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Interesting Articles January 11, 2008

Posted by boydzone in : points, sports, video games , add a comment

I was just browsing the sportsgamer.com site when I stumbled across some interesting articles.
Both of these deal with ideas that I’ve touched on before, so I thought they were relevant and worth a mention on my own blog.
First off is this article about LSU using video game simulators developed by EA Sports to prep their QBs for live game-time situations:
LSU Wins… Thanks to Madden
This was something that Hoopes and I had briefly discussed in SportsBlast 4. In that show we had discussed Madden’s role in introducing players to real life sports.

This next article: The NFL: Scripted , deals with the NFL’s meticulous control of all aspects of their game and their dominance over competing leagues. I thought this was somewhat relevant to my first Boydzone post NFL.gov.

Oh, and while I’m at it, they also have an article on their discussing if Vince Young beat the Madden curse. This is something we discussed in SportsBlast5 “Monotonin”, back when when the Madden 08 cover was announced.

Jags v. Pats January 10, 2008

Posted by boydzone in : points, sports , add a comment

Normally when I look at teal in a sports uniform, I get a little turned off, feeling like there isn’t an easier way to date a teams look to the 90s. For some reason though I find myself actually getting kind of into the Jacksonville Jaguars uniforms today while looking at this picture from an ESPN article: US Presswire
It could be that I’m instantly transported from wintery Pittsburgh to sunny North Eastern Florida as I gaze at Jack Del Rio’s shades, teal zip-up shirt, and blonde locks. I don’t know. It could also be the toughness that the two backs flanking their coach bring to the game while sporting these jerseys.
This idea has been kind of beaten to death lately, especially in light of “Jacksonville out Steelersing the Steelers” in their last two meetings. This couldn’t have been more true in the first Steelers/Jagz game from this winter. The second game was a little bit different as the Jags running game barely showed up. Jones-Drew did break a couple of key tackles and made a few huge plays (40yard TD reception, 96 kickoff return). In a different life, I would be a big Jones-Drew fan; he’s shorter than most NFL players, but still escapes tackles, runs hard, and makes big special teams plays. It often looks like he’s too stocky and quick to tackle. Its also hard not to like Fred Taylor, who has made apparent just how underrated he is (7 out of his 10 seasons have been 1000+yard years).
As a Steelers fan, I have trouble getting into the Jags, as I honestly can’t remember the last time the Steelers beat them (I guess it was 2004?).
The Giants were able to return a kickoff against the Pats. The Ravens were able to run on them. So maybe Jones-Drew and Taylor could have big days. The Eagles were able to pass on them. Garrard has proven he can manage the ball well, which Eli Manning did with some success against the Pats. And even though their team’s colors include teal, they still seem far more timeless than the Patriots American Gladiator uniform design.
Are all of these things enough to topple the Pats? Probably not, but perhaps there is a chance that they’ll be able to rain some of that North Eastern Florida sunshine onto the North Eastern Atlantic’s seemingly inevitable avalanche of athletic accomplishment.

Steelers 2007-2008 Top 10 List January 7, 2008

Posted by boydzone in : points, sports , 2 comments

The Steelers 07 season has officially to a close with their lost to Jacksonville, though their previous losses to the Jags and the Ravens really seemed to signal the end. The Steelers were just too injured and too inconsistent to compete convincingly in the Playoffs. They showed with their string of late game come-backs that they were capable of playing hard, but they were steadily falling short of their goals.
Despite the fact that the season has ended without a Super bowl ring (or a first round playoff win), there were several memorable moments. I’m going to list my top ten favorite plays/moments and I’ll soon follow with another post of my 10 least favorite of the 2007-2008 Steelers season.

