While I Certainly Tip My Hat To Green By for It's Football Team...Here's Why It Is Not Title Town At This Time.....

The Green Bay Packers are at BEST an average football team in the post Favre world....With Favre in his MVP prime they managed a single Super Bowl win.....from 1967 to today the Pack have won one Superbowl....Yes you have won 12 "championships" but the first three 1929, 30 and 31 were awarded based upon regular season end of season standings....The NFL did not start playing playoffs until 1936 and yes from that point until the idea of a "Super Bowl" was started for the 1966 season the Packers were clearly a top team in the 1930's and a Power House in the early to mid 1960's.....ok....so let's ask the really pressing question....WHAT HAVE YOU DONE LATELY....after Lombardi left,  the Packers went into a three decade swoon....from 1967 to 1995 the Packers had two seasons where they posted 10 or more wins (1972 and 1989), in that span the team had 15 losing seasons! When Holmgren and Favre arrived the team became a contender but still managed only to win the big game once and then they really sort of choked in the second appearance in a stunner of a loss to Denver....

I point this out because some giant of a mind has informed me in response to an earlier posting that Green Bay is "Title Town" until someone takes that away....in 41 years YOU HAVE ONE TITLE in a one sport town....that takes away any ability to claim Title Town....using your logic the following Cities have a much stronger claim to the moniker....here goes my list for cities with a substantially stronger claim to title town than you Cheeseheads....

1.  Boston-15 Titles since 1967 ....(Celtics 8, Bruins 2, Red Sox 2, Patriots 3) and since the start of the century no city has been close.....

2.  New York 11 Titles since '67...Yankees 6 WS wins since '67, the Giants 3 Superbowls, the Jets 1 Superbowl, and the Rangers 1 Stanley Cup win

3..  Los Angeles- 11 Titles with 9 NBA Titles for the Lakers and 2 World Series Wins for the half watched Dodgers LA. I do not count the Angels win because they did not identify themselves as the LA Angels.....

4.  Detroit 9 titles  (Red Wings 4 titles; Pistons 3 Titles; Tigers 2 WS Titles)

5.  Pittsburg, 9 titles( Steelers 5, Pirates 2, Penguins 2)

6.  Chicago 8 titles  (Bulls 6, White Sox 1, Bears 1)

Honorable mentions include San Francisco, Dallas, Denver, San Antonio (a one horse town) Baltimore, Philadelphia, Toronto, Minnie, St. Louis, Montreal,  Miami, Oakland, all of whom have won the golden ring MORE than you blockheads in Green Bay....

Of course were we to do what you have done...count the records since the dawn of time...then the Yankees, Montreal Canadiens, Boston Celtics and Lakers alone would smoke you guys by HUGE margins....

So my dear little cheddar heads....Green Bay is not and cannot claim title to anything beyond being a really cold and very average footbal town....I would urge you to resubmit your application in a few years...in order to make the top 6 the Pack will have to win 7 more tiles and with 1 in 40 years that should happen sometime in the year 2288...give or take a few decades....Green Bay Title Town ....that's a hoot...but thanks for playing and try again in about 280 years......

Here's our question for the day:  Will Green Bay win more than 6 games in '08?  I say yes, they win 7....I mean it's very hard in that division not to win 7....Detroit, Minnie and Chicago are all horrible so they should come out of that with a minimum of 4 wins....they also get Atlanta, Carolina, Seattle, Houston and Tampa Bay....You will know what kind of season you'll have right out of the box in Green Bay....Minnie at home and the on to Detroit....if the Pack loses both then they tumble into the abyss...if they split...then they have a shot at 7-9 or 8-8 which might give them 1st place in this crappiest of all NFL Divisions.....This squad gets croaked by Dallas, Jacksonville, Tennessee, Indy and New Orleans....Who will lead this team that you could count on to do anything significant...Aaron Rodgers?  Listen closely....Senor Rodgers has thrown for a total of 111 yards over his three years in the league....clearly not his fault given that he was playing behiind the great one....but...that does not mean that he should be given any credit as a proven replacement because he has not established that he can play in this league.....Additionally, who in the name of all that is cheesey are the back ups?  Add to that the fact that Rodgers entire body of post high school work has consisted of playing in 25 college games and you have what?  In his life after high school this guy has played in 30 games....if you're counting on much here you may end up with a bad taste in your mouth when he's staring down the throat of that Jacksonville Defense or when Dallas comes to town.....he may well turn out to be a great player like Peyton Manning or Tom Brady or, but history tells us that he'll  more likley be another David Carr or Byron Leftwich...plus the guy needs a haircut...Green Bay is in for a long cold winter...unless BF comes out of retirement....

