Sports Redux: Hub Fans Bid Johnny Adieu?

Major League Baseball has its share of problems, to be sure: the steroids scandal, the delicate maneuvering they'll have to do to pretend to be excited about Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron's record, having to politely say "bite me" to any fan who can't afford or use a satellite dish but might want to watch more than just the hometown team.

So with all these issues, baseball's finally getting serious, telling Red Sox all-around legend Johnny Pesky he's no longer welcome in the dugout during games. He can hang out on the field before the game, but once the first pitch is thrown, the dugout becomes a sacred place, accessible only to players, coaches, managers, trainers, batboys, Fox Sports sideline reporters, sunflower seed delivery men, and (in rare cases) Dominican midgets. Nice to see MLB has its priorities straight.

With Opening Day looming, the Herald's Tony Massarotti examines the Red Sox' finances, and the Globe's Gordon Edes goes into depth about the growing Japanese influence on the game here in the States.

The Celtics are in Philly tonight, where Paul Pierce may or may not officially hang it up for the season. The Globe thinks it's not a sure thing that either Oden or Durant will leave college, and if that's the case, this historic season for the C's might have been all for nothing. If there's a traffic jam on the Tobin Bridge soon, it might be the posters from CelticsBlog climbing to the top awaiting word on Oden and Durant's decisions.

Soon-to-be-rare photo of Pesky in uniform courtesy of Flickr's nnfox.