Now rainbows in Sochi: Why Russian homophobic laws might effect American participation in the game ALSO why a boycott is not the right way to go

 The Winter Olympics: a spectacular display of speed, breakneck reactions and balance all wound up into a competition so tightly orchestrated that is can only be held every 4 years. But each and every time a competition of this magnitude IS held, there is one fact that, good or bad that affects the nature of the games. 

There is nothing like the reaction and power that the inanimate being of sport can induce. It is a pastime but in truth, it is so much more than that. Sports drive us to spend hundreds of dollars to go watch a football game while we scream as loud as we possibly can. At times they can brainwash us and that can be fine, but at others we must break away from the glory of the goals, points and simple victories and peer behind the curtain. And there is no shortage of stuff to look at in Sochi 2014. 

Approximately 2 months ago, the Russian Parliament in coalition with president: Vladamir Putin passed a series of laws deeming "pro-gay" actions un-lawful. When abiding by these laws, a Russian Citizen may be jailed for any sort of acknowledgement of homosexuality such as displaying a rainbow flag or even holding hands with a member of your same gender. According to Putin, the laws have been put in place to protect a child's innocence but what firmly wrecks that insistence is the fact that Russian police have been continuously known to harass, harm as well as turn a cold shoulder to hate crimes in the streets of their cities. Such atrocities undoubtedly do not serve well for a child's "innocence." 

Since these laws were put into effect, several protests have already been staged but time may be running out. In just about 6 months’ time, the athletes will flock to Sochi Russia to compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics. But as we have learned time and time again no athlete is exempt from the law no matter how unjust it is. That means that for each and every openly gay Winter Olympian they might likely be subjected to the same hate, the same brutality and the same danger of every non closeted gay Russian today. These Olympians are in danger and they need to be protected. 

But there are many different ways to protect these athletes but the one that has been thrown around most commonly may not be the right way to go.

In 1980, the United States boycotted the Moscow Olympics making a huge splash as well as history. It was the first time the US had not participated in a modern Olympic games.  But there was a huge catch then and even more so now. Each and every time the Olympics roll around, nearly 500 Olympians make the trip from the US alone. A 2014 boycott as a result of the homophobia would mean no Olympics for each of those 500 Americans. I can tell you this they would not be happy if the US took their Olympics away. 

So if boycotts are not the way to go, what is? 

You do the opposite of boycotting. You go to the games and pay no attention to these laws that deprive Russia's gay population of some of their simplest rights. You go to the games and you don a rainbow pin. When a reporter asks a question about the laws you don't answer the question "Oh I'm just here to play [insert sport]". No, you take to the mic and say "These laws are unfair." 

The Sochi Olympics have the possibility of being a platform, a platform where the American support of global homosexuality can be expressed or crushed into a corner. Boycotting the games would be doing just what the Russian's hope to do, silencing a person and a nation of athlete’s advocacy and rights. But going to the games and firmly rebelling would be doing what needs to be done. Showing that like the abolitionists in the time of slavery, like Meip Gies did when hiding Ann Frank we have a voice and that the human race will not tolerate oppression.

                                                                             

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This is how we do it: Boston College Eagles kick off 2013 season with 24-21 win over Villanova

Steve Addazo set 2 goals for his team to start the year. 

One of them was to become Bowl eligible. The other, was to do exactly what they did today...win game 1 of the season. 

Fact is, the football team that lights up the fields of Boston College has been dormant over the past few years as since their last Bowl win, a victory in the 2007 Champs Sports Bowl, their yearly win totals have steadily decreased dropping from 11, to 9, to 8, to 7, down to 4 and finally to an abysmal 2 win. They lost their streak of 12 straight years with a Bowl game at the end with a 4th place finish in 2011 and haven't been to the postseason since.  

Rookie: Chase Rettig is entering his final season with the team and despite throwing for 6,253 yards in his first 3 years with the Eagles he has won just 13 games while losing 23. Those 23 losses are certainly not Rettig's fault but there is blame to go around. Each and every year the Eagles insist that they are getting better but in the end, the result of bad scouting made by men already long ago fired comes back to bit them in the behind. 

Don't get me wrong, the Eagles WILL get better, that is just how college football works but when you look at the team that they have assembled this year, should they get their act together amidst this 10 game NCAA season they really do have the possibility of being better than just better. This 2013 team COULD be great. 

It has been a long time since the Eagles have been up there with Texas A&M or well any of the big time college football power houses but they took the first step towards climbing back up to that lofty perch with a win today. 

Riding the brand new presence of newly instated coach: Steve Addazo, the duo of  Rettig and fellow senior: Alex Amidon combined for 146 yards through the air with a touchdown and an average gain per pass attempt of 11.2 yards. Amidon had a career night hauling his most receptions (13) since joining the team in 2010 and his largest yardage night in almost a full calendar year. As for Rettig, he would toss for an additional 139 yards with 23 completions on just 30 attempts. 

Rettig also spearheaded a second half rally for the Eagles as after heading into the break, they trailed by a touchdown. Rettig would make it work though as he quickly tied the game in the 3rd quarter by hurling a 49 yarder right into the arms of Amidon.  Upon a string of dominant defense the Eagles got it back to Rettig who eventually led the Eagles into a position where once the ball was handed off to running back: Andre Williams BC had a 21-14 lead. (Williams finished the night with 114 yards rushing). 

The Eagles would be faced with a fun final few minutes as they would add an exclamation point to fun afternoon at Alumni Stadium by clobbering Villanova QB: John Robertson and forcing the game sealing fumble. One drive later and with the Wildcats driving, they picked off a bad pass over the middle of the field and soon assembled in the welcome formation that is the QB kneel. 

It really is only a tiny sample but the Eagles won their first opener since 2010 today and that can only mean good things. 