1. Roethlisberger to C.Wilson 55yard pass, Preseason week 1-
this play was on the initial drive of the Mike Tomlin era. The Steelers opened up on their second play with this long bomb. It sparked some hope and excitement for the coming season under the new coaching staff, and signaled more of what was to come from Big Ben in 07.
2. Dismantling of the Browns Reg. Season Week 1-There was some hope of the Brownies before the season actually started; prettyboy QB, reinforced O-line, beefed up running game…but the Steelers wreaked havoc on the Browns to kick off the regular season, causing some confusion and desperation in Cleveland. This desperation ultimately led to some critical changes being made in Cleveland, namely the exportation of QB C.Frye, and the installation of D. Anderson, who ended up having a monster year.
3. Pittsburgh 26 Bills 3 Week 2- A near shut-out for Tomlin’s first regular season home game.
4. Alan Rossum 98 yard Kickoff Return for TD- The Steelers had some difficulty fielding kickoffs and punts in 06, so we picked up Rossum in the preseason to help us out with this area of the game. I was at this game, and though having guys like D. Hester, J. Cribbs, and Jones-Drew in the league, bringing the number of kickoff return TDs to an all time high, it was fun for to see the Steelers get some of their own at home.
5. Steelers 21- Seatle 0- I was interested to see the Super Bowl XL rematch, so considering all of the questionmarks surrounding the Super Bowl (not that they matter much) it was nice shut them out completely.
6. James Harrison’s monster few weeks- Harrison forced a fumble out of a Kenny Watson as the Bengals were driving in an attempt to close the gap against the Steelers in our first match up this year. He then followed it up with 10 tackles, 3.5 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, and 1 interception against the Ravens on MNF.
7. Big Ben’s 30 yard run vs the Browns- The Steelers were losing going into the fourth quarter. Big Ben took off up the middle for this 30 yard scramble. Everyone in the room that I was watching with figured that he would go down on his own, but he just kept running and put the Steelers on top for the first time all game.
8. Big Ben/Ward against Miami- Roethlisberger went 18/21, completing something like 17 passes in a row in this swampy MNF game. Ward showed up to do what he does best. He worked the slot position, catching the ball in the middle of the field, getting pin-balled around, and being the possession receiver that he is.
9. Sweeping the Browns and Bengals- Considering the fact that the Browns did so well this year, it was important to have the tie-breaker against them, and it always feels good to beat the Bengals.
10. Vs JAX- Week 13: This was a loss, which wasn’t so great, but it was a great snowy, hard-fought, late-season football game. Every season has to have one of those, and this was it. Wildcard Playoff game: Two memorable plays in playoff loss to JAX- a. Big Ben threw incomplete to TE Heath Miller along the hashmarks,. The ball grazed his finger tips has he and the defender reached to grab it. The ball got deflected up into the air falling into Hines Ward’s hands mid-stride who carried it out of bounds passed the first down, but not before giving the safety a healthy stiff arm. b. James Farrior brickwalled Jones-Drew on a an off tackle run. Farrior shot threw the gap and nailed Jones-Drew, who fell straight back, taking a seat on the turf as they attempted to drive late in the 4th. Neither of these plays went anywhere (the Ward play was followed by an INT and the Farrior play was followed by a game winning FG for JaX), but they were two great plays made by two great Steelers playing tough football.

Other positives were Willie Parker’s second Pro Bowl year and Roethlisberger’s first. Hopefully these guys can keep bringing it over the next few years.

Off the Unbeaten Pat January 1, 2008

Posted by boydzone in : points, sports , 1 comment so far

So, what exactly will it take for the Pats to lose, if there is anything that can stop them? I pretty much figured they would go undefeated once I saw them destroy the opening few games of the season. And like everyone else, was lured into a false hope that the Eagles, Colts, and Ravens would actually pull off the upset.
Playing the Pats is like having a staring contest. If you blink they will beat you, and Saturday night, the Giants, who were perched on the brink of victory, blinked and their victory slipped right away.
They were able to hold the victory for the first 30 minutes as they managed the clock well, held the Pats to a few field goals, and made a great special teams play.
The second half saw some of that great ball management/movement, but also the type of minor inconsistancies that the Pats will feast on: a muffed snap, a dropped pass (jacobs), an interception, and totally chaotic clock management within the last few minutes of gameplay.
That game should not have come down to an onside kick, had these factors been a little better controlled, but the Giants found themselves like all the other teams that had led the Pats before them, scrambling to stop a Pats comeback towards invetiable victory.
Before this game, I was wondering what would be a bigger motivator for the Pats;
the taste of a loss to remind them how bitter that feeling is and just how much they want to avoid it, or that feeling of invincibiliy and momentum.
Hopefully they will plan to coast on this momentum while someone (jags, colts, bolts, and ideally Steelers, but I don’t see it in them this year, bless em’) will be able to act just that bit more inhuman than the Giants, in the Pat’s image, and beat them at their game.

