All Entries Related to "Dan Shaughnessy"
May 30, 2007
A Developing Situation
Award-winning sportswriter Dan Shaughnessy goes BEYOND THE HEADLINES today. Using his unmatched skill at putting two and two together, he discovers something you may not be aware of - the Red Sox are playing really well right now. That's the kind of analysis that sails right over the heads of laymen and bloggers.
Incidentally, if Fenway isn't ringing with chants of "Where's Roger? - clap clap, clapclapclap" from 7:00 Friday until 11 PM Sunday, folks ought to think about turning in their tickets.
Posted by Michael at 08:34 AM | Comments (0)
May 01, 2007
This Is Why Dan Makes the Big Bucks
Dan Shaughnessy does some hard-hitting investigative journalism today, and uncovers the shocking truth that sports fans are more forgiving of players who play for their favorite teams. Wow. I mean, that's a stunning revelation.
Shaughnessy, who's probably just afraid that Randy Moss will shove him in a locker at some point this season, methodically goes down a looooong list of baggage-laden players, then posits that if they came here, we'd love them. Just in case you missed the point.
Dan has seemingly forgotten how fast the fans turned on Wil Cordero after his wifebeating became public. How fast the fans turned on Carl Everett (no doubt Shaughnessy takes credit for that one) when it became obvious he was more trouble than he was worth). How mercifully brief the Sebastian Telfair honeymoon lasted around here.
I think Shaughnessy's sad because the glory days, when a newspaper could rally a city for or against an individual, are gone. There are enough sources and enough information out there that people can make up their own minds.
Oh, and he's still gamely trying to push the "Manny quit" theory from last year, even though the team seemed satisfied that he was actually injured. Luckily, Dan looked into Manny's soul, and knows what really happened. It's our, the fans' fault, for ignoring Dan's warnings.
Oh, and in that list of players, Dan says that Bill Laimbeer would have been a fan favorite if he had played here. Dan, I wouldn't root for Bill Laimbeer if he were trying to free my leg from a bear trap. So there.
Posted by Michael at 08:49 AM | Comments (2)
March 29, 2007
Daisuke Can Win Games All By Himself
Dan Shaughnessy gave us something to look forward to yesterday:
The result of all this [what 'this' is isn't worth getting excited about; trust me] will be a five-day frenzy of Dice-K speculation on two continents. Is he hurt? Is he frustrated? Is he a diva? Is he physically and mentally prepared for his first big league start next Friday in Kansas City?
The problem with this is that the rest of the Red Sox are scheduled to be in Arlington, Texas, on Friday.
Will Daisuke be traded to Detroit by next week? (I used the Internet to check the Royals' schedule, but then again I'm a basement-dwelling loser who uses the Internet to look stuff up, and not some hotshot sportswriter.) Or is he planning to beat Kansas City all by himself? Is the Japanese concept of ronin, the masterless samurai, still alive and well?
Or did Shaughnessy just eff up?
Posted by Michael at 09:46 AM | Comments (4)
January 31, 2007
Credit Where Credit Is Due
Shaughnessy's column today - a talk with Sharon Robinson about the life and legacy of her dad Jackie - is interesting, illuminating, and doesn't take shots at anything except the "tryout" Jackie was given with the Sox in 1945. And that deserves shots. So we know Dan has it in him to be a successful columnist.
Posted by Michael at 11:11 AM | Comments (0)
January 29, 2007
Dan Shaughnessy Remembers Where the Garden Is
Dan Shaughnessy, who wondered aloud on Friday why anyone bothers following the Celtics' miserable season, today wrote a column about the Celtics' miserable season. Proving there's no pigpile too high for Dan to jump on.
Now, there aren't a lot of people around who have said more unkind things about the C's this year than me, but I get into full circle-the-wagons mode when an outsider (yes, Dan) starts saying some of the same things I've been saying all along. Let's look at some of the highlights:
Boston plays in Indianapolis tomorrow night, then comes home to face the Lakers Wednesday and the Clippers Friday. If the Celtics drop the next two, they'll tie the franchise record for consecutive losses, which would put it all on the line Friday night against the Clips.
Some of us (read: me) even took the extra step of looking at the schedule to see when we might see the next win. I have the Valentine's Day tilt against Milwaukee penciled in as a "maybe" (which would break a potential 18-game plummet), but after that is a brutal Western trip, then a possible liferaft against the Knicks at the end of February. Any way you slice it, it's going to be a long winter.
Nobody seems bothered. Not even the fans. A robust 17,269 trekked to the basketball barn and most of them seemed happy with the show -- even the few who didn't go home with a free T-shirt shot out of a toy cannon.
"Happy with the show" makes it sound like we were all just there to have a good time and didn't care who won. Not true. There's a grey area, though between "hopeful to see a good game and maybe steal a win" and "let's all slit our wrists because this team sucks so much". It's easier to have a decent time when your expectations are nonexistent. To be fair to Dan, though, it's harder to judge the pulse of a fanbase when you only go to five games a year.
The Celtics have been playing without Paul Pierce since Dec. 21 (stress reaction, left foot), but there's little excuse for what we're seeing these days.
You say "little excuse"; I say "the entire team is under 25, their coach is befuddled by the concept of game management, and no one's confident enough to take the momentum-shifting shot." Excuses? No. Reasons? Yes.
...boilerplate history lesson...
But now there is little light. Executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge has given us a team of overgrown kids who don't know how to win without Pierce.
Hmm. Sounds like what I said. If you look at the Celtics for what they realistically are - a very good college team playing an NBA schedule - there's a little more light.
And for the rest of the year they're going to play under a cloud of suspicion because of the long shadow cast by Ohio State 7-footer Greg Oden and Texas freshman Kevin Durant. Those two young men are expected to be the prizes of the 2007 draft and Boston's lose-to-win strategy could yield a franchise player.
Cloud of suspicion? When you've got Philly dumping Allen Iverson for loose change and ready to break the kneecaps of anyone who scores 25, when you've got Memphis trying to trade their one good player before they accidentally go on a winning streak (much more on this situation later), and when you've got the Knicks in tank mode (to be fair, Isiah may not realize he traded away his #1 pick), the Celtics don't look all that suspicious. They just don't look that good.
They are spiraling toward Secaucus with their sights set on Oden and Durant, and no one seems too upset about any of it.
Sorry, Dan. My next game's against Miami next week; I'll be sure to wear the sackcloth so you don't accidentally think I'm not full of woe.
Posted by Michael at 08:08 AM | Comments (1)