Hump Day Headlines

On today's Hump Day Headlines we discuss winning streaks, big dollars, Plaxico's guns and a match up for the ages...

• The Celtics won their nineteenth straight game last night, walloping the 76ers 110-91.  The win gives Boston, the winningest basketball franchise in history, a new club record with the streak.  The last Celts loss came back on November 14th in a 94-85 loss to Denver at home, and ironically the Nuggets went without Allen Iverson in the lineup.  Thirty-nine days later, Boston heads into a Christmas Day match up with the Lakers still without another loss.   And since you're probably wondering, Boston is now ahead of the pace of the 95-96 Bulls team that went 72-10.  That Chicago club, led by Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, was 26-3 through its first twenty-nine games.  Boston is 27-2.  We might be watching the greatest team ever this season.  Also, check out my previous post that explores this topic here.  
• Four-hundred thirty-one million dollars.  That number is the amount of cash the Yankees have doled out to four players over the last couple of weeks to overtake the Red Sox and Rays next year in the AL East.  With the acquisitions of C.C. Sabathia ($161 million) and  A.J. Burnett ($85 million), avoiding arbitration with Chien-Ming Wang ($5 million), and inking Mark Teixiera today for $180 million over eight years, the rich are certainly getting richer.  I guess we can throw that whole recession crap out the window, and the notion that the Yankees would try to cut payroll after dumping nearly $80 million off the books this off-season prior to these moves.   What will the Yankees do next year if they don't win it all?  Probably blame A-Rod.  (For more on this, check out Scott's earlier post here.)
• Two guns were found in Plaxico Burress's house yesterday.  Whoops.  I guess whatever story Plax tries to tell to get himself out of this mess is moot at this point.  Then again, he is a professional athlete, so constitutional law only partially applies to him.  And, he'll have a big money lawyer likely representing him in court March 31st.  But while he did bail himself out of jail on $100,000 bond, that money may only buy him three months of freedom...just enough to watch the Giants playoff run while he sits on the non-football injury list.
• Speaking of New York football, what a sweet match up we'll be treated to on Sunday when Miami visits Giants Stadium to take on the Jets.  Yes, it is a match up that will help decide who wins the AFC East.  But what makes this far more intriguing is that former Jet QB Chad Pennington will get to face off with the man that replaced him, in Brett Favre.  Imagine, for the already snake-bit Jets fans, to have to watch ol' Chadwick come back to knock them out of the playoffs on their home turf with a team that was 1-15 a year ago! And consider this, the Jets were 8-3 just five weeks ago, coming off victories over New England and Tennessee on the road.  Now, 1-3 over the last month, New York will need some help to get into the playoffs.  Guess Broadway Brett wasn't the savior after all.