It’s been a busy year and I haven’t been able to catch as many Red Sox games as I would have liked. Granted, the urgency has been diminished by two championships in the last four years after a near century of long-suffering from close calls and dramatic second-place denouements. The championship in 2004, which broke the slump, was highly cathartic and wonderfully expressed by this surprisingly sympathetic and understanding Nike (NKE) commercial. I cry every time I watch it. Since that 2004 campaign, I’ve watched the franchise grow in sophistication. …

I love this guy Sam Zell – he’s just so funny and sharp. Zell is the real estate investment billionaire who sold his Equity Office Properties Trust to the Blackstone Group for $39 billion in the early part of 2007. He recently bought the Tribune Company, owner of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. The company also owns the Chicago Cubs major league baseball franchise. Zell is known for using colorful language during press conferences and speaking very clearly and succinctly in a straightforward …