Shaquille O'Neal Joins The Celtics!

Shaq is now a Celtic, but is it a good thing?

This NBA off-season has been one for the ages. Players have been finding new homes in new places, and picking up allot of money in the process. But in some cases players are just trying to continue their careers and hopefully win another championship. This is the case for Shaquille O'Neal, the newest member of the Boston Celtics.

Shaq will have the duty of filling in for Kendrick Perkins while he is out recovering from knee surgery. When the Celtics signed Jermaine O'Neal last month we all thought it would be his job to fill the gap, but obviously Danny Ainge and Doc have a different idea for the O'Neal's. With the addition of Shaq, Jermaine O'Neal will be able to fill in for Garnett and get minutes at the Center position. This takes stress off of all three of these players and also takes some weight off of Big Babies shoulders.

When this deal was first announced i was very skeptical of it. I first felt that it was a bad idea, and that Shaq wasn't needed to make the Celtics a Championship winning team. But now I believe in this move. When i look back on KG's performance in the Playoffs and regular season he looked tired and out of it. This move will help the team by dividing minutes across a number of extremely talented and successful players giving everyone a chance to rest and stay healthy. Any of the concerns i have with Shaq joining the Celts can be fixed and taken care of in practices leading up to the season. The biggest concern being that he will get in the way of Rondo when he cuts to the net. But this is a simple fix during practices. The pieces the Celtics have can easily be made into a cohesive winning unit as long as all of those pieces are willing to play their part.

Lets keep our fingers crossed!

Red Sox drop one to Mariners... Literally

Lester's amazing performance foiled by rookie error...

In the bottom of the 6th inning Jon Lester gave up his first hit of last nights game. This wasn't just any hit, this was simply a pop fly to center field that is usually a routine out. Unfortunately for Lester instead of getting the out Eric Patterson drops the ball in typical "Little League" fashion. This first hit clearly got to Lester because the very next batter hit a two run home run, giving the Mariners their first two runs of the game.

This was game three of a four game series against the Mariners in which the Red Sox have won the first two games. Tonight the Sox play game four before heading to California to take on the Angels. Once the Sox play three games against the Angels they will finally come back to Boston for a series versus the injury plagued Tigers (Magglio Ordóñez broke his right ankle last night sliding into home). These are games the Sox have to win to start getting back into the race int he AL East that the Yankees are currently winning. This will be an up hill battle for the Sox, but I truly believe they can come back and get that final play-off spot.

Now that Josh Beckett is back into the picture we will have a better chance of pulling off a win every fifth day. In his first start back he got 5 strike outs in only 5.2 innings. it was a solid game back, and a great win for the team. We can only hope that his presence will boost the moral of the team, and having some veteran leadership will charge the team to go on a winning streak.

In other news as you can see the first edition of BosYork sneakers are in. These bad boys were made during the Playoffs, but unfortunately didn't get here until this week. They are inspired by the Celtics and will be my official Celtics watching sneakers moving forward. Let me know what you think of them, and if you have any ideas for what the Red Sox pair should look like.

AL East - Its Always a Battle

The Yankees may be the best team in Baseball, but the Rays are right there...

As I write this post the Red Sox are tied with the Oakland Athletics 4 - 4 in the top of the sixth. If the Sox can pull out another win they will pull with in 3 games of the Rays, they are right there. This also means that the Sox will take over 2nd place in the AL East and also the highly coveted Wild Card spot in the AL. I said to people that the Sox would take over the top spot in the East by the 4th of July, but as we all know that didn't happen.

Today the Orioles were able to steal a win from the Rays winning 11 - 10 in the bottom of the 13th. This is the type of game i can really get behind. As a Sox fan you can't help but cheer for whatever team is playing either the Rays or the Yankees. Growing up it was only the Yankees, but know with the Rays finally putting it together there is a three way grudge match coming out of the East. This past weekend the Yankees and the Rays played each other. So I was stuck with the conundrum, "who do I want to see win?". I hate to say this but I sound myself cheering for the Yankees to beat the Rays. I am sorry for everyone out there reading this but I was. I sat at Phebe's with a fellow Sox fan saying that I guess we want the Yankees to win so the Sox can take over 2nd position. Thankfully he was there to reminded me that the Red Sox have to take it one thing at a time, and the first thing they have to do is get around the Ray, who are really right there.

