Odds and Ends

Random Recommendation: Grocery store pizza. I'm not talking about grabbing something from the frozen food section. Rather I'm talking about hitting up the made to order section of a Shaws, Big Y, etc. The pizzas are always reasonably priced, tastier than you may think and frequently come in a sweet party size. Give it a shot.

Article You Should Read: Things aren't going well for old friend Delonte West. Hopefully he get's the help he needs and returns to playing ball. Let's just flash back to happier days for a moment. Also Danny Ainge took a lot of heat for his youth movement back in 2007 that was allegedly lacking in talent. Well Big Al is legit (and we knew this), there was a ton of talk about how much the Cavs needed Delonte on opening night, Perk is one of the best defensive centers in the league, Rajon Rondo is stellar, and Gerald Green...never mind. So it hasn't been perfect. Passing on Brandon Roy comes to mind. But it's been great to watch. And the Pau Gasol deal was way more of an egregious farce than the KG trade.

Game of the Week: I'm just not overly impressed with Giants/Eagles right now, or the NFC East for that matter. I could see the division rounding into form, but we'll see. Meanwhile, the AFC east could be an under the radar solid division. Long story short I'm going with Jets/Dolphins. For the record I still enjoy Bill Parcells and wish he was guiding a NFC team.

Phrase I Can't Pull Off: "Git-r-done." And I'm okay with that.

Some NBA Thoughts:

1. I hope the C's don't devolve into a "Live by the 3, Die by the 3" type of team.

2. I turned on the Spurs/Bulls game and thought, "I didn't realize San Antonio still had Bruce Bowen. Of course I immediately realized it was Richard Jefferson. Not sure what to make of this except the Spurs are happy with the current situation. Also, throw me in the DeJuan Blair fan club. He might give the Spurs what some people thought Jackie Butler would a few seasons back.

3. Hypothetically let's just say the wheels come off the Rasheed Wallace in Boston experience. And let's say it happens in the spring while a recently activated Leon Powe gets buckets in Boston. That may be the point Tommy Heinsohn loses his mind, repeatedly shouts "I love Leon" and pours a scotch before they cut his mic.

MLB Thoughts:

1. I thought it was surreal to see Pedro pitch against Manny. And then Pedro went to the House that tons of money built. It was fascinating. Especially when Pedro pulled off the wily veteran role in the early innings.

2. In other news, I definitely caught more C's/Bobcats than Game 1 of the World Series. That's odd.

3. I hate the music Fox is using.

Closing Thought: In college we played football with a guy who wore gloves in the weight room. He took a fair amount of abuse for that. But he continued to wear them. I bring this up because I respect him more than the guy who shows up in them, gets some heat and discards the gloves. That's sort of how I felt about Brett Favre when I saw his Sears commercial. I'm still tired of the Wrangler ads, how much fun he's having out there, his bitterness towards an organization that he toyed with for a few years, the free pass he got on that abysmal pick he threw against the Giants that ultimately cost the Pats Super Bowl #4, how much of a factor his wife is in the news, and the general Favre circus. But I get a kick out of this:

Revisiting Johnny Damon's Move to New York

I wrote the following when Johnny Damon signed with the New York Yankees:

“I’ve fallen love with Boston. Hopefully I’ll be here for a long time.” - Johnny Damon. In light of Damon’s defection to the hated Yankees let’s look at nine positive aspects of the decision.

9. Damon is a very good player. He’s not a superstar. Don’t be confused. He may have built himself up into one, but he’s not.

8. Bernie Williams’ steep decline began around age 32. Damon is 32.

7. Red Sox Nation can clear some of the dead weight off of the bandwagon. Johnny Damon fans, you know who you are. And yes, most of you don’t have a y chromosome.

6. At least it’s not Nomar. I’ve come to grips with his decline as a player and his exile from Boston. But Nomar in Yankee pinstripes would reduce me to wandering around aimlessly, speaking like Keanu Reeves.

