Ted Komenda

Loyal Sox Fans,

Today is the most unfortunate day of the season. The Tampa Bay Rays defeated our home town Boston Red Sox last night in game 7 of the ALCS to end our season. The natural tendency today is to hang our heads in sorrow, to be stuck in a perpetual state of disbelief, and share with others our disappointment. However I think all of us can agree that the Sox this year gave us another great ride! The home town nine fought through serious injuries and adversity the past 6 months to still entertain us with good sound baseball. I think it is only natural at this time of year when the unthinkable happens, and we are done for the season, to look longingly toward the future and start to evaluate next years club. I must say the future looks promising. It seems Theo and his group will have plenty of money to spend on free agents and the pipeline of young talent already in the system is strong. Just take a minute to think about the fact that the Sox no linger have to pay Manny 20 million and Curt Schilling around 10 million. That should help us fill some possible holes! It will be interesting to see what the Sox end up doing with Jason Varitek, after all the loyalty and all of the intangibles he has I think his anemic batting average will probably show him the door. So on such a sad day spend some time looking forward to next years possibilities and remember THE YANKEES DIDN'T EVEN MAKE THE PLAYOFFS AND BASICALLY WHERE OUT OF CONTENTION ALL YEAR!!! If that doesn't bring a smile to your face today nothing will.

Go Sox in 2009

Ted

This weeks top ten.....

1. The dow lost 1800 points last week and gained back have of that on Monday. i know that the institutions were closed that day so it was primarily private buyers grabbing great deals. Yesterday the markets dropped overall with tech stocks pulling down the market. Today we are seeing the same kind of large triple digit losses that we saw last week and are back in the 8's at the moment. I had hoped we were nearing the bottom but now I just don't know....

2. The Sox are in serious trouble against the young upstart Rays. It doesn't help that in the first 3 games Ortiz, Varitek, Ellsbury, and Lowry were hitting a combined 0 for 40. Last night Wakefield made them look like they were hitting off a tee in the 2 and 2/3s innings he pitched. Again down 3 games to 1.

3. McCain is fading away in the polls and the minds of Americans. I wonder if now he regrets the sideshow of Sarah Palin.

4. I think this woman in Florida who presumedly killed her her daughter, Casey Anthony, should be taken out and shot! I find her total lack of emotion and some of her unabashed lingerie shopping sprees, while claiming to be out looking for her daughter, completely in the realm of a sociopath.

5. This past week the Cape, particularly Sesuit harbor, was visited by a manatee. Dennis, as they named him was in Cape Cod waters for more than a week, the farthest north a manatee had ever been reported. Unfortunately when they tried to transport him to Sea World Orlando he died. A sad ending to a cool story!

6. Real Estate seems to have come to a stop while everyone waits to see how the "Rescue Plan" is going to play out. Just what we needed....

7. Tony Romo and the "Boys" are in trouble. Romo out for a four week stint with a broken pinkie finger, Felix Jones is out iindefinitely with a torn hamstring, Matt McBriar out with a broken foot, and best of all the experiment with Adam "Pacman" Jones seems to be over since he has been suspended for a minimum of four weeks for violations of the probation Roger Goddell set forward. Storm clouds are brewing in Texas!!!

8. Get out your winter clothes because here in the North East its coming. However I do think its way to early for stores to be talking about Christmas!

9. California is again suffering from wild fires that have displaced thousands. Did anyone see the wind conditions yesterday. How do you fight fires when the wind is blowing over 40 knots and the fire is traveling faster than some cars? I wish them luck fortunately or unfortunately they've fought this battle before and have a few tricks.

10. How exciting was it that a Blue Whale was sighted just off of Nantucket. Typically the Blue Whale is rarely seen and definitely not in New England waters so it was truly an exceptional moment. There were some old time Nantucket locals that I'm sure were thinking of a Nantucket Sleigh Ride!

Enjoy the week and SELL SELL SELL

Well here we go again! It seems like the Red Sox are not playing their best unless they are way down in the ALCS. In years past I have had a strong sense that the Sox could beat any team in the league. I still feel this way, but this year I think there luck may run out. The Tampa Bay Rays have the feeling of a team of destiny similiar to the 69 Miracle Mets. These young kids on the Rays aren't intimidated by anything. Every time I thought they would fail they didn't. I was at the game on Monday and my neck still hurts from watching homer after homer off the bats of the Rays. On the grand stage of the ALCS and at Fenway the Rays were undeterred. The Sox are left with another long uphill battle on their hands which I don't see them winning, but we still hold out hope here in Red Sox Nation.

As I sit here and contemplate my financial future and watch the stock market continue to fall (down 746.61 at the time of writing this) I can only think of a comment made on 60 MINUTES by an economist who said, "Bernacke and Greenspan have done a great job containing this economic situation to planet Earth." Today after checking the markets world wide and seeing the same sell off everywhere, I at 8am I had a pretty good idea what was going to happen today! I understand that the European markets have already started implementing there own versions of our "bailout" and almost all are Federally insuring individuals bank accounts up to certain amounts. As the credit crunch increases and prices of most stocks and commodities continues to fall (except for gold which is going through the roof), OPEC is now considering reducing oil production to stabilize its market. Typically I would understand this move but I was really hoping for a decrease in oil prices, which would have helped many Americans in the coming winter and now by allowing gas prices to continue to fall. However, it is a dog eat dog world out there and I shouldn't be surprised by this move. I understand the Fed is brokering the Wachovia deal between CitiGroup and Wells Fargo which probably means nothing will get done as the Fed wants the two companies to split up Wachovia, doubtful, but maybe I'm wrong. It certainly is a tumultuous time and I have been saddened to watch the dramatic effects on peoples 401Ks and I hope everyone understands the ramifications of these tremendous losses particularly on our older generations. Many who had or were near the age of retirement no longer will be able to afford to do so. I think of my own parents hope they get the chance to enjoy their golden years like their parents before them, but recently I am beginning to wonder. I can only imagine how they feel! Good luck out there and remember if you invest wisely and don't over extend your means you'll survive!

I am very interested to see what everyone in the activerain community feels about this prospective Federal Buyout. I understand that there may not be enough information out there to make a truly educated decision as it seems Congress keeps reshaping the proposed legislation. Perhaps if we can comment on the overall idea of the government buying all of the toxic debt off the hands of banks large and small. I think this could make for an interesting discussion. To throw my hat into the ring, I feel that though it is not the responsibility of the American taxpayers to bail out businesses that are failing due to poor decisions, it is the responsibility of Government (officials elected by the taxpayers) to step in and protect the overall greater good. By this I mean that if the government believes that the economy is on the brink of collapse, it show do what it must to save the country from a major crisis. Let me know what you think....

Ted Komenda