Seeing as my team Houston Rockets keeps getting beaten as soon as they reach the playoffs I have developed a second team L

Seeing as my team (Houston Rockets) keeps getting beaten as soon as they reach the playoffs, I have developed a second team (L.A. Lakers). Its almost as if I’m supporting one team in the regular season and another in the play-offs.But at the end of the day, there is only one champion, and as sad as I am,  this year, the Boston Celtics are the NBA Champions Congratulations!. I will bebrief, because I am completely sick of hearing that Willie Randolph was treated unfairly. The fact of the matter is that he didn’t perform and he deserved what he got.There is a sad underlying story for the Mets and their pitching staff. With Willie Randolph went Rick Peterson, the pitching coach of the last few years.Unfortunately, Rick will be remembered for hisoverwhelmingendorsement to trade Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano.

This, along with Peterson’s firing, are very sad points in Mets history.Since Peterson made that endorsement, he has done wonders to a sometimes aging pitching staff. He helped Tom Glavine, Pedro Martinez and Billy Wagner revitalize their careers in New York, by learning new ways to approach batters.He is also responsible for turning two “throw-ins” in trades, into top-notch No 3 and 4 starters (possibly No 2 and 3 starters) Of course, this is John Maine and Oliver Perez. Rick sawpotential and taught both of these guys to control their emotions on the mound and learn how to win.Furthermore, Rick brought a great sense of pitching to New York. Yes, he worked by pitch counts, which may have been his greatest downfall, but for any team out there looking for a coach to turn Old into New and Young into Competitor, Rick Peterson is looking for a job.. There they are, sitting on my desk: Boston Celtics vs Western Conference Champion, Round 4 Game 4.

Section 9, Row 18, Seats 1 and 2. As I watched the final seconds tick down and the Celtics begin celebrating their NBA title, two feelings came over me. First, there was the sheer excitement of a Boston team winning another title and the manner in which they did it. Second, the complete and utter disappointment of knowing I have two tickets to a game that never happened. That’s right. I have two tickets to game seven of the NBA finals. Before the series started, I was given the opportunity to get tickets to one game through a program that I’m a part of. By the time I could make a selection, all that remained was game seven. I figured, no big deal.

The way the Celtics had played the entire postseason, I assumed that a game seven was almost a given. Every analyst out there, whether picking Boston or Los Angeles, predicted a seven-game series It was going to be a classic. And I was going to be there. As it all unfolded, nothing really swayed me. The Celtics’ game one win added up, because that’s what they do at home. Game two looked like it would be stolen by the Lakers, but again, the Celtics held serve. Heading to L.A., I knew it was very likely Boston would take one of the games, but I wasn’t convinced Then game three happened. Even with some of the most atrocious officiating of the playoffs, the Celtics made it a game and had a chance to steal it. I knew that this was trouble. We all saw the comeback in game four and even how well they played in game five Still, a 3-2 edge coming back to Boston was what I assumed But nothing prepared me for last night. I was torn all day.

How do you balance wanting your team to win a title with your own selfish desires to see them do it two nights later? In reality, you can’t. You can tell yourself that you want it to go seven, but any self-respecting fan wants to see his team win. I told myself, I’d rather have them win in six than witness a loss in game seven. That would be far worse. When Bennett Salvatore, Joey Crawford, and Ed Rush came out as the officials, though, I thought there was a shot. The Lakers even teased me a bit, with Kobe coming out red-hot and the Lakers going toe-to-toe with Boston for the first quarter. Then something happened I have no idea what. I don’t know if someone said something about Kevin Garnett’s mother, or someone called Paul Pierce’s fianc?fat, or Red Auerbach felt it was time to lend a hand. Whatever happened, though, the Lakers seemed to forget that the game was 48 minutes long. Bryant disappeared Gasol spent more time on the ground than defending anyone Sasha Vujacic looked like a scared school girl. And the Celtics took over. I could feel it start slipping away.