An instant classic

To Tim's last post, I want this series over and done with in Game 6. I think the Celtics can do it too. For posterity's sake, here's is the NBA's mini-movie about Game 5. I love the pre-game practice and hope they share more footage of that.

Reason #2,348 Rajon Rondo is Awesome

Rondo is showing his aggressiveness and growth since 2008. Ray had an incredible game, but I think last night's game 2 vs the Lakers was arguably Rondo's best all around game as a Celtic. This video slo-mo is amazing.

Bring it on: Celtics vs. Lakers (round 12)

Yes, this is the NBA equivalent of Red Sox / Yankees. Except in this case, it's the Celtics who are the evil empire with nine wins out of the eleven previous meetings in the finals against the Lakers. Where things become a little more balanced is when we look at the last couple of decades where the Lakers have actually won a slew of their fifteen championships. The Celtics on the other hand won all but one of theirs prior to 1987. In fairness, however, the last time the Celtics won a title in 2008, it was at the expense of the Lakers. And for any Kobe/Lakers fans out there, you likely still have the bad taste of the 39 point ass whooping in game 6 in Boston.

That bad taste was partially removed when the Lakers dominated the Magic in last years NBA finals. But just like the Red Sox needed to go through the Yankees in their epic 7 game series in 2004 before finally removing the Curse of the Bambino, so too do the Lakers need to exorcise their demons of 2008 be vanquishing the Celtics in this years battle royale. The problem is, the Lakers are facing an even hotter Celtic team this year with a healthy Big Three Four (including Rondo in this mix now). A team that just wiped out the number one and two regular seeds in the East -- and the top ranked teams in the NBA according to NBA.com in the last two rounds of the playoffs.

But, that's the beauty of the playoffs and the reason you don't play them on paper. On any given day, any team can win. And of course that fact has led to a little trash talk going on on Twitter between the fans of LA and the good people of Boston (former citizens included). To that end, we have all decided to put our money where our mouths are (I think) and have decided to put a little wager in place.

Here's what I'm proposing...

If the Lakers win, Team LA (members below) will pick a restaurant in LA (or somewhere convenient for the five of them) with Team Boston footing the bill (not to exceed $50/person including tax/tip). The members of Team Boston will ALSO have to don a Laker-themed avatar for exactly one week following the final game of the series.

• Tom Humbarger
• Liz Phillips
• Bennett
• Jason Kapler
• TBA (unless you guys want to go unbalanced)

If the Celtics win, Team Boston (members below) will pick a restaurant in Boston (or somewhere convenient for the five of them) with Team LA footing the bill (not to exceed $50/person including tax/tip). The members of Team LA will ALSO have to don a LakerCeltic-themed avatar for exactly one week following the final game of the series.

• Jim Storer
• Kyle Flaherty
• Jaime Punishill
• Adam Cohen
• Aaron (that's me)

An acknowledgement in the comments section below will serve as validation that you have accepted this friendly little wager. You all ready to rock?!?

10 Things I Think I Think

Anyone here read Peter King of Sports Illustrated? I'm assuming most of you have. He writes a weekly column called Monday Morning Quarterback -- a must read if you follow football at all. My main reason for mentioning him is that within his MMQB column, he has a section called "Ten Things I Think I Think." Given my lack of contribution to Big Papelbon (other than in the comments section), I felt like I needed a more substantive post with some current thoughts on the Boston sports scene. Here goes:

