Hollywood loves a good formula, and this fall movie season is rife with tried-and-true plot setups that will give you deja vu.Apparently, one quarter of Michael Vick was enough for Eagles coach Andy Reid.Hurricane Earl took aim at North Carolina on Thursday and is on track to lash its barrier islands with dangerous winds and pounding surf before cutting a path up the U.S. East Coast.Even though he occasionally eats meat, Lukas Volger champions veggie burgers. “I love them, but veggie burgers have a terrible reputation,” he says. To change the perception of this freezer staple as boring, over-processed and cardboard-y, Volger created 32 flavorful recipes using fresh, wholesome ingredients in his new book, “Veggie Burgers Every Which Way.”It isn’t true that Temple has been counting down the days and hours until Friday’s rematch with Villanova in the second annual Mayor’s Cup game. But ever since Nick Yako kicked a 32-yard field goal at the gun to shock the Owls 27-24, sticking it to the FCS champs has been on the Owls’ minds.SUMATRA ISLAND. A two-year-old Indonesian boy who became an Internet sensation over his 40-a-day cigarette habit has quit smoking after the government put him through intensive therapy.A mechanical alteration has Javier Vazquez back in the Yankee rotation.So you squandered an estate note on a bachelor’s degree, then trudged through more entry-level hardships and thankless internships than should be legally permissable, only to backslide into a self-esteem shattering, résumé-derailing grind, several tax brackets below your dignity. From Baltimore to Lancaster avenues and along Market Street in between, University City is abuzz from the arrivals of college students and professors back after summer vacation.While breast-enhancing surgery has become almost a norm for American women, men are also heading to the plastic surgeon’s office more often — to have their man-boobs (moobs) removed. 
I know, I know, the question sounds like some Selig-approved slogan delivered over a highlight montage (punctuated by the annoyingly requisite shot of a fist-pumpin’ Derek Jeter, of course) during every freakin’ commercial break by a smarmy comedian half as funny as he thinks he is. But I’m not aiming to coin a silly catchphrase here. I’m asking this in all seriousness and sincerity.
Are you ready ... to hang on every single pitch? To feel those old familiar pangs in your stomach as Vladi Guerrero unleashes a swing at an eye-high Jonathan Papelbon heater? To feel the electricity as Big Papi claps his mammoth mitts and digs in during the ninth inning against K-Rod, the series-winning run on second and a raucous celebration just one mighty swing away? Are you ready to feel the anticipation for that night’s ballgame the very moment you awake in the morning? Are you ready for the life-consuming addiction known as postseason baseball?
And, should the Sox be so fortunate to get past the Angels, are you ready for what likely awaits in the ALCS: another showdown with the Yankees, and all the melodrama, plot twists and sideshows that accompany it? Are you?
The appropriate answer, I suppose, is this: Well, of course we’re ready, you big dummy. We’ve been waiting since October, 2005 for this. And while two years really isn’t a particularly long time, in sports or in life, it does feel like it’s been longer than that since the Sox have made a postseason appearance. Maybe it’s because so much as changed since the championship reign officially concluded with an anticlimactic three-game sweep to the superior White Sox in the 2005 ALDS; if you’ll recall, two of Boston’s starters in that series were Matt Clement and David Wells, Tony Graffanino wore the goat horns and sluggish Edgar Renteria made the series’ final out. Yes, it’s been only two years, but save for Papi, Manny and a few other notable holdovers, it’s a drastically different ballclub now.
And one with a much better chance of replicating the magic of 2004. Oh, sure we have questions, both obvious and subtle: Can Papi carry his late-season power surge into October? Is J.D. Drew’s September rejuvenation legit, or just a tease? Can Josh Beckett dominate like he did for the champion Marlins in 2003? Can Jason Varitek keep the Angels’ running game in check? But then, each one of the four AL contenders has its own issues and concerns, and there is no clear-cut favorite among the Sox, Angels, Yankees and Indians.
Yes, the stage is set for a wild and memorable postseason. Are you ready? More appropriately: Are the Sox? Tonight, two long years after we last tasted playoff baseball in Boston, we’ll begin to get our answers.
Chad Finn is the founder of Touching All The Bases (touchingallthebases.blogspot.com), a blog that takes a passionate but irreverent look at Boston sports. A sports copy editor at the Boston Globe, he also writes a weekly baseball column for FOXSports.com.
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