Category Archives: Year in review
The15 2024 Year in Pictures – Part Two – The Media & Fans
The15 2024 Year in Pictures – Part Three – Respect the Art
July TO’s & Threes – Celtics Column -1976 Rewind
By Vinny Jace, Special to the15net dot com:
So after the confetti fell and delighting in the promise of a new beginning, let’s look back at the last hurrah for the Old Guard Celtics dynasty. The old, hobbled 1976 Celtics nearing the end of their unheralded run of the decade. The last vestiges of the Bill Russell-era John Havlicek and Don Nelson stand at 36-years old, which in the 1970s for an athlete they might as well be pushing 50. In the final season before the ABA-NBA merger provided an influx of young, raw and exciting new players, the dynastic Celtics faced off against the Cinderella Phoenix Suns in what would be a memorable battle between young and old.
Watching the Celtics of this era you could tell this was the end, and even the vaunted cultural values exposed by Celtics great of the fifties, sixties and early seventies gave way to more me-centric style of basketball. While they fought to hold off a more harmonious opponent, the 1976 Celtics had subtle conflicts between young and old that would lead to a period of non-contention between 1977 and 1979.
Paul Silas stood for the old guard. You can imagine him on the 1962 Celtics next to Satch Sanders, hustling and making the smart players. But on the other side you had guard Charlie Scott who never saw a shot he didn’t like. Silas acknowledged the vibe was off, saying “One of these nights, we’re going to reach back and nothing’s going to be there.”
Perhaps the Celtics are guilty of losing touch with themselves during this era, and deserve more blame for trying to get with the times as they’d later regret when they acquired Curtis Rowe, Sidney Wicks, Marvin Barnes and most disastrously Bob McAdoo.
Historical franchises born into the lap of God tend to have a certain mystique to them, often attributing their own success to a code of ethics. The Yankees even before the George Steinbrenner enforced dress code in 1974, still wore a snooty, arrogant, clean cut attitude revealing in their superiority complex. The New England Patriots (until Belichick was ousted) preached many things, but mostly accountability and a dedication to preparing.
What the Celtics are then and still are is the most egalitarian franchise. While the league rushed to adopt the heliocentric model where one player has an astronomical usage rate, the Celtics spread the wealth making them pliable. From the days of Cousy, Heinsohn, Russell, to today with Tatum and Brown, the Celtics are not one trick ponies and will be damned if you find them in a position where they are top heavy.
The hinge point of the Celtics is the trading of backup point guard Paul Westphal to Phoenix for aforementioned guard Charlie Scott. Westphal was a young, budding star languishing in anonymity on the bench. Red Auerbach was left with a dilemma. The 1975 Celtics outside of Jo Jo White and Cowens, are an old roster, and White would not coexist with Westphal. White did not want to have nights where he was complimenting Westphal and didn’t get the shine.
Jo Jo needed a partner in the backcourt and it wasn’t going to be Westphal. Out he went and in came Charlie Scott. The Rasheed Wallace of his day in terms of fouling out of games. Scott shot the ball well on the stat sheet and I’m sure he was a quality player, but every time I seen him play I come away annoyed. The ball slips off his palm, he’s too eager to shoot and doesn’t move the ball to my liking… but that’s not what the stats say, so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about.
Scott performed as White’s companion and the Celtics finished 54-28, second only to the Golden State Warriors for best record in 1975-76. Scott averaged a 17-4-4 on decent shooting, and fouled over four times a game making him an erratic player. In the playoffs Scott would foul out of 11 of the 18 games, 5 of the 6 finals games, and somehow save his best for last.
Before Game 6 Klay, there was Game 6 Charlie. The Celtics won their playoff series in roughly the same fashion every time. Six-games it would take, with Scott doing the honors of slamming the door shut once and for all.
Vs Buffalo: 13-24, 31 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists
Vs Cleveland: 7-13, 20 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists
Vs Phoenix: 9-24, 25 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists – 5 steals! (The box score didn’t track steals in games before the finals)
Phoenix headed home in the hopes of extending their Cinderella tale to a seventh game. On the backs of star Paul Westphal, and two precocious, extraordinary rookies Alvan Adams and Ricky Sobers. The 42-40 squad shook the shackles of mediocrity, upsetting the favored defending champion Warriors (because when they beat up Rick Barry he threw the game when he realized none of his teammates defended him). The gentle coach John MacLeod had taken his diverse group of veterans, cast-offs, rookies and made them title contenders through grit and spit. They played a better brand of basketball the Celtics did that year and is not a coincidence that a Celtic was at the head of it all.
