Awash as we are in Bruins injuries, the Celtics' teetering and the anticipation of the Red Sox' Opening Day, there are unresolved issues that need to be addressed about 30 miles down the road in Foxboro. We've become so accustomed to trusting in Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft that it's been quite a long time since the Patriots have been presented with real, tangible problems that need to be fixed before the next season kicks off.

This, however, is one of those times.

Sure, the Patriots are in need of a punter and a tight end or two — and they would do well to perhaps address the age of their running backs — but the biggest issue they face at the moment might be the lack of checks on Belichick's power. Belichick, for all his genius and football intellect, may have bitten off more than he can chew for the 2010 season.

After former defensive coordinator Dean Pees chose not to seek to renew his contract in January after four seasons in the position, Belichick and the Patriots announced that they would not fill the position. While Belichick claims that defensive coaching duties will be split among himself and his defensive coaching staff — including former Patriot Corwin Brown, linebackers coach Matt Patricia, defensive backs coach Josh Boyer and defensive line coach Pepper Johnson — it's pretty clear that the man in the hoodie will be the one calling the shots and diagramming the X's and O's.

Added to Belichick's head-coaching duties and the de facto defensive coordinator job is the fact that the Patriots played the 2009 season without an official offensive coordinator (most of the inherent duties were handled by quarterbacks coach Bill O'Brien), and so Belichick will largely be responsible for that side of the action as well.

While this may seem like a streamlined way of coaching a football team, the Patriots run the danger of developing a sort of coaching tunnel vision. Belichick, mastermind though he often is, is not immune to play-calling mistakes and has historically benefited from input from his coordinators. Even if, as Belichick has stated, coordinating duties are split among the various coaches, entering the season without a designated offensive coordinator has potentially more risks than rewards.

There has been speculation that the Patriots will officially elevate O'Brien to the offensive coordinator position, and several fans have been vocal in their support of O'Brien after a shaky start to the 2009 season. Should the Patriots make this change, it would allow Belichick to focus on the aspect of professional football in which he's made his name: defensive coaching.

Belichick, in addition to his three Super Bowl victories as head coach of the Patriots, also won two Lombardi trophies with the New York Giants in 1986 and 1990 as defensive coordinator. His defensive game plan that upset the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV is so revered that it is enshrined in Canton, Ohio, at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Throughout his entire career, Belichick has focused on the defensive side of the field and has specialized in adjustable defenses that take away an opponent's strength and force the use of a team's lesser skills.

Masterful at taking away an aerial team's passing game or removing a running team's Pro Bowl backs from the equation, Belichick's bread and butter has always been defense.

Naming O'Brien the official offensive coordinator would remove a large amount of the offensive play-calling responsibilities from Belichick's overfilled plate, and it would also involve a great amount of trust to be placed on the shoulders of quarterback Tom Brady. However — after 10 years in the league, two Super Bowl MVPs and a league MVP to show for himself — Brady should more than meet the challenge, provided he stays healthy.

Any success the Patriots have had in the past decade has been due largely to full-scale collaboration among the different facets of the organization. While it has been understood since Belichick accepted the head-coaching job in 2000 that he would have the final say on play calling, he's been more outspoken about that responsibility in recent years. While a certain amount of autonomy is healthy for a head coach, as is understanding the decision-making hierarchy, professional sports teams benefit from a system of checks and balances in the form of coordinators and assistant coaches. Belichick might argue that "everyone's collectively getting the job done," but without the official titles to their names, various coaches run the risk of not having a clear sense of their contributions.

Ultimately, the Patriots' problems will best be fixed from the top down. The grab-bag method of coaching — where everyone has some undetermined level of input and influence — is a recipe for disaster. In delegating some of his responsibilities, Belichick will be better able to return to focusing on those things which have made him one of the most well-respected coaches in the game: football fundamentals.

One of Belichick's most notable mantras is "Do your job," in which players are expected to know their duties and perform their given tasks well at any given moment. Perhaps Belichick would do well to take a step back and internalize his own advice. If he's doing the jobs of three people, how can he focus on his own?

Seven years in Los Angeles and five in Seattle certainly give Red Sox fans a large enough sample size to know what to expect out of Beltre in terms of his play on the field. Beltre has been a remarkably consistent player throughout those 12 years, batting a lifetime .270 with an average of 21 home runs and 76 RBIs. Though the third baseman's power numbers dipped last year, he also missed a significant number of games due to an injury he'd surely like to forget.

Because Beltre has spent the past five years in Seattle, there's no reason to think he'll all of a sudden suffer a learning curve playing in the American League. However, his acquisition opens the door for the Red Sox to potentially trade 2007 World Series MVP Mike Lowell, a fan favorite.

Because Beltre came at a relative discount ($9 million for the 2010 season) and was signed primarily for his Gold Glove-caliber defense, there will be less pressure on him to approach his career-high 48 home runs in 2004. If he can keep his defense on an even keel and successfully plug the hole that developed behind an injured and often-hobbling Lowell on the left side of the infield, he should be fine.

However, fans in Boston will be sure to let Beltre hear it if his defense isn't up to par. See, we've learned to trust general manager Theo Epstein's instincts when it comes to upgraded defense. (Arguably, it was the revamped infield defense after the Red Sox traded Nomar Garciaparra in 2004 that led to the club's first World Series victory in 86 years.) And should Beltre perform in the same manner as erstwhile Boston shortstops Edgar Renteria or Julio Lugo, fans will not be shy about expressing their displeasure.

Boston is obviously among the top baseball markets in the country and is home to some of the league's most knowledgeable and passionate fans. There are few distractions from the Red Sox during the season, and come playoff time, they're the only game in town. That said, Beltre may face a bit of culture shock playing for a team so deeply rooted in the region's consciousness — especially after five years in Seattle where most of the pressure and adoration fell on his teammate, Ichiro Suzuki.

Ironically, Beltre may face more pressure if he does perform up to expectations, as his success will increase the chances that the club will try to trade Lowell, a move that may not go over well with some of the more sentimental Red Sox fans. However, Beltre's quirky idiosyncrasies might play well with Red Sox Nation, a group known for its acceptance (and appreciation) of Manny Ramirez for eight seasons.

The key for Beltre is making him understand that he doesn't have to knock 50 home runs over the Green Monster to be a success. The name of the game is defense, and knowledgeable Boston fans appreciate a slick-fielding third baseman as much as anyone. If Beltre does his job and holds up his defensive end of the bargain, he should have a productive season in Boston.

***

NESN.com will be answering one Red Sox question every day through Feb. 23.

Saturday, Feb. 13: How satisfying is it to see Boston become a premier free-agent destination?

Aside from Baltimore, there are few regions of the country less friendly to the Indianapolis Colts than right here in New England. Over the course of the last 10 years, the Colts and Patriots have built up a fierce rivalry and contests between the two teams are nearly always epic showdowns.

This season was no different, and it's painful for more than a few Patriots fans to see Peyton Manning in the Super Bowl again. As a result, most New Englanders are rooting for the Saints, despite the Week 12 beatdown they doled out to the Patriots.

That said, there are plenty of reasons to root for the Saints and not just against the Colts in Sunday's Super Bowl. I spoke with a couple of Saints fans — one a New Orleans native living in Boston and one from New Hampshire currently residing in New Orleans — about how they view their roots, their team, their city and the upcoming Super Bowl.　

Ryan, a 22-year-old premed student studying at Boston College, is a born and raised New Orleanian who moved to Boston in 2006. Ryan grew up watching the Saints with his father in their New Orleans living room, but his New England roots are deeper as Ryan's dad and his dad's family originally hail from Massachusetts.

As such, Ryan has always had one foot in both camps when it comes to rooting interests. Though he respectfully claims he didn't adopt the Patriots when he moved to Boston, Ryan explains his sports fandom thusly: "pull for New Orleans in the sports we got (Saints, Hornets) and go Boston for the rest (particularly the Red Sox and the Bruins)."

Ryan believes that there's something to be said for rooting for your home team, "especially in a city like New Orleans, which we often feel gets forgotten, neglected, or used." However, Ryan does see some similarities between rooting for New Orleans and New England.

"If your team loses then you lose" he says. "Both places take it personally."

Both places, Ryan says, also know what it's like to root for a team through decades of heartbreak.　

Beth, a 34-year-old assistant professor of history at Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans and native New Hampshirite would agree.

"I was always a Patriots fan," she says. "It's hard to live in New England and have a lifetime Patriots season-ticket holder for an uncle and not be a fan."

But upon moving to New Orleans in 2000 to earn her master’s and Ph.D. from Tulane University, Beth was bitten hard by the Saints’ bug. She also sees similarities between New England and New Orleans fans.

