1. Bruins

* Other than the Thornton-Cooke fight - Bruins remain true to form - heartless, content, indifferent, overpaid and disinterested
* Chara should have got in Crosby’s face during the ceremonial face off with Orr and Bucyk standing by
* Keep in mind most anticipated regular season game in decades and biggest viewership at home and they coast around all night like Tai Babilonia and Randy Gardner
* In absolute disgrace that in a game that meant so much to Boston - that Pittsburgh OUT-HIT the Bruins 20-19
* Don’t forget Pittsburgh played the night before and had to travel
* With the Bruins down 3-0 and the excuse “win the game” no longer applicable - I saw Stuart, Lucic and Chara skating side by side with Cooke and nothing!
* Early in the first period - Begin was cross-checked into the crossbar and did f-ing nothing about it
* Paille and Begin bring nothing to the game
* For almost a twenty minute period from mid second period to third - the Bruins had ZERO shots on net
* The night worked out perfect for Cooke and Colin Campbell
* I give Chara credit for finally drop the gloves but he was swinging at air the entire fight
* And other than the fight - Chara is a complete non-entity
* Rank of Bruins defenseman: 1. Seidenberg / 2. Stuart / 3. Chara / 4. Wideman

2. Anniversary Celebration of the 1970 Stanley Cup Bruins - a pathetic and typical Bruins cheesy, second rate production

* No video of great moments from the season
* The event was begging for a Bob Wilson type Master of Ceremonies
* Carpet wasn’t long enough so Orr had to stand behind his teammates
* No mention of Esposito, Cashman, Cheevers

3. Tiger Woods according to vegasinsider.com is favored to win the Masters with 9-2 odds. He certainly has a way of rising to the occasion

* Mickelson……..5-1
* Harrington…….12-1
* Stricker………..14-1
* Westwood…….14-1

4. Two prophetic articles in Sports Illustrated before the Olympics:

Destiny’s Child - Its the moment hockey’s Next One was made for: a chance for a gold medal on Canadian ice
The Great Unknown - Say hello to Zach Parise, the best player in the NHL you don’t know. Remember his name, because he may write another golden chapter in the history of US hockey

5. Last game that the city of Boston anticipated with such electric passion was Roger “drug-user” Clemens coming back to Boston from Toronto

* 7/12/97
* Toronto wins 3-1
* 16 K’s / 0 BB / 4 hits
* Ran his record to 14-3

6. Since Olympics

* Joe Thornton…….6 points / 8 games
* Ryan Kesler…….12 points / 10 games
* Sidney Crosby…..9 points / 9 games
* Zach Parise………9 points / 9 games
* Rick Nash………..0 points / 3 games (Bruins rescue him from Columbus)
* Patrick Kane……10 points / 9 games
* Jonathan Towes…8 points / 9 games
* Ryan Miller………14 goals against / 7 games

7. Amazing Stat - In the famous Bartman game in 2003 playoffs at Wrigley, Dusty Baker allowed Mark Prior to give up 5 runs in the 8th inning while throwing 119 pitches before hooking him

8. Old School - On December 1st, 1977, John Wensink challenged the North Stars bench and got no takers. Back when they cared. The Bruins went on from that game to go 47-18-7 and lose in the Stanley Cup to the Canadians - below is the good ole days when the spoked B meant something

When the Bruins had passionClick here

9. Just a Little Bit Outside: In honor of Ron Washington of the Texas Rangers - Tony Montana and Scar Face facts (wikipedia):

* Brian DePalma Director / Oliver Stone writer
* 3 Golden Globes
* At the box-office: $45.4mm domestic / $20.5mm world wide
* “Say hello to my little friend” is #61 on AFI’s greatest movie quotes
* Entertainment Weekly ranked it #8 in cult films
* Was originally rated X for violence and language

10. Randomocity

* Should have brought Neely out to crash Cooke’s head into the Globe sign
* Maple Leafs win again - ugh
* Notre Dame could have used John Shumate - sorry Digger
* Awesome weather - Al Gore was right all along
* Funny thing about all of Dice K’s injuries is that the Red Sox as part of his contract have to pay for him a physical therapist and massage therapist
* Roast lamb under-rated / Salmon over-rated
* Sandra Bullock should get Michael Oher to block Jessie James (oooh you maniac) over the fence