5. We can blame Larry Lucchino. Why? Why not? Touché.

4. Sox fans can now openly lament the insidious presence of Human Growth Hormone in Major League Baseball without secretly worrying that Damon will get busted.

3. Sox fans can now openly mock Damon’s intelligence or lack thereof. Have you ever caught a Damon interview?

2. Sox fans can now openly mock Damon’s throwing ability.

1. Damon can cut his hair, shave his beard, and discuss the merits of selling one’s soul with Jason Giambi.*

In hindsight I don't really understand #5. #6 makes no sense if you are not in your mid to late 20s. #4 was both unnecessary and unfounded. #s 3-1 probably fall into the unnecessary category as well and point to a certain amount of bitterness I was harboring at the time. #7 was obliterated by the arrival Jacoby Ellsbury and another championship. And it's unclear why I did not openly worry about Damon's body breaking down.

Ultimately I'm okay with the fact that the Sox did not want to give Damon $52 million over 4 years, even if he did finish 15th in the 2006 MVP race. As as side note, I did not realize they kept track of that many. Nor did I realize Troy Glaus tied for 30th. Troy Glaus?

But back to Damon. I was intrigued by this old Buster Olney column about the deal. Given the fortunes of the two franchises over the last few seasons it's hard to say that not re-signing Damon was a "colossal mistake", as Olney argued at the time. Of course that's a lot easier to say in 2008 than it was in 2005. More importantly, the move does speak to an issue with Boston's front office. Make no mistake Boston has made a number of excellent moves. David Ortiz, Dustin Pedroia, and Jon Lester are the first of many that come to mind. At the same time the positives of letting Damon walk were overshadowed by the decisions that followed - trading away Kelly Shopach for Coco Crisp (catcher position has to be a cause for concern moving forward) and the outrageous contracts extended to Julio Lugo and J.D. Drew. The latter speaks to something Manny Ramirez danced around at the time of his exit. Manny was the latest Sox star to leave disgruntled. Mo Vaughn, Nomar Garciaparra, and Pedro Martinez were the previous. Even lesser players such as Derek Lowe. Granted all of those guys had their issues. But I can see how the hometown guys would get upset about the organization highlighting their flaws while giving big money to flawed outsiders. Along those lines I'm interested to see how management handles negotiations with Boston's young core - Lester, Pedroia, Jonathan Pabelbon, Ellsbury if he can consistently get on base, etc. - in the years to come. And to be honest I'm a little concerned.

* Giambi's mustache went a long way in restoring some of the respect I used to have for him. If he signs with the A's next year and returns to his old ways (minus the roids) after taking a great deal of money from the Yankees while not winning a championship, I'll have to revisit the matter further.

The Manny Ramirez Trade

The vindictive part of me says, "Good luck hitting in Chavez Ravine. Say hi to Nomar. You two deserve each other. And I'd bet my life against you getting another $100 million dollar deal." Of course I don't really feel that way. The funny thing is I was always one of the most ardent Manny/Nomar supporters, right up until the day they were traded. And even after both trades I couldn't quite believe it. However, both punched their tickets out of town. With Nomar it was the infamous sit on the bench and sulk incident in Yankee Stadium. That was complicated by the fact that Derek Jeter, the shortstop he was at one time most frequently compared to, dove head first into the stands. With Manny it's not so simple. Did he take three strikes on purpose in New York? Maybe. However, he definitely said he'd play in Iraq, pushed the traveling secretary*, sat out a few mysterious games recently (one of which was against the hated Yankees), blatantly dogged it at times in the Angels series, mixed it up with Kevin Youkilis on the bench, was slow to join his teammates in the Coco Crisp/Rays brawl, and said the organization did not deserve him. In fact Manny's been so bizarre that this post by Babcock made complete sense to me.

