Saturday Night Fight

As the NBA and Stanley Cup Playoffs swing into full gear, boxing is coming in with consecutive weekends consisting of very good fights.  This Saturday’s fight features Shawn Porter (26-2-1) and Andre Berto (31-4-0).

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With Berto coming off a knockout victory over Victor Ortiz in his last fight, he looks to build momentum and try and gain relevance in his division again.  Prior to the Ortiz fight, Andre Berto fought Floyd Mayweather and narrowly lost in a fight which he was just out skilled.

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In Shawn Porter’s recent fight, he squared up with an undefeated Keith Thurman.  This fight went the distance and overall was an amazing fight. These two exchanged serious blows with each other, but ultimately, Thurman won the unanimous decision.  Prior to that, Porter also faced Adrien Broner which was a fight some considered him an underdog.  Porter controlled the entire fight and aside from being knocked down in the last round he still promisingly won on the score cards.

This fight is going to feature two fighters who have recent losses and desire to regain respect in their weight class.  I’d expect to see these two exchanging a lot of punches because they’re both aggressive fighters who are tough competitors.  This fight is highly anticipated and could get the attention of attracting maybe a big future fight with other big name fighters.  Both of these fighters have a lot to prove Saturday night, this is a big time fight.

Denver Ices Duluth In Frozen Final

The long forgotten Frozen Four was finished up over the weekend. The final four teams in this year’s hockey finale were Harvard, Notre Dame, Denver and Minnesota-Duluth. For us New Englanders, the team to watch was the Harvard Crimson coached by former Boston Bruin Ted Donato. The opener contest was scheduled for last Thursday, so let’s quickly look back at that.

Harvard took on Minnesota-Duluth in a match-up of contrasting styles. The Crimson and the Bulldogs would match each other blow for blow, and would be tied until the final 26 seconds of the game. The boys from Duluth were able to squeak one by Harvard on a beautiful feed. The puck just squeaked through the legs of the Harvard goaltender. Harvard had chance late, but the goalies best friend (the post) was able to keep the game at 2-1 for Duluth.

Denver made sure there was no luck of the Irish. As the Pioneers blew out the Norte Dame 6-1, and let me say this quickly, this game was over at the end of the second period. The Pio’s lead 5-0, and as the number one ranked team, they don’t blow 5 goal leads. Thanks for coming, Notre Dame.

The final was set for Saturday night, Minnesota-Duluth and Denver. And one player would really be the scoring difference in this one.

Denver’s Jarid Lukosevicius scored 3 second period goals, two of which came 16 seconds apart, and led the Pioneers to their 8^th Natty Title. Denver won 3-2, and Lukosevicius’ hat trick was the difference in this one. He is the first player since his head coach Jim Montgomery did it back in the day for Lake Superior State in 1993, but he did that in a losing effort. So maybe it was good karma this time around.

The Olympic hero Troy Terry netted a duo of assists and goaltender Tanner Jaillet stopped 38 shots in the winning effort. Terry’s drive to the net for the second assist was one for the highlight film; this kid is going to be a big time pro one day. Good win for Denver, and great effort by Duluth, this was the third time the two had met this season.

So now us college sports people turn our attention to the diamond and the field, as baseball and lacrosse will start to heat up. It will be great for these two sports to get recognition down the stretch.

Stay handsome to everyone out there!

Change Of Hart?

Canada is a country known for its unity, passion, and support. Examples of that in the sporting world is the tremendous passion displayed for the Toronto Raptors and or the Blue Jays when they reach the playoffs, despite geographic differences. What pales in comparison to both the support of Canada’s last remaining professional baseball and basketball teams is its support for Sidney Crosby, and then hockey. Like Gretzky and Lemieux before him, Crosby has dazzled at both the professional and international level. An experience that has been robbed from hockey fans recently, but that’s a blog for another day.

Canadian’s adore Crosby, he is the poster child for success at the NHL level. While perfectly embodying what it means to be a consummate professional.

In his wake, however is his adversary of sorts, Connor McDavid. Reaching the 100 point mark last Sunday is just the beginning of Mr. McDavid’s historic season. Edmonton is back in the playoffs for the first time since the Iphone was just a blueprint, and he is the biggest reason why. While Cam Talbot’s performance in net, Patrick Maroon’s turn around season, and the addition of Milan Lucic all absolutely help the cause, only one man can drive the bus.

