They Got Game

ITEM ONE: Curse of the Bolt Counting Episode is over

Boston sports fans used to love to blame all of their sports losses on curses. The most famous one was the curse of the Bambino, which prevented their Red Sox from winning for 86 years following the sale of Babe Ruth. Well, last night, another curse was removed from the Chowderheads: The Curse of the Bolt Counting Episode.

Let me briefly explain. The last time the Celtics won an NBA championship was 1986. Many Celtic fans believe that they haven't won since because Maryland college star Len Bias, drafted 3rd overall by the Celtics that year in the draft, died of a cocaine overdose, and that his death was haunting the organization.

But actually, the curse that affected them more was the Bolt Counting Episode curse. This is in reference to the episode of the popular NBC series Cheers in which star forward Kevin McHale is caught in the bar trying to convince Cliff and Norm that he knows the correct number of bolts in the Boston garden's famous parque floor. Ever since then, the Celtics have been cursed. That is, until McHale, now GM of the Minnesota Timberwolves, decided to trade Kevin Garnett to the Celtics last summer. The move, couple with Boston's trade on draft day to secure Ray Allen, helped set up last night's curse-lifting.

By the way, nice to see the Lakers quit like they did. That was brutal. And was it me, or was there something to Allen's 7 3-pointers to win the championship? Maybe Denzel Washington was in uniform last night for the Hollywood Fakers, because Allen hasn't shot that well and that often in a game since he wasn't called for a push-off in the one-on-one movie ending game playing the role of Jesus Shuttlesworth in He Got Game.


ITEM TWO: Tiger is out, hope that was worth it

This morning, professional golfers everywhere got the best news they've heard all year, and the folks at ABC (British Open coverage network), CBS (PGA Championship coverage) and NBC (Ryder Cup Coverage) got the worst news they've heard all year:

Tiger Woods is having ACL replacement surgery and is out for the rest of the year.

Hope everyone pressed record Sunday and Monday on Tiger's rounds at the U.S. Open, because that's the last we are going to see of him in 2008.

The good news is that we'll have other people winning those majors later this year, which might lead to other stories we otherwise might never had heard of. Bad news is the networks mentioned above won't have the same number of eyeballs watching those tournaments because Eldrick will be at home in Orlando rehabbing. Come to think of it, Jack Nicklaus gets to breath a sigh of relief that Tiger will stay 4 majors behind him until at least next April.


ITEM THREE: Other thoughts
Chipper Jones continues to mash the baseball in Atlanta, and as a baseball fan, I'm happy to see that Larry is finally healthy for a full season. It's too bad he hasn't been this healthy his whole career... speaking of healthy, now that Pedro Martinez apparently is, I have one memo for outgoing Mets GM Omar Minaya: the only untouchables on the Mets are Wright, Reyes, and Santana - everyone else can and should be dealt at the deadline if the team is still at or under the 500 mark - time to break that group up, and start with Pedro. I don't second-guess the decision to sign him at all, but he is as Brittle as Sam Jackson's character in the Bruce Willis movie Unbreakable... speaking of general managers that I am starting to run out of patience for, Lou Lamirello of the Devils needs to make some moves. It's been five years since the last Cup, and you can't depend on Martin Brodeur to carry you in a series anymore, especially if you keep playing him 75 games a year. Size will not work against Pittsburgh in the future, you need to go back to what you do best, which is find that undiscovered talent with speed, something the Devils sorely lacked last year... Six weeks until NFL training camps start, and it can't get here fast enough.