Day 206: Do You Know Sam Berns?

Today is a special day... not only is it the first game of the World Series, it's the first time the Red Sox have been back to the Fall Classic since 2007. It's the first game of a rematch between Boston and the St. Louis Cardinals with the Cards desperate to avenge the 2004 loss in four straight to the Sox. It's also Sam Berns' 17th birthday.

If you've never heard the name Sam Berns, that's ok. Most people outside of the city of Foxboro, Massachusetts had never heard of Sam until recently. Sam has a rare condition called Progeria—a rare disease affecting approximately 250 children worldwide that causes an accelerated aging process. He was basically born old. Sam was diagnosed at the age of two—his parents were told there is no treatment, no cure. Most kids don't make it much past the age of 13, so the fact that Sam celebrates his 17th birthday today, is pretty freaking special.

Sam is amazing because he doesn't let the fact he's living with a deadly disease stop him from doing just about anything. He's currently a junior in high school—he has plenty of friends, he plays drums in the school band and he loves sports. While he can't play sports, he can certainly be a fan and not a day goes by where he doesn't wear some article of clothing that displays a Boston team logo.

Because this is such a rare disease that strikes so few babies, there is little funding and research done to find a cure. Lucky for Sam, his mom, Dr. Leslie Gordon, has dedicated her life to finding a cure for this cruel illness. And the foundation, The Progeria Research Foundation, might just be getting a pretty big donation from a pretty big name in the Foxboro area very soon. Like maybe today.

So there's a movie about Sam called "Life According to Sam" that premiered on HBO earlier this week. Click here for the heart wrenching story about a boy whose youth was snatched way too early, and the movie about his life, and one pretty high profile businessman by the name of Robert Kraft who saw Sam's story and made a deal with this special kid. The New England Patriots owner has pledged to Sam to donate to the Progeria Research Foundation—in fact, he will match every dollar donated up to $500,000 until today (Sam's birthday), possibly a full one million dollar check.

"I didn't put myself in front of you to have you feel bad for me," Sam says at the start of the film. "I put myself in front of you to let you know you don't need to feel bad for me. I want you to know me. This is my life, and progeria is part of it. It's not a major part of it, but it is a part of it."

Happy Birthday, Sam! Let's see if those Sox can't get you a celebratory win!!

Day 183: First Half Recap: 6 Months Down, 6 Months to Go!

The Balls of All Sizes quest for 365 consecutive days of sports blogging is half over as of today. For six straight months, I have (surprisingly) stuck to my goal and it has been a blast doing it. I've learned a lot about sports I don't normally watch and blogged about some that don't really involve balls. A lot has happened over the past six months—some pretty awesome stuff and some pretty awesomely bad stuff. 

Just in case you're new to Balls, here are a few of my favorites:

April 12:  Day 12: Happy Birthday, Dad!

What better way to honor my dad on his birthday than to write a post for him. He's the reason I love sports so much—it's his fault I care so deeply about every win and loss.

April 24:  Day 24: Happy Birthday, Mom!

It just wouldn't have been fair to honor dad without giving mom her day in the sun. She also has a lot to do with my sports addiction. She allowed it.

May 10:  Day 40: An Act of Kindness. A Happy Fan.

Even though I'm not a Dodgers fan and really don't care what they do, I fell in love with this story and Matt Kemp's selfless act of kindness making a young man's day.

May 22:  Day 52: Jerry Remy: Commentator Extraordinaire or Playgirl Pinup?

This post totally cracked me up to research and write and it was one of my most successful with 122 views. (For me, that's a banner day!!)

June 27:  Day 88: Aaron Hernandez is a Dumbass

Even though there were a couple Hernandez posts that precede Day 88, this one is by far my favorite. Not only because I got the chance to rant about a completely ridiculous situation, but also because the damn post got 251 views. Must've been the title!

June 29:  Day 90: These are a Few of My Favorite (Fenway) Things

Just because I love Fenway Park so much... if anyone ever tears this ballpark down, I'll be forever broken. Baseball season is the only time of year I sort of wish I lived in Boston.

July 16:  Day 107: An Open Letter to the Pre All-Star Break Red Sox

I actually got to the point of hating the Red Sox towards the end of last season. I went to a game in August and wanted so badly to throat-punch each and every guy on the field. It was just to nice to love this team again.

