sportsreports

The Boston Celtics, reigning NBA Champions, beat the Philadelphia 76ers 110-91 to win their franchise record 19th straight game. However, despite making history the Celtics seem pretty calm about it all. The champs go for their 20th straight victory on Christmas day. In an interview, Doc Rivers stated that he thinks that the NBA champions deserve to be at home on Christmas, but they will not be. They will be on the road taking on a hungry Lakers team. However, despite the fact that they have the best starting record in NBA history at 27-2, the Celtics are not getting cocky. They say they would rather have something tangible, like a Championship ring, than a winning streak record. Still, winning 19 games in a row puts them amongst the elite Celtics teams of the past. If the Celtics win it all this year, they will be comparable to the great Celtics teams of the 1960’s and 80’s. Already, the Celtics have shown they are as good if not better than the Celtics teams of the 1970’s, led by John Havlicek.

The Celtics are winning so easily because they are playing unselfishly. The C’s do not have a single player in the Top 20 in the league in scoring, yet they are blowing teams out every night. They spread the wealth; everyone gets a chance to score. One night it will be Paul Pierce’s chance, the next night Ray Allen’s, the next Garnett’s, etc. Also, like any championship team, the Celtics are playing great defense. The Celtics are truly showing everyone why they won it all last year, and the Lakers just got embarrased. Look for the Celtics to show the Lakers who the champions are Christmas Day.

this is the final installment of my continuation of chapter 1 of a book called the Burn Journals, by Brent Runyon. Read my previous posts to catch up.

Brent opened his eyes halfway, the lights in the ceiling temporarily blinding him. His body hurt all over. Where was he? What was going on? Why did his skin feel like he had been bitten by fire ants all over his body? He tried to lean forwards but his neck exploded with pain. He tried to cry out but he couldn’t find his voice. The lights started swirling overhead. Who were those people standing around him? He heard voices. He recognized those voices. Was that Mom? He tried to call out her name, but nothing came out. Was that Craig? Craig. His brother, his kid brother, was there. He was always such a jerk to Craig even though he could tell how much Craig looked up to him. He tried to apologize, but he couldn’t get the words out. His dad was even there. He realized now how much he loved them all. All of a sudden he remembered what he had done. Why had he done that? He tried to take his life just because of an incident at school. He felt his eyes watering up, the tears stung his face so bad it took his breath away. He started gasping for air but he couldn’t breathe. He heard beeping, was that his pulse? The nurse rushed into the room, and held his gauze  covered hand. His mom whispered to him that everything would be all right. And in that moment, despite the burns covering 85% of his body, Brent Runyon found peace. It didn’t matter that he was in trouble at school. It didn’t matter that his dad was always away on business or that he had screwed up so badly already. The only thing that mattered now was that his family was around him, and they loved him. His family forgave him for what he had done and he was finally happy. He closed his eyes, and despite the pain that spread like wildfire across his skin, smiled.

Dwyane Wade is leading the NBA in points with almost 29 points a game. Thats right, he is ahead of Kobe, ahead of LeBron, ahead of everyone. The flash is leading his Heat to a much better season than last year. Today the Heat pulled out a victory in overtime thanks to 37 points  by Wade. Unfortunately, the Heat happened to beat the Warriors, giving the Warriors yet another loss. The final score of today’s game was 130-129, in the Heat’s favor. You can’t blame the Warriors for not trying though, newcomer Jamal Crawford put up 40 points on 50% shooting for Golden State. Jackson had a very weak game, shooting 2 for 11 from the floor. Biedrins had another solid night, with 17 points and 15 boards. Biedrins is currently second in the league in rebounds, behind only Dwight “Superman” Howard. Dwight has replaced Shaq as Superman. Anyways, several Warriors had solid nights. Maggette had 29 points, and Wright put in 15 points of his own. The defense was not there tonight for the Warriors, however, and this led to yet another loss. The offensive production was there, but they were out-gunned by the Miami Heat. I think it was a fun game though, it was exciting, fast paced, and action packed. Dwyane Wade is one of my favorite players so it is always fun to see him do well.

