Did the TD Garden PA announcer ruin Paul Pierce's final moment as a Celtic?

I haven't fully wrapped my head around what happened at the Garden last night yet.  Later on I'll read the stories about the game, and probably watch my DVR recording of the 20-0 run in the 4th quarter.  But for right now I just want to talk about the events of the final minute.

There's a good chance that may have been the last time Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, or both ever wear a Boston Celtics uniform.  With 18 seconds remaining Garnett was subbed out, and received a standing ovation.  But just 9 seconds before that Pierce was taken out of the game as well.  For some odd reason though the PA broadcaster failed to announce this to the crowd.  The Garden fans were unaware that Pierce was heading to the bench, and because of this there were no cheers.  I really hope this was not Pierce's final moment as a Celtic, but if it was it's sad and disappointing that the announcer missed it.

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Awesome Old Song of the Week: "Warm It Up" by Kris Kross

On Wednesday Chris Kelly (the tall one in back) of Kris Kross passed away at the age of 34, possibly of a drug overdose.  The Atlanta based duo of Kelly and childhood friend Chris Smith became huge in 1992 with their #1 hit "Jump," but I always liked "Warm It Up" a little better.

I'm fairly certain they were the first artists I ever bought a CD of who were younger than me.  I definitely wore my clothes backwards in order to be "totally Krossed out" for Halloween, and there's a good chance that it may have even happened two years in a row.



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So there's different flavors of Red Bull now?

The other day I saw an ad for "red, white, and blue" flavors of Red Bull (cranberry, lime, and blueberry).  I am not a fan of Red Bull.  It goes back to the time my roommate was a bartender who gave me 4 or 5 Red Bull-vodka's one evening, and I literally couldn't fall asleep that night.  I just lay there in bed till it got light out staring at the ceiling, and I swear I could hear my heart pounding in my chest.

Having said that, I have to admit all three of those varieties sound better than the original flavor, which now that there are different kinds they might as well just start calling "SweetTart."

Related: Crazy holiday club soda flavors, Fruit Loop vodka.


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Thank you Celtics for making the playoffs enjoyable again

Green's back to back 4th quarter 3's irritated Spike Lee.

In each of the past 5 years that I've been a Boston Celtics season ticket holder, they have provided me with a number of screaming-at-the-TV-in-excitement and "I can't wait to go to the game tonight" playoff moments.  While heading to Game 3 at the Garden last Friday with the C's in an 0-2 hole, the only feeling I had was a nervous "they have to win tonight or the season's over" kind of thing.  And when I exited the building that evening after a third straight drubbing from the Knicks, I realized that I wasn't going to have any of those moments this postseason.  Even as the Celts pulled off a dramatic OT win on Sunday, it didn't seem like anything worth getting fired up about; it was just a temporary postponement of the inevitable.

But then something strange happened.  New York starting talking trash about their 3-1 advantage.  Confident teams with big leads don't usually do that, they just sit back and let their play speak for itself.  Kenyon Martin said the Knicks would dress for a funeral in Game 5.  J.R. Smith claimed that if he hadn't been suspended for Game 4 he'd be playing golf today (sidebar - this makes absolutely no sense to me, you play golf when you're eliminated and your season is over.  Don't you have to keep practicing and working hard while you're preparing for the next series?  Who gets to play golf then?).

And then tonight it got really weird; the Knicks actually showed up to the game each all dressed in black.  I laughed out loud when I saw it on the pre-game show.  My instant reaction was that it was a childish move that wreaked of false bravado.  I wondered if maybe New York wasn't as sure of themselves as they'd have us believe.  When the game started I had an odd sense of unexplainable confidence, even as the Celtics fell behind 11-0.  Perhaps it came from assuming the series was already over, and in turn having nothing to lose.  Regardless, when Jeff Green's thunderous dunk put the C's up by 15 I was back to yelling at my television, and now I can't wait to go to Game 6 on Friday.  Boston still has a long uphill battle ahead if they're going to pull off the miracle comeback, but at least they've made the playoffs fun again.

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It's time to give the Red Sox their due

Buchholz has won every time he's taken the mound.

We're now one month into the Major League Baseball season, and through the first 30 days the Red Sox are easily the class of the league.  At 18-7 (.720 win %) they have the best record in baseball, and 2 fewer losses than any other team.  They have the second most home wins (11) of any club, and far and away the best road record (7-2) as well.  Their run differential of +40 is 11 more than than MLB's 2nd highest, Colorado at +29.

The Sox are doing it with exceptional pitching; their staff has the most strikeouts in baseball (248), and the lowest batting average against (.221), which is crazy for an A.L. team.  Clay Buchholz, Jon Lester, and Felix Doubront are a combined 12-0 in 14 starts, with a total of 96 K's in 92.2 innings pitched.

And I can't leave out David Ortiz, who's 20 game hitting streak (dating back to last year) is the longest for a DH since Paul Molitor in 1987.  Big Papi went 2-4 on Sunday, and his season batting average dropped to .516.

One other fact worth noting, when I wrote a brief A.L. East season preview back on April 1st, the main point I made was that the division would be wide open.  The current standings are the exact opposite of what ESPN predicted them to be.

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It's mind boggling that Tim Tebow was bigger news than Jason Collins today

On the day that the first ever athlete in the history of major American pro sports came out of the closet and said he's gay, somehow the bigger news story was the release of a backup NFL quarterback with a 47.9 career completion percentage.  Here's the front page of ESPN.com this afternoon:

In addition to being the top headline, Tim Tebow is also pictured as the featured image on the left.  I'm not just blaming ESPN, Yahoo and other news outlets did the same thing.  And it's not like the Tebow story was already up and the Jason Collins news was just breaking; I first heard about Collins around 11 am, and took this picture just before 2 pm.  One of the most ground breaking and transcending stories in sports history was deemed of less interest than Tebow.  His magic is unexplainable.

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If only that'd been Game 7 instead of Game 4

The first 3 of Terry's 9 points in OT

This is a weird feeling to have as a Celtics fan.  Boston was determined not to go out with a sweep on their own floor today.  They built a 20 point lead, let it slip away, then had just enough left to hang on in overtime.  An injured Kevin Garnett gave everything he had, pulling down 17 rebounds for the second consecutive contest (both of which would be season highs if not for a triple OT game against Denver in February).  For most of the afternoon Doc Rivers used just 6 players, with Jason Terry being the lone reserve to see significant action.  Late in the game with the C's desperate for offense as usual, Terry finally showed why Danny Ainge brought him here, scoring the Celtics final 9 points.

Everything about this result has a "Custer's Last Stand" feel to it.  The Knicks were missing their second best player (a suspended JR Smith), and in turn got a season low 7 points from their bench.  Scoring champ Carmelo Anthony shot just 10-35 (and 0-7 3PT) from the field.  Boston had all the motivation in the world to win this one, while New York may well have been content to wait for Game 5 back at MSG.  And through all that, it still took an incredibly hard fought OT win to get the series to 3-1.

It's a very unfamiliar place to be, and I don't know how to feel about this victory.  I can't imagine how the Celtics could have anything left in the tank; and even if they did nothing about what I've seen so far gives me any reason to think they might win on Wednesday.  Boston played today like it was a Game 7, and I wish it could be the final memory of this season.

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