It felt great for a second or two, flipping the pages of the local dailies to check in with the Bruins. Win, win, shootout win, come from behind win, win...and then that Monday night game against the Capitals happened. The Bruins came back home to Boston last night a little humbled, but we'd hoped that they were ready to kick it up a notch and not make absolute fools of themselves again deliver a quality......

--Fraternity brothers at MIT's Delta Upsilon are saying that Robert Wells, who died over the weekend, fell from his window in an accident. [Boston Globe] --Over at the State Senate, Therese Murray has introduced a health-care reform bill. One point of the bill is to demand that health insurance firms explain themselves when they raise their rates. [Boston Herald] --Massachusetts legislators will discuss a bill officially allowing breast-feeding in public because there are still......

There's been a lot of praise heaped on Bruins goalie Tim Thomas this year, and it's all been deserved. The guy's been a huge reason why the B's are still very much in the playoff hunt. But man is mortal, and Tim looked anything but great last night in Florida, giving up four goals in 12 shots through two periods. His defense was far from blameless, but Tim's been great at covering for their mistakes.......

--A truck making an illegal left turn near the BU East Green Line Stop hit a Green Line train yesterday morning. One Green Line passenger went to the hospital, and the truck driver has a date with the courts. [Boston Globe] --Speaking of bad drivers, some people never learn. [Boston Globe] --Laura Crimaldi into how the mortgage mess has hit the city, particularly Dorchester, where 33 percent of the city's foreclosures happened. [Boston Herald]......

Tuesday was supposed to be a glorious day. A crowd was to stand in the rain, braving the elements to cheer for the football heroes ambling down roads lined in blue and red. And after the last bits of confetti were cleaned up, the celebratory mass of people would tune in to cheer for their basketball team's winning ways. Clearly, that didn't happen. Instead, Boston was treated to a day of quiet coaches, plea-entering players,......

With a couple of days before the Super Bowl, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell found himself discussing a topic that even he's got to be sick of by now. Wouldn't he rather pour over the details of the commemorative coin toss coin? Or the commercial he's really looking forward to seeing? On how many times fans at the game in Glendale will have to hold up colored cards to become part of the action of the......

Bostonist has uncovered an underground society of lifelong Bostonians who totally hate football and do not give a rat's hairy, dreadlocked behind about the NFL Superbowl, The New England Patriots, or Tom Brady. Even more shocking: Bostonist has confirmed that several locals know only two facts about Patriots superstar quarterback Tom Brady, which they learned from US Weekly magazine: a) he is dating Giselle, and b) he recently had a baby with another woman,......

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......

First, the New York media suggested that Tom Brady was hotter than Eli Manning, the city's "resident Huckleberry" as Bostonist's Sports Reduxer calls him. And now dating site OKCupid has released the results of an OKCupid survey indicating that Tom Brady is only the 7th hottest quarterback in the NFL, WBZ reports. 1,900 OKCupid users responded to the survey. Maybe, just maybe they went with quarterbacks other than Brady based on the accessibility factor.......

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......

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......

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,......

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......

Any given team, any given night -- in this case, any given Saturday. The Jaguars are preparing to do what they can to put the Patriots' perfect season to an end, and they'll give it a shot tonight at 8:00 p.m. Bill Belichick would note that tonight's game features two teams with the same record - 0-0. But just about everyone else out there is putting their money or bragging rights on New England. We're......

Mike of The Food Monkey shares his thoughts about cooking, food history, restaurant trends, and any other Epicurean issues. He promises to discuss what tastes good, but not always what is in good taste. For more on consuming the opponents and other food news, go to the Food Monkey website. To contact Mike, go to the Food Monkey's contact page. After a long hiatus filled with flurries, football, food, and fireworks, I resume my series......

Amazing when you think about it: everyone who's played the Celtics this season has a losing streak against them right now. The C's' three losses have all been avenged; first Cleveland, then Orlando, and last night in Detroit, in a fantastic game that served as a serious test of how good this 28-3 team really was. Ray Allen continued his struggles, Kevin Garnett got in early foul trouble, so it was Paul Pierce and -......

Maybe some voters in Iowa had a tough decision to make; not so the AP NFL Coach of the Year voters, who swept Bill Belichick into the award with 29 out of 50 possible first-place votes. The other 21, we're sure, were dismayed by Spygate (why else vote against a guy whose team didn't lose?), figuring that any coach who had footage of 20 minutes of Jetball had an unfair advantage. Bill, we're sure, took......

