Bugs

Celtics are going to the Finals!

This is unreal - just amazing. The first year the Big
Three are together and they are headed to the finals?
This is a dream! I would have never even imagined
they could be this good so quickly. Having the best
record in the league is one thing, but getting to the
finals? Damn.

The Celts seem to be playing better basketball lately
- and against veteran teams they seem to dominate.
Against those fast break, run and shoot, younger teams
they have difficulties - which could spell trouble
against the Lakers. I seriously thought the Celts
matched up well against the Pistons - but I think the
Pistons starting 5 is better than the Celts starting
5.

I like Celts in 7 against the Lakers - but I think the
Lakers will somehow win. I'm trying to figure out who
has the edge in the match up - but it seems pretty
lopsided by position.

PG - Rondo vs Fisher - Rondo is better defender,
faster, younger. Fisher is a better shooter and
better ball handler - advantage Rondo.

SG - Allen vs ????? - I don't even know who the Lakers
play at SG - so I have to give the dge to Allen.

SF - PP vs Kobe - Kobe is the better player by far,
but PP has been outstanding on D, I have to imagine PP
will get the most help here on double teams, so we'll
have to have the extra advantage at other positions.
Kobe wins this battle every time.

PF1 - Perkins vs Odom - at least I think that is the
match up. Perk is hot, but his job is to play D and
rebound, which he does better than Odom. Odom is a
runner and a scorer - he will kill Perk in the fast
break and on shooting. Transition will tell the
story. Odom, to me, has always been a lazy player - I
guess that has changed now that he has something to
play for. He had so much talent coming out of URI but
never realized it. Remember when this kid was getting
compared to Jordan? Seriously he was. Big advantage
Odom in the fast break, less of an advantage in the
half court.

PF2 - KG vs Gasol - hey, I want to say that Gasol is
as good as KG, but come on, the guy was a joke in
Memphis. I think KG makes him look like a JV. This
is a huge advantage KG. The only thing that makes me
nervous is Gasol's jump hook.

It looks like a slight advantage Celts or at least a
push. The Lakers are the faster team, but the Celts
play much better defense.

This brings back memories of a time in my life when I
was spoiled by Boston sports success. Celts, Bruins
and Red Sox were all pretty good in 1986-1987. A Red
Sox world series, a Celtics championship, Bourque,
Ranford, Neely, Middleton, Linsman, Kasper, Bird,
McHale, Parish, Walton, Ainge, DJ, Sichting, Rice,
Boggs, Buckner, Hurst, Stanley, Boyd, Seaver, Gedman,
Armas, Hendu, Greenwell, Clemens, Baylor, Evans,
Barrett. This is a chance for the Celtics to firmly
affix the names Garnett, Allen, Rondo and Perkins in
that group. PP is already there - his longevity and
dedication to the Celtics for all those years seals
his fate.

I like our chances. Go GREEN!!

---

Brandon

Softball 5/29 - Thursday League

2-3, FC, 2 singles
played LC
2 defensive plays
Chris almost killed the pitcher - hit him in the
throat with a line drive
played with all the usualy suspects
won 18-2
game ended on a dropped fly ball to RF with the bases
loaded, but the 2B Marissa threw out the girl at the
plate.
weird feeling for the game after the pitcher got hit.

---

Brandon

Hockey 5/29 - Thursday League

1 goal
played D
played with Dean - no Brian
played the Brewski's
1 bogus penalty from Brady - that kid is an ass
Won 6-2

---

Brandon

Avi's Riding Her Bike!

This may sound weird, but yesterday when I got home from work Jen and Avi were outside playing with the neighborhood kids. I noticed that Avi just took off on her tricycle, pedaling all over the place with no problems. This is the first time she has really been able to sustain the pedaling motion for more than a few seconds. And when she started she couldn't stop - she pedaled for about 30 minutes just chasing the older girls on their bikes. So, I guess she finally "got" it and knows how to ride her bike now - this was very cool.

We got tickets!!

