Maria Stephanos healthy after collapse at studio

(Boston Herald Online)FOX25 anchor Maria Stephanos has “sprung right back to life” after being re-hydrated at a local hospital after collapsing in the station’s newsroom this morning, reports her hubby. 

Dale Stephanos told the Track that Maria, who ran five miles this morning before her shift, called him from her car on the way to the Dedham studio and told him she was “disoriented, nauseous, and she felt like she was going to pass out.”

He also said she told him she “couldn’t feel her hands.”

“She couldn’t pull over because of all the construction but she finally made it to FOX, she dropped and they called 911,” said Stephanos, who got to the station and rode with his wife to a local hospital.

“They got an IV into her pretty quickly and she sprung right back to life,” said the illustrator, joking that his bride “successfully weaseled her way into a day off.”

Dale said Maria, who is being released shortly, was “feeling hungry” when he left the hospital to grab his bride’s purse from the station.

“That’s sort of the default setting for any Greek mother,” laughed Stephanos.

Damn stimulus construction on I-95.  First makes me late all the time, now almost kills the best cougar/MILF in Boston.

Thoughts and prayers, folks; thoughts and prayers.

-Nacho

The one day of the year that it didn't snow.

A small, frigid, WASP-infested campus in the middle of New Hampshire, nothing of note ever goes on there

Until now.

Barstool Sports has recently reported on an incident involving the former Colby-Sawyer Tennis Coach, drunk athletes, and an email sent to his players after a plate of issues earlier this past spring.

The best part? Going to Colby-Sawyer, being an athlete, watching this go down the first time, and, now watching the news hit the interweb’s most “notable” New England “sporting news site.”

I side with the coach of course. If my coach sent me an email of this magnitude I would have hunted the rat down and thrown him into the snow-filled quad, naked. Then I would have won my next game drunk and high. Of course I ran track, so drinking and smoking while running is quite detrimental (although the Jamaican runners apparently have no problems with drugs of ANY sort, but, moving on…).

I mean seriously, I feel for this guy. Lets go over the facts shall we?

1- He has a rat on his team

2- Harpy of an AD on his ass 24/7

3- Forfeit ala drunken behavior

4- Loss, and we can only assume, of one helluva Senior Captain

5- Not being the coach of Women’s Volleyball/Basketball

As a former athlete, I can understand where the drunken behavior was uncalled for, but I  can also see the side of the coach who already has the deck stacked against him. Sadly, this story ends in tradgedy as he was let go by the aformentioned AD. An Athletic Director, who shall remain nameless, that only helps Women’s Volleyball and Basketball, leaving everyone else out in the snow.

(Tattoos not included)

(AP)BRISTOL, Conn. – Matt Hosman hit a game-winning grand slam in the seventh inning, and Massachusetts has beaten Rhode Island 11-7 to earn a spot in the Little League World Series.

The Massachusetts team, Peabody West, advances to play Southwest Region champion Texas West, a team from San Antonio, on Friday in Williamsport, Pa.

The Rhode Island team, Lincoln, took a 7-6 lead in the sixth inning of Saturday’s game on a sacrifice fly by Christopher Leclaire before Massachusetts rallied in the bottom half in the inning.

Nick Bona and A.J. DiFillipo singled to start the inning and Matt Gonick walked to load the bases. Matt Correale walked to force in the tying run and Hosman hit the first pitch he saw over the left-field fence.

Massachusetts went 6-0 in the New England Region tournament.

There’s no way like ending a 6-0 stretch at regionals (while riding a 17 game win streak) like hitting a first pitch, Sports Center ‘Top 10′, walk-off grand slam.  It’s pure domination, and it sends notice to everyone at Williamsport.

With a coach who can dance like this, how could Massachusetts not win?

-Nacho

So this post was going to be about all 5’8″ of me touching -and holding onto- rim today.  I made sure it wasn’t a fluke: the first two times were in cleats, and the next two times were barefoot on opposite coasts.

Instead, I’d like to call attention to the fact that the video of Gus Johnson’s “Hell Yes!” call has been removed from the internet due to ‘terms of use violations’.  It was supposed to be the headline video of this post instead of the short kid dunking video.  Of all of the great calls that Gus has made it is one of the most memorable, simply because of its quotability.  Its removal is a tragedy and a travisty.

I am offering a reward to anybody who can provide me with this video.

