Don't Dream It's Over

Members of a pair of my favorite bands have been channeling Peaches and Herb this winter, rejoining forces after lengthy hiatuses (hiatii?) in a sure-to-be successful effort to separate me from my hard-earned cash. The worn cliché reminds us that all things happen in threes, and fate would have it, a reunion of a different sort is percolating on Yawkey Way. I’m far less sanguine about the latter case of getting the band back together.

The Police, absent the rock scene since 1984’s Synchronicity tour, are rumoured to be patching things up in honour of the 30th anniversary of the release of ‘Roxanne’. (Pretentious British spellings in the previous sentence brought to you by Sting’s ego, the primary reason the world was deprived of 20 more years of The Police.) The day before I found out about the possibility of this tour, I told a colleague that I’d pay $500 for the chance to see The Police in concert – guess I’d better start saving some of that paycheck.

Less well known than The Police, though brilliant in their own way, Crowded House took their leave of the world music stage in late 1996 (and waited until just now to release the live recording of their final concert). After drummer Paul Hester’s suicide in 2005, the prospects for Neil Finn and bassist Nick Seymour to reprise their perfectly-crafted hooks in front of a live audience seemed bleak. Cut to January 2007, when the lads announced that they’ll be playing April’s Coachella festival as part of a larger reunion tour and color me ecstatic.

In the words of the legendary Meatloaf, 2 out of 3 ain’t bad, which is why I’m glad to have the previous reunion notices to balance the possibility that Roger Clemens hasn’t thrown his last splitter in a Red Sox uniform. My feelings for the Texas Con Man cut a well-worn path through this blog’s 900+ posts, so I’ll refrain from (another) long-winded dissertation on the subject. I’m old enough to know that we fans root for the laundry, but I’d have a difficult time separating that particular set of flannels from its wearer. Suffice it to say, in the words of Milan High’s Norman Dale, my team’s on the field.

Notwithstanding, of course, the recent news that the Sox are pursuing Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton, he of the career 1.023 OPS. And, relevantly, of the far-below-career-average 2006 season and 3 consecutive years of declining OPS. I’ve always liked Helton, but he’s still owed $90.1m for the next 5 years, and even if last year was a bit of a fluke, 33 year-olds don’t typically have a lot of bounce left in their stat lines. I’d say I’m mildly opposed to this deal, unless Helton’s 2006 season was more influenced by injury that public reports indicated, and the Rockies are willing to cover a big portion of his salary.

Finally, the usually shy Curt Schilling made news today, telling Boston radio station WEEI that he’s changed his mind about retiring after the 2007 season, and now plans to pitch through at least 2008. As long as this isn’t Schilling’s way of foreshadowing his intent to embark upon his own version of Roger Clemens’ long goodbye, I’d be happy to have Schill back on the hill for one more year. Don’t dream it’s over, indeed.