New Orleans is pretty freaking awesome, I must say. Yesterday was a long day, with leaving the house at 5 a.m., getting to New Orleans around 11:00 a.m., being in sessions until 5:30 p.m. and doing the dinner and drinks thing until well after midnight. But I’ve got 10 impressions on New Orleans because, hell, it’s just a nice round number.
1. It’s hot here. Really hot. As hot as it is back home, the humidity here makes all the difference. 80 in Massachusetts is not 80 in New Orleans. 80 in New Orleans is like 100 in Massachusetts. Everything is stick, humid, hot. As soon as you step outside from an air conditioned hotel, bar, etc., it’s really hot. I think this is why my room is a suite and while the door thing says the cost should be $475 a night, I’m sleeping there for $79 a night. I’m sure the voting organization running this convention got a special deal because of a big room block, but still, it’s really hot. I can’t see too many tourists coming into town at this point, especially since the Saints/Hornets aren’t playing and not much else is going on. And, oh yeah, it’s a Wednesday night.
2. Why does every airport south of (and not including) Atlanta have palm trees at their airport? I didn’t see one damn palm tree in all of New Orleans, yet, when you get off the plane, there are the palm trees at Louis Armstrong Airport. Same deal in Fort Myers, although the city has more palm trees (especially near City of Palms Park and McGregor Blvd) than I’ve ever seen in my entire life. McGregor is ridiculous, as royal palms just line the whole street. But Palms? In New Orleans? Eh. Just hand out beers.
3. Eggplant sandwiches are apparently a thing in New Orleans. And look closely. Because if you look quickly, the eggplant can look like some kind of meat and you can be disappointed thoroughly. I don’t think I need to explain that I learned the hard way.
4. In all the times we’ve been doing these conferences, whether they’re ours or another organizations, my room has never been ready early. Most of my colleagues usually have no problem, but I’m never able to check in until the official check-in time or later. Not at the Maison Dupuy, which I couldn’t speak more highly of. Not only was I able to check-in early (check-in time is at 4 p.m., but I was in my room before noon), but I was given a suite. I’m not sure why I got the upgrade, and I didn’t have a balcony overlooking the pool like some other people, but shit — I had a suite. Probably the nicest hotel room I’ve ever had on one of these trips, although the one in Western Massachusetts was excellent as well.
DC, hey, it was a room, but nothing special. So much so, I wasn’t even motivated to take pictures of it. And the huge mirror on the wall seemed a little sketch to me.
The room:
5. It’s fun to come together with people from all over the country at these conferences and hearing all the different ideas, methods, frustrations, successes, and hell, even accents. It’s just something I’ve been noticing from two weeks ago in DC through this one, it’s really interesting to hear that things you’ve been trying are working other places too, and maybe you’re around the corner from doing something really great. I also think it’s still crazy that you can wake up, fly to New Orleans, and six hours after you leave your home, you’re not only in another state, but all the way at the south end of the United States. Amazing.
6. I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to get to this, but there is NO OPEN CONTAINER LAW IN NEW ORLEANS. Basically, anything goes. There are places that serve beer outside with little more than a keg set up on the side of the road. The title refers to this because other than making sure tourists don’t get mugged, I don’t know what the NOPD really has to enforce on the streets (NOthing, probably). Someone mentioned they do get kind of mad if you go to the bathroom in public, and I imagine that guy found out the hard way. But buying beer on the streets is totally legal, as is drinking it, and this serves as a reminder:
7. This was something I couldn’t get over. You walk into a bar, order a drink, and the bartender asks you if you want your beer “FOR HERE OR TO GO.” Umm, I’ll take it to go, please, and then you’re walking around outside while drinking a beer. It’s just awesome. At one point on Wednesday, four of us (two from Minnesota, one from Colorado and me from Massachusetts) grabbed beers and drank them outside while standing next to the Mississippi River. A pretty awesome experience.
We did get some from “HUGE ASS BEERS TO GO.” What a name for a place.
