AP Photo by Winslow TownsonWe mentioned last week that Doc Rivers had put up his Gatorade-stained championship shirt for auction to raise money for charity. WBZ now reports that the shirt (signed by Doc and Finals MVP Paul Pierce) has sold for $35,000 to an anonymous bidder. What we didn't know previously is that the auction winner also gets the Gatorade bucket used in the soaking. That'll come in handy for future Gatoradings, we......

The following is an example of one of the rare moments in which ruining a perfectly good shirt makes everyone happy. When the Celtics won the NBA playoffs, Paul Pierce engaged in the common sports ritual of dumping a neon-shaded beverage known as Gatorade upon coach Doc Rivers. Instead of shellacking the shirt (which he’d do if he were sentimental) or tossing the shirt in the trash (which he’d do if he were practical), Rivers......

CelticsBlog and Adam at Universal Hub have pointed us to plenty of reading material today. We thought we'd spotlight some of our favorite bits: -- "Garnett, close to tears, said to Russell, 'Did I make you proud? Did I make you proud?' Russell said, 'Yes, you did.' Garnett embraced Russell even harder, leaned in close to his ear, and said, 'I got one of my own. I got one of my own.' I bet I......

This was just about as sweet as anything could ever be. Was there a time when we wondered if Danny Ainge knew what he was doing when he swung the Ray Allen trade on Draft Day? (Well, yes, we did.) Was there any worry that three guys, who were used to being the big dog, would learn to share the ball? Was there frustration and terror after being pushed to the brink by a neophyte......

All right, fess up. Who went to bed at halftime? We confess, we spent a good chunk of time planning to ditch the bar (sorry the liveblog didn't work out, but the first hour would have just been a steady stream of cuss words anyway), as the Celtics played a first quarter that would have shamed the 1997 "let's get Tim Duncan" team. The offense was inept, the defense was inept, Doc stood there watching......

Bullpen troubles? Late inning collapses? The Sox have been dealing with these issues lately, so the offense did the helpful thing and staked starter Bartolo Colon to a 5-run first-inning lead last night at Fenway. Jason Varitek, woozy and eventually replaced, capped the first off with a 3-run homer (his seventh) and JD Drew (now hitting 1.043 in June) doubled in a run as well. That gave Colon all he needed, as he cruised through......

We honestly don't have much new to say about this afternoon's game. Win, and everything's forgotten and it's 0-0 against Cleveland. Lose - the unthinkable - and God only knows how ugly it's going to get in this town. Doc needs to coach like he's NOT being mugged, coaching a playoff game and watching his house burn down at the same time. Pierce needs to be smart and not give the refs a reason/chance to......

When the rumor first broke that Bill Buckner was the mystery guest at Opening Day, we thought that sounded just right. A perfect chance for diehard Sox fans, or at least the Opening Day crowd, to say all was forgiven, if in fact any forgiveness was due to the man who had to flee to Idaho to escape the indignity of a loss that he symbolized even though his was far from the only tragic......

It was about a week ago when we noted that the Bruins were in 6th place in the Prince of Wales Eastern Conference, which was a decent place to be, thus drawing the winner of the weak-sister Southeast Division. In that week, the B's have solidified the 6th spot, but are now officially in spittin' distance of bigger and better things. They've won blowouts this week, they've won shootouts, they've won at home, they've won......

The All-Star Break couldn't have come at a better time for the Celtics. It's a few extra days of rest for KG, of course, but after last night, almost everyone over 6'8" is in agony this morning and needs some time off. Brian Scalabrine fled the court with a groin pull very early, then Glen Davis went down VERY hard in the second half. He was in so much visible pain that they didn't immediately......

Let's say you're going to the Celtics-Timberwolves game tonight. If you're like most of the people at Celtics games these days, chances are you weren't there last year. Which is perfectly legal on your part. But there's something you should know. Most of the Timberwolves played here last year, during that long, miserable 06-07 campaign, and several of them - promising, hardworking youngsters for the most part - were sent away to make room for......

"Half the guys in our league couldn't shoot 15-for-21 if they were in a gym by themselves," said Doc Rivers. The man would know, having coached Kedrick Brown, Gerald Green, and Brian Scalabrine over the years. But 15-for-21 were the numbers Toronto rained down on the C's from 3-point-land, dropping the C's to their first division loss of the season. It was perhaps the Celtics' poorest defensive game of the year; the Raptors shot 58%......

Bostonist was at a bar last night. Hey, it happens. Everything was good and fun, until the TV (sans sound) flashed a news report: "Brady Seen In Cast". We weren't around for the JFK assassination, but now we have a pretty good idea what the terrified hush that fell over the nation felt like. A couple panicked phone calls later, we weren't any closer to an explanation. The video on TMZ shows a small cast......

There's lots of ways to look at it. After 32 good games, we were due for a stinker. Every NBA team is competent and capable of winning any game (well, the Knicks, but you know what we mean). We had serious letdown potential after the Detroit high. Ray Allen and Big Baby were in street clothes. If any of the above consoles you, it shouldn't. The Celtics looked just God-awful last night, and suffered their......

There are plenty of reasons to like Doc Rivers right now. Twenty-eight reasons, actually. But we wish we could kindly remind Rivers and the Celtics that you have to focus on winning the little games in order for the big games to mean anything. The Celts welcomed Memphis onto the TD Banknorth Garden floor on Friday night and nearly opened the door for the Grizzlies to win. Ray Allen struggled (two points overall) and, while......

