This Week in Buffy History: May 26-June 1

May 26
1923 - Roy Dotrice born (played Roger Wyndam-Pryce on Angel Episode 5.07, “Lineage”)

May 28
1970 - Glenn Quinn born (played Doyle on Angel)
1982 - Alexa Davalos born (played Gwen Raiden on Angel)

May 30
1951 - Stephen Tobolowsky born (played Principal Flutie in the unaired pilot of Buffy)
1979 - Jenny Mollen born (played Nina Ash on Angel)

May 31
1974 - Ara Celi born (played Ampata Gutierrez on Episode 2.04, “Inca Mummy Girl”)

Adam Reisinger 1, Jonathan Papelbon 0

Look, I write way too often about my MLB ’08 characters, and I’m going to try and stop that. You don’t need all the details on every 1-for-3 with an RBI game that I have.

However, this was much more huge (huger?) than that.

Lemme set the stage for you:

Shea Stadium, Mets vs Braves, bottom of the ninth, Atlanta leading 4-2. With runners on second and third, catcher Adam Reisinger steps to the plate as a pinch hitter. Before he does, Willie Randolph implores him to drive in the runs, and tie this game up.

Reisinger has something else in mind.

Stepping in against Braves closer Jonathan Papelbon, Reisinger wants to erase years of bad Mets-Braves memories with one swing.

And he does just that!

Check out the video, and enjoy my destruction of The Papelbon.

The NBA: Where me kicking ass at predictions happens

Look, I know my regular-season predictions blew chunks. But it’s the playoffs now, and I’m just rolling. I got all 4 second-round series right, and nailed 2 of them in terms of exactly number of games.

So, looking at the famous TrueHoop Stat Geek Smackdown, I’m doing pretty damn well

STAT GEEK SMACKDOWN + ADAM

                1st RD   CLE-BOS   ORL-DET   UTA-LAL   SA-NO   DET-BOS   SA-LAL   TOTAL

John Hollinger    32        5        5          7        0        X        X       49  

Mike Kurylo       35        5        5          5        5        X        X       55

Kevin Pelton      32        5        5          7        5        X        X       49

Jeff Ma           36        5        5          0        5        X        X       51

Stphen Ilardi     39        7        5          5        5        X        X       61

Justin Kubatko    44        5        7          5        0        X        X       61

Henry’s Mom       32        0        5          0        0        X        X       37

ADAM REISINGER    36        5        7          7        5        X        X       60

That’s right, I’m in third place, exactly 1 point behind the leaders. If I’d just had more faith in my Cavs, and picked them to lose in 7, instead of 5, I’d be winning right now. Of course, since I’m not officially in the contest, I don’t win anything, but I would at least challenge Henry to allow me into the contest officially next year.

As for my conference finals picks:

Pistons-Celtics

I keep wavering on this one. Part of me feels like the Celtics, coming off two 7-game series, can’t possibly win this one. Then again, Part of me just feels like they’re the better team. So, um, let’s go with this:

Pistons in 6

- They’re better equipped to win a road game (they’ve won 3 already this postseason), and I can’t see the Celtics breaking through on the road when facing elimination.

Spurs-Lakers

No wavering on this one.

Lakers in 5

- These two teams are SO close, and when in doubt, go with the team with the best player -- that guy is Kobe Bryant. Kobe didn’t get the Lakers this close only to lose. Plus, Derek Fisher can semi-handle Tony Parker, and Pau Gasol will give Tim Duncan fits on both ends of the court.

This Week in Buffy History: May 19-25

May 19
1997 - Episode 1.11 “Out of Mind, Out of Sight” airs on The WB
1998 - Episode 2.22 “Becoming, Part 2” airs on The WB
2004 - Angel Episode 5.22 “Not Fade Away” airs on The WB

May 20
1956 - Dean Butler born (played Hank Summers)
2002 - Angel Episode 3.22 “Tomorrow” airs on The WB
2003 - Episode 7.22 “Chosen” airs on UPN

May 21
2002 - Episode 6.21 “Two to Go” airs on UPN
2002 - Episode 6.22 “Grave” airs on UPN

May 22
1974 - Sean Gunn born (played Lucas on Angel Episode 1.09 “Hero”)
2001 - Episode 5.22 “The Gift” airs on The WB
2001 - Angel Episode 2.22 “There’s No Place Like Plrtz Glrb” airs on The WB

May 23
1971 - Laurel Holloman born (played Justine on Angel)
2000 - Episode 4.22 “Restless” airs on The WB
2000 - Angel Episode 1.22 “To Shanshu in LA” airs on The WB

May 24
1984 - Sarah Hagan born (played Amanda in Season 7)

Happy Birthday to Me!

