Happy Anniversary AI!!!

6 years ago today, role model extraordinaire for young basketball thugs across the nation, gave one of the most memorable press conferences of my lifetime...

"I supposed to be the franchise player and we in here talking about practice?!?
what are we talking about...practice?
we talking about practice, man...we talking bout practice...
it's funny to me too..."

The last line really sums it up: How the hell can I make my teammates better by practicing?

We Love You AI, especially cuz you were rocking the old school Red Sox hat in this clip that will forever be immortalized on YouTube!!

To: Doc@BostonCeltics.com

Dear Doc,

Let me start by congratulating you on winning your first playoff series ever as a coach. Getting that first one out of the way is such pressure. I remember when I popped my cherry (referring to my premier blog of course)... I believe my performance suffered because I was primarily concerned with getting it over with. I didn't care about the strategerie of the X's and O's, or the possibility of getting injured or worse... I rushed my way through it. I needed the proverbial monkey off my back. I knew with enough time, practice and repetition, my confidence would grow and my audience would be increasingly pleased as I chased after the coveted ring. My resume's currently looking pretty solid: some kudos, a few pats on the back, a 'thank you' note with a hint of eau de toilette, a little constructive feedback, some comments, but no complaints (at least not to my face).

Anyways, my point is, this was your first time. And being compassionate about what that felt like for me, I'm willing to cut you some slack and give you a pass. However, I'm still going to take a moment to advise you how I'd prefer to see things go down in the future. My development would have been exponentially faster if I had received some feedback after my first venture. Rather than rattle off 10 things I think you should've done differently, I'm going to focus on the easiest and possibly the most egregious.

Should you once again find yourself coaching a do-or-die Game 7, whereby you're up by more than 30 points in the middle of the 3rd quarter and the opposing team has not even scored 30 points yet - I urge you to more quickly get your franchise players (as well as your starters) out of the game. Forget that Game 1 of the next series would begin in approximately 48 hours and your team should have been already resting at home for a couple days, praying for an upset. Instead, I request you pay closer attention to how increasingly physical the series had become, and how a guy, who has no legitimate business being on the court, can end up in the middle of something random with a 1- or 2-game suspension (or worse)...Now I'm not saying some fan was gonna toss a beer and Scalabrine was gonna run up in the stands...I just think there are times in life where you should err on the side of caution.

If you don't have the confidence that your second team is able to hold a 32-point lead for a quarter-and-a-half against the 16th seed in the playoffs, then I'm unsure how you would expect them to be able to play in a close game because one of your All-Stars was in foul trouble. And don't get me wrong Doc, I completely agree with your decision to bring the starters out for the second half to make sure the game has been put away and out of reach. But when you see Rondo get slammed to the ground on an unfortunate play, that was probably the first sign to get them out. This isn't baseball where you exact your revenge in the next half-inning. The next clue may have been when both Garnett and Ray Ray successively dove for a loose ball with about 3 minutes left in the 3rd quarter. Mind you, your team was up by 34 at the time!! But I don't blame them, they're not supposed to turn it off because they've doubled up the opponent's score (plus 2) with a little more than 1 frame left. Players wanna play... Coaches wanna coach!! It's your responsibility to know when to pull them.

Lastly, I've seen some absolutely miraculous comebacks but I must admit that when they happen, you at least have a little feeling inside that makes you think it's possible. And honestly, that feeling was nowhere to be found yesterday.

In closing Doc, I suggest you YouTube some footage of Red Auerbach, and get a feel for when he knew when it was safe to light up his cigar. Because although you can no longer smoke in "The Garden", KG and Pierce should have long hit the showers to replicate what I was doing...enjoying a lit one as I watched the 4th quarter.


Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need any additional information.

Sincerely,

A. Concerned Fan

New Features for True Teachers

INNOVATION: in·no·va·tion

Pronunciation: \ˌi-nə-ˈvā-shən\

Function: noun

1 : the introduction of something new

2 : a new idea, method, or device

Source: m-w.com

Innovation may not quite be the right word but I really like that it's made up of two smaller words : namely INN and OVATION. Defining these words individually and recombining them gives us (an establishment for lodging an expression of praise). Therefore, trying new things gives others a place (or opportunity) to communicate admiration (or criticism).

So knock yourselves out! And when you wake up, let me know what thoughts came to mind about my blog while you were counting sheep...

The first new feature I'd like to point out is the What I was Just Listening to... feed from my Last.fm profile. This chart on the right-hand side of the blog will display what was recently playing in my iTunes, and is one of the many charts available via last.fm. For those not familiar with this site, it basically tracks (and charts) the music you listen to. It will recommend artists for you based on your taste (which is how I recently found out about Teedra Moses - see my April 30th blog entry). It's also a "community" site, so I've become "friends" with people in various parts of the world that happen to enjoy the same types of music as me. Pretty cool...if you're a nerd like me that appreciates these types of things...I'm registered under tuttafucco (surprise!!) if you have an account or decide to register and want to link up with me. Clicking on the link to my profile will take you to my page and allow you to see the weekly, monthly, and overall charts for the artists and songs I've been listening to.

The next blog feature I'd like you to feast your eyes on is the poll section...Pretty Self-Explanatory If You Ask Me...But you're not so I'll explain it briefly: currently, I'm curious to hear feedback about certain Toujours Tuttafucco genres that folks are interested to see/hear/read more of, in addition to ascertaining the level of interest in seemingly pointless surveys (though I can assure you every single word, post and song reference in this blog has a purpose and will speak to at least one of my faithful readers). If you wish to simply see me reach into the depths of my creativity cavity, be sure to check off the Other TBD box.

On deck is not quite a new feature, though the links are likely to change over time as I find additional noteworthy blogs "I Wish I Spawned". If you're at all a Sox fan and have ever been passionate about anything in your life, you'll no doubt enjoy and relate to RedSoxDirtyWater. If you're looking for "irregular reviews of books you never planned to read", look no further than BitterlyBooks. Personally, I rarely plan to read books, so it's a pretty safe bet any book reviewed in this blog is not on my to-read list. Notwithstanding, these reviews make me curious enough to add some of the books to my hope-to-read-someday list. Last but not least is ApostropheCatastrophe. Bad punctuation is all around us. And for those unable to slow down long enough to notice, when you have a moment, you can take a breather and peruse this blog for some good chuckles...

I've also enabled Anonymous-comment-leaving capabilities, for those wishing to have their voice heard but not bad enough to get a Google account. Or perhaps you simply don't want anyone else to know how much you adore my blog. Don't worry, it'll be our little secret...To celebrate this newfound option, I'm holding a contest, whereby the individual that comments on the most number of blogs by the end of 2008 will be awarded a very special, personalized prize from yours truly. Note: Mr. and/or Mrs. Anonymous will not be eligible for the special prize, as they have already notified me of their intention to conspire and take credit for a variety of comments that other people make.

In closing, I'd like to thank all those who have thus far taken the time to read my thoughts, feelings, emotions, and ramblings posted on this blog...There's plenty more where they came from...it really means a lot to me, and I hope to continue coming up with new ideas, as I try to find my way thru this crazy life and even crazier blogosphere...

Holla if ya Hear me!!!