Manny-Mania!

The former Red Sox player has swapped coasts!

On July 31, 2008, Manny Ramirez was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-way deal. The Boston Red Sox acquired outfielder Jason Bay, and the Pittsburgh Pirates got infielder Andy LaRoche, and pitcher Bryan Morris from the Dodgers, and outfielder Brandon Moss and pitcher Craig Hansen from the Red Sox.

From 4pm PST to 1pm the next day, eleven thousand tickets were bought to see Manny make his Friday night Los Angeles debut in Dodger blue. I was fortunate enough to attend that sold out game, even though we lost.

Ramirez has always worn uniform number 24, but the Dodgers have retired that number in honor of Hall-of-Fame manager Walter Alston. Ramirez countered the Dodgers suggestion of 28 by suggesting 34, but no Dodger has worn that number since Fernando Valenzuela. After dancing around number 66, Ramirez finally accepted number 99, but the next day asked for 28, the Dodgers’ original suggestion. However, the Dodgers’ marketing department had already begun producing merchandise with number 99, so Ramirez will wear that number. Ramirez has also told manager Joe Torre that he would cut his dreadlocks. So far that has not happened.

In his first game with the Dodgers on August 1, he went 2-for-4. The Dodgers still lost, however, to the Arizona Diamondbacks by a score of 2 to 1.

Surprisingly, the talentless Andruw Jones was still disgracing us with his presense in the outfield and in the batting line-up while the stronger players Andre Ethier and Juan Pierre sat on the bench, only coming in to pinch hit (in which they were both successful). Personally, I don’t care how much money Jones is making, if you can’t deliver, then sit down! In any other business, he would have been canned for not being able to produce results, despite how much money he is being paid. I believe he should give the Dodger fans a chunk of his earnings for having to endure his constant sucking. I have no tolerance for a man who continuously fails to perform.

Manny, however, got his 1st home run with the Dodgers last night, on August 2nd, 2008, in a game versus the Diamondbacks. It was a two-run home run to the left-field pavilion that proceeded to give the Dodgers a 2-0 lead, which Los Angeles ultimately won, 4-2. This was the 511th home run of his career.

I have high hopes for the Dodgers new line-up. Manny will not disappoint, although he no longer has the big green monster in left field to assist him. But with the Dodgers current players, I don’t see why they can’t get themselves back into first place and have a shot at the playoffs. Unless Torre continues to pray that Andruw Jones will finally hit the ball and keeps playing him. It’s not a risk I would take, but I’m not Joe Torre. But Jones or no Jones, I finally have some hope for our Dodgers.

Pregnancy Pact

I am confused by teenagers today. I know everyone wants to fit in, but a group of Boston high schoolers have gone too far. June

BOSTON: At least 17 high school students, many aged 16 and under, are pregnant after apparently making a pact.

Officials in the Massachusetts city of Gloucester said nearly half of those who became pregnant appeared to have entered into an agreement to have their babies together over the year.

“Some girls seemed more upset when they weren’t pregnant than when they were,” Joseph Sullivan, the principal of Gloucester High School, told Time magazine.

A school health clinic became suspicious after seeing a surge in girls seeking pregnancy tests.

Authorities may pursue statutory rape charges against some of the men involved. Some are in their mid-20s, including one man who appeared to be homeless. Others were boys in the school.

In Massachusetts it is a crime to have sex with anyone under the age of 16.

“We’re at the very early stages of wrestling with the complexities of this problem,” Carolyn Kirk, the Mayor of the port city about 50 kilometres north-east of Boston, said.

“But we also have to think about the boys. Some … could have their lives changed. They could be in serious, serious trouble even if it was consensual because of their age – not from what the city could do but from what the girls’ families could do.”

The school forbids the distribution of condoms and other contraception without parental consent – a rule that prompted the school’s doctor and nurse to resign in protest in May.

“But even if we had contraceptives, that pact shows that if they want to get pregnant, they will get pregnant.

“Whether we distribute contraceptives is irrelevant,” Greg Verga, chairman of the Gloucester School Committee, said.

He also said the men should at least be held responsible for financial support, “if not put in jail for statutory rape as the mayor has suggested”.

Teenage pregnancies in the US are showing signs of rising after declining from 1991 to 2005.

Birth rates for girls aged 15 to 17 rose by 3 per cent in 2006, the first increase since 1991, preliminary data from the National Centre for Health Statistics said.

While these young girls prepare for motherhood, I can reflect upon my high school days when the most I had to worry about was who to go to the school dance with, how I could sneak alcohol from my parent’s liquor supply, and what to do on the weekend with which group of friends. Sadly, because they wanted to fit in, these girls will be staying home with morning sickness and say goodbye to their childhood and adolescence the moment that tiny child leaves their womb. I don’t envy their position, nor their stupidity.

For more on this story check out the following sites:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1815845,00.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/20/pregnancy.pact.ap/index.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25272678/

Word up to your mom.

No, no, no. Word up to YOUR mom.

Greetings! After much debate, here I am. A head full of ideas, eyes that lust after beautiful things, and a voice sent from heaven. This is my first blog. Well, sort of. I tried to travel blog when I was in Italy for a month, but decided that wasting my time paying for internet access at an Internet Cafe (which served no food. I know, right?) was ridiculous when I was in Roma! So, that was the end of that. However, I think now I have something to say. It may be trivial to you, but I don’t care. I have been convinced that I am funnier than I give myself credit for. And if I’m not, oh well. Make your own blog and complain about mine if you must.

And now to explore and create. Stay tuned.