What I've learned about sports this week!

By Jim Ingram

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

As I was driving into work, listening to to the radio, an idea for an article popped into my mind. This is the resulting brain activity, or fart, so let's see how this goes.

What I learned about Sports this week

1. The Boston Celtics are now a much better team. The addition of Rasheed Wallace is huge for team that had serious depth issues, especially going big. You know what ticks me off though. I can't stand how some people around here are ripping Sheed' for being unprofessional, and impulsive at times when they easily forget about the Paul Pierce ejection and wrapped head a few years ago. Speaking of Paul Pierce, it still get my blood pumping when I remember how he didn't to lose any street cred so he never identified the guy who stabbed him. That is why I don't like Paul Pierce.

2. The Boston Red Sox need Roy Halladay. The Sox are now tied for first place with the New York Yankees, who just happen to have one of the scariest lineups in baseball. In order to win this division the Red Sox still need more pitching. Give up prospects to get a hall of famer.

3. I learned how to break through a full court press in basketball. I am not very knowledgeable when it comes to the x's and o's of bball, so a serious shout out needs to be made to Sarah Palin. At least she knows something about a subject.

4. David Ortiz is not done. Whatever he did, he's turned his dismal season around. He'll never be the Ortiz of a few years ago, but he's hit .291, 8 HR and 20 RBI over the past month. The Red Sox will certainly take that now.

5. Manny Ramirez can still rake. Maybe he never doesn't need PED's or he's not off them. I don't know, but he's looked pretty good since his return. In no way, shape or form am I a Manny fan, but the strike 3 call he got when ejected the other day was a terrible call. Manny just needs to realize you can't throw your equipment near the ump.

Have a great weekend!

Ortiz still has a lot more to prove

By Chris Maza
Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

Another home run for David Ortiz.

That makes six on the year and five in June with eight games left in the month.

So as the weather gets hotter, will Ortiz's bat follow suit? His recent production would suggest yes, but this is one fan that remains skeptical.

The Red Sox need Ortiz to produce in the DH spot for one reason more than any - they don't have anyone to replace him with. No one on the bench or in Pawtucket could provide the kind of offense you desire at the designated hitter position, otherwise, you have to think they at least you have been given a look at this point.

So many fans have come to the conclusion that the Red Sox don't need Ortiz because the team has managed to be successful thus far without him. Jason Bay has been an RBI machine. Kevin Youkilis has thrived in the three spot. Most importantly, the Red Sox are in first place and still winning.

But what happens if things go wrong? Mike Lowell, who has played a major part in helping people forget Ortiz's struggles, now has sat out two games with discomfort in his surgically repaired hip. Losing a valuable guy has to make you start thinking, "What if?"

What if Bay hits a prolonged slump? What if Youkilis goes down or Lowell needs to miss significant time? Or there are other less dramatic questions. For instance, what if Nick Green remembers he's the guy who didn't have a job this time last year? What if the Red Sox will need offensive production from other means.

Ortiz has to be that guy. The DH cannot be a hole in the batting order.

His recent success has to give you hope, but at the same time, can we count on Ortiz to be David Ortiz when it really counts? He's connecting when he was missing and he's hit some mistakes out of the ballpark. But when it comes down to it, can Ortiz still hack it against the best of the best as he'd be called upon to do if/when the Red Sox make the postseason?

He's still late on a good fastball and still looks confused at times. You have to hope if you're a Sox fan that this will continue to improve as he gets more comfortable. But at the same time, you have to realize that all season this has not looked like the David Ortiz fans have come to know and love. Something is off and sometimes big, aging ballplayers just lose something, especially ones coming off of injury. He just might not make it back to become "our" David Ortiz ever again.

What's the hardest thing to do in sports?

By Chad Garner

Fan Fanatic Sports Staff

One of my facebook buddies, Robert Valera of Leominster, brought up a good point today as he asked the question, "What is the hardest thing in sports to do for the average person?"

He lists hitting a Major League fastball, tackling an NFL running back, hitting a 3-point shot against an NBA player, hitting a hole-in-one in golf or stopping a shot by an NHL player.

Is there a right or wrong answer? No way.

But as far as I'm concerned, I'm going to wipe away two selections right away: 3-point shot and stopping a puck. The puck might be the easiest since you just need to put pads on and hope Sidney Crosby hits you with the puck. If you're 300-plus pounds, you've already taken away the majority of the space in between the pipes so you're chances of deflecting one away is pretty good.

The 3-point shot, I know it's hard, but does anyone really play defense in the NBA anymore? I'm guessing Kobe Bryant would play off of you and allow you to pop in a trey --maybe not.

Tackling an NFL running back seems like a no-win situation -- Adrian Peterson goes 1 on 1 with you and you stand your ground, but he complete smashes your face into the turf. It can be done, but you might never recover from your multiple fractures. 

But my point is that even though you shouldn't have any business tackling a pro football player, it can be done. Not brute strength vs. real brute strength, but dive at his legs and upend him. You don't have to be powerful to do it, cut him low and hope his knee doesn't ring your bell or you'll definitely have a concussion. 

Best advice: flop on the ground and pray he loses his balance while trying to leapfrog over you -- that's still considered a tackle.

I'm not really buying the hole-in-one deal, either. How many 80-somethings do you read in the paper that recorded a hole-in-one on some course? More people do it than just Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson, right?

I have no patience for golf and am really bad at it, but I almost did it a long time ago when golfing with my father-in-law. I think the shot was 100-plus yards away, I could have thrown the ball onto the green from the tee, but it doesn't matter the course length.

Hitting a Major League fastball is no joke. 

There's a reason why so many people can't play the game at a high level. Failure is the nature of the beast in baseball. It's one thing to brag that you hit an 84 mph fastball as a college baseball hero, but 92-95 mph and even higher in the majors is a lot different. 

Sure, you could stick out your bat and get a piece and foul it off, but I'm saying that doesn't count. Be a mouse and try to bunt ... again, that doesn't count.

We're talking about being a real man and taking a big league cut. Oh, don't forget, pitchers tend to not always hit their target, too. So look out, getting drilled in the head or ribs should always be in the back of your mind.  Your reaction time is next to nothing while facing real MLB heat, this isn't Wii baseball you're playing. I suppose you could get lucky like everything else and make real contact, but it's not as easy as many might thing -- but those are usually guys who couldn't even make their Little League team. Or if they did, it was because daddy was the league president.

Hitting a MLB pitcher is easily the hardest thing in my book.

Do you agree or disagree?