It Just Keeps Getting Better

After 86 years of torture, my beloved Boston Red Sox finally ended the drought with a World Series title in 2004. Last year, they made it 2 titles in 4 years with a sweep of the Colorado Rockies. One of the many great stories on that team was Jon Lester, the starter in the clinching game 4. He beat cancer last year. Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, diagnosed in late 2006 because of a sore back that he thought stemmed from a car crash. That he was even on the field again at all was rather miraculous, let alone him being given the ball my manager Terry Francona with a World Series title on the line.

As if the Lester story could not get any better, he went out and no hit the Kansas City Royals on Monday night. His 130th and final pitch of the 7-0 victory crossed the plate at 96 mph, the hardest he threw all night. It was the 18th no-hitter in Red Sox history. While that sounds like a lot, remember that teammate Curt Schilling has thrown more than 3,000 innings without a no-hitter; Josh Beckett has won a World Series MVP and not thrown a no-hitter, and Daisuke Matsuzaka was the most dominant pitcher Japan has seen in generations and never threw a no-hitter. Strangely, the last person to do so was Lester’s teammate, Clay Buchholz, who threw one in his second major league start last September.

I know I'm biased, but you just can't make up a story this good: Cancer survivor makes it back to the big leagues, starts the clinching game of the World Series, throws a no-hitter. “To watch him do that beyond tonight was beyond words,” Francona said. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Is This Camera On?

In contrast to my buddy Reggie, who keeps the sharp political commentary coming on his blog reggienewton.com, to this point I have kept the political discussion on G's Spot to a minimum. It hasn't really been an intentional thing, as I do follow politics closely and enjoy discussing it with friends and family alike. But with the imminent departure of George Bush (and not a day too soon) I must admit that I have been particularly dialed into the '08 campaign. It should be noted that I am a Democrat and yes, a New England born and bred liberal from the great state of Connecticut, insurance capital of the world, birthplace of John Mayer, former home of the NHL's Hartford Whalers and current home of, well, we don't have any other professional sports teams. Anyway, for the sake of discussion I am also a Barack Obama supporter as can be observed from the, um, endorsement right there on my blog.

When I haven't been arguing with other Democrats about why they should choose Obama over Clinton, I have been paying close attention to the presumptive Republican competition this fall: Senator John McCain. Now McCain is a good man and I honor his service to our country. While I do not agree with a lot of his politics and in particular his stand on the Iraq war, at least he is not a chicken hawk like Bush and Dick Cheney who will send other young men and women to pay the ultimate price for their country when neither was willing to do so themselves. That said, as a Democrat who wants to take back the White House I have taken great delight in the way that McCain has aligned himself with Bush in regards to this war. His initial support of the war, praise of the "successful" surge and recent defense of the now infamous Bush "Mission Accomplished" speech make it pretty clear that McCain would be an extension of Bush in regards to Iraq.

Then there's the "100 years" comment . We have all said things in the heat of the moment that we've regretted later. The difference is that most of us aren't running for president and a camera wasn't rolling when we said them. McCain is running for president, and there's little doubt that this is one that he would probably take back and certainly wished were not caught on tape. Unfortunately for him it was, and it is now the subject of a particularly effective ad for the Democratic party. Apparently, McCain's people have been slamming anyone who even dares bring up the comments and have categorized them as "misleading." Were it not for that overzealous response who knows if this ad would have been made. Just like Hillary Clinton, who got a bit carried away with her recollection of a trip to Bosnia only to have the video tape refute her version of events; Barack Obama, who has been dogged by the media since the controversial comments of his former pastor hit the airwaves, so is McCain going to have to deal with the repercussions of these words as we move into the fall.

As former Virginia Senator George "Macaca" Allen can attest, this is a YouTube world and the cameras are always rolling, particularly when you're an elected official or running for political office. May as well just man (or woman) up to what you said instead of trying to spin and dissemble, lest you lose even more credibility with the fickle public. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch TMZ.