The Five Foot Assassin With The Roughneck Business

Great sports last night.

- We got to see Pedro return to Fenway, and get a nice warm reception from the crowd... and a more cruel reception from his former team, who beat him like a stepchild. Remember when Clemens came back to Boston and struck out 15 dudes? This was the exact opposite of that.

Pedro won 2 Cy Youngs, deserved more, helped break the Curse, and was consistently entertaining during his time here. He remains the most wily pitcher I've ever seen, although I'm sure that a few old-timers here can make some arguments of their own. He's doing really well for the Mets, and I wish him nothing but the best.

- The Celtics were busy beavers last night. Holding the #7 pick in the NBA Draft, they started dealing and didn't stop until I had gone to bed. When Gabby woke me up at 1 and I couldn't get back to sleep, I logged on to discover that Ainge had made a second trade. When the dust settled, Danny Ainge had

A) Traded Raef LaFrentz, Dan Dickau, and our #7 to Portland for Sebastian Telfair and Theo Ratliff.

Raef had a contract that slaves laughed at (he's owed about $43 million through 2009), while Dickau was a slow guard with a bad knee, and had a name that sounds like a concentration camp. I may have saw Raef get one Tommy Point in 3 years, and that was when Heinsohn mistook Raef tripping for him diving after a loose ball.

The loss for us here is the #7 pick, our first top ten Lottery selection in some time. We drafted Randy Foye for Portland, who then traded him for Brandon Roy. We passed on Rudy Gay, Patrick O'Bryant, Marcus Williams, and many others to make this pick, and how those players turn out may very well dictate who got screwed on this deal.

Telfair is dripping with potential. The cousin of Knick guard Stephon Marbury, Bassy is a NYC street point who came to the NBA straight out of high school 2 years ago. He's about to turn or just has turned 21. Had he finished college, he would have been in this year's draft. He has mad handle, and no shot at all. Dukakis '88 or the 1991 Iraqi Army had better shots than he does.

Ratliff is an active and leaping defensive center, sort of the anti-Raef. His salary is as awful as Raef's but his contract expires 2 years before Raef's does. He doesn't suck any less than LimpFrentz, but he'll suck for less time. It's a salary cap thing.

B) Sent next year's #1 pick (from Cleveland, which we got for Jiri Welsch) to Phoenix for Rajon Rondo and the expiring contract of Brian Grant.

The draft pick was from the team that LeBron James is turning into the next Jordan for. it wasn't going to be that nice of a pick, anyhow. Rondo is a rookie PG out of Kentucky. He's lightning quick, but can't shoot a lick. He once had 20 rebounds in a game- an amazing feat for a 6', 165# guy.

Grant is a calcifying power forward who will bring Boston their best dreadlocks since the days of Never Nervous,/Out Of Service Pervis Ellison. The Lakers owe him about $12 million dollars next year, but he can play for us due to some strange salary cap logic. We'll most likely cut him from our roster, as he was only included to cancel RR's salary out.

--- In other news:

- This will only be up through Monday, but AOL New Releases this week features former NBA power forward Wayman Tisdale's debut CD right here:

Full CD Listening Party -- hear the latest albums, track by track, before you buy them - AOL Music

You may or may not be able to listen to it (and 23 other new CDs, including Julie Roberts, Hank Williams Jr, Judy Garland, Hector Bambino and the Pet Shop Boys) if you don't have AOL , but you can try.

I don't get paid for doing this.. I just try to bring you the afterglow of the sports world. Speaking of which, Tisdale (a superb low post scorer) has put out a CD that essentially sounds like a porno flick soundtrack. Enjoy.

 

- I played soccer, was born in Europe, and still couldn't care less about the World Cup. I just hope that the Boche don't win it.

 

- The Cape League is in the hizzy. Check out www.bournebraves.org

 

- I found a nice wine site while I was surfing the other day...

Bum Wines

This site reviews the worst wines on the market. A typical review goes something like:

"So curl up on a heating duct and enjoy..."

and

"A convenience store clerk in Show Low, AZ once told me that only the oldest of stumbling indian drunks from the reservation buy Thunderbird.  Avaliable in 750 mL and a devastating 50 oz jug."