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Capital One Cup: A New Twist on College Sports Bragging Rights

Amanda Rykoff — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:43:18 +0000

As if there wasn’t already enough competition in college sports, we’ve got yet another national title up for grabs starting this season: the first ever Capital One Cup. I can hear you rolling your eyes and saying, “Oh great here’s another way to reward the big schools like Alabama and Ohio State.” This is a title with a twist: it incorporates and rewards a school’s athletic titles and accomplishments across multiple men’s and women’s sports. The Capital One Cup is not just about the success of the high profile basketball and football teams (Capital One Chief Marketing Officer Bill McDonald referred to these as “the Big Sexies”), but also women’s golf, men’s cross country, volleyball, lacrosse, wrestling and many other Division I sports. A total of 13 men’s and 13 women’s sports are represented.

Capital One Cup

The bottom line is an all-in total program performance award that looks at programs top to bottom and rewards them for overall athletic excellence across all sports. There will be one $200,000 prize each for the top men’s and women’s programs, to fund student-athlete graduate-level scholarships. Points toward the Capital One Cup are earned and tracked throughout the year based on final standings of NCAA Division I Championships and final official coaches’ polls. Winners will be announced at the annual ESPY awards (ESPN, CBS and Turner Sports are the three media partners of the Capital One Cup).

I could spend the rest of this post explaining the scoring structure (there are tiers and certain sports are weighted more than others, etc.), but that’s not very fun. For more details on the eligible sports and the tiered scoring structure, please see the Capital One Cup Official Website.

On hand at the Times Center this morning to announce the new award along with Capital One’s McDonald were the members of the Capital One Cup Advisory Board, esteemed former college student-athletes Brandi Chastain (Santa Clara), Doug Flutie (Boston College), Clark Kellogg (Ohio State), Lisa Leslie (University of Southern California) and Robin Ventura (Oklahoma State), with ESPN’s Rece Davis (Alabama) serving as master of ceremonies.

Presenting the Capital One Cup

Presentation Highlights

The presentation was well done and we had an opportunity to hear from McDonald about the details of the program and from the members of the Advisory Board about their involvement with the Cup and college athletics.

McDonald emphasized that the goal of the program is to “change the way fans view college sports. It’s not just about the ‘Big Sexies’.”
Doug Flutie talked about the Cup’s impact on “excellence, commitment, integrity and pride in your school.” He also thinks the new incentive will unify students on campus, getting them to rally around the smaller sports.
Clark Kellogg discussed the importance of sports in his development and growth, learning “teamwork, discipline, working through adversity.”
Lisa Leslie, a beneficiary of Title IX, looks forward to the Cup “shining the light on sports that don’t get all the attention.”
Robin Ventura looks forward to the Cup adding additional ramifications to the College World Series, which is already a “hidden gem” of college sports in itself.
Brandi Chastain said the Cup will “inspire young people out there to dream about being a champion” while also being leaders, finding a voice and learning about teamwork.

The program has been in development for over a year, and Capital One worked hard to create a program where hoops and football aren’t dominant. Of course, championships are the goal, but they can be from a variety of sports.

Fun fact: if the Capital One Cup had been in place last season, Duke would have won the men’s title and Stanford the women’s title. The two schools did receive the Capital One Best College Athletic Program Award at this year’s ESPYs. As McDonald quipped, “Imagine if Butler had sunk that shot.”

Asked about promotion, McDonald said all the SIDs are on board. He also expects the blogosphere to jump all over this program and is expecting the program to go viral as part of its promotion. He hopes the “cybermagicians” to go back and do the math to figure out who would have won the past ten Capital One Cups. Anybody up for that challenge?

Post-Presentation One-On-One Interviews

After the official presentation, I spoke one-on-one with Advisory Committee members Brandi Chastain, Rece Davis and Robin Ventura.

Brandi Chastain is pumped

Chastain, who is of course best known for this iconic moment in the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, was an All-American soccer player at Santa Clara University, where she currently serves as a volunteer assistant coach. She told me that when Capital One first approached her about the Capital One Cup, she immediately said yes. I wish I had taken video of the interview; you could honestly see her excitement about the program as she talked about it. She sees this as a great opportunity to get Santa Clara’s name out there and also to talk about the importance of women’s athletics. Chastain wants young women to not be demure and shy about being sports fans. “Why is it ok for the guy to wear his Michigan hat and sweatshirt but the woman can’t?” In her role as volunteer assistant coach for the Santa Clara women’s soccer team (her husband Jerry Smith is the head coach), she serves as mentor, cheerleader, role model, support system and water girl, all wrapped up in one. In her words, “it’s heaven.”

