Schilling's season over, perhaps career, too. Kind of sad to see Curt go out like this but he's had a good run and I'm pretty confident that we wouldn't have won two World Series titles without him.
All eyes on Mrs. Manning. Seriously guys, clean yourselves up. Say what you want about Tom and Gisele but at least they've never been photographed looking like they've just come home from a night of drunken party going.
Specter says he's too busy for Spygate probe. Listen, I completely agree that Specter should drop his fight against Spygate but I don't believe he's too busy. I think it's summer and he's got vacation plans.
Kobe Bryant says he won't play GM this summer. The more I see Bryant, the more I dislike him but if he thinks he feels like the current Lakers team can compete again next year, he's dead wrong. That team is soft and gutless and has no chance of an NBA Championship as currently constructed. This sort of reminds me of the time that Pedro Martinez said he wasn't going to talk to the media anymore and it lasted about two hours.
Why I'm sick of Boston. Or they could have titled this article 'Why I'm so jealous of Boston because no team in my state has any chance of winning a title for years to come and I'm just a big cry baby about it.' I take great pride in the fact that people hate Boston right now because we're the center of the sports universe. Although, I agree with him about Bill Simmons. He's almost unreadable at this point.
Roger Clemens: used car salesman. This might be rock bottom for The Rocket. He's selling his cars to pay for his legal bills. My only question is what happened to the $200 million he made playing baseball?
I'm not sure the fun is ever going to stop in Boston:
In Boston, we've started calling our victory celebrations Rolling Rally's. Kind of lame but we're too busy celebrating championships left and right to put much thought into it. Anyway, since yesterday's Rolling Rally didn't have a rally, is it just a Rolling? And for all of you out there who have never seen a Rolling Rally or a Rolling before, here you go:
Boston Celtics
Boston Red Sox
New England Patriots
And just in case you're interested in coughing up your breakfast, here's Glenn "Big Baby" Davis dancing around with no shirt at yesterday's Rolling.
As we all know, the Celtics won banner number 17 two nights ago and it's pretty much been a nonstop party since that time. There's really nothing better than seeing a hometown team dominate the news in Boston, New England and across the country. I even love hearing the fake applause that Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen got on David Letterman's show last night. If he hosted that show in Boston and the Knicks had just won the NBA Championship and New York players were coming on the show, I guarantee you that we would boo them. That's just how we roll in Massachusetts.
Now to the point of this post: During game six, I thought I kept seeing Bill Belichick sitting under the Celtics hoop and, sure enough, I was right. He was with girlfriend Linda Holliday again and I can only hope that she was the one taking notes on how to close out games. I never in a million years thought I'd ever say anything like this but I think that Belichick could learn a lot from Doc Rivers. Doc seemed to make all of the right moves, made some big in game adjustments to either help his team hold onto a lead or to help them overcome large deficits and listened to his star players when they wanted to switch defensive assignments (Paul Pierce asking to guard Kobe "Therapist" Bryant in game four).
By contrast, we have Belichick playing the role of Phil Jackson at last year's Super Bowl. Belichick was the one coming in with all of the Super Bowl trophies (Jackson was trying to break Red Auerbach's record for coaching championships) but couldn't adjust to his team getting demolished on the biggest stage. There were no in game adjustments by Belichick that gave his team a chance on the offensive or defensive side of the ball. In game six of the NBA Finals, the Celtics kept pouring it on in the closing minutes but in the Super Bowl, the Patriots played prevent defense on the Giants' last possession. The only thing that the prevent defense does is prevent you from winning. Doc's star players came through down the stretch, as opposed to Belichick's star players shrinking (Rodney HGHarrison, Asante Samuel, and the entire offensive line).
Yeah, I know that this is like comparing apples and oranges but in each sports biggest game, Doc Rivers totally dominated Bill Belichick. And let's not forget that Belichick was the one leaving the stadium with time left on the clock while Doc stayed around for a nice refreshing Gatorade shower.
As Mayor Mennino says, "Weah gonna have a pawade in dis town!"
That was an awful long flight to make across the country just to get yourself embarassed. I guess I'm not as surpised by the outcome of the game and the series as I am that this Lakers team was actually the Western Conference's representative. This Lakers team looks soft and gutless and I'm shocked they were able to beat Golden State, Utah and San Antonio. Is that the best the West has?
