901 Wins for Jerry York

Boston is a pro sports town. We do have Boston College, who typically field competitive football and basketball teams, but never attain any national glory. But BC also has one of the best hockey coaches in history: Jerry York. On Friday night Jerry York's BC Eagles defeated Merrimack College 4-2, giving York 900 wins as a head coach. BC beat Merrimack again Saturday night for win #901.

York was born in Watertown. He attended BC from 1963 to 1967, playing center on the hockey team. By 1972, he was the head coach at Clarkson in the North Country of New York state. York then coached at Bowling Green in Ohio, winning an NCAA Championship in 1984. In 1994 he returned to BC and revitalized the program. He's won 3 NCAA titles with BC, 5 regular season Hockey East titles, 8 Hockey East tournament titles, and 6 Beanpots.

He's 66 years old, he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, and his Eagles are currently ranked #2 in the country, looking to add more hardware to York's already stuffed trophy case.

He's 23 wins short of being the winningest coach of all time. Ron Mason retired with 924 wins. Jerry York actually replaced Ron Mason at Bowling Green.

BU's Jack Parker has 868 wins as a coach. Here in Boston we have two of the best hockey coaches ever.

On Sunday, BC basketball hosted Duke. York was in attendance, and met with Duke's Coach K. I'm not a Duke fan, but I think this is a pretty cool picture of two coaching legends, each with 4 NCAA titles, each with 900+ wins

Athletics Sign Manny Ramirez

The Oakland Athletics have signed career controversy maker Manny Ramirez to a 1 year deal worth $500,000. The steroid assisted slugger will have to sit out 50 games before he can play, but I think this is a good signing for all parties involved. The Athletics risk almost nothing to acquire a player with 555 homeruns under his belt. He'll be able to play for over 100 games and if he doesn't work out, then little is lost. And for Manny, he gets an opportunity to earn a larger contract in 2013.

The Athletics' 51st game will be May 30th in Minnesota. The A's host the Red Sox for 3 games starting July 2nd. Sadly, the Athletics will make their only trip to Fenway Park well before Manny's suspension.

Hopefully one of those games gets rained out and a makeup game can be played in August or something.

Racial Linsensitivity

The English language is a fun and funny thing. There are so many words and phrases that have multiple meanings. Homonyms, homophones, double entendre, et cetera. But ESPN crossed the line with their racist headline.

People should be fired. If it's an "honest mistake," then the writer of the headline has demonstrated a fundamental failure to grasp the English language. If you don't know that this word is a racial slur for Asians, then you shouldn't be in the writing profession.

The word "chink" is only used for two reasons. The first is as part of the expression "chink in the armor," which is rarely used. The second, and much more prominent usage of the word is as a derogatory slur. This cannot be excused as an accident or a mistake. This was intentional.

This person at ESPN gets paid for their proficiency with words. They get paid to fill the site with words. And if they don't know this basic racial slur then they must not be very proficient with words. In which case, they shouldn't be in the Word Business.

The alternative is that the writer did know what they were saying. Which is worse. Someone who knows that what they were writing had serious racial overtones. Did they think it was clever? Did they think it was cute to use such a vile term?

The writer should be fired for either their failure to grasp basic English, or their willingness to use racial slurs. Moreover, the editors should also get the boot for allowing such a headline to appear on the site. And even the lowly web designers who write the codes for the site should be scrutinized. How come nobody at ESPN said "hold on a minute?"

I had intended to write a post about people overreacting to MSG's fortune cookie graphic and how it wasn't racist because fortune cookies are something that's positively associated with Asian-Americans. Sort of like spaghetti being associated with Italian-Americans. I don't think it's racist for Asian-American food to be associated with an Asian-American basketball player.

That graphic was a relatively innocent thing. Utterly innocuous. But ESPN's headline is not innocent. At the very best, it's an example of extreme ignorance of the English language, which is inexcusable for a professional writer. And more likely, it's some jerk who thought they were being clever as they incorporated a racial slur into their headline. In either case, it's wrong, and people need to be fired over it.

Jeremy Lin's Biggest Fans

The people who love Jeremy Lin most aren't Knick fans, or Harvard alumni, or Asian-Americans, or people who hate Floyd Mayweather. It's people who love puns and plays on words. These fans of lingual (see what I did there) goofiness are gleefully swimming in the sea of possibilities that Jeremy Lin's name provides them.

There's Linfinite possibilities to Lincorporate Lin's name in a play on words. It's just so easy to Lintegrate his name. The term "Linsanity" is now Lingrained in our collective language. And this Lincredible story has Lingratiated itself into the hearts and minds of sports fans from coast to coast.

I really don't know what Linitiated my desire to write this post. But if you really like it, you can Link to it.

Anyway, I think pretty soon I'll get tired of the Lincessant plays on his name. It's becoming ReLintless. Just like every internet meme out there, you laugh your ass off and can't get enough for 48 hours then you cringe every time you see/hear it. So Linjoy it while it lasts.

Thomas Stands Tall in Montreal

I was a little puzzled by Claude Julien's decision to start Thomas in back-to-back games. But he was 6-2 in his previous 8 starts before last night. Meanwhile, Rask had lost 4 straight, including that 6-0 Buffalo debacle. Thomas also had a 1.26 GAA against the Canadiens and a .964 SV% this season. So that's probably why he started.

It was how he finished that was most impressive. He's undefeated in shootouts this year, and he was stellar in last night's.

The Canadiens are a team in disarray. 6 points behind Toronto for the last playoff spot, with 3 teams to leapfrog over. They don't have a team identity, they don't seem to have any sense of direction. Are they a finesse power play focused team, or are they defensive and opportunistic? It's a little of both, but not enough of either.

The B's took advantage of Montreal's attempt to copy the Rangers by giving up the points on defense. The Habs collapsed and allowed the Bruins' defensemen plenty of time and space to shoot. Eventually Ference took advantage and scored.

The Bruins got careless and lackadaisical at times. That's how Montreal scored their shorthanded goal.

The 3rd period was especially unfortunate for the B's. They tried to play a prevent defense and run out the clock, and there's just no such thing in hockey. Montreal took advantage. The most painful play was Chara's giveaway a few feet from Thomas.

Chara looked out of sorts all night after taking a puck to the chin. And how about those high and mighty Montreal fans applauding his injury? These are the same rabid jerks that complain about hockey not being played the right way. Stay classy, les scum.

The Bruins dominated overtime, though. Seguin froze Carey Price in the shootout, and Tim Thomas did the rest.

This team is having it's good stretches and bad stretches. They haven't strung together 60 minutes of good hockey for a long, long time. But the capability is there.

Hopefully Thomas can re-find his groove. And Marchand is a few posts and crossbars away from scoring a few goals lately.

The Bruins are in Winnipeg Friday night.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Jeremy Lin-gers on in New York

I've been talking about Jeremy Lin since he was in college. I was privileged to see him dismantle Boston College twice. What amazed me was hos quick he was with his movements, and how tight his dribble was. He's a smart player, but the athleticism is there. He might not be able to sprint up and down the court with the NBA's fastest players, but in short bursts, he might be the quickest draw in the Association.

A few haters have been saying that Lin is only front-page news because he's Asian-American. But I think his play has spoken louder than the haters' words. You have an undrafted Harvard alum (Harvard, like all Ivy League schools, doesn't offer athletic scholarships) leading the New York Knicks to victory when their so-called stars are out. This story is a story no matter what the ancestry of the main character is. I think this story occurring in New York is a bigger reason for this story's prominence then Lin's race.

Yes, he is Asian-American. But more importantly, he's a really good basketball player.

I've always liked Lin. He plays the game smart, he plays the game fast. He decides what to do, then does it before the defense realizes he'll do it. He is lightning fast. He's just fun to watch. It's a rare combination of fundamental soundness and awareness with sheer athleticism.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Bruins Out of Range

Do the Rangers look familiar to you? They remind me of the Bruins. Excellent goaltending, a stalwart and systematic defense, and offense from multiple lines. This is the blueprint that Julien and the Bruins took to the Cup last year, and the Rangers are remarkable similar.

When two similar teams face each other, the difference between winning and losing comes down to a few plays. For instance, on the Rangers' second goal, Brad Marchand just passed the puck out of his zone into space. He didn't pass to a teammate. And the quick-striking Rangers reclaimed the puck, and soon put it past Thomas.

To be blunt, if the Bruins meet the Rangers in a playoff series, I'd have to favor the Rangers. It'd be close. It'd be a 7 game series. With a few going to overtime. But right now the Rangers are executing the Bruins' gameplan better than the Bruins are.

The Bruins set out on a 6 game road-trip. And this is a good time for them to return to their core strengths and string together a few wins. They haven't won consecutive games in over a month.

They're in Montreal tonight.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

BC Wins 3rd Straight Beanpot

This is the start of "Trophy Season." The Hockey East tournament starts in just under a month. The NCAA tourney follows shortly thereafter. This is the beginning of the important part of the season. It's when games are must-win. And for the 3rd year in a row and the 17th time ever, BC won the Beanpot. With 6.4 seconds left in the first OT period.

It was a classic game. Six of the last 9 Beanpot finals have gone into OT. And these two teams are likely to meet again in the Hockey East tourney, and could very well go deep in the NCAA tournament. Fun fact: the 9 times a team from Boston has won the NCAA Championship, they won the Beanpot just a few weeks earlier.

BC has finally figured out their goaltending situation. Parker Milner has won 6 straight starts, and allowed only 10 goals in that stretch. BC isn't as explosive as they've been in years past, buy last night we saw their sound defensive play. They make good decisions with the puck and have an excellent Penalty Killing unit. And when their Power Play shows up, they're very tough to beat.

BU, for their part, also looked good. Millan is an excellent, experienced goalie. BU can play physical. They just need to stay out of the penalty box.

Photo Credit:
Jim Davis/Boston Globe