Good news and bad news...

The bad news is that this is the most boring sports period of the entire year. No football (even off-season stuff) until August or so, baseball means nothing until the All-Star Break and (usually) the NBA could dissolve tomorrow and I wouldn't know about it for 12 years.

The good news is that this year the most boring sports period is actually being quite entertaining.

For some odd reason I haven't quite grasped yet, the Celtics are really starting to draw me into the NBA a little bit. I've grown up under a household where the belief is that organized basketball ceases to exist after the college level, and the NBA simply represents a bastardized shoot-till-ya-miss version of the game. While that still basically holds true, at least now there are some storylines. You have the ongoing saga of Prince/King James - depending on where your allegiances lie -, good Kobe (the team player who has never gotten a break until the overdue MVP this year)/bad Kobe (the convicted rapist ballhog), and now the "dynasty in the making" Celtics. It's all good stuff and has kept me interested in what is usually the playoffs that just won't end.

---

Then there are the surging Redlegs which, dare I say, have looked like a solid all-around baseball team lately, let the knocking on wood commence. For the first time in years, the pitching rotation shows signs of not being finalists for the MVP award of opposing teams, there is some homegrown youth that is making a definite impact, and the team doesn't look like it is just going through the motions everyday.

Maybe all those years of crap are starting to pay off, in the form of the crazy-high draft picks we garnered. It's still far too early to tell, but Jay Bruce has adjusted favorably to the MLB. At least one of Bob Castellini's questionable trades has paid off in the form of a previously unproven pitcher by the name of Edison Volquez. Maybe getting rid of Hamilton rather than say Dunn, or even Griffey wasn't the best move for the future, but realistically I doubt the Rangers would have even been interested in either or both of them.

Needless to say at this point, for the first time in my life I have reminded myself of when the Red's are on TV, made an effort to watch them, and planned at least a few nights in the bleacher seats because, let's be honest, I'm still a poor college student. This isn't the first time the Red's have had an early season boom, but it is the first time that it feels like it may not be completely smoke and mirrors or plain dumb luck. I'll be the first to admit my baseball wisdom is lacking in all areas, but it just feels different, if nothing else.

Here's to optimism.