Blog: Former BU Star Charlie McAvoy Will Take the Bruins By Storm

By Nick Beaudoin (@beaudoin91_)

Charlie McAvoy is the future of the Boston Bruins franchise.

He is a generational talent, and the Bruins may have made one of the greatest picks in the team’s 93-year history when they selected McAvoy 14th overall in last year’s draft. The 6 foot, 208-pound offensive defenseman has played at the highest ranks of American hockey his entire life. McAvoy is product of the NTDP (National Team Development Program) in Ann Arbor, Michigan and, most recently, the storied hockey program at Boston University.

Is Cleveland Finally Getting Its Due? The Numbers Say Not Yet

By Joe Parello (@HerewegoJoe)

Cleveland went 52 years without a major sports championship, but is now on the cusp of, perhaps, winning two titles in the same year. With the Indians capturing the ALCS last night, they will open the World Series the same night the Cavaliers will raise their championship banner, next Tuesday.

Cleveland's past futility was on full display in the ESPN 30 for 30 "Believeland," which debuted just before the Cavs won the 2016 NBA Finals. The film not only listed the town's numerous on-field heartbreaks (of which there are many), but also the off-field issues that have shaped the psyche of Cleveland fandom. The Browns skipping town and "The Decision" were chief among them, obviously.

But now that Cleveland may be ready to win two titles in one year, a feat that only rival Pittsburgh has achieved in the last decade, is the math finally catching up? Well, sort of, but as you'll see, Cleveland will need far more success just to reach the average performance of a major sports market over the past 50+ years.

Listed below are the 19 other American markets with three or more professional sports teams, and all of their titles since 1964 (the last Cleveland championship before this year). We've then broken it down and listed an "average titles per team" figure for each market over that time span, and averaged out what a given market could have expected to win since 1964.

All this to give you an idea of how far below the mean Cleveland was/is.

Bob Lobel: Jerry Remy Impresses on Opening Day

By Bob Lobel (@boblobel)

We know how the Red Sox did in game number one, but a more difficult measurement is the Jerry Remy factor. 

On a scale of one to 10, how do you think it was? I’m putting him down for a solid seven, and the reason it wasn’t higher was the opening of the game, when he was on camera in the most intimate, for lack of a better word, setting. 

Bob Lobel: The Stupidity of Aaron Hernandez

By Bob Lobel

Who among us saw this coming in our horoscope?  No Stanley Cup, athlete turned alleged killer leading to a tight end crisis, the Red Sox winning in a regular and feel good way, and Naoko Funayama not being renewed in her contract with NESN.

Yes, we have had to deal with a lot of the unexpected in very short period of time, but was it necessary to dump Naoko?  I thought she did a terrific job with a nice smile, a lot of personality and a lot of knowledge about hockey during breaks and before and after games. A nice touch for sure. 

Bob Lobel: Not a Bang But a Whimper

By Bob Lobel

In hockey you can always count on the least probable thing happening. 

It is now one thing Toronto fans and Bruin fans have in common. Although I suppose it is possible all those Maple Leaf fans are still standing outside their arena waiting for something good to happen, whatever that might be. 

If misery loves company in hockey world, I’m missing the point. It's not the fall that hurts so much, it's the sudden stop at the bottom. An, old line, but it seems to feel right here. It all happened so quickly that sometimes the way you lose is better or worse than others. 

Studs and Duds: A Wimbledon Cat Fight

By Jeremy Conlin and Joe Parello

Studs and Duds is a weekly feature on Suite Sports. Who had a good week? Who had a bad week?

Studs

Chris "Birdman" Andersen and Shane Battier

Obviously, LeBron James was the biggest key to Miami's Game 7 victory over San Antonio, but these two guys were huge as well. In fact, the Heat outscored the Spurs by 12 with Battier on the floor and by 11 when The Birdman checked in. That's even better than the impressive +8 the Heat were with LeBron in the game.

A Tale of Two Cities: Championship Nights in Miami and Boston

By Joe Parello  @HerewegoJoe

I normally try to write in a way the average sports fan can relate to, but I'm pretty much gonna throw that out the window here: I just spent the last two nights at a Stanley Cup game in Boston and at Game 7 of the NBA Finals in Miami.

