Talk about a guy buying in. You can’t remove that. Well you can but the laser surgery costs a bunch and then you have an ugly scar instead of the best tattoo I’ve ever seen on an athlete. The Jet is just unbelievably excited to play for the Celtics and that is just so awesome so see/hear/sense in any way.
“I have been a little busy getting a new tattoo. Obviously I did it with the Mavericks before the season the year we won it, and hopefully this year, again, we’ll have the luck of the leprechaun and we’ll get it done again. I definitely believe last year they were right there. They’re already a championship team. They just needed a little jet fuel,” Terry told ESPNBoston.
Just needed more jet fuel? How awesome a line is that? Unbelievably awesome would be the correct answer. I love athletes that are confident, especially if they’re on the team I’m rooting for. Hell, I briefly considered how difficult it would be to get dual citizenship in Jamaica so I wouldn’t feel like I was letting my country down by rooting for Usain Bolt in the Olympics.
Plus you want the guy coming off the bench that’s going to take big shots with defenders on him to not only be unafraid of Shane Battier or whatever defender gets thrown at him but you want him to feel like every shot is going in as well. Plus nothing can top a good celebration in the other teams mug when the shot goes splash. Would it be insane if I got a Jason Terry jersey before I got a Rondo? Yeah I guess it would be but still.
Speaking of Rondo, Jet clearly doesn’t want anything to do with how Allen and Rondo fell out saying in the same ESPNBoston.com interview that Rondo is “obviously the best point guard in the league.” Now just say Brady is the best quarterback of the last decade and I would take a bullet for this man.
Other than his tattoo making me immediately restructure my rankings of people with the nickname Jet (Terry is now No. 2 behind Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez), it also got me thinking about athlete’s with tattoos. Just about every player has some it seems. So here’s my Top Five.
The Best
No. 5 – Jeremy Shockey
AMURICA F*CK YEAH! Can’t question this mans patriotism (Well except that he never played for the Patriots I guess).
No. 4 Nate Robinson
I’m a sucker for a good skyline on just about anything. Hats, shirt or even 5-foot-9 combo guard’s necks. Plus Robinson is a native of Seattle which has a pretty nice skyline (but no NBA team anymore unfortunately).
No. 3 – Chris “Birdman” Anderson
A lot of people hate this tattoo. But I don’t. Would I get it? Hell no but the Birdman is all about the tats and I say if he wants to free the bird than good for him.
No. 2 – Carmelo Anthony
I’m talking about the ‘WB’ log here. Officially the ink is for West Baltimore where Melo moved when he was eight and good for him for repping his hometown. However the more subtle (and probably real) meaning, which those with street cred like me (I’ve watched some episodes of The Wire) means “Warn A Brother”, makes this even better.
No. 1 – Jason Terry
Did you not read the beginning of this post. What else did you think it was going to be.
Gotta’ love that wingspan on Jared Sullinger’s YMCA. Jim Rogash/Getty Images
Wingspan! Tremendous upside! Runs the court well! Finishes at the rim! Great hands! Stop me if you’ve heard these phrases before.
After watching a great deal of the four and a half fours of last night’s NBA draft (not exactly the best Thursday of my life) I’ve found these words pounded into my head so much I half expect to start using them in everyday conversation.
“Raisin Bran Crunch really defends the interior well but I just love Pop Tarts upside.” “That Acura really creates space for itself in the left lane.” “It might not be as flashy but you’re getting great value using Firefox later on rather than spending an early pick on Chrome.”
While I try to work this out of my system let’s take a look at how the Celtics, Knicks and Nets all tackled the draft.
Boston Celtics
Every year since 2009 I go into a Celtics draft hoping that this is the year that Boston can grab the man who will take over for Paul Pierce. This year I had a few guys that I thought might do that, but I still wasn’t super hopeful. Well no worries because the Celtics didn’t draft anyone resembling that and to be honest there was no one on the board at their pick that could have fit that bill.
