My predictions were way off for the most part in the American League. This is why I love baseball. You can look all the statistics and projections. You can pour over all the data. And it won’t make a difference until the teams hit the field. I had Tampa Bay winning the AL East and currently they are fourth. The Red Sox are second and I had them losing the division. Detroit is doing very well in the AL Central but aren’t winning the division yet, which I had predicted. The team I thought would struggle in their division, the Texas Rangers for the AL West, have flourished and are leading the division while the rest of the division struggles. That was bad. My award predictions for the American League aren’t going at all well. Wil Myers who I had picked for my American League Rookie of the Year has been stuck in Triple A. Mike Trout has actually performed very well. He’s not the MVP yet and he needs to do a lot better if he should win. But his team, the Los Angeles Angels, has been downright awful. Once the Angels heat up-assuming they heat up-Trout’s numbers will rise. As for the Cy Young, I predicted that Justin Verlander would win, but he hasn’t been totally lights out.

My National League predictions were a lot better. Three of the teams I had making the playoffs are succeeding. The other three teams are still very deep into the hunt. The Atlanta Braves are winning the division currently, which is better than I had expected. I thought that they would be a Wild Card team at best. The defending World Series Champions, the San Francisco Giants are in the hunt for a Wild Card sport. I was correct in my belief that I had the St. Louis Cardinals winning their division and the Cincinnati Reds claiming a Wild Card spot. I was wrong when I predicted Matt Kemp would win the MVP for the National League. The Dodgers offense has struggled this year and they are in last place. Kemp is hitting just .265 with one home run. Oops. On the other hand, I thought Clayton Kershaw would win the NL Cy Young and I pleased to say that this prediction may very well come true. Kershaw is 4-2 with a 1.40 ERA. It’s not a done deal, but Kershaw will remain in the hunt, provided he stays healthy and his team can get him some run support.

Now to the Red Sox grades,

Jacoby Ellsbury-D+; I honestly think Jacoby Ellsbury is the second carnation of Brady Anderson, only more disappointing. I expect Jacoby to be gone after this season and I won’t miss his inconsistency at all. Ellsbury is hitting .240 with one home run. These numbers are inexcusable for somebody with his talent. It appears his 30 homer season from 2011 is all but a distant memory for the fans and the player himself.

Shane Victorino-B; Victorino has done exactly what I wanted him to do. He hits, gets on base and scores runs. He doesn’t have a very loud bat but I’ll take his .280 average any day of the week.

Dustin Pedroia-B+; I wish Pedroia had a couple more home runs but that’s because I know that the stupid fans who vote for the All Star game only focus on the home run numbers rather than who actually deserve it. Pedroia’s been on a terror this year, hitting over .340 with over twenty runs batted in. June is usually Pedroia’s month so I expect him to heat up even more over the coming weeks. He has also played stellar defense.

David Ortiz-A+; Ortiz has been producing since he came off the DL with a fire. He has .364 average and has six home runs. I have been shocked by how well Ortiz has performed. He’s been one of the most consistent hitters this far and I would not be surprised at all to see Ortiz at this year’s All Star Game.

Mike Napoli-A-; Napoli would get a solid A if he wasn’t such a streaky player. But he was the best offensive player for the Red Sox during the month of April and as such he deserves the grade. Napoli is only hitting about .260, but he has made it count when he needs to. He hits in a ton of guys home and carried the team when Ortiz was injured

Will Middlebrooks-C-; Middlebrooks’ has struggled offensively. While he has hit for a lot of power, he has struggled to make consistent contact. He’ll bounce back though and I still believe he’ll finish with 30 home runs.

Daniel Nava B; Great job for Daniel Nava. Great guy. Great story. Kid had no chance for years and now is a key member to the Red Sox’s success. You can’t write a better story for this kid.

Other members of the Red Sox including Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Johnny Gomes have also proved to be effective members of the club.

Starting pitching: A-; I can’t believe how good this starting pitching has been overall. Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester have regained their ace-like abilities and are the most dangerous 1-2 punch in baseball right now. John Lackey has come out of nowhere posting a decent 3.31 ERA, incredible for a pitcher that was the worst in baseball during 2011 and injured during 2012. Felix Doubront has not impressed me but he never really has. Ryan Dempster proves to be a very solid number three starting pitcher.

