"Merry Christmas," indeed. Bah humbug.

[JB <jimmetz@xxxxxxx>]

 From Peter May's column in today's "Globe:"

{As the final buzzer sounded, Fox Sports New England analyst Tom
Heinsohn teed off on the officials as they passed him on their way to
their dressing room.

''You guys were awful tonight. Absolutely terrible,'' Heinsohn said.

Mauer, the crew chief, stopped briefly and said, ''Tommy? Merry
Christmas.''}

	Is there anyway to explain this, other than the zebras offering a 
little pay back, for the Celtics lack of respect for their 
"profession?" Was Tony Battie's little "faux pas," the last straw in a 
season long cascade of verbal and non-verbal abuse, from the Celtics to 
the referees? Which team leads the NBA in technicals?
	A team is  supposed to get some "home cooking." A star like Pierce is 
supposed to be protected. Think about this happening to  Kobe in L.A..
	Red always had an enforcer, or two, "Jungle Jim" Loscatof, Bob Branum, 
or some other beefy reserve, with no other "raison d'etre," than to 
protect our star players, from the kind of hard fouls we saw laid on 
Pierce last night. With or without a foul called, someone would have 
given a fore arm shiver across the windpipe, of one overzealous rookie 
last night.
	It was Red who pushed for an enforcer, or two, that led us to trade 
for Vitaly Potapenko and Danny Fortson.  Unfortunately, neither are 
here now and while Bruno Sundov may have a menacing name, his physique 
is hardly that of a potential equalizer. Rueben Wolkowyski? He has the 
physique, but such a girly name.
	Me thinks that the ref's sent us a message last night. Clean up your 
disrespectful act, or it's going to be a long season. I mean how many 
wins will we get with a foul shot discrepancy of 33-9, even if we don't 
lose all of our players to injury?
	Should the Celtics cow down to the ref's and start showing the 
acquiescence that they require, or should we give another sort of 
message and sign ourselves a real brute? How about P.J. Stack? Yeah, I 
know he's only 6'5" tall, but it certainly would dramatize our intent 
and after watching a few NHL highlight films on ESPN, the bullies of 
the league might give pause, the next time Pierce drives to the hoop 
and they have the idea they can slam him without the officials taking 
notice.	No, I'm not really suggesting we sign a midget, but it's time 
we did shore up our muscle squadron and get ourselves a player who can 
take care of himself in a fight. If you think this game was ugly, wait 
until playoff time, as teams around the league realize that we did 
nothing to protect our star; Mr. Pierce.
	Thankfully, it's only a few busted teeth, this time! The next time, he 
might not be so lucky.

		JB

	Unchain My Heart !