1. Missed the Celtics season opener the other night. Saw the highlights on ESPN though and I'll tell you what... the 2009 Celts are going to be a tough team this season provided they stay healthy. What a great combo of veterans (Pierce, Garnett, Allen, 'Sheed, House and Daniels) and youth (Davis, Perkins, Allen and Williams).
2. Following up on point number one, LeBron IS a human highlight film. However, I'm going to reiterate that if he doesn't learn to be more reliant on his teammates (Shaq might help that), championships are going to continue to be elusive.
3. Cliff Lee. Game 1 of the World Series. WOW. Enough said.
4. Sounds like the Red Sox might make a run at Ben Sheets. Yeah, I know that the last few science experiments with Mssrs. Penny and Smoltz didn't work out so well. But this one's got nothing but upside considering the fact that they've already got three legit studs in Beckett, Lester and DiceK and a stud in the making with Clay Buchholz. Sounds like the Sox interest in Adrian Gonzalez is also heating back up. The idea is that Gonzalez (40 HRs in 2009) would play first and Youk would bounce back to third.
5. What about them Patriots? True, they last two teams they've played are a combined 0-12 but good teams beat bad teams soundly. And the Pats have done just that winning 59-0 and 35-7 respectively -- both times in bad weather. Looks like Brady's fate will rise and fall based on the presence of his security blanket, Wes Welker. Nice to see them at 5-2 going into the break. I pity the next nine teams that have to play them.
6. University of Texas has two teams ranked number three in the country right now. Everyone in Austin knows that the men's football team is one of them. How many Longhorn fans/Austinites know that the men's basketball team (preseason coaches' poll) is the other?
7. Good to see the A-Rod we all know and love (kills it in the regular season/chokes in the post season) resurface for the World Series. He's batting a stellar 0-8 with 6 strikeouts. Even if the Yankees win, this makes me oddly happy.
8. If Garnett, Allen, 'Sheed and Pierce can all stay healthy this season (yes, that's a huge IF), the Celtics could win 70 games. Just sayin'.
9. Regarding the Bruins (5-5-1), I hope they do well this season. Beyond that, I got nothing for ya. Not the biggest NHL fan.
10. Best wishes to Brad Mills, former Red Sox bench coach, who was named manager of the Houston Astros. Hopefully he'll bring a little of that Boston/Philly mojo to the 'Stros. It would be nice to see them get back into the hunt.

New Blood on the Olde Town Teams

It's hard keeping up with all of the exciting new acquisitions on the Boston's sports teams but for the ones I know about, I couldn't be more thrilled...

• Celtics: Stephon Marbury & Mikki Moore
• Red Sox: John Smoltz, Brad Penny & Brad Wilkerson
• Patriots: Fred Taylor (just confirmed that contrary to what I said in the video, Ray Lewis is staying put.)

Okay gents, let the comments fly!

One for the Pantheon

No question last night's Celtics comeback from down 24 points in the first quarter will go down in history as one of the greatest games in Boston sports lore. But how often do we get to know that as the game is happening?



I sat on the edge of my couch and didn't move for 3 hours. In the 2nd quarter, the C's showed signs of life - I was hopeful that they could cut the lead to less than 10 before the half, but a half court 3 at the buzzer left the Lakers up 18. Everyone knows the Celtics own the third quarter, so I stayed up. I had no idea it would be to witness history.

Watching the Celtics chip away was excruciating - with each block, each Posey 3 pointer, each time Van Gundy pointed out no one has come back from a deficit that big, you start to think, "Could this be it?" It was like watching Lester's no-hitter, or Ortiz come up in the bottom of the 9th against Rivera. There is a magic in the game as it is happening that just can't be scripted, except in basketball it's more drawn out over a couple of hours.

As much faith as anyone should have in the Celtics at this point, they are playing the Lakers - in the first half the Lakers were the same team that shut down San Antonio and was undefeated at home previously in the playoffs. Kobe didn't score a point in the first half, and his team was dominating. In the third quarter I got superstitious - didn't want to change my position on the couch, didn't answer the phone, didn't soothe my 1 year old after I woke him up with a "YES!!!" when the Celtics cut the lead to single digits just after 11pm EST. With all the chest thumping from the Lakers this series, there is no team that has played with more heart than the Celtics in that next hour. Ray Allen played 48 minutes and looked like he could do a triathalon after the game. All I could think after the game was, "I can't believe what I just witnessed."

Not sure where this will fall in history. The Celtics need to close out the series for it to mean anything, but I get to say this once again - what a time to be a Boston sports fan.

(Interesting side note - if the NBA had actually started the game at a decent time most of the eastern seaboard could have seen this game finish. When does Stern acknowledge a 9pm start time is ridiculous?)

Celtics - Lakers anyone still feeling that feeling ?

Just stumbled across a funny article on ESPN about finding L.A. area "Celtic haters"...
Some pretty funny quotes by celebs, players and regular folk like us (just from the wrong coast) about the existing hatred of the Celtics in Los Angeles.

For those of us who were fortunate to live through the 80s basketball heyday in Boston
as Celtics fans there is certainly as much animosity still felt for them.
Here is the link and a nice youtube flashback reminder ..

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=alipour/080610

Take this... Mr Lakers Assistant Coach / horned rimmed jackass**
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7r6vXeOfyQ

**I think Bill Simmons touched on this in one of his recent articles about how James Worthy shoved Rambis out of bounds to prevent retaliation, but while watching it repeatedly what struck me as more bizarre than knocking your own teammate down, was Bird actually helping Rambis back to his feet... so much for thinking that it was "old school ball" back then.

