Sailing on the Charles with the staff of MGH Home Base Program

Spent Sunday sailing on the Charles River with the staff of Mass General's HOME BASE Program, the RED SOX Foundation and the staff of Boston Community Boating.

Colleagues back in Kandahar are dealing with heat, dust and the ongoing issues in Afghanistan but I was able to spend the day with my daughter on the water. A great day and a great time was had by all.

Boston and Benghazi - We deserve answers from our government

I have a unique point of view when it comes to the terror attacks that have occurred over the last dozen years.

I lost a high school friend on 09/11/01.  He was on the 104th Fl of Tower Two at World Trade. I was on duty with the US Navy serving on an exercise in Egypt when it all went down.  I was unable to come home for over a month. It was a terrible time and we were unable to help our people at home.

I lost a shipmate of mine when he was killed on the USS Cole in Yemen in October 12th 2000.  He was a shipmate of mine from the USS Constitution when we were on the Under Sail Operation in July 1997 in Boston.  I was home this time and unable to help those on the USS Cole which is what any Sailor would want to do.

Now, the attack was in my home city of Boston, killing 4 people (including the MIT Police officer gunned down by the terrorists) and injuring almost 200 others.  Once again, I found myself overseas, this time in Kandahar, Afghanistan.  I was only able to follow the story, send out messages via twitter and pray they got the Bastards.  Prayers answered.

In the last 7 months, we also suffered the loss of 4 of our people in Benghazi, Libya including 2 US Navy SEALS who are my Navy Brothers. Once again, I was in Kandahar when this happened and unable to do anything to help. The way this terrorism incident was handled was so poorly done, it defies logic.  The way the President and Hillary Clinton acted was shameful and without honor.  We were lied to about what happened, plain and simple.

I take all of this very seriously and find the response from the White House on both attacks to be highly unsatisfactory.  The White House is an impediment to finding the truth and stonewall more than the Nixon White House, which is no small feat.

We, the American people, need answers on what happened in Boston and Benghazi.  What is most unsettling is we have the most inexperienced President in the history of our nation and his administration has done nothing but pump a pile of BS out to the people he serves.  I don't expect every last piece of info but we need more reliable info than we are being given.

They hit my city and my people.  The terrorists have done this before and now done it again.  At the same time, a BS artist and his half-arsed administration told the world they have this covered and that the terrorists are done.

What is "done" is the confidence that the American people have in those in Washington DC as they have proven to be as incompetent as they come.  They are worse than incompetent as they continue to brag about how well they are doing when they are failing miserably.

The people of Boston and our local Police are the ones who got it done in Boston.  Seven months after Benghazi, we have no answers and no one has been held responsible. 
I would say under any measure of things, BOSTON gets it done while the Obama Administration, not at all.  The people of Boston got it done as they stepped up to help our local law enforcement.  The FBI and ATF was in support but the credit goes to the local law enforcement.

Some people smarter than me write about what to do with the captured terrorist in the WSJ.  I leave it to you.  I feel we deserve much better response and answers than a bunch of BS artists slapping themselves on the back in Washington telling us to trust them when they have proven to be totally untrustworthy.

We need answers on Boston and Benghazi.  Period. Now.

Enemy Combatants in Boston

Was there a FISA order issued for Tamerlan Tsarnaev?

Wall Street Journal - 04/22/13

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A row has broken out over whether the Obama Administration is violating the legal due process of Boston terror suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev by not reading him his Miranda rights before questioning. The more relevant question for the safety of the U.S. homeland is why the Administration has declined to designate him as a terrorist enemy combatant.

With Dzhokhar wounded and in custody and his brother Tamerlan dead, the focus is shifting to how the brothers became radicalized and whether they had links to foreign or domestic terror networks. It's becoming clearer by the day that elder brother Tamerlan had become increasingly religious and that his motive last week was Islamic jihad against America.

 

 

U.S. officials say he spent months overseas in 2012, including time in Chechnya. Media reports say the FBI questioned him after a warning from a foreign intelligence service (presumably Russia's). Yet the FBI appears not to have kept an eye on him, though media reports now say that within a month of returning from Russia he was posting jihadist videos on websites.

The FBI has some explaining to do, and more than merely claiming that it can't track everyone who pops up on a foreign intelligence list. One question is whether anyone in government requested that the federal FISA court issue a warrant so Tamerlan could have his Web postings or phone calls surveilled electronically. This doesn't mean G-men in a car following him 24-7. It means putting him into a National Security Agency program so that pro-jihad postings would be noticed.

FBI officials were clearly major sources for the Associated Press stories in 2011 that attacked the New York Police Department for its antiterror surveillance program, in part for reasons of bureaucratic competition. But in the Boston case, we only wish the NYPD had been in charge. Instead the FBI interviewed Tamerlan, then apparently lost interest or focus even as he was showing signs of radicalization, so the homegrown jihadist was able to engineer the most successful terror attack on U.S. soil since 9/11.

Which brings us to interrogating 19-year-old Dzhokhar if he recovers from his wounds. The flap over reading his Miranda rights is a largely irrelevant distraction. Under a 1984 Supreme Court decision (New York v. Quarles), police can invoke a "public-safety exception" to Miranda for a short period of time. Attorney General Eric Holder has embraced this exception as a way to show that the criminal-justice system can handle terrorists as well as the law-of-war paradigm favored by the Bush Administration.

But this is mainly for political show. The only real issue in letting Dzhokhar lawyer-up under Miranda is whether evidence gathered during interrogation can be used in court. There's already plenty of video and other evidence linking him to the bombings.

The important security issue isn't convicting Dzhokhar but finding out what he knows that might prevent a future attack or break up a terror network. This is where naming him an enemy combatant would be useful. Such a designation allows for extensive, long-term interrogation without a lawyer. Especially because President Obama has barred enhanced-interrogation techniques, such long-term psychological pressure can be crucial to learning if the brothers worked with anyone else, if they received terrorist training, and more.

This is why Senators Kelly Ayotte, John McCain and Lindsey Graham are urging the Administration to label Dkhokhar an enemy combatant. The Supreme Court has ruled that even American citizens—Dkhokhar is one—can be held indefinitely as enemy combatants. If he cooperates, the combatant designation can be revoked and he can always be transferred to the criminal-justice system for prosecution.

The Boston bombing also ought to chasten Senators Rand Paul, Mike Lee and other libertarians who keep insisting that the U.S. homeland is not part of the terror battlefield.