Instead the Celtics bulked up down low. Not a bad idea but not one I love. The Celtics biggest problem recently has been scoring. Specifically getting guys that can get to the rim. Still getting bigs will certainly help because now Ryan Hollins shouldn’t see a basketball court ever again. I think we can all be thankful of that.
I like the Jared Sullinger selection. People are wary about him because he doesn’t play above the rim and he’s an injury risk but I look at his career stats (17.5 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 51.9 FG%) and I have to feel somewhat good. Plus he shot 40 percent from three point range last season and as Chris Bosh showed the Celtics you need a power forward that can knock down a trey to win a championships. (I can’t believe I just rubbed the Heat’s title in my own face. I’m a masochist I guess, what can I say).
As I sat watching the Celtics take Sully (his nickname certainly fits the city and team) I knew who I wanted them to take next. Tony Wroten Jr. out of Washington. He’s a 6-5 guard with a ton of raw skill that scored 16.0 points per game last season. You know an offensive minded player. Then David Stern walked out and told the world that the Celtics took….Fab Melo.
You mean the Fab Melo that’s seven feet tall but avearged 5.8 rebounds a game last season? The Fab Melo that brings nothing offensively to a team that desperately needs help in that area? The Fab Melo who I have heard described as lazy, unmotivated and a guy without much motor? The same Fab Melo that was ineligible for the NCAA Tournament because he failed to meet academic requirements for the second time during the season?
Yes that Fab Melo. Needless to say this pick bothers me. He might have the skills to be a good defender, he did win Big East Defensive Player of the Year after all, but I just am not sold on him.
In the second round the Celtics did take a small forward who can score. Plus he played at Syracuse with Fab so there’s that. Kris Joseph is 6-7 and has some scoring and some shooting ability. I’m not getting my hopes up that he can be the next slashing score for the Celtics but a man can dream can’t he?
New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets
Honestly there’s no point giving these teams individual spots since they each had just one pick late in the second round. Both teams took players from Europe with the Knicks taking 6-8 forward Kostas Papanikolaou from Greece and the Nets picking 6-11 forward Tomislav Zubric from Croatia. Can’t say I know a whole lot about these guys but I don’t think that Zubric is really going to be the piece that keeps Deron Williams in Brooklyn. Honestly these guys are probably just career D-Leaguers.
One last note; I absolutely loved the extended booing of Stern when he came out to announce the beginning of the draft and especially enjoyed the elevated booing when he talked about the Heat winning the title. Good job NBA fans. Oh and to that kid they showed wearing the O’Neal Celtics jersey that was cheering for the Fab Melo pick; there’s no way you are a Celtics fan.
-Phil
Hit us up on Twitter (@seeuinoctober) or in the comments and tell us why Kostas Papanikolaou is going to light up the city of New York or any sane thoughts on the NBA draft.
Can’t tell if Johan is excited about SeeYouInOctober being back or his no-hitter? It’s a toss-up really.
Hold on is that SeeYouInOctober’s music?
Well it certainly has been a while hasn’t it. A month and a half? Really? Well no longer SeeYouInOctober is back starting today. There sure has been a lot that has happened in that time period so in the first post back we’ll try to put some insights on all that happened since The Avengers came out.
What can you say about the Boston Celtics this season. They were gritty and tough and every other adjective that NBA talking heads use to mean not fun to watch. Hoenstly that got annoying. We get it, Kevin Garnett is 36 but if he’s putting up numbers does it really have to be mentioned that he’s old. Can’t he just be really good?
