Bye Bye Cleveland

On Thursday night the Boston Celtics defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 94-85 in game six of their Eastern Conference semi-final series, thus eliminating the Cavaliers. The most telling part of the evening was in the last minute or so of play. The Celtics had the ball and what did LeBron James and the Cavaliers do, they watched the Celtics dribble the ball. They didn't try to foul the ball handler. They didn't try to steal the ball. Instead they just flat out quit. This to me is the worst thing I can say about a player or a team, but it was right there for everyone to see. The funniest thing was that in the post game press conference Cavaliers coach Mike Brown said his team fought to the end. Why lie to us Coach Brown? We saw it and you saw it, I don't expect you to throw your team under the bus, but don't lie to cover their butts. Another thing is I was surprised not one of the reporters in the room had the guts to call him on it. Mark Jackson did it during the broadcast and kudos to him. On July 1 LeBron James officially becomes a free agent, until then we will have to endure speculation on where LeBron will wind up. Of course there will be no real information just a bunch of guessing by a bunch of so called experts. Meanwhile the Eastern Conference Finals will take a backseat to the LeBron speculation circus and to me that is just kind of sad.

Song of the Blog: It is time to reveal the song of the blog and this time around the honor is bestowed upon an 90's country tune The Mavericks "All You Ever Do is Bring Me Down." It is just a fun little song that isn't something I usually like, but somehow the song gets in my head and stays there, and not like a dreadful Lady GaGa song.

To Tase or Not to Tase That is the Question?

I woke up this morning and as usually flicked the TV on to Mike and Mike in the Morning on ESPN2. It wasn't long before they touched on an incident that happened last night in Philadelphia. A 17 year old kid consulted with his dad and he decided that it would be a good idea to run out on the field. So he proceeded to run and avoid security until he was Tasered. Needless to say the 17 year old punk fell to the ground and the game could continue shortly thereafter. Now everyone who has ever attended a game knows that you are not allowed on the field of play. This punk decided he was above the law and did it anyway. Now his father says that it was just a prank and that he is shocked (bad pun intended) the cops Tased him. I say the idiot got what he deserved. If you stay in your seat you won't get Tased. Now a debate rages on the internet about if it was justified and many cop haters have come out of the woodwork, including the ACLU. I guess we should wait until one of these morons stabs someone before we take action? Then again the cops would be blamed then because someone would say they didn't do their job. Now the kid got his 15 minutes of fame and his weenie father will probably file some trumped up lawsuit against the Phillies and everyone else. This is what we have come to, and it just makes me sad.


Stupid statement of the week: Jim Felix in his blog Another Night at Citizen's Bank Park wrote about the incident: "First of all he was a Phillies fan. The team on the field at the time was the Phillies. I don’t think a Phillies fan is looking to harm anybody on his home team." I am glad this guy isn't the head of security, because all someone would have to do is where the hometown jersey to do whatever the hell he wants.

A Good Sunday

Yesterday was just a great sports day. The baseball season is still all shiny and new. The NHL wrapped up it's regular season, with my Bruins warning a sixth seed. The Lakers took another loss as the stumble towards the playoffs. The best event from yesterday though had to be the Masters. The Masters is easily my favorite golf tournament and when one of my favorite golfers won the title it made it that much better. Now I will let it be known that I was rooting for Fred Couples first and foremost. Couples has been my favorite golfer for a long time and it was nice to see him near the top of the leaderboard all weekend long. But if Fred couldn't win, I was perfectly content seeing my second favorite win, Phil Mickelson. Phil is just the kind of guy I want my athletes to be, approachable, somewhat humble, and of course talented. Phil seems like a guy that you could sit down and have a beer with. This is a reason many give for liking John Daly, but of course you would have to sit down and have a case of beer with Daly. We all know that Tiger Woods was the focus coming into the Masters and he played well for someone who was away from the game for so long. I won't bash Tiger here, I will leave that to the holier than though crowd, but I heard stories of Tiger reaching out to fans this weekend and I really hope he keeps that up. Tiger will never be able to get back to where he was before "the scandal," but he can climb out of the hole a bit by letting the fans in just a bit. So congratulations to Mickelson and his family a well deserved victory and maybe the perfect ending to the weekend after all.

