Anything You Want.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Friends in High Places.

I'm beginning to think that there are Red Sox fans among the people who write the questions for Jeopardy! (Or, at least, people who dislike the Yankees, which is every sensible person in the world.) On today's show, for example, there was a category devoted entirely to Yankee failures. And while it may be petty, stories of Yankee failure make me glad. The questions (for your reveling pleasure):

$400: "Next year" finally came to this team's fans in 1955, when its "bums" finally beat the Yanks in the series for the first time in six tries.

$800: The Yankees lost Game 7 of the 1926 World Series when this portly gent was thrown out trying to steal second base.

$1200: A "big red machine" from this city ran right over the Yankees in a four-game sweep of the 1976 World Series.

$1600: In 2004 this team came back from a 3-games-to-0 deficit and beat the Yanks for the A.L. pennant; revenge gets no sweeter.

$ 2000: This ace L.A. lefty dominated the Yanks in the 1963 World Series, striking out 23 and beating them twice in a 4-game sweep.

*Contented sigh*

Living with Lackey.

(AP Photo)

John Lackey may have not endeared himself to the Fenway Faithful with his performance this past season but since he's likely stuck with us, the Lackey clan is putting down roots. Specifically, $2 million worth of roots at 334 Beacon St. It feels necessary to point out that I am not really the stalking type and he needn't worry about me.

Won't Somebody Please Think of the Children?

The New Stars for Young Stars Jimmy Fund event has been scheduled for January 15, 2011. Scheduled to attend are: Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Ryan Kalish, Darnell McDonald, Daniel Nava, Will Middlebrooks, Jeremy Hazelbacker, and former best beloved Bill Mueller.

Silver Sox.

Congratulations go out to Adrian Beltre for winning the Silver Slugger Award. It was well deserved after the year he had. I really did enjoy watching him play.

Fire Joe Morgan.

Fantastic news that has made my day: Joe Morgan's contract has not been renewed by ESPN and Jon Miller has been asked to move to the radio.

Flying Away.

Pawtucket manager Torey Lovullo has been hired as the Toronto Blue Jays' new first base coach. Also, Brian Daubach has been hired to manage the Nationals' low-A affiliate, the Hagerstown Suns. Good for both of them.

On Debt and My Oddball Childhood.

A few of my oddball tendencies can be explained away by the fact that my Dad was an accountant who wanted to teach his children fiscal responsibility. He literally had us investing our allowances when we were eight: there was the shorter-term investment where you could get your money out of the Bank of Dad anytime you wanted but for every week you left it in there you got an extra dime and there was the longer investment where he kept your allowance for a month but at the end of the month you got a fifty cent return on your dollar. When I started earning babysitting money he taught me how to write a budget and how to fill in a general journal. And by the time I was in high school I could read and discuss (always important to my Dad) a company's financial statements. If I had the time, I think that I could be a fairly competent financial adviser.

So, I understand that liabilities aren't necessarily a bad thing; sometimes you have to borrow money to make money--every once in awhile the interest on notes from the Bank of Mom was significantly lower than the interest paid out by the Bank of Dad and so it only made sense to borrow money from BoM to invest with BoD. (I did mention that they were both accountants, didn't I?) But when John Henry tells the Daily Mirror's football section: "The New York Yankees are $3.5 billion in debt..." it makes my head spin just a little bit.

I don't know how he would be privy to that information or if he's just making up numbers to impress his new English peeps but 3,500,000,000 is a very big number. I understand how they can carry that much debt but it's still an astounding amount.

Good Eats.

(Getty Images)

On January 21, Ryan Kalish will be headlining the Portland Sea Dogs Hot Stove Dinner in South Portland. The dinner raises money for Strike Out Cancer in Kids.

Kalish seems like an incredibly decent young man and a fine ballplayer. If your options are Crawford, Werth, or muddle through for a while and then bring up Kalish, I'd go with Kalish.

More Papi.

(Getty Images)

David Ortiz will be around for at least another year as he has had his 2011 option picked up. I like it. Are they over paying? Absolutely. But none of the other DH-types out there are David Ortiz and none of them have his cachet. And despite his April, David had a good year last year.

I do hope that he doesn't complain about only getting one year, though. It's hard to like a whiner, especially one making $12.5 million. And besides, if he thought the past two years were rough, can you imagine the crap he'd have to deal with if he got himself a couple of years and then struggled again? The media would have a field day with tearing him down.