Boston sports radio giant WEEI has been running their Next Great Sports Blogger contest over the past month, one where people have asked to submit 'blogs' up to 500 words regarding Boston sports. Two winners gets one-year contracts worth $5000 and a weekly slot on WEEI.com, great exposure for those of us just looking to get our names out there. Several people urged me to enter, which was like putting a piece of meat in front of a hungry dog. I would have driven my entry down to Boston if it meant having a shot.

As the entrance process has come to a close, here's what happens now:

• Judges Gerry Callahan, Glenn Ordway, Dale Arnold, Michael Holley, Mike Felger and Rob Bradford will review all the entries and narrow them down to ten finalists 'on or about' October 10th.

• On or about the 13th, those ten will go through 'a final round of challenges' which includes writing a blog on a specific subject they assign within 48 hours of receiving it.
  
  
• On or about the 13th, those final blogs will be posted and WEEI.com readers and radio listeners will have their vote as to who the two winners will be, voting online through 10/31. Work would begin in January 2009.

So here is my entry, written and submitted last week just hours removed from Jonathan Papelbon closing the door on the Cleveland Indians in a playoff-clinching win for the Red Sox:

As that fateful home run ball exploded off Tampa Bay pinch hitter Dan Johnson’s bat on September 9th, the eyes of Red Sox Nation bored a hole in closer Jonathan Papelbon, beginning the questioning, criticism and finger-pointing that #58 has avoided since his raucous rookie season of 2006.

Fast forward to Tuesday night against Cleveland. Needing four outs to close out the Indians to advance the Sox to the playoffs for the fifth time in the last six seasons, Papelbon looked, well, Papelbon-like. He didn’t allow a hit and struck out two in a dominant performance that reminded fans of why he is one of baseball’s best relievers. After nearly three seasons as the Sox’s main man in the ninth, the question is now out there: what can we expect out of Jonathan Papelbon and can he (gulp) be trusted to finish off games?

Listen, the season is long and there are games almost every night, so it can become easy to lose perspective on exactly what’s he done this year. Get your beauty sleep, Boston fan. You don’t want anyone else in there to finish off a team except for Papelbon. This is why.

• As of September 23rd, Papelbon had tallied a career-high 41 saves and struck out 75 batters in 67.1 innings.
  
  
• His 2.00 ERA was better than MLB saves leader K-Rod (2.31) and NL saves leader Jose Valverde (3.38).
  
  
• He went 18 straight appearances without yielding a run, spanning more than a month of work from July 21st to September 8th.
  
  
• His five blown saves this season are less than K-Rod (7), Valverde (6) and Joe Nathan (6).
  
  
• His 1.62 lifetime ERA after 200 innings is the lowest in MLB history.
  
  
• This is just his third season, which is easy to overlook in our overSoxturated culture. While his career ERA has climbed, we’re talking by fractions of runs, not full digits.
  
  
• He pitches in the one of the two largest pressure cooker cities in baseball, in front of sold-out home and road crowds and to top it all off, in the toughest division in baseball. This ain’t the AL West, kids. If Paps routinely got the chance to toss the ninth frame against Oakland, Texas and Seattle, he might have 60+ saves too.

Especially in Boston, it is commonplace to always look for greener pastures instead of appreciating what is right in front of us. It’s our culture and who we are, but the criticism against Papelbon and his ability to close out games is unfounded. As he said, he’s human and blown saves are going to happen.

Everyone has a bad day at the office; his are just in front of tens of thousands of people, both in-person and on NESN. With the Red Sox gunning for back-to-back World Series titles and their third in five seasons, I think I’ll trust the guy carrying a career 0.00 postseason ERA with four saves and nine strikeouts in 14.2 innings. Wouldn’t you?

So we'll see what happens...wish me luck!