I said after the game five loss that I was even more confident about the Celtics winning game six than I would have been had they won game five (and yes, I still realize that makes no sense). My point is that this Lakers team was totally exposed in every facet of the game throughout the series. Don't all of those predictions by national experts look pretty silly now?
Here are some thoughts on World Championship number 17 for the Boston Celtics and the sixth championship that Boston has celebrated this decade.
· The Lakers were simply destroyed in this game. Their first offensive rebound didn't come until the fouth quarter, which is nearly impossible to do when you only shoot 42 percent for the game. They missed 19 shots in the first quarter alone and never got one second chance. You're not winning when you play like that.
· I was sort of disappointed that Kevin Garnett didn't spontaneously combust at some point during this game. I actually can't blame the Lakers players for not wanting to drive to the hoop with Garnett around. I just wish he could take over games like this more often. For some reason, I have a feeling that he's still out partying somewhere.
· Can someone check Phil Jackson's pulse to make sure he's alive? I know he's the Zen master and everything but it might help your team to act like you care. And has he ever heard of in-game adjustments? Did he watch any film in between games to try to mix things up and come up with a new way to stop the Celtics? I realize that I have no coaching experience so take this for what it's worth: it might be a good idea to have someone cover Ray Allen on all of those three pointers that he's knocking down. Seriously, was Jackson's strategy to give Allen as much room as possible in the hopes that it would freak him out or something and cause him to miss? I actually love the fact that the Celtics prevented Jackson from breaking Red Auerbach's record of NBA Championships by a coach.
· I owe a huge apology to Kobe Bryant. He is an unbelievable talent and quite possibly could be under rated because of his fierce tenacity on the defensive end and his ability to score from anywhere on the court at any time. . . in the first quarter. He pretty much sucks after that.
· The in game interviews with Michelle Tafoya are stupid. The players and coaches don't look like they want anything to do with her and no one reveals anything of relevance. And her postgame interview with Kevin Garnett was ridiculous and they should have cut away from it. Overall, ABC/ESPN did a horrible job with this series. There were few too replays shown of good plays and controversial calls. I did think it was funny that they showed Danny Ainge in the stands for about thirty seconds while we missed the play on the court last night, though. At one point, I thought Ainge was actually going to suggest they film the game instead of him.
· The technical foul on Doc Rivers was a good move by him. Prior to that point, the refs were calling some pretty cheap stuff on the Celtics and letting the Lakers get away with a lot of grabbing. After the T, the game was called pretty evenly.
· Doc probably should have been called for another technical foul for running up the score. With the celebration well underway, the Celtics were still launching threes and driving to the hoop. And I loved every minute of it.
· I sort of wish that Eddie House had just handed the ball to one of the Lakers as the 24 second clock expired just before the game ended.
· I loved Doc putting in Glenn "Big Baby" Davis. The guy hadn't played a minute in the Finals and here he is coming in to guard Paul Gaso and Gaso still can't score. One of my favorite plays was of Gaso backing down and bumping into Davis so Davis simply steps aside as Gaso is about to bump him and Gaso falls to the floor and turns the ball over.
· Did Sasha Vujacic make the flight across the counrty or did he decide to fly straight home after being embarassed for the first five games?
· On the way to their 17th Championship Banner, the Celtics' 18 steals were a Finals record, Ray Allen tied a Finals record by making seven 3-pointers (and 22 in the series, also a Finals record), and the 17th Banner was won in Boston's 26th postseason game, another NBA record. They also had the largest comeback in NBA Finals history. And before all of this happened, the Celtics also made the biggest single-season turnaround ever, going from 24 victories a year ago to 66 this season.
· I'm going to bed at eight o'clock tonight.
And somewhere, Red's smiling down on Boston today.
In case you're just hearing the news, New York Mets manager Willie Randolph was fired at 3 am this morning. Here's the story from ESPN. Has a manager ever lost control of a team faster than Randolph (besides Joe Kerrigan and Grady Little, that is)? His stock has fallen so far in the past year that I couldn't even find any good video clips to pay tribute to him.
So instead, here's the footage from this past weekend's game where the Mets and Texas Rangers were rained out and several Rangers stormed the field to play slip n' slide on the tarp. This type of thing should happen at every rain out. In fact, it should be in the player contracts. Although, I don't understand why it was the visiting Rangers players doing this as opposed to the hometown Mets. Kudos to the Mets fans for sticking around long enough to cheer on the Rangers. Way to support the local team. That type of stuff would never happen in Boston. Or are we officially called the City of Champions now?
