Celtics!!! (and other stuff)

LeRobot?

2011-06-13T00:01:00.004-04:00

I don't get it. I just don't understand how people can like LeBron. Yeah, you can say he was an asshole for leaving Cleveland. You can say he was arrogant for the WAY he left Cleveland. The whole 2011 Heat welcome celebration (Not 1, not 2, not 3...) was certainly kinda jarring. You can say all those things. But the one thing I've noticed that is just downright inexcusable is his complete lack of emotion. I'm watching his press conference right now, answering questions with generic "gotta give credit to the Mavs...it is what it is" type responses. He literally is expressionless. It's like he just lost a game in November to the Wizards. Think of how KG would be acting at the press table if the Celtics just lost in the Finals on their home court. He'd be absolutely devastated. At a loss for words. Shaking his head. Visibly stunned. Pissed off. EMOTIONAL. You know why I think LeBron looks like he doesn't care? Because no matter what, he's the face of the NBA (for better or worse). Come next season, there'll be more than a handful of "analysts" who will predict the Heat will win the championship because LeBron must've worked on his game in the off season and, hey, more time together builds chemistry! He knows that he's still got his fame, his endorsements--money will be rolling in. I think he's so damn cocky and absolutely sure that a ring's gonna fall into his lap at some point during his career that not winning it all in 2011 is not as big of a deal as it was for KG, Ray, and Pierce, who were past their primes--they knew what was at stake. LeBron, on the other hand, is pretty much saying that he'll look at the tape, work on fixing his weaknesses, and come back next year. Um, okay...it's gonna be that easy? Who wants to root for a guy that is so politically correct that he can't even LOOK upset?! It makes me angry that he's not angry and I don't even like the guy!

I can't fathom that an NBA player of LeBron's caliber wouldn't care too much about not winning a championship, but maybe that's the case. Maybe he doesn't care about (potentially) being called one of the greats ever. Maybe he just cares about being famous, getting money, and just living life.

That's not a guy I want to root for and I can't imagine how anyone could.

And That's That

2011-05-11T21:51:00.000-04:00

Well, folks, that just about does it. And not just for the season, but from what I'm feeling, for this era in Celtics history. Shaq effectively announced his retirement after we shut him down for this game and the rest of the way. I'm guessing KG will retire and so will Doc Rivers (either that or he'll move on to another team). I can't fault them if they do. They gave us everything they had for 4 years. KG was totally dedicated and completely transformed the team and city in a way no one thought he'd do. Old age eventually caught up to him and although he still has the ability to tap into the well for a vintage performance every now and then, he can't do it consistently. Whether that has to do with simply age (probably) or his knee injury that slowed him down a couple years ago (perhaps), he is one of the greats ever. If you've watched the Celtics over the years, Doc has proven his play-making skills and ability to coach egos of superstars (KG, PP, and Ray), and budding superstars (Rondo). Can't fault him for anything (especially the way it ended tonight. See below: Ainge, Daniel).

Looking ahead, I do see Pierce and Ray sticking with us. Because he's primarily a shooter, Ray can be effective for another handful of years. He was probably our most consistent player this season and shot career highs in FG% and 3P FG% this year. His work ethic is a testament to that. For some reason or another, Pierce doesn't appear to have lost a step. He was still the highest scoring guy on the team, hit clutch shots, increased his 3-point shooting, and can still bang down low. Now, if we can somehow integrate Jeff Green into a starting spot somewhere, I'm gonna go ahead and bank on him returning to his productive form from OKC. He's shown it in spurts at the end of the season when Doc was resting our starters, so let's hope he can get it going in the starting role.

Glen Davis has to go. I never really trusted the guy, even when he was the Ticket Stub in 2009. Ainge should've shipped his ass out instead of Perk.

If we can finagle Dwight Howard out of signing with LA or whatever other team is on the docket, can you imagine the amount of alley oops Rondo would be throwing to him each night? That'd be insane. Rondo, Allen, Pierce, Green, Howard. Pretty solid.

And now, to commemorate the New Big Three Era, here are some YouTube clips of the biggest plays that were made:

Ray Allen

Paul Pierce

Kevin Garnett

2011-05-03T22:13:00.003-04:00

Danny Ainge sucks for relying on an overweight 65-year old and completely disregarding chemistry and cohesion as important factors for a team. He said "hit me" while holding two face cards and clearly busted. He felt the need to do *something* at the trade deadline even though our team was fine.

Thank you for effectively closing our window.

Game 1 Suckage

2011-05-01T19:20:00.002-04:00

That was painful. We played maybe our worst basketball of the season for the whole game...only Ray Allen had it going, KG was off all night, Rondo did jack shit, Pierce was iffy (until the 4th quarter), our bench was incompetent, the the refs made a couple of idiotic calls that ruined momentum for us, we got down by 20+ points...and yet despite all that, only lost by 9. We were able to cut their leads down to 4, 7, 8, etc. more than just a couple times despite playing like we had downs.

Any consolation can come from the fact that James Jones had a career game (actually, a historical game for the Heat), and that it simply won't happen again (at least to that extent...and I'm not just saying that optimistically--Law of Averages baby). Rondo decided after getting a couple of his shots blocked that he wouldn't assert himself and ended up being the Rondo of the end of the regular season. He made Mike Bibby look like Bill Russell out there. Who knows with him. We'll see how he responds. KG had a rough shooting night the whole game. His shot just wasn't falling, which has happened a handful of times this season. From what I remember, he usually rebounds well after such games. At least he played great D on Bosh, who I think had the same measly amount of points. Regardless, I guess if those two guys can cancel each other out, no matter how crappy they play, that's a good thing, right? Pierce was shit the first 3 quarters, but he got it going in the 4th. Unfortunately, he also got ejected then too. Sucks not having one of the best closers in the league out there when we're cutting the Heat lead down to single digits. Once again, Law of Averages says he'll be there the whole game next time and shoot better than he did, so again that's something we can look forward to.

If I was unable to see the score for the whole game, by the end of the 4th, I definitely would have thought we were down by 25 points, not 8 or 9. A loss is a loss, sure, and I'm not happy about it. But when you lose by less than 10 points when Miami SHOULD HAVE blown us away by 25+, that's something Doc and the Celtics should maybe look at and say, "Hey, if a few balls would've bounced our way...if the refs didn't think the game was about them and try to appease the home crowd with 2 atrocious calls...if we had Pierce in as our closer just as he was heating up...maybe things would've been different. Let's get off to a better start in Game 2 and play consistently." I mean, that sounds encouraging, right? Of course, I'm sure that's what Mike D'Antoni said to the Knicks after Game 1 in the first round, but whatever they actually lost that game and that's neither here nor there.

Bottom line: tough loss, awful execution, but hopefully shook the rust off. We'll be back in Game 2 and then we get some home cookin' and you know the Garden crowd will take it to the Real Housewives of South Beach.

2011-04-01T22:18:00.003-04:00

Why is Glen Davis our go-to guy when we need a bucket in the 4th quarter?!? And why does he insist on posting up a bigger defender and shooting a turnaround fadeaway baseline jumper every time?!? You're shorter, yes, so use your goddamn body/deceptive quickness that we ALL know you have to go toward the basket and get a layup and one like you normally do?! Fuck. And the fact that KG has -4 shot attempts for the entire game is an abomination and we don't deserve to win because of that. He was on FIRE against the Spurs. Couldn't miss. The few shots he's taken, he's stroked tonight as well. We need buckets: get him the ball. It's not hard to understand. I sometimes think we forget how to play basketball or we've reverted to high school level IQ levels. It's really ridiculous. Not to mention we're playing what I really think is the 2nd most annoying team in the league behind the Lakers. And the Hawks aren't even that good! They're pretenders basically. Just a really mediocre playoff team. Zaza Pachulia is one of my most hated players, and HE'S not good either! But he thinks he is, which makes it that much more irritating. He's one of those "scream like a motherfucker when he grabs a rebound in traffic at ANY point in the game" type players (Noah is another who does that). If someone can pass it to Ray Allen more than twice again, that'd be nice to. This is what I just don't get sometimes. We have such great offensive firepower, but refuse to go to it. Instead, we're currently relying on Big Baby to hit crucial shots (JUMP SHOTS), when he CLEARLY doesn't have it tonight. And he's not one of those shooters shoot players. Not even close. Stop being Socialists by spreading the wealth. Call out a play. Execute it. KG: post up and back that European motherfucker down. Pierce: step backs, drives, the usual. Ray: come off screens and knock shit down. Rondo: drive the lane, get layups, get to the line. Force these assholes to play defense.

Thanks, I just needed to vent. Now I'll finish watching this horseshit.

Dear Celtics...

2011-03-28T21:40:00.004-04:00

Dear Celtics,

You guys are really starting to piss me off. I don't care if you've got some kind of agenda like just getting healthy for the postseason, but guess what? First of all, you're killing your starters playing them a ton of minutes as you continuously blow big leads/try to claw your way back into games. Second, these games still somewhat matter. As we've seen from last year, home court is kind of a big deal. Either focus on the health issues or on getting the top seed. "Oh, let's sit out Rondo because of a damn pinky. Oh, now he can play again." "Oh, let's shut Shaq down until April." "Oh, let's play all the new guys we got!", "Oh, let's use a shortened bench of 2 guys while Arroyo, Pavlovic, and whoever else we have on this mish-mash of a team sit in their warmups the whole game." You can't do both.

Look. You're professional basketball players. You're getting paid millions of dollars to play a game you love. Show it. Show us you care about these dumb games against mediocre talent. Hibbert went off tonight like he was Wilt Fucking Chamberlain. You know what you used to do? Amped up the defense and shut that bastard down. You know what you've been doing recently? Playing like you're in the WNBA D-League. All these games are winnable. Where's the desire? There's that damn commercial with everyone saying, "It's about passion....It's about desire...It's about blah blah." Yeah. You guys look like you don't give a fuck. Not cool with me or the entire Celtics tradition. It's not okay that you bone every shot you take and get yourselves into a hole only to claw your way back to give yourselves a chance to win it (which, lately, you fail to do anyway). It's also not okay to make every shot you take to start a game and then start employing the Clogged Toilet offense. Play like the Celtics or get off the damn court.

I'm a Celtics fan through and through, but when you don't play like the "Celtics," I'm not a fan of you. I won't root for you blindly. And I won't shrug my shoulders and say, "Eh, that's okay! We'll get 'em next game! I love you unconditionally and you can't do anything wrong! Even if you play like inconsistent nancies, you still deserve my undivided praise!" No. Sometimes you NBA players need a kick in the ass and I'll be the first to give it to you. If you're a fan of a team, it doesn't mean you need to like what they're doing and support them without reason. To believe in them simply isn't enough sometimes.

If you deserve to be booed/called out, then we'll give it to you full force. Because we'll cheer just as loudly if you play like the Celtics should.

Sincerely,

Bono

2011-03-11T21:19:00.003-05:00

I fucking hate losing to teams that have no business being in the building with us. Really? Spencer Hawes lights us up in the first half? Where's the defensive effort on him?

Rondo needs to stop trying to be a scorer and do what he does best: pass the damn ball. All of these run the shot clock down and taking awkward jump shots does not help (even if he made half of them, I don't care--not his game). Get your teammates involved (see: Ray Allen).

Also, why the FUCK is Sasha Fucking Pavlovic guarding Andre Iguodala in a one possession game with under a minute left to play? PUT PAUL PIERCE ON HIM. Absolutely ridiculous. Oh, and then we can even foul any of the Sixers once we cut the lead to 3 with about 10 seconds left. That should NEVER happen. We looked like a bunch of assholes.

I hate this team when we don't play up to our potential. Pisses me off. When we're good, we're unbeatable. But when we have these unforgivable lapses all over the place that don't even get corrected out of the half, it's like, why even come out on the court to play tonight? Jesus, put in the effort...put a hand up...learn from the mistakes you've already made. If Hawes has the hot hand, make sure you don't leave his ass open!!!! It's not rocket science!

Some losses don't nearly piss me off as much as others, but this one is a bitch. We have a really easy schedule to close the season out and need to take advantage with Chi City breathing down our necks. L's to the Clippers at home and then the Sixers?!?!? I don't care if they're "resurgent" or if Doug Collins is the second coming. We're the fucking Celtics with the best record in the East and we can't do shit about these mediocre teams. Stop being nances by playing down to your competition. Man the fuck up and play Celtic basketball.

Biggest Win For LA? TNT Would Have You Think So...

2011-02-10T22:59:00.007-05:00

I shouldn't even bother to blog about this because the loss isn't really a big deal when you think about it. Here's why:

Let's first take a look at the lineups for the game tonight.
For the Celtics we had:

Ray Allen
Rajon Rondo
Kevin Garnett
Kendrick Perkins
Paul Pierce (even though he was visibly weak due to the flu)

Glen Davis
Nate Robinson (injured early)
Von Wafer
Avery Bradley

The Lakers had:

Bryant
Gasol
Bynum
Fisher
Artest

Odom
Blake
Brown
Walton
and 3-4 random people I've never heard of, but at least they had bodies to put out on the floor if necessary.

So with Robinson out and Pierce not a big factor due to illness, the Celtics trotted out a whopping 7 healthy players. And even THAT is debatable because Perk's probably not 100% yet. So, let's say 6 and 1/2. And we lost by only 6 points.

Second, based on that, it just becomes more obvious that the Celtics are in a completely different league. Throughout the first half, we were fresh and full of energy. We built up a 15 point lead (8 by halftime) and it would have almost certainly continued that pattern had we had fresh legs to sub in for our starters. Unfortunately, as we all saw, this wasn't the case, and by the time the 4th quarter came around, everyone was winded, and rightfully so. I mean, just look back to the game in LA. We blew them away in the 4th and we were healthier then than now (the Lakers, meanwhile, were the same). So, if A + B = C, that proves that when even a when we're just a LITTLE BIT healthier, we're far better. Again, the Lakers essentially scraped by with a 6 point victory tonight.

Here's a couple more points of interest:

Boston is 11-6 against the so-called "elite teams." (For my money, San Antonio, Dallas, LA, Miami, Chicago, Atlanta, OKC, and Orlando.)

LA is 2-6. And yes, I counted tonight's win for them even though we were absolutely decimated.

The Celtics have had one of the hardest schedules in the league in the first half of the season. I'm too lazy to go and look at our strength-of-schedule and all that percentages, but just look above. We've played 17 games against teams above .600 so far. The Lakers have played 8. I went through their schedule and results and they didn't play an elite team until almost A MONTH after the season started! The Celtics started against Miami.

By the way, know what really pisses me off? How the Lakers play in the same arena as the Clippers. It's actually kinda unfair when you think about it. When they play the Clippers "on the road" it's not really a "road" game. They're playing at home and most of the fans there are Lakers fans to begin with. Completely takes home court advantage away from it. It's also unfair for the rest of the league. All teams play 41 games on the road, but the Lakers really only play 39. I know I'm being nitpicky, but wouldn't you like the Celtics to play 2 fewer games on the road and add 2 more to play in Boston? Actually, let's take this a bit further. There are 4 teams that play in California: the Warriors, Kings, Lakers, and Clippers. Now, sure, California is kind of a big state and all, but FOUR TEAMS?! And it's not like you're going from the northernmost point to the border of Mexico here. The plane ride is apparently about 1:30. I dunno, this just pisses me off because it's all in the same state/area and the travel seems not nearly as taxing as other NBA teams have to do.

While we're here, I also want to point out that LA used to be in Minneapolis and won a few championships there. Why do they count towards LA's total?? Do we say, "Here they are! You're 1-time NBA Champion Thunder!!!!" just because that same franchise won a title back in Seattle? No. The Lakers don't have 16 titles. They have 11.

Anyway, the point of this was just to show that tonight's loss is essentially meaningless because of our lack of players. Meanwhile, LA is all healthy and beat us by two possessions. Yeah. Nice job.

Bono's Daughter

2011-01-19T01:10:00.007-05:00

Why am I posting a random music video by a random band? Well, the girl in the video is none other than Bono's daughter, Eve Hewson. And she's pretty smokin' too, am I right?! Unless I'm being too biased because Bono's her dad...but I think I'm not and that she's actually kinda hot. Brunette + blue eyes. Word. Plus, she's approximately my age too! Off the top of my head, I think she was born in '91, so that makes her...what?, 20-ish? Totally fair game. I actually had a dream last night that we met and I pretended that I didn't know her dad was Bono so that she wouldn't think I wanted to date her just to get close to him. Anyway, I kinda forget how it all went, but I remember waking up happy, so I guess it all worked out...? I DO remember that I was trying to save everyone from like evil aliens/machines trying to destroy everything. So perhaps that bonded us. Dreams are fun because they take a completely unrealistic situation (not the alien machines...me and Bono's daughter) and make it "real," if that makes sense. Ahhhh, good times. Maybe someday...

John F. Dean, "Driving to Midnight Mass"

2010-12-24T23:10:00.002-05:00

Five-thousand million years ago, this Earth lay heaving in a mass of rocks and fire
Wasting, burdened with its emptiness.
Tonight, when arthropods and worms and sponges have given way to dinosaurs
And dinosaurs to working, wandering apes
Homo erectus have given away to sapiens and he to homo sapiens sapiens

Look down on Dublin from the hills around
And lights could be a million Christmas trees, still firs standing
While in the sky a glow, as if of dawn
This day a light shall shine on us
The Lord is born within our city
Look along to the river toward O'Connell bridge
The lights, the neon signs, all stream on water like breathed-on strips of tinsel
All is still.

11:30, pubs begin to empty. Men stop to argue and say the name of Jesus.
For those who have known darkness, who have now seen a wondrous light,
Those who have dwelled in unlit streets, to them the light has come.
Tonight, few cars go by.
The blocks of flats with windowed plastic trees and fairy lights stand watching for a miracle.
Here are no dells where fairies might appear.
Out from the dark, an ambulance comes speeding, sickly blue lights search in siren-still.
The mystery of the night ticks slowly on
It will pass and leave memories of friends and small, half-welcome things.
In him was life, in him life was the light of men.
For neither prehistoric swamps nor trilobites,
The mesozoic birds, Neanderthal nor modern man had ever dreamt or seen what was our God.

The shops are gay with lights and bright things,
All save funeral homes--they dare not advertise their presence
As midnight peals and organs start to play, two cars meet headlong in a haze of drink.
The crash flicks into silence.
Pain crawls like slime through blood and into limbs.
God is revealed: a baby, naked crying in a crib.
In the church porches and out along the grounds, teenagers laugh and swear, smoking, watching girls.
So, once more, Christmas trails away,
Its meaning moves back into the mist and the march of time.

Top 10 Cover Songs... Part 2

2010-10-22T00:53:00.004-04:00

Joe Cocker-With a Little Help From My Friends

Cocker's gravelly voice gives this song a much-needed makeover. The original Beatles song was sung by Ringo Starr and, well, is ho-hum at best. His nasally almost monotonous vocals makes this song easily the weakest on Sgt. Pepper's. To me, it's almost like an after thought. Like John, Paul, and George decided to throw Ringo a bone and have him sing a track. Bleh. Cocker's, on the other hand, lends the tune what it needs: EMOTION. The beginning lyrics is simply vocals and a bass guitar strumming two notes. I mean, his version made The Wonder Years what it was! His rendition allows for the song to build and build as the chorus of female voices is added on and is a welcome complement to the male lead. In all, Cocker makes this song, in a word, epic. And isn't it funny that Cocker is most well-known because of a cover song?

