I didn't have a computer when I was in England, so I brought a notebook and now I'm doing some retroactive blogging about the trip. This is what was going through my mind in the airport before my flight to London.
As I prepared to leave for England on Saturday, I had mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was very excited. Pete and Katie were getting married. And I would get to do some sightseeing in London and go to Wimbledon. On the other hand, it really set in that I was going to miss my favorite day of the year in the US, the Fourth of July. Fireworks, barbeques, beer, the John Adams miniseries on HBO, the Nathan's hot dog eating contest. None of that for me. Except for beer. There would be plenty of that, but probably no good American beer. Before leaving for the airport, I watched the Independence episode of the John Adams miniseries on DVD. At the end of the episode, they read the Declaration of Independence. I got emotional thinking about those words and how I was going to be in England instead of the United States on the Fourth of July.
When I got to the airport, I settled the debate on what the best fast food burger is. It might be a small chain, but I'm giving the decisive victory to Shake Shack. I had only had it before at Citi Field and it's been a while since I've had it there (the line is always so long). I had it at the airport and their burger is definitely better than In-N-Out and Five Guys. Shake Shack needs to expand. Then I went to Buffalo Wild Wings and said my emotional good bye to Sam Adams Summer Ale. It would be more than a week until I had my next Summer Ale. I'd have to make the most of this trip.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Friday, June 28, 2013
NBA Draft Diary
In my first
job as a writer with the esteemed periodical The Alvernian from 2004-2012, many of my columns borrowed ideas
from Bill Simmons. Tonight, with Simmons
working the draft, I’m blatantly stealing his draft diary. I plan on making fun of him as much as
possible. This is being billed as the
worst draft since 2000. But the big news
today is the possible Celtics-Nets trade.
I don’t know if I’m emotionally ready for that trade.
My thoughts
on the trade on Friday morning: I am
totally fine with trading Kevin Garnett.
He’s one of my favorite Celtics ever, but he was only a Celtic for six
years. He’ll have his number retired,
but he didn’t need to end his career with the Celtics. As for Paul Pierce, this hurts. If he had stayed long enough, he would have
broken Havlicek’s franchise scoring record.
I have him ranked behind only Bill Russell, Larry Bird, John Havlicek,
and Bob Cousy on the list of greatest Celtics ever. I wanted him to finish his career with the
Celtics. As much as it hurts, I think it’s
a good basketball decision. Bill Simmons
doesn’t like taking on Gerald Wallace’s contract. The Celtics aren’t going to be good for the
next three years, so I don’t care about that.
In my diary, I brought up the Patrick Ewing trade that destroyed the
Knicks for a decade. This might seem
similar in that both trades involved trading aging superstars, but it’s
different. The Knicks got no long-term
value. This trade for the Celtics was
all about long-term value. Sure, the
players they got won’t be as good as Pierce and Garnett, but they weren’t
winning another championship with Pierce and Garnett anyway. So instead of just hanging on to Pierce and
Garnett until they retire, the Celtics got three first round picks and perhaps
some value in Marshon Brooks (I mentioned Reggie Evans in the diary, but now it
sounds like the Celtics are getting Marshon Brooks instead). The 2014 pick from the Nets won’t be a
lottery pick, but 2016 or 2018 might be lottery picks. The Celtics need to think about winning
championships. That wasn’t going to
happen in the next three years with Pierce, Garnett, and Doc Rivers. Maybe the four draft picks they got for those
guys will help them win a championship in the future.
Anyway, I’m
joined this evening by my dad, who I’ve been watching drafts with since the
early 1990s. He’s also a Celtics
fan. I got home from my friends’
baseball game at 7:29, so by the time I got settled in, it was time for the
draft to start. Here we go:
7:41- David
Stern comes out to announce the first pick.
He pauses and eggs on the crowd.
The first pick is Anthony Bennett.
Bill Simmons makes a noise to express his disbelief.
7:43- Shane
Battier is interviewing the draft picks?
Well, he was the guy who confused Craig Sager by using the word
“archaic” in his draft interview in 2001.
Battier is definitely one of the five smartest people in the Barclays
Center tonight, so I guess it’s a good choice.
I learned from the interview that Anthony Bennett is Canadian. I don’t really know anything else about
him. He doesn’t look Canadian.
 |
| I was expecting Anthony Bennett to look like this. |
7:44- They
showed a replay of Bill Simmons’s reaction.
For some reason, they didn’t include the audio.
7:46- The
Magic take Victor Oladipo. Jay Bilas
tells us he had 12 and a half deflections per game this year. Is that possible? Nobody kept track of that stat two years
ago. I like this pick.
7:49- Battier
interviews Victor Oladipo. My only
thought while watching this is that if he turns out to be good, he definitely
won’t stay with the Magic. Nobody good
stays with the Magic.
7:51- Otto
Porter for the Wizards?
7:52- David
Stern tells the crowd he can’t hear them.
They boo and he gives the thumbs up.
The Wizards take Porter. My
Georgetown brother is not high on Porter.
I saw him in the tournament. He
was a non-factor against Florida Gulf Coast.
That’s the type of player you’re looking for with the third pick of the
draft.
7:54- Jay
Bilas mentions the Reggie Cleveland All Stars, one of my favorite Bill Simmons
gimmicks ever.
7:56- My dad
mentions that the Bobcats have had 8 losing seasons in their 9 years. He sounds surprised. I’m surprised too. It feels more like 10 losing seasons in their
9 years.
7:58- Stern
gets booed again. Is Adam Silver going
to get booed like this next year? It
just won’t be the same.
7:59- Cody
Zeller? Really? I lived in the same dorm as his brother, so
I’ll root for him. I liked him in
college, but he just seems to me like one of those good college players that
isn’t a good NBA player.
8:01- Jay
Bilas is talking about how athletic Cody Zeller is. This is shocking because…how can I put
this? It’s shocking because he’s not on
the Reggie Cleveland All Stars.
8:04- On
SportsCenter, they show people outside a courthouse chanting “innocent” for
Aaron Hernandez. This is America and you
are innocent until proven guilty, but I have a strong feeling that he will be
proven guilty. I’m just waiting for the
Jets to show interest in Aaron Hernandez to get some headlines.
8:07- The
Suns take Alex Len. I had never heard of
this guy until a week ago. He wasn’t
first, second, or third team All ACC.
Should you be the fifth pick of the draft if you can’t make third team
All ACC? I say no. But the fact that he’s from Ukraine makes me
think of this: Ukraine is game to you!
8:10- I
wouldn’t have taken Nerlens Noel number 1 either. Can you picture a guy named Nerlens being a
great player? I heard some stories about
him being pretty shady. So I understand
teams passing him up, but if you take him now, you might get a guy that’s angry
about sliding this far (like Pierce in 1998).
So I’d be pretty excited about drafting him from here on out.
8:12- The
Pelicans take Noel. Rece Davis notes his
hair, which is pretty awesome.
8:13- Bill
Simmons said he’d be terrified of going to the rim if he was playing the
Pelicans. I’m going to disagree. Noel and Anthony Davis might be a combined 14
feet tall, but their combined weight should probably be closer to 500 pounds than
400 pounds at that height.
8:15- John
Calipari is on TV. How long until he
leaves Kentucky followed by Kentucky being put on probation, forfeiting
victories, and/or losing scholarships?
8:16- The
Kings take Ben McLemore.
8:19- In his
interview with Shane Battier, McLemore mentions his brother, who’s locked up
right now. Well, that’s nice.
8:20- They
show Trey Burke. I can’t tell you how
much I despise Michigan.
8:23- Andy
Katz tells us Nerlens Noel is going to Philadelphia.
8:24-
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was drafted by Detroit. His name is too long. If I was a play-by-play guy, I’d pick one of
those last names and go with it. I’d
also refuse to call Ron Artest (probably number 2 on my list of least favorite
players) by that ridiculous name he changed his name to.
8:25- Bilas
on Kentavious: “He’s a shooter, and a
jump shooter.” Thanks Bilas, I thought for
a second he was one of the many set shooters in the draft.
8:29- Simmons
makes his noise of disbelief again when he hears that Jrue Holliday is in the
Noel trade.
8:31- Trey
Burke goes to Minnesota. Now I have
reason to root against the Timberwolves. If only Kevin McHale was still around to trade
Kevin Love to the Celtics.
