Ortiz lied to us

A Sox player gets caught up in controversy and Mr Knee-Jerk is itching to chime in right away.

You knew this was coming. The question was how quickly it would take to Dan write about it. The answer: Not long. The Globe even videotaped Dan at his desk talking about David Ortiz' name popping up on the infamous Steroid 103 list. Dan probably wrote this article a year ago and has been waiting and waiting to hit the publish button.

Yet again, this is piss-poor journalism. Yet again, this is Shaughnessy. Who is the fraud? Ortiz, quite possibly. Shaughnessy, most definitely

There are anonymous sources who say Ortiz is on the list. Yet, Ortiz says he did not even know. There is no corroboration. There is no indication of what he tested positive for. There is no due process. Yet, this doesn't stop Shaughnessy (and pretty much the entire press for that matter) for declaring him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Shaughnessy emphatically and dramatically starts his column, "David Ortiz lied to you. It seems safe to say that his entire Red Sox career is a lie."

When did Ortiz lie to me? What proof do you have Shaughnessy that he lied to me? Have you done any damn bit of investigation to give us any more than an anonymous source? Shaughnessy, you may end up being right but yet again, you have engaged in lazy, wreckless and knee-jerk journalism. Unfortunately, it is a sad commentary on the state of journalism that you are not alone here.

And, Shaughnessy why do you even bother anymore? For the second straight time this week, you have simply said pretty much the same thing Massarotti did. So not only are you a lazy hack, you are redundant.

Dice-K

There is nothing like a good player controversey to flush a rat from hiding. Shaughnessy returns from many days away from his column to write about Daisuke Matsuzaka's recent comments about the Red Sox handling of him.

This one (save one thing*) contains all the elements that drive me personally to want to continue this website. *The one surprising element is that it did not end with the line "This must be a case of Dice-K being Dice-K. " Shaughnessy must have realized that he had already written the same piece as Tony Massarotti who did end with the "Being Dice-K" line and realized that perhaps he should try to at least be a little different. As for the standard Shaughnessy fare that he did invoke, we have:

- Painting a picture of things that never really happened in the first place. Shaughnessy talks about what a dream marriage this was in the beginning -- World Series victories, 18-3 records, etc. Except Shaughnessy glosses over the fact that the marriage has never been particularly rosy--high salary, high walks, high pitch counts...high maintenance. Dont think this was ever a "perfect marriage"?

- Contradicting the picture that he paints: Shaughnessy starts his column saying "At the beginning, it was a perfect marriage." and he ends the column with "Since Day 1, Matsuzaka has been a hired gun in the clubhouse." Hmm, which is it Dan?

- Throw in a couple of inappropriate cultural references (which incidentally are also contradictory). He calls this a "hundred-million arranged marriage" after calling it a "perfect marriage"? Why call it an arranged marriage? Was it any more arranged than Texeira signing with the Yankees? It was a mutual business deal - no one forced anyone into anything.

- Failure to allow for the possibility that something is lost in translation: It seems like many of Shaughnessy's targets (Pedro, Manny, and now Dice-K) are ones whose native language is not English. Any chance that something is lost and misunderstood in the cultural and language translations? Do you really think Dice-K purposely upset the retirement ceremony of Jim Rice's number? Was there something taken out of context? Perhaps not but Shaughnessy is not likely to take the time to even consider the other perspective

This is simply another case of Shaughnessy piling on clumsily and lazily--tripping over himself along the way. Pathetic.

Farewell, Jerry

It is with much regret that I inform readers that Jerry Gutlon, the latest keeper of the DSW, has passed away.

In times like these I often need to borrow the words of others. In F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, The Great Gatsby, upon learning of Gatsby’s passing, Meyer Wolfsheim tells the narrator, Nick, “Let us learn to show friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.” My wish here is I that had taken the time to do that for Jerry.

Jerry had intimated he had health problems, but never truly acknowledged (to me, at least) the extent of his fight. I am posting a note I received from his wife, Kristie. She and his family have my sincerest sympathies.

---------------

Dear Friends,

My husband, Jerry Gutlon, passed away July 7^th after a long battle with heart and lung disease. He fought hard, but in the end, it was time for the Lord to take him home.

I have to admit, this has been very hard for me to take. I love him with all of my heart and wish he would come back. His son, Joshua, has been my rock through this whole thing. His daughter, Alicia, hasn’t taken this very well, and I feel like I just need to back off and let her grieve in her own way.

The funeral will be Tuesday, July 14, at 5:30pm at Conner Westbury Funeral Home in Griffin, GA.Visitation will follow until 8:30. The address for Conner Westbury Funeral Home is 1891 W. McIntosh Rd., Griffin, GA 30223.The phone number is (770) 227-2300. The burial will take place Wednesday, July 15, at 1:00 at the Georgia National Cemetery in Canton, GA. He will be buried with full military honors.

The address for the Georgia National Cemetery is 2025 Mount Carmel Church Ln., Canton, GA 30114. The phone number for the administration office is (770) 479-9300. For those of you who live in the New England area, I’m considering the possibility of traveling to Massachusetts to do something in his memory with his friends and family up there. I don’t know for sure if I’ll be able to do it, but I’m hoping I can.

