The good news for the Celtics is that the Timberwolf portion of their schedule is in the history books. After surviving a 1-point game against Minnesota at home a couple of weeks ago, the C's went to the Twin Cities and pulled out a 2-point win. It started with a polite Minnesotan reaction for Kevin Garnett, who of course didn't play again but got a huge ovation from his former hometown fans. It continued with......

In theory, our eyes are supposed to be now turning from the failed Patriots 2007 campaign to the promise of the upcoming Red Sox season. Truck Day is tomorrow (Bostonist will be there), and the Sox can lift spirits around here like nothing else. Wait, not so fast. The big story yesterday was about injury, and controversy, and misery, and woe. It's almost good to have the old Sox back. The story centers around Curt......

Last night was one of the strangest games we've seen in a while at the TDBG. With the unremarkable Clippers in town, the second quarter had a playoff-like intensity to it, with technicals, an ejection, and some really scrappy play. The fourth quarter showed a surprising lineup, as Doc left the second unit (House, Powe, Davis, Posey, Tony Allen) in for almost the entire time. Most surprising of all - the bench played some fantastic......

----------BEGIN TRANSMISSION---------- Gumshoes: Listen up. We have an important mission for you. Tom Brady, quarterback of the New England Patriots, is missing. New England media is asking questions. Fans are gettin' nervous. It's up to you to find him. The dossier: Thomas Brady. Grew up in California. Attended Michigan. Plays in New England. Cavorts in New York. Likes knit caps, Stetson, white flowers, cowboy boots, and throwing touchdown passes. Keep your eyes peeled for a......

"Half the guys in our league couldn't shoot 15-for-21 if they were in a gym by themselves," said Doc Rivers. The man would know, having coached Kedrick Brown, Gerald Green, and Brian Scalabrine over the years. But 15-for-21 were the numbers Toronto rained down on the C's from 3-point-land, dropping the C's to their first division loss of the season. It was perhaps the Celtics' poorest defensive game of the year; the Raptors shot 58%......

Update: Adam Reilly takes a close look at the words Moss chose to describe the situation, along with a past incident in which Moss pushed a traffic control officer half a block with his car while he was in Minnesota. Earlier today, the Sports Redux mentioned a story spotted at Sports by Brooks noting that a Randy Moss had been served with a restraining order in Florida. However, it was unclear whether or not the......

The Longfellow Bridge, which looks a little busted, is in terrible condition, the Herald's Casey Ross reports. Of course, anyone who has seen the bridge could have told you that. The state has already made $2 million in repairs. And it still seems a little busted. Here's the details on what's been done and what will be done: [Rick Sullivan of the Department of Conservation and Recreation] said DCR has spent $1.2 million since August......

The Bruins have, objectively, been pretty good this year. They're still in playoff position (it's tenuous, but still true), and have won some pretty exciting games. But for some reason, the sight of the Canadiens turns the B's into frightened little kittens, commiting penalties and hanging their goalies out to dry on power play after power play. The first power play, on a Marco Sturm elbow, led to a Montreal goal; then they scored a......

It's easy now to sit back and bask in the glory that has been the Boston athletics scene in 2007. World champions in baseball, undefeated in the NFL regular season, second place in Major League Soccer, packing crowds into the TD Banknorth Garden for the Celts and (to a lesser degree) the Bruins...we have it good. But it's our job to remind you that there were days where hats were thrown, hands were clenched, and......

Given that there were no local games to be had on Tuesday evening, we here at Bostonist wanted to dig below the surface, uncover some little-known facts about the local sports scene and its ripple effect. And did we* come up with some gems for you! -- Mike Ditka Doesn't Like the Pats! As we mentioned Tuesday afternoon, Ditka spoke out after Sunday's Pats win and said that Tom Brady was as wrong for acknowledging......

Well, the Twins aren't cooperating. Instead of being excited about the chance for yet another Minnesota star to come to Boston, they're dragging their feet on the inevitable Johan Santana trade. They now want Jacoby Ellsbury thrown in the mix, to counter Hank Steinbrenner's throwing-in of pitching prospect Phil Hughes. The Red Sox say maybe on Ellsbury, but that would mean no Jon Lester. The Yankees say if they don't hear from Minnesota soon, the......

In the Oddly Enough story to beat all Oddly Enough stories, a bracelet that 31-year-old Aaron Giles, of Gloucester, lost in a Minnesota barn as a child has turned up again 25 years later and in a chicken gizzard. Giles told the AP that he probably lost his bracelet playing in his grandfather's barn. The barn was dismantled and moved to the town of Elmore, and workers in Elmore who were cutting up a chickens......

One of our favorite little quirks in sports is that, when a hockey player is listed as active or inactive for a given game, the announcers say "so-and-so will [or will not] be dressed for tonight's game". It made us giggle as eighth-graders; it makes us giggle today. But giggling seems somehow inappropriate at today's Globe story about the New York artist named Kurt Kauper, who's causing a splash in the art and hockey world......

We already know they must hate us in Minnesota. Once, they had David Ortiz, Randy Moss and Kevin Garnett. Now they don't. But they must really hate us in Denver these days; less than two weeks after their Colorado Rockies were vaporized in the World Series, the Nuggets came to Boston and fared just as badly. The Celtics (who said they'd need time to adjust to one another?) annihilated Denver almost from the opening last......

4:05 PM: Welcome to the Bostonist live blog of the Patriots/Colts game, live from Bostonist Auxiliary HQ in Central Mass. We're trying to follow the Celtics game right now (45-37, mid-3rd quarter), but the lure of watching Minnesota Vikings rushers destroy San Diego is hard to pass up. 4:15: It's time. Due to contractual obligations, CBS has to cut away from the end of the Viking-Charger game to show us a few commercials before going......

