowell again, not too many teams will jump at the chance to sign a player who has already failed one physical and has had an increasing history of injury. Now, the Sox can use Lowell off the bench more legitimately.

Overall, the Beltre signing, if he passes his physical, can only mean good things for the Red Sox. Sure, they will exceed the luxury tax threshold, but based on comments from Epstein, Henry and Warner throughout the off season, that seemed to be the plan all along. Beltre may just be the final check on the check list for the Red Sox's winter shopping.

Dear your sir highness Theo Epstein,
The last time we corresponded, I believe I expounded the importance of a catcher to a baseball team. You took my advice last time and signed Jason Varitek, and then you continued to improve the catching situation by trading for Victor Martinez during the season. Both Varitek and Martinez will continue their tenure with the club this coming season.

Thus, please know that I do not believe you must still acquire a catcher. From my understanding, an upcoming deal between the Red Sox and Rangers is in the works. You plan to send my love, soul and cherished third baseman, Michael "Mr. Double" Lowell to Texas in exchange for some minor league catcher named Max Ramirez. Additionally, you plan to eat much of Lowell's $12 million contract in order to do this.

I am fully aware that our good friend Mikey's hip is not the most . . . stable joint around, but I still do not think this warrants a trade for a minor leaguer whom we will effectively be paying millions of dollars for. Perhaps you are confusing the name "Max" with the name "Manny." This fellow from Texas is not, indeed, Manny Ramirez, and thus I don't see why he is worth all of this money. Sure, he performed well in single-A and double-A ball, but this kid has only played in 17 major league games (where he went 8-46) and hit .243 at the triple-A level. Is he worth almost $12 million as well as a clubhouse leader? I fail to see your logic here, although I am sure, as you seem to be a prodigal general manager, that there must be some logical explanation.

 While there are whispers about Adrian Beltre, who would definitely be a more longtime improvement over Lowell at third, the focus this off-season should be on our good servant, Jason "J-BayBay" Bay. Why waste money on getting a catcher (when the team already has two) or a third baseman (when the team already has one) instead of acquiring a highly touted outfielder (which the team lacks)?

You answered my queries last time we spoke with appropriate action, and I hope you can do the same with this humble request: stop the Lowell trade, or do something that will redeem you of what looks to be a huge judgement error.

Yankees suck forever and always,
Subject A

This is something I wrote for my school newspaper. I can extend this for a journalism class I'm taking, so anybody have any suggestions of what they would want to see more of or improve in this piece?
Gryba the Goliath
by Arielle Aronson

On Friday night at Agganis Arena, 21-year-old men's hockey senior Eric Gryba scored his third collegiate goal.

A little more than four minutes into the second period, sophomore forward Corey Trivino led a rush up the right side and into the zone before passing to sophomore forward Vinny Saponari at the left faceoff dot. Gryba, eschewing his normal place on the blue line, crept unnoticed to the right doorstep of the goal. Saponari saw Gryba and fired a pass toward the defenseman, who tipped the puck in for Boston University's first goal of the game, en route to a 3-3 tie against the University of Vermont.

The goal was Gryba's first on the season. As a defensive defenseman, Gryba is a force on the ice, albeit not an offensive one. Gryba's checks often leave opponents crumpled at his feet like a heap of dirty laundry. At 6-feet-4-inches and 220 pounds, Gryba is seven inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than his defensive partner, sophomore David Warsofsky.

"He definitely makes himself present out there," Warsofsky said.

Gryba's brutish play has earned him a spot in Dog Pound lore as a caveman-like figure. When he scored, shouts of "Gryba score!" and "Gryba goal!" resounded through section 118. 

Despite the persona created for Gryba by the Dog Pound, the defenseman is more than just a bear-like defenseman. Off the ice, he acts just like any other BU student, speaking with an ease reflective of his affable yet strong-willed personality. This strong will served him well in his youth.

Gryba grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, the oldest of three children. He began skating at three years old and was playing hockey by the time he was five. At age 15, Gryba began playing triple-A midget hockey for his local team, the Saskatoon Contacts.

