Sports, Food, Culture and Society. Opinion and Analysis brought to you from the mind of Dan Rowinski.
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Sunday, December 20, 2009
Sunday Notes - BC Basketball, Mike Lowell and the Pats
Friday, December 18, 2009
Sports Week - A Cold Day In Boston
- The Boston Red Sox are pushing the limits of the competitive balance (luxury) tax. Alex Speier WEEI.com.
In 2010, the CBT threshold increases from $162 million to $170 million. As a result of that substantial number, many anticipated the Sox might go berserk in dispensing cash this offseason.
This perception was based in part on a misunderstanding: the Sox have been portrayed as having carried a $122 million payroll in 2009, and so the idea that the team would near the CBT threshold seemed outlandish. But that $122 million figure had nothing to do with the Sox’ payroll as calculated for CBT purposes.
- Scott Olsen non-tendered and then resigned by the Washington Nationals. - Chico Harlan Washington Post.
From King --
So, going forward, I think the players really want to go for it. I talked to Dallas Clark on Sunday and he was saying all the politically correct things. But, there is no doubt in my mind that the players want to go for it. It is the same way in New Orleans. Talking with Jonathan Vilma this week, he said that their goal is to win the Super Bowl and not to go 16-0 but you know if they are in a room with the coaches and Sean Payton asks them what they want to do, you think Drew Brees is going to say that starting next week I only want to play one series? It is poppycock. He wants to play and go 16-0.
- Rest in peace Chris Henry -- With all the stuff he put himself through, it is easy to forget that he was just two years younger than me.
- Lee to Mariners, Halladay to Phils -- I am not sure this makes sense to me regarding the Phillies getting Halladay over Lee, but I really like what the Mariners are doing right now.
- Adrian Gonzalez to the Red Sox? -- I would say that a deal with Clay Buccholz and Michael Bowden and maybe Lars Anderson would be good for both teams. If the Sox have to give up Casey Kelly and/or Ryan Westmoreland in addition to Buccholz then do not pull the trigger. This is really a discussion for a whole other post.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Payroll Disparity - The Nationals Pitching Deficit
I have the Washington Nationals on the brain. Why am I obsessing over the worst team in Major League Baseball? I prefer not to go into specifics, but let's just say they make for an interesting case study and provide an opportunity for me to exercise the baseball obsessed side of my brain, something that I have not been able to do for a while.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Baseball Winter Meetings Trade Show Photos
Podcast: Nick Gagalis - Job Seeker
Nick Gagalis - Job Seeker
Young & Looking For a Job in Baseball? Good Luck.
I am going to have a couple of posts today wrapping up my thoughts and times at the Baseball Winter Meetings in Indianapolis. The first post is on the subject that so many young job seekers want to know -- How do I get a job in baseball?
- Make sure you know what you want --
- Tailor Yourself For The Position --
- Get Experience --
- Be Aggressive, Be, Be Aggressive
- You Are Not Alone
- The life may not be for you.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Monday In Indy For The MLB Winter Meetings
Monday, December 7, 2009
Layout Designs From The Winter Meetings
I put together a couple quick layouts if there was ever a "Sports Chutney: The Magazine." Just a couple of things from the what is currently trending on Sports Chutney, ie the Baseball Winter Meetings and our friend Nick Gagalis. Enjoy.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Tracking Nick Gagalis At The PBEO Job Fair in Indianapolis
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Kings Of Belmont Rocking Video w/ Travis Elliot
Git-r-Done by The Kings of Belmont w/ Travis Elliott
The Kings of Belmont | MySpace Music Videos
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Complete Archive Of Work
I have just completely updated my archive of articles on my personal website. Includes work from WEEI.com, Study of Sports and The New England Hockey Journal (among others). If you are curious of where I have been and what I have been doing, go check it out.
The Archive
Sports Chutney will be getting a bit of a relaunch in mid-December. Coverage of local Boston sports, lifestyle and society will be featured along with opinion and analysis on tech trends. A new section: The Starving Bachelors Guide will also be launched around that time.