Get past the QB mess and this team clearly has talent with little depth....If Ryan Grant stays healthy and can repeat his '07 performance they will still need a lot more help for the long haired freaky dude calling signals....he could have T.O., Marvin Harrison and Chad Johnson and this team might still stink if Rodgers plays as soft as I suspect he will....

Early season favs include the obvious picks....Indy, NE, Dallas, Jacksonville and then it's a bunch of unknowns....will Tennessee continue to improve....has the Jets spending spree landed them a team (still need the QB me thinks)....bet on this Atlanta will slowly start to improve, Baltimore will be horrible, along with AZ, San Fran, Cleveland and I would not bet the farm that Oakland, Miami, Tampa Bay or the Niners have figured anyting out.....

Divisionally the NFC East and AFC South are the two to beat, Pats should clinch a playoff berth by about the middle of September and Indy and Jacksonville should be the best divisional games this year....I think Dallas is right there talent wise, I am no fan of Tony Romo because despite all of the hype that has surrounded this guy he has shown a disturbing trend as not being clutch in playoff games....I have a lot of doubt that he is the answer....but the NFC should fold up nicely foor Dallas to breeze....in the AFC it once again comes down to New England, Indy and Jacksonville....this year I think it's a jump ball in light of all of the secondary turnover the Patriots have had.....

The take.....

Since 2001 NO city, I mean NO city has Come Close To this City's Teams.....

THERE CAN BE NO LEGITIMATE DEBATE ABOUT IT....BOSTON IS TITLETOWN.....

Let's give Detroit it's due...the Red Wings and Pistons are awesome teams....but let's be clear....Detroit has NO claim to being title town....Hockey Town ----probably but that's it....the Tigers suck, the Lions are worse and the Pistons won only one as that team is presently configured....

How about New York....the Giants deservedly won their Superbowl but beyond that let's see....the Yankees are a good team with an aging but still powerful lineup and NO pitching staff. The Spanks have not recovered from the single most humiliating defeat in organized professional sports history....you may remember that 2004 ALCS....I know all of you suddenly quiet Yankee fans remember it don't you?...how about those Knickerbockers.....they may well be the worst franchise in organized team sports given their money and the absolutely horrible teams they have paraded onto the Garden floor...oh wait...how can the Knicks be the worst franchise ever when they play in the same market as those Mets....the second highest payroll in baseball and they lay all of the blame for their '07 colllapse on a manager and not the dipstiick who overpayed Pedro, Santana, Glavine (we know he's gone but he took a lot of $ while he was there and didn't do ####), Beltran, Delgado and that ace Wagner....wanna fire someone who IS to blame....schedule a 3:00 a.m. meeting with Omar while you still have a fan or two left....and then there are the Rangers and who really cares...

How about L.A.?  Well the Lakers had a nice run until they played a complete team and they promptly crapped out....I remember just two short weeks ago a lively interview with Kobe and Stephen A. Smith where Steven A. pressed Kobe as to why it wasn't fair to compare Kobe to MJ and at the time I wrote it off as a good reporter just asking the questions because many many people had started to believe that Bryant deserved such a lofty comparison....and maybe Kobe will still someday be able to be compared to Michael...just not at this time....Kobe was so outplayed by the Celtics trio of Pierce, Allen and Posey that he was barely the best offensive player on his own team....he was clearly out played, out hustled and outschemed by tthe Boston Celtics to the point where his legacy has been tarnished to a great degree..Michael Jordan would have carried his team to a win over Boston this year, there is NO question about that...but back to my point...LA is never really eligible to be Title Town without a real baseball team and without an NFL franchise....Christ even Charlotte and Jacksonville have teams.... what? you say that the Dodgers are a real baseball team because they signed Joe Torre?  To that I say, grow up...as good a manager as there is in the game does not make the Dodgers are real team.  Fans don't care, teams NEVER win (Kirk Gibson ain't coming through that door kids) and did I mention that people in LA have NO passion for sports....How many titles have the Dodgers won?  Nah, LA is not close to a candidate for Title Town USA....and what did Shaq say...."Kobecouldn't do it without me...."  Love it, LA blows.

How about Chicago....although the Blackhawks such #### and the Bulls are a disgrace, and the Bears are moving backwards again.  They do have the White Sox who have won a World Series and the Bulls of Michael and Scottie were all world....but what have done for me lately....you KNOW the Cubs will screw up somehow and someway and while Ozzie will probably get the Southsiders a legitimate playoff shot...even if they win they really don't matter...even in Chicago...what's that old line...."there's nothing lonlier that being a southsider in a city of northsiders"....so The ChiSox are not given any credit here until their own city backs em just a bit....so Nyet to Chicago...and Philly, Saint Louis, Dallas, San Antonio (one team sports towns just don't count), Saint Louis, Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Miami, Cleveland, Cincy, Oakland, KC, New Orleans, Houston or Seattle....nope not one of these cities can say that they have won world champioships in Football (3) Baseballl (2) and Basketball (1) since 2001....only one place on the planet can say that and that's Boston.

