Matt's NBA Basketball friend's fan blogs

Auction Beginning June 25th Invites Fans to Bid on Celeb Golf Tournament & Celtics VIP Package
Celtics’ Coach Doc Rivers Partners with Ultimate Escapes, Tees Up For Charity

(Orlando, FL)—June 25, 2009 – NBA Celtics Coach Doc Rivers is partnering with leading destination club Ultimate Escapes to raise money for Shepherd’s Hope, a non-profit organization of volunteers that provides access to health care for the uninsured. Through Ultimate Escapes signature ‘Ultimate GivingSM’ program, individuals will have the chance to bid, via a series of eBay auctions, on six extraordinary packages including a VIP Golf Experience with the world champion coach in Orlando and a VIP Celtics package during the 09/10 season. 

The first auction, June 25 – July 4, 2009, includes three offerings that grant the winners access to the exclusive collection of luxury homes usually reserved for members of the club: a VIP Golf Experience with Doc Rivers in Orlando, a five-night stay in a London home, and a five-night stay in a private residence in Turks & Caicos. As part of the Ultimate Giving initiative, all proceeds from the auction will be donated to the charity of Doc Rivers’ choice, Shepherd’s Hope. The auctions and details about each offering are available at www.UltimateGiving.com. Ultimate Giving has already raised more than $350,000 for non-profits, with a multi-year goal of collecting over $1 million for deserving causes.

Continue reading "Auction underway gives Celtics Fans the "Ultimate" chance to meet Doc Rivers"

I have one Question for Jhonny Peralta of the Cleveland Indians.. Why do you bother bringing a bat with you when you walk to the plate?  you never swing man.. i've seen you strike out LOOKING with bases loaded a few times already this year and with runners in scoring position alot... If i was Eric Wedge i'd send you to the plate with no bat since it seems all you want to do is draw a walk..

Continue reading "Baseball blog! Jhonny Peralta???"

This is easiest Question for MVP in awhile. My only confusion is why is WADE so Strongly mentioned?  Wade is a great player and had an amazing season but if you look back to recent history when KOBE put up 35.1 points per game which hasnt been done in 18 years at that time he was 4th in mvp voting due to his team only being 42-40. no mvp has ever won with out his team winning 50 games or more... and lets also remember Kobe didnt have a great team around him either.. He had KWAME BROWN as his starting center and Smush Parker as his back court ally... Wade is 43-39 this year with numbers lower then kobe's offensively from his 35.1 season.. Wade was great all year but he shouldnt even be mentioned in the top 5 due to recent history of how the mvp has gone.. this year Lebron is clear cut

Continue reading "MVP Chatter!! Lebron Kobe Wade?"

Y'all better sit down, I have some serious news...  I've decided to head out on my own and start a new Celtics blog, which I am calling the C of Green.  I'll be bringing the same hard hitting analysis about the Boston Celtics as I have here, so if you've enjoyed reading my thoughts and musings about professional basketball, please follow me over to http://CofGreen.blogspot.com .  

I hope that most of you will continue to read my blog on the other side, I probably don't say it often enough but I am truly grateful for everyone who reads faithfully, occaisonally or hardly at all.  So in the words of the immortal Douglas Adams, so long and thanks for all the fish! 

Continue reading "Weigh the Anchors and Set Sail!"

I'd like to take a break from all of this basketball nonsense for a moment and address an issue that has been eating at me since this past fall and desperately needs a resolution in the near future.  As many of you out there know, Spring Training is less than a month away, and for the first time in more than a decade, it seems as though the Boston Red Sox may be facing a new season without their captain, Jason Varitek.  This is just wrong, and although he'll be 37 in April and his offensive production has dipped dramatically in recent years, the Red Sox still need number 33 behind the plate come April.  Anything else would be a travesty, plain and simple.

Why do the Sox need Varitek?  Despite his offensive numbers, Vartek is still valuable to the Red Sox because of the leadership in the clubhouse and on the field that he brings to the table.  If there's a harder working catcher who has a greater impact on his pitching staff in terms of maximizing potential out there, I'll eat my shorts and write a gushing 1,500 word column about how Derek Jeter is the greatest shortstop to ever play the game.  But don't bother looking anywhere else, because that guy doesn't exist, at least not in today's game (you know it's true, otherwise I wouldn't have made such a ridiculous offer, right?).

