10 Years - The 1998 Tennessee Volunteers Part Three - No-Sir-Ree

(Updated from an original feature on The 50 Best Vol Games 1989-2005 from SouthEastern Sports Blog, December 14, 2006)

"The kick is up, and the kick is...no-sir-ree. No-sir-ree. Final score: Tennessee 20...Florida...17. Pandemonium reigns." - John Ward

Burned into my memory, verbatim, is this line from the 1998 Sporting News preseason college football magazine: "Not even the most diehard Vol fan thinks they have a shot against Florida this year."

The week one win at Syracuse taught us a few things, but the cold reality was, in the third week of September 1998, we didn't know that Donovan McNabb would grow up to be Donovan McNabb, we didn't know Syracuse was that good, and we'd seen our defense give up 33 points and miss a world of tackles, Tee Martin have a below average start statistically speaking, no #2 wide receiver emerged, and there was little that made you look at this team and think any different about their odds against the Gators.

What really made it that way wasn't so much Tennessee's problems, but Florida's talent. On offense, the Gators suited up Terry Jackson at RB and a usual stable of future NFL drafted wide receivers, including Travis McGriff, Travis Taylor, and Darrell Jackson, with Erron Kinney at tight end. Zach Piller led the offensive line. And coming into the game, the questions with the Gator offense surrounded who would play, Doug Johnson or Jesse Palmer?

But the brutal strength of this Florida team was the defense.

In a conversation about the best defenses that Tennessee has faced in the last twenty years, you always start with 92 Alabama, and you can certainly make a case for 96 Alabama, 97 Nebraska, and 02 Miami. But outside of the 92 National Champions in Tuscaloosa, this Florida defense gets my money. The Gators featured Reggie McGrew at defensive tackle and Tony George in the secondary, but the real five star unit is at linebacker, where Mike Peterson and Jevon Kearse (moved to DE by the Titans) lined up with Johnny Rutledge, and all three were drafted in the first or second round the following April. Florida was big, fast, and playing an inexperienced Vol offense. This was trouble.

So here come 100,000 people into Neyland Stadium for the good ol' 8:00 PM kickoff on CBS. And you've seen things go wrong against these guys so many times, and you don't have a whole ton of faith in this Tennessee team at this point anyway, and everyone says it's going to go south...so you're just trying to hang on when this thing starts.

The Legend of Al Wilson is written on this night. You've never, ever seen a defensive player take over a game like this in Knoxville. In the first half, Wilson simply willed the Vols. It started when Florida drove to the one yard line in a scoreless game, and you're thinking "well, here we go again."

And then Wilson forced a fumble that the Vols recovered in the end zone.

The Gators would move to first and goal again, and this time come away with only three points. Doug Johnson and Jesse Palmer weren't just rotating every series, they were rotating every play. He'll never admit it, but I think Spurrier might regret that.

Florida had a 3-0 lead and the Vol offense wasn't getting anything done. So when Shawn Bryson took a handoff at the Vol 43 yard line, and suddenly the middle of the defense came wide open because they weren't expecting the fullback, and Bryson turned on the speed for a 57 yard touchdown, the Vols had the lead. Tennessee had the lead on Florida - which hadn't happened in three years. It hadn't happened at Neyland Stadium in six years. And when Bryson scored, I remember thinking "this isn't the way this usually goes..."

Al Wilson kept hitting. He forced his third fumble of the night that the Vols recovered only 35 yards away, and things keep going right. Tennessee got three points out of that drive and led 10-3.

As close as this game was and as lucky as many say the Vols were to win it, it could've been more decisive in our favor when you really go back and look at it. Florida drove 67 yards in 3:10 with no timeouts on their final drive of the first half - including a 3rd and 22 conversion - throwing a touchdown pass with :20 left to tie the game at 10-10 at halftime.

As the third quarter progressed, you saw another Florida fumble that led to no points, and midway through the third with the game still tied at 10-10, you had to wonder that if the Vols had four turnovers and only 10 points off of them, that we had wasted our best chances.
But punter David Leaverton pinned the Gators at their own four yard line, Florida couldn't drive, punted and then committed an oft-forgotten but highly crucial personal foul penalty on the return. The result: Tennessee had first and ten on the Florida 28.

The drive actually went backward one yard before Tee Martin made his one and only big throw of the night, hanging a ball up in the corner between Peerless Price and two defenders. Price made a tremendous adjustment on the ball, caught it and held on through the hit for a touchdown. This is one of those plays where all the fans in orange are thinking "This isn't going to work, he shouldn't have thrown that....wait, YES!"

Tennessee hadn't held a lead on Florida this late in the game in six years. 17-10 Vols, still seven and change left in the third quarter.

More evidence that the Vols could've won by more: they had Florida on 3rd and 11 at their own 30 on the ensuing drive. The result: Travis McGriff busted Dwayne Goodrich for 70 yards, and in an instant we're tied again. There's some great trash talking between McGriff and Goodrich if you can find the tape, and while Goodrich would mature throughout the year and go on to help shut down Peter Warrick, McGriff got the best of him to the tune of 9 catches for 176 yards.

Tennessee's offense simply couldn't move. The Gator defense had given up two plays, one to Bryson and one to Price, but would budge no further. Sometimes I'll see this game mentioned as "one of the most well played games in Tennessee history", and that's simply not true. If you go back and watch the tape, essentially you're watching for those two plays on offense, and everything else when Tennessee has the ball is borderline unwatchable. Tennessee simply couldn't get anything done on offense all night long.

As the clock ran into the 4th quarter, the Vol faithful were waiting for one more of those big plays, just one more. But the offense could never provide it. Tee Martin finished 7 of 20 passing for just 64 yards. Jamal Lewis ran for an extremely tough 82 yards.

But when the offense couldn't get any more points on the board, the Vol defense continued to
carry the team. On the night, they held Florida to -13 rushing yards and sacked Johnson and Palmer five times. They had already forced four fumbles. And as the game wore on, the Vol nation began to build the faith they would place on this defense for the remainder of the season.

Florida would make one final push towards the end zone, but Deon Grant made one of the most spectacular interceptions you'll ever see. When the ball was fired deep across the middle, one of the guys sitting next to me said "intercepted!" and I remember thinking "are you blind?! there's no way he'll get to that one..."

But Deon Grant played centerfield well, timed his leap, and one-handed saved the game, scoring the 5th turnover of the night and sending the game towards overtime.

We'd never played the high stakes game of overtime before, and were already pretty thrilled just to be there with these guys. When the Vols lost the toss, got the ball first, and then committed a holding penalty, you still just had to scratch your head.

But while Tee Martin wasn't hot on this night, he made a big play in scrambling on third down and getting those ten yards back, giving Jeff Hall a 41 yard field goal instead of a 51 yarder. Hall stepped up and knocked it through, and the Vols led 20-17.

There is no more tense situation in sports than a college football overtime where the team with the first offensive possession kicked a field goal. Because the game can be over on the very next snap, with a touchdown for the offense or a turnover for a defense.

On their first offensive play, Florida got 10 yards and a first down to the 15 yard line. And I remember thinking "We've played so hard, come so close, and left so much out there, and now it's going to end and come up short, because there's no way we keep Florida out of the end zone from the 15 yard line and a first down."

The definitive Al Wilson play wasn't any of the forced fumbles or anything from any of the other 1998 games. It was second and 10 from the 15 in this overtime.

Before the snap, Wilson is showing blitz but he's not showing where, and there's a camera shot of this from behind Jesse Palmer that shows what he saw: Wilson roaming around the defensive lineman like a maniac, showing blitz from three different angles before the snap. When Palmer takes it, he gets a three step drop and then has to get rid of it because Wilson is all over him. And suddenly it's 3rd and 10, and you're one stop away from forcing a field goal.

When the Gators threw behind a moderately open man in the end zone on third down, the Vol D had held again.

So here comes Collins "we don't put kickers on scholarship at the University of Florida" Cooper, and it's only 32 yards.

32 yards. I never, ever thought about him missing it. My exact words were "watch the fake, please God don't rough the kicker." And then, like lots of those in orange, I'm trying to figure out how our offense is going to score any points as the potential overtimes play on, because our defense has got to be dead and you can't ask much more from them.

My season tickets are in Z11, which is the opposite end of the stadium from where the ball was kicked. And what I learned on that night is that when they're kicking field goals on the other end and you can't tell, you always watch the fans right behind the goalpost - they'll tell you first. Because the first time I saw it was on this night.

When Cooper's kick went up and drifted left, from our perspective it was "well, maybe..." and then you see the section of Vol fans directly behind and to the left of the goalposts start going nuts. And there's that 0.5 second moment where everyone in the stadium takes a breath, one big inhale before letting out more noise than I've ever heard in my entire life.

I remember saying "He missed it!" and then being conscious of not being able to hear the words come out of my mouth.

I said it again and didn't hear it again.

It was raw, pure jubiliation, the type of totally unrestrained celebration that you just don't see this side of heaven. And after a few seconds of that, with everyone I know and some people I don't grabbing me and each other and girls I don't even know coming up and kissing me and and everyone else, it sank in: we won. We won.

We beat Florida.

There was this moment of "Let's get the goalposts!" My seats are 48 rows up in Z11, and after
thinking it and getting one foot in the aisle, those things were already down. "Well, okay, they'll get the goalposts I guess."

But it might've been more fun having to stand there and watch the Gator fans walk back up between us, in a mass of people mocking the Gator Chomp ("My arms are tired, but keep chomping - I have no idea when we'll get to do this again." - my Dad) and screaming with venom and fury "Citrus Bowl! Citrus Bowl!" at the Gator fans.

Florida, as it turns out, would get a BCS at-large bid and play in the Orange Bowl. But the Vols would still do them one better...

Braves at the Halfway Mark: Dead or Alive?

The Braves avoided a sweep today at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers, picking up a 4-2 win that moves them to 39-41 on the season. As they take Thursday off before heading up to Toronto for the weekend, their season hits its halfway mark. Through 80 games, the Braves have seen heartbreak, injury and the downright strange befall them, and as we get further and further away from playoff memories and hover closer and closer to a seemingly perpetual state of .500 baseball, does Atlanta still have hope for the 2008 season?

