You might have trouble getting tickets at Fenway, like most of us do. But it's comforting to know that when all those and myriad other troubles have gone away, you can still proclaim your allegiance to the boys even as you while away the centuries. The Globe today introduces us to Eternal Image, a Michigan company that's correctly deduced that people don't want to spend the hereafter in a boring old coffin when they can......

Bostonist needs to take a moment and process the words we are about to write. Despite the way the 2008-2009 season is shaping up, despite the stats, despite the confidence on display each and every Patriots game, it still seems strange to feel this way. This Thanksgiving, we are thankful for Matt Cassel. We are thankful for the need to draw comparisons between Cassel and Brady. We are thankful for the 48 Patriot points......

Another day has come and gone, and the Red Sox roster remains unchanged. The rumors we keep hearing are about the same as we've been hearing for a while. There are rumors about making a biggish trade, sending Mike Lowell and a pitcher to Texas for catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia (and you thought spelling Mientkiewicz was hard), moving Youk to third and bringing in Mark Teixeira at 1B. There's also some buzz buzzing about Junichi Tazawa,......

Nothing is getting to the Bruins right now. Nothing can disturb their calm, shake their confidence, rattle their cages. Buffalo jumps out to a 3-1 lead in the first five minutes? Pfffft. Just nod grimly and get back to work. David Krejci scored to make it 3-2. Manny Fernandez got beat for the fourth and final time. Then Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller faced the wrath of the Bruins, as Marc Savard got him for another......

Let's take one more minute to salute Dustin Pedroia, since it's really the last order of business for the 2008 Red Sox. He's come a long way in two short years, judging by what Dan Shaughnessy said then and what he says now. He's impressed everyone he's played with and against - well, everyone except Dallas writer Evan Grant, who didn't even put him in the top ten. And he's given inspiration to scrappy little......

Congratulations, Dustin Pedroia, last year's Rookie of the Year, World Series winner, Gold Glover and now the reigning American League MVP. The Little Second Baseman Who Could put up a .326/17/83 season, played great in the field, and helped carry the team through the darkest days of the Mannygate Summer. He's the first Red Sox MVP winner since Mo Vaughn in 1995, and got 16 out of the 28 votes for first place. Next stop:......

No local games yesterday. The Celtics spent yesterday catching their breath, and in Brian Scalabrine's case, wishing the fans wouldn't single him out so much. Top draft pick J.R. Giddens, who hasn't been seen on the court yet, is on his way to Utah to get some minutes with the Celtics' D-League team. The Bruins still feel good about themselves even after their winning streak was snapped. "It wasn’t like the circus was back in......

Boston police want to keep their road detail work to protect the public -- and to protect the extra $32 million they earned last year. [Boston Herald] Ten of Boston's finest each earned more than $70k in detail work alone. [Boston Herald] Ticket prices are holding steady at Fenway Park for the first time in 14 years. (Thanks to Jason Bay's contract?) [Boston Phoenix] BC alumni are getting their panties in a bunch about......

The Hawks are real. We knew they took the Celtics to seven inexplicable games last year, and we knew they were undefeated when they arrived at the Garden last night. And then the game started last night. Sans star Josh Smith, Atlanta relied instead on killer shooting and some crisp passing, hung 31 on the C's in the first quarter, and built a 16-point lead at one point. So it was time for Ghidorah to......

Bostonist congratulates Red Sox first-baseman and goatee-enthusiast Kevin Youkilis on his marriage to local beauty and PR professional Enza Sambataro. The couple wed yesterday in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico after a year-long engagement. Among the 120 guests were Youk’s teammates Mike Lowell, David Ortiz, and Dustin Pedroia, who was no doubt also celebrating his recent Gold Glove win. We’re sure he didn’t gloat about it to his teammates though. That would be completely out of......

The Bruins have a nice little streak going on, don't they? After pasting Dallas, 5-1, about a month and a half ago, the Bruins went back on the Garden ice and handed Toronto a 5-2 beating, mostly courtesy of Blake Wheeler's hat trick. Wheeler changed his jersey number before the game (from #42 to 26; sorry, Douglas Adams), and put in goals in all three periods to celebrate. So far, we've had hat tricks this......

If you were worried about the Celtics seeking motivation for a repeat, worry no more. Rajon Rondo blogged: "We have to repeat, because we have to go back to the White House to meet Obama." It may not have been the biggest win anyone recorded in the nation last night, but the Celtics took a step towards that next White House visit. They recovered from their stinker in Indiana to beat a Houston team that's......

Here's a question: do you think professional athletes vote absentee or at the polls? We're imagining that Jason Varitek, for instance, probably goes absentee. Otherwise, he'd be hanging out at his local voting spot today, waiting for the line to move, fielding question after question about how things are going to go between Scott Boras and Theo Epstein when they finally sit down to start talking about whether our captain will remain a member of......

If Tom Brady really is about to propose to Gisele, he's just going to have to do it without going down on one knee. Patriots fans are all aflutter about the news that Tom's knee isn't healing right, has needed followup procedures, and the surgery may have to be redone. Oh, fantastic. Speaking of surgery, Terry Francona is making plans for a back operation. Tony Masarotti is already in full Hot Stove League mode, trying......

So much for that. After the rousing Game Five comeback and the solid Game Six win, you can understand why we thought the experience and the mental toughness of the Sox would win out over the youth and the big dreams of the Rays. And, if the Sox had brought their bats to Tropicana Field last night, the story may well have ended the way we wanted it to. But they didn't, and it just...ended.......