"I think the pride and allegiance are the same," she said. "I think both teams have generally working-class roots."

However, Beth sees a difference in terms of each fan base and their response to winning.

"The difference is the level of gratitude and faith," she explained. "When you are talking about a team that has had such a difficult track record, you have to be patient, you have to have faith, and when things work out like they have this year, the payoff is that much sweeter."

Despite the fact that patience is not a virtue common to New Englanders, any dyed-in-the-wool Red Sox fan who experienced 2004 certainly understands the notion of faith.　

However, current-day New Orleans differs from New England in a critical way. It is very much a city still struggling to regain its footing and rebuild itself after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. Both Ryan and Beth see daily the affect that the Saints' success has had on the morale of the proud city.

Beth describes the feeling around the city these days: "I'm not sure I can even quantify how much this season and the team have meant to the city and its morale. After several of the biggest games, people seemed more upbeat, friendly, excited. The team has been important to the city, particularly since Katrina, and this year has been even more so. I think it’s certainly been challenging for many here in this city, overcoming a lot of hardship, and this has been something that everyone can share in, and everyone can feel proud of, no matter what is going on in your life."

In a way, the Saints have served as an outlet, a release, for many people still living a very difficult existence in a city that still faces a tough road ahead.　

Ryan, however, feels the Saints are bigger than football.

"I think　that the Saints reflect the recovery that has been happening in New Orleans," he said. "We are fighting not to get back to where we are, but to what we can and should be."

With the understanding that a football team cannot save a city by itself, the fortunes of the team mirror those of New Orleans' citizens, and their fight to rebuild and stand proud.

"I think the inspiration, the entertainment, and the all-around joy the Saints provide does speak volumes about the strength and determination of New Orleans," Ryan added. "The city right now has the potential to be a theater for great, positive social change. The Saints, within the confines of the NFL, mirror that."　　

With the knowledge that most football fans outside of Indianapolis are pulling for Drew Brees and company on Sunday, I asked both Ryan and Beth if they thought the Saints had supplanted the Cowboys as the new "America's Team." Beth said "absolutely" but Ryan had a different response.

"I don't think we've really asked that of ourselves," he said. "This one, like the Sox win in '04, is for us. The Saints and New Orleans share a sometimes inglorious past. We realize the efforts in the past few years of the rest of the country in our recovery and rebuilding, but at the end of the day, it's our struggle. Likewise, the Saints are ours. No one else wanted them when they stank, and they can't have 'em now."

Which is not to say, Ryan assures me, that Saints fans don't appreciate the support.

"There's plenty of room for anyone and everyone at the parade we're having for them on Tuesday the 9th, win or lose." 　　

That's something, I believe, New England fans can truly understand. We know what it's like to root for the same teams as your parents and grandparents with little to show for it in the way of success. We understand faith and claim stubbornness and pride as birthrights. And we certainly understand the ways in which a sports team's victory can bring home so much more than a championship trophy.

We may never understand exactly the trials and heartbreak New Orleans and its citizens have faced these past five years, but we can certainly empathize with their desire for a great release. Here's hoping Sunday provides that for them.

Yes, things don't look great right now. The Black and Gold have lost five straight games and are a dismal 3-8-1 in January. They've dropped to 10th place in the Eastern Conference and hove just three games above .500. Things are certainly looking bleak. But take heart, New England, the season is far from over.

In fact, the Bruins will be getting a much-needed respite shortly. In two weeks, the NHL will break for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. In addition to allowing non-participating players time to recover from nagging injuries, the two-week break will also serve as an important opportunity for the team to refocus and zero in on their goals for the remainder of the season.

The NHL playoff system being what it is, a team need not play perfect hockey for a shot at the coveted Stanley Cup. Granted, no team wants to back into the playoffs, but a system like the current one certainly offers some forgiveness to a team like the current Bruins, who have stumbled lately and could do with a bit of leeway, standings-wise.

And if we've learned anything in New England, it's that things aren't over until they are well and truly done. Many, many decades of classical conditioning have given way in recent years to glimmers of hope at the midpoint of a season.

There is, of course, the famous case of the 2004 Boston Red Sox, whose playoff resurgence and come-from-behind victory in the ALCS still stands as the greatest in professional sports history.

Or there's the inspiration the Celtics can provide. After going 24-58 in the 2006-07 season, they went 66-16 record during the 2007-08 season and won their 17th NBA championship. It was the greatest single-season turnaround in NBA history.

But perhaps the best local example is the 2001 New England Patriots, who were 4-4 at Week 8 of their season and proceeded to ride a hot streak and an untested backup quarterback all the way to a victory in Super Bowl XXXVI over the heavily favored St. Louis Rams.

So there is precedent for a turnaround, especially considering that none of the other teams had a two-week midseason vacation in which to regroup and heal. The Bruins are sending six players to Vancouver to compete for their respective countries: Tim Thomas (U.S.) Marco Sturm (Germany), Zdeno Chara and Miroslav Satan (Slovakia), Patrice Bergeron (Canada) and David Krejci (Czech Republic). While those six players will see considerably less down time than their non-competing teammates (depending on medal contention), the Olympics will still provide a chance for these players to see a different level of competition.

The Bruins also have been playing without a healthy team for the entirety of their season. The healthy returns of Milan Lucic, Marc Savard and Mark Stuart will unquestionably help the team in the long run. But since these players have not been playing together all season, it will take some time for them to jell and play consistently with each other.

In particular, the return of Savard will be a huge boost to the Bruins. The center has missed significant time with foot and knee injuries, a huge blow to the team's offense. Savard, whom the Bruins signed to a seven-year extension in December, still stands as the sixth leading goal scorer on the team, despite missing 23 games this season. An offensive as well as emotional leader, Savard is a key to Boston’s success.

Additionally, the standings in the Eastern Conference are so tight that the Bruins’ 54 points have them just one point behind a five-way tie for seventh place with Philadelphia, New York Rangers, Montreal and Florida. A few point shifts could reorder the standings in Boston’s favor. And with nearly half the season left to play, such a shift is more than possible. Finishing in third or fourth place in the conference is not out of the question if the team regroups during the Olympic break and comes back in March with a renewed focus.

Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said as much to ESPN.com. "It's so tight in the standings that if you win 4-5 in a row, you're back in it. That's exactly what Ottawa [winners of eight straight] has done." 

Chiarelli also reiterated that coach Claude Julien's job is safe but that it falls to the coaches to get more from the players.

It's also possible that the Bruins could look for help through trades, though they'll want to be wary of giving up too much, such as in a trade for the Thrashers' Ilya Kovalchuk. While other players could be had at a discount, Boston likely will attempt to win with the players they have. Vice president Cam Neely claimed that the Bruins "still need time to evaluate the team" and that he understands fans' frustrations.

The bottom line is this: To make the playoffs and have any chance at extending their season, the Bruins need to play better as a team. Finishing strong on defense and finding ways to score are paramount.

For a struggling team, the Olympic break couldn't come at a better time. Provided the Bruins’ Olympic representatives remain healthy, the team stands a solid shot at coming back together strong and refocused.

Who knows? With the return of a healthy Marc Savard, a much-needed mental health break and a few lucky bounces, the Bruins could be right back in the thick of things. After all, we've seen it happen before.

But when everything is taken into account, we might have to reconsider the importance of Eric Mangini to the Patriots, and subsequently to the potentially Super Bowl-bound New York Jets.

No longer affiliated with either team, the fact still remains that Mangini, or at least his presence, has had an impact on both teams, an impact which is still being felt as the Jets are set to take on the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship Game this weekend.

The relationship between Belichick and Mangini goes way back. Belichick got the ball rolling when he was a big part of Mangini's rising through the lower ranks of the Cleveland Browns system, ending up as an offensive assistant. When Belichick joined the New York Jets in 1997 as an assistant head coach, he reunited with Mangini and hired the fellow Wesleyan alumnus as his defensive assistant. Mangini then followed Belichick to New England when the latter shocked the New York franchise by resigning as "HC of the NYJ."

Upon taking the reins in New England, Belichick appointed Mangini his defensive backs coach from 2000-04 and promoted him to defensive coordinator for the 2005 season. During their joint time in New England, the Patriots won three Super Bowls and distinguished themselves as the dynasty of the decade. Belichick and Mangini's relationship was seen as a true example of a mentor/protege dynamic, mutually beneficial and symbiotic. However, it was not to last.

When Mangini left the Patriots to become head coach of the New York Jets in the 2006 season, the relationship between the two coaches began to sour. Though both publicly declared nothing but respect for each other, it was clear that tensions existed between the old master and his younger apprentice. Speculations about the nature of the rift spread, but until Sept. 9, 2007, when the infamous "Spygate" scandal broke, there was no hard evidence to support any theories of a fractured relationship.

