Tag: Boston

Bruins Waive Anton Khudobin, Could Really Use a Young Goalie Prospect

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The Bruins just waived backup goalie Anton Khudobin, who had some decent success in his last go round with the B’s in 2012-13, but the guy’s numbers have been awful this year at 1-5-1 with an .885 save percentage. That just ain’t gonna get it done in the NHL these days.

It got to the point that every time Tuukka Rask wasn’t playing, it was a goddamn adventure out there. For all the crap people gave Tuukka last year for not “carrying” the Bruins, thats exactly what he’s doing this year. When he’s in net the B’s have a shot against most teams. When he’s not? Circus adventure. Zane McIntyre seems to be the next man up from Providence, who has been crushing it in down in the AHL, but had a rough go his last time up to Boston (10 goals on 71 shots for .859 save percentage).

It’s too bad the Bruins don’t have a goalie in waiting that they used a 1st round draft pick on a few years back….that’d be awesome to have a guy like that.

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Milwaukee Bucks Are Crushing Marketing: Now Selling 10 WIN Plans

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ESPN – For years, NBA teams have sold 10-game plans for fans that don’t want to commit to buying a whole season worth of games. On Tuesday, the Milwaukee Bucks will announce that they’re offering a 10-win plan. That’s right, guaranteed wins. In a package that will go on sale Tuesday through Jan. 11, the Bucks will sell fans a ticket pass for $149 that will begin on Jan. 13 against the Miami Heat and will be active until the Bucks win 10 home games.

What an absolutely genius move by the Bucks here. This team is on the up, but fans in Milwaukee do not give a shit. A pretty decent team that is developing one of the best young players in the NBA in Giannis Antetokounmpo, but they still rank 27th in attendance.

So the Bucks are guaranteeing every fan who buys this ticket pack for $149 sees 10 wins, not 10 games, 10 wins, which is absurd. I was a partial season ticket holder for the Bruins last year, when they just happened to be awful at home, and I think they lost something like 8 of 12 games I was at. So I totally get the uncertainty of re-upping for another ticket plan. Milwaukee fans would be stupid to not take the Bucks up on this offer. I can’t even go to ONE Celtics game with a buddy for that price. The cheeseheads could get 20 games for the same price.

Sometimes I wish I lived in a flyover state. Tickets are cheaper. Beers are cheaper. Just a simple life really.

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Demarcus Cousins Would Be the CT of the NBA in Boston

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Pro Basketball Talk – [Cousins] scoring 55 points on 17-of-28 shooting, leading the Kings to 126-121 win over the team they are chasing for a playoff slot. Near the end of the game, Cousins got ejected after barking at the Trail Blazers bench and his mouthpiece coming out — one referee thought he either spit it or threw it at the Blazers bench and gave him a technical, Cousins’ second. He sprinted to the locker room to avoid doing anything stupid. Then the officials talked, decided the mouthpiece coming out was accidental, and rescinded the technical.

People love CT from the Challenge because he is a Masshole through and through, for better or for worse. Guy is an animal, dominates the game, is a total asshole and disregards what anybody tells him, but is also loyal to his guys and hates losing with a fiery passion. Sound like a certain mercurial someone in the NBA?

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Demarcus Cousins would be worshipped here in Boston because of those qualities, not in spite of them. Don’t let the morally righteous sports writers of this city tell you otherwise. Do I agree with Cousins spitting his mouthguard out at an opposing assistant coach? No. But in the midst of a MONSTER 55 point game against a team your fighting for a playoff spot, all while on a winning team in Boston?? Fans around here would be FIRED UP about that and be tripping all over themselves to say how uber competitive he is, like a young KG. And so would I.

Don’t get caught up on a guy being a miserable prick when he’s on a team thats been in the basement of the league every year of his career. You gotta take some chances to win in the NBA if you don’t have a LeBron fall into your lap like Cleveland. So I’ll take a chance that this guy would thrive in Boston and be embraced by this city.

People used to point to the Pacers in the early part of this decade as a team that did it right and built through the draft without any real superstars. They did it on depth, good coaching and some pretty good players in Paul George (who has grown into a star), Roy Hibbert and David West. They were a fun team to watch and root for. But what happened? They never won shit and they got beat every time by bigger, badder teams like the super team the Heat had a few years ago. They slowly got worse and the team hasn’t gotten close since.

Take a chance on a super talent. Or don’t and be the Pacers for the next decade.

Bye, Felicia

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NESN – Clay Buchholz’s 10-year career with the Boston Red Sox reportedly has come to an end. The Red Sox traded the right-handed pitcher to the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday, according to multiple reports. Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer was the first to report the news, with FanRag Sports’ Jon Heyman and FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal confirming. According to Gelb, Boston will acquire minor leaguer Josh Tobias in the deal.

Just like that, the Clay Buchholz Era in Boston has ended. Fittingly, it ended with a whimper and not with a bang. The dude threw a no-hitter in his second career start in 2007, but could never live up to his potential.

