The State of Sports Jan 20th

-Baseball

-Theo Epstien returns to the Sox
I am not in the least shocked by the return of the man who ended the Red Sox 86 year World Series drought, the myth of him wearing a gorilla costume out of Fenway Park, the legend of what continues to be a soap opera with the organization. This afternoon's edition of "The offseason" is sponsored by NESN, to bring you a view inside the world of the Red Sox front office. Starring Larry "Hard Ass" Luccchino, Ex-GM Theo Epstien, Siamiese twins seperated at birth: Ben Cherrington and Jed Hoyer, Manny "Cant' make up my mind today or tomorrow" Ramirez, and David "west coast here I come" Wells. Frequent guest apperances by Dan Shaunnessy, Buster Olney, Peter Gammons, and Pete "The Meat" Sheppard. But always remember, things are not what they appear to be. Events may or may not be happening in real life. You can always ask John Henry what he thinks, after the show.

That is the exaggerated version of what it feels like. I seriously would like to know what is going on here. I could direct you to any number of what the writers are spitting out of the printig press today, but thats redundant. I, however, will direct you to the Extra Bases blog, which kindly has that listing for you. You can also read Dan Shaunessy's ill fated attempt to convince Red Sox Nation that he once again is the only one that really knows whats going on, because there is a big flat no comment from Theo, Larry, and John Henry.

Honestly no one knows what is going to happen. I could say that I predicted quite some time ago that Theo was going to be in the background, and hes been advising Jed and Ben ever since he left on moves to make. While I realize that maybe there was a slight difference of philosophies between Theo and Larry, this whole power struggle thing is ridiculous. In fact, its what makes the soap opera what it is. The very conflict that is being emphasized here is something that Globe writer Chris Snow picks up on.

Snow implies that "There also appeared to exist a divide in philosophies -- Epstein's desire to somewhat retool the club around pitching and defense and younger players even if public scrutiny was harsh, juxtaposed against ownership's perceived resolve to spend on older, established players." This philosophy must be what is perceived to be what Gammons said a while ago. He said that people in the Lucchino camp supported a deal to bring Damon back, instead of going out to find a replacement. The replacement idea was supported by the co-general managers camp.

Maybe thats all it really was. Maybe the Red Sox were waiting until they could figure out some way to rearrange the heirarcy in the front office. I think thats all it really was. Theo maybe wanted one of two things: 1) A temperary leave from the office for a vacation, until things died down and 2) Look to see what his other options were. Oh yeah, and if we need any advice, we have your cell phone number. That's what it was.

So as we look to the week ahead, what will unfold in this new edition of "The Offseason." Will Jed and Ben be moving their office from the great view of inside Fenway to the janitors closet with Theo's return? Will Larry "Hard Ass" Lucchino be showing up to the press conference next week? What implications on Theo's return have with Manny demanding a trade again this week? And will John Henry make up some new position for a complete "re-arrangement" of the front office? This should make for a very interresting week.


-Random Notes:
-The Red Sox signed Willie Harris to a minor league deal, and I think this could be the replacement fourth outfielder, to replace the role that Gabe Kapler had with the team. It is also possible that Kapler could return as the fifth outfielder for the Sox down the stretch. All the Sox need to do now is trade or sign an centerfielder. According to Sporting News writer, Ken Rosenthal, the Sox could trade David Wells to the Padres for Roberts, or the Giants for Steve Finley (whos making 7 million dollars this year). Eric Wilbur reports, that the Sox might trade 3rd base prospect Andy Marte to the Indians for Crisp. Crisp is supposed to make $365,000, but is arbitration eligible. It also might be a multi-player swap, because Marte might be worth a little more than a CF replacement. Wilbur also thinks Cora will be the starter at SS next year.

Pictured- Coco Crisp making a catch

-I think this is one of the best comments ive heard about Division III basketball in quite sometime. After the OT loss to UMass Boston, their head coach says this to me: "I dont care what you say, or how much money people pay for division 1 basketball games, but playing at this kind of level truly is college basketball." I agree with him. I must also mention the Tinsley Center also had a full house, and 1000 screaming fans yelling defense in the last 2 minutes for the Bears, was awesome.

-More on playoff predictions and the Reggie Bush article I keep talking about.

The State of Sports Jan 18th

-Baseball

-Clubhouse matters, and Arbitration hearings
I try to never worry about the Red Sox clubhouse. In fact, I know for a fact that David Wells really liked the clubhouse. Two days after Game 3 of the ALDS, comes this comment from "Boomer:"
-"Its probably one of the greatest clubhouses ive ever been in"..."Its stupid how much fun it is"

Once again, I think the Sox management really knows what they are doing. Departing is the hardest working player on the team (Mueller), club house joker (Millar), and rockstar (Damon). Coming into the season are Mike Lowell and Lorretta, (two people with really hard work ethic), clubhouse joker Huckaby. And who needs Damon, when you have Ortiz, Ramirez, and Arroyo?

