And A Child Shall Lead Them. Only Not This One.

The kids are in Vacation Bible School this week and are memorizing certain versus from the Bible.

Trot's version of Matthew 28:20, from today.

"And  surely I am with you always, to the very end of.......July."

His teacher then asked him if he was sure that was right. Without missing a beat he responds with "Ok. Until the end of summer".

2012: The Year of Ross

*Image courtesy of Kelly and www.sittingstill.net*

Ollie Marquardt     1931

Bill Marshall       1931

Urbane Pickering    1932

Johnny Watwood      1933

Dusty Cooke         1933

Rick Ferrell        1934-35

Heinie Manush       1936

Buster Mills        1937

Joe Vosmik          1938-39

Dom DiMaggio        1940-42

Eddie Lake          1943-45

Dom DiMaggio        1946-53

Sam Mele            1955

Billy Consolo       1956-57

Ken Aspromonte      1957-58

Jim Busby           1959-60

Gary Geiger         1960-62

Dick Stuart         1963-64

Lennie Green        1965-66

Reggie Smith        1967-73

Rick Burleson       1974-80

Mike Easler         1984-85

Ed Romero           1986

Spike Owen          1987-88

Nick Esasky         1989

Phil Plantier       1990

Steve Lyons         1991

Rick Burleson       1992-93 (COACH)

Steve Rodriguez     1995

Trot Nixon          1996, 1998-2006

J.D. Drew           2007-11

Cody Ross           2012

Other than Dom DiMaggio and the Rooster, not much to write home about regarding the number 7 before Christopher Trotman Nixon arrived in Boston, where he became one of The Guys. A guy Boston just fell in love with who played like his hair was on fire, had a helmet so dirty it looked like a science experiment gone awry, and more than once looked like he was going to run through the outfield wall going for a fly ball.

Then came J.D. Drew. I liked J.D. But he wasn't Trot, and that was his biggest downfall with a lot of Red Sox Nation. He didn't have that fire or whatever it was Trot had that made everybody love the guy. You NEVER saw J.D. look like this..........

And if memory serves me correctly, this was in a game when he wasn't even PLAYING.

In the year of our Lord 2012, Cody Ross is doing the number 7 proud. He's a dirt dog who hits bombs and when he KNOWS he's gotten all of one? He's got this little bat flip he does that I'm pretty sure is going to earn him a bean ball at some point but I doubt very much that he cares. In the last 2 nights he's hit three 3 run HR, including a walk off tonight against the White Sox to take that series 3-1 and once again give all us Sox fans hope that maybe, just maybe we're still in this thing.

I'd like to think that somewhere Trot is nodding his head in silent approval of the man roaming his former territory in right field.

You're doing him proud, Cody.

Swami TIme

*Image courtesy of Kelly and www.sittingstill.net*


After limping to the halfway mark with a 43-43 record the Red Sox have a little bit of work to do in the next 3 months if they have any prayer of reaching the post season.

With that said here are my top 5 predictions for the second half of the year which, as usual, were pulled right out of my rear end with absolutely no basis on statistics, knowledge, or even common sense.

1. Papi continues to mash in his quest to get a multi-year deal in the off season and Gonzo finally realizes he's Gonzo and starts launching moon shots at will.

2. Pedroia comes back healthy and plays like his pants are on fire and at one point gets ejected for cussing out Laz Diaz while sitting on his shoulders, hitting him with his bat and shouting "It was NOT a strike" at the top of his lungs.

3. Jon Lester gets traded. Read where Peter Gammons said he's unhappy in Boston, so I say ship him out, get something back for him, and move on. He's won 5 games so far; I think they can get that production from somewhere. Don't get me wrong; I love Crabby. I just think it's time for something to happen and out of all the pitchers Boston has, he's got more trade value than any of them at this point.

4. Salty hits 40 HR, strikes out over 100 times, and starts a fight with the Yankees by shoving his mitt in A Rods face as a tribute to Tek.

5. The Sox win the Wild Card but lose to Texas in the first round.

It's the Rangers time and they are too good this year for anyone, including the Nationals.

Which is who I'm picking as the NL team in the World Series.

Rangers over Nats in 5 games.

Andy had Opie. I've got Trot.

It's been at or near 100 degrees for the better part of a week here and as a result we've taken the kids to the pool every chance we've gotten. Yesterday while I was working Ang took the boys and Ciera to the pool for about 5 hours, most of which was apparently passed in the elation only found in summer and usually only found in children.

Except for one brief instance where Trot's swim suit fell completely off him when he jumped in the water and he decided he'd just skinny dip.

In a public pool with about 25 people in or around the water.

While his Mom chased after him as he JUST stayed out of her reach, giggling like a maniac the entire time.

This kid is a travelling three ring circus.

The Best of the Ol' Fishing Hole

I grew up watching reruns of "The Andy Griffith Show" and quote Barney Fife as often as possible in daily life and Rakes and Trot both could have just as easily been named Opie.

Not until I finally grew up sometime last year did I take the time to think about this show, about ordinary everyday people who lived in a simple place in a simple time took place in one of the most divisive eras in our history. While Vietnam raged and the hippies took root in California and LSD was dropped world wide life in Mayberry went on. Simple and fantastic and totally unbelievable, yet the show never once finished lower than first place in the ratings.

Which tells you a lot about what the country needed during that time.

Thanks for giving it to them, and through the magic of reruns giving to me and my kids and most likely my grand children.

God Speed, Mr. Griffith.