Election Day Links

Get out and vote, no matter how long the line is. Or if your town transferred everything to computers in the past year and you have to re-register. Or any other excuse. Go vote.

NFL

The Steelers won the battle 23-6, but may have lost the war, as Ben Roethlisberger left with an injured throwing shoulder. Byron Leftwich had quite a homecoming.

Jim Zorn’s team looked unorganized and out of sync in the fourth quarter, invoking memories of opening night’s clock management issues.

Brady Quinn gets three days to prepare for his first start.

NBA

The Sixers hammered the Sacramento Kings.

The Magic tamed the Bulls 96-93, but the Magic are still strugg-a-ling

The short-handed and emotionally unstable Pistons plowed over the Bobcats, and Larry Brown is already whining.

GSW hoops ran out of gas in the fourth quarter falling to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Cleveland came into Dallas and won big.

MLB

Matt Holliday is selling his Denver-area home.

My Seattle area sources tell me that Raul Ibanez will NOT be back in Seattle, and that he may look to play closer to his Florida home. Tampa Bay, the Marlins, how about Atlanta? The Braves might be a good fit for Ibanez, but the Rays will be looking for a bat to replace Cliff Floyd and Rocco Baldelli in all likelihood. If Ibanez takes a Luis Gonzalez type deal, he could play for the Marlins, but he surely is worth more than that . I am going to guess Tampa for the win, Atlanta for the Place, and the Marlins for the Show. The Mariners are also very interested in Red Sox bench coach Brad Mills to be thier new manager, and he is number one on their list.

NCAAF

Oklahoma will be without their best pass-rusher for three weeks according to what Bob Stoops told me yesterday in the BIG XII media telconference. Yes, the Central Maine Sports Blog broke a story. No, no one credited us with anything. I do have the proof however, go here, and go to about the 6:30 mark. The stories about this are timestamped 2 hours after this teleconference.

Wednesday Morning Quick Hitters

Fenway Parked looked more like Gillette Stadium as the Boston Red Sox beat the Texas Rangers 19 – 17 Tuesday night. David Ortiz had 2 HRs in the 1st inning and Kevin Youkilis finished the scoring with his second HR of the night. In other Red Sox news, they acquired Cleveland Indians pitcher Paul Byrd for cash or a player to be named later.

Apparently 2 angry 2 run homers for Gary Sheffield were not enough for the Detroit Tigers as they lose to the Toronto Blue Jays 6 – 4. The Tigers put Sheffield on waivers Tuesday.

The Chicago White Sox moved 1/2 game ahead of the Twins by beating the KC Royals 9 – 0. Dye, Swisher and Pierzynski all had homers for the Pale Hose.

Injuries may be taking their toll on the Tampa Bay Rays, as they lost to the Oakland A’s 2 – 1 Tuesday. Scott Kazmir pitched well, but without their 2 spark plugs, the offense couldn’t get going. The Rays are still up by 3 games on the Red Sox.

The Philadelphia Phillies lost in the 9th inning to the surging Los Angeles Dodgers 4 – 3. Andre Ethier singled home Russell Martin for the win. Philly is now only 1 game up on the Mets, and the Dodgers are 1 game back of the D-Backs.

The New York Mets bullpen finally saved a game for Johan Santana, as the Mets beat the Nationals 4 – 3. The Nationals’ Saul Rivera hit the Mets Damion Easley with the bases loaded to bring in the winning run.

The Florida Marlins gained a game on the Phillies as well, by beating the Cardinals 4 – 3. The Cards were held scoreless over the last 8 innings. The Marlins are now 1 1/2 games behind the Phillies.

Randy Johnson continued to look like his old self, leading the Arizona Diamonbacks to a 4 -2 win over the Rockies. Newly acquired Adam Dunn doubled in his debut with Arizona.

Micheal Phelps won 2 more Gold Medals today, winning the 200m Butterfly (beating his own world record) and then, less then an hour later, started the 4×200 freestyle relay win.

US Girls Gymnastics can’t overcome injuries, but still take silver to China’s Gold.

The Miami Dolphins cut A.J. Feely.

The Minnesotta Vikings free agent acquisition CB Madieu Williams, who injured his neck, could be out for an extended period.