If you would like to contact me, my e-mail address is HiCNote@yahoo.com. I’ll try to keep track of Jerry’s e-mail for a while.

Thank you all so much for being Jerry’s friends. Jerry was a good man, and I’m honored and privileged to be his wife. God bless all of you.

Sincerely,

Kristie Gutlon

Picked up pieces

Dan dusts off a format he has not used in awhile - picked up pieces. Woo hoo. Good to hear the random thoughts of a media titan.

Let's see....Manny blasting: Check, check, check; Gratuitous Schilling Shot: Check; Strained analogies to the Red Sox - Yankees rivalry: Check (Comparing the recent NBA FA wheeling and dealing to the Red Sox and Yankees "winter wars" is downright stupid); John Henry close talker comment: check. Attempt to show cultural hipness: Check (Dos Equis commercial)

Also, Shank takes a shot at a recent NY Times Op Ed on steroids. Shank is critical of Chafets apparent indifference on the steroid issue. Chafets points out that many folks take performance enhancers in different forms and MLB has a long history of it. Shank ridicules Chafets but I personally think Chafets makes valid arguments. I personally use performance enhancers everyday (caffeine) and I take meds (motrin) to help me recover from injury - where do you draw the line? As usual, Shaughnessy is too lazy to at least consider the logic of an opposing viewpoint and instead issues dismissive one-liners. (And if you ever email Shaughnessy a critical comment, he does the same thing in his responses.)

Well, at least we were spared any 70s music references. And I actually did appreciate Shaughnessy's book and TV recommendations (I did not know about the HBO special on Ted Williams and look forward to it)

Baseball's Softer Side

On Monday night, Dustin Pedroia missed the Red Sox game because his wife went into premature labor. Dan talks about the old school days of baseball when players missed births and graduations compared to baseball's new softer side where family trumps baseball. He posits that Terry Francona represents the best of new and old in his approach to managing the game and its players.

Perhaps, I am reading too much into this but I think there is some Shark snarkiness here when he notes that the Red Sox were thrashed by the lowly Oakaland A's but then says:

No problem. The important thing was that Kelli Pedroia was OK and Dustin Pedroia had some peace of mind

And he concludes the column noting that Pedroia's return to the lineup came as the Red Sox won the game.

In my mind, the two words "no problem" is tinged by Shank sarcasm. Perhaps I am too jaded by Shank's continued negative vibes?

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Dan writes about Nomar's return to Fenway last night. Dan reminds us of how beloved Nomar was before it all went south. Dan says "He bled for this team for eight seasons."

I am surprised Dan gives Nomar eight seasons of credit because wasn't it old Dan who said that Nomar had to go? Wasn't it Dan who was leading the "Get Nomar out of here" bandwagon because Nomar had quit on the team in the bitter end? But, now good ole Dan is actually hinting that a reunion between the Sox and Nomar would be a good idea? As much as I think that a reunion would be kind of cool, it is disingenuous for Dan to be the one to suggest it. I imagine it is akin to a friend of a married couple who is pushing for the couple to get divorced only to say a couple years later, "You guys should get together. You would make a great couple."

Dan, you are truly an idiot.

Pathetic., just pathetic

Dan is blind. He is blinded by ignorance; he is blinded by laziness; he is blinded by his bitter contempt for professional athletes. His work on Manny Ramirez is pathetic, today's piece is particular rubbish.

(Disclaimer: I am not here to defend Manny Ramirez. Manny is a cheat and there seems to be a consensus that he quit on the Red Sox. I am not arguing this. I am appalled, however, at Dan's analysis of the whole situation.)

For what seems the 100th time, Dan lashes out at Manny. He lashes out at the softball media in LA. And he lashes out the ignorant fans who cheer Manny on. This has been a recurring theme. For some reason, Dan traveled to LA last month and forecasted that the fans would be cheering Manny on. Low and behold, Dan was right! Now he is back in southern California to recertify his contempt for Manny and the baseball universe.

Given all this, Dan concludes "Nobody cares about steroids." His statement is not qualified or caveated. Dan takes one sample of behavior, extrapolates it across the entire universe, and concludes that this sample represents everything. This is thin analysis. But this is Shaughnessy analysis. It is reckless and lazy journalism.

For once, why can't Shaughnessy move past his venom? Perform some analysis. Is it really the case that "Nobody cares about steroids?" Barry Bonds did not see a lot of love outside of northern California, did he? ARod is sure not receiving the adulation of the masses. Couldn't Shaughnessy simply look at those two cases and then conclude that "Everyone cares about steroids." That would be about as fair of an assessment as his conclusion from looking at Manny that no one cares.

Some analysis, Dan, please? What is different about Manny? Is it strictly his goofy personality? Is it the fact that he lives and plays now in Southern California, the hub of superficiality? Is there roid backlash? Has the coverage hit a tipping point where folks are so numb to it now, that they just don't care? There are many angles here but you have explored none of them. You are so blinded by your contempt of Manny and southern California that you are incapable of extricating yourself from it. Instead, we have your lazy conclusion that "And now we know the fans don't care. About steroids"

And now we know (again) that Shaughnessy is incapable.

Of Analysis.

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...