NFL commissioner Roger Goddell eventually fined Belichick personally $500,000 and the Patriots organization $250,000 for their involvement in taping New York Jets' defensive coaches signals on the sidelines during the September game. The Patriots also lost their 2008 first-round draft pick as a result of the incident. All of this would have been embarrassing enough for the organization, but the fact that it was Mangini, Belichick's former coordinator, who blew the whistle on the big, bad Patriots made it sting that much more.

It was also the first week of what would become the Patriots' undefeated regular season, just the second in NFL history. Many claim that the Spygate scandal detracts from the Patriots' accomplishments that season, and several members of the media wondered out loud and in print if the resulting fallout would add even more drama to the Patriots-Jets rivalry.

While Mangini's tenure in New York produced a mostly mediocre record (the Jets went 23-25 during his time there and 2-5 against the Patriots, including a playoff loss), New Englanders privately rejoiced when he was fired following the 2008 season. However, Mangini's influence on the Jets, and subsequently on the Patriots, was not over.

Mangini, shortly after his firing, was hired as head coach of the hapless Cleveland Browns (replacing another fired Belichick former confidant, Romeo Crennel). When draft day came around in New York, Mangini found himself at the middle of a complicated deal that allowed the Jets to draft USC quarterback Mark Sanchez with the fifth pick in the first round.

Since the draft, the Jets have exceeded expectations with their rookie quarterback and rookie head coach Rex Ryan. They finished the season with a 9-7 record, won the AFC wild-card game against the Cincinnati Bengals and the AFC divisional round game against the highly favored San Diego Chargers. They now stand on the precipice of playing in their first Super Bowl since 1968.

Granted, the success of the Jets team this year has been largely due to the team's rushing attack and strong defensive corps, and is not solely a result of Sanchez's often pedestrian play. But the fact remains that without Mangini's involvement, the Jets wouldn't have their franchise quarterback in Sanchez, whom they've come to refer to as "the Sanchise." Joe Namath he's not, but Sanchez has developed over the course of the season and with the right environment, could be successful in New York — and a thorn in the side to New England — for years to come.

If the Jets win their matchup with Indianapolis this weekend and put up a strong showing in the Super Bowl, Jets fans will continue to thank Mangini for his involvement in bringing Sanchez to New York, while Patriots fans will continue to curse him.

Meanwhile, the Patriots are faced with another long offseason of unmet expectations and disappointment. Since losing Mangini, the Patriots have managed to put up impressive numbers, but their fourth Super Bowl title continues to elude them. While still an unquestionably talented team stocked with Pro Bowlers and future Hall of Famers, the Patriots nevertheless have not been able to recapture the magic that made them the team of the decade.

The media have openly questioned whether Belichick, long-heralded as a genius in New England, has become arrogant with his play calling, and there are whispers that the coaching autonomy he enjoys is not good for him or the team. The team has stopped relying on the defensive strongholds (those run by Crennel and Mangini) that served as the backbone for their championship teams.

Despite the fact that Mangini continues to struggle mightily in Cleveland (5-11 this season), there is no denying that he is partially responsible for the Jets' current state of affairs. And while the Jets appear to be on an upward trajectory, Mangini's other old team, the New England Patriots, may be traveling in the opposite direction. Perhaps the "Mangenius" has finally gotten his revenge against his old boss after all.

Ever since the NHL started sending its biggest stars to represent their home countries in 1994's Winter Games in Lillehammer, Norway, the Olympics have served as a showcase for some of professional hockey's best players. However, because of various issues including injury concerns, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has said the league won't commit to participating in future games beyond this February's version in Vancouver.

Bettman cites travel issues, the disruption of the NHL season and the impact on players, fans and schedules as the main reason that the NHL's partnership with Olympic hockey may be in jeopardy.

With that in mind, fans should watch as much 2010 Olympic hockey as possible because it may be their last chance to see the best of the best play on the biggest stage.

Goaltender Tim Thomas is the lone Bruin represented on Team USA (though former Bruin and current Maple Leaf Phil Kessel will also be playing for the red, white and blue). Thomas' Bruins teammates Zdeno Chara (Slovakia), Miroslav Satan (Slovakia), David Krejci (Czech Republic), Marco Sturm (Germany) and Patrice Bergeron (Canada) also will be playing for the pride of their respective countries.

Questions regarding injuries, particularly to Bergeron (possibly opening the way for Milan Lucic to get a spot on Canada's roster), might force changes, but the final rosters will be set on Feb. 15. Because the NHL boasts such a high concentration of foreign-born players (only four of the 24 players on the Bruins' roster are American), competition in these sorts of venues is always fierce.

Team Canada always proves a formidable opponent, and the current roster, featuring such NHL powerhouses as Jarome Iginla (Calgary), Sidney Crosby (Pittsburgh), Joe Thornton (San Jose) and Martin Brodeur (New Jersey) ensures stiff competition for any opponent. Since the NHL began sending its best to the Olympics, Team Canada has always been near the top of the list of favorites.

In 2002, the Canadian team won gold in Salt Lake City for the first time since 1952, but then followed that up with a disappointing seventh-place finish in Turin, Italy, in 2006. The current roster is well-stocked with incredible talent, and Team Canada will rely on a mix of experienced veterans (such as future Hall of Famer Brodeur) and talented young players to bring the gold back to the great white north.

Team USA's roster also looks to have a strong showing as general manager Brian Burke decided to focus on youth over experience. The Team USA roster includes just three players — Chris Drury (New York Rangers), Brian Rafalski (Detroit) and Jamie Langenbrunner (New Jersey) — with prior Olympic experience.

The Team USA roster doesn't boast as many well-known names as the more star-studded Team Canada, but Burke and head coach Ron Wilson are confident that the younger players will bring an intensity to the competition that will serve them well and put the team in good position for medal contention. Burke has even gone so far as to attempt to make connections to the famous 1980 USA squad and play up the underdog angle, claiming that his team isn't the favorite, but that they're "going there to win."

Other strong rosters include those from Slovakia, Sweden, Finland and Russia. Rosters from those four countries are all heavily weighted with NHL players, but also feature players from national professional teams. This could be either a boon or a bust to the team's chemistry. For instance, it remains to be seen how NHLers like Chara and Marian Hossa from the Red Wings can play alongside Ladislav Nagy and Branko Radivojevic of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), Eurasia's professional equivalent of the NHL. 

Russia, long seen as the big, bad powerhouse of international hockey, looks to be a serious contender in the 2010 games as well, and many sites are listing the Russians as gold-medal favorites. With superstars like Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh), Ilya Kovalchuk (Atlanta) and the electric Alexander Ovechkin (Washington), the Russian team has every reason to go into the games with high expectations. Team USA and other competitors will likely seize on Russian cockiness to help stoke the competitive fire.

One downside to the NHL allowing its players to participate in the Olympics is the lack of possibility of a 1980 Miracle on Ice situation. While including professional players no doubt elevates the level of play and showcases the skill of some of the world's best players, it also diminishes the nationalistic pride created when a scrappy bunch of college kids and amateurs takes down a professional Russian juggernaut. Of course, if 2010 really is the final year of the NHL's participation in the Olympics — and with the 2014 Winter Games being held so far away in Sochi, Russia, that appears possible — the opportunity for a 1980-esque happening looms in future games.

Because of the unique situation that often puts a fan's favorite NHL players on competing teams during the Olympics, hockey fans of all sorts will find something to cheer for during the coming games. No matter where your allegiances lie or which country you're rooting for (or against), the two weeks in February when the world's best play for hockey gold is not to be missed. And if you need a little help getting yourself in the proper mindset or practicing your "U-S-A!" chants, Disney's Miracle is always available on Netflix.

Winning a Super Bowl is never easy — especially in a league boasting the likes of Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson and a science-fictionally rejuvenated Brett Favre. But in the current decade, the Patriots have certainly managed to do it more than any other team. They've got a shot again this season, but the task became that much harder for them last Sunday, when receiver Wes Welker crumpled to the Reliant Stadium turf with a torn anterior cruciate ligament and medial collateral ligament.

Welker, who has since been placed on injured reserve and will be unavailable for the playoffs, may have been the difference-maker for the Patriots this season. Bigger even than quarterback Tom Brady or headline-grabbing wideout Randy Moss, Welker served as the team's backbone for much of the season.

The Patriots have never been a team to back down from a challenge and they've certainly managed to shock people with their winning ways before — particularly in 2001, when they improbably found themselves in the Super Bowl as 14-point underdogs. They've won Super Bowls without the likes of Welker and Moss and it's not impossible that they can do it again. But perhaps the best way for the Patriots to bring home another ring will be to get back to basics and play as if no one thinks they've got a chance.