Well. This is fun, isn't it? Left for dead, the Red Sox are now in the enviable position of needing one game to move on to the World Series, and Jon Lester on the hill. There were moments of drama last night - would TBS get its act together? Was B.J. Upton's 74th home run of the postseason a sign that Beckett was cooked? Will all the umpires survive? - but they were erased, and......

Each week Bostonist brings you the most viral of Boston-based videos. Ah... ahhhh... ahhhhhh...CHOOO! The Sox are back in Florida tonight, so all the more reason to send some Boston love down south. What better way to do that than a Sweet Caroline sing-along with one of the most adorable families of seven on YouTube? Go Sox!......

Much as we respect what Jonathan Papelbon is able to do on a mound -- and the way the guy knows how to celebrate -- we're going to call shenanigans on a remark he made Friday down in Florida. The quote came during the media/workout session at the Trop. The word of Pap: "After last night, you've seen it all." If Boston fans have any say in it, they're ready to see more. Two more......

If watching the Tampa Bay Rays score 29 runs to the Red Sox' 5 over the course of two games and six and half innings weren't discouraging enough to watch on television this postseason, imagine the fans at Fenway Park. By the seventh inning of last night's ballgame, the Sox, who hadn't had a lead since ALCS Game 2 in St. Petersburg, looked like a bunch of scrubs. They had yet to get a man......

Here, in the Bostonist confessional, it's OK to be honest. Did you give up last night? Did you see Daisuke get rocked for five early runs, (and Delcarmen for two more) look at the anemic Sox lineup, and think, "I don't need this agony and misery tonight"? Well...Bostonist did. We threw in a movie, and maybe the title we picked - that silly little preposterous action movie from a couple years ago called Deja Vu......

You want to look on the bright side? OK, we'll play along. The Red Sox have a seven game ALCS winning streak when faced with elimination. There, we said it. Now all they have to do is get a sterling effort from Dice-K tonight, credible efforts from their other shellshocked pitchers, and some semblance of a competent offense, and the Sox can maybe run that streak up to ten. Games Five have been particularly good......

-- A pair of young louts in tight, black jeans were arrested on Medford St. in Somerville Friday morning, after a drunken car break-in, police say. The alleged booty: a $300 iPod, Arcade Fire and ironic 90s dance music presumably included. [Somerville Journal] -- A 43-year-old Somerville man was beaten to a pulp by gang members when he refused to sell drugs for them. Three of the four suspects, reputed members of the Mara 18......

Is history going to repeat itself? Can the button-down boys of '08 remember what happened last year, and four years ago? Is Kevin Millar available for an inspirational speech/booze luge? The Red Sox find themselves in a familiar position - down 3-1 in the ALCS. But we'd be lying if we didn't admit that this feels different. After shellacking Tim Wakefield and company last night, it's pretty obvious that Tampa Bay's got "it". And the......

If last night left Red Sox fans feeling punchdrunk, this morning we're nursing the hangover. Last night's game would, if possible, be best left unspoken of, unremembered and, if we could figure out how to work that time machine we've been working on, unplayed. And yet today is here, the Sox are down to the Rays two games to one, and Boston fans are turning their eyes and hopes to Tim Wakefield. While it's not......

Well...forget 18-1. The Patriots were chewed up, spit out, massacred and other violent verbs last night in San Diego, as the Chargers finally figured out how to beat the Pats (play them in October, without Tom Brady) and romped to a 30-10 win that really didn't even seem that close. San Diego got out to a 10-0 first-quarter lead, mostly because Philip Rivers carved up the D with a couple long passes. The Patriots alternated......

If you made it through last night, go ahead on Monday (or Tuesday) and tell your boss you put in extra hours and deserve time-and-a-half. The Sox and Rays played for six and a half hours, eleven innings, time enough for players to get in and out of slumps, and almost time enough to forget that Josh Beckett's pitching has become a big red flashing question mark. The Home Run Derby portion of the game......

THAT, ladies and gentlemen, is the Japanese pitcher Red Sox fans have been waiting since 2007 to see in the postseason. While we know that Josh Beckett ought to deliver (we hope, we pray, we beg) and are worshiping the ground on which Jon Lester walks these days, Daisuke Matsuzaka has been the big question mark of our Starting Three. The approach of the fifth inning with Dice-K on the mound can easily make even......

In Bill Simmons' epic mailbag today, he dreams of a Manny/Sox World Series, which is great stuff, but there's this tidbit which we're hoping to help spread far and wide: Nearly every time Big Papi steps out of the batter's box, he spits into his hands and claps twice. Well, why wouldn't the Fenway fans clap twice at the same time? Maybe the double clap could turn his playoffs around. If Big Papi isn't hitting,......

It wasn't one for the history books. But the Bruins, while integrating some new faces and welcoming back some old ones, got the better of Colorado and opened the 08-09 season with a 5-4 win. The Bruins got early goals from Phil Kessel and Blake Wheeler (in his debut; welcome aboard, kid!), but the Avalanche's high-flying style got to Tim Thomas, and the B's trailed 3-2 midway through the second. Marc Savard's power play goal......

On the way to Tropicana Field, Terry Francona announced his starting rotation for the ALCS! And it's...a continuation of the rotation from the first round. That was anticlimactic. Daisuke will start Game One in St. Petersburg, Beckett Game Two, and Lester and Wakefield will take the first two games in Boston. Tito says he has equal confidence in all three of his big guns (even after Beckett's stinkeroo last week), and says the order doesn't......