The Celtics center got hitched in Houston over the weekend to his longtime girlfriend Vanity. Wedding guests included teammates Rajon Rondo and Leon Powe, and former men in green Ricky Davis and Patrick O’Bryant.

There are some great pictures at LOY’s Place if you want to check them out. Perk is even smiling, which shocks most everybody but me. I saw him smile huge once talking about his baby boy. I knew he had it in him.

Manny’s bobblehead to reporters: This is my town (until I join the Yankees someday)
* Apparently the Dodgers’ recent “Manny Bobblehead Night” did not go off without a hitch. From MercuryNews.com:

The Dodgers are still the major leagues’ best team and Manny Ramirez is still the star attraction, but this season will continue to contain its odd moments. For instance, Wednesday night. It was Manny bobblehead night at Dodger Stadium. But the initial sponsor, Kaiser Permanente, had to pull out because of that icky little steroid/female fertility thing.

In grand ole Manny fashion though, he got the last word. Despite initially sitting out with injury, he went in to pinch hit and ended up drilling a grand slam home run right to his faithful flock in the Mannywood section. Oh Manny…

Daniels to join the Celtics, someday… I think…
* I realize I have yet to post about Marquis Daniels joining the Celtics. There are a few reasons for this. The main reason is that I have absolutely no idea when/if he’s coming on board. I’m not super interested in players who “might” join the Celtics. Until they actually show up at the presser and hold up their jersey, I’m kind of meh.

Brett Favre, Attention Whore (It’s on the business card)
* This just in… Brett Favre has informed the Minnesota Vikings (and Rachel Nichols, his BFF) that he is going to remain retired. (pause) Except… I just read this tweet from Rich Eisen:

Stop the insanity!

Hmmm, now that I think of it, maybe Starbury’s boy Mooncricket could set up Favre with his own 24/7 Justin.tv channel.

Hey Reggie, call me
* Also recently just in… Kim Kardashian and Reggie Bush bit the dust couple-wise. YES! Reggie Bush, back on the market. Be still my heart. Tony Romo apparently also tossed Jessica Simpson into the bedpost notch deadpool – on the eve of her 29th birthday no less. It’s like Logan’s Run! “Umm, Jess… You’re almost 30. An NFL QB like me has a short window of time where he can score the grade A tail. I’ve gotta toss you like a Domino’s pizza, sorry… Oh yeah, and you can’t come over anymore! I’m putting up a sign — persona non grata!”

Show me your number ones! Show me your number ones! Clap seal, clap!
* Speaking of StarburyTV, what kind of shenanigans are going on at Stephon Marbury’s house today? I don’t know… I can’t watch it at work (probably for the best), but when I checked it around 7pm tonight, this random dude was dancing in front of the camera telling the viewers to show him their number 1s. I had to call bullshit on this. It’s bad enough when Steph goes apeshit and demands number 1s like we’re all a bunch of trained f-king seals, but I’ll be damned if any old douchebag gets to jump on his camera and do it. C’mon Steph, we need standards and practices, babe.

Who is this dude?

If you’re interested, be my guest… but be prepared to throw your number 1s, number 2s, numbers 3s or to keep it 100. Love is love, Daddy.

I’m on vacation this week so I’ve been watching wayyyy more ESPN than usual. Yesterday, the worldwide leader spent the day vomiting up Brett Favre to the Vikings news and it was nauseating. I was pretty sure I was in for the same diet of regurgitation today. Oh how wrong I was… I was making lunch, when out of the corner of my ear I heard the word “Manny,” and of course sprinted from the kitchen to the living room to see what the news was (I’ve already admitted that TJ Simers is right and I’m a bitter no-lifer who spends my time thinking about new and unique ways to hate on Manny). I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the ‘50 game suspension for performing enhancement drugs’ headline scroll. My mom is retired so we were hanging out together and I screamed to her to get her ass out to the living room so she could see for herself. It was quite a scene.

As the day wore on and it was covered by every talking head available for comment at ESPN, it became very clear that Manny was taking the “I didn’t know the harmless medication my doctor prescribed for me was banned. My bad. Sorrrry…” stance. To their credit, most of the analysts weren’t having it. Surprisingly though, Peter Gammons seemed to buy that crock of shit. Come on Pete, you didn’t just fall off the turnip truck son. By the end of the day, the banned substance was finally revealed. Drumroll please. Women’s fertility medication! SAY WHAT? Manny was trying to get pregnant? Wow, he really is eccentric. No no, apparently these meds are used at the end of a steroid cycle for some reason or another. Phew. That’s better, I guess.

