Besides the fact that the Red Sox have lost two straight games in Tampa, it's been a pretty good weekend already. We'll get to Boston's struggles later on. For right now, here's a few thoughts to ponder from the part of the weekend that's already happened.
--Mike Bibby
Just a quick aside to the Atlanta Hawks' point guard, who accused Boston Celtics' fans of being bandwagon jumpers after Game 1 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series -- where did all those Atlanta fans come from for Game 3?
The Atlanta area has long been one of the worst professional sports communities in the country. So many people have dressed as empty seats for the Hawks and the Atlanta Thrashers in recent years that the situation bordered on disgraceful. The Falcons didn't sell any tickets until Michael Vick, a convicted dogfighter, started playing quarterback, and the fans won't return as long as he's sitting in prison. The Atlanta Braves couldn't sell out home playoff games despite their dominance in the National League East for all those years -- and save the talk about how Turner Field is too big to sell every seat. The Boston Red Sox could sell 150,000 tickets to a playoff game and still have people begging to get through the gates at Fenway Park.
As for Bibby, he played for Sacramento until the middle of this season and enjoyed the backing of one of the league's best fan bases. I'll excuse him for not paying attention to Atlanta until he started cashing his paychecks in a Buckhead bank, but I'll try to educate him here about what his new team's followers are like. The Hawks have been in the bottom third in NBA attendance in each of the last six seasons, but they finished 20th this year and sold 86.9 percent of their tickets while making their first playoff appearance since 1998-99. Might that be bandwagon jumping? Let's consider the following numbers.
The Hawks sold just 66.9 percent of their tickets in 2002-03, good for 28th in the league, and were dead last in 2003-04 at 69 percent. Atlanta improved to 72.3 percent in 2004-05, moving back into 28th spot out of 30 teams, before sinking back to 29th in 2005-06. The Hawks were 26th in 2006-07.
The Celtics, during the same time period, were stuck in mediocrity. Boston was watching painful development of young talent before Danny Ainge made the decision to win in the present and traded for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett before the start of this season. The Celtics sold every ticket available at the TD Banknorth Garden this year, 18.624 per game, good for 100 percent capacity. Boston had missed the playoffs twice since 2002-03, and its lowest percentage during that time was 81.6 capacity in 2004-05.
The numbers speak for themselves. Bibby's own fans weren't in Atlanta's arena during that time to make their case.
--The NFL Draft
I've never been less excited about the draft in my life, and it has nothing to do with the fact that the New England Patriots are about as predictable as any other team ever has been. Anyone who didn't know that New England was going to trade down either isn't reading this blog on a regular basis (check Friday's entry as evidence of my genius) or has no idea about the philosophy that has allowed Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli to build the Patriots' dynasty.
New England treats draft picks as currency -- the more they have, the better they feel. Trading down three spots to No. 10 in the first round earned the Patriots an additional third-round pick, a selection that will allow New England to build depth at any position of need.
That being said, the draft wasn't fun for me this year because so much of it seemed predetermined. The reduction from 15 to 10 minutes between picks in the first round forced teams to do more advanced work concerning trade possibilities and contract negotiations. As a result, No. 1 pick Jake Long agreed to terms with Miami on Tuesday and ESPN's army of about 150 draft experts had nailed down the top four picks two hours before the draft even started thanks to loose-lipped front office types around the league. The certainty of how everything is going to unfold takes away most of the drama and the sickening pleasure that one takes from watching somebody else squirm in The Green Room, his future in doubt and him with no control over what is about to happen. That's part of what makes the spectacle that is the draft so much fun.
--The Red Sox
Terry Francona struck again Saturday night, denying Boston a victory in Tampa by sticking with starting pitcher Clay Buchholz for one batter too long.
Buchholz hung a curveball to Rays' second baseman Akinori Iwamura, his 110th pitch of the night, and Iwamura smoked it into the right field seats for a two-run homer that gave Tampa a 2-1 win over the Red Sox.
Yes, Boston's sputtering offense is to blame for this. David Ortiz was a late scratch due to a sore knee, J.D. Drew has crashed back to Earth with a 2-for-20 homestand after a hot start worthy of his $70-million contract and Manny Ramirez can't do everything by himself. Still, there's no way that Buchholz should have still been in that game. He had great stuff, maybe better than during his no-hitter last season, but what about all that talk of trying to limit Buchholz's pitch count and innings total? Iwamura, a lefthanded hitter, would have been a good match-up for a warm Hideki Okajima and was 0-for-4 career against Jonathan Papelbon going into last night.
Both relievers were up and throwing when the inning started, but Francona fell asleep at the switch yet again. Unlike so many times during his career in Boston, Francona's player, Buchholz, couldn't bail out one of his poor decisions.
Celtics' attendance numbers burst Bibby's bubble
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April 27, 2008
Bill Koch
Celtics' attendance numbers burst Bibby's bubble
Posted by Bill Koch
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Comments
Bibby never said that Atlanta fans were great; he simply stated the bitter truth that Boston Celtics (not Red Sox)fans are bandwagon jumpers, WHICH THEY ARE!!!!!
As you stated, he comes from Sacramento, where fans are normal (which means they actually like their team even if the team is no good, just like the Spurs, the Jazz, the Warriors etc).
I think everyone outside of Boston agrees...even the television casts that commented on the issue. But don't worry, at least Boston fans are not as bad as the Lakers fans...cheer up, you will make it of the Finals this year !!!! even if its out of the minor league conference ;-)