The Arizona Cardinals 1st Round pick was carted of the field Tuesday.

The Philadelphia 76ers re-signed Andre Iguodala.

Former Celtic Dan Dickau latest to bolt for Europe.

Saturday Morning Quick Hitters

Mark Buehrle stymied the Boston Red Sox for 7 innings, and Carlos Quentin added an insurance HR in the 8th to beat the Red Sox 5 – 3.

The Tampa Bay Rays moved 3 1/2 games up on the Red Sox by beating the Seattle Mariners 5 -3. Carlos Pena went 2 -3 with 2 RBIs to lead the Rays to victory.

The California Angels used a 17 hit barrage to nail the New York Yankees 10 – 5. Ian Kennedy looked as dismal as ever giving up 5 earned runs in just 2 innings of work. Torii Hunter continued his blazing year at the plate, going 4 – 5 with 4 RBIs.

Chipper Jones returned to the Atlanta Braves lineup Friday, and immediately brought his team a victory. Chipper went 2 – 4 with a HR and 2 RBIs in Atlanta’s 11 -6 win over Arizona.

Brad Penny returned to the LA Dodgers rotation Friday and looked like the Opening Day starter the Dodgers expected. Penny went 5 inning only giving up 1 hit on the way to leading the Dodgers to a 6 -2 win over the San Francisco Giants. With the win, the Dodgers are only 1/2 game back of the Arizona Diamonbacks for the NL West lead.

Former St Louis Cardinal Jim Edmonds, was a 1 man wrecking crew on his former team Friday. Edmonds hit 2 HRs and Henry Blanco singled home the winning run in the 11th inning, helping the Chicago Cubs to a 3 – 2 win over the St Louis Cardinals.

CC Sabathia was on his game again, throwing a complete game, 5 hit shutout against the listless Washington Nationals. Sabathia struck out 9 in the 80’s Old School Pinstripes, to lead the Brew Crew to a 5 – 0 win over the Nats. The Brewers stayed 5 games back of the Cubs.

The Minnesota Twins kept pace with the White Sox, beating the Kansas City Royals 4 -1. Kevin Slowey 5 2/3 innings and the Twins bullpen held it the rest of the way for the win. In other Twins news, Michael Cuddyer is possibly lost for the season, as he was hit in the foot by a line drive while he was leading off first.

The Philadelphia Phillies wasted a gem from newly acquired Joe Blanton, losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates 2 – 0. The Pirates used a bevy of pitchers and survived 2 walks by former Red Sox reliever Craig Hansen, in the 12 inning to secure the win. The Phillies have now gone 23 innings without scoring a run.

The New York Mets moved to within 1 game of the Phils, beating the Florida Marlins 3 – 0 Friday. Carlos Delgado and David Wright homered in the win.

The Atlanta Hawks didn’t waste much time deciding whether to keep Josh Smith. The Hawks kept Smith by matching the Grizzlies’ offer of 5 years, $58 million.

76ers center, Jason Smith, suffers ACL injury.

Tony Parker picked as EA Sports NBA Live 09 cover player.

Chad Pennington didn’t stay unemployed for long, signing a 2 year deal with the Miami Dolphins.

The Philadelphia Eagles locked up Brian Westbrook for another 3 years on Friday.

New York Jets tight end AJ Schable left the hospital after a helmet to helmet collision in Thursday’s game against the Browns.

Michael Phelps opened his quest for USA Swimming history by setting an Olympic record in the 400 meter individual medley. Larsen Jensen improved on his 400M freestyle American record

US Women’s Soccer got into the win to take his prelim heat.column, with a victory over Japan 1 – 0.

USA women’s saber fencing takes the 1st medals of the Olympics for The United States.

Friday Morning Quickies

MLB

Mike Mussina got his 15th win…yes I did say 15th win, last night, on the way to shutting out the Texas Rangers 3 – 0.

The Tampa Bay Rays heroics may have caught up with them Thursday. The Seattle Mariners Raul Ibanez continued his monster August with a walkoff HR against the Rays. The Mariners won 2 – 1.

The New York Mets David Wright bailed out Scott Shoeneweis in the 9th, by hitting a 2 run walkoff HR to give the Mets a 5 – 3 win over the San Diego Padres. The Mets gained 1 game on the Philadelphia Phillies and are now 2 1/2 games back in the NL East.

