This rebuttal comes from a contributing editor, Marc Agdish, who wanted to give his rebuttal to a post i made earlier.

Rebuttal to “Who Owns The Ball”…..

After giving much consideration it is this novice’s opinion that the Red Sox are the third in line for possession of the famed ball. My thoughts are that the famed ball should be owned by the following parties.

1) MLB Baseball–Since this game was property of MLB Baseball and all baseball were provided by MLB Baseball wouldn’t they be the logical choice. While during the regular season baseballs are provided by the home team, in the postseason the baseball are provided by MLB Baseball. Therefore with this logic they should have ultimate ownership of the prize.

2) Doug Mienkiewicz–While this is the unpopular choice of the Nation; ownership is nine-tenths of the law. And since he had ownership of the ball why shouldn’t he be awarded the ball. While many say that he was an employee of the Red Sox therefore it should be there’s, the only problem with that logic is what ownership did they have of the ball previous to it being the famed last out. The answer is none. If you use past precedents it should belong to the players since never before has a team sued for possession of such an object why start the precedent now?? (more to follow on this logic later).

3) Boston Red Sox–They should have been awarded the ball since historically the last out goes to the winning team (a time tested honor). The only problem with this logic is we are opening another can of worms. This would then open other teams to sue for possession of other famed balls. Can you imagine the Red Sox suing for Roger Clemens 20 strikeout performance. While this was an individual accomplishment he was an employee of the Red Sox and what would stop them from claiming ownership of such an object.

My main issue this the Red Sox are suing for possession of something that can open a real Pandora’s Box. That would mean that every team would be able to sue their employees for possession of any such item. Can you imagine the Dallas Cowboys suing for Emmitt Smith record breaking yardage ball. Or the Red Sox suing for the before mentioned Roger Clemens ball. Or what is to stop the Red Sox suing for the famed Billy Buckner ball….why aren’t they suing for that ball??? While some of these accomplishments are individual what would stop other teams from using this logic to gain possession of such items? Also this would also open another avenue of potential litigation, since the home team provides that equipment used (baseballs, footballs, pucks, etc..) what would stop the home team for suing possession of such memorable items since it is their property to start with? Just something else to think about during this pending litigation. Why open such potential circumstances, should the Detroit Tigers sue for Roger Clemens second 20 strikeout baseball?? Think about the potential here before you side with the Boston Red Sox.

My secondary issue is while Doug Mienkiewicz is not using the baseball for monetary gain, I have a feeling that the Boston Red Sox would. If the famed Red Sox Nation would pay a membership to be a fan, what would stop them to charge a fee for photograph opportunities with such an item. Nothing. And a team that would charge membership dues to be a fan, this isn’t such a stretch. If they are truly interested in a piece of Red Sox lore, why not also sue for the Bill Buckner ball if they are interested in Red Sox memorabilia.

In closing, stop the insanity and let things be. While I agree Doug Mienkiewicz should do the honorable thing and give the Red Sox the ball, ultimately while he has possession of this object it is his decision to make. And until then the case should be dismissed for reason of insanity and the Red Sox should spend their efforts toward finding a shortstop (an even more important pressing need presently).

Was this the end of the line for the U game, which features UCONN and UMASS? According to Jim Calhoun, yes this was the last of the games. He had stated that if his Huskies had lost this game tonight, then he would continue the series. But with tonight’s win over the Minutemen, the U Game by MassMutual will no longer happen. Rumor is UCONN will be looking to set up games with its neighbors to the East, the Rhode Island Rams.

An annual series since 1996, thought up before Marcus Camby and Ray Allen bolted for the pros, this series has caught its fair share of criticism. Where to play the games? Does each team get a home game? Well what happened initially was each school played host on campus and then in the third year the game was to be played at the Hartford Civic Center. A fair enough proposal in my book. Each team gets a home game and the Civic Center all though home to the Huskies was made a neutral site game. This presented a lot of issues. The UCONN people, the money hungry ones, saw this as an opportunity to make money, and jacked up the prices of the tickets. If I recall correctly, tickets to the U Game were $75 one year. 75 dollars to see a college basketball game. At that time, 75 dollars would get you two games for a family of 4 to the CBA team when it was in Hartford. Also, the UGame was not offered to season ticket holders as part of their packages. They were also expected to pay full price for the tickets on top of their regular season tickets and their donation to the school. Now for those of you who know about the prices of season tickets here at UCONN, you will know you basically give up your first born to get tickets. The more money you give, the better seats that you get. The more sports you have season tickets to , the better the seats you get. For the school its all about the benjamins. For us the fans, its all about seeing our beloved Huskies play, whether it be men’s or women’s.

