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What It Takes To Be # 1
"Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.
"There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that's first place. I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don't ever want to finish second again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and to win.
"Every time a football player goes to play his trade he's got to play from the ground up - from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That's O.K. You've got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more importantly, you've got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you're lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he's never going to come off the field second.
"Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization - an army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win - to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is.
"It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That's why they are there - to compete. To know the rules and objectives when they get in the game. The object is to win fairly, squarely, by the rules - but to win.
"And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.
"I don't say these things because I believe in the 'brute' nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man's finest hour - his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear - is that moment when he has to work his heart out in a good cause and he's exhausted on the field of battle - victorious."
--Vince Lombardi
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RED SOX Grapefruit League Action Vs. The Twins, (Yakob's 1st Article Ever)
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Yes, yes, yes, This is no joke. I, Yakob878, am finally going to write a REAL article. I am writing this for four reasons. One, I realized I was the only user on this great site’s top 50 list that had not written a real article. So I have decided to suck it up and actually write one. Another reason why I am doing this is because I have decided to take a journalism course this summer and want some practice and have some of the best critics, I know the users at the great site of AGM to give me some pointers on how to improve my writing skills. Thirdly, I LOVE the Boston Red Sox and the reappearance of spring training baseball, only second in my sports heart to New England Patriots and the NFL’s Summer workouts. And the last, but certainly not least I wanted all you edit lovers (Romi and the rest who know how to earn some easy points (they know who they are)), by correcting my terrible spelling and grammar.
OK, now to the article. I am going to be writing about Da Sox' spring training game versus the newly Johan Santana-less Minnesota Twins. The Sox were at Hammond Stadium, the spring home of the Twins. The game featured second year Japanese baseball prodigy Daisuke Matsuzaka and Boof Bonser. They both pitched two innings of shut out ball. Dice-K did it on only twelve pitches and allowing only two hits.
The scoring action did not come until the top of the fourth against Kevin Slowey, which led to my man, Youuuuuuuk, fresh off a new one-year contract extension of 3 million dollars, homering to put the Sox up 2-0. Next up was Tek, who kept the rally going belting a solo shot of his own. The final run came when catcher George Kottaras, a minor league catcher prospect doubled and scored on Mike Lowell’s first hit of spring training. Slowey gave up three runs in total, along with four hits in 1 and 2/3 innings. His ERA is now 16.20. Then, in the bottom of the sixth, we had a Julian Tavarez sighting; yes, the guy who bowled the ball to first last season is still on the team gave up a solo shot to third baseman Brian Buscher making the score 5-l Boston. The final scoring for the Sox came in the ninth inning, when they tacked on three more versus (usually) good closer Joe Nathan gave up a run on two hits.
Good news for fantasy owners he did get all of the three outs by the way of the K.
Final score Boston 8 and Minnesota 3.
Other Game Notes:
As of now, the Twins are now 0-2 and the Red Sox are 1-0.
Justin Morneau went one for two with a single to left field.
Sox fans should keep an eye on George Kottaras, the Sox picked him up in the David Wells trade with the Padres. Although he might not be seen much this season spending it with the teams AAA team, the Paw Sox. If starter and team Captain Jason Varitek goes down, he might see some time in the Bigs. He also leads the team in RBI’s so far with three this spring, but that is because this was there first game.
Next game for the sox is today at Hammond Stadium against the Twins at 1:05 eastern standard time. Jon Lester vs. Randy Keisler.
| This user is a fan of the dude who wikifies one number, section, date, etc. at a time. |
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