This site has moved, visit http://www.obstructedseats.net . Hit refresh if site does not show up right away.

My new site is up and running, and will now be the official home of all things obstructed seats. For now obstructedseats.com and .net will just forward to the new site, but soon enough it will be under obstructedseats.com, with .net forwarding.

***I will no longer post on this site, and it will stay active only as a host for my archives.

So visit www.obstructedseats.com to go to the new site, and while your there cast your vote on what you think. *You might have to hit refresh after the first click, it's been a little cranky thus far. This will all be over soon, once my domain names resolve.

Thanks for your patience as I continue to try and improve the site!

Dave

   In light of the fact that my current host is having trouble supporting my site---I'm sure many have noticed how long it takes to load the damn thing----I have made plans to move my site to a better more powerful host.

   The theme and the name of this site will stay the same. The transition should take about 2 weeks or so, as the site has to be designed. The site will also fall solely under the domain name www.obstructedseats.com, with .net being forwarded to it.

   The new host, blogharbor.com, provides a bounty of new tools for me to use, and I feel the overall presentation will be better once completed. Polls will be better, and I plan on adding a few new features and pages once I'm done.

   I will be posting updates on my progress.

   The renovation of Fenway continues. The .406 club which was once contained in glass, is now wide open and ready to be used. Construction workers have worked extremely hard to bring this section to all of the rich snobby people who care more about what draft beer that they have on tap rather than the game itself.

   I feel happy for these people. While I sit in the bleacher seats with the tickets that I payed 100 bucks apiece for, I get to see Tim Wakefield strike out 8 Devil Rays. Meanwhile these assholes get to sit in heated seats, and bitch about how their stocks have gone down. And of course, they are the first to complain how baseball players like Manny should hustle because they have to "earn" their paycheck.

   I'm very excited for the lucky few who have a few grand to drop on these seats, even though they were probably too busy to try and buy them when they became available. They just let their secretary make a call to one of the 400 ticket scalping websites who bought all the seats up.

   But, at least I'll get to miss a home run or a great defensive play while I wait in a long line to pay 6.50 for a 10oz draft beer. Of course, I have to get two, one sippy cup of beer would be pointless. But hey, that's what us fans get. It is a business and what better people to support it than the rich investors.

   On a side note, these are the same people who say the Red Sox were stupid for letting Damon go, and that this guy Crisp better swing a good stick "or else".

   Anyways, I'm damn proud of the "obstructed view seats" that I will be sitting in with my brother this season. At least i get to go....

   This appeared in the Globe courtesy of Johnny Damon. Johnny took a day off from his nauseating ass kissing that he has been directing toward anyone associated with the Yankees, to place this full page letter in the paper.

Sounds like Damon is trying to avoid getting booed.

   Listen Johnny, I don't blame you for taking the offer from the Yankees. I don't care that you are gone and I am completely fine with what the team is doing. I cheered you as a player, and respected you as a person. I don't plan on booing you.

   Your nauseating quotes about the tears that you shed when you found out Boston wasn't going to overpay for you was annoying. Your crying over how the Boston Brass made it clear that they didn't want you back was a little over the top, and was more of a cry for sympathy. You didn't want fans to think you were the bad guy. You want everyone to love you. 

   Then there's how you keep saying that you love the Yankees, and that Steinbrenner is so great, and that everyone should be a Yankee, and blah blah blah. You are going over the top trying to fit in with New York.

Give it a rest and play ball. See you in April.

Alex Gonzalez did it all for Venezuela. He hit a game winning three run home run, a game tying single, and scored on a game winning double to give them the championship.

The shortstop singled in the tying run and scored the game-winner on a pop-fly double as Venezuela rallied for two runs in the bottom of the ninth to beat the Dominican Republic, 5-4, last night and win its first Caribbean Series championship since 1989.

If only he could carry that offense over to the Red Sox. At least based on his rep, nobody is expecting him to produce with the bat. If he does though, that would be a very pleasant surprise.

The rest of the story is found here.

I've been really busy lately with work so the final three evalutations of the 2006 Red Sox have been put to the side for the past few days. I plan on finishing them up in between today and tomorrow.

