Ya Know What Really Grinds My Gears...

Headline was just for you Leps, hope you enjoyed it.

***Quick Disclaimer: The following 4 paragraphs pertain to professional wrestling. Feel free to skip it I won't be offended at all***

By now I'm sure everyone has heard the story of Chris Benoit. If you don't recognize that name, he's the pro wrestler that just killed his wife, 7-year old son, then hung himself over the weekend. I've been watching wrestling since I was probably 8 years old and I've finally hit my breaking point. I can't watch it anymore. I'm done. Finished. Retired. I am officially throwing in the towel. I've watched Chris Benoit on TV for the past 14 years of my life. I have never been so shocked and disgusted. This was the last straw for me. I won't even link to the reports I'm so disgusted. Factor in the 38 deaths of wrestlers under the age of 50 since 1985 (I did research, I'm not big enough of a loser to know that off the top of my head. And yes, I am big enough of a loser to do that research). Thank you WWE for making me feel like the last 15 years of my life were a total waste. I probably shoulda made the choice to jump off the wrestling bandwagon when i was 12 like everyone else but I didn't. Now, I AM DONE (But I absolutely still plan on blasting Hulk Hogan's "Real American" any chance I get).

Most of you reading this have no idea how big this story really is. No one that isn't a wrestling fan has heard of Benoit until today. I'd say he compares favorably in prominence to Ivan Rodriguez.

Unless you're a baseball fan, you probably have no idea who Pudge is. Everyone that knows baseball knows he's a future Hall of Famer and arguably the best catcher to ever throw on the gear. He's one of those athletes that you never hear a bad word about. Great guy, everyone loves him. He's one of the best in the game, but you always hear names like A-Rod, Ortiz, Vlad, etc. before you hear Pudge. That's Benoit in a nut shell.

Now imagine if this story came out and it was Pudge that was the killer. That's how big this really is.

***OK, now that my little mini-rant is outta the way, time to jump into some other things. Here's what's new at the Hub:

-I recently came across an awesome read that I felt needed to be brought to the attention of all of our avid readers (i.e., me, Greech, Sean, my Dad, Felisa, and Katie). It's an article written about Ken Griffey Jr. from last month. This article really got me thinking.

Right now the biggest story in sports is Barry Bonds' pursuit of Hank Aaron's 755. This article basically says that this should be a two-man race with Griffey right alongside Bonds. Could you imagine what baseball would be like if Griffey didn't run into 348 injuries in a 5 year span?? Right now he's sitting at 584 homeruns. Can you honestly say that minus the injuries Griffey wouldn't be right next to Bonds in the race? Injuries absolutely cost him a good 150+ homeruns. Plus he's 5 years younger than Bonds. No doubt he's a wrist and 50 hamstring injuries away from being the all-time leader in homeruns. Such a shame.

And how much fun would this chase for 755 be if there was another player involved. This would be like Sosa/McGwire 1998 all over again, except for the fact that everyone would be on Griffey's side, where in 1998 it was relatively even. Griffey vs. Bonds right now would be Balboa vs. Creed II. Everyone pulling for Griffey (Balboa) as the underdog while tearing Bonds (Creed) apart. Sadly, I don't think the situation would end with a Rocky III beach scene re-enactment between Bonds and Junior. (And yes, I have been looking for an excuse to post that link since Day 1 of the Hub.)

-The Yanks are back below .500 as of the date of this column. So just to clarify, it is JUNE 26 AND THE YANKEES ARE UNDER .500. Glad we have that understood. They're also behind the Blue Jays in the standings, but hey who's really paying attention to these things.

-If I remember correctly I said back on April 4 that you would all love Dustin Pedroia by September. Looks like he arrived a little earlier than I expected, but this just cements the fact that I'm brilliant. FYI, Pena will come around but it's going to be in a different uniform. I still love you though WMP.

-Speaking of WMP I just received a text message from our boy Hemi with a pic of the man-beast himself. Which reminded me; check out Hemi's blog right here (I'm adding the link to our "Other People to Read..." section for future reference). He's currently driving/biking across the country with his father and brother and keeping a blog of his trip. It's a pretty cool read, and any chance to link to another Irishman, you know I'm taking it. I'll have a car-bomb waiting for you in Boston when you make it home brotha.

-Here's some stats for you: .191/33 R/34 RBI/19 SB. Julio Lugo may not be an All-Star candidate, but I think it's a little too soon to quit on him. He's getting on the scoreboard. Ignore the average and look at the other things he's doing. Give him a little more time. Well, either that or call Theo and tell him Greech is available after the All-Star Break, but he wants a pro-rated year's supply of Keystone Light.

-Buerhle to the Sox? Don't get your hopes up, today I read that was a rumor planted by the White Sox to drive up the asking price for Buehrle. If that's true then GM Kenny Williams is absolutely brilliant. If it's not true, then someone has way too much time on their hands to make up a rumor about a rumor.

-Heard another one that Mark Teixeira could end up in Boston before the deadline. Basically we would lose Mike Lowell and gain Teixeira in a 3-way deal with Minnesota (check out http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/ to see where I'm getting this. And be prepared to start checking MLBTradeRumors about 36 times per hour like I do.) Tough call on this trade as losing Lowell would be hard to do, but picking up Teixeira would be huge. Imagine that left-handed swing in Fenway??

-It's been officially decided by me and Leps, but no official date has been set: Vegas will happen in 2007. No doubt in my mind Sean ends up passed out in a hotel, dead broke, with 3 hookers. I'm pretty psyched to get that phone call at 5am asking me how the hell he got to a hotel 3 miles off the strip with 3 hookers. That will definitely be the highlight of 2007 for Danny Mac.

-Big fantasy trade from last week with my boy Hemi. I lose Ortiz and Halladay and pick up Bonderman, Johjima, and Derrek Lee. I stand by the trade and I will not budge on this. Besides, if this works out for Hemi, I get an assist for handing him a league title in 2 straight fantasy seasons. Eventually karma will pay me back for this.

-Movie recommendation for you all: The Break Up with Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston. Vaughn is hilarious, Aniston is hot, plus you get to see her ass. It's a no-lose situation.

-Hey did I mention the Sox are up 11 games on the Yanks right now? You know, the sub-.500 Yanks? Sorry Felisa, it had to be said.

And to close out, I just want to give you guys a heads up. Greech and Danny Mac will have a Midseason Review of the Sox around All-Star Break time. We'll be handing out midyear awards, some legit (MVP, etc.) and some awards that we just make up because we can (i.e. Best Tavarez Moment). Stay tuned for that. We're gonna need a name for these awards, something catchy. I have zero creativity so I'll leave that up to Greech. Or if you guys have any suggestions throw them our way. And if you have some award suggestions, feel free to fill us in.

Also, we had a suggestion from one of our 4 readers to put something up about Dan Shaughnessey. Well, Katie, I am going to pass on this. I'll just say the guy's a great writer, he's rich, and as negative as he is, everyone reads his column as soon as it's in print. You all know as soon as you hear "Hey, you see Shaughnessey's column today?" you either end up in an hour long discussion of it or you go read it and THEN end up in an hour long discussion. He might be an asshole, but he's brilliant. The guy coined the idea of the "Curse of the Bambino" and made a career with it. To paraphrase the living legend Wes Mantooth, "I hate you Dan Shaughnessey...But damnit I respect you." I'll tag in Greech on this one if he wants to tackle it.


Feel free to throw an email our way at thesportshub@gmail.com.