Roughing the Runner November 12, 2007

Posted by boydzone in : points, sports , 1 comment so far

Football is an obviously violent sport. The more I watch, the more I marvel at how limber players must be to endure the hits that they endure. I’m just a baby relative to the number of years the sport has existed in its professional state. Perhaps I’m a baby in other ways as well as I can’t believe some of the hits that players survive.
One of the most terrifying and totally legal hits is the low tackle/cut block. Players often forfeit size and momentum in match ups on the field. Everyone saw Trent Green suffer a severe concussion trying to take out defensive tackle Travis Johnson while blocking on an end around play. Green had to compete with 100 pound weight difference while Jackson came barreling to make his play, so he went low in an attempt to trip him up. Jackson’s knee slammed into Green’s head knocking him unconscious. Lots of folks got up in arms over Jackson’s reaction, standing over Green, yelling at his still body. Jackson’s argument was that he has a family to feed and as unfortunate as Green’s injury was, Jackson’s career could have just as easily been ended had his knee been exploded on the play.
Its a tough argument. Both players body’s were put at risk trying to make a play. Its the nature of the game, it’s a dangerous game. That’s why the average retirement age is around 30 years old, if that. I’m surprised that more players aren’t taken out with knee injuries considering the frequency of such blocks/tackles.
In the Raven’s vs. Steelers Monday night game, Willis Magahee cut block Clark Haggans defending the Steelers pass rush several times. On one occasion, Haggans was sent flying end over end in the air, only to land and reach for his knee in pain.
Later in the game, on a nearly identical play, Magahee went low straight into Haggans’ knee only to suffer the bad end of the deal this time, leaving the game with a concussion.
This past weekend as everyone one was tuning into Adrian Peterson’s seemingly realistic quest for 1,800 rushing yards and the Offensive Rookie of the Year award in his 2007 season, Packers’ cornerback Al Harris made a low diving tackle, sending Peterson out of the game for at least another week with a torn ligament in his knee. There was nothing illegal about the tackle, it was a good play, Harris was doing his job and Peterson was cutting in an attempt to make his way further down field.
I’m sure everyone knows what its like to run into the coffee table with their knee or something similar to that. I can only imagine what it feels like to be running full speed into a body diving right at my knees. The joint is only meant to bend one direction.
Players like Peterson are pros and have been tackled/blocked like that hundreds of times I’m sure. Its only surprising to me that more players don’t have their games/seasons/careers ended by such hits.
Its a tight-rope walk trying to let the players play the game, while also looking out for their future health and best interest.
The game has come a long way since players would club each other in the throat and slam their heads into frozen fields.
People were questioning Peterson’s durability coming into this season, and for whatever reason I wasn’t immediately drawn to the guy, so his career wasn’t important to me. After watching his game against the Bears from a few weeks back, that all started to change. Both he and Hester had monster days, and as I watched the highlight reels, I got roped into the excitement around the guy. Hopefully he’ll be able to bounce back from this injury so that we can all see what he can do. People are already comparing him to Payton, Sayers, and Dickerson. Of course, Sayers career was much more short lived than most, due to … a knee injury. Still, 10 weeks in, 2 200 + yard games, including the single game rushing record. I hope to see more highlights from him down the road.

