Greetings Sports Nigthers,
Last weekend I vowed to do nothing, and I succeeded thoroughly. Nothing like recharging the batteries by participating in nothing involving any vigorous cognitive activity. This weekend will provide another opportunity for people to do just that as the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 in college basketball kick off on Thursday and run through Sunday. The NCAA hockey regionals also begin this weekend and I’ll be at the Manchester Regional at Verizon Wireless Arena, covering the UNH Wildcats. (Head Coach Dick Umile joins Sports Night tonight at 6PM ET) Baseball is right around the corner, literally, and of course, the most important sporting event in April, the NFL draft, will soon be getting more coverage, trust me. It is crunch time for Mel Kiper Jr. and Todd McShay.
The goal of the blog this week is to talk about all of your teams and why they suck or are going to suck because let’s be honest, sports is just more fun when you’re negative. Speaking of people who don’t suck, Elena Delle Donne is really good. Had Della Donne stayed at UConn, there is no doubt in my mind they’d still be on their winning streak.
What’s Tom Brady up to?
In all of the drama and aftermath (which means more drama) in the Wes Welker situation, no one really heard from Patriots’ QB Tom Brady. Sure, there were reports that people close to Brady were upset, but nothing from the horse’s mouth. In the Welker fiasco, the only opinion that really matters is Brady’s. Brady is the best player on the team, he restructured his deal supposedly for Welker, and he is the guy who is most affected by the move. But have you heard or seen anything out of his mouth? No. That can’t be a good sign right? I’m not sure. I got sick of the drama and back and forth between the Patriots and Welker’s representatives. But lost in it all of this was how Brady actually felt. Regardless, he’ll get over it and make a star of someone else. Think he can’t do it without Welker? Just ask David Givens, Deion Branch, David Patten, Troy Brown, Benjamin Watson and every other player who fell off the face of the earth after leaving comfort of Brady’s assistance.
Will the Real Jeff Green Please Stand Up!
Jeff Green has been, as an NBA player, the consummate underachiever. Not this year. After having heart surgery last year and pretty much having his life saved (and contract voided), he’s responded with a solid season. In his last five games, as of this writing, he’s averaging just a tick under twenty points per game. What I wonder is if Jeff Green will step up into the superstar we know he can be. Not everyone can drop 40 against Miami and do it in the overall dominant fashion he did. I likened it on twitter to the video game NBA JAM: Tournament Edition, in which players could literally catch on fire and be engulfed by flames and not miss a shot. With the plethora of injuries that the Celtics had endured this year, Jeff Green is breaking out. Can he be a guy they can build around long term? That remains to be seen.
What is the Bruins Problem?
The Bruins have struggled down the stretch, and that is shocking simply because this is supposed to be one of the most dominant teams in the Eastern Conference. Before the season, you would have said most their problems would have been because of goalkeeper Tuukka Rask. In fact, Rask has been as steady as they come in the NHL. The Bruins problem, in my opinion, revolves around Milan Lucic. This team is deep because of their role players, like David Krejci and Rich Peverly, and they need them to produce, but Lucic is supposed to be one of the stars. While Brad Marchand is probably the team’s best offensive asset, Lucic is supposed to be the heart and soul of the front line. If he doesn’t score, it’s pretty hard for him to make that claim. Get better play out of Lucic and the role players (Yes, you Gregory Campbell) and they’ll be one of the best teams in the NHL.
Yankees-Red Sox to Renew Rivalry on Opening Day, who Cares?
Certainly not me. Both teams are going to struggle in 2013 and I think the attendance and television ratings will show that. It’s going to be a tough year for the major networks (Yankees, Red Sox and Cubs all expected to struggle) and surely ESPN/TBS/MLB isn’t looking forward to the best team in the AL East being the Tampa Bay Rays. Neither team has any of the game’s most elite players with the exception of C.C. Sabathia and Robinson Cano. So two of fifty people wearing pinstripes and red stockings are amongst the game’s elite? ESPN executives cringe with the thought of showing Tampa Bay-Oakland on Sunday Night Baseball. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (who didn’t even make the playoffs in 2012) meanwhile have four of the game’s elite (Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Josh Hamilton, Jered Weaver). Professional sports are run by the stars that play the game, and neither team has enough of those.
