Awesome Old Song of the Week: "It Wasn't Me" by Shaggy (brought to you by the return of Tom Brady)

The last time the Patriots played the first four games of a season without an appearance from Tom Brady?  In 2000, when they started 0-4.  Brady made his widely unheralded NFL debut on Thanksgiving day of that year, during a 34-9 loss in Detroit.  Tom was 1-3 for 6 yards (slightly less productive than the 28-40 for 406 yards he put up Sunday to kick off his 17th season in the league).

Climbing up the pop charts that week was Shaggy's It Wasn't Me:





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I wonder how foolish the Nationals feel now for shutting down Stephen Strasburg back in 2012?

In 2012, I wrote a blog titled The Washington Nationals are out of their freaking minds.  At the time, they had the best record in baseball and were likely World Series favorites.  Washington voluntarily shut down Stephen Strasburg after 159.1 innings in an attempt to keep him healthy for future seasons.  Without their stud pitcher, the Nationals lost in the Division Series to St. Louis and blew a chance to win the first championship in franchise history.

A year later, the Nationals missed the 2013 playoffs and Strasburg spent some time on the DL.

In 2014, Washington won the National League East, Strasburg was healthy and threw a career-high 215 innings, but the Nats again fell in the NLDS, this time to San Francisco.

Last season, the 2015 Nationals failed to reach the postseason and injuries limited Strasburg to 127.1 innings.

And now, in 2016, the Nats are back atop the NL East, but once again they'll enter the playoffs without Strasburg, who's battled a sore elbow and hasn't pitched effectively since August 1.

How's that plan from 2012 looking these days?


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Awesome Old Video Clip of the Week: David Ortiz's first home run with the Red Sox

I don't even know where to begin to attempt to write some sort of David Ortiz career retrospective, so on the day of his last regular-season game, I'll just go with this:

In his sixth season with the Twins, a 26-year-old Ortiz hit 20 homers and drove in 75 runs in only 412 at-bats, but Minnesota released him anyway in the fall of 2002.

Ortiz's Boston career began as a platoon player, splitting time with Jeremy Giambi.  Big Papi's first Red Sox home run, the 59th of his career, didn't come until April 27, 2003, in Boston's 25th game of the season:



Ha, remember J-Lo and Ben Affleck?  They were the story that day in Anaheim--nobody on the planet could've guessed Ortiz would slug another 482 homers in a Sox uniform (and 17 more in the playoffs).  Ortiz didn't go yard again until May 24th of that year, game No. 48.  In fact, following a 6-4 win over the Tigers on June 26, Ortiz had a total of just three home runs for the 45-32 Red Sox.

However, after finally winning the full-time DH job, Papi blasted 28 dingers over Boston's last 85 games in 2003 (for a total of 31 in 448 at-bats), and the rest is history.


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Red Sox reliever Robbie Ross Jr. starred in Entourage movie as kid who used to see dead people?

Everybody remembers Haley Joel Osment from his role in the 1999 film The Sixth Sense:



Not as well known, however, is the fact that he played a major role in 2015's Entourage movie:



Osment's character in Entourage is basically the identical twin of Red Sox pitcher Robbie Ross Jr.:

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Awesome Strikeout Records of the Week: 1986 Roger Clemens, and the Red Sox on Sunday

On April 29, 1986, Roger Clemens struck out 20 Seattle Mariners, the most ever in a nine-inning game (a record tied by Clemens again in 1996, by Kerry Wood in 1998, and by Max Scherzer this year):



Sunday, Eduardo Rodriguez (13), Heath Hembree (5), Matt Barnes (1) and Joe Kelly (2) struck out a combined 21 batters through nine innings, something no MLB team had ever done before.  Kelly punched out two more Rays in the 10th, giving the Red Sox a major league record 23 Ks for a 10-inning contest.  Boston also struck out 11 consecutive hitters spanning the fourth through seventh innings, another all-time record.

