NHL STANLEY CUP -- GAME 7 BAYBEEEEE!

The NHL gets little notice from my blog.
But, the truth is, I enjoy the NHL more than I lead on.

In fact, I used to follow the NHL on a nightly basis and watch every televised game I had access to...up until a few years back.

The lockout of the NHL's 2004-2005 season turned me off to the sport in a bad way.
But, something of the old flame is stirring deep within me and I know what it is.....Game 7, Stanley Cup Fever!

I make no secret of my love for Football and Basketball and to a somewhat lesser extent Major League Baseball.
The World Series, The NBA Finals, The Super Bowl.
I love watching these.
But, nothing, and I mean nothing, in sports gets my juices flowing like a game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals!

Boston vs Vancouver, tonight at 8PM ET on NBC, live from TD Garden in Boston.

If you have any affection for the majesty of athletics...strength, speed, physicality, and competition...you should take some time to watch.
You will learn what all hockey fans already know:

NOTHING compares to a game 7 in the NHL playoffs...especially in the final round.

All the beautiful people love hockey!

And the BC Mafia Godfather says, "Turn my headphones up, Foo!"

Lebron Lebron Lebron

The King without a Kingdom, Lebron James.

The people of Ohio hate him.
The people of Florida are disappointed in him.
And everywhere else, he's despised.

Not for a moment will I pretend he doesn't deserve any of the above.

I am not a Lebron hater.
I am a realist.

The "Championship Celebration" last summer announcing that Chris Bosh and Lebron were joining Dwayne Wade had little to do with anyone but James.
Would there have been anything more than the standard press conference with the Heat logo back-drop to announce Bosh's arrival or Wade staying put if Lebron had kept his talents in Cleveland? No.

It was all about Lebron.
It was then. It is now.

Problem is, he's yet to prove he's anything more than an athletic freak of nature.

Jordan, Kobe, Duncan...none of them ever had the supporting cast Lebron found beside him during these Finals.
Yet, right now, they each own multiple Finals rings.

When the lights shone brighter, their game shone bigger.

And I know, I know.
Some will say that Jordan, Kobe, and Duncan had their sidekicks like Robins to their Batman.
Had their Tonto's to their Lone Ranger...
Jordan had Pippen.
Kobe had Shaq or Gasol.
Duncan had Robinson and/or Manu.

I think the world of Robinson, Manu, Pippen, Gasol, and Shaq.
But, none of them are D-Wade. None of them even come close.

And when it all came down to it.
When it was Go-time.
When Lebron needed to put his balls to the wall.
When the King was supposed to put up or shut up.
When James was to belly up to the bar.
He became just another role player.
Lebron did not even play a "Robin" to Wade's "Batman"....even though the script had been written in reverse last summer.

And when some of the emotion had settled and the American Airlines Arena was silent, Lebron faced reporters and seemed content.
Content in knowing he was still a millionare.
Content in knowing most of the people in Ohio would never be as rich, famous, or gifted as he is.

When instead he should have been embarassed.
Embarrassed at scoring only 18 total points in the 6 fourth quarters of these NBA Finals.
Yes. That's an average of 3 points in the final period of each game.
You don't need your calculator to calculate that 18 points in 6 fourth quarters equals "SUCKS"...or maybe even "Sucks Squared".

Choker. Not a Gamer. Overrated.
Pick your adjective...they all apply right now.

And for those of you that defend him, what do you base your argument on?

James was supposed to be the Heat's Dirk Nowitzki.
And when Dwayne Wade realized Lebron had left his big-boy pants at some Ohio dry cleaners, Wade took over.
At that point, most of us watching thought, Lebron would then become the Heat's Jason Terry to compliment Wade.
WRONG.

In the end, he shrunk into hardly more than a bit player.

And what was his message after the game?
He seemed more interested in the fact that people in Ohio were going to have to face reality once the intoxication of Lebron's failure had worn out.

The problem with that is that Lebron's reality is far more heart-breaking, far more shameful, and far more unpleasant than anything Cav fans will have to face some day.

The King is not dead...he may have never lived in anything except the unrealistic expectations of overzealous fans in Cleveland and Miami.

Wade holds Lebron down while trainer checks if James truly left his cojones in Cleveland

BC for life Foo!

The Dallas Mavericks - NBA Champions?

Yes.
The Dallas Mavericks are NBA Champions.

With this NBA Finals win, so many demons were vanquished, shadows were cast aside, and backs relieved of their monkeys...feel free to add any other cliche in this space.

The fact is, this championship for the Mavs is exactly what a championship should mean to an organization.
The last few years had seen the Larry O'Brien trophy in the familiar confines of Los Angeles and Boston.
Today, it resides in halls of blue and silver to be gawked at by generations of Maverick fans...some who had given up the dream of ever seeing this day come and some who believed throughout.

