Go Green!

The Celtics had a tremendous win over the Hornets on Friday. It was a close game against Paul's crew, with the C's trailing at the half but coming back in typical Celts fashion in the 3rd quarter and managed to hang onto a lead for the remainder of the game. The Celts are now 20-2, keeping their 14-game win streak alive and sporting the best start in franchise history. Pierce had his best game in a while, and there were contributions all around. Big Baby notably had a couple Tommy points with some excellent hustle on key ribbies.

Tanguay stepped in for Gorman temporarily as play-by-play man, and did a good job, but he needs to work on his analogies. That Baby-as-Great Dane bit just didn't work at all.

I'm an unabashed bandwagon fan of this team, only having started watching them during last year's playoffs. I've watched them a good deal so far this season, however. This team is simply great fun to watch, something that was missing from my previous tentative forays into watching pro basketball.

Looking forward to the continued fierce defense of #17 - and raising #18.

17

Too bad I missed it. But I'll be there for 18.

A-side Is Stateside

Got back to Chez MRhé a little while ago after two weeks in Europe. To sum up in one word = tremendulous. Details to come, so watch this space for my travel journal (yes, I did it faithfully!). I won't be able to effectively convey the wonderful things I saw and experienced, but I will nevertheless attempt to do so with a few feeble jokes thrown in for good measure.

Now: to unpack, take a shower, pour myself a cocktail, go through a metric ton of mail (both snail and e-), check my bank account to make sure I didn't spend all my weak dollars overseas, check up on the blogosphere, start transcribing pages and pages of copious notes, download over a thousand pics, and generally get back in the game.

Feels like I've been gone for a while. Hope nothing went awry in my absence.

Finals Baby!

The Celtics closed out the Pistons in Game 6 last night, moving on to meet the Lakers in the finals. This is some old-school rivalry stuff; should be interesting. Looks like I'll only be able to catch Game 1 because I'll be abroad for the remainder of the series. I have to admit the tiniest twinge of regret that I will miss it.

My missing basketball during my trip to Europe? Now that's irony.

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Everytime I hear Europe's "The Final Countdown" played now - and it gets a lot of play during basketball playoff pregame shows - I can't help but think to myself, "Hey! That's G.O.B.'s magic show theme music!"

Hub Sports Notes

• Sunday afternoon saw an awesome end to the Celts-Cavs series. Game 7 was everything a playoff game should be: exciting, tense, and close right down to the final buzzer. The matchup between Pierce and James was fantastic - they both put up 40+. But you can't handle The Truth.

• A big hand to Jon Lester, who pitched a no-hitter against Kansas Skritty on Monday evening. My roommate and I tuned into the game in the 7th when it was 7-0. Came close to changing the channel when I heard Don and Remy making artfully veiled references to Lester's ongoing no-no bid. That's professional broadcasting folks - talking about the possibility of the no-hitter without actually saying it! It's like Voldemort He-who-must-not-be-named. The last few innings were a joy to watch - Lester was very impressive.
  

"He's not just a good kid because he threw a no-hitter," Terry Francona said. "He's a good kid because he's a good kid."

(Props to Beebe for the above quote.)

• A hand to Justin Masterson who won his first major league game last night against KC, who are quite helpful with all these BoSox pitching accomplishments.

• Great Game 1 win last night by the Celtics. They took the first game at home against the Pistons in the Eastern Conference Finals. Basketball is action-packed and fun to watch - who'da thunk it? Pierce was again earning his nickname and Garnett was netting jumpers like it was his job. Which it is. Garnett's just head and shoulders above most guys in the league. Superlatives escape me. What I can say for certain is that he is a basketball player.
  

Game 6: Celtics @ Cavs

Coming off a great win in Game 5 (probably the most exciting Celts playoff game thus far) in which Rondo was phenomenal, Pierce actually drove to the basket like he should, and KG made it rain on the Cavs nonstop, it's up to the C's to close out this series tonight in Cleveland. If they do so it'll be their first win on the road, and one that is sorely needed for their confidence and any hope of continuing on in the playoffs.

