Boston's favorite dancing fool has proven that the squeaky wheel really does in fact get the grease. Closer Jonathan Papelbon must have attended the Curt Schilling “How to Use the Media to Your Advantage School." After a week of complaining that he wasn’t being taking care of and how he should get the money he deserved all in the name of baseball, Papelbon got the money he wanted on Thursday afternoon. According to Amalie......

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......

You know that former Massachusetts governor presidential aspirant Mitt Romney is rich. But did you know just how rich he is? He has spent a total of $10.2 million on TV ads--$85,000 a day, according to CNN. Ponder that a second. $85,000 a day--much of it his own money. He's donated $17.5 million of his own money to the campaign so far. To give a little perspective, Team Romney can drop $85,000 a day,......

Boston Public Library president Bernard A. Margolis officially lost his job yesterday. It was a move Margolis had seen coming since last May, when Judith Kurland, Thomas Menino's chief of staff told him that his contract would not be renewed beyond its current term. Freed from the constraints of office, Margolis told the Globe what he really thinks about Menino. He's a dummy. An "anti-intellectual" whose reign over Boston Margolis likened to Hugo Chavez's Venezuelan......

The Herald is shocked...SHOCKED! that MBTA General Manager, Daniel Grabauskas, get this ... makes a lot of money. About $255K per year. "Chief $eeing green as T’s in red: Slammed for ‘absurd’ salary" That's a sh*tload o'dough! The T is in debt! Fire his a$$! Send Grabauskas on an express bus to Unemployment Crossing! Wait. Who in his/her right mind would want that crappy, thankless job? It sounds sorta hard. If you ran the T,......

All in all, it's been a pretty good week for former Massachusetts governor and presidential aspirant Mitt Romney. Aside from a minor seatbelt flap, Romney saw a considerable improvement in his chances at election. The Des Moines Register announced that Romney was backed by 30 percent of Iowa Republicans, which puts him ahead of McCain and Giuliani. What is making Romney so appealing to those who haven't had the dubious pleasure of being governed by......

-- Like many a Red Sox fan, Bostonist was feeling cocky at the top of the ninth inning in Tuesday's game hosting Oakland. Why wouldn't we? The Sox had a 4-2 lead and Jonathan Papelbon was heading in to finish out the game. It was ovah. Until Travis Buck hit that two-run shot to right field. It was a big hit in more ways than one: it brought Oakland back into a game that it......

Healthcare in the Commonwealth is totally affordable, unless you get sick. The Commonwealth Connector is taking up debate on the latest plan to provide the legislative mandate for affordable healthcare. We did some simple math on the issue: $2,000 deductible in a year comes out to about $167 per month (if you hit the deductible that year). The premium would be a lot lower than initially discussed – coming in at around $175 per month.......

The Florida Panthers beat the Bruins 7 to 2. What happened? Things were looking up! Maybe they're just tired after being on the road. Or maybe stamina isn't their strong suit. At least Marco Sturm resigned for four years. Fourteen million dollars ought to help wake him up! The Bruins' loss surprised us a little bit. The Celtics' loss did not. They lost to the Jazz 87 to 105. There's a thin silver lining for......

We are loving us some Tim Thomas. The Bruins' goalie saved the day and helped the Bruins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 6 to 3. Keep playing like that, fellas, and we can start entertaining hopes that one of our pro sports teams will wind up in a playoff. Maybe? It's time for the Bruins to get serious with the trade deadline coming up in a week. The Globe's Fluto Shinzawa is speculating that Marco Sturm......

The BPD is looking for a few good men and women. They are going all-out with some feel-good posters. If you'd like to join the team, head to www.jointhebpd.com to get information about requirements, salary, perks, and exam info. If you join the BPD, you'll be busy if the recent blotter is any indication. A hit-and-run in Jamaica Plain resulted in the death of a currently unidentified male. Also yesterday, what looked like a hit-and-run......

Not that it matters for the Celtics. Yes, in the department of "Who's the new guy? He looks kinda familiar," Celtics forward Wally Szczerbiak returned to basketball after a lengthy time-out. It looked like it might be a good night for the Celtics. They were matching Agent Zero and the Wizards (sounds like a '50s band name) through the third quarter. And then it all unraveled as Wizards did their thing, and the they defeated......

