As I sat courtside (nosebleed section) last night at the American Airlines Arena, I made a few observations that I must share with you. Please feel free to give me some feedback on what you think (if you watched the game).

1^st quarter- Both teams had it going on, Jermaine O’Neal was feeling it in the post, D-Wade was doing his thing, Garnett and Pierce were playing strong, so was Kendrick Perkins. It was entertaining because both teams were pushing the pace and hitting the boards.

2^nd quarter- Wade really started to get into a flow, but so did KG and Rondo. Celtics really surged late in the quarter and took a 7 point lead into halftime. The Heat Dancers stole the show, I see why they have been voted most entertaining dance team 4 times. I highly suggest visiting this Arena, they really put on a good show.

Halftime- ‘Burnie,’ the Heat mascot, dances to a medley of pop songs from the last 20 years. The presentation starts off incredibly corny but gains momentum when the mascot starts shuffling his feet to Michael Sembello’s ‘Maniac.’ I chuckled numerous times.

3^rd quarter- Michael Beasley is freakin’ good. This cat took over the floor. He was dancing past KG and Rasheed Wallace, dunking in the lane, hitting shots from outside and running the floor. If he plays like this all night then the Heat win this game going away. This dude is a ballplayer, he’s going to be special. Wallace has one of his less than stellar performances. He doesn’t play D and he can’t hit a shot. Ray Allen is cold too. Miami does a good job of getting back into the game after they trailed by 11. Who is the coach of the Miami Heat? I know it’s some weird name, but seriously, this guy should not be dancing around so much, these guys know how to play. Take a cue from Doc Rivers and cool out.

4^th quarter- Kendrick Perkins is a force, him and Rondo are the late game catalysts. Wade is still looking good, but no one else is doing anything. Ray Allen finally hits a big shot, and then KG hits an even bigger one. Brian Scalabrine makes a guest appearance on the floor for the Celtics and hits a huge three pointer in the corner. What a great game. It was obvious the Celtics were going to win throughout the majority of the game, it was just coming down to a matter of how…

Miami is an entertaining team to watch play, but the Celtics are even more so. They don’t have one dominant scorer, but every one of them is capable of putting up 30 on a given night. On this evening, all five starters were in double figures and KG was 11-12 from the field.

Whether or not this is a legitimate story, I can see it being true… Buffalo Bills esteemed owner Ralph Wilson settled in as he does on most Monday night’s to watch the Ravens play against the Cleveland Browns. After having watched Brady Quinn and the Browns offense muster up what they considered to be a valiant effort, Wilson was left pondering, “How on earth did my team lose to that team?” The next day he fired his head coach.

I remember when I was playing little league baseball and we would always have these locked down mathematical formulas for predicting who was better and who was going to win this coming Tuesday evening. It went something like this,

Me: Well we beat Shop n’ Save 7-2 and the Legion only beat them 6-4. We should win.

My Friend: Yea, but the Legion clobbered Masters’ Machineworks by 13 and you guys barely got by them, plus they were throwing their #1 pitcher against them. You guys faced a 10 year-old…

Me: Whatever, even if we lose we will still be in 1^st as long as Newcastle Dodge doesn’t beat Mike’s Place.

These formulas were what made the most sense to us, and apparently Ralph Wilson seems to be using a similar type of logic. I’m not saying that the Bills deserve to finish the season with their head coach, but if this is the way it went down then I can’t fully support it. Having said that, Dick Jauron has been awful; actually he is 3^rd on the all-time list of active coaches to have never won a playoff game. Who’s number one on that list? Ahhh yes, the only reason for me writing this blog, a Jim Mora reference.

It didn’t take long at all for a horde of media to attack Coach Bill Belichick’s decision to go for the win on 4^th and 2 in Indianapolis Sunday night. No one should be surprised. But in all seriousness, whether it’s jumping on Belichick’s back or anyone else’s (and I will admit that the fact that it was Belichick this time has helped me form this view), isn’t this dance getting old? The media has torn down so many coaches in the last 10 years that we’ve all lost count, not to mention, the media have the advantage of living and judging after a play has been made. When has a media member ever made an important decision that has won a game? Never…

The last two days have involved comparison of the 5-time super bowl winner to that of Grady Little, Pete Carroll, Picasso flunking 10^th grade art, his brain being more frozen than Ted Williams’ head. Well I might as well address all of these, since they are all ludicrous in nature. Grady Little was a solid coach who got fired for making one decision; he never won a major championship or proved that he could lead a talented team to do so. The Carroll comparison was made because the Trojans coach made a similar decision in the 2006 BCS title game when he went for it on 4^th and 1 at the 50-yard line. The difference there and with the two men in general is that while Carroll gave the ball to his 3^rd or 4^th best player, Belichick hiked the ball to Tom Brady. In addition, why was Pete Carroll ever coaching at USC? Oh yeah, he failed at the NFL level, miserably. Moving on, Picasso most likely never took 10^th grade art, in all probability 10^th grade didn’t exist in those days. Finally, Teddy Ballgames frozen head… Have we honestly resorted to using these same two themes while referring to a coaching decision? How low can we go?

For all those who scream that Patriots players are simply soldiers standing in line as they back up their coach, I ask you why you don’t take their answers at face value? Why is it that someone who doesn’t play the game could possibly understand a man standing there and telling you that he thought it was the right decision because his coach said so? Is there something you can’t grasp, my media brethren? Players are not individuals when it comes to a team decision, they don’t have the luxury of thinking whether a decision was right or wrong. It’s always right if the coach makes it. That is what coaches are there for… Players are for playing, not judging the decisions that are made on the field during a game. Maybe this is why the Patriots have been the gold standard of the NFL since the time Belichick came to power, because he creates a team, not a collection of players.

Most big time media crews and small time average Joe pin heads believe that Coach Belichick made a bad decision because they had never seen that choice made before. The call was certainly an unprecedented one, without a doubt. But for Belichick and the Patriots, the same call would be made in the same spot if they had to do it again (maybe this time the referee would spot the ball correctly).

This story will fade away and become nothing very soon. Just like Belichick’s failed time with the Browns, just like the beef with Eric Mangini, just like spygate, it’ll all go away. Bill Belichick has become the NFL’s Teflon Don. Fire at will, he’ll just keep going about his business.