Ryan_Asselta's Blog

Well Matt Walsh finally met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell today, telling him everything he knows about the Patriots taping practices. The 6 tapes that Walsh possessed were made public for the media to view this afternoon. The tapes basically showed the opposing coaches making play signals, then they cut to the time and yard and down of the game to match up with the play calls.

Walsh did not answer any questions after his meeting, instead he bolted to Washington D.C. to meet with Senator Arlen Specter. Goodell spoke  with the media this afternoon and has basically said that the league learned nothing new from Walsh’s tapes. He did say that the Pats violated a rule, having an injured player practice back in 2002 and that Walsh was the point person for players scalping their Super Bowl tickets. But as far as Spygate, Goodell said he is not sure there is anything more he can explore right now.

Hopefully this is the end of Spygate, but I highly doubt it. Some of the NFL analysts are already ripping into the Patriots, saying that that they definitely gained an advantage from watching the tapes that Walsh brought forward.

So far the Patriots have yet to respond.

Another road playoff game and another dud from the Celtics on Saturday night. I know, I know, mathematically the Celtics can win the NBA Championship without winning a road game, but C'mon, does anyone really think that is going to happen?

Eventually the Green are going to have to step up and win a game away from the friendly confines of the Garden. Once again in Game 3, the Celts came out of the locker room flat. And unlike Game 2, the bench wasn't there to bail out the starting 5. For some reason, the Celts have had trouble starting games of late, and when you do that on the road, your often dig a hole that is just too deep to climb out of.

The scary thing is that the Cavs pounded the Celtics without Lebron James having a big game again. The King scored 21 points on just 5 of 16 shooting. You've gotta think, he has a breakout game coming sooner or later.

Another alarming issue in this series is that despite being up 2 gams to 1, the Celtics have yet to score 90 points in a game! Celts are flirting with disaster right now. They really have to get their act together, or #17 is not gonna happen.

I think we're all still in shock when it comes to the Celtics this weekend. I know I thought that the Celts first round series with the Hawks would be a clean sweep.  Instead we're looking at Game 7 at the Garden on Sunday.

We should still be feeling good about the Celtics. If not for the way they've been playing, then for the fact that Atlanta is simply an awful road team. But we do have to ask ourselves, what would it mean if the Celtics did lose?

I personally, would chalk it up as one of the biggest upsets in NBA history. The fact that the Celtics were not only the #1 seed, but without question the best team in the NBA during the regular season. Combine that with Atlanta's 37-45 regular season record and this would be an upset for the ages.

I also think it would be the defining moment of the careers of Kevin Garnett and Doc Rivers. KG has always been known as a guy who kind of disappears in the playoffs and cannot win the big game. Doc has a lot to prove in this postseason, and with the roster he has right now, losing in Round 1 to the Hawks, is simply unacceptable.

Hopefully this will all be moot, and the Green will take care of business on Sunday afternoon.

Thoughts?

With the Celtics vs Hawks series shifting back to Boston for Game 5, my question to you Celts fans is....Is the home court advantage enough? Yes the Green blew out Atlanta in Games 1 and 2 at the Garden, but that they played in Games 3 and 4, I'm not so sure that simply playing at home will be the difference maker.

Doc Rivers said Tuesday at Celtics practice that he told his team, that can't simply just step on the floor at the Garden and expect everything to change, and I think he is right on. The Celts need to do more. They need to find a way to slow down Joe Johnson. They need to figure out a way to grab control of the physical factor of this series. When is the last time you saw anyone come at Kevin Garnett, like Zaza Pachulia did in Game 4? KG himself said "It's been a long time".

The Celtics not only need to re-grab control of this series on Wednesday night, they need to send a message to the Hawks that will carry over to Game 6 in Atlanta. A Game 6, that will hopefully end this series and send the Celts on to round 2 of the playoffs.

It looks like we may be seeing the beginning of the end, when it comes to Spygate. I don't know about you, but I say it's about time. I am so tired of this story!

In case you haven't heard, the NFL and former Pats video assistant Matt Walsh have come to an agreement, that will allow the two sides to finally meet. The meeting will take place in New York on May 13, and Walsh will be required to hand over any tapes or evidence he may have against the Patriots. In exchange, the NFL and Patriots have agreed not to sue Walsh.

It should be very interesting to see what comes out of the meeting. Walsh is rumored to have evidence of the Patriots taping the Rams pre-Super Bowl workout back in 2002.

Meantime the Patriots released a statement today saying: "We are eagerly anticipating his honest disclosures to Commissioner Goodell next month and the return of all the materials he took during his time of employment. We fully expect this meeting to conclude the league’s investigation into a damaging and false allegation that was originally levied against the team on the day before this year's Super Bowl. "

It's been a while since I've blogged here on myfoxboston.com. I was out a few weeks after my wife gave birth to our first child, a baby boy. So I now return to the blogging world as a Father, and probably a little more sentimental than before the arrival of our little guy.

Though my son is only a few weeks old, I've already experienced our first baseball bonding experience. In between diaper changes and numerous feedings, my son and I had a chance to watch our first Red Sox - Yankees game on television. What better way to introduce him to the greatest sport of them all than a Sox Yankees game?!

Now of course, he has no idea who Manny or Big Papi are yet, or that Josh Beckett put together his best start of the young season, but I could tell by the look in his eye, that he really cant stand the Yankees already.

Anyway, it was the first of, I'm hoping, many many sports bonding moments that my son and I will have. A Father, A Son and A Ballgame...what better way to spend an Spring night.

After 2 weeks of voting, we will be announcing the members of this years All FOX25 Boys and Girls Basketball Teams Friday night at 5:00. Thanks to you guys, we had a record number of votes come in for the polls, with over 30,000 of you voting for the teams.

