The Sox took the day off yesterday, heading for Canada and hoping to pay the Blue Jays back for the whupping that Toronto put on them at Fenway last week. Paul Byrd, a victim of the Jays during that series, gets the start tonight against Shaun Marcum. The Blue Jays did the world a favor last night by clobbering the Yankees 14-3, and Hank Steinbrenner isn't disappointing anyone who's been patiently waiting for the first......

It wasn’t that long ago when the Angels swept the Sox and with the Manny being the topic of every sportswriter’s columns across the country, the fans weren’t sure what they'd see last night. Would it be the shining star that makes the great catches and drives in runs two or three at a time? Or would they get the Manny we knew a few years ago who wouldn’t run out a grounder, or......

We can't forget the porn 'stache Patriots receiver Wes Welker tried to rock earlier this season, much as we'd love to. We know it was a fashion failure and we have to hope that Welker knows it too -- and never tries to pull that look off again. Ever. But our Young Wesley is making up for that faux pas by rocking off a different moustache, one that we're digging much more than that earlier......

If you were looking for a titanic defensive struggle, last night wasn't a game to remember. If you were looking to see two patient, methodical offenses chew up yards back and forth all night, you're probably pretty pleased right now. Most importantly, if you're a Patriots fan, you're extremely relieved this morning. The first half was an amazing display of mirror-image drives, with Tom Brady and David Garrard piloting their teams down the field back......

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......

Victor Thompson of New Hampshire is a bigger Pats fan than you are. Sure, he's never actually been to a game in Foxboro, but he'd like to. But that doesn't matter. Maybe you watch all the games on TV, maybe you own a Wes Welker replica jersey, maybe you've even trekked down to Gillette (or even Schaeffer) Stadium, but you haven't done what Victor's doing: getting a Tom Brady helmet tattooed on his head. The......

Like so many teams before them, the New York Giants gave it everything they had. And like everyone else before them, they could only watch helplessly as Tom Brady and company engineered another beautiful fourth-quarter comeback to win the game, and become the first team in the 16-game era to run the table. It was very scary for a long time, though. Eli Manning looked more like his poised brother than the skittish quarterback we......

-- The Bruins lost to Ottawa on Tuesday night, 3-2, and the Globe was quick to point out that the Bruins started to lose their steam around this time last year. The paper asks about whether this year could be a repeat. We'd answer, but we're busy wondering about whether Dan Shaughnessy helped Kevin Paul Dupont with his story. -- The Celts are facing off against Detroit tonight -- and Ray Allen is back and......

When the RMS Carpathia began hauling Titanic passengers out of lifeboats in the North Atlantic in 1912, those passengers probably didn't want to spend a lot of time reflecting about the food, or the music, or man's hubris. They were just happy to be alive. Was that too Nick Saban-y an analogy? Sorry about that. But that's kind of how we feel after the Patriots clawed their way to survival against Philly last night. The......

In the first half of the Patriots' perfect-so-far season, there were a few scary moments. There was the time Dallas took the lead in the third quarter, and....well, that was about it, actually. For eight games, the Pats picked the tune, and the opponent either danced along, or more likely, got flung out of the way. We've had our scary moments now. Yesterday was a game when the Pats not only didn't pick the tune,......

New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick seems like a lot of things--sneaky, serious, and smelly since he insists on wearing the same stuff all the time. And now it turns out that he's funny, too. Here's the first example John Tomase at the Herald provides of Belichick's humor: During training camp, rookie Brandon Meriweather granted an interview to the Herald in which he talked about how lucky he was to practice every day against Wes......

We don't watch Wheel of Fortune any more - once they started spotting people five letters in the bonus round, the thrilling intellectual pursuit seemed to be missing. But we remember from childhood the portion of the show where the winning contestant got to pick out their winnings; the disembodied head floated in the upper-left corner of the screen, smiling and beaming as the camera panned all the marvelous prizes up for grabs. Which is......

The national script for this game was supposed to be that the Patriots, widely considered Superbowl favorites, would have a tough test against a hungry Jets team that made life tough for the Pats last year. Well...not exactly. The Patriots played like they were all outta bubblegum yesterday, kicking the Jets' butts up and down the field. Want offensive highlights? Well, Brady and Randy Moss shushed the haters by connecting nine times for 183 yards......

Forget the 2008 Presidential Race for now. The biggest decision any voter can make right now is the one forced on us by Major League Baseball. Since the All-Star game is in San Francisco, a National League park, the designated hitter is not an option. Which means the Red Sox had to designate David Ortiz to be in the First Baseman section of the All-Star ballot. Which means Kevin Youkilis is on the outside looking......