Congratulations to the Boston Celtics for winning their 17th NBA Championship. To watch them blow out the L.A. Lakers like they did last night was pretty cool, especially since none of the local radio sports jocks gave the Celtics any chance against L.A. (some were even predicting a sweep, no less); the same for all the syndicated sports talk shows – not surprising, given that they all originate out of Tinseltown.

It wasn’t surprising that all the attention was paid to the “Big Three” of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ray Allen. Pierce had an exceptional series and deserved the MVP award. But for my money the key player in the clinching game was guard Rajon Rondo, who seemed to be everywhere – stealing passes, blocking shots, running the offense effectively, and dishing the ball all over the place. Clearly, the lakers had no answer to his intensity and pace.

Of course, that no one around here locally thought much of the Celtics’ chances is completely understandable. Phoenix is a basketball town and a NBA Western Conference basketball town. And, with all the wacko Californians out here, there’s no shortage of Laker fans. So to watch the Lakers not only lose the NBA Finals but to be outplayed and outhustled in virtually every game was pretty cool.

…Almost as cool as watching the Red Sox obliterate the New York Yankees every now and then. Almost, but not quite. That never gets old!

One might well argue that with the Sox as World Series champions, the Celtics as NBA champs, and the New England Patriots – no longer cheating and barring any significant injuries – expected to go deep into the NFL post-season any given year, Boston is the hub of the professional sports universe. Which is pretty cool.

Now if the Bruins would win the Stanley Cup this year…oh, has the hockey season ended? I hadn’t noticed. How did the Bruins do anyways?