8:36-
Portland takes C.J. McCollum. Bill
Simmons just called this his favorite draft ever.
8:37- Bilas
on McCollum: “He’s not just a shooter,
he’s a scorer.” So C.J. McCollum is not
2012-13 Stephen Jackson, who was just a shooter.
8:43-
Philadelphia takes Michael Carter-Williams.
I despise Syracuse, but not as much as I despise Michigan. Again, I would pick one of his last names and
go with it.
8:49-
Oklahoma City is on the clock because they traded James Harden and his beard.
8:50-
Oklahoma City takes Steven Adams, who’s from New Zealand. I would be a lot more excited if he was
Australian. My dad says he didn’t do
much against Notre Dame. I watched that
game and have no memory of Steven Adams.
A check of the box score shows he had 8 points and 4 rebounds against a
not particularly good Notre Dame defense.
Yep, totally worth giving up James Harden for Steven Adams and the other
random crap Oklahoma City got.
8:56- Chris
Broussard says Dwight Howard’s top two choices are Dallas and Houston. I’d be really happy if I was a Laker fan
right now.
8:58- Dallas
takes Kelly Olynyk. We get the ominous
“Kelly is not here” from David Stern. My
dad says the Celtics wanted him. I say I
didn’t want him and of course this happens less than a minute later…
8:59- Andy
Katz tells us that the Olynyk is going to the Celtics.
9:03- I
remember watching Gonzaga and being very underwhelmed by Kelly Olynyk. It’s time to start drinking. And the Jazz are on the clock. Who’s the best white guy available?
9:04- I’m
drinking Sam Adams Summer Ale (of course I am).
The Jazz took a guy named Shabazz Muhammad instead of a white guy. Too bad he’s not white because he would have
been the greatest Reggie Cleveland All Star of all time.
9:08- Bill
Simmons says his dad loved the Kelly Olynyk pick. I couldn’t be less excited.
9:11-
Milwaukee took Giannis Antetokounmpo.
He’s from Greece. Fran Fraschilla
likes the pick. Bill Simmons says he
looked like a Greek Paul George going against an 8th grade CYO
team. I would have been a lot more
excited about the Celtics taking this guy instead of Kelly Olynyk. The only problem is that his name is way too
difficult to say.
9:14- Andy
Katz says the Celtics are picking for Dallas or Atlanta. Dallas wanted out of this draft. Good thinking, Dallas.
9:16- Bill
Simmons says Andrew Wiggins is the most exciting prospect since Kevin
Durant. If only David Stern was still
going to be around to rig the lottery for the Celtics next year.
9:17- The
Celtics take Lucas Nogueira for somebody else.
He puts a hat on top of his afro.
We suddenly lost sound as Bill Simmons was commenting on it. I’m going to say this was no
coincidence. Unfortunately, we will
never know what he was saying.
9:23- The
Hawks take Dennis Schroeder from Germany.
Fran Fraschilla likes him and compares him to Rajon Rondo. Are there any foreign players that he doesn’t
like?
9:28- The
ESPN guys are getting way too intense in their discussion about how to
pronounce Dennis Schroeder’s last name.
9:29- The
Hawks take their second straight point guard with Shane Larkin. Bill Simmons makes the predictable David Kahn
joke (which I would have made here if he didn’t make it on TV).
9:31- I just
googled Barry Larkin just to make sure he went to Michigan. He did.
His son went to Miami. This is
not my favorite family.
9:32- Andy
Katz tells us Shane Larkin is going to Dallas.
9:37-
Cleveland takes Sergey Karasev. He’s
from Russia and he’s going back to Russia to play in a game tomorrow.
9:39- Shane
Battier interviews Sergey. Sergey needs
some work on his English.
9:44- David
Stern announces that the Bulls’ selection, Tony Snell, is not here, but Shabazz
Muhammad is here and he emerges from backstage.
That was pretty awkward.
9:45- Utah is
on the clock again. Come on Jazz, take a
white guy. Don’t let me down.
9:46- Shane
Battier interviews Shabazz Muhammad and says he’s going to Minnesota. I had no idea about this, but Rece Davis
clears up my confusion. He says he’s
going to Minnesota in the Trey Burke trade.
And Utah is not drafting for themselves right now.
9:50- David
Stern is going to miss this. “We’ve had
to explain to the international audience that the boo is an American sign of
respect.”
9:51- Gorgui
Dieng is taken by the Jazz for the Timberwolves and Stern explains that Gorgui
graduated from the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders Africa Program. Okay then.
9:57- Bill
Simmons is angry about this Celtics-Nets trade.
I’ll take some more time to think about this.
9:58- The
Nets take Mason Plumlee. I feel like
he’s going to be one of those Duke guys that doesn’t turn out to be a good NBA
player.
9:59- Bill
Simmons compares Plumlee to Greg Stiemsma.
That means that if the Celtics had taken Plumlee, Tommy Heinsohn would
have compared him to Bill Russell.
10:04- The
Pacers take Solomon Hill. Jay Bilas
compares him to Draymond Green. I hope
that’s a good comparison because I like Draymond Green and possibly after the
Nets, the Pacers are the team I want to win the East until the Celtics are good
again.
10:06- The
Knicks are on the clock. They show Spike
Lee on ESPN. Boo.
10:10- The
Knicks take Tim Hardaway, Jr. I didn’t
need any more reasons to dislike the Knicks, but I got one.
10:12- Spike
Lee is being interviewed on ESPN. I will
now light myself on fire.
10:16- The
Clippers take Reggie Bullock. The way
Jay Bilas is describing him makes me think he’s like Kawhi Leonard, who is one
of my new favorite players. But Simmons
compares him to another Spur, Danny Green.
10:19- Bill
Simmons is not happy with Doc Rivers. He
might have quit on the Celtics, but I don’t blame him. Phil Jackson never stuck around to coach a
crappy team. As important as a coach can
be, you need the players. The Celtics
don’t have the players now, but they got a first round pick for a coach. I’ll take it.
10:21- David
Stern announces the Celtics-Mavericks trade.
For a second there, I was worried that he was going to announce the
Celtics-Nets trade, even though that can’t be finalized until July 10. Minnesota takes Andre Roberson for the
Warriors. Rece Davis says he wants David
Stern to put his hand to his ear like Hulk Hogan to egg on the crowd. Rece also makes fun of Roberson’s suit, but I
have to say, I miss the 1990s. That was
the Golden Age of ridiculous suits at the NBA Draft.
10:26- I’m
switching over to Sam Adams Porch Rocker, another very solid summer beer. David Stern announces the Timberwolves-Jazz
trade. Then he eggs on the crowd. Only a few more picks. The Nuggets take a French guy, Rudy
Gobert. Fran Fraschilla tells us he has
the longest wingspan ever recorded at the NBA combine. I’m starting to make more typos as I continue
to drink, but at this point, I’m still correcting them.
10:32- The
ESPN guys are talking about the Spurs losing the Finals. Losing the way they did would have been the
most painful thing ever if they hadn’t won four championships during the Tim
Duncan Era.
10:35- The
Spurs take Livio Jean-Charles from French Guiana. My dad has never heard of him and he probably
pays more attention to the draft than anybody I know. Fran Fraschilla struggles to say “in
perpetuity,” and asks if he said it correctly.
He didn’t, but Rece Davis said he did.
10:38- My dad
asks how the Dodgers are doing. A quick
check on the phone shows they’re winning 3-1.
The Dodgers have been depressing for most of the season, but now that
they’re finally getting healthy, I’m in on them.
10:40- Andy
Katz just explained what’s going on with this 29th draft pick. I’m on my third beer right now and I didn’t
follow everything he just said. But the
Thunder took Archie Goodwin for somebody else, I think.
10:43- David
Stern is about to announce his last draft pick.
His first draft was 1984, the year I was born. It won’t be the same without him. This will be his 839th pick.
10:45- A
David Stern draft montage? Yes!
10:49- Stern
gets a standing ovation for his last pick.
Well deserved. The last pick he
announces is Nemanja Nedovic from Serbia for the Suns, but he’s going to the
Warriors. Stern introduces Adam Silver,
who gets booed. Adam Silver brings out
David Stern’s first pick, Hakeem Olajuwon, who looks very happy. They show the picture of Akeem and David
Stern shaking hands at the 1984 Draft (Hakeem was Akeem back then), which is
amazing.