No I never take a second look at the the clubhouse and worry about a problem. When you have a front office that does there job and looks for players with ingredients for a good clubhouse chemistry, on and off the field, I think its something you cant find anywhere else. This is one of the ingredients that helps build team character and helps win championships. Bradford's article about Ken Huckaby is pretty good today, and helps establish my point.

As for the arbitration hearings, the Sox now have two eligible people. They had Mota and Graffanino, but both signed a one year 3 million dollar contract, and 2 million, respectively. Snow said in the Globe today that they were looking to go long-term with Arroyo, to buy out his arbitration eligible years. Fact of the matter is, Arroyo is "a pitcher likely to make 30 starts, win 10-15 games, and post an ERA in the mid-to-low 4s." I think Arroyo is one of those guys you can stick at the back end of a rotation, or at long relief, and get innings out of him. A young pitcher, who posted career highs in wins (14) and innings (205.1) looks like he is one of the more reliable starters in the American League.

His junkball kind of pitching is more of what this rotation needs. You dont want to have a four game homestand and have guys throwing the same kind of heat that Pedro had a few years ago. I honestly would rather have a power pitching player (Beckett), control pitcher (Schilling/Wells), sinkerball/fastball pitcher (Clement), knuckleball pitcher (Wakefield), and junkball pitcher (Arroyo) in one rotation, rather than one or two of one combination. It shakes things up for the other team. It throws them off. This rotation has veterans and looks to help out the young guys that will be the future of the starting 5. While the Sox look like they are rebuilding, thier starting rotation doesnt have me worried either.

Beckett also is arbitration elgible. The interresting comment that Snow made, was that the Sox look for a one-year deal, instead of going long term. The reason for this is because Beckett " is new to the team, new to the American League, and comes with some injury concerns (finger blisters and right shoulder tendinitis)." So this means that if Beckett has a season, look for him to command a high contract. I dont think there will be much adjustment to this League for a power pitcher like Beckett.

As for the blister problem, Gordon Edes has pointed out in two seperate interviews with Beckett, it was more of a humidity problem, more than anything else. Beckett is quoted on saying "The training staff here has some ideas of some stuff I've been doing and some stuff I haven't been doing. We're going to give them all a shot and see if we can shake this thing." And the problem came up "it seemed like I either had a shutout or had given up less than two runs."

For both arbitration eligible pitchers, I think the Sox will do their best to not make the cases go to an arbiter, if it really comes down to that.

-Random Notes:
-Insider reports that "The Boston Herald also reports the Minnesota and Memphis deals would most likely be straight up for Michael Olowokandi or Lorenzen Wright, and Earl Watson would be the target if something gets worked out with Denver." If Cleveland got involved, Marcus Banks would be in the deal. Celtics need to get rid of the 6-year, 40 Million dollar hit, that he is taking. The Celtics need more leg room to work with, that way, they can put some money else where. Blount averages 13.1 points per game and 4.4 rebounds. Last season, Blount averaged 9.4 points and 4.8 rebounds. I think any move to get rid of Blount is a step in the right direction.

-Im glad BC won last night. Holy Cross was on BC's tail the entire night, and BC just let them stick around, because they didnt guard the perimeter well. But, BC got really lucky because Holy Cross had players in foul trouble, so they played off BC a little bit, and BC drove the basket/shot some threes, and built a solid 7-9 point lead to work with. Holy Cross is a 9-9 team that they struggled with. If BC really wants to win ball games, they have to play better defense, and try something else that works. Eagle sites those among some of the problems that BC has, after the loss to NC State. I dont watch many BC games, because of work, but this one looks sloppy and if BC really wants to play well on a tough ACC schedule ahead, they need to play up to the competition. They face Miami and NC on the road, and then Georgia Tech and Duke at home for their next four games.

-I saw bits and peices of the Illinois-Indiana game, and I was blown away at the first half defense of Illinois. Then I was surprised when Indiana just went nuts with the threes, to put the score at 24-28 at halftime. When I flipped back to the game, after the BC game was over, and Killingsworth had 19 points in the second half, I was amazed. He is the definition of a big man, that more basketball teams need. I think both teams played really good defense, even though they let each teams back into the game, it just shows the amazing depth that the Big 10 has this year.