Bullpen: B-; Some of the bullpen has been spectacular, others have not. Losing Joel Hanrahan for the year hurts the bullpen because Hanrahan has the talent to succeed if he’s healthy. The rest of the bullpen has picked up most of the slack and proves to be a solid addition to the team.

The Sox are doing great overall. Let’s hope that they keep this up.

This is the fiftieth post I have written for the Bangor Daily News since I started blogging last March. It seems unreal to me that I have been able to do this. I had a small little blog in high school with Google. It was me going on and on about the John Bapst Crusaders sports teams, primarily the track and cross-country teams because those were the teams that my friends were on.

Over three thousand people have seen this blog and that is absolutely shocking to me. I started this blog to get experience with my journalism. Now, I’m halfway done with my degree and can’t wait to see what happens next. In the year and a bit since Campbell’s Corner began, I have made friends, lost friends, hired and promoted, worked on an election news team and so much more. It seems fitting that I should thank everybody who helped me along the way. To anybody who has been there this past year, thank you. To the wonderful bloggers at the Bangor Daily News, thank you. The past fifty posts were fun and I can’t wait to write fifty more.

Now, let’s talk about some other things for the time being that I will go much more in detail with over the next several days and likely several weeks. The summer movie season has begun. I need to get on it. I still need to see Iron Man 3 and I want to see the new Star Trek movie. I’m not a movie critic by any means and Joel Talks Movies does a better job than I can. Still, opinions always vary and it’s good to get other ideas out there. I’ll be posting a few reviews over the coming weeks and maybe a throwback to some underappreciated summer films, i.e., Super 8. In the sports world, many things are going on that are causing an unhealthy rise in my blood pressure. The Boston Bruins are going into playoff action and once again, I am up late screaming at my television. The Boston Red Sox have been a huge surprise to me this year. How the Red Sox pulled off one of their best Aprils in club history is a shock, but really it shouldn’t be. The reason behind the success of the Sox so far? Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz. More on that later. I’ll also talk about national politics and some local politics including this wonderful grading system. I know, everyone’s talked to death about this but I need to get my two cents in. So that’s that. Post Number 50 is nothing but a cop-out to my future blogging. So, keep reading the blog and comment below about what else I should talk about and let’s keep this ball rolling.

As a Christian, I am expecting things will get hard for you Jason. He will be called names. He will be screamed at and taunted. This will be wrong but other people will rise up and stand by you. I personally welcome you coming out with open arms. I will pray for Jason Collins. Not for him to ‘find God’ and give up this ‘lifestyle.’ I pray for Collins to find his acceptance in this league.

What will be interesting to see is if other players follow Collins’ lead. I think some will. But people are still going to be scared. It’s a scary world to come out in. Sports. People always think of sports being the tough, nitty-gritty world free where you have to be tough and not show other emotions or feelings. On the contrary, I love it when people show emotion on the field. It shows me how much they care. At the end of the day, Jason Collins is out. He will be facing a mountain.

I started becoming a bit more of a cinephile once I graduated high school and entered college. I just have this love for film and I think that Roger had a lot to do with that. I started reading some of his older reviews and of movies that I saw that I liked or disliked. I also started reading some of his blog posts on various other topics. What I really liked about Roger is that he was hysterical. His reviews were often very well written and had this humor to them that a lot of reviewers don’t have. He had this wit and vast knowledge of film. I also liked his blogs because Ebert, unlike so many other celebrities of his caliber would actually respond to his fans comments. Ebert was the classiest of the class. While I think of all his reviews, it is horrifying for me to think that he won’t be there when the next great movies come out. He won’t get to review the next classic that people will still be talking about fifty, even one hundred, years from now.

Ebert has had a wonderful life. Ebert stared his career young and after receiving his degree from the University of Chicago, started writing in 1967 for the Chicago Sun Times. One paper. For almost fifty years. He started a show for the local television station in 1975. Three years later, he was joined by Gene Siskel and the show went national until Siskel’s death. He later was part of Roeper and Ebert which lasted for ten years. He and Siskel trademarked the term “Thumbs Up.”

Cherished by millions, he battled cancer bravely for over a decade. For the past seven years, Ebert had lost the ability to speak. Ebert then shifted his  presence to his website rogerebert.com where I started following him in 2011. Ebert was also a smart man, predicting in 2004, that Barack Obama would be a very important person for the country in the years to follow. Called that one, Rog.

