Jokela shootings

This is what I'm talkin' about...I wouldn't consider myself an ecofascist but at the very least we need to start worrying about population control - instead of trying to breed more and more consumers to ingest more and more plastic and become more and more cancerous each year so doctors can keep playing golf and our health care system can start to bankrupt us instead of the other way around...

"Pentti Linkola calls himself an ecofascist and believes Western democracies have overindustrialized their natural land due to individualism and obsession with consumer products. He advocates mass genocide, war, famine and a strong dictatorship to keep the population under control."

Full article here.

Ride the Bulleit!

JF and I enjoy partaking in the occasional drink together. If you replace "occasional" with "daily" and "drink" with "glass after glass of straight-up booze", you might get the general idea. But seriously, nothing is better than the Bulleit, so far, as bourbons go. It's got a smooth, oaky taste that is very flavorful but not overly sweet. After polishing off a bottle of Gentleman Jack over the course of a couple of months (it did take me that long, only because I'd go drink JF's booze when we got together), I found it to be a great whiskey, but a bit on the sweet side.

Then JF introduced me to Bulleit when, by some queer happenstance (like how I just used both the words "queer" and "happenstance" in a sentence?), we found $1.00 nips at a local liquor store. $1.00 for 50mL of great Frontier Whiskey, as they call it, which adds up to $15.00 for 750mL, which is HALF THE NORMAL PRICE OF A 750mL BOTTLE. Sick f***s that we are, we decided to clear this liquor store out of all Bulleit nips at every opportunity.

Officially, it's known as "Straight Bourbon Whiskey", likely due to its age and how it's aged. Not sure on that, I'm no expert, but I do like a good bourbon, and Bulleit is great stuff - highly recommended.

Check it out here. Can be bought in Braintree, MA and Route 16, Arlington/Medford border.

Official site is http://www.bulleitbourbon.com/.

Why our society will fail

Great corrupt.org article here.

The general idea here is that popular consensus leading a population made up mostly of morons leads to only one end: a society where our best resource (people with an IQ of over 120) feels alienated among a politically-correct, lowest-common-denominator environment.

We can even relate this back to sports: Bill Belichick, clearly the best coach in the history of the National Football League, is about to lead his team to a perfect season. "But this is the league of parity, every team should have an equal chance!" Well, you can hinder someone with money restrictions - salary-cap - but you can't fault a team for having more natural talent because they are better at draft picks and fell into one of the best quarterbacks of all time back in 2000. So of course, the passive-aggressive behavior kicks in: allowing everyone to make a huge deal, then shadily destroying the evidence in the taping scandal; ticky-tack penalties for huge yards in one of the most important games of the entire season (Indianapolis); non-calls when Randy Moss is getting raped in the end zone; and most recently, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady having to come up with new audibles each week because NBC thought it would be a great idea to focus in on those audibles as clearly as possible during every play. Now every team will review that tape and that audio to see what his audibles mean at the line of scrimmage. Would NBC have done this with any other NFL team? Probably not. The passive-aggressive behavior penetrates every aspect of our society these days - even football.

Does anyone feel this isn't true, with all the shallow crap on TV, on the news, without any real discussion by our own presidential candidates of the really important issues of the day and the really important effects of man-made causes? Is any one of our presidential candidates even willing to engage someone in the following issues?

• Israel, as a political ally, needs to go. We bail these guys out time and time again because England the US force-fed zionists to the Arabs, and they've needed our protection ever since we allowed the systematic disenfranchisement of the Palestinians.
• Our over-population and lack of a sense of social responsibility will ultimately lead to the death of most of us when water and other resource-related wars begin.
• As a society, we're getting dumber. Period. Something needs to be done. This is inter-related with lots of fun issues that will never be discussed in politics again, the way our system is currently constructed: our lack of cultural identity, our increasingly politically-correct environment, our ignorance of our country's own foreign policy, etc.
• Illegal immigration has as much to do with Mexican politics as it does with US politics. Mexico has a beautiful piece of land between two beautiful shores, with lots of natural resources, but they'd rather leach off the US than get their act together and get rid of their druglords. If the US took a hard line with illegal immigration, maybe Mexico would be more apt to clean up their act.

The week's sports...

Of course, the above picture is just one of the best pieces of art I've ever seen. Great stuff.

Patriots look to go 12-0 in Baltimore this coming Monday Night in the third Pats' night game in a row.

Celtics, rebounding after a tough loss to budding rivals Cleveland, rebounded by absolutely destroying the Knicks 104-59.

