Joust The Facts

Remodeling In Green

The Boston Celtics said goodbye to an aging "Big Three" member last year (oddly replacing him with another aging shooter), and this year, with a draft day agreement with the Brooklyn Nets, have said goodbye to the other two.  Word is out that the Nets and Celtics have agreed to a huge deal, with Paul Pierce and Keving Garnett headed to Brooklyn, along with said aging shooter (Jason Terry) and 5 players and 3 first round draft picks headed to Beantown.

First off, lets stipulate that Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen weren't getting any younger.  KG is 37, and by the end of next season will be 38 and have finished 19 years of 80 game (or more) seasons.  Pierce finished 15 years with the Celts this year at age 35, and will be 36 in October.  Allen, whose 3 point jumper saved the Heat in Game 6 of the NBA finals, will turn 38 in a few weaks.  From that standpoint alone, bagging three first round picks for three players on the downside of dwindling careers is brilliant.

Second, lets further recognize that short of abducting the Thunder's Kevin Durant or the Miami Heat owner deciding to go Charley O.Finley and suddenly selling his top talent (Lebron James) to Boston, these Celtics would not be hoisting a trophy next June.

Finally, lets also recognize that having top draft picks is the only way to get that top talent, the kinds of players who can build and maintain a consistent winner.  Finishing at 46-36 and losing in the second round won't give you a high enough draft pick to get the potentially stunning talent needed to do that.  Danny Ainge now has 2 first round picks next year (Boston, Brooklyn), 2 in 2015 (Boston, LA Clippers) and 2 in 2016 (Boston, Brooklyn).  It doesn't seem that the Clippers and Nets picks will be that high, but theirs should and hey, you never know.

I'm sad to see KG, Ray and Paul go.  The basketball they played during their time on the parquet was a beautiful thing.  The '07-08 through '09-10 seasons were outstanding, and even '10-11 was great.  When they traded for Ray Allen before the '07 draft I got chills.  My team just picked up my favorite player.  When they picked up Kevin Garnett later that offseason those chills return.  My team just picked up my second favorite player.  Doc Rivers, already departed to LA to coach the Clippers, made it mesh beautifully.  I'll miss KG's intensity. I'll look for him pounding his forehead against the basket padding and tying his drawstring on his shorts before the opening tip, and it won't be there.  I'll miss Pierce's cool under pressure, always willing and able to take the big shot in the big moment.  And I already missed Allen's reliable and opponent-depressing daggers from the 3 point stripe.

Danny Ainge picked up two 7 footers last night, one of whom can step out from the basket.  He re-acquired a couple of guys he should never have let go - Kris Joseph, the better of the two ballers he took from Syracuse last year and Marshon Brooks, a mercurial and talented scorer out of Providence.  Brooks was traded in a puzzling draft day deal for Jajuan Johnson of Purdue.  Johnson never panned out, and is mired in the NBADL.  And he still has Rondo, Jared Sullinger, Brandon Bass, Jeff Green, Terrence Williams.  He needs another good point guard for next year, but there's something there to work with.

So it's so long, Big Three.  And thanks for the memories, and the champion-caliber play.  And thanks for the championship. 

Did The Sox Just Blunder Again?

Unfortunately we'll know the answer to that question only after one year, or two, as we see how the managerial tenure of John Farrell turns out.  It seems the Sox came to an agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays to procure the services of the Jays' manager, former Red Sox pitching coach John Farrell.

Farrell, who received a three-year contract, will be introduced at Fenway Park on Monday or Tuesday.

The 50-year-old Farrell was the Red Sox pitching coach from 2007-10 before becoming the manager of the Blue Jays. Farrell was a modest 154-170 in two seasons, but the Red Sox believe he has the skills to lead the team back from its worst season in decades.

The Red Sox were 69-93 under Bobby Valentine, a season marked by underperformance, injuries, and controversy. Valentine’s style did not mesh well with general manager Ben Cherington, his coaching staff or with veteran players grown accustomed to the protective ways of former manager Terry Francona....

The Red Sox formally interviewed Padres special assistant Brad Ausmus, Orioles third base coach DeMarlo Hale, Yankees bench coach Tony Pena, and Dodgers third base coach Tim Wallach, and were impressed with all four. But their focus was on Farrell from the beginning of the process.

Hiring Farrell from the Blue Jays is acceptable from the compensation standpoint, as the Sox won't be giving up too much.  Mike Aviles is a terrific team player, who plays hard all the time and produces in the clutch at times, but his stats don't jolt you off the page.  So there's that.

And I don't have the sense of dread I did when they hired Valentine.  As I described him just before the hiring, in what was now a prescient post,

Just what the team needs, a self-promoting gadfly manager who has failed everywhere else.

Valentine's failures were legion.  He lost the team early, lost more of them as time went on, opened his mouth in frequent and unfortunate ways, and proved not to be the "smartest man in baseball" when making moves on the diamond.  His managing moves were often inexplicable.  Pinch hitting for Iglesias with two strikes already on him?  Seriously?

Looking at the list of the interviewees, I think I might have leaned toward three of the other four ahead of Farrell.  Bringing back Tony Pena, a former Manager Of The Year in Kansas City, and after a brief tenure in New York, would have made sense.  Brad Ausmus is widely regarded as sharp, and with a bright future in managing.  Both are former catchers who understand pitchers, pitching, and calling a game, all vital to a winning team.  DeMarlo Hale was with the Sox as a coach in various positions in the minors for about 9 years, then came back as a third base coach and bench coach for 5 more.  As a result, he was with the team during Terry Francona's successes and also with the Orioles last year during their own resurrection.

Farrell's record in Toronto has not impressed.  Toronto was 73-89 this year, four games better than the woeful Bostonians.  The prior year his team was an even .500, 81-81.  The pitching in Boston, after they finished first in pitching in 2007 winning the Series, steadily deteriorated under his watch.  (On the other hand, it deteriorated even further without him, so there's that.)

I hope I'm wrong.  I don't have the feeling of dread and catastrophic error that I did when Valentine was hired, but I would have rather seen a new face like an Ausmus, or a Ryne Sandberg or Sandy Alomar Jr. come in to settle the turmoil.  When you're starting from an epic failure of a year, at 69-93, you can take a chance on a bright light in the distance, hoping that as it comes into focus it turns out to be a star.

Paging Tom Friedman: Beijing Needs Some PR

NY Times columnist Tom Friedman, dubbed by the Wall Street Journal's clever James Taranto as "the worst writer in the English language" (a good example found here), is a China-phile of some repute.  He stated at one point that China is better governed than America primarily because he saw the Democrats' statist approaches to problems as the only solutions, not realizing that Republicans wouldn't engage in negotiations that would merely dilute the badness, and famously wished before qualifying caveats that we could be "China for a day" so that all-powerful, all-knowing leaders could just choose and implement the right solutions and make all our troubles disappear.

Well, with the Olympics upon us, Yahoo! has a slideshow of what's happened to all of those spectacular Beijing Olympic venues in just four short years.  Go ahead and see what infrastructure spending for propaganda purposes looks like.  It's perhaps that a baseball venue in China would simply disappear, but rowing, kayaking, cycling, and volleyball are still Olympic sports.

This is, perhaps, what happens when You Didn't Build That, but They Did.

 

 

Reviewing The Draft - Bleed Green Edition

Among the players available when the Boston Celtics picked at #21/#22 in the first round were a great shooter in 2 guard John Jenkins, an hyperathletic 6'6" point guard Tony Wroten Jr., an offensively talented quick big man in Arnett Moultrie, a mobile and athletic big in Perry Jones III, a 6'10" small (!) forward in Quincy Miller, a very athletic small forward in Quincy Acy, and a sharp and hard working seven-footer in Festus Ezeli.  The Celts brain trust read the press clippings of Ohio State's ground-based big man Jared Sullinger and selected "the guy with the bad back at #21.  Then at #22 They selected one of the more puzzling and enigmatic bigs in Syracuse seven-footer Fab Melo.  Sigh.

I was listening to Celtics draft coverage on their home cable sports network, Comcast SportsNet, and none of the individuals providing commentary liked the idea of selecting Sullinger when first queried.  As the night wore on and Sullinger dropped in the draft, some changed their tune.  I didn't.  He was a very good college player precisely because his size and strength overwhelmed most opponents.  That doesn't happen in the NBA.  I hope he proves me wrong, gets up and down the court quickly enough to run with Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley, is able to post up down low in the pros like he did in college, and is able to play at least a little above the rim.  But I would rather have seen the team add athletic bodies rather than just a big one.

Melo is another story.  The kid has potential, but came into his freshman season at Syracuse woefully unprepared and inadequately able to push himself.  To his credit he improved dramatically between year one and year two in his fitness, ability to run, and understanding of the game.  Unfortunately that simply moved him from Complete Bust to Serviceable Big Man on a team that played zone and had so many wing scorers that the middle was vacant for him.  He had academic issues, along with some others - ahem - and it's doubtful that a few million dollars in his bank account will improve his motivation and character.  I hope he proves me wrong, too.  He has bigger upside than Sullinger, but is also a riskier pick because you don't know where his head is.

In the second round you simply hope you strike gold, and the Celtics may have.  Kris Joseph is a talented small forward, though his shooting is erratic, and his handle could use some work.  Both are things he can improve, and it won't hurt him a bit to understudy Paul Pierce.

I think I might have preferred Moultrie and Perry if you wanted two bigs with those two picks.  I didn't think, from my reading, that either of those would be still on the board at that point.  Neither of the first round picks makes the C's more athletic, and quickness in the NBA is a lethal weapon.  While I hope I'm wrong, I have the sinking feeling that with these two picks the Celtics have rolled the dice, and may have crapped out. 

One aside/possible ray of sunshine:  I notice that West Virginia forward Kevin Jones went undrafted.  If I were Danny Ainge I'd be bringing him in for a free-agent tryout ASAP!

7/1/12 0800: Bummer.  Kevin Jones signed by Cleveland.  The Celtics better hope that they can sign both Jeff Green and Brandon Bass now. Scott Machado, perhaps, as a Rondo understudy?  On the other hand, the Celts may be fine if last years second rounder, E'twaun Moore, can step up his game. He's a good shooter, and just needs to get a bit more creative with the ball.

A Big Day Today

I know there are a few other minor news stories coming today, with, for example, the upcoming contempt of Congress vote on Attorney General Eric Holder, and another story of narrow interest.  Something having to do with health care, I think. But the big news is really in the world of sports.  It's NBA draft time!  (/sarc)

The Boston Celtics, who with a depleted roster put up a substantial challenge against the Miami Heat, have the 21st and 22nd picks in this years first round (and #51 in the second).  I'm pretty sure Danny Ainge isn't looking for my advice, but he's going to get it.  Barring a trade he's not going to come up with one of the consensus top 15 players, and of those 15 there are really only a few that would provide an instant boost.  So I'd stick with the two picks he has and try to come up with guys that can a) step into a playing role immediately off the bench, and 2) have the potential to develop into something more special.  I was never very good at indexing.  Of course, someone may fall down the board, and if that someone is Perry Jones III you grab him.  I don't think he'll fall to #21, but you never know.

Here are five players that I think meet both of those judgements. 

1. The St. Bonaventure forward Andrew Nicholson is a big guy with both a post game and a shooters touch from outside.  I'd like him to be a bit more of an athlete, but he can score inside and out and will give them instant help.  An NBA fitness program will help his explosiveness.  He may not be a star, but he can in the future be a starter.

2. One problem for the Celtics this year was that of their primary players only Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley were sufficiently explosive off the dribble to get to the basket.  Paul Pierce does it more with footwork and guile than quickness at this point in his career.  Washington's Tony Wroten can give them that.  He's a very good ball handler, has quickness to spare, finds the open man, and can get to the basket with length.  At 6 foot 6 he's a ball handling guard that be an immediate piece of the team and can potentially be a star if he can nail down a jump shot.

3. The same goes for Moe Harkless of St. Johns.  An explosive athlete with length, he's only 19 years old and can be a star in the future.  Right now most draft boards have him going in the high teens, but if he falls just a couple of slots to 21 you've got to grab him.