8. Bourbon Street is fun, but it’s ridiculous. I don’t know how I could spend much more time there and not go absolutely crazy though. It’s fun for a few days, but I think a party every night would get to be way too much for me. I love to go out, but sometimes, you want that quiet time. I wonder how much of that I’d actually be able to find if I was in the French Quarter all the time. One of the best things, though, is there’s always something different. One night, we walked all the way down Bourbon until it ended at Canal, and there was a big street party going on with a jazz group playing on the sidewalk. I threw them some money just because I was so in awe of how well they were playing, how they seemed to be drawing a big crowd and just having a great time. Wish there was more of that kind of atmosphere in Boston sometimes.
9. Street performers will not give you directions, take a picture with you or do anything else unless they’re paid, which is different from Boston, where the same annoying people are playing the same bad music in the T station every day. Maybe they should take a cue from the New Orleans people. Here, a leprechaun stands outside a bar. Is it Lucky? Perhaps. But he’s not doing slam dunks off a trampoline through a basketball hoop.
10. New Orleans and the French Quarter is just a fun as hell time. There’s a lot of open-air bars, which I’m a big fan of, and we really had a great time. That having been said, I don’t know if I could live there. Maybe for half the year, but June/July/August are hot as hell, and I was constantly sweating while walking from bar to bar. It’s just damn hot there a lot. Although, save the weather, I had an absolute blast on Wednesday. We ended up the night at Razzoo, on Bourbon, and it was a pretty good time hanging out there. Here’s a picture (not mine) of the outside area where we chilled.
Tomorrow won’t be fun in the same sense. We’re doing a tour of the Katrina devastation, and while it will no doubt be interesting and probably stunning, it will also be a much sadder time. Hopefully, seeing the conditions that low-income people lived through and are still dealing with will help center us for the work we need to do when we get home.
The Celtics wrapped up the NBA Championship last night, and I probably watched postgame coverage until almost 2 a.m.
Now it’s 5 a.m., and I’m headed to the airport to fly to New Orleans, LA to attend a conference on voter engagement for nonprofit organizations. I’m excited about the conference, finding out what other organizations are doing and also basically seeing New Orleans. I’ve heard a lot of great things from friends and co-workers, so I’m excited to check it out for myself.
We’re also supposed to be going on a tour on Thursday of some of the areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina, including the lower ninth ward. It should be really eye opening to go down there and see these areas and how the city is still dealing with the aftermath of the hurricane.
More when I’m back, with updates from New Orleans and hopefully a lot of pictures. But for now, it’s time to head to Logan, get on the plane and take a long nap before the fun begins.
I haven’t updated the blog in a while, but tonight, I’m doing a Bill Simmons-esque live blog. It’s not ripping him off as much as its an homage. And hey, when he live blogged, the Celtics had the biggest comeback win ever in the NBA Finals. So it’s got to be good karma, right?
8:39 p.m. - Just finished my Domino’s Pizza that I ordered before the game. I was torn between expensive, good pizza from a local pizza joint and inexpensive, crappy Domino’s Pizza that comes with soda. Being my credit card bill is already horrible this month, I went with the cheap, crappy pizza. Bad move. I’m already feeling ill.
But have you seen the Pizza Tracker that Domino’s has? It’s incredible. It tells you who makes the pizza, who will be delivering it, etc. Tonight, Fabio cooked my pizza and Rachid delivered it. I tell Mike that Fabio’s cooking my pizza.
“Fabio always cooks my pizza,” brags Mike. “He does good work.” Awesome.
8:42 p.m. - ESPN making me crazy. Bill Russell, Tommy, Hondo and JoJo are all in attendance. Now they’re showing the skyhook. Jerks.
8:44 p.m. - Really? Dwayne Wade just bought his mom a church? Has this been reported anywhere???
8:45 p.m. - Yep. Snap judgment: I like Dwayne Wade. Between those Barkley commercials and buying his mother a church, he’s clearly a good guy.
8:47 p.m. - Wipeout is going to be a stupid show, as is “I Survived a Japanese Game Show.” ABC loses Grey’s Anatomy and Lost and they add these crappy shows. I honestly wonder why they even try and don’t just go to dead air between sweeps periods.
