Gene_Lavanchy's Blog

I know I've talked about this before, but it still grinds my gears. Sure, its' great the Red Sox won a dramatic series against the Angels, and now it's off to the ALCS. But my beef is with what happened after the game. The Sox were in the clubhouse, pouring champagne and beer all over themselves like they just won the World Series. Didn't they just do this a couple of weeks ago after the Wild Card clincher (what happened to those T-shirts)? This is a tradition, I simply don't get. I realize it goes back years ago, before they were any playoffs. Teams would win their league title and go right to the World Series--which prompted the big celebration. Then, MLB added divisional playoffs--what we now know as the ALCS and the NLCS. This brings us another round of the winners pouring booze all over each other. Then MLB adds the wild card round. So now, you have teams partying like its 2099 after clinching a playoff spot, even the wild card (go crazy boys, we finished SECOND!!!). Then you win the division series (more champagne please), the league championship series (do we have any champagne left?), and the World Series (geesh, can I just have a Diet Coke this time?). It's overkill and over the top. Some people complain about the message it sends to kids. I tell my kids, pay no attention to what those guys do. You can admire their talent and ability to hit/throw a ball--but otherwise, for the most part, don't emulate anything else they do. Can you imagine if the Celtics followed the same course of the Red Sox on their road to the NBA title? After beating Atlanta, and Cleveland and Detroit--it's champagne celebrations that would make the boys at Delta House proud. We would ridicule them--but with baseball, we say--hey, it's tradition, and boys will be boys. I say enough is enough--go crazy when you actually win the big one, otherwise, act like you've been there before.

One of the great things about my job is the chance to interview fascinating people who've really made in impact. This morning, I had the pleasure of interviewing Tim Reid ,Venus Flytrap from WKRP, and Tom Dreesen--veteran stand-up comedian who appeared some 61 times on the Tonight Show. They're promoting their new book "Tim and Tom", which talks about their run as an inter-racial comedy team some 40 years ago. The book gives you an excellent sense of what the country was like during those volatile times--and how courageous they were in doing there stuff. The book also talks about their rise in show business while they both share some incredible Hollywood stories. Dreesan talks about the generosity of legends like Johnny Carson, Sammy Davis, Jr, and Frank Sinatra (he was Sinatra's opening act for 14 years). Reid shares stories of how WKRP came about, and how his critically acclaimed show "Franks Place" was yanked by CBS, and he learned the true story about the show demise from legendary newsman Walter Cronkite. The book will give you a taste of how a white man and black man tried to make people laugh when they talked about race, and it was dangerous at times. It's also about perseverance, friendship, and how things work in Hollywood. I can't recommend it enough, and I invite you to watch the interview with Tim and Tom here:

Forget about a $700-billion bailout. If we want to solve the current economic crisis, we should turn our attention to Hollywood, specifically the 1979 movie starring John Ritter. The movie is called "Americathon." It 's Ritter as President of a bankrupt United States of America. Things are so bad, people are living in their cars. Ritter hires a consultant who suggests a nationwide Telethon to help raise money for the country. Talk about a movie ahead of its time, or life imitating art!

The current Presidential candidates seem to be pretty good at raising money. How about they take a day to raise money, and apply it to the bailout? We could have singers and rock bands and comedians banding together like they've done for world hunger and hurricane relief, and people could call the 800 line, or go online and donate. This way, those who want to contribute can, and not every taxpayer will be left holding the bag. We'll also find out who the real "patriotic" Americans are (at least by Joe Biden's definition). We could make it a weekend-long telethon, including NFL games. After a player scores a touchdown, he could take off his helmet, turn to the camera and say "Give 'til it hurts, American needs you!" It's just a thought, but I'm betting we could put one heck of a show and raise some serious dough!

