Tag: Los Angeles

BREAKING: Patriots Trade Brandin Cooks to the Rams for a First Round Pick

By on • ( Leave a comment )

As per usual, I have no idea what the Patriots are planning here. On one hand, it really is great, great value to get the No. 23 overall pick for a guy with one year left on his contract. On the other hand, great value aside… Tom Brady might blow a goddamn gasket when he hears about this. First Danny Amendola walked, now Cooks is out, Gronk is still hemming and hawing about playing next year, and Julian Edelman is coming back from a shredded knee. Not exactly confidence inspiring for a QB in his 40s.

The real question here though is; what do the Patriots have up their sleeve? The Pats rarely trade up into the first round so I FULLY expect them to trade down again for five 4th round picks so they can fill out the team with more Rutgers and Navy guys. But, if we want to have a little fun for a minute; what could the Pats realistically do with this pick?

Well they could turn around and give it to New York in a trade for Odell Beckham Jr. It was rumored that it would take a 1st rounder to pry ODB from the Giants and the Rams were the team most commonly mentioned in those rumors. Now with their first round pick in hand, the Patriots could effectively trade Brandin Cooks for ODB straight up. That would be fine with me, but of course that would open up Pandora’s Box of yet another guy bitching about his contract in the locker room.

Or are the Patriots potentially looking to package No. 23 and their own No. 31 pick to move up in the draft and take say…a quarterback?

I’m still driving the Johnny Manziel hype train, but I was just listening to Felger and Mazz and they took a quick peak at the NFL Draft Value chart and according to them these two picks would, in theory, be enough ammo to move up to No. 9 overall in the Draft. Now that…that is interesting. Are the Pats looking to trade up and grab my boy Baker Mayfield?

https://giphy.com/embed/RveDcLXAWGizK

via GIPHY

Probably not, but Bill Belichick is nothing if not a sneaky and devious SOB so I fully expect this newly acquired draft capital to go to good use. So it sucks to see another one of Brady’s weapons, who I expected to improve in Year 2, leave the team but I’ll reserve judgement until we see what Bill does with the pick.

For what its worth Zolak seems to be thinking the same thing and I’d say and he’s *kind of* tapped into the team.

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Paul Pierce Says the Celtics Would Have Won 70 Games With a Healthy KG in 2009

By on • ( Leave a comment )

CelticsWire – One of the great questions about the KG-Paul Pierce-Ray Allen Big Three era is what would’ve happened if they weren’t beset by injuries. They were the league’s hottest team in 2009 after winning the title, before Kevin Garnett went down with a leg injury. In 2010, they made it to Game 7 of the NBA Finals against the Lakers, but lost without Kendrick Perkins who suffered a torn ACL in Game 6. They were hot again the next season before Shaq’s career came to an early end due to lingering calf injuries, falling to the Heat in five games in the conference semis.

I mean, he’s not wrong. The Celtics were absolutely dominant right out of the gate in 2007 on the way to a 66-16 record and the Larry O’Brien trophy. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen had played a grand total of 0 games together before rolling to a 20-2 start. That is insane. KG was Defensive Player of the Year, Paul Pierce was NBA Finals MVP, and Danny Ainge was Executive of the Year.

All of that was in Year 1. Imagine how good they would have been in Year 2 with a fully healthy team?

“I say it all the time, I thought we could have three-peated,” Pierce said. “Because if you look, we won I think 62 games the second year after we won it. Kevin got hurt after 30 games, so we played 40 games and the playoffs without Kevin and still won 60 games. I believe we were somewhere around 29-2. Everybody was talking about us winning 70.

“If Kevin was healthy, we probably would have won 70 games. 2010 we coasted. We only won 50 games and when the playoffs come, we turned it up and got to the Finals.”