Heading into the sixth and final game of the finals, after a three-overtime thriller, it was apparent early on that both the Suns and Celtics were punch drunk. White played 60 minutes and by the end of the night was sitting on the hardwood floor during free throws. Gar Heard led the game by playing 61 minutes. And in the heated Boston Garden Tom Heinsohn collapsed due to heat exhaustion. Fortunately, this being the 1970s he merely went home and did not go to the hospital.
Phoenix was not haunted by the loss the game before, coming oh so close to what would’ve been a commanding series lead. In fact, they were inspired. “We know we’re going to beat them.” Gar Heard declared. “It’s going to take seven now, but we know we’re going to beat them. We showed we came to play.”
Perhaps the confidence stemmed from the fact back in those days participating in a game that required such heroics just to finish earned praise from supporters and detractors alike. Back when we used to celebrate athletic feats of heroism and not subscribe value in the end result.
The weary teams, littered with battle scars limped around for forty-eight minutes hoisting up off balanced, out of rhythm shots having only a prayer of converting. The game was like if two prize fighters went the full fifteen, but the judges decided a sixteenth was needed.
No team cracked 20 in the first or second quarters. Boston held Phoenix to 13-points, the lone pulse of the Celtics offense being Scott who dawned the Superman cape for the third straight Game Six. Having fouled out of every game of the series, Red approached Scott and explained to him his importance and how if he were to foul out where the Celtics reserves were Glenn McDonald and Kevin Stacom they’d be in trouble. Scott only fouled 5 times that night and avoided fouling out.
Possessions resembled a car crash under the basket. The rhythm and flow of the game was off by a substantial margin, each team searching for that extra jolt that wasn’t there.
The game had a total of 12 ties, the Suns were all too real to be a fairy tale and never let the Celtics put them to bed. Garfield Heard and Curtis Perry regained their sea legs and established their running game and pierced the Celtics defense to a 66-all draw with 8 minutes left to go.
Boston couldn’t establish much of a running game and settled for outside shots (back when that was considered a bad thing), their tired legs couldn’t jump over a phone book and during the parade of misses the Celtics mustered a pitiful 34 points in the second half.
The shifting tide came from the tired legs of Cowens finessing the ball from the gangly arms of Adams, leading the the 6-9 center to take it to the basket for the only way you could get three-points in one possession pre-three point line. The Celtics cranked up the old machine one last time to shut down the Suns and in the blink of the eye the old bastards led by 10.
When the game finished it felt like mercy was delivered. The green teams legs seemed rejuvenated not only by the victory, but by the fact the grueling experience was over. The sickly Heinsohn who captained an old Celtics team with a dearth of options to the mountaintop once again.
When all else failed, the Celtics fell back on their time-tested values. The Suns proved worthy foes. The two clashed for the most underrated playoff series in league history, filled with countless momentum shifts and leaving it all on the floor. The Phoenix Suns experienced a rebirth. The Celtics gained another banner.
Vinny Jace appears on the Entitled Weekend podcast. He does not live in The Valley of the Sun.
What We Learned in 2023 – Part Two
Red Sox outfielder Alex Verdugo felt snubbed after not being selected to the American League All-Star team.
Your New England Free Jacks won the Major League Rugby Championship.
The first thing they teach you in rehab is to attempt to reverse any accountability you’ve taken. Well played, Huggins.
“Rusty Sullivan” sounds like something DJ Bean pays for in the bathroom of a Southie bar.
Dan Orlovsky is the worst person UConn Athletics has foisted onto society including Tate George being in the clink and Johnny McEntee spearheading January 6.
Very few can make a fire boom bap beat with no samples.
“Bob Huggins” is the name DJ Bean uses when he gives out Rusty Sullivans.
Jeff Passan is really odd-looking. He’s like a ventriloquist’s dummy from the 1950’s.
We officially have a surplus of pitchbots.
It’s possible to take the dick and not tweet about it.