The State of Sports Jan. 17th

-Basketball

-Maybe Doc Rivers has to get fired
I am not the biggest Celtics fan, but even the die hard Celtics fans and basketball fans are questioning their own team. I will give you a case in point. I watched the away messages on AIM the night of the triple overtime loss and I read 5-6 of the same messages: "Watching the Celtics blow it in overtime." This message is echoed throughout many in the Boston and National media outlets. What I can figure out is, why would the Celtics trade Paul Pierce, if they can just solve the problem by getting a new coach. Isnt Pierce the team leader, that is supposed to help them out by scoring as much as he can, every night, and trying to get people more involved and motivated in the game.

The Celtics lack two main things, at this point in the season, that has been mentioned on Boston.com blog ,"The Green Room" and in Bill Simmons article last week. Fact is they disregard two of the many different fundamental ways you play the game: Preventing turnovers and defense. You have to win ball games by playing defense. Apparently the lesson of the New England Patriots affected everyone else in the US, except franchises in the city of Boston.

While this is hardly the comparison that I should use, it makes you wonder sometimes. My basketball team (BSC Bears, D3 basketball) are 6-6. They very easily could be 10-2, if they had played defense in 4 of those games by a combined 9 points. Fact of the matter is, they can stay in the game with their really good offense in 3-point shooters, and big men who know how to get to the paint, and at the foul line. I have only seen a few Celtics games this year, they seriously lack a defense, to close the deal. They go through the motions like this games over, and go into complete shut down mode. While my basketball team wouldnt dare do that (because the coach would be riding them), this Celtics team does that. Also, there are some really bad turnovers that are made that should just never happen. The Celtics average 16.6 turnovers a game. That's ranked 29th out of 30 teams in the NBA. There is absolutley no accountability for the starters they have in there.

Its almost as if Doc is playing players because thats how much they are getting paid, and if you spend 15 million dollars on a Center, then by golly maybe he should have a lot of playing time. Thats the business aspect of things. But, I think its the wrong stratagy. I think you should be playing a steady rotation of starters that is Blount, Ricky Davis, Dalonte West, Pierce, and LaFrentz. But use your rookies and second year players to get some experience. I also realize that when your a coach, you like to see consistency, and while not all of your first and second year players are consistent and hardly worth starting, you have to give people the opportunity.

The NBA is interresting because you have to play your starters that are on the cap, or your rookies that you need to find playing time for. Practice is what makes perfect, and what better time to start, as the celtics are 7 games behind and 9 games below the .500 mark. Sometimes I wonder what Celtics team im going to be reading and hearing about the next day. Will it be the team that almost beat the 20-5 Detroit Pistons, or the team that is 0-2 and plays down to the dead last place 10-26 Atlanta Hawks. Fact of the matter is, the Celtics lack some kind of consistency. I think they are more inconsistent than anything else, with the kind of offensive and defensive performances that you see night in and night out.

The Celtics need to do something fast about this situation. You dont want to waste time with your rookies and second year players, and money on people who are eating up the salary cap. The management needs to make a decision before the wrong one is made.

Maybe they should get rid of Doc. Maybe they should trade away team leader, and backbone of this team, Paul Peirce. Maybe they should play who on the basis of who deserves it more. Maybe this team can put up enough points to get to .500. Maybe they should start to play more rookies, and put the veterans on the bench.

What I think they should do is look for the decision that situates the future of the team. Look to see what will save money, but bring experience at the same time. All I know is this: Rivers coaching style is driving fans nuts. When I ask if people want to watch the Cetics game, I sure dont want to hear, why would I just want to watch them blow it, coming from the fans that are more into it than I am.


-Random Thoughts:
-Gammons writes a good article at the rebuilding of the expansion teams that were added in the last expansion (Arizona, Florida, Tampa Bay, and Colorado). He points out of what each team needs to do in order to suceed in their division. In Colorado, they have to get back to even again, and out of the red. Arizona is trying to get a mix of veterans, and young guys to form a competative team. Florida just has stadium issues; and now has an influx of talent to work with. And Tampa Bay might just wind up being the Cleveland Indians of the mid 90's. Great offense, but poor starting pitching. Gammons can be bold, but it just takes a while to see his point.

-I think this article published in Sundays Globe further illustrates my point above.

-I said to my sports editor last night that the Patriots coaching staff is like the Duke coaching staff. I think that any assistant in both organizations is worth their weight for a high level position, because of who is at the top, and how the organization is run. Thats why you see three big moves in the last two years with Crennel to the Browns, Wiess to Notre Dame, and now Mangini to the Jets. This organization just has so much coaching talent, and Bilechick just keeps bringing people in. Its just like Duke, and how Krzyewski and how he prepares his assistant coaches.