It was at this exact minute (11:27 p.m.) 28 years ago that I was born in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Seems like a long time ago, right? The Lakers and Celtics were the top seeds in the NBA playoffs. The Knicks were a terrible team. The Mets were struggling, while the Athletics and White Sox were near the top of the AL. The presidential race was in full swing, there was unrest in the Middle East, and controversy over the Olympics.

Wait... was I describing 1980 or 2008? Cause, um, they seem pretty damn similar from that description. Whoops.

OK, still, though 1980 actually WAS a long time ago -- enough time for me to gain lots and lots of weight, some of which has come off, and more will come off in the next year, making this potentially my best year yet.

As for my actual birthday, well, that hasn’t been the best. I didn’t get to see my family at all today, and this was the first birthday I’ve had to experience since the passing of my grandmother. We hadn’t talked or seen each other much in recent years, but she always took the time to call me and send me a card on my birthday. It’s definitely something I missed today.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

• It’s the last day of “60 in 60”. Will I get the final posts in (this is #59)? Who knows? I guess you’ll just have to keep checking all day to find out (but, um, you can probably skip checking from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m., when I’ll be out of the house, with that whole work thing).

• That picture is of my nephew Eli and his Iron Man action figure (that I got for him, because I’m the most awesome uncle ever). Right now he’s scared of the sounds it makes, but he also smiles whenever Iron Man is mentioned, so clearly he’s being raised somewhat right (he also likes Spider-Man, so good job Marcy).

• I feel the need to clarify something from yesterday’s Cavs post -- I WANT them to win. I’m hopeful that they’ll win. I just feel like the Celtics are near-unbeatable at home, especially in a Game 7 scenario. Then again, this LeBron kid is pretty good, and capable of doing some special things.

• FYI, I’ve got a 2-week vacation coming up this summer and what I’d planned for it is now not going to happen, so I’m open to any vacation suggestions that don’t involve either of the following: 1) having a passport, 2) spending lots of money. So shoot me your suggestions. Otherwise, I’ll be spending 2 weeks playing video games, and that’s probably not good for me.

• I posted my two main comic reviews yesterday, but I do have some thoughts on some other series I’m reading. Amazing Spider-Man is starting to bore me. I really need MJ back (she’s the only reason I ever got into it). The new Hulk series is incredibly well drawn and written, but I’m just not sure where the story is going exactly. And the most recent 3-part Serenity series wrapped up this week, but I still haven’t gotten to the shop to pick up that issue. I’ll try to do that Sunday.

On the Edge of Seven(teen)

They might not be just like the white-winged dove, but the Cavaliers are alive, and on the edge of Game 7.

LeBron James still doesn’t seem to have his shooting touch, but he did manage to score 32 points to go along with his 12 rebounds and 6 assists, giving the Cavs a HUGE win, and keeping the Celtics winless on the road this postseason.

Now, Game 7 is set for Sunday, and part of me really wants to go. How often do you get to see your favorite team play a Game 7 in person? However, I’d rather not see them lose, in Boston, again, and that seems to be the most likely scenario (while I am a huge LeBron apologist, and a Cavs fan by proxy, I am also a realist). So instead I’ll be watching on TV -- probably in seclusion from people for as much of the game as possible.

For some reason, there are no NBA games on Saturday, and the Western Conference Game 7 schedule isn’t until Monday, which means the Cavs and Celtics will be the next game played, which means it’ll get lots of love on Saturday.

That also means this incredibly cool fact will get mentioned over and over again -- the only other time these two teams played a Game 7 was EXACTLY 12 years ago Saturday. May 17, 1992 -- Cleveland beat Boston in what would turn out to be Larry Bird’s final NBA game. Not bad, Cavaliers, not bad at all.

Angel: After the Fall, Issue 7 Review

OK, rule #1 of Comics. If you’re going to have an episodic mini-series focusing on individual characters and their flashback experiences, the cover characters should reflect the characters USED IN THE ISSUE!

So don’t be deceived by the image over there on the side. This issue has no Gwen story, and, more importantly, no Gunn story.

