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Should The Celtics Bother Showing Up Tonight?

May 30, 2012 By

Or the rest of the series?

From the sounds of it, they have no chance. I’ve Michael Holley predict a Celtics win tonight, but not many others. Apparently, the Heat winning game one on their home court has removed any possibility of the Celtics winning, not just the series, but one game.

Interestingly, on the Sunday TNT broadcast of the Western Conference Finals, Shaquille O’Neal, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley were asked to pick the Celtics/Heat series. O’Neal and Smith picked the Celtics in six games. Barkley picked the Heat in five.

I wonder if their opinions changed after game one.

Felger and Massarotti had Doc Rivers on their show yesterday as a bit of a surprise guest. Shockingly, Felger didn’t ask Rivers about Pierce faking his injury or about KG being a fraud.

Hit the deck? Play some defense – Paul Flannery has Kevin Garnett preaching defense, not physical play is needed by the Celtics.

Them’s fighting words – Steve Bulpett has the Celtics going biblical.

Celtics will need a miracle of sorts – In among the miracle talk, Bill Reynolds says that the Celtics are 21-0 when Rajon Rondo has a triple-double.

Get the rest of the Celtics coverage at CelticsLinks.com.

The Red Sox finally hopped over the .500 mark with a win over Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers at Fenway Park last night.

According to the Boston.com Extra Bases blog, the Red Sox are holding tryouts for the Fenway Park PA position to replace the late Carl Beane.

Former Celtics PA announcer Andy Jick has been among those filling in, but Larry Lucchino announced that WEEI morning flash guy Jon Meterparel will get his tryout tomorrow night. Lucchino also said they’re talking about the idea of having the PA guy announce the balls and strikes count after each pitch, which I think is just an atrocious idea.

Emptying the Tank: Big 4, Lester, Theo, Thomas, Welker, Schilling, Media – George Cain on Sports of Boston weighs in on media coverage of the four local sports teams, before taking an extended break.

Defilippo cancels interview with Eagle Action – Interesting note from the Eagle in Atlanta blog, which has Boston College athletic director Gene Defilippo canceling an annual interview with the decidedly BC-friendly Eagle Action. With the BC football program on a downswing, it seems that Defilillo didn’t want to address questions about it or the future of coach Frank Spaziani.

 

Filed Under: Morning Links
  • http://profile.yahoo.com/MWWDA5IBW7VOU7AJC2CQSUYBWQ Bruins309

    If Meterperel gets the Fenway PA gig, there should be a full-scale boycott of everything Red Sox-related. There should also be an investigative report on what kind of photos he has of Lucchino to secure the job.

    • latetodinner

      Well they gave John Rook the Foxboro gig…I don’t think Meter can be any worse than him.  Still a fresh voice would probably be best.  Maybe someone who can pronounce everyone’s name correctly and does not giggle while speaking.  I probably just set the bar a little high.  My bad.

    • Brian

      I was at last night’s game and thought Jick was fine, kept it simple lcear and understated.  I can see Meterparel sounding like an NBA announcer in Orlando and making himself the show.  No thanks.

  • andy

    When told his team had no chance against the unbeatable University of Houston, the late Jim Valvano responded by saying since his team was the only one playing the game, it was the only team that had a chance.

    Do I think the Celtics will win the series? No.  Do they have a chance?  Since they are playing, yes.

  • Rick Mc

    What did Screamin’ A Smith say about the refs in the video that was pulled?

    • bsmfan

       He basically said that Ray is considered one of the best players with reputation and isn’t a guy you T-up. And, by doing so, it was really the ultimate disrespect to someone like him. It didn’t make the league look as bad as some of the Notorious JVG rants about things, but it also didn’t shine a positive light.

      As I said in the previous post, ESPN is smart with social media (YT/Twitter/esp) and makes sure their media/clips, especially “featured” staff like SAS (because its during the playoffs) is online. For them to take it down, well, I have no reason why, but I can only assume Stern “put a call in”.

  • 02062

    Interesting that neither Tony nor Mike brought up the “faking” of injuries.

    Or the fake tough guy stuff about KG?  Pierce being a drama queen?

    We need you on that wall Tony and Mike.

  • Guest

    Bruce, What’s up with Mike Reiss? Is he taking a vacation or some personal time, or is he going to Bristol? Just curious if you had heard anything.

    • Bruce

      I know he and his wife just had a baby. That’s probably part of it. It’s also the offseason, so he’s going to have more time off than he would during the season.

    • bsmfan

      Reiss has been posting/Tweeting quite often. I think he might have taken a day (at most) last weekend for the holiday. Have you not followed him @MikeReiss:twitter or seen his posts on ESPNBoston.com ?