1. Red Sox talk:

* Not the running Red Sox in spring training - 1 stolen base
* Ellsbury 7 K’s in 21 at bats (also has two HR’s)
* Buzz from Florida is that Pedroia is positioned for a big year - hitting .391 (he could put up a .340 season)
* Starters ERA - Lester 5.87 / Buchholz 5.40 / Wakefield 5.19 / Beckett 1.80 / Lackey 0.00
* Bard 7 K’s in 4 innings

2. Celtic talk:

* Glad to see that the Celtics are playing at home on St. Patricks it should be a tradition (ie. Red Sox on Patriots Day)
* Did I see Nate Robinson hanging on a rim picking up a technical foul (Ricky Davis redux)
* Celtics are 42-24 after 66 games / Last year at the same time 49-16 / Year before 51-13
* Perkins double figure rebound games by month: November - 2 / December - 5 / January - 9 / February - 1 / March - 0
* How come Rondo (averaging 36 minutes) doesn’t play 42-44 minutes a game

3. Bruins talk:

* Bad news for the Bruins is that they jump start Toronto last week - they now have won four of their last five
* What is preventing Krejci from being a superstar?
* Bad news for the Bruins - Kessel now has 26 goals in 58 games
* Bad news for the Bruins - their win over Carolina allowed Toronto to crawl within four points of the Hurricanes

4. Patriot talk:

* For whatever its worth - Don Banks of SI has the Patriots taking Sergio Kindle DT from Texas in his mock draft
* Kevin Faulk is 5th in Patriot rushing with 3,505 yards. Curtis Martin is next at 3,799
* Randy Moss has 47 TD’s in 48 games
* Kevin Faulk is 4th in Patriot receptions with 418. Ben Coates is next at 490
* Felger and Mazz on 98.5 were talking Tuesday about the fact that Brady hasn’t been showing up for offseason workouts
* Drew Bledsoe had 138 Patriot interceptions in 124 games
* Amazingly, Bill Belichick is entering his 11th Patriot season

5. Twelve of 122 Rookies of the Year continued on to the Hall of Fame:

1947 - Jackie Robinson
1951 - Willie Mays
1956 - Frank Robinson
1956 - Luis Aparicio
1958 - Orlando Cepeda
1967 - Tom Seaver
1967 - Rod Carew
1968 - Johnny Bench
1972 - Carlton Fisk
1977 - Andre Dawson
1977 - Eddie Murray
1982 - Cal Ripken

6. Most over-rated Yankees

* Thurman Munson
* Reggie Jackson
* Dave Righetti
* Catfish Hunter
* Joe Pepitone
* Tony Kubek
* Horace Clark
* Bobby Murcer
* Robinson Cano
* Alfonso Soriano

7. Amazing Stat - Local Coaching longevity:

Jackie Parker…………37 years
Jerry York……………..15 years
Bill Belichick………….11 years
Steve Nichols…………..9 years
Terry Francona…………7 years
Doc Rivers………………6 years
Claude Julien…………..3 years

8. Old School - On June 1st, 1925, Lou Gehrig played for an ailing Wally Pipp and played the next 2,130 consecutive games - facts:

* Pipp had scouted Gehrig and recommended that the Yankees sign him
* In the previous four years, Pipp hit .312 and knocked in 409 runs
* In 1925, he hit .230 and was traded the next year for $7,500

9. Just a Little Bit Outside - Everything Irish:

* In 1759, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000 year lease in Dublin for a brewery
* Youtube Irish soccer legend “Roy Keane tackles” - he was the Stan Jonathan of soccer
* Best Irish contemporary musicians - Van Morrison, U2, Coors
* Best modern Irish Traditional musicians - Pogues, Saw Doctors, Gaelic Storm
* Best Old School Irish musicians - Chieftains, Wolf Tones,
* Great Irish Writers - Oscar Wilde, WB Yeats, James Joyce
* Irish step dancer Michael Flatley is worth $1,132,597,964