10:53- Bill
Simmons only does the first round in his draft diaries, but I’m going to keep
this going. I probably won’t mention
every single player that gets drafted in the second round.
10:54- I go
to visitlondon.com and the first category I click on is
“Brewery/Distillery.” I’ll be in London
in about 52 hours.
10:58- Chris
Broussard says this Celtics-Nets trade is happening. My sober thoughts will be added to my
introduction tomorrow.
10:59-
Cleveland just took Allen Crabbe.
11:01- Bill
Simmons says Gerald Wallace’s contract is terrible. Probably true, but he only has three more
years. The Celtics aren’t going to be
good for the next three years anyway. My
dad is in favor of the trade. It sounds
like I’ll be rooting for the Nets next year (I’m still a Celtics fan of course,
but of the teams that have a legitimate chance of contending, I’ll be rooting
for the Nets).
11:11-
Somebody just took Glen Rice, Jr. This
reminds me of how trading Patrick Ewing for Glen Rice destroyed the Knicks back
in the day. My brother Sean was right
about that trade. Everybody wanted the
Knicks to get rid of Ewing, but they should have just let his contract expire
and taken the cap space.
11:21-
Portland just took Jeff Withey. I like
this dude. He played for a big time
program and played some really solid defense.
Alex Len played in a big time conference and I never heard of him. I’m not predicting that Withey will be a
better player than Len, but I like taking Withey at number 40 better than
taking Len at number 5.
11:25-
Memphis took Jamaal Franklin. Bill
Simmons makes fun of the pick, but I like it.
I was there to see him put up 21 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2
steals in the tournament against Oklahoma.
Sure, it’s a small sample size, but he was better than Otto Porter that
day.
11:41- Rece
Davis talks about the greatest Brazilian one-named athlete name ever: Fred.
That is pretty awesome. I jus t
googled Fred. He’s a soccer player.
11:44- The
Lakers just took Ryan Kelly. Bill
Simmons says, “He’s now the third best guy on their team.” Although he’s one phoneme off from having the
same name as one of my favorite people in sports, he’s a Laker and hence one of
my least favorite people in sports. The
ESPN guys talk about Dwight Howard. If
I’m the Lakers, I just want Dwight Howard gone. There are good stats, bad team guys. Dwight Howard is a good stats, good team, but
not championship team guys. If I had a
choice between giving Dwight Howard a huge contract and trying to get some cap
space for the future, I’d rather have the cap space.
11:46- Erik
Murphy was just drafted, leading to Entourage jokes from the ESPn guys. Entourage would be the worst show that I’ve
seen every episode of, but there are at least two MTV reality shows that I’ve
seen every episode of.
11:51- Romero
Osby was just drafted. I saw him lose to
Jamaal Franklin. He had 22 points and 8
rebounds against San Diego State. Good
numbers, but he struck me as a good college player, not a good NBA player type
of guy.
11:52- Doc
Rivers is being interviewed as the coach of the Clippers. This is a little weird. While I was in favor of the Doc Rivers trade,
I’ll miss him. It doesn’t really matter
who the next coach of the Celtics is. It
matters who the coach of the Celtics is three years from now. Hopefully they can find somebody close to
being as good as Doc Rivers.
11:53- We
have a Bill Simmons-Doc Rivers feud. I’m
siding with Doc Rivers.
11:59-
Arsalan Kazemi is the first Iranian drafted.
Um, I don’t like Iran.
12:00- Colton
Iverson is going to the Celtics. My dad likes
this. I don’t know anything about
him. Supposedly he’s a good
rebounder. The Celtics have been a bad
rebounding team for years. Now, they’re
just going to be a bad team. But maybe
they’ll be a bad team that can rebound with Reggie Evans and Colton
Iverson. So they’ve got that going for
them.
12:06- Bill
Simmons on Peyton Siva: “I like this
guy. Why can’t he be an 11th
man?” Yeah, you like him so much that
you expect him to never play meaningful minutes.
12:19- Adam
Silver announces two more trades. I’m
not interested in either of these trades.
The Grizzles take Janis Timma from Latvia with the last pick of the
draft. Even Fran Fraschilla doesn’t seem
excited about this pick.
12:22- My dad
changed the channel in time to see Yasiel Puig hit a 2-run single with the
bases loaded and two outs on an 0-2 count.
The Dodgers take a 5-4 lead.
Well, that’s the
right time to end this diary. I enjoyued
drinking and writing this. If you read
all of this, thanks for taking all that time.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
That Only Took 17 Years
I hate interleague play. I hate it so much that I came up with a plan for expansion and realignment to solve the problem of having interleague play every day (even if you like interleague play, having it every day is ridiculous). However, I know it's not going away. So if you're going to have interleague play, you want some compelling match ups. I know you're going to have to deal with Mariners-Marlins from time to time, but there are some interleague match ups that are interesting. You know, like the most common World Series match up ever. The Dodgers and Yankees have played in the World Series 11 times (the next most common match up is Yankees-Giants at 7). Four years ago, both teams were playing in their League Championship Series. If they had both gotten to the World Series, I was planning on going to Game 6. I had Game 6 in mind for two reasons. First, it would be cheaper than Game 7. I had an amount of money that I was willing to pay. It was less than I was willing to pay to see Notre Dame in the National Championship Game, where I probably would have been willing to pay up to 20% of my annual salary (for a ticket, flights, and accommodations), but still substantial. It easily would have been the most expensive baseball tickets I ever bought, but I think I could have done it. And second, unlike Games 1 and 2, somebody would have a chance to win the World Series if the series got that far. Of course, the Phillies beat the Dodgers and my dream World Series match up didn't happen.
For some reason known only to Major League Baseball scheduling guys, the Dodgers were the only National League team that didn't visit either Yankee Stadium in the first 16 years of interleague play. The Dodgers and Yankees played in Los Angeles in 2004 and 2010. So I really wanted to go to the first Dodger-Yankee game at Yankee Stadium since October 1981. The first game was scheduled for last night. I bought tickets for last night, not thinking about the fact that the NBA Finals is always Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday. If the Heat had beaten the Pacers in a short series, last night might have been Game 7 of the Finals. I was willing to miss Game 6, but I probably would have skipped the baseball game if it had been Game 7.
The forecast didn't look good, but it also didn't look like it was going to rain all night. It never stopped raining. My dad and I had just gotten close to Yankee Stadium when the game was cancelled. Fortunately, we hadn't parked yet, so it was easier than it could have been to get out of the Bronx and go home. The good news was that we got to watch Game 6 (hopefully more on that to come tomorrow).
The game was rescheduled for 1:05 this afternoon. The forecast was 75 degrees and sunny, much better than sitting in the rain the night before would have been (although our seats would have been covered by the facade). Thanks to a half day at school, I was able to go. I figured traffic wouldn't be bad in the middle of the day. I was wrong. Traffic was bad, but we only missed the top of the first.
I won't go through all the details of the game, but here are some highlights:
Small crowd, but lots of Dodger fans and people of Asian descent in the building with Ryu and Kuroda pitching.
Some guy named Thomas Neal was DHing and hitting fifth for the Yankees.
Hanley Ramirez had a home run and three other hits.
Yasiel Puig lowered his batting average by going 2 for 5, including this double (I had never seen anything like that before).
Ronald Belisario made two errors on one play (I had seen a team make two errors on the same play, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen a pitcher make two errors on the same play).
Mariano Rivera.
This Dodger team has been really frustrating. Opening Day was amazing. Clayton Kershaw continues to be great. Adrian Gonzalez has been solid. Hyun-Jin Ryu has been pretty good in his first season in the US. And after game 2 of the split doubleheader (I went to the wrong game), Yasiel Puig is currently hitting .474 in 57 at bats. Obviously it's a small sample size and he'll come back to earth at some point, but it's not that small of a sample size. I can't really say anything else positive about the Dodgers. Ronald Belisario has become my least favorite player (taking over for Juan Uribe, actually we can add Uribe going from horrendous to decent this season to the list of positives). It was fitting that Belisario made two errors on one play to give the momentum right back to the Yankees after the Dodgers cut the lead to one run. But there's still time to turn it around. As George Will (or somebody) once said, everybody is going to win 60 games, everybody is going to lose 60 games, it's the other 42 games that will decide what happens.