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Best nickname for Anderson Varejao: Sideshow Bob (close second is Moptop, courtesy of my Mom).



And I fully admit coming late to the Celtics party, but I found this awesome nugget about the origin of Paul Pierce's nickname, The Truth:

His nickname, The Truth, was accorded him by Shaquille O'Neal. After a Lakers' victory over the Celtics in 2001, O'Neal pulled a Boston reporter over and gestured toward his notepad. "Take this down," said O'Neal. "My name is Shaquille O'Neal and Paul Pierce is the motherfucking truth. Quote me on that and don't take nothing out. I knew he could play, but I didn't know he could play like this. Paul Pierce is the truth."

The Truth vs. King James tonight at 8:00.

Friday Miscellany

A great night for the Celts and the Sox last night.

• Beckett was brilliant over seven innings, K-ing eight and giving up a single run. With the 5-1 win, the Sox won the four-game series in Detroit. Very nice start to the road trip. Four in Minnesota up next with a couple games at Camden to round out the away games next week.
  
  
  
  
• For the second game in a row at the Garden, King James appeared mortal. He put up 21, which was far better than his performance on Tuesday. Still, the Celtics' defense has been stellar, making LeBron really work to put up poor shots. The first quarter of last night the Cavs came out swinging, and James looked like he was back in the groove. But the Celtics bench came alive in the 2nd, with Cassell, Posey, Powe, and Brown energizing the team with steals, great D, a couple 3's and some intense offense. Awesome win. Now the Celts have to go to Cleveland for Game 3 on Saturday and see if they can win a playoff game on the road. By all accounts LeBron is far from out of this and can explode at any time, especially on his home court. Let's hope that the Hot 'Lanta performances do not follow the Celts to Cleveland.
  
  
  
  

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Mike-robrew: This one's for Scottexplorer. Endurance Pale Ale. Hoppy, flavorful, and refreshing, with some excellent label copy:

Perhaps the most compelling survival story of our time took place almost 100 years ago. This is a story of heroics, strength, fortitude and endurance. In 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton, Second Officer Tom Crean and their 26 man crew launched a voyage from England to become the first polar explorers to traverse Antarctica. And so started the journey known as the Endurance expedition.

Endurance Brewing Company was founded with two clear goals in mind: to bring awareness of this incredibly heroic group of men and to provide beer enthusiasts with award-winning brews that help stir the adventurous nature of the spirit within. For well over 3 years, Endurance Brewing Company has been creating a branding strategy and beer recipe that we think would earn the respect of every man of the Endurance Crew.

Our flagship ale, Endurance Pale Ale, is dedicated to Second Officer Tom Crean, who was regarded by many historians “as close to indestructible as any man that’s ever lived”. This smooth and crisp golden pale ale is rich in hops with a hint of citrus. Look for other Endurance Brewing Company beers shortly, but in the meantime, pour a tall, refreshing glass of Endurance Pale Ale, raise it high in honour of Tom Crean and the Endurance crew and enjoy one of the finest beers around.

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Speaking of Scottinfo, he recently linked to this well-done report on city comparisons based on a variety of interesting metrics. Very cool. The Hub does very well; no surprise there.

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Been reading several interesting articles over at Arts & Letters Daily as of late:

• Atheist Churches: Oxymoron? This article in New York Magazine talks about atheism and the rise of atheist churches. One of the points I liked is that atheism should stand for something rather than just being anti-God. Its very name is an inherent negation.

• Another article taking on an otherwise oxymoronic phrase: "Libertarian paternalism." The Chronicle Review piece's author meets with professors Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler and discusses their theory that good government can be paternalistic through "nudging" people to behave in ways that benefit society as a whole, while remaining as hands-off as can be expected to appeal to the libertarian camp. Pretty intriguing idea. Almost a "Why not?" approach to governance.

