Gridiron Granules: The Could This Clown Be Any More Annoying Edition

The long national nightmare is over, Brett Favre has a new team at last. I would rather watch Fox News go back to running a continuous loop of Jeremiah Wright clips or MSNBC commentators identifying more lobbyists in the John McCain camp or John McCain and Barack Obama continually bickering over tire pressure than another ESPN reporter live from Green Bay. Over the past two weeks, there was a 200% chance one could turn to ESPN News and see someone yakking about the old man. I have had about as much interest in Favre's final destination as I do about who will be America's Next Top Model. Did this clown really think the Packers were just going to release him and let him go to the Vikings or Bears? I am almost ready to move Favre up to #3 on my list of all-time annoying players in NFL history. Chad Pennington was immediately cut, which means he will end up on the Dolphins, as the quarterback situation seems dire (go here for a good laugh). I think baseball pennant races are still ongoing, so could ESPN stop with the saturation coverage of this buffoon. I actually heard someone say Broadway Brett. The Jets just went from a 5-6 win team to an 8-9 win team and nothing more, so keep any Joe Montana to the Chiefs talk to yourself.

Whoa Baby!!

Meet Cliff Lee. Cliff is the best pitcher in baseball. After a terrible season last year where he only made 20 starts (5-8, 6.29), Cliff is clearly feeling a whole lot better. Granted it is early, but Cliff's numbers are so impressive through his first four starts that they are worth our attention. He is 4-0 with an ERA of 0.28. That is not a typo, it is a 0, not a 1, 2, 3, or 4 (or 8 if you happen to be Eric Gagne) in front of the .28. He has struck out 29 in 31 innings, allowing 1 earned run, while only walking 2 batters and allowing 11 hits. To put this into perspective, the disreputable Eric Gagne has allowed 16 base runners in only 10.2 innings, while Cliff has allowed only 13 in 31 innings. Obviously this cannot last, he will probably go out and pitch terribly on Wednesday against Seattle, but it is worth noting.

Deep in the Heart of Texas...

Last night the Celtics completed a season sweep of the current 3, 6, and 7 seeds on a whirlwind road trip through the state of Texas with a win over the Dallas Mavericks. Defeating the Spurs in a tight game on Monday night and putting an end the Rockets' amazing 22-game win streak in blowout fashion on Tuesday the Celtics have seemingly answered the question about how they might fare against the superior competition offered from the Western Conference. The Celtics are 23-4 against the West, including 10-3 against the teams currently in the playoffs in the West. At this point they are clearly the best team in the NBA, possessing size, sharpshooting, great defense, and a very underrated bench. Sam I Am has started playing better after a dreadful start to his tenure as a Celtic, he had 17 points and a clutch three pointer in the game's waning moments in the win over the Spurs this week. Last night, he only had four points but had six assists while playing most of the fourth quarter. It seems that Doc Rivers will utilize the experience of Cassell and Posey with the big three in the fourth quarter of a close game. And now for my favorite past time senseless rankings, the NBA edition:

_

1. Celtics
2. Lakers

3. San Antonio

4. Detroit

5. Phoenix

It is worth mentioning the play of the Philadelphia 76ers, a team's who's best players are Andre Miller and Andre Igoudala. This team should be in the lottery not in a position to potentially (but unlikely) host a playoff series in round one. They currently sit in the seventh spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race, one game behind Washington for fifth and 4.5 behind Cleveland for fourth. Andre Miller is playing like he belongs in the conversation about top 5 NBA point guards. This team is one star player away from being a strong team in a weak Eastern Conference. Mo Cheeks is the coach of the year at this point.

My current projection-Celtics over Lakers

The Seattle Supersonics Are Not Good at Basketball

How could the NCAA tournament selection committee not include the Seattle Supersonics? I am guessing Baylor got the 11 seed in the West because they have won five more games than the Sonics (21 to 16). The Sonics would probably lose in the first round to Purdue, but it is the NCAA tournament, thus they could have been this year's George Mason. Seattle lost by 52 to the Denver Nuggets last night, 168-116. This was the the fourth most points ever scored in a non-OT game in NBA history (Suns with 173 against the Nuggets in 1990 hold the record). Had it not been for a sluggish second quarter in which they only scored 36 points, the Nuggets would gotten the record. Are people in Seattle really too sad this team is going to move to Oklahoma City? Eight Nuggets scored in double figures, even Yakhouba Diawara (who?) scored 11. But the most impressive stat coming from this game other than the points scored is the fact that Marcus Camby was able to get a triple double in only 27 minutes (13/15/10/4 blocks). No one thought the Sonics were going to be all that competitive, but this team is pitiful. Kevin Durant has played good, not great, Chris Wilcox is the team's #2 scorer (13.5), and some guy named Johan Petro is the team's starting center. I know Shawn Kemp is a bit out of shape these days, but it is hard to imagine that this team would not be better if he made a comeback.

20????

If someone had asked me before the start of the season which NBA team had the best chance of winning 20 games in a row, I would have listed these teams, in this order:

1. Boston--The Eastern Conference is embarrassingly bad.
2. Detroit--The Eastern Conference is embarrassingly bad.

That's it. I would have laughed at the notion of any Western Conference team being able to pull it off. "The conference is too deep," I would have stated authoritatively in my best NBA expert voice. Well, the Houston Rockets have done the impossible, tying the second longest winning streak in NBA history last night with a tough win over the Atlanta Hawks. While they are a long way from the '71-'72 Lakers 33 game streak, this streak is nothing short of amazing, especially when one considers that they have played the last eight without Yao Ming. Also, Tracy McGrady is having his lowest scoring output (22.1 ppg) since the '99-'00 season with Toronto (15.4 ppg), his assists are down from last year, and his rebounding is well below his career average. It is not clear how this team is within one game of the best record of the best conference the NBA has seen in quite some time. This team cannot win the title without Yao Ming, but they are the story in the NBA right now. In somewhat related news, the Mighty C's of Boston won their 10th in a row with a thrashing of the lowly Supersonics. This is the first such streak since '85-'86 when the Celtics, interestingly enough, beat the Houston Rockets in the NBA Finals.

My current projection: Celtics over Spurs