In 2005, Gryba won his first national championship with the Contacts. Gryba's 40 points in 32 games that season, as well as his physical play, attracted attention from colleges as well as Canada's Western Hockey League, a major junior hockey league. Playing in the WHL, however, would have made Gryba ineligible for NCAA participation.

Gryba initially attempted to play in the British Columbia Hockey League, even temporarily transferring guardianship to an aunt who lived there, yet new rules prohibiting interprovincial transfers left Gryba unable to play in the BCHL. At 17, Gryba had to make a tough decision between playing major junior hockey and foregoing a collegiate career, or playing in lower-level juniors in order to be able to go to college.

"Either way, I was going to get my education, whether I got it now or later on." Gryba said. "I thought I could play a year of juniors, which is a little bit lower than playing in the WHL, but after that play at a much higher level and get my education at the same time."

"He wanted to go to university and he was pretty stubborn about it," BU coach Jack Parker said. "It was, 'Are you people kidding me? You aren't going to go let me play in the BCHL? Kids have done that for 50 years, and you've come up with this new rule to keep me from playing college hockey?' So he left."

BU discovered Gryba while he was playing for the Green Bay Gamblers of the United States Hockey League, a league from which the Terriers recruit heavily. BU asked Gryba to commit for the next fall. Because of the sports-centered nature of Boston, his comfort on campus and the level of the facilities at BU, Gryba turned down offers from many elite programs in order to play under the tutelage of Parker.

Entering his freshman year, Gryba was far from the defensive stalwart he would become at BU. Gryba was laying down big hits for BU, but he was also spending a lot of time in the sin bin.

"He got a lot of stupid penalties," Parker said. "He was being physical, doing what we wanted, but he was playing over the edge. I think it took him a while to figure out just where that edge was."

Gryba also had to accept his role on a team where he was expected to be more of a stay-at-home defenseman than an offensive presence. The days of 40 points in 32 games were over.

"That's a big part -- accepting the role and running with it," Gryba said. "When I was in midgets, I wasn't a stay-at-home defenseman. I was a good defenseman, I was physical, but I played a lot more of the offensive game, too. Starting in juniors and then here, the offensive game became less and less and I started focusing more on the defensive part of the game."

By his junior year at BU, Gryba had made clear progress in taking smarter penalties and playing a more solid defensive game. Gryba finished 2008-09 with a plus-21 rating, the highest of his career. Although he tallied no goals for the Terriers, Gryba registered six assists and played in every game during the Terriers' national championship run.

BU's victory over Miami in overtime to win the title ranks as Gryba's favorite hockey memory.

"Winning the national championship is up there," Gryba said. "The parade was awesome, and that actually happened to fall on the day of my birthday, so that was pretty cool. And then throwing out the first pitch of the Red Sox game, that was a lot of fun."

With departed co-captain Brian Strait headed for the Pittsburgh Penguins organization, Gryba learned shortly before leaving for the summer that Parker was making him and junior Nick Bonino assistant captains.

"Once Shattenkirk was just the captain, I knew I was going to appoint two assistants," Parker said. "It was pretty easy to pick Gryba because of his intensity and his enthusiasm. He's a vocal guy that can offset Shattenkirk, who's kind of a John McCarthy-like captain -- a quiet type of guy who's not going to be getting into guys' faces in the locker room. Gryba will do that for you."

This season, in addition to his captain duties, the senior continues to lead BU in big hits. Unfortunately for the Terriers, Gryba's 2009 victims include teammates David Warsofsky, who was collateral in a Gryba hit laid on an opponent, and freshman forward Alex Chiasson, whom Gryba injured in practice. 

"I had a little string there of bad luck," Gryba said of injuring his teammates. "Obviously, I'm not out trying to hurt guys on the team, but it comes with my game. Sometimes, things happen like that, and you just pray it doesn't happen again."

Warsofsky does not blame his injury on Gryba, but he did acknowledge that playing on the ice with Gryba can occasionally get dangerous.

"It's pretty scary at times, not knowing what he's going to do out there," Warsofsky said. "You have to be aware of where he is and then, hopefully, when you do see him coming in for the big hits, you have to get out of the way."

