Whitey Bulger maybe was a little too loyal to the Red Sox

Well Whitey Bulger (aka the real life guy that Jack Nicholson kind of played in The Departed) was on the run but still a Red Sox fan.

It turns out he was in plain sight in Santa Monica for years.
Do you know who was also in plain sight in Santa Monica for some of the same time?

ME!

Evidently he still was wearing a Red Sox cap when they found him.
A white Red Sox cap (you know... for Whitey.)

I've never been on the run from the FBI, but if I were, I wouldn't wear a Sox cap.
I'd wear a Yankee cap just to throw the feds off.

But hey, Whitey was a loyal fan.
I wonder if we ever went to Sonny McLean's in Santa Monica together.

New Sully Baseball Video "Loyal to a Fault"

I am a native of the Northeast who now lives in California. I have no intention of leaving California or ever living in New England again, yet I will never drop the Red Sox as my team.

In the last Sully Baseball video, I look at the strange phenomenon of Northeasterners who just can't drop their team and how a city like Los Angeles can enable us fans with illogical loyalty.

My amazing wife Lisa co wrote the script, shot it and worked with me in the editing.

We shot outside of Sonny McLean's in Santa Monica. The management and staff were wonderfully cooperative to us.

Enjoy the video.

I predicted Bengie Molina's triple

Last night was a super rotten night for the Red Sox and their fans... but I at least had a prediction come true and had at least something fun happen in an ugly loss.

My wife and kids are up north for a few days so living like a bachelor, I decided to swing by Sonny McLean's in Santa Monica and watch the Red Sox game with my people.

The Sox were tied when I showed up and in the middle of a rain delay. Then Beltre homered for the Sox and briefly there was a lead.

And then I got some company.

My good friend, writer for the Santa Monica Free Press and former 5th grade classmate Kenny Mack arrived.

And the second he showed up, the Red Sox blew the lead.

He blamed himself.

I just relay the facts.

The game was ugly for so many reasons... not the least of which was the number of players wearing #50 and higher.

With all the injuries on the team it looked like a split squad spring training game.

There were too many Eric Pattersons, Kevin Cashes, Ryan Shealys, Felix Doubronts, Fernando Cabreras and Dustin Richardsons for my taste.

I kept thinking "Where's Beckett? Pedroia? Buchholz? Ellsbury? Varitek? Martinez?" and expecting the answer to be "Oh they are on the squad playing in Jupiter."

The Sox put a few feeble rallies together but couldn't cut the lead down.

And up stepped Bengie Molina.

His Grand Slam turned a tie game into a 4 run hole and by the look of how his uniform fit, he had also experienced a few Denny's Grand Slams since coming over from San Francisco.

The NESN broadcast showed he had doubled, singled and hit the grand slam.

I said "Watch. He's hitting a triple here."

Kenny witnessed it. As did the people at the bar.

Now last year I wrote about Bengie Molina's ability to triples. He had 5 career triples (in 4,997 plate appearances) going into that at bat.

"He's going to do it" I yelled.

And then it happened... a drive to center field into the triangle... a place where anyone could run out a triple.

And it bounced off of Patterson's glove in centerfield and it was off to the races with Molina.

I think James Caan in Misery would have been lighter on his feet than Molina.

And there he was on third.

And I called it.

Now granted I was calling it somewhat tongue in cheek. But hey! I'll take the credit.

The only question was was the official scorer going to call it an error or a triple. Kenny was convinced it should be called an error.

I kept thinking "Come on scorekeeper! Give him the triple!"

And he did.

I thought of the scene in 1776 when the anonymous Judge Wilson realizes his yes or no vote would determine whether or not America would have its independence. He votes yes because he couldn't take the responsibility of saying no.

That was the scorekeeper. He didn't want the responsibility of denying Bengie Molina the triple and the cycle.

(Trust me that analogy makes perfect sense.)

Oh well... this season is slowly inching towards "Lost cause ville"

Go to 5:00 of this clip and keep in mind that one "no" vote from a state would kill the Independence movement. It's a great (albeit not letterboxed) scene. Then you will see how brilliant my analogy is.

(Trust me.)