Sid the kid was no slouch this season either amassing 89 points, winning the Rocket Richard Trophy, and obtaining and then hurtling 1,000 career points. Proving why yet again Pittsburgh should be your favorite to come out of the east.

That love for Crosby may migrate, slightly, in the future towards McDavid.

Sure, Crosby will zero in on a chance to compete for his third ring, while McDavid and the young Oilers may be star struck in their maiden voyage towards the playoffs. But where either of them end up mid June isn’t the purpose of the discussion.

We’re now witnessing a similar Gretzky or Lemieux who is better debate. Understanding the fact that the Ovechkin/Crosby conversation has been persistent, to the point of ad nauseam even.

For the first time in a long time we yet again have two Canadians competing for bragging rights on who contributes the most to their team. Crosby has cast his shadow, McDavid wishes to write his own story.

The final frontier isn’t who wins the Hart this year, but who will win the potential face to face match-up for hockey’s ultimate prize.

Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is

Just two weeks removed from Gennady Golovkin’s (37-0-0) bout against Daniel Jacobs (32-2-0), he still stands undefeated and one of boxing’s premier stars following the “retirement” of Floyd Mayweather.  As Gennady “GGG” Golovkin recovers from an extremely tough fight that was won by a unanimous decision; he looks to see who his next opponent will be to try and over throw the unified undefeated middleweight champ.

There’s been a lot of talk about him having a drop off after a 23 knockout streak that started November 22,2008.  Personally, I don’t understand them because, GGG managed to put Jacobs on the canvas in the 4th round.  It was a hard fought fight for both fighters; you could tell within the first three rounds that Jacobs was being cautious of GGG’s punching power.  The poor start failed Jacobs on the score card and Ganndy Golovkin remain on top of the middleweights.

So what’s next?

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The boxing world awaits to see what happens on May 6, when Canelo Alvarez and Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. square off in their super super middleweight mega fight.  Why this is relevant is because GGG has attended Alvarez’s fights before hand.  When Canelo had his knockout victory over Amir Khan; when being interviewed GGG proceeded to take verbal jabs at him, stating that the fight needs ti happen between them.

Putting these two in the ring together could generate so many paper view buys and put the boxing world in an exciting spot.  These are two fighters who’re extremely talented and arguably the most watched in boxing currently.  There are a lot of young prospects rising the ranks and gaining attention but currently, we need to see this fight between Gannedy Golovkin and Canelo Alvaerz.  They can easily agree on a weight, both sides are being to difficult as they know they need to strike while the irons hot so they can think in a business sense and break the bank and earn as much money as possible if/when this fight happens.

We have to remember Muhammad Ali went out of his way to fight Joe Frasier. They fought numerous times, along with other fighters George Foreman, Sonny Liston, and Ken Norton.  Never the less that was boxing’s best era and it fair to say the fan base isn’t what it once used to be.  The renaming question is why is it difficult to get stars like this in this generation?  What it seems like is money has over masked the sport and made things setting up a fight that much more difficult.  If Canelo and GGG can find a way to reach an agreement after May 6th; the boxing world would be at an all time high.  Seeing those two fight would be a hot ticket for the WBC and all of the fans.

What you might have missed?

The past weekend has been crazy. Rumors are swirling in the NBA, Super Bowl Media week started, two tennis legends are back on the mountain top, and the NHL and NFL all star game ensued.

NBA

Rumors continue to swirl about Carmelo Anthony, but just how true are they? Well…unfortunately, for Anthony, it looked like his stock is way down and the Knicks are looking to get rid of him for next to nothing for the caliber of player he is. The Clippers, Celtics, and Cavaliers have been linked as potential suitors for Melo. The Celtics have come out and said they weren’t interested, but they might be interested in being the third team  in a deal to help the Knicks and Clippers complete a trade. The stumbling Cavs are likely out as well as the combination of Lebron, Kyrie, and Melo would probably sour in Cleveland very quickly.

The rumor mill is also firing up with Jimmy Butler’s name in the center of it. Rajon Rondo’s comments about the Bulls on his Instagram page didn’t go unnoticed. Tempers are flaring and what was thought to be a contender in the East, has fallen a long way off. NBA analysts have talked about the Bulls calling the Celtics in regards to a trade between the two teams involving Butler.

