Derek Jeter shows his class with moving eulogy to Red Sox legend Johnny Pesky

New York Yankee Derek Jeter

Boston lost a true legend yesterday as 92-year-old Johnny Pesky moved on to the great diamond in the sky.

Pesky bled Red Sox red longer than most of us can imagine, dedicating himself to the Sox and the local community. On first hearing the news of the great man’s passing, the first thought I had was, thank goodness the Red Sox managed to win a couple of rings for him in his lifetime. Pesky definitely deserved that.

Shunned by former Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette, who famously and idiotically banned Pesky from the Sox dugout during games, Pesky was thankfully welcomed back into the fold by the current management team, an act that will stand to them for the duration of their ownership.

The legend of Johnny Pesky stretches back a long way. Former Major Leaguer Larry Upton told me that none other than the great Ted Williams used to jokingly and playfully call Pesky ‘needlenose’ . He also spoke of Pesky’s outgoing, warm nature. You can read a nice article by him on the great man here.

Like Larry, there are going to be many a worthy accolades written about Pesky in the coming hours and days. Last night as the New York Yankees prepared to play Texas, one of the Red Sox greatest rivals spoke about him.

Often the greatest compliments come from your rivals. They just carry more weight to them. In this case, the Boston Red Sox have no greater rival than the New York Yankees, and the figurehead of that organization, one Derek Jeter.

His softly spoken, measured and thoughtful comments should resonate strongly with even the staunchest, loyalist Red Sox fans. Jeter said;

“He was always so nice to me throughout the years. Every time I’d see him, he would come over and say, ‘I hope you get four hits today – and the guy behind you hits into four double plays.’ I’ve always enjoyed having the opportunity to talk to him. I always like the fact that we have a lot of ex-players that come around all the time. I always liked going up [to Boston] and having an opportunity to see him. They loved him there; fans, players, media, everyone loved him. I send my best wishes to his family.”

Jeter has broken Red Sox hearts countless times down through the years, however this time he may have tugged at their heart-strings in a different way, with such a simple, yet gentle and meaningful eulogy.

Like Pesky before him, Jeter remains a class act.

Red Sox legend Johnny Pesky

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Three Irish boxers in action on a potentially historic Olympic Friday

Everyone loves a Friday, and this one has the potential to be extra special in Ireland. With five medals already guaranteed, this is already the most successful Irish Olympic team since as far back as 1956, and today is a massive day in this particular Irish Olympic quest.

Following hot on the heels of Katie Taylor’s magnificent Gold medal triumph yesterday, there are not one, not two, but three Irish men boxing in Olympic semi-finals today.

Here’s the line-up for the Irish men’s boxing Olympic Fantastic Friday.

• Light-flyweight Paddy Barnes will take on Zou Shiming from China in the semi-final at 13.30 Irish time (GMT)
• Twenty-three-old boxer, John Joe Nevin, from Mullingar, County Westmeath, faces Lazaro Alvarez Estrada in the semi-finals of the bantamweight division at 14:00 Irish time (GMT)
• Twenty-year-old Michael Conlan will bid for a place in the flyweight final at 20:45 Irish time (GMT)

All three men have brought a lot to these games, and have their own style and tactics. Personally I am a huge fan of Nevin’s fantastic footwork and discipline, however the other two lads have their own abilities. It should also be noted, Paddy Barnes is the first Irish boxer to win a medal at consecutive Olympic Games. He won bronze the last time round in Beijing. That’s special in itself, and who will forget how the young man survived a crazy head-butt attempt from an Indian boxer in the quarter finals to get this far.

What a huge day for Irish boxing, and what a huge day potentially for Irish Olympic history.

Best of luck to the three lads.

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Olympic Gold medalist Katie Taylor brushes aside the nonsense to bring the prize home

Ireland’s Olympic gold medalist Katie Taylor didn’t just have to dodge opponents left and right jabs all week long in London. She also had to contend with a veritable deluge of potentially distracting rubbish. Taylor took the gold medal this afternoon, the first ever in women’s boxing, by beating Russian opponent Sofya Ochigava. During the lead up to the gold medal bout the Russian girl was guilty of some pretty disgraceful disparaging comments to the media. Sadly, that wasn’t the only disappointing distraction as some of her compatriots in the Russian media added gasoline to the fire with equally stupid comments, and a couple of British journalists made the head scratching ‘mistake’ of calling Taylor ‘British’.