Praying For a Harsh Winter October 15, 2007

Posted by boydzone in : video games , 2 comments

A friend of mine just recently went to Iceland for his birthday. His plane ticket cost him about $450.
Over the summer I bought an old Xbox off of a friend for $50, and then pre-ordered Madden 08 (with coupon ~$35) so that I could play in the league that I described in my last post.
I was pretty excited about the upcoming ’season’ and wanted to take part in the release of the new version of Madden. I hadn’t bought a new video game in I don’t know, 17 years or something, so it all seemed like kind of a big deal to me.
About two weeks ago, I took my Xbox console over to my friend’s house to play a few games for our Madden League. He had a 360 and after a few games on that, we plugged my regular Xbox into his 50″ HD tv which ended up making Madden 08 for the regular Xbox look like a bad water color painting in comparison.
The next day I took a plane to California, where I hung out in San Francisco and then rented a mini van and drove up Route 1. This all cost me probably a little more than my friend’s ticket to Iceland. I’m not a huge fan of spending lumps of money like that, but I did get to see the ocean, play some music in California, eat some great tacos, and see some friends, so it was all worth it.
So it was just as surprising to me that when I returned home to find my Madden 08 Xbox disc scratched I pretty much immediately made up my mind to buy a 360. The 360, with extra controller and 2 new games (Halo 3 and Madden 08) cost more than either of these trips (excluding food and drinks) would have cost me. So instead of glaciers, volcanoes, desolate coastal beaches, and scenic cliff drives, I’ve invested in staying up late on weeknights to ‘meet up’ with my friends in places called “The Last Resort” or “the Pit” on Xbox Live (another $49.00 for the year subscription). We team up to earn battle awards such as ‘Steaktacular’ (I don’t know what that means, but I have one) and battle people who take themselves pretty seriously and name themselves after different types of weed.
When you put the investment in perspective, I suppose you might as well take it seriously. Still, its hard to justify spending that kind of money when I could be outside or abroad somewhere for the same cost. I’m just praying for a harsh winter. The kind where everything ices over and its so cold that you feel like your face has been hit by the broadside of a sword each time you step out the door. If its gets like this year, which is possible in Pittsburgh, then I’ll probably be glad that I have the warm glow of animated explosions to snuggle up close to.

Boyd’s Baked Goods + recipe 1 September 20, 2007

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Boyd’s Baked Goods has been the main name of my Fantasy Football team since I started playing last year. Occasionally, I’ll switch the name up for fun, but primarily, that’s the one I stick with.
I had high hopes for my fantasy football performance this year: it was my second year playing it, so I had some experience under my belt, and I had also paid more attention to football in general, with access to the NFL Network and a full time job that requires a bit of selfish zone out time, which I normally spend on sports websites…
But half way through my draft, I realized that I was a little more clueless than I thought. I drafted a few injured players (Chester Taylor, Michael Turner) and a bit of an unproven QB (Jay Cutler). Turner had freshly injured his ankle the night before our draft, and Taylor was injured by the arrival of Adrian Peterson and more recently by a hip injury. There were also rumors that he wasn’t a favorite in the locker room.
I ended up grabbing James Jones, the rookie WR in Green Bay that looks pretty good and DJ Hackett who had a decent preseason, but since topped the Yahoo waiver drops due to a high ankle sprain.
Cutler I like because he throws for a good amount of yards and had 9 TDs to 5 Ints in his 5 games last year. Going by those numbers, it would work out to roughly 27TDs to 15 Ints over a full season. Thats almost exactly Peyton Manning’s second year stats.
A ‘friend’ coerced me into joining another fantasy league I willingly did hoping to correct some of my mistakes. I also wanted to draft a couple of guys for fun that I didn’t to take in my first draft. I wanted to grab Marshawn Lynch to see what he can do, Jacoby Jones, who had a great preseaon, and Brandon Jackson, because I thought he looked good in the preseason (though Jackson recently looks to be usurped by rookie D. Wynn)
This draft was an online draft and happened while I was working. It was my first time ever drafting online and though my confidence was high (this being my second draft of the year) I once again crumbled into panic half way through.
I didn’t pay enough attention to the starting roster spots, so I didn’t try to draft 2 QBs and 2 DEF teams since I hadn’t noticed that was how this particular league rolled. I also loaded up on RBs (a weakness in my first draft) only to realize that we were starting 3WRs with an extra in the WR/TE flex spot. Woops.
Now I have two teams sitting at 1-1 in week two.
Fantasy football will throw you for a loop sometimes.
Ronald Curry had 135 yards and a TD in week 1. Cotchery, one of my other 3 string WRs had 52 yards 0 TD. In the second week, against the ’scary’ Ravens D, Cotchery racked up 165, while Curry caught for 12 yards.
All the while Duece McAllister, an acquisition that I was happy about, has 87 rushing yards so far this season running for his 0-2 Saints.
At least thats more than LT, though LT has some more receiving yards and a touchdown pass.
Is its wrong to start to scramble for answers when its only week 3? The Browns took early action by trading their starting QB, allowing for their 2nd stringer to lead them to victory over the division rival Bengals.
Everybody’s not sure if they should get worked up over Philly Eagles’ Mcnabb’s comments about race in the NFL. He seemed to be on the defense, working quickly to get back on the field after his last injury and as the Eagles drafted a QB in the first round. The blue and gold dropped to 0-2 as well. Though Mcnabb hasn’t looked 100%, and because he’s been injured so much, its easy to forget how good he is when he’s on. Though he is getting older and has been out of commission, I wasn’t crazy shocked when the Eagles grabbed Kolb, as eventually the Eagles may be forced to fill a QB void, if Mcnabb doesn’t return to or maintain his form.
I think that every team is going to have to scramble to solve the Patriots riddle this year. They look unbreakable.
I hope they lose a couple games, and I hope I’m tuned it when it happens because it will probably be unbelievable.
Another thing that is unbelievable is how simple it is to make good chocolate chips cookies.
In fact, I named my fantasy team after my love to make these cookies. Basically I use the recipe that comes on the back of the 365 Brand Real Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips wrapper.
Here it is exactly as its written:
Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup softened butter (or margarine)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/3 cups unsifted flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1-12oz package Chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Cream together softened butter (or margarine), sugars, eggs, and vanilla till fluffy. Combine unsifted flour, salt, and baking soda and stir into creamed mixture. Stir in one 12 oz package of Chocolate Chips (note the capital “C”s). Add 1 cup of chopped walnuts and 1 cup of shredded coconut if desired. Drop from a teaspoon 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Makes 6 dozen.

