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At the Intersection of Sports and Culture

Photo Credit for Header: Alex Foucre-Stimes

Jeremy Lin Throws A Garden Party Like Only an Ivy Leaguer Can

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 No Melo for 1-2 weeks means much, much more Linsanity. The hesitation right handed dribble around a high screen and roll followed by a bounce pass between defenders leading to an easy layup was a move perfected by our favorite Canadian Steve Nash. Jeremy Lin, while he is no Steve Nash, has shown, for at least the last two games, a similar ability to drive to the basket and set his teammates up for easy scoring opportunities. Embattled head coach Mike D’Antoni will continue to give Lin a shot at being the starting point guard for the New York Knicks as long as the team keeps winning or maybe until a healthy Baron Davis returns to action.

How ironic is it that Lin has a chance to save D’Antoni’s job in New York, a position he earned because of the time he spent with Nash in Phoenix during the halcyon days. The Amare connection makes it all the more real and while this J-Lin Garden party probably won’t continue for much longer, it certainly has made for an exciting New York sports story. Not that there are any shortages of them these days.

 

The Lombardi Trophy Belongs to Lisbeth Salander

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At least now I can go back to rooting against Boston teams for the next 7 months. Also, I hope this second Super Bowl loss to the Giants in 4 years means the Patriots can finally switch back to their throwback Pat the Patriot uniforms. For New York, Mario Manningham now enters the lexicon right beside David Tyree. And Is Eli Manning really this good or just lucky? Does it even matter?

Tough to narrow it down to a single play for the New England offense, although an injured Gronkowski playing at 50% max capacity didn’t really enhance their chances. Tom Brady missed a few opportunities downfield during the 4th quarter and Wes Welker didn’t help out much either. At least we know Brady will be able to luxuriate comfortably in his 22,000 square foot mansion.

Finally, where was Rooney Mara, niece of Giants principal owner John Mara? Lisbeth Salander was about the only thing that could have saved the Lombardi trophy presentation.

Monday morning is going to be much longer than usual.

view from Indy courtesy of @davidsmoak

 

A Super Bowl Sized History of Bad Boston Ankles

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The most talked about ankle in Indianapolis this week belongs to Patriots tight end and Telemundo superstar Rob Gronkowski. After suffering a high ankle sprain in the AFC championship, courtesy of that guy Bernard Pollard, Gronk is officially listed as a “game time decision” for Super Bowl XVLI,which in Belichickian terms means “he’ll play because we’re injecting his ankle with Toradol and he won’t be able to feel anything below his waist”. My buddy Chip sent me a text this past week asking what’s the deal with Boston athletes and injuries to their lower extremities. This got me thinking, besides Gronkowski, what other sports stars from Beantown have had to overcome significant leg injuries at crucial points in their team’s season?

Thinking beyond sports, you can trace the roots of landscape altering Boston leg injuries all the way back to the Boston Massacre in 1770. If you look closely at Paul Revere’s famous engraving you can clearly see several New England “Patriots” strewn about the cobblestone streets outside of the Custom House with blood flowing from their faces, abdomen, and lower limb areas. Some historians have said that this Revere engraving was nothing more than a piece of propaganda intended to inspire colonists to revolt against their British masters. And while the Boston Massacre is typically considered one of the key moments leading up to the Revolutionary War, I choose to think of it as nothing more than an early instance of DNP – gunshot wound.

Perhaps the most famous ankle injury in the history of Boston belongs to Curt Schilling. His bloody sock from Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS against the New York Yankees will forever commemorate arguably the greatest comeback in sports history. I was in the building for this monumental occasion but didn’t know about his sutures popping until I got home later that evening and ESPN was beginning what would turn into nearly a decade straight of all Red Sox all the time. Sportcenter anchors like John Buccigross and Steve Berthiaume might as well work for NESN. The only thing that can possibly distract Bristol from their love affair with the Nation is Tim Tebow. I mean, Miguel Cabrera should show up to Spring Training drunk and riding a unicorn and all Baseball Tonight would be talking about is whether or not Mike Aviles is going to be the Red Sox fulltime right fielder. Thank god for Scott Van Pelt whose Maryland roots reminds us all that there are in fact other baseball teams besides the Red Sox and Yankees.

Back to Schilling for a second, some people still wonder if his bloody sock was all just an enormous ruse, not to be confused with rouge, an aging bombastic pitchers final chance at back page relevancy. Take Orioles broadcaster, and Maine native Gary Thorne, who went on the record and openly questioned the entire thing. So, what was that on his stirrup anyway: blood or one of the 57 varieties? If the Hall of Fame begins offering Shilling’s sock as a condiment in their cafeteria then I think we’ll have our answer.