Rece Davis, best known as the host of ESPN’s College Football Live and College GameDay, is also a graduate of the University of Alabama, and a big college football fan. He’s excited about the Capital One Cup. “College fans like to brag. My school is better than yours. This is another way.” I asked him about ESPN’s coverage of the Cup and he was very diplomatic, stating that ESPN is a media partner with Capital One and they are exploring various programming options, but nothing has been set. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a “Capital One Cup Update” on College GameDay. He also said that the goal is for this to be a multi-year program. I asked him how he felt about Mark Ingram’s knee injury. He said he is worried about it, not as an Alabama fan, but because he wants Ingram to succeed and do well in the NFL. “The shelf life of a running back is so short you want these kids to make their money while they can.”

Finally, I had a chance to speak with Robin Ventura, who was on hand representing college baseball. Before he was an All-Star third baseman (playing for the White Sox, Mets, Yankees and Dodgers over a 15 year career), Ventura was a three-time All American baseball player at Oklahoma State, where he won the Golden Spikes Award. Ventura currently is an anchor on ESPNU and has been an analyst for College World Series telecasts on ESPN and ESPN2 the last few years. He is excited for the Capital One Cup because it will help raise college baseball’s profile. He’s also optimistic about Oklahoma State’s prospects. “Oklahoma State has really good golf and wrestling so those will be huge.” I also talked with him about baseball and the new Yankee Stadium, since he made his first visit to the new ballpark this past Monday night. Sorry to be a blog tease, but I will write a separate blog post about this part of our talk.

Overall, I enjoyed the presentation and I find the concept behind the Capital One Cup to be quite interesting. Any program that helps give additional exposure to some of the smaller, less visible sports (both men’s and women’s) should be commended. Do I think students on college campuses across the country are going to be galvanized because the women’s cross country team’s victory could mean a chance at this title? I’m not sure. It will be interesting to watch and to see how ESPN incorporates the Capital One Cup into its programming. Of course I can’t wait for someone to go back and check the NCAA championship records to see which schools would have won the past 10 years.

Finally, a special thank you to Don Povia of Blogs With Balls for inviting me to attend today’s press conference.

I think we have a winner! OCD Chick Logo

Amanda Rykoff — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:03:22 +0000

What do you think? Hair is down and holding a blackberry. I love it.

Help! Revised OCD Chick Logo: What Do You Think?

Amanda Rykoff — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 03:54:50 +0000

Thanks to everybody who voted on the OCD Chick logo contest on 99 Designs. I’ve listened to all your comments and talked to the designer. And here’s what we’ve got. What do you think? Please comment freely in the comments section.

Thanks in advance.

What do you think of this logo?

Last Call! Vote for Your Favorite OCD Chick Logo

Amanda Rykoff — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 18:04:09 +0000

Ah, the beauty of crowdsourcing. How can I possibly make a decision without reaching out to my friends? So this is where you come in. Please help me choose a logo for my blog! I have one more day before I need to select the winner, so this is really last call.

99 Designs Poll

As many of you know, I launched a logo design contest a few weeks ago on 99 Designs, a cool online designer community. Within the past few days, 99 Designs added a cool (and much-needed) new feature to its design contests – a poll!

Now that the poll is built in, just click on this link and you’ll see the Top 8 designs (as selected by me – my blog, my logo contest, my rules). Give the designs a star rating. And if you want, you can even comment! It’s that simple.

If you would prefer to copy and paste the link, here it is: http://99designs.com/logo-design/vote-3c4e3

Design Brief

For some more background, here is the design brief I submitted to 99 Designs:

Brief Overview

Amanda Rykoff (aka The OCD Chick) is a NYC-based sports fan, TiVo junkie and social media enthusiast. I share my observations, commentary and diatribes on these and many other topics on my blog, The OCD Chick. In addition to the above, I’m an avid tweeter (http://twitter.com/amandarykoff), crossword fiend, recovering lawyer and font of useless information. I’m sharp, outgoing, outspoken, sarcastic, active, quirky and intense. What will you find on the blog? Random thoughts, photos and slightly obsessive observations on a wide range of topics. And if having a blog isn’t about obsessing over everything from sports (especially my beloved Yankees) to television (a weekly live blog of 24) to social media to travel to my objectively adorable nephew Sam, then what’s the point? I take a lot of photos, especially of New York City and major league baseball games.

