Wednesday, June 18, 2008
17
Celtics logoHoly cow - the Boston Celtics are the NBA Champions!! Who would have thought this a year ago?

Not me, for one. But then, I'd be a crummy sports-writer. And I just came up with two reasons why.

The first is my memory - I can't remember squat.

Who won the World Series in 2003?

Had to look it up. The Marlins. Guess I could have remembered that because Josh Beckett was their ace.

But I didn't.

Who won the Super Bowl in 2003?

Tampa Bay. Oh yeah. Thanks Wikipedia!

I have friends who can tell you every Red Sox stat from last year. Or my buddies in LA - between the two brothers they could probably list the majority of Dodgers to play in the last twenty years. Seriously.

Not me.

The other reason I'd be a bad sports-writer is that I like to pick a position and stick with it. It seems to me that most sports-writers these days like to hedge their position and pick why both teams are going to win.

Take the Boston Globe's Dan Shaughnessy. He cunningly wraps reasons why the Celtics are the best with reasons the Lakers are the best. At the end of the article one's left to think, "What does Shaughnessy really think?"

(I mean, besides his hidden hope that the Red Sox falter so he can imagine some new legend like when he came up with the whole Curse of the Bambino malarkey.)

The same's true for ESPN's Bill Simmons, whom I care for a heck of a lot more than Shaughnessy. But this time he's all over the map offering pluses and minuses like he's a Middle School math teacher. Pick a reason and go with it, SportsGuy!

Nope. I'd pick a side and be done. Granted, both of these guys picked the right team to win. On the other hand, they both picked the wrong team, too.
 
posted by Josh at 12:45 PM |


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At June 18, 2008 4:20 PM, Blogger Tuan

I would be a good sports writer, because I knew it would be the Celtics or the Lakers as well.

 

At June 18, 2008 5:52 PM, Blogger kcollier

It's sad to see how much of a sellout Simmons has become since moving out to LA and working for ESPN. He used to be the lovable Boston homer who wrote funny stuff, but with his stories about the C's and their playoff run he's just been a hack.

Like you had mentioned with Dan Shaughnessy, Simmons is playing both sides of the fence writing a column one day about how the Lakers will win, and when they don't it's "yay Boston, see I didn't jinx you", if the Lakers had won it surely would have been " See I told you so..". Pick a friggin side and stay with it. If you want off the Celtics bandwagon, it won't be there when you want to come back asscrack.

So how bout those Lakers though. Has there ever been such a soft team ever assembled. Ray, KG, and the Truth beat them down, took their lunch money, and the Lakers just ran home with their underwear up to their ears. No fight, no passion. No title number 10 for the Zen master.

Red 9
Phil 9* (* for when they do something about the fixed 2002 finals)

GO CELTS!!!

 

At June 18, 2008 9:49 PM, Blogger Josh

In Dubai the game ended around 8 am, and I was teaching this morning, and had an assembly to go to AT EIGHT.

I figured, though, that with one minute and four seconds left in the fourth and something like a FORTY point lead I could let it go and assume that Boston won.

If it had been any less of a lead though I might not have jumped to that assumption though ...

 

At June 18, 2008 9:51 PM, Blogger Josh

And yes, Simmons is a full-on LA sell-out now.

You know, I called myself a "Lakers fan" when I was in LA (hey, it was the era of the threepeat) but I only went to one game in six years and never owned a lick of Laker gear.

On the other hand I own at least two Angels hats, one Dodger hat and two Dodgers tee shirts. And I'd hardly consider myself an Angels fan (although 2002 was fun to watch ...)

 

At June 21, 2008 2:26 AM, Blogger Shep

I was in the NBA Store in New York during the rolling rally... it was awesome
Too bad no triple crown, though.

 


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