The Agony of Defeat

Well, I had a few other things planned for today, which we'll get to over the weekend, but last night's A2 Championship has left me in a funk. Obviously we lost. It's amazing I'm even composing a coherent post (we'll see about that). Now I'm not one to assign blame, but man I was awful. A number of missed bunnies, as usual in the postseason, never let us increase a lead to above three. Anyway, I'm not hear to praise the game, but bury it. Wait that's backwards.

I'm as competitive as the next guy who just happens to be at the gym 4 nights a week, which is quite a bit. I'm only getting a run in because I love to play and to make sure I do more than sit in front of a screen 24/7. Obviously I'm not getting paid to brick my layups, and my livelihood doesn't rest on whether or not I'm any good. Yet even still, a loss stays with me for a few days after it occurs. It's not like I put black curtains up and listen to Evanescence, but it's there in the back of my mind, mocking me. My point, after that rambling is really simple. How professional athletes, especially ones that have to bounce back the next day to play, seem to recover from a loss so quick makes me envious. That doesn't mean they feel good about it, but playing the night after a big loss, or even two nights later, there's still that tingle in the back of your brain. Maybe I just need a shot of vodka...hey I didn't promise this would be THAT coherent. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled website tomorrow morning.

Because the season is only 4 months away, and it's really warm in here...

CRFC Basketball Update

The gym has a new name (CAC, I wish I were making that up) but the basketball league will retain the CRFC monkier. Huh!? Makes no sense to me either. In the past 4 months you've missed some quality blog posts from the Wolverine and O'Cal. But not me, I did as much on that site as I did over here, just ask the players bitching for their writeups and awards.

But, it case you weren't aware, sign-ups for the next season end next week! So get on that, A1 draft is Monday! Each of the past 3 seasons the number of teams partcipating has gone up, so make sure to get a spot!

Somehow, the 5 on 5 has already kicked off, and the only thing I thought last night was, thank god I don't have to do writeups in a league I'm playing in. It's been about a year. It's O'Cal and Kneeland's turn to bash me.

Get all your rec league needs fulfilled [CRFC Basketball]

Top 5 Reasons to Watch the 2007 Red Sox

5. To see if Dougie's Going Deep Tonight!

4. The Offense. It's still all or nothing at this point, but Papi, Manny, and maybe even JD, are the Balls

3. Francona, he's going to have a heart attack every fifth day until Lester debuts.

2. Because my Papel-boner is HUGE!

1. And lastly, because they're under appreciated!

No wait!

With the best record in baseball, and in NY against the Yankees, they were bumped from the headlines, FOR AN ENTIRE DAY, thanks to this guy...

Where are your priorities New England!?

Get Them While they're smokin' [Dougie's Going Deep]
How Many More Rehab Starts? [Boston.com]
Sluggers Open things up for DiceK [Bostonist]
Will the Real Randy Please stand up? [AOL FanHouse]

So I Look Like Dirk...

(And so do my playoff performances)

Ok, I get it! Really I do! The whole, blond head, long goatee chin music, and the fact that he's almost as white as I am, make for an interesting and funny conversation topic about how much I look like Dirk Nowitzki. You know what, maybe it's funny to you, but really, I hear it about, I don't know once a week. Guess what, I'm not German, I'm not 7 feet tall, and I'm not making millions in the NBA!

But then I stepped back a second and thought, maybe it's more than just physical appearance that everyone is talking about. Maybe it's not the compliment that it appears to be on the surface. For those of you that know me, I tend to have a, uh, performance problem, in the playoffs over at CRFC Basketball. There have been many notable flame-outs, all well documented in CRFC Lore (but thankfully hidden in cyberspace). But the numbers speak for themselves. A 33% dip in scoring (18.5 compared to 12.5) and a 20% dip in rebounds (9.5 to 7.5) are just the tip of the iceberg. Even blocks fall by 33% when post season play starts (3 to 2). Is it the pressure, the raucous CRFC atmosphere, the second ref? What?

When looking at Dirk's numbers, his numbers hold up when compared to the regular season. They don't decrease at all. In fact, shooting percentage is the only category that takes a noticeable dip when he hits the NBA's second season. But if you've been observing the past 2 post seasons, even mildly, you've noticed something is off when it comes down to crunch time and Dirk. It's not that he necessarily shy away from the big moments, but he hasn't embraced it as his past two star opponents have. Both Dwayne Wade and Baron Davis have feed off the spotlight and pressure that the post season brings against Dirk and the Mavs. After falling into a 0-2 hole, Miami swept the finals away as Dirk could do nothing to get his team going. The Baron has his Warriors up 3 games to 1 and a chance to wrap up the series at home if they Dallas finds a way to respond in Game 5. What makes this season particularly embarrassing is that the best team in the league is about to go down to a barely qualified for the playoffs, barely .500 Golden State team. Dirk doesn't shoulder sole responsibility for the Mav's collapse, but the MVP of the league is supposed to make the players around him better, especially in the biggest games. But hey, the voting is already in for the regular season, so give him the award. Just don't count on him to come through when the pressure is the highest in the playoffs. Maybe people aren't really only talking about facial features when they say, "you know who you remind me of? Dirk Nowitzki" Maybe my similarities with Dirk are more than just skin deep. And I'm ok with that, because the one thing we absolutely share in common? Our impeccable taste in drinking buddies. Now if I only made the millions....

Aaaaaaannnnddddd We're Back!

After nearly 4 months off (4 months!!! Holy Shit I'm lazy!) what else could bring me out of the woodwork, but the Pats Day 2 Draft trade for Randy Moss. Now, I thought to myself, this has got to be a good thing for Tom Brady and his boys right?? I mean, the only time Tom could go deep last season was when he was with Bridget and Giselle. This is guaranteed to allow the Pats to spread 'em five wide and let Brady pick apart defenses better than ever right? Won't his open up a ton of running room for the still green Maroney? But what about chemistry and team-first attitude?? Let's take a step back and look at this as a rational, Dan Shaughnessey-esque sports fan.

Randy Moss may be great for the offense on paper, but isn't this the same dude that said he'll play only when he wants to play. Wait, he also happens to be the same dude that still tokes up "once every blue moon." I also heard he's been arrested a couple times, something with his car right? Somebody should have told Bellicheck that he takes the occasional play off when he's not the primary receiver. Isn't he supposed to be some giant locker room cancer, a la TO before he started doing crunches in his driveway?? Man, the Pats are really starting to cut corners when it comes to adding hard working, team first players. Didn't they just draft some brawler in the first round on Saturday?? What's going on in the front office?

These were all the questions that flashed through my brain, for about half a second before I remembered that I'm a true Pats fan, and this was my reaction to the news. Arizona here we come!


Tom Brady's Sperm is Clutch [Deadspin]