• An excellent MIT Technology Review piece about the possibility and probability of other life in the universe. Nick Bostrom has an entirely different view on the matter that I had never heard or thought about: he sees the lack of evidence about otherworldly life as great news for the human race. It's a longer article, but fascinating. Check it out.

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It's Friday. That's always noteworthy.

A Few Entirely Unimportant Things

-A bottle of Number One, acquired at the Goose last night for $7.99. It's a Tempranillo from Spain (as all good Tempranillos are) and it's remarkably drinkable for its price and bargain bin status.



With wine, as with people, I rarely discriminate. Each has it's downsides (and merits!) but on the whole things work out pretty well.

-Discouraging loss for the Celts last night. Took a 10-point lead into the 4th and pissed it away. They played their A-side game in spurts last night, but again, let the Hawks back in. Now it's anybody's series. Good thing is they're coming home to the Jungle tomorrow night. Bad thing is...they have to come home. But it's time to play, and I'm all up ons this Celtics 2008 Bandwagon, so let's keep on truckin'. I'll be disappointed when there's no more b-ball to watch (never thought I'd write that).

-I had an amazing "European" dinner tonight consisting of daecent wine, freshly baked bread, gouda and brie cheeses, and a salami ensconced in ground pepper. Simple yet amazingly delicious. And it only cost me a quarter of a bajillion dollars at my friendly neighborhood gourmet grocery store!

-The "Rounders" soundtrack is awesome. Christopher Young just killin' it on the smooth jazz. You know the tracks: "Ode to Johnny Chan," "Brass Brazilians," "Worm," "Finger Up Your Spine," "Belly Buster," and everybody's favorite, "Alligator Blood." Or maybe you don't. I'm probably one of 12 people who actually purchased this.

And a happy dozen are we.

Celtics-Hawks Series: Celts Up 2-1 After Soilage in Hotlanta

I watched the entirety of Game 3 of the Celts-Hawks series last night and found myself really getting into it. I watched portions of the first couple games and I admit I've caught a bit of Celtics playoff fever. I regret not watching them during the season - it's really a joy to see these guys play.

At least in Games 1 & 2.

It looked like two completely different teams took the floor last night - the Celts looked sluggish, forcing bad shots and did not dominate the game; the young Hawks came out running and gunning, taking advantage of their speed, scoring on the fast break and draining 3-pointers left and right. Josh Smith was simply awesome last night, hitting both from beyond the arc and slamming it in high-flying fashion.

The Celts had the opportunity to really put the Hawks in a corner last night; now instead of facing an elimination game, the Hawks are a fired up young team with renewed lifeblood. A far different series. They need to return to their dominant play and not let the Hawks run in on them so much. Game 4 is tomorrow night and I'm looking forward to it.

Misc.

-Finally the Sox lose one! When was the last time this happened?

-I'm an unabashed playoff-bandwagon Celtics fan. When you see Garnett pummel his own player after a nasty dunk, I mean - that's serious business. 2-0, go Celts.



(Drink Gatorade?)

-Sucks to be a hockey fan. Now and...ever? Grim Game 7 for the Bruins. I watched about 40 min. of hockey this season (all Game 7) and it was miserable. Crazy Canucks.

-I just ate 6 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. Couple days old, ever-so-slightly burnt, and just about the most amazing thing I've eaten in the last 28 years.

Tremendous job, Ken.

A tremendous piece of sports criticism criticism from Ken Tremendous over at FJM. An excerpt on why Boston is the Hub of the Sports Universe presently:

[T]he NE Patriots are about to play in their fourth Super Bowl in seven years, and feature a quarterback who is somehow handsomer at the end of each game than he was at the beginning; the Boston Red Sox have won two of the last four World Serieses; the Boston Celtics are 33-6; and also there is a hockey team.