I happened to be watching ESPN the other day, and Steve Carrell was on doing a bit for Sportscenter and how he is an avid Boston sports fan, and as I watched this unfold, Carrell still brings up the ‘pain’ of losing the Super Bowl last year, and cannot spit out the words Bill Buckner.
This past weekend I was in Las Vegas, and noticeably there was more green showing at the Sport books, with shirts and jerseys that said “Celtics” on the front. I was able to easily spot these jerseys and shirts due to the new shirt smells and tags cut off from the apparel that resonated throughout the casino.
As I took all this in, I thought to myself enough of the lies. Enough of the past. Boston fans, who ESPN will report can walk on water and cure the common cold, are still portrayed as ’suffering’ fans, fans that still have dark images from the past failures of teams.
This is mostly a lie.
The Boston Red Sox are the defending World Series Champions, the New England Pats* are 3 time Super Bowl winners this decade, and now after a former Celtic hooked up his former teammate with a package and Kevin Garnett popped out of the box, the Boston Celtics are back and are NBA Champions.
You want suffering Boston fans? Go West on 1-90, and stop in cities like Buffalo NY (4 Super Bowl losses, 2 Stanley Cup losses) and Cleveland (Browns move, lose heartbreakers in the 80’s, the Indians in 1997, the Cavs). Or, go down 1-95 to Philadelphia (Eagles zero Super Bowls, Phillies 1 World Series in 100 years, Flyers no Cup since 1975). So winning 6 professional championships since 2000 still deems your city as ’suffering?’ Please, and we have not even moved onto Chicago yet!
Ok, show of hands Celtics fans: How many of you knew who Rajon Rondo was this time last year? My money would be on you probably thought he was a prospect for the Pawtucket Red Sox before he was a Boston Celtic. And now we have to hear about the ‘mystique’ of the TD Bank and Waterhouse (I’m sure E-Trade will buy the naming rights soon!) Boston Garden?
Lakers fans have a reputation for being fake, and that is true to a point. Let’s just give some fake credit where it is due in Beantown as well. Just admit some of you dusted off the Bird jerseys, or ran to a Sports Authority sometime this year to fetch that Pierce jersey, and end the lies.
It’s late and I don’t feel like recapping the Celtics’ blowout of the Lakers for championship No.17 at this moment. I’ll certainly give them their due later on.
However, that performance or lack there of by Kobe and the rest of his teammates was truly pathetic. They should be embarrassed by how they performed. In fact, even their two wins weren’t much to speak of. The Celtics easily could’ve swept them because that’s how much superior and more determined they were in these NBA Finals making history for the greatest turnaround.
While Finals MVP Paul Pierce who was really “The Truth” like his nickname along with Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and super shooting subs James Posey and Eddie House were so intense on both ends of the floor playing a great brand of basketball, Kobe and his teammates were soft and at times looked uninterested. Have you ever seen softer options than Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom?
Clearly last night in from the middle of the second quarter on, one team wanted it while the other went through the motions and tossed in the towel. Never before had there been such a telling difference between the NBA’s two elite franchises during the Finals. You would never have seen a Larry Bird or Magic Johnson-led roster quit.
That’s what was most disappointing about this series. When you saw Phil Jackson basically speechless in the locker room begging and pleading for his team to “give themselves a chance,” it told you all you needed to know.
It was a sad sight and an even more pathetic second half by the Lakers who apparently forgot that they nearly erased a 24-point fourth quarter deficit in Game Two.
Kudos to the Boston Celtics for having the killer instinct to make history winning their first NBA title in 22 years. A huge thumbs down to Los Angeles for not even bothering to show!
The rivalry was renewed. Much like how they ended their season last year, the Verrazano rival Cyclones got the upper hand in last night’s New York-Penn League season opener defeating the Baby Bombers 3-1 before a sellout crowd at Key Span Park in Coney Island.
