I know pre-season games are pretty exhibition-y, but I enjoyed last night’s game all the same. The venue was lacking a little something - UMass is no TD Banknorth Garden - but it was just super exciting to finally see the team play after the long off-season (though I’m sure it felt like a short off-season to the players). I missed seeing James Posey out there (sigh), but my other favorite, Leon Powe, looked great. The new guys were fun to watch… Hello Bill Walker! Those dunks were super fun. Where the hell did that kid come from? Apparently, Kansas State, but I never really watched him play last season. My eyes (and the camera) were always on Michael Beasley. I think I had the most fun watching Patrick O’Bryant though. Where’s he been all my life? I thought he was pretty impressive. It wasn’t any one thing, he just seems to do a lot of little things extremely well. I guess Golden State’s loss is our gain.

I’m a total geek, but when Tommy Heinsohn gave out his first Tommy Point of the season last night (to Big Baby for a hustle play where he ended up in Paul Pierce’s lap out of bounds) — I actually got a little verklempt.

YAY pre-season!

I realize that it isn’t new news to anyone that Boston fans are spoiled rotten… but I think I pretty much take the cake for spoiled rotten fans. I can barely stand to watch the Patriots this year at all. I tried to watch them play the 49ers on Sunday and I seriously thought I was going to jump out of my skin. It was entirely too painful.

Then, I had almost the same reaction to the Red Sox game later that night. Oy vey. Apparently, it isn’t good enough for me that they took 2 games in a row on the road… No. I expected them to just sweep it without breaking a sweat. Who the hell do I think I am?

I don’t remember being like this with the Celtics last season, but maybe I was. I am beginning to think I need to start lowering my standards and remember that without Tom Brady, the Patriots are any other mediocre team. And be grateful the Red Sox have already won 2 world series championships in the very recent past and stop acting like they have to win it every single year. I need to get real, right? For my own sanity, I’m thinking the answer is yes.

But still… I am expecting them to take care of business tonight and finish off L.A.! Go Red Sox! Go Jon Lester! Goooooooooo!

The football gods decided to take a huge crap on me this year. First, Tom Brady goes down and my beloved Patriots lose to the lowly sack-of-crap Miami Dolphins… Then, Oregon State rounds up my Trojans and makes them their bitch. Total bummer.

In MLB news, I hear the Dodgers won their division thanks to Manny. What-ever. That Colin Cowherd teaser about Manny on ESPN Radio makes me groan every time. He yammers some nonsense about Manny never being a Boston type of guy (well, that’s true), but how he’s totally perfect for LA because he’s a free spirit and has a unique style - blah blah blah. That’s total horseshrimp. Manny is in LA because of a trade, not because he was destined to be there. If he could’ve chosen his home, I’m sure it would’ve been with the Yankees… and I’m sure then Colin would’ve been waxing philosophically about what a NY guy he is and how great he fits in the pinstripes.

I feel a lot poorer than I did yesterday. Celtics tix went on sale at 10:00am this morning and I went at it with both barrels and two credit cards. I only managed to score 4 tix though. I could’ve gotten a few more, but I wasn’t exactly jazzed about paying $150 to see them play the Timberwolves or Bucks. The tix that I did get were 2 for the Magic game on Dec. 1 and 2 for the Heat game on Apr. 10. Hello Florida. I wasn’t surprised that the Lakers and Cavs tix in my price range went so quick, but I was surprised that I couldn’t get the Bulls or the Suns. Oh well, I’m happy I got something. Bring on the season!

ps. What the fk is a “convenience charge” and why is it so much? Jessy h. christ on a cracker!

So today ended up being a total bummer. First of all, it’s Celtics Day today in Maine. That meant that I got to wear my slick Celtics jacket to work and talk about them all day and no one could stop me. *wink* It also meant that at lunchtime, I got to leave work and go to a rally that TD Banknorth was sponsoring in honor of the team championship and see the Larry O’Brien Trophy and all that jazz. The rally was schedule to go from 10:30-Noon and after that we were supposed to be able to oggle the trophy from Noon to 2:00pm until they packed up and moved the whole shebang up to the U in Orono.