Players sometimes try to stay away from Gryba in the locker room as well. Before games, Gryba means business, but any other locker room time is open season. Freshman defenseman Sean Escobedo learned that lesson quickly when he threw soap on a freshly showered Gryba.

"He thinks he's a real funny guy, throwing soap on me after I got out of the shower," Gryba said. "So I took a pair of his brand new shoes and hid them in the ceiling. He's looking around for it for a while, and finally I said I'd give them back to him. I went up there and they were gone."

After a few days, Escobedo found the shoes, but Gryba was not yet finished with him.

"[Last Tuesday], he put a chocolate shake in Scooby's shoes," senior forward Luke Popko said.

At last check, Escobedo's shoes were in the laundry.

When not stealing people's shoes, Gryba is focusing on turning the struggling Terriers' season around.

"We just keep preaching to the guys, keep working hard, keep doing the right thing, keep having that effort game-in and game-out," Gryba said. "Things will start to click and we'll start winning six or seven games in a row. That, I feel, will happen for us."

Until that point, however, it's probably best that the Terriers keep their bodies out of Gryba's way on the ice and their shoes out of his sight off it.

Thanksgiving is over and we are now in the throes of one of my favorite times of year: Christmas season! I'm Jewish, but there's nothing like some good Christmas music, the giving spirit, and hopefully some snow to put a girl in a good mood.

Unfortunately, December means the hot stove is heating up as well. Yes, I said unfortunately. I love the idea of getting new guys, but I hate seeing guys go, and I hate the rumors that accompany the hot stove. I am very, very attached to my boys. It's always a bad day for me when someone leaves the Red Sox.

This year, JBayBay (it is imperative to call him that) is a free agent, and though the Red Sox did offer him arbitration, there is a very real possibility he could walk away from this team. It will take a lot of money and a good amount of years to sign JBayBay, and Theo isn't well known for those types of contracts. Theo has, however, made it clear that JBayBay is his top priority.

See, despite the fact that he's a Canuck, JBayBay is just a phenomenal human being who has earned a special place in my heart. First of all, his name can be skewed to sound like that Hurricane Chris song A Bay Bay (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4tnlRQGyH0). Additionally, he loves hockey, especially the Bruins. Third, he's a great team player, quiet and productive. Fourth, he's JBayBay. He can't leave me. It's not allowed.

I'm incredibly busy right now with the final two weeks of my fall semester. My mother has made it clear that anything below an A- will be unacceptable. If I had been conscientious enough throughout the semester, this should not have been a problem, but I'm unfortunately a slacker, so I'm racing to catch up in these last seven days of classes. I'm hoping that if I ace my finals, I'll be able to get As in every one of my classes, but I have to worry about acing them in the first place so it's going to be great.

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and is doing well. Enjoy the season and people of Boston, cross your fingers for snow!

You would think that because the Red Sox season is over, I would be done attempting to defenestrate myself for the next six months. After this weekend, this is not the case. We'll discuss the horrors team by team here, since, you know, it's no fun only rooting for one team or one sport.

BU Hockey
Oh the hangovers from national championships! BU hockey has been, well, fallible this year. Most games they've been playing just short of wins. They're really into doing this thing where they shoot the puck a billion times into the goalie's chest, which obviously does not really lead to too many goals. BU also is a big fan of not playing defense, and not playing in the second period. Because of this, the team is now 3-6. They are in 9th place (out of 10) in Hockey East and completely tumbled out of all national rankings.

Despite this, I made the decision to travel up to Merrimack on Friday to watch the Terriers take on the Warriors. 2007-2008 was Merrimack's only double-digit win season since 2003-2004. Needless to say, they're a powerhouse.

BU struggled mightily with the Warriors. Or, well, BU actually didn't struggle, as they did not show up for the game after the first period. In the words of BU coach Jack Parker, "We stopped competing." Great, right? The score is deceiving. Merrimack won 6-3, but the final score may have well been 9-0. Additionally, my least favorite player on the team, Colby Cohen, fought two guys. Fighting is illegal in college hockey. He was ejected. This was great, because Colby is a defenseman and at one point, BU had 4 defensemen in the penalty box at once.

