Did Red Bull Get Too Cute at Shanghai?

Did Red Bull concede qualifying, or were they conceited?

Three weeks of intense media attention after the Multi 21 controversy, three weeks of introspection, three weeks of putting pressure on themselves, three weeks of figuring out how to fix something that wasn't broken. Is that why Red Bull decided to (try to) outsmart the entire field in qualifying? Is that why they rolled the dice and attempt to win the Chinese Grand Prix before the race even started?

Red Bull were clearly pushing themselves this weekend, perhaps too far. First it was insufficient fuel in Mark Webber's car, forcing him to withdraw from Q2, and eventually be forced to start the race from the pits. Then in Q3, Red Bull didn't let Sebastian Vettel go for pole. Instead they slapped a set of medium tires on the RB9 chassis and patted themselves on the back for their brilliance.

It didn't work in the race. As pit stops cycled, Vettel occasionally found himself at the front of the field. But the race was never his to win. He was always chasing. Tasked with conserving tires and running most of his laps against opponents with fresher rubber. And I don't know why Red Bull decided to rely solely on strategy to win this race.

The RB9 chassis is at its best when it's in free air. And Sebastian Vettel is at his best when he is pushing the car to the limit. So why did Red Bull bury their car in the pack, and why did they restrain the natural (occasionally out of control) initiative of their driver?

It doesn't make sense. You've won 3 straight constructors and drivers championships. You don't need strategy to win. Especially not such a unique, all-or-nothing tactic. You can race straight up.

When Red Bull errs, it's glaring. Because it doesn't happen often. It's like when Bill Belichick makes a coaching mistake, or Tiger Woods has a triple bogey. Any issues at Red Bull become a major story. What's frightening is that even with this incorrect strategy, Vettel still managed to finish 4th, within a breath of 3rd. And I think that's a story in and of itself. An unheralded strength of this team is their ability to recover from their mistakes (See: Abu Dhabi last year). Whereas in most teams, mistakes snowball and compound.

When other teams and drivers show their humanity, like when Ferrari and Fernando Alonso took themselves out of the Malaysian Grand Prix on lap 2, it doesn't draw the same attention or criticism as when Red Bull screw up.

Alonso is the perfect storm of media darling in F1. He drives for the most storied team in racing, AND he is also the underdog. It's a perfect combination. And so Alonso's mistakes are briefly mentioned, then shelved and forgotten. The same goes for the team he drives for. And when Alonso drives his Ferrari to victory, his triumphs are emphasized.

With Vettel and Red Bull, triumph is expected. So their wins are less gushed over by the media, and their failures are stories that feed the F1 media for multiple weeks. It's what happens when you're successful.

Red Bull tried to be too clever this weekend. And a team that drove a simple strategy and relied on their driver won the race. All three teams on the podium relied on their car and their driver to do their best. It's strange that the team with double-triple World Championships didn't trust themselves enough to do the same. Red Bull need to remember why they are successful, and it isn't because of Q3 tire strategy.

Photo Credit:
Vladimir Rys/Getty Images

Bruins Bad Habits Bite Back

Before last night the Bruins had won 5 of 6, and yet their fans were unhappy. Why? Because their play was uninspired, relaxed, inconsistent, and sometimes careless. They played the same way last night, against a decent team struggling for a playoff spot, and it bit them.

When is Milan Lucic going to get a healthy scratch? Or be once again demoted for the 3rd line (for longer than a game)? Claude Julien had the balls to scratch Phil Kessel in the playoffs. He kept Tyler Seguin on the bench as he developed. And this season he's moved Seguin to the 3rd line. Is Julien afraid of Lucic? This guy is playing with half a heart for almost all of his shifts.

The Bruins wore camouflage warm-ups pre-game, Lucic seems to wear camouflage during games because he is invisible on the ice.

And he makes the most obvious and dumbest mistakes with the puck. In his defensive zone he attempted a BLIND, slow, backhanded pass across the width of the ice. Of course it was intercepted. Lucic has no conception of where he is on the ice, and how careful he should be in certain spots.

Dougie Hamilton was a healthy scratch. Because Adam McQuaid came back. I guess Matt Bartkowski is better than Dougie Hamilton these days. If solid, mistake-free hockey is so important to Julien, why does Bartkoswki get rewarded for it and Lucic evades punishment for lack of it?

