Saturday, October 28, 2006

 

A Sad Week

This was a sad week as two of my idols passed away. On Monday, Todd Skinner, a world-renowned rock climber, fell to his death in Yosemite National Park. Apparently, the belay loop broke on his climbing harness as he was descending a fixed rope on Leaning Tower. Skinner made numerous free-climbing first ascents around the world. The San Francisco Chronicle carried the story here.


On Saturday, Arnold "Red" Auerbach, Boston Celtic coaching legend, passed away at age 89. The Boston Globe, in an excellent article, chronicled the life and times of the greatest coach in the history of the NBA here.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

 

Less Optimism


Well, the preseason games are over for the Boston Celtics; they finished with a record of three wins and five losses. All but one of the games were close and entertaining; however, most of the losses should have been victories. Here are a few observations on the preseason - Rajon Rondo was the surprise of the preseason; Sebastian Telfair is a better shooter than I thought he was; Tony Allen was a major disappointment (much of his athleticism seems to have vanished); Al Jefferson began to show some improvement as the preseason progressed, while Kendrick Perkins seemed lost (and very foul-prone). The veterans, Paul Pierce and Wally Szczerbiak, played their usual steady game. Boston is MUCH more potent when they run; their half-court offense is terrible. Delonte West, Ryan Gomes, and Gerald Green performed well. My prediction for the season is that Boston will finish with a record of about .500, make the playoffs; but, likely will be ousted in the first round. I'm a little less optimistic than I was in my previous blog. Stay tuned and we'll see how it all plays out.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

 

The Boston Celtics and another NBA Season




Well, another NBA season is about to begin. I've been an avid Boston Celtics fan since the Russell-Cousy-Heinsohn days in the mid-50's. There were a lot of championships throughout the 60's, 70's, and 80's; but, twenty years have passed since the Celtics led by the Big 3, Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish, last won an NBA Championship in 1986. It seems each season brings renewed optimism that this could be the year that "Banner No. 17" will be raised to the rafters of the "Garden" (or whatever the arena is called this year). And, I guess this year is no different. The C's are still a very young and inexperienced team; but, seem to have a lot of talent (or is this just blind optimism, again). Two games into the preseason (one a victory over Cleveland, and one an OT loss to Toronto) and a few observations can be noted: one is the quickness of rookie Rajon Rondo, two is the continued brilliance of Paul Pierce, three is the seemingly lack of growth of the two "bigs", Al Jefferson and Kendrick Perkins. The latter two have to progress if Boston is to even make the playoffs this year. Gerald Green, last year's No. 1 pick, has to be given minutes; he just looks too good when on the floor to spend time on the pine! Delonte West has to stay healthy and Wally Szczerbiak also has to complement Pierce's scoring. Others who could be key for this year include Ryan Gomes, Tony Allen, and the newly acquired, Sebastian Telfair. This is my analysis after watching the first two preseason games; we'll see how it all plays out.

Monday, October 2, 2006

 

North Carolina Trip

It's taken me a couple of weeks to come up with something to "ramble" about. However, last week I spent several days in Greensboro, North Carolina, conducting a couple of training sessions involving new employees for a store we will be opening there later this month. Product training covered the areas of "Travel" and "Climbing". It was a lot of fun as there were about a dozen enthusiastic "learners" in the group.

It had been many years since I had visited that part of the country. My brother and I did some backpacking in the Linville Gorge area years ago. This year, I had hoped to see some autumn colors; but, I was a few weeks early.

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