Jason Collins' empty box scores are amazing

I wrote a post about this on 12/29 for Celtics Life, and since then the numbers have only gotten more ridiculous.

Collins doesn't do much other than this.

Six games ago Celtics head coach Doc Rivers decided to take the last guy on the end of his bench, veteran big man Jason Collins, and insert him into the starting lineup at center.  While Doc insists that Collins contributes in ways that don't show up in the box score, it's comical how bad his stat lines have been.  Through 6 games as a starter Collins has just 2 made field goals (both of which came in the same game), and a total of 9 points (1.5 PPG).  Against Golden State on Saturday he picked up fist first and only assist, of the season.

These number's might not stand out so much if Collins was at least getting his fair share of rebounds, but since his promotion he's pulling down just 1.8 boards each night.  The thing he averages by far the most of is personal fouls; 4 per game.  In fact, if you add up all the fouls (24) and turnovers (5) he's committed as Boston's starting center (29), it's more than the total of his points (9), rebounds (11), assists (1), blocks (3), and steals (2) combined (26).

By no means am I blaming the Celtics horrific 0-3 California road trip (their worst three game stretch in 35 years) on this, but it obviously hasn't helped.  What's funny to me is that Doc clearly knows his team is not better when Collins is on the floor.  Despite starting Collins, he's playing him less than 16 minutes a night.  So why continue with the charade?

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"Forever Lazy" is out of their mind with their marketing.

The other night I saw a "Forever Lazy" commercial on TV.  I realize that it's not a new product, but it was the first time I'd seen this particular ad:



It could easily be one of those SNL parody commercials where at first you think it's real, then it gets a little ridiculous, then something outrageous happens and you realize it's obviously fake.  In this case the family playing Wii at home is "a little ridiculous," followed by the tailgate scene; which would never ever happen under any circumstances, ever (I know I said ever twice).

This is not human behavior.

I can't even believe the guy on the right was willing to do this in the commercial, never mention reality.  It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where George Costanza wants to drape himself in velvet,"if it were socially acceptable."

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The phrase "career ending injury" is getting close to extinct

In the debate of whether or not a young superstar athlete should "stay in school" or "go pro," one of the main arguments for the latter was always the threat of a career ending injury.  The point being that it was a risky move to finish college and not take the money right away, on the off chance they might get hurt.  But here's the thing: I'm not really sure that's still true.  Other than the very rare example of a football player getting paralyzed, off the top of my head I can't even remember the last time something like that happened.  Not very long ago a knee twisting the wrong way had the potential to end an athlete's playing days.  But with today's medical technology and rehabbing, that is no longer the case.  They just get fixed.

Peterson has 1898 rushing yards within a year of a torn ACL.

On the final day of his college career (the 2003 Fiesta Bowl/National Championship Game) University of Miami running back and Heisman Trophy finalist Willis McGahee had his knee completely shredded.  He was still selected in the first round of the draft that season (pick #23), and has since had a very solid NFL career.  That Tom Brady guy also seems to be doing ok since he recovered from his torn ACL.  As is Wes Welker, and I'm sure Chicago Bulls point guard and NBA MVP Derrick Rose will do the same later this season.

Major league baseball pitchers now come back from having their elbows reconstructed with Tommy John Surgery all the time, the Washington Nationals Stephen Strasburg being the most recent example.  And just over a year ago the Vikings Adrian Peterson tore his ACL and MCL on December 24, 2011.  He returned this fall without even missing a single game, and tomorrow he has an outside shot to break the NFL's single season all-time rushing record.

"Career ending" injuries hardly exist anymore.  Stay in school kids.

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ipads are incredible babysitters

When the folks at Apple first came up with the idea of the ipad, I wonder if they had any idea that it's most useful function might be as a babysitter (not a restaurant menu)?  I have seen it time and time again, the thing has magical powers over small children.  Parents out to dinner eating in peace as their child sits quietly.  Mothers in the grocery store aisles shopping while the kid in the cart is entertained (when I was little my mom would try to accomplish this by giving me a box of animal crackers).  Need to run out of the room for a few minutes?  No problem, your baby isn't going anywhere as long as you put an ipad in front of it.

There was a day a few months back when my boss was stuck having to bring his 3 year old son to work with him.  He propped the kid up in a booth, handed him an ipad, and didn't worry about a thing for the next two hours.  It was amazing, the boy probably would have been content to stay there all day.

