Hoops Ramblings

Wally had a chance to see Adam Morrison play last night, and boy is he good. He's more athletic than Wally thought. He also saw Villanova - what a fun team to watch. It would be very interesting to see Duke play either of those teams in the NCAAs.

The Duke game at Carolina is a week from tonight. 9 ET, ESPN.

Voting against the Green?

Wally's not a big football fan, as he is partial to sports that require more skill, but he is still rooting for one team in this year's Superbowl. Now you may think that Wally's team is the Seattle Seahawks (they're in the Super Bowl) because of their green and white uniforms, but you'd be wrong!

You see, Wally's Uncle Sq. is getting married in the fall (anyone need a green monster for a ring bearer?), and his bride-to-be is a HUGE Steelers fan, so Wally is rooting for the black and gold team. It's not all about the green, you know.

This doesn't mean that Wally will actually watch the game. Actually, he'll be at an "undisclosed location" for the weekend, visiting his cousin, Monterey Wally.

The Best Ever?

JJ Redick dropped 40 on Virginia tonight, his third 40+ game this season on the nation's #2 team. The raging argument is whether he or Adam Morrison is college's best player this year. Wally hasn't seen much of Morrison, so isn't really in a position to say one way or another on that issue.

Wally's seen a fair amount of Duke basketball in the last 15 years. Where does JJ rank at Duke in that time? Well, it appears he will become Duke's all-time leading scorer if he continues at his 27 ppg average, but that is hardly a measure of how good a player he is. Grant Hill and Shane Battier were better all-around players, but what amazes Wally about JJ is that everyone knows what he does and still can't stop it. Has a Duke player ever improved so much over four years? Clearly JJ is the best offensive player at Duke in those 15 years, and his defense and leadership is underrated because his offense is so spectacular. Battier is Wally's favorite player since '91, but JJ may be right there. Enjoy it while you can - this type of player doesn't come along too often. Let's hope he can bring Duke to a fourth national title.

George in 2006!

No, we're not talking about Bush. Wally loved this morning's NYT article on George Hincapie, Lance Armstrong's faithful lieutenant who is gunning for this year's Tour de France:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/26/sports/othersports/26cycling.html?_r=1

(Wally has way too much time to read. He should be helping with the construction of the attic or mowing the lawn.)

George placed 14th in last year's Tour, so he's not a total long shot, but questions abound. Is he too nice? Can he climb the insane mountains of the Tour - on a daily basis? Can he time trial (the so-called race against the clock)? Will the team be as unified as it was in support of Lance, even though there are riders who also have the talent to win the Tour? On the latter point, Wally wants to make sure that Team Discovery doesn't end up like last year's T-Mobile squad, which eerily resembled the Red Sox of the 1980's in their individual focus.

Wally and his posse are off to watch the Duke-VA Tech game. By the way, the Duke women's team DESTROYED the Tennessee Volunteers on Monday. How about both Duke teams in the Final Four?

Le Tour 2006

If you're like Wally, it's never too early to start thinking about the Tour de France. This year's TdF will be wide-open after seven-time winner Lance Armstrong's retirement. Today's NYT had a good article on Lance's role with Team Discovery in '06 and who will lead the team in Le Tour. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/25/sports/othersports/25cycling.html?_r=1

Wally's early vote is George Hincapie, Lance's faithful lieutenant for many years. Regardless of who leads Discovery, it will be an interesting month of July! http://www.letour.fr/2006/TDF/presentation/us/parcours.html Tuesday, July 18 should be fun.

Supreme Court Review: Alito or Wally?

As the Senate Judiciary Committee voted, along party lines, to approve Judge Samuel Alito's nomination to the US Supreme Court and send his nomination to the full Senate for confirmation, Wally wonders: am I qualified for the Supreme Court?