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A whole new ball game- 3 stories about how the progressing nature of the NFL will be widely evident in 2013: The Go Titletown NFL Preview - 2013

The Preseason has come and gone, Aaron Hernandez has been 
arrested and the Tim Tebow saga has left New York only to be replaced by a controversy of a whole new sort. Joe Flacco remains one of the few holdovers on the Super Bowl champion Ravans while the 49ers and Seahawks have only gotten better and through all this the annual "oh the Bills will be better this year," cry has still surfaced only to be replaced by the stunning slap in the face that came as Buffalo's prime running-back: CJ Wilson went down with a knee injury.

For 5 hours we were convinced that Tom Brady had torn his ACL all before he came back in preseason game #2 and threw just one in-completion. Coaches have changed teams, players have come and gone but still the league that is the NFL continues to grow. It orchestrates 32 teams of stunning diversity and postseason probabilities all while spawning millions of dollars for countless industries outside its own. Every year these changes happen: a player suspended, a coach retires, injuries are suffered while surprise stories emerge yet still even in a pattern so firmly sustained year in and year out, we keep coming back.

So without further ado, here is your 2013 NFL preview where Go Titletown looks at the top stories, probabilities and predictions of the season that will begin in almost 1 week.

Story One: The year of the running QB (Who can throw) - Why Russel Wilson, Colin Kaepernick and Robert Griffin III will dominant as Sophomore NFL'ers

 We saw what quarterback Tim Tebow was CAPABLE of in 2011 but then we saw who he actually was in 2012 and in this 2013 preseason. Let’s face it, the NFL is not like the NCAA where the running QB will dominate. No, NFL linebackers and offensive linemen are just way to large to allow a slightly mobile guy like Tebow to rip them apart like he did in college. The style of game Tebow tried to play was a hard one and Tim just did not have the power to make it work.
But while Tim Tebow failed in forcing things to go his way, that does not mean that no one else can.

Last season the NFL was quickly overrun by a whole host of premium Tebow esque players as the trio of Russel Wilson, Colin Kaepernick and Robert Griffin III or RG3 took us all by suprise.

Wilson, a 5 foot 11, 206 pound kid out of Wisconsin was dominant right from day one, hurling 4 TD passes in his first 3 games. He was accurate with the football and would end the season with only 10 interceptions to his name...just 2 more than Tom Brady. Wilson had a year better than almost any Seattle quarterback that had come before him yet in a crown jewel to his Pro Bowl season, Wilson dominated our own New England Patriots. Call it good offence or bad defense

but whatever label you lay upon that Week 6 meeting between Seattle and New England was the moment that we all really began to understand what this kid was made of.

Wilson would be credited with 3 touchdowns in that game. He threw no interceptions and singled out a weak Patriots deep pass defense to bring Seattle to a strong record of 4-2. He threw for 293 yards in a 24-23 win.

As it stood, the fact that New England had been beaten by this tiny little rookie was hard enough. It was only made rougher when, 7 weeks later they found themselves in an almost identical situation handed to them by an almost identically talented quarterback in Colin Kaepernick.

Amidst a cold rainy December night, Kaepernick- a 25 year old Nevada native- dominated the Patriots for the majority of his offensive night. Colin hurled 4 touchdown passes to compliment a 221 yard night. Much like Wilson, Kaepernick finally proved what he was fully capable of by

dominating one of the best teams in football. So we have Kaepernick, we have Wilson but when you think about it one man in particular had a season possibly far greater than either of them. RGIII.

In an injury that made you cringe and want to go and cry in a corner, the season of poor Griffin was cut short when his knee literally quit on him. He wrenched it backwards and fell to the ground writhing in pain...but not before he put up a strong rookie of the year campaign. Griffin played 15 games in 2012 hurling 20 touchdowns and just 5 interceptions. Emphasis on FIVE! Griffin chucked for 3,200 yards through the air while rushing for 815 yards on just 120 attempts.

When you look at these 3 Quarterbacks they all have one thing in common: the ability to run the football as well as throw it and with all of them fielding far more experienced passing targets this year, the 2013 prosperity of Colin Kaepernick, Russle Wilson and Robert Griffin III  is almost inevitable.

Quarterback Name	Russle Wilson	Colin Kaepernick	Robert Griffin III
TD Passes	26	10	20
Passing Yards	3,118	1,814	3,200
Rushing Yards	489	415	815

Note: Robert Griffin III played just 15 games while Kapernick played only 7 regular season games.

Story 2: When Dreams are Annually Crushed - looking into the sting of the preseason cuts

I turn to the scout and reluctantly start following him. My breath starts to shorten and my chest feels like a microwave in a washing machine, the only relief being if my heart tears out of my chest and spills on to the floor. I mean, it’s hard to control my emotions. Very hard. I notice another player in the same predicament I’m in. That player became my shield to block out everything in my mind, because in that instance my focus shifted directly towards him. He was a rookie who I had a few conversations with. We crossed paths often. I tap him on the shoulder.

“Keep your head up,’’ I said. “You will be okay.”

He gives me a nod but doesn't look me in the face. I don’t blame him. As football players we are taught at a very young age not to show pain or emotion. We are engineered not to show tears; the liquid that comes down our faces represents being less of a man. I hold back any emotion, just as my teammate walking along side of me does. We finally arrive to the main office, walking in what seemed to be slow-motion. The scout tells us to grab a seat. ~ Austin Lane: via MMQB article 

Cruel. That seems to be a word that fits many players feelings when the month of August rolls around. Cruel. 

For so many years, these now 20 year old athletes have done everything that they could. By this time of year they have logged hours in gym's chugging gallons of Gatorade and fighting the urge to vomit from overexertion all with one goal: to make the team. 

These kids are no Tom Brady's, no Rob Gronkowski or Adrian Peterson like players. These are 5th or 6th round picks like Austin Lane and Ras I Dowling of the Patriots. These are the Tim Tebows of the world fighting to fulfill their dreams or fighting the reality that they know is closing in on them. It is not easy to be cut. 