After watching game 5 of the NBA Finals last night, I feel even more confident that the Celtics will close this thing out tomorrow night than I would have if the Celtics had actually won last night. Yeah, I know, that makes no sense. My point is that I don't think the Lakers are any good. Say what you will about the Celtics (and I'll get to them in a minute) but how big of a lead do the Lakers need in order to win? If we gave the Lakers a 50 point lead to start the game, I think the Celtics would come back and tie it at 60.
Here are just a few thoughts on last night's game:
· I'm not sure what to think of the officiating in last night's game. I guess it was pretty bad all around. Or maybe they've just changed the rules and I don't know about them yet. Are you allowed to take two steps or six steps with the ball? Paul Pierce looks to be one of the worst offenders of the new six steps without having to dribble rule. And I guess you can now move directly in front of someone after they've already jumped and get the offensive interference call. That happened a few times to both teams and I think it's pretty lame.
· I can totally see why Kevin Garnett has gotten a bad rap for his poor playoff performances when he was with Minnesota. Everyone always talked about how he was never surrounded with the talent to go deep in the playoffs but I think it's apparent that he's just not that good under pressure. He looks scared out on the floor in big moments. He's passing the ball off nearly every time he touches it. He's throwing up bricks at the free throw line with a chance to tie the game. On the defensive end he was called for some cheap fouls but he also needs to play smarter defense at times. If Garnett had to sink Tiger Woods' 12 foot putt yesterday at the U.S. Open to force a plyoff, I think he would have missed it by 14 feet and then four putted to finish in fourth place.
· I love how James Posey refused to let anyone score after the play was whistled dead. Usually guys continue to play an additional second or two after the whistle blows and every time one of the Lakers took a shot after the whistle was blown, he went up and grabbed the ball before it had a chance to go in the hoop. I also like him fouling Lamar Odom about five seconds after the play was whisteld dead. Hey, if Odom wants to continue playing after the whistle, I see nothing wrong with Posey going in for another foul.
· Say what you will about the inability of the Lakers to hold a lead but why do the Celtics feel the need to stink in the first quarter? Not sure if that's the home court advantage, nerves or just being outplayed but it would be nice to play with a lead every once in a while.
· Nice of Kobe Bryant to show up. . . for the first quarter.
· On that note, it's time to hide the women and children. Kobe Bryant's coming back to town.
· Is Rajon Rondo hurt or does he just suck? At this point, I think I'd rather see Alien Cassell playing point guard.
· Who are all those people in suits on the Lakers bench? Seriously, does Phil Jackson need eight assistant coaches? Apparently he does.
· Best play of the night: Sam Cassell and Sash Vujacic both have their hands on the ball and Vujacic tries to rip it out of Cassell's hands at the same time that Cassell lets go, causing Vujacic to basically throw himself to the floor in a violent, contorted movement.
· I'm not sure I understand all of the three point shooting on both sides. The Celtics were 8-22, the Lakers 8-27 last night. It's one thing to have that many when you're nailing them but neither team has been good from three point range.
· The Celtics will break the record for most playoff games in a postseason when they tip off on Tuesday night, which will be their 26th game. With the loss last night, the Celtics fell to 3-9 on the road this postseason, which tied a record for the most road losses in a single postseason. The 2008 Celtics, breaking records any chance they get.
· The Celtics are 47-7 at home this season, playoffs included.
· The only chance I see of the Lakers coming remotely close to pulling this thing off is if Kendrick Perkins separates his shoulder, Rajon Rondo sprains his ankle and decides to take away Sam Cassell's part as The Mole, Paul Pierce comes down with multiple muscle sprains and Eddie House gets hit so hard on a non call that he starts bleeding uncontrollably from the head. Huh? That's all happened? Uh-oh.
· I said it before and I'll say it again: Celtics in six.
In game two of the NBA Finals, the Celtics nearly blew a 22 point lead, which would have been the largest deficit ever overcome in an NBA Finals game. Luckily, the Celtics never relinquished the lead and held on for the win. Following that game, everyone was saying how the Lakers' ability to make game two close at the end would provide them momentum heading home to LA.
