Bowden, Beckett, blog

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I'll admit I feared the worst when it came to the state of Josh Beckett's elbow, mainly because he seemed terribly concerned, and he doesn't exactly strike me as someone with a low pain threshold. I was pretty much braced to hear this old lefty's name grimly referenced after Beckett's visit to Dr. James Andrews, so today's reassuring news that his elbow is structurally sound might go down as the most important single development in Sox' season. Beckett's importance in this team's championship quest cannot be overstated. I hope the Red Sox play well enough in his absence that he can take his time until he feels healthy enough to come back and pitch like he did last October.

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My wife, who obviously knows a cool cat when she sees one, wondered out loud after reading my post yesterday (and checking out this photo) as to what the great Oscar Gamble might look like today. Well, here you go. The famous 'fro has gone the way of disco, but we all should look so good at 58.

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As for the sort-of announcement: You know how I'm always saying I'm going to write more, then like Don Draper blowing off Betty's pot roast, I disappear without an explanation? Well, this time I mean it, baby. I am going to write more - every stinkin' day, Monday through Friday, as a matter of fact. The difference this time is that this blog is now an actual part of my job, and not something I throw together in a semi-conscious state at 2:30 a.m. after putting together the mind-numbing Fan's Guide for eight hours. Starting Tuesday, I'll be sliding over to Boston.com full-time in the new position of sports news reporter. My main duties, as I understand them now, will be to make sure the site doesn't miss a thing when it comes to reporting that day's relevant Boston sports news, whether it's aggregating national links, writing quick-hit stuff myself, or filling in the gaps when our beat writers are swamped. I'll be busy, but I'll also have a good amount of time each day to write this silly blog. As you might have figured, it's pretty much my dream job - actually, hell, I never even dared to dream of this - and I can't wait to get going. I feel like the quality my work is going to increase exponentially - I'm eager to do more stuff like this Celtics piece, big-picture stuff I've rarely had the time to do before - and I'm glad to say that finally, I'll also be as dependable as I wished I could have been all along. So thanks for sticking with me. I think you'll like where this thing is headed.