Great St. Patrick’s Day Gift for a loved oneClick here

10. Randomocity

* I’m predicting Tampa Bay Rays - 92 wins
* No Yankee has won 250 games - Whitey Ford - 236
* Tiger is back for the Masters - ironically the number of majors and women to be rumored with the golfer are both stuck at 14 (reportedly)
* TV show Lost last night B+
* Only in Boston - St. Patrick’s Day off for city employees
* Wish I owned a sump-pump store this week
* Got my sights on Lamb Stew, Irish Bread and a slowly poured Guinness

1. Celtics -

* I love Danny Ainge and he deserved Executive of the Year in 2008 BUT you would have to give him an F since the title
* The Globe did a Rasheed stinkin’ stat Sunday (soon after mine) and he followed up with this stretch in the fourth quarter with the Cavs leading 80-72: 11:30 - misses technical foul / 11:18 misses 21 footer / 10:30 misses 8 footer / 9:53 misses 9 footer
* Nate Robinson is shooting 43% at Celtic
* I think Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy were surprised by the lack of fight in the Celtics - here in Boston we’ve known this for a while
* By the way - why was Sheed taking the Technical anyways: Michael Finely is an 81.2% career free throw shooter to Rasheed’s 72.2%

2. College Basketball

* The time and effort committed to pre-bracket predicitions on every sports channel is amazing.
* Haven’t watched more than five hours of college basketball this year so I’m picking Pitt over Villanova (refuse to pick Kentucky)
* When is Tubby Smith (now with Minnesota) gonna get his due
* In the Division II East Regional Bentley College beat Bridgeport 60-50. Free throws in the game were 30 for Bentley / 2 for Bridgeport
* Calapari could be the fifth Kentucky coach to win a NCAA title - Adolph Rupp, Joe B Hall, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith (wikipedia)

3. Not thinking this was a good “trade”:

* Rasheed Wallace - three years $19mm
* James Posey - three years $19.5mm

Did I mention - The President’s Team is availableClick here

4. Keep this in mind Bruins - Record of Red Sox before the Varitek and A Rod fight and after:

Before fight………..53-44 (.546)
After fight………….56-23 (.709)

5. Celtics roster only consists of two players drafted by the team:

2004 - Tony Allen (25th pick)
1998 - Paul Pierce (10th pick)

6. The modern day Stolen Base leaders get around the bases and the league:

1. Ricky Henderson……10 teams (4 times with A’s)
2. Lou Brock………………2 teams
3. Ty Cobb…………………2 teams
4. Tim Raines……………..7 teams
5. Vince Coleman………..6 teams
6. Eddie Collins…………..3 teams
7. Joe Morgan…………….6 teams
8. Willie Wilson…………..3 teams
9. Bert Campaneris………5 teams
10. Kenny Lofton………..11 teams (3 times with Indians)
11. Otis Nixon……………9 teams (2 times with Braves) (by the way ended up with Sugar Ray Leonard’s wife Juanita)

7. Amazing Stat - Boston College has a better NCAA Tournament record (22-19 - .537) than LSU, Temple, Iowa, Texas, Pitt, Notre Dame, Xavier, Depaul

8. Old School - Keep this in mind Bruins - Record of Red Sox before the Jim Lonborg beanball (in retaliation) in June of 1967 at Yankee Stadium and after:

Before fight………….32-31 (.508)
After fight…………….60-39 (.606)

9. Just a Little Bit Outside - From the book Invictus - great passage of leadership in the World Cup rugby semi-final. With France holding the ball on the five yard line and time almost up, South African Kobus Wiese said to his front row, “Listen, in this scrum, you are not coming back. You can to forward, you can go up, you can go down or you can go under. But you’re not coming back.” South Africa held

10. Randomocity

* Ovechkin got his third game misconduct of the season Sunday
* Chip Kelly of Oregon already known as one of the top coaches in College Football can add another adjective to his resume - substance. This weekend he suspended his Heisman candidate quarterback Jeremiah Masoli for the season
* Mickey Mantle’s last home run was off Jim Lonborg (mickey-mantle.com)
* Great picture in the Sunday Globe Sports page of BC Eagle Joe Whitney and U Mass James Marcou flying through the air
* Crazy that there are Ryan Howard for Albert Pujols rumors circulating
* I hope Dice K likes the water skiing show at Cypress Gardens because he will be spending an extended period in Florida….again
* Just imagine if that was snow this weekend

* As predicted by many - the Cavs are 11-2 without Shaq on the floor
* All over the country in offices - Human Resource departments must decide if they will ignore that section of the Employee Handbook that says “no gambling”