Friday Musings, May 30

A lot going on in the sports world right now yet I feel like other than the Celtics, I've been mostly unplugged. That seems to happen to me especially when the Sox are on the left coast and I can't stay up to watch the late night games in their entirety. Let's hope that being on the right coast cures some of the Sox batting woes (they've faced some decent pitching but they've also been asleep at the wheel when it comes to timely base hits). Oh yeah, and Timlin didn't help their cause the other night.

On to the musings...

1. Anyone else a little bit excited about the fact that the D-Rays are in 1st place in the East? We know this won't last (think Baltimore a few years back) but it's fun while it's happening. Yes, I'd obviously like seeing the Sox in first place more but this is kind of like seeing your kid brother whom you've competed with your whole life (him losing most of the time) scoring two goals in a big soccer game or him making the varsity baseball team as a freshman. It feels good in a "I won't let on that I'm proud of you but I am" kind of way. Too bad their fans still don't care.
2. Celts could REALLY use a win tonight. Not that I don't think they could win in game 7 in the Gah-den but given the Lakers win last night and the fact that they've already played two 7-game series, them tired legs could use a week-long rest. Here's my prediction - if Rip sits tonight for D-troit, the C's win a squeaker. If Rip plays meaningful minutes, C's lose by 8. Let's hope Rip sits.
3. Anyone ready for football season to start? I didn't think so.
   
4. The Sox have a good problem right now in the fact that they have too much starting pitching. Back in 2005, they found themselves in the same situation and proceeded to screw themselves by trading away Bronson Arroyo. This hurt when Schilling/Wells went down early with injuries. What's nice is that we have two studs in Colon and Masterson waiting in the wings so that when DiceK suffers a sore shoulder, we don't miss a beat. This will only get better/more interesting when Schilling comes back in mid to late August.
5. Is hockey season over yet?
6. Can we find a better option for late inning set up/back up closer than Timlin? I love Mike and he has done wonderful things for the Sox but he really is done at this point.

Okay, this last item is not really that sports related but it does involve a friend and a marathon and it's for a good cause. One of my social media pals, Jennifer Leggio (aka Mediaphyter) is raising money to fight Leukemia. One of the ways that she's doing this (in addition to running a marathon this fall) is to auction of the services of folks like myself on eBay. If you know of anyone that's looking to get some education on social media/online community building, please send them our way.

As always, comments are welcome! Happy weekend.

Monday Musings: December 18 (Tuesday Edition)

A few thoughts as we head into the holiday season:

1. Roger Clemens on steroids? Who knew.
2. You have to feel a little bit bad for the Boston Bruins. They have the third best record in the NHL (second place in their division) yet you would think they were the Weston High School girls field hockey team in terms of the love they get. To that end, I was driving up to Maine last weekend and passed a ticket broker who had their "top events" listed on their sign out front. One of the items listed was "Bruins Tickets." I scratched my head on that one - do people in Maine know that you can by scalped Bruins tickets for about 50% of face value right now?
3. Patriots/Jets - was anyone else disappointed that Belichick didn't spit in Mangini's face after last Sunday's game? I didn't really expect any fireworks but there was a little part of me that was hoping for something more dramatic. Maybe even a friendly knee in the groin. Oh well.
   
   To that end, I was listening to WEEI last night and Big O. and the boys had Coach Belichick on. After about two minutes of discussion, I came to the conclusion that aliens had replaced Coach B. with a kinder, gentler, more humorous being. During the conversation, Belichick stopped Freddy, Steve, Pete and Big O. and asked them who they thought the Jets should go with at QB. He then sat back and listened to the boys trip all over themselves as they tried to impress Coach with their answers. What was shocking was the fact that B elichick seemed to be enjoying himself. It was nice to see a human side to Belichick.
   
4. To my fantasy boys -- you know who you are -- what are the odds that three of the top four seeds all fall in the first round? My Melrose Mildew (7 seed) is riding Adrian Peterson all the way to the finals baby!
5. Is the Santana deal going to get done or not? For all the pomp and circumstance about that deal, I can't believe that something isn't going to get done. Last Thursday on WEEI, Kirk Schilling practically guaranteed that the Sox would get Santana. As much as I'm conflicted about losing Ellsbury, having Santana alongside Beckett, Dice K, Bucholtz/Lester and Schilling is nothing short of awesome.
6. Poor ARod and Scott Boras aren't speaking. A lovers quarrel perhaps?
7. This is apropos of nothing but is Junior Seau gay? I don't care if he is or isn't but every time they show him in the locker room after a game, one has to wonder.
   
