Sports City, USA

To all my loyal followers, my apologies for not posting sooner since my last. Creating a blog is easy, but maintaining it is quite another story. Maybe I haven't had many random thoughts the last few weeks, maybe I've had way too many. Either way I have no good excuse other than I didn't try hard enough. That being said, I join you this evening prior to consuming my evening meal.

I began typing this banter with the idea of discussing the latest acquisitions of my beloved Boston Red Sox. Instead I'm going to take a few minutes and clap my hands for all Boston/New England teams playing at the moment. When they say Boston is the greatest sports city in the country/world - we are currently experiencing why.

The Red Sox just made a trade for one of the best hitters currently in the game, as well as being a Gold Glove caliber 1st baseman. Adrian Gonzalez will be a power in our line up and will force the ownership to redo the face of the Monster with all the times he'll be hitting it. This is a guy the Sox have had their eyes on for quite some time and it is great to see the effort they made to get him. But my friends, this was not all. You should all now know that the Sox signed free agent Carl Crawford last night to one of the biggest deals in Red Sox history. Crawford may have been the best available position player and Theo and crew were not willing to let him slip away. Another great pick up, he adds his defensive skill to an already high-quality outfield. He has the ability to hit for average and some power, while being a menace on the bases with his outstanding speed. Just imagine the headaches pitchers will get trying to keep track of Ellsbury and Crawford on the bases.

All in all, great offseason so far for the Red Sox. If we can pick up a few arms for the bullpen, and have current players come back healthy and strong - the Red Sox will be a scary scary team, and jump to the top of the contender list once again.

Next we'll touch on the Patriots. Oh, P-A-T-S, PATS PATS PATS. Ask the Jet's fans what they think of the New England Patriots. The Patriots destroyed the Rex, Sanchez and the rest of the Jets on all sides of the ball. Now at 10-2 they have sole possession of first place in not just the AFC East, but all of the AFC. The offense is just as good as we thought it was - if not better as the weeks go by since they let go of one Randy Moss. Brady is pounding defenses and distributing the ball to all receivers that it is nearly impossible to just cover one. With his perfect rating against the far from frightful Detroit Lions, and an amazing performance against the Jets, Brady took home the honor of AFC Offensive Player of the Week - for the second straight week. If this doesn't catapult him to the top of the list for league MVP, I don't know what will.

The biggest weakness of the Patriots this year has been their defense. Statistically one of the worst in Patriot's history, this young group of guys are finally beginning to show progress as they some how manage to defeat decent teams at the right time. Whether it be Pittsburgh, Indy or the Jets - the defense has begun to show up and grow up a lot quicker then anyone could have expected.

Going from a group of rookies to a group, that out of respect we'll just call veterans, brings us to the Celtics. One may say the Patriots have their foot on gas and not letting up - the Celtics are on a steady cruise control that they look to take all the way to the post-season. With a starting line-up of Paul Pierce, KG, Ray Allen, Shaq and Rondo - this team needs to conserve as much energy as they can to prepare for a deep run in the spring. May sound tough, but when they open up a 20+ point lead Doc Rivers does what makes him a good coach and manages the clock and his bench. Fortunately, he has guys such as Nate Robinson, Glen "Big Baby" Davis who can step up and put in some good minutes. This team is exactly that, a team. They are about collaboratively winning, and couldn't care less about who scores more points. I think this is especially evident in the fact that Rondo, their starting point guard, is averaging 14 assists per game. They pass and distribute, and to take a jab at the Miami Heat, the Celtics are the perfect model that the Heat should be following. As the commercials say: "It's all about 18".

Finally to the Bruins. The B's are certainly a contender this year, and have been keeping that status due to their defense. One of the best Goals Against average in the league, it is the performance on their goalkeeper, particularly the veteran Tim Thomas that has been quite the shot blocker between the pipes. With a few games in hand, the Bruins are still in good position amongst their competition, and if the entire team can stay healthy, or get healthy I should say, they will continue to be an easy team to beat going forward.