Song of the Blog: Hungry Heart by Bruce Springsteen. I have liked this song since I first heard when I was just 11 years old (man that is a long time ago). Another simple song, with a simple message, that everyone just wants to find a place in this world where they fit in.

A Legend Slowly Passes

The opening day of the baseball season is Monday. It is the time of year when almost every fan thinks that their team may just win it all this year. It is personally one of my favorite days of the year. There is a man out in Michigan that was part of 55 opening days. He was never a player, a manager, or even a coach, yet to many he meant the beginning of spring. He was just one of the best baseball announcers the game has ever known. His name is Ernie Harwell. He spent 42 years broadcasting Detroit Tigers games in his low key style. Harwell told us about the game, he didn't try to become part of it. This is a lesson that many modern announcers should learn. Harwell was diagnosed with incurable cancer back in September 2009. Seven months later he is losing the battle, according to his daughter, he consumes mostly liquids and sleeps most of the time. The 92 year old Hall of Famer will be gone soon, though he isn't looking for sympathy saying "Whatever happens, I'm ready to face it." If you don't know about Ernie Harwell do yourself a favor and look him up and see what he meant to Detroit and how much of a gentleman he is. The days of the great baseball announcers are quickly passing and, although I never lived in Detroit, I just wanted to give a tip of the cap to Ernie Harwell, a hall of fame announcer and, by all accounts, person.

NCAA Expansion Who Needs It

There has been talk about expanding the NCAA basketball tournament field for quite some time, from 65 to 96 or even 128. I really don't understand the push for such a measure, I mean do we really need to have 12 Big East teams in the tournament, isn't eight enough? Expanding the field will just dilute the regular season. Obviously it would be done to make money, but I for one wouldn't be watching. I already hate the fact that they have a stupid play in game, a game I have never watched. They say because a new conference was formed they needed to add a 65th team, really why couldn't they just trim an at large bid? Now today, the day after the selection committee revealed it's bracket, teams on the outside looking in are crying that they were somehow robbed. You know what I say, play better during the regular season and you wouldn't have a problem. Let's not water down the tournament field anymore, this after all is supposed to be about determining a champion and any teams added beyond 64 won't ever win the whole thing. So trim back to 64 and stop the foolish talk of expansion. I don't mind the schools making extra money, but give the fans something real, not this contrived garbage.


Song of the Blog: The song of the blog this time around is Black Cat by Janet Jackson. I am not usually a fan of Jackson's, but I like the harder edge this song has. The guitar in the song is really good as well.

Sorry I have been gone so long. I will try and give you all a new entry at least once a week.

Is This Really Necessary

Last week Major League Baseball felt it needed to post a new sign in every team's clubhouse. The sign stated that items such as guns, explosives, daggers, metal knuckles, switchblade knives or knives with blades exceeding five inches are prohibited from the clubhouse. My question is wasn't this obvious in the first place? It is like having to put a sign over a tailpipe saying do not suck on this, especially when the vehicle is running. I am really glad that they put explosives on the list because I wasn't sure that they would be banned, it seems like such a normal thing to bring to work. Of course the all stems from the incidents that occurred with Plaxico Buress and Gilbert Arenas in the last couple of years. MLB, I assume, felt it was better to be safe than sorry and put up the ridiculous signs. I'm also curious to see what the next sign will cover. Will it be please do not urinate or defecate on the floor of the locker room please use a toilet or urinal that is provided free of charge. Or maybe it will do not stick objects, your fingers or any other body parts in the electrical sockets or you may end up with hair like Oscar Gamble's in the mid 70's. These things seem like no-brainers to me, but then again I am not a professional athlete.

The Song of the Blog: Black Label Society's Just Killing Time is this week's song of the blog. A slow, dark kind of song and I absolutely love the beginning. It is also cool seeing bands of this kind occasionally use a piano in their music.

You can find more articles of mine at: http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/654645/darren_pare.html

What To Do, What to Do?