Well, in a battle of showmanship, the Celtics decided to try for the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history last night. And you know that if you're going for the biggest Finals comeback in history, you've got to give the other team a huge lead. And the Celtics did just that- they gave the Lakers a 24 point lead and then stormed back for a shocking 97-91 win. Is this the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history or the greatest collapse? Perhaps a little of both? Here are just a few thoughts on the game:
· I wrote in my NBA Finals preview column that the NBA and David Stern were fools for starting these games so late on the East Coast. I wonder how many people missed seeing the greatest comeback in NBA Finals history because these games are simply on too late. I can suck it up and go without much sleep but how many kids missed seeing this? That's a whole generation of potential NBA fans that missed one of the most exciting games in NBA history.
· You would think that in light of the officiating scandal that the NBA would tell the refs to call the game a little more even. I don't care if you call fouls on hand checks but call it evenly on both ends of the court. I think a Celtics player had to be bleeding in order to get a foul called. My favorite non call was during the fourth quarter when Ray Allen is bringing up the ball and Rodmanovich has both his hands on Allen's chest. That play isn't even legal in the NFL, let alone the NBA. I love how Doc and the Celtics have handled the officiating in LA- they've said nothing and have persevered in spite of an obvious Laker biase.
· Congratulations to Sasha Vujacic for being the first person to never commit a foul. What a cry baby. I loved the play where he and Ray Allen got tied up, fell to the floor and then Vujacic kicks his feet and tries to trap Allen's legs. Apparently that's a legal play in Vujacic's home country. Nice defense in the final minute, too. Was it his strategy to just let Allen blow by him?
· I'm not sure what to think of Kevin Garnett. He's obviously not putting up huge offensive numbers but he's been a beast on the defensive side. It would just be nice to see him have another way to score than his fall away shot. I just feel like he should be able to dominate on the offensive end and either go in for some easy layups/dunks or kick it back out to an open shooter. Having said that, he's averaged a double double for the first four games.
· It's nice to see that Doc Rivers has finally figured out the Sam Cassell is The Mole and has since cut his playing time. That guy is terrible.
· Absolutely terrible job by ESPN/ABC on the coverage of this game. They never showed any replays of possible fouls, except when it involved Bryant. Any close call was never shown, which has to be a direct order from the league. In addition, they had the cameras on the announcers during several plays, including one with less than a minute left. And is my eyesight going bad or are their graphics impossible to read?
·Can we stop comparing Kobe Bryant to Michael Jordan? This type of collapse would never have happened to Jordan and the Bulls. Never. And to top it off, Bryant talked about going out and having beer and 20 shots of vodka after the game. Look, Jordan was no angel, either, but Bryant is a pure loser. And in the interest of my readers check out this site, www.kb24overrated.com to see the career stats of Jordan and Bryant. Those two should never be compared in the same sentence again. On a side note, I love how the Lakers fans are chanting MVP when Bryant goes to the line. Do they know he already won the MVP award?
· I wish the TV timeouts were just a little longer so that I could cut my lawn during a timeout. Maybe take a quick trip to the grocery store, too.
· Has anyone seen Paul Gaso?
· I have no faith in Rajon Rondo, the Celtics point guard. I know he's injured but he also looks like he's afraid to take a shot. There were at least five occasions last night where he had a clear path to the basket and never shot the ball. On one play, he drove right under the hoop and kept running.
· I know this is typical sports talk, but I think Paul Pierce wants this more than anyone else. He played phenomenal defense on Bryant in the second half and had the energy to be a force on the offensive side, too. I still have no idea how he blocked Bryant's fall away jumper and was still aware enough to grab the loose ball and hit Ray Allen streaking down court.
· I know that Phil Jackson's whole persona is built around that Zen thing but it might be nice if he acted like he cared about his team blowing the largest lead in NBA Finals history. Going into this series I thought the Lakers had a huge coaching edge. Jackson has been here before and this was a first for Doc. This sort of reminds me of Tom Coughlin outcoaching Bill Belichick in the Super Bowl.
· Counting the regular season, the Celtics and Lakers have played six times. The Celtics have won five of those games. Do you really think it's conceivable that the Lakers are taking the next three? Fire up the duck boats!
So last week Manny Ramirez slapped Kevin Youkilis in the dugout and it has gone largely unnoticed in Boston. In fact, for all of the Manny Being Manny moments we've had over the years, this one is getting the least amount of air time, both in the papers and on the radio. It's almost like it never happened. Maybe it's the fact that the Celtics are on the verge of crushing Kobe and the Kobette's for banner number 17 or the fact that we've all been so wrapped up in the Stanley Cup Finals (yawn).
