Last night Kanye West debuted the song “New Slaves,” from his upcoming sixth studio album.  This is the most interesting way anyone has ever released a song, get ready.  West had an image of his face projected onto 66 different walls all over the world.  The projection was both terrifying and awesome.  This is the first track from the follow up to My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, which is rumored to be called Yeezus, according to Rap-Up Reports. Kanye’s next album is expected to include collaborations form Daft Punk, Chief Keef, Skrillex, and Odd Future. Frank Ocean appears on the tracks “New Slaves”, “I Am God”, and “Awesome”.  From our first taste of the new album and the rumored collaborations, I can say that I am looking forward to June 18 for Yeezus, or what ever it ends up being called. 

Check out the “New Slaves” projection on a building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn:

Photo by Will Deitz

After releasing a Daft Punk style, 15 second teaser clip, today we get the title track from The Weeknd’s upcoming LP, Kiss Land.  The song comes in close to eight minutes and has a feel of  two separate parts that come together for one song.  Nothing new is brought to the table from this latest release, same style of dark R&B, which isn’t a bad thing unless you were expecting him to change it up from his previous material.  After hearing this first single, I’m looking forward to Kiss Land, which is expected to drop sometime in 2013.

Take a listen to “Kiss Land” below:

Believe it or not, but this was the first time this season that an opposing pitcher had a blown save in the ninth inning, and it could not come at a better time.

The Red Sox won only their second series in May, and now go to Minnesota to avenge their home stand where the Twins took three out of four games.

Here are the four bases:

First Base: Another reliever first: it was the first time this season that a pitcher has gone more than two innings in a save situation to win a game. With the Red Sox bullpen thinner than a broom handle, Junichi Tazawa pitched two big innings. He did give up two hits in the ninth inning, but he was able to pitch around the trouble he pitched into. It is the best game Tazawa has had since being named the closer, and he might start adjusting to his new role.

Second Base: After struggling through the beginning of his sophomore season, Will Middlebrooks is finally heating up his bat once again. He is hitting .296 with six doubles and a round-tripper over his last seven games, and his average is climbing further and further higher above the Mendoza line. What is more exciting is the gap power he’s displaying; after hitting an eighth inning home run to right center last night, he lines a Fernando Rodney change-up to left center to drive in three runs. Anytime Don Orsilo raises his voice on NESN, it is something special. Let’s hope that his hot bet went into the oven and not in the microwave.

Third Base: Félix Doubront‘s starts are now getting to the point where the Red Sox just have to live with them. John Farrell did recognize that he had to split up Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester, so Doubront, who has not started since the beginning of the month, gave his manager six innings. Were they pretty six innings? Absolutely not (six walks and a home run). But did he do the job he needed to? Absolutely (his third quality start of the season, his second start where he has given up two runs or less). And hey, he pitched into the seventh inning (only for the fifth time this year). I guess we just have to live with it, for now…

Home Plate: The Red Sox team chemistry, that was a problem last year, is the right mixture this year. How do I know that? Just look at Daniel Nava‘s and Middlebrooks’s face when the Red Sox take the lead. Nava, who just looked like a steam engine chugging around third base, jumped three feet in the air after sliding into home. What does he do immediately after that? He looks straight out at second base and pumps his fist. Middlebrooks acknowledges his teammates’ praise and jubilation at second base, pointing to his shoulders that just had his team on them. It may have just been a normal baseball celebration this year, but I’ll tell you what, that kind of emotion and passion for the game just did not exist last year. It’s good to have the idiots back.

Beyond the Diamond… The Red Sox confirmed late Wednesday that Joel Hanrahan had a successful surgery to repair his elbow. Hanrahan is on the 60-Day Disabled List with a season ending elbow injury. Dr. James Andrews performed the surgery and repaired the ulnar colateral ligament and the flexor muscle, as well as removing bone spurs from the area. That means he had an official Tommy John Surgery, something that was not quite clear when the initial injury happened…

Minor League Scoreboard

Triple A:Gwinnett Braves 6, Pawtucket Red Sox 4 | Boxscore
W – Omar Poveda (3-2), L – Ruby De La Rosa (0-1), SV – Cory Rasmus (7)
HR – Todd Cunningham GWN (2)

Double A:
Portland Sea Dogs 15, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 4 | Boxscore
W – Brandon Workman (5-1), L – Ryan Tepera (4-3)
HR – Travis Shaw POR (3), Michael Almanzar POR (6), Kevin Pillar NH (4)

High A:
Salem Red Sox 4, Carolina Mudcats 5 | Boxscore
W – Enosil Tejeda (1-2), L – Matty Ott (2-4)

Low A:Charleston RiverDogs 6, Greenville Drive 3 | Boxscore
W – Rafael De Paula (4-2), L – Francisco Taveras (0-1), SV – Alex Smith (2)
HR – Aneury Tavarez GRN (2), Dante Bichette Jr. CHA (3)

(Photos Courtesy of Chris O’Meara / Associated Press)

Oh, so that’s what the Red Sox offense looks like. It’s been such a long time that they’ve blown out an opponent that it is almost surprising when they put up a nine spot on a team they could not figure out the night before.