While the result wasn't what I hoped for, it was a good day. Afternoon baseball with dad, great weather, Dodgers at Yankee Stadium for the first time in 32 years. When I bought the tickets, I was hoping the Dodgers would win by several runs and Mariano Rivera would pitch just to get some work in. That wasn't going to happen with another game to play latter in the day. Rivera was only pitching in a save situation or if it was some kind of crazy extra innings game. As I have said before, Mariano Rivera is the best baseball player I've ever seen. He came in for the ninth and mowed the Dodgers down. I don't know if I'm going to another Yankee game this season. And even if I do, Rivera might not pitch. So if the Dodgers were going to lose, at least I got to see Mariano Rivera in person one last time. He is a legend. Goodbye, Mariano.
For some reason known only to Major League Baseball scheduling guys, the Dodgers were the only National League team that didn't visit either Yankee Stadium in the first 16 years of interleague play. The Dodgers and Yankees played in Los Angeles in 2004 and 2010. So I really wanted to go to the first Dodger-Yankee game at Yankee Stadium since October 1981. The first game was scheduled for last night. I bought tickets for last night, not thinking about the fact that the NBA Finals is always Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday. If the Heat had beaten the Pacers in a short series, last night might have been Game 7 of the Finals. I was willing to miss Game 6, but I probably would have skipped the baseball game if it had been Game 7.
The forecast didn't look good, but it also didn't look like it was going to rain all night. It never stopped raining. My dad and I had just gotten close to Yankee Stadium when the game was cancelled. Fortunately, we hadn't parked yet, so it was easier than it could have been to get out of the Bronx and go home. The good news was that we got to watch Game 6 (hopefully more on that to come tomorrow).
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| I took this picture right after we found out Tuesday night's game was rained out. You can see the top of the stadium in the background. |
The game was rescheduled for 1:05 this afternoon. The forecast was 75 degrees and sunny, much better than sitting in the rain the night before would have been (although our seats would have been covered by the facade). Thanks to a half day at school, I was able to go. I figured traffic wouldn't be bad in the middle of the day. I was wrong. Traffic was bad, but we only missed the top of the first.
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| This is where the old stadium was. |
I won't go through all the details of the game, but here are some highlights:
Small crowd, but lots of Dodger fans and people of Asian descent in the building with Ryu and Kuroda pitching.
Some guy named Thomas Neal was DHing and hitting fifth for the Yankees.
Hanley Ramirez had a home run and three other hits.
Yasiel Puig lowered his batting average by going 2 for 5, including this double (I had never seen anything like that before).
Ronald Belisario made two errors on one play (I had seen a team make two errors on the same play, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen a pitcher make two errors on the same play).
Mariano Rivera.
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| Our view of the game. |
This Dodger team has been really frustrating. Opening Day was amazing. Clayton Kershaw continues to be great. Adrian Gonzalez has been solid. Hyun-Jin Ryu has been pretty good in his first season in the US. And after game 2 of the split doubleheader (I went to the wrong game), Yasiel Puig is currently hitting .474 in 57 at bats. Obviously it's a small sample size and he'll come back to earth at some point, but it's not that small of a sample size. I can't really say anything else positive about the Dodgers. Ronald Belisario has become my least favorite player (taking over for Juan Uribe, actually we can add Uribe going from horrendous to decent this season to the list of positives). It was fitting that Belisario made two errors on one play to give the momentum right back to the Yankees after the Dodgers cut the lead to one run. But there's still time to turn it around. As George Will (or somebody) once said, everybody is going to win 60 games, everybody is going to lose 60 games, it's the other 42 games that will decide what happens.
While the result wasn't what I hoped for, it was a good day. Afternoon baseball with dad, great weather, Dodgers at Yankee Stadium for the first time in 32 years. When I bought the tickets, I was hoping the Dodgers would win by several runs and Mariano Rivera would pitch just to get some work in. That wasn't going to happen with another game to play latter in the day. Rivera was only pitching in a save situation or if it was some kind of crazy extra innings game. As I have said before, Mariano Rivera is the best baseball player I've ever seen. He came in for the ninth and mowed the Dodgers down. I don't know if I'm going to another Yankee game this season. And even if I do, Rivera might not pitch. So if the Dodgers were going to lose, at least I got to see Mariano Rivera in person one last time. He is a legend. Goodbye, Mariano.
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| Rivera waits to get the ball back after a strikeout. |
Saturday, May 25, 2013
The Summer of Jim
After a very productive April, I have not been productive in May. This is only my second blog post of the month. Not much has been going on. I was getting frustrated because I couldn't figure out what to do. I probably would have gone somewhere if I had a four day weekend for Ascension Thursday (that's when I went to San Diego last year), but I lost that because of the hurricane. Traveling on Memorial Day weekend was going to be too expensive. So I haven't gone anywhere this month. Last year I went to at least one baseball game in every month from April to September. That won't happen this year. After four games in April, I'm not getting to a game in May. It's been a slow month, but things are about to pick up.
This summer will be the first summer since 1999 that I won't work at camp. I'm going to take advantage of my free time. I already have two baseball trips planned for sure. I'll save the details of those for later. But the big trip is my second trip across the Atlantic, this time to England.
My good friend Pete is getting married on July 6 in Canterbury, England. I've known Pete for 15 years (hard to believe). We had good times on Model UN trips and then we worked at camp together. It's also hard to believe that it was 10 years ago that Pete, Bill, and I worked precamp under Alex. That was my first of many precamps and the rest never lived up to that one.
This week I booked my trip to England. I'll be in London for five days and then two more in Canterbury. If anybody has any recommendations for things to do in London, let me know, but I'm sure Pete will have many. One thing that I really want to do is go to Wimbledon. I'm no tennis fan, but I've always liked Wimbledon. Part of it is that it's played on grass. Part of it always starts right around the beginning of my summer vacation. And part of it is that it was dominated by an American when I was growing up (Pete Sampras). I've never been to a professional tennis match in my life, but it would be awesome to get to Wimbledon. If I don't get there, I'll get over it. But this is probably the only time I'll ever be in England while Wimbledon is going on, so I hope I can do it.
While I'm really excited about going to England and Pete's wedding, I'm also very conflicted. If you know me, you know how much I love the United States. God, Country, Notre Dame. Country comes before Notre Dame, so I think that tells you all you need to know. This is the first time I'll be out of the country on the Fourth of July. And I'm going to be in Great Britain on the Fourth of July. That seems awkward, kind of like being in Los Angeles to celebrate the Celtics beating the Lakers in the NBA Finals. I'll be thinking of John Adams's meeting with King George III in 1785. Pete says that we'll be able to celebrate, but I hope this will be the only time I'm not in the United States for the Fourth of July.
Oddly, if I'm going to be out of the country on the Fourth of July, I think Great Britain is the country that I'd most want to be in on that day. America and Britain have a special relationship. Only Australia is a more loyal ally (the Aussies were with us in Vietnam, the British weren't), but Britain is our most important ally. I love America. The only other country I might say that I love is the Vatican City. I strongly like Australia (that might be its own blog post one day). As a Catholic and an American, my feelings on the British are a little bit more mixed, but I do like the Great Britain very much. I used to have a Union Jack in my room (I purposely bought one that was smaller than the American flag in my room). I like how the Americans and British have been able to move past our history of two wars fought against each other to work together for the good of the world. I have many historical heroes. Most of the them are American, but Winston Churchill is one of my favorite people in history. There are so many Churchill quotes that I love and this is one of my favorites: "We can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities." That's exactly what happened in World War II. After the French surrendered to Germany in June 1940, the British were the only ones left to stop Hitler. For almost four months, Germany bombed the hell out of Britain and thanks to Churchill's fearless leadership, Britain refused to surrender. Americans like to think that we saved the day in World War II. We did, but if not for the British, it might have been too late. There is no greater political hero of World War II than Winston Churchill. So I will be celebrating my freedom and thinking all the good that the United States and Britain have done for the world together.
My trip to England and the baseball trips I currently have planned will be done by the middle of July. I want to do some other stuff as well. I really want to get to the Missouri stadiums this summer. I'm hoping to do a Valley Forge-Gettysburg-Cooperstown-Springfield-Boston road trip. I have to find something to do for the last month and a half of summer.
