Connelly’s Top Ten: Australian Open Was Magical
1. Tom Brady, the week after being on the cover of Sports Illustrated:
2/13/02 – “Amazing” – After St. Louis win
4/15/02 – “The Natural” – Offseason
2/9/04 – “The Hero” – After Carolina win
2/11/04 – “Championship Edition” – After Carolina win
9/6/04 – “NFL Preview” – Lose 31-0 / 14-28 for 123 yards with 4 interceptions
10/18/04 – “19 Straight” – Win 13-7 / 20-29 for 230 yards with 1 touchdown
02/07/05 – “Mind Game” – Win 24-21 / 23-33 for 236 yards with 2 touchdowns
02/16/05 – “A Team for the Ages” – After Philly win
11/17/05 – “The Duel” (Colts) – Lose 40-21 / 22-33 for 265 yards with 3 touchdowns
12/12/05 – “Sportsman of the Year” – Win 28-0 / 20-31 for 258 yards with 3 touchdowns
10/22/07 – “Yes That Good” – Win 35-7 / 23-32 for 308 yards with 3 touchdowns / 2 interceptions
02/04/08 – “Can the Giants Get to Brady” – Lose 17-14 / 29-48 for 266 yards with 1 touchdown
09/01/08 – “Bring It” – Hurt in first game of season vs. Chiefs
09/15/08 – “Brady’s Knee” – Out for season
06/01/09 – “I’ll Be Ready” – Win 25-24 / 39-53 for 378 yards with 2 touchdowns / 1 interception
09/20/10 – “Serious Fun” – Lose to Jets 28-14 / 20-36 for 248 yards with 2 touchdowns / 2 interceptions
010/9/12 – “Tom Brady Before He Was Tom Brady” – Win 45-10 / 26-34 for 363 yards / 6 touchdowns with 1 interception
01/30/12 – “Rematch!” – ???????
2. Tennis/Golf:
* Tennis, at its best, can be as good as any viewing sport – Djokovic vs. Nadal – 5:53 of athletic excellence
* At one point in the match, ESPN had a stat that showed that Nadal had run 15.79 miles in the tournament
* After 5:40 of play, one long rally stat showed that Nadal ran over 300 feet in the rally
* Has to be the worst Tiger Woods ever played on Sunday, with at least a share of the lead after three rounds – he hit 2 fairways all day
* The par three at hole 12 of the Abu Dhabi Championship – had three holes-in-one this weekend. The hole was sponsored by the Emirates Palace Hotel. The golfers were awarded a hotel room for three nights a year for the rest of their life (hotel room right now is $1,000 a night)
3. Celtics stuff:
* Disgraceful loss for the Celtics Sunday vs. Cavs – remember this one at the end of the year
* Kyrie Irving is a player (though if you get a chance and you DVR’d the game – slow-mo him taking the pass into play on the last play – talk about three steps)
* Paul Pierce proving that he came into camp out of shape – now “rolling” into form
* Paul Pierce with 7 turnovers is inexcusable
* Why does Paul Pierce fall away from the basket when he gets someone off their feet on the upfake?
* Trade Kevin Garnett if you can – he is useless – teams are killing the Celtics on the boards
* This could be one of Danny Ainge’s best years – Mickael Pietrus, Brandon Bass for a Crying Baby, Chris Wilcox
* Someone again tell me how Kevin Garnett has never developed a drop step on hook shot?
4. OBP vs. Batting Average:
Where did the teams that led in OBP and Average finish the last five years in wins?
