Beckett Boot Camp: Best Idea Ever

The Red Sox have been linked time and time again to reality television this season. There was "Sox Appeal," of course, but there were also calls for the jigging Jonathan Papelbon to Riverdance his way onto "Dancing With the Stars" and the segue FOX used last week to link the Boston bullpen band (the Black Pearl) to what looks like a God-awful new series, "The Next Great American Band."

Sox bloggers, however, just might be on to something fantastic. Several, including Cursed To First and Papel-blog, touched upon Tom Verducci's recent Sports Illustrated World Series preview piece as inspiration. In Verducci's story, he points out that Terry Francona is so impressed with Josh Beckett's work ethic that he is going to ship off Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester to Beckett's home in Texas to watch and learn: "to observe his workouts and model themselves after the young ace."

You know where this is going: Beckett Boot Camp! As Beth at Cursed To First remarks:

My first thought (after, "holy shit"), when I read that, was that it would make the best reality TV show ever. I can totally imagine Josh Beckett screaming like a drill sergeant over a vomiting apprentice, and in several different contexts. As Papel-blog put it, "What I am imagining right now is a combination of a college frat initiation gone terribly, terribly wrong, military boot camp and Bad News Bears, and it's WONDERFUL."

Beckett Boot Camp. "Just one camera. Even just one," Sam IMed me tonight. "It would be enough."

Who do we need to talk to to make this happen? If we have to put up with "Pageant Place," we really ought to be rewarded with something like this!

We went with the unrated "Stripes" edition because we have a feeling that would most closely resemble what would go on at Beckett Boot Camp! Image from Amazon.