--A 9-year-old was injured in a hit-and-run in Dorchester overnight. [WBZ] --The BPD put out an alert regarding a man who attempted to kidnap a girl in South Boston on Tuesday. The man attempted to get her into his car, but she ran away. He is described as "a white male, in his late 30’s, with black and gray hair, an oval face, a dime-sized mole under his right eye, long nose and deep voice."......

Update: At least someone found humor in the hoodie. Let the finger-pointing begin. Whose fault was it that the New England Patriots lost to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl? Tom Brady? Bill Belichick? Or was it ... Bill Belichick's new hoodie? Bostonist blames the hoodie. Belichick came out in a hoodie with the sleeves cut off at three quarters, but the hoodie was in a hot-red shade that no one could miss.......

We guess we have to face the facts that the Steamroller Pats of this past autumn were the aberration, not the norm. The M.O. for the first three championship teams was: keep it close, make the big plays and make the other guy NOT make them, then walk out with a win, and make sure the other guy walks out shaking his head and wondering if one or two plays would have made the difference.......

In a way, it doesn't feel right; the Colts should perhaps be in town today. They are(were) the defending champs, after all. They gave the Patriots the first in a long stretch of runs for their money that the Pats survived. The Dungy-Belichick and Manning-Brady rivalries are about the biggest stories in sports in this young century. But who cares, really. The Colts are on the golf course and it's San Diego who's in town......

We are optimistic about many things. We're optimistic about the Bruins' chances when it comes to the Stanley Cup. We're optimistic that the Red Sox will manage to land Johan Santana while keeping Jacoby Ellsbury on the roster. We're optimistic that the San Diego Charges will, after being defeated soundly at Gillette on Sunday, line up as a team at the 50-yard-line and bow down before Brady and Moss. We can be optimistic all we......

Ask Bill Belichick about last week's game, and you may as well be asking him about the Treaty of Ghent. Ask him about the 14-point-underdog Chargers, and you may as well be asking him about an All-Star team composed of the '85 Bears, '89 49ers and the Justice League of America. You know what you get from Coach Bill when you ask about football. But apparently, ask him about team fight songs and you hit......

One can imagine that San Diego sports writers and fans are gleefully rubbing their hands together now that Patriot Randy Moss is distracted by accusations that he injured a woman. San Diego Union-Tribune writer Chris Jenkins has a piece titled, "Moss Has Switched to Playing Defense." However, Bostonist is happy to say that Jenkins reined in the schadenfreude and pretty much reported the incident straight, other than the defense pun. Like the Herald, which has......

The losing streak is over! The Celtics got back on track yesterday, though it was no sure thing. They survived a valiant effort from a spirited Portland team; even sans Rondo, their offense finally clicked in the second half thanks mostly to Ray Allen and 26 of his season-high 35 points. Good thing Ray was on target, because Pierce wasn't, and neither were Tony or Perk. Garnett had a quiet 26 (still waiting for that......

The San Diego Chargers are hoisting their macho flag in the sky. One player who has the first name Igor (no joke) already boasted that the Patriots are more worried about the Chargers than the Chargers are of them. Can Igor do math? A perfect record is nothing to sniff at. Bostonist heard on ESPN that Coach Norv of the Chargers told Igor to shut his trap. No sports action last night, but tonight the......

Thanks to the Freedom Of Information laws and the PATRIOT Act, we were able to petition the federal government to listen in on last night's weekly Manning Family phone call. Here's a sample: E: Hey, Peyton, it's me. P: Oh, hi, Eli. What's up? E: Well, I don't know if you saw it, but we beat the Cowboys last night. It was pretty awesome. P: Yeah, I saw. Congratulations. E: Thanks, big brother! You know,......

So we were driving home from a party Saturday night, and heard on the radio that BC lost. Almost reflexively, we went, "Figures; as soon as we start paying attention to BC, they start losi....". Then we stopped and thought for a minute. Being reflexively negative and miserable just doesn't cut it when four of the five pro teams in town are either undefeated, in the championship game, or current World Champs. We know we're......

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......

This was a rough week, as we were faced with some hard calls regarding our shows, the World Series, and TiVo limitations. TiVo did not deliver America's Next Top Model, so this week's discussion is somewhat abbreviated. --Beauty and the Geek: The geeks have a fantasy handed to them on a platter--turning their beauties into super-heroines for the Comic-Con convention in San Diego. The geeks are dizzy with the possibilities, especially Northeastern Jen's partner, William.......

This post has been reprinted courtesy ofBrock Keeling at SFist. Yes, this is Bostonist, but, if you want to send help to Southern California, this is a place to start. As of now, six people have died and more than 500,000 people are in "mass migration" over the mind-numbingly destructive wildfires happening all throughout Southern California. It is, for lack of a better word, heartbreaking. All of it. (Map of San Diego fires) But......