God speed,

-Nacho

 John Beattie Aug 13, 2009

The Peabody Western Little Leaguers are just one win away from reserving a slot in the Little League World Series tournament in Williamsport.

The Massachusetts representatives eliminated Glastonbury National (Conn.) via mercy rule on Thursday night by a score of 12-1 after just four innings of play.

Matt Hosman hit a three-run home run in the second inning and struck out 10 of the 12 batters he faced. Massachusetts plated eight runs in the fourth inning highlighted by a Sean McGrath two-run double and a Matt Gonick a solo home run.

Massachusetts will now face the winner of the Lincoln, RI and Brattleboro, VT matchup in the New England regional finals on Saturday afternoon with the winner earning a spot in the LLWS in Williamsport.

Warm up the bus because there is no way Peabody West doesn’t make it to Williamsport.

-Nacho

(The Hartford Courant)BRISTOL — – After wrapping up a spot in the four-team, single-elimination semifinal round earlier in the day, the Glastonbury National Little League coaches delicately tried to convey to the players that a win against Peabody West of Massachusetts wasn’t all that important.
Like a game of telephone, that led to gross misinterpretations of tiebreaker scenarios and the players’ roles — and even the game itself.
“In fact, one of the kids misheard something we talked about, something like, ‘We’re supposed to lose this game?’” Glastonbury manager Chris Murphy said. “And I said no, we’re not supposed to lose this game, we’re trying like crazy to win. But we’re also trying to keep our powder dry for a game with this team the next day.”
The result was a wild affair that saw both teams trot out regular outfielders as pitchers and Peabody West clinch the top seed in the New England Region semifinals with a 13-7 victory at the Giamatti Little League Center.
“I know that before the game, we had a spot, but this would have been huge if we also won this game,” said Andrew Takahashi. “We’re lucky and we’re fortunate that we’re able to move on after this.”
Glastonbury (2-2), now the No. 4 seed, will play the same team today at 5:30 p.m. for a spot in Saturday’s regional championship. That winner will go to the Little League World Series.
Peabody West (4-0) clinched the top seed, though it was in doubt early. Two home runs by Nate Mandell and one each by Alec Graham and Takahashi gave Glastonbury a 7-1 lead entering the bottom of the second inning.
“I honestly thought we were going to win at that point, but I think a few kids, including myself, got a little too cocky,” Mandell said.
Peabody West then scored 11 runs in the second, including two three-run home runs by Matt Hosman, and added another in the fourth. It finished with 18 hits.
“I knew it was a tough game, but it wasn’t also like you win you move on, you lose you’re out,” Takahashi said. “We know they can definitely hit the ball well, so we have to have a good pitching staff against these guys.”

Sometimes it’s just too easy.  Glastonbury didn’t even attempt to put up a fight.  You do have to give the Glastonbury kids some credit, when Coach Murphy told his team, “Their 3-0.  You’re not supposed to win this game, so don’t try to win” they followed his instructions to a “T”; that’s why people from Connecticut are worker bees and people from Massachusetts are bosses.

The rematch is today at 5:30, so make sure you tune into NESN and watch the P-B-D machine dominate.

-Nacho

You. Are. Welcome.

-Casey

The past three months of my life have been eye opening to say the least. College ended abruptly and suddenly I was faced with the reality that my calendar was empty for the rest of my life. My new catchphrase became “I’m available” –  hilarious to those around me while secretly soul crushing inside.

Moving out of my college apartment, I began to realize that everything that my girlfriend and mother had been telling me was true: I have too many t-shirts. Over 100 to be exact.

No, seriously. Over 100. I even had a stack of 50 in my closet that I never planned on wearing again but couldn’t bear to throw out.

Upon moving home after graduation I realized it was time to face the music. I had to clean out my closet. It was time to say goodbye.

My process was surgical. Make a pile of keepers, a pile of Salvation Army donations, and a pile of too close to calls. To go through the obvious keepers and donations would be uneventful because there were no real internal debates. I just knew. The “too close to calls” were a different story. It was the SAT’s of t-shirt cleansing.

The following are 10 samples of my hardest decisions throughout the process.

Disclaimer: No T-shirts were hurt in the making of this post.

#1.) Dominican Republic World Baseball Classic

Background

Picked up this guy at an Olympia Sports a few months before the inaugural WBC. The impulsive buy of impulsive buys. I wore this 6-7 times and every time someone asked me “You went to the Dominican Republic? That’s so cool.” The clarification of the shirt’s actual meaning became so mundane that I eventually would answer, “Yeah, Spring Break ’05. Crazy.”

