He flew 3000 miles for this?

Seriously?

The Globe, ever mindful in these tough economic times, sent the obsessive one to San Diego to cover Manny's return. Shaughnessy says it was a circus. Does he realize he is the clown? He strings together quote after quote; throws a John Lennon reference in for good measure and calls it a day. Hope the Globe gets a good return.

Lou Gehrig's Disease

Somehow I missed Dan's nice column yesterday about MLB's efforts to raise funds for research on ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. Shaughnessy provides a very nice summary of the disease, Lou Gehrig's struggles and eventual death, and a look at this weekend's efforts at major league ballparks to raise funds.

It is a good effort. Two quibbles - he repeats the "luckiest man on the face of the earth" twice but in the earlier online editions, one of the lines said "this earth". Looks like it has since been corrected. He also acknowledges Schilling's efforts with respect to this disease but for some reason he feels compelled to introduce Schilling's political orientation into it. Just did not think that was necessary.

Happy 4th. Let's see if Shaughnessy delivers fireworks this weekend. If the Celtics sign Rasheed Wallace, he may have a new favorite target?

Shattered victory

Dan offers an endearing look at a local high school pitcher who pitched the final out in his team's high school championship--only to suffer a severely broken leg in the celebration that ensued. The kid (Chris Halliday of Auburn) sounds like a kid with a fresh perspective on life - it is neat to see his attitude towards it all. No bitterness whatsoever. These are the types of story Dan should stick to. ( Although this particular story took place two weeks ago when Dan must have been preparing his trip to California to carp about LA and Manny)

Dan does relate the two stories of two professional athletes who were hurt during celebrations (Bill Gramatica, the kicker and Dave Henderson from the 1986 Red Sox series--after he hit the homer). The Gramatica story is pretty clear although there is debate about the Henderson story--a debate that I believe that even Shaughnessy has written about. Henderson has apparently claimed that he was hurt prior to jumping up and down after the homer

Catching Up

A brief look at some of Dan-o's recent offerings:

- On June 26, 2009, Dan wrote that the Celtics should not trade Rajon Rondo. Relatively straightforward piece but as usual Dan can't resist the Red Sox references (favorite targets: Pedro the diva and a new Manny twist with Dan's introduction of "Rajon being Rajon"). He also makes the comment that the Cavaliers just got a lot better with Shaquille O'Neal. O"Neal is old and this is typical Shaughnessy hyperbole.

As an aside, was there a fleeting/passive acknowledgement of our little DSW site? Shaughnessy refers to the recent speculation about the Celtics point guard as the "Rondo Watch". I think ole Dan has missed us

- Shaughnessy does a little puff piece on June 24th with his article on Nancy Kerrigan who was to be recognized at a Boston sports gala in support of the Sports Museum. The Shank hyperbole factor is much worse here when he claims Kerrigan "knows more about performing pressure than any of the fabled fellows" (like Brady, Russell, Schilling, etc). That's a little over the top Dan. I was going to take issue with his claim that the 1994 Olympics were some of the most watched TV ever ranking right up there with MASH (I remember the whole Harding saga well but did not think the TV ratings would be so high) but I did check and Shaughnessy was actually on the money with that stat. Finally, Dan's line "Harding has since gone on to live the life of every country-western song ever written." This is an awkward sentence at best and just a tad bit overreaching

- Outside of Bill Belichick and possibly now Rajon Rondo, Dan does not really have the whipping posts that he used to have. With the likes of Pedro, Mo Vaughn, Schilling et al gone, Shaughnessy must travel to Los Angeles to find an outlet for his bitter diatribes. Why would the Globe waste so much money on travel to LA for this crap? They did the same thing last year - but this year's dispatches from LA are even worse. It is the standard Manny shots that we have seen from Shank time and time again. But the most curious thing about this article is the timing - why is Shank in LA writing about this? It's just really odd. Must be the case that Shaughnessy was going nuts in the sports department with no one to carp about--CHB was probably suffering from headaches, profuse sweating and the jitters in general and so they sent him to LA to get his fix

- Shank's piece on the LA sports scene was one of his worst offerings ever. What a load of garbage. Snarky bitterness. He comes across as a little baby at the playground. Shaughnessy claims to be above the zealous fandom in the local Boston sports scene and yet he comes across as one of the biggest sore losers in the sports world with this garbage. The trip out to LA must have been a hard one on Dan--this and the aforementioned Manny piece were atrocious.

Dave

Blast from The Past

Hi All,

I just wanted to offer a quick post. I do not know how Jerry is doing - I have not heard from him and sincerely hope he is okay. Jerry, please drop us all a line if you can.

Dbvader and I decided earlier this year that we had too many things going on to continue and Jerry was gracious enough to take this on. Things have settled down me for a little bit and I am going to do what I can to post as time allows and until Jerry gives us an update and indicates he is able to resume posting.

Jerry - please know we all hope you are doing okay.
To the regular readers: thanks for your patience and understanding. Glad folks are still checking in

Will post later this weekend with a recap of some of Shaughnessy's recent classics. He has been in rare form.

