White Suburban Punk

Last week:

College: 1-5  Pro: 9-4

This week’s picks:

College:

Florida State (-7.5) NC State

Wisconsin (-7) Purdue

Ohio (-7.5) Ball State

Indiana (+17.5) Iowa

Houston (-7.5) Southern Miss.

SMU (+17) Tulsa

Miami (-7) Wake Forest

Oregon State (-8.5) UCLA

Vanderbilt (+13.5) Georgia Tech

South Carolina (+6) Tennessee

Oklahoma State (+9) Texas

Pro:

Baltimore (-3.5) Denver

Buffalo (-3) Houston

Chicago (-14) Cleveland

Dallas (-11) Seattle

Detroit (-9.5) St. Louis

San Francisco (+12.5) Indy

NY Jets (-4) Miami

Tennessee (-3) Jacksonville

Oakland (+17.5) San Diego

Green Bay (-3) Minnesota

Carolina (+9) Arizona

Philadelphia (-3) NY Giants

Atlanta (+10) New Orleans

Cliff Lee dominated the yankees last night, just dominated.  From the nonchalant catch of a pop up to his behind-the-back stab of a one-hopper, to his ten strikeouts and complete game, 122 pitch performance.  The Stadium was silenced.  A-Roid, after tearing through the division series and ALCS, went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts.  Back to the old A-Roid?  Now Pedro takes on AJ Burnett tonight in Game 2.  Burnett is an imposter, but I really hope Pedro pitches well.  I haven’t looked forward to a WS game like this that didn’t involve the Red Sox in a long, long time.  I really wonder if the fans will chant “who’s your daddy” at Pedro.  Do they remember how that worked out for them last time?  Hopefully the Phils will pound Burnett so hard that Pedro can just go six and leave with the lead.  That would be perfect.  Then Girardi can go through 10 more pitchers all while having the look on his face like he’s taking a crap.

The Celtics are 2-0 in the new season, beating the Cavs on the road and destroying Charlotte in the home opener last night.  The Celtics didn’t even play all that well last night and still cruised.  Looking good.  They’re so much deeper than last year and KG looks better than I thought he would.  The defense is intense as always, too.  And Rondo hasn’t really shown all that much yet, at least as far as being aggressive taking the ball to the hole.  I’m sure that will come soon.  Rasheed is an absolutely awesome addition to this team.

Liverpool beat Manyoo 2-0 on Sunday and looked terrific doing it.  Torres played and scored, but Gerrard wasn’t able to make it onto the field.  They did show him sitting with his lovely wife Alex several times, though.  They played with great tenacity and life, really for the first time this year.  The team apparently lost yesterday to Arsenal in the Carling Cup, but the big teams usually play a lot of youngsters in that competition.  Alberto Aquilani was supposed to make his Liverpool debut in that game and he should be able to help the big club soon.  He was one of the two big signings over the summer, and I think he’s coming back from a broken ankle.  Looking forward to seeing him play.  Liverpool now sits fifth in the Premiership, six points behind Chelsea, although Man City and Villa have a game in hand behind them.  The Reds play Fulham on the road Saturday.

Wisconsin plays Purdue at Camp Randall Saturday.  Hopefully the bye did them a world of good.  They’re on a two game losing streak right now, and are seven point favorites.  That may be a little high.  The Badgers haven’t really beaten anyone soundly all year, and we’ll see if Scott Tolzien continues to throw bad interceptions.  Maybe the kid, Curt Phillips, will see more of the field in this game.

Badger hockey hosts UNH for two this weekend, but neither game is on tv.  I wonder if there will be any arrests of UNH players, given that it’s Halloween weekend in Madtown.

The Bruins host New Jersey tonight.  The Devils were a boring team to watch before, now their coach is Jacques “neutral zone trap” Lemaire.  I plan to stick to baseball.  The Devils are 6-4 on the year, the Bruins 5-4-1.  The B’s currently sit in fourth place in the Northeast Division.