BU had six minutes of a 5-on-3 advantage. They didn't score. Nobody fails to score with six minutes of a two man advantage. Defending national champions do not play the way BU did on Friday night. There was no effort, no spark, no leadership. It was disgusting. I was actually nauseated. After the "game," the three other people I traveled up there with and myself went to Friendly's for some comfort food. It was that bad.

Saturday night, BU took a 4-0 advantage in the first period. After that, BU felt that the game was over and it was time for them to partake in Saturday evening festivities. They ended up winning 6-4, but it was more of a "they didn't lose" than a "they won the game" situation. The good news from Saturday is that two of our injured players returned, including the star and assistant captain, Nick Bonino. Also, BU scored six goals, so perhaps they finally figured out that you need to score goals in order to win games. We'll see how they rebound this weekend against UNH.

The Bruins
Last week, I went to the Bruins game against the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins at the Garden in Boston. The Bs played terrific, shutting out Sidney Crosby and friends 3-0. On Saturday night, the Bruins traveled to Pittsburgh for a rematch. This one didn't go so well.

The game was hard fought, and the Bruins never gave up. They came back from multiple deficits, most remarkably in the third period when they were trailing Pittsburgh 4-3. With 5:47 left in regulation and the Bruins holding a two man advantage (listen to this one, BU), David Krejci swept in on a Zdeno Chara shot and roofed the rebound towards the goal, where Marco Sturm tipped the puck in to tie the game, 4-4. Three minutes later, with 2:29 left in regulation, Zdeno Chara showed off his hardest shot skills, firing a slapshot from just above the left circle past Pittsburgh back-up netminder Brent Johnson. The Bruins were on their way to another victory.

Not so fast. With 4/10 of a second remaining, ex-Bruin Bill Guerin slipped a wristshot from the top of the right faceoff circle past Tim Thomas to send the game to overtime. The Bruins were exhausted, and a little over a minute into overtime, Pascal Dupuis netted the game-winner for the Pens.

After a good, hard effort like Saturday's, you would think the Bruins would come out confident and strong against the Islanders last night.

Nope.

Six minutes into the game, Matt Moulson capitalized on a turnover in the Bruins offensive zone and some poor defense at the hands of Dennis Widemann and Patrice Bergeron to give the Islanders an early 1-0 lead. The Bruins had a chance towards the end of the first to tie the game with a 5-on-3, but like BU, the Bs did not feel the need to take advantage of their opportunity and squandered the chance. Moulson ended up just shy of a hat trick, scoring two goals and briefly getting credit for a John Tavares goal to start the third. The Bruins lost 4-1, and Patrice Bergeron, who has been one of the best players on the ice this season for the Bs, finished the game with a -4 rating.

Claude Julien admitted after the game that the Islanders "wanted it more than we did." Is there anything more frustrating in sports than when your team does not put forth their best effort? Come on.

The Patriots
Speaking of best efforts . . . I'm not sure if I should title this section The Patriots or Bill Belichick. By now, most people know the story. The Pats were leading the undefeated Colts by a solid 13 point margin coming into the fourth quarter. With a little more than two minutes left, the lead was whittled down to 6. A touchdown could win the game.

On 4th and 2 with 2:08 left in the game, Bill Belichick inexplicably decided to send his offense back out and go for it. Belichick had no challenges left in case he would need them (which he did). Brady threw a short pass to Kevin Faulk who was standing right on the 30-yard line, which is where the Pats needed to get to for the first down. The Patriots got a poor spot, as the referees decided the Patriots were about a yard short of a first down. This gave Peyton Manning two minutes to go 29 yards for the game-winning touchdown. That's a series he will execute every time.

People are saying that the move says Belichick did not have the confidence in his defense to keep the Colts from covering 70-yards in 2 minutes. However, I believe Belichick has to have enough confidence in his defense to be able to hold the Colts from 29-yards out if the Pats do not convert on fourth down. Belichick is a defensive-minded coach. He most likely has faith every game in his defense, because ultimately, it is the defense Belichick himself creates. Any failure on the defense's part is a reflection of Belichick himself.