Wonder whatever became of the Pats? Well, they missed their target of 38 points, but still comfortably routed the Bengals last night, 34-13. On paper, it looked like the Bengals hung around - it was 10-7 until late in the second quarter - but it never felt like they were any closer than a long arm's length. With Laurence Maroney sidelined due to a groin injury, the spotlight shone on Sammy Morris, who made the......

In between the drama of a pennant race and the pressure cooker of the playoffs, comes a day like today. A day when absolutely nothing is up for grabs. Yesterday the Red Sox won and the Indians lost, guaranteeing the Red Sox the best record in the AL (they'd win a tiebreaker with Cleveland) and Fenway-advantage throughout the postseason. The win yesterday (you might want to sit down) came largely thanks to J.D. Drew, who......

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......

If you've been worried about how New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is handling the fine handed down to him by the NFL for videotaping his opponents' signals, don't cry for him, Argentina. Not only did he hand the asses of the entire San Diego Chargers football team to Charger coach Norv Turner, the fine they gave him is tax-deductible. A group of tax law professors determined that the fine qualified as "an ordinary and......

Was there any doubt? The Patriots, good as they are, and now with the increased motivation of having the rest of the world hate them? Belichick, who is the smartest coach in the world anyway, now with the incentive to prove it? The wagons have been circled. You're either with us or against us. And the San Diego Chargers, who fancied themselves one of the elite teams in the NFL, got their butts handed to......

Protest over national vs. regional chains, the never-ending debate over the place of cars and bicycles in our metropolises, professional sports scandals, remembering a solemn day, and being issued a search warrant - it all happened across our sites this week! Another banner week at Chicagoist started off with daily reports from food writer Lisa Shames on her attempt to eat only locally grown and raised foodstuffs all week as part of a farmers market......

It was all going beautifully, in a manner that would make any Sox fan proud: Yankees roll into town for a late-season showdown. The Sox, boosted by a division lead and recent series of dramatic wins at Fenway Park, seemingly plunge their bats into the heart of New York baseball by taking a decisive lead in front of a riotous baseball crowd. After seven innings, Boston is five runs ahead and sitting pretty after a......

Money and draft pick(s). That's what NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell is taking from Coach Bill and the Patriots as punishment for this week's video brouhaha. The team gets fined $250K and a draft pick or two, depending on how they finish this year. Bill gets whacked for half a million personally, which will eat heavily into his suit budget. Let's just all agree we probably got off very easy, and get ready for San Diego......

Boston Rob Mariano has many talents - namely, the ability to extend his fame by starring on numerous reality shows. Most recently, he was at Faneuil Hall to judge auditions for the new reality show he's hosting, "Tontine." The "Tontine" auditions were mellow, but the auditions in San Diego turned into a full-on melee. A reader sent a YouTube clip of Boston Rob showing why he might want to consider auditioning for "The Contender," in......

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......

It occurred at 7:29 PST on Saturday, after Padres pitcher Clay Hensley unleashed a first-inning fastball with a 2-and-1 count and the resulting shot soared 382 feet to a point beyond left field. And that was that - Hank Aaron was no longer the sole holder of baseball's most hallowed record. Barry Bonds had joined that club by tying the home run record with his 755th blast. Kudos to the Globe's Nick Cardofo, who neatly......

Jonathan Papelbon and the Red Sox decided to add a little drama to their regularly-scheduled win over the Devil Rays. The Sox gave Jon Lester, in his second start returning from his cancer surgery, a 5-2 lead going into the seventh-inning stretch. The lead was built on a well-balanced sprinkling of hits and timely run-scoring offense, exactly the kind of thing we were constantly yearning for a few weeks ago. Was there really a time......

Jerry Remy summed it up perfectly last night: "Both are terrible." The Rem wasn't talking about the play on display Saturday night at Petco Park in San Diego (although at times, he wouldn't have been far off), but was discussing the throwback uniforms worn by the Sox and Padres last night. Memo to both teams: burn those uniforms now. It looked as if "The Wizard of Oz" had thrown up all over Petco Park. Boston......

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......

Was it really just a few days ago that the sky was falling, the panic buttons were being hauled out of the closet, the kids were being reminded of their disaster-preparedness drills? Well, everyone can breathe easy for the moment, as the Sox dispatched the Giants for the third straight game, with a 9-5 win keyed by a rare Manny home run and a satisfying performance by Tim Wakefield. And the moment every Sox fan......

We Boston sports fans are a funny bunch. While we cheer on the Patriots' hard play through those cold winter months, we're busy dishing, dissecting and debating the Red Sox hot stove season. And yet today, as we count down the hours until Dice-K takes the mound at Fenway, we can't get the Pats off our minds. Why? The new season's schedule is out, friends. New schedule. While we know that many will want to......