Monday, March 16, 2009

Pats and Celtics

I was going to make this an all March Madness blog, but a couple things happened. First, upon further analysis of the bracket, I am at a total loss about who I am going to pick to get to the Final 4 and win it all. As a UNC fan, I know I will ultimately pick them to cut down the nets in Detroit, but I am nervous to say the least about their region. The South region is in my opinion the toughest in the tournament. You have the nation's best player in Blake Griffin, playing for the #2 seeded Sooners. In addition, you have arguably the nations two hottest teams in Gonzaga and Syracuse. Plus, you have the ever dangerous Clemson and the talented LSU. In saying this, if Lawson is healthy I don't think there is any team that can keep up with UNC. I actually ended up filling out a bracket, then tossing it angrily into my desk drawer as I realized I have no chance of winning. That's the problem with having your team be a potential winner of the tournament. Your judgement is clouded not only about who is going to win it all, but matchups all around. For example, I will probably pick Oklahoma to lose early just because I don't want UNC to play them, rather than picking who i actually think will win. But, the fact is I could never live with myself if I didn't pick UNC and they won it all, so case closed.

On to the Patriots. Today as I was mindlessly staring at my computer screen, I received a text message from a friend simply stating "F* yeah, patriots are getting Julius peppers! A UNC baller on the pats!" Really couldn't have said it better myself. I didn't want to edit out the F word but figured Mom might not like it. Anyway, ofcourse I immediately stopped what I was doing at work to go to Boston Globe.com and see the news. Here is the article for anyone who hasn't read it: http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/reiss_pieces/2009/03/report_patriots_3.html%20ItIt's funny when I put links to articles out because I'm probably just sending them to myself. I think this potential deal, cause that is all it is right now, a potential deal, would be awesome for the Pats. For all the doubters who screamed about the Cassel trade, here proves Belichick is still a genius. By the way, check out my first blog where I comment on the trade being pretty even because it would open up cap space for Peppers. Besides being my favorite player on UNC's 98 final four team, well besides Shammond Williams, Peppers would be a great addition to the Pats defense. He is incredibly athletic and has a knack for getting to the quarterback and making big plays. Can you imagine him and Seymour coming at you? I think it will be a fairly easy transition to linebacker for him, though his pass coverage needs work. All in all I think anyone would agree, you take Peppers for Cassel any day of the week. Again, this trade is pure speculation right now, but if it happens watch out for the Patriots next year. A UNC guy on the Patriots, all he needs to do is try out for the Celtics and he replaces Larry Bird as my favorite athlete(just kidding.) I forgot to mention the pick ups of Shawn Springs and Leigh Bodden. I witnessed first hand Shawn Spring on the Redskins. When healthy the guy was the best corner they had. The key for Spring has always been that health issue, but if he can play in 14 out of the 16 games it was well worth the signing. I don't know as much about Leigh Bodden as he was in purgatory(Detroit) all last season but I have heard only good things. More analysis on the Patriots later.

Unfortunately I don't have as positive an outlook on my favorite sports team, the Celtics. Clearly injuries have affected this team. and their chance at the number 1 spot in the East has all but vanished. Now they just have to hope they can hold off Orlando for that #2 spot. Marbury has had no affect on the team, maybe even a negative affect. He has been a team player but simply not a good player. He can't hit open shots and turns the ball over too much. I do like the way Leon Powe and Bill Walker have stepped in and played in the absence of Garnett. I really hope they keep Walker in the rotation instead of putting in Tony "Heart Attack" Allen. That guy is just terrible and literally makes me hold my breath everytime he has the ball. I think ultimately the Celtics will be okay with a healthy Garnett and Big Baby Davis, but it is going to be tough to beat Cleveland without homecourt.

I packed a lot of stuff into this blog. Hope I didn't bore you too much. Now time to watch some TV and chill in the recliner. Thanks for reading!

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