Despite the title to my blog this morning, we can no longer question these Dallas Mavericks.

No longer is there the threat that a mettlesome owner whose mouth is bigger than his wallet (and he's got a huge wallet) would never stay out of the way long enough to let this team win it all.

No longer will the NBA masses believe Dirk Nowitzki is soft.

No longer can we question Jason Kidds ability to lead a team to the promised land.

No longer should Jason Terry be considered a player with more style than substance.

No longer are the Dallas Mavericks only the best regular season team in the NBA.

Mark Cuban was silent and classy throughout these playoffs.
Allowing his product to speak for itself, his team spoke volumes about how well Cuban and his staff put together all the right pieces.

Dirk Nowitzki had carried the "soft" label for too long.
He was never soft.
Like another 7-footer, David Robinson, Dirk was mislabeled a softee more for his lack of supporting cast than for his lack of heart and talent.
But now, like Robinson, Dirk is a champion...and the world should finally see appreciate him for what he is: One hell of a solid basketball player. The likes of which we may not see again. 7-footers just shouldn't shoot as good as Dirk does.

Jason Kidd had been to this mountain top before.
And he had been pushed off.
His appearance in past NBA Finals had been sour notes in his career.
This time, a much older and slower Kidd was again on that mountain top.
And no one  would push him off.
Age may have slowed his step, but it has brought him wisdom and improved his leadership skills.
Providing a unshakable presence in the locker room and on the court, Kidd was this team's rock.

Maligned for his mouth (2nd in size only to Cuban's), Jason Terry had often played less of a game than he talked.
His impression on games got smaller and smaller as the stakes got bigger.
That was then, this is now.
For solid stretches in the Finals, never more than the first half of game 6, Jason Terry put these Mavericks on his back and carried them through Nowitzki's shooting slumps.
There's no arguing this fact: Jason Terry did for Nowitzki what Lebron could not do for Dwayne Wade.
And you can't front on that.

No question about it.
These Mavericks are NBA Champions.

And this morning, people in Dallas, TX are pinching themselves silly in the hopes that this is not a dream.
Some of these fans had given up hope they'd see this day seasons ago.
Some of these fans had quit believing as recently as a few months ago.
Some may have given up after game 3.

No matter. Dallas Mavericks fans, all of them, should celebrate!
Even if some of you don't deserve to relish in this glory, your team deserves to here you roar.

Mark Cuban really let loose at the post-game celebration!

The Billycock is in full effect, Foo!

NBA Conference Finals -- What Did We Learn?

BC MAFIA Godfather back again -- going 2-0 in Conference Final predictions.
But while I picked the correct winners, I really didn't expect the Bulls and Thunder to go out like a bunch of softees............but, they did!
Are the Heat and Mavs really that good?
NBA fans should hope so. It would make for one FANtastic Finals series.

But before we go any further: Now that the Championship series is set...what did we learn from the Conference Finals?

Here are my top 5 lessons:

5. Jason Kidd is HUNGRY.
He's looking better than he did the last time he was in the NBA Finals (2003).
Kidd sees this for what it is, his last chance to be an NBA Champion.
This realization could make him the "X-factor" should the Mavs beat the Heat.
He's making smart decisions, showing great court vision, poised on defense, and hitting his open shots.
What more could one want from their point guard?

4. This Dallas Mavericks bench is deeeeeeeeeeeep.
What most observers suspected in the regular season has really shown itself to be true in the playoffs: The Mavs bench is the deepest in the league.
Lead by JJ Barea and Jason Terry, a Championship for Big D rests as much on the shoulders of the Mavs' bench as it does on Dirk's.

3. Oklahoma Thunder were not who we thought they were.
Giving the Mavs their props, one still has to recognize that Durant is not going to bring home the Championship trophy as OKC's sole offensive threat.
Kendrick Perkins was a solid pick-up and is complimented well by Serge Ibaka in the paint on defense.
But no one but Kevin Durant can reliably create his own shot against decent teams.
Sefolosha ain't gonna do it.....and don't even get me started on Westbrook.
Although they are young and athletic, OKC will not make it back to the Conference Finals despite the experience they gained this post season unless they fill one glaring need: A SOLID POINT GUARD who can create easy shots for others.

2. The Bulls were not who THEY thought they were.
Chicago was a team that presented itself as a hard-nosed tough-as-nails squad that would not be mishandled by any other team in the NBA.
Boozer & Noah gave the appearance of an intimidating presence in the paint.
But what we saw against Miami showed these Bulls are little more than grizzly bearded teddy bears.

