In the wake of turning 30 yesterday, getting married only a week ago, and the stunning collapse of the 2011 Red Sox -- Well, posting content to the internet purely for the sake of posting content to the internet seems absurd.

Then I stumbled upon this marvelous link that not everyone has a chance to find in his or her own wanderings of the more secluded alleys of the internet. Since there is no real way I can spend the time to possibly draft an all-inclusive memoir post I realized that this is the next best thing. Sharing something wonderful I've found with folks who will, to varying degrees, care. Here!

Here is a gallery of shots from inside Fenway Park. It's not just any Flickr gallery, however, it's a gallery of photographs collected from Twins 3B Michael Cuddyer. Two ways that this gallery is truly special. First, these are modern digital photographs of America's oldest ballpark taken from a vantage point of the highest access possible. A real treat. And second, Cuddyer obviously enjoys photography as an amateur hobby. I'm trying to put it into words and failing -- but, as a sports fan, I find these photographs insightful to the human element. I will let the pictures finish my thought.

This made me think though, what if A-Rod were on the Pirates?  The Pirates, really the laughing stock of the MLB for a lot of years now (and also my favorite team), have low appeal, a small market, and not that much pressure to perform on the players.  If he got a contract with the Pirates in 2001, the pressure wouldn't have built up, and A-Rod would now be a squeaky clean baseball god whom everyone would love. I would assume that out of the 103 players on the steroid list with A-Rod, there are not many, if any Pirates players. I only say this because the Pirates are not good, and most of the time their players don't play very well, and well, steroids are supposed to enhance performance, therefore leading me to the conclusion that Pirates players have never even heard of steroids.

But anyway, I guess this relegates A-Rod to the league of super-steroid-star misfits, including guys named Sosa, McGwire, Clemens, and well, some guy named Bonds.  It's a shame, I like baseball, it's a great game, but now it's kind of the norm, so I guess I shall just deal.  People get all hot and bothered about Michael Phelps and his bong filled with Mary Jane, but until and if the day comes when he tells all of us that he used steroids to get his medals, which I hope he never will have to do, I will respect him. A-Rod, boy oh boy you've gone and done it.  Let's see how many home runs he hits in his career starting this season, and maybe one day he will be respected, and be considered great once again

I caught wind of uniform changes coming to the Red Sox a couple days ago. Dangerous territory. The unveiling of the new fabrics happened today. A breakdown:

Not even sure if this is a change

No big surprise here. Although traditional I would have to say no one was really married to the circle logo any more. It's actually kind of neat that the hanging sox are so iconic that they can be pulled right out of all the other badging. It would be like the top hat catching on from this symbol:

Let's go... top hats?

It's interesting to me when teams still take a stab at making these elaborate circle baseball symbols as seen even in recent expansions like the Florida Marlins:

Keeping it classy for all those Marlins fans

So the Sox outgrew it's circle. I'm not shocked, yet.

The PHU and the PRU

I have to say. I'm a big fan. I was not Sox aware during the 80's but I really enjoy this throwback to a time with simpler uniforms. The Sox will be hanging on the sleeve for this uniform as well. That's great, of course, they might have to be there because I would expect the socks for this team to be blue to match the lettering. Maybe not, maybe there will be enough red accents on these new guys to still yank the crimson foot tubes knee high. (The way they ought to be.)

Okay. Let's dispense with the pleasantries, on to the TDOW...W!?

Here it comes...

What is THAT on the hat!?

What is it!?

TELL ME WHAT IT IS!

Ooooh, it's that Sox logo I was okay with just a second ago. Well, not when you mess with that hat!