The Wesley story is very good. It still leaves too many questions unanswered, but it’s not altogether unsatisfying. We get to see Wes and Fred together again, only it’s not Wes and Fred, really. It’s a W&H representative, proving that Wes never really got out of his contract with them (a very interesting twist, now that he’s in the same situation that he tried to get Lilah out of).

As for the other story, it has some Connor in it (which I didn’t need, since his story was solidly covered in the first issue), but then Kate Lockley arrives, which was completely useless. First off, Connor could have taken care of things himself. Secondly, I didn’t like Kate when she was on the show, and hadn’t thought about her at all since she left. So why the fuck should I care about her now? Oh, that’s right, I don’t.

So this issue, in total, was a wash. The Wesley part was good, but didn’t really advance anything. The Kate part, again, was useless. We do see that Gunn’s vampire crew is training using captured slayers, potentially setting up a Buffy-Angel crossover, but that’s too brief to have an impact on what is overall a very disappointing misstep from the After the Fall series.

Buffy: Season 8, Issue 14 Review

Since Season 5 or so, “Buffy” has been at its best dealing with deaths of an important character in a poignant manner. Though issue 5 of this series featured some of that, the Buffy look-a-like was someone we’d never met before, and had no attachment to.

That’s not the case in this issue, where Xander’s new girlfriend is shockingly killed off in the final splash page, the surprising end to a very good issue.

This issue sees Buffy and her crew take on the Japanese shape-shifting vampires. I find it interesting that on some level, Buffy still hasn’t learned her lesson from the failed Vinyard assault in Season 7, but then again, she seemed to be under the impression that her team was more prepared here.

As much as I know “Buffy” can be great when dealing with death (or, in the case of Season 5’s “Weight of the World”, seemingly inevitable death), I hope the next few issues don’t focus too much on Buffy’s post-failure guilt. I would like to see some serious emotion from Xander -- i.e. post-Anya breakup in Season 6 -- since in the last few issues, including this one, he’s been used mostly for comic relief.

A couple other small complaints about this issue. I understand the importance of having Giant Dawn in a battle like this, but at this point we’re past the one year mark in this series, and she’s still giant. Can’t we fix that yet?

Also, shouldn’t Willow have been using her powers to detect a trap BEFORE they walked into?

Still, this is overall a good issue. Buffy’s burning of the captured vampire, with the “this is war” line, is exactly how I remember her from Season 7 (at least, before the whole disaster at the vinyard and subsequent pity party), which is something I felt was missing from this series.

This issue starts to pay off on the potential from part 2, but there’s still much to be tapped, which has me excited for part 4.

Who's the next female athlete to retire?

So in the past 24 hours, both Annika Sorenstam (arguably the greatest female golfer of all-time) and Justine Henin (the current No. 1 ranked tennis player) have announced their retirements. Sorenstam will finish out the season and Henin is done right now (though, honestly, at just 25 years old, she’ll probably pull a Jordan and unretire multiple times).

But, if female athlete retirements are anything like celebrity deaths, then I’d assume they come in threes, and that means we’re due for one more. So who’s next? Let’s set some odds.

- Danica Patrick, IndyCar driver
I wish. She finally won a race this year, and is driving better than ever. Not a chance.
Odds: 100-1

- Lisa Leslie, WNBA center
Leslie sat out all of last season with her pregnancy, and is getting up there in age. However, she now has a fancy new teammate in the form of Candace Parker, making it unlikely that she’d call it quits when she’s potentially leading a title contender.
Odds: 25-1

- Jennie Finch, softball pitcher
Finch is still young, and the face of her sport, but after 2008, softball will no longer be an Olympic sport. Finch also has a lot going on outside the world of softball. I wouldn’t put it past her to make a Sorenstam-like announcement that she’s done after the Olympics.
Odds: 9-1

- Venus Williams, tennis player
Why Venus and not Serena? Well, Venus is older, and hasn’t shown quite the same ability to bounce back from long off periods the way Serena has. This wouldn’t surprise me at all.
Odds: 2-1

- Leila Ali, boxer
First off, she hasn’t fought since February of 2007. She’s pregnant with a baby that’s due this fall. And she’s got her American Gladiators gig. All that’s left for her is to make it official.
Odds: 1-3

The NBA: Where THIS Happens

That’s right. That just happened.

LeBron James shaking Paul Pierce and James Posey, then dunking over Kevin Garnett, even as Garnett tries to shove him.

That’s the Defensive Player of the Year, getting posterized by the greatest player in the NBA. I’ve got nothing more to say. Just watch the video and enjoy.

