Random Ramblings

I'm in a mood today.  A really, really foul mood. My dear friend, Christina, just had to listen (erm, read via gchat) to my no nonsense rant with my foul mood. So, since a lot of it is sports related...I am copy/pasting it for all of you to need to deal with too. Because well, Christina can't be the only one dealing with my ridiculous ramblings. So, Enjoy...and please, feel free to comment because I'm in the mood to get riled up.

Me:  While I was doing this project which is the part of my job I hate the most all I could think of was "Is Indy or is Indy NOT going to keep Peyton Manning?"

And I said I would stay an Indy fan even if they don't keep him....because I don't want to follow a player, I want to follow a team. But the more I sat there thinking about it. The more angry I was getting.

And I was like "I dont want to support a team that doesn't support their future hall of fame QB."

And I got so angry. To add to my already there anger

Christina:  HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 Me:  And then I realized - it would be stupid to stay an Indy fan if they replaced Peyton since the reason I stopped liking the Pats was because they replaced Drew Bledsoe with Tom Brady.

Christina:  LOLOLOLOLOL

Me:  And you better believe, if the Celtics get rid of Paul Pierce like the rumors are saying??? OMG.

You dont even understand the anger I'll have in me

Christina:  LOL - i can't handle you and being hungry right now

 Me:  However - I can't see myself no longer rooting for the Celtics. BUT - I will be a super angry Celtics fan

And I'm starving

Christina:  me too!

Me:  But I have left over pizza.

Christina:  haha food time

 Me:  and I'm not in the mood for pizza

So there you have it - a nice edition of #jsabeworldproblems.  And - since My world problem's have become Christina's world problems - please help me apologize to her by checking out her blog: PLUG.

An Open Letter to Danny Ainge

Yesterday, there were rumors circulating that there were teams looking to make a deal with the Celtics to acquire Paul Pierce. I'm not Pierce's biggest fan, in fact, he pisses me off. But, (and maybe it's the chick in me) I feel like trading Paul Pierce away is trading away the face of the franchise.  He's been with us for his entire career (since 1998). Granted, during that time he demanded a trade because he wanted to be on a winning team, but despite the temper tantrum, he stuck with us.

Danny Ainge sat down with the Boston Globe yesterday to comment on these rumors and he stated that if he was presented the right deal he'd totally blow up the Big 3.  You can read that article here.

This annoys the ever living crap out of me. And, I'd like to give a shout out to my good friend, Christina, the creator of the Curiosity and Two Cats blog for dealing with my rant this morning. So now, I'm going to go into my fantasy world where I pretend I know everything, and that I can run the Celtics organization better than Danny Ainge. In fact, I'm going to tell him how to run his team:

Mr. Ainge,

I am absolutely APPALLED that you would make such a statement at blowing up the Big 3 if the deal was right. First, you criticized Red Auerbach for not trading away Larry Bird or McHale.  How dare you! Red Auerbach is the best thing that ever happened to the Celtics, not even the Celtics, but the game of basketball, and for you to make such a comment is preposterous! Red Auerbach treated the Celtics organization like his family, not as a money maker. And the fact that you don't hold the team in the same regard makes me absolutely sick. Family trumps money. Hands down.

So, let me teach you a little something about family trumping money. You can't get rid of Paul Pierce. Why? Because he is our family. He is the only one that has stuck by and stayed with us through everything the last 14 years. Granted, there were times when he wanted to jump ship, but who hasn't? But he stayed. I'm sure there were plenty of opportunities for him to leave. But he didn't. For you to make a deal to get rid of him now, toward the end of his career would hurt the city of Boston more than your spectacular deal last season when you traded Perk. Yeah, that's right. We're STILL pissed about it.   Granted, I'm not Paul's biggest fan. I don't particularly like him...BUT he's a franchise player. He's almost done. Just let him ride out his career with us.  Don't be a jerk.

Next, why would you consider getting rid of Ray Allen? Yes, he's old. But guess what? He's better than half the young kids out there!! His conditioning is out of control. I read somewhere that's he's been diagnosed as OCD and it shows on the court.  He STAYS at the practice facility no matter how long it takes until he hits a certain amount of shots. He is the most dedicated player we have.  If you get rid of him - You're ridiculous.

I'll give you something though, if you want to blow up the Big 3, please feel free to get rid of Garnett.  Kevin Garnett is terrible. Like my husband says, he's the Josh Beckett of the Celtics. He's had one good season with us. That's it.  Also, he's the most hated player in the entire league.  Get him out of Boston. Fine.

