February Thoughts

By Pat O

Sometimes the best way to appreciate the moment is to remember what things were like not all that long ago.

Before the days of the "Big Three" the time in between the Super Bowl and spring training was referred to as a dead period. Boston fans were enamored with discussing trivial things like whether Pedro's grandmother has reached her ninth life or how happy (or unhappy) Manny was. It seems like a long time ago but the Celtics were an afterthought and irrelevant. Either the Patriots or Red Sox were better fodder for conversation because they had the stars and were winning. Even watching one of the best scorers in Celtics' history wasn't enough to draw many fans into watching a Saturday afternoon game between the Celtics and Sixers. Even more to the point is there wasn't much else on in terms of local sports. Fans would have rather watched college basketball or throw on a movie.

A season and a half and a championship after acquiring Kevin Garnett the Celtics are going through anything but a dead period during the hiatus between football and baseball. They are the World Champs and playing like the best team in the world right now. This is just a reminder to keep perspective when watching these Celtics. Things weren't so great back in February of 2006.

-Speaking of greatness, did anyone have any doubt Ray Allen's shot was going to hit anything but nylon the other night? The man has been spectacular all year. Having a pair of healthy ankles makes the difference I guess.
-Paul Pierce's passing is one of the most underrated components of the Celtics' success. His pass to the corner was right to Ray Allen's chest. Those who called him a selfish player all those years have to be eating crow.

The C's will be looking to avenge their Christmas day beat-down at the hands of the Lakers tonight at the Garden. First and foremost, I really hope Laker fans as well as the national media don't blame Andrew Bynum's injury on their loss tonight. The Celtics would have handled the Lakers at home anyway and I'm not exactly sympathetic to injuries after they derailed the Patriots' (Brady) and Red Sox season (Ortiz).

-Is anyone really that upset over what Michael Phelps did? Does him smoking weed make his accomplishments any less significant? If you're a parent whose children characterize him as a hero you need to seriously reevaluate the qualities you teach your kids to seek in a role model. Sure, the guy hit the bong and wasn't thinking about his actions but he apologized for breaking the law. He shouldn't have to worry about the approval of his fans regarding his integrity.

-Jason Varitek is back with the Sox for slightly less than the 3 years/$30 million I said he would return for. Oops. The Sox called Scott Boras's bluff for the second time this winter and came out on top this time. Obviously the Sox need to find a young catcher to learn from Tek but I think we can all agree that a $5 million deal was the only-case scenario for both sides. I would liken this situation to one my friend told me about from his small college (hint: it's in Easton, MA). Two of his friends were dating and both had herpes. After a while they didn't care much for each other anymore but everyone knew they were far from clean. So they kept on dating for the sole reason that they pretty much had no one else. From Varitek's perspective, no one wanted him for even $5 mil and the Red Sox place a lot more value in him compared to a guy like Greg Zaun. Each side had no other viable options; thus, they remain together.

side note: I agree wholeheartedly with Bob Mack's idea of having Varitek hit from the right side only. The splits are too drastic not to, especially a year after he struggled to make it over the Mendoza line.

-I don't think anyone believes Matt Cassel when he says he'd back up Brady. He took his lumps and bided his time. 2008 was his redemption and he's going to become a backup again? He could start for at least 10-12 teams (I took the under) in the NFL. I hope this situation is figured out by draft time but by then I doubt we'll know Brady's true progress. Should be interesting.

-Super Bowl XLIII was truly a great one in spite of the fact that I still hate the Steelers. The play of the game obviously was James Harrison staying on his feet and not giving up on that 100-yard runback before half. All I hoped for was an exciting game and the Cardinals nor the Steelers disappointed.

Michael Phelps Gets Stoned

Good for him.

Phelps Wins 8. Bore Snore

Yesterday Phelps and the rest of Americans won the 400-meter medley relay yesterday winning his 8th gold medal of these Olympics crushing Mark Spitz's record of seven. Michael was the 3rd leg of the race and was able to take the lead from those no good Aussie's. Now, no more Michael Phelps until 4 years from now.

Olympic Gripes

I don't hate the Olympics, but I hate the bullshit that surrounds and envelops the Olympics like pink hats around Jacoby Ellsbury. And I do hate China, with a passion. And I hate the IOC (International Olympic Committee).

2012 will see no more baseball at the Olympic games. Why not? I don't really know. Baseball isn't just played in the US. It's played in the entire Western Hemisphere, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Australia, and Europe. Seeing the Cuban national team is a treat every 4 years because the talent is near Major League levels. But it won't be an Olympic sport in 2012, and neither will softball.

Yet these are Olympic sports:

Race walking.



Only Europeans could come up with this. It's a race on foot, but you can't run. If you run, you're disqualified. It looks pretty hard, but it looks pretty retarded.

Ping pong.