For now, Sports Chutney is heading to the MLB Winter Meetings this weekend and next week. If you are going to Indianapolis, I hope to see you there.
Enjoy,
Sports Chutney
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Apocalyptic - 2012 News Feature
We created a news feature based on the 2012 end of the world prophecy. Check it out. Feel free to leave comments with questions that can either be answered from our research or about our methods of production.
Cheers!
-Sports Chutney
Monday, November 23, 2009
Forgotten Miracle Press Release
1960 U.S. Hockey Gold Medal Team 50th Anniversary Honored in Documentary Film
Posted by: Forgotten Miracle In: Blog
== OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE ==
NOVEMBER 23, 2009 – A new documentary film celebrates the gold medal run of the 1960 U.S. Olympic hockey team. Forgotten Miracle tells the story of the unheralded team’s unexpected first place triumph in the Squaw Valley games. The release coincides with the 50th anniversary of the VIII Winter Olympiad.
Featuring rare archival footage of the first televised Olympic Games, illustrated reenactments and interviews with team members, coaches and experts, Forgotten Miraclereveals the seldom-told tale of America’s “other” hockey gold medalists.
The feature-length film is directed by Tommy Haines and Andrew Sherburne, creators ofPond Hockey, a 2008 documentary illuminating the world of outdoor hockey. ESPN’s John Buccigross called Pond Hockey “the best and purest hockey movie ever.”
Forgotten Miracle features interviews with stars of the 1960 team, including coach Jack Riley, brothers Bill and Bob Cleary, defenseman John Mayasich, brothers Bill and Roger Christian and standout goalie Jack McCartan. Detailing the quiet rise of American hockey in the 1950s—a time dominated by the Canadian and the Soviet dynasties—through the 1960 Olympic triumph, the film reveals a lost chapter in America’s hockey history.
Forgotten Miracle is presented in association with USA Hockey, the national governing body for the sport of ice hockey in the United States.
To view the trailer for Forgotten Miracle visit www.forgottenmiracle.com. For more information on USA Hockey and the 2010 Olympic Men’s Ice Hockey team, visit www.usahockey.com
For additional information or interview requests, please contact Andrew Sherburne atandrew@forgottenmiracle.com.
The 1960 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team: Forgotten Miracle
Monday, November 9, 2009
What Bowl Game Does Boston College Get?
I have been trying to puzzle this for a little while now after reading Sports Illustrated's Stewart Mandel's predictions for college bowl games. As a Boston College beat reporter for WEEI.com, I am naturally curious as to where the team I cover will end up. So, I dug into my ACC notes and tried to figure it out.
Friday, November 6, 2009
Sports Chutney Is Going To the 2009 MLB Winter Meetings
Friday, October 23, 2009
#Mediameltdown? Really, who is the one melting down?
I would think that it is quite the opposite. With Deadspin's coverage, it seems that they are the ones that had the actual meltdown. ESPN lawyers could probably have a field day with Daulerio if any of this is proven to be libelous material. Then, we might not have a Deadspin anymore, which will be a shame. They do good work over there and I would like to see them keep it up but do they have the money to withstand a series of lawsuits by The Word Wide Leader? I doubt it.
Another Mention on The Five
Chat about BC v. Notre Dame at WEEI.com with Dan Rowinski, Chach and Meter (well, sort of Meter).
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Milton Bradley Blowups Slideshow
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
A Mention in The Five
Friday, August 7, 2009
Lessons Learned
Well, I am not currently in a press box and yes, I am still a fan.
I learned this last night.
It was right about the time that Jorge Posada scorched Billy Traber for a three run dinger as the Yankees hung an eight spot on the Red Sox in the fourth, putting to bed New York's eight game losing streak to the Sox this season sinking the hearts of everyone in New England.
Then my t.v. remote hit the wall.
I do not remember throwing it, exactly. Yet, there it was, batteries and buttons and mangled plastic on the floor, rendered completely useless. I have another remote, but it works only to turn the t.v. on and off. I cannot change the channel, which is a shame, because now my t.v. is stuck on NESN. It it seems I am destined to watch the Sox implode for the rest of the season, pitch by horrific pitch.
