From nobody to upstart.  From upstart to contender.  From contender to winner.  From winner to champion.  From champion to Dynasty.  -Pat Riley

Public Service Announcement:  OK, here we go!  These Patriots are fantastic.  These Patriots are boombastic.  I’m Boombastic say me fantastic.  Touch me on my back, she says I’m Mr. Romantic.  But are these Patriots dynastic?  That’s the question.  To be or not to be, that is the question. 

Make no mistake about it, if the Pats run the table in these here playoffs, that question will be put to bed.  Truth is, that question should have already been put to bed.  Already good as dead.  Off with her head!  As of Saturday’s historic beating of the Giants, the Patriots now have the longest consecutive regular season win streak in the history of the NFL and still counting.  Pressure still mounting.  They just surpassed their old mark of eighteen they set back in ’03-’04.  And we all know there were a bunch of wins between that.  Honey bunches of wins.  And they won two Super Bowls before that. 

When they beat the Philadelphia Eagles by the banks of the St. John’s river, Tom Brady and company had just secured their third Super Bowl victory in four years.  So dynasty?  Ya, I’d say so.  That’s what makes this run so remarkable.  An undefeated season amidst one of the greatest runs in NFL history.  If that’s not a dynasty, I don’t know what is.  And listen up Mercury Morris.  You cats had an easy schedule. A soft schedule.  Carvel soft.  All Cookie Puss and shit.  Fudgie the Whale.  You beat nobody.  Nobody.  Opponents winning percentage of .367.  It is to laugh.  You beat the 8-6 Giants.  You beat the 8-6 Chiefs.  That’s it.  These here Patriots beat the number one seed in the NFC.  The Dallas Cowboys.  These here Patriots beat the reigning Super Bowl Champions.  The Indianapolis Colts. 

I know, I know.  They haven’t won anything yet.  Yet.  But since 2001 they’ve been just tenacious.  Anything but gracious.  Audacious.  Salacious.  Ostentatious.  Since 200,1 they have only lost one regular season game after holding a fourth quarter lead.  That makes 83-1 in those situations boys and girls.  Big deal, you say.  Easy as pie, you say.  Know this.  Every other NFL team has at least seven losses in that time, under those same circumstances.  So let us just say, this team knows how to win. 

Tom Brady knows how to win.  The best regular season record for any NFL quarterback since 1950.  Better than Roger Staubach.  Better than Joe Montana.  Better than that six-five, 230-pound quarterback with a laser rocket arm.  Better than all of them.  Post season? NFL record for most consecutive wins in post season. Three rings. Two Super Bowl MVPs. And not for nothing.  Just for fun.  Randy Moss is the only cat to play for two teams that won fifteen games in one season.  These guys just know how to win.  And it all starts with the Brain.  Pinky, are you pondering what I’m pondering?  Um… I think so, Brain, but what if the chicken won’t wear the nylons?  Bill Belichick is 90-37 as HC of the NEP.  Only four other cats have done better with on team.  George Siefert.  Vince Lombardi.  Paul Brown.  John Madden.  Boom!  Good coaches.  Great coaches.  Dynastic coaches.  Yes sports fans.  This is a dynasty.  And will be for a long, long time.

Public Acknowledgements:  Shaggy, William Shakespeare, Cheerios, Seymour Siwoff, Master Card and Pinky & the Brain

Public Spectacle: 

Peace out homies.  Six two and Even!

Carl explains the conspiracy behind the Mitchell Report:

Peace out homies. Six two and Even!

Most truths are so naked that people feel sorry for them and cover them up, at least a little bit.  -Edward R. Murrow

Public Knowledge:

1.  The old Gordie Howe Hat Trick.  A goal.  An assist.  And a fight.  Despite that feat being named after him, and because fights were not recorded, Howe only notched one “Gordie Howe hat trick” during his career.  Sid the Kid just tied him.  Last night, Crosby was looking a lot like Vincent Lecavalier.  Last night, against the Boston Bruins, Sid took on D-man Andrew Ferrence for the first fight and major penalty of his career.  Like my main Paulie Cicero always says:  “Awww, you broke your cherry!”