It appears that the real story is now coming out on the fight and it's apparently Youk's fault. Check out this Boston Herald article that explains Youk's intensity and his frustration at making an out. Still don't see how it's Youk's fault?
I guess I get it now. Youk plays hard, has always been a team guy (remember how they kept optioning him to AAA a few years ago because he was the only one with options left even though he was better than most of the players on the team?), rarely makes any mental mistakes, plays flawless defense at first base, always talks to the media following a good or bad night but apparently has a penchant for taking things out on the water cooler in the dugout. I'm cool with that.
On the other hand, we have Manny Being Manny who likes to take days off when the team is shorthanded, lollygags to first on almost every play, stands in the batters box admiring long balls that sometimes don't even go out of the park, makes a ton of baserunning errors and never talks to the media. This is a guy that even President Bush made fun of for not showing up at the White House earlier this year for a team gathering and Bush bashed him for always using the excuse that his grandmother died.
And somehow people think Youk deserved to get slapped? I don't get it. This isn't another Manny Being Manny moment. This is Manny Being an Idiot and apparently he's going to get a free pass on this one.
The incident takes place around the :30 second mark of the video below. I wish John Madden could do the play by play on this video because it would go something like this . . . "Okay, watch right here. We see Manny coming back to the dugout. Keep watching. Wait for it. Right here. BOOM! There's the hard slap to the face by Manny. I don't know what Manny was thinking but he gets the Thanksgiving Turkey leg for that hit."
From now on, when someone gets sucker punched, I think it should be called "getting Youk'd."
Just wondering if it's okay to feel even more confident about the Celtics winning this series AFTER a loss. That was a complete gimmie by the Celtics- Paul Pierce took the night off, Kevin Garnett only decided to show up after half time, they turned the ball over one out of every three possessions, they left Sam Cassell in for about ten minutes too long, they were playing on the road, and they were in foul trouble all night long (or as we like to say here on the East Coast, the refs had it in for the Celtics from the start).
If you told me before the game that KG and PP would only score 19 points between them I would have guessed the Celtics would have lost by at least 20, maybe even 30. But they only lost by six points because the Lakers are a terrible offensive team unless Kobe Bryant carries them on his back. Yeah, he scored 36 last night but I never once felt like he was dominant. Perhaps that's because he was at the free throw line so much. If this is all the Lakers have, they're in serious trouble. As cool as it would be for Boston to win the championship at home, this series might only be going five.
And for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, here's the footage from game 2 at the Staples Center where the classy Lakers fans team up on the lone Celtics fan. I sort of side with the Lakers fans on this one- you're just asking for trouble if you show up in Celtics garb but the only shot the Lakers have of beating the Celtics is if they team up on them like this. Nice job by security to do absolutely nothing.
You've probably all been wondering what I've been up to the last few months that I haven't been blogging. Well, I'm proud to say that I was jetting around with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and have some (not-so) exlusive photos from our time together. Now, you may think that the devastating loss to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl would drive these two into the bowels of Gillette Stadium where they would plot and scheme how to become the first team to ever go 22-0 next year on their way to re-breaking every offensive statistic know to man. Well, think again, my good friends, because things aren't always what they seem:
Exhibit A: Apparently losing the Super Bowl didn't affect Brady too much because here he's seen at some fancy schmancy art opening. I have no clue how Brady could possibly care about anything artsy when the Manning's own the last two Super Bowls. Nice hair, Pat Riley.
Exhibit 2: The only reason anyone would ever have for wearing such big ugly sunglasses is because you had been lamenting the loss of the Super Bowl for weeks on end. Somehow I don't think that's the case in this photo. I don't care how much you like Gisele, no woman is worth being seen in public wearing those sunglasses. Nice scarf, pretty boy.
Exhibit C: It was nice to see Brady at one of the Celtics' recent playoff games. Although, I have no clue why he'd be wearing that ridiculous hat. Is it too much to ask for him to wear some home town colors every once in a while?
Exhibit 2: I was so blindsided by the Yankees hat that I almost didn't realize Brady was wearing white shorts before Memorial Day. I'm no fashion wizard but I think that's outlawed in five or six states.
Exhibit F: Oh great, here we go again with the white shorts. Umm, note to Tom- no one wears flip flops to play golf.