NHL

The NHL All star skills competition and game took place this weekend in Los Angeles. The Atlantic came out on top in the skills competition with 9 points, but the highlight of the night was when Ryan Kesler’s son took part in the final shootout competition. Kesler’s son took the puck down the ice and dangled Montreal goalie Carey Price and slid the puck 5-hole, then followed it with an even better celebration.

The All Star game took place Sunday afternoon in the new 3v3 format. The Metropolitan division took the crown with a 10-6 victory against the Atlantic, with Wayne Simmonds getting the MVP award.

Tennis

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Roger Federer and Serena Williams made history this weekend in Australia taking home the men’s and women’s title in the Austalian open, the first major championship of the year.

Roger won his 5th Aussie open title and 18th major championship overall, the most in the open era. Federer took on his longtime rival Rafael Nadal and took him down in an epic 5 set match.

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Serena Williams cruised through the competition winning her 7th Aussie Open title and her 23rd major championship overall, a record in the open era. Williams took on her sister Venus for the first time in a final since 2009. Serena coasted to a 6-4, 6-4 victory.

NFL

The NFL held their first skills competition since the mid 2000’s and it was an extreme waste of time. If you didn’t watch it, you did not miss out. The Pro Bowl however was a much more entertaining game with the AFC edging out a victory 20-13. It was a rare defensive battle where there was multiple turnovers and somewhat entertaining football, something we have not seen a lot from in past Pro Bowls.

On top of the Pro Bowl, the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots made their way to Houston. Media week is under way and the rest of our NFL coverage including predictions will be posted later this week so be on the look out!

The 5 Worst Athlete-Raps of All-Time

Once you’ve reached the top of the mountain as an athlete, there seems to be an itch to discover if you have any other hidden talents. For some, it’s owning a restaurant. Others? Perhaps breaking into the fashion industry. Then, there’s hip-hop. Ah yes, the athlete-rapper. Nothing says “I’m a beast on the mic” like ghostwritten lyrics that have been carefully combed over by a PR staff and an agent to make sure there’s no possibility of anything remotely controversial. From Shaq all the way to Damian Lillard, athletes have been trying their skills on the beat for decades. While some show some actual talent, others.. Well, you’ll just see. Here is the 5 worst athlete-rappers of all time.

5. LeBron James

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp9WQU1Rr8Q

On the court, LeBron James is a beast. He just won his third NBA title, and he brought Cleveland their first title since your Grandma was selling girl-scout cookies. On the mic, however, he leaves a lot to be desired. The best way to describe LeBron’s rap style is a G-rated version of Cam’ron. It almost sounds like he wouldn’t be half bad if it wasn’t for the fact that he can’t say anything remotely controversial. The same censorship used in Kidz-Bop is basically what we’re looking at for LeBron James.

The highlight (if you want to call it that) of LeBron James’ rap career is definitely his remix of the 2013 Jay-Z joint “Fuckwithmeyouknowigotit”. Of course, actually swearing would be much too edgy (gasp), so LeBron raps “roll with us ’cause you know we got it”. However, he does have some harsh criticism for the haters on this one, saying “it’s a damn shame you ever doubted”. Wow. Don’t play this one with the kids around or they might need counseling. He continues to lay into the haters, rapping “say what you want about the king, got money, got cribs, got whips and oh yeah, got 2 rings!” Damn. He even said the 2 rings part like 2-Chainz says “Twooooo Chaiiiinz!” This man is not to be messed with. I bet if you saw him on the street, he might not even sign an autograph for you. Let’s just hope when he retires from basketball nobody is encouraging him to pick up a microphone again.

4: John Cena

You knew it was coming. Though I definitely have a soft-spot for “The Time is Now”, the fan-favorite trumpet blaring anthem, John Cena as a rapper is total garbage. Cena has lived the past year of his life in meme purgatory; word has it he’s staying in the same cell as Harambe and Ted Cruz.

The incriminating selection for John Cena is “All Day” a song that hilariously features Wiz Khalifa. This one is actually more recent, it was released back in 2014. What really does it in for Cena is having an actual rapper on the Saturday me song as him. When it’s just John Cena, it’s harder to realize how bad he actually is. What makes it worse is his flow. He sounds like a 7th grader with a reading problem who just got picked on to read aloud in front of the class. He sounds like the rapper version of the guy with the weird voice on the Arby’s commercial. I almost expected him to drop a “we have the meats” line somewhere in there. John Cena is a terrifying man, but it’s hard to take him seriously when he raps “I’m ’bout to go on trial… Murdering instrumentals”, and the killer closing line “I got four fingers, I’m giving you the middle one”. Whoa. Take it easy man. I don’t want any problems here.

