An Unexpectedly Busy Day On Yawkey Way For The Red Sox In Mid-January

Believe me, the last thing I want to think about at the moment is the Red Sox. The Patriots are one win from another Super Bowl, the Celtics are playing much better (except for last night) lately and the Bruins are set to open their 2013 regular season on Saturday night. Still, I felt that I had to note three items of interest related to our favorite baseball team that came out today.

Outfielder Shane Victorino was named to Team USA for the 2013 World Baseball Classic, Mike Napoli agreed to a one-year deal worth $5 million (up to $13 million with incentives) and catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia avoided arbitration with a one-year deal worth $4.5 million.

Outside of the Pro Bowl and preseason NFL games, I'm not sure if there is a more useless sporting event in America these days than the WBC. Nobody watches it or cares, it's during spring training when attention is rightly on March Madness plus the NHL & NBA regular seasons. With that said, if I do find myself watching it for a second this time around, at least I'll have someone in particular to root for. Victorino is the only Red Sox on the team while local guys Tim Collins (Royals reliever from Worcester, MA) and Steve Cishek (Marlins reliever from Falmouth, MA) are also on manager Joe Torre's squad that features some MLB stars (Ryan Braun, David Wright, Mark Teixeira) but also a bunch of randoms (Willie Bloomquist, Glen Perkins).

Alfredo Aceves (Mexico) along with prospects Jose De La Torre (Puerto Rico) and Xavier Bogaerts (Holland) will also take part in the World Baseball Classic for their respective countries.

As for Napoli, I think we can all agree that while the wait (over 6 weeks) between him originally agreeing to a deal (3 years, $39 million) with the Red Sox and now was ridiculous, the end result was well worth it. Giving him that kind of money seemed crazy at the time and that was before we knew about his hip issues. With this contract, he can try to put together a good 2013 season and actually earn that type of money for the next few years. What a concept!

Signing Salty in this case was basically a formality but nothing has changed the fact that Boston has a logjam of catchers on its current roster: Saltalamacchia, David Ross, Napoli (at times) and Ryan Lavarnway. Ross will probably be the backup-that's why they signed him-so I'd expect Lavarnway to get sent back to Pawtucket or possibly traded. That will definitely be one of the key positions to focus on when boring old Spring Training starts in a month in Florida.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Patriots, Celtics and Bruins related programming.

UPDATE 1/18: Jacoby Ellsbury ($9 million), Andrew Bailey ($4.1 million), Joel Hanrahan ($7.04 million), Aceves ($2.65 million), Daniel Bard ($1.8625 million), Andrew Miller ($1.475 million) and Franklin Morales ($1.4875 million) all agreed to one-year deals today, avoiding arbitration. Craig Breslow is the only arbitration-eligible guy that didn't agree to terms yet for the Red Sox but apparently he and the club are only $50,000 apart on what they want.

UPDATE 1/19: Today, Breslow received a two-year deal worth $6.25 million from the Red Sox. The contract includes an option for 2015 and it could max out at $10.15 million.

UPDATE 1/22: Along with officially announcing Napoli's deal today, the Red Sox designated pitcher Chris Carpenter (aka Theo's compensation from the Cubs) for assignment.

UPDATE 1/24: Haha today to make people look away from Terry Francona's tell-all book, the Red Sox hired Pedro Martinez to be a special assistant to GM Ben Cherington. That's the same figurehead job handed to Jason Vartiek in September. Oh joy. Hey remember 2004, wasn't that fun?

UPDATE 1/25: With Ryan Kalish needing shoulder surgery, the Red Sox signed Ryan Sweeney to a minor league deal as insurance. You'll remember him as the dope that punched a dugout door last season and broke his hand, thus ending his first year in Boston.

