We hit 102 and 106 here in Gilbert on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. The pool temperature jumped eight degrees in just two days. No matter how you slice it, that’s hot weather. I just hope it’s not a harbinger of things to come this year.

Good thing the Red Sox and Yankees got rained out last night. That 15-9 loss on Saturday after the Sox were up 9-0 was as awful a display as anything I’ve seen from the Sox, even going back to last September’s historical swoon. As much as Bobby Valentine (Bobby V!) appears to be kind of a joke of a hire, at some point you have to start questioning Sox ownership and GM Ben Cherington. There’s something rotten inside that organization, and a good housecleaning come the All-Star break may be what is needed. I can’t imagine what the sports talk in Boston must be like!

I’ll admit I’m not much of a follower of the NBA, but I have to say that the whole culture of the game and how it is played these days is something that’s not very attractive to me. I’m going on skate on some thin ice here and risk being accused of a racism, but seeing a bunch of bulked-up millionaires (mostly African American, but there are white guys as well) with tattoos covering their bodies to me is gross to look at, and from a sporting spectacle not very interesting, either. I grew up watching and admiring Celtic teams featuring players from Bill Russell to John Havlicek to Satch Sanders and K.C and Sam Jones all the way to Robert Parrish, Cedric Maxwell, Kevin McHale, and Larry Bird, and it just doesn’t look like the same game.

Case in point, isn’t there some irony in someone who calls himself “Metta World Peace” (formerly Ron Artest) being ejected for a monster cheap shot elbow to the head of a fellow competitor? Here’s hoping that Mr. “World Peace” has a chance to spend some serious down time contemplating the concept of changing the world one act of kindness at a time.

Nothing like a good nor’easter to get the blood going. I wish I was hunkered down in some nice Colonial-style bed and breakfast in Newport, RI watching it all unfold. One like The Richards B & B sounds mighty inviting.