The Florida Marlin inch closer to the top of the NL East by beating the Philadelphia Phillies 3 – 0. Florida Rookie Chris Volstad pitched 6 shutout innings to bring the Marlins within 1 1/2 games of the Phils in the NL East.

Manny being Manny is apparently better in Dodgertown than it is in Boston. In 6 games with the Dodgers, Manny is 13 – 23 (that .565 folks) 4 homers, and 9 RBIs. He hasn’t had a HR stretch like that this season and only 1 6 game streak with as many RBIs..hmmm….maybe Scott Borus really is the best. Manny helped the Dodgers beat the St Louis Cardinals 4 – 1.

NFL

Quick Scores for Pre-Season : The Patriots lost to the Baltimore Ravens 15 -16. The Saints beat the Cardinals 24 – 10. The Chiefs beat the Bears 24 -20. The NYJ beat the Browns 24 – 20 and the Detroit Lions beat the Super Bowl Champs (yech!) New York Giants 13 – 10.

Sorry, have to report, Brett Favre meets the press in New York City. In related news, the Jets release Chad Pennington.

Indianapolis Colts camp seems to be missing their little Peyton.

Chicago Bears 1st Round Draft Pick Chris Williams had back surgery yesterday, leaving season in doubt.

Former Patriot Asante Samual will miss The Philadelphia Eagles opening pre-season game wit a hamstring injury.

NBA

The Los Angeles Clippers continue to overhaul their roster by signing White Chocolate, Jason Williams.

Olympic Coverage

As much as NBC would like to pretend it hasn’t happened yet, the Beijing Olympics opened with a glorious fireworks display and ceremony. NBA players Yao Ming and Dirk Nowitzki carried their countries flag in the opening ceremony.

Some Helpful Olympic links

A Great Event Calendar at New York Times

NBC Main Page

NBC TV & Online Schedule.

Portland Press Herald’s Coverage of the Maine participants in the Olympics.

Monday Morning Quickies

MLB

Xavier Nady seems to like being on the Yankees just fine, thank you. Yanks earn the split with the Angels 14 – 9.

Dice K came back to have a strong game, along with Jed Lowrie, beat the A’s 5 – 2.

Ben Sheets continued his mini slide losing to the Braves 5 – 0. The Brewers slipped to 5 games back of the Chicago Cubs. An Atlanta Braves note, longtime Braves announcer Skip Carey passed away late Saturday. Carey was 68.

The New York Mets slipped to 2 1/2 games behind the Phillies by losing to the Houston Astros 4 – 0.

Speaking of the Philadelphia Phillies, they have a huge comeback in the 8th inning, scoring 4 runs and beat the St. Louis Cardinals 5 – 4.

The Chicago White Sox dropped out of 1st place for the 1st time since May, losing to the Kansas City Royals (who were in their throwback powder blues) 14 – 3. The game included a bench clearing, well, dance rather than brawl.

The Minnesota Twins took a 1/2 game lead on the Pale Hose by beating Cleveland 6 – 2. Francisco Liriano was resurrected, after a stellar few months in AAA, throwing 6 innings and giving up only 3 hits.

Manny Ramirez is hitting .615 with the LA Dodgers. Let that sit a while Sox fans. Manny went 4 – 5 with 3 RBIs in the win over NL West Division leading Diamondbacks. The Dodgers beat the D-Backs 9 – 3.

Tampa Bay stays 3 games up on the Red Sox by beating the Detroit Tigers 6 – 5.

NFL

There was real football on the field last night, albeit preseason, the Washington Redskins beat the Indianapolis Colts 30 – 16.

The Brett Favre situation gets weirder and weirder. In more Packer news, Ryan Grant was welcomed back into the fold Sunday, signing a 4 year, $30 Million contract.

Nick Kaczur spoke with the media on Sunday, admitting to “making mistakes”.

Former Patriot Tebucky Jones is in some trouble.

Cincy Bengals top draft pick Keith Rivers, still isn’t in camp.

Denver WR Brandon Marshall will be suspended by the league this morning.

NBA

Another established NBA veteran heading overseas. Orlando Magic guard Carlos Arroyo is heading to Israel to play for Maccabi Tel Aviv.

