Philadelphia 76ers keep doing some of the 76er-iest things

Sixers tank t-shirt

I've been saying all season that the Sixers are going to be the worst team in NBA history.  Philly is now 2-21 overall and 0-12 at home.  No team has ever finished with fewer than nine wins in an 82-game season before (also the 76ers, who went 9-73 in 1972-73).  The current club is on pace to go 7-75 or 8-74.

Tonight Philadelphia actually led the 18-4 Memphis Grizzlies 95-77 with seven-and-a-half minutes remaining.  The Sixers allowed Memphis to score 32 points in a span of 7:15, and the game went to overtime tied 109-109.  I'm sure you can guess what happened after that.

The night before Philly fell to the Nets 88-70.  In that contest the Sixers scored just 25 points in the second half, including only 10 in the 4th quarter.  They connected on a total of four shots in the period.

The 76ers made just 11 two-pointers tonight, the fewest in a game in NBA history since the advent of the shot clock.
— devin kharpertian (@uuords) December 13, 2014

On that same night, three NBA players made more two-point field goals on their own than the entire 76ers team did: LeBron James (15), Derrick Rose (14) and LaMarcus Aldridge (14).


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Why would Johnny Damon (or any big celebrity) want to be an apprentice?

I saw an ad the other day for a new season of Celebrity Apprentice, which apparently is going to include Johnny Damon.  Why would a retired millionaire athlete ever want to become somebody's apprentice?  Come on Johnny, you should be the one starting a company and having people be your apprentice!

Also on the cast are Ian Ziering, Terrell Owens, Geraldo Rivera (are you kidding me, Geraldo?) and a bunch of other quasi-famous people.

Really I don't get why it ever became "Celebrity Apprentice" to begin with.  By definition I think apprentices need to be regular people.  It's like if that game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire had contestants on it who were already rich and famous.

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Nest thermostat commercials are funny

Example A:



Example B:



I love how he says "the internets." Reminds me of this great scene from The Internship:



Who would have ever though some of the best ads on TV right now might be for thermostats?  I'm not planning on buying one anytime soon, but at least the commercials make you remember what they are for, so good job Nest.

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Remember when Jon Lester said $20 million didn't matter? (I don't blame him for picking the Cubs though)

A little after 1 am this morning the news broke that Jon Lester had decided to sign with the Chicago Cubs.  Per ESPN Chicago, Lester's contract will either be for six years and $155 million, or seven years/$170 million (with a vesting option).  The Red Sox reportedly offered Lester $20 million less, six years and $135 mil--which makes Lester's quote from this past summer all the more painful:

"In the greater scheme of things, we're talking about just a stupid amount of money. For me, I want to be comfortable. The way I look at it is, if someone gives you $170 million and someone gives you $150 million, is that $20 million really going to change your lifestyle? Same thing if the highest bidder is $100 million and the team you're going to feel most comfortable with offers $80 million. Is that $20 million really going to make the difference in your lifestyle?"

Ugh.

You think he'd like to take that back?  Or maybe $150 mil is the cutoff for a "stupid amount of money"?  So $150 mil is as good as $170 mil, but once you go under $150 mil that $20 mil difference actually does matter?

At the time I called Lester "my new hero" for saying that, and wrote "I'll be extremely proud if the soon-to-be free agent's actions stay true to his words."  Well they didn't, but honestly I don't really blame him.  Yahoo Sports Jeff Passan says Lester chose the Cubs for the opportunity to make history and bring them their first World Series since 1908.

I'm assuming Lester was still a little offended by the four year/$70 mil "offer" Boston made him last spring.  The sad thing is the Red Sox never would've needed to go anywhere near their current 6 yr/135 mil offer to lock him up back then.  He absolutely would have signed for 6/120, probably even for 5/100.

Ugh.