One of the most dominant teams of the century was rounding into form in Year 2 with 3 hungry Hall of Famers before a KG injury shot that all to hell. In more recent interviews you hear about how Garnett was never really the same again after that injury. Sure they made the Finals the following year when he came back, but after 2010 they became the old, wily veterans just getting by on grit and balls. That narrative produced my favorite Celtics commercial of all-time by the way.

But the days of winning 70 games and NBA titles had passed.

Something I say all the time when people chirp Boston fans is that you will never care about your teams more than we do. Even after all the winning. Boston has had an incredible run of success going back to 2001 with all 4 major teams, BUT we also have experienced some of the most heartbreaking losses, which only helps to fuel that fire. I won’t list them all here because I don’t want to smash my laptop at work, but the 2010 NBA Finals Game  7 will forever have a spot on that list. Going for their second title in three years against the Lakers in LA. Perk had blown out his knee the game before and the Celtics were relying on bum ass Rasheed Wallace who was sucking air from the tip. It was a slow bleed too. You could feel the game slipping away and the Celtics just couldn’t put it away.

The Big Three Celtics will be forever remembered as the ones that raised Banner 17 and how they completely changed the culture of the Celtics. We’ll always say what if though. What if KG was healthy, what if Danny didn’t trade Perk for Jeff Fucking Green, what if LeBron didn’t go Super Saiyan and drop 45 and 15 on us in Game 6.

Now I need to cheer myself up, so enjoy this trip down memory lane.

Rondo and Isaiah Thomas Get Into It, Both Get Ejected. I Miss These Guys

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Yahoo – Isaiah Thomas and Rajon Rondo got into a scuffle and were both ejected from Wednesday night’s game between the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers. And it stems from Boston Celtics beef. The two were each handed double technical fouls and given the boot. While it wasn’t immediately clear from game action why the two were so chippy, the announcers and Twitter speculated that the altercation stemmed from drama over Paul Pierce’s jersey retirement with the Celtics. It started when Thomas, who was due a brief honor from the Celtics after being traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, asked to have his Boston moment moved to the same night of Pierce’s jersey retirement. The request didn’t have anything to do with Pierce, but Thomas’ desire to have his honor on a night that he would be healthy and playing.

I feel for Isaiah Thomas, I really do. Its like when you break up with a girl and move onto bigger and better things while your ex just spirals downward. He got hurt, got traded to Cleveland and surprise surprise didn’t get along with LeBron, got blamed for a shit Cavs team, and got traded again to the basement dwelling Lakers. And now he’s got Rondo giving him the business.

We had a great time together, watching IT was some of the most fun I’ve had watching the Celtics since KG and Pierce roamed the parquet. So I’ll always have a place in my heart for Isaiah.

BUT, Rondo, man. Rajon Rondo is a ride or die. The guy hasn’t played for the Celtics since 2014 and he still reps Boston just as hard.

Nobody crosses Paul Pierce on Rondo’s watch.

When Rondo was the precocious young point guard, KG took him under his wing and turned Rajon into a bulldog.

Something about Rondo just being a dickhead always endured him to Celtics fans. Like he was his own version of a Masshole. He was at one point compared to Chris Paul as the best PG in the league and Danny Ainge once even tried to trade him for Russell Westbrook straight up, which is laughable now. People forget how good Rondo once was though. But Rondo always showed up to ball and he was always ready to start a fist fight if need be.

I’ll never forget when Dwyane Wade basically broke Rondo’s arm on a dirty play under the hoop and Rondo came back into the game playing with one fucking arm.

 

I respect a good grudge and you just know Rondo, Pierce, and KG still have a deep hatred in their hearts for LeBron, Wade, and probably Ray Allen too. Those guys are a family and you never go against family. In Rondo’s mind, IT disrespected Pierce by asking for his tribute on the same night that No. 34 was going up into the rafters. You disrespect the family and Rondo’s coming for your head.

Ubuntu. Omerta. Whatever you wanna call it, nobody is disrespecting the Celtics legends. Not while Rajon Rondo still walks this earth.