Of course the question has to be asked, "Did the Red Sox organization and its fans bring about this development by enabling Ramirez with the Manny being Manny movement?" I'd say yes and no. There's no denying the fact that Ramirez was enabled. Guys should run hard and be focused on defense, although I'd argue that Manny was never as bad an outfielder as some people would have you believe. And the bulk of Red Sox Nation either accepted or championed Ramirez's eccentric ways. At the same time a crucial part of the Manny being Manny line of thinking was that he was one of the most feared bats in baseball. Look at his stats from last year. Or consider how many fastballs were blown by him this year. Can he still get it done? Maybe. He may go on an absolute tear in LA over the next two months and make those Bay/Ramirez comparison seem absolutely ludicrous. Or he could be just average. Either way, unlike the Nomar/Orlando Cabrera trade the Sox did not get a clearly better player in return this time around.


Of course it's important to consider ownership/management's role in all of this. LaRocque got the ball rolling with a post about a meeting Manny was promised that never happened. On top of that there's no denying the fact that three of the four biggest stars in recent Red Sox history - Nomar, Pedro, and Manny (with David Ortiz being the 4th, currently unaffected by all of this) - have left the team on bad terms. And if Curt Schilling were not such an ass I'd probably work him into that argument as well. It's difficult because the Red Sox are up against a philosophy in baseball where guys get paid for what they have done, not what they are going to do. That may be changing but it's nowhere near the mindset NFL teams operate under. Meanwhile, if we've learned anything from the success of the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics it has to be that winning leads to difficult decisions and players getting overpaid, by the hometown team or someone else. Furthermore, Manny, Pedro and Nomar were on the wrong side of their careers. Can you imagine if Pedro were still in Boston given his extensive injury history as Met and diminishing stuff? Yet those guys were not dumb. They saw Theo Epstein and company completely turn off some of the biggest stars the organization has ever known and simultaneously give ridiculous contracts to Matt Clement, Edgar Renteria, Julio Lugo, and J.D. Drew. In fact Manny recently came out and said the former, "The Red Sox did the same with guys like Nomar Garciapara, and Pedro Martinez, and now they do the same with me. Their goal is to paint me as the bad guy. I love Boston fans, but the Red Sox don't deserve me. I'm not talking about money. Mental peace has no price, and I don't have peace here." If that's not reminiscent of the time Dr. Dre fled Suge Knight and Death Row records for peace of mind, leaving his all-important master recordings behind in the process, then nothing is.

In then end both sides are to blame. Ramirez's behavior over the last month or so was inexcusable. Yet I'd argue that ownership and management have a tendency to act in arrogant ways. It's definitely one of those trades that made me wonder if I'm too old to care about sports this much. With everything that's going on in the world right now why should the goings on of a bunch of wealthy people living the dream have a major impact on me?

Six closing points:

1. It's odd that Ramirez will now play for Joe Torre after all these years. Say what you want about Ramirez's production in his glory days but I couldn't picture him playing for the Yankees dynasty. Would he really have pulled a Johnny Damon and tried to fit in?

2. Will this go down as the ultimate example of the addition by subtraction philosophy? Consider how much the Red Sox hate getting rid of prospects. Yet they dealt Craig Hansen and Brandon Moss. I'll pass on trying to determine their ceilings as players. In addition, the Red Sox will pay the remaining $7 million on Ramirez's contract. And when did these trade talks start? Remember the Marlins deal fell apart. It appears as if the Red Sox scrambled to beat the deadline. Add it all up and it screams of just wanting to get a guy out of town.

3. This whole thing has a Lakers/Shaq/Kobe feel to it. Ugh.

4. You have to wonder what if any role the Boston media and fans played in all of this. I would grow tired of certain prominent reporters real quick. And the hours upon hours of phone calls to sports talk radio can't help either. Overall the level of scrutiny, this blog post included, is outrageous.

5. It's unfair to put all the blame for Boston's recent struggles on Manny. The Red Sox have other issues right now (relief pitching, hitting in general come to mind). Still I can't imagine playing on a team with a guy making $20 million that does not go hard. So I'm intrigued by how the other players respond. Remember they did not exactly mourn Nomar's departure.