3: Le’Veon Bell (aka Juice)

Le’Veon is the first person on this list to have actually crafted himself a rap name and release a mixtape. This isn’t that impressive, considering he probably has nothing else to do during his annual suspensions. In fact, one has to suspect that late nights in the studio with a little bit of creative smoke clouds probably led to these suspensions. One thing smoking a lot of weed didn’t do for Le’Veon bell is make him a better rapper.

His rap style sounds like he is trying to say something mean about someone across the room without raising his voice too loud. The monotone thing doesn’t really work out for Le’Veon, a.k.a Juice, and he should definitely stick to playing in the NFL.

In hindsight, this song is fucking hilarious because it basically predicts his suspension long before it happens. This song was released in early April, and it contains the following:

“They collectin’ all my piss like there is somethin’ in my system
I don’t feel ’em though, ask me do I get it, no  
They want me off the field, I guess I kinda gotta feel ’em though”

Well. Juice is basically saying he doesn’t know why they keep making him pee in a cup. Maybe that’s why he was so reluctant to show up for his drug test. Not only is that lyric direct foreshadowing of his suspension, it’s also kinda gross. Name one other rapper that would rap about someone collecting their urine. I’m waiting. (Josh Gordon doesn’t rap)

2: Peyton and Eli Manning

Look. I know it’s a joke, but if there’s anyone that can make themselves look like a couple of assholes even when they’re joking, it’s the Manning brothers. I don’t understand what they were really going for. Peyton has a shaggy 80s creep haircut, and Eli looks like someone put Napoleon Dynamite in the microwave for 30 seconds and smushed his face in. I have to say, however, the best part of this video is when Peyton asks “what do you think Alexander Graham Bell would say if he saw you watching football on your phone?” and Eli busts through the painting with “who cares? Dude’s dead!” I feel like the Manning brothers may have comedic potential in the future, but definitely not a music career. Never again.

1: Serena Williams

Ok before I say anything else, this beat is fire. The person on the track? No. No. No. Pretty much the only good thing about this song is that it’s only 1:10 long. The best (or worst, depending on how you look at it) lyric here is definitely “Swag out this world, you should call me Venus. That’s my sister, I’m Serena”. Thanks for the introduction. I wasn’t sure. From the sounds of it, this track came to be while Serena was hanging out with some NFL linebacker. I just hope there isn’t more where this came from.

 

A-Rod Bids A-Dieu

Stunning news hit the headlines of the New York Times this week. Three-time Most Valuable Player, Alex Rodriguez announced that he will hang up his cleats for the final time after Friday’s game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Rodriguez is just four homeruns shy of 700 and ranks 4^th for the most homeruns in MLB history. A-Rod’s storied career has been filled with endless amounts of drama, ranging from on the field brawls, to performance enhancing drug use. It is shocking that one of the most productive players for over 20 years would retire so abruptly. Nowadays, we are used to having the Derek Jeters, David Ortizes, and Kobe Bryants of the world announce that it will be their final season so he all the corny gifts and praise throughout the season. A-Rod is arguably the most talented player to ever play the game, so why did the Yankees ask him to no longer be an active player on their roster? Is it because he’s a pompous ass? Probably. But I also think it may be because the Yankees are a step ahead of the game and taking a page from one of their rivals.

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Following the game on Friday, Rodriguez will be released from the team and added as an advisor to the players. This means that A-Rod will still receive the $27 million that he has left on his contract which will count against the luxury-tax. So it seems like the Yankees aren’t gaining anything.

A-Rod’s deteriorating talent is allowing the Yankees to play younger players. Let’s look at the Red Sox of a few years ago. Their horrible 2014 and 2015 seasons allowed them to play Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley, and Xander Bogaerts on a daily basis. This most certainly helped develop them into the players they are today. If the Yankees decide to take this approach, it will allow them to develop their farm systems under the watchful eye of one of the best players of all time, A-Rod. At the ripe age of 18, A-Rod joined the MLB and has the experience to teach the young studs in the system to become productive players.

Though I do believe the Yankees had enough of A-Rod’s dramatics, the way they handled this situation works out for both parties. The Yankees are on a complete overhaul and have taken huge strides to become competitive again in the American League East. Look out for the Bronx Bombers come next year, they seem primed to make major moves during the offseason and have acquired young pieces to be talented for years to come.

