JMR's List of the 5 Longest Sporting Events Ever

They probably didn't think that they would have to play each other three days in a row.  But here we are.  John Isner, a 19th seeded! American has battled qualifier Nicolas Mahut to a virtual draw.  It even made the cover of ESPN, something men's tennis has failed to do in years (except when talking about Andre Agassi's drug habits or the rampant betting that occurs in Men's Tennis).  Incidentally, this match has been suspended not once, but twice, because of darkness.

Even though the match winner still has not been determined, almost every record in the history of tennis match play has been broken - number of games, length of match, number of points, longest set, most aces.  In fact, I saw a table of longest matches, and the Isner-Mahut match is longer by 50 PERCENT than the second longest match.  It got me to thinking about what the longest games have been in the five major sports in the U.S.  At first, I looked here for the answers, but decided that that was a little over the top.

1. Baseball.  It wouldn't be baseball unless there were actually TWO records.  One record for most innings and one record for longest game in hours.  In fact the game that holds the record for most innings (26) actually ended as a tie game (Dodgers 1 Braves 1, May 1, 1920).  There is no doubt that Bud Selig used this game as his litmus test when he called a tie in the All Star game 5 years ago.  The longest game in time occured back in 1984 when the White Sox defeated the Brewers 7-6 in a game that lasted 8 hours and 6 minutes.  The fans I'm sure were excited to sit through that game knowing that beer and food were sold out at hour 2 of that game.

2.  Football.  Christmas Day, 1971.  An NFL Playoff Game between the Dolphins and the Chiefs.  The Dolphins eventualy won this game with 7 minutes and 40 seconds gone in the Second Overtime.  The funny thing about this actually was my research.  So many people were condemned for asking such a "stupid" question.  They were scolded that games end up in a tie after the 15 minute overtime.  Followed shortly by the answer given above.   At least three research sites had this string of questions, snarky answers and salty responses.

3.  Basketball.  In a 6 overtime thriller, the Indianapolis Olympians defeated the Rochester Royals 75-73 on January 6, 1951.  A real yawner of a game, if you ask me.  I understand that in the 30 minutes of overtime play, only 23 shots were taken.  23 SHOTS?  How is this entertaining?  By the way, how did the team from Indiana get the name, the "Olympians?"

4.  Hockey.  March 24, 1936.  This is the time of the original 6.  Mud Brunteau scored the game winner for the Red Wings as Detroit defeated the Montreal (soon to be) the Canadiens in the sixth overtime of a semifinal playoff game.

5.  Soccer. (European Football).  Who cares?

So tomorrow, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut will face each other for a third consecutive day.  Neither of these guys will win their second round match regardless, and maybe they don't care.  They just want this to end.  I don't blame them.  As John Isner said at the end of Day 2, "Nothing like this will ever happen again.  Ever."  I hope not, for their sake.

photo courtesy of cnnsi.com

The Night We Went to the Derby

If you know me and this space, when you read about the "Night We Went to the Derby," you're probably thinking we went to the Kentucky Derby or some other type of horse race, or perhaps we strolled the local shopping mall.  Not this time.  This time we went to the Derby where, in the immortal words of my three year old "the girls go to kill each other!!"  I admit that that was a sentence that was uttered out of my mouth to engender some excitement - but who cares?  JMR and crew was going to see the Boston Derby Dames.

It all started on a fateful afternoon in April.  Desperate to look for some weekend entertainment for C, G and DLG, I came across a flyer for the Boston Derby Dames.  I remember Roller Derby from when I was growing up (and frankly Roller Derby brings all of us back to a more innocent time, when the Fonz was cool and Pinky Tuscadero was the bomb), and remembered fondly a couple of times that I watched Roller Derby when I was younger.  So we decided to check out the "bout."

