Savvy Skates as B's Prepare for LA

It was a reassuring sight for Bruins fans this weekend as star center Marc Savard began skating with the team again. When talking to reporters, Savard reiterated that he still has a lot of work to do in order to get himself back up to game speed so that he can play at a high level once again. Still, seeing one of their emotional and physical leaders getting back to par with the rest of the squad is a promising development, even if it means that Peter Chiarelli will need to decide on a roster solution in the near future.

11/19 NBA Recap: GOAT Preview

Russel Westbrook put on a scoring clinic and there was anything but defense being played in the Bay Area. Here's today's NBA recap.

-The Boston Celtics were handed their third loss of the season from the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were without Kevin Durant and Jeff Green. Thunder PG Russell Westrbook put up 31 points, taking the leadership role and leading OKC to victory. Westbrook also defended hot-guard Rajon Rondo very well, containing him to a season-low 7 assists. KG also had a season-low 2 boards. Does this show signs that the Celtics aren't as good as people thought? Not at all, for two reasons: A) There are 82-games in the NBA regular season, so you won't win them all and B) We played a hot Russell Westbrook and a very good defense. Most pundits would start raising red-flags because the Thunder were Durant-less, but they also did so after the Celtics loss to Cleveland, and the Celtics are 8-2 since that game. Was the game a letdown? No doubt. But a cause for panic? Hell no.

Who Dat? The Answer

Who cashed in big on today's Who Dat? There were some solid guesses as usual, but only one person can win.

11/18 NBA Recap: Blazers Talk

Only three games from last night to talk about, so let's not doddle. Here's today's NBA recap.

- The Portland Trailblazers defeated the Denver Nuggets, despite shooting 40% from the field and missing 50% of free-throws taken. Portland made up for poor shooting with solid defense and even more solid reboudning, lead by Marcus Camby, who had 14 rebounds (but he shot 20%.) Wes Matthews also added 20 points and 10 rebounds filling in for star guard Brandon Roy. LaMarcus Aldridge also put up 10 boards and 24 points. LaMarcus Aldridge is really turning it on this season, averaging 18 points and a career-high 8 boards. Along with Camby, the Blazers have a dominant front-court. Aldridge is steadily improving on defense, while Camby has also been a defensive specialist. Add Joel Pryzbilla, another beast on the boards off the bench, they have the front-court to make a push. And no one is questioning the duo of Andre Miller and Brandon Roy in the back-court (if Roy's knees can healproperly. If not, I take evreything I wrote after this back.)

Doesn't This Motivate You?

This came in the mail for me the other day. How cool. My own Ultimate Boston t-shirt. Unfortunately, this particular design was taken down due to potential copyright violations. But guess what? I still have the shirt. The only one of this shirt in the world that exists. Granted, you can't get yourself one just like this with the athletes pictured on the shirt. But doesn't it motivate you to meander over to the UB Pro Shop and take a look at some of our sizzling sexy apparel? I know it would motivate me if I wasn't the one running the blog.

  

Who Dat? Take a Guess

What's good? There was no Who Dat yesterday, so it's time to score big today. The scoreboard is below so that you have a little added motivation. Steal the show.

Bruce	8 points
Ed B	3 points
Fitch	3 points
Magz	3 points
Enahs	2 points
Kshep	2 points
Mikey Diggs	2 points
Craig89	1 point
Hink	1 point
T-Money	1 point

Sox Conversing With Several Agents

First of all, you may notice that it has been a slow day at UB this afternoon. Only one post and no Who Dat. My apologies. Busy schedule. Still tune into the Beantown Breakdown tonight, though. Of course. Now, without further adieu...

The Sox are talking. After the recent winter meetings for general managers in Orlando, sources report that Boston has been in conversation with the agents of free agents Carl Crawford, Jayson Werth, and Adrian Beltre. Crawford's agent is Greg Genske, while Werth and Beltre are both represented by Scott Boras (how does that guy handle like 500 clients in professional sports?). Additionally, reports indicate that the Red Sox have potentially been in conversation with the Arizona Diamondbacks over budding superstar outfielder Justin Upton. Any transaction, however, seems far-fetched at this stage of the offseason. Initial rumors suggested the Sox would have to give up a combination of several players, including potentially Daniel Bard and Jacoby Ellsbury. Don't get your hopes up with Upton.

