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Great expectations

  May 14, 2009 05:40 PM

Took a night off from sports last night. (Well, to be precise, the "night off" began after Tim Wakefield's game-altering pitch to Mike Napoli, but before it cleared the wall in center field for a game-changing three-run homer. Totally saw that one coming.)

Finally watched "Gone Baby Gone" instead. A masterpiece for Ben Affleck (did I just write that?), wholly superior to the "The Departed" . . . and absolutely crushing if you are a parent or Morgan Freeman. Pretty sure I'll never watch it again. And I especially wished I'd stuck with the Sox after realizing I'd missed Daniel Bard's debut.

Oh, well. I'm not missing a sporting thing tonight, what with yet another Bruins/Celtics simultaneous postseason doubleheader. As a matter of fact, I've already drawn up a short list of things I'm hoping to see. Such as . . .

. . . J.J. Redick continuing to shoot like he's still at Duke and a Final Four berth is on the line.

. . . Dwight Howard getting his wish and getting the ball in the clutch. I'm all for a 57 percent free-throw shooter with no offensive game to speak of outside of six feet demanding the rock.

. . . Perk, doing his usual dirty work. Gotta write a full column about him one of those days. He's beast, you know.

. . . Dick Bavetta forgetting which team is playing at home.

. . . Stan Van Gundy's shrill, cliche-ridden, completely uninspired instructions during a timeout.

. . . The "We just have to listen to this guy for two more games, tops" looks on the faces of the Magic players.

. . . More of that dipstick Skip To My Lou. Less of Courtney Lee, who could be the Rodney Stuckey of this series if Van Hedgehog would let him.

. . . Rajon Rondo shaking off his strange recent lethargy and making the Magic pay for daring him to shoot.

. . . The Truth and Shuttlesworth on fire in the same game for once.

. . . Big Baby driving up his price even more with a 20/10 performance. You can bet the Magic fans on the sidelines will be aware of his whereabouts at all times tonight.

. . . Scott Walker's painful comeuppance, preferably at the hands of Milan Lucic.

. . . A goal for Shane Hnidy. Hey, if Montador can get one.

. . . An uneventful night's work for Tim Thomas. And no juicy rebounds when the Hurricanes do test him.

. . . A turning-point play for Patrice Bergeron. I can think of no Bruin who deserves it more, save for maybe the likable hockey vagabond Thomas.

. . . At least three savvy passes/decisions from David Krejci, TATB's official Bruins binky.

. . . A victory on the ice in Boston.

. . . and if it's not too much to ask, one on the hardwood in Orlando too.

* * *

As for today's Completely Random Hockey Card:

With Cam above and Espo here, we like to think we've doubled the good karma.

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ABOUT TOUCHING ALL THE BASES
Irreverence and insight from Chad Finn, a Globe/Boston.com sports writer and lifelong and incurable sports nut. Yes, he realizes how lucky he is. You can e-mail him at chadfinn4@yahoo.com.
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contributor Chad is the founder and sole writer of the TATB blog, which launched in December 2004. Before joining the Globe in 2003, he was the assistant sports editor at the Concord (N.H.) Monitor for nine years, where he won several state, regional and national writing awards, including an Associated Press Sports Editors award for column writing in 2000. He lives in Wells, Maine, with his wife Jennifer, children Leah and Alex, and a cat named after Otis Nixon.