Before you dismiss this as a blog from a pompous jerk bragging about an awesome experience, give me the benefit of the doubt, and at least get these three points out of this.

1. Boston is a great sports town (Something you already knew).
2 South Florida is a weird freakin' place (Something you may have known).
3. My dad is awesomely crazy (Something you surely know if you've ever met the man).

Let's start with that last one, as I explain my recent championship night experience.

I called my dad on Father's Day, and the first thing he said to me was "Joe, it's Father's Day, but I've got a present for you."

Happy Belated Father's Day and Stanley Cup Observations

By Bob Lobel

As stupid as it will sound. I went out and bought myself a Father’s Day  card. What is even dumber? I bought it a month before Father's Day, I guess thinking they may actually have one this year. 

As you can see, the card could be used 24/7, if you hang it outside whatever room you're in when the nap fairy overtakes you. Hey, it happens! 

Ok, onward on a lot of random thoughts. Clearly, it is folly to try to dissect  the Stanley Cup Finals in between games three and four, so these observations are just that, observations. Here goes: If games one and two (both overtimes, in case you have forgotten) were played at a level 10 on a 1-10 scale, then game three at the Touch Down Bank Garden in Boston was a tepid 7. 

Lord Stanley's Cup: Game 1 Recap

Hockey, I guess.

(Editor's Note: We finally have hockey coverage. Yes, we're about six months late, but it's better late than never. Our NHL commentator is Phil Rizzuto (not the dead Yankee shortstop), and he'll be stopping in throughout the Stanley Cup Finals to drop knowledge that neither Joe nor I are intellectually or creatively capable of. -JC)

By Phil Rizzuto

Five takeaways from Game of the Stanley Cup Finals, a 4-3, triple OT win for the Chicago Blackhawks:

1. The Bruins had the edge on special teams

One of the biggest talking points going into this year’s Cup Finals was which team could produce more on the power play, or, in other words, which team’s power played was going to suck less than the other (both are under 17 percent for the playoffs and finished in the bottom third of the league for PPGs in the regular season). For one game anyways, that team was the Boston Bruins, who produced a power-play goal in the third period and came within a whisker of the game winner in the first overtime. The Blackhawks, meanwhile, looked stagnant and disorganized on their 5-on-3 opportunity in the second period, not registering a shot despite a ridiculously long (1:23) two-man advantage.

Catching Up with Bob Lobel: What a Hockey Game

Not that the Bruins need any help in net, but Bob's always willing to lend a hand.

Join legendary sports broadcaster Bob Lobel and host Joe Parello as they break down last night's marathon three-overtime opener to the Stanley Cup Finals. Can the Bruins come back? And, are the Red Sox for real? Oh, and what about that Tebow guy?

That and more on this week's edition of "Catching Up with Bob Lobel."

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Bob Lobel: Is This All Really Happening?

By Bob Lobel

Which event was least likely to happen in your dream sports world? The nominations for least likely to happen are:

1) The Bruins in Stanley Cup Final for the second time in three years.
2) The Red Sox holding the best record in American League by Father’s Day.
3) Tim Tebow is a New England Patriot. 
4) Jose Iglesias has a 14-game hitting streak and counting. 
5) Doc Rivers is not likely to be back as the Celtics' head coach. 
6) The most famous Boston athlete with the initials T.T. is not Tim Thomas, but Tim Tebow. 
7) Tuuka Rask is better than Tim Thomas was two years ago. 
8) Alfredo Aceves is still a working member of the Boston Red Sox, and finally
9) Despite rumors to the contrary, there will actually be a Father’s Day this year! 

Now, that’s a bag of surprises for you. All worth dissecting a little, starting with the most recent surprise. I was doing a golf tournament charity auction, and in the middle of it, a guy with a smart phone shows me a note saying Tebow will sign with Patriots. 

Bob Lobel: Still Room on the Bruins Bandwagon

By Bob Lobel

The bandwagon is starting to move at full speed, and it's hard not to be on it after last Monday's miracle.

Now, we have two straight against the Rangers, the emergence of Torey Krug, Dougie Hamilton and Johnny Boychuck, but not everybody can be a hero. With that in mind, I would like to nominate two guys that have been less than heroic for the otherwise bandwagon-worthy B's.