In order for the Patriots to take down all comers, there can't be any fourth-and-2, Indianapolis situations. This is not to say that Bill Belichick shouldn't make gutsy coaching decisions in the playoffs — but he's going to need to play the percentages and his team is going to need to deliver. There are no infallible teams this year and there is no reason the Patriots can't be the ones to take down the favorites.

The absence of Welker leaves the Patriots without one of their most dangerous weapons: the short slant route. Impressively adept at turning short passes into 20- or 30-yard gains, Welker provided the middle ground between the long passes to the likes of Moss and the running game, which utilizes Laurence Maroney, Kevin Faulk, Fred Taylor and Sammy Morris. Without Welker, the Pats will need to rely on the more conventional passing or running game.

Paramount for the playoffs will be the protection given to Tom Brady. If Brady is given ample time to throw, there are few things he can't do. But Brady is nursing some injuries of his own (reportedly a broken index finger and three cracked ribs) and likely won't be so quick to pop up again after absorbing hits.

Motivation will also be a factor. In Sunday's wild-card game, the Patriots' offense will be matched against noted trash talker Ray Lewis and the always-frightening Ed Reed, both of whom are salivating over the prospect of disrupting Brady's game. Brady's record in Foxborough in playoff games is astounding (8-0), but Baltimore's defense doesn't care one whit about stats. What they care about is knocking Brady down and shutting down Moss.

The Ravens are also still fuming about being flagged for questionable roughing-the-passer calls when the two teams met back in October, as the Ravens felt that the officials were overprotecting Brady. Be ready to hear them chirping about it in the press. If the Patriots turn any Baltimore trash-talking into bulletin board material the way they have in the past, they'll create their own motivation. After all, the Pats have always been most dangerous when they thought they were being disrespected.

To be successful in playoff scenarios, Belichick would do well to remember what he has been preaching to his players since they were introduced as a team during the 2001 Super Bowl in New Orleans: No one person is above the team. There are no celebrities in Foxborough.

This seems to be a ridiculous claim for a team boasting the likes of Brady and Moss, but frequently, the biggest name in New England football has been Bill Belichick. He's seen coordinators come and go — many to NFL head coaching positions where they floundered (Josh McDaniels) or flat-out failed (Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini). But some humility on Belichick's part could go a long way toward playoff wins. Keeping the team — and the coach — grounded is the best way to win in January.

On the other side of the ball, the Patriots will need to get back to one of their old standbys: exploiting an opponent's weaknesses and taking away its top weapons. For years, the Patriots were a classic bend-but-don't-break defense, but the message got muddled during the 2007 perfect regular season, when their offensive firepower was enough to blow everyone away. It's time for the team to get back to fundamental, hard-nosed defense. Clean plays, big hits and explosive penetration to opposing quarterbacks are the key. If a team is particularly gifted at the run, force it to pass. If it has a Pro Bowl receiver, shut him down and make the team resort to the run. Use the opponents' strengths against them and force them into being a one-dimensional team. The Patriots have done it before, and they can do it again.

Football, more than any of the other major sports, is a game of strategy. The Patriots still have arguably the best chessmaster at the helm and a quarterback who, with any supporting cast, gives them a good chance at victory. But perhaps the best way to win it all this time around is to remember what it was like 10 years ago, when no one thought they could.

Spending a great deal of the 2007-08 and '08-09 seasons out with concussions and post-concussion issues, Bergeron wasn't on the ice all that often. Fans could be forgiven for questioning whether the team missed his impact.

True, the Bruins did better than expected, especially last year, making the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the East and taking the Carolina Hurricanes to overtime in a thrilling Game 7 in the second round. Bergeron registered five points and averaged 17:58 of ice time in 11 playoff games, but one wonders how much further they would have gotten with a completely healthy No. 37 on the ice.

Now back to 100 percent, Bergeron has been the anchor that's held the Bruins in place so far this season. Showing no ill effects from his original or subsequent concussion, Bergeron has been virtually the only member of the Bruins whose steady play has never been in question.

After barely keeping their heads above water early on, the B's have found their stride of late and have been playing some solid hockey. It's helped getting some of their stars back from injury. The Bruins' offense has gotten a shot in the arm in the form of the announcement of the team's long-term commitment to Marc Savard. But with the uncertainty of Milan Lucic – on injured reserve for the second time this season — and the dance between goaltenders Tim Thomas and Tuukka Rask, the one constant this season for the Black and Gold has been Bergeron.

He leads the team in points with 24, is tied for second on the team in goals (his eight are tied with Savard and Michael Ryder, one behind Marco Sturm's nine) and stands second in assists with 16 behind captain Zdeno Chara (17).

But beyond the numbers and stats, Bergeron's output hasn't wavered all season. As Matt Kalman wrote for ESPN in late November, Bergeron was the only Bruins player to "produce a consistent, 100-percent effort every night." And Bergeron's effort — even if it hasn't always shown up on the stat sheet — hasn't gone unnoticed.

Steve Yzerman, NHL Hall of Famer and executive director of Canada's men's national hockey team, watched Bergeron's stellar performance against Tampa Bay two weeks ago. And he'll no doubt take Bergeron's play into consideration when he chooses Team Canada's representatives for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

"I've watched Patrice play this year, and he's played very well," Yzerman commented, adding that Bergeron's history of injuries — not a lack of talent — was what has kept him off the roster to this point.

Bruins coach Claude Julien also has shown a great deal of support and belief in the young center, extending back to last season when he moved Bergeron off the point on the power play to fill in elsewhere for injured players. Such a move spoke to Julien's confidence in Bergeron and in the center's ability to keep up the consistency in other areas on the ice.

Bergeron's play has made those around him better, too. Tuesday night, Bergeron combined with Andrew Ference and Dennis Wideman to kill a Philadelphia 5-on-3 power play. Though the Bruins would eventually lose the game, Bergeron's defensive-zone faceoff victory was a brief snapshot of the way he's been playing all season.

After his initial concussion in October of 2007, many openly questioned whether Bergeron would ever return to form. Suffering such a debilitating concussion so early in one's career — he was just 22 at the time — often has lasting and deleterious effects. Bergeron did not return to full practice until eight months after his initial injury. Shortly after he returned, he experienced yet another setback on Dec. 20, 2008, in a game against the Carolina Hurricanes, when he suffered another concussion. The second was not as serious as his first, but it was nevertheless frightening and was yet another hurdle to clear in his young career.

Now nearly a year later, Bergeron, still only 24, has been the team's unquestioned MVP thus far. Many fans have long thought that, had the Bruins not signed Chara in July of 2006, Bergeron would have succeeded Joe Thornton as Bruins captain, as Bergeron currently serves as an alternate captain. Instead of lamenting his injuries or his absence from the ice, fans are ready to declare that "Bergy's back."

Carrying a team — especially a struggling one beset with multiple injuries — is never an easy task. It's doubly difficult for someone who hasn't been a huge part of the mix for the past two seasons. What Bergeron has managed to do this season thus far — both on the ice and in the leadership he's shown off it — speaks to a commitment beyond his years.

With the team jelling around him, Bergeron will continue to be the backbone for the healing B's as the season grinds on. With a 6-2-2 record in their last 10 games, the Bruins are on the way up and are showing signs of snapping out of their early-season funk. Bergeron deserves much of the credit.

However, now the NFL is expanding its injury-related regulations again with new stringent concussion rules for all players.

Last week, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward found himself mired in controversy after criticizing his teammate, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, for not playing with post-concussion symptoms. Roethlisberger took a knee to the head during the Steelers' Week 11 loss to Kansas City and was diagnosed with a concussion.

Previously, the rule stated that a player can return to a game after sustaining a concussion "if he is asymptomatic at rest and under exertion, and is cleared by the team doctor." NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has changed the rule and issued a league-wide memo stating that if a player is "woozy, has general dementia or memory loss," he will not be allowed to return to the game.

This seems like common sense when viewed from a health standpoint. Why then do players like Ward criticize teammates for not playing hurt?

Former NFL offensive lineman Ross Tucker weighed in on this topic for Sports Illustrated last week. Tucker makes the distinction between playing through a visible, tangible injury — such as a broken finger, hyperextended knee or contusion — and playing with a concussion. Concussed players, unless they are knocked completely unconscious, usually look fine. There is no outward trauma and no visible negative reaction. Players often practice and scrimmage with concussions. To complicate matters, they also often lie to or mislead team doctors and training staff because of the NFL's code of playing hurt.

As Tucker writes, it is expected that players will play through injuries. Football is a sport built largely on machismo, and playing with an injury is expected and respected. Because of the NFL’s notoriously weak player's union and the lack of job security, players are conditioned to act in a manner that will have them on the field, no matter the ultimate price, even in regards to their health.

