Sports on the mind this morning

I haven't done one of my all-sports round-ups in a while and the fact that I'll be headed to Fenway tonight for my first Sox/Yankees games in a long time, I'd figured I would pump one out now. So here goes.

Celtics
I was very disappointed to see Posey leave and go to the Hornets. He was a big part of the championship. What I find interesting though was the spin the team put on the Tony Allen signing. The PR machine for the Celtics are saying that Tony is going to have a break-out year. He's 100% healthy, he started to turn the corner at the end of last year, etc. Not sure about all that, but we'll see. Once you have a knee injury, you never really fully recover. I think the team will be overall improved from last year believe it or not. I say this because of the free agent signings they've had as well as this draft class. Repeat? Looking pretty good.

Patriots
See the story in the Globe the other day about Tom Brady basically taking it easy during this training camp? I guess the golden boy can do no wrong. He's his own PR machine.

In terms of the team itself, I think the Pats could possibly run the table again. Have you seen their schedule? The toughest games on the docket are the Colts and Chargers on the road, both teams we've beaten on the road in previous years. They've also signed a number of key defensive players and recently a journeyman running back that just might turn some heads this season. And oh yea, don't forget about Sammy Morris who was on a tear at the start of last year, but was injured. I don't want to be too aggressive, but I really think that this team is much better than last year's team overall. The biggest reason is because of the improvements the team has made on defense. Also, don't overlook the fact that Dom Capers will be helping out the D-backs this year. The guy is a defensive wizard.

My Prediction: 17-2 (yes, that's a Superbowl victory with two regular season losses)

Bruins
Don't fall over and kick the bucket because I'm writing about the Bruins. I've been following their off season moves and have been somewhat impressed. The biggest news in this department I think is the parting of ways with Glen Murray. I'm a big Murray fan. He's a gamer. He's a proven scorer but has had a rough go at it over the last couple of years. The brass decided to buy him out and the GM explains it here. I'm not in agreement with him, but I do agree that the team needs to flow with this new direction and really purge all the old-school type Bruins players. Let's get new talent in here. Get the young kids flying around and bring back some of the rough and tumble style of hockey that win's championships. I'd love to see how the city would react to a surging Bruins team in the playoffs. The bandwagon would get really stuffy quick. (See the Celtics championship this year).

And oh, did you see that the Bruins have the "Ice Girls" now? Are you serious? Talk about a marketing tactic.

Red Sox
We are now at the part of the season where all games count (yea, I know that they ALL count), but is when people start paying attention because it's the only game in town (the Pats will soon take care of that thankfully). With the Sox two games behind the DRays for 1st in the division and the Skankees right on our heels, Red Sox Nation is starting to panic. We've lost two out of three to the Sons of Steinbrenner over this weekend and come into tonight's game with the fear of getting swept (I'm subsequently going to tonight's game and will post something after this as to where my seats are).

We're also dealing with yet another Manny situation. He's been in the habit of taking himself out of the line-up over the past couple weeks and his teammates are getting tired of answering questions about him and his antics. See the Dustin Pedroira comment when asked about Manny. That's (and other similar comments by the team) is a tell tale sign that they are tired of his crap. Will the Sox make an effort to keep Manny? Is it worth all the hassle? From a offense perspective it is. I would suggest that the team think about trading him at the deadline to get a truck full of players with talent. Who's not going to entertain trade talks with Manny being involved? Just trade him to the National League please. I don't want him in pinstripes of he becomes a free agent. You just KNOW he'd love to play in NY and come back to Fenway and absolutely murder us. He's that type of player or should I say, he's that type of Clemens. See him chatting with PayRod yesterday? Here's a gist of their conversation:

PayRod: "Hey man, keep doing what you're doing. Get your numbers. Then get paid."

Manny: "I hear ya man."

PayRod: "Then you come to the Yankees. You'll be closer to where you grew up. You'll love it here. Yea, the media is just as bad as it is here in Boston, but because there is so much other stuff going on in the city, you sort of get lost in it. You only get into the problems if you start cheating on your wife and especially if you're shagging a global music icon who's nearing retirement more so than the glamor runway. But, hey man, it's all good."