Celtics vs. Heat: What's at Stake

People always tell me I should "stick to hockey" whenever I start talking about basketball. Make no mistake about it, I'm much more of a hockey fan than I am a hoops fan these days. Doesn't matter that the Bruins were the flavor of the month last year, and that the Celtics were, in the words of Rick Pitino, "grey and old". I've just always had a little bit more interest in the black and gold than the green and white.

It's funny though, because I was a John Barker basketball legend from 2nd grade through 8th grade. That game on ice? Never played a real game of hockey in my life. One of my biggest regrets, while we're at it. But at the end of the day, I probably do know a little bit more about basketball than hockey. Weirdly enough.

Why am I telling you all this? Because this series the Celtics are about to play against LeBron James and the Miami Heat re-commit me to professional basketball, or forever turn me off. There's not much of an in-between. If you've been watching these playoffs, and I begrudgingly have (mostly due to the Bruins early exit), you can tell the officiating as been, as expected, suspect at best. More so than any other league, basketball is a sport where the stars get away with what they want, when they want. It's akin to the benefits celebrities have when they get in trouble with the law. Somebody like Paul George gets hacked on the arm? May or may not get called. Somebody like LeBron or D-Wade? Automatic two shots, plus probably a technical or a flagrant. I'm slightly exaggerating, but that's the way it is.

So what's interesting about this Celtics-Heat series is that Boston certainly has the star power to run with the Heat. The Celtics have a better overall team than the Heat. If you were going to hold a school-yard pick 'em for this series, LeBron would go 1, D-Wade would go 2, but the next 5 players would all be Celtics (I'm taking a healthy Brandon Bass over Chris Bosh, and still might anyways, regardless of health).

Of course, it's hard to tell exactly what the NBA wants out of the Heat. Does David Stern enjoy the hoopla surrounding LeBron and his inability to win big games? Do referees look at the self-titled King differently in big spots? It's inconsistent. LeBron gets all the calls he wants leading up to these big moments, but it seems that when the true money is on the line, where his legacy can be re-made, he becomes just any other player. Look no further than the Dallas series from a year ago.

This being the Eastern Conference Finals, and not the NBA Finals, it will be interesting to see if the NBA deems this a "legacy-shifter" for LeBron. He did already exorcise his Celtics demons last year, remember. Having said that, the Celtics pretty much owned the Heat this season, taking 3 of their 4 contests by an average of 7.8 ppg* (the final meeting, a 78-66 Celtics victory, featured only Paul Pierce in terms of relevant players from either side. Sasha Pavlovic led all scorers with 16. So, yeah).

At the end of the day, what this all comes down to for me is one thing, and one thing only:  if this series is officiated fairly, I have no doubt in my mind that the better team is capable of winning. And the better team is the Celtics. If LeBron and Wade are getting calls in star-mode, and for whatever reason KG/Truth/Rondo/Ray-Ray aren't, this could be a long one.

Funny as it sounds, we're living in a world where Chris Bosh is an X-Factor for this series. For as much maligned as he's been since taking his talents to South Beach, Bosh could seriously swing this series in favor of Miami. Based on what I've heard so far, if he does show his face, it won't be at 100%.

And whether he returns or not, there's all kinds of nostalgia at stake here. For both sides. Celtics win, and three NBA Finals appearances with the "Big 3" makes them a minor-dynasty. At least a footnote dynasty. The Heat win, great and all, but it won't matter unless they win a Championship. I would make a "not 5, not 6, not 7" joke here, but have the Heat looked more vulnerable since The Decision?

Call in blind loyalty, call it rationale, call it what you will. I'm taking the Celtics in 7.

Exit Sandman

If this is it for Mo, and all signs point to it indeed being the end, whatta shame. Coming from my extremely homersexual Boston perspective, a damn, damn shame. That's not how I wanted to see one of the greatest baseball career's of all-time end. If it had been during an actual game, although I'm not entirely sure how a pitcher goes about tearing an ACL on the mound, it'd be one thing. But shagging fly balls? In Kansas City, of all-places? Shakespeare himself couldn't have written such a tragedy.

Hey, I'll remember Mo for the good times. Bill Mueller's walk-off home run in the Varitek/A-Rod game. The 2004 ALCS when he couldn't pick off Dave Roberts. Opening Day at Fenway in 2005 when he got a mock cheer from the crowd.