I don’t think I’ve ever had 72 cookies at the end of the night (or 78 if its a baker’s dozen). I end up with more like 30 lumpy cookies, but they’re tasty. I use real salted butter. I grease my cookie sheets with olive oil and butter. I also replace the chopped walnuts and shredded coconut part (though that sounds good too) with a cup or so of a shredded oat, cinnamon, raisin, and chocolate mixture. The cinnamon might be the secret weapon that sort of slips in like the tooth fairy leaving a silver coin on your tongue.
Cookies are always a good comfort food as the autumn nears and the air starts to bite, or when you need to seek solace from watching your fantasy investments rot like a cavity.

Late Blogust Pt 2 “Here we go Falcons?” August 29, 2007

Posted by boydzone in : points, sports , 1 comment so far

I’m not going to spend a lot of time reiterating the reasons why I’m not a fan of Michael Vick. There is already enough negativity surrounding the man.
This doesn’t mean that I think he’s had his fair share of punishment. If he’s truly guilty of the things that he today admitted his guilt to, then I think he should take whatever the judge dishes out to him.
There are all types of people arguing both sides of his case outside of the courtroom. Some folks are furious and disgusted about the idea of dog fighting and the manner in which some of the dogs were supposedly forced to live and executed. Others, perhaps playing devil’s advocate, state that if we’re that upset about the cruelty to these animals, how can we hold a double standard and hunt, and eat/wear animal products? I can see where these people are coming from in a way, but I think the idea is that the normal deer hunter doesn’t go out electricuting a deer to death through its testicles, and the roast beef sandwich that I ate at Kelly’s didn’t come from a cow that was drowned or beaten to death.
At least I hope it wasn’t. Killing is killing. That is true to a degree. I would say 98% of my meals do not contain meat partially for this reason, but I do think there is a line that was crossed in this case. That is, according to what I’ve heard and read about the police report, the same report that Vick agreed he could not win by fighting it in court, thus pleading his guilt.
That being said, today was probably the first time I found myself rooting for Vick and for the Atlanta Falcons. I don’t particularly like what I’ve seen about Vick, but I watched his public apology press conference and I admit I was a little moved. I’m not saying that the guy should be pardoned completely or that he shouldn’t serve his time. What I’m saying is, I hope that I never really want someone’s life to fail and that includes star quarterbacks from teams I don’t like. I think what got me really questioning myself about the subject was a video that I saw on espn.com today where there was some discussion about the reaction of white football fans to the Vick case. It was said that “Take all his money way from him” was the first thing to come out of white spectators mouth’s when the Vick subject (or similar cases) were brought up. It was also said that this reaction stemmed from a barrier of racial jealousy and ignorance, where white fans view black athletes as thugs taking their money.
I thought back to my “Dirty Bird” post and wondered if this is how I came acrossed and if this was what fueled my desire to write that post.
Its part of the game to be a fan and root against the other team. I discussed this in the Barry Bonds Booing post as well. The point isn’t that he’s a rich black athlete. If that was my gripe with Vick, I would have a much bigger problem on my shoulders. Most NFL athletes are rich by my standards. As much as Chad Johnson is annoying to watch, I don’t hate the guy, he just annoys me because he’s good, he knows it, and I have to watch the Steelers play against him. I’m sure he’s pretty rich, but I don’t think he’s a bad dude. He actually seems like a pretty funny guy.
Its not that race doesn’t ever come into play, I could probably relate more to Brady Quinn or Ben Roethlisberger (who are obviously white and seem like middle-class rust-belt bred men) than I could with Michael Vick, who grew up in housing projects in Virginia. I’m sure that these quarterbacks came from different neighborhoods where the racial imbalance in our country is evident. Though I have seen black and white housing projects from trailers parks where I grew up to the ones in the city, I really don’t know what its like to be Vick.