6. Speaking of focusing on Manny. All that and I didn't even touch on Jason Bay. He's not going to know what hit him. He's going from baseball irrelevance (the Pirates have a 15-year losing streak) right into the chaos that is Red Sox baseball. I'd be ecstatic if the Sox just landed the 2005 Jason Bay. As is I'll wait and see.

* I'm guilty of making every excuse under the sun for Manny. Yet even I was appalled by the "hey the traveling secretary is 60 but he's not a frail, close to death invalid" argument that made the rounds. My dad is 60, works out, can handle himself, and I'm still a little afraid of him. Still if a professional athlete in his mid 30s took a run at him I'd be furious and unforgiving.

Foil in the Oven: The Fix Is In

I decided on the title of today's Foil in the Oven last night in the throes of post-game frustration. I'm feeling more stable this morning, and I'm able to examine the events of Game 2 in a less cataclysmic light. Nevertheless, I have to air my grievances with the officiating. I have dashed off the next section. If you are a Celtics fan, and want to commiserate, please read. If you are not a Celtics fan, and don't feel like hearing the homer thing, go ahead and skip it. Now, I think it's fair criticism. But, the officiating has been awful throughout the entire post-season, so I understand if you don't want to read more about it.


All of this PDA at an NBA playoff game? Come on Tom, you're better than that.

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The officiating, particularly in the first half, was incredibly poor and one-sided. Ray Allen should have gone to the locker room at halftime with one foul instead of three. The first foul on Allen was a particularly weak call, as Rip Hamilton literally jabbed the ball into him to get the whistle. Even Jeff Van Gundy thought it was a bad call and I'm convinced that he hates the Celtics.

I kept replaying this call over and over again in my mind every time Kevin Garnett had the ball in his hands. I kept saying out loud "well, if we're going by the way they've called things on the other end, I find it really hard to believe that Kevin Garnett wasn't fouled on that sequence." If you watched the game, you know that KG was working harder than he's had to work all postseason on the offensive end. There was a lot of contact, and yet he only shot two free throws in the game. I'm all for letting them play, and this was more indicative of how I'd like to see games called, but the problem last night was that the action wasn't being called evenly.

Ray Allen's third foul, which was apparently the result of him moving his arms inward to try and secure the ball after Lindsey Hunter swiped it, was nearly as bad as the first. In my mind, there can only be a foul called there if Ray fouls Hunter in an attempt to stop him from having a transition opportunity. The whistle was too quick. This contrasted sharply with a similar sequence a few possessions later, when the referees waited for Hunter to foul Pierce about 5 times (even one of the announcers said 'wow, he fouled him 3 or 4 times there) and didn't blow the whistle until Hunter and Pierce were literally on the ground.

The goaltending call on KG was close and should have been a no-call, like the charge they didn't call on Rip a couple of possessions later. I have no problem with letting those calls go at the end if they are not blatant, BUT you have to let them go on both sides. In my mind, these two plays down the stretch really embodied the overall officiating trends of the game.

At halftime, I was blaming the officiating for the Celtics being down. However, by the end of the game I could not pin the loss squarely on the referees. The Celtics were outplayed. But, the effects of the poor officiating cannot be discounted. The poor first half officiating directly affected the Celtics in two ways as the game progressed:

1) The Celtics were clearly frustrated with the way the game had been going, and this led to them committing an inordinate amount of second and quarter fouls. Now, that's on them. They're professionals. But, I think a great deal of their frustration stemmed from those calls.

and, more importantly:

2) Ray Allen finally found his shooting touch, but had to sit for an unnecessary portion of the second half because of his foul trouble.


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Now, all that said, give all the credit in the world to the Pistons. They turned in a signature performance in a hostile environment. They made every big shot that they took. They forced the Celtics into bad shots when they had to. And, it wasn't just the usual suspects. Certainly, Rip Chauncey Tayshaun and Sheed all contributed in big ways, but they could not have won without huge contributions from Antonio McDyss and Rodney Stuckey and very efficient minutes from Lindsey Hunter. This team is so steady and fluid, and that's why they have a winning record on the road during these playoffs.