It makes me wonder why there isn't more of a market for "kid ipads." I know they exist, but I'm surprised every parent doesn't buy one.  They should cost like 50 bucks, be made of all rubber and plastic, and only have very limited capabilities and just the apps for children.  I feel like there's millions to be made if somebody perfects this.

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Remember the Red Sox?

I don't see this guy as a difference maker.

It's been quite some time since I really paid any attention to the local baseball squad.  In fact the last time I wrote a word about them was in early October, easily the longest I've gone since the creation of lucidsportsfan.com.  But two things happened this week that I think are worth mentioning:

1.  They traded for a relief pitcher named Joel Hanrahan.  The reason I think this is significant is because it's not actually significant.  By definition relief pitchers aren't very good, if they were they'd be starters (I realize this isn't 100% true, but it's about 99.4% true, and I think that's good enough).  They're a dime a dozen, easily replaced by the next best thing you have down on the farm.  Oddly enough I discussed this a year ago when they acquired Marc Melancon, who is one of the guys they just dealt in order to get Hanrahan.

2.  New Shortstop Stephen Drew has selected uniform #7, the same number his big brother J.D. used to wear here in Boston.  I'm not sure Stephen has any idea what he's getting himself into; except for in the highly unlikely event that he plays like a superstar, this is a very, very bad idea.

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Duke and Michigan party like it's 1992

Burke and a couple NBA kids have the Wolverines flying high.

My favorite college basketball season ever was 1991-92.  It was the year of the Michigan Fab Five, a group of incredibly cocky but talented freshman who made it all the way to the NCAA Championship Game.  Michigan lost the 1992 title to Duke, and now 20 years later as we close out 2012, Duke and Michigan are again the top two teams in the country.

While the Blue Devils have spent plenty of time at #1 in the past couple decades, for the #2 Wolverines it's their highest ranking since Chris Webber bolted for the NBA as the top pick in 1993 draft.  Back then one of Webber and the Fab Five's biggest rivals was Glen Robinson Jr. of Purdue, who became the #1 pick in the draft the following year.  Ironically his son, Glen Robinson III, is a freshman for the current Michigan squad; which also features another NBA star's offspring, Tim Hardaway Jr.  Not to mention the fact that their point guard, sophomore Trey Burke, is a preseason All-American.

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Awesome Old Song of the Week Christmas Day Edition: "The Chipmunk Song"

When I was a child my family would take long car trips to my grandparents house for the holidays, and I remember constantly listening to a cassette of the Chipmunks singing Christmas carols.  In fact, I think my sisters and I may have even demanded our parents play it at other times of the year as well.  One song on the tape stood out from the rest: The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't be Late).  When it was first released in 1958 it went all the way to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, the only Christmas song ever to do so.

Here's a great cartoon version of it, the song actually starts just after the 1 minute mark:

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Are Pete Carroll's Seattle Seahawks the best team in the NFL?

Two weeks ago the 11-1 Houston Texans appeared to be the class of the NFL, until they got smashed by the Patriots 42-14.  For the next week New England seemed to be the consensus #1 pick, but then they fell behind San Francisco 31-3 and couldn't quite come all the way back.  Heading into this weekend many people thought the 49ers might be the league's top team, and yesterday they got manhandled by Seattle 42-13.

Is it possible the 10-5 Seahawks are now the best team in football?  Right now they just might be, over the last three weeks they've won by an average score of 50-10.  On the other hand, given the way things are going they will probably lose to the Rams at home next week.

Personally I don't believe in Seattle not because of this weird chain of events of top teams getting knocked off, but because I just can't take their head coach Pete Carroll seriously.  Going back to the late '90s when he was here in New England, one thing about him has always made me question his legitimacy as an NFL head coach: Every time something good happens to his team, he celebrates like a little schoolchild.  It's kind of amazing, he makes his players look more grownup than he is.  If the Seahawks manage to win the NFC West next week, make sure to keep an eye out for how he handles it.


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People who were almost famous in "Almost Famous"

A little while back I was flipping through the HBO channels late at night (which happens a lot I guess), and Almost Famous was on.  It's one of those must-view flicks that if you happen to stumble upon you don't turn off.  It'd been a few years since I last watched it (the film was made in 2000), so I was a little startled when I saw this:

Cameron from Modern Family, about a decade before he became famous.

His name is Eric Stonestreet, and in the movie he's a hotel clerk who says "Mr. Miller?  You have a message from Elaine.  Your mother.  She's a handful.  She freaked me out."