8. Anyone else excited about the Celts 20-2 start?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts...

Monday Musings: November 26

It's been a while since I did a substantive post so I thought this morning might be a good time to recap what's going on in Boston sports (with my own little twist thrown in of course.)

First, I want to wish my boy Joey M. a happy 40th today. Joey M. is one of my best and longest standing friends. I've known him since third grade and he and I have done lots of cool stuff together over the years. Here's wishing him another 40 x 2 years of equal fun.

For starters, what a win by the Pats last night! I know everyone in New England is moping around thinking, "holy crap, we almost lost to the 5-5, McNabb-less Eagles last night. How is this possible when the spread was 24?!?" Well, these things happen. Take a look at the history books and you'll see a long string of unexpected "David vs. Goliath" upsets starting with the 1968 Bills (0-11) defeating the eventual Super Bowl champs, the NY Jets (who ultimately went 13-3.) There were also the 1985 Dolphins who prevented the Bears from besting their 17-0 record, beating the Bears on the national stage by a score of 38-24. That proved to be the Bears only loss that season on a way to a dominating Superbowl win over our beloved Pats.

You have to give Andy Reid, Jimmy Johnson, AJ Feeley and the no-name Eagles receiving corp. a ton of credit for a killer game night. First of all, Reid and Johnson schemed/coached the game like they were betting with house money. Onsides kicks in the first quarter? Trick plays? Bombs? All out blitzes? They threw the kitchen sink at the Pats and it almost worked. Then there was Feeley who was downright Brady-esque. He threw no fewer than 10 passes that were on a wire. And then their were the receivers who made unbelievable catch after unbelievable catch. I don't say this often but I take my hat off to those guys.

My second thought is, am I the only person in New England that is a little disappointed that our "hot stove" season for the Sox is already over? There will be no angst this off season over which pitcher we're going to post for. No upset stomachs over who will replace Damon in center field. No questions about who will close for the Sox or who will fill the fifth slot in the rotation. Don't get me wrong, this is a good thing. Now that Lowell and Schilling are wrapped up, we're essentially guaranteed that the same team that took the field in the 2007 World Series will be on the field on opening day in 2008. Just missing the drama a little I guess...

To that end, what are your thoughts on Boston going after Santana? Is it worth emptying the bank i.e. trading Ellsbury, Lester and Bucholtz to get THE most dominant left-hander in the game? This is a classic "bird in the hand" question but I have to say, after seeing what Ellsbury did in October and the sniff of what Bucholtz might bring, I say no. It pains me to think that way but this move has "Yankees" written all over it. As the Bronx Bombers have proven over the last several years, having too many veterans and not enough rookies/youth on a team can be deadly. Let's not monkey with success!

Last up, the Celtics. WOW! Are these guys good or what? This isn't anything that the press hasn't already told you but 11-1? When Ainge went out and acquired mssrs. Allen and Garnett, we all knew that we at least had a shot at the Eastern title. Now, it's not beyond the realm of belief to think that we could win it all provided we can stay healthy - and that's a BIG but. One thing that can't be underestimated is the play of Rondo and Perk along with the additions of House and Posey to the roster. Gotta give Danny an A+ for putting this team together (at least for now.)

One parting thought. After seeing the Eagles almost beat the Pats last night made me realize that we are probably not going to go undefeated this season. It's one thing when you are blowing teams out by 30-40 points and not really putting your players in jeopardy but last night was an all out war. If Belichick and the boys clinch home field throughout in two weeks by virtue of having a three game lead over the Colts and Steelers, I think you have to consider lightly resting some of your veterans. I know, call me crazy...

Sorry, I know the Bruins aren't that bad but I can't muster the energy to bring them up in this conversation. Oh yeah, I owe the Revs a belated pat on the back too. I know they are now officially the Bills of MLS but at least they make it to the big game every year!

p.s. Do you think the Dolphins are looking at Welker and saying, "why can't we get guys like that?"

Friday Musings

A few thoughts to kick off your July 4th weekend (although I gotta say, the holiday falling on a Wednesday this year really screws things up)

• * People are going to be split 50/50 on last night's trade by the Celtics. In case you fell into a temporary sports coma, the Celtics gave up Jeff Green (no. 5 pick) plus Mssrs. Szczerbiak and West for Ray Allen and Glen "Big Baby" Davis (no. 35 pick). I know the C's still need defense in a big way but I think this move gives the Celts a great shot at the no. 4 seed in the East behind Cleveland, Detroit and Miami. The Celtics also got Gabe Pruitt -- a guard out of USC -- who was considered by many to be a first round pick.
• * Following up my first thought, I sent an e-mail last night to my friend, Rich Gotham, the new President of the Celtics:

Rich,

Assuming the trade goes through, this is a great move for the C's for three reasons:

1. You get a guy that was one of the top five scorers in the league
2. Al Jefferson is still a Celtic (and 2007 All Star to be)
3. You didn't pick Yi Jianlian (I know Danny liked him but he was too long term a project)

I smell a great 2007-08 season brewing!!!