I’m not going to bust on what Manny did. The reason being that someday, god I hope not, but someday — it may be revealed that a player that I love was using. I don’t want to be a hypocrite down the road when I defend them or at the very least, don’t come down on them. So, I’m going to shut my trap now and not condemn Manny for using. I’m just going to say that I feel bad for all those Manny loving Dodger fans who invested in the Dodger caps with sewn in dreads. I feel bad for JetBlue Airways and their $99 Manny Fans promotion. I even feel bad for T.J. Simers. He looks like a real asshole now.

Related news:

• Ramirez deserves a one-way ticket out of Mannywood
• Manny Ramirez suspension shocks, disappoints fans

When Manny Ramirez reported for Dodgers duty he tried to explain to us why he was so happy to be out of there.

He said he was “suffocating” in Boston, the city and everyone in it relentless in their over-the-top devotion to things that really don’t matter. I’d rather read a Dwyre tennis column than anything written by Boston’s ponderous and self-important sports columnists.

And just imagine living in a place where everyone talks funny and all they want to do is talk, talk, talk about what they think.

Around L.A. we didn’t much care what happened in Boston, but while Manny began to fit in here, the bitter no-lifers back there handled the divorce the way they do most everything else.

They obsessed. And they continue to obsess.

[From: Boston won't give up its obsession with Manny Ramirez, by T.J. Simers, Los Angeles Times]

He’s right. I am obsessed. I often wonder why I can’t let go of Manny. He was never my favorite player. Why should I act like we were married for ten years and he left me for a younger woman? The simple answer is, he was a huge douchebag. He didn’t care about the team, didn’t care about the fans and didn’t care about the city. He only cared about making the maximum amount of money he could get because he thought he was owed that. Like a spoiled celebrity, he eventually got to the point where he felt entitled to act any way he wanted. I don’t know about the Dodgers or their fans, but in Boston, we expect our players to play with passion and care about winning. I don’t know any professional athlete who thinks it’s ok to dog it.

Do Simers and his ilk really think it should be so easy for Boston fans to forgive and forget?

Never. Until my dying breath, I will hope and pray that Manny fails. I hope he never hits another home run, never collects another $45 million dollar paycheck, never gets another autograph request and is never given the opportunity to give another cutesy oddball quote to the press. Yeah, it’s like that. And do you know who you are Manny-loving Dodgers fans? You’re the 2nd wife that thinks it’s going to be different with her. You think he’s going to appreciate you and love you, but he’s really just biding his time with you until a better situation comes along. Right around the end of this season in fact.

That’s when I’ll say, I told you so.

Manny wants to be a Yankee and mark my words, someday, that’s exactly what he’ll be. Another good reason to hate him. Come to think of it.

He wanted as many as five years — he agreed to less than half of that.

He wanted as much as $100 million — he agreed to less than half of that.

The Dodgers wanted a slugger who will stay hungry — they got exactly that.

I think this ended up being a good deal for Manny and the Dodgers. However, he can dress up this up all he wants, but the bottom line is that he puffed himself up, weaseled his way out of Boston and all it got him was a change of scenery. Enjoy La La Land, Manny. I hope you can manage to feed your family with that paltry $45 million you finally had to accept. Is this what Boras had in mind when he said he was ready to “play chicken” with Dodgers brass? If so, he sucks at chicken.

This whole episode rekindles unpleasant memories of former basketball player Latrell Sprewell, who in 2004 turned down the Minnesota Timberwolves’ offer of $21 million over three years. Insulting, was the word used by Sprewell, who made matters worse by rationalizing his rejection by telling the world that he had a family to feed.

Repo Man

Sprewell and the Timberwolves eventually parted ways. In 2007, Sprewell’s 70-foot, $1.5 million yacht was repossessed.

Someone ought to remind Ramirez that a smart man learns from his own mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others.

[...]

To Ramirez’s credit, he, unlike Spree, hasn’t made any idiotic comments. But every contract rejection is a statement. A powerful one. It’s a slap in the face to every Dodger fan that fell in love with the fun-loving Ramirez during the team’s run to the playoffs last season.

Hey Dodgers fan, welcome to my world.

But apparently, Manny Ramirez has some things to say (to TJ Simers, Los Angeles Times):

“You’re not listening to me,” he says. “I’ve looked at the big picture from every different angle and life is too short to be mad. I’ve already made a ton of money and now it’s just about negotiating a deal. It’s what happens in sports.