Where did things go wrong?
Monday, May 18, 2009
Tailgating at the RBC Center in Raleigh
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Jonathan Van Every Does it ... Again
Jonathan Van Every has a penchant for late inning dramatics. Last night in Cleveland Van Every capped the Sox improbable comeback from a 5-0 deficit to win the game 6-5 in the 10th with a walk-off, game-winning home run.
"Van Every gets a hit that will mean nothing in the standings, but it's more fun to go home with a win," Francona said.
link: Win gives Sox momentum for October | redsox.com: News
That is what Terry Francona said about Van Every the last time he had a hit in extra innings to send the Sox home with a victory. That game was the last one he played for the Sox, September 29th, 2008, Game 162 against the Yankees on the final day of the regular season last year.
As Tito points out, that hit meant nothing to Sox last year as playoffs positions were set, the Sox taking the Wild Card while finishing two games behind Rays for the division.
Last night's blast was Van Every's first home run in the big leagues after spending an eternity in the Indians' minor league system. Not a bad way to get back at the team that never gave him a chance at the top level, huh?
It seems that Van Every has been paying attention to walk-off home runs as well, as he learned the most important lesson about touching-them-all to win the game: Never take your helmet off.
"And then came the ribbing. Lugo's advice wasn't the only rookie treatment Van Every got. His teammates pounded him with high-fives and smacks on the head as he came into the dugout after circling the bases. Theirs was an acknowledgment of a job done well. "I got a headache from getting hit," Van Every said. "I kept my helmet on, thank goodness. That was smart."
link: Van Every's clout caps Sox comeback | redsox.com: News
Monday, April 20, 2009
Rocking the Boston Marathon Party Alley With Ween
Boston Marathon at 40k Mark in front of An Tua Nua / Audubon
YouTube: First Wheeler of My Day
Boston Marathon: Three Floors Up
Boston Marathon: Women Elite at Mile 25
Boston Marathon - Qik - Mile 25 - O'Leary's
Boston Marathon Mile 24-ish: Johnny Fresh
Boston Marathon - Qik - Mile 25 Aubobon Circle
Boston Marathon - Qik - Mile 25 An Tua Nua
Boston Marathon: Qik - Mile 25 Look Around
Sunday, April 19, 2009
The Moston Barathon: Run for Research, Drink for Your Liver
The Fintz implores to drink for your liver. Really. It is good for you.
Andy Fintzel and company are not just drinking for their livers, they are running for them. Fintzel is a member of the Run for Research team that runs the Boston Marathon every year to help benefit the American Liver Foundation.
With the current economic hardships it is hard for charity organizations to raise money these days. So, Fintzel and his two associates, Scott Rumrill and Sheri Olivet, decided to resurrect an old template that a friend, Dori Miller, had started years ago to raise money for the event.
It is a pub-crawl, appropriately named, the Moston Barathon.
Fintzel knew Miller because she is a swimmer and an avid runner. The Moston Barathon originated when Miller’s friends heard that she was running the marathon and vowed to buy her a beer at every bar on the route. Miller, now 38 and working as a web designer, picked up the idea and ran with it.
“A friend and I came up with the idea,” Miller said. “We joked about it and thought ‘maybe we can turn this in to some type of fundraising thing.'”
Miller and her friends ran the Barathon for five years, from 2000-2005 and made about $5,000 over that period for the American Liver Foundation’s Run for Research. She stopped running marathons shortly after that and has since become a long distance swimmer. In this capacity she has become quite accomplished as evidenced when she swam the English Channel last August.
The end of Miller’s running career meant the end of the Moston Barathon. Fintzel saw an opportunity to resurrect it this year when he remembered how much fun runners and their friends had during the extravaganza.
“I kind of willed it to them since I am no longer running marathons,” Miller said. “It was always a fun event. People would start asking in January about when it would start. A friend of mine met his girlfriend at Cornwall’s one year. They are now married with a kid.”
