December 27, 2009
The Patriot Fact - Crisis of Confidence

Did you hear that Bill Belichick went for it on 4th and 2 against the Colts during Week 10? No, you say? Then you really should call the Guinness Book of World Records; you’re living underneath the world’s largest rock. It doesn’t matter if you’re watching coverage of the Rams-Cardinals game six weeks later, sportscasters will bring it up somehow. It’s the most controversial decision of the year, and unless the Patriots beat the Colts in the playoffs, it could be remembered for long after this season.

The biggest conversation point that has come out of that is about Belichick’s lack of faith in his defense. But as of right now, my faith in the defense is waning as well. They’re ranked 20th in the NFL. The Saints not only made them look bad, but they made the D look stupid as well, as Drew Brees tricked them into blowing simple coverages. Tully Banta-Cain has been hyped as the main pass-rusher, and let’s be honest here, that’s not good news, because that means TULLY BANTA-CAIN is our main pass-rusher. The Pats are tied for 19th in the league with 28 sacks. But 10 of those sacks have come against the Buffalo Bills, including 5 of Banta-Cain’s 8.5. Since they're getting practically no pressure, the defense is falling flat.

After Week 13, in which the Patriots lost to the Dolphins and the Giants beat the Cowboys, ESPN had a poll asking whether New England or Dallas was in more trouble to get to the playoffs. Only two states in the nation picked the Patriots as being in deeper trouble than the Cowboys: Massachusetts and Hawaii. And we all remember from grade school that Hawaii doesn’t count for anything. So essentially the entire country believed that the Cowboys were in for it, and the one state that is supposed have faith in the Patriots has suddenly become “glass half-empty” as this season has progressed. Even though we were leading the AFC East when the poll was taken, and have since won the division.

And to be honest, the Patriots defense has done little to give us faith. They haven’t had a “defining play.” They’ve been burned by big play after big play. You can’t help but wonder what effect Richard Seymour’s departure had on this young unit. Thankfully, it is a young unit, and has a lot of chance to grow in the future. The defense could be great again with more experience for Jerod Mayo, Brandon Merriweather, and Vince Wilfork, if he’s re-signed.

There are a handful of spots for this team to have some real confidence. Wes Welker leads the league in receptions. The way he’s played the last couple seasons, that sounds like no surprise to Patriots fans. But don’t forget that he was out injured the first two weeks of the season, so he’s outperformed every receiver in the league that had a two game head start on him. And he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

Sebastian Vollmer ended up being a monster at offensive tackle in his rookie season. He came in for an injured Matt Light and manhandled top defensive ends like Kyle Vanden Bosch and Dwight Freeney. He’s now moved over to right tackle, and our offensive line might be even stronger than it was in the perfect season. It’s something easily overlooked, but an improvement like that could mean more time for Brady to throw in the playoffs.

Randy Moss “bouncing back” was encouraging. He never bounced back in Minnesota. He never bounced in the first place for Oakland. Is it being blown completely out of proportion? Yes, it absolutely is. He had one bad game against Carolina, where the losing team was questioning his effort. In the weeks prior to that, he’d caught a 58 yard touchdown pass against the Dolphins, came down with 5 catches and a score against the red-hot Darelle Revis, and had 179 yards receiving with two trips to the end zone against the Colts. The only time in there he’d really done nothing was against the Saints, but none of the Patriots showed up that day anyways. Perhaps the thing to be happy with isn’t that Randy “bounced back,” but just can still play at the top of his game, and didn’t let Carolina’s head games get to him.

Beyond just issues with confidence from the people surrounding them, this is undoubtedly a team with an identity crisis. At the start of the decade, this was the defense that won championships. In 2007, the Tom Brady led one of the most unbelievable offenses in history. Last season was supposed to be the quirky year with Cassel leading the offense, yet this season has really been one lacking definition. We’re not a premiere defense anymore. The passing offense is good, but not perfect enough to rest the game solely on Brady’s sore shoulders. Every time the rushing game starts to make strides, either someone gets injured, or Maroney fumbles the ball on the goal line. Mostly the latter.

The Patriots are going to the playoffs, and they still have Bill Belichick and Tom Brady. There was once a day that meant they were the favorites for it all. But now people are questioning Belichick’s decisions for the first time, and a once-infallible Brady has come down to earth in many people’s eyes. The Patriots CAN win the Super Bowl. I just can’t tell you exactly how they would do it. And I don’t think they could tell you either.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

October 25, 2009
Playing Catch-Up

It’s funny how being in a foreign country for two Sundays, and at Gillette for another two Sundays results in you not watching much football on TV since week one. I don’t think the woman at the front desk of my hotel in Peru was terribly amused when asked if we could pay extra for them to somehow order the Patriots-Jets game. So I went to the pool and took in the sun instead. I was probably the only smiling Patriots fan that day. 

And probably best I wasn’t allowed anywhere near the Atlanta game. Having had season tickets to BC football for the last six seasons, my heart would have been a little torn watching Matty Ice come home to get beat down. I’ll never forget that I got to graduate with that man. I’ll also never forget that the day after we graduated, he signed a $63 million contract while I searched Monster.com for a job with a monster hangover. That sort of thing really puts your life in perspective.

On that note: Never mind. I feel no remorse for beating those losers.

Putting Baltimore to the side for a moment, what is our hump with Denver? Tom Brady is 1-5 against the Broncos, and they are the only franchise he has a losing record to in the regular season.  To compare, Drew Bledsoe also faced Denver 6 times as a Patriot. He had 4 straight losses before winning out his last 2 against the Broncos. But his losses were to all to John Elway. Brady hasn’t faced Elway. He’s been beaten up multiple times by the likes of Brian Griese and Jake Plummer, with Kyle Orton just getting his punches in the other week. Oh, but Tom beat Denver quarterback Danny Kanell. Man we showed…that……guy?

And Tennessee? What can you really say? When Pats tickets went on sale, I bought that game thinking, “That’ll be a close one.” Shows what I know. But, seeing history as Tom shattered the record for most touchdowns in a quarter was very worth it. Even if I still can’t feel my feet from the cold.

Now, I understand wanting to spread football throughout the world. The rest of the world is lacking a major part of modern life. Forget the Christian Children’s Fund and their 7 cents a day, we need to get football to those poor bastards around the world that think soccer is a real sport. (Look, I downloaded the demo for the soccer video game on Xbox Live. I got a penalty for tackling an Italian dude. I deleted it immediately.) But how does the NFL choose to do bring joy and happiness to Europe?

Roger Goodell: “We need to send a premiere team to London, so I say we get the Patriots over there. Now which team on their schedule should travel well?”

Some genius: “Well I think the British really love those pirate movies. But the Raiders players might stay over there to avoid their contracts with Al Davis if we ship them to London, so let’s send Tampa Bay!”

And hence, we spread goodwill by having New England beat the crap out of the Succanneers in Old England. Not quite the way to make people excited about the NFL. Glad to see we went opened the season playing nothing but unbeaten teams, to turn around immediately and play two awful winless teams. But I would safely say Tom looks like he’s warming back up.

Now I set Baltimore aside so I can have extra room to rant. Just to be clear, I have got nothing but respect for the talents Ray Lewis and Ed Reed have. Without those two, that famed Baltimore defense that has dominated for the better part of this last decade would be nothing. I also have to make sure I state my respect for Ray Lewis upfront, because he killed two people and got away with it, and I don’t want to die next. So…you’re the man, Lewis!

But what Ray has to learn is that the NFL refs don’t let you get away with as much as the U.S. justice system. He complained after the game about two roughing-the-passer penalties the Ravens received, implying that the officials screwed over Baltimore and cost them the game. Well Ray, those were just two of the nine accepted penalties on the Ravens, totaling 85 yards over the game. And it’s not exactly unheard of to have a highly-penalized Ravens team. They blew it against Cincinnati thanks to penalties. And I’m sure the Ravens haven’t forgotten that defensive holding called on 4th down that kept the 2007 win streak alive for the Pats.

Do I like the roughing-the-passer calls the league has thrown down this year? Of course not. It nearly cost us the Bills game. The difference between the Patriots and the Ravens? We won in spite of two of those calls with two fantastic drives by Tom Brady, and Mark Clayton dropped an easy catch on 4th down that would have given them 1st and goal. You have to accept that this is how the league is now, be smart about hitting quarterbacks, and suck it up when you make the mistakes.

Just as frustrating in the situation, though, is the lack of a sack by the NFL by not fining any of the Ravens for their comments. If you’re going to change the rules, stick to your guns, fine players who complain that they were bad calls.

But Ray Lewis can keep playing Ravens football, make dumb penalties, and complain about the calls after the game. Meanwhile, the Patriots will enjoy our wins. Your choice, Ray.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

September 17, 2009
The Patriot Fact

KICKOFF
The last time Tom Brady lost a regular season game was December 10th, 2006. That means, as of the night of the game against the Bills, it’s been 2 years, 9 months, and 4 days. A lot of Tuesday Morning Quarterbacks have said that Tom Brady looked “rusty,” “jittery,” “off-balance,” and acting like he's forgotten how to be Tom Brady. From what I saw, if Tom Brady forgot ANYTHING, he forgot how to lose. Since Tom’s last loss:

1.) Michael Vick was accused of, convicted, and served his sentence for dog fighting. 

2.) Brett Favre retired and unretired. Twice.

3.) Tom Brady impregnated two gorgeous women.

4.) And the iPhone debuted, was reinvented, and then re-reinvented.

Monday night wasn’t the perfection of 2007, which is our most recent memory. But that last regular season game he lost was a 21-0 blowout by the Miami Dolphins. And the quarterback that outplayed Tom? Name him. Really, go ahead.

Can’t remember?

Joey Harrington. Admit it, you barely remember Joey Harrington even PLAYED for the Dolphins. So yes, Tom isn’t perfect. Let’s get over it, people. He still won the game, and if you can’t even remember the last quarterback who beat Tom Brady, who will remember two average quarters from a game he won?

The Budweiser 4th Down Rants of the Week
Here’s everything you need to know about this week without wasting much time on any point, officially sponsored by Budweiser. ***

- Jon Gruden’s announcing job on Monday proved he deserved to get fired by the Bucs. “Todd Light” apparently played several series on Monday. THERE IS A LIST OF NAMES RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU. Get the two-time Pro Bowler’s name right.

- Richard Seymour was missed in the run defense as Fred Jackson performed better than a 2nd string running back should. Pass rush got more penetration than a U-Mass sorority during Senior Week, so we could be in good shape. Of course, this could just be proof that the Bills O-Line is as bad as everyone said it would be.

- On that note of pass rush, apparently the “Tom Brady rule” is turning the NFL into a game of Two-Hand-Touch, as we saw with that questionable call on Thomas and absurd call on Wilfork. Let’s strap some skirts on the quarterbacks while we’re at it.

- Pray to God Jerod Mayo is okay in less than 8 weeks. Short of some miracle trade, we may have to grab Derrick Brooks, who is example number two as to why Jon Gruden is an idiot, giving up on a Pro Bowl linebacker.

- Thank you for having a sack, Leodis McKelvin, taking that ball out of the end zone with basically no one to block for you. Classy fans in Buffalo are glad you have more of a sack than J.P. Losman by publishing your address. Apparently for having a sack, Buffalo teenagers returned the favor by spray painting a picture of said sack on his front lawn, along with the score of the game. I'm sure it was a compliment. Also, reason number three to illustrate Jon Gruden is an idiot, as he seemed to think there was no choice but for the Patriots to do an onside kick. Monday nights are going to be painful.