The Globe has an interesting article today by Marcella Bombardieri about how aging faculty members might be affecting the university hiring system. The thrust of the piece is that professors who refuse to retire may be "plugging the pipeline" for young academics hoping for one of the rare plum professorial gigs, resulting in a conflict between the wisdom of elders and the fresh new ideas younger academics might bring. But the article doesn't mention the......

Some tidbits, insights, slanted biased Bostonist type opinions, and other sports "knowledge" from the Bostonist's satellite office in Medford, on a lovely sunny Wednesday afternoon. It looks like Bostonist's last attempt at explaining the Vinatieri situation was incorrect. Take a look at the Herald today, where the transcript of the interview Vinatieri granted at the Greatest Bar in the North End, yesterday. It looks like Vinatieri NEVER gave the Pats an opportunity to match......

WEEI radio station of Boston is reporting that Adam Vinatieri, New England Patriots Kicker and Super Bowl winner extraordinaire, may be moving on, and to an interesting new team - the Indianapolis Colts. Several Boston news stations are reporting that the Colts and Vinatieri have agreed in principal to what is most likely a multi-year deal with a hefty sum up front and/or guaranteed. Terms of the deal have not yet been made available.......

Show me the MONEY! That seems to be the theme of the 2006 off-season of the New England Patriots. This week alone, the Pats lost 2 mainstays of their Dynasty, losing Willie McGinest to old friend Romeo Crennel and the Cleveland Browns, and a day earlier David Givens to the Tennessee Titans. 5 Super Bowl rings just walked out the door... and the predominant question on Bostonist's mind is: "Why"? Well, before we go crying......

David Wells, Mr. I-can't-go-out-to-eat-without-being-papparazzi'd-to-death, no longer wants to be traded. Hmmm...now that there's a question of his paycheck (and his $200K bonus per start), he's a dedicated Red Sox pitcher. Can you say flim flam? Flip-flop? Hey David, if you want privacy at a restaurant, give them a call in advance, tell them who you are, and get a private table. When you're famous and the city of Boston pays your salary, part of the......

While Bostonist and, we imagine, most of the rest of the Commonwealth's population, are thinking about Theo Epstein's departure, our legislature is considering a matter that may well affect us more (and Theo not at all): expanding healthcare coverage. You may recall that back in July, the Governor proposed a healthcare plan that would make purchasing health insurance mandatory for everyone. This idea was roundly panned by commentators, but yesterday, Speaker of the House Sal......

As of this morning, the Boston Red Sox and their prodigy General Manager Theo Epstein still had not yet agreed on a contract extension for the 31-year old baseball prodigy. Epstein, a homegrown Brookline boy and local celebrity after bringing the Red Sox a World Series title in 2004, has a contract that ends Halloween at midnight, yeah, like in six days from now. Supposedly, over these past few weeks, it has been business......

Did you ever want to teach, but once you learned what kind of paycheck you'd be getting, you jumped into Corporate America instead? Well, Gov. Romney is going to attempt to make teaching in the state of Massachusetts more attractive by creating a bill, which would give public school teachers merit bonuses depending on their students' progress. If this bill gets the okay on Beacon Hill, 25,000 teachers or so could be getting up to......

Once upon a time there was a fourth major sport in Boston - it was called Hockey. 301 days of negotiations, bickering between the players association and the owners, one arena name change, and a year-long collective yawn from hockey fans have finally culminated in a new hockey deal. Those were the lowlights. The highlights? This six year deal will finally eliminate the wretched Red Line rule, it raises the minimum salary from $175,000 to......

Rumors are swirling regarding Tedy Bruschi's status for next season after suffering a mild stroke and heart surgery. After the much publicized stroke, sources told Bostonist that Bruschi had lost peripheral vision in his left eye. Soon after, Bruschi was back at MGH for surgery to repair a hole in his heart. Bruschi has hired an agent for the first time since his rookie year to represent him. The NFLPA received a contract on......