White Suburban Punk

Vince Carter, an 84% free throw shooter on the season, misses two with 31 seconds left that would have brought Orlando within 1 point.  JJ Redick inexplicably tries to advance the ball before calling timeout on their last possession.  Orlando sure had an easy regular season and cruised through the first two rounds of the playoffs.  Just like Cleveland, they haven’t faced one iota of adversity all season and they don’t have the cajones to deal with it when they do.  Vince Carter is just like Lebron with his constant complaining to the officials.  It reminds me of Johnny Most on Kareem: “This guy has been in the league for twenty years and he has never committed a personal foul.”  In the one game that Orlando absolutely had to be tougher than their opponent, they failed.  Miserably.  I thought the Celtics played about the same or a little better than Game 1 overall, despite a mess of turnovers in the fourth quarter.  Paul Pierce is the truth and Orlando got Rondo’d.  Now the old legs get three full days off before resuming the series Saturday night.

Speaking of choke jobs, Joba and the yankees coughed up another five run lead last night, aided by an Arod error.  ESPN the Magazine recently had a poll of major leaguers in which one of the questions asked who was the most overrated player in baseball: Joba #1, Arod #2.  The yankees bizarrely played the game under protest, apparently believing that Josh Beckett wasn’t coming out of the game because of injury.  After a great comeback and then blowing the game Monday night, the Sox showed some heart and held on to the comeback win last night, even though Papelbon struggled again.  I’m still not ready to put a fork in the Sox.

Tottenham Hotspur clinched the final Champions League spot in the English Premier League with a 1-0 win over Manchester City, with the goal scored by Abigail Clancy’s fiancee, Peter Crouch.  Liverpool have clinched a Europa League spot as the seventh place team.  They can finish no higher than sixth.  Rafa Benitez has begun a series of meetings with Liverpool’s top brass, but there is still no word on transfer funds available or the sale of the team.  It does appear that Benitez will be staying with the club, however.

Hull City, Burnley, and Portsmouth will be relegated to the League Championship.  Newcastle United and West Bromwich Albion have been promoted, and the playoffs begin Saturday for the final promotion spot.  Sixth place Blackpool will play a home and home with third place Nottingham Forest, and fifth place Leicester City will play fourth place Cardiff City.

Chelsea will clinch the Premiership title with a win at home against Wigan.  Manchester United plays at Stoke City trailing Chelsea by one point.  Everyone’s final game is at the same time Sunday, 11:00 Eastern in the US.

The Red Sox swept Orange County in a four game set and everything appears to finally be coming together, just in time for a visit from the yankees.  That game is actually third fiddle in the Boston area tonight, however, as the Bruins look to sweep the Flyers in Philly and the Celtics host the Cavs in game 3.  The loss of David Krejci could be devastating for the B’s, as he had been superb in the playoffs and the team really relies on his creativity in the offensive end.  If the Bruins can wrap it up tonight, they could get some significant time off, as Montreal tied up their series with Pittsburgh, 2-2.  Ole!

The pitching matchups for the Sox series are: Josh Beckett vs. Phil Hughes Friday night, Clay Buchholz vs. CC Sabathia 3:10 Saturday, and Jon Lester vs. AJ Burnett 8:00 Sunday.

The Bruins continue to captivate Boston sports fans as they took a 2-0 series lead on the Flyers last night.  This game wasn’t as non-stop breathtaking as game 1, but it was still plenty exciting.  The Bruins were so mediocre and downright boring all season, with a defensive orientation and an anemic offense.  They are a completely different team now.  They really don’t seem to play all that strong defensively anymore and they got caught making mistakes again last night.  Of course, Tuukka Rask has been incredible, and looks like the best goalie remaining in the playoffs.  But the startling thing has been the offense.  Even without Marco Sturm, these guys just click.  It mostly seems due to nothing but hard work.  In the Buffalo series and in the first two games of the Philadelphia series, the Bruins seem to win the majority of the battles along the boards.  They create chances, they muck in front of the net, and they throw it at the net a lot.  It’s also amazing how their strong stretch run helped them with seeding.  They were perilously close to the eighth seed for the last few weeks, but instead of getting Washington and then Pittsburgh, they got Buffalo and then Philadelphia.  And maybe Montreal can keep up their miraculous run so the B’s can get home ice for the conference finals.  But that’s a long way off.  Philly is going to be their typical brutal selves in game 3 at home, with an added dose of desperation.  Hopefully scumbag Dan Carcillo will try to stick his hands in Zdeno Chara’s mouth this time.