I hate to see my two exes fighting in public, but goddamnit if it doesn’t remind me why I once loved them both.

My Man Gabe Kapler Named the New Manager of the Phillies. Good for Him.

By on • ( Leave a comment )

First things first, I don’t know how Gabe beat out THIS guy for the Phillies job.

Incredibly savvy move to leapfrog Manager John like that. Anyways, good for Gabe Kapler getting his shot as an MLB manager. He’s one of those glue guys that always played his balls off and all his teammates loved. You knew he would be a manager someday.

He started out managing in the minor leagues for the Red Sox farm system before moving on to player development where he’s killed it for the LA Dodgers. I’m happy with the Alex Cora hiring for the Sox, but I would have loved to had Kapler in that dugout as well. Smart guy who’s young, has a wide variety of experience and seemingly will have no problem communicating with his players. Plus he’s yoked and is a fan of the banana hammock so I mean that right there basically sells itself.

He may even get a few of his guys to start eating organic peanut butter the way he converted me with his blog.

PS – As a hustle> talent guy I was a big fan of Kapler’s growing up and I was *this* close to buying a Gabe Kapler Yomiuri Giants jersey when he left the Red Sox for Japan.

Is Philip Rivers the Most Entertaining QB Ever?

By on • ( Leave a comment )

I like Philip Rivers, he seems like a guy that just wants to get out there and sling it. Let him throw it 50 times a game and see what happens. I’ve liked him ever since the Pats faced off against the Chargers and a young Rivers in the 2008 AFC Championship Game and Rivers played on a torn ACL. Guy just balls out. With that being said Rivers is high comedy on the sidelines and coming off the field. Always looks bullshit, 1,000 yard stares, and routinely screams into his helmet. If thats Jay Cutler then its “poor body language” and “bad leadership” but since its Rivers its just hilarious to me.

Granted, he’s had a string of bad luck with the Chargers playing in the most close games in the league the past 2 seasons…and lost most of those games. They just always have a ton of self inflicted injuries, which was on FULL display yesterday with the ATROCIOUS safety the Chargers ran into:

Not to mention the Chargers running the goddamn Wildcat on a key 3rd and 2 like its 2008.

Rivers started running towards the sidelines and I was convinced they were going to run a direct snap to the RB or something. Nope, just a terrible play from an antiquated offense that did not pick up the first down and Philip Rivers died just a little bit more inside.

Thats not to say Phil didn’t have a hand in his team bungling a game they had a pretty good handle on early.

But the complete disdain for everyone around him is what makes him so lovable, especially after this brutal penalty on a pick play negated a yuuge touchdown for the Chargers.

And then to wrap it all up Rivers threw an interception as the Chargers had one last chance to tie it up.

Never change, Philip. Never change.

Adrian Gonzalez is Skipping the World Series to Go on VACATION Instead

By on • ( Leave a comment )

LA Times – There is no better World Series tradition than the introduction of each player in uniform. If you work for the home team, you get a nice round of applause, even if you are an obscure reliever, a quality assurance coach or a soft tissue specialist. The fan favorites draw the loudest and most sustained applause. Adrian Gonzalez would get a warm ovation, but he is not expected to join the Dodgers for the World Series. It’s his choice. It’s too bad. Gonzalez has played more games without a World Series appearance than all but two active players: Ichiro Suzuki and Brandon Phillips. He would not have played in this World Series because of what the Dodgers said was a recurrence of a back injury, but he had earned a round of cheers from a large and loyal fan base that cherishes him.

I guess it just wasn’t in God’s plan for Adrian Gonzalez to be a part of the Dodgers first World Series in 29 years. Ever since Gonzo made that tone-deaf comment back in 2011 after the epic collapse by his Red Sox I knew he didn’t give a shit about baseball. He just happened to be good at it and was collecting a paycheck. But people would always argue no he does care, he’s just very religious, that quote was taken out of context blah, blah, blah. But now, now that shit has been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. I get that the guy is hurt and wouldn’t have played, but you’re not even gonna SHOW UP?? You couldn’t push your vacation back 2 weeks? You just made a hair under $22 Million this year and are still on that 7-year $154 Million contract the Red Sox signed you to back in 2011, I’m pretty sure you can afford the airline fees to reschedule your flights.