This summer will be the first summer since 1999 that I won't work at camp. I'm going to take advantage of my free time. I already have two baseball trips planned for sure. I'll save the details of those for later. But the big trip is my second trip across the Atlantic, this time to England.
My good friend Pete is getting married on July 6 in Canterbury, England. I've known Pete for 15 years (hard to believe). We had good times on Model UN trips and then we worked at camp together. It's also hard to believe that it was 10 years ago that Pete, Bill, and I worked precamp under Alex. That was my first of many precamps and the rest never lived up to that one.
This week I booked my trip to England. I'll be in London for five days and then two more in Canterbury. If anybody has any recommendations for things to do in London, let me know, but I'm sure Pete will have many. One thing that I really want to do is go to Wimbledon. I'm no tennis fan, but I've always liked Wimbledon. Part of it is that it's played on grass. Part of it always starts right around the beginning of my summer vacation. And part of it is that it was dominated by an American when I was growing up (Pete Sampras). I've never been to a professional tennis match in my life, but it would be awesome to get to Wimbledon. If I don't get there, I'll get over it. But this is probably the only time I'll ever be in England while Wimbledon is going on, so I hope I can do it.
While I'm really excited about going to England and Pete's wedding, I'm also very conflicted. If you know me, you know how much I love the United States. God, Country, Notre Dame. Country comes before Notre Dame, so I think that tells you all you need to know. This is the first time I'll be out of the country on the Fourth of July. And I'm going to be in Great Britain on the Fourth of July. That seems awkward, kind of like being in Los Angeles to celebrate the Celtics beating the Lakers in the NBA Finals. I'll be thinking of John Adams's meeting with King George III in 1785. Pete says that we'll be able to celebrate, but I hope this will be the only time I'm not in the United States for the Fourth of July.
Oddly, if I'm going to be out of the country on the Fourth of July, I think Great Britain is the country that I'd most want to be in on that day. America and Britain have a special relationship. Only Australia is a more loyal ally (the Aussies were with us in Vietnam, the British weren't), but Britain is our most important ally. I love America. The only other country I might say that I love is the Vatican City. I strongly like Australia (that might be its own blog post one day). As a Catholic and an American, my feelings on the British are a little bit more mixed, but I do like the Great Britain very much. I used to have a Union Jack in my room (I purposely bought one that was smaller than the American flag in my room). I like how the Americans and British have been able to move past our history of two wars fought against each other to work together for the good of the world. I have many historical heroes. Most of the them are American, but Winston Churchill is one of my favorite people in history. There are so many Churchill quotes that I love and this is one of my favorites: "We can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, after they have exhausted all the other possibilities." That's exactly what happened in World War II. After the French surrendered to Germany in June 1940, the British were the only ones left to stop Hitler. For almost four months, Germany bombed the hell out of Britain and thanks to Churchill's fearless leadership, Britain refused to surrender. Americans like to think that we saved the day in World War II. We did, but if not for the British, it might have been too late. There is no greater political hero of World War II than Winston Churchill. So I will be celebrating my freedom and thinking all the good that the United States and Britain have done for the world together.
My trip to England and the baseball trips I currently have planned will be done by the middle of July. I want to do some other stuff as well. I really want to get to the Missouri stadiums this summer. I'm hoping to do a Valley Forge-Gettysburg-Cooperstown-Springfield-Boston road trip. I have to find something to do for the last month and a half of summer.
Friday, May 3, 2013
My Favorite NBA Players*
I wrote a three-part series on my favorite baseball players in the fall. In honor of the NBA playoffs, I'm doing a post on my favorite basketball players. I had to put an asterisk on the title because I gave myself some rules to spare you from a list that included James Posey and Eddie House (I'm not kidding, those two would be on this list, and P.J. Brown and Leon Powe also would have gotten serious consideration). So I'm limiting myself to players that have played during my lifetime and are in the Hall of Fame, will be in the Hall of Fame, or players that I think should be in the Hall of Fame (so I gave myself some leeway). I came up with a 12-man roster. Here we go:
12. Rajon Rondo (2006-present). I'm taking advantage of that leeway because I needed a point guard. It's a little bit of a stretch because he's not a Hall of Famer yet. All I know is he has Hall of Fame talent. When he's playing his best basketball, he's the best point guard in the NBA. It doesn't always happen (you're not getting 28, 14, and 13 from Rondo on a Tuesday night against Toronto), but when it does, he's better than Chris Paul or anybody else. In 2010, he was the best player in the series that LeBron James played in. I don't know why the Celtics occasionally mess around with the idea of trading him. He has a reasonable contract and they'll never get equal value. Just build around him now that the Pierce-Garnett Era is coming to an end.
11. Robert Horry (1992-1997, 2003-2008). You'll notice I'm not counting his Laker years. I absolutely believe Robert Horry belongs in the Hall of Fame. I don't care that he averaged 7.0 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game. I remember him with the Rockets, but I remember him well from his days with the Lakers and Spurs. When he was with the Lakers, I was terrified any time he took a big shot. You know it was going in. There are nine players in NBA history that won at least seven championships and Robert Horry is one of them. The other eight were Bill Russell and his teammates (and they're all in the Hall of Fame, except for Jim Loscutoff, who is one of two people the Celtics retired number 18 for). It's no coincidence that Robert Horry won that many. He played a huge role on championship teams. Robert Horry's performance in Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals was one for the ages. It was probably his best game ever, but as Bill Simmons noted, it wasn't his only great performance. I know he probably won't end up in the Hall of Fame, but you can't convince me that he doesn't belong there.
10. David Robinson (1989-2003). He was a great player, but certainly not on the same level as Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon. If not for the fact that he got hurt and only played 6 games in the 1996-1997 season, he probably never would have won a championship. That bad season led to the Spurs getting Tim Duncan, which is what put them over the top for their first championship in 1999 (Duncan was already the best player on the team in 1999). But I had to put Robinson on the list for two reasons. First, he served the greatest country in the history of the world in the navy for two years before going to the NBA. And second, his son Corey is now a wide receiver on the Notre Dame football team. USA! USA! USA! Go Irish!
9. Kevin Durant (2007-present). I like everything about Kevin Durant. I like the way he plays the game and I like the way he handles himself. He's the hope for the NBA fans who despise everything about the Miami Heat (like me). He will move up this list a lot as soon as he wins a championship (unless he beats the Celtics).
8. Dirk Nowitzki (1999-present). I was never a big fan of Dirk until 2011. He is an American hero for beating the Lakers and Heat in the playoffs in the same year. Yes, I know he's German, but he's an American hero. If you want to see something funny, look at some of the clowns that were drafted before Nowitzki and Paul Pierce in the 1998 Draft. Nowitzki and Pierce are so much better than the eight guys that went in front of them. Vince Carter might have been the most talented player in that draft, but as Vince Carter has shown us, there's a difference between having talent and being great.
7. Tim Duncan (1997-present). The Spurs beat the Lakers in the playoffs in 1999 and 2003 and Tim Duncan was their best player. That's enough to get him on the list. But I have a question (and an answer). Who is the best player since Michael Jordan? LeBron James is the most talented player since Jordan, but he hasn't accomplished enough to be there yet. There's a good chance that he'll get there, but he's not there yet. I think there are three possibilities: Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant (as much as I hate to put him on that list). Duncan and O'Neal have four championships and Bryant has five. But I think there's a difference between Duncan's championships and O'Neal's and Bryant's. Duncan was the best player on his team for all four championships. He's played with some excellent players. Robinson was still a very good player in 1999, but he was a role player in 2003. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are great players, but they were role players in 2003 (the 2003 team was Duncan and a bunch of role players). Duncan played with the great Robert Horry in 2005 and 2007. So yes, Duncan's played with some great players, but I think what he's done is more impressive than what Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant have done. Shaquille O'Neal was the best player on three of his championship teams (Dwyane Wade was the best player on the 2006 Heat). Kobe Bryant was the best player on two championship teams. He also got to play with Pau Gasol when Pau Gasol made a deal with the devil and wasn't soft for two years (he was so soft in 2008 and then became soft again in 2011). O'Neal and Bryant also both benefited from three years of Robert Horry. So yes, I hate the Lakers (although as you will see, I do not hate Shaquille O'Neal), but I have Tim Duncan ranked as the best player since Michael Jordan. If only the Celtics had won the 1997 lottery.