With names like the Nutcrackers, the Cosmonaughties and the Wicked Pissahs, I asked around to see if perhaps this was not the kind of show I should be taking three impressionable children to.  When convinced that the show was at worst a "rated PG" type event, I decided to roll with it.  I just hope that Anna WrecksYa and Ivanna Shankabitch are not in the first bout.  Those names might be kind of hard to explain since they will understand some of the other play on words that these ladies travel with.

4pm. April 2010.  We arrive at Shriners Auditorium early so we can get good seats.  As we're walking slowly toward the front entrance, I notice dozens of people milling around the parking lot, cooking food on grills, drinking beer out of the standard red plastic cups and playing muscle music as loudly as possible.  Is this where Pats fans go during the offseason?  I then notice a line out the door comprising fans waiting to get in.  Strange, I think to myself.  We park ourselves in line under the door where we see the letter in our last name is.  I suppose this is organized almost like the Pinewood Derby - sitting in alphabetical order.  Soon I realize that we're in a will call line.  

"Where do I buy tickets?" I ask the two biker chicks standing in front of me.  They look at each other and smile.  One of them spits some sort liquid out of her mouth and laughs at us.

"This bout was sold out weeks ago!" She gruffly answers.

"You're kidding?!" I say incredulously.  "Really?"

"Really."  She snorts.  "If you wait around, you can probably scalp some tickets toward the start of the bout."  That, I find utterly ridiculous.  I'm not going to teach my kids that you can get what you want by paying more than face value to purchase tickets illegally - well at least for Roller Derby.  The Sox or the Pats are a different story.  

Disappointed, we return home.  But the JMR clan will not be denied our fun, so the next month we purchase our tickets online well before.  The kids are warily looking at me as we get in the car for the one hour drive to Wilmington.  When my 8 year old asks to hold the tickets, I tell him that we have to get them when we get there.  He looks sort of pissed when he chimes "That's what you said last month, Dad!"  I ask him if he wants to see the credit card statement proving that I actually bought them this time, with only a slight hint of sarcasm.

4pm. May 2010. Wilmington, MA.  This time we confidentally stand in line where the first letter of our first name is to get our tickets.  After a couple of minutes, we're inside.  Just in time to see the first bout, the Wicked Pissahs versus the Cosmonaughties.  I'm not sure if these teams are both based in Boston; I assume that they are.  This is the "warm up" bout before the Boston Massacre take on the best team - Olympia - for the main bout.

The rules are little too complex to explain in this space.  If you're interested, check out the full rules here.  There are a lot of referees, a lot of skating around in circles and a lot of points scored.  But suffice it to say that each team has a skater that needs to get by all of the other skaters in order to earn points within a 2 minute timeframe.  That and you can't really hit each other to block people, you can just get in their way.  Incidentally, that rule will later come back to haunt us.  I try to explain some of the rules to the kids.  My 6 year old doesn't really give much consideration to the rules when he blurts out "When are the girls going to kill each other??"  Some people look around with me to try to find the perpetrator of such an ignorant statement.  My 8 year old is horrified.

Luckily, the lights go down and a buzz starts growing from the crowd.  We're all getting excited, not knowing what's going to happen.   Finally, after a ten minute introduction about the rules, the teams are introduced and play begins.  Led by co-captains Hayley Contagious and Splitter Noggin (my 8 year old's favorite name), we decide to root for team blue (I call them that instead of the "Cosmonaughties" to avoid the inevitable questions.) 

Unfortunately, while I am enjoying myself watching the bout and figuring out the nuances of scoring, the kids start getting restless.  The girls aren't killing each other enough, I learn.  We decide to leave just as the bout turns really exciting (the Wicked Pissahs eek out a five point victory, I find out later).  I try to talk them into staying, but once one of them utters "McDonalds" it's all downhill from there.  So we end up leaving, but not before the kids try some Kickass Cupcakes and we take a couple of photos.  Despite them claiming to be bored, the Roller Derby is all we talk about as we drive home.  Maybe they had a better time than I thought?

