On a night when the GPA boys weren’t their usual selves second year point guard Rajon Rondo stood up, took over and led the Green to yet another win, this one on the road, on the back end of a back-to-back. Rondo put up a career high 18 points as the Celtics survived a late charge by the Bulls and won 92-81 Saturday night at the United Center in Chicago.

With an 86-70 lead with just over 5 minutes left the Bulls came out charging and cut the lead to 86-81 with a minute left before a Kevin Garnett fade away sealed the deal and Boston improved to a NBA best 17-2 with their sixth consecutive win, while Chicago fell to 6-12.

Boston was led in the scorebook by Ray Allen who, despite a shaky shooting night, had 21 points, Rondo had 7 boards and 5 assists in addition to his 18 points and Garnett had 16 points and 9 rebounds.

Andres Nocioni led the Bulls with 18 points in just 24 minutes, Kurt Hinrich had 16 points and UConn product Ben Gordon was held to 13 points as he was 5 for 20 from the field and 0 for 4 from 3 pt land and missed all 10 of his second half shots. Chicago’s Ben Wallace led all players with 14 rebounds, Glenn Davis had 12 boards for the Green.

The Celtics are off until Wednesday when they host the Sacramento Kings at the TD BankNorth Garden.

A funny video to put y’all in the Christmas spirit.

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I am not sure how Scott Boras does it but somehow even after Eric Gagné stunk it up for the Red Sox, he still got him a 1-yr $10 million dollar deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. Good luck with that Brew Crew fans.

Manny Delcarmen, Julian Tavarez and Terry Francona along with Larry Lucchino were on hand yesterday for Christmas at Fenway as the Red Sox put certain April games and Sox Pax tickets on sale for the general public just in time for the holiday season. Francona even took questions from some of the kids on hand and Tavarez did as well.

The Star-Tribune is reporting that the Red Sox and Twins are still engaged in talks about bringing Johan Santana to Beantown. You have to really wonder how much longer the Sox will wait on this unless they are content on having Coco Crisp be the 4th outfielder next season.

So while we await the next piece of gossip in the Red Sox-Twins talks, let’s start out our Sunday morning with a look at the headlines concerning the Boston Red Sox.

Weekend Update [Star-Tribune]

Sox preparing for Japan [redsox.com]

Tavarez shakes off his discontent [Pro Jo]

Sox host Christmas at Fenway [redsox.com]

Timlin’s return is relief to teammate [Pro Jo]

Eric Gagne and Brewers reach preliminary agreement on 10M deal [AP]

Here is a look how the former UConn players fared in last week’s play in the NBA.

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University of Florida sophomore quarterback Tim Tebow is the recipient of the 73rd Heisman Trophy presented annually to the outstanding collegiate football player. He is the first sophomore ever to win the award.

Tebow beat out the likes of Arkansas running back Darren McFadden, Hawai’i quarterback Colt Brennan and Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel. McFadden finished second in the Heisman voting for a second year in a row.

The sophomore from Florida is the third quarterback from the school to win the Heisman. Steve Spurrier won it in 1966 and Danny Wuerffel won it in 1996. Florida also becomes the second school to have 3 Heisman quarterbacks. Notre Dame is the other.

Tebow has a chance to join Archie Griffith, from The Ohio State, as the only two-time winners of the award next season. Tebow will have a huge bullseye on his back but probably will be the preseason favorite going into next year so it could happen.

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Top Ten Tuesdays: I’ll Juice YOU [Yankees Chick]

Why We Love The LPGA? Answer: Anna Rawson [The Love of Sports]

A Fan Letter to Hank Steinbrenner [Babes Love Baseball]

Random Sox Theatre: Dunkin Donuts [Center Field]

The Blue Jays unveil two new uniforms – one blue, one bad [Home Run Derby]

Sox shopping J-Tav?? Say it ain’t so! [Red Sox Monster]

AA Breaking News: ESPN’s New “This Is SportsCenter” Commercial Leaked [Awful Announcing]

The Origin of U-C-L-A Sucks [Gridiron Goddess]

Friday Football Foodie – Precious Roy Presents Gumbo, White Chocolate Bread Pudding, and Skylabs [Ladies…]

South Florida Matter: We All Suck Together! [SporTech Matter]

And last but certainly not least, Fitzy from the Townie News is back with another Wicked Pissah webcast. As usual, the video is NSFW.

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With Eric Gagné declining the Red Sox offer of arbitration, the Red Sox can move forward in putting together their bullpen for 2008. They did put one more piece in the bullpen puzzle as Mike Timlin finalized his deal with the Sox yesterday earning himself a raise because of how well he pitched late last season and in the postseason.

The Red Sox also announced their spring training schedule yesterday and it’s a little shorter than normal due to the fact that they are opening up in the season in Japan. They will play 13 games at City of Palms Park. Last year they played 16 home games.

So while Theo and the braintrust are putting together the blueprint for another championship season, let’s take a look at the headlines involving the Boston Red Sox.

Gagne declines offer of arbitration [redsox.com]

PawSox introduce their new coaches [Pro Jo]

Timlin deal’s done [Boston Herald]

Field staffs announced [Extra Bases]

Timlin’s resurgence earns him $3M deal [Pro Jo]

A nice carol about Jonathan Papelbon after the jump.

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To quote Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit The Boston Celtics are “rollin’, rollin’ rollin'” and tonight they kept it going by ripping the Toronto Raptors, 112-84 in front of a sell out crowd at the TD BankNorth Garden.

The Celtics improve to 16-2 on the season and are still unbeaten at home with a 10-0 record, while the Raptors drop to 10-10.

Boston who for the second game in a row wore their throwback uniforms were led by Kevin Garnett who had 23 points, Paul Pierce put in 18 as they had five players in double figures as Ray Allen and Eddie House had 13 points each and James Posey chipped in with 10.

Toronto had 13 from Anthony Parker and 12 each from T.J. Ford, Joey Graham and Juan Dixon who played without Chris Bosch who has missed 5 games with a groin injury and Andre Bargnani missed his third with a hyperextended knee.

Both teams were sizzling from the charity stripe as Toronto was 10-12 and Boston was 25-30 both 83% clips. The difference was Boston shot better from the field (53% to 43%) and from 3 point land (43% to 35%) and out rebounded them 44 to 32.

The Celtics jumped out to a quick lead and just cruised and pulled away from an undermanned Toronto squad.

The 10-0 start is the fifth best start at home in franchise history. 14-0 is the franchise record set by the 1985-86 squad.

The Green are back on the court tomorrow night in Chicago as they face Ben Gordon and the Bulls.

The NFL announced today that New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison was fined $5,000 for taunting the Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick after an interception return by James Sanders.The NFL also fined Baltimore safety Bart Scott $25,000 for verbally abusing an official and throwing the penalty flag and Baltimore teammates WR Derrick Mason, CB Chris McAlister and Samari Rolle were all fined $15,000 for questioning the integrity of an official.

The NFL has cleared official Phil McKinnely who was accused by Ravens players of using a derogatory racial remark to refer to a player. NFL senior vice president of officiating Mike Pereira said Thursday that McKinnely’s “interpretation” of the situation differed from Rolle’s. He added that he found no fault in how McKinnely handled the controversy.

“Phil, in my mind, acted as he should,” Pereira told the NFL Network. “We’d like to walk away, but there is a point where it’s very difficult to do that.”