***Note: Not so much "officially sponsored by" Budweiser, as "creative assistance provided by."

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

September 1, 2009
The Patriot Fact

So Long, and Thanks For All the Picks

The retirement of a player like Tedy Bruschi is the most significant emotional loss that most teams experience. On the field, we’ll move on, as Jerod Mayo is ready to bear the load of this defense. But this is entirely different from losing your best player. Tom Brady is our superstar, our headline news, our future Hall of Famer. Bruschi was the guts of this team.  Not the heart, because that’s some Lifetime TV movie BS. Yeah, the guy knew how to love life and always had a smile. But he had his biggest smiles after crushing the hopes and dreams of every fan for the opposing team. That’s not heart, that’s the damned guts of a team.

New England football didn’t know the meaning of the word “good” before he set foot in Foxboro. Most fans know he’s been in 5 of the Patriots’ 6 Super Bowls. When speaking to Patriots fans with more selective memories, they’ll tell you he was in every Patriots Super Bowl that is worth your breath. But what is easy to take for granted is that of the 13 seasons Tedy graced that uniform, 11 were years with winning records. To offer up a contrast, of the 7 seasons prior to his arrival, 6 were losing years. That included a 1 win season and a 2 win season.  Tedy was an integral part to the play of the defense, as well as the mentality of the team over those 13 seasons.

Tedy Bruschi is the consummate Patriot. He was the representative of that mantra “the team comes first.” Why? Because Bruschi was a PLAYER. He didn’t aim to be a superstar with the stats and the ego. His goal, every down, was to make that defense better. And he deserves “Comeback Player of the Decade” for coming back from his 2005 stroke and not only playing, but playing at the top of his game ever since, recording 10 tackles in his first game back.

The fact that Tedy spent his entire career on one team is something truly special in this day and age, and speaks only more to how much he cared about the team. You won’t see him retire one week, only to come back in another uniform next moneth with whatever team will take him. Just to give you an idea of how long those 13 years really have been, here are just SOME of the players who have left us since Tedy became a Patriot:

Drew Bledsoe, Curtis Martin, Troy Brown, Terry Glenn, Ben Coates, Willie McGinest, Ted Johnson, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy, Sam Gash, Tebucky Jones, Damien Woody, Antowain Smith, Roman Phifer, Mike Vrabel, Deion Branch, David Givens, David Patten, Christian Fauria, Daniel Graham, Asante Samuel, Eugene Wilson, Rodney Harrison, Roosevelt Colvin, Corey Dillon, Matt Cassel, Larry Izzo, Heath Evans, Jabar Gaffney, Ellis Hobbs, Donte Stallworth, Lamont Jordan, Junior Seau, Adam Vinatieri.

These are just the notable people who have left in the 13 seasons that Bruschi stuck with the Pats. All were his teammates, and Tedy was the last one standing.

Oh, and Tedy also outlived Bill Parcells and Pete Carroll to boot. Not just their stints, but even their influence. He was the final man left on the roster that had been drafted or signed by Parcells, and the only other player left on the team that played under Pete Carroll is Kevin Faulk.

He participated in 22 playoff games, more than any Patriot. Adam Vinatieri is the only active player in the NFL who has been in more playoff games. He has played more games than any other linebacker in Patriots history. With Bruschi on the field, the Patriots are 144-67. In those 211 games, he recorded 1,134 tackles, 30 ½ sacks, 12 interceptions, 18 forced fumbles, and 6 fumble recoveries. But those are just numbers, and none of us will remember those statistics off the top of our heads by tomorrow.

The Fact is, Tedy Bruschi is one of the reasons I love football. Were it not for memories of his fire and fantastic play, I may not have become so obsessive about the Patriots as a whole.  And you can’t retire memories. Perhaps no Patriot of the last two decades will be as memorable as him, besides just Tom Brady and maybe Troy Brown. Boston fans reward loyalty with loyalty (tough luck Adam Vinatieri and Johnny Damon), and Bruschi will be no exception to this rule, especially since he is one of the few faces we will associate with all three Super bowl victories.

Thank you, Tedy. We will never forget that you truly went out on top. 

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

August 17, 2009
The Patriot Fact

Bill Belichick - HO!

Going into the 2009-2010 season, now's the time to look back at what's happened since the Super Bowl. The Patriots made some key veteran signings, had a few interesting trades, the retirement of Rodney Harrison, and so on. All of these are certainly important and will have major effects on the franchise in the months to come. But there's this one aspect of the offseason, I just can't get it out of my head. It really has been nagging me since the draft, like a toothache, but worse. I'm aware that this was already common knowledge, but this offseason really showed that Al Davis, owner of the Oakland Raiders, is ****ing crazy. And Bill Belichick is on a mission to prove it, not just to everyone else, but also to Al himself.

We'll return to Bill's involvement in this shortly. But first, just as a friendly reminder, Al Davis used the 7th overall pick of the draft to take Darrius Heyward-Bay, wide receiver out of Maryland. To be nice, we'll call this one a "head-scratcher" of a pick, since he skipped two highly regarded picks in Michael Crabtree and Jeremy Maclin, and instead of trading down to get more value from his position, simply took the man with the fastest 40 time with a high pick. He was still projected to go in the second round, maybe low first at best, so we can say, "OK Al, you got your patented crazy move of the year, let's keep this draft moving."

Well after some trading around with picks, the next choice the Raiders made was Mike Mitchell, safety out of Ohio. Now, I'm not saying that guys like Mel Kiper and Todd McShay know more about drafting than some of these General Managers, because they don't. But when ESPN hasn't even gone to the trouble of collecting footage of a player, because Mel and Todd didn't think he was even draftable, either Davis has some amazing scouts, or he's lost it. Typically, I'm a big proponent of franchises not listening to the commentators, but in this rare instance, the Raiders probably would have been better off just taking the next best player on Mel's Big Board (also known as "The Detroit Lions Approach to Drafting.")

Al's always been a little "hands-on" for an owner, and I can understand why he thinks he can be. He's been a true staple in football for almost half a century. But Al, you're 80. You've successfully scared off good coaches like Mike Shanahan and Jon Gruden, plus, I somehow doubt Lane Kiffen was any worse than Tom Cable. You overpaid Javon Walker, an injury prone wide out who walked around Oakland with too much bling on, and got the hell beat out of him, because someone failed to tell Javon that downtown Oakland isn't quite like downtown Green Bay or Denver. Whoops.

What do Al Davis' frequent missteps have to do with Belichick? Bill is on an honest-to-God mission to show Al just how bad a job he is doing. For the last few years, he has just loved picking up Oakland players that Davis had given up on, and trying to prove that they can play well. The Randy Moss trade speaks for itself. But in case it doesn't you've been in a coma for the last two years: Al Davis traded 1st and 7th round picks, as well as linebacker Napoleon Harris to the Vikings for Moss in 2005. Two subpar seasons later, Davis thought he was dumping an over-the-hill receiver off on the Patriots for a 4th round draft pick. Randy scored 23 TD's that following season with New England (more than twice the combined total he had over two seasons with the Raiders) and racked up just under 1,500 yards (he had just 553 the season prior). That's the most obvious example of Bill using a former Raider to make Al look bad.

In 2008, the Raiders released Lamont Jordan, who, again, Davis thought was useless. In New England's committee backfield last season, he averaged 4.5 yards per carry, and got 4 touchdowns on just 80 touches. Not feature-back worthy, but certainly useful. We traded to get receiver Doug Gabriel, and while it didn't work out too well (no help to there being no other capable wide receivers that year), Bill's penchant for Raiders has not diminished. Derrick Burgess and Andrew Walter are the newest additions, and while filling a major need at outside linebacker, Burgess has the potential to really show Davis that he needs to get his act together. Burgess had 35 sacks between 2005-2007, and, despite being on one of the league's worst teams, made the Pro Bowl twice. But Burgess wanted out of the Al Davis system, and the Pats got him on a discount. And should Walter ever be needed, Belichick is surely working on just how to make Davis realize that he and Randy Moss were more than capable of scoring touchdowns when both were wearing black and silver.

Add to this the trade made with the Raiders for straight draft picks, as we grabbed back-to-back picks to take defensive tackle Ron Brace and corner back Darius Butler. With that trade down, the Raiders took the safety Mitchell. Since we had the pick IMMEDIATELY after the Raiders would-be selection, the Patriots showed pretty significant interest in beating the Raiders to their next pick. I wonder if Davis will look back on Mitchell's career of having good 40's but sloppy tackles, and compare that with Brace's seasons of eating people whole, and wonder if he was right to trade down.

We've heard many times that Belichick is a rabid fan of football history, hence why he gave Doug Flutie the chance to make that now-famous (though completely inconsequential) drop-kick. As a student of the game, Belichick is more than aware of the contributions Davis has made to the NFL. And that would explain why he wants to make Davis look bad, so Al hangs it up before embarrassing himself even more.

And yes, he has done a lot for this game, though that's easy to forget lately. Al Davis was the first Raiders coach to have a winning season in 1963, his rookie campaign. Since transitioning to being owner/general manager in 1967, the Raiders have won their division 13 times, won 3 Super Bowls and 1 AFL Championship, as well as made them one of two teams to be in a Super Bowl in 4 different decades. Davis hired the first Latino coach (Tom Flores) in 1979, the second African American coach (Art Shell) in 1989, and made Amy Trask president of the Raiders, the highest position a woman had ever held in the NFL.

Al Davis should be remembered as a major part of this league. But for the better part of this decade, Al Davis has been a joke, impatiently firing coaches, overpaying players, and annoying the hell out of said players and coaches with his constant meddling. Instead of being remembered for his contributions and making the Raiders a team to beat, he's becoming a villain to his own fans by turning the Raiders into a joke. This is how I will remember Davis:

As Mumm-Ra from the Thundercats. A spell-casting villain, able to extend his own lifetime, yet unable to beat a bunch of kitties. That sounds, and looks, like Al Davis to me. Davis is adamant that he will not retire until the Raiders win two more Super Bowls, or he dies. Well Oakland, at least you can look forward to more draft picks like speedy Darrius Heyward-Bay and fatty JaMarcus Russell for the next 50 years. Just pray that Bill Belichick, the man you all despise for the so-called “Snow Job,” can be your Lion-O and convince Al Davis to hang it up before Oakland becomes the second team to go 0-16.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

March 30, 2009
Reflections from a loyal cameraman
Forget the Celtics… This trip was all about BBQ, Beer, and of course, TEQUILA! That’s right folks, production assistant (and occasional show director/former Red Sox roving reporter) Mikey D-Bag here to weigh in on his thoughts from a trip that took us from Boston to Newark to Memphis and then almost Houston because we couldn’t get a flight home (in Dave’s words on Sunday “…Okay guys, if we can’t get a plane out of here Monday we’re all renting a car and driving back to Boston…” which later changed to “…Okay Kurt now if we can’t get a plane out Monday then we’re all getting an apartment and we’re gonna have to find jobs in Memphis because I think I’m gonna be out of a job!” In essence, hanging around Memphis ‘International’ Airport (how can you be international when you only have 3 main carriers?) for six hours on a Sunday is no way to spend one’s free time away from home.

So we get to Logan nice and early Friday morning, hop a connecting flight to Newark NJ, and then suddenly find ourselves hanging around for two hours waiting for the next plane to Memphis. What does Mikey D-Bag do to pass the time? He goes to the Budweiser Ale House at 9:00AM and gets smashed (Kurt: “Are they gonna let you on the plane??”) and then almost starts a fight with a UFC champ by accidentally throwing a bottle across the terminal. Fun times! Once we got into Memphis around 2:30PM, hopped a cab to the hotel (and had the best sports conversation with the driver ever), and wandered on down to Beale St where all the action is, I had more or less sobered up again. Only problem was that I couldn’t touch another glass of brew if I wanted to (which of course led to continuous heckling from hosts H-Town and Kurty Boy. That is of course, until I found Tequila later that night (Kurt: “Hey Dave! We have fun Newark Delia back!”). Somewhere in between, we visited the Rock N’ Soul Museum, learned some really cool stuff about the city which is the home to Blues and Elvis, and found the Celtics on TV just in time to see Garnett return to action (unfortunately, we were at Hooters). Along the way, we partied with a real cool group of people who seemed like regulars and yet oddly enough were from Detroit, and got word from a local that the best BBQ on earth was actually 3 blocks north.