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Doc Rivers' Late Christmas Gift To His Son Austin: A Win At TD Garden For The Hornets

I thought the Celtics had gotten past the point of losing to shitbum teams with some regularity this season. Apparently not, their six-game win streak was ruined tonight as Boston (20-18, 13-7 home) laid down 90-78 to New Orleans (13-26, 7-13 away) at TD Garden.

Rookie Austin Rivers (No. 10 pick of 2012 Draft) won the first ever meeting with his dad-Celtics head coach Doc Rivers-as he tossed in eight points off the bench (4th father-son meeting in NBA history). The Hornets are truly awful and losing to a bad team always leaves a particularly bad taste in a fan's mouth. Granted, this was New Orleans sixth win in their last seven games.

The immortal Al-Farouq Aminu had a game-high 18 points, nine rebounds and two steals for New Orleans, Robin Lopez had 17 points and six rebounds, Greivis Vasquez added 15 points and 11 rebounds while No. 1 pick Anthony Davis notched 10 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. Ryan Anderson had 10 points and six rebounds off the bench for the Hornets in their disgusting teal road jerseys (maybe the worst look in the NBA).

For whatever reason (playing down to competition?), the Celts never seemed to be into it mentally or emotionally. Kevin Garnett led Boston with 15 points, Paul Pierce had 12 points and 10 rebounds, Rajon Rondo dished out 11 assists with three steals and Jason Terry (12 points) was the only bench guy to show up.

The C's led 25-20 after the first quarter but the Hornets outscored them in the final three frames. New Orleans was up 44-43 at halftime and they extended it to 68-63 after three quarters.

New Orleans was by far the more aggressive team, all you need to look at in that regard is three statistics: they made 20 more free throws (26-6) than Boston, grabbed 15 more rebounds (48-33) and pounded it inside for 16 more points in the paint (48-32). In their only other meeting of the season, Boston visits New Orleans on March 20. You have to believe the Celts will play much better then since tonight was basically a disaster.

The Celtics wrap up their five-game homestand on Friday (7 p.m., CSN) against the Bulls (22-15, 2nd in Central Division). The teams have split the first two matchups with Chicago most recently winning 100-89 at the United Center on December 18. These games are almost always close and entertaining.

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Nothing Says Excitement Like A Visit From The Bobcats

Like a solar eclipse or an episode of "Keeping Up With The Kardashians," games against the Bobcats require that you don't look too closely at them or else you risk potential serious harm.

Tonight at TD Garden, Boston (20-17, 13-6 home) beat Charlotte (9-28, 4-14 away) 100-89 in what will undoubtedly be the Celtics' most boring victory of the season. Boston has won six games in a row and this one was all thanks to Rajon Rondo's 26th career triple-double (3rd this season): 17 points, 12 assists, 10 rebounds. He has 13 triple-doubles (regular season and playoffs) since the start of last season, nobody else in the NBA has more than two.

Paul Pierce was the high scorer in this emotionless contest with 19 points and six assists. Avery Bradley scored 16 points (including four 3-pointers), Kevin Garnett grabbed 11 rebounds and Jeff Green added 11 points off the bench.

Charlotte is still a complete mess that can't figure out what they want to be. Journeymen Hakim Warrick (16 points) and Ramon Sessions (16 points) led them in scoring while talented young guys like Kemba Walker (12 points) and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (10 points, 8 rebounds) waste away on one of the worst teams in professional sports. Gerald Henderson had 10 points and former UConn star Ben Gordon notched 12 points off the bench.

The Celts led by as much as 18 (50-32) in the second quarter but the Bobcats stuck around for a while, tied it at 58 in the third quarter and cut it to four in the fourth (78-74) before Boston decided to save themselves a world of embarrassment.

Boston shot 7.0% better from the field (48.8-41.8), hit two more 3-pointers (8-6), hauled in eight more rebounds (42-34), dished out 12 more assists (27-15) and blocked four more shots (8-4).

