Tom Brady Participates in Staring Contest

Hibernation is a Mistake for the Bruins

The Patriots made the Super Bowl, then spent the off-season accumulating wide-receviers and drafted talented defensive players. The Celtics made the Eastern Conference finals and have added scoring from their bench and a pair of big men in the Draft.

What have the Bruins done after being eliminated in the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs? Re-signed their 4th liners. And that's about it.

It seems as though the B's think that since they won the Cup in 2011, they must already have a model for winning in place. Most of the current Bruins were on that Cup winning team, so it follows that the Bruins already have a Cup winning contender. They just need a few tweaks and slight improvements.

The problem with that theory is that there were two hugely significant reasons the Bruins won the Cup, and they no longer apply:

#1: The Play of Tim Thomas
Thomas was not human during the 2010-11 season. His 1.998 GAA was an NHL record (Brian Elliott had a 1.557 GAA in 2011-12, although he only played 38 games). His .938 save percentage was also a record. Then he got even better in the playoffs, with a 1.98 GAA and a .940 SV%. In the Cup Finals, he had a 1.15 GAA, allowing 8 goals in 7 games. He allowed 4 goals in the last 5 games of the Finals.

The Bruins won the Cup because they got insanely good goaltending. It's unfair and unreasonable to expect Tuukka Rask to duplicate Thomas' performance. Even Thomas couldn't duplicate them.

#2: The Bruins Had Favorable Matchups in 2011
The second reason the Bruins won the Cup in 2011 is that they faced opponents they matched up well against. They could physically dominate Montreal, Tampa Bay, and Vancouver. And they could take advantage of Philadelphia's shaky goaltending, which was so poor that the Flyers signed Ilya Bryzgalov to a 9 year deal the next season.

The B's were able to push the Canadiens, Lightning, and Canucks around. Furthermore, the Lightning and Canucks got most of their production from the top line and from their Power Play. Chara, Seidenberg, and the Bergeron line were able to limit Stamkos and then the Sedins.

In 2011, the Bruins took advantage of a great opportunity. They had the best goaltending in the League, and were facing teams that they could physically dominate.

Such opportunities are rare. Obviously Thomas is no longer with the team, and as good as Rask is, he hasn't shown the potential to be as insanely good as Thomas was in 2011. And what are the odds of encountering three teams that can be shoved into submission and a fourth that has Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher splitting time in net?

So in order for the Bruins' model to work, they need Rask to play nearly perfectly in net, and to play teams that cannot physically withstand them. The Bruins will be sunk if Rask plays like a human and/or the Bruins play teams like the Rangers, Flyers, Penguins, Devils, or Capitals in the playoffs.

So I don't like how inactive the Bruins have been. They seem to think that they have the winning formula and are a few small pieces away from winning the Cup again. But their winning was based on Tim Thomas playing brilliantly, and on all the stars aligning to give them an opportunity to win the Cup.

Rask is not Thomas in 2011. Thomas in 2012 wasn't even Thomas in 2011.

This team needs better top-line forwards. Lucic is a bruiser that seems to skate at 80% speed 80% of the time, has limited skills, and is horrible on defense. Krejci is a "play-making distributor" which means he can't shoot.

I don't know if Rick Nash is the solution. I do know that the Bruins are more than a few minor adjustments away from being Cup contenders. They need more than a "puck-moving defenseman," to improve their Power Play. They need talented forwards. Forwards who are multi-dimensional. Forwards who can score.

The Bruins seem to be operating under faulty logic. The biggest reasons they won the Cup are taking a year off in Colorado (Thomas), are retired (Mark Recchi), or are beyond their control (their matchups with non-physical opponents).

Most of these current Bruins players may have won in 2011, but they also lost in the opening round in 2012. Some more work can be done to improve them.

National League 8, American League 0

I didn't watch much of this game. I'm a Red Sox fan. I watch plenty of meaningless baseball that's not being taken completely seriously by the players.

David Ortiz was 1 for 2 with a single. And that was the AL's problem. All 6 of their hits were singles.

Verlander was taken advantage of for 5 runs in the 1st. And the game was over after that. If you continued to watch, I'm sorry that you haven't yet found anything more interesting in your life to do.

