This week promises to be a lot of fun for sports fans, with NFL free agency starting up tomorrow, and the NBA trade deadline coming up Thursday.

For fans, there is the anticipation that a move or signing can be announced at any time. For the media, it means a lot of working the phones, and very little sleep, as many talks go deep into the night. Sleeping or doing other normal activities means you risk getting beat on the story.  Some thrive in this environment, others don’t enjoy the added intrusion into their  personal lives.

The Celtics lost a tough one to the Lakers yesterday afternoon, trailing big early, making a strong comeback, taking a lead into the final two minutes before letting it slip away in the end. Get all the coverage at CelticsLinks.com.

A big concern for the Celtics is the health of big man Chris Wilcox, who is having further tests done on his heart. Wilcox had started to become a strong contributor to the Celtics and his loss for the season would potentially be a big blow.

The end of a Celtics-Lakers era? – Paul Flannery wonders if this was the last meaningful game between the old rivals for some time.

Celtics missing something at end – Chris Forsberg has the Celtics still showing they can compete.

For Celtics fans on Twitter, a huge development this weekend was the news that Steve Bulpett @SteveBHoop has finally joined in. I look forward to updates from one of the best beat writers in any sport.

It was a rough weekend for the Bruins, who dropped a pair of matinée matchups.

It’s becoming clear B’s still paying Cup price - Joe Haggerty says that the Bruins are in the midst of another cup hangover.

For the Patriots, the start of free agency tomorrow will see some very interesting options available to them. They’ll likely target a receiver with some of their $16.2 million of cap room. You can keep up with all the Patriots news and moves at PatriotsLinks.com.

And guess who wrote this over the weekend:

 ”[Adrian] Gonzalez is one sour dude. Almost Nomar-esque. Nobody likes a know-it-all”

And so it begins.

After 25 games, the Bruins finally won back-to-back contests with a 3-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres last night at TD Garden. Johnny Boychuk played a huge role in the win with a thunderous hit and the game-winning goal.  

B’s getting back on the right track - Joe Haggerty says that the Bruins are finally free of the muck and mire.

Bruins think they’re starting to roll - James Murphy says that the Bruins have been building on a consistent effort since the loss to the Rangers last Sunday.

When greatness comes in threes - Jackie MacMullan has a really tremendous column today in which Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish talk about their final days together, and the final days of the KG/Pierce/Allen Big Three. I especially love the account of Robert Parish’s showdown with Michael Jordan when the Chief joined the Bulls for his final season.

In one of his first practices with the Bulls, Parish botched one of the plays and was amused to find Jordan jawing at him just inches from his face.

“I told him, ‘I’m not as enamored with you as these other guys. I’ve got some rings too,’ ” Parish recalled. “At that point he told me, ‘I’m going to kick your ass.’ I took one step closer and said, ‘No, you really aren’t.’ After that he didn’t bother me.”

Middlebrooks on track, but how quickly? – Nick Cafardo looks at how soon the third-base prospect might find himself in the big leagues.

Lloyd ‘very interested’ in hearing Patriots’ pitch - Tom E Curran had an exclusive sitdown with free agent receiver Brandon Lloyd, who reaffirmed his love for Josh McDaniels and expressed his desire to come here, even for less money.

Very little left to fix in NCAA coverage - Chad Finn’s media column looks at the tournament coverage from CBS and Turner, and also says that if you enjoy the politics-free Dennis and Callahan show, you can thank Jeff Brown, Entercom’s vice president and market manager. He has a few other notes of interest as well.

Media Roundup: Ian Rapoport (A.K.A. Rapsheet) Will Be Missed - In my SB Nation Boston media column, I look at how the Boston Herald owes Ian Rapoport a debt of gratitude for rescuing the beat for the paper after the Spygate/Tomase fiasco.

Tuning In: Dad, son … different eras of fandom - Bill Doyle compares how he and his college-age son watch and consume sports differently.

The Celtics were absolutely demolished in Philadelphia by the 76ers last night, 103-71.

Peter May explains why Boston never had a chance in Philly. On the heels of this loss, Paul Flannery tells us to Get ready for the longest week of the season.

The Celtics might not be title contenders, but they are still a topic of conversation around town. They also beat the Bruins in the head-to-head national TV ratings on Sunday, when Celtics/Knicks (ABC – 6.4 rating, 15 share) beat Bruins/Rangers (NBC – 5.1 rating, 12 share) in the local market.

