As you see, the site is slowly coming back to life. There is still a lot of work to be done, including bringing the forum back on-line. All the links that were on the old page are still here, they’re in the sections to the left of the page. Each section can expand or retract, according to what you want to display.

I want to thank Joelle at BlogMoxie for all her help in getting through all of this, and for her suggestions and patience.

I hope to have a regular links update tomorrow morning, and the work on the site will continue for probably a few days still. I appreciate your patience and interest in the site, and look forward to the future of BSMW.

First, a status update. The site will likely be down at some point today or tomorrow. In addition to the changes I mentioned yesterday, I’m also changing web hosts, trying to get one that is going to support the message board a bit better. When you change a web host, you’re changing where computers on the internet look for the web address (www.bostonsportsmedia.com ) of the site, and sometimes it takes up to 72 hours for all the DNS Internet servers around the world to reflect the change to the new web host. So if you’re unable to get to the site, just keep trying. Hopefully this will be my last server change for some time. My email may also be interrupted for that time.

The Celtics continued their march to the playoffs with an 84-80 win over the Nets down in New Jersey last night. The links are over at Fox Sports Net.

Derek Lowe is ready to leave the Red Sox after the season. He says the Sox are making it easy for him by lowballing him on contract offers. Bob Hohler has the story. Steve Buckley has a column telling us that it doesn’t really matter who is designated the Sox #1 starter during the regular season. But Buckley, who over the last few years have been known to start talking about what the playoff rotation should look like as early as June, this year sets a new record by telling us that Schilling should be the #1 starter once the playoffs begin. Sean McAdam looks at the Red Sox makeshift opening day middle infield. David Borges looks at Pokey Reese preparing for his opening day start at shortstop. Jeff Horrigan has a look at Bobby Jones, making a strong case to be the second left hander in the Sox bullpen. David Heuschkel looks at a late state for Nomar this year. Alex Speier has a good look at the importance of Jason Varitek to the Sox. Borges also looks at Johnny Damon, promising a better season this year. Horrigan’s notebook looks at Nomar taking batting practice, but still not playing in a game. Hohler’s notebook says Nomar’s condition has been downgraded. McAdam’s notebook has more on Nomar.

Michael Felger reports on Scott Pioli being named executive of the year. Gerry Callahan has a pay column in appreciation for Pioli, who has says in the anti-Matt Millen. Ron Borges ignores the honor to Pioli and looks at the Pats/Colts matchup to begin the NFL regular season on September 9th. He also goes to lengths to assert that the Patriots cheated to beat the Colts in the regular season. Kevin Mannix also looks ahead to Pats/Colts.

Steve Conroy says the Bruins need to be cautious in dealing with the Hurricanes. Nancy Marrapese-Burrell looks at the Bruins top line trying to be more physical. Conroy’s notebook says that Michal Grosek is close to returning.

Bill Griffith calls out Paul Stewart for not criticizing the referees following some bad calls during the Bruins game on Saturday night. John Molori says that Michael Felger could be a candidate to replace Butch Stearns over at Fox25.

NESN has Bruins/Hurricanes at 7:00. ESPN has the women’s NCAA tournament at 7:00 and 9:00. ESPN2 has the NIT tournament at 7:00 and 9:00.

Looks like the message board is down at the moment again. You may experience some intermittent issues over the couple days as a few things get addressed behind the scenes on the site. There will also be some other changes made as well and keep checking back for updates on those items.

Update: Board is back up. But be prepared for some periods of down time over the next few days.

Actually a pretty light day for pro links. That’s ok, there’s plenty of stuff from the weekend to read on this site. I’m still irate over that monstrosity of an article in the Globe Magazine…

The Celtics got a win on National TV last night with a 89-65 pasting of the 76ers at the FleetCenter. The Green is now a 1/2 game up on Cleveland for the eight playoff spot in the East and two games behind Miami for the sixth seed, with two games against Miami remaining. Links are over at Fox Sports Net.