Next day we all got up (amazingly with minimal hangovers), and went to Charlie Vergo’s Rendezvous restaurant, where the secret ingredient is the dry-rub! Mmmmmm! Don’t believe me? Google it and FedEx some home for yourself! You won’t be disappointed. Then we went out and did some shooting for the show (no, not drive-by style) got some great footage of Kurt and Dave down by the Mississippi, in front of the FedEx Forum, down on Beale St (even got myself in a few of the clips!) and then went to the game, where we all managed to get really drunk yet again. Left the game, hit Beale St again, met some kids from the South who also were C’s fans, then stumbled home and managed to spill Kurt’s Big Ass Beer all over him (it didn’t end well). You might say the liquid courage came in the form of Jose, Patron, 1800, or whatever other brand I could get my hands on, as that was an ongoing theme throughout the trip.

Sunday was the longest (and possibly most boring) day of the trip, as it was spent mostly at the airport, but we managed to make the best of it. But after learning that we’d be spending one more day in Tennessee, we landed a room at perhaps the world’s largest Holiday Inn and lived it up one last time before heading home. All in all, I have to say it was a pretty damn f*ckin’ good trip. In the eyes of Tommy Heinsohn, I think we all earned some points by royally boozing it up on the road! Some words of advice if you ever plan on traveling to Memphis: Rendezvous is a must, and so is the gumbo at the Blue Hill Diner, but stay away from B.B. King’s restaurant, talk about an overpriced tourist trap! My only regrets were not getting to see the Sun Records studio, but that just leaves incentive to come back again! Aside from the numerous empty storefronts (Dave: “Hey! That store sells pimp clothes!”), and the dumpy park that served as bumtown for the entire city, Memphis is a real standup place with some authentic Southern hospitality. It’s a place that Gang Green can say they left their mark on!

Memorable Moments from a trip that should’ve been longer:

While at Starbucks…

D-Bag: “Hi, I’d like a small coffee, light with cream and no sugar.”

barista: “Here’s your coffee… the cream is over there.”

Kurt: “Why do you do that every time we’re at Starbucks?”

D-Bag: “because they should add the cream for me!”

Kurt: “You’re an idiot!”

Kurt: “You put your boarding pass through the screener again? You did that at the last airport!”

D-Bag: “Oops. I space out a lot.”

H-Town (yelling): “I’m sorry if I want to see your ding-dong under the covers when we get back to the hotel!!!”

(Entire restaurant stops and stares at all of us)

D-Bag (laughing): “Who the hell takes their girlfriend to Hooters???”

H-Town: “This hot sauce would taste really good with eggs in the morning.”

D-Bag: “That’s it guys, I’m walkin’ out of here with it!”

Kurt (to D-bag): “Delia! Why do you have to piss off every bartender?”

D-Bag: “It’s not my fault that guy’s an a**hole!”

H-Town: “Numbers just aren’t her thing…”

D-Bag (standing in a liquor store)

Homeless person: “What can I get for $13? Are the plastic bottles cheaper than the glass ones?”

Shopkeeper: “Get out of my store!”

Kurt: “Wow. That guy was the nicest person ever, even despite that he hated all our sports teams!”

At the airport...

D-Bag: “Hey, you know what this camera case looks like? A bomb box. People might think we’re carrying a bomb! Ha ha!”

D-Bag (to Kurt): “Well excuse me Mr. Ultra-Liberal!”

Kurt: “How is that in insult??”

D-Bag: “I don’t know. It just is… shut up!”

- Mikey D-Bag

March 23, 2009
Hey guys, Dave, myself and Mikey D- Bag (gang green camera man) just rolled back into town this evening. We spent the weekend in memphis, and while we were there some basketball team from boston happened to be playing. Stay tuned to the site for a special episode and road diaries from all three of us. For now we need some rest.

- Kurt Host

March 10, 2009
Pinheads or Patriots?
Seriously this time, are we Pinheads?

Bill Belichick is the sort of head coach that is so smart, he has you scratching your head all the time, but you’re smiling with the end result. There are times when Patriots fans have wondered if he's making a bad decision. When he committed to Tom Brady in the Super Bowl over a fully recovered Drew Bledsoe, some questioned. When the likes of Lawyer Milloy and Ty Law were allowed to leave because of salary issues, most doubted. The fact that Matt Cassell was even still on the roster after this last preseason was too much for some. But our head-scratching is always put to rest.

Then came the trade of the 34th overall pick in the 2009 draft for Cassell and Mike Vrabel. That’s quite the going-away present for Scott Pioli. Normally, I would trust the Belichick way, knowing we somehow got the better end of the deal, but that new Chiefs GM knows what he’s doing too. A lot of nasty rumors are out there about Belichick keeping promises to Pioli, but let’s get over playground politics and talk some actual football, people.

There are obvious downsides to this deal. The hottest free agent this year went for essentially half of a second round draft choice. We lost a strong leader on our defense, a direct blow to and oft-injured linebacking corps. Perhaps the biggest blow came when reports leaked that we could have had the Bronco’s first round pick, so long as Tampa Bay traded them for Jay Cutler. That’s obviously pretty conditional on the Bucs, but even if something wasn’t worked out, the Patriots could have milked the situation just a little more to see if they could get that first rounder.

What could have been going through Bill’s mind? Football talks a lot about that “clock inside your head” that counts down for a quarterback. That was what was going on for the Patriots brass, only this clock was about the salary cap. As of the day before free agency started, the Patriots had the second least amount of cap room to work with, just $3.2 million. It was estimated that New England would need about $10 million to sign their free agents and Draft picks, and we had some serious holes to fill. Here’s some of the notable contracts that ran up: FB Heath Evans, WR Jabar Gaffney, S Rodney Harrison, LB Junior Seau, P Chris Hanson, RB LaMont Jordan.

When you talk about aspects of the Patriots dynasty that have resulted in success, what comes to mind first? Tom Brady? Bill Belichick? Perhaps defense? The most overlooked aspect, but one of the most valuable parts, is how we manage Robert Kraft’s checkbook year-to-year, and part of that has to do with foresight. Want to know who the free agents will be in 2010? Mike Vrabel, Vince Wilfork, Richard Seymour, Kevin Faulk, Logan Mankins, Stephen Gostkowski and Tedy Bruschi. Wilfork is going to take precedence over the rest, and will come with a big price tag. Seymour, Mankins and Gostkowski are serious keepers, and also hold a high price tag. But next year, would we have gone to the same lengths to keep Vrabel, Bruschi and Faulk as the rest of them? No. Pinning a “C” a player’s uniform doesn’t always mean they’re worth the big bucks…sorry ‘Tek.

With his clock ticking, Belichick knew he needed cap room fast to make room for guys like RB Fred Taylor, WR Greg Lewis, CB Shawn Springs. In case you hadn’t notice, we needed a good running back, a solid third wideout, and THANK YOU LORD WE ACTUALLY WENT AFTER A CORNBERBACK. Not to mention re-signing safety James Sanders and punter Chris Hanson. All of which are official, just a week into free agency, unlike the snails-pace of last year. If we let Cassel sit too long, Pioli could have ended up playing hardball and claim he’d wait until the draft for a franchise quarterback. And Tampa could have chickened out on the deal, leaving us stuck for too long with a toxic asset.

Does this help me sleep at night? No. Not at all. I haven’t slept in days. I toss and turn each night, with nightmares, hearing over and over, “And with the 13th pick of the 2009 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots pick…Cap’N Crunch, University of Iowa.” Or some other terrible out of shape cartoon character. Maybe I have issues. Either way, It still infuriates me, because this is typical boring Belichick. He’s all brains and no fun. First round picks are fun.

I will console you with one rationale, though. Keep in mind that we would have been trading within the AFC. Which team would you rather share a conference with; a Cassel-led Kansas City Chiefs, or a Cassel-led/McDaniels-coached Denver Broncos?

If the Broncos were able to end our playoff run with Jake “The Snake” Plummer, I’d rather we would stick Matt on a team whose best player is their Tight End. Because believe me, that’s never a good sign.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

February 05, 2009
Pinheads or Patriots?
One Great Game

Super Bowl XLIII was best explained not by the commentators, the post-game interviews, or Monday Morning Quarterbacks around the country. Football as a whole was summed up by a great modern mind where we least expected one to emerge. We saw his philosophy when Kurt Warner, stumbling all over himself, somehow tossed up a perfect touchdown pass to Ben Patrick. We saw it when James Harrison stepped in front of a pass before anyone could even see where the ball was going. This principle was well seen when Larry Fitzgerald leapt into the air and pulled down what would be an impossible touchdown catch for just about anyone else, or when everyone knew he was going in the end zone when he caught ball with 63 more yards to run. And Santonio Holmes summed it up when he won the game with what will (hopefully, to Patriots fans) be the best remembered catch in Super Bowl history.

Yes, the ultimate statement explaining football was made last night by the Miller High Life man: All you need is just one second.

That's all it takes to turn a game around, defensively, offensively, or specially. And Super Bowl XLIII was played for every second it was worth. With the lone exception of probably Hines Ward, every player in that game lived up to what was hyped about them. And in the case of Santonio Holmes stepping up, it was the un-hyped factor that caught the game by surprise to win it all. Warner, Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, Edgerrin James, and Darnell Dockett certainly lived up to hype. But the Steeler defense showed up for the game changing 100 yard interception return, as defensive MVP's sometimes can do. This was a game of memorable moments, without a doubt. Easily the best Patriots-Free Super Bowl in over a decade.

We can go through every play that went the Steeler's way to say why they won, and vice versa as to why the Cardinals lost, but football won this year. The Cardinals played a game worth watching when many wrote them off as the joke they so often have been. The Steelers put on a performance that could keep that headset on Mike Tomlin's head for a great long time to come. Hats off to both teams, but moreso, thanks. Thanks for a great game, and especially thanks for getting people to already begin to stop talking about that nightmare last year. It only takes one second to make history, but it takes a great deal of Miller High Life to forget history.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

January 20, 2009
Blog X - Tampa Bound
The Super Bowl XLIII matchup is a bit of a surprise. The Arizona Cardinals are resembling Michael Myers, they just keep getting back up even when they should die. Many counted them out of the playoffs from the start, since, well, they're the Arizona Cardinals. This is a franchise famous for only two things: being featured in "Jerry Maguire," and blowing a 20-point lead in 2006 to the Chicago Bears (who, apparently, were who the Cardinals thought they were.) Yet, many people forget that they were in "Jerry Maguire." That is a true testament to the fame of the Arizona Cardinals.

The Steelers are not so surprising, but they did fly low on the radar under the Titans and the Colts. They have the best defense in the league, and that can apparently win you a game or two. Ben Roethlisberger is an impressive athlete, who I will always remember as being the only person with broad enough shoulders to actually fit a name like "Roethlisberger" on the back of his jersey (Houshmandzadeh does not fit nearly as suavely, no offense T.J.) But the thing that truly makes the Steelers not so surprising is their overall record as a historical franchise. They're currently tied with the 49ers and Cowboys for most Super Bowl wins at 5 apiece. The Cardinals have never even reached an NFC Championship game before this season. But sports have evolved in the last 43 years since the Super Bowl got going, underdogs can now be something to be feared.

We live in a world where Appalachian State beat Michigan, Boise State beat Oklahoma, 14-point underdog New England beat the St. Louis Rams, the Red Sox came back from a 3 game deficit to beat the New York Yankees and go to the World Series, George Mason made the NCAA Final Four over some of the greatest college basketball programs in the country, and Jesse "The Body" Ventura won a contest that did not have a fixed outcome to become a legitimate United States Governor. Things are different. Underdog wins may still be few and far between, but are not a total rarity.

