Random Thoughts

Alot has been made about Manny Ramirez not joining his Red Sox teammates in Washington DC on their visit to the White House and the Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital. Before I give you my opinion on this, you should know that I am someone whom will criticize Manny when I feel that he deserves the criticism. For instance, if he fails to hustle or refuses to play when his manager asks him to, that is unacceptable to me and I will criticize him for it. However, there are many other things that Manny gets criticized for unjustly and his non-trip to Washington may be one of them.

I've heard people speculate that Manny may not like President Bush or not approve or the war in Iraq. First of all, none of us know if any of this is true or even what his motive for not going on the trip was. So how, then, can we criticize him. Furthermore, if any of those things are true, I still don't have a problem with him not attending as it was his right as an American citizen and a human being not to go. No big deal!

Secondly, the Journal's Jim Donaldson wrote a column today on him not at least going on the trip to visit our injured veterans at the hospital which, admittedly, is a tougher one to defend him on. Still, I cannot criticize Manny for this either and here's why: I, nor does anyone else, know exactly what Manny may or may not do for charitable organizations including whether or not he ever visits hospitals to comfort sick children or veterans. Secondly, to those who do criticize Manny, how much charitable work do YOU do? I do as much as I can but still don't feel as if it is enough. Secondly, GM Theo Epstein and P Julian Tavarez also didn't manke the trip. Where are the columns criticizing them? Or do we just accept their absence as Theo being Theo and Julian being Julian. Give me a break!

Believe me when I tell you, I am as patriotic about my country as you will find. It infuriates me to see an American citizen burn our flag in protest but I begridgingly accept the fact that it is his or her right to do so. That's what makes this country so great. So count me among those who will not criticize Manny for his absence in Washington. Without knowing all the facts behind his absence, what he does for charitable work that we don't know about and given his rights as an American citizen, I'll choose to criticize him for something else.

-There's a good chance that democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will be in attendance at the Brown/Penn men's basketball game Saturday night at 6pm at the Pizzatola Sports Center on the campus of Brown University. Obama will speak at a rally earlier in the day at Rhode Island College and may stick around to watch his brother-in-law Craig Robinson coach the Bears in their game against the Quakers.

-I've seen many collapses in sports before and must say that this URI collapse is about as bad as it gets. If they make it to the NCAA tournament, however, all will be forgotten.

-Most of the PC Friar fans I talk to say that they do want a change in head coach at season's end but genuinely feel bad that things haven't worked out for the likeable Tim Welsh here.

-Get me through March Madness before I can get excited about the upcoming baseball season.

-Don't look now, but the Boston Bruins are only 6 points out of having the best record in the NHL's Eastern Conference. Something real good could be "Bruin" up in Boston!

-I'd be willing to bet alot on a Celtics/Pistons Eastern Conference Finals.

-If the Celts can add Cassell to the roster like they did PJ Brown, it will give them added depth to make a stong run at a 17th NBA title.

-With that said, Celtics fans have to be thrilled with the performance of Rajon Rondo this year at the point.

-If I'm Roger Clemens, I'm not sleeping very well at night these days.

-Ditto for Bill Bellichick until this damn Spygate II thing gets resolved.

-Speaking of that, will Matt Walsh please either hand over the evidence to the league or go away? This is getting to be real tedious.

-I never thought I'd live to see the day where Syracuse football was the doormat of the Big East conference and Syracuse men's basketball could miss the NCAA tournament 2 years in a row but that's what I'm looking at right now!

-Assante Samuel to the Philadelphia Eagles? I guess it's better than Samuel to the Jets.

-Patriots fans had to think that Tedy Bruschi would be back. I mean, really, could you picture him in any other uniform?

-WR/ST Kelly Washington has agreed to return to New England. Can he fill a hole in the WR corps?

-The Red Sox beat BC and Northeastern by a combined score of 39-0 in two 7-inning games yesterday. What's the matter, the Cranston Little League team was unavailable for action?

-They say 2-4 inches of snow are expected here in Providence overnight. I don't know about you, Tiger, but I'm getting the itch to play a little golf. Enough with the white stuff already!

-Speaking of Tiger, he is in a league of his own. My apologies to the Golden Bear but Tiger is the best golfer of all-time.