Here are the four bases:

First Base: Once again, when the Red Sox needed a good start from their ace, Jon Lester answers the call. Lester has only given up more than three runs once in his nine starts, and has pitched into the sixth inning in seven of them. There is a problem, though. The Red Sox seem to be holding on for dear life until Lester and Clay Buchholz make their starts at the top of the rotation. Would it be a modest proposal to try to break the two of them up?

Second Base: It is nice to see how results have finally come for Stephen Drew. Wednesday’s performance just added to his incredible May numbers; he has a .348 average, three home runs and 12 RBI in 13 May games. He may have signed a very pricey contract, and he may be related to a less liked J.D. Drew, but when all is said and done, he could be one of the best offensive shortstops in the last decade.

Third Base: With his eighth-inning bomb off a Kyle Farnsworth slider, Will Middlebrooks is once again tied with Mike Napoli for the team lead in home runs. That raises the question of what kind of hitter Middlebrooks is becoming. Can the Red Sox be OK with Middlebrooks striking out and not walking if he hits bombs in key situations? None of his home runs have been in crucial situations just yet, but it will be interesting to see how Middlebrooks adjusts in his sophomore season.

Home Plate: Don’t look now, but after his 2-for-5 night Wednesday, Dustin Pedroia has snuck into the batting title conversation. He is now fifth in the American League in batting average at .340, and now is working on a 7-game hit streak. He is hitting .345 in the month of May, although only three of his 20 hits have gone for extra bases.

Beyond the Diamond… As the Red Sox try to progress to prior form, so does Andrew Bailey. Bailey is scheduled to throw a bullpen session on Thursday, and John Farrell is leaning towards having Bailey making a rehab assignment. Farrell also indicated that Bailey would come off the disabled list on Monday… David Ortiz is playing through an oblique injury, which is why Ortiz was out of the lineup on Sunday. After missing the beginning season with an Achilles injury, he does not want to take anymore time off… After getting his spot in the rotation skipped, Félix Doubront will get the start on Friday when the Red Sox open a three-game series with the Minnesota Twins. Doubront has not started since May 3 against the Texas Rangers, and has relinquished six earned runs in each of his last two appearances…

Minor League Scoreboard

Triple A:
Gwinnett Braves 6, Pawtucket Red Sox 4
W – Kameron Loe (2-0), L – Graham Godfrey (2-3), SV – Cory Rasmus (6)
HR – Jonathan Diaz PAW (1), Ernesto Mejia GWN (11)

Double A:
Portland Sea Dogs 4, New Hampshire Fisher Cats 5
W – Joel Carreno (2-1), L – Will Latimer (0-3)
HR – John Tolisano NH (3)

High A:
Salem Red Sox 5, Carolina Mudcats 4
W – Heri Quevedo (1-2), L – Jacob Lee (0-4)

Low A:
Greenville Drive 1, Asheville Tourists 8
W – T.J. Oakes (4-3), L – Brian Johnson (1-2)

(Photos Courtesy of Chris O’Meara / Associated Press)

It took a historic comeback in Game 7 for the Bruins to advance to the second round and avoid a 3-1 series collapse to the Leafs, but the Bruins advanced and will now play the Rangers in the playoffs for the first time in 40 years.  The Bruins will have to put their miraculous comeback behind them quickly and overcome key injuries on their back end if they wish to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.  The Rangers themselves upset the Washington Capitals in their own seven game series.  The Bruins and Rangers have not met since February 12th.  The Rangers won two games in extra time and the Bruins won the season opener 3-1.  The Rangers have changed a lot since the Bruins last saw them, trading away Marion Gaborik and getting back Derek Brassard, Derek Dorsett, and John Moore.

Offense

Coming into the season it was expected that the Rangers offense, particularly it’s first line, would be a juggernaut.  However, when the Rangers $22 million line did not produce as expected Marion Gaborik was sent to Columbus for some grittier players.  Derek Brassard has made a big impact on the team, he leads the Rangers in playoff points with nine, carrying the load for Rick Nash (2 pts) and Brad Richards (1 point).  The Rangers did have four players with 30+ points in the regular season, the same as the Bruins.  The similarities begin in the teams offense, the Bruins outscored the Rangers by 1 goal in the season (127-126).  Both teams are built similarly, relying on their top two lines for most of their production while the third and fourth lines provide grit and defense.  The series should be slower than the first round as the Rangers rely on their size and skill more than just pure speed.  You can also expect more lower scoring games than we saw in the first round.  It’s a hard call but the Bruins scored 25 goals in the first round to the Rangers 16, so…

Advantage: Bruins

Defense

Before Game 1 the Bruins are preparing to play three rookies in the series opener, two of which played a combined 12 games for the Bruins this year.  Dougie Hamilton, the other rookie in that group, was a healthy scratch down the stretch and only saw playing time in Round 1 due to injuries.  Both teams systems are built around their stellar team defenses.  The Rangers forwards are very active in the defensive zone, physical and more than willing to block shots.  Dan Girardi led the league in blocked shots with 125 in the shortened season and if you’ve watched any of their games you’ll quickly see how many shots they do block.  The Rangers will clog the center of the zone and take punishment willingly.  The Bruins aren’t afraid to block shots either but the Rangers take it to the next level.  Marc Staal is nearing a return so the Rangers are getting even healthier while the Bruins are reaching down to Providence to fill their top 6.  Clearly..