Make no mistake about it, for as mortal as he looked at times in 2004-05, that was eight seasons ago. He was off to a great start again this year (5/6 save opportunities, 2.16 ERA). He'd been dropping hints during spring training that this season would be his last anyways, but I'm sure no one envisioned this being the situation.

Also as Mo goes, so goes the no. 42, never to be worn again by a major league baseball player. So there's that as well. Jackie Robinson's number is officially retired.

Fortunately for the Yankees, this David Robertson kid seems like the real deal (hasn't allowed a run yet this season in 11 innings, striking out 18 batters while walking just 3). My colleague Anthony Russo has been pumping up Robertson as the heir apparent for awhile now, so we'll see how this works out. It's one thing to put up those numbers as a set-up guy; it's a whole other to do it following the undisputed greatest closer of all-time. Just ask Alfredo Aceves how that's going in Boston.

ESPN's coverage of Junior Seau

Let me say first, Rest in Peace to one of the greatest linebackers who ever lived. From his glory days with the Chargers, to his time in South Beach with the Dolphins, to his renaissance with the Pats, one of the classiest and most professional guys to strap on a helmet.

Now this post isn't so much about Seau as it is the way ESPN has been going about covering his death. Which is, how shall I put this: shameful.

Granted it seems as though all kinds of media outlets have been guilty of this too, but you'd think the Worldwide Leader would be better than this. Setting up shop in front of Seau's house, interviewing his parents--his clearly devastated parents? Where is the privacy? They just outlived their son, something no parent ever wants to do. Ever. And then broadcasting the interview/press conference/whatever you want to call it? How in a million years can you justify airing that? Especially considering the next point....

Easy as it may be in trying to solve the pieces of the puzzle, shame on ESPN again for speculating the cause of Seau's apparent suicide. We simply do not know at this time. Me, you, anyone. Speculating is no different from assuming. And it's been said a million times, but it'll be said again right here: when you assume, you make an ass of you and me. There is absolutely no proof just yet that Seau's suicide was linked to his football career. It may appear that way, as a guy who played 19 seasons at one of the most demanding positions in all of professional sports, but again, there is no concrete evidence as of yet.

Sadly, I can't say I'm surprised by ESPN's coverage. It's the same network that beats LeBron James, Tim Tebow, and (once upon a time) Brett Favre down our throats 24/7. Learn your audience.

If this post in any way sounds like I'm trivializing the death of Seau, you are sadly mistaken, because that's not what this is about at all. It's simply about the appalling coverage by the supposed top dog in the sports industry. Junior would not be happy with this, not in the least. Rest in peace.

Does this look like the face of the Philosophy professor who told me to give up journalism and radio?

Introducing Zahra Meghani

To say I'm straight up flabbergasted at this woman would be an understatement. Is this woman for real? Let me break it down for you:

So I go in to talk about a test I had taken about a month ago. I bombed that thing worse than we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki back in the day. Whatever, that's not what this is about.

We finish up going over the test, she decides to ask me what my major is. I tell her it's journalism. She gets a frown on her face and says "you're aware the journalism job market isn't very good right now, right?" Hey valid statement. She asks me what I plan on doing with the career, I tell her about this lil' radio gig I've got going. She continues to frown and starts giving me this shameless sell on switching over to Philosophy. Says there's no money to be made in journalism, I'm wasting my time. 

Now what I wanted to/should have done was rip my test in two and slam the door behind me, but I decided to humor her a little with this whole "yeah sure I'll give up the passion I've had my entire life to talk about Aristotle and Plato", who, oh by the way, have been dead for about 10,000 years. Real relevant. The only reason I took this class was to fulfill a requirement. I don't know what the hell philosophy has to do with journalism but hey that's another story for another time. 

Bottom line is this: there's nothing I love more than silencing the critics. For you Hingham readers, if you don't think I'm pumped to go back there some day and ask Ms. LeClair (now known as Dwyer) or Ms. Roth how they're doin, then you don't know me all that well. Not saying I'm in a position to do that today, but some day. There's nothing better than some good ol' fashioned motivation from the haters, baby. 

So the lesson here, as always, for anyone reading this:  do whatever the hell it is you enjoy doing and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. It pisses me off like you wouldn't believe when I hear a story about someone being told to switch a major, or switch a career, over something as frivolous as money that hasn't even been made yet, or because something is "useless" (there's a whole other set of haters who've told me once upon a time sports journalism isn't important). 

I'm disappointed in this Zahra Meghani character, but I can't blame her. Even though this goes against that entire last paragraph I just wrote, I'll say it anyways: who in their right mind would actually want to be a philosopher?