The regular season is barely relevant for the Celtics

Last night was the first time all season that the Celtics played with the starting lineup (Garnett, Bass, Pierce, Bradley, Rondo) that dominated the league last spring (Doc Rivers finally listened to me and benched Jason Collins).  They responded with their best defensive effort of the season, blowing out an Indiana Pacers team that had won 9 of 11 games.  This block from Avery Bradley kind of sums things up perfectly:

Boston would have beaten anybody the way they played last night; Miami, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, L.A. (Clippers or Lakers), anybody.  In fact, I just wrote a piece for Celtics Life called "The Celtics we saw last night could win the NBA title."  Because the C's are capable of doing what they did last night, it's impossible to count them out as long as two things happen:

1.  They have to actually make the playoffs.  It shouldn't be an issue, but at the moment they are clinging to the final spot.

2.  They must be completely healthy.  Last year Avery Bradley's injury was their downfall.  Garnett, Pierce, Rondo, Bradley, Bass, Sullinger, Terry, Green, and Lee all need to be 100% heading into the postseason.

Having said that, the Celtics will probably lose in Atlanta tonight, and that's no reason to be discouraged.  Yesterday we saw what they are capable of.


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Why I'm not sold on the Denver Broncos

Peyton and the Broncos faltered against top teams.

After a 2-3 start, the Denver Broncos are on an 11 game winning streak. They have the #1 seed in the playoffs, and the best odds of any team to win the Superbowl.

However, of those 11 games, only two were against playoff teams (they beat Baltimore and Cincinnati).  Their three toughest games on the schedule all fell within the first 5 weeks of the season, and they lost each and every time (to 13-3 Atlanta, 12-4 Houston, and 12-4 New England).   The Broncos may well have been getting better as the season went on, but they also could have just been taking advantage of a favorable schedule.  I don't see how a team can be considered the favorite if it lost all three games it played against elite competition.

For comparison New England went 2-1 in it's three most difficult games, beating 13-3 Denver and 12-4 Houston, and losing to 11-4-1 San Francisco.

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Chronicling the death of magazines

In August of 2011 I wrote a piece about fantasy football magazines being adversely affected by the NFL lockout.  As an afterthought I mentioned that magazines in general were probably outdated; any time in the past when I would have read one I now just look at something on my phone instead.  Almost exactly a year later I lamented the end of the line for one of my favorite childhood magazines, Nintendo Power.

Last October I received a free 10 week subscription to Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, and Sports Illustrated.  All 30 issues now sit unread in a stack on my kitchen counter.  Ironically, this was the final one to appear in my mailbox before the subscription ran out:

In publication since 1933, Newsweek is now only available online.  And it cost me just $24.7 million to get them to advertise my site on the final cover.

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The Governor of Pennsylvania is out of his mind

His name is Tom Corbett, and he's suing the NCAA.  He claims that his state has been unfairly harmed by overly harsh sanctions imposed on Penn State University from the Jerry Sandusky child abuse scandal.  While it seems a bit of a stretch to infer that an entire state might be damaged because of penalties given to one school's football program, that's not even the point.  Even if he's right; even if somehow he has a case and legally he could win, he's still a moron for doing it.  This is one of those things you're not allowed to fight against.  The University isn't part of the lawsuit, they've accepted the punishment.

Not only that, but it seems like a horrific thing to do from a PR/political standpoint.  I can't imagine it's going to go over very well in the court of public opinion.  My guess is bringing this story back into the spotlight and dragging it through the mud will probably be a lot more damaging for him and his state than the NCAA's sanctions.  Even if he wins he loses.

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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" by Primitive Radio Gods

I heard this song while buying a cup of coffee the other day.  I could remember the title, but not the group.  I guess there's no particular reason why my brain should hold on to the name of a band that only had one mildly popular hit 17 years ago, but still it bothered me.  That's the type of useless information I've always taken pride in knowing; I guess I'm getting old.

I'd also forgotten that it was on The Cable Guy soundtrack.  I've come across some very diverse opinions regarding that movie, some people love it and some hate it.  Personally I think it's kind of painful watch, I just feel bad for all the characters in it.

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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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