David Stern getting into a urination contest with former Sonics owner.

Paul Pierce had a little too much fun in Vegas.

The New Class of NBA Bridesmaids

Now that Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, and even to an extent PJ Brown, have won that sometimes elusive NBA Title (we could have included you on that list Reggie Miller), I thought it might be interesting to look at who is left in the NBA in terms of NBA bridesmaids(hence the Katherin Heigl picture above). They have to have been an all-star consistently at some point, and have been in the league for more than 5 years. The Brides Maid Hall of Fame includes

Karl Malone
Charles Barkley
Reggie Miller
Patrick Ewing
John Stockton
Adrian Dantley
Dominique Wilkins
Elgin Baylor
Alex English
Bob Lanier

So the winners this year are…

10. Jermaine O’Neal

Although injuries have basically ended any hope of a Hall Of Fame nod, O’Neal was drafted in 1996 and has yet to win a title. Odds are the Pacers will be rebuilding and looking to move him, he may find a fit to take him on a title run, but odds are he will start to become the “expiring of contract of Jermaine O’Neal” any day now.

9. Vince Carter

Another fragile star who was supposed to be the next Jordan, but isn’t. When Jason Kidd was traded it looked like the Nets were ready to head in another direction, and Carter and Jefferson are still in New Jersey, but this is a team that is a long ways from contending for an 8 seed, let alone a title. I also don’t see any title contenders lining up for his expensive services any time soon.

8. Allen Iverson

His crowning moment in Finals history was hitting a game winner to beat the Lakers in Game One of the 2001 Finals. The Lakers went on to win the next 4 and he hasn’t been back since. He has an opt-out clause in his Denver contract, but all indications so far point to him staying in the high altitude, which probably doesn’t help his bridesmaid status as the Nuggets don’t play defense and had to win 50 games this year just to be an 8 seed. Just over a year and half ago the 76ers had a chance to trade Iverson to the Celtics, but took the Nuggets offer instead. I wonder how THAT would have worked out for the Celtics and if Banner 17 would be in their possession today?

7. Baron Davis

Injured often, but still showing enough brilliance at times to make you wonder why he keeps growing that bee’s nest beard of his, Baron will probably be back in Golden State this year. However, Don Nelson is still the coach, and Nelson and Jerry Sloan would be tied for “Maid of Honor” status among NBA Head coaches without a ring, so I don’t see him coming off this list any time soon, either.

6. Dirk Nowitzki

Probably the bridesmaid with the closest shot of bagging the trophy, unfortunately the trophy took off with Dwayne Wade and gave us homo-erotic T-Mobile commercials (sucking on a lollipop while commenting on Charles Barkley in short shorts as “sexy” is just creepy), while Nowitzki went onto win an an MVP, lose in the first round to an 8 seed, and appear on Punk’d. To be honest, I think losing to the Warriors was less humiliating. Dirk is relatively healthy, but will the Mavs be able to retool this team for one last run?

5. Yao Ming/Tracy McGrady

Has yet to make it through a full season healthy, has not made it out of the first round of the playoffs, yet Yao has become the Ichiro of the NBA while McGrady has become the pre-Super Bowl Peyton Manning. As much blame as Tracy McGrady gets for first round failures, Yao should be shouldering the burden as well. On the bright side, Yao will be representing his country in the Olympics, so that should mean he will be in great shape for the NBA season, right? (crickets, hisses and boos from Rockets fans)

4. Steve Nash

One of the most dynamic point guards of his era, and he has never played in the NBA Finals. The Suns are in transition, and draft night could be key into weather Nash can finally get his ring before his body finally breaks down for good, or if he becomes another John Stockton.

3. Grant Hill

Speaking of broken down bodies, Hill managed to resurrect himself form the dead (kudos to the Phoenix medical staff), but he seemed broken down towards the end of the year. If he can be saved for another season and Terry Porter can be the coach to put Phoenix over the hump, he has a shot, but as I mentioned with Nash in the last section, draft night (and the weight of Shaquille O’Neal) will play a big part in what Phoenix does this year.