The Celtics shocked the NBA world by kicking the crap out of the Cavs in Cleveland last night.  After dominating the first half of game 1 and then falling apart, the C’s got a huge lead last night and then held off a late rally.  It seems that no one, either nationally or locally, gave the Celtics much of a chance in this series.  But they really do seem to be peaking at the right time.  Rajon Rondo has been by far the best player for either team.  Mo Williams had a good game 1, but he just doesn’t compare.  And all these supporting cast guys that we were supposed to be so worried about don’t impress me very much.  It also seems clear that Lebron is going to milk this “injury” for as long as the Cavs are still alive.  I would love to see him do his crybaby act again this year and walk off the court without congratulating the winners.  Again, that’s still a way’s off, but the Celtics have been the better team through two games, and the long layoffs between games can only help.

Ah, the Sox.  Big win last night and maybe that will help turn things around.  We still don’t really know this team’s identity, as they have not performed at all like anyone expected so far.  They just need to string together some good starting pitching performances and everything should start flowing from there.  That will make everything else look better.  JD Drew and Youk look like they’re coming around, and Cameron and Ellsbury can’t be out too much longer.  Adrian Beltre just needs to get games under him to freaking relax and start playing the third base that everyone expected. This is probably the best team he’s ever been on and he’s never played anywhere that demands winning like here.  I just wish the team had a little bit more personality.  Theo has gone the Patriots’ route with a group of professional, high character guys, which certainly makes life easier for Tito and the front office, but it’s not as fun to be a fan of a team like this.  Of course, comparing any team to the 2004 version will pale in every comparison, but, man that was fun.  The Sox get a pass until the end of the Bruins’ and Celtics’ seasons, anyway. 

Photo from Boston.com

The Red Sox managed to win two games with walkoffs against the Rangers before being shut out last night.  Clay Buchholz was excellent before tiring, however, so that’s a good sign.  New hero Darnell McDonald was finally kept hitless, although he did have a walk.  Tonight Jon Lester tries to straighten things out against Baltimore at Fenway.

The Bruins look to wrap up their surprising series with Buffalo tonight in Buffalo.  Where this team was all year, no one knows, but they have been an absolute joy to watch in this series.  Johnny Boychuk and Vladimir Sobotka are my new favorite players, and Tukka Rask has been fantastic.

The Celtics go on the road for game 3 of their series against the Heat after blowing them out in game 2.  Once again, I have no idea what will happen tonight, but it’s possible the C’s could put up another dominating performance.  They’ve been strong on the road all season, and now they have KG back.  Of course, with all signs pointing up, that probably means they’re due for a stinker.  Glen Davis has been awesome in the first two games of this series, while Rasheed Wallace only made the news for getting another fine by the league.

The Patriots ready for rounds 2 and 3 of the draft tonight, where they have three picks in the second and one in the third.  They went with a DB out of Rutgers in the first round, Devin McCourty, who Bill Belichick claims was who they wanted.  Today there are the usual overreactions from the media, stating that the secondary was the only area that didn’t need any help this offseason.  Belichick is apparently close with Rutgers coach Greg Schiano, which should provide him with added insight, but the experts in the Boston media know that Belichick hasn’t done anything here in New England to prove he has any idea what he’s doing, so they’re feeding off each other like maggots today.

