Group Info
Name: 38.7%
Type: Sports & Recreation - Professional Sports
Description: They call it the lottery for a reason.
So what now?
We could trade the pick and at least one of our young guys for veterans to try to help Paul out... Or we could trade Paul... Or we could just pick up one of the Florida guys or the Chinese kid and piss Paul off completely...
Choices, choices, choices!
This group is about more than just missing out on the 38.7% chance we had of landing Greg Oden or Kevin Durant. It's a group for the young generation of Boston Celtics fans who missed out completely on the glory years for the organization.
We've all heard the Celtics used to be real good and all that, but we sure wouldn't know firsthand! The fifth pick is just another chapter in the overwhelmingly pathetic story of the past twenty years.
We've seen the Pats win three Super Bowls, and we've even seen the Sox win the World Series - but we've never seen the C's put up a single banner.
Boo.
(Dino Radja was alright, though.)
Contact Info
Office: The FleetJungleGarden
City: Boston, MA
Recent News
Ping pong balls are evil.
...
That, of course, was a FaceBook group I created late last May following the NBA Draft Lottery. And after the Celtics upped their record to a gaudy 29-3 last night by going into Detroit and beating the white-hot Pistons on their home turf, it felt like a good time to look back at this and think about how much things have changed over the past several months - and how improbable such change appeared to be at one point.
Change is good! Change is possible! Vote for Obama!
Sunday, January 6, 2008
What a difference alittleoverhalfayear makes
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Rudolph revisited
First of all... Yes, I did take the time to paste a Santa hat on the picture to the right - in "Paint," no less. You're welcome. Now...
Forget the condescending "all-his-songs-sound-the-same" h8ers. Jack Johnson (new album, "Sleep Through the Static," coming out in February... Oh boy!) is, in fact, The Man. For proof to that end, check out the lyrics to his cover of "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" from a few years back. His original additions to the traditional song are in italics at the end:
Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
Had a very shiny nose.
And if you ever saw it,
You might even say it glows.
All of the other reindeer,
Used to laugh and call him names.
They never let poor Rudolph,
Join in any reindeer games.
Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa, he came to say,
"Rudolph, with your nose so bright,
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
Then how the reindeers loved him,
As they shouted out with glee,
"Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer,
You'll go down in history!"
But Rudolph, he didn't go for that.
He said, "I see through your silly games."
How could you look me in the face,
When only yesterday you called me names?
Well, all of the other reindeers man,
Well they sure did feel ashamed.
"Rudolph, you know we're sorry.
We're truly gonna try to change."
Good stuff, right? You can listen to the track on YouTube here, posted - I think - by a German-speaker. That looks like German to me, anyways, I dunno.
Merry Christmas, everyone/anyone who reads this!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
A really great idea.
During my freshman year at Iona College, blessed with relatively simple classes and not yet involved with the Ionian, I played basketball 3 or 4 times a week. Less often, but still on a semi-regular basis, I'd run on the treadmill conveniently located in the basement of my dorm.
In doing these things, I effectively avoided the dreaded freshman 15 - and actually dropped a few pounds from move-in day in late August to the last day of finals in May.
The subsequent year-and-a-half, however, have been... a little different, and I've decided that this winter break is the time for me to start getting back into shape - or something vaguely resembling it, anyways.
Faced with this task, and observing lately how my sister now frequents a local gym, I've been reminded of an idea that I've had for quite some time. And it needed to be unleashed into the blogosphere, so here it is.
Remember the Discovery Zone? You probably do. I don't think anyone could have forgotten the ridiculously catchy jingle from their old commercials, at the very least. But back in the day, DZ was - to state it plainly - the best place ever. Every moment spent in DZ's hulking maze of tunnels, slides, nets, ball pits, moonwalks, etc., was a moment of pure, unfiltered joy.
My parents took some home video of one birthday party I had at DZ. And aside from the obligatory footage of me blowing out the candles on my cake, there's a brief glimpse of my friends and I breathlessly darting back and forth throughout the aforementioned maze, huge grins plastered on our faces the whole time. Watching, you realize that - not only were we having a blast - we were getting a pretty good workout, too.
Question: Would that kind of a workout still be that fun, post-childhood? My answer: Yes. And my idea that logically follows: Someone needs to open up something like the old Discovery Zones - but this time, for adults.