"It's different overseas than it will be here. It's different in the battlefield than it will be here," Mr. Paul told Fox News earlier this year. "Which gets precisely to the argument I have with some other Republicans who say, well, 'the battlefield is everywhere, there is no limitation.' President Obama says this. Some members of my party say the battle has no geographic limitations and the laws of war apply. It's important to know that the law of war that they're talking about means no due process."
Boylston Street sure looked like a battlefield on Monday, and so did Watertown on Thursday night. The artificial distinction is Mr. Paul's focus on geography. The vital distinction for public safety is between common criminals, who deserve due process protections, and enemy combatants at war with the U.S., wherever they are.

As for due process, the greatest danger to liberty would be to allow more such attacks that would inspire an even greater public backlash against Muslims or free speech or worse. The anti-antiterror types on the left and GOP Senators who agree that the U.S. isn't part of the battlefield are making the U.S. more vulnerable.

Americans erupted in understandable relief and gratitude on Friday with the rapid capture of the terrorist brothers. But we shouldn't forget that their attack succeeded, with horrific consequences for the dead, the wounded and their loved ones. The main goal now is to prevent the next attack.

Correction: The FBI says it interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011. An earlier version of this story cited erroneous media reports saying he was interviewed in 2012.

A version of this article appeared April 22, 2013, on page A14 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Enemy Combatants in Boston

STAY STRONG BOSTON FROM AFGHANISTAN

An awesome picture from Afghanistan -  Thanks to these Soldiers for their service and their solidarity with the people of Boston

Prayers for all in Boston

Boston.  My city and where I call home has joined the list of cities that are a victim of terrorism.
 
I woke up early this morning in Kandahar to the news that my home city had been bombed by unknown terrorists. No one knows who did this but they will be found and brought to justice.

The words of Sir Winston Churchill come to mind and they are how I feel at this moment.

" We ask no favours of the enemy. We seek from them no compunction. On the contrary, if tonight our people were asked to cast their vote whether a convention should be entered into to stop the bombing of cities, the overwhelming majority would cry, "No, we will mete out to them the measure, and more than the measure, that they have meted out to us." The people with one voice would say: "You have committed every crime under the sun. Where you have been the least resisted there you have been the most brutal. It was you who began the indiscriminate bombing. We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst - and we will do our best."

Tweet of the day to the RED SOX

Taking on the " Evil Empire " today  - GO RED SOX

@mlb We'll be cheering on #Boston @redsox all the way from #Kandahar #Afghanistan - #KeepCalmAndCarryOn @jerry_remy twitter.com/Leadership_One…

— Middleboro Jones (@Leadership_One) April 1, 2013

Start your day off with a big bowl of GRONK FLAKES

It's Gronk's World - We're all just living in it....He is a character and beloved by all New England Patriots Fans. It just seems odd to sit down to a big bowl of GRONK FLAKES but what the heck??

Gronk Flakes hitting New England shelves September, 22, 2012 By Darren Rovell | ESPN.com

If you don't want to start your day with Wheaties, maybe you want a bowl full of Gronk.Gronk Flakes are made by the same company that produced Flutie Flakes. Gronk Flakes, a frosted corn flakes cereal endorsed by New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, is hitting Stop & Shop supermarkets in the New England area this week.

"His dad Gordy came to us about a year and a half ago, wanting to do all three Gronkowski boys on a product," said Ty Ballou, president and CEO of PLB Sports, which has made a business out of selling athlete-endorsed food products. "But we really just focus on selling in one area, so we couldn't figure out how to do it. When Rob emerged in the way he did, things changed."

Ballou said the company's first run will be 64,800 boxes at $3.99 each, but he has high hopes for Gronkowski's marketability.

The company recently sold 155,000 boxes of Justin Verlander's Fastball Flakes in the Detroit area. Ballou said Gronkowski's cereal, which benefits the Gronk Nation Youth Foundation, should sell more.

The record for a PLB Sports product? Ballou's company sold 2.5 million boxes of Flutie Flakes from 1998 to 2001.

Despite his carefree and sometimes controversial partying ways, Gronkowski has endeared himself with many.

He has 328,000 followers on Twitter and recently signed endorsement deals with Dunkin' Donuts and BodyArmor Superdrink

Kabul Press calls Massachusetts more corrupt than Afghanistan

My wife and I were discussing the issue of the "Government Critters" on both sides of the world, and that there really is no real difference as the Government at home and the Government here are inhabited by the same level of ineffective and overpaid staff. They aren't very effective and are highly overpaid for the work that they do. It doesn't matter if you are in Afghanistan or the USA, these fools have taken over the Government that is supposed to work for us. Instead they have made it all about themselves.

Here's a point-of-view from the AFGHN side where the local press in Kabul describes how they see the State of Massachusetts as corrupt (if not more so)than those in Afghanistan.

With DEVAL PATRICK in charge in the State of Massachusetts, I can kinda see this guy's point. Governor Patrick is the best buddy with the President, who is the epitome of ineffective, bloated, overpaid Government. They are a pair of inept frauds who scammed their way into elective office. We would be much better off with both of them out of office and going back to some other line of work.

Massachusetts Corruption Dwarfs Afghan Corruption

International corruption statistics are distorted to protect Western nations and China - Saturday 18 August 2012, by Matthew J. Nasuti - Kabul Press http://kabulpress.org/my/spip.php?article120954

Government corruption in the United States is hundreds of times more pervasive and costly than in Afghanistan. Every day American newspapers recount the scandals. One day it involves U.S. Customs officials, the next day it is the Secret Service, then the General Services Administration, then the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. Every month there are new scandals involving foreign aid and other funds administered by the U.S. Department of State, the latest involved the waste of billions of dollars in “global warming” funds squandered by Assistant Secretary of State Kerri-Ann Jones and her predecessor, Claudia A. McMurray. Despite the State Department being perhaps worst administered agency in the Federal Government, no one dares utter even a whisper of criticism at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, so the corruption continues.

While billions of dollars in domestic spending and foreign aid are misappropriated, corruptly awarded and mismanaged each year, that corruption is easier to conceal, because the U.S. is a wealthy country with many distractions. Despite the publicity, few members of the public seem able to grasp the size and scope of the cancer of corruption and nepotism that is eating away at the country.

Internationally, government corruption is ranked under a flawed system established by such groups as “Transparency International.” They rank corruption in countries like Afghanistan and the United States based on subjective “perceptions” of corruption. Because the rankings are not based on the actual volume of corruption, this system unfairly maligns developing countries. If the system were based on the dollar amount of corruption, it would list many Western, Arab and Far East nations as the most corrupt.