This Week in Buffy History: May 12-18

May 12
1948 - Lindsay Crouse born (played Professor Maggie Walsh in Season 4)
1997 - Episode 1.10 “Nightmares” airs on The WB
1998 - Episode 2.21 “Becoming (Part 1)” airs on The WB
2004 - Angel Episode 5.21 “Power Play” airs on The WB

May 13
2002 - Angel Episode 3.21 “Benediction” airs on The WB
2003 - Episode 7.21 “End of Days” airs on UPN

May 14
1983 - Amber Tamblyn born (played Janice on Episode 6.06 “All the Way”)
2002 - Episode 6.20 “Villains” airs on UPN

May 15
1982 - Alex Breckenridge born (played Kit Holburn on Episode 7.01 “Lessons”)
2001 - Episode 5.21 “The Weight of the World” airs on The WB
2001 - Angel Episode 2.21 “Through the Looking Glass” airs on The WB

May 16
1969 - David Boreanaz born (played Angel/Angelus/Liam)
2000 - Episode 4.21 “Primeval” airs on The WB
2000 - Angel Episode 4.21 “Blind Date” airs on The WB

May 18
1999 - Episode 3.21 “Graduation Day, Part 1” airs on The WB

Sunday Morning Ramblings

• It’s been a long time since I’ve had an edition of the ramblings, but when you’re doing 60 posts in 60 days, even the most rambling idea gets its own post.

• Last night’s Cavs game was almost everything I wanted to see from them in the playoffs. Unfortunately, there’s still the problem involving LeBrick James not being able to hit the ocean from the side of the Lost Freighter. MUCH more detail on this coming later today.


• Speaking of “Lost”, the show is incredible, and this season has been nothing short of remarkable. The last episode was great, and completely established everything that’s going to go down in the season finale. Here’s some theories I sent to a work buddy of mine, after watching this episode:

-Claire IS dead (I said that after last episode, now I’m 100% sure)
-Hurley is still VERY important to the cabin search/island mysteries (he’s the one who actually spotted the cabin in this episode -- not Locke or Ben)
-5-year-old Locke was supposed to take the compass, sand and BOOK OF LAWS, not the knife, and not the comic as many people guess (FYI, the comic has two text boxes, one refers specifically to the island, and the other refers to Jacob)
-There’s a theory floating around the blogosphere (as the cool kids say) that Abbadon is actually Walt, in some kind of time-flux. I’m not sure I buy that, but it was VERY interesting that Abbadon kept calling him “Mr. Locke” in the hospital, just like Walt did.

• I started a new MLB ’08 Road to the Show career. I’ve still got my Mets catcher going (now in late June of 2011), but I’ve also got a Yankees relief pitcher. I started this guy at 18 years old, so hopefully by the time he’s 20, he’ll be in the majors and Mariano Rivera will be retired, opening up the closer’s spot for me.

• One last thing, but it’s the most important thing of the day: Happy Mother’s Day!

Cavs-Celtics Game 2

So I got to go to a Cavaliers playoff game for the first time -- Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals in Boston. It’s the 4th Cavs game I’ve ever attended, and a pattern is developing:

Cavaliers with Adam in Attendance

In Boston In Cleveland

Cavs W-L 0-2 2-0

Cavs PPG 71.5 93.5

LeBron Pts 21<< 67

>>Missed one game

Basically, as long as I avoid Boston, I’m good. The same could be said for LeBron, who has been good against the Celtics in Cleveland, but missed one game in Boston, and has been pretty bad in the other three.

Strangely, though, I wasn’t all that disappointed with this game. Maybe it’s because I expect the Cavaliers to lose this series in 5 games anyway, or maybe it’s because I was at an NBA playoff game for the first time. I did enjoy myself for most of the night, though the 3rd quarter (aka the Cavs’ kryptonite) was pretty rough.

We talkin bout practice

I can’t believe I missed this, but Wednesday was the 6th anniversary of the greatest press conference in sports history.

On May 7, 2002, Allen Iverson said the word “practice” -- and other forms, such as “practices” or “practicing” -- 26 times in a single press conference. I was watching this live on TNT at a friend’s house back in college, and we were just cracking up as it happened. Thanks to CNN/SI, the transcript is still available, and thanks to the magic of YouTube, we can watch this whenever we want.