6. Manu Ginobili (2002-present). I don't know if he'll end up in the Hall of Fame or not, but I think he belongs there. I like watching the way he plays. He's left-handed so I like to think that if I was taller and had athletic ability (as in superior athletic ability by normal standards, but kind of slightly above average athletic ability by NBA standards), I would play the game the way he does. Until Dirk Nowitzki did what he did in 2011, Ginobili was the response to "Name a European player that isn't soft." The only problem with that was that he's from Argentina.
5. Shaquille O'Neal (1992-1996, 2004-2011). I have a complicated relationship with Shaquille O'Neal. I liked him when he was in Orlando, but I thought he was over-hyped. Hakeem Olajuwon was better. When he was with the Lakers, he was my second least favorite player in the league (behind Kobe Bryant, of course). Once the Lakers ran him out of town, he became my favorite player. I was really rooting for Miami to win in 2005 and 2006. If not for Dwyane Wade getting hurt and missing Game 6 of the 2005 Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat might have won the 2005 championship. After Winston Churchill, there's nobody I enjoy quoting more than Shaquille O'Neal. My favorite might be "Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God's way to say nobody's perfect," but there are so many good ones.
4. Player number 4 is currently dead to me. You can probably figure out who it is.
3. Larry Bird (1979-1992). He's the second greatest Celtic ever. He was their best player at the beginning of my life. He won three championships (the second came the year I was born) and made the Finals two other times. Unfortunately, I have no memory of him until 1990, which is why he doesn't rank higher. He was my favorite player growing up (33 was my number in CYO basketball because of Larry Bird), but he was past his prime and dealing with back injuries. I should have been alive in the 1950s for baseball and I should be old enough to remember the 1980s in basketball.
2. Kevin Garnett (1995-present). Kevin Garnett turned the franchise around. He should have won the MVP award in 2008. He wasn't great in the finals that year, but he was great in Game 6. If he hadn't gotten injured in 2009, the Celtics probably would have won the championship that year also. He's been great and it's been a privilege to watch him play for the Celtics. But things could have been very different. Remember, Garnett didn't want to come to the Celtics at first. If they had won the lottery in 2007, he never would have ended up on the Celtics. I remember being at Yankee Stadium for Yankees-Red Sox the night of the lottery. I found out from my dad on the phone that the Celtics had gotten the fifth pick, the worst pick they could have possibly ended up with. If they had gotten the first pick, they probably would have taken Greg Oden and the franchise would have been set back another 10 years. If they had gotten the second pick, they would have taken Kevin Durant. They certainly wouldn't have won the championship in 2008, but they would have had Kevin Durant. That might have led to a championship by now. If not, there would be a good chance of championships in the future. I'll always be thankful for 2008, but it would be nice to have Kevin Durant now. Garnett did help deliver a championship. I might still be waiting without him.
11. Robert Horry (1992-1997, 2003-2008). You'll notice I'm not counting his Laker years. I absolutely believe Robert Horry belongs in the Hall of Fame. I don't care that he averaged 7.0 points per game and 4.8 rebounds per game. I remember him with the Rockets, but I remember him well from his days with the Lakers and Spurs. When he was with the Lakers, I was terrified any time he took a big shot. You know it was going in. There are nine players in NBA history that won at least seven championships and Robert Horry is one of them. The other eight were Bill Russell and his teammates (and they're all in the Hall of Fame, except for Jim Loscutoff, who is one of two people the Celtics retired number 18 for). It's no coincidence that Robert Horry won that many. He played a huge role on championship teams. Robert Horry's performance in Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Finals was one for the ages. It was probably his best game ever, but as Bill Simmons noted, it wasn't his only great performance. I know he probably won't end up in the Hall of Fame, but you can't convince me that he doesn't belong there.
10. David Robinson (1989-2003). He was a great player, but certainly not on the same level as Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon. If not for the fact that he got hurt and only played 6 games in the 1996-1997 season, he probably never would have won a championship. That bad season led to the Spurs getting Tim Duncan, which is what put them over the top for their first championship in 1999 (Duncan was already the best player on the team in 1999). But I had to put Robinson on the list for two reasons. First, he served the greatest country in the history of the world in the navy for two years before going to the NBA. And second, his son Corey is now a wide receiver on the Notre Dame football team. USA! USA! USA! Go Irish!
9. Kevin Durant (2007-present). I like everything about Kevin Durant. I like the way he plays the game and I like the way he handles himself. He's the hope for the NBA fans who despise everything about the Miami Heat (like me). He will move up this list a lot as soon as he wins a championship (unless he beats the Celtics).
8. Dirk Nowitzki (1999-present). I was never a big fan of Dirk until 2011. He is an American hero for beating the Lakers and Heat in the playoffs in the same year. Yes, I know he's German, but he's an American hero. If you want to see something funny, look at some of the clowns that were drafted before Nowitzki and Paul Pierce in the 1998 Draft. Nowitzki and Pierce are so much better than the eight guys that went in front of them. Vince Carter might have been the most talented player in that draft, but as Vince Carter has shown us, there's a difference between having talent and being great.
7. Tim Duncan (1997-present). The Spurs beat the Lakers in the playoffs in 1999 and 2003 and Tim Duncan was their best player. That's enough to get him on the list. But I have a question (and an answer). Who is the best player since Michael Jordan? LeBron James is the most talented player since Jordan, but he hasn't accomplished enough to be there yet. There's a good chance that he'll get there, but he's not there yet. I think there are three possibilities: Tim Duncan, Shaquille O'Neal, and Kobe Bryant (as much as I hate to put him on that list). Duncan and O'Neal have four championships and Bryant has five. But I think there's a difference between Duncan's championships and O'Neal's and Bryant's. Duncan was the best player on his team for all four championships. He's played with some excellent players. Robinson was still a very good player in 1999, but he was a role player in 2003. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili are great players, but they were role players in 2003 (the 2003 team was Duncan and a bunch of role players). Duncan played with the great Robert Horry in 2005 and 2007. So yes, Duncan's played with some great players, but I think what he's done is more impressive than what Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant have done. Shaquille O'Neal was the best player on three of his championship teams (Dwyane Wade was the best player on the 2006 Heat). Kobe Bryant was the best player on two championship teams. He also got to play with Pau Gasol when Pau Gasol made a deal with the devil and wasn't soft for two years (he was so soft in 2008 and then became soft again in 2011). O'Neal and Bryant also both benefited from three years of Robert Horry. So yes, I hate the Lakers (although as you will see, I do not hate Shaquille O'Neal), but I have Tim Duncan ranked as the best player since Michael Jordan. If only the Celtics had won the 1997 lottery.
6. Manu Ginobili (2002-present). I don't know if he'll end up in the Hall of Fame or not, but I think he belongs there. I like watching the way he plays. He's left-handed so I like to think that if I was taller and had athletic ability (as in superior athletic ability by normal standards, but kind of slightly above average athletic ability by NBA standards), I would play the game the way he does. Until Dirk Nowitzki did what he did in 2011, Ginobili was the response to "Name a European player that isn't soft." The only problem with that was that he's from Argentina.
5. Shaquille O'Neal (1992-1996, 2004-2011). I have a complicated relationship with Shaquille O'Neal. I liked him when he was in Orlando, but I thought he was over-hyped. Hakeem Olajuwon was better. When he was with the Lakers, he was my second least favorite player in the league (behind Kobe Bryant, of course). Once the Lakers ran him out of town, he became my favorite player. I was really rooting for Miami to win in 2005 and 2006. If not for Dwyane Wade getting hurt and missing Game 6 of the 2005 Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat might have won the 2005 championship. After Winston Churchill, there's nobody I enjoy quoting more than Shaquille O'Neal. My favorite might be "Me shooting 40% at the foul line is just God's way to say nobody's perfect," but there are so many good ones.
4. Player number 4 is currently dead to me. You can probably figure out who it is.
3. Larry Bird (1979-1992). He's the second greatest Celtic ever. He was their best player at the beginning of my life. He won three championships (the second came the year I was born) and made the Finals two other times. Unfortunately, I have no memory of him until 1990, which is why he doesn't rank higher. He was my favorite player growing up (33 was my number in CYO basketball because of Larry Bird), but he was past his prime and dealing with back injuries. I should have been alive in the 1950s for baseball and I should be old enough to remember the 1980s in basketball.