Each and every year the season rolls around. Towards the beginning of August, each of the NFL's 32 teams assembles a roster comprised of 90 players. For many of these kids, August 1st is a day on wonder and glee, they have signed an NFL contract. But nevertheless, as little as 30 days later, the memories of that happy day are gone only replaced by far harsher ones. At the beginning of camp, teams are allowed to have 90 players on their roster but over the course of mini-camp and preseason respectively, they must drop their roster down to just 53 players meaning that each year on each team, 37 players suffer similar feeling to those described by Mr. Lane.

Yet for Austin Lane and the hundreds of others that annually suffer from their same predicament, the pain doesn't end the moment they step out of the football stadium. 

“What am I going to do now?”

“I don’t even have a college degree yet.”

“What am I going to tell my family and friends?”

“Should I just go out on a bender this weekend?“

“Do I really want to be seen in public?”

“Should I just drive for a few hours away from this city?”

“I didn’t even get to say goodbye to everyone.”

“Am I ever going to play this game again?”
“I let everyone down.”

Are all questions that are asked by Lane and all questions that sting each and every man who is ever released by an NFL football team. But in the situation suffered by Austin Lane, there still was hope. 

"In a way, I thanked him." Lane said, and he had reason to. In the world of NFL cut-down day being dropped a few days earlyer than the actually deadline does still give you a chance to win a job with any of the 31 other teams who may want you. Now for Lane that did happen as he still had a week and a half to go and was eventually signed my the rebuilding Chiefs franchise. Unfortunately no matter your skill some of the NFL's coaches are not as considerate when thinking about dropping a player. For instance on Saturday August 31st, the New England Patriots dropped 11 players, the biggest name included among them being Tim Tebow. 

As it stands while Tom Brady and Adrian Peterson may be more skilled, it takes a completely different kind of skill to endure the pain of being cut. 

"I learned very early on in my career at Florida to worry about what I can control and the things that I can't control I'm not going to spend time worrying about," Tebow said Monday, "but I can control my attitude, my focus every single day and those are the things that I'm going to worry about." And that is just how you have to be. 

Note the quotes of Austin Lane were drawn from The MMQB's 

What It’s Like to Get Whacked

NFL Postseason Picks

Wild Card Week (AFC)

Texans def Bengals 

Colts def Ravens 

Wild Card Week (NFC)

Packers def Saints

Seahawks def Giants

Divisional Round (AFC)

Patriots def Ravens

Broncos def Bengals

Divisional Round (NFC)

49ers def Packers

Seahawks def Falcons

Conference Championships (AFC)                                    

Patriots def Broncos

Conference Championships (NFC)

49'ers def Seahawks

Superbowl XLVIII

Patriots def 49'ers             

Story 3: Why New England - What they will need to do to win their 4th Superbowl of the Brady era

When you look at our Patriots, one thing separates them and the 49'ers. With the roster they had last season, New England could easily down the 49'ers with their eyes closed. Yet with Welker and Hernandez gone only to be replaced by Danny Amendola and a host of rookie receivers the Patriots while better than many expected them to be, are still not the team that had them one miracle short of winning the 2011 Super Bowl. 

For almost his entire career now, Rob Gronkowski has struggled with injuries  as his back and arms don't seem to want to stay intact. As for Amendola well in his few years in the NFL almost everything has gone wrong for him. Hips, shoulders, knees, they all have given out on the poor wide out and each and every time those respective injuries have hurt his team. 

Amendola will likely be Tom Brady's top target and when you think about it, if the two's timing is knocked off by a 4 week break for Amendola, there might not be enough season left to get it back. 

But nevertheless, there is hope for New England after all...and it doesn't even start in their own locker room. The 2013 NFL in general is a weaker league than that of 2012. As said earlier, Joe Flacco remains the only major holdover from last year’s Super Bowl as deep threat Anquan Bouldin has gone to San Fransisco. Denver's offensive line has gone AWOL and no matter how good Kaepernick is he still has only started 10 games in the NFL...there is ALWAYS time to flop. 

Looking right there, that firmly lists almost all of New England threats as EQUAL opponents. So what brings the over the edge? One word: Brady. 

In a conference final game with say Denver, I would give Brady and the Pats the edge solely out of history. To win championships, a football team needs proven leaders and if I had to pick between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning to lead my team to victory I would without a doubt go with Brady.


Tom has won 3 titles, Peyton has won 1. Tom Brady has gone one and done just twice in his career. Peyton as done just that 5 times . Tom Brady is a proven leader, with proven history, Peyton Manning is not a leader with a history devoid of ultimate success and well, Colin Kaepernick has no history. 

In a year where "bad” teams will likely make big splashes, we look to a guy who has always been great to deliver the Super Bowl victory. 

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I'm still here!!!: David Ortiz serving as a non factor in Red Sox recent victories

When David Ortiz struck out on July 27th against the Orioles, he lost mind, massacring a dugout phone before racing back out onto the field as he tried to get at home plate umpire: Brian O-Nora.

Almost exactly 1 month later when that same David Ortiz struck out on August 29th, he didn't break anything. He didn't massacre any clubhouse equipment nor did he race out and try to rip the umpire who had called him out to shreds. When David Ortiz struck out amidst a recent August 29th loss, he lowered his head, sliding the bat further into his hand and walking out of the batter's box.

But while Papi didn't go insane, the fans watching his strikeout might have wanted to. In that situation, the Sox were down 3-2 in the bottom of the 8th inning but had the tying run on 3rd base the only problem was after Ortiz struck out there were 3 outs in the inning and Boston's rally was done.

“Even Papi struggles,” Ortiz said. “I’ll be back.”