Put the champagne back in the fridge. Josh Beckett couldn't deliver win #21, and the Red Sox couldn't beat the Twins, so we're going to have to go through this all over again until they finally clinch the East...or don't. "It's nice to have your [butt] whipped every once in a while. It'll bring you back down," says Josh, which we'll take his word for. Michael Cuddyer and Garrett Jones homered for Minnesota, and Ortiz......

The Red Sox didn't play yesterday, so of course they were more successful than usual of late, picking up half a game on the Yankees (thanks, Toronto!). Now they face their final homestand, against Oakland and Minnesota. This looked at the beginning of the season like a rough end to the season, but both those clubs have been surprisingly bad this season. Remember, all the Red Sox have to do is win five of the......

Manny's still hurt. Okajima is cranky. Team officals are anonymously bellyaching that bringing back Mike Lowell next year might be too expensive. Boy, it's fun being in first place, huh? Last night vs. Toronto was a fairly ho-hum game, with a disappointing ending. Curt Schilling pitched well again (See? All is not lost.), but Manny Delcarmen and Okajima gave up killer home runs to Troy Glaus and Vernon Wells, respectively, and the Jays avoided getting......

We at the Gothamist network would like to express our heartfelt wishes to the people of Minnesota in the days after their tragic bridge collapse. We're not trying to discount the severity of the accident by making note of it in opposition to our usual -Ist lightheartedness - we just wanted to take a moment and recognize those affected last week. After the Minneapolis bridge collapse, Bostonist did some research and found that Massachusetts bridges......

According to the Associated Press, Gov. Deval Patrick called for a review of local bridge inspection records today. It turns out that Massachusetts has 27 steel truss bridges similar in design to the one that collapsed in Minnesota, but none is considered in danger of collapsing. WBZ news posted a Mass Mass Highway Dept. spreadsheet which lists 23 bridge rehab/replacement projects that are in design, under construction or recently completed. Gov. Patrick says he plans......

We Bostonians are experts on tunnel crappiness. The horrible collapse in Minnesota got us wondering about the safety of bridges across our proud, crumbly nation. According to the U.S. Department of Transportation 2006 report to Congress, Status of the Nation’s Highways, Bridges, and Transit: Conditions and Performance: In 2006, 1,135, or 8.67%, of Minnesota's total inventory of 13,008 bridges were categorized as Structurally Deficient [SD]*. For comparison: In Massachusetts: 5,059 bridges were inventoried; 586......

You had to be made of stone, or the world's most jaded individual, to watch yesterday's Celtics press conference and not believe that things are going to change 'round here in a hurry. New Celtic Kevin Garnett, along with veteran Paul Pierce and fairly new Celtic Ray Allen, told the media and the world that he's happy to be here, he's thrilled to be with two veterans and All-Stars, and he's a Red Sox fan......

After three innings last night, the mood at Fenway was as good as it gets. Josh Beckett was on the mound, and the Sox had staked him to a 4-0 lead. The team was hitting well, including superprospect Jacoby Ellsbury, who got his first major-league hit by zipping down the first-base line to beat the throw on a routine ground ball. The Sox even had a helper monkey named Ayla throw out the first pitch.......

No joke - if you have a bag of Veggie Booty at home or in your lunch bag, throw it away NOW! Robert's American Gourmet has issued an immediate recall of Veggie Booty, the incredibly nasty, green version of Pirate's Booty. Veggie Booty has been linked to outbreaks of salmonellosis in 17 states: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Washington, and Wisconsin. According......

This should be fun. The best team in the American League against the best team in the National League. Two of the greatest pitching matchups we'll see all season. A glimpse of old friend David Wells. It's not that crazy to say the Red Sox and Padres will be eyeing each other with visions of an October rematch dancing in their heads. Daisuke Matsuzaka goes tonight in the first game. So this will be his......

The bewhiskered gent at right is General William Tecumseh Sherman, who split the South in two during the Civil War with his famous march through Georgia. Last night may not have been as deeply psychologically scarring for residents of the Peach State, but it was a pretty good whuppin' just the same. The Red Sox pounded the Braves 11-0, behind a slew of home runs and another great outing by the astounding Julian Tavarez. J.D.......

--Bob Hayden - a retired Boston police officer, former Lawrence police chief, and grandpa - had to deal with some schmucks on his plane from Minnesota to Massachusetts on Saturday night. A man started to fake some sort of fit after takeoff. Flight attendants got him back into his seat, where he started yelling. Then another guy - who turned out to be the screamer's brother - joined in with a fit. Hayden, the flight......

Sure, it's Memorial Day weekend, and it's 90 degrees out. But it's not too early to start thinking about this fall, specifically Patriots football. A limited number of single-game and standing-room tickets are on sale today. There aren't going to be many out there, so act quickly. Which games might you actually have a chance at getting to go to? Preseason (2) vs. Tennessee, NY Giants. Preseason football, combining the high prices and long......

Twins ace Johan Santana only made it five innings, but that was more than enough to send the Red Sox bats into a tizzy from which they never recovered. The Minnesota bullpen, if anything, was sharper than the starter, and the result was a 2-1 loss and the waste of a very good outing from Sox starter Julian Tavarez. Tavarez went six, giving up only four hits and two runs, while striking out seven. But......

Bostonist would much rather sit in an obstructed view right field seat behind a sign-wielding fan gabbing on his cell phone than trade in Fenway Park for a newer model. Whenever Tim Wakefield takes the mound in a domed facility, however, we can't help but wish that there was a canopy or something that the Fenway crew could erect over the ballpark every five days. The typically fluttery knuckleball becomes even screwier, allowing Wakefield to......