October 26, 2009

North (4,293) and South (4,358) Kinsman Mountains via Mount Kinsman Trail and Kinsman Ridge Trail

10 miles/3,900 feet

The trailhead is located on the east side of Rt. 116 north near the Easton/Franconia town line.  I took I-93 to exit 32, route 112 west to route 116.  The trailhead was moved in early 2009 and is just south of Tamarack Tennis Lessons; there is a small sign at the parking lot entrance. 

The trail begins at a sign in the parking area, but the route to the logging road is very difficult to follow.  Follow the trail with yellow ties that are bound to various small trees and branches.  I lost this trail and it took me an hour and a half to reach the brook crossing at 1.5 miles.  This part is a very open forest, so everything seems to look like a trail. 

Once the trail finds the logging road (sign), it is wide and ascends very moderately, with a couple of odd turns.  Stay to the right at each fork and watch for small two small arrow signs on trees.  The trail crosses a substantial brook at 1.5, near the site of the former Kinsman Cabin.  There is another brook crossing at 1.8, and the trail crosses Flume Brook at 2.1.  On the other side of Flume Brook, a path descends steeply close to the bank for about 150 yards to deep, steep-walled Kinsman Flume.  The main trail continues straight for 70 yards and turns sharp left at a sign, where a trail to the right leads to Bald Peak in 0.2 miles.

Here the trail gets interesting, and more like a trail than a logging road.  It ascends fairly moderately but unrelentingly through deep forest, rough, but with good footing.  The trail crosses several small brooks, and the White Mountain Guide edition I have includes a section with two ladders, but the trail must have been relocated at some point because I never saw them.

The trail continues steadily up to the ridge, seeming to get steeper as it goes.  At the ridge top (3.7 miles), it meets the Kinsman Ridge Trail.  The climb to North Kinsman is 0.4 miles, and fairly steep, but not too bad.  There is some ice on the bare rock pitches on this section at this time of year, but these are fairly easily negotiated.

The view from North Kinsman is spectacular, over to the Franconias and straight down to Kinsman Pond.

The trail descends steadily to the col between North and South at 0.8, then climbs relatively easily to the summit of South Kinsman at 1.3 (mileage from Mount Kinsman Trail).

I returned to the parking area via the same route.

College

BC (+9.5) over Notre Dame

Kansas (+7) over Oklahoma

Idaho (+13) over Nevada

Arizona State (+7) over Stanford

South Florida (+6.5) over Pitt

Arkansas (+5.5) over Ole Miss

PRO

San Francisco (-3) over Houston

Indy (-13) over St. Louis

New England (-15) over Tampa Bay

Pittsburgh (-3.5) over Minnesota

Green Bay (-7.5) over Cleveland

Oakland (+7.5) over NY Jets

Cincinnati (-1) over Chicago

Atlanta (+3) over Dallas

New Orleans (-7) over Miami

NY Giants (-7.5) over Arizona

San Diego (-4.5) over Kansas City

Buffalo (+7.5) over Carolina

Philadelphia (-6.5) over Washington

October 21, 2009

Hiked Mts. Tom (4,051 ft.), Field (4,340 ft.), and Willey (4,285 ft.) via the Avalon Trail, A-Z Trail, Mt. Tom Spur, and Willey Range Trail, coming back down via the Avalon Trail.  10 miles/3,450 feet, 5 hours 45 minutes.

The trailhead is just past the AMC Highland Center at the train depot on Rt. 302, about 8.5 miles east of the junction with Rt. 3 in Twin Mountain.  The trailhead is across the railroad tracks, which my edition of the AMC White Mountain Guide failed to mention.

The route begins on the Avalon Trail, which was in very good condition.  The Mt. Willard Trail exits to the left after 0.1 and then the trail crosses a brook.  Soon after, a loop trail exits to the left, passing by Beecher and Pearl Cascades, small waterfalls that are probably more impressive with the spring runoff.  The loop rejoins the main trail and continues at an easy grade, recrossing the brook at 0.8 and ascends moderately to the junction with A-Z Trail at 1.3.  Elevation gain for this section was 800 feet.

The A-Z Trail diverges to the right from the Avalon and descends to cross through a steep gully.  The rest of this section climbs fairly steeply to the col between Mts. Tom and Field.  This trail was partially covered with snow and ice, which was prevalent throughout the rest of the hike until once again reaching the Avalon/A-Z intersection.  After 1 mile and 1,000 feet, the Mt. Tom Spur exits to the right.