We have been truly blessed with great college basketball here in the state of Connecticut. Since the arrival of Coach Geno and Coach Calhoun, they have put UCONN basketball on the map. How many professional sports teams do we have here? I am not talking minor league sports; I am talking about the major sports. The correct answer to that question is zero. To most fans, the UCONN Huskies men’s and women’s teams are our professional sports team. People live and die for Huskies Basketball. Most places that don’t serve spirits are usually dead on the nights the two teams play…I am sure tonight the bars were hopping because the two games overlapped each other. A rare occurrence yes, but nonetheless it still happens once in a while.

Anyways as I ramble on here, I for one am glad that this series is over. What good does it do for us? Other than having to pay an arm and a leg for tickets. When the thought of this series was conceived, it was conceived with the notion of UMASS being a premier team and acting as a test for the Huskies. But Marcus Camby left school early for the pros, Ray Allen left UCONN early(of course there’s always someone new just as good if not better who comes in) and for a while the games weren’t all that exciting. Since Camby left the Minutemen, the UMASS program has been on the down slope.. I think the Calhoun playing the Rams of Rhode Island for a few years is a good thing. It’s not like UCONN is a regional team anymore. They are a national team now. Seen by many, loved by most. Calhoun likes to play local teams because it helps them with their recruiting. This also explains why we have a lot of cupcake games against in-state teams. Calhoun was once in their shoes though and he knows what it takes to build a winner. So he pays back the local schools with games against the Huskies. All in all a fair proposition to the schools and to the fans. Schools can say “Hey, we are playing UCONN this year. Why don’t you become a member of our program and help us take down Goliath.” Fans can say “Hey did you see Rudy’s windmill jam tonight.” or “Why the Bleep are we playing these guys again.” A true fan knows the meaning of these games. The greedy fan just wants to see his Huskies win.

Well I guess we all want the Huskies to win here in Connecticut since they are our professional sports team. Who needs the Kraft in CT when we got Geno and Jim.

Just a quick note for Sox fans. The Red Sox have traded Edgar Renteria to the Atlanta Braves for minor league 3B prospect, Andy Marte.

I don’t understand this trade at all. Yes, the Sox overpayed when they signed Renteria to a 4 yr 40 million dollar contract. But why give up on him after 1 year. I think the Sox should have tried to stick it out one more year with Renteria. It is hard to adjust as a hitter to new pitchers. I am thinking that the Sox weren’t pleased with his defense though. He did make over 30 errors with below average production at the plate.

Now that they have traded away Hanley Ramirez, whose going to play shortstop next year. Does this mean, we might have Nomar back at shortstop for us next year? Stay tuned as the GM less Sox construct their roster for 2006.

Well to answer the question of did we “Top That Tailgate” its a tough call. Given the fact that the weather conditions were downright nasty and the wind was blowing at 15 mph, we did our absolute best to stay warm while enjoying some food and cocktails.We did prepare well for this game. We were smart enough to bring a tarp for the tent to block the wind (As evidenced in the background of the picture). Also you can see that we were pretty much bundled up to stay warm.

So onto the menu for this week. This weeks menu included angus burgers, sausage and peppers from our deep fried turkey chef, kielbasa, and the best batch of steak chilli ever made by Steve Drew. Also our cocktails consisted of the Captain, Bacardi Coconut, 2 30 packs of beer(no cooler needed), and of course the Leroux Blackberry Brandy to sneak in with us.

Inside the UCONN-Louisville game, there were a few funny moments in our little group. As the game went on and the spirits filled our bodies, one person stood out as the comedian of the group. Now when it’s as cold as it was, you would expect people to be adding layers not taking them off. Yes, I did say taking layers off. Our own Kevin Malloy, warmed by the Blackberry Brandy, began to take layers off saying he was getting to warm. You had to be there to hear the things he was yelling but it was pretty darn funny. When he got down to the sweater layer, we had to wonder did his wife dress him in that sweater. This sweater resembled the lady from the last game’s 1970’s couch jacket. It was definitely a site to see.

So to answer the question of did we “Top That Tailgate”, I am going to have to say no but it wasn’t from a lack of trying. I think the cold weather had something to do with it but it does give us many ideas for next year on “How to Top That Tailgate”.

Ok, I have been pretty lazy the past week in writing posts and I am working on some right now but I thought I had to weigh in with my two cents on the ownership of the The Ball That Broke The Curse. As you Red Sox fans now, Doug Mientkiewicz ended up in possession of the ball and never reliquinshed it after the game to the Red Sox. The Sox ownership has made a big stink as to who is the rightful owner of the ball. The Red Sox contend they are the rightful owners of the ball because Mientkiewicz at the time was an employee.I think this whole thing is a crock. First off, whether or not he is the rightful owner of the ball doesnt even matter; Red Sox Nation deserves to have the ball. Mientkiewicz has said previously that he does not want to profit from the sale of the ball. When he agreed to “lend” the ball to the Red Sox for a year, he wanted to make sure the fans could see the ball. Also to be noted, all proceeds from anything the ball does goes to the Red Sox Foundation. So if your going to make that agreement with the Red Sox, why not just give them the ball. Dude, you played with the Sox for 4 months. Do you even know the significance of the ball? Every member of Red Sox Nation, except those over age 86 in 2004, have waited an entire lifetime to see the Red Sox win a World Series.

