Rest In Peace Arnold "Red" Aeurbach, and Thanks For The Memories

Look carefully at the following picture, and you will see a sports legacy that has no peer.




Every single championship banner in that picture is a direct result of the genius that was Arnold "Red" Auerbach. The embodiment of the Boston Celtics for nearly 57 years. 16 NBA World Championships (nine as head coach, with eight of them coming in a row). Responsible for drafting Bird, Cowens and Havlicek. Made unspeakably brilliant trades that resulted in the Celtics landing hall of famers like Russell, McHale and Parish. He was the reason for Celtic pride, and for anyone who grew up in Boston prior to the 90's, Celtic pride was all we had. Boston may always be the capital of Red Sox Nation, but it was the Celtics who were the heroes.

I still remember Johnny Most screaming "Bird Stole The BALL!!!!" during the 1987 Eastern Conference Finals against Detroit like it was yesterday. I was but 15 at the time and the game had been played well past my bedtime. I went upstairs to listen to the rest of the game on my clock radio while my folks watched the game on TV downstairs. As soon as the play happened curfew went out the window and I raced back downstairs to watch the replay. That still remains one of my all-time favorite sports moments.

There have been many great things written about Red in the last couple of days. I'll list a few must reads here, with some of my favorite quotes about Red-

Memories of Red, By Bill Simmons

(after the Celtics win the title in '84) Everyone crams onto a makeshift podium so the commissioner can present the NBA trophy. He makes a little speech and hands the trophy to Red, who's sucking on a victory cigar, as always. And after hearing about the Lakers' "dynasty" from every broadcaster and writer for two weeks, good ol' Red can't resist rubbing it in.

"Everyone keeps talking about the Lakers dynasty!" Red yells at Brent Musburger. "Well, here's your dynasty, right here!!!!!!"

He holds the trophy up as the locker room explodes. He's holding it like a hunter would display a deer's head. Here's your dynasty. Right here.

Red Was Just Full of Color, By Bob Ryan

The Red Auerbach folklore is extensive: The seven basic plays, plus options. The victory cigar. The Chinese food. The legendarily bad driving. The way he protected the owner du jour's money even better than he did his own. The love of Asian art and furniture. The letter opener collection. The image of him with the rolled-up program battling such referee foils as Sid Borgia and Mendy Rudolph. The love of tennis and racquetball. The chutzpah to draft the NBA's first black player, Chuck Cooper, in 1950; the further chutzpah to start five black players in the 1964-65 season; and even more chutzpah to name Bill Russell his successor when he retired from coaching in 1966.

And more: The fact that during the Bird Era he was not to be disturbed between 4 and 5 in his office because that's when he watched "Hawaii 5-0." The cab driver who may have persuaded him not to leave Boston for the Knicks. The pioneering '50s and '60s State Department trips that spread the basketball gospel to Europe, Asia, and Africa. The ceaseless and touching devotion to George Washington University, his alma mater.

For you Titans fans out there, I'll relay a Celtics/Titans analogy that I think you'll appreciate.

Do you remember the glory days of McNair and Eddie when the Titans would run the ball 35 times a game, and still get over 100 yards on the ground despite the fact that the opposing team knew exactly what the titans were going to do? They would line nine guys in the box and Eddie would still rumble for 100 yards.

That's what Red did with the Celtics. Everyone knew all of the Celtics plays, but the beauty was they still couldn't stop them. In Red's own words-"An acre of performance is worth a whole world of promise."

Thanks for the memories Red, and thank god you never had to see cheerleaders at a home Celtics game.

One Of The Stinkiest Elections In Recent Memory.

Republicans who act like Democrats, and Democrats who act batshit crazy- what a spectacular choice.

PJ O'Rourke, in his latest column, discusses our wonderful options.

On Republicans-

Social Security privatization was presented to the electorate with a public relations and marketing flair not seen since New Coke. Intelligence collection has been given an additional bureaucracy to correct the problems created by too much bureaucracy in intelligence collection. "Homeland Security" sounds like a failed 1980s savings and loan. Didn't Grandma lose $20,000 when Homeland Security went under? Then there's No Child Left Behind. What if the child deserves to be left behind? What if the child deserves a smack on the behind? We have a national testing program to test whether kids are . . . what? Stupid? You've got kids. Kids are stupid. Immigration policy will fence the border, providing economic stimulus to the Mexican ladder industry. The National Guard is stationed on the Rio Grande--U.S. troops standing between you and yard care. President Bush said that if illegal immigrants want citizenship they'd have to do three things: pay taxes, hold meaningful jobs, and learn English. Bush doesn't meet those qualifications

Heh. Kids are stupid. I should know, I still act like one on occasion.

