The Paucity of Hope

22-5
Combined score of Tampa Bay's wins over Boston in Games 3 and 4 of the American League Championship Series -- 9-1 last night, and 13-4 tonight.

3-1
Tampa Bay's advantage over Boston in the best-of-seven ALCS.

3-1
Cleveland's advantage over Boston in the 2007 ALCS before Boston rallied back for three straight wins, then went on to sweep Colorado in the World Series.

3-0
New York's advantage over Boston in the 2004 ALCS before Boston rallied back for four straight wins, then went on to sweep St. Louis in the World Series.

I wish I felt some hope that the Sox could turn it around like they did twice in the past four seasons. But I can't see it happening. Going back to the Tampa Bay-Red Sox late regular-season series, the Rays just seem to have a knack for sticking the Red Sox with soul-crushing losses in extra-innings, or -- as in the last two games -- just 9-inning marathons of hopelessness, where the Rays take a massive lead immediately.

This year's Red Sox squad has carried on through key injuries, slumps, and Manny Ramirez's sit-down strke. They have done well to get this far. And I just don't see them turning this one around. I feel like I felt during the 2005 ALDS against Chicago -- the Sox have just met a superior team that has managed to play at an even higher level in the postseason. This is not a 2003 or a 1986 or a 1978 or a 1975, where it was winnable and you play the what-if game. This looks like the better team is indeed playing better, and they're choking the hope out of Boston.

I can see the Sox taking Game 5 at home, and bringing it back to Tampa. But I can't see them replicating their recent comebacks -- not this year.

Winding Down

6 or 7
With the Celtics' loss to the Lakers in Game 5 last night, the NBA Finals will go 6 or 7 games. I really wanted to the Celts to finish this off, and they had the chance. It's been ...

57
Days since the first round of the NBA playoffs started. Between the Red Sox, Patriots, and Celtics, life has been very good to me as a sports fan this past year, so I don't want to whine, but I will anyway. We're closing in on two months of "must-see" games that begin at 8 or 9 p.m. EST. Every single Finals game has started at 9, even the ones on Sunday. It's left me exhausted half the time, and I'm looking forward to moving on with my life. Maybe spending some time with family and friends, taking up a new hobby, or reading an interesting book ...

... such as Bill Russell's autobiography, Second Wind: The Memoirs of an Opinionated Man. This is one of several books I've read this year, none of which I've reviewed yet. So on the eve of what I hope will be the Celtics' 17th NBA championship, let's pay tribute to the man who played on 11 of those championship teams.

5
Reasons why 'Second Wind' might actually be interesting to a non-basketball fan:

• Segregation-era Louisiana -- The first chapter is about his family in segregation-era Monroe, Louisiana in the late 1930s and early 40s. It's revolting to read about the way his parents were treated, especially his mother, who was told by the local sheriff that she couldn't wear a dress because it was "white woman's clothing." After this, Russell's father decided that the family was going to move to Oakland, California. Of course, later in life, Russell was no fan of Boston, either. He called it a "flea market of racism" among other things. In recent years, though, Russell seems to have changed his opinion -- he's been to a bunch of Celtics games this year, and went to the Red Sox ring ceremonies for the 2004 and 2007 chamipnships.
  
• Co-author Taylor Branch -- As one Amazon reviewer says, this book is a model for anybody who is interested in ghostwriting. Taylor Branch, who wrote the three-part series on America in the Martin Luther King years, pulls off a perfect balancing act. "Second Wind" is Bill Russell's voice all the way. Branch's craft, though, is evident in the flow of this book. It's not completely chronological, and it's far from a laundry list of Russell's championships and athletic feats. The chapters are more conceptually-based.
  
• Motivation -- Bill Russell is an extraordinarily driven man, and it's inspiring to read what made him tick when he played. He won two NCAA championships, an Olympic gold medal, and 11 NBA championships. I sought this book out because of Bill Simmons' praise for the Championship chapter -- he said he'd never read anything better about what keeps a multi-time champion motivated to keep winning. What I loved even more was Russell's description on being "in the zone." To play at his highest level, he felt that he needed not only his teammates, but also his opponents to play at their peak level. Russell has high praise for his "rival" Wilt Chamberlain, and takes issue with the prevailing image of Wilt as a choker.
  
• Hoops Perspective -- Before this season, it had been 10 years since I'd really followed the NBA. "Second Wind" gave me a new appreciation for the sport at the same time that Kevin Garnett made the Celtics, at long last, watchable again. I love Russell's descriptions of philosophizing with K.C. Jones, his University of San Francisco roommate and later his Celtics teammate. They'd talk about all endless possible patterns that 10 men on the floor can make, or try to concoct innovative defensive strategies at a time when they barely existed. Blocked shots and their aftermath remind me of this book -- I think it could give somebody an appreciation for basketball even if they had none before.
  
• Opinionated -- The subtitle is no lie. Russell was pretty controversial in his day, but that makes him infinitely more interesting than many of today's top-tier athletes who speak like human press releases.
  

