Following Game 1’s thumping from Miami, Rajon Rondo hinted at what the Celtics want to do the rest of the series against the Heat:

“Nothing dirty,” the Celtics point guard told the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “But they have to HIT THE DECK, too.”

Rondo is apparently sold on the theory implemented by the Pacers in the semi-finals that the best way to beat the Heat is to go all old school on them.

An Ultimate Warrior clothesline will likely get you suspended for life in the NBA these days but a little jab to the face once in a while should be accepted. Who wouldn’t want to see LeBron get smacked after a glare or a flex or an on-court giggle? Are you listening David Stern? This would be GOOD TV (there, I said the magic words).

Of course the end game to once again allowing this behavior would result in something like this:

But the league was better when players were allowed to police themselves (as it is in every other major sport). In Major League Baseball, if you throw at us, we throw at you. In the NFL, if you take a cheap shot at us, we’ll take a cheap shot at you. In hockey, well, hockey speaks for itself.

The NBA, meanwhile, has a sickening bully culture that harbors douchebag activity. If you continue to act a certain way (like LeBron James laughing in Kevin Garnett’s face in Game 1), there are no repercussions of getting drilled.

It didn’t used to be like this. The ’80s Lakers did nothing but throw awkward high fives at each other, dunk and execute perfect fast breaks. The ’80s Celtics took this as an insult to their manhood. The next game, this happened:

It changed the series in favor of the Celtics.

The Bad Boys Pistons had “Jordan Rules” in which they used to hammer Michael Jordan. This tactic worked for a while, until the Bulls fought back:

(things really start to heat up around 1:10)

One of the reasons LeBron is still universally despised is because he hasn’t paid his dues in terms of going through a true, old school NBA physical grind. He is no tough guy, yet he has always carried himself that way. Perhaps the Celtics going all McHale on him tonight, would actually be a good thing for both sides.

Terry Francona, pecs of steel

Terry Francona is flashing his pecs again and may be after your 27-year-old girlfriend next.

Francona’s personal life has been a borderline trainwreck, on par with the Red Sox collapse of last September, for nearly a year now.

Someone in the Boston front office (still a mystery as to whom – a large reason as to why Francona was hesitant to join the Red Sox for the Fenway 100 celebration) leaked stories last October that painted Francona as a pill-popping womanizer.

The Red Sox wanted to make it appear that this lifestyle was damaging his performance as manager.

While we’ll likely never know if Francona had drug issues, it certainly seems that he doesn’t mind mingling with young women.

Photos like this have been popping up on the web for a long, long time now: