The So-So Holidays

Yes the holiday itself was nice. Seeing family, having downtime from work, college football bowl games. But the long weekend ended on a sour note as the Patriots were eliminated from the playoffs by the ineptitude of the Brett Farve and the NY Jets. If there was ever any question that Farve needs to hang it up it should have been answered by his performance yesterday. That final interception probably cost him a win in his final game as a professional and cost the Pats the post season.

I could get mad that 8-8 San Diego gets to go to the playoffs and the 11-5 Patriots do not (though San Diego did had a decent ass-whooping on the Pats earlier this year). Or I could bemoan the fact that 9-7 Arizona (who the Pats soundly destroyed when they went head to head) gets to go to the playoffs and they don't. But I'm not going to do that. Let's face it, this team was not going to win the Super Bowl with the patchwork linebacker corps and secondary. The better teams were all able to exploit those weaknesses and the same would have happened had they faced any of those better teams in the playoffs.

The Pats had a great year considering all the adversity they faced and if not for the fact that he is probably the most hated man in football, Belichick just might be a candidate for coach of the year. He may get tested again next year as word as come out that Brady may not be able to play in 2009 either. They need to get Cassel signed just so they have someone viable to start next year should that happen.

Getting what you asked for

'Tis the season of giving and last night the Bruins and Devils gave me what I asked for. The Bruins came away with a gritty hard fought 2-0 victory. Scott Clemmensen looked solid in net allowing one goal just after a power play expired (and really, name one goalie that would have stopped that shot this side of Dominik Hasek) and an empty netter. Brian Gionta made some sweet plays and had some great scoring opportunities (was I the only one thinking those two late shots in the third aiming for Thomas' high shoulder were reminiscent of his blue line shot against Maine that gave him his 5th goal in the first period in 2001...ok...so maybe I was the only one but it did make me think of that).

The Boston Globe had it right in that it was a close game between two good teams with an almost playoff atmosphere. The B's win and the BC boys on the Devils still looked great. I couldn't have been happier.

Happy holidays everyone!

Who to root for?

As regular readers are aware, I love hockey. I got addicted by the 1988 and 1990 Bruins and Cam Neely. It's been tough going for the Bruins since 1992 (their second straight sweep in the Conference Finals to Pittsburgh). They had a couple of nice seasons but never made any real waves in the playoffs. In fact they have not won a playoff series since beating Carolina back in 1999. So you have to excuse me if I'm not really enjoying this season. Of course not everything is perfect and the injuries that seem to keep piling up you have to think will affect them at some point. You can only lose so many defensemen before it starts actually affecting your play.

That being said, tonight I am a little torn. In net for the New Jersey Devils will be Scott Clemmensen, hero of the 2001 Boston College national championship team (and owner of one of the most disgusting saves I have ever seen live), who will be looking to get his 12th victory of the season (he had only 8 in his previous 5 years). He is playing phenomenal hockey right now and its great to see someone cash in on their opportunity even if it is at the expense of someone's injury (see Matt Cassel - for that matter see Tom Brady). I want to root for him but at the same time I want the Bruins to keep rolling. My only hope is that they win 1-0 and Clem is a stalwart in net making spectacular save after spectacular save.

Business About to Pick Up

So I was watching a little RAW last night and found out the thing that has been missing for a while an dragged down the show, factions. Professional wrestling works best with factions in my opinion because you have groups that can be relied on to come down and make matches interesting and make real story lines. Plus it allows WWE to get more people involved in one storyline instead of creating multiple stories that inevitably get talent lost on the back burner.

Randy Orton forming a faction with other second generation stars like Manu, Cody Rhodes, Sim Snuka, and Ted Dibiase, Jr. is a great hook. Many of these guys are second tier stars (and judging by Manu's in ring performance last night I see why he isn't wrestling much but has just been around as hired muscle) but together as Legacy (they repeated the name about 12 times during the final match last night which tells me this is the official faction name) they can all be something. Evolution made Batista and Orton into the stars they are today. D-X made Triple H. Factions work and its good to see the WWE bringing them back. Now they just need to teach John Cena how to sell a good beating in the ring and they'll be all set.