Am I still confident? Absolutely. Here's why:

Although the Celtics defense looked strong at times (mainly at the start of each half), it was bad overall. They allowed the Pistons to shoot over 49 percent from the field. They allowed far too many easy transition baskets, and they put Rip and Chauncey at the line too many times. This, combined with the fact that Detroit seemed like they couldn't miss down the stretch, was the worst case defensive scenario for the Celtics. And yet, they were right there. They were in this game until the final second ticked away.

Perhaps the best part of last night, and the part that got me out of bed with such a positive energy this morning, was the re-emergence of Ray Allen. Allen looked unstoppable towards the end of the game, and I have to wonder how things might have turned out if he didn't have to be sat down with foul trouble. He was hitting outside shots, he was driving and changing up his pace, he even drove baseline and threw down a dunk. Ray is back, and that means trouble for the Pistons. They are certainly a great defensive team, but how do you defend this Celtics team when its three superstars are all on their game?

The gauntlet has finally been thrown down. It was only a matter of time. If these Celtics are indeed a championship caliber team, they eventually need to show us that they have the moxie to win a game outside of the protective confines of the TD Banknorth Garden. Perhaps this is just what they needed. For the first time during these playoffs, the Celtics will take to the road with a sense of urgency. With their backs to the walls, in a hostile environment, this team will have a chance to silence all of their doubters.

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Baseball has lost some of its magic for me over the past few years, and this is something that I find disheartening. Somehow, the combination of seeing Major League Baseball throw these players under the bus for infractions on which they knowingly turned a blind eye for profit and the mutation of some of my childhood heroes into these iniquitous caricatures of their former selves (see the Babcock Report below) has weighed heavily on me and made it more difficult for me to invest myself fully into the game that I once enjoyed so freely. Along with this, I have always been discouraged by the fact that the players and owners can't seem to find any common ground on an issue (a potential salary cap) that would be so good for the sport. While the other professional leagues are thriving in new markets, Major League Baseball continues to be bogged down by inequity. Every year there is a surprise team or two, but they are aberrations. Perhaps it is a more accurate representation of our society, but it makes for poor entertainment. I find the arms race that takes place every off season between the super powers equally as disturbing as the situation mentioned above. But, as a life long Red Sox fan that has already been to Fenway Park three times this season, I guess I'm not part of the solution.

Anyways, apologies for that. What I wanted to say is that there is a handful of players that I will always hold in the highest regard as a symbol of everything that's right about baseball. I have my own reasons for loving these players, and maybe some of them are the result of nothing more than fan bias. But, two of them were in the news yesterday, and I want to touch on them quickly.



1) Pedro Martinez announced yesterday that reports of his retirement after 2008 were inaccurate. I love Pedro's attitude on the mound, I love his approach to the game, and I still consider his 1999 and 2000 seasons among the highest level of performance that I have ever seen as an athlete. He has done a great job of adjusting his repertoire to counteract the aging process, and I look forward to continuing to watch him pitch whenever the Mets are on national TV.


2) Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 598th home run last night. It's hard to not feel completely unfulfilled when looking back on Griffey's career. Between his charismatic personality and his perfect swing, this guy is one of my all-time favorites. Had he stayed healthy, he most certainly would be the home run king. Who in today's game would be more deserving of such a title.
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Here is a hilarious video of Charles Barkley. You have to watch the whole thing, it's great.


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Two final thoughts:

1) Hilarious text message came last night from Ferrante at crunch time when the Pistons were pulling away "Maybe Doc is telling them to punch back instead of actually coaching them."

2) On Sportscenter, Marcellus Wiley just said that Pacman Jones at wideout is a good idea for Dallas because he'll have to spend more time reading the playbook and less time at "those naked ballets". Awesome.