It’s almost as if Dug Kyed was lying when he said he had a bunch of job offers and loved being at A to Z Sports.
If you like athletic blondes with ponytails then that Norway – New Zealand Women’s World Cup game was for you. Hope you caught it live.
People are ready to blow their fucking brains out when Belichick brings Patricia and Judge back but cream their shorts when the same lazy media blowhards take turns hiring each other at their fake publications.
The sheer magnitude of the landscape bewildering to the league is beyond the pale of comprehensive.
It’s apparently very hard for players to understand the NFL’s “don’t bet on football games” rule.
Kendra is bussin’.
Bruce Arena said Doris Burke isn’t very good at her job. He’s done.
Creating a false W-2 is a crime.
If Alex Morgan’s exasperated looks were goals the US would have comfortably been atop Group E.
Bluesky is still in beta.
Jayson Tatum lets Deuce go out in the direct sunlight? I figured he was like the children in that Nicole Kidman haunted house movie.
Had no idea Paxton had a knuckle curve.
A summer party without a cake…is like a rainy day.
The Sox stumbling out of the gate post trade deadline after winning just enough to cancel the fire sale was the most predictable result ever.
Lipless coffee pots! Million-dollar idea.
Crows are the only birds that attack eagles then eagles fly high and the crows fall off and die.
If you put native corn on the grill that is a complete waste.
Megan Rapinoe was voted ‘Most Likely to become one of Immortan Joe’s Imperators’ by the Aussie locals.
Every NBA player have a fucking podcast.
How are we supposed to know you are trying to get to Fenway Park for work if you don’t mention that’s where you’re going.
Penn Entertainment got the reach and cachet of ESPN, Portnoy got to keep all the great big fat persons, the overage interchangeable frat bros, and Jerry Thornton. What a win! #GoPresGo
Dugie thinks being lazy makes him more authentically Mexican.
Alexi Lalas is why they hate us.
I was growing concerned Trev Story was going to barricade himself in the Table Talk Pies building rather than report to Fenway.
The Governor of Hawaii is named Josh Green. Any state can have a ‘Josh Green’. Hawaii should have a guy named like, ‘Governor Haunapukamana’lei’lei.’
Tom Brady becomes part owner of Birmingham City FC. Related, Boston Globe reporter Bob Hohler is on a plane en route to Birmingham Airport.
You’re supposed to recycle the cardboard box the trash bags are packaged in you vapid bint.
Wander Franco is going to be so vindicated when it’s revealed the gal had a Dominican birth certificate and she’s actually six months older than he is.
A cat is only itself, representative of the strong forces of life that won’t let go.
All the worst people were emotionally invested in the Ravens meaningless ‘streak’.
Bucko Kilroy has a grandson named Gavin.
Our President is older than the American League MVP in 1968, or the NL MVP from 1970.
There are no cool people that take ketamine.
‘Has the persona of an Anti-Zionist Muhammad Ali’ was on all of Len Bias’s scouting reports.
Pascoag has a microbrewery.
If you have no backup quarterbacks, you really don’t have any backup quarterbacks.
Morey Hershgordon isn’t real and he cannot hurt you.
Publix says it will no longer make hurricane themed cakes due to sensitivity concerns.
Houck unraveled quickly.
The Galactic Empire apparently had a dress code Moff that forbade women to wear tight pants.
Mac knows he has to be better.
The Dodgers fix dudes left and right with grips while the Sox can’t even manage a bullpen correctly.
Bill Lee is too old for baseball. He should run for the Senate.
I hate the ‘Coach Prime’ nickname more than the ‘Shady’, ‘Hollywood’, and ‘Wink’ ones put together.
Terry Pegula and Jerry Jones seem nice.
There’s nothing like riding an electric bicycle to a game of pickleball.
Jeff Passan should make a baseball bat and a ventriloquist dummy using the tree branch that fell on him.
Thankfully Tom Caron pronounced “Negro Leagues Museum” flawlessly.
Now that Gil Brandt’s dead, just imagine all the players we’ll learn he called Upton Bell about.
It must have been a short discussion about the IR between JuJu and the team.
WWE wrestler Test died in 2009? Cross him off, then.
You don’t need and most likely cannot handle a Belgian Malinois. don’t do it.
