Celtics 117, Bucks 97

 

The Celtics used a dominant, 33-18 second quarter to take a 58-45 halftime lead and then cruised to a 20-point win over the Bucks in Milwaukee. 

Along the way, Paul George scored 27 points, including 15 points on 5-10 three-point shooting. Neemias Queta (13 points) snagged nine rebounds, narrowly missing a double double. Jayson Tatum (21 points) sank five threes on 5-11 outside shooting. And coming off the bench, both Mitchell Robinson and Payton Pritchard scored a dozen points each, with Robinson getting seven rebounds, four of them on offense. 

The Celtics (8-2) remain a half game back from the 76ers, making Tuesday night's game in Philadelphia all the more interesting, even beyond the Tatum-Brown rivalry. A win could give Boston the lead in the division and with Detroit dropping back-to-back games, first place in the Eastern Conference.

We're ten games into the 2026-27 NBA season, and the real drama starts on Tuesday night. The Celtics are 1½-point favorites.

Packers 45, Patriots 27

 

I've watched a lot of football games in my life. I'm an old man, and I've seen pro football, semi-pro, Canadian League, USFL, college, and high school games. I've even seen rugby and soccer, man. Having established that, yesterday's Patriots game against the Packers was one of the worst, least-satisfying football games I've ever seen.

Drake Maye was intercepted three times. Two of those interceptions resulted in Green Bay touchdowns. He was sacked four times. As a team, the Pats only rushed for 94 yards, with star running back Rhamondre Stevenson rushing for only 32. 

The game was painful to watch and difficult to sit through. I've seen David Spade movies that were easier to watch than this game.

The Patriots fall to 5-4 but are still in second place in the AFC East, indicating what a shit-show the division has become. I mean, we're bad, but not as bad as the Jets (2-7) or the Dolphins (1-7).

Next game, if you can stomach it, is in Germany, for some fucking reason, against the Detroit Lions (6-2), who are three-point early favorites. Kickoff is at 9:30 in the goddamn morning, so if you get drunk enough Saturday night, chances are good you can sleep through much of this one.

Bruins 4, Panthers 1

 

The Curse is broken, the spell is off. The mighty Boston Bruins have beaten the Florida Panthers, their former kryptonite team who seemed to have some sort of hex over them. 

This afternoon, Elias Lindholm, Morgan Geekie, and Michael Eyssimont, just called up from Providence to replace an injured James Hagens, scored goals against the Panthers. All in the first period alone. JJ Peterka added a fourth goal in the third period. Jeremy Swayman made 40 saves for a .976 percentage. 

David Pastrnak had two assists today, his 15th and 16th of the season. Former BU Terrier Brady Tkachuk (Class of 2018) had his 10th assist of the season for the Panthers, while his brother Matthew had his 22nd.

The Bruins (13-4-1) continue to lead the Atlantic Division with 27 points. Montreal is in second place at 25 points, and come to Boston on Thursday night along with Lane Hutson (BU, 2023) who leads the Canadiens with 14 assists. 

Puck drops at 7:00.

Maine 3, BU 0

After Friday night's 2-1 nailbiter over Maine, the Boston University women's hockey team was shut out by the Black Bears, 3-0, last night at BU's Walter Brown Arena.

Maine scored early (6:27) in the first period to take the lead. They added a second goal in the last seconds of a power play after an officials' review and then quickly tacked on another to go up 3-0 in the second. A potential fourth goal in the third period was mercifully overturned due to an offside call.

Overall, Maine outshot BU, 36 to 23. Sydney Fogu, in her first back-to-back start of the season, stopped 32 shots.

BU falls to 2-8-2 overall and 1-3-2 in Hockey East action. Their seven points ties them for fifth place with Maine and New Hampshire in the conference standings.

The Terriers face No. 15 Boston College (6-5-0) in a home-and-home series next weekend, traveling to Conte Forum on Friday the 13th. Puck drops at 6:00.

Michigan State 5, BU 0 (men)

After Friday night's triumphant 6-2 beatdown of No. 3 Michigan State, the No. 13 Boston University men's hockey team broke its four-game win streak with a 5-0 loss to the Spartans last night in the godforsaken frozen wasteland of East Dearborn.