Then there was Paul Pierce doing his best Nancy Kerrigan impression during Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. Only this time Jeff Gillooly and his police baton were no where to be found. Skeptics would later wonder why The Truth would require the services of a wheelchair for an “injury” that would only kept him out of action for less than a quarters worth of game action. Was it scripted? Did Vince McMahon suddenly hijack the NBA offices in NYC and hog tie Commissioner Stern to his private bathroom stall? Did Tonya Harding pay Kendrick Perkins to injure his teammate much like she brokered the deal in Detroit with her ex-husband?  To be completely fair to Kerrigan, a native of Woburn, Mass, the hematoma on her shin lasted much longer than any of the damage to Pierce’s sprained knee ligaments. Fans have since forgiven their captain as he would go on to lead the Celtics to their first NBA Championship in 22 years.

And while other famous Boston sports figures like Tommy Heinsohn and Booby Orr have probably experienced their fair share of high and low ankle injuries, it’s time to bring the focus back to Rob Gronkowski and Super Bowl XLVI. I like New England for two main reasons: 1) most of my friends, including my contrarian wife who thinks Eli Manning is a “super” nice guy, are picking the Giants to win and 2) now that Tim Tebow is out of the playoffs, God is clearly on Tom Brady’s side.

If Gronk plays it opens up the rest of the underneath for Wes Welker and Super Bowl XLVI MVP Aaron Hernandez. If Gronk doesn’t play then the Patriots will have to rely a bit more on their underrated running game (LAWFIRM!!!) and perhaps a few big plays down the field to either Deion Branch or (gulp) Chad Ochocinco. If Ochocinco ends up being the difference in this game you may find me Monday morning curled up in a fetal position next to my refrigerator.

Final Score: Patriots 34 Giants 31

MVP: Aaron Hernandez

Enjoy the game everybody!!!

view from Lucas Oil Stadium courtesy of @timdahlberg 

Porn or Sports: Tiger Surges and Sharapova Shrieks

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While most Americans wait impatiently for these two weeks to pass before Super Bowl XLVI, the sports world continues to turn in places like Abu Dhabi and Australia. Who could have ever believed that this weekend all eyes will be focused on the same place where they set Sex and the City 2, one of the most unenlightened pieces of cinema since perhaps Birth of a Nation. But with Tiger Woods surging in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship a lot of people will be getting up with the rooster to see if Woods can stay even with the likes of Rory McIlroy and Matteo Manassero.

If golf doesn’t tickle your fancy, maybe you’ll be interested in an early morning trip down to Oz for the Australian Open men’s and women’s finals. While most of the intrigue surrounds Nadal/Djokovic, the later having just survived an epic 5 set/5hour semifinal match over Britain’s own Andy Murray, don’t overlook the stronger sex as Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka fight for not just the first major tennis championship of the year but the #1 ranking as well. And if that’s not enough to draw you into the telly, the women’s final also promises to deliver an arousingly high number of grunting and shrieking.

Patriots, Giants Set for Super Bowl Rematch and I’m Already Sick of David Tyree

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Patriots 23 Ravens 20 – New England dodged a bullet, maybe two, on route to Indianapolis. First Lee Evans fails to secure what would have been the game winning touchdown and then Baltimore kicker Billy Cundiff misses the tying field goal, making us all instantly forget about Scott Norwood. Joe Flacco proved to be much more capable than Ed Reed expected while Tom Brady kind of played like a guy worried about how he was going to regulate the temperature in his new 22,000 square feet mansion. Although, it’s tough to give the Ravens QB too much credit when most smartphones continue to autocorrect his last name to “Flaccid”.

And as a Patriots fan I’ll be happy to never see Bernard Pollard again. First Brady. Then Welker. And now today Gronkowski. That man must have a personal vendetta against the entire Kraft family. Either that or he collects ACL’s like Lt. Aldo Raine collects scalps. If I’m Bill Belichick I assign a member of my coaching staff to scout out the Lucas Oil Stadium parking lot just in case Pollard is hiding behind Peyton Manning’s burnt orange Ford F-150 waiting to lunge at Aaron Hernandez with a tire iron.

Speaking of Indianapolis, it would have been a nice story if the Baltimore Football Team of Today would have had a chance to play for a Super Bowl Championship in the city that stole the Baltimore Football Team of Yesteryear. How many shots of the Mayflower trucks pulling out of Colts headquarters would we have had to endure? Alas, as @sethmeyers21 points out, probably an unhealthy number of National Bohemian’s being consumed tonight down by the docks in Baltimore harbor.

Giants 20 49ers 17 – Somebody needs to explain why it looked so dark on the Candlestick Park field. Did they borrow a set of portable lights from a local high school? Did Jed York forget to pay his electrical bill? Forgot about the wet weather, as a receiver it must be next to impossible to catch a ball when it’s being thrown down a dimly lit alley. Maybe that’s why the game was decided on special teams.

My favorite part of the game came during the first half when Eli Manning was caught off guard then broke into an Irish jig. Those dance moves will come in handy when older brother Peyton shows him around the best juke joints central Indiana has to offer. I bet you Cooper Manning knows how to twirl a glow stick.