In some ways, the answer to that question should be absolutely not.

For starters...well, they're 39-41. A team that's below .500 with half of the season already in the books isn't exactly the picture of postseason material.

If you want heartbreak, try Atlanta's 22 straight one run losses on the road, dating back to last season, which is an all time MLB record, thank you very much. The downright strange includes Chipper Jones taking a batting practice fastball to the eye off a ricochet, John Smoltz's role as a starter-turned-closer-turned-bench coach, and the Ghost of Mike Hampton, who I keep reading about with words like "simulated start" and "felt some pain" in the same paragraph, and who is yet to grace Turner Field with his mythical presence since 2005. Meanwhile, he continues his run as the second highest paid player on the team behind Tim Hudson.

And speaking of injury...well, where would you like to start?

In the outfield, Matt Diaz and the surprising Mark Kotsay have both spent time on the DL (Kotsay is expected back soon). Yunel Escobar was scratched today and Chipper Jones continues to rest his quad. But compared to the pitching injury woes, these are just little things.
John Smoltz was the No. 1 starter in April, then he was the closer, and now he may never pitch again. Tom Glavine was supposed to be the steady support and boost of morale the team used to get back in the playoff chase this season, and he too may never pitch again, as many in the Braves community seem to be giving off indications that his injury is worse than anyone really let on. Rafael Soriano was never able to pitch on consecutive days and is currently on the DL, joining Peter Moylan (out for the season). Throw in Hampton's perpetual uncertainty, and you have a mess and a Braves rotation that consists of Tim Hudson and four guys named "Who?"
So why are we even having this conversation? Where's the hope?

Actually, some of those "Who?" guys haven't been bad at all. Hudson leads the pack at 8-5 with a 2.96 ERA, but the young duo of Jair Jurrjens (7-3, 3.20) and Jorge Campillo (7-2, 2.54) help plant some faith among doubt.

And two, you can thank the Phillies for keeping Atlanta alive. After the win today, the 39-41 Braves find themselves only 4 games back in the NL East. Philadelphia has lost six straight and in a division full of underachievers, who knows what the second half will hold?

The wild card, strange as it may seem, would currently appear to be a more difficult objective: everyone in the NL East that's not Philly would currently be chasing St. Louis and Milwaukee, both well above .500. If form holds, the Braves' best postseason hopes will come in winning the division.

When injuries are such a problem, ideally it gets better when those players return. Mike Gonzalez has already been a real positive out of the pen, and one hopes that Mark Kotsay's return will do likewise to a lineup that's gotten the productivity they expect from Brian McCann and some reccent signs of life from Mark Teixeira. But players like Jeff Francoeur must improve in the second half if the Braves are to stay relevant in the postseason conversation.
And then there's Chipper Jones, who between BP injuries and quad strains is still hitting .394 and is over 1.000 OPS. While the talk of .400 is likely to die down as the season goes on, Chipper can still be the catalyst that leads this offense.

The most telling sign of life, to me, is the runs scored vs. runs allowed figure that arguably shows a team's true strength. The Braves, despite being 39-41, are +41 in that column, third best in the National League behind only the Cubs and the Phillies. Atlanta's 4-19 record in one run games this season certainly contributes to the record, but if the Braves can start winning some of those instead of losing them, in this division, they're not too far off the pace at all.

So hope remains, for now. After the weekend series in Toronto, the Braves will open July with a three game Turner Field set against the Phillies. Last time around, Philly broke Atlanta hearts with a three game sweep, essentially winning each night in the seventh inning or later. That series moved the Braves from 3.5 back to 6.5 out. Back in the race at 4 out today, the Braves will once again have a shot next week to put themselves in the relevant conversation, or move closer to being left out of it completely.

10 Years - The 1998 Tennessee Volunteers Part Two - Almost Over Before It Started

On September 5, 1998, playing a high noon season opening kickoff on ESPN, the #10 Tennessee Volunteers traveled north to Syracuse, NY for a meeting with the #17 Orangemen. As mentioned in the previous installment, Vol fans really didn't know what to expect at the outset of the 1998 season. What they got was high drama, and right away.

Tee Martin was making his first start, and the expectation was lots of handoffs to sophomore Jamal Lewis. With Peyton Manning now an NFL rookie, Lewis was the Vols' brightest star and even a darkhorse Heisman candidate at the beginning of the season simply based upon the number of carries he was likely to receive behind an offensive line returning four starters. Center Trey Teague was off to the NFL, which required Spencer Riley to move over from guard and fill his position. The rest of the lineup - Chad Clifton and Jarvis Reado at tackle, Cosey Coleman and Mercedes Hamilton at guard - looked to pave the road for Lewis. As Martin broke himself in, "Give the ball to Jamal" seemed to be the mantra for the 98 offense.

Syracuse was talented - winners of eight straight to close the 97 season before losing in their bowl game - and Donovan McNabb was on his way to becoming a household name. But for Tennessee, despite the questions and the losses surrounding Vol Nation, two factors led to a healthy dose of overconfidence.

One, it had been ten years since the Vols had lost a season opener...if you throw out the 1994 UCLA game, which most Vol fans in their minds did, because that's the day that senior QB Jerry Colquitt, after waiting his entire career behind Heath Shuler, destroyed his knee on the seventh play from scrimmage and the Vols were left to fend for themselves with a baseball player named Todd Helton, a future Texas A&M transfer named Brandon Stewart, and "one pair of sweaty palms" belonging to Peyton Manning. The Vols lost that day, but under those circumstances we forgave it and ultimately, we forgot it. Tennessee losing the season opener is jarring because in our minds it didn't happen, not since 1988 - which is why Vol fans took the loss at California last season so especially hard.

Two, playing a non-conference opponent of Syracuse's caliber was nothing new in Knoxville. Say what you will about some schools, and even some schools in the SEC, but the Vols will travel and they'll travel anywhere. As Phillip Fulmer enters his 16th season as head coach in 2008, in his tenure Tennessee has played home-and-home series with Notre Dame (twice), Syracuse, Miami, California, and starting this season UCLA for a second home-and-home duel. In the next decade, the Vols are contracted to face Oregon, NC State, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Ohio State. Tennessee travels.

So the travel wasn't new and the challenge wasn't either, and playing in the SEC means that no one's home field advantage is really going to overly impress you (though the Carrier Dome, by name, is unique in college football). All of these factors made Vol fans generally more curious about how the 98 team would look than whether or not we would actually win the game.

As season openers usually go, both teams weren't at their best, but did a nice job of making up for it in theatrics. Tee Martin began his UT career by going 9 for 26 for 143 yards, but helped ease the tension by making the throws he needed to make - specifically, an early TD pass on the Vols' first drive from 12 yards out to Peerless Price, and another one to Peerless from 8 yards away in the 4th quarter. Inbetween, Martin also ran for 81 yards and a touchdown, and didn't throw any interceptions.

Meanwhile, Donovan McNabb had a huge day.

Syracuse fans will remember some fumbled snaps, perhaps, though it's worth noting that the 'Cuse fumbled five times and only lost two of them. But what Vol fans remember about the entire 98 season is defense - that Tennessee had an aggressive, playmaking, dominant and ultimately legendary defense. And that's true. Just not on this day.

In 1998, the Vol D gave up 17 points to Florida. 9 points at Auburn. 3 at Georgia. They gave up only one touchdown to Tim Couch and Kentucky before the backups came in for the final few minutes and gave up two garbage TDs. They shut out Mississippi State in the SEC Championship Game, as the Bulldogs scored on a punt return and an interception return. And in the BCS National Championship, they gave up only 16 points to Florida State.

These same guys gave up 33 points in the Carrier Dome, and let McNabb make an even bigger name for himself.

En route to Syracuse picking up 445 yards of offense, McNabb was a cool, calm and collected 22 of 28 for exactly 300 yards. The Vols sacked him three times and hit him a bunch...but McNabb never let it disrupt him. Truly a great performance against what would become a great defense by a quarterback on his way to a greatness reserved only for those in Campbell's Chunky Soup commercials.

The Vols led 14-10 at halftime, with those of us in orange still assuming everything was in hand - because as we mentioned in Part I, Tennessee had been beating everyone but Florida in the regular season for the last three years, so we always just assumed. When Syracuse cut it to 14-13, the Vols used more Jamal Lewis (141 yards on just 20 carries) to score again and then added a field goal off a turnover, and when the lead was 24-13 heading to the 4th quarter, we all felt pretty safe.

The final fifteen minutes of this game became an emotional roller coaster for all involved. It currently ranks as one of the Top 100 Finishes (since 1970) on collegefootballnews.com's list, and with good reason.

Less than six minutes into the 4th quarter, Syracuse scored, got the ball back, and then scored again. All of a sudden, the Orangemen had their first lead at 27-24. And now, Vol fans were sweating. All of the assumptions faded away, and you realized you needed a come from behind victory in a hostile environment with a green, 9-for-26 quarterback.

But again, Martin made the plays he needed to make.

He led the Vols on a 6 play, 80 yard drive, highlighted by his 55 yard scramble on 3rd and 10. This is one of an infinite number of instances where Tennessee radio play-by-play man John Ward, in his final season, brought the magic. He saw the play open up and voiced, as if from on high directly to the young quarterback: "Run with that football." Martin, on cue, took off. 55 yards later, we were sweating a little less. The drive culminated with Peerless Price's second TD catch of the day, and the Vols were back on top 31-27 with still 8:30 to play.

From here, it probably gets a little painful for the Syracuse faithful.

The Orangemen had a first down at Tennessee's 24 yard line, but could get no closer and settled for a field goal to make it 31-30. Then, Tee Martin made his only really big mistake of the day on a fumble that Syracuse recovered at their own 41 yard line with still more than five minutes to play. They drove all the way to the two yard line, ate three minutes off the clock...and still couldn't reach the end zone. Another chip shot field goal gave the Orangemen the lead, 33-31, but meant the Vols could retake the lead with a field goal of their own.

The play most people probably remember from this game is a 4th down on the ensuing drive, where Martin's pass falls incomplete and there's about a full second before a penalty flag comes flying in for pass interference.