1. How Wyc Grousbeck didn’t walk into the Celtics locker room Wednesday night and demand that the team and their coach donate their night’s pay to a charity for their disgracful, inconsiderate, disrespectful performance is beyond me. Every ticket holder should get a personal apology from a team who accepted losing and only appeared on the court because they have to play 82 regular season games. Game salary of the players and coach:

Pierce……….$241,411
Allen…………$241,059
Garnett………$200,000
Rasheed…….$ 71,390
Rivers………..$ 67,073
Perkins………$ 51,829
On Sale Now - The President’s TeamClick here
Robinson……$ 48,780
Big Baby……$ 36,585
Rondo……….$ 31,991
T. Allen……..$ 30,487
Daniels……..$ 24,268

2. Local teams screwed by commissioners:

* No suspension for Chamberlain for throwing over Youkilis head / But Beckett suspended for same thing
* Not being allowed to use salary cap relief for Reggie Lewis death
* No Suspension for Cooke of Pittsburgh for hit on Savard
* Just two game suspension for Randy Jones of Flyers for hit on Bergeron

3. Teams that went under or moved over the last four decades:

* Montreal Expos
* Atlanta Flames
* Seattle Supersonics
* LA Raiders
* Oakland Raiders
* Baltimore Colts
* Cleveland Browns
* St. Louis Cardinals
* LA Rams
* San Diego Clippers
* Buffalo Braves
* Washington Senators
* Minnesota North Stars
* Winnapeg Jets
* Cleveland Indians (almost but saved by Wild Thing)

4. Who are (or were) the biggest used car salesmen in college sports:

* John Calapari
* Rick Pitino
* Bobby Huggins
* John Thompson
* Tom Osborne
* Barry Switzer
* Larry Eustachy
* Jim Valvano
* Jim Harrick
* Kelvin Sampson
* Tim Floyd
* Steve Spurrier
* Lane Kiffen

5. Fenway Park where walks become doubles in 2009:

Jason Varitek……..Caught Stealing = 13% (108 SB out of 124 attempts)
Victor Martinez……Caught Stealing = 14% (56 SB out of 65 attempts)
George Kottaras….Caught Stealing = 16% (26 SB out of 31 attempts)

* League average was 28% CS / Seattle as a team threw out 40% of runners

6. For those still interested in the local hockey team - If the season was to end now, the Bruins would be the eight seed playing Washington in the first round.

* Washington 26-3-4 at home
* Two of the Bruins last four games this year are in Washington
* Bruins are 2-7 against Capitals in their last nine games

7. Amazing Stats - I’m a huge fan of Nomar the player but you have to shake your head at why he does these things to himself - how about some Nomar facts:

* From May 30, 2000 to August 6th, 2000, Nomar hit .421 (98-233)
* At age 26 compared statiscially to Ernie Banks by Baseballreference.com
* In his first 47 post season at bats he hit 5 HR’s
* In 1997: 44 doubles / 11 triples / 30 HR (thats Willie Mays stuff)
* In 1997, Nomar went from August 26th to September 26th with no walks
* Average Against pitchers: Gooden .526 / Rogers .511 / Jeff Weaver 6 HR in 34 AB

8. Old School: Championships:

Bruins………….5 Stanley Cups………………………..1924-2009 (5.9%)
Red Sox………6 World Series Championships…….1908-2009 (5.9%)
Celtics…………17 Championships…………………….1947-2009 (27.4%)
Patriots………..3 Super Bowls…………………………1960-2009 (6.1%)

9. Just a Little Bit Outside - Three NBA players arrested for suspicion of drunk driving over the last two weeks:

* Dorrell Wright………Heat (car = Bentley)
* Al Jefferson…………T-Wolves
* Andres Nocioni…….Kings

Over the last year:

* Renaldo Balkman…Denver
* Jayson Willilams….Retired (Mercedes Benz SUV)
* Antoine Walker……Retired (Mercedes)
* Zach Randolph……Memphis
* Jason Richardson..Phoenix (Mercedes)