This trail climbs at an easy pitch, with one relatively steep section, to a false summit with a side trail to the right which provides good views to the south and east at a blowdown area.  The main trail swings to the left and reaches the true summit (cairn) with views into the Pemigewasset Wilderness to the south and west at another blowdown area.  This section is 0.6 miles with 350 feet of gain.

Traveling back down the Mt. Tom Spur, the route then turns right, rejoining the A-Z Trail briefly, where the Willey Range Trail goes left. 

The Willey Range Trail was quite snowy and icy and climbs steadily 0.9 to the summit of Mt. Field.  This section was actually more difficult than I was led to believe from the White Mountain Guide, but that may have been due to the difficulty with the snow and ice.  Just short of the Mt. Field summit, the Avalon Trail goes down to the left.  The summit of Mt. Field is just a small clearing with a cairn, and a short side path to the left leads to the only viewpoint.

The Willey Range Trail descends steadily off Mt. Field and continues in a really neat section before ascending Mt. Willey.  Again, this part of the route was more difficult than I was led to believe from the Guide, but still isn’t too bad.  The views from Mt. Willey are excellent.  There is an outlook to the south with a grand view of the Pemi Wilderness and then the trail circles around to the summit (cairn).  A bit further, right before the trail starts descending, a side path leaves to the left to an outlook to the east and the best view.

The return route is all the way back along the Willey Range Trail, down Mt. Willey and up Mt. Field, and then down to the Avalon Trail.  The round trip on the Willey Range Trail is 3.7 miles and 13oo feet.

The trip down the Avalon Trail is steep, with considerable difficulty from snow and ice.  Crampons are not necessary at this time, but travel is slow and difficult.  After one mile of steep, rocky descent, a marked trail to the summit of Mt. Avalon diverges to the right (only 100 yards but very steep), which provides excellent views to the east, as well as a nice vantage point to look back at the entire Willey Range Trail route, from Mt. Tom to the right and across to Mts. Field and Willey to the left.

The Avalon Trail continues its steep descent for 0.5 until it once again reaches its junction with the A-Z Trail, where it is 1.3 miles back to the parking area.

Overall, an excellent hike.  It was actually a bit more strenuous than I expected, and my time was definitely slowed by the snow and ice.  The foliage was excellent in the first part of the Avalon Trail, but leaves are mostly down already at the higher elevations.

Liverpool – Lyon Champions League, Tuesday Oct. 21, 2009 at Anfield

So Liverpool has now lost four games in a row in all competitions, the worst run for the team since 1987. The calls for coach Rafa Benitez’s head unfortunately will continue, and he even got the dreaded vote of confidence from co-owner George Gillett. Rafa went with a couple of youths in the starting lineup for this game, David Ngog playing striker in place of the injured Fernando Torres, and Martin Kelly at right back. Captain Steven Gerrard returned to the starting lineup after being sidelined with a groin strain.

Although Ngog and Kelly acquitted themselves well, Gerrard was forced to the sidelines at 24 minutes due to a recurrence of his injury. His status for the huge Manyoo tilt at Anfield on Sunday is now questionable. Gerrard was replaced by Fabio Aurelio, and he ended up helping supply most of Liverpool’s offense on the day.

Goalie Pepe Reina made a great save early on, but Liverpool essentially dominated possession in the first half.  Dirk Kuyt was denied a goal for a questionable push, and then Yossi Benayoun scored at 41 minutes to put Liverpool on top, on a play set up by Aurelio. Fabio was later robbed on a header just before the half by Lyon goaltender Hugo Lloris, after a sweet cross by Martin Kelly.

Liverpool continued their domination for the first 15 minutes of the second half, but then appeared to get a bit lackadaisical.  Lyon began asserting their will and finally scored the tying goal at 72 minutes off a corner kick.  Reina valiantly saved the first two chances, but Liverpool boxed it around and he could not save the third chance. 