Gordon Edes looks at Derek Lowe chartering a plane for a 19-minute flight. Oh yeah, he also looked strong in throwing 88 pitches against the Marlins. Tony Massarotti says Lowe had the sinker in top form yesterday. David Borges looks at Frank Castillo, back in the Red Sox organization. Jeff Horrigan says that Pokey Reese is hoping that his next stint as an opening day shortstop goes better than his last one. Edes’ notebook says that Jack McKeon is a big fan of Reese from their days with the Reds.

Steve Conroy says that large FleetCenter crowds have been giving the Bruins a boost down the stretch run. Ron Idrisano looks at something new for the Bruins…scoring from the blue line.

Kevin Mannix says that the NFL owners meetings will be low on drama.

David Scott wraps up the NCAA tournament coverage, Sunday night shows and tons of other stuff in Scott’s Shots.

FSN has Celtics/Nets at 7:30. ESPN2 has Wild/Red Wings at 7:00. NESN has a Red Sox Nation 2004 Preview at 10:00. ESPN has the NCAA women’s tournament at 7:00 and 9:00. ESPN Classic has Sports Century for Rick Pitino at 8:30 and 11:30. Ok, maybe you’ll want to skip that one…

I had to comment on an article from the Boston Globe magazine today. Bill Littlefield of NPR has a piece entitled “Fever Pitch“. The subtitle reads: “What if we actually win? As the host of NPR’s Only a Game writes, Red Sox fans would be lost.”

Ugh.

This is the kind of mindless drivel that just really gets my dander up. The media and “celebrity” fans just have no clue about true Red Sox fans. This article is nothing more than a pseudo-intellectual trying to paint a romanticized picture of the puritanical suffering of Boston fans. A notion that he had no doubt heard bandied about through some social circle, or at a cocktail party and thought that it sounded good and embraced the idea because it allows a large contingent of fans to painted with a simple, but very broad brush. After painting various doomsday scenarios as to why this Red Sox team might fail to win it all this year, Littlefield says:

Any or all of the above might be better than winning. Because though Boston fans say they want the Sox to reign as world champions and may even believe it, that outcome would likely bewilder rather than delight them. Were the Sox to win the World Series, it's cliche-easy to imagine the heartening spectacle of overturned and burning cars, the liberation of all the beer in Brighton, tear gas and arrests from Kenmore Square to Kennebunkport -- developments of that nature. But doesn't it seem more likely that fans (as well as those who weren't aware that they were paying attention) would tremble in the scary novelty of this... this... winning, and that they'd wonder how they were supposed to make sense of the next day that would dawn -- that day upon which they would have no new pain to embrace, nobody to blame?

Pathetic. “no new pain to embrace”? The idea that Boston fans reveled in the pain of last October and other losses in team history is solely a media creation. I have yet to meet a Red Sox fan who says “Thank God for Aaron Boone – I just don’t know how I could’ve handled it if the Red Sox won it all last year.” Why does this idea of misery enjoy such a large circulation in the media? As I wrote in a column for the Boston Metro a couple weeks ago, it’s largely because the media is lazy. The bigger question is what will they have to write about once the Red Sox win it all? They will have no more “curse” angle and story to fall back on and write about. As Dan Shaughnessy himself has said, he doesn’t root for the Red Sox, he roots for the story. Once the Sox win it all, the story is over. The gravy train will have left the station. While Red Sox fans are celebrating and enjoying the thrill of victory, Shaughnessy, Littlefield and co-horts will be wondering what in the world are they going to write about now.

It’s not the fans who will be miserable and lost when the Sox win the World Series, it’s the media.