With the game tied at one in the fifth, Brooklyn took advantage of an error by new Staten Island third baseman Mike Lyon plating the go-ahead runs. A one out Zach Lutz RBI fielder’s choice plated Brandon Richey. The Cyclones added a key insurance tally off losing Bombers’ reliever Andy Shive when John Servido doubled home Kirk Nieuwenhuis.
It was more than enough for a sturdy Cyclone pen which silenced Staten Island bats the final four-plus innings. Following a solid performance from starter Pedro P. Martinez (no relation) in which he permitted an unearned run on four hits while walking and fanning three, a trio of relievers for Edgar Alfonzo’s ballclub held the S.I. Yanks to one hit over four and two thirds while walking three and striking out eight.
Jimmy Johnson worked a scoreless frame for his first win. The third pitcher of the night, Wendy Rosa held the Bombers without a hit in two and two thirds whiffing four. Twenty-five year old Dominican Yury Santana worked a 1-2-3 ninth fanning a couple including holdover D.J. Hollingsworth before getting Bomber leadoff center fielder Ray Kruml to bounce into a ground out to third for his first save.
On a night in which they managed only five hits, left fielder Taylor Grote had a good beginning to his Staten Island career finishing two-for-four with the team’s only extra base hit (double). However, the 19 year-old former Texas Woodlands High School star who the Yankees drafted in the eighth round last year was pegged out trying to go for three by Brooklyn’s John Servidio to end the S.I. fourth.
Notes: Casey Erickson got the first start of the season working the first four allowing an unearned run on three hits while walking a pair and K-ing three. … 2007 Staten Island member Jason Kiley worked two perfect innings in relief striking out one. … Kruml had a good debut getting a hit, stealing a base and reaching base three times out of the leadoff hole. … Brooklyn catcher Cesar Cordido finished two-for-three. … Staten Island stranded nine runners while the Cyclones left seven in a game which saw all four runs unearned. … Baby Bombers host their Verrazano rivals at St. George in the rematch of a three-game set later tonight in what’s been billed as the first ever sellout without any walk ups in the 10-year history of the Baby Bomber franchise.
The plug was officially pulled on Willie Randolph nearly an hour ago. Reported by the Daily News, word came down on WFAN’s overnight show via Tony Paige at around 3:20 AM.
For a silly reason only known to Mets management, they waited until the team flew across the coast 3,000 miles away and won their first game of a six-game road trip 9-6 over the Angels on the bat of Carlos Beltran’s two home runs. Ironically, it was their third win in four pulling them within a game of .500 (34-35).
How does this make sense? Firing Randolph after a win is one thing but having the nerve to allow him to fly with the ballclub and get a final ‘W’ before giving them the axe is bush league. Or as he referred to it as Omar Minaya sharpening the machete three weeks prior.
As it turned out, Willie was ultimately proven right about the untouchable Mets GM giving him a vote of confidence being the “kiss of death.”
Sadly, the proverbial writing was on the wall when rumors resurfaced heading into the weekend via WFAN SI baseball reporter Jon Heyman who hinted that the former Yankee second baseman’s job could be in serious jeopardy. Why they waited until after they flied out to the Pacific is baffling. The timing just seems eerie. Already on Paige’s show in the last half hour, both FAN beat reporter Ed Coleman and Daily News Met beat writer Adam Rubin have trashed the move referring to it as “bush league” and “classless.”
Also out along with Randolph are pitching coach Rick Peterson and first base coach Tom Nieto. Former White Sox skipper Jerry Manuel will take over managing duties on an interim basis while Ken Oberfell, Dan Warthen and Luis Aguayo were all promoted.
Not only was this a move the organization knew they were forcing Minaya into but the GM was non-committal as to whether Randolph’s staff would be in uniform for last night’s game. There’s a right and wrong way to handle this kind of stuff. Sadly, the Amazin’s led by the dumb and dumber Wilpon duo chose the wrong path and come out looking pretty small.