Buchholz showed flashes at times, no doubt. An All-Star in 2010, he finished 6th in Cy Young Award voting that season. He was named to the All-Star team again in 2013 after starting the season 9-0 with a 1.71 ERA. But injuries put him on the shelf from June 8 – to September 10 in 2013, and he ultimately did not make much of mark the rest of that season or during the World Series title run.

Ultimately, those flashes were just flashes and only served to extend his time in Boston. His reasonable salaries didn’t hurt his case either. Why not take a flier on your own guy instead of bringing in someone else? (See Miley, Wade.)

While his 81-61 record puts his winning percentage at .570 and his 3.96 ERA puts his ERA+ at 109, it’s hard not to characterize the Buchholz Era as a disappointment in the end. The ups and downs, the injuries, disappointments (see 2008) and frustrations ultimately became too much for the Red Sox. Buchholz has now been swapped for a 24 year-old infielder with no professional experience higher than A-ball.

If the Phillies take on all of the $13.5 million due to Buchholz, that’s a win for Trader Dave. But even if not, this is is addition by subtraction for the Red Sox. I know that you can never have too much pitching (see Arroyo, Bronson), but Buchholz was never an innings eater. It’s just one less moving part John Farrell needs to be concerned with. With David Price, Rick Porcello and now Chris Sale headlining next year’s staff, hopefully the Red Sox can move away from the revolving door that has been (at least the back of) their rotation for the last few years.

Patriots Pull Out 30-23 Win Over the Ravens: The Good and the Bad

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A quick breakdown of the Patriots 30-23 win over the Ravens last night, which featured a lot of good (Tom Brady) and a lot of bad. All in all, an impressive win over the best defense in the NFL.

The Good

  • Tom Brady: Brady was at his finest last night. Hyped up, pissed off and shredding the defense. 3 Touchdowns and 400+ passing yards against the No. 1 defense in the NFL. Pretty, pretty, pretty good. That touchdown to Malcolm Mitchell in the Red Zone was an absolute missile in a window the size of a coast and is a throw most QB’s probably don’t even try. Also, getting on Edelman and Chris hogan to get their shit together after a less than ideal start seemed to really give those guys a much needed kick in the ass.
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  • Chris Hogan: Hogan earned his excellent nickname 7-11 last night as he really was open all day. Seemed like Brady had to give him a little shit to get back on the field after hurting his hand early in the game, but its hard to argue with 5 catches for 129 yards and a TD. That 79 yard TD was money as Hogan seems to have another gear in the open field I didn’t even know about.
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  • Martellus Bennett’s Health: This was huge last night after there were reports circulating that Marty was less than 100%, which is a scary thing to hear with Gronk done for the year. If Bennett goes down or can’t get the job done then the Pats are probably screwed with zero tight end presence. But Bennett looked great last night especially one his nearly 1 handed TD catch when the defender was draped all over him and Bennett ripped the ball off the guy and held on for the score. Plus the 3 TE set on play action where Bennett lined up in the middle of the other two “tight ends” and slipped into an opening for an easy first down. Great sign.
  • Special Teams: That blocked field goal by Shane McClellin was an absolute thing of beauty. Perfectly timed, incredibly athletic play by a prototypical Bill Belichick guy; a former top pick he peeled off the scrap heap of another team for peanuts. Great play against the best kicker in the league who was the only kicker in the NFL to not miss a kick yet. Jamie Collins who? And the punt coverage unit was on fire as well. Downing a punt at the 1 yard line leading to the safety, which put the Pats on the board and set the tone for the whole game.

The Bad

  • Special Teams: Holy shit talk about a Jekyll and Hyde performance from the special teams last night. They were absolutely carrying the Pats in the beginning of the game. All of Twitter was gleefully ripping off tweets about how special teams is 1/3 of the game and just as important. Then a couple fumbled punts later and suddenly the Pats are only up a field goal. I’ve never seen a BB special teams unit that hot and cold in the *same game* Thankfully TB12 saved the day, but relying too much on Brady is what has usually killed the Pats in the past. Brady has a slightly off day and the rest of the team can’t pick up the slack. Something to keep an eye on.
  • Cyrus Jones: Jesus christ, this kid is shook. Last night he could not get out of his own way and now has FOUR fumbled punts on the year. It’s clearly a mental thing, but its at the point now he just cannot be trusted back there. I also don’t get why the insist on putting him as a PR, apparently he only has 12 career punt returns in college. Maybe it was just me being dumb, but I was lead to believe he was some kind of PR specialist? Either way, hopefully he can make an impact as a depth safety because right now he is looking like a real bungle of a 2nd round pick.
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  • Linebackers Covering RBs Out of the Backfield: Said it last night and I’ll say it again; the Patriots are the only team that can give up a 40 yard screen play to a freakin full back and it doesn’t shock me. They just cannot cover running backs out of the backfield and that is a huge issue heading into the playoffs. This is where a guy like Collins would have been valuable, they just don’t really have the speed to cover guys coming out of the backfield on screens. Giving up 40 to a fullback is an embarrassment though and is probably a bigger reflection of poor tackling than anything else. This could be their potential undoing in the playoffs. Woof.
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Yankees Respond to Red Sox Trading for Chris Sale and Sign Aroldis Chapman to Monster Deal. Rivalry is Back On

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The Yankees just signed Aroldis Chapman to a 5 year $86 Million deal the largest deal any reliever has ever received. My initial reaction? Shit. My next response? This is the not fucking around crew.