Historic MLB '08 Streak Ends

**Another in my continuing series of “if only things that happened in MLB ’08 were real...”**

NEW YORK, April 6, 2011 -- Years from now, people will scan the box score from this routine Mets loss to the Braves, and be unable to pick out the historic event. Some people may be struggling to do that right now. But look up and down the Mets lineup, and you’ll come across this line:

Reisinger, C        2    1    0    1

That’s 2 at-bats, 1 run scored, 1 RBI, and -- most importantly -- 0 hits. And with that (“that” being a fly out, a hit-by-pitch, a sac fly, and a 4-3 groundout), the greatest streak in MLB history has come to an end.

“It had to end eventually,” said Mets second-year catcher Adam Reisinger. “It wasn’t like I was going to end my career on a 15-hundred game hit streak or something.”

At one point though, it certainly seemed possible. When Reisinger reached 40 games last summer, the media crush was tremendous. When he tied Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game streak, even the road crowd in Cincinnati gave him a standing ovation. And when he passed DiMaggio two days later in Wrigley Field, the stadium erupted as if they’d won the World Series (something the Cubs still haven’t done in more than a century).

Eventually the streak stretched to 78 games to end the 2010 season. Then, without warning, the Cubs released their rookie sensation.

“They wanted me to come to spring training and compete for a job,” explained Reisinger during the offseason.

With former all-star Victor Martinez and former PCL MVP Geovany Soto also on the roster, there was a log-jam behind the plate in Chicago. And with Derrek Lee at 1st, moving Reisinger was out of the question -- unless it was a move to Iowa, and back to Triple-A.

“I told them I wouldn’t report to Iowa, so they gave me two options,” Reisinger said. “They said I could come to spring training and compete for a job, or they’d release me and I’d be free to sign anywhere.”

Reisinger and his agent agreed that with Chicago having so much money invested in Martinez and Soto, there was little chance at the 24-year-old earning a fair shot at a job. So on November 14, 2010, the NL Rookie of the Year, the man with the 78-game hit streak, was out of a job.

Quickly, the New York Mets, the team that originally signed Reisinger out of Towson University, stepped in.

“I never wanted to trade the kid in the first place,” said Mets manager Willie Randolph. “But when he became available, I told Omar [Minaya, the Mets GM] to make him our top offseason priority.”

Reisinger had a standout spring training with New York, and hit safely in the first two games of 2011, before finally taking an 0-fer. Still, his manager had nothing but praise for his young catcher.

“Here’s a kid who’s working on the greatest streak of all-time, and he still finds a way to just do his job,” Randolph said. “We only score 2 runs, and he scores one of them a drives in the other. That’s the sign of a true big leaguer.”

As for how he’ll commemorate the streak, Reisinger has an idea.

“Maybe I’ll wear number 80 next season,” said the catcher, who was forced to change from number 33 to 36 this season with New York -- and has worn 7 different numbers in his 4-year professional career. “Maybe then I won’t have to change it anymore.”

This Week in Buffy History: May 5-11

May 5
1926 - John O’Leary born (played a watcher in Episode 5.12 “Checkpoint”)
1979 - Vincent Kartheiser born (played Connor)
1997 - Episode 1.9 “The Puppet Show” airs on The WB
1998 - Episode 2.20 “Go Fish” airs on The WB
2004 - Angel Episode 5.20 “The Girl in Question” airs on The WB

May 6
2002 - Angel Episode 3.20 “A New World” airs on The WB
2003 - Episode 7.20 “Touched” airs on UPN

May 7
2002 - Episode 6.19 “Seeing Red” airs on UPN
2003 - Angel Episode 4.22 “Home” airs on The WB

May 8
2001 - Episode 5.20 “Spiral” airs on The WB
2001 - Angel Episode 2.20 “Over the Rainbow” airs on The WB

May 9
2000 - Episode 4.20 “The Yoko Factor” airs on The WB
2000 - Angel Episode 1.20 “War Zone” airs on The WB

May 10
1954 - Michael G. Hagerty born (played bartender on Angel Episode 2.13 “Happy Anniversary”

May 11
1975 - Riff Regan born (played Willow in unaired pilot episode)
1999 - Episode 3.20 “The Prom” airs on The WB

Celtics-Hawks Game 7 LiveBlog

It’s the only Game 7 of the first round, and it’s in the series everyone expected would end in 4 games. So it’s time for another AdamReisinger.com LiveBlog!