However, all week long the thing that has impressed the most of all about Taylor has been her laser sharp focus pre-match and throughout every round of every fight. Nothing changed today as Taylor cast aside all distractions and put her experience, style and technique to work and came out, quite literally, on top of the world.

Taylor has given Ireland and boxing fans all over the World a plethora of memories to take away from this Olympic games. She has brought dignity to the ring every time, the memory of her classy encounter against British girl Natasha Jonas will last a long time. She brought an army of wild, adoring and loyal fans who literally set the record for loudest fans at an Olympics. She has been a wonderful role model for the youth of Ireland, a group searching, hoping for such a leader in these dark recessional times. She has been a firework shooting across the London sky.

Taylor has also impressed opponents and coaches alike. Natasha Jonas had this to say after being beaten by Katie

"I could have thrown the kitchen sink [at her], maybe drove a bus into her, it didn't work. She's the best."

You can count US head boxing coach Basheer Abdullah as a fan too. One of his boxers, Queen Underwood, failed to automatically qualify for these Olympics, despite glittering credentials. Taylor publicly and successfully lobbied the powers that be in world boxing to give Underwood an at-large bid. Basheer said

"That says a lot about her character. She's a true champion. When you look back at the great ones in boxing, the Ali's, they wanted to compete against the best. And that's the same mentality Katie Taylor has."

Katie has attracted the attention of stars outside the boxing world also. Irish legends old and new have been tweeting about her victory, take for example the great Paul McGrath and the potentially great James McClean.

Taylor has worked for this all her life, and can now sit back and reap the rewards. It is not often you come across an athlete that deserves every single accolade that gets thrown at them, however Katie is one of a rare breed.


Many of us are guilty of having been caught up in the surrounding distractions this week (including me!). All along we had it wrong. Just stay in the moment, ignore the distractions, put the hard work in and if you are honest and true to yourself, if the sporting Gods decide to shine on you, who knows, you just might come out at the other end with a gold medal.


Just like Katie.

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The Daily Telegraph thinks Irish Olympic hero Katie Taylor is British

Irish hero Katie Taylor

Katie Taylor Photo Gallery here

Goodness gracious these Olympics seriously get the blood going, don’t they? Katie Taylor and her legion of Irish fans have a date with destiny in just a few hours in London, as she fights in the semi-final of the Olympic games women’s 56kg boxing. Taylor won her initial bout with Natasha Jonas on Monday and her legend has grown exponentially ever since.

Apparently, some are confused as to Taylor’s nationality.

In an incredibly crass, insulting and ill-informed ‘article’, the English rag The Daily Telegraph, has called Taylor British.

Perhaps a quick history\geography lesson is called for, for our friends across the sea.

Katie Taylor was born and raised in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland. Bray is a vibrant little seaside town to the south of the capital of Ireland, Dublin. Ireland won its independence from an oppressive, corrupt and often brutal British imperialist state and declared independence from same in 1919. We have been free from British rule ever since. It should be noted that before that time, any Irish man or woman, athlete or regular punter, would rather die than be known as British, despite the latter’s military occupation of Ireland.

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Related:
Australian journalist apologizes for Katie Taylor article stereotyping Irish as drunks

Top ten facts about Irish Olympic hopeful Katie Taylor – VIDEO

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One final note for the idiot\editor who approved this unbelievably stupid piece. Taylor should be easily recognizable to all British journalists and sports fans, she was the Irish athlete that annihilated your actual British boxer on Monday, in a flurry of punches that left your girl reeling (Despite my obvious fury on this subject, it should be strongly noted, the telegraph could learn a thing or two about dignity from Jonas, who carried herself with utter class on Monday)

Any telegraph ‘journalist’ who is still confused about Taylor’s nationality should perhaps put the question directly to her.

It would be fun to watch her retort.

If you would like to contact the telegraph to remind them that Taylor is Irish, and not British, you can do so by phoning them or filling out this quick online form. Either should suffice.

Update Wednesday 3:30 pm: Credit where credit is due, the telegraph has issued an apology, and as always, that's all you can ask for. 

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The loudest cheer of the Olympics thus far: Leave it to the Irish!

You might be sitting there on your sofa or your rocking chair or your bean bag thinking to yourself, 'What has been the loudest cheer of this 2012 Olympics thus far?' You might also find yourself a little shocked at the answer. Michael Phelps and his eight thousand medals? No. Usain Bolt making the rest of us look like mere mortals? Nope. Any number of British medals? No. The single loudest cheer of the 2012 Olympics thus far has been for a quiet, unassuming Irish girl called Katie Taylor.

