April 22, 2007
Hey Everyone,
Just a few notes following this weekend’s SWEEP of the Skankees. If you didn’t catch the game
today – OMG, what the hell were you doing?! The Sox made history with back-to-back-to-back-
to-back (yeah, that’s four-in-a-row) home runs. I couldn’t get enough of the replays. Laura, I
hope you weren’t channel flipping during today’s game like you did during Friday’s amazing
come-from-behind victory. : 0
We had a great group at the meetup on Saturday, with lots of silliness and side conversations
going on at the table during the game. Let me share some highlights while I also answer some
questions that we deeply pondered as we watched the Sox spank the Skankees during Saturday’s
game. If you’re hoping for insightful play-by-play analyses, a discussion about player stats,
commentary on pitching styles and techniques, sorry to disappoint…
In the “Future Sox Fans of America” category: congratulations to Bill and Karen, who are
expecting a baby, due in August, I believe. Congratulations also to Jen & her husband (sorry,
can’t recall his name!), who are also expecting and due, I think, in June. Can’t wait for the baby
pictures; maybe now we’ll finally have a few photos on our site!
In the lengthy “What’s in a Name” category: Questions arose during Saturday’s meetup about
Coco Crisp, Wily Mo Mena and J.D. Drew. “Is Coco his real name?” asked Laura. “Yes, it’s
short for ‘Cocovelli’,” responded Robert. “Really?” Laura replied, in a ‘you’re-full-of-crap’
kind of tone. Or maybe I’m projecting. I’m not sure if Robert actually said ‘Cocovelli,’ but if he
did, I guess he wasn’t totally BS-ing. Turns out Coco’s real first name is ‘Covelli.’
Another puzzler from Saturday’s meetup: why does Wily Mo Pena’s first name (pronounced
“Willy”) only have one “L” in it? Shouldn’t it be pronounced “Why-lee” as in sly, cunning and
crafty? I don’t have an explanation for this one, but if you’re wondering what “Mo” stands for,
it’s “Modesto.”
And then there’s J.D. Drew. What does “J.D.” stand for? Jimmy Dean? Jack Daniels? I looked
it up. His full name is “David Jonathan Drew.” So why not D.J. Drew? Not sure, but these links
might give us a clue: http://www.kiisfm.com/pages/onair.html?feed=106528&article=339389
http://djdrewg.com/bio.html
http://web.mac.com/pachyjams/iWeb/Site/About%20DJ%20Drew.html
Last in this category -- thanks to his terrific stint as our closer for Friday’s game, Hidecki
Okajima is getting some long overdue attention. But we’re having as much trouble remembering
how to pronounce his name as we had trying to remember how to pronounce Daisuke
Matsuzaka. At Saturday’s meetup, one person (who’ll remain, ironically, nameless) called him
Okahama, Okimawa, and Okokomo. Okay, I’m exaggerating, but only a little. We’re going to
have to come up with nickname for poor Hidecki, so that we don’t butcher his name mercilessly
all season!
In the “Freaky (or Freakin’) Facial Hair (a.k.a. FFH)” category: What’s up with Youk’s
Abraham Lincoln-ish beard?? It makes him look a lot heavier, and it’s really distracting, kind of
like a Pinocchio nose, only it’s a weird hairy chin.
In general the team’s full of…uh…unique facial covering. Take a good look: Big Papi, Manny,
Beckett, Varitek, Timlin, Lowell, Pineiro, Wily Mo Pena, Wakefield, J.D. Drew (sort of), and
Youkilis. If you had to pick the Sox player with the best FFH, who would you pick? I vote for
Big Papi, because his forms the outline of a bare butt. Seriously, check it out in the “Hairy Sox”
file that I just posted on our site.
Aren’t you sorry you missed out on all this incredible conversation at our last meetup? And that
was just from one of the two meetup tables. Who knows what provocative things they discussed
at the more cerebral table! Now aren’t you just dyin’ to join us for the upcoming Sunday meetup,
for brunch & baseball, at the usual place, the CT Yankee?? Hope to see you there. I gotta get to
bed now. Go Sox!