Supposedly non-profit groups such as Transparency International are anything but transparent. Its co-founder, Michael Hershman, is a former official with USAID and he is also the chairman of the Fairfax Group. Fairfax makes it profits from the corruption that Transparency International “discovers.” Fairfax holds itself out as an expert consultant on foreign government corruption and as a result it has been awarded numerous U.S. government anti-corruption contracts. Transparency International’s U.S. Board of Directors and Advisory Council is filled with former government officials, lawyers for major Washington, D.C. law firms, government consultants and other representatives of organizations affiliated with the U.S. Department of State. Many of these people make money from or advance their careers by pointing the corruption finger overseas, rather than where it belongs, which is at the Federal, State and local governments in the United States.

In the United States, the systemic government corruption is not limited to the loss of public funds and cronyism, but extends to a wide range of dishonest and illegal practices which shield those with political connections. American is literally a land of two peoples; those to whom the law applies and those who are above the law. The problem is too large for a single article to examine, so just one of America’s 50 states (Massachusetts) was chosen for this article and even for that state, there is only space to summarize a tiny percentage of its public corruption.

Timothy Murray Scandal: The current state government in Massachusetts is called the Patrick/Murray Administration after Governor Duval Patrick and Lieutenant Governor Timothy Murray. On November 2, 2011, at 5:26 a.m. Murray was driving his State-owned Crown Victoria automobile in Sterling, Massachusetts, when he crashed the vehicle, completely destroying it. Murray told the police that he was driving at the legal speed limit of 55 miles per hour and lost control of the vehicle. He claimed to be on official business inspecting (in the dark) storm damage in the area. The police determined that he was driving at 108 miles per hour and fell asleep at the wheel. Every statement made to police by Murray was false. Despite that and Murray’s lack of remorse, local prosecutors refused to prosecute him for his false statements or for reckless endangerment. As a reward, Governor Patrick gave Murray a new $40,000.00 State automobile to replace the one he destroyed. Murray had previously been cited in 1992 and 2006 for speeding. Attempts by the Boston Herald to further investigate this scandal have been blocked by lawyers in the Governor’s Office, including E. Abim Thomas, who claims that the records are exempt from public release. ,br />
Chelsea Housing Authority Scandal: Massachusetts has 242 public housing authorities and some of the top jobs within these agencies have historically been patronage appointments, a system prone to abuse. For most of the past year, the Chelsea (Boston) Housing has been rocked by sandals. On June 15th of this year investigators questioned Lieutenant Governor Murray about allegations that Chelsea officials were illegally fundraising for him. Murray has refused to brief the people of Massachusetts regarding any of these allegations. Since then there have been no public updates. The concern is that this criminal investigation, like so many others, has been quietly dropped.

MBTA Scandal: On August 6, 2012, the Boston Globe reported that there were only two bidders on a $1 billion State MBTA transportation contract. Initially, 25 companies expressed an interest in bidding but except for the favored contractors (Mass Bay) and a little known French company, all the rest of the bidders ultimately declined to bid. The reason that 23 companies withdrew from the process is that there is a wide-spread belief that State officials had rigged the bidding in favor of Mass Bay. Governor Patrick has done nothing to dispel this apparently accurate assessment. Due to the lack of competition and in order to try and restore public confidence, Governor Patrick should withdraw bidding authority from MBTA General Manager Jonathan R. Davis, assign the bid evaluation to an independent panel and order that panel to rebid the work. This of course will never happen because the Governor seems quite content with the present corruption.

Deerfield River Levee Scandal: In the Fall of 2011, a group of wealthy agri-businesses in Deerfield, Massachusetts created several kilometers of sand levees along the Deerfield River in an attempt to prevent future flooding of their low-lying farm fields. The 10-15 foot levees, in some places push into tree-lines and right up to the river’s edge. The legal issue is that State law prohibits any construction work within 200 feet of a river without a permit, which the farmers failed to apply for. The Massachusetts River Protection Act is very clear and it mandates that the levees be removed. According to informed sources, inspectors for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recommended in 2011 that enforcement action be commenced against the violators. A letter was sent on December 15, 2011 to Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley from Cynthia M. Pepyne of the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office requesting a State review of these potential environmental violations. To-date however nothing has happened. The reason is that the agri-businesses involved have close political ties to the Patrick-Murray Administration and party loyalty matters more to these State officials than the environment or the law. It is not clear who within Ms. Coakley’s office or the DEP quashed the enforcement action. The case is presently sitting on the desk of Brian Harrington, Assistant Administrator for DEP’s Western Region. It has been sidelined with the support of DEP attorney Kathleen Delaplain, but the real decision authorities may have been DEP Director Kenneth L. Kimmell and Western Regional Administrator Michael Gorski. In contacts with these officials, they claim that the enforcement action is still under “active consideration” but it is impossible to obtain the truth from any of these individuals.

Department of Revenue Scandal: An investigation in early 2012 revealed that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue has a new tactic that it is using against the poor. It is called the “desk audit.” For wealthy and corporate taxpayers, the Department will conduct field audits in which revenue agents travel to the home or place of business of the wealthy to review the taxpayer’s records. However, for indigent taxpayers, the Department misuses a device called the desk audit and it orders the taxpayer to copy all of his or her records for one or multiple years and mail all of them to the desk auditor. If the taxpayer cannot afford to do this, the Department labels them as “refusing to comply with the law” and rejects all their deductions, imposing large penalties on them. If the indigent taxpayer tries to appeal this unjust assessment, he or she is hit with the one-two punch by the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board (ATB). The ATB has ignored rulings from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court and decided that it will not waive filing fees for the poor. As a result of this misconduct, some indigent taxpayers are barred from appealing State abuses. Even if the indigent could somehow obtain the required filing fees, the ATB requires that all hearings be held in Boston, a long trip for the elderly and in some cases an impossible trip for the poor. The ATB refuses to travel around the State in order to hear cases locally, however, the ATB will travel the circuit for wealthy parties who are contesting property tax assessments. It will hold court for property tax cases for the rich in such upscale western towns as Northampton, but it will not accommodate the poor by holding income tax hearings in Springfield or Greenfield. One of these indigent taxpayer cases is currently being prosecuted by Department of Revenue attorney John DeLosa. Commissioner of Revenue Amy Pitter and ATB Chairman Thomas W. Hammond, Jr. apparently are quite comfortable with these abuses, as they have done nothing to correct them. USDA - Massachusetts Scandal: There is an investigation currently underway by U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and the FBI into the corrupt awarding of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Farm Bill funds in Massachusetts. The case has been briefed to top officials in Tom Vilsack’s office. Mr. Vilsack is the Secretary of Agriculture for the United States. The evidence is that USDA officials in Massachusetts have been awarding grants primarily to friends, family members and to a small group of wealthy farmers with close ties to the Patrick/Murray Administration. The grants are under two programs called the Emergency Conservation Program (ECP) and the Environmental Quality Improvement Program (EQIP). The public has not heard about this case and it will not be hearing about this case for a while because, unfortunately, the U.S. Attorney’s investigation appears to be on hold until after the November election, so as not to embarrass President Obama. Corruption at the Federal, State and local levels within the United States varies from agency to agency, from State to State and from town to town. Overall, the sheer magnitude of abuses outstrips anything present in Afghanistan. The American metrics far outpace Afghanistan on the dollar number of funds misappropriated, number of instances of corruption and number of people and companies who are immune from and above the law. This is not to condone the level of corruption within Afghanistan, which is believed to be considerable and unacceptable. Hypocracy has always been a staple of international diplomacy and therefore Afghanistan will have to live with the condescending arrogance of American diplomats who see corruption everywhere but in their own back yard