In Dan Shaughnessy parlance, another tomato can-the New Orleans Hornets (11-26, 5th in Southwest Division)-comes to the Garden on Wednesday night (8 p.m., CSN). It's the first time Celtics head coach Doc Rivers has faced his son, Hornets rookie guard Austin Rivers, in an NBA game. On paper that sounds like a swell idea but the reality is that Austin has been awful and he barely plays at the moment while his team is similarly terrible. Fun times! Tune in for another Celtics romp.

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Patriots Dispatch Texans 41-28, Return To AFC Championship & Rematch With Baltimore

If you want to beat the Patriots (13-4, 7-2 home) in the playoffs at Gillette Stadium, it takes basically a perfect gameplan with likewise flawless execution. Neither of those things describe the Texans (13-5, 6-3 away), who lost 41-28 tonight in the AFC Divisional Round game.

New England advances to its seventh AFC Championship Game under Bill Belichick and it is a rematch of last year as Baltimore comes to Foxborough on Sunday (6:30 p.m., CBS). Atlanta hosts San Francisco in the NFC Championship (3 p.m., Fox). The win took a serious toll on the Pats though as Rob Gronkowski broke his forearm again so he's done for the playoffs while Danny Woodhead (thumb) and Chandler Jones (ankle) left with injuries in the first half and never returned.

Tom Brady (25 of 40, 344 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs) was better than Matt Schaub (34 of 51, 343 yards, 2 TDs, INT) but the bigger surprise was that Wes Welker (8 catches, 131 yards) outperformed Andre Johnson (8 catches, 95 yards) and Shane Vereen (41 yards rushing, 83 yards receiving, 3 total TDs) did his best Arian Foster (90 yards rushing, 63 yards receiving, 2 TDs) impression.

Don't let the final score deceive you, this was a blowout. New England was up 38-13 in the fourth quarter before Houston scored a couple late touchdowns, forcing the Patriots to recover an onside kick. The Texans have plenty of talent but their conservative playcalls on offense, Schaub's tendency to falter in the big moment not to mention their shaky defense will hold them back from ever doing anything really notable. Oh and Houston head coach Gary Kubiak is medicore at best.

You knew the Texans were in trouble when Danieal Manning took the opening kickoff 94 yards (Devin McCourty saved the TD) but they couldn't punch it in for a score. Shayne Graham hit a 27-yard field goal for a 3-0 lead. Vereen's 1-yard TD run late in the first quarter gave New England a 7-3 lead that they would never relinquish.

A 37-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski and 8-yard TD catch by Vereen made it 17-3. Foster's 1-yard TD run (when he might not have crossed the goal-line) gave the Texans some life at 17-10 then the Pats couldn't figure out what they wanted to do at the end of the first half. Houston took advantage, forcing a punt then moving down the field and watching Graham hit a career-long 55-yard kick to cut it to 17-13 at halftime.

New England seemed to be the only team to come back for the second half. They rattled off three straight touchdowns to put it away. Stevan Ridley (82 yards rushing) rumbled in from 8 yards out, Brandon Lloyd caught a 5-yard TD pass then Brady hit Vereen with a beautiful 33-yard TD catch early in the fourth quarter.

DeVier Posey's amazing 25-yard touchdown grab was ruled no catch at first but correctly overturned after review. Foster added a 1-yard touchdown catch before Gostkowski's 38-yard field goal made all the gamblers happy since it allowed the Patriots to cover.

Other standouts for the home team: Aaron Hernandez (6 catches, 85 yards), Aqib Talib (10 tackles, 9 solo) and Rob Ninkovich (4 tackles, 2 solo, 2 passes defensed, tackle for loss, quarterback hit), who recorded the only turnover of the game with a key interception of Schaub in the third quarter. The Pats turned that into seven points on Lloyd's touchdown.