Athlete Equivalent:

Terry Glenn. Promising, but eventually not worth the trouble. Stuck around a little longer than probably should have.

Verdict:

Gone. Toast. Not a tear shed. Wish I could put a GPS on these things to see who picks them up at the Salvation Army. I’m thinking some 46-year-old guy from Chelsea grabs this one. One of those guys who plays in an rec-soccer league on Sundays. Anywho, Godspeed WBC shirt. I feel like I barely knew you.

#2). Acid Trip 3-D Glasses Monkey

Background:

Saw this near the cash register at Bob’s a few years back. Can’t remember the exact price, but it was cheap enough to justify. No idea what it’s about, or who designed it but I would imagine a mixture of cocaine and Oxy Clean was involved (AKA The Billy Mays). Became a bench player that only appeared at 80’s parties in college. At one of these parties I literally bumped into a kid from another school wearing the same thing. Our eyes met and just hugged each other. It was kind of like when two people driving Wranglers wave to each other.

Athlete Equivalent:

Willy Mo Pena. Kept on bench until a homerun was needed. Never an everyday player. Not a lot of respect given, but you would never throw a fastball down the plate, you know?

Verdict:

Kept it. You don’t just throw out a teal t-shirt with a monkey wearing 3-D glasses being smothered by neon designs. This thing wouldn’t even see the Salvation Army racks. The collection guy would probably swipe it for himself.

#3.) Red Sox Tie-Die Woodstock Edition

Background:

In March of 2005 my mom was going down to Ft. Myers to visit my grandparents. Seeing an opportunity, I found 4 spring training tickets for a Sox game. I was going to fly down on a Friday and come back on that Sunday, missing a day of school. Coincidentally, the World Series Trophy was visiting my high school that Friday, but I justified missing it because I would be in 75 degree weather at a Sox game while my friends were taking pictures with a piece of metal looking out at snow banks. My flight was going to leave at 6am Friday morning, and when my dad woke me up at noon that Friday I already knew what happened. 15 inches of a freak snowstorm had caused my flight to get cancelled, and my dad let me sleep in. I missed spring training and the trophy in one fell swoop. My mom felt bad and brought me back this shirt and a hat. The hat probably would have been enough.

Athlete Equivalent:

Jason Varitek, 2006 to present.

Verdict:

Sayonara. The Epicac of t-shirts. I wouldn’t be surprised if they issue this with each Red Sox Nation card. A nice gesture on my mom’s part, but just a disaster of a t-shirt.

#4.) Go Canes! U of Miami Shirt

Background:

Got this while visiting my friend Andy at “The U” this past October. On the way into the stadium some lady was selling these for $2 a piece. No brainer. Coming from a school that didn’t have a football team and drew 75 people for basketball games, I decided to pretend I went to Miami for the day. The perfect disguise, minus my pasty white NH tan.

Athlete Equivalent:

P.J. Brown. Cheap, and came through when I needed it to.

Verdict:

Considering its price, it would be a shame to toss away.

#5.) New Hampshire Hot Air Balloon (Sleeve monster Modified)

Background:

Saw this at Wal-Mart in West Lebanon, NH. $1. The irony got me. Show me a hot-air balloon in NH and I will show you a Jason Varitek 2-out RBI.

Athlete Equivalent:

Scott Pollard. Ugly, puzzling, and cheap for a reason.

Verdict:

Who am I kidding? I can’t get rid of this. Deep down in places I don’t like to talk about, I need this shirt. Actually, I’ll put it on right now. I might even dub it the official t-shirt of Masscrastination.

#6.) Patriots 19-0 SB Champs Locker Room T-Shirt (3^rd World Country Edition)

Background:

What did you say? I missed the last minute of the Super Bowl, my cable went out. Ignorance is bliss.

Found this on e-bay. Normally the NFL sends the losing teams’ shirts to decimated 3^rd world countries, but not this baby. My greatest fear is that people think I’m a Giants fan and am making fun of the Pats when in reality I am just using the “nope, didn’t happen” excuse. You know, pretending that our coaches didn’t go away from the same game plan that made them the greatest offense in NFL history for 18 weeks. (Rocking back and forth, shaking, cold sweats)

Athlete Equivalent:

Rodger Clemens. Stubborn Denial. Nope.