Big doings in the Big Apple Sunday. The Yankees said goodbye to Yankee Stadium, the House that Ruth built is going dark after 85 years. Even Red Sox fans have to admit, this place was one of the most hallowed stadiums in the world. The Yanks will christen a new stadium next year. It leads me to wonder if Fenway should be next. I know there is a big issue about where to build a new ballpark, and how much cost the state and city will be asked to absorb, but let's put that aside for a moment. Fenway Park was built in 1912, and has served as home of the Sox ever since. I give the current ownership huge props for renovating the park (monster seats, new roof seats, wider concourse,etc.). But the fact remains, it's still not a comfortable place to watch a game (try sitting by the Pesky Pole!) The seats are small, leg room is worse than on your typical airline, the visiting locker room is an embarrassment, and I won't ever start about the parking. My guess is the Red Sox are going to make a big deal out of the 100th anniversary of Fenway in 2012. After that, let's hope they build a new ballpark. I know a lot of folks love Fenway, and will rip me for even suggesting the Red Sox find a new home. If you could visit Camden Yards in Baltimore, or Jacobs Field in Cleveland, or Petco Park in San Diego, or even PNC park is Pittsburgh, you'll likely find yourself saying--"Hey, why can't we have something like this in Boston". I know Fenway is historic and a national treasure, but so is Paul Revere's house, but I don't seen anyone living there anymore. When the Sox move to a new home, and they will someday, maybe they can leave home plate and part of the Wall standing, and turn into a public park or something. Like it or not, Fenway 's days are numbed, that is a fact. Trust me when I tell you, when a new ballpark is built, and done the right way, very few of you will wind up missing Fenway all that much.

I think it's pretty cool that Farm Aid is coming to Boston tomorrow. It seems most people only think of family farms as being part of the Midwest, or in parts of the south. With acts like John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson, folks generally get the impression this is nothing but a red-neck fest. Nothing could be further from the truth. There are struggling farmers all over the country, and I think it's great these guys are bringing the show to our backyard. Mellencamp, Nelson and Neil Young, among others, first started this event back in 1985. As you may recall, these types of huge benefit concerts were all the rage. There was Live-Aid, No Nukes, and various others over the past decades--but Farm Aid is the only one still going strong. It's raised over 30 million dollars for farmers and their families The efforts of Mellencamp and Nelson help lead to the passage of the 1987 Agricultural Act--which helped save struggling farms from foreclosure. These guys have done a great thing for our country--and given a voice to the little man in America. This is not a political rally, or some wacko rockers spreading a controversial agenda--this is group of rockers who believe in a cause, have stayed with it, and continue to reach out the the American Farmer. Plus, it's a great concert with some great acts that will be "Rockin' in the USA" in little ole Mansfield tomorrow!

So it's now official. Chad Johnson has changed his name to Chad Ocho Cinco.  We remember when he had Ocho Cinco replace Johnson on his name plate on the back of his uniform as a goof.   Ocho Cinco, or 85, is his uniform number, and it's a goof no longer, it really is his name now.  Not even Johnson knows why he did it..  But it's done, and the Begals will list him as Chad Ocho Cinco on the roster now.  With this in mind, there are some other folks who could steal a page from Mr. Ocho Cino, and go with numbers in Spanish instead of their name.  For example:

Alex Rodriquez to go with CERO.  This marks the number of World Series rings he owns.  I realize the Yanks don't have names on their uniforms, but maybe they could make and exception for Mr. Cero.

Barry Zito:  His new number could be CINCO QUATRO CINCO.   That's 545 to you and me, which also happens to be Zito's ERA.

Julio Lugo:  How about  DIECISEIS.? (16)    That's the number of errors Lugo had before landing on the DL with an injury.   He could also go with UNO which is the number of home runs he had in the 82 games he played before getting injured.

Prince Fielder: TRES DOS SEIS (326)  Which is my guess at  his weight, have you seen this guy lately?

John Blutarsky : CERO POINT CERO  (0.0)--he has no grade point average!

Dustin Perdroia: CINCO SIETE (5 7)--It's his height--amazing when you think about how big this guy plays!

