Bill Koch's New England Patriots fan blog

An overrated cornerback is taking shots at an overrated safety. A defensive end who thinks he's one of the best in the National Football League is walking out on practice. One of the league's biggest troublemakers is looking to elbow his way into the picture on both sides of the ball. An aging wide receiver is threatening to sue the team over the treatment of his chronically bad right knee. The quarterback is trying to break up with his superstar girlfriend, and her PR machine won't let it happen.
Welcome to the nuthouse that is Valley Ranch, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
The true irony here is that the team's owner, Jerry Jones, isn't involved in any of this. Jones is usually the one to stir the pot with his brashness and daring, but even he's steering clear of what seems to be an especially busy offseason. Perhaps Jones senses that his team is on the verge of imploding and he doesn't want any blood on his hands. Or maybe Jones believes that all of this will blow over once training camp starts for real, the foolishness swept into the background by the actual business on the field.

Continue reading "Cowboys rounding up drama at Valley Ranch"

Willie Randolph should tell the New York Mets to take his job and shove it.
He's unappreciated by ownership. His own players won't take the chances presented to them to defend him. The fan base has turned against him, booing his every pitching change at Shea Stadium. And his general manager, the overrated architect of this team and its collapsing players, refuses to commit one way or the other about Randolph's future, leaving his manager in perpetual limbo.
Randolph met with Mets owners Jeff and Fred Wilpon on Monday, a Memorial Day that threatened to be remembered as his last day in charge in Queens. The trouble with New York's National League team has reached a fever pitch in recent days, with the Mets stumbling to a 23-26 mark out of the gate on the heels of their epic collapse down the stretch last season. Randolph has come under fire for his inability to turn things around despite baseball's second-highest payroll and a line-up full of high-priced stars that most teams would kill for.

Continue reading "Randolph not alone in Mets mess"

The Boston Celtics own the same video equipment that most of the teams in the NBA do, right?
Boston watches game tape to prepare for its upcoming playoff opponents, correct?
Can we assume that Doc Rivers points out what the Celtics need to do better in order to continue their success?
Well, maybe the answer to the last question is a little doubtful. The way Rivers has coached this postseason makes me believe that all of his complaining about 8:30 p.m. start times has resulted in some napping during these film sessions, leading to some gaping holes in Boston's strategy (having Ray Allen guard Atlanta swingman Joe Johnson 1-on-1 in Game 4, for example).
In any case, Rivers and Sam Cassell should start sharing some No-Doze. Because Cassell's comments published in Monday's

Continue reading "Celtics should keep benching clueless Cassell"

Let the buyer beware. Or, in this case, let the Los Angeles Dodgers run away from Andruw Jones. There's no chance that his fat ass could catch up to anything on two legs or a good fastball these days.
Jones is 31 years old and already finished as a Major League baseball player. His two-year, $36.2-million contract isn't the only thing about him that's bloated, and he's currently stealing money from the Dodgers courtesy of his .167 batting average, two home runs and 44 strikeouts in 132 at-bats this season. Jones is almost unrecognizable at 240 pounds, his speed gone, his defensive ability just a memory, his power at the plate dried up. To think that all of this could be prevented, and that such talent has been squandered so quickly.
Jones burst onto the scene in Game 1 of the 1996 World Series, cracking two home runs in Yankee Stadium at the tender age of 19. He was 170 pounds then, still poor and hungry, still dreaming of becoming a star in the big leagues after coming from humble beginnings in Curacao. Jones' brilliance in center field was unmatched. His ability to track the ball off of opposition bats, speed and strong throwing arm made his an instant Gold Glove candidate, an award he has gone on to win 10 straight times from 1998-2007.

Continue reading "No sympathy for Andruw Jones, Dodgers"

Nothing will ever be the old Boston Garden. The creaky floor, the suffocating heat, the rabid fans and all the spirits that haunted the rafters of basketball's holiest cathedral can never be recreated.
But this current crew of Boston Celtics is making the TD Banknorth Garden look a lot like the old haunt during this current playoff run. Boston improved to 9-0 on its home floor by beating Detroit, 88-79, in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals on Tuesday night.
Thank goodness the Celtics finished a league-best 66-16 this year. That home-court advantage is the only thing keeping Boston alive right now, because this team has forgotten how to win on the road for some reason. The court is still 94x50 and the ball is still orange, but something about being in Atlanta or Cleveland has put the Celtics out of kilter.

Continue reading "Celtics draw first blood against Pistons"

Not all Eastern Conference Finals teams are created equal. Paul Pierce is the unquestioned alpha dog of this current crew of Boston Celtics, and he cemented his legacy as one of the team's legends with a performance worthy of Larry Bird, Bill Russell, John Havlicek and all the rest on Sunday.
Pierce doesn't have a championship ring. He's never even played in The Finals. But he brought Boston one step closer to its NBA-best 17th championship with a game for the ages on Sunday against Cleveland.
Not even LeBron James could better The Captain on this day. James' game-high 45 points couldn't overcome Pierce and his own 41-point explosion, sending Boston on to a date with Detroit thanks to a 97-92 win in Game 7 at the TD Banknorth Garden.
Pierce and James traded jump shots and drives to the hoop all day, a match-up that woke up the echoes of another Game 7 in Celtics' folklore. Pierce-James was The Duel, Part II, a worthy sequel to The Duel in which Larry Bird and Dominique Wilkins battled to the final minute in Game 7 of the 1988 Eastern Conference semis.

