Tag: New York

Carmelo Anthony Traded to OKC; How Does This Affect the Celtics?

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Something I wanted to touch on as it does directly affect the Boston Celtics was Carmelo Anthony getting traded to the Thunder over the weekend. Now obviously Melo’s trade value has plummeted over the years, especially with the $54 Million he’s due to make over the next two years, but it was still a pretty measly return for the Knicks. I guess they just wanted to close that chapter and move on and rebuild (AROUND DOUGIE MCBUCKETS!)

But hats off to Sam Presti. This guy has been getting roasted for years, rightfully so, for blowing up the Thunder and trading away “bench players” like James Harden who has only grown into a Top 5 player in the league. So getting Carmelo Anthony and Paul George this offseason for Enes Kanter, Doug McDermott, a 2018 second-round pick, Victor Oladipo, and Domantas Sabonis is the definition of pulling a rabbit out of your ass.

Now how does this affect the Celtics? Well its always good to see an elite scorer not land with your biggest rival in Cleveland, which is where a lot of rumors had Melo going. Problem is GM LeBron has gutted this team of assets so the Cavs don’t really have much to offer anyone aside from that brand new Brooklyn pick, which was obviously never gonna happen. But, Melo on the Cavs was a scary thought. Say what you want about the guy, but if he’s the second or third option and can just hang out in the corner waiting for his shot, thats lethal. So him going to OKC helps Boston avoid an even larger uphill battle against the Cavs.

Remember when LeBron said Super Teams weren’t a thing? Welp, What is dead may never die. There are now like 4-5 teams (read: Golden State) that have a real shot at winning the title, which is bad for the league, but great for NBA2K because OKC just became a must play team.

Also, hopefully Carmelo, Paul George and Russell Westbrook don’t murder each other when they’re all gunning for the last shot. Hopefully it works out because I NEED Russell to win a title in OKC soon just to see him essentially host the Haters Ball in his victory speech. I don’t think Kevin Durant would ever recover from the things Russ might say in that speech. Need to see it.

PS – While Carmelo on the Knicks was basically a dumpster fire for the better part of six years, let us never forget that trade spawned one of the best sports commercials of all-time. I’m not even a Knicks fan and that commercial still gives me goosebumps.

After Odell Beckham’s “Dog Taking a Leak” This Adam Carolla Classic Celebration Can’t Be Far Behind

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The NFL softened its stance on touchdown celebrations this season after years of being dubbed the No Fun League. Most of them are just fun dances (or punting the ball into the stands if you’re Stefon Diggs), but Odell Beckham is not like most cats. No, rather than salsa dance, backflip, or fake moon the crowd

ODB decided to get on all fours, crawl around, and pretend to piss like a dog?

Weird move, but I feel like free speech has been a particularly hot topic the past few days, so do your thing ODB. I guess. The NY Post missed a huge opportunity though to print the single greatest headline ever: GIANTS PISS AWAY GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY IN LOSS. But I digress.

After seeing the dog taking a leak TD dance, it reminded me of an old classic from The Man Show. Adam Carolla’s trademark celebration of reading the newspaper while taking a dump. After seeing ODB, this one cannot be far behind:

Eli Manning is Probably Having a Rough Morning

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These primetime games have featured some HELLACIOUS hits the first two weeks of the season. First we had JJ Watt nearly cutting a guy in half on Thursday night and last night on Monday Night Football we had Eli getting absolutely smoked. Looking like the lady out of the Life Alert commercial.

I’m sure all the tough guys and practice heroes will say stop babying the QBs, put a skirt on em etc. etc. but my god thats a 300 pound dude falling on your neck and head. Not a great position to be in, especially for a guy with two brothers that have had spine/neck injuries. Despite Gruden saying “thats why” Eli Manning is great, my advice would be to bail out on those ones before you look like this:

Red Sox Admit to Stealing Signs Against the Yankees Using an Apple Watch

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NY Times – For decades, spying on another team has been as much a part of the gamesmanship of baseball as brushback pitches and hard slides. The Red Sox have apparently added a modern — and illicit — twist: They used an Apple Watch to gain an advantage against the Yankees and other teams..The commissioner’s office then confronted the Red Sox, who admitted that their trainers had received signals from video replay personnel and then relayed that information to some players — an operation that had been in place for at least several weeks.

Oh for christ’s sake. Steve Jobs would be rolling over in his goddamn grave. Now for the record I do not think stealing signs in baseball is a big deal, I believe every team is doing it in some form or another. But leave it to the Red Sox to get caught up in another big embarrassing storyline to make the whole organization look bad.

As retarded as this whole scenario is, I do respect the Red Sox for just getting petty with it.

“The Red Sox responded in kind on Tuesday, filing a complaint against the Yankees, claiming that the team uses a camera from its television network, YES, exclusively to steal signs during games.”

Basically responding to the allegations by saying “well, yea..but fuck you” and filing a complaint of their own.

