X's and O's & The Celts off to a great start... as expected

Is a 7-1 start for any NBA team a great sign?  Of course it is.  But when it comes to the Celtics it was clearly expected.  Eight games in twelve days to start the season is a great test to see where your team is coming out of training camp and the Celtics are locked in as predicted.  The scary thing is that Kevin Garnett is just showing signs of finding his offensive rhythm, while Paul Pierce is off to a very productive and efficient start to the year.  Welcoming back the Green to my life on a day to day basis again is a wonderful thing.

Now when November comes around it is more than just NBA and the Celtics, it is time for the Coach, well, to do just that, Coach.  With Five-Star Basketball NY, which is my instruction and training program that began in September in full swing, it is time to turn to the team building at my prep school.  In a growing school (we just started our first 9th grade) I am the guy that is building the boys program as I coach our 7th-9th grade team and our younger 5th and 6th grade team.  To say that this is a challenge is a slight understand.  Don't get me wrong, these are some of the nicest kids I have ever worked with, but that is part of the problem.  Getting them to focus, work hard and compete on a day to day basis is quite a challenge.  There is such a difference between coaching a city public school kid versus a private school kid.  I work with both on a consistent basis, needless to say I need to adjust my approach a bit from one to the other.

A new season is always exciting, the flu running rampant is not helping but the Coach is gonna find a way to get it done this season as exhausting as it may become.  Speaking of exhausted, I am still reeling from my trip to Philly two weekends ago where I attended Pearl Jam who was there to close the Spectrum, the World Series and the Giants Eagles matchup.  While the football game was terrible the whole experience was pretty awesome, and thankfully much of it was captured on video which I am turning into a documentary, editing has just began.  I'll say this from my Philadelphia experience, I have never been prouder to be from New York.  I'll let the footage do the rest of the talking.

This past weekend with the LeBron madness in NYC I did some work for Nike as they were sponsoring open runs for youth basketball players all over the city.  Friday night we got it in before the open gyms on Saturday.  What a night!  It is great when I can catch up with a whole group of people I don't get to see very often at the same time.  Great look Friday night... Coach was up LATE...

TONIGHT!!! Let's Go!!!

Well tonight is the night, it is here, the 2009-2010 NBA season finally begins.  And amidst all the excitement Big Baby Davis of the Celtics, a key piece to their second unit breaks his thumb in a non basketball altercation and will be lost for at least 2 months if not longer.  Are you kidding me?  This is why these guys need LIFE MANAGERS.  Not just an agent for the contract or a marketing guy for the side stuff like camps and appearances.  LIFE MANAGERS.  Each team should have a LIFE MANAGER for any player under the age of...hmmm....27 years old?  Have that with your breakfast and let Coach know what you think.

Back to the positive, tonight's opener in Cleveland.  The Celtics and the Cavs do not like each other as they are both after the same thing.  LeBron is coming off of an MVP season but a disappointing exit from the post-season prompted them to go out get Shaquille O'Neal to man the paint as well as add Anthony Parker and Jamario Moon to the wings.  With Delonte West appearing to go completely off the deep end (Coach is saddened by this as Delonte was a beloved Celtic) the Cavs have upgraded overall from last season.

We all know what the Celtics did personnel wise, now it is time to see the results on the court.  KG is back, he is full go, he is ready, he has a chip on his shoulder, best of luck to every other front line player that has to compete against him this season.  This is a 60 plus win basketball team barring any missed time from the big three, Rondo or Sheed.   This is a team focused one thing, getting that Chip back.

Tonight is one game in a marathon season, but as basketball fans we know this is a top heavy league and these big time regular season games say something about your team, especially when you are going on the road.  Cleveland will no doubt be rocking tonight as this is their only respectable pro team at the moment as the Browns are an embarrassment and the Indians, well the Indians have decided that they enjoy watching their players play for other teams in the playoffs and World Series instead of holding
onto them, see:  CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, Casey Blake, Ronny Belliard and Ben Francisco.  While this has zero effect on tonight it is happening at an interesting time, a time where Cleveland cannot afford to watch LeBron James walk out of Ohio.  Will tonight be LeBron's last opening night as a Cav?

Coach has an all-star team coming to the Gate tonight, basketball guys, guys you'd want to go to battle with.  Sounds familiar to the guys wearing the green uniforms.  Today promises to crawl along, it always does when you are hyped for something 12 hours down the line.

I'm just lucky to have a team like this to be passionate about and enjoy watching.  Coach has a goal for this season, enjoy the heck out of the Celtics and the NBA.  It starts tonight, go get it Green!

