By Michael Kelley ’14 & Mick Kowaleski ’14

Bloody Valentine

Kowaleski: Many times, baseball teams can write off slow starts as flukes and rely on the incredibly long season to right the ship. But the Boston Red Sox have issues that have no easy fix. It starts up top – when Boston announced that Bobby Valentine was going to be TerryFrancona’s successor, I, a New York Yankee fan, rejoiced. This was the best thing to happen to the Yankees since the 2009 World Series Championship. Not only was Francona (a worthy adversary) gone, but Valentine is an absolute goofball and a liability. My hopes were confirmed as soon as Valentine opened his mouth. From dissing Kevin Youkilis to questioning the legitimacy of “The Flip” (and getting embarrassed in the process), Valentine has proven that he’s doing more harm than good.

The bullpen is a mess, and that’s not all Valentine’s fault. But when the Yanks came back from a 9-0 deficit to win 15-9 at Fenway, the New England fans did not boo the pitchers whenever Bobby V made a pitching change. They booed the manager himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was gone by the All-Star break.

Whenever it’s a bad time to be a Red Sox fan, it’s a great time to be a Yankee fan. I’m loving the BoSox mess—they’re not even pretending to contend.

Kelley: After that 15-9 loss to the Yanks, Valentine told the media that the Red Sox had hit bottom. So logic tells us that you can only go up. Up they went as the Red Sox have won their last two games against the Twins. Maybe the tide has turned or maybe the Twins are just that bad.

Sure, expectations are super high in Boston, but there needs to be time for adjustment. I’ll agree with your goofball and liability claims to a certain extent, but this guy knows baseball with the best of them.

Valentine is not responsible for this mess. The Sox have lost 30 of their last 41 games, dating back to last September. Most of those 30 losses came last season. So what we are talking about is a very insecure squad who has not experienced a long winning streak for a while now.

There is no denying the serious and dangerous talent in the Red Sox lineup. If the pitching staff can turn it around from their league worst 6.68 ERA and gain some confidence, this is a championship caliber team with Valentine running the show.

NBA Playoffs: Who Walks away with the Championship?

Kowaleski: Last year’s Mavericks team was probably my favorite sports story of the year, and as much as I’d like to see my man Dirk make a trip back, I just don’t see it in the cards.

The West will be won instead by an Oklahoma City Thunder team that will be too good for the Lakers to beat in a best-of-seven series, and too young for a very good, but creaky Spurs team to keep up with. They’ll benefit greatly from having Memphis (probably the team with the best chance to beat them) facing San Antonio in the top half of the bracket.

The East seems like a two-horse race between the Bulls and Heat, and for the most part, that’s true. As well as the Celtics have been playing of late, they won’t have enough to unseat Chicago, and neither will an unproven Pacers team against the Heat. It’ll come down to the two favorites though, and Derrick Rose’s latest health problems, I have to go with the Heat.

Finals prediction: Thunder vs. Heat, with LeBron and D-Wade silencing the critics and winning the first title for King James.

Kelley: LeBron’s only ring this year will be the new engagement ring he gave his girlfriend. Yes, I said it. The King will not get the elusive NBA Championship ring he desperately needs to gain a place in the pantheon of the all time greats.

I am not buying the whole “the Heat are too motivated and too angry not to win” argument. That was what everyone was saying last year. It is the NBA Championship that players dream about: everyone is motivated.

I do believe that the Heat are too talented not to make the NBA Finals and that they will, defeating the Chicago Bulls in what should be an epic series (if D-Rose is healthy).

We’ve been agreeing on things lately: I don’t like it. The Thunder will win the West. The Lakers aren’t young enough to run with Durant, Westbrook, and Harden.

In the finals, which will very likely go seven games, the Thunder will emerge as champions. Durant is a scary scorer with limitless range. Perkins will bully Chris Bosh down low. And LeBron’s head will get the best of him once again.

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