Just a few thoughts…

I gotta say, with each week passing I am starting to develop a serious man crush on Matt Cassel.

MVPedroia

It’s been said everywhere, but the guy is getting better every week. Not to mention he’s actually starting to play like a man. He’s got the confidence, he’s got the trust of his teammates, and he’s even got a little swagger. Watching the Pats game against the Dolphins he ran a QB sneak up the middle and gained about 5 yards. He gets up and starts headbutting and shouldering his way through the Dolphins defenders. I love that. He’s starting to show who he really is. Cassel is keeping myself, along with the rest of New England, from jumping off the Tobin Bridge. Actually, he’s saved the season from being a complete implosion. He actually looks good in the pocket too, I can’t believe it. He’s not freaking out anymore as if his house is on fire when there’s any pressure in his face.

But, it’s only a matter of time until the talk starts of the contracts he’ll be getting offered to him. He is a free agent after this season. I just hope he doesn’t take a big contract to go play in Detroit. The guy is good, but he needs some talent around him and I don’t want to see number sixteen taking shots every Sunday. But, hey good for him for taking the opportunity and running with it. Because let’s face it, before this year he had as many NFL starts as me.

Another guy you have to love is Jerod Mayo. We all knew he’d be good, but this? No, this is totally unexpected. He’s leading the team in tackles…as a rookie. And with the injury bug absolutely ripping New England up, Mayo’s gotten even more time. He basically looks like what Adalius Thomas should look like. Except twenty million dollars cheaper. Wait he’s hurt too. Awesome.  Not bitter at all…

The Dolphins basically look like my flag football team, The Lake Show. A lot of cheap gimmicky plays, a lot of screens, a ton of slants. Inconsistent quarterback, but deadly on short routes. And this isn’t a good thing. Case and point, The Lake Show was up and down all season before getting dropped in the first round of the playoffs. I think it’s safe to say I was a little heated, because, damn I want that champions t-shirt. It’s besides the point though. What I’m getting to is the ridiculous Wildcat offense. How does that crap work? A bunch of professional athletes getting paid millions of dollars can’t stop an offense that is more like something I’d run in a flag football game? Just drives me nuts the Pats get shredded by some gimmick offense. I mean they run it like eighty percent of the time out of this formation. I love how the quarterbacks line up wide. Seeing Favre calling for a pass over the middle… I honestly hope someone throws him the ball and he gets his bell rung by some 300 pound linebacker. I think that might put the Wildcat to rest for a while.  Just a thought

Can’t believe it took me this long to get to it, but yes my boy Dustin Pedroia is the Most Valuable Player in the American League. Love Pedroia, the guy is my size and he’s shredding pitchers left and right. Everyone doubted him from his first day in the majors, calling for his job. He’s a dirtdog, doing whatever it takes to win, and he just has this fiery passion for the game that can’t be taught. I think the single best thing about Pedroia is his attitude. I’m always hearing stories of him walking up to bigger and older players and just giving them crap saying how they can’t even compete with him. The little man with the confidence of a seven foot giant. Greatest story ever comes from an article I read in the Boston Herald last year.

It’s Denver in October, the day before Game 3 of the World Series, and Pedroia is walking into the players’ entrance at Coors Field for that day’s workout.
“I didn’t see the security guy,” Pedroia said. “It was like he was hiding behind a bush. He started yelling, ‘Hey, hey, hey.’
“I said, ‘What?’
“He said, ‘Get out of here.’
“I said, ‘Dude, I play for the Red Sox.’ He said, ‘Let me see your ID.’ I whip out my card. He goes, ‘Anybody can make these.’
“I go, ‘Hey, dude, you got to calm down. I’m the guy leading off the World Series, hitting bombs. Chill out.’ Everybody started laughing. I was so mad about it.”
Manager Terry Francona, who made Pedroia his regular cribbage partner all summer, tells a slightly different version of this story. He said that when Pedroia was asked to identify himself, he said, “Ask [expletive] Francis who I am. I’m the guy who hit a bomb off him.”

Yep, that’s my boy. MVPedroia. Rookie of the year-check. Gold Glove-check. Silver slugger-check. World Series ring-check. MVP-check. Petey’s got a lot of metal and jewels to flash now. And who would’ve thought the guy batting under the Mendoza line in April just last season would wind up MVP? Pedroia did, I guarantee it.

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