Follow FI on Twitter @FIsports and on Facebook.

Cavaliers Take Advantage of Draymond Green Suspension to Force Game 6, So What Now?

There is a common saying in the NBA that a playoff series doesn’t begin until a team wins on the road. While this is usually the case in most situations, it appeared to be the exact opposite in the 2016 NBA Finals. The Golden State Warriors went to Cleveland up 2-0 in the series, already crowned presumptive NBA Champions by many. While the Cavaliers were able to dominate in Game 3, a strong road win by the Warriors in Game 4 behind a 38-point performance from back-to-back MVP Steph Curry had most basketball fans agreeing the series was essentially over. Instead of starting a competitive series by winning on the road, the Warriors ended it.

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Or so we thought.

Big news came out Sunday night when the NBA announced Draymond Green would be suspended for Game 5 after his altercation with LeBron James in the later stages of Game 4 was upgraded to a flagrant-1 foul. Green had already been under the microscope this postseason for three previous flagrant fouls, and the most recent one warranted an automatic one game suspension.

This suspension was met with much controversy from the media, fans and players. Klay Thompson, reacting to the news, said “I guess his feelings just got hurt. I mean, we’ve all been called plenty of bad words on the basketball court before. Some guys just react to it differently.” When asked about Thompson’s comments, James chose to take the “high road,” a statement that was mocked by Ayesha Curry, wife of Steph Curry, who tweeted “High Road. invisible bridge used to step over said person when open floor is available left to right.”

James received harsh criticism for this response, primarily from Mychal Thompson, father of Klay Thompson, who continued the recent trend of former NBA players in their mid-50’s complaining about everything, said “LeBron couldn’t have survived in the 80s with the physicality and the words guys said to each other back then.”

I understand that LeBron should have shrugged this off, but given the intensity of the series and the fact that he was probably pissed off with how the game was going, you can see why he did it. That’s not to say it was acceptable, but if LeBron played nice and walked away, Draymond could have been in Game 5 and we could be talking about a series recap right now. The truth is, the suspension to Green may have been the small springboard of momentum the Cavaliers needed going into Game 5 to earn themselves a chance to fight again.

Despite Draymond Green being out of the lineup (and out of the building for that matter), it was hard to envision the Cavaliers winning this game. The way in which Golden State won Game 4, raining down three-pointers and stealing the game in front of the Cleveland faithful, appeared to take away any heart this Cavaliers team had left. The Warriors hit 17 three-pointers in Game 4, the most in NBA Finals history. With each drained bucket, the body language for every player on the Cavaliers went from bad to worse. Game 5 began with a flurry of offense from both teams, with the score 32-29 Golden State at the end of the first quarter. In the second, Klay Thompson seemingly draining a shot every time he touched the basketball, with four deep 3-pointers highlighting his performance in the first half.

However, once the second half began, the Cavs hit the gas. More importantly, LeBron James and Kyrie Irving caught fire. Both finished with 41 points, handling most of the heavy lifting for a Cavaliers roster that has struggled to match the depth of the Warriors. In similar situations last year during the Finals, LeBron had to churn out a solo effort in order to get the job done. Now, he has a wingman.

So, does this win shift the outlook of this series? Sure. Kyrie Irving finally had the game he needed in order to establish himself as a star in big moments, something we haven’t necessarily seen on his resume thus far in the league. Shades of it were present in Game 4, but this 41 point night had much more of an impact. In previous games, Irving appeared to fade under the spotlight, but somehow, he found a hot streak in the hostile confines of a rocking Oracle Arena. Additionally, we saw a killer instinct from LeBron James that hasn’t come out in a long, long time. That being said, none of it will matter if the Cavaliers can’t get it done on Thursday night. Despite the great game, they will still have a monster to contend with when Draymond Green returns. Despite 41 points from LeBron and Irving, the pressure is still on the Cavaliers, and they will have to prove they can handle it.

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Where is the Love?

Since returning from his concussion sustained in Game 1, you would think Kevin Love hasn’t actually returned from his concussion sustained in Game 1. He’s not doing himself any favors in proving he isn’t the odd man out on this Cavalier’s roster, and in Game 5 he finished just 1-5 with 2 points in 33 minutes of action. Someone needs to start a search party in Cleveland for this guy, because his picture is about to show up in the missing persons report. Love’s poor play has only fueled local Bostonians’ hopes of landing him next season, so it could shape up to be one interesting offseason.

