When the rumor first broke that Bill Buckner was the mystery guest at Opening Day, we thought that sounded just right. A perfect chance for diehard Sox fans, or at least the Opening Day crowd, to say all was forgiven, if in fact any forgiveness was due to the man who had to flee to Idaho to escape the indignity of a loss that he symbolized even though his was far from the only tragic......

We were going to let yesterday's hawk incident go. We swear. Everyone's gotten their yuks in already, from the wildlife expert who commended the hawk for protecting the plate, to the clever fellow who said that they should release the hawk when Joba Chamberlain is in town. We would have been OK letting it go, except the girl who got attacked is named Alexa Rodriguez. She, we repeat, is fine, but she's glad her friends......

Considering that two of the Red Sox' division rivals are named after birds, it's a wonder the avian kingdom hasn't struck at us more often. Small consolation to a middle-school girl from Connecticut, who was on a Fenway tour today and got attacked by a red-tailed hawk (similar to the one pictured). Everything turned out fine. The girl was treated and released, and the hawk and its nest are being sent away, presumably to Pawtucket......