DON’T WALK ON THE CELTS!

 

   A California  friend was visiting the east coast when the Celtics forced a playoff Game Six in Beantown against the Knicks on May 3. Could the Celtics become the first NBA team ever to overcome a 3-0 playoff series deficit? With visions of the 2004 Red Sox dancing in my head, I paid big bucks for a couple tickets to witness some possible Boston sports magic.

   It didn’t happen. Boston scored just ten points in the first quarter and trailed 45-27 at halftime. The sell-out crowd kept waiting for the Celts to DO something—anything—so they could let some noise and love flow to their heroes, but the home team wouldn’t cooperate.

 

   The lead swelled to 67-47 after three periods. There is nothing better than the sound of the TD Garden exploding with noise, but most of the noise was coming from scattered Knick partisans. I cringed as I imagined Spike Lee watching gleefully on television.

 

   “Let’s give them two more minutes, and then let’s beat the crowd out of here,” I said. “This is too painful. They’re killing me.”

 

   With 9:47 left to play, Iman Shumpert dunked for the Knicks to give the New Yorkers a 75-49 lead.

 

   “Let’s go,” I said. We followed a bunch of other dejected Celtic fans toward the exit and then to the subway station. We boarded the “T” and headed toward Sullivan Square, where my car was parked.  As the subway car slowed to a stop, a guy with an I-Phone said “They’re down by four!”

 

   I was dumbfounded and flabbergasted. Right after we left the Celtics went on a 24-2 run. The Garden surely exploded multiple times. We hustled to my car and turned on the radio. We had just walked out on what was shaping up to be the greatest come-back in NBA history.  By far.

 

   Sadly, the comeback fell short and the Knicks won 88-80. Perhaps it was just as well. While I am very much opposed to suicide, had I missed the Celtics pulling off a win on May 3, I’m pretty certain I would have hung myself and you would not be reading this column now.  Seriously …

(So when I saw the Bruins trailed Toronto 4-1 late in Game 7 at the Garden, I kept the TV on ... and watched the greatest NHL playoff comeback ever!)

for 4/18 

Sport -Thoughts    by Mike Moffett

BOOKS, WOMEN’S BASKETBALL, AND MEN COACHING GIRLS

Let’s get the shameless self-promotion out of the way first.

Did I mention I wrote a book?

Alert Weirs Times readers may recall that I recently co-authored “FAHIM  SPEAKS: A Warrior-Actor’s Odyssey from Afghanistan to Hollywood and Back.”  Brendan Smith wrote a wonderful Weirs Times story about the project last year.

(So what does that have to do with a sports column?  Please keep reading.)

A couple weeks ago I got a call from a friend in southern California, who explained that she knew a radio personality at KTLK-AM Talk Radio in Los Angeles who’d had a cancellation for her show, leaving an opening in the second hour. Was I interested in calling in to the show to talk about the book?

“Of course!”

But it meant calling L.A. at 1:30 p.m. EDT on a Wednesday, when I’m in the middle of a three hour “Sports and Society” class.  I’d have to bow out.

“My class meets at that time. Sorry. Maybe if it was about sports I could have taken a bit of class time.  Too bad.”

 

Then I was told that the host, Teal Marchande, had a daughter who played basketball for Cal-Berkeley, which was headed for the NCAA Women’s Final Four in New Orleans.

 

“OK.” I replied. “If there’s a sports component I can try to call during class, if we can make it interactive with my students.”

So I explained to my students that we were going to be on a major L.A. talk radio station, and that the scheduled quiz would be delayed a bit.  While we waited for our assigned call time, Jessica--an NHTI Lynx women’s college basketball standout--got her computer out and looked up Teal’s daughter’s information.

“Talia Caldwell is 6-foot-3,” said Jess. “She has over 1000 career rebounds and shoots 62 percent from the floor. And her father, Ravin Caldwell, was a linebacker with the NFL's Washington Redskins from 1987 to 1992, winning Super Bowl rings in 1987 and 1991.”