8:52 p.m. - Japanese Game Show promo one. We’re tied at one “Wipeout,” one “I Survived a Japanese Game Show.”
8:54 p.m. - Paula Cole gave up hope that Dawson’s Creek is coming back, so she decided to sing the National Anthem.
8:55 p.m. - Jen shows up. “Apparently, you’re not putting me in your blog.” You’re there now. She comes in: “I brought a snack!” Me: “Ice cream?” Her: “Nope. Goldfish!”
(Nothing is more disappointing when you’re expecting ice cream than goldfish).
9:01 p.m. - Mike Breen, Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy are by far the best play-by-play team in the NBA right now — maybe all of professional sports. I could do without Breen, but Jackson and Van Gundy are really at the top of their game right now. Van Gundy should screw coaching and do this. I know he can make a lot more money coaching, but he’s such a good color guy. I wonder how much of it is the relationship he has with Jackson, but he’s good.
9:03 p.m. - Jen: “What’s your website? Can you send me the link?” I really promote this blog well.
9:05 p.m. - Wipeout up to two, Japanese Game Show hanging in at one.
9:07 p.m. - And, we’re underway! Perkins didn’t jump for the jump ball, and he committed his first foul 14 seconds into the game. Good times.
9:11 p.m. - JoJo White just called. The Rondo steal apparently counts as the “You just got Rondo’d” of the night. I think Rondo is the least heralded player ever to have a marketing campaign built around him. When KG’s with Adidas and Paul Pierce is with Nike, I guess they turn to Rondo to hold up the Reebok brand? Times are tough for Reebok.
9:18 p.m. - Kobe has 11 points, including 3 three-pointers. He’s leading the way, unsurprisingly. Someone freaking needs to stop Kobe. I vote for Bill Russell. Can we get him out of his suit and into a jersey? Ok, I’m posting this, and then more will be coming in the first edit.
9:20 p.m. - Japanese Game Show promo number 2!!! It’s a tie with Japanese Game Show at 2, Wipeout at 2. And they show our celebrities. Belichick and his galpal and Steven Tyler. At Lakers games, this would have taken about a minute and a half. Boston? Two celebs. Nice showing.
9:26 p.m. - “I shouldn’t have eaten all of those goldfish,” says Jen. “I’m going to get a tummyache.” This is literally two minutes after I take the bag away from her (under protest) and close it up. You know what doesn’t give you a tummyache? Ice cream!
9:27 p.m. - “I think tummyache is two words,” says my editor. KG’s just hit two big shots. He’s warming up. She’s right. Two words. Tummy ache, then.
9:28 p.m. - It’s the commercial, so I don’t give up hope. I type tummyache into google. “Did you mean tummy ache?” it asks. Nope. I meant tummyache. GoogleFight decides it. Tummyache has 268,000, tummy ache has 1.33 million. I think I’m like 17 percent right, but she doesn’t care. In other words, KG likes PEANUT BUTTER, PEANUT BUTTER, PEANUT BUTTER (jelly).
9:31 p.m. - I just got my third phone call from JoJo White about somebody who “just got Rondo’d.” Seriously, Reebok, I thought this would be fun — not irritating. And KG has 10 points and a big dunk! 22-18 Celtics with a minute to go in the first.
9:34 p.m. - “I’m kind of sleepy,” says Jen. It’s Game Six of the NBA Finals. Meh. She’s unimpressed. I have taught her Paul Pierce’s nickname of “The Captain AND THE TRUTH,” so I can’t hope for much else. End of the first, and we’re up by four points. Just 36 minutes away here…
9:41 p.m. - I’m wearing my Big Baby jersey, and he’s just entered the game. I’m wearing the jersey for the first time in the finals, and now he’s in the game. Here we go. Baby scores double figures tonight. I’m feeling it.
9:43 p.m. - Jen’s finally lost interest in the game. She made it until 11 minutes left in the second. Now she’s reviewing the Shaw’s grocery store circular. Oh well, she made an effort.