4. The best shooter in the draft is John Jenkins of Vanderbilt.  It's nice to have Ray Allen draining threes when Rondo, Paul Pierce or Kevin Garnett kick the ball back out.  It's nice to have a shooter whom the defense can't leave for a second, because that's all the opening he needs.  It opens the floor for everyone else.  If you're not going to re-sign Ray Allen, then you need a John Jenkins.

5. Kevin Jones of West Virginia is simply a player.  He is a small power forward who can hit threes, can post up bigger players inside, can rebound over players with more length, is fearless, and plays hard all the time.  He's built like Dwight Howard, three inches shorter but a better shooter.  Look at the success of Kenneth Faried in Denver, and you've got Kevin Jones.

I like a few other players at #21/#22 a lot, and wouldn't be terribly disappointed if those are selected.  Quincy Miller of Baylor is a solid scorer inside and out and handles the ball like a guard at 6'9".  Festus Ezeli of Vanderbilt has good size inside, can rebound and block shots and would be a good finisher for Rondo's dishes.  Doron Lamb of Kentucky can shoot, but I worry about his ability off the dribble.

I'm not big on Royce White of Iowa State.  He's very good, but the fear of flying (NBA teams fly a lot!) and other issues worry me.  And I'm definitely not big on Fab Melo of Syracuse.  I don't think he's a good fit on a Celtics team that relies on smart basketball with quick decision making.  He doesn't have great hands, and he doesn't run the court that well.

With that #51 pick I think there should be a few available that could help.  Tennessee Tech's Kevin Murphy is a very good shooting guard.  Marquette's Darius Johnson-Odom can get to the basket with the best of them and handle the rock.  And for a sleeper how about Rakim Sanders of Fairfield, and athletic shooting guard at 6'5"?

I'll be watching tonight.

Please, Not Valentine

The Red Sox, having stayed in house with Ben Cherington as GM, are now apparently on the verge of signing Bobby Valentine to manage the team in 2012.

That would make management 0 for 2 on the big decisions so far this offseason. Just what the team needs, a self-promoting gadfly manager who has failed everywhere else.  Yeah, know his Mets won a pennant in 2000 - and then promptly lost the Series to the Yankees.  Just what the Sox need.

11/30/11 1715: Here's MLB.com's Hot Stove gang talking about Valentine.  They seem more impressed with his accomplishments than I am, but also note that as manager "he is the show."  Self-promoting gadfly seems an apt descriptor.

Don't Know Much Geography ... Or College Sports, Either

At Yahoo! Sports, in a feature blog called "The Post Game," writer Max Thompson smugly makes fun of ESPN for putting up an image of Minnesota during a story on Wisconson athletes Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers and the Green Bay Packers stellar quarterback Aaron Rodgers.  I borrowed the picture and show it below.

Okay, so a geography-challenged intern in the ESPN graphics department put up the wrong state image.  That's bad.  You know what's also bad?  When the smug writer who makes fun of it goofs up in the same post. 

"Wisconsin hockey is ranked #1 in the nation."  Err, no.   Teams that are currently 5-8-1 overall do not get ranked #1.  In fact, in the most recent USCHO poll not only are the Badgers not in the top 20, they're not even listed as "also receiving votes."  The honor, #1 in the nation, goes to Coach Mark Dennehy's mighty Merrimack College Warriors, of North Andover, Massachusetts.

If you're going to poke fun at ESPN, you'd better make sure you don't have any glaring, easily refudiatable* errors of your own.

*refudiatable -- I did that intentionally.

11/25/11 1305: You know, I knew I should have grabbed a screen-cap.  Check out the story now and the reference to the Badgers as #1 in hockey is gone.  Vanished into the internet memory hole, with no inkling of the prior error.  Here it is below as it now stands.  The reference to Badger hockey used to reside in the first paragraph.

As Fenway Turns ...

By now everyone knows about the fried chicken and beer allegations, among other clubhouse issues.  In fact, the Boston Globe published "before and after" pictures asking readers their opinion of which players weren't exactly taking their committment to game-readiness seriously enough.  Now Manager Tito Francona is gone, followed by several kick-him-on-the-way-out the door leaks and comments, and GM Theo Epstein likely isn't far behind.  Epstein, in particular, has been lousy at putting the pieces in place recently, as the acquisitions - for really big money - of John Lackey, Carl Crawford and Bobby Jenks have demonstrated.  So the Cubs want Theo?  Great.  Grab a couple of good prospects and send him on his way.

The Red Sox seem to want Assistant GM Ben Cherington to take over for Epstein.  The only way that works for me is if there is a "director of baseball operations" installed above him.  Cherington has been with the team since 1999, and the minor league system is virtually barren of high-level talent.  How'd it get that way, Ben?  The players that come up from the minors don't seem to be "big league ready" when they arrive, often making several trips between Pawtucket and Boston before sticking.  Why is that, Ben?  If he can answer those questions, and then answer how he plans to turn those problems around, then maybe you promote him.  But I'd rather tap into an organization who successfully comes up with big league levels of talent who arrive ready to contribute.  Like Tampa, St. Louis, Minnesota for example.  You cannot simply follow a "plug in high-priced free agent A" mentality unless you want your disappointments to also bankrupt you.

As for player movement, I stand by most of my assessments, but I think there will be value in breaking up the Lackey-Beckett influence in the clubhouse.  Beckett will be the easiest to trade; Lackey will make you eat millions if you want to move him.  But one of them has to go, and you'll want at least two, preferably three, good young arms in return for a Beckett if that happens.  I'd like to move Kevin Youkilis, who likely could bring more good young talent.  I would bring back Ortiz - YMMV.  The core - Pedroia, Ellsbury, Gonzalez, Crawford, Ortiz, Lester, Bucholz  - are keepers (in Crawford's case you're forced to make it work).  You'll need Bard and Papelbon, and you need a manager who can use them right.  Give Reddick or Kalish a shot in right field; fill the hole at third if Youkilis is traded, and at catcher if you don't think Saltalamacchia and Lavarnway are enough, and rework the bench with solid pros with character.  If you can't find those guys then your major league scouting isn't doing its job either.

I would be surprised if next year's team threatens championship.   They'll be above .500, and that won't be great, but erasing and building will not be simple.  The sensible time frame should be 2013 and 2014 - the core players will still be young and productive, and the bad taste from this years calamity will have been diluted by time.

Francona's Gone, Now What?

I liked Tito Francona as a person, and I think he did a fairly good job during his eight seasons of presiding over a happy clubhouse.  He made only a few questionable decisions in terms of offensive game strategy.  But, as I stated in my earlier post, I repeatedly had to scratch my head over his management of pitchers.  His best he overworked, and his lesser pitchers he too often gave up on.  And, from what I'm hearing, the team had conditioning issues.  Hey, you're a professional athlete, this shouldn't happen.  But, as it turns out, if it does it's something that Francona has to correct.  And he didn't.

Ah, water under the bridge.  He's out, so now the team is shopping for a manager.  And they've got a boatload of decisions to make in player personnel  Hopefully the problems don't stem from some of the high priced talent to whom they have committed millions.

Here's one man's take on what the Sox need to do in the off-season, and what they need to do going forward.

Manager:  Ryne Sandberg, a Hall of Famer, managed the Phillies AAA team this past season.  He'd walk into the clubhouse with the immediate respect of the players, and the ability to look them in the eye and get them to listen.  He'd likely be able to handle the Boston Fishbowl as well as Francona did.  Is he the best guy for the job?  I think a bench coach or pitching coach from a team with strong pitching and fundamentals could be a very good choice, possibly Dave Martinez from Tampa, and there are others.  But Sandberg's resume might just get to some of the individuals that Francona couldn't reach.  I don't see DeMarlo Hale being the guy as he was in the management this year.

Outfield:  You won't have JD Drew to kick around anymore - his $14M contract expires this year.  He's 35, and no one in their right mind will offer him another big deal.  Jacoby Ellsbury is in his arbitration years, and obviously you keep him.  And you are stuck with Carl Crawford, who you can only hope will be much more comfortable, and much better, next year.  There's no downside to giving Josh Reddick first shot at right field.  He's a good fielder who had stretches where he was very dangerous at the plate.  Like a lot of young players he was inconsistent, but experience often fixes that problem.  Another young guy, Ryan Kalish, showed a lot in 2010 then spent the year disabled after injuring a shoulder.  He might be a contributor, but you can't count on him as a pencil-him-in starter.  You need one or two more solid outfielders.

Infield:  With Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez the right side is set.  Kevin Youkilis was supposed to be your third baseman, but played injured much of the year before he couldn't even play injured anymore.  He should be back healthy, but he's 32 and does have an injury tendency, particularly since he gets hit by so many pitches.  Marco Scutaro played very well the last 2 months, one of the few who did, but is 35.  Jose Iglesias in the minors might make the jump up.  But if you're going to make something big happen, third and short are the probable locations.  Youkilis in particular might bring you some frontline pitching.

DH:  Re-sign David Ortiz, two or three years.  Yes, he's 35 and fell off in September.  So did a lot of Sox.

Catcher:  Not sure what to make of Ryan Lavarnway and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.  On the one hand, both have pop, and seemed to be able to handle pitching fairly well.  On the other hand, this staff struggled, and some of the guys who struggled this year didn't when Jason Varitek was the everyday catcher.  And neither hits consistently, particularly Saltalamacchia, who was awful at the plate in the last month.  Of the two I like Lavarnway just a hair better.  This is another place to look for help, like the Yankees did last year with Russell Martin.

Starting Pitching:  You've got Josh Beckett signed at $17M per through 2014.  You've got Jon Lester signed for two more years at $7.6M/$11.6M.  Clay Bucholz should be very healthy next year and is signed through 2015 fairly cheap.  You've got John Lackey, unfortunately, signed through 2014 at just under $16M per.  You have the option on Andrew Miller - pick it up.  Tim Wakefield will be 46 next year, but he's Phil Niekro and comes cheap.  Go ahead and keep him, he's a character guy in the clubhouse.  Daisuke Matsuzaka is coming off elbow reconstruction, and was struggling even before getting hurt.  Doubtful he can help.  If you can get another starter who can help you for reasonable money, pick one up.  If you're looking to trade other clubs will start by asking for Bucholz and Lester.  Don't do it.  Exit question: do you try to re-sign Erik Bedard?  He's been pretty good in the past, hasn't he?  Not recently, though.

Bullpen:  This one is tough.  Given how solid Jonathan Papelbon was this year you really have to try to re-sign him.  Daniel Bard ranged from shaky to horrid the last month, but I blame that on overuse.  However, both of these gentlemen need to learn how to get opposing players out with another pitch in addition to their fastball.  They both throw relatively flat fastballs at 96 (JP) and 98(DB).  One of the reasons Mariano Rivera, like Bruce Sutter before him, is so successful is because his primary pitch, the cutter, moves and is often not in the strike zone by the time the batter swings.  If these two fireballers are going to go with the heat they'd better get command of it.  Alfredo Aceves proved he belongs and his enormous flexibility makes the entire bullpen better.  He's in arbitration.   Franklin Morales has got a pretty good arm, and showed flashes.  Felix Doubront could be another lefty starter, but he's also shown he can help in the pen.  Scott Atchison is useful and cheap.  He takes the ball when you give it to him.  And you'll need to make decisions on Dan Wheeler and Matt Albers.  Albers is five years younger.  I think both were hurt by Francona's use, and might be better with more direction and purpose.  On the other hand, maybe not.  The whole group, however, could benefit from Ray Miller's advice: Work Fast, Change Speeds, Throw Strikes.

Bench:  I liked what I saw from Mike Aviles, who plays with attitude and intensity.  Jed Lowrie is a switch hitter who can play third, short and second.  That helps, but stop flirting with him as a starter.  Conor Jackson can play first or the outfield and is a right handed bat.  But you might be able to upgrade on several fronts here.  This group could use some veteran help.