Ireland's premiere Gold medal hope, Taylor, is also the class of women's boxing at the moment, and her magnificent fight with Britain Natasha Jonas was loud. Very loud. Much like the wildly disappointing European Championships, the sports loving Irish turned up in their thousands, decidedly out shouting their English hosts in the stadium.

Here's the science.

The Olympic officials in charge of such matters declared the decibel level at the peak of the fight to be at 113.7, beating all other events including the second loudest, the noisy cycling fans at the Velodrome. To put the noise in perspective, your average jet engine emits a decibel level of 140.

Taylor seems to be really plugged in to the flow and emotion of what is happening all around her, and she was visibly living off the positive vibe coming from the predominantly Irish crowd.

''I've never experienced an atmosphere like this before. I knew it was going to be great but it took me by surprise a small bit. It's a privilege to box for them, as well as my country''

Taylor is Ireland's best hope for Gold apart from John Joe Nevin in the men's boxing, however she elegantly cast all tensions aside with a dominant first round. Credit to Jonas, who may have just edged round two, but Taylor ran away with rounds three and four, and twice had Jonas reeling from ferocious punches. The fight ended with a big margin to Taylor, but Jonas can hold her head high after a proud, dignified performance. The spirit, class and dignity the two girls showed at the end of the fight was a heart warming reminder of what the Olympics is all about.

Onward and upwards for Ireland's gleaming emerland, Katie Taylor, who now faces Tajikistan's Mavzuna Chorieva in the semi final. Should she manage to get past that, a Gold medal bout awaits Thursday.

The last word goes to the classy young Liverpudlian Jonas, who said of Taylor and the chase for the Gold medal

"I think she will (win it) and hope she does"

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Bring back one of the ‘Idiots’ - Derek Lowe would be a great fit in Boston (again)

No, ‘idiot’ is not a low level stoop into the dark art of trolling. If you recall, the merry bunch otherwise known as the 2004 Red Sox were self-declared idiots. Kevin Millar, Johnny Damon and our story’s hero, Derek Lowe, were three of the biggest (again, self-professed) idiots. Lowe wasn’t just ‘an idiot’, he pitched admirably for the Red Sox for 8 seasons, including a World Series ring, a plethora of wins and indeed saves, countless funny moments for us Red Sox fans to enjoy and, of course, pitching a no hitter into the bargain.

Lowe came to Boston in one of the most lopsided trades in MLB history back in 1997. The Red Sox got Lowe and Jason Varitek for ‘closer’ Heathcliff Slocumb. I say ‘closer’, as for those of you old enough to remember, poor old Heathcliff was really more of a ‘potential door opener’ than ‘closer’, blowing saves like it was going out of fashion. Let’s just say Seattle got the raw end of that deal.

Why all the fuss around Lowe these last 24 hours? Well, the Cleveland Indians have basically released him, or to use the technical term, they have designated him for assignment. He is still somewhat under their control, they can trade him for up to 10 days from when they let him go, however the feeling is he will be allowed drift off as a free agent to whoever wants him.

Right now, Lowe is openly saying he would love to come back to Boston, and that’s kind of cool.

Lowe could prove very valuable to the Red Sox. Where do you start, the list of positives is glowing. He knows how to pitch in the AL East. He knows Boston, and has proven to know how to win in Boston, something not a lot of pitchers can do. When he is ‘on’ he keeps the ball down, crucial in Fenway Park. He started out the 2012 season 6-2 with a tiny ERA and has historically been a streaky-good pitcher, perfectly capable of finding his sinkerball mojo again. Particularly in, for him, the comfortable confines of Fenway Park.

Lowe sounds very optimistic about joining up with his regular personal training and fixing the mechanical pitching issues which have him in his current ‘funk’. He said;

“I just need to go back with Chris and get my stuff right again, I know I will,’

The fact of the matter is the Fenway clubhouse could probably do with having a gregarious character like Lowe around. He would also be fantastic to have around Felix Dubront and other young Red Sox pitchers. The Cleveland Indians players and staff have to a man had nothing but glowing comments on Lowe, singling out his selfless, generous sharing of time and information with younger players.

The upside to having a proven winning, inning eating, experienced, friendly character like Lowe around is absolutely gigantic compared to very few potential drawbacks.

This 2012 Red Sox season hangs in the balance.