It is OFFICIAL!!! WWW.THECOACHSTAKE.COM

To my loyal readers, my friends and those who are lucky enough to have my thoughts forwarded to your inbox, it has finally happened, a real domain name.  It has been a long haul, the Coach has been trying to get The Take to the point where it is looked at as something more than just my basketball and life insanity on some blogger page, well, this is the first step of many to come.

With that being said, it is Friday, finish your work day, get that workout in, have a scotch, give the lady in your life what she needs and just know from this day forward you will be visiting:
www.thecoachstake.com

The video below is my first online foray into incorporating cinema on The Take and it is for all of you who want to let out a loud yell or a large number of four letter words on this Friday.  Just make sure your boss isn't standing next to you.  Enjoy your weekend!

Maccabi!!! Maccabi!!! Maccabi!!!

The Coach had quite a weekend between running workouts and running this town, but there was some time to hit MSG Sunday to get a look at Maccabi Tel Aviv who was in town to play the Knicks. The game which was set up to raise money and act as a bridge between Israel's top team and the NBA turned into much more. With just over five minutes left in the 3rd quarter Maccabi Coach Pini Gershon was given his second technical foul and ejected by referee Ben Taylor. It happened right in front of the Maccabi bench, which Coach was sitting 25 or so rows directly behind (Coach rarely sits much further from the court than that if he can help it) and what happened next was both entertaining and a bit bizarre. COach Gershon refused to leave the bench. Plain and simple he felt disrespected by Taylor, a replacement referee and he was not going to leave quietly. The director of security for Maccabi came quickly to the sideline, and before you knew it he was on the phone, most likely with the NBA I was told.

Ok, a few things:
1) If you are Taylor you can't be the guy that ejects the Maccabi Coach during a charity game at MSG in New York, you don't want to be that guy!!!
2) If you are Gershon, regarded as the Bobby Knight of Israel, can you really allow yourself to get that crazy where you get ejected? Then again, it is not reported that he dropped an M-F on Taylor which is really the only thing that warrants an ejection in a game like this, I guess threatening physical harm would also qualify but that is not what happened. Gershon was unhappy that the Knicks were getting a majority of the calls. After picking up his first technical the Knicks Al Harrington was whistled for an offensive foul in front of the Maccabi bench. Harrington reacted by firing the ball at Taylor and then getting in his ear about it which did not seem to bother Taylor. That is what set Gershon off and lead to his ejection. Was he right? No. But Coach understands his point. While Taylor and the other officials were in a tough position as replacement officials, officiating what is essentially a charity game is not easy when you have everyone barking at you, the officials needed to stay consistent on both ends and they unfortunately did not do that.

So as Gershon was still lingering court side refusing to leave Rabbi Grossman, who was one of the men that made this game happen, came to the bench to reason with everyone. Finally after ten minutes Gershon realized the right thing to do was to leave the court. But before that occurred something quite surreal happened in the Garden, the crowd started to loudly and aggressively chant Mac-ca-bi...Mac-ca-bi...Mac-ca-bi. It was pretty intense for about thirty seconds to a minute.

What was supposed to be a quick stop in for the Coach turned into quite a happening at MSG.

I think what Gershon was ultimately trying to do was send the message, "Don't f#ck with me."  Especially since it was a young official, Gershon wanted to make the situation as impossible for Taylor as it was for himself.  Ultimately though, this was not the best look for Maccabi Tel Aviv or the game of basketball.

After things settled down Coach left the Garden and headed to Brother Jimmy's for the second half of the 1pm NFL action and some chicken wings (Coach put wings away yesterday like a tuned up Leon kicking it at LD's crib) and some Octoberfest.   While both New York teams should be in the playoffs this season, (Giants are a clear Super Bowl contender despite yesterdays loss and the Jets will bounce back from this rough stretch) which is great for the city and the NFL, Coach just isn't feeling the games so much thus far.
Much of it has to do with the fact that I am a man without a team as my once proud franchise actually thought it was a good idea to hire Eric Mangini as their head coach and trade their two most talented players in Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards.  Coach has had enough of the nonsense, not enough time or energy for this pathetic franchise.

Thank goodness for the Celtics.  And quietly we are 8 days until tip off...YES!!!

Friday Thoughts...The Season Creeps Closer

On this rainy fall Friday in October the Coach is in many places. Physically my ass is at my desk at easily one of the strangest places anyone could ever work regardless of their profession.