Target Audience

1) Visitors to the site. When a new reader clicks on the site for the first time (from a Twitter link, google search result, etc.), I want them to notice the logo and have a sense of what they can expect on the site. Most of my readers are sports fans (particularly baseball) and people interested in social media. The logo should be smart, simple and straightforward, with personality.

2) Potential advertisers on the site. OCDChick.com is part of the Fantasy Sports Ventures network. This means that my advertising is sold through FSV. FSV wants the logo to appear on sell sheets and in presentations to potential advertisers. I may sell advertising directly as well. The logo should appeal to those advertisers so it should be professional and smart looking.

3) Business Connections/Potential Clients. I do freelance social media consulting and use the blog as a showcase for my thoughts in that area. I am also an avid networker and attend sports and social media conferences on a regular basis. The logo will appear on the cards that I will hand to new contacts at the conferences. While I do not actually sell products on the site, I am selling my personal brand to business connections, potential clients and potential employers. Again, the logo should appeal to that audience as well: smart, professional, but with personality.

Logo Requirements:

The logo should represent the personality of me and the blog: smart, sassy, sporty, social.

The name of the site is The OCD Chick. OCD stands for Observations, Commentary and Diatribes. The logo must include “The OCD Chick.” I’m interested in seeing designs that incorporate Observations, Commentary and Diatribes, but understand if space constraints are an issue.

The logo will appear in the following locations: on the site header, business cards to promote the site and advertising sell sheets.

Basic ground rules:
1. Simple, bold typeface with personality (smart, sassy, sporty).
2. Logo should be clean and easy to read.
3. No flash animation.
4. No moving parts. The logo should be static.
5. No stock images or clip art. All designs in the logo must be original.
6. Many of my readers are sports fans and I do write a lot of sports-related and baseball-related content, but the logo should not be too sports-centric.
7. The logo needs to appeal to sports fans, business contacts, potential clients and potential advertisers.
8. Experiment with colors. But no pink or anything too “girly”.

Here is the link to the poll again. Thanks again for your help. I could not do this without you.

A Fax to My Dad MST 3000 Style: June 12, 2005

Amanda Rykoff — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:17:38 +0000

While organizing some files tonight, I came across a fax I sent to my dad five years ago, on June 12, 2005. Why would I send my dad a fax, you might ask? It’s a perfectly good question. What’s wrong with email? Or the phone? Well, my parents were on vacation in Europe. They have a tendency to go away for my dad’s birthday (June 17), which invariably conflicts with the NBA Finals and other sporting events. And being the sports fan that he is, my dad asked that I send them a fax to their hotel with the big sports news of the day/weekend. This actually started back in 2002 (that’s a story for another time) and continued for the next few years. And while it’s possible (and even likely) that they had internet at the hotel, the whole fax thing was kind of fun. You’ll have to just work with me here.

I read the fax tonight and found it to be somewhat interesting and entertaining on its own. Sort of a time capsule of that moment. But you know what would make it a lot more interesting and entertaining? Going MST 3000 on its ass. So here it is.

RE: SPURS ROLL, HEE SEOP CHOI ROLLS TWINS [The Spurs and Hee Seop Choi in the same sentence? You can tell this is already going to be good, right?]

DATE: JUNE 12, 2005

Hello! [I couldn't come up with a better greeting than that? Should have at least gone with "Bonjour!" since they were in France.]

Hope this finds you well. At this hour, it remains hot. [Yeah, I've been using that joke for years. It never gets old. Thank you Saturday Night Live.] And it was even hotter and stickier in Philadelphia. [This is not news. It's Philly. In June.] I had a good weekend [I realize I just said I was in Philadelphia. I can hear you snickering. I was there visiting my boyfriend at the time.] – the new Citizens Bank Park is beautiful [it is pretty cool] and a nice place [a nice place for everybody but the pitchers, amirite?] to see a game.

It’s really hitter-friendly [wow it's like I'm sort of baseball expert with that kind of analysis] - we saw four home runs in the Philly win over the Brewers. [Here's the box score from the Phillies' 7-5 win. Doug Davis v. Randy Wolf. And now they're both pitchers for the Brewers! We saw home runs by the Brewers' Wes Helms [LOL] and JJ Hardy [JJ Hardy had power at one point!] and the Phillies’ Bobby Abreu and Pat Burrell [Ah, Pat Burrell]. Another note: this was the one NL only matchup during an interleague weekend.]