Red Sox look to be in the lead in the "Sign Johan Santana at any cost" sweepstakes. Oh wait...that should actually read: "We're the Minnesota Twins, PLEASE sign Johan Santana so we can get SOMETHING for him as he already rejected $18million/year from us...Sox? Yanks? You can just give us prospects and one of your least desirable players; really! PLEASE take this off our hands NOW so we don't look like idiots at the end of the season when he hits the free agent market and we get nothing for him!!!" Yeah, something like that.

Packers cheat, too

The Green Bay Packers have violated a ticky-tack rule but will not be fined $750,000 nor lose draft picks. Their players have essentially been gambling ON EACH OTHER's performances during games, but Goodell is going to let that slip by.

Every week closer to 19-0 in February is a good one...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3128645

More Sports - Thanksgiving Weekend wrap

- Good article/rant on Brazilian footballers and the effect showing only utter dominance on TV can have in a country as it relates to soccer:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=484942&cc=5901

First, I thought it was one of my own blog rants. Then I realized they were merely quoting FIFA President Scott Blatter. I hope he stays president for a while and can change the rules - I don't want to see a Brazilian suiting up in Italian blue for the national team any time soon.

Clubs are one thing - Milan should be able to sign anyone in the world willing to play there; most players on American professional teams are not from the hometown. This is professional sports. But the idea of allowing this to extend to national team matches is outrageous, and if the rules aren't changed soon, Blatter has a point: we may see naturalized Brazilians (or whomever) playing ANYWHERE.

Why a Brazilian would want to play for a national team other than Brazil is beyond me. They have five world cups and, much as I hate to admit it, are the class of the world (until Italy wins their fifth in 2010!). I guess if you're not good enough to play for Brazil, move to Croatia like da Silva did, and become a naturalized citizen. Residence as defined by FIFA should simply be based on birthplace, or some amount of years that would prohibit someone from deliberately planning to be naturalized into a country for the sake of playing international soccer, like fifteen years.

- Pats almost lost last night. Yes, it's big news when the Patriots do not blow a team out. I'm still hoping for Brady to capture the season TD record, passing yards record, and would love to see Moss catch something like 30 TDs. The Pats are too well-coached to allow one game of poor play in the secondary affect them, so the 19-0 hopes are very much alive.

- Celts are 10-1 on Ray Allen's last-second three pointer in Charlotte the other night, after containing Kobe and the Lakers the night prior. Ridiculous. Please don't wake me up just yet.

Mike Lowell reportedly returning to the Red Sox for three more years

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3118926

Without Scott Boras, this likely never would have happened. Sad day when I have to give the shout-out to Boras for melodramatizing the Yankees/A-Rod ordeal, but it all worked out for Sox fans as we avoid A-Rod and get to keep our World Series MVP.

Sorry...but yes, this is yet another sports post

The Celtics finally lost a game and are still sitting pretty at 8-1. They lost to a young and motivated Orlando squad who were playing at home. Despite the loss, the Celtics showed a lot of grit by coming back from about 20 down to tie the game, and pretty much owned the second half - but you can bet their 18/26 free throw shooting will be the big focus in practice this week.

Would it have been fun to see them make a run for tying or breaking the best start ever by a team? Sure...but as Dan Shanoff points out, if they can win eight out of every nine games, that's one hell of a season.

What else can be said about the Patriots? 10-0 record, 56-10 trainwreck win over the Bills (oh, and uh, speaking of the Bills, we now have the soccer equivalent of the 1990's Buffalo Bills...congratulations for another listless second half of Finals soccer, boys!). The only thing we worry about as Patriots fans these days is, "did anyone get injured?" and "did Brady throw for enough TDs to ensure he'll break Manning's record by Week 15 or so?". To put that second question in perspective, the team's number one running back, Laurence Maroney, ran for his first touchdown of the season last night, ten games in. He had seven at this point last year.

There have only been a couple of games where the Patriots can be accused of running up the score. Their 52-7 win against Washington was one of them - throwing deep late in the game, throwing on fourth down late in the game...okay, I get it, it might be annoying to watch for the other team. But now there's finally a backlash against the Pats-haters: even coaches and players are finally saying, "it's our job as a defense to stop them". The Patriots are obviously a team on a mission, and watching it has been great for the league, despite what the detractors say.

