Tina Cervasio, whose aerodynamic behind put Papelbon in a state of awe, is leaving NESN at the end of March. Wailing and gnashing of teeth ensued, as New England--not to mention players--were besotted with Cervasio. What happened? Cervasio was a big enough name that it would be surprising if NESN didn't fight to keep her. The Track Girls say, however, that Cervasio wanted more money in her contract, and http://www.bostonherald.com/track/inside_track/view.bg?articleid=1070220&srvc=home&position=2">NESN wasn't willing to cough up.......

Here's something we never thought of: the Patriots' (hopeful) victory parade would have to be on Tuesday, thus conflicting with the Massachusetts primary. The team won't be back on Monday, and most of them have to go to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii on Wednesday. So Tuesday (and not AFTER the Pro Bowl, which would just be crazy talk) it is. "We have to have a plan," saidMayor Menino. "I'm just thinking about it; I......

This morning, the Patriots are headed to Phoenix. Most of America is uncomfortably embracing a New York team as "good"'s only hope against "evil", while we're just waiting and anticipating that Tom Brady will eventually show up and rejoin the team. (We think he will; it's not Manny we're talking about here.) Luckily for the Pats, another opponent has decided to open his big mouth and give them something other than Brady's foot to talk......

Any given team, any given night -- in this case, any given Saturday. The Jaguars are preparing to do what they can to put the Patriots' perfect season to an end, and they'll give it a shot tonight at 8:00 p.m. Bill Belichick would note that tonight's game features two teams with the same record - 0-0. But just about everyone else out there is putting their money or bragging rights on New England. We're......

Today has all the anticipation of postseason award announcements, with all the anxiety of a Law & Order episode. This afternoon, George Mitchell's going to go public with his steroid report. There's all kinds of stuff in there about making improvements to testing and recommendations for ways to keep this from happening in the future, but all anyone really cares about is the "naming names" part of the process. Who will be implicated? Sources say......

--Yesterday evening, a woman was caught driving in East Boston Memorial Park--on a pedestrian path. The BPD Blotter writer, obviously thrilled to be back on the job after the recent technical difficulties, adds, "As the name of the path suggests, it is designed and designated for pedestrian traffic only." Yes, she was allegedly drunk. And in a Big Lebowski move, she showed officers a Liquor ID card when asked for license and registration. She was......

Celtics coach Doc Rivers would have been entitled to skip last night's game in New Jersey. Spending the day at his father's funeral, 1000 miles away from the Meadowlands, he was fully prepared to call it a day and watch his team on TV. But his mom told him that Dad would have wanted him on the sideline, so Doc caught a charter flight and walked into the C's locker room an hour before game......

You may have heard that the Patriots are undefeated, the only team so remaining in the NFL, and are causing many a sleepless night among the '72 Dolphins champagne brigade. It may not be as flashy - it may not even last 'til tomorrow - but the Boston Celtics enjoy a similar distinction. With their brushing off of the Hawks last night, combined with the Clippers' (!) loss to Detroit, the C's begin today as......

Next Food Network Star Auditions Tuesday, November 6, 2007, 11:00 am-4:00 pm Flat Iron Tapas Bar & Lounge, Bulfinch Hotel 107 Merrimack St., Boston More info Auditions are being held for a new season of The Next Food Network Star. Last time, the show plucked Tommy Grella from Methuen out of a lineup because of his oversized personality, body type, proportions, and ever-present stogie. Unfortunately, homesickness got the better of him, and he left early.......

--In a shooting last night on Talbot Street, one woman died and a man is in serious condition at Brigham and Women's. According to reports, three people, including one woman, approached the victims before the shooting started. The woman, who has not yet been identified, is Boston's 56th homicide this year. --The family of the late Liquarry Jefferson, the 8-year-old shot by his own 7-year-old cousin earlier this year, is back in the spotlight. His......

A Jets fan took Videotapegate way too personally and is suing the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick for taping the Jets' signals. When this item appeared on Sports by Brooks, it looked like a clever gag. But someone is actually suing the Pats, and they want $148 million for himself and the disillusioned Jets ticket holders. Carl Mayer of Princeton Township, New Jersey, has some high-minded notions about the sports complex. Mayer's attorney said,......

Junot Díaz will read at the Brattle Theatre on Wednesday, September 12, at 6:00 pm. Tickets are $5 and are available through Harvard Book Store. Some books are interesting. Some books are memorable. Some books may eventually win prizes. And then there are the books that, one day, will be taught in classrooms as an example of how writing is really done. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by author and MIT prof Junot......

Sure, it was 147 degrees yesterday, but fall is in the air today. The Patriots are in New Jersey, the J-E-T-S are staring at them from the opposite sideline, and the game is on. All the question marks, fortunately, are fairly minor. Will Laurence Maroney step up to being the number-one option running? Will the secondary stay strong with Rodney Harrison in football purgatory? Is Randy Moss a ticking time bomb, or will the Pats'......

Sure, he's not in the starting rotation any more - how do you follow up a no-hitter? But the Sox learned last night that they can lean on Clay Buchholz when they're not strong, putting him out for three solid relief innings that kept Baltimore scoreless and allowed Jason Varitek to drive in the winning run of a tense ballgame. The Sox had given Tim Wakefield a 5-4 lead, mostly on the 3-run homer by......