Regardless KG and the Big Three gave it one last run and really it was one to remember, even if the end is something I’d like wiped from my brain like something out of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Some of the best highlights of the run to the cusp of the NBA finals include the resurgence of the Big Ticket. The 44-point monster effort by Rondo that should have ended in a win if, you know, NBA refs called fouls when Dwyane Wade decapitates dudes. (Check the tape below) Paul Pierce gutting out double-doubles, throwing down dunks in Shane Battier’s grillmix and the three he nailed from the wing in LeBron’s mug to seal Game Five. Honestly top-five favorite Pierce shots for me. If they win that series it’s easily number one. Brandon Bass heating up and knocking down everything and the tea bag dunk on Dwayne Wade.
But it wasn’t all good. In fact it got really bad. Going into game five of the Eastern conference finals I was just happy the Celtics had showed up and made it a series. But then they won and suddenly I stopped thinking “I’m glad we played tough” and switched into “Holy S—, the Celtics could win this thing.” But it all fell apart as the torture of getting blown out at home and losing a winnable game seven happened just three days later.
I think I’ve made it pretty apparent before that I don’t like the Heat a whole bunch. Seeing the Celtics lose to the Heat really hurt and watching those D-bags go on to win the title was one of the more disappointing sports events I’ve witnessed. But goddamnit can LeBron James play basketball. I’ve railed on him a lot before and although I’ll still root hard against him and never like him as a dude he is obviously the best basketball player out there by far and he without a doubt carried that team to a title. I have to give him credit and begrudging respect for that. Now let me move on before I start punch my computer screen with face.
The Celtics aren’t the only NBA teams that did things during the hiatus, although their’s were much less exciting. The Knicks big moves included winning one playoff game, which might warrant a banner with how bad they’ve been in the postseason in the past decade, and Amar’e Stoudemire rocking a cut off jean jacket with glasses and a fidora court-side (Seriously bro?) and sending out loving messages to his fans.
The Nets meanwhile are making desperate appeals to Deron Williams sense of loyalty, I guess, while putting out one of my favorite NBA shirts ever. Seriously, for a nanosecond I thought about throwing in 22 years of Celtics fanhood just so I could rock that shirt. I still might grab one and just wear it in the offseason.
This shirt is straight flames.
But enough about basketball, this blog was built on baseball and although you might not know it by looking at our posting schedule it is baseball season.
Who could have guessed how well the Mets season is going? A 40-36 record that puts them right in the NL East race while the hated Phillies lag behind in last place is certainly not what was predicted coming into this season. It is a mystery to me how they’re doing it. R.A. Dickey has looked like the next coming of Sandy Koufax while David Wright has hit the cover off the ball but after that what do the Mets have? They just seem like a team that plays loose and gets the big hit from anybody at the right time. Plus I really like how Terry Collins is handling that team. Great hire by the orange and blue.
It also can’t go without being mentioned that Johan Santana finally tossed a no-no for the fans in Flushing. Can’t say I’ve ever been that invested in a baseball team outside of the Sox more than I was then. Pretty awesome for the Mets. As far as the blown call in that game goes, there are blown calls all the time and if that was the closest thing to a hit they could get who cares.
Speaking of bad calls how about that Dewayne Wise catch that wasn’t a catch? That is some pretty awful umpiring when you don’t even ask to see the ball and the fan who actually has it is waving it around right in your eyeball. Plus ejecting the batter after he argued just shows the power trip some umpires have. But it hasn’t all been stupid calls for the Yankees. I will now bedgrudgingly mention that Derek Jeter is playing great and they have the best record in baseball.
Still there are some not great parts like CC and Pettitte both going down. Rivera losing his ankle on a fly ball before a game and the fact that this team doesn’t score unless someone is socking it out of the park. Although with how frequent that is it clearly isn’t a problem.
Finally we get to the main event, at least to me. The Boston Red Sox said goodbye last week to one of my favorite Red Sox players in recent years. It is really hard to see Youk go. I always loved his fire. How much he gave and how much he cared. Plusit was awesome to see a guy that just didn’t fit the mold of a great baseball player turn into one of the best hitters in the bigs. Other than Ortiz he is the only remaining member of the 2004 World Series team. Wow is that depressing. It’s sad to see him go but I hope he crushes it with Chicago (unless they’re playing Boston then he can go 0-for-4 with 4 Ks).