Sunday Links from Len

Everything seems right again for hockey in Boston. The Bruins roared back from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Canadiens 3-2 in overtime in front of a sold out and very buzzing Fleet Center crowd. Even better news, as Steve Conroy points out, is that Sergei Samsonov finally looks to be back from his injury as he scored two goals and assisted on the other goal. There was a very ugly aspect of last night’s game. Stephen Harris points out that the officiating job turned in by one Kerry Fraser was beyond awful. In the opening minute of the game, the officials called for a Montreal penalty shot on what was even a marginal penalty call. Later, Joe Thornton was called for a major penalty on what may have been a minor for boarding. Harris gets some quotes from Joe Thornton who showed he has a great sense of humor and a desire not to be fined. Dale Arnold and Gord Kluzak are an outstanding announcing team for NESN. Last night, they justifiably sounded like Tommy Heinsohn in calling the officiating ridiculous and were harping on Fraser all evening. But in the NESN studios, former NHL official, Paul Stewart, laughed it off and justified the performance of Fraser saying that he knows what he’s doing because he’s called 1,500 games. If Fraser has called 1,500 games, there is little doubt that he’s done a better job in 1,499 of them.

The good news for the Red Sox these days is that Curt Schilling looks shahp whenever he goes to the pahk. Sean McAdam and Tony Massarotti each have looks at the Sox ace. McAdam also reports on a very impressive outing from Ramiro Mendoza. Tony Maz also has an interesting notebook today with a look at negotiations with the struggling Pedro Martinez and the destructive Joe Kerrigan. Kerrigan is taking some heat for screwing up Kevin Millwood and Tomo Ohka. Jeff Horrigan has a look at the Garciaparra injury. Nomar could be placed on the DL and be out until May. The good news is that there is no permanent damage to his Achilles tendon. Bob Hohler has looks at the Garciaparra injury and the more troubling injury to Trot Nixon. Gordon Edes looks at the Devil Rays and many other thing in his Notebook today.

Tom E Curran has a look at how the rest of the AFC East is trying to catch up to the Patriots. Kevin Mannix does not like Steven Jackson and sees the Patriots drafting Kevin Jones. Ron Borges has a look at the recovering Rosey Colvin. There is a “reporting error” by Borges in his column as he erroneously states that the Postons are the agents of Walter Jones. Roosevelt Barnes is Jones’ agent (edit by Len). Addition link from Bruce — Mike Reiss has a look at Isaac Sopoaga, who might be a guy the Patriots are looking at to fill the loss of Ted Washington. He also tells of a NH Fisher Cats promotion that will have Lonie Paxton snapping, and Ken Walter holding for six kids who will get to try to recreate the Patriots Super Bowl winning kick.

Bill Griffith has a look at ESPN’s coverage of the Yankees opener in Japan as the network will not be sending announcers to Japan to call the game but will be doing play-by-play and color from its Connecticut studios.

This past Thursday, John Molori did a total rip job of Michael Felger, WEEI, and FSN in the guise of defending Ron Borges. Before looking at Molori, it is worth it to look at the past week’s infractions of the Boston Globe and one Ron Borges. Last Sunday, as we recall, Borges fabricated a story about John Lynch’s Tampa Bay situation and used that fabrication as grounds to criticize how the Patriots (read: Bill Belichick) were heavyhanded in dealing with their players. During the week, the Globe cited this as a “reporting error” by Borges. It was beyond a mere reporting error considering the fabrication was used as the basis for criticism of the Patriots. The Globe editors must be aware that the chief criticism of Borges is his agenda in going after Patriots management. But, for now, they handled it as a reporting error. Back to John Molori. He was particularly critical of Michael Felger. But Molori actually claimed that it is Felger, WEEI, and FSN that have the agenda. He claimed that the agenda was corporate as WEEI and FSN have an anti-Globe bias. This is a bunch of bull. We don’t see Felger and company going after Michael Holley or Michael Smith. It’s just Borges. Furthermore, the most pointed criticism came from Tom Curran of the Providence Journal. There’s nothing corporate with him. Curran is a straight shooter and Molori conveniently did not mention Curran. One last thing on this one. Molori defended Borges’ remarks comparing the Brady contract to the Manning contract. What neither Molori nor Borges mention is that Brady signed his deal after his first full season in the league. He still had a couple years left at very short dollars. The Patriots and Brady had a mutual interest in getting him signed to a long-term deal commensurate with an upper echelon NFL quarterback. Peyton Manning was a free agent and had incredible leverage. He also won the MVP this year and is coming off several all-star seasons. Comparing the contracts of Brady and Manning is a joke. Borges ought to know better and Molori’s defense is less than noble.