At 85 minutes, Rafa made the baffling decision to replace Benayoun with Andriy Voronin.  Things went downhill from there.  Seemingly happy with a draw, the Reds gave up the game winning goal 30 seconds into extra time on a set up that was ridiculously easy. 

Liverpool now sit in third place in Group E with 3 points, behind Lyon with 9 points and Fiorentina with 6.  With three games left, (at Lyon, at Debrecini, and home to Fiorentina), the team’s backs are against the wall.  Although Torres is hopeful to play against Manyoo Sunday, it appears the lights are growing dim on Liverpool’s season, even though it’s only October.  Of course, as Jamie Carragher reminds us, they beat Manyoo last year without Gerrard and Torres, but can lightning strike twice?  It better.

Home Calls

Three sports, two countries, but there were some extremely questionable/controversial calls favoring home teams on Saturday.  Saturday morning, Liverpool played at Sunderland in the Premiership.  Early in the game, Sunderland’s Darren Bent turned and fired a shot from relatively close.  The ball struck a beach ball and deflected past Liverpool goalie Pepe Reina and into the net.  Surprisingly (at least to me), the announcers on Fox Soccer Channel did not know if there was a rule governing such a situation, and the studio analysts at halftime claimed the goal was “somewhat controversial” and “just desserts” for Liverpool, since replays showed it was actually a Liverpool fan who threw the ball on the field.  However, the Fox Soccer website later quoted a former Premiership official who claimed that the play should have resulted in a drop ball, not a goal, due to “outside interference”.  This former official also claimed that it was a “basic law” and a rule that would be learned on an “initial refereeing course”.  Essentially, anything other than the 22 players and the referee is outside interference, whether it is an object on the pitch or a fan.  Needless to say, the goal counted, and Liverpool lost the game 1-0.

Next case is Arkansas/Florida, at the Swamp.  After Arkansas goes up in the fourth quarter 20-13 on a 75 yard touchdown on 3rd and 17, Florida benefited from two extremely favorable calls on the ensuing drive, including pass interference in the end zone and a personal foul for unnecessary roughness.  Both calls were awful.  Florida scores, game tied at 20.  Florida later gets away with offensive pass interference in the end zone, and wins 23-20.  Note: the officials have since been suspended by the SEC for the ridiculous unnecessary roughness call.

Case three is USC/Notre Dame, from South Bend.  On Notre Dame’s final drive, the officials bent over backwards to do everything they possibly could to allow the Irish to tie.  Two extremely questionable personal fouls and even putting one second back on the clock for one more chance after time had expired.  Despite all the help, Jimmy Clausen was unable to get the tying score with four plays inside the USC 10 yard line.  Epic fail.  And this is your Heisman candidate?  Are you kidding me?  After his wild fourth down incomplete pass, Clausen looked shocked, not for the loss, but because he wasn’t gifted another ridiculous flag.  Even with all that help, he failed.  His Heisman candidacy should be finished, but of course, it’s the most overrated college football program in the country, and the remaining schedule is BC, Washington State (neutral site), Navy, at Pittsburgh, Uconn, and at Stanford.  In fact, the best scoring defense on the remaining schedule is Uconn, and they give up 19.6 points per game, 30th in the nation.  So we will continue to hear Jimmy Clausen rhetoric for several more weeks.  Really looking forward to it.

Case four is the phantom double play that was not given to the Angels in the bottom of the 10th at Yankee Stadium in Game 2.  Obviously, this didn’t directly result in a run or the Yankee win, but it was yet another extremely questionable call favoring the home team.  A somewhat striking note about these four instances is the fact that they all took place in stadiums with “intimidating” reputations, including the Stadium of Light in Sunderland.  Clearly, the Swamp, South Bend, and Yankee Stadium qualify.  It’s something that as fans we all know we have to live with, but Saturday brought stark examples.

I’m So Bored With The USA

Liverpool’s loss, mentioned earlier, was their fourth loss in nine league games.  They lost only two Premiership games all of last year in finishing in second place, and now sit in eighth, seven points behind Man U, as Sunderland leapfrogged them with the win Saturday.  Predictably, the calls for the sacking of Rafa Benitez have begun again, this time even including Nick Webster from Fox Soccer’s website.

