Dear Bucky,

You finally got to me.

Unlike the rest of the B-lo sports blogosphere, I’ve never had much disagreement with your commentaries and opinions on the Sabres. Like you I ripped the Sabres a new one immediately when co-captains Drury and Briere left town, and have become a bit annoyed with the inability to retain some of the key players that made Buffalo a Stanley Cup contender. I suppose I can understand why some out there get upset with your constant referrals to the “Druriere” situation, yet by same token it has been seven years gone by now and I still see comments referring to Hasek’s nasty departure from Buffalo. Keep it up if you so desire.

That being said, here’s word of advice to you: Leave the NBA commentary at the News to Mssrs. Sullivan and McKissic.

“NBA Finals not worth staying up for.” Really? OK, then exactly what Finals scenario WOULD you stay up for? Spurs/Pistons? Cavs/Suns? Knicks/Grizzlies? Being the alleged “big Celtics fan” that you are/were after the Braves left town, one would think that you’d be waiting with baited breath to see your team in the Finals for the first time in a couple of decades. Nah…guess not. Then again, what former Braves fan hops on the wagon of the hated Celtics anyway? Like any Bills fan would become ‘Fins fans in a relocation scenario. Just sayin’.

And since were you THE source for the what defines a “true” Celtic or Laker? Paul Pierce not a true Celtic? What? Someone who spends his entire ten year career in Boston and represents them six times as an All Star is not a “true” Celtic?

Why? Is it because he hasn’t won a title like those “true” Celtic predecessors of his. There’s a solid reason for that and it’s not Paul Pierce. It’s having a front office that was run by the likes of M.L. Carr, Rick Pitino, and Chris Wallace that never put a title contending team on the court with him during or before his arrival in Boston.

And Kobe not a “true” Laker??? Hmmm. Spending an entire career with the Lakers, earning ten All-Star appearances, helping to bring home three NBA Titles and winning an MVP award must not qualify since he begged out when things got rough. Fair point, sort of.

Except that the reason why all of those “true” Lakers never wanted such was because they never had to deal with a stretch of mediocrity like the Lakers had in the past three seasons(avg 40 wins). Case in point: the worst record of a Laker team with Magic Johnson(pre HIV - 1979-91) on the roster was 54-28. And yet like Kobe, Magic helped to run a coach out of town (Paul Westhead) even with championship results.

Yet we look on Magic fondly in part because his replacement WAS better (Riley) and took the Lakers to greater heights.

And I gotta wonder. What did you mean by “distant delinquents”?? A hidden shot at the league’s totally unwarranted thug reputation?? With due respect, which league has brought us Pac-Man Jones, Michael Vick, Ray Carruth, and the Cincinnati Bengals?? Which sport has given us an embarassing steroid/HGH scandal filled with indictments, subpeonas, and other endless legalese? When was the last time that the NBA had to appear before Capitol Hill?

Outside of referee Tim Donaghy and the occasional Carmelo mugshot, how often have you seen NBA entities in the police blotter lately? Yep, not much at all. Darn those delinquents….

We’ve got the Celtics and the Lakers in the Finals. The two greatest franchises in the history of the sport, both having a future first ballot Hall of Famer on their team (KG and Kobe) and were the top seeds in their respective conferences heading into the playoffs. What in the world more could the NBA possibly give you? In what other sport would such a scenario make even a casual fan turn away from their sets and say: “Eh, not makin’ it through the first half. Why bother?”

I can think of one right away. It’s called “not being a fan of the game, period.” So please, Bucky. Save your opinions for sports you actually know and/or care about.

Much appreciated,

Peter Farrell

This one’s for all the diehards out there paying close attention to the NBA Playoffs.

Yeah, me and the other three of you out there. OK, maybe four or five.

For the past week or so I’ve done the following: Work in the daytime, come home and watch hoops until I go to sleep late at night. Little if any Stanley Cup Playoffs for me (just tell me how the Sharks are doing as I’ve got them in the pool), no visits to the downtown ballpark, and setting records for fastest click of the remote control to NBA TV anytime I hear or see the words “NFL Draft” coming out of my HD set.

