NBA Champs

Photo from the Boston Globe

Congragulations!

The funeral

Mark was one of the friendliest and most outgoing people I have ever met. He loved life, and made me love life. He was an eternal optimist, and could always find the good in everything and everyone. To him, the word ugly didn't exist; there was beauty in all, and his funeral reflected it.

It was sunny and warm today, the perfect day to have a funeral, if there is such a thing. The church was decorated in wonderful, bright flowers, the sun was seeping through the stain glassed windows, turning the church from a dull white, into a 3-D rainbow. It was more of a celebration of a life, than a mourning of a death. And that is how he would have wanted it to be.

Mark's mother asked me to select the songs that would be played, because I knew more about him and his musical taste than anybody in his family did. I thought I would have a hard time doing this, but as I sat thinking about it yesterday, the songs just popped into my head, as though Mark was telling them to me.

His favorite band was the Beatles, so I had to choose Yesterday. The next song I chose was Imagine by John Lennon. This song describes Mark perfectly, and our Art teacher played it every day in class, and he would always sing along. The one thing Mark and I really bonded over that none of my other friends and I did was our love of Boston sports, so I had to choose Beautiful Day, the Patriots Championship song.

I think a lot of people were offended by the final song I chose, and I thought about leaving it out, but then I thought about all of the people who hadn't lived to see a Sox World Series win, and Mark was lucky enough to see two before he died. He lived through the Sox, and got so excited over one of their wins in July once, that he accidentally broke a window in my house jumping up and down and dancing in delight, so I couldn't leave out Tessie.

Funerals are supposed to be sad, and involve a lot of crying, but my eyes remained dry throughout the service. I cried most of the past few days, so I probably didn't have any tears left to shed, but even If I did, I don't think they would have come out. Mark hated to see anybody upset, and crying isn't going to make the pain go away. Nothing is. The best I can do is to go about my life as best I can, and let time dull the pain.

I'll miss him

It was my first day of Kindergarten, and I didn't know anybody in my class. I was shy, and scared, not knowing what to expect. But then he came up to me, introduced himself, and declared that we would be friends for the rest of our lives.

He was wearing giant glasses, bright red overalls, and his favorite Pokemon shirt. He had buck teeth, and long floppy hair. I thought he was crazy, and weird, and I didn't want to be anywhere near him, let alone his friend for the rest of my life. I took him for granted, made fun of him behind his back, and never thought that I would miss him when he was gone. Yet he would always be the first person to greet me in the morning.

Every day he would come sit beside me, ask me random questions, and offer to share his candy bar with me. No matter how much I wanted him to, he would never leave me alone. But bit by bit, day by day, I began to look forward to seeing him. One day in late May when he was absent from school, because he had a cold, I realized that I wanted to be his friend. I missed his friendly nature, and the way he looked at me when I would answer his questions, like the words I were saying were the most important and interesting words he would ever hear.

The next day, I told him that I wanted to be his friend, and he told me that he knew I would from day one. I was shocked at how much confidence he had in himself, and how sure he was of himself.

Over the past 10 years, he has been there for me when I needed him to most. He would always have encouraging words to tell me when I was feeling down. He supported me in anything I wanted to do, and he guided me through life, being my voice of reason. He was never afraid to tell me when I was wrong, or that he was disappointed in me. He was a Red Sox fanatic, and helped me though all of their tough losses, and celebrated their triumphs with me.

One week ago, he was crossing the road coming back to school after lunch, when a car hit him. He fractured his skull, and broke his leg in two places. I went to see him yesterday for the first time since his accident, and he told me that this was the end of the road for him. I didn't want to believe it, but he was right. He died today at 2:07pm.

It is hard to believe that at first I wanted to have no part of him, but now I am forced to live the rest of my life without him. He taught me how to be a better person, and I will never forget him.

Mark Adams, July 22, 1992- April 30, 2008.

WTF???

Dear Red Sox batters,

What the hell was that? Getting 2-hit by the Rays after Beckett struck out 14 is just unacceptable. Our starters are out there busting their asses for you guys, and the best you can do is 1 run in the past 2 games?

And what is up with all of the swinging at first pitches? Is that what you have been taught to do? I don't think so, so stop it RIGHT NOW!

Tomorrow is an off day for you guys, and you had better spend it learning how to hit, because I don't think you will want to mess with Beckett the next time you fail to score a run for him.

No love,

Mary

P.S. Manny? Did you seriously steal a base???

It was good fun while it lasted

The Bruins season ended as of Tuesday. I am not as angry or dissappionted as I thought I would be. Sure, I wanted them to win game 7 , but they worked their butts off this entire season just to get to game 7, and I couldn't be prouder of this group of guys. They were an entertaining group of guys to watch, and I can't wait to see what they will do next season. This season, the Habs were just simply better than them. Or at least the better divers.