Before we talk about whether or not it was the right call, which of course, depends on which shade of orange you were wearing at the time...for Tennessee, this would be the first in a series of moments where it all could've come crashing down in 1998. 13-0 could've been 0-1 very easily. During that full second between the ball hitting the turf and that yellow flag flying into the television frame, Vol fans had that moment of realization - that Peyton wasn't here to save us, that we were going to start the season 0-1, and as much as one can realize this in a full second, our program was entering a new era and it wasn't an overly positive one.

But the penalty flag put all that on hold. Now...technically, I believe the call was correct. The Syracuse defender makes contact with the Tennessee receiver a split second before the ball gets there. Technically, it was pass interference. But where I sympathize completely is that, more often than not, a referee will hold his flag on such a bang-bang play. The penalty was called, the drive continued, and the season that would later become defined by the term had its first brush with destiny.

The game wasn't over. Tennessee still needed to get the ball upfield to set up a field goal. But again, Tee Martin made the plays he needed to make, directing the Vols all the way down to the 10 yard line and milking the clock, setting up senior Jeff Hall from 27 yards to win the game.

Hall, being a fourth year starter, had earned our respect in Knoxville. He nailed a game winner as a true freshman in his second game against Georgia in 1995, and we didn't question him again. So from 27 yards, to us it was a forgone conclusion. And Hall didn't disappoint - he split the uprights, and John Ward told us, "Tennessee wins." It wasn't an exclamation, it was an emphatic statement: new players, on the road, tough circumstances, and yes, a fortuitous flag...but the Vols still got it done. The Vols still found a way, and all of our assumptions and beliefs about this team and this program were still true, at least for one more week - that the Vols can and would beat anybody that wasn't Florida, no matter what. Tennessee 34 - Syracuse 33.

Despite the high drama and classic finish, Syracuse left the field downtrodden, I'm sure...but they didn't let it slow them down long - the very next week, they pounded Michigan 38-28 in Ann Arbor, en route to a Big East Championship and a spot in the BCS. The Vols, meanwhile, would take their customary week off following the opener, before having to face all those questions again...because the next one wasn't anybody that wasn't: the Gators were coming in two weeks.

Link: The Best New Nicknames for Pacman Jones

From Jon Grilz and BleacherReport.com:

In a recent press release, Dallas Cowboys' media-mainstay Adam "Pacman" Jones announced that he would no longer like to be referred to as Pacman—a nickname given to him by his mother.

Instead, Pacman would like to be known only as Adam or Mr. Jones.

However, since Pacman seems unable to stay out of the public eye, it makes more sense that the viewing public should have a say in what he is referred to as.

To help the decision-making process, a new list has been released of possible classic-arcade-game-themed nicknames for Pacman:

Donkey Kong Jones: For not only his objectification of women, but also his rumored penchant for throwing barrels at Italian plumbers.

Galaga Jones: For his seeming inability to end a confrontation of any level without a certain level of gun play, coupled with his quest for interstellar domination.

Excite-Bike Jones: For his ability to escape the scene of any crime at an incredibly high rate of speed along a linear and predictable path.

Tecmo-Bowl Jones: Since the only time Jones will ever get to play in a Super Bowl will be vicariously through a poorly pixilated video simulation with a limited play-calling selection (not unlike the Minnesota Vikings).

Frogger Jones: For Jones' amazing ability to sidestep and avoid any semblance of personal responsibility and accountability.

Ms. Pacman Jones: For his girlish and childlike attempt to escape his past and self-created reputation by trying to get a publicist to get people to stop calling him Pacman.

The early frontrunner seems to be Ms. Pacman, for his lack of masculinity (and for how cute he would look with a pink bow on his head). However, it is anyone's guess as to how this will all play out.

The Pinnacle of Shaquille O'Neal's Rap Career

Little known fact: the first CD I ever owned was Shaq Diesel. I hope all the respect you just lost for me doesn't keep you from reading here again. Yo Shaq, where you at?

(Warning: Adult language)

Dream Team '08

We really have to stop calling them that.

Anyway, the official roster for the 2008 Olympic USA Men's Basketball Team was announced today, led by Coach K. The Americans lost three times in Athens '04 and captured the Bronze Medal. I like some of what I see here, and I especially like the willingness of most of the NBA's biggest stars to come out and play...but let's take a look at the roster:

PG Jason Kidd
PG Chris Paul
PG Deron Williams
SG Kobe Bryant
SG Michael Redd
SG Dwyane Wade
SF Carmelo Anthony
SF LeBron James
SF Tayshaun Prince
PF Carlos Boozer
PF Chris Bosh
C Dwight Howard

Lots of names, mostly young, I like that. This team should win the gold medal, and I like that too. However...three point guards? I don't see the need for three point guards at any level of basketball. The original Dream Team had Magic and Stockton, and that was plenty fine. Three point guards don't work in one rotation - you need a starter and a backup, and that's it. Otherwise, you're just experimenting, and this team is too good and lacks the chemistry to pull that off anyway. PGs don't get into foul trouble the way big guys do...which thus raises the question of why there's only three true bigs on this team. If Team USA wanted to "go big" on a lineup, they're really limited with this group.

You'll probably see them try to use a lineup most of the time that uses a point guard of choice, Dwight Howard, and some combination of Kobe/Wade/LBJ/Melo. The latter two are tall enough and probably strong enough to play the four in some offensive sets, but if a team puts a ton of height out on the floor, you might see a lot of Bosh and Howard together, and if there's foul or injury trouble, even Carlos Boozer can't pick up the full slack. It's just an overall curious choice, three point guards and only three bigs.

But despite all the breakdown, again - we should win. Olympic play starts August 10.

10 Years - The 1998 Tennessee Volunteers Part One - The Prologue

And now, the series we've been waiting two months to start.

The first in a series remembering the 1998 National Championship team, which celebrates its 10th Anniversary this fall.

The Prologue
To understand what happened in Knoxville in 1998, you have to remember both what we'd gained and what we'd lost.

The modern era of Tennessee Football, as I like to call it, started in 1989. The genesis of the Vols' current status as an elite program can be found in Pasadena, California, on a late September night when a team that had gone 5-6 in 1988 went out to #6 UCLA and came back with a 24-6 win. The Vols would go on to capture a share of the SEC Championship in 1989 before winning it outright in 1990, and the run was on.

Five years and a new head coach and defensive coordinator later, a sophomore named Peyton Manning came under center for his first full season as the starting quarterback. And for the next three years, the Vols were great - 11-1 and ranked #2 in the coaches poll in 1995, 10-2 in 1996, and an 11-1 SEC Champion in 1997 with an outside shot at the National Championship before getting blasted by Nebraska in the Orange Bowl. That run of three years made Manning a legend and helped the Vols reach new heights...

...but the heights weren't quite as high as we wanted to go.

Outside of 1996 and a fluke loss to Memphis State, all you see are 1's in the regular season loss column up there. And each of those three seasons, the one was the same - the Florida Gators.

What Steve Spurrier and the Gators did in the mid-90s is impressive beyond description. Four straight SEC Championships, winning it all in 1996, and putting their stamp of ownership on the toughest conference in college football. Florida's greatness, combined with Tennessee's inability to beat them, really made the nation at large overlook how good Tennessee was during that same time period.

Under Phillip Fulmer and Peyton Manning, the Vols scratched a 10 year Alabama itch in 1995, the first of seven straight wins over the Crimson Tide, a streak that no other school can claim and one that changed the entire landscape of the Vols' most bitter rivalry. But under the new divisional format, the Vols' most important rivalry had become Florida, and just when the Alabama series got better, the Florida series got worse.

The Vols beat Bama, kept unloading on the rest of the SEC, beat Eddie George and #4 Ohio State in the Citrus Bowl following the 1995 season, then blew out co-Big 10 Champion Northwestern in the same bowl the following season. Peyton Manning racked up legendary numbers to stake his claim as one of the best SEC quarterbacks of all time. Tennessee was beating everybody...except Florida.

The most impressive statistic in this era that I know of is this: between an October 1994 loss to Alabama, and a November 1999 loss at Arkansas, the Vols went 1-4 against Florida. They went 37-0 against the rest of the SEC.

That's stunning. Dominance on an incredible, unheard of level.

...except, it wasn't. Because Florida was still one step ahead.

The Vols were outscored by the Gators in 1993 and incredibly overwhelmed on paper and in result in 1994. But when sophomore Peyton Manning went to The Swamp in 1995, the Vols felt like they were right there with Florida. And for one half, they were more than that - the Vols led the Gators 30-14 late in the second quarter that year. And from there, we knew only heartbreak.

Florida outscored the Vols by an uncanny 48-7 mark from that point on to win that day 62-37, then opened the 1996 game with a 35-0 lead to continue the torture. Even when Peyton decided to stay at the University of Tennessee, the Vols found themselves on the receiving end of a 33-20 loss that wasn't really that close in 1997. Florida wasn't just beating Tennessee, they were making it look easy and breaking our spirit along the way. And Tennessee was beating everybody else, and had nothing to show for it. It was tangible depression in Big Orange Country.

The saying goes that around Knoxville, there are only two questions one asks on the Third Sunday in September: "Can we go all the way?" or "Will Florida lose twice?" And since for five straight years we could only ask the second one from 1993-1997, the answer kept being "no" and Florida kept playing in Atlanta, while the Vols kept playing in Orlando.

But finally...finally...in October of 1997, with the senior Manning somewhat downtrodden and the business-as-usual Vols tearing up everyone else behind the running of super freshman Jamal Lewis...finally, the Vols broke through. Not because they were good enough to beat Florida...but because finally, someone else was.

In 1995 and 1996, the Vols lost to Florida in September, then beat everyone else in the SEC and had to hope the Gators lost twice along the way. And in 1995 and 1996, Florida ran roughshod over the conference. They didn't even lose once to give us false hope, they went 8-0 both years. It was like the Gators weren't even giving us a chance. So when they won again in 1997, we just assumed it'd be three straight Januaries in Orlando.

But then, the #1 Gators went into Tiger Stadium in October, and somehow, someway, somebody found a way to beat them. It was the first SEC loss for Florida since 1994, but the Tigers got it done 28-21. And suddenly, there was hope in Knoxville.

