Airing of Grievances - Happy Festivus!

I've been doing this blog a long time and I've steered this ship through many a storm. I'm a card carrying optimist and I'm not about to turn in my membership or give up on this team that has bought more equity in my heart than I can calculate. I will not, ...nay, I cannot give up on Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Rajon Rondo, never mind Doc Rivers and even Danny Ainge.

With that said, during the lean years I had a forums handle of "ranter" and there was a reason for that. It is a little late for Christmas, but perhaps there's still time for a little Festivus celebration before the New Year. Time for a little Airing of Grievances.

Starting from the top...

Danny Ainge - Hey, not sure if you've noticed, but we have a hole at center and backup point guard... AND HAVE for like 25 years!!! Those positions are pretty important. Get on it.

Doc Rivers - Your mental fatigue excuses are making me go mental to the point of fatigue. Just stop talking and point at the box score. If that isn't motivation enough for this group then point to the door. Just stop giving me excuses.

Rajon Rondo - You are the leader now. It is a heavy burden to carry but the job description is clear. You take the lions share of glory and blame and right now the team stinks. Assist totals mean nothing if you are losing. Great players find a way to rise above and make those around them better - which is kind of what you are all about. Get going.

Paul Pierce - You exploded for 40 points the other week. So we know you still have it in you. Don't go all old on us just yet. If you really can't give it 100% then you owe it to the team to take some games off and not add wear and tear to your legs.

Kevin Garnett - Um, I actually don't have any problems with you and truth be told I'm a little frightened by you. Feel free to use the Feats of Strength to inflict pain on opponents.

Brandon Bass - I'm beginning to wonder who got the best of that trade with Orlando. Yeah. Ponder that.

Jason Terry - Force Doc to keep you in the second unit and lead that unit. This was always the plan and it has been complicated by Courtney Lee's struggles, but you have carved out a role as a bench scorer - let's get back to that please.

Jason Collins - Never take another shot again. Not even a wide open dunk. I don't trust you with the ball. This shouldn't be a surprise to any of us. Now go use your fouls.

Jeff Green - I'm your biggest supporter. I feel for you and I'm pulling for you. With that said, how many times does Doc have to tell you to be aggressive and attack the basket? You've been doing better lately but we've been talking about this since the offseason. Put up or shut up.

Courtney Lee - We get it, you aren't Ray Allen. But you aren't even acting like Courtney Lee at this point. So take a page from Ray's book and shoot practice 3's till your arm falls off.

Jared Sullinger - Hey rook. Yeah you. I don't care how big your basketball IQ is, you are still a rookie and the refs are going to treat you that way. So stop looking so shocked that they called you for yet another ticky tac foul. (Also, please keep rebounding. I've got a man-crush but that's for another article)

Chris Wilcox - While you are spending time on injured reserve, make sure you are doing extra homework on defense. You've had a year and a half in the system (though to be fair, surprisingly few games to speak of) - none of the rotations should be rocket science to you by now.

Leandro Barbosa - Stop thinking, stop trying to run the offense, just duck your head and attack the basket.

Avery Bradley - Don't listen to anything anyone says. Don't take all the problems of this team on your recovering shoulders. Don't try to squeeze a whole season into the next few games. One game, one play, one step at a time please.

Kris Joseph, Fab Melo, Jarvis Vornado - Work on some kind of bench celebration or something. See you in the summer.

Collectively, you all need to snap out of whatever funk you are in right now and start the late season push to the playoffs that we've all been waiting for since the 2nd week of the season. You are better than this. You are not too old. You shouldn't still be struggling with learning a new system. There's no excuse for being "mentally" out of it. There's no excuse for the last 3 games. Especially after Christmas day. Get over yourselves and get moving.

No more excuses. Win or go home.