"I'll be back" Ortiz said, but when you think about it, in order to be "back", you have to have gone first...and David Ortiz has been gone for a long time. Ortiz has not notched a hit in 22 straight at bats and 6 starts. What’s worse is that in that time, he had just 1 walk and 1 sac fly. Long story short, Ortiz has not been the name behind Boston's recent 6 and 3 run and that is a problem.  

"He doesn't feel comfortable." ESPN Boston writer Joe McDonald wrote earlier today. 

“Not good,” Ortiz said. “But I’ll be all right. I’m just missing some pitches, but I’ll be fine. I’ll be back.” 

This recent slide has dropped Ortiz's once impenetrable .333 average of a couple weeks ago to just .310 while further punishing his OBP by dropping it almost 22 percentage points. But Ortiz and the Red Sox are not new commers to the confusing slide. Just a few weeks ago, we were talking about Mike Napoli.

For almost an entire month, the Sox 1st basemen had struggled to do anything at the plate strikeing out an astronomical 18 times in his first 12 games of August. By August 14th's game against the Blue Jays many were calling for his head but in the blink of an eye everything change. With 2 outs in the ninth inning, Napoli got under a bad fastball over the middle of the plate driving the ball high and deep to right field, all as he represented the tying run in a game dominated by the Jays. That ball left the yard and for the first time in so many games of strikeouts and failure, Mike Napoli was the hero. 

In the 7 games since that homer, Mike has complied 7 hits 2 of which were additional home runs. He has also doubled once and officially proved that yes, one swing can easily end even the worst of all slumps. So by that logic, all that Papi needs is a home run. That won’t be hard as we all know that even now, David Ortiz is a far superior slugger than Mike Napoli. 

“Sometimes,” he said. “Now, when I go 11-for-11, like I did before, you better come and ask me questions too.” Ortiz said. 

The streak he was speaking of in that quote was a dominant 15 game hitting streak to kick off the season that meant by the end of it he led all of baseball with a batting average of .500. 

Baseball is a stop and go sport. One second you are rolling strong...a singles, doubles or home run machine all before in the blink of an eye it is all gone. It happens to the best and the worst of them all but in the end, all of these streaks, good or bad, come to a close. 

One can only hope that Ortiz's ends sooner rather than later. 

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Tim Tebow finally connects in preseason: How Gronkowski's injury will effect whether or not Tebow makes the team

My father and I sat sunk into our couch. 

The New York Giants were leading 20 to 10 and things were not looking good for the Patriots. Tim Tebow was QB, the Patriot needed to get out of their own territory and as crazy as it was, Tebow was not the guy who looked like he could do that. 

I sighed making jokes at Tebow's experience as he and his Patriots fell to an abysmal 3rd and 10 on their own 48 yard line. 

Tebow back to throw, receivers running down field as the Giants scrambled to cover their assignments. "Oh no, WAIT oh YES!!" 

As Tebow's pocket protection assembled firmly around him, wide receiver Quentin Sims called for the pass as he ran across the 1st down marker and deep into Giants territory. Tebow stepped back whipping his arm forward and delivering what was indisputably his best pass of the preseason. Sims leaped into the air snagging the ball between his hands and breaking free from a Giants tackler that was wrapped around his ankle. Upon dodging the safety, Sims was off to the races marching past the 20, the 10 and into the end-zone. 

Tebow pumped his fist yelling in delight as fellow QB Ryan Mallett sprinted down the sideline both hands held high in the air mouth falling open. For the first time Since January 21st 2012 Tim Tebow had THREW a touchdown pass. Tebow would add another touchdown pass before all was said and done drawing equal reactions from his teammates and fans as was prevalent with the 1st touchdown. 

"He’s my teammate. Quentin [Sims] made a great catch and then made a great run. Tim, he had the boo birds out the play before and then he comes back and throws a touchdown. It just shows what kind of player he is, his character. It was a great play and a great throw overall." Mallet said when asked about his excitement over Tebow's first TD pass.

 "There’re a lot of guys that deserve to be on this team. Everybody has been working hard." He then went on to say before once again eluding to the fact that he really was thrilled when Tebow hurled those TD passes. "We're a pretty close-knit team all the way around. That’s what makes our team great to be on, great to be a part of, is how close we are. We’re never not cheering for our teammates. That doesn't make much sense to us."

But the praise for Tim Tebow did not stop with just Ryan Malett.

“Me and Tim, we pretty much all training camp have been working together." Quinten Sims said after already speaking of the technicalities of both his hook ups with Tim Tebow.  "I’ve made plays for him and he makes good throws for me, so we got good chemistry and he knows to look for me.” 

There is no doubt about it, Tim Tebow is a man whom his teammates love. He is a team player and from what we have read from the press conferences and quotes of Tebow he never takes anything for granted, is always looking to get better all while never pinning HIS  mistakes on any of his teammates. When he was in Denver running the ball and winning games while it was fun to make fun of him, he was also fun to root for. So as it stands that intangible fact of Tebow's game may be one of his biggest tools that may be used in surviving the brutal roster cuts set to commence on Saturday.

“Anyone who’s met him, he’s a very special young man. I’m rooting for him big-time. He’s been a real joy to have around here. I see why he has such a strong national following. He’s just a great, great young man, We’re also privileged to have Tom Brady and Ryan Mallett. I like our position. If you look around the league . . . I just give thanks for the position we’re in.”  Bob Kraft said a few weeks ago when asked about Tim Tebow. 

OK, so we know this now, and it was proven once again last night. Bob Kraft roots for Tebow, and the entire Patriots roster roots for Tebow but from what we have learned over the past few years, Bill Belichick will firmly make the decision that he believes will better his football team not his locker room. He will not play favorites.  

So what does Tim Tebow have working for him?

NFL Network columnist: Bert Breer came on 98.5 The Sports Hub to explain his thoughts on the Tebow situation. 

