The first World of Warcraft Cinematic trailer set a bar that through today had been unmatched in my opinion.

With Warhammer Online receiving a massive amount of attention due to the lifting of the NDA in beta and it’s impending release I thought I’d offer up this.

The cinematic I just watched has raised the bar to a new level. This is, in my opinion, the best trailer, including Movies, I’ve ever seen.

At 4:31 I thought it might be too long but was left wanting more when it ended. I had some reservations about playing that are now gone. I’ll try it no matter what. Not because the movie is so cool, but because of the time and effort put into the cinematic that gives me hope the product will get the same love and attention.

Check it out here and how about that Squig Herder!

I was going to title this one “why we’re different” but I’m not from here.

This past week the New England area once again put itself on a pedestal with the WEEI Jimmy Fund Auction. Hoping beyond hope to raise an incredible 4 million dollars, you blew by that and almost topped 5 Million. When you consider ESPN does a nationwide fund raiser for Jimmy V that raises around 1 million dollars, well that’s just crazy.

Now you add the ‘little things”.

I’ve been a member of the SOSH community for a few years and a while back they took it upon themselves to raise money for a charity I am deeply involved in. This past week I had the honor of meeting the winners of the auction for a clubhouse tour as well as saying hi to the people that helped raise a stunning $63,091.80! This was basically done on an internet baseball fan forum.

Clears Cleaver and Kremlin Watcher both bid insane amounts of money on an auction to tour the clubhouse and chat for awhile. It was initially supposed to be one tour but the bid was high enough that both parties agreed to ’share’ the tour, so ALS won.

It’s what makes this place so different. I don’t know how much of a rush hanging out with me could honestly be but in the end that is not what matters. What mattered was that hard working Red Sox fans and good people ponied up their hard earned money to change the lives of people diagnosed with ALS, in much the same way hundreds of thousands of ‘fans’ ponied up 4.8 million dollars for the Jimmy Fund.

There will come a day in our lifetimes when cures are found, and being involved with these charities is a way to try and make sure that day is found before I have to hear those words “Your child has”, every parents nightmare.

Thanks again to everyone in NE and all of you rabid, obssessed and insane Sox fans at SOSH!

GOD BLESS EVERY ONE OF YOU!

First off I’d like to offer our deepest sympathies to the Trias family in Phoenix. Michael passed away yesterday of ALS. He was an incredible man who will be deeply missed.

I spent yesterday at Fenway catching up with most of the guys and having the honor and privelage to re-connect with some friends from Dana Farber and help out the EEI folks with the Jimmy Fund. Sat in on a panel with Ray Borque and Glenn Davis talking about playing here and winning, it was a lot of fun and there were some great questions.

The team looks fantastic and the change inside that clubhouse is palpable and tangible (if those two can go together?). Health and the Angels are the only two things I think can stop these guys from bringing home a world series title. I won’t discount Tampa, or any of the other AL teams but if this team stays healthy I’d have trouble seeing someone stop them come October.

Figuring whomever they match up with in round 1 they are up 1-0, because when the calendar turns you can toss the prior 6 months out and I’ll take Beckett over anyone short of Bob Gibson in October. Then I have zero issues with thinking it’s going to take some stud and a great game to beat Jon Lester in game 2. Should be interesting but I like these guys chances if they can stay healthy.

As for me, well my shoulder is getting better fast. Range of motion is improving greatly and pain is becoming less and less an issue. I’ve still got a rather lengthy amount of time before I decide anything.

My first thoughts a few weeks ago were that maybe I’d work to get healthy and shoot to try and make the WBC team, but I just don’t think that’s in the cards. Next I started thinking about the original plan of pitching the 2nd half of next season. Thing is, that urgency just is not there. I miss some things I didn’t think I would, and don’t miss many things I expected too.

As I stated yesterday the pendulum is swinging very heavily in the direction of it just being over. I’ve never sat around and not gotten ready to head to Florida, well not in 23 or so years anyway, so to me that will likely be the last real test for me and whether or not I want to put the time and effort into getting after it one more time.