Don Gillis

Anyone outside of the Boston area probably isn't going to know who I'm talking about, but a Boston sportscasting legend has passed away and it's got me thinking about how fortunate I am to have grown up in such a sports-rich area of the country like New England.

Don Gillis, considered one of the pioneers of the local sports broadcast, passed away yesterday at the age of 85. His obit is here and Boston Globe sports scribe Bob Ryan wrote a great tribute piece for today's Globe.

Gillis retired in the early 1980s and I haven't thought about him in a while, but hearing of his passing brought me back to when I was a kid and (even at the tender age of 7 or 8) I was bit of a news junkie. I can remember the opening theme song to WCVB Channel 5's news (Channel 5 is the ABC affiliate in Boston) and hearing the announcer say, "Now ... Natalie Jacobson, Chet Curtis, Dick Albert with the weather and Don Gillis on sports ... this, is Newscenter 5." Man, I remember the music, the graphics, everything.

Gillis was so cool to watch. He had such a great voice and there was no flash with him, he was just someone who knew sports and wanted to tell the audience what happened. Admittedly, I wasn't a huge sports fan as a little kid, but I always liked his part of the newscast.

He also hosted the Candlepin Bowling show, which actually was fun to watch because, again, it was Don Gillis.

Those of us who tune into our local news for the Sports report can thank Gillis for what we are watching and how it's being presented. He's widely credited with creating the highlight reel and playing highlights and showing graphics during the broadcast.

It's a cliché but it's true ... there'll never be another one like Don Gillis.

Red Sox batting stances

I posted this on my Red Sox blog, too ...

This is a classic example of someone with too much time on their hands but damn it's funny:

The countdown is on ...

... to May 2.

Red Sox- NY Yankees "rivalry"

A cross-mojonation thing here, baby ... I posted this first on my Red Sox blog ...

With three of the 19(!) games between the Sox and Yankees behind us and two in the Bronx tonight, I thought it a good time to comment on this "rivalry".

First of all, it's not a rivalry ... 26 WS titles to 2 does not a rivalry make. It's more of a jealousy on the part of Red Sox Nation. At least until 2004 and then 2007 and the fact that NY hasn't appeared in the October Classic since 2000, let alone win one since then.

Besides the obvious reason, I'm so glad the Sox won the WS hardware twice in the past four years because it's really taken the edge off of this rivalry talk. You can see the difference in the media already, like Fox when they cover these games. Don't get me wrong, Fox is completely obnoxious, but not quite as bad with the events of the past few years.

(Speaking of Fox and all things obnoxious, is there anyone more annoying than Jeanne Zelasko? Good lord ... every time I see her on TV and hear that grating voice, I want to shove hot pokers in my eyes. She knows absolutely nothing about baseball. But I digress ...)

I still think it's ridiculous that the MLB schedule makers pit Boston and NY against each other 19 times a season. That is, until you consider the fact it's all about the money and god forbid MLB doesn't get even more revenue, right? Yeesh.

I haven't been to a Sox-Yankees game in years and the last one I went to, Kell and I swore we'd never go another one because of how obnoxious the fans were ... especially, I'm sad to say, the Boston fans. There was noting worse than seeing pre-teens and teenage girls wearing t-shirts that said "Jeter Swallows" ... disgusting.

Anyway, here's hoping this toning down of the "rivalry" continues ... we'd all be better off for it.

Red Lights of Death and why Best Buy rules

Noooooooooooooooooo!

This is the thing every Xbox 360 owner fears ... the 360 "red lights of death" which means your beloved machine is dead.

This was a wide-spread problem when the 360 debuted in late 2005. The first gen 360s, of which mine was, had problems with overheating, screen freezing during game play, hard drives crashing, etc. But the biggest problem was overheating. Two of my friends who bought 360s when they first came out had the RLOD on their machines, so I should have known it was only a matter of time for mine.

I bought my first 360 in June, 2007 and didn't realize (until yesterday) that is was a first gen machine, manufactured in Jan., 2006. So I went to play my favorite game du jour, Call of Duty 4, on Saturday and after about 10 minutes ... screen freeze. Uh oh ... never did that before. Re-booted, seemed OK. Played Sunday night ... screen freeze. Re-booted ... red lights of death. Crap crap crap crap crap crap.

Putting it into perspective, I shrugged it off because, as much of a bummer as a dead 360 is, it was still under warranty so I knew it'd be fixed by M$ for free. Granted, I'd be offline for a couple of weeks, but then that meant I'd have to pick up a book, go for a walk or spend more time with my family. (I keed, of course, I really play mostly at night after the family goes to bed.)

Then I remembered that when I bought the 360, I also bought Best Buy's 2-year Replacement Plan for $50, which says they replace the defective equipment with a brand new machine for free for two years from the purchase date (unlike M$, which sends you a refurbished machine, something that gave me the heebies and the geebies). When I bought my first 360, it seemed like cheap insurance so I ponied up the extra coin.

Now, the Replacement Plan contract says not to go to the store to get a new machine. You have to call a number, get an authorization code, send the machine, yadda yadda yadda. But, there's a BB near my house, so I went there anyway yesterday thinking the worse that can happen is that they don't let me do the exchange and I have to do it the way the RP states. Here's what happened when I walked up to the Customer Service counter with my dead comrade:

Me: Hi. My 360 is dead. Here's my Replacement Plan paperwork.
BB person: < looks over the paperwork > No problem. Go get another 360 and we'll take care of it.

Now, I had heard horror stories about BB and their Replacement Plan and it being a real hassle to get this done, so I still didn't think it was going to be this easy.

So I bring the new 360 up to the desk. The CS Rep scans everything, hands me the new machine (they don't give you all of the peripherals when doing this type of replacement, just the console itself) and I was done. Four points here:

1. I now have a brand new 360 (manufactured less than 3 months ago) that I didn't have to send out to get repaired.
   
2. The Replacement Plan contract from my original 360 transfered to the new 360.
   
3. The Customer Service Rep didn't take the HD off of the new machine as he should have, so now I have a spare (which I've since sold).
   
4. Because of the price drop since I bought my old 360, I have $54 in credit at Best Buy.

Yup, sometimes it really is that simple and all works out.

I heart Best Buy.

Jay Leno is an idiot

And this story proves it.

Wow ... just ... wow

I just read this story on espn.com and I still can't believe it.

I literally don't know what else to type, so I'll stop.

F@#$%*g Wal-Mart, Part 2

I'll give props when props are due, as Wal-Mart has relented and is not going to sue this former employee.

But Wal-Mart still sucks and I hate them. I'm sure they only reason they reversed themselves in this case is because of the media backlash the received and the potential positive publicity they'll get because of this change.

F@&* Wal-Mart.