Additionally, why were the Patriots throwing the ball so short? Why are they throwing for exactly two yards? Why not give themselves the insurance of a few more yards and throw a five-yard pass? Converting there is crucial, and they never should have given the referees the opportunity to decide whether or not the play was long enough for a first down. It's the offense's job to earn the first down, not the referees job to give it to them.

And why did Belichick waste a timeout at the beginning of a drive? He ended up needing that timeout if he had wanted to challenge the spot of the ball, because when the Patriots did not convert on third down, confusion about whether to punt or not forced the Patriots to use their final timeout to prevent a delay of game penalty.  

The bottom line here, though, is that Bill Belichick made the completely wrong decision. With Peyton Manning leading an offense, you must punt the ball on 4th and 2 with 2:08 when holding onto a six point lead. Had it even been a seven point lead, this may have been slightly more understandable because the Colts would have to decide between a two point conversion to win or kicking the extra point to head into overtime. Going for it in this situation, however, gift-wrapped the game for the Colts, a game the Patriots players worked hard to win. A game that was negated because of poor coaching from one of the best coaches in NFL history.

Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi, both former players, criticized their coach. For them to say things like "this was the worst coaching decision I have ever seen Belichick make" (Harrison) and "the decision to go for it would be enough to make my blood boil" (Bruschi) means that they had to 150% believe both in what they were saying and in Belichick's complete and total error.

In my mind, Bill Belichick is still one of the best coaches in football history, but this gaffe definitely mars his reputation. Before Sunday night's game, Belichick was infallible. He was inhuman. He may have lost important games, big games, playoff games, but never because of such a momentous decision on his part. You cannot let one decision decide a career, yet at the same time, you cannot overlook this one decision in judgement of Belichick, because this one decision takes him down that notch from infallibility to simply extraordinary.

It will be hard to get over this game because it most likely cost the Pats home field advantage in the playoffs, but at the same time, the season goes on. This is not Grady Little. This is not going to cost Belichick his job. This is the regular season. Yet at the same time, it is November, the Colts did, by virtue of their win, tie the Patriots for second in consecutive wins (18), the Colts are a rival. This is a game that I will never forget.

Quotes and Patriots picture from boston.com. The other two pictures are mine.

First off, how do you spell off-season? Off season? Off-season? For that matter, what about power play? Is it power play, power-play or powerplay?

Anyways, ADD moment of the day behind us, the World Series ended six days ago and the Red Sox have started making player/personnel moves. About a month ago, after the Red Sox gracefully left the playoffs (play-offs? play offs? playoffs?), I highlighted some key free agents/player moves for the Red Sox. Here's what I said, and here's what has happened so far:

Alex Gonzalez: The Red Sox can pick up Gonzalez's $6 million option for next year, try to re-sign him for less money or pursue a different option at shortstop either internally (Lowrie, Green) or externally.

I think it was a mistake to let Gonzalez leave Boston in the first place. Gonzalez is not anything great at the plate, but his defense more than makes up for his offensive deficiencies. Gonzalez is a sure-handed shortstop and performed well. Theo Epstein does not have a great history with shortstops, so with any new shortstop, there will be a lot of question marks entering the season. The Red Sox should attempt to sign Gonzalez for less money if at all possible, but should not get hung up on that avenue. Pick up his option if he refuses to take less money for more years.

The Red Sox did not pick up Gonzo's option, but they are trying to sign him for less money. Theo tried and failed to pick up J.J. Hardy from the Brewers, and I'm not sure Hardy would have been great in Boston anyways. He batted .229 last year, but the real interest in him comes from his performance the year before when he .283. He has potential as a 20+ home run hitter, but in a market like Boston where there is always pressure to win now, I'm not sure he would have thrived. I think the Red Sox should attempt to bring Gonzalez back on a $3-4 million per year, 2 or 3 year deal. It's cheap, provides some years, and brings back a player who has shown that he can perform well enough in Boston.

Tim Wakefield: Wakefield is scheduled to have back surgery this postseason. The Red Sox have infinite one-year options for him. Wakefield could also retire or join a different team.

I think the Red Sox need to wait it out on Wake. Unless his back problems completely disappear for at least a few months, they should not re-sign Wakefield. There are a few starting pitchers in the minor leagues (work on Bowden) and some quality pitchers the Red Sox could pursue trades for that are more dependable and less injury prone than Wakefield.

