Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Quick note

I realize I haven't been writing about Leon all that much so far this season but I wanted to pass this along. I was reading through some Bob Ryan posts on boston.com and came across this excerpt from a couple of weeks ago:

"You have to love the bench. Man-for-man, they don't seem that imposing, but they have really developed a group rapport and it's really fun when they get into the game. How can you not appreciate Leon Powe? That is one inside scoring, rebounding, and hustling kid. You say, "Wow, wouldn't it be great if he were 6-foot-11?" but then you realize he might not try so hard if he were 6-11. He's just right at 6-8."

The Celtics host the Pacers tonight who are coming off a gigantic last second win against the Lakers. Indiana is also the last team to beat Boston...on November 1st.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

12/1/08: Celtics v. Magic

Thanks to my obsessive refreshing of Ticketmaster, Ben and I were able to grab some cheap seats to see the defending champs take on the Orlando Magic last night at the garden. Psyched! A few random thoughts from last night:

  • J.J. Redick started the game, thanks to a host of injured Orlando players. A shooting clinic it was not, however, as Jonathan Clay managed only six points despite playing 31 minutes. The crowd was pretty excited by his appearance, though, but not nearly as excited as they were for..
  • SCAL-A-BRI-NE. Alright. Yes. It's funny that he's goofy looking and terrible, and when the blinding all-orange AT&T ad comes on while he's playing, he looks even goofier. But he's BAD. Stop the chants, people. Doc doesn't know you're kidding and actually puts him in. Just stop.
  • Nine technicals in the game! The Celtics now lead for most technicals in the league, thanks in large part to Perk's nine on the season. I had two favorites on the night:
    • Sam Cassell drew a technical and was ejected (to massive cheers) in the 2nd quarter for arguing a technical that was called on Perk. And no, he was not playing at the time.
    • Rashard Lewis got a technical and was stewing, perhaps thinking about starting a conversation with the ref. Hedo Turkoglu noted that this would be a bad decision, and ambled over to Lewis to talk him down, rub his back, maybe make him a warm cup of milk, but Rashard would have none of that and shoved Turkoglu down. Which leads me to this..
  • Orlando looked like a pile of garbage. Clearly evident from the score (107-88), and the shooting %s (54%-42%), but this looked like a dysfunctional team. Dwight Howard looked annoyed that he's not still playing with the Olympic team/impatient for the dunk contest. Obviously this was not the usual Orlando starting lineup, but they just looked off for much of the game.
  • Kind of a lackluster night for Leon.. 12 mins, a couple rebounds, a couple points, and three fouls. Note to Leon: work on your damn free throws! I'm sure RayRay can help you obsessively practice this shot until your arms fall off...
A great night for Pierce, Rondo, Allen, Garnett, House, and the row in front of us that won free bowls of clam chowder from Legal. Jerks. I'm hungry now, after looking at pictures of clam chowder, so I'm out.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Monday...Meditations?

Damn it. Monday Musings sounds sooo much better than Sunday Musings AdamMan! Oh well. Thanksgiving slowed down the production at SPLP but we're getting back on track. Of course, this is just going to be me talking about random things incoherently because I don't (never?) have the ability to put together an actual structured column right now. My brain is fried from being back at work for one day. Okay ramblers, let's get ramblin'.

I had a feeling last Monday that the first big free agent signing was going to happen before the holiday. It's a week later and all we have is...Mike Hampton? Wow, way to make headlines Houston. This guy is like the Family Guy flashback when they remade Peter into the six hundred dollar man. He's not quite human, not quite cyborg, but all kinds of washed up. I know they aren't going to pay him a lot of money but where's the huge Teixeira deal? How come the Yankees haven't signed Sabathia yet? The Hot Stove is cooler than Freddie Jackson sipping a milkshake in a snowstorm.

Speaking of AdamMan, I can't even begin to imagine what it was like at Gillette yesterday. Apparently no one told Matt Light that poor Matt Cassel is playing for a contract. The running game continues to fail and I have never seen Randy Moss drop two wide open catches like that in the same game. The Patriots might have to win every game from here on out just to make the playoffs although only one team will make it out of the AFC West. James' absence is oddly conspicuous so far today. How could anyone be proud of that Colts' win? Whether you like them or not though, they are building some serious momentum. And I HIGHLY doubt Manning will ever have a game like that for the rest of his career.