Almost more importantly to mention than underdogs, terrible franchises can win. To date, only 18 of the 32 NFL franchises have Super Bowl Trophies. In the last 11 Super Bowls, 5 teams won their franchises' first Super Bowl : Denver Broncos, St. Louis Rams, Baltimore Ravens, New England Patriots, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6 have won, if you count the Indianapolis Colts, as I'm sure few Indy fans really care that the Baltimore Colts won Super Bowl V, 13 years before coming to their city). The old school favorites are struggling. Of those three teams tied for most Super Bowl victories, only Pittsburgh has a trophy (let alone an APPEARANCE) out of the last dozen Super Bowls. Consider the number of franchises that are considered jokes at the beginning of a season. Then consider the franchises that are perennially considered jokes at the beginning of each season. The Arizona Cardinals are certainly among those. While the Patriots are now considered one of the best teams, we were a joke before 2001. The Buccaneers were the joke of countless seasons.

The Buccaneers are an interesting franchise to bring up in this same breath as the Cardinals. Their lone Super Bowl victory came when Jon Gruden swashbuckled his coaching allegiances from the Raiders to the Buccaneers, and the two teams met in the Super Bowl in his first season as Tampa Bay's head coach. He picked apart Raiders quarterback Rich Ganon, as the Buccaneers pillaged and plundered Oakland for all it was worth, while Al Davis started listing the various ways he could sink his franchise down to Davy Jones' Locker without anyone's help. Simply, they did not stand a chance with Gruden on the other side of the field, as he knew the Oakland offense inside and out, as some members of that Raiders squad have since stated.

The coach of the Cardinals, Ken Whisenhunt, was a pretty successful offensive coordinator for three years before taking his current job. In his first season, he helped lead a rookie quarterback to winning all 13 of the games he started, and being the first AFC team to win 15 games in a season. In his second season as offensive coordinator, he won the Super Bowl. Not too shabby. He was coordinator for some team named the Pittsburgh Steelers. Maybe you've heard somebody mention them recently? Whisenhunt will break out every single old note he has on Roethlisberger, Willie Parker, Hines Ward, and the entire offensive line to win this game.

No win is certain after last year's Super Bowl. People who are acting like the Steelers winning is guaranteed are delusional. I thought I could guarantee the Cardinals wouldn't get through the first, second, and third games of the playoffs. Apparently, I was delusional. Ken Whisenhunt helped mold Big Ben into the quarterback he is today, and he's not so far removed from the system that we can rule out him pulling a Jon Gruden. The one thing that is certain: The Cardinals are NOT who we thought they were. The only uncertainty: Will the Steelers let them off the hook?

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

January 20, 2009
Forgetting the Pros and Going to School
It’s been a while since I’ve attended any sporting event in person, let alone a hockey game. I made a decision that attending a professional sporting event just didn’t’ have the bang for my buck that I was looking for. Outrageous prices combined with seating that is insanely uncomfortable if you are taller than 5’ 6”, or have waist larger than 36 inches have made sports in both arenas and outdoor stadiums something that I have steered clear from in favor of enjoying them from the comfort of my living room.

As for the hockey end of things, I used to be a hockey fan. Then the NHL went on strike, the rules changed, and until the Bruins started playing well again last season, I really stopped paying attention to the sport all together. My distaste for the NHL aside though, I still enjoyed the spirit of the game and had more than one hockey fan told me “you should check out college hockey.” So, this past Saturday night, I took that suggestion and ventured into the Agganis Arena to watch #2 Boston University host #10 Boston College. I figured if college hockey was supposed to be that good, that a game between two of the top ten teams in the country should be a great game to watch, and I’m happy to say that other than the traditional uncomfortable seating, I wasn’t disappointed.

From the players on the ice, who were playing for pride instead of a paycheck, to the fans who all made it abundantly clear which team was hosting the game between teams who call he same city home, it was a totally different atmosphere from a professional game, and in my opinion, it was better. From the time the teams were announced and the band played their rendition of “Shipping Off to Boston” I knew I was going to have fun. Even though the arena had all of the fancy lighting, sound systems, and visual displays we’ve come to know in any modern arena, there was something about having a pep band play-in their team as they came on to the ice. Where the arena staff at a professional game would just pump the same songs through the P/A system during each break in play, instead the crowd was treated to a group of talented young musicians playing a library in excess of fifty songs ranging from the traditional fare such as “Louie-Louie”, to things you wouldn’t picture a band playing like “Living on a Prayer” and “Never Gonna Give You Up”. Each time a song was played the crowd just got more in to the spirit of things, to the point that when an entire section began jumping up and down in unison, you could actually feel the floor shake.

The on-ice performance was just as good as the crowd’s. There were no egos or pay-days on that ice, there were just 2 teams out there to prove they were better than the other. There was great play, hard hits, and some tremendous goaltending, at least in the first period.

BC came out attacking hard in the first minute of the game, and scored a quick goal, but they wouldn’t light the lamp again for nearly 58 minutes. For the rest of the game, BU put on a show for the home crowd, and took nearly three times as many shots throughout the game. It was great to watch their attack and the very impressive goaltending by the BC goalie. I was as far away from the ice surface as I could be in the arena, and while I was far enough way to see plays develop, I was also close enough to see some of the finer points of the game AND I could actually see the puck. Try saying that about the nose-bleeds at the Garden.

Once BU took control of the game they never gave it back no matter how much BC tried to take it. After being shut out in the first period, the Terriers found the net in the second period, and went on a scoring streak that made you wonder what happened to the BC goalie during the first intermission. Speaking of the intermission, it was fun to see two teams of pee-wee hockey players playing their hearts out to what must have been the biggest crowd those little kids had ever seen. BU put on a good show both on and off the ice, and came away with a 5-2 win over the BC Eagles.

College hockey is definitely worth checking out, especially here in Boston where we have some of the best teams in the college hockey world, including three of the top twenty teams in the country. You get all the amenities of the Garden with only about 1/3 of the crowd, you get, at least in my opinion, a better product on the ice, AND, you can get yourself a lot more kool-aid, be it green or any other color, for the money you’d spend at a pro game.

So, while I’m still going to gripe about whoever designs arena seats for the “average” person, I can say that if you’re looking for a fun time at a sporting event, and want great value for your money, college hockey is the way to go here in Boston, and I highly recommend checking it out. You can check the web sites of your favorite schools for their schedules and ticket prices.

- Mike Diluiso Director

January 19, 2009
Beating Adversity
Over the course of the season an overlooked factor is how the back end of a team handles adversity. The headlines and highlights will cover the stars and storylines, and the analysts will look at the superstar match up’s on a nightly basis. While they are hugely important aspects in determining the outcome of a basketball game, the reality is success transcends the five starters and moves on through the bench as a single unit. This true fabric of a team often becomes apparent in that critical stretch between the new-year and the all-star break.

Not too surprisingly the Green hit serious turbulence and many fans were preparing themselves for some kind of total all out collapse. Yet anyone who watches the team night in and night out would probably tell you that a confluence of events led to this tough stretch including schedule, travel, young bench, opponents, and overall fatigue. You combine these factors and you will get a sub-par performance from any professional team in any sport, and this stretch wasn’t from a lack of talent or ability.

Factor 1: The Boston Celtics have played the most games in the NBA.
Factor 2: The Boston Celtics went East to West to East an inordinate amount of times.
Factor 3: The Boston Celtics played a series of strong opponents on the road in this stretch.

Point being, there’s a reason they had a rough time and any NBA team that went through such a schedule would go through a similar phase. Think Cleveland is really infallible? They just lost to Chicago. What about the Lakers? They lost to Orlando in LA.

Point being, the Boston Celtics are still arguably the best team in the NBA and with home court, I still think they are the best in any playoff stretch without question.

Now let’s look at a couple items as we approach the break.

Sam Cassell. We all know he’s not an actual player on this team that suits up on occasion to fill out the bench. Why is he really around? I heard somewhere there are only a couple players on this team that Rajon Rondo listens to: KG and Sam. Assuming that is the primary reason, it’s safe to say that Coach Sam has done a terrific job thus far and needs to keep harping on Rondo. Especially as the season wears on into February and beyond. What might be an overlooked value in his coaching? That would be Gabe Pruitt.

I’m going to say it here, but he can be a starter in the NBA. Pruitt’s quickness, ball handling, and shot are good enough where he has the talent to develop into a starter on a professional team. Right now I am fully confident in him as the backup point guard, and unless you find a veteran off the bench that would add that experience level you’d like for the playoffs, I say stick with Gabe. Much like a fellow writer here I am a fan and am sold that with additional minutes, he can be the perfect compliment.

A funny side note. My last column was titled “Robert Parrish isn’t walking through that door.”

Well, it turns out he was. I was on a business trip to Las Vegas last week at CES and Haier was actively promoting their NBA deal. Who was appearing for them? None other than The Chief!

UP NEXT: Who really are the best teams in the NBA?

- Mike Miner

January 17, 2009
Pinheads or Patriots
Episode 9 - One Round Left

I would make a rather poor psychic. My Super Bowl picks of Indianapolis and Carolina both lost their first games of the postseason. Tho the thousands of you who placed bets based upon my expert analysis, I apologize. But many of these games had bright sides for New England fans.

Eli Manning is going home. Peyton already choked on his fruit salad. Bill Parcells got to buy the groceries this year, but he's not invited to dinner. Yet, Patriots Nation held it breath until Sunday night, as one team we could not stand to win remained. And whose fault is it they were still standing?

Sorry. My bad. Six weeks ago, I made some lame crack in this column about how Philip Rivers had cursed the Patriots, yet had no control over his own team that could finish 8-8 at best. Well, I blew it. I committed the dreaded Inadvertent Reverse-Jinx, as the Chargers then won out the rest of their season. I was pretty terrified they might make it to the championship. But in my favor was the losing streak of high-seeded teams over the last 5 years. How did this hurt the low-seeded Chargers?

Pittsburgh had the 2 seed, which apparently hurts them. But the Chargers already had my Inadvertent Reverse-Jinx. Science class taught us with fun magnets that two positives repel, thus, these two supernatural reasons to win cancelled each other out, dooming the Chargers.

Don't believe me?

Good. Because the truth is, you don't need hocus pocus to explain that game, the Chargers were just a bad team. You know the old saying, "What happens when an unstoppable force meets and immovable object?" In that sentence, the Steelers were both the unstoppable force and the immovable object, while the Chargers were the innocent bystander that gets rolled over without a chance. They were lucky that their first opponent in the playoffs have choked more than any team in the last decade.

As for the other games, the Ravens looked very impressive on the road against the Titans. But possibly lacking Terrell Suggs and Samari Rolle, that dominant defense might let up a few big plays.

The Eagles are making a case, despite an unspectacular performance by Brian

Westbrook. It doesn't hurt that Asante Samuel is one of the most dominant postseason defensive backs in history.

I am still in shock that Arizona developed a defense. If this isn't a 2 week fluke, the Cardinals might reach their first Super Bowl. The curse of the Pottsville Pennsylvanians, one of the last great sports curses, may be shattered.

But I put my faith in Pottsville. It took 86 years to break the curse of one man, the curse by an entire city should last a few hundred, minimum. Morseso, I base my assumption on the smack-down Philly gave to the Giants, I think they can figure out the sudden resurgent Arizona defense.

My new Super Bowl pick is the Steelers vs. the Eagles. Do I care who goes? Nah. There's no particular bad blood left over with the four remaining teams and the Patriots. I'm just looking for a good game now. But based upon my picks, if you're a smart gambler, maybe you should just place your bets on a Baltimore-Arizona Super Bowl.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

January 09, 2009
Pinheads or Patriots - College Special
For Boston, For Boston, We Sink Our Season Down the Drain

Tell a Boston College fan that their athletic program will have a headline on the ESPN web page. Tell them. Really, give it a whirl. Someone that goes to BC games drunk and barely pays attention will probably say, "You're damn right! BC RULES!" Someone who actually enjoys BC athletics and follows actual sports is probably smart enough to say, "Nah. You're full of it...Wait, really? And it's not hockey finals season?"