Trade Bait:  Gosh I wish Lars Anderson had just torn it up at every level - you could have saved the money on Adrian Gonzalez.  But he didn't, and there's no room for him at the inn.  Michael Bowden hasn't shown much more than a good arm.  Too many of his pitches are in the middle of the plate.  He needs to learn command of the strike zone.  Perhaps somewhere else.  And there isn't much else at the major league level.

Drafting & Minors:  There's something rotten in Denmark, or rather in Pawtucket, Portland, Salem, Greenville and Lowell.  For all of the "great" drafts that Peter Gammons think the Red Sox have, they have managed to come up nearly empty with what's left of them in the minors.  Jose Iglesias, with his three tools.  Possibly Will Middlebrooks, a third baseman in AA Portland last year (.302, 18 HR).  Bryce Brentz is probably a little further away.  The first pick this year was a very good college pitcher, Matt Barnes.  And why do the pitchers seem to come up unprepared for the majors, and repeatedly have to be sent back down?  Tampa keeps running out pitchers they developed, and they show up ready to throw aspirin tablets and "ungodly breaking stuff."  Does the pitcher development need an overhaul?  How about scouting?

Well, that's about it.  Hope I haven't forgotten anyone.  I might have one more of these posts looking at the free-agent pool when it's a bit more certain.  There's plenty above to like, if you're the incoming manager.  Fitness and attitude need some work, and the pitching deck needs to be re-ordered.

Sources: Salaries Roster

There's Plenty Of Blame To Go Around, Red Sox

But I'm going to start with the one guy who hasn't gotten as much of it as he should, at least not for what I blame him.

I blame Terry Francona.  No, not exclusively.  There are others who will need to look in the mirror.

You definitely have to give GM Theo Epstein a healthy portion, particularly for the woefully inexplicable signing for way-too-much-money of John Lackey.  You could add Carl Crawford to that, but in looking at his detailed stats, there is reason to believe he'll be better in at least a few of his years to come.  Not $20 million worth better, but better.

And Theo Epstein gets the blame for a minor league system which, right now, has one and only one player who may make an impact at the major league level next year, shortstop Jose Iglesias.  He's not much of a hitter, but has speed and great defensive skills. Three out of five tools.  Lefty hurler Felix Doubront will likely be a contributor, but he's spent as much time at the major league level in the last two years as he has in the minors so I'm not counting him.  Other than that, the cupboard is full of Single A potential and AA and AAA struggles.

The players didn't perform, so the easy thing to do is to speculate on the mental makeup of the individuals who failed.  Was the tailoff in Adrian Gonzalez production due to fatigue, stress of the race or injury?  Was Jarrod Saltalamacchia, he of the lengthy last name, a fair hitting catcher with occasional power, or did pressure and focused pitching turn him into a non-hitting catcher?  Sure they lost Kevin Youkilis to injury, and that sucked a 5 hole hitter from the lineup, one who could protect David Ortiz, but Youkilis wasn't tearing it up even before his season ended.  Neither Josh Beckett nor Jon Lester, purported to be TweedleDum and TweedleDee as staff aces, performed like aces in the last month of the season.  The Sox needed those aces to be solid every start.  They weren't.

But I blame Francona.  I watched him mismanage his pitching staff all year, and I grumbled about it repeatedly to those willing to listen.  Remember, he managed a team with a relatively set lineup and an everyday DH.  There were very few interleague games requiring double switches and hitting for the pitcher.  No, his job was to manage the pitching staff.  And he did a lousy job.

He pulled pitchers who were pitching well too early; he allowed others to struggle when they weren't.  He had no faith in anyone in the bullpen not named Aceves, Bard or Papelbon, largely because he didn't allow anyone else to build confidence during the successful summer months so they'd be ready when the September crunch came.  The two or three members of the bullpen who had been reasonably successful elsewhere weren't allowed to be successful here.

Dan Wheeler.  He spent the previous three years in Tampa succeeding in the bullpen.  About 67 appearances each year, ERA around 3.20, and far fewer hits than innings pitched.  Not great, but solid, dependable.  This year he was used only when the Sox were either far ahead or far behind, and only 47 times overall.  And he wasn't reliable when Francona needed him to be reliable.

Matt Albers.  He actually did pitch pretty darn well most of the year.  But Francona didn't use him in a way that could make him most successful, and most helpful to the team.  Francona wanted a formula - "Bard in the 8th, Papelbon in the 9th".  But he didn't set up anyone else to be Bard and Papelbon when Bard and Papelbon couldn't be Bard and Papelbon.  You have to have an alternate plan when either of those two is too tired to go, or is on one or another rare occasion, struggling.  He didn't.  Matt Albers could have been an alternate.

And let's not talk about Kyle Weiland and Andrew Miller.  For some reason other teams seem to bring up during the season relatively successful AAA pitchers who are then relatively successful in the bigs.  Boston doesn't.  Both of these pitchers have good stuff, and fairly good command.  Clay Bucholz and Daisuke Matsuzaka go down, and you need one of these guys - just one - to get you five or six innings relatively regularly.  You have to wonder how well the manager helped them prepare for their outings.

Miller had two reasonably good starts - wins - near the end of August, then one terrible start and one meh start at the beginning of September.  He never got the ball again as a starter, or even as a reliever in a close game.  Given how the rest of the Sox starters performed in September, particularly the aforementioned Lackey, he should have gotten the ball again.

Successful managers may start with pitchers who are less than dominating, but if the team is going to succeed then the manager has to take those pitchers and mold them into a staff.  Each pitcher may have a role, but each needs to be helped to be successful, and they each also have to at times step in and do the job if another falters.  Francona didn't get the most out of this staff, he got the least.

They could have used more hitting in September; they could have used more pitching; they could have used a better rested Bard and Papelbon; they could have used a couple of more reliable relievers; they could have hoped for better from their "aces".  They could have used a manager who developed pitching rather than burning it out.  They got none of the above.  Congratulations, Sox, and good luck with the rebuilding.

9/29/11 2024: Here's a painful assessment from the Boston Globe's Chad Finn.  "Coco Crisp with a lousy glove" indeed.  And this, on Lackey: "Not only is he coming off the worst season a Red Sox starting pitcher has ever submitted, but he's a miserable, dim, finger-pointing, unaccountable wretch of a teammate, and those may be his good qualities."  Finn defends Francona, but I wish he'd have a look at how Francona manages pitching.  He might change his mind.

The Herald's John Tomase points out that the 69-93 Baltimore Orioles, one of the worst teams in baseball, beat Boston in five of seven games at the end of the season.  Ugh.

9/29/11 2040: Video of the demise at HotAir from Allahpundit.  Double ugh.

Madden 11 Was Wrong

Green Bay fought through a ton of injuries this season, and then had three more key injuries in the first half of Super Bowl XLV (you've got to love the Roman numerals).  They lost two defensive backs, including one of the best defensive players in the league in Charles Woodson, and lost number one wideout Donald Driver.  They had a rough third quarter, and had difficulty running the ball.  They were facing an experienced team, one that had seemed to find just what it needed when it needed it, and whose defense was often impenetrable when it needed to be impenetrable.

And Madden 11 predicted a Steelers win.  That's an awful lot to overcome.  Well, consider it overcome.

Rodgers, the game's MVP, thrilled his legion of Cheesehead fans with a spectacular six-game string that should finally erase the bitterness of the Brett Favre separation in Green Bay. He's not equal with Favre in Super Bowl wins, yet he extended the Packers' record of NFL titles to 13, nine before the Super Bowl era.

The Packers QB threw for three touchdowns, two to Greg Jennings, and the Packers (14-6) overcame even more injuries, building a 21-3 lead, then hanging on to become the second No. 6 seed to win the championship. Coincidentally, the 2005 Steelers were the other.

Rodgers threw for 304 yards, including a 29-yard touchdown to Jordy Nelson, who had nine catches for 140 yards to make up for three big drops. Rodgers found Jennings, normally his favorite target, for 21- and 8-yard scores.

Rodgers, the game's MVP, was outstanding, but the best thing the Packers did was avoid mistakes (other than taking some bad angles and getting sucked inside on some Pittsburgh running plays, and dropping perfectly thrown Rodgers passes).  They had no turnovers; Pittsburgh had three.  Jordy Nelson dropped some of those pinpoint passes, but also caught a bunch including a touchdown pass.  Greg Jennings wasn't really all that open on those seam passes up the middle, but Rodgers found him anyway. 

The second best thing the Packers did was to - somehow - neutralize Troy Polamalu and James Harrison, the latter having one tackle, for a sack, in the entire game.  Rodgers saw some pressure, but he had time to throw on most dropbacks, and found the open guy with regularity.  No wonder they didn't run much.

The Packers will be back again next year, presenting a strong defense of their championship with their injuries having the summer to heal.  And the Patriots will be my favorite to represent the AFC.  Sweet.

Is Madden Going To Disappoint Me?

Gosh, I hope not.  As you may know if you're one of my 12 or so regular readers, I'm a Green Bay Packers/NE Patriots fan (with a side of Philadelphia Eagles - although the Michael Vick fling is doing nothing for that).  EA Sports Madden 11 has predicted that this years game will go to the Steelers by four in a fourth quarter comeback.  Ugh.

Forget Punxsutawney Phil -- Madden 11, EA's pigskin prognosticator, has emerged from its burrow just in time to make its annual wintery pick.

And it's going with Pittsburgh.

According to the simulation, the Steelers storm back from an early fourth quarter deficit to narrowly beat the Green Bay Packers, 24-20, nabbing their record seventh Vince Lombardi Trophy. With five catches for 111 yards -- including the game-winning TD -- Steelers wide receiver Mike Wallace wins the MVP.

Well, let's just say that I'm rooting for the game to make it's second mistaken prediction in eight tries.

Bravo, Theo

The Boston Red Sox were troubled last year by an iffy offense, one which faltered even more with the season-ending injuries to Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis, both All-Stars.  Mike Lowell retired.  Adrian Beltre is a free agent, who rumor has it could resign with Boston, but may not.  Pitching was fine, particularly the starters, what with Clay Bucholz' breakout season, Jon Lester, Josh Beckett and John Lackey fronting the rotation.  In the bullpen wait flamethrower Daniel Bard and closer Jonathan Papelbon (more on him later).  But the offense!  Well, what do you do to correct the imbalance?

First you bring in slugging first baseman Adrian Gonzalez for three (really promising) minor leaguers and $160 million.

"We're thrilled to be able to make this trade," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein said Monday at a news conference introducing the slugger, adding that the team has admired the power-hitting Gonzalez since his days playing for the Texas Rangers...

Gonzalez, donning a Boston jersey without a number, said the Red Sox have always been his favorite American League team in part because of Boston icon and Hall of Famer Ted Williams, who like Gonzalez, was a left-hander and San Diego native.

"I'm very excited to be in Boston and ready to beat the Yanks," he said.

The Red Sox sent minor league right-hander Casey Kelly, first baseman Anthony Rizzo, outfielder Reymond Fuentes and a player to be named later to San Diego....

In five seasons with San Diego, Gonzalez has 161 homers and 501 RBIs. Including parts of two seasons with Texas, he has 168 homers and 525 RBIs. He hit .298 with 31 homers and 101 RBIs last season.

Epstein expects better numbers in Fenway Park with the Green Monster in left field. "We think he is going to wear the wall out," Epstein said.

Then, you bring in the top free agent outfielder, Carl Crawford, to beef up the outfield production and add speed to the lineup.

The Angels had been in pursuit of Crawford, the top position player on the free agent market, and offered him a seven-year, $108 million deal. Yankees general manager Brian Cashman had dinner with Crawford and agent Brian Peters Tuesday night. The Rangers also were involved.

But the Red Sox acted quickly and decisively and just days after trading for Adrian Gonzalez, have added a second premier player. Crawford hit .307 with 19 home runs, 90 RBIs, and 47 stolen bases last season for the Tampa Bay Rays. The 29-year-old is a four-time All-Star and this year won his first Gold Glove.

Crawford’s market was set Sunday when right fielder Jayson Werth agreed to a seven-year, $126 million deal with the Washington Nationals. The Red Sox topped that contract by an average of $2.3 million a year.