We are now in the heart of February and as a sports fan I am sad. The Super Bowl is now over and I am left with a whole lot of nothing to take its place. Oh I could watch the NBA and see the Celtics continue to blow big second half leads, but no thanks. I could turn my attention to the NHL, but watching the Bruin's scoring woes would probably cause me to hurl an object through my television screen and I'm sure the wife would not appreciate that. There is always college basketball, but they are still in a regular season that means almost nothing so why waste my time. When 65 teams make the tournament it kind of dilutes the regular season and hey there is even talk of expanding the field to 128 teams, don't get me started on that joke of an idea. Then there is always high school basketball to watch, no I think I would rather bang my head against this desk. Oh wait the Olympics are coming up, oh wait its the Winter Olympics, nevermind. So for the next few weeks I am left without much of anything going on in my world of sports. Pitchers and catchers will report soon and at least the pictures from the spring training camps will make me think of Spring. So if you see someone wandering around the sports world looking lost it is just me, don't worry though I will be fine come springtime.

The Song of the Blog: This time around the song of the blog is Last to Know by Three Days Grace from the CD Life Starts Now. My wife turned me on to this song as she is a huge Three Days Grace fan. Just a simple tune of a love gone bad, not a new topic but still a good song.

What Means Most to You as a Fan

I was listening to The Scott Van Pelt Show on ESPN Radio this afternoon and they brought up an interesting subject, as a fan what championship means the most to you? Well like any good idea it was ripe for the stealing, so here goes. This column will list the top five sports championships that mean the most to me if my team wins it all.

5. NBA Championship: As a Boston Celtics fan I experienced this just a couple of years ago. I can't say I watch a whole lot of basketball in the regular season, maybe the final quarter of about every other Celtics game. I do start paying more attention when the playoffs come around, but if I miss a game it isn't the end of the world. Only if the Celtics are in the Finals does it become appointment television.

4. The Stanley Cup: Unlike a lot of Americans I like hockey. In fact I am more likely to tune into A Boston Bruins game than the Celtics. Unfortunately I haven't experienced a Stanley Cup victory by the Bruins and to be perfectly honest it isn't looking good for this year either.

3. The Super Bowl: The New England Patriots have been very good to me recently giving me three Super Bowl championships to celebrate. I also was quite upset when they lost their perfect season to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XlII. Still as happy as I was when the Patriots won it still didn't match the feeling that I get from my top two.

2. NCAA Frozen Four: This one probably comes out of nowhere for most people across the country, but when you are a product of the University of Maine you understand. Hockey is easily the best U. Maine Black Bears team. Maine has won two ice hockey championships and both hold a special place in my heart. I probably also felt closer to those titles because I went to so many games and would sometimes see the players on campus.

1. The World Series: I am a baseball fan first and foremost. I fell in love with the game and the New York Yankees when I was just six years old. I have been blessed to see my team win seven titles in my lifetime. The biggest win was in 1996 when the Yankees won for the first time in 18 years. Granted that isn't a long time between titles for some teams, but the drought lasted from elementary school through college for me. I know I have nothing on Chicago Cubs fans, but it was nice to win one again in 1996. It was also especially nice since it was the first time the Yankees had won since my brother, Dennis, dies in 1989. He was a huge Yankee fan as well and I knew just how much he would have enjoyed the 1996 season.

So there you have it the five sports titles that mean the most to me, How are yours different? Leave your comments in the comment section.

The Song of the Blog: The song of the blog this time around is Blue On Black by The Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band. A bluesy song that has great guitar, not much more to say.

Heaven Smiles Down on the Saints

Maybe it was all destiny. There has to be some explanation for the play of the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. It appeared at times that the football was covered with Crisco, the amount of times the Vikings fumbled the ball. Someone upstairs had to be pulling for the Saints when the Vikings inexplicably had 12 men in the huddle, and thus drew a penalty that took them out of field goal range. Divine intervention had to be at play when a veteran like Brett Favre makes a boneheaded throw across his body that leads to an interception. Whatever it was the New Orleans Saints survived Sunday and will now play the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.

The Saints need to make sure they send a thank you card to the Vikings for they were given that game. A vaunted Saints offense managed only 257 yards, but capitalized on great field position given to them by the Vikings. While a less than stellar Saints defense was able to batter Favre around like a pinata. One wondered if the Vikings left their usual offensive line back in Minnesota and borrowed one from a local high school team.