FOURTH QUARTER
-Let’s see: the Big Three is on the bench, the Hawks look like the 37-win team they are, the fans are chanting “it’s all over”, and the Cavs are just chillin’, waiting for Game 1 on Tuesday.
-Look, if THIS Celtics team shows up again the Cavs, they’ll win that series in 5 games. But this is the ONLY time we’ve seen this Celtics team in this series.
-OK, but Van Gundy is now saying that the Cavs can steal Game 1, which makes me think they can’t. I don’t trust Van Gundy’s prediction record (then again, my prediction record is nothing to be proud of either).
-I’m bored with this game. And the T-Mobile Barkley/Wade commercials. Now that Wade’s in Chuck’s 5, they’re just boring.
-I do love this LeBron VitaminWater commercial, even if the product is total crap.
-Hey, an Iron Man commercial. If you weren’t aware, I think that movie’s pretty solid.
-And here come the jokes about the Hawks looking “lost” after a “Lost” promo. That was pretty damn predictable.
-Breen reminds us that they’re not allowed to go to running time. Van Gundy says this should fall under a mercy rule. And the Celtics bench is laughing because Big Baby just took a three. That’s what this game has come to.
-Salim Stoudamire just hit a three to “cut” the lead to 35- points. Where’s the Rock-n-Jock 25-point basket when you need it?
-Salim Stoudamire is getting his garbage time points, whether you like it or not.
-Holy crap, Big Baby just THREW IT DOWN! Where’s Bill Walton when you need him? THROW IT DOWN, BIG MAN!
-Ya know how Mike Woodson’s job was safe after game six? This crap fest might make it un-safe.
-The Celtics should just throw up halfcourt shots for the last minute and a half and see what happens. Oh, and nice job by ABC dropping a little “Midnight Train to Georgia” on us there.
-Finally, this is officially over. The city of Atlanta hasn’t suffered a loss this bad since General Sherman ran through the city un-checked. Celtics 99, Hawks 65. See you Tuesday in Boston for Game 1.

THIRD QUARTER
-The Hawks needed a nice run to start the 2nd half, and instead, the Celtics have opened up a 23-point lead. This is beyond over.
-Atlanta’s execution? I’m in favor of it. That’s an old line from the Bucs first coach, but it applies here.
-Well, Marvin Williams showed some signs of life, with a nice follow (after he missed the first follow).
-And now Marvin Williams showed signs of being DeShawn Stevenson. He clothes-lined Rajon Rondo on a fast break, and now he’s getting tossed. Peace out, Marvin. Peace out, Hawks (FYI, Doc Rivers needs to make sure no one on his team retaliates and gets fucked for the 2nd round).
-Whoops - Posey stepped on the floor. Altercation or no? Breen says no. Van Gundy says he shouldn’t be suspended anyway. I agree.
-Ray Allen’s 3-pointer turns this into a 28-point game, and we’ve got a Mavs-Rockets scenario on our hands.
-Via the sideline report, Marvin Williams tells Tafoya he wasn’t trying to commit a flagrant foul. What the hell was he going to say? “Yeah, I wanted to knock his block off, because we’re getting ass-fucked in this one. Peace out, BITCHES!” Actually, that would have been cool.
-It’s 60-30! Holy fuck. Has any arena ever played “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” in the 3rd quarter?
-That Kevin Garnett dunk was the dagger there (and yes, you can have a dagger up by 32 points). The rest of this liveblog is just a formality (actually, it’s been that was since midway through the 2nd quarter).
-Hey, a McDonalds commercial about working there. Is that a hint to Mike Woodson?
-Breen just asked “it’s a 36-point game. At what point does Doc Rivers take out his guys?” Van Gundy deadpanned, “halftime.”
-OK. The actual answer is NOW. Garnett just committed a stupid hard foul, and could have put his status for Game 1 against the Cavs at risk. Fortunately, nothing happened. And sorry Jax, but that’s a dirty play. He put his shoulder into Pachulia’s chin. That’s dicey.
-Mark Jackson is trying to claim his middle name is “Action”. This, by the way, is more interesting than anything else that’s happened in the last 10 minutes, save for the Garnett foul.
-And at the end of the 3rd quarter, it’s Celtics 79, Hawks 43. U-G-L-Y, Hawks ain’t got no alibi, they ugly!

