Celtics finish off the Bulls; “the greatest playoff series ever played” soon to be forgotten. After seven total overtimes, 4,000 lead changes and 42 Kevin Garnett poser chin thrusts, the Celtics/Bulls first-round series came to a close on Saturday. We heard from seemingly every person with a radio show, column or TV gig that this was the greatest playoff series ever. Mind you, this was a first-round series that prominently featured Glen Davis, Brad Miller, Brian Scalabrine, Joakim Noah, a terrified Stephon Marbury and former Jackson State star Lindsey Hunter, who apparently is still in the NBA at the age of 64. It was only fitting that after all the hype, game seven, while close, did not have the spectacular finish everyone was sure it would.
While this was one of the best playoff series I can remember watching (and I watched every game), I can’t get on the bandwagon for the greatest series ever. One, look at some of the names mentioned above. If some of these guys were role players, then things might be different. But all of these guys, with the exception of Hunter, were relied on to contribute at key points in the game. And two, and probably most important, these games decided who ADVANCED OUT OF THE FIRST ROUND.
Seriously, everyone just calm the hell down about this series. Why does everyone feel the need to lose their collective shit when something remotely compelling happens in sports? Yeah, it was a good series (and probably the best first-round series in the league’s history), but there’s no way a first-round series can be the greatest playoff series of all-time. The stakes aren’t high enough and we still have about five months of playoff basketball left. When the Cavs face the Celtics or Magic in the Eastern Conference Finals and it goes to seven games, see how many times the Bulls/Celtics series gets mentioned. I’m going to go with zero.
Hawks and Heat complete the worst seven game series in the history of the world. Remember that stuff I just wrote about calming down and not over-hyping things? Well, that doesn’t apply here because this truly was the worst playoff series ever. Somehow, this thing went to seven games and exactly zero of the games were even close. I’m not really sure how that happens, but this series is a great piece of evidence for the NBA going back to best of five in the first round. No one walked away from these games thinking, “You know, I could have used another out-of-control Dwayne Wade drive to the basket that ends with him missing a lay-up, getting a foul called and laying on the floor as if his leg is broken.” When this series ended, men shed tears of joy, babies were made and I’m pretty sure the stock market went up.
Ole Miss baseball sweeps Auburn; Auburn fans still underwhelmed by Gene Chizik. Not much to say here other than Gene Chizik was promoted after a 5-19 stint at Iowa State. It’s still stunning to read that. Anyway, Ole Miss moves to 36-13 and 16-8 in the SEC and a little closer to at least hosting a regional and potentially receiving a national seed. Next up is Mississippi State, who stinks. Another three game sweep and the Rebels probably become a lock for a regional host.
Apparently, there was some sort of horse race over the weekend. Something called the Kentucky Derby. It sounds vaguely familiar. I think I remember hearing about it once in 2001. If you were smart enough to bet on the winner, Mine That Bird (no doubt a name selected out of a hat during a drunken bar bet), at 50-1, congratulations, that was a profitable bet. However, don’t feel too proud of yourself because you should remember that horse racing is stupid.
Seriously ESPN, cut this crap out. If you haven’t heard, Kirk Herbstreit is interviewing college football’s top returning quarterbacks all this week for a special segment on SportsCenter. Today’s feature is on Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead (I believe Tim Tebow, Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy and Terrelle Pryor, who totally doesn’t belong in this group, were the others interviewed.). Ugh. What will it take to stop getting all the national media coverage that just sets everyone up for a colossal letdown in the fall? Seriously, what will it take? I can’t take much more of this. All good Rebels know that the more hype and expectations that surround an Ole Miss team, the more impressive the collapse is.
I would request that all media outlets cease and desist their coverage of Ole Miss immediately. You secretly don’t want to cover us because you still think we hate black people and no one in your key markets gives a crap about Ole Miss. And we don’t want the coverage because we know what happens when we get it. So let’s both get what we want and stop this nonsense now. This way everyone wins.
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