With Gonzalez reportedly having agreed to a seven-year, $154 million extension to his contract, the Red Sox have invested $296 million in a span of four days. The additions of Gonzalez and Crawford, two stars in their prime, should set the team up as contenders for years to come.

The lineup now has Crawford and Gonzalez, Youkilis and Pedroia, David Ortiz, JD Drew (though I prefer youngster Ryan Kalish) and Jacoby Ellsbury.  At shortstop currently are Marco Scutaro and Jed Lowrie, both of whom have solid bats.  Catcher is manned by Jason Varitek, on the downside of his career but helps run differential on the other end by managing the game exquisitely, and Jerrod Saltalamacchia, whose name simply drips off his shirt.

Crawford plays great defense, and can be expected to score over 100 runs in that lineup, with 20 HR and 50 SB while hitting around .300.  Best of all, though, may be what it does to the Sox traditional rival.  It makes 'em crazy.  If the Yankees don't come up with Cliff Lee, and they are pulling out all the stops to do that, they may find themselves looking up at the end of next season.

Not So Fast, Patriots

Apparently the New England Patriots spent their time on the flight to Cleveland reading their press clippings.  (Which was, of course, something that has plagued Barack Obama for the last 4 years, but let's leave recent electoral politics out of it.)

...it is midway through the 2010 season and the Patriots stand alone with the league's best record at 6-1, and they've managed to reach that perch with comparatively little fanfare.

The Patriots, except for one flurry of attention when they traded wide receiver Randy Moss, have remained mostly under the radar, piling up victories with a revamped supporting cast assembled to complement their championship-winning mainstays, Coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady. The manner in which these Patriots are winning games is beginning to draw comparisons not to the exploits of the 2007 team that went 18-0 before being upset by the New York Giants in the Super Bowl, but to the workmanlike clubs that captured three Super Bowls between the 2001 and 2004 seasons.

"I think the way they're winning games is similar," former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. "I can make the connection on those terms. It's not just one unit of the team that's dominating. In '07, it was the offense that got all the attention. Now it's each phase. . . . It's been contributions from all over the place."

Maybe those convinced of the strength of the Pats didn't realize that they're 25th in total defense, and last at 47% in third down percentage defense.  Oof!! They stubbed their toes bigtime in Cleveland this afternoon, now on the short end of a 34-14 score.  The Pats defense has given up long scoring marches, unable to stop bruising back Peyton Hillis (6-1, 240), who has now run for 184 of the Browns' 230 yards.  Yeccch.

The Patriots have Tom Brady, which always makes them dangerous.  And they had won five in a row.  But they awere going on the road in the NFL which is always tough.  One of my concerns has been that they don't do the two things on defense that you seem to need to do in the NFL, and that's a) pressure the quarterback and b) stuff the run.  The Browns showed today that a power running game works against New England, and it opens up the secondary as the linebackers and safeties cheat up to help.  And offensively the Patriots don't run the ball consistently (68 yards today, total), and their receivers struggle to get separation and to stretch the field (7 catches by the wideouts today).  Browns corners played mostly man to man, quite successfully.

Next week isn't any easier, as they go on the road again to Pittsburgh.  You'd think Mike Tomlin will have taken some notes, and I suspect Bill Belichick will have done so too.  Belichick needs to find a way to get his defense off the field before 12 plays and three or four first downs.  Sacks help, and staying out of third and short would also help.

Big 3 vs. Big 3

Where I'll be tonight ...

vs.

(AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel)

Well, the Green do also have this guy.  And, hey, look, a 7 foot Turkish center!!

This should be fun!!!

It's Good To Be A Red Sox Fan

Very good, win or lose.  None of my Sox caps have ever been worn during criminal activity.

Francona Blew The Game

It seems like armchair, Monday morning quarterbacking to look with 20-20 hindsight at last nights Sox-Rays tilt and point the finger of blame at one Terry Francona.  Well, it is.  But last night, in the bottom of the eighth inning when Francona sent Clay Buchholz out to throw his 107th pitch to start the inning I thought "Oh, this is a mistake."

You see,the Sox had just taken the lead on Tampa Bay 2-1 on a Victor Martinez home run (third in two nights), giving Buchholz a chance for his 16th win.  The Red Sox needed six more outs.  True, the usual setup  guy Daniel Bard had pitched last night.   Also true, closer Jonathan Papelbon had pitched the ninth inning last night as well.  But the team had Thursday off, so this would have required an inning from each for only the second night in a row.  Or he could  go to lefty rookie Felix Doubront, who has been remarkably reliable in a setup-for-the-setup role.

But no. After Buchholz had given seven outstanding innings Francona left him in for two more hitters.  The first, Rays' centerfielder B.J. Upton,took the second pitch, a belt-high inside curve, deep to left to tie the game.  Doubront and Bard did eventually pitch, and gave the Sox scoreless appearances. But rather than bring in Papelbon in a tie game, understandably, Francona went with Scott Atchison in the 10th, and  Rays' DH Dan Johnson, who's hitting .149 now, took Atchison deep to win the game.

This one's on you Terry.  You talk a good game about everyone on the 25 man roster doing their job when the time comes to produce wins.  But when it came time to put those expressions of faith in your players into action, you failed.  You needed six more outs.  Bard for three or even four, and Papelbon for two or three.  Worry about  tomorrow's game tomorrow.

Yes, also, in the seventh J.D. Drew should have dropped the foul fly  to right, rather than letting Carlos Pena tag and score that first Tampa Bay run.  But you  had a chance to help out your pitcher and get him a win by doing the right thing in the eighth, and you didn't. This  one's on you, Terry.

Slow And Slower

An interesting article in the Wall Street Journal tomorrow, on the steadily slowing American distance runner.

But it's not just that slower, less well-trained runners are competing in races. In absolute terms fewer U.S. runners are running fast. Except for Ryan Hall (on a faster course in London), no American-born runner has ever run faster than Alberto Salazar's 2:08:13 marathon in New York in 1981. Meanwhile, three times as many male runners achieved the same qualifying time in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials in 1984 as in 2008. The story is the same at nearly every event up the distance ladder. With the exception of a few standouts (for example, Alan Webb), U.S. runners cannot match the times of their earlier progenitors.

Times have also slowed among the "sub-elite" or so-called club runner, the ranks from which champions emerge. Consider that in 1978 more than 2,000 runners broke three hours at the Boston marathon. In 2002, with a field nearly three times as large, only about 1,000 runners broke the three-hour barrier. At the seven-mile Falmouth Road Race, in 1979, a finishing time of 36 minutes was good enough only for 84th place. But in 2009, the same time would have earned 34th place.

So, yes, the Kenyans that win Boston every year are fast, but they're not dramatically faster than the winning times in marathons past.  But the American runners are struggling to compete at that relatively consistent elite level.  For example, Robert K. Cheruyiot won in 2003 in 2:10:11; in 1982 Alberto Salazar won in 2:08:52.

No, I don't have an answer.

Throwing It All Away

Of all of the frustrating losses this year by the Boston Red Sox, they have in the last two evenings, Thursday in Toronto and last night in Arlington, TX, perhaps reached the zenith (or is it nadir?) of frustration for themselves and their fans.  Ugly is a word that does not do justice.  First, a look at Thursday night's meltdown:

Just when the Red Sox were building the momentum needed to turn their fractured season into something hopeful, Papelbon cast it away. Handed a two-run lead to protect in the ninth inning against the Toronto Blue Jays, the closer allowed three runs, and the resulting 6-5 loss left the Red Sox stunned.

“These days happen,’’ Ortiz said. “It never gets easier.’’

The Sox took a 5-2 lead into the ninth, seemingly poised to win their fourth straight game and draw closer to a playoff berth. With John Lackey having thrown only 91 pitches, manager Terry Francona let him stay in the game.

Lackey threw a gopher ball to Jose Bautista leading off the ninth inning.  Bautista has done that to a lot of pitchers this year, and Lackey had thrown less than 100 pitches.  The manager, Terry Francona, played it "safe" and brought in the closer.  This did not work out as planned.  Two pitches later the lead was one run, and one out later it was tied.  The winning run would score on a medium depth sacrifice fly to a weak-armed Jacoby Ellsbury.

Last night may have been worse.  Handed an 8-2 lead after 3 1/2 innings, Sox "ace" Josh Beckett did not pitch like it.

One night after the Sox had squandered a three-run lead in Toronto, they did themselves one worse, giving up a game in which they had knocked the opposing starter out after just three innings and held a six-run lead.

“Those are games we certainly need to win, and we didn’t,’’ Francona said.

In the end, though, this was about Josh Beckett.

Coupled with Beckett’s last performance, against the Yankees Aug. 8, the Sox starter has now allowed 13 earned runs over his last 9 2/3 innings, his ERA ballooning even further to 6.51. He failed to get out of the fifth inning in his last start, and just made it through the fifth last night, each time putting a burden on a bullpen that hasn’t always been up to the challenge.

The Sox and August "swoons" are the stuff of legends ... and photoshop contests.  Well, the truth hurts sometimes.  There will certainly be nights when a Cliff Lee or a C.C. Sabathia pitches a gem.  And there'll be nights when your own starter is roughed up and knocked out.  But losing three run leads in the ninth inning, or six run leads in the fourth after roughing up the opposition starter leaves a lasting hurt among the players and the fans.

Sure, they've had a lot of injuries this year, with a lot of games lost to injury by star players.  Josh Beckett, Victor Martinez, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis Mike Cameron.  You're not going to win them all.  But you have to win the ones you should.  And right now the Sox aren't doing it, largely due to an inept bullpen and a closer, Jonathan Papelbon, who lacks command of the strike zone.

Former Baltimore Orioles' pitching coach Ray Miller used to teach the mantra, "work fast, change speeds, throw strikes" to his pitchers to get them to be successful.  For a closer, Papelbon doesn't work fast, rarely changes speeds, and when he does he rarely throws that change for strikes.  On top of that, his 94-96 mph fastball is wild in the strike zone, outside when it should be in, or finding the middle of the plate.  The opposing hitters wouldn't be in the bigs if they couldn't hit fastballs.  He has a lot of saves this year, but not many of them were "easy saves," retiring his assigned three hitters in order.

At this point you can only really hope that the bullpen comes around a little and at least doesn't blow the easy ones.  That the other four starters - Lackey, Lester, Matsuzaka and Bucholz - continue to pitch well and deep into games.  And that Dustin Pedroia returns to help an offense that hasn't been as bad as predicted.

And Then, Depression Set In

My last post, now about three weeks ago, discussed the schizophrenic UConn Huskies men's hoop team.  (The UConn women, OTOH, aren't schizophrenic, they're euphoric.)  In the interim since that post I've been swamped with work and other responsibilities, and spent school vacation week in a location with no internet access.  Once back, it's been busy again, and I've had a tough time diving in to writing the blog.  But I've been hoping that the fog would lift, both on my writing and my hoop team, and that the Huskies would start to, finally, live up to expectations.

No. Such. Luck.

They got smoked in round one of the Big East Tournament in  Madison Square Garden this afternoon, by 21 points against a so-so St. Johns team.  The difference was that St. Johns played like they wanted to play, and wanted to win.  UConn played as if they were tired of playing.

This year's team had a myriad of problems.  For example: porous defense that allowed dribble drives at will, today being a prime example; sketchy rebounding, which caused them to give up big offensive boards at inopportune times; poor outside shooting, with not a single shooter capable of commanding attention from the defense; a poor post game, with no one in the low block who seemed to have a "go-to" move, much less command a double team; senior leaders, one of whom couldn't find his own shot and one of whom could only find his own shot; a short bench that the head coach declined to develop.

It starts with defense, though, and the '09-'10 Huskies couldn't stop dribble penetration, didn't make the right help rotations, gave up offensive boards in bunches, and failed to force turnovers even against mediocre competition.  But it finishes with offense, and with no perimeter shooters commanding attention the opponents were free to help with impunity.  The lane gets clogged, and their own dribble penetration can be negated.  Add this to inability to protect the ball (Turnovers 'R Us?) and you get the picture.