You may or may not have known that Jimmy Fallon is in Almost Famous as well, he plays the manager the record company sends to help out the band:

And so is Rainne Wilson (Dwight Schrute from The Office), who has the role of one of the editors at Rolling Stone Magazine.

Actor/comedian Nick Swardson also makes a cameo appearance as a crazy David Bowie fan:

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Why do NFL officials have to explain the overtime rules?

While watching the Cowboys/Steelers OT game last weekend, I got a little annoyed by the fact that the official was forced to awkwardly attempt to explain the overtime rules to the players and crowd before the coin flip.  I couldn't find a video of it, but here's a clip of a similar circumstance from last year's Giants/49ers playoff game:

Why does this happen?  I sort of get why they did it for the fans when the rule was brand new, but it's not new anymore.  And if the players somehow aren't aware, they don't deserve an explanation.  You don't see this in any other sports.  The umpires at a baseball game don't announce before extra innings that if the home team takes the lead the game is over.  NBA refs don't explain that the extra period only lasts 5 minutes.  And it doesn't happen at other points in NFL games; you don't see referees grabbing the microphone at the two-minute warning to announce that all replays reviews will now happen automatically.  The rules are the rules, everybody knows them.  Announcing them before overtime is just dumb.

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Memo to young women in bars: Part II

A while ago I wrote a post in which I tried to educate the 20-something female population about the concept of "buying rounds."  Today I am going to expand on that a little:

Even if you and your friends aren't good enough friends to buy drinks for each other, and you insist on each paying for just your own drink with your own credit card every time you order, that doesn't mean you have to all order separately as well.

Last night a a girl walked up to my bar holding her card out (I do give her credit for being ready to pay though; rather than digging through her bag for twenty minutes after I make the drink as if she had no idea that some sort of currency exchange would be necessary in order to acquire said drink) and ordered a pomegranate margarita with salt.  Meanwhile, her friend stood quietly behind her.  Once I made the drink and swiped her credit card she stepped to the side, then her friend moved in and said "I'll have the same thing."  I laughed (probably a little too obnoxiously) and repeated the process.

I promise it's easier for both you and me if the two of you (or even 3 or 4) order your drinks together, it'll save us all some time and effort.  Also, when you're sitting at the bar and you've finished your cocktail, it's ok to get another one if you like.  Or you can go home if you want to. You don't have to feel obligated to stay there for another hour and chat away with your friends with empty glasses in front of you.

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Paul Pierce's 40 point game is even more amazing than you think

The Captain salutes the crowd after his 40th point.

When Paul Pierce drained the second of back to back three pointers with 2:30 to go in the first quarter yesterday, my buddy in the seat next to me at the Garden turned and said "I think he's going to have a good night."  As you've probably heard by now, Pierce became just the 2nd player in Celtics history over the age of 35 to score 40 points in a game (Larry Bird did it in a double overtime contest in 1992).  But, Pierce's achievement goes way beyond just that.

Since Bird's 49 point effort 20 years ago, just 5 other players 35 or older have scored at least 40 points in an NBA game: Michael Jordan, Clyde Drexler, Karl Malone, Reggie Miller, and Shaquille O'Neal.  That's it.  Not a bad list for Pierce to join.

If that's not impressive enough, Pierce scored his 40 points while taking just 16 shots (13-16 FG, 8-8 FT, 6-7 3PT).  In the last 3 seasons there have been 85 forty point games in the NBA.  Pierce's is the only one with 16 or fewer field goal attempts.  The last player to put up 40 with such efficiency was Amare Stoudemire in March of 2010.  In the past 10+ years there have only been 5 forty point games where the player took 16 or fewer shots, and since 1985 (as far back as basketball-reference.com tracks) it has happened a total of just 13 times.  Factoring in Pierce's age makes the accomplishment even more significant, none of the other 12 players were older than 30.

Is it possible Pierce is the oldest player in NBA history to score 40 on so few field goal attempts?  I don't have the research power to figure that out.  If you're reading this and you happen to work for Espn or Elias (or The Wall Street Journal?), please give me a hand.