‘Sale and Paxton need eight days of inaction’ could be the Hub’s ‘Spahn and Sain and pray for rain’ of the 21st century.
The Red Sox decided to play G-d and made Chaim Bloom their Moses: You can lead us through the desert, but you won’t be the one to take us to the Promised Land.
Bob Lobel’s legs look like they should be hanging in a Chinese meat shop.
Lauren Boebert is no Alanis Morissette.
The Bruins Centennial Jersey needed more stripes on the sleeves.
Zo doesn’t like the play calls on third down. He doesn’t have a better play in mind, he just thinks they should always pick up the first.
This pizza thing is going to be huge. give it time.
Artie T is the biggest needle mover in the world of banana boxes.
Tony Massarotti has more suspensions than Marchand in the past year, but yeah, he shouldn’t have been named captain.
Mike Lombardi is the Vince Lombardi of spam tweets.
We’re in New England. Stop saying y’all.
Curt Schilling is like Pete Rose, in that every time you feel like you’re ready to start defending him again, he goes back to his looney room and comes out with another treasure.
The people who mocked Belichick as being a “genius” for 20 years are also the same people who think he should be able to completely rebuild the team in four. In other words, fucking idiots.
Fall Out Boy covering Billy Joel is why they hate us.
Artificial Intelligence program’s inability to correctly render human hands must give Larry Johnson some small comfort.
All weed is gay now.
Everyone knows your crazy conspiracy theory being true is an absolute defense to witness intimidation.
Four-cylinder Honda’s are going to get very pricey again.
Boston Sports Journal is like a graveyard for once-overpaid scribes who don’t know they’re dead yet.
Abby has multiple jobs. Dickerson has no job.
Jon Smoltz called Game Seven a “must win” for the Astros. Okay.
That stupid Mike McDaniel watch story couldn’t be more tailored to impress the credulous NFL media had it been created in a lab.
Yarmouth Massachusetts is a noted hot spot for comedy in October.
The Sara Civian fan club is strong and we stan.
Being a fired NFL head coach is the best job in the world. Josh McDaniels? He lasted longer in Vegas than than Greg Bedard and he’s still getting paid.
We play hard around here.
During the 1980’s Bert Breer had a General Motors Starter jacket.
Add ‘plastered’ to the football lingo.
You know you’ve crushed branding your podcast network when you need to include a parenthetical on how to pronounce it.
Fox has Stink and Pink on the same NFL broadcast crew.
Megan Rapinoe is committed to Achilles tendon injury equity.
Will Smith’s career has been going great since he faked that Chris Rock slap.
Charissa Thompson isn’t the first to spill too much personal information in an effort to impress Big Cat.
WEEI seems at peace with never coming close to respectable ratings.
Bench guys need to bring the psycho energy.
Jack Edwards speaks like he’s hitting the middle button on predictive text.
I’m hearing the Red Sox are in on everyone.
It took a 7’3″ blindingly white guy for Jaylen to finally be able to see an open teammate.
We live for the fray.
“Fat Lunatic Tells Mayor to ‘Go Back to China’” probably would have made the news.
Sports Illustrated probably should have known Olivia0917693516 didn’t actually write those articles.
Nothing says “moving on to the 21st century” quite like getting fired by NFL Network and then writing for Bedard’s shitty website.
Something that never existed cannot recur.
Cris Collinsworth owns PFF and every time he appears on national television, he devalues his investment.
The Steve McNair murder ottoman claimed another one.
If Shohei Ohtani had a sense of humor, he would have made his surprise announcement on December 7th.
Max Strus looks like he sells MDMA.
If you combine this IST championship with the Lakers bubble championship, that’s almost like one whole championship.
Dan Orlovsky is the NFL’s Myrna Carter of advice giving.
We all fit the profile.
Hardy goes from being the third guy on the midday to being the solo host next time Toucher has a relapse of (cough) “throat issues”.
Everybody has a price. Cerrone Battle’s is just really low.
Dart Adams’ nephew is 6’6″.
I never realized how many loser fans Ted Johnson has.
CeeDee Lamb is a Top 1000 NFL WR.
Wacky Mahomes and Kelce commercials just hit different when they suck.
Chris Sale was somebody’s favorite player.