Concussions have a long and storied history in the NFL, and they've ended many careers. Former Cowboy and current broadcaster Troy Aikman ultimately retired because the number of concussions he suffered in his career (as many as 10) left teams unwilling to take a chance on a quarterback whose durability was a question.

Former Patriot Ted Johnson is a far more tragic case. Suffering from post-concussion syndrome and depression, Johnson's life fell apart. Addicted to amphetamines, Johnson took many hits, both physically and emotionally.

"Officially, I've probably only been listed as having three or four concussions in my career," Johnson told The Boston Globe. "But the real number is closer to 30, maybe even more. I've been dinged so many times I've lost count."

Then, there is former Jets wide receiver Wayne Chrebet who, after suffering multiple concussions in his 11-year career, was eventually forced to retire in 2005. In a 2007 New York Times piece, Chrebet spoke of watching then-Lions quarterback Jon Kitna return to the game after sustaining a concussion.

“I saw his eyes on the sideline, and I know that look because I’ve seen it on my eyes and other players," he told the Times. "I disagree with what they did. I’m sure he wanted to go back in, and I’m sure he told them that. But I think they have to look at the best interest of the player.”

That kind of incident is specifically what Goodell is hoping to put an end to with the implementation of the new concussion rule.

Perhaps more than any other sport, professional football is hardest on the human body. Players retire and live with constant pain for the rest of their lives. Many are unable to walk without help, and in some more serious cases, such as Johnson's, the fallout is much more severe.

However, despite the brutal and violent nature of the sport, the NFL protects its players physically much less than the other major professional sports. The NHL has seen a drastic reduction in concussions and head injuries because of harsher penalties for checking from behind, the behavior most likely to result in head injuries. And in Major League Baseball, despite resistance from players, Rawlings is intending to introduce a newer, more protective batting helmet that can withstand the force of a 100-mph fastball. All the while, football players continue to play with dangerous head injuries because they are hardwired to believe they should.

This problem extends beyond the NFL into the NCAA and high school levels. A report by the Journal of Athletic Training estimates around 55,000 concussions are sustained each year by high school players. Unlike in college or the NFL, high school teams do not have the team doctors and trained medical staff to properly diagnose and treat a concussion. As a result, some of these injuries have turned deadly.

There is hope that the implementation of the new NFL concussion rule will have a trickle-down effect to college and high school teams and that players, coaches and training staffs will err on the side of caution regarding head injuries. But if that is to happen, the NFL needs to be on board. Players and training staffs must be willing to be on the same page, and players must be honest with team doctors about what effects they may or may not be feeling. To do that, players need to feel that their jobs are secure and that there is no need for them to play with a dangerous and debilitating head injury to ensure their position on the team. They also need to have the support of their teammates.

While Ward later backed off his assertions that at least "50 percent" of Steelers players thought Roethlisberger should have played last week, he set a dangerous precedent in complaining about a teammate’s injury. Because of their very nature, concussions are unpredictable injuries, and everyone recovers from them differently. The NFL has taken an important first step in protecting all of its players' physical well-being, but there is more work to be done in changing players' attitudes.

Since his car accident last week, Woods and his family have been dragged into an increasingly complicated and tabloid-friendly web of sex, lies and sports.

The public response to the incident seems to go in one of two directions. Some fans are supportive, claiming that Woods’ relationships with his family and admitted infidelity are none of our business, and that we should focus on what made him a public figure: his golf game. The media’s response is one of concern, with the possible loss of endorsements and the effect that Woods’ tarnished public image will have on golf and Woods himself, as a man.

But in this day and age — sad as it may be — it’s entirely possible that fans, far from being surprised, actually expect this kind of behavior from professional athletes. This is a country that no longer casts a sideways glance at Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, who was accused of rape in the summer of 2003. Though the charges were eventually dropped and Bryant and his accuser settled out of court, Bryant’s image was tarnished only temporarily.

This is a country that accepts and celebrates Wilt Chamberlain‘s claim that he slept with 20,000 women.

This is a country that not only accepted the divorce of Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez but lapped up the coverage of the third baseman’s alleged dalliances with Madonna.

The list — and yes, there is a list — goes on and on.

But is that true?

In a 1993 Nike commercial, NBA legend Charles Barkley famously claimed, “I am not a role model.” While the intended message was that parents, not professional athletes, should be role models for children, the reality is quite different.

In today’s culture of million-dollar endorsement deals, do athletes forfeit their right to privacy as soon as someone buys a ticket to a game to watch them play? When someone signs a $90 million endorsement deal — as LeBron James did with Nike before he’d even played a minute of professional basketball — are they signing away their right to a personal life?

Arguments could be made that athletes’ professional and personal lives are not the same thing and should be treated as different entities. Tiger Woods does not get paid millions of dollars to raise your children. But he does get paid millions of dollars to encourage your children to buy things (or for you to buy things for your children) in the hope that, perhaps, your children will turn out like Tiger Woods. It’s a difficult catch-22 for professional athletes, and it is one that everyone — save the tabloid media — struggles with on a regular basis.

It’s understandable that Woods — and athletes of his caliber who find themselves in similar situations — do not want to be judged publicly for their personal transgressions. None of us would like our personal mistakes to be splashed across the pages of the National Enquirer or US Weekly, either. But our lives are not the kind where our job performances are regularly dissected on SportsCenter, nor are we ranked every day based on our daily performance.

We, the fans, the normal people, pay money to watch these athletes perform feats that we cannot. We cheer or boo them depending on our affiliations, and we choose to spend a fair amount of our hard-earned income supporting them — either by purchasing tickets to games, buying extended television subscription packages or dropping upward of $100 on an athlete’s jersey. And we do all of this specifically because they are public figures.

As such, they have a responsibility to us. They have a responsibility to play or compete to the best of their abilities because we are paying to see it. When a professional athlete takes to the field, court, ice, track or greens, he ceases to be a private person. He becomes a very well-paid performer. And when he leaves the arena of competition for the day, many, including Woods, would argue that they cease being our property. Unfortunately for Woods, the line has never been that clear.

In situations like the current Woods scandal, the line only gets blurrier because of the somewhat outdated notion of golf as a gentleman’s game. Despite the success of John Daly — notorious for his alcoholism, several marriages, tantrums and gambling addiction — golf has, by and large, maintained its standing as a polite, bad boy-averse game.

Tiger Woods has always been viewed as golf’s golden boy and was especially integral in spreading the popularity of golf. He was the youngest person ever to win the Masters (in 1997 at the age of 21) and also was the first non-white person to do so. Woods is credited with spreading the popularity of golf to non-white demographics and ethnicities. His endorsement deals were similarly impressive, and in 2008, he was the world’s highest-earning athlete, taking in over $110 million from combined endorsements and winnings.

Tiger Woods long ago ceased being simply an athlete to people and has since become a brand. That crossover is where the line between a private and public person officially blurred.

This issue of private life versus public figure won’t go away with Tiger Woods. Rather, when someone who is arguably the most popular athlete in the world struggles with these things, the questions only get brought to the forefront.

Fans may forgive him, and Woods may not lose a single endorsement over this. But at the end of the day, he’s not going to be struggling with his short game or an unflattering ranking.

Ultimately, the world’s most famous athlete is facing a human struggle, proving that he is, in fact, fallible after all.

Who would be the all-time icons in Boston sports?

If we were to build a monument commemorating great players in Boston, who would make the cut? Would we have one from each major sport or would someone be left out?

In other words, who would grace Boston's Mount Sportsmore?

Since Boston has long been a city of multiple sports — even in light of the stranglehold the Red Sox held on fans’ affections for years — a visitor from the future would be best informed by seeing a representative from each major sport. After all, Boston has had champions, no matter the venue, and it's worth commemorating.

But that point raises another question: Can an athlete be considered one of Boston's all-time greatest players if he’s never won a championship here? Such restrictions would keep greats like Ted Williams and Ray Bourque out of the discussion, and that hardly seems right.

Perhaps the easiest way to figure out just who belongs up on the Boston sports pantheon is to break it down by sport. Apologies to Revolution fans, but baseball, football, hockey and basketball have long been Boston's four sporting loves, and it seems only fitting that each sport should get a representative.

The representative for football might be the easiest to choose. Sure, John Hannah is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, and Sports Illustrated dubbed him one of the best offensive linemen of all time, but Hannah has the misfortune of playing for the Patriots before anyone really took the Patriots seriously.

Arguments also could be made for wide receiver/kicker Gino Cappelletti or linebackers Steve Nelson and Andre Tippett. But before 2001, none of these players completely transformed the franchise.