[Also, I have no photographic evidence of this trip. Not a single picture of the ballpark or Philadelphia. Weird, right?]

We spent some time around the Penn campus [For those of you just joining us, I went to Penn] and went to the Museum today [Aw, how classy and cultured of us to go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It's actually a fantastic museum. Highly recommend.] A very nice way to spend a hot and sticky Sunday. [Ever been to Philly in the summer? You want to stay inside in the air conditioning as much as possible. And the Museum is free on Sundays!]

In other news, Mike Tyson [Whoa! Mike Tyson sighting!] lost on a TKO on Saturday night [I have zero recollection of this] and will retire from boxing. [Mike Tyson didn't retire until 2005?] What a relief. [Yes, I actually wrote "What a relief." This item cracked me up when I read it tonight. Remember when Mike Tyson was relevant? Excluding his cameo in The Hangover? Yeah, me neither.]

Oh, I almost forgot [forgot what?]. The game tonight [what game tonight?] is mercifully over – the Spurs rolled, 97-76. [What game? Game 2 of the 2005 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Detroit Pistons. Oh dear god just thinking about it five years later makes me want to fall asleep. I can't believe I even watched a minute of that garbage.] They [the Spurs, of course] dominated from the start – opening a double digit lead immediately and never looking back. [I'll have to take my 2005 self's word for it.] I didn’t watch any of it after the first five minutes [I'm ashamed of my 2005 self for even watching five minutes of that game. Shame on my 2005 self!] And I think I speak for the rest of the United States population. [Zing!] Game 3 is Tuesday night – but if a tree falls… [Yup, this was my very clever way of saying that defensive minded teams do not deliver good ratings. I had to look up the series on Wikipedia. It actually went seven games. No recollection. None.]

Hee Seop Choi [Hee Seop Choi, bitches!] hit six home runs [six!] in the three games against the Twins [Well you throw out the record books when those two longtime rivals get together. Twins v. Dodgers. Wait. What?] - a walk-off homer on Friday night and then three home runs today [all three off Brad Radke!] in the Dodgers’ win. [My dad is a Dodgers fan and Hee Seop Choi's remarkable performance was obviously worth mentioning. Yes, I'm a terrible daughter who betrayed her birthright and defected to the evil Yankees. Yeah yeah yeah. I hear you. I don't care.]. They [SportsCenter? Baseball Tonight? I guess that must be what I'm talking about. There was no MLB Network back then. I used "they" to describe ESPN. Who else would it be?] showed a clip of Dodger Stadium chanting “Hee Seop Choi” repeatedly. [I would love nothing more than to link to this clip, but alas, MLB rules prohibit any record of this moment being preserved on the internet].

Ok, off to bed for me. A busy week awaits. [I have no idea what I was doing that week, but since I was working at a corporate law firm at the time, I'm guesing it was a long week of late nights and stress. Ah, good times.]

Love,

Amanda

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My Favorite #USA Song So Far #USMNT

Amanda Rykoff — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:42:58 +0000

To the tune of Chim Chim Cheree from Mary Poppins:
Tim Timmeree Tim Timmeree Tim Tim taroo
We’ve got Tim Howard and he says, “F*ck you!”

Win!

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The OCD Chick Joins the Fantasy Sports Ventures Network

Amanda Rykoff — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:03:02 +0000

I’m thrilled to announce that The OCD Chick has joined the Fantasy Sports Ventures network. FSV is a digital sports media and marketing company that is now part owned by USA Today. Their blog network is one of the largest and has many popular independent blogs under its umbrella including The Big Lead, Midwest Sports Fans, Baseball Prospectus, Josh Q. Public and Fang’s Bites (my dear Twitter friend Ken Fang).

What does this mean for my site? Nothing but good things! The OCD Chick will remain independent, though I’ll be adding a very subtle FSV logo and some advertising (not too much, don’t worry). Most importantly, I’ll be able to create more robust content and joining the FSV network will introduce my site to new readers.

After just seven months of blogging (four months as The OCD Chick), I’m grateful to all of you that enjoy the content I create and put up with my observations, commentary and diatribes on sports, social media, TV and whatever else is on my mind. I’m also thankful to now be a part of the FSV network. I like their approach and am a regular reader of many of their sites, so it’s a natural fit.

