"Hi there. My name is James Parkinson. I have spent time working for a sports website (fanstop.com) and I recently finished an internship with the Modesto A's (single A affiliate of the Oakland A's. I am from Boston originally, and as a die heard sox fan, I have been and avid repeat visitor of your web site with great regularity ever since the Curt Schilling acquisition. I am immensely impressed by the passionate, daily updates and hilarious headlines that make your website so colorful. Recently, you have started to post political messages on the site. The most recent one being a sports-related republican article criticizing John Kerry and Ted Kennedy's.

"I don't feel inclined to ask anyone to change their opinion, or to post ideas they do not believe in. However, I will allow my own voice to be heard. I am a very proud Democrat and a very proud Red Sox fan. Overall, the sports world is heavily dominated by those of the right wing, but I also know that progressives like myself also live and die with every Red Sox season. I love the dirtdogs, and I would hate to lose that love (especially in the heat of this pennant race) over an over-abundance of conservative viewpoints finding their way onto your website. Please consider your entire audience when you wander away from the topic of sports into other areas. Keep up the great work.

- James Parkinson"

"...it's best that Bush and Kerry focus on the things our country needs at this time, and if they focus entirely on that for a few days at a time without watching the latest baseball results - that's good for us - let 'em get their baseball facts mixed up from time to time and get our economy taken care of correctly and our education system and health care and national security going well also.

"I really think you owe it to people to print another viewpoint on the angry rant by the likely Bush voter. I like you guys a lot - I think you have to be fair with what you say (and what you reprint by other people in general is taken by most on your site as what you say), and you're calling a kettle black (that's really only light black in this case), when you're jet black on the same issue."

"Why Screw up Karma by injecting Politics on the sight??? Don’t divide the Nation."

UMass mirror. The addition of Joe Torre to the original Rear View Mirror graphic was done by graphic designer Billy Knight (all-time Home Run leader at UMass-Amherst) down in Houston, Texas. He calls home every night to find out what's going on during every Sox game.

More love from the mailbag:

Dear Dogs,

"I find it interesting that those who attempt to mediate the Nation seem to feel wearing Yankees Suck t-shirts will somehow visit bad karma on the Red Sox universe. That somehow we disgrace our very selves for expressing a perfectly natural and normal feeling, that indeed, the New York Yankees do in fact, suck. Well, they do win, that’s true. But they still suck, because they are the Yankees, and because of George and lot’s of other silly or not-so-silly reasons...

"If I feel like expressing the fact I hate the gawd damn (don’t want to offend anybody!) Yankees I am going to gawd damn well do it. And anybody who visits pseudo-judgment on me for wearing that shirt can wrestle with their own superiority complex now or later, it doesn’t make a difference to me...

Alex Klenman"

Beating Williamson with a dead horse.

8.20.04: Here we go again. Jeff Horrigan dusts off the old Schilling-Williamson tiff in today's Herald notebook:

"What happened inside the clubhouse hasn't been disclosed, but a comment made by Curt Schilling, who was in there at the time, led to an exchange of harsh words between him and Williamson. Williamson was sent back to Boston the following day, and rumors of an incident were rampant prior to the final game of the Yankees' three-game sweep.

"Schilling refused to discuss specifics of what happened, but did say: "We're grown men. There are going to be times when tension increases in this clubhouse because we're not doing well... This isn't about anybody coming in there and chewing anybody's ass out. This is about making sure the name on the front of the jersey is more important than the name on the back."

"Williamson still won't discuss what happened, but Schilling's quote infuriated him.

""When a guy says you have to play for the name on the front of your jersey and not the back, that hurts," he said. "I fight for my teammates. That's why I was trying to pitch through this."

"Williamson landed on the DL again with what was diagnosed as an impinged nerve in his right forearm, but the documented injury did not ease his hurt feelings. When asked if Schilling had apologized in any form, Williamson curtly said: "No and I didn't expect one.""

Let's get this straight for the last time. Curt NEVER questioned Williamson about the extent of his injury, his stamina, or anything related to Scott's health. Period. Steve Buckley "looks like Schilling got it wrong this time" and Sean McAdam "looks like Schilling picked a bad time to make those comments" are completely wrong in what they are assuming Schilling's private conversation with Williamson was about. Yet the misinformed opinions keep pouring out of the mainstream media on this tired subject.

As Schilling wrote himself on RedSoxNation.net back in July regarding these ongoing accusations "I never have, and never will, question a teammate being hurt, never. What you read in the papers (regarding the topic of discussion with Williamson) was false, wrong, and totally untrue."

Windy City Nation.

8.15.04: An Evening of Red Sox Baseball in Chicago with Gordon Edes to benefit The Jimmy Fund of the Dana-Farber Cancer Insitute

On Saturday, August 21st from 7:00-10:00pm, please join the Boston Globe's Gordon Edes to talk all things baseball at Jack Sullivan’s in Lincoln Park in Chicago (Jack Sullivan’s (773-549-9009), located at 2147 N. Clybourn, just south of Webster Avenue).