Green monsters are, of course, unrepresented on the Supreme Court, but Wally doesn't believe that seats should be held for people (or monsters, for that matter) with any certain list of immutable characteristics. Although Wally doesn't have a judicial record, his views on the following subjects are well established:

• executive power: he agrees with the Red Sox bringing back Theo Epstein, but doesn't like the Bush administration's views on the supremacy of the executive branch;
• terrorism: anti-Evil Empire!
• the designated hitter rule: against - the Green Monster at Fenway was around well before the American League adopted the DH rule for the 1973 season.
• Roger Clemens: against, since he took the money and got in shape. Wally thinks "Fat Boy" still owes the Sox his salary for 1993-1996 (http://www.baseball-reference.com/c/clemero02.shtml), when he was overpaid and underperformed.
• Quilting: definitely pro! Wally knows where his bread is buttered, and doesn't want to remain in the doghouse after his comments yesterday about the Gilmore Girls! He does, however, stand by his position that Miami Vice was the best TV show in the 80's.

Wally is also clearly smarter than Clarence Thomas and has agreed to ask more questions from the bench if confirmed. Actually, if he agreed not to sleep during oral arguments and not always vote with Scalia, he would be a definite improvement over CT.

Since it appears that Scalito will be confirmed, Wally will have to hold out for a better position, such as Commissioner of Baseball. If Wally became Commissioner, would every game be played at Fenway?

Slow Torture?

As shows on the WB go, Wally was not a fan of "Dawson's Creek" because of the high quotient of teenage angst and overwrought melodrama. Not to mention the fact that Miami Vice used popular music better and had more action.

Wally's co-benefactor, Quilting B, is currently winding her way through "The Gilmore Girls" on DVD while also watching new episodes on DVR. Wally's idea of slow torture is watching TGG on a slow loop - will Lorelei drop out of Yale? Is she the one who's dating Tom Cruise? (No, she was on the Creek.)

Perhaps Wally is feeling cranky after Duke lost to Georgetown on Saturday, but he's often heard that a team learns more in a loss. Duke learned in '92 when it lost to Wake in February, then had a very similar situation at the end of the NCAA Regional Final against Kentucky. We all know what happened there:
http://www.replayphotos.com/The+Shot+Heard+Around+the+World+++Part+1-10-10-369.html

Let's hope for a turnaround against the Castrated Turkeys of Virginia Tech on Thursday. (7 pm; ESPN).

Over and out.

What does Wally do during the offseason?

NOTE: Under his contract, Wally has Sundays off. This column was written by his editor and co-benefactor (i.e. the people who pay the rent).

So what does Wally do when he's not rooting for the Red Sox? Well, there is strength training to get ready for a long baseball season. His benefactors also wondered what else he does to occupy his time, since clearly he's not doing chores around the house, as out our attempts to get Wally to make the bed have, to this point, been an utter failure.

His editors noticed one day that Wally was humming songs by Jan Hammer and Gloria Estefan. So we contacted the Bush Administration, which had a warrentless wiretap (everything's legal post-9/11!) on Wally's phone due to his repeated use of the term "Evil Empire". (The Defense Department also claims Wally has weapons of mass destruction, but that's a story for another day).

The result? We learned that Wally is addicted to the 80's TV series Miami Vice (http://www.miami-vice.org/). The NYT recently had a piece recognizing that Miami Vice led the way in using popular music into TV, and Wally couldn't agree more. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/06/arts/television/06vice.html?ex=1138078800&en=84e8ab29122f9626&ei=5070 Simply the best show of the 80's and well ahead of its time. We're just waiting for pastel jackets and t-shirts to make a comeback.

Seasons one and two are available on DVD (http://www.miamivicedvd.com/). Wally, however, tells us that he has mixed feelings about the Miami Vice movie http://www.miamivice.com/main.html with Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, although it will be directed by Michael Mann, who created the TV series. Stay tuned for Wally's reaction to the movie, although he hopes it doesn't come out during July, when he'll be watching the Tour de France.