July 17:  Day 108: Those Rolling Stone Idiots Really Have No Clue

I've never been so disgusted with a publication as I was with Rolling Stone for glorifying that asshole who was responsible for the Boston Marathon Bombings. 

August 8:  Day 130: Wes Welker Left Because Bill Belichick was Mean... Really?

I love this post for many reasons, but mainly because I was half in the bag when I wrote it. And I still think I managed to write a pretty mistake-free post that actually made some sense!

September 9:  Day 162: Red sky at night, sailor's delight.

This post was a favor for a friend who loves sailing. Who knew that I would become so caught up in the America's Cup, I would write not one, but three posts about the oldest trophy in sports. It was fun doing the research and learning all about this rich man's race.

September 21:  Day 174: Red Sox Clinch the AL East... And I WAS THERE!!

Of course this one is on my list... I've never been to a division clinching game before so this was so much fun. What a season for the Sox!!

Well, I think that's probably enough favorites for now. I just hope the next six months provide as much material as the first six did. Minus murderers on my favorite teams... I've had enough of that. 

Do you have a favorite?

Day 180: Happy Birthday, Virtual First Down Line!

Today is a day for celebrating... For one, it's my seventh wedding anniversary. It's also my mother-in-law's birthday... Happy Birthday!! And she shares a birthday with two pretty cool things: both Google and the virtual first-down line turn 15 today. If you asked me how long either of those things has been around, I would've guessed longer. I can barely remember a day when I couldn't turn to Google for the answers to all of my questions!

I know Google doesn't have anything to do with sports specifically, but if you get the chance, check out the Google Doodle today. You get to whack a pinata full of virtual candy. I may or may not have replayed it three or four times. Like I thought some candy was going to shoot out of my computer or something. It didn't.

But the real celebration here is for the virtual first-down line. Any football fan knows how difficult it is to tell if your team has gained enough yardage for a first down. The invention of the yellow line, seen only on the television screen, has made armchair referees out of all of us. What? Why do you need to measure for that first down? That running back clearly made it past the yellow line! I bet the referees on the field wish they could see that line. And the players too.

The virtual first-down line was invented in 1998 by SportVision who basically took existing technology that was invented 20 years prior and worked out a lot of the initial bugs and started shopping it around. ESPN was the first to buy in to the technology, introducing it in a Ravens-Bengals game in Baltimore. They were even smart enough to negotiate a year of exclusivity which really pissed off Fox who wanted to use the yellow line during that year's Super Bowl. ESPN said no.

Over the past decade and a half, the technology has improved and now you can't imagine a game without that line. At least I can't. Some folks often wonder where the line is when they attend their first live football game!

TGIF!

Day 125: Happy Birthday, Tom Brady!

Thomas Edward Patrick Brady, Jr. turns 36 today. With every passing birthday, fans get closer and closer to a world where Tom Brady is no longer under center for their beloved Patriots. This makes me very sad. But Brady says he wants to play into his 40s and his newest contract ensures he'll be in New England at least until he's 40.

I first met Tom Brady in 2001... no, not personally, but on my television. I'm pretty sure I had never even heard his name before Drew Bledsoe was the victim of a violent Mo Lewis hit in the third game of the season. Brady, a 6th round draft pick (#199) out of the University of Michigan had just been selected the previous year and now he was being tossed into the proverbial fire.

I'm sure I wasn't the only person who was a little nervous that Brady didn't have what it took—when would Bledsoe return? After a rough start, he went on to win 11 of the 14 games he started that season and did something only two Patriots' quarterbacks has done before—made it to the Super Bowl. But Brady took it a step further and did something no other New England QB could—he led the team to their first Super Bowl Championship in franchise history. Drew who?

I knew this was the start of something very special. He eventually led the Patriots to two more Super Bowl Championships in 2003 and 2004. Tom Brady has become some what of a legend in New England... here's a great tribute to #12.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOM!

Day 118: Uh Oh. Red Sox Fall Out of First Place.

This was the day I had been dreading. On May 26th, the Red Sox were tied for first in the AL East with the Yankees and they had held that top position for two solid months—and at times, also owned the best record in baseball. But last night, it happened. They fell out of first place. But I knew it couldn't last forever. And maybe it's good to be the under dog. Maybe it's good to be the one breathing down the neck of first place. There's still a lot of ball to be played.