Lenny Megliola talks with Upton Bell, who weighs in on the local sports scene, recounts a few of his wide variety of experiences, and whom Megliola suggests should write a book about his life. (This Link added by Bruce)

UPN-38 has Red Sox-Florida preseason baseball at 1:00 pm. The Celtics-76ers game is on FSN and ESPN(HD) at 6:30 pm. CBS-4 has Kansas-Georgia Tech at 2:40 pm followed by Xavier-Duke at 5:05 pm.

Email Len

Saturday Links from Len

Here’s a very abbreviated version of Saturday links. There will be much more tomorrow.

The Celtics beat the Nets JV team at the Fleet Center last night. Steve Bulpett and Shira Springer have game stories. The win moved the Celtics into the eighth and last playoff slot in the East as the season winds down. Mark Murphy tells us about Brandon Hunter who has been the invisible man in Boston.

The big local story these days is the Bruins. The Canadiens are in town and Michael Holley is ready. Stephen Harris has a look at how the B’s will try to neutralize the speed of the Habs. Is there anyone else out there who sees the irony in many Boston fans claiming they don’t want to get on the Bruins bandwagon because they don’t want to be let down again? The irony is that most of these people are Red Sox fans. Maybe there is some law out there saying that only one local team can break your heart. The teams in the East are very even. The Bruins could lose in the first round. But this team also has the talent to take it to another level. Have fun with this.

It’s a big day of sports today. CBS-4 has NCAA Regional Finals with UConn-Alabama at 4:40 pm followed by Oklahoma St-Saint Josephs at 7:05 pm. NESN has preseason baseball with Phillies-Sox at 1 pm. NESN has the Canadiens at Bruins game at pm. If you prefer NCAA Hockey, Ch 56 has BC-Niagra at noon. NESN has Michigan-UNH at 4 pm. Get your remotes ready.

No links this morning, but here’s a couple items to look over. The Hardball times has Part two of its Interview with Howard Bryant. Some very interesting stuff in there, he comments on the relationship of the press and the athletes in Boston. Also that he does not consider sports radio “journalism” it’s more “reactionary and entertainment-based.”

Dave Scott has a Friday edition of Scott’s Shots.

Not directly Boston related, but with the Ty Law Hungry Man tour ongoing, Orlando Pace is hinting that he might drop the Poston brothers as his agents….because they’re asking things of the Rams that he isn’t demanding. This, along with the mess the Postons have made with the Redskins and LaVar Arrington may end up hurting the agency in its efforts to sign up new clients, such as Richard Seymour, who is in the process of hiring a new agent. ProFootballTalk.com has been hammering away at the Postons nearly everyday for a couple weeks now.

Email of the day:

From:"Devanna, Joseph" Joseph.Devanna@work.com
To: "'bruce@bostonsportsmedia.com'"
Subject:
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2004 09:53:09 -0500

Funny how you refer to alex Rodriguez as the precious, if he ended up in a red sox uniform, you and pete shepperd or one of the other local shills would be washing his car and picking up his cleaning right about now. Why don't you and felger go give belicheck that Swedish massage you've been promising him. Happy ending included

“The Precious” is not a shot at A-Rod, but a reference to how the media fawned over the prospect of getting him here in Boston. As for Belichick, I guess I’m just blinded by the Lombardi trophies. (And what’s the deal with comparing me to Pete Sheppard? That has got to be a first. Pete and I don’t exactly see eye-to-eye on many things.)