The level of ignorance/apathy from sport radio hosts on the Celtics is bothersome. The best option for Celtics talk is The Big Show, but Ordway spends most of his time laughing at fans suggestions about the team (though, to be fair, most of the suggestions ARE laughable.)

Michael Felger just flat out won’t talk about the Celtics, except to trash them. He’s an unabashed Celtics (and NBA) hater and takes every opportunity to remind you of that, and Tony Masserotti isn’t about to challenge him on anything. (An aside – Thanks to Toucher and Rich, we got this great 1990 cable-access video of Mazz, complete with Bill Cosby sweater.)

The worst though, are Dennis and Callahan, who, despite talking to Doc Rivers every week are completely clueless. They rail each week about how that since the Celtics are not contenders, Danny Ainge needs to “blow it up” and how he’s certain to trade away his veterans before next week’s deadline. Callahan restated it this morning.

What Callahan just doesn’t get is that Ainge has already blown it up. Making any sort of trade, unless it nets the Celtics a draft pick or a young building piece just makes no sense at all. Ainge has set it up so that next year’s team is likely to be unrecognizable. They’ve got four players under contract next year – Rondo, Piece, Bradley and JuJuan Johnson. Brandon Bass has a $4 million player option, which he’s likely to decline. The team is already “blown up.”

In order to trade away any of the veterans, the Celtics need to take back salary, which, if it carries over to next season, probably only hurts their rebuilding process, unless the salary coming back is in the form of young talent – which it won’t be. Not many teams can take on Ray Allen’s contract and give the Celtics back anything of value. Even less can take KG’s.

I don’t know what the offseason holds. The free agent options seem very limited, but the Celtics will have the ability to take on salary and make trades, even if they are straight salary dumps.

But for this season, unless the Celtics can steal someone from another team, I don’t see any big moves coming. They might make a move for a borderline big man who can rebound, but I don’t even know who that would be.

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Moving on to Pete Sheppard and his return to WEEI, he talked to Jessica Heslam a little bit yesterday, saying he’d like to work into a larger role.

If radio stations were NFL teams, WEEI would be the New York Jets right now. They’re in cap hell. Huge contracts given to John Dennis, Gerry Callahan and Glenn Ordway have handcuffed the station from making significant changes. You’ll notice that those three people are the only major personalities still in their same roles at the station.

They tried to low-budget the mid-day show, (the only timeslot they were winning at the time) and it backfired. Somehow they got Dale Arnold to sign a new deal, which still surprises me, and now they brought back Sheppard.

If the ratings continue to stay as they are, what further moves could come?

One might think this would be a win for the fan, seeing WEEI humbled in this manner. The problem is that 98.5 is the new WEEI. They’re every bit as cocky as WEEI ever was, and have started treating listeners in the same fashion. Some there seem to think, like WEEI did, that success is about the “talent” and not the content.

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Five quick links from this morning:

Ross-Sweeney combo could be a big upgrade for Red Sox in right – Tim Britton thinks that the duo could make a very successful platoon for the Red Sox this season.

Ready to Rott? The unconventional world of Red Sox pitching coach Bob McClure – Alex Speier with a look at the Red Sox new pitching coach.

Jon Lester trying to set speed trap – Gordon Edes has Lester working on keeping baserunners under control.

AFC East with Peyton Manning a dream – Karen Guregian and the rest of the local media corps are drooling over the idea of Manning in the division.

Marty Turco arrives just in time – Joe McDonald looks at the Bruins new backup goaltender.

While last week we did hear a few comparisons to Rex Ryan, for the most part, the Boston media’s reaction to the Bobby Valentine experience has been fawning.

They’re dazzled by his bunt drills in spring training. They love that he’s making David Ortiz play some first base. They love the alcohol in the clubhouse ban, and they love that every time they speak to him, he’s going to fill up their audio recorder with quotes.

In some ways, sure, I can see that his style is what this team needs after so many years of routine under Terry Francona. I get that. I get that new things are always going to be the center of attention, and I get that Valentine making himself the center of attention might be a good thing for a franchise under so much scrutiny for what happened last September.

However, the “Bobby Valentine is doing things HIS way” articles are getting a bit stale at this point.