Rafa did prepare for this game in a rather bizarre fashion, starting three center backs.  Should a team of Liverpool’s caliber really be making radical adjustments to match up with a team like Sunderland?  The team was also hindered by injuries to Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, and Javier Mascherano had to come off the bench after international duty.  It all added up to an ugly day for Liverpool.  There was the unbelievable goal allowed off the beach ball (thrown by a Liverpool supporter – how does that happen?  He threw it in front of his own team’s goal!), but the team played extremely uninspired football.  Ryan Babel stunk, as usual, despite his incessant demands for playing time.  Youngster Jay Spearing was in the lineup and didn’t acquit himself all that well.  The team clearly wanted to rely heavily on Yossi Benayoun, but he was largely invisible in the first half and effectively handcuffed in the second.  Glenn Johnson had possession in threatening positions several times, but he would typically wait until the ball was taken away from him.  I believe Liverpool had two legitimate scoring chances all day, but after bringing on Mascherano and Voronin for Spearing and Skrtel, the team did start to show some life, just not enough.  So it’s yet another loss, and now the calls begin again for Rafa’s head.  I’ve really had enough of this.  He didn’t have his two best, world class players.  The goal was a fluke and shouldn’t have counted, anyway.  And Sunderland really isn’t that bad so far this year.  Their goalie is Scotland’s #1, they led Chelsea at the half before losing, and they beat Man U at Old Trafford.  Clearly, the top teams in the Premiership are going drop a lot more points than in previous years.  What surprises me is that world soccer fans seem to be more trigger happy than American sports fans, besides Dan Snyder and the former incarnation of George Steinbrenner.  This is at least the third straight autumn that fans and media have called for Rafa’s job.  In fact, last year, British bookies even took Benitez’s sacking off the books for a time.  They wouldn’t take the bet.  Now, I know Liverpool’s owners are idiots, but I sincerely hope and believe they’re not this stupid.  You can’t get blood from a stone, people.  Tuesday Liverpool plays Lyon at Anfield in the Champions League, and Sunday they get a visit from Man U.  Lyon leads the group with two wins in as many games, and it appears at least Gerrard will be able to play.  It’s obviously a huge week, and I fully expect Rafa to have his charges ready and I certainly expect better results.

Badgers

Ouch.  That one’s going to leave a mark.  Again.  WSP was very confident in the Badgers coming into this game.  After essentially dominating Ohio State at the horseshoe last week, I figured Bielema’s boys would return to Madison and play “Wisconsin football” and handle Iowa rather easily.  Iowa has pretty much done it with smoke and mirrors so far this year, and that continued Saturday.  What exactly is that team even good at?  They don’t pressure the passer, they’re not that great against the run, they hardly have an explosive offense, and they don’t run the ball all that well, either (1 100 yard rusher this season).  Bielema was 15-0 in 11 am games in Madison and Wisconsin was 34-3 at home in the last five years.  Kirk Ferentz was just 5-5 vs. the Badgers.  The first half was essentially all Wisconsin, yet they only led 10-3.  The dominated in total yards, 172-79, first downs 11-3, plays of 10+ yards 7-2, and had caused five negative Iowa rushing plays, to just one for Wisconsin.  Neither team had turned it over, and Wisconsin had survived what at first appeared to be a devastating knee injury to John Clay.  Montee Ball replaced him and got his first career touchdown to cap an excellent 92 yard drive. 

But the second half was all Iowa.  UW quarterback Scott Tolzien threw a terrible pass for an interception on UW’s first possession, which Ricky Stanzi turned into an Iowa TD with a 25 yard pass play while on the run on 3rd and 7.  Clay had returned, but looked tentative the rest of the day.  Wisconsin managed to get a turnover on a strip sack of Stanzi, but Wisconsin couldn’t get anything.  Tolzien was nearly picked on 2nd down, and Nick Toon dropped a pass in good coverage on 3rd down.  Philip Welch then missed a 38 yard field goal attempt.  Iowa responded with a quick drive for a TD and a 17-10 lead.  That was pretty much it.  Wisconsin couldn’t run at all in the second half, as Iowa kept eight men in the box.  Tolzien threw two more interceptions, giving him six in the last three games, and Wisconsin has scored one offensive touchdown in the last two games.  After a promising start to the season, Tolzien has been exposed, and it’s eerily similar to last year’s quarterback debacle with Allan Evridge and Dustin Sherer.  These guys just aren’t that good.  Wisconsin goes into a bye next week, and calls have started for redshirt freshman Curt Phillips to run the show.  But can Bielema really bail on his starting quarterback for the second year in a row?  I doubt he will.  Next up, Purdue in Madison on Halloween.

