Friday, June 13, 2008

Friday 06/13 A.M. Quickie:
Celtics Title-Worthy, Lakers Chokers, More

I cannot freaking believe the Lakers blew that lead. The series is over. (I'd say "all but over," but really -- who are we kidding?)

That's the lead of my Sporting News column this morning.

And it's not like the Lakers choked -- well, yes, they did choke. But the Celtics deserve the credit for putting together the greatest comeback ever in a single Finals game.

To review: Boston sports fans now own the best playoff-series comeback of all time (2004 ALCS) and the best championship-series single-game comeback of all time.

I can't decide if it happening in Game 4 when they were already up 2-1 makes it more or less impressive -- sure, it could have been in a Game 7.

But the larger assumption was that the Celtics would simply say, "Hey, we're on the road. We're down by 24. Let's write this one off and concentrate on winning 2 of the next 3."

That is precisely what they DIDN'T do, and that is why they are now going to be remarkably worthy NBA champions.

Please consider my track record of crapping on Boston teams when evaluating the sentiments above.

It might not seem like it, but I am not some out-and-out hater; I recognize and appreciate greatness in sports when I see it -- and that was a GREAT win. A champion's win.

Yesterday, I might have been dismissive. Today, it is easy for me to accept them as champs.

Meanwhile, I feel like Jamie Moyer is one of those pitchers that you really need to go out and see in person if he is pitching in your town on any given day. What he is doing at 45 is nothing less than remarkable, even with that 4-plus ERA.

Did you know that only 250 players in MLB history have 2,000 or more hits? That's not quite the 600-HR Club, but it's pretty damn exclusive -- and now Ray Durham is in the group.

(I was have been doing a lot of milestone-related research this week, what with Griffey and now Durham, and you know whose name pops up on both the all-time HR and all-time hits list? Ellis Burks. 350+ HR and 2000+ hits. Who knew?)

The NFL may not want reporters live-blogging from the press box, but I argue that that's not what they should be focusing on anyway -- it's a waste of their time and energy.

NBA Draft: Obviously, I am more attuned to Marreesse Speights than most. He will be a better pro player than college player -- he needs to be in the right system, though, because he was soft. I would have loved to have him back on the Gators next season, but it is what it is.

I have a fairly straightforward rule: If you are going to be a first-round NBA pick -- at any draft slot -- you are pretty stupid not to jump to the pros. An extra year of college might raise your draft stock (and thus your first contract), but I think that a year of practice under NBA coaches (even if you aren't playing that much in games) makes you far more ready to succeed in the NBA than an extra year of college productivity.

There is a lot more in the column today. Here is a link to check it out.

It's Father's Day weekend, so happy father's day to all those dads out there. I'll be blogging all weekend as usual, but if you're not stopping by until Monday, happy dad's day.

-- D.S.

5 comments:

Jim Carlson said...

With mobile blogging so accessible, anyone in the stadium can now blog from their seats....perhaps journalists can step out of the press box and blog from the concourses...

Happy Father's Day Dan!

marcomarco said...

Nice to see some love thrown Boston's way. Hard to find a negative from last night though...

WuzUpG said...

Ellis Burks only has 352 HRs.

Dave said...

I'm glad you have come to accept the Celtics as champions, but I am still having a hard time accepting a champion that basically acquired all their key parts in one off-season.

Johnny b said...

Dan, Dan, Dan, Do you want to rethink your doubts on Eldrick?