"Im still on the fence. If I look at it logically I know they're gonna keep Gronk on the 53. They already have a quarterback in Ryan Mallett so there's another roster spot taken away from Tebow. It's a number's game with Tebow and I think that's gonna kill him." He said. 

Breer has a point. With Rob Gronkowski currently rehabbing from an off-season back surgery, the Patriots must have their roster cut down from 75 to 53 by late Saturday afternoon. Now with Gronkowski they have two options. As it stands New England's Pro Bowl tight end could be back as early as week 4  or possibly week 6. By putting Gronk on the 53 man roster the Patriots would be allowed to carry him and play in whenever they feel ready. But there is a problem there. Putting Gronkowski on the 53 man roster would mean that until he was healthy they would in essence have one 52 players that could actually PLAY in a game. So with that in mind, the other option comes into play. The Patriots could put Gronk on a list named the PUP list or the Physically Unable to Play list. This would allow them to not count Gronkowski against their 53 man roster but it would also come with a price. 

While listed on the PUP list, Gronkowki would not be ALLOWED to play until week 7. This would keep him out of 7 games against the Bill, Jets, Bucks, Falcons, Bengals, and Saints . Meaning that even if he was able to play by week 4 against the Falcons (a game the Patriots could use him in) he would not be able to play for 3 more weeks until the week after their week six meeting with the Saints. 

When looking at these two options both have their perks but as it stands the Patriots seem to be leaning towards not putting Gronk on the PUP list. This means that regardless of Tebow's 91 yards passing day he might still not make the team. 

But if you are a Tebow fan you still can hope. 

“I’m just taking it one day at a time and be able to enjoy playing this game tonight and come in here ready to work out tomorrow.” Tebow said after last night's game

                                                             

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Mighty Mike: Mike Carp rips game winning single in 8th inning - Red Sox drop Orioles 4-3

For 6 innings last night, it seemed that John Lackey was destined to be handed another difficult truth that he had become all to acquainted with of late. He hurls a very strong game, keeps his pitch count down, earn runs hovering around 3, but still the offence working for him cannot even break 1 run and when the night ends, he has no victory credited to his name.

For 6 innings it looked like that was the case but as has also been true in this 2013 season the Boston Red Sox were not so contempt at letting this one slip through their fingers.

As it stood, Lackey came to the mound at the end of the night having only allowed 3 runs on 7 hits. He had thrown just 92 pitches in over 7 innings of play but despite all this, he spent the majority of the night loosing 3-1. Why? Because of  mighty man named Chris Davis. With 47 home runs on the year, when  Davis saw Lackey leave a first pitch strike over the middle of the plate, the MLB's strongest hitter made him pay by belting a long ball over the monster to give Baltimore a dominant 3-1 lead.

But the deficit would soon evaporate as after Stephan Drew led off the 7th inning with a slicing double, Dustin Pedroia came to bat just a few batters later with Drew on 2nd and Jacoby Ellsbury on third. It was the 7th inning, Lackey had pitched so well but instead of leading the game like he should have, the Red Sox were down by 2 with just 2 and a 3rd at bats left in the game. Boston's pitcher watched intently from the bench. But even in this situation that could likely produce yet another loss or at best a no decision for Lackey, John was not fixating on statistics.

"I would like to have more wins than I have right now, but that's not the goal," said Lackey, who is 8-11 with a 3.19 ERA. "The goal is for the team to win games."

It seems strange but actually it is an obvious pattern. According to HIS win loss record, John Lackey is 8-11 with 5 no decisions on the year. If you subtract those no decisions and simply look at the record of the RED SOX in games that Lackey has started, Boston is 11-13. That can only mean that the large majority of those no decisions that turned into wins for the Sox went down as comebacks...which is exactly what happened last night. 

On the first pitch he saw in that crucial 2 out 7th inning at bat, Dustin Pedroia lined a screaming single into left field. Drew scored easily from third and after Jacoby Ellsbury had stolen second base he would come around from second to tie the game at 3. The comeback was in full swing. 

Amidst a double switch to start the inning and a pitching change after out one, the Sox would drop the Orioles in order come inning number 8 meaning that they were all fully charged to take on their second to last at bat of the game. 

Now things would not immediately get off to a good start as back to back strikeouts made it so that Jarrod Saltilamaccia came to bat in the 8th he was the one man standing between the Orioles and the 9th inning. But Salty didn't care. After a spectacular at bat that culminated with Saltilamaccia's working a full count, he got all of an 89 mile per hour cutter driving it high and far to left field. 

Red Sox fans jumped to the edge of their seats and NESN play by play announcer: Don Orsillo screamed the question all of Red Sox nation was asking at that point in time. "Dose it have enough?" 

At first it seemed like it didn't have enough but as the ball continued to rise one could picture that the next words out of the mouth of the voice of the Red Sox on NESN would be something along the lines of "GONE!" But then, at the lest second, the ball dropped just enough so that it firmly collided with a the Green Monster mere feet from its top. So here we were, the game was still tied and Jarrod Saltilamaccia had one more double in a season that had already yielded 34 for him. Salty is no sprinter so it seemed that in some way shape or form that Baltimore would eventually get out of the 8th with no damage done to the scoreboard. 

But after Tommy Hunter intentionally walked Stephan Drew, the Red Sox dugout was faced with a tough decision. The Red Sox had to get a hit here but with rookie Xander Bogarts set to come to bat, they cold not afford to allow nerves to come into play. According to Bogarts, manager John Farrell told him that if Drew walked that he would be pinch hit for. 

"I appreciated that he gave me a heads-up," Bogaerts said.

Fans booed as Bogarts walked out of the on deck circle only to be replaced by veteran: Mike Carp, but Xander was corgil. 

