Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Random Thoughts (April 20, 2011)

The Celtics have been forced to work their tails off to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series with the Knicks but this is a series that they will win.  The problem is that looking forward to the next round, the Celtics do not look like they're playing good enough basketball to beat the Heat.

Jermaine O'Neal's contributions on both ends of the floor have been encouraging and the starters are playing good basketball but the play of the bench has been terrible in the first two games.  Jeff Green, Glen Davis, and Delonte West have not played at a high level and Nenad Krstic has been invisible.  The Knicks make their run every time the C's go to their bench.

If the Celtics are going to live up to their championship expectations, the bench needs to make positive contributions.  The return of a healthy Shaquille O'Neal would be a huge boost but between Green, Davis, West, and Krstic, there is enough talent on the bench to make the diference between an also-ran and a team poised to win a title...

Down 2-1 to the Canadiens, the Bruins face a must win tomorrow night in Montreal. 

The Bruins played with a lot of energy in their 4-2 win on Monday but they will need to take better care of the puck and generate (and finish) more scoring opportunities if they are going to advance past the Habs.

It would be nice to see Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton start dominating the area in front of Montreal goalie Carey Price.  The biggest advantage the Bruins have in this series is their size and they need to start exploiting that in the offensive end to take control of and ultimately win this series...

The UMass Minutemen will never contend for the National Championship in college football but it is exciting news that they will move up from the FCS (formerly 1-AA) to FBS (formerly 1-A) in the Fall of 2012 and join the competitive Mid American Conference.

Hopefully UMass will follow the lead of UConn, which made the jump over a decade ago and have turned themselves into a very solid program, including a Big East championship in 2010 which included a berth in the Fiesta Bowl. 

The Minutemen will play their home games in 2012 and 2013 at Gillette Stadium while McGuirk Stadium, their on-campus stadium, has its seating capacity enlarged.  This brief period will make travel difficult for the football team - the round trip ride from Amherst to Foxboro will take at least three hours - but it will allow UMass to expose their football program to the Greater Boston area which will help with recruiting the local FBS talent that Boston College usually taps into.

UMass might not become a regular in BCS bowl games but they should find themselves competing for the MAC championship in a couple of years...

If the NFL solves its labor dispute, the Patriots will open the 2011 season on Monday Night Football in Miami...

Enjoy Carl Crawford today...

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