Scheduling

Last night ESPNU was running one of my favorite programs of all time. The 1984 college football game between BC and Miami. That's right the famous Hail Mary game. I can watch the end of that game several times a year and it never gets old (I bet it gets old for Mr. Flutie but sometimes you have to accept your 15 minutes and go with it). The only game that comes close to the level of enjoyment is the 1980 Miracle on Ice. I must admit I like the BC radio call better than Brent Musburger's ("Phalen is down there", "Oh, he got it!!" just has a little extra something to it).

According to the guide on my cablebox, the game was supposed to get over at 10:30pm. They had a three hour slot planned for it. I figured it would get over right around the same time as the Adamek-Cunningham cruiserweight fight on Versus (as an aside, that was a truly terrific fight, three knockdowns, lots of action, 12 full rounds, not a lot of blood, and a close and deserving winner - fight of the year candidate and rematch potential) so I was doing a lot of flipping.

As 10:30pm approached I realized that the game was not going to get over by 10:30pm. BC was going on their next to last scoring drive and still needed to give the ball back to Bernie Kosar for their touchdown with 30 seconds left and the ensuing Flutie miracle drive. There was no way it would end by 10:30pm. This got me to thinking...

This game has been over for 24 years. Everyone knows how it ends. There is no surprise here. The network knows for a fact exactly what moment this game is going to end. If they want it to fit in a 3 hour window (which is what the guide said it would be on for) then they could edit it or cut commercials or whatever to make it fit in that three hour window. It's not like it was a surprise to someone that this game could go over the allotted time. And yet here I was, 10:40pm, with the guide telling me some new program was coming on but the BC replay is still showing (and would show all the way until 11pm). Maybe someone was hoping BC would get an interception of Kosar and stop that last drive, maybe they thought the teams would work faster this time. I dunno. All I know is that it was pretty funny to see a station unable to schedule their programming around a game that ended 24 years ago and had been rebroadcast more times than I can count.

Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a mole hill, but I found it amusing and wanted to share with you my loyal readers.

Depth is never a bad thing

As I watched the Bruins/TB game last night I realized why they traded away Andrew Alberts. The philosophy of this Bruins team is to be able to move the puck quickly. They already had some slow defensemen in Chara and Ward and Alberts was never going to be the point producer that they needed. But what I didn't realize until last night was the depth that the Bruins had that allowed them the luxury to let go of Alberts and still have plenty of talent.

Being a BC guy, I was of course mildly annoyed when Alberts was traded (the fact that I have his jersey didn't help my mood too much either!). But while watching the team play I realized that they didn't need him. Mark Stuart has proven to be a fine defenseman and Shane Hnidy provides toughness with a little more experience than Alberts had. Then Andrew Ference went down and I thought, "Hunwick is ready." And he was and his play since Ference's injury has shown that.

Then last Saturday, Aaron Ward went down in the first period. Uh oh. Now what?? Who's next? Oh yeah, Lashoff. But here was a kid that the Bruins sent down late in camp because they felt that he hadn't shown enough advancement in his game to be ready for prime time. But I figured with as well as Hunwick was playing and the steady leadership of Chara and Wideman, the team would be able make up for any shortcoming from Lashoff.

Then last night just before gametime, Kathryn Tappen (one of the more underrated female sports personalities I must say) informs the faithful that word has just come down that Wideman is hurt and won't play against the Lightning. This means both Matt Lashoff and the new kid in town Johnny Boychuk both get to dress and see action. In my eyes, this was a disaster. Now they were playing three kids who could not make the roster out of training camp and three of those steady veterans (including the man with the brand new contract) were not going to be playing. Suddenly the Alberts trade seemed like a terrible idea. If they had kept him they at least would have had someone to plug in with some actual NHL experience. What could Boychuk and Lashoff possibly accomplish against the speed and playmaking skills of Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Prospal, Ranger, Stamkos, et al???