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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "I Wanna be Rich" by Calloway

In 1990 two brothers who went by their last name, "Calloway," had their one and only major hit.  As far as stereotypical late 80's/early 90's pop music goes, I Wanna be Rich fits the mold perfectly.  The lyrics are also spectacularly uncreative; as a 13 year old I remember being very unimpressed by "I spend my money on lottery; my favorite number is 1 2 3..."  But the tune is catchy and it has a nice happy vibe to it; almost a reggae/steel kettle drums type of sound that makes you feel like you're on vacation in the Caribbean.

I wonder if this song was enough for the Calloway brothers to reach their self proclaimed financial goals?  I think I bought the cassette single, but their cut of that .99 cents probably didn't get it done.

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The Tebometer is back!

After a 4 week hiatus, Tim Tebow got back on the field for the Jets last night, and threw one pass.  He did not complete it, ending his streak of 5 consecutive completions (over a span of 5 games), and dropping his career passing percentage down to 47.9%.  Tebow's 0-1 performance earned him a passer rating of 39.6.  Amazingly, starter Mark Sanchez's line of 13-28 for 131 yards, 1 TD, and 4 interceptions was bad enough to receive an ever lower rating, 32.6.  It was the second time this season that Tebow went 0-1, but arguably had a better game than Sanchez.



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Clearly I jinxed the Pats. But it's no big deal.

Last week I posted something called "Writing about the Patriots/Bray's amazingness is getting pretty redundant."  I listed several impressive stats and streaks that they were on, most of which ended or became much less impressive last night.  I should have seen it coming.  Everyone was finally on the Pats bandwagon this week, pretty much the entire sports world was calling them the best team in the NFL.  What I expected to happen to Notre Dame several weeks ago is what did happen to New England yesterday.

But that's ok.  After playing as badly as they possibly could for more than a half, the Patriots erased a 28 point deficit in less than a quarter against on of the best teams (and defenses) in the NFL.  I had this exchange with one of the co-founders of Cosby Sweaters (and a fellow Pats fan) on facebook last night:

Me: "Not real bothered by the loss.  The comeback was good enough, and now they got their crap game out of the way."

CS Mike: "Exactly. Tonight was the game they usually play on Super Bowl Sunday against the Giants. Now it's out of their system."

I think this sums up perfectly the current state of affairs in Foxboro.

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Recycle Sunday 7.0

Highlights from the blog since the the last recycle Sunday:

Even though I wish it wasn't true, the 2012 USA Basketball Team would beat the 1992 "Dream Team."

The technology in my watch makes me think we should have solar powered cars by now.

It bothers me that many Olympic events involve losing a game to "win" the silver medal.

If it looks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, sometimes in means Bartolo Colon used steroids.

The Olympic runner with fake legs got upset when he lost at the Paralympics to a runner with better fake legs.

Remember last summer when the Washington Nationals decided they didn't want to win the World Series?

I discovered a record streak of 20 consecutive winning seasons by Boston's 4 major sports teams.  The Wall Street Journal decided it was worth mentioning.

If you were a vendor at Fenway Park, what product would you most like to sell walking up and down the aisles?

If you ever go up to a restaurant employee and say "I can't find my waitress," please make sure you have at least looked first.

For kids in school these days, writing "research papers" has got to be kind of a joke compared to what it used to be like.

Even though I hate the concept (because it doesn't really exist), I was kind of amused when a women at the bar asked me to make her an "anorexic margarita."

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Remember the "Big East?"

A little over 20 years ago there used to be an NCAA conference called the "Big East."  It was made up of 9 schools from the northeast, and featured some of the best college hoops in the nation.  Here are the men's basketball standings from the league's final season of play in 1990-91:


After that year the conference chose to become affiliated with football, and the University of Miami was added solely for that purpose.  Here are the standings of the new league that shall not be named for the following 1991-92 season:

Scott Burrell, UConn, 1991

The Hurricanes didn't quit fit in.  Not to mention the fact that they were nearly 1,000 miles away from their closest opponent (Georgetown).  The decision to make football the priority set in motion 21 years of money grabbing shenanigans that led to the complete and utter destruction of the conference.  As of today UConn is the only team left, and that probably won't last long.

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Every team has jack*ss fans: As illustrated by this brilliant (but flawed) commercial

The first time I saw this ad was in a bar with no volume, but I was still able to figure out what was going on: Two supporters of rival teams each talk about how much better off they are as fans than the other, when in reality their lives are virtually identical.  I was kind of excited to watch it with volume, but there's just one little problem:

You can't understand a single thing they are saying.  The idea of it is genius though.  I always think it's funny when I hear people around here make comments like "Yankee fans are such a--holes."  But if you go to New York, they say the same thing about Red Sox fans.  Making broad generalizations about entire fan bases is just ridiculous.  Every team has smart fans.  Every team has polite and courteous fans.  Every team has drunk and obnoxious fans.  And every team has jack*ss fans.  It's just the way it is.  And it's not as if they don't overlap; I'm certain that at one time or another I have been all of those.

