We have a winner!

Congratulations go out to Andy Lipshitz of Aspen, Colorado for being visitor #100 to my blog. The autographed 8x10 is on the way...enjoy Andy!

Let's give the man a hand...

I wake up today and see that Tim Wakefield leads the majors in wins with 15. The man just keeps going and going and going. I can not state how much I appreciate what this man has done for Boston and the Red Sox since he arrived in 1995, both on and off the field. He has done what has been asked of him over the years...starter, reliever, closer, and has done it well. He's been left off playoff rosters, something that must have been very hard to accept, but continued on without much of a peep. And of course his charitable contributions in Boston are pretty much unparalleled.

I'd say that I'm not the only one to appreciate this man's contribution to the Red Sox. In the aftermath of what must have been the low point in Wakefield's career, the 2003 ALCS, game 7, extra innings, walk off home run to Aaron Boone, nobody that I knew or heard on sports radio got on Wakefield's case at all. In one of the most crushing defeats in Red Sox history, people did not and could not blame Wakefield. Of course Grady Little may have had something to do with that, but even still, when the Boone home run is replayed today, I never hear anybody say anything about Wakefield. In a city like Boston, that says something.

Holy Crap...what a line

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Micah Owings had the following line Saturday against the Braves:
7 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 7 SO, 3 HR, 78-58 PC-ST, (W, 6-6)
you might say he had a decent night...but when you add in his batting line:
5 AB, 4 R, 4 H, 6 RBI, 0 BB, 0 SO, 1 2B, 0 3B, 2 HR
WOW! Not your average night to say the least...

100 and counting...

So I just looked at my counter and it sits at 99. Therefore, the next person to visit will be #100. To show how much I love all my loyal fans, the lucky person who is #100 will receive an autographed 8x10 picture of me...Boom Boom! You just have to promise to keep it and cherish it and not sell it on Ebay...

Thank you all!

Things that make you wonder...

Driving home around midnight gives you lots of time to think. Well last night I came up with this doozy...

Everyone knows about the 1978 collapse of the Red Sox, ahead of the Yankees by 14.5 games, only to eventually concede the division title.

The Red Sox biggest lead over the Yankees in 2007 was...you guessed it, 14.5 games, and shrinking very quickly.

Well let's do some simple math. 14.5 + 14.5 = 29. Now, how many years ago was 1978? Yep, 29 years ago....how about that??

W.W.W.F.

It was requested that I write about my love of pro wrestling, so like they say - "Give the people what they want." It was 1978, and I had never watched wrestling. Back then, wrestling was only on Saturday mornings. I myself was a Bugs Bunny kinda guy. I always watched the Saturday morning cartoon line-up. Well, one Saturday my cousin was staying over. He was a little older than I and was amazed when I said I didn't watch wrestling. We only had one TV in the house (not like today's kids that have a TV in every freakin' room), so we had to decide what we were going to watch. Since he was older, bigger, and knew wrestling holds, I figured it was a smart thing to give in and watch wrestling. We didn't have cable back then, so the only thing available was W.W.W.F. wrestling on channel 56. Yes, I'm so old that the W.W.F. was actually the W.W.W.F. (World Wide Wrestling Federation). Well I was hooked. There was no turning back. I loved the bad guys. I loved when they cheated and pulled out the brass knucks, or the salt from Mr. Fuji that the referee never, ever saw. In 1981 came the most arrogant, cocky, SOB that there ever was, The Magnificent Muraco. He was awesome. I could not miss a minute of his matches or his interviews! He is my all-time favorite wrestler.The W.W.F. became accepted in the mid 80's thanks to Hulk Hogan. Suddenly it was OK to be a wrestling fan. I lost interest at the beginning of the 90's, watching just casually, until the mid 90's when a female manager came along named Sunny. For some reason she grabbed my attention. Not sure why, maybe you can decide by looking at her picture.
Then came Stone Cold Steve Austin and The Rock. Wrestling was cool to watch again. The Rock soon got boring doing the same jokes over and over, and Stone Cold's many injuries took him off TV, and that was pretty much it for me. The only wrestler I care about anymore is Ric Flair, who at 117 years old is an embarrassment to watch now. I can not tell you at this moment who the W.W.E. (what the heck is W.W.E. anyway??) champion is. Oh well. It was fun and I'm glad I was a wrestling fan! I see Hall Of Famer Walter "Killer" Kowalski all the time at a certain Chinese restaurant, if I can get the courage to ask him, you may be seeing him on a future episode of The Sports Buzz!

Boom Boom and The Champ

One of the few perks of working at a TV station (very few) is the chance to meet 'celebrities'. Well last night, the one and only Vinny Paz (formerly Pazienza) was in the building. He walked by me, whacked me on the shoulder and said "hey buddy". WOW! I think my shoulder is separated, but it was worth it. I mean after all he is a 5-time World Champion.

My late father was a big boxing fan, and Paz was high on his list. Maybe just because his name ended in a vowel, but for whatever reason, a Vinny Paz fight was always a big deal in the Boom Boom household. I know my dad would have been very excited to hear I had met Vinny Paz.

I took this picture of Paz with the Bryguy. He's a huge boxing fan, as you all know from reading his Bryguy Boxing Blog at http://www.bryguyboxing.blogspot.com/

Hank Aaron, Baseball and #756

Even though I've been a baseball fan since about 1975, a year after Hank Aaron broke Babe Ruth's home run record, I really had no idea how I'd react when Barry Bonds hit #756. Well, I was working at CN8, just myself and the Bryguy. The show I work for, Out of Bounds, was on the air, about 11 or 12 minutes before sign-off. Bonds came to the plate, and I said to myself, "ok, let's take a look at this, just in case." Bonds hit the 3-2 pitch, and my first reaction was "OH, THERE IT IS!!" But before the ball could land into the seats in center field, my thoughts changed to "eh, there it is." I honestly did not care. What should have been a huge moment in any sports fans life, was just a shrug of the shoulders for me. We immediately aired the 'historic' moment on Out of Bounds, and instead of hanging out and watching the on-field festivities from San Francisco, taking in the entire atmosphere of the moment, I just turned to Bryguy and said "ok, I'm outta here." I really did not care, and that makes me sad. I do not want to bring up the words steroids, cheater, or asshole. I just want to enjoy sports again, like I did back in 1975.

Japan out...New Orleans in

Ever since the latest Sports Buzz hit the airwaves, people from all around keep asking me, "Hey, how's that Mark Bates dude coming along in his quest to play hockey in Japan?" Well, for the time being, Tokyo seems to be on hold. Now the young lad is taking a trip to New Orleans to help build houses for the unfortunate people that lost their homes after Katrina. A noble gesture for sure. The Sports Buzz wishes Mark the best of luck in all of his future endeavors. Keep reading these pages and watching future editions of The Sports Buzz for more Mark Bates updates...

If you missed the original Mark Bates interview, you can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW_m-y-F3R4

Welcome Everybody!

Hey guys...welcome to my blog! My name is Joe Conte and I am the creator, host, director, and editor of "The Sports Buzz", one of the hottest shows on TV today. Not familiar with the Buzz? Then check out the MySpace page of the Buzz at http://www.myspace.com/the_sports_buzz where you will find video clips of the show. As always we are looking for story ideas, and if you ever wanted to try you hand at being a TV reporter, let me know and we can work something out. I'm always looking for new talent!

So what is this blog going to be about? I don't know! I guess whatever hits me will end up on here. I'll give my own personal views on sports, as well as updates on the TV show. It may be daily, it may just be weekly...but if I have something to say, it will appear here. Thank you.