On Wednesday Kobe Bryant declared that he wanted to be traded. By Wednesday evening he had changed his mind after a conversation with his coach Phil Jackson. Even though Kobe retracted his trade wishes, every hungry team in the NBA should be burning the phone lines to Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak, including the Celtics. YES, you heard me correctly, the Celtics. If there is one sport where one person can make an immediate impact it is basketball and Kobe is one of those players. Would the Celtics package their #5 pick and Paul Pierce for Kobe? I don’t know how tempting it is for Danny Ainge but I would bite. Kobe is a scoring machine who can take over a game. He is 29 years old and once scored 81 points in a game. Prior to the NBA draft lottery there was renewed interest in the future and, more importantly, hope. All that fizzled with the words “ the fifth pick in the 2007 NBA draft goes to The Boston Celtics.” The thought of Kobe wearing green is enticing and tempting. Will the Celtics pick up the phone?

 

If you are looking to laugh, have a good time and help out a great cause at the same time there are two events this week that will satisfy those requirements and both support the Joey Fund. Tonight at the Comedy Connection in Faneuil Hall Eddie Andleman will host the first annual Comedy Extravaganza. Funny man Steve Sweeney and five other comedians will be busting your guts from 7pm – midnight. There will be a number of sports celebrities, a live auction and of course – all the hot dogs you can eat. If you can’t make it tonight, then head over to Suffolk Downs Sunday for the 18^th annual Hot Dog Safari. For a $10 donation you can play games, eat hot dogs, meet sports celebrities and help families with Cystic Fibrosis. Joey O’Donnell was one of my heroes; he died of CF more than 20 years ago but his feisty spirit flourishes thanks to the relentless efforts of his mother Kathy and his father Joe. So when you are looking for something to do tonight or Sunday, do something for Joey. You won’t regret it.

I am not worried about the Red Sox. I am not even really worried about Curt Schilling, but C'mon Curt- you are supposed to be the man!

I know it's only May, but it was the Yankees and you looked like you were throwing BP (batting practice). I mean even Doug Mientkiewicz took you deep. That's Doug .231 Mientkiewicz.

Curt, you can look mediocre against  Baltimore, which you did 12 days ago, and even against Detroit, like you did 7 days ago, but these are the Yankees. I don't care if they were 10 1/2 games out. Put them out of their misery. End their season. You had the chance to do that and you laid an egg-giving up 6 runs in 6 innings. Lay an egg against Tampa not the Yankees. You'd better hope that lackluster performance doesn't come back to bite the team in September. 

 

 

took you deep

With the Bruins and Celtics both relegated to spectators for the playoffs interest in the NBA and NHL postseason is almost nonexistent. Without looking at the sports page, how many of you can tell me which teams are still alive in both leagues? Playoff basketball and hockey used to be a right of spring here in Boston. Scoreboard watching was mandatory to check out future playoff opponents, players to fear and villains to despise. We have become a two sport town with the Red Sox and Patriots overlapping for most of the year. The only gap that exists is the two weeks between the Super Bowl and the reporting date for pitchers and catchers. Once the Celtics and Bruins seasons end their respective sports become irrelevant in this town. Patriots mini camp and a Red Sox injury report garner more attention than the Suns-Spurs or the Red Wings-Ducks. Sadly we are out of touch with the boys of winter.

 

Fenway Park has had some unusual event this season. Four consecutive home runs against the Yankees, some of the largest crowds of all time and on Monday night, the first complete game this season by a Red Sox pitcher. As a matter of fact the nine innings pitched by Dice K was only the 20^th complete game pitched in the entire major leagues this season. Somewhere pitchers of yesterday are chuckling. For instance former Sox hurler Cy Young tossed 41 complete games in 1902. The Bambino, Babe Ruth, threw 35 complete games for the Sox in 1917. Mel Parnell had 27 of them in 1949, Jim Lonborg had 18 in 1967, Luis Tiant was on the hill for 25 complete games in 1974. The Rocket, Roger Clemens had 18 complete games in 1987 and Pedro Martinez started and finished 7 games in 2000. Since that year there have not been more than 3 complete games thrown by any Sox pitcher. So when you marvel at Dice K’s night, tip you cap to those who spent far more time soaking their arm in a tub of ice after a game.