2.  The Glove wants to be a Celtic.  Again.  I know he started all seventy-seven games he played for the Hot ‘Lantic champion Celtics back in ’05.  I know, and I don’t care.  I never liked this guy.  Never.  He’s a big mouth.  A loud mouth.  A blabber mouth.  He’s received the second-most technical fouls of all time.  That’s not the kind of guy you want on this ball club.  But it’s not just that.  GP’s decline from superstar to borderline shouldn’t-be-in-the-NBA status was fast and furious.  He was averaging 20.8 points, 8.8 dimes and 1.8 steals when he was traded from Seattle in ‘03.  A mere two years later, he was backing up Jason Williams in Miami.  I know he may have mellowed with age.  I know both Shaq and Antoine loved playing with him.  I also know the Celtics need a back-up point guard.  I just hope the Glove isn’t it.

3.  Down goes Fast Willie Parker!  Down goes the NFL’s leading rusher.  Down goes his season.  Down goes Pittsburgh’s chances for doing anything substantial this post season.  Fast Willie Parker suffered a broken right leg against St. Louis last night.  This is a huge loss for the Steelers as they prepare to head into the playoffs.  Yes, Not So Fast Najeh Davenport stepped up in Parker’s absence, gaining 123 yards on 24 carries with a score, and adding a touchdown catch for the Steelers.  But Not So Fast Najeh taking over as the starting running back is bad news for the Curtain.   Davenport is slow and only effective in short yardage situations.  It’s all up to Big Ben now.

4.  The NBA:  Where Seattle gets screwed happens:

5.  Marian Gaborik.  Minnesota Wild.  Every which way but loose.  He scored on the power play.  He scored on a breakaway.  He scored by batting an errant puck out of the air.  He notched the NHL’s first five-goal game in eleven years.  Oh doctor!  He notched the first five-goal outing since Sergei Federov did it for Detroit on Dec. 26, 1996, in an overtime game against Washington.  Super Mario was the last to net five in regulation, on March 26, 1996, versus St. Louis.  This coming after Gaborik notched at least one goal in his past four games and at least one point in eleven of his past twelve.  He has nine of the thirteen hat tricks in the franchise’s seven seasons.  No Wild player had ever scored more than three times in one game.  This cat is explosive.  This cat is elctrifying.  If only this cat could stay healthy.

6.  How many five year olds could you take in a fight?  It turns out, I could take 28. 

7.  A nephew of Trevor Berbick has been convicted along with another man of killing the 54-year-old former heavyweight champion.  See more on Trevor Berbick here.

8.  Four out of five dentists say.  In a survey of 90 veteran baseball writers who vote on player inductions, neither Bonds nor Clemens garnered the 75 percent that is required to gain entry into the Hall.  Good for them.  The thing is, we just don’t know who was juicing and who wasn’t.  I get that.  But, if the voters do know, how can they vote the juicers in?     

9.  Tribune Co. chairman and chief officer Sam Zell is up to his ears in debt.  $13 billion in debt.  To lighten his load, he wants to sell naming rights to Wrigley Field.  Boy oh boy.  How’s this one going to over?  How about Abe Froman Stadium?

10.  Fire Isiah watch.  Knicks/Bobcats tonight.  A loss to pathetic Charlotte won’t help anyone.  Except maybe Knicks fans. 

Peace out homies.  Six Two and Even!