Vick came from a impovershed background. Football took him out of that and into the life of one of the richest athletes in pro-sports. I’m sure it was a lot of pressure.
That doesn’t excuse what he did, but if there ever was a time where he came across as aware of his situation, his burden, his faults, his priviledge and influence, it was today.
He could have had someone script his public apology, but that doesn’t mean that he was going to hit it on the head and be convincing about it. Before this I’d never seen Vick humble. This might be the media’s fault, I don’t know.
He apologized to his teammates, his team’s owners and coaches, and to the commishioner of the NFL.
He also addressed fans of his that are children and was pretty blunt about being irresonsible and having to “grow up”. Hearing him speak to the kids helped me imagine how cool it would be to grow up in Atlanta and have Vick be your team’s quarterback and watch him do all that he’s done, then going out and imitating him in your backyard with your friends… but it also makes it apparent how much messier it gets when it comes time to have a parent explain his actions.
He also addressed his teammates, who unfortunately have to wear the Falcons’ logo, which at this point packs some heavy assocaitions. He stated that he was dishonest and wasn’t forthright with his teammates, and that he was sorry for that. This admition does not excuse or forgive him, but it does give his teammates some of their propers in attempt to take some heat off of them. I still don’t like the guy. I’m not a fan of the guy. In a strange way, he might have made one of his best team plays. With Vick out of the picture the Falcons have a lot to prove. Backup Joey Harrington has to step up and try to be a solid QB. His teammates have to work hard to redeem the Falcons name, even though they weren’t at fault for Vick’s actions. Now the Falcons have even more to prove. They’re not a team of superstars now that their superstar is gone. This makes them an underdog team. With the odds stacked against such a team, this underDOG just might be able to bring the PETA out in every one of us.
(Ps I just saw an article that I haven’t had a chance to read, but with all the negativity in sports these days, it might worth checking out)

Late Blogust PT 1 “Region of Champions”

Posted by boydzone in : points, sports , 1 comment so far

I recently returned back to Pittsburgh from a quick weekend trip to Boston to visit some friends. While breaking my vegetarianism in order to buy a $6 roast beef sandwich at the advice of Rick Sebak at Kelly’s on Revere Beach, I noticed a grandmother wearing a pink “City of Champions” ball cap. In addition to this slogan, the hat also had the Boston Redsox and New England Patriots logos on it. While gnawing on my sandwich, I never doubted if I should have spent the extra $11 to buy the lobster roll, but I did wonder about the validity of this hat’s claim.
One of my favorite articles of clothing is a mustard yellow t shirt that I bought at the Monroville Goodwill in 1999. It features a crude illustration of three logo/sports equipment merged monsters. One is a baseball with a peg leg, one is a football with a hard hat, the other is a hockey puck with a ducks bill and a tossle cap. These three figures are of course supposed to represent the three predominant sports teams in Pittsburgh and are all comfortably situated among the words “Pittsburgh, City of Champions”.
So, which city is the true City of Champions, Pittsburgh or Boston? Is this title something that only one town can claim ownership to, much like the Stanley Cup of the NHL?
In recent years, I suppose the Boston area has had some success in professional sports. The New England Patriots won three Superbowls in the early part of the 2000s and the Boston Red Sox won the World Series in 2004. As impressive as this is, the Patriots actually play in Foxboro, MA and are supposed to represent all of New England. At least Pittsburgh had the smarts to avoid this arguement by annexing the city that their stadiums are now located in.