2. Elton Brand

Being stuck on the post-Jordan era Bulls squads and then getting shipped to the Clippers, this poor guy can’t catch a break. He may be opting out of his deal though, which means he could possible go somewhere that actually has a shot in hell of contending. He may have to take a little less money, but when you get to year 8 in this league and you are coming off an Achilles injury, you take a shot somewhere. Brand is one of the few Duke players I have ever liked, so I certainly hope he gets to play on the big stage before his career goes ka-put.

1. Jason Kidd

Put aside the off-court issues, the mutiny he led to get Byron Scott fired (New Orleans should send Kidd a thank you card every year for the next 10 years for that alone) and the fact his trade to Dallas basically did nothing for the Mavericks except clog up their salary cap, and you have bridesmaid number one. Probably a Hall-of-Famer, he has been to the Finals twice and been outclassed each time. Had a chance to sign with San Antonio and turned them down. Now he is looking at the final season of huge contract, point guards that are quicker than him every night (Chris Paul, Tony Parker, Deron Williams, hell even Steve Blake), and I think the chances of Kidd being fitted for a title ring are about slim to none.

Generation X’s Signature Celtics Game

Historic franchises all have moments that everyone remembers, whether it is a home run from Carlton Fisk, Kirk Gibson, or Rick Monday; a dramatic save from Patrick Roy; a touchdown pass from Joe Montana; or Havlicek stealing the ball. As a Celtics fan since 1986 (I was 8 yrs old), I had always felt a little shafted on my Celtics moments. I don’t remember them winning game 6 against Houston, but I remember them losing to the Lakers in 1987. I remember Larry Bird’s steal against Detroit, his comeback against the Pacers in Game 5 in 1991, and his last hurrah on a Sunday afternoon at home against the Blazers when he scored 49 points in a double OT Celtic win.but no titles, no victory cigars, no “World Champions” t-shirts, just deaths (Len Bias and Reggie Lewis) horrid draft picks (Eric Montross, Joe Forte, Michael Smith, Ron Mercer) and bad trades (Vin Baker, Rodney Rogers). When Red Auerbach passed away, there were so many tributes and talk of the old days, I felt like a fan of those teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates, who have a storied history that is just that, a storied history and nothing recent to show for it (sadly Sid Bream isn’t recent anymore). Although the 2002 Celtics had a memorable comeback against New Jersey, it wasn’t the same because they still lost the series. Thursday night, June 12, 2008 was my generation’s signature Celtics Game.

At the end of the first quarter I was doing my podcast that I do along with the Celtics games because I hate the announcers, the half times and such, and in basketball many times you can talk about other things throughout the first half. When the Celtics were down 35-14 at the end of the 1st quarter, visions of Game 3 against Cleveland were fresh in my mind. They were about to prove the “pundits” right, this series was going to be tied, Phil Jackson was going to break Red’s record (against the Celtics no less), and the polar ice caps might as well have been melting before my eyes. I figured it was over, and I went back to watching the Phillies to relax a little. Jeff, who I do the Vortex with, would keep me updated because he was still watching, and all I needed to hear from him was the groan or sigh to know I had made the right decision. I did not see Jordan Farmar’s half ending three pointer, and if I had I would be in the market for a brand new HDTV today. It was 58-40 at the half, the Celtics looked lost, the Lakers looked dominant, and I just felt like a moron for thinking that the Celtics would actually win number 17 in my lifetime. In fact, halfway through the third, the Lakers still had a big lead at times, in fact they were up by 24 at one point. It was going to be a short night, but it turned out to be one of the longer ones in recent memory.

I was following the game through Jeff and online updates. I couldn’t bring myself to watch for fear I would be the human jinx, and sure enough when I finally gave in at the beginning of the 4th quarter, Kobe Bryant scored right away and I figured I had soiled the whole thing just by changing the channel. I am glad I didn’t turn the dial. It was the single greatest quarter of basketball I have ever seen a Celtics team play. Eddie House, Ray Allen, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and James Posey just put on a show for the ages (sorry Jeff) that I will remember until I am on my deathbed. When that final gun sounded, I couldn’t help but think of Johnny Most “fiddling and diddling” and his other famous calls, and realized that finally, I had seen something I would be telling my grandkids about. The Boston Celtics had come back from 24 points down, on the road, in front of the biggest group of fair weather fans ever,against the Lakers, good had triumphed over evil, and Kobe Bryant needed a drink or two. You know what Kobe? I needed a drink too, to celebrate, to toast Celtics memories from the past, and the moments yet to come. Generation X finally got their Celtics moment.