In terms of players still on the team the Sox are pretty head scratching. What happened to Jon Lester? I guess he’ll never be the ace we want but just a really good No. 2. I believe Clay Bucholz was checked into the hospital because he was attacked by a face-hugger from Alien and was carrying one inside his stomach. Daniel Bard as a starter? That sure lasted awhile huh? You mean when you can’t throwing anything but a fastball and don’t throw strikes you can’t start? Then there’s Adrian “Singles” Gonazalez. He is inching dangerously close to J.D. Drew territory for me. All he does is hit singles and doubles. He never seems to get the big hit (although he did last night) and he just seems to play and look the same no matter if he strikes out swinging or hits a home run. Not good.
Negatives aside, I will say that this Red Sox team is a hell of a lot of fun to watch. David Ortiz is busy just pounding into the ground the
YOOOOOOOOOUUKKKKKKKKK! Really going to miss that.
“Edgar Martinez is the best DH of all-time” argument. Then there are all the no names and dirt dogs that are just killing it. Cody Ross smacking home runs left and right. I loved that signing because he just seemed built for Boston and Fenway Park and so far I couldn’t be more right. Salty just swinging for the fences every at bat, and a bunch of times reaching them. And Scott Atchison taking time from his slow pitch softball league to fill in as a dominant reliever.
But what crowns it all is the guy who sent Youk packing. You can keep your Bryce Harper and your Mike Trout, give me Will Middlebrooks. Tim Kurkjian said Middlebrooks reminds him a lot of Ryan Zimmerman and I agree. Very similar swing with a bunch of pop. I forgot how awesome it was to watch Ellsbury come up and kill it or Pedroia coast to Rookie of the Year and that’s happening again with Middlebrooks.
Oh and the Devils made the Stanley Cup or something.
I think that about covers it. Phew! A lot sure happens in a month and a half. It’s good to be back.
-Phil
Did we miss something big that happened? How about the end of the NBA season and the Heats title? Baseball thoughts? As always let us know on Twitter (@seeuinoctober) or sound off in the comments.
The Devils and Rangers are skating towards the cup, but who can get there?
With the Chase for the Cup and NBA playoffs underway, New York and Boston teams are well represented. In hockey the Rangers and Bruins nabbed the top two spots in the East and the Devils are the sixth seed. While the Nets failed to do much of anything this season, the Knicks were able to move into the seventh seed and the Celtics are fourth. It’s going to be a tough road to the championship for all of these teams, but which one has what it takes to make it?
Melo and the Knicks or Paul Pierce and the Celtics, who will win the title? (Nick Laham/Getty Images)
We already know it won’t be the Bruins, who were eliminated in a seven game series with Washington Capitols. The Knicks and Celtics are in an uphill battle finding themselves down 1-0 in their opening round match ups, but the Rangers and Devils won their first games in the second round. Who do you think will advance to the finals? Initially the question was going to be which is more likely: the Knicks win one game, or the Rangers win it all? We’re going to stay positive for now.
Can Melo and the Knicks rise above Rose and the Bulls or will they just be a sacrificial lamb? (Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images)
Let’s look at some good news for the New York Knicks: 1. There are eight playoff spots in each conference and the Knicks are holding onto that final spot. 2. Tonight they will play the Milwaukee Bucks with a chance to give themselves some breathing room. 3. Their remaining schedule includes: the Wizards, Cavaliers, Nets and Bobcats.
Now time for the bad news: Presently the Knicks are four and a half games out of the sixth spot. They are going to have to play the Bulls first round. All season long the teams in the East have known the last two to get in would have to play either Chicago or Miami in the first round. Hopefully they give out participation trophies.
