Sports Redux: Basking In Pedroia's Glow For One More Day

Let's take one more minute to salute Dustin Pedroia, since it's really the last order of business for the 2008 Red Sox. He's come a long way in two short years, judging by what Dan Shaughnessy said then and what he says now. He's impressed everyone he's played with and against - well, everyone except Dallas writer Evan Grant, who didn't even put him in the top ten. And he's given inspiration to scrappy little guys everywhere out there (though he's not the shortest MVP ever, to answer a question we were posed yesterday - that honor goes to Phil Rizzuto and Bobby Shantz).

Craziness abounded last night at the Garden. With Kevin Garnett serving a ridiculous suspension for "hitting Andrew Bogut in the face" (we studied that clip like it was the Zapruder film and didn't see it), Brian Scalabrine took his spot in the starting lineup, and hit the dagger-in-the-heart 3-pointer that sealed the C's' 110-101 victory over New York.

But the real fun happened when they put microphones in front of the Knicks. "Some guys I’ve never heard a word, but all of a sudden they won a championship and now they’re doing a lot of talking," said Zach Randolph, who got into a little scrap with Leon Powe and apparently doesn't get the concept of "bragging rights". Quentin Richardson delivered a speech that sounded like it was co-written by Omar Little and Sarah Palin:

"I think a few of those guys know they can’t just say anything to us. I’m just real curious to see what those guys will be saying if we weren’t in a basketball league, and didn’t have referees. I mean it wouldn’t be the same story. I mean they are the world champions and rah-rah-rah, but the tough part I don’t factor. I come from a neighborhood where you can say what you want to say, but 'til you do something, it don’t mean nothing. Some of those guys are happy to get a ring, but you ain’t been in the league long enough to talk to people like that. I don’t have a lot of respect for that."

OK, this quote needs examination. We too would like to know who would be saying what if they weren't in a basketball league with referees. We also wonder if more than 10 people would have heard of Quentin Richardson if it weren't for organized basketball. Also, we're wondering exactly what the Celtics have done to Quentin that makes him question their toughness, other than beat his teams repeatedly. Our crack research team discovered that Richardson-led teams are a career 5-18 against Boston. And as for "'til you do something, it don’t mean nothing," the big Q has participated in exactly one playoff run in his eight years in the league. And that team had Walter McCarty on it! In short, shut up, Quentin, and maybe Bill Simmons' idea (that the defending champs carry a title belt around all season) would back us up on that.

Joey Porter, on the other hand, has a one-game winning streak against the Patriots, so his traditional pregame blah-blah-blahing isn't being refuted the the Pats until Sunday.

Photo by Flickr's Eric Kilby, used under a Creative Commons license.