Boston Sports Then and Now

Brady’s hair outshines Rams

Since his appearance courtside during the NBA Finals, Tom Brady has drawn a lot of comparisons to Justin Bieber. They say it’s the hair. I’m not sure if that’s the case. I’ve never seen this Bieber kid, but from what I’ve heard, he’s the apple of the eye of every 12-year old girl whose mother thought Nick Carter was “dreamy” and couldn’t wait until marriage.

But last night at the Razor, it seems like Brady’s anti-fro got in his eyes. Or at least it must have seemed that way to the Rams’ secondary, who couldn’t get a read on anything that Brady was doing as he tore them up for over 270 yards and three touchdowns.

It seems the glare had its effect on the Pats’ defense, too, as they found themselves completely unable to stop anything, much less the laser arm of Sam Bradford, as the Rams defeated the Pats, 36-35 on a last-second Josh Brown field goal.

It all leaves one to wonder: Is Bradford the anti-Bieber? And if so, why hasn’t Jive records signed him to a deal?

Didn't he used to be so cute?

Red Sox continue to tread water in soggy Fens

This week at the YMCA, the “Tuna” group completed its first diving classes. The class is comprised mostly of once-members of the 2010 Boston Red Sox, and all 38 players passed with flying colors, although there were a few question marks during the class itself. Dustin Pedroia – once MVP and Rookie of the Year on the baseball diamond – spoke at length prior to the class about how he “invented the laser show” and didn’t “need no newfangled swimming lessons.”
Former Red Sox centerfielder and leadoff man Jacoby Ellsbury complained that hitting the water “made [his] tummy hurt,” and some other whiny nonsense.

While the incapacitated version of the 2010 Red Sox were busy learning to swim, their able colleagues spent the week treading water in a rain-soaked Fenway Park against the soon-to-be Oklahoma City Mariners. Or Tornadoes. Well, whatever. Just don’t let the Starbucks guy near them.

Rondo leaves team USA, takes his Red Bull with him

Director of U.S. Basketball operations Jerry Colangelo is currently in talks with representatives from Five-Hour Energy, Monster and the Guys Who Used to Make Surge as he attempts to procure a method for giving his FIBA world championships team some motivation to win after stud point guard and Celtics poster-boy Rajon Rondo unexpectedly left the team, citing family issues. When asked about the circumstances surrounding his departure, Rondo noted that “one, I don’t play with no high-falootin’ Lakers and two, none of those guys are even close to 33. Didn’t Colangelo know I only play with guys who are past their prime?” He went on to amend his earlier statement, saying that “Glen Davis? He ain’t past his prime yet. But dude’s messed up something wicked.”

Colangelo’s attempts to procure another energy provider have not been terribly successful thus far. If talks with the energy beverage companies stay at an impasse, Colangelo has noted that he may pursue a relationship with National Grid because, while it may not give energy to the US team, it will also “knock the power out of those Canadian bastards, eh?” If all else fails, Colangelo has BP listed as his last resort.

Read the rest of this entry →

The parquet floor that dawned the floors of the Boston Garden was as synonymous with the establishment as the Green Monster is with Fenway Park.

How did this oddly patterned surface come to fruition?

In 1946 Celtics owner Walter Brown funded the construction of a new floor for the team to play on. The floor, which cost about $11,000, was set in the Boston Arena (currently the Mathews Center home of the Northeastern Huskies).

The parquet floor is synonymous with the Boston Celtics.

The East Boston Lumber Company used scrap wood, originally cut in Tennessee for World War II purposes, as the material for the floor. The scraps used during a lumber shortage after the war were pieced together in an alternating pattern in order to get the most out of the material they had. When the Celtics moved to the Garden in 1952, the floor went with them.

Each of the 247 pieces were 5′ by 5′ and 1.5″ thick and they were held together by wood planks and brass screws that were connected by 988 bolts. In order to put the floor together, it took a team of many two and a half hours.