Also, the Celtics beat the Magic for their ninth straight win. The C’s are showing why they are the NBA champions (although those Lakers look pretty good too). I wouldn’t be surprised if it was another Celtics-Lakers matchup in the finals, hopefully with the same result. Celtic Pride

Today was a tragic day for New England sports. The Patriots are showing how lost they truly are without Brady. Remember when people were talking about how Matt Cassel might permanently replace Brady (astonishing I know)? Well, after Sunday’s performance that talk has disappeared. Cassel threw two picks and ZERO touchdowns. A week after his second consecutive four hundred yard passing game he goes out and gets around a 40 passer rating. He had a completion percentage under 50 percent. That is terrible. The Pats gave up 30 unanswered points. After being up 10-3 in the second quarter, they went into half time at 10-10 (I made a mistake on yesterdays blog about the halftime score). The Steelers then scored 23 points to the Patriots’ zero in the second half. That is one way to guarantee you won’t be playing in the playoffs. Gosh. The Hoody needs to get his act together and get the Patriots back on track. I was going to try to also talk about the Warriors tonight, but I am just too disappointed in them lately to even try. Does Don Nelson even want to win anymore? I love the Warriors, trust me, I am a big fan, but I am getting annoyed by what management is doing. They should not have punished Monta Ellis so harshly, he was already out with the leg injury, so why punish him for it? That will just weaken morale. Also, Marco Bellinelli should NEVER be starting a game, which is what happened on Saturday (they got blown out by the New York Knicks). There is plenty of talent on the Warrior roster, they just need to utilize it more. I say use Brandon Wright and Anthony Randolph more, have Stephen Jackson shoot less, and try to run an offense. Less three point attempts and more patience would perhaps result in more production. More defense would help too. Oh well, I told myself I wouldn’t talk about the Warriors but I did.

Super Bowl star Plexico Burress shot himself in the leg at a night club in New York City on friday night. Not only did he ruin his season, and hurt his team, but he is also going to be charged with criminal possession of a weapon. Why is it that all football players have to get into trouble at night clubs? Adam “Pacman” Jones got into who knows how much trouble, and now Plexico Burress. Burress is reportedly ok; he was released from the hospital Saturday afternoon.

Plexico’s injury did not seem to affect the Giants, who rolled over the Redskins today 23-7. The surprise of the day was the 49ers victory over the Bills. Good for San Francisco, they need what they can get at this point. Isaac Bruce, the formers Rams star, had a pretty good day for the Niners, with 5 receptions and a touchdown. Denver is currently beating the New York Jets, which is good for the Patriots, who are up 10-3 on the Steelers in the third quarter at this moment. I can’t really say much else at this point. I have a twelve page essay to type on Roman government compared to Greek government, and then compared to modern western government. So I have a fun day ahead of me. Thanks for reading

Black Friday became a bloody Friday in Southern California when two men shot eachother to death near the check out line of a Toys R’ Us in SoCal. Apparently the shootout was started because two women began screaming at eachother, and then one of the women punched the other woman in the face. Before anyone knew what was happening, one of the men pulled a gun, the other did the same, and they shot eachother to death. I am not exactly sure how this happens, or what kind of person brings a gun to a Toys R’ Us for that matter, but that is irrelevant. This just shows how screwed up the world is… people can’t go to a Toys R’ Us without being beat up and/or shot to death? Police reports claimed that the fight was not over merchandise, which makes me wonder what it was about. Also, investigators state that the two couples did not know each other prior to the incident, which seems odd, because how many people would bring a gun to a toy store?

In sporting news, Stephon Marbury is simply an idiot. He got fined $400K for refusing to play a basketball game. He is getting paid millions of dollars to play a great game, something he should love, and he just flat out refuses to play. What an idiot. Marbury is now claiming that he never told Coach Mike D’Antoni that he isn’t playing, apparently insisting that an NBA coach made up a story about his player refusing to play; that is clearly preposterous (did I spell that right?). Marbury makes $190,000 a game, $21 million per year, which probably makes him the most overpaid athlete in the history of sports. Because Marbury skipped the game, he didn’t get paid his $190,000 for that game, and he is being benched against Golden State tomorrow which is another $190,000, PLUS he is getting docked pay for his next game, which is another $190,000. Also, he was fined $400,000 which brings the total to $970,000 that moron Marbury just lost. He has been bleeding the Knicks dry for years, and it has come to this. Marbury is acting mad, saying that this is the end of “the marriage”. No one will sign him after this. Bye bye Starbury