Here's the original by The Beatles:

Johnny Cash-Hurt

Oh man, where to begin with this one? I could just use a bunch of "one word reviews" to talk about this song: Jarring. Tragic. Emotive. Epic. Definitive. Brilliant. Personal. Moving. If you haven't heard this cover, prepare to be blown away. The original is by Nine Inch Nails and it comes across as more or less a creepy, angst-ridden song about depression and attempted suicide. Nice, huh? Well, Rick Rubin (the producer of Cash's final album in 2002) decided this would be a perfect song for The Man in Black to cover, and he was right. This one song introduced Cash and his music to a whole new generation of fans and is considered a defining song of his career. Cash's voice is old, worn, and tattered, the constant piano chord being played louder and louder is like a clock ticking. Cash knew that he was on his way out. This is almost like his epitaph to the world. He transforms this song from what it was (see above) into a bitter rejection of material goods. The "hurt" Cash sings about is not physical self-inflicted pain, but rather an emotional outpouring due to his wife's failing health (she would die in 2003). The music video says it all, really. He is sitting in a large house, surrounded by wealth, all the while having flashbacks to his early years as a singer. "Everyone I know goes away in the end"--his life is almost defined now by his friends essentially dying all around him. Getting old sucks! Everyone you know starts to die! "You could have it all, my empire of dirt"--all this material "stuff" he's gained over the years is ultimately worthless. The video shows a cracked framed record, a room full of "junk," a table full of food. As the song climaxes, he begins to pour out the wine on the table while staring directly at the camera. The song ends and Cash closes the piano and just lowers his head. Fade to black. Ahhh! Talk about shivers running up and down your spine. If you've seen the his biopic, then you know the demons he carried throughout his life, which just adds weight to his performance of the song. You know what? I just made an executive decision that this is the greatest cover of all time. Boo-yah.

Here's the original by Nine Inch Nails:

Pearl Jam-Last Kiss

PJ takes the original, which sounds strangely happy and upbeat for a song about a car accident that kills the "singer's" girlfriend in front of him, and puts at least some emotion into it. Eddie Vedder's voice is intrinsically filled with raw power, so the content of the song matches the anger and sadness with which he sings. When he sings the chorus, asking where his "baby" can be, he is almost yelling it out to the world/heaven/God/whomever is listening. It's similar at the end, which I love, when he starts yelling "oh OHHHHHHH OH oh oh oh, etc." like words aren't enough to describe what he's going through holding his dying (and then dead) girlfriend. Overall, the band might as well have written this song themselves because it has become so tied to them anyway.

Here's the original by Wayne Cochran:

Michael Jackson-Smile

Yeah, I snuck an MJ song onto this list, of course. This song was actually written by none other than Charlie Chaplin. Jackson said that it was his favorite song of all time, and when someone like MJ says that, it means something. Okay, I know what you're thinking. It sounds really corny, and I think I'm putting it on here for the message more so than its arrangement, but the content of the song is pertinent whether it's sung in the 1920s or 2020s. The world is full of shit, but sometimes all it takes to make you feel better is to just smile. What a simple message. I don't know if I would've put this on here if MJ hadn't died a while back, but his death does add to the song I think. Here's a guy that had absolutely zero childhood to speak of, his father was a complete DICK (and still is) who abused him, and when he grew up, he understandably wanted to at least try and regain his lost childhood (i.e. Neverland Ranch, Bubbles, etc.). He surrounded himself with children because he wanted to feel like a kid himself for once. Anyway, let's not get into a big discussion about it. I just think that when MJ sings, he's carrying with him the weight of his troubled past and the lack of times he was able to truly smile in life. Now, this has been covered by a bunch of people, including Steven Tyler. If we want to get technical, the original performance of the song is by Nat King Cole. Therefore, one could say that MJ covered Nat King Cole. But, I'm making another executive decision and saying that everyone else covered Chaplin. He never actually sung it, but he composed the music and wrote the lyrics based on an instrumental bit in one of his movies. So, I'm gonna say that because it was based on a piece of music from the 1930s that Chaplin was the original man. K, cool.

Here's the "first" version by Nat King Cole:

The Beatles-Twist and Shout

Whenever you have a song be such an integral part of one of the best scenes in one of the most iconic pop culture phenomenon's (?) in cinema history, you've got a good thing going for you. The parade in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is such a classic scene and having The Beatles' version of this song playing as the crowd gets bigger and bigger is perfect. The original is by some group called the Top Notes. It almost sounds like a parody of a 1950s song. Anyway, Lennon does INFINITELY better. Apparently, they did a TON of takes of the song because they couldn't get the vocal sounding right. Eventually, they took one of the final recordings, which, by then, Lennon's voice had gone completely hoarse. Either way, the hoarseness was what they were looking for and it definitely gives the song much more charisma and spunk.

Here's the original by The Top Notes:

Hope you enjoyed my list! Obviously, some of the songs are debatable and I'm sure there's plenty of people out there who could substitute one on here for another. But I actually found it very hard to make this list, especially coming up with the last 3 or so covers. Which I guess is an indication that it's very rare to one-up someone else's song. Unless you're really good or the song has become so dated it's ridiculous. Out of all the songs here, only 2 are from after 1980 (Cohen's "Hallelujah from 1984 and NIN's "Hurt" from 1995). So that's probably somewhat telling. Yeah...bye.

Top 10 Cover Songs That Are Better Than the Original

2010-10-16T23:35:00.005-04:00

My made up criteria for this list:

1) The cover song is more well-known/memorable than the original,
2) The average music fan thinks that the cover is the original...if that makes sense,
3) The cover is "better" than the original (this is obviously completely subjective, but I'd say generally people would think that the cover is superior),
OR
4) The artist(s) who covers the song are more famous than the original artist(s).

and I guess that's all I can think of for now. Also, I obviously haven't heard EVERY cover song ever, so excuse me if I leave out some that you like. Either way, I feel like a did a good job of including some of the most famous ones. Without further ado and in NO particular order...

Jimi Hendrix-All Along the Watchtower

Hendrix's version of Bob Dylan's song is instantly more recognizable and is infinitely more impactful than the original. While Dylan's has the requisite folky, acoustic, barebones sound coupled with the singer's earthy, droning voice, Hendrix completely reinvents the song with his signature electric guitar solos and noticeable changes in the melody of the lyrics themselves. This is especially apparent when he sings, "Two riders were approaching, and the wind begin to howl," followed by rapid strumming that complements the chaotic tone of the song. Not to mention it's one of the defining songs in "Forrest Gump" during the Vietnam War scenes!

Here is the original version by Bob Dylan (all I could find was a Guitar Hero clip on YouTube...deal with it):

U2-Everlasting Love

U2's rendition strips away the funky bombast of the original by Carl Carlton (1974), down to a mere acoustic guitar and vocals. Perhaps the best way to judge a song is by how it ages or dates itself. In this case, U2 wins in a landslide. Their version (from 1987, and appearing on their Best of 1980-1990 B-Sides Collection), doesn't sound dated at all. In fact, I've heard it a few times on contemporary radio and if you didn't know who it was or when it was written, it sounds totally fresh. U2 are not known as a cover band and the handful of times they've actually tried others' songs, they're usually okay at best (See; Paint it Black, Fortunate Son, et. al). However, this tune (as well as Unchained Melody from the same collection, which, I must say, does a great job in reinventing the song like Hendrix did) excels and is an instant toe-tapper. lol.

Here's the original by Carlton:

U2-Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)

Hey, it's me, so why not another U2 song? In all honesty and resisting bias, this is a classic case of "better than the original" status. This was put on "A Very Special Christmas" compilation back in 1987 (hey, same time as Everlasting Love and Unchained Melody. Hmm...), which was a bunch of covers by popular artists of the time to benefit the special olympics. Needless to say, U2's song became the most well-known and is a staple on the radio during Christmastime. Once again, the original suffers from sounding extremely dated (although it does have that "old time" charm). To me, though, it just sounds to forced or something...it insists upon itself, as Peter Griffin would say. U2's version is more fun and "whimsical," which is especially apparent when Bono chuckles through almost an entire verse. I wonder what got him laughing in the studio during that one...

Here's the original by Darlene Love:

Jeff Buckley-Hallelujah

This is legit such an awesome cover, I don't even know how to review it. (P.S. Note how I've gone from snobby music reviewer in the first video to regular ol' fanboy in this. Whatever.) First of all, Leonard Cohen (the original performer) has to be given HUGE amounts of props for writing the song in the first place. He is truly one of the best lyricists ever and this song only exemplifies that. That being said, Jeff Buckley is miles ahead in his composition of the song. Cohen accompanied his rendition with a chorus of voices in the background during the "hallelujah" choruses, which to me made it almost too pompous for its own good. He also made the song go...so....slowly. That's only made worse by a single snare drum being hit once every few seconds. On the other hands, Buckley's stripped down version fits the content of the song perfectly. It's such an individual experience that is being "sung" about that the lone voice and simple guitar strings are all that it needs. Also, although I love Cohen's completely unique voice (It's DEEP as anything, if you've never heard him. In one of his songs, "Tower of Song," he sings: "I was born like this, I had no choice/ I was born with the gift of a golden voice"--the way he sings it is great.), Buckley adeptly goes from normal to falsetto, which complements the movement of the guitar as well. Overall, it's a heart-wrenching song that Buckley totally captures with his stripped down, painfully melodic rendition.

Here's the original by Leonard Cohen:

Israel Kamakawiwo'ole-Somewhere Over the Rainbow / What a Wonderful World

Yeah, I just went there. Okay, so it might not be more "well-known" than the original(s), but it gives them a breath of fresh air. First of all, Google this guy. He was a MASSIVE Hawaiian dude. Awesome. Anyway, he died a while back, and this was he one big hit (It was the big song in Meet Joe Black with Brad Pitt. Solid movie.). He blends these two classics seamlessly. Once again, his version is stripped down from the originals--just his voice and a ukelele. It's such a calming song and his singing and simple strumming really does evoke the message of the songs. Don't know what else to say, I just really like it.

PART TWO COMING SOON...

U2 Collection Part 4

2010-10-16T23:35:00.001-04:00

U2 Collection Part 3

2010-10-10T21:51:00.003-04:00

Here's the final part showing my U2 CD's. I'll have a couple more videos showing my vinyl and DVD/VHS stuff as well.

U2 Collection Part 2

2010-10-10T21:50:00.001-04:00

Here's part 2!

My U2 Collection-Part 1

2010-10-10T18:00:00.009-04:00

Here's Part 1 of my U2 collection. This video focuses on CDs (albums, singles, and promo items) from the period 2000-2010. Enjoy!

Incoming!

2010-10-10T01:46:00.003-04:00

Hey everyone! Wow, it has been a while since my last entry here. This is just a quick update for my many, many fans (yeahhhh....). I just recorded a video documenting my U2 collection. Now, I knew I had a lot, but didn't know I had 22 minutes worth! And that was just the CDs and videos. Holy cow. So, I'll probably work a little on it tomorrow editing-wise and break it down maybe by era (1990-now and 1980-1989) something like that. Just so it's watchable and not too boring. I explain why I did it in the beginning of the video so yeah. You'll find out then. I also plan on going through my (less extensive) vinyl collection, so that will be part 3, I suppose.

Until then!!

2010-06-18T00:10:00.002-04:00

I have so many thoughts running through my head. I was convinced that the dream I had last night made sense and would play out. Why else would the Basketball Gods put that in my head? They're supposed to be on our side!!! We were supposed to be up by 14 with 1:18 remaining and Ray was supposed to hit a dagger 3 in Gasol's ugly, unwashed face. Seriously. How could fate, karma, etc. allow this to happen? To one of the most hated sports franchises? I just seriously hate LA right now. Not just the team, but the city...the people. ABC does 3 separate segments of celebrities at the game and probably the only true one was Nicholson. The vast majority of the celebs and fans in general are only rooting for the Lakers (and not the Clippers) because they make their careers there and, well gee, the Lakers win. Fucking definition of bandwagon fans. The fact that their scoreboard needs to incite people to yell "Ko-be! Ko-be!" and all the other requisite chants is telling. They have no idea when and in what situation to cheer! WHY DID THEY GET THE TITLE!?

Why does Ray Allen look like he's 56 ever since Game 2? We NEEDED him tonight more than any other night. If he only hit on a couple of those (WIDE FUCKIN' OPEN) threes, we would have won. It sucks. So much.

I hate that I won't be able to watch ESPN for weeks. Or read any of the articles written either.

I hate that Kobe "No Means Yes!" Bryant has won 5. How does an arrogant, stuck-up, most selfish player in the game get that many? Over a Celtics team that exemplifies team play? To quote U2, Basketball Gods, "You're so cruel." It's like, just the look on his face is so...arrogant! How can people like to play on his team? They can't, can they?

I hate Pau Gasol. You know, there are those players who you hate until they're on your team. He is not one of those players. I'd hate if he was on my team just by the way he plays. Classic European flopper. Wears his hair long so that whenever he makes a herky-jerky move, it looks like he's being mugged and the refs almost always call a foul. I'm not sure how much he did that tonight, but just in general, he's an asshole. By the way, why didn't KG guard him more in the 2nd half???? He had shut him down up until we started playing Sheed and Baby on him. I understand that Odom was on the floor and KG is more nimble and can chase him, but FREAKING STAY WITH WHAT'S WORKING!!!! FUCK.

I hate how we had a chance to close it out in Game 6 and completely shit the bed. Like, diarrhea. All over the bed. We played as if we had that Game 7 cushion, which is the exact OPPOSITE of how you play a closeout game. The fact that no one showed up to challenge the energy of the Lakers is unconscionable. If you are a professional, you do not let that happen.

I hate the fact that Perkins had to get injured. His impact was greater than we gave him credit for, as evidenced by the rebound disparity. (I'm not going anywhere near a boxscore or game recap, by the way. My ESPN.com bookmark will not be clicked for a long while.) Giving the Lakers a billion offensive rebounds and all those extra shots was, ultimately, our downfall. They shot something like 30% in the first half and, granted, we had a 9 point lead, but it could have been so much more.

The few things we can take from this? Kobe sucked balls in Game 7. Almost Ray Allen-esque (props to Ray for his defense, btw). He had the opportunity to become legendary and put the game out of reach, but he bricked everything he took. So, it's not as bad as what I had written in my previous post. At least not in my mind. Another thing? In the all-time battle, it's still 17-16. We're still the better franchise and have had the better players. It just sucks that we couldn't put some distance there.

I don't know if our core will be intact next season. I don't know if it's good to keep us together or not. It just sucks that that could have been our last shot in a loooooong time at another ring. It sucks for the Big Three in general. They're obviously on their last legs (which I would have said regardless of tonight's outcome), and it's doubtful they'll get a crack at it again. It's a double-edged sword in Boston. On one side, they won a championship. On the other, they won ONE championship. As I alluded to in the post before this one, that's not memorable on a team that has had 2 separate dynasties (and one mini one in the mid-1970s). Of course, for our generation, the 2008 win will always be a special one. But for the next generation and so on it will be the most minor blip on the screen. Getting a second one was everything for the team's legacy and, more depressing, the Big Three's legacy. It just slipped away.

Great way to start the summer. Fuck.

What a Lakers Championship Over the Celtics Would Mean

2010-06-04T00:17:00.008-04:00

The 2010 Finals are not your average, run-of-the-mill series. This is Celtics-Lakers, one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. On one side, you have a veteran team, deemed by many (including yours truly) to be too old and out of sync to make a legitimate run in the playoffs. A team whose window had effectively been shut by Game 1 of the first round. A team whose fanbase was frustrated, angry, upset, and appalled at the lack of tenacity shown in the second half of the season, pissed off at the notion that another few years of mediocre players was on the horizon. Their unexpected run to the Finals has virtually put those thoughts to rest, at least for the time being. On the other side, you have the hated Lakers. A team that has been more successful (and lucky) since the late 1980s than the Celtics. A team that has rarely had a down year in its entire history with a player that exemplifies arrogance and gets all the calls. (Literally. Exhibit A: Game 1.) Really, these teams are playing for more than just another trophy and banner to raise to the rafters. These Finals have a whole legacy--for both the marquee players and teams overall--inextricably tied to them.

If the Lakers win the 2010 NBA Finals, the Celtics core that was formed in 2008 will be all but a drop in the proverbial bucket of the history of the game. Does anyone really remember that the Warriors won the Finals one time in 1975? Or how about the Bucks in 1971? No one except the most die-hard of fans. One championship means nothing in the long run. If 2008 is the only banner the Celtics raise in a long while, they won't be forgotten entirely (the Celtics franchise is too storied to forget about any championship), but 30 years from now, 2008 will probably be an afterthought. Speaking personally, when I think of the Celtics, I automatically think of the 1960s and 1980s. 1974 and '76 are just kinda thrown in there for me--considering our past runs, not as special at all. And that's 2 titles in 3 years. If the Lakers end up winning this year, 2008 becomes less special for the fanbase as a whole. Now, for me and many fans of my generation, 2008 will obviously hold a lot of sentiment considering it was the first title of my lifetime. My point is that in the big scheme of NBA and Celtic history, it would be almost insignificant.

If the Lakers win, add the above to the fact that our "mini-dynasty" would be halted by our hated (and I mean HATED) rivals and it's adding salt to the wound. Not only that, but the Lakers would win back-to-back titles and would kill any "The Celtics OWN Kobe!" arguments. Can you imagine this? Take a second. The Lakers win the 2010 NBA Finals. ESPN goes nuts for the next several weeks, with random analysts who would claim they "knew all along" that the Lakers had the Celtics number from the get-go. SportsCenter would constantly remind us that, sure, the Celtics obliterated the Lakers in the 1960s and got 'em again in 1981. But they'd pull out 1985, '87, and now 2010 and make the case that the tables have turned. Not to mention we'd have to hear talk of Kobe Bryant being MVP of Forever, becoming the best Laker of all-time, and of course the unceasing Better-than-Jordan arguments. Ugh, shut up ahead of time! Jordan was always A-number-1 and consistently made his teammates better. Kobe, on the other hand, was overshadowed by Shaq and only won in 2009 because he went against a Magic team in which Hedo Turkoglu guarded him and Dwight Howard was even more inconsistent than he was this year. Can't you just picture ESPN showing Kobe holding that damn trophy counting in slow motion and mouthing, "One, two, three, fo', five!" Fucking pisses me off. I simply cannot hear talk of him being "one of the best ever" and "in the conversation of being like Mike." I just can't. You know in interviews or even just when a camera shows Bryant alone just sitting there? He's got that freakin' look on his face that just screams, "Yeah, I know I'm the shit. LeBron's got nothing on me. Look where I've taken my team. Look how loyal of a Laker I am. I've earned the right to show up my coach and fellow teammates in order to get my own." It's that stoic face, that nothin'-but-business look. And he'll be even more of an entitled douchebag if they get it this year.

If the Lakers win, Phil Jackson will be almost universally cemented as the greatest coach ever. "Yay! 11 rings on teams that were already constructed and that I barely had to coach because I had 2 of the most arrogant players ever on my roster who wouldn't listen to me anyway, so I'd say things like, 'Love is the force that ignites the spirit and binds teams together' and 'Wisdom is always an overmatch for strength.' Um, what? Are you talking about basketball or writing a freaking holy book? Look, what it comes down to in the Best Coach Ever argument is what the coaches themselves actually did. I honestly believe that if I coached the Chicago Bulls in 1989-90 as Jackson did (ALREADY WITH JORDAN AND ROLE PLAYERS WAITING), I could have won a title. For all intents and purposes, Jackson has done NOTHING but provide "deep" one-liners that "motivated" his teams. You wanna talk best coaches of all time? How about Red Auerbach? 9 Championships, retired in his "prime," and, most important, BUILT the great Celtic teams (including into the Bird era). Sure, it was a different game back then (whatever that really means--the talent pool was as great if not better and fewer teams=more competition), but Red acted as head coach, player scout, had an ultimate understanding of The Secret, and drafted players from the 1960s on. Two major picks he made: Bill Russell and Larry Bird. We all know the story by now, but it's worth repeating if just to silence the Phil Jackson Kool-Aid drinkers. Short version: Red expertly convinced the St. Louis Hawks, who had the 2nd pick in the 1956 draft, to trade Russell to Boston for a couple players and the opportunity to host the Ice Capades in their arena (oh, how times have changed). Of course, the owner bought into it, and the rest is history. In 1978, Red saw Larry Bird's potential and drafted him A YEAR EARLY! There has since been a rule change that only players who are eligible (i.e. have graduated and/or declared themselves eligible for the draft) can in fact be drafted. The Larry Bird Rule. Anyway, the point I'm desperately trying to make is that Red had an eye for talent that has never since been duplicated. Jackson CERTAINLY has no eye for talent, considering he plays no role in who gets drafted for the teams he coaches. You could say that's more of a product of the times, as the GM holds more sway over things and whatnot, but if you ask me and any real fan of the game, you know that Red was the consummate coach in every way--he never had anything done for him, but he always had to go do it himself. He and he alone constructed the Celtic dynasty and he and he alone should be given the most credit for evoking the memories that everyone thinks of when they think of "Celtics."