 

This week should be a decent test for the Red Sox. After winning fourteen of nineteen against the weak American League East, the Sox will get some of the iron over the next seven days. The defending American League champion Detroit Tigers are in town until Thursday night followed by the perennial National League East champion Atlanta Braves. The Tigers began the week in first place in the AL Central division even though they are without 17 game winner Kenny Rogers who is recovering from a blood clot. The Tigers have added some punch to their lineup this year with the addition of the ever dangerous, Gary Sheffield. And as a bonus the Sox have four days to audition in front of this years All Star manager Jim Leyland. On the weekend the Braves come to town. The Braves don’t have their usual quality pitching but they still have some guys who can mash, especially Andruw Jones and don’t forget former Red Sox shortstop Edgar Renteria, who ran up an eighteen game hit streak this season. Quality baseball, all week long at Fenway.

 

How was that for a Mother’s Day gift? Over 36,000 at Fenway had more than one reason to celebrate yesterday. As mom’s throughout the region were feted with brunch, flowers and gifts there were a number of mother’s treated to the Red Sox - Orioles game. A brilliant sun bathed the ballpark as mothers were promised they could come down to the field and run the bases after the game with their children. The end of the game couldn’t come soon enough as the Sox were being handcuffed by Baltimore pitcher Jeremy Guthrie who was inexplicably removed in the bottom of the ninth when the mother of all comebacks began. Down 5-0, with little hope, the sox roared all the way back with 6 runs to give all of the moms a gift that is impossible to wrap. Great stuff for mom, who always deserves the best!

There are some major league rookies, 2nd year players (like Jonathon Papelbon for instance-$425,000 salary) and 3rd year players (The Phillies Ryan Howard-$900,000.) who are baseball bargains. But it would be tough to find many better deals in baseball right now than Tim Wakefield.

Last year Wakefield signed a contract extension/life time contract with the red sox guaranteeing that he would finish his career in a red sox uniform, and doing so at a reasonable salary (these days) for major league pitchers at 4 Million per year. But right now that salary is a bargain.

Wakefield is the 12th highest paid player on the Red Sox (getting less than half od what matt Clement is getting) but after last night's 7 shutout innings against the Blue Jays, Wakefield is #1 in the American league in Earned Run Average at 1.79.

Wakefield will not get the national recognition because win-loss record is the sexy statistic and Wakefield's teammate Josh Becket has grabbed the national spotlight with his is 7-0 record compared to Wakefield's 4-3. What the national media doesn't realize is that Beckett is being supported by an average of 8 runs a game while Wakefield is getting half that amount.

Not bad for a guy who will be 41 on Aug 2nd

Is Curt Schilling the greatest? Of course he is, just ask him.  But I want you to know about Keith Gill, because unlike Schilling- he won't tell you.

Gill was cut from his HS baseball team and told to try something else. He decided on track and ran all the way to all-scholastic honors and Stonehill College.

Gill’s Cross country season his freshman year was ended on it’s 3^rd day due to an injury. His sophomore year a mysterious setback plagued him for 5 months nearly ending his running career. After finding out it was Mono and anemia he began running again.

Last spring, in outdoor track, Gill attained All-America honors. In the fall, in cross country, Gill did it again-achieving All-America status. And then in the winter, in indoor track, Gill became Stonehill's 1st ever 3 sport All-America.

Haven’t heard of him? Probably because he doesn't have his own blog to tell you how great he really is.

