You probably read yesterday that Jonathan Papelbon will, in fact, be the Red Sox closer this year, and probably for years to come. Why they didn't just announce this at the beginning of camp, when we all suspected this was going to happen eventually, is beyond us. But we still love the idea of players blogging, if it means Dan Shaughnessy will fade further into irrelevance.

The bad news in Fort Myers is that everyone's wondering what's up with the captain. Jason Varitek isn't hitting, and no one really knows why. One theory is that he's too busy learning Japanese. Another is that catchers go downhill in the blink of an eye. Whatever it is, we need him hitting soon!

Is it just us, or is the second weekend of the NCAA tournament boring compared to the first round? Most of the small schools have turned back into pumpkins, our brackets look like they've been shot with red paint guns, and unless you're an actual fan of one of the Sweet Sixteen, there's no one left to rally 'round. Oh well. Kansas, UCLA, Ohio State and Memphis punched the tickets of Southern Illinois, Pitt, Tennessee, and Texas A&M, respectively. Two #1 seeds and two #2 seeds advance. Ho him.

"We aren't good enough right now". So sayeth Bruins coach Dave Lewis, and the Bruins gave him plenty of reason for his bluntness, turning another lead into a crushing, playoff-hope-ending defeat. The Celtics and Paul Pierce are trying to figure out when exactly to put him on the shelf for the season. Doc, who's "not tanking the season", has to decide if Paul should play tonight vs. Dallas, or if he'll go the fourth quarter with a lineup of Scalabrine, Lucky, Jo Jo White (age 60), Bob Ryan and Sebastian Telfair. Luckily, Bill Simmons is on Tank Watch for us.

(Papelbon picture from Flickr's Coley Ward)