Weekend Headlines

A few musings from Friday night in the world of sports...

• The Celtics must be out to prove how little value Kevin Garnett actually has to the team's success.  Boston is now 4-2 without "The Big Ticket" in the lineup, and put forth an outstanding effort at home Friday night against the Cavs.  A game back in the race for the top seed in the Eastern Conference heading into the game, Boston came out on a mission and out-willed Cleveland 105-94.  The Celts made it their mission not to let LeBron James beat them, and they succeeded.    LBJ had just 21 points, six rebounds and five assists, but shot a miserable 33-percent from the field.  Mo Williams was great, scoring 26 points on 8-15 shooting, but if he's the only guy doing well for Cleveland you know they're in trouble.  Granted, the game was in Boston which no doubt was an advantage for the Celtics.  But the fact that Cleveland played as poorly as it did last night at TD Bank North Garden sends the message that if they don't nail down that top seed before the regular season ends, they're going to have to figure out a way to win in Beantown if they hope to reach the NBA Finals.  The Celtics are now 49-14 and while KG may be out another week or so, Boston is showing it doesn't need him for now.  A big statement was made between the top two teams in the East, and right now it appears Boston has the upper hand.
• Speaking of the Association, while the top teams in the East are the cream of the crop in the NBA, the opposite could be said about the teams holding the bottom seeds in the conference.  With their 15-point victory over Milwaukee Friday night, the lowly Chicago Bulls have now taken sole possession of the 8th seed in the East.  Let me be the first to tell you this Bulls team is not good.  The fact that they would make the playoffs if the season ended today is merely a product of the fact that there are just too many teams that qualify for the post season in the NBA.  I know, I know.  It would theoretically be good for the league if the Bulls made the playoffs because of Chicago's market size and the fact that Derrick Rose is one of the league's bright young stars.  But if the NBA were smart, they'd allow just 6 teams from each conference to make the post season and have the top two seeds earn a bye like the NFL.  Is it perfect solution?  Well, no, frankly.  But it's better than having teams like Chicago or Milwaukee who are five and six games below .500 respectively earning a spot in the playoffs.  That's really a joke, isn't it?
• Thankfully I didn't go to Florida State, nor am I a fan of their athletics.  It's not that I don't like them, but man are their fans bumming tonight.  The NCAA slapped the Seminoles with four years of probation and may force the football program to forfeit some of their wins in the record books as punishment for their academic cheating scandal.  Bobby Bowden's 382 wins ranks 2nd all time to Joe Paterno, who has just one more career win.  But if he has to give back some wins JoePa really distances himself in that book, doesn't he?  The 'Noles football program will have to forfeit two scholarships in recruiting this year and one next season, and that's just part of the problem.  Other sports are going to lose a bunch of scholarships and victories too.  Apparently the track and field program will have to give up three NCAA championship crowns.  That's what happens when a reported sixty-one FSU athletes cheated on an online test in 2006 and 2007, and also were provided the answers to tests and had papers written for them by university staff.  A couple of things I thought when I saw this:  1) While this is pretty significant corruption, athletes at every school in America cheat.  If they were going to cheat, they should have been better cheaters.  2)  What does it say about the pressure to win at FSU when university staffers are cheating for these athletes?  Apparently Myron Rolle didn't need the help.  Maybe they should be recruiting smarter athletes so they can handle the academics so FSU doesn't have to spoon feed them to keep them on their respective teams.  Or here's a thought, mandate some study time in their practice schedule!  Florida State basketball is actually good this year, but forget about that for a while.  Now that recruiting takes a hit the upstart team will decline, and so will seemingly every other sports team in Tallahassee.  Yikes.
• Is there a bigger joke than agent Drew Rosenhaus's claim that there are "several teams" interesting in signing Terrell Owens?  I guess the thought would be plausible if he hadn't thrown in the thought that he won't identify the teams that are in fact interested.  If you can't identify teams, then how can we believe there are several teams interested?  Conventional wisdom would suggest Oakland is interested, because they'll take anything they can get.  But beyond that, who?  San Francisco?  Maybe Washington?  That's three teams, which wouldn't suffice for my definition of several.  This could end up going a lot like the Manny Ramirez situation went.  No, T.O. won't end up signing back with the Cowboys, but Rosenhaus will try to create a market that doesn't exist for a player with significant character flaws.  Like Ramirez, there's no question that you'd want T.O. for the talent he possesses.  But how many teams want a guy who seemingly obliterates every locker room he enters?  Rosenhaus is doing his job as an agent, trying to create some leverage to find Owens a contract.  But please, enough with this garbage about how there are several teams interested.  I cannot believe that's true.  Can you?