Upsets

Purdue at Ohio State (-13)

Colorado (home) Kansas (-9)

Kentucky at Auburn (-13)

Texas Tech at Nebraska (-6)

Close Calls

I picked Arkansas to beat Florida, banking on a major hangover for the Gators after last week’s rousing win at LSU and the return of the Chosen One.  With major help from the officials (see above), Florida managed to escape.  Watching the fourth quarter of Arkansas/Florida and USC/Notre Dame, I think I tied my record for saying “what the “&%$#” for the most times in one hour since Game 7 of the 2003 ALCS.

Patriots

Wow.  Just wow.  Was it the snow that got Brady to focus more?  Whatever it was, dial it up.  He looked absolutely vintage 2007.  Maroney even looked great for once and all the offensive weapons were clicking.  The interesting story was on the defense, where Adalius Thomas was a healthy scratch and Shawn Springs and Leigh Bodden didn’t start.  Result?  Shutout.  That Belichick guy is really going to make it in this league.

Charissa Thompson

WSP fave and Big Ten Network sideline reporter extraordinaire Charissa Thompson will be, uh, sidelined, with a broken foot and ankle and will be on crutches until at least November 1.  We at WSP will miss her terribly, especially after reading this interview and the following quote:

You host a show called Big Ten’s Best.  What would you say is the Big Ten’s best city to travel to, best fight song, best gameday environment, and best fan base?

Thompson: I hope no one gets offended, but my favorite school to visit and do a game at is Wisconsin.  The town, Camp Randall, the fans…all of it.  I love Badger football games.

God bless her and here’s to a speedy recovery.

October 13, 2009

Well, that sucked.  Badgers lose to Ohio State for their first loss of the season, Red Sox lose game 3 at Fenway to get swept by the Angels, and the Patriots blow a lead and lose at Denver in overtime.  Ouch.  That’s gonna leave a mark.

To start with Badgers, what a bizarre game.  Wisconsin basically dominated the game, outgaining OSU 368-184, owning the time of possession 42:47-17:13, and only turning the ball over one more time than the Buckeyes, 2-1.  But the team that dominated got blown out.  Killed.  Destroyed.  Annihilated.  Both Wisconsin turnovers were returned for touchdowns and the real killer was the kickoff return for touchdown in the third quarter after UW had cut the lead to 21-13.  That was all she wrote, despite the statistical imbalances.  The encouraging thing for Badger fans is that there is no doubt that UW belonged on the field with Ohio State.  Matt Millen kept repeating (and repeating and repeating) that UW was losing the battle at the line of scrimmage, and maybe they were on certain plays.  But taken as a whole, Wisconsin moved the ball extremely effectively all day, and Ohio State simply did not.  Wisconsin had 22 first downs, Ohio State, 8.  Terrelle Pryor: 5-13 for 87 yards, 1 TD and 1 interception.  Of course, the touchdown was huge, coming right before the end of the first half, and really the only time all day that Ohio State moved the ball offensively.  The bottom line is that Ohio State made big plays when they absolutely needed to, and that won them the game.  Ouch.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, simply got outplayed for three games.  The Angels were just as good as the Red Sox last year, but they essentially choked late in games (remember, they were all close).  This time, they didn’t choke, and if anything, the Red Sox did.  At least, their closer chose an awful time to not be clutch.  But really, the Angels weren’t really lacing the ball off Papelbon, they were more Texas Leaguers that showed that it just wasn’t the Sox’ year.  Now, next year is probably the last run for this group of core players.  Ortiz, Lowell, Beckett, and Victor Martinez, are all free agents after next season (although Sox have 2011 club option on Ortiz for $12.5 million).  One would have to believe that Theo and company will try to extend Martinez this winter, but it’ll be interesting to see what they do with Beckett.  Clearly, he is among the best pitchers in the game and he is 29 years old.  Do the Sox risk letting him play out his contract next year, or try to extend him this winter?  My guess is they try to extend him, but it will be costly.  He made $10.5 million in 2009 and is due for $12.1 million in 2010, relatively a bargain for a starting pitcher of his caliber.  Of course, the big question immediately is Jason Bay.  How aggressive will teams like the Giants, and, yes, the Yankees, be in going after one of the only outfielders with thump who is on the market this winter?  The top of the minor leagues is now essentially bereft of talent, so can we really expect the Sox to improve over this season?  Right now, it doesn’t seem likely to this observor.  For this reason, I believe the Sox will be aggressive this winter in trying to trade for a young, impact player, be it Adrian Gonzalez, Felix Hernandez, or Prince Fielder.  If that doesn’t happen, I think it will be a while before the Sox approach 95 wins again.

