BC Wastes Opportunity to Upset Duke

Duke had been forced to fly into Boston that morning. They were without Ryan Kelly, who averages 13.4 points per game and is a 52% three-point shooter this season. BC would be pumped to play their biggest game of the year. Duke would be playing yet another inferior opponent, the last place team in the ACC. There were all the ingredients for a possible upset.

Duke did their part for the Cinderella story. They turned the ball over (13 turnovers, and BC had 11 steals), committed stupid fouls, made mistakes on defense.

BC, however, were the ones that didn't fulfill their end of the bargain. Duke was begging to be beat, and the Eagles didn't take advantage. They had a 2 point lead and the ball with 1:27 left. They were tied 61-61 with 30 seconds left, when a visibly nervous Joe Rahon lofted a three-point attempt that bounced off the top of the backboard. They were down 62-61 with 7 seconds left when their best player, Olivier Hanlan, missed a jumpshot.

A win against Duke would have salvaged BC's season. It would have given a team of underclassmen massive amounts of confidence in the future. They would remember beating the #4 team in the country, and would feel capable of beating anyone.

A win against Duke and BC would have received top-billing nationally and locally. It would have attracted more students and alumni to basketball games. It would have been a recruiting tool. It would have given job security to head coach Steve Donahue. It would have been a memorable moment for a program that's been forgettable for years.

As I've come to expect from BC Athletics (excluding hockey), BC choked. Opportunity presented itself, and BC bungled the gift. Fate spread her legs for BC, and the Eagles prematurely ejaculated. They have the talent, they have the opportunities, they just don't have The Clutch: that intangible quality that allows a player to perform at his best at the most important moment of his life.

It's too bad.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Mary Schwalm

Jon Lester Kicks Off Red Sox Whining Season

What was your date in the Red Sox Whining Pool? Which player did you pick to be the first to complain about something this season? If you had February 9th and Jon Lester, you win the jackpot.

"What next level is there? That's the thing that frustrates me. People don't consider me an ace or don't consider me a front-line starter. Well, when there are two other pitchers in all of baseball who (won at least 15 games four straight seasons), what am I? That's my argument to it. What extra level is there to it? Am I supposed to win 25 games every year? It's not possible."

That's Jon Lester in a Rob Bradford column from Saturday.

Even with the departure of Josh Beckett and Bobby Valentine, there is still so much to not like about this team's attitude. Lester is complaining about how he's perceived and the lofty expectations people have of him.

Guess what, Jon, this year you're not expected to win 25 games. We expect you to win more games than you lose, win more than 10 games, have an ERA below 4.00, a WHIP below 1.300, allow 20 HRs or less, and allow less than 100 earned runs. These are things you failed to do last year, but used to do every year. I don't think these goals are asking too much.

Last year, perhaps your preseason griping was legitimate. You were a solid, consistent #2 pitcher, and some expected you to be more than that. Maybe that was unfair, maybe it was just optimism. Nobody disliked you for being a perennial 15 win, 3.40 ERA pitcher. Nobody booed you, criticized you, or felt like you weren't trying 100%. They were hopeful to see more because they liked you and thought you could do it.

This year, oming off a 9-14 and 4.82 ERA season, is not the time to moan about people expecting too much from you.

Aces don't whine, Jon. Aces don't recite their stats to prove they're Aces. They don't keep track of how many other pitchers had four straight 15+ win seasons and then brag about it (especially after a 9 win season). They just pitch.

And that's all I want you to do. Stop pumping your own tires, shut up, and pitch to your capability.

Why the Bruins Shouldn't Play Tonight

As much as I'd like to spend my post-shoveling Saturday evening with a Sam Adams and a Bruins game on TV, I do not think the Bruins should play their game tonight (there are days when they, the Lightning, and The Garden are all available to make this up). And here's why...

The City of Boston needs all the Police, Fire Fighters, and Paramedics it has out on the streets, not doing a detail at a hockey game. With the poor road conditions, response times are much lower than usual, which means it's vital that more First Responders are deployed in neighborhoods. There's also going to be a rash of heart-attacks as people shovel, and the possibility of criminals taking advantage of the situation to loot. Diverting any City resources to a hockey game that doesn't have to be played is silly.