This is not to diminish the accomplishments of Boston College at all. I love BC athletics. I've had football season tickets for five straight years, and Coach Jerry York once invited me into the locker room to meet the players for my support of the hockey team. But those experiences gave me perspective on how all of the city feels about the major college program in the area. BC has a weak and disloyal fan-base that cares more for the Red Sox, Celtics and Patriots. The week leading up to the Gaylords Hotel Music City Bowl (yeah, I know, I know), WBZ News highlighted the three big stories in Boston sports at the time : the Patriots season ending, the Celtics winning, and that Red Sox spring training was just 43 days away.

Yet this week, I opened the ESPN homepage to find not one, but TWO headlines featuring BC on the main page. Eagles basketball defeated #1 ranked North Carolina, and football head coach Jeff Jagodzinski was coveting thy neighbor's head coaching job. A rather bittersweet combination.

I'm sure most of the nation has heard more than they care to listen about this situation with Coach Jags interviewing for the New York Jets vacancy, resulting in his job being threatened, and then terminated. If you'd like the position of an Eagle's fan, I can give you two. One is that of the aforementioned tailgating drunkard, who will spit on Coach Jags' name and curse the day they ever tried to pronounce his name. (Reasonable fans are, understandably, upset as well.) My position?

Athletic Director Gene DeFilippo needs help. Not just coaching help, but psychological help. He lost a great college coach in Tom O'Brien just two years ago. Coach Jags came in and gave BC football its best season in history with O'Brien's leftovers, got the team ranked #2 in the country for a couple weeks, then made quarterback Matt Ryan into a Heisman candidate and the first quarterback picked in the draft. And Gene gets jealous that Jags is making googly eyes across the street? He's lucky to be able to say that Boston College can get GREAT coaches. New England should be bull that BC gave Giants coach Tom Coughlin his start.

Jagodzinski had his own reputation to look out for. If you never saw the man, imagine a basket-full of puppies riding a rainbow all the way to Disney World. He's happier than that. He undoubtedly was optimistic about his first head coaching job, ready to make BC even better than it already was. And he did. But then he started recruiting.

BC is a great football school. It gets very good athletes, and makes many of them better. But it does not get great athletes to start with. No matter how great a coach may be, names of an institution carry much more weight. Those pearly whites Jeff flashed would never lure a good running back away from USC, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, or just about any other top 20 team.

Quarterback Chris Crane, who was hated at the start of the season by fans, but sorely missed after he went down with a broken collarbone, is graduating. Freshman QB Dominique Davis successfully ended BC's bowl game win streak, which had been the longest in the nation. The Eagles defense was one of the top rated in the country, but the majority of the players were seniors, with Mark Herzlich and B.J. Raji expected to go in the first round of the NFL Draft. Though he had two heralded years, Jags knew the honeymoon was over, and he was going to get crushed with his poor recruiting classes. He was going to lose next season. A lot. His coaching reputation would be sullied, and there was nothing he could do about it. BC's name just couldn't pull in the players he needed.

I'm not happy he's gone. But loyalty means little in today's job market. I've heard a lot of people say "Well, this is how sports are, coaches jump ship all the time," and that's no defense. The fact is, ALL JOBS are like that these days, not just coaching. Dennis and Callahan can rip Jags a new one on WEEI for leaving, but the fact is that if ESPN came looking for a couple new hosts for SportsCenter, I doubt they'd turn down the interview because of their contracts to an AM radio station in Boston. I may have a good relationship with my boss, but if there's a job with more prestige, more money, and my current job will hurt my reputation if I keep it, I'd take a risk too. Coach a college program that's looking like it will go under, or take the shot at an NFL Head Coaching job that actually had a winning record? As an American living in a capitalist world, can you blame Jagodzinski? Hell, it's a win-win for him too, because BC still has to pay him.

DeFilippo should have realized that only a handful of good candidates would jump at this job. BC does not have the financial support to buy out a contract, while still picking up a good coach. I'll call it now that Frank Spaziani, current defensive coordinator will get the job. Because he'll be cheap, loyal, and probably deserved the job in the first place. But if Gene DeFilippo thinks firing the head coach in the middle of recruiting season made him look more like a man, then fit the man for his bigger jock strap. But how do you feel now Gene? How do you feel? Right. Now. Like an idiot? Like an already screwed program just shot itself in the foot? Is a newly appointed, former defensive coordinator, going to be able to convince a high school quarterback that BC can develop him into a star? Jags could say that, touting Matty Ice in his resume, and it didn't hurt he led Brett Favre as an offensive coordinator. But unless you pick a washed-up former success like Denny Green that's completely desperate for a job, nobody will do better. You should have just trusted that he wouldn't get the job, and continue on with the season. But alas, Frank Spaziani should end up with a promotion.

If I could sum up why this was a bad idea by BC, it would be one sentiment: When a recruit can't pronounce a head coach's name, Jeff Jags sounds like a much cooler nickname than Franky Spaz.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

January 09, 2009
Pinheads or Patriots?
Episode 7 - Joker's Wild

Wild card weekend lived up to it's name. If one theme went through the weekend it was one phrase that stuck with me the whole time: "You've gotta be kidding me."

Two wild card teams beat divisional champs. But it was 11-5 Miami and 10-6 Minnesota, the two divisional champs with the best records this weekend, who lost. The high-seeded wild cards lost. Chad Pennington threw 7 interceptions all season, yet Baltimore picked him off 4 times in this weekend (Somewhere, Brett Favre was laughing about that last one.) All the while, I just kept repeating, "You've gotta be kidding me."

8-8 San Diego beat the 12-4 Indianapolis Colts, who had been many people's pick for the Super Bowl. The Chargers won even though Ladainian Tomlinson had only 5 rushes. Even though Peyton Manning outpassed Philip Rivers by almost 100 yards. Even though Indianapolis had no turnovers, but San Diego coughed it up twice. Who was the biggest joke of this whole game?

The Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI, that's who. That awful team somehow allowed Peyton Manning to win a Super Bowl ring. He's 7-8 in the playoffs, which is pretty tough to do, since you can win up to 4 times per postseason, but they only let you lose once. If it weren't for them, Manning would be doing 10 more Mastercard commercials a year just to pay for his psychiatric bills. "Airfare to New England: $647. Cushy massage before your play-off game: $214. A lifetime of ass-whoopings, courtesy of Tom Brady: Priceless."

One person was not joking in that game. Punter Mike Scifres was dead serious, and may have won that game. When that man's golden foot guided the pigskin, the Colts had to start their drives from the 10, 19, 3, 7, and 9 yard lines, in that order. No touchbacks, no easy drives for the Colts to start. Not even an MVP quarterback can be expected to lead drives of more than 80 and 90 yards each try. And if Darren Sproles didn't return punts and kick-offs (which racked up his total yardage ridiculously) Scifres would have been named game MVP. Once again, a punter gets screwed by a returner.

Who's been joking with us? Arizona's defense has. They ranked 16th in run defense all season, allowing 110 yards per game. They held Michael Turner, probably the most dominant back in the league this year, to 42 yards, putting all the pressure on rookie quarterback Matt Ryan. In the middle of the season, did Ken Whisenhunt call a meeting they say "Hey, we've got the play-offs locked up. You know what would be funny? If we pretended to suck." I can see Tim Hightower stand up and say, "Yeah, and I'll pretend to be a good running back so you can bench Edgerrin James, yet I'll never produce! Then he can tear up good defenses that over-prepared for Kurt Warner! It'll be hilarious!" They danced, they sang, and, oh, did the Cardinals laugh.

The Minnesota Vikings were a joke to start. Not even going there.

Looking ahead in the play-offs: Don't expect field position to help the Chargers as much against the Steelers. Both Sproles and Scifres had the games of their lives last week. The thing about those "games of your lives," is you're only allowed one.

Baltimore looked great last weekend. Ed Reed is a playmaker. Kerry Collins is not. Look out for a possible upset.

New York and Philly will be fun, but for once, can Fox elect not to announce for NFC East games? If anyone is a bigger joke than the Bears, it's Joe Buck.

And Panthers vs. Cardinals? Carolina are my NFC favorite for the Super Bowl, but those jokers in Arizona just may have an ace up their sleeve.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

January 06, 2009
Robert Parrish Isn’t Walking Through That Door
In my debut column here with The Gang, I just want start by giving a little background on myself by way of introduction. I’ve been a Celtics fan for pretty much as long as I can remember. Growing up as a kid in the late eighties and early nineties in Boston left a distinct awareness that there was something special about The Celtics. When you’re that young it’s hard to understand just how special, but as I grew older and matured through the nineties and into the next century, it became clear just how special this team was to the Boston sports psyche.

I was fortunate enough to have a terrific job right out of college in the heart of the city, and my best friend and I were dedicated to our careers but also looking for something where we could thoroughly enjoy ourselves outside of work. The Celtics were at the top of the list and with an opportunity to invest in season tickets, we thought why not? Little did we know the kind of transformation this team would go through in our first season at the Garden on a regular basis.

Now here we are approaching halfway through a season after raising Banner Number 17 to the rafters, with a team of dedicated players keen on a repeat title. In their heart of hearts this veteran core understand what separates great players from legends is the ability to maintain a level of dominance over the course of multiple years. What has been clear to me since training camp, with Paul Pierce checking in at college weight, is that all three of the core veterans understand that distinction. They have proven to the league they can play with the best, and now they want to send echoes through the corridors of time to be remembered among NBA Legends.

Can they win back-to-back championships? They have the talent, the heart, and the experience. What is going to come down to the wire this year is the depth of talent behind the starting five. This starting five is the best in the NBA hands down, especially given the development of both Rondo and Perkins. The second unit is going to be the most critical aspect of this team as they enter the second half of the season, and will play a decisive role as to whether or not this team can secure home court throughout the entire playoffs. Let’s a take a look at the two most critical positions that are lacking depth.

The number one concern this team has, by my estimation, is the lack of a legitimate backup center. Leon Powe and Glen Davis play tremendously on the second unit, but when you look at what they are it doesn’t fit what you need. Both are undersized power forwards when what you need is a legitimate seven footer to play the 5.

Patrick O’Bryant has shown flashes of talent rebounding and on the defensive end. But he has had just as many terrible plays on the offensive end and is clearly a work in progress. A championship caliber team does not go into the playoffs with that kind of player as your back up big man. After KG and Perk, there are no legitimate big men on this team that can play underneath with the bigs of the league.

People are beginning to realize just how critical PJ Brown was to this team down the stretch, and by all accounts he is officially out of the picture. With Dikembe Mutombo returning to Houston, you have to examine your options
Some names to think about over the next couple weeks:

Joe Smith – Ideal match for the “PJ Brown” role. Gives you offense, size, and overall ability. Currently with Oklahoma and does make some money, so it would probably mean moving Scal along with a prospect in Baby, Giddens/Walker, or Pruitt. This would be the ideal solution in my view and worth the cost of any players mentioned above.

Alonzo Mourning – We know the name and we know the player. Would come at the veterans minimum or close to it, and you know can be a defensive presence. Can he still bring it? In short time on the floor you have to like your chances compared to the rest of the field.

Chris Wilcox – Another guy stuck in OKC, but someone with size and under the right conditions, could be something that excels in 15-20 minutes on the floor. Also makes money so might be hard to roster given cap space. Has proven in the past he can play, albeit a bit shaky with consistency and injury prone.