Fintzel, a graphic designer, along with Rumrill and Olivet took up the mantel of the Barathon and recreated it. Most pub-crawls are tedious affairs with little to no purpose. They are characterized with overfilled bars and excessively drunk young professionals who cause a general ruckus and mayham ensues.
The Moston Barathon steers clear of these problems, mostly because of the type of people that attend the event. People who run marathons do not tend to be crazy drunks. The fee to enter the Barathon is $15 and features scorecards with various feats that the crawlers can complete for points and rewards. The Challenges range from “ordering the special drink” at one of the pub destinations to “beating Scottie in a game of speed Connect Four” at Cornwall’s Irish Pub in Kenmore Square. Participants wear race style bib numbers and are encouraged to recruit followers along the crawl.
“It is different than your normal pub crawl,” Fintzel said. “We give it a little more ‘umph.’ It is like pub golf. We are the most creative pub crawl in the city, people have told me.”
There are four legs to the Barathon, one pub-crawl a month for the four months leading up the actual marathon. They started in February in January in Framingham then moved to Newton for the second leg. The fourth and final leg was April 4th in and around Copley Square on Boylton street, right on the finish line of the marathon. This reporter caught up with them on the third leg, down Beacon Street, on March 7th.
The four bars on leg three, in order of attendance, were O’Leary’s Irish Pub, An Tua Nua, Audubon Circle with the final kick coming at Cornwall's.
“It is quite funny, quite comical actually,” Pauline Halbert, general manager of An Tua Nua said. “There is no better research. They have a good thing going. Charities have to hit close to home to be successful.”
At Audubon Circle, a finer establishment than most of the true pubs on the crawl, they have a policy against pub-crawls because they tend to get out of hand and disturb dinner guests. When Jay Bellao, general manager of Audobon, was approached by Fintzel and company, they made it hard for him to say no.
“They reached out to me and were pretty adamant,” Bellao said. “It is a pub crawl for all the right reasons, as opposed to all the wrong. I think it is a cool little niche they got going, people remember it. They are responsible people.”
Through all the fun and games, the pub-crawlers do not lose sight of what the purpose of the Barathon. After leg three they had raised “a little more than” $1,000. Their total after all four legs, was around $1,500, which was matched by the Boston Consulting Group, where Olivet works as an administrative assistant.
Overall, Run for Research, which has 60-80 runners on a given year, has raised $892.,253.12 for the American Liver Foundation (as of 1:00 p.m. Sunday 4/19), short of their $1.25 million goal, according to the ALF website. With the marathon tomorrow, it appears they will be close to that goal.
Fintzel, who will run his sixth marathon, is just happy to be drinking for a cause that he believes in.
“I had a bad scare with hepatitis many years ago and it made me conscious of going out there and doing the right thing,” he said.
Along with Fintzel, Rumrill, an information security consultant, and Olivet are still learning how to throw such an extensive party. They work hard to balance the responsibilities of managing a fundraiser as well as a fun and interesting night on the town, not to mention training for the actual marathon.
“It is learning process,” Fintzel said. “You make mistakes and learn from it and get better going forward.”
The goal is to make everything better next year, from the prizes, which are donated by the establishments along the route, to the amount of money raised. Overall, he vowed to “spruce it up.”
This year Fintzel is not expecting any to eclipse his personal best marathon of 4:02. He has been battling a cold all week and said he will be “taking it easy” and just hopes to finish between 4:30 and 5:00.
For those of us more inclined to Barathons than Marathons, we can only marvel at the exploit.
At Cornwall’s at the end of the night Fintzel reflected on the night and its purpose and raised pint of beer to his lips and smiled.
He was drinking for his liver. Tomorrow he will run for it.
And for yours.
******************************************************************************************************************************
Tomorrow Sports Chutney will be all over the 113th running of the Boston Marathon, stationed right in the party alley on Beacon Street around Mile 25 (Near An Tua Nua, Audubon and O'Leary's, incidentally). Look for live Qik streams, photos, twitters, blog posts and perhaps a video project or two. Stay tuned for some of the more interesting coverage you will find anywhere on the day.