Ah, the Patriots.  It seems so bizarre to be worried about the offense when Brady and Moss are both healthy.  And this talk that the offensive struggles were due to Welker being out appear to have been overblown.  Yes, Fred Taylor is out now, too, but this is football, for crying out loud.  Somebody is always hurt.  Remember, in 2007, this offense overcame absolutely everything to win and win and win.  So what’s wrong?  I’ve got to come down on the quarterback play, although the offensive line doesn’t look the same, either.  I have every confidence that the quarterback play will improve as the season goes on, and the Patriots will be a dangerous team come playoff time.  Super Bowl?  I don’t know.  I was very confident before the season started, but now this team just doesn’t look like the old dominant Patriots.  And there are some much better teams in the AFC now, as well.  The Colts are playing as well as they ever have, the Broncos are one of those teams that plays good defense and doesn’t make mistakes, Baltimore is good, and you’ve got to believe that Pittsburgh and San Diego will be there at the end.  I guess I’d even have to put the Jests up there.  I think we’ve got parity here, folks.  Of course, it’s only week 5 and things tend change rather gradually between now and the playoffs.  Teams that look unbeatable now will look very beatable in January.  And hopefully for the Patriots, the opposite will be true as well.

Mt. Hale (4,054 ft.) via Hale Brook Trail, Lend-a-Hand Trail, Twinway, and Zealand Trail (and Zealand Road)

October 6, 2009

8.7 miles/2400 ft. 3 hours 45 minutes

Nice hike today to summit of Mt. Hale, down to the Zealand Falls Hut, and back over to the parking area.  The trailhead was the Hale Brook Trail, which is on Zealand Road 2.5 miles from Rt. 302 (93 to 3 to 302, turn right at Zealand Campground for Zealand Road).

The hike to the summit from the parking area was fairly steep, but the trail is in excellent condition, not too rough at all.  There is one interesting water crossing of Hale Brook at approximately 1.3 miles.  The climb is through birch forest, and then after the water crossing, the trail begins climbing by switchbacks and encounters more conifers.  The trail is steadily uphill, but not too bad at all.  I summitted in 1 hour 15 minutes, which surprised me greatly.  The route to the summit is 2.2 miles/2300 feet.  There were no views from the summit due to the clouds, and apparently trees have been steadily reclaiming the formerly bare summit, anyway.  There is a huge cairn marking the summit and the rocks around the former fire tower site are reputed to be strongly magnetic.  Oooh!

At this point, I located the Lend-a-Hand trail and started down.  The trail is very gradual, and would probably be a very pleasant climb up to the top of Mt. Hale from the Zealand Falls Hut.  There is one side trail at about 0.8 from the summit that leads to excellent view of Carrigain Notch.  The grade is quite gradual all the way down, and then the trail gets extremely wet, with many log bridges.  Eventually, the trail reaches the Twinway at a neat little waterfall/brook traveling over a big rock.  Total distance from the summit was 2.7 miles, with about 1300 feet of descent.