The only salvation for Randolph is that the awful last month where the dark storm clouds were hanging over his head ready to strike at any moment are finally over. Perhaps that’s for the best. Clearly, this classy a man didn’t deserve the kind of second rate treatment he received. It had a similar feel to how lowly Hank Steinbrenner and nerd Randy Levine mistreated Joe Torre last year making him feel unwanted and wisely walking away before winding up across the coast in Dodger blue.
Now, the Mets have no more excuses and neither does a fanbase who had favored getting rid of the manager despite the improvement it showed in his three-plus years even capturing the NL East for the first time since 1988 getting within a game of the World Series two years ago.
Unfortunately, Randolph’s tenure will best be remembered not for how close they came but rather for the awful collapse last September blowing a seven-game lead with two weeks left to the Phillies to miss the playoffs.
Even with his team underperforming, Willie always kept a straight face and calmly answered questions when the situation had to be extremely stressful.
Is this the right move for the Mets going forward? We won’t know the answer until three months from now. They’re capable of playing much better. Maybe the change will work sparking energy.
Once the skipper goes, that usually means the players or guy who organized the roster are next. The pressure’s on the personnel to perform. If they don’t and miss October again, you could see an entirely different roster next year.
The Mets have become the biggest story here in NYC. They finally have all the back pages as many of their diehards have craved for so long. Only thing is it’s not for how well their team is playing on the field and certainly not for the unnecessary distractions off it.
Just call it the circus in Flushing. For years, it’s always been the Yankees who perfected the art not knowing how to handle situations. Joe Torre had to deal with so much garbage. Well, now it’s former bench coach Willie Randolph who’s on the hot seat never really knowing day to day whether he’s staying or going.
Truthfully, it’s not all the former Yankee second baseman’s fault that his team has underachieved headed into a three-game set at the Angels two under .500 at 33 up and 35 down. Does the manager have a responsibility in this mess which has the Amazin’s trailing the Phillies by six and a half entering tonight? Of course. Ultimately, his ballclub hasn’t played the brand of baseball needed to make fans forget last year’s dreadful September collapse.
There’s just been zero consistency for a team many expected to not only win the NL East but had going to the World Series. That’s why they play the games. If talent and highest payrolls always won, then the Yankees wouldn’t be first round failures since that colossal choke job against the rival Red Sox. You can spend all the cash you want on a few of the best players the league has to offer but it doesn’t always account for chemistry.
Last winter, Omar Minaya patiently waited playing a perfect game of chess before cornering the Twins for lefty ace Johan Santana. This was the big deal that would put the Mets over the top. The same way once the Yanks acquired Alex Rodriguez, it was over for the rest of baseball. Despite two MVPs to his collection and a record-breaking new contract, how has that worked out? It’s been eight years since the Bronx Bombers won a 26th World Series.
There’s no such thing as a guarantee in sports unless it’s Rafael Nadal on clay or the Knicks continuing to suck no matter who Jim Dolan brings in.
Are the Mets a colossal disappointment through the first 68 games this season? Undoubtedly. So too are their crosstown rivals who finally got to four over by sweeping the Astros over the weekend. Despite that, they still got bad news when ace Chien-Ming Wang sprained his right foot tearing a tendon while scoring a run in yesterday’s 13-0 win. He’ll likely be lost till September. What that means for New York’s postseason aspirations is a giant sized question mark.
It’s never too late for the Mets to turn around their season. Five in the loss column can be made up quickly. Especially with this much time left. All they have to do is put together a hot streak and the Phils could comeback to the pack. It would be nice for the Queens club to at least demonstrate to their fans that they’re actually capable of that. A couple of weeks ago, it looked like they were coming around but then came that awful four-game series in San Diego and three vicious losses during a mediocre .500 homestand against Arizona and Texas.