Now the Saints have two weeks to gear up for the Colts. I don't think the Saints have enough on defense to cover all of Indy's receivers. I believe the only hope the Saints will have is if the old playoff Peyton Manning shows up, the one that defenses could fluster and cause him force the action and turn the ball over. If the Peyton Manning that systematically dismantled the New York Jets this Sunday shows up it is game over before the game even starts. I'll be rooting for the Saints come February 7, Super Bowl Sunday, but I think I'll be disappointed. Hopefully the food is good.

The Song of the Blog: This week's song of the blog is Ruby by the Kaiser Chiefs. Once again I was a little tardy to the party on this song and the sad thing is that I only discovered it by playing Lego Rock Band with my kids. The thing about playing these music games is I find these songs going through my head all the time, and this can be both good, Ruby, or bad, Kung Fu Fighting.

Warning obligatory book plug. If you haven't checked out my baseball novel, 33 Summers, please do at: http://www.amazon.com/33-Summers-Darren-Pare/dp/1608602605/ref.

The Pickings of Mittens

Well it was difficult week for my picks yet again, another 1-3 week that puts me at 2-6 for the post season. Last week I promised to pass the prognosticating duties to my cat Mittens if I didn't improve over week one and being a man or my word that is what I'll do. I made signs for each game and waited to see which one Mittens would choose, with each pick I will try to dig deep into her kitty brain and see why she made each choice. So without further ado here are Mittens selections, they can't be worse than mine, even though she is a fan of the Detroit Lions.

First up the AFC Championship game featuring the surprising New York Jets traveling to Indianapolis to take on the Colts. As I held up both signs for Mittens she cocked her head to the side and looked confused, I think it is because she was sure the Chargers would be playing in the game instead of the Jets. Much to my surprise though Mittens rubbed her head up against the Jets. She must think that the Jets defense will be able to stop Peyton Manning and the Colts offense much like they did to the Chargers this past weekend. Mittens isn't completely sold on Mark Sanchez, but thinks the running game can keep him from having to do anything but hand the ball off. Mittens thinks that Peyton Manning will be flat on his back quite a few times and wind up getting frustrated and throwing a couple of key interceptions, one being returned of a touchdown. Jets 16, Colts 13.

On to the NFC Championship game that has the Minnesota Vikings heading south to visit the New Orleans Saints. Mittens doesn't paws, (I had to do at least one horribly bad pun), as she selects the Saints. There is no question that both teams looked like well oiled machines this past weekend, but Mittens thinks the Vikings will miss being at home. Saints quarterback Drew Brees was impressive with 3 touchdowns, 247 yards and most importantly zero interceptions. Vikings quarterback Brett Favre was equally impressive with 4 touchdowns, 234 yards and zero interceptions. Mittens just believes that the Saints have more weapons on offense and the Vikings defense won't be able to just concentrate on shutting down one guy. Saints 31 Vikings 20.

Whatever happens both Mittens and I hope that whichever team comes out of the NFC will go on to win the Super Bowl. We don't like either the Jets or the Colts, but at least the Dallas Cowboys were eliminated.

The Song of the Blog: Continuing these week's theme I allowed Mittens to choose the song and she picked Harry Chapin's Cats in the Cradle. I tried to explain to Mittens that the song has nothing to do with cats, but she just stared at me and then started licking her paw. Cats in the Cradle, for those of you that don't know, is another 70's soft rock tune. The song tells the story of a father and son that just never quite have time for each other and life kind of passes them by.

To end this blog I will do my obligatory book plug. If you haven't checked out my baseball novel, 33 Summers, please do at: http://www.amazon.com/33-Summers-Darren-Pare/dp/1608602605/ref

The Second Round of Predictions (It has to to better than the first)

Looking back at last weekend the wild card round of the playoffs was just brutal for me. We won't even bother talking about the horrible Patriots game, instead we will focus on this week's playoff games and hope we improve.