Please continue to connect with me through Twitter (really, if you’re not already following me, why not?), e-mail and the comments section of the blog.

Oh, and as long as you’re here, would you mind subscribing to the blog via either RSS or email? Just click on either one. It’s really easy. You’ll get daily updates which you can just delete. Really.

Thanks again for being a part of this exciting adventure. I wouldn’t be here without you and your support and loyal readership.

Amanda aka The OCD Chick

May 27, 2010

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IMPORTANT! New Facebook Privacy Setting: “Instant Personalization”

Amanda Rykoff — Thu, 20 May 2010 04:13:35 +0000

As of today, there is a NEW PRIVACY SETTING on Facebook called “Instant Personalization.”

Facebook privacy strikes again

What is “Instant Personalization”?

It’s the setting that allows Facebook to share your data with non-Facebook websites. And it is automatically set to “Allow” unless you change it.

Right now, the only three external sites participating in the pilot program are yelp.com, docs.com and pandora.com. But Facebook will no doubt expand the program.

Why is this problematic?

“Instant Personalization” is problematic for three main reasons. First, because Facebook set the default as “allow.” Second, because Facebook did not notify its users of this pilot program, its implications and how to opt-out. And third, because Facebook users don’t know what personal information is being shared with these partner sites. [Ed. note: I have subsequently learned that this feature only pulls information that you share with "everyone" (meaning, it's not pulling information you haven't already "set" to let everyone see). It's still confusing and misleading.]

How do you change the setting to opt out?

Go to Account > Privacy Settings > Applications and Websites > Instant Personalization Pilot Program (it’s the last one). Click on “edit setting.” On the next screen, uncheck the box to opt out of Instant Personalization entirely.

Facebook will show you the following message before it unchecks the box:

Allowing instant personalization will give you a richer experience as you browse the web. If you opt-out, you will have to manually activate these experiences. Please keep in mind that if you opt out, your friends may still share public Facebook information about you to personalize their experience on these partner sites unless you block the application.

Click “confirm” and it will uncheck the box.

IMPORTANT: if your friends don’t do this as well, they will be sharing information about you. It’s critical that you and your friends make this change.

Please spread the word.

For more information on all things related to Facebook privacy, check out Reclaim Privacy.

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New York Yankees 2010: Game Eight. Well that sucked.

Amanda Rykoff — Wed, 19 May 2010 15:48:01 +0000

The plan: a quick post for every 2010 Yankees game I attend.

NOTE: THIS IS THE THIRD OF FOUR GAMES IN FOUR DAYS.

Game Eight: Boston Red Sox v. NY Yankees

Date: Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Starters: Josh Beckett v. CC Sabathia

Final: Red Sox 7, Yankees 6

Win: D. Bard

Loss: M. Rivera

Save: J. Papelbon

My 2010 Record: 5-3

Mitre sightings: Remains at two

Tale of the Tweets: [I am too tired to do anything more than a Tale of the Tweets.]

It’s pouring out and I am heading up to the Stadium. Commitment or insanity. Wait. Don’t answer that.
Pre-game Yuengling with @stefmara (@ Stan’s Sports Bar w/ @stefmara) http://4sq.com/9AC3dV
Red Sox fans at Stan’s are receiving the requisite dirty looks.
All kinds of wrong http://flic.kr/p/83gSqS
Three games in three days, bitches! (@ Yankee Stadium w/ @stefmara @gcf123) http://4sq.com/36LPXR
View from Section 314 on cold rainy nasty night at Yankee Stadium #yankees #redsox http://flic.kr/p/83htw9
It’s the top of the 2nd and I just added my final layer. #brrr
Dear @yankeespr, the right thing to do is invite everybody here to move down to lower level seats. But you won’t do that.
Marcus too RT @Stefmara: Big ovation for Marus Thames.
Last night Papelbon. Tonight Beckett. #douchetastic
Everybody here looks beyond cold and miserable. Including me.
Oh hello new best friend souvenir cup of hot chocolate.
Co-sign. RT @Stefmara: Upgraded and now hanging with @gcf123!! wow the difference between the 300’s and 100’s
View from Section 103 (with @gcf123 and @stefmara) http://flic.kr/p/83itWo
It is a good 20 degrees warmer in Section 103. It’s a new lease on my baseball life.
Hmmm…Beckett leaving with undisclosed injury. I’m guessing it’s an acute case of doucheitis.
Mark Teixeira: sad trombone. Via @jaydestro
Things that are wrong: guy wearing #3 jersey with name “Heller” on the back. @SheFanJane is no doubt mortified.
.@M_OMalley Yanks-Red Sox games are superlong, but this one started at around 8 due to a rain delay.
Let me once again state for the record how much I loathe and despise J.D. Drew. #thatisall
Aaaaand same for Youkilis. Loathe. Despise.
I am too old for this. #yankees #redsox
Amen. RT @SheFanJane: I thought last night was a heart attack. This one is a stroke.
RT @Stefmara: For those keeping score at home: brrr #yankees
Darnell McDonald? This is not acceptable.
Marcus Thames giveth. Marcus Thames taketh away.
Frickety frack frack frack. Hermida. Frack.
This is what can happen when Mo needs to get 5 outs. In one inning. #robotumps #marcusthames
Well that sucked.
And does anybody have an explanation for Cervelli’s bunt? Flabbergasted.