Obviously, it would be nice to see the Sox bring back Beltre and still land one of the other outfielders mentioned. I won't completely dismiss the injury factor as a reason for the failure that 2010 was, but I also won't use it as an excuse. The outfield is one thing that needs to be bolstered with some star power. These guys bring it. Time to stop worrying about foreign soccer clubs and start worrying about getting this baseball team back to its former championship caliber.
 

11/17 NBA Recap: Hollinger Rant

The Celtics notched another win and two of my favorite non-Celtics players battled. Here's today's NBA recap.

- The Celtics crushed the Washington Wizards. Every single Celtics player who was dressed for the game scored at least once. The Celtics also saw Delonte West return to the team after a three-year stint away from the team. West impressed in his first game back, putting up 12 points off the bench. The Celtics shot an outstanding 65% from the field, while Washington shot 38%. it should be noted that Washington was without rookie PG John Wall.

-This was an awesome victory, to say the least. Everybody got into the action (coughdepthcough), and it seemed like the Celtics were having some fun, as Rondo alley-ooped the ball to Kevin Garnett at least 3 times in the game (Rondo had 13 assists.) This is the team I love to see; role players chipping in, centers going for each rebound with ferocity (Erden/Davis combined for 11 boards off the bench), and scoring all-around.

B's Power Past Rangers, 3-2

I mean, if Tim Thomas wants to win 91% of his games for the rest of his career, I'd be perfectly fine with that. The Bruins' early-season Vezina candidate improved his record to 10-1-0 tonight with a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

After surrendering a power play goal to Brandon Dubinsky midway through the second period, the Bruins picked up their offensive game and never let go of their grasp. Milan Lucic got Boston on the board just four minutes later when he buried a feed from Nathan Horton, beating goaltender Henrik Lundqvist in the slot. Five minutes later, it was time for our chosen rookie to shine.

Who Dat? The Answer

I'll be straight with you here. These were two tough days in a row. Eye shots were tricky. There were some great guesses. If anyone got it right, they made an impressive performance. Who, if anyone, was impressive today?

11/16 NBA Recap: Atlantic Redux

There were plenty of games to analyze last night, but I'll only be looking at three in today's recap. Without further ado:

- If the playoffs were to start right now, the Boston Celtics would be the only representatives of the Atlantic Division, with the Nets just missing out at 4-6. The Celtics are 4+ game up on the competition, if you can call it competition. The worst three records in the East belong to teams from the Atlantic Division, and they all played last night (and predictably lost).

- The New York Knicks lost their sixth game in a row, this time to the Denver Nuggets. The Knicks are now 3-8, and have the third worst record in the Eastern Conference. Now in my pre-season predictions, I had the Knicks missing the playoffs and coming in third in the Atlantic. They are on par with both, mainly due to poor defensive play. This team doesn't play defense, as they could have easily won last night. They out-rebounded the Nuggets by 7, and had less turnovers. But they don't play well on defense. And as good as Ama're Stoudemire is, he isn't good enough to be a #1 guy on a playoff team. Why was he so good in Phoenix? He had Steve Nash to feed him the ball. He is a prototypical side-kick, two-man, whatever you won'tto call it. Stoudemire will NOT lead this team to the playoffs if he is the team's best player. He needs someone to take the responsibilities in crunch time and to feed him the ball on the block.

Back on the Market!

Who is Eva Longoria? She was featured on Who Dat a few days ago as Eva Longoria Parker, but now it looks like you can drop the italicized part of the name. ESPN NBA has reported that Longoria has officially filed for divorce from San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker in LA Superior Court today.

I must admit, this is one of those professional sports couples I didn't see crashing and burning. But obviously it did. So I've been considering maybe starting some sort of betting pool. Who's going to end up with Eva Longoria next? The way Gisele has been treating Tom Brady, might he try a little switch-a-roo? Unlikely. I'll make the money line +1200 on that possibility. Is she even going to go for a famous person, or will she tone it down and try to disappear from the limelight after this fallout? Maybe you have a chance to be the guy if that's the case. I'll put the odds at +34000 that any Ultimate Boston reader is the eventual new partner for this Desperate Housewife. Only time will tell how desperate she actually is.