Exhibit E: This photo was snapped at a recent opening of the Ermenegildo Zegna store. And no, I have no clue what that store sells nor do I care. My only concern is that Brady is standing next to Eli Manning and somehow Manning survived. The fashion faux paus are one thing but standing next to Eli Manning is another. What's next, the Manning boys and Brady going camping together? Come on Tom, how about some photos of you studying film, throwing a football or working out (or with your kid).
I know what you're thinking- that since Brady is off having a good time, that Belichick must be the one putting in 168 hour work weeks in an attempt to hide video equipment in the opponents locker room or coming up with a better game plan for the last Super Bowl. If that's what you were thinking, you're mistaken.
Exhibit A: Breaking news Bill: losing the Super Bowl isn't funny and neither is your girlfriend or your two kids. At least you're not wearing a Knicks hat.
Exhibit B: I'm not sure if Belichick is actually kissing this lady or competing in a competition to see how far away from someone he can stand and still have their lips touch. I'm thinking it's the latter. That's what I love about Belichick. Always competing. There's literally no other contact going on- sort of how Rodney HGHarrison plays defense.
Exhibit 3: This is more like it, Bill. Now could we get some photos of you doing some legal football stuff, too?
'Gino' fever grips Boston. Is it bad that I live in Boston and this is the first time I've ever heard of Gino? I've already admitted that I'm not a huge Celtics fan. I'm just a huge fan of parades.
Knife unlikely for Ortiz. This is some much-needed good news but I still have a hard time believing that he'll be back any time soon.
Patriots lineman gets busted for drugs then helps DEA. I don't know what to make of this story. Nick Kaczur gets busted with some painkillers and then all of a sudden is helping the DEA? Something doesn't add up because all he had to say was he couldn't play through the pain and needed the drugs. Heck, does anyone around here remember that Rodney Harrison admitted HGH use? We're sort of forgiving when it comes to our own but I don't see this ending well for Kaczur.
Annoying Boston fans in full force at finals. Is this guy suggesting that Boston fans are annoying? If he is, I'm very proud to be a Boston fan (even if I'm not a huge Celtics fan). Annoying is part of my DNA.
Tuna wants Taylor back. I don't see this ending well in Miami. And I don't care how much you like dancing, if I played with Jason Taylor, I would have no respect for him.
Detroit wins Stanley Cup. Just in case you're thinking that I suddenly love hockey, think again. I was only surprised to see that they were still playing in June. Doesn't their training camp open in two weeks?
Coco Crisp sparks fight night at Fenway.Coco Crap is the last guy who should be getting in a fight. Not only is he not very good but he's only playing because of injuries to other players. And he did all of this with a sprained thumb. When all is said and done, trading for Coco will go down as a terrible move for Theo Epstein.
And speaking of the game Thursday night, here's some footage of Coco Crap charging the mound. And can you tell me why, in the middle of a brawl, Mike Timlin is seen hugging one of the Rays players? Check it out around the 1:22 mark. Timlin's locker should be cleaned out when he gets to Fenway today, no questions asked. He pretty much sucks right now anyway so it's not like we'd be missing much.
I searched and searched for the Manny Ramirez and Kevin Youkilis footage but apparently those tapes have already been burned by the commissioner. Instead, enjoy these top ten Manny Being Manny moments:
Well, yesterday was just another typical day at the old sports office here in Boston. In the last twelve hours, here's what's gone down:
1. Coco Crisp gets beaned in the leg and charges the mound.
2. Jacoby Ellsbury gets hurt making a diving catch (this could have huge repurcussions for the Pilgrims, my fantasy baseball team).
4. Manny Ramirez hits Kevin Youkilis in the face between innings. The announcers say that Youkilis looks bewildered by the event but I can't tell because Youk always looks that way.
R. Red Sox finish off a sweep of the Devil Rays and go a game and a half up on the Devil Rays in the standings. Hopefully this will be the demise of the Devil Rays. Are they just the Rays now? Did they drop the Devil?
4. Coco Crisp tells reporters after the game that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays fight "like a bunch of girls." Coco looks like a girl.
T. Celtics kick off their first NBA Finals appearance in 21 years by introducing someone who is not currently on the team because of an injury and then skipping Brian Scalabrine. It's hard to tell if anyone is actually at the Garden because the player introductions are so quite. They didn't even boo Kobe Bryant when he was announced.