Lastly, you're just NOW worrying about the future of our team? When you first acquired Ray Allen I thought "Why is he giving up a 5th round pick for Ray Allen for? Ray's getting old!" However, I quickly learned that was a good move. Especially considering we got Jeff Green back last year (but may I remind you, we lost Perk for him, and now he's doing nothing for us with his health issues this year). But, okay...good move.

But whenever you got rid of our future for Kevin Garnett, I was really baffled at that one. If you need a reminder of the bogus move you made there, here, I dug up an article for you.  You gave up 4 guys age 24 or younger.  THEY were our future.  I'm still baffled at why you did that one.

Okay, yes, we had a ring mixed in there after you made those moves. Boston finally won the Championship after years of waiting. But that's it. We got that one solid year.  If I could, I'd give up that one championship and a few more seasons of heartbreak to have the young talent we once had to mold into a dynasty and have multiple years of championships.  We can't go back and change the past to see what the future could have been for the Celtics, but I had faith in that team. And that faith is something I don't have, and never had in you. Please don't let Boston down.

Regards,
J-Sabe

Does temper tantrum equal leadership?

Yesterday, I had two topics I wanted to write about. But when my husband picked me up from work and asked if I had heard about the Rondo drama rumors going on, I decided I should probably acknowledge this first so no one claims I overlook the ridiculousness that can be a Boston sports athlete.

In summary, the Boston Herald reported that last year, between games 2-3 of the Miami Heat Playoff Series (which ended up eliminating Boston from the playoffs), there was discussion about all of Rondo's errors. Mr. Rondo, apparently, does not take constructive criticism well and he began to rip apart his teammates flaws. 

Doc Rivers then tells Rondo to simmer down (I'm sure I'm making the entire altercation sound much more fairy tale than it really was), Rondo threw something at the TV, shattering it before leaving the facility and not being allowed back in later.

I was PISSED when I heard all of this information from Mr. Sabe. Rondo, you're 25 freaking years old - grow up. No one plays a perfect game, there is always room for improvement. I get it, we're all human, we don't like being told that we suck - but man up dude and take responsibilties for your actions.

When I got home, I decided to do some more research on this topic. I was shocked to see that most articles were giving Rondo a pat on the back and saying he was showing signs of great leadership abilities? Uh....what? Did I miss something?  I mean, maybe it's the lack of testosterone running through my veins but I don't see the leadership abilities in a temper tantrum. 

I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I love Rondo. I do, but I don't see him as a leader. He has a few redeeming qualities that allows me to see that there is potential for him to become a leader, but I think he has a few years before I trust him to take over as the Celtics number one guy. 

His leadership potential qualities include (without doing tons of research to get stats and using my own personal opinions):

• The ridiculous amount of assists he has,
• The steals he has,
• Playing with a dislocated elbow (I should note, that this happened during game 3 of the Heat Series), and
• just being Rondo.

The reasons I don't think he has the ability to take over the team:

• his decrease in numbers after the Kendrick Perkins trade (I get it, it sucks, but you're getting paid big bucks to play a game, play the damn game!),
• pulling a temper tantrum when your coach tells you you need to work on something,
• not only pulling that temper tantrum but picking apart your teammates flaws when the topic of discussion was your flaws,
• lack of points (granted, he's a point guard, his main goal is to find the play and to get the ball to the appropriate player for the points, but once our shooters are gone, we need him to take the reins), and
• just being Rondo.

Putting "just being Rondo" in both categories reminds me of Manny Ramierez and "Manny being Manny". Seriously, people? These players need to act like adults. If I my boss was to hand me a document that I  worked hard on with red marks all over it and I started pointing out the awful work my co-workers did -- my boss would tell me it was time to look for a new job.

However, people seem to think Rondo's temper tantrum shows his "heart" and "how much he cares." The Bleacher Report said, "you have to love the fire from Rondo. You have to love that he cared that much." 

I don't agree. A true leader looks over the footage and says "yeah, I have some work to do. I'll correct it for the next game, Coach." A true leader does not throw his teammates under the bus. A true leader understand that unfortunately, this isn't a church basketball league and sometimes your best friend will be traded and you'll have to play against him, not with him.

I love you, Rondo, but c'mon, guy. Prove to me that you can take over this team.

What do you think? Do you think Rondo shows leadership potential? What do you consider a leader on the court/field/ice?