A gentle push like adding Lowe as starting pitching insurance, could be a small factor for the positive.

Vote Lowe! Bring the ‘Idiot’ back!

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Don't lose sight of the Olympic forest because of the nationalistic trees

The Olympic games got off to a great start, with a blazing, throbbing opening ceremony full of colour and intrigue, including a rambunctious entrance by a myriad of athletes of the World. It was so much fun watching the beaming, glowing stars pour into the stadium in colourful garb, a real celebration of the best and brightest from around the World. Sadly, for me anyway, that appears to be where the goodwill pretty much stopped. Right now, this doesn’t really feel like an Olympic Games. Instead, we appear to be going through dozens of individual, stand-alone events where athletes from one country try to accumulate medals against unseen, unreported rivals. Perhaps I am far off the correct path, however my innocent understanding was that the Olympics is supposed to be a celebration of mankind.

Instead we have the BBC screaming with delight as a British athlete finishes second in the cycling, completely and utterly ignoring the Dutch winner, even going so far as to only interview the silver medalist. What about the Dutch girl? Didn’t she deserve a look-in?! Colour me confused.

Instead we have Irish television actually taking the British insularism and expanding on it exponentially. I suppose Irish TV has some excuse in that Ireland is a tiny nation and any victory for an Irish athlete truly is newsworthy, however, RTE may as well call their Olympics coverage ‘’The hunt for any kind of medal for an Irish athlete along with some other random sports that we will spend 5 minutes on at 11:30 pm on RTE2’’.

The German media is utterly despondent, simply because they haven’t won a truckload of medals as yet. The Olympic games is, in their eyes, a failure thus far, because ‘Germany, Germany, over all’ (that’s the start of their anthem translated, for your information) isn’t blaring out daily on the winners podiums. They don’t care how the other athletes are doing. The entire exercise is a monster bust because Germany isn’t cleaning up.

As for the United States. ESPN is basically a snazzy, glorified medals table focusing solely on the US and their achievements to date. Their coverage is ignorant in a barely concealed passive-aggressive way, with ‘comical’ stories about how American athletes find foreigners amusing. For example, they love telling us that star-struck members of foreign teams are asking the Dream Team for autographs after games, they are getting a big kick out of that dynamic. You know what’s interesting, ESPN doesn’t even have an Olympics tab on their menu bar. Just the usual NFL, MLB and so forth.

‘Worldwide leader in sports’? Maybe in shoving US sports and US athletes down our throats, sure, but ESPN can’t claim to have a worldwide, global view on anything. They don’t even have an Olympics tab on their main menu bar!

Look, the above flag-waving is all well and good, it is great that we in Ireland know everything there is to know about Katie Taylor, and in the USA the entire Olympics is about Lochte\Phelps, the Dream Team and the US women’s soccer team.  Super. Wonderful. I suspect many readers will be shaking their heads saying ‘I don’t see what this idiots problem is?!’

The thing is, the Olympics is a chance to celebrate peoples from all around the world. The games are crammed full of individual stories that would only fill your heart with happiness and an uplifting feeling if you had a chance to find out about them.

Every Olympic event is full of brave, interesting and skilful individuals, beyond the colour of the flag they represent.

Many of these individuals have the weight of the World on their shoulders. There are countless individual struggles going on, often against the odds, as in the case of Saudi woman Wojdan Ali Seraj Abdulrahim Shahrkhani who is not just preparing to battle other opponents in Judo, but is also battling the weight of an entire faith’s beliefs on her slim shoulders. Not only does she have to worry about an opponent pulling a ‘Ouchi Gaeshi’ on her, she also has to worry about backwards, redundant comments from her own people like this; ‘‘Men will be looking at her and she will likely be wearing form-fitting attire.’’

On no, someone call in the religious police! Form fitting attire! Oh the humanity!

Hey, of course there is a middle ground, and I am not going to lie to you, any Irish medal will be loudly cheered from my apartments sofa. The point I am trying to make here is, we are in danger of being sucked into this boring, nationalistic, angry, flag waving black hole, where the exploits of individuals are crushed from our view by the weight of ugly medal tables and over exuberant nationalistic reporting.

Knock yourself out, punch the air when (insert country here) wins whatever event. But, just don’t lose the chance to celebrate humanity a little. Try ‘adopting’ a few athletes or teams from nations other than your own, and follow their exploits as the games progress.

You might find yourself enjoying the Olympic games on another level than that stupid medals table.



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