Thanks to all our regular readers, our irregular readers, and the bots. See you in 2024.
What We Learned in 2023 – Part One
‘Blunt force trauma to the chest can’t induce a heart attack’ was the new “fire can’t melt steel.”
That Cohasset fella should’ve Google searched “how not to kill and dismember anyone including my sweet wife.”
Wickersham was ready to crown McVay the greatest ever.
It’ll never not be funny that a group of nominal adults with journalism degrees came up with “Media Good Guy” as a name for an award.
Massachusetts has 16 municipalities that end in -ham, and 4 that end in -mouth.
Twitter made the world better by giving people a forum to proudly advertise that they think you can win a game 1.49 times.
Jac Collinsworth wears more eye makeup than Derek Carr and Peter Schrager combined.
It’s expensive to have baseball players.
Eddie Andelman calls that Oriental film that was nominated for Best Picture, ‘Everything All Over the Place.’
The Clover Cabal runs The Association.
If a “Rules Analyst’ is a key component of your sport’s broadcast team and people still don’t understand what the rules are, guess what? Your sport sucks.
A Northeastern/Harvard Beanpot Final can and did happen.
Adam Jones had an opportunity to reinvent himself as something more than cut-rate Felger impressionist and decided against doing so.
The Daisy Sour Cream song has no business going that hard.
The Panthers did what so many others had tried: They hired Jim Caldwell as a senior assistant.
All Tony Mazz did was say that two black people looked like car thieves based solely on immutable physical characteristics after making sure they couldn’t hear him say that.
If you don’t know then why ask?
The Chicago Bulls shut down Lonzo Ball for a second consecutive season Tuesday as the point guard continued to struggle with discomfort and pain in his left knee.
Reporter Jonny Miller stays in the exact same motel room every Spring Training.
Edmonton fans are awfully yappy for a city that doesn’t have an airport.
There’s nothing more pleasant than the smell of eggs, meat and cheese on a crowded train. It’s very Boston.
If Las Vegas was like 75 percent more walkable it would be close to perfect.
NESN’s spring training camera had a dead pixel.
Three losses in a row can never just be three losses; they have to be due to an overarching systemic malaise that will doom the team if it happens come playoff time.
Charlie Baker wouldn’t let Merrimack play in the Tourney.
Andy Wong just likes having his picture taken.
NY Football Giants Daniel Jones with a guaranteed 820,000,000 dimes! Crazy!
UConn was poised for a March Madness run.
Nicaragua had a tough World Baseball Classic. Lordy!
Purdue Men’s Basketball should try and get some of those notoriously permissive Big Ten refs to work the Tournament one of these years.
You’re not a real sports fan unless you enjoy Division 3 women’s basketball.
There’s a Harvard Extension Medical School now, apparently?
It’s definitely organic that every person who has ever commented on Kara Lawson uses the exact same superlative to describe her basketball mind.
Boston as a sneaker mecca is a tough sell for folks who don’t know. It was wild to live in a place where Adidas, Nike & Reebok were all at war with each other at one point in time, but you’d enter Jamaica Plain via the Orange Line and suddenly everyone’s rocking Fila there?
Chris Curtis doubtless spent his week’s suspension in quiet contemplation of his many mistakes.
What a delightful trollop that Paige Spirinac is.
Always make sure you know who the stepparents are, Harvard Women’s Hockey Coach Lady.
Alex Verdugo was the first Red Sox player to lead off the first inning of the team’s first game with a triple since Rabbit Warstler in 1931.
Eggs, black coffee, sunshine. All we need.
Asante Samuel loves getting reminders of the worst moment of his career every few months.
There’s a 1 in 555 chance to catch a foul ball.
Kim Mulkey goes through a carton of Misty’s a day.
Once the Boston media united behind the “Brogdon never starts games, which means he’s better” narrative, it was over. The Boston Sports Media machine is too powerful, too disciplined. Always has been.
Kutter Crawford is the new Rac Slider.
Quinnipiac winning the Frozen Four makes that part of Connecticut New England again.
Pete Blackburn gets his clothes at Build-A-Bear.
It took only 12 games into the season for a Red Sox pitcher to openly weep on the mound.
I bet money on a Revs game. I won, sure, but still.
