Weird Sports Round-Up

Sorry for the no posting situation. Yesterday was a travel day. In other news, Jared has been traveling for about 3 weeks apparently.

Jake really held it down though. Love Shaq, Oregon is sick and I'd obvi be Wolverine is I could be an X-Men. Actually prolly Magneto cause I'd want to be a bad guy. Because of my absence yesterday, and my 9 hours in flight and in airports, I have a lot on my mind. For that, I will supply you with 2 posts today.

First, there is a lot of crazy stuff happening int he sports world, starting with Curt Schilling wanting to run for the late Ted Kennedy's seat in the Senate.

This is what he had to say:

"[Running] would be fun. The whole spotlight media crap, not so much," the former major league pitcher, who helped the Boston Red Sox win the World Series in 2004 and 2007, told Boston radio station WEEI on Thursday. "But [a run] would be a lot of fun because pretty much anybody that you're fighting against in office right now doesn't really have much of a leg to stand on right now.

"There's nobody you can go up against that you couldn't probably drag out a laundry list of stuff and say, 'Listen, this person's already proven that they're status quo, that they're business as usual, and we need anything but in every way shape and form moving forward."

Look at that pic. C'mon Curt, get outta hear with this. I know you sweat yourself and love politics, but A) you have zero experience outside of campaigning for George W., which is really just talking, B) this is the Senate we're talking about, there hasn't been a seat open in Mass. for like 15 years and C) you are a noted Republican, which clearly won't work in Mass.

-Another sports nugget I loved today was Jeff Jagodzinski getting fired as offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before the season starts. Jags, as most of you reading this far down in a sports post know, was the coach of BC football the past 2 years before a messy divorce this spring. The Jets wanted to interview Jags for their head coaching vacancy, but BC basically said we'll fire you if you do. Jags did anyway, got peaced by the Eagles and didn't get the job (it went to Rex Ryan). But then he hooked on with Tampa as an O Coordinator. Still better if you ask me. But now he's out of a job again with yet another dispute, this one "over coaches and players not agreeing with Jagodzinski's coaching philosophies and teaching methods."

LOL, slayta Jags. You must be a mega chooch.

-I'll leave you with this little gem. We all know that John Smoltz Pitching Machine has turned back into John Smoltz World Beater upon his return to the National League. Well now Brad Penny is up to same tricks. Penny had a sterling 7-8 record with a 5.61 ERA with the Red Sox. Numbers Jake could put up with his elbow dangling off. So Penny signs with the Giants and makes his debut last night against the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies in Philly. This is the line he puts up:

8IP, 5H, 1BB, 2K, 0R

Are you kidding me? Zero friggin runs? If this doesn't cement the fact that the NL is the minor league of MLB than I don't know what does. Brad Penny throwing 8-inning shutouts against the best team they have to offer in said team's home park??? AL is winning it all this year.

---Nick

Don't Mess with Sports

Don't dare try and mess with sports in the spring. They are in control. Sport normally play a large part in my life, but at this time of year, they simply dictate it.

TV shows gather up dust on my DVR, movies from Blockbuster online sit idly in their cases, workout times get skipped, trips to the mall or movies are nixed and phone calls to friends and relatives are just a passing thought.

Because every night there is a playoff game -- hockey or basketball -- and more than likely, a baseball game to boot. You just can't beat this time of year.

We saw the last round of the NCAA Tournament in April, followed by the first few weeks of baseball and the NFL draft.

We rang in May with the Kentucky Derby and the Pacquiao-Hatton fight. And over the course of it all, the NBA and NHL playoffs played out into the second round.

It's a good time to be a dude. Only one problem: how do you expect me to not drink everyday? I have crispy cold Coors Lights and Sam Summers in the fridge, and you think I can just let these treats rest while I watch the Celts, Bruins and Red Sox? C'mon now. No true man can say no. It's not healthy, but it's not fair. Any fan with a rooting interest needs beer with sports. And why don't you throw in some chips, pizza, or nachos too. For the boys.

So when you see me hovering around 300 pounds in the future, just know I did it for the sake of your favorite teams.

That said, here's a quick outlook at where we stand on the day of the Celtics-Orlando Game 1, Sox-Yanks in the Bronx and less than 24 hours after the Hurricanes tied up the Bruins:

B's: Outplayed in the two periods I saw last night. Carolina goalie Cam Ward is sneaky. He was the playoff MVP for the 'Canes when they won the cup in 2006, and he looked sharp last night. Eric Staal finally showed up on the scoresheet -- the first time he's done so in six games against Boston. Overall, I'm not too worried, the Bruins had to lose at some point, but it always hurts to drop one at home. I think we split in Carolina and take the last two games (1-and-1) to win in six.