In 2001, when the Patriots shocked the world by beating the St. Louis Rams' Greatest Show on Turf to win their first Super Bowl, they did it in large part because of their untested and underrated quarterback, Tom Brady. In the years that followed, Brady has proven that he wasn't simply a flash in the pan and deserves to be included in the discussion of best quarterbacks in NFL history. His play at the helm in New England has propelled the Patriots perpetually to the top of any "best of" discussion, and they are consistently listed as one of the teams to beat. Of course, much of that falls to the coach, but if we're choosing all-time Boston players, you can't go wrong with Tom Brady.

Choosing a hockey player becomes a bit more difficult. The Boston Bruins have been around since 1924 and, since their inception, have had strong roots in the hardworking, blue-collar elements of the area. The list of Boston Bruins in the Hall of Fame is miles long — including everyone from longtime center Milt Schmidt to the hard-nosed Phil Esposito to former right wing and current vice president of the organization, Cam Neely.

But perhaps no one better encapsulates the Bruins’ history of play than defenseman Bobby Orr. Though Orr played for only 10 years in Boston, he won two Stanley Cups with the team in 1970 and 1972. His "flying goal" to score the game winner 40 seconds into overtime in the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals is immortalized in one of the most famous pieces of sports photography ever taken.

Orr's biggest competition likely comes from defenseman Ray Bourque, who played in Boston from 1979 to 2000 before going to Colorado to win a Stanley Cup with the Avalanche. After winning everything, the first thing Bourque did was bring the Cup to Boston for a rally at City Hall. While Bourque certainly has the advantage in longevity, Orr holds the edge in history.

Finding a single basketball player who best represents the 60-plus years of Celtics basketball is no easy task either. With 22 retired numbers, the Celtics have no shortage of greats. Arguments could be made for Robert Parish, forward John Havlicek or the legendary Bill Russell, who holds the record for most championships among professional athletes in a North American sports league with 11.

But when people think of Boston basketball, they think of Larry Bird first. Immediately upon signing with the Celtics in 1979, Bird had an impact. He not only changed basketball in Boston but altered the perception of basketball all over the country. His rivalry with Los Angeles Laker Magic Johnson increased the animosity between the Celtics and Lakers, which still exists to this day (though Magic and Larry became close friends), and Bird led the Celtics to three NBA championships. He also won the NBA MVP three times and was voted to 12 All-Star teams.

Beyond all that, Bird routinely ranks near the top of any list of the best basketball players of all time. They don't call him Larry Legend for nothing.

Finally, Red Sox baseball is the city's lifeblood. People's moods shift with the fortunes of the team, and for nearly 100 years, the Red Sox have been close to New England's heart. Choosing a single Red Sox player who best epitomizes that intense passion of the fans, as well as the franchise’s storied tradition of greatness (if frustratingly futile until recent years), is extremely difficult.

Even if you don't make a championship necessary for immortality, it's hard to ignore the huge impact the Red Sox’ World Series win in 2004 had on the history of the franchise. For his heroics in the 2004 postseason and years of clutch performing, David Ortiz deserves consideration among the Red Sox greats.

But up against Carl Yastrzemski or Carlton Fisk, maybe Ortiz' accomplishments don't stand out so much.

Then there's Mr. Red Sox himself, Johnny Pesky. Never the best player, he played hard and embodied the original dirt dog attitude. At age 90, Pesky still suits up and sits in the dugout during games when he can.

However, Red Sox baseball would never have been Red Sox baseball without the immortal Ted Williams. Williams changed the game of baseball and hitting forever. Williams remains the last player to ever bat over .400 in a single season — a benchmark which seems nearly impossible to surpass — and he is the yardstick by which all players, past and present, are measured. It's not hyperbole to call Williams “the greatest hitter who ever lived,” and for that reason, he deserves a place in immortality.

The choices are debatable, but that's half the fun. It's worth noting that, with the exception of Brady, no current player makes the list, and it's fun to discuss whether that's due to increased competition, free agency or our tendency to romanticize the past.

Whatever the case, Boston's Mount Sportsmore has no shortage of candidates for inclusion, and that alone is something to commemorate.

Unfortunately for Ortiz, the case isn't going away anytime soon.

The case concerning Ortiz's drug test results "involves the records and samples of 104 players the government alleges tested positive in baseball's anonymous 2003 survey," according to Sports Illustrated. In August, a court decided by a 9-2 vote that the records of the test results were obtained illegally by the government, and there are new rules in place for the seizure of digital records.

Now, it must be decided whether the case will be retried in front of the entire court. If this comes to pass, there will likely be no decision on the case until 2011 at the earliest.

These ongoing legal matters will keep Ortiz's name in the press for matters he'd surely like to forget. Along with Ortiz, the identities of Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez, David Segui, Sammy Sosa and Jason Grimsley also have been leaked.

While Ortiz remains an offensive question mark for the 2010 season, he is under contract with the Red Sox through next year, and the club holds a $12.5 million option on the DH for 2011. There are arguments that Ortiz will still be an important offensive presence in the Boston lineup, but manager Terry Francona will have some decisions to make regarding the look of the 2010 Red Sox.

The longer this case drags on in court, the longer Ortiz won’t have closure.

Beyond that, the team he leads may be quite different than the one that finished this season getting swept by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the ALDS.

After the rival Yankees won their 27th World Series championship, the Red Sox aren't looking to stand pat.

Picking up the option on catcher Victor Martinez was the first step of constructing the framework of the 2010 Red Sox. Martinez solves one problem Francona dealt with at the beginning of last season – namely, putting a strong hitting catcher on the field every day. Captain Jason Varitek plans to exercise his player option and will be the backup backstop.

The team's list of fixes doesn't end there. With Nick Green filing for free agency and the Red Sox declining Alex Gonzalez's option, the shortstop position remains in flux.

Add to that the fact that the Red Sox have yet to officially make an offer to left fielder Jason Bay (who also filed for free agency) or declare themselves in the running to land Matt Holliday, and the situation becomes even murkier.

By and large, Francona has been a steadying influence for the Red Sox since he arrived in 2004. This won't be the first time he is charged with new players or a staff overhaul. But the hot stove season presents new challenges. Francona is excited about the possibilities.

I know you probably thought that New England was distracted by the World Series and the full swing of the NFL season, or that we've all been spending our evenings praying for Pedro Martinez to come through again or dissecting Miami's confounding Wildcat offense. But now that the World Series has ended and the football scheming is best to left to the master, we've got our eyes on you. And we want some answers.

For one thing, your timing is terrible.

Look, you can't just lose a shootout to the rival Canadiens a day after we've all watched the Yankees celebrate their 27th World Series championship. Our egos can only take so much.

Don't you know you're supposed to pick up the slack around here? You're supposed to make Red Sox fans feel better by taking down the Bruins' version of the Evil Empire. It's not much, but it might have made us feel a little better.

Hockey is a weird sport. It is perhaps the only one where a team can theoretically lose all of its games and still make the playoffs (benefiting from both a weak division and points awarded for overtime losses), but no one wants to back into these things. It's hockey! It's bloody and dirty and violent and difficult!

I know some people think we have a recurrence of the Joe Thornton situation on our hands with the recent trade of Phil Kessel to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but Kessel's Leafs currently are 1-7 and sit in last place in the Northeast Division — behind only the Bruins.

Boys, you've got to do something to snap out of it. Your winter-time compatriots, the Boston Celtics, are currently undefeated and sit very comfortably atop the Eastern Conference. You don't want people trading in their black and gold for green, especially now, when your fans are finally coming back. Especially now that people care again.

And they do care. Trust me, they do. Two straight years of hard-fought, down-and-dirty playoff battles will do wonders to re-energize a fan base. We can fill those Garden seats. Don’t underestimate Boston fans, boys. They're there. They're always around. They're just looking for a reason to cheer, and a 6-7 record does not make for an excited fan base.

I'm sure there are reasons for the lackluster play, but this is Boston. I've never once been to a Bruins game and sat less than four seats away from either a guy named Sully in an IBEW sweatshirt or a Pee Wee hockey team from Billerica. We don't want to hear excuses. We want to see some hockey.

David Krejci has H1N1? Who doesn't at this point?

Milan Lucic is on long-term injured reserve with a broken finger? He's a hockey player. They're tough. Can't he just tape it?

Mark Savard is also on long-term injured reserve with a broken foot? OK, maybe you've got a point. This is getting a bit hard to overcome.

That said, every team suffers injuries all the time. Even the Capitals are currently in a panicked state of mourning as Wonder Boy Alexander Ovechkin is currently listed as week-to-week with an "upper body strain.” Positively Belichickian, no?