Ebert had an outstanding career. Over seven thousand reviews, countless hours spent watching movies, and a legacy that will live on as long as they will be making movies. I would like to end with two quotes. One from Ebert, one from Apple.

“If a movie is really working, you forget for two hours your Social Security number and where your car is parked. You are having a vicarious experience. You are identifying, in one way or another, with the people on the screen.” ~Roger Ebert~

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify, or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the ones crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.-Apple

Thanks for everything Roger. You will be never be gone.

‘Our Town’ was written by Thorton Wilder in 1938. The play won a Pulitzer when it was performed on Broadway. The play is currently celebrating its 75th anniversary.  I remember reading ‘Our Town’ and watching a dramatization of the play during my senior year of high school. It was one of the last assignments from my English class. I remember that I enjoyed the play.

For anybody who hasn’t heard of this play, the Stage Manager-who serves as the narrator-tells the story of a fictional tiny town in New Hampshire called Grover’s Corners. The story tells of George Gibbs and Emily Webb, a couple who falls in love. The first act tells of how daily life in the town, the second act focuses on the wedding of George and Emily and I’m not going to give away the third act because that would be inconsiderate.

First the bad: Okay, it’s a high school performance. Stuttering on lines is alright. But I think one thing they should have realized is how big the auditorium and the new stage are. I was sitting in the third row and some of the actors didn’t carry their voice long enough so it was a little hard to hear in places. But, really these are nitpicks. A bigger problem I had with this play is that it had very few props. I felt that they could have done more. The paper boy could have at least had some newspapers.

The good: I am very pleased to say I was impressed with the acting of several of the leading actors. Megan Morin, who played Emily Webb, the leading female character, gave an incredible performance in the third act. Ethan Casavant, who portrayed George Gibbs, gave a great performance as well. One of the things I realized about this play is how well it came together. For instance, after the first act, I was feeling slightly underwhelmed. I was also pleased by Edward Albert’s portrayal of Howie Newsome, the town’s milkman. One thing I realized about this play is how much it is foreshadowing my life. My cousin will be getting married next summer and the play started hitting close to home in the middle of the second act. Morgan Springer as the Stage Manager also put in a good performance.

I have seen three high school plays that I can honestly remember. First, in my senior year, I saw John Bapst’s portrayal of Beauty and the Beast. Last year, I saw John Bapst’s version of Grease. Now that I have seen what Hampden can do, this is how I would rank it. It is a bit harder to rank Our Town because it was not a musical, but I will give it a try. Hampden’s portrayal of Our Town was very good. It was not anywhere near as good as Beauty and the Beast was, but was a lot better than the rushed version of Grease I sat through last year. If you haven’t seen the play yet, I would recommend it. My showing was not even 3/4 full and I find that very disappointing. This play is better than that. The show starts again tonight at 7:00 at the Hampden Academy Performing Arts Center.

I am personally very pleased to see the Pope coming from South America and that the Catholic Church has replaced Pope Benedict XVI. I am not Catholic. I want to make that perfectly clear. I am not, nor have I ever been, a Catholic. I am been to exactly one Catholic Mass. I went in the summer of 2012. It was at a time of my life where I wasn’t exactly feeling love from my former church, the Community Church of the Open Door. I felt I needed a break. To try something new. It took a while to decide on anything because I work a lot of Sunday mornings. I decided at some point to try a Catholic Mass. It’d been in the back of my head for months. I had several friends from high school who are Catholic. I have to say that I have never seen more legitimate faith than from some of my friends who were Catholic. The Mass I went to was at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, one of the branches of the St. Paul the Apostle Parish. It was one of the strangest, yet oddly illuminating, experiences of my entire life. This Church made feel quite at home. I may have one or two things wrong. In fact, I think I probably did everything wrong. But I liked it. I liked the way the music was. Normally, I absolutely hate hymns. But that day, that one time, I felt quite at home while doing it. Maybe doing it sporadically is the way to go. All due respect to Church of the Open Door, the music is the same every week. The message was incredible. It told the story of how nobody seemed to really care what Jesus supposedly was doing when he returned to his hometown. I liked that. I liked the way the priest treated his congregation. Sure it was way more formal than I was used to. But I liked it. It was my first Mass and I really did enjoy it. I’m not saying that I’m about to join the Catholic Church. But I will always remember that Mass. I will always remember the excellent friendships I had with my Catholic friends when I was in school.

There are several things I would like to see from Pope Francis I. When I went back to my old high school to interview my old chemistry teacher for a project regarding Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation, my teacher, Mrs. Lammert, said that she wanted to see the Pope bring Catholics home. This Pope has already made himself quite popular. On the night he was elected, Pope Francis took the bus with the cardinals back to the hotel to gather his bags. He used to take the bus to get his groceries when he was serving in Argentina. This is exactly what I think the Church needs. They need a Pope, who can bring Catholics and non-Catholics together. The Church’s reputation will never be restored thanks to the sex scandals. But it can heal. And I think Pope Francis is the man to do it. Good luck Pope Francis. May God bless you for many years.

1) Oakland: This is my prediction that I am least confident in, sorry to say. The Oakland As shocked everybody and their grandmother last summer by going on this insane stretch during the second half of the season, sweeping the Texas Rangers in the last series of the season to win their division. They eventually lost to the Detroit Tigers in five games but put on one of the best shows in recent memory. The thing is Oakland does not have any real superstars. They had excellent rookie pitching and a do-it-all offense focused on getting on base, with everyone playing to their strengths. The Athletics have been very patient. They have waited years for this moment. They made trades that worked out great, acquiring Josh Reddick for Andrew Bailey d some that didn’t-trading Carlos Gonzalez to the Rockies. The key to the Athletics success will lie in patience, confidence and a little luck. But this roster is almost identical to the one that won the division last year. New additions will fill holes the roster had last year-Jed Lowrie for the infield, Chris Young for the outfield. I expect the Athletics to win the division and would love to see them make a deep run into the playoffs.

2) Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim-I know, I went on and on about this offense in my opening paragraph. And you know what? Offenses don’t win championships. Pitching does. And the Angels don’t have enough pitching. Jared Weaver is a great pitcher, ace material, threw a no-hitter last year and is a contending Cy Young candidate year after year. CJ Wilson is an excellent number 2 starter. Apart from that, the Angels are lacking in the pitching department. They have Tommy Hanson, but who knows how he’ll do in a new league. The Angels’ pitching staff will be their downfall this year, but they will be very exciting to watch on offense. I look forward to what they can do.

3) Texas Rangers-Oh, how the mighty have fallen. The Rangers blew it last year, losing four straight games to the Athletics to close the season. Thus, they had to play a one-game, winner-take-all match-up with the Baltimore Orioles to see who would play in the American League Division Series. Then, they lost Josh Hamilton to the Angels because their fans are too idiotic to recognize that even the great Hambone is mortal. Then, Nelson Cruz is likely facing suspension because of being on the Miami clinic list. So, where do we go from here? Actually, the Rangers still have a few good pieces. Yu Darvish, Matt Harrison and Colby Lewis make up a good 1-2-3 order for their pitching staff. Elvis Andrus is an excellent shortstop and Adrian Beltre is defying his age by continuing his career revival at third base. Ian Kinsler, despite the numerous injuries, is the third best second baseman in the league. Texas will be good. But there is not enough where it is needed to win in this league.

4) Seattle Mariners-The Seattle Mariners have an excellent pitcher. The Seattle Mariners have a good young catcher. And that’s it. Felix Hernandez and Jesus Montero are good. Great even. Heck, Felix is the second best in the league I’d say. But that is not enough. The Mariners have no pitching apart from Felix. Charlie Furbush, God love him, is average. As much as I love seeing somebody from Maine pitch in the majors, he is not that good. Offensively, the Mariners have Kendrys Morales, who is a welcome addition but still it is not enough. The Mariners are just glad Team Number Five joined the division so they won’t finish in dead last again.

5) Houston Astros-Oh God, there’s nothing to say. The Astros are a terrible team. They don’t have anything going for them. Their pitching staff is the worst joke in the long, sad history of bad jokes. They have Chris Carter for their offense and he hasn’t played a full season yet. This is going to be one of the worst seasons ever for a baseball team. If the Astros don’t suffer their worst record for the third consecutive season, it will be a miracle.