Pictured- New Jets head coach Eric Mangini

-I was completely wrong on three of the four games I previewed. I promise to make it up to the readers this week. I know I can do better than that. Preivews and a story on Reggie Bush that I have been planning for a while, in the works for later this week.

The State of Sports Jan 15th

-Football


-New England Patriots loose postseason streak


Before I start to comment on last nights loss, I would like to mention some after the game comments from the press conference interview. All quotes are being taken from the blog that Mike Riess has on Boston.com. Quotes of note:


- “It’s hard to win when you give the ball away.” -Belichick, on the turnovers
- "I was I was proud of the effort all year. I thought we fought hard and I thought they fought through a lot of the adversity. We just didn’t play well enough today." -Belichick, on the game
- "It was a game of big plays. They made more than we did." - Belichick, on the Champ Bailey Pick

-"Its a very disappointed locker room. Denver made a lot of really great plays. I can't complain because I have been on the other side of those plays in years past." -Brady, on mood of team
-“It was very loud, but we have experienced that before. We had a few false starts early and we got settled down. Once we got settled down, we were able to move the ball.” -Brady, on the crowd noise

-“It’s always nice to win against a team that you know, you’re going against the best, from a coaching standpoint –- offense, defense and special teams." -Shanahan, Opening Statement

-“Our special teams were huge"..."Those guys came out with some huge plays and when you get that kind of field position against a team like that, you have to capitalize." -Rod Smith, on Special Teams play

-"After having experiences playing at Mile High and hearing that place shake, to be completely honest, I was a little upset last year [with the crowd]. I think we just changed the course of Invesco Field being a wine and cheese crowd." -John Lynch, on the crowd
-“You can fluster him every play, you can hit him every play, but he’s going to keep fighting. You better play 60 minutes against him. That’s what it took today.” -Lynch, on Brady

-“A lot of guys in this locker room fought hard. We just didn’t finish. We’re not blaming the whole game on the referees. They didn’t beat us. Denver did.” -McGinest, on the game

I think Willie McGinest's quote just says it all right there. New England just made sloppy and stupid turnovers, and Denver took advantage of it. Anytime that happens, its just very hard to win a game. Denver converted 17 points off of turnovers in this game. Most of these turnover were in the red zone, which makes it even harder for the defense to react, and try to stop the play when there is a variety of plays that can be run.

The Patriots tried to be methodical. They knew they had to control the clock and the momentum of the game, so they themselves would make plays and make things happen on the offensive, defensive, and special teams end. But they really shot themselves in the foot. While holding the Broncos to 96 yards rushing (after averaging 156 per game), and keeping Jake Plummer from really spreading the ball around (197 passing yards and a TD), you really cant complain with the defensive performance. The Pats tried to prepare for this all week.


Maybe it was a mental thing. Maybe it was the crowd. Maybe it was the fact the pats had 8 penalties for 82 yards. Maybe Tom Brady just didnt have the best stuff out there today. Maybe Corey Dillion should have had a better performance. Maybe they should have run more screen passes. Who really knows what happened. I do know this: turnovers killed the Patriots. It is uncharacteristic to give up even one or two turnovers in a game. This is something on the mind of the coaching staff for next year.

You have to take into consideration that the Patriots didnt give up all season. Tom Brady indicated in his postgame interview that they had been going in and out of practice for the past seven weeks. Thats a two month stretch where the Pats had gone 7-2. You have to hand it to Bill Bilichick and his coaching staff. In a season that you would have said, "Oh its over," with a 4-4 start. The Pats make some adjustments, wait on injuries and go on a 6-2 run. I couldnt be more pleased than that.

When Ben Watson sprinted faster than Champ Bailey down that field to come out of no where and tackle Champ Bailey, it just makes you smile. It made me think, a draft pick well spent. I mean, a big tight end sprinting down the field, faster than one of the fastest corners in the league (even though Bailey admitted at the 30 he was running out of gas), you cant complain. It shows that this team has heart. They kept turning the ball over and man they just kept on coming back, and trying to make this a one-two possesion ball game.

I think the off season will be interresting for the Patriots. It will be a transition. They have a lot of players to think about on the cap, and draft picks to assess. With the kind of talent the Patriots have, you can only wonder how the Pats will do next season. If theres one thing I know about this organization, I know that they will know how to make a postseason run for next year.

Photo: John Lynch and Tom Brady embracing in a post game hug and congradulations on a good game

Photos courtesy of the Boston Globe Sports Section