The cost of entry is a $20 donation, which includes three hours of unlimited beer and wine.

This evening will be a great chance to gain inside knowledge into the Red Sox in an intimate and casual setting. Everyone attending will get the chance to chat with Gordon, who will also host an open Q&A session as well as a game of Red Sox Jeopardy, where two lucky fans will get to compete for a special prize.

At the event, there will be several items up for auction/raffle. These include: • A Grand Prize Package (includes round-trip airfare tickets/hotel to a Red Sox game in Boston where Gordon will treat the lucky winners to a behind-the-scenes tour of historic Fenway Park); • A Curt Schilling model Wilson A-2000 glove; • Tickets to one of next year’s Red Sox-White Sox games at US Cellular Field in Chicago; • Autographed copies of David Halberstam’s "The Teammates" (very rare…signed by each of Pesky, Doerr, DiMaggio and Halberstam) and "Summer of ‘49"; • Other autographed memorabilia, bobbleheads, and more!

Space is limited, so email [email protected] to get your tickets now. Each ticket purchased in advance will receive one free entry into the grand prize raffle (additional entries can be purchased in advance or at the event).

Let the music do the hitting.

8.15.04: Following are some of the Red Sox hitters music selections as they step into the batter's box. Thanks to Megan over at the Ivory Tower on Yawkey Way for pulling this together for us:

Let's start with Manny as he has the most music. Some come off of his own Latino mix CDs (no titles or artists) but he has some of the following as well:

Ortiz holds a smudge.

8.5.04: "Revenge served cold: Former Twin David Ortiz left a reminder of his visit with the Boston Red Sox over the weekend, in the form of an eye-black stripe around third baseman Corey Koskie's head and smudges on his face.

Ortiz, who vowed revenge on Koskie for a spring 2002 prank in which Koskie put peanut butter in Ortiz's shorts, spread the black gunk inside the band of Koskie's cap before he and the Red Sox departed Sunday. Koskie did early work on the field and at least one interview before discovering the mess."

Not so great Scott, Trot.

7.30.04: The consummate team player, Ironman Scott Williamson, started the eighth inning for the PawSox against the SkyChiefs at P&C Stadium in Syracuse last night and only lasted 1/3 of an inning. He walked three, hit a batter and gave up a bases-loaded three-run double. The good news is the guy who throws his coaches under the bus better than he throws a baseball didn't cost Theo $10 million like his PawSox counterpart BK (Bad Karma).

It's time to take a long, hard look at the Carolina conditioning program of Trot Nixon and determine what really led to his severe back and leg injuries that developed before he even set foot on a major league field in 2004. John Maynard, Trey Wyatt, and Jeremy Boone simply have to be held accountable for this disasterous off-season training regimen. The Mickey Mantle approach is obviously a better option than the Navy Seal program these guys have been putting him through in the winter. But unfortunately the horses have already left the barn as Trot's 2004 return to form remains in serious jeopardy.

Lucchinotes: Lowe hanging fruit.

7.29.04: Larry Lucchino made his weekly appearance on WEEI's Dennis and Callahan with Greg Dickerson and Michael Holley this morning and talked about the Sox trade bait, and the non-coddling of superstars:

I think Nomar is likely to be a member of the Red Sox on August 1, and I think we’re going to see a productive Nomar Garciaparra in the second half, that’s my expectation.

I actually think Derek has a history, a track record of having a productive second half and I think he has all the incentive in the world to show his teammates, to show the marketplace and to show himself what he can do. So I do think he’s going to get his act together and be helpful. Do I think it will be with this team? I think it’s possible that it will be with this team. I think that a lot of people are asking about him, a lot of people have an interest in him because he does have the history and he’s got the kind of major league stuff that attracts other teams, so I’m not going to predict whether he’s going to be here, or not be here, except my general expectation is, without more specific probabilities of departure, then the guy’s likely to stay… I do think we have to remember there are 25 different people with 25 different personalities and some guys are more sensitive to some of these trade rumor talks than others. We can’t do much about it because we do have a no-trade policy and people on other clubs know that and they can talk to us about any of our players, because they know that they’re out there and theoretically are available. But do I think Lowe… there is this notion that he is more sensitive about some of these things than others. I have no way of knowing first hand information, he’s never complained to me directly about it. I don’t know if he’s complained to anyone in the front office about it. On the contrary, he’s taken a sort of jocular approach to all this saying "well maybe I’ll be around, maybe I won’t be around, we’ll see what happens." So his comments seem to suggest that he knows that’s part of the business.