You know, whether they had a good time (which I think they did) or they were bored, they will always be able to say to their friends that they went to see Roller Derby when they were kids.  Just like learning the piano, you don't appreciate experiences like that until you're older.  Maybe they will go with me next Saturday?

More Teaching Moments - 2010 Preakness Stakes

I guess I have to face the fact that my children aren't that interested in horse racing - at least not as much as I am.  Perhaps they were poisoned by their Mother's groans every time TVG was showing on the weekends.  Maybe it was that they don't have a video game dedicated to the Sport of Kings.  I don't know.  So I resort to my tried and true method for ensuring attention and interest for the Preakness Stakes.  Gambling!

12 horses, 3 of us.  I take the first 4 horses.  My five year old takes the middle four (and little does he know that he has the two favorites, plus my horse, Jackson Bend) and my eight year old takes the last four horses.  If one of the boys' horses wins, that child gets their choice of Silly Bands (rubber bands shaped like objects, animals, vehicles, sports, you name it).  If I win, they BOTH get Silly Bands.  Frankly, I'm not worried about that happening since the first four horses look like absolute stiffs.

One problem that will put my theory to the test.  We're not going to be home when the race starts.  I set the DVR earlier in the afternoon thinking that maybe that's the way to go, since I can fast forward through all the syrupy crap that NBC usually pulls on us fans before the race.  My sons won't care.  As we drive home, a couple of people text me about the race, appreciating that I am horse racing fan.  "Don't tell me who wins!" I scream at my phone.  I start my description of the gambling. 

"Are we going to have to buy you dinner, again; like we did during college basketball."  Ha, they have to win in this race, otherwise I'll lose them for good.

8pm.  Home.  I'm not that interested in all of the back stories either, so I'm thankful that this was taped myself.  I watch the replay of the Derby, since Super Saver won me a lot of money a couple of weeks ago.  But I'm not convinced that Super Saver is going to do anything here.  He started to really labor at the end of the Derby and the longer race might tire him out.  Also, the weather is supposed to be decent; another strike against the Derby winner repeating at Pimlico.  Bob Neumeier takes Lookin' at Lucky, determining that he had a really bad trip in the muck and will have a much better race with a new jockey aboard and perfect weather.  I'm not sure about that pick either; one bump and the horse falls apart.  I start describing this to the boys.  They both have their head buried in their DSs. 

"Come on boys, it's race time.  Who wants to win some Silly Bands!"  I shake my head that Silly Bands are even an enticement to these guys.  Christ.

As I start to get the boys pumped up, the race begins.  Oh boy, Dublin just veered out EXTREMELY wide out of the gate.  Count him out.  Super Saver and First Dude come out fast battling for the lead around the back stretch.  Super Saver seems to be running a little fast this afternoon.  I'm really not liking his chances now. 

And...I'm proven right.  Lookin at Lucky and Jackson Bend both pass Super Saver at the top of the home stretch to challenge First Dude, who has ridden a great race.  No Triple Crown winner this year.  Lookin' at Lucky wins by a head!  My five year old wins the Silly Bands!  I think First Dude held on for Place and Jackson Bend screamed out the Show. 

Unfortunately, they forget about the race about 10 seconds after the end of the race.  Maybe he'll forget about the Silly Bands too?

Nah, probably not.  They're only 3 bucks.  It's worth it.

Went to A Baseball Game and A Basketball Game Almost Broke Out

I could hardly contain my excitement.  I am a Father, however, so when I told my (now) 8 year old that I got seats - really good seats - to see the Red Sox play the Toronto Blue Jays on his birthday, I used the most muted tones that I could muster.

"We got awesome seats to the game.  Do you want to get out early from school and go with me?"  I was sure that the prospect of leaving school early would appeal to my second grader.  He was getting to be THAT age.

"Can I still have my sleepover with my friends after the movie Mommy takes us to?"  He answers cautiously.  I think he thinks that this is an either-or proposition, and I begin to suspect that I will be on the short end of this decision.