9:45 p.m. - And Joey Crawford has called a technical on Doc Rivers. Why? Who knows. But this is the same guy who challenged Tim Duncan to a fight, then kicked him out of the playoff game. Between him and Salvatore, who called a blocking foul on Paul Pierce as Pierce shot a three-pointer, I don’t know who I’m more afraid of.
9:52 p.m. - Michelle Tafoya reports that there’s no sign of Ray Allen after that jerk Lamar Odom scratched him in the eye (of course, no foul was called, by the way). Ok, Ray, you get a pass, but you’re playing all 24 minutes in the second half.
9:56 p.m. - James Posey and Eddie House hit back to back three pointers! Celtics up by nine! It’s all the bench players (and Eddie hit it in transition after a Glen Davis steal).
10:02 p.m. - Two Eddie House free throws after a hustle play down court that has the crowd chanting EDD-IE, EDD-IE. Then another James Posey three-pointer. It’s an 11-0 run, a 14-point lead, and they go to commercial playing More Than a Feeling by Boston. More than a feeling, indeed.
10:07 p.m. - Jen’s struggling with those eyelids. She’s made it to 3:48 in the second. “Can I take a nap at the half?” Oh boy.
10:09 p.m. - Another illegal defense. Awesome. Just awesome. We’re totally trying to keep the Lakers in it.
By the way, Brad Delp is awesome an all, but perhaps you’d enjoy this playing of More Than a Feeling more?
Oh YouTube related videos, how you waste my night. At least I have this to entertain me during five-minute TV timeouts.
10:13 p.m. - Pierce hits both free throws, and it’s 49-34. 15-point lead. Keep it up.
10:15 p.m. - It’s a KG sick turnaround for two points, and he’s 7-10 from the field tonight. Celts by 16. I’m so ridiculously excited, I’m just doing horrible play-by-play at this point. And Rondo throws in a floater in the lane, and we’re up 18. Shit. As Jamie Walters would say, hold on. And Jo Jo White is calling with my FOURTH RONDO PHONE CALL IN THE FIRST HALF.
10:18 p.m. - KG puts another one through. We’re up 20. He’s going to the line. I’ve watched the Pats. I’ve watched the Sox. And this is as crazy a lead as I’ve ever seen in a playoff game. But if this series has shown us anything, it’s that no lead is safe. Especially when the other time has an all-time great player on their team. Even if he’s not welcome in certain Colorado resorts.
10:20 p.m. - The second quarter is over. Garnett with 17 first-half points. You believe he’s the BIG TICKET. We end it on a 26-6 run. We’re 24 minutes away from an NBA championship. And we’re up 23 at the break. The Captain and the TRUTH has 10 points, 9 assists and we’re up 23! 58-35 at the HALF!
Michelle: “How did you have so much energy?”
Pierce: “It’s the NBA FINALS and WE’RE AT HOME!” “We’re not going to let our foot of the gas. I expect us to come out even harder in the second half!”
10:27 p.m. - I still like Dwayne Wade.
10:41 p.m. - I was driving myself crazy at the half. So I took a shower. Jen slept. And now we’re back. And Rondo hits a shot. And we’re up 25.
10:44 p.m. - Lakers definitely aren’t out of it, but the Celts are pouring it on. Ray Allen knocked down his first three of the second half, but now Fisher hits a layup and gets fouled. It’s a 24-point lead, but they could definitely come back. Perkins picked up three fouls in two minutes and eight seconds. I can’t make this up.
10:49 p.m. - I’m not blogging now and just started watching. I’ve lost my rhythm. Rondo is creating havoc with five steals already, and a nifty and-one that he completed for a three-point play. I’m actually a little depressed that JoJo White isn’t calling me.
10:53 p.m. - Rondo is playing his best game of the playoffs by far, and we’re up 29 points with less than 18 minutes to play. Holy shit.
10:59 p.m. - I can’t even comment on anything. I’m speechless. I just never expected a complete blowout in Game Six, and I’m waiting for the Lakers to make their run. They could still do it, but with a 29-point lead (now 82-53) and 4 minutes left, it’s becoming a bigger blowout. Now they just send Pierce to the line… and the Big Three have 48 to this point. Pierce tacks on another two points from the line to make it an even 50 and a 31-point lead.