I think the Red Sox just made a mistake on Wakefield. They just signed him on for two more years. He will make $3.5 million this coming season, and $1.5 million next season, and he has incentives based on number of starts and innings pitched. Granted, with the knuckleball, it seems like Wakefield can pitch forever. However, he is turning 44 next season and there is no solid proof that his back will be able to handle another two seasons of baseball post-surgery. Perhaps if they had signed this deal in February or March after he had really worked out and gotten himself into season shape, I would not be so doubtful, but I just do not believe that Wakefield can endure the stress of the season at his age.

Jason Varitek: The Red Sox can pick up his $5 million team option, welcome him back under his $3 million player option, watch him go elsewhere or invite him back as a coach.

I love Jason Varitek and he has been my favorite player for years now. That said, he is in the midst of a steady decline. Catchers have shorter careers, and at 38 years old by the start of next season, there is no reason to believe that Varitek will improve or even maintain his status quo. He has been abysmal at throwing runners out at second and cannot hit consistently well anymore. Varitek is, however, fantastic with pitching staffs and fellow catchers. Victor Martinez has done nothing but talk about how helpful Varitek has been for him. The Red Sox should encourage him to retire and return to the Red Sox as either a pitching or catching coach for next season.

The Red Sox made a huge move yesterday regarding Varitek. They declined Varitek's player option and announced Victor Martinez will be the starting catcher in 2010. Varitek can still come back to the team on a $3 million player option, which, if he wants to play for the maximum amount of money, he should probably do. Varitek will not find that type of money anywhere else. The bottom line is that Varitek is an aging catcher who is not starting to decline, but rather is deep in the throes of the end-of-career drop-off. If Varitek wants a starting catching job, he will go elsewhere, but I don't know what team would pick him up as a starting catcher. It would be best for Varitek to just call it a career and come back as a coach. This is painful to watch, and though I love Varitek, he cannot throw out runners, hit, or catch the way he used to. It's time for him to say thanks for the memories and gracefully bow out.

Today should be an interesting day in Red Sox Nation. If Varitek does not make a decision today, he will make one in the next few days, so expect an announcement on him soon. The GM meetings are in full force, and Cashman is already making statements about how the Yankees are the "team of the decade" purely because they won in 2009. I guess the failures of 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and the missed playoffs in 2002 and 2008 mean nothing when you win the last World Series of the decade. Cashman also mentioned that history means nothing, it's all about the here and now, so I guess we won't be hearing anything about 27 World Series championships from the Yankees. Good to know.

Have a great week, all!

It should be well known here that once the off season comes around, all the energy I devote to my beloved Red Sox transfers to the Boston University Men's Ice Hockey team. We won the NCAA Division I Championship last year, along with 6 other championships we played for over the course of a 35-6-4 run. Along the way, we picked up quite a few bandwagon fans. Some of these people actually learned about the game of hockey and now enjoy the sport. Some, well, they'll just remain bandwagon-ers.

The Terriers have been mediocre this season. They are now 2-4, which is actually a decent record considering some of the teams they have played against (Notre Dame, Michigan, UMass Lowell). Already, many students are jumping ship, giving up on the season, making plans to travel abroad in the spring because they feel they will not be missing anything.

Meanwhile, there is a solid core of fans who are sticking by this team through their struggles and growing pains. Last night, Boston University traveled to Northeastern for their sixth game of the season. BU was without stars like Nick Bonino and David Warsofsky. The lines were strange and the power-play had lost two if its key leaders. Despite this, about 100-150 students gathered in the lower bowl of Matthew's Arena, clad in jerseys and standing for 60 minutes to support the players who were able to take the ice.

Northeastern fans were vicious. Before the game even started, they were throwing water bottles at BU fans' heads. A policeman had to stand guard by the BU section, and he had to take down names of BU victims for police reports against Northeastern fans. During the national anthem, the Northeastern fans started screaming and talking about halfway through. They made sure to frequently chant "F* BU." They encouraged people in the bathroom to use BU fans as urinals.

Through it all, though, the BU fans ignored the Northeastern behavior. They focused instead on the players on the ice, screaming Let's Go Terriers, Go BU, Rough 'em up, rough em up, go BU!

