Touching All The Bases
As I round the bases, just some food for thoughts on this pre-Spring Monday morning.
1st Base- The Bruins- Does anybody care about the Bruins and hockey in general any more? Whenever I pass through NESN on a game night, the empty seats are appalling. Hockey was THE sport in Boston in the early 1970's with the Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito era when everybody knew their names and everyone played street hockey. Now they are like a minor league affiliate in this town.
2nd Base- The Celtics- They were to Boston sports in the 1980's what the Bruins were in the 1970's. You just knew when the Larry Bird-Kevin McHale era ended, that was it. And you know what? That was it! Their only hope of becoming a player again in this sports market was to "casually" rest Paul Pierce and play the string out with the kids and pray for enough ping pong balls to land Greg Oden, the next franchise center. So what do they do? They bring Pierce back, run off a streak of 4 wins in a row, and basically, eliminated the higher percentage of landing Oden. Why? You got me. I have no faith in the Danny Ainge- Doc Rivers collaboration. I like Al Jefferson, who is developing nicely, and Pierce is Pierce. But without a point guard to lead this mess, hello Jason Kidd, and a legit center, they'll forever be the Boston Clippers. So sad! They seem to have no plan in place. Danny Ainge supposedly told ESPN recently he was surprised at the make-up of his roster. Surprised?! He put it together! Oy vey!
3rd Base-the Red Sox- So begins the Dice era. I personally think to give this guy zillions when he never picthed in a major league game made no sense. But we all know it was to keep him from the Yanks and with their expert marketing, they'll double their invest ment in him with marketing out in the Far East. Now with that said, methinks he'll be ok, he's no Pedro though. (By the way are you concerned when you hear the muffles of his fastball having no pop?). And, if their starting pitching can hold up, and they develop some sort of bullpen rotation, they'll be in it till the end barring injuries. I say Papelbon will have the biggest year amongst starters.
Homeplate/Home Run- the Patriots-You have to love their off-season moves so far! You can't tell me they're not going for it all this year. And why not, short of a Reche Caldwell drop, this team wins another Super Bowl. They've added a premier lineback to the team in Adalieus Thomas. And they've added two top receivers in Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker, along with running back Sammy Morris. They franchised Asante Samuel and they have two number ones in this April's draft. Now of course things can change in a blink if anybody goes down, and it is football-ie injuries. But again, barring injuries, are they not they waaay-early favorite in the 2008 Super Bowl?!
1st Base- The Bruins- Does anybody care about the Bruins and hockey in general any more? Whenever I pass through NESN on a game night, the empty seats are appalling. Hockey was THE sport in Boston in the early 1970's with the Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito era when everybody knew their names and everyone played street hockey. Now they are like a minor league affiliate in this town.
2nd Base- The Celtics- They were to Boston sports in the 1980's what the Bruins were in the 1970's. You just knew when the Larry Bird-Kevin McHale era ended, that was it. And you know what? That was it! Their only hope of becoming a player again in this sports market was to "casually" rest Paul Pierce and play the string out with the kids and pray for enough ping pong balls to land Greg Oden, the next franchise center. So what do they do? They bring Pierce back, run off a streak of 4 wins in a row, and basically, eliminated the higher percentage of landing Oden. Why? You got me. I have no faith in the Danny Ainge- Doc Rivers collaboration. I like Al Jefferson, who is developing nicely, and Pierce is Pierce. But without a point guard to lead this mess, hello Jason Kidd, and a legit center, they'll forever be the Boston Clippers. So sad! They seem to have no plan in place. Danny Ainge supposedly told ESPN recently he was surprised at the make-up of his roster. Surprised?! He put it together! Oy vey!
3rd Base-the Red Sox- So begins the Dice era. I personally think to give this guy zillions when he never picthed in a major league game made no sense. But we all know it was to keep him from the Yanks and with their expert marketing, they'll double their invest ment in him with marketing out in the Far East. Now with that said, methinks he'll be ok, he's no Pedro though. (By the way are you concerned when you hear the muffles of his fastball having no pop?). And, if their starting pitching can hold up, and they develop some sort of bullpen rotation, they'll be in it till the end barring injuries. I say Papelbon will have the biggest year amongst starters.
Homeplate/Home Run- the Patriots-You have to love their off-season moves so far! You can't tell me they're not going for it all this year. And why not, short of a Reche Caldwell drop, this team wins another Super Bowl. They've added a premier lineback to the team in Adalieus Thomas. And they've added two top receivers in Donte Stallworth and Wes Welker, along with running back Sammy Morris. They franchised Asante Samuel and they have two number ones in this April's draft. Now of course things can change in a blink if anybody goes down, and it is football-ie injuries. But again, barring injuries, are they not they waaay-early favorite in the 2008 Super Bowl?!
posted by New England Magazine at 11:57 AM
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