11:01 p.m. - Jen’s back with a good one: “There’s still another quarter?” Yep. Unfortunately.
11:04 p.m. - Under 15 minutes to go. A 30-point lead. Feeling good still. Especially since I haven’t seen any Wipeout or Japanese Game Show commercials since the first half. If only I didn’t have to be up in six hours.
11:07 p.m. - Rondo strips Kobe. His sixth steal of the game. And he’s fouled on the other end. Rondo’s just been incredible. Can’t say enough about him. And Breen tells us he was three-and-a-half months old the last time the Celtics won. Get ready, Rondo. You’ve almost led them back.
11:11 p.m. - Lakers cut it to 25… and Rondo drives to the hole for a layup. With the third winding down, this is as good a time as any for the story. Rondo might be my favorite player on this team. I’ve got two t-shirts I bought: Big Baby Davis, that I wore tonight, and Rondo, that I’ve worn every night of the playoffs so far under my Ray Allen jersey that Jen bought me.
I hated Rondo early in the season. Hated him. He wasn’t the Big Three and he made a lot of mistakes. But he got better. He found a jump shot. He learned to pass the ball in traffic. And he started to make steals without making the fouls. I play a lot of NBA Live 08 too, and of course, I play my season as the Celtics. And I love playing with Rondo more than any other player. I can’t tell you how many games he’s had a double-double in points and assists or points and steals, or hell — even a triple double with points, assists and steals. And yeah, it’s a stupid video game, but Rondo’s great, and I love using him.
U wanna waste an hour and 8 minutes of your life? I did. I JUST GOT RONDO’D. I just saw the worst movie. I thought I would just have a chill night tonight. We had a team dinner earlier today, and after that, I thought I would come back to the room and watch a movie with my family. Soooo…we took a vote and decided on “One Missed Call.” Hands down it was the wackest, most horrible, sorry, miserable, lousy, inappropriate, disappointing, pathetic, deplorable, atrocious, awful movie I’ve ever seen in my life. I wanted to call the front desk and ask for my money back. I can not believe that movie was that bad. It definitely made my top 3 worst movies list.
Here’s my top three worst movies list:
1) Semi-Pro…it put me to sleep
2) One Missed Call…#$%&
3) The Mist…funny when it wasn’t supposed to be
What’s your top 3 worst movies?
Anyway, Rondo’s one of my favorite players, I love his blog, and he’s been huge for this team. Enough Rondo-loving. Back to the game.
11:17 p.m. - The Celtics have a 28-point lead with 11:49 to go. Hold on, boys. One time, as they say in poker. No suckouts.
11:18 p.m. - Rondo slashes to the hoop. Another bucket. He puts the Celtics back up by 30.
11:20 p.m. - Every blog entry begins with Rondo, but he makes the basket while getting flagrant fouled. He’s got to 20 points, five rebounds, foul assists and six steals. Pretty incredible. He makes one of two hoops, and he’s up to 21 points. PJ Brown comes out to nice applause, the Celtics run another great play and Baby goes up and gets fouled hard. He might not be hitting double digits like I predicted earlier, but he’s played some great minutes tonight.
11:23 p.m. - Ray Allen drains another 3-pointer on an assist from who else — Rondo — and the Celtics are back up 30. Turiaf drains one on the other side though, and it’s back to 28. 9 minutes to go. This is getting close.
11:24 p.m. - Ray Allen drains ANOTHER 3-pointer. Didn’t I just write that? We’re leading by 31! “Isn’t there a slaughter rule like in softball?” says Jen between catnaps on my shoulder. Is there a slaughter rule in softball?
11:26 p.m. - Oh man! In the only close competition of the night, ABC airs its third promo for Wipeout, and we’ve only seen two promos for Japanese Game Show!