    Josh Beckett's 7-0 start is certainly impressive but is he really any better than some of his teammates?
  Beckett is getting an average of 8 runs a game in support. If Schilling got that support he would be..7-0. Daisuke would also be undefeated as would Tim Wakefield who, this season, has been arguably Boston's best pitcher-he does have the teams lowest ERA at 2.11.
   Do we dare mention Julian Tavarez? His worst outing was giving up 6 runs against Toronto in a 10-3 loss, but if he would have been given 8 runs to work with..?
   I know, as Don Merideth once said, If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, then we'd all have a Merry Christmas, or in this case Cy Young Awards. But because of the timely hitting by his teammates and his own good performances- Josh Beckett is the leading candidate for this years Cy Yong Award, an award, btw, that Schilling has never won, so do not count him out of it yet- there's a long way to go.

With the Celtics not in the playoffs you usually try to find a team to pull for. Phoenix?-maybe, Detroit?-No way! Utah?- YES.

Old school coach Jerry Sloan has his Utah Jazz playing basketball the way it's supposed to be-unselfishly, hard and usually without the whining that is so prevalent in today’s game.

It is not a team of all-stars, -officially only Carlos Boozer has been named (once), but he may now be the most valuable/outstanding player in the entire playoffs. (How good would he look in Celtics Green, something Danny Ainge tried very hard to do last off-season)?

Andrei Kirilenko is their thin 6-9 forward whose scoring average has gone from 16 to 8 to allow Boozer and rookie point guard Deron Williams to get more shots- Kirilenko doesn't care- he just goes out and blocks more shots. An attitude, a team attitude that is worth cheering for.

 

There will be two major sporting events this weekend and neither of them have anything to do with the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL or the PGA. On Saturday afternoon Churchill Downs hosts the 133^rd Kentucky Derby while later that evening Las Vegas hosts the WBC Junior Middleweight title fight between Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather Jr. Both sports have seen better and more popular days. When was the last time anyone asked you “who do you think will win the fight tonight?” There is more interest in a Red Sox – Yankees bench clearing brawl than a world title fight. Too bad because nothing beats fight night. For arena electricity, it rivals a seventh game in basketball or hockey. As for horse racing, it suffers from the same lack of interest as boxing which is a shame because the sport is filled with “lifers” who grab the public’s attention only a handful of days per year. For the record Oscar De La Hoya has been a great champ but he will lose to the loud mouthed Mayweather. In the Derby, I’m placing my two bucks on “Any Given Saturday”. Makes the most sense to me.

 

Spent some time in Foxboro this week talking to various people about the NFL draft which has turned into a major spectator event over the years. Had a chat with Robert Kraft who said that he met with Randy Moss, pulled him aside, looked him in the eye and told him what he expected of him as a New England Patriot. Robert told me that after that face to face conversation he was comfortable making the deal, although he did admit there was a spirited discussion within the Patriots hierarchy. Bill Belichick told me the whole deal began late Saturday night with phone calls, travel arrangements and a physical that all had to be completed by Sunday morning when the draft resumed. Belichick conferred with a number of his peers who had been around Moss and they gave him the green light to pursue Moss. You can catch all of these interviews on our draft edition of Patriots All Access Saturday night at 7PM on WCVB TV CH 5!

We all know baseball is a marathon, not a sprint.  Often April's contenders are October's pretenders. With that said let's take a quick peek at the Red Sox after one full month. They own the best record in baseball at 16-8.  Josh Beckett joined Babe Ruth and Pedro Martinez as the only pitchers in Red Sox history to win five games in the month of April.  David Ortiz had his customary seven home runs in that same span. If I were to hand out a tenth player award for April it would be a split decison. The award would be shared by Alex Cora and Hideki Okajima.  Cora hit .360 in 14 games with seven RBI, just one less than J.D. Drew.  Okajima gave up a home run on his very first pitch in Kansas City on opening day but he has been perfect since.  He hasn't given up a run and has 17 strikeouts in just under 13 innings.  Pretty good stuff from a couple of irregulars.