Richie Shaffer's sac fly in the 2nd inning was the last ball Tampa put in play. In case you're not watching, we're now in the 8th inning.

— Mark Van Deusen (@LucidSportsFan) September 25, 2016

The Sox's 11th straight victory (which tied them with Texas for the best record in the American League) came in large part due to the most bizarre play at the plate that anyone has ever seen:

Pedroia is just on another level pic.twitter.com/h94yfYe88Y

— Roark Thomas (@RoarkMThomas) September 25, 2016

I think Dustin Pedroia was out (he was tagged by the glove before the ball came loose on the second contact with his leg), but I'm not complaining.  Neither was Mookie Betts, who did the Macarena postgame:

Mookie does the macarena
during #WinDanceRepeat
Let's go Red Sox!pic.twitter.com/Xi6paPV2FS

— Boston Sports News (@BostonSprtsNews) September 25, 2016

Mookie just did the Macarena like I told him too! (I guess it's possible some other people might've mentioned it as well...) https://t.co/t5ZOhaVblO

— Mark Van Deusen (@LucidSportsFan) September 25, 2016

@mookiebetts The Macarena! Little known fact, it was played at Fenway in the 8th inning back in 1996 before Sweet Caroline later took over.

— Mark Van Deusen (@LucidSportsFan) September 24, 2016

RELATED:
Can this video from the 1996 DNC actually be real? (Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Macarena")


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Ode to Kevin Garnett compilation blog

I didn't start seriously writing about the NBA until 2012, so everything I have on Kevin Garnett is from well past his prime--that doesn't mean there weren't still plenty of great moments though.  In mostly chronological order, here's my own personal KG highlight reel:

Out of a million KG highlights, this is the one I remember most. Was in the building for '08 clincher. https://t.co/O8nzVbAPnI @CelticsLife

— Mark Van Deusen (@LucidSportsFan) September 23, 2016

Kevin Garnett could fly a boat to the moon. https://t.co/qduM10WhrT

— Mark Van Deusen (@LucidSportsFan) September 23, 2016

Kevin Garnett's last Gino Time?

2015-16 A Season Of Milestones For Kevin Garnett

Remember when Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury wanted an all-nude ESPN The Magazine?

Kevin Garnett is NOT interested in his coach's stories about the Raptors

Year 7 of a 3-year plan (which never happened because) It's a sad day for the Boston Celtics

The 18 greatest Celtics of all time (I admittedly missed on Pierce, we'll see about KG)

For Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and the Garden crowd, it was a game unlike any other

Will KG and Pierce ever show there age?

Usain Bolt is a huge fan of Kevin Garnett and the Celtics

Kevin Garnett is rebounding at a historic rate, and he's getting better as the series goes on

Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce used to "break vases" together twenty-some years ago

Here's why Kevin Garnett is done with All-Star Games

Is this as good as it gets? (Garnett finds his youth against his former ballclub)

Kevin Garnett plays point guard?

KG focused on his Secret Santa (and not getting a Christmas gift for Ray Allen)

Last Night I went to the weirdest NBA game I've ever seen (KG demolish Dwight Howard and Boston held the Magic to a record-low scoring output)

Celtics suffocate Magic on Monday, then rip their hearts out on Thursday


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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Sweat (a La La La La Long)" by Inner Circle

Before I even figured that I had an affinity for reggae music, I was a big fan of 1993's Bad Boys album by Inner Circle.  The song Bad Boys, made super famous by the TV show Cops, was actually one of my least favorite tracks on the disc.  I bought the CD for Sweat (a La La La La Long), but soon grew to enjoy many of it's other offerings as well.





