Stanley Cup Preview

Alright, so it doesn't quite have the flair of Bruins-Canucks from a year ago. I'd like to think that one was an all-time great, a series that could captivate audiences from coast to coast. And north of the border, of course. A team that had never won the Cup from Canada, up against an Original Six team that hadn't raised it in 39 years. Additionally, the Canucks were the President's Trophy winners (and therefore a 1 seed out West), while the Bruins had at least won their division (as the 3 seed).

This year, the Devils won the East as a 6 seed, while the Kings upended the Western picture as the 8 seed. To the pink hat novice hockey fan, this one may seem like a fluke, a snoozer.

Far from it.

Everyone who knows the most minuscule amount about hockey knows who plays goalie for the New Jersey Devils: Martin Brodeur. In his 18th season, the NHL's all-time winningest goalie remains in elite form. The Devils got to this point thanks in large part to Marty, who's gone 12-5 during the post-season with a 2.04 goals against average (GAA) and a .923 save percentage (SV%). Brodeur has already won 3 Stanley Cups in his career, but none since 2003. For what it's worth, Brodeur has never won the Conn Smythe award as the MVP of the playoffs during the Devils' Cup runs. His numbers are more than qualified for such an honor this time around, should the Devils prevail.

The Devils also feature Ilya Kovalchuk, who's in just the second year of a 15-year, $100 contract he signed with New Jersey prior to the 2010-11 season. The former 50-goal scorer with the Atlanta Thrashers struggled mightily his first season in the Garden State, particularly in the season's first half. He finished up with 31 goals and 29 assists for 60 points, a far cry from his 91 points in 2008-09, his final full season in Atlanta. Kovy rebounded nicely this year, putting up 37-46-83 totals, especially remarkable considering the Devils defensive-minded system. In other words, the contract doesn't look quite as much of a bummer as the 15 year pact signed by Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro back in 2006.

Across the coast, the Kings have plenty of star power fit for their LA location. "Flyers West", they've been hailed, as prominent former Philadelphia players Mike Richards and Jeff Carter, among others, now call SoCal home. Richards has spent the entire season with Los Angeles; Carter moved there at the trade deadline, via Columbus. Richards recorded just 44 points this year (18-26-44), his lowest since 2007. Carter, who played 39 games in the hockey purgatory that is Columbus (plus 16 with LA) produced just 36 points, the lowest of his career. The two players are forever linked, as they were each drafted by the Flyers in the 1st round of the historic 2003 NHL draft (featuring former King/Hingham native Brian Boyle, for what it's worth). The pair has put up a combined 20 points through the Kings 14 playoff games so far. Not exactly setting the world on fire, but when you have Jon Quick between the pipes....

....remember Tim Thomas during last year's Stanley Cup run? You know, the 1.98 GAA and .940 SV%? (Cue up the Bachman-Turner Overdrive....) You ain't seen nothin' yet. Quick, through 13 post-season contests, is 12-2 with a 1.54 GAA and a .946 SV%. Numbers so gaudy, he could be in a position to win the Conn Smythe, win or lose, for the Kings. The UMass Amherst product, for comparison, has numbers even better than those of J.S. Giguere circa 2003. Giguere, to date, is the last goaltender (and player, for that matter) to win the Conn Smythe on a team that ultimately lost the Stanley Cup. Coincidentally, Giguere's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, another SoCal team, lost to the Devils that year.

So now that you know about all of the star power....actually we still haven't covered American hero Zach Parise, rookie sensation Adam Henrique, or the ageless Patrick Elias for the Devils. Nor have we covered Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty, or Dustin Brown for the Kings.

We've got two pretty even teams here. The Devils have a far superior Power Play (18% vs. 8%); the Kings are the better penalty-killing team (91%-74%). So special teams will no doubt be a factor in this series. I figured throughout the post-season that this would be Marty Brodeur's last run at another Stanley Cup, but he said the other day he plans on returning next year regardless. Maybe I'm reading too much into those comments, maybe I'm not. But the sense of urgency level for the Devils has probably dropped juuuust a bit due to those comments.

Meanwhile, LA, a Second Six team formed in 1967, has never won the Stanley Cup. Heck, they've only been to one Cup all-time, with Wayne Gretzky back in 1993. And there's a slight trend here. Blackhawks break a 49-year drought in 2010. Bruins a 39-year drought in 2011.