No, time passed at a "DZ4A" (as I'd call it, assuming copyright/trademark legality) wouldn't provide the structured kind of exercise possible at a more traditional health club. But for those of us not too concerned with targeting specific muscles using specialized machines and things of that nature, it would be - to state it plainly - the best place ever.
In doing these things, I effectively avoided the dreaded freshman 15 - and actually dropped a few pounds from move-in day in late August to the last day of finals in May.
The subsequent year-and-a-half, however, have been... a little different, and I've decided that this winter break is the time for me to start getting back into shape - or something vaguely resembling it, anyways.
Faced with this task, and observing lately how my sister now frequents a local gym, I've been reminded of an idea that I've had for quite some time. And it needed to be unleashed into the blogosphere, so here it is.
Remember the Discovery Zone? You probably do. I don't think anyone could have forgotten the ridiculously catchy jingle from their old commercials, at the very least. But back in the day, DZ was - to state it plainly - the best place ever. Every moment spent in DZ's hulking maze of tunnels, slides, nets, ball pits, moonwalks, etc., was a moment of pure, unfiltered joy.My parents took some home video of one birthday party I had at DZ. And aside from the obligatory footage of me blowing out the candles on my cake, there's a brief glimpse of my friends and I breathlessly darting back and forth throughout the aforementioned maze, huge grins plastered on our faces the whole time. Watching, you realize that - not only were we having a blast - we were getting a pretty good workout, too.
Question: Would that kind of a workout still be that fun, post-childhood? My answer: Yes. And my idea that logically follows: Someone needs to open up something like the old Discovery Zones - but this time, for adults.
No, time passed at a "DZ4A" (as I'd call it, assuming copyright/trademark legality) wouldn't provide the structured kind of exercise possible at a more traditional health club. But for those of us not too concerned with targeting specific muscles using specialized machines and things of that nature, it would be - to state it plainly - the best place ever.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Meditating on Manny
Here's my latest Ionian column (coming out tomorrow!) since I haven't had any new posts for quite some time. Click here to see the whole paper online...
Oct. 21 was – by any standard – a pretty good day in Boston sports history.
On the gridiron, South Florida’s loss to Rutgers the previous Thursday allowed the unbeaten Boston College Eagles to slide into second place in the BCS standings, and Tom Brady threw a team-record six touchdown passes as the New England Patriots continued an unbeaten season of their own, trouncing the Miami Dolphins by a final score of 49-28.
Overshadowing these accomplishments, however, were those of the beloved Boston Red Sox. As the day came to a close, the Sox were putting the finishing touches on a dramatic Game 7 win over the Cleveland Indians, capping off an improbable comeback in the AL championship series and punching their ticket to this year’s Fall Classic (sound familiar, Yankee fans?).
And there he was, right at the center of the on-field celebration at Fenway Park: Manny Ramirez. His long braids flailing wildly behind him, Ramirez – who had bounced back from a sub-par regular season to become Boston’s most consistent threat at the plate in the playoffs – leaped gleefully into the arms of teammates Jonathan Papelbon and Jason Varitek. It was hard to believe that, just days earlier, the man was being scrutinized about his will to win.
“It doesn’t happen, so who cares?” was the damning question Ramirez had posed with his team trailing three games to one. “There’s always next year. It’s not like it’s the end of the world or something.”
An Associated Press story forebodingly taunted Ramirez, “Try telling that to all those people in New England.” Well, on behalf of “all those people in New England,” I think everything turned out just fine.
We all know Manny Ramirez likes to stay loose. He never loses sight of the fact that – despite the extreme fervor of Red Sox Nation – baseball is still just a game. Sometimes Ramirez’s attitude rubs fans the wrong way, but should we really want him to change? Consider the other end of the spectrum, as personified by Beantown’s newest star, Boston Celtic Kevin Garnett.
Upon Garnett’s arrival in town this summer, Boston Globe columnist Jackie MacMullan gushed that KG “plays hard, plays long and plays with an intensity that has been sorely lacking around here,” adding, “He desperately wants to win.”
There is a famous interview Garnett gave on TNT during All-Star weekend in 2004-05. John Thompson spoke of various aches and pains Garnett was playing through at the time, and asked, “What’s driving you?”