The Bruins are off a surprising 2-1 series lead after last night’s 2-1 win at the Garden.  Last night’s game was awesome, with the Bruins fans at their chanting, singing, raucous best.  The play has been great, too, with tons of hitting and the usual playoff intensity.  This series so far has been a great example for the people who say that the NHL playoffs are the best in sports.  The Bruins have shown great heart, especially in game 2.  They were down 1-0 in the series and 2-0 in the game, in Buffalo, with their backs against the wall, and came back and won the game.  Heart has been something that appeared to be lacking from the Bruins this year, but they went 8-3-1 in their last 12 games and are undoubtedly playing their best hockey of the season right now.  And Marc Savard has been symptom-free for a week and skated on his own yesterday, so he could conceivably come back if the Bruins advance.

The NFL draft is a multiday event starting Thursday.  The Patriots need to have a good draft, but I’ll see what they did when they’re done.  The massive industry that has developed around the NFL draft is insane.

The Celtics lead Miami, 1-0, with game 2 tonight in Boston.  They will play without KG, who was suspended for allegedly throwing an elbow during an altercation at the end of game 1.  All the talking heads seem to agree with the suspension, even though I don’t really see it on the replays.  It was unquestionably stupid of KG to let himself get into that situation that late in a game you’re going to win anyway, and now all the people that this edition of the Celtics has pissed off can come out of the woodwork (Joakim Noah?) saying that KG is a dirty player and that Paul Pierce is some kind of flopper or something.  Never mind that Pierce’s game is to put himself into position to get knocked down either by driving the lane or keeping possession of the ball in a foul situation.  Whatever.  This Celtics team is definitely hated, and I have to admit that it’s far from my favorite Celtics team, too.  I have no idea how they’ll react to this.  No one can figure this team out.  Several times this season they have shown no motivation just when you expect them to want to make a statement and we were hoping the playoffs would wake them up.  They awoke enough in the second half of game 1, so now what will KG’s suspension do to them?  Motivate them to step it up or give them an excuse to lose?  I have no idea.

Ah, now your 4-9 Boston Red Sox.  Jason Varitek, Dustin Pedroia, and Adrian Beltre — fine.  Everyone else — not so good.  In the starting rotation, John Lackey had two good starts before yesterday’s disaster.  Everyone else has not been good enough.  It’s a team-wide slump, not a team-wide bad team with little talent.  Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do about times like this in baseball, especially at the beginning of the year, although this is definitely the best time for something like this to happen.  Sure, there’s the worry that they’ll be in a big hole behind the Rays and yankees, but they’re going to end up where they belong after 162.  I don’t think Lester should be sent down to Pawtucket and I don’t think Jermaine Dye will turn this team into the ’04 Sox.  I am worried about David Ortiz, as it really does look like he’s done, and he’s certainly done as a huge force.  But the Sox have depth there, with Lowell and Jeremy Hermida.  JD Drew is not going to hit .132 this season, Youk won’t end up at .238, and Victor won’t end at .224, which is where they all are now.  Mike Cameron has been placed on the DL and may need surgery, but that doesn’t make it a bad signing.  You just gotta have faith that these are good players, they’re not bums, and they will start performing.  There’s literally nothing else to do.

Photo from Boston.com

The Patriots win an ugly one in Buffalo, but a win is a win at this point.  Especially on the road.  Randy Moss’ comments after the game were hilarious.  I wonder if there will be any talk that Wes Welker quit on the team after his quiet day.  Laurence Maroney continues to look good, really fighting for yards.  I had to admit I was worried after the Bills’ first drive, but then they reverted back to what they are, and the Patriots defense played well against an awful team.  Jacksonville is up next, and supposedly New England still has an outside shot at the #2 seed if San Diego loses its final two games.  I still can’t figure out the Patriots offense, though.  The same personnel as 2007, but it sure doesn’t look like it.  Is it all Brady?

