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David Price’s start tonight just got a whole lot more interesting

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MLB: Boston Red Sox at New York Yankees

USA Today – Red Sox pitcher David Price is not on good terms with the media in Boston.

Price plans to only speak to news reporters on days he pitches and no longer give personal interviews…

On Wednesday night, following Boston’s 8-0 loss to the Yankees, Price took [it] a step further, barking at the Boston Herald, “Write whatever the (expletive) you want. Just write it. Whatever the (expletive) you want.”

Then on his way out, he was reported to have yelled, “(Expletive) them! (Expletive) them all. All of (the media).”

An oldie but a goodie – blaming your problems in Boston on the media. I don’t think Price has a real argument here. I could name plenty of other athletes who had it/have it tougher in Boston than him. But do whatever works for you, man.

What this episode all but confirms is that David Price will be opting out of his contract after next season. There’s no way that this can go on for another five-and-a-half years. But as foolish as it is to blame your struggles on everyone else, blowing up on the media can definitely provide a spark. So go for it, David. If it gets you to pitch lights out for two months, I’m all for it. The Red Sox will win more games, and you’ll make more money in a year and a half. Everyone wins.

I won’t lie though. Part of me wants to see Price get drubbed tonight. It would suck to see the Sox lose more ground to the Yankees, but it might be worth it to get another all-time meltdown out of it.

Again, either the Red Sox win more games or we get another epic meltdown. Win-win!

#TBT – The Museum

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Star Tribune — Green Heinz ketchup? Fat-free Pringles? Colgate frozen lasagna? You don’t need to be an expert to know these products weren’t successful.

Which is why these creations, with dozens of others, feature in the new Museum of Failure, a wacky parade of rejected products from years gone by set up in the Swedish town of Helsingborg.

They should have just named this place the “Museum of Products Millenials will Revive.” Millennials are constantly catching heat for killing archaic department stores and uninspired chain restaurants, but where’s the credit for bringing back Crystal Pepsi, Surge and Zima?

The time feels just about right for green ketchup to make a comeback. I can imagine the conversations going on at Heinz right now:

Barbecue sauce is getting too much attention these days. We were late on the bacon craze with our bacon flavored ketchup. How can we steal back market share? LET’S BRING BACK GREEN KETCHUP!

Pepsi better hope this place doesn’t have a New Coke exhibit. A couple of #tbt posts of it on Instagram and Twitter would definitely lead to a Facebook group DEMANDING Coke give it another try. As long as the New Coke marketing campaign isn’t also on display…

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The New Coke marketing campaign could be in the Museum of Failure or the Museum of Ads that Didn’t Age Well. Take your pick.

But it’s not just food!

Even President Donald Trump makes an appearance.

The “I’m Back And You’re Fired” board game from 2004 looks like Monopoly, but players use “T” branded pieces and the paper notes are adorned with Trump’s image.

“It’s a boring version of Monopoly. It’s simplified so stupid people can play it, but it’s also horribly boring,” West says.

I’ve seen the 2008 The Office Trivia Game at every Five Below for almost a decade. I’m shocked that this game never ended up there. It must really suck.

Nostalgia is big these days, so I don’t think this museum will be a failure. I just hope we get one in the states some day. I can’t wait to line up for tickets in a lobby decorated with AOL CDs.

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I’m Ready for some Football

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ABC News – Hank Williams Jr. will be bringing his rowdy friends back to ESPN on Monday nights this fall.

Williams will debut a new version of “All My Rowdy Friends,” featuring its “Are you ready for some football?” catchphrase, before the first Monday night game of the season, between the New Orleans Saints and Minnesota Vikings in Minneapolis on Sept. 11.

ESPN pulled the song midseason in 2011, following controversial comments made by Williams on Fox News…

Cynics will say that ESPN is too liberal, and that this is just a ploy to placate conservatives. They may be right, but I don’t care. This a solid move by TWWL.

“All My Rowdy Friends” “Are You Ready for some Football” is the best sports theme song of its generation. It started in 1989 and originally ran until 2011. I still watch Monday Night Football every week but I couldn’t tell you what songs they’ve used since 2011. I’m no country music fan, but it’s hard to top this classic. Honorable mention from this generation of sports theme songs goes to the NBA on NBC and MLB on Fox.

The song by itself won’t stop the NFL’s ratings slide, but it should evoke some feelings of nostalgia and generate some buzz. Not bad for a 90 second song.

Twitter Makes Fake Holidays Real

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If you’ve been on Twitter today, you know that today is National Doughnut/Donut Day. [Cream-filled donuts will get their own special day on September 14th.] But did you know that today is also National Rotisserie Chicken Day, National Rocky Road Day, and National Leave the Office Early Day?

You can find all of the national days you want on the National Day Calendar.

I’m a consumer, so I have no problem with Dunkin’ Donuts inventing reasons to give out free stuff. I will also use any excuse I can get to leave the office early, even if I can’t imagine “It’s National Leave the Office Early Day!” working on any boss. But let’s talk about the real reason these national days exist: to give small-market radio DJs mindless banter.

