Thursday, May 29, 2008

Thursday 05/29 A.M. Quickie:
Bee, Ray Allen, Bedard, Crosby, More

I got a blissful reprieve from leading with the NBA conference finals this morning (although, to be fair, each morning those results ARE the biggest story in sports), because I wedged my obsession with the spelling bee at the top of my Sporting News column.

If you skip past that (and you can, if you followed yesterday's Bee mania here, below), you can see that I -- a world-class Instant Historian -- think Celtics fans are sort of lame for cheering Ray Allen after ripping him for most of the playoffs before last night's season-saving performance.

Meanwhile, the NBA agreed with me: The refs missed the Brent Barry call. I'm now torn whether they should have said anything. On the one hand, correcting the record is a good thing; on the other, all it does is add insult to the injury done to the Spurs. Again: The difference between 3-1 (with HCA) and 2-2 (even without HCA) is just about as wide a gap as there exists in the 7-game playoff format in pro sports.

MLB: Erik Bedard shows why he was worth the trade... Jay Bruce obsession continues... Matt Garza becomes the latest Ray bandwagon I will jump on... Carlos Quentin and Chase Utley cap solid months that will likely net them MVP awards for "After Two Months of the Season/If The Season Ended Today," likely coming tomorrow.

I appreciate the NBA's interest in cracking down on flopping, but I actually think there is some art to the method; I would be much more interested if the NBA cracked down on players (mostly superstars) who whine after not getting a call.

Here is the complete SN column from today.

More later. I just got the most interesting email with a link to a blog post that will likely have many folks who have sports blogs talking...

-- D.S.

4 comments:

John said...

"I hope this game finally gets Celtics fans off Ray Allen's back. Throughout the playoffs, their fair-weather fandom of the third wheel of the Big Three has been one of the more appalling displays of throwing a guy under a bus."

Where do you get this crap Shanoff? Do you seriously just make it up to provoke Boston fans? Celtics fans have been frusterated by his struggles, but at no point have they thrown him under the bus. They have been rooting and cheering like crazy for him to get out of his slump. Just about every shot Allen has taken at home, fans have been coming out of their seats ready to explode if he made it. Maybe if you actually paid attention and watched some of these games, you would realize that. You're anti-Boston bias is just ridiculous at this point.

Paul said...

I -- a world-class Instant Historian -- think Celtics fans are sort of lame for cheering Ray Allen after ripping him for most of the playoffs before last night's season-saving performance.

You could not be any more WRONG about this comment. I've been at every Celtics playoff game. Despite his troubles, the crowd gives him an ovation during the introductions. After every missed shot, the crowd sighed ("Awwwwww") and every field goal attempt is meet with enthusiam. EVERY Celtics fan supported him and wanted to see him succeed. Every made basket was applauded like it was the game winning basket. Stop letting your Boston hatred get in the way of the facts.

The Mark Show said...

Dan,
I know you're not a fan of Boston sports and fans of Boston sports but I'm baffled by your comment about Celtics fans bashing Ray Allen. The fans have been nothing but supportive of Ray and have been ready to explode whenever he takes a shot. Have you heard a single boo? I sure haven't. And judging by the comments at dscommenters.com, nobody else has either. So please, a little explanation? Some youtube evidence or something?

pete said...

I wish you would stop confusing Boston fans with sports media. How do you get your information that Boston fans were hating on Ray Allen? Because you saw Tony talking about his slump on PTI? By the way, noticing that one of your supposed best players is in a major slump in the playoffs and then being happy that he busts out of it is hardly "lame." Seriously Dan, cut the shit. Your attitude towards Boston fans is not cute. You've been at it for a while. Yeah, the teams are doing well lately, and we're happy about it so we must be "insufferable." You can be such an uninspired windbag sometimes.