Liverpool lost to last place Portsmouth, 2-0, over the weekend.  They now sit in seventh place.  Javier Mascherano got sent off for a bad tackle, and he managed to strain his MCL on the play, as well.  So he’s suspended and injured.  I don’t know if it can really get any worse for this team.  Wolverhampton is next in the Premiership on Saturday.  They drew a Romanian team in the Europa League, which will start in February.

The Champions League draw also took place, with Inter Milan getting Chelsea, The Chosen One’s current team and former team.  And AC Milan drew Manyoo, David Beckham’s current team and former team.  Should be interesting.

The Landon Donovan loan to Everton went through.

So Mike Lowell is back with the Sox.  Both player and team must be thrilled.  If he’s going to be ok by Spring Training, why didn’t the Rangers just go through with the trade?  They’d only be paying him $3 million.

The Cubs traded Milton Bradley to the Mariners for Carlos Silva.  So the M’s continue to improve, while all the Angels have done is sign Hideki Matsui.  That also means that Jason Bay will not be going to Seattle.  I’ve got to think that he’s not real psyched to play for the Mets, with the big ballpark and circus atmosphere.  I hope I’m wrong, but I still think the yankees are going to swoop in.  Speaking of, Brian Cashman claims that the yankees will “almost certainly add a starter by New Year’s,” according to the New York Post.  But no one seems to have any idea who that would be.

Coco Crisp is going to the A’s.

Bill James projects your Opening Day first baseman, Casey Kotchman, to hit .272 in 372 at bats (122 games), with 9 HR and 52 RBI in 2010.  His best year was 2007 with the Angels, when he played in 137 games, hit .296 with an OBP of .372 and slugged .467.  He finished that year with 11 HR and 68 RBI.  The next year he was traded (with a prospect) to the Braves for Mark Texeira and hit his career high 14 HR.  He was considered a top prospect by Baseball America for a number of years; in 2002 he was ranked 22nd, 2003 13th, 2004 15th, and 2005 6th.  He’ll be 27 years old in February.

Glen Davis will supposedly return to the Celtics in early January.

Everyone’s favorite whipping boy, the Big 10, has seven teams in bowl games.  Only two are favored to win, Minnesota by 2.5 over Iowa State, and Penn State by 2.5 over LSU.  The other five are underdogs.  Wisconsin is 3 point dogs to Miami, Ohio State 3.5 to Oregon, Iowa 4 to Georgia Tech, Northwestern 7 to Auburn, and Michigan State 8 to Texas Tech.  Does the fact that 5 of the teams are underdogs prove the conference sucks, or if they have another bad bowl year, can Big 10 fans say, “yeah, but 5 of the teams were underdogs?”

John Lackey and Mike Cameron to the Sox.  Sweet.  Lackey as a #3 starter?  That’s pretty freaking good.  It’s great that Theo kept these moves so quiet, too.  Just last week I wrote that I wished Lackey was more on the Sox’ radar, and it turns out he was.  I guess Theo isn’t writing off 2010 after all.  Lackey will fit in great with Beckett, Youk, Pedroia, and Victor Martinez.  I really like this plan of attack — there’s no way we’ll ever be able to outslug the yankees, but we could outpitch them.  And improving the defense is key to that.  Jason Bay never seemed like a particularly bad outfielder to me, but the defensive metrics apparently say otherwise.  And Mike Cameron is unquestionably an excellent defensive outfielder.  He can play any of the outfield positions, too, allowing Tito great flexiblity to sit Ellsbury or Drew against tough lefties.

I would also be fine with Adrian Beltre at third base.  Again, excellent defensively, but don’t expect too much with the bat.  If the offense is as bad as the Boston media says it will be, they can always try to add something during the season.  I’m afraid to mention it, but Big Papi claimed he was going to come into camp next year in the best shape of his life.  Just sayin’.

I guess an Adrian Gonzalez deal could still be in play, maybe even more so since they’ve added a quality starter without giving anything up.  It seems that would create a very left handed heavy batting order, though, without a real right handed power hitter.  Still, that would be a nice problem to have.