USS Constitution to set sail on Sunday Aug 19th

In 1997, I was honored to be a member of the crew of USS CONSTITUTION when she set sail for the first time in 116 years in honor of her Bicentennial Celebration.  It was a wonderful time and she sailed brilliantly.  When it was done, all wondered when we would be able to sail her again.

Well that day has come and USS CONSTITUTION will sail again this Sunday to commenorate the 200th Anniversary of her victory over HMS Guerriere.

Make us proud old girl....I only wish I could be there.  Alas I am otherwise occupied presently in the sandbox.

USS Constitution to set sail on Sunday
Brockton Enterprise

BOSTON — The world's oldest commissioned warship will set sail on Sunday for the first time since 1997 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the  victory over HMS Guerriere during the War of 1812.

The victory of the USS Constitution in this battle marked the first time a US ship defeated a Royal Navy frigate at or nearly equal size. It's also the battle in which the ship earned the nickname, "Old Ironsides."

The ship will be towed from its berth at the Charlestown Navy Yard at 10 a.m. Once Constitution is at President Roads, between Deer Island and Long Island, at 11:30 a.m., the crew will set up to four sails and make toward open water for about 10 minutes. 
 
After leaving President Roads, a 21-gun salute exchange with the Massachusetts Army National Guard’s 101st Field Artillery Regiment will then be fired toward Fort Independence on Castle Island at approximately 1 p.m.

The 101st Field Artillery Regiment is the oldest regiment in the Army. Sails will be furled at 2:30 p.m. and crew members will depart the ship at 3 p.m. Constitution will re-open for free public tours at 4 p.m.

The last time Constitution sailed under its own power was to honor the ship’s bicentennial.
 
At10 a.m. Saturday, just outside the Constitution's berth, the U.S Postal Service will unveil the USS Constitution Forever Stamp. The original painting used for the design of the stamp is on view at the USS Constitution Museum.

The museum will have tables set up all weekend for visitors to write letters to service members.

Local Weather Forecast in Boston.....Looks legit....

Being overseas in Afghanistan and away from home in the Boston area, I check in on the news & weather back home to see how things are back home.....When I logged on to the WBZ Weather page, it appears that "Global Warming" is really not happening in Boston -

Here is what the forecast was for Sunday 29 July 2012

Here is the link - http://weather.boston.cbslocal.com/US/MA/Boston/KBOS.html

I think if it gets down to " 4 " degrees tonight, a large number of locals will be caught by surprise.  It is likely they corrected their error by now but looking at the weather forecast they posted, it seems likely that the WBZ weather crew had quite a large number of beers last night.

Got some disposable $$$ ?? Some seriously older Ferraris are up for sale

Wow.....that is all I have......wow.

The guy who owned these was from BOSTON.....awesome.

Got $20 million? 4 'very important' Ferrari cars to go on block

By Jerry Hirsch - LA TIMES
July 19, 2012,

A rare collection of four Ferrari cars is expected to sell for a combined $20 million or more at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance next month.

Santa Monica auction house Gooding & Co. landed the Ferrari collection, which was the property of Sherman Wolf, a Boston paging service and amphitheater entrepreneur who died earlier this year.

“It is a very important collection of cars,” said David Kinney, publisher of the Hagerty Price Guide for collector cars.  “This is causing heartburn for some of the other auction companies that Gooding has grabbed this very important collection.”

The rarest vehicle in the collection is a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT LWB Alloy California Spider Competizione. Gooding & Co. said it is one of only nine alloy-bodied LWB – long wheel base - California Spiders ever built and is expected to sell for $7 million to $9 million.

The other cars include a 1953 Ferrari 340 MM Competition Spider, a 1957 Ferrari 500 TRC and a 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO.

“The Gooding sales have always been high-end and they seem to bring the right buyers to the room. The estate of Mr. Wolf will do very well,” Kinney said.

Although the GTO is fairly new by collector car standards, Kinney said its stature has grown, in part because not many were made.  It could sell for close to $1 million. The other vehicles are expected to go for $3.75 million to $6.5 million each.

Ferraris are among the hottest part of what has become a strong collector-car market over the last year.

An index of rare Ferrari values calculated by the Hagerty Insurance Agency has risen 16% to $3.5 million as of April from the same month a year earlier.

Wolf was well-known in classic car collector circles, both for his collection and for his mechanical ability.

Jon Shirley, the former president of Microsoft and a collector, remembers meeting Wolf at Ferrari rally in Colorado in 1995.

Shirley was having trouble getting his 1951 Ferrari to run properly at the high altitude.
“He went over to his Ferrari 340MM Spyder and pulled out more tools and small parts in carefully marked plastic cases than I thought possible to store in a Ferrari,” Shirley said.

Wolf tinkered with Shirley’s Ferrari, tuning it “by ear until the car sounded quite good” he recalled.

Boston salutes the USS CONSTITUTION and all the men who sailed her

She is the flagship of  the US NAVY.  I was privleged to be a member of her crew in 1997 when she went undersail (untethered) for the first time in 116 years.

The ship and the men who sailed her are united in history with their ship.  The staff of the USS Constitution Museum have made an extraordinary effort to bring the history of the crew to life. 