After splitting a doubleheader with the Rangers thanks to a solid six from Pedro Martinez and the right move by the much maligned manager pulling his starter for pinch hitter Robinson Cancel who delivered the clutch two-run hit, the Mets headed West for six games against the Angels and the Rockies beginning tonight.
Despite taking two of three over the weekend, there was still a lingering question as to whether Randolph would still be managing them. Such is the chaotic nature of Met management letting the classy former player who grew up in Brooklyn hang in the wind. A published NY Post report indicated that Fred and Jeff Wilpon had given Minaya the authority to axe Randolph and his coaches if he felt it was warranted.
How nice. The owners have no backbone or common decency. Instead, they let their GM who hasn’t exactly done a good job this year bolstering a shaky pen or making the bench younger do all their dirty work cause they want nothing to do with it. It can’t possibly be that the $140 million they shelled out could produce such a mediocre club. Never occurred to them. At least Hank Steinbrenner is hands on even though he’s extremely irritating.
Where’s the accountability? If Minaya fires Randolph or say Howard Johnson, guruRick Peterson or Sandy Alomar for that dreadful decision sending Brian Schneider which cost them a chance at a great comeback in the first game yesterday, who’s to say it’s going to change a team which can’t rely on Carlos Delgado or Moises “DL” Alou. Luis Castillo isn’t much better due to his knees yet was signed to a four-year extension.
Then there’s Ryan Church who was on his way to the All-Star Game in the Bronx before the Mets rushed him back from a concussion. You don’t ever do that under any consequence.
Will a new skipper automatically change Jose Reyes’ approach? What about the streakiness of stars Carlos Beltran and David Wright? Is it just Randolph’s fault that John Maine throws too many pitches to go more than six most nights? What about Oliver Perez’ continued Jekyll and Hyde act?
They also don’t have a complete game from Santana who makes too much money not to at least go nine once or twice and save the bullpen from wrecking a probable win as what transpired last week. Remarkably, Mike Pelfrey came the closest pitching into the ninth before Billy Wagner blew it serving up a tying three-run dinger. At least the Mets still won thanks to a Beltran extra inning blast.
The options to setup Wagner aren’t great with Pedro Feliciano and Scott Schoeneweis proving to be the best thus far. But both are lefties who can be taken yard. Aaron Heilman has struggled and Duaner Sanchez hasn’t done much better. Joe Smith’s been alright but is never a lock due to comman.
How can it all be on the skipper when this mess of a pen has repeatedly blown games? Isn’t that the GM’s responsibility?
How come a vast majority of the late inning options off the bench are all aging vets such as Damion Easley, Fernando Tatis or Marlon Anderson?
It sure seems like one person is being given a lot more leeway than the other. Why?
His back was to the wall again. A day after forcing a playoff with a remarkable birdie on 18, there was Tiger Woods- the best player in golf being severely tested by 45 year-old Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines in San Diego.
Mediate was seeking to become the oldest winner in U.S. Open history. It had looked bleak for the likeable veteran who built a solid relationship with the 12,000 spectators. He trailed Tiger by three strokes after 10 holes. That didn’t deter him a bit as he valiantly rallying by making three straight birdies to suddenly comeback and take a one-shot lead with three holes to go.
When Mediate stayed composed and parred 16 and 17 matching Woods, it looked like he was destined to make history and achieve a dream by upsetting the best golfer on the planet. But like Sunday, Tiger never gave in. After Mediate missed a chance to win it parring 18, the 32 year-old first-time father birdied the hole to once again tie and force sudden death.
Woods was just a little better during the 19th hole parring it while Mediate couldn’t save face after putting his tee shot in the sand. When his par attempt narrowly missed right of the hole, a close friend who wore basically an identical outfit without the vest had his third U.S. Open trophy and 14th career major, trailing only legendary Jack Nicklaus by four. It’s worth noting that Nicklaus didn’t win his 14th until age 35.