New England has to thank Baltimore (12-6, 5-4 away) since their incredible 38-35 double overtime win last night in Denver allowed the Patriots to host the AFC Championship for the second straight season. The Ravens are a familiar foe since they played in Week 3 in Baltimore (a 31-30 Ravens win) not to mention in last season's AFC Championship (a 23-20 Patriots win thanks to Billy Cundiff's missed chip shot at the end). Baltimore is riding a serious wave of emotion because Ray Lewis is apparently retiring at the end of this season (I'll believe it when I see it).

Last season along with Week 3 have no bearing on what will transpire on Sunday night. These teams play every season and even though the Patriots usually come out on top, the margins are always very close. They don't need extra motivation but the Pats are also chasing immortality as Tom Brady became the winningest quarterback (17 wins) in playoff history with today's victory and Bill Belichick is now third in wins (18, 2 behind leader Tom Landry and 1 behind Don Shula).

Las Vegas lists New England as a 9.5 point favorite (same as vs. Houston) against Baltimore. It seems like a bit too much but the Patriots have proven that they have no problem hanging 30+ on almost anyone in the NFL. The question will be can Joe Flacco and the Ravens score enough to knock off the Pats?

UPDATE 1/14: The Pats hired former Chiefs offensive coordinator Brian Daboll to a yet unnamed position on their coaching staff. Daboll is only 37 and he started his career in New England (2000-06). He was a defensive assistant here then a wide receivers coach. It'll be interesting to see what his role turns out to be going forward next season, maybe this means Josh McDaniels is leaving since he was hired last season around this time and ended up taking Bill O'Brien's job.

UPDATE 1/17: Kevin Faulk and Matt Light will be the honorary team captains for New England on Sunday. They both were part of individual ceremonies earlier this season so hopefully they'll bring their old team good luck.

Also today, it was announced what we already knew: Rob Gronkowski's season is over as he was officially placed on IR. The intriguing part is that opens up a roster space which has to be filled by 4 p.m. on Saturday. What practice squad player will hit the lottery and get to dress for the AFC Championship Game? Stay tuned for that pertinent information.

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I Hope You Got Plenty Of Rest During The Latest NHL Lockout: 48 Games In 99 Days Is Silly

If you love hockey, you will be in heaven from Saturday until the end of June. That is because the NHL unveiled its wacky 2013 regular season schedule tonight and it includes 48 games for each team in only 99 days. The regular season ends on April 27 with the playoffs beginning on April 30. The Stanley Cup Finals could potentially go as long as June 28. The trade deadline is April 3.

The only issue I have with the schedules is that teams are limited to playing only teams in their own conference. That means the Bruins won't see any Western Conference teams in the regular season and they'd have to get to the Finals to play one, no pressure. The B's play 18 games against teams in the Northeast Division: five vs. Buffalo and Ottawa; four vs. Montreal and Toronto. The other 30 games are against the rest of the Eastern Conference with three vs. each club.

The B's open vs. the Rangers on Saturday (7 p.m.) then host Winnipeg on Monday afternoon (1 p.m.)-Martin Luther King Day. Boston plays five of its seven games in January at TD Garden so they should get off to a fast start. Their first road game is at Madison Square Garden on January 23 vs. Rangers then the Devils (2012 Eastern Conference champions) come to Boston on January 29.

February is a different story since the B's are out of town for eight of their 11 games. The first Bruins-Canadiens game is February 6 in Montreal, I hope 911 can handle that. Boston's longest road trip of the season-five games-takes place from February 15-26. It allows them to visit probably all of the worst cities in the Eastern Conference: Buffalo, Winnipeg, Tampa Bay, Florida (Sunrise?) and Uniondale (Islanders). Woof.

There is no way around it: March is going to be brutal. Of the seven back-to-backs for the Bruins, four of them occur in March. They play 17 games (9 away, 8 home) in that month alone. The only good aspect of March is that it should be called rivalry month: they meet the Flyers, Capitals and Penguins each twice. No St. Patrick's Day game at the Garden, the B's kick off a four-game road trip in Pittsburgh that afternoon so you'll have to drink a Guinness in front of your TV instead.