I salute these brave men as the ship is majestic but she was only able to be the success she was because she was manned by men who knew their duty and served on her decks, in peace and war.

BRAVO ZULU to the crew and captains of the USS CONSTITUTION - You made her proud.


Majesty and history
Constitution's forgotten crew and the War of 1812
 By Peter Schworm
 Boston Globe Staff / July 1, 2012

Undefeated in battle, a wooden vessel so stalwart it became known as Old Ironsides, the USS Constitution is perhaps the nation’s most famous warship, an abiding symbol of national pride and naval might.

Yet for two centuries, the hundreds of ordinary sailors who served aboard the great frigate during its most famous victories have been forgotten by history, with little known of their lives or sacrifice. They were celebrated in their day, honored with parades on their triumphant returns to Boston. But as the ship’s legend grew, they faded to obscurity.

Now, as Boston joins the nation in commemorating the bicentennial of the War of 1812, their stories are finally being told.

After a decade of poring over archives here and abroad, researchers at the USS Constitution Museum in Charlestown have pieced together the lives of hundreds of seamen and Marines who served on the Constitution during the war. Among the many characters are James Bennett, a freeborn black man who plugged holes from enemy shot and was later killed in the Battle of Lake Erie, and Asa Curtis of Scituate, the ship’s gunner, who was “weatherbeaten and scarred from many years at sea.”

Often starting with little more than a name, researchers spent long hours combing through pension applications and military documents, personal correspondence, and British prisoner-of-war records, to compile profiles of the sailors and provide a fuller picture of the ship’s history.

“It’s always been the missing piece of the story,” said Anne Grimes Rand, the museum’s president, as she walked through an exhibit that highlights individual sailors and the experience of life at sea.
It was a daunting task, one that scholars warned was nearly impossible given the passage of time. But the museum staff, joined by a host of volunteers, pursued the project with a sense of obligation, determined to give the men their due.

“The Constitution is talked about as if it’s its own agent,” said Sarah Watkins, the museum’s director of collections and learning. “We wanted to tell the story of the men who sailed, who steered, who fought.”

Armed with a solid list of crewmen, researchers began searching through archives for leads, relying heavily on pension records and protection certificates that seamen used as proof of citizenship.
“It was like a passport of the day,” said Lauren McCormack, the museum’s bicentennial programs coordinator. “And in the pension records, you really had to tell your story.”

Those archives often provided a foothold that led researchers to other documents — marriage and death records, wills, and census records.

Slowly, breakthroughs came, and lives came into focus. As researchers learned more, they were drawn into the stories, forging bonds with the figures from long ago.

“They started out as names, and they evolved into individuals,” Watkins said. “For us, it’s not just an intellectual pursuit, it’s an emotional connection.”

The bond was particularly strong with David Debias, a freeborn black from Beacon Hill who was just 8 when he joined the crew, becoming a servant for a master’s mate.

Debias was among the crew chosen to sail on the HMS Levant after it was captured by the Constitution. That vessel was in turn seized by the British on its return to the United States. He was imprisoned in Barbados for a few months before being sent home to his family.

He was discharged in 1815, earning $32 for his seven-month stint.

But Debias was soon back on the seas again, joining the merchant fleet and then reenlisting on the Constitution. In 1838, he left his ship while it was docked in Alabama and was seized in Mississippi as a runaway slave.

Researchers found a letter that a lawyer for Debias wrote the secretary of the Navy, asking for proof of his military service. But they couldn’t find a response and worried the path had gone cold.
“We all wondered, ‘What happened to David?’ ” Watkins said.

Then one day, the National Archives called, saying they had tracked down the Navy’s response affirming his military service. When the news came, yelps of delight filled the museum’s library. They never found out whether he regained his freedom. But there was hope.

Another riveting, if tragic, story was that of Philip Brimblecom. Born in 1786 in Marblehead, he grew up fishing cod, and in 1809 he sailed on his uncle’s schooner to Spain. But the ship was taken off the coast of Spain and impounded by the French government. Brimblecom went to work aboard a French merchant ship, but then it was seized, and Brimblecom was jailed in England.

He eventually escaped and found an America-bound ship. But by this point the war had begun, and Brimblecom was captured again. In September 1812, he was exchanged as a prisoner of war.
Undeterred, he signed up for the Constitution the same month. During a battle in December 1812, a cannonball took away his arm at the elbow.

“Everything bad that can happen in seafaring happened to him,” said Matthew Brenckle, the museum’s research historian.

He could not find work, and wrote the Navy seeking a job and increase in his $6 monthly pension.
Brimblecom was given a job in the Charlestown Navy Yard in 1816, but later wrote and asked them to “look after a poor distressed crippled sailor.” He died at 38.

Such stories show the dangers and unforgiving nature of life at sea, and the sacrifice of those who served during what many consider the country’s second war of independence.

Yet hundreds of crew members remain just names on a muster, and researchers say their work is far from done. As word of the project has spread, descendants of sailors have contacted the museum with potential leads, and researchers are hopeful they will continue to make progress.

“We find out more practically every single day,” Brenckle said.

Peter Schworm can be reached at schworm@globe.com

Dog Tags at Old North Church in Boston

Located on the south side of the Old North Church, Boston, stands a small area set aside to commemorate the soldiers lost in Afghanistan and Iraq. Hundreds of dog tags representing the fallen hang closely together. When the wind blows one can hear the distinctive metal chimes as they clang together to make their eery music.

When I see this, I think that the original Patriots of the American Revolution who were from Boston, and though the loss of any Soldier/Sailor/Marine/Airman is difficult to bear, as Americans we have always been willing to provide whatever is needed to ensure our Liberty.

" Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty."

President John F. Kennedy

Fenway at 100 - Boston prepares to celebrate 100 years of Baseball played in Fenway Park

The Chapel is 100 years old and no one in Boston would want it any other way. There were some heretics who tried to get Boston to replace her but gladly they were unsuccessful. Larry Luccino stated at the beginning of this year that our grandchildren's kids will be coming to see baseball at Fenway in the future....That would be " wicked pissa " as far as Red Sox fans are concerned.


Red Sox ready to celebrate Fenway's 100th birthday
By Jimmy Golen
AP Sports Writer / April 9, 2012

BOSTON—Fenway Park is ready for its 100th birthday and the Boston Red Sox are planning a big party.

