Best Jumbotron Performance Ever?

I don't even have sound on my computer and I still thought this was one of the funniest things ever. The heart and soul in this showing is unparalleled. I've been on the jumbotron before, and I wish I showed a fraction of the passion this kid did. And you know he only went to the game to do this, because there's no way this theater kid is a true Celtics fan. And "Winter Hat Girl with Sunglasses" though she was cool, and then this guy showed up and stole the show. Classic. Can't wait to see it make Yahoo! News.

Thanks to "Sports Guy" Bill Simmons for posting this on his Twitter. Can you spot his dad in the video?
 

The UB Faithful Have Spoken...

Yesterday I posed a question to you, the UB fans. You can read the article here.

Now, the question asked was "Do the Patriots have to worry about the Bowns (this Sunday)?" And with 80% of the vote, the most popular answer was "YES."

Now I couldn't agree more with that sentiment. Although the 2-5 Browns seem like an easy victory, anything can happen on the gridiron, no matter how good your team looks. And as I elaborated in the article, this game is a perfect example of a trap game, so the Patriots have to be prepared for anything. Plus, the Patriots are playing a team coached by former Belichick protege Eric Mangini, so there are some bragging rights on the line.

Do YOU agree with the UB faithful? Let us know YOUR thoughts.

11/5 NBA Recap: SCALABRINE!

It was another exciting game for the Celtics, and one Phoenix player put up 5 points in under two seconds. Here's today's NBA recap.

Coming off a hotly contested game with the Milwaukee Bucks, the Celtics once again found themselves in overtime, this time against the Chicago Bulls, who were led by Joakim Noah, who put up a career-high 26 points and had 12 rebounds. As good as Noah was, it just wasn't enough in overtime. A thunderous dunk by Ray Allen, who had 25 points of his own, and a steal by Kevin Garnett capped off the victory. Are the Celtics adopting the Patriots "bend don't break" mantra this season?

The 2010 MLB Season

Another Big League season has come and gone. Done. Kaput. Which means I have to wait 3 and a half months 'til the Local 9 heads down to Fort Myers...

Does it seem like I enjoy baseball?..

2010 will most definitely be remembered as the season of the pitcher. We witnessed 7 no-hitters. Well...technically 6 (I counted Armando Galarraga). One pitcher (some guy named Roy Halladay) had two by himself. Ubaldo Jimenez had 15 wins before the All-Star break. Cliff Lee has become trade bait central, landing on his 4th team in two years (and second World Series loss in that time span), although it's safe to assume he'll land a huge deal this offseason, keeping him off the trading block.

Was Randy the Problem?

After this wonderful Friday afternoon, I know three things about Zygi Wilf. The first is that he has an awesome name. The second is that he owns the Minnesota Vikings. And the third thing is that he is irate with the actions of his head coach, Brad Childress.

Reports today have surfaced indicating that Childress never even conversed with Wilf prior to telling his team that they were releasing Randy Moss. The more notable side of the story, though, claims that Wilf gave strong consideration to holding on to Moss and cutting Childress loose -- right then and there. This alleged scenario explains why the Vikings took an extra day to officially place Moss on waivers after the initial report surfaced Monday morning. I know Minnesota ultimately still waived Moss, but I can't help but raise the question -- was Moss the problem, or has it been Childress all along?

Who Dat? The Answer...

You've been waiting for the answer. Did someone cash in? Did Bruce extend his lead at the top of the field? Or did someone else steal the show? The grand return of Who Dat has reached it's revealing stage. Who could it be?

Trap Game? You Decide!

The Patriots have one of the toughest schedules in the NFL, but it seems like the Browns might be an easy game for the 6-1 Patriots. But the Browns cannot be taken lightly, as this is a classic example of a "trap game."

For those of you who may not know, a "trap game" is a game in which a good team plays an inferior team before (or after really) playing another good team. The Patriots cannot go into the game vs. Cleveland unprepared just because they have the Steelers and Colts the two weeks after the Browns game. Teams like the Browns thrive on trap games, as it's their opportunity to show that they can't be taken without caution. The Patriots seemingly have an off week against a sub-par Browns team, but like the adage goes, "any given Sunday."

I'm not going to make a prediction on this game; it's up to you, the UB faithful to decide. Below is a poll to decide what the UB readers think. Tomorrow I'll post an article evaluating the readers 'choices. After you vote, elaborate on your prediction in the comment section. Let us know YOUR thoughts.