His priority did not seem to be to teach them what he knew, but rather to impress upon them that nothing, not even… knowledge, was foolproof.  – J. K. Rowling

Public Knowledge:

1.  Roger Clemens wants to state clearly and without qualification: “I did not take steroids, human growth hormone or any other banned substances at any time in my baseball career or, in fact, my entire life.  Those substances represent a dangerous and destructive shortcut that no athlete should ever take.”  Maybe it’s just me, but this reminds me an awful lot of Rafael Palmiero’s finger wagging at the Congressional Hearings.  “I have never used steroids.  Period,”  Palmeiro said.  “I do not know how to say it any more clearly than that.”  I did not have sexual relations with that woman. 

2.  Chris Simon breaks his own record.   New York Islanders forward Chris Simon was banned for 30 games, drawing the longest suspension in modern history.  Breaking his own record of twenty-five games.  Simon has been suspended for the crosscheck to the throat of Peter Popovic.  Simon has been suspended for the elbow to the head of Anders Eriksson.  Simon has been suspended for the knee to Sergei Zubov.  Simon has been suspended for the crosschecking and subsequent pummeling of Ruslan Fedotenko.  Simon has been suspended for the slash of Ryan Hollweg across the face with a stick, Juan Marichal style.  Now, Simon stomped on the foot of forward Jarkko Ruutu as Ruutuu lay on the ice.  When is enough enough?  When do you just throw this cat out?

3.  Pete Rose thinks players who use steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs are “making a mockery” of baseball.  I object, your honor!  This trial is a travesty.  It’s a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.  Best hitter in our lifetimes:  Barry Bonds.  Best pitcher in our lifetimes:  Rocket.  Most hits ever:  Pete Rose.  Talk about a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.  What next?  Ted Williams’ head admits to HGH use?  I’m trying to find the light at the end of the tunnel.  I really am.  I’m trying, but it sure is hard.

4.   Rest in peace, Don Chevrier.  The original television voice of the Toronto Blue Jays.  Canada mourns that ”great, wonderful booming voice that you could hear no matter where you were.”  -Don Duguid

5.  Isiah Thomas and Rick Pitino.  Think about it.

6.  Guess who’s back?  Back again?  After a 28-year vacation, the immortal Peter Puck is returning to television as part of Maple Leaf broadcasts.  Mr. Puck became an overnight success after his television debut in 1974 on NBC and Hockey Night in Canada.  He gave tips on hockey.  He gave simple explanations of the rules and regulations.  His impish delivery endeared him to millions of fans everywhere.  Welcome back Peter!

7.  Wow!  The Big Tuna!  The Big Kahuna.  Bill Parcells said that he likely will accept the Atlanta Falcons‘ offer to become the team’s vice president of football operations.  Great move by the Falcons.  Great move.  This is the kind of spontaneous publicity, your name in print, that makes people.  I’m in print!  Things are going to start happening to me now.  Things are going to start happening for the Falcons now.  One question.  Now that Big Bill is in charge of all the groceries down in Hot ‘Lanta, how long does he tolerate the likes of DeAngelo Hall?

8.  Congratulations Josh Cribbs.  Congratulations on making it to the Pro Bowl.  I love return men.  I love Devin Hester the very bester.  The pound your chester.  The bullet proof bester.  I loved Billy White Shoes.  I loved David Megget.  I love Josh Cribbs.  Undrafted out of Kent State.  Stop, hey, what’s that sound?  Everybody look what’s going down.  Look at Cribbs leading the NFL with a 30.9-yard kickoff return average.  Look at Cribbs bringing two back to the hizzy.  Look at Cribbs leading his team with eighteen tackles on special teams.  Look at Cribbs the Browns’ all-time leader in kickoff returns and yards.  Look at Josh Cribbs going bowling.

9.  No Penguin dancing in Pittsburgh.  Not the way those cats are playing.  Uninspired play continues to plague the Pens.  This was a team that was supposed to be the cream of the crop.  Evgeni Malkin.  Sid the Kid.  Marc Andre Theury.  Disappointing. 

10.  Funny, Ray Lewis doesn’t look Jewish.

Peace out homies.  Six Two and Even!