After a decade of renovations to the majors' oldest ballpark, the team has put on some finishing touches to get it ready for this season. The home opener is Friday, and a week later the Red Sox will celebrate the anniversary of Fenway's opening on April 20, 1912, when they play the New York Yankees.

The festivities started on Monday, when the Harvard baseball team took batting and fielding practice to mark the 100th anniversary of their 1912 exhibition game against the Red Sox -- the first game played at Fenway. Harvard and Red Sox alum Mike Stenhouse pitched batting practice.

"Harvard baseball is thrilled to be included in the birthday celebration at Fenway Park," Crimson baseball coach Joe Walsh said. "Our guys look forward to any chance to set foot on a major league baseball diamond -- in this case a batting practice session where many will take aim at the Green Monster. These are special moments that all young baseball players dream about and Harvard has been fortunate to have these opportunities every few years."

Although past years' offseason renovations included visible and popular additions such as the Monster Seats and new concourses, this year's work was designed to put the finishing touches on a decade of work.

Among the additions:

--A patio of inscribed bricks purchased by fans. More than 18,500 were sold. Also featured are 35 handprints from "influential figures in Red Sox and Fenway Park history," including Bobby Doerr, Dennis Eckersley, Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice and Carl Yastrzemski.

--Plaques around the park explaining points of interest, such as "Canvas Alley" and the Red Sox clubhouse.

--Season ticket-holders' club, featuring historic panels and artifacts tracing the history of the team and the ballpark. The highlight: a collection of baseballs autographed by the World Series teams from every season since 1920 (one is missing). It was loaned to the team by a donor who has chosen to remain anonymous.

Also Monday, the team gave Mayor Tom Menino a tour. Because Menino was in a walking boot, he was driven around by Red Sox president Larry Lucchino in the bullpen cart that was used from 1968-78 to bring relievers into the game.

The cart was restored and will be displayed as part of the ballpark's "Living Museum" theme.

The Features " How It Starts" in honor of Spring

Spring has sprung here in Boston....Temps in the 70s & 80s....awesome. This song is the theme music for the new Mustang commercial and they have a great rock growl.

Enjoy.

The Faithful Fans of RED SOX Nation line up for tickets & a piece of RED SOX history

Even after the 2011 slump in the " September from Hell ", where our Red Sox tanked in a spectacular display of buffoonery, the fans return in droves. It must be something in the DNA of Red Sox fans that makes them like the swallows coming back to Capistrano....We don't really have the ability to resist the siren call of Baseball, the Red Sox and all that goes with Fenway Park, which will celebrate 100 years of Baseball this season.

I just hope for our sake that John Henry & his crew have gotten their game plan in place because if they tank the 2012 season, it will be the worst way to commemorate a century of America's pastime in " The Chapel ".


Red Sox fans
gobble up tickets, memorabilia

news-press.com

Boston Red Sox backer Eric Atkinson is a prime example of why "fan" is short for
fanatic.

Atkinson was so intent on buying the team’s 2004 and 2007 World Series championship banners at the Red Sox Yard Sale that he flew in Friday from Beverly, Mass., rented a storage truck and stood in line overnight so he could be first in line.

He had $8,000 in his pocket because the Red Sox only accepted cash.

It hardly helped his level of comfort that fans – standing in a separate line for single-game tickets – told him there was a nearby shooting and drug deal.

But he stayed – with one eye open.

Atkinson’s 16-hour wait for the pennants – which hung on the team’s batting cages – was rewarded when he joined about 350 fans who walked through the turnstiles at City of Palms Park at 8 a.m. Saturday. He bought each for $800.

“It’s the prize of the lot,” friend Rob Hurst said.

“Can’t go wrong with ’04 and ’07,” said Atkinson, who also bought locker room chairs, bats and $50 grab bags, which included a jersey of an unknown player as well as a program. The week before, he bought 93 jerseys, a turnstile, bats and Carlton Fisk and Wade Boggs banners at a Fenway Park yard sale. “They’ll go in my man-cave bar.”

With the Red Sox moving to a new park this spring, the team sold furniture, framed artwork and televisions from City of Palms Park as well as media guides, bats, balls, shirts, banners and signs.

What fascinated Katie Haas, the Red Sox Florida operations director, was what interested the second person in line was totally different from what Atkinson wanted.

“I gave a sound bite, which I wish I hadn’t said because a fan said, ‘You’re calling this junk,’ “ Haas said. “But one man’s junk is another person’s treasure.”

Haas said the story behind the treasure helped people in their purchases. When told the TVs were in the clubhouse or a chair was in the owner’s suite, that helped husbands convince wives they needed to buy them, she said.

Fans did get a little physical and jostled for the bats. “When it’s covered in pine tar and tape and has a player’s name on it, that also tells a story,” she said.


Helen Sotiropoulos, a 19-year employee of Aramark, the Red Sox’s food vendor, bought a chair before “they went out flying.”

Jennifer Canedy of Cape Coral got a photo of her favorite player, Jason Varitek, “even though he probably won’t be here anymore.” Shannon Devegnee of Cape Coral, bought a $20 framed photo of Ted Williams playing tennis. She’ll give it to her father Tony Patti for Christmas because that’s his favorite player. Her daughter Brianna bought Red Sox lights for $3.

April Bailey bought a rusted metal, on-deck bat. “I just happened to see it on a table,” she said. “I put it down, walked around the inside; and when it was still there, I said, ‘I just have to ask somebody about this bat.’ “

Bailey was told the bat really wasn’t for sale; but to tell the cashier it was $10.

Pine Island’s Jack Kershilis, 73, was resourceful when the Red Sox Baseball Store sign ($100) was too big to fit in his van. “They had a saw so I cut it,” he said. “I’m going to take these feet (Red Sox logo) and cut off the words store and put the feet on that side. I’ll put it in my garage.”

Kershilis’ wife was in line waiting for tickets. “I think she’d go ballistic if she knew,” he said. “I don’t think I’ll tell her until she gets in the car. She might not be able to ride in the car.”

When Brianna Devegnee helped Kershilis carry his sign to his car, he gave her a $2 tip.

As Kershilis returned to his unsuspecting wife, fans patiently waited in line for tickets.

A group of North Fort Myers High friends – Connor Roggero, Teddy Moore, Matt Mills, Neill Dickinson and Bridget Harper – had camped out since Thursday.

Two, long-time Naples’ friends and oldtimers, Phil Stang and Mike Boudreau, arrived at the ballpark at 4:15 a.m. to get tickets. Stang talked Boudreau into coming, even though he’s recovering from foot surgery

What the heck? Why not,” Boudreau said.

