Hardball Heaven

* Ahm, Celtics, what exactly are you doing? Winning? Not acceptable. We're heading straight for a lottery pick, and let's face it - the Basketball Gods owe us a little something for all the crap we've been through. Bias (still stings), Reggie Lewis, Dr. Gilbert Mudge vs. Donna Harris Lewis, the too-early retirement of Larry, M.L. as coach, Rick Pitino, Travis Knight, losing out on Tim Duncan, the deaths of Johnny Most, Dennis Johnson and the patriarch of it all, Red Auerbach. Yeah, I'd say we're due - and if the Gods show any mercy, we could be looking at Greg Oden or Kevin Durant in green. I'd personally like to see Oden.

But these Celtics obviously didn't get the memo to lose at all costs. They beat Orlando by 9 in overtime and are still locked into the second-worst record in the league at a robust 22 wins and 49 losses. The Memphis Grizzlies own the distinction of being the worst at 18-54. Milwaukee is three games ahead of Boston, which is a concern. So stop winning, dammitall.

In baseball news,

* Opening day for the Red Sox is 4 1/2 days away in Kansas City with Curt Schilling going up against $55M man Gil Meche. Mark it down - Schilling is going to have a huge year in '07. I'm calling for some big improvement from Manny this year too.

* Nomar smacks a double off the wall...

* What does it say when you've got your big annual roto auction draft in less than 24 hours and you've spent more time trying to think up a new name for your team than researching players? Probably not a good sign...

* If you had your choice, would you rather the Sox sign Ichiro or Andruw Jones as a free agent next year? Tough call...

* Final Four this weekend for college basketball with Georgetown vs. Ohio State (good chance to see Oden) and a rematch of last year's championship game with Florida vs. UCLA. College hockey waits until next weekend when it has the spotlight all to itself and still only 100 people watch. The Frozen Four this year is BC, Maine, Michigan State and North Dakota. As much as it pains me to say, BC could take it all the way they're playing. Tim Whitehead has his Maine Black Bears, as usual, playing well when the games really count. UNH coach Dick Umile certainly couldn't say the same. Not that I'm bitter or anything. After all, UNH stands for University of No Hardware. But someone up in Durham, New Hampshire, where yours truly matriculated in the late 1980s, should be looking closely at Mr. Umile and his shoddy postseason mark. I don't care about October and November wins.