C's: After the most epic first-round series in sports history and one of the best series in basketball maybe ever, the Celtics will be hard-pressed to avoid a hangover against Orlando. I like the Magic, even without Dwight Howard (actually I teased Orlando minus Dwight against Philly along with Houston over Portland on Thursday night. Easy $$). The Magic played us tough all year and once again, Boston's lack of big men will come back and haunt it. If Paul Pierce plays like he did collectively in the Chicago series, than I can't see this one going past 5-6 games. But who knows, whenever I underestimate Pierce, he comes through. Guy's a machine. If we can get Howard in foul trouble, guard Turkoglu's step-back 3 and limit Rashard Lewis' open looks, we'll be in good shape. That's a lot of 'ifs' but the point is clear: in this series, success will start and end on the defensive end.

Sox: After getting pwned by Carl Crawford and the Rays all weekend, the suddenly pitching-less Sox make their first trip to the New Yankee Stadium (is that its official name or just what everyone calls it??). Would love to see Jon Lester turn in a good start tonight, but more importantly I'd like to see the starters do better as a whole. Anyone not named Wakefield has so far pitched poorer than expectations. Well, not Masterson, but he's a spot starter for now. Lineup has been grinding and tough to get through usually, although it sputtered a bit against The Rays' Matt Garza and James Shields; something the club needs to figure out sometime this year. Lovin' Youk right now. He seriously might be the best hitter in the AL. The BHITAL, if you will. The former BHITAL, David Ortiz, is now the WHITAL. Kiddin. Kind of. But he doesn't seem happy, and in my opinion, really hasn't since the Manny trade. You saw that in his body language all weekend. Tossing the bat, slamming his helmet, and sitting by himself in the dugout. He needs a little fake DL stint to get his mind right, I think. He pretends like he doesn't care that columnists and fans doubt him now, but the reality is he cares tons.This quote from the Globe pretty much sums it up:

"I'm not happy," Ortiz said. "Why should I be? But I'll tell you what ... I'm just gonna keep the flow, keep playing the game, not worry about too many things. I don't want to be listening to all the negativity, all the (expletive) everybody come with. Because it seems like it's never enough. People all they like to see is people fail so they had a reason to talk (smack). So I'm not paying attention to any of it. I'm trying to stay away from talking because I don't need to talk, I need to do things right now. I will do things, believe me."

I'll leave you with this, which is how you really brawl in baseball. In fact, I heard of the Perkins' brothers starting the same thing in the Brockton league on Sundays:



Leave thoughts/comments below.

--Nick

Gotta Love Barkley

It was a Dewey week this week. Antoine Walker, Vincent Jackson and Jason Richardson all received DUIs within a few days of each other. And let's not leave out Charles Barlkey, who was stopped driving under the influence last week. The best part? He calmy explained to the officer that he was just trying to get a blow job. Hey, sorry for partyin.

But what I don’t get: you make tons. Just get a driver, bro. And what happened to the good ole days when a cop would recognize an athlete and let him slide? What are athletes not revered anymore? C’mon now. First pilots, then astronauts, now athletes? If people stop worshipping movie stars next, we won’t have anything left.

Mark Teixeira was officially introduced as a Yankee on Tuesday. Did you see this chooch at his press conference? I’m not sure, but Tex might be a Bro. He’s kind of hiding it in this press conference but the signs are there: he lets his wife decide where he wants to go, he makes corny jokes and laughs at them himself and he has a slightly annoying tone of voice. I’m saying toss a backwards hat or some gel on him and he’s a frat-bro, no doubt.

Couple things here, if you clicked on the link to see the press conference:

-He knew TWO WEEKs before Christmas he wanted to be a Yankee?? WTF!!?? How did this drag out for so long then? How come no one in the media knew this, and all thought the Sox were the favorite? And why the Hell did Boras let John Henry and Theo fly out to Texas?

-His wife told him to be a Yankee? Listen Lee, or Leigh, whatever it is: mind your business. What do you care where your multi-million dollar mansion is going to be? Guess what? IT”s GOING TO BE FIRE. It’s a mansion! You’re getting $180 million! You’re telling me you’d rather be in cramped, dirty New York than a nice mans in Brookline? OK.