Pryor Fined $7.5K for Sacking Favre

The NFL has fined Myron Pryor $7,500 for his hit under the chin of Vikings quarterback Brett Favre last Sunday. I'll skip the formal stuff and cut to the chase. This is ridiculous. I know that the NFL loves Favre because of the media attention he brings and all that, and I also know that the NFL wants to protect QBs and crack down on dangerous hits. But at what point are we going to remember that this is football? Players get blasted. It's part of the game. Quarterbacks take hits. Pryor hit Favre in the sternum, which Mark Schlereth has been screaming and yelling as being acceptable for the last month on ESPN. What is an illegal hit? Are players just getting fined for being good at their job? It's sure starting to seem that way. I know it's a small fine compared to the others we've seen this year, but this was a clean sack that didn't deserve a fine at all.
  

11/4 NBA Recap: The Match Game

This is going to be a short one, as there were only two NBA games last night, and neither of them involved the Celtics (and this is Ultimate BOSTON after all.)

In the first game,the New York Knicks downed the Chicago Bulls 120-112, despite having a double-digit lead going into halftime. The Knicks were led by Danilo Gallinari, who broke out of his horrible start to the season by putting up 24 points on 7-11 shooting, while going 4-4 from three-point range. Also, Knicks player Toney Douglas put up a stunning 30 points coming off the bench, hitting five threes of his own. Raymond Felton continued the trend of PG domincance by putting up 20 points and 10 assists. The Bulls did come back to cut the lead down, mostly due to Derrick Rose's 24 points and 14 assists, but it was a little too little too late. (After re-reading that sentence, "little" doesn't sound like a word anymore.)

B's Look to Take Down Caps

The Boston Bruins (7-2-0) have been one of the most significant stories of the early 2010-11 season thus far, greatly due to the outstanding play of goaltender Tim Thomas. At 7-0, Thomas has mastered one of the most historical starts the league has ever seen. He's the one everyone's talking about. But in reality, it has been just as solid a team effort as the effort of any one individual.

Contributions from newcomers Nathan Horton (5 goals, 5 assists) and Tyler Seguin (3 goals, 2 assists) have made this team into one of the most complete teams in the league. The past two seasons, they have been stellar defensively -- we all know that. They have two outstanding goaltenders who, in my opinion, could both compete for Vezina Trophies if they were the lone guy. But their problem has always been burying the puck. That's the difference this year. Through their first 9 games, the B's are #2 in the NHL in goals per game. They're getting balanced scoring from all of their lines. In every way, this team looks dangerous. The Caps know that as well as anyone.

The Return: Who Dat?

The fans spoke and they got their wish. Who Dat has returned, hopefully on a daily basis (excluding weekends for now). I'll throw up the leaderboard later today when we give the answer here, but if you need to be reminded, big Bruce is still on top. Wanna know something else? The leaderboard isn't going to change on its own. In other words, it's time for you to guess. Who Dat?

Permanently Grounded

My Boston College Eagles are obviously out of contention in the ACC this year, so I'm not vigilantly scoreboard watching to see the results of all our conference rivals. But I did manage to flip on tonight's Georgia Tech vs. Virginia Tech game, and I'm pretty taken aback by one particular aspect on the Yellow Jackets side.

Two completions. Two. How do you nearly win an ACC primetime Thursday night game against a highly-ranked Hokies squad without completing more than two passes all game? It seems pretty absurd, but the Jackets have been doing it all season. Coming into tonight, they had only passed for 678 yards this season, a miniscule number compared to their 2,539 rushing yards. They had completed just 40 passes in 8 games (average of 5 completions per game) compared to 447 rushing attempts. Needless to say, it isn't difficult to figure out whether they're trying to advance the ball via the ground or via the air on each play. So my main question -- how do they do it?

Ainge Fires Back

ESPN.com - "There's one thing that I know for sure, and it's that KG would not offend cancer patients," Ainge said. "That makes no sense. It makes no sense on a lot of fronts. Not only is he experiencing it in his own family, but that's just not something I've ever heard -- in 30 years -- ever say, in trash talking. What is logical in a trash talking situation for a player to say to another player, 'You have cancer' or 'You are cancer'?"

"...Tweeting is about self-promotion in most cases," he said. "He's [Villanueva] not trying to be a public servant by telling everybody. As a matter of fact he's the one who brings light to this attention ... There's self-promotion in tweeting -- all the time. You are talking about a guy who tweets in the middle of a game. Talk about self-promotion."

