Re: Tommy quotes!

[Kestas <Kestutis.Kveraga@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Snoopy the Celtics Beagle wrote:

> A simplistic solution to a simplistic problem.  when the C's were running 
> well, he moved on to other subjects.  

Such as...let me guess...bashing the refs?

But the fact is, they have NOT been
> running--not well and not consistently.  Granted, it's not the excruciating 
> turtle-like pace of last season, but neither is it as fast as they have 
> shown themselves capable of.  Part of that is the new guys being unfamiliar 
> with the offensive and defensive sets.  

I'm not sure what running has to with knowledge of offensive and 
defensive sets. Unless, that is, Obie is calling a play on every fastbreak.

> However, it is not reasonable to 
> discount the fact that when they DO run, they get good looks at the hoop.

No one's discounting that. I'm the biggest proponent of fast-break 
basketball.  But as others have pointed out, running doesn't solve all 
problems, nor can it be done without the possession of the ball. Tommy 
seems to think that running can cure all ills, including the lack of 
rebounding.

> As to the refs, he's been much more restrained than in past seasons, 
> picking and choosing his comments with greater precision.  

That's a personal impression that I don't share. When he repeats each 
official's name, saying "remember that name" in his ominous Rush 
Limbaugh voice, that doesn't sound "much more restrained" to me.

> Like him, I 
> cringe whenever Violet Palmer works a Celtics game.  Yet he went out of his 
> way to say something positive about the person I believe to be one of the 
> most incompetent officials in the NBA.  

Yeah, he likes to make a huge show out of his (rare) conceding some 
indefensible position, as though he's a paragon of fairness towards the 
officials.

> Yes, he still gives them--and 
> us--an earful, but that just allows some of us to vent by proxy, letting 
> Tommy appear unreasonable while we keep our blood pressure down.  :>)

I'm sure you find him quite useful, Snoopy :)


> Well, I'll trade a cookie for a Tommy Point--if any of you happen to see 
> him, please mention this.  :>)  Seriously, I'd like to see the C's get more 
> aggressive at both ends.  Not to the extent of "stepping on their faces", 
> but it would be nice to see rebounding become a serious part of the C's 
> offense.  I think that the C's don't yet move fast enough to successfully 
> draw charge calls.  But they could.

I think of drawing charges as the most bullsh*t skill/call in the NBA. I 
wish they did away with that. Not with the charge calls per se, but the 
discipline of "taking charges" as practiced and officiated in today's 
NBA. What is this, some inverted version of bullfighting? Unless you've 
stood there for a while and really got run over, or were legitimately 
bulldozed by the offensive player while staying in front of him, it 
should be a non-call, a blocking foul, or better yet, a technical for 
flopping. They give out yellow cards for flopping in soccer; why not 
punish it in basketball? See Dave Cowens for an example of what a real 
foul is.

> What the heck--I'll trade a cookie for a Gorman Point, too.  Mrs. Fields 
> chocolate chip cookie.  But I want a t-shirt too.  :>)

I heard that Mrs. Fields cookies aren't the same since she sold the 
company. Is it true? I wouldn't know...

> Despite a well-deserved reputation, Tommy has done better at restraining 
> himself this season.  I don't think he's QUITE as serious as he sometimes 
> sounds.  Sometimes, his tone of voice doesn't sound angry, just 
> bemused.  Though I still bet that Tommy will become the first broadcaster 
> ejected from a Celtics game.  :>)

I'm not betting against that...
Kestas