You do what you can to recall players and plug 'em in where you need to. Zdeno Chara is practically the size of two guys anyway. Can't he pick up some of the slack?

I feel like I've been promising you for years that, in Boston, if you provide the fans with a reason to cheer for hockey, they will come. And I still believe it. They will.

Hockey traditions are deeply rooted in this area and for good reason. The Bruins have been around in some form for 85 years. They're an Original Six franchise. Proud employers of Bobby Orr and Johnny Bucyk, Ray Bourque and Milt Schmidt, Cam Neely and Phil Esposito. Kids strap on beat-up skates and couch cushions and take to the ponds of New England pretending to be any one of a number of Bruins greats, past and present.

New Englanders can get behind their Bruins. But the way you're playing right now, they may threaten to leave the parquet down after the Celtics’ next home game.

Bruins fans love their team, but they get so frustrated when it underperforms that sitting idly by is torture for us. We scream for you.

"Hit someone, Chara, come on!"

"For god's sake, someone cover the slot on the power play!"

It’s because we care. It’s why those seats in the Garden fill up when you guys give it all you've got. We're here, and we haven't gone anywhere, but you have to play like you deserve us.

Perhaps I'm being too hard on you. Perhaps you know that with two of your best players on extended injured reserve and your goaltender (a very good one, it must be said) on the wrong side of 30, you just need to hold it together as best you can until you've got your guys back and you can really start making headway in the standings.

If that's the plan, great. If you're holding things together with spirit gum, call-ups and gumption, that's OK, but pretty soon, we're going to need to see some payoff.

What I'm saying, gentlemen, is that we want more for you. You're a better team than this, stacked with a veritable stable of hockey-playing wunderkinds, and you're capable of great things.

Or at least of beating Montreal.

Please?

Though The Boston Globe reported that Francona would prefer to replace Mills from within the organization, no decisions have yet been made.

Francona also will have an altered catching situation to manage in Boston.

The Red Sox hold a $7 million option on Victor Martinez, who was acquired at the trading deadline from the Cleveland Indians for pitchers Justin Masterson, Bryan Price and Nick Hagadone. The Red Sox are expected to formally exercise Martinez's option shortly. Because Martinez is younger than Jason Varitek and can play both catcher and first base, Francona made sure to get Martinez plenty of playing time in the second half of the season and during the Red Sox' ALDS loss to the Angels.

In so doing, Francona made the decision to lighten the load on Varitek, who struggled in 2009 after testing the free-agent waters last winter. The veteran ended up signing a one-year, $5 million deal with Boston, with a 2010 team option for $5 million and player option for $3 million. If Varitek exercises his option, the captain would be relegated to backup duties for the team he's played for since 1997.

Though the catching decision will ultimately not be made by Francona, there is widespread fan speculation that the Red Sox might offer Varitek a coaching position within the organization should he choose to retire. While that remains a possibility down the road, the Red Sox have no immediate plans to offer such a position to the 37-year-old veteran, MLB.com's Ian Browne reports. Francona, Martinez and Red Sox pitchers have nothing but high praise for Varitek and it's clear that he's a fan favorite. Only time will tell what the future holds for the catcher and his manager.

Some relationships are just complicated. It’s the same in sports as it is in life. Some people just get their hooks in you good.

With the storied sports history of New England, we have no shortage of transcendent athletic personalities. Some of them, like Mike Eruzione or Doug Flutie, will forever be tied to the region and very strongly represent a specific time and place.

Others like Larry Bird and Ted Williams played their entire careers here and carried their franchises.
Then there are athletes who gave us their best years but didn’t stay. Ray Bourque and Bobby Orr come to mind.

And finally there is Pedro Martinez. While few true baseball fans would argue that Martinez’s best years were in Boston, his career is unique enough that no one — possibly least of all Pedro himself — knows where it’s going. And Red Sox fans still feel like we have a claim to him.

When the Red Sox traded Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr. to the Montreal Expos for Martinez in 1997, very few people predicted the greatness that would come in the next few seasons (though his $75 million contract — a record at the time — hinted strongly at the expectations).

Martinez quickly delivered. He dominated in 1998 and went 19-7. His otherworldly effort in 1999 garnered him a 23-4 record with a 2.07 ERA, 313 strikeouts and a Cy Young award.  It was arguably the best pitching performance by a pitcher in the modern age, and Martinez became more than just the Red Sox’ ace.

He became “Pedro.” Like so many superstar athletes who become fan favorites, he became familiar to us. Just as we’d refer to “Nomar” and “Tek” and later “Manny,” we had “Pedro.” No last name required. There was only one Pedro.

For someone built like he is — listed at 5-foot-11 and 193 pounds, but believed to be smaller — Pedro confounded experts and fans alike with his atypical pitching style. Just by looking at him, you couldn’t tell he was a power pitcher. He isn’t built like those big, Texas flamethrowers named Roger Clemens or Josh Beckett. Pedro has never intimidated opponents with his size.

But what he lacks in size, he more than makes up for with his confidence and control, which are legendary. He’s garnered praise from opponents and the media alike. Joe Posnanski of Sports Illustrated wrote of the 1999 Pedro: “There has never been a pitcher in baseball history — not Walter Johnson, not Lefty Grove, not Sandy Koufax, not Tom Seaver, not Roger Clemens — who was more overwhelming than the young Pedro.” High praise indeed. And he did it for us.

However, as Pedro aged, he became more and more of an enigma. His body, long thought too small for his style of pitching, began to betray him. At times he could still summon the fire he was famous for, but as the years passed, he began to rely more on finesse than speed. In a sense, Pedro morphed from Roger Clemens into Greg Maddux, switching up the effective pitches in his repertoire and keeping hitters guessing.

The 2003 playoffs will forever weigh heavily on Boston fans’ psyches because we really had to wonder if Pedro was done. When manager Grady Little repeatedly refused to pull Pedro as he gave up crucial hit after crucial hit to the Yankees in Game 7, we watched the previously unstoppable Pedro crumble.

Sure, Boston fans were quick to blame Little as managers exist to make decisions regarding a pitcher’s longevity. Sure, Pedro may have said that he was good to go for another batter, but no one wants an ace who quits.

Through it all, Martinez showed fight. Let us not forget that he was the same man who threw then-72-year-old Don Zimmer to the ground during a bench-clearing brawl a few days earlier. And though Martinez has since apologized for his actions, he has never claimed to regret the fight.

The 2004 campaign, which also turned out to be Pedro’s swan song with the Red Sox, was also the greatest season in franchise history. Pedro’s performance in the 2004 playoffs may not have been quite as electric as his earlier years, but the magnitude of the situation made it seem that much more important. Pedro, never one to shy away from the spotlight, proved he could still get it done when it mattered. He was a big-game pitcher.

Of course, the addition of Curt Schilling to the Red Sox’ pitching staff in 2004 — and Schilling’s assertion that he had been brought in specifically to break the curse — rankled Pedro’s proud feathers. Stories about disagreements between the teammates broke in the news, and speculation about whether Pedro would re-sign with the Red Sox — especially after claiming he was “disrespected” with the club’s free-agent offer — abounded. Soon after the Red Sox’ world championship parade, Pedro was gone.

Since signing his free-agent contract with the Mets in 2005, Pedro ceased being ours. Yet we still feel a connection to him. When the Phillies signed him to a one-year, $2 million deal this past season, we wondered how far the mighty had fallen. Pedro Martinez, who once claimed that a $14 million contract offer was a sign of disrespect, agreed to play for the Phillies for a pittance of that. Perhaps his body was finally breaking down for good this time, but it seemed unlikely that Pedro could be the Pedro of old.

Never a man to suffer from a lack of self-importance, Pedro claimed to be “the most influential player that ever stepped in Yankee Stadium” this week. The pitcher is quick to draw on his years with the Red Sox as the reason the media made a sideshow out of his appearances in the Bronx.

“For some reason, with all the hype and different players that have passed by, maybe because I played for the Red Sox, is probably why you guys made it such a big deal every time I came in,” Pedro reasoned.

And now that the Red Sox are out of the playoff picture, we, as Red Sox fans, are counting on one of ours — even a former one — to carry the torch and vanquish the Yankees. Pedro’s performance in Game 2 of the World Series struck a blow for the good guys, even if he didn’t come away the victor.

Pedro Martinez may not be ours anymore, but he gave us his very best when he was here. And he’s still pitching against the Yankees and fighting the good fight, which is good enough for us.

Rodriguez’s postseason resurgence and clutch hitting have been the big news this October, and if the Yankees do get to the World Series (they’re up 3-2 on the Angels in the ALCS), Rodriguez may be hailed as “the new Mr. October”.