There's still a travel ban. And the T isn't running. So how would fans get there? You'd be playing in front of a mostly empty house. The only people there would be those who live near the Garden, along with a collection of drunken fools who would only be rambunctious and cause trouble during the game.

It's unfair to ask arena employees to get to the Garden in this crap. And it's unsafe to run an even without sufficient security staff. As well as the afore-mentioned Police.

An alternative would be to play the game but not open the Garden to the public. Then you would't need Police and EMS details. You would't need ticket-takers and ushers. Just a skeleton crew of access point security, media, and personnel from the two teams.

Tim Thomas's Contract Sent to Long Island

The Bruins have traded Tim Thomas to the Islanders. So instead of not playing in Boston, Tim Thomas will not be playing in Uniondale. The Bruins received a conditional 2nd round pick in either 2014 or 2015. What pick the Bruins get will depend on if Thomas plays for the Islanders this season.

So the Bruins no longer have to bear Tim Thomas's $5 million cap hit. And the Islanders were able to reach the minimum salary cap number without paying a player. That's a nice little loophole the Islanders found.

And maybe finally, Bruins fans can stop being melodramatic about what Thomas did, since he no longer has an impact on the salary cap. The word from Thomas's agent is that things are still "status quo" for the now former Bruins goalie. At the moment, he seems just as uninterested in playing for the Islanders as he was to play for the Bruins.

The Bruins no longer have to carry the burden of his cap hit. So it's time to get over it, people.

And if you want to accuse Thomas of being selfish, and not putting his team first, the Bruins were very honest with him that they were looking to move him to another team. So is Thomas disloyal to Boston and the Bruins because he didn't want to stick around and be traded away from Boston and the Bruins? He should have been loyal to the team that didn't want him?

Of all the selfish things athletes sometimes do, deciding to take a year off, and forfeit $3 million in salary to do it, does not seem to be high on the scale. I have yet to hear or read a coherent argument that what Thomas did is especially selfish and deserves as much crap as some Bruins fans enjoy heaping onto him.

The level of criticism he's been the subject of has greatly outweighed what he did.

And if you think Thomas wasn't a good teammate, remember this?

And for the surly and sour people out there who still dislike Thomas, please don't wear any Bruins Stanley Cup hats or t-shirts. You wouldn't have those without Thomas.

How Do You Say "Tuukka" in French?

The Bruins continue to roll, improving to 7-1-1 on the season. This is a really strange feeling because of the Lockout. It's February 7th and we've only seen the Bruins lose 1 game in regulation. That's just weird.

Tuukka Rask has been the biggest reason. He only faced 21 shots last night, but some of them were very tough to stop. He's been outstanding this year. His style looks completely different from the 2009-10 season, when he'd collapse into the net. He's challenging shooters now, cutting down the angle, making himself as big as possible. And he can read the game very well, especially for a 25 year old.

The offense hasn't been overflowing. The power play is still painfully inept.

Tyler Seguin has a scorer's instincts, though. He improves any line he is on. I liked how Claude Julien shuffled up the lines, putting Seguin with Krejci and Lucic. Those line shuffles helped win the game.

It seems like we're much deeper into the season than we actually are. There are 39 games left to play. Under normal circumstances I might try to restrain myself from being too positive.

Fuck that, though. We waited months for hockey and now our team is on top of the Eastern Conference. This is fun and I'm going to enjoy it.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Ryan Remiorz

Please Like/Follow Boston Urban Sports... Pretty Please

Hello,
My name is Rob and I run Boston Blood Sox. I'm also the Sports Editor of a nonprofit community newspaper called Boston Urban News. Recently I've started a site dedicated to the Sports section of this paper. I call it Boston Urban Sports. We focus on sports played by people from the city of Boston, mainly high school sports in the Boston City League. We'll also be covering youth and adult sports in the City.