The Twinway leads 0.1 miles to Zealand Falls Hut, where there were about 50 people milling about outside – on a Tuesday in October.  I figured it was just one huge group, but there were many, many more people to see on the rest of the hike.  Given the crowds, I skipped entering the Hut and continued on, down a steep rock staircase, with a side trail to the marginally impressive Zealand Falls.  The Twinway meets up with the Zealand Trail and Ethan Pond Trail at Zealand Pond.  Total 0.3 miles, 270 ft. descent.

The Zealand Trail was quite easy, flat, with numerous bridges.  It apparently follows an old railroad grade much of the way.  I saw loads of people heading to the hut – most without backpacks or water or anything.  It seemed very strange to me on a Tuesday in October, but maybe they’re all leaf peepers.  But why would they all come to this same place?  Very weird.  Anyway, there are several brook crossings and then the trail approaches and crosses the Zealand River.  The trail finally reaches the parking area after 2.5 miles and 460 feet of descent.  And there were loads of cars there.  This trailhead is also apparently an AMC shuttle stop.

Finally, I finished the hike with a one mile jaunt down Zealand Falls road back to the Hale Brook Trailhead.  Downhill virtually the whole way on a dirt road, following the Zealand River.  Very pleasant.  According to my math, it must have been 270 feet of descent.

All in all, I must say that may have been my easiest 4,000 footer.  One could easily go up and back on the Hale Brook Trail in two hours.

It’s been bothering me for quite a while how J.D. Drew seems to get far more than his share of criticism from the Boston media and even some of the fans.  I remember sitting in the first base side grandstand in early 2007 for Drew’s first homestand with the Red Sox and after an opposition single to right field, the rather large and certainly loud woman sitting in front of me stood up and yelled, “Nixon woulda had it!”  This attitude does not seem to have diminished despite a World Series championship and stellar individual postseason play.  Personally, I love the way Drew plays the game.  I love the smooth swing and the gap power.  I feel confident with him in right field at Fenway, the most difficult in the game.  I consider him a good baserunner and a heady player.  But it seems I’m always defending him.  So let’s look at the numbers.  How does J.D. Drew compare to other American League right fielders?  With Sunday’s close of the regular season, Drew’s third season in Boston, we can take a look at relevant offensive stats and salaries for American League right fielders.

The incessant drone from the local blabberers of the airwaves about “Nancy” Drew and the supposedly overpaid Red Sox right fielder simply is not borne out by his production on the field.  In fact, Drew played very close to his career averages in 2009, at the age of 33.  He missed just 25 games (less than Kevin Youkilis) and ranked fifth on the team in games played, behind just Pedroia, Ellsbury, Bay, and Ortiz.  Ichiro had nearly 100 more hits than Drew, yet Drew still led him in OBP by .006 and outslugged him by the relatively wide margin of .057.  And Ichiro only had four more runs scored than Drew, while being paid $4 million a year more.

Michael Cuddyer certainly had an excellent season for the Twins, yet despite the eight more home runs, their slugging percentages were essentially equal and Drew reached base at rate of .050 more.

Shin-Soo Choo appears to be a player on the rise.  At age 26, the Indians outfielder completed his first full season in the majors.  20 home runs and 21 stolen bases in 156 games are very impressive numbers.

Nick Swisher has the reputation of an on base machine, but he actually had a career high slugging percentage this year, at age 28.  Neither his OBP nor his slugging compare to Drew’s.  In fact, Swisher has never reached Drew’s 2009 OBP in any season of his career.

If the local blabberers want to focus on overpaid AL right fielders, check out Magglio Ordonez, Jermaine Dye, and Jose Guillen.  In fact, Guillen is signed through 2010 by the Royals for $12 million.  Also, Nick Markakis signed a contract extension before the 2009 season for 6 years and $66 million.  The 25 year old may have brighter days ahead, but 2009 was fairly typical of his previous three seasons of full time big league play.

It appears that Drew is penalized for not kissing the butts of the knights of the airwaves, and they will have two more seasons to continue deriding him.  But with his production in a Boston uniform so far, Theo and the rest of Red Sox Nation should be quite pleased with the results.