The Vols needed one more, and they'd have to wait - Auburn couldn't get it done the following week against the Gators. But then, against the one team who could sympathize with the Vols' Florida struggles more than anyone, the Gators stubbed their toe again - in the Cocktail Party, against a Georgia team the Vols had toyed with weeks earlier, and most UT fans gave no second thoughts about. Georgia unleashed the fury, 37-17. And all of a sudden...the Vols were in the driver's seat.

Peyton Manning and Tennessee maintained that position, closing out Vanderbilt in narrow fashion to clinch their first SEC East Division Championship. And I will still contest to this very day that the best environment I've ever been in for any sporting event was the 1997 SEC Championship between Tennessee and Auburn. Two old rivals who hadn't played under the new divisional format in six years, two storied programs both making their first trip to Atlanta for the SEC Championship, and the Vols at #3 and still holding an outside shot at winning it all. It's the only neutral site game I've ever been to where the crowd was truly 50-50. And the Vols didn't play perfect by any means, but they played well enough to win 30-29, capturing their first SEC Championship since 1990, and getting Peyton Manning his ring.

Even though Tennessee hadn't beaten Florida, they had the rings. And I think mentally, that changed some of the landscape. The Vols, not the Gators, would be entering the 1998 season as the defending SEC Champions. That gave Tennessee confidence, and that confidence made a difference.

That was what we'd gained. From there, the Vols did some losing.

First, Peyton Manning lost the Heisman Trophy. Then, #1 Michigan held off Washington State in the Rose Bowl, eliminating Tennessee's chances to win the National Championship if they had beaten #2 Nebraska.

Then, Nebraska did some beating of their own.

The Cornhuskers put their evil inside the Vols to the tune of 42-17. A great Tennessee team and a great Tennessee player like Manning, beaten down in the twilight of the season and his career, was incredibly disheartening even without the National Championship on the line. The Vols got physically whipped in a way that I haven't seen before or since.

But from that ashes of that Orange Bowl loss came lessons. Get stronger. Get tougher. Get meaner. Everytime one of my teams takes a real beating, I always think back to this game. Because the next year, it turned into the best thing that ever happened to Tennessee Football.

The rest of what made 1998 so special is that you never saw it coming.

Despite the confidence and the rings, the Nebraska beatdown put a swift and sudden end to the Manning Era. And he wasn't the only one who was leaving.

The Vols lost Manning, WR Marcus Nash, DEs Leonard Little and Jonathan Brown, and DB Terry Fair to the NFL. Names who had been mainstays in the Vol attack for several years were now gone, and their replacements were far from sure things. Manning's name was the biggest and brightest, but the losses on the whole on both sides of the ball left doubt. The assumption, in Knoxville and everywhere, was that Tennessee had its chance with Manning, won one SEC title after backdooring their way into Atlanta, and now it was back to the pack while Florida continued to assert itself. And on paper, it was hard to argue.

You knew about Jamal Lewis, but with Tee Martin having never started a game and no proven #1 receiver, there were questions about the offense. And outside of a linebacking corps that would ultimately live up to its billing, the defense was packed with even bigger issues. 10 years ago in late June, we didn't know what we were going to see when the Vols hit the field in September, but we knew it would be something new.

And something new is exactly what we got.

Random Thoughts - Thursday June 19

Where my sleep schedule is finally getting back to normal after the Finals, and Knoxville gets rightfully added to SportsCenter's TitleTown on the shoulders of women's basketball...


More numbers to help prove I'm really not that crazy...
Two weeks ago, I posted the average SEC unit rankings from Lindy's preseason college football magazine, which surprisingly ended up with Tennessee on top. The Vols weren't first in any of the position rankings (1-12 among SEC schools), but they weren't lower than 6th in any of them, which left the Vols, according to those numbers, as the top rated team in the conference. Just one set of objective numbers when, averaged together, ended up with Tennessee on top, and nothing more...


So today, I finally get around to picking up Athlon. And while flipping through the magazine, I happen upon their SEC unit rankings. And surprise surprise...


ATHLON AVERAGE SEC UNIT RANKINGS
12. Vanderbilt - 10.28
11. Kentucky - 9.00
10. Arkansas - 8.71
09. Ole Miss - 8.57
08. Mississippi State - 7.71
07. South Carollina - 6.71
06. Alabama - 6.57
05. Auburn - 5.57
04. LSU - 4.85
03. Georgia - 4.14
02. Florida - 3.00
01. Tennessee - 2.85

The case for the Vols is actually even stronger in Athlon, where they once again don't score first in any position grouping, but have 2's and 3's across the board except at linebacker, where they come in 5th.


Again - these are only numbers from preview magazines averaged together. But it does, once again, help make the point that while the Vols may not have Tebow, Moreno or Kobe Bryant, they're good enough at every position on the field to create a good team, and according to these numbers, the best team. Feel the Celtics paralells, love the Celtics paralells. I'm just saying.




The Braves almost come home at .500...
But instead set the MLB record for consecutive road one run losses, now at 22 and counting. On a day where Chipper Jones went 0 for 4 and dipped below .400 for the first time since April, and Charlie Morton made his second career start, Atlanta still rallied to tie the game in the 9th down in Texas. But then, one day after Mike Gonzalez made a triumphant 9th inning return in an ATL win, Jeff Bennett blew it on four pitches in the bottom of the 9th, and the Rangers won 5-4.

The Braves come home from their road trip at 36-38, 6.0 back of the Phillies in the NL East. They'll go interleague again with the Mariners this weekend, who are the worst team in baseball and will be breaking in a new manager. That follows with three against the Brewers (39-33) before heading up to Canada to face the Blue Jays in more interleague action next weekend. And looking ahead, the Phillies return to Atlanta July 1-3. So we'll see.


Final Thoughts on the 2008 Celtics
I've been pretty fortunate in my sports lifetime. The Vols got an undefeated 98 National Championship and have always been elite good since 1989, the Braves were October mainstays for more than half of my life and got theirs in 1995, and the Lady Vols are so good I don't even pay attention to them until the Sweet 16. And even though the Titans have only been in Tennessee for a decade, we were one yard away from adding them to the list. Ever since Bruce Pearl showed up, the only missing piece of the puzzle has been the Celtics. And now, even if I'll never see them beat the Lakers by 39 points to do it again, Banner 17 adds them to the list. I've been very fortunate.

Unless life circumstances, like moving or something else acceptable under The Rules of Favorite Teams, dictate, I never understand why people cheer for more than one team in professional/college sports. The Celtics are all I've ever known, and since I'm only 26, I've known a lot of old stories and new misery. And it's been well stated, but one year ago today we were lamenting lottery misfortune and bracing for more mediocrity (and then, plenty of Celtics fans hated the Ray Allen trade pre-Garnett). But these Celtics are living proof that - unless you're the Cubs - if you stick with your team, they will ultimately reward you.

That said, here are the Celtic stories found on this blog during the last two glorious months:

Hawks Preview
Hawks Game 4 - Where's the killer instinct?
Hawks Game 7 - That's more like it.

Cavs Preview
Cavs Game 1 - The Shape of Things to Come
Cavs Game 4 - This is what happens when you don't foul LeBron
Cavs Game 5 - Holding Serve
Cavs Game 7 - Preview
Cavs Game 7 - "And then Jack Nicholson says...

Pistons Preview
Pistons Game 1 - "Don't worry, this is kid's play."
Pistons Game 3 - Detroit, what?!

Lakers Preview 1
Lakers Preview 2
Lakers Game 1 - In the Moment
Lakers Game 2 - "UNLEASH THE FURY!...wait..."
Lakers Game 3 - In the Moment
Lakers Game 4 - The Dagger to the Heart of Los Angeles
Lakers Game 5 - In the Moment
Lakers Game 6 - Banner 17


And finally...
(deep breath)

74 days until Football Time in Tennessee.

Banner 17

"It's about to be lights out." - Paul Pierce

For the first time in my 26 year old life, tonight while watching something in sports I thought to myself, with great certainty, that I'll never see this again.

You could feel it building. That in the same way that Boston's Game 4 comeback was only a matter of time due to their collective defensive effort, the Lakers may have competed tonight for a few brief moments, but between the crowd, the series and the moment...something was brewing and as a Celtic fan we could feel it. Just waiting to erupt.

And this time, when it finally started happening, there was no looking back.

When James Posey and Eddie House hit consecutive threes midway through the second quarter to put Boston up nine, it was merely a precursor. One steal and one more Posey three later, and this game was over. You didn't know it at the time, but it was.

Kevin Garnett's force of will three point play at the end of the first half was the exclamation point, but only on the first half. When Ray Allen came back onto the floor, he decided he was tired of other guys hitting the big threes in this series...and went on to hit a Finals-tying record 7 threes in Game 6, burying 19 in the six game series, a Finals record he owns alone.

And look, we'll get to some more enjoyable numbers later in what turned into a 131-92 win, but first - since it's the Lakers, there's two things I have to say.

First: take that.

There aren't words in the english language to describe what took place on that floor tonight. In this "rivalry renewed" Finals, it'll go down as incredibly memorable for Boston and its fans, with tonight's performance and this team making their own name for themselves - these Celtics against these Lakers in these 2008 Finals have now produced the biggest comeback in NBA Finals history, and the largest margin of victory in a clinching game in NBA Finals history. This Celtic team has done what no other Celtic team before them has done, and that's really saying something. To do it against the Lakers makes everything right.

Which brings me to my second point for the Lakers: shame on you.

If I was a Laker fan who didn't put myself on suicide watch after Game 4, I'm on homicide watch tonight.

Last time Boston was in the playoffs with a late run and the return of Antoine Walker in 2005, they played a tense seven game series with Indiana in the opening round. And in Game 7 - in Boston - the Celtics got beat by 27 points. And it was completely inexcuseable and is the most upset I've ever been with the Celtics franchise.

What the Lakers did tonight was so much worse.

This was the Finals. Game 6. Against your greatest rival, with "the best player on the planet" on your team and arguably the greatest head coach in NBA history, against a human Celtic team.

And once Boston went in front, this game was over.

Not only is it bad enough to be on the downside of a 39 point loss in The Finals, but you quit. You let the Celtics throw reverse alley-oops on you. You left Ray Allen more open than he's probably been in his entire NBA career. You let the Celtics break several NBA Finals records against you. You quit.

