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.

Friends of Dan: Clay Buchholz vying for 2010 spot

Well hello there!
A lot has been going on since I was last here, perhaps most notably the start of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver...what a great start the US is off too! I'm a huge fan of the Olympics, personally, and am quite excited to see Apolo skating around again - HUGE Apolo fan. Keep it up Team USA!!
In other news, more important for some people, the unofficial kickoff to the baseball season started today as Pitchers & Catchers reported for the Sox in Fort Myers.
It'll be a relatively quiet spring this year - we're a far cry from the daily stories perpetrated by the antics of guys like Manny Ramirez & Pedro Martinez - but one thing to keep an eye on is how the pitching rotation irons out. Keep an eye on Dan the Banners pal Clay Buchholz, who is coming into something of a do or die year. It's been a roller coaster ride for Clay since blasting onto the scene in 2007, then plummeting down to Earth with a horrible 2008. He had his ups and downs in 2009, but all in all it was a good season and he finished strong. I think he's prime for a break out in 2010 and will finally show the potential everyones been talking about for years on a consistent basis. Should be a good spring to watch, keep an eye out for Clay to tear it up this spring and hopefully carry that momentum to Boston in April.

Things may be picking up for Dan the Banner in the coming weeks. There's the potential for a busy March and I'm already getting ready for a great summer for the Banner. Keep an eye out around town, you never know where he might be!