Sports component?  I THINK!

When we finally went live I explained I was sitting in the middle of class with my cell phone on speaker, and we first wanted to know how it felt to be the mom of a hoopster bound for the FINAL FOUR! Teal seemed delighted by the question and spoke at length of her excitement and anticipation.  As the parent of a couple of daughters who enjoyed some sports successes, I could relate. I thought of Concord’s Dave and Paula Bonnor, whose daughter Becky enjoyed some high level women’s basketball success at Stanford University (Cal’s big rival) over ten years ago. Becky’s brother Luke played big-time basketball at West Virginia and UMass. And older brother Matt is still making his parents proud, playing for the San Antonio Spurs and almost winning the NBA three-point shooting contest during All-Star weekend.

Teal and I did eventually talk about the “FAHIM SPEAKS” book and movie projects, of course, but we came back to sports.

 

“I’m in a room filled with Celtic fans who want to know what’s wrong with the Lakers,” I explained.  Teal laughed and put in a plug for the Clippers before her producer and engineer weighed in on the Lakers.

 

“Horrible coach.”

I thanked Teal for the air time, and explained that the pending quiz could be delayed, but not avoided, and our class went back to business.

 

But we now had a personal interest in the women’s Final Four. I went to ESPN the next Sunday and saw the Louisville Cardinals overcome a big Cal lead to knock off the Bears and advance to the Finals against UConn, where the Huskies easily triumphed.  I loved watching Cal coach Lindsay Gottlieb, and noted that she was once a basketball assistant at the University of New Hampshire, under Sue Johnson.  Small world!

I was disappointed that Gottlieb didn’t get a chance to face UConn and its coaching legend Luigi "Geno" Auriemma. In our “Sports and Society” class, we sometimes discuss the concerns of folks who feel that women should be coached by women, folks who especially chafe at Auriemma’s success, and who look for a great female hope to put him in his place. Maybe Lindsay will someday get the chance that she just missed out on in 2013.  But that’s a different story for another day.

Go Bears!

Bear Fact …

 

Cal-Berkeley and Stanford played one of the first-ever women's college basketball games in 1896. Stanford won, 2-1. Men were excluded, as women guarded the gymnasium windows and doors to keep out curious male students.

 

And …

Did I mention that I wrote a book?

 

Lindsay ...

Geno ... 

Ides of March ... plus 10

Greetings:

I'm back from a Sports Management Conference in Washington, DC. Held at Nationals Park.  It was sponsored by Georgetown University, and the Georgetown people were all bummed out when the Hoyas were bounced from the NCAAs in the first round by a 15th seed!

It was cold and windy, but at least there was no snow. Still plenty of snow in my Loudon, N.H. yard. Global Warming may, indeed, be a hoax. Ah, but there's now climate change.  Yes.  The climate may be changing. It's been changing for many millions of years. When it warms up enough .. if it warms up enough .. so that people can live in Greenland again, as they used to centuries ago before our cold snap, then ... why wouldn't that be a GOOD thing?

Anyway ... things continue to percolate re: our award-winning book, "FAHIM SPEAKS: A Warrior-Actor's Odyssey from Afghanistan to Hollywood and Back."  I'll be doing an interview later today with Ken Cail on WTPL-FF Radio 107.7  "The Pulse!"  Should be Podcasts available later.

Here's a link to a wonderful interview Fahim did with the Film Annex:

http://www.filmannex.com/posts/blog_show_post/fahim-fazli-hollywood-actor-author-war-veteran-and-afghan-american/61117

 

And here's a link to a TV interview I did last week on Nashua's "Gate City Chronicles"

 

http://youtu.be/oCaQ2IhLPCg

 

Book remains available on Amazon.com ... Kindle too!