2. Kevin Garnett (1995-present). Kevin Garnett turned the franchise around. He should have won the MVP award in 2008. He wasn't great in the finals that year, but he was great in Game 6. If he hadn't gotten injured in 2009, the Celtics probably would have won the championship that year also. He's been great and it's been a privilege to watch him play for the Celtics. But things could have been very different. Remember, Garnett didn't want to come to the Celtics at first. If they had won the lottery in 2007, he never would have ended up on the Celtics. I remember being at Yankee Stadium for Yankees-Red Sox the night of the lottery. I found out from my dad on the phone that the Celtics had gotten the fifth pick, the worst pick they could have possibly ended up with. If they had gotten the first pick, they probably would have taken Greg Oden and the franchise would have been set back another 10 years. If they had gotten the second pick, they would have taken Kevin Durant. They certainly wouldn't have won the championship in 2008, but they would have had Kevin Durant. That might have led to a championship by now. If not, there would be a good chance of championships in the future. I'll always be thankful for 2008, but it would be nice to have Kevin Durant now. Garnett did help deliver a championship. I might still be waiting without him.
1. Paul Pierce (1999-present). Paul Pierce is the best Celtic I've ever seen. Yes, Larry Bird was better, but I didn't see Larry Bird in his prime. I've seen Pierce's whole career and it's better than the Larry Bird I saw. The Celtics were unlucky to not win the 1997 lottery for a chance to take Tim Duncan. They were kind of lucky and kind of unlucky to not get Kevin Durant in the 2007 Draft. But they were very lucky that Paul Pierce was still there when they picked tenth in the 1998 Draft (seriously, look at that draft again). If not for 2008, Larry Bird would still be number 1 on this list. It's been a pleasure watching Pierce's whole career though. It's really really easy to come up with the four best Celtics of all time (kind of like with the Yankees, Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle). It's Russell, Bird, Havlicek, and Cousy. I think Pierce is fifth. He's the Celtics' all time leader in three pointers made, free throws made, and steals. He's second in points (he has a chance to pass Havlicek for first, but that's not a sure thing, he needs to play at least two more years with the Celtics) and points per game (way behind Bird, but he'll probably stay ahead of Havlicek). He's third in games, minutes, and field goals, fourth in assists and blocks (but not really for blocks, they didn't count blocks when Bill Russell played), and seventh in rebounds. It's just a shame he didn't have anybody better than Antoine Walker to play with for the first nine years of his career. I don't know what the future holds for Pierce. It might be best for the Celtics to move on, but I never want to see Pierce in another uniform.
So here's the starting lineup for the All-Jim Team:
PG- Rajon Rondo
SG- Paul Pierce
SF- Larry Bird
PF- Kevin Garnett
C- Shaquille O'Neal
I know Pierce has played the small forward spot for most of his career, but he has played shooting guard and he had to get in the starting lineup. Bird is an easy choice. Rondo is my only point guard. And I could only start two of Garnett, O'Neal, and Duncan. I said Duncan was the best player since Jordan, but those three are close (if Garnett had been in San Antonio and Duncan had been in Minnesota, Garnett would have more probably have more championships than Duncan). I went with my two favorites of those three.
So here's the starting lineup for the All-Jim Team:
PG- Rajon Rondo
SG- Paul Pierce
SF- Larry Bird
PF- Kevin Garnett
C- Shaquille O'Neal
I know Pierce has played the small forward spot for most of his career, but he has played shooting guard and he had to get in the starting lineup. Bird is an easy choice. Rondo is my only point guard. And I could only start two of Garnett, O'Neal, and Duncan. I said Duncan was the best player since Jordan, but those three are close (if Garnett had been in San Antonio and Duncan had been in Minnesota, Garnett would have more probably have more championships than Duncan). I went with my two favorites of those three.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Why I Love Baseball, Part 10
There's no clock in baseball. Baseball games end when they're good and ready. In the NBA, most games are going to have 48 minutes of action. Some will have 53, 58, or any solution for y to the equation y = 48 + 5x where x is a non-negative integer (the greatest value for x in NBA history was 6, I know, you were told there'd be no math). Football and hockey games have 60 minutes of action unless there's overtime. I love that a baseball game doesn't depend on a clock. A baseball game has nine innings, each inning with two halves, and each half inning has three outs. Excluding games that are called due to rain once the game has become official (after four and a half innings), a game might last eight and a half innings, it might last nine innings, or it might last 19 innings.
The game last night between the Angels and A's went until 1:41 in the morning on the west coast. That's 49 minutes before I woke up this morning. If the Dodgers had been involved, I probably would have fallen asleep around 2:00 Eastern. But if it was a big game at the end of the season, I probably would have stayed up for the whole thing and then slept for like an hour.
I remember the Mets and Cardinals playing 20 innings three years ago. The good thing about that game was that it was on a Saturday. I definitely didn't watch that whole game, but I probably watched at least the last five innings. The Mets used 24 of their 25 players. Mike Pelfrey (normally a starting pitcher) got the save. National League games are much more fun because you get double switching and you can end up with the pitcher's spot in the order at a very random spot. When you get a game like that, you just have to figure out who can do what for your team until the game is ready to end. You might end up with guys playing positions they aren't used to playing and position players pitching.
I've said that Bud Selig has been mostly good for baseball. The worst thing that he did as commissioner was not get a grip on the steroid problem in baseball earlier than he did. The second worst thing he did was ending the 2002 All Star Game in a tie because the teams were out of players (besides Ryan Braun being a cheater, that's the other thing I thought about when I went to Miller Park). You know what happens in baseball if the teams are out of players? They keep playing until somebody wins. Baseball games take care of themselves. They don't need Bud Selig or a clock to tell them when the game is over.
There's something to not caring about the clock. My whole life revolves around the clock. I get up at 5:30 during the week. My school day starts at 8:00 and goes until 3:00ish. I schedule my evenings and weekends around the start times of sporting events. But this summer, I don't care what the clock says. I'm looking forward to not caring about what time it is (other than the start time of baseball games). It will be nice to not have to care about the time for two months. And that's the way baseball always is.
The game last night between the Angels and A's went until 1:41 in the morning on the west coast. That's 49 minutes before I woke up this morning. If the Dodgers had been involved, I probably would have fallen asleep around 2:00 Eastern. But if it was a big game at the end of the season, I probably would have stayed up for the whole thing and then slept for like an hour.
I remember the Mets and Cardinals playing 20 innings three years ago. The good thing about that game was that it was on a Saturday. I definitely didn't watch that whole game, but I probably watched at least the last five innings. The Mets used 24 of their 25 players. Mike Pelfrey (normally a starting pitcher) got the save. National League games are much more fun because you get double switching and you can end up with the pitcher's spot in the order at a very random spot. When you get a game like that, you just have to figure out who can do what for your team until the game is ready to end. You might end up with guys playing positions they aren't used to playing and position players pitching.
I've said that Bud Selig has been mostly good for baseball. The worst thing that he did as commissioner was not get a grip on the steroid problem in baseball earlier than he did. The second worst thing he did was ending the 2002 All Star Game in a tie because the teams were out of players (besides Ryan Braun being a cheater, that's the other thing I thought about when I went to Miller Park). You know what happens in baseball if the teams are out of players? They keep playing until somebody wins. Baseball games take care of themselves. They don't need Bud Selig or a clock to tell them when the game is over.
There's something to not caring about the clock. My whole life revolves around the clock. I get up at 5:30 during the week. My school day starts at 8:00 and goes until 3:00ish. I schedule my evenings and weekends around the start times of sporting events. But this summer, I don't care what the clock says. I'm looking forward to not caring about what time it is (other than the start time of baseball games). It will be nice to not have to care about the time for two months. And that's the way baseball always is.
Monday, April 29, 2013
One Year Later
I started the blog a year ago. The original idea was to blog about what I'd be doing for a year without a job. Of course, I started a little early. Then I got a job, so I decided to keep the Year of Jim going for an indefinite amount of time. So let's review of some things I've done and some updates to some previous posts.
I wanted to get to as many states and baseball stadiums as possible. I got to four new states in the last year (Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, and Wisconsin) and I saw 15 baseball games in 10 different stadiums (seven that I hadn't been to before) in the last year. There's a good chance that I'll never go to Wyoming again, so I'm glad I crossed that off the list. I could see going to Arizona, Colorado, and Wisconsin again at some point. I recently ranked the stadiums. Since then I was at Miller Park, which I have ranked 13th of the 17 stadiums I've been to.