Despite the image Belichick had of not rubbing it in or not playing for individual achievements until this year, it was clear, for example, even in 2004 that he wanted Corey Dillon to get every cent of his incentive money by giving it to him as much as possible on goal-line plays. He does this for guys he likes and wants to reward when it makes sense to do so. They did everything that year to ensure Dillon got his max purse, short of intentionally running out of bounds at the one-yard line to set up a TD run. But they did it as part of an offensive plan to put balance in their attack. This season has been more of the same: After losing to the Colts in the AFC Championship game last year, just barely, Belichick convinced his organization to get whatever weapons were available to annihilate every other team on offense, and now Belichick wants it all - like Nicky Santoro in Casino: he wants the quarterback TD record, he wants the receiving record, he wants the total offense record, he wants the undefeated record, he wants 19-0, he wants that fourth ring. How can you blame him, having Brady, Moss, and Welker to toy around with? The man is giddy; while it's not showing up in press conferences, you can tell him and his staff are having a lot of fun out there, and his players are rewarded after grueling practices by getting these big wins. It's simply amazing seeing a coach and his players in complete harmony: no drama; everyone has the same goal, everyone knows his place, everyone is prepared, and any individual player will come in and do whatever necessary to help win the game. There will be a statue built of that man some day at Gillette Stadium. As much as I'm fine with 15-1 if they decide to sit Brady and most of their offensive stars against the Giants in Week 17, part of me wants Belichick to go for the 16-0 record just so us fans can say we had the best team of all time. Of course, that will make a heart attack all the more likely in January if any of the playoff games are close. But do we really think anyone besides Green Bay, a team the Patriots haven't seen yet and seem intent on making a run for the Super Bowl, will keep any game close the rest of the way?

The real Belichick?

While fans of New England love to take pride in the reputation of our coach, the man really is NOT the anti-Christ. He's just a guy who has learned a hard lesson about the media and doesn't want to add any fuel to the fire by justifying anything that is written about him, good or bad.

No, really.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=belichick&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab4pos1

Great piece...and certainly one most of the media will ignore because it's easier to label a coach who doesn't show his cards to the media, "evil".

Italy beats Scotland 2-1 to qualify for Euro2008 finals

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=197478&cc=5901

Italy has now officially qualified for the finals in Austria/Switzerland next year for the Euro 2008 tournament.

Click on "Tony's Azzurri Blog" to the right for more.

Italy takes early 1-0 lead vs. Scotland - 11/17/2007

...in other news, their new away uniforms are, in fact, horrible.

First half is over, but not before Luca Toni puts one in the net 1:11 into the game. Should be smooth sailing from here as long as they come out playing their typically tight defense. Should I really worry with Cannavaro out there? Probably not.

Courtesy of JF...

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Italy vs. Scotland - 11/17/2007

Tomorrow, Italy plays Scotland in a very important Euro 2008 qualifier. Italy is on the road, in Scotland, and will have to play the best squad they can put on the pitch for 90 minutes. Why? Italy is currently third in their group ranking, behind both France and Scotland. Italy has only one loss, but they have played less qualifiers to this point than both Scotland and France, so they have one less win than both teams, with 7 as compared to 8 wins for both Scotland and France. The draw against France this past summer didn't help, which Italy easily should have won.

What you see on the right is Italy's new away split. There are more pictures here, just toggle between "previous" and "next". The Uni Watch blog called it 'disgusting', but this is the same Uni Watch that gets the occasional column on ESPN.com and which called last year's Italy jersey "boring". In fact, it was a marvel of modern fabric and the best design worn by the team that I have ever seen - I have a replica, and the fabric is super light, wicks away moisture very, very well, and has welded seams to keep the weight of the jersey down. It's like wearing silk, but silk that doesn't absorb any water. This is especially important if you're running for 90 minutes and sweating more than any American football player does in 4 or 5 games. Americans simply don't understand soccer uniforms - the MLS ones have to have all kinds of piping (which is okay as long as it's controlled) and huge logos with team names - typically American, which is okay. I think part of the disconnect is that league teams abroad do not have names - there's no "Liverpool Beatles". It's just Liverpool Football Club, or whatever. So in international play, the teams sometimes have nicknames, but they are simply known as Italy, Germany, etc. When there's no team colors, just a country's flag or traditional soccer garb to use as a reference, color schemes become less creative (until recently - the new, England jersey was a huge hit in Germany, as was the Portugal wine-rid color, and the Italy jersey, despite Uni Watch's comments).

Anyway, Italy's new away split has a weird gold strip and a collar, as well as funky numbers and a logo that's far too high up on the left chest - why not make the team logo bigger, keep it at center, and leave the Puma logo where it was? I hate the collar, to be honest. Why does a soccer player need a collar - for tradition? It also seems the jersey has more gloss in the fabric, which could add to the weight. These guys are star athletes, running around a soccer field, and need the lightest possible material to do their job. So PUMA decides to add a collar...??? I'm hoping they get such negative feedback on this thing, that they hold off on redesigning the home jersey. Interestingly, the home and away Italy jerseys have historically been very different. PUMA has been on a home-run streak with design - workout clothes, shoes, and their pride and joy, the Italy kit from the 2006 world cup. But I think they overshot this one.