Once upon a time, there was a skinny young man who lacked muscle tone yet who had big NFL dreams. Yet he was pale and pasty, more of a candidate for water boy than for poster boy. If he hit the combine a few years later, he might have been funneled over to a casting call for "Beauty and the Geek" instead. However, someone at the 2000 Scouting Combine saw an ambitious glimmer in his......

Tom Brady is a great quarterback and we would never dispute his judgment on the field. But he should never, ever, ever give dating advice. Remember what happened last time? Unfortunately, Bostonist saw on Deadspin that he's at it again. Here's what a "source" said Brady allegedly told Romo from MSNBC: "After that debacle of a game with Jessica being flashed on the screens during every play, Tom told Tony to put a stop to......

--Headline on WBZ: "Storm Fails to Break December Storm Record." While we don't want to be too hard on our local weatherheads, shouldn't that really read "Weatherheads Fail to Predict Size of Storm"? [WBZ] --Civil unions will be legal in New Hampshire as of midnight tonight. Yes! Ceremonies will be "subdued" because New Hampshire isn't exactly the Ramrod crowd. [Boston Globe] --Even though the NFL eventually let their rivals air the Patriots-Giants game Saturday,......

Hey, wasn't this West Coast trip supposed to demonstrate that the Celtics weren't quite as good as everybody thought? The last hope for the rest of the NBA to stop the Celtics in 2007, the Lakers dug into the history books, coming out in '80s-style short shorts (they ditched them at halftime) to shake things up. They also came out swinging, opening a nasty bloody cut on Kevin Garnett's forehead (KG got called for the......

It's easy now to sit back and bask in the glory that has been the Boston athletics scene in 2007. World champions in baseball, undefeated in the NFL regular season, second place in Major League Soccer, packing crowds into the TD Banknorth Garden for the Celts and (to a lesser degree) the Bruins...we have it good. But it's our job to remind you that there were days where hats were thrown, hands were clenched, and......

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......

--New England Confectionery Co., aka NECCO, was sold to a company in Bethesda, Maryland. So, will the name be changed to Maryland Confectionary Company, or MACCO? We certainly hope not. [Boston Globe] --More reasons to give up your car. On New Year's Day, tolls at the Allston-Brighton and Route 128 plazas will go up from $1 to $1.25. The price jump is even higher for the Ted Williams Tunnel and the Sumner Tunnel: $3 to......

--Do you drink Whittier, Schultz, Balance Rock, Spring Brook, and/or Maple milk? Do you live in Worcester County and like milk? Throw out what you have in the fridge. After two people died from listeriosis, that illness was traced to Whittier Farms. [Boston Globe] --A showdown is brewing at Tufts. Former professor Susan Lautze, who was fired in 2005, is suing Tufts and Feinstein International Center director Peter Walker, claiming he had her fired......

Bostonist is still feeling the egg nog. Therefore, the following magazine cover featuring Bill Belichick hit us hard. Enjoy it in all its glory: Wow. How did Sports Illustrated know that we already envisioned a hoodie-clad Belichick commandeering a sleigh in "'Twas the Night Before Christmas (Redux Remix)"? Also, keep checking Bostonist, where we'll be gazing back on the sports highlights, not to mention a few lowlights, for the year. The list of disappointments, starring......

In a surprise move, the NFL has decided to expand the broadcast of the Patriots-Giants game, which it had previously limited to WCVB and the NFL Network, leaving many New England residents out in the cold. The game will air on Saturday, December 29, at 8:00 pm. Boston residents will be able to watch it on WCVB, but the Herald reports that the NFL will allow the game to air on CBS and NBC, too.......

Ever get the feeling that life is turning into one long "Family Guy" episode? Particularly the episode in which the FBI shoots up Peter's VCR because he tries to tape "Monday Night Football"? The New England Patriots will finish up their regular season against the New York Giants Saturday, December 29, at 8:00 pm. Chances are good that they will win and enjoy a perfect record. But not everyone will be able to see it.......

Gifts were exchanged in Foxboro yesterday. From Miami to New England: a total lack of competition. From New England to Miami: Their foots off the gas pedal and a non-humiliation. 'Tis the season in the NFL. The Pats jumped out to an early lead, befitting a matchup of 14-0 against 1-13. Brady found Randy Moss twice (been a while since we've heard that!), then Laurence Maroney dashed away untouched for a career-long 59 yards for......