In my first blog post, I mentioned some things I was definitely doing and some things that I hoped to do. I hoped to see Notre Dame play in Ireland, go to the entire Big East Tournament, and go to 2013 Opening Day. I made it to Ireland, which was my first trip out of the country. I went to Opening Day in Los Angeles and it was awesome. I couldn't go to the entire Big East Tournament because of work, but I got to four games.
I went to four football games including the National Championship Game and 11 basketball games including the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The National Championship Game was obviously disappointing, but I'm glad I went. I don't know if I'll get to go again because the next time Notre Dame gets there, planning it could be very difficult with only a week or a week and a half to figure out arrangements with the College Football Playoff starting with the 2014 season. So hopefully Notre Dame gets back in the final season before the playoff and I can get to the National Championship Game in the Rose Bowl in January 2014. As for the NCAA Tournament, I'm glad I did it once, but part of the fun of the tournament is sitting on the couch and watching as many games as possible. I did get to see a big upset, but it wasn't the one I was hoping for.
Last May, I posted about the Sam Adams summer variety pack and how disappointing it is every year. They made some changes, including taking my suggestion of a blueberry beer. I had to do the side by side taste test featuring the reigning champion of blueberry beers, Blue Point Blueberry Ale, taking on the challenger and favorite, Samuel Adams Blueberry Hill Lager. Your winner, and still blueberry beer champion of the world, Blue Point Blueberry Ale! It was a stunning upset. I was planning on bumping Blue Point Blueberry Ale from my Beer Power Rankings in favor of the Sam Adams Blueberry Hill Lager, but Blueberry Ale holds onto its spot. The other changes to the Sam Adams Beers of Summer pack were positive. Porch Rocker came out last year, but was added in the variety pack this year. It's a lemonade beer, which is good and definitely belongs in the summer pack. Little White Rye is the other new addition and it's solid. But between the disappointment of the blueberry and keeping Belgian Session (it has to be the worst Sam Adams beer I've had, it's like the beer is angry at your mouth), it's still not worth it. I still have one Belgian Session to drink and I'm not looking forward to it. I drink by mood, so I'll drink that if the Celtics get eliminated from the playoffs. I'm not giving the summer variety pack another try next year unless they get rid of the Belgian Session.
But some good news for Sam Adams, their Summer Ale remains undefeated. I bought a six pack of Goose Island Summertime after hearing good things last year. It's fine, but it's no Summer Ale. I've tried summer beers from Sam Adams, Harpoon, Brooklyn, Blue Point, and Goose Island (I might have forgotten something also), and Sam Adams Summer Ale has won the championship every summer. I would rank the Brooklyn Summer Ale second.
And I mentioned my Beer Power Rankings. I included Brooklyn Pennant Ale '55 even though I had never had it before. I needed to fix that. It's staying in my rankings and jumping Coors Light for the number 9 spot. It's nothing special, but it has my favorite name of all the beers that I drink. Whenever I finally get to enjoy watching the Dodgers win the World Series (hopefully this year), that's definitely what I'll be drinking to celebrate.
So where do I go from here? I'm a little frustrated because I can't really figure out what to do. I have to get to some games in some stadiums that I haven't been to yet, but I don't have anything planned right now. I think I'm going to England this summer, but I haven't booked the trip yet. Hopefully I'll get that taken care of and then I can start to figure out what else to do. I would really like to get to Gettysburg and Cooperstown this summer. Also, the Long Island Ducks have been around since 2000 and I've never been to a Ducks game. I want to go to one this summer. In the fall, I'd like to get to at least three Notre Dame games, including the game at Cowboys Stadium. Perhaps I could include a trip to the George W. Bush Presidential Library in that trip. And I want to get to an Islanders game at Nassau Coliseum before they move to the Barclays Center.
I've done a lot in the last year, but I still have a lot more to do. If anybody wants to get in on Gettysburg, Cooperstown, or any baseball trips, let me know.
I wanted to get to as many states and baseball stadiums as possible. I got to four new states in the last year (Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, and Wisconsin) and I saw 15 baseball games in 10 different stadiums (seven that I hadn't been to before) in the last year. There's a good chance that I'll never go to Wyoming again, so I'm glad I crossed that off the list. I could see going to Arizona, Colorado, and Wisconsin again at some point. I recently ranked the stadiums. Since then I was at Miller Park, which I have ranked 13th of the 17 stadiums I've been to.
In my first blog post, I mentioned some things I was definitely doing and some things that I hoped to do. I hoped to see Notre Dame play in Ireland, go to the entire Big East Tournament, and go to 2013 Opening Day. I made it to Ireland, which was my first trip out of the country. I went to Opening Day in Los Angeles and it was awesome. I couldn't go to the entire Big East Tournament because of work, but I got to four games.
I went to four football games including the National Championship Game and 11 basketball games including the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The National Championship Game was obviously disappointing, but I'm glad I went. I don't know if I'll get to go again because the next time Notre Dame gets there, planning it could be very difficult with only a week or a week and a half to figure out arrangements with the College Football Playoff starting with the 2014 season. So hopefully Notre Dame gets back in the final season before the playoff and I can get to the National Championship Game in the Rose Bowl in January 2014. As for the NCAA Tournament, I'm glad I did it once, but part of the fun of the tournament is sitting on the couch and watching as many games as possible. I did get to see a big upset, but it wasn't the one I was hoping for.
Last May, I posted about the Sam Adams summer variety pack and how disappointing it is every year. They made some changes, including taking my suggestion of a blueberry beer. I had to do the side by side taste test featuring the reigning champion of blueberry beers, Blue Point Blueberry Ale, taking on the challenger and favorite, Samuel Adams Blueberry Hill Lager. Your winner, and still blueberry beer champion of the world, Blue Point Blueberry Ale! It was a stunning upset. I was planning on bumping Blue Point Blueberry Ale from my Beer Power Rankings in favor of the Sam Adams Blueberry Hill Lager, but Blueberry Ale holds onto its spot. The other changes to the Sam Adams Beers of Summer pack were positive. Porch Rocker came out last year, but was added in the variety pack this year. It's a lemonade beer, which is good and definitely belongs in the summer pack. Little White Rye is the other new addition and it's solid. But between the disappointment of the blueberry and keeping Belgian Session (it has to be the worst Sam Adams beer I've had, it's like the beer is angry at your mouth), it's still not worth it. I still have one Belgian Session to drink and I'm not looking forward to it. I drink by mood, so I'll drink that if the Celtics get eliminated from the playoffs. I'm not giving the summer variety pack another try next year unless they get rid of the Belgian Session.
But some good news for Sam Adams, their Summer Ale remains undefeated. I bought a six pack of Goose Island Summertime after hearing good things last year. It's fine, but it's no Summer Ale. I've tried summer beers from Sam Adams, Harpoon, Brooklyn, Blue Point, and Goose Island (I might have forgotten something also), and Sam Adams Summer Ale has won the championship every summer. I would rank the Brooklyn Summer Ale second.
And I mentioned my Beer Power Rankings. I included Brooklyn Pennant Ale '55 even though I had never had it before. I needed to fix that. It's staying in my rankings and jumping Coors Light for the number 9 spot. It's nothing special, but it has my favorite name of all the beers that I drink. Whenever I finally get to enjoy watching the Dodgers win the World Series (hopefully this year), that's definitely what I'll be drinking to celebrate.
So where do I go from here? I'm a little frustrated because I can't really figure out what to do. I have to get to some games in some stadiums that I haven't been to yet, but I don't have anything planned right now. I think I'm going to England this summer, but I haven't booked the trip yet. Hopefully I'll get that taken care of and then I can start to figure out what else to do. I would really like to get to Gettysburg and Cooperstown this summer. Also, the Long Island Ducks have been around since 2000 and I've never been to a Ducks game. I want to go to one this summer. In the fall, I'd like to get to at least three Notre Dame games, including the game at Cowboys Stadium. Perhaps I could include a trip to the George W. Bush Presidential Library in that trip. And I want to get to an Islanders game at Nassau Coliseum before they move to the Barclays Center.
I've done a lot in the last year, but I still have a lot more to do. If anybody wants to get in on Gettysburg, Cooperstown, or any baseball trips, let me know.
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