Snakes In My Pants

The PGA Show debuted in the Garden last night.  No, not Tiger Woods and Company.  I mean Pierce, Garnett, and Allen.

The Celtics began their quest for a record 17th championship with a opening night matchup against the Washington Wizards.  The new Big Three combined for 67 points and the Cs crushed the Wiz 103-83 before a sold out Boston Garden.

Wizards forward Gilbert Arenas guaranteed victory, mocking the Boston fans, but the Wiz were never in the game after the first quarter.

The Garden was rocking for the first time in a decade as championship caliber basketball returned to the Hub.  Former NBA-haters, like your truly, viewed the nationally televised game as appointment viewing.

It was just like the good ole days of Bird, Parrish, and McHale.

The new Reebok ad featuring the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Bruins the Celtics, a Heisman Trophy Winner, a Stanley Cup champ and the Boston College Eagles. (not sure we get style points for the mumbling mayor and Donnie Wahlberg), set to music by the Dropkick Murphys. Until NYU fields a 1-A football team and builds a stadium in the village, I say Boston wins on the college location front.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2954127

According to front-office league sources, the Celtics and T-Wolves are again close to finalizing a deal to send Kevin Garnett to the Celtics for promising young players Gerald Green and Al Jefferson, as well as expiring contracts Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff and some future draft picks.

The trade would make the Celtics instant favorites in the weak Eastern Conference, but the Cs may be unwilling to give up both Green and Jefferson.

Now, this website is very, very light on the NBA . . . with good reason.  About the only major sports less deserving attention are the NHL and NASCAR.

But there are a few Larry Bird refugee Celtic fans here, so the following trade possibility I read this morning may be intriguing to some.  It might even cause me to tune in to a green game next year:

Kobe Bryant to Minnesota

Kevin Garnett to Boston

Paul Pierce and the #5 pick to LA

Now, if they do this, the Lakers are really, really stupid.  The #5 pick this year sucks and Pierce is a much older, less talented, and less versatile but just as expensive version of Bryant.  The C’s instantly become Eastern Conference players, but they still lack the game-breaking point guard.  The T-Wolves make out like bandits, acquiring teh best player in the game.

Billy Donovan, 2-time NCAA Championship coach (and Providence alum) is leaving Florida for the Orlando Magic.

Hmmm, well it worked for Tarkanian, Pitino, Carlissimo, and Calipari!

The Ravens have cut Jamal Lewis, according to the Post.  Sure, he kinda sucked last year, racking up 1,132 yards and nine touchdowns, with only a 3.6 YPC average.  He would’ve cost the Dirty Birds a $5M roster bonus, and an almost $12M cap hit, more than 10% of the cap.  So, maybe not shocking, but after playing in all 16 games, and losing backup Chester “the molester” Taylor to the Vikes last year (who out-gained Lewis, btw), you’d think they’d be loathe to start from scratch in the backfield.  Will Mike Anderson (39 caries) or Musa Smith (26) be the answer next year for the AFC Title-hunting Birds??  If I’m Andrew Huck, I’m thinkin’: YIKES!

And in unrelated news:

EWWWWWWW…..  YUCK.

This is called Duke Karma: what happens when you don’t fulfill your letter of intent!! (jk. i feel bad for the kid.  this is ROUGH.)

This board is usually pretty lilght on the NBA, with good reason, but today’s news of the sudden passing of 52 year old Dennis Johnson reminds me of the Golden Age of the NBA:  the 1980s.

Larry Bird once called DJ, “The greatest player he’d ever played with.”

High praise considering Bird played with Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish, Dave Cowens, Danny Ainge, Reggie Lewis, and Bill Walton.  Not to mention the 1992 Dream Team.

I’ll never forget the playoff win against the Pistons when the Cs were down 1 with like 6 seconds left, Isiah Thomas inbounded, Bird stole it out of mid-air along the baselline, and passed it to DJ who had miraculously cut to the hoop for a lay-in with 1 second left to give the Cs the lead and the win.

RIP DJ, and thanks for everything . . .

I don’t care about pro athletes’ personal lives.

I don’t care if DJ and A-Rod no longer have sleepovers or paint each others toe nails or whatever. (Dear god I don’t care about that story.)
I don’t care that John Amaechi is gay.

And while I guess I care that Tim Hardaway is a demented bigot, it’s because I don’t like bigots, not because he’s a pro athlete. (In that regard, I’ve hated him for years, dating to the days of my Knicks fandom.)

But I love Star Trek. So while I was happy to take a pass on the whole gay basketball player story until … I heard this. Then I started laughing. A lot.

Somehow I missed the fact that the NBA Players Association filed legal grievances on December 1 citing unfair labor practice by the NBA over issues with the new ball.  The charges were filed with the National Labor Relations Board.  Yes, some Federal judge paid with tax dollars was going to have to decide if, under the National Labor Relations Act, switching the basketball was a legal or illegal.  Wow…

Fortunately for tax payer dollars (and for less embarrassment for mankind in general), the NBA has decided to switch back to the old leather basketball.
Leather Ball Will Return on Jan 1

I’m going to guess when the players association and the league can’t agree on something as fundamental as a the ball, that the renewal of the agreement in 2011 is going to be painful if things don’t change.

First the city of Chicago bans Fois Gras; now the Chicago Bulls ban headbands.

Apparently Ben Wallace was benched for violating the Chicago Bulls team rule preventing wearing a headband during a game.  According to the AP, John Paxson, executive vice president of basketball operations, “didn’t like the cavalier way the Bulls wore headbands when he took over for Jerry Krause in April 2003.”

I can’t believe I just wasted 30 seconds of my life listening to this on SportsCenter and another 120 writing this post.  Chicago Bulls get my award for “Big Egos Arguing Over Something Stupid” award for this week.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sonics/2003450709_nbanotes28.html