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Bill Buckner catches everything in his MLB Network ad with Mookie Wilson

We're just over a month away from the 30-year anniversary of the most horrific sports moment of my childhood:



Amazingly, I only needed to type the words "it gets" into YouTube in order to find Vin Scully's famous call of "Behind the bag, it get's through Buckner!":

It's also been nearly 12 years since the baseball world changed forever, allowing Bill Buckner and the rest of the 1986 Red Sox to live in peace.  Considering that, amusement is the only emotion I feel towards this MLB Network commercial with Buckner and Mookie Wilson:




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Awesome Old TV Clips of the Week: Jon Stewart and David Letterman post 9/11

Fifteen years ago this morning, I was cutting limes at the Navigator Restaurant in Edgartown when my boss said "Turn on the TV, a plane just crashed into a building in New York City."

It was the strangest day I've ever had behind the bar.  The place was packed, but nobody was eating or drinking.  Everyone was just standing there, staring at the televisions in a state of shock and horror.  In particular, I remember three men from New York who worked in the towers but had taken a few days off to come to Martha's Vineyard.







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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "High Enough" by Damn Yankees

Sticking with the theme of hair-metal power ballads that were also mainstream pop hits (following last week's 1989 Skid Row smash), here's High Enough from Damn Yankees, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard charts in 1990.

Until checking their Wikipedia page just now, I had no idea that Damn Yankees was a "super group" that included Ted Nugent and Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw.  I remember seeing the High Enough video when it came out, but clearly I didn't know who Nugent was back then.




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Create your own "Stranger Things" style logo; plus my two main gripes with the show

At makeitstranger.com, you can build your own logo to replicate the one used in Stranger Things.  I'm totally on board for Season 2 and I love that the show referenced all sorts of '80s movies, but two instances of blatant scene stealing bothered me:

1. ET: Kids on bicycles are chased by bad men in cop cars vans.  Just as they are surrounded and about to be caught, the extraterrestrial girl with superpowers, riding along with the main character, makes the bikes a van fly, allowing them to escape.

2. Aliens: Person captured by alien scary monster is hanging from wall in glob of goo, nearly dead, with a baby alien scary monster attached to his face/down his throat.


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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "I Remember You" by Skid Row

I Remember You was the third single off of Skid Row's self-titled debut album, released in 1989.  That was also the year that I started listening to the radio on a regular basis.  I Remember You was one of the first songs I recall hearing get major airplay on my station of choice, 94.5, WZOU (when it switched to Jam'n in 1993, I switched to Kiss 108).

Skid Row is from Tom's River, New Jersey, home of the 1998 Little League World Series champions and (according to Wikipedia) the second-largest Halloween parade in the world.



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Spectacular YouTube rabbit holes: "Auralnauts" and Screen Junkies' "Honest Trailers"

The genius of YouTube is that you search for one thing, but an hour-and-a-half later you've watched 54 more related clips.  Here's my most recent rabbit-hole experience:

It started when two Twitter accounts I follow for Celtics news got involved in a conversation regarding the newly released trailer for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.  Included was this highly comical video (if you're a Star Wars fan) in which Darth Vader's grandson, Kylo Ren, takes in the preview for the new spinoff film:



Shortly after that I was watching "Terminator Genisys Trailer - Paradox Edition" (time-travel movies always have serious logical flaws...):



Then it was back to "STAR WARS EP 1: Jedi Party":



Before I got sucked into the rest of that series from Auralnauts (which I'm sure will happen on a later date) I was diverted by Screen Junkies' "Honest Trailers," another YouTube gold mine.  Here's their Game of Thrones:




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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Teenage Dirtbag" by Wheatus

"He lives on my block, and drives an I-Roc."

I don't remember when exactly I discovered Wheatus' Teenage Dirtbag, but I think it was long after the song's release in 2000.  Regardless, I find its lyrics quite entertaining.

Until I looked up the video just now I had no idea that it was featured in the Jason Biggs/Mena Suvari movie Loser from the same year (a "loser" itself that attempted to ride the coattails of 1999's American Pie, which also starred the same two actors).

I can't say I've ever heard another song by Wheatus, but I assume some do exist.   