Before the world actually collapsed however something wonderful happened. Those kids played pretty well. After a bad turnover that led to the Lightning's only goal (and it was a misplay by Chara that actually created the chance), Tampa Bay did not put another one past Thomas all night. Granted some of that was due to another great Tim Thomas performance but the kids played well. Lashoff was making some nice crisp passes. Boychuk was hitting people hard and keeping himself in good position most of the night. Granted it's only one game but the way the team is rolling some of that winning attitude has to be rubbing off on these younger players.

A few days ago in my last blog I mentioned things that I was thankful for and talked about Kessel and Wheeler and the other forwards, but I have to say that the young defensemen that have just rolled on up and plugged into the system and played so well are a reason for all Bruins fans to be thankful. Notch another win. The Bruins are good not just because of a few players but because of their depth and that was on display prominently last night.

What I'm thankful for

As we pass Thanksgiving I try to find the things that I am thankful for this holiday season:

- I am thankful for Brian Gibbons. His goal with 38 seconds remaining against Dartmouth (combined with Almeida's OT tally) on Sunday afternoon rounded out a very successful weekend for BC sports. Men's basketball, women's basketball, women's' hockey, men's hockey, and football were all victorious and went a combined 7-0-1. This certainly eased the sting of the disaster in Foxboro.

- I am thankful for Tyrese Rice. Without him, the BC men's basketball team may not win a game this year. They were completely out of sorts in the game against UAB until Rice scored 24 second-half points for the victory. In their two losses this year Rice has been shut down as he was in the first half against UAB. The better teams in the country will be able to consistently do that. If Rice cannot elevate his game against the double-teams (a la Stephon Curry in last year's NCAA tourney) it will be a long season for the Eagles.

- I am thankful for the Pats remaining schedule. Fortunately for them, they play cupcakes the rest of the way. Their toughest opponent is Arizona at home. This team can still finish 11-5 despite how awful they looked on Sunday. If not for dropped passes by Randy Moss in the first half they could have had at least a 20-10 halftime lead which would have made for a very different contest.

- I am thankful for Blake Wheeler, Milan Lucic, David Krejci, and Phil Kessel. This year the Bruins have been all about the youth movement. The smart signing of Wheeler has paid instant dividends. Lucic is consistently flattening anything that is not wearing a Bruins sweater. Krejci is making plays that are arguably the best this side of Marc Savard. Phil Kessel leads the team in goal scoring. These four guys have helped elevate the play of the veterans they play with and made the Bruins a team with depth who has proven they can take on the biggest and baddest in the league (I mean you Detroit) and still come out with a dominant victory. The kids bring energy to the team which have helped the Bruins to their best post-lockout start to a season.

- I am thankful for Mark Herzlich. He is the stalwart of the BC defense. At the beginning of the season the press talked about the return of Brian Toal and B.J. Raji being the key to any success BC would have this year but the play of Herzlich has been the true story. Toal is out for the season with a broken leg and Raji has been terrific in the middle but Herzlich has routinely made game changing plays. His interceptions in the past two weeks have directly led to 17 BC points and two clutch victories leading the Eagles back to the ACC title game in a season they were picked 5th in their own division.

- I am thankful for the stupidity of the BCS. Without the system where the national champion is decided by computers instead of players on the field, would we even be talking about the possibility of a team playing for the national title that had not even won its own conference (yes, boys and girls, Texas can get in should Missouri pull off the upset this weekend)? For that matter without the BCS, would we be paying as much attention to games early in the season because one little loss at the wrong moment can cost you the year (see USC)? Despite the obvious flaws, you have to admit these conversations make for great debates and great television. How can you tell Oklahoma that they do not belong and yet justify the decision to include Florida State in the national title game back in 1994? The situation is identical. Oklahoma lost to the #3 team in the nation. Texas lost to the #7 team. In retrospect, despite losing I think most people believe Texas is the better team than Texas Tech as the poll show. Therefore, Oklahoma's loss is less damaging and, in addition, they pounded Tech. Just like in 1994, a loss to BC at home was more damaging to Notre Dame than Florida State's loss to Notre Dame. They got it right in 1994 and I think they got it right this year, just as long as Oklahoma closes the deal and beats Missouri - but that can wait for another time.