Towards the end of the game, when BU was down 1-0 with 40 shots on goal, a Northeastern viciously slammed a BU player, Alex Chiasson, head-first into the boards. That type of hit can easily break a player's neck. It's not only illegal, it's unsportsmanlike. The player was ejected from the game, and Northeastern fans were livid. They felt it was a bulls*t call. The resulting 5-minute penalty put BU on a 6 on 4 for the remainder of the game.

The BU section was well-located right where BU shot twice, so for the third period, BU fans were right next to the BU players. All 100-150 fans there were shouting as loudly as they could: "You can do this, boys. You got this. Play your game. You are doing so well. You got this!" Except for the last three minutes of the national championship game when BU was down 3-1, I had never seen such encouragement from BU fans, such positivity. Until the game was over, nobody mentioned the shot inefficiencies. These fans were truly there to root the Terriers on. They could care less about what Northeastern fans were saying, what the score was, how BU was playing. They just wanted the best out of the players. It was phenomenal.

I would love to say that's how BU fans are for every game. Certainly, the Dog Pound brings an unmatched, continuous intensity to every college hockey game they watch. Throughout this, though, there are a lot of "Why does this player suck?" or "What does he think he's doing out there?" or "Why did this player ever think it would be a good idea for him to play hockey?" When BU loses or plays poorly at Agganis, fans scream at the players as if they are failures or do not know anything about what they are doing.

It's terrible. I personally have never, ever booed a player on the team I cheer for. I hated David Wells, but when he played for the Red Sox, I always made sure to encourage him, coax him into a strikeout, say anything supportive. Similarly, I hate one of BU's players, Colby Cohen. I say a lot of bad things about him when BU is not playing. During game-time, however, I would never say anything against him. It doesn't help, especially in college hockey venues where players can actually hear what the crowd is saying and know when their fans are criticizing them. It is never a fan's place to boo their own player. There is a reason fans are in the stands and players are on the ice or fields. Though fans are not always 100% supportive at Agganis, the negativity did not travel to Matthew's last night, and that was great to see.

Rivalries are great for sports. They bring a higher competitive edge to games, and a lot of Northeastern fans last night were fun to combat in cheers in comments. One fan asked the BU fans which hat they were wearing last night, the National Championship hat or the Beanpot hat. It was a play on how highly BU fans esteem the Beanpot tournament, and if BU had lost the Beanpot last year, it would be interesting what people would say when they won the NCAA championship (most likely, it would have been "Well, a national championship is nice, but it's no Beanpot). Northeastern was a big fan of the "Sucks to BU" chant, which, while not very original, is still nothing unsportsmanlike. It's not like we don't say "BC sucks" at every hockey game, regardless of whether we are actually playing BC or not.

However, there were a large group of students there who did not even seem to realize Northeastern was playing. They were so occupied with telling BU fans how they were ******* and ******* and ***** that I'm not sure they saw much of the game. Quite a few were kicked out before the game started, and more were kicked out during the game. I cannot consider them actual fans of Northeastern. Sure, real fans will make fun of us, but they will also watch the game and remember to cheer for their team. There were a good amount of those fans there last night, but they were unfortunately overshadowed by the poor sportsmanship of some of their comrades.

Last night's game was very well played by BU. They turned out their best powerplay performance of the season despite the significant injuries that kept a good group of guys from playing. They owned puck possession, improved their face-offs, played their best defense of the season, shut down Northeastern for the most part offensively, and did not get overly physical when Northeastern started playing dirty. Northeastern also played decently. Their offense was not anything special, but their goaltending was fantastic and their defensive dedication paid off. In terms of opportunities, Northeastern certainly stole the win, but at the same time they were not undeserving of a W.

While it's unfortunate that a select group of Northeastern students clouded the experience for BU fans, I am so impressed by the BU fans' reactions and diligence. The BU fans were there for the team. They did not engage the Northeastern students the way the could have and represented the university very well last night. I really hope this behavior will carry over and continue at Agganis and the remaining road games, and I am very proud of BU for displaying what a true fan should be.

Go Terriers!