MMQB (cont.)

Quote of the Week I

Jerry Jones traded for Detroit's Roy Williams last October after saying he was not interested in any receivers. AP

"This might not be the most ideal place for a lot of people. But I'm my own guy. I beat to my own drum, go with my own thinking, my own intuitions.''
-- Bills wide receiver Terrell Owens, on the popularity of Buffalo as a landing spot for NFL players -- and on what makes him him tick.

Those last two sentences just made Dick Jauron shudder.

Quote of the Week II

"I am going to be the same person that I was for the last three years with the Cowboys. I demand a lot from myself and from the guys around me. I'm sure those guys ... that I was with for the last three years all know that whatever is being said out there, it's not accurate.''
-- Owens.

That first sentence just made Dick Jauron shudder. Why is everyone always wrong about Terrell Owens except Terrell Owens?

Quote Chain of the Week

• "We have no plans to trade for a receiver. No. No trade for a receiver.''
-- Dallas owner Jerry Jones, last Oct. 6, asked if he was in the market to acquire a receiver, specifically Detroit's Roy Williams.

• "He will create a dimension that just adds to everything. As you know, Roy Williams can go out there and make spectacular catches, and he can sky up and has great hands.''
-- Dallas owner Jerry Jones, Oct. 14, announcing the trade for Detroit's Roy Williams.

• "If I gave you the answer you want to hear, then you would have had it. The fact that you don't have it ought to tell you something. It really should.''
-- Jones, Feb. 18, implying that what he thought reporters wanted to hear -- that he was going to cut Terrell Owens -- was not going to happen, and Owens would return to the Cowboys for the 2009 season.

• "We have made a decision to move forward without [Owens]. We will move on now with a new team -- a new attitude -- and into a new stadium.''
-- Jones, March 4, in a team statement announcing he was cutting Owens.

Factoid of the Week That May Interest Only Me

I wish I could pay more attention to the World Baseball Classic. I went to the U.S.-Mexico game in Phoenix three years ago and it was fun, and the games last weekend sounded fantastic. "If this is like the playoffs, I have to be in the playoffs,'' America's Adam Dunn said after the U.S. hung on Saturday to beat Canada in Toronto, 6-5. "This is the best experience I've ever had in baseball.'' And this is a guy who hits 40 home runs every year.

But I make this WBC factoid my Factoid of the Week: The Dominican Republic team, favored by many to win the tournament, and so powerful that one of the best players in the world, Jose Reyes, was not able to crack the starting lineup (Hanley Ramirez of the Marlins was the starting Dominican shortstop), lost to the Netherlands 3-2 in the opening game Saturday.

The Netherlands' No. 3 hitter, Randall Simon, played for the Independent Newark Bears last year; the cleanup hitter, Greg Halman, played for High Desert (Class A) and West Tennessee (Double-A) in the Seattle farm system last year. The pitcher, who threw two and two-third innings of scoreless relief for the Dutch, Rob Cordemans, makes $40,000 a year pitching in the Dutch professional league. The Netherlands got all of three infield hits and scored on a wild pitch, an infield single and a throwing error.

If these teams played 20 times, the Dominicans would win 19. Saturday just happened to be that one time.

Stories like these are why we love sports.

Enjoyable/Aggravating Travel Note of the Week

The Kings are relocating to Boston. We've sold our home in Montclair, N.J., and moved to the South End. It's still a little stunning, even to us, because we've loved our lives in Montclair more than anyone could love living anywhere. But my wife and I have always wanted to live in a city, and we were so fond of living in north Jersey that if we didn't move soon, we'd never move. We'd be too ensconced, too comfortable.

This gives us a chance to live in a city we like a lot, though we could have lived in New York just as easily if we'd have found the same kind of place we found seven blocks from Copley Square. Being a 26-minute walk from Fenway didn't hurt in the deliberations. So wish us luck. After we get over the initial shock, it ought to be a fun adventure.

The 10 things I'll miss about New Jersey, where our family has called home since 1985:

1. Montclair. Great town, better people. I lived in my Connecticut hometown, Enfield, for 18 years before leaving for college, and we lived in Jersey for 24 years, the last 18 in Montclair. We must have liked it. We must have loved it. A perfect town (well, no town is perfect, but this one's close) to raise kids and shovel snow and walk the dog.

2. The house we raised our kids in. A perfect place, close enough to New York and far enough away when you needed peace. My tip for those who follow me in moving after one generation in the same house: Do not sit down and ponder the third-grade diorama you find in the attic. It'll paralyze you. Trust me. And do not get sentimental over the photos, unless you've got 16 days to do nothing but prune.

3. Field hockey and softball. Most of the greatest sporting memories of my life happened on fields in Essex County. My kids were tested, and it was good for them.

4. Coaching, particularly the 10-and-under softball team, the Montclair Bears, my wife and I coached for the last seven years with our friends Jack Bowers and Karin Nelson. Indelible.

5. Sitting on the back deck on an early summer night, around June 20th, having the fifth beer, and enjoying the trees and the talk.

6. The Upper Montclair Starbucks. It's sure to close without me propping it up.

7. The two best restaurants in town, Osteria Giotto and Table 8. Brandon Jacobs swears by the lasagna in Giotto; he's absolutely right. Must be the nutmeg, or whatever makes it taste so different. I'll take the skirt steak at Table 8.

8. Star Tavern pizza. Saw Anthony Fasano there a couple years ago, just off a plane from Dallas, and he said he had to get the Star Tavern pizza before he did anything else. I'll be back, many times, for the thin crust manna from heaven.

9. Our friends. God blessed us in many ways in Montclair, but the people made it the best home we've ever had.

10. Everything.

I will not miss moving. The pain. The humanity. The sore back.

One interesting note was the house sale we had over the weekend. Our apartment in Boston can't fit most of the big furniture we had, so we're selling and starting over with lots of stuff up there. Anyway, we had half the Western world in the house Friday and Saturday. A fascinating experience, much more good than bad, and only one truly rude person trying to buy a bedroom set for 15 cents.

I'm exaggerating there, but not by much. My favorite guy was the older fellow who walked around the first floor of the house, looking everywhere, including in the corner where we kept our driveway de-icing pellets. "How much?'' he said. You're kidding -- a half-used container of rock salt? "A dollar,'' I said. He fished out a buck, handed it over and stealthily moved away with the treasure under his arm.