February Thoughts

By Pat O

Sometimes the best way to appreciate the moment is to remember what things were like not all that long ago.

Before the days of the "Big Three" the time in between the Super Bowl and spring training was referred to as a dead period. Boston fans were enamored with discussing trivial things like whether Pedro's grandmother has reached her ninth life or how happy (or unhappy) Manny was. It seems like a long time ago but the Celtics were an afterthought and irrelevant. Either the Patriots or Red Sox were better fodder for conversation because they had the stars and were winning. Even watching one of the best scorers in Celtics' history wasn't enough to draw many fans into watching a Saturday afternoon game between the Celtics and Sixers. Even more to the point is there wasn't much else on in terms of local sports. Fans would have rather watched college basketball or throw on a movie.

A season and a half and a championship after acquiring Kevin Garnett the Celtics are going through anything but a dead period during the hiatus between football and baseball. They are the World Champs and playing like the best team in the world right now. This is just a reminder to keep perspective when watching these Celtics. Things weren't so great back in February of 2006.

-Speaking of greatness, did anyone have any doubt Ray Allen's shot was going to hit anything but nylon the other night? The man has been spectacular all year. Having a pair of healthy ankles makes the difference I guess.
-Paul Pierce's passing is one of the most underrated components of the Celtics' success. His pass to the corner was right to Ray Allen's chest. Those who called him a selfish player all those years have to be eating crow.

The C's will be looking to avenge their Christmas day beat-down at the hands of the Lakers tonight at the Garden. First and foremost, I really hope Laker fans as well as the national media don't blame Andrew Bynum's injury on their loss tonight. The Celtics would have handled the Lakers at home anyway and I'm not exactly sympathetic to injuries after they derailed the Patriots' (Brady) and Red Sox season (Ortiz).

-Is anyone really that upset over what Michael Phelps did? Does him smoking weed make his accomplishments any less significant? If you're a parent whose children characterize him as a hero you need to seriously reevaluate the qualities you teach your kids to seek in a role model. Sure, the guy hit the bong and wasn't thinking about his actions but he apologized for breaking the law. He shouldn't have to worry about the approval of his fans regarding his integrity.

-Jason Varitek is back with the Sox for slightly less than the 3 years/$30 million I said he would return for. Oops. The Sox called Scott Boras's bluff for the second time this winter and came out on top this time. Obviously the Sox need to find a young catcher to learn from Tek but I think we can all agree that a $5 million deal was the only-case scenario for both sides. I would liken this situation to one my friend told me about from his small college (hint: it's in Easton, MA). Two of his friends were dating and both had herpes. After a while they didn't care much for each other anymore but everyone knew they were far from clean. So they kept on dating for the sole reason that they pretty much had no one else. From Varitek's perspective, no one wanted him for even $5 mil and the Red Sox place a lot more value in him compared to a guy like Greg Zaun. Each side had no other viable options; thus, they remain together.

side note: I agree wholeheartedly with Bob Mack's idea of having Varitek hit from the right side only. The splits are too drastic not to, especially a year after he struggled to make it over the Mendoza line.

-I don't think anyone believes Matt Cassel when he says he'd back up Brady. He took his lumps and bided his time. 2008 was his redemption and he's going to become a backup again? He could start for at least 10-12 teams (I took the under) in the NFL. I hope this situation is figured out by draft time but by then I doubt we'll know Brady's true progress. Should be interesting.

-Super Bowl XLIII was truly a great one in spite of the fact that I still hate the Steelers. The play of the game obviously was James Harrison staying on his feet and not giving up on that 100-yard runback before half. All I hoped for was an exciting game and the Cardinals nor the Steelers disappointed.