Also, I want to call bullshit on John Farrell not being aware of this whole thing, but the guy is a goddamn space case so I actually don’t doubt it. Not exactly a players manager either so I doubt Pedroia, the guy who threw his whole team under the bus with the Manny Machado incident, is casually chatting with Manager John over stuff like this.

I did hear Curt Schilling on WEEI this morning though and when asked about the situation he said you’re a moron if you think this isn’t going on everywhere. Basically said it happened in every game of his career, on both sides, all the way from A-ball to the major leagues.

“I never looked at it as cheating. I looked at it as I throw harder than you and if I catch you I’ll hurt you way worse than you can hurt me.”

According to Schilling the Yankees are far from innocent of doing this shit too.

“Alex [Rodriguez] used to do it in New York at second base. And he wasn’t good at it.”

Fucking A-Rod man. Guy can’t even steal signs without getting made fun of by his peers. In full transparency though, Schilling said his teams did the same thing.

“Game 6 of the 2001 World Series (Yankees lost 16-2) we knew every single pitch Andy Pettitte threw.”

It’s just part of the game. But, this is just what we need in Boston, another cheating scandal. Sure, every rational person will say eh its just stealing signs, legitimately every other team does it in some form or another. But fans aren’t rational. Most fans, especially dickhead New Yorkers, will tie it all neatly together with Spygate and just make me want to put a bullet in my brain as I’ll now have to debate this incident for the rest of my life too.

This team is fucked anyways, steal as many signs as you want. Won’t help Rick Porcello not serve up batting practice to last place teams.

Jets Are Now 1,000-1 Odds to Win the Super Bowl; the Worst Odds Ever

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1,000-1. Those are the Jets odds of winning the Super Bowl. The same odds as the Warriors NOT making the playoffs. Insane. Just for comparisons sake, the Patriots odds to win the Super Bowl are currently 11/4. Just slightly better.

I guess if you’re a Jets fan, the one saving grace is that this year they are intentionally bad. Sure if they had really tried they still wouldn’t have been great, but by getting rid of Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker, Sheldon Richardson and other players they have basically punted on the season. And as painful as this season will be for those dummies in green, its a smart play long term. Especially with a pretty solid looking crop of top QB prospects this year. UCLA’s Josh Rosen looked like a goddamn stud this weekend.

But it is the Jets, so odds are they luck into like 3-4 wins and lose out on a franchise QB. It really is amazing to have witnessed three peaks and valleys in the Jets franchise all while the Patriots have remained consistently dominant the entire time. Think about it. We’ve witnessed the rise (and fall) of Eric Mangini, the Rex Ryan era featuring the roughly 3 year reign of Bart Scott and the mouthy assholes, and most recently the moderately successful 1-year reign of Todd Bowles and Ryan Fitzpatrick before falling back to earth and saying screw it lets be REALLY bad.

All sandwiched between a mere 5 Patriots Super Bowl victories. What a goddamn shadow over the New York Jets of New Jersey.

Dice-K 2.0 Watch is ON as the Red Sox are in on Japanese Phenom Prospect Shohei Otani

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NESN – It appears the Boston Red Sox want a seat at the table of the Shohei Otani sweepstakes. The Red Sox are one of many MLB teams to express interest in the highly-touted Japanese pitcher/outfielder, according to multiple reports. The Sox and New York Yankees have the most international allotment money in the majors — $8 million apiece — and thus are in the best position to pursue a player like Otani, per Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports. And according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports and The Athletic, Boston and New York are among 13 teams who have requested to scout Otani in person.

Tomato/to-mah-toh. While some may see Dice-K 2.0 others may see a pitcher/outfielder who excels at both and think of the immortal Casey Kelley! Another can’t miss prospect who was so good at pitching and playing the field that he ended up being good at neither as a pro.

The Sox have been gearing up for a move like this though as they are tied for the most international allotment money in the majors at $8M. Tied with the goddamn Yankees to boot.

So you know the Red Sox are just itching to throw some money at a sexy foreign prospect because they have such a great track record with expensive international players like Dice-K and colossal bust Rusney Castillo. Boston tends to fare better with smaller deals when dipping its toe into the international pool with guys like Junichi Tazawa and Hideki Okajima. We did also get guys like Xander Bogaerts and Yoan Moncada (top prospect in MLB despite his early career struggles).

Obviously the Sox aren’t going to shun the international market, nor should they, because of a few (HUGE) swings and misses, but I am a little reluctant to give another gigantic payday to an unknown player because he’s mowing down 140 pound Japanese guys halfway across the world.

Either way Shohei Otani played in the WBC for Japan and currently plays in the Nippon Pro Baseball League (just like ya boy Dice-K) and is straight up DOMINATING.

“He started 20 games on the mound for the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in 2016, tallying a 10-4 record and a 1.86 ERA. He also has thrown the fastest recorded pitch in NPB history, at 102 mph. Otani excelled as a hitter last season, as well, posting a .322 batting average with 22 home runs and 67 RBIs in 2014 games played.”