After this three game series with the Oakland A's they will play a three game series against the second worst team in Baseball. From this moment on the Sox need to capitalize on every sub par team and the series that they play against them. They don't have much room to screw around with. We are now in the second half of the season where everything counts. Guys are coming back from injury so excuses are going out the window. This is the time for the bats to get hot and the arms to get loose. Who knows how long we will be able to put our starters out there with all the health problems we have seen this year. Beckett is starting on Friday, and we need his start to be the corner the Sox turn for the rest of the season. I plan on getting back to Boston for another game soon, lets hope its a win!

I will be blogging more often soon about the Sox and their overall performance, and the beginning of Patriots practice, stay tuned!

Just Another Day...

Today was just another day in the concrete jungle...

Today started the same way that most of my days start. I had a hangover and was starving. From the experience of life I have learned that the best thing to have when in this situation is a breakfast sandwich. My usual breakfast sandwich is two eggs, turkey, and cheese on a whole wheat wrap with hot sauce (affectionately called the Zachwich). This morning wasn't a Zachwich day though, today was a Dunkin Donuts day. When I go to D&D the sandwich of choice is always is the ham, egg, and cheese on an English Muffin. But as I mentioned I was particularly hung over so I went with a double usual and two Gatorades. While in D&D someone behind me said, "how do you get away with wearing your gear?". This has always been a puzzling question to me for as long as I have lived in New York. I turned around to find a nondescript guy looking at my Kevin Youkilis t-shirt. I then noticed that he isn't just looking at my shirt, but he is also looking at my Red Sox hat. To his initial comment I told him that its not my gear, these are just my clothes.

I have lived in New York full time since 2004, and I have never stopped wearing my team colors. I have a jersey for all of our respected teams, and also have t-shirts and hats for those teams as well. So when I get dressed in the morning and head out there is a fifty percent chance that I will be wearing a t-shirt with one of the Boston teams on it. When someone says to me "wearing gear" I get confused because when I think of gear I think of a solider heading out for battle. Last time I checked there isn't a war going on in downtown Manhattan.

These types of interactions happen to me more than you would think. After I left Mr. Nondescript, who happened to grow up in Framingham Massachusetts I was walking home and anther guy said, "You must be from the Bean with all that gear!". This second gentleman was clearly from New York, and had no idea what he was talking about so to him I just said "Yup". If these guys only knew that my "gear" never comes off. With Pat the Patriot tattooed on your back you really can't escape it.

LeBron Goes to Miami, Feels the Heat from Cleveland

Lebron James has finally made his choice, but was it the right one?

As most of America saw lat night, the No. 1 free agent in the NBA market made his decision where he would play hoops next year. LeBron James has hijacked the headlines recently with all the speculation of where he would go next year and play Basketball. Some people though he would stay with his home town team, and have ownership build a team around him so he could finally bring a championship to Cleveland. But some people knew better. Unfortunately for the city of Cleveland their savior was a 25 year old man, who wants what every High School educated 25 year old wants, the lime light, money, and notoriety. Like most 25 year old men LeBron doesn't have the patients or thinks he has the time to wait for Cleveland to give him what he needs to win the hardware.

Outside of the Basketball prowess lets talk about what LeBron James is. Yes Basketball has given him everything, and due to Basketball he has been able to accomplish a lot, but lets look at the man without it. James grew up in Akron Ohio which is 39 miles from downtown Cleveland. Making it fair to say that he grew up his whole life as a Cavs fan. James' father was an ex con who was never around and he was raised by just his mother. he attended St. Vincents High School in Akron. So from this point on in life it is fair to say that he probably has never left the state of Ohio, maybe even Akron. Then After High School James decided to not go to College and continue his education, he instead decided to take a high paying job in his home state of Ohio in the near by city of Cleveland. Now after 7 years James starts look around for other opportunities and because he has done so well at his first job out of High School other companies want him really badly to come and work for them. Lots of these companies can offer James the same amount of money but at one particular company he has two friends that are already employed, one that has been there for a few years and another that just got hired. James knows that when he is with these other tow guys he has done great work in the past, so he decides he will take his skills to Florida. He has never lived in Florida, and looks at this a great opportunity to make more money and live somewhere new. When you take Basketball out of the equation it makes it sound more like me and my buddies then LeBron and his.

I don't blame LeBron for leaving Cleveland and going Miami, I really don't. Look at those two cities. Miami is an amazingly beautiful hot bed, and Cleveland is cold and boring. Then when you look at the teams its a no brainer. He could play with a couple of guys that also made the Olympics in Miami, or go play with a couple of guys who could be confused for guys playing int he Special Olympics. By LeBron joining the Heat he has created a real life Harlem Globetrotters. This team will walk over the majority of the Eastern Conference and the league. teams like LA and our beloved Celts will clearly give them a ruin for their money if not a lose or two, but the rest if the league will definitely look like a JV squad. Its not a question of will this team win championships its a question of how many and when will they win their first.