Oh, there's a game to be played, right. If Italy can get this win, it'll pretty much guarantee them one of the top two spots for Euro 2008 next year. They should be able to control their own destiny at that point with only 2 games remaining. And then the real tourny begins next summer in Austria & Switzerland, which should feel like home games for Italy considering Germany is the only decent competitor closer to both countries. Plus, I'm becoming a Donadoni fan - the coach really knows what to do when he's pressured, it seems, and has been putting the appopriate players out there when needed. He's like the Tito Francona of the game now - he has loads of talent at his disposal, just needs to ensure he knows where to put it and when. Winning this game and entering the finals of Euro 2008 will stave off any talk of Lippi coming back to the team. I love Marcello Lippi as much as any Azzurri fan, but we don't need a coaching scandal/replacement in the middle of trying to get an 8th and then a 9th win in these qualifiers.

Workplace bathroom habits

OK, I'll try...try...to keep this as clean as possible.

Since I started working at my third "real" company after college, where I had to share a bathroom with many (I've had a nice, nearby, easily monitor-able, single-stall setup at two companies so far - and wow, I sound like George Costanza right now), I've noticed some odd fuckin' things in the bathroom. Here's a list of some of them.

1. Dorm room treatment: Why do people feel it necessary to treat the bathroom like it's the one in their dorm when they were 18 years old? Not only do you end up with toilet paper and water and/or piss everywhere, you end up with these morons coming into the bathroom with ESPN.com printouts, sitting on the toilet for something like an hour, and then throwing the printouts and/or newspapers everywhere instead of throwing them in the trash. I guess because their wives or mothers don't allow them to act like they're still potty-training, they have to let loose at work. Guys, it's a professional environment; I don't want any trace of your presence after you leave.

2. Fixing the hair: OK, I'm kinda-sorta losing my hair, but I still take pride in my appearance. Still, I think most men should try to keep their haircuts relatively clean and easily manageable - short if necessary (if you have hair like mine, you definitely need to keep it short - or it'll just look like hay), and without too much gunk. This is coming from someone who used to put so much crap in his hair, one of my friends used to say it looked like it had been soaking in roast beef juice for days. Now, I just keep it clean and short - I'm too old and too married to be worrying about what anyone thinks about my hairdo.

So of course, even though there are some younger, some older guys than me in the office, you get these guys who stand there in front of the mirror, fixing these tiny little strands of hair out of place, looking for nose-hairs, fixing their ties if they have them on...I mean, do they look at themselves in the mirror in the morning?? One guy at my last company was notorious for always being in the bathroom (actually, all of the inside sales guys were, it was like a carousel and all of them brought the newspaper with them - disgusting), never looking at anyone else, and then standing there for five minutes while he fixed his hair and tie. The gag was on him - he was an inside sales guy!!! For those of you who don't know, this means his job was to be on the telephone all day - he never met with clients! He was labeled "goon" from then on.

3. Guys who talk or mutter while on the toilet: This happens more often than one would think, which is very unfortunate for those of us that simply want to do our business in peace with no awkwardness, wash our hands, and leave the bathroom so we can go back to blogging about toilet behavior. I'm of the opinion that bathrooms, in particular men's, shared by many people during the day should have far better ventilation systems than they are given. When a new building is going up, doesn't anyone say "hey, while we're working on the frame, let's leave some space so that the exhaust from the HVAC can be connected to a fan to each bathroom, and make that ventilation force much greater than normal"? No one has thought of this yet?? Anyway, once, I go in there, I'm washing my hands, some guy had come in to use the 'real stall', and he actually mutters to himself - knowing there was only me and one other guy in there - "man, it stinks in here". He literally whispered it to himself but clearly wanted us to hear him. What the hell were we supposed to say?? "Yeah, dude...uh...that's cuz people SHIT IN HERE." Would that have appeased this guy? Would he have been pissed off if we had responded? My suggestion: Keep your mouth shut while in the bathroom, unless you're having a conversation with a coworker. Keeping the noise level up is fine in the bathroom, because it's real awkward when there's a few guys in there and everyone is silent. But for God's sake, only talk to people you know, excluding yourself.

4. Dirty People: There are still people who leave toilets unflushed, wet toilet paper hanging off god-knows-where, sinks that have crap in them, etc. I'm all for dental hygiene, for example, but if you're going to brush your teeth in a bathroom where the sinkhole is mesh and doesn't let much through, clean up after yourself so the rest of us don't have to see your toothpaste and mouthwash for the rest of the day.