Not to mention he’s not exactly Derek Jeter with countless World Series rings. This isn’t exactly a routine occurence for the Dodgers or Gonzo.

“Gonzalez has played more games without a World Series appearance than all but two active players: Ichiro Suzuki and Brandon Phillips.”

Played a game my entire life and I’m 35 now, nearing the end of my career and I *finally* reach the pinnacle of my sport??

Sounds like his teammates are thrilled with the no show too.

Justin Turner, who occupies the locker next to Gonzalez, declined to say whether he was disappointed that Gonzalez had chosen not to bask in World Series applause.

After that Carl Crawford bitchfest article that came out a few weeks ago it reignited my long dormant disdain for that whole 2011 Red Sox team. I almost forgot how much Gonzo was disliked after that whole debacle too. Sure he wasn’t pissing and moaning about Boston the same way his buddy Crawford was, but if there’s one thing Boston hates its a guy who just doesn’t give a shit. You can be the biggest cocksucker in the world, but if you produce, Boston will love you. Josh Beckett was a total asshole, but he was dominant in 2007 helping the Sox win a World Series. Same for John Lackey in 2013. We respect those guys because half of Boston readily admits, practically brags about being a dickhead. We call ourselves Massholes for christ sakes. But give us a guy who doesn’t care? Get the FUCK off my team. At least JD Drew had that grand slam in the ALCS in 2008; that one hit erased years of a disinterested, nonchalant corpse in right field. Theres a reason Trot Nixon, a career .274, is revered in New England and it ain’t his bat.

I love Dodgers manager Dave Roberts, that goes without saying. That guy is a legend and will never have to buy another beer in Boston until the day he dies. But I cannot root for a team that currently employs no show Adrian Gonzalez and “David Price before David Price” Carl Crawford. Sorry Dave, but the Houston Astros throwback jacket is coming out tonight.

In an Effort to End Tanking, NBA Changing Draft Lottery in 2019, Which is Perfect Timing to Not Affect the Celtics!

By on • ( Leave a comment )

ESPN – The NBA’s board of governors voted to pass legislation on draft lottery reform and guidelines for the resting of healthy players in the regular season, league sources told ESPN…The lottery reform changes will be instituted for the 2019 NBA draft..The NBA needed a three-fourths majority to pass draft lottery reform, which is designed to discourage teams from tanking to pursue the best possible odds to select highest in the draft order.

This is great news for Celtics fans in the sense that we won’t be getting fisted out of the last of our coveted (hopefully) lottery picks. Not so much for small market teams that rely on tanking. Christ, Sam Hinkie wrote the book on tanking. Dude got canned by the Sixers, but they wouldn’t be where they are today without him. Trust the Process indeed.

Thankfully the Celtics have already pocketed all those Nets picks:

2018: No. ? – Traded to CLE as part of Kyrie Irving deal
2017: No. 3 – Jayson Tatum (Right to swap with Nets and BOS traded down from No. 1)
2016: No. 3 – Jaylen Brown
2014: No. 17 – James Young

Now the C’s will bank on the 2018 Lakers pick being a Top-2 pick next summer. Looking back, the Celtics “only” got two top-five picks from the Brooklyn trade. Imagine if they’d gotten none because of changes to the Draft Lottery?

Starting in 2019, when the Celtics no longer have top, unprotected, golden lottery picks, the rules change. Perfect. If this shit happened four years ago those Nets picks are DRASTICALLY less valuable and maybe Billy King still has a job.

Long story short, having the worst record in the league is no longer a one way ticket to a top pick. Things are a lot murkier now.