And I love it. As much as its going to suck having to fear Aroldis Chapman coming out of the pen to slam a close game shut 19 times a year, this is phenomenal for the Sox Yankees rivalry.

To be honest its been pretty dull the past few years as both teams really haven’t been very good at the same time. Sox win the AL East last year? Yankees finish 9 games back. So it will be good to have a new stud on the other side for us all to hate. Plus both teams are young and getting better, which is great for breeding that next generation of contempt. You need guys going head to head beating each others brains in every season for years to really get that bad blood going. Throw in a nut job like Chris Sale and I think we’ve got a dog days of summer bench clearing brawl just waiting to happen.

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This reminds me of the good old days back in the early 2000s when these two teams were getting after it like the Cold War, constantly trying to one up the other side with big signings, trades, digging up international gems (cue Theo Epstein trashing his hotel room after losing out on Jose Contreras to the Yankees). We had Theo and the whole front office flying out to Arizona to have fucking Thanksgiving dinner with Curt Schilling, all in hopes of getting him to waive his no-trade clause for the Sox over the Yankees. Reminds me of the days when each side was calling the other the Evil Empire. Red Sox trade for one of the top 3 pitchers in baseball? Literally the next day the Yankees sign arguably the best closer in baseball. Giving this rivalry the juice it needed. Love it.

Patriots Rumored to Be Playing Mexico City Game in 2017

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ESPN -“Just one week after the NFL returned to Mexico City for the first time in over a decade, there are already reports suggesting a new contest for the 2017 season. The New England Patriots would face the Oakland Raiders at the Estadio Azteca at some point during the next year, according to ESPN’s John Sutcliffe…Pats owner Robert Kraft is very interested in the possibility of playing in Mexico City.”

So now the hot rumor in the streets is that the NFL is thinking of having the Raiders play the Patriots in Mexico City next year. And as much as I love forfeiting home games, as Robert Kraft is rumored to have pitched, I can’t say I’m too excited for this. Traveling across the country, playing in a stadium with BARBED WIRE FENCES IN THE STANDS all while being 5,000 miles HIGHER than Mile High Field. Mexico City does not seem like a great place. I fully expect and fear a Man on Fire situation where Giselle gets kidnapped by the banditos and Kraft has to hire Denzel Washington or some shit.

Either way, I don’t care if its Mexico, London, Russia or the Moon. Do. Your. Job. And the Patriots will do just that and win….Unless its a late season game in Miami. That I fear.

Red Sox Brass Must Enjoy Watching All the Former Red Sox Dominate MLB Awards

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With Terry Francona wining AL Manager of the Year yesterday it got me thinking. Francona was manager of the year and was in the World Series, now Jon Lester could very easily win the NL Cy Young tonight to go along with his World Series title, not to mention Theo Epstein potentially winning MLB Executive of the Year. So out of Boston’s not so long ago core of the franchise, we could see a Manager of the Year, Cy Young winner, MLB Executive of the Year and a World Series title all in the same season and the Red Sox will receive ZERO BENEFIT.

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Thats crazy. I know some of these guys have been gone for a couple of years now, but let that sink in. The one time core of the Red Sox may have a clean sweep of the biggest awards in the sport. I honestly don’t know if Larry Lucchino feels bad about ousting pretty much all of these guys or if he just laughs it off and thinks, “Fuck it, I invented Camden Yards.”

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Either way, hopefully its a wakeup call for John Henry to STOP MEDDLING IN BASEBALL AFFAIRS. You ran the best baseball executive of our generation out of town over a pissing contest just so we could hold onto the 70 year old guy who likes to monetize everything down to the goddamn bricks at Fenway. Solid management plan.

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Tom Brady is Back and It’s Like He Never Left

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TB12 is back and I have to admit, I am extremely disappointed in the local media. Aside from two tweets of random guys with a couple pics of Brady playing catch around town, there’s been ZERO news or info on him. And the sunbathing pics don’t count because that was over in Italy, I’m talking strictly local media guys. Brady is legit Boston royalty, well really more like a Mob Boss. Because no one reported anything on what he was up to like they feared getting kneecapped as retribution. All my Brady news came from Wes Welker and TMZ. No one even asked him about the pics and I don’t think anyone even thought about bothering Tom on his 4 week vacation. You don’t disturb the boss when he’s busy. More important than any one man’s life… is order. Some straight Keyser Soze shit.

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