Following the exciting back and forth victory, an emotional Woods called it the best win of his career. He had returned from knee surgery to clean up cartilage and showed guts staying in there. But that’s why he’s the best at his sport maybe in its history. He’s tough and doesn’t fold when the pressure’s on. Much like Nike associate Michael Jordan and pal Roger Federer, Tiger’s money when it’s riding on the line. That’s what separates him from all the other golfers in his sport.
It was the 65th victory of his brilliant career passing Ben Hogan for third all-time.
“This is probably the greatest tournament I’ve ever had,” Woods admitted to NBC’s Bob Costas during an interview on the green.
Oh how his knee held up, he hinted that he would take some time off.
“I’m going to shut it down for a while,” Woods said.
As for the runner-up, though it was a disappointing conclusion, he was pleased overall and showed class.
“Obviously, I would have loved to win,” Mediate noted. “I don’t know what else to say. They wanted a show, they got one.”
“I never quit. I never quit,” he added. “I’ve been beaten down a few times and came back, and I got what I wanted.
“I got a chance to beat the best player in the world. And I came up just a touch short.”
The Lakers survived on Father’s Day. That’s really all it was about despite all of ABC NBA analysts Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy’s hoopla due to them looking shaky closing out the Celtics to win Game Five 103-98 at Staples Center and extend the series back to Boston.
No team has ever rallied from a 3-1 deficit winning the final two on the road in Finals History. The Celtics will return home where they’ve only lost once in this postseason and have two more chances at winning their 17th NBA title.
Maybe if Kevin Garnett didn’t tank down the stretch tonight, the Larry O’Brien Trophy would already be theirs. Despite a heroic 38-point performance from Paul Pierce (10-of-22 FG, 16-of-19 FT), Boston fell just short of taking the series in five despite a solid defensive effort. They once again forced Kobe Bryant (8-of-21 FG, four treys, 25 pts) into a poor shooting night. After a strong start, he was only three for his last 13 but one of those included a huge swipe and breakaway jam in the final 45 seconds extending LA’s lead to four instead of Pierce and Co. having a shot to tie or even take the lead.
The Celts were right there trailing by a deuce with KG at the line for a pair but the ex-Timberwolve didn’t even come close on either attempt showing nerves with an elusive championship within grasp. He also couldn’t putback a Ray Allen miss from in close which would’ve cut it to two. Still, Boston had opportunities due to a money Eddie House trifecta from the left baseline which cut the Laker lead to three. A near fatal mistake during an in bounds almost led to a turnover and a chance for the Celts to tie it. But Bryant saved the ball and got it to Derek Fisher, who split a pair at the charity stripe to make it a two possession game. The veteran guard hit on 8-for-11 from the line en route to 15.
Bryant’s supporting cast stepped up with their backs to the wall getting double/doubles from Pau Gasol (19 and 13 w/ 6 assists) and Lamar Odom (20 and 11).
Los Angeles also got a big performance from Jordan Farmar, who contributed 11 on five-of-nine shooting off the bench. The Celtics still held a 28-17 bench edge with vet Sam Cassell posting nine along with House and Tony Allen each adding six.
Still, the series will go back to Beantown Tuesday with Boston having a second chance to close it out. They once again fought back from an early hole climbing back from 17 down after the first to be right there in crunch time.
But the Lakers did just enough to stay alive. Now the pressure squarely is on the Celts who will get the chance to deliver in front of a home crowd with plenty of legends on hand to see if they can win their first NBA title in 22 years.
At the very least, it’s going six and that’s good for the league. Now we’ll see if Kobe and the Lakers have what it takes to push Boston the limit.
A while ago, I made an entry dedicated to Voltron which still ranks as my fave cartoon for its creativity. While the characters lines could’ve been better and a couple of storylines more developed by creator Peter Keefe, it definitely had its appeal.
The classic robot and defender of the universe and all things on Planet Arus was larger than life successfully formed by five lions. One of my favorite storylines was the evil Prince Lotor’s fascination with Princess Allura. King Zarkon’s son from Planet Doom was quite taken with the lovely Planet Arus ruler.