This week’s MNF matchup featured the New Orleans Saints and the Green Bay Packers. The Saints were finally home from a 42 game road trip (that included a game in London against the Chargers) and they made the most of their home field advantage. The Saints put on an offensive show, beating the Packers 51-29. Drew Brees was (in my opinion) the MVP of the game with 323 passing yards and 4 touchdowns, and no picks. The Saint’s D also stepped it up, intercepting Aaron Rodgers three times, and holding him to under 250 yards. Pierre Thomas for the Saints was the best runningback on the field, in a game where running was not a huge factor. He had 87 yards and a career high(tie) two touchdowns. The game was more of an aerial attack, with Drew Brees taking on Aaron Rodgers. Brees was clearly victorious in this aspect, and so was his team. The Saints are now 6-5, whereas the Packers are 5-6. Green Bay seems to have lost all hope at making a playoff run, and seem more focused on trying to fill the void left by the great Brett Favre, who is adjusting nicely with the Jets. Also, Deuce McAllister rushed 5 times….for a total of 5 yards and a touchdown. A week day for the Deuce, but a great day for the Big Easy. Good job Saints.

Alabama is ranked number one in the AP Top 25 rankings and in the BCS rankings. Florida is number two in the AP rankings, whereas Texas is two and Oklahoma three in the BCS. I think that Oklahoma should be number two; especially after their impressive rout of Texas Tech recently. The Sooners shut down the Red Raiders. However, the thing that impressed me about the rankings was not in the top 5, or even the top 10. My favorite team, the Boston College Eagles are ranked 20th. Its great to finally see BC back on top (20 at least). Alabama looks great this year, obviously, and they deserve their number one ranking. I guess we will see soon whether or not they can keep that ranking.

Also, the Warriors lost again on Sunday, which is getting more and more pathetic with each passing game. I love the Warriors, but they can’t seem to win a game. They can’t even beat the 76ers. Luckily, my other favorite teams the Celtics and the Heat are doing well. The C’s are obviously dominant this year, but even the Heat are doing pretty well. Dwyane Wade is fantastic. He really has come back from his injury, as was evident in his offensive and defensive domination of the Beijing Olympics this past summer. Go Flash

The mighty Tennessee Titans have finally lost. It was inevitable; I knew it would happen, it was just a matter of when, where, and what team would do it. People were comparing the Titans to last year’s Patriots, which is completely ridiculous, and they are not even close to the ‘72 Dolphins. I did not expect that the New York Jets would be the team to beat the Titans though. Brett Favre led the way with 224 passing yards and 2 touchdowns. The final score of this afternoon’s historical game was 34-13. In my opinion, the Titans were lucky to be undefeated so long as it is. They were lucky that the NFL has been absent of its usual powerhouses this year. The Patriots are mortal with Brady, the Colts are not the Colts we know and love, and the Cowboys are just bad (they lost to the Rams!). Luckily though, all the talk is over, the Titans finally were exposed as frauds. Also, the Patriots exacted their revenge on the Dolphins today. At this moment there is 30 seconds left in the game, and the Pats are up 48-28. The game is clearly over. Cassel passed for over 400 yards again, (415 yards with 3 TDs). The Brady fill in is certainly doing his best to carry the cleats of the NFL’s best quarterback

 Also, my friend wants me to talk about her in here. She likes art and piano. She’s scared of deep water. She has an annoying laugh. She hates ketchup

This has been a pretty exciting last couple of days as far as the NBA goes. The Pistons handed the Lakers their first loss of the season, as well as snapping the Cavalier’s 8 game win streak. I was a little worried that the Celtics might have some trouble taking down Detroit yesterday. That is, until, I remembered the dominance that is the Boston Celtics. The Celtics embarrased the Pistons 98-80 in an easy game. The high scorer for the game was not one of the (new) Big 3, but rather the quick rising point guard, Rajon Rondo. Rondo is quickly proving himself as a legitimate point guard in this league. He is just as quick, if not quicker, than point guards like Chris Paul. He can pass very well and he hustles on defense. Rondo attacks the basket with tenacity and is pretty successful at it. However, Rondo could improve his jumper; if he obtained a quality 3 point shot he would be deadly. As it is, the Celtics seem nearly untouchable, except for the occasional fluke game (like the one against the Pacers earlier this season). Paul Pierce is having another great season. He slimmed down for the season and he is playing great. He scores without forcing shots. He is unselfish and a great teammate, which is partly why he is my favorite player in the league. As Brother Ali said. “The Truth is Here”.