Beat LA!

I am one of the few people in the New England area who watched basketball while the Celtics were down. I like to consider myself a pretty big fan, and I also feel like I know what’s going on throughout the league. I don’t call myself an expert or an “insider”. After watching the NBA Playoffs so far, one thing sticks out to me. The Western Conference Playoffs, which was supposed to be the greatest playoff ever, kind of fell flat. TNT, who made sure in their last round of negotiatiations to secure the Western Conference Finals, may have been better off with Boston/Detroit. For all of the supposed parity in the West and the articles and columns I read stating that, before the playoffs, any 1 of the 8 Western Conference teams could go to the Finals and that whoever they played from the East would be a sacrificial lamb, I do not find that to be the case. In fact Let’s look at the…

Western Conference Playoff Round One

Lakers beat Denver 4-0

New Orleans beat Dallas 4-1

Utah beat Houston in 4-2

San Antonio beat Phoenix 4-1

In analyzing these 4 series, San Antonio had a 3-0 lead in the series, Dallas got beaten, and Rockets and Jazz went back and forth losing games on their home floor. Not real dramatic for one, but also, if “any of these 8 teams could get to the Finals”, why wasn’t there at least ONE 7 GAME SERIES?

The Eastern Conference First Round

Boston beats Atlanta 4-3

Orlando beats Toronto 4-1

Cleveland beats Washington 4-2

Detroit beats Philadelphia 4-2

One could correctly argue here that the Celtics should not have taken 7 games to beat the Hawks, but you have two 6 game series here as well. I do believe that this a was a Celtics team that obviously hadn’t been to the playoffs together before and was finding their way a bit, from the head coach on down.

Round 2

West

Lakers beat Utah 4-2

San Antonio beat New Orleans 4-3

Lakers were never in any real danger against the Jazz, and they managed to draw a Spurs team who they matched up better with.

East

Boston beat Cleveland 4-3

Detroit beat Orlando 4-1

Boston, for all of their difficulties winning on the road the first two rounds, managed to really shut down Lebron James for most of the series (except Game 7 obviously). Lebron and Kobe are supposed to be the two best players in the league, is it completely out of the realm of possibility that the Celtics, who have the best defensive coach in the league in Tom Thibodeau, won’t be able to figure out a way to make Kobe’s job difficult?

Conference Finals

West

Lakers beat Spurs 4-1

The Lakers won a poorly officiated game 4 and also managed to come from over 20 down in game one. They matched up with the Spurs extremely well, and it showed.

East

Celtics beat Pistons 4-2

The Celtics win 2 out of 3 in Detroit and seem to find their playoff legs. Ray Allen emerges from a horriffic shooting slump, and Doc Rivers figures out how to use his bench.

So after analyzing all of that, let’s look at ESPN’s Experts picks on the NBA Finals

Henry Abbott and Marc Stein- Lakers in 5

Marc Stein knows one team well, and that’s the Mavericks, who are not involved in this series. I was surprised to see Abbott make the pick, though.

JA Adande, Chris Sheridan, David Thorpe, Chad Ford, John Hollinger- Lakers in 6

Adande used to work for the LA Times, so that’s out. Sheridan wrote a fascinating article the other day about how the Celtics couldn’t be champions after blowing a big lead at home in game 5 (they still won and did not fall behind the Pistons). However, he remained eerily silent after the Celtics shook off a horrific offensive foul call on Paul Pierce and a 10 point Pistons lead to win Game 6 on the road. I am sure champions don’t do that either. Hollinger’s prediction scares me a little, because he was the only person I saw who picked the Lakers to beat the Spurs in 5 games. Thorpe is a trainer, so how he is an expert I don’t know, and Ford is your typical NBA Insider who will jump on the bandwagon for fear of being wrong and losing credibility.

Chris Broussard and Jalen “Bowtie” Rose- Lakers in 7

How in the name of god will the Lakers win a game 7 in Boston? Anyone? The only way this happens is if Kobe goes for 81 and 50 points come from the free throw line.