Many opposing players and coaches complained about the hodgepodge floor, as they claimed it had dead spots. Red Auerbach claimed the floor wasn’t nearly as bad as the floor at Madison Square Garden, but he said that didn’t stop him from using that notion to his advantage.

Read the rest of this entry →

Cross-posted at my personal blog.

When I last checked in for my first reexamination of the list of the keys to the Red Sox’ season that I developed at the tail end of Spring Training, I said that I’d finish up by the end of July. Oops. Here’s hoping at this rate that I can finish up by the end of the season.

Keys 25-21 follow.

25. Bill Hall can field shortstop and second base.

What I said then: Hall is potentially a very interesting inclusion on the roster.

A jack of all trades, Hall has been beyond important to the 2010 Red Sox.

Prior to 2007, the utility man was a full-time shortstop with Milwaukee and fielded the position quite well.  Since, Hall has been moved all around the diamond but has seen virtually no time at a middle infield spot.  If Hall can adequately serve as the backup infielder, he’ll be of immense value to the club because he will kill two birds with one stone (he is also the top right-handed reserve outfielder on the roster).  If not, the club will have to drastically shift its plans and Hall may not last with the team at all.

What I say now: The key here was that Hall needed to provide acceptable defense at shortstop and second base to have a spot on the roster. Indeed, he’s been passable at both spots and has played 37 games at second and five at short (the position occupied by Marco Scutaro, who is tied for the team lead in games played and leads the Red Sox in games started). Hall’s defensive numbers at both spots this season (small sample sizes are worth noting) and over his career (where the samples are large enough to draw some conclusions) back up the idea that he’s at least a decent enough middle infielder. So the Hall-as-utility-man experiment was a success by that standard. What makes it a roaring win, however, is that Hall’s been so capable offensively. Having played almost every position on the diamond this season (including having pitched an inning), his roster spot would have been valuable if only for its versatility. That he’s hit more home runs than Manny Ramirez and Jason Bay combined in 2010 and has provided a solid enough bat to fill in for the injured Dustin Pedroia on a fairly regular basis since the end of June render the Bill Hall acquisition — which saved the Red Sox a pretty penny in trading Casey Kotchman — one of Theo Epstein’s better, more shrewd moves of the 2009-2010 offseason.

24. Contractual situations do not distract impending free agents.

What I said then: Two superstars – Victor Martinez and Josh Beckett — are entering contract years.  Neither player wants to talk extension during the season, and we are but a week away from the season, so it’s starting to look like this may be a big topic for the next 6 or 7 months.  If these two are not extended, the Sox will hope neither situation distracts the individual players or the team at large.  The flip side, of course, is that motivation for a big pay day might just get even more production out of two guys who are already expected to provide quite a bit to the club’s Championship aspirations.

Read the rest of this entry →

The greatest rivalry in hockey was a bit… lacking last season, for lack of a better description. When the Montreal Canadiens came to visit TD Garden there was of course the usual “USA” chants and a healthy dose of “Habs Suck!” but there was something missing about the atmosphere, on and off the ice.

The rivalry has admittedly been mostly one sided in favor of the Canadiens throughout the years as the majority of the Bruins most heart breaking memories came at the hands of the hated Habs.

An iconic photo that sums up the Boston-Montreal rivalry.

The bitterness of the rivalry throughout the years can probably be best summed up in a classic picture of Bruins goalie Jim Henry and Canadiens famed scorer Maurice Richard shaking hands, both looking especially battered and bloody, after Richard’s goal sent the Bruins home in the 1952 playoffs.

Between 1944 and 1988 the Bruins lost to the Canadiens in the playoffs 18 consecutive times. In the 1971 Stanley Cup playoffs the Boston machine was derailed by a young goaltender named Ken Dryden.

In game seven of the 1979 playoffs, the Bruins held a 4-3 lead over the Canadiens as the third period was coming to a close. The Don Cherry coached Bruins were caught with too many men on the ice and the Canadiens went on the powerplay.

