A good substitute - for now

AP Photo
Well, we won't have a pennant raising at Fenway in the spring of 2009. Tonight, we got a nice substitute. The raising of the Celtics' 17th Championship Banner at the Garden. A lovely salute to that team, and it's appropriate that the key emotional moment was provided by team captain Paul Pierce. His tears of joy reflected his long years of waiting for a decent team to play with, waiting for the Celtics to recapture the magic of the 1980s.

And now the road to a repeat begins!

KG comes to Boston

One of the games I attended this summer happened to take place the same day Kevin Garnett's trade to the Celtics was finalized. That evening, after making the rounds of the Boston press outlets, KG threw out the first pitch at the Red Sox-Orioles game. Playing catcher? David Ortiz, a former member of a Minnesota team who found fame, adoration and playoff success in Boston. Looks like KG is following right in Big Papi's footsteps!

Good Times in Bean Town

What a fantastic weekend to be a sports fan in Boston! First, the Bruins won game six of their playoff series with the Canadiens, 5-4. A very exciting 3rd period in which the lead changed hands several times. Now they're back to Montreal tonight for the seventh and deciding game. A great comeback - they lost the first three games in their best of seven series.Photo by Barry Chin

Then, the Celtics won the first game in their playoff series with the Atlanta Hawks. Won handily, 104-81.
Photo by Matt Stone

And the Sox have won three in a row from the Texas Rangers. Two very exciting come-from-behind victories on Saturday and Sunday, with both the kids (Lowrie, Pedroia, Ellsbury, Thurston) stepping up, but also the resurgence of that dynamic duo, Manny & Ortiz.

Photo by Matthew J. Lee

Manny got home run #496 on Saturday - which scored the two game-winnning RBIs. But any hopes for more on Sunday were tossed in the 2nd inning, when he got ejected for arguing a third-strike call. He was scheduled to have today's game off, and Tito has kept that schedule. So, if he continues on his hot streak, it looks like #500 might take place away this weekend in Tampa. Oh, well, it would be cool to have that happen at home. And they do have three home games before Tampa.

In the meantime, DAY GAME today at 11:00 am! Patriots Day in Massachusetts - a regular work day for the rest of us. So, I'll be glued to my GameDay Audio!