So definitely someone to keep an eye on, especially if David Price continues to circle the drain amidst his $217 DL stint. Shohei Otani watch is ON!

PS – Fun fact. A few years ago I made the pilgrimage to Queens to check out Citi Field as the Mets were playing the Red Sox. And who was on the mound? Yup, Dice-K. Didn’t even realize he was still in the league. How’d he do you ask? Left the game due to injury of course. What a career.

The New York Jets Have Truly Embarrassed Themselves With This New T-Shirt

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The Jets have done a lot of embarrassing things over the years, but this new t-shirt may take the cake.

No Off Days? Why..does..that..sound..so..familiar?

Oh thats right, its because Bill Belichick made it the biggest Patriots rallying cry since Do Your Job and The Patriot Way. But here come the Jets like some shitty t-shirt vendor just switching a couple words around and passing it off as their own. Embarrassing. Not even worth the ink it would cost to print the cease and desist letter.

NO. OFF. DAYS.

CC Sabathia is Upset the Red Sox Had the Nerve to Bunt On Him

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NY Post – CC Sabathia didn’t like the Red Sox game plan in the first inning of Saturday night’s 4-3 Yankees win at Fenway Park. So, when he fielded Andrew Benintendi’s bunt toward the third base line and fired a hard strike to first base for the final out, the veteran lefty waved his pitching hand at the Red Sox dugout in a dismissive way. “To come out and that’s your strategy, that got me going a little bit,’’ Sabathia told The Post at his locker Sunday morning. “Literally, two of the hottest hitters in baseball bunting. If that was their strategy, I [handled] it.’’

CC, my man, you are infamous for losing weight because you made the slight change to your diet of not eating a BOX of Captain Crunch every day. And now you’re on a bum knee? Forgive the Red Sox if they think making the fat guy move around a bit might throw him off his game. More than 10 years later every single Red Sox fan still asks why DIDN’T the Yankees do the same thing in the 2004 ALCS against Curt Schilling. The guy was pitching on an ankle held together by bubble gum and blood magic in Game 6 and was DOMINATING. Yet, the Yanks never tested his mobility by bunting, which has always seemed odd. Some guys just aren’t capable of thinking outside of the box I guess.

 

Time to Make the Donuts: Red Sox Take 2 Out of 3 from the Yankees

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Taking 2 out of 3 from the Yankees in late August is always going to be huge, especially when it extends the Red Sox lead in the AL East to 5 games. This series may have put the division out of reach for the Baby Bombers. As a friend of mine, a diehard Yankees fan said over the weekend, “We still have the Wild Card.” Indeed. A few highlights from the weekend series below:

  • The Red Sox have broken Aroldis Chapman. In a span of two weeks they’ve taken him from a dominant All-Star closer throwing triple digits to a middle relief guy coming into a game in the 6th inning.
  • Aaron Judge continues to strike out a prolific clip, extending his MLB record for consecutive games with a K to 37. The Red Sox also seem to have the rookie’s number as he’s only 9-58 against Boston this year and was just 1-12 this weekend.
  • The Sox seemingly dodged a bullet with Drew Pomeranz, who left the game due to back spasms on Friday night. Luckily for the Sox reports say Pomeranz is responding well to treatment and is in line to make his next start.
  • Rafael Devers continues to rake and looks like a budding superstar. The 20 year old third baseman homered in three straight games against the NYY and you can tell the Yankees pitchers are approaching him much more carefully lately.

The two teams are back at it Labor Day weekend for a 4 game series where the Sox will look to put the final nail in the Yankees coffin if they’re still within punching distance.

 

Belichick Refuses to Mention the Jets by Name. Shoe-in for Hater of the Year.

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Yahoo – Belichick and the Patriots are practicing with the Texans this week and the Patriots coach was asked about his long relationship with Texans assistant head coach Romeo Crennel during the press conference. “Well, Romeo and I started together at the Giants in special teams, so he and I coached special teams together and then we coached defensively together through 1990,” Belichick said in comments distributed by the team. “We worked at the Patriots together, then another team, and then back with the Patriots in 2001. I’ve relied on him through the years, both with our team when I worked with him, but even at times outside when we could help each other and it wasn’t a conflict in competitiveness.”

How can you not love a man with this much hate in his heart? A guy thats won FIVE Super Bowls while his former employer has literally become the worst team in the league.

Doesn’t matter. If you’ve got hate in your heart, let it out. Bill still feels like the Jets mistreated him one way or another so whats a bigger fuck you than not even mentioning your name? Its like when people ask about an old ex-girlfriend from college and you just pretend like you can’t even remember her name. Ultimate disrespect.

Even if you think Bill should be over the whole Parcells/Jets situation, you can’t argue that Mangini and the Jets fucked him pretty good in 2007 by creating the whole Spygate scandal. That shit will never die for Belichick.

Some people may call that petty. I call that an insatiable, burning desire to crush your enemies. Thats the kind of general I want to follow into battle.