Not that we didn't enjoy it. But shame on you.

Just a quick scroll through the box score for the highlights:

MICHAEL JORDAN: 7 for 22.

RAJON RONDO: 21 points, 8 assists, 7 rebounds, 6 steals, 0 questions

PAUL PIERCE: 17 points, 10 assists, a Finals MVP and a spot for #34 in the rafters

RAY ALLEN: 26 points, 7 of 9 from three

KEVIN GARNETT: 26 points, 14 rebounds and the most incoherent Finals postgame interview in the history of man. Top of the world!

JAMES POSEY: 11 points, 3 for 3 from 3, hit the biggest shots in the biggest games of these Finals

CELTICS REBOUNDS: +19 (+12 offensive)
CELTICS ASSIST/TURNOVER: +26
LAKERS ASSIST/TURNOVER: -3

I mean, I could do this all night.

To make this point again: this Celtic team distinguished themselves from all of Celtic lore to find their own unique path to win the 17th NBA Championship in franchise history. Pierce, Garnett, Allen and everyone - and that includes Doc Rivers, who everyone will now go from calling for his head one year ago to falling in love with the guy, and I'll happily be the first one in that line - these guys took the Celtics from the past to the present. Boston has been the best team all year, and became the champs by playing that way when it mattered most. This is a team that I'm sure had plenty of room on the bandwagon, but for longtime and long-suffering Celtic fans, you could not love them more.

I'll close with this - it's my grandparents who got me started on the Celtics, and really their love for sports that bleeds through to my Dad and down to me. As my grandmother approaches 80 she keeps leaving the best messages on my voice mail, reminding me each of the last two years that the Manning Family and their Super Bowl dramatics are going to literally put her in the ground for good. Tonight, she calls at halftime when we could both already taste it. She says that when Kevin Garnett talked in that interview about peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, she was so into everything that she had to get up and make one right away.

I laughed - because 600 miles away, I'd done the exact same thing.

Random Thoughts - Monday June 16

In the very immediate aftermath of Game 5, so we might be a little hot...

In the Moment: Celtics-Lakers Game 5
I liked what I saw from Boston tonight in terms of what I've come to expect - a team that played hard, played together, played well...except for a few defensive lapses that you can argue is really what cost them the game. The first quarter stuff, two games in a row, I don't really understand, and there was another spurt in the second half where the Lakers just scored on possession after possession after possession...but back in Boston, I don't see that happening. The Celtics had their chances, and most of the initial reaction from the expert agrees - that the C's should be disappointed and the Lakers should feel fortunate to have won.

And now, here comes the pain.

First of all - to Nameless Laker #15 sitting on the end of the bench, who's classing up the joint by throwing a towel to his equipment manager/personal lackey/should be ex-Laker employee on the baseline right when Boston players are shooting free throws: try that in Boston on Tuesday and I hope somebody comes out of the crowd and introduces the back of your head to an $8.50 beer bottle. I don't even know if the Celtic players could see that and I don't care. I could see it. And that's the Lakers for you.

Secondly, when the announcers and experts say "a superb defensive play by Kobe Bryant" on the "game deciding steal", what they really mean is "when Kobe reached in and fouled Paul Pierce and never touched the ball".

Thirdly, when Mike Wilbon, who I find myself agreeing with about 80% of the time, starts comparing Kobe Bryant not to Michael Jordan, but to Tiger freaking Woods, and TiVo says verbatum:

"The Celtics oughta be disappointed, they had every opportunity to close out the Lakers tonight, did not do that, and they have to play again without Perkins (good and important point), so what you do is, you give Kobe Bryant another chance. You are a fool if you keep giving Kobe Bryant chances to beat you. Because he will. Cause it's like, you know, how many chances are you gonna give Tiger Woods to make a putt on 18? You keep letting Kobe Bryant chip away at you, he'll do it, and now the Celtics have a little bit more pressure because they're expected to close this thing out at home."

Tiger Woods has 13 majors, all of which he won without Shaquille O'Neal.

(facepalm)

So, we're just going with it. Kobe is Jordan. When he wakes up in the morning, he's going to look at himself in the mirror and say "I am Tiger Woods." The Celtics, aside from that lapse in the first quarter tonight and the better parts of Game 3, have played the best individual and team defense on Bryant he's seen, ever. Paul Pierce outplayed him tonight, by far. But none of this is consequential, because the media has already made up their minds.

You know what this is? This is Charles Woodson all over again. And that makes me want to watch all the games on mute from now on. The media has decided, and the facts be damned. Kobe Bryant is Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Barack Obama and the Second Coming all wrapped into one. Remember that the next time he disappears from the action for 2.5 quarters. Again. Don't trust your eyes. Trust ESPN.

When the Celtics win this series in The New Garden, the way it should be - and I defy you to present me a logical reason why they won't based on what you've seen in these first five games - I'm going to enjoy it in ways I can't even fully comprehend right now. I always dreamed of what it would've been like to hate Magic Johnson every time he smiled. But I never dreamed it could be this good to hate the Lakers. On Tuesday, there will be blood.

Meanwhile, Kobe Bryant hit a 10 foot birdie putt to force a playoff at the US Open
...okay, we have to stop. Because Tiger Woods doesn't deserve it.

Two years ago, while he was on his way to winning the 06 British Open, I wrote how Tiger was on his way to joining the pantheon of the greatest athletes of all time. But the one thing that's largely been missing from his story is drama - usually, he wins and he wins big. There have been a few moments, a few clutch shots on the back nine to separate, that putt at the 2000 PGA in the playoff. But usually, he kills everyone.

What we've seen in the last two days at the US Open - if he ends up winning tomorrow - will do more for Tiger's legacy than just about anything else.

The pain on his face and the shots he made yesterday are documented in video beneath. Today - and I didn't get to see anything except 18 - but he was human, between his knee and the sheer test of a US Open. But with the chips down and a ball in the rough, needing birdie to force a playoff, Tiger Woods spun one to within 10 feet, then did this:



That roar is a Tiger Woods roar. No one else, even in these circumstances, gets that roar. And even if you want to see someone else win...you can't deny Tiger's greatness. Not to beat a dead horse, but this is a valid comparison to Jordan - he was so good, you couldn't help but like him, at least in part.

So he goes to an 18 hole playoff on a bum knee with Rocco Mediate, who gained favor with the crowds as well this week and will attempt to become the oldest man to ever win the US Open at 45. His attitude, I think, will serve him well in the spotlight against Woods, who is still human (we think) and does have the knee and a spray driver so far this week. But since I take Mondays as my sabbath, I couldn't be more thrilled about spending four hours in front of the TV tomorrow (12:00-2:00 on ESPN, 2:00-4:00 on NBC) to watch Tiger be Tiger, and do things that I could only imagine. This is greatness in our time. Tiger Woods is the one athlete that demands your attention in our generation, right here, right now. And this chapter might end up being his best one yet.

A tip of the cap to Jorge Campillo and the Braves in Anaheim
While Chipper Jones is in the midst of an 0 for 11 slump that we're going to blame on that batting practice mishap, the Braves took the first two games in Anaheim, and even though they lost 2-0 tonight, Jorge Campillo went eight very solid innings and gave up only the one homer that ended up deciding it. So there's some hope - Atlanta's goal should now be to get back home above .500, which would mean taking three of four out of tomorrow's makeup with Colorado and a three game set in Texas. Do that, and they'll be okay moving forward.

I'd love to go to bed now, but these 9:00 Finals tipoffs keep me wired until well past 1:00. Thank God for the sabbath.

Tiger Woods invents new ways to be awesome

So I just checked the leaderboard after the third round of the US Open earlier today, and saw that Woods was in front - no surprise, though maybe a little given that this is his first tournament back after knee surgery following The Masters back in mid-April.

But late tonight when I saw the video of his round - especially the last six holes - the combination of his pain and these shots might be the most incredible short burst of golf I've ever seen in my entire life.

You can see the video here of almost every shot of his round today in about six minutes, or skip ahead to the last two minutes to see the last six holes, and prepare to be amazed.

EDIT: The above link still gives you an idea of his pain that this video doesn't show, but to see the NBC feed of his three biggest shots in those six holes, check this out:

More injury and more insult...

Chipper Jones is out of the game in Anaheim tonight and is being taken for x-rays after a ball he hit in batting practice ricocheted off the top of the batting cage and came back to hit him square in the left eye. You can't make this stuff up. Ladies and gentlemen, your 2008 Atlanta Braves.

CollegeFootballNews.com - UCLA Preview

11 weeks and 80 days away from Football Time in Tennessee, CollegeFootballNews.com has posted their 2008 Preview for the Vols' opening opponent, the UCLA Bruins. The feature also includes a Q&A with Rick Neuheisel.

Celtics-Lakers Game 4: The Dagger to the Heart of LA

You get out of sports what you put into them. The more you invest your time, money and emotions into a team, the better your experience when they win, and the more it hurts when they lose. And so as good as I'm feeling right now in my "BEAT LA" shirt, I bet it hurts something awful to be in purple and gold right now.

For two and a half quarters, not only were the Lakers back in the series and en route to evening it up, but they looked like what all the experts thought and all the LA fans hoped they would. And then when you realized at intervals along the way that Kobe still hadn't hit a shot and the lead kept building, you felt even better. As a Celtic fan, the only solace was home court advantage, because the Lakers looked far superior with Lamar Odom finally awake and Kobe sharing the wealth, and the Celtics continued to find no offensive continuity to counter. In the back of my mind, I was already conceding Game 5. All the bad road playoff vibes were fully alive, and then you figured that as soon as Kobe started scoring, it was going to get even worse on this night and throughout the remainder of the series.

But then one of the real truths of this season and this series came to life - that the Celtics are truly a great team. They may not have any truly great players right now, no guys who are playing at the top of their games and can transcend and take over on their own for multiple nights. But they have enough good players combined with enough role players who pick their spots with incredible timing, and a commitment to team defense that's strong enough to stifle the high scoring Lakers - and that includes Kobe Bryant tonight - that makes Boston incredibly enjoyable to watch, and a team that's earning their place among Celtic lore with their fans.