Continue reading "Rightful Place"

Anyone catch that Spurs Lakers game from last night?  It was a fantastic, wonderful game from tip-off to final buzzer.  It came down to the last possession, and there was a certain exchange that I found to be quite delightful that may just come in handy sometime later this year...  

         After hitting a three with less than 15 seconds to go, Kobe Bryant (who at this point was so hot that I'm surprised he didn't melt through the floor) nailed a contested three-pointer to give the Lakers a 111-109 lead, and a timeout was called.  In celebration, Kobe struts down the floor and sets an NBA record for consecutive chest bumps in a regular season game.  Kobe celebrated so exuberantly; you’d have thought he’d won the Spanish National Lottery or something.  Honestly, if I didn’t know better, I’d have thought for sure the game clock read all zeros. 

Continue reading "A Quick Aside... (NOT!)"

The Celtics finally lost, and although many in the sports world would have you believe that the sky is falling, I for one am not entirely convinced.  Give credit to Kobe and the Lakers, they played hard on Christmas day and earned their win.  They were physical with the Celtics and very aggressive on both ends of the floor, forcing Boston turnovers and making big shots when it counted, but I'm not worried, and I don't believe that the Lakers have redeemed themselves at all for the turd egg they laid in last season's Finals.  Since when does winning one regular season game at home count as a statement game?  How does one victory on National TV even come close to making up for a humiliating 39 point ego-ectomy (to use the basketbawful terminology) of a defeat in basketball's biggest game of the year or the three embarassing losses that preceeded it?

Continue reading "Are They Who We Thought They Were?"

Sorry for the gap in between posts, but I feared blowback after the way the Celtics thumped the Blazers on national TV and I didn't want to hurt any feelings (too much...).  Needless to say, people in Blazer land were super pissed off, and honestly, I can't blame them.  But it was only one loss, and more than anything, it showed the Blazers (and their fans) where they need to be at season's end if they truly want to compete.

In other news, I am officially home for the holidays sans laptop (which is no longer soaked in whiskey and is working again, woo hoo!), so my posts for the next week or two may be spotty and somewhat behind on the breaking news, but I'll do my best.  The good news, however, is that while I'm home I get to watch every single Celtics game, so I won't be lacking in material to cover.

Continue reading "Jet-Lagged"

First, check out this, it's super hilarious and well written.  Now, on to the good stuff... 

We're less than four hours away from the Blazers and Celtics tipping off in Boston (catch it on ESPN if you don't want to listen to Mike Rice gush over Channing Frye and you love Van Gundy/Jackson as much as I do), so I figured I'd provide a few nuggets of wisdom about what might be the keys to the game for both sides.  Now before you all collectively groan in disgust, let me reassure you that what follows may actually prove insightful, unlike most other "key to tonight's match-up" pieces that simply say score, defend and rebound better than your opponent.  There are a few things that I'm looking for as indicators of successful play by both sides which go much deeper than the usual mundane crap, so bear with me.

Continue reading "Celtics v. Blazers Preview Extravaganza"

(cue the Biggie...)  I'm going out of town for the long holiday weekend, so all of you out there (if there are any of you) are going to have to survive for a few days without my wonderful and insightful analysis about all things basketball for a few days.  (I'll pause for a moment to let you scream in anguish and control your sobbing...)  But fear not, I will be back with even more opinions and prognostications about the realm of professional sports on Tuesday, and by then I should have plenty to write about.

Also, I'm going to try and score some seats to the Blazers/Heat game going down tonight in Portland, which would be my first live NBA game of this young season.  I've never seen D-Wade or Oden (obviously) in person, so it will definitely be interesting to see those guys in action.  It may sound silly, but I firmly believe that television cameras distort the size and quickness of these guys.  You don't really get a feel for the speed of the game unless you're actually there to see it live.  It sounds odd, but I can tell you from personal experience that it's true.

Continue reading "Thanksgiving Send Off Spectacular"