The Spartans scored their first goal a mere 28 seconds into the game. Michigan State scored twice in the second period to take a 3-0 lead, and then two more in the third, one early in the period and the other late, for the final, 5-0, score.

Mikhail Yegorov made 32 saves for the Terriers on 37 shots on goal.

The Terriers are 7-3-0 overall and still in second place at 4-2-0 in the Hockey East standings after the weekend's nonconference games.  

No rest: BU will host Harvard (2-2-0) at Agganis Arena for another non-conference match on Tuesday for a rare weeknight game. Puck drops at 7:00.

Georgia 42, Ole Miss 7

 

The reigning SEC-Champion and No. 2-ranked University of Georgia Bulldogs deigned to descend upon the mossy campus of the University of Mississippi in Oxford and delivered a good old-fashioned, proper ass-whupping on the No. 10 Rebels. When the Dawgs left, Ole Miss was left with their playoff hopes dashed, their quarterback exposed, and their very raison d’être in question. 

The Dawgs dominated from the pregame coin toss to the bus ride home. They held the Rebels to a 3-and-out on the very first Ole Miss possession, and the Bulldogs scored TDs on four of their first five possessions. They managed to keep the Rebels' extravagantly talented QB Trinidad Chambliss to no passing touchdowns, sacking the notoriously elusive player four times and intercepting him once.

When it was all said and done, both teams had 186 passing yards, but the big difference was the running game. Georgia rushed for 295 yards, while Ole Miss managed a mere 66 on the ground. While other teams, including Georgia in the past, committed their defenders to trying to chase down Chambliss in a futile attempt to sack him or stop his rushing yardage, Kirby Smart realized that was a losing proposition and last night the Dawgs instead stacked their backfield with defenders, neutralizing Chambliss' passing game. The four men left on the d-line were able to stop the Ole Miss running backs, and still managed four sacks of the mercurial Chambliss when he couldn't find any open receivers. They don't call him Coach Smart for nothing.

Gunner Stockton got his 186 yards on 9-of-15 passing (.600) and rushed for an additional 28. He passed for four TDs, ran for another, was only sacked once, and his only interception of the game was called back on a roughing-the-passer penalty. He finished the game with a 252-2 QB rating, while Chambliss was rated a mere 89.1.

Nate Frazier had a great game with 107 rushing yards, including a 46-yard thing of beauty on Georgia's very first offensive play of the game. Talyn Taylor caught three of Stockton's TD passes and finished the night with 140 yards receiving, and Ethan Barbour caught the fourth of Gunner's TD passes. 

It was simply complete domination from kickoff to final whistle. Any doubts about the Bulldogs after their unsettling loss to Auburn last month should be laid to rest. With No. 1-ranked Mimi losing last night to Notre Dame, 31-24, there's no plausible way the CFP Steering Committee doesn't rank the Bulldogs No. 1 on Tuesday night. The AP Poll has already declared the Bulldogs as the No. 1 team, with 53 of the 70 first-place votes; some dumb-asses voted for undefeated Utah (seriously) and Notre Dame (8-1) as number one.     

Georgia improves to 8-1 overall and 6-1 in SEC play. With Kentucky losing, 34-6, to Tennessee last night, the Bulldogs finally are in first place in the conference, one game ahead of the 5-2 Wildcats and Alabama.  

The Bulldogs improve to fifth place in the FBS in points per game at 41.1. They've given up a mere 14.0 ppg, seventh fewest in the FBS.

But the Dawgs aren't out of the woods yet. Next week, they play the Missouri Tigers (6-3), who lost to Texas yesterday but not without a fight. The Tigers beat Florida and A&M, and lost to Ole Miss and Texas, and have always played the Bulldogs hard. Nevertheless, Georgia is an early 14½-point  favorite at home.

Celtics 119, Hornets 80

 

Utter domination in Charlotte. Jayson Tatum, back after resting up during the last game, dropped 34 on the Hornets, including 15 points on 5-8 shooting from outside. White and Pritchard were hot from outside, too, both going 4-6, and Hauser was 3-5 on threes, scoring all of his buckets from downtown.