One man dared to go against them

Tim Legler- Celtics in 7

I have no idea what Legler’s scenario is, but I appreciate him going out on a limb here.

My prediction

Matt Boutwell, CMSPLOG Editor, Co-Host of the “Sports Vortex”

Celtics win games 1 ,2 at home, game 4 on the road. Lakers win games 3 and 5 in LA. Game 6 will be a classic but Boston will prevail.

Celtics in 6.

Why am I saying this? No, not because I am a Celtic Fan. No, not because I hate the Lakers, ESPN or what-not. It all goes back to a wonderful little saying you may have heard before.

“Defense Wins Championships”.

In the regular season the Celtics were 2nd in the league in Points allowed, behind Detroit. The Lakers by contrast were 19th in the league in Points allowed.

When I look, position by position, the Celtics have an advantage in 4 out of the 5 positions, the lone Laker advantage being Kobe v Allen. Rondo is going to break out in this series playing against an aging Fisher and a defense lacking Farmar. The Celtics frontcourt matches up very favorable with the Lakers, as Perkins is going to be a pain in Gasol’s backside (hopefully Gasol doesn’t play like a “weenie”, thanks for the quote Phil), Garnett and Pierce against Radmanovic and Odom? Really? Again, outside of Kobe v Allen, I do not see a single matchup that favors the Lakers in this series. Yet here we are, wondering how the poor overmatched Celtics are going to compete with the dominating Lakers, even after the Celtics beat the team most figured would give them the most difficult time in 6 games. We have been here before in sports, Super Bowl XXLII, the USC-Texas Rose Bowl, Memphis-Kansas, and each time, the “experts” were proven wrong. So before you go to Vegas, your local bookie, or your offshore gaming account (those are illegal by the way), think long and hard before annointing the Lakers champions, because it is not going to happen.

Remember, you heard it here first, the Boston Celtics are going to win the Finals in 6 games, and all will be right with the univers again. This one’s for you Red, Reggie, and DJ, this one’s for you!

Tuesday 5/20/2008

I made a post about Jon Lester last night, all pertinent links are here, here, and here. I also did an Internet radio show last night about it, we then rambled off on other things. It’s unedited, and I join in about 20 minutes into it, this is probably going to be a regular thing going forward. Here it is.

On a night of remarkable stories, another one came out of Los Angeles last, in the form of Blake DeWitt. This kid started the year in AA, and it took injuries to Nomar Garciaparra, Andy LaRoche, and Tony Abreu to get this kid on the roster.

The Reds were left to swallow the fact they threw the game away. A team like the Reds cannot afford to make stupid errors on the road, because it is entirely conceivable they could go 0-fer on their west coast trip.

The Phillies left their bats in Philadelphia last night, wasting a quality start (I wish sarcasm could be easily detected online) from Mr Congeniality Brett Myers. He went 6 innings giving up three runs and is credited with a quality start for that, which by the way is a 4.50 era. How is THAT quality?

The Nationals got on the back of Tim Redding and took advantage of the Phillies lack of offense.

St Louis let Albert Pujols and Ryan Ludwick do the damage against the banged up Padres. Jake Peavy is going on the DL.

Tampa Bay pulled one out in Oakland thanks to Evan Longoria. The A’s wasted a great performance from Frank Thomas.

Colorado held off San Francisco last night. Just remember, Clint Hurdle is coaching the NL All-Star team this year. Yes, Clint Hurdle. I think the AL is going to increase the streak.

Texas continues to find ways to lose, this time coming back to take a late lead in Minnesota, losing it to go to extra innings, and wasting a bases loaded opportunity in the 11th. This was a wild one, pitchers hit, Livan Hernandez was on deck when the winning run was scored, it was nutty.

The San Antonio Spurs managed to take advantage of a 3 day break to eliminate the Hornets last night. This sets up quite an NBA Final Four with Detroit v. Boston and Spurs v. Lakers, 39 Titles between the four teams.