11:28 p.m. - Ho hum. Another Ray Allen three. Another Rondo assist. Ray’s abusing them. He’s making his case for Finals MVP. Although I think it’s still going to be Paul Pierce. Rondo with another rebound. Garnett hits on the other end. It’s a 36-point lead with 8 minutes to go.
I’m calling it. It’s over.
11:30 p.m. - Rondo out for Eddie House. A great ovation. That might be it for him for the year, and what a way to go out. Best game of his year, I think.
11:33 p.m. - Doc’s starting to pull the starters, but Ray Allen wanted another three first. So he went. And he got it. Everybody was pulling for Pierce to win the MVP, but with Ray’s line of 8-for-12 shooting, including 7-of-9 from three-point land, four rebounds, two assists, he’s making it hard. Pierce wanted the three-pointer too.
11:37 p.m. - They’re still waiting to check in the subs. Van Gundy’s speculating that Doc is going to take out Pierce, Garnett and Allen all at the same time. I hope he’s right. Nothing would be more fitting.
11:38 p.m. - The PGA Tour comes out of the game. The Big Three check out. And they’re going to all win their first NBA championship. There’s a lot of hugs going on on the court. A referee just pulled a cameraman off the court and Pierce, Doc and KG all have a hug. Pierce won’t let Doc go. A pretty good moment.
11:40 p.m. - If you told me the Celtics, at any point in this game, would have a line of Glen Davis, Leon Powe, Tony Allen, James Posey and Eddie House, I would have thought you were crazy. And the final stats are in, and the Big Three are good so far for 69 of the 118 points.
11:42 p.m. - The Celtics are KILLING the Lakers. Everyone’s hugging. We need Suzyn Waldman at this game. “Of ALL the DRAMATIC THINGS I’ve ever SEEN! Bill Belichick is in Wyc’s box! And look at the Celtics bench! Paul Pierce is smiling! He knew! Garnett and Doc are hugging! Oh My Gawd.”
11:44 p.m. - Sorry, got carried away there. It’s 123-85. We’re up 38 points. Just amazing.
11:49 p.m. - An alley-oop with a reverse jam from Tony Allen. He was saving that for tonight.
11:50 p.m. - Pierce just dumped the Gatorade all over Doc Rivers, who’s now, thanks to red gatorade, wearing a pink shirt. Danny Ainge doesn’t seem to mind, and he comes down for a hug. Good times.
11:54 p.m. - It’s over. The team swarms the court. The Celtics have won 17. And Red’s smiling from above, smoking a cigar no doubt.
11:56 p.m. - Michelle: “blah blah blah, Kevin, what do you think of this?”
Kevin: “Anything’s possible. ANYTHING’S POSSSSSSSSSSIBLEEEEEEEE!” Now he’s just screaming. He’s gone crazy. Michelle can’t get an answer out of him. But he did tell her she looks good again. That’s nice of him.
11:57 p.m. - Garnett just hugged Bill Russell.
KG: “I hope we made you proud.”
Russell: “You did, Kevin.”
12:01 a.m. - I can’t believe they did it. Banner Number 17. And I will be at Opening Night. Now they’re playing Beautiful Day and giving the Celtics the Larry O’Brien trophy. This could not be any better. Unless I paid $500 for a ticket to go tonight.
12:02 a.m. - “The 2008 NBA Champion, for the 17th time — a record — your Boston Celtics. Someplace, somewhere, Red is lighting up a cigar.” I think David Stern is reading the blog.
Ok, fine, I guess he’s not.
12:04 a.m. - Last year, people — myself included — were calling for Doc’s head. Now? I’m loving watching gatorade get poured on his head as they show the replay again. And as Doc talks after the game, the fans chant defense one last time this season.
12:05 a.m. - Back to Stern for the MVP? Pierce? Hell yes it’s Pierce. “It is the Truth, the MVP of the 2008 MVP Finals is Paul Pierce.”
12:07 a.m. - Now we go to Ray Allen who hit a record number of threes in this year’s NBA finals. Pretty awesome. Jesus saved.
12:09 a.m. - “We Are the Champions” echoing through TD Banknorth Garden. Just an awesome freaking moment. I’ll have to wait to see all the playoff games in person until next year.