I Love Football: Week 9

You may notice that I've changed the title of this post from Fantasy Notes to I Love Football. Because admittedly, I've been slacking on the fantasy notes. Not to say they weren't relatively successful foresights -- a lot of my advice panned out -- but I've been more preoccupied with other stories around the league and, as you know, re-formatting the website as a whole. So instead this will just be my weekly football post about not only the players and teams I like, but also the stories I'm watching and the predictions I'm making.

Papi Back for 2011

The Boston Red Sox exercised their club option on designated hitter David Ortiz today, keeping the slugger in Boston for another season at a price tag of $12.5 million. Big Papi bounced back from two straight subpar seasons with a 32-homer, 102-RBI season in 2010. He has blasted 30 or more long balls in 6 of his 8 seasons with the Red Sox, dating back to 2003.

Regardless of whether he's on the down side of his career or not, I think it was an important signing for Boston. Let's be honest -- there may not be a Red Sox player more historically significant than David Ortiz. You could certainly make the argument. He has been the heart and soul of this team for an entire decade, during which Boston snapped an 86-year curse by winning two rings in four years. Especially given that the Sox are in danger of losing Adrian Beltre and Victor Martinez to the free agent market, I think it was vital to at least lock up one of the bats in the heart of their order. Adrian Beltre declined his player option earlier this week, so it is likely that the Red Sox will need to bump up their price range if they wish to keep their all-star third baseman. I don't know about the rest of Red Sox nation, but I would prefer to see our ownership spend money on players like Beltre than on foreign soccer clubs.
 

11/3 NBA Recap: The Birth of a Rivalry

That was the best game of basketball I've seen in a long time. Physical, close, and intense. I think the Celtics have a new rival in the Bucks. Here's today's NBA Recap.

The biggest story of the night was Paul pierce joining an elite group of 20,000 point scorers, becoming the 36th NBA player to do so. He is also the third Celtic to reach the group solely with the C's. Pierce has been the face of the franchise since his arrival in 1998, and will most certainly have his number retired among the greats in the rafters.

The End of An Era: Part Deux

Many of you might remember my speculative article on Roger Federer, my first post for UB, and its title "The End of an Era?" Well, unfortunately, the ending of the Taylor Twellman era is solid fact. You may have heard through the grapevine next to your local soccer field that Revolution legend Taylor Twellman is retiring due to a concussion he suffered two years ago, ending an era of brilliance for the former MLS MVP.

Though not nearly as prolific as other Boston or New England sports superstars, Twellman has been the best player on the New England Revolution for most of his career. Twellman in the Revolutions all-time leading scorer and led the team to four MLS Cup appearances. Twellman was also reached the 100-goal plateau in the MLS in the fastest time.

Many in New England may not know who he is, or even remember that New England has a soccer team, but the region has lost one of its best athletes over the past ten years, though it's for the best, as Twellman has suffered from memory loss and vision problems since the concussion. It is a sad day for Revs fans and soccer fans all around that Twellman will no longer be playing the game. I think we all a "thank-you" to Taylor Twellman for being the best player for New England soccer.
  

Question for the Crowd?

These are the jerseys Buffalo's rocking tonight. I haven't seen Buffalo play yet this season so I have to throw this question to the crowd. Are these their new jerseys? Because I feel like I could hand-stitch a design more intricate than this on a jersey, and on top of that, I could physically put together a jersey with more creativity than this one. Welcome to the 21st century? Can someone inform me if these are really their jerseys? Either way, I'm feeling another Bruins domination fiesta. What do you think? Vote 1 for these jerseys aren't so bad or vote 5 for the Bruins will stomp Buffalo in their ugly holiday sweaters.

PS -- Good start. Marchand with his first ever.

Titans Lock Up Randy Moss

The Moss sweepstakes are over. A fairytale return to the Patriots isn't happening for Randy Moss, but he did still get what Adam Schefter reports is a favorable result. The Tennessee Titans have reportedly succeeded in their waiver claim on ex-Viking and ex-Patriot Randy Moss, who now joins Vince Young and Chris Johnson in what has the capability to be a very explosive offense down south. My gut reaction? This makes the Titans contenders. I've expressed the way I feel about what Randy does for an offense. If he can "take the top of the defense" like it goes in that little remix there, CJ will keep running wild and the Titans will be an even tougher out than they already are.  

11/2 NBA Recap: Rondowned

The Celtics cruised and John Wall continues to impress. Asbestos was falling from the sky and Kevin Love is trapped in Minnesota. Here's today's NBA recap.