Tom Brady: BUNDSHEN OK, so it's not a number in Spanish, but it would be a riot for Brady to put a tribute to his supermodel gal-pal on the back of his jersey.

Kim Carrigan :DIEZ (10) ..because Kim is a 10 (so what if I'm sucking up!!)

It's the best I can do for a Friday for now---do you guys have any?

On behalf of all of us at FOX 25, we just want to say thank you Westwood. 

 
We had a great Zip Trip there today.   Thanks to Bubbling Brook, Chiara and Vello's for bringing out great food.  

 
If you've never been Hale Reservation in Westwood, you have to check it out.  If you click on our links, you can see the story we did on the place, and it's only half of what you will find there.   

And what about the great Eddie Money rolling down Pond Street in his tour bus and joining us this morning?  We talked about some of his great songs, when he came up with them, his amazing career--and he was wonderful to all the great folks in Westwood.   I make my way through town quite a bit, and stop in at High Street Market (thanks to Liz and Pete!)---and how about the two state champs winning titles on the same day (girls lacrosse and baseball)? 

Westwood has a lot going for it, and we appreciate the town rolling out the red carpet for us today!

Jason Bay wore #38 with the Pirates.  Curt Schilling has apparently said he is willing to sell his #38 to Bay, with the proceeds going to Schilling's charity.  If Bay really wants #38 for free, he should just wait until next year when Schilling is out of the picture. 

Here are numbers they should be willing to give him.

#5--Hey, Nomar's been gone for 4 years now, he's not going to the Hall of Fame.  While he was an excellent player here, there is no need to wait any longer--put #5 back out there.

#21--What will the Sox do with this number?  Roger Clemens has been gone for a long time now, and with his recent performance in Congress and his reputation in tatters, will the Sox still someday retire this number in his honor?  I thought it would be a lock that #21 would be retired for the Rocket, now I'm not so sure.

#24--Retire this number--not for Manny, but for Dwight Evans!

#7-Get this number off J.D. Drew's back and retire it for--Rick Burleson!!!

#45 Do you still love Pedro?  Leave this one alone, and put it to the Rafters for Petey.

And if the Sox retire the numbers of all Hall-of-Famers, when is Wade Boggs day at Fenway?  He's in the Hall of Fame, sporting a Red Sox cap, what's the deal?  They did it for Carlton Fisk!  Since Boggs left Boston, #26 has been worn by no less than 11 guys, including Wes Chamberlain, Lee Tinsley, Lou Merloni, Ramiro Mendoza, Chris Snopek and Sean Berry.

Numbers available:  11, 32,  39 (still belongs to Kyle Snyder---another #39 in left, like Mike Greenwell?)  There is also #43 and #44, now that Moss is gone.

I'm curious to know what you guys think----

 

As I write this, its T-Minus 7 hours and counting until the trading deadline hits, and the Red Sox are presumably still working on a deal to move Manny Ramirez.  Up until last night, I really didn't think the Sox would trade him.  But after Manny made his comments to ESPN Deportes saying; "Boston doesn't deserve me," it's clear Manny is trying to shoot his way out of town.  

If the deal being dicussed comes through, then the Sox will do very well for themselves.  The hot rumor has Manny going to Florida as part of a 3-team deal, which would bring Jason Bay from Pittsburgh to Boston.  Bay's numbers are just about identical to Manny's---he turns 30 in September--Manny turns 37 next May.  Manny's salary is $20 million (Florida's total payroll is $22 million), Jason Bay makes $7 million, and is signed through the 2009 season.  So in Bay, the Sox get a younger player, who can hit with power and will knock in runs galore in Boston, plus he has a very affordable contract.  Even with the Sox picking up Manny's salary for the rest of the season (about $7-million), it's still a good move. 

Ramirez is a distraction, he's seems to be ungrateful to the organization and appears to be a lousy teammate.  If he isn't traded, he'll likely sulk his way through the rest of the season and will do more harm than good.  If they can't get someone like Bay in return, I still say you still move Manny.  It's the old addition by subtraction--and while you might only get 50 cents on the dollar for Ramirez--you must remember, the dollar with Manny's face on it has been sinking in value like you read about..