Although to be fair, the MLB All-Star Game is the best among the 4 major sports. The NHL All-Star Game and NFL Pro Bowl lack the physicality that are the foundations of those two sports. And the NBA All-Star Game doesn't feature defense until the 4th quarter.

Maybe it's something about the game of baseball, that allows it to be played lackadaisically, yet still be played in a normal way. It doesn't require 100% effort to be played. Just ask the 2011 Red Sox.

So the NL will have homefield advantage in the World Series. And that probably doesn't mean much for Sox fans.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Possible All-Star Break Alternatives

I think it's a bit ridiculous how in depth ESPN covered and analyzed the trivial filler-material known as the Homerun Derby. Then again, what else should they talk about? There are no other sports to discuss this week.

I think it's time for the other sports to step up and schedule something for the All-Star Break. The sports fans in this country are eager to be entertained. Give them some options.

Maybe something as simple as making the All-Star Break the first day of free agent movement for the NBA and NHL. At least then there'd be something to talk about apart from batting practice dingers.

Or maybe the NBA and NHL can allow teams to scrimmage each other during this one week.

Better yet, call this week "Pick-Up Game Week." Allow the players to form their own teams and play a game or two in some small gyms and rinks around the US and Canada. Do it for charity. People would love to see unique combinations of players. And as mentioned, there is nothing else on.

The sports fan deserves an option this week. Give us some big free agent signings, or some scrimmages between hastily assembled teams. Let's see KG and Paul Pierce build separate teams and play each other in Boston. Let's see a team of French Canadian hockey players play an Ontarian team in Ottawa. How about an all-star team of European basketball barnstorms across the country?

The Homerun Derby is for morons. Big men hold a club, are thrown easily hit balls that are wound much tighter than regulation balls, and they hit them 450 feet while Chris Berman flirts with a heart attack. It's impressive for a few moments, then repetitive and tedious.

The other sports should take advantage of the opportunity and give us some mid-season entertainment. The players would like it. The media would like it. The broadcasters would like it. The fans would love it.

Entertain us, please.

Ray Allen's Mid-Life Crisis

As a person who wants to see the Celtics win, Ray Allen leaving doesn't bug me much. He'd become a bench player. And didn't seem suited to being that. In the playoffs, he was less selective with his shots, willing to attempt riskier ones than normal. Almost as if he were hungry to take as many shots as he could in the reduced minutes he was on the floor.

His defense was also suffering, mostly due to injury. He now has two new first-names: "When Healthy." Every-time he's discussed now, it's "When healthy, Ray Allen..." And that's never a good sign. It means a player has chronic injury issues. And as a 36 year old with over 1,100 games under his belt, injury issues are part of the game, not just bad luck. They also rarely go away once they start appearing.

He's old, he's slow, he can't train as rigorously as he used to. Which means his shooting will likely worsen. He still had value as a role-player and a situational shooter. But he didn't want to be relegated to secondary status.

So he took less money to play for a good team that has made him believe that he'll do more.

The Celtics got slightly worse, the Heat got slightly better. It's not a major loss for me as someone who wants to see the Celtics win. Especially since overall this off-season, the Celtics have improved.

However, as a fan, with emotional attachments to the team and the game, I hate this Decision of his.

He didn't want to try to earn a spot up here. He didn't want to fight, didn't want to endure the embarrassment of being a bench player. He wanted his ego to be boosted by someone else, not by his own performance.

He's in a mid-life crisis. The Celtics are a sensible Volvo. He wanted a flashy red Porsche (Miami). He wants an instant confidence boost. He doesn't want to acknowledge, accept, and adjust to his aging. He didn't want to earn what he wants. He wanted it given to him because he feels like he deserves it.

Good luck to him. He helped the Celtics win a title in 2008, and that should never be forgotten. For the record, I hate this decision of his, I don't hate him or even dislike him. He's on the Heat, so I wouldn't mind seeing him fail. But he should be welcomed with very loud applause when the Heat play in Boston.

I'm sure Celtics fans will do that. They're one of the more knowledgeable and thoughtful fanbases in the NBA and in this town.

And if Ray Allen does get a standing ovation, it will also show him what he gave up in Boston to get his tires pumped in South Beach.

Broken Red Sox Welcome All-Star Break

The Red Sox are 3-8 in their last 11 games. They were 7-2 in their previous 9. That's 10-10. They're a .500 team capable of brilliance one week, then shameful performances the next. Every part of the team is talented but unreliable. It balances out over a long run. And the result is a 43-43 team.