We will start with the early game on Saturday where the Arizona Cardinals will come East to take on the New Orleans Saints. I really favor the Cardinals in this one if they remember to play defense. If Arizona decides to play another game like they did last weekend I don't think they survive. The Saints just limped down the stretch and I think that will hurt them come Saturday. Cardinals 41 Saints 21.

The late game on Saturday has the current Baltimore team the Ravens heading to Indianapolis to take on the former Baltimore team the Colts. This game comes down to whether the Colts can make Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco have to make plays. If the Colts can do that I don't see Flacco coming through and thus the Colts will win. Colts 24 Ravens 14.

On to Sunday where at 1:00 ET the Dallas Cowboys will tangle with the Minnesota Vikings. The Vikings will be at home and that is a good thing, because they will need any advantage they can get. The winner of this game will be the team that has the quarterback that makes fewer mistakes, and to me that is a real toss up. I'll take the Cowboys 31, Packers, er Vikings 28 with Favre throwing a late interception the costs the Vikings the game.

The final game of the weekend has the New York Jets traveling across the country to take on the San Diego Chargers. I just don't see how the Jets are going to be able to match up quarterbackwise, (yes I made up my own word). Philip Rivers versus Mark Sanchez is an unfair fight. Chargers 24, Jets 14.

There you have my breakdown of the upcoming week of football. If these predictions aren't any better than last week's than my cat, Mittens, will take my place for the league championship round.

The song of the blog: I forgot this part last week, but the song this time around is a classic by Elton John, Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word. This song came out in 1976, back when Elton was still quite relevant. Another pretty simple song that actually speaks the truth.

Please feel free to leave your comments below, or suggestions on ways I can punch this blog up for 2010. As always I would appreciate it if you checked out my novel 33 Summers at: http://www.amazon.com/33-Summers-Darren-Pare/dp/1608602605/ref

Wild Card Predictions

Well we have finally reached the playoffs in the NFL. The wild card round will be played this Saturday and Sunday, with three of the match ups being repeats of games in the final week of the regular season. So here we go with a game by game preview and prediction.

The first game on the schedule will pit the New York Jets up against the Bengals in Cincinnati. The Jets throttled the Bengals 37-0 this past Sunday. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this week's score will be closer. The Bengals need to get their offense going and keep the ball away from the Jets corner back Darrelle Revis. While on defense they must slow down the run and put Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez in a position to make plays. If the Bengals do as I say above I have little doubt that they can force Sanchez into at least a couple of turnovers. Predictions Bengals 20, Jets 13.

Game two on Saturday features the Dallas Cowboys hosting the Philadelphia Eagles. Dallas won their match up against Philly this past Sunday 24-0. As much as I would like to find a way for the Eagles to beat the Cowboys, I really don't see it. The Cowboys are just more talented than the Eagles, plain and simple. The lone hope for the Eagles is that they can get in the head of Tony Romo and he will become a turnover machine. I just don't see it happening, I hate to say. Prediction Cowboys 27, Eagles 10.

On to Sunday where the first game will have the Baltimore Ravens facing the New England Patriots. Now as a Patriots fan I don't really fear the Ravens like I may have in the Past. Their defense isn't as stout as it used to be and the passing game isn't scary either. The Patriots will need to stop the running of both Ray Rice and Willis McGahee, no easy task for this defense. The Patriots defense will also need to play all 60 minutes rather than taking their usual fourth quarter nap. Randy Moss will need to be heard from if the Patriots are to win. Prediction Patriots 23, Ravens 20.

The final game of the weekend will have the Green Bay Packers traveling to the desert to take on the Arizona Cardinals. This season has been a nice quiet little coming out party for Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers and it will continue this weekend. As much as I like Larry Fitzgerald and the Cardinals I just think that they have too many injuries to overcome and win. The game will be close and Rodgers will lead the Pack to a game winning score late in the fourth quarter. Prediction: Packers 27, Cardinals 24.

Well there they are and if these predictions are as good as my regular season ones we may be looking at a Ravens vs. Cardinals Super Bowl.

Hey all if you like this or heck if you hate it at least go and check out the first few chapters of my baseball novel 33 Summers at: http://www.darrenpare.com/Announcements.html Or if you just want to go ahead and by one you can go here: http://www.eloquentbooks.com/33Summers.html