----

Finally, this is an interesting story out of Florida. Gators’’ defensive coordinator Charlie Strong, who is black, feels that part of the reason he hasn’t gotten a shot at being a head coach is because of an interracial marriage (his wife is white). This comes a few weeks after Auburn chose Iowa State coach Gene Chizik over Buffalo coach Turner Gill, another black man marriage to a white woman.

During that fiasco (remember Charles Barkley?), ESPN reported that two SEC coaches said Gill got passed over because of his interracial marriage.

I don’t even know what to think of this. Is it racist? And if so, against which race? It almost implies that if they had black wives they would be fine. And what if a white man going for a coaching job had a black wife? What would happened there? In my opinion, I feel like these schools would discriminate against him as well.

It’s just something about the South. The Good Ol’ Boy environment will never change down there.

And what about an Asian coach? What would happen there? Could a Chinese man marry a Japanese women and get away with it because the Southern officials wouldn’t know? This is what goes through my twisted mind when I read this stuff.

-Slick Nick (who would certainly celebrate after a touchdown, but wouldn't spike his own nuts)

The New Bruins, Not Your Old Bruins

Mike O’Connell had it all figured out.

It was 2004 and the NHL was approaching a work stoppage, a lockout that threatened to make it the first North American pro league to cancel a full season, and O’Connell had a plan.

The Bruins were coming off a first-place finish in the East, albeit followed by a disappointing first-round playoff exit to the Montreal Canadians. Still, the then-Bruins General Manager was going to completely purge his roster, let his free agents go and head into the lockout with his cupboard bare, with plenty of room to sign a slew of free agents that would come on the cheap once the NHL cracked down with a strict salary cap.

Other teams would be over the cap, they’d have to cut players and then the Bruins could swoop in and sign them for half the price.

That’s what he thought anyway.

In reality, O’Connell and the rest of the Bruins’ brass misread the situation badly. When the NHL and Players Association reached an agreement prior to the 2005-06 season, not only was the $39 million cap higher than the B’s anticipated, what really did them in was the 24-percent salary rollback on all existing player contracts. That essentially allowed other clubs to keep the players they had previously under contract in the uncapped years. Basically, teams rarely had to cut anyone.

So what’s my point in all this? The ’03-’04 Bruins were good. Real good. They had a balanced team in front of Andrew Raycroft, who was having a stellar year. And give O’Connell some credit. With a work stoppage looming after the season, he went out and acquired Michael Nylander and Sergei Gonchar to make a run at the Cup.

But what really enamored me with this team, was the offensive firepower. Let’s take a look at the roster, it’s STACKED up front:

1st Line:
Joe Thornton
Glen Murray
Mike Knuble

2nd Line:
Michael Nylander
Patrice Bergeron
Sergei Samsonov

3rd Line:
Brian Rolston
PJ Axelsson
Martin Lapointe

Wow. The B’s could roll out three lines of thunder. Follow that with solid defensemen Gonchar, Hal Gill, Dan McGillis, Sean O’Donnell and Nick Boynton and the B’s had a nice core of talent. That’s why they finished as the top team in the Eastern Conference.

But what O’Connell, Harry Sinden, et al did in that summer of ’04 ruined everything. They let Gonchar, Nylander, Rolston, Knuble, Lapointe, O’Donnell, McGillis and more just walk away for nothing. And it cost them their jobs.

Again, my point? Don’t take this current Bruins team for granted. What Peter Chiarelli has put together in the wake of that devastation – in only a few years – is astounding. The 2005-06 Bruins were AWFUL. The 2006-07 edition may have been worse.

We saw a slight turnaround last year when an injury depleted squad scratched and clawed its way to the eighth and final playoff spot. And that’s what really brought this team to the next level. Taking the first-place Canadians to seven games after not beating them ONCE in the regular season gave this team some confidence, some swagger and showed the younger players (and the B’s had lots of them) that they could compete at a high level in the NHL.

So enjoy this club. Marvel at Phil Kessel, who looks like the puck is glued to his stick. Cheer Milian Lucic, the watered-down version of Cam Neely and David Krejic, the foreign edition of Adam Oates. Scream your head off for Chara, Savard, Bergy, Thomas and Fernandez. Because you never know when it can end.

Can this group win it all? Hard to say. They may be one trade for another blueliner away. But, hey, just think of what they used to be. They've come a long way.

The B stands for Back, baby.