“The three teams with the worst records will share a 14 percent chance of getting the No. 1 overall pick, a change from the descending percentages of 25, 19.9, and 15.6 in the current system.”

So while it was always a nail biter for the team with the worst record because you still only had a 1/4 chance of getting the No. 1 pick; now thats down to a 14 percent chance for 3 teams. In theory that should deter a team from saying fuck it and just tanking down the stretch if the bottom three teams all have the same chance of getting the No. 1 pick. Teams will still tank to get down to the bottom 3, but I guess its a step in the right direction if the NBA truly wants to eradicate tanking (good luck).

“Four teams — increased from three — will become part of the lottery draw, which means the No. 1 lottery seed could drop no further than fifth, No. 2 could drop no further than sixth, No. 3 no further than seventh, and No. 4 no further than eighth.”

Imagine having the worst record and somehow dropping to the No. 5 overall pick? If I’m a fan of that team I’m drinking a bottle of whiskey on Draft Lottery night.

Gotta love the NBA though, they’re always pivoting, always changing shit. Remember back in 2006 when they tried to introduce a new basketball and reversed course like 2 weeks later?

Well virtually every player in the NBA bitched about the new ball. Why change the only piece of equipment that actually matters? Who the hell knows. But hey they tried it. It bombed. And rather than just forcing it down everyones throats because it was the league’s decision they said yup you’re right, fixed it, and moved on. Thats what keeps leagues relevant, adapting to the times, trying new things, and if it doesn’t working cutting your losses and moving along. Not burying your head in the sand (NFL vs CTE) or staunchly opposing evolution (MLB vs everything).

So good luck to all the Lottery teams in 2019, I’m just glad the Celtics will have no part of it because I can’t handle that kind of stress in my life.

Carl Crawford Will Probably Blame the Red Sox for this Mean Headline

By on • ( 1 Comment )

Get it? Because Carl Crawford bitched and moaned about the Red Sox for years like the team forced him to sign a $142 million contract. Poor guy. Bleacher Report just smoked him with that headline. By the way, Crawford is STILL on that original contract the Red Sox signed him to back when I was still in college.

“Now in the final weeks of the monster seven-year, $142 million deal he signed before the 2011 season, Crawford is being paid nearly $22 million by the Dodgers this summer to not play baseball.” 

And guess what? I alllllmost started feeling bad for the guy with quotes like this:

“It just seems like my hamstrings started hurting one day and never stopped,” Crawford shrugs, shaking his head. “Then you compensate, and something else hurts.”

As a guy rapidly nearing 30 I can totally relate to my body just falling apart. My knees randomly hurt and I never played past high school.

And this:

“Lonely? Nah,” Crawford, who turned 36 last month, says from behind that wall. He gets that question a lot, and it’s easy to see why…It’s so funny, man,” he says. “I’d really like to get it on record: Everybody thinks I’m sad and lonely, and it’s just not the case. It’s not the case at all.”

I really was turning a corner on Carl Crawford. I was almost there. But then he starts up with THIS shit all over again. Even in retirement, collecting $22 million to do nothing, he still talks shit about Boston.

A naturally shy, private person, Crawford was no match for the high-volume baseball experience of Fenway Park. Former outfielder Torii Hunter was with the Los Angeles Angels at the time and attempted to recruit Crawford there, but the Boston money spoke louder. “I should have listened, man. They say, ‘Don’t go chasing waterfalls,” 

He hated Boston. The feeling was mutual. And after the Dodgers acquired him…he was more than happy to sling public arrows at Boston every chance he got. “I carried hate for that city for a long time,” Crawford says. “But now, I’m over that. I feel much better, because I learned that you can’t hate something or you never get over it. It definitely was a learning experience, definitely that. I got that out of it, if nothing else.”

Like we ruined his life. You were massively overpaid and massively underperformed and the city let you know about it. For better or for worse, thats Boston. We shit you not.

