Is it just us, or does it seem like whenever the Bruins have the spotlight to themselves, they lose? When they play the same night as the Celtics, or Patriots, they're fine, but give everyone else the night off, and it feels like we always have to lead with a Bruins loss. Maybe it's just us. But they deserve better. They certainly deserved better last night, as they dropped a 4-3 OT game in Toronto.......

It was the rarest of rare occasions: a Beanpot final that didn't involve BU. Instead it was Boston College and Harvard, with the Eagles leading by two midway through the third period. BC almost blew it before taking control in overtime and winning on a Nick Petrecki goal. So two overtime wins for Boston College. And a very relieved Jerry York. BU beat Northeastern in the consolation game. Pitchers and catchers don't have to be......

Today, we're not going to talk about YouKnowWhat XLII. Because there's nothing to talk about. Today, we're going to celebrate two big wins from our two local winter teams. (We will remind you, however, that we'll be live-blogging YouKnowWhat XLII starting 7:30ish on Sunday. Get your commentin' fingers in shape.) The Celtics were facing maybe their toughest test of the season so far. There have been Negative Nellies all over the land saying that the......

In a sense, it's comforting. The Celtics went to battle against one of the other good Eastern teams without Kevin Garnett, and almost beat 'em. On the day of the C's' long-awaited return to national afternoon TV, the script ran eerily similar to the first game in Orlando; the Magic jumped out to a big lead, the Celtics clawed their way back, but ran out of gas at the end. Orlando's the only team to......

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......

Let's say you're going to the Celtics-Timberwolves game tonight. If you're like most of the people at Celtics games these days, chances are you weren't there last year. Which is perfectly legal on your part. But there's something you should know. Most of the Timberwolves played here last year, during that long, miserable 06-07 campaign, and several of them - promising, hardworking youngsters for the most part - were sent away to make room for......

BootWatch: Tom Brady sprained his right ankle. It is a high ankle sprain viewed as minor, according to the local media types, and while it's a big enough deal to have rendered The Boot necessary in New York on Monday, it's not enough to keep QB Brady out of the Really, Really Big Game on February 3. We're going to go out on a limb here and state that we're not going to invest much......

Bostonist was at a bar last night. Hey, it happens. Everything was good and fun, until the TV (sans sound) flashed a news report: "Brady Seen In Cast". We weren't around for the JFK assassination, but now we have a pretty good idea what the terrified hush that fell over the nation felt like. A couple panicked phone calls later, we weren't any closer to an explanation. The video on TMZ shows a small cast......

Jeez, can't a guy catch a break and land 16 more votes? Poor Jim Rice. The man listened to the annual chorus of "maybe next year" time and time again while his Red Sox teams tried to bring home a championship; now he has to listen to the same call again, for the 14th time, as he wonders whether he'll ever get voted into the Hall of Fame. Once again the MVP could have been......

Big shock - American League wins the All-Star Game! Who knew? Who could have predicted? How could one have expected that the mighty National Leauge would fall in a 5-4 game at AT&T Park? Ten straight, friends! Excluding the tie, of course. Sure, it's become almost boringly expected that that AL is going to come out on top when the two leagues clash, but we were seriously worried about the pesky NK underdogs on Wednesday......

Ball, Called Strike, Swinging Strike, Ball, Ball. Full Count to Ortiz at his first at bat in the MLB All-Star Game. Crappy little fizzle out to short right field just behind the dirt gives us this result on the Gameday tracker: "David Ortiz reaches on missed catch error by first baseman Prince Fielder, assist to second baseman Chase Utley." We've never fancied Papi a big runner, a big hitter for sure, but he's not likely......

We have a confession to make: we didn't pay a lot of attention to last night's Home Run Derby. Our tolerance for Chris Berman yelling "back back back" is low. Our desire to see kayakers crashing into each other in San Francisco Bay was present, but not overwhelming. And without Papi, what's the point? So congratulations to Anaheim's Vlad Guerrero, who won the Derby, despite the fact that no home runs landed in the huge......

When you're a kid, one of the fringe benefits to playing Little League or soccer is that you often got to stop at McDonald's on the way home. Win or lose. We're not sure if Major League teams have a similar policy, but if the Red Sox team bus stopped at a Mickey's outside of Detroit, no one on the team would be allowed to supersize today, after a miserable weekend getting swept by the......

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......

Take us to DEFCON 3. The Red Sox were pasted at Fenway last night. Somehow (we can't explain it), the game seemed closer than the 12-2 final score indicated, but you can't really find a silver lining in a cloud this dark. Curt Schilling and the bullpen kept giving up big hits, and the Red Sox kept not getting big hits, which has become a troubling leitmotif all month long. Two runs a game generally......

The big action in town Monday night was at the Garden. Finally, we knew some local teams would leave the big barn happy. The 55th Beanpot Tournament got underway, with B.U. knocking off Northeastern 4-0 and B.C. taking care of Harvard 3-1. There will once again be some icy glares on the B trains this week. Gerald Green got the nod to represent the Celtics at the Sprite Slam Dunk Challenge at the All-Star Game.......

The Celtics have a chance to make history tonight, but it's not the kind of history that will make anyone proud. As you're probably aware, if the Celtics lose to the Clippers tonight (completing the L.A. Sweep), they will be the owners of the longest losing streak in franchise history. 14 in a row. How...Clipper-esque. But the C's will make their presence felt at the All-Star Game; there are rumors that Gerald Green may......