And has Hamilton been making mistakes? Has he been costing this team goals? He's been helping them score goals. He's been playing very sound at his position, especially considering his age. Hamilton was a healthy scratch. Why? Because taking care of the puck is vital. Unless you're Milan Lucic.

I apologize for my vexed frustrations. This team is like a rock band that has a great drummer, good guitarists, a capable bassist, and lead singers that sound like cats being anally raped. They ruin the whole act. And the manager seems to favor the singer over everyone else.

The B's travel to Raleigh to play the godawful Hurricanes. That should be a win, despite how crappily Lucic plays.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Charles Krupa

Bruins Win, But Shouldn't Be Happy

This team really pisses me off sometimes. They get a few bounces, make a few plays, and find themselves up 4-0. And that's when you get nervous. Because this team tries to run the clock out. They let the Devils back into this game, and that's just too bad. They lose Brad Marchand to an elbow to the head, get a 5 minute Power Play, then fail to get a shot on goal, and allow one in their own end.

It's the same on/off switch crap with this team. I'm tired of seeing Milan Lucic cruising around like it's an open skate. I'm tired of forwards that don't move in the neutral zone to help the defensemen break out. I'm tired of seeing Julien forced to put Jordan Caron on the ice in a Power Play because Lucic and Nathan Horton are lollygagging.

This team now sits in first place in their division. And that's great. But after a game like this it's difficult to be happy. The Bruins had this game in the palm of their hands, and they nearly dropped it. One unfortunate bounce in the last 37 seconds and they might have lost a point.

And the Devils aren't an elite opponent. They're a borderline playoff team, struggling through injuries.

The Bruins host the Islanders tonight. The Islanders are in a tight playoff race, 6th through 10th in the Eastern Conference are covered by 4 points. The Islanders are tied for 7th and are 11-5-2 on the road. The Bruins will need to play a full game, and not just parts of a game.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Julio Cortez

Bruins Fill Their Roster With Wade Redden at Deadline

I could make a horrible, Boston Globe style pun about the Bruins reddening their blue-line. And I just did.

The Bruins traded for veteran defenseman Wade Redden. The B's sent a conditional 7th round pick to St. Louis in exchange for the 35 year old. The pick will upgrade to a 6th round pick if Redden plays a game in the playoffs. In essence, they acquired him for next to nothing.

I liked Redden back when he was with Ottawa. He was underrated back then. In 2003-04 he scored 17 goals. And in the season after the Lockout he was +35. Since then his production has fallen. When with the Rangers he played for their AHL affiliate. And he probably won't dress every game he's with the Bruins.

I think he has a chance, though. Especially with McQuaid hurt. So long as he plays smart, he'll find a spot on the roster. And he should be smart. He has over 1,000 games of NHL experience, plus 101 Stanley Cup playoff games.

I'm glad the Bruins didn't try to get that mythical "puck-moving-defenseman." They acquired an experienced guy who at the very least will be their 7th defenseman in case something horrible happens, and has the capability to provide 12 quality minutes of ice-time a night.

Red Sox Beat Up Battered Yanks

The Red Sox are making hay when the sun shines, taking advantage of the injury ridden Yankees, and starting their season 2-0 for the first time since 1999. The Yankees lost starter Hiroki Kuroda in the 2nd when a ball hit his finger. The Red Sox capitalized as Kuroda struggled, then went to work on the Yankees bullpen.

Clay Buchholz scythed his way through the JV Yankee lineup, needing only 96 pitches in 7 innings of work. The one blemish on his outing was a Travis Hafner solo homerun. Buchholz typically struggles against the Yankees and in April. It's April, and these players were technically the Yankees, so good for him.

It was a game the Red Sox should have won. Which is good news for two reasons:

#1. The Red Sox are back to being a team that is supposed to win games.

#3. The Red Sox are winning games they should win. They didn't do that often enough last year, or in 2011.

Are they the best team in baseball or their division? Impossible to tell after 2 games against a hodgepodge Yankee roster. Are they taking care of the business that should be taken care of? So far, yes. That's an improvement. It's refreshing.

Not so refreshing was the fact that Alfredo Aceves allowed a 3 run bomb by Vernon Wells that made the late innings interesting. This worries me because Aceves wasn't reliable at all last year.