Continue reading "Pierce makes his bones as Celtics' closer"

I've been critical of Rajon Rondo in this space before, but he has proven through 12 playoff games that he's the absolute best point guard option that the Boston Celtics have if they want to return to the NBA Finals.
I only wish that Doc Rivers could see this. Rivers, as former players turned coaches tend to do, gives way too much credit to experienced players when crunch time shows up. Apparently, Rivers didn't watch Chris Paul play Jason Kidd into irrelevancy while the New Orleans Hornets dominated the Dallas Mavericks in the opening round of the Western Conference playoffs. Paul used his advantages in quickness and court savvy to leave Kidd looking slow and deflated in a dominant performance the likes of which the NBA has rarely seen.
Those games started late in the evening, so I'll give Rivers the benefit of the doubt -- he might have been up watching tape or drained from the Celtics' grueling series with Atlanta in the opening round and unable to make it through the late Hornets-Mavericks encounters (wink, wink). But shame on Rivers for not being able to see that Rondo haunted Mike Bibby and the Hawks for all seven games. I just hope that Doc's staff shoves in Boston's DVDs and cuts in a Rondo highlight reel to convince the Celtics' man in charge to keep Rondo on the floor at critical times in favor of the aging Sam Cassell. Someone please print out a spreadsheet of statistics showing how much better Rondo has been in this postseason.

Continue reading "Celtics must ride Rondo to Finals"

We all can't be too sure about just what the next two games will bring for the Boston Celtics -- their opening round series against Atlanta should have taught everyone a lesson about looking ahead.
What can certainly be said is that Cleveland has absolutely no chance of returning to the NBA Finals if LeBron James continues to struggle like this.
I've been critical of Doc Rivers in the past, but I'll give him credit for discovering James' dirty little secret. The King's jump shot has never been very reliable, and Boston's sagging, swarming defensive scheme has prevented James from getting to the basket at all during a pair of his worst career performances.
James is a dreadful 8-for-42 from the field against the Celtics in the series, the main reason that Cleveland finds itself in an 0-2 hole heading back to Ohio. The Cavaliers simply can't win with James turning the ball over 8.5 times per game and scoring less than 17 points a night. Boston has prevented James from getting into the paint, limiting his chances to finish around the basket and keeping him off the foul line. The result has been a series of bricks from long range, 0-for-10 shooting from beyond the 3-point line and a total team offensive breakdown that has kept Cleveland from getting into the series.

Continue reading "Celtics won't bow to King James"

I should have known that Wednesday night's debacle in Detroit was coming just by listening to Terry Francona's weekly radio appearance on WEEI.
This Manager happened to let it slip to Dale and Holley that he needed to get Julian Tavarez into a game sometime soon. Apparently, running long relievers out to get some work is a high priority. I know that any manager wants to keep all of his players sharp and fresh, but God forbid that starting pitchers get deep into games and keep the long man, generally a pitcher not good enough to crack the rotation, comfortably in the bullpen.
Tavarez barely fits this description. He might not be worthy of the No. 8 spot in Boston's rotation, not if Bartolo Colon and Justin Masterson have anything to say about it. Tavarez's 7.15 ERA and 2.12 WHIP this season would suggest that he's more ready to retire than appear in another major league game. His 5.15 ERA and 1.50 WHIP last year suggest that Tavarez's struggles aren't a recent trend. His 4.47 ERA and 1.56 WHIP in 2005 makes it perfectly clear that Tavarez's time in Boston has been nothing short of an opportunity for opponents to fatten up their batting averages. Is there anything keeping him on this team other than the fact that Manny Ramirez loves him? Is the Red Sox organization so afraid of moving Tavarez with Manny's two option years still up for grabs? Boston was certainly careful enough with Manny's last comic foil, Kevin Millar, to the point where the front office allowed Millar's backstage grumbling about playing time with his contract ready to expire and his power numbers swirling down the drain.  

Continue reading "Red Sox should take out Tavarez for good"

The clock just struck 3:11 p.m. here on the East Coast...which means that in about 19 minutes a different woman is going to come forward and say that she was sleeping with Roger Clemens.
We're waiting with baited breath for the latest accusation of adultery against Clemens, one that would follow up stories that broke this week that the former pitcher cheated on his wife for years with country singer Mindy McCready, Angela Moyer and Paulette Dean Daly, ex-wife of golfer John Daly. I would pay a million dollars to be a fly on the wall to hear what Clemens' wife, Debbie, the mother of his four children, has to say about all of this.
Clemens began his affair with McCready when she was 15, but it's unlikely all these years later that he will face statutory rape charges. Moyer can be paid off for her silence, and so can Daly. Debbie is the woman that Clemens should fear, and it's not for the reasons you're thinking.

Continue reading "No way Clemens can dodge Debbie now"