PJ does not hold back when pondering whether or not to support the Democrats-

There is also the problem of issues for the Democrats to run on. You're going to elect Democrats to control government spending? And you're going to marry Angelina Jolie for her brains. The privacy issue--government spying on U.S. citizens--isn't going to work. True, NSA has been collecting all our telephone information, but anyone who's answered the phone during dinner knows that every telemarketer on earth has that information already. Illegal immigration? When the Democrats were in charge, the illegal immigrants were from al Qaeda. And as for Iraq, the best the Democrats have been able to do is make the high school sex promise: "I'll pull out in time, honest."

Maybe I won't work for the Democrats. It's too much of a job. And jobs are not something the Democratic base is famous for having. Maybe I'll just act like a Democrat and stay away from the polls on November 7 and hang around the house drinking beer. In fact, I think I'll start practicing that now, so I'll be ready on Election Day.

Yes, practice does make perfect. And by any measure, I should be close to reaching professional status thanks to all the long hours of practice I put in.


You know who I rather would vote for before some of the talking heads on my ballot now?

This guy.



"This year, why not the worst?"

American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk

If you feel like helping out a good cause this week, please check out the following from someone close to my family.

Friend,

This year I am participating in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. Making Strides is a non-competitive five-mile walk that takes place in more than 100 cities across the country. Making Strides has no registration fee and no fundraising minimum, which means that more people can participate. However, the many breast cancer programs from of the American Cancer Society depend on the generous donations collected by Making Strides Participants, so I'm asking you to please support me with a donation of any amount. Whether its $5, or $500, every bit truly does help. We're making great strides in our fight against breast cancer, but I won't quit until we're done. Hope Starts Here... With Us!

I am joining up with Sarah and her team on November 18th to help with the ongoing fight against breast cancer. Give what you can and wish me luck!

Thanks!

Some quick facts about breast cancer from the American Cancer Society-

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women, other than skin cancer. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in women, after lung cancer.

About 212,920 women in the United States will be found to have invasive breast cancer in 2006. About 40,970 women will die from the disease this year. Right now there are slightly over 2 million women living in the United States who have been treated for breast cancer.

The chance of a woman having invasive breast cancer some time during her life is about 1 in 8. The chance of dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 33. Breast cancer death rates are going down. This decline is probably the result of finding the cancer earlier and improved treatment.

If you are feeling generous, please click this link and help in any way you can.

Thanks!

CNN Reaches Bottom, Digs. Film At 11.

Perhaps you haven't heard of the recent controversy surrounding CNN's decision to air a video of an Islamic terrorist sniper killing a US soldier in broad daylight.

HotAir has the details, and you can go here to read Anderson Cooper's "painstaking" jusitification for deciding to run the video.

There is ZERO justification for airing this video. This is not a "newsworthy" item. We know that Islamic terrorist snipers are killing US soldiers. This is not news. We also know that these Islamic terrorists in Iraq cannot defeat our military, so they are trying to get our media to run videos such as this to get people in the US to drop their support for the war in Iraq. We've been through this before. The whole freaking purpose of terrorism is to scare people in to doing what you want them to do, and in this case CNN is providing an outlet for straight up terrorist propaganda videos.

Someone please explain to me what possible purpose is served (other than the inevitable ratings bonanza for CNN) by airing a video of these scumbags killing our troops. The people in our Armed Forces are over there trying to help Iraqi's get on their feet and start a new prosperous life free from scum like Saddam. Now CNN is helping the terrorists who want to turn Iraq back to the dark ages?

Here was Anderson Coopers excuse for airing the video-

"Whether or not you agree with us in this case, our goal, as always, is to present the unvarnished truth as best we can."

Fuck you Anderson. We already know the truth. We already know that these scumbags are taking pot shots at US troops. We all know that US troops are dying over there on a daily basis. It's a freaking war. Soldiers die in wars.

You aren't presenting the truth, you are presenting terrorist propaganda videos that are made for the express purpose of breaking down our collective will to defeat these scumbags.

Uncle Jimbo from BlackFive gives you a soldiers perspective on the whole thing. He is not pleased, to say the least.

It's amazing. How many of you heard about this story?

ULTRASOUND MACHINES & MEDICAL SUPPLIES – AL QAIM IRAQ
Spirit of America responded to a request from 1st Lt Matt Thompson, USMC for an ultrasound machine and medical supplies for an Iraqi medical center in Al Qaim (near the Syrian border). In fact, two ultrasound machines were donated – one purchased by SoA and the other donated by Sonosite. Here is an email from Lt Thompson:

I hope you got the flag as a token of our thank you. What you have done is such a wonderful thing for these people in Iraq. Unfortunately, I have become the new Watch Officer and although this puts me at the helm of the ship per se, it also precludes me from going outside the wire any more. This makes it impossible for me to get back out to the hospital. I am hearing reports that they [the Iraqi medical staff] were ecstatic and that they are functioning like modern hospital now. You can be assured that you have helped save lives in western Iraq.