Extremely difficult decision for me and my family but we love the outcome and couldn't be more excited to join the Cubs organization! #NVRQT
— Jon Lester (@JLester31) December 10, 2014

To Red Sox Nation, I understand the disappointment. Boston will always have a big place in my heart and we'll always consider y'all family!
— Jon Lester (@JLester31) December 10, 2014

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The Patriots have come a long way since Week 4, huh?

The Patriots are 10-3.  They have three games left--at home vs. the Dolphins, at the Jets and home vs. the Bills.  At this point people expect them to finish 13-3 and claim the top seed in the AFC.  Confidence is through the roof.

Even when they fell behind the Chargers 14-3 in San Diego on Sunday night, I still fully expected them to win the game:

I'm strangely not even the least bit concerned after that LaFell fumble/TD
— Mark Vandeusen (@LucidSportsFan) December 8, 2014

After Week 4 when everybody thought the sky was falling following a 41-14 blowout loss in Kansas City, I posted a blog titled Postponing the Premature Patriots Panic.  I'm not going to say "I told you so" though, because even I never would have predicted this.  To me New England looked like a 9-7 team.

I was very concerned about their brutal out of division schedule, but in their last five games the Pats just went 4-1 against the Broncos, Colts, Lions, Packer and Chargers.  Those five teams have a combined record of 47-15 (a .758 winning percentage) against the rest of the NFL.

In Week 5 the Patriots knocked off the then 3-0 Bengals, and I wrote a piece sarcastically called The dropped interception that saved Tom Brady's career and extended the Patriots dynasty.  It's worth going back and reading again, because what was a joke could end up being 100% true.


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Frustrated Revolution player tosses opponent faking injury; would Boston have had a parade if they won?

This should be two different posts, but I just couldn't convince myself to write about soccer two days in a row.

Yesterday the New England Revolution lost the MLS Cup Final for a record fifth time in the 19-year history of the league (they've never won it).  Three of those defeats have now come at the hands of the L.A. Galaxy.

Late in the game with the Galaxy leading 2-1, L.A. goalie Jamie Penedo stayed down on the ground milking an "injury" in an effort to run time off the clock.  Players faking injuries is easily my biggest pet peeve with soccer, which is why when I watch it I end up tweeting things like this:

That guy just lay down because he got tired I think. And they stop play for him to walk off. Soccer is awesome sometimes.
— Mark Vandeusen (@LucidSportsFan) December 7, 2014

So in this case, I was particularly thrilled to see the way New England's A.J. Soares reacted to Penedo's antics:




That's my first-ever Vine right there, and I have to say I think it's a pretty good one (I'm fairly proud of my second one too, Rajon Rondo's spectacular full-court bounce-pass assist in the Celtics win over the Wizards yesterday).

Now on to Part II of this blog: If the Revolution had won yesterday, would we be seeing a parade in Boston this week?

I'm guessing it probably would've happened because people in charge would feel like it had to (remember, Patriots owner Bob Kraft owns the Revs as well), but I can't imagine there really could have been enough interest to justify it.  In the end I'm kind of glad it's a non-issue; the lack of crowds in attendance likely would have made Boston look pathetic and hurt our city's reputation as the king championship parades this millennium.

Dan Shaughnessy agrees with me:

Silver lining of Revs loss is that now we don't have to pretend they are relevant. Nice try by the Revs. But we are a Four Team Town.
— Dan Shaughnessy (@Dan_Shaughnessy) December 7, 2014

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Awesome Old Commercials of the Week: The Best of Larry Bird (in honor of his 58th birthday today)

Everybody remembers the Larry Bird vs. Michael Jordan "nothing but net" commercial where they play H.O.R.S.E., the iconic Larry vs. Magic Converse ad in French Lick, Indiana, and probably the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar potato chip spot pictured (which I did include below).

Instead, here are some of Larry Legend's lesser known TV commercials:







You have to turn the volume way up for this one:







How weird is it to see an athlete in a beer commercial?







Imagine how great Bird might have been if his diet didn't consist of soda, beer, scotch, steak, burgers, potato chips and candy bars?


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