My collective impressions of the new controls.

Doug Flutie has come home.

Again.

16 years after departing New England and the NFL for the Canadian Football League, 42 year-old QB Doug Flutie has signed a one-year deal with the Patriots.

For a local boy like Flutie, this has got to be a great way to end your career.

But let’s all get in the way-back machine for a second:

Nov. 23, 1984 - Miami, Florida - “The Pass”

Dan Davis, then the voice of the BC Eagles:

"Flutie takes the snap, he drops straight back. He has some time, now he scrambles away from one hit. He uncorks a deep one to the end zone. Phelan is down there. Did he get it?"

"Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown, Boston College! He did it! He did it! He did it! Flutie did it ! ! ! ! !"

"No time on the clock. It is over, it is all over! Boston College has won the football game ! ! ! !"

The BC Eagles defeat the defending national champion Miami Hurricanes, 47-45.

For some UNKNOWN bizarre f@#$ed up reason I have these Spice Girls lyrics STUCK in my head. AND THEY WON'T LEAVE:

Yo I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want
So tell me what you want, what you really really want

why?

Why?

WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?????????

That absolute bomb that Manny Ramirez hit off Toronto’s Roy Halladay last night was the longest homerun I have ever seen hit out of Fenway Park during a game.

Fenway Park measures 310 feet down the left field line, and 379 feet in left center field. The light tower in left field is over 100 feet tall.

The ball cleared the light tower in left. Let me say that again. The ball cleared the more than 100 foot tall light tower in left. They said it ended up about 15 feet from the Mass Pike.

That shot easily landed more than 500 feet away.

From Boston.com :

No one ever will know how far the ball traveled because the Sox PR department does not estimate home run distances. In June 2001, also against the Blue Jays, Ramirez unloaded on a ball that clanged off the lights in the same left field light tower. That blast was estimated at 501 feet out of deference to Ted Williams's 502-foot shot in 1946 that landed 37 rows up in the bleachers.

"The deference might be out the window now," said manager Terry Francona.

"Farthest ball I've ever seen a human being hit," said Kevin Millar. "It was like the movie `The Natural.'"

230 years ago today, in 1775, Paul Revere devised his famous plan to warn when and how the British Redcoats were starting their march to seize weapons stockpiled by the rebel militia in Concord:

One if by land, Two if by sea

He would light one lantern in the steeple of Boston’s Old North Church if the British were coming by land, and two lanterns if the British were coming by sea.

So let’s see who knows their American history:

How many lanterns did Paul Revere hang in the steeple of the Old North Church??

Lost in last night's Red Sox-Yankees fracas:

Did you see that grab Doug Flutie made in the 2nd inning on a foul-ball down the first base line?

Nice catch.

Yesterday the Red Sox players from 2004 got their rings and once again, the World Series Championship flag flies over Fenway Park.


Yesterday was a great day to be a Red Sox fan anywhere.

Except for a couple of things:

(1) Who the hell is Terry Cashman? And why did we have to listen to his crappy "This is for Teddy Ballgame" ballad while the 2004 Championship flag was raised over the Green Monster?? I thought the notion of a "curse" and all that crap was behind us? Why serenade Yaz and Pesky and all those other former Sox players to this tune at the height of celebration for the history of the Boston Red Sox?

(2) Why have James Taylor and his rendition of "America the Beautiful" put everyone to sleep just as the party got started? Is Aerosmith on tour or something?

(3) How come all of the former Red Sox players out on the field didn't get announced? It would have taken 3 minutes to list off the names of all those guys in attendance. Ones I recognized include Jim Rice, Dom DiMaggio, Dwight Evans, Yaz, Fred Lynn, and Bruce Hurst, just to name a few. Come on, even Dennis "Oil Can" Boyd was out there!

(4) Where was Fisk?!?! You're telling me Carlton Fisk had something better to do yesterday??

Anyway, I'm glad they gave a shout-out to Dick "the Monster" Radatz, a star Red Sox relief pitcher from the 1960s who recently died after falling at his home.

Another great moment was when the Fenway Faithful gave a standing ovation to slumping ace-reliever Mariano Rivera when he was announced in the Yankee starting lineup.

Rivera even laughed.

He really is human after all.

After all that pomp and circumstance, the Sox then came out with guns blazing and whupped the visiting Stankees 8-1 for an opening day victory.

Yesterday was a great day to be a Red Sox fan anywhere.

Wow.

I saw something in yesterday's 7-3 Red Sox win that I never thought possible:

New York ace-closer Mariano Rivera getting booed at Yankee Stadium after giving up 4 runs and blowing his 4th straight Save opportunity against the Sox.

Even though New York won 2 of the 3 games I think the Sox come out of this series in better shape than the Yankees.

The news on Red Sox Manager Terry Francona is that he seems to be doing better, and he is now in a hospital in Boston.

"He's still undergoing some tests, we understand he has not had a heart attack," team president and chief executive Larry Lucchino said Wednesday night.

I've watched A-Rod's error from yesterday a hundred times...and it gets better every time I see it.

OK Red Sox fans, let's not freak out just yet. Yes, it's true; they've lost 2 straight to the Yankees. It's also true they are now 0-2 on the new season (2 games behind the Yankees in the AL East).

Remember - (1) There are 160 games left and (2) We won the WORLD SERIES last year!

*BREAKING NEWS*
April 6, 2005 - 12:02pm
NEW YORK -- Boston manager Terry Francona was rushed to a N.Y. hospital Wednesday, complaining of tightness in his chest.

Uh-oh.

The dam that is holding back all the irrational fears of Red Sox fans just started to crack...