6.02.10 9:32 pm by Pat
LA vs Boston once again! Sorry LeBron, but we are about to witness, for the second time in three years, one of the best rivalries in all of sports. In 2008 the Celtics embarrassed the Lakers in a game six blowout and several Lakers admit that it still stings when they think about it. If you’ve read anything about the series so far, undoubtedly you’ve heard people compare and contrast the 2008 versions of these teams with the current version. A few differences in personnel here and there, but the core of both teams is still intact.
If you’ve read any of my prior NBA related article, it’s no secret that I am neither a Laker fan nor a Kobe Bryant fan. But, for this article I’m going to try my best to set aside my bias (did I mention I’m a lifetime KG fan?) and write my analysis from a neutral perspective, as much as possible. If you want bias, you can look to a known Celtics fan Bill Simmons and follow his tweets during the finals or you can read this article by Charley Rosen who wrote a very Laker friendly preview this week. Not to go on a tangent, but at least Bill Simmons doesn’t try to hide his bias. Charley Rosen called Derrick Fisher the “best position-defender at point” without adding a “…just kidding” afterwards. A quick peek at his Wikipedia page revealed that he was an assistant to Phil Jackson during his CBA days in the 1980′s and co-authored a book with him. We’re on to you Charley.
Anyway, instead of writing a match-up review or an elaborate prediction detailing how I came to my conclusion, I’m going to try something different. I’m going to do a brief write up on what I would do if I were coaching either team. I’ll provide my prediction after my team by team plan so I can go on record with my guess. I’ve been horribly wrong so far, so I can’t really lose at this point.
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6.19.09 8:46 pm by Alex
Sports fans have a habbit of assigning nicknames to everything. Players, coaches, even stadiums and arenas. Here are, in my opinion, the top 10 sporting venue nicknames in the U.S. along with a bit of info about each stadium (and whatever else I dug up that happened to be interesting).
A few that didn’t quite make the list: “The Dean Dome” (Dean Smith Center, Chappel Hill, NC), “The Trop” (Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, FL), “The Igloo” (Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA), “The Q” (Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, OH).
10. “The Vet” – Veterans Stadium, Philadelphia, PA - Some of the nicknames on this list have someone mysterious origins, but its not hard to imagine how someone came up with “The Vet”. Once home to the Phillies and the Eagles, the stadium, destroyed in 2004, was notorious for the poorly installed artificial surface, so much so that the turf earned its own nickname: “Field of Seams.” Even after the turf was redone, Baltimore Ravens’ coach Brian Billick refused to let his team take the field for a preseason game after seeing the condition, resulting in the cancellation of the game.
9. “Death Valley” – Tiger Stadium, Baton Rouge, LA – Home of the Louisiana State University Tigers, “Death Valley” is widely regarded as the loudest stadium in college football, with recorded decibel noise levels of 119 and 130. The nickname was originally “deaf valley” because of the voluminous cheering of the 92,000 fans, but over time, I was misunderstood and became “Death Valley”. Clemson fans call their stadium “Death Valley” too, but I’d give the nod to LSU because of the program’s overall reputation and recent success.
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