Boston Celtics Game

I traveled to Boston this week to visit one of my favorite clients, Linedata Services, Inc. They are a great mid-sized financial services software company. Linedata is headquartered in Paris, but the North American operations, and all of my contacts, are in Boston. Linedata has been on me for years to spend some time in Boston. Last month, I got approval from Jones Day to take Linedata's 3 top North American executives out to a Boston Celtics game.

(On a side note, this is a small example of why Jones Day is such great law firm. Even in these tough economic times, Jones Day is willing to invest in client relationships. When other law firms are laying off attorneys, Jones Day is allowing a non-partner-level attorney invest time and money into a mid-sized, current, client. Jones Day is very conservative, but is also very supportive of attorneys continuing to develop deeper client relationships. The firm takes a "long term" view of everything. This is only one aspect of a great Jones Day culture. It is a privilege to work for such a terrific law firm. I hope to be at Jones Day 20 years from now.)

Anyway, I spent the day with a few Linedata executives and we went to the game on Friday night. It was an exciting pre-game show.

The Celtics are the reigning NBA champs. They have won 17 championships - more than any other team in the NBA. The rafters are stocked with championship banners.



The Celtics were playing the Pacers - a team that is not great, but can be fun to watch. Roy Hibbert (ex-Georgetown boy) got the game started with the tipoff. We had great seats just off the floor. They were, by far, the best seats I have ever had for an NBA game. The Linedata guys loved it.




This was the first game for Stephon Marbury in a Boston Celtics uniform. He was released by the Knicks just a couple of days ago. Starbury received a warm reception in Boston and played great. If he continues to play like he did tonight, Boston just got even better.

Ray Allen was on fire. He ended up with 30 points in the game. During one stretch - he could not miss.

Rondo had a great game as well. He had 17 assists by the 3rd quarter. I thought he was going to get 25. He did not play much in the 4th quarter and ended the game with 17.

Paul Pierce is HUGE. I never realized how big that guy is until I saw him in person. I thought of him as a smallish guard. I was very wrong. That guy is tall and built like a football player. No wonder he can shoot over people and power through a foul to make the shot. He is an animal.

The Pacers played a good game but the Celtics just had too much fire power. The Celtics ended up winning the game 104 to 99.

Texas Homeschool State Champions

Shawn's homeschool basketball team won the Texas Homeschool State Championship this weekend. They played great.  Shawn had several really solid games and was selected for the all tournament team.  

Josh at 6 Months

Josh is getting so big. We went in for his 6 month check-up and he is doing great. He weighs 17 pounds 14 ounces and is 26 3/4 inches long.

This past week he started to crawl and said his first word.

A-Rod and Steroids in Baseball

With Alex Rodriguez’s admission today that he took steroids from 2001 to 2003, I felt compelled to blog about this topic.

If you know my family, then you know we love baseball. Misty and I both love the sport and Shawn Jr. is a very good baseball player. We spend many spring, summer and fall weekends watching baseball games. Our family number is 13. Not solely because of A-Rod but he was an influence. Shawn Jr. wore number 13 (because of A-Rod) before we even had a “family sports number.” When the story broke, Jr. was a little sad about it. I could see it on his face. This is a kid that loves baseball. Not that he ever really "looked up" to A-Rod - we have talked plenty about A-Rod’s shortcomings - but Jr. (as well as almost every other baseball fan) really admires what A-Rod has been able to do on the baseball field. Now all of those accomplishments are up for question.

I personally have never loved A-Rod. But he was my hope. After the sting of Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds started to fade away - I was cheering for A-Rod. He was the clean guy that could wash the homerun records clean. A-Rod was my hope that a huge slugger from my generation was legitimate, without question. To make it that much better (or worse) A-Rod is maybe the best of all time! He has speed, hits for power, hits for average and plays good defense. It makes me mad that he, too, is now forever tainted. This cast a huge shadow over all of baseball (just like the Mark McGuire steroid scandal).

I am glad it came out - but I hate that it is true.

Looks like Jose Canseco was right - again. In his most recent book he alleged that he introduced A-Rod to a steroids dealer.

My friend Scott (who is a really smart baseball fan) had the following observations on this topic:

“It's pretty sad for all the kids who admire(d) him. We're a forgiving country and people will appreciate his admission. I think he will get into the Hall of Fame someday, but I don't think it will happen on the first ballot.

It's sad that now everyone is under suspicion. Who knows who the other 103 were. Ripken? Jeter? I hope the entire list comes out some day. It's unfairly tainting the 700 or so who did not test positive. Side note - it is amazing that 104 tested positive when they knew the 2003 test was coming!”

This is almost exactly what Curt Shilling said on his blog “Shocked, You Just Can’t Be Anymore.” For the record, I don’t think Ripken or Jeter would ever do steroids. But I guess Scott is right – you just never know.

I think baseball is strong enough to withstand this. But with Bonds, A-Rod and Roger Clemens all tainted, baseball brightest stars are now shining examples of cheating. Like all sports, MLB is defined by its stars. This will always be viewed as the steroid era and it will hurt baseball forever.

I semi-jokingly tell my friends that smart sports fans, are baseball fans first. Not that I don’t like other sports, but baseball is my first love - a thinking man’s game. It is slow and deliberate. You need to know the history, statistics and players to really enjoy the game. What does this have to do with steroids and A-Rod? Well, baseball is obsessed with statistics. Baseball is a sport that does not innovate. The sport has attempted to remain basically unchanged over the years. It is called “America's pastime.” The rules are the same and very little technology has been introduced. ANY change in baseball is looked upon with an extremely skeptical eye. Why does MLB still use a wooden bat when a myriad of other technological choices are available? Because part of the attraction to baseball is the link to the past. The past performance of the stars that have come before. Guys who hit the same ball with a wooden bat 40 years ago. This (theoretically) allows baseball fans to compare apples-to-apples when looking at the statistics of Babe Ruth and Ryan Howard. But now – that comparison is not possible. Medical science, through steroids, has introduced a wildcard that throws off all the efforts of the baseball purest. In the steroid era the human body was the element of change that broke the treasured link to the past. Very sad.

I guess all of this makes the accomplishments of the clean superstars like Ken Griffey Jr., Albert Pujols, Derek Jeter, and Greg Maddux all that more impressive. Guys - please don’t let me (or my kids) down.