If the Lakers win, things will eventually get back to normal. The anger we as fans feel toward our teams when they lose a chance to be the best team in the world eventually fades. It's actually true of anger in general. You may lose a video game and become enraged to the point where you want to rip your controller in half and throw the pieces through the TV. We've all been there. But you get your cool back after a few minutes and think, "I'm glad I didn't destroy my TV. That would have been foolish." You get in a fight with a friend, a parent, whoever. You may stay angry for a few hours, a few days at most. But eventually things get back to normal (Unless it's really bad...like your friend killed someone or had sex with your girlfriend. That would be the end of that friendship.) But you get what I'm saying. We'll move on, root for the Red Sox and the Pats when their season gets going, we'll find things to occupy our time. But if the Lakers win this time, it lasts forever in the sense that all of the previous paragraphs will happen. It will always "haunt" Celtics fans, especially considering this is the last run for the current core. It will always be in the back of our heads and it will always suck.

I don't really know how to end this...I just wanted to get my point across that more is at stake in this series than just a banner. KG, Pierce, and Allen's window will be closed. (That is in terms of winning rings. I fully believe that Pierce and Allen have more miles in them and KG, too, to a lesser extent. Although that botched layup in Game 1 was brutal and showed he's just getting too old and tired. Who knows with him.) In terms of Celtic greats, Pierce will surely rank up there, but with one ring on his finger, it certainly doesn't mean nearly as much as two rings would. He's already a Hall of Famer and a Top 10 Celtic in my mind (those ahead of him off the top of my head, not looking at stats, and in no particular order: Russell, Cousy, Bird, McHale, Parish, Havlicek, Sam Jones, Cowens, and maybe Heinsohn and KC Jones). But, to borrow a word from Simmons, Pierce just simply isn't in the Pantheon of great Celtics. If he wins a second title? I honestly don't know. But I do know that this year is the last year for him and the rest of the Big Three, at least on the Celtics. That day is inevitable, and it will be a sad one. I just hope, hope, hope that it doesn't end with the Lakers celebrating and creeping tenuously close to the Celtics with 16 Championships and counting. What better way for it to end than the so-called ride off into the sunset, giving fans one more period of happiness and pride before The Fall? Unless we get tremendously lucky as we did with NOT getting the #1 pick in 2007, the Celtics are destined for mediocrity (Rondo's great and Perkins still has potential, but they are not able to carry a team themselves). Based on the 20+ years prior to 2008, let's just hope it doesn't come to that.

If the Lakers win...

With the way the Celtics have surprised us this postseason, you gotta believe that's a huge if.

Holy Crap

2010-05-13T23:00:00.011-04:00

This was insane. Did that really just happen? The Cavs literally just gave up with something like 1:30 left in the game down 9. A pretty much insurmountable lead, but certainly crazier things have happened. And besides, this is your season, Cavs! How can they just walk the ball up the court, not foul, and just refuse to try and pull out a W? Once again, if the tables were turned, you know Celtics players, especially KG, would NEVER let that happen. Ever. You don't just give up in an elimination game when the best player of our generation is probably going to leave the team.

This is not the same Celtics team of the latter half of the regular season. The switch has been pulled, whatever the switch actually was. My theory that I just thought of right now is that everyone is healthy, our chemistry is back, we've solidified our rotation, and our bench knows what its role is--something that hasn't been the case since probably Christmas.

Up 14 in the 4th quarter, I'm sure you felt the same feeling I did that an implosion was probable, if not inevitable. When James hit those back to back threes (Has he hit any threes other than those in this series? I really can't remember another one..), I thought, Oh man, here we go. But no. No panic. Doc calls timeout and we come out and regain our 9-point lead we had at the start of the quarter. Get hit and punch right back.

KG showed old-school tenacity proving once and for all his knee is not a problem

Among every player tonight, the one who was the most important was Kevin Garnett. That's not to take away anything from Rondo (who continued his unbelievable play: 21 pts, 12 ast, 5 steals) or the strong bench play of TA and Sheed (more on him later). KG was literally 2008-form, if not 2004. Again, I'm trying not to be a prisoner of the moment, but KG was consistent from horn to horn. He recognized the Cavs defensive schemes, first when they put Shaq on him (such a dumb move by Mike Brown) and later when they went with Jamison and Varejao. With each distinct defender, he did the exact right thing. Shaq: face up, hit jump shots. Jamison and Varejao: Post up and pound it in. He was 11 for 19 shooting for 22 points and 12 rebounds. And the boards were STRONG too. Anyone who mentions KG's knee again should be shot. There is nothing wrong with it. We were all impatient--the team doctors said that this type of injury would take a year to fully heal. When did he get surgery? Right about this time last year. Anyway, I know I texted some people and put it on my Facebook status, but that KG dunk (you know the one I'm talking about), it literally was slow motion. It was the strangest feeling ever. He hasn't dunked the ball that hard since I don't know when. That's classic KG, running straight down the lane, catching the pass, and going up for a dunk without any hesitation or second-guessing. I cannot heap more praise on this guy for not only this amazing game, but each game throughout these playoffs. This guy is not done yet.

Usually I'd analyze what we did wrong with Cavs players, but since they're in our dust now, it doesn't really seem necessary. I might as well give my 2 cents worth about the LeBron James deal. For one thing, I think it seems only fitting that this series ended with an awful turnover on a horrendous pass into the paint right to Wallace. No other Cavs were near the paint at the time. He did play aggressively and try for 3 and a half quarters, but disappeared after those "dagger threes" in the middle of the 4th. After that? Nothing. I think he tried one more pull up three and drove the ball one more time, getting completely swallowed up by Pierce. In fact, everyone on the Cavs was just so non-chalant about the loss as the seconds ticked away. Did Mike Brown tell them not to foul and just let it go? So weird. Anyway, LeBron, in my mind, is going to get the hell outta Cleveland. The post game press conference he had after Game 5 was stoic, as I wrote about in my last blog and his effort at the end of Game 6 was nonexistent. It's almost as if he was like, "Oh well, 9 points down with just over a minute to go. It was a good run here in Ohio, but clearly it's not working and I need to move on." Honestly, how can he come back if the organization did everything they really possibly could have to secure the pieces to make a legitimate title run? And now they get trounced in the 2nd round by an "old and past-its-prime" Boston team? My gut and my mind says no way he'll be in a Cavs uniform come October.

I don't want to speculate on the Magic series that begins on Sunday afternoon in Orlando. All I'm going to say is that we took them to the brink last year without KG. Sure, they didn't have Nelson then either, but if you're in a draft, are you picking Kevin Fucking Garnett or Jameer Nelson? Yeah, that's what I thought. Not to get ahead of myself, but I do like our chances. Perk (and Sheed) defend Howard really well. Perk is able to push him out beyond his 3-foot range and he just throws up bricks (like Shaq, but Howard has less girth to push his way back in). Rondo beats Nelson easily on both ends of the court. Who's going to beat us? Maybe Carter, but does he ever show up when it counts? JJ Redick? Yeah. I just don't know. Lewis can really heat up like Ray Allen, so he's a scary piece. All I know is that the Celtics are still the underdogs, the Magic haven't been challenged yet (at all), and we have infinite confidence after beating the best team in the league. Bottom line: I like our chances probably more than the Cavs series and, well, it'll be interesting.

Sheed knocked down a HUGE three in the critical 4th quarter and showed rare energy throughout the game.

Going back to the game, I must give credit where credit is due. Rasheed Wallace played phenomenal (phenomenally?). Other than a couple of really stupid fouls (seriously, if someone is driving to the hoop, don't give them a slight push so they list lazily to the left! otherwise, it's going to be a three-point play every time!), he showed tremendous energy rebounding the ball and knocked down the biggest shot since he's been here with that corner trey when we needed to stop the bleeding. Speaking of which, how much of an ass clown is Anderson Varejao? He was complaining to the refs about bleeding TWO trips up and down the court! To quote Jeff Van Gundy, who can get annoying, but this was gold: "So what if you're bleeding?...Play on!" Amen. People always say you hate Varejao when he's on another team, but would love him if he was on yours. "He's so lovable with that goofy clown hair! HAVE MY BABIES!!" No. Sorry, just no. I would not like him if he was on the Celtics. Sure, he plays with tenacity sometimes, but he's kinda a dirty player and that's just sort of a cheap way to play the game. And he shoots like a moron! No, ya know what it's like? It's like a girl! Girls always shoot like that. They shoot with both hands on either side of the ball and sorta just squeeze it out while pushing their arms awkwardly straight out from their chest. Just ugly ugly ugly. Not Celtic material. Go away.

I thought I'd save this for another time, but I'm in a giving mood and if you're reading this you can probably relate to the annoyingness of some in-game and in-commercial "things." I made up a quick list in my iPhone notepad (product placement!), so here we go!

Wtf is going on here.

I hate car commercials. Just in any situation. Especially local car commercials. The reason? This is not a product I'm buying every day, week, month, or year. You buy a car and usually don't buy another one for like 5 years. Therefore, car commercials are USELESS! I understand they're really not useless, but they piss me off. Specifically, what the hell is a "tent event"?!? Like, is there a circus at all Toyota dealerships? Do they put cars under a big ass tent? Is there some significance of the word "tent" that I'm not understanding? Like, does "tent" mean "great deals" or something? God, shut the effsicles UP! "0.9% APR financing for qualified lessees...Check out our All-New car drive on the side of a mountain and through a freaking river!" Which reminds me, when they say all-new, they are liars. Did they really take a 2010 Toyota Corolla and redo EVERYTHING in it so it's COMPLETELY new for the 2011 model? No. You didn't do that, so stop saying "All-new, bitches!!"

This next thing that grinds my gears are those TV show promos that appear on the bottom corner of the screen during the game. You know what I mean? They only really started showing up a few years ago. Some marketing genius decided it'd be a good idea to have a fully moving, big graphic that stays on the screen and blocks a quarter of the game for 45 seconds. "Hey boss! How about we piss our audience off by pounding our stupid ass, unfunny TV shows in their faces NOT during commercial time, but IN-GAME!" Fuck you, Mr. Guywhothoughtofthat.

This is the closest picture I could find to what I'm describing. Except it's during a game and the game is shrunk to at least half of what this image is.

Speaking of things taking up the screen, does anyone else want to stab things with ice picks when they decide to put up a HUGE BITCH box of stats while the game is going on, thus shrinking the game itself to a tiny window in the bottom right corner of the TV? What the fuck! I can't see anything that's going on and you're showing me that LeBron James struggled in Game 5?? Yeah, thanks. I freaking know that already. It's like, at least make the game the same size as the stat box, not 25-75%. Also, they leave so much room around the boxes and just have a color with some moving shit behind it. Like if it was a stat box for the Celtics, the background would be green with some flying silver lines and pieces of whatever flying around. It's a freaking overload! Just show stats in one, small line on the bottom of the screen as the game is being played next to the score/time. That's it. God. Pisses me off!

Fuck you, Charlie Tames!

Oh! That DAMN Dominoes commercial! "Oh, we gots to find Charlie Tames to get him to eat our new pizza!!" This wouldn't piss me off too much if they pronounced his name like it's spelled, "Taymez". But no. They decide to get everyone not to buy their pizza by pronouncing it "Thomas." Well doesn't that make a whole lot of sense! If I was this guy or his ancestors or whatever, when people would actually say, "Hey, Mr. 'Taymez'" by accident, I wouldn't even correct them. If you're a dick and insist on having it pronounced the dumbass way you do, then change the damn thing to "Thomas." Ass.

A couple more smaller things. One, hey! TNT and ESPN! Stop repeating the same 3 damn commercials over and over again. The Gatorade "Evolve" thing was semi-cool the first time, but that freaking SONG! AHHH! "E-V-O-L-V-E. Come on baby, come and dance with me!" I don't even know if those are the words, but it's just that stupid music. Gets in your head and does not leave. Ever. Gahhh. The second has more to do really with Game 5 since it was in Cleveland, but I'm sure other arenas do it too. Shut ya damn soundsystem up. It's done to an extent everywhere, even in the Garden, but Cleveland plays some stupid ass rap-techno mashup song the WHOLE GAME. Even when it's being played!! Isn't there a rule that they can't do that when the ball is actually in play?? Well there should be. And I absolutely HATE when they have their announcer or a prerecorded person repeating "Defense.....defense.....defense...." over and over and over again. Sorry, let the damn crowd do it. If you have to have a 10 decibel voice be saying it to the point where it drowns out the crowd anyway, what's the point? At least in Boston, we just have the "duh-duh....duh-duh" sound. The crowd does the rest. (The fucking Charlie Tames ad just came on. FML. It's literally becoming a joke right now and we only just finished the second round.) Basically the only commercials I like are the FIFA World Cup ads, if only because Bono/U2 are featured in them :)

Alright, hope you enjoyed all that! See ya'll Sundayyyyyy!!!

Celtics Go Vintage for Crucial Game 5 Win

2010-05-12T00:36:00.008-04:00

This is my first traditional blog post in a while. I was reading some of the ones I used to do and figured this was as good a time as any to get back into the groove. So let's get going!

KG and the Celtics returned to vintage form Tuesday night.

It felt like a 2008 playoff game, didn't it? I mean, this was vintage Celtics basketball on display Tuesday night in Cleveland. In fact, this wasn't so much a vintage game because we couldn't win for shit on the road a couple years ago. When we play up to par and how we can night in and night out, we are a more versatile team than that previous version, if only for the simple fact that we can save face on the road. In an arena in which the Cavs were uber-dominant during the regular season (and the first round of the playoffs), the Celtics have managed to win twice there (it could've been three times had it not been for that mini-collapse in Game 1). Either way, it's wins like this one that has got to make you feel good about our chances moving forward, at least in this series. I don't want to get into any future series talk, so I'm not even going to think about any sort of matchups going forward besides Game 6.

LeBron couldn't hide his frustration as the C's swarming defense held him to just 3 of 14 shooting.

I kept waiting...waiting...waiting. I mean, come on. LeBron is not going to suck for an entire 48 minutes in a crucial playoff game, right? He's gonna get woken up come crunch time and get his team going, right? There's no way that the same guy who scored a billion points and did EVERYTHING in Game 3 was gonna take a few jumpers, not really get anyone else involved, and call it a night in Game 5 in his domain, right? As we all know with this Celtics team--at least its regular season incarnation--no lead is really ever safe. We tend to sit back on our haunches and wait for the clock to tick away to zero whenever we have a lead bigger than 10 points in the 4th quarter (and sometimes even earlier). So, as we entered the 4th with nearly a 20 point lead, I still didn't feel safe. To be honest, I wasn't TRULY convinced we were going to win until about 7 minutes left in the game with a 28 point lead or whatever it had swelled to at that point. The one thing I was convinced about was that LeBron would take the game over like he had done so many times before. Remember his 25 straight point game against Detroit in the playoffs! I kept reminding myself. Not this time. He was just...out of sync? tired? ElbowGate? I don't even know. And as far as the analysts are concerned tonight (I'm writing this currently at 12:45 am), they have no idea either. Bill Simmons tweeted that LBJ's performance was "perplexing." That's probably the best word to use because NO ONE expected him to come out like this. After getting a much-needed split up in Boston, you'd think that the "best player in the universe" would keep the momentum up in what is always a critical Game 5 at home. I don't really believe in all the elbow hype, I just think he didn't show up. I mean, look at his post game press conference. Very ho-hum. Very non-chalant, like there's not a thing to worry about, even though he shot a ghastly 3-14 ("ghastlier than a thousand ghouls!"--Stewie quote from Season 1, thank you very much). Maybe it's just me, but he was just very stoic, like nothing phased him. I can't help but imagine him with the same tone of voice after a Cavs win, ya know? Where's the desperation or even just disappointment? You know that if the Celtics lost by 32 points at home, someone like KG would be visibly pissed off, not just, "Well, we just gotta go and win the next game."

Anyway, enough LeBron analysis and talk. Let's get into the Celtics side of the game. For one thing, Rondo is a superstar. Sure, what he did a couple nights ago was ludicrous, but he came out with exactly the perfect attitude for this game. With a player as young as he is (He's 24, I'm 22. What have I done with my life?), and coming off a Wilt Chamberlain-Oscar Robertson territory type game, I wouldn't have been surprised if he tried to replicate at least the same sort of aggression of Game 4. No siree Bob! He played just the way we needed him to play. Get others involved, defer to the Big Three, etc. thus accounting for his 1-rebound-and-nothing-else stat line of the first quarter. Only in the second half (3rd quarter mostly) did he come out and really put the petal to the metal, ensuring the Celtics played with continued urgency. He knows he controls the offense and dictates the pace of the game and played aggressively to open that second half just as we needed it to happen. When all was said and done, Rondo ended up with 16 points and 7 assists on 7-12 shooting. Nothing flashy, but everything we needed him to be when we needed it to happen. That is what you want out of your point guard.

Ray Allen just keeps on impressing. His hot shooting to close the regular season has continued without much interruption into the playoffs. He shot 8-13 overall and 6-9 from downtown to record a game-high 25 points. I mean, this guy is just the prototype of a knock-down shooter. Not to be the prisoner of the moment, but I give full support to resign Allen for next season. Shooters shoot and it's something he won't really forget how to do. He loves Boston and deserves to stay here for all that he's done to help this team. Can you even imagine where we'd be if we traded Allen in February?! Not here, that's for sure.

KG. Got his game going early. Abused Jamison down low, like he can do virtually every play and finished with another 18-point game. It's becoming almost a given that Garnett is going to score 18 points and grab 6-10 rebounds. That's really all you can ask for. Knee problems be damned, by the way. He seems fine to me. He's running up and down the court every play and skying for rebounds whenever he's in position to do so. Just a Community Note of Interest, KG has scored exactly 18 points in Game 4 vs. the Heat, Game 1, Game 2, Game 4, and Game 5 (and 19 in Game 3) vs. the Cavs!! Is that weird or what? That is 5 times out of a possible 9 games (he didn't play Game 2 vs. the Heat) in which KG scored 18 points. That's crazy! Let's see how he fares in Boston...

Pierce began the game inside to regain his touch and moved to his sweet spot in the 2nd half.

Onto the Captain, the Truth. Paul Pierce. Give him all the flack you want for not showing up in really any game thus far against the Cavs. He actually did this poorly against the Cavs in 2008 until his breakout 41-point Game 7. So there. This game, he took what the defense gave him. Instead of taking a lot of jumpers to start the game, he drove inside to try and get layups, bunnies, and fouls to get to the line. That's the way to get going if you're struggling shooting. **ORIGINAL RESEARCH ALERT!!!** Looking at tonight's shot chart, Pierce took 11 out of his 21 shots from in the paint, all but one of which came in the first half. Two things can be gleaned from this. One is that Pierce took a lot of shots, some would say too many if he only scored 21 points. But the thing is he got shots up. Two, he was aggressive, not tentative as he had been in the other games. Perhaps he saw that LeBron was doing shitty offensively, so he didn't have to expend as much energy defending him. Whatever the case was, Pierce was able to attack primarily and then revert to his traditional sweet spots on the elbows for jumpers. It's also nice to note that Pierce had 11 rebounds and 7 assists to go with those 21 points. That's almost a triple-double! Great production from him that one can only see continuing, especially at home.