In the 9th, Joel Hanrahan was on the opposite end of the spectrum. He looked very sharp, hitting 96 and 97 on the radar gun, with movement.

Jackie Bradley Jr. continued his ROY/MVP/HOF campaign with an RBI single in the 3rd. His first Major League hit.

Jose Iglesias went 2 for 4, and is hitting the softest .556 in history.

The Red Sox knocked in 5 runs with 2-outs. That's my favorite stat of the night. That's the difference between winning 7-4 and losing 4-2 right there, just a few 2-out at-bats.

Ryan Dempster faces Andy Pettitte tonight. With that matchup and Jaromir Jagr coming to the Bruins, I feel like it's 1999 again. I'm going to check my smartphone for the Y2K bug.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Kathy Willens

I Want the Maple Leafs to Get Luongo, So All My Least Favorite Players Are on One Team

It's Deadline Day in the NHL. And I want the Canucks to trade Roberto Luongo to the Toronto Maple Leafs. I hate Luongo. He's an overrated, whiny, douche. He's perfect for the Maple Leafs, who already have two of my least favorite players in the game.

Toronto already has Phil Kessel, who is more popular in Boston as a Maple Leaf than he ever was as a Bruin for three reasons: 1. He's the reason we have Tyler Seguin here, 2. ditto Dougie Hamilton, and 3. he's the reason HE is no longer here. He played his own way, wasn't tough, was an incomplete player, and he was greedy.

And playing for the Leafs' AHL affiliate is Mike Komisarek, former nemesis of Milan Lucic. This guy, when playing in Montreal, epitomized all that is wrong with Canadiens hockey. He would typically only get tough when guys like Lucic were safely restrained on the bench. And when Komisarek did actually grow a pair and throwdown, he'd get thrown down.

So if the Leafs acquire Luongo, it will make it easy and convenient for Bruins fans to find their most hated players all in one place. Then the Leafs can sign Matt Cooke and PK Subban to make the team's douchebaggery complete.

Bruins Acquire Jagr-Meister

It's official. The Bruins have acquired Jaromir Jagr. He has not decided to go to Pittsburgh instead.

Two illuminating facts about Jagr:

1. He was an All-Star in 1992. He's old.

2. He has 14 goals. Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic have combined for 17 goals this season.

He is not a typical Claude Julien guy. He isn't a good defensive forward. He's an offense-first player. And maybe that's a good thing. The Bruins must emerge from their comfort zone and get a little aggressive on offense. Especially on the Power Play.

Speaking of which, Jagr has scored 6 PP goals. That's as much as Brad Marchand and Tyler Seguin combined (each have 3). I'm salivating as I think about a Power Play line of Seguin-Krejci-Jagr or Marchand-Seguin-Jagr.

We have yet to see with which line Jagr will play. You don't want to mess with the Bergeron line, although if he Bergeron is out do you slide Seguin to center and have Jagr play the wing?

I can't imagine the Bruins would waste Jagr's offensive skill on the 3rd line. I think his best fit would be to play with Krejci and Horton, and move Lucic down to the 3rd line. There Lucic can focus on playing physical, Jagr can play with some talented forwards that will set him up, and who he can set-up.

They still need help on the blue-line. And certain players like Lucic need to step up their game. Jagr helps, and can solve some of the Bruins problems. Not all of them. And some problems need to be solved by players currently on the roster.

Bruins Show Energy in Victory Over Ottawa

The Bruins played a lively game last night, edging Ottawa 3-2 in what has become one of the most exciting matchups within the division. Certain players, such as Nathan Horton and Milan Lucic, seemed to be playing with extra energy. Perhaps they don't want to be demoted when Jaromir Jagr arrives, perhaps they're eager to be the ones to play with him.

In any case, the Line Formerly Known as First showed up in a big way. Krejci and Horton scored. And Lucic had an assist on each one.

The Bruins got 50 shots on goal. Seguin fired 12 of them. The Senators launched 47 at Anton Khudobin. Those stats demonstrate how wide open and up-and-down this game was. And how close these two teams have played each other all season.

Speaking of Khudobin, has he earned a third-straight start? He's played excellent, especially at home. He's making big saves. And

The Bruins host the Devils Thursday night.

Photo Credit:
AP Photo/Elise Amendola