Sports Redux: It Just Goes On And On, My Friends

Bostonist just finished rereading one of our favorite books, W.P.Kinsella's The Iowa Baseball Confederacy. A tale of time-travel, mysticism and sports, the book's centerpiece is an exhibition game between the 1908 Chicago Cubs and the amateur Iowa Baseball Confederacy All-Stars, which, through a series of events beyond anyone's control, turns into a month-long, time-space bending battle of over 2,000 innings.

Gee, you may ask, what could possibly be reminding us of that? You're right if you guessed it was last night's 3 more overtimes, seven and a half hour-long marathon of a Game Six that defies description. It's a game when Ray Allen tied a playoff record (nine 3-pointers, en route to a 51-point night), when Rondo tied a playoff record (19 assists, ZERO turnovers), and - truth be told - when the Bulls did some amazing things, too. Brad Miller may be becoming the biggest Celtics villain since the 90s' Pistons, but the guy hit some clutch shots. Ben Gordon somehow played 652 minutes on a bad hamstring, and Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose came up with some clutch defense.

And, while we're laying it all out there, there's the matter of why Paul Pierce seems to still be the #1 option even on a night when Ray is hitting everything. And the matter of why the ball is still regularly in the hands of Stephon Marbury or (sigh) Tony Allen. Ever. And what happened to Eddie House. The rest of the world can say this is the best playoff series ever, but they're not the ones with the chest pains and the agita and the empty bottles of Wild Turkey strewn about the place.

And tomorrow, we do it all again. Game Seven. The Internet is abuzz with rumors that Kevin Garnett will play. The Celtics are trying to deflect those rumors. We say, put him in warmups, send him out to the pregame layup line, let Chicago wonder. Of course, then if he's not actually ready to play, they'll need Leon Powe, Clifford Ray and "Aztec Gino" to sit on him to keep him on the bench, but it's Game Seven, and you do what you have to do.

If there's anything good to be said about the excruciating hours of basketball, it's that it kept us from having to watch the Red Sox meekly surrender to the Rays, managing only one infield hit (and thank Jacoby Ellsbury's speed for that one hit) off Matt Garza and losing 13-0. Jonathan Van Every followed his game winning HR on Wednesday with some mop-up relief pitching. One question, though: since Tampa Bay fell in love with baseball last year, why were so many Rays fans disguised as empty seats last night?

The Bruins are trying to decide if the nine-day wait since dispatching Montreal was good for the soul (rest, recuperation) or bad for the soul (rustiness, ennui). They'll find out tonight, and probably quickly, when the Hurricanes hit the Garden for Game One. Not suprisingly, the Bruins think the time off was a good thing. Coach Julien: "It’s about time. I think everybody feels that way." Milan Lucic: "It’ll start right off with the opening whistle." Which is at 7:30