Is this a "Vote of Confidence" for Rivers?

According to the Boston Globe, "Executive director of basketball operations Danny Ainge said yesterday (Saturday) that Rivers would remain the Celtics coach through the end of the 2006-07 season."

Sit on that one for a second and try not to spill coffee all over the keyboard. (BTW - I was wondering, why the long title for Danny Ainge? Whatever happened to simply calling a guy GM? Does any of his moves merit a two-lined title on the business card? The least he can do is pay for the extra printing cost.)

The optimist in me is hoping that this is the typical vote of confidence that usually happens weeks before the expected firing. Every team does it and every coach is canned before the season ends. Maybe this is just the way Ainge delivers the message.

Of course, the pessimist in me asks, "Does Ainge even watch the Celtics?"

What's he trying to do here, lift the pressure off Rivers? How long does Ainge have to hold Rivers hands? Did he say this to distract the media from all the Allen Iverson trade rumors? Is the media already tired of all the Iverson speculation and are just trying to create stories to write about?

Whatever the reason, Ainge is doing a fine job of putting out any flicker of hope within the Celtics' fan base. He's not simply blowing out the candle; he's dousing it after drinking two pitchers of beer (if you know what I mean).

Read the blogs, listen to the callers, hear the fans; it's time for a drastic change. "Stay the course" is so October 2006.