SECOND QUARTER
-OK, with the lineup the Celtics are throwing out there (Cassell, Pierce, Posey, Powe, Brown), the Hawks should be able to make a run. The only person they really have to shut down is Pierce.
-Problem: to make a run, the Hawks have to DO SOMETHING on offense. They can’t do shit.
-And now they’re letting Sam Cassell, who was a savvy vet the last time the Hawks made the playoffs (back in ’99!), beat them. What the crap?!
-93-year-old P.J. Brown (at least, I assume why he wears #93), just blocked a shot.
-And after the under-9 timeout, P.J. Brown has blocked another shot.
-OK, Leon Powe is killing the Hawks on the board. Look, if you can’t make a dent against the B-squad, you’re not gonna beat the Boston Three Party (thanks Scott Van Pelt!).
-KG is back in, and this could get ugly real fast.
-Hey, look, Marvin Williams can still jump! Too bad he can’t actually make the follow and then only hits one of two free throws.
-Ya know, the best thing for the Hawks, from a defensive standpoint, would be if Sam Cassell decided he wanted to go one-on-one every possession.
-Of course, defensive standpoints won’t matter if they can’t MAKE A FREAKIN’ BASKET!
-Nice J by Marvin Williams. The only problem is the Hawks still aren’t getting to the basket and it shows in the free throw differential. Also, Kevin Garnett is still good. A bucket and block.
-Attention Boston Police Department, we have a missing persons report: if you’ve seen Josh Smith, please return him to the TD Banknorth Garden immediately.
-Zaza Pachulia continues his quest to commit more fouls than minutes played. Right now he’s got 3 fouls in 6 minutes, so its gonna be tough, but I think he can do it.
-Kevin Garnett continues to abuse Josh Smith like OJ on a white woman (what, inappropriate? Trust me, you wouldn’t think so if you were watching this go down).
-Mike Breen even just said, after a Josh Smith airball, “Josh Smith is lost.” Two things: 1) see, my missing persons report was right. 2) I’m stunned that didn’t turn into a promo for “Lost.” As in, “Josh Smith is lost. And speaking of ‘Lost’, there’s a new episode on Thursday that will blow you away. Just like the Celtics are blowing away the Hawks.”
-Somehow the Hawks have been worse in the 2nd quarter than in the 1st. There’s 1 minute left in the half, and they’ve got 26 points. TWENTY SIX! What the fuck?! Dominique Wilkins would be rolling over in his grave if he were dead (and the way the Hawks are playing today he might die).
-OK, Jeff Van Gundy is shitting on the entire history of Celtics basketball, naming his Fave 5 Celtics. Cowens, Bird, Jo-Jo White, Havlicek and Heinson. Holy crap. Red Auerbach did just roll over in his grave. And then dug his way out and choked Van Gundy with his cigar.
-OK, Joe Johnson finished building the Hawks new brick apartment complex and Atlanta is down 18 points at halftime. It might take Atlanta the entire second half to score 18 points. This game is over. OVER. But I’ll still be back for the second half.

FIRST QUARTER
-FYI, the Celtics have lost 2 straight Game 7s and the Hawks have lost 5 straight. Of course, that information isn’t really pertinent to these teams, since the players involved in this one weren’t really involved in those.
-Marvin Williams and Paul Pierce are both playing. Not that there was any doubt, but both teams started throwing up smokescreens yesterday.
-The Hawks get off to a 3-0 lead... Boston is DONE! (actually, probably not)
-So after that 3-0 “run” to start the game, Boston has scored the last 6 points, thanks to 4 misses and a turnover by the Hawks.
-At the first timeout (7-minute mark) the Celtics are up 10-5, and the Hawks look VERY tight.
-Atlanta cuts it to 2 within a couple possessions after the timeout, but again the Celtics respond, stretching it back to 8 before Atlanta calls another timeout.
-Apparently Mike Woodson has been trying to get his team to relax... now, that might seem counter to the style they played in Atlanta, but there’s a difference between good energy (feeding off the crowd in the ATL) and nervous energy. Right now the Hawks are playing with VERY nervous energy.
-At the under 3-minute timeout, the Celtics are up 20-10 and have possession. Atlanta is shooting 22% (4-of-18) with Josh Smith (1-of-5) leading the brick show. He HAS to play better if the Hawks are going to have a chance.
-That was a big three by Joe Johnson. It only cuts the lead to 7, but it’s the first important shot the Hawks have hit today.
-And after Kendrick Perkins responds with his 8th point of the quarter (what?!), Joe Johnson hits ANOTHER 3... there we go Joe.
-WOW, huge block by Perkins, who’s playing out of his mind so far.
-Big 3 by Pierce, and the Celtics have their biggest lead of the quarter. The Hawks need to get this under 10 before the 2nd quarter.
-That was an ugly shot by Johnson, thanks in part to tremendous defense on the switch by... Kendrick Perkins! He finishes the quarter with 8 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks, and millions of stunned fans who didn’t think he was capable of doing this in a video game, much less in real life.

