Barstool Blog

How's this for a cliche; game 4 is an absolute must win for the Celtics.  After getting waxed on their home floor friday night, the green team will need to even the series today, if they have an aspirations of playing into late May, or even June.  And, with the Big 3 likely on their last title run, this game carries even greater importance.  I must admit, it's pretty scary to think about both the long, and short-term future of this club.  This team, as currently constituted, will not take the floor again next fall.  With a General Manager that isn't afraid to shake up the roster, and a group of aging veterans, there are likely wholesale changes coming this summer, win or lose.  For Celtic fans, the proposition of re-builing this team is pretty frightening, considering we spent almost 20 years fighting to become relevant, and now that relevance is seemingly on it's last legs, if you will.  Prior to winning their 17th title, the team was mired in mediocrity, at best, and suffered some serious hard luck, highlighted by the death of two players, poor drafting, bad free-agent signings, and overall mismanagement.  There was a dark cloud looming over this club for a long time, and I fear that this cloud may be waiting to cast it's ugly shadow once again.  There's only one way to build a great team, and that's luck.  You become a bad team, enter the draft lottery, and hope that the ping-pong balls take a friendly bounce.  If luck is on your side, you give yourself the chance to get a franchise player, if it's not, you're screwed.

Now, despite all of the prognostications of doom, I'm told the Celtics will indeed take the court today against the Cavaliers.  Honestly, there isn't a more reactionary fan base than the fan's of this team.  I understand that friday's performance was dismal, but it's still only one game, and there's still plenty of hooping to be done, hopefully.  I'm hoping the building is a little more lively today, as I'm told friday's atmostphere was somewhere between a funeral, and 6 o'clock mass at the local church.  I know the celtic's didn't help matters, but you gotta bring it people, they need you, and it really does help.  This morning I envisioned Kevin Garnett reinacting that scene from Rocky IV, the one where he leaves in the middle of the night, get's in his sports car, and just drives, all while "no easy way out" is playing.  In the movie, Rocky is contemplating whether or not to fight Drago, after Apollo had died against him in the ring.  Similarly, KG knows this is likely his last chance at another ring, so it's time to leave everything they have on the floor, starting today.  I know a lot of fans have given up, and many actually jumped off the tobin bridge friday night, but a win today and it's all knotted at two, baby. 

On Monday night, Rajon Rondo was, once again, the best player on the floor, as the Celtics continued their dominance over the Cleveland Cavaliers.  As elated as I am that the Celtics head back to the Gahhhden with the series tied at 1-1, it's hard to not to think that we should actually hold a 2-0 edge.  The Celtics have taken it to Cleveland for 7 out of 8 possible quarters in this series, reminding the rest of the league that the boys in green are legitimate title contenders.  Prior to this series, all ten ESPN NBA analysts picked the Cavaliers to roll over the Celtics, with several actually calling for a four-game sweep....pfffft, nice work boys, but I wouldn't have expected any less from the same blo-hards that said we would get fleeced two years ago in the NBA finals.  Aside from Rondo's performance, and the broadcaster's mentioning Lebron's elbow over 400 times during the telecast, Rasheed Wallace's effort may have been the biggest story of the night.  Wallace finished the game with 17 points, in only 18 minutes, off the bench for the C's, and in the process, managed to get everyone off his lazy-ass for at least a few days.  Honestly, I didn't see an increase in effort at all, I just think his shots were falling, albeit a refreshing sight after a dismal shooting year for the back-up center.  Apparently the lashing from Kevin Garnett that Wallace received may have worked wonders.  I know KG demands a great deal of attention anyways, but when he approaches you in the shower, of all places, you're bound to listen, apparently.  Kevin is a pretty frightening figure on the court, and I'm guessing that get's taken to a whole new level when it's just you, him, and....nothing else, literally.  Also, kudos to Celtics President Danny Ainge for not only being the architect of this team, but one of their most passionate fans.  Late in the third quarter of Game 2, Danny was seen throwing a towel in the air, while Cavs forward J.J. Hickson attempted a free throw.  Gotta hand it to the man, he was one of the more annoying/get under your skin players during his career, and seems to have succesfully carried that over during his tenure as a member of the Celtic's brass.  This guy is a true Celtic, and I'm guessing that will be the last time the Cavaliers will seat him so close to one of the baskets.  He'll likely get fined, but at least this story has partially trumped the status of Queen James' elbow.  With game 3 set for Friday night, I expect the Celtics to play with a sense of urgency, knowing that home court advantage now rests firmly in their back pocket.  Hopefully the injuries to both Kevin Garnett, and Kendrick Perkins aren't enough to soften the C's frontcourt, but we'll have to wait and see.  Although I won't be there for either game, the Garden should still be rockin' enough to give the hometeam the energy when needed.  Also, I believe we have shot 30 fewer free-throws than the Cavs throughout the first two games.  Those numbers should start to swing in our favor as the series shifts to Boston.