So I guess I'm gonna go Kings in 7. Sorry, Puddy. You can always invest in a Jonathan Quick jersey.

The Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, and Heat Fans

Good looks leaving the game early, really. How many Heat "fans" actually existed before LeBron signed with Miami? Honestly? I know one true loyal Heat fan, Jake Sorensen of Nebraska. That's right, an entire time zone and like eight states away. And he'll surely tell you that was a pitiful display by their fans tonight. Of course....

Was it as pitiful as the officiating? Listen I'm not one to blame officials. Not my style. I've been calling balls and strikes many years and I know how it goes. And while Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were no doubt kidnapped by the Monstars before the game, you can't look past some of the technicals calls on the Celtics tonight, as well as the ones that weren't called against the Heat. Doc got T'd up for yelling "Come on, Eddie!" at an official. Erik Spoelstra yells "Come on!", and nothing. LeBron openly taunts KG right in front of an official, and ESPN even happened to enhance the audio on the court for the incident. No call. KG taps the ball a little further away from the basket after a Rondo layup. Hardly throwing it away, a tap. A tap and a technical. Rondo gets boxed all the way out of bounds by Shane Battier, who gets no call. Rondo retaliates, which he shouldn't have done, but nevertheless, technical. And I don't even remember what Ray Allen did, but he got one too.

If there's any sign of optimism from tonight's game, it's that the Heat have absolutely no answer for KG down low. None. They're like the French army down there (Joel Anthony is originally from Montreal. Just sayin'.) And literally no one else on the Celtics bothered to show up. There can't be and won't be another no-show from these guys in Game 2. At least I keep telling myself that. 

Celtics vs. Heat: What's at Stake

People always tell me I should "stick to hockey" whenever I start talking about basketball. Make no mistake about it, I'm much more of a hockey fan than I am a hoops fan these days. Doesn't matter that the Bruins were the flavor of the month last year, and that the Celtics were, in the words of Rick Pitino, "grey and old". I've just always had a little bit more interest in the black and gold than the green and white.

It's funny though, because I was a John Barker basketball legend from 2nd grade through 8th grade. That game on ice? Never played a real game of hockey in my life. One of my biggest regrets, while we're at it. But at the end of the day, I probably do know a little bit more about basketball than hockey. Weirdly enough.

Why am I telling you all this? Because this series the Celtics are about to play against LeBron James and the Miami Heat re-commit me to professional basketball, or forever turn me off. There's not much of an in-between. If you've been watching these playoffs, and I begrudgingly have (mostly due to the Bruins early exit), you can tell the officiating as been, as expected, suspect at best. More so than any other league, basketball is a sport where the stars get away with what they want, when they want. It's akin to the benefits celebrities have when they get in trouble with the law. Somebody like Paul George gets hacked on the arm? May or may not get called. Somebody like LeBron or D-Wade? Automatic two shots, plus probably a technical or a flagrant. I'm slightly exaggerating, but that's the way it is.

So what's interesting about this Celtics-Heat series is that Boston certainly has the star power to run with the Heat. The Celtics have a better overall team than the Heat. If you were going to hold a school-yard pick 'em for this series, LeBron would go 1, D-Wade would go 2, but the next 5 players would all be Celtics (I'm taking a healthy Brandon Bass over Chris Bosh, and still might anyways, regardless of health).

Of course, it's hard to tell exactly what the NBA wants out of the Heat. Does David Stern enjoy the hoopla surrounding LeBron and his inability to win big games? Do referees look at the self-titled King differently in big spots? It's inconsistent. LeBron gets all the calls he wants leading up to these big moments, but it seems that when the true money is on the line, where his legacy can be re-made, he becomes just any other player. Look no further than the Dallas series from a year ago.

This being the Eastern Conference Finals, and not the NBA Finals, it will be interesting to see if the NBA deems this a "legacy-shifter" for LeBron. He did already exorcise his Celtics demons last year, remember. Having said that, the Celtics pretty much owned the Heat this season, taking 3 of their 4 contests by an average of 7.8 ppg* (the final meeting, a 78-66 Celtics victory, featured only Paul Pierce in terms of relevant players from either side. Sasha Pavlovic led all scorers with 16. So, yeah).