 

http://www.amazon.com/Fahim-Speaks-Warrior-Actors-Afghanistan-Hollywood/dp/0982167075

 

And here's that link to the ABC-TV World News segment (Charles Gibson) showing Fahim …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz3EefX2om4

And don't forget our web site …

www.fahimspeaks.com

 

AND ... there's always my bi-weekly SportsThoughts Column at www.weirs.com

 

AND ... check my daughter's wonderful BLOG

http://gallivantingthroughgaul.blogspot.com/

 

Not only is she gallivanting through Gaul, she's traveling all over Europe! 

 

Semper Fi (and stay warm!)

MIM

Granite State Greetings:

More snow coming ...

Enough ... enough!

So I'm flying to California tomorrow, March 7. Actually northern California -- Oakland --  then to Berkeley ... and a chance to sit in on a history class there. I am a history guy, and am excited about that.  I know Cal-Berkeley has this radical, activist reputation. What if the professor overly proselytizes?  What if I need to speak up?  But as a guest, I'll try to be quiet and respectful ... and maybe learn something!  I guess the subject is the "Great Depression." 

Then down the coast to loved ones in Orange County ... including Fahim Fazli, the pride of Dana Point!

Congrats to Fahim on the occasion of "ARGO" winning the "Best Picture" Oscar!  Fahim had a small role in the movie - and coincidentally, is my co-author on the award-winning "FAHIM SPEAKS: A Warrior-Actor's Odyssey from Afghanistan to Hollywood and Back." That development has already prompted some calls from the media and several radio interviews.

Can't have too much publicity!

www.fahimspeaks.com

Semper fi  (and stay warm!)

MIM

Granite State Greetings:

Why did I pick the 49ers?  I am so glad football is over.

FAHIM SPEAKS news!

Fahim is in China with Robert Downey Jr. filming another IRONMAN movie. Check out Fahim in "Argo," which will hopefully win Oscar for Best Picture!

And ...

Another radio interview re: FAHIM SPEAKS (Amazon.com)! From yesterday, 2-4-13, with Military Mom Talk Radio (toginet.com). Our segment begins at the 30 minute mark ...

 

Recent Podcasts | Live Internet Talk Radio | Best Shows Podcasts

toginet.com

Semper fi ... and Stay Warm!
MIM

Below Zero Greetings from the Granite State!

OK ... I was wrong about the Patriots ...

But speaking of snow and cold, I'll paste a photo from Norway, from March 1993, in honor of a real American hero ...

Weirs Times Sports Columnist Mike Moffett, a veteran of 1991’s Operation Desert Storm connected with the late General  H. Norman Schwarzkopf in 1993 above the Arctic Circle in Norway, where then-Captain Moffett was participating in Operation Battle Griffin, an Arctic warfare exercise.  Schwarzkopf had recently retired from the army and was in Norway for CBS-TV Sports. Video footage of Moffett’s men training in the snow aired the next year as part of CBS Sports coverage of the Olympic Biathlon at the Lillehammer (Norway) Winter Olympics. Schwarzkopf passed away at the age of 78 on Dec. 27 in Tampa, Florida.

Happy New Year!

Where's the snow? 

OK, I know it's coming ...

So are the Patriots ... They should beat Baltimore in Foxboro on Sunday to get to ANOTHER Super Bowl ... one that they should win this time.  They had those last minute leads against the Giants in 2008 and 2012. They could easily be going for theit SIXTH Super Win in ten years ...

Anyway, speaking of Patriots, my friend Fahim Fazli, the Afghan-American interpreter with the Marines, recently got a call asking if he'd be available to go to China with Robert Downey Jr. to film "IRONMAN 3."  Hope it works out.  Check out Fahim in Ben Affleck's movie "ARGO," which won a Golden Globe and is also an Oscar candidate.

I recently did an interview with Denise-Marie McIntosh that's running this week on Nashua Cable television - an in-depth 50 minute interview on our award-winning book FAHIM SPEAKS.

Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hwuo0tzLubs

I'll also be doing an interview on Military Moms radio on Feb. 4.

More/better/later!

(Hope is snows/snows/snows in Foxboro Sunday ... Go Patriots)

MIM