The Celtics outscored the Hornets 40-20 in the first quarter, 30-19 in the second, and 26-18 in the third, It wasn't until the fourth quarter when the bench was playing and Mike Conley and Ron Harper were getting minutes that the Hornets managed a 23-23 period.

Naz Reid, Charlotte's top scorer last night, had only 14 points on the evening.

The Celtics (7-2) are still in second place in the Atlantic Division to the 76ers, but after last night's 119-95 Philly loss to the Cavs, Boston is only a half-game back. 

Sunday night, the Celtics go to Milwaukee to play the Bucks, who they beat, 109-102, on Wednesday night in the Garden after blowing a 21-point lead at the half. Tip-off is at 8:00 pm Eastern. After that, the Celtics and the Sixers will finally have their much-anticipated first meeting of the season on Tuesday night (8:00 pm) in Philadelphia.

BU 2, Maine 1 (SO)

The BU women's team bounced back from a sweep last weekend by No. 4 Northeastern to what's technically a 1-1 tie with Maine before winning the shootout last night.

While nearly every Division I college conference now uses shootouts to break ties after overtime is played, the chowderheads at the NCAA still don't recognize shootout wins as victories. The NCAA still considers a shootout win as a tie for both teams after overtime ends without a goal scored. However, the enlightened folks running Hockey East assign two points for shootout wins, just like for an OT win, in determining conference standings. 

The Black Bears took a 1-0 lead early in the first period before BU's Neely Nicholson scored a power-play goal midway through the third period to force overtime. After OT failed to produce another goal, Greta Henderson and Mylie Ellis scored in the shootout to give the Terriers the SO win. 

Goalie Sydney Fogu made 37 saves through regulation and OT, and didn't allow a shootout score.

The Terriers improve to 2-7-2 overall and 1-2-2 in conference play. Their seven points tied them with New Hampshire for fourth in the Hockey East standings, behind Northeastern and BC (13 points each) and UConn (11 points). 

Game two of the weekend home series is this afternoon at 4:30 pm.

BU 6, Michigan State 2 (men)

 

In a result sure to improve their ranking, the No. 13 Boston University Terriers beat the No. 3 Michigan State Spartans last night in East Lansing.  

Tynan Lawrence scored the game's first goal 5:49 into the first period. As the opening period ended, Kamil Bednarik hit a second goal for the Terriers with 1:56 remaining. Carter Amico extended the lead to 3-0 in the second with the first of two goals on the night, and Caleb Malhotra made it 4-0 a few minutes later. 

The Spartans were not amused and scored twice in the third period to make it 4-2. Charlie Trethewey gave the Terriers some more breathing room with another BU goal, and then Amico got made his second goal of the night on an open net. 

Game over. BU beat the No. 3 Spartans on their own ice. 

Goaltender Mikhail Yegorov made 33 saves for the Terriers in the net.

The Terriers improve to 7-2-0 on the season. They remain 4-2-0 and in second place in the Hockey East standings.   

The Terriers go for the sweep in game two of this series this afternoon at 4:30 pm Eastern.

Bruins 6, Penguins 2

 

Another hockey weekend. The BU terrier women host the University of Maine for a pair of games tonight and tomorrow, while the men's team plays a pair of games at No. 3 Michigan State. The mighty Boston Bruins play the Florida Panthers, their kryptonite team in seasons past, and last night played in Pittsburgh against the Penguins.

We start the weekend with a road win for the B's. Pavel Zacha scored twice, his fourth and fifth goals of the season. Mark Kastelic scored, Elias Lindholm scored, Morgan Geekie scored, and Fraser Minten scored. Pastrnak and Peterka had two assists each, and Michael DiPietro, in the net last night, needed to make only sixteen saves for the win, what with the Bruins' 22 blocked shots. Boston made three goals in the first, two in the second, and one in the third, all even-strength. 

The Bruins (12-4-1) remain in first place in the Atlantic with 25 points, followed by Montreal with 23. Tampa Bay, Ottawa, and Florida have 22, 21, and 20 points each. Overall, Boston is still three points behind Carolina in the Eastern Conference. 