At the end of the day, what this all comes down to for me is one thing, and one thing only:  if this series is officiated fairly, I have no doubt in my mind that the better team is capable of winning. And the better team is the Celtics. If LeBron and Wade are getting calls in star-mode, and for whatever reason KG/Truth/Rondo/Ray-Ray aren't, this could be a long one.

Funny as it sounds, we're living in a world where Chris Bosh is an X-Factor for this series. For as much maligned as he's been since taking his talents to South Beach, Bosh could seriously swing this series in favor of Miami. Based on what I've heard so far, if he does show his face, it won't be at 100%.

And whether he returns or not, there's all kinds of nostalgia at stake here. For both sides. Celtics win, and three NBA Finals appearances with the "Big 3" makes them a minor-dynasty. At least a footnote dynasty. The Heat win, great and all, but it won't matter unless they win a Championship. I would make a "not 5, not 6, not 7" joke here, but have the Heat looked more vulnerable since The Decision?

Call in blind loyalty, call it rationale, call it what you will. I'm taking the Celtics in 7.

Exit Sandman

If this is it for Mo, and all signs point to it indeed being the end, whatta shame. Coming from my extremely homersexual Boston perspective, a damn, damn shame. That's not how I wanted to see one of the greatest baseball career's of all-time end. If it had been during an actual game, although I'm not entirely sure how a pitcher goes about tearing an ACL on the mound, it'd be one thing. But shagging fly balls? In Kansas City, of all-places? Shakespeare himself couldn't have written such a tragedy.

Hey, I'll remember Mo for the good times. Bill Mueller's walk-off home run in the Varitek/A-Rod game. The 2004 ALCS when he couldn't pick off Dave Roberts. Opening Day at Fenway in 2005 when he got a mock cheer from the crowd.

Make no mistake about it, for as mortal as he looked at times in 2004-05, that was eight seasons ago. He was off to a great start again this year (5/6 save opportunities, 2.16 ERA). He'd been dropping hints during spring training that this season would be his last anyways, but I'm sure no one envisioned this being the situation.

Also as Mo goes, so goes the no. 42, never to be worn again by a major league baseball player. So there's that as well. Jackie Robinson's number is officially retired.

Fortunately for the Yankees, this David Robertson kid seems like the real deal (hasn't allowed a run yet this season in 11 innings, striking out 18 batters while walking just 3). My colleague Anthony Russo has been pumping up Robertson as the heir apparent for awhile now, so we'll see how this works out. It's one thing to put up those numbers as a set-up guy; it's a whole other to do it following the undisputed greatest closer of all-time. Just ask Alfredo Aceves how that's going in Boston.

ESPN's coverage of Junior Seau

Let me say first, Rest in Peace to one of the greatest linebackers who ever lived. From his glory days with the Chargers, to his time in South Beach with the Dolphins, to his renaissance with the Pats, one of the classiest and most professional guys to strap on a helmet.

Now this post isn't so much about Seau as it is the way ESPN has been going about covering his death. Which is, how shall I put this: shameful.

Granted it seems as though all kinds of media outlets have been guilty of this too, but you'd think the Worldwide Leader would be better than this. Setting up shop in front of Seau's house, interviewing his parents--his clearly devastated parents? Where is the privacy? They just outlived their son, something no parent ever wants to do. Ever. And then broadcasting the interview/press conference/whatever you want to call it? How in a million years can you justify airing that? Especially considering the next point....

Easy as it may be in trying to solve the pieces of the puzzle, shame on ESPN again for speculating the cause of Seau's apparent suicide. We simply do not know at this time. Me, you, anyone. Speculating is no different from assuming. And it's been said a million times, but it'll be said again right here: when you assume, you make an ass of you and me. There is absolutely no proof just yet that Seau's suicide was linked to his football career. It may appear that way, as a guy who played 19 seasons at one of the most demanding positions in all of professional sports, but again, there is no concrete evidence as of yet.

Sadly, I can't say I'm surprised by ESPN's coverage. It's the same network that beats LeBron James, Tim Tebow, and (once upon a time) Brett Favre down our throats 24/7. Learn your audience.

If this post in any way sounds like I'm trivializing the death of Seau, you are sadly mistaken, because that's not what this is about at all. It's simply about the appalling coverage by the supposed top dog in the sports industry. Junior would not be happy with this, not in the least. Rest in peace.