June 19, 2013

City of Champions – Boston Scores Again

June 16, 2011 by 27 Comments

Last night the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canucks to win the right to drink beer out of The Stanley Cup.  After the clock read zero, I tweeted my congratulations.  ”You gotta feel good for those long suffering Boston sports fans.”  It had been a long 29 years of hand-wringing including a “kiss your sister” celebration of Ray Bourque’s Stanley Cup in 2001 after the long-time Bruin was traded to the Avalanche to win it.  In case you feel like attacking Boston’s sports credibility, just imagine for a second that the Heat had won the Finals this year and we had a party with Zydrunas Ilgauskas.  No matter, though.  Bourque is long forgotten now that the Bruins won it all.  Talk about a Cleveland contrast.

There is a generation of Boston sports fans who will have no idea what to do with themselves if Boston sports teams don’t win it all every couple of years.  Since the millennium, it is absolutely astonishing.  The Patriots won in 2001, 2003, 2004 and nearly missed a perfect season in 2007.  The Red Sox won it in 2004 and 2007.  The Celtics won it in 2008.  And now the Bruins have won it in 2011.  So that’s seven championships across four teams in basically a decade’s time.  And beyond that, it is a ton of contention even when they didn’t win it all. [Read more...]

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The Similarities Between Tom Brady and Colt McCoy

November 10, 2010 by 14 Comments

Obviously this is very very early and means very very little in the scheme of things.  Most of it is just pure coincidence and anecdotal.  Still, sometimes this stuff is more interesting than the things we can make up.  I know everyone wanted to talk about the Belichick vs. Mangini storyline last week and I refused to do it.  For one, the whole “spygate” affair isn’t our deal.  It happened with the Jets.  That wasn’t a crime committed against the Browns even if we have Mangini here now.  Still, let’s look at a couple things.

Bill Belichick was in his second season with the Pats when Drew Bledsoe got smashed running out of bounds.  Tom Brady replaced Bledsoe.  Eric Mangini is in his second season with the Browns.  Granted two quarterbacks had to go down in order for Colt McCoy to take over and Colt McCoy is a rookie whereas Tom Brady was in his second year.  Still, when Tom Brady started his first game for the Pats (not counting the game he took over where Bledsoe got hurt) he was 24 years and 58 days old.  When Colt McCoy started his first game for the Browns against Pittsburgh, he was 24 years and 42 days old.  I know it is completely stupid, but even the alliteration works. Brady and Belichick. McCoy and Mangini. [Read more...]

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Pre-Game Intel: Patriots vs. Browns

November 5, 2010 by 16 Comments

When and Where: Sunday November 7th, 2010 – 1:00 PM – Cleveland Browns Stadium – Cleveland, OH

Overview: Everyone in the national media wants to continue the Mangini vs. Belichick storyline for this game.  And now for something completely different.  I couldn’t possibly care less about that storyline.  Belichick’s run here in Cleveland is long since forgotten by pretty much everyone not named Tony Grossi and Bernie Kosar.  I mean, we still remember it, but as fans, I get this feeling that most of us have bigger fish to fry with our current team with our current staff.  The last thing I truly care about is what the handshake will be like between the two at the end of the game.

The Browns have a difficult task ahead of them.  The Patriots have the very best record in the NFL at 6-1.  They have had a medium schedule so far, I would say.  They have beaten Cincy, Buffalo, Miami, Baltimore, San Diego and Minnesota, while losing to the Jets in the second week.  Tom Brady (Yankees fan, see pic) is their quarterback (duh.)  It almost seemingly doesn’t matter who departs from this team on an annual basis.

They re-tool on the fly.  Not that it matters to this week’s game, but how amazing is it that the Pats have two first round draft picks, two second round draft picks and two third rounders this season.  All it cost them was Laurence Maroney, an aging Richard Seymour and a cranky Randy Moss.  That, my friends is why I respect the hell out of Bill Belichick regardless of what his history with the old Cleveland Browns was.  The organizational efficiency is a thing to behold.

Anyway, onto the matchup for this Sunday.

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