Rondo continued his strong play, leading to easy buckets from bench players.

One final note is the bench play. Daniels did a FANTASTIC job off the bench, hitting a tough layup and jumper in the 4th quarter...

...

JUST KIDDING. That was all garbage time. When it mattered, Glen "Uno Uno" Davis (does he seriously expect that to catch on? such a dumb nickname) and Tony Allen really contributed. They really never get plays called for them, but somehow always end up finding the loose balls and cutting in for layups and and-ones. As much as I've hated on TA in the past, I gotta give him credit where it's due. This entire 2010 playoffs, he's been stellar and not trying to do too much. Tonight, he finished with just 6 points, but the Celtics were +14 when he was on the floor (Take what you want from that...I actually like the plus/minus stat because it tends to show the intangibles. If you didn't watch the game, TA's presence on the court couldn't be seen in the box score, but he did contribute in a big way, if only for his once again stifling D on James). Davis had more of an offensive impact. Sometimes I don't understand how the laws of physics allow him to spin the ball so much to get it to go in. He's such a big guy and kinda just throws his weight into people while simultaneously throwing the ball in a seemingly random direction at the rim and more often than not (unless it gets blocked), it goes in and he gets fouled. Not to mention his jumpshot is a great asset to have. Overall, Davis finished with 15 points and made 7 out of 10 free throws. Not bad, young Padawan.

On that note, hope you enjoyed the first Celtics recap blog in a long while. Hopefully there will be more to come. I typed into my iPhone a few things that piss me off during the games themselves (the repeating commercials, for example) that I think has potential of being funny, especially if you're watching almost all of the games in their entireties (is that even a word?) like I do. Until next time!

Funny Story

2010-04-22T20:55:00.003-04:00

Just read this in Sports Illustrated in an article about timeouts in the NBA:

"And in Game 2 of the 1984 NBA Finals, Larry Bird famously told Celtics coach K.C. Jones, 'Give me the ball. I know what to do,' to which Jones responded, 'Shut up, Larry, I'm the coach of this team.' Then he gave his instructions: 'Inbound the ball, get it to Larry, and everybody else get out of the way.'"

Simmons

2010-04-16T15:31:00.005-04:00

I agree, except I'm not 100% positive that we'll lose in the first round. There's a helluva good chance, considering our...well, laziness since December, but only time will tell. Bottom line: Momentum is a necessity heading into the playoffs. We don't have ANY. Should be a shit show.

On Tuesday, I thought Dwyane Wade could beat by himself what I described in a recent e-mail as a "decrepit, non-rebounding, poorly coached, dispirited, excuse-making, washed-up sham of a contender" (admittedly, I was a little angry) … and that's before the Celtics tanked Game 82 on Fan Appeciation Night in a pathetic attempt to land Milwaukee in Round 1. Nope. They got Wade and Miami. The karma gods hate that crap. And that's what this season was: crap. The Celtics have been a .500 team for nearly four months. Everyone has a glazed, "As soon as we get eliminated, we get to start summer vacation, right?" look on their face, and if you could describe Garnett's bizarre clinging-to-the-past-and-not-getting-the-hint-that-he's-done-as-an-impact-player season with a movie character, it would absolutely be O'Bannion from "Dazed and Confused."

All of this shocked the diehards who loved the 2008 and 2009 teams and never thought they'd become, for lack of a better word, weak. Yes, we won two years ago. Putting us well within my self-proclaimed five-year grace period (see rule No. 12) that goes like this: "No fan can complain about a team that just won a title for five years" … and making me a hypocrite for everything you read in the previous paragraph. Of anything I ever wrote, I regret the five-year grace period most. I created it three weeks after the Patriots won Super Bowl XXXVI, my first Boston title in 16 years. It had been so long since one of my teams won anything that I had forgotten what it felt like. So really, my creating rules for fans of championship teams was like Kate Moss releasing a manifesto for eating fatty foods. How the hell would I know?

Here's what I learned from 2002-2010 (six Boston titles in all): You can't stop being a sports fan just because your team won a title. Sports are all about the highs and lows. If you don't get swept up in them, you become detached and eventually you won't care as much. Just because the Celtics won two years ago doesn't give them the right to embrace, "Don't worry, we might not care now but we're gonna try in the playoffs" as their team mantra two years later, just like I shouldn't be obligated to accept their recent foibles out of some twisted sense of gratitude.

I thought the Celtics played their fans this season. Don't rope us in with "ubuntu" for two years, then turn your back on it like it was a Kaballah fad or something. Don't tell us to embrace "The New Big 3," then shop Ray Allen for eight months like he was a used car. Don't tell us our best forward's knee is fine when we see him limping. Don't blame the effort of your players after a loss when you played all 12 of them like they were Little Leaguers, or when you keep playing the one guy who exhibits no effort whatsoever without calling him out once. Don't sign a second center for big bucks, then act surprised when the incumbent center bristles about his playing time. So on and so on. It was an empty season filled with excuses, half-truths and false promises. Just because they won two years ago doesn't mean fans had to blindly condone it.

I once wrote that Miami's 2006 title run was like a group of guys in Vegas spending crazy money at dinner, having a great time, ordering dozens of dishes and drinks and never once worrying about the check … and the 2007 Miami season was the ten sobering minutes when the check arrives and nobody could believe the bill. The check just gets passed around so everyone can stare it in horror, then the one dude with an MBA in economics grabs it and figures out what everyone owes, and you limp out of the restaurant saying, "I can't believe we just spent $250 apiece on dinner, I gotta hit an ATM," only it takes an extra 10 minutes to leave because somebody has to take a dump and somebody else thinks they have a chance with the waitress, so the rest of the guys are just clustered in the lobby, totally full, a little bit drunk, a little bit tired, trying to rally for a big gambling night but knowing that they're about to get their asses kicked because you can never win in Vegas when you're drunk, full and tired.

Welcome to your 2009-10 Celtics postseason. The check has arrived. I hope I'm wrong.

My Favorite Celtics Call Ever*

2010-04-14T17:20:00.000-04:00

*...that happened when I was alive, of course.

Love this Quote...

2010-03-30T02:06:00.000-04:00

Bono: "I'd love for everyone to have that hope at the moment of death, the hope that you aren't leaving this world the same as you found it, but you're leaving the world a little better. We ought to celebrate the tiniest changes everywhere we find them -- in ourselves, in our family, our neighborhood, our country, the world. I'll say it again: I hate the idea of the inviolability of things. You can and you should shake things up. Besides, history proves it. Look, not long ago women didn't have the right to vote, and that was something just taken as a given. That appalling fact didn't stand the test of time."

Amen.

2010-03-29T21:04:00.002-04:00

Check out this unreleased track from the "All That You Can't Leave Behind" sessions. Fits in perfectly with that album--emphasis on melody and more radio-friendly songs. Pretty solid! It's an upbeat song so if you're feelin' down, I think it should help a bit :)

Bring on the Haters!

2010-03-22T23:34:00.003-04:00

Quick thoughts on tonight's debacle of a game. Or really just the second half.

--Worst half of a game we've played since I can remember.

--13 assists. Total (at least until I shut the TV off with about 1:30 left).

--Almost opposite defensive energy between the first and second halves. I was pleasantly surprised that in the first 24 minutes, every single player on the Celtics showed a helluva lot of energy, helping out teammates, overplaying everything (in the best sense of the word), getting in passing lanes, HUSTLING. The second half was a completely different story. Sluggish, showing the men they were playing a clear way to the basket, overplaying (in the WORST sense of the word) when showing on screens (PS: Why does that tend to happen? For example, Rondo guards Williams. Okur comes to set a screen. Sheed leaves Okur to help the semi-open Williams. Rondo, meanwhile, slips over the screen and is clearly still capable of guarding Williams. Sheed keep guarding Williams for some ungodly reason. Okur is wide open and knocks down a three. Happened far too often.)

--Several missed layups and, more important, missed and-ones in the second half. Perfect way to shoot yourself in the foot when you're missing FREE throws (i.e. FREE points, but the league couldn't just give them to you...they had to come up with something more official=free throws--surely professional basketball players can hit a wide open shot from 6 feet!, says Mr. Naismith. And they should. But we didn't.)

--Nate Robinson and Davis doing jack in the second half. Nate, buddy, I know you want to run the offense and pass the ball and really buy into our system, but we got you to score, score score. Ya know, like you did in the first half when you got 8 points in 25 seconds. And Big Baby. You get a thump on the nose and can't do ANYTHING in the second half? 13 points in something like 7 minutes sounds amazing, except when you consider that was all in quarters 1 and 2. Come on.

That's all I can think of for now. I could talk about the refs and how they most likely went into halftime, saw the free throw discrepancy (attributed to the Celtics actually attacking the rim the entire half), and deciding to try and even it out by letting the game get out of control in favor of the Jazz....BUT I won't get into that :)

Oh well, back to home for a season-long 6 game homestand. Hopefully that will help right the ship a bit, eh?

2010-03-20T13:48:00.001-04:00

Free Music (-ish)

2010-03-08T18:37:00.003-05:00

Whatup y'all?! So I found this website that allows you to listen to a full album by basically anyone for free. The only fallback is that you can only listen to it once, but I think it's pretty cool, especially if you hear of a new album and want to check it out. I just listened to the new 30 Seconds to Mars album, which, granted, is a little more hardcore/emo than I normally like. But it does have some good songs from one listen. The album as a whole has a great atmosphere to it and the theme of war and its consequences runs throughout. I think one of the reasons that I like some of the songs is the fact that they're kind of epic in scope and sound (see: Kings and Queens, 100 Suns, and Hurricane). It's pretty cool.

Anyways, iTunes only allows a 30-second preview of any given song, but at this website, it's the full song in great quality.

You're welcome.

Podcasts on iTunes!!!

2010-03-01T13:54:00.001-05:00

So I guess I officially have a podcast IN iTunes! Just search "Andy's Podcast Extravaganza" from the Music Store and it should pop up (it's the one with the old school Celtics logo, in case you were confused). Just click on subscribe and iTunes will automatically download the newest podcasts as they become available!!! :) HAVE FUN AND PLEASE SUBSCRIBE!!!!

Podcast #3

2010-02-28T02:06:00.004-05:00

This link actually might have a faster download speed. It ran right around 200kb/s and got up to 250 for me and took a little over 15 minutes to download fully. Jon told me it took 5 minutes for him to download, so DO IT!

I'll leave this link down here just in case something goes wrong and whatnot.

http://www.teradepot.com/bdg81cpwjrhd/podcast_final_2[TeraDepot.com].wav.html

Podcast #2

2010-02-20T18:04:00.003-05:00

http://www.teradepot.com/u4wujaid3nqu/Podcast_2_Final[TeraDepot.com].wav.html

2010-02-17T19:43:00.002-05:00

"The only people who interest me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, destroyed, everything at the same time. The ones who burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles, exploding like spiders across the stars and into the middle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes 'Awww!' I want to be here."
--Jack Kerouac

Podcast #1: Unedited, Choppy Audio, Moments of Awkward Silence, Audio Delay...Only the Best!

2010-02-01T21:12:00.009-05:00

As you can see from the title, we had a little problem with our podcast. It was recorded Saturday night and without going into detail, I wasn't able to edit it because whenever I tried, Wokkus and Jon's audio was basically inaudible. I also couldn't figure out how to put it directly on this website, so you'll have to go to this link and download it (just click 'Close' on the add that pops up when you get there and then click on 'Click Here to Start Download'. I hope you'll go through all that for us! Hopefully next time we do one, it'll be more professional :)

2010-01-25T16:51:00.001-05:00

2010-01-09T20:57:00.002-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izT3f5xlybQ

A Video Blog?!

2010-01-04T02:09:00.003-05:00

If the above video freezes halfway through or just doesn't work, I uploaded the same video to YouTube and embedded it here. Should work...

Rolling Stone's Year End Lists

2009-12-19T19:25:00.002-05:00

Ah, 'tis the season. 'Tis the season where my dumbass school has final exams until Monday the 21st. Yeah. The last day is a Monday. They started last Monday with Western Civ exams for Freshmen and Sophomores, but naturally didn't continue again until Wednesday. What the EFF?! Why in all that is holy would you have students stay over an extra weekend just for one more freaking day of exams? That's so useless. If you simply continued them on that Tuesday instead of having a damn day off, everyone could have an early vacation. Instead, you gotta be an asshole. Merry freakin' Christmas.

Also, 'tis the season for all these year end (and decade end) music lists. Because my favorite band just happens to be U2, and I'm sure they're at least ONE of yours, here's where U2 ranked in Rolling Stone's various lists:

#1 Album of 2009: No Line on the Horizon

A return in some ways to the more experimental side of U2 that came to define them in the 1990s, although in a much less noticeable way, at least at first glance. Key songs to listen to: the title track, Moment of Surrender, White as Snow, & Breathe. And if you're feeling very adventurous, check out the most "out there" song on the album, Fez-Being Born--some great moments there. Here's a 10-minute video showing the stage construction, the band's reactions seeing it for the first time (funny), and highlights of the new songs live from opening night (they take the stage 3 minutes in if you wanna skip to that part).

#1 Song of 2009: Moment of Surrender

They deemed it "The most devastating ballad U2 - or anyone - has delivered since 'One'." I'd say that's pretty high praise. This song, admittedly, took a while to grow on me, but after 3-4 listens, it becomes such a powerful, moving song. I hope you have the patience to sit down and listen to it a few times. Incredible. When (if?) I write my "No Line..." album review on year on in March, I'll explain just how great this song is. It began as kind of a dull, unconventional song for me upon first listen, but has since become my favorite song on the album.

#68 Album of the Decade: How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb

Actually one of my least favorite of U2's albums. In terms of the concept of an "album" the parts are greater than the sum, which is unfortunate. Still, tracks like Vertigo continue to grow and get stronger and more powerful in a live context. Here is a rough-cut live version from the YouTube broadcast from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The end is ballin'! (I had to embed it because there's no video online, so I had to take the video I downloaded a few months ago, split the track, export it, and put it on here. So ya best appreciate it!)

City of Blinding Lights is a standout song, in which Bono looks back on his childhood, lamenting the loss of innocence (Time won't leave me as I am, but time won't take the boy out of this man). Also, the icy notes of Miracle Drug, the incredibly personal aura of Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own makes this work the most U2-ey of their releases.

#36 Album of the Decade: No Line on the Horizon

#13 Album of the Decade: All That You Can't Leave Behind

This is sort of a refresher album after the experimental '90s period, returning to the "guitar, bass, and drums" that make up a rock and roll band. Songs like Beautiful Day have become live staples, hanging right in there with the big boys like Streets, Sunday Bloody Sunday, and One. Hailed by many as U2's third masterpiece behind The Joshua Tree and Achtung Baby (and now perhaps tied with No Line...), the heart of the record perhaps lies in the more unknown songs, like In a Little While, Peace on Earth, and Kite, which is just an amazing piece of work. It begins quietly enough, but with all powerful U2 songs (exemplified with Bad), it builds into an incredible crescendo with Edge's slide guitar and Bono's voice in full force. It's a song about letting go in general, but took on special resonance when Bono's father was dying of cancer as he wrote it. Here's a performance in Dublin just a week or so after his dad died. You can see he almost loses it at the end.

#64 Song of the Decade: Vertigo

As I said before, this was made for a large audience. It's unabashedly stadium rock, pure and simple.

#36 Song of the Decade: Moment of Surrender

I absolutely loved that they picked this song so high. Consider: a) it's a song off of a release that is completely anti-today's album, meaning it's not catchy in many places or songs at all, and doesn't jump on you like the modern day album should to be successful, and b) it's not a single (...yet. It's rumored to be the next one.). Ballsy, but ultimately totally deserving spot on the list.

#9 Song of the Decade: Beautiful Day

Catchy, soaring chorus, immediately recognizable, and exactly what U2 needed to do at that moment in time. (As a side note, how could they put Rehab by Amy Whinehouse one spot ahead? That kinda baffles me...). Anyway, back to Dublin in 2001. 80,000+ people. Crowd goes nuts.

Clearly this list shows that U2 had an incredibly successful year and decade. It doesn't look like the next 10 years will be any different for them either. They're currently in NYC in between legs of their 360º Tour working on some tracks for their next release (tentatively called Songs of Ascent).

2009-12-19T14:26:00.001-05:00

Interesting interview I just read that Bono did back in 1988. I especially liked this part:

"I can't understand how people could blame starvation and famine on God. That's to suggest we live in God's world but I don't think that this is the world God created. This is the world we created and sickness is a part of it. I believe that God inspires the minds of men towards medicine and towards advances that can inoculate a whole world. You know, there's enough food in the world to feed everybody -- don't blame God for the fact that we don't share it out. That's something that I got over very early on -- the idea of how could he."

2009-12-18T22:08:00.004-05:00

The Referees played against the Boston Celtics tonight at the Garden and once again dominated from horn to horn. Although the Celtics went a stretch without getting any bogus calls against them, the refs were able to regroup and make a huge comeback in the waning moments of the pivotal 4th quarter. Of note was the questionable call on Kendrick Perkins, who was able to box out his defender and grab the rebound. Unfortunately, Perk was unaware that this move is no longer legal. The refs whistles held strong and he was called for an over the back foul. Replays showed that Perkins was nowhere near anyone's back.

Rasheed Wallace was taken out of the game by the refs not because of anything flagrant. Oh, no. He was taken out because he actually had the fortitude to question a call. Owner of the Referees David Stern has somehow managed to take on the role of an absolute ruler in such a way that when anyone happens to confront his team members with criticism, he promptly takes their salary away and keeps it for himself. In fact, his stranglehold over several teams in the league has allowed him to be involved in more NBA Finals than any team in history.

Currently, their record over the Celtics is ambiguous, since wins by the Referees have only been counted after the NBA-ABA merger in the late 1970s. But it is without question that they have at least a .750 winning percentage over the men in green. No doubt their paths will cross again, probably as early as Sunday night, when they play another "double-team extravaganza," this time teaming up with Minnesota to take on the C's. Be sure to tune in and see how many one-sided bullshit calls are made, how many technicals get called on Rasheed for talking during the game, and how many times the momentum is killed because one player happened to touch another. Wait, was there another merger I wasn't aware of? NBA-WNBA?

FUCK YOU.

Oh, and this too...

2009-12-18T15:08:00.002-05:00

From the same Bill Simmons article. So damn true. Kinda pisses me off that it is true.

How random are our reactions to celebrity misbehavior? You'd think there would be some general moral principle at work here, but there just isn't. Barry Bonds and Shawne Merriman allegedly did exactly the same thing: took performance-enhancing drugs that gave them a decided advantage over their peers. Bonds became a pariah. Merriman went to the Pro Bowl. Leonard Little left a party, got into his car and hit and killed a young woman. He blew .19 on the Breathalyzer. What happened to him? He did 60 days. Six years later, he was arrested for drunk driving again. He still plays for the Rams. Michael Vick did bad things to dogs and went to jail for two years and become the personification of evil. I mean, I love dogs and I was appalled by Vick's behavior. But in what universe is it a bigger crime to fight pit bulls than it is to get wasted and kill an innocent person? (Let's not even get into Plaxico Burress, whose case proves, I guess, how unexpectedly seriously New York state courts take the crime of stupidity). And now we have Tiger Woods, who fooled around on his wife and hit a fire hydrant. And in the middle of this absurd circus, the reigning King of Kings of the NBA and role model to millions is a man who not that long ago was accused of rape and lucked out of a trial because, by all appearances, he was able to buy off his accuser in a civil settlement. Huh? Maybe with your book royalties, you can endow the Sports Guy Chair of Celebrity Philosophy at Holy Cross to try to work this out.

