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June 3, 2008
So I just got to the airport here in Baltimore and I’ve already received a few emails about the Red Sox calling up Chris Carter. Before I explain the situation a little better, let me first describe the horrific cab ride I just experienced.
This Baltimore cabby was wearing a Ravens’ Steve McNair jersey and told me that he was actually Steve McNair. After I gracefully declined his autograph and he found out I was from New England, he asked me if I was a Patriots fan. Fearing this guy would take me to the wrong airport if I gave him the wrong answer, I made the mistake of telling him I was a sports writer and had to be objective in my job.
“You’re a journalist?” he asked as he turned his head and was looking right at me in the back seat just as the cab was about to merge onto the highway.
I believe he was Jamaican and had this voodoo doll hanging from the rearview mirror. He asked me if I knew the meaning of ‘the pen is mightier than the sword?’
“Of course,” I told him.
He didn’t believe me and then this witch doctor slowed the cab down to about 45 MPH on the highway and began his rant.
He blamed me for the war in Iraq. He said something about Vietnam, but I couldn’t quite hear him because old-lady drivers in mini vans were flying past us on the right side. I tried to explain – again – that I’m a sports writer, but he didn’t want to hear it.
So, he switched his homily to baseball.
He told me it is my job to clean up the game. I should investigate Bud Selig, the players, and rid the game of steroids. I’m an easy-going guy. It’s take a lot for me to get aggravated. At this point I wanted to jump out of the cab. It’s not like I would have gotten hurt because we were going to damn slow anyway.
“You don’t think there is a steroid problem in the NFL?” I asked him.
“No,” he replied. “Not as bad as baseball. The biggest problem in football is marijuana.”
When we finally arrived at the terminal, he wouldn’t let me out of the cab until I began pulling on the handle at a furious rate so he would get the hint. He popped the trunk, grabbed my bags and before I could even pay him the $50 I owed him, he turned to some guy on the side walk and started an argument with him.
“Sorry, guy,” I said to him. “You’re on your own. I need to catch a flight.”
How ‘bout that for a taxi-cab confession?
I didn’t realize Steve McNair needed a job in the offseason as a philosopher, cab driver and witch doctor. As I post this my head will probably begin to shrink.
As far as the Sox calling up Chris Carter to Boston instead of Brandon Moss to replace the injured David Ortiz, it’s possible the club wants Moss to continue to play every day in Pawtucket because he’s playing so well right now. It wouldn’t make sense for him to sit in the dugout and only play sparingly.
The Red Sox will make four roster moves today. They will officially place Ortiz on the DL. They will activate Carter and pitcher Justin Masterson, who will start tonight. The final move will likely be sending Jeff Bailey back to Pawtucket.
That’s about it from the airport and it’s time to board.
--Joe McDonald
Posted by Joe McDonald 
at 1:08 PM | Permalink
Tom Clancy | June 3, 2008 4:04 PM link
Steve | June 3, 2008 11:07 PM link
They don't call it "Charm City" for the personalities. It's for the voodoo dolls.