Oliver Wendall Holmes once called Boston the "Hub of The Universe" because the city is the eductaional center of the Country with no fewer than 100 colleges in the city and its thriving suburbs....and those colleges include Harvard, MIT, Boston University, Northeastern, Emerson and Boston College to name just a few.  Add to that an extremely low crime rate, a bevy of world class hospitals, four gorgeous seasons and the birthplace of our democracy and you have a city that is truly the best place to live on the East Coast. 

It is almost unfair that the Red Sox are by far the best team in baseballl over the last 5 years, that the Patriots are still the best team in football and that the Celtics have now resumed theiir rightful place atop the NBA and won their 17TH title....a feat that no other team has ever topped....to put that in perspective.....that is 17 more titles than Cleveland, Denver, Charlotte, New Orleans, Dallas,  Utah, LA Clippers and New Jersey Nets have combined to win....

Then there are the Red Sox....again in first place, again with the best rotation in the game, again with out any hole in their entire lineup, great manager, great closer, sold out EVERY game for decades.... wealthy and committed owners and a fan base that dwarfs the Yankees...if you doubt that for one minute try to buy a single game ticket for next season from the Red Sox ticket office....it will take an act of Congress and a great bit of luck.  Then go to Baltimore (AKA Boston South) and see how the BoSox fans outnumber O's fans  ...they have utterly destroyed the Yankees who simply will never recover from the beat down they took in '04....manager's gone, owner's feeble and his nit wit replacement is managing the team, they hired a manager who is so obnoxious that he got himself fired in the same year as he was named Manager of the Year in the NL and then there's the GM who must bear reposnibility for Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano, ElDugue, Alphonso Soriano, Roger Clemons third comeback tour and the whole notion that Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes were legitimate major leaguers....what you ask have the Red Sox done with young talent????  Jonathan Papelbon, Dustin Pedroia, John Lester, Jacoby Elsbury, Jed Lowrie, Clay Buckholtz, Justin Masterson, Manny DelCarmen, Craig Hansen are ALL playing and the team won last year's Fall Classic by destroying the Rockies....are you kidding me?  It is amost unfair....the Red Sox are still in firts place and Curt Schilling is out, David Ortiz is out, Daisuke Matsuzaka is out...Manny is out...Coco is out....the Cubbies lose Zambrano and they WILL collapse....This is the most talented team of young players to play in 25 years....

I will not offer any excuses for the Patriots....they lost and they deserved to lose to a team that is now a long shot to return to the playoffs.  The Pats are again favored to return to the Superbowl and only a fool like Tom Jackson would seriously question that...they have quietly reloaded a secondary that was not very good last year and they picked up three solid linebackers in the off season...anybody wanna wager with me?  I say they win 12-14 games and retuirn to the ALCS where they will beat Indy, or Jacksonville....as usual.

Now there are the Celtics who have a real small window because they have not shown that they can figureout how to draft NBA players from the lower end of the first round....but...for noow they will likely return to the Conference finals next year and unless Cleveland can figure out how to win on the road the C's should return to the finalls to face NO, Utah or San Antonion...it won't be the Lakers...Kobe will see a lot of Tom Thibodeau's defense next year the way that Kurt Warner got figured out after Bellichik figured him out in 01....Let's face facts...Luke Walton, Vukocic, and Radmanovic are not legitimate NBA players....they were useless in the Finals and then their is the quickly aging and slowing Dereck Fisher and the riddle that is Lamar Odom....plus can someone tell me why Pau Gasol gets such high praise....he's is everything we expect from a European player...he no like hitting...him no like physical ball....him no play defense.....so the Lakers won't be having to worry about another Boston Beat down next year....if New Orleans gets a better 2 they will be the team....or at least I hope they will.....

So my little pinheads....Boston simply rules the sport's universe and yes I did not mention College sports because there is not a single college team that can beat even the weakest professional team at anything so it don't count.....

I say this as a lifelong Resident of Boston....But If I have to hear one more time that Boston is a Basketball Town I'm Gonna Scream.