Right now we're in the heart of basketball season and there are two Boston Public Schools in the state rankings for boys' basketball (Brighton is #11 and New Mission is #14), and many more girls' and boys' teams that will be eligible for State Tournaments. These are kids that take 2 hour bus rides, practice late, maintain their grades, and love the game. We'll be covering the City Championships and then their runs through State Tournaments.

Along with the site, I've started a Twitter feed and a Facebook page. The Facebook page has much more extensive photo galleries of the events/stories/people we cover.

As I try to get this new site started, it would mean a great deal to me to build up a following. So please follow the Twitter feed, and like the Facebook page, and feel very free to share them.

Thanks,
Rob

Remembering Why We Hate the Montreal Canadiens

The Bruins, after a lengthy break that felt like a mini-Lockout, are back in action tonight, playing the hated Habs in Montreal's Bell Centre. It's been a long time since these two rivals met, so I thought we could all remind ourselves why we hate the Montreal Canadiens.

#1 Their Fans
It's hard to find a whinier, more entitled fanbase in the Western Hemisphere. They called the police after Zdeno Chara checked Max Pacioretty. They moan when one of their players dives and a penalty isn't called. Their biggest criticism of former head coach Randy Cunneyworth was that he couldn't speak French, not that the team was 18-23-9 during his tenure. The Quebec Culture Minister got involved in that situation, and groups called for a boycott of Molson products until a French-speaking replacement was hired. Remember, the players can all speak English, Cunneyworth just couldn't do press conferences en Français.

Oh, and they sometimes boo The Star Spangled Banner.

#2 How They Play the Game
They play a different type of hockey in Montreal. It's more like European soccer. Players collapse at the slightest touch, hoping to draw a penalty. It's disgusting.

Now all teams have a player who has occasionally embellished a trip or a slash in order to get a Power Play for his team. What's different in Montreal is how blatantly they go about it.

Diving is a part of the hockey culture in Montreal. And while they're criticized for it, the NHL rarely does anything about it.

#3 P.K. Subban
He's a talented player. But there's so much not to like about this guy. He's one of the worst and most obvious floppers on the team. You see him play the game with such strength, then he acts like he's being helplessly thrown around.

This next play sums up Subban nicely. He goes from tough guy to turtle in 0.3 seconds.

There aren't many players on this team that are worthy of respect. They're not all diving diva douches like Subban. And Milan Lucic's old pal Michael Komisarek has moved on to Toronto. But looking at their roster and the only players I have any measurable respect for are Brian Gionta and Carey Price.

I hate the players, the coach, the team, the fans, the city, the Province.

I can't wait for tonight.

The Ravens Win

I found myself confused at the end of this game. Initially, I wanted the 49ers won win, because I didn't want Ray Lewis or Joe Flacco to achieve any further glory. But then, as the 49ers played the first half from a Foxhole, I lost all respect for them. So I was forced to choose between a team I didn't like, and a team I didn't respect.

The Ravens won, and they deserved it. It's remarkable how one brother could be so much more aggressive than the other. Sigmund Freud would have a field day.

One thing the Ravens had on offense that the Patriots didn't was a strong receiver. Rob Gronkowski was out. And the Patriots' WR corps was small and not as physical as Baltimore's DBs. Meanwhile, Baltimore's receivers outmatched the Patriots' safeties.

Imagine what would happen if Anquan Boldin were on the Patriots roster. How much would Brady rely on him? How many receptions, how many TDs would he haul in? The Patriots could really use a large WR that can win battles in difficult situations.

Baltimore deserved this. As much as we can mock Ray Lewis for consuming deer antler velvet like some drunken and lonely Mainer, just about everyone in the NFL is on PEDs. So let he who supports a team without sin cast the first stone.

The Ravens played a game of football. The 49ers tried to play the Super Bowl. And in doing so they failed. The 49ers were conservative, tight, nervous, locked-up, not aggressive. They dug their foxholes from kickoff to the final whistle. And that's why they lost. The Ravens played football, and played it well.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Marcio Sanchez