NSN Blog

Choke ... Choke!! ... CHOKE!!!
No excuses ... no weak explanations ... the Celtics choked away a playoff game last night in Philadelphia! They may well still come back and win the series ... in six or seven games I think they still will. But whatever happened to Celtics Pride? Last night was an embarrassment!

The Rangers/Devils play game three of their series today in Jersey, but while I'm as big a hockey guy as there is I doubt that I'll watch very much of it. On a beautiful late spring Saturday I've got things to do outside. There is no way a Stanley Cup playoff game should be played a 1:00 on a Saturday afternoon, but NBC has the game ... and then later they have the Preakness and so they get to make the call. It will be the same thing tomorrow when the Kings and Coyotes will faceoff at 3:00 our time ... NOON in LA ... in game four of their series ... Ridiculous!

If you are looking for a sleeper in the upcoming VPA Division One baseball tournament you might want to take a look at BFA-St. Albans. BFA beat up on Essex yesterday 12-1 to go to 11-2 on the season. CVU is establishing themselves as the clear favorite up here in the North ... you know Brattleboro and Mt. Anthony will be strong down South ... but keep an eye on those Bobwhites.

I don't know what Dwyane Wade and Erik Spoelstra were arguing about during last night's Heat-Pacers game. What I do know is that Wade is unequivocally wrong in his approach. His frustration, which stems from the fact that he probably realizes the Heat are not better than the young Pacers, despite the hype, overflowed last night and he had to be held back by his teammates as he kept approaching the coach. Wade's agent will have to put a nice spin on this one, cause he looked bad-really bad in my mind.
Here's another thing to note: The Heat are a jump shooting team, even more so without Bosh in the lineup. The Pacers coaches aren't dumb, they are making Miami continue to chuck it up from the cheap seats. Wade was 2 of 13 from the floor last night! I'm sorry Dwyane but your coach wasn't guarding you. Take it out on someone else! The Heat shot 20 three's and made 4. Pretty pathetic.
The Red Sox got a solid performance from Felix Doubront last night en route to a 5-3 win over Tampa Bay. I have to give it up to Cody Ross who drove in 4 runs. Adrian Gonzales, on the other hand who had predicted a home run, didn't do squat. Not surprised. Is it me does he look soft? Even when he got hit with a pitch he didn't look like he had a pulse.
Congratulations once again are in order for LI senior stand out, Riley Blankenship, who took another giant step into legendary status at Lyndon by beating her own school record in the discuss again last night. She also broke the school record in the javelin as well! When the folks in the NEK, and especially at Lyndon Institute who have been around here for awhile, reflect back on the athletic accomplishments of this young lady, I'm sure they might feel like we've seen one of the best 3 sports athletes to ever walk the campus. Unreal.
Back to hoops. The Spurs are simply amazing. They will probably sweep the Clippers and may even waltz through the conference finals, Thunder or no Thunder.
Tune in to The Sports Life w/EB this morning at 11am. I'll be joined by our Red Sox Insider, Bill Murphy, at 11:05am. Are the Sox finally righting the ship? What to do with Kevin Youkilis? It's all on NSNRADIO.NET! NSN also will have coverage of the LI girls softball doubleheader with Northfield at 4pm this afternoon(double header by the way)!

Things seem to be upside down in LaLa Land ... while the Lakers and the Clippers are both struggling in their second round NBA playoff series the Kings are rolling through the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Kings beat Phoenix last night and now hold a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference Final ... they are one win away from a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. The team that came into the playoffs as the eight seed in the west has shocked the world ... or more accurately has proven to us what we sometimes forget ... the fact that sometimes the second season can be entirely different from the first.
"Just get in baby ... then anything can happen." The Kings are 11-1 in the second season. Enough said ...

The Red Sox Cody Ross made amends last night. After he turned a routine fly ball into an ugly adventure on Wednesday night under the dome at Tampa Bay he bounced back with his bat last night, driving in four of Boston's five runs in a 5-3 win over the Rays. The Sox get a split with the Rays ... now it is into Philadelphia ... three with the Phillies ... and the hope is they don't have to worry about facing Jonathan Papelbon. Hey, if the Phils don't have the lead heading to the ninth there will not be a need to bring in their closer.

Oh, has anyone noticed the Yankees lately? They fell 4-1 in Toronto to the Jays last night ... two loses at Rogers Centre in which they were outscored by a combined score of 12-1. Sorry ... I just couldn't resist ...

I'm reluctant to bury the Miami Heat just yet because a win on
Sunday gets them the home court advantage back again and would knot
up the series at 2-2, but they miss Chris Bosh more than I thought
they would. It is the "Big Three" not the "Big Two."
I'm reluctant to bury the Lakers , but I am burying the Clippers.
I'm also reluctant to bury Philly,but I do think they're in better
shape than Miami is. Philly is down 2-1 with game 4 at home , Miami
is down 2-1 with game 4 on the road.

I am burying the Phoenix Coyotes, but I had them buried even
before they went down 3-0.

On a local note here in Rutland congratulations going out to
Rutland High's Andy Cassarino who yesterday tossed a perfect game as
the Raiders blanked Mill River 8-0. Cassarino who is a sophomore
struck out 6 and went to a full count on only two batters. Cassarino
is the son of MSJ varsity football coach Jeff Cassarino.

KG is playing like a man on a mission right now. It's pretty simple. Get him the ball and let all offense flow through him and Rondo right now. If I were the Celtics I'd take the same approach against Philly for Game 4, and put an end to any confidence that young group might have.
I can't believe the total choke by the Lakers last night. God that was ugly. I actually felt bad for Kobe Bryant for a little bit, right up until the point where he acted like a complete donkey on the floor and showed up his teammates and his coach. What a pompous donkey. It's all about him. He is inevitably compared to Michael Jordan, and maybe Jordan showed up his teammates at times, but it doesn't seem like it to that degree. Go Thunder.
Balk. 180 foot sacrifice fly. The Red Sox don't have anyone in their organization who can play the outfield instead of Cody Freaking Ross? There are fat, out of shape(redundant), beer league ball players in Burke Hollow that could have made the play he didn't last night. It cost the Sox the lead, and the game. Disgusting. And the balks are even more disturbing. I'm not sure I saw the last one called on Morales but once you balk one time in the game, they watch you like a hawk.
By the way I'm glad to see the Tampa player is going to be alright after being hit by Morales. Man that was scary when he collapsed. It's when life takes over a silly game that's for sure.
Is hockey still going on?