FOD: Big Night for Lady A at the Grammy's!

I know, I know, I'm long overdue for a Dan the Banner update. So first, Happy (very belated) 2011! I'm feeling a big year for the banner, hopefully it turns out to be one! Have a few updates from some of Dan's friends who have started the New Year out with a bang.

FOD Lady Antebellum took home 5 Grammy Awards last night.

Big new of the day is a HUGE congratulations for Lady Antebellum, who saw the culmination of an enormous breakout year end with a huge night at last night's Grammy Awards in LA. Lady A entered the show with 6 nominations and Hillary, Charles, and Dave walked out stars of the night, not only performing on the big stage (for the second year in a row), but rounding up 5 awards - Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group, Best Country Song, Best Country Album, and 2 of the nights biggest awards, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. What a night! I'm so happy for the trio, and while all the awards and accolades are certainly deserved, I'd like to think meeting Dan the Banner a couple of months ago propelled them to the next level and helped them win their 5 trophies last night. Ok, perhaps that's wishful thinking on my part, but it certainly is a great start to 2011 for Dan the Banner. Congrats Lady A! I hope 2011 is even bigger for you than 2010! Check out this article here to recap Lady A's banner night and all the rest of the fun from last night's award show.

FOD Tom Brady was unanimously named the NFL's 2010 MVP

In other Friends of Dan updates, a belated congratulations to Pats QB Tom Brady for the numerous honors he's won since the end of the football season. Ok, yes, I am as bitter as anyone about the abrupt end to the Pats season (seriously? You lost to the Jets at home? Really?), but Tom had a fantastic season, culminating with a unanimous MVP award, the first in NFL history. The MVP was the icing on the cake of a season that saw Tom finish with 36 TDs to only 4 INTs, and the 5th highest passer rating for a season ever. So congrats on the award Tom! As well as the AP Offensive Player of the Year, 1st Team All-Pro, and Starting QB at the 2010 Pro Bowl (even though he missed the game because of injury).

With pitchers and catchers reporting yesterday (finally!), day 2 of the 2011 baseball season is under way, and what a wonderful feeling it is! Lots to look forward to in 2011 for the boys of Boston, can't wait for the season to start!

Beanpot Championship tonight on NESN (7pm) as BC takes on Northeastern in search of back to back titles. Check it out!

Normally you wouldn't expect Lady Antebellum and Tom Brady to be mentioned in the same blog post, but that is the wonder of Dan the Banner, bringing together people of all walks of life.

Stay tuned til tomorrow, the Banner is coming out of it's winter hibernation and is ready to rock 2011!

Friends of Dan: BC Nat'l Champs, Buchholz 2010 Debut

I don't want to toot my own horn - actually, yes I do - but about 6 weeks ago when BC beat out BU for the 2010 Beanpot, I pointed out that the last 2 times they won National Championships they also won the Beanpot that season. I was even more confident in my prediction at the time because if you were watching BC's hockey team starting in February, you could see they were hitting their stride just in time for the trophy season. Oh what a wonderful game it was last night as BC dominated Wisconsin - aka 'the best defensive team in the country' - last night for their 4th National Title, 3rd this decade, and 2nd in the last 3 year. College Hockey team of the decade? No doubt about it. Actually you could make the argument the BC Hockey team was THE best sports team between 2000 and 2010: 3 National Titles, 5 NCAA Championship appearances, 7 Frozen Four appearances, 5 Hockey East Championships, & 4 Beanpot Titles? Not a bad decade for Mr. Jerry York and the boys. Congrats to the Eagles for a spectacular season, and just in case they weren't scary enough as a team, they're likely only going to get better in 2010-11!!

In other Friends of Dan news, Clay Buchhozl made his 2010 debut this afternoon. It was shaky at best, but fortunately for Clay the Sox offense lit up Royals starte Gil Meche and the KC bullpen and Buchholz was able to eek out a win going 5 innings. Silver lining, he kept his walks down, so the control was there. Not too worried about the mediocre showing, once he gets a couple of starts under his belt I think we'll see the Clay Buchholz that finished out the 2009 season.