Moving on to the next point of concern, and the one getting all the headlines these days. Let me flat out say it right now: I do not want Stephon Marbury on this team. Barring a miraculous change of attitude and new dedication to a team for the rest of the year (which will all happen within the first couple weeks no matter where he goes, the question is continuation of said attitude) I do not want a player that has created such a selfish image, left his team mates hanging out to dry, and conducted himself in such a manner.

However, it’s hard to argue he isn’t talented and would potentially be a shot in the arm this team needs on the floor. Furthermore it would be wrong to put this entire spectacle on the shoulders of one individual. It takes far more than one person to create such a controversy at this level. Furthermore, It may come to the point where he is the best option and you have to accept he can give you what you need and at little to no cost.

If that is the case, I would lay down eight simple ground rules that must be met in any sort of deal to come here.

1. Veterans minimum
2. Do what KG and Doc tell you
3. Accept the backup PG role, no questions asked
4. Do what KG and Doc tell you
5. No complaining about minutes or touches
6. Do what KG and Doc tell you
7. Stay out of the media spotlight and on good behavior
8. Do what KG and Doc tell you

I know you’re saying some of these rules are redundant. Point being, IF he adheres to those rules I am fully confidant that he can transform into the talent he once was and fit the mold that the team needs him to be. KG is that kind of leader and the team as a whole would be able to help him achieve these goals. Outside of that kind of commitment, he can sit on the bench in NY the rest of the year.

NEXT UP: The rest of the backup point guards looking for a new home, Gabe Pruitt, and what is Sam Cassell’s actual role on this team?

- Mike Miner

January 06, 2009
Wishing On a Starbury?
Remember before Christmas when our beloved Celtics kicked Ass? Those were the days weren’t they? Since Christmas it seems the C’s have gone to the other end of the spectrum. I have gotten the following question a lot lately. “Kurt what is wrong with your Celtics?” (I love how now all of the sudden they are my Celtics, just like a few years ago) The Answer in its simplest terms- “they Suck” and I leave it at that. Now we all know that the answer is not that simple this team does not suck, they are still a game ahead of the Cavs (only because they keep losing everytime the Celtics do) for best in the East and just on the tales of the Lakers for best in the League. There is no doubt about it though, it feels like we the fans are watching a completely different team then we were blessed to be watching just a couple of weeks ago. In all honesty the long answer could be a number of things. It could be fatigue, playing half heartedly, the lack of a Back up Big(which our new writer Michael Miner tackles in his Debut) or The lack of a back up Point Guard(geez those last two sound Familiar don’t they?)

Which brings us to…

Stephon Marbury.

Now my gut feeling is to keep this guy far away from the Celtics, there is nothing Ubuntu about him or his tattood head. Not only that but is everyone really ignoring the fact that there is an alien at the end of the bench? What the hell is Sam I Am doing here? Is he just eating up a roster spot? Where is Gabe Pruitt?, the kid showed us in Preseason he can play, granted , it was exhibition but Doc please give the kid a chance. In my eyes Gabe is the perfect compliment to Rondo off the bench.
My count is we have 4 point gaurds on the depth chart

Rondo- if you watch the show you know how I feel about this kid.

Eddie- Probably more suited to play the 2

Pruitt – so maybe This Guy should get some burn at the 1 with eddie beside him.

Sam – as the youngins say WTF?

Ok. So he is not “ubuntu” and it seems like we may very well have our backup PG right under our noses. If I had Danny’s number id call him and say No Danny Don’t do it, even though a move like this has your name written all Over it. I do not Want Stephon Marbury wearing green.

Then I watched that sorry excuse of a game against a bad new York team, and listened to our good friends Celtics Stuff Live, and I start changing my opinion. The team looked as though it had George A. Romero barking orders from the bench instead of Doc. Granted Steph wont help much on the defensive end but the boy can score the basketball. He could provide some great punch off the bench. Maybe he could fill the role we had all hoped Darius Miles was going to fill this pre-season, but you know only shorter. Play him next to Rondo for a spell, play him next to Eddie and TA. Hell if the team looks like it did last night play him next to Scal. Yes maybe this is the exact thing the team needs to give them a little kick in the ass for a mid-season spurt. One of the most important facts about this whole mess is the low risk factor. Say it out loud with me class: IF HE DOESN’T WORK OUT DANNY CAN JUST CUT HIM. So why wouldn’t Danny pull the trigger? It may very well be our best option to improve the team, and like KG said after the game “if Stephon can make our team better than im ok with him being here.”

You know what Kevin my thoughts exactly.

Sign me up for a pair of Black and Green Starbury’s for Fourteen dollars and ninety eight cents

- Kurt Erickson Host

January 06, 2009
Wash up!?!
Former Boston Celtics Antoine "wiggles" Walker was taking into custody in the A.M. hours this morning in Miami Beach for suspicion of drunk driving. This will most likely kill any chance for him to return to the NBA this season. Bail was posted at 1000 bucks, according to the arrest report officers detected a strong odor of alcohol and wrote that Walker had a sleepy look on his face. He refused a breathalyzer test and was hauled in. Since his departure from Miami Heat (his ring team......at least he has one of them) things have not been going so good for our old friend.....i guess the only good thing that happin to him since he left the celtics was that ring. He struggled in 46 games with the Timberwolves last season. His contract was bought out by the Grizzlies in December,and before that in the summer of 07 he and his family were robbed inside his Chi-town home. The robbers took off with a car, jewels, and cash. The past years have not been good to Walker and from the looks of it this one will be no different for him. Good luck Wiggles

- Dave Co-Host

January 02, 2009
Pinheads or Patriots?
Episode 6: Let's Talk About Commitment. No, Not The Lame Budweiser Commercial Kind.

Oh, the plethora of topics to discuss after the regular season ends. Play-offs. Teams who deserve to make it, teams who don't. Will Brett Favre retire? Who's going to win the Super Bowl? Will Brett Favre un-retire, even though he's completely overrated? All fantastic topics of conversation this time of year. Which is exactly why you should listen to an active conversation, and not just my opinion. For that, watch the Football Special by Gang Green and myself. Patriots off-season has begun, and the Patriots have their own questions to answer, having nothing to do with play-offs or Brett Favre. A certain you-know-who went down early in the season, and the team managed to do pretty well without him. Who will be lining up behind that offensive line in 2009 for the Patriots?

Yes, I'm talking about Laurence Maroney.

Patriots fans are not known for their extensive attention spans, as some seem to think that trading away Tom Brady (one year removed from one of the greatest seasons of all time) is a good idea. "What have you done for me lately" is an understatement, as many would rather pull out their calendars and count the days until Red Sox spring training starts than stretch their minds back to what players have done before. Problem is, Maroney hasn't done much of anything to endear himself with fans.

Only 3 of the last 10 seasons have had a Patriots rusher over 1000 yards: Corey Dillon in 2004 with 1635, Antowain Smith in 2001 with 1157, and Robert Edwards in 1998 with 1115. Two of those years, the Pats won the Super Bowl, so it doesn't seem to hurt to be able to run the ball. Maroney has had flashes of greatness, especially when he and Corey Dillon split carries in 2006. But injuries have plagued the short career of the 23-year-old, begging the question of how much room in the salary cap he's worth.

This year, 6 of the top 7 rushing offenses in the league made the play-offs. The lone team that didn't make it was the Patriots. But the fact the Patriots rank that highly is a testament to the fact that Maroney is replaceable, especially since an undrafted rookie off the practice squad was starter at one point. We have also learned that drafting running backs in the first round results in little success for the Patriots (Edwards was also a first rounder, but nearly had his leg amputated after a devastating knee injury in a flag football game, never touching the field for the Pats again after his rookie season).

Looking at the top rushing offenses this year shows an interesting way to address the problem. Every season, teams hope to have that one special back that can tear up offenses every week. But this year showed that running back by committee can have real success. Many years, analysts would point out how using two running backs hinders development and doesn't allow a runner to get into rhythm, but many teams succeeded this year. The number one rushing offense in the league, the New York Giants, featured a One-Two-Three punch system, pounding defenses into the ground with Brandon Jacobs, softening them up for Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw.

Carolina had tried the committee system with DeAngelo Williams before, mixing him up with DeShaun Foster. But using Jonathan Stewart instead this year changed the pace, lighting a fire underneath Williams for a 1515 yard season, and the two backs creating the third best rushing offense in the league.

Baltimore showed a truly unique rush offense that ended up having the fullback Le'Ron McClain as the leading rusher with 902 yards. Add a dash of Willis McGahee and Ray Rice at 671 and 454 yards respectively, and the fourth best rushing offense found a recipe that needed no 1,000 yard rushers.

The Titans and Dolphins ran their way to the play-offs with fearsome duos in their backfields as well, while the Patriots hit a strong stride at the end of the season with Sammy Morris and Lamont Jordan. The only truly dominant rushers that didn't much need help were Michael Turner in Atlanta, Adrian Peterson in Minnesota, and Clinton Portis in Washington. But what sort of longevity does a running back face these days without taking some reps off?

Look back at the last few years of stand-out rushers. Shaun Alexander went from 1,880 yards and 27 TD's in 2005 to 896 yards and 7 TD's the next. Let's not even talk bout where he is now, Seattle fans still cry themselves to sleep at night over it. The Bucs drove Cadillac Williams until the tires blew out, rims burnt down, and then continued running until the axel smashed in half. Fred Taylor, Joseph Addai, Larry Johnson, Edgerrin James, and most obviously this season, Ladainian Tomlinson, all have had anemic performances as of late. If you consider running backs as investments, which they truly are, taking care of them just makes sense, and in today's NFL, we are seeing a shift towards successful split-back systems.

Patriots fans would love to go back to the Curtis Martin years, with three straight seasons of more than 1000 yards, but we need to worry more about winning games than having a single threat in the backfield. Maroney was supposed to be that answer. Belichick ran with Sammy Morris and Lamont Jordan extremely well, not because he originally schemed that, but because he had to with his starter going down. It's 2009 now, and it's time to start looking at a new offense. It should be a multi-back offense from the start, it's clearly working around the league. Design plays for different dynamic backs. Get a younger version of Kevin Faulk late in the draft, and consider saving some cap room by hitting the eject button on Maroney.

Times are tough, Laurence. If you want a paycheck signed by Robert Kraft next season, your New Years Resolution should be to stay healthy. And lose a couple pounds while you're at it. We wouldn't want all that time spent on the couch to show, now would we?

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

December 25, 2008
Pinheads or Patriots?
Episode 5: The Biggest Losers - Playoff Style

Week 17, and we finally are at the heart of what Boston sports should always be about: performing just well enough to be in contention, but ultimately forced to root for random teams so we can make the playoffs. We've been a little spoiled the last few years with the Patriots and Celtics domination, plus the Yankees sudden decline. But for the first time in a long while, New England fans will be rooting for the New York Jets. And for the first time ever, SOMEONE will actually be rooting for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Typically, Boston sports fans have no one to blame but our teams for being in these situations. We could have won more games, performed when it mattered, not make such terrible decisions, this or that, X Y Z, etc etc. For once, we can actually blame a poorly designed system. Pending possible victories by the Patriots, Ravens, Dolphins, Chargers, and Seahawks, an 11-5 New England team could miss the play-offs, while 8-8 San Diego and Arizona head into the postseason.

"Hey, that's how the system is designed, it's just a rare fluke that will never happen again." Somewhere, Al Gore is sympathizing greatly with Patriots Nation. His fruit basket's in the mail.

So basically, Arizona and San Diego benefit from being in the two weakest divisions in football, as 6 of their 16 games are guaranteed to be against awful teams , while New England had to play in the most competitive division and actually have a COMPETITION for the post season. Oh, and did I mention Arizona will get a home game in the play-offs? Which is great for them, since they haven't been able to win a single game on the East Coast this season. Too bad they will be forced to go through the Meadowlands on a possible path to the Super Bowl.