It's Still Compelling to Me

Most of you who read this probably know that I have a love/hate relationship with the NBA.

So when the ABC "Game of the Week" features the Suns and Celtics, two teams who have lost their best player in the last few days, you'd probably assume there's no way I'd watch this.

Actually, I find it more compelling now.

Sure, it would be better to watch Kevin Garnett, who's out two to three weeks with a knee strain, and Amar'e Stoudemire, who's out for the season with a detached retina.  But it will be more interesting to see how good both these teams are without their fallen big men, particularly the Celtics.

The Suns have had to live with Stoudemire missing time before.  When they run their fast-paced, run-and-gun system, they can usually survive without Amar'e, but they're obviously worse.  We haven't seen what the Celtics look like without KG with the way the team is currently structured.

Last year's champions face their first road block today- a good team without their best defender, and the man most consider the team's "glue guy".  He's the man credited with Boston's renewed commitment to defense, and the man who keyed the Celtics turnaround from worst to first last year.  

Now, without him, how good is Boston really?  And if they're not good, how many games do they lose in the two to three week span he's sidelined?  Does it drop them in the standings to the 3-seed in the East, which would change the playoff landscape?  If they're fine without him, does it devalue KG?  He is having his worst statistical year since the 96-97 season, averaging just 16.3 points and 8.8 boards.  Is he overrated if they string together a bunch of wins without him?

These are all questions I'll be trying to answer as I watch today.  Who said I hate the NBA?  I'm fascinated by it!

Finally, Craig Sager Gets What He Deserves

It's already been said on this site how much I dislike Kevin Garnett (and the Celtics, for that matter).

That said, he finally gave TNT sideline reporter and habitually ridiculously dressed Craig Sager a stern talking to about his wardrobe.  (Thanks to Y! Sports for the look).

I hate to say it, but, KG is 100% right.  How the hell does Sager ever even leave his house some days?  Does he have a mirror?  A wife?  A friend?  Any human that cares about his well being?

Top Ten Reasons to Hate the Boston Celtics

When you're team is winning, a lot, it's hard to figure why the rest of the country tends to hold your team, your fans, in a general regard of disdain. And, there is obviously truth to that sentiment. As a Yankee fan, my long held credo is, if this was your team, you wouldn't hate them. However, the Celtics aren't my team, so, after a loss to the Knicks last night, here are your top 10 reasons to absolutely hate the Boston Celtics.

10. Umm, they lost to the Knicks? Come on, no one should lose to the Knicks, if they're trying. Losing to the Knicks vindicates the principle that they're even a basketball team, something I try on a twice-daily basis to avoid admitting.

9. They are crybabies. Not in the figurative, cry for fouls sense. No, in the literal sense. Glen Davis has thrown a tantrum, Paul Pierce bawled like a baby earlier this year too.

8. They play in Boston. As if the accent that turns a lovely cereal into the awful "Smahht Stahhht" isn't enough, the fact that they've had championships in professional baseball and football multiple times in the past few years should be enough to anger the rest of the world not getting that 'ship love.

7. The idea that Doc Rivers is a "good coach". Really? This is the same guy that was 39 games under .500 prior to last season. This is the same guy that did win a Coach of the Year, but, is nothing better than the players put in front of him.

6. The idea that somehow they're a next generation of Bird's and McHale's. This team was created, not built. Jeff Green for Ray Allen. A cast of nobodies and Al Jefferson for Kevin Garnett. One summer of work, one championship. Not to take away from what they accomplished, but let's cool it with this next-gen Celtics crap.

5. Simply, they win, a lot. Too much, if you ask me. 95 out of the last 117 times they've gone on the floor, they've won. That has to turn someone's stomach other than mine, no?

4. They actually are good. Despite not having much in the way of a real bench, and having Eddie "Eight Teams in Nine Years" House on the team, they still are really, really good. Great, even. They play great defense, they rebound, they can shoot. They even share the ball, and their superstars have checked their egos. Ugh! It's like a cheesy after-school special, enough to make you want to throw up. It just bothers you that the team you'd love to hate, on the floor, is actually dominant.

3. Ray Allen was disrespectful to Denzel Washington. I don't care if Denzel killed my mom, if enough time had passed, I'd still let him beat me in basketball. Hell, I was even rooting for him at the end of Training Day. There are just some things you don't do, and disrespecting Denzel is one of them.

