The Celtics are officially better than I predicted

Last night the Celtics won on the road, against a quality Western Conference team fighting for a playoff birth.  They even outplayed MVP candidate Anthony Davis and the Hornets down the stretch, pulling away in the fourth quarter.

In my season preview and as part of a panel for ESPN Boston, I predicted the C's would finish 25-57, the same record they had last year.  Yesterday was their 25th win of the season, putting them 1.5 games out of the playoffs at 25-35.  So unless they somehow close the year on a 22-game losing streak, I'm going to be wrong.

How amazing is that picture, by the way?  I wrote about it yesterday on CelticsLife.

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My neighborhood still has cars completely buried in snow

It's been over five weeks since the first storm hit.  There are a lot of cars in South Boston that haven't been seen since:

That scaffolding sticking out of the snow is the back of somebody's pickup truck:

This snowbank doesn't look particularly alarming...

...until you read what the sign says:

But here is the best one of all (look closely):

I zoomed in on the only visible part of the car:

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Breaking down the JaVale McGee era in Boston

First, this news broke this morning:

Boston Celtics on verge of signing JaVale McGee, sources told ESPN. http://t.co/LtXpglBZkF
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) March 5, 2015

Then Danny Ainge went on the radio and talked about why he signed McGee:

JaVale himself sent a bunch of tweets on the subject (since deleted).

We rejoiced:

Welcome to Boston @JaValeMcGee34 pic.twitter.com/Ku2EIzM9Zz
— CelticsLife.com (@CelticsLife) March 5, 2015

Or didn't:

YouTubing JaVale McGee highlights has been a great way to spend my morning. pic.twitter.com/CIQg8hkjLg
— Zack Cox (@ZackCoxNESN) March 5, 2015

And then it ended:

JaVale McGee will NOT be coming to the Celtics. The sides couldn't reach agreement on a contract.
— Steve Bulpett (@SteveBHoop) March 5, 2015

JaVale McGee and Boston couldn't agree on option for next season, league source tells Yahoo. Celtics wanted team option; McGee player option
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) March 5, 2015

The JaVale McGee era in Boston is officially over and as expected the #Celtics went undefeated.
— Julian Edlow (@julianedlow) March 5, 2015

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'Why don't they have bicycles?' and other similar questions about 'The Walking Dead'

Everyone should be in possession of a crank flashlight by now.

In the most recent episode of The Walking Dead, the group found a community that has running water.  For the first time that I can remember in five seasons, somebody took a shower.  Which brings to mind a question I've always wondered, don't they all smell really, really bad?  How do they tolerate being in such close proximity to each other?

Expanding on that, I feel like the show constantly ignores those kinds of things.  For example, two episodes earlier they were thirsty and searching for water.  How is it possible this wasn't an issue earlier?  And why are they just walking through the woods all the time?  The country can't possibly be that rural.  Shouldn't there be more stuff around?  Strip malls, restaurants, apartment complexes, a highway!  Maybe they could think about taking a road that has more than one lane in each direction and isn't surrounded by trees?

As well as the lack of development, why haven't they acquired more useful things?  In a conversation I had at work last night, a friend of mine said "yeah, how come nobody has found a bicycle yet?"  Or how about new clean clothes, pots and pans, camping stuff, tools, etc.?

Everywhere they go has already seemingly been "raided" by previous people and is apparently out of supplies.  But where did the people who originally took these things put them?  It all has to still exist somewhere!

OK, end of rant.


RELATED: Why doesn't anyone on 'The Walking Dead' call the zombies 'zombies'?


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Did Curt Schilling set a new standard for policing the internet?

If you're not up to date on this Curt Schilling story, here's the 37-second recap:

Schilling sent a tweet congratulating his daughter for getting into college and playing for the school's softball team.  Some people who aren't fans of his wrote horribly offensive replies insulting him and his daughter.  Schilling tracked them down, called them out, and now the offending parties are suffering the consequences with their schools and employers.  I highly recommend you take the time to read Schilling's blog detailing the sequence of events.

In my mind it's obvious that you should never say anything to someone on the internet that you wouldn't also say to that person in real life.  Clearly this is not a rule everyone lives by.  Maybe schoolkids should put their hand over their heart and repeat that each morning like the pledge of allegiance.

As far as I know, Schilling's response is one of the first widely publicized instances of repercussions for being a piece of $#*% on the internet.  To borrow from a colleague of mine, I "really hope we look back at Schilling's ongoing battle as the Boston Tea Party of the internet troll war."

Maybe Schilling's actions are the beginning of a revolution.  I'm going to use the sports world as my example, but this could happen in all walks of life.  I'd love to turn on ESPN tomorrow and see Scott Van Pelt say:

"Joe Schmo wrote: 'You are ____ing ___ who ___ his ____.'  He disagrees with my take on the Philadelphia Eagles' defense.  Joe is a manager at Applebee's in Anytownville, PA.  I can't imagine this is the type of person Applebee's wants representing their establishment."

Then see what happens.


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LucidSportsFan.com is 4 years old today

When I first started this blog, a friend of mine said "it's good stuff, make sure you keep doing it, at least once a day."

I took that to heart.

I'm now on day No. 1,462, and I haven't missed one yet.  Seriously.  Four consecutive years with a post--every--single--day.  I'd love to go back and read them all in order, starting at the beginning.  In theory, at 37 seconds each that should take roughly 15 hours.  In reality it's probably double that, much longer if you watch all the video clips.

Here's what I wrote for the site's third birthday a year ago.

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What should happen to someone who "saves" a parking spot they didn't even shovel out in the first place?

When it snows in South Boston you're allowed to "save" your parking spot on the street (with a cone, trash can, etc.) after you dig out your car.  I'm opposed to it as a general rule (for all of these reasons), but given the absurd amount of snow this winter I've come to terms with it.

For the past month this is what the view outside my living room window looked like (notice the stop sign buried in the middle of the pile):

The other night some backhoes came and cleared off the street corner.  After being kept awake till 4:30 am by the constant "beep, beep, beep" noise they make while in reverse (which sounds exactly like an alarm clock, by the way), this is what I saw when I finally got out of bed the next day:

Some d-bag had the audacity to "save" the spot the city spent all night clearing, implying that he or she actually shoveled it out themselves.

What should happen to this person?

My first thought was just to go grab the plastic bin and throw it in the dumpster behind the building, but that doesn't seem severe enough a penalty.  In a perfect world this liar would suffer same fate I proposed for people who don't clean up after their dogs.

Please send me a tweet, or comment below or on Facebook with any suggestions/ideas you might have.

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