Paul Pierce Snubs a Kid's High-Five Request

Check this out. Paul Pierce is coming off the court, and he's getting high-five requests from a bunch of fans. Watch as the little kid in the LeBron jersey gets the big time shaft...



It doesn't even look like Pierce even saw the little guy. If he did, the kid was wearing a 'Bron jersey in the first row at a Celtics game. He shouldn't have to give the kid a high five. He's rooting against Pierce! Kind of funny, to say the least. Thanks to the guys at Ball Don't Lie for the tip.

The All Don't Give A Crap Team

Thursday night, I sat on my couch, alongside my sleeping brother, watching the final quarter and overtime of the Celtics/Lakers tilt.  The game was a good one, as are so many of their match-ups.  The Lakers, despite having played (and won) the night before in Toronto, came down and wore out the Celts, sweeping the season series.

Watching the game, I couldn't help but think we'd all be better off if they'd just cancel the rest of the regular season and let the Celtics and Lakers duke it out for the championship.  Wait until Andrew Bynum gets healthy again, and then throw them into a seven game series.

I know this post isn't about that game, but I have to do two things.  First, commend Paul Pierce for his defense on Kobe Bryant.  Living in someone's shorts for the final quarter plus has to be uncomfortable, so I applaud the effort.  Second, who would think that Glen Davis would wind up, a couple of years into his career being a more valuable player than his college running mate Ty Thomas?  That's not to say Thomas won't be better, but, Big Baby?

Anyway, on to the subject of this post...

Lamar Odom might as well be one of the Hardy Boys, because he's long been one of my favorite mysteries.  Sometimes, like last night or the 03-04 season, he plays hard and the results are nearly always positive.  Often, like the Finals last year or several years on the Clippers, he fades into the background, content to do nothing other than fill out the requirement the NBA puts on each team to play with five guys at any point in a game.

And so, watching him last night, I go to thinking, in a league filled with guys that often play lethargically and minus effort, who would make the All Don't Give A Crap Team?  Read on.

C - Erick Dampier

This guy must wake up laughing.  Damp had one good season in his entire NBA career.  Check it out.  Coincidentally, that lone good season came when he was in his contract year.  I swear, it feels like in games I've seen him "play" in, he'll just pick up two quick fouls in the first quarter on purpose so he doesn't have to come back in until the third.  And, as is the case with most of these guys, what actually bothers me is that he could be a good defensive player, rebounding and blocking shots, if he actually tried all the time.

F - Lamar Odom

Doesn't often try hard, fades in out of big games (or any game for that matter), blah blah blah.  Though out of this whole group, he's easily the most talented.  Six feet ten inches, Odom can dribble with either hand, take the ball up court, drive to the basket, post up (not great, but he can do it), shoot the ball, rebound...You get the point.

F - Tim Thomas

Mr. Don't Give Crap himself, this guy pisses me off the most because he's from my home state and he could've been so much better.  Thomas has made a career, somehow, out of being a guy that has a ton of potential (never over 16 ppg). Ray Allen once said that Thomas could be the best player in the league if he wanted to be.  Don't get Jordan, or I, started on sports cliches.  No he couldn't be.  Best player in the league?  Jeez(us Shuttlesworth), take it easy.  Thomas can score from anywhere on the court (and has) but just doesn't care to play defense (see proof, stage left) or ever try hard other than jacking up long distance 3's.

G - Ricky Davis 

Here's a guy that cares, just not about the right things.  He's a selfish s.o.b. that once tried, successfully, might I add) to get himself a triple-double by shooting at his own rim to secure a 10th rebound.  No, I'm not kidding.

G - Vince Carter

I've talked about this before, but the general gist is a refrain that I'm sure you've all heard before.  Carter can one night dominate and look the part of a top 5 player in the league, and the next, you barely know he's there.  His consistently high numbers might distort the idea that he doesn't always try, but the proof is in the pudding (or, more appropriately, in the watching of him play).

Here are a few others that I didn't mention but I know would make the bench or some kind of second string (if they cared enough to try out):  Eddy Curry, Baron Davis (sometimes), Jerome James, and Kwame Brown.

There has to be others.  Who is on your favorite team that doesn't give a damn?  I know I'm missing people.  Get at us.

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.