Beantown Sports Guys

Omaha! Omaha!

I'm so anxious for the Super Bowl to begin. I hate it when this happens. You look so forward to something then maybe it doesn't turn out the way you want it to. As I said before I am very confident that the Pats will win and I think they will win big time. I heard that the NFL Network will be playing a lot of Super Bowl games up until the current one. Should be some interesting matchups. Since I am forced to wait until the Pats play again I thought I would write a little "one play script" of what I have witnessed this year during a Patriots game. If I have missed any details please let me know. I'm far from being a sports writer.

Brady's offense is at the line, the opponents defense is about to pounce. "Omaha! Omaha! ," (he always starts off that way). It's about the only two words I hear him shout clearly. He looks left, then right, and then points to some suspected threat which is usually a rouse to intimidate the defense and just before he calls for the snap, he gives a quick glare to Moss or Welker as if he is using telepathy to communicate to them. HIKE! The ball is snapped into Brady's hands, takes two steps back and quickly makes a high short pass over the center to Faulk. Yes, that's right. Faulk! The elusive and forgotten gem in Brady and Bellicheck's bag of tricks. He snatches the ball out of the air and then makes a run for about ten yards for another……………..FIRST DOWN!

So where is the elusive Brady? Okay, enough with that. Who cares? Man, the press is just terrible about things like this. Yesterday the cameras were only on the field for 15 minutes so if he did practice he probably came out after the cameras left to keep the speculation going. Today he supposedly was a no show again, but for all we know he is studying tape. Just let him do his job. Media day is coming soon so that's when they should pounce.

TWO WEEKS

Just less than two weeks and we will see the Big Show, The New England Patriots versus the New York Giants. Already rumors are flying. Did Seymour play dirty against the Chargers? Does Tom have an injured foot? Let's not forget about the assault and battery accusations by Randy Moss’s supposed long time friend.

Can they get over it? No sweat!  They have been accused of so many things this year and it doesn’t even bother them. They have been trained to focus only on the next game. The term tunnel vision comes to mind. I only wish I had that focus and determination. As for those rumors and accusations, Seymour just played his game like every football player does. Tom is just psyching out the Giants fans and how suspicious was it to have that girl come out with that accusation against Moss? Something is fishy in them waters.

As for the Superbowl I think it will be a blowout! Well maybe not a blowout in reality terms but when I play Madden 08 with the same rosters, depth charts, field and weather conditions and I have had the Patriots blow them out every time. I know that you can’t predict a game on the outcome of a video game but hey, I’ve had some games come pretty close to the real matchup.

I was just thinking: What am I going to do after the football season is over? NASCAR will be here soon, but I’ve kind of lost interest. There have been too many changes in that sport. March Madness is coming soon and baseball is around the corner. Hopefully I will have a lot to talk about then.

MEDIA BLACKOUT!

The Final Playoff game between the Undefeated New England Patriots and the San Diego “lucky” Chargers is on now. Winner of this match goes to the SUPER BOWL. It started at 3:05 eastern standard time. Why I am not watching it is because I invited my brother and his family to come watch the game with us. Well, they asked me to record the game on TIVO because they have to take their son back to college which is only about an hour away. They did the same for us when we were coming back from our Christmas vacation. Our plane was scheduled to land in Manchester at 8:30pm and the game between the Pats and Jags had already started. Talk about trying to keep blackout conditions with all the technology these days. I was tuning out everyone so I wouldn’t accidently hear any scores. My relatives were texting me and leaving messages on my cell. It was so tempting to flip open the phone, but I only did to turn it off. We quickly passed the game being televised in a sports bar at the airport but I did not look. I picked up my car and had the radio off all the way to my brother’s house, because he was recording for us. We did not start watching that game until 10pm that night.

So now I have my email and instant messaging notifications turned off and I’m avoiding the internet, tv is off and the answering machine is turned down. It is almost 5:00PM now and it is killing me. I made Chili, the chips, cheese and crackers are on the table. Soda and beer is chilled. My brother and his family should be here any minute. Media blackout is a challenge, but when you’re a true sports fan it is definitely worth it. I will follow up after the game and tell you if it was really worth it. Stay tuned.