Allura never liked him though and refrained choosing loyalty to her planet and black lion leader and commander Keith. Why they didn’t develop that storyline further remains a mystery. Chalk it up to the time period as the mid-1980’s were quite different than today.
In any event, I always felt Lotor’s character was misunderstood. Here, we see a quality video on the Prince’s relationship with Allura.
[youtubeNetherlands 4 France 1]
Thus far, the Netherlands has performed extremely well in Euro Cup 2008 winning both their games against soccer powers Italy and France in convincing fashion by a combined score of 7-1 (3-0 over Italy and 4-1 over France) in Group C play.
Here’s a cool highlight video of the country’s couple of big wins:
This is mostly a blog about sports with some music sprinkled in. However, there are sometimes big events which can’t go unnoticed. Such was the case Friday when we heard the shocking news about Tim Russertannounced by WFAN’s own Mike Francesa.
The Buffalo native was only 58 when he suffered a massive heart attack tragically passing away to the shock of many doing what he loved. Russert was doing a taping in the nation’s capital for NBC when he was stricken. Unfortunately, it was too late for paramedics to save him.
This was a very important person who had an excellent reputation as a political news reporter hosting NBC’s popular Meet The Press since 1991. I’m not going to say I knew Russert well but watched and listened to the man enough to gauge that he was very genuine and had a passion like few others in the TV industry. I frequently remember him appearing on Imus In The Morning before their falling out last year involving the Rutgers women’s basketball team.
His style of reporting was fun and frequently put political candidates on the spot during his shows. His style was kind of like a trial lawyer where he’d ask tough questions because at one time, he was on. The man also had a good sense of humor spelling out in magic marker on a board, “Florida, Florida, Florida,” about the controversial 2000 Presidential Election. He also nailed what 2004 came to by accurately mentioning Ohio in similar fashion.
Watching former colleague Tom Brokaw break the news and then be interviewed on the NBC News at 6 here in New York, it was quite obvious how heartbroken he was.
As I sat here watching Brokaw speak so highly about Russert, I just thought about how brave it really was. How many could really be put on the spot like that and eulogize a close friend with cameras rolling? At one point, the NBC veteran who used to anchor the NBC news got too emotional and was basically reduced to tears.
This was really hard to watch which might be why like so many, I was touched. The slight heavyset man with the bright smile was gone and way too soon. He had built his career by working on a couple of Democratic campaigns including former New York Governor Mario Cuomo some 26 years prior before eventually leaving politics to join NBC News where he eventually became the Washington Bureau Chief in 1988.
Russert became a recognizable face to so many households who appreciated his honest approach. He never acted like a Democrat doing his job the right way without any bias setting a proper example.
Both this year’s Presidential candidates each paid tribute to him Friday as did many others:
Sen.John McCain said “Tim Russert was at the top of his profession. He was a man of honesty and integrity. He was hard, but he was always fair.”[33]Sen. Barack Obama said: “I’ve known Tim Russert since I first spoke to the convention in 2004. He was somebody who over time I came to consider not only a journalist but a friend. There wasn’t a better interviewer in television nor a more thoughtful analyst of our politics, and he was also one of the finest men I knew.“[33]
Not only was he an accomplished reporter but also went on to pen a few books including a best selling autobiography a few years ago entitled, “Big Russ and Me” about growing up in an Irish-oriented neighborhood in the Southern part of Buffalo.
Russert also bled for his two hometown sports teams the Bills and Sabres. He would’ve given anything especially to see the Bills win a Super Bowl. The man was a good sports fan who also liked the Yankees before becoming a Nationals fan and also liked the Wizards.
No matter the topic, the personable kid from Buffalo who was married to Maureen Orth and celebrated his son Luke’s college graduation from Boston College with a trip to Italy would always chime in giving his views.