And what they did do while waiting? “Annoy each other,” Stang said.

Haas said five games are near sellouts – Tampa Bay (March 10), St. Louis (March 15), Baltimore (March 17), the New York Yankees (March 22) and Philadelphia (March 24).

Holidays come early for RED SOX fans

Valentine's Day came early for Boston Red Sox fans....Training camp will be opening in about 75 days or so....Like most years, 2012 will be an interesting year for the faithful fans of Fenway. Red Sox baseball can wait a few months as the team needs to do some rebuilding with the fans...Like any other season, high hopes are on the horizon.

For now, let's cheer on the New England Patriots and the Boston Bruins...They deserve their time in the sun, and Baseball will be back in Spring.

On the eve of the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park, The Red Sox are in a sad state.....

NY Yankee fans and others who wish the Red Sox ill must be in full "schadenfreude" mode today....Their wishes have come true as the Red Sox have run one of the most storied and successful baseball operations right up on the rocks.

Theo - Gone. Tito - Gone. The Clubhouse - in full mutiny mode. Ownership - looking as ineffective as the lunkheads in Washington, DC.

This is NOT where we were supposed to be as we had the "best & the brightest" in place, fully funded and capable of ensuring success. Obviously, the big priced help on and off the field were all about themselves and not devoted to the team, the fans or the game.

Sad to say, but these choppy seas that the Red Sox are on show no sign of easing. The winter of our discontent is in place and it will take more than PR to get things back to even close to where they need to be. Red Sox Nation are a tough bunch but no one likes being treated this way by a club that has been given undying devotion by the fans. The RED SOX need to earn back our respect as what they have shown us is not the signs of the team we deserve.

2012 was supposed to be a celebration but right now, it looks like it will be a year of lowered expectations and a tarnished team. I can only hope that something will change under a new GM & Coach. Time to clean house and get back on track.


Wind of change
By Dan Shaughnessy
Boston Globe Columnist / October 13, 2011

It’s back to the bad old days over on Yawkey Way. The Red Sox of 2011 are the Red Sox of Buddy LeRoux and Haywood Sullivan - doofus co-owners wrestling on the carpet of their Fenway Park offices back in 1983. They are the Red Sox of Tom Yawkey and his chorus line of drunken employees finishing out of the money from the 1930s through the ’60s.

There are so many things wrong with the Sox at this hour, it’s difficult to know where to start. The manager is gone, the general manager is gone, the owners are in hiding, and the players are a loathsome lot totally unworthy of the money and adulation they receive.

Theo Epstein’s gone. It was a seismic event when he quit in 2005. This time, his departure is lost in the mix as the Sox go from freefall to nuclear fallout. The Fenway lawn is scorched earth.

Did we ever think the vaunted “new’’ owners would make Frank McCourt look good?

Apologies are in order, all around. John Henry, Tom Werner, and Larry Lucchino need to come out of hiding and say they are sorry for this embarrassment.

Ditto for the cowardly ballplayers. Instead of blasting a reporter (“where’d you get this number?’’), phony captain Jason Varitek needs to explain how the ballplayers in the clubhouse abandoned their professionalism on his watch. Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, and John Lackey need to drop the bad-ass act (none of them returned calls from Bob Hohler before his explosive story in Wednesday’s Globe) and apologize to fans for their disrespect of the manager and the franchise. Put down the long-necks and the Double Down sandwiches and tell the fans you are sorry.

But why would they? They are joyless and enabled. We learn from Hohler’s story that when players complained about having to play a day-night doubleheader, out-of-touch Sox owners gave them $300 headphones and a night on Henry’s yacht.

Pathetic.

The worst collapse in the history of baseball wasn’t enough shame for this crew. They had to take on the persona of entitled rock stars who flip off the fans and demand only red M&Ms in their dressing room.

John Henry and friends have lived a charmed existence since buying the ball club in December of 2001. They have won a couple of World Series and made Fenway Park a tourist destination on a par with the Bunker Hill Monument and Old Ironsides. They sold their baseball souls to sell a few Fenway bricks and boost the ratings of their hideous network.

Now we’ve all had enough with Roush Racing and Liverpool soccer. Yankee fans never had to worry about George Steinbrenner taking his eyes off the prize in the interest of building ships.

Try this on with your pink hat: On the final night of the regular season, while the Sox were playing in Baltimore, fighting for their playoff lives, virtual ads during the baseball broadcast reminded you to watch Liverpool-Wolverhampton the next day at 4 p.m. That’s the same time that the Sox would have been playing their one-game playoff against Tampa Bay on TBS.

Got that? On Thursday, Sept. 29, at 4 p.m., the geniuses at NESN wanted you to watch soccer - instead of a one-game playoff involving the Red Sox.

Consistent with this insult, NESN the next day cut away from analysis of a postmortem press conference featuring Terry Francona and Theo Epstein (remember them?) at Fenway. While NESN rival Comcast went knee-deep into analysis, the Sox flagship TV station went to soccer.

Wow.

And now we have nothing from the owners since the night Francona was fired - unless you count the Baghdad Bob hour they granted to their flagship radio station that was simulcast on their own television network. There was plenty of talk about “shelf life’’ that day. Lucchino finished a lot of Henry’s sentences.

Can anyone blame Epstein for wanting to get away from this? Any chance he was encouraged to look elsewhere? I know one thing: Sox fans won’t be happy to see the ball club lose the still-under-contract-Theo in exchange for more cash for Henry. What happened to getting Matt Garza? Or couldn’t the Sox have at least made the Cubs take Lackey in a package deal with the beleaguered GM?

When Epstein quit in 2005, there was much anguish in Red Sox Nation. This time the departure gets lost in the avalanche of negativity that washes over the franchise. It’s, “Thanks for playing, Theo. We’ll think of you every time Carl Crawford strikes out for the next six years.’’

The rebuilding of the brand can begin only when Epstein is officially gone. The Sox need to name Ben Cherington GM, then go about the business of regaining the fans’ trust. It would be nice if they’d hire a strong-willed field manager, but we fear they’re going to go with a no-name who’ll carry out the orders of Carmine the Computer, Tom Tippett, and Bill James.

The Sox expected to spend this winter preparing for the glorious 100th celebration of Fenway Park. Instead they are picking up pieces of their broken brand as they prepare to raise the third-place banner and celebrate Fenway’s centennial on April 20, 2012.

