Ballparks don’t live to be 100. All the great old ones, except Fenway Park, are gone. Forbes Field, Tiger Stadium, Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds, Shibe Park, Crosley Field, the original Yankee Stadium. All gone. Not many people live to be 100. Bob Hope, George Burns, Strom Thurmond, Irving Berlin, and the Queen Mum all crossed the century line. Rose Kennedy, made it, too. Rose was 104 years old when she died in 1995. Rose is on my mind today because Fenway Park is turning 100 today (you may have heard), and her father threw out the first pitch when the ballpark opened on Saturday, April 20, 1912. I’m told that the NESN broadcast of that Red Sox-New York Highlanders game aired promotions for “The ... Continue reading →
“Right now, it seems as though the Celtics are the true team, in terms of the ideals we had growing up,’’ said Steve Sheppard, a writer and musician from Nantucket who has been a fan of both teams since the 1960s. “They seem to be coming together for a cause. They seem to care.“Whereas the Red Sox, with just a few exceptions, seem to care only about their paychecks.’’ The 2011-12 Celtics are basketball’s Wheeze Kids. Paul Pierce (34), Kevin Garnett (36 on Saturday), and Ray Allen (36) together have accumulated more NBA miles than many teams’ 12-man rosters.The oft-wounded Celtics gasped to a fourth-place finish in the Eastern Conference but are favored to advance to the conference finals, where they presumably would face the ... Continue reading →