In between weather reports, traffic reports and community announcements, what else would DJs in Chamberlain, South Dakota have to talk about if it weren’t National Beer Day (April 7th)? “Hey, it’s National Beer Day, so be sure to crack open a cold one tonight!! But don’t drink and drive! Always drink responsibly, even if it’s the best day of the year to put back a brew! Or two!!!! Don’t tell anyone I said to HAHA!!!”

How do these days even become a thing? Is there some national governing body? Does it have to start trending on Twitter to get noticed? Or can I just proclaim July 27th National Dugout Phone Appreciation Day?

There are way too many useless, foolish, half-baked days. But if DJs in Jackson, Wyoming need something to talk about on July 27th, why not make it #NationalDugoutPhoneAppreciationDay?

The 300s Reviews: Starbucks Midnight Mint Mocha Frappuccino

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I went into Starbucks wanting to hate the Midnight Mint Mocha Frappuccino. Coffee shops are for adults, not for children. I don’t have time to wait in line behind middle schoolers ordering $6 chocolate milks when I’m on my way to the office. I catch grief from coworkers making coffee runs when I ask for flavored iced coffee. I can’t support this kind of nonsense.

But my god this drink was delicious.

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Allegedly there is coffee is in thing, but I didn’t taste any. It tasted like a dark chocolate milkshake with mint. It had whipped cream in the middle and on top. It was better than any milkshake I’ve ever had at McDonald’s, and Starbucks will never be able to tell you “the machine isn’t working” when you order the Midnight Mint Mocha Frappuccino.

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I’d say the price of this is drink is one if its few downsides, but I’m a grown ass man. If I want a dark chocolate mint milkshake, I can afford $5.45, plus tax. The real downside of this drink to a grown ass man is its nutrition facts. The Midnight Mint Mocha Frappuccino packs 570 calories into a venti, along with 64 grams of sugar (8 grams of protein, though!). Long gone are the days where I could throwback whatever I wanted without looking at the nutrition facts. I’m not 27 any more.

The Midnight Mint Mocha Frappuccino is not something I would recommend drinking more than a few times this summer, but I definitely recommend trying it at least once. Just make sure your in the mood for ice cream and not coffee.

John Farrell Bolsters Manager of the Year Campaign in Wednesday’s Win

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WEEI – With the Chris Sale surprisingly allowing the Rangers to grab the lead with a two-run fifth inning… [Texas starting pitcher Martin] Perez was finally driven from the game thanks to one-out singles from Andrew Benintendi and Sam Travis.

Texas manager Jeff Banister replaced Perez with righty Sam Dyson, paving the way to two straight pinch-hitting moves by Farrell. The first came in the form of Mitch Moreland, who replaced Sandy Leon, the switch-hitter who was hitting just .209 from the left side. That led to an RBI single. The next was Josh Rutledge for Marrero, both right-handed hitters. That led to another base-hit, tying the game at 3-3.

After the two pinch-hit singles, the Red Sox officially jumped to the top of the heap in the majors when it came to pinch-hitting efficiency, having gone 8-for-19 (.421).

Just when you least expect it, John Farrell’s three-dimensional chess moves start to pay dividends. I’m not Farrell’s biggest fan, so I will admit that I was shocked to see that the Red Sox lead the majors in pinch hitting.

After a couple of weeks of treading water – going 5-7 between May 9 and May 21 – the Red Sox have scored a total of 20 runs in back-to-back wins against the Rangers. They’ve also made up some ground on the Baltimore Orioles, who are currently the top wild card team. The Orioles go on the road tomorrow after a 2-4 homestand that included a sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins.

And for all the talk about the quiet Red Sox bats, the Red Sox have scored more runs than the Orioles this season and have also given up fewer runs than the Orioles. Almost a third of the way through the season, the Red Sox run differential is fourth best in the American League. It’s not a perfect indicator, but it does seem to indicate that they are on the right side of the playoff bubble, and that things are starting to trend in the right direction.

So John Farrell should relax. It looks like he’s going to be in a job at least through mid-June.

It’s refreshing to win games and not have it screw up your draft lottery position

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summer danny

I said the Celtics would win at least a game in the Eastern Conference Finals, and I was right. I just never would have picked it to be game three. I could see them winning game one against a rusty Cleveland, or game two after a tough loss in game one. The only game the Celtics could win in this series that would surprise me more would be a potential game seven.

Game three is usually the statement game for the team coming home. We saw that last series against Washington. With Isaiah Thomas out after two straight blowout losses, the Celtics had to change things up, and had absolutely nothing to lose. That changed the typical game three equation, but maybe it just pushed Cleveland’s statement game back to game four, and we go on our way.

If nothing else, the Celtics and Jeremy Jacobs get at least one more home game to sell some more hot dogs and beer. The bars and parking lots around the Garden will do pretty well for at least one more night too. And the fans get a little more to chew on before The Summer of Danny.

I still don’t expect the Celtics to win this series, and I don’t expect them to win tonight. It’s still fun, though, and I’d love to see them make LeBron sweat it out.