"Of course!"  I lie - er - I tell him.  I'll just use his First Communion money to pay for the movie with his buddies.  A present day example of robbing Peter to pay Paul. 

Suddenly, he perks up.  "Yeah Dad, will we get foul balls?  Should I bring my glove?"

So begins our journey to Boston to see the Red Sox.  I put special emphasis on RED SOX.  My new client has tickets waiting for me, so I figure let's get there early and enjoy batting practice and dinner.  Maybe we can get an autograph from one of the young guys.  Little did I know that something else might take over our attention as the game progresses.

No. Not Heidi Watney.  That would be kind of silly.  Although my son did point her out to me; saying that she was the one who talked about the games, during the games.  I asked him if I should take a picture of her and he said yes because she was famous.  Good thinking, son.  I think I will do just that.

"Your Mom is probably going to kill me when she sees this picture."  I tell him as point my camera in her direction.  (Little did I know that she would simply use social media to make fun of me.)  But then I take a picture of Sean McAdam too, as if that would fool her.

"Why would she be mad?"  He asks.  Oh, childhood.  I didn't tell him that I would explain it to him 2 to 4 years from now - whenever I get the cajones to talk to him about the birds and the bees (no pun intended).  I just changed the subject.  "Let's go to the Pesky Pole to try to catch some home runs!"  He half-heartedly agreed to go with me.

After yelling at one of the Blue Jays ball retrievers because he was 6 feet away from us yet kept hitting the BP balls he got back to the BP pitcher, we sat down in our seats.  Trying to catch home runs was a little too boring for the kid.  We were just a couple of rows behind the Red Sox dugout, so I figured it was okay.  We were so close, in fact, that my son could throw his ice cream helmet filled with expired ice cream at Tom Werner or John Henry in the Owner's box and probably hit one of them.  As we sit down, I am reminded that I was told that if the guys next to us asked how much we paid for the tickets, I had to say $500.  I didn't inquire why they would be asking me a question like that; I had my eldest son with me.

When these guys sat down though, I struck up a conversation with them.  One was from California, the other was from Massachusetts.  More importantly, I would later find out, the guy from Massachusetts had a good feed on his phone so as to get real life updates and video on Game 5 of the Celtics-Cavaliers who were playing at the same time.  I begin to feel conflicted.  Did I just get the best seats to Fenway Park I've ever gotten just so I could huddle around a couple of guys and a Blackberry?  When my son asked me the score of the Celtics game, I knew the answer.

So the next hour and a half transpired like this - watch the Red Sox dominate the Blue Jays, then ask the guy sitting next to us what the Celtics' score was.  Daisuke was pitching magnificently, yet, we were more concerned about how LeBron scored only a couple of points in the First Quarter, then the First Half.  Finally, I snapped out of it.  We were at a baseball game for crying aloud.  I've DVR'ed the basketball game, after all.  Enough with this nonsense.  Let's go Sox!

"Let's try to get a ball from Youk after the inning."  I tell my son.  He's too interested in taking pictures to care.  He's excited that the Red Sox are leading, but he's starting to lose focus, particularly now that the game is in the later innings.  I begin to try everything.  I yell at Terry Francona encouragement when he pops his head out of the dugout in front of us.  I buy some more popcorn.  I try to interest him in some trivia and statistics.  I think he had a good time, but as 11pm draws near, it's probably time to go.  As we put on our jackets, I ask the guy sitting next to us what the score is now.  The Celtics seem to be pulling away.  It's a good night I think to myself as we leave tot he strains of "Sweet Caroline."  The Red Sox win.  The Celtics win and the two of us had a great time.

All I had to hear were those magical words.  "When is it my birthday again?"  Maybe he meant the presents that he got or the movie he was going to with his buddies.  I don't care though.  For this night, I'll believe that he was talking about his old man taking him to the game.