The best thing about the future is that it only comes one day at a time.  -Abraham Lincoln

Public Service Announcement:  OK, here we go!  You say they haven’t played anybody yet.  You say they’re beating up the sisters of the poor.  You say they’re not as good as their record.  Well here we are.  Put up or shut up time.  Tonight’s the night.  Tonight’s the night we’re gonna make it happen.  Tonight we’ll put all other things aside. 

Tonight the Boston Celtics play the Deetroit Pistons.  And I can’t wait.  Like my main man Jack London always says:  “You can’t wait for inspiration.  You have to go after it with a club.”  The number one team in the East has to go after the number two team in the East with a club.  Make no mistake, this is a test.  A real test.  For the next forty-eight minutes this team will conduct a test of the National Basketball Association. 

The Deetroit Pistons have won 50 or more games in six straight seasons.  The Deetroit Pistons have made five straight trips to the conference finals.  The Deetroit Pistons may just have the best starting five in the league.  A win tonight would give the Celtics the best start in franchise history and the third-best in NBA history.  Yes, sports fans, tonight’s the night.  It’s gonna be all right.  Ain’t nobody gonna stop us now. 

Not in our house.  Not in the middle of the street.  Not in our castle and our keep.  Not where the Celtics are undefeated.  But tonight is just the beginning.   Tonight is just the start.  Tonight starts a stretch in which the Celtics play seven of ten games against teams that can be called contenders.  You don’t understand.  I coulda had class.  I coulda been a contender.  I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am.  Which is what they were.  The times they are a changing. 

So, it will be Deetroit.  It will be Thunder Dwight Howard and the Magic.  Thunder, putting up thirty-point, fifteen-rebound games seemingly every night.  Then the C’s hit the road.  Hit the road Jack and don’t you come back no more, no more, no more, no more.  On the road they will face the Utah Jazz.  Then they will face the reborn Lakers.  Forcing themselves into the Western Conference elite.   They will face Yao and the Rockets.  Then its drizzle, drazzle, dradle, drone.  Time for this one to come home.  Time to come back home for another match-up with the Deetroit Pistons.  Then we’ll see what’s what.  Then we’ll see where this team stands.  This is make or break time.  This is the stuff legends are made.  The time is here.  The time is now!

Public Acknowledgements:  Pointer Sisters, Emergency Broadcast System, Rod Stewart, Madness, On the Waterfront, Bob Dylan, Tooter the Turtle and Ray Charles

Public Spectacle: 

Peace out homies.  Six Two and Even!

The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will. – Vince Lombardi

Public Knowledge:

1.  OK, if you’re gonna do something illegal or immoral, how ’bout you stay away from the internet to do it.  Whether you’re getting prescriptions from your on-line dentist as in Operation Witch Doctor or your cheating on your finals like the entire Florida State football team.  Stay away from the Internet.  You’re going to get caught.  Oh ya.  I’d stay away from text messages too.  Just ask Elijah Dukes.  Speaking of FSU.  The Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl?  There’s a bunch of jokes in there, but this being the Internet and all, I’m staying away.

2.  First Nick Saban.  Then Bobby Petrino.  Now This: 

3.  SKOL Vikings lets win this game.  SKOL Vikings, honor your name.  I’m not too sure what the heck SKOL is, but the Vikings sure are honoring their name.  The Vikings made bad snaps.  The Vikings missed an extra point.  The Vikings committed four turnovers.  The Vikings managed only six points in the first half against the Chicago Bears.  The Vikings won a very important football game.  Minnesota’s win put them in a legitimate position to claim an NFC wild-card playoff berth.  They have won five consecutive games and six of their past seven.  As bad as they looked last night, they still look better than the Giants.  Ok just googled it.  Skol:  Written skÃ¥l in Danish, Norwegian and Swedish, and sometimes “Skoal” in English.  The Norwegian/Swedish/Danish word for a salute or a toast.  As to an admired person or group.  SKOL Vikings!