What's the prospect for the future?  Some of it depends on 67 year old Jim Calhoun's willingness to rebuild next year.  Retirement's probably a lot more attractive today.  Some of it depends on recruiting, and they're in the running for one or two uncommitted McDonald's All-Americans.  Some of it is coaching, getting the players to work on what they need.   Like shooting.  Some of it is getting the second line players to push the front liners by playing like front liners.  There are some reasonable building blocks in place.

And some of it is motivational, getting players to play hard for 40 minutes consistently.  That was absent all too often this year, particularly today.

By the way, later this week I'll be attending my 20th consecutive Big East tournament.  I'll be rooting for Syracuse, where my brother attended college, in the absence of the Huskies.

This Year's Schizophrenic Hoop Team

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the UConn Huskies (men's version).

There's the last minute loss to now #2 Kentucky.  There's the W against #1 (at the time) Texas. They darn near beat Syracuse in the Dome last Wednesday.  A close loss to top 10 Georgetown, which was schizophrenia personified.  Up 19 in the first half, lead gone 10 minutes into the second half.

There's two losses to Cincinnati.  A loss at Michigan.  A bad loss at Louisville.  A loss at Providence.  A last second loss to Marquette - after Marquette's best player had fouled out.

And the latest installment, a win at #3 Villanova.

Connecticut was coming off a 60-48 loss to Cincinnati. The Huskies hit the 48-point mark less than 4 minutes into the second half.

Calhoun had called the loss to Cincinnati "embarrassing." This had to wipe some of that feeling away.

They've been a very frustrating team to watch this year.  They have only one player who truly knows the game of basketball, and that's sixth man/sometime starter Gavin Edwards.  Jerome Dyson and Stanley Robinson are very talented athletes, but Robinson seems unable to get his own shot, while Dyson seems to be able only to get his own shot.  Point guard Kemba Walker has been erratic, often pushing the tempo when he shouldn't, forcing shots, and a spotty shooter at best.  The three primary big men are terribly inexperienced, and it shows.  Often.  There's little depth at guard.  There's no reliable outside shooter, one who will almost always hit a three when open.  The two prize freshman recruits have played like freshmen.  Two other recruits have contributed less. 

And yet, the team has speed, athleticism, shot blocking intimidation,  can defend and can score in bunches when they can run.  They can look like worldbeaters at times, particularly when Walker is pushing the ball hard but making good decisions at the offensive end.  Robinson produces a few simply dazzling plays every game.  And Dyson gets end to end with the ball as quick as any 2 guard you'll see, and finishes with strength. 

Then there's the whole Coach Calhoun mystery ailment/3 week hiatus.  I think maybe he was dizzy trying to figure out which team he was coaching this year.

Win out their remaining Big East games, and the Huskies could be 10-8 in conference and 20-11 overall, with wins against Texas and Villanova on their resume.  Avoid a first round Big East loss and they could be in the NCAA tournament.

On the other hand, a loss against any of their final five league opponents and it's likely curtains for this member of last year's Final Four.

Beanpot Monday

And another Terrier win puts them in the final, 25th time in 27 years.  Boston U. doesn't win every Beanpot title.  It just seems like it.  They'll be facing a Boston College team that they vanquished 3-2 in the Frozen Fenway nightcap game, in the snow, on January 8.

Here's the history of the Beanpot Tournament plays out on the first two Mondays in February.  It's a college hockey gathering, with Harvard, Boston College, Boston University and Northeastern in a rotating semifinals-one-week-consolation and final- next week format.  And Boston University has been the dominant team, winning 12 of the last 15 titles, and were in all but one of those finals.  BC has won the other 3.  This has been a down year for BU, comong off their national championship in '09, but they may be rounding into form at just the right time.

A Biennial Pilgrimage

This weekend is occupied.  Every other year I travel with a few friends to a mecca, not the Mecca.  Green Bay, Wisconsin, home of the Packers.  Lambeau Field.  The legendary Vince Lombardi.  This year's game features the visiting Dallas Cowboys (y'all can boo now).

The Packers became "my" team, even though I grew up in Connecticut, in the mid-sixties.  I was becoming interested in football at 6 or 7 years old, and the Green Bay was the in the middle of the Lombardi championship years.  Bart Starr, Willie Davis, Ray Nitschke, Jim Taylor, and all the other Packer greats were the players I followed.  Bart Starr's biography was one of the first real books I read.  Yesterday we visited Fuzzy's 63 just a short distance from Lambeau Field, and Fuzzy Thurston himself was there, greeting guests and signing autographs.

That said, this year has been disappointing, particularly in watching how the clearly-not-washed-up Brett Favre has led the Vikings so ably, including two wins over Green Bay.  And last week's loss to Tampa Bay was even more of a sour note.  I'd like to see a little redemption today, and frankly they need a little redemption.

As a result, I haven't been in tune with events, or doing really any blogging.  I do have a little time this morning, so scroll down and see what's up.

And Go, Pack, Go!!
 

That's Not A Bug, That's A Feature

I'm a UConn basketball fan, more for the men's game than the women's, though I do follow both.  Occasionally when I'm not thinking current events I slip around to see what's going on with the Huskies as both teams head toward their season openers.  I found this little nugget at the Hartford Courant sports site, a comment from coach Jim Calhoun discussing one of his freshman, Jamaal Trice from California.

UConn coach Jim Calhoun continues to be impressed with freshman Jamaal Trice.

"The guy who jumped into the scene from Day 1 has been Trice," Calhoun said. "The biggest problem is he's a right-wing conservative."

A lot of times in sports it's the coach teaching the players.  This may be one player who can teach the coach.

The JTF "Quote of the Day"

George Will has a look at the not-so-Olympian efforts of Captain Teleprompter.

In the 41 sentences of her remarks, Michelle Obama used some form of the personal pronouns "I" or "me" 44 times. Her husband was, comparatively, a shrinking violet, using those pronouns only 26 times in 48 sentences. Still, 70 times in 89 sentences conveyed the message that somehow their fascinating selves were what made, or should have made, Chicago's case compelling...

The president told the Olympic committee that: "At this defining moment," a moment "when the fate of each nation is inextricably linked to the fate of all nations" in "this ever-shrinking world," he aspires to "forge new partnerships with the nations and the peoples of the world."...

But meaningful sense is often absent from the gaseous rhetoric that makes it past White House editors -- are there any? -- and onto the president's teleprompter. Consider one recent example:

Nine days before speaking in Copenhagen, the president, addressing the United Nations General Assembly, intoned: "No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation." What was the speechwriter thinking when he or she assembled that sentence? The "should" was empty moralizing; the "can" was nonsense redundantly refuted by history. Does our Cicero even glance at his speeches before reading them in public?

Bleccch!!  Remind me again about those speeches that elevate us, because this wasn't one of them.  He and his wife would have been much better off reciting Carl Sandburg. 

The Obama Olympic Campaign

Jay Cost writes at Real Clear Politics on Obama, Chicago's demise and the Olympics, and makes an excellent point.

Chicago has lost its Olympics bid, despite Obama's insertion into the process. People are shocked because they figured that Obama would fly in if and only if the deal was done.

But why? That assumes a typical allocation of the presidential prestige. President Obama has been anything but typical in the use of that asset. [...] This is the President who never hesitates to inject himself into the public consciousness for any little reason he likes.

This is the permanent campiagn. We have talked about its imminence for years. Well, now it's here and this is what it looks like. This is what a President does in it. Previous Presidents would only put themselves out there in this kind of diplomatic situation if there was no more campaigning, lobbying, and cajoling to be done. But this President sees himself above all as the chief campaigner, lobbyist, and cajoler.

Mr. Obama is convinced that his own personal magnetism and the force of his aura are really enough to convince followers to, well, follow.  It's been his approach to health care, where in repeated speeches he's repeated the same talking points, and outlined the same plan, despite doubts about both his veracity and the wisdom of the path chosen.  Why?   Because he believes that ultimately it will be believed and enacted simply because he says it is so.  For a man who is expert in so little to believe that the force of his utterances should carry such weight is the pinnacle of narcissism.  That he knows not is not the problem.  That he knows not, but knows not that he knows not is.  Of course it's a permanent campaign, because that's what he knows.

As for the rest of the nonsense being written, well, let's just say that I think Rio was an excellent, and appropriate choice for the Olympics, the first South American city to receive the honor.  It was probably appropriate for Mrs. Obama  and Oprah to travel and make a plea for the Obama's home city, though it certainly wasn't a "sacrifice."  It was neither necessary nor appropriate for the president himself to do so.  And there is a difference between wanting the president to fail in something important - like a war - and being amused by, not rooting for, a failure in a silly and excessive use of presidential authority.  Chicago will survive, probably better off with less graft and less scrambling for government cash among the corruptocracy there.

10/4/09 1150: And I couldn't agree more with Ann Althouse, having read the speeches, that terrible presentations cannot and should not inspire an organization such as the IOC.  And these were terrible, self-serving, self-absorbed paeans to their own ascendancy.

I Am Tiger Woods?

Today I played golf.  Well, not really golf.  At least, not a full round of golf.  My five year old daughter has a zest for the game, and wants to be "like the professionals."  So we hit the links together, playing four holes at the local course, 15 through 18.

We'd both tee off, then she'd hit a second shot, then we'd pick up her ball and move it to where my tee shot landed, and we'd both play from there.  Once on the green we'd both putt out, dropping her ball at a convenient location near mine.  She had a blast.  And I?  Not only did I have a blast, but I played my best golf of the year for those four holes.  Even par, and on the one par five we played I was just off the green in two.  (Missed a four footer for birdie - rats!)  Three of the four greens in regulation, and up and down on 18 from the rough just off the green.

So, as we're driving up the fairway on the last hole, approaching my tee shot and about 150 yards from the green, we spoke.

"Are you having fun today?

"Yes, dad.  I want to be a real good golfer, like the professionals.  Like Tiger Woods.  And you."

And that, my friends, is the only time you'll find Tiger Woods and I mentioned in the same breath in a discussion of golf.  Though I'd have been happy to help him out with the knee problem last year.

Old Tom Watson

The legendary Scot "Old Tom" Morris was born in St. Andrews and designed some of the legendary golf courses in the British Isles, like Muirfield and Carnoustie.  He won four Open Championships (known by non-golfers on this side of the pond as "The British Open"), including one by a record 13 strokes in 1862.  That record for a major championship lasted until it was broken by Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open in 2000 at Pebble Beach.

Golf has a new "Old Tom."  Tom Watson, all 59 years of him, and with an artificial hip placed last fall, spent four rounds at the top of the leaderboard of The Open, 34 years after his first Open win in 1975 and 26 years after his last,in 1983.  But the steady hands with the putter that younger golfers possess failed him on the 72nd hole of the tournament, and he fell into a playoff with Stewart Cink, 36.  Fatigue makes cowards of us all, and Watson had little fuel in the tank during the four hole playoff, and Cink won the playoff wire-to- wire.

Last year Greg Norman, at 53, challenged in The Open, holding the 3rd round lead before fading on Sunday.  Watson dueled today with young Aussie Matthew Goggin and England's Lee Westwood.  He stared down all of the challenges, keeping his game and his emotions under control. Until the putts at 18.

I've always loved Watson's game, the solid balanced swing mechanics and crisp irons, and particularly his ability to scramble, something I often need to do.  In the duel with Jack Nicklaus in the '77 Open, also at Turnberry, Watson finished 65-65 to Nicklaus' 65-66, as the two played head-to-head on the final two days.

Scotland ought to adopt him.  The guy sure can handle firm fairways and greens, long rough, chilly temps.  Oh, and wind.  Lots of wind.  Today he found himself one stroke short of history, but his performance is still worth celebrating.

Burton's Boards Vs. Brattleboro's Bods

Vermont is a strange state.  There is liberal angst in the state, particularly in ski areas, over risque photos of Playboy Playmates on the equipment of snowboarders.

