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: 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!

Off Topic Day, Once Again

Call me skeptical, biased, pessimistic, or whatever else you'd like to say, but I've grown very unapproving of the Sox front office. What ramifications does that carry? Well, none. But like any true Red Sox fan I do like to think my opinion of management matters, haha.
Is it me, or is anyone else getting sick of the constant Merry-go-round Theo & Co. has trended into? Hey, I'm all for improving your team, and I'm also all for admitting your mistakes and working around them. I know Mike Lowell has had some injury problems, but is he really THAT bad an option the Sox will practically give him away if someone would take him. He hit 17 home runs last season!! Now the Sox sign Adrian Beltre because - well, God knows why they signed him, he's arguably the biggest bust of the past 6 years. Textbook too...had one GREAT season in 2004 **cough cough** contract year **cough cough**, signed a lucrative $60-70 million dollar contract, and never came close to that one year production. Hey, the AL isn't for everyone.
So last July they trade for Adam LaRoche, he has a solid week, they trade him (just for the heck of trading him) for Casey Kotchman, who barely plays. They all but name him the first baseman in 2010, then hours after signing Beltre they are trading Kotchman?
I really just think a lot of these small time, bench player for bench player moves Theo makes are for the sake of making a move. No good, no bad, no difference to the team, just maybe he's bored. Apparently he just likes to mix things up for no reason, like that works. But hey, it's his right, right?
I'm just hoping Mike Lowell will stay in town, play his 100 games, hit 15+ homers, 70+ RBIs, and I'd be happy. DH him...it's probably better than Ortiz will offer in 2010 anyway.

Sox CEO Larry Lucchino

Back to the true business of this blog. It'd been a little bit of time, but Dan the Banner finally made a few more friends today.
Went to a Red Sox luncheon today, described as the "Hot Stove Luncheon," and had a really good time. Guests of honor today were Sox manager Terry Francona, Sox CEO Larry Lucchino, and former Sox pitcher Skip Lockwood and his wife Kathy (who has a new book - "Baseball Bride" - about to be released). I had a feeling I'd be able to get a couple pics with Danny, so I had to be sure to bring him along. My ultimate goal would have been to get a pic with Terry Francona, which would have been amazing, but unfortunately Tito skipped right out after the luncheon and I didn't have a chance to ask him for a pic. I was however able to get a pic with Lucchino, which was pretty cool. Not much to say in terms of the encounter, he didn't really say anything, but like I already said it's certainly a nice addition to the collection.

While I was waiting to ask Lucchino for a picture, I was able to snag a quick pic with Skip Lockwood and his wife with Dan, so that was certainly very nice of them.

There are a few events coing up in the next month and a half or so that I'm hoping will give me a chance to introduce Dan the Banner to some more people, so wish me luck on those endeavors!

-The Banner Keeper

October Baseball

After being M.I.A for quite some time, I thought I'd take an opportunity to weigh in on the baseball playoffs. Personally, I thought they got off to a great start with the Tigers-Twins one game playoff...what a game!! I was excited about what was to come, especially since I was pulling for the Twins in that game. Obviously, I'm a Sox fan. And even given the success over the past decade, I still consider myself a conservative fan when it comes to expectations and predictions. Did I think the Sox were going to cruise through the Angels in the ALDS? No. But I thought they'd be able to take the series in 4 or 5 games. Well that went by the wayside. And boy, did they blow that series. Well, really, just Game 3. How does this relate to Dan the Banner? I think it's obvious, the Sox were a horribly difficult team to get pictures with Danny, or even get the chance to ask for a picture, and I like to think karma has made them pay with an early exit in October. Ok, that may be wishful thinking, but after the shenanigans/antics Papelbon has pulled all this season and really the past few seasons with the obnoxious "Cinco Ocho" (real original by the way), underwear dancing, beer pouring, idiotic comments, and being too selfish to throw anything but one pitch in one location, it's about time something blew up in his face. I just wish it wasn't with the Sox facing elimination and primed to extend the series. Bring on Daniel Bard!

And can someone tell me where the real Alex Rodriguez is, and who this guy impersonating him in the playoffs? It's bad enough that he's actually hitting at a decent clip in the playoffs as opposed to his usual 1-13 with 8 K's, but the clutch hits he's getting are insane, the guy has been Superman. Game tying home runs in the 9th? Looks like someone took their October steroids before the playoffs started. It pains me to watch the Yankees this postseason, not just because I'm a Sox fan and obviously don't want to see the Yankees win anything, but if - God forbid - they go on to win it all, do you know how bad that is for the game? In a time where everyone else, even big market teams like the Sox, Mets, Angels & Tigers all have some semblance of home developed talent, what does it say when a team uses less than half the homegrown talent as other teams in the league and spends half a BILLION dollars on free agents then wins the World Series. It's not a good message, not a good pattern, and not good for baseball.

On a more positive note though, Pedro looked AWESOME pitching for the Phils in Game 2. It's always great to see some vintage Petey on the mound.

Hoping for some Banner action to come up in the next couple weeks, staying positive some things will come up soon.

3 and a big weekend

Sox magic number is down to 3!
And a big weekend in the Bronx is upon us. Now, realistically this series doesn't really mean anything because even if the Sox did sweep, they're still 2.5 games back of the Yanks. This is still a big weekend of course, as all Sox-Yanks battles are, because (assuming the Sox clinch the wild card spot) both teams are tuning up for the playoffs, and it's quite possible that Boston and New York - much to the delight of the national media (specifically FOX Sports) will meet in the ALCS...and really, who doesn't miss those epic match-ups from 2003 and 2004??
More importantly about this weekend, however, is that the Sox could officially clinch a playoff berth. Either way, it should be a fun weekend with some great - albeit LONG - games.
To officially throw out predictions, I say the Sox take tonight's Lester v. Chamberlain match-up, the Yanks take Sunday's game with Paul Byrd going, and while I really want to say the Sox pull it out Saturday, I still don't trust Daisuke, and I certainly don't trust him against the Yankees, so I think New York pulls it out Saturday as well and Daisuke hits the 80 pitch mark in the 3rd inning.
Let's hope I'm wrong about Saturday.
3 and counting...