"Good luck." He supposedly said while shaking Carp's hand. Weather he needed Bogarts' wishing it or not, luck was on Carp's side as he soon weakly lined an RBI single over the dive of 3rd basemen Manny Muchado. 

"It's how we work as a team." Carp said. 

The Red Sox would go on to retire the Orioles in order in the top of the 9th inning, winning their 4th straight game, their 3rd straight series and putting them in a position to earn their first sweep in months.  

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Aaron Hernandez: Superstar to Inmate - an interpretation of Rolling Stone's recent article: Gangster in the Huddle

"U saw who I’m with... Nfl... just so u know" a 27 year old semi pro football player said late onthe night of June 16th. Just a few hours later, the man who sent that message lay dead, 5 bullets firmly lodged throughout his body and blood pooling outside his 5 foot 11 inch frame. 

Less than a mile away, a football player by the name of Aaron Hernandez strutted into his sleeping home with two men at his side...Ernest Wallace and Carlos Ortiz. They all had guns in their hands. 

Over the next few weeks, the man who had been shot's name was released. He was Odin Lloyd, dating partner of the sister of Aaron Hernandez's fiancé. He had been friends with Hernandez prior to his death but as was revealed in a court reading, their relationship quickly fell apart, culminating in that moment in an industrial park when Lloyd was ordered to get on his knees and put his hands behind his head causing a fight that ended with Hernandez shooting him execution style.  

Over the next few weeks everything about what happened leading up to when Aaron Hernandez changed his legacy from one of luster and glory to one of a murderer was closely speculated and profiled both falsely and correctly. He was reviled to be a marijuana addict, a gangster, a hot head and above all, a gun toting, trigger happy phsycopath. He was speculated to have shot a Miami man in the face but that was not confirmed. 

He was linked to a Boston double murder in 2011 and also charged with the assault of a bartender in 2007. That fight was broken up by guess who, Tim Tebow. 

But after almost a month of turmoil all the chaos seemed to die down. Hernandez was in jail, he sent a letter out but that was nothing new. "I'm innocent," he said, no one agreed with him. The illegal gun possession was confirmed time and time again but by the time we reached this month of August the 2013 preseason was upon us and with Hernandez behind bars, his name was all but forgotten…until now. 

Early this morning, PAUL SOLOTAROFF AND RON BORGES released a mega 7,000 word, 15 page article revealing in depth details that chilled you to the bone and succeeded at making our jaws drop at information we already had been informed of. 

It began with one of the strongest accounts of the moment that sparked the murder of a man who had previously given a glowing review of Hernandez to his sister. 

“S**t was crazy,” Lloyd had said also eluding to him and Hernandez' "Smoking that super-duper". 

Long story short Hernandez and Lloyd were clubbing partners riding into Boston every night for one sleepless weekend. But on Sunday night/Monday morning, their interactions would transform from ones of camaraderie and minor substance abuse to ones of anger and violence. According to one of Lloyd's associates, he and Hernandez had been in the top floor of a top Boston club. Lloyd had seen a pair of family members from his perch on a balcony and gone downstairs to see them. Somehow, Hernandez overheard the conversation below. 

After hugging and trading pleasantries, one of the men, a tall man with dreadlocks began to point at Hernandez. 

“I don’t like that n*****, he’s one of them funny people,” The man said. Lloyd tried to defend Hernandez. “You’re gonna start some s**t ’tween me and him.” He said. 

Lloyd treasured his relationship with the celebrity that now watched him from above but like he eluded to when worrying about his cousins comments directed at Hernandez, the very second he returned to his table with Hernandez, an altercation began. Hernandez shoved Lloyd to the ground swearing at him with insane rage.

The entire situation was caught by security cameras. 

They soon left the club and Hernandez texted 2 Connecticut associates who were later revealed to be men named George Wallace and Carlos Ortiz. “You can’t trust anyone anymore!” he said commanding that they drive to Boston. Once they arrived, he rented a Nissan Altima, handgun in hand and thugs by his side. They drove to Lloyd's house which was located in a gang torn section of Dorchester that Hernandez was not new to. 

They picked Lloyd up but he soon recognized that Hernandez was not ready to party, no, he was ready to kill him. He fought back as Hernandez and Wallace attempted to force him to the ground. He ripped a mirror off the Altima and raised his arms as the first shots rained down on him. But nevertheless, his life would not progress past 3:30 AM that Monday morning as police found his riddled body several hours later. 

But there is more to the world of crime and abuse that will likely go down as the few years of mistakes that ended Hernandez' life as a free man. 

We all know he grew up in a broken home. Hernandez's father was violent and raised Hernandez to follow in his footsteps. They all played football and it is highly speculated that drugs were constantly prevalent in their Bristol home. He had no friends, no he had victims of his bullying, people feared him, they did not like him. But still, Aaron's father: Dennis Hernandez was his role model...for better or worse. 

“He was the perfect dad: He went to every scrimmage, and got ’em up at dawn to work out," one of Hernandez' high-school opponents: Brandon Beam said. 

He raised his kids to build muscle. They had a bench press in his basement and Hernandez was pretty much a body builder by age 12. He played running back but did not preform ankle breaking jukes like most pro rushers. "He preferred to run through people rather than go around then," the Rolling Stone article read. 

“They were the roughest kids by far in Guinea Alley,” says Eddy Fortier, who went to Bristol Central with them in the Seventies and is a former youth counselor. “They had to be tough – they were about the only Puerto Ricans in an Irish-Italian town,” says Fortier’s brother, Gary.  

They had to be tough...tough. That was all that Hernandez had, his strength and his father. But even that was eventually stolen from him as before Hernandez was even out of high-school, his father died of a lethal infection sustained at a hospital. 

The future NFL'er was in trouble. He quickly became associated with high school gangs but according to Beam, had the maturity of a middle school-er. “The guy would do anything to crack us up,” he said. 