Right. On.

2009-12-18T14:13:00.001-05:00

SIMMONS

My most unlikely celebrity sighting ever: During the horrible Super Bowl week in Jacksonville, I was attending the Maxim party in 50-degree weather that had barely any celebrities attending because, again, they decided to hold the Super Bowl in Jacksonville. At some point during the night, I was next in line to use one of the port-a-johns, which were stacked behind the party in some seedy, dark field. So I'm standing there thinking, "This sucks," and the port-a-john door opens. Who comes out? Katie Holmes. Taller and much more beautiful than I expected. We locked eyes, and she made that cute/crooked Katie Holmes "Some weird dude is staring at me incredulously" smile that she used to flash all the time before Tom Cruise got ahold of her. Then she walked by me and headed back to the party. And I headed into the disgusting port-a-john. Not even a month later, she signed with Cruise. Whoops, I mean, she fell for Cruise. I'm saying that "Katie Holmes + port-a-john + a few weeks before Cruise got ahold of her" was at least a 92 on your scale.

Side Note: I know EXACTLY what kind of smile/look he's describing. Is that sketchy? Whatever, it just comes from years of watching Dawson's Creek. Oh yeah, and I'd completely piss my pants if that happened to me...

Don't Stop Believing

2009-12-09T13:59:00.001-05:00

This is pretty sick.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Baby Discipline

2009-12-08T12:13:00.002-05:00

The beginning of this is priceless.

Holiday Friendship Bush

2009-12-04T16:02:00.002-05:00

Got this forwarded to me in an email today. Makes ya think. Oh yeah, and fuck the Friendship Tree downtown. It's a Christmas tree. Get over it or go live in France and be your annoying politically correct selves.

The following was written by Ben Stein and recited by him on CBS Sunday Morning Commentary.

My confession:

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees.

It doesn't bother me a bit when people say, 'Merry Christmas' to me. I don't think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn't bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it's just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat.
Or maybe I can put it another way: where did the idea come from that we should worship celebrities and we aren't allowed to worship God, as we understand Him? I guess that's a sign that I'm getting old, too. But there are a lot of us who are wondering where these celebrities came from and where the America we knew went to.

In light of the many jokes we send to one another for a laugh, this is a little different: This is not intended to be a joke; it's not funny, it's intended to get you thinking.

Billy Graham's daughter was interviewed on the Early Show and Jane Clayson asked her 'How could God let something like this happen?' (Regarding Hurricane Katrina). Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said, 'I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we've been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives. And being the gentleman He is, I believe He has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us His blessing and His protection if we demand He leave us alone?'

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves.

Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure it out. I think it has a great deal to do with 'WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.'

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says. Funny how you can send 'jokes' through e-mail and they spread like wildfire, but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing. Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace.

Funny how when you forward this message, you will not send it to many on your address list because you're not sure what they believe, or what they will think of you for sending it.

Pass it on if you think it has merit.

If not, then just discard it... no one will know you did,, only God! But, if you discard this thought process, don't sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in.

My Best Regards, Honestly and Respectfully,

Ben Stein

2009-12-01T23:25:00.001-05:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

That Was Lame

2009-11-20T22:46:00.002-05:00

Legitimate Reasons Why We Lost.

1) Eddie and 'Sheed are just off and can't score from downtown.

2) 1-18 from three is just awful, but that was clearly a fluke.

3) Them shooting 45% from three isn't a fluke, but going about 60% in the first and third quarters is. Also, shooting (I think) 75% in the first just does not happen. Law of averages. In a seven game series (with a healthy KG), things even out and THEN we'll see who wins.

4) Lack of Rondo. Where was is? His lack of aggression was a major factor in why we lost. Why didn't he take it to a 34-year old Williams? Fear of Howard? B.S. Dish it out then. Not a good night from him.

5) Ultimately, the refs. I hate to call them out because it makes me look extremely biased and is an easy cop-out, but when there's no parity within the game, it kills momentum and the team that's getting the short end of the stick is unable to compete at the level they're able to. The handcheck fouls called when Pierce was guarding Carter were ridiculous. Meanwhile, Pierce is driving to the hoop at almost every possession, getting hammered by Howard, Carter, et. al. and getting nothing. It's completely ridiculous and I would totally approve of going for a 2-ref system like they used to have. Hell, I'll even take the one game where a ref got injured and Dick Bavetta had to referee by himself. Officiating sucks and I'd be surprised if everyone wouldn't say the same thing. Inability to criticize blatant refereeing mistakes is unfair. It's like they're untouchable and anything and everything they say goes. Fuck that and fuck that loss.

A Sort of Homecoming (Daniel Lanois Mix)

2009-11-17T20:52:00.002-05:00

Got U2's remastered "The Unforgettable Fire" 25th anniversary edition, etc. etc. over this past weekend and among the great rarities and unreleased songs included this gem. It's a new take on the first track "A Sort of Homecoming," mixed by producer Daniel Lanois and featuring Peter Gabriel's distinct voice on backing vocals. I find it to be a great refreshing take on the song, with a faster, more rhythmic beat. The layering of voices is amazing, and Gabriel adds a sort of ethereal quality to the song that ties in well to the themes of the album as a whole.

For comparison's sake, here's the track as it was originally released on the album:

Possible deal would send Nocioni to Boston

2009-11-17T14:13:00.001-05:00

November 17, 2009, 9:02 AM
By: Chris Forsberg

Could the Celtics be in the middle of a three-team swap that would send some of its reserves out of town in return for Andres Nocioni?

That's what ESPN's Marc Stein reports today, noting the Celtics have emerged as potential middle man as the Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings consider a Samuel Dalembert-for-Kenny Thomas swap.

From ESPN's True Hoop blog:

Sources told ESPN.com that the Philadelphia 76ers and Sacramento Kings, in considering the feasibility of a Samuel Dalembert-for-Kenny Thomas swap, have discussed expanding that concept with Boston by trying to draw in the Celtics on a potential three-way deal that would land Andres Nocioni with the Celts.
Sources further stressed over the past 48 hours that this should be classified as an ongoing conversation as the teams involved decide how much they like what's on the table.

But the full deal as it stands, if it eventually gets that far, would send Nocioni to Boston, Kenny Thomas, Tony Allen and Brian Scalabrine to Philadelphia and Dalembert and J.R. Giddens to Sacramento.

Later Stein, examines the feasibility of the trade, team by team. Here's his thoughts on the Celtics:

Boston has had interest in Nocioni from the minute Sacramento acquired him in February in the deal that dispatched Brad Miller and John Salmons to Chicago. That said, Boston has also been hesitant since February about acting upon that interest because Nocioni has three years and more than $20 million left on his contract after this season. That's a lot of long-term cash for the Celts to take on -- even if Nocioni turned out to be a James Posey-style Mr. Versatile for them -- after they just signed Rajon Rondo to a lucrative extension and with decisions about the futures of Paul Pierce and Ray Allen looming. So Boston pulling out because of financial concerns likely ranks as the biggest impediment to this deal.
Nocioni, a 6-foot-7 forward in his sixth season, turns 30 later this month. The one-time All-Star is averaging 11.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in nine games (including five starts) for the Kings this season.

Nocioni helped Argentina win a gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens (and bronze in 2008 in Beijing). His original Olympic exploits helped him land a free-agent deal with the Bulls before the 2004 season. Nocioni later signed a 5-year, $38-million contract with the Bulls during the 2007 offseason, but was dealt to the Kings this past February along with Drew Gooden and Cedric Simmons for John Salmons and Brad Miller.

In Too Good of Health

2009-11-02T14:13:00.004-05:00

Jon and Wokkus playing some Madden football with their team of created players, including the one and only PJ Brown. Here's just a brief snippet of what went on:

Celtics Show (Yet Again) Defense Wins Ballgames

2009-10-29T16:40:00.008-04:00

Back-to-back games can be a killer, especially when it's the first one of the season and the Big 3 haven't yet played 2 games in a row. And more especially when you've got KG who's still working on getting his stamina back. Well last night's game was a big "eff you" to that notion.

Sure, we were playing the Charlotte Bobcats who mysteriously traded Emeka Okafor for a struggling (and I mean struggling) Tyson Chandler. Still, when you hold a team to a franchise-low in points and also a record for fewest points allowed in a season opening game (for the Bobcats), that's something that certainly holds some weight as to how good the team is. After playing a tough buzzer-to-buzzer, heavyweight battle against Cleveland the night before (and not landing in Boston until 2 am), I'm sure I wasn't alone in my fears that this game certainly had the possibility of being a trap game. Those fears quickly went away as we ran out to and early 8-0 lead and didn't look back.

KG and Perk combine to give Boston the best defensive team in the NBA

Garnett put in another very solid performance on his return to Boston, once again showing no ill effects from the knee surgery that everyone and his mother has been worried about. 10 points on 5-9 shooting and 7 boards in 25 minutes. Definitely respectable. Not dominant, but we don't need dominant from really anybody because of the scoring distribution and defense our team has. We had 5 players score in double figures: KG, Ray Allen (18), Pierce (15), Rondo (10), and Shelden Williams (12). Speaking of Williams, I know the guy played basically garbage minutes, but he was pretty damn good. He was scrappy and continued to attack the paint and draw fouls well into the fourth quarter. Not to jinx anything, but he reminds me a little bit of Leon Powe. We'll see how the season goes with him, so we'll be able to get a better sample size. But so far so good.

KG was his usual aggressive self, showing no signs of hesitancy with his knee

Oh, hey. You gotta love Perk, don't you? He's improved so much over these 6 (?) years. The guy is BIG. Not necessarily tall, but freakin' muscular and defensively-minded. I've noticed that he falls for upfakes less and less. How could you not love that play were Raymond Felton drove into the lane and Perk rejected him ("Get that shit outta here!). Felton got the rejection on the baseline and Perk was left to guard him. Felton used his speed advantage to get past him and tried for another layup. Perk (from behind!) swatted another one away. He and Tyson Chandler (really, why did the Bobcats get this guy?) were chippy throughout the game. Perk let his defense speak for itself. Chandler tried a turn around fadeaway at the free throw line, which Perk calmly blocked back in his face. Chandler ended up getting a technical foul for yapping at Perk back up the court. Needless to say, Perk got one also, but only to show Chandler that he was in his territory. Way to be. Those t's are fine with me.

Rondo was busy as hell, too. He scored efficiently (5-6 shooting for 10 points), passed to everyone and everything (11 assists), and used his ginormous hands to make 3 steals. Here's a crazy stat: in the third quarter, Rondo had twice as many assists as the entire Bobcats team. In the THIRD QUARTER. Insane.

KG goes through his ritual pre-game routine in his first game back in Boston

Ray Allen showed some early struggles shooting from the field, but he continued to shoot the ball, and his teammates trusted him enough to keep feeding him. He ended up as the game's high scorer with 18 points (6-17 shooting, but 4-10 from deep). The best thing about tonight's game was that Doc was able to rest all of his starters (although Ray played 38 minutes). KG only played 25, Pierce played 24, Rondo played 29, and Perk played 27. This type of play bodes well in the long run, as it saves our legs for down the road.

The Celtics' solid play allowed the Big 3 to rest for the entire 4th quarter...

One point of contention, not directed at the Celtics play, but at the refs. This happened on more than one occasion, so it's totally worth mentioning and something that should get fixed (I'm talking to you, Mr. Stern). Pierce was often guarding the out-of-control Gerald Wallace and at least 2 times drove his shoulder into Pierce in an attempt to get around him and to the hoop. Both times Pierce guessed correctly which way Wallace would drive, causing him to slam directly into his chest. Each time the ref called a blocking foul. First of all, I don't care what position the defender is in, the offensive player cannot put his head down and drive his shoulder into him. Automatic offensive foul. Second, if the guy runs square into the chest of his defender, who is standing straight up and down, that's a charge. Automatic. Plain and simple. I understand that charges/blocking fouls are among the hardest calls in the game, but in those cases, they are easy.

...while the bench players continued to dominate

In all, it was another great display of defensive prowess and sharing the scoring load (see: 20-0 run to start the 2nd half). As Doc and the players have said so many times, the offense will always be there; the focus has to be on the defense. That's the equation for success and, so far this young season, it's worked to a "t".

Pierce, Bench Secure Opening Game Win for Celtics

2009-10-28T13:38:00.009-04:00

Why hello there everyone! It's been a while since we've had a proper Celtics game recap on here. I might be a little rusty, but let's get right into it.

This was a big win. Not only because it was the first game of the NBA season, but because of the quality of play we had going and the team we played against. Aside from the stagnant first quarter, the Celtics got contributions for essentially everyone at the perfect times during the game. The bench carried our offense (and defense) throughout the second quarter, trimming an early 14-point deficit to single digits before halftime. Paul Pierce, quiet throughout most of the game, showed why he's the captain, putting the game out of reach with two daggers at the end of the 4th (as well as a few clutch free throws). Garnett twisted, turned, pivoted, and shot like his old self, including an insanely difficult turnaround-fadeaway bank shot in Shaq's grill. Was the game perfect? Of course not. For a quarter and a half, I sat in silence on the couch pissed off that our offense was nowhere to be found. We made bone-headed plays--ya know, stuff that junior varsity teams often make, which I'll get into shortly.

Hmm, wonder who won this matchup...

Actually, let's start with that bad stuff. Let me start by saying that I love Rondo. Like, I think he'll become one of the top 3 PGs in the league at the rate he's improving. That being said, he can be really dumb--or maybe a more kind word is overexcited. For instance, instead of trying to DUNK the ball on LEBRON JAMES, how about you lay it up off the glass? LeBron blocks it and it's goaltending. You miss, Pierce is right behind to clean up the miss. Instead, Rondo sometimes feels like it's necessary for him to make a humongous play against a more athletic, taller opponent. Sure, if he does dunk on him, it's a momentum changer, but in that specific situation, don't try that again, please. Also, can we communicate in those situations?? When Ray Allen went in for the layup on the fastbreak, I don't think anyone shouted out to him, "Ray. Heads up. LeBron is right behind you." If someone had done that, Ray's wily enough to avoid an embarrassing block, but unfortunately it didn't happen. Another thing that irked me, from both Rondo and the rest of the team, is this whole passing in traffic/jumping in the air and passing thing. Let's hope we got that out of our system. On more than one occasion, we had someone drive, jump in the air with no real plan, and then try to pass it off. This almost never works. If Cous had been calling that game, he would've said the one fundamental thing a point guard should never do is jump and try to pass. Another "never do that!" play is trying to force a pass in traffic or cross-court. Unless the guy is completely open (as Ray Allen was a couple times when they executed the pass well), don't do it. The chances of it getting picked off go up by a lot. And what's the purpose of trying to pass the ball into Shelden Freakin' Williams as the paint is loaded with the likes of Shaq and Big Z, among various other players from both teams? Probably the worst thing you could do in that situation. I don't dislike Williams, he did a relatively decent job (and will have to) in the absence of Glen Davis (PS-Like Wyc Grousbeck, I too will refuse to call him "Big Baby"--the guy clearly needs to grow up. The whole off-court-altercation-leads-to-injury thing ONLY happens on other teams. I don't care if your buddy pushed you or whatever started it. Why in HELL would you jeopardize your reputation and your team's success? Congrats, dumbass. You're now out for at least 6 weeks with a broken finger and maybe longer depending on disciplinary action. Okay, end of rant.) Williams, as I said, was respectable (4 pts, 3 rebs in 13 minutes). He scrapped down in the paint and drew fouls, which is all you can ask for from a guy who's not even an offensive option on any given play.

The thing I was most pleased in seeing was not just the points, etc. from the bench last night, but every single player off the bench had a little "+" next to his name in the box score. The plus/minus thing means how many total points the team got while a certain player was on the court. It's a real good indication of his impact. Cleveland, on the other hand: all minuses. Seriously, their bench is just not good. Even with Delonte West back in action in the near future, they won't be very effective at all. I LOVE our bench. Marquis Daniels is a terrific player and has great ball-handling skills. What a great pickup. Not only can he play 3 positions, but the fact that he can act as point guard opens up Eddie House to be the shooting guard that he naturally is. We didn't have that last season. Daniels is also a great defender, allowing the likes of Pierce and Allen to "rest" defensively while he guards other teams' best players, like James. He doesn't have much of a long jumpshot that I know of (except that baseline 3 he hit was nice, so he does have the range), he's more of a slasher, with deceptive quickness. He had a quiet 7 points in 18 minutes, but was a +11 while on the court. Sheed looked great as well. His ability to spread the floor is something we've missed since who knows when. I just love when Doc put the lineup of Sheed, KG, Pierce, Ray, and Rondo on the floor, forcing Shaq/Z out of the paint to guard them. No one can defend us in that situation, it's as simple as that. Perk is still a very important part though. Although he got burned 3 times in the first quarter by Shaq (he did play great D--Shaq was just able to hit those baby hook shots), Perk continued to grind it out down low, forcing Shaq as far out of the paint as possible. When he did that, Shaq was ineffective. Honestly, I think Cleveland is in trouble. Shaq was dominant in the first quarter. I was afraid it was gonna be another one of "those games" where we just can't stop the opposing team's big guy. But he showed his age. He undoubtedly got tired and played absolutely zero role the rest of the game. They have no bench and LeBron is one-of-a-kind, but as we've seen, he can't carry the team the whole way. The "help" that has supposedly arrived this season just won't cut it from my point of view. Of course, it's only been one game and only time will tell, so let's wait and find out...

KG and Perk show off some of the famed Celtics D as Varejao looks like an idiot.

I refuse to talk about KG's knee. Bill Simmons thinks it's something everyone should be worried about, given the ambiguity with which the issue was dealt when discussed with the media. He says whenever anyone of KG's age has knee surgery, his career goes down the tubes. Although I think Bill Simmons is some sort of god, I just have to disagree. Look, the guy knows his stuff, but after watching every preseason game and now this first game, the guy is already in mid-season form (not stamina-wise, of course). He was able to get up for an alley-oop pass, which would've been slammed home had it not been for the position he was in (back turned to the basket). I think the kicker was when Shaq threw him down to the ground and KG just got up and pounded his chest as if to say, "Yep, I'm my old self still," then calmly knocking down 2 free throws. I honestly see no problems stemming directly from the knee that will affect his game this season.

It was none other than The Truth that sealed the W for the C's.

And what can I say about Pierce that hasn't been said before? The guy's like a snake. He plays very quietly, though efficiently, for 3 and a half quarters and when the game is on the line, he completely ices it with two jumpers and free throws down the stretch. I loved the play when KG came out to set a high screen on James. Pierce split the defense, crossing Shaq over no problem, then pulling up at the top of the key and hitting a jumper over Anthony Parker: swish. Next possession, the switch this time and now Clownhead Varejao is on Pierce. A little step back jumper from the right side: swish. Game out of reach. That's why he's the captain.

LeBron James can do just about everything, but it's not enough if the Cavs want to make a championship run.

All in all, this game was great. If you look at the box score, the scoring was incredibly well-distributed among both starters and bench players. Not so with the Cavs, which should be a giant red flag for them and their fans. LeBron carried the scoring (and assist...and block...and steal) load for them. The "help" that they so desperately needed last season and which supposedly arrived this season simply did not cut it. The Celtics made them look like a second-tier team (they aren't--they'll make the playoffs, but they're not as good as everyone thinks, in my opinion).

Celtics vs. Bobcats tonight at 7:30.

In Case You Missed It...

2009-10-26T14:08:00.002-04:00

Here's the complete U2 concert from Rose Bowl Stadium in case you missed out. Some really great performances, especially the best live song ever, "Where the Streets Have No Name" with a nice snippet of "Amazing Grace" leading into it (1:48:12). Hearing 95,000+ people sing that song is something that can't be described. Check it out.