It really is one of the best kept secrets on the north shore.  Those who know the area now all about it, and bask in the beauty and uniquness that is Essex.  We had a great time there this morning on our weekly Zip Trip.   The marshmellow shooter provided to us by the wonderful folks at Silly Goose was a huge hit.   But we learned a lot about Essex, and the fact it has the most antique stores per-captia in the country.   Plus, if you love clams, Essex is the place for you.  We learned the fried clam was actually invented at Woodmans.   There are a few different places that have outstanding clams, so much so they call the stretch of restaurants on Rt. 133 "Clam Alley".  Speaking of which, you have to click on the link to VB's tour of  "Clam Alley" which you will find informative, and quite amusing all at the same time.   So if you're looking for a place with a great setting, great food and plenty of things to do where you can kick around, relax and spend a memorable day, you should give Essex a try.  Don't forget to stop in at the White Elephant--say hello to Rick and enjoy the search for some interesting treasures.

Thanks to everyone in Essex for taking such great care of us today!

If you are even a marginal sports fan, a player, parent or coach, then you've had to deal with the rules of the game. Seeing that it's baseball season, we thought we would launch a new segment, "Ask the Ump."

Ed King has half-a-century of umpiring experience. I got to know him while attending various baseball games, and we would quiz each other on rules and odd situations that have surfaced in baseball games. For example, how can a player get credited with an unassisted triple play without ever touching the baseball?

So we decided it might be fun to bring all of this to the FOX25 Morning News and myfoxboston.com. To start with, Ed came up with the most misinterpreted rules in youth baseball, rules most people get wrong or simply don't understand. We taped 4 segments with the help of some Walpole Little Leaguers.

We want you to send along your questions about the rules, or things you've seen--and Ed will address the rules and/or your attempts to stump him. We already have a few questions that have been submitted. In terms of the unassisted triple play question, give it some thought, and we'll have Ed explain the answer down the road.

Click here to watch "Ask the Ump."

So we're back to talking about gas prices again. About a year ago at this time, I asked you what changes you would make to the way you go about your day-to-day lives if gas hit a certain price.

What is your breaking point? For some, we're already there. For me, it remains $4.00/gallon. I never thought we would come close to that number..shows what I know. If we get to 4-bucks a gallon, it will change things at my house. My wife and I both drive gas guzzlers. When the kids are at their various events, we usually will split up, using both vehicles to get them around. It's probably time to start using one car instead, and look to car-pooling more with neighbors. We do car-pooling now--but we might actually have to assign days to each family--even if their own children aren't involved in that day's activities.

Yes, it might also be time to call on the scooter. Yep, it's back to "scooter talk." One of those things gets about 100 miles per gallon, meaning I could probably fill it up once and make it to work all summer without having to fill up again. I'm not sure what the answer is--a windfall profit tax on the oil companies, opening the reserves, drilling in Alaska---or getting serious about finding alternative fuels. Why can't they create a battery-operated vehicle that has decent performance, and mass produce the things? There are a lot of smart people out there who could help get this done--I guess they don't have a big enough or wealthy enough lobby in D.C. to have their voices heard. What was Exxon's profit for the first quarter again?

The 2008 ZipTrip Season is back! We kicked things off in Lexington, and what a way to start. If you want to ruin a diet, or put on weight as quickly as possible, you have to stop by any Zip Trip. First, the wonderful folks from Wilson Farms fed everyone who showed up. If you ever have time, spend a few hours at Wilson Farm, check out the fresh produce and the amazing bakery--and say hello to Scooter! We all know about the historical significance of Lexington, and it's hard not to imagine what things must have been like on that spot some 233 years ago. But Lexington has so much more, like the great restaurants and shops, like the Candy Castle--stop by and sample the Mango sorbet!! Oh, yes! The big surprise about this year's season opening Zip Trip was the appearance of Paul Stanley, a founding member of the rock icons, KISS. What a great guy with some amazing stories, I especially like the tale behind "Rock n Roll all night, and Party Every Day"!