BURLINGTON, Vt. - For Nicole Zarrillo, seeing a snowboarder with one of Burton Snowboards' new Playboy designs at a Vermont ski slope underscored the reasons why many Vermonters - including her boss - are protesting the new men's snowboards.

"When you really think about it, it's a young man standing on top of a naked woman's body," said Zarrillo, 38, an office manager for a nonprofit based in Burlington, also home to Burton's headquarters. "I probably could have gotten past it, because I try to have an open mind, but seeing it like that, it's offensive."

Burton Snowboards, located in Vermont's largest city since 1992, cemented its reputation among Vermonters as a progressive company through employee benefits such as matching child-care payments and paying for half of a worker's gym membership.

Yet the company has found itself at the center of a grow ing controversy in the liberal state, with residents, students, and politicians debating free speech and sexism on the ski slopes. The Burlington City Council discussed asking Burton to withdraw the boards, and the Girl Scout Council of Vermont is considering taking concerns to lawmakers next month.

See, "progressive" is just another word for PC and liberal.  Burton was "progressive" in offering benefits like matching child care.  But photos on boards?  This is, of course, the same state that thought teens hanging out naked in the city was fine and dandy.

Ah, liberal Vermont.  Where the maple syrup flows, the air is pristine, the skiing is divine, and teenagers with too much free time on their hands can be seen - really seen - on every street corner.

The nudity began in earnest this year, Brooks said, when one young woman decided she wanted to bare her chest in public, just like her male friends.

Since then, the no-clothes fashion has gained popularity and has expanded to include group bike rides, skateboarding, hula-hoop contests, and a grass-roots music event that the group dubbed the Brat Fest.

In Vermont, it seems, it is quite alright to be naked in public*, but to be seen with a tasteful nude photograph is awful, just awful.

*a law banning the practice was considered, then rejected in 2007.

Who's Brett Favre?

Maybe, after all, the Green Bay Packer brass knew what they were doing when they handed the reins to Aaron Rodgers.  I have to admit that I had strong doubts he was capable of living up to the years of excellence of the future hall-of-famer, but ...

Week 1: Last Monday night vs Minnesota.  24-19 win.  Rodgers: 18 for 22, 178 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT.
Week 2: Today at Detroit.  Leading 27-9 near the end of the 3Q.  19 for 27, 245 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT.

Not. Too. Shabby.

9/14/08 2125: Rodgers finishes 24 for 38, 328 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT.  Packers win 48-25.  Brett's Jets lose to the Patriots in New Jersey, 19-10, with Matt Cassel doing just enough to keep the Patriots in front.  Favre: 18 for 26, 181 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT.

Welcome Back, NFL

The NFL is back, and as a New Hampshirite the Patriots loss in the final game of last season still sticks a bit in my craw.  Sure, the Giants played a very solid defensive game, and they managed themselves well offensively.  But for a sack that should have been followed by a Manning-to-Tyree pass that should have finished its course rolling on the ground instead of being trapped against Tyree's helmet the Patriots would be the Super Bowl champions, a phenomenal 19-0 record to stand on throughout history.

New seasons bring new chances, and the Pats take on KC today in the home opener.  They're better at running back and linebacker, and weaker - possibly - in the secondary.  The big questionmark will be Tom Brady's health, and if prior Belichek-coached teams are an indication we will really never know just how his foot/ankle is, as he plays each game telling all he's "fine."  But Brady didn't play a snap in a pre-season game, and the Patriots lost all four.  The outlook for a Brady-less Patriot offense is considerably darker.

Based on last year's records New England has a relatively easy schedule this year.  But remember the phrase "On Any Given Sunday."  (Or Monday.  Or Thursday.  Or Saturday for that matter.)  The league is full of great athletes and playmakers, and every team has a few of each.

9/7/08 1325: Well, we'll find out about the backups.  Brady just limped off to the locker room.

9/7/08 2045: It appears that Brady suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his knee.  Ugh.  Looks like it's Matt Cassell or bust.  Today it worked for them - barely.  Obviously we'd like a little more certain confirmation than an anonymous "team official" making a brief offhand comment.

Tearing your ACL affects knee stability.  There are a lot of things you can do with a torn ACL, like swim, ride a bike, (usually) walk, and lift weights.  There are a lot of things that are very risky with a torn ACL, usually involving cutting and planting, quick stops and starts, jumpin (and landing from jumps), and pivoting.  Without the ACL the tibia can slide under the femur and give way as the alignment of the joint strays from the normal alignment too far.  The proverbial "trick knee."

It's smart to stay out in football, which like soccer, basketball and other high velocity sports puts the knee at high risk for instability episodes.  Each episode can do even more damage to the knee, from torn meniscus tissue to damaged joint surfaces.  And no, though braces help a bit, they won't prevent the episodes from occurring.

So get it fixed, Tom, and shoot for next year.

I have no idea why, but there are an awful lot of people who have posted videos of themselves and/or family members and/or friends tearing their knees up.

Be Like Mike

So Michael Phelps endorsement deal is for Frosted Flakes, and not the traditional Wheaties. I'm not concerned, but some people have got their knickers in a bunch over the 8 gold medal winner's association with a sugary cereal.

"I would not consider Frosted Flakes the food of an Olympian," said nutritionist Rebecca Solomon of Mount Sinai Medical Center.

"I would rather see him promoting Fiber One. I would rather see him promoting oatmeal. I would even rather see him promoting Cheerios ."

Different parent company, ma'am.  Get 'em to void what is certainly an exclusive deal with Kellogg and pony up the cash and I'm sure Mr. Phelps will oblige.

Seriously, though, why are you worried about cereal type, Ms. Solomon?  It's calories consumed and calories burned that matter most.  The "food of an Olympian" is whatever stokes the fire (within reason, obviously).  Maybe seeing the low- body fat physique of Mr. Phelps (who consumes 12,000 calories daily) and gaining an understanding of the hours of daily training required to get that physique - and register those amazing accomplishments might more than overcome a few extra calories of sugar.

Use Phelps' activity level as a model.  Be like Mike.

More 'Splainin' To Do, This Time In Chinese

Do you know what this is?

Give up?  It's a screenshot of a document produced by the General Administration of Sport of China.  An intrepid internet security specialist "Stryde" found it (I never heard of Baidu until now).  In any event, it lists He Kexin, gold medal winner on the uneven bars for the Chinese women's little girls' gymnastics team, with a birthdate of 1/1/1994.  If that is the case she would not be turning 16 until 1/1/2010, and would therefore not be eligible for Olympic competition this year. 

Well, what if you search for He Kexin and 1992?  You get the same result.

Oh, sure, the Chinese government issued her a passport earlier this year listing her birthdate as 1/1/1992.  I'm sure they'd have no ulterior motives for falsifying the age of a gymnast sufficiently skilled to bring home more gold medals for them.  This isn't about her.  I'm quite sure she had nothing to do with the subterfuge.

The IOC is investigating.  My prediction?  Since China is the host nation they'll find that this is "insufficient evidence" to disqualify He, alter the outcomes of at least the uneven bars and possibly the team competition, and embarass the Chinese.  I hope I'm wrong.

Body Of Evidence

Let's stipulate first that the American team had their chance and did not produce their best performances when they needed them in the Women's Team Gymnastics final a couple of nights ago.  Let's further stipulate that if "home field advantage" was present in the scoring it might not be the first time that's ever happened.

However, it would be very unusual, even for slightly built gymnasts, to have an average team weight of 77 pounds if they really are all 16 years old.  And, sure enough, a news report exists on the net was recently removed from its webpage which sheds doubt on the age of at least one competitor.

BEIJING (AP)—Just nine months before the Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government’s news agency, Xinhua, reported that gymnast He Kexin was 13, which would have made her ineligible to be on the team that won a gold medal this week.

[...]

The Associated Press found the Xinhua report on the site Thursday morning and saved a copy of the page. Later that afternoon, the Web site was still working but the page was no longer accessible.

You're putting me on!  The Chinese government control the flow of information?  You don't say!

Doctors can tell.  Google "Tanner Stages" if you don't think so.

I'm Certain That Lopez Lomong Disagrees

Mr. Lomong will carry the American flag at the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies.  He's quite proud to represent his new country, rightfully so I believe:

"I feel happy, honored. I'm feeling so blessed to get an opportunity to present the United States of America, to present the United States flag in front of my team."

It seems others might feel ashamed.

“America is …, uh, is no longer, uh … what it could be, what it once was. And I say to myself, I don’t want that future for my children.”

Here's the video.

I'm sorry to disagree, but America is, was, and will remain a great place to live, to work, to call home.  Sure, there are things I wish were different, things I would change if I could.  Nonetheless, I tell my daughters all the time how lucky they are to be born in this nation, out of all the other great nations on earth.  I don't suspect Mr. Obama's opinion of this nation will be all that popular.  Countdown to backtrack/"clarification" in five ... four ... three ...

An Inspirational Immigrant Story

This is the kind of thing that makes you hold your chin up with pride in your country.

DALIAN, China -- Eight years ago, Lopez Lomong didn't even have a country. Now he'll be carrying the flag for his adopted nation, leading the U.S. Olympic team at opening ceremonies Friday night...

He was born in Sudan, separated from his parents at the point of a gun at age 6, and with the help of friends, he escaped confinement and made it to a refugee camp in Kenya. In 2001, he was brought to America as part of a program to relocate lost children from war-torn Sudan.

Earlier this week, Lomong, 23, said he was mounting a campaign to be nominated by the track and field team for the flagbearer's position. He said the honor would be memorable, but he also was thrilled to be part of the democratic process that might get him there.

"In America, everyone has a chance to do all these things," Lomong said. "You follow the rules, people will choose, and if I'm blessed to get that opportunity, I'll get it."

Win or lose in the 1500, he's already won.  He understands, rather, he lived the egalitarian miracle that is America.  I'm rooting for this guy.

So Long, Manny

Hey, with two World Series wins in four years, including the '04 curse-busting edition, it was a productive 7 1/2 years in Boston.  And the batting numbers were consistently superb.  But this year, Manny, you jumped the shark.  Pushing down an older Sox traveling secretary because he couldn't come up with enough tickets for you and fuming about a contract that pays you $20 million this year (as it has for the last seven, and could have for another two with good behavior) finally pushed Theo Epstein where he didn't want to go.

Maybe it's Scott Boras behind the scenes creating enough turmoil to get his new client a new contract, the only way he can make any money off of said new client.  In any event, it became apparent that Manny's time in Boston would end either at the trade deadline, as it did, or at the end of the season when they'd let him go to free agency.

And the strange thing is, from my view at least, all he had to do was to be a little more of a good citizen, be more appreciative of the $160 million the Sox paid him over the years, and give 90% 90% of the time to be one of the more revered legendary Red Sox players.  With four more years of production (he's 36) he could have stats that only one other player in major league history has.  He already helped bring Boston two championships.  He puts up .300 - 30 - 120 - .900 (or better) virtually every year.  He's a classic four-hole hitter who makes opposing teams plan around him.

So he'll move to LA and put in a productive two months, and Boston will adjust to having Jason Bay in left field.  As Gerry Callahan notes, Bay does a lot of good things Manny doesn't do.

Maybe Jason Bay will not be quite the cleanup hitter that Ramirez was (then again, maybe he will be), but we know this much before he even takes the field for the Red Sox: He is a better fielder, a better baserunner, a better teammate, a better person.

But as Steve Phillips noted on ESPN last evening in discussing the trade, the Red Sox on the field are likely a slightly worse team today than yesterday.  Based on their performance since the All-Star break they might not be going anywhere this year anyway.

8/2/08 0840: So they win game one without Manny, and the new guy leads the way.  Go figure.

[Jason] Bay set the winning rally in motion with a towering fly ball to left-center against A's lefty Alan Embree that took one of those friendly Fenway caroms, turning what would normally be a double into a triple. It was Bay's first hit as a member of the Red Sox, but the fourth time on the night he reached base. He added a terrific sliding catch against Ryan Sweeney to end the top of the fifth.

Could Bay's first Fenway night have turned out any better?