Well… me and two of my coworkers get to the rally at 11:30 thinking it will have been going on for awhile, but when we get there, nothing. There is a crowd of people in front of an empty stage and corny music blaring out of some speakers (’Hero’ from Foo Fighters and some other song with the word ‘hero’ in it). We stand around for a half hour wondering when the damn thing is going to start when finally some dude with a microphone informs that they’re over at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital and will be sure to arrive “soon”. Ok, now I understand how important charity is and visiting sick kids is, yada yada yada, believe me… I don’t have coal for a heart. But, sweet baby jesus, where’s the time management? 2 hours late? Do they think people who have jobs can just sit around some gym for hours on end waiting for Brian Scalabrine, Tony Allen and Leon Powe to just stroll in at any old hour of the day? Apparently. I finally had to give up, say fk it and bail and I’m possibly a little bit — ok a lot — bitter about it. All I really wanted was a couple of pictures of the players. Instead I got a picture of an empty stage (big green square) and an empty podium (small green square), missed lunch, and had to stay late after work. Sumbitch.

The one saving grace was when they played “You Should Be Dancing” by the Bee Gees and a group of middle school kids started disco dancing in unison in the bleachers. Gino would’ve been proud!

I checked the local news website and of course I missed a whole lot of great Leon Powe moments. I love me some Leon Powe. Sigh!

What do the Red Sox have to do to get over the hump and lead the damn division? They’re toying with my emotions and I’m getting a little jumpy. I know we’ll probably win the wild card anyway, but that just isn’t good enough for me. I am all about destroying the Rays dreams. I’d say the dreams of their fans too, but judging from the weak turnouts in Tropicana field, I’m guessing there aren’t enough of them to matter. *burn*

Haha, clearly I have too much time on my hands over at Facebook.

Oh and the Red Sox won their game tonight against Toronto. Phew! Wake came through big. I am still thinking positive thoughts.

Tonight I’m watching a rerun on NESN of today’s uber fantastic Red Sox win (SWEEP! Finally!) against the Orioles. I picked up my sister at the train station after work and she gave me the whole rundown since they were watching the game there in the waiting area. Pedroia had another big game. What a little dynamo! The triple from Kotsay was very Pedroia-esque too… the way he managed to *find* an outside pitch and nail it. I think his brilliance is rubbing off on the others. Keep it up baby! Ride this hot streak all the way to the playoffs. Giddyup!

Patriots play the Chiefs on Sunday. I’m already marking that as a great big W. I’m cocky like that.

I’m happy the NFL is back, but I’m totally jonesing for the NBA to come back too. I bought a Celtics pen that glows a logo on the wall when you push a button on it. The most useless thing ever and I absolutely LOVE it. I’d bring it to work, but then I’d have to attach a chain and bowling ball to it to make sure nobody borrows it and forgets to bring it back. I’m that attached to it.

Wow. Talk about a buzzkill. Game 2, the Red Sox literally slaughter the Yankees 11-3. Right in front of Fat Jack, no less. That was good times. Then in game 3, Jon Lester pitches a fan-fracking-tastic game and it looks like a sweep is imminent and what happens? Wha wha what? The bullpen (I shall not throw him by name under the bus - I’m a peach like that) blows monkeyballs letting Giambi win the game for the Yankees. Talk about going from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. It’s like winning a million games in the regular season and then losing the Superbowl. Stop the insanity. And no, I’m not just glad to have won the series 2-1. We should’ve put the nail in the coffin and swept the joint. That is the only thing that would’ve made me happy. Ok fine, I’m spoiled.

Josh Beckett has to go see Dr. James Andrews. Nooooooooo!

Patriots v. Giants pre-season loss: I don’t watch any pre-season bullshrimp, but my mom is a little worried now. Personally, I don’t count any games where Tom Brady and Randy Moss aren’t on the field. I won’t begin any evaluation until the regular season starts. Besides, Belichick loves to mindfrack the league. He would love it if the rest of the teams got their hopes up.

Ok, let’s just face facts here. I’m a delinquent blogger. I think I’ll blog a lot more when the NFL and NBA start up again. Every time I even think about blogging these days its to bitch about Manny Ramirez. I think he’s clearly occupied enough real estate on my blog already. I spend a lot more time on the internet on my phone these days too. Twitter and Facebook are particularly easy to update from my Sidekick. Maybe I’ll see if Wordpress has a plugin to make it easier to update from my phone.