Click here to check out the Zip Trip page!

Check out the pictures, and re-live some of the segments. If you're not doing anything next Friday morning, come on down to Whitman and say hello in person!

I've been to a few restaurants over the past few weeks, all of them "smoke free", unless you count the huge cloud of cigarette smoke greeting us on the way in and out of these establishments.  Why do they feel the need to put the smoking section right by the front door?  The restaurants seem to encourage this spot, because they have placed a few of those strange looking outdoor ash-trays right there.   Can't you put them off to the side, or have a smoking deck--or just run them off down the street?  If you want to have smoking out of these places, then you need to remove the smokers as the unofficial greeters to your restaurant or bar.

Enough with these politicians making things up.  Can't you just tell us the real story and forget about it.  Why embellish your experience with guns by saying "I used to shoot all the time as a kid", or that you landed in a war-torn country amid a hail of sniper fire?  Yes, Hillary is guilty, but so are the others.  Why do they throw this stuff out there when it's so easy to call them on it?  If we can't trust you to tell the truth about the small stuff, how can we expect you to be honest about the big things?

I thought I had already experienced the worst radio ever when I heard live play-by-play of a NASCAR event on the radio, but it was topped this weekend.  Yes, I sampled 5 minutes of GOLF play-by-play on the radio!  Nothing but hushed tones with long breaks of silence---this game is MADE for the radio. Say the following in a whisper--"Tiger Woods, hits a high wedge, ooh, it lands softly on the green, and is rolling back toward the cup, delighting the gallery here on 13.  I sure wish you could have seen it!"

Speaking of golf, I was watching a replay of the 1978 Masters (hey, I was stuck on the treadmill without a remote).  There were all this golfers, not wearing hats.  Never mind the skin cancer, what about the missed sponsorship opportunities?  There were a couple of guys wearing those ugly old mesh hats, like the ones you can find at your finer gas stations--but very few with the corporate logos.  In fact, there were no logos on bags, shirts, hats--it was kind of nice. 

Finally, it's a sure sign the nice weather is on the way.   The grass is greener, flowers are starting to bloom, the days are longer, and the Little League season is underway.  We just held our annual Little League parade through Walpole Center, where boys and girls 8-12 walked, not exactly in formation, in those oversized uniforms.  It's a wonderful tradition, and remember, last year some of those 12-year-olds who walked through Walpole Center didn't stop walking until they got all the way to Williamsport.

What's with all of these grown men crying of late? Emotions are running wild these days---with Bill Buckner wiping away tears as he walks to the Fenway mound. Brett Favre crying like a school girl who just lost her Hannah Montana tickets. Did you see Dick Vitale? He was a PTC'er, baby (Prime Time Crier) upon learning he was voted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. I remember Dennis Eckersley tearing up when he retired.

Do you recall when Michael Jack Schmidt--the Phillies Hall of Fame third baseman, one of the toughest guys ever to play the game, looked like a human water park when he held his retirement press conference. How about Mark McGwire, having to stop and gather himself after crying uncontrollably--but it wasn't when he retired, he was simply announcing the formation of a charitable foundation for children.

Now, you might expect me to rip these guys--suck it up, be a man, grow up, get it together! But you would be wrong. I actually have lots of respect for these guys, who aren't afraid to show some emotion. The common theme with these people is passion--they have passion about what they do.

When guys retire, I fully understand the emotion--something that's been a huge part of their life is now over, done, gone forever. And yes, there is a double standard. When Hillary broke down on the campaign trail, she was a soft, emotional mess. Of course, there is a big difference between a retiring athlete and someone who might have their finger on the button---one can get away with being emotional--the other you can't.

Maybe you feel the same--maybe you don't--but ask yourself how you might respond in the same situation. Pass the Kleenex!