This is Why You Don’t Gamble Kids

By on • ( 1 Comment )

Last night was the most entertaining Thursday Night Football game I can ever remember watching. Now obviously these go back to like 2006, but that was a great game that I did not expect. First off, fire flames Color Rush jerseys by the Rams.

Props to them for actually wearing an absurdly loud uniform like the Bills and Jets original Color Rush jerseys before all the blindos complained.

BUT, if you had money on the Rams then you were well within your rights to smash everything in the house. The Rams were a (-2.5) point favorite, meaning they had to win by at least 3 to cover, which we said they would in our Week 3 picks.

So, after a Sammy Watkins’ TD catch midway through the 4th quarter the Rams go up by 15 with a little under 9 minutes left in the game. At that point I’m feeling pretty good about my pick.

That tweet was where it all started to unravel. After the Watkins TD the two sides exchanged punts and then the 49ers get the ball back with a little over 6 minutes left. From there on out it was Brian Hoyer time. Dude completes a 59 yard BOMB to Pierre Garcon in stride.

Now I’m getting a little nervous.

Hoyer promptly throws for another TD, the kick is good, and now the Niners are down 8 with a little over 5 mins to go.

OK, Todd Gurley time to run out the clock. Grind time baby. Oh wait nevermind, the Rams fucking FUMBLE the ball on the kickoff return. Niners ball. On a short field the Niners take 8 plays for Carlos Hyde to punch it in for a 1-yard TD with 2:17 left in the game.

The 49ers are now down 2 before they elect to go for the 2-point conversion. At this point I am PRAYING that they convert so the Rams will actually have a reason to move the ball and score again. Nope, of course Brian Hoyer throws a goddamn pick and they don’t convert the 2-point attempt. Shit.

The 49ers onside kick it and the ball perfectly bounces off a guys head before the Niners RECOVER IT! We’re back in business baby! If the Niners score then the Rams have to go all out. Lets see what you got Hoyer.

Two incompletions. Offensive holding penalty. Incompletion. Sacked on 4th down. Game over. Rams win by 2 points.

Mayor of LA Says He Didn’t Even Want the Chargers in LA

By on • ( Leave a comment )

Yahoo –  I’ve written often about how the Los Angeles Chargers‘ relocation is the worst in modern American professional sports history, how L.A. didn’t want the Chargers and how its apathy has grown more obvious now that games have started…Even Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti can’t pretend to be fired up…“We embrace any team that comes, we’re certainly happy to have the Chargers in L.A.,” Garcetti said during a recent interview on “The Dan Patrick Show.” “But I think we could have been happy with just one [team], too.”

Bahaha. What a slap in the face for a team that just basically told their fans of 50 years to screw as the Chargers moved down to LA to become the second team that city didn’t need. Its like breaking up with your longterm girlfriend only to have the smokeshow you left her for get sick of you in 2 weeks. We all said it. LA is too apathetic, too many transplants, no one will care about an NFL team, let alone two. And now the fucking mayor is even saying it.

 “I think we could have been happy with just one [team], too.”

Thats gotta sting if your Chargers owner Dean Spanos. Sure Garcetti later goes on to say getting the Chargers was “gravy” but thats like a girl calling her fat friend “nice.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

“It’s amazing. Through the years, cities have treated landing a new pro team like a historic, city-changing event. In many ways, it is. Los Angeles didn’t exactly go crazy about the Rams, but there was some buzz. There’s practically none for the Chargers, and Garcetti said the city would have been fine had the Chargers stayed in San Diego.”

Lets face it, moving 2 hours down the road from San Diego to LA is not nearly as sexy as a team making the pilgrimage from St. Louis and relocating to LA. Plus, as the Chargers are now learning:

Maybe moving into the shiny new Inglewood stadium in a couple of years will help, but they’re always going to be the little brother team as the Rams started this whole SoCal operation. Buttt the Rams do suck pretty bad at football, so who knows maybe the Chargers get good before the Rams and become the city’s favorite football team…behind USC.