The past two games the Knicks have played came against the Bulls and they saw two very different teams. On Easter Sunday they pulled out an overtime victory at the Garden with Melo dropping a cool 43 points. The Knicks have tried to find ways to balance their offense and ensure their scorers get equal touches, but so far this method seems to work best with Amar’e Stoudemire and Jeremy Lin being off the floor with injuries. Some sided with Melo, others with Lin, but it seems they just can’t play well together. Melo reminded the basketball community that he is one of the best scorers in the Association regardless of what else may happen around him. Credit for this win doesn’t all go to Anthony however as Iman Shumpert continued his terrific rookie season making Derrick Rose’s return from injury a nightmare. The Bulls with Rose have similar, less pronounced, issues as the Knicks. When their secondary squad is on the floor they play an unselfish brand of basketball with plenty of ball movement that is difficult to defend, but when they have to appease multiple primary scorers they can’t seem to get it done. Last night the Knicks played in Chicago against the Roseless unit. They got spanked. The Bulls had more than 20 assists and Rip Hamilton went off in the second half making it a difficult evening for New York.
Ok the glass is half full. The Knicks play the Bulls in the first round with Rose on the floor. Shumpert has shown that he can defend Rose. The criticism of Chicago is if you take away Rose they don’t have much to support him. Clearly that isn’t the case because they have gone 16-7 without the reigning MVP, but when he is on the floor it looks like he is out there all by himself. Being optimistic let’s say Amar’e returns in time for the first round. Now they would have the Melo and Amar’e combination that worked so well last season with Baron Davis, who is gelling with Melo, running the point. They have a shot to knock off Chicago and escape the first round.
Realistically speaking I think the Knicks can take the series 6 games and make it competitive and entertaining. Mike Woodson has done an excellent job since returning by allowing players to use their strengths and skill-sets while challenging them to work harder on the defensive end. We knew going into this it would take some time for this unit to gel, but the Knicks are starting to play like a team at the right time.
-Erik
Should the Knicks be optimistic judging by the split two game set with the Bulls? Let us know what you think via our twitter (@seeuinoctober) or leave us a comment.
Last week Mr. Just for Men, Walt “Clyde” Frazier took out a bald guy when he beat Mark Messier upsetting the number two in this bracket. His reward? Another bald guy. This one is Mariano Rivera. Mo beat Pedro Martinez in extra innings. I guess Grady Little was managing.
This season Mariano Rivera took down the only remaining milestones on his quest to become the greatest relief pitcher of all time. He notched his 600th save and then hammered down number 603 for the record, but that record doesn’t include post season. Mo has plenty of experience with playoff appearances in every season except for 2007. His 42 saves in the post season are also tops in the history of the MLB. During that time Mo and the Yanks collected five championships and he was named MVP of the World Series in 1999. He is a 12 time all-star and five time Rolaids Relief Man Award winner. He has hinted that this could be his last season. If it is we know his bust will be waiting to be enshrined in Cooperstown in five years.
Walt “Clyde” Frazier was one of the greatest Knicks. If it weren’t for Patrick Ewing there probably wouldn’t be an argument. He was part of the 1970 and 1973 championship teams in Madison Square Garden, which was something Ewing could never capture. At the time of his retirement Clyde held the franchise record for games and minutes played, field goals made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, points and assists. His number 10 hangs in the rafters of MSG celebrating his career, which included seven all-star selections.
If you’ve been paying attention to our tournament thus far there have been a few upsets, lots of overtime games and some great discussions on the road to finding out who the best player in the history of New York and Boston sports is. Today we’re giving the athletes the day off to post the updated bracket to catch you up on what’s been happening in the frenzied first and second round. Tomorrow we will release the entire round of 16 for your voting pleasure. Currently there is one match up undecided with Pedro Martinez and Mariano Rivera dueling late into extra innings, so you still have time to cast your votes here.
The favorites prevailed in the first round outside of a couple shockers, but Carmelo Anthony and Phil Simms were not the ones to rock the boat. Messier shut out Melo while Frazier vs Simms was much closer as we expected. Now we have one of the greatest Rangers who took the team to the cup taking on the underdog who just so happens to be a two time champ and amazing Knick.