But like was said before, when Dennis Hernandez died, everything changed. His humor vanished, his innocence was lost and he turned to the dark side if you will. “He’d open up the tiniest bit, then say nothing for weeks, like it was a sign of weakness to be sad,” says Beam. “His brother was at college, and the only other person he would really talk to was the one who was taken away.” 

So with no friends, no people that could save him, his 360 degree turn to evil was rapidly coming to a climax. Hernandez enrolled in the University of Florida, continued his gang associations, and developed a barrage of anger issues.  He smoked pot, fought bartenders, and was benched in game one of the 2007 NCAA season. But mighty Urban Myer came in and saved his tight end the embarrassment that would accompany his labeling of the benching a suspension. 

"He's just not ready to play." Myer said

But that was obviously not the case. He failed countless additional drug tests and according to Rolling Stone should have faced suspensions as massive as season long bans but as it stood, "he did not miss a single snap." 

He would hang out with Ernest Wallace and supposedly Wallace was the Senator Palpatine that assisted in finally pulling Hernandez over the line.

“I never saw him with them, but misery attracts misery: There’s vultures waiting to swoop,” says Coach Hevesy, who attempted to act as a father to Hernandez “He played video games with my son, and my daughter wore his jersey to sleep. But whenever he left campus, he’d come back different. That’s when the problems happened.”

Midway through his joiner year in Florida, Hernandez and two fellow footballers known to the world as "The Poncey Twins" were linked to a drive by murder outside a Miami bar. 

“He was out with the Pounceys and [ex-Gator safety] Reggie Nelson, and some guys tried to snatch a chain off one of the Pounceys,” says a local Gators reporter. “The guys drive off, then stop at a light, and someone gets out of a car and shoots into their car through the passenger window. One victim described the shooter as possibly Hispanic or Hawaiian, with lots of tattoos on his arms.”

Hernandez' fits the description. His arms are almost completely covered in tattoos as several signs possibly labeled as gang depictions  are largely concealed on his knuckles and forearms. He fits the description but after that specific incident he was not even questioned by police...so the problems continued. 

But nevertheless, all problems aside, Hernandez was a very good college player. In 2009, he led the team in catches with 68 and eventually complied 12 touchdown receptions in his 3 years of NCAA action. It was because of this that Hernandez felt pressured to help his image and attempted to earn himself a higher position on teams draft boards. 

He sent a letter to every NFL team. 

“My coaches have told you that nobody worked harder than me,” he wrote. “The only X-factor is concerns about my use of recreational drugs. To address that, I am putting my money where my mouth is [if you sign me I will accept a contract that would allow you to drop me without pay if I ever used]”

Well that never happened.

For a long time, it seemed that Hernandez' pleas would be for not as after the first 3 rounds had been completed he was still left underrated. But Bill Belicheck would finally fulfill Aaron's dreams.

The Patriots needed a top receiver. They had recently added Wes Welker but had long ago lost Troy Brown and Randy Moss. Hernandez seemed to be the best guy to fill the job and almost immediately he proved just that. He caught 6 touchdowns in his first year but  soon tag teamed with fellow tight end Rob Gronkowski in 2011 to blow away any and all marks for tight end play. This was all en-route to earning himself a 40 million dollar contract long before his rookie deal expired. 

At that time, Hernandez insisted that the “Patriot way” had changed him and he was “a new man.” He knew how to push the buttons of owner Bob Kraft.

But nevertheless, with so much big money now credited to his name Hernandez seemed to lose the will to be a good little boy and soon returned to his gang associated ways. He began to miss practices, and forgo rehab assignments angering his coach Bill Belichick and in Bill's words coming "one misstep away from being dropped."  

He would conceal his drug use, alienating himself from his teammates and making them feel as if they did not know who he was. He began to take a highly addictive and body wrecking drug named PCP or more informally referred to as simply Angel Dust. He would get high after games smoking constantly on his car rides home from games. But nobody knew about any of it. Well that is, nobody that could either punish him, help him or at least get him to focus not on football but on his problems. 

About 1 year before the murder of Lloyd, Hernandez and a "cohort of thugs" as they were labeled by Rolling Stone became engaged in a bar fight with members of a group that Hernandez did not harbor fond feelings for. It is suspected that two murders were committed by someone involved in the fight although it is suspected that Hernandez was not the trigger man in these crimes. 

But nevertheless, an old Toyota 4Runner was seen speeding off away from the club following the murders. The driver was not identified as the car soon vanished only to be found, caked in dust in a garage owned by Hernandez' uncle. 

Meanwhile, the Patriots had just lost the AFC championship game and he was right in the time of this life when he allegedly shot a man named Avery Bradly in the face before dumping him in an abandoned ally-way. As all this happened, Hernandez suddenly began to fear for his life as he suspected that the very gangsters he had assembled around him "were trying to kill him". For this reason he illegally carried a gun where ever he went. 

He added 12 security cameras in his home and stashed an assault rifle in his gym bag as he feared retribution for leaving his gang behind. 

But the guns were not where the panic ended. According to Carlos Ortiz, Hernandez rented an undisclosed condo 12 miles away from his multi-million dollar mansion. Ortiz refereed to the condo as a "flop house." 

Much like he did before the draft, Hernandez may have been TRYING to clean himself up, but with his name so deeply wound into the gang world that was no simple task meaning that when Lloyd's cousins began racially insulting Hernandez, he quickly reverted to his old ways.

He has wormed his way out of so much, but after what has come out through the court investigations, the various reports and most recently this mega description by Rolling Stone, the hole he has now dug himself might now seem just a little too deep for this master of deception to climb out of. 

For all his life, Aaron Hernandez was the star, the big buff unstoppable football player who broke records and broke bones. But with 5 brutal gunshots he revealed to the world that those days of success were all a lie. With 5 brutal gunshots, Aaron Hernandez' luck ran out and as police officers came to his doorstep, the Patriot tight end quickly went from superstar to inmate. 