I still hope the Canadiens come down with the plague that lasts the rest of the season, Carey Price gets attacked by a swarm of locusts, or the NHL finds a bunch of PEDs in Kovalev's possession, so he gets suspended from the NHL for life, but I have to give them at least a little credit. I don't know how they are going to make it past the Flyers in the next round, if it took them 7 games to beat the B's.

Speaking of being proud of a team, I am super proud of the Sox. They flew around the world, and caught the plague somewhere in there, but are still first in the Al East with a record of 15-9. I was predicting a .500 April from them, but so far they have blown that out of the water.

Pedroia is leading the league in doubles, Dausuke is leading the league in wins, Paps is second in the league with 8 saves, and Manny and Youk are first and second, respectively, in batting average.

They have also mastered the come from behind win, and have scoring in the 8th inning down to a T, something they never got quite right last year.

Go Sox! And Celts, who are leading their first round playoff series against the Atlanta Hawks 2-0.

Incredible

Photo by Bill Sikes from Yahoo.com

Last night's third period of the the Bruins/Habs game was unlike any other third period I have ever seen. It exemplified what being a Bruin means this season.

Coming in to the playoffs as the number eight seed, and playing against a team they have failed to beat once in the regular season, it seemed to most of the hockey analysts, and most of the fans that a Habs sweep was pretty much a sure thing. The Canadiens had outplayed the Bruins in every facet of the game, and only a fool would suggest a Bruins series win.

Luckily, the Bruins are a bunch of fools.

They didn't lose faith in themselves, instead thinking this match up was destiny, and if they were going to make a run at the Stanley Cup, taking out the one team who they couldn't seem to beat, and the one team they most wanted to beat, was the only way to go.

After losing the first two games, the second one being an overtime thriller lost on a ridiculous penalty, the fifth Bruins penalty in a row, I began to lose hope in this team even winning one game, let alone forcing a game 7.

Then came game three. It also needed overtime to decide a winner, this time the Bruins came out on top, thanks to a Savard goal on a delayed penalty. Suddenly the Bruins were back in the series. Down 2 games to 1, but still in it.

They lost game 4 1-0, but outplayed the Habs, like they did in most of the series. After this game, even though it put them down 3-1, my faith in this team was restored. In game three they proved that they could in fact beat Montreal, and in game 4, they proved that they could outplay them, by a lot; making up for their lack of speed, with their grit, size, and heart.

In game 5, everything finally came together for the Bruins. They matched their entire offensive output in games 1-4, scoring 5 goals, 4 in the 3rd period. I didn't get to see much of this game, but the pieces I did manage to watch were phenomenal.

In the playoffs, it no longer becomes a question of which team has the most talent, but a question of which team wants it more. In game 6, the Bruins definitely wanted it more. Whatever the Habs threw at them, no matter how many times they evened the score, or went ahead, the Bruins just shrugged it off, and continued to let their heart show through, as they played, not for themselves, for for each other.

Every single person on the team contributed to the 5-4 win. kessel had two goals, Sobotka scored a goal, Sturm scored the game winner, Thomas made huge saves when he needed them the most, and Lucic went around the ice energizing everybody on the team, and hitting everything with a CH he could find.

Game 6 was by far the craziest game I have ever watched, and will no doubt be the craziest game in the playoffs.

With the series now tied 3 games apiece, all of the momentum the Habs had going into this series has been turned over to the Bruins. Everything is equal. There is no advantage for either team.

In game 7, anything can happen.

First place, again

Photo by Mark Duncan from Yahoo.com

The Sox have taken over first place in the A.L. East with their thrilling win last night.

The Sox have had ninth inning homers to win the game in back to back games, and seem to be finally getting it together.

I bet Cleveland fans are beginning to hate the Sox. They have beaten the Indians 5 straight times, dating back last year's ALCS. Each time, the Indians have seemed to be in a good position to win, only to have it slowly slip from their grasp.

As a Sox fan, I am loving it, but it is reminding me a bit of the Sox/Yanks pre-2004. The story of the one team that seems to be ready to crush any kind of hope you had for your team to have any success right out of you, and make you wish that you weren't born, or a bolt of lightening would come down and strike you to put you out of your misery after some particularly devastating losses.

I was starting to feel sorry for the Cleveland fans last night, until I remembered that they wave towels. I hate towels.

I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the Midges, and them eliminating the Yanks from the playoffs, thus saving me from having to break my tv in frustration of Buck and McCarver's giant mancrush on Jeter.

In saying that, I hope the Sox crush them every time we play them.