So kudos espn, but how about making some more of them in regular American English?  I'm thinking a pair of college kids at North Carolina and Duke, or a couple late twenties/early thirties guys from the Bronx and East Boston.  Or how about two old retired alums of Michigan and Ohio State living in suburbia?  There's a ton of great possibilities, hopefully the ad wizards at espn will take advantage.

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Jared Sullinger's dad is not a fan of my analysis of the Celtics defense

Yesterday I wrote a piece for Celtics Life pointing out that although Boston had been playing better defense lately (6 straight games of holding their opponents under 100 points after giving up over 100 in 7 of their first 14), they'd been doing it against teams that struggle offensively.  I called it "C's improving defense may just be a mirage."  Celtics rookie power forward Jared Sullinger's father saw the link on twitter, and expressed his disagreement:

@celticslife Are you really a Celtic Fan and if so do you love controversy? Fair question. I see Doc's work improving the team game by game
— satch sullinger (@satchsullinger) December 12, 2012

For what it's worth, I actually agree with Satch.  I do think the Celts are making progress defensively, I was just pointing out that we should wait and see how they do against higher scoring teams.  Last night Dallas came to town averaging 100.1 points per game, 10th in the NBA.  Even though the Mavericks ended up scoring 115 (Celtics won 117-115 in 2 OT), Boston held them to just 96 in regulation.

And while I'm on the subject, be sure to read my post today about watching the horrendous second overtime at the Garden last night.  Doc Rivers might have been wiser to put Sullinger in the game...

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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Just a Friend" by Biz Markie

In 1989, Biz Markie's Just a Friend was one of the original rap/pop crossover hits to receive major radio airplay.  It's the first song I ever remember listening to where a rapper actually sang as well.

For the past several years it was played at Fenway Park every time Kevin Youkilis came up to bat.  The crowd would chant "Yooouuuuk, you got what I need..."  In fact, Youkilis and Biz Markie collaborated on this spectacular local car dealer commercial last year:

For those not aware of the "Youk" cheer, it always sounded as if the fans were booing.  Next time he comes to Fenway it most likely actually will be boos; today Kevin Youkilis is a New York Yankee.  Here's the original song video:

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Writing about the Patriots/Brady's amazingness is getting pretty redundant

All I really want to say about the Pats and Brady today is "everything I've already said lately, but now it's even better/more/longer."  Every game it seems they're breaking new records, and extending old ones.  Two weeks ago I suggested that their stats indicated they were the best team in the NFL.  Now a lot of people are starting to agree.  In fact I've heard the phrase "their 3 losses are by a total of just 4 points" many times on the espns today.  I really wish I'd made a bigger deal of that when I was using it to defend them 7 weeks ago.

Two of the numbers that are most impressive to me became even greater last night:
- New England is averaging 36.3 points per game, over a touchdown more than the league's second highest scoring offense, Denver at 28.8 PPG.
- The Patriots are also outscoring their opponents by an average of 15.2 points per game, the next best differential in the NFL is San Francisco at just 10.2 PPG.

Some impressive streaks that go on:
- The Pats have won 21 straight regular season games in the second half of the season.
- Yesterday was their 20th consecutive win at home in the month of December.
- They've now won at least 10 games in each of the last 10 years.

And one more new record:
- Against the Texans Tom Brady just had his 14th career game with 4 TD passes and zero interceptions, the most of any player ever.


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SVP and Russillo show live at the Harp in Boston today

My former Richmond classmate Todd McShay was the guest.

As I've mentioned previously, the SVP and Rusillo show is my favorite of all the espn day time sports talk shows (even before they read one of my tweets on the air).  I think they're funny, and they seem to have the same taste in '90s pop culture that I do (i.e. they had Snoop Dog on their show a few weeks ago).  So when I learned that they were broadcasting live from the Harp in Boston today, I was in.