Just got an email this morning from a SOSH member that is selling me her Red Sox tickets for face value! What a relief - I was thinking that I wasn't going to be able to find decent tickets. Now Jen, Avi, me and Poppy will be going on August 15th! I can't wait. This will be Avi's first ever trip to Fenway (she's been outside, but never inside) and Poppy's first trip in a very very long time!! I don't think he's been in over 35 years!

Now all I have to do is find airline tickets to Boston - which seems to be an even harder task!

Hockey 5/27 - Tuesday League

1 goal
Played D
Chris the Goalie wasn't there
Played against the kid that is Joe Thornton's brother
(supposedly)
2 penalties - first one I levelled a kid, the second
one was complete crap
Lost 10-2

Avi sleeping on the deck - on a towel in the shade.

Avi is potty trained!

On Thursday night she made it through the night without a diaper on! She hasn't had an accident in quite a while. She sometimes won't go potty before naps or when it is time to go to bed - so Jennifer warns her that she will have to wear a diaper - and Avi either goes the bathroom, or wears a pull up.

Today she had to wear a pull up to nap time, but about 20 minutes in she walked out of her room and told Jen that she had to go potty. She went potty and off came the pull up - and in for her nap she went. She has even been going through the night with a pull up on and still waking up dry - which is awesome.

She won't even be 3 until August! That is record time!

Happy Memorial Day to every one - we are headed to a BBQ at John/Amanda's as soon as Jen and Avi wake up from their naps.

Softball 5/22 - Thursday League

3-3, all singles
3 RBIs
4 catches in LC
no errors
played with all the usual suspects - Chris, Rick,
Rich, Jen, Jess
won 13-6

---

Brandon

Hockey 5/22 - Thursday League

no goals, no assists
played half a game due to softball game before
played with Dean and Brian
John was our goalie
lost 10-5 - but for the record, it was 7-2 when I got there.

---

Brandon

Hockey 5/20 Tuesday League

no goals, no assists
Played D
Played with Chris the Goalie
Won 6-1

Fun game, we had 40+ shots on the goalie and that is
pretty good.

I drew 2 penalties, although we didn't score on either.

Softball 5/19 Monday League

I subbed for the Monday league
3-4, single, double & triple - and I hit the ball over the fence for an out.
two defensive plays back to back
played with Chris, Rick and Jen G
won 26-12

Pics of my flies

Hockey 5/15 Thursday League

2 goals
Played D
played with Dean and Brian
John was goalie
Won 8-3

Softball 5/15 Thursday Co-Ed League

1-3, single, fc, ground out to 3B
played LC
got to see everyone again - haven't played in a year.
Mike Lane is playing Monday's
Saw Molly, Chris, Jen G, Lori, Rick, Rich - everyone else was new.
Left in the 5th inning up 16-7 - had a hockey game.

Hockey 5/13 Tuesday League

1 goal
Played D
Played with Chris the Goalie
F'd up my knee - but it is ok now
1 penalty (tripping) with 1:35 left to go
Win 5-3

---

Brandon

Home court advantage bullsh!t

The calls are going for the home teams, as the 9avs just stole a game with the help of the zebras. Celts look very bad, and they can't shoot - they won't even win in Boston if they play this poorly. I am seriously considering this team as done. I do not think they can win two out of the next three. The Cavs will figure out how to win on the road before the Celts do.

The Sox look like hell too. We have some offense, but not enough to get excited about. Sure Manny hit a nice HR, but we need to have guys hitting around him - and what the hell are they doing sitting Youks when the kid is on fire? Ellsbury on the bench? WTF!!!! Ellsbury on the carpet is worth a steal or two.

Buccholz looked like shit. I'm hope Colon will be in good shape in the next week or so, so he can fill in for some of these guys. Sox dropped Tavarez today - hopefully they can trade him for something useful.

10pm game tomorrow is gonna suck. Luckily every one else will be a little slower as well. I start softball on Thursday with a hockey+softball doubleheader starting at 6pm.

Hockey 5/8 Thursday Night

1 goal
Played D
played with Brian - but Dean wasn't there
John was goalie
win 7-5

You gotta love this team!

Well - you have to love both teams.

