Go Celts!
Merry Christmas Everyone!
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Patriots Seek Top Seed in the AFC
Tomorrow, our AFC East champs are set for a Christmas Eve matchup in Foxboro against the Miami Dolphins. AFC champions is a great start, but let’s be honest…it’s just a start and in fact, doesn’t mean a whole lot in the bigger picture. Winning out and securing the top seed in the AFC is what the Pats are looking to accomplish. This would set the stage for home field advantage throughout the playoffs, a much more advantageous accommodation than simply winning the division. Although the Pats are 6-2 on the road this year, they need to look past that and at what they could potentially face. Both the Steelers and the Ravens have proved their dominance at home, as opposed to their road schedules. The Steelers are 6-1 at home, 4-3 on the road, while the Ravens are 7-0 at home this year, and 3-4 on the road. The Pats need to come into the final two games of the regular season as if they’re fighting for a playoff spot. No longer does it mean putting in backups and giving Brady a rest. They need to take the Dolphins seriously, as the team has won 5 of their last 7 after a less than dismal start. If the Pats leave it all on the field tomorrow and again New Year’s Day against a struggling Buffalo, they should be well off on their journey to Super Bowl XLVI.
Jersey’s Newest Problem (as if they didn’t have enough)
Just when you think things may be turning around for the New Jersey Nets, one of their best players goes down. Brook Lopez is now sidelined with a broken foot, and will be out until at least February, probably even longer. This could be deadly to the Nets, who seemed to be the front runner in acquiring Dwight Howard from the Orlando Magic. Unless the Magic actually do hold out until after the all-star game that they are hosting to avoid an awkward return of a certain all-star, shortly after they have traded him. Lopez was the centerpiece of this trade, and hopefully they can still make it work, so he doesn’t go to that yellow and purple team in Los Angeles.
As much as I would hate a Deron Williams-Dwight Howard duo in the Atlantic Division with the Celtics, I would rather see them win it than see the Lakers tie Boston’s record of 17 championships, and I hate Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, and dislike greatly Kobe Bryant (hate is a strong word for a player of his caliber… reminds me of rapist version of Derek Jeter).
Barkley to Remain a Trojan
University of Southern California Quarterback Matt Barkley has decided to forego the NFL draft and complete his senior year next season. He would have most likely been a top 10 pick and had the potential to make millions next year for whichever team needed a quarterback after Andrew Luck gets chosen. I can go along with this decision for the sole fact that I respect his chase for a national championship after being royally screwed the last two seasons because of Reggie Bush and others taking bribes.
Hopefully Barkley can go through his final season the same way he did this season—on top. He threw for 3,528 yards, 39 touchdowns, and only 7 interceptions. If he keeps up with this pace, he could go down as the best quarterback in the elite school’s history. The Trojans (insert condom reference here) will most likely be pre-ranked in the top 3 teams next season, and he will almost certainly be the front-runner for the Heisman (even though their pick doesn’t always win.. See Andrew Luck)
Mayweather’s Jail Sentence
In case you all haven’t checked out Sportscenter the last day or so, Floyd Mayweather Jr. was sentenced to a whopping 90 days in jail (which will likely be reduced) for a “case stemmed from a hair-pulling, punching and arm-twisting argument with his ex-girlfriend Josie Harris while two of their children watched in September 2010.” Not sure how arm-twisting works into this equation, but can we take a second and ask how one of the best boxers of all time got into a punching match with his wife (in front of his kids) and only got 90 days? His hands have to be lethal weapons, so there must be a bit more to this story if he only received this kind of sentence. Besides the fact that this is a terrible incident, and one of many on Floyd’s rap-sheet, this could have a serious impact on the legendary – but unlikely to happen – fight between Manny P and Mayweather. If Mayweather is jailed for 90 days, this would cut into his mandatory 8-week training time he takes before a fight. If this undisclosed opponent (set to battle Floyd on May 5th of next year) is in fact Manny Pacquiao, you better believe that Mayweather will want to take some significant time to train. Regardless, Mayweather’s actions may have jeopardized the most important fights of his career, and potentially the most anticipated bouts since Ali and Frazier.
Celtics Look Ahead
Well the Celt’s preseason has come and gone in a blink of an eye, as it should considering they only mustered up two games. It was great to see them win at the garden last night, but the game served a higher purpose. With 13 guaranteed contracts and the likelihood they’ll only carry 14 players out of camp, the C’s only have one roster spot open for the likes of Greg Stiemsma, Gilbert Brown, Jamal Sampson, and Michael Sweetney. In my opinion, and based on how much he played and how he performed, Stiemsma’s going to be the man left standing. He put in 7 points off the bench last night, but ran the floor and showed how he could be a defensive presence for the Celts. None of the others really stood out in either preseason game, besides Sweetney for obvious reasons. It was like Danny called Vince Wilfork to come play. In the six minutes he played, the crowd erupted at the garden each time he merely touched the ball. When he scored his first and only bucket, on a failed dunk attempt, the garden lit up like it was Game 7 vs. the Lakers, circa 2008. I kind of felt bad for the guy but such is life.
With the season opener only three days away, many question how strong the Celtics will be. There’s been a lot of doubt in everyone’s mind as to how they’ll perform. It may not be as promising as past years, but I have faith. My pick for this year is E’Twaun Moore. Mark my word, this kid’s going to do big things. His quickness, vision, shooting, and ability to play to the people around him are going to come in handy this year, especially with the veteran presence the Celts have. I think we’re going to see good things come out of Moore this year. I’m excited to see him and the rest of the team in action come Christmas. Should be a good game.
