Sports

On a beautiful fall night in Boston, we grabbed the last table at the Cask and Flagon and watched the game. It went just about exactly like this.

Hudson’s now admitting (original) that he was in an “altercation” Friday night at Q. He says it was just a little shoving match, but the number of people who’ve said there was a fight is getting up there.

Just a little more on the Hudson story before I hit the bars for tonight’s game: ESPN picked up the story. No additional info, though. However, a guy named Andrew just called into the Ted Nation show on WEEI, and claimed to have been present. He said that a Red Sox fan picked the fight with Hudson, and that Hudson was a complete gentleman up till that happened — signing autographs, and so on. “Zito tried to calm Hudson down.” He said someone (wasn’t clear, but I guess the club bouncers) kicked the Red Sox fan out and got Hudson off into another room to calm him down. ...

Boston Dirt Dogs has an email exclusive (will scroll off the front page after a day or so) on the Tim Hudson nightclub brawl. I’d be pretty pissed at Hudson if I were an Oakland fan. Edit: David Pinto notes that the story is anonymously sourced. He’s got a point, but Boston Sports Media mentions that Steve Burton of WBZ’s Sports Final also reported the story Sunday night. The San Francisco Chronicle article ran on Monday and was not sourced by Steve Burton. ...

Home run! Yeah, it’s way dorky to be celebrating a single win when there are two to go. But — this is joy; this is the sweet pleasure of being a Red Sox fan. This is why we put up with the suffering. This is victory in Red Sox Nation.

I can’t quote just part of this (original). Here. Have the whole thing. It’s going to happen someday. We’re going to win the world series someday. You know it. I know it. We all know it. And somewhere buried deep within all of us is the tiniest sliver of the joy that is that someday. And that joy is boundless. If it were a mountain it would stub it’s toe on Mount Everest. If it were an ocean, it would consider the Atlantic a puddle of rainwater. If it were a painting it would make the Sistine Chapel, the Mona Lisa, and all the works of all the greatest artists in all the great museums of the world look like the fingerpaints of a two year old. In its depth, breadth, and sheer beauty, the world has not seen its like. Perhaps that’s why it has been too long, because the world is terrified what might happen if that joy is released. Breaking the atom has nothing on this. ...

Glum and glummer (original).

Ed Gray, a sportswriter for the Boston Herald, came out today. “I’m out because I no longer, in good conscience, choose to ignore the unabashed homophobia that is so cavalierly tolerated within the world of sports. I’m out, because the silence of a closeted gay man only serves to give his implicit approval to bigotry. I’m out, because I refuse to continue hiding from the truth that an openly gay man has as much right as a straight man to play sports or report on them.” ...

NESN just tried to interview John Henry, owner of the Boston Red Sox, out in the middle of Fenway Park. They asked him how he felt, and all he could do was wave at the fans. God bless him and Larry and Theo for buying the Red Sox. And man, it feels good to watch the team getting up a good head of steam. It feels good to see ‘em back in the playoffs. ...

Earlier tonight, while I was sitting around enjoying an evening of daring adventure, we heard a huge cheer from across the Boston rooftops. Brant’s place is not far from Fenway, so it was pretty clear what was going on. About fifteen minutes later, there was another cheer — this one even bigger, and longer, and more passionate. It was a three run homer in the bottom of the ninth, and a homer in the tenth (original). The reporters are calling it the comeback victory of the year. I knew, from the sound and timbre of the crowd, that it must have been something of the sort. From the time I heard the second cheer to the time I got home and read the news, I had the warm glow of satisfaction that comes from knowing the Red Sox did something spectacular. And now, I’m just happy that the sounds of cheering from across the Boston rooftops told me what was going on. ...