Who is that swinger-lookin' 70s dude that the Celtics insist on flashing up on the Jumbotron during games? Why, that's Gino--the unofficial team mascot who is capturing the hearts of players and fans alike! The clip in which Gino appears is from '70s era "American Bandstand." He resembles Adrian Zmed of "TJ Hooker" fame, only with a lot more facial hair, and he knows how to work his sexy snake hips. Once you see......

Hey, wasn't this West Coast trip supposed to demonstrate that the Celtics weren't quite as good as everybody thought? The last hope for the rest of the NBA to stop the Celtics in 2007, the Lakers dug into the history books, coming out in '80s-style short shorts (they ditched them at halftime) to shake things up. They also came out swinging, opening a nasty bloody cut on Kevin Garnett's forehead (KG got called for the......

Let's be honest. We've long known that Boston is at least on the short list for Sports City of the United States. The passion felt by Boston sports fans has long been either heralded or chastised, depending on your point of view. But if you'd told us at the dawn of 2007 that we were entering one of the best years Boston sports teams and fans would ever experience, we would have laughed. Long. Hard.......

It was kind of adorable, the way the Celtics were quipping on Friday night. After defeating the Bucks, 104-82, and tying the franchise record for the best start on the ol' Boston parquet, the Celts tried to demur. Which, in turn, reminded us all of how awesome the team is. We could remark on the fact that Kevin Garnett (15 points), like, totally sounded like a Valley Girl when he tried to explain that he......

We're not the biggest Japanese-movie-monster buffs in the world, but we honestly can't remember an entry in the series when the monster got to go home early because Tokyo didn't even make a token effort to defend itself. But Ghidorah was sent to the bench early last night; the "Big Three" were no longer needed amid the Celtics' utter annihilation of the listless Knicks last night. It was a 23-point lead at halftime, and when......

No Christmas shopping today. No Thanksgiving shopping, either. Get your remote control warmed up and tell the family they're on their own for dinner, because there's a lot of sports to be watchin' today. The fun starts at 2:00, when the Revolution try to get from "happy to be in the championship game", which is old hat, to actually winning the thing. They're matched up against Houston for all the marbles again; goalie Matt Reis......

Celtics coach Doc Rivers would have been entitled to skip last night's game in New Jersey. Spending the day at his father's funeral, 1000 miles away from the Meadowlands, he was fully prepared to call it a day and watch his team on TV. But his mom told him that Dad would have wanted him on the sideline, so Doc caught a charter flight and walked into the C's locker room an hour before game......

In the first half of the Patriots' perfect-so-far season, there were a few scary moments. There was the time Dallas took the lead in the third quarter, and....well, that was about it, actually. For eight games, the Pats picked the tune, and the opponent either danced along, or more likely, got flung out of the way. We've had our scary moments now. Yesterday was a game when the Pats not only didn't pick the tune,......

You had to be made of stone, or the world's most jaded individual, to watch yesterday's Celtics press conference and not believe that things are going to change 'round here in a hurry. New Celtic Kevin Garnett, along with veteran Paul Pierce and fairly new Celtic Ray Allen, told the media and the world that he's happy to be here, he's thrilled to be with two veterans and All-Stars, and he's a Red Sox fan......

Friday night's adrenaline-filled Texas/Boston matchup confirmed for us two things that we've suspected: Jonathan Papelbon is human and man, we really don't want to ever tick him off. While we can't post the photo directly, we can encourage you to take a look at an image of rage from Fenway Park last night. During the top of the ninth, as the Sox were clinging to a 2-1 lead, Papelbon had given up what first base......

If you said the Red Sox lineup would eventually break out of its funk, you weren't alone. If you said it would be J.D. Drew and Dustin Pedroia who did their "Bash Brothers" imitation and got the runs home, please forward us tonight's lottery numbers. Terry Francona's gambit of putting Drew and Pedroia 1-2 in the lineup paid off bigtime last night, as the two combined to go 8-for-9 with 8 RBIs in the 10-2......

It's hard to believe there's a Major League team we know less about than the Diamondbacks, but there is, and they're coming to town starting tonight. Who and what are these Colorado Rockies? The popular conception is that the Rockies are a team loaded with sluggers, who benefit from the thin air of the Mile High City. That may have been true a decade ago, but right now, they're a young team full of promise......

Forget the 2008 Presidential Race for now. The biggest decision any voter can make right now is the one forced on us by Major League Baseball. Since the All-Star game is in San Francisco, a National League park, the designated hitter is not an option. Which means the Red Sox had to designate David Ortiz to be in the First Baseman section of the All-Star ballot. Which means Kevin Youkilis is on the outside looking......

If only Tim Wakefield could pitch in Toronto all the time. Wake shut down the Jays a month ago, and he did it again Thursday night, going seven innings and cruising to a 8-0 pounding of the Blue Jays, who have plummeted straight past "hapless". 26-5 was the final score of the three-game series. Wake had a little early trouble. The Jays loaded the bases with one out, but Wake struck out Frank Thomas, then......

Go ahead, admit it. We will. Going into this season, we were counting on Schill, Daisuke, and Josh to guarantee us a .600 winning percentage, and we'd take our chances with the other guys. Not so fast. That guy with the 1.35 ERA, that guy who had the Blue Jays flapping their wings ineffectively all night? That old guy? That's Old Reliable Tim Wakefield, who improved to 2-1 with another bloodlessly effective outing. "He can......