Wes, Meet Twitter
With the lack of Tebow heroics this weekend, NFL chatter had to look elsewhere for news during the week. In fact, it can be found right here in Boston, as top news early this week has been Wes Welker’s arrival to Twitter (@WesWelker). The Pat’s stud got a true taste for the Twitter craze right off the bat, seeing his followers rise up to 80,000+ in a couple days. Using this to connect with his fans, Welker revealed he would be at Whole Foods in Bellingham doing an appearance for the energy bar he endorses. Little did he know all 80,000 would show up. Little bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point. The line was out the door and the busy athlete wasn’t able to make time for everyone, as he needed to continue prepping for the game against Miami Christmas Eve. One follower even tweeted her complaint about the appearance at Wes, to which he responded.
What a guy. How could you not love him? Play maker on the field, gentleman off. But seriously, you have to love the camaraderie the Pats have. Ocho, who notoriously abuses Twitter, and even Gronk have been going back and forth with Welker over Twitter. I’m telling ya, the thing is taking over. If you don’t have one you’re missing out! For the full article check out CSNNE.com’s post.
Will the Patriots Make the Super Bowl?
It’
s that time of year again… The Patriots are 11-3 and in sole possession of first place in the AFC after having clinched the AFC East last week. The question most of you are wondering is as follows: Can the Patriots make it to the Super Bowl? It looks like the Patriots should have earned themselves a first round bye and potentially home field advantage throughout the playoffs. The latter part I see to be very important.
Going to Heinz field and facing a Steelers team that isn’t depleted by injuries is not an easy task and that was proven earlier this season. That doesn’t look to be the case though. If the Patriots do meet the Steelers in the playoffs they will have to come through Foxboro and it’s a whole different atmosphere for them. Roethlisberger looks very hurt and an injury like that can keep most players out for a few weeks. The Ravens could be a tough game, but Joe Flacco looks average at best, and even the Ravens defense can get beat by a good offense as that was shown Sunday night. The Texans don’t have the passing game to really take advantage of the terrible Patriots secondary like most teams can. As far as the rest of the AFC goes there isn’t any other team in the conference that would really scare me; especially if they are coming to Gillette.
The Patriots secondary is clearly their weakness and at times has been exposed but it works into the Patriots favor that the list of potential quarterbacks they could face in the AFC playoffs are headlined by Big Ben and followed with QB’s like T.J. Yates, Joe Flacco, Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow, and Matt Hasselbeck.
Anything can happen in the NFL, but if I had to put my life savings down on a team to come out of the AFC, it would be the Pats.
Current NBA Salary Structure Not Up To Par
The way the NBA’s salary structure works today has already lead to star free agents teaming up with each other to form their super-teams. The way I look at it is the NBA is to blame for it. The NBA needed to change this in the new collective bargaining agreement and they did not. I’m sure the players association would have been for what I am about to propose.
I am all for a salary cap, but the league should not be telling teams how to spend their allotment of cap space. There are max contracts allowed in the NBA. When LeBron James was a free agent last summer notice most of the talk was not about money, it was all about where LeBron wanted to play. A team like the Cavaliers did not have a realistic opportunity to sign LBJ. They couldn’t offer more money than any other team. The only reason LeBron would have stayed in Cleveland would have been because he was faithful to his hometown fans. We all know how important that was to him. Why would LeBron rather play for a team that can’t offer a supporting cast over a team like the Heat that had Bosh and D-Wade when money isn’t even a factor? He won’t. No one will.
The NBA players have essentially realized that they can dictate where they want to play and it continues to put their present teams in dreadful situations. Chris Paul didn’t want to go to Boston during recent trade rumors, but what if the Celtics were able to offer CP3 a $30 million per year deal? I’m not saying I would want to do that as a Celtics fan, but I’m sure the extra millions would have made him reconsider. I’m sure the Cavs would have offered LBJ anything he wanted to stay in Cleveland. Losing out on the LeBron sweepstakes ruined their franchise for the near future. Yes, as a free agent the players could still choose where they wanted to play, but assembling super-teams would come at a cost to the players. If the Cav’s were to have offered LBJ $30 million per year, and the Heat only had the cap space for $20 million, it may have changed the situation. Instead we are going to continue to have 5-8 teams in the league with a legitimate title shot, while leaving the remaining teams completely hopeless.
Celtics Still Injured
Just 10 months after a spine injury where he was taken off in a stretcher, presumably finished for his career, Marquis Daniels has come back stronger than ever. I know that I felt bad when we let him go last season because we were fighting hard for a championship. At least we made things right and got him back, and now he is better than he was before his surgery. Marquis might have the chance to start on Christmas Day against the Knicks, assuming Pierce is still hurt. He is a great spot up defender and could probably do a better job than anyone (including Pierce) at guarding their best player, I think his name is Carmelo or something…
However, Doc Rivers said that he likes the way the second unit plays together so he may even throw Sasha (remember that utterly useless guy from last season??) into the starting role just to keep his second team together for when our senior citizens get tired. The Knicks are undoubtedly going to be a lot stronger of a team than last year. Do you think we can beat them right off the bat? I believe so since they are a new team and have had limited practice, while the core of our team has been together since 2007.
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