The 2004 NBA Finals were so much fun because not only did the hated Lakers take a beating, but the Pistons - my second most hated team, so this is saying a lot - were so much fun to watch. Because they were a team - they had five guys who did five things well, and had bench guys who stepped up in their roles too. And they were well coached. And everyone got behind them, and no matter how good the Lakers looked on paper and how bright their stars, the better team won.

And that's the only NBA Finals in my lifetime where a team with no true superstars won. Really - you can go back to the Bird/Magic/Dr. J/Isaiah teams of the 80s, or look at Jordan, or go to the big men runs from Olajuwon, Duncan and Shaq. Every one of those other title teams were superstar driven and got key performances from individual players (ESPN today ranked Dwyane Wade's work in 2006 as the greatest individual performance in NBA Finals history). It's one of the biggest reasons people like the Lakers this year.

And it's not that the Celtics don't have superstars, they do, especially Garnett - but they don't need these guys to turn in those defining, massive individual performances (even if they're capable at very select times, like Pierce vs. LeBron). They just need to play together. As a team. As one. Ubuntu! You laugh...but it's true, and it works. Like a charm.

How did Boston comeback from 24 down at one point, 18 down at the half and 20 down in the third quarter? Team defense. Not a lights out performance from one guy on the other end, or a boatload of incredible plays (though there were a few), but simply a refocused effort on team defense. When Lamar Odom stopped shooting layups and dunks, and the C's pulled it together, really and truly, it was only a matter of time.

The ABC crew tonight said that Paul Pierce was putting together the best individual defensive job on Kobe Bryant they'd seen. And while Pierce was key, including a huge block on Mamba at one point, it's the entire Boston unit that deserves credit. Ray Allen - who played all 48 minutes - has also done very well on Bryant in this series, including tonight. Kobe's shots are highly contested shots, and when he does share the ball, the options are limited - outside of Odom early, no one played the role of Sasha Vujacic tonight, and without that kind of help, it was only a matter of time.

(Let's also note that PJ Brown straight dunked on Kobe at the end of the third quarter. Respect your elders.)

If you've followed Boston all year, you know that this isn't a team that gets blown out. They're just not. They got beat by 10+ only three times all year. And despite their nine playoff losses thus far, only one in Cleveland was a blowout. Again, team - there are too many good pieces working together in the name of Ubuntu for that to happen. And even against the "mighty" Lakers, eventually over time the Celtics pulled even...and then down the stretch, got the big plays they needed - not from one guy, but from everyone - on offense.

Rajon Rondo is banged up and ineffective with Kobe "guarding" him. Enter Eddie House. A true shooter, he hadn't played much and thus hadn't hit much so far in the Finals. He missed a decent look at a game tying shot in Game 3 with 2:00 to play that represented Boston's last best chance on Tuesday night. He's straight jackin' again tonight, but rattled home a couple threes, and hit the shot that finally gave Boston the lead - and due to his nature, when he went up with the ball one four letter word started out of my mouth, but left it with "YEAH!"

Paul Pierce gets the interviews and has 20 points on a solid night shooting and passing, and of course defensively. He spun in a highlight reel layup. He's my boy and continues to be the face of the Celtics.

But here's a great question: if it was over tonight, is Ray Allen the Finals MVP?

He's been the most consistent Celtic on both ends of the floor throughout these four games, the only Celtic who played well in Game 3 and in the first half of this one. And down the stretch, he reminded you that he too can drive to the hole, and he too can still hit the reverse layup to go with his deadly three point shooting. He's looked and played five years younger against Detroit and LA than he did against Atlanta and Cleveland. And let's especially mention that the game effectively ended with a simple equation: Ray Allen + Sasha Vujacic + no help = layup. Has there ever been worse defense on a game-deciding play in recent NBA Finals memory?

Let's not forget Kevin Garnett, with another solid double-double (16 and 11) and who finally started playing in the paint instead of shooting that 20 footer in the second half. He played his part by sticking one in Pau Gasol's face to put the Celtics up five. And he's thriving on this team, because again, it's not about one guy, which means Garnett doesn't have to be that one guy, because he's not built that way. But he can do what he does, make a difference, and still get the wins.

But the biggest star of the night has to be James Posey. 18 points in 25 minutes, 4 threes, including two in the 4th quarter and one especially backbreaking one when the Lakers had trimmed the lead down to two again. Everyone contributes.

Even without Rondo - and have we even mentioned yet that Kendrick Perkins left the game with injury? - the Celtics have enough pieces together to get it done. All of them had a hand, with defense leading the way and Posey and Ray Ray putting the final thrust in the dagger. The Lakers' wound is really both the result of Boston's team play and in part self-inflicted. None of them could answer the Celtic runs in the second half, none of them could rise above once Boston tied it up, and their defense all night and really all series just hasn't been on the championship level. In lots of ways, they're the anti-Boston. And that's incredibly appropriate.

And this one hurts even more because it's in LA. All the celebrities in the world couldn't save them tonight, and in one and a half quarters the Lakers went from "we can win this whole thing" to that far off look into the distance, trying to figure out how it went wrong. Stuff like this isn't supposed to happen on your own floor in the NBA Finals against your hated rivals.

And now there's no more room for it to go wrong for the Lakers. And what's more, even if they do win on Sunday, they have to go back to Boston for Games 6 and 7. Hope is fleeting in LA right now.

Does this team have what it takes? They have Phil Jackson, but that didn't help them tonight, and even Phil - for all the work he's done with this team and the impressive way they ran through the playoffs up to this point - has been outcoached by Doc Rivers. Read it again, it might actually be true.

They've also got The Mamba, who I wager has had just about enough of trusting his teammates as they've been unable to deliver (outside of Vujacic on Tuesday). So on the brink of golf season, do you really think Kobe Bryant is going to be at his Laker teammate best on Sunday night?

There's part of me and every Celtic fan who wants to see this team win it in Boston, of course. We don't talk about stuff like that, but it's true. But here's the thing - I think this thing is over Sunday night. I think Kobe goes into me-mode and the Celtics will once more be equal to the task. And I think the Lakers self-destruct. The Lakers are young and have a great superstar, but they don't have trust right now and they don't play together, and now they're trying to figure out how they blew a 24 point lead with little optimism to build on going forward. The Celtics are a great basketball team on the verge of the first championship for the vast majority of the roster and the coaching staff, rewarding the faith and patience of their fans for the last two decades. This close to the promised land, I don't see these Lakers keeping these Celtics on the outside looking in.

One more to glory.

Atlanta in Free Fall

Four weeks ago, the Braves completed a four game sweep of the Mets as part of an 8-3 homestand that left them trailing only the Florida Marlins in the NL East. And even after their road woes continued on the ensuing trip, the Braves took three of four from those Marlins back in Atlanta the first part of last week and entered a series with division-leading Philadelphia at 32-29, 3.5 back of the Phillies and feeling confident that - with or without John Smoltz - the friendly confines of Turner Field would allow them to continue their winning ways and make a play in the division race.

In the first game of that series, the Braves had a 2-1 lead in the 9th when Kelly Johnson dropped a two out pop fly. And that play might go down as the beginning of the end.

The Braves lost 4-3 in 10 innings. The next night, the game was tied at 2 going to the 8th inning. Philadelphia scored two in the 8th and two in the 9th to win 6-2. In the series finale, the game went to the 9th inning tied at 3. The Phillies scored three runs in their half and swept the Braves.

It got no better in Chicago, against the best team in baseball and sporting the worst road record in the majors. Trailing 6-5 in the 8th on Tuesday, the Braves gave up four runs and lost 10-5 in a game that saw Tom Glavine head to the DL. And after getting thumped yesterday, the Braves took a 2-1 lead to the 9th, and after failing to score with the bases loaded and no outs, gave up a tying home run to Jim Edmons, and then lost in 11. Six straight losses, and in those games the Braves were outscored 18-5 in innings 7, 8, 9 and extras. Yikes.

Atlanta has now lost 21 straight one run games on the road, tying an MLB record. The bullpen has accounted for three of these six straight losses, four if you count Jeff Bennett's emergency "good grief can't anyone stay healthy" start yesterday.

The Braves are 32-35 and seven games back of the Phillies, despite being +33 in runs so far this season. And they might as well figure out how to win on the road now, cause that's where they'll be deep into next week: three interleague with the Angels, a Monday makeup at Coors Field and then three more at Texas to complete the 10 game road trip.

Seven games out on June 12 doesn't mean the season is over, but pieces have to be picked up and quickly. Charlie Morton is scheduled to make his first major league start on Saturday to help band-aid the pitching rotation. No one in the bullpen can be any combination of healthy or effective, it seems. And while you'll continue to hear rumors of Mike Gonzalez and Mike Hampton returning, again, the proof remains in the pudding.

The Braves could turn into Chipper Watch 2008, currently at .414. And good for him. But it sucks thinking about the games in August I'm planning on attending right now and wondering if the Braves will be relevant when they roll around.

Nothing's going to solve the road woes except winning out there, and they've got seven more games to do it in. The Angels (41-26) on the heels of the Cubs won't make life easy, but you've gotta figure it out now or fall into oblivion in the standings. The Braves must find a way to win on the road, win close games and get healthy, or this season's going to be over sooner than later.

2008 Rocky Top Basketball League Draft

Bad news: Ryan Childress has a dislocated kneecap and is out 12 weeks.

Fun news: The second edition of the Rocky Top Basketball League, featuring Tennessee Basketball players past present and future, held its 2008 Draft tonight - you can find the complete results from the News-Sentinel's article, but here are the top three picks for each of the six teams (with overall selection number):

HT Group
Tyler Smith (1)
Courtney Pigram (11) (ETSU)
Daniel West (12) (incoming UT freshman)

Toyota of Knoxville
Wayne Chism (2)
Dane Bradshaw (10)
Rashard Lee (...for 3!) (13)

Rays ESG
Scotty Hopson (3) (incoming UT freshman)
Bobby Maze (9) (incoming UT juco)
Brian Williams (14)

News-Sentinel
Damon Johnson (4) (respect for the ex-Vol and last year's MVP)
Ron Slay (8) (instantly, this is my favorite team)
Renaldo Woolridge (15) (incoming UT freshman)
(also freshman Phillip Jurick at 20)

Richardson Construction
John Mueller (5) (Marquette)
Terrence Oglesby (9) (Clemson)
Stanley Asumnu (16)
(also Josh Tabb at 19)

First Tennessee
Cameron Tatum (6)
Jon Higgins (17)
Jordan Howell (18)

The league will play June 16-July 2 at Bearden High School, Monday and Wednesday nights with games at 6:00, 7:30 and 9:00 PM. There's a new website at rockytopbasketballleague.com that should offer stats and results for each game.