4.  Let’s do the math, shall we?  Portland trades Reuben Patterson’s boy Zach Randolph to the Knicks.  The Trailblazers are currently on an eight game run.  Currently looking to garner their first winning month since November 2004.  Without Grampy Oden.  The Knicks receive stripper loving Randolph.  The Knicks are amidst the most embarrassing runs of their long basketball lives.  Coinky-dinky?  This blogger says absotively posolutely not. 

5.   NBA’s most improved player?  How about Rajon Rondo?  Sure playing with the Big Three doesn’t hurt, but the big question pre-season for the Celtics was:  Who’s gonna run the point?  Through the season’s first 22 games, he has averaged nine points on 53% shooting from the field, plus 5.2 assists and 3.9 rebounds.  All of those numbers were in question.  All of those numbers are up from last year.  Add to that his defensive prowess and you get the NBA’s MIP.

6.  Too much Youtube?  I don’t care:

7.  A horse is a horse, of course, of course.  And no one can talk to a horse of course. That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Williams.  Pro Bowl strong safety Roy Williams was suspended for one game by the NFL for committing his third illegal horse-collar tackle of the season.   Have some horse sense wouldya.  Third?  Are the Boys coming unglued?  First Romo’s thumb.  Now this.  I hope they are.  I hope so for one reason.  Terrell Eldorado Owens.  Boom goes the dynamite!

8.  San Diego Super Chargers.  San Diego Chargers!  San Diego Super Chargers.  San Diego Chargers!  Charge!  Don’t look now, but here come the Chargers.  The Chargers (9-5) have won four straight and eight of ten.  They don’t have to leave the Golden State the final two weeks, hosting Denver on Monday night and finishing at Oakland.  The Chargers simply need to win out to earn the AFC’s No. 3 seed.  But they still have to the Patriots.  Oh well.  There’s always next year.

9.  I love Peter Gammons.  Best baseball man on the planet.  But he says this about reporting the steroid thing:  “But we’re not the National Star.  Roger Clemens and Miguel Tejada are not Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.”  He’s wrong.  They are.  Sports is entertainment.

10.  Since Game Five of the ALCS, the Red Sox, Patriots and Celtics have a combined record of 41-2.  How about that? 

Peace out homies.  Six two and Even!

Another one bites the dust.  Hey, I’m gonna get you too.  Another one bites the dust.  -Queen

Public Service Announcement:  OK, here we go!  What are all the nay sayers saying now?  When the Mitchell Report first came out on Thursday, we heard words like flimsy.  We heard words like circumstantial.  We heard words like unreliable.  We even heard words like slander and liable.  Say the word and you’ll be free.  Say the word and be like me.  Say the word I’m thinking of.  Have you heard the word is love? 

I heard, but the word of the day is admit.  Say the secret word and win $100.  You bet your life.  The first big winner was Andy Pettitte.  Who’s the big winner here tonight at the casino?  Huh?  Andy, that’s who.  Andy’s the big winner.  Andy wins.  Andy admitted the Mitchell Report’s allegations are true.  He admitted that he did use performance-enhancing drugs. 

In actuality, FP Santangelo was the first to admit HGH use after the report’s release.  But c’mon.  FP Santangelo?  Pettitte’s admission is huge.  Coming off the heals of a Clemens denial, Andy’s confession gave instant credibility to Mitchell’s work.  It also put a darker shadow on Roger’s.  Since Pettitte came clean, the dominos have been falling.  Oh oh domino.  Roll me over Romeo.  There you go. 

Add Brian Roberts to the list of names from the Mitchell Report to admit to using performance-enhancing drugs.  Breaking his silence in Tuesday’s editions of the Baltimore Sun, the Orioles second baseman said he took steroids “once” in 2003.  This was supposed to be the flimsiest evidence of all.  Hearsay to the Nth degree. 

