Lovely weather we're having here today. we had what they call a "wintery mix". That basically means that you get a bit of snow, a bit of rain and a bit of freezing rain that adds up to a major mess. I had to go into work today since we're in the middle of our year end close. The ride in was dry, but the ride home was interesting, to say the least. The Mass Pike was covered with slush and there were several accidents. I even saw a white minivan up ahead pull a 180 right on the highway. There's nothing more unnerving than suddenly seeing headlights facing you on your side of the road. Fortunately, the driver was OK and escaped with nothing more than a broken taillight. He even sped past me once he had recovered from the spin! Gee, do you think that driving too fast for the conditions might have had something to do with his problems in the first place?

I've rarely seen a bigger mountain made out of a molehill than the current controversey over the World Series ending ball. In case you haven't heard about this, Doug Mientkiewicz kept the ball thrown to him by Keith Foulke for the final out of the World Series. He had it authenticated by MLB right after the game, gave it to his wife to stick in her purse, then put it in his safe deposit box. The Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessey revealed this fact in his column yesterday, along with the fact that Red Sox CEO Larry Lucchino would like the ball back to display somewhere. Much sports radio generated controversey ensued.

My take? Baseball players have been bringing home souvenirs from games practically since the first diamond was laid down. No one ever says anything when a player keeps a ball or bat with which he hit a significant home run or pitched a no-hitter. What Mientkiewicz did appears to be in keeping with long standing baseball tradition. Even an MLB spokesman said the ball belonged to Doug, according to Shaughnessey's article.

In any event, Mientkiewicz said that he'd be happy to loan to ball out to display it to fans, as long as it was acknowledged that the ball belonged to him. So what's the problem?