Ah, Randy Moss.  Sixth in the NFL in receiving.  Opponents double team him so much that it allows Wes Welker to have an absolutely crazy day.  In fact, Welker is #2 in receiving yards and Moss #6 in the league.  And Moss is #5 in the NFL in receiving touchdowns.  Not bad for a quitter.  Sure, his production Sunday definitely didn’t pass the smell test.  So he had a bad game, but the team won.  It appears the coach is behind him, the QB is behind him, and the rest of the team is behind him.  He’s still a captain.  As the Young Fresh Fellows say, everything’s gonna turn out great.

The Patriots should retire Kevin Faulk’s #33 when he retires.

The Celtics have won 11 in a row and have the best record in the NBA.  When is Big Baby coming back?  I thought it was supposed to be December.  Anyway, the only win over an elite team was opening night against Cleveland, but they’re definitely beating the teams they should beat, and looking good doing it. 

Big 10 to add a twelfth team?  I think it would be a good thing at this point.  It could even help in recruiting, and of course an elite conference shouldn’t be sitting home watching everyone else play.  But divisions will be awkward, especially for football.  Do you go east/west, or north/south?  I would think that Michigan and Ohio State have to be together, but then do you include Penn State with those two?  And who exactly is the twelfth team?  Notre Dame, Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Missouri?  Don’t even freaking joke about Rutgers.

Liverpool lost to Arsenal 2-1, this weekend, and the misery continues.  They didn’t even look passionate, which is extremely worrying.  So far this year, they’ve really risen to the occasion against the big teams, but not so in this game.  The Europa League draw is Friday.  Juventus and Marseille joined Liverpool in dropping out of the Champions League.

Maybe I should stop trying to pick college games.  All are against the spread, but I went 1-5 2 weeks ago and 2-9 this past weekend.  It seems that some years I’m uncannily tuned in to the college game and some years I’m, well, I’m not tuned in whatsoever.  There were some harsh losses last week, though.  I picked Indiana +17.5 against Iowa and they lost by 18.  Houston -7.5 against Southern Miss and they won by 7.  And Oregon State -8.5 against UCLA and they won by 7.  The pro picks have gone fairly well, though, 9-4 against the spread both weeks.  I’ll keep trying.

Rajon Rondo signed at 5 year, $55 million contract extension.  Great signing by Danny Ainge, I actually thought Rondo could get more money.  He’s still not in the top 5 highest paid point guards in the league.  If Ainge had let him go to restricted free agency, who knows what would’ve happened?  One of the teams that didn’t get Lebron, Dwayne Wade, or Chris Bosh probably would’ve dumped a plate full of cash on Rondo’s lap and the C’s wouldn’t be willing/able to match.

The supposed contenders with the Patriots for the AFC East crown are a joke.  Buffalo gets blown out by Houston, and Miami somehow beat the Jets.  Again.  Yet the Jets continue to talk.  Rex Ryan claimed that his team outplayed the Dolphins, but still lost.  Special teams don’t count?  They sure do on the scoreboard.  Miami, meanwhile, had 52 yards rushing and 52 yards passing for the game and their hero of the game, Ted Ginn, was called an embarrassment and a coward by a former Dolphin earlier in the week.  Patriots are 5-2, Jets 4-4, Dolphins 3-4.  In the AFC, Indy is 7-0, Denver 6-1, and New England, Cincinnati, and Pittsburgh are 5-2.

It’s good to see that Florida head coach Urban Meyer came down hard on his player for the cowardly eye gouge on Saturday.  Suspended for the first half of the Vanderbilt game.  That’s sending a message.  And the guy who did it wears a face shield!

Wisconsin blew out Purdue, 37-0 Saturday at Camp Randall.  Purdue played horribly, with tons of dropped passes.  But when that happens, they should be shut out, and they were.  In fact, Purdue’s QB was 5-23 for 59 yards and a pick, so it wasn’t just the dropped passes.  Purdue had 141 total yards for the game; Wisconsin had 150 in the first quarter.  Nuf ced.  Next up: at Indiana Saturday.  They’ll probably still be reeling from their choke job against Iowa.  Wisconsin is now ranked 22 in the coaches poll and 24 in the AP.