Actually, they're a 32-23 team when their best pitchers are on the mound, and an 11-20 team when they're two worst starters pitch. Those two worst starters are Josh Beckett and Jon Lester. The Sox are a .582 team when anyone else starts. They're a .355 team when either of these guys pitches.

The Sox haven't won a Josh Beckett start since May 26th.

This isn't an aberration caused by bad luck or poor run support. These two pitchers are simply not pitching well. They're pitching poorly, and not just for two guys who were expected to pitch well. Beckett's ERA is 4.43. Lester's is 4.49. The ERA for the entire American League is 4.04. So both of these guys have ERAs that are about 0.40 higher than the League average. That's bad.

This weekend, Beckett and Lester failed. I heard some analysts applauding Beckett for settling down and going 5 innings on Friday, but he lost the game in the 1st inning. And then last night, Lester couldn't even go 5 innings. These two pitchers don't put the team in position to win very often.

There's no denying their talent, but there's also no denying their failure.

And that's the story of the Red Sox as a whole. You can point to injuries, and count down the days until Jacoby Ellsbury returns. But the two best pitchers on the team have ERAs that are about 10% higher than the AL average. How are you supposed to win when your most talented players are playing worse than the League's average talent?

Not to mention you have a middle-reliever who is obsessed with Mark Teixeira. Your best hitter is concerned about his contract. And your bullpen is a patched together mess that's one loose thread away from disintegrating.

During the All-Star Break, the Red Sox will be playing the most consistent baseball they've played all season long.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo

Is David Ortiz a Hall of Famer?

No. He's not.

Sorry, Boston, but the beloved Big Papi should not be enshrined in Cooperstown. And there are three reasons why.

Reason #1:
He's a Designated Hitter. Of the 1,823 games of baseball he's played, he's only played 257 in the field. There are no current Hall of Famers who were primarily DHs. Edgar Martinez might be inducted one day. But he played more twice as many games in the field as Ortiz has (592). So far, Martinez has only managed to receive 36.5% in Hall of Fame voting. Induction to the Hall requires 75%.

David Ortiz has much more impressive numbers than Edgar Martinez, but he's still a DH. By itself, that's not enough to keep him out of Cooperstown. But it doesn't help his cause. The DH is viewed (perhaps rightly so) as an incomplete, one dimensional player. It's for big fat sluggers who have no other skills but hitting.

Reason #2:
400 Homeruns simply isn't as astonishing anymore. Neither is the 500 HR mark. There's a very good chance that Ortiz will finish his career with more than 500 homeruns. That's not an automatic ticket to the Hall anymore.

Ortiz has played his career in the most slugger-friendly era in the game's history. The ball was wound tightly, ballparks were built smaller, expansion spread pitching talent thinly, scouting videos allowed batters to see pitchers before ever facing them.

Which is more impressive: Griffey's 630 homeruns, or Mantle's 536? Frank Thomas' 521, or Carl Yastrzemski's 452?

Accumulating massive amounts of homeruns is not as impressive as it used to be. And the fact that the DH allows players to extend their careers as slow, unathletic, hulking sluggers doesn't help Ortiz's case, even if he finishes with 550+ homeruns.

And even before the Sluggers' Era, 400 homeruns was not a guarantee to the Hall. Dave Kingman hit 442 in the '70s and '80s. He's not in the Hall. Darrel Evans hit 414 during the same period, and is also not in Cooperstown. Both these guys played a defensive position as well.

Dale Murphy hit 398 homeruns. He also won the MVP twice and 5 Gold Gloves. He's not in the Hall. Joe Carter hit 396. Graig Nettles hit 390. 400 homeruns has never been a key to the Hall, and it's even less of one these days.

Reason #3:
Perhaps the biggest reason Ortiz isn't a Hall of Famer is that he has a PED history. A PEDigree, if you will. He tested positive in 2003, when the MLB anonymously tested players in order to gauge how prevalent PEDs were in the game. In 2009, it was learned that his name was on a secret list of positive tests.

Ortiz blamed an ignorance of over-the-counter supplements for the positive test. He did so after he had time to consult with the MLBPA and confirm that what he tested positive for was never going to be known.