The Florida game will be at 1:00 pm on Sunday afternoon (I love day-drinking!). The Panthers are led by the Tkachuk brothers, Matthew (22 points) and Brady (BU, 2018; 17 points). Even though Florida is currently in fifth place and trails Boston by five points, due to the aforementioned kryptonite, this game will be the second major test for the Bruins. They've lost their first test, a 2-1 loss to Carolina, and this game against a rival who've had their number in the past will indicate whether or not they truly are a championship-caliber team or just a fluke who got lucky early in the season. 

Celtics 109, Bucks 102

 

Not to sound defensive, but friendly reminder that the Celtics didn't play Jayson Tatum (resting day) last night, but still ran up a 21-point lead at the half, leading 62-41. The Celtics allowed the Bucks a 38-25 third quarter, and Milwaukee tied the game up at 7:51 in the fourth, and even took a one-point lead a minute later. But Boston didn't quit and Derrick White took over, ably assisted by Paul George, erasing the Bucks' lead, and went on to win the game by seven. Without Tatum.

George finished the night with 25 points and White with 24. George had the hot hand outside the line last night, going 5-9 on threes, while Scheierman and Garza both went 3-4 from outside. Defensively, Queta snagged 12 rebounds, Scheierman, 11, and Robinson, 10, including six offensive boards.

At 6-2, the Celtics are still a game and a half behind the Sixers (8-1). 

The Celtics go to Charlotte next  to play the Hornets (3-6) on Friday night, in what I understand to be an NBA Cup game, which I'm supposed to be excited about (I'm not).  Our old friend, the freaky German, Dennis Schröder, who played 49 games for the Celtics in the 2021-22 season, is with the Hornets now, his 10th team since leaving the Celtics and his 13th team overall, so we have that to look forward to if, like me, you're immune to Cup Fever and it's silly uniforms and court paint.

We're No. 2 (for real)

 

Last night, the voters spoke, challenging the authority figures and the powers that be and articulating a bold new direction. The voters message was clear and I think all of America agrees: fuck Notre Dame!

Yes, while the American people ushered in a blue wave of change in the Senate and House and state governance, the CFP Steering Committee also had their own vote, their first of the 2026 college football season. The reigning SEC champion University of Georgia Bulldogs (7-1) were ranked No. 2, just like the latest AP poll. In fact, the top three in the CFP rankings were the same as the top three in the AP Poll (Miami, Georgia, and Utah), but the No. 4 team in the AP Poll, Notre Dame, came in at No. 11 in the CFP rankings.     

Even more satisfyingly, the only team that America hates almost as much as Notre Dame, Ohio State, came in at No. 12, and wouldn't even make the 12-team playoffs, because No. 25 Boise State, apparent winner of what remains of the Big-12 conference, would get an automatic bid and bump them out.

No, the CFP voters weren't buying into the AP hype around Notre Dame and UCLA, numbers 4 and 5 in the AP poll. In addition to dropping the Irish down to No. 11, the steering committee demoted the Bruins to No. 8, and moved Indiana up to No. 4 and three SEC teams, Alabama, Kentucky, and Texas, up to numbers 5, 6, and 7.

Rounding out the playoff-eligible top 12 are No. 9 BYU and No. 10 Ole Miss, Georgia's opponent this Saturday.

The Steering Committee are professionals. They're not mere sportswriters and journalists and don't cast goofy first-place votes for teams like the Utah Utes, as one AP pollster had last week. While the Steering Committee nonetheless fell for the Texas hype, they were immune to the PR surrounding Notre Fucking Dame, The Ohio State Fuckeyes, and the Indiana Who?-siers. 

If the playoffs were to start this week, the bracket would give the Georgia Bulldogs a first-round bye and then have them play the winner of a Texas-Ole Miss game. No escape from the SEC for the Dawgs, even after ten conference games in the regular season and an SEC championship game. It would also potentially set up a Georgia-Ole Miss rematch, which was the Dawgs' undoing last season. 

Of course, there's still some four more weeks of games to be played and the rankings will most likely change before the actual playoffs begin.