Sports Redux: Yes: Country For Old Men

Five of the six RBIs for the Red Sox came from David Ortiz and Jason Varitek? Is it 2003 already?!?

Ortiz homered (#7) in the fourth, and Varitek added one (#11) in the sixth, for more than enough runs to beat the wretched Nationals, 6-4, in our nation's capital. Jon Lester got the win in a game that featured a near-decapitation of Nick Green when Elijah Dukes' bat shattered and turned into a dangerous projectile. If you have stock in a maple-bat company, sell it today.

If you bought stock in the US soccer team, though...congratulations. The boys needed a miracle just to get to this round of the Confederation Cups, and they shocked the world by upending the very-heavily-favored Spaniards 2-0. They'll get either South Africa or Brazil in the Finals, and win or lose, the national team will certainly feel a lot better about going into the World Cup next year.

Danny Ainge continues to simultaneously dangle Rajon Rondo over the trade pit, and over the side of the bus. Danny went public with criticism of Rondo's maturity, leading to some hurt words by Rondo's agent. Bob Ryan, not having the most endearing week of his life, chimes in with some more doubts about Rajon's leadership potential. We'll still be doing shots of whiskey right up until tonight's draft; if you can't keep up, we recommend Bill Simmons' epic open letter to Blake Griffin, imploring him to run as fast as he can before the Clippers draft him. It's a mesmerizing litany of fail.

Sources are declaring that the Philadelphia Flyers will be the Bruins' opponent at the NHL Winter Classic at Fenway on New Year's Day. We hadn't heard the rumor that BC and BU will play the first game of what is now a doubleheader. This is going to be awesome, which of course means that the tickets will all go to scenesters and pink hats and Johnny-come-latelies, and actual Bruins fans will be few and far between. We suggest (and we'd like our readers to help spread this as an actual rumor) that ticketbuyers be forced to (a) name at least two players who were on the Bruins three years ago and (b) adhere to the rules of real Bruins fandom.

Photo by Manuel Ceneta/Associated Press.