6. NBA unveils Larry Bird/Magic Johnson commerical in which both players look like they belong to the local beer bowling league:
7. One of the main announcers for the game has a bandage on his forehead. His lips are moving but I don't hear one thing he said because I'm too busy staring at the bandaid. ABC should have sold advertising on that thing.
7. Paul Pierce gets carried off the court by teamates in what looks like it could be a career ending injury, perhaps even life threatening. All local Boston hospitals are standing by to assist in a life saving operation.
8. Two minutes later, Paul Pierce returns from getting taken off the court and goes berserk on the Lakers and propels the Celtics to victory.
B. Kobe Bryant looks like me shooting baskets during the fourth quarter (not a good sign).
10. Celtics win Game 1.
Yup, just another day at the old sports office. Just a quick question, would sports cease to exist if it weren't for Boston? I think so.
You may or may not know that Manny Ramirez hit his 500th home run over the weekend. What I can't figure out is if he hit it at Fenway Park or in Baltimore.
Seriously, are there any Orioles fans out there? That's kind of pathetic to have the home crowd going nuts for another team's player, even someone who just hit his 500th home run. I sort of expected a decent round of applause but while I was watching the video, I thought they were going to bring him out for a curtain call or two or have him do the Cal Ripken lap around the stadium, similar to when Ripken broke the consecutive games played streak. Perhaps that's why the O's are in last place. Well, that and the fact that Kevin Millar is their starting first baseman.
Looking back on the celebration, I guess I'm sort of dissapointed that Baltimore didn't have some type of huge banner unroll with the number 500 on it, a huge picture of Manny, a video highlight film of every one of his 500 home runs and the unveiling of Manny Being Manny Highway.
When you're watching the video below, check out Julio Lugo's reaction to the home run when Manny comes back to the dugout. First, he gives him a hug that lasts waaaaay too long before Manny even gets to the dugout steps. Then, after Manny has high fived everyone, we see Lugo return for a second helping of another waaaaay too long hug.
And in case you missed Manny's catch and high five earlier in the year, here it is. This is classic Manny being Manny. He probably doesn't even know what ball park he's playing or the score of the game but he's conscious enough to make a nice running catch, run another five steps, leap up the outfield wall and high five someone in the crowd. Classic Manny. This also took place in Baltimore and, as you can hear, the crowd is going nuts. Way to support the local team. They should rename Camden Yard to Fenway South.
Similar to the Celtics' 21 year hiatus from the NBA finals, I'm also back to blogging. I've got lots of stuff to catch up on but I thought I'd come back with a Celtics - Lakers NBA Championship preview. Please keep in mind that I've watched a total of about 30 minutes of NBA basketball over the last five years so you know you're getting an educated and informed opinion.
First things first. I pretty much hate the Lakers and it has nothing to do with living in Boston. In fact, I'm not really sure why I hate them. Maybe it's just part of the New England DNA. I just find it hard to like Kobe Bryant, Phil Jackson and some guy who refuses to put an 'l' on the end of his first name (Pau Gasol). I mean, couldn't he take the 'l' from the end of his last name and stick it on the end of his first name? Is that asking too much? Apparently so.
Anyway, since the Celtics closed out the Deeetroit Pistons on Friday night, I've been trying to talk myself into picking the Celtics to win the NBA Championship. And it ain't working. I do have to admit that it would be wicked awesome for Boston sports teams to be holding the MLB World Series trophy, the NFL Super Bowl trophy and the NBA Trophy all in the same year. And to think that we were one win away from the New England Revolution winning the MLS trophy.
Yeah, I know that the Celtics had the best record in the NBA during the regular season, going 66-16 for an .805 winning percentage. But they've looked totally and completly lost during the playoffs. They needed seven games to beat the Atlanta Hawks (an under .500 team), seven games to beat LeBron James and 11 other people I've never heard of and six games to beat an aging and banged up Deeetroit Pistons team. At least it looks like the Celtics remembered how to win on the road in the Deeetroit series.
On the other side, the Lakers finished the year with the third best record in the NBA at 57-25 for a .695 winning percentage and then steamrolled the Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz and the defending champion San Antonio Spurs- those are just slightly better teams than the ones the Celtics squeaked by.
