Sports Redux: Quick, to the Panic Room!

OK. It's oooookaaaaay. So maybe we thought that Doc Rivers' "stay the course" message meant something a little different. We all took it as sticking with a formula that has found success during much of this Celtics season-in-progress.

It was merely a matter of miscommunication, that's all. Because the Celtics did in fact stay the course on Friday night. It simply happened to be that they stuck with the course that ends with a L at the end of a basketball game. Different interpretation. Our bad.

What is there to say? We would have loved to have seen the Cleveland crowd try to stammer out a shaky "MVP" chant for LeBron James, even after Paul Pierce schooled James on Cavalier turf. That didn't happen. We were looking forward to watching the Celtics click back into their winning ways. Wasn't to be. Instead, the Celtics have lost seven of their last nine, and Friday night's 98-83 loss was a whupping that featured a 38-point James exclamation point.

Kevin Garnett lodged 18 points and 15 rebounds, while Pierce put in 11 points of his own. The team has Saturday to think about what it's done (and is not doing) before it tries to right the leaking ship against Toronto on Sunday.

Turning to the ice, the Bruins take on Carolina at 1 p.m. today. Woo! Patrice Bergeron is looking forward to rejoining the team, while Marco Sturm is gearing up for knee surgery on Tuesday.

On matters of all things hot stove baseball (as opposed to the cool music variety), the Red Sox and Mark Kotsay will resume their relationship in the 2009 season, and we're feeling good about it. Depending on how matters go with Mike Lowell's rehab (word seems to be that he's looking good for the end of spring training, but one never knows), the Sox can use a guy who can not only deliver at first base if Youk is pulled to third, but also be available for outfield duty if Rocco Balldelli goes more the route of the not-quite-consistent JD Drew.

File this under yet another we like that Pedroia kid: the Sox infielder randomly called in to WEEI Friday afternoon. The name he gave? "Dustin, in the car."

Finally, congratulations to Stephen Gostowski, who was the lone Patriot named to the first-team AP All-Pro squad, and Wes Welker, who should've made the first team but is instead on the second team.

Image from Amazon.