This is the week we've had circled on our calendar since the Celtics' blistering start. We knew at least three of the four games would be tough, but now every team between the Mississippi and the Pecos has their eyes on the NBA Finals, and since the Celtics want to be there to meet them, these four games are huge. It starts tonight in San Antonio against the defending champs, who have a shocking 2-game......

From satire by the Upright Citizens Brigade (see video above) to Bob Ryan to editorials in the Boston Globe magazine, the media appears to be wailing on Patriots coach Bill Belichick after Spygate and the Super Bowl loss. So he lost, and so he might be a cheater, but would people be as angry if the Patriots won the Super Bowl? Maybe not. Doug Most writes in the Boston Globe Magazine, "But now it's......

You'll have to forgive the Celtics if they felt like they arrived in Portland having lurched their way up the Oregon Trail. Three losses in a row doesn't quite compare to running out of buffalo meat and spilling a wagon into the Big Blue River, but combine that with the debacle in Phoenix, and you can understand why some of the team felt like they died of cholera. Things reached the lowest of the low......

While the Celtics are floundering out West, the Bruins have just finished an honest-to-goodness stampede through the South. And attention must be paid. Last night, the B's finished off a 4-0-1 Southern swing with a 5-3 win at Tampa Bay. Glen Murray scored twice, with Milan Lucic and Mark Stuart also scoring early. P.J. Axelsson took a Glen Metropolit pass and scored a shorthanded goal to put the Lightning away for good. Alex Auld wasn't......

Questions are still swirling around the death of Keith Ryan, son of Globe sportswriter Bob Ryan. The younger Ryan was an attache in Pakistan, and it was believed that he had shot himself. However, suspicions arose that foul play was involved, the Globe reports. The Ryan family is now in a state of waiting. Bob Ryan told Mike Underwood at the Herald, "We have no reason at this time to doubt the official version......

--Keith Ryan, the son of Globe sportswriter Bob Ryan, was found dead in Pakistan. He was an attache for the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency. Reports indicate he had shot himself. An investigation will follow. [Boston Globe] --Commuters aren't exactly flocking to use the new Greenbush line. [Boston Globe] --Speaking of the MBTA, financial shenanigans led to $55 million in borrowing costs, according to the state auditor. [Boston Globe] --Comments for news......

A Tribute to David Halberstam Tuesday, November 27, 7:00 pm Brattle Theatre (via Harvard Book Store and Powell's Books), $10 More info. With the holiday, this week wasn't going to have heaps of readings, but a big one is taking place on Tuesday as great minds gather to discuss the work of the late journalist David Halberstam. Out of the Book, a documentary series sponsored by Powell's Books that follows authors, has turned its gaze......

While you, and we, have been fixated on the Red Sox and the Patriots and the Celtics, the Revolution have quietly made their way back to the MLS Cup. And it's time attention is paid. The Revs are in the Finals for the third straight year, and fourth since 2002. They got there by outlasting Chicago 1-0, with Taylor Twellman scoring his second goal of the playoffs. Which was also the team's second goal of......

Dare we say things are starting to click at the right time? The Red Sox finished off Oakland with an 11-6 win. Now only a monumental collapse (look upward; no lightning) will keep the Red Sox from celebrating an AL East clinchin' party in the next day or two. The Sox smacked Oakland largely due to the bat of Mike Lowell, who collected five of his 116 RBIs (a Red Sox 3B record) on a......

We don't need to tell you what happened. The Red Sox blew the White Sox off the face of the earth, then arrived in New York and started playing like a bunch of corpses. At least yesterday was an afternoon game, so we could do other things with our evening. Amid the carnage, we have to salute Curt Schilling, who pitched pretty well, considering he really looks like he's going on fumes these days. He......

Sorry for those who waited anxiously for yesterday's Redux, but Bostonist was swamped. We were busy circling Celtic game dates on our calendar (with green Sharpie, natch), on hold to buy season tickets and hanging out with Kevin Garnett - which is hardly surprising, considering he's EVERYWHERE these days. OK, so we weren't doing any of those things, but we know other people were. Lots of other people - Bob Ryan and a few sensibly......

You'd think that the story of last night's Red Sox/Devil Rays series kickoff would be the glorious-yet-atypical change of character demonstrated by DR pitcher Scott Kazmir. Sure, we'll get to that, but c'mon - something huge happened. Julio Lugo safely hit the ball! And then he did it AGAIN! It had been a long, rough road for our offensively challenged shortstop - a road with 33 seemingly untravelable off-ramps along the way. Different spots in......

With a miserable rain forcing the postponement of last night's Sox-Tigers game, our thoughts turn to geography. Yes, they really do. Specifically, to a subject we've been noticing a lot lately: the fact that the Red Sox seem to attract a large number of players whose last names are also the names of towns in our fair Commonwealth. So let's hit the road and take a tour of Massachusetts, Red Sox-style. Close to Boston, we......

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......

If you're a moderate to die-hard Red Sox fan you no doubt visit BostonDirtDogs.com on a regular basis. If you've been paying attention to the site through this still-young spring training you've read the comment from Nomar Garciaparra, after being asked about the championship ring he would getting for his participation last season, supposedly said "I don't want it. They can keep it." Ouch, Nomah! It gets a little more messy — the folks......