Hopefully by then I won't have to go back and change anything. Just stay in Boston Manny.

Theo is going to make a push for Clemens according to the Boston Herald. He has a video set up, a big presentation, and of course, a big wad of cash.

As magical as Clemens coming back to Boston for one last hurrah would be, I think the man might finally be too old. At 44, Roger might have just finished putting the last of the icing on his cake.

If they have the money to burn, then I say go for it. They would certainly have a healthy amount of starters to back him up. But this could only happen if Wells AND Clement were to be traded. You would have to assume that they would already have something lined up to make that happen. It would be too risky for them to sign Roger and then be forced to trade the players away. They would not have the advantage in the deal.

Anyways I still plan on seeing him either retire or playing down south. I guess we will wait and see.

   

   Principal owner John Henry is a shrewd business man, this is a fact. The man is a billionaire, and knows how to run a good business. So when the man has multiple investments and one of them shits the bed in December, what is a shrewd business man to do?

   Take full advantage of another significant investment. The Boston Red Sox....a virtual cash cow. The teams salary has been cut this season, by means of a retooling. The freed up money has not been spent foolishly...which is a good thing. Of course it also means that while the money isn't being spent on players, and ticket prices keep going up, it's only ending up in Mr. Henry's pocket.

   The Red Sox have an unmatchable amount of passion in their fan base and an unbelievable amount of opportunities to make money. They are just now starting to understand this and take advantage of it. The only reason that the Yankees have more revenue, is because they have run their business the right way for a lot longer than Boston has.

   Personally, I don't want to see them have the second highest payroll in baseball. When a team wins 95 games but their payroll is 125 million, then they become easy targets for critics. "Sure your team won, but that's because they spend so much money." That type of crap. I would like to see them spend around 95 million and still win 95 games. At the same time, I don't want to spend 700 dollars to sit in the cheap seats and watch Tim Wakefield ---I swear, he pitches every time I go to Fenway---pitch against the Devil Rays for the 900th time.

   That brings me to another point. As sacred as Fenway is, why the hell did they pass on a new stadium. Replicate and expand. Put up a new stadium on the outskirts of the city, and let 55,000 fans see their favorite team. But that's a meaningless wish at this point because the idea has already been disregarded. Cheap bastards.

   So maybe Henry had to make up for the big loss in his investments. Maybe he put the pressure on the Boston office to make his money back. Raise ticket prices, sell more merchandise, get their own radio station, and cut the payroll. As long as the team contends, fans will see the game.

   So take our money Mr. Henry. As long as you keep winning we can never really complain. But I'll be damned if I stick around to eat a second Fenway frank when my team is losing.

The latest weekly poll has come to a close a couple days late. I apologize for my procrastination on this post. I did reach an all time high of 24 voters! Thanks to everyone who voted. I'm looking to top that number with the new poll, so everyone who visits, please take a minute and cast your vote.

The results:

What Sox player will surprise everyone?

Mark Loretta
	8%
Mike Lowell
	29%
Josh Beckett
	4%
Trot Nixon
	4%
Kevin Youkilis
	21%
JT Snow
	8%
Alex Gonzalez
	4%
Coco Crisp
	4%
Jonathon Papelbon
	8%
Bronson Arroyo
	8%
Julian Tavares
	0%
Alex Cora
	0%

Total Votes: 24

Mike Lowell and Kevin Youkilis take the top two spots easily. Lowell is coming off the only down season of his career, and seems to have all of the signs pointing toward a comeback year. For his years with the Marlins, he seemed to be a lock for a .280 BA with 20 + home runs and 100 RBI. Red Sox fans would love to see him get back to that level.

Kevin Youkilis has the ability and the mindset to become a solid player and an on-base machine at the major league level. The majority of Red Sox fans are supporting his new role and are looking forward to seeing what he could do with 400+ at bats. I being one of them.
Youkilis already has a strong fan following and can quickly make it stronger simply by producing.

Lets hope for two big surprises in 2006.

Check out the new poll and cast your vote!!