      • Bruce

        Reiss made a post last night saying that he’d be stepping aside for a week or two…

        Programming note from Reiss

        For a short stretch here into June — maybe one week, possibly two — Mike and Field are going to be running the show on this blog and with our Patriots coverage on ESPNBoston.com. They will be attending organized team activities May 31 and June 7, as well as mandatory minicamp June 12-14. They will be at various player appearances, such as Tom Brady’s Best Buddies football game (June 1) and his participation in the annual Best Buddies bike ride (June 2).

      • Rick Mc

         I believe he was referring to Mike’s statement that two other writers will be taking over most of the blogs for a couple of weeks.  Reiss wrote he won’t be covering some upcoming OTA’s.

      • http://bostonsportsmedia.com/ Bruce Allen

         Reiss made a post last night saying that he’d be stepping aside for a week or two…

        Programming note from Reiss

        For a short stretch here into June — maybe one week, possibly two — Mike and Field are going to be running the show on this blog and with our Patriots coverage on ESPNBoston.com. They will be attending organized team activities May 31 and June 7, as well as mandatory minicamp June 12-14. They will be at various player appearances, such as Tom Brady’s Best Buddies football game (June 1) and his participation in the annual Best Buddies bike ride (June 2).

  • bsmfan

    “Lucchino also said they’re talking about the idea of having the PA guy
    announce the balls and strikes count after each pitch”

    I wondered how to respond here, beyond the generic “maybe they should be drug testing” there but here might be why:

    “This strike has been brought to you by SunLife Financial.”

    “This ball has been brought to you by Giant Glass.”

  • Nsbombers

    Hey Bruce, What happened to WEEI broadcasting in true FM STEREO!

    Calling balls and strikes are you kidding me.

    • http://bostonsportsmedia.com/ Bruce Allen

      Do you find it not in stereo all the time? I’ve been trying to tell, and it seems like at times it is, and times it isn’t.

      • Nsbombers

        I am getting the station fine but not in stereo.All the other stations come in true fm stereo.
        Any predictions for stanley cup finals ratings?
        The series has no buzz.

    • tl;138

       Bruce is an umpire now?

  • bsmfan

    This is an interesting comment that seems to resonate all over NBA talks (legit ones, not what ESPN offers you):

    @BruceAllen:twitter If it were Ordway I’d be more worried, after he spent the entire season scoffing at the notion that the Spurs were contenders.

    Hate to say this, but Skip Felger was the only “ESPN Cheerleader” who really had them contending. However, file this under “one of Skip’s bones” (along with Tebow, Tony Romo being a top5 NFL QB, etc). He’s like a dog with a bone and never wants to give it away.

    However, this also goes into the coverage of the NBA that ESPN, one of their biggest partners, affords a team that has quietly been one of the best franchises over the past 15 years. Now, all of a sudden, since they look basically unstoppable (if you don’t agree, watch their destruction of the Thunder last night). TNT at least talks about legit teams and doesn’t find a way to insert Heat/LeBron, but, from my periodic watching of Inside the NBA segments, they also spent as little time as possible on the Spurs while “sexier” teams were in the mix (Lakers, Heat).

    Now that the Heat are the only “sexy” team left? (And, man, does ESPN go overboard here) I think the Spurs finally get some love.

    I’ll throw the typical argument of “We respond to what our customers respond to and talk about”.. at the same time, were they just talking about the Lakers too much?

    Even when the Spurs were top3 in the league, record-wise, they still had a fairly poor draw on national games (ESPN/TNT) when the ratings were published.

    I don’t follow the NBA enough (or really care) but I’d like to see more than the “LeBronathon” ESPN goes nuts with.

  • Jason_Coyote

    Putting a contrarian spin on a tired old cliche…if there is a satan in hades, John Metacrapel will be hired as Fenway’s new PA voice…get your earplugs ready.

    • tl;138

      It’s a tryout so hopefully he won’t get the job.  I’m hoping he gets booed.

  • bsmfan

    Oh boy.. can’t wait to read the copy about the game.

    First: missing call on Rondo that basically clinched the OT for the Heat.
    Here is a high-def pic of the foul (not called):

    http://imgur.com/ZpyHI

    Second: 18 vs. 33 on the fouls. Yup, hometown adv:

    http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=320530014

    Third: Anyone want to guess who got the 1st overall? Yup, the Hornets. Woj already has an article about this up:

    http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba–nba-s-problematic-ownership-of-hornets-opens-door-to-rigged-talk-over-draft-lottery-20120531.html

    Some of the quotes in Woj’s article are priceless. Even execs are now questioning the integrity of the game.

    • tl;138

      If you’re that upset with the league, stop watching/attending games.  Hitting them in the wallet is the only way you can effect change (same goes for angry Red Sox fans),

      • bsmfan

        Already do. I also say the same thing but hoped to at least offer up some intelligent discussion on the topic.

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