A-Indecisive

If you're like Wally, you've been following the will he/won't he saga of whether A-Fraud will play in the World Baseball Classic in March with the sort of attention you paid to "Cops" on a Saturday night while eating boxed macaroni and cheese following two plus hours of basketball in Card Gym. (But enough about law school.) This from a guy who chose to take the money ($252+ mil) to play in Texas when it was clear that Duke's football team had a better chance of winning the BCS than Texas did of winning the World Series. Of course, Wally should not be surprised since A-Fraud later realized that it's not about the Benjamins (but still kept them) and took his overthought personality to the Evil Empire so he could try to win a World Series. (For a good summary, check out Jack Curry's column in the 1/20 NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/20/sports/baseball/20base.html) No such luck so far. The Empire is in a bit of a slump this century.

Speaking of A-Fraud, don't even get Wally started on A-Fraud's chop of Bronson Arroyo in game six of the '04 ALCS. (You can buy a framed version: http://www.nulime.com/p90750/cat3078/Sports-Memorabilia/Baseball/2004-ALCS-Game-6-Turning-Point-Play-Elite-Matted-8x10-Photo.html)

Contrast A-Fraud with another player in NY, Antonio Davis. Wally's not a big NBA fan, claiming that it stands for Nothing But Arrogance, but the suspension of Davis for five games just doesn't sit well with this Green Monster. Davis was playing for the Knicks against the Bulls on Wednesday night when he allegedly saw a man threatening his wife and son in the stands, so he went into the stands to her defense. Now the "fan" is threatening to sue for $1 mil and wants an apology. http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2299677 The NBA suspended Davis for going into the stands. Wally understands the rule, but does the punishment fit the situation?

How about we suspend A-Fraud and let Davis play in the World Baseball Classic? Not sure who is a better clutch hitter.

Congrats to Larry (McMurtry, not Bird) and quote of the week

One of Wally's favorite authors, Larry McMurtry, the prolific novelist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_McMurtry) who wrote Lonesome Dove and many other unforgettable books, won a Golden Globe Monday night for co-writing, with Dianna Ossana, the screenplay for Brokeback Mountain. (If Wally were old enough, he would agree that Brokeback is last year's best film.)

Larry also gave us the quote of the week when he accepted the award and thanked his Hermes 3000 typewriter, "one of the noblest instruments of European genius." No mention of Dr. Pepper.

All-time favorite Duke players

UVA just beat UNC, which is a very good thing. Wally is not a Carolina fan, to say the least.

Wally's been very fortunate to have the chance to watch JJ Redick for almost four years. What a player and boy has he has improved! Some of Wally's other favorite Duke bb players: Grant Hill, Wojo, Trajan Langdon, Shane Battier, and Chris Duhon. Mostly guards and all-around forwards. Wonder why?

JJ missed four free throws in a game last weekend. Shocking. He's as good a shooter as I've ever seen. Okay, Bird was better.

Anyone else have any thoughts on their favorite players?

Theo returns!

Wally is watching the UVA-Carolina game (go Hoos!) and just saw that Theo Epstein is coming back to the Sox in a senior capacity. Not only did he come back to Red Sox Nation, but he didn't join the Evil Empire, a la Johnny Damon. This is our century!

Wally's summer plans

One thing we'll be talking about is cycling. Wally loves to cycle, especially when he's not pedaling. This summer he is planning an excursion to an unnamed country in Europe that looks remarkably like a boot.

Wally is also a huge college basketball fan, which keeps him out of trouble in the cold months before the baseball season begins. (Cycling season never really ends.) Hopefully everyone got a chance to see Wally's #1 Duke Blue Devils beat NC State on Wednesday night: http://www.dukebasketballreport.com/summaries/

Welcome to my world ....

Welcome to the World of Wally the Green Monster, the unofficial blog of the Red Sox mascot, who happens to currently live in New Jersey.

Does everyone know that Wally now has a girlfriend, Molly? Check this out:

http://www.theremyreport.com/remy/merchandise.do

Soon we will deal with the appropriate topics for this blog.