Verdict:

Fuck yeah I’m keeping this. A perfect season doesn’t come around every day you know??????

P.S. If you don’t think I am giving this to my son and telling him about the 2007 perfect season you’re kidding yourself. In an unrelated story, he will not be allowed on the Internet.

#7. 2009 NCAA March Madness Pitt/Nova Boston Shirt

Background:

First off, anyone who has ever met me knows that I am the biggest March Madness fan in the world. In high school I ran a high stakes pool for four years that even our vice-principal knew about. My GPA would drop a whole point in March just because I would be correcting brackets in class every day. For years I have been waiting for Boston to host a meaningful tournament game, and finally I got my wish. Unfortunately it fell on the same day as my girlfriends 21^st birthday family dinner. Breaking up with her wasn’t really an option, so FML. To make matters worse, I had Nova in the Final Four in my pool. If you remember the game correctly, and I am sure you do, Scotty Reynolds scored a game winning layup with time expiring for the upset. A top 5 March Madness game of all time. The only way I could get updates was refreshing the ESPN score page on my iPhone. My girlfriend family must have thought I was going through meth withdrawals. I was ghostly white, sweating, and shaking.

Anyway my dad brought this home for me. Starting to see a trend with my missing events and getting pity shirts?

Athlete Equivalent:

Len Bias. Heard it was good, but never saw it for myself.

Verdict:

I guess I have to marry my girlfriend so I can have a Robin Williams missing Game 6 “had to see about a girl” story. Anyway, get this shirt out of my life. I don’t need any ghosts in my closet.

#8.) Starbury T-shirt

Background:

Picked it up at Steve and Barry’s in the mall for $3.99.

Athlete Equivalent:

Ummm, Stephon Marbury? Looks good for the price, but throw it away after the season.

Verdict: Gone like his jump shot. Also throwing out the $9.99 Starbury USA shoes. What was I thinking?

#9.) Kanye West Glow In The Dark Tour Shirt

Background:

What do you get when you drink too much before a Kanye West concert? A $35 useless T-Shirt!

Athlete Equivalent:

Brian Scalabrine. The wrong race for the circumstances, extremely overpriced, dominant color: Red.

Verdict:

$35? Who’s the gold digger now, Kanye? Get it out of my sight.

#10.) Craig Hansen #56 Red Sox T-Shirt

Background:

100% completely indefensible. What the fuck was I thinking? Craig Hansen? I feel like Scott Boras owes me money for this. Seriously? What the fuck. Some kid in India is eating his own toenails for protein and I dropped $15.99 on a Craig Hansen shirt?  Craig Hansen. Seriously. Craig Hansen. C-R-A-I-G  H-A-N-S-E-N. Daniel Bard’s gay-half brother. Craig Hansen. Talk about over thinking things. Manny, nah. Ortiz, nope. Oh here is what I have been looking for, a fucking Craig Hansen shirt. What was I expecting, to open my closet once a week and say, “oh, today seems like the day that I want to display the name and number of a reliable set up pitcher on my fucking back”. You know how I know I’m gay? I have a Craig Hansen shirt. Seriously, if I ran for president I would expect my opponent to use this against me as slander. This is my Chappaquiddick. The Pearl Harbor of my shirt collection. A Craig Hansen shirt can only be killed by silver bullets. If I walked into church wearing this I would burst into flames. Wow. Craig Hansen. Wow.

Athlete Equivalent:

Saying Craig Hansen here would be insulting to even Craig Hansen. There is no equivalent. Let’s just sweep this under the rug and pretend it never happened. Gross. I need a shower.

Verdict:

Honestly, I would feel bad giving this to a Salvation Army. I wouldn’t put anyone through the shame I feel right now. This is my Scarlet Letter. I should be required to wear this in public and have the townspeople throw rocks in my general direction. I should go door to door in my neighborhood and tell people that, by law, I am required to inform them that I am a Craig Hansen T-Shirt owner. When I left the Bob’s store I bought it at, Chris Hansen and the “To Catch A Predator” camera crew surrounded my car asking me “What’s in the yellow bag?” and read me a transcript of my thought process while deciding to buy it. D.A.R.E. officers have asked me to travel to local middle schools to speak about my experiences buying Craig Hansen shirts and how I rehabilitated myself.

Having said that, I can’t throw it out. I must keep it as a constant reminder of my mistakes so that it will never happen again. I apologize to my friends and family and may god have mercy on my soul.

-Casey