U2 to Stream Record-Setting Concert Live from Rose Bowl Stadium

2009-10-19T15:35:00.002-04:00

If that doesn't get you amped up, go away.

That Was Wayyyy Too Many Tick-Tocks

2009-10-15T19:15:00.003-04:00

"Isn't it a little late for you to be up?" Hahaha, epic BURNNNNN!

The Ricky Rubio Dilemma

2009-09-11T19:41:00.005-04:00

"¡¿Queeeé?! So what if I'm a diiiiick..."

Well hey ya'll! Here's my first proper blog in a long while. It's been bothering me for quite a while, basically ever since it happened. Pretty much, Ricky Rubio (and/or his agent, if he has one) is kiiiiind of an asshole. The NBA needs to stipulate that if a foreign player enters into the draft and, well, gets drafted, he HAS TO join the team. The Minnesota Timberwolves did just that, taking Mr. Rubio fifth overall. FIFTH! Even in such a weak draft, that's a very valuable pick, my friends. Despite the weakness, it's the principle of the whole thing that irks me. Imagine the team you root for has been struggling for God knows how many seasons. You finally get a decent draft pick with the potential of grabbing a young point guard whose skills have been compared to many of the great PGs of eras past. Hell, this guy has the possibility of turning the team around! How exciting! *Fast-forward a couple weeks* Wait. What the hell is this? NOW Rubio's deciding that he's gonna go play some more Euroball, possibly till 2011? What a dick! Here's Rubio's thought process on this one:

"Aw, sí, me gusta el NBA! Me gustan los point guards como Juan Stockton y Denís Juanson y "Bob" Cousí! Hey, ma y pa! Yo quiero join el NBA! Yo quiero, yo quiero, yo quieroooooo!"

*Fast-forward until after draft*

"Aaaaaactually, yo no quiero join el NBA. Voy a SCREW los T'Wolves y stay with Joventut. ¡Arriba!"

Honestly, that really makes me angry, and the I don't even like the Wolves. I'm just thinking what my reaction would be if he was drafted by my team. And being a basketball fan in general, it just...well, grinds my gears. What an effing joke this kid is. You know, before you enter into an NBA draft, wouldn't you think you'd be definitely sure that you want to play there? Especially after all the hype we gave him over here, which he undoubtedly knew about, how dare he?!

Now, I know there's rules and stuff. He's not coming from college, he's got an actual contract with Joventut that has to be honored or whatever--the whole buyout clause and whatnot, that I, admittedly, don't completely understand and am too lazy to look in the Sports Illustrated that sitting next to me that explains it. Either way, someone screwed up royally. Here's what the parties involved should know for next time:

A) Don't enter the NBA draft unless you're sure you're ready for the commitment. Yes, it's a commitment. "Comitmento" or however you say it in Spanish. Shut up. I know I'm a Spanish major, but we haven't even had a full week of school and it's Friday. Back off.

B) Don't enter the NBA draft unless you're sure that your contract allows you to.

C) Don't draft a player (especially in the first round) unless you're sure you're able to buyout his existing contract.

D) Understand that your decisions affect a vast amount of dedicated fans. Don't be a DICK and casually decide you're gonna wait 1, 2, 3 more years (maybe never) until you finish adolescence in your homeland. Or wait until you get more money out of the deal. Which is being even MORE of a dick. Which is what Rubio's doing to try and increase his reputation, etc.

E) If you're a European team, make sure you advise your player correctly is he's considering entering an NBA draft. Don't advise as follows, "Hey, yeah go check it out. See how high you go and how much money you'd probably get. No big deal." NO. Sorry. It's not like that. You're making a COMMITMENT to possible teammates, GM, President, owner, coach, and, maybe most importantly, a fanbase that got our shitty team from 2006-07 and has had to suffer ever since.

F) If you're the NBA (i.e. the Commish), don't just assume that any and every player from overseas will automatically want to sign with an NBA team just because it's an NBA team. Work out a deal with every European/Asian team that stipulates if any player enters the draft, a) that team must let that player go, b) that player must follow through (Meaning he can't just decide that the money offered isn't going to cut it and decide to return to Europe to play more ball for a team that, according to these new rules, agreed to let him go. It kind of reminds me of the newish Gary Payton Rule back in...2004? 2005? We waived Payton, who went to Miami so we could get 'Toine back and then, because of some clause in his contract, he decided not to sign with Miami and we signed him again a couple days later. Yeah, unfair.), and c) the NBA team must work with the European/Asian team to come to a consensus about a buyout. If one is not arrived at, the player cannot just go back to playing with his old team--he gave up that right upon entrance into the draft. Instead, the only option is a trade of the player to another NBA team.

Sure, it's a rusty plan, and I'm sure there's loopholes and stuff I'm forgetting. But, it's something definitely worth considering, wouldn't you think? Imagine if this becomes a trend! David Stern's desire to globalize the game will be destroyed because NBA teams will have less and less faith in drafting a foreign player in the future. It could get ridiculous.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the inaugural blog for the season. Celtics are opening their preseason on October 7--less than a month away! Until then, expect my reaction(s) to the two U2 concerts I'm going to next Sunday and Monday. If this video is anything to go by, it should be the best thing any human has ever seen. (Seriously. Watch it. Even if you're indifferent. It's just cool.)

Bye!

Bono NAACP Image Award Recipient - 2007

2009-08-25T17:23:00.002-04:00

Just rediscovered this video from back in 2007. Please watch till the end of his speech. So so so good.

How Freakin' Cool Is This??

2009-08-20T23:59:00.001-04:00

Go to this link to see a panoramic view of the 360º Tour from behind Larry's drum kit. Amazing.

Sick Nasty Live Footage from U2 360º

2009-08-11T19:31:00.001-04:00

2009-08-07T13:57:00.001-04:00

2009-08-05T15:28:00.000-04:00

Sneak Peak at U2's New Music Video?

2009-07-02T23:10:00.002-04:00

Blackberry (sponsor for U2's tour) has created this video ahead of the release of U2's 3rd single from No Line... called "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight." It's just a short 30-second clip of the band performing and there's a question of whether this is the actual music video or just an ad for the tour/Blackberry. Either way, it's very cool, so check it out at this link.

U2 Kicks Off 360º Tour in Front of 90,000 in Barcelona

2009-07-01T14:48:00.007-04:00

I refuse to look at setlists, but from the rehearsals in days/weeks past, it looks like they're polishing off some gems as far back as 1983's War, several songs they haven't played in as many as 18 years, and some they've never played before EVER! Anyway, just wanted to share this photo with ya'll. Apparently, the giant LED screen moves and changes depending on what song is being played. It can expand and contract. So cool.

The screen expanded

The screen contracted

And here's another one that's pretty awesome. The white "arms" of the claw are able to project various colors that are displayed on it. A big mirrorball descends from the center of the claw to make everything just that much cooler :)

Tim's Draft Wrap-Up

2009-06-26T19:35:00.002-04:00

Channeling Bill Simmons, check out Tim's running draft blog entry (nice touch with the Family Guy reference, Tim):

Summer Trade Rumors/ Running Draft Blog

Ok… Everyone take a nice deep breath…

Ahhh, feel better? Good. This is how I felt at midnight last night when the draft was over and Danny Ainge had taken his heart doctor’s advice and hadn’t gotten himself worked up wheeling and dealing for higher draft picks. Does anyone seriously think that the Celtics could have gotten anyone in the draft worth trading Rajon Rondo or Ray Allen for? Maybe Blake Griffin…maybe. I was actually quite bored throughout the draft, as no major moves were made (I was ready for anything after the Shaq and Carter trades). Two of the most interesting moments of the night were when New York fans reacted to Steph Curry getting taken one pick before they could take him, and then finding out that Darko Milicic was coming to town. Overall, I was disappointed, yet happy that the Celtics had stayed boring as well.

It’s looking more and more likely that Ainge’s recent trade rumor name dropping was just that, rumor. Rondo’s name was thrown around in trade scenarios for a high draft pick, and then with Ray for half of Detroit’s starting lineup. There was no chance that Detroit was going to make that trade and I’m a little put off that the Celtics would even desire those players. There’s nothing special about the Thin Man or Rip Hamilton anymore, and Stuckey widely disappointed last year. Believe me, I know – he was on my fantasy team. And who wants Detroit players on our team – aren’t we supposed to loathe them? I think what we have here is a GM making a statement that no one is untradeable, even hot shot starting point guards on championship-caliber teams. Apparently Rondo had been late for a few games and isn’t the easiest kid to coach. From what I’ve seen he takes all the criticism that Doc throws at him during games in stride, without arguing or talking back. I agree his consistency could be better, but that will come with experience.

I still don’t understand the involvement of Ray Allen in these Rumors other than perhaps gauging his value for next year if the “Three Amigos” can’t bring home the ‘ship next year. As I said in my previous blog entry, they deserve another shot at it next year, but I said nothing about the year after – we’ll see what that looks like when we get there…

Now, a trade could go down tomorrow, or next month with no notice (everyone collectively cross your fingers for the rest of the summer…and fall). We’ve seen firsthand through the Garnett-to-Boston trade that when the summer heats up, so does the trading market. However, recent comments by both Ainge and Rivers seem to point to holding on to Rondo (duh!). I wish I could say the same for Ray…(sigh).

Whatever.

I did a Bill Simmons-esque running draft blog last night, though it is nowhere near as in-depth or comprehensive as his – it’s only the lottery picks plus #58.

Running Draft Blog

The recliner foot rest is up, the Sox are on channel recall, and the Draft is starting…

Pick one – LA Clippers – Griffin (yawn).

OK, now for the rest of the 2009 NBA Draft Lottery…..

I notice that a lot of players, including Blake Griffin and Steph Curry, are wearing varying shades of light purple this year…this IS a weak draft. Curry’s tie actually matches the color of his lips.

Jon notes that Stu Scott comments that Griffin looks like “a very happy man…”, yet I don’t think he’s cracked a smile since finding out that the Clippers had the first pick.

Followed by an awkward interaction with Griffin’s parents…then a Dunleavy sighting where he tries to pretend the current team will be kept together…

2nd pick – Memphis - Thabeet is a TOWER.

3rd Pick – OKC… JAMES HARDEN! What happened to Rubio? Ruh-roh. I sense a regrettable decision. Harden’s interview - “I’m not the fastest guy. I’m not the most explosive guy. But I can get from point A to point B.”…What? (Peter Griffin voice).

4th – SAC – Tyreke Evans…and Rubio is faaaalling…Well, at least the Celtics can’t trade to pick him now…(knock on wood that they don’t swing something later on…)

5th – MIN – Rubio it is. Jon and I just died laughing when we heard his voice in the interview… (Like a Keebler elf – Jon)

6th – MIN (again) – Johnny Flynn…another PG, how does that work?

7th – GS – Steals Curry from NY. The whole family looks crushed.

8th – NY – Jordan Hill…not as exciting. Poor guy gets the yearly boo.

9th – TOR – Demar Derozan (I called this one.)

10th – Bucks – Brandon Jennings – No college for this boy. 7.6 points a game…eww.

11th – NJ – Terrence Williams, not really sure what he can do…1st senior selected in the draft.

12th – ‘Cats – Gerald Henderson, I like this pick for them.

13th – IND – PSYCHO T! I was hoping he would drop to 58…

14th – PHX – Earl Clark – Brandon Jennings makes an awkward re-appearance after deciding not to attend the draft/ gets a half-hearted cheer.
58th pick – Celtics – Lester Hudson- This guy was second in the nation behind Curry in points! Cool! Let’s see if Ray Allen can groom him into something special. That’s about all you can ask for a 58th pick, someone from a small school with a lot of upside. I’m just throwing this out there, but I think Danny Ainge may have found another late draft Leon Powe-like diamond in the rough.

Well that’s it for the draft. Recently some friends of mine have tried to convince me that moving Ray Allen for young talent might be an OK thing to do now, especially because he’s getting too old.

Now I’ve already written a whole blog entry why that should never happen, but because they insist, I must quote Jesus Christ speaking to the disciple Peter who is sinking into the sea because he does not trust Jesus:

“Oh you of little faith, why did you doubt?”

Taking It All In

2009-06-19T14:21:00.001-04:00

It Might Get Loud Trailer

2009-06-17T19:34:00.002-04:00

Guest Writer

2009-06-17T00:34:00.007-04:00

I'm happy to report that we'll be having a contributing writer here on the Celtics blog from time to time. Tim Helgesen, avid Celtics fan, has sent me this piece on the upcoming NBA draft as it pertains to the Celtics. Now, me not being a huge mock draft kinda guy, Tim's article is a great way to gap the time between the postseason run and the 2009-2010 season for the C's. Without further ado, here's Tim!

The 2009 NBA Draft and What the Celtics May Do

By, Tim Helgesen (contributing writer)

The 2009 NBA Draft is a week away, and other than Blake Griffin locked in at #1, the draft is looking extremely cloudy as scouts and GM’s compare notes and take last looks at the rookies-to-be. Memphis wants Ricky Rubio but he isn’t returning the love. Hasheem Thabeet might be their next best option as he could anchor (or create) their defense of the future. Their third option, however, is to trade the pick to surround Orange Juice Mayo and Rudy Gay with an established veteran. This seems their most viable option as they have too much youth as it is already. But this is not a Memphis Grizzlies blog, this is a Celtics blog, and here comes the connection…

ESPN, among others, is reporting that the Celtics have shown increasing interest in getting that 2^nd pick, and seeing that they have no first round picks to offer in return, they’re going to have to make a BIG move. Yes, that’s right; Danny Ainge is considering breaking up the Big Three, less than two years after creating it. Rajon Rondo’s name came up last week but Ainge quickly made it known that that would NOT be happening any time soon. The only other player brought up that could pry the #2 (or any of the top 5 picks) away is……….Ray Allen.

When I heard about this I was flabbergasted and enraged. Why would the Celtics part with their 3-point savior…their only legitimate backcourt threat? So I went back and looked at the good ol’ game logs that ESPN so graciously offers to refresh my memory more than anything else. I hadn’t forgotten about his frequent slumps throughout the season and parts of the playoffs, and thoughts such as “He’s getting up there in age, Tim” and “Jump shooters always drop off quickly so we should get rid of him now” began to flood my brain. All that stopped when I saw one stat, two numbers… 51.

How could I forget about his 51 point gem against the Bulls??? Sure we lost that game, but the result didn’t matter to me as much as the meaningfulness of that stat……….

HE STILL GOT GAME.

True Celtics fans know Ray Allen's worth, evidenced by the multiple game winners and his epic 51-point performance against the Bulls this postseason.

Shuttlesworth’s not done. Sure, he’ll turn 34 in a month…I don’t care. We were a KG knee away from a Finals appearance this year, and we owe it to the “Parquet Posse” to give them another shot at a championship. We have to; they delivered as promised just a year ago. I’d rather have three over-the-hill Hall of Famers on my team than 2 and a rookie, no matter how good he may be.

Danny: Remember, we've been through this whole athletic-young-guy phase with Gerald Green. Yeah, that's the same year we lost 18 in a row. Do the right thing.

Ainge has apparently fallen into a man crush with Tyreke Evans, a 6-5 guard from Memphis. I had seen basically none of him at all, so I caught up by watching movie after movie on youtube…mostly mixtapes and all-star games. The kid can dribble and jump, finishing nicely at the rim, but his shot just isn’t there yet (of course every mixtape shot went in…). I don’t see how pairing him with a shot-under-development Rondo would be anything close to a good idea. Just…no. Don’t do it.

Doc Rivers recently told Mike WIlbon and Tony Kornheiser on PTI that the team was looking for a backup guard and another big man. So if the “backup guard” is Evans, who will be the 2 guard when Ray Allen is gone? The same problem arises if the deal goes down and the Celtics pick Thabeet (who’s riskiness scares the heck out of me)…no 2 guard. Don’t give me, “Eddie house could be the 2 guard, he played some rootin’ tootin’ good basketball last year!” (Insert Red Neck chuckle here)

Eddie House has excelled off the bench, providing much-needed scoring as the starters rest. But what if he's moved into Allen's spot?

WRONG. Not about his exceptional play, but about his ability to fill in for Allen. Edward L. House II excels as an off-the-bench fireshooter, and should stay there. He’s started a whopping 30 games in his nine year career, mostly filling in for injured stars…not someone I want taking the shots on a championship caliber team.

Other than Blake Griffin, I see no one in this draft worth getting rid of Ray Ray for, unless perhaps Steph Curry packaged with a veteran forward. The 2009 draft is just a weaker draft, case closed. As much as people want to think making a big move to get a possible superstar is the only way to keep up in this game, it’s just not going to work this time because the star power isn’t there. And if you’re still thinking that trading Ray Allen might be a good idea right about now…well shame on you, you fair-weather thrill seeker. Sometimes the best thing to do is stick with your guns, no matter how rusty they may be.

So in conclusion…Danny Ainge, sweet Danny Ainge who hath returned our team to glory…when in one week the time comes to draft players, stick with lucky pick #58 and don’t forget about 51.

Because as the sign in a barn I know of so aptly puts, “JESUS NEVER FAILS!”

...

2009-06-15T00:06:00.002-04:00

Still 17-15. Still Better.

P.S. How much did it hurt watching Bill Russell give the Finals MVP Award to Kobe? Screw being the ambassador to the NBA or whatever Russell is. Never honor the Lakers in any way! I bet he was kicking himself and thinking how much of an asshole Kobe is...

You've Got to Be Kidding Me.

2009-06-12T00:17:00.004-04:00

John Hollinger recently put together a points-based system ranking all 30 NBA franchises to determine who is the best all-time. You'd think that the Celtics, regardless of bias, would be #1, considering their unprecedented 17 NBA Championships. But no. He picks the Los Angeles Lakers. The following is a throw down in Hollinger's grill as to why he's a moron...

First of all, I don't care how many points you give for the various categories. The best franchise is the one that has won the most championships--every team's goal, every year, no matter what. Forget about regular season wins, intangibles, and so on. The Celtics clearly win as the best franchise, but number of banners raised is not the only reason why Hollinger's rankings are flawed.

As you can see, even the caption to the picture of the Lakers on that website is wrong. Yes, they had a great collection of stars, but the Celtics had more, hands down. In fact, they have the most members in the NBA Hall of Fame: 33. Sure, the Lakers had Wilt, Shaq, Baylor, West, Magic, and Kareem. But can they honestly contend with the likes of Bill Russell, Bob Cousy, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, JoJo White, Tommy Heinsohn, John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Larry Bird, Robert Parish, Kevin McHale, Bill Walton, and now Paul Pierce, Ray Ray, and KG? This argument that "the Lakers are so far out in front of everybody else it's not even funny" in terms of superstars is ABSURD! You cannot argue that 33 Hall of Famers has no weight. That's the benchmark by which great players are assessed!!

Hollinger does grant that the Lakers couldn't hold a candle to the Celtics, especially during the 1960s, but quickly dismisses this major point of contention by saying that Magic's teams of the 1980s took 2 of 3 from the C's and won back to back titles for "the first time in nearly two decades." Woopee-doo. Oh, wait...there's this one team that won eight championships in a row, something that is unprecedented in ANY major sport in history....who was that again? Oh yeah, that was the CELTICS. They also won 11 out of 13 years, so...yeah that's pretty good too, wouldn't you say Johnny boy?

Moving on. Last second excitement? I can think of one, which he mentions, and it wasn't historically as clutch as most plays I can think of. So Kobe throws up an alley-oop to Shaq to "cement" a win vs. the Kings? I'm sorry, but cementing a win is unimpressive. If that alley-oop was to WIN the game, then you'd be on to something. For the Celtics, even the broadcasts of plays have become famous! "Havlicek stole the ball!!" and later, "Aaaaaaaand now there's a steal by Bird! Underneath to DJ and he lays it up and in!" Or how about Don Nelson's shot hitting the back of the rim, going straight up into the air 6 feet, and going in for the win vs. the...Lakers. Completely ridiculous.