Now that it's fall and writers are stepping out for tours, we'll be offering a spotlight on the best of the week's readings. You'll still see book reviews and interviews with authors, but "Authorial Intent" will help you get the jump on tickets so you don't wind up out in the cold. Also, it's impossible to read everything, so please e-mail Bostonist if "Authorial Intent" misses anything. Thursday, September 6, 7:00 pm, Robert Whitcomb and......

--Adam Rich, the man who was killed in the now-infamous 6 House bar brawl, was allegedly involved in a hate-crime beating before he was killed. Rich was one of the suspects in a crime in which four white men beat up a white woman – the sister of one of the men - and her black boyfriend. Laurel Sweet at the Herald writes, “You (expletive) (expletive), what you doing in Southie?” are among the epithets......

Prix de beaute shows at the Harvard Film Archive tonight at 7:00 pm. Smile will follow at 9:00 pm. What with all the hurrah about those pictures of Miss New Jersey horsin' around, it's time to turn a jaundiced eye to the world of the beauty pageant. The Harvard Film Archive proves that sticking it to the beauty pageant has been an honorable enterprise throughout the history of film. The first movie, 1930's Prix de......

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......

From the tallest skyscraper in the City of Brotherly Love to Canadian tourism copywriting brilliance, here's what you should know from our -ist cities: This week, Phillyist took a gleeful listen to the White Stripes' exciting new release, watched in awe as their new tallest skyscraper was finally completed, found a cheaper way to get to Gothamist, invented a tasty new dessert, and brought back their Craigslist Round-Up feature with a bang. Bostonist watches......

We'll get into the Red Sox victory over Atlanta in just a moment, but Curt Schilling just wrapped up his weekly phone call with WEEI, and Bostonist was struck by the decidedly different tone of voice we heard over the airwaves. Schilling's not sure about what's going on with his arm, and we're not sure about what's going on with our No. 1 starter - which means we're in the midst of an odd Wednesday......

Curt Schilling got a hit! After bunting into a strikeout in the second, Schill hit a bleeder in the fourth that rolled right past second base into center field for a single. Maybe we should focus on that, since Curt's pitching was...well...bad. Two starts after his Flirt with Destiny, Schilling got rocked again, by Atlanta's bats, giving up six runs on ten hits in less than five innings. His fastball doesn't seem to be fast......

Providence's corrupt mayor, a brazen statement backed up by a federal court ruling, has been released from prison in New Jersey and is now currently in a Boston halfway house. Media were camped out around the building awaiting his arrival. He thwarted most of the cameras by slipping in the back door. It appears that a Providence TV station managed to secure some cameraphone shots of his arrival. It was reported last week that he'd......

The fate of nations will be determined this evening in the meadowlands of New Jersey, and we don't mean the upcoming Tony Soprano/Phil Leotardo showdown. The NBA Lottery is tonight, and we'll know if the Celtics are about to take another chance on another unproven youngster, or land one of the two sure-thing prizes in this summer's draft. The C's have a 19.9% chance of landing the #1 pick (Greg Oden, and don't let anyone......

The complete game is a dying art in the States. In the age of relief specialists, managers tied to pitch counts, and Papelbon, there aren't a lot of occasions when a manager wants to leave his starter in any longer than necessary. And last night, in fact, Papelbon was warming up when the Sox blew the game open in the 8th, taking a 7-1 lead and giving Terry Francona an excuse to leave Daisuke in......

James Murphy is a busy man, and over the years he's seen a lot. "I was there in 1968. I was at the first Can show in Cologne," he says before declaring the song's title, "I'm losing my edge." He was also there in 1974 at the first Suicide practices in a loft in NYC. "I was the first guy playing Daft Punk to the rock kids. I palyed it at CBGB's. Everybody thought I......

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......

This Japanese Word of the Day will, we hope, be brought to you by Daisuke Matsuzaka, who will try to use his houri to send the Yankees packing tonight. The Red Sox took game two of the latest Ultimate Regular Season Series yesterday; Josh Beckett recovered from a couple shaky innings to hold New York in check. David Ortiz provided the big hit, as he is wont to do, with a two-run homer around......

Remember that cute Boston terrier we showed when we first wrote about the Menu Foods pet food recall? His name is Oreo, and, unfortunately, he was sickened by the tainted pet food. According to the puppy's owner, Oreo, who lives in New Jersey, "spent more than a full day in the hospital being treated for kidney failure.” He is back home and "energetic," but the experience was harrowing, to say the least. Oreo did wind......

The Sunday Globe had a long profile of Bill Belichick - it's worth a read to see what makes the great man tick, but the most interesting part might be his former boss, Cleveland Browns owner* Art Modell saying "he felt 'like Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady,' trying to get Belichick to clean up his act." Which would make Belichick Eliza Doolittle. Try to get that image out of your head. Maybe this will......

In the Saturday afternoon matchup between the Celtics and the New Jersey Nets, the Celtics enjoyed a 96-88 victory in overtime. The Celtics started off looking ugly, but then they just flipped a switch and played like a pretty good team. The show belonged to Al Jefferson. He reached a career high, and the announcers went wild calling him "Big Al." Sure, the Celtics are still in the basement, but a three-game winning streak feels......