We will be following Andrew Fintzel (bib number 21696) and Scott Rumrill (21811) and Sheri Olivet (21781) via the Athletes Alert Chip and updating via Twitter at Dan_Rowinski.
As you enjoy the revelry on one of the best days in Boston, make sure to actually watch the race and cheer for the Run for Research runners. They wear bright orange caps and t-shirts (along with the white t-shirt pictured in the story above).
No Sports Chutney reporters were seriously hurt in the reporting of the third leg of the Moston Barathon.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
The Best Time to Be in Boston
There is a buzz in the city. The Boston Marathon is on Monday, bringing with it thousands of runners and enthusiasts from around the world. The Sox started a four-game series with the Baltimore Orioles, the Bruins are playing the Canadiens in the playoffs, two teams that need no help creating a buzz all on their own and there are happy people everywhere.
For Boston, it is one of the best weekends of the year.
After a slow start to the spring, the weather decided to cooperate. The temperature sat at 68-degrees all day (and barely got below 60 during the night), one of the very first real warm days of the year. I started my work for the day around noon and when I walked out of my apartment I, surprisingly, realized that the tree by my stoop was in full bloom, See:
I wore sandals and a short-sleeve black button down t-shirt out on assignment and did not regret it. Even the wind, my eternal enemy during New England springs (except for mud, which is thankfully absent in the city), was warm and light. I went up to the Boston Housing Court for some research, taking the green line from Kenmore to Haymarket. Even the North End, known more for its quaint urban charm than natural beauty, had a little bit of aura to it. People sat in front of the courthouse smoking, talking on their phones, basking in the sun. They were not a chipper lot, people at courthouses tend not to be (for obvious reasons) but there was a sense that “well, if I am going to be here, at least it’s nice out.”
Once I was done my natural inclination was just to hop back on the green line and come home. Then something struck me.
To go home was an affront. The world swayed and the gods of spring told me not to commit such a sacrilege. Compelled, I got off the T at Park Street. Much to my delight, I found the Commons to hopping. There were pretty girls laying on the grass, people walking their dogs and an odd person in a polar bear suit with a shopping cart holding a sign “will work for fish.” Check out my walk through the park below (or click here).
I stopped at my apartment for a hot second, then off to the Boston Marathon Expo at Hynes Convention Center. Now, I am not much of a runner anymore (my heyday was in middle school in Maine when we won a couple cross-country championships) but I find the Boston Marathon and all that it entails fascinating. (Stay posted to Sports Chutney on Sunday and Monday for a myriad of marathon coverage.) Once again, pretty girls, this time selling shoes and various other fitness-related sundries and a bonanza of marathon related activities. It even had a bar. I stopped by the American Liver Foundation Run for Research booth to see my man Andy Fintzel (more on that tomorrow) and had a nice chat about the marathon and all things Boston.
I escaped the Expo and got back on the green line at Copley, headed toward Fenway on a very crowded D train. Back at Kenmore I decided to continue my revelry of the Boston scene and detoured down Brookline Ave through Fenway, 15-minutes before first pitch. Now, I have been to a fair amount of major league ballparks but nothing beats the scene at Fenway before a Sox game on a Friday night with beautiful spring. Pretty girls, my favorite kind (decked out in Sox gear), ticket and program criers, drunkards and debauch and a large, green stadium teeming with a heart that pumps the lifeblood of Boston.
This I have seen before, just about everyday during the baseball season, so I did not dwell. I got back to my apartment, opened my windows to let in the still warm spring air and flipped on the Sox game on NESN and watched the hometown boys erase a 7-0 deficit to take a 10-8 win in what could be a turning point in the early season. A fitting end to a busy day, I’ll take it every time.
The rest of the weekend shapes up pretty well. The weather is not quite cooperating as well today, 60-degrees and overcast with a high probability of rain, but there is no shortage of things to do. Today we have a rare triple-decker treat: Two playoff games at the Garden (Celtics v. Bulls at 12:30 and Bruins v. Canadiens at 8:00) and a Sox game at 7:00.
If you have never been to Boston on Patriots Day weekend, you are missing out. It does not get much better than this.