PS -- The one thing I would put some money on is Tony Parker's performance diminishing now. 28-year-old point guard for the oldest team on Planet Earth without his other half cheering him on at home games. I'm no expert, but if (for some reason) you play fantasy basketball, sell this guy pronto!

Who Dat? Take a Guess

Yesterday I stumped you with one of the most famous supermodels around. Especially in these parts, due to Gisele Bundchen's relationship with superstar Tom Brady. Can I make it two in a row? No change in the leaderboard, so I won't post it here. But all you need to know is that Bruce still holds a commanding lead. Get in the game!

  

Will You Be Unfriending?

As many of you know, tomorrow is National Unfriend Day. It's the newest national holiday and it was created by Jimmy Kimmel. Just wanted to throw up an announcement to make sure everyone is aware and ready for this thing. I already got a head start on the process. We all know that a good portion of our Facebook friends aren't really our friends at all. Friendship is a valuable thing, people! It's time to stop letting Facebook make it so superficial. Keep your real friends, anyone who wants to be your friend, or anyone whose friend you want to be. But why bother keeping that kid you Facebook friended before the school year and never actually talked to, or the kid you had a class with sophomore year of high school and just needed to acquaint to do a quick little Spanish project? The answer is you don't bother keeping them. One simple click and all problems are solved. Friendship will be a valuable thing once again (almost).

  

Rate This Bruins Intro Video

If this video doesn't get you amped up for Bruins hockey then I don't know what will. The beginning is a little debatable, but I urge you to keep watching into the thick of it. It's pretty cool. Then, on top of that, picture it being played on the jumbotron in a pitch-black TD Garden before a playoff game against whoever we end up facing. Chills.
Rate 1 for my dog could make a better video than this. Rate 5 for give the man who made this a promotion right now.  

Who Dat? The Answer

Did anyone join the leaderboard today? This was a tough one, but there may not be anyone who relates to the Boston sports scene in a bigger way. Let's just say she may or may not be a significant person in the life of someone who may or may not be the greatest athlete Boston has ever seen.

Revisiting the 2000 NBA Draft

It was ten years and change ago that it finally happened; the NBA had its worst draft, ever. Yes, I am talking about the infamous 2000 Draft (I hope the title gave it away). Because it has been 10+ years, I've decided to go pick by pick in the Top 10, analyzing the pick, and say who should've been picked there.

1. Kenyon Martin When Kenyon Martin is the best player taken in a draft, it's not a good thing. Anyways, Martin was the first pick in the draft, and has had an okay career, amassing a whopping 1 All-Star game. But he is also one of three all-stars that were drafted in this class, so I suppose that he wasn't a bad 1st overall considering the lack of depth in 2000. He was after all a part of the successful Nets teams of the early aughts. Who'd they pick instead: Probably Kenyon Martin again, but Michael Redd or Hedo Turkoglu wouldn't be bad choices either (in this draft at least.)

2. Stromile Swift Taken at number 2 by the Grizzlies (then in Vancouver), Swift came into the draft highly touted due to his athleticism. People must've forgot this wasn't track and field, as Swift spent a forgettable 9 seasons in the NBA. He now plays in China. Who'd they pick instead: Again, either Michael Redd or Hedo Turkoglu, but I'll say Hedo Turkoglu, as it looks like Vancouver was going for height.

11/15 NBA Recap: Scrooge McDuck

It was another exciting night of NBA basketball, sans Celtics on 11/15. Let's delve right into today's NBA recap.

-The New Orleans Hornets received their first loss last night at the hands of the Dallas Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd, and Jason Terry (off the bench) combined for 27 points in the fourth quarter, which greatly diminished the Hornets' ten point lead going into the final 12 minutes. Dallas was helped by the Hornets sub-par shooting in the final period, as they only shot 30% from the field, and hit only 1 of its last 15 shots. This could be the start of a trend for the Hornets, as they haven't really played any top-tier teams until they played Dallas, the trend being losing to highly ranked teams. Going undefeated for eight days is no doubt a feat of itself, but doing it against top-level teams is even better.