Seconds later a Guy Lafleur laser found the back of the Bruins net and the game was tied and a Yvon Lambert overtime goal completed another chapter in the Bruins book of heartbreak as Boston let yet another chance slip away.

Thirteen years after Dryden upset the Bruins, little known goalie Steve Penney started in the playoffs for Montreal and helped the Canadiens sweep a Bruins team that had racked up 49 regular season wins. Penny and Montreal’s three game sweep of the overwhelmingly favored Bruins left Bruins fans bitter once again.

Read the rest of this entry →

After attending five training camp sessions and the first preseason game, I am starting to see how this team is molding together. Director of Player Personnel Nick Caserio and Head Coach Bill Belichick are attempting to stay competitive while also bringing along young players.

I would like to take a look at two second year players that are looking to make a big leap this season. Rather than focus on Sebastian Vollmer and Julian Edelman, who’s names are pretty well known after solid contributions last year, I would like to focus on two second year players that are looking to make a name for themselves.

We’ll start with the offensive side of the ball where wide receiver Brandon Tate has been turning heads in training camp. The second year player out of UNC Chapel Hill appeared in only two games last year, after being activated from the PUP list following a knee injury during his final season at UNC. A third round pick, Tate’s knee didn’t hold up, and his season was over before it started as he did not catch a pass in the ‘09 season.

Brandon Tate has big play potential anytime he touches the ball.

Nearly two years removed from a torn ACL and MCL, Tate appears to be fluid as ever, as he has been running quick and crisp routes all camp. His ascension up the depth chart is obvious, and he has been a favorite target of Brady throughout camp. That is no exaggeration either. Brady has been looking for Tate.

In fact, the 6′ 1″ wide out has been on the field in three receiver sets with Moss and Welker since Wes has rejoined practices over Julian Edelman.

Couple that with his kick and punt return reps he’s been receiving, and Tate looks like a legit weapon for this team.

It may be far fetched to expect big numbers from the inexperienced Tate, but you should expect big plays from this kid.

On the other side of the ball, safety Patrick Chung has been inserted into the starting line-up for the Pats. The second year player out of Oregon, Chung had a quiet rookie season.

Read the rest of this entry →

I knew it was over when I got back from the gym and turned on the Little League World Series.

Like so many hundreds/thousands/millions of others, I’d been fighting the demise of the Red Sox as hard and as long as I could. I fought it through getting swept by Baltimore. Fought it through sweeping at Tampa. Through injuries, an early-summer surge, the All-Star Break, a return to health and, most recently, more injuries.

I watched the Blue Jays rout the Sox on Friday night, a 16-2 shelling that featured a most un-Herculean effort from team ace Jon Lester, thinking much of the time that there was a chance the Sox could still come back.

I watched Dasiuke Matsuzaka give up a 4-1 lead when Lyle Overbay went yard into the right-field bleachers to tie the game at four, and continued to watch into extra innings until Jed Lowrie hit the team’s first walk-off home run of the season, thinking much of the time that there wasn’t a chance the Sox would pull it off.

Despite his game-winning heroics, Jed Lowrie's Red Sox are in a tough spot.

Six games back of Tampa and seven back of the Yankees, these Red Sox are doing nothing but treading water at this point. It’s a fitting place for a team that’s done little but tread water all season.

Speaking of water, the Jays-Sox game was delayed an hour and 44 minutes by rain at Fenway. In that time, the team from Panama manhandled the Saudi Arabians, 13-0 in less than four innings. By the time I turned back to the Red Sox, Buchholz had recorded eight outs and another rain delay was starting.

Almost as if the baseball gods wanted to spare us from watching anymore of it.

Now normally, I’d be excited about a rain delay – more face time for Heidi and Kathryn, a chance for me to get a nap in, all sorts of excitement could arise. But the thought of watching feature pieces on the Red Sox sort of scared me.

Of course, I still watched. After all, the LLWS was over, what else was I going to bide my time with?

Read the rest of this entry →