I am 50 years old, as a young kid I watched the Russell and Havlicek teams and I was in my 20's for the Bird, Parrish, McHale years and yes when things are good here in Beantown the Celtics are a hard ticket to get....but since Bird retired this town has not been a basketballl town.....Boston is a funny place when it comes to its basketball.  There is no college team that gets any support unless the team is super hot ala Marcus Camby's UMass squads or the occasional BC team that gets warm but never truly hot.  Nobody except committed alumni bleeds BC or UMass hoops and there are far fewer Celtics fans than most people would believe. Sure there was a buzz when Pitino rolled through but that story has more to do with the fact that sports radio still plays Pitino sound bytes about how the "Negativity in this town Sucks".  Trutth is the Celtic were horrible for two decades and NOBODY was standing on line to see Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce play together with an assortment of scrubs.  Enter KG and Ray Alllen and alll of a sudden this is Chapel Hill.....

In a city where Carl Yastremski, Dwight Evans and Steve Grogan are Gods...it is shocking that Bill Russell is an after thought.  We can all debate who was the greatest but most Bostonians would argue that Larry Bird deserves to be considered on a par with the greats and that is true to a degree but you almost never hear the name of Bill Russell and that is sad. As great as Bird was he did not hold a candle to Russell and I think you could make an argument that nobody was better. I personally think MJ was the best ever but I would certainly concede that Russell deserves consideratyion and here's why:

Is it racism?  That is a very good question and it is certainly a plausible one but I think the answer is more than just a rascist environmment.  Russell, like Chamberlain, Willis Reed and the Big O played at a time when the media was not nearly as pervasive as it is today.  Today these players are identified and hyped while they are in high school, they earn millions in advertising deals, we see them on ESPN every day, the game is more exciting so highlights tend to be spectactular...hell one King James slam is more fun to watch than anything Russell did shown on a black and white newsreel film. 

But back to my point about Boston, if the Red Sox were to put together 5 losing seasons the fair weather fans, the yuppies willing to spend $3,000.00 for monster seats to watch the Texas Rangers, would disappear as fast as they have appeared but the die hard Red Sox fan would still sell out Fenway.  They have done that over the years when the BoSox have struggled.  When the Patriots under Victor Kiam were hapless and losing 12-14 games a year they still managed to draw 70-80% attendance at a stadium that was little more than a huge concrete urinal.  The Bruins are deplorably bad and haven't carried a cup for 35 years, they are the cheapest team in organized sports  and one of the highest priced tickets in sports and yet they still draw crowds and are a prt of the city's sports culture even as they continue nearly four decades of utter futility. 

After Bird (AB) the Celtics went from bad to worst, and they had to offer $10.00 tickets and nobody was interested.  Most Boston fans can tell you the names of the Patriots and Red Sox coaches/managers and General Managers for the past 20 years but I'll bet that the average Boston fan could not name the Celtics starting center from 2 seasons ago. 

I hope the Celts make it to the Finals and I hope that Garnett, Allen and Pierce win that ring, not because Boston fans have long suffered but because these players are great and they are all great role models. 

WHAT OFFICIATING SCANDAL? QUICK WHO CAN NAME THE REF WITH THE GAMBLING PROBLEM....THE NBA SURVIVES AND THRIVES.

The 07-08 season is going to be one of the more exciting seasons in league history....

In the East the Celtics are ready to once again challenge for a berth in the finals (Hey Danny Ainge YOU NEED A POINT GUARD SON!)  and Chicago is loaded with potential and a great low post presence in Big Ben.  Cleveland didn't get Bibby and they look like they may drop by the boards this year but Detroit may have another run in the tank and I would never count out D-Wade and Shaq if the Big Diesel is healthy and properly rested during the season.  

In the West the rich keep gettiing richer as Utah, Golden State and Denver appear poised to at least challenge the Suns, Spurs, Mavs and Rockets.  Don't expect much right away from this year's rookies, with Oden out I think Horford is the guy to watch, Keven Durante is an unbelievable talent but his body needs some serious bulk if he is to make the giant steps he'll need to make to play an 80 game regular season schedule agaiinst the best athletes on the planet. 

Cleveland Rocks...Not So Much.

I think the key question is going to be whether the 4-5 year guys in LeBron, Mello and D-Wade continue their progress to become the Hall of Famers that they seem to be.   Lebron James is the best player this league has seen since Michael. He has size, speed, great touch, explosiveness and a Magic/Bird-like court sense.  He unfortunately plays for a team that cannot figure out how to get him the supporting cast.  It is a shame that someone of this caliber is on a team that could not make a deal for Mike Bibby.  The Cavs have made one fairly intelligent move in declining the option on ShannonBrown's contract...the cat can't play and Ferry knows his job and their window of opportunity with Lebron on the payroll are both disappearing.  With Drew Gooden and Ilgauskas you have two bodies and less than one heart, these are the types of players who are more than happy to allow Lebron to keep the rock, they do not play defense well and they do not play offense like they care so why are they there?  Because Cleveland needs a GM who knows talent and who would have resisted the temptation to load up a roster that would look, but not be, competitive.   Cleveland needs to either figure out a way to get Him some support or He needs to walk to a franchise run be people with some sense.   