Fantasy Hockey: Goalie Watch

This hockey season so far has consisted of many surprises and dissapointments, especially in the goalie position. Some goalies have surpasses expectations, some have been major let-downs, and some have been stuck in a fantasy owner's worst nightmare: a timeshare in which he only gets limited starts due to splitting time with another goalie. Let's take a closer look at who's caught my eye so far.

Jon Quick, LA Kings.

As I stated in my first blog, rookie phenom would be waiting in the wings to take over for Quick and Quick would have to play fantastic in order to keep Bernier sidelined. He has done just that. being arguably the best fantasy goalie so far, he shows no signs of slowing down on the red-hot Kings and will likely remain at the top of the pack.

Who Dat? Take a Guess

I just have one question. Can anyone stop Bruce? Someone has to, right? These get posted at the same time... every day. Why can't someone get here and guess it before him? Who knows. Maybe this one will be a little tougher, I don't know. I get mixed reactions though. Some of my readers tell me Who Dat is ridiculous and impossible to guess. Yet people get them all the time, mostly Bruce. So what gives? These aren't that hard most of the time, right? Whatever. Just guess it and get your name on the leaderboard.

Bruce	8 points
Ed B	3 points
Fitch	3 points
Magz	3 points
Enahs	2 points
Kshep	2 points
Mikey Diggs	2 points
Craig89	1 point
Hink	1 point
T-Money	1 point

Bruins Look to Snap Slump vs NJ

After a sizzling 7-2-0 start to their 2010-11 campaign, the Boston Bruins have cooled off over their past few games. Amassing a 1-3-1 record in their past 5, the B's will look to get back on the winning track tonight against the last-place Devils, who enter the contest with a stunning 5-10-2 record.

Most slotted New Jersey near the top of the Eastern Conference heading into this season, but it has been an abysmal go of it thus far. They are scoring a measly 1.94 goals per game while allowing 3.24 per game. Martin Brodeur has been lit up multiple times, Zach Parise has gone down with an injury, and Ilya Kovalchuk hasn't exactly performed up to his 15-year contract yet.

Tim Thomas (8-1-0) suffered his first loss of the season on Saturday, but it wasn't exactly his own fault. The B's failed to get any offense going in a 2-0 loss to the Ottawa Senators. If Thomas gets the nod tonight, he'll look to keep going with more of the same and put forth another quality outing. If it's Tuukka Rask whose number is called, he will be in search of his first win of the season despite a pretty solid saves percentage. Regardless, the B's will need to find a way to get their offense going in David Krejci's absence if they wish to snap their own struggles and send the Devils further into the basement of the East.
 

Who Dat? The Answer

A brand new week was kicked off with another Who Dat. Did anyone get this one right? There were plenty of guesses and discussions about today's set of eyes, so why don't you find out the details?

Hmm.. Redskins Extend McNabb

The last time we saw the Washington Redskins playing football, they were collapsing against the Detroit Lions in the fourth quarter to give the Lions a huge victory in an NFC battle. Moreover, Rex Grossman was taking the critical snaps in the final two minutes. Donovan McNabb, the new franchise quarterback, was benched for reasons nobody was exactly clear on. Coach Mike Shanahan told reporters that Grossman gave the Redskins the best chance to win the game. Ouch, huh?

Well, after a bye this weekend, the 'Skins have apparently straightened out the wrinkles in that relationship. Michael Smith reports this afternoon that Washington has signed McNabb to a 5-year, $78 million extension, $40 million of which is guaranteed money.

This is, plain and simply, an enigma to me. First of all, the timing makes no sense. With such a controversy brewing, I never would have even expected McNabb would vow to stay there -- since he just gets pulled with two minutes to go. On top of that, he's been struggling and he's been around a while. Could he be nearing the end of the line? The Redskins don't think so. Either way, McNabb won't be leaving Washington any time soon. He wasn't able to bring a ring to Philly despite some great seasons. He'll have 5 years to get that done for D.C.
 