Anyway, enough about my dereliction of duties… Paul THE TRUTH Pierce is co-hosting with Greeny on Mike & Mike this morning. It’s like I died and went to heaven and Christmas morning all rolled into one. An entire episode devoted to talking about my beloved Celtics and their championship. Even Donnie Wahlberg called in. Good times, good times. I’m tired because I stayed up until after 1am watching the Wms Gymnastics All-Around competition. Congrats to Nastia and Shawn, but I’m exhausted. Oh and a shelf collapsed in my kitchen around 3am and scared the bejesus out of me and my dogs. My boston terrier was completely traumatized, so I had to console her for a half hour before going back to bed. Aye yay yay.

I’m serious. I’d vote for him. I had heard his performance at the ESPYs was great, but man… I was laughing like a fool. The Celtics puppets were one of my faves. Where he has the Garnett puppet yelling, “Anything is possible!” Hehehe. I loved when he stuck his hand in Mario Chalmers face and said, “Is that so hard Memphis?” Oh and when he hugged Aaron Rodgers. *sigh* I could just relive that broadcast all night. Good times, good times. Oh oh oh… and at the end of the night, when the Celtics won the best team award and Ray said, “…another win in LA” and the crowd booed. That was sweet. Didn’t completely make up for having to stomach all those NY Giants awards *blech*, but it helped.

Oh NY Giants, how I hate thee. Let me count the ways. Here’s to hoping Jeremy Shockey has a great year for the Saints and the Giants go down in flames. I still like Eli Manning (it’s hard to hate on Opie Taylor) but the rest of that team of cocky a-holes can suck it.

Danica Patrick and Milka Duno. Sigh. Do you really have to have a girlie bitchfight on camera? Perpetuate the stereotype much? I think Danica needs to start putting up or shutting up. If she’s going to haul her overpaid, overhyped ass to other racer’s pit stalls, the least she could do is throw up punch. In this particular case though, she’s right about Duno being a pain in the ass on the track due to lack of talent. She’s like a construction cone and someday she’s going to hurt somebody. Still though, Danica should either take a swing or as Lebron would tell his own mama, “Sit yo ass down!”

I’m boycotting the Red Sox games until they come back home. I can’t be expected to watch games that start after 10pm. Sure, I’m up much later than that. But, that’s my time to watch trashy reality television shows on E! and I’m not changing my ways. Plus, they got swept in LA and I’m not wasting my time watching them lose on the road. Wow, Jed Lowry looks young. The call-ups always look like babies to me. Ok fine, I’m watching tonight’s game. Pre-game anyway. Dice-K’s on the mound. I doubt I’ll last, but I’ll give it a shot. Oh and Dear Manny — Grow the frack up and stop playing reindeer games with Sox management. Thanks babe. Love, me.

I watched the last 2 minutes of a WNBA game tonight. A total melee broke out. Candace Parker, Rick Mahorn, and two other players got ejected. It was good times. The commentators were yammering about how it was such an awful display and totally shaming the WNBA’s image etc… You know what’s a shame ladies? The fact that nobody gives a rat’s ass about the WNBA in the first place and the star players only earn about a fraction of what Celtics bench player, Gabe Pruitt made last year. That’s a shame.

Earlier tonight, I may have watched Game 6 of the NBA Finals again… It was sweet. I need to swap out that DVR w/the cable company peeps so I can get an HD DVR since I upgraded my TV and unfortunately, I can’t get the contents onto a writable DVD disc. So that means that all 20 hours of Celtics coverage (the games, parade through beantown, parade at red sox game, very special episodes of celtics now on nesn, etc..) will be gone forever. Such a tragedy. So, during my vacation, I’m planning to watch all of it at least two or three more times before I have to part with it. Sigh. Speaking of Celtics, Eddie House and Tony Allen got picked up for two more years. That’s cool. I’m still disappointed to lose the love of my life, James Posey, but I guess if he’s gone for good, I’m glad we aren’t losing anyone else.