Today the Boston Globe has a front page story from Peter Abraham on the topic: Red Sox whirlwind. It’s a well-done, informative article on how Valentine is running the camp. It’s also at least the second column in three days on the same premise. Dan Shaughnessy filed It couldn’t be more different on Saturday. Last Thursday we had a full column from Nick Cafardo wondering Why aren’t these fans in Valentine’s camp?  Just yesterday, Cafardo wrote This would set him apart referring to how Valentine’s preference not to use a set lineup would make him different.

This is just the Globe/Boston.com. Most of these columns somewhere contain the inference of, if not outright statement of “You gotta love this guy!”

If he brings the Red Sox back to the playoffs, then perhaps he’ll be worthy of the praise that is being thrown at him two weeks into spring training. Judging him on his great quotes, energy and camp routine seems a bit premature.

Coverage from elsewhere this morning:

Vicente Padilla full of intrigue – Michael Silverman says that the Sox pitcher is a leading candidate for The Most Interesting Man in the World.

Mike Aviles welcomes change in plans – Gordon Edes has the former Royal eager to show he can be the starting shortstop.

Jose Iglesias tale: It’s Sox glove story – Ron Borges has Valentine talking about the abilities of the phenom shortstop.

Buchholz goes two scoreless innings in Sox spring debut – Sean McAdam has the Sox starter feeling good in his first outing.

Rask out 4-6 weeks with strain, Bruins sign Marty Turco – Joe Haggerty has the Bruins losing their backup goaltender and signing another.

On Kevin Garnett, playing center – Paul Flannery looks at the tradeoffs for the Celtics in having KG play center.

Don’t let Rondo become another team’s DJ – Chad Finn thinks Rajon Rondo has a lot in common with Dennis Johnson.

Celts react to evidence – Steve Bulpett with a look at the decisions facing Danny Ainge – including the possibility of a trip to the lottery this year.

Tag on Wes Welker, for now – Karen Guregian looks at the Patriots placing the franchise tag on Welker, and where things go from here.

Gregg Williams must pay for bounties – Gerry Callahan says that what the Saints did was much worse than spygate.

The Bruins and Celtics played their rivals from New York at the same time yesterday, with the Bruins dropping a 4-3 decision to the Rangers down at Madison Square Garden and the Celtics defeating the Knicks 115-111 in OT at the TD Garden.

CSNNE had pre and post game coverage of both games. Not soon after the Celtics game ended, they put Mike Felger on screen to say “It’s the Knicks, they SUCK, why is anyone excited about this win” Needless to say, the channel was quickly changed after that.

Rajon Rondo – yeah, the guy I (stupidly) said I was “done” with last week, put up an otherworldly stat line with 18 points, 17 rebounds and 20 assists in the win.

Major points were earned for this one – Bob Ryan has those in attendance yesterday getting to see a real basketball game.

Can Rajon Rondo make Celtics dangerous again? – Paul Flannery looks at Rondo’s performance and whether he can make the Celtics a dangerous postseason team. Chris Forsberg looks at the team’s play and wonders if they have some of that old magic left in them.

Rajon Rondo turns it on for Celtics – Jackie MacMullan has Rondo coming up biggest when the lights are the brightest.

Behind Jeremy Lin phenomenon lies youngster with room to improve – Steve Bulpett has Jeremy Lin getting a lesson from Rondo.

Jeff Green gives lift as he sits – The Herald notebook has the forward, two month removed from heart surgery, sitting with the Celtics and cheering them on. The Globe notebook from Gary Washburn has Doc Rivers tightening up the rotation.

Bruins vexed again by Rangers  – Steve Conroy has the Bruins with a strong game, but not enough to beat the Rangers.

Thomas needs to be better for Bruins to thrive – Joe Haggerty says that the Bruins goaltender needs to be almost perfect.

Could Bobby Valentine’s batting order strategy actually work? – Rob Bradford says the Red Sox manager’s lineups might have some surprises this season.  Tim Britton has more on the lineups.

The Patriots are expected to use their franchise tag on Wes Welker sometime before the deadline this afternoon.

Greg Bedard had an excellent report on the Saints’ bounty scandal in yesterday’s Globe, a column that garnered national attention. Bedard (along with Jim Donaldson of the Providence Journal) also talked to former Patriots OC Bill O’Brien about the pass Wes Welker couldn’t handle late in the Super Bowl. ESPN picked up the story, but originally just said that O’Brien “told reporters,” a move which drew Bedard’s ire. ESPN updated the article to read that O’Brien “told reporters for The Boston Globe and Providence Journal on Saturday.”