In my attempt to talk myself into picking the Celtics, I did a quick run down of the starting five for each team and I don't like what I see. I think that Derek Fisher is going to dominate Rajon Rondo at the point guard position. And I certainly don't like Paul Gaso on Kendrick Perkins, even though Perkins has seemed to be playing more physical lately (or at least the three minutes I saw of the game last week). I also have to admit that I don't really like the idea of Lamar Odom on Paul Pierce either. Ever since David Stern fined Pierce for making gang symbols, Pierce hasn't been the same, with the exception of game seven verse LeBron where Pierce single handedly carried the C's to victory. The one matchup that I do like is Kevin Garnett against Vladimr Radmanovic and that's just because I never root for people with the last name of Radmanovic. But even Garnett at times looks like he's shying away from taking big shots and controlling the game.
All this brings me to Kobe Bryant against Ray Allen. Bryant was the league MVP in a bit of a controversial call because Garnett had helped to lead the Celtics to the NBA's biggest turnaround ever, played unselfish offense, made everyone else on this team much better and was the defensive player of the year. But I have to believe that if there was a revote for MVP held today, I don't think Garnett would get a single vote. That's how much he has disappeared in the playoffs. But Bryant has continued to elevate his game and I don't see anyone on the Celtics stopping him, especially an old Ray Allen who can't seem to find the hoop on a consistent basis (not a good sign if you're only on the team for your outside shooting ability). As ugly as Sam Cassell is, that's how bad Allen has played in this year's playoffs. And speaking of Cassell, why is he on this team? He can't hit a shot unless he's the only one in the key, is so slow that Shaq can outrun him and makes a ton of turnovers (not a good sign for a back up point guard). Did I mention that I think he's really ugly? Seriously, he's so ugly that I didn't even want to post a photo of him. (You know how you know you're ugly? When people don't want to post photos of you because you're so ugly).
I was originally prepared to unleash a total bashing on Doc Rivers in this column but in my extensive research (like five minutes), I think I've convinced myself that he's done a better job than I thought. Danny Ainge did a great job in the offseason of assembling this team but then Doc had to be the one to manage all of the egos, who got the shots, how much time to play his starters when they wrapped up home court advantage on New Year's Day and still keep everyone happy. And you know what? He did it. He took a squad that no one knew how they would play together and helped them to the best record in the regular season and now he's four wins away from a huge contract extension.
On a semi-side note to the NBA Championship, who the heck is going to watch this? The games aren't going to start until 9:20 pm. Yeah, I know for all of those crazy LA folks, that's like starting at 6:20 pm. But out here on the better side of the country, these games aren't going to end until after midnight. Good way to get a younger audience involved in your sport. I can understand starting the week day games at night, but why not an hour earlier? And is it necessary to have two Sunday night games start at 9:20? What's the rationale for that? Actually, I know that the rationale is all about advertising dollars and the 24-54 male viewing audience between 9-11 pm but some day there's going to be a whole segment of 24-54 old males who don't care about this game.
So now my pick. On the surface, it looks like the C's are in a ton of trouble. I don't like the starting five matchups and even though Doc Rivers has done an admirable coaching job this year, I would never pick Doc over Phil Jackson, who has won so many NBA titles that I didn't even bother to look it up. In the end, I feel like picking the C's over the Lakers would be like picking the New York Giants to beat an 18-0 Patriots team in last year's Super Bowl. Did you really think that Tom Coughlin would outcoach Bill Belichick in a Super Bowl? I mean, who in their right mind would think that an undermanned NFL team going to their first Super Bowl would beat the MVP, coach of the year and the perennial contender? Something like that happening could only be pulled off if an unknown receiver came out of no where to make an amazing catch that would ultimately lead to the winning touchdown with less than a minute left. Huh? That happened? The Patriots lost the Super Bowl? Seriously? If the Celtics win we're only going to have two champions in this city, not three?
Screw it. If Tom Coughlin can do it, so can Doc. Celtics in six!
Lots of people, mostly me, myself and I, have been saying that I should start a blog about sports.
So, here is my blog. If you like it, leave me a comment. If you don't like it, leave me a comment. Either way, I don't really care. And if you're offended by anything on this blog then stop reading.
And please note that while this is a Boston sports blog, there will be no entries about the Boston Bruins or hockey. In fact, as far as I'm concerned, they don't exist. I'd talk about the world championship wife-carrying contest before I'd talk about hockey.
Celtics celebrate Banner 17 with Hub victory march. Who's got dibs on the next parade- Red Sox, Patriots or Celtics? I'll take the Patriots.