2. Paul Pierce's ridiculous "sprained knee" episode in last year's finals. For that sort of acting job, people normally win Oscars. He was carried off the court, crying, like he'd been shot through the chest. Sure enough, the next game he played nearly 42 minutes. Not doubting the initial pain, but, there should be a league rule that if you carry on like that, you have to miss at least a week.

1. Kevin Garnett plays for them. Now, I could try to say it better myself, but, I'll simply let this video do the talking. It's a bit long (4 minutes, gasp!), but, if you've read this far, you likely have a few more minutes to spare. If you've ever said a bad word about KG, be prepared to be vindicated.

Hump Day Headlines: New Years Eve Edition

In this week's Hump Day Headlines, we discuss fired NFL coaches, coaches who don't want to be hired, prima-donna Brett, and a look back at a crazy 2008.

• What do Mike Shanahan, Romeo Crennell, Eric Mangini, and Rod Marinelli all have in common?  You guessed it!  All were fired by their respective NFL teams in the last three days.  So on our fired coaches in the last couple months of 2008 ticker, that makes 10 head coaches who have been pink slipped, if you include the NBA head men as well.  2008, to say the least, has not been a good year for coaches.  That is, unless your name is Tom Coughlin, Doc Rivers, Charlie Manuel, or Mike Babcock.  You can also throw the names Les Miles and Bill Self onto that list.  Other than those six men, coaches had a tumultuous year, with countless firings in every sport (i.e. Denis Savard, Barry Melrose, Phillip Fulmer, Greg Robinson, etc.).  Adding to the list of coaches that should have been fired in 2008, look no further than Bills coach Dick Jauron, who was retained by owner Ralph Wilson on Tuesday after completing his third consecutive 7-9 campaign with the Bills on Sunday.
• Since there are obviously many vacancies now in the NFL head coaching fraternity, the most logical choice for any team that's looking for a new head man would be former Steelers coach and current NFL Today analyst Bill Cowher, who was pegged as the next coach of the New York Jets.  Problem is, Cowher apparently doesn't want the job, according to ESPN's Chris Mortensen.  Cowher has apparently also turned down other NFL coaching vacancies, but he would be the best option of any coach currently unemployed.  If someone could woo him away from the CBS Studios, Cowher is the one man out there that could bring stability and success to an NFL team in the near future.  
• Brett Favre's excuse for his abysmal performance over the last five weeks for a Jets team that failed to make the playoffs after starting the year 8-3, (Favre threw two touchdowns and nine interceptions over that stretch) is that he had pain in his throwing shoulder.  Turns out the reason for this, according to doctors, is he has a torn biceps tendon in that right shoulder.  Doctors say Favre's injury can be corrected by avoiding arthroscopic surgery, but it is suggested.  Now, in addition to Favre's retirement watch, the national media has a new topic to cover...Brett Favre's Injury Watch!  WOO I'm psyched.
• 2008 was a wild year in sports.  Here are just some of the crazy things that happened:  Ohio State, a college football powerhouse that seems to reach the BCS title game yearly, was walloped once again by an SEC team in the championship game, losing in January 38-24 to LSU.  Two consecutive years, the same team crushed in the title game.  The Patriots nearly completed the first perfect season since the '72 Dolphins.  Instead, the Giants upset them in the Super Bowl, with a miraculous catch by David Tyree.  Bill Self won his first national championship as an NCAA coach, and the first for one of the winningest programs in college hoops history in twenty years.  The Boston Celtics, a 24 win team in 2006-2007, added Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen.  Along with Paul Pierce the Celts ripped off a league high 66 wins and won the NBA title for the seventeenth time in team history.  Michael Phelps won EIGHT gold medals at the Olympics.  Eight.  And he's my age.  (Edit: Thank you, B.Stein) The Tampa Bay Rays won the AL East.  They reached their first world series in franchise history.  The Chicago Cubs had the best record in the National League.  Then they promptly lost three straight in the playoffs to the Dodgers.  The White Sox and Cubs made the playoffs at the same time for the first time since 1906.  The Philadelphia Phillies ended a twenty five year drought for the city of brotherly love, winning the first championship for Philadelphia since the '83 Sixers.  The Mets blew another playoff berth.  The Brewers made the playoffs for the first time in twenty five years.  The New England Patriots missed the playoffs.  The Broncos had a three game lead with three games left and missed the playoffs.  Tampa Bay lost four straight to miss the playoffs.  The man Brett Favre replaced, Chad Pennington, made the playoffs.  Brett did not.  And, Chad beat Brett to get there.    The Blackhawks lead the NHL in attendance.  The same Blackhawks who didn't have their home games televised until this year.  
• What a crazy 2008.  Here's to hoping for a great 2009.