FanNation

Seattle Loses Sonics and Nobody (outside of Seattle) cares

In my last post, I mentioned that one of the many memories from the 2008 NBA Finals is the fans at the Boston Garden booing David Stern.  That one was a long time coming.  Stern is one of the biggest frauds in sports.  His main focus is marketing and maximizing the bottom line.  The Celtics fans dislike of Stern goes way back to the death of Reggie Lewis.  Through the years, Stern has given salary cap relief to teams with injured players.  But the Celtics were given no cap relief for a player who died.  The rest of the NBA wanted to see Boston go down.  They got their wish.  It's ironic that Stern and the rest of his idiot staff were probably as happy as anything to see the Celtics back in the Finals as ratings went through the roof. 

Observations on the NBA Draft & Finals

The media almost convinced me that the Lakers were really a better team than the Celtics.  Let's face it.  If you just watch ESPN, you might think style and offense are more important than defense.  ESPN has the biggest collection of frontrunners anywhere and is just an atrocious conglomeration of garbage.  Outside of Outside the Lines and the Sports Reporters, there is nothing redeeming about the four letter network.  When the Celtics fans in Boston Garden booed Stuart Scott who was hosting postgame ceremonies, it made me feel proud to be a Celtics fan and New Englander.  The boos for David Stern were well deserved too.  But that's another story.

Moving On

I haven't blogged in a while here.  I was sick watching the end of the Super Bowl and then got sick for two weeks.  Hey, when the other team has a guy catch a pass off  his helmet, you're going to lose. 

My final thoughts on the Patriots aren't good.  Just about every Super Bowl loser has a Super Hangover and I don't think the Pats will be an exception.  The Colts will be better with Freeney back.  The Chargers were coming on at the end of the year and so were the Jaguars.  The Patriots CAN take the AFC again.  I just don't think it will be so easy.  Ellis Hobbs getting burned on the final touchdown pass should be a warning to the team to make every effort to sign Asante Samuel. 

Super Bowl - Hall of Fame Reaction

The Selection Process for the NFL Hall of Fame is so much better than Major League Baseball's. There aren't many voters in the NFL Vote and they actually meet and make cases for and against players.  The biggest criticism I have is that players from Super Bowl winners seem to get an extra bump and players on weaker teams have a much tougher go of it.  I guess that happens in baseball too.  Lynn Swann doesn't belong in the Hall.  Darrell Green, Art Monk, Gary Zimmerman, Andre Tippett, Fred Dean, and Emmitt Thomas (veterans committee) are all solid choices.  Once again, the rational voices of Paul Zimmerman and Peter King helped to keep out the fraud that is Ray Guy (42 avg, 34 net avg).  Chris Carter, Russ Grimm, Andre Reed, and Randall McDaniel, Randy Gradishar, Richard Dent, and Derrick Thomas were among other finalists who did not get in.  Carter, Grimm, and Thomas may be knocking down the door next year. 

Final Pre Super Bowl Shots

Arlen Specter is a whining Eagles fan and he's also a US Senator.  That's a dangerous combination that set off some incredible stupidity and more waste of taxpayer money.  What a self absorbed grandstanding move trying to put the NFL on the defensive during this week. 

Tom Petty is the aging rocker of choice for this year's Super Bowl.  How many said NO before Petty got this gig?  Was Huey Lewis next in line?  U2 put on the best show in SB XXXVI.  I don't hate Tom Petty.  But the NFL should and could do better.