In the Moment: Celtics-Lakers Game 3

Where is this series going?

A game tonight that showed that neither of these teams is perfect and featured lower scoring and abnormal free throw shooting leaves the series at 2-1 Boston and has ABC breathing a sigh of relief. Even if the game wasn't full of quality, I'd say it was still a tense night to be a Laker fan, especially when Boston went ahead in the 4th quarter.

Still, down the stretch a couple things happened. Boston was down two with the ball with around 2:00 to play, and Eddie House took the shot. Maybe he picked up on some of Sam Cassell's tendencies while sitting out the first two games of the Finals, because he was straight jackin', and finished 2 for 8 to compliment ET's 1 for 4. Rajon Rondo did return from his turned ankle, but didn't play the clutch minutes. And putting Kobe on him seemed to pay off, at least tonight - Rondo doesn't have a 3 to be respected, though he shot the mid-range J well tonight, but that allowed the Lakers to clog up the lanes with greater efficiency.

On the other end of the floor, Kobe drew a double team in Chris Lofton range, which allowed Sasha Vujacic - 7 of 10 on the night - to bury the difference making three. Poor strategy, yes, but then Kobe showed why you have to respect him on the next two possessions.

We've been on The Mamba here through two games, and I'm not changing my overall stance after tonight...but keep in mind, that stance is still simply a combination of "He's not Jordan" and "I don't like him", and you can't say anything bad about his 36 point night (that would've been 40+ if he made free throws like he normally does). If I'm Paul Pierce (2 of 14), I hope I wasn't talking trash to him at the end of the game - not because I'm worried about Game 4 consequences, but because tonight, what exactly can you say?

Tonight's performance was a combination of Kobe's efficiency being enough to overcome poor nights from really the rest of the starting five, and the C's failure to take advantage of that fact by watching Pierce and Garnett play really poorly - Pierce was just off all night, and KG has to realize there's a point when you stop shooting that 20 foot jumper (6 of 21).

So it's 2-1, which probably surprises no one and inspires no fear in either team on this night. But come Thursday, it's going to be a huge affair - can the Celtics put the 3-1 hammerlock on LA, or will the Lakers even it up and be even on the scoreboard and ahead in the momentum?

And the thing is, I have no idea what's going to happen. Maybe it's Boston's road woes revisiting us. Maybe Rondo's ankle is a problem. Maybe Pierce is flustered in front of his boys in Inglewood at the Finals. Maybe the Lakers are too young and just won't get great minutes from everyone besides Mamba. Maybe Kobe really does play this way twice more in Staples. I have no idea what to expect next...which is interesting and fun, but Boston fans have been living in a nice place for the last 48 hours, but now it's swiftly back to earth. Up 2-0, you feel the cushion and feel like you're playing with house money. But at 2-1, it's business time again - now nothing feels certain and this is what Game 4 of the Finals is supposed to be all about. Stay tuned.

"UNLEASH THE FURY! ...wait...okay...um...good grief, just hang on!"

People are often most directly influenced by what they just experienced. So Boston wins Game 2, and I should be happily reflecting on the fact that Boston is up 2-0. And really, I was 7:40 away from writing an incredibly enjoyable "take that" piece. Because that's exactly how I was feeling while the Celtics were building that 24 point lead.

Then the Lakers started raining threes and the Celtics kept smiling. And there just really wasn't enough time to take it seriously, especially because the Lakers weren't getting stops...until all of a sudden, a sequence went something like score-steal-three-steal-score, and the lead went from comfortable to one possession. And I'm pretty sure my heart rate tripled in that span.

Paul Pierce hit free throws, Kobe didn't get his touch and the Celtics held on to win. But even so, the outlook for Game 3 and the remaining set in LA is a little bit different now. Instead of making a statement, the Celtics made an escape. It's 2-0 either way...but this is a real factor.

Instead of pure euphoria in a blowout, you instead had three different games being played tonight:

- Part I: The refs screw the Lakers
- Part II: The Celtics drop the hammer
- Part III: The Lakers almost come back

Really...pay attention, because you probably won't catch me being this generous with the hated opposition ever again.

In the first half, with some carryover into the third quarter...in all my 26 years of watching all kinds of sports with passionate interest, I have never seen one of my teams get so many breaks and calls from the referees.

At halftime, Boston had shot 19 free throws. The Lakers had shot 2. The Lakers were getting called for contact. The Celtics were getting called for nothing. What's more, The Mamba picked up three fouls in the first half, and they were all questionable. It's like the referees were trying to emphasize that whole "You're not MJ" point. I still dislike Kobe, and that late run boosted his numbers (30 points on 11 of 23)...but they all got a bad whistle, and that's an understatement.

Phil Jackson's on the podium right now, and just answered the first question with this exact sentiment: when asked if he was more upset with the big hole or the comeback falling just short, he said he was most upset with Leon Powe shooting more free throws than his entire team. If I was a Laker fan, I would've thrown something on multiple occasions in the first half. Quite literally.

But enough of this generosity, let's talk about the fun stuff.

My boy Paul Pierce's knee is just fine - in fact, he hasn't missed a three since he went down in Game 1 (6 for 6). He finishes with 28 points and 8 assists, and another little piece of my heart.

Rajon Rondo: 16 assists, 2 turnovers, and a highlight reel play to...Leon Powe, who just ruined any chance Walter McCarty had of having his number retired. 21 points in 15 minutes, and wouldn't you love to be his agent right now. In the Finals, you need guys like this to step up out of nowhere...but usually that stepping up involves scoring 8 points and taking a charge. Leon Powe was a man among boys tonight. That coast-to-coast throwdown on the Laker D - which should earn some LA windsprints if NBA players can be made to run anymore - seemed like it would be the definitive mark on a huge Game 2 win.

Instead, the Lakers took a page from Boston's torrid three point shooting and started playing NBA Live in the 4th quarter. On the whole and probably lost in the shuffle will be what an incredible three point display this was by both teams (Boston 9 of 14, LA 10 of 21, 7 of 9 in the 4th quarter). Kobe finishes with 30, the Lakers put the drama back in the game...it still wasn't enough to win, but it was enough to carry over, perhaps.

There are still questions. The most uncomfortable non-Sam Cassell-related moment of this series for me was early in this one when Pau Gasol straight up dunked on Kevin Garnett. When it happened, I was like "oof, Perkins is a step slow....wait...that's Garnett..." Gasol started hot and finished 8 of 12 with 10 boards. Will's question: why only 12 shots? I mean, I don't want to ask it too loudly, but it seems to me if I'm the Lakers, I go down that path a little more often in Game 3.

And then there's The Mamba, of whom the talking heads will continue to say whatever they feel like on that given day. It was all the Lakers who had their hand in the 4th quarter comeback, but Kobe getting over 30 means that we might be hearing more about how he'll magically turn into New Jordan once he gets back in that yellow uni in Staples, and less about the 2004 Finals performance against Detroit, where he also played sub-par. I keep reading "Don't piss him off. Don't wake up The Mamba." And I will continue to roll my eyes.

But what I am fully prepared for is a reversal of the officiating situation from tonight. Hate to say it, and it's wrong, but it's probably going to be incredibly true. If the Lakers took the business end at every turn tonight...come Tuesday, I fear there will be consequences.

And, as it's becoming custom that I watch part of the NBA Finals from my hotel room here at Lake Junaluska, NC every year for my denomination's annual meetings, I remember laying in this same bed two years ago and thinking that the Dallas Mavericks had it locked up after going up 2-0 on Miami. Had the Heat in Game 3 too, and let them get away. And never won again.

So especially after the way this one ends, I'm still on red alert. The Lakers don't have to "get back in this series" after that 4th quarter, they're still in it with three games at home in front of them. Boston brought the A game on the road in the Detroit series, so I hope it can make it out on the West Coast. And maybe the Celtics will continue to thrive on people doubting them, which may not've happened if they'd held on to that 24 point lead. Still taking them one at a time, maybe the Lakers will fold under pressure in Game 3. And everything else aside, tonight was still a win, and big one at that. It's 2-0 Boston. And that's all that really matters right now.

EA Sports NCAA Football 09 - Top 25 & Tennessee Player Ratings

The good news just keeps coming today...EA Sports has released their Top 25 and the player ratings for those 25 teams at ncaafootball09.com. You can download the entire spreadsheet at their website. Below are the Top 25 teams and the player ratings for Tennessee:

NCAA Football 09 Top 25
1. Georgia
2. Oklahoma
3. Ohio State
4. USC
5. Florida
6. LSU
7. Missouri
8. West Virginia
9. Wisconsin
10. Texas
11. Clemson
12. Texas Tech
13. Penn State
14. Arizona State
15. Kansas
16. Auburn
17. Virginia Tech
18. Illinois
19. Tennessee
20. BYU
21. South Carolina
22. Alabama
23. Oregon
24. Cincinnati
25. Wake Forest

Tennessee Player Ratings
QB Jonathan Crompton - 86
RB Arian Foster - 89
RB Montario Hardesty - 85
RB Lenon Creer - 82

WR Lucas Taylor - 91
WR Austin Rogers - 85
WR Josh Briscoe - 85
WR Denarius Moore - 83
WR Gerald Jones - 83
WR Quentin Hancock - 83
TE Jeff Cottam - 79
TE Luke Stocker - 79

LT Chris Scott - 84
LG Anthony Parker - 81 (???)
C Josh McNeil - 89
RG Jacques McClendon - 84
RT Ramon Foster - 83

DE Robert Ayers - 94 (???)
DE Wes Brown - 87
DE Andre Mathis - 86
DE Ben Martin - 85
DE Chris Walker - 85
DT Demonte Bolden - 94 (again, ???)
DT Dan Williams - 85
DT Walter Fisher - 85

OLB Rico McCoy - 91
OLB Nevin McKenzie - 87
OLB Adam Myers-White - 85
MLB Ellix Wilson - 84
MLB Nick Reveiz - 80

CB Antonio Gaines - 85
CB Brent Vinson - 84
CB DeAngelo Willingham - 82
CB Marsalous Johnson - 81
FS Dennis Rogan - 83
FS Demetrice Morley - 80 (haters!)
SS Eric Berry - 94

K Daniel Lincoln - 83
P Britton Colquitt - 94 (no Chad Cunningham, sorry)

So...it's obviously a little out of whack in some spots, as usual. The fact that Bolden and Ayers are tied with Eric Berry as the highest rated players on this team raises more than an eyebrow. But hey, that's a good kind of out of whack. My only real complaint is on the offensive line, especially with Anthony Parker, which is just a joke. But this team and especially this defense will let me and you and whomever take the Vols and go against Georgia, USC or anyone else online. And I like that - as previously posted in the team ratings, a better measure of Tennesse's strength on this game isn't the #19 in the Top 25, but the 89 overall rating, which puts them among the upper tier of teams in the game. I'll take it.