Larry Bigbie told investigators Roberts had told him he used steroids “once or twice” in 2003.  Turns out to be true.  So how’s this sounding:  “McNamee injected Clemens in the buttocks four to six times with testosterone.”  Still flimsy?  Roberts’s admission came a day after former All-Star second baseman Fernando Vina admitted using human growth hormone four years ago to help heal injuries.  If I had to do the same again.  I would, my friend, Fernando.  So they’re dropping like flies. 

On Monday, implicated catcher Gary Bennett admitted HGH use.  Implicated by a copy of a $3,200 check that he wrote Radomski.  Written the same day he was punched in the face by Phat Albert Pujols.  Bennett signed a new contract with the Dodgers shortly after his admission.  So the hits just keep on hitting.  The flies just keep on dropping.  Bonds and Clemens may never come around to telling the truth.  And with each day that passes it seems like that’s what it is.  The truth.  The double truth, Ruth.

Public Acknowledgements:  Beatles, Groucho, Swingers, Van Morrison, ABBA and Do the Right Thing

Public Spectacle:

Peace out homies.  Six two and Even!

Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.  -Albert Einstein

Public Knowledge:

1.  So the Patriots didn’t trounce the Jets like I had hoped.  Like I had dreamed.  Like I had fantasized.  The plane!  The plane!  But they won handily.  They ran the football.  And ran it some more.  They ran the ball thirty-five times, only three rushes off of their season high.  But most importantly, they won.  Just win baby!  Just win five more times. 

2.  Now that’s what a football game in December is supposed to look like.  That’s what I wanted the Patriots/Jets game to look like.  Oh the weather outside is frightful…Let it snow!  Let it snow!  Let it snow!  Jamaal Lewis, with chains on his cleats, looked like Chuck Muncie trudging through the -9 degree air in the Freezer Bowl.  Phil Dawson looked like Adam Vinatieri kicking big time field goals in the Tuck Rule Game.  Derek Anderson looked like Bart Starr marching down the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field during the Ice Bowl.  And in the end, the Browns win a football game that mattered.  All of a sudden, Cleveland has won seven of their past nine games.  All of a sudden they’re tied for first place.  All of a sudden they can clinch at least a wild-card spot next Sunday with a win over Cincinnati.  Let it snow!  Let it snow!  Let it snow!

3.  I hate DeAngelo Hall.

4.  Speaking of the NFC South.  That may be the most horrible division in all of sports.  I honestly don’t see one player out of that whole motley crew making the Pro Bowl.  Not one.  Who?  Name me somebody.   See what I mean?

5.  I can’t wait to watch Adrian Peterson tonight.  All Day.  Fifteen rookies have led the league in the rushing.  But over the past twenty-three seasons, only one rookie has.  The Edge.  All Day could be the second.  He also has a good chance to do something only two other rookie running backs have ever done, and none since 1939.  What’s that you ask?  Lead the league in rushing and yards per carry.  Gadzooks!  And get a load of this:  Peterson will join Jim Brown, OJ and Barry Sanders as the only NFL players who finished a season with at least 200 carries and an average of at least six yards per carry.  Not that’s some pretty fine company.  Come and knock on door.  We’ll be waiting for you!

6.  I can’t wait to watch Devin Hester tonight.  Devin Hester, the very bester.  The pound your chester.  The bullet proof vester.  Mr. Excitement.  Devin Hester has eleven touchdowns on punt returns, kick-off returns and missed field goal returns.  He’s done it in only 29 regular season games.  That puts him at fourth all time.  Brian Mitchell has the record with 13.  13 in 223 games.  Eric Metacalf has 12 in 179 games.  And Dante Hall has 12 in 105 games.  Watch Devin Hester tonight and remember, you’re watching history.

7.  You say it’s not fair?  Bonds is getting it much worse than Clemens?  The Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association said it has removed Clemens as the keynote speaker at its state convention next month.  Clemens is a god in Texas.  The stars at night are big and bright.  Deep in the heart of Texas.  It seems, this star has lost his luster.  This is only the beginning.

