So much for the idea that the thrilling shootout win over Buffalo would spark the Bruins. They followed up that great win with an official stinkeroo last night, turning a 3-2 lead into a 6-3 embarassing loss at the hands of the Panthers. Zdeno Chara, Glen Murray (yay!) and Marco Sturm scored for the B's, but then the defense broke down and Tim Thomas stopped looking like himself for a while. Bad news all around.

If there's any bad news in town, Dan Shaughnessy can't be far behind. He's got his mojo back after the Patriots loss, and some fine trees gave their lives today so that Dan can tell us that the Red Sox have caused more pain over the years than the Super Bowl loss. Thanks, Dan. Meanwhile, some conspiracy buffs are saying the Pats got hosed on the last drive; we don't want to join this chorus because if we start spending our lives boo-hooing over officials' calls, we're no better than Raider fans.

If for some reason you do want to read more about the Super Bowl, may we suggest Bill Simmons' mailbag. Otherwise, let's keep our eyes on the Pro Bowl prize.

Celts-Spurs this afternoon; ABC's got to be thrilled that Kevin Garnett's still out for the Celtics and Tony Parker's out for the Spurs. Remember, the Celtics have a 1-game winning streak over San Antonio, after their 435-game losing streak at the Spurs' hands. The rivalry is back!