Another reason why the Celtics are the best is that they've had 4 NBA MVPs. Although that's deceiving. Cousy won once, Russell won it 5 times, Cowens won it once (along with a ROY award), and Bird won it 3 times (back to back to back). The Lakers total? Only 8.

And just to put down the argument that Phil Jackson is better/will be better than Red Auerbach. Screw you. Clearly anyone who argues this has no perspective of the game. Sure, Phil has more wins and is tied with the most titles, but Red coached at a time when the coach was the scout, manager, and drafted people. All Phil Jackson does is say things like, "It's all about psychology" or some bullshit and then gives it to Kobe or MJ. Red orchestrated draft picks such as Larry Bird a year before he was eligible just because he knew his potential. Len Bias was almost universally perceived to be the Second Coming. His drafting of Bill Russell came when he had the third pick: he negotiated/acted as though he wasn't interested to deter the 1 and 2 teams from picking him. And let's not disregard his psychological edge: the cigar. He would light up when he knew the victory was in hand, getting into the heads of the opposing coach and players, working almost as a self-fulfilling prophecy. I argue that it is much harder to win 8 in a row and 11 out of 13 titles with one core set of players than it is bouncing around and playing with two great superstars with massive egos. The players Red dealt with certainly had egos, but they were not take-it-up-the-court-and-shoot-every-time offensively-minded players. They each brought a piece of the pie: Russell brought defense, Cooz brought passing and handles, Heinsohn brought a deadly outside shot, Havlicek could score from anywhere. No one ego was greater than the team ego and that is the difference between these two coaches. Oh, not to mention that Red retired arguably at his prime, almost suddenly. He could have gone on to coach the Havlicek-led teams of the 1970s and had another two rings on his fingers. The fact that he was such an integral part of the draft process in the 1980s should call for the addition of the 1981, '84, and '86 titles to his belt, in my opinion.

Once again, what it comes down to--what every player, coach, manager, president on the team wants--is championships. The Celtics have the most, are the most successful franchise, and are therefore, the best franchise of all-time. I don't care if the Lakers have 10,000 regular season wins. Or if they have 10,000 playoff game wins. All that matters in the end is the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

Celtics 17-Lakers 15. End of story.

2009-06-11T17:05:00.001-04:00

Fun Fact of the Day

2009-06-11T14:42:00.005-04:00

The Statue of Liberty is made of copper. Like old pennies that have been exposed to the elements and time, the statue has turned green.

I Want One

2009-06-11T14:42:00.001-04:00

Yes.

2009-06-10T22:16:00.001-04:00

2009-06-10T19:53:00.000-04:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

How Come I'm Never Where These Things Are?

2009-06-03T14:01:00.000-04:00

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Memories...something something the Moooooonlight...

2009-06-03T13:52:00.000-04:00

For Wokkus...

2009-05-25T00:28:00.005-04:00

So, there hasn't been much written here in the past few weeks. The Celtics are no longer playing and they've been the bulk of my bloggage. Wokkus is getting peevish, so I told him I'd write about what U2's doing. He said he'd read it, so here you go:

U2 are currently rehearsing for their upcoming U2 360 tour, to begin June 30 in Spain. That run will continue throughout the summer, with the second leg beginning in America at Chicago's Soldier Field. They come to Gillette Stadium on September 20 and 21 (I'm going to both, of course). After that leg, it's presumed that they'll continue in 2010 in Europe and America and possibly other locations as well.

Meanwhile, the largest stage setup ever is being constructed (I have a hard time imagining that, considering U2 have put on the gargantuan ZooTV and PopMart sets in the 1990s). It's nicknamed The Claw and allows the band to play in the round and increases the capacity of the stadium by thousands since it doesn't block off an entire section behind the stage.

So yeah, that's what's going on. Hope you enjoyed, Wokkus.

2009-05-09T20:58:00.001-04:00

How Freaking Cool Is This?!?

2009-05-08T12:58:00.001-04:00

This Just In...

2009-05-07T18:18:00.002-04:00

Magic's Alston, Lakers' Fisher will sit

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ESPN.com news services

Orlando Magic guard Rafer Alston and Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher have each been suspended one game without pay for their roles in separate incidents on Wednesday night, Stu Jackson, NBA executive vice president of basketball operations announced on Thursday.

Alston

Fisher

Alston has been suspended for swinging and making contact with the head of the Celtics' Eddie House with 48.6 seconds remaining in the third quarter of the Magic's 112-94 loss to the Celtics in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Fisher has been suspended for striking Houston's Luis Scola with his shoulder and head in the third quarter of the Lakers' 111-98 win last night over the Rockets in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Fisher received a flagrant foul two and was ejected.

Jackson also announced that the Lakers' Kobe Bryant has been assessed a flagrant foul one for elbowing Houston's Ron Artest in the chest area in the fourth quarter.

Alston will serve his suspension on Friday when the Magic host the Celtics. Fisher also will serve his suspension on Friday when the Lakers visit the Rockets.

Good. This means that the Magic will be forced to start their backup PG Anthony Johnson, age 34, who DEFINITELY can't keep up with Rondo/Eddie. Good news for us!

Can Bill Russell Please Live Forever?

2009-05-07T16:42:00.002-04:00

Notice how when Russell blocks the ball, he doesn't swat it out of bounds (*cough cough* Howard). Instead of giving the opposing team the ball back, he blocks it either to himself or a teammate. Now that is smart basketball. And how much did he sound and look like KG: "We've done it before *pause...stare...smirk*"

What a way to end his career...the now iconic image of him speechless after winning his 11th Championship. Unbelievable...

EDD-IE! EDD-IE! EDD-IE!!!!

2009-05-07T15:17:00.014-04:00

Amen, brotha.

What a way to respond to Game 1! The moral victory that night, which saw us come back to within 4 points after being down 28 is Celtics basketball. That's just how champions play. The Orlando Magic, on the other hand, are not champions. They were out of this game from the get-go and never mounted any sort of comeback or displayed any sort of energy throughout the whole game. This is one of the main reasons as to why the Celtics can win this series. Let's start with the players who were mere footnotes to House's shooting barrage.

Kendrick Perkins. What a beast. Sure, he makes stupid plays all the time, but he's getting better and better at making fewer and fewer mistakes. He's taking on probably the most dominant big man in the game today and holding him down. Howard only had 12 points and 12 rebounds. In Game 1, he only had 16 points. Perk did a fantastic job defensively last night, limiting his fouls while pushing Howard out of the low post and forcing to take awkward hook shots. He ended up shooting 5-13 from the field, which is a sucky percentage for anyone, but even more so for someone who only plays his game 1-6 feet away from the rim. Offensively, Perkins was more efficient and effective: 16 points on 7-10 shooting, 9 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks. Gotta love the stat stuffer.

Smmmooooooooooth (as the other side of the pillow?)

For the second series in a row, Ray Allen returned to form after a very off game. He scored a (quiet) 22 points on 7-15 shooting, including 2 threes. He too filled out the stat sheet, grabbing 6 boards and handing out 4 assists. He played the most minutes out of anyone (41) and, although I'd like to see him rest in these blowouts, it was somewhat necessary that he get his rhythm back and get his stroke going before we head into Orlando to try and retake homecourt advantage.

J.J. Redick: The New Machine. "Argrggrgrgghhhh!"

Glen Davis was especially efficient tonight. Although he got into early foul trouble, he ended up with only 3. He played solid defense on the quicker and longer Rashard Lewis, he and Scal holding him to a "more-than-it-seems" 17 points. Big Baby shot 4-5 from the field, 5-6 from the charity stripe, and had two steals, one of which was mighty purrty as he poked it away from Lewis as he tried to cross him over.

Pierce and Allen get some much-needed R&R as the Celtics cruise.

Paul Pierce played just 16 minutes, scoring only one basket: a three from the top of the key to open the game. He was plagued with foul trouble throughout, but this rest for him is the most deserved and needed. He's had a couple games here and there, especially in the Chicago series in which he's looked just...tired. Getting essentially 3 days off before Game 3 on Friday should help get his legs as fresh as possible to try and take that game.

Um, and one? Howard is pushing Rondo...so yeah. Whatever, look how HIGH HE IS!!

Rondo. What more can we say about him? The kid's a floor wizard. A mix of Bob Cousy's crazy-ass passes, Magic's scoring abilities, and Jason Kidd's rebounding talent. After a poor shooting night in Game 1, I knew and he knew that the remedy was to attack the rim and continue to do so. As Rondo goes, so does the team, as cliche as that sounds. He had another triple-double, bringing his total to 3 for these playoffs, tying Larry Bird's team record. One more would tie him for the record held by Jason Kidd in the 2002 playoffs (Anyone find this sketchy? Oscar Robertson, who averaged a trip-doub for a whole season never had more than 4 in the playoffs? Did his teams just never get far?). Rondo's line: 15 points (7-19 shooting), 11 rebounds, 18 assists, 2 steals, and only 3 turnovers. For the entire playoffs, he's averaging 18.3 ppg, 9.6 rpg, and 11.9 apg. Pretty dayum impressive. Oh, and to top it all off, to get the needed points for the triple-double, Rondo took a pass from Eddie House, drove straight down the middle, got up so that his elbow was above the rim, and DUNKED it as Howard and Lewis watched. No easy layups? I thought that was everyone's mentality for the playoffs, but Orlando was way to soft in this one. Not championship mettle, if you ask me.

The new defensive set: The Scal-D, in which Scal sneaks up from behind as Big Baby and Pierce surround Howard. Works like a charm.

Now, shall we move on to the bench? Once again, these mofos contributed greatly. Let's start with Brian "Jackie Moon" Scalabrine. What an underrated defender! Keeping the lanky and quick Lewis from going off is a tough job and Scal definitely helped out. He ended up shooting 3-4 (2-3 on threes) with 8 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocked shots! Can I get a hell yeah?? I never thought I'd say this last year, but thank god we have him. He's become a great off-the-bench asset for us.

That guy in the green shirt will be havin' NONE of that!

Now, onto the hero. Eddie "Go Ahead, Make My Headband Spin" House. Man, when he catches on fire, no one, I mean NO ONE can stop that. He's got the quickest release in the game and can change the arc of the ball so dramatically that he can get it over anyone. The plays the Celtics run for Eddie are great. My favorites are the little flare screens, in which he sets a screen for the ball handler and then runs over to the baseline as screens are set for his man. It's beautiful. Thing is, they've got no one capable of staying with him (did you see J.J. Redick trying to keep up with him?). After knocking a deep two in Rafer Alston's face, he got so angry he bitch slapped House's head! (Suspension, please.) What happens the next play? Oh, just another three from House to close the third quarter. And the fun would continue into the 4th, highlighted by a great 4-point play in which House got the ball off over backup PG Anthony Johnson as he hit his arm. That's kinda when you know you've got the hot hand. Fun fact: House scored the most points off the bench in a playoff game for the Celtics since Kevin McHale got 33 (or something) in 1993. Nice company.

If Bennett Salvatore had been watching, Alston would have been automatically ejected from the game. Not like it mattered!!! Boo-yah.

I know it's just one game, but you've gotta think the momentum of this series is directly in the Celtics' hands. We had the moral victory in Game 1, losing by only 5 points. We blow Orlando out of the building in Game 2 without our Captain for basically the entire game. Heading down south, I've got total confidence that we can take a game and at least get homecourt advantage back. Perk just needs to keep Howard contained and their shooters just can't get open looks enough to get hot. They have no penetrating game like we do (Rondo, Pierce) and we've got much more solid shooters, if we resort to that (seriously, who would you pick, Ray Allen or Redick? Yeah, thanks.)

I can't decide which angle's the best. It's all so good!!

And just one more picture to give some love to the ol' timers:

Imagine sitting next to or behind these guys?!?! Wow. Experience of a lifetime.

2009-05-06T13:38:00.000-04:00

Watch Teen Wolf Amazing Parody on CollegeHumor

Chi City Mayne!

2009-05-05T21:53:00.000-04:00

2009-05-04T18:06:00.001-04:00

C's Close Out Historic Series, 109-99

2009-05-03T15:37:00.012-04:00

Finally, this series is over. As a basketball fan, of course you didn't want this thing to end really. But as a Celtics fan, you wanted Game 7 to be a blowout--no more strong possibilities for a heart attack, no more breaking furniture and/or bones out of frustration, no more Joakim Noah unwarranted screams, no more bringing a cold Tony Allen off the bench to commit a three-shot foul. Someday, I'll look back on this series and feel its significance, but for now, let's just be thankful the better team came out on top.

Again, grabbing a meaningless rebound in the first quarter does not allow you to scream like you just won the NBA Finals.

The start did not look good. We assembled an emergency barn party, with Tim, Jon, Wokkus, and worthy replacement for Scotty/Steve/Pates/Walder/Jake, Ms. Katie Bruno herself. We all got there early to prepare both mentally and physically. We organized the barn to the optimal playing conditions: "Jesus never fails" on the small white cooler in front of the TV, the basketball hoop on the beam, the chairs in a circle, and seating positions set. A few new additions to increase winning chances: a Celtics poster next to the window, the Celtics Championship DVD to the right of the TV, the big exercise ball in the corner to the back-left of the TV, the mini-fridge, the big blue cooler off to the side, and a lucky visit from a mom, an aunt, and a grandmother. It was all in place and we were ready.

...or so we thought. We were watching the Championship DVD to get ourselves pumped up and noticed it was about 14 minutes to gametime. We decided to watch a little pregame action, but upon turning to the cable, we couldn't get it to work. Repeated attempts to get to the menu and add channels saw failure. Wokkus and Jon quickly rushed to get another TV as the seconds and minutes ticked by. At last, everything hooked up and we turned it on right as the tipoff was about to be thrown up. Crisis averted.

Is there anything better than having 2 of the best three point shooters on your side?

The game, however, got off to a bad start. Were we not prepared enough? Was the TV debacle a bad omen? We would find that the poor start was merely a test of our fortitude. The Bulls came out like they did in Game 1, dismissing an energetic crowd and team and getting off on a great foot. After Pierce scored the opening points (good to get him going early), Ben Gordon and Derrick Rose provided the Bulls' punch. Between them, they scored the Bulls first 14 points. The Celtics quickly countered after falling behind 11-4. Naturally, the two veterans fueled the Celtics--just what they needed to do. At the end of the frame, Pierce and Allen had 7 points each. We were trailing 27-23, but we at the barn were feeling good. We withstood some torrid shooting from Rose/Gordon and a major disparity in free throws that would continue throughout the game until the 4th quarter (at the end of 1, the Bulls were 9-9 and the Celtics were 2-3).

As Big Baby got in early foul trouble, we needed our bench to step up. Luckily, they were ready for the call for basically the first time in the whole series. And the spark came first from the man who played not even one minute of playoff basketball on last year's championship-winning team: Brian Scalabrine. Even though he missed his first shot, you gotta give the guy credit for not hesitating when wide open (*cough cough* Marbury). What Scal brings is an ability for a big man to spread the floor even more so than Garnett because he's a three point shooter. Fortunately for us, teams usually pay him no attention, but the Bulls paid for it tonight. Scal knocked down his 3rd shot of the game, just a few inches inside the three point line off an assist from a penetrating Allen. Just a couple plays later, he hit a three pulling the Green to within four to close the quarter. A minute and a half into the second frame, he nailed yet another open three and actually led the team in scoring with 8 at that point. As for the rest of the bench players, who outscored the Bulls' bench 30-25, Mikki Moore had a quiet 4 points, but played solid D and was a +6. Marbury still looked hesitant, although less so than previous games. He scored only 2 points, but in a very important position: free throws at the end of the game to seal it. Plus-11 while he was on the floor, which, when looking at his point total doesn't make much sense. However, he (and the rest of the second unit) played great defense, allowing the Celtics go on a 22-2 run to end the half.

Redemption. Shots were wet all night.

And what about Eddie? He closes the season on a tear beyond tears, but is nowhere to be found come playoff time. He's a streaky shooter, sure, but when he gets going, there's no one else I'd rather have coming off my bench. Well, maybe after what Aaron Gray did in this series...Anyway, here's what I think. Ray Allen has the prettiest stroke in the NBA, there's no doubt. But, I argue that Eddie House has the prettiest "shot," meaning the trajectory the ball takes after he shoots. It's essentially a rainbow shot that seems to stay up in the air forever, but almost never hits anything but net. Splash. That, and his quick release, allows him to get it over anyone at any time. What a joy to watch. House hit all 5 of his shots, 4 of them being 3 pointers, 2 of which were in front of Chicago's bench. Impressive. Shooters shoot. And guess what. It all started on the defensive end. Rivers talked to him before the game and told him to get his offense going, he had to focus on the defensive end (Doc=Genius). He had 3 steals before his first shot. In fact, he held Ben Gordon (apparently the Prodigal Son for Chicagoans. Right.) to 0-5 shooting, forcing him to no field goals in the pivotal 4th quarter. That'll do.

Eddie's hot hand ignited the Boston crowd. Unstoppable.

I was hoping for Pierce to go off like he did vs. Cleveland a year ago, but in hindsight, that wasn't what we needed. As we've seen this series, one player just doesn't get it done (See: Gordon's 42 points in Game 2 and Ray Allen's 51 points in Game 6). The balanced attack by the Celtics led to the victory. Pierce ended up with 20 points, Allen with 23, Perk with 14 and 13, Davis with 15, House with 16, Scal with 8, and Rondo with 7 and 11 assists.

Oh, I'm sorry...did you foul out? That's too bad.

Aside from Gordon's 33, Rose's 18, and Hinrich's 16, Chicago's scorers and bench just weren't there as they were in Game 6. Brad "But Dude, Look at My Mouth!" Miller was just 3-8 before fouling out, John "I Don't Even Know Who I Am" Salmons shot a gross 3-12, and Joakim "Could the Gap Between My Teeth Get Any Bigger? I Think It Could" Noah took only 2 shots before fouling out.

Until you get a haircut/plastic surgery, God will simply not listen to you. Clown.

That will be the extent of my analysis because, let's face it, SportsCenter, ESPN.com, NBA.com, etc. will continue and have been doing so for the past 17 hours. It's time for us fans to simply enjoy the win and the series as a whole. But we need to focus tomorrow on our next opponent: The Orlando Magic. Season series was split 2-2, both Celtics wins coming by double-digits and Magic wins coming by two and 6 points (one of those was without KG). They're a 3-point shooting team with only one big man who, if he gets in foul trouble, will be incredibly easy to score on in the paint. As we've seen from the 'Toine days, you can live or die by the three. Our defensive mentality should be able to quell a three point barrage and, considering they have no significant defensive threat, sans Howard, this should be a even matchup. With Perk and Baby's maturation just in the past 7 games, our defense on Howard should be enough to contain him. Of course, any predictions at this point are nothing more than semi-educated guesses. This is the playoffs. Anything can happen.

Conclusive Evidence for Rondo's Non-Flagrant on Miller

2009-05-02T14:00:00.004-04:00

You can clearly see once and for all that Rondo's sight line and his head are both looking up at the ball as he tries for a swipe at it. Had he been aiming for Miller's head/face, he would've had to look basically straight ahead, rather than upwards, as he is here.

Finally, let's put this to bed.

No Words.

2009-04-30T23:59:00.002-04:00

No analysis for tonight's game. If you follow this blog, you probably watched it and saw exactly what I did. It was a great game with a not so great outcome. The main thing is we HAVE to put this behind us. And that not only goes for the team, obviously, but the fans as well. If you're a true fan, we have to act and think how the Celtics would. As hard as it may be, put this one behind you. It's done. There's nothing we can do, no amount of complaining that can change the score. It was a bitter loss, but we've just got to swallow that pill. It's a one-game series right now. They did their job, winning in Chicago by the slimmest of margins. The series returns to Boston, the Mecca of the basketball world (screw NYC). Would history want this any other way? Of course now, we all want this to have been over by Game 4, but think years down the road looking back on this. We witnessed part of history already, regardless of the outcome of Game 7.