“That I’m losing,” Garnett replied, his voice trembling. “That I’m losing. (A pause.) I’m losing. (Another, longer pause.) I’m losing.” The big man failed to contain his emotions from there, explaining that he was crying “tears of pain,” and that “this (expletive deleted) is killing me.”
“I hate that I’m like this in front of you right now, man,” Garnett confessed to Thompson, who quickly replied that he respected Garnett, calling his waterworks “refreshing” and “a sign of strength” rather than “a sign of weakness.” My take: How about a sign for concern? I love KG, but when ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons regularly joked about the inevitability of him one day turning homicidal on his teammates – and it didn’t seem particularly farfetched – perhaps he’d ratcheted up the intensity a bit too high.
Meanwhile, the facts are these: Garnett has made it past the first round of the NBA playoffs once in his career, while Manny was the 2004 World Series MVP, and, now, three years later, might have a crack at it again.
In the final analysis, in a world of robberies, burglaries and staph infections, is a pro athlete who sees the big picture in life the worst thing to be?
Oct. 21 was – by any standard – a pretty good day in Boston sports history.
On the gridiron, South Florida’s loss to Rutgers the previous Thursday allowed the unbeaten Boston College Eagles to slide into second place in the BCS standings, and Tom Brady threw a team-record six touchdown passes as the New England Patriots continued an unbeaten season of their own, trouncing the Miami Dolphins by a final score of 49-28.
Overshadowing these accomplishments, however, were those of the beloved Boston Red Sox. As the day came to a close, the Sox were putting the finishing touches on a dramatic Game 7 win over the Cleveland Indians, capping off an improbable comeback in the AL championship series and punching their ticket to this year’s Fall Classic (sound familiar, Yankee fans?).
And there he was, right at the center of the on-field celebration at Fenway Park: Manny Ramirez. His long braids flailing wildly behind him, Ramirez – who had bounced back from a sub-par regular season to become Boston’s most consistent threat at the plate in the playoffs – leaped gleefully into the arms of teammates Jonathan Papelbon and Jason Varitek. It was hard to believe that, just days earlier, the man was being scrutinized about his will to win.“It doesn’t happen, so who cares?” was the damning question Ramirez had posed with his team trailing three games to one. “There’s always next year. It’s not like it’s the end of the world or something.”
An Associated Press story forebodingly taunted Ramirez, “Try telling that to all those people in New England.” Well, on behalf of “all those people in New England,” I think everything turned out just fine.
We all know Manny Ramirez likes to stay loose. He never loses sight of the fact that – despite the extreme fervor of Red Sox Nation – baseball is still just a game. Sometimes Ramirez’s attitude rubs fans the wrong way, but should we really want him to change? Consider the other end of the spectrum, as personified by Beantown’s newest star, Boston Celtic Kevin Garnett.
Upon Garnett’s arrival in town this summer, Boston Globe columnist Jackie MacMullan gushed that KG “plays hard, plays long and plays with an intensity that has been sorely lacking around here,” adding, “He desperately wants to win.”There is a famous interview Garnett gave on TNT during All-Star weekend in 2004-05. John Thompson spoke of various aches and pains Garnett was playing through at the time, and asked, “What’s driving you?”
“That I’m losing,” Garnett replied, his voice trembling. “That I’m losing. (A pause.) I’m losing. (Another, longer pause.) I’m losing.” The big man failed to contain his emotions from there, explaining that he was crying “tears of pain,” and that “this (expletive deleted) is killing me.”
“I hate that I’m like this in front of you right now, man,” Garnett confessed to Thompson, who quickly replied that he respected Garnett, calling his waterworks “refreshing” and “a sign of strength” rather than “a sign of weakness.” My take: How about a sign for concern? I love KG, but when ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons regularly joked about the inevitability of him one day turning homicidal on his teammates – and it didn’t seem particularly farfetched – perhaps he’d ratcheted up the intensity a bit too high.
Meanwhile, the facts are these: Garnett has made it past the first round of the NBA playoffs once in his career, while Manny was the 2004 World Series MVP, and, now, three years later, might have a crack at it again.
In the final analysis, in a world of robberies, burglaries and staph infections, is a pro athlete who sees the big picture in life the worst thing to be?
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