'Take Him to Detroit'

1701
Year that Detroit, Michigan was founded by Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac. Kerrie and I went to Detroit -- actually the northern Detroit 'burbs -- for a wedding this past weekend. Gentle Reader, I'll spare you of any long-winded descriptions of the city, since we never actually set foot anyplace downtown. With an additional day, we'd have at least gone to a Tigers game, but we spent our few hours of downtime in the Birmingham and Royal Oak neighborhoods.

11
Stanley Cups the Detroit Red Wings have won, including the 2007-08 Cup 11 days ago. There were plenty of displays of championship pride that we saw around town, including the stand pictured here, at a gas station near the airport.

40
Years ago, Detroit musician Vincent Damon Furnier took on the stage name Alice Cooper. Kerrie and I are now back in Bourne, where tomorrow, public-school students get to say "School's Out!"

Rivalry Resurrected

16
NBA Championships for the Boston Celtics, the most of any NBA franchise.

14
NBA Championships for the Minneapolis/L.A. Lakers, the second-most of any NBA franchise.

1986
Boston's last NBA Championship.

2002
Lakers' last NBA Championship.

8-2
Celtics' record against the Lakers in the 10 years (prior to this one) that they've met in the NBA Finals.

2-1*
Lakers' record against the Celtics in the NBA Finals during the Magic Johnson/Larry Bird years. Boston beat L.A. in 1984; the Lakers beat the Celts in 1985 and 1987. But the Celtics' best team of the Larry Bird Era -- the 1986 squad -- faced the Houston Rockets, not the Lakers, in the Finals. The Lakers were eliminated by Houston in the Western Conference finals that season.

21
Years since the Celtics met the Lakers in the NBA Finals. For the conspiracy theorists who claim the NBA rigged the playoffs to ensure this classic rivalry resumed, all I can say is, "Well done, David Stern." I'm hooked. It's been 10 years since I've watched the NBA Finals. (The 1998 championship was Chicago Bulls/Utah Jazz series, the one that preceded the second of Michael Jordan's three retirements.) And make no mistake, a lot of that is because I couldn't stomach watching during all the terrible Celtics years. But I also think it was a pretty unwatchable brand of basketball in the NBA for a lot of that time, and I like what I've seen a lot better this season.

Manny's Moonshot, No. 500

500
Manny Ramirez of the Boston Red Sox hit career home run No. 500 at Baltimore this past Saturday.

23
Other major-league baseball players have hit 500 or more career home runs.

6
Of those 23 players with 500 or more home runs are still playing -- that's if you count Barry Bonds (762 career HRs) and Sammy Sosa (609); neither is currently playing, but neither has formally retired. The other four are Ken Griffey Jr. (599), Alex Rodriguez (526), Frank Thomas (520) and Jim Thome (517).

36
Manny's age; his birthday was one day before he hit No. 500.

$20,000,000
Manny's salary this season, the eighth of his eight-year contract with the Red Sox. There's a club option for two more seasons.

2
World Series championships for the Red Sox -- 2004 and 2007 -- since they signed Manny as a free agent before the 2001 offseason. He was the MVP of the '04 World Series (.412 BA, .500 OBP, .588 SLG, 1 HR, 4 RBI over 4 games). The Sox signed him after losing out to the New York Yankees in a bidding war for Mike Mussina. At the time, it felt like another smack in the face for the Sox to get one-upped by the Yankees, but in what might be the final season of Manny Being Manny in Boston, this is one massive free-agency contract that I think was worth every penny.

The Pride Is Back

21
Years since the Boston Celtics last played in the NBA Finals, prior to tonight's 89-81 Game 6 win at Detroit. With the seasons the Patriots and Red Sox have had, Boston fans don't deserve anybody's sympathy, but it is sweet to see the Celtics return to championship form. The cold day in Hell has arrived -- tonight the Red Sox were playing a 13-inning marathon at Baltimore, and I had no idea it was happening, because I was so absorbed in a Celtics game. It was not always this way. In the mid-80s, when I was a regular in the Fenway bleachers, fans' attention would be split between the baseball game in front of us, and the Jumbotron (it was a black-and-white version, and I think it was actually called a SpectraVision) behind us, where they'd give occasional updates on Celtics playoff scores.

I never much cared for "Yankees suck!" chants, but here's one that I've missed saying in the past two decades:

BEAT L.A!!!!! BEAT L.A!!!!! BEAT L.A. !!!!! BEAT L.A!!!!! BEAT L.A!!!!! BEAT L.A. !!!!!

Road Forever Crawlin'

66-16
Boston Celtics' regular-season record this year, the best in the NBA.

31-10
Boston Celtics' regular-season road record this year.

0-4
Boston Celtics' postseason road record so far this year.

6-0
Boston Celtics' postseason home record so far this year.

32-13
Cleveland's lead over the Celtics at the end of the first quarter in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals last night. The Cavs went on to win it 108-84. It was the first game in Cleveland after Boston swept the first two at home. It is not an encouraging sign that the Celts have been unable to win an away game since the playoffs started, and it goes without saying that they're lucky to have home-court advantage.