bruins win division, boston teams perfect this year

 

the bruins win over the atlanta somethings today clinched the adams, er, northeast division for boston.  the pats, celtics, and bruins are now 3 for 3 this year in division titles.  i realize division titles have meant less than nothing here for the last decade, but still it's at least moderately impressive.  if this was cleveland everybody would be going nuts right now.  hopefully the sox won't crumble under the immense pressure to keep the streak alive.

interesting choices in sox lineup

boston's opening day batter order:

1. ellsbury

2. pedroia

3. crawford

4. youk

5. gonzalez

6. ortiz

7. cameron

8. salty

9. scutaro

super speedy guy 3rd.  one of the best power hitters in the game 5th.  and no jd drew vs a lefty.  i'm sure millions of angry sox fan guys are screaming all over talk radio right now that crawford needs to be 1st and gonzo needs to be 4th, but i love the 1-6.

great april fools day joke

you tape the handle down on the sprayer in the kitchen sink, and make sure it's pointing out.  then the first person who uses the water gets sprayed.  my little sister did this a long time ago back when we were kids, and i remember being very impressed.  i'm pretty sure my parents even enjoyed it too.  i did it a few years ago to my roommates, and they also thought it was pretty funny.  because of this, i'm fairly certain that it's timeless and works for all ages.

also i have no idea who the lady in this picture is, but i had to use it just because i was able to find one on google of exactly what i was talking about.



why does opening day happen in cold weather cities?

it looks miserable at yankee stadium right now.  40 degrees, a wind chill down to 33, and a light drizzle.  there's a 50% chance of snow in cleveland over night before the indians' opener.  and in philly there's supposed to be a mix of rain and snow during their game tomorrow.  it makes no sense why mlb does this every year.  only about 10 or 11 teams play outdoors in places where the weather is still crappy this time of year.  by my math that is definitely less than half.  play the first 2 weeks in warm weather.  wait till mid april to come to boston, new york, chicago, etc.  it's seems so simple. 

oh, and today is the first ever march game played in new york.  brilliant.

BASEBALL!

the steal.

hockey players are regular guys, and i don't recognize them

at various times in the past month, each of these 3 guys has sat in front of me at the bar, and i didn't recognize any of them.  i did manage to figure out who they were every time (for the record it's gregory campbell on the left, brad marchand in the middle, and shawn thornton on the right), but unlike other professional athletes, they blend right in.  they are average sized normal looking dudes who act just like regular guys.

i think what butler is doing might be the most amazing thing in the history of sports

last year butler won the horizon league, earned a 5 seed, and put together a miraculous run through the NCAA tournament, coming within a few inches on a half court heave of winning the national title.  and for the record, if that gordon hayward shot goes in, it's one of the top 5 sports moments EVER.  nobody team beats perennial giant (duke) on a half court buzzer beater to win the national championship?!  are you kidding me?! that's a disney movie, not real life.  but the shot missed, and the bulldog's magical ride ended.  still, the fact that they made it that far was remarkable.

this year hayward moved on to the nba, and butler slogged along to a 14-9 record (6-5 in horizon league play) through feb 3.  they lost to evansville, valparaiso, wright st, youngstown st, and wisconsin-milwakee twice.  since then they have won 13 straight games, and are now back in the final four, this time as an 8 seed.  and with VCU up next, they are favored to get back to the title game.

the last time any team from a non major conference made 2 straight final fours was the UNLV runnin' rebels 20 years ago (i can still name that starting 5 off the top of my head, larry johnson, stacey augmon, greg anthony, george ackles, anderson hunt).  that team payed their players, had 4 nba draft picks (and i remember the 5th starter, hunt, being in training camp with the celtics) and was a national powerhouse at the time.  

butler is no '90-'91 UNLV.  either one of their final four runs is a spectacular accomplishment on it's own.  the fact that they have done it twice in a row is totally absurd.  i can't think of anything else like it.  ever.  it'd be like if the pittsburg pirates came out of nowhere to win the world series this year, lost all their best players to free agency, then somehow won it again next year.  but even that seems less crazy.

how can i blog from the shower?

seriously, i feel like i formulate all my best ideas while i'm in the shower.  i need some sort of waterproof ipad i think.  also that picture is weird al yankovic, which is awesome.  i didn't realize that when i dowloaded it, it was just the only picture i could find of somebody on a computer in the shower.  20 years ago i'm pretty sure weird al was my favorite artist.  "without a mother or a father, just a test tube and a womb with a view... i think i'm a clone now (a clone now)"  i new that song before i knew the actual tiffany version.

is this the worst final four ever or the greatest final four ever?

i remember sending a text to my buddy cliffy 5 years ago that said "#2 UCLA, #3 florida, #4 LSU, and George Mason?! worst final four ever."  well, this one's got that beat by a mile.  for the first time ever there's not a single #1 or #2 seed.  there's a team that lost 5 games in the horizon league, and another that lost 6 in the CAA.  and the highest seed left, uconn, lost 4 of it's last 5 regular season games and finished 9-9 in the big east.  have i mentioned that this tournament is slightly unpredictable?

i'm not that worried about the celtics

everybody and their mother is panicking over the celtics all of a sudden.  not me. and for several good reasons:

1.   it's a LONG season.  all the good teams good through bad patches like this.  the lakers lost 6 of 11 before the all star break.  the heat lost 6 of 7 a few weeks ago.  the spurs have even lost 3 of their last 6 right now. 

2.  how do people have such short term memories?!  this is one twofold:
     A: less than a week ago the celtics had two back to back spectacular come from behind road wins  http://lucidsportsfan.blogspot.com/2011/03/spike-lee-and-rays-mom-are-buddies-and.html   and
     B: remember last year?!  boston played .500 ball for two thirds of the season, and still came within minutes of the title in LA.  this team already has the same number of wins (50) as last year

3.  not having the best record isn't that big a deal.  i feel like the celtics would be the clear favorites as the #1, without it they are contenders with just as good a chance as anyone else

4.  their recent struggles have a lot less to do with the perk trade, and a lot more to do with boredom.  since the big 3 came together, they have a history of not getting up for bad teams.  they're aging veterans who save their energy for when it counts.  if they get blown out next month in chicago and miami, then i'll start to panic a little.

so there you go.  calm down everybody.