Reggie Jackson, the current owner of the nickname, might deserve some credit for the metamorphosis. The Yankees have employed Jackson to serve as A-Rod’s mentor the past few postseasons. This time, it worked.

But despite his stellar performance, not everyone believes Rodriguez will be able to completely redeem himself after admitting he used performance-enhancing drugs.

“For his previous failures in the clutch, some teammates used to call A-Rod ‘A-Fraud,’” writes the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s Bill Livingston. “As far as his place in the record book goes, it still seems to fit.”

Livingston claims that “Rodriguez should go down in history as [Barry] Bonds with a better personality.”

Time will tell if A-Rod’s postseason dominance is enough to fully expunge Rodriguez’s record, but his redemption is on the fast track in the Bronx. His teammates have shown support during the current playoff run, and manager Joe Girardi is in awe.

“He’s been unbelievable,” Girardi told RealGM Baseball. “I know Bernie [Williams] had some big series, and Paul O’Neill had some big series. But Alex is — wow.”

The Red Sox, for whatever reason, held a stranglehold on the hearts and minds of the region. Pockets of people gave diehard status to the Patriots, Bruins and Celtics, but the term "Red Sox Nation" was not a misnomer. Even through a famously epic championship drought, and season after season of heartbreak, Red Sox fans couldn't quit on their team. We kept coming back for more.

The strength of Red Sox fandom benefited from many things, including the fact that baseball is the most American of games and New England is America's birthplace. Red Sox baseball offered an historical connection to our fathers and grandfathers. We all cheered for the same team. We suffered heartbreak when the Red Sox fell short. We had a common thread. And then, something strange happened. They won.

The Red Sox' 2004 World Series win was cathartic for generations of fans who'd watched their beloved team come so close, only to be turned away yet again. It vanquished decades of baseball demons and validated years and years of undying support.

But it did something else too that many of us didn't see coming. It ushered in the era of the bandwagon fan. Suddenly, longtime Red Sox season-ticket holders were sharing the beer lines at Fenway with college kids from California claiming they'd always loved our "Sawx." The bleachers, instead of being filled with sheet metal workers from Southie, were packed with drunken frat boys more interested in getting in fights with opposing fans than keeping score.

And when the Red Sox won again in 2007, their popularity continued to grow. As with anything trendy, the backlash soon began.

The diehards haven't gone away, not by a long shot. But some of them have tired of shoving their way through crowds of sorority girls shrieking for Jacoby Ellsbury and have turned their attention to the other Boston teams. And for the first time in a very, very long time, there's an outpouring of affection for all four major teams.

The Patriots' 2001 Super Bowl run happened so fast — and took so many people by surprise — that there was almost no time for bandwagoners. Despite what people may tell you now about the faith they had in the team and its sixth-round draft pick replacement quarterback, the two-touchdown underdog Patriots shocked everyone by beating the St. Louis Rams' Greatest Show on Turf.

But 2001 was the last time the Patriots were able to fly under the radar. Tom Brady’s Super Bowl MVP performance vaulted him to the top of the A-list, both in NFL and celebrity status, and pretty soon, No. 12 jerseys could be seen on every street corner or cafe in New England.

When Aaron Boone's extra-inning home run broke our hearts yet again in the 2003 ALCS, the Patriots were there with their second Super Bowl win to salve our wounds.

The 2003 Super Bowl served as a turning point in the collective conscience of many New England fans. Here's a team we hadn't been paying a huge amount of attention to (at least when compared to the gallons of ink and tears spilled on the Red Sox), and they reward our fandom — repeatedly.

The Patriots were the new kings in town.

The Red Sox wrested back control in 2004 and held onto it during their World Series win in 2007, but the Patriots made a play for the region's affections with their historic undefeated, record-setting season in 2007. Were it not for David Tyree, Plaxico Burress and an elusive Eli Manning, Boston may have forever turned into a Patriots town first and foremost.

As it was, the Super Bowl loss left a deep and painful scar, and fans in need of solace and a remedy for their bruised pride turned to another of the Boston teams again showing promise, the Boston Celtics.

Back in the 1960s, the Celtics were an unstoppable juggernaut. Winning more than half of the NBA championships between 1957 and 1986, the Celtics had a firm hold on Boston fans' rooting interests. But as the fortunes of the Patriots and Red Sox began to improve, those of the Celtics started to derail, culminating with the tragic deaths of Len Bias and Reggie Lewis and the retirement of Larry Bird.

For a period from 1986 through 2007, the Celtics flirted with competitiveness at times and catastrophe at others. It wasn't until the 2007 run through the playoffs — featuring new acquisition Kevin Garnett – that the Celtics once again cemented themselves as powerhouses of the NBA, just in time to make us all feel better about the Patriots’ embarrassing Super Bowl loss.

However, one team that doesn't quite fit in with the making-up-for-the-other-club’s-losses theme is the Bruins. Boston's Black and Gold had their heyday in the years of Bobby Orr, winning Stanley Cups in 1969-70 and 1971-72. Since then, the Bruins have mostly been mired in mediocrity, with a resurgence the past few years.

Being one of the Original Six NHL franchises, the Bruins laid down roots early, and the roughneck, workmanlike play of the team and players like Orr, Cam Neely and Ray Bourque has long been a touchstone for the die-hard, blue-collar Bruins fans.

Lately, the team's young, hard-nosed crop of players — in addition to their recent success — has brought fans back to the Garden. Milan Lucic, Patrice Bergeron, Zdeno Chara and local favorite "Mahk Savahd" have filled the seats again, as the Bruins have gone on two straight somewhat improbable playoff runs. While the B’s may not be the top team in this town, their loyal fans from the days of Johnny Bucyk, Phil Esposito, Gerry Cheevers and the Big Bad Bruins have never gone away, and with new reason to cheer, they've come out in force.  Boston may forever be seen as a Red Sox-first town, simply because the team holds the edge in history and longevity. And as a famously cursed franchise, they've long been the team of literary men as well, owing to volumes written about them.

Baseball also is a more pervasive sport than any of the others, with games nearly every day for nearly six months of the year. In Boston especially, you literally cannot escape the Red Sox.

Former baseball commissioner and Red Sox fan Bart Giamatti wrote of the sport of baseball, "It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone."

But in Boston, without baseball, we're never alone. The Patriots, Celtics and Bruins make sure of it. As a region, it's not a bad problem to have.

David Ortiz'

The event will be held from Dec. 3-6 in Cap Cana, D.R., at the Sanctuary Cap Cana Golf & Spa and will be played on the Punta Espada course. It will benefit the David Ortiz Children's Fund, which was established by the Red Sox designated hitter in 2006 and seeks to provide pediatric care to children with critical care needs in New England and the Dominican Republic.

Ortiz began the fund in response to a visit to a Santo Domingo hospital, where he encountered children in need of heart surgery who did not have the financial means for the lifesaving procedures.

"When I saw that, it was like I just signed a deal with children, telling myself, 'I've got to do something to help them out,’” Ortiz told the New York Daily News last year.

In 2008, many of Ortiz's former and current teammates — including Tim Wakefield, Pedro Martinez and Sean Casey — participated in the event, and several athletes are expected to return this year. Even Yankees players Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera hit the links for Big Papi's cause.

Ortiz is looking forward to the event.

"It is a wonderful opportunity to showcase my home country — the Dominican Republic — while raising money for children who can't afford the health care they need,” Ortiz said. “Everyone who participates is making a difference in the lives of these children."

To date, the Children's Fund has raised over $1 million for children in need of critical medical care.

Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon gave up a two-out, two-run single to Guerrero in the ninth inning that put the Angels ahead to stay, but Francona has no regrets.

"Vlad hadn't done much in that series,” Francona explained on WEEI last week. “I feel like we executed pitches. Torri Hunter swings with a lot of violence and makes me nervous. I thought it was the right thing to do."

While Francona's willingness to shoulder the blame took some heat off Papelbon, questions about the pitcher’s dominance remain. There even have been rumors about trading the closer.

But pitching coach John Farrell doesn’t think Papelbon has lost his intimidation factor. Farrell stated that Papelbon's string of dominant seasons is “absolutely not” over. Every pitcher struggles through difficult times, and Papelbon is no different. Farrell likened him to Yankees legend Mariano Rivera, a future Hall of Famer who has gone through some struggles at points in his career.

Whatever the future holds for Papelbon, Francona supports him. When the manager — whose contract with the Red Sox runs through 2011 — was asked again about his decision to walk Hunter and load the bases, thus making Papelbon's margin for error smaller, Francona didn’t waver.

"Yes, it was a factor, but it wasn't enough of a factor to make me not want to do it," said the skipper, continuing to stand by his closer.

It is the latest example of the coaching methods that have made him so popular among his players.