The Red Sox are in the midst of a 5 game winnig streak and game number 6 in a row is turning out to be just one of those games the Sox just won't be satisfied with until they burn through all of the opposing pitchers and come from behind and win a high scoring game.

The Sox beat TB 3 in a row and they have beaten the Tigers two in a row. The TB series was a well played series - the Sox offense erupted after a very slow Blue Jay series in which they score live 5 runs. The Sox put up 26 runs on TB and they did it with their entire offense. Lowell off the DL started to hit, Ortiz finally got ot .200 and kept on going, Drew chipped in, Moss hit a big HR, Varitek had a few hits and a few RBI's, Youks added some power, Ellsbury stole some bases and Pedroia was solid as always. Manny was slow - but got some RBI's. The Sox had three great outings in a row with Buccholz, Beckett and Lester. The bullpen pitched well too. This team really started gelling.

The Tiger series showed some mastery and some guts. Powered by HRs by Ortiz (2), Manny, Youks (3) and Lowell (2) - and great pitching performances by Matsuzaka (2 hitter! 8 walks! 1 k!) and Wakfield (2 hitter! no walks! 6 k's!). Game 2 was a beating - 5-0 win, and the Sox dominated. Kevin Cash had 3 hits! Game 3 is a dog fight - Youks hits 2 HR's, Buccholz gets hammered, the Sox in back to back to back to back innings chip away at a huge deficit to tie it in the 7th - they would go ahead by 1 in the 8th, then the Tigers would tie it in the 9th off Paps. The game just went final and the Sox lost - I'm not even upset by this - it was a dog fight and the Sox managed tolet one slip away. The Tigers beat Paps and that is who you want them to HAVE to beat. I'm not even upset over it.

I just love this team, the dig in and dig down and just win. The pitching has done well, and the hitting is really heating up - against a Tigers team I picked to win it all this season. For them to play this well - I'm just happy for them.

Of course you have to love the Cletics right now. That Hawks series scared the hell out of me - but the Hawks are a good team, and their future is very very bright. The game 7 win by 34 points was an eye opener - and I think the Celts may have snapped out of it. This team needs to win every home game - keep the Celtics fans happy and seeing them more often, and bringing more money to this organization - of course game 7's are not the best way to do this. Game 1 vs the Cavs last night was interesting - the team played great D, which helped that the Cavs shot 31% from the field and LeBron almost had a quadruple double (12 points, 9 rebs, 9 assists and 10 TOs). LeBron will have his hands full - especially now that the Celtics have figured out how to guard the other teams best players - teh switch up they did last night on LeBron made him shoot 2-18 - that's 11%! Whatever they are doing, they are doing it right.

The Celts did have their problems last night - including Ray Allen going scoreless and Paul Pierce going 2-14 from the field. The 2 had 4 total points - which is ugly. Of course we still won with a great defenisve effort 76-72. Now I am a little scared that we only score 76 points, but the Celts do play down to their opponents levels. I think the Celts can and will put up 96 or so points tomorrow night in Boston. The second unit was a breath of fresh air last night - all averaging +9 for the top 3 bench guys (Posey/Cassell/Powe). They added 8 rebs, 22 points and only 2 TOs. KPerk had 12 boards in thsi game too. The disturbing thing is the Celts had 21 TOs to the Cavs 17. We need to lower that and turn the ratio around.

LeBron was -7 in this game - which is a telling stat when the rest of his starting 4 were +12. The Celts need to keep putting the pressure on LeBron and play good defense and not turn the ball over.

One thing I will say is that LeBron is such a puss. The guy flops on every bump, block or foul. Granted he draws contact, there is no need to make things look worse than they are. There are no head hunters on the Celts like there were on the Wizards - so stop acting like the league is out to get you and it is one man against the world. You seriously are a cry baby. Oh, and unless you go for 40+ points, your team isn't going to be able to carry you. If you want to win in this series, you better take the Cavs on yoru shoulders. Good luck with that!

I'm out!

Hockey 5/6 Tuesday League

no goals, no assists
Played D
Chris was goalie
win 6-3