Advantage: Rangers

Goaltending

Henrik Lundqvist is perenially, and deservedly, pencilled in to be a Vezina finalist, this year was no different.  King Henrik was once again a horse for the Rangers, he went 24-16-3, .926 SV, 2.05 GAA and 2 SO.  More impressive are Henrik’s career numbers against the Bruins.  In his career he is 21-7-2, 1.67 GAA, .943 SV and 6 SO. Those are his best numbers against any team he has played more than 25 games against.  Tuukka Rask is no slouch against the Rangers, either.  Rask is 3-0-3, 2.09 GAA, .928 SV, 1 SO.  Expect a highly contested series full of sparkling saves and few rebound opportunities.  The only way to beat these goalies consistently is to make sure they don’t see the puck.  The team who gets to the front of the net will win.

Advantage: Rangers

Special Teams

The Bruins power-play was just about as anemic as they were in the regular season, clocking in at 15% for the series, but hey that’s a drastic improvement over last year’s first round series where they failed to score a power-play goal.  And heck, it’s better than the Rangers 7% effective rate in the first round.  The Rangers have the talent to put together a hell of a power-play unit but haven’t gotten the wheels moving. This is due in large part to Richards and Nash not showing up on the score sheet with goals.  Neither PK was necessarily good, the Bruins were 76% and the Rangers were 81% in the first round, the Bruins were much better in the regular season though.  The Bruins main worry on the PK will be injuries as some less experienced defensemen will have to pick up the slack.  Still, I think the Bruins have the advantage going in.

Advantage: Bruins

The series itself should be an absolute war.  Goals will be very hard to come by and each game should be tight.  This really comes down to who plays defense more and who wins the battles in front of the net.  If the Bruins can park in front of the net and get to rebounds they have a chance.  However, with all the present injuries and knowing Henrik Lundqvist’s dominance against the Bruins, it’s hard to see the Rangers losing this series but I think the Bruins will be able to ride the wave and come together to win the series.

The Pick: Bruins in 7.

If you didn’t realize before this year, the 2012-2013 campaign clearly proved that Paul Pierce is an aging NBA star on the downward slope of his career. Those kinds of players usually don’t make more than $15 million a year – which is what Pierce is due to make next season – so it doesn’t come as much of a shock that the Celtics are exploring the idea of moving on without their longtime captain.

Only about a third of Pierce’s $15.3 million cap hit next season is guaranteed, meaning the Celts could buy him out at a pricetag of $5 million and begin their rebuilding process. Paul Pierce isn’t a dumb guy and, according to CSNNE’s Greg Dickerson, he’s well aware that he may have played his last game in Celtics green.

Here’s what Dickerson said Sunday:

“I don’t think they will (bring Pierce back),” Dickerson said Sunday on CSNNE. “And I know that the company that Paul Pierce hangs around in, they do not believe – and I don’t think Paul Pierce believes – that he is going to be brought back next year at $15 million.

“I know for a fact that people around Paul Pierce have pretty much resigned themselves to the fact that he’s played his final game in a Boston Celtics uniform. Again, Paul wants to stay – obviously for $15 million, but he wants to finish his career in a Celtics uniform.”

[…]

“If Paul’s gone, I think without a doubt Kevin Garnett is gone – either by retirement or he finally decides to waive his no-trade clause, and the Celtics maybe work something out with a (Los Angeles Clippers) team,” said Dickerson. “But the list is real short; the teams that Kevin Garnett would go to, there might be two of them on it, and they both might be the Clippers and (Los Angeles) Lakers.”

The NBA playoffs aren’t close to being over yet, so obviously Danny Ainge and the Celtics front office have plenty of time to decide what they’re going to hold onto Pierce, cut him to save money, or deal him to bolster an aging roster, but it appears that both the Celtics and Pierce are at least contemplating a possible mutual divorce after 15 seasons together.

I guess all we can really say here is thats just “Jack being Jack”… one of a kind

I thought I share the real side of training with my fellow Nosebleeders.Here is a video of my gym fails from the last 8 months. More often than not you will fail miserably at what you do in training, but as the great MJ said “I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life and that is why I succeed.”

Don’t be afraid to fail. Push your self and then when you look back you can look at the great moments you’ve had in the weight room. Enjoy my missed lifts, angry grunt, and self-talking it’s not often people get to see my humbling moments in the weight room.