What Jae Crowder’s Injury Means for the Celtics Moving Forward

Jae Crowder suffered a high ankle sprain in the Celtics’ loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday night, and is expected to miss a minimum of two weeks. While the injury shouldn’t have any long term effects on Crowder, it could have some long term effects on the Celtics. Crowder is an elite defender in the NBA and can shut down opposing teams’ key offensive weapons. Along with his stellar defense, he has become a much better offensive player than we’ve seen in the past. After being traded to Boston last season from the Dallas Mavericks, Crowder averaged 9.5 points per game. This season he is averaging a career high 14.4 ppg. The Celtics play Tuesday night in Indiana against the Pacers, Wednesday at home against the Thunder, and on the road against the Raptors on Friday night. These are three games that should not be taken lightly.

Let’s first look at the game against the Pacers. The guy opposing teams need to look out for on the Pacers is Paul George. George missed most of last season after sustaining a horrific lower leg injury the prior summer playing for Team USA. Now he’s back and looking like he did before the injury, averaging 23.3 points per game. The Celtics lead the season series 2-1, holding the Pacers to 100 points or less in each of the three games. But that could certainly change with the absence of Crowder. Crowder is a key defender for the Celtics, always playing with outstanding heart and hustle, and would be matched up against Paul George in tonight’s game if he were able to play. Now, the Celtics will be leaning on Evan Turner to slow down George. Turner looked lost on Friday night covering James Harden, as Harden put up 32 of the Rockets’ 102 points. Without Crowder to keep Paul George at bay, I believe the 7^th seed Pacers will beat the 3^rd seed Celtics in this game.

The Celtics will then look to win a game at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Oklahoma City’s record is 44-22 and are currently in 3^rd place in the superior Western Conference. The Thunder are a tough team to handle with their two super stars in Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant. Westbrook is head and shoulders above all other point guards in the NBA when it comes to shear speed and strength. He has the ability to take the ball to the rim in both the half court offense and in transition. However, with an elite perimeter defender in Avery Bradley and a defender coming into his own in Marcus Smart, the Celtics may just be able to slow down Westbrook enough to get the win.

But, oh wait. You still have to slow down Kevin Durant. Durant is another player that could be kept at bay with the defensive play of Jae Crowder. Avery Bradley is a candidate to cover Durant during Crowder’s absence, but Durant at 6’9” is much taller than the 6’2” Bradley, and could score easily in the post and could use his length to get shots off over Bradley in the mid-range game. This means that we will again turn to Evan Turner to cover the former MVP, Kevin Durant. I don’t have confidence in Turner covering Paul George, so I sure as hell don’t have faith in him covering Durant, who is pretty much just a better Paul George. Durant is averaging 28.1 ppg this season and I think we can count on him to put up more than that against the Celtics this Wednesday without Crowder in the rotation.

And now we’re on to Friday’s matchup against the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors are 2^nd in the Eastern Conference, currently sitting 6.5 games better than the 3^rd place Celtics. The Raptors are led by emerging superstar, DeMar DeRozan, who averages 23.3 ppg this season and a little over 30 ppg this month. DeRozan, at 6’7”, would be a good matchup for the Celtics’ D if Jae Crowder was playing. Are you seeing a theme here? Again, Avery Bradley is too small to cover DeRozan so we’re looking at Turner to take on the challenge. Turner, while still not a bad defender, just doesn’t have the size that Crowder does. And while you’ll see players on the Boston Celtics team showing tremendous hustle, I don’t know if anyone other than Bradley comes even close to the hustle that Crowder plays with. I’d put this down as another “L” on the Celtics’ upcoming schedule.

After the game in Toronto, the Celtics travel to Philadelphia to play the joke of the team that is the 76ers. This should be a win for the C’s no matter who is on the court. Then they will see the Magic at home, which I would expect another win from. But then the schedule picks up again. Before Crowder comes back, the Celtics will play the Raptors again, the Clippers, Trail Blazers, and possibly the potential best team in NBA history in the Golden State Warriors. Though playing the Warriors at home is an automatic loss for any team, I’d be confident in all these other games with a healthy Crowder. Crowder has become a valuable asset to the Celtics. His improvements with the three-ball and overall offensive production this year are great for a Celtics fan to see. And as always, his defense is one of the best in the NBA. Celtics fans should expect to lose some games in his absence and possibly drop in the Eastern Conference standings. There are three teams all within a 1.5 games of the 3 spot in the East. If the Celtics can’t hold it together without Crowder, don’t be surprised to see them head into the playoffs as a 5, 6 or maybe even 7 seed, rather than the 3^rd.