Dave M

Back to His Old Shenanigans

Well, the old Danny Boy is back, with a smarmy May 27th column he cribs from Sports Illustrated's Peter King on Patriots' QB Tom Brady.

Every bit of decent information the Shank provides comes from King. Dan is relegated to making snotty comments suck as how "cash [must changes] hands" at Foxborough in order for a reporter to get any useful or pertinent information.

Dan also avails himself to info from the Boston Herald to augment his backhanded comments.

Might it be that Danny's a bit jealous that other sports reporters are given the opportunity to speak with Boston sports professionals because they are trusted ... and that he's universally distrusted?

Hmmmmm... Lemme see....

Dan Makes Some Funnies

Celebrating a sweep-preventing win over the Mets of New York, Shank tried his hand at comedy writing and pretty much succeeded.

Invoking a veritable litany of names -- real and imagined -- Dan mentioned Willie Tasby (interestingly enough the first black ballplayer the Sox acquired via trade) and Forrest Gump, and refered to umpire Joe West as "Country Joe."

He cited the "golfball-size hail," cracking that "All hail broke loose."

And for the second consecutive game, the umpiring crew used instant replay to determine the legitimacy of a homerun. Unfortunately the umps didn't see the replay on Turner Broadcasting System ... because clearly Kevin Youkilis ultimately was robbed of a four-bagger.

Last but not least, the Shankster continued to lobby for the benching of the woeful David Ortiz, suggesting the Sox conjure up a means of placing the Big Man on the disabled list, or ship him to the minors until he gets back into a groove.

Dan Gives Buddy Bob Ryan a Backhand

Dan got a bit snippy with his Globe colleague, Bob Ryan, in a Red Sox column May 23 that otherwise was a credible effort.

Snipped Shank, "Our man Bob yesterday submitted that they should just start the game with the bases loaded or perhaps start the game with a 3-2 count on the leadoff batter."

Isn't that special?

Usually the Shank is the one who is implanting the shank.

He might have written a better, more prescient piece if he'd enumerate on the stupidity of the World Baseball Classic. Dice-K, Youk, Petey. Who's gonna go down the next time?

Hmmm...

Some Graciousness

I must admit that I didn't expect it.

But Dan continues to surprise and pens a gracious, well-written column about Big Papi finally breaking out of his homerless slump in the wake of a smarmy column he wrote for Wednesday's Globe.

For some reason, the site is not allowing me to emplace a link to the website, so here it is:

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2009/05/21/for_papi_big_sigh_of_relief/

He's not only been strangely productive of late, but rather muted regarding his usual snotty, inflammatory missives.

Shank Returns with His Sharpened Shanks

Although my health is still precarious, Dan's latest diatribe forces me to recount his May missives.

Since the beginning of the month the Shankster has penned twelve columns, most of which were relatively free of Shanksterisms, although a number of comments from several blog boys und girls found fault with some of Danny Boy's smarmy smears.

Of his twelves efforts, six involved the Celtics, three were centered on the Bruins, and three were aimed at the Red Sox. Surprisingly, when the Celtics were humiliated by the Orlando Magic the other night Shank did not aim his poison pen at the men in green.

But he made up for his lack of comments regarding the C's no showing of the other evening with his column concerning David Ortiz, a/k/a Big Papi, in Wednesday's Globe.

Entitled "No. 1 Problem Is in No. 3 Spot," Shaughnessy laments the fact that both the Celtics and the B's have been eliminated from their respective playoffs because their continued presence deflected attention from Big Papi's woeful performance at the plate thus far this season. He finds fault with the fact that Ortiz has been tight-lipped of late with the media. Yet Shank goes on to quote Sox manager Terry Francona as saying that Ortiz is tired of answering the same questions.

Duh!

Dan predicts that Papi is singelhandedly poised to sink the Sox. Yet methinks the starting pitching is actually more critical to righting Boston's ship, especially with the imminent return of Kevin Youkilis. And I'll bet Tito juggles the line-up and moves Jason Bay & Co. and drops Ortiz's spot in the batting order until (if) he reacquires his prowess at the plate.

This seems to be another one of Shank's patented rushes to judgement. But the jury's still out...

Forgiveness

Hi, all...

Please forgive me for not posting this week.

I've been hospitalized with pneumonia and congestive heart failure since Sunday last, and probably won't be discharged until tomorrow (Friday, May 8th).

I haven't had Internet access until this morning, and that proved a total fluke.

Sharpen your knives, if warranted, and I'll update tomorrow.

Until then, cheers -- and jeers!

May Flowers

Has Dan misplaced his snideness?

He's submitted another workmanlike column for Saturday's Globe, essentially a game account of the Bruins' 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in Game One of the second round in the Stanley Cups.

What's missing are his snotty comments, low blows, Eighties references and smarmy asides. (He did slip one in about Moses Malone, though...)