Week one of the “most wonderful time of the year” is in the books and your unofficial(self appointed is more like it) WNYM NBA postseason correspondent is here with some offbeat commentary on the games that were. Maybe somewhat of an awards ceremony, if you will.

The “Why Home Court Matters” Award.

The Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks were manhandled in their first two games in Boston in losing by an average of twenty one points and were looking exactly like a young team with a losing record that hadn’t been to the postseason in nine years.

Enter Philips Arena into the equation and my oh my how quickly things change. The youthful Hawks overran the Celtics playing with a bundle of enthusiasm and energy led by the rim rattling exploits of Josh Smith. And voila! We have a series(maybe)! Tip of the hat as well to Michael Bibby for doing the nearly impossible and making the series interesting after calling out Celts fans for being “bandwaggoners”. Uh, Mike…you’re playing in the king city of bandwagon sports fans. Just sayin’

The “Hello America, Now You Know Who I am!” Award.

Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets. Chris has had an impressive career thus far in winning the ROY award in 2006 and has been mentioned as a prime MVP candidate this season with LeBron, Kobe, and KG. But let’s face it, spending your NBA career in Oklahama and New Orleans isn’t exactly going to get the word out about yourself, and not making the playoffs adds to that as well.

Enter Games 1 and 2 in New Orleans as Paul scores 69 points dished out 27 assists in two routs of the Dallas Mavericks and in the process completely outclassed future HOF point guard Jason Kidd. Paul leads a outstanding Hornet team that is solid in nearly all facets of the game. Shooters? Peja Stojakovic. Muscle underneath? Tyson Chandler, David West. Bench? Jannero Pargo, Bonzi Wells. If the Hornets stay together in the future, look out!

The “Funniest Moment of the Playoffs” Award.

This may be the best highlight of an otherwise dull series.

Honorable mention to Philips Arena going without the shot clock for much of the second half in game 3. Those time clock operators probably date back to the franchise’s days at Memorial Auditorium. (Yes, THAT Memorial Auditorium!) Speaking of the Aud….

A moment of silence to remember the passing of Darrell Garretson. He was a longtime NBA official working games for nearly thirty years also serving as NBA Supervisor of Officials for years as well.

But here in Buffalo he will always be the man whose whistle effectively ended the Braves 1974 season in Game 6 of their series against the Boston Celtics. His foul call on Bob McAdoo as time ran out in regulation of a tie game sent Jo Jo White to the free throw line for the series ending free throws. Very likely the most infamous referee whistle ever blown in Buffalo. Ever.

The “Ummm, Remember Us???” Award.

The San Antonio Spurs. Amidst all the hype of the stacked Western conference, the surging Lakers w/ Gasol… The reworked Suns w/Shaq… The Cinderella story in New Orleans…the 22 game win streak in Houston, the Spurs were admitttedly somewhat lost in the shuffle. The winning of the first two games of the Suns/Spurs series did help a bit, but it wasn’t until they annihilated the Suns on the road in Game 3 that eyebrows were raised. The Spurs raced out to a huge lead in the first quarter and never looked back with Tony Parker lighting up the LED board with 41 points. On another note….

The “Why You’ll Never Be Amongst the All-Time Greats” Award.

Shaquille O’Neal. Anybody who gets fouled intentionally at points of the game outside the final two minutes of play probably gets this award. But really, we’ve been hearing about this guy’s weaknesses at the charity stripe since the days of Kareem Abdul Jabbar and O’Neal is still a basket case when it comes to free throws.

That door you just heard slam shut could be one of two things(if not both). 1: The Suns’ championship window of opportunity, or 2: Steve Kerr packing his goods in Phoenix and headed back to being a televsion analyst.

The “Trends I Find Most Disturbing” Award.

