At Least We Have the Red Raiders

If you missed the story in the Globe on Saturday, after a $3 million override failed in Stoneham, officials eliminated the entire high school athletic department, which costs roughly $750,000 a year.

What does this have to do with Fitchburg? Well, not much. But...

The Stoneham situation is another reminder that things are tough all over around the state. Communities are looking at overrides to help fill in the gaps, and when it doesn't happen they are resorting to some fairly Draconian cuts. Stoneham sports = Fitchburg Library?

I'm not a big fan of the "we're cutting all sports" move. It stinks of politics and municipal extortion. The message is, give us money or kid won't run track this year. Instead, I think Fitchburg is doing the proper and appropriate thing by trying to maintain at least parts of everything. That might change tonight with the library. At least one councilor thinks the council might vote to close the library tonight. That councilor doesn't agree with that idea, but thinks it might happen. 'Nough said on that.

Finally, as usual, you hear folks around the city mention receivership. Some think it's a good idea, some think it's merely destiny based on the city's financial condition. While that condition isn't very good, it's not receivership level. When the city ends the year millions of dollars in debt, or is making cuts triple or quadruple what is making now, then we'll talk about it. But there's a big difference between the current situations in Fitchburg and Stoneham and receivership. Just getting that out there.

Finally, a couple of sports matters while I have your attention....

The Celtics seem to be getting closer to wanting to draft Yi Jianlian on Thursday night. Combine the mock drafts, rumor mill and this Globe feature, and you have wonder if this is their guy.

In short, ugh. First, they should be trading this pick for a veteran. Not sure the AK-47 rumor floated by Peter May yesterday does the trick, but it's close. I just can't get excited about Kirilenko. Anyone?

If they don't trade the pick, Paul Pierce is likely to go nuts. Use the pick on Jianlian -- who no one knows and is considered a "prospect" -- and you might as well put Pierce in solitary, so as not to infect the rest of the inmates.

But with Garnett not wanting to come here, and the Celtics, ahem, braintrust deathly afraid to trade young talent lest they become very good somewhere else (the ghosts of Chauncey Billups and Joe Johnson live), you can count on the Cs hanging on to the pick Thursday night. Grrrrrrr.

We talked a few months ago about the Sox's hot start, and holding off the Yankees. Without going into the archives, I remember Rupert K saying the Sox would be caught. We went to the numbers to figure out how tough it would be for the Yanks to make up the ground. After this brutal week for the Yankees, I figured it was time for an update:

The Red Sox are 48-26. We figured all along their good for about 95 wins. They need to go 47-41 the rest of the way to get to that mark. And yes, we're ruling out the rest of the division, which doesn't have the horses for a run. The Sox have a few problems -- they can't hit sometimes, the middle relief is due for a rough stretch one of these days, and they're starting pitching has gotten nicked up. But, if you believe Beckett has had his DL stretch, and that Schilling is halfway through his, how can you not think the Sox are going to win at least 95 games this year? Even if Schilling is out for a while, 95 seems a minimal goal.

So...

The Yankees are 36-37. Yup, back under .500. Unbelieveable. The Yankees would have to go 59-30 the rest of the way to get to 95 wins. 59-30. Basically, they'd have to win every series the rest of the way. Can they do it? Well, yeah, I guess. They certainly had a nice two-week stretch there a few weeks ago. But that's an awfully, awfully, tough task. And that's assuming the Sox only go 47-41 the rest of the way.

To sum this all up: I made plans to be away the weekend of Sept. 15-17, forgetting I have tickets for the Sox-Yanks game on the 15th. At this point, I'm confident I can be away and not miss anything. I don't think things will change over the next two-and-a-half months.