I’m out on that. I can’t think of anything better. We got number 17. And the iconic image of Pierce holding the O’Brien trophy and the MVP trophy — that’s going to stay with me until opening day next year.
I saw this on Deadspin.com and simply had to post it. Because when I go back and look at Red Sox tags, I want to laugh my ass off. The actual story is on Roto-World, here.
Last season at Fenway, a funny thing happened in Section 41. About 10 guys were there to celebrate some guy’s 40th birthday party (his name was “Hammer”) as well as another person’s 15th wedding aniversary. Most of them were out of towners that were not even real die-hard Red Sox fans, but the point is that they came in smashed and continued to drink like fish while there. By the second inning, we start to find out one reason why the “Hammer” is called the “Hammer”. He pulls out of his shirt pocket some pictures of his recent trip to some Caribbean Island. The first few pictures look innocent enough with him and some hot chick who apparently was his ex-wife. The 4th picture shocks you: his ex-wife is COMPLETELY naked…and it goes on from there…we’re talking about a complete pornographic sequence here. And they were passing these pictures around to each other and also to nearby fans having a jolly good time discussing the hammering ability of the “Hammer” among many other things.
One of them gets the idea that the “moneyshot” picture should be shown to the players in the Red Sox bullpen. So he folds the picture and flicks it over the railing so that it lands in the steps of the bullpen. And that is when the party really started.Papelbon comes out of the dugout during the game holding the picture in his hand with a bemused face looking for the guy who threw the picture. The whole section starts buzzing with excitement and Papelbon and the “Hammer’s” friend who threw the picture start talking to each other. I cannot hear what was said, but during the next half-inning break, Papelbon emerges. The section goes nuts again and this time Papelbon signals to the “Hammer” to get ready to catch a pitch, and he throws a baseball to the “Hammer”. It was signed by the entire Red Sox bullpen, and they wrote “Thanks for the bullpen pics”.
Naturally, everyone started going crazy at this point, and the Hammer’s friend tried to get more signed baseballs. Throughout the rest of the game, Papelbon, Timlin and one other reliever were talking and joking around with the Hammer’s friends and a deal was worked out whereby the “Hammer” would sign one of the pictures (he signed it “Thanks for the autographed baseball, The Hammer”) and allow the Red Sox to keep the picture in their bullpen in exchage for more signed baseballs. Meanwhile, everyone in the stadium can see the craziness going in with the Red Sox bullpen. Even the security guard was shown the pictures and her reaction was quite priceless. All in all, it was quite the day and quite the scene.
The attached pics show Papelbon’s excited reaction to seeing one of the pictures and one of the signed baseballs (”The Hammer” is the one in the blue shirt).
Just ridiculous. Papelbon might be the craziest pitcher the Red Sox have ever had, with Bill “Spaceman” Lee a close second… but Manny still wins.
I’m blogging at 4:30 a.m. on Monday, and I can’t sleep. I don’t know if it’s because:
1) My room is probably about 75-80 degrees, and even with the fan, I’m still not comfortable.
2) I took a four (maybe more) hour nap this afternoon, just because if I was awake I would have paced around crazy waiting for Game 2 to start
or
3) I still haven’t come down from Game 2, where the Celtics beat the Lakers and are two wins away from raising banner number 17 at the Garden next year. I’m very glad I already bought my 2008-2009 season tickets, because if I hadn’t bought them already, they’re probably going to sell out.
Basically, win number 14 of this postseason wasn’t in doubt — until it was, with about two minutes left in the game. The Celtics led big throughout the third and fourth (24 points!!!) until the Lakers made their run. FWIW, the Lakers never tied it, but did get to two points away on a Kobe free throw.
It’s honestly the best case scenario for what happened though. You’ll hear some, including Doc, making the case that they let the Lakers psyche back into the series with their run, but I don’t think that’s the case. Do you know how demoralizing it must be to cut 22 points of a 24-point lead and not be able to tie it and get your team back into the game? What’s more, how do you think the Celtics will play with a lead — any lead — for the rest of the series? They clearly know now that no lead is safe against this team, and Sasha (because I can’t spell his last name) and Derek Fisher aren’t going to be left open to drain three-pointers all freaking night.