One other note: former Badger and current Houston Texan Owen Daniels tore his ACL in the Buffalo game and is out for the year.

Liverpool lost to Fulham 3-1 in the Premiership over the weekend.  That’s 7 losses in the last 8 games in all competitions.  Rumors are that Fernando Torres’ injury is more serious than they’re letting on.  They’ve got a must-win at Lyon in the Champions League Wednesday and then another must-win Monday against Birmingham at Anfield, televised on ESPN2.  I guess they’re all must-wins now.  Chelsea plays Manyoo at Stamford Bridge Sunday.

It was nice to see that the Phillies held on last night to force game 6, but I’m not too optimistic.  I really don’t want them to do it against Pedro, though.

Wisconsin hockey kicked the living crap out of UNH, 4-1 and 6-1.  Not a nice homecoming for Blake Kessel.

Cliff Lee dominated the yankees last night, just dominated.  From the nonchalant catch of a pop up to his behind-the-back stab of a one-hopper, to his ten strikeouts and complete game, 122 pitch performance.  The Stadium was silenced.  A-Roid, after tearing through the division series and ALCS, went 0-4 with 3 strikeouts.  Back to the old A-Roid?  Now Pedro takes on AJ Burnett tonight in Game 2.  Burnett is an imposter, but I really hope Pedro pitches well.  I haven’t looked forward to a WS game like this that didn’t involve the Red Sox in a long, long time.  I really wonder if the fans will chant “who’s your daddy” at Pedro.  Do they remember how that worked out for them last time?  Hopefully the Phils will pound Burnett so hard that Pedro can just go six and leave with the lead.  That would be perfect.  Then Girardi can go through 10 more pitchers all while having the look on his face like he’s taking a crap.

The Celtics are 2-0 in the new season, beating the Cavs on the road and destroying Charlotte in the home opener last night.  The Celtics didn’t even play all that well last night and still cruised.  Looking good.  They’re so much deeper than last year and KG looks better than I thought he would.  The defense is intense as always, too.  And Rondo hasn’t really shown all that much yet, at least as far as being aggressive taking the ball to the hole.  I’m sure that will come soon.  Rasheed is an absolutely awesome addition to this team.

Liverpool beat Manyoo 2-0 on Sunday and looked terrific doing it.  Torres played and scored, but Gerrard wasn’t able to make it onto the field.  They did show him sitting with his lovely wife Alex several times, though.  They played with great tenacity and life, really for the first time this year.  The team apparently lost yesterday to Arsenal in the Carling Cup, but the big teams usually play a lot of youngsters in that competition.  Alberto Aquilani was supposed to make his Liverpool debut in that game and he should be able to help the big club soon.  He was one of the two big signings over the summer, and I think he’s coming back from a broken ankle.  Looking forward to seeing him play.  Liverpool now sits fifth in the Premiership, six points behind Chelsea, although Man City and Villa have a game in hand behind them.  The Reds play Fulham on the road Saturday.

Wisconsin plays Purdue at Camp Randall Saturday.  Hopefully the bye did them a world of good.  They’re on a two game losing streak right now, and are seven point favorites.  That may be a little high.  The Badgers haven’t really beaten anyone soundly all year, and we’ll see if Scott Tolzien continues to throw bad interceptions.  Maybe the kid, Curt Phillips, will see more of the field in this game.

Badger hockey hosts UNH for two this weekend, but neither game is on tv.  I wonder if there will be any arrests of UNH players, given that it’s Halloween weekend in Madtown.

The Bruins host New Jersey tonight.  The Devils were a boring team to watch before, now their coach is Jacques “neutral zone trap” Lemaire.  I plan to stick to baseball.  The Devils are 6-4 on the year, the Bruins 5-4-1.  The B’s currently sit in fourth place in the Northeast Division.