16 Is Not 17!

Yeah, I’m jaded. In fact, I’m pissed. The Boston Celtic’s lost in their attempt to garner Banner 18 when they lost to the craptacular Los Angeles Lakers. Hey, if you expected this to be a non-biased blog, forget it. There’s a reason why it’s called Big Dan’s Ramblings and not Big Dan’s Sports Pages. I’m a Boston sports fan here, and expect nothing less out of my teams than championships. Does that make me sound like a Yankees fan? Probably. But, when your team makes it through the dance and to the championship, you expect them to seal the deal.

Anyway, the C’s lost to the Lakers. Ron Artest made a fool of himself post game thanking everyone, including his shrink, while also promoting his new album. Classy. On the other hand, Rasheed “I shoot WAY more three point attempts than a guy my size should” Wallace tried to go to the referees’ locker room after the game. Weird; although the C’s did only take seventeen trips to the line compared to the Lakers thirty-seven! I’m just glad I fell asleep at halftime and didn’t make it to the end of the game. At least I didn’t get all amped up and, in the end, disappointed.

No links today – no one wants to read a story about Kobe winning another championship.

The question now is: Did the Big Three play their last game together? Ray Allen is an unrestricted free agent this offseason. Will the C’s sign him?

A True C’s Fan

From: Rye man ends journey to New York, wins Celtics tickets

Before you claim total C’s fandom, you have to walk a mile (or 218) in these guys shoes!

Five days and 218 miles later, Rye resident Tyler McGill made it to New York City after what had been a weeklong journey for what is currently the most sought-after sports tickets in the nation.

Rye man walking to NYC for Celtics tickets
Having made a bet with friends to walk from TD Garden in Boston to New York City for a ticket to each Celtics home game in the NBA finals, the 27-year-old’s quest for floor seats on the parquet floor concluded late Sunday night at the doorsteps of his pal’s Manhattan apartment.

A Sunny Saturday in Northport

If you spend any time with me, you’ll know that I’m a Boston-boy through and through.  I love my Sox and Pats and B’s and C’s.  I think the world revolves around the Hub.  And, because of that, I tend to be a tortured soul since I live on Long Island.  I don’t tend to see what so great about New York or New Yorkers.  I’ve even gone so far as to generalize all of them as wimps because New York was the only colony out of thirteen that abstained from the vote for independence.  But, even I have to admit that life down here isn’t all bad.  I have met some great people – shocker, some of them are even native New Yorkers! – and been to some very cool place.  Northport, NY fits into that latter category.

I had always heard about little waterside town that can trace its farming and fishing roots back to the mid-1600’s from friends and colleagues.  It was supposed to be this quaint little town on the Long Island Sound that was a great place for a stroll on a summer weekend afternoon.  Up until recently, I had never had the chance to go.  I finally got around to it on Memorial Day weekend and can say that I really enjoyed it.  My wife and I packed up our twin girls and headed on up.  The town itself is only about a twenty-minute drive from our house, but there are no main roads that go there.  Perhaps that in and of itself is what has allowed Northport to maintain its rustic charm all these years.

We parked near the water and began to walk around – the harbor is right there and there’s a big grassy park area right near where all the boats come in and out.  It’s a perfect people-watching area.  We meandered through there, noting that it was one of the few places on Long Island that encouraged you to bring your dogs.  When we finished taking in the scenery, we walked down Main Street.  Shop after restaurant adorned the .  Nothing was a chain – everything seemed to be owner-operated.  We were lucky enough to find a swing set that our girls had a blast on.  After that, we took a walk deeper into town and found a great ice cream place called Lics.  Check out the write-up I did on EatingEverywhere.com about it.  We strolled back to the park with our ice cream in hand and proceeded to spend about an hour in a shaded, grassy area just enjoying our time together.

Overall, our day in Northport was probably one of the top five days we’ve had as a family so far.  I’m very much looking forward to going back and exploring more – some of those restaurants looked delicious!