Practice? Practice?  Are We Talking About Practice?

I heard Steven A. Smith (he is an amazing ####-one of the best) say that Denver will win the West.  After I stopped laughing it occurred to me that he is a Philly guy and must  feel somewhat foolish for all of those years of praising A.I., he is just playing his hand out right?  I mean after spending a decade predicting that the guy was going to make us forget about Michael one tends to become personallly invested in the argument.  Let's be clear, A.I. is an average player if one were to define ability by measure of winning championships or at least seriously contending for some.  Ownership in Philly made more trades and coach changes than anyone trying to find the right support for "Sir Shoot A-Lot" and then  they finally stumbled  onto the idea that Iverson just plays for Iverson.  he was nothing in college and has been an incredible bust in the NBA.  He's the World B Free of his generation, a guy with skills who just didn't have the heart it took to win.  "Practice?  Are We Talking About Practice?"  Ummm yeah, you fool, that is what that Hall of Fame World Champion Coach was talking about...seems that the great ones had a certain dedication to practice....

Here's why Denver cannot win the West....San Antonio, Phoenix, Dallas, Hosuton, Utah and Golden State are substantially better.  Mello is a gifted player who probably doesn't have the ability to carry a team deep into the playoffs and the addition of Iverson will not help and I suspect that A.I.'s good guy suit will wear off about mid year....and who plays defense on that team?  Marcus Camby is a good rebounder but Kenyon Martin and Hilario are not a tough match up for any of the West powerhouses and A.I. is older slower and he just looks smaller to me....nah, Steven A. is nuts, funny to listen to with his "he is very outstanding" ripping of the English language...no doubt too funny but dumb as a bag of pencils. 

Chicago Will Be A Force Again In The East

I am going to predict that Chicago goes deep into the Eastern Conference Playoffs this year and should legitimately challenge Detroit and Boston even when they give up the hope of getting Kobe.  Luol Deng is a great young player who will continue to develop and BIg Ben is still a force to be reckoned with.  Ben Gordon is one of the most underated guards in the game and has quietly averaged more than 27 a game, they have a solid backcourt with Hinrich at the point.  Then Chicago added Noah and I understand the book on this kid but the guy has just played well everywhere he's gone so I look for him to help a lot with his unorthodox style.  I like this team and see great things ahead...if Boston had this backcourt they legitimately look to challenge the Spurs.....

Oh Danny Boy....the Leprechan Needs A Point Guard...

I say the Celtics do not win the East unless they acquire a proven point guard and since G.M. Ainge traded everything they had to get KG I do not see them being the force that everyone is predicting them to be.  Clearly they have an amazing top three and should just blow away most of the teams in the east but come playoff time they will need a proven commodity at the point if they are to challenge for a berth in the Finals.  Rondo cannot shoot, he was a first round pick of the Suns who lost interest quickly, he has no experience and there are no facts which would suggest that he is ready to run this team...Celtics have two maybe three years...trade whatever you have left to get a real point guard and then we'lll talk.

Timmy, Timma Tim Tim Will Win It Again and It IS Time To Use The "D" Word....

The Spurs have it all, a great player in Tim Duncan and an amazing mix of youth and veteran players who know what they need to do to win.  Nobody likes the Spurs because they are free of controversy, they play and quietly beat you senseless and they do it with a consistency that is rare.  So why aren't they seen as the Dynastic team that they certainly are?  First, Tim Duncan is a humble and quiet man who just beats everyones ####.  While the various fools of the league spout off about their greatness in sneaker ads Timma just plays. Second, they play in Nowheresville USA...if San Antonio melted down into nothing it would take a year before anyone would notice.  Put this guy in LA and he'd be the greatest player of all time...put him in Boston and he'd be a God...in San Antonio they love the guy but they really are not real basketball fans....they do stupid stuff like shoot tee shirts across the arena between quarters, they have gorillas doing dunks off of springboards and they sell a lot more snowcones than Budweiser....Hey Timma, see if your owner would trade you to LA for the #### and then watch out...you'll be doing Hanes commercials just Like Mike...

Let's get this season going...oh by the way did any of you notice I didn't give that little Snowflake in Dallas any ink?  The Mavs stink and their owner and Dirk are the main reasons why...they sucketh bad....