11/14 NBA Recap: Overhaul

There were five games of NBA action last night, each exciting it its own right. Here' today's NBA recap.

- The Timberwolves lost another game, this time against the Atlanta Hawks, setting their record at 3-8. Kevin Love impressed again,having 22 points and 17 rebounds. But it was Al Horford and Josh Smith who stole the show for the Hawks, combining for 51 points. Minnesota isn't too bad of a team, as they have Love, an astounding scorer in Michael Beasley (34 PPG since returning 3 games ago), Corey Brewer off the bench, and a solid rookie in Weley Johnson. Two gaping holes on this team: the center and point guard positions, two of the most important positions on a team. Darko Millicic and Sebastian Telfair/Jonny Flynn won't get it done, and Minnesota needs to improve those positions if the team wants to do anything. Ricky Rubio isn't playing anytime soon. What's the answer? It might be Kyrie Irving, Duke PG, who is a top prospect for next year's draft. Whoever it is, the C and PG positions need a serious overhauling.

Pats Tear Down Steel Curtain

A good portion of the football population -- including myself -- had reasonable doubts going into last night's Sunday night clash between the Patriots and the Steelers. Coming off an embarrasing 34-14 loss to the once lowly Cleveland Browns, how would Bill Belichick's troops come out against a much more formidable Steelers opponent? If they couldn't move the ball against Cleveland, how would they move it against Pittsburgh? The answers to those questions came (as usual) in a phenomenal bounce-back performance by New England, who is now 23-2 following a loss in the past seven seasons.

"Today, REDEMPTION is spelled R-O-B."

Did you see what I did there? I took a famous anchorman quote, but I changed Ron to Rob. Because one of the major storylines of this game (and there were many) was the redemption that rookie tight end Rob Gronkowski achieved. Last week in Cleveland, Gronkowski made several massive mistakes that contributed to a shameful effort by the Patriots. Last night, Gronk rose to the occasion, hauling in all 3 of Tom Brady's touchdown passes. Despite the three big scores, though, Gronkowski was just another piece to the puzzle for Tom Brady and his newfound stellar passing attack.

Who Dat? Take a Guess

After a dominating Patriots victory last night, the week days have come back around. Thanksgiving is just around the corner though, and I know that all you college kids are counting the days. But you can't change the fact that this week will happen, and there will be 5 mornings filled with the mystery of Who Dat. Why not take a guess now and try to get on this wonderful leaderboard?

Bruce	7 points
Ed B	3 points
Fitch	3 points
Magz	3 points
Enahs	2 points
Kshep	2 points
Mikey Diggs	2 points
Craig89	1 point
Hink	1 point
T-Money	1 point

11/13 NBA Recap: Passing the Torch

The Celtics headed to overtime for the third time this season and Golden State forgot how to play offense. Here's today's NBA recap.

- The Celtics beat the Grizzlies 116-110 in another overtime game. The Celtics were led in scoring (and turnovers) by Paul Pierce, who had 28 points. Shaq also put up a season-high 18 points. Rajon Rondo had a double-double, amassing 11 points and 17 rebounds, while his back-up, Nate Robinson, added 15 points of his own. The Celtics were helped in part by Michael Conley, who had an astounding 13 turnovers, en rout to shooting 30% from the field. I've been saying it in the previous recaps, but Conley isn't a good PG for this team. Memphis needs a more fitting PG in order to make a splash, because the rest of the team looks polished.

Boston's Biggest Sports Icon Part I

That poll on the side of the screen has got me thinking. This poll, pending if it is still up, asks about the biggest sports icon in Beantown. And it got me thinking; how does one decide who it would be?

So, I figured I would break this down, team by team, and see if I could come up with the answer myself.

We'll begin with the obvious candidate: Tom Brady, your QB of the NEP. Yes, the Patriots success and their 3 Super Bowls were a team effort, a supporting cast that was effective in each aspect of football. But the man who changed the fortunes of this team was Tom Brady. For the Boston's sports icon question, TB is the rep of the Pats.