When Mark Messier arrived in New York the Rangers hadn’t won the Stanley Cup in more than half a century. His impact was immediate as they wrapped up the top spot in the East that first season. Messier was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy, which as far as I can tell is the MVP of hockey (they don’t make anything easy in terms of translating to the other major sports). He also won the Lester B. Pearson award in that same 1991 season, which may also be the MVP. Last night the Rangers locked up a playoff berth and hadn’t done so this early in the season since the 1991 season with Messier. He brought the Cup to New York in 1994 and scored the series winning goal in game seven. He was bold and brash with guarantees and bravado. Perfect character for New York.
Walt “Clyde” Frazier was one of the greatest Knicks. If it weren’t for Patrick Ewing there probably wouldn’t be an argument. He was part of the 1970 and 1973 championship teams in Madison Square Garden, which was something Ewing could never capture. At the time of his retirement Clyde held the franchise record for games and minutes played, field goals made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, points and assists. His number 10 hangs in the rafters of MSG celebrating his career, which included seven all-star selections.
It’s no surprise that Tom Brady moved on so easily by collecting every vote in his first round matchup with 16th seed Victor Cruz. It was a surprise that Patrick Ewining was so dominant in gathering votes in his matchup with ninth-seeded Dominik Hasek. Ewing also won with the entirety of the votes cast and will now try to upset #12.
They’re have been two once in a generation talents at quarterback over the last decade and the New England Patriots are lucky enough to have one of them. Who knew that the Jets would bring Tom Brady and the reign of terror that has been the New England Patriots in the AFC East when they knocked Drew Bledsoe out of a game and the Patriots were forced to bring in a scrawny kid out of Michigan. Since then Brady has torn through the NFL winning three Super Bowls (and making it to five), winning two MVP awards and leading the league in just about every major passing category there is over his career including the single season record for passing touchdowns (50) during the 2007-08 season. So yeah he’s pretty good.
Drafted first overall in the 1985 draft, Patrick Ewing went on to be one of the best guys to ever strap up in the orange and blue and MSG. Ewing would go on to play for the Knicks for 15 years in which he was an All-Star 11 times and an All-NBA First Team selection once (1990). Although he never led the league in any category Ewing’s career numbers of 21.0 ppg, 9.8 rpg and 2.4 bpg are still stellar. Too bad he played during the Jordan Era as the only team he was ever a part of that made it to the NBA Finals came during the lockout shortened season 1998-99 season, the year after MJ retired. On the bright side Patrick Ewing was a guest star in one of the greatest sports movies of all time, Space Jam, where he was unfortunately again overshadowed by his airness.
How long does a player have to be with a team to make an impact? Well if they win a championship it doesn’t really matter. One of these guys did just that and the other may have worn out his welcome one year into his stay.
When Mark Messier arrived in New York the Rangers hadn’t won the Stanley Cup in more than half a century. His impact was immediate as they wrapped up the top spot in the East that first season. Messier was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy, which as far as I can tell is the MVP of hockey (they don’t make anything easy in terms of translating to the other major sports). He also won the Lester B. Pearson award in that same 1991 season, which may also be the MVP. Last night the Rangers locked up a playoff berth and hadn’t done so this early in the season since the 1991 season with Messier. He brought the Cup to New York in 1994 and scored the series winning goal in game seven. He was bold and brash with guarantees and bravado. Perfect character for New York.
The Knicks aren’t very good this season despite the hype and Carmelo Anthony is receiving the blame. He played his college ball in Syracuse and brought a title to the Orangemen and always wanted to play in New York again. Give him credit for wanting to play under the bright lights, but the second half of that is actually performing. Melo and Amar’e brought the Knicks back to the playoffs, but this season they need to win a series.
seeyouinoctober 