J-Bone’s Bonehead Moment of the Week:
This was really easy to choose from. That belongs to Ted Johnson, former Patriots linebacker. If you didn’t hear about the incident involving Patriots All-Pro defensive tackle, Vince Wilfork, just look at it . Pretty inexcusable stuff. I’m not going to defend Johnson. If he said it in the privacy of his friends in the living room and someone rats him out, then I think according to guy code, he’s okay. However, to think that you’re going to say it on air and get away with it absolutely boggles my mind. One a side note, after spending some time with Vince yesterday covering his work with Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) in Derry, he is possibly one of the nicest three-hundred plus pound weapons of mass destruction you’ll ever meet. I don’t expect to seek his approval for whomever I chose to marry and he certainly doesn’t need mine or anyone else’s. Bonehead moment for Ted Johnson.
Sports Night Man Crush:
If you follow me on twitter (and if you don’t, you can @jaredstillman), you will know that my current man crush is that of Florida Gulf Coast University Head Coach Andy Enfield. I love Andy Enfield. It’s not because he’s got his vastly underrated Atlantic Sun school into the Sweet 16. It isn’t because he started a company worth over $100 million (his level of involvement fiscally is being debated, regardless, it’s probably more money than I have). My reason for loving Andy Enfield is two-fold. First, he married a super model. While we all know that, what you may not know is that, according to NESN.com, Enfield and his wife’s first date was to a Taco Bell. “Are you kidding me? A Taco Bell for a first date?” you must be asking yourself. Yes, he took his wife to Taco Bell. Marry a super model, that’s cool. Take her to Taco Bell on the first date? You’re the man. Secondly, the level of respect Enfield’s players have for him cannot be overstated. When they are all cheering around you on the court after the game and chanting your name, that’s when you know you’ve earned their respect and admiration. Working for someone you respect and appreciate will provide motivation that can’t even be replicated with high levels of pay. Enfield has proven that he can get everyone to buy into him, whether it be a super model at Taco Bell or lowly recruited Division I athletes.
Things I Hope My Child Never Does:
I am drinking the Marshall Henderson Kool-Aid. For starters, I think he is an absolutely dynamic scorer. Those don’t grow on trees. He put a rather pedestrian Ole Miss Rebels team on his back and came an eyelash away from getting them to the Sweet 16. His antics and off-the-court drama are a little much, but he provides the perfect character to a sport in which the stars are usually based upon sharply dressed sixty year-old men who have been yelling at officials and drawing on boards for decades. Marshall Henderson was a shot in the arm to the interest of a game, a great game (LaSalle-Ole Miss), that absolutely no one would have watched without him. That being said, I hope J-Bone Jr. is smart enough not to do the “Gator Chomp” in the face of the only SEC team still alive.
Would You Rather?
The hypothetical game played in bars since the beginning of existence is “Would you rather”. Usually one subject poses a question to another by placing two extremely unlikely and undesirable situations together and requiring a definitive answer. My question is if you were a college basketball program, would you rather be a team like Wisconsin (first round exit…shocker), who is always competitive yet never elite, or a team like Kentucky which followed up a National Championship with a season that concluded itself following an NIT loss to Robert Morris? I will take the latter. In pro sports, teams make trades to mortgage their franchise’s futures for short-term gains (Doyle Alexander for John Smoltz anybody?) all the time. The benefits, both financially and from a satisfaction standpoint, that come from winning a title far outweigh dealing with being awful the next year. Give me the Wildcats situation, as painful as that is to say.
Anyway that’s all for now. Be sure to check out the show next week. Tweet in your mailbag questions and to win some prizes! Oh and New Hampsire Sports Night would like to wish Jeanne Lester a very happy birthday.
Til then,
Jared
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New Hampshire Sports Night with Jared Stillman airs weeknights from 6-7 PM ET on WKXL 103.9/1450 and online at ConcordNewsRadio.com. You can follow Jared @JaredStillman
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Want to join the New Hampshire Sports Night team? Advertising opportunities are available, e-mail Janice Cyr at jcyr@concordnewsradio.com today.
