Free Republic

<p>Fans can see hundreds of items once owned by Red Sox [team stats] slugger Ted Williams at a preview of the first major auction of his sports, military and personal memorabilia.</p> <p>The preview takes place Wednesday through Friday at Fenway Park [map] and is open to the public. The auction will be Saturday and some of the proceeds will benefit The Jimmy Fund, the official Red Sox charity.</p>

The bank bonus season, that annual rite of big money and bigger egos, begins in earnest this week, and it looks as if it will be one of the largest and most controversial blowouts the industry has ever seen. Bank executives are grappling with a question that exasperates, even infuriates, many recession-weary Americans: Just how big should their paydays be? Despite calls for restraint from Washington and a chafed public, resurgent banks are preparing to pay out bonuses that rival those of the boom years. The haul, in cash and stock, will run into many billions of dollars. .

Manny Ramirez's trade request will be difficult to honor because of his contract, Boston Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said Thursday. Lucchino also said he didn't know the left fielder's motivation for refusing manager Terry Francona's request to play Wednesday afternoon's game at Tampa Bay after another outfielder, Trot Nixon, was sidelined with a strained muscle in his side. Before the injury, Francona told Ramirez he could have the day off. "It's hard to know if the events of the last couple of days are the result of sort of psychological and physical needs for a sustained period of rest...

<p>Granted, there is upheaval in the world and there are battles where a great deal is at stake -- life itself. All the more precious, then, the minor skirmishes on the home front that mean a great deal in a small way and remind us of how lucky we are to feel innocent hatreds, from summer to summer, at the ballpark.</p>

<p>Also proposing an upper deck with luxury boxes around the stadium.</p>