To read the Rolling Stone article click here

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Lets try seven: Shane Victorino blasts 2 long balls and 7 RBI's while the Red Sox top the O's 13-2

Shane Victorino is just 5 feet 9 inches tall, he is 32 years old and is nicknamed the "Flying Hawaiian" but now, in a statistic far grander than most others, Shane Victorino has become only the 788th player in the history of baseball to hit 100 home runs.  

"I don't know that you can do much better," John Farrall said post game. 

For Shane Victorino, last night's offensive explosion handed him entrance into a non-exclusive but still reputable 100 home run club. In addition to homer number 100, the duo of long-balls represented just the second time in Shane's career that he had been accredited with 2 homers. He belted 5RBI's via his home runs but after a late game double, he would tack on 2 more and set a career high for RBI's with 7. 

"At this point," said outfielder Jonny Gomes, "with 11 [home runs] under his belt, his power isn't sneaky anymore." 

But nevertheless, while Shane Victorino DID show us that it is all but glaringly true that he can hit home runs, his performance was not the only one that showered the monster seats (and beyond) with free souvenirs. 

Sandwiched in-between both of Victorino's homers Mike Napoli came to the plate in the bottom of the 4th inning with nobody on base. He soon saw a 2-2 pitch hang over the middle of the plate...and Mike did not hesitate in swinging the bat. He hit the ball and he hit it far. Almost 500 feet when you look at where it landed. 

"We got our butts kicked tonight." Orioles catcher: Matt Wieters said. Wieters in particular seemed to take the defeat very hard as after Napoli's moon shoot homer, he averted his eyes knowing all too well that when this ball hit the ground his team would be losing 4-2. The Red Sox would tack on 5 more runs in that brutal 4th inning, chasing Orioles starter: Wee Ying Chen from the game and inflicting all the damage necessary for the Sox to earn the win. 

But while the game was relatively over by the 4th inning, Felix Dubront didn't seem to get the message. He played into the 7th inning allowing just 4 hits and 2 runs with 7 strikeouts. He threw 110+ pitches for the second straight start and continue to lower his ERA to 3.74 after last night's triumph. 

“He corrected it pretty quick. When things could’ve become a big inning against us, he found a way to minimize it, which he’s done a number of times. After that he settled in very well. Much better fastball command throughout the later innings. Our starters have been on a good little run here.” Farrell said. 

Last night's win, coupled with a Tampa loss to the Angles increased Boston's AL East lead to 2.5 games while pushing the Orioles to 6.5 games out. In addition to that, after the Yankees beat the Blue Jays, they have now pulled to just a half game behind the Orioles and in turn their close proximity to the 2nd and final wild card spot. 

“Every game’s big from here on out,” Said Sox second basemen: Dustin Pedroia “We’re winding down towards the end. So we’re just going to try to come out, play hard. We played great tonight but it doesn’t carry over for tomorrow. So we’ve got to make sure we come out and we play well and we play the game the right way.” 

Every games is big but if Shane Victorino can continue to play like he has of late, if the starters can continue to succeed and if Mike Napoli can continue to bombard the stratosphere with baseballs like he did last night, the 95% chance that the Sox have of making the playoffs will undoubtedly grow to 100%.

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Red Sox pitching rotation surging at the right time: Why Boston's current top 3 starters may be the best trio of hurlers in baseball

Jake Peavy, John Lackey and...Jon Lester.

Since the season began almost 5 months ago they have combined for 22 wins in just 55 starts for the Sox. Peavy,  Lackey and Lester have all had their explosions of success but for the first time all season they are all succeeding at the same time.

With Lester in particular his 2013 campaign has been one of ups and downs. After starting off the year with a dominant 6-0 record, the longtime Sox southpaw looked poised to seize a job he had long seemed to be capable of attaining. That job was that of a number one starter.

Yet as quick as his excellence emerged, it temporarily vanished following win number 6. Lester soon fell to 6-3 as after three disastrous starts of 6 innings or less, Jon watched his ERA increases from just 2.72 to a whopping 4.57.

But for Lester right he began for falter, a different John shook off HIS early-season woes to jump ahead and make us cheer as loud as ever. After he started the season and abysmal 1-4, John Lackey seemed poised to renew fans hatred for him. But like was said before, right in the neighborhood of where Clay Buchholz went down and when Lester began to struggle, Lackey caught fire. He stormed to the top of the Sox's pitching card and eventually brought his ERA as low as 2.75. 

But there is more to this haphazard puzzle of pitchers than just 2 names. Yes there is a third name, and that name is Jake Peavy. For nearly 11 years, Jake Peavy was a name not unknown to the baseball world. Even while playing on teams that struggled to win games, Peavy was often a lonely bright spot amidst fields of pathetic losses.

But on July 30th, that all changed. On that late summer day, Peavy left his teams of playoff-less baseball behind and came to a surging little ball club named the Boston Red Sox.

Then, in the blink of an eye, Peavy, Lackey, and Lester all came together. Since the Peavy trade, the trio of Sox have combined for 5 wins, allowing just 34 runs in almost 100 innings. But perhaps the biggest gem in the many that have been produced by these three men came on Sunday. 

All season long manager John Farrall had made a habit of limiting his pitcher's workload often pulling guys in the 8th of 9th innings and ending their night's mere outs away from a complete game. All season long, the Red Sox had not seen one of their own hurl a complete game...that is until Peavy did it on Sunday. He threw 111 pitches and allowed just 3 hits and a run for the second complete game of his 2013 season, delighting fans and greatly pleasing his manager John Farrell. 

“Jake was outstanding tonight,” Farrell said. “He threw some big pitches when he needed to.” 

Jake Peavy was outstanding, so was Lackey and Lester, not just on Sunday but on almost every day that they take to the mound. 

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