Well... no baseball tonight BUT-

Let me say Ohhhhhh yeah!

It is a sweet sight to see that banner go up to the rafters.
Maybe this year I get to have more fun at Sonny McLean's.

I can't imagine it would get sweeter than beating the Lakers but it is fun to have the Celtics be relevant again!

OK... back to baseball... weather permitted.

That could have gone better

Man, I love getting swept right after the All Star Break and all momentum being killed.

Hey! Is that the Yankees only 2 games behind us in the loss column?
TERRIFIC!

It's a good thing I didn't go with the Sonny McLean's caravan to Anaheim.

Sweet 17

I woke up this morning and the Celtics were still NBA Champs!

There were so many amazing things about last night that the only thing I can do is list them...

- The Celtics won the NBA Title.
I am savoring it. When I was younger during the Bird/McHale/Parish years it seemed like the Celtics were going to be in the Finals every year... or at least have a 76ers or Pistons stop them in the Conference Finals.

I never thought it would be 22 years... 22 years?
Kids born when the Celtics beat the Rockets in 1986 are now graduating from college.

- The Celtics won by 39 points
Read that sentence again. They were up 43 in the 4th... there was a chance that this would have been the biggest ass kicking in any finals game in history before the Celtics had to settle for the biggest ass kicking in any elimination game.

How do you lose by nearly 40 when your season is on the line?
20 would be bad enough.

I called Michael Bernard, one of the biggest and most loyal Celtic fans I know, after the third quarter when it was 89-60. He said "This might be an interesting experiment. Don't have the Celtics shoot. Just dribble the ball out for 24 seconds each possession and hold the Lakers to 28 points to win."

Instead the Celtics put up 42 4th quarter points and getting nearly 15 minutes of playing time for Glen "Big Baby" Davis.


- It was the Lakers

It isn't enough that my team is happy... someone else's team needs to be miserable.
The Celtics putting on the biggest ass whippin' elimination game in history would have been awesome if it were against the Hornets.

But it was the Lakers.
It was that history. It was payback for the Sky Hook.
It was a chance for Boston fans to chant "You're Not Jordan" to Kobe.
It was a chance to deny Kobe his Shaq-less championship while you know Shaq-Fu was grinning even wider about the 2006 Heat title.
It was a chance to see Phil Jackson fail to pass Red.

And, like in 2004 when I was in New York during the greatest fold in baseball playoff history, I'm in LA.

I get to read the local papers who trashed the Celtics before the series and whined about Paul Pierce getting a wheel chair grumble about their team.

Sometimes seeing the team you hate lose is as rewarding as seeing the team you love win.

I'm not saying I am proud of that part of my personality that loves to see teams squirm... but I admit it is there.


- The Celtic greats who were in attendance
Russell, Havlicek and Heinsohn were all there. I'm sure there were more as they were on the court celebrating with the others.

It was like an initiation to live on Mount Olympus.
Whenever there is a gathering of Celtic greats, Pierce-Garnett-Allen et al are invited until their beard is whiter than Russell's.


- Celebrating at Sonny McLean's

I went with Kenny Mack, a buddy of mine from Junior High... the last time the Celtics won, to Sonny's to celebrate with our people.

High fives, hugs from total strangers and chanting Beat LA was the order of business.

One guy hugged me, stopped and said "You were in Curse of the Bambino."

It was fun looking around and seeing the people my age and older who had experienced Celtics titles before so happy that we can celebrate another one.

And it was also great seeing the faces of the younger fans who never had this moment and was probably sick of hearing about how great the past was.

And then there were a lot of guys named Murph and Fitzy who were just drunk.

OK, enough basketball for now.
The Celtics are the champs... along with the Red Sox and the Giants, so I got 3 out of 4 of my Championship Grand Slam

Back to baseball!

I sometimes have bad luck with Red Sox games

I was at Sonny McLean's again last night... and again it felt good to be with my people.

I was watching the game and when it got to be 8-1, I left.
No need to watch my boys get the snot kicked out of them by the Devil Rays.

So what happened?

I missed the 16-10 comeback, making it the second miracle comeback I've walked out on this year!

Maybe I should walk out of more games!