Superstar coddling: That is a much bigger issue in the media’s mind than it is in the clubhouse. I don’t there is this sense of resentment or concern on the part of the players… there are 25 different personalities… we pay the manager to manage those personalities, and some guys have to be treated with a velvet glove, some guys have to be treated with a whip hand, some guys have to be treated with a sense of humor, some guys need a set of simple rules to follow. I think it’s important that the manager recognize how he can get the most out of an individual player, and I really don’t think there is this coddling of players. There an adjustment that’s made from time to time so that players are rested, and players can perform throughout the entire season. There’s another basic premise: it’s a grind, 162 games all the travel over a long season, it’s a grind. Listen to the WEEI audio of Lucchino's interview here.

More revenue. Less sharing.

7.28.04: The DNC circus may not be the best thing for Boston, but it’s certainly benefiting the Red Sox. Boston Dirt Dogs has learned that all week long, companies have rented Fenway Park for various functions, and most include allowing the guests to take batting practice (which is basically three swings), tour the warning track, take some hacks in the batting cage under center field, throw off the bullpen mound with a radar to clock their velocity, and free beer and food (mostly hot dogs and chicken fingers). Plus, some retired Sox players have been on hand to sign autographs. So far, Jim Rice, Luis Tiant, Jim Lonborg, Dwight Evans, and Rich Gedman (who is in MUCH better shape today than he ever was while playing), and Dick Radatz have stopped by. They've all been on their best behavior.

The groups also tour the clubhouse, which is rare. It costs these companies $250,000 for four hours, and that's a lot of coin. Any money the Sox receive from this is non-revenue sharing profit, which is why the Sox are really pushing for more functions in the .406 club, right field roof, etc. None of those activities count toward their revenue, as far as MLB is concerned. -- Lucchino confirms Boston Dirt Dogs report.

The Apocalypse is upon us.

The new star of the Olympia Sports commercial is daydreaming about appearing in the World Series with the Boston Red Sox when the sales guy shows him a new pair of size 11 cleats. The superstar takes his new shoes, then gives a deadpan crazy stare into the camera. He's a natural actor on camera. Better than Millar with his chicken. Or Curt hitchhiking to break curses (J. Walter Nonsense). Who is this new star of the silver screen? Who, but Manuel Aristides Ramirez.

No hate, just respect.

Schill is crystal clear on nyyfans.com: "The YH hat situation is a bit out of hand though, I wore it because someone gave it to me, and I am a Red Sock. I've stated many times that there is ZERO hatred on the field between these two teams, for the most part, zero. Probably as much respect as anything. FWIW I don't hate anyone, or anything for that matter.

"The hatred part is in the stands and in the media, they need that sorta stuff for material, and they make it into their own little story often times. What they don't make up, fans seem to give them willingly."

For the last time, real Sox fans don’t wear that crap. And they don’t promote curses.

Jerry-Edwards, that’s the ticket.

The chant was one of the loudest of the night "Kerry! ... Kerry! ... Kerry!" during the seventh inning of Sunday night’s game at Fenway. But looking down a few sections we could see that faux-fan John Kerry had not budged from Henrytown, where he was busy hugging and kissing and high-fiving all night. Why the chant? Suddenly it got louder, and it became clear that it was actually "Jerry! ... Jerry! ... Jerry!" for Jerry Springer, who sprung out of his seat behind the Sox dugout to get himself a hot dog and beer.

No surprise that Springer was there. The Fenway grandstand was a virtual Springer show set, full of morons and rejects with their Yankees and Jeter’s sore throat chants, and wearing their trashy, petty "take your 26 rings and shove them..." shirts (wonder if these godawful t-shirts were designed by the ketchup heiress herself?). And those were the women.

Tussle then Russell.

I caught the Fight Club wraslin’ match Saturday while getting ready for the Globe’s media party at the beautiful convention center in downtown Boston, but had to leave the house with the score 10-8 Yanks. While I was looking for a TV, radio, or Internet kiosk to confirm that the Sox had indeed lost the game as I assumed, I saw the unmistakable image of the greatest team player that ever lived, Celtics legend Bill Russell, sitting in the corner. I immediately went over with my hand extended on the chance that Russ would be in a rare good mood. He was. Our conversation was brief. I thanked him for all he had done for Boston and was glad to see that he was back in the city that treated him so poorly, for so long (OK, they must have paid Bill a bundle to appear in the Boston2004 DNC radio spots where he talks about Boston as a "city of human kindness"). No doubt Bill Mueller hit the game winning at the precise moment I was shaking Bill Russell’s magic hand. No doubt.

No more flak for Ben.

Say what you want about Ben Affleck’s politics and womanizing during the DNC, but anybody that is willing to jaw with A-Fraud from Steinbrenner’s seat, as Ben did on Sunday night, is the real deal. He remains a better celeb rep of The Nation than Mike O’Malley and Michael Chiklis combined.

Jason lives.

Get well soon Jason Giambi. Because we want to beat the Yankees with your overrated ass in the lineup in October. No intestinal entamoeba histeroidlytica parasite jokes in this space.

Sleepless in Boston.

Like most of Boston, I was so wiped out after the DNC-Yankee weekend that I made Mariah Carey look like Rip Van Winkle.

Here We Go Red Sox.