NYC’s population of single ladies was queueing up to be squired about town by confirmed bachelor Aaron Rodgers.
Sox in 2 had to pad things out for that one game!
Looking for a cat friendly place to host your next event? Elks Lodge #720 in Nashua is our top choice.
Trae Young looks like a doll they found in the rubble after a tornado.
The nice thing about the Bruins series loss is you find out who all the better sports fans than you are.
Baseball is occasionally boring.
Sic transit gloria mundi, Matignon hockey.
Area sports fans refuse to induct coach with a .500 winning percentage into team hall of fame, local media members hardest hit.
Lukey Russert wrote a book. Supply your own punchline.
Every guy at watching the Heat play at Miami’s American Airlines Arena looks like Andrew Cunanan.
Sanna Marin is officially a free agent.
Nikola Jokić. Good fundamentals. Gritty. Plays the game the right way.
The billboard? Great idea. No possible downside.
Chris Paul has won everywhere he’s been except Phoenix and Oklahoma City and Houston and Los Angeles and New Orleans and Wake Forest.
It’s amazing that Dan Lifshatz is able to have all this action when he’s been shut off by every book.
A great gesture by Jeff Howe to raise money to help people who actually do have cancer.
All that ridiculous free throw disparity and the NBA still couldn’t drag Los Angeles into the Finals.
You know someone’s made a poor vocational choice when they thank Evan Lazar and Alex Barth on their way out.
Maybe the real Eastern Conference Championship is the friends we made along the way.
Guidance counselors funnel people with psychotic levels of self-confidence but no aptitude for law, medicine, or engineering into sports writing.
The Las Vegas Golden Knights matriculated their way to winning a Stanley Cup for Coach Cassidy because we can’t have nice things.
Floramo’s moved to Wakefield and Malden.
Every single time you saw Kenley Jansen, either on TV or around the ballpark, he’s mentoring some young pitcher on the staff.
NASCAR used to be guys named Matt and Jimmie. And now its guys named Ryan and Ross.
When you want a deep, thoughtful reflection on the perils of doing business with an autocratic government who funds terrorism, I go to the guy who plays golf for a living and fucks Wayne Gretzky’s daughter.
Instead of saying “a non-Power Five coach told me” Russillo should say “Trent Dilfer told me.”
Nothing has been the same after the USGA turtled post Shinnecock.
Bob Huggins needed to get home.
UFC expertly blends violence with homoeroticism so it naturally plays well in America right now.
The secret is the Merritt Parkway instead of 95.
Never trust a guy with Air Monarchs. It’s right up there with don’t play cards with a guy who has the same first name as a city.
Table Boston has the best Rosemary Scapicchio in town.
There’s a time to compliment someone on their Throw Power rating in Madden, but it’s not in the immediate aftermath of their tragic untimely death.
Keith says it hard caps at the 2nd apron. There was no second apron before.
Fall River is a town.
To be continued…
2022 in Review – Happy New Year Ahead!
We here at the15net.com would like to thank our literal dozens of regular readers, and our literal tens of irregular readers, for a most successful and gratifying 2022.
Whether it was the resumption of the March Sadness Biggest Mediot Tournament, (which will return) whose winner, Greg Bedard, featured prominently in another popular post in 2022. Or helping run Patriots-hater Matt Fairburn out of town in June, back to Buffalo where he belongs. Or our answering the perennial questions ‘Who is Jake in Boston?’ and ‘Shukri: Fan or Fraud?‘ Or our Anita’s eulogy of John Madden. Or the reposting of the terrific ‘A PSA for the Boston Sports Media.’ Some doubtless enjoyed Death by a Thousand Memes. I know I did. Perhaps you found the holiday mixtape playlists diverting. Or even the weekly cleanings out of the Sports Junk Drawer. (Maybe the special All Bill Russell Edition of the same published the day after his passing.) We are grateful you found them enjoyable. We also appreciate the support you have shown our new hire Vernon Dozier.
We do regret that our NFL wagering columns appeared with dismaying infrequency and will try and do better in 2023.
However, all in all 2022 was a good year for the site, with more views and nearly as many visitors as 2021. We hope to build on that in 2023.
And here’s a hand, my trusty fere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right gude-willy waught
For auld lang syne!
Well Said.
The 15 