Scott Cordischi On Sports: B’s The Best Kept Secret!

Wednesday, December 07, 2011

Scott Cordischi, GoLocal Sports Editor

You’re a sports fan in New England. For the past month you have been consumed with the scandals at both Penn State and Syracuse. You have been following your first place New England Patriots closely as you always do. You have kept an eye on the Red Sox who eventually settled on Bobby Valentine as their new manager. And some of you have even been wrapped up in either the end of college football’s regular season or the beginning of the college basketball.

But what you may have missed over the past month was the unbelievable play of your Boston Bruins! The B’s have been, in a word, spectacular over the past month. Since November 1st, Boston has managed to go 14-0-1 in 15 games with their only loss coming in a shootout.

That great play has launched the B’s up the Eastern Conference standings like a rocket ship from 15th place to second place. As of play through Monday night, they were only one point behind Pittsburgh, whom they beat that night 3-1 on the road, for the best record in the conference. And they still have 3 games in hand on the Penguins.

Stanley Cups are not won in November or December for that matter. Still, it is hard to ignore how dominant the Bruins appear to be right now. After what seemed to be a Stanley Cup hangover, Boston is now playing as well if not better than it was when it won the Cup last June.

Tyler Seguin has been amazing and the offense is clicking on all cylinders. So, too, is the Boston defense. And Tim Thomas continues to be the best goaltender alive, dead or yet to be born. It’s a wonderful combination.

-It looks as if the Big East has settled on 5 new teams for expansion. Central Florida, SMU and Houston will join the league in the fall of 2013 for all sports while Boise State and San Diego State become football-only members of the conference.

-Am I the only one who noticed that Bobby Valentine went out of his way to mention GM Ben Cherrington in virtually every response to questions asked of him at his introductory press conference? Hey Bobby, we know that you were Larry’s choice and not Ben’s, so don’t try to insult our intelligence.

-The only people upset with the outcome of New England’s 31-24 win over the Indianapolis Colts Sunday were those who had the Patriots minus the 20 point spread.

-Did you see where Cubs GM Theo Epstein took veiled shots at Red Sox fans and former manager Terry Francona on the MLB Network when he praised Cub fans and his new manager Dale Sveum?

-It’s a shame that the Syracuse men’s basketball program has to deal with the daily questions about the alleged wrong-doing of former assistant Bernie Fine because this may be one of the more talented teams they have had there since they won the national title in 2003.

-LSU-Alabama take two. Sign me up!

-Stanford’s Andrew Luck will be the better pro quarterback by Baylor’s Robert Griffin III deserves this year’s Heisman Trophy. Griffin received my vote.

-The fact that Ndamukong Suh got into a car accident at 1:14am on Saturday seems to be another example of the fact that this young man has some issues.

-Where once I thought that a lockout-shortened NBA season would benefit the aging Boston Celtics, I now think the opposite since they will be cramming a lot of games into a short period of time.

-It is very clear that the Providence College men’s basketball team has taken to the coaching of Ed Cooley.

-Having said that, they will take their lumps in the Big East as Vincent Council appears to be the only legitimate big-time Big East caliber player.

-I’m not sure that I would want Chris Paul for only one season if it meant losing Rajon Rondo.

-Lost in all of the Tim Tebow mania is the fact that the Broncos’ defense has been outstanding.

-Having said that, I love to see Tebow win each week because it’s fun to see John Elway fake how happy he is.

-I’m sorry, but I have never been an Elway fan because he refused to play for the Baltimore Colts coming out of college even though they had the #1 draft pick. That never sat well with me.

-Good luck to new ESPN baseball analyst Terry Francona.

-Did you see where Cam Newton set the record for most rushing touchdowns by an NFL quarterback in a season last week with 13? He broke former Patriot Steve Grogan’s previous record of 12 back in 1976.

-To all of the Rhody fans who keep asking, Jim Baron has 2 more years left on his contract at URI taking him through the 2013-2014 season.

-First Jose Reyes and now possibly Albert Puljos? I know that the Florida Marlins have a new stadium, but where did all of this money come from all of a sudden?

-It may seem hard to believe, but Boston College may not be one of the top 10 best college basketball teams in New England!

-Kudos to PC hockey coach Nate Leaman who has the Friars men’s ice hockey team ranked 20th in this week’s US College Hockey Online Poll.

-Ditto to Brown women’s basketball player Sheila Dixon who was named Ivy League player of the Week after she led the Bears to a sweep of URI and PC over the weekend with a career-high 26 points against the Friars.

-How ironic would it be if the New England Patriots were the team to try to squash Green Bay’s shot at perfection in Super Bowl 46?

-Give me more of this 60-degree December weather. I’m all about global warming!