Although one wonders why the Globe folks assent to a second game account (along with reporter Fluto Shinzawa's version) in lieu of a column, Dan does try to adhere to a story line -- the Bruins' facial hair.

Maybe the newspaper ought to take a page from that of the Baltimore Sun which has pared its Orioles coverage back to a single beat reporter. What a concept.

Shank Didn't Shank This One

Well, ol' Danny's done it again.

Danny filed a right-on column for Friday's Globe, appropriately capturing the excitement and intensity of the Celtics-Bulls first-round NBA playoff tilt.

So, he's submitted yet another credible piece -- or his editors really exerted their craft.

Maybe it's something in the water...

Minutes Wasted

Dan is back to the same old hyperbole that oftentimes marks his column with a wasted effort Thursday.

He reverts to his nabob of negativity persona and rails about how many minutes key members of the banged-up Boston Celtics are logging. And he goes on ... and on ... and on ... employing virtually every mottled cliche in the book to make his point.

Maybe the editors had the night off ...

Just FYI, this was Shank's 16th column for the month of April. Pretty impressive numbers, even though half of them were half-assed efforts.

No bitches about these...

Again, Dan continues to surprise, with two more credible columns this past weekend.

First, Shank penned an ode to the Sox in the wake of their come-from-behind victory Saturday over the A-Fraudless Yankees.

Then he follows that with a paen to the Boston sports scene Monday last.

I just wonder why the editors seem to be doing their jobs ... finally.

Or, could it be that Dan's actually putting some effort in to help line up another job if, or when, the Globe goes the way of the dinosaurs, with all due apologies to Carl Everett.

Hah!

A Veritable Dynamo

Something's definitely up with ol' Dan-O.

He's suddenly become a virtual cornucopia of columns, adding four more columns to his April grab bag since my last posting on April 14th ... and they're all decent, workmanlike bits, with just a tad of snideness...

With his additional four efforts, he brings his monthly total to thirteen. (Time for a few weeks off to flex his typing fingers, eh?)

His April 16th offering, entitled "With or Without Garnett, Repeat Unlikely" kicked off his Celtics' playoff coverage, lamenting the fact that it looks as though big Kevin is through for the year, and ceding Boston's playoff hopes to one opponent or another. Decent piece but nothing earth shattering.

Shank follows that up with an April 17th piece on the Bruins, who are flying high and currently on the verge of sweeping the Montreal Canadiens. Again, a reasonable column ... but no blockbusters.

Then, on April 19th, Shaughnessy appears to write off the Celtics.

But in a compilation article in the wake of the Patriots' Day contests, Danny reverses course and hold out hope for the boys in green.

His production over the past several weeks makes one wonder if his editors are finally holding his feet to the fire ... or if he's auditioning for another job just in case the Globe goes the way of the Rocky Mountain News.

Four in a Row?

Yup.

You got it.

Dan filed columns four days in a row -- all on college hockey, three of them on BU's run to the NCAA Division I title. All were solid pieces.

Factor in columns on pro baseball on April 4th, 6th and 8th, and it appears that Shank's due for some time off. Seven whole columns in a 10-day span?

As the late Phil Rizzuto would say, "Holy cow!"

Dan the Hockey Man

Dan capped his hockey coverage off April 12 with a solid column on BU's comeback, overtime victory to take the NCAA Division I crown Saturday.

The bit was Shank's third consecutive hockey piece, two on the Terriers, and one on hockey parents.

All three were good columns.

The Shankster ought to stick with school sports, as his venomous bent doesn't constantly come through as it does when he writes about professional sports.

Beware...Dan has filed articles three days in a row. He'll probably need some significant time off...

Red Sox Grab Bag

Dan penned two Red Sox-based columns this week, one semi-positive, the second snarly and bitchy.

His April 6th piece accused the franchise of becoming too bland. The drama and angst of spring trainings past weren't in evidence this season and our boy apparently thinks that's a bad thing.

With Curt Schilling a thing of the past, and ManRam gone, not to mention the infamous Carl Everett, it appears as though Shank is desperately seeking new targets to skewer.

"No holdouts, no latecomers, no intramural dustups around the batting cage. No long-hair leaping gnomes. It was all about baseball.

"Once a roster peppered with divas, blogboys, and Jesus action figures, the Red Sox of 2009 are downright button-down. No more gypsies, tramps, and thieves."

Oh, my. How horrid! The team is about PLAYING baseball. Imagine that!

His second column was a tad more gracious. Just a tad, as the Shankster slammed sundry individuals and groused about Youk grousing about "several Hub scribes did not pick the Sox to win the World Series."

Ho hum...

I apologize for running late on these this week, as I was a tad under the weather and busy promoting my book, which has gone for a third printing since its release last month. Rest assured the three errors that have been pointed out to me will be corrected in the fourth printing ... unlike another scribe who wrote about the so-called "Curse."

Hep me!!!

This terrific piece from the Herald's Howie Carr...

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1164722

Kind of puts it into perspective, eh?