Two share this award. First is the “fans wearing same color Tshirts for the playoffs” promotion that is sneaking its way into the NBA. Two major problems with this. One, this is a hockey thing, it simply doesn’t look right anywhere else and lets hope the trend doesn’t spread to the NFL or MLB. Also only the color white is acceptable. There have been some pretty hideous colors in the stands this past week taking focus away from the action.

Another trend somewhat unique to hockey is the whole “we gotta send a message to the other team” crap. In basketball it has appeared in the form of a hard and cheap foul in the final moments of a blowout. There couldn’t be a more utterly useless waste of energy than seeing Brendan Haywood knock LeBron James to the floor towards the end of Game 2, ditto Hornets/Mavs Game 3(the combatants’ names escape me right now). Leave that hockey stuff where it belongs.

The “We’re Trying to Build a Winner Like the Ottawa Senators Circa Late 90’s-00’s” Award:

The Toronto Raptors. If you love a bunch of stereotypical finesse Euros bombing three’s from the perimeter with Chris Bosh as the token inside guy, well then you’ve found nirvana at the Air Canada Centre. Carlos Delfino, Andrea Bargnani, Jose Calderon(k, he does have some toughness in him) and Jason Kapono(well he’s got a Euro sounding name!) fire away from downtown. When the shots go in, its a joy to watch. Otherwise….bleccchhh!

The “So THAT’S What Became of That Guy” Award:

Jameer Nelson. Remember him? The leader of the St. Joseph’s basketball team in ‘04 that had an undefeated regular season and wound up being the consensus player of the year? There he was Saturday in Toronto jamming the dagger into the heart of the Raptors season in scoring 12 of his 19 points in the fourth quarter on the way to giving the Magic a 3-1 series lead.

Runner up - JJ Redick, riding the end of the bench for the same Orlando club.

The “Schizophrenic, Playing to the Level of Our Competition Team” Award:

The Detroit Pistons. Is this the team that won fifty nine games during the regular season? Or is it the team that gave the lowly Knicks their two brightest moments of the season in defeating the Pistons twice? Seems like we’ve been seeing more of the latter here.

On a good note, an upset of the Pistons may be a good thing. If nothing else hoops fans won’t have to be treated to the ear-splitting - nails - screeching - across - the blackboard sound of the Pistons PA guy. DEEEEEEE-TROIT BAS-KET-BALL!!!!!

The “There’s a Reason I Haven’t Said a Word About This Series” Award.

The Utah Jazz/Houston Rockets.

Zzzzzzzzzzzz…..

No, I’m not insinuating that this has been a dull series and quite frankly far from it. The Z’s signify what I was doing when Houston rallied to win game 3 and Memo Okur made a critical rebound late in game 4. A novel concept would have been to have had at least ONE of these games begin prior to 10PM ET during this series.

Well, that wraps up this edition…..see ya as the playoffs progress!!!

Don’t know what your opinion is of the ‘72 Dolphins(mine: somewhat arrogant, but nowhere near as classless as the latest edition of the Pats). With that in mind, get a load of this commercial by Reebok. They should have put this one on right after the end of last night’s game.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zvs4T4RU30]

Not that the US media covers it, but Rugby World Cup 2007 is underway. Twenty nations, the US and Canada among them are competing in France for the title of finest international rugby team anywhere.

Not that I am passionate about this sport, like anyone else who went to college rugby to me is the sport whose team generally throws the wildest drinking fests on campus and just happens to play a sport as well.

But if nothing else, for my money rugby features the coolest pregame ritual in all of sports. The haka…made into an institution by the AllBlacks(New Zealand) and also done by some other sides in that part of the world. Begun generations ago as a sort of welcome/greetings symbol to the opposition, in recent years it has taken the form of an intimidating war dance that is done while peering directly at the opposition.

Anyone know of a place where one can catch the action? A tavern, restaurant? Anywhere locally?

For my money, nothing tops this for a pregame show….

And by the way. Team USA opened with a 28-10 defeat against defending champion England. A very impressive showing considering we were expected to get a MONSTER ass whoopin’.