Maybe it’s time to show real fans that you are back in the business of baseball and junk “Sweet Caroline’’ in the middle of the eighth.

Bad times never seemed so bad.

Tito & The Red Sox - Don't believe the spin.....Terry Francona was fired.

" Humpty Dumpty was pushed..."

Well Tito isn't Humpty Dumpty but you get the picture. As a proud member of RED SOX NATION, I have restrained myself from the "blame game" and the finger pointing after the Red Sox fell from their lofty perch. I don't believe in a lot of back biting and such.

Yesterday, the issue got ratched up when the Red Sox and Terry Francona announced a mutual parting of the ways...Take it from a savvy HR professional, there was nothing "mutual" about it.

The RED SOX have made some mistakes and this ranks right up there with one of their biggest. I am unsure what the future holds for RED SOX NATION but at this point, the fans are akin to a guy standing by the side of the road watching a car wreck....you can only hope that no one else gets hurt and that things will be OK later....In this case, there is much concern that we will not again see the class, dedication, professionalism and all around likeability like we saw from Tito.

Tito will be missed. The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy sums it up for the fans. To John Henry, Theo and Larry, I say that while you guys have made some good choices, this one ranks up as number one on the list of wrong decisions made by the Red Sox.

Ignore that spin from the brass - he was fired
By Dan Shaughnessy
Globe Columnist / October 1, 2011

Terry Francona was fired yesterday. The longtime manager and the Red Sox brass used a lot of polite words and tried to make it sound mutual, but Francona turns out to be the first victim of the greatest collapse in baseball history.

On a bizarre and historic Friday at Fenway, the Sox and Francona generated more spin than the Harlem Globetrotters.

Francona blamed himself, worked hard to stay on message, but late in his goodbye press session, he veered off the rails and threw John Henry under the team charter.

“To be honest with you, I’m not sure how much support there was from ownership,’’ Francona offered. “You’ve got to be all-in on this job. It’s got to be everybody together, and I was questioning that a little bit.’’

Bingo. Henry has had Francona in his crosshairs for a couple of years. Ultimately, Francona was not enough of a numbers guy to satisfy Boston’s Moneyball boss.

All summer long, even when the Sox were rolling, the ball club steadfastly refused to trigger Francona’s contract extension. The 7-20 finish made Francona a perfect scapegoat.

There were plenty of real issues that led to Francona’s demise. With a $161 million payroll (third highest in baseball) and 15 former All-Stars, the Sox finished third for a second straight season. Francona lost the clubhouse. He loved his players, covered for them, and they turned Fenway Park into Delta House. It was Pete Carroll Redux. Treat them like men, they run all over you, then say, “You messed up. You trusted us.’’

Based on Francona’s non-denial, it’s apparently true that some of the Sox’ starting pitchers were drinking in the clubhouse during games they were not scheduled to start. A report in yesterday’s Herald broke the story and Francona rejected an opportunity to say that it was untrue.

Still, the Sox will want you to believe that Francona was not fired. They’re going with a fairy tale that the front office and the manager of eight years simply decided to part ways. It was the theme of the 5:30 p.m. press release announcing the change, and team chairman Tom Werner and general manager Theo Epstein kept the charade going last night - less than an hour after Francona effectively acknowledged he was not invited back.

It was ridiculous. Like the cataclysmic end of the season, this whole day was ridiculous.

“It’s my decision,’’ Francona said. “I think it was time for a new voice here . . . I wanted our guys to care about each other on the field and I didn’t think we were doing that.’’

Epstein said Francona “decided that there were certain things that needed to be done that he couldn’t do . . . and this team would benefit from hearing a new voice.’’

But ultimately it was a disconnect between Henry and Francona that prompted this change.

Henry did not appear at last night’s press conference. Lucchino and Werner said Henry “wanted to be here,’’ but reported that Henry had sustained a minor injury during the day.

Like everything else in Henrytown, Francona’s dismissal was rooted in the numbers. Eight years is a long time for anyone to manage the same baseball team. A 162-game season provides thousands of potential second-guesses for a stat-crazed owner. The longer Francona managed here, the more decisions Henry questioned.

Certainly there were some head-scratchers at the end. Maybe letting Tim Wakefield make nine tries for win No. 200 was a mistake. Pinch running Lars Anderson for Adrian Gonzalez last Sunday was interesting. Francona’s decision to bat Ryan Lavarnway (second big-league start at catcher) in the No. 5 spot behind Gonzalez Wednesday played right into the hands of Orioles manager Buck Showalter. Showalter intentionally walked Gonzalez three times and Lavarnway made the final out three times, stranding six runners. This was not God’s will. This was a blunder by the Boston manager.

Francona represented a nice blend of old school and Moneyball. He always had a computer on his desk, but had reverence and respect for the baseball lifers who played when his dad played in the 1950s and ’60s. But it was hard to deal with daily lineup suggestions delivered by everyone from Bill James to new stat guru Tom Tippett. Epstein and the minions were relentless.

Francona knew this day was coming. So he forced the issue, then spoke from his heart . . . just once.

“I was actually puzzled by that comment,’’ said Lucchino. “I must confess to being a little puzzled by what was different than in previous years.’’

Too bad Henry was not there to answer the charge.

Francona might go down as the best manager in the 111-year history of the franchise. Only Joe Cronin managed longer. Only Don Zimmer had a higher winning percentage (among those who managed here for at least five years). And when you break an 86-year-old championship drought, win two World Series titles in four seasons, you don’t have to worry about your legacy.

It’ll be interesting to see who the Sox can hire. Henry and Co. like big-name talent, but they also like someone who’ll go by their book. Bobby Valentine is not going to let sunshine-starved stat geeks dictate the lineup.

Maybe Philip Seymour Hoffman is available.

Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist.

Boston Bound....

The time has come for me to head home from Afghanistan.

This was ahead of schedule but like the last time, it is not a difficult thing as I will be heading back to Boston, friends & family. Working here can wear you out as one might imagine as we are on a 7 day a week, 12+ hour a day schedule. I am glad to say soon I will be back home where I belong.

Posting here will be sporadic as one can imagine with the number of stops it takes to get from this side of the world and back to the right side of the pond.

The family and friends have been notified and there will be time to catch up on things once I get there. I feel there might even be a few cold beers that need my attention.

All for now. I will resume my regular ranting and raving upon landing back at home base.

I am sure that the news will continue to provide plenty of things to post about once I am back at the homefront.

How to beat the BOSTON RED SOX

Brilliant....