If you have plans on Saturday night, break them immediately. Manny Pacquiao is set to put the beatdown on the Golden Boy himself, Oscar De La Hoya. Pacquiao is regarded as the best pound for pound fighter in the world. I know next to nothing about the sport, but I've watched a bunch of Pacquiao's fights and they never fail to entertain. Now he's in the biggest fight of his career against a very unlikeable opponent who will most likely outweigh him by at least 15 pounds when they step into the ring together. Manny started his career at 108 pounds (or lbs.) and critics are hailing this as nothing more than De La Hoya not wanting to fight someone his own size. If you are on the fence about watching the fight and have HBO, watch the great 24/7 series. Initially when the fight was being discussed, Oscar said it would be his last fight. He has already changed his mind and will most likely fight again. But he'll keep ducking guys like Margarito. On the other hand, a Pacquiao/Ricky Hatton showdown could be infinitely entertaining and could quite possibly be one of the last great fights of this era. Let's face it folks, boxing in the United States has been on it's deathbed for some time. And whether Pacquiao wins or loses, the sport is only a few years away from finally kicking the bucket.


Has fan(s).

Saturday night, I attended the Clippers/Heat game at the Staples Center. Believe it or not, it was actually a pretty exciting game with LA squeaking out a 97-96 win. Miami had just beated Phoenix the night before and just didn't have enough gas to close out the game. They were outscored 29-23 in the fourth quarter despite good showings from Dwayne Wade (duh), Michael Beasley who came off the bench, and Udonis Haslem. One player who wasn't so productive was Shawn Marion. But that didn't really matter to one dedicated fan of "The Matrix." We were sitting in section 301, halfway up. And as stated before, I am a Heat fan. Apparently I'm not taking my team seriously enough. There was this dude in a Marion jersey yelling in a deadpan voice (if that's possible) "Let's go Shawn Marion! Let's go Matrix!" to the point where other people started chanting in jest. DID NOT bother this guy one bit. It also didn't bother him that Marion scored 5 points in 33 minutes. I had to go over and high five him at one point just so he didn't hurl himself off the balcony. Good times.

And just to throw this out there, I just finished Bret Hart's autobiography. If you were ever a fan of the Hitman or professional wrestling in general, it is a fascinating read. He kept an audio diary of his entire career and man is it in depth. The tragedies and struggles of Bret and the entire Hart family are truly monumental. It's a good 550 pages, but once you start, it's tough to put down. Kind of like a package of Peeps.

Sunday, November 30, 2008

Sunday Musings


As you probably didn't notice, we didn't get a picks column up today. Blame it on Thanksgiving. Blame it on us being a couple of lazy assholes. Or, if you're like me and Milli, you could blame it on the rain. I would have thrown up a half-assed column (again) but I was busy watching Ben ROFLsberger and the Steelers capitalize on big-ass mistakes by the Patriots today. It's one thing to watch your team choke in a statement game at home. It's another thing to sit through 3 hours of 35 degree driving rain while watching it. Just ask the icy, blunt objects that I used to refer to as "my feet"... that blew.
Around the league, an unbelievable 10 out of 12 road teams won today. I'm sure that made a lot of bookies smile big grill-filled smiles. At least you can still count on Cincinnati, Cleveland, and St. Louis to lose in this mixed up NFL of ours. Buffalo continues their giant nose-dive. Has anybody else noticed this all started after 1) they gave Jauron a contract extension because they went 5-1 and 2) Their QB got knocked in the head? Meanwhile, everything you know about the Broncos and Jets is apparently wrong. But of course, my day was mainly based around this:

You may not have known about Matt Slater, rookie DB/WR/special teams "specialist" who's the son of Hall of Famer Jackie Slater, before today. But if you care even vaguely about the Patriots, Steelers, or AFC playoff picture in general, you're probably familiar with him now. One epic doink off Slater's hands helped set a tightly contested 13-10 game on it's course towards a frustrating 33-10 laugher. With games coming up against the Seahawks and Raiders, plus games against the slumping Cardinals and Bills, the Patriots season is by no means over. But today was just more proof that this is not the efficient, mistake-free Patriots team that you're used to.

I know it will be easy for people to look at Cassel's 2 INTs and 2 fumbles and assume he's to blame for this one. But with Randy Moss dropping 2 wide-open passes (one in the endzone), both fumbles coming on blindside hits after Matt Light got horribly beat, and one of those picks being in desperation garbage time... watching the game it was clear there were others far more to blame for this one.

Just a side note: I feel the need to point out the impressive amount of mediocrity I've managed to achieve in fantasy football this season. Going into this week, in my four fantasy football leagues, ALL four teams came in with a gag-inducing 5-7 record. They all got there different ways, they all had a unique path to ineptitude, but my fantasy teams are united in that beautiful mark that is eerily similar to Dustin Pedroia's height. The one bright spot: the team I'm the most invested in just locked up it's 4th straight win to pull to 6-7, and I actually have a shot at a playoff spot in that league. Hooray for small victories!