The Big Papi loving Boston sports media refused to dig any deeper or ask any hard questions. We all forgave Ortiz and he never apologized or satisfactorily explained what he took, when he took it, and why.

Statistically, his numbers suggest a major mid-career improvement, particularly in the power department.

He went from a solid 20 homerun hitter with a .500 slugging percentage in 2002, to a menacing 31 homerun hitter with a .592 slugging percentage in 2003. That's the year he tested positive for PEDs, and that's the year he became good friends with Manny Ramirez.

He continued to improve. 41 homeruns, 47, then 54. He tripled his annual homerun output from 18 in 2001 to 54 in 2006. As his HR numbers increased, his slugging percentage didn't change much because he was hitting fewer doubles in 2005 and 2006. In 2004, he hit 47 doubles, then 40 in 2005, then 29 in 2006. He was hitting just as many balls hard (between 85 to 91 extra-base hits per season from 2004 to 2006), they were simply travelling farther. Doubles were becoming homeruns. Because he was stronger.

PEDs can't make a regular person into a great ballplayer. But they can turn a solid hitter into an All-Star. They can turn doubles into homeruns.

58 of his 400 homeruns came before he arrived in Boston, and before his positive test. 342 came after that test.

142 of his 400 homeruns came in a three year burst from 2004 to 2006. He then slowed down, and has hit 169 homeruns in 5.5 seasons.

How much did PEDs impact those numbers? There's no way to know. He never revealed what he took, or how long he took it. He claims he doesn't know. So how can we know?

All we can really know is what we see on the field. I see a DH who has reached a milestone that isn't very amazing anymore and who has a positive PED test in his history that correlates with his improvement as a player. Because of that, I don't see a Hall of Famer.

Hey David Ortiz, Shut Up

Before I commence ranting, I think the Red Sox should give David Ortiz a contract extension. He's on pace for 40 homeruns, he's leading the team in every category, he's worth the money.

But I also think he needs to shut the fuck up. I am tired of his rants about respect. Those are words that agents use to justify a player's greed. And now he's claiming that he feels "humiliated" to not have a contract extension already.

He's getting paid over $14 million to play baseball. Wait, excuse me. He doesn't play the field so he's getting paid $14 million to hit. And he's bitching about respect? Fuck off, Papi.

And the Red Sox have announced they won't give you an extension mid-season. I don't agree with that decision, but it's been made, deal with it.

There are a lot of people in this country out of work, or working part-time jobs and struggling to pay their bills. And Ortiz is whining about respect because he's not sure how many millions of dollars he'll make next year. He's just another out of touch fantasy-world athlete.

Then there's the hardships of his team. The Red Sox are struggling (and failing) to rise more than a few games above .500. And he's worried about himself. They get swept by the lowly A's, and he's talking about his contract and how it makes him feel. There is no "I" in team but there are two in "David Ortiz."

This team is 42-40, on pace for an 84-78 season. He's doing his job on the field, but off of it he doesn't seem to care about the team. He's more frustrated with not having an extension for 2013 than the Red Sox going 2-5 on a roadtrip against crappy teams.

Is he a team player? We applauded him for that team meeting he held a while ago. But was that meeting about the team or about his own ego? In that meeting, we know he pitted the hitters against the starting pitchers. Does that sound very team-building? Dividing everyone into opposing groups?

Would he have done the same thing if the hitters were the guys not pulling their weight? They aren't right now, and Mr. Team Meeting hasn't done anything about that.

I've been thoroughly annoyed with the martyr complex Ortiz has demonstrated the last two seasons. He gets 35,000 people cheering him on every night and then claims he isn't respected? And look at the shitty car he had to drive back in 2007...

That poor, humiliated, embarrassed, bastard. That's a Mercedes Benz SL65 AMG. It has a V12 engine that produces 604 horsepower. If he doesn't get that extension for 2014, how will he be able to afford another $100k+ car so he can keep cars like this one from racking up too much mileage.

Poor David Ortiz. Poor deprived, disrespected, under-appreciated, underpaid, David Ortiz. Now I can understand why he's crying so much. Life is so hard for him.

I feel bad for David Ortiz. I really do. It must be hard to see a baseball through all these crocodile tears.

He's just like every other greedy, selfish, obnoxious, disconnected ballplayer on this team.