Mentally, my mind seems to be all over the map even more than usual. The season is coming but there is just so much change going on that it is hard to keep up and roll with it all at one time…PAUSE.

As I am sitting here at my desk with some of the music Quentin Tarantino used in Inglorious Basterds blasting away, I was just interrupted by the head of the lower school where I work, who is one of the biggest schmuck’s around (I think I am being to kind, how about dick weed?)

He walked to my door, which is located 6-8 feet outside the elevators and asked “Do you know who is operating this elevator? First off, how about a good morning??? Secondly you are one of the heads of school and you spend each morning marching around making sure the elevators are being run like Charlie Company, enough!!! No Coach don’t know who is operating this elevator, Coach be sipping his coffee and painting a picture with words with a World War II soundtrack!!! Get out of my space!

So back to what I was saying, shit is changing, and life keeps getting more complicated but things always seem to simplify themselves when the season arrives. You get in that groove and seem to hit your stride when you know it is game night, whether you are coaching it or just watching it.

Though Coach bleeds Celtic green there is nothing like walking into Madison Square Garden in New York for the first time in a young season, whether it be college or pro (Yes, despite their record there was a good Knick buzz in the building for a large part of last season) You always manage to run into someone you both want to talk to as well as someone you want to avoid the stop and chat with at all costs. (LD and the Coach are very much alike in that way, as well as enjoying the company of such a fine man as Leon.)

Yesterday during an email thread with the fantasy basketball league members for this upcoming season I received an email from a friend and a fan of the coach which read, “When coach takes it baseline he takes it hard to the tin!" -- Coach! At some point last season I guess I had resorted to talking about when I used to have a little game on the court and my love for the baseline drive in one of my posts. It always makes you feel pretty when someone is quoting you, well usually. After reading it a few times it made me think about the fact that we only get one shot at this thing, this game of life, it's time to start leaving it all out there again like the playing days of the 90's.

On Wednesday Coach was fortunate enough to be a guest of the Pistol at the Jimmy V dinner to benefit cancer research. Always a great night, always a time to reflect on how lucky we are to be healthy. When the Pistol almost got sucked into a 5K party package at the Zone there was a big buzz in the room a he was working the crowd the way Brandon Tierney couldn’t do that night (damn, he was painful) When Hannah Storm mentioned that Charles Smith was in the audience Coach couldn’t help but consider doing the unthinkable, “Smith…Smith….Smith again” out loud, which was also presented in my twisted head during All-Star weekend. Thankfully Coach restrained, though the bidding and auction portion of the evening needed another bolt of lightning.

So as this is the time for some tough decisions and the time to take some big shots for the Coach lets all embrace the 2009-2010 season which is right around the corner. Time to get that Chip back…

The Blank Banner is Brilliant!

For the past two seasons the Celtics have successfully combined talent, teamwork, basketball I.Q. and toughness into a combined 128 regular season victories and a championship. What sometimes goes unnoticed in sports, specifically basketball is the psychology that goes into playing, coaching and team building.

When the Celtics went to Rome to during the pre-season in 2007 I thought it was a terrific way for that team made up of mostly guys that had never played together to build chemistry and bond as a unit on and off the court, and as we know that is exactly what happened. Ubuntu was the rallying cry all season which was more than just something you say before leaving the huddle, it is a belief, it is a philosophy and it was followed all year long.

This season the team has a new trick, a blank championship banner hanging next to the 2008 banner. It can be interpreted a few different ways:

-A blank canvas for the team to show their new body of work on.

-Coming up short last year means unfinished business lays ahead
which means nothing short of 2010 Champions will be acceptable.

-A daily visual reminder of why they do what they do, to win.

Whichever of these, or combination of these that motivated the Celtics to hang the blank banner doesn't really matter in comparison to the fact that this team is loaded, healthy and all business as we enter the 2009-2010 season.

The Coach couldn't be more excited as we are one month from opening tip.

The empty banner will prove to be brilliant as Ubuntu continues to be...

Get your blood pumping-25 Years Ago-Wow!!!

The Lakers are the defending champions. They added Ron Artest.
The Celtics lost in the second round to the eventual eastern champion Magic, then they got Sheed. It feels like the 2008 Finals was 5 years ago.

This is the intro from 1984, 25 years ago.
Fifteen years after Bill Russell's last game and championship from 1969, which was one of the greatest Game 7 stories in any sport of all-time.

Does anyone else have that special feeling about the upcoming season?

CBS. Vintage. Enjoy.