The curious case of Kevin Youkilis

Much of sports talk radio Wednesday centered around Kevin Youkilis and a piece about him written by the Boston Globe’s Jackie MacMullan. The story revolves around the Red Sox infielder and his over-the-top intensity, how he’s liked by some teammates and less by others.

When asked to comment on Youkilis and his desire to win and help the team, one unnamed teammate said he’ll “refrain.” Dustin Pedroia, on the other hand, praised Youk for what he brings to the table and his intangibles. David Ortiz did the same.

Few can argue with the numbers Youkilis puts up, but his antics carry just as much weight. Baseball has several long-standing traditions, one of which is that players are supposed to carry themselves in a stoic manner. Talk about a bunch of crap. Times are a changing, and I think Youkilis’ demeanor is good for the game. He loves being out there and loves playing baseball. He gets fans excited, certainly much more so than outfielder/mannequin J.D. Drew.

I can see why some players would get angry at times. He can go 3-for-4, but if that fourth at-bat is a double-play ground ball, helmets are flying and bats are broken. But he’s doing it because he wants the team to win.

Players have come through Boston (one rhymes with Fanny) who cared little about the outcome of the game. And while that may sit well with some people, it never really sat well with me. And it certainly doesn't sit well with Youkilis.

He brings an energy rarely seen, one that could be contagious if players were open to change.

Whining is all the "Rave"

Ray Lewis is a very respected player in the National Football League. But the media savvy veteran linebacker should be taken down a notch for his little rant about the officials on Sunday. The same can also be said for Ravens coach John Harbaugh and anyone else who wants to pin Baltimore's loss on the zebras.

Yes, Tom Brady was hardly touched twice when he drew a pair of roughing the passer calls - both of which resulted in touchdown drives - but to say the Patriots shouldn't have won the game because of them is ludicrous. Furthermore, complaining after the game is twice as pathetic.

The Ravens had 60 minutes to win that game on Sunday. They failed to do it within that time limit, so when their receiver dropped a perfect pass on fourth down, a catch that would have given them a first down, they started the run their mouths about the refs.

Would that have been the case if Mark Clayton caught that ball and the Ravens scored to win 28-27? Unlikely. So Ray Lewis, John Harbaugh and all you Ravens fans out there: Get over it. You lost. Move on to next week. It's a long season and a lot of bad calls are going to be made.

Week 4 High School Football Poll

There hasn't been much change at the top of the poll all season. La Salle and Barrington come in at 1 and 2, yet again. It'll be interesting to see what happens with those two and East Providence all start to play each other in Division I. It starts this week when East Providence visits Barrington.

Apparently Middletown scoring 78 last week wasn't enough to move them any closer to the top 5. The Islanders still are holding strong at No. 7, the top team in Newport County. Tiverton has a chance to move way up the ladder this weekend if the Tigers can pull off a win over No. 6 Ponaganset.

After dropping consecutive games to two of the top three teams in the state, Portsmouth has a bye this week before getting thrown back into the fire with a game at Barrington on Oct. 16. The bad news is, the Patriots very well could lose a third straight. The good news is, they also could run the table after that with games against St. Ray's, Cranston West, North Kingstown and Rogers.


1. La Salle (6) 158 1
2. Barrington (2) 152 2
3. East Providence 145 5
4. West Warwick 124 6
5. South Kingstown 116 3
6. Ponaganset 102 9
7. Middletown 101 7
8. Mount Hope 100 10t
9. Cranston East 95 4
10. Portsmouth 94 8
11. Hendricken 80 13
12. Woonsocket 60 14
13. Lincoln 52 15
14. Cumberland 48 NR
15. Johnston 45 18
16. Cranston West 39 12
17. Tiverton 36 19
18. Westerly 35 10t
19. St. Raphael 25 17
20. Hope 21 NR
Others receiving votes: Moses Brown 13, Coventry 9, Classical 6, Mount Pleasant 4, Rogers 4, Shea 3, Tolman 2.
Participating publications: The Chariho Times, The Coventry Courier, The
Cranston Herald, The East Greenwich Pendulum, The Narragansett Times, The
Newport Daily News, The Northeast Independent, The North Kingstown
Standard Times, The South Country Independent, The Warwick Beacon, The
Westerly Sun.

Celtics' final night in Newport

The Boston Celtics are back home in Boston by now, but on Saturday night, they spent about a half hour entertaining a small crowd (mostly students) at Salve Regina University in Newport. The team closed its training camp with a couple of intra-squad scrimmages, which packed the Rodgers Recreation Center gym.

The first part of the scrimmage pitted the starters (Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and Kendrick Perkins), plus a couple of role players, against the second team (Eddie House, Marquis Daniels, Brian Scalabrine, Glen Davis and Rasheed Wallace). Wallace abused Perkins, scoring a game-high 10 points to lead the white team to a 15-10 win over the green.

Before the second scrimmage, the green made a trade for Wallace, House and Daniels, giving up J.R. Giddens and Shelden Williams. The white team's GM should be fired for that deal.

But it paid off for the green, as Wallace again was strong in his ratty sweatpants. He scored five points, including a two-handed dunk that drew one of the bigger cheers of the night. And House hit two late 3-pointers to secure a 23-12 win for the green.

And so ends another Celtics training camp in Newport. Hopefully they'll be back next year.