The Patriots have a good reason for losing 5 games this season. Losing the MVP of the league the year before typically results in a drop-off in production. San Diego still has all their stars. Arizona has a quarterback supposedly competing for MVP, though neither he nor Drew Brees must be terribly valuable if they each only have 8 wins with one game left in the season. So what's with the showering of awards on losers? Last season the Cardinals were 8-8, and the Saints had just one less win than they have right now. What's so valuable about not improving at all?

Unproven Matt Cassel has filled in more than adequately for a future Hall of Fame quarterback. First round draft pick Matt Ryan turned the shameful Atlanta Falcons into a playoff team in his rookie season. Chad Pennington stands to possibly increase the Dolphins wins by literally 1000%, in spite of trading away former Defensive Player of the Year Jason Taylor. Those three have real value. And in these tough economic times, we know what sort of value we look for when going to the stores. Bang-for-your-buck kind of value, not "Well this satellite dish doesn't work in poor weather when I actually want to be indoors watching TV, but at least I get 4000 channels" value.

And who says Santa isn't real? Arizona and San Diego may be getting honest-to-God gifts this Christmas, while the No Fun League sticks coal in New England's stocking one more time.

Merry Christmas, everyone. And for the first (and hopefully last) time, Go Jets.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

December 18, 2008
Pinheads or Patriots?
Episode 4: Being Paid Money To Have More Points Than The Other Guy. Sometimes.

The Arena Football League has suspended its 2009 season. Football fans should care about as much as they care about the release date of the next installment in the scintillating "NFL Head Coach" video game franchise. So while that announcement takes up entire articles on ESPN, it warrants only one sentence in this column. This week, the Head Coach game is almost more relevant.

Resumes are being updated. Approval ratings are at record lows worse than George Bush's, the only difference is that if an Iraqi reporter hurled his shoes at Romeo Crennel, he would probably be the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns the next week.

Last week on the Gang Green, Dave touched on how fluid coaching jobs are throughout sports, and with the exception of the playoffs, that's exactly what the big topic is for the NFL now. If there is any one lesson that pro sports teaches, it's that when things are going horribly wrong, fire somebody so it looks like it was all their fault. And right now, it's that point in the season where announcers use the words "Hot" and "Seat" a lot when head coaches names are in play. So which coaches are deserving of patience, and which are wastes of time? And what dictates a "safe" job? It seems like each year, losing franchises and playoff teams alike are abound with rumors.

Bill Belichick's seat is ice cold. Though he's only been sitting since 2000, it makes him the longest tenured Patriots coach in history. He has the most wins (91, in second is Mike Holovak with 52), and highest winning percentage (.771, with a surprising second place of Pete Carroll at .562), as well as the most play-off games won (14, nearly 5 times the next nearest). In retrospect, it's easy to see how great of an asset Belichick has been. But Robert Kraft showed true trust and patience in the Belichick system, as Kraft gave the job to a coach with a 36-44 record in Cleveland over 5 seasons, and stuck with Bill through his lackluster first season with the Patriots.

While that trust and patience paid off for Billy, it hasn't been handed down to his protégés. After a "Coach of the Year" performance last year, Romeo Crennel is as good as gone in Cleveland. Eric Mangini reportedly may be out of New York, even if the Jets still make the playoffs. And Charlie Weis at Notre Dame? The Catholic clergy in South Bend, Indiana have most likely already condemned him to the worst layers of Hell. Coaching football is a fickle business, and your likelihood of employment is week to week.

Trust pays off for some franchises, sure. But there are a few coaches in the NFL worth debating if they can pay off. This week's prime candidate for a pink slip is Dick Jauron in Buffalo. With an upset of the New York Jets easily in hand, he had the dumbest quarterback in the world roll out on a play action pass, fumbling the ball for a touchdown in the other direction, classic J.P. Losman. While some teams fire coaches mid-season, Buffalo had such faith in their coach that they actually decided to give a three-year contract extension to Jauron back when the Bills were 5-2, and favorites to win the AFC East. Jauron thanked management for their generosity by going 1-7 since signing that new contract. Apparently even coaches perform better in contract years.

Jauron may only keep his job because Buffalo would be too embarrassed to fire him, but why is Marvin Lewis' job apparently safe in Cincinnati? The Bengals are 2-11-1. Granted, patience pays off in the cases of some coaches, but they typically have a good plan for a team. Lewis' plan is apparently to start drafting from federal prisons instead of Division I colleges. And as if this season wasn't miserable enough, since 2003 when Lewis took over, the Bengals have only gone ONE season winning more than 50% of their games. (Or, for those of you working with the Chad Johnson numerical system; UNO season winning more than CINCO-CERO PERCENTO).

Kansas City is going to need some wooden stakes to fire their coach, because Herm Edwards is a vampire. He takes over veteran teams from great coaches like Bill Parcells and Dick Vermeil, sucks all the wins out of them, gets most of their stars injured, and gets paid for all of it. Dear Chiefs: I can easily drive a team into the ground for you too, but you won't have to trade a 4th round draft pick to get me (which the Jets used to get Leon Washington, so thanks a lot Kansas City).

Some other quick coaching notes: No one talks as much about Jack Del Rio, but that man should be canned. The Jaguars are a mess this season having let their defensive coordinator go so he could completely turn around Atlanta, exposing Del Rio as a total fraud.

Mike Singeltary is the best interim head coach, and should be applauded for actually having the sack to tell Mike Martz who the real 49ers coach is.

The Packers are the best 5-9 team in NFL history, and while McCarthy may be inaugurating Aaron Rodgers to a great career, life lessons dictate that someone has to get fired when seasons fall apart.

The combined salaries of every single member of the Detroit Lions organization would be better served as a bailout for the auto industry. If you can't win one game, you shouldn't get a paycheck. If he doesn't get one win, Rod Marinelli will be the most fired coach in the history. So fired that correct grammar does not apply when speaking about him.

Yet what comfort can any of these coaches have that winning can save them? Last season, there was talk of Tom Coughlin being fired in New York during every broadcast of a Giants game. Including the playoffs. It wasn't until they were in the Super Bowl that it seemed like anyone was even fathoming that Coughlin MIGHT be keeping his job. It was so commonplace for his job to be at stake that I thought the painfully angry and impatient look on Coughlin's face had something to do with a constantly oncoming lay-off. This year I learned he's just a very unfortunate looking man.

In all of these franchises, perhaps it all just comes down to ownership. There are patient owners, and some that wants to put in the orders for Super Bowl rings ASAP. Robert Kraft was willing to let Bill Belichick, a failure in Cleveland, take his time and mold the Patriots into a dynasty. Bi-polar Jerry Jones will fire good coaches who have winning seasons, and hire someone with the exact opposite coaching style, hoping it results in a Super Bowl within two years. Al Davis is secretly Mum-Ra from the Thundercats, with an evil plot to drive Oakland fans insane by hiring and firing anything that moves. That is, if Oakland fans can be any more insane than they already are.

Coaches will often take whatever open job comes along, but maybe holding out for that patient owner is in their best interest. Jeff Fisher has had a few poor seasons for the Oilers/Titans franchise, but is looking good this season. Bill Cowher lost in nine different postseasons before winning Super Bowl XL, and now he's the most in-demand coach there is. But Marty Schottenheimer didn't get quite the same exit from the Chargers organization, after posting a 14-2 regular season record, they let him go for losing in his 13th postseason (basically, he's the A-Rod of coaching).

Owners will hopefully give some guys a chance this season, but as for ones like Crennel, Edwards and Marinelli, well, the Arena Football League is always hiring.

Oh, wait. IT ISN'T. Maybe the three of them should try to get in line for the Notre Dame job now; otherwise they'll be hanging out with Weis in the unemployment line.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

December 11, 2008
Pinheads or Patriots?
Episode 3: The Curse of the Phil-y Bolt

There is a sole fact about sports that is completely true, yet will never be proven by scientists because of their bigotry towards athletic people: The curse that a bitter man places on a sports team truly works. Boston can safely blame 86 years of misery on Babe Ruth. The Chicago Cubs have been unable to win it all since ejecting both a man and his billy goat from a 1945 World Series game, apparently insulting the animal. And of course, who can forget the curse that all of Pottsville, Pennsylvania placed on the Cardinals football franchise when the Pottsville Maroons organization was controversially suspended in 1925, resulting in the second place Cardinals becoming NFL champions. Though "the Curse of the Pottsville Pennsylvanians" doesn't have the fame of "Curse of the Bambino" or "Curse of the Billy Goat," you can't argue with the fact that the Arizona Cardinals are one of only two NFL teams that have never gone to a conference championship game (the other being the six-year-old Houston Texan franchise.) Curses from pathetically humiliated men work.

After the 2006 AFC Divisional Playoff game, when Philip Rivers screamed at Ellis Hobbs; "You're acting like the sorriest corner in the league," Patriots Nation as a whole chuckled. Why would they think anything of it? The New England defense had just embarrassed the Super Bowl-favorite San Diego Chargers, and a "healthy debate" about dance moves began between the players, with many tempers flaring. Yes, Patriots fans laughed then, but it is not the victor who laughs last, as many seem to think. No, it is the man who holds the hex who laughs much later than the victor, as today, Ellis Hobbs actually IS the sorriest cornerback in the league. On that day, fans everywhere bore witness to a live cursing of Ellis Hobbs that has since infected the rest of the Patriots secondary.

New England defenses have defined the Bill Belichick era. In the 2001 Super Bowl against the Rams, the underdog Patriots held the Greatest Show on Turf to 17 points, in spite of 427 total yards by the Mike Martz offense. "Defense Wins Championships" has been heralded ever since. Every year, despite injuries, Bill Belichick would find a way to have an all-star defense. He signed an undrafted rookie who hadn't played his last year in college. He put a veteran wide receiver in at cornerback. And the D rarely wavered. And then last week, New England let Seneca "My mother doesn't even know who I am" Wallace throw for 3 touchdowns against them. Several weeks ago, Brett Favre completed a 3rd and 17 in overtime, which he threw well short of the first down mark, and yet they went on to win the game. New England currently ranks a very mediocre 16th in overall defense (keeping in mind it has ranked in the top 10 for four out of the last five seasons.)

With the curse of Philip Rivers came a strange trade off. We had spent years with no-name, underachieving wide receivers getting us by, while our star defensive backs kept opposing offenses in check. David Givens, Reche Caldwell, and Tim Dwight aren't names that keep defensive coordinators up at night, but the Patriots won games with so-so wide-outs that didn't need to blow away defenses, just get by. Then in one fell swoop, Poppa Belichick bought a brand new offense, grabbing Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Donte Stallworth last season.

And our defensive backs? Well starting this season, they all seemed to remind fans of the old wide-outs. Rodney Harrison was analogous to old reliable Troy Brown; beloved, invaluable, but inevitably wear and tear catches up. Deltha O'Neal is the new Reche Caldwell – once a hyped starter, left out to dry in free agency, only to be picked up by the Patriots...who then realize why these players were easy to get in the first place. Asante Samuel was Deion Branch – the only truly solid option, but ultimately, both had agents who knew they could get better pay for their overrated talents elsewhere. And Ellis Hobbs? He's body-swapped for Chad Jackson. You remember the thrill when the Patriots drafted the first wide-out of the 2006 Draft. That was Jackson's first and last thrill he ever gave New England fans. Hobbs, a first day draft pick, standing at an intimidating 5'9", who is supposed to be the Pats' number one corner, is the 53rd leading tackler for a defensive back in the league.

Clearly, the voodoo magic that Philip Rivers learned at NC State has doomed the Patriots secondary, and there is nothing else to blame. At all. Maybe a little blame could go to the fact that we let go of pretty good defensive backs like Asante Samuel and Randall Gay, not wanting to pay the bill. Maybe. And sure, MAYBE when you look at the draft classes between 2000 and 2006, which make up a major core of key Patriots players over the Belichick era (i.e. Tom Brady, Richard Seymour, Matt Light, Deion Branch, Jarvis Green, Ty Warren, Dan Koppen, Vince Wilfork, Ben Watson, Logan Mankins, Matt Cassel, Laurence Maroney, and Stephen Gostkowski, to name a few), the retention rate of defensive backs is questionable. Of the 12 defensive backs the Pats drafted in that time, only 2 remain.