Trust or Bust? Who Won Deadline Day?

In the shadow of the NBA trade deadline, the NHL left a lot of teams in need of improvements for the late season push for the playoffs. While there was a multitude of teams who made deals, there were clear cut winners and losers. Which side of the fence is your team standing on?

Unsurprisingly Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman was working the phones hard, and it all worked out. Chicago landed Andrew Ladd, Dale Weise, Tomas Fleischmann, and Christian Ehrhoff. Now, if you can look past the fact that both Marko Dano and Phillip Danault who are talented prospects were dealt to make it all work, than this was just another spot of brilliance from one of the best hockey minds of our time. After all, Christian Ehroff for Rob Scuderi is an obvious win in my book.

I understand you may be tired of seeing Chicago enjoy this much success. Similarly to how everyone under the sun hates the Patriots. But.. too bad, besides the fact remains, once its over, you wont see anything like it for a long time.

Back in the summer of 2012 it must have been pretty special for Jordan Staal. He was traded from Pittsburg to Carolina to play alongside his Brother Eric. Aside from the whole playing in Carolina thing, it’s a unique experience to be playing professional sports with your brother.

Almost four years later it was older brother Eric’s turn for a change of scenery.

Destination? Big apple. Teammate, Rangers defensemen Marc Staal. Yes, they are all related. Carolina has been toying with the idea of trading their long term captain, and apparently now was the time. In return, Carolina received Aleksi Saarela and two future draft picks.

Which is understandable. Carolina isn’t going anywhere worthwhile anytime soon. So, the two future picks and talented prospect is exactly what the doctor ordered.

As for the Rangers they get a Stanley Cup champion caliber center. To me, the Rangers are incredibly deep down the middle of the ice, which in the playoffs is absolutely a difference maker. In the case of the Rangers, who just a couple weeks ago were sputtering, just put themselves back in the conversation.

Everyone and their grandma knew the Florida Panthers were desperately seeking a goal scoring winger. Well, they got more than that. Jiri Hudler and Teddy Purcell are more than capable veteran players for the playoffs. Hudler amassed 76 points last season. Purcell, is on pace for another 20 goal season. Together they should mesh nicely with a battle tested group of veterans and the up and coming nucleolus of youth.

Dallas… tisk tisk. You fell for the Kris Russell trap. Look, Dallas needs depth at the defensive position desperately which is by far their Achilles heel. It goes without saying, or at least it should that Kris Russell is a gimmick at best. He currently leads the league in the biggest pseudo stat, blocked shots. I haven’t even mentioned what they gave up. Prospect Jyrki Jokipakka, Brett Pollock, and a 2016 2nd round pick.

Yikes.

Kris Russell is bad but not nearly as bad as what the Boston Bruins decided was their saving grace.

John-Michael Liles, who I guess still plays in the NHL.. was sent to Boston in exchange for a 3rd and 5th round pick and AHL’er Anthony Camara. Which, again makes sense for Carolina. Nowadays draft picks are like gold, especially for a team drenched in mediocracy.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom in Boston. Veteran depth goal scorer Lee Stempniak who’s projected to put 21 in the net this year is a fine addition. However, I must add that it comes with minor disappointment only because he was offered a PTO by Boston during camp but was let go.

So Boston could have signed him as a free agent but missed out on the opportunity.

I digress.

His leadership should prove to be more valuable than his goal scoring ability as Boston pursues a playoff spot.

With the multitude of deals that were made at the deadline, there were clear cut winners and losers. The winners were the Blackhawks, Rangers, Panthers and Kings. The latter includes Dallas and Boston.

Time is the only indicator to measure success or failure. In the NHL the idealism is just to make the playoffs and you’ll never know what will happen. The 2010 Flyers and the 2012 Kings made the Cup finals as the 8th seed.

Need more convincing? Well in 2014 the Kings acquired Marian Gaborik to add a much needed scoring kick and it ended with their second Stanley Cup championship. Who knows, one of the names listed above could just be the next Marian Gaborik.