Massachusetts Wins - And Loses A Favorite Son

Aye, it is time, once again, for yet another one of those infamous lukewarm-&-lugubrious simultaneous posts of mine... Buckle up, grin and bear it - for it is going to be another bumpy ride folks; hell yeah!

As much as I enjoyed seeing the Boston Red Sox win it all just now - as I also had enjoyed it back in 2004 - I got outraged at the sight of this headline:

(AP) Police in riot gear prepare to withdraw after finding themselves between two groups of celebrating Boston Red Sox fans... Full Image

"Boston Ready to Paint the Town Red for World Series Champion Sox"

Now, I know that it wasn't meant as "red as..." anything other than the red in "Red Sox" (then again - there was the famous bloodied -heck, bloodsoaked- red sock worn by Curt Schilling in 2004 - as much as anyone can hope for genuine modern-day stuff of legend nowadays, that one - even if I am sort-of lukewarm about it and all... THAT sure is IT!) - but just in the light of world events happening currently (as the Sox won the "World Series", bloodshed sure was prevalent across the globe - as they scored runs, HUNDREDS met violent demises in Iraq, Pakistan, all over the REAL world...!) and in the light of what happened, also, the last time that the Red Sox won it all, I have to say that THEY REALLY SHOULD NOT HAVE GONE WITH "PAINTING THE TOWN RED" AS A STYLISH, tongue-in-cheek PHRASE THERE... Really.

Victoria Snelgrove died in 2004 - not due to a car-bomber in the Middle-East or even a terrorist attack in the USofA, but because the festivities surrounding the Boston Red Sox victory and, more specifically, the measures taken to subdue the rowdy crowds back then were found to be quite INADEQUATE. Personally, even if I had been in town that day, I would not have gone on a rampage just because my team won - come on people! Did you bet money on it or something?!? Even so, you'd have to bet on an underdog who somehow DID prevail for the payoff to be worth making a violent ruckus about...! And, likewise, the riot squad was a bit overzealous with their new toy - a certain pepper-pellet gun...

To be fair, let's mention that the author of the above so-tastelessly titled article did mention the 2004 death - but left it a NAMELESS VICTIM. That, coupled with the mere choice of a title, is quite distasteful indeed I think and inadmissible.

We at the lugubrious and lukewarm blogs HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN at least.

Victoria Snelgrove died an unnecessary death.
She had a future ahead of her - snatched away by pure folly, momentary euphoria over what is, ultimately, no big deal at all... (Not diminishing the Boston Red Sox feat here; all the championships won by all the franchises in our modern society - since the inception of pro-sports leagues and associations - NONE of those means SQUAT in the Grand Scheme of Things; is that clearer now?)

Was this demise the price to pay to lift the alleged Curse of the Bambino, as I remember asking back in 2004? (As it did occur between the Red Sox historical comeback against the Yankees and the first World Series win in 86 years for the Sox, if you'll recall...)

Once again, the answer is a resounding NO, as no sports result could ever possibly equate a life, with all its dreams, hopes and aspirations that dwarf any championship, any title, any crown that any competition can offer.

At least this year, they did not kill anyone because the good guys in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse did come out on top in October...

Good.


Still, there was a death shortly after the Sox won it all and partied hardy too -
Massachusetts lost one of its favorite sons, Robert Goulet.

Goulet had performed the national anthem at the Red Sox season opener at Fenway Park back in April, in what was to be their most dominant year ever and his final performance on a major platform...
One wonders if the cool Boston air in April was not good to him...

Singer Robert Goulet performs prior to the Boston Red Sox home opener in Boston in this April file photo. Goulet is in a Los Angeles hospital in critical condition awaiting a lung transplant, according to a notice put on his Web site. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

He was diagnosed with a rare form of pulmonary fibrosis and had been awaiting a lung transplant in Los Angeles - where the Red Sox began their post-season dominance by sweeping the local Angels.
Goulet's famous baritone voice was stiffled in the end by the presence of a breathing tube - and time ran out on him as no lung donor was found within a reasonable delay.
He was 73 - the age my dear father would be.

Why is there always to be some tragedy attached to a Boston triumph?

Shades of the Curse...

Lugubrious Anniversaries In October

More reasons to hate Mondays...

The photographs of 42 of the 43 victims who perished in 1997...

Last October 8th, in the municipality of Saint-Bernard de Beauce, a tiny village in Quebec, Canada, they remembered the 1997 accident that cost the lives of 3% of the population there - forty-three people in all... A bus that was returning from a pilgrimage slid down a curve and into a ravine. Most of the elderly pious passengers onboard died in the tumble down the gully. The location of the accident bore that odd and evocative name, "Les Éboulements", which means "the slidings" in French. A very bad omen that proves once again that no one should ever ask "what's in a name"...



Also last October 8th, CHE GUEVARA's demise was commemorated 40 years after the fact. A demise that occurred really on October 9th... Bolivia and Cuba were united in this commemoration of the revolutionary guided by a great feeling of love.
Nathalie Cardone's song is, of course, perfect for the occasion:

And, 37 Years Ago...
Today, October 15th...

The West Gate Bridge is one of Australia's biggest cable-stayed girder bridges. Its mighty 850 metre length soars high over the banks of the Yarra River, joining Melbourne's western suburbs to the CBD. Before the bridge was built, access to the city of Melbourne and suburbs to the east was possible only by travelling the old Geelong Road . Used by thousands of commuters daily, the journey from entrance to exit, including approach roads, covers 5.6 kilometres.

To most it is simply a bridge, albeit an impressive one. To many though, the bridge is a majestic memorial which they never traverse without a feeling of sadness and a silent farewell to workmates and loved ones who died when the bridge collapsed during its construction.

This website is dedicated to those 35 working men who went to work on the 15th October, 1970 and never came home, to those who were injured, and to their brave comrades and the rescue crews who toiled tirelessly in horrific circumstances on that terrible day to assist and recover them.

An International Day Against The Death Penalty

Skully asks:

"B-b-but... WHY?!?"

Because...
Sometimes
there are no easy answers...?




And that is something
that Skully's kins
know all too well...

You can exterminate so many scumbags -
more will come out of the woodwork.
And those we do snuff out of existence
were they truly such scumbags after all?


You can't just turn your back
and pretend not to know that
you damn yankee grim reaper wannabees, you...!

Death & Taxes -
the two certainties of this life
- they do stand united,
in the good ol' U.S. of A.
don't they...?
But that is another story...

Harrowing Halloweenish October Death Toll...

Any excuse is a good excuse
no matter how morbid it may be
to listen to this unappreciated
GENESIS song:
CONGO.


Truly, this song's lyrics fit the occasion...

The An-26 cargo plane that crashed there,
on October 4th, killed over two dozen people.
My condolences to the victims' families.

In other demises, this month:



The first Republican woman
to be elected in the state of Virginia
-Jo Ann Davis-
also a mother, wife, grandmother,
lost her fight to cancer
but likely won her election into Heaven
I'll bet that she'll like it there
much more than she liked Capitol Hill...

Horsephotos.com

John Henry, a two-time Horse of the Year,
won 39 of 83 races and $6,591,860.

He was euthanized at the venerable age of 32...







Bob Denard is no more -
well, he is not staging coups anymore,
that is for sure.

Bob wasn't even a genuine Bob;
he was a genuine Gilbert...

Read his complete sordid story
in the comments section
(around "comment" # 32...)
(ironically...)