Two things in particular stood out to me while watching the show in person: One, Scott Van Pelt is really tall.  And two, as soon as the cameras stop rolling they immediately pull out their cell phones and spend the breaks scanning twitter.  I DVRed (if that's not an official word yet it should be) the show and browsed over it when I got home.  Here's a clip of Van Pelt and Russillo talking with espn's draft guru Todd McShay.  There's a decent chance I'm the one who yells out "Spiders" at the :22 mark, and "Yeah Richmond!" at :31 seconds.

The cameras also frequently panned through the crowd each time they came in and out of commercials.  Unfortunately you can't read the "LucidSportsFan.com" on my hat; big free advertising opportunity lost...

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Snifters: 101

This a snifter.

Here's another of my public service announcements regarding appropriate bar behavior.  The restaurant I work in serves a lot of nice tequila.  People often like to drink it out of a snifter.  That's fine by me, it's a fun and fancy looking glass to hold.

Sometimes they order it "on the rocks" (with ice), or chilled (shaken with ice then strained into a glass).  These are both perfectly acceptable ways to drink your tequila, or whatever other liquor you like (although if it's a good one you're probably kind of ruining it by watering it down).  But, if you order your booze on the rocks or chilled AND in a snifter, you're totally defeating the point (and also making the bartender think you're a chump, which is generally good to avoid).

The reason snifters are shaped the way they are is so that you can cup the glass in the palm of your hand, and warm up whatever is inside it.  If there was ice involved in the process of pouring your drink, "warming it up" probably isn't what you are looking for.

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Rajon Rondo is back to his old triple double antics

There hasn't been a triple double guy like Rondo in a long time.

Last spring Rajon Rondo was a triple double machine.  I'm honestly kind of surprised it took him 19 games to get one this season.  His 16 points, 13 rebounds, 14 assists, 3 steals, and 3 blocks last night has only been matched in each category twice in NBA history (since the league started keeping track of blocks and steals in 1973).  Larry Bird did it in 1982, and Magic Johnson in 1983.  That's it; nobody else has put up those numbers in almost thirty years.  It's also the second occasion in the past 9 months that Rondo has posted a stat line which ranks among the all-time 3 best of it's kind.

Yesterday was Rondo's 10th regular season triple double of the last three seasons, more than the next two players on the list combined (Lebron 5, Andre Iguodala 4).  Including the playoffs, Rondo now has 24 triple doubles in his career.  His averages in those 24 games are pretty ridiculous: 17.4 PTS, 11.8 REB, and 15.1 AST.  He's also recorded at least 20 assists as part of a triple double five times.

On a related note, take a look at my article "Can you name the C's last triple double before Rondo?" for CelticsLife.com.

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Reebok Pumps still exist?

When I walked into the locker room at my work yesterday, these shoes were sitting there on the floor:

Apparently Reebok is making Pumps again.  Or maybe they never stopped.  I just know that I hadn't seen them in a long, long time.  Twenty-some years ago they were the coolest shoe on the planet, and my adolescent years were mildly traumatized by being unable to afford them.  The second I saw this pair I instantly though of Dee Brown.  In 1990 the Celtics rookie was my favorite basketball player, and he wore Pumps just like these.  Dee gained national fame and stardom (while also becoming Reebok's #1 salesman in the process) later that season by winning the 1991 All Star Game Slam Dunk Contest.

He pumps his shoes at the :42 second mark of this clip, and does the famous "no-look dunk" at 4:28.  If you have time, I highly recommend watching the whole thing.  Rex Chapman got robbed, he had no business not making the finals (despite his spandex):

This led to Dee being featured in a major Reebok commercial shortly thereafter:

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What's going on in Brazil?

I've had a solid little bump in my traffic for the past week or so to lucidsportsfan.com.  I can't pinpoint it to a link from any one site, or a particular post that I've written.  But what I can see is that a large portion of it is coming from Brazil.  It's weird, like back when I first started writing and a bunch of people from Hungary visited.  Except this is a lot more, roughly 50 a day.  Do they hate Bob Costas down there?  Big fans of Billy Madison maybe?  Or are they just jealous of our smoking laws?  I haven't even mentioned Leandro Barbosa.  I just don't get it.  If you're reading this from Brazil, please leave a comment or tweet or facebook post and let me know why.


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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "What's My Name" by Snoop Doggy Dogg

In my junior year of high school there were two rap albums that probably accounted for about half the music I listen to at the time.  The first was The Chronic by Dr. Dre.  It featured a young protege of Dre's who went by the name Snoop Doggy Dogg.  Shortly after the release of The Chronic Snoop debuted his own album (produced by Dre) called Doggystyle; the first single entitled "What's My Name."