The Penguins and the Red Wings are set for the Stanley Cup Finals.
TV Schedule is as follows-
Game 1- Saturday 5/24 on VS 8 PM
Game 2- Monday 5/26 on VS 8 pm
Game 3- Wed 5/28 on NBC 8pm
Game 4- Sat 5/31 on NBC 8pm
Game 5-Mon 6/2 on NBC 8pm
Game 6-Wed 6/4 on NBC 8pm
Game 7-Sat 6/7 on NBC 8pm

If you like hockey but just haven’t watched, watch this series. Trust me, you won’t regret it. There too many stars on both sides of the ice for this series not to go 7 games.

That’s it for today. May do a radio show later, I will post the schedule here when I know.

Thanks for reading and for the love of god COMMENT! I know you’re reading, say something!

A Blog’s Resurrection-Semi Daily Postings and thoughts Start Today!

On a Monday in which the headlines were not all about Mike Vick’s kennel club and Tim Donaghy’s penchant for picking overs, I thought it might be time to bring the blog back to semi-regularity and respectability. The MLB Trade deadline is tomorrow, I will be posting links to the sites that first report the trades if you need more info than what I post here. Also news out of Boston that the Celtics and T-Wolves yelled “clear” and electric-chest-paddled the Kevin Garnett trade talks back to life. MLB trade stuff first.

Mark Teixeira is going to be a member of the Atlanta Braves. The trade consists of Teixeira and reliever Ron Mahay going to the Braves for Jarrod Saltalamacchia(that is way easier to spell than Mientkiewicz) and three minor league prospects, two of which are pitchers. The Fort Worth Star Telegram reported this first (amazingly beating ESPN to the punch, lol) http://www.star-telegram.com/sports/story/185662.html, so they get the credit here. Probably the best deal Texas could make at this point, as they probably didn’t want to send Teixeira to the Angels and face him 19 times a year.

Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe is reporting that the Red Sox and White Sox are preparing to swap Wily Mo Pena and probably a minor league pitcher (although there is rumor that Manny Delcarmen could be involved) to the ChiSox for Jermaine Dye. Details can be found here –http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/extras/extra_bases/2007/07/dye_chances_pre.html
Still not sure what this does for Boston. Dye isn’t a real strong bench player type, and it almost admits that signing JD Drew this offseason hasn’t worked out. It makes me wonder if the Sox may have a deal in place to move Coco Crisp for a bullpen arm, and they are planning on moving Drew to center, putting Dye in right and calling up Ellsbury to be the 4th outfielder. That is just speculation on my part, but keep in mind when the Red Sox make trades, they are usually trading for one thing to replace something else they haven’t traded yet. (Update 7-30-2007 3:23 pm est-Edes is now saying that the Red Sox cooled on the deal once Kenny Williams insistance on Delcarmen or Justin Masterson didn’t die down, so this one looks like it is on the back burner for now).

So far not alot of other deals that are close, other than the Eric Gagne sweepstakes (supposedly the Yankees are the front-runners, but only if Texas stops demanding Melky Cabrera). I haven’t seen much to any Griffey or Dunn rumors. Kyle Lohse and Jose Contreras don’t really get my blood boiling all that much either. It would be nice to see the Yankees get rid of Kyle (I call him “specs”)Farnsworth in another addition by subtraction move.

On to the NBA, where although not a ton of stuff has been reported so far today , but yesterday(and this morning) draftexpress.com (http://draftexpress.com/blogs.php?blogid=8) broke the news that Kevin Garnett may have changed his mind about not coming to Boston after all, and that the Celts and Wolves were close to a deal that would send Al Jefferson, Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair (and presumably his collection of assorted handguns) and Gerald Green to the Wolves for Garnett. Brian Scalabrine and next year’s first rounder have been mentioned as well, as Garnett has a trade kicker in his contract that will bring his total cap figure this year to over 23 million. Reasons for the change of heart haven’t been explained but something tells me the Celtics draft night exodus of Wally Szczerbiak might have changed KG’s mind about heading to Beantown. I hope Michael Wilbon doesn’t write another article about Boston’s penchant for racism that gets KG to change his mind again, because this would be a really good thing basketball here in the northeast. I also find it extremely coincidental that this news comes over a week and half after the Tim Donaghy scandal and that there really hasn’t been any other transaction news during that time. Convenient for the NBA? Probably. I also think that if the Celtics make a triumphant return to the NBA Finals it might help those sorry NBA Finals ratings last spring. Think a Celtics/Suns finals might get some people interested in the NBA again?