April is more cushy as the Bruins hopefully get ready for the playoffs (which are the same, except for starting later and lasting longer). The B's end their home slate with a four-game stay from April 15-21: Senators, Sabres, Penguins and Panthers. Their last two regular season games are against other Eastern Conference contenders: at Philadelphia and at Washington (April 27).

I think losing 24 games off the regular season is a complete non-issue since an 82-game regular season is way too long but it will be interesting to see how this turns out (the NHL also used a 48-game schedule in 1994-95). If you need me, I'll be loading up on energy drinks and eight balls of coke to keep up with all the action, haha just kidding mom!

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Vince Wilfork Named To The Associated Press All-Pro Team

Forget the silly Pro Bowl, the individual honor that means the most to NFL players is the Associated Press All-Pro team. There are fewer spots and it doesn't matter what conference you play in. The Patriots went 12-4 this season but they only had one player make the AP All-Pro team in 2012: defensive tackle Vince Wilfork.

At that position, Wilfork will never put up big numbers but you only need to watch part of one Patriots game to see how much he disrupts other team's offensive lines. It usually takes two guys to try to block him. He had 29 solo tackles, 19 assists, three sacks, two fumbles forced and four fumbles recovered.

There are 50 voters from across the country that select the AP All-Pro team. Wilfork got 27 votes so he was on the first team along with Cincinnati's Geno Atkins. Other Patriots that received votes: Logan Mankins (7, second team with Baltimore's Marshall Yanda), Rob Gronkowski (4), Jerod Mayo (4), Tom Brady (3), Wes Welker (1), Sebastian Vollmer (1) and Devin McCourty (1).

New England is finally back on the field tomorrow afternoon (4:30 p.m., CBS) against Houston at Gillette Stadium as they try to get to the AFC Championship game next Sunday.

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Celtics Show No Signs Of Slowing Down, Win Their Fifth Straight Game

Over the summer and during the preseason when people talked about this being Boston's deepest team in years, this is what they imagined, not the struggles of November and December. For the second game in a row, the Celtics' (19-17, 12-6 home) bench was superb as they helped them beat the Rockets (21-16, 7-10 away) 103-91 at TD Garden.

Boston avenged a 101-89 loss in Houston on December 14 and picked up their fifth straight victory just for fun. The Celts pretty much led wire to wire, however they almost blew a 17-point lead (62-45) from the third quarter as the Rockets cut it to 83-81 in the fourth but the C's hit them with a 12-1 run to end it.

Paul Pierce led the home team with 23 points and six rebounds, Kevin Garnett had 17 points, eight rebounds and four blocks and Rajon Rondo put up 12 points and eight assists. Avery Bradley scored seven points but his real contribution was holding James Harden to 24 points and five assists, seriously. That ended Harden's streak of 14 straight games with 25+ points.

Jared Sullinger had another double-double with 14 points and 11 rebounds, Courtney Lee added 14 points while Jeff Green scored nine.

Chandler Parsons had 18 points for the Rockets while Harvard's Jeremy Lin notched 12 points, six assists, five rebounds and three steals. Omer Asik had seven points and 11 rebounds but a 1 for 8 night at the free throw line took the shine off his work.

Free throw shooting was a teamwide epidemic for Houston, they went 12 for 29 so that was the primary reason why they lost. I can't ever remember an NBA team having that kind of wretched performance. It was stunning, especially since they entered shooting 76% as a team. The Celtics also shot 8.1% better than the Rockets (51.9-43.8%) from the field which was the other main theme of the game.

Boston gets the weekend off then they basically get Monday off as well since the Bobcats (9-26, 4th in Southeast Division) come to TD Garden (7:30 p.m., CSN) in the third game of a five-game homestand for the C's. Charlotte played well at the beginning of the season but it's been all downhill from there, they are still one of the NBA's worst teams.

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