Posted by Teddy O'Panos, Sun Staff

A few “green” observations on this St. Patrick’s Day, plus a reminder to hurry up and get those Hoops Hysteria entries in before Thursday:

Glad to see Dice-K’s wife co-operated and gave birth well before the Red Sox planned departure for Tokyo. This way, we avoid the spectacle of Larry Lucchino and Bud Selig tripping over each other in the maternity ward as they raced to induce the poor lady. After all, wasn’t Matsuzaka’s triumphant return to Japan the main point of this overseas exercise?

Speaking of wives and kids, exactly when will the two ladies in Tiger Woods’ life begin to adversely affect his golf game? In the past three years, Woods has experienced marriage, the loss of his father and the birth of a daughter, personal changes that were supposed to help bring him back to rest of the golf pack. Instead, Tiger’s roar is louder than ever and his grip on golf dominance more secure than ever before.

As impressive as Tiger’s current run of five consecutive PGA tournament wins is, I’m not so sure it’s more eye-catching than the Houston Rockets streak of 22 in a row. Woods has actually won seven successive PGA events in the past, so he still has two more weekends of work to match his past performance.

The Rockets, on the other hand, now hold the NBA’s second longest streak in history, trailing only the 1971-72 Lakers run of 33 in a row. What’s more amazing is they’ve won the last ten since losing towering center Yao Ming to a stress fracture that likely ended his season and was expected to kill any chance Houston had at a title.

Should the Rockets continue their winning ways, they’ll do so at the expense of the Celtics, who visit NASA-land Tuesday for a nationally televised contest. And I don’t care how many months have passed since the Kevin Garnett trade, I’m still positively giddy about the fact regular season basketball games actually matter again around these parts. Just wait till the young ‘uns, who have no idea what real playoff basketball in Boston is all about, get a load of the Garden come May and, hopefully, June.

Most Boston fans point to the Pistons as the biggest obstacle between the Celtics and a return trip to the NBA Finals. The team they really should be worrying about is Cleveland. Or should I say, King James and his court. Call me paranoid, but I have nightmares about LeBron doing what he did to the Pistons in Game 5 of last year’s conference finals and single-handedly carrying an inferior team to victory.

Are the Celtics a better team than last year’s Pistons? Sure they are. Are they better than this year’s Cavaliers? Yes, over an 82-game schedule. In a best-of-seven series, with the refs giving LeBron the “superstar” treatment, I’m not so sure.

Mad about this contest: There’s still time to sign up for the Sun’s Hoops Hysteria contest. The winner of the national March Madness contest wins a 20-inch Flat Panel HDTV LCD. However, if you sign up through our SunBlog Madness group, you’ll also be eligible to win a pair of Boston Red Sox and Lowell Spinners tickets.

To register, simply click on the Hoops Hysteria ad on this page. After you’ve entered the necessary information, click on the “Hoops Hysteria all at once” box, then the “Group Play” link. Select the “SunBlog Madness” group, enter the password “lowellsun” and you’re in. If you have any questions or problems signing up, just fire off an email to tpanos@lowellsun.com and I’ll be happy to help you through the process.

Good luck!