Random thoughts gathered while wondering if LeBron James can pitch:

• Spruce Mountain Phoenix doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, frankly. But at least the students got to choose what they will be called, which is more than folks in, for example, Wiscasset can say. I suspect any opponents inclined to make fun of the name won’t be doing it for very long after the first whistle blows. Green-and-black are fine colors, especially considering any alternatives involving green, orange or yellow. My only request to the folks who make these decisions is to not put black numerals and lettering on the green jerseys. That makes it more difficult for the fans and blind sportswriters such as yours truly to ID the Phoenix tackler when he plants a mouthy ball-carrier into the ground.

• The Celtics are leaving me with a creeping sense that they have gone soft. Jeff Green is soft. Nenad Krstic is soft. Jermaine O’Neal is soft. Rajon Rondo is either soft in the head or hurt. Kevin Garnett likes to talk but his talk is cheap when there isn’t anyone around to back him up. They let Chicago push them around Thursday. They defend OK, but they don’t rebound. They didn’t rebound very well when they had Kendrick Perkins and Green and Krstic aren’t even close to Perkins, who is overrated as a rebounder anyway.  Perkins definitely wasn’t soft, though, and while the Celtics clearly miss that presence on the floor, it shouldn’t be affecting them as much as it has. It’s mostly in their heads.

• Unfortunately, Boston has lost its claim as the best defensive team in the NBA. That distinction now belongs to the Chicago Bulls, headed by Doc Rivers’ former defensive guru, Tom Thibodeau. The Bulls are scary because they’re younger, have home-court advantage and can play great defense. But they also haven’t won a playoff series since 2007.

• As for the Bruins, the Eastern Conference seems like a toss-up between them, Philadelphia, and Washington. Include Pittsburgh if you like, but who knows how they will be affected if and when Sidney Crosby returns from his concussion. It’s tough to take the Bruins too seriously, because there seem to be some lingering psychological scars from last year’s 3-0 debacle. You may have noticed this team still doesn’t know what to do with momentum and emotional prosperity, fore example, coming out flat against the Rangers after man-handling the Canadiens last month, then blowing a 3-0 lead to the Rangers last week. Even though Tim Thomas gives them a chance to win any series, these Bruins are still not to be trusted. We may be headed to another dark horse taking the Prince of Wales Trophy, a la last year’s Flyers.

• If you’re heading down to Hadlock Field this spring and looking for the next Boston-bound prospect to make the jump from Double-A to the bigs in one season, look behind the plate. Ryan Lavarnway is the top-ranked catcher in the Red Sox system and was named the best power hitter in the organization by Baseball America. The Red Sox have Mike McKenry, who had a cup of coffee with the Colorado Rockies last year, and former Sea Dog Luis Exposito ahead of Lavarnway at Pawtucket. But if the Sox slide out of contention early and/or Jarrod Saltalamacchia continues to make Kevin Cash look like a batting champion, the Ivy League’s all-time home run leader from Yale could suddenly enter into Boston’s plans.

• Forget for a moment that the Maineiacs should be up 2-0 on Montreal heading back to the friendly Colisee confines Tuesday night. The Maineiacs either forgot about it themselves or used it as motivation while overwhelming the Junior in the third period Saturday. That wasn’t just a win, it was a statement win in what looks to be a classic Q series.

• The pairing of LeBron James with Red Sox ownership has been called tone deaf by some. I think that is giving John Henry and company too much credit. It’s arrogant. While they aren’t New Englanders, Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino are pretty well tapped into the psyche of the New England sports fan, and they knew this partnership would strike a sour note with a segment of Red Sox fans who also happen to be Celtics fans, or at least despise James on general principle. It’s not a big enough segment, however, to keep them from making money hand over fist. Remember, the Red Sox Nation membership silliness offended a lot of fans, too, but there were plenty of pink hats around to override the purists and pay $10 for their membership card. Like it or not, James is a global icon, and the world is full of pink hats.

• What a fitting ending to Manny Ramirez’s career. Rather than take the heat of a terrible start with the Tampa Rays and a second drug suspension, he just slinks away like a child caught swinging the neighbor’s cat by the tail. The more we saw of him, the more we came to realize that “Manny being Manny” meant Manny being a coward, whether it was pushing the Red Sox’ 64-year-old traveling secretary to the ground or not taking responsibility for his on- and off-field misdeeds. It will be interesting to see how Red Sox fans ultimately judge him. He was clearly a vital part of the only two championships any of us can remember, but he also quit on a team (actually, teams) that bent over backwards to put up with his nonsense. Remembering him as the best Boston hitter since Ted Williams and its biggest jerk since Rick Pitino sounds about right.

• ESPN is right, the Masters is a lot more interesting when Tiger is in contention.

Randy Whitehouse is a staff writer. He is email is [email protected].