It certainly seemed like an ordinary day today. You wake up to a bright sun that belies a chilly April morning. Eat breakfast, take a shower, maybe catch a little SportsCenter if there's time. Bemoan the fact that the Red Sox are in last place in the AL East. Just another day in a seemingly endless series of them.

It's these types of days that bad news hits you the hardest. 

Mark "the Bird" Fidrych was working on his truck this afternoon, something that was not out of the ordinary for him. He spent his days hauling gravel for a local business, working on his farm, helping out at his mother-in-law's diner, and making the occasional charitable appearance for the town Little League, pancake breakfast, or some other charitable event. In other words, he was the furthest thing you'd expect from a former AL Rookie of the Year who talked to the baseball and strutted around on the mound like a rooster in a hen house. 

Continue reading "Free "Bird": RIP 1954-2009"

I am not a morning person. I'm especially grouchy after being out late drinking $7 beers and watching the KG-free Celtics in a matchup with the Wizards that was much too hotly contested.

So you can imagine how I was feeling when I got an email entitled "Breaking Sports News" that confirmed my worst fears about Kevin Garnett's injury. To the co-workers I startled when I began screaming obscenities - my bad. 

I guess we all knew this was coming. He hadn't played for 8 straight games, and in the 4 games he appeared in a few weeks ago, he looked every bit the part of a guy who's knees aren't what they were when he was 23. Garnett is almost 33 years old. The only speed he knows is full speed, and he's been playing that way since he was 19 years old. Even if he was able to play, he would be a shadow of what he was even last year.

Continue reading "What's next for the Celtics"

Another one of these games, and I'll be rooming with Danny Ainge down at Mass General.

With the exception of Game 3's blowout victory, neither team has had any breathing room at all in this series. And as I paced around the room with my heart in my throat while the teams traded blows, I realized that this could be a matchup we'll be seeing in the NBA playoffs for a while.

It was a matchup that the Celtics did not deserve to win today. Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen each played great basketball and Kendrick Perkins was solid down low, but despite his 29 points, Paul Pierce looked sluggish and made some critical errors that were very uncharacteristic of him. His Twitter update yesterday extolled the virtues of Portello's italian sausages in Chicago. He looked like he had eaten a few before the game today. 

Continue reading "The agony of defeat"

I'm at a loss for words. Literally speechless.

The consensus among the talking heads here in Boston is that this Celtics team isn't going too far this year. They're getting literally less than nothing from their bench? Check. Their defensive captain and the unquestioned heart of their team is out for the playoffs? Check. Their opponent is a young, athletic team with a lot of poise and a nasty streak to boot? Check.

In tonight's game, you can add to the list that they were on the wrong end of a lot of calls that probably shouldn't have been made, as Tommy Heinsohn was quick to point out in his signature growling manner.

But damn if they didn't put forth one of the most ballsy efforts I've ever seen. 

There are no two ways about it - the captain is gassed. After carrying the team on his back for 26 games in Kevin Garnett's absence, it's understandable that Pierce doesn't have much left in the tank, and he has shown it several times in this series, including a couple of shots that were VERY short early on in the game. But in typical Paul Pierce fashion, he was there when the team needed him the most. It's moments like these where the greatest players shine, and Pierce's taking over the game in the final minute and a half really display the type of player, the type of leader, and the type of heart he has.

Continue reading "Another game, another epic battle"