In another assists happy performance, Rajon Rondo has the record for most most assists after four games (67), passing two legends, Magic Johnson, and (my all-time favorite player) John Stockton. Sure, it's only four games, and there are 78 other games to play. But with the cast of scorers around him, Rajon Rondo has a great chance to take the single-season assists record of 1,164, set by Stockton. At this moment, Rondo is averaging 16.8 assists per game. With the 82-game schedule, (assuming he remains at 16.8 apg) Rondo is on pace for about 1,377 assists this season, smashing the record. Can he do it, and pass my beloved John Stockton? If Pierce, Garnett, and Allen stay healthy and keep scoring, Rondo has a superb chance of chasing the record. The Celtics easily beat the semi-Bizzaro Celtics 109-86, despite being out-rebounded. Besides Rondo's 17 assists, Kevin Garnett put up 22 points and Paul Pierce had 21.

Villanueva Calls Out KG

During Kevin Garnett's dominance of the Detroit Pistons last night, which I'm sure Ed B will fill you in on later, he apparently did a little bit of trash talking to Pistons forward Charlie Villanueva. And, needless to say, Villanueva was a bit offended by KG's remarks.

"KG talks alot of crap, he's prob never been in a fight, I would love to get in a ring with him, I will expose him ... KG called me a cancer patient, I'm pissed because, u know how many people died from cancer, and he's tossing it like it's a joke." [Charlie Villanueva's Twitter page]


The NBA has asked the Celtics and Garnett for a response to Villanueva's account of the situation. What does it all boil down to?

CFL: Real Life or Fake Life?

Honestly? How does the CFL even continue running as an organization? Or at least how do they still call themselves the CFL? Because this isn't "football." That's just plainly obvious. You don't decide tie games by triple-kick-punt-hybrid-fumble-rugby-ish-pig-pile touchdown recoveries off a 50-yard field goal attempt. That's just plain stupid. I would post the official rules that factor into this play, but I feel I would be doing a disservice to the creators of football by even giving the rulemakers of the CFL any recognition or credibility whatsoever. I honestly feel like maybe I'm having my first blogging dream and this isn't actually real life. Because that play didn't resemble any of the characteristics that I have grown to associate with real life.
Vote 1 for real life or 5 for fake life.

Fantasy Hockey Special: Forwards

We're at the end of October the suprises thus far in the Hockey world are abundant. Patrick Sharp leads the league in goals, the Michael Liles has 11 assists, and Tim Thomas has an UNREAL 6-0 record stopping 182 of 185 shots. Every one of these guys will be fantasy mainstays this season, though none are likely to keep up that pace. Let's take a look at some forwards that are worth noting thus far.

11/1 NBA Recap: Erden Alert?

Another slow night in the NBA, as there were only three games going on. Without further ado:

In the night's first game, the Chicago Bulls defeated the Portland Trailblazers 110-98. Luol Deng led the Bulls with a career high 40 points. This team is going to be lethal once Carlos Boozer returns. They have young studs in Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, and Taj Gibson (who will most likely be relegated to 6th man once Boozer does return) along with a solid forward in Deng, proving himself to be a formidable scorer after last night's performance. I already predicted this team to easily take the Central, but they could be a force down the stretch barring injuries.

In the second game, the Sacremento Kings manhandled Andrea Bargnani's Raptors. Yeah, the Raptors are now Bargnani's team. The good news about that: he put up 28 points last night, pushing his ppg so far this season to 23.7. The bad news? He averages only 3 rebounds per game, and I'm pretty sure he's the center. This was Bargnani's main concern going into the league; he was too soft, and couldn't hold his own in the paint. While his ppg numbers are very good, he needs to improve his career 4.8 rpg in order to give this Raptors team a chance after Chris Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu's departure.

Rangers No Match for Giants

There's actually a solid chance you didn't even know the World Series clinching game occurred tonight, because ESPN is far more infatuated with the Randy Moss story that hasn't even officially happened yet, Monday Night Football, the Vikings, Favre, and I might as well just include LeBron because normally that's the case as well. But the most significant event in the sports world tonight, regardless of what the media is choosing as their hot topic, was the pure domination of Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants, who won their first World Series title since 1954.