Aaron

• * The Yankees totally got "Lugo-ed" last night. They are up 8-6 in the 8th inning after scoring 4 runs and then what happens? It starts to pour. The game gets postponed with play to resume at a later date. Just when they thought they were going to break their four game losing streak. Like many other members of Red Sox Nation, I was crushed...
  
• * Fellow classmate of Melrose High School '86, Jeff Gorton, got let go as the assistant GM of the Bruins yesterday. It's hard to believe but this guy had been with the Bruins for 15 years. Yes, the same Bruins team that have seemingly had a new coach and GM every one of those fifteen years. Good luck Jeff -- I'm sure you'll land a nice job with a better franchise elsewhere.
• * The Sox need to make three moves before the trade deadline:
  1) get rid of Mirabelli for a real backup catcher
  2) find a replacement for Timlin in the bullpen (they may have one already in Delcarmen)
  3) pick up another "Cora" i.e. a serviceable veteran utility infielder that can backup Cora at short and Pedroia at second. Since there is no moving Lugo, he becomes a VERY expensive pinch runner/late inning defensive substitution for the Sox
• * Hope that one win was worth the $5M the Yanks have paid Rocket so far. Maybe the Bronx Bombers will be willing to trade Rocket for Matt Clement mid-season straight up.
  

Let's pray for another hot streak starting tonight so that we can officially put the AL East to bed by the All Star break!

Friday Musings

Several random thoughts/questions as we head into what promises to be an exciting summer:

1) I can honestly say that I would not want to be in Danny Ainge's shoes right now. In listening to WEEI, watching Sports Center and reading various articles/blog posts, it would appear that people are split down the middle 50/50 on whether or not to trade Jefferson, the no. 5 pick and Theo Ratliff for KG or Amare Stoudemire. Apparently, the KG deal has been called off because KG doesn't want to come to Boston (big surprise) and rumors are that the same thing is happening on the Stoudemire front.

In a perfect world, I say they draft Jeff Green (go Hoyas!) or Corey Brewer and then field offers for a package of Green/Brewer, Jefferson and Ratliffe's expiring contract. If someone of the caliber of a Kobe or Stoudemire comes along, seriously consider it. If not, roll the dice this year and consider a trade for Pierce at the deadline if the C's struggle. I would not do the KG deal because a) he's too old and b) he's never had post season success (accept on trip to the Western Conference Finals).

For more on this front, check out Simmons latest if you haven't seen it yet. He wrote an amusing article about the draft and who should draft/trade for whom.

2) It appears that Miguel Tejada's consecutive games streak of 1,152, the longest currently in the majors, is about to come to an end due to a fractured wrist. Amazingly, the player with the second longest streak at present is Juan Pierre with 343. Teixeira had owned the second longest with 507 but that ended last weekend when he was placed on the DL.

3) Can't wait for the Jake Peavey/Josh Beckett match up this weekend. I'm predicting a Sox 3-1 victory with two of the runs coming in the 8th or 9th inning. The series in general should be fantastic with a showcase of great hitting against great pitching.

4) Did anyone notice that the Bruin's hired a new coach...? Didn't think so.

5) I have a bet with my friend Lil' Jim that the Rocket goes on the DL in the next five days after yesterday's poor outing. Haven't heard any news to substantiate this but I just have a feeling. If it doesn't happen in the next five days, I guarantee it happens very soon. Ditto for Mssrs. Mussina and Pettite. Just as the Yanks are finding their sea legs.

6) Speaking of the Yankees, do you think it's frustrating to win 14 of 17 and creep back to within 7 1/2 of the Sox only to be swept by the Rockies while the Sox blank the Giants and take two out of three from Atlanta? I've gotta say, unless the Yanks can trick San Diego into trading Jake Peavey for Mike Meyers and then making similar deals for the likes of Vlad Guerrero, Big Papi and Albert Pujols, you can stick a fork in them. With Detroit, Cleveland, Anaheim, and even Seattle hanging tough along with the inevitable run that the A's and Twinkies will put together in the second half, I don't see the Yanks even sniffing the Wild Card (never mind the AL East). Kind of breaks my heart if you want to know the truth.

Play ball!