Photos: Red Sox v. Yankees – 5/18/10

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New York Yankees 2010: Game Seven. PIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amanda Rykoff — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:12:02 +0000

The plan: a quick post for every 2010 Yankees game I attend.

NOTE: THIS IS THE SECOND OF FOUR GAMES IN FOUR DAYS.

Game Seven: Boston Red Sox v. NY Yankees

Date: Monday, May 17, 2010

Starters: Phil Hughes v. Daisuke Matsuzaka

Final: Yankees 11, Red Sox 9

Win: Javier Vazquez (in relief)

Loss: Jonathan freakin’ douchebag Papelbon (blown save)

My 2010 Record: 5-2

Record in non-Javy Vazquez games: 5-1

Mitre sightings: Two

Other notes:

What can I possibly say after that game?
Yes, I know it’s only May. And yes, I know the Red Sox are in fourth place. And yes, I know that we really need to be worried about the Rays. But damn that was sweet.
Tonight’s win was by far the most exciting non-playoff or World Series win I’ve attended in person at either old or new Yankee Stadium.
And what a game it was.
Yankees opened strong with 5 runs (in 27 pitches) against Dice-K in the bottom of the 1st. With Phil Hughes on the mound, I admit to feeling just a wee bit confident in the win.
But it all changed horribly. And after an Ortiz home run, a Victor Martinez home run and a 3 run home run by J.D. Drew in the top of 5th, we had ourselves a ball game at 6-5. We had gone to the Jim Beam Suite to get Goose Island IPA but quickly returned to our seats after that horrendous turn of events. P.S. that is some fine beer.
Fast forward to the top of the 8th. Chan Ho Park gave up back to back home runs in the 8th inning to Kevin Youkilis and Victor Martinez. We were sad. We were dumbfounded. The Stadium was as quiet as it was on Sunday night after Jason Kubel’s grand slam.
So, armed with only a Stella and peanut M&Ms to rally us, we entered the bottom of the 9th down 9-7 to face Red Sox closer Jonathan Papeldouche Papelbon.
I turned to my friend Andrew (who invited me to the game) and said, “How awesome would it be to walk off against Papelbon?” And next thing we know, A-Rod crushes a fastball to deep left center to tie the game at 9. And I high fived everybody in my section. Everybody. And I was shaking. And it was awesome.
And then Papelbon hit Francisco Cervelli. And then Marcus Thames crushed one to deep left. And all of a sudden it was over. And Papelbon had given up 4 runs. And the Yankees won. And there was much rejoicing.
And most importantly, there was pie. Pie! For the first time at Yankee Stadium this year.
For Marcus Thames! Marcus Thames!
And it was against the Red Sox. And Jonathan Papelbon.
The only thing better than a walk-off win is a walk-off win against Jonathan Papelbon.
Did I mention that Javy Vazquez came in to pitch the top of the 9th? And pitched well? AND GOT THE WIN! Javy Vazquez got the win in relief against the Red Sox. How’s that for ironic?
I would take tonight’s walk-off over yesterday a million times. And I wouldn’t even think twice. Awesome. Just awesome.
Wore my lucky shirt v. 2.0. And my lucky sneakers. I didn’t wear anything that was on my body for Sunday’s meltdown.

Photos: First Pie of 2010! Red Sox v. Yankees – 5/17/10

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