The AL Central is a one team race. It’s the Tigers and everybody else. Clearly, the Indians and the Royals are getting closer but the Twins are a joke and the White Sox aren’t good enough to beat the Tigers. So, going more in depth:

1) Detroit Tigers: This is a joke. Really, the Tigers are easily the best team in the division. Justin Verlander is the best pitcher on the planet, the galaxy and quite possible the dimensions. He is the runner-up to the AL Cy Young Award and is still only 30 years old. This guy is the legit pitcher. I have never seen anybody like this guy. Verlander is a serious threat to throw a no-hitter every time he steps on that mound. And the Tigers also have Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera did nothing last year except win a little something called the Triple Crown. He was rewarded with the MVP. The Tigers also have Prince Fielder and Max Scherzer. There is no reason why the Tigers shouldn’t be playing October baseball. Though he’s past his prime, it’ll be good to see Torii Hunter in action for an excellent team.

2) Cleveland Indians: No this is not a joke. I think the Indians are going to surprise a lot of teams this year. They have a new manager: Terry Francona. What did Franconca do the first year he was with a new team? He won the World Series. The Indians are not the 2004 Red Sox. Everything will need to go right. The good news for the Indians is that they have potential in pitching. Justin Masterson is not an ace, but he is solid. He was terrible last year, but he has the stuff. Chris Perez is a good closer and he will hopefully get over this arm issue he just got during Spring Training. Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn and Mark Reynolds will lead the offense. Swisher is a good outfielder, not fantastic-but he is a great clubhouse guy. Mark Reynolds hits home runs….and that’s about it. Michael Bourn hits decently and runs like the wind. The Indians are legitimate threats but are a pitcher or two away.

3) Chicago White Sox: The White Sox are good. But the Indians got better. The White Sox has an average offense. They have Paul Konerko at first base. But that’s not enough. The White Sox have a good pitcher in Chris Sale, because some genius decided that he shouldn’t be wasting his life in the bullpen. Jake Peavey has surprised a lot of people, but I think he will continue to do well in the AL Central. Apart from that, the White Sox are an average team at best.

4) Kansas City Royals: The Kansas City Royals are going to be a good team. Not a great team, but a good one. Problem is the Indians are going to be too good that Kansas City will not be able to compete this year. But the Royals do have some great players. Billy Butler is a great DH. James Shields will anchor the pitching staff. Ervin Santana, I am predicting to have a bounce back year with a new change of scenery. Offensively, Mike Moustakas will continue to mature at catcher. The Royals have solid players at the rest of the positions but no superstars. The Royals will finish above .500 this year.

5) Minnesota Twins: How does a team with Joe Mauer suck so much? If the team has nothing else. The Twins have no offense other than Mauer and Josh Willingham. Both are good, but neither is great. Justin Mourneau has been injured for the majority of the last two years. The Twins have an dreadful pitching staff. Look on the bright side Minnesota…you still have….nothing. Sorry.

The Bangor Daily News has recently been scrutinized for publishing an editorial in which the paper states that they would be requesting the names and addresses of the concealed gun permit holders from the police departments across the state. The request has now been rescinded. However, many people have called for a boycott of the paper in light of this. To them, I say, why? Why? Why are you boycotting a right guaranteed by the First Amendment?

The Bangor Daily News has every right to request this information from the police. It’s called the Freedom of Information Act. The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, allows journalists to recover information. In fact, the FOIA website states that ‘The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) is a law that gives you the right to access information from the federal government. It is often described as the law that keeps citizens in the know about their government.’ Further, the First Amendment in the United States Constitution says that Americans are given the freedom of the press. Therefore, the paper has every right, not only to request the information, but to print whatever they see fit. The paper should not only write stories on what the readers deem worthy. That’s not journalism.

If a person fills out the paperwork for a concealed weapons permit, then that information is public record. It’s not the paper’s fault that the information can be obtained with the Freedom of Information Act. If you want to take it up with somebody, take it up with your local representative. But don’t blame the writers of the Bangor Daily News for doing their jobs.

The paper states that they had no plans to release the information found to the public. Why should we believe anything different? I haven’t seen the opposition give any tangible evidence that the paper had any other plans to use the concealed weapons information other than for the story they were writing. Again I say, the paper wanted to use the information regarding a story they were writing. It seems strange that a paper would be boycotted just because they were following the law. The people are demanding the paper be reprimanded for the request are practicing censorship.