I cant give it away and tell you which 5 players earned the most votes, but I think the voters got it right.

There was a ton of talent on the High School hardwood this season, which made it extremely difficult to narrow it down to 10 nominees.

Friday night on High School Friday, we will recognize the 5 members of this years All FOX teams, Live in studio.

Thanks for voting!

The NFL has converged on South Florida for it's annual League meetings, and as you probably guessed...the most popular topic among the media is "Spygate"

Bill Belichick talked with the media on Tuesday for over an hour and was surprisingly open to talking about the Pats video taping practices and the team's former video assistant Matt Walsh. Here are some highlites:

When asked about the accusations that the Patriots taped the Rams walk through before the 2002 Super Bowl, Belichick said  "I've never seen a tape of another team's practice. Ever! Certainly not that one."

When asked about former employee Matt Walsh, Belichick said  "I barely knew Matt Walsh. He was hired before I became the coach."

It's interesting to hear Belichick directly address the issue of the Rams walk through. He sure sounds emphatic about never seeing another team's practice.

What do you guys think? Do you believe Belichick? Do you want the NFL to try and talk to Matt Walsh or do you want "Spygate" to just go away?

After a wild 4 days of March Madness the NCAA Tournament is down to the Sweet 16. Now it's time to exhale, take a couple of days off and take a look at your bracket, before the regional semifinals on Thursday.

I don’t know about you, but my bracket is kind of a mess. As is the case every year, I end up doing a couple of different brackets, and each one of them turns out, mediocre at best. I'm probably better off just filling out one and going from there, but what can I say, I'm a college hoops junkie!

Friday was one of the best NCAA tournament days we've seen in quite some time. Between Western Kentucky's buzzer beater and San Diego's last second shot to beat UCONN, we were treated to some great hoops.

Sunday, I saw the first one of my Final Four teams to get knocked out, when Georgetown blew a 17 point half time lead, and lost to Davidson. I still have 3 teams left, Texas, UCLA and Louisville, with UCLA and Louisville in the final and the Bruins winning it all. That dream almost came to an end on Saturday night after UCLA barely escaped their 2nd round game against Texas A&M.

March Madness...ya gotta love it.

How's your bracket looking?

In a stunning display of loyalty, Red Sox players have unanimously voted to boycott today's spring training game in Fort Myers as well as their trip to Japan, if their coaches are not compensated.

The players were under the impression that the Sox coaches were being compensated $40,000, just like the players, for their Season opening trip to Japan. When they found out today that the coaches are not being paid, they held a vote and unanimously decided to boycott.

Jason Varitek just met with the media a few minutes ago in Fort Myers and said that the players are united and that the coaches are "an extension of their family". Kevin Youkilis is the team's player rep and has been dealing with discussions between the team and MLB.

This is certainly about money, but not for the players. The Sox players are standing up for the little guy here, and it's pretty darn admirable.

What do you think

With Curt Schilling out at least half the season with an injured shoulder and Josh Beckett nursing an injured back, the Red Sox suddenly have a couple of big holes in their starting rotation. My question to you Sox fans is...Are you worried?

Right now we are looking at an opening day rotation of:

Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, Jon Lester, and then 2 from the group of Clay Buchholz, Bartolo Colon, Julian Tavarez, Kyle Snyder. Not exactly the rotation we envisioned heading into 2008.

Are you concearned? And who do you think should fill the holes in the rotation?

Have you heard about what Major League Baseball is planning on doing to the Cape Cod Baseball League? In what is a clear case of the Big Guy picking on the Little Guy, MLB is fighting the Cape League over team naming rights. MLB is saying that the six teams in the Cape League that share names with Major League teams, must wear the professional uniforms and pay an 11% royalty on all merchandise that those teams sell.

The teams in question are: Bourne Braves, Hyannis Mets, Chatham A's, Orleans Cardinals, Harwich Mariners and Yarmouth/Dennis Red Sox.

This is absolutely absurd. In case you didn’t know, the Cape League is a non profit League. It does not make any money and the teams all rely on fundraising, donations and volunteers to help keep them functioning throughout the summer. It's a league that allows college kids from all over the country a chance to play summer ball at a high level, as well as spend the summer on beautiful Cape Cod.

MLB annually donates a $100,000 grant to the Cape League, but has said that if the matter is not resolved, they will take the grant away.

Major League Baseball, along with the NFL, have been to grab complete control over their product for awhile now. And while I believe they have a right to do so, I think it's to an extent. 

MLB is just being flat out greedy here! For a billion dollar company to try and pick up an 11% merchandise royalty from the little itty bitty Cape Cod League....completely disgusting!

What do you think?

After making it quite clear he wasn't happy with his current contract situation, Jonathon Papelbon signed a new one year contract with the Red Sox today. Papelbon will reportedly be paid $775,000 for this season, which is a substantial raise from his league minimum of $425,550 he was set to make.

The deal is actually a Major League record for relief pitchers with less than 3 years of service, breaking Mariano Rivera's previous record. After this season, assuming it's as solid as his previous two, Papelbon should be in position to sign a long term deal, where we'll be talking millions, instead of hundreds of thousands.

To see Pap's stats so far in his young career, click here.

You may not have noticed, but the hottest team in Boston right now is not the Celtics or Boston College, it's the Boston Bruins. That's right, the B's are smoking hot right now, and after beating Atlanta 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday, have now won 6 straight games! Amazingly, the Bruins are now just 4 points out of 1st place in the Eastern Conference.

My question to you is....Does anyone care? Let's face it, the B's have been awful for a while now, and aside from diehard puck fans, not many people in Boston have paid them any mind. Now that they are playing well, are you going to follow them? Go to the Garden? Dig out your old Cam Neely jersey?

I'd love to hear your thoughts....