It's not table tennis, it's fucking ping pong! They actually have DOUBLES ping pong in the Olympics! Is gold that worthless that it's given out every 4 years to 2 Asian dudes who are sick at ping pong?

And if ping pong is an Olympic sport why not...?



Or this...



Or bowling, or mini-golf, or pool, or darts, or Beirut, or flip cup, or speed reading, or seeing who can go the longest without sleeping, or Edward 40 hands, or running backwards, or staring contests???

And can ESPN, NBC, and everyone else in the universe all give Michael Phelps some rest and get off his junk? Yes, he's a phenomenal athlete and deserves all the medals, endorsements, praise, and sluts he'll get.



But this whole debating bullshit is melting my brain. "Is he the best Olympian ever?" How the fuck could anybody know that?!? It's hard enough to compare athletes from different eras in the same sport, but when you start comparing him to Jim Thorpe (decathlon/pentathlon/long jump/high jump), and Jesse Owens (sprinter/long jump); you're wasting your time. Can't we just sit back and enjoy the events without having to wonder if he's the best, 2nd best, or 3rd best ever?

And China can go straight to hell. So can the IOC. The big argument for China getting the 2008 games was "if Nazi Germany got them in 1936, why not China?" But Nazi Germany used the games as propaganda. It was a chance for Hitler to impress his country (and the world) on the biggest possible stage. So why are we allowing China to do the same thing?

The glamour and scale of the Opening Ceremony was eerily similar to the grandiose spectacles the Nazis used in their rallies, and the Soviets used in their big May-Day parades.



The fuckos who think the Olympics are some sort of peace-creating lovefest piss me off most of all. The Olympics have nothing to do with peace, and just a little bit to do with sports. They're an opportunity for governments to aggrandize themselves, to make themsevles seem amazingly powerful in the eyes of their own people. They're a monstrous platform for enormous multinational corporations to sell their products. McDonalds, Visa, Coca-Cola and 9 other companies paid $866 million just to be able to put the Olympic logo on their products and put up signs at Olympic facilities.

The Olympics aren't a peaceful time outside the host city, and even inside it. Just ask the people right now in Georgia, or the 1972 Israeli Olympic team, or the 2 people who died in Atlanta in '96. And they don't spread peace or goodwill, either. In 1968, Mexico City hosted the games, but their dictatorial government massacred hundreds of protesters that same year. And I don't need to tell you what Germany did post-1936, when Berlin was the host city.

The Olympics are sports, and some of them are fun to watch. I prefer the Winter Olympics, with the best hockey competition in the world. And I have a sick curling fetish. But most of it is bullshit. Michael Phelps is not the greatest athlete of all time. China is not a good country. McDonalds has nothing to do with athleticism.

-The Commodore

Phelps Ties Spitz

He did it, he tied Mark Spitz's 7 gold medals after beating Milorad Cavic by .01 second in the 100 meter butterfly. Serbia tried to file a grievance but the Olympics said F off. Now he goes for his record breaking 8th gold coming up.

Phelps Does It Again

Phelps is now 6 for 6 this year, tying his own personal record of 6 from Athens. All he needs to do now is win one more to tie Mark Spitz's record 7. He also broke his own record in the 200-meter individual medley setting yet another world record.

Speculation

Is it just me, or does Michael Phelps look deaf?

Whaaaaaa?

So Chad Johnson can beat Michael Phelps in swimming?

Ponder This For a Moment

The average NFL player consumes a 5000 calorie/day diet. This breaks out to about 18 calories per pound. Compared to the average American diet of 2500 calories/day, this makes plenty of sense. The NFL is arguably the most physically demanding of all the major sports and when you factor in the diet of the lineman, the only real suprise is that the gap is not larger.

How then, would you explain this -

Michael Phelps consumes upwards of 10,000 calories per day. Check this dude's daily diet:

Phelps lends a new spin to the phrase "Breakfast of Champions" by starting off his day by eating three fried-egg sandwiches loaded with cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, fried onions and mayonnaise.

He follows that up with two cups of coffee, a five-egg omelet, a bowl of grits, three slices of French toast topped with powdered sugar and three chocolate-chip pancakes.

At lunch, Phelps gobbles up a pound of enriched pasta and two large ham and cheese sandwiches slathered with mayo on white bread - capping off the meal by chugging about 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

For dinner, Phelps really loads up on the carbs - what he needs to give him plenty of energy for his five-hours-a-day, six-days-a-week regimen - with a pound of pasta and an entire pizza. He washes all that down with another 1,000 calories worth of energy drinks.

Can you even begin to imagine what an average shit for this guy looks like? He eats twice as much as Ty Warren yet he is as cut up as Floyd Mayweather. I don't get it.

Phelps Gets 2nd Gold Medal, France Sucks

France talked all this shit about how they were going to crush the Americans, but Phelps & Co had different plans, and took home the victory. Here is the best video I could find out of it.


-BMack