"If that ball could have snuck out for me," quipped Bay. "I don't think so. I would have liked to do it in nine innings. It's been a long day. But it definitely ranks up there with one of the best moments I've had."

Some interesting comments from Manny's teammates.  I'll second Mike Lowell's take.

"To me, Manny is not a bad guy," said Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell. "He's a different guy. But he's definitely not a bad guy. I think there was definitely a different sense that was going on in the clubhouse over the last week..."

"To me, he's the greatest hitter I've ever seen, being able to play with him," said Lowell. "I know there's other great hitters in the league, I just haven't been able to be their teammates. His swing is unbelievable. He really worked hard at trying to perfect it, which seems almost ridiculous, when you have such a perfect swing and you're trying to make it better..."

"He had a remarkable run here," said [Sox GM Theo] Epstein. "His whole career has been remarkable. He's one of the best right-handed hitters in history and his numbers speak for themselves. He was a key part of two World Series teams. No one can ever take that away from him. We're not going to..."

1B Kevin Youkilis: "We're happy that Jason Bay is here, because he's a great guy. I've talked to a couple of teammates in Pittsburgh, and they say he's a really good teammate and a really good guy. If you're going to replace Manny Ramirez, you're not going to replace his stats. If you're going to replace him, you're hoping to get a good teammate, and that's what we got."

[DH David] Ortiz wasn't overly retrospective when asked what he will remember most about Ramirez.  "Everybody knows," Ortiz said. "Ain't no cleanup hitter like that, you know what I'm saying?"

I certainly do, David.

Alas, Not To Be

Greg Norman had the lead at the turn, but couldn't hold off defending champ Padraig Harrington, who finished birdie-eagle on 16 and 17 to put away the field.

Having reprised memories of his glory days through three unlikely rounds, Norman finished with a seven over 77 to be nine over for the tournament and in third place, six shots behind the winner, defending champion Padraig Harrington from Ireland, who shot a brilliant closing 69 in difficulty, windy conditions.

Understatement: Norman does not have a reputation as a strong finisher.

It was the eighth time Norman had entered the final round of a major championship with the lead. Only once, at the 1986 British Open at Turnberry, has he won from that position.

In comparison, Tiger Woods is 14-0 when leading a major into the final round.

To be fair, he lost two of those majors in his prime on highly unlikely shots.

Of the dozens of ways Greg Norman could have lost the 1987 Masters Tournament, this had to be the unlikeliest: a 140-foot chip shot that bounced twice up a grassy bank and once on the putting surface before it rolled halfway across the 11th green directly into the hole. That this miracle shot was hit by 28-year-old Larry Mize, a local boy, no less, who had won only one tournament in his six years on the PGA Tour, and that it beat the luckless Norman, the premier player in the world, on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff, made it downright unbelievable.

Yes, it was more unbelievable than the 72nd-hole bunker shot that Bob Tway holed last August to beat Norman in the PGA. Yes, once-in-a-lifetime shots have now robbed Norman of apparent victory in the last two major championships.

On the other hand, he shot 76 in that '86 PGA on Sunday setting up the loss, and in 1987 ended up in the playoff after a respectable Sunday 72.  It will be unusual if he finds himself contending in future majors, but hey, you never know.

Hope For The Older Golfer

(Reuters Photo)

Greg Norman, all 53 years old of him, is contending in the Tiger-less Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.

After his recent wedding to tennis ace Chris Evert he said: "I was trying to work on my game as much as I could, but I hadn't played a lot of golf.  My expectations were almost nil to tell you the truth. And my expectations are still realistically low and have to be that way. I haven't been in this position for a long time."...

The 53-year-old Australian, twice a winner of the Championship, admitted that although his appetite for endless hours of practice had diminished his competitive desire was still strong. "My mind still salivates. I still cherish it, and relish it."

It's great to compete at this level for Norman.  At 53 it's completely unexpected, and it gives a chill to all of us middle aged championship golfer wanna-bes.  As the coverage starts this morning it's a very windy day.  The leader after round 3 will need to be on their game.

The Open website is here.

One More

After an historic comeback in Game 4 of the NBA finals on Thursday night, Boston is on the cusp of a 17th NBA championship.  All that stands in the say is currently the most talented performer in the NBA and a coach who has won 9 NBA titles.  And injuries to three starters.  And a bench that is either young or experienced but not both.

Nonetheless, the Celtics, led by Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, should manage to win one of the final three games for the title, barring a complete meltdown.  For my money the MVP for Boston has been Allen, who played all 48 minutes in the huge comeback win on Thursday, and who has in this series consistently kept the ship afloat with big jump shots, steals, rebounds and hustle when it seemed like foundering was imminent.

It becomes clear in listening to the commentary that many broadcasters (cough ... Mike Breen ... cough ... Michael Wilbon ... cough) have no idea of the importance of defense and team play in the process of winning basketball games.  The Celtics lead the series 3-1 not because any Celtic is as good offensively as Kobe Bryant.  They lead the series because offensively the best shot is an open one.  They lead the series because when it comes time to cut off drives, rotate quickly and properly on help defense, block shots, and rebound the ball the Lakers as a group are getting a lesson in how it looks to do it right.

Just ask Sasha Vujacic, victimized by Allen on the clinching drive two nights ago.  Where was his help when he overplayed?

The Celtics Are Killing Me, And Other Sports Asides

I didn't have the time or energy to blog the Big East Tournament or the NCAA tournament this spring, given the circumstances with the move to NH (see below).  I went to the former, and watched the latter.  I did pick Kansas, so a pat to my back for that.  Suffice it to say that in both tournaments I was more than a little disappointed in the performance of my beloved UConn Husky men.  They got bounced by a darn good West Virginia in the Big East, and in the next game fell tragically to San Diego in the first round of the NCAA.

Which makes it even more puzzling that Luke Winn of Sports Illustrated now has them picked number one in the nation for next year.  Sure, on paper they look awesome.  But games are played on hardwood, and the return of 7'3" center Hasheem Thabeet, the signing of sharpshooting wing Scottie Haralson, the signing of sudden five-star forward recruit Ater Majok, the signing of McDonald's All-American point guard Kemba Walker (who will be a star) and the transfers of a couple of undisciplined and marginally productive players notwithstanding, I'll be a bit skeptical until I see the product on the floor match the product on paper.  Are you listening, Stanley Robinson?

Meanwhile, the baseball season is in full-swing and the Red Sox are looking strong, but it's early.  I like the starting pitching, with young arms Jon Lester and Clay Bucholz (and Justin Masterson, for that Matter) joining Josh Beckett, Tim Wakefield and Daisuke Matsuzaka in a strong rotation.  The bullpen, with the exception of Jonathan Papelbon, needs help, and David "Big Papi" Ortiz hasn't gotten untracked yet.  The Yankees are the Yankees.  Toronto is Toronto, with Roy Halliday.  Baltimore and Tampa are better.  This'll be a fun year to watch.

As for the Celts, it's been interesting to watch the defensive breakdowns in Atlanta that don't happen in Boston.  Offense is pretty, but defense wins.  Atlanta is filled with young talented players, but had the Celtics played 48 minutes of their style of defense for any one of the games in Atlanta they'd be looking at round two now.  Bet Danny Ainge is wondering whatever happened to the Joe Johnson the Green drafted several years ago. He's torching your wing players, Danny, that's what.  Game 7 is tomorrow, and I'm picking the Celtics, but they'd better be smarter with the ball on offense, take good shots and draw fouls, make the layups they get, rotate back on defense, and keep Josh Smith and Al Horford and Josh Childress off of the offensive glass.

I'll take Boston in a game 7 in Boston that should never have been.

Super Sunday - Not So Perfect Pats

18-1.

The Giants did it with a determined pass rush that gave Patriot QB Tom Brady very little time and almost no room to maneuver.

The did it with an attitude of "nothing to lose" that was an absolutely accurate description of their situation.

They did it with a little lot of luck on their final drive. including two passes, or possibly three that could have (and probably should have) been intercepted but weren't, and a couple of sacks that should have happened but didn't.

They did it with a QB who was disparaged to the point of being the subject of one of the funniest sports posts ever only a little over a year ago.

And they did it with - am I the only one who spotted this? - what seemed to be an illegal pick on a key 3rd-and-11 play keeping that final drive alive. Rookie wideout Steve Smith lined up in the slot on a three wide right set, Patriots safety Brandon Merriweather drawing the assignment.  But Merriweather got picked off by the 2nd wideout crossing with Smith as he headed to the flat.  Smith was wide open in the right flat, and picked up the first down.  A key first down.  Instead of fourth and about 20 from the 36 it's first down at the 15.  Next play?  Touchdown Plaxico Burress.

So the Giants have the Super Bowl title, and the Patriots have the "what if's" to think about.  The biggest "what if" is this:  Bill Belichick, renowned for creating defenses that confuse and lock down an opponent, couldn't generate a pass rush consistently enough, even with a variety of blitzes, to make Eli Manning's knees wobble.  His defense was, sad to say, passive, playing "bend but don't break" instead of forcing the action.  Manning was able to run the Giant offense the way he wanted.  And with the Giants defense playing lights out on the other side of the ball, he could afford to be conservative, to throw short slants and hooks, and to wait for his openings.

It's hats off to the Giants.  And for the Patriots?  An offseason of "what if's."  Lots of "what if's."

Not Giselle?

Media Day at the Super Bowl apparently brings some interesting participants to the festivities.  A reporter apparently decided that three time Super Bowl winning QB of the Patriots Tom Brady might be available, and showed up in a shorter than usual white wedding dress to ask for his hand.

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) -- Welcome to the Freak Show.

It starts on my way through the security checkpoint at University of Phoenix Stadium, where, after clearing the metal detector and reclaiming a set of rental-car keys, a handful of loose change and a cell phone, I have my first encounter with a vision in white (and red, if you make it down to the towering pumps).

I gaze upon the veil flowing down her bare neck, the strapless, thigh-high wedding dress that must have come from the Britney Spears Collection, the garters holding up her lacy stockings. Clearly, she's got matrimony on her mind and a bunch of wealthy bachelors -- potential husbands all -- waiting on the stadium floor.

[...]

Gomez Mont sets her standards high: the supermodel-dating, ruggedly handsome quarterback of the 18-0 Patriots.

"Would you marry me, Tom?" she asks Brady.

No chance. He decides to stick with the play he called, Gisele Bundchen.

Ah Giselle.  Excellent choice.

(Photo - and others - at Daily Buzzer)

Then again ...

Maybe worth a second look?  Nah, he turned her down.

Two Pretty Good QBs

That would be the New England Patriots' Tom Brady, and the Green Bay Packers' Brett Favre.  First Tom Brady.  Jacksonville's defense took away anything long, and anything to star wideout Randy Moss, and forced Brady to throw short under the defense, and to backs out of the backfield.  These were shorter throws, and he was accurate on them.  Very accurate.

Brady completed 92.6 percent of his passes, breaking Phil Simms record of 88 percent (22-of-25) set in the Super Bowl after the 1986 season in which he led the New York Giants to a 39-20 win over the Denver Broncos.

And Brady did it mostly without Randy Moss, who had only one catch.

He hit all the other receivers -- throwing for three touchdowns and 262 yards.

Brady was 26 for 28, but both of the incompletions were essentially drops.  One hit a wide-open Wes Welker in the hands just as he turned to look for the defense, and was a clear drop.  The other was a little high and wide to tight end Ben Watson.  With a reach Watson got both hands on the ball, but couldn't pull it in.

The Patriots move on at 17-0 on the season by beating the Jaguars 31-20, and will meet the San Diego - Indianapolis winner in the AFC championship game.  Jacksonville played very well, and clearly has their quarterback of the future in David Garrard.

Then there was ageless Brett Favre, who saw his team down 14-0 in the first five minutes of the game.  he didn't panic, calmly driving Green Bay to a touchdown after the next kickoff, and the Packers eventually got rolling, taking out the Seahawks by 42-20 in a near white-out snowstorm.

"I've been hoping for that for 17 years," Favre said. "I was watching the weather all day and it's a shame, I'm like, 'Just give us one of those big snow games.'