5. People who use the Handicap-Accessible stall when there's no need to do so: I'm not the most politically correct person in the world. I understand that. But why does one need so much damn space to go to the bathroom? There are four stalls in our men's room here at work. Whenever I go in and there's no one in there except one guy, if that guy is taking up one of the stalls, he's invariably in the handicap-accessible one. I mean, what if a guy in a wheelchair actually came through the door? Or, more realistically, a guy on crutches who suffered an ankle injury? He would get pissed off if he saw that you took the handicap-accessible stall instead of one of the other three available stalls. Get it right, people.

6. People who continue conversation in the bathroom after their hands are dry: As I stated above, casual conversation between two co-workers who know each other is welcome in the men's room. It keeps the noise level up and the awkwardness down, if only temporarily. But when everyone who's talking is done washing their hands and drying them, leave the bathroom. This is not a place for social hour, it's a place to get in and get out. If you happen to have a short conversation while you're in there, hey, good for you. But overstay your welcome and you end up getting in people's way when they are entering or exiting. Leave in a timely fashion.

People suck.

Actual WWII Poster from Germany...(this 'perspective' thing sure is interesting!)

Thom Yorke Will Eat Your Children If You're Not Careful...

Thought of the night before bed:

Thom Yorke: "We live under a world banking system and media that make it almost irrelevant who is in power. Political systems worldwide are at the mercy of business and bullshit economies. I can't recycle any of the polythene packaging that fills my house. Why?"

That's gotta be one of the best things he's ever said. It doesn't even matter in what context this was taken; it just matters that he managed to string these three sentences together while speaking about god-knows-what. The man is fucking brilliant. I think I'm officially on yet another Radiohead kick...

"We haven't seen homefield advantage work that well since Hitler invaded Russia."

Gotta love a good Hitler reference.

As linked below and here, Sports Guy is the only national columnist defending the Patriots or even mentioning the ridiculously one-sided officiating in the Pats/Colts game, that the Pats ended up winning 24-20. Not only did the Patriots only play about 9 minutes of decent football and beat an undefeated Super Bowl champion on the road, but they had to also play against the poor officiating.

Another Max von Sydow moment!

Go here:

Sports Guy - 11/9/2007

For those of you who don't believe in the legend that is Max von Sydow.

The Ten Commandments

You don't wanna mess with the Godfadda...

Yahoo! Mafia News

"I coach through fear."

This says it all for me.

SIMMS: We go to the Colts practices and you never hear the coaches say anything in practice. The only person you really hear at an Indianapolis Colts practice is Peyton Manning because he is telling everyone what to do. His style (Tony Dungy) is so different from Bill Belichick's.

I asked Bill Belichick once before the Super Bowl in Houston, how would you describe your coaching style? And he responded, 'I coach through fear. I tell people they better play better or I'll bench them or it will cost them their job.' That is how he learned. I don't know if he still coaches exactly that way but he definitely has a different style than Tony Dungy.
Belichick has balls and Dungy doesn't.

I can't wait...

Holy F***ing S**t...the Celtics are good again

Last night, I had the good fortune of going to the first Celtics opener in about 50 years that felt like it was meaningful. OK, maybe 15. Tons of great stuff was happening last night, starting in the bar we all hung out in before the game:

• Matt, a guy I had only met once or twice before, was firing it up. Screaming "woooo" at random times, and conversing with me about how the Patriots and Red Sox are going to continue their new-age dynasties, with the Celtics to hopefully follow suit. All we could talk about was how great it is to be a sports fan in Boston these days - and how we love that we're so annoying, that the rest of the country probably hates us.
• Once at the game, we found our seats to be at the club level. I had sat here once before with my sister way back in the first season of the Fleetcenter's existence, when the Celtics were not exciting in the least to watch and the place was half-empty. They played the Utah Jazz that night and lost by about 10. It was cool to see Karl Malone and Stockton in their primes and all, but luckily, I have a feeling there won't be many nights in the near future where the Garden is half-empty.
• The 'new' parquet floor (which, I believe, is at least partially replaced from the original WWII-ear parquet floor) was renamed the "Red Auerbach parquet floor", with a Red signature painted onto the wood about where an NBA Finals logo would go.
• I never get tired of seeing those championship banners in the rafters. Seeing the 1959-1966 banners all belonging to the Celtics (EIGHT in a row, not even the Yankees can say that), knowing that they're the most storied franchise in history, and knowing that they may be on the verge of breaking a 21 year drought...it's an amazing thing.
• While I'm not the biggest fan of the "little Celtic dancers", which is comprised of 7-year olds wearing risque outfits and doing backflips during timeouts, the Celtic dancers (the actual grown women) weren't TOO bad...though one was actually named Jennafa, as my wife pointed out in our complimentary program. Seriously - "Jennafa". This is how I pronounced Jennifer growing up, but the cheerleader actually spelled it that way. In related news, the Squire is now looking for more part-time help due to a sudden lack in availability from most of their staff...
• The atmosphere overall was incredible. Not only was Bob Kraft & wife, Laurence Maroney, Ty Warren, Vince Wilfork, and more Patriots there, but Ainge & Co. went out of their way to make sure that the Boston atmosphere was at full pitch. From the "Pats vs. Colts" header in the new jumbotron (new since the last time I was there, at least, and it's a thing of beauty), to a World Series dedication with a presentation of the trophy by Lucchino and some of the members of the Red Sox on the parquet floor, it was a madhouse by the time the lights went out. It was just perfect, and I savored every moment. What other city is like this, seriously? I have a feeling that even in NY...well okay, you may have seen Jeter at a Knicks game in 99 during the NBA Finals, but besides NY & Boston, there aren't many cities where you're going to see actual dedications of world series trophies, a ton of football players from the local franchise at the game...all of these teams and players are winners, and again, it's hard not to savor every moment.
• More on atmosphere - Paul Pierced made a speech before the game. This, to me, was unprecedented...do we have a statistic on the last time this happened, or more importantly, how many teams LOSE when their star players make an emotional speech to the fans before a game? He thanked the fans for being patient all these years, and he reiterated his love for the city of Boston and the fans who have made playing here such a joy for him, despite some down years. He promised that this new-look team is going to do all it can to pay the fanbase back for their unending patience. What a class act. Some backstory here: Pierce got a reptuation by George "I want to be known as the best coach ever" Karl during the 2002 world basketball championship because the US team was lethargic (finishing 5th) and Pierce was the only one who cared. It was a strange time for Pierce, as he had been stabbed a couple years prior to that, and as Bill Simmons has explained in more than one column on ESPN.com, it's very likely it has taken years for Pierce to recover from the incident...from rushing himself back into game shape, to not emotionally dealing with it, to playing on a lousy team and having to bear the brunt of responsibility, to losing Antoine Walker, to getting a coach in Doc Rivers a couple years ago who no one really thought was a good fit. Finally, Pierce has something to be excited about, truly excited about, and he's not going to be shy about it. The goose-bump factor was up there, seeing Pierce in the middle of the floor addressing all of us fans in the stands.
• Did I mention the Patriots and Red Sox were pre-game attractions? Did I already ask if there's a better time to be a Boston sports fan? I think I did...
• Oh, the game itself. Yeah, good game...Ray Allen was serviceable with 17 points, and looks like he may avoid inury this year if the team stays healthy and he can be the shooting forward. Garnett put up 20, Pierce 28. This may be the unstoppable trio in the East. I can't wait for an intense Garnett to play an out-of-shape, and already looking to his post-basketball career as a private eye, Shaq.
• I listened to an interview with Danny Ainge in the car on my way to the game. I was very surprised at his honesty...he admitted the team's expectations were different last year, admitted that they weren't very good last year, and talked about how he's so happy for Pierce now that he has another genuine superstar on the team. Ainge may have made some odd quick-fix decisions in his tenure as Celtics GM, but how else do you run a basketball team in the NBA? Again, refer to Bill Simmons here - he has written a column or two about how difficult it is to make a trade for a player, how those trades are almost always lopsided, how needs are different on each team, and how Ainge has pretty much nailed his draft choices. It was worth the three-year wait while we suffered through poor trade after poor trade and looking to our young draft picks, thinking it would be five or six years before we saw a 2nd or 3rd place Eastern Conference team again. Turned out that the Celtics crappy luck in the lottery for the second time in ten years was parlayed into gaining one of the best players in the league in Garnett during the offseason. So thank YOU, Danny-boy.
• It felt like a playoff atmosphere, particularly with Gilbert Arenas guaranteeing a win before the tip-off. I was in a bar, talking up Boston sports before the game, and I saw that quote on the TV from ESPN.com...who guarantees a win in the first game of an 82-game season? Seriously? The fans were all over him...from booing him loudly before taking foul shots, something we never really see at the Garden these days until an important game late in the season, to chanting his name when he airballed or missed a field goal. Great stuff, great crowed...everyone was into it.
• A couple of fans behind us were quite entertaining. I tried to make some small talk with the guy next to me by sarcastically stating that with all the Boston sports hoopla at the game, Belichick probably should have been assistant coaching. No dice; the guy barely looked at me, so I was content to look up and laugh at the two goons behind me who kept making some pretty cool comments and seemed to know the game well. They said, at one point, "wow - I forgot Antoine Jameson was still in the NBA, let alone on the Wizards." So did I - what was once a promising young player now is just a relief valve for the Wizards after their #1 and #2 options are exhausted on offense. He's pretty good, but I mean, Brendon Haywood got the ball more last night.

Great night - and no time to write any more...will certainly be writing a Pats/Colts entry on Sunday night or Monday.

[Edit 11/9/2007 - My buddy PS was quick to point out that Pierce makes a speech before every home opener (not sure since when; certainly not his rookie season). Since I've been labeled a "bandwagoner" by a lifelong Sox fan who was disappointed at the 4-0 sweep this year because he happens to collect a paycheck from the Rockies, allow me to resopnd: My family never had season tickets to any Boston sports teams (which, to me, does not make me a bandwagoner - my father, as a business owner, didn't have the time to go to many games and thought of the Garden as a rat-infested fire trap - and he was right, it just happened to house some great teams). This was the first Celtics home opener I've been to in quite a while (my brother in law took me to one in the mid-90's). Plus, it's been frustrating as a Celtics and an NBA fan to watch Doc Rivers coach for the past couple years. What's my point? Nothing, as usual - only that I am trying to achieve "above average" status among my fellow alumni, and failing miserably.]

11/2/2007 Update

There's simply too much going on in the sports world for me to even write about. It would be about fifteen pages long. So a couple bullet points before we get to yet another random memory from my youth:

• I hope the Patriots win by at least 5 touchdowns. That's right, five. I hope they run up the score at the end, and win something like 63-21. That would f'n rule.
• Favorite Pats-Colts quote of the week - Gerry Callahan, WEEI: "I think the Patriots need new uniforms...maybe they should try swastikas or something...".
• Sox won another world series. I think for those Sox fans out there who never liked the Pats, they're still basking in the glow. For me, I've been so busy looking forward to the best regular-season NFL matchup we've had in at least a decade, that I haven't "basked" as much in it as I should have to this point. I mean, the SOX WON ANOTHER FREAKIN' WORLD SERIES...we're the new Yankees...people are gonna be sick of watching this team in the postseason by next year...we (potentially) have one of the best young pitching rotations out there...could it really get any better??? Maybe if they win back-to-back-to-back like the Yanks did from 98-2000. If the Yankees can win three World Series in a row with George Costanza presumably in prison, I can't believe the Sox can't do it with a young & healthy Theo Epstein out of prison. Did that make sense? Didn't think so.
• I am lucky enough to be attending the season and home opener for the Boston Celtics tonight. The last time I was at a game was, I believe, 2002 when they came back from 25 points down in the fourth quarter to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals...I may have gone to an Indiana/Boston home playoff game since then but for some reason I can't remember when that was. That 2002 East Finals game was probably the best Celtics game I have ever been to - and I've been to both the home and playoff finales at the original Boston Garden, been to see Robert Parish's last game in Celtic Green, and I remember, barely, seeing Reggie Lewis and Larry Bird on the same floor at the same time back in 1990 or so. Seeing Kevin freakin' Garnett in a Celtics uniform made me want to bow down to the mormon god that is Danny Ainge. I can't believe I can finally be excited about the Celtics again...even five years ago in the East Finals, no one had any illusions about the championship, but it was a fun thought that they were only 2 wins away from being swept by the Western Conference team that year. The icing on the cake? Kevin McHale, the Minnesota GM, gave up Garnett this offseason for, admittedly, a bunch of youngsters who could easily become quite good...but none of them will ever be as valuable on a team as Garnett.
• The Bruins? I mean, are you kidding? It's too early in the season but they've already avoided a life-threatening injury to Bergeron, their goalie is actually doing well, and they beat Buffalo last night. I think the last time they beat Buffalo was when Ray Bourque was on the team...feels that way at least. They might even fight for their division this year.

Hm, random memory time...random MOVIE time, actually...I could write my own column based on random movies. Today's winner? Needful Things, a lost classic from 1994 (or 1993...IMDB gives you the date the movie was wrapped, not the time it was actually released). Let's see what you had here:

• Leland Gaunt...I mean, Max von Sydow was born to play that part. It's like Stephen King already had the movie in mind when he wrote the book.
• Danforth "Buster" Keaton III...again, J.T. Walsh was born to play that role. He's paranoid, he runs into someone's office screaming "they're after me", then he bludgeons his wife to death with a hammer after she calls him his dreaded nickname, "Buster", in a fit of rage. He's also a gambling junkie who nearly eats (yes, eats) an entire cigar in trying to figure out which horse will come in first in a plastic horse-racing wind-up toy, while finding the time to tell his wife she needs a nose job. Who could have pulled this off better than J.T.? Long live J.T.
• Alan Pangborn...I was never the biggest Ed Harris fan. He always seemed like a gym teacher to me with that weird, hardass demeanor of his; a guy who you know would blow up like a balloon if he let himself go, but always kept himself in really good shape, so that he could make movies like Milk Money where he gets to make out with women like Melanie Griffith at the tail end of her prime. I didn't even have to look that one up - how scary is that? I don't know why, but Ed Harris just rubbed me the wrong way when I was younger, and still does. However, in trying to come off as unbiased, he was good for the role...I much prefer him in roles like Carl Fogarty, the Philly toughguy with lots of scars, in A History of Violence (I DID have to look that one up).
• Bonnie Bedalia...okay, she became a Liftetime/Women's Network regular after she started to look old, which was about the time she lost some of that cute Marilyn Monroe-esque extra weight after the second Die Hard movie and her skin started to wrinkle up. She looked pretty hot here for an older chick, but that's just it - like everything else in most Stephen King movies, she looked real, she didn't look like a supermodel. Watch "IT" or "The Stand" - both TV movies, I know - and check out the characters. These are NOT people you see in People's 50 Sexiest every year. I mean, Harry Anderson and John Ritter in the same film? John Ritter in a serious role?? I loved the guy - LOVED him - in Three's Company, but come on...what's next, the guy that played Larry, in the film adaptation of Dreamcatcher? Oops, they already did that one with Jason Patric, never mind...
• The role players...I'm talking mainly about Hugh, the bum ex-football star who misses his youth. He gets a varisity letter jacket w/ his name on it from Mr. Gaunt so he can keep living in the past, after getting his ass kicked out of a bar by the owner (also his nemesis). He goes into the bar with a shotgun, and lo and behold, the bartender has one too. Hugh calmly states, "Hello, Henry." Henry calmly states, "Hello, Hugh." They blow each other away with simultaneous shots. Simply perfect. Other great role players include the Baptist and Catholic priests, who end up in a fist-fight, damn near ready to kill each other by the end - King can always be counted on for religious satire.
• Side note on role players: In the book, Ace from Stand By Me, now grown up and a complete loser, was reprised - albeit, for a brief appearance. It would have gone over the heads of most at the theatre, but how cool would it have been to see Ace and Eyeball Chambers on film again - played by the original actors? Can you imagine Kiefer Sutherland taking a step down to reprise that role, with makeup to make him look older than he was at the time? OK, it might have cost him a lot of acting gigs, but it would have been great to see a grown-up Ace in Needful Things. Two problems: my Oregon comment below, and the fact that the only one who could ever pull off that character, had already done so in Stand By Me.
• While Stephen King is not shy about his New England roots - which makes the fact that Stand By Me took place in Castle Rock, OREGON, instead of Maine, perhaps the oddest book-to-movie detail blunder ever - I feel like Needful Things captured the essence of New England in the autumn perfectly. Small town, leaves everywhere, priests talking about the holidays, the scenery, a box of granny smith apples, a kid who collects baseball cards, old houses with basements that feel like they could have been there since time began...for some reason it all came together really well in this movie.
• Notable Quotes are located here.
• Lastly, and part of the reason I still remember this film 13 years later...I saw this movie in the theatres with JF. I remember almost every movie we've seen in the theatres together...from Children of the Corn 2, to Pulp Fiction three times over April vacation in 1994, to Needful Things, to Grindhouse more recently (still a topic of hot debate between us). Thirty Days of Night simply never happened, even though I blogged about it. It's unfortunate, really, that the experience of going to the movies has been so downplayed in recent years. Part of it is justified: dumb-ass kids making too much noise and eating with their mouths open; Hollywood churning out such trash; good movies being sold out the first weekend and then discarded so we forget about them when the next Cedric the Entertainer shitpile comes out; etc. But my memories of seeing a movie in the theatres are far better, in most cases, than just watching them at home. Even with the advent of home theatre systems, which have become unbelievably good, there's still something to be said for grabbing some unhealthy popcorn and kicking back in a seat that's not quite as comfortable as your couch so you can watch a movie in the dark with strangers. Apparently. That's how I felt about American Psycho, Grindhouse, Pulp Fiction...hell, even Cool World. Yeah, I went there - I actually mentioned Cool World.

That's all the time we have for today. I'm away tomorrow after what should be a great Celtics game tonight, then I'm lounging at the folk's for the football game.