Introducing Ultimate Boston Pro Shop

You've probably always wanted to rock some Ultimate Boston apparel to show all your friends and make others aware of the site, haven't you? Well, luckily for you, the solution has arrived at long last. It's time to visit the Ultimate Boston Pro Shop, which can now be accessed from the top menu on the blog (don't worry, the Fantasy link has just been moved into the Stories section). You can browse through the Men's section, the Women's section, and much more. There's the fancy clothing for those with money to spend, and there's the cheap clothing if you just want a tee to show your Ultimate Boston pride! So hurry over there and check out our pro shop so you can put together the ultimate outfit.

Fantasy Basketball: Be Weary

Stepping away from my daily NBA Recaps, I decided to do some articles on fantasy basketball. In some further installments, I may look at sleepers and obvious picks, but today, I'm going to instruct you on players you should be weary of when picking in a fantasy draft. Here are four players you should avoid drafting too early:

Chris Bosh, PF- Pretty much a given at this point. He won't be scoring as much with LeBron James and Dwayne Wade on his team. In Toronto, he was the guy, and could run rampart with scoring, as there were really no other viable options. However, James and Wade are better scorers, and like to have the rock in their hands. Plus, Bosh has been somewhat unimpressive so far this season, so I wouldn't pick him as early as you might have in the last few years. Still a late second/early third round pick.

Vikings Cut Randy Moss

I guess the post-game admiration of his old Patriots and the subtle mockery of the Minnesota Vikings was too much for Randy Moss to admit. The Vikings ended a brief, awfully failed experiment today when they released their freakily athletic receiver. That's right, you read that correctly. After just four weeks, the Minnesota Vikings have released Randy Moss.

10/31 NBA Recap: Bobbing for Wins

It was Halloween last night, and some of the NBA's brightest stars treated their fans with some great plays.

I really like Utah's new color scheme. I also like Utah's new team. They got their first win last night against the (formerly) undefeated Thunder. Former Celtic Al Jefferson is proving to be a dominant big man in the NBA (I have to keep reminding myself that trading him got the Celtics a championship. But still...), putting up 23 points and 10 rebounds last night. But the biggest of the big men last night was Paul Millsap, putting up 30 points and 16 rebounds. Deron Williams had a double-double too (19 points, 16 assists. ) I'm pretty sure that the Utah Jazz just went trick-or-treating, saw a bowl of double-doubles that said "TAKE JUST 1", and helped themselves to three. As impressive as those numbers are, they still pale in comparison to Gordon Hayward's flawless 10 in rootforability. Plus, he's a lock to win the annual "bobbing for apples" contest the Western Conference holds every year (Note: I may have made that contest up.)

Randy Professes Love for Pats

After today's loss to the New England Patriots, Randy Moss took the podium in front of the media and delivered a shocking, powerful message in regards to the team that he spent three-plus years playing for. You have to wonder if it has been a wake-up call for Moss, who left a true championship-style team to find himself at 2-5 with a questionable quarterback situation on a Minnesota team that is tied for last in their division with the Detroit Lions. I mean, I figured he'd miss having Brady throw him the ball. I figured he'd miss some aspects of that championship essence in the locker room, the essence of one of the greatest coaches in NFL history. But needless to say, I didn't expect to see comments this powerful out of #84 on the heels of his return to Gillette Stadium. If you haven't seen them, you must read on.

No Tricks, All Treats for Pats

On a chilly Halloween Sunday in New England, the Patriots welcomed the Minnesota Vikings to town looking to move to 6-1 on the season. The talk may have been about Brett Favre all week (and all month, and all year, and all decade...), but that didn't phase Bill Belichick and his ever-focused group of Patriots. Trick or treat? In typical Pats fashion, there were few tricks in an all-around treat of an effort.

10/30 NBA Recap: Heat-Free Zone

While the Celtics had a night off on 10/30, there were plenty of other games that you could follow online while the Celtics rested. That's because there was only one game airing, and it was on NBA TV, a channel I don't get. So I was relegated to scouring box scores on the Antichrist of the sports world, ESPN, for some ideas. Anyway, here's today's NBA recap.

Brandon Jennings pulled off his first career triple-double last night, putting up 20 points, 10 assists, and 10 rebounds. We are without question entering a PG-dominated era, after big guys like Shaq, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett dominated the face of the league the last decade. Now, it seems like the smaller guys are getting more acclaim, like Derrick Rose (who put up 31 last night), Rajon Rondo, Deron Williams, CP3, Russell Westbrook, and Jennings. Jennings is proving to naysayers at the 2009 NBA Draft that he deserved to be a lottery pick, after many questioned his maturity after a stay in Italy. Do you think Memphis wants the Hasheem Thabeet pick back?