Organi$ed Crime / NBA, M.D. August 15, 2007

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Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) - Former referee Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to two felony charges Wednesday in an NBA betting scandal that rocked the league and raised questions about the integrity of games.

Tim Donaghy, a long time Beastie Boys fan, strolled into a courthouse this morning and declared to the judge “Kenny Rogers’ Gambler is my gambling theme”. As Mr. Rogers has stated “You have to know when to hold em/know when to fold em/know when to walk away/know when to run”. Donaghy seems to have taken the safest route possible, not just for himself, but for the NBA and for whomever else he was involved with in his gambling. He’s opted to fold em and walk away, potentially sparing the NBA millions of dollars and millions of fans, and possibly saving Donaghy his life.

As far as organized crime goes, there seems to be an age old debate over where crime and business begin and end.
Sure, there are laws in place that are there to set the boundaries of our behavior, but we’ve all also been witness to these laws being bent and penalties softened depending on who the law breakers are [please google- War, the history of Microsoft, baseball rules (base running) for more info] .

NBA franchise owners pay hundreds of millions of dollars to own their teams. According to Forbes Magazine online, Daniel Gilbert paid $375 in 2005 to purchase the Cleveland Cavaliers and teams bring in roughly 1/3rd of this a year in revenue. Multiply that by 30 teams and it doesn’t take long to see how much money is at stake here.
If the legitimacy of the sport was questioned in a wide-spread fashion, it would be a extremely costly problem, more so than you or I could probably imagine. On top of that, if you add that to the number of dollars that were won by Donaghy’s gambling partners, which is most likely not as much as is earned by the NBA each year, but still considerable, and you have quite a monstrous sum of money.
I’m sure this monster would gladly chow down 25 years of one mans life (Donaghy’s max sentence) in order to sustain itself.

Now, I really have no idea how organize crime works, but I have seen some cinematic portrayals.
In these movies, its most frequently based on Sicilian Mafia, and there often is a legitimate business/front for the operation (team/league), that generates taxable income. Next, there is either an attempt to monopolize their field of interest (NBA vs CBA?) or a side business that brings income in under the radar (gambling). There also is a Don (commissioner) who kind of calls the shots, and reaps the most benefits, but also at the council of his underbosses (franchise owners) who also benefit.

Gambling is illegal in most states, and fixing games is considered fraud. So, if Donaghy is guilty of participating in game fixing or gambling that might influence his implied neutral judgment of a game, then the best thing that the NBA can do is to convince the public and the government that a “rogue, isolated criminal” (Commissioner Stern’s words) was at work in this scandal. I’m sure that they have the power to convince Donaghy that it is his responsibility/safest option to take the blame as the business men involved in owning these teams are there to make money. They wouldn’t get involved and wouldn’t spend the money to own these teams if there was any other reason at play. I’m sure they’re also fans of the game, but that does not necessarily mean that they’re fans of, friends with, or the least bit concerned over the fate of one ref, especially if it takes their investment out of jeopardy.
In this case, the least suspicious way of eliminated the accused ref from the public eye would be for him to disappear. Since there is federal attention to this case, the most legally satisfying way would be for him to be locked up for a couple decades.

According to the Associated Press article on the subject, Donaghy “is taking an antidepressant and anxiety medication” , which I can imagine is better tasting than the medicine Dr. Mafia, or Daniel Stern, M.D. would prescribe if he were to take more than a couple other goons down with him. Considering the sway that big time money has on our government and society (see my “Say it Ain’t so Vino” post / second to last paragraph), I would not doubt that they NBA made their case very convincingly to Donaghy. Probably convincingly enough that he felt like he was less likely to wake up next to a severed horse’s head (or worse) in jail.