Sports Redux: We'll Get Through This

We've dealt with worse. We know that you woke up this morning to a world you don't recognize, where our glory days are indubitably behind us, where you don't know if you can trust your neighbor anymore, where living in Boston doesn't feel any better than living in Cincinnati or Oklahoma.

We are talking about sports here, by the way.

Sure, our football team is dead and buried, and we have to watch the two most disagreeable teams in the AFC fight for a Super Bowl berth while we mentally prepare ourselves to rationalize possibly rooting for Minnesota to win the Supevre Bovrle by hoping that it might at least convince a certain media-friendly QB to exit the stage once and for all. Sure, our hockey team is beset with a thousand injuries and can't put together a two-game winning streak, and our basketball team has taken the concept of "home court advantage" and thrown it into a cocked hat. All of this is true.

But there are bright sides. The Red Sox avoided arbitration and signed Jonathan Papelbon to another season. Papelbon says he's in the prime of his career and doesn't want to be tied down with a long-term deal, and having seen a few closers flame out in our time, we're fine with not making a major commitment here either. Tony Massarotti looks at the 2010 roster and basically likes what he sees. Sort of. And old friend Carlton Fisk had a lot to say about Mark McGwire and the integrity of baseball. And somethere, Deion Sanders' ears are still ringing.

But perhaps the best news, we said cautiously, is that all systems appear to be go for a Kevin Garnett return to the parquet for Friday night's game against the Blazers. "I’m just trying to be patient and actually listen. It’s a Taurus quality," explained KG, which we're not sure jibes with all the Taurii in our life, but OK. A more immediate reunion for the C's comes tonight in Detroit, where the fans of the mediocre Pistons are poised to welcome back Rasheed Wallace as a reminder of the good old days. Old teammate Ben Wallace (no relation) scored the quote of the day: "It will make for some good and exciting basketball, since he is one of those guys who has never fouled anybody since he got into the league."