Having just watched this video (which got regular airplay on MTV) for the first time in probably 15 years, one though jumps into my head: It's pretty amazing Snoop was able to put together a clean version of the song that still sounded good.

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The Patriots greatness that nobody is talking about

Back when it all started...

By now everybody knows that New England officially wrapped up another AFC East division title on Sunday.  Many news and media outlets have mentioned that the Patriots have had 12 consecutive winning seasons.  But what no one seems to be discussing is the fact that the Pats have also had the most wins in the division every single year during that span.  That's right, since the day Tom Brady first took over as the starting quarterback in 2001, no team in the AFC East has ever ended the regular season with more wins than New England.

The Patriots have 10 division championships during that 12 year stretch, and the other two seasons they finished tied atop the standings but lost due to tiebreakers.  In 2002-'03 there was a three-way tie of 9-7 teams along with Miami and the Jets (oddly Buffalo went 8-8 that year).  Then in 2008-'09 when Brady was hurt the Matt Cassel led Pats went 11-5 (the only team in NFL history to go 11-5 and not get in the playoffs), but lost a tiebreaker to the Dolphins.

The Patriots have also averaged slightly better than a 12-4 record over that twelve year span.  They are currently 143-45 since the begging of the 2001 season; winning 76% of the time they take the field.  I wrote a piece detailing all of this a little over a year ago, and since then the numbers have only gotten better.

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Who does Bob Costas think he is?

In the wake of the Jovan Belcher murder/suicide tragedy in Kansas City, last night Bob Costas decided to use NBC's Sunday Night Football halftime show as a medium to tell the world about his beliefs on gun control:

Now here's the thing; I couldn't agree more with what Costas said, I think he is 100% correct.  But his method bothers me.  I don't think this was the appropriate time, place, or manner for him to express his views.  He sounds preachy and condescending, and as if he feels his opinion is more valuable than everyone's who's watching and it's his job to educate all of us.  I guess it wouldn't bother me so much if he hadn't done something similar during halftime of a broadcast a year ago (ironically in Kansas City):

This Stevie Johnson inspired rant got me all fired up when Costas decided it was his duty to scold players for celebrating touchdowns (and coaches for not benching them), as well as insult a large portion of the population with his introduction.  Get off your high horse Bob.

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What's wrong with this picture?

There's something going on in this photograph that just isn't right:

It's not the fact that I was watching TV (and even decided to take a picture of the screen) at 2:29 in the morning.  It's not the ridiculous movie premise of "a spoiled heir who must repeat grades one through 12 in six months to inherit his family's hotel business."  It's not even the image of a first grade teacher making out with a circus clown.  No, the crazy thing about this picture is the fact that whoever is in charge of ratings at comcast decided to give Billy Madison one star.  One star???  This is Billy freaking Madison we're talking about here!  It may well be the number #1 rewatched comedy from my late high school/early college days.  Even if you think the acting is terrible and the plot is stupid, just it's quotability alone has got to earn it at least two stars.

I could have spent roughly 6 hours picking out about 45 different clips.  I'm limiting myself to two.

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I forgot that people used to smoke indoors

I did not think signs like this existed.

I went to Foxwoods last night, and apparently Casinos are the last buildings in the universe that still allow smoking.  I hadn't been to one in years, and it totally caught me by surprise.  I legitimately had no idea that was even a possibility; I guess I just sort of assumed that nobody smoked indoors anymore.  Anywhere.  Ever.

It was crazy, just a giant cloud all over the place.  My clothes, hair, and even the whiskers on my face stunk afterwards.  How did human beings function as a people back when smoking occurred everywhere?

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Rondo's streak out, Brady's streak in

We keep track of sports statistics because they make the games more fun to watch; especially when they involve our favorite players approaching all-time records.  Tom Brady has thrown a touchdown pass in 43 consecutive regular season games.  It's the 3rd longest run of it's kind in the history of the NFL (Johnny Unitas 48, Drew Brees 54).

I haven't paid that much attention to it though, because up until last night, Brees' record was active as well.  For nearly two months Brady has extended his streak each week, but gotten no closer to the mark that Brees kept increasing.  Yesterday the Falcons held Brees touchdown pass-less.  Brady could set a new standard 12 games from now.  Oddly enough, the day after Rajon Rondo's near record streak ended, Tom Brady's fell into the spotlight.

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