The problem that LeBron has put himself in, and that he won't realize until he is at least 30 is that he has tainted his legacy forever. No matter how many championships and titles he wins, people will always remember this moment. People will remember how he crushed a city with one career move, and how he act as though he is bigger than the league, and the game itself by putting on this circus know as "The Decision". I don't care about LeBron, I never did and I never will. But i am not from Cleveland (thank god) so i don't really understand how bad it feels to have one of your own turn his back on you. LeBron was Ohio. He was born there, he lived his whole life there, played his High School ball there, and even played in and won the MVP Trophy of the McDonald High School All Americans in Ohio. When Cleveland drafted LeBron in 2003 they felt that they were getting the one guy that would never leave them, and the one guy who truly understood what it was like to be from that area. But what they forgot was that LeBron is just a 25 year old kid with the world in the palm of his hand. He doesn't have the foresight to see that staying in Cleveland and winning a championship there would have meant so much more to him, the city, and his legacy. Player today don't stay with teams anymore the way they used to. Most of the time its not up to them, but when it is you hope as a sports fan that they will choice to stay. LeBron had the opportunity to stay in one place for his whole career and make just as much money as he is going to make in Miami but he just didn't get it. He allowed himself to become just another commodity, and robbed himself of his own legacy.

Celtics Sign Jermaine O'Neal

Today the Celtics took a big move and signed veteran Jermaine O'Neal with a full mid-level exception.

Jermaine O'Neal is a six-time All-Star who has played the last year and a half with the Miami Heat, who are now going to be strapped for cash with the recent signings of Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.

Last season with the heat O'Neal earned $23 million but was willing to take a pay cut (MLE of $5.7) to come to the Celts and play on a team that has a chance to win a championship. This is great news for all of us Celts fans who wondered what was going to happen with our man Perk down and out until February with a torn right ACL. O'Neal is a great perimeter player and excellent rebounder. Once Perk comes back from this surgery him and O'Neal are sure to share time.

This news is also extremely comforting after hearing that LeBron may end up on the Heat next year. If this happens it will make getting out of the East even that much more difficult. D-Wade, Bosh, and LeBron would be like watch the Harlem Globe Trotters. I am in hopes that LeBron will either stay in Cleveland and play with that band of rejects or go to the Chicago Bulls. Lets all keep our fingers crossed that LeBrons ego is way to big to play in the house that D-Wade built.

World Cup is Over... Time to Focus on Baseball

Once again the US falls to Ghana in the second round of the World Cup...

The United States will always have one major flaw when it comes to Soccer and the World Cup... we just aren't that good. The United States doesn't have its best athletes playing Soccer. The best American athletes are playing the major market sports, Basketball, Baseball, Football, and Hockey. If these players were playing Soccer the United States would destroy the other countries in the World Cup. Image the greatest athletes from our other sports playing Soccer...

If we look at the NBA Finals this year, you have a few guys that would make interesting Soccer players. I first picture a player like Rajon Rondo playing defense, and being a dominant force when it comes to heading the ball in off corner kicks. The US missed so many headers because they just couldn't jump as high as their competition. Rondo also has the speed to move up and down the pitch, and with years of training he would have the foot work need to be a great player. Remember Rondo was a three sport star (baseball, football, and basketball). I then think about a guy like Kobe Bryant, lets throw him in goal. The guy has the quickness and reach to go after any ball that came at him. He can also jump as high as you would need him to. Tim Howard is a great goalie, but Kobe is 3 inches taller then Howard, giving him a few more inches in his wingspan as well. If we move away from the Finals and think about LeBron playing Soccer, the options get even more amazing. He could cover either of the possitions that I already mentioned.

But what about speed? We will definitely need to put the fastest people on the planet out there. So lets take Percey Harvin, Steve Smith, DeSean Jackson, Devin Hester, and Chris Johnson and throw them onto the pitch to fly by every other country. These guys are some of the fastest athletes that America has. I don't care who the fastest guy on the US soccer team is, cause i bet all of these guys would blow by that guy and not take lame ass dives every time someone touched them. If the money, fame, and glory that came from some of the other American sports were associated with Soccer than maybe these athletes would play Soccer instead but for now we are stuck with what we have.