 |
|
Welcome to the Wicked Weekly, a new weekly segment (it’ll pop up on Fridays) here on Wicked Good Sports that highlights the winners and losers, top storylines and funniest mess-ups of the last seven days.
First, a real quick bit about me: I’m a five-time Emmy Award winning Dorchester native, who for the last 27 years has served as the voice of the Boston Celtics where… crap, that’s Gorman’s bio. Here’s me:
I’m a lifelong Bostonian.
I’d rank my Boston sports teams like so:
My three favorite Boston athletes of all time are mid-90’s Nomar, present day Tom Brady and 1989 Nick Esasky – I have absolutely no explanation for this last one, but because of Nick I’ve always had a special place in my heart for people with Lyme Disease).
The only three local athletes I’ve ever openly and aggressively booed are Vin Baker, Mark Blount and Reggie Jefferson. And I’d probably still boo today if I saw any of them walking down the street (or in Baker’s case, passed out under a bathroom stall).
I was there to see Jordan drop 63 on the Cs in 1986; Reggie Lewis collapse against the Hornets in 1993; Vinatieri beat the Rams in 2002 and Papi beat the Yankees in 2004. A couple weeks ago I was there to accidentally see Kendrick Perkins naked in the Celtics locker room.
So, yeah… enough about me. Let’s get on to the weekly.
Loser of the Week: Yankee Stadium
I feel like I should be happy about an NHL game potentially serving as the farewell event at Yankee Stadium. It would be a hilariously pathetic farewell, but deep down (real deep), don’t you think it deserves better? When it comes to the Yankees, you can hate the players, hate the owners and hate the uniforms all you want, but Yankee Stadium should get a free pass. Think about the storied history of this Red Sox/Yankees rivalry, through all the years, the only two constants (aside from Johnny Pesky, who actually predates the rawhide baseball) have been Fenway Park and Yankee Stadium, and to see one of these institutions close down – even if it’s the beloved home of the Yankees – is at least slightly depressing. I’d like to see the old park go out in style, and hope Yankee fans would feel the same if, say, John Henry announced next week that Fenway would be knocked down after this season, but not before hosting a farewell Maroon 5 concert from atop the Green Monster.
Do I think there’s even a remote chance a Rangers game will be the final chapter in the history of Yankee Stadium? No way, but the fact that the organization publicly announced that they’re even considering it is a slap in the face.
(I know this is supposed to be about sports, so I couldn’t get away with giving Eliot Spitzer this award, but here’s a question: After seeing the photos of Spitzer’s prostitute, do we think he’s more worthy of Loser of the Week or the Winner of the Week? Sure, career’s over, family life’s a mess, public disgrace, etc., but you saw the photos, right? OK, I’m kidding, but seriously, did you see her?)
Winner of the Week: Kendrick Perkins
I’ve been anti-Perk all season. I thought he was a marginal defensive player who stalled the offensive when he had the ball and clogged the lane when he didn’t (these last two things might still be true). But going back to his 20-performance against the Pistons, followed by his six block first half against the Sixers, Perk is finally showing signs of establishing himself as a more-than-serviceable compliment to KG in the post.
If I’m Doc, here’s how I handle Perk for the rest of the season. Everyday after practice, I sit him down and play him this…
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlSZC4TAYVc[/youtube]
Sometimes I make him watch it twice—if only for McHale’s quick put back at about the 1:19 mark.
“You see what he did there, Perk? Watch. Arms go up. Arms grab ball. Now here’s the tricky part. Bear with me. Arms STAY up. Arms dunk ball. Got it?”
Maybe this wouldn’t help right away, but after a month or so, it might start to sink in. Just think about how easy of a concept this is: When you get the ball up high, do not bring it down low.
Will keeping the ball up turn Perk into Kevin McHale? Not in a million years. It probably won’t even turn him into Kevin Duckworth (Tubby had a sweet touch), but this mental block (and that’s all it can be at this point) is costing Perk and the Celtics at least six to eight points a night and it’s got to be fixed.
(Note: I’ve watched this McHale video about 15 times and I’m not even close to bored. Half the time I’m in awe of the absurdity of his low post creativity, and the other half I’m in hysterics over the absurdity of his shorts and armpit hair.)
Link of the Week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lt5JH1CRpkQ
I think I’ve found the program that might finally help keep Big Baby under 300 pounds. If Will Jones can’t do it, I’ll just about lose all hope.
“Prediction For Next Week” of the Week: A 3-1 Celtics road trip.
Maybe not the boldest statement when you consider team’s currently 51-12, but the fact that next week’s trip features four games in six nights against the Spurs, Rockets, Mavericks and Hornets, makes it slightly more of a stretch. The one loss will be to Dallas, which is funny, because I’d probably rank Dallas as the weakest team of the four, but I think they’ll catch the Celtics at a good time—coming off tough back-to-back wins against Houston and San Antonio.
See you next Friday.
Rich Levine writes a sports column for the Improper Bostonian Magazine
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