After losing two of three to the Tampa Bay Rays this week, they went into Baltimore just a half game up on the pack. Last night, Tampa crushed the Yankees, the O's shut out the Sox and now the Rays have the slim half game lead. On June 28th the Rays were seven games back but have since that date have lost a stingy three games. The Sox, posting just an 11-9 record so far this month, have watched their lead over the Rays slowly dwindle and now vanish.

The Rays' surge coupled with the Red Sox having a few guys struggling at the plate since the All-Star break, is not helping the situation. Dustin Pedroia is batting just .111, Jose Iglesias just .125 and Daniel Nava just .167 since the break, and these are three guys that have been on fire for most of the season. I really, really hope Pedroia doesn't have a case of I-got-a-big-contract-so-now-I-can-suck-and-still-get-paid. I have faith the little guy will snap out of it soon.

The offensive troubles often translate into pitching woes. Starters can give up three, four  or even five runs and, when the lineup is hot, that's been good enough for a win. But they've got some slumping bats so the offense isn't scoring as many runs and now those "good enough" starts are turning into losses. And it doesn't help that John Lackey's performance last night was a little lackluster—he gave up five earned runs and allowed three home runs. Blah.

Sometimes I think the All-Star break is a total rally killer. Sure, these guys deserve a few days off in the middle of the season, but it must be hard to carry the magic over to the next half. Where did the magic go??!

They have to win tonight. It's my birthday!

Day 24: Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my mom's birthday and it wouldn't be complete if I didn't thank her for her part in this ridiculous rabbit hole of sports I've fallen down. You would think she'd see where I was headed and want to steer me in...say...the direction of make up and dresses and high heels...yeah, thanks for not doing that!

• Thanks for working retail when I was a kid so I could absorb all the sports knowledge from dad.

• Thanks for never trying to kill my love for the Red Sox...or Patriots.

• Thanks for always being open to watching baseball, football...or a golf tournament.

• Thanks for never making me wear a dress.

• Thanks for always keeping me outfitted in Sox gear and jeans.

• Thanks for never keeping me from joining the neighborhood boys for a game of home run derby.

• Thanks for always knowing exactly where my glove was.

• Thanks for never telling me I shouldn't take every loss so personally.

• Thanks for always spending Saturday mornings at the track meets if only to watch me run for just seconds.

• Thanks for never thinking I was a lunatic for crying when the Red Sox finally won in '04.

• Thanks for always supporting me in every sport I played, no matter how much I stunk.

• Thanks for never telling me to give it up...because I stunk.

• Thanks for always being the greatest mom a kid...teenager...adult could ever ask for.

I hope your day was amazing!

Love you,
Stacy
xoxo

Day 12: Happy Birthday, Dad!

You're probably wondering what my dad has to do with sports? Well probably just about everything for this fan. He taught me everything I know about baseball and football, and instilled in me a love for both games that has never waned.

If it wasn't for my dad... 

• I never would've been able to match the baseball team with its city when I was still in single digits. 

• I never would've been able to shag a fly ball... field a grounder... or hit a softball. 

• I never would've been able to keep up with the boys in a pick-up football game in the park. 

• I never would've been able to discuss first downs, touchdowns and smack downs without sounding too much like a girl.

• I never would've been able to talk about wall-ball doubles, Pesky-pole homers and a Green Monster without sounding like a lunatic.

• I never would've known who Steve Grogan, Tony Eason, Drew Bledsoe or Tom Brady were. (Ok, maybe Tom Brady!)

• I never would've loved Yaz, Rice, Lynn, Remy, Evans, Hobson, Fisk, Burleson or Fenway Park.

• I never would've experienced the bad, then good, then bad again Patriots' Super Bowl roller coaster ride.

• I never would've sat alone in my bed and cried in 2004 following the first World Series victory in 86 years.

• I never would've been ridiculously superstitious and think that my actions actually had an effect on the outcome of a game.

• I never would've passionately hated the Yankees and Bucky Dent and Aaron Boone.

• I never would've taken every win and loss personally.

• I never would've learned that you don't talk about the no hitter while the no hitter is in progress.


Not sure if I should thank you or smack you... Happy Birthday, Dad!!

Love,
Stac-the-Ace
xoxo