"I wanted to play where you couldn't see the field, and the snowplow comes out. It keeps getting worse and worse," he said.

Favre was 18 for 23 for 173 yards, but for three touchdowns.  He had a lot of help on the ground from Ryan Grant, who atoned for two early fumbles by rumbling for over 200 yards, repeatedly slashing through the Seahawks defense for large chunks of snow covered Lambeau turf.  Go get yourself a Leinie, boys. You've earned it.  The Pack faces the Giants - Cowboys winner next week in the NFC title game.

To Be, Or Not To Be Perfect?

The New England Patriots, already winners of the first 15 regular season games, are looking to close out the pre-playoff schedule with a win against the Giants, keeping the rare zero in the loss column.  The entire US will be able to watch as the game, originally scheduled for the NFL Network cable channel only, is now also slated for both CBS and NBC.

This Patriots team has had a bullseye on their back at least since their win over the Colts in week 9.  At that point, having beaten the top challenger and defending Super Bowl champions, the eyes of football fans were looking to see who could step up to derail the express.  None have.  It's possible, however, given the TapeGate controversy after the week 1 win against the NY Jets and Belichick protegee Eric Mangini, that they've been marked men all season long.

Today's opponent, the NY Giants, are in the playoffs and are set in their playoff position.  They'll finish in fifth in the NFC, and will play again next weekend.  Will they rest their players, knowing that scenario?  Will they play to be the Team That Knocked Off The Pats?  Even if they do, will the uneven Eli Manning have what it takes?

As for the Patriots, in addition to the perfect regular season, they're chasing all time records for TD passes thrown (QB Tom Brady), TD passes  caught (WR Randy Moss), and points in a season, among other records.  Will those pursuits interfere?

My prediction is the 1972 Dolphins will have company.  It's the Patriots by 24-13.  I don't think Eli Manning has enough in his arsenal to get the job done, and if the Patriots sack him a couple of times hard Coach Tom Coughlin would be smart to sit him and get ready for the playoffs, rather than risk a late season injury with a playoff spot assured.

Better Lucky Than Good

Even better to be both lucky and good.

The Baltimore Ravens did everything a team could do to knock off the best team in the NFL and it was almost enough. But trailing 24-20 with just over three minutes left to play, Tom Brady managed a frantic drive to take the lead despite facing fourth downs and a furious Ravens defense that had been blanketing Patriots receivers throughout the night.

[...]

New England got the ball back with 3:30 left. Brady had Stallworth open over the middle on first down but a hard hit by Samari Rolle knocked the ball out before Stallworth could haul it in. Watson was good for a 23-yard catch on the next play, slanting over the middle and going down at midfield.

A second and 10 pass to Faulk went for 9 yards and Brady kept for 2 for the first down at the 39. Brady was incomplete on first and second down and Faulk caught another 9-yard pass on third down. That brought up fourth and 1 from the 30. Brady kept and was stuffed but the refs ran in waving the play off. Apparently, the Ravens had called a timeout just before the snap. New England had second life.

Russ Hochstein was flagged for a false start next moving the ball back 5 yards to the 35. Brady looked to pass on fourth and 6 but again the Ravens had excellent coverage so Brady tucked the ball away and ran for 12 yards to the 23. Rolle was flagged for a 5-yard illegal contact penalty followed by a 5-yard run by Faulk up the middle. Brady's three incompletes that followed brought up another fourth down. Brady looked to Watson in the end zone and he was leveled but flags flew. Jamaine Wilborne was caught holding Benjamin Watson in front of the play and that gave new England a first down.

Now, with a first and goal from the 8, Brady had time, looked left and found Gaffney who made a nice play to keep both feet in bounds along the side of the end zone. The play was reviewed but the call was upheld and the Patriots had a 27-24 lead.

Okay, let's run through the complaints.  Yes, there were a lot of penalty calls, but if you look at the replays they were, indeed, all penalties.  Yes, the Ravens did call timeout just before that fourth down play.  And yes, the pass to Gaffney was a tough call.  It doesn't seem, however, that a single one of those calls is really arguable when pulled from the context of the game and a last gasp drive.

The Patriots didn't win because of Hochstein's false start, Rolle's or Wilborne's holding/illegal contact penalties, or due to the Ravens timeout.  They won because, when they needed to, they were finally able to stop Willis McGahee on the ground and force punts.  McGahee had gashed the defense for large chunks of real estate for the first three quarters.  Just not when it mattered most.  And they won because, no surprise, Kyle Boller made mistakes down the stretch that Tom Brady didn't make.

The rest of the NFL is catching on to something, however, with the Eagles and now the Ravens blueprint darn near knocking off the undefeated Pats.  Next up are the 9-3 Steelers.  That is going to be another great game.

Say It Ain't So, Barry

Actually, don't.  Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds, baseball's home run king, was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice Thursday and could face prison instead of the Hall of Fame for telling a federal grand jury he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs.

The indictment, culminating a four-year investigation into steroid use by elite athletes, charged Bonds with four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison.

Unsurprised is an understatement.  Could it be that Bonds thought it was okay to cheat out of an air of moral superiority?

Never Say Never, Yankee Style

The New York Yankees lost their slugging third baseman at the conclusion of the season, as the Darth Vader of agents, Scott Boras, convinced Alex Rodriguez to opt out of his contract in search of more money.  Yankee comments at the time indicated that the split was final.

New York, which failed to make the World Series in all of Rodriguez's seasons, has said it would not attempt to re-sign A-Rod if he opted out. Hank Steinbrenner, a son of Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, reiterated that point Monday, dismissing the possibility of negotiations.

"No chance,'' he said from Tampa. "Not if it's made official (filing letters on opting out). I haven't talked with Brian yet today.''

[...]

"We wanted him to stay a Yankee. We wanted to let him know how much we wanted him,'' he said. "The bottom line is ... do we really want anybody that really doesn't want to be a Yankee? How the heck can you do that? Compare him with Jeter. Jeter, since he was a little kid, all he ever wanted to do was play shortstop for the Yankees. That's what we want.''

Hold your horses there, Son of The Boss.

And by Wednesday night, not only were Rodriguez and the Yankees back on speaking terms, but sources said they were close to a deal that would pay Rodriguez $275 million over 10 years.

Unless talks break down, Rodriguez will have his Yankees and his record-breaking contract, and he won't have to go into the Hall of Fame as a Toledo Mud Hen – as one of the Steinbrenner boys wise-cracked two weeks ago – and Yankees fans can recommence sorting their feelings for A-Rod.

[...]

"After spending time with (wife) Cynthia and my family over these last few weeks, it became clear to me that I needed to make an attempt to engage the Yankees regarding my future with the organization," Rodriguez wrote on his website.

"Prior to entertaining any serious negotiations with other clubs, I wanted the opportunity to share my thoughts directly with Yankees' ownership. We know there are other opportunities for us, but Cynthia and I have a foundation with the club that has brought us comfort, stability and happiness.

"As a result, I reached out to the Yankees through mutual friends and conveyed that message."

$275 million buys a lot of goodwill.  It's the kind of money he'd get from no other team in baseball.  Luxury boxes in a new billion dollar stadium can cushion the overhead quite nicely.  Let's have a look at his production in the last four postseasons, though, to get an idea if this is a wise investment.

Year    Team     Opp     Series    W/L    BA    AB   HR    RBI    SO    BB     OPB    SLG

2004     NYY       MIN     ALDS      W     .421     19    1      3       1      2     .476    .737
2004     NYY       BOS     ALCS      L      .258     31     2      5       6      4     .378    .516
2005     NYY       LAA     ALDS      L      .133     15    0      0       5      6     .381    .200
2006     NYY       DET     ALDS      L      .071     14     0      0       4      0     .071    .071
2007     NYY       CLE     ALDS      L      .267     15     1      1       6      2     .353    .467

Gruesome.  In Boston the discussion is, would you rather have A-Rod or Mike Lowell, this year's WS MVP?  My answer?  Yes.  But I have to admit that, if Rodriguez had become a Red Sox, going into the postseason I'd be holding my breath and crossing my fingers.

Is Running It Up Rubbing It In ...

... or just good football?  Former Pittsburgh Steeler Head Coach Bill Cowher suggested, perhaps ill-advisedly, that if the New England Patriots keep destroying the opposition then someone might take a cheap shot at Patriot QB Tom Brady to try to injure him.

"At some point if this continues, someone's going to take a cheap shot,'' Cowher said. "Is that worth subjecting your players to if it comes to that?''

Cowher may have a bit of a grudge here, as the Patriots defeated his Steelers a couple of times in the playoffs en route to Super Bowl titles in 2002 and 2005.  And he may believe that "going to the tape" might have led to those losses.  But watching the game, as I did last weekend, the Patriots only questionable moment occurred near the end of a drive that started in the third quarter, not the fourth, and would have made a difference of all of four points.  On fourth and one at the Redskin 7 with 11 minutes left, Tom Brady ran a QB sneak as the team eschewed the field goal, leading two plays later to a TD pass to Wes Welker.

There are several ways to look at this.  One is to whine, "hey, you're running it up by going for touchdowns."  Another would be to realize that, had the Redskins defense stuffed the run and taken the ball back, going for it had given the defense a chance to keep the score closer.  Why did Belicheck go for it on fourth down?  Probably to keep possession and run the clock down more.

All of this is irrelevant.  Injuries and comebacks happen when you take your foot off the pedal.  If I'm coaching a team I want them playing hard for 60 minutes.  And to get that they need to know that I'm coaching all out for 60 minutes.  Maybe you bring in a backup QB, as the Patriots did on the next offensive series.  But you still call aggressive plays and you play hard.  Joe Gibbs, wise veteran coach that he is, said nothing.  He knows that if you want to make the game closer the best way is to play better.  He'll use the game to teach his team about the weaknesses the Patriots exploited, and to make them better.  That's what it's all about.

Sox Vs. Rockies, Game 4

"And the little children shall lead them."

Last night - very late last night - the Red Sox got it done in game 3 putting up 10 runs to take a 3-0 lead in the World Series against the Colorado Rockies.  Rookies Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia were on base all night, Ellsbury with four hits.  They've got rookie Jon Lester, a cancer survivor, pitching tonight and Josh Beckett pitching tomorrow (if necessary).  I'd be surprised if Fenway Park sees any more games this year.

Through four innings the lefthanded Lester is pitching very smartly.  He's given up a couple of doubles and a couple of walks, but has gotten out of minor trouble twice, and has shut out Colorado to this point.  The Sox lead after four, 1-0.

Oh, and the Patriots stayed perfect with a thrashing of the Washington Redskins, 52-7, earlier today.

10/28/07 2240: Now it's 3-0, after a Mike Lowell homer to left.  Nine more outs, and Boston Red Sox will have their second title in four years after an 86 year much-celebrated drought, the "Curse of the Bambino."

10/29/07 0630: The Rockies made it close with another home run off of the overused Hideki Okajima, and in the ninth another drive off of closer Jonathan Papelbon fell just short at the wall (darn that humidifier!).  But in the end the Red Sox hund on to the lead, winning 4-3, led by series MVP Mike Lowell.  Awesome.  Lester went 5 2/3 scoreless, and Manny Delcarmen, Mike Timlin, Okajima and Papelbon did just enough in relief.  Lowell hit a solo home run and reserve outfielder Bobby Kielty pinch hit one also.

After sweeping St. Louis in '04 they sweep the Rockies in '07, making it eight straight wins in World Series play.

There'll be a little intrigue surrounding Mike Lowell.  He's a free agent, and I think the Red Sox are likely to re-sign him, but Alex Rodriguez has opted out of his contract with the NY Yankees, and there are very few teams that can afford him.  My bet is that they re-sign Lowell.  A-Rod has not been a guy who steps up in the playoffs, and his defense at third is sketchy.  Lowell is a gold glove third baseman with a solid bat, who clearly can keep his focus in the playoffs.  Rodriguez has unbelievable regular season stats and there werre times during the season that he absolutely carried New York.  But the Sox should sign Lowell, and let A-Rod find another home.