Maybe management could open up its wallet when it's called for. Maybe they could draft smarter. But much more likely, it's a curse. Philip Rivers may have no control of his own team's destiny (as the Chargers can at best finish 8-8 this season in the weakest division in football), but man is he affecting the Patriots.

After all, at the end of every season, 31 teams each need to blame someone, and with the Red Sox breaking Bambino and the Celtics putting Len Bias to rest, New England fans might just have to start analyzing actual problems with their sports teams if there aren't any new witches to burn.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

December 09, 2008
Stay Gold
Guess who has a 39-6-4 record? Our Tag-Team champions of the North End of Boston and Roommate's of the TD Bank North Garden. That's right the 2007-2008 winter sports season bore witness to the rebirth of Celtic's Basketball here in Boston. Now the 2008-2009 season seems to be the rebirth of old time Hockey here in New England due to the resurgence of the red hot Bruins. After watching them score 3 goals in the first period last night against The Tampa Bay Lightning, I realized this Bruins team isn't just good, they're dominant. Very reminiscent of Last years early season resurgence of the Celtics.

Spending a lot of time at the north end of Boston conversing with sports fans on the return of Hockey in Boston you hear a lot of people throw out the term "band wagon". People being accused of being fair weather fans, turning out to the Garden to once again watch the Bruins play Hockey. Now I do understand everyone wants to be a trailblazer when it comes to stuff that they enjoy. What people who are accusing others of jumping on the Bruin's bandwagon fail to realize is that the fans were forced out of hockey via the strike in 2004. On top of some very unlikable teams and forced frustration by the owner of team is enough to alienate any Bruins fan. Yet upon it's return in 2006 and some rule changes, it's taken fans a few years to come around, and I think this Bruins team is giving hockey fans the kick in the ass they needed.

This Bruins team is a absolute pleasure to watch with guys like Phil Kessel who is one of the most exciting guys to watch when he has the puck. The fiery toughness of Milian Lucic, the punishing defense of Zdino Chara and the outstanding tandem in front of the net of Manny Fernandez and Tim Thomas who leads the league in save percentage would make any casual sports fan stand up and take notice. So lets not point fingers and cry foul for people jumping on the Bruins bandwagon, lets just enjoy the fact that now all 4 of Boston's major sports team are major players in their respective league and maybe…just maybe we spoiled Boston sports fans can notch another championship on that big fat belt of ours.

Stay Gold. - Adam

December 03, 2008
Pinheads or Patriots?
Episode Two: Shooting Yourself in the Leg Figuratively, Literally, and in True Pinhead Fashion.

Pinheads. That is undoubtedly the only thing worth discussing this week in the NFL. Not even a horrid Patriots defense tops pinheads this week.

On Sunday, Fox showed clips from a rather flattering interview with New York Giants wide-out Plaxico Burress. Burress told Pam Oliver that his immaturity is "what makes Plaxico, Plaxico." Yes, you could really hear the Giants star receiver echoing the great philosophical minds of the 20th century as he looked deep into his complex soul, and realized his self-identity completely relied on skipping practices without telling his couches. Because he felt like it.

Please. It wasn't cute when Manny was "being Manny," and Plaxico made ugly a whole lot uglier when "being Plaxico" consisted of shooting himself in the leg in a nightclub.

If you got a $35 million contract extension to play Monopoly, with a simple stipulation to not be an idiot, I would hope you would tuck yourself in at 8 P.M. sharp every night after a repeat of "Two and a Half Men," just to ensure you don't screw it all up. But Burress wasn't even being paid millions to play a boring game that takes way too long to end. He's playing one of the best games of all. A game he's great at. Every living person plays games, and he's lucky enough to get PAID MILLIONS to do something actually enjoyable. Now, he's probably destined for jail.

Ricky Williams. Pacman Jones. Maybe you've heard of Michael Vick? These aren't just football players, they are GREAT football players. Or at least, they all could have been if they spent more time on the field than they did smoking bowls, paralyzing bouncers, and killing dogs.

Ignoring what these decisions do to their own personal futures, what do fans have to look forward to for a franchise when a player gets into legal trouble? Let's recall a running back named Jamal Lewis. In 2003, Lewis rushed for 2,066 yards on the season with 14 touchdowns, some of it while injured. He fell just 39 yards short of the best rushing season of all time. He's in good company, with only Eric Dickerson, Terrell Davis, Barry Sanders, and O.J. Simpson having rushed for over 2,000 yards. (Wait, O.J.? Oh God, I can't even go there. I don't have enough time in the day. But oh...so tempting. Continuing with Jamal…)

Coming off this amazing season, Jamal Lewis ended up on the wrong side of a deal involving 5 kilos of cocaine. How did 4 months of jail affect Jamal's numbers? His average yards per attempt dropped one full yard the next season – from 5.3 to 4.3, resulting in a much more humble season. He missed 4 games to suspension, and while that is only one fourth of a season, his numbers halved; 1,006 yards on the season, and 7 TD's. The season after, he missed only one game, yet he dropped to 3.4 yards per attempt, didn't break 1,000 yards on the season, and was limited to a total of 3 touchdowns. Jamal's still plugging away, but this obvious decline came after just 4 months in jail with a 4 game suspension.

By the end of his sentence, Michael Vick will have spent 23 months in a jail where he spends his time washing pots and pans for 12 cents per hour. Plaxico Burress looks to be measuring the drapes for his new cell. Ricky Williams didn't spend time in the big house, but the Canadian Football League isn't much better. If Jamal Lewis is any indication, your All-Pro seasons are wasted when you're away from the game, assuming you can even get back in the league (which Pacman Jones is bordering on.) Vick and Williams can attest that those millions don't last very long, as Ricky was forced to return to the game he retired from, and Michael pulled a Lehman Brothers by filing for bankruptcy.

So if you ever end up playing in the NFL: The next time you want to enjoy a glass of wine while playing with your handgun in a night club, you can console yourself that you are not the first moron in the history of the Earth to blow away millions of dollars and one of the best jobs in the world. Sadly, that's about all you can console yourself with.

Plax, say "Hi" to O.J. for me.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

November 25, 2008
Pinheads or Patriots?
We all stood there on the bow of the ship, the cool air giving us the same calm that the boat always seemed to provide as we gently coasted through calm waters. Ah, regular season games, a piece of cake. But a hidden iceberg struck, and as Tom Brady fell to the ground in Week 1, the S.S. Pursuit of Perfection sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. As we raced for the lifeboats, Bill Belichick pointed to the only two that remained. The sturdiness of one lifeboat spoke to us, clearly signifying that all hope for the season was lost, so let's just pack in and wait to be rescued next season. The second lifeboat was rickety, but it had the slim chance that Belichick would work his magic again, and Matt Cassel would save us sooner rather than later. Here we are with just weeks left in the season, and which lifeboat stands the best chance of rescue?

From our first boat, the view of rescue is still grim. The Patriots offense is clearly not what it was last year, as Matt has only 10 TD's with just 5 games to go. New England ranks 11th in the NFL for yards per game, an obvious decline from last season. Randy Moss resembles the old lady standing on the bow of that doomed ship, telling Tom, "I'll never let go," but still tossing the necklace into the ocean at the end, as he's giving up on routes like he's back in a Raiders uniform.

But hope is not lost on the second lifeboat. Cassel's completion percentage is 8th in the league. He ranks in the top 10 in passing yards, has an 87.3 QB rating, and…oh yeah, the Patriots have a winning record without Tom Brady at the helm for the first time since December 12th, 1999, when we were 7 – 6 under Drew Bledsoe (We ended that season 8 – 8 after a 6 -2 start, if you're wondering.)

By comparison, Brady ended his mythic 2001 season 4th in the league for completion percentage, 22nd in total passing yards, had an 86.5 QB rating, and a total of 18 touchdowns. The league was led in all those categories by Kurt Warner that year, and because the football gods love sweet irony, Kurt Warner leads in all those categories this season as well.

Looking at those stats (and the rather ominous rebirth of Kurt Warner like a Phoenix from the ashes), this could well be another glorious zero to hero story for Bill Belichick, as Cassel is on pace to repeat Brady's stats for 2001, even beat a few of them handily. As a bonus, one stat line where Cassel dominates a younger Brady is how Matt is 2nd only to David Garrard in scrambling yards this season.

As I sat in Gillette Stadium last Thursday night, watching the iceberg drift into the distance, I had to wonder, "Which life-boat would people pick today?" Is hope still lost on the season? Before Tom Brady, a performance of 400 passing yards, 63 rushing yards, and 3 touchdowns in one game would inspire hope into any Patriots fan (considering that is the first time a quarterback has ever done that since the AFL-NFL merger.) But New England fans have short memories, and Matt's impressive handling of New York's defense seemed to just lack something for us. What was it he lacked? Probably the number 12 on the back of his jersey.

There are plenty of fans on both lifeboats that only remember the S. S. Pursuit of Perfection, forgetting the decades many spent on the S.S. Meandering around Mediocrity. Matt Cassel is a perfect answer to the every problem the Patriots had at quarterback before 2001. Unfortunately for Matt, the AFC East isn't what it used to be. Let's hope he can tread water long enough for the Patriots to beat the Colts to a Wild Card spot. That's right, I just said that.

- Sean Harris Gang Green Football Guru

October 23, 2008
The Ship has been christened, the anchor is up and the maiden voyage on this website is underway. We at gang green hope you will check in often as there will be a new episode on the front page every week, as well as some other cool things as we progress. As you can tell by reading this post, Adam, Dave or myself and even some friends of the show will check in from time to time to share our thoughts on the Celtics, other sports or even just to say hey. Welcome to the site and enjoy.

Here is what this host is thinking, as Banner 17 is getting closer to being raised to its place in the rafters. I will be there. This is exciting. Really it is. We all know what it was like to watch this team last year during the greatest turn around in NBA history. Those closest to me I’m sure got sick of me saying “do you know that the Celtics won the championship? They couldn’t do better, there were no more games to win, and they won it all.” That’s how I felt, well into July. Banner 18 will not be as special, when the Celtics repeat this year, it just won’t. Banner 17 has been a catch phrase for years now. Countless times over the years we thought so and so (plug in any name you want here.) is going to be a key to bringing banner 17. Maybe this year we will get to raise 17? Over and Over we the fans threw it out there in conversations about the Celtics. It was never about the playoffs it was always about that elusive banner number 17. Now it’s neither a catch phrase nor an ideal, it is reality; it is going into the rafters. It will be joining the banners those 3 famous generations brought us, the ones we refer to as the Russell Cowens and Bird eras respectively. Now the Pierce era, my era, will finally be up there with them, letting all visitors know that they are in the house of a champion. I am 29 will be 30 in January; the last time a new banner went up I was 7. Do you know what I remember about that championship run? I remember my uncle in my parents’ living room jumping up and down and screaming at the television. That’s it, I don’t remember any spectacular plays(of course I’ve seen all the highlights now) or a particular call that the ref blew, nothing. What I got from that championship run, is that I know why I watch games like I do. Like my uncle before me I also jump up and down and scream at the television. Ask the Gang Green intern about it. This time around I remember everything. I remember Posey Hugs, Ray Allen hitting 2 game winners, sweeping the Texas triangle, game 7, the wheelchair, and of course Game 6. On October 28 I will be watching banner 17 get raised, make no doubt about it this is my generations banner and boy did we earn it.

So my friends grab some of that green kool –aide tip your glass to Number 17 sit down and enjoy the ride to number 18 with Gang Green.

- Kurt