In the Moment: Celtics-Lakers Game 1

The myriad of things that run through one's mind...

...and let's start with this: I like James Taylor. But him doing the national anthem on acoustic guitar really busted up the whole "THE STREETS OF BOSTON WILL RUN PURPLE WITH THE BLOOD OF THE LAKER FAITHFUL!" I and everyone else had going just before tipoff.

Seriously, it felt like the Tennessee/Memphis game earlier this year, where you have to wait all day for a 9:00 tipoff, and then four minutes into the game you have to sit down or hyperventilate. Great, great stuff.

And the Celtics came out on top.

Boston played really well. You can nitpick, and we will momentarily, but the Celtics just played really well on both ends of the floor. The Big Three all stepped up and played above their averages - and on this team, you don't need 41 points from one of them every night to win, you just need all of them to take it to the next level and play above themselves. Boston is at their best when everyone contributes, and that was more or less the case last night.

I will tell you without hesitation that Sam Cassell makes me more than nervous. I'm not a negative fan and hate to even go this direction the morning after such a great win...but Sam Cassell is the most selfish player on the Celtics, and probably on the floor. He made around half of his shots last night, but it's just that when he gets the ball...it's going up. And that's not his role. He won't always hit those shots. He, more than any other Celtic on a team full of guys who've sacrificed their individual roles in the name of Ubuntu, looks like he's playing for himself.

And of course, there's Paul Pierce. We've mentioned this before during the Cleveland series, but it's important that you understand this before I say anything else about him: if you're not a longtime Celtic fan, you can't understand what this guy means to us.

I'm 26, and while I have some childhood flashes of the 1987 NBA Finals, I was too young to fully appreciate the old Celtics-Lakers stuff, left to pick up the pieces watching the highlight tapes on my grandparents' VCR in the summertime. But I do know that if you're a blonde-headed white kid who played basketball in the 80s, Larry Bird is your hero. And after Bird retired, if you stuck with the Celtics, you're awfully short on heroes. Reggie Lewis died, Dee Brown won the slam dunk contest but not much else...it's just a long list of mediocrity.

We knew Pierce was a steal when we got him at #10 in the 1998 NBA Draft. That's an interesting draft, looking back - there are some guys who turned out alright with Mike Bibby at #2, Vince Carter at #5, Nowitzki right before Pierce at #9. But that was also the draft with Michael Olowokandi taken first and Raef LaFrentz third, and Tractor Traylor also going before Pierce. But I digress.

If you're not a Boston fan, I think you underestimate the importance of what Pierce and the Celtics did in 2002. At that point it had been forever since Boston had been in the playoffs or relevant at all, and for him to carry a team that featured Antoine Walker and a bunch of role players to the Eastern Conference Finals...he became the first Celtic you could really get behind. And you wanted to like this guy, especially after coming back from that stabbing.

Today, Pierce is the only strain of continuity Celtics fans have. There's so much bandwagon and so many new and young guys on this roster, Pierce is our only link to the past. And as such, more than KG, Paul Pierce is the heart and soul of this team. You saw it in Game 7 against Cleveland.

And you saw it last night.

In that sequence, when Pierce went down in serious pain and grabbed his knee and had to be wheeled off, and then Kendrick Perkins gets chop blocked and called for a foul...I'm the most optimistic sports fan you know, and even I'm sitting here on the couch trying to figure out how a Celtics team without those two guys even competes with the Lakers.

When Pierce came back...look, I've heard a lot about Willis Reed in the last 12 hours, but the more relevant comparison is Larry Bird in the 1991 Playoffs. In Bird's last healthy season, the Celtics were backs against the wall against the Pacers in the first round. In Game 5 (back when the opening round was just five games), Chuck Person and Reggie Miller were pushing the Celtics to their limits when Bird went after a loose ball at the end of the first half. In a collision, Bird hit the floor face-first and stayed down. It looked like he had a broken jaw or a concussion or both. He didn't come out at the start of the second half. And watching that game live as a 10 year old kid who was old enough to know what was going on...without Bird, that Boston team with Brian Shaw and Dee Brown was going to get beat.

And then Bird ran out from the locker room midway through the third quarter, and The Garden went crazy, and it was over. He came back in and absolutely took Chuck Person to school, and the Celtics went on to win. He saved the day.

Paul Pierce isn't Bird and didn't save the day by himself...but when he got back in, after working out his touch at the free throw line...when he hit those two threes, you just knew Boston was going to win. You knew it. His knee may be swollen beyond recognition today and that's going to be an issue going forward...but last night was his night.

Again, you can't fully understand what Pierce means unless you've struggled through these last two decades. To see what he's done at times in these playoffs...I'm happy for him, I'm proud of him, and I wouldn't want anyone else as our captain.

I'll say this - I'm done having this argument with people about these mid-upper level guys being better than Pierce. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear about Tracy McGrady. I don't want to hear about Vince Carter. I don't want to hear about Baron Davis. Pierce has done more than all of those guys, and that's no longer my passionate opinion, it's observable fact.

While McGrady keeps playing golf or whatever he does every late April and Vince Carter keeps pouting and trying to decide if he'll show up every night, Paul Pierce has not only been one of the most productive players in the league for years, not only did he carry a weak team to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2002, not only was he one of the best scorers in the NBA last year when the Celtics were absolutely terrible, and do so without whining or slacking or demanding a trade in the media...but this season, when new guys come in, he doesn't worry about getting his shot, or complain when his scoring average drops eight points when KG and Ray show up. He's just happy to be here. And good Lord willing, he'll win a few.

And then he's still good enough to drop 41 on LeBron in Game 7, and score 15 points on a bum knee in the third quarter of Game 1 of the Finals.

Lots of times when you manufacture these superstar teams, it doesn't work because the guys are too selfish. It's not working in Denver right now with AI and 'Melo. Kobe blew it up in LA when Karl Malone and GP showed up. Vince Carter, Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson have no rings. Paul Pierce hasn't done that. Paul Pierce is a team guy. He's a Celtic.

Bill Simmons wrote earlier this week that if the Celtics won and Pierce had even a remotely good series, you have to consider him as one of the Top 75 NBA players of all time. And I would absolutely agree. After last night, he's already got the centerpiece Finals game to go with his centerpiece Playoff game in the LeBron duel. Paul Pierce is three wins away from arriving.

I'll tell you what else I don't want to hear anymore. I dislike Michael Jordan comparisons with anybody, because we're so quick to make them that once upon a time Harold Miner was on that list. And Kobe Bryant is a great player, arguably the best in the NBA right now.

But to even begin to discuss him and Michael Jordan being on the same level is basketball blasphemy.

What're the grounds? That he finally won an MVP that real basketball fans know should've gone to Chris Paul? That he's got three rings that me and every other non-Lakers fan will immediately follow with "Shaquille O'Neal"? That he's "injected his DNA" or whatever BS he told Stephen A. in the Sunday Conversation into his teammates and become a good team player? Well, let's just give him a big ol' pat on the back! Congratulations Kobe, you learned how to not show up your teammates or screw the Lakers, you must be MJ!

Do you realize that Michael Jordan averaged 33.4 points per game in the playoffs? And that he has six rings that he won without Shaq? And that he's the best basketball player in the history of the game?

This is why I love these Finals - because the Lakers, true to form, are so easy to hate.

Kobe got booed on opening night! And last night, Kobe shot 9 of 26 (with excellent team defense on him). Michael Jordan would destroy Kobe Bryant. I don't want to hear this anymore, especially from half the media who can't wait to make him more than he really is and are spinning that performance last night as "oh, he just missed some shots".

What I do hope happens is this: last night, when Kobe "trusted his teammates" and shared the ball in the 4th quarter, his teammates either missed the shot, or the play ended in a turnover. So you're going to find out exactly how much Kobe really trusts his boys as this thing goes on. And I'd love nothing more than ol' 9-for-26 to try and take matters into his own hands as this thing goes on. Because against this defense, Kobe Bryant is not going to win a title by himself. Did we all just conveniently forget what the Celtics did to LeBron? Why did you think this was going to be so different?

And by the way - was he talking trash to Teddy Bruschi, who was sitting courtside last night? I couldn't tell for sure, because Kobe's back was turned...but if so, explain to me how it's ever okay for an NBA player to talk trash to an NFL linebacker. This is the same guy who elbowed Pierce in the eye and then whined about the call. I hate Kobe Bryant and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

I can't wait for this thing to continue.

The crowd last night was great, a college crowd. The atmosphere is just special the way only Lakers/Celtics can be. And Boston's going to need to continue to play at a high level - as Magic Johnson noted at halftime, these teams are very even. Until the end of the game, the biggest lead all night was eight points. And even if you don't have a dog in this fight, this is great drama, great television. The games should be high scoring and entertaining. You can see for yourselves if Kobe Bryant will ascend (he won't). And there's still no reason to think this one won't go the distance.

For now, that's one for Boston. If the Celtics can maintain that level, they'll get where they want to go. The drama continues Sunday night. And these 9:00 tipoffs continue to screw with the rest of my life.

But hey...if it's as much fun as last night...I'll take it.