Luck and tradition is on our side. The Celtics legends will be out in full, you can count on that. Red Auerbach's presence will be felt, as it was against Cleveland in last year's seventh game. The mentality is that we're at home, in Boston. We're the 2 seed for a reason. We played a hell of a season and showed immense integrity for the last couple of months with KG's injury.

All that's left is one game, and you've got to believe we'll win it.

Cooooooooooool

2009-04-30T17:51:00.002-04:00

Before tonight's big game, how about channeling the power of the bald freakin' eagle? Here is a live web stream of a bald eagle's nest. The black bird I guess is the "baby" eagle, who don't start getting the white feathers until 4-5 years old (according to the "Eagle Facts" section below the video). It was pretty cool, I was watching it spread its wings and hop around in the nest. I dunno if he was trying to take off or practicing or just being cool, but it was neat to watch.

Bill Simmons

2009-04-29T16:03:00.001-04:00

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/090429&sportCat=nba

My favorite:

Q: When Brian Scalabrine fouls out of a playoff game, and your reaction is, "Uh-oh, we're screwed," is that a bad sign for your title hopes?

A: Yes. Yes it is.

How right on is that? Exactly how I felt.

Celtics Pull It Out in Another OT Thriller

2009-04-29T13:45:00.019-04:00

Pierce was all smiles after owning the Bulls in the 4th and OT periods.

I hated this game. Yep. Even though we ended up winning, I just hated it. Pretty much the whole game was a microcosm of what this series has been: frustrating. These Chicago Bulls--young, inexperienced, ugly--are not supposed to be this challenging. They're very reminiscent of the Hawks of last year, but this time around, the games are much closer and you get the feeling that this is a 1 vs. 2 seed going at it. Why are they being so damn pesky? I honestly believe much of it has to do with luck. Sure, they've got some talent in Derrick Rose and Ben Gordon, that can't be denied. But in watching these first 5 games, the amount of balls that have bounced their way, the calls they've gotten (or haven't gotten), and the crazy shots they've made continue to grow in number. Last night was no exception, as the two teams fought through the 4th overtime period of this opening series. I don't really have much historical perspective, but I can't see how this wouldn't be the greatest opening round of the playoffs ever.

KG gives the cocky Ben Gordon a piece of his mind: "Mother [Expletive], [expletive] Celtics will dominate your punk [expletive] [expletive] [expletive]. Bitch."

I hated this game. From the start, the Celtics were shooting around 50%. The energy from the crowd was electric and certainly gave a boost to the home team. But those damn Bulls just kept hanging around. How deflating is that? It's so frustrating coming out with fire, yet still only leading by 2 points at the end of one and down by 3 at halftime. How is it that such a streaky player like Ben Gordon who has a strained hamstring (Grade 2, which indicates a partial tear) comes out and goes 2-11 until hitting just his third shot with 1:30 left in the third, but suddenly make some of the most unlikely shots? Mostly luck, my friends. Shooters shoot, yes, which is what he kept doing, but getting double-teamed and hitting a fall-away bank shot from 18 feet is NOT skill no matter how you cut it. Hitting a leaner from the baseline falling to his right with Stephon Marbury draped all over him is definitely more luck than skill. Getting Tony Allen to foul you on a three point attempt when you have ZERO other options is, I'll admit, a huge gaffe on Allen's part, but still, the stars aligned for that more than anything else.

The Celtics looked tired after their initial push through the first quarter and a half. Rondo's turn around at the buzzer to end the half didn't prove to be the spark we desperately needed in the second half. They extended their lead to 11 points about 3 minutes into the 4th quarter. Now, I often yell and complain that I could do a better job executing than the crap that the Celtics sometimes run. If I had been playing in that 4th quarter, I would've thrown the towel in out of complete frustration. Joakim Noah's layup off of the (admittedly) pretty pass from Brad Miller put them up by the 11-point margin. But his goddamn scream after. Unnecessary. Here are the times when a player is allowed to do a "KG" after a DUNK ONLY, if you're a big man:

1) To begin or end a quarter

2) To tie the game

3) To put your team within 2 or three points after coming back from a considerable deficit

4) After the other team has called a timeout after said comeback

5) If you're blowing out the other team (i.e. exclamation mark before you come out of the game for good...job well done, etc.)

That's about it, Noah. Cool. You put your team up by 11 on a play you really did nothing to create. You were just standing in the paint and happened to get your hands finally on a Miller pass and you...made a layup. If ANYTHING, Miller should be the one letting out a primal scream, not your butt-ass ugly piehole.

"Hey, Noah! Your penis is thiiiiiiis small! Fucker."

As for the Celtics, our starters are playing the best ball of the season. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about our bench. Sure, it's depleted, but when you only get 5 points out of them the entire game, chances are, you're screwed like Babe Ruth. Marbury canNOT pass up a wide open baseline jumper for a Rondo floater from a little closer in on the baseline. To make such a floater, one has to put it up perfectly. No backboard can help you out. No friendly rolls are likely to occur from that angle, i.e. the airball. Marbury's having noticeable confidence issues, but just look at what happens what he shoots the open shots: His 13 point performance in the Game 3 blowout. See what happens when the bench contributes? Yeah.

Aside from that, Pierce's performance obviously sticks out. He started the game quietly, getting 7 points in the first frame, but slowed considerably after. Jackie MacMullan who was at the game, commented that she thought something was wrong with Pierce. He didn't have any lift and wasn't really looking for his shot. That changed once the 4th was winding down. The Celtics were down to one true scorer and damn, did he deliver. He scored 15 points from the 9:15 mark of the fourth to the end of the OT. That's 15 points in about 14 minutes. Pretty good offensive production, if you ask me. Which you didn't, but I told you anyway.

How come the Chicago defense didn't double Pierce? I'm not complaining, but after about the third time he makes the same shot in a row, you'd think they'd try something different. There were no other real threats on the floor, aside from Rondo. Anyway, his play was 100% vintage and something only a superstar could do. After Ray Allen fouled out on a BULLSHIT call, Pierce took the game in his hands as only he could do and won it for us. Made shots when it matters most.

Ray Allen struggled, but hit this big 3 in the 4th quarter. Miller would later try and suffocate him, leading to a...double foul. Great job, Mr. Derosa.

As for Ray Allen. He struggled, sure. But, after hitting a much needed three from the corner in the 4th, he picked up one bogus call chasing Ben Gordon. It was essentially a hip check foul, something that happens literally EVERY offensive possession for either team. Unbelievable. Then, he gets picked off by Brad "Choke Artist" Miller who, rather than standing there, decides to bear hug Allen, holding him so he can't get out. Allen tries to fight out of it, and the ref calls a double foul. A DOUBLE FOUL! How often does THAT get called? And in such an important game? Holy mother of God. Exhibit Y in the case of the Celtics vs. Given Opponent & the State of Officials. However, like when a coach gets thrown out of a game, it may have been a blessing in disguise, as Pierce took over the game.

Rondo's putting in an all-time playoff performance.

Lost in the shuffle were Rajon "Where the EFF is this coming from?" Rondo and Kendrick "Still Making Some Mistakes, But Progressing a Lot Better" Perkins. Rondo's averaging--get this--24.2 ppg (leads the team), 10.2 rpg (2nd to Perk's 11.0), 10.2 apg (leads the team), 3.2 spg (leads the team), 51% on FG (2nd to Perk's 60%), and 4-7 from three. Yeah, that's a triple-double average with 3+ steals. Pedal to the metal. Soak it in because this is something that is only witnessed once in a very long while. His box score last night: Game-high 28 points (12-22 FG, 2-2 on threes), 11 assists, 8 rebounds, 2 steals.

Perk showed what being a Celtic is all about. He's a wily veteran...and only 3 years older than I am.

Another "whoa!" line from Perkins: 16 points, 19 rebounds, SEVEN (7) blocks, tying Robert Parish's Celtics playoff record. And get this: ZERO FOULS. Way to be. We had a short bench and needed our big men to limit their fouls and Perk, well done. Aside from one "wtf?" shot (a 17 footer at the beginning of the shot clock), he went above and beyond the call of duty.

The "controversial" play. Rondo no doubt hits Miller, but this is post-swipe at the ball, so lower the ball more and bring Rondo's arm back and it's clear to me that he's making a play on the ball more than anything.

I must say, this game may still be going on had it not been for the final play. Down by 2 with just over 3 seconds left, the Bulls drew up a surprisingly simple, yet effective play. Brad Miller set a screen for Ben Gordon, forcing Perkins to switch out on him as he faded to the baseline. Rondo recovered, following him under the pick, but giving Miller an open lane to the hoop. Perkins shifted over as Rondo again recovered, committing the foul rather than have Miller sink an easy layup. Ya know, a playoff foul. Miller went for the finger roll straight on instead of attempting the conventional layup, going to one side and using the backboard. My understanding is that Rondo thought he'd go the conventional way (i.e. the smart way) and swiped at the ball. Now, I have no photos of Rondo's face at the time of impact, but I can almost guarantee that his eyes were on the ball. If he was intentionally trying to decapitate Miller, as some Bulls and Bulls' fans are contending, than he would definitely be looking at Miller's head. One looks where one is intending to reach/grab/whathaveyou. The refs made exactly the right call for once. Miller bricked the first and intentionally missed the second, but he hit nothing (DUHHHHH IDIOT!?!) giving the ball to the Celtics. The free throws at our end were inconsequential as good ol' Vin had no timeouts and the Bulls had to go full court to get a shot off. Big Baby actually got the offensive rebound. Game.

*southern accent* "Hot damn, that there sandwich was deeeelicious. Oops, showin' mah beer-belly on TV. Oh, sugar. I gotta go brick me some free throws! Yippie-kay-ay!"

On to Chicago, where we can close this bitch of a series out. I'm not gonna make any predictions, but last time we won on our home court and then went to Chicago and blew them out. We've got two chances to take this thing. Our experience and fortitude give the impression that this time luck may be on our side...

[No caption necessary.]

Douchebag!

2009-04-28T13:32:00.002-04:00

http://espn.go.com/chicago/story?columnist=greenberg_jon&id=4104510

What a clown. Thanks ESPNChicago for writing something that'll get Noah anally pounded by the C's fans tonight.

The fact that they put this picture of him on their website shows that even they think he's a ugly mother-f*cking ass clown. "I want people to hate me!" Yeah, fuck you. Let's see how good you are in Boston. (Like how I censored one word and not the next?)

Good News for the...Celtics, Right ESPN?

2009-04-27T22:24:00.002-04:00

The headline reads "Gordon's MRI Good News for Bulls," but unless they were expecting a tear, then I'm gonna go ahead and say this is good news for the C's. After playing two overtimes with a strained hamstring, you've GOT to think that Gordon's hurting right now. Day-to-day, eh? Well, the game's tomorrow so...yeah, good luck with that. Go C's.

CHICAGO -- Chicago Bulls star Ben Gordon is listed as day to day after an MRI confirmed he has a strained left hamstring.

Gordon

Gordon was hurt in the second quarter Sunday, then sent Game 4 into a second overtime with a 3-pointer with 4.5 seconds left.

The Bulls beat the Celtics 121-118, tying the series 2-2 with Game 5 in Boston on Tuesday night.

The shooting guard was injured on a drive to the basket and an MRI Monday morning confirmed the initial diagnosis.

Later in the game, he was knocked to the floor on a hard foul by Glen Davis with 9.8 seconds left in the first overtime.

Gordon is the leading scorer in the series with 24.8 points per game and scored 42 in Chicago's 118-115 loss in Game 2.

Video of the Day

2009-04-27T17:32:00.001-04:00

Simple Message

2009-04-26T16:38:00.001-04:00

IF YOU'RE UP BY THREE, FOUL THE OTHER TEAM SO THEY DON'T GET A THREE POINTER OFF!!!! THAT IS WHY WE LOST THE GAME, PLAIN AND SIMPLE.

Good thing is, we played like absolute SHIT for 3 and a half quarters and still made it a 2OT game.

Home cookin'.

Celtics Play Like Champs to Take Series Lead

2009-04-24T21:22:00.015-04:00

The Bulls showed their true selves as the young Coach Vinny del Negro looks on with disdain.

We were all worried. Yes, we had a huge game from Ray Ray to beat the Bulls at the buzzer in Game 2 and were one free throw make away from winning Game 1. Had Allen missed that final shot, we may have certainly been in a surprising 0-2 hole. Let's just say we were lucky to get out of Boston locked up with the feisty, pesky Bulls 1-1. But we were worried. We escaped with a respectable record. The two games had been far too close for comfort. In the last week of the season, we had completely destroyed the 8th (almost 7th) seed Sixers without Pierce, Allen, Rondo, KG, Powe, Scal, etc., etc. How could these young Bulls look so calm and have such great individual efforts in many of the players' first playoff experience? It was all too unsettling and many C's fans that I know of were hoping to at least get one game out in Chicago. The fans there would undoubtedly be fired up (think Atlanta 2008). Fortunately, the Celtics did everything right and played like the champs to send a message to the Bulls that the first two games were essentially flukes.

From the opening tip, the Celtics showed their aggression and energy, almost immediately shutting up a raucous Chicago crowd and effectively denying any energy the Bulls might have had. Paul Pierce (who some say "showed up" for this game--he'd been averaging 20.5 ppg for the first 2 games...good enough for me, I say), was as hot as my laptop when the little fan thing doesn't turn on for a while. He started the first quarter 6-6 and really just owned John Salmons. It was good to see that those few days off before Game 3 allowed Pierce some much-needed rest to get his legs back under him, and it showed. He ended up with 13 points in a pivotal first quarter that set the tone for the rest of the game. Pierce finished with a game-high 24 points, highlighted by 4-8 shooting from downtown, one of which should have been a 4-point play, as Salmons bit on an upfake, collided with Pierce, who shot the ball and drained it. He lifted his arms as if to ask, "Where the FUCK was that foul? lol, but I made it anyway and I'm awesome."

For some reason, ESPN.com or NBA.com had no pictures of Paul Pierce doing anything. So this was as close as I could get to the said play. Except it was in Chicago, and there was more "WTF?" in his face...

It's just great to watch our team when we're clicking, isn't it? I mean, we play as a TEAM. At this point, we're so comfortable with each other that there's no need to really think too much...just go out and play. That's the ideal thing you want. Of course, you'd like some basketball IQ (which abounds for the C's), but along with that, you want to treat the game just as it is: a game. This comfort level, when everyone's feeling it, translates into championship basketball, the type of which was on display throughout Game 3. Rajon Rondo is the MVP of the playoffs thus far. Ray Allen has picked himself up nicely after Game 1, but Rondo has been the most consistent, energetic, smart, and aggressive player on the court. In terms of others around the league, you could argue Chauncey Billups of the Nuggets is playing better, averaging something like 33 ppg with 0 turnovers and 12 3-point FG made in 2 games (approximations...too lazy to look them up, but I think they're pretty much on). However, Rondo just does more. He scores, he rebounds, he passes, he steals. In fact, he's leading the Celtics in PPG, APG, RPG, and SPG. How many point guards are able to do that? Incredible. He's averaging nearly a triple-double for the series with 22.7 ppg, 10.7 rpg, 9.7 apg, and 4 spg (and .33 blocks per game). He's driving and getting layups, and shooting (and knocking down) longer-range jumpers (he's 2-4 from 3 point range). He continued his stellar offensive and defensive play last night, going for 20 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals in just 33 minutes. Here's some original research I just did regarding Rondo's shot selection, looking specifically at his jump shots and how much improved he is. We all know that when he gets past the D into the paint, he's either gonna get a layup, make a sick pass, or get fouled. But, especially last year, his jumper was his weakness. Watching him this whole season, you can easily see how much better he is and how hard he's worked on it. Through Games 1-3, Rondo's knocked down 11 actual jump shots out of 24 attempts. That's good for a 46% clip. To put that into perspective, Paul Pierce has hit 18 jump shots out of 43 attempts, good for 42%. Granted, Pierce has taken more and that's more of his game, but it just shows that Rondo's more confident in shooting the ball when his defender (rightly) respects his speed and goes under picks set for him.

Rajon Rondo is developing a jumpshot. This could be as huge as Happy learning how to putt.

Glen. Davis. How much can you say about him stepping up? He's been phenomenal and consistent this whole series and he put up a box score for the ages in Game 3. He had 14 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 6 steals, and 3 blocks. Holy cow. He's got such active hands that he one-upped our point guard in steals and tied him in assists. When you get that type of production, the W will most likely follow. His jump shot is becoming a thing of beauty and he has developed a very respectable free throw percentage. KG's absence is much more palatable they way Davis is playing.

Big Baby leads the fastbreak after one of his 6 steals. The Bulls had 22 turnovers.

Ray Allen was, once again, very consistent and efficient, getting 18 points on 6-12 shooting, including 3-4 from beyond the arc.

Marbury showed signs of his old self, aggressively driving to the rim. White Kirk Hinrich is scared.

One last note on last night's play. Stephon Marbury deserves a lot of credit for the way he's been playing. It has been admittedly spotty, that's for sure. But he's carried himself with a great air of confidence in himself and his teammates, something that was certainly lacking with the debacle in New York. He's stuck with it and taken Doc's advice to shoot more (who would ever think that a coach would ask him to do that?!) and just play ball. Last night he did that. And it wasn't just in garbage time, either. He played important minutes during a stretch in which Rondo was on the bench due to foul troubles that group on the floor effectively kept Chicago from clawing their way back in. Overall, Steph shot 4-10, including 1-1 from three (13 points) and went 4-4 from the line. He dished out 5 assists and grabbed 3 boards in 24 minute of play. Quite effective, I'd say. Good for you, Steph, that's exactly what we need out of you. Keep it up.

Isn't is great to see Steph enjoying the game and his fellow teammates?

Oh, and how about Scal?! I'm only being half funny here. The guy's taken some scary hits in the head this season, but he's stuck with it, being a vocal supporter from the pine and now that he's back in action, even he contributed, knocking down a baseline trey with zero hesitation. Perhaps a sign that he's not worrying about his head, he soared in to try and grab a defensive rebound in traffic. Balls to the wall, Scal. That's Celtics basketball. You keep it up, too.

The two Bulls' "superstars" were shut down by the Celtics vintage team defense. They forced Rookie of the Year Derrick Rose into 7 turnovers.

On Garnett. Apparently, KG's practicing with the team, i.e. in practice sweats and posting up Perk, etc. Whether he's working toward a comeback or just being camaraderious (?) with his fellow teammate, it's certainly a good sign, I think. We'll see...

Game 4 on Sunday at 1 pm. If we play like we did last night, we'll get the win and come back to Boston to try and close this series out. The win in Chicago was very important, not only to take the series lead, but also to give us confidence that we can win on the road in the playoffs vs. young, upstart teams like the Bulls. This was something we weren't able to do against Atlanta (or Cleveland) last year, leading to 7 games in each of the first two rounds. Fewer games=fewer players on the Celtics who are tired=better chances of winning games. Go C's.

Good News for Celtics

2009-04-22T20:28:00.002-04:00

Just saw this on the bottom line on ESPN. Kevin Garnett will withhold having knee surgery until after the postseason. He is going to try and return for the Celtics later on in the playoffs.

Looks like he's getting tired of being on the bench for these intense games. I feel like this makes his chances of coming back way more than the 1% Doc was quoting a few days ago. Who knows? If he's determined enough...

Begin to pray again, folks.

Mmmmmm.

2009-04-22T18:32:00.001-04:00

U2 Live from Somerville

2009-04-21T22:55:00.000-04:00