Alright, today is just a day for me to be annoyed about just about everything in the papers. I’ll admit it, I’m grouchy today. The Red Sox played the Yankees in Spring Training last night. Top story in the Herald online sports section? “Wake faces Ghosts“. Ugh. No I’m not blaming Michael Silverman, who I think is pretty solid. Over to the Globe, the top baseball story is about The Precious taking a ball off the jaw and having to leave the game. The second story is a column by Dan Shaughnessy involving the Red Sox and Yankees. Entitled “Bitter days ahead.” Need I say more? Tony Massarotti says that the Sox are dragging their feet in renegotiating contracts with their free agents to be. Larry Lucchino on WEEI this morning plainly said that the Sox are keeping the discussions private and that reports in the papers about such negotiations are pretty much all wrong. The Globe’s top baseball writer chooses to write about the Yankees manager this morning. Hello Gordon Edes, this is Boston. Sean McAdam has a piece about how the fans have helped Tim Wakefield to heal from his game seven experience. John Tomase says that these Sox are better than the 1987 version. Okay. David Heuschkel and Massarotti look at Nomar making progress towards being ready for opening day. Gerry Callahan says that Pedro is the one guy that the Sox HAVE to get a new deal done with. He reasons:

Pedro arrived in Boston from Montreal six years ago. He has gone 101-28 since. Epstein may have an army of little Bill James clones earnestly drawing up contingency plans on their Thinkpads, but in this case, their efforts are hopeless. There is no Jose Vidro-like replacement for Pedro, no Kelly Shoppach waiting in the wings. There is no one in the baseball universe who can step in and go 73 games over .500 in the next six seasons. Pedro often acts like he's something special, but that's only because he is.

I agree with Callahan. Yikes. How does that line go? “I will now light myself on fire.” Another reason to light yourself on fire? The upcoming film about the 2003 Red Sox that the fans can vote on the title for. Like we want to re-live that. No thanks. I’ll look ahead, not behind. Speaking of looking back, Silverman has Mike Greenwell trashing Dan Duquette. I’m surprised Ellis Burks even still talks to Greenwell after how many times Greenwell ran into him in the outfield during the time the played together. Cafardo’s notebook has more on Nomar being optimistic about opening day. Silverman’s notebook has Pedro awaiting word on his appeal of his fine for his actions in the ALCS game 3. McAdam’s notebook has more on the injury to A-Rod.

Michael Felger has Bill Belichick refusing to engage Ty Law in the war of words he so desperately wants. Meanwhile, Hector Longo weighs in and says about Ty Law:

He is not blowing smoke when he calls his employer, Bill Belichick, a liar. The New England Patriots' second-best player is angry and looking to protect his flank when it comes to the world champions and the organization's leader.

Strong words from Hector there. He agrees with Ty Law’s assertion that Belichick is a liar. Tom Curran has Rodney Harrison weighing in on the Ty Law issue and taking a very different approach to matters. Michael Smith notes that thanks to the competition committee, it will still be hard for assistant coaches on successful teams to get interviewed and hired to be head coaches. Mike Reiss says that a rule change would benefit Scott Pioli however.

Nancy Marrapese-Burrell applauds the job done by Mike O’Connell in stocking this years team. Stephen Harris looks at the Bruins finding their playoff posture. Nick Colageo has a nice article on Andrew Raycroft. Kevin Paul Dupont has a portion of a one-on-one interview with Sergei Gonchar that will be shown on the Globe SportsPlus on NESN tonight. Harris’ notebook looks at Raycroft.

Celtics Links are over at Fox Sports Net.

Bill Reynolds and Buddy Thomas touch on a number of New England sports subjects. Bob Ryan looks at Eddie Sutton.

John Molori is critical of the media on many things, but loves Ron Borges taking on the Patriots.

NESN has Bruins/Maple Leafs at 7:00. ESPN has Red Wings/Avalanche at 8:00. CBS has the NCAA Tournament starting at 7:00.