3-Pointer by Gary Whittaker

3-Pointerby Gary Whittaker

1 - Red Sox World Series win anti-climatic

Yawn.... apparently, sometime between Boston's history making series comeback victory over the Yankees, and me falling asleep in front of the television, the Red Sox actually won their first World Series championship in 86 years. So the curse of the Bambino is lifted, albeit in a less than thrilling fashion...at least for the baseball fans outside of Boston anyway. Aside from "the worst base running in the history of baseball", nothing else in this series was newsworthy. Sure, game 1 had potential, with the Sox losing the lead 3 times before taking it home, but the rest of the series fell flat. It became more fun after game 2 to think about how the Yankees were going to dismantle their team. We were treated to all kinds of Yankee predictions, interviews with George, and a look at their free agents. Even the victory celebrations ended with less drama then the party after the victory over the Yankees. That was where a 21-year-old aspiring news anchor name Victoria Snelgrove made news for the last time, as she was shot dead by Boston police with a "non-lethal" pepper spray bullet. This time, only 18 people were arrested, and no serious personal injuries were reported. There are some interesting points to look forward to: Pedro Martinez going to a new team and admitting to having some jealousy over Curt Shilling, Manny Ramirez never playing outfield again, except for comic relief, and Theo Epstein, trying to prove that his philosophy of Sabermetrics was no fluke.

2 - Fans are heating up over the Cold War

Or at least, this is what some in the media want us to believe. Personally, I think most of these guys just want their old jobs back. Fans understand that they are simply witnessing to big dogs fighting over their money. The players union (NHLPA), are trying to get the fans on their side by trying to get the owners to agree to lowering ticket prices. Yeah...right. That's intelligent. The NHL does not have the same sources of revenue as the other big 3 leagues, or even some College sports. Ticket revenue and merchandise, that's about it. So if the owners are losing over 300 million a year collectively, and the players are countering with a 5% reduction in salaries, where is there room for the average fan to see his ticket prices go down. Players are also the ones bringing up this free-market economy crap. Well, part of a free-market economy is the concept of supply and demand. If there is demand for a product, people will pay. Why would a company that can sell it's product to capacity for 20$, lower the price to 15$? What I find truly said about all this, is there is a HIGH percentage of players making around the league average. Why is the union fighting so hard for a very SMALL percentage of players in the upper percentile? The younger players are starting to speak out now, and you can beat that that trend will continue. They understand that no matter what is decided, their salaries will decrease. It is in their best interests to force their union to come to terms now, before they lose an entire year's pay.

3 - Tea Party anyone?

What a year this is turning out to be for Boston! Red Sox win the world series, and beat New York to get there. New England wins the supper Bowl, and just beat the 5-0 Jets, and Boston College beat Notre Dame in college football. Outside of sports, you have Matt Damon with another hit movie, Ben Affleck (still makes bad movies but) got rid of Bennifer for Jennifer, and their Senator may become President of the United States. Let's all break out the tea cups and celebrate!