“As long as I’m alive, I’m happy. I’m sitting here in my house by the water, drinking a Margarita, dark glasses on and I’m in a good place. I’m in pretty good shape, too, playing with my three kids all the time.”

Ha ha. You know, I think he means it… and that’s the rub.

In what completely bizarro world is $25 million dollars not enough? What. a. friggin. tool. I spit on his grave.

Run ‘n Gun is quasi comical to watch. Run down the court, jack up a 3-point shot. Rinse. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. I’m not saying it’s a bad game plan for the Knicks – because it’s certainly helped them win more games – but it’s still amusing to watch sometimes. Q-Rich can play. I don’t like him, but he can play. He seemed to get the better of Paul Pierce last night. Not that it mattered. Nate Robinson is fun to watch. He had an impressive put-back last night. There was a missed shot and then little tiny Nate came flying out of nowhere for the jam (over my boyfriend. tsk tsk.) Rondo had a big game. Again. What a juggernaut. He scored a career high 26 points. Tommy Heinsohn had me ROTFL at one point because he got so pissed off about some physical play from the Knicks, that he actually put out a bounty on Nate Robinson! (First he said someone should lay out one of their “little guys” to send a message and then he said, “One of our guys should really deck Nate Robinson on the next play in retaliation [for shoving Rondo out of bounds to prevent a layup].”) Lol. Tommy’s hardcore, yo. In other news, Big Baby got in a car accident on the way to the Garden yesterday. Poor guy. Get well soon BB!

Celtics v. Bulls 126-108

The Bulls are a hot mess. They have some extremely talented players, but epitomize the mantra that it takes teamwork to win. They still don’t play together. Derrick Rose is impressive, but he’s still a rookie. I think in a year or two, they’re going to be a Hornets-esque team. Which means they’ll be good and a sexy pick, but still missing something that would get them over the hump.

Random musings

People seem surprised that the Pistons are struggling so much. Why is this surprising? I’m not a hater, but has Iverson ever made any team better? Also, if there’s any position that you can’t just “swap out,” it’s point guard, is it not? I’m not an expert on the Pistons, but they were always a team I liked and had a lot of respect for. I hated this trade when it happened and I still hate it.

Reports out today that Manny expects to be offered a 3-year deal from the Yankees. Manny expects? How does that work exactly?

Yesterday’s Patriots game was fun. What the hell was up with letting Leinart get a touchdown though? Come on now. Shutouts are so much more satisfying. The Jets lost (YES!) but the smelly Dolphins won (BOO!) so we still might not make the playoffs. Either way though, I’m happy with this season. It could’ve been better, but it really could’ve been so much worse. When Tom Brady went down in game one, I really thought we were toast. Who knew Matt Cassel was such a stud? I’ve been a USC football fan for years and even I barely had a line on this guy.

I miss Gino. The Celtics have been winning, but there’s been a decided lack of Gino on the jumbotron, at least from the home television vantage point. I want Gino!

NBA: Allen Iverson to the Pistons? Billups to Denver? I did not see that coming. I will have to visit my favorite Pistons blogs to see how that news is going over.

Patriots: I couldn’t watch. Based on all the post-game analysis I’ve listened to today, I’m glad I didn’t. *sigh* Also, there is just something that still frosts my cookies every time Adam V. (too lazy to Google the last name for correct spelling) kicks a game winner against the Pats. Grrrr.

Manny: Latest from the worldwide leader has spawn-of-Satan uber-agent Scott Boras sitting down with the Dodgers to haggle over Mannywood’s services. I’m still crossing my fingers for the Yankees. Something about putting Manny and A-Rod together into the utlimate haterade sandwich would just make my life complete.

• I’m excited for the first Celtics game of the season. It’ll be awesome to see the new banner and the guys get their rings. I just hope they don’t lose their focus because of it (like the Heat did against the Bulls the season following their championship run).
• Rumors are that the Dodgers are planning to offer Mannywood a 2-year 27.5 million dollar contract. He wanted a 4-5 year contract so I imagine in order for this to work, they’ll have to meet him halfway at 3. If that happens and he stays in LA, I will be bummed. I was really hoping he would sign with the Yankees so I could spend the next few years booing him heartily and shaking my fist at the TV.
• Just heard about Isiah Thomas. If the story is true, I feel honestly sad for the guy. Somehow though, I feel like it’s going to end up being like T.O. where his publicist is going to come out and tell us how many millions of reasons Isiah has to live.