8.  Rich Rodriguez to coach Michigan.  Am I the only guy in the country who actually does not care at all about this?  A couple of other things I don’t care about:  The A-Braod silent treatment and the Dolphins winning a football game.

9.  And while you’re getting all excited about your Fins.  Just a reminder:

10.  Yankees still suck!  Ha! Ha! Ha!

Peace out homies.  Six two and even!

The idea is not to block every shot.  The idea is to make your opponent believe that you might block every shot.  ~Bill Russell

Public Service Announcement:  OK, here we go!  How bout them Celtics!  Goodness gracious great balls of fire!  We knew they were gonna be good.  We knew they were gonna be real good.  Did we know they were gonna be this good? 

20-2 good?  An NBA-best 20-2 good?  Tying the 1963-64 Celtics for the best start in franchise history good?  Nine straight good?  Everybody had a hunch the New Big Three would score.  Had hunches they’d score in bunches.  Had hunches they’d score in knockout punches.  Had hunches they’d score in the crunches.  But defense? 

This is a team that last year went stretches playing worse defense than Michael Redd.  Worse defense than Antawn Jamison.  Worse defense than Troy Hudson.  So how in the world are they doing this?  How are they ranked number one in the National Basketball Association in points allowed?  How are they ranked number one in the National Basketball Association in opponents’ field goal percentage?  How are they ranked number one in the National Basketball Association in opponents’ three-point percentage?  How are they ranked number one in the National Basketball Association in opponents’ rebounds?  What does it take to be number one?  Two is not a winner and three nobody remembers.  What does it take to be number one? 

Tom Thibodeau.  That’s what.  Tom Thibedeau, Celtics assistant coach.  Tom Thibedeau, defensive guru.  Defensive maharishi.  Defensive swami.  In his seventeen seasons as an assistant, Thibodeau has helped his teams finish in the NBA’s top ten in team defense fourteen times.  Yowza!  He helped the Rockets rank in the top five in the NBA in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense in all four years he was with the team.  Holy cow!  In his first year with Houston, Thibodeau helped the Rockets set franchise records in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense.  Whoa Nelly!  During his tenure with the Knicks, New York set a then-NBA record by holding thirty-three consecutive opponents under 100 points in the 2000-01 season.  How about that!  Now, the Celtics under Thibodeau, are suddenly playing defense.  Suddenly Susan.  Like that boy from INXS, they are playing suffocating defense.  Smothering defense.  Asphyxiating defense. 

They are cutting off the penetration.  They are contesting every shot.  They are trapping in the corners.  They are crashing the boards.  Rebounding, helping, switching, basically everything that you expect your team to do on defense.  Crushing opponents on a nightly basis. 

Yesterday, the Celtics’ defense held Toronto to a season low in points.  Seven fewer than their previous low.  Registered Decemeber 7 against, you guessed it, Boston.  Friday against Milwaukee, Michael Redd was held to a season-low seven points.  17.1 below his average.  And know this sports fans:  The Celtics own a point  differential up over fourteen.  The 72-win Chicago Bulls had a differential of 12.2.  The 1971-72 Lakers, who won 33 straight, had one of 12.3.  The 1985-86 Celtics, the best team in NBA history, had one of 9.4.   So you wanna know how the Celtics are doing it?  Doin’ it and doin’ it and doin’ it well?  They’re doing it with defense.

Public Acknowledgements:  Jerry Lee Lewis, Nelly, Ben Bernie, Keith Jackson, Phil Rizzuto, Mel Allen, Brooke Shields, Michael Hutchence, Boston Globe and LL Cool J

Peace out homies.  Six two and Even!

What’s a matter binky?  All this steroids talk got you down.  Well there’s nothing like a spike to the nuts to cure whats ailing you. Classic ball in the groin moment:

Peace out homies.  Six two and even!