Pretty wild weekend here in Boston

The Orioles put up seven runs in the first inning against the Red Sox at Fenway on Friday, but the Sox clawed their way back into the game and won 10-8. They beat the O's again Saturday night 6-4, and are playing them again Sunday afternoon and Monday morning. A slow start has the Sox in the cellar, but the bats seem to finally be waking up...and yes, there's a game happening Monday morning. I'll explain in a bit.

The Celtics played Game 1 of the NBA playoffs on Saturday afternoon against the Bulls. No Garnett, a flat first-half effort from Boston, an ice-cold Ray Allen and a played-out-of-his-brains performance by the Bull's rookie Rose...plus one missed free throw from Pierce that would have won it in regulation...all led to an overtime Celtics defeat. Nobody really thinks the Celtics have a chance to repeat as champions - hell, nobody thinks Boston will even make it to the Finals - but we're into our second year of having important, top-tier basketball taking place for the first time since the Reagan era...and who knows...maybe...Game 2 on Monday, we'll see

P.S. It's a long weekend here in Boston. Monday is Patriots Day, a local holiday, and the day of the Boston Marathon. The Sox play at 11am, and the race runs right by Fenway. It is an amazing spectacle, this race, judged the hardest on Earth. The weather is always unpredictable, and half the course is uphill. The course is so challenging, in fact, that Olympic-caliber marathoners - the ones who run to break world records - successfully lobbied to keep victories or record-breaking run-times in this race off the official books. If you win the Boston Marathon in world-record-beaking time, it won't count anywhere but Boston...because the course is deemed too difficult.

Oh, and the Bruins are the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and in their first two playoff games have beaten the ever-lovin' poo out of Montreal, their ancient, hated rivals, by a combined score of 9-3. Saturday night was game 2, a 5-1 clinic on power play scoring and crushing defense. Boston hasn't seen relevant hockey since, again, Reagan's time. It's a hockey town again, for real. Game 3 is Monday in Montreal, and it should be insane.

So, yeah...Four Sox games, two Celtics playoff games, two Bruins playoff games, and a marathon so gruelling that it's off the official books.

Fun stuff :)

...they'll rue the day they took Marbury.

At least the Sox appear to have righted themselves.

That's like the Marlins calling themselves great because they swept the Nats...I'll be interested to see what happens when you play the Yankees

(Unless stuck in Kenmore Sq traffic.)

And with the B's and C's playing as well..it's sweet.

no WS without Manny, no NBA title repeat without Garnett, the Bruins have an outside chance at the Stanley Cup.. but that's about it. You better hope Brady doesn't get injured again this year.

For real fans.

when Boston fans have had a SB, WS and NBA title all within the last 5 years. I don't begrudge you that...just pointing out a fact.

It took a lot of loyalty.

I couldn't care less about football and it's okay if the Bruins and Celtics do well but it's not baseball. :)

...just your opinion.

The absence of Manny is only one of several problems facing the '09 Sox; Matsuzaka left his arm on the WBC mound, the Rays totally have our number, Ortiz is on the decline and not as formidable without his aforementioned former battery mate, and sooner or later, the Yankees will remember how to play. I said it before the season started; we're a third place team.

And, of course, Garnett's absence is almost certainly a lethal blow to the Celtics chances in the playoffs, coming in tandem with Ray Allen's annual bout of can't-hit-water-from-the-pier-itis. The Bulls ran us out of the room yesterday, and if we do manage to win the series in the end, we get Cleveland and LeBron and, probably, crushed.

And, of course, Brady's knee is a big question-mark, so much so that I've entertained the berzerk idea that Belichick should package a bunch of those 11 draft picks in a trade with Detroit that gets us the #1 pick, so we can grab Mark Sanchez and...yeah, nonsense. Brady will be what his knee lets him be, but I wouldn't sleep on us this year.

But you kinda missed the point. I wasn't talking about winning any titles in my OP. I was talking, simply, about a pretty spectacular weekend of sports in my town. Four home baseball games, two home playoff hockey games, a home playoff basketball game, and a city-wide festival for the marathon.

I went to see and celebrate in championship parades here in Boston in 2001, 2003, 2004 x2, 2007 and 2008. If my teams never win again, I will be fine as paint.

It's just a good sports weekend. All I was sayin'. :)

P.S. I wouldn't sleep on the Bruins, either. Detroit and San Jose are monsters, Pittsburgh looks pretty damned stout, the Rangers are completely freaking me out, but...yeah...ya nevah know. ;)

They finished one point behind the Sharks for the best record in the NHL. If they only have an outside chance, what chance do the Sharks have? And if these two great teams have an "outside chance", why are the lesser teams even playing? What chance can they possibly have?

Another sports forum example of someone so desperate to get a dig in that they say something that just makes them look idiotic.

It's the Habs.

They beat us in 7 games last time.

The time before that we were up 3 games to 1.

...and they beat us in 7 games.

It's an outside chance until it happens.

Knock wood.

:praying:

I just found it funny that Upton considers the 2nd best team in the league as having only an "outside chance". If true, what does that say about the other team's chances? They should just all quit and get their tee times lined up. :)

they have a history of failure in the playoffs and a cup drought going on 37 years...

Because the Boston Marathon is too hard, WR's don't count? How does that make any sense?:grr:

Oh yeah, Ray Allen can retire right fucking now. A shooting guard who can't throw a ball in the ocean from the pier come playoff time. Might as well play four on five...

And the Pats have a creampuff schedule this year, and I'm OK with that!