Truly indebted.
Lt Matthew Thompson

Here is the delivery of the ultrasound machines and supplies to the medical center:


Marines donate items to hospital in Al Qaim

Or this?

TOYS AND BOOKS FOR CHILDREN IN BASRAH
Marines Lieutenant Colonel Jim Wilmott requested school supplies, books, toys and recreational equipment for children in Basrah. In cooperation with US Regional Embassy Officer (REO), Mark Marano, Spirit of America purchased 350 soccer balls, 375 Beanie Babies, over 100 educational toys and 1,000 Arabic-language books. Those donations have arrived in Basrah and are being given to local children. Mark Marano emailed saying us:

Receiving and distributing these donations has been the best part of my tour here. These types of gestures do more to win the hearts and minds more than any of our other efforts.



Basrah schoolchildren receive supplies courtesy of Embassy & Marines

All these projects were made possible by your generous support. Thank you.

That’s all for now.

All the best,
Jim Hake and the Spirit of America team
http://www.spiritofamerica.net

Instead CNN runs the video of some scumbag murderer killing a US soldier in broad daylight.

By the way, if you want to donate to the folks helping our troops in Iraq, I highly recommend the awesome work done by the people at Spirit Of America. They are responsible for the above examples of the fine work being done by our soldiers.


Anderson Cooper, how do you sleep at night?

Nuclear Apocalypse And Livejournal. It Just Fits I Guess.

With the latest news of Kim "Sea of Flames" Jong-Il's attempt to test a nuclear bomb, I was hoping that the dear leader would have added a new entry to the Kim Jong Il (the illmatic)'s Journal. No such luck. In fact the latest entry was from July 8th. I guess he's really busy building all that stuff to make a "sea of fire" and whatnot.

Maybe he's just reminiscing about the good ole days-



Who knows. He's a busy man. And so, so Ronrey..

Here is his last post to Bush-I'm thinking Junior confuses him.





You may have heard about the campaign advertisement created by Hollywood producer and director David Zucker that was "supposedly" intended to be used by GOP organizations in the closing weeks of the 2006 campaign. Allahpundit over at HotAir has the rundown, links included. Some funny stuff, I command you to go there and check it out or I will turn YOU in to a sea of flames.

Ok, maybe not a "SEA" of flames, maybe more like a "large puddle" of flames.

For TC at Leather Penguin

And for my other friends who have unfortunately chosen to root for the Darkside aka the Chokees this year.



Now you Yankee fans who know I'm a Red Sox fan will probably say "well, at least we were IN the playoffs" and they will be right, but few things make me as happy besides aBosox win as a Spankee Choke.

And Choke they did.

So I will enjoy this spanking of the overpaid mercenary Spankees, and wallow in the suffering of the Chokee fans.

Vindictive? Me? Maybe a little. But hey, it's the Yankees we're talking about.

Go Tigers!!

You have new Picture Mail!

Next stop. Tunica!

The Vince Young Era Begins with the Albert Haynesworth Stomp.

Let's see which newspaper runs that headline on Monday.


Ugly day for Titans fans, as Mr. Haynesworth disgraced the uniform with his indefensible actions in the the third quarter of todays game with the Cowboys. There is no excuse, and Haynesworth isn't even trying to make one.

DT ALBERT HAYNESWORTH

(on his hit on Andre Gurode)

First thing I’d like to say is, nobody told me what to say. Nobody coached me on my statement or anything like that. It’s all coming from me. What I’d like to say is I’m very sorry. I apologize to Andre. What I did was disgusting. It’s something that should never happen. I mean I’m not a dirty player. I don’t play dirty. I have respect for the game. What I feel like is I disgraced the game, disgraced my team and disgraced my last name. I just don’t know what else to say to apologize. When I was sitting in here in the locker room when the game was going on, I was looking at my phone, which has my kids on it. I don’t want them to have my last name and to think their Dad was a dirty player because I don’t play that way. I play with a lot of heart. What I did out there was disgusting. It doesn’t matter what the league does to me. The way I feel right now, you just can’t describe it.

It should have been a day of hesitant joy as Vince Young showed glimpses of unlimited potential running the Titans Offense. Once he realizes that the defense is watching his helmet and learns how to fool them, he has the chance to become one of the greatest quarterbacks I've ever seen. There's something about him beyond the stats that gives you that same feeling that McNair did. That maybe he has the tools needed to carry a team over the hump. They may not win a lot of games this year, but I can tell you, with Vince on the field, the Titans will be in it.

Instead we have this Haynesworth madness. Should Albert be banned for the year? Answer in the comments.

Update: For the few hundred of you who have come here looking for the video to the play in question, it's available here at this ESPN page. And would it kill you to leave a comment about it? I don't ask for much. Really I don't.