This was a tale of two halves, the first half was amazing, while the second was a virtual nightmare.  I thought Rondo was phenomenal in this game.  He drove to the basket, constantly abusing Mo Williams, and anyone else that attempted to guard him.  If he wasn't finishing at the rim, he was kicking it out to open-shooters, great stuff.  Rondo took a serious beating, paying the price for going into the paint on several occasions.  I thought in the thrid and fourth quarters Rondo had a difficult time playing with those 4 fouls, forcing him to become less aggressive, and allowing Mo Williams to catch fire and ignite Cleveland's run.  Kevin Garnett looked great tonight (18 points, 10 rebounds), but should have continued to post-up Jamison in the second half.  I love KG for being unselfish, but sometimes I wonder if we'd be better off if he was.  Paul Pierce started out strong, then proceeded to go ice-cold when we needed him most, that simply can't happen again.  Finally, the bench was atrocious tonight.  Big Baby, where were you?  And don't even get me started on Rasheed.  If I'm Doc Rivers, not only do I not give him any meaningful minutes, I would demand that he physically leave the team for the remainder of the season.  Just go home, and come back in October, if you feel like actually producing.  The referees were extremely biased in the second half, but hey, it's the NBA.  Cleveland was bound to make a "run", and with a little help from the officials it turned out to be deadly for the green team.  There were a couple of downright brutal calls, but over the course of the series, they pretty much always even out.  Oh, and how's the elbow, Lebron?  What a friggin diva that guy is.  The status of that stupid elbow is the biggest non-story in the history of sports.  Just another way for this attention-starved baby to have the cameras on him.  What a jerk.  You're the best player on the planet, and in my opinion, the most dominant force the game has ever seen, drop the unneccessary antics, and just play.

I'm still stewing over this loss, and we are almost 12 hours removed.  It's going to be excruciatingly painful waiting for monday night's tip-off, and even more difficult for the team, who have to be thinking that they should have a 1-0 series lead, with home-court advantage now on their side.  Not only that, but the team has to stay in Cleveland, which isn't exactly Miami or La-La.  I don't know this for a fact, but I'm guessing there are high rates of depression and suicide in that midwestern cesspool.  I will say this, in the first half Cleveland must have been uttering a collective "Oh sh*t, this definitely isn't the same Celtics we saw in the regular season."  Many fans are now writing the Celtics off, because of their seeming inability to close out this game, but I'm not giving up yet.   We can play with this team, and I'm pretty confident this series is going the distance.  Keep the faith ya'll.

After a two week hiatus, the blog is back in full swing.  And, luckily there's no shortage of topics to touch on.  The months of April, and May are a busy time in the world of sports, with both the NHL and NBA playoffs getting underway, the Masters, the NFL draft, and oh yea, baseball season(meh, talk to me in six months, it's too early for baseball).  There is a story, however, that has been nawing at me for several weeks that I simply have to vent over, it's the Ben Roethlisberger incident.  First, in an attempt to make myself feel better, I have chosen a few alternative names for Mr. Reothlisberger, I hope you enjoy.  About 8 weeks ago, the Steelers quarterback was accused of sexually assaulting a 20 year old girl in a nightclub bathroom, in the college town of Milledgville, GA.  Not sure what the 29 year old Ratlburger is doing in a college town to begin with, but we're clearly not dealing with a normal individual, and I'm assuming this low-life loser still gets a woody over the "hey, it's Ben Roethlisberger" rumbllngs he hears whenever he arrives with his entourage.  Maybe it's understandable for a guy with a face only a mother could love, or knowing that if he couldn't throw a damn footall he'd be pumping gas in some red-neck town in Arkansas.  if I looked in the mirror and saw that deformed mutant face lookin back at me I'd make sure I had a special talent too.  Anyways, the commisioner of the league recently suspended Ruthlessburger, despite the lack of actual criminal charges being pressed.  Good move, Roger, because if you hadn't, this could have turned into a racial issue, if one of your star quarterbacks, who happens to be white(surprise-surprise) is treated differently than the likes of Pac-Man Jones, Chris Henry, etc.  And, this is clearly not about race, but about entitlement, and a young woman will have to live with endless amounts of shame for the rest of her life.  If there's any justice in the world, this scumbag will have 4 beautiful daughters, so he can spend 20+ years praying that some jerk(like him) doesn't prey on them.  But, then again, justice is often absent in these situations, especially when money and power come into play.  It's funny, a few days ago I saw one-time Duke point-guard, and former #1 overall pick, Jason Williams on ESPN, working as an NBA analyist.  Several years ago, both Williams, and Ruthlessburger were injured in motorcycle accidents.  Jason, who is, by all accounts, a very good person, never played another game again.  Ben, on the other hand, walked away virtually unscathed, and went on to win two superbowls.  I guess God works in mysterious ways, it's just sometimes really hard to figure out.  Of course, Ratburger has since said all the right things, and vowed to be a better person.  Sorry, but you can't teach an old dog new tricks, and once a scumbag, always a scumbag, period.  That goes for you too, Tiger.  You'll be back at it real soon, hitting on everything from strippers, to the waitresses at Waffle House.  And nice work using your dead father in an advertisement to sell golf clubs.  I know you've lost some endorsements, but are you really that strapped for cash?  Hopefully, the galleries at some of your upcoming tournaments will start heckling you, unlike the ball-washers at Augusta.  What a joke, both of these guys are bad people, and sometimes it's alright to seperate the athlete from his personal life, but that's not my style.