Progress report

Imagine being one on the many people in Greater New York City who are diehard Giants and Knicks fans. Nice week they had, huh?

I mean, if that fiasco at the Garden on Thursday night wasn't enough to get Isiah fired, what will it take? There is already a school of thought that says Isiah is actually trying to get fired, so he can collect his money from James Dolan and slink away. I don't know if I buy that one, but I'm now wondering about the other possibility: do his players want him out? Losing by 45, and avoiding an all-time point low only because Nate Robinson hits a 40-footer at the buzzer, does not testify to team cohesion.

But that's New York's problem. We don't have a problem. Well, no big ones, anyway. After 14 games of the 82-game season, the Celtics are far exceeding the expectations of even their most irrational boosters. Doc's boys are selfless on offense and surprisingly together on defense. The key auxiliary players --- Eddie House and James Posey --- have shown us what they can do, and even better times are ahead in both cases, if the testimony of former employers can be believed. Big Baby, despite reservations about his lack of "lift," might also be helpful. And just in case you haven't noticed, Scot Pollard has done his get-in-the-way thing nicely when called upon.

There remains one big problem.

Rajon Rondo needs help.

The kid has been just fine at home, but the team is in acute need of a veteran point guard who can help the team get through the rough spots on the road, where young Mr. Rondo has not exactly been the same player he is when performing in front of the adoring Garden crowd. Mr X doesn't have to be a star. He just has to be a savvy vet who knows what's up in hostile situations.

That said, if this is the Celtics' biggest current problem, ain't life grand?

PAYING THE PRICE
Something happened this week that should have commanded the attention of every college basketball coach in America. Ralph Beard died.

Ralph Beard was 79. He was a great player at Kentucky, a star on back-to-back NCAA championship teams in 1948 and 49. He won a gold medal in the 1948 Olympics. He was, very possibly one of the ten greatest college players in the first half of the 20th century. But he made one horrible mistake that truly and literally followed him to his grave, and if you don't believe me, consider the headline we at the Globe ran on his obituary:

RALPH BEARD; BASKETBALL STAR IN COLLEGE BETTING SCANDAL; 79

Ralph Beard was implicated in the massive college betting scandal of the early 50s. He admitted to having taken $700 to shave points while at Kentucky but always insisted, that, while he did take the money, he still played honestly. But he was barred for life from the NBA, regardless.
Here is what every college coach in America should do. He should hold up the headline on Ralph Beard's and read them the first paragraph, which is essentially the same in every story. In our case, the Associated Press first graph read as follows:

"Ralph Beard, an All-American guard for Kentucky in the 1940s and a key figure in college basketball's biggest betting scandal, died yesterday. He was 79."

And then the coach can say, "Is that how you want to be remembered?"

The truth is that if a college basketball player ever succumbs to temptation and takes some dirty money to shave points, let alone dump games outright, he can an be sure of one thing. If he's caught, that will be in the first paragraph, and probably the headline, too, of his obituary. Is that what he'd like his family and friends to read?

I'm not naive enough to doubt that plenty of college players in the last 57 years have done business with gamblers without getting caught. I'm sure there have been hundreds. But if you do get caught, and many have, you live in lifetime disgrace.

It's something to think about.

THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE

I believe Jacoby Ellsbury is a .340/210-hit/50 stolen base guy waiting to happen, probably as early as '09. I want that to happen in a Boston Red Sox uniform.

Theo seems to agree.

Whew!