My Early Thoughts on Iron Man

I’m not gonna write too much on this, since PooZ and I are going to try and have a very extensive Podcast at some point very soon. However, this has to be said: “Iron Man” met and exceeded every expectation I had for the movie.

Every single part of the movie is fantastic. I saw it in stunning DLP the night it opened (12:01 a.m. on Thursday night/Friday morning). When we got out of the theater at 2:30 and I realized I had to be back at work at 10:00 a.m. (with a 35-minute drive home still staring me in the face) I didn’t even care. Hell, if the theater had a 2:30 a.m. showing, I might have turned around and watched it again right then.

As it was, I settled for waiting until Saturday afternoon to watch it again, and it completely holds up upon second viewing. It’s still just as exciting every time. I plan on seeing it at least once more in theaters.

Oh, and if you haven’t heard this yet, STAY UNTIL AFTER THE CREDITS. Yes, they’re long (about 8 minutes, I timed them yesterday) but it’s TOTALLY worth it.

More NBA Playoff Predictions

Looking back, my preseason NBA Playoff predictions were an utter disaster. However, my predictions just before the start of the playoffs were pretty damn good. I picked the correct winner in 5 of the 7 completed first round series so far, and nailed the number of games in three of them.

If you’re a TrueHoop reader, you know about the Stat Geek Smackdown. Well, using the scoring system for that with my picks, I’d be tied for 3rd place. Just check out this chart:

STAT GEEK SMACKDOWN + ADAM
ATL-BOS PHI-DET TOR-ORL WSH-CLE DEN-LA DAL-NO PHX-SA HOU-UTAH TOTAL
John Hollinger x 5 5 0 5 5 0 7 27
Mike Kurylo x 5 5 5 5 5 5 0 30
Kevin Pelton x 5 5 0 5 5 0 7 27
Jeff Ma x 7 7 0 5 0 5 7 31
Stphen Ilardi x 5 7 5 7 5 0 5 34
Justin Kubatko x 5 7 5 5 5 5 7 39
Henry’s Mom x 5 5 5 5 7 0 0 27
ADAM REISINGER x 5 7 7 7 0 0 5 31

It’s worth noting that none of the experts had more than 3 series with winner and game, so I’m as good an anyone else there. As for the two people ahead of me, Stephen Ilardi, according to TrueHoop, is a former consultant to the Kansas men’s basketball team and an expert on adjusted plus/minus. Justin Kubatko is the founder of Basketball-Reference.com (one of my favorite sites on the Web). The guy I’m tied with, Jeff Ma, is the real person who wrote “Bringing Down the House”, on which the movie “21” was based. And yes, I do take an unusual amount of pride in matching the score of an MIT-educated card-counting super-genius.

That brings me to my second round picks. I can’t pick the Cavs series yet, because the Celtics are in the most improbable Game 7 in years. As for the other series:

Magic-Pistons (Pistons in 5)
- I picked this as Detroit in 5 before the postseason started, so I guess I should stick with that. My heart now tells me Magic in 6, but, honestly, the Pistons look like they have it together now, and the Magic are a better matchup for them than the 76ers were.

Jazz-Lakers (Lakers in 6)
- Again, I’m going to stick with my pre-playoffs pick, even though I’m leaning more toward Lakers in 5. Los Angeles looks really good so far, while Utah, even though they won in 6, struggled to score against the Rockets, and outscored them by just 9 points for the entire series.

Spurs-Hornets (Spurs in 6)
- I had both these teams losing in the first round, so I’m not sure I should be allowed to comment on this one. Still, here’s how I see this playing out: Spurs steal 1 of 2 in New Orleans (probably Game 2 -- the Hornets will be really fired up for Game 1), then win both in San Antonio. The Hornets salvage Game 5 back in New Orleans, but the Spurs take care of business at home in Game 6. Spurs-Lakers West Final. Good times.

IRON MAN!

It comes out tonight, and I’ve already got my ticket for the DLP showing in Plainville. I could not be more excited about this movie. I’m pretty sure I could star in a movie about me written by me, and I wouldn’t be as excited to see that as I am for Iron Man!

Seriously, Iron Man!

If you’re not excited, well, you’re probably dead, and you should get that checked out. But if you need more reason for excitement, just watch this trailer.