Since the game has to end on an out, obviously there is no fan involvement as to who is the rightful owner in this equation. Which means no one had to go swimming for it like they do for each Barry Bonds homerun. Another arguement I would like to present is what if someone other than Doug “Part-time 1B” Mientkiewicz had caught the ball. What if the game had ended on a strikeout. Would Jason Varitek have made the fuss that Mientkiewicz is? My answer to that would have to be no. Why you ask. Jason Varitek is the heart and soul of the Red Sox organization. Sure we think of Jonny “Caveman” Damon, Nomar “Mia Hamm” Garciaparra, Pedro “Practical Jokester” Martinez, Tim “Knuckleball” Wakefield, David “Big Papi”Ortiz and Manny “Do I really want to be traded” Ramirez as the faces of the Red Sox..Other than Varitek, Wakefield has the longest tenure of any Sox player. So why is Mientkiewicz making the stink about the ball. He’s got a World Series Ring for being a part time player in the stretch run plus he got a nice share of the World Series Money….I mean the overspending Mets thought he was a valuable commodity and overpayed him like they tend to do with most people. Doug, do you really need the ball? Do you want to be remembered as the guy who caught the final out of the 2004 World Series? Or do you want to be remembered as Doug Mientkiewicz the baseball player?

Its up to you Mr Mientkiewicz to do the right thing…The ball is now in your court……….

One thing I can say about my friends is that they really know how to tailgate. Take this weekends UCONN-South Florida game for an example. First off, we were trying to get into the red lot behind our seats but for some strange reason we weren’t allowed to go where we wanted to park. Of course that’s probably because no one listened to me that we had to go in on the other side of Rentschler Field. So as we travelled the wrong way thru the parking lot at least once, we came upon an opportunity to sneak into the blue lot….So of course we did just that. Now in the history of the 3 years we have gone to the Rent, no one has checked our parking passes when we actually parked the cars….Of course sneaking in with 2 red passes and 1 blue presented us with a dilemma. Thank god for the nice people next to us, who just happened to have 2 extra blue passes…Also helps when you have two friends who work for liquor distributors who hooked the guys up with some flasks and peach brandy…..

Back to the art of tailgating…..Over the 3 years of tailgating at UCONN games, we have had our share of learning from our mistakes and from seeing others set ups. Usually during the week of the game, emails will go out and everyone will bring something..This way it doesn’t put the financial burden on someone to pay for everything.

But at this Saturday’s game, we were the talk of our section in the parking lot. First off you can’t miss us because of the green HardiBacker tent. Secondly, when your with us you can’t miss us because we tend to be a bit loud especially when ragging on our Iowa Hawkeye friend. So this week’s menu was deep fried turkey, homemade stuffing and mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and of course gravy… Yes, thats right, we deep fried a turkey. For those of you who have never had deep fried turkey, I highly recommend it.. It is the best tasting turkey I have ever had (my compliments to Chef Scotty Lima). The turkey frying gathered everyone’s attention. We had people coming over all the time asking what was in the fryer. When we told them it was a turkey no one believed us. I would have to think at least 50 people stopped by to see what we were doing….We even had one lady who was wearing her 1970’s couch pattern as a jacket come over at least 3 times. Of course as always on the menu, was beer and various hard alcohols courtesy of our liquor distributor friends.

During the pregame festivites we were even fortunate to have the UCONN band play in front of where we were set up…. Nothing better than listening to a bunch of drunks try to sing the UCONN fight song….As the day wore on the weather grew colder and our group of 12 dwindled down to 4. Now if you were at the game, you would have found a way to suck it up and actually stay for the whole game as this was one of the best games we have seen all year at home…..

As i sit here and write this, I only wonder can we top this weekends tailgate next weekend when UCONN plays host to Louisville at 7:45 PM (games on espn if you can’t join us in the parking lot).
Stay tuned for a post on the weekend to see if we play Top That Tailgate.

Any of you out there who are members of Red Sox Nation and think you can do a better job than Theo did as GM of the Red Sox. Well feel free to check out this online application to be the next Boston Red Sox GM. The good people at Boston.com have brought you a chance to apply for the Red Sox GM position. According to the article, their holding company owns a 17 percent stake in the ownership of the Sox.

Of course I did apply online too after sending my resume to Larry Lucchino last Friday. I figured what the heck having my name in more than one spot may give the break I am looking for. Maybe just maybe one day, my blog will be about the happenings of me as Red Sox GM.