List of Top 8 Celtics Playoff Performers - Rajon doesn't need the Rondettes

29 Points, 18 Rebounds, 13 Assists, 2 Steals and +14 Net Points. 

Rajon Rondo's numbers from Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals certainly fill up a stat sheet - joining Oscar Robertson and Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to record that many points and rebounds with 13 or more assists in a single game.  Rajon Rondo even got LeBron James to talk about how he would love to guard RR in Game 5 (which as a Celtics fan, I would love to see).  But, one of the greatest games in Celtics playoff history?  Perhaps.  One thing is for sure.  Since the Celtics won the NBA Championship on that fateful day in 2008, Rajon Rondo has slowly emerged not only as the bridge to playoff basketball after the Big Three retire or move on, but he has also emerged as the undeniable leader of the current team. 

Putting aside the ridiculous "MVP" chants at Sunday's Game 4  (Uh, MVP of what - one may ask - since LeBron dominated the season?), has Rondo been playing the best playoff basketball in Celtics playoff history?  Here are the Top 8 Playoff performances in Celtics' history.

8.  Bob Cousy (1958-59).  19.5 points, 6.9 rebounds, 10.8 assists.  A true pioneer to the current style of wide-open NBA basketball - except for you Pat Riley. 

7.  Dave Cowens (1975-76).  21.0 points, 16.4 Rebounds, 4.6 assists, 1.2 steals.  Before he decided that a hack license was a more fulfilling career choice (imagine getting into a cab that Paul Pierce is driving), Cowens led the Celtics to their last championship pre-Larry Bird.

6.  Rajon Rondo (2009-10)  17.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 11.4 assists, 1.9 steals.  That double pump lay up to behind the back pass to Tony Allen as LeBron James tried desperately to block his shot is the highlight of the 2010 Playoffs. 

5.  Bill Russell. (1961-62).  22.4 points, 26.4 rebounds, 5.0 assists, all world defense and uncalculated blocks.  I was considering putting Russell higher than 5th, but that would have defeated my point about Rondo. 

4.  Larry Bird. (1983-84).  27.5 points, 11.0 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 2.4 steals, 1.2 blocks.  I just liked that they beat the Lakers that year.

3.  John Havlicek (1967-68).  25.9 points, 8.6 rebounds, 7.5 assists.  I could have obtained more information on Hondo's numbers that year, but that probably would have required me rereading Bill Simmons excruciatingly detailed Book of Basketball (Soon to be available in paperback!!)

2.  Rajon Rondo (2008-09) 16.9 points, 9.7 rebounds, 9.8 assists, 2.5 steals.  I was apprehensive when the playoffs started last year against the upstart Chicago Bulls.  KG was hurt and out of the Playoffs.  Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, carrying the load for most of the season without KG, looked about ready to keel over like a 90 year old walking up the 18th Fairway.  Rondo had shown some slivers of brillance during the regular season, but could he lead a depleted and uninspired Celtics team in the First Round?  Like I said, I was apprehensive.  Well averaging nearly a triple double through the playoffs made me realize that Danny Ainge may have made the right move trading all of the Celtics' youngsters BUT Rondo back in the Summer of 2007.  (I don't count Kendrick Perkins, he's 34 years old).

1.  Larry Bird (1985-1986) 25.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 8.2 assists, 2.1 steals, .927 FT percentage, .517 shooting percentage, .411 3-point shooting percentage.  The year by which all others are measured as the Celtics won their last Championship of the Larry Bird era. 

Admittedly, RR has some work to do to catch up to the Celtics' gold standard of playoff basketball, but it is crystal clear that he has joined the echelon of the Celtics lore.  And we certainly believe that he can move up this list.  As my son excitedly pointed out while we were watching the game yesterday afternoon - "Look at Rajon take the ball away from all those other big guys!!  He doesn't even need Garnett and Perkins to help him"  Watch out there, Larry.  Rondo's numbers can only go up when he realizes he doesn't need the Rondettes anymore.