2011
- Average – Rangers: .283, 96 wins
- OBP – Red Sox: .340, 90 wins
2010
- Average – Rangers: .276, 90 wins
- OBP – Yankees: .350, 95 wins
2009
- Average – Angels: .285, 97 wins
- OBP – Yankees: .362, 103 wins
2008
- Average – Rangers: .283, 79 wins
- OBP – Red Sox: .358, 95 wins
2007
- Average – Yankees: .290, 94 wins
- OBP – Yankees: .366, 94 wins
5. Bruins History:
NHL players that played for the Bruins at some point during their career who have over 400 goals…
- Phil Esposito: 717
- John Bucyk: 556
- Joe Mullen: 502
- Jean Ratelle: 491
- Rick Middleton: 448
- Rick Tocchet: 440
- Bill Guerin: 429
- Brian Propp: 425
- Ray Bourque: 410
6. Tony Gwynn:
In 1994, Tony Gwynn hit .394 – he finished 7th in the MVP voting (strike season):
- Jeff Bagwell: 39 HR / 116 RBI / .368
- Matt Williams: 43 HR / 96 RBI / .267
- Moises Alou: 22 HR / 78 RBI / .339
- Barry Bonds: 37 HR / 81 RBI / .312
- Greg Maddux: 16-6 / 1.56 ERA
- Mike Piazza: 24 HR / 92 RBI / .319
- Tony Gwynn: 12 HR / 64 RBI / .394
7. Amazing Stats:
Tiger Woods has won 38 tournaments on the European tour
8. Old School:
Ron Guidry – 1978 fun facts
* 25-3 record (.893)
* Stolen bases against 9 / caught stealing 14
* Average against .193 (lefties hit .156 / #4 hitters hit .157)
* He was 12-2 the second half / 13-2 on the road
* He was 3-0 against Red Sox with two shutouts
* After September 1st he was 6-1 with five complete games
9. Just a Little Bit Outside:
TV people that have got in trouble talking:
* Jimmy the Greek of CBS talking about slaves
* Kelly Tighman of Golf Channel discussing Tiger Woods and lynching
* Ron Franklin of ESPN College Football after sexist comments
* Steve Lyons of Fox after racist comments
* Rush Limbaugh of ABC for perceived racist comments
* Martin Tyler of Sky Sports (English Premier League) for sexist comments
* Harold Reynolds from ESPN for reported sexist comments
10. Randomocity:
* In the early 1900′s, Theodore Roosevelt cancelled college football games because of deaths in the sport – this will happen again – this time with the X-Games
* Listening to the Women’s Final between Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka sounded like the scene from the deli in Harry Met Sally
* Not many robbers thinking of breaking into Tim Thomas’s house
* Top smells – Christmas tree, turkey in oven, wood fireplace
* In 1968, Dick Jauron led the state in football scoring at Swampscott with 161 points
* When is the Roger Maris’s family going to sue for the home run record?
* After watching tennis Sunday morning – it reminded me of the magic of sports which is summarized in this Vision Quest clip:
About Michael
Lifelong Boston resident who finds equal enjoyment in celebrating the local team's success as I do complaining about their failures. I have been writing the Top Ten for the last decade as well as four sports books: 26 Miles to Boston, Rebound, The President's Team, The Great Book of Boston Sports Lists.
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Well, Kevin Garnett leads the Celtics in rebounds per game and rebounds per minute – so while someone is to blame for their rebounding woes, it is not Kevin Garnett. When teams struggle, fans sometimes have a mistaken tendency to blame their best players.
I think it is unfortunate to hear fans and commentators question Garnett’s effort. There have been very few players in league history that gave as consistent an effort, every night and at both ends of the floor, as Kevin Garnett. He stands out in this regard.
C’s rebounding woes are nothing new. I believe they have been consitently outrebounded throughout the “new big three” era.
REPLY – MPC – Garnett is a paper tiger – I saw a ball roll right by him last night and he had no interest on diving on the floor – less banging his chest before the game – don’t forget $21mm should get you at least 18 ppg / 11 reb – He misses Perk more than anyone
Agree with Tim above. I blame the rebounding problems on Doc. I was at last night’s game – outside shot goes up and 5 C’s are retreating back on D. Only Wicox stayed under to bang. And the refs gave the game to the Cav’s. Terible calls in the 4th, with the worst being the no call when Pierce got his man in the air.
REPLY – MPC – I agree it was a foul but Pierce didn’t jump into the guy but away which fooled the ref
Guidry’s 25th win that year probably should have insured him the MVP as well.
Former Dodger GM Al Campanis shot himself out of a job after his racist comments to Ted Koppel on Nightline.
The Brady cover reminds me of the one of Bird in the late 80′s with a similar facial expression and pose.
REPLY – MPC – Brady – Bird same thing (we’re lucky) / Amazing Guidry didn’t win – has to be top five pitching year ever – Pedro, Gibson, etc
How about Billy Packer?
REPLY – MPC – Yep (he was delayed though)
#5 – Dave Andreychuk
REPLY – MPC – Good help
Belichick coached Jauron when they were with Detroit.
Jauron beat out Belichick for coach of the year back in the 2001 reg. season.
Rice had a great 1978 but couldn’t solve Guidry. The lefty owned Rice. Interesting that both Rice and Guidry had great years, one year after expansion. Mariners and Blue Jays joined in 1977.
Remember, Bob Ryan’s comments about Jason Kidd’s wife? On Sports Final, oops.
Ron Franklin got canned because of his comments to Jeannie Edwards at a production meeting in Atlanta. Before the Noles and Gamecocks (irony??) Peach Bowl.
Father and Sons who played in the Super Bowl. Nice tid-bit for you.
Tony and his son Anthony, Jackie and now Matthew Slater, Bob Griese played (son Brian didn’t play but dressed), Julius Adams and his son Keith, Frank Cornish and his son Frank. Manu Tuiasosopo (his son Marques dressed but did not play).
Channel Five’s Mike Lynch was an excellent football player with Swampscott.
Current secondary coach of the NY Giants (Salem,Ma.) coached at Swampscott High.
REPLY – MPC – How can a guy be coach of the year and then not be a coach / good one on Bob Ryan
I meant to write Tony and Anthony Dorsett.
MPC,
How could I overlook the Deossie’s, the local guys.
REPLY – MPC – Ya they should be included