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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "How Does a Duck Know?" by the Crash Test Dummies

The Crash Test Dummies are best known for their 1993 smash MMM MMM MMM MMM (yeah, it was kind of weird) off the album God Shuffled His Feet.  However, they also had a relatively big hit single two years earlier called Superman's Song.

God Shuffled His Feet was among my favorite CDs in high school.  In my mind, the best song on the album was one that was never even released as a single--How Does a Duck Know?  There's no video for it, but I found this 1995 clip from the Late Show with David Letterman:



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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Leave the Biker" by Fountains of Wayne

Fountains of Wayne is best known for their 2003 hit, Stacy's Mom.  However, they did some great (and fairly popular) stuff much earlier than that.  Their 1996 self-titled album (pictured) featured Sink to the Bottom, which put them on the map, and also included my favorite of their songs, Leave the Biker.

The live clip below begins with Sink and ends with Biker at the 7:43 mark (in between is another single from their debut, Radiation Vibe).  Random Fountains of Wayne fact: The same year they released their first album, their bassist, Adam Schlesinger, also wrote That Thing You Do for the Tom Hanks movie of the same name.




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James Young knocks down 3s in practice with the coolest rebounding machine ever

Here's a video of James Young working on his jumper at the Celtics practice facility in Waltham the other day:

@CelticsLife @CelticsJunkies @LegionHoops @celtics JY puttin in that work pic.twitter.com/BWak5RLDHY

— Omar_Elsherif (@BallinOMAR) July 31, 2016

Courtesy of @BallinOMAR

What impressed me the most here is not the fact that Young drained several threes in a row with a hand in his face (easy-peasy for an NBA shooter), but rather the spectacular rebounding machine he was using.

I would've killed to have one of those things in my driveway when I was 13 years old.  In fact, I'd probably still be out there today extending my range and trampling my mother's flowerbed--either that or playing in the NBA after launching 10,000 three-pointers a day my entire childhood.


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Can this video from the 1996 DNC actually be real? (Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Macarena")

This clip from the 1996 Democratic National Convention can't possibly be real.  Yet somehow, it is.  I had to watch it twice just to make sure that really is Hillary Clinton and not Jan Hooks playing Hillary in Saturday Night Live skit:

Ok but the 1996 DNC was lit pic.twitter.com/nuHp1lBND8

— Jesse McLaren (@McJesse) July 29, 2016

And just in case you still don't believe people were actually dancing the Macarena at the 1996 DNC, here's four minutes of footage from C-SPAN.  Below, the original video from Los del Rio:



Sidebar--Before the Red Sox started playing Sweet Caroline halfway through the eighth inning of every game at Fenway, they tried out some other things.  I remember doing the Macarena in the bleachers mid-eighth one afternoon that summer.


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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Push" by Matchbox 20

My favorite Matchbox 20 song is actually Unwell, but it didn't come out until 2003, and that's just not old enough.  Push is a close second, off of their 1996 album Yourself or Someone Like You.

I have nothing even the slightest bit interesting to say about Matchbox 20, other than I enjoyed some of their music.  I mean really, nothing--they have maybe the most boring Wikipedia page I've ever seen for a rock band.




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12 years ago today: The brawl that changed MLB history

Saturday, July 24, 2004:

A night earlier, Curt Schilling blew a 4-1 lead in the sixth inning at Fenway and the Red Sox fell 9.5 games behind the Yankees in the AL East.

Boston trailed New York 3-0 in the third inning when Jason Varitek decided enough was enough:



In the fourth the Sox pulled ahead 4-3, but the Yanks put up six runs in the sixth to take a 9-4 lead.  Boston immediately cut it to 9-8 in the bottom half of the inning, then a two-run shot by Bill Mueller in the ninth off Mariano Rivera gave the Sox an 11-10 walk-off win:



Three months later, the Red Sox were World Series champions for the first time in 86 years.  If Boston hadn't won that game, I'm guessing the greatest sports story of my lifetime (read that, I promise it's worth it) would never have happened.


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