The Patriots march to perfection

The Patriots are on the verge of NFL, nay, sports history when they look to complete the perfect season this Sunday in Super Bowl XLII against Eli Manning's red hot New York Giants.

Now I've been hearing a lot about how the Giants are going to pull off the upset and how a lot of Patriots fans are scared about the Giants and I find myself wondering: how and why?

DISCLAIMER: Now before I go on this rant about how I feel the Patriots are superior in every way to the Giants, let me just say that in no way do I feel the win is a lock. I am a lifelong Red Sox fan so I know there are no such things as guarantees. That having been said, let's get into my reasoning...

Many people felt that the Patriots were in danger of losing the last game of the season to the Giants. However, I feel these misguided souls have forgotten a few key elements of that game. So let's recap...

1. The score looked closer than the game actually was. The Giants scored a TD with virtually no time left on the clock to turn a 10 point comfortable win into a 3 point nailbiter.
2. The Patriots offense struggled in the first half. However, Brady and Belichick quickly figured out the Giants decent gameplan and scorched the Giants in the second half.
3. Eli Manning played the game of his career. No doubt about it. Read it here first sports fans. Eli finally had a game where he played like a professional. He will not do the same thing this time around as Belichick will blitz the hell out of him and Eli will revert into his former self, turn the ball over multiple times and the Patriots will win this by a comfortable 13 points.

If you disagree with any of these above statements, or actually agree with me, I'd love to hear your take. Whether you feel the Patriots will win or they will lose, I'm all ears. But please, if you're going to make an argument, at least have some facts to back it up. I don't feel like reading a post that's all opinion based with no statistical argument whatsoever.

Are the Celtics for real?

Since the Boston Celtics beat what should be their rivals for the Eastern Conference Crown, the Detroit Pistons, they have been a little shaky. Actually, they've been downright average. The team, which got off to one of the hottest starts in NBA history, has been playing just about .500 basketball since the big win over Motown. The Big Three has disappeared and where they found ways to win close games in their hot start out of the gate and when they didn't win close games, they won by landslides, they haven't found ways to win at all as of late.

Granted, we all may have been spoiled by the 34-4 start, which was much more than anyone could have ever expected (and if you claim that you knew they would get off to a start like this you probably were named in the Mitchell report), but have they finally come back to Earth? Even since they acquired Allen and Garnett in the blockbuster trades before the season, I have stated they would not make it to the NBA Finals, losing out to Detroit. I started to come around on these C's thinking they were the real deal, only to be let down in their last 10 games.

And since I've thought about it, I realized something. This team is not dependent on Garnett, Allen, and/or Pierce. It's dependent on the man you see in this post: Rajon Rondo. During this stretch of games, he's been playing hurt and the team's scoring has suffered. For further evidence we can look at the recent Miami Heat game where Rondo scored over 20 points and the C's demolished the Heat. The reality is folks, that this Celtics team will go as far as Rondo will bring them. When he plays well, which he did the first 38 games, they play well. And when he struggles/is injured, they just aren't the same. It's hard to believe that a second year point guard that nobody really wanted on draft day could be the key to the C's first championship in 22 years, but it's looking more and more like that could be the case.

CONCACAF to adopt form of Champion's League

CONCACAF, the governing soccer body for North and Central America, has decided to adopt a format of the popular European Champions League tournament, slated to start in 2009. The tournament will be smaller than that of its European counterpart due to the smaller number of leagues that will be involved.

I understand that this post deviates from the title of my blog, however, this could have a direct impact on the New England Revolution. I am an avid Manchester United fan and watching them progress in the Champions League is fantastic to watch. They only broadcast select games from the European competition so to get a competition like it, where American clubs can compete sounds very exciting. Seeing as four clubs from the United States will be competing, and the success of the Revolution as of late, I'm sure we will be seeing much of them in the competition in the upcoming years. I know this will excite avid soccer fans here in the United States as I have grown envious of the European clubs having exclusivity to the greatest club competition in the world. Granted, I'm sure this competition will not even come close to matching the European equivalent, but I'm sure it will satisfy the soccer enthusiasts in this country and we can see where the MLS' best compete with the best from the other countries.

(Sorry guys and gals, no commenting on this post. Just hitting you with a little knowledge in case you didn't already know.)

Red Sox lose out on Johan Santana

Reports are coming in that the New York Mets and the Minnesota Twins have agreed in principal to a trade that will send Johan Santana to Queens. The deal now rests on the shoulders of the Mets' front office, as they have been given 72 hours to sign Santana to a contract extension. It is well-known that Santana turned down a 4-year $80 million extension from the Twins and is seeking $25 million per year instead. The Mets are one of the few teams in baseball with the capacity to offer Santana this kind of money with the Red Sox, Angels, and Yankees being among the other ballclubs.

Only the Red Sox had shown interest in Santana as of late with trade offers including Jon Lester or Jacoby Ellsbury being on the table. The Red Sox were adamant they would not trade both and it seems that is where the Twins and Sox discussions may have fallen apart.

I, personally, feel the Sox made the correct move. They have the pieces to win another World Championship this year. They didn't have to go trade great young players like Ellsbury or Lester to complete this deal. Both proved themselves on the game's greatest stage last October and both should contribute to the team's success this year. Hats off to Theo and the Sox front office for not doing what former Red Sox front office personnel had done in the past and that is trade away young talent for one superstar.