Plus, the Lakers shooting the lights out in the fourth? Insane. I don’t think I’ve seen a team shoot like that, especially in a playoff game. It was, by all accounts, incredible, and Kobe used dribble penetration to make his whole team better on the wings, while playing unconscious himself. Still, it wasn’t enough and the Celtics squeaked out the victory… now they’re only tasked with winning one of the next three really in Los Angeles, bringing the series back to Boston, and finishing off the Lakers.
What else this means? Even if the absolute worst-case scenario does happen — the Celtics blow three games in Los Angeles — they still get to come back home where they’re 12-1 so far in the postseason with a chance to win two and bring title #17 to the rafters. I’m cautiously optimistic, but still — pretty incredible.
Um… power outage shortly before Game 2 of the NBA finals? Thanks a lot, NStar.
I’ve seriously been waiting around all day, can’t really focus on anything other than the fact that Game 2 starts now in 75 minutes. I can’t watch pregame coverage, and now I can’t watch the effing game. I can barely blog, thanks to the Internet connection on my XV6700 and my laptop, but those batteries are slowly dying as well. It can’t help that I’m charing my phone off my dying computer since my phone has a low battery itself.
If the power doesn’t come back on by 8:30-8:45, I could go watch the game at a restaurant/bar, I could call one of my friends in the area and watch the game there, or I just talked to Jen, who offered to come back to her apartment and we could watch the game there (plus, she has central air!). We’ll see what ends up happening, but this is really pretty shitty. Oh well. What can you do.
Mike and I have connected a power inverter to his car and then run two extension cords to the house. We can only have one laptop plugged in at a time though, and we just learned that the hard way. Anyway, lets hope we get power back shortly, because I need to see The Captain and THE TRUTH destroy the Lakers again tonight.
I forgot to throw this up there the other day. It’s the Magic/Bird ad. Pretty freakin awesome, although Larry Legend is looking a bit bigger these days… But who am I to talk?
The NCNA conference was pretty awesome. Learned a lot of new things, networked with some good people and picked up tips for revising the Council’s website and planning an awards night program. I really hope I can get both of those things done, as they’d be awesome for us.
I didn’t blog at all about the Celtics big win over the Pistons, knocking them out 4-2 in the Eastern Conference Finals. Needless to say, I was pretty pleased, and I can’t wait until Thursday to watch the PGA Tour take on the Lakers in the NBA Finals. Barring any miracle, this will be the first Game 1 of the Celtics playoff run I’ve watched on TV, as I’ve been in the building for Game 1 of every other series. Oh well. I guess I’ll just have to wait until I have season tickets next year.
It’s been crazy not really having a weekend. I worked last Thursday, went to class on Friday, then traveled to DC/Baltimore on Saturday (saw Manny hit 500 from our seats in the uppder deck of Camden Yards, thanks very much), then onto NCNA on Sunday/Monday/Tuesday. Flew home Tuesday afternoon, and here I am, ready to go to work on Wednesday.
I’ve got a ton of papers/presentations due for class on Friday. Need to find some way to knock those out of the park, but in the meantime, I’m excited: I’ve been admitted to Suffolk University for the 2008-2009 school year. Now I just need to wait for my Financial Aid information to come in and I’ll be all set to hit the books and study for a MPA/MSPS.
Blogging’s going to be sporadic over the next few days, as I’m heading to Washington DC for the NCNA Annual Meeting and the Nonprofit Congress. I haven’t spent a weekend in DC since I was visiting Kim maybe in September/October 2004? That’s crazy.
I’m completely in love with the city, and it’ll be nice to see it again. But NCNA has a pretty ambitious schedule for us, so there won’t be much time to roam around my old haunts, particularly The Diner in the Adams-Morgan area. Oh well. Definitely will probably need to make a return trip there soon.
Also catching the Sox game in Baltimore Saturday night against the O’s, so that’s awesome. We’ll see how everything else goes.