 Well it was definitely worth the wait! The Pats pulled off another one. Was there ever really any doubt? I don’t think so. Moss and Welker did their part, but Faulk and Maroney were awesome. As for the Greenbay game I was a little disappointed. I really wanted Greenbay to win. If Favre retired this season it would have been great for him to retire on top, but still losing to the Pats of course.

Thin at Point Guard

When the Celtics acquired KG and Sweet Baby Ray, I knew immediately we were in for a special season not seen around here in a long long time.  Racing out to 30 wins in record fashion has surprised many people, but not this guy.  Some thought my high praise was premature but I saw it coming before the preseason even began.

In addition to KG and Ray, I loved what Ainge did building a nice veteran bench by bringing in House, Posey, and Pollard.  But the one piece I thought the Celtics still needed to bring that 17th championship home was a veteran point guard to either start and bring Rondo off the bench, or to back Rondo up. 

Here we are almost at the midway point of the season and Ainge has still not done anything to shore up the point guard position.  Handing the job to Rondo from the get-go I thought was very risky, but it has worked out quite well and much better than I ever could have expected.  Rondo has been real solid and is a player you can watch nightly and watch him grow before your eyes.  He has made big strides since game one. 

Even with all that, my position has still not wavered here.  Eddie House is not a backup point guard.  True the C's have been getting by fine utilizing him as such thus far.  But that was before a Rajon Rondo injury.  With Rondo out for quarters and now entire games, the point guard position is a glaring weakness on this team.  House has been great for what he really is, which is a spot up jump shooter with a deadly 3-point eye.  House is a tremendous catch and shoot guy.  He is not a creator and his ball-handling skills while decent are just OK for that position.  Teams know to pressure that position and turnovers will happen.  It is even worse when Doc Rivers hands the ball to Tony Allen to play the point.  Tony loses the ball or makes bad passes constantly when thrust into that position. 

So I ask, where is the point guard help?  Where is the veteran point guard who can at least hold down the fort and keep chaos from happening.  A solid ball handler who has been there and can handle that on-the-ball pressure coming up the court.  I can't say I am looking for any certain individual to come in here.  I have heard Gary Payton and Travis Best names thrown around.  I am sure there are others I have not heard who would raise my curiosity.  I will leave that to the Celtics to evaluate and bring in the guy that they think will work best.  But for god's sake, let's do it already!  Who knows, maybe Rondo will even benefit further and elevate his game even more having a veteran guy around who he can pick his brain and learn from.

Last year's point guard draft pick Gabe Pruitt was a very nice selection and I do have high hopes for him.  I have been wishing Doc would give him more minutes.  But he is just not ready for heavy minutes yet.  I am still surprised they at least haven't given him more of a shot here, especially with Rondo out now, but the coach must see something he doesn't like from the practices that I don't get the privilege of seeing.  So if Gabe is not going to get some kind of shot here this season, then where is that veteran point guard?  I still believe that is the last piece of this championship puzzle.  The road still goes through tough Detroit in the East, so we need that vet PG now.  There is still half a season to allow for mixing in and to gel with this team.  Here's hoping that help is on the way soon!

Patriots get ready for Jaguars

The Patriots were "lucky" enough to get the 5 seed and play the Jaguars this coming weekend. Even though they had a better record than the Steelers, they were the lower seed because they did not win their division. I guess it puts more emphasis on winning your division as far as seeding goes, but its very misleading, as many people assume the higher the seed the better the team. Not the case. No one really gave the Steelers a chance to beat the Jaguars, even in their own hometown, and the only thing surprising was they kept it so close for so long.

The Patriots have been studying the Jags more than anyone according to Belichick because they recently played the Steelers and earlier in the season they played the Chargers. There is no mistake: they have a great running game, a good defense, and a QB that doesn't make too many mistakes. But we've beaten teams like that before, especially this season.

Just ask the Colts and the Steelers.