10. Randomocity

* Harry Sinden must be throwing up in his mouth at home watching this team
* Facebook page for golfers - is Boston Parks and Recreation (great pictures also from around the city including my favorite Boston Public Gardens)
* I didn’t realize Rasheed is signed for THREE years
* Rasheed Wallace did have six steals the other night
* If Simon and Garfunkle are doing a reunion tour - why not Fenway
* Mozoltov David

1. Bruins brought disgrace Sunday to every Bruins fan, former player and person who works hard every day to put food on the table. They owe not only Marc Savard, but all of their fans and residents of Boston an apology. In honor of their disgusting, gutless play and collective lack of intestinal fortitude - the below list represents entities of similar ilk:

* Country that most resembles the team - France
* Boxer whose performance is most reminiscent of the team - Roberto Duran - No Mas
* Team Parent - Epstein’s mother
* Team Song - Surrender by Cheap Trick
* TV Reality show - Biggest Loser
* Wizard of Oz character - The Lion
* Mission Statement - “Cowards do not count in battle; they are there, but not in it.” Euripides

2. Painful careers:

* Larry Bird averaged 46 games played his last four years
* Cam Neely averaged 32 games played his last five years
* Bobby Orr averaged 13 games played his last three years
* Nomar averaged 84 games played his last six years
* Fred Lynn averaged 113 games his last eleven years
* Pervis Ellison averaged 43 games his entire eleven year career

On Sale Now - The President’s TeamClick here

3. With Nathan hurt in Minnesota, how about a blockbuster including Papelbon and Morneau?

4. Never an excuse for a DUI but you can understand Al Jefferson indulging after this much losing:

2005 - Celtics…………45-37
2006 - Celtics…………33-49
2007 - Celtics…………24-58
2008 - T Wolves………22-60
2009 - T Wolves………24-58
2010 - T Wolves………14-50
Total……………………162-312

5. Has the populous ever been this indifferent over College Basketball?

6. They were talking about this subject on 98.5 on Felger and Mazz: great players who didn’t finish with their known team:

PLAYER……………..LAST TEAM
* Joe Montana………Kansas City
* Wayne Gretzky…..LA Kings
* Bobby Orr………….Chicago
* Johnny Unitas…….Chargers
* OJ Simpson……….49ers and then Mean Machine
* Willie Mays………..Mets
* Babe Ruth…………Braves
* Michael Jordan……Wizards
* Jerry Rice………….Seattle
* Brett Favre………..Vikings
* Karl Malone……….Lakers
* Gordie Howe………Whalers

7. Amazing Stat - Larry Bird averaged 30.3 points a game in college without a three point line

8. Old School - Great pitchers who visited the Red Sox:

* Juan Marichal was………5-1
* Tom Seaver was…………5-7
* Ferguson Jenkins was…22-21
* John Smoltz was………..2-5
* Lefty Grove was………..105-62
* Frank Tanana…………….4-10
* Dennis Eckersley……….4-1

9. Just a Little Bit Outside - Best things about the 80’s:

* Alligator (Lacoste) rain coats
* Huey Lewis
* Larry Bird
* White bucks
* Big hair
* Michael Jackson - Off the Wall
* Pac Man
* Tellos
* Kool and the Gang
* Magnum PI
* Back to the Future / Michael J. Fox
* Madonna

10. Randomocity

* Globe reported that Al Skinner of Boston College makes over $2mm a year. Not bad for a guy who hasn’t landed a recruit in years and his team doesn’t even have an out of bound play
* After dominating in the Olympics David Krejci is MINUS 6 since returning to his heartless teammates
* With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner - Best poured Guinness - Brendan Behan’s in JP / West Roxbury Pub
* Oh, oh losing an hours sleep this weekend - big car accident day on Monday
* Turn to the Inside Track to see Michael Ryder and Matt Cooke are now going steady
* Sarah Brightman best female singer
* The Bruins should have chartered the Fung Wah bus and sent the entire roster to Providence and brought up some players who appreciate their great fortune to be blessed with God given talent
* Any love for calling Hurt Locker?
* Best swings by actors: Tom Selleck, Robert Redford and Kevin Costner
* By the way equal in their cowardice were the Bruins beat writers who didn’t challenge Bruins in the locker room right after the game
* I like the idea of Josh Reed as the slot receiver - Tom Brady will bring out the best in him
* The Bruins are the type of friends that wouldn’t have your back in high school during a house party fight