1. Derrick Rose is human.
He had been unstoppable night after night after night.
Then Game 2 against Miami happened and he never recovered.
Some day he will look back at this post-season and realize he missed his only opportunity to be a Season MVP and a Finals MVP. What a shame.




In an unrelated story......

It's nice to see Shaq is back at the gym and working on his free throws

I kid because I love!

The BC has got it going on Foo!

New York Yankee Fans - I Did Not Know That About You

For all the stories about how fickle sports fans are in the Big Apple...
For all the stories about how impatient and unforgiving Yankee fans are...
The Jorge Posada incident this weekend, or rather the reaction to it, was a pleasant surprise.

Posada is having a terrible year at the plate for the New York Yankees.
A career .273 batter, he's at .165 this season.
And just when I figured New York fans and media were about to tear him into pieces, Posada made the bait all the more tantalizing to them: He asked to sit out of Saturday's game against rival #1, the Boston Red Sox.

So, Posada asks to sit out of a home game against the Yankees' hated rivals in the middle of a hitting slump (and in the middle of a Yankee losing streak) and what do we get from their fans....
Jeers? Obscenities? Shredding of his public persona with insulting signs in the stands?
Nope. We got NONE of the above. And that's as it should be...

Posada has been an excellent member of the New York community.
He's been a great role model for Major League Baseball as a whole.
And he has handled the New York spotlight better than most.

Let's face it, how many star players can suit up for the Yankees for SIXTEEN seasons and stay out of trouble with fans and/or the media as well as Jorge Posada has?
That's very tough to do....just ask A-Rod or any number of other star Yankees who have failed to keep a positive image in the middle of that media circus.

Sixteen years and so few steps backward for Posada.
He's earned more than a day off in the midst of a hitting slump.
Thankfully, Yankee fans seemed to recognize it.

Hats off to Yankee fans for supporting Posada upon his return to the field as a pinch-hitter on Sunday.
The support was deserved. The applause was classy.

J. Posada: Honorary member of the Billycock Mafia

BC Mafia's got it going on Foo!

NBA Playoffs - Conference Finals -- My Predictions

Yours truly, The Billycock Mafia Godfather, took a serious hit in Round 2 going 2-2 on my predictions.

Heat, Bulls, Thunder, and Mavs......welcome to the jungle, baybeeeeeee!

My Conference Champ predictions:

Western Conference Champs: The Dallas Mavs

Eastern Conference Champs: The Miami Heat

My pick in the East goes against my picks all post-season....but, I don't see the Bulls supporting cast helping D-Rose the way I had originally envisioned.

Bulls and Thunder......you may go.



The BC for life Foo!

NBA Playoffs -- Top 5 Things We learned In Round 2

The 2nd round is over....what did we learn?

Lesson #5:  Dirk Nowitzki is not soft
This guy may have deserved a reputation for being soft in the past.
But, no more!
He's got some solid help around him with Barea, Terry, and Kidd playing above expectations.
But, make no mistake: This team will only go as far as Dirk takes them.
And right now, it looks like he's prepared to take them all the way.

Lesson #4: Pau Gasol is soft.
Just reverse most of what I said about Dirk above.
This guy had a reputation for being soft when he was with Memphis.
Then he was gifted (not traded) to L.A. and all of sudden the dude is the "next Kareem"?
Uh....NO!
Paired with Kobe and a solid guard in Fisher, he played above his talent and heart last year.
This year, he played a little closer to what we saw in Memphis: Pretty good in the regular season...and then nothing.
Gasol is who we thought he was.

Lesson #3: D-Rose needs help.
I have been a fan of Rose's supporting cast all year long.
But, it's playoff time and some fellas need to step up.
Rose is carrying the Chicago Bulls as if he's got a bunch of nobodies on the court with him.
With names like Boozer, Noah, and Deng sharing the floor with him, Rose shouldn't be carrying so much of the load.
These boys better get in the game next series because there's one thing the Heat will do and that's contain Rose.
They won't stop him, but they will contain him.

Lesson #2: It's not better to burn out, than fade away.
Lakers and Celtics looked terrible in their Round 2 matchups.
Their opponents had something to prove. The Lakers and Celts didn't.
And from the opening tip, you could tell.
L.A. and Boston looked like teams satisfied with their past accomplishments, instead of looking like a team driven to repeat them.

Lesson #1: Mark Cuban can shut up when he wants to.
Mavs are winning and all of sudden all is right in Mark Cuban's world.
He's in love with the opponent. He's a fan of the officials. He's a dutiful NBA owner.
Are we to believe Cuban will remain quiet all through the playoffs should Dallas win in the Finals?
That would be amazing.
Mav-haters would see that as reason enough to hope Dirk raises the Larry O'Brien trophy in celebration this year.

No this is NOT Photoshop. He really did close his mouth for a moment.

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