Welcome to the Linebacker Youth Movement

I love sports, I really do. I am writing with this purpose in mind, to disseminate my passion, knowledge, and opinion on sports stories to anyone who wants to read it. I appreciate the overarching national scope of sports, yet most entries will center their attention on aspects relevant to the New England sports fan, as this is where my personal allegiances lie (more on that below). I expect most posts to be concise, dealing with one topic, and pretty linear, although some will undoubtly end up being rather lengthy. I envision the Linebacker Youth Movement to be a place where people can express their thoughts on the topics I bring up in an open forum, much like the Senate of the Roman Republic. I will be your loyal messenger and representative, much like Cicero, bringing things to your attention that you'll probably want to know.



What are my qualifications, you may ask. The next couple paragraphs will fill you in a little...

Born in 1985, (three days before the Patriots' first ever playoff victory (@ the Jets of all places)) I grew up twenty minutes west of Boston in Acton, Massachusetts. My father immigrated from Italy to the United States a year before I was born, so there was not much sports talk (other than 'calcio' of course) in my house while growing up. With the help of my elementary school classmates, however, my obsession over the Patriots developed rapidly, long before the astounding success of the last decade. The 1996 season was my first watching each and every game, of course ending with a surprise Super Bowl appearance (thank you, Jacksonville Jaguars). In tenth grade, my passion for the mediocre hometeam was borderline laughable; all of my history class notes were doodled upon with the Patriots schedule, roster, helmets, what have you, even when they were 0-2 coming off of a distressing 5-11 campaign. Come playoff time, I was writing "Fader the Raiders", "Peel the Steel" and (the oh-so unoriginal) "Slam the Rams" on as many chalkboards throughout my high school as possible. From that Ty Law pick six to that damn David Tyree anti-miracle, the Pats had quite the run. But its a new era looking forward (starting with Jerod and the rest of the Linebacker Youth Movement), and I am even more excited for this upcoming year than any I can remember. With 'Ra-Ra-Ra-Rexy and the Jets' thinking that their fantasy football team will have actual success (I read today that Jet fans polled on ESPN think they are going 15-1, only losing to the Pats at Gillette), the storylines will be fascinating. How is Tomlinson better than Thomas Jones? Oh, he's not. There will be lots of Patriots talk to come.

I was a senior in high school when the Sox lost the '03 ALCS to Aaron Boone and Co. My random quote in the yearbook was still "Ooorrrtttiiiiiizzzz" (what if Grady Little didn't pinch run for him in the 8th? Does he smash one out his next at bat? Does he eat a small child celebratoraly as he circles the bases?) The next year I was a first semester freshman at Syracuse University, and my supposed mancrush on David Ortiz was no longer a laughing matter, as you may remember the events of that October. Seeing the comeback of the millennium on rather neutral Central New York turf, I wouldn't have traded it for anything. I know ZooMass had their ludicrous riots and everything on a much larger scale, but there were more than enough instances of reckless behavior in upstate New York to satisfy the large contingent of Sox fans going to school up there. Syracuse is probably 30% Yankees, 30% Sox, 20% Mets, 20% other baseball fanbase-wise. One of my fraternity brothers was even a hardcore fan of both New York baseball teams (yeah, that doesn't make sense to anyone) so the arbitrary numbers I just made up may not be entirely accurate.


That's it for now. Next time we'll delve into the playoff runs for the B's and C's, Syracuse Lacrosse or something like that. Thanks for reading, and leave some feedback if there's ever anything you'd like to say. Peace.