There’s Life In This Here Blog

After a few hours of work, I imported all my posts from my old blog (it’s still up) on Blogger.com.  The posts were moved here more for posterity than anything else.  I have every intention of making this blog a place where I post a few times a week, if not more, about the things that are relevant to me – sports (mostly Boston-based), food/drink, and random events that occur over time.  Hopefully you’ll enjoy the ride.  And, if you do enjoy what I write here – tell your friends!

Now What…

I’ve been going through post-mortem all day with Giants fans (the ones I know have been fairly gracious in victory – surprising to me given the area of the country that they originate from). I’ve hashed over the Pats inability to stop the Giants rush and the fact that, had the Pats run the no-huddle offense more, they would have negated some of the pressure from that rush like they did on their final TD drive. I’ve marveled at Michael Stahan’s quickness off the ball and the inability of the Pats offensive line (3/5 of which are Pro Bowlers, by the way) to keep up with him. I’ve pondered Brady’s mere mortal performance and wondered why he didn’t just throw the ball to Wes Welker every down – the guy was barely covered. I’ve conceded that Rodney Harrison has no place in our defensive backfield and that our linebacker corps (God love Vrabel, Bruschi, and Seau) are just a step too slow. I’ve done all that…and I still can’t move on.

I still can’t help feeling empty and depressed and like I’ve believed in a myth for the last few months. I feel cheated. Today was supposed to be The Day. The Day we shut up that annoying Don Shula and that pompous Mercury Morris. The Day that New England put their indelible stamp on history. The Day that Bill Belichick was ordained a God amongst men as far as NFL Coaches go. The Day that the New England area finally arrives as a Mecca of Sports.

But, instead, it’s just a day. A rainy, dreary day which finds me stuck in New York with nary a sole around me to console me in my misery. A day where most of the conversation I overhear in far-off cubicles is about how the Giants are supposedly this superior team and how the Pats, despite their season of accomplishments “weren’t really that good” (Come one folks! Are you really buying that bull you’re selling?) A day where I feel like curling up under the covers in a fetal position and just forgetting about the night before. A day where I wish that the next season would just start tomorrow so that ‘my team’ could go out, hit someone hard, get a win, and make this hollow, empty, dull pain go away.

In the end, time heals all wounds (the aftermath of the 2003 ALCS, and Bucky Dent, and Bill Buckner taught us that). I think this one is going to take a long time to feel better, however. Pitchers and catchers will report in a little over a week and our attention will be diverted to the Boys of Summer. Those terrific folks who warmed our collective heart in October with their marvelous run to a second World Series Championship – something that we never thought we’d see one of. And something that the generations preceding us never got to see. We’ll have a minor reminder of our misery when, in April, the NFL Draft rolls around and the talking heads of ESPN (and others) fame remind us of the misery and disbelief that occurred just before 10pm EST on February 3, 2008. But, that will all be gone in a weekend. After that, the seasons will change, summer will show up, and we’ll be knee-deep in following our boys as they try to topple the Evil Empire once again; football a far-off reminder of the cooler weather that is to come. We’ll cheer and we’ll boo as the Boston Dirt Dogs do their thing, but there will be a little piece of us that just doesn’t feel right.

Training camps will roll around in June and it’ll be like peeling the scab off. We’ll have kind of forgotten how much it hurt until it all starts again. But, we’ll be evaluating rookies and veterans alike and hoping that it’s a year of redemption. Will our guys bounce back? Who have we resigned? Will Brady be hell-bent on destroying anything in a Manning jersey? What’s Bill got up his sleeve this season? Summer will roll on and baseball will replace any notion of Training Camp in the news. The occasional preseason game will be aired, but no one really watches those; they don’t mean much. The thoughts of all thing fall will disappear into the humidity of late July and August.

Eventually, September will roll around. The leaves will start to change colors, Boston will explode with wide-eyed freshman and wiser upper classmen, and the Sox will be in the midst of a pennant hunt All the time, Gillette will be quietly prepping to begin another season full of hope and optimism… And, as the first kickoff occurs and the first hits of the 2008 season begin we’ll finally be as close to cured as we can be – ready to start a new season – one that will hopefully fill the void that this one create.

As everyone loyal New England Sports fan can tell you – Just Wait Until Next Year!