Last night’s game in Orlando was billed as a “coming out party” for the Magic, who were winners of seven straight, and who found themselves sitting atop the Eastern conference following some struggles by the Celtics and Cavs. The Celtics controlled this one pretty much throughout and defeated the Magic, 90-80.
Frank Dell’Apa has Glen Davis coming up huge in the fourth quarter as the Celtics won their seventh straight game. Mark Murphy has Tiger Woods among those at courtside to witness the Celtics victory. Jessica Camerato examines whether the Magic are a legit threat in the East.
On the BSMW Full Court Press, Jeremy Gottlieb has a Back To Reality edition of the Five Pack.
Dell’Apa’s notebook has Kevin Garnett named to his 12th All Star team. Murphy’s notebook has more on the honor for KG.
Red Sox
Lenny Megliola says that we’ve reached decision time for Jason Varitek and the Red Sox. Count Dan Shaughnessy among those in favor of re-signing Varitek. Michael Silverman says that the Red Sox still have a few options if they do not decide to sign up Varitek.
Joe Haggerty has the Sox locking up their home grown talent. Daniel Barbarisi looks at the 7-deep Red Sox bullpen. Joe McDonald has Rocco Baldelli sending a thank you note to the fans of Tampa.
Patriots
John Tomase has a look at newly promoted Patriots quarterback coach Bill O’Brien.
Eric McHugh has Matt Cassel saying that he’d be willing to stick around as Tom Brady’s backup, since this is “Tom’s team.” Mike Reiss has more on Cassel’s willingness to play second fiddle to Brady, as does Tomase’s notebook.
Misc
Bill Burt ranks the top ten figures in Boston sports history.
Bill Doyle talks to Tom Caron about this weekend’s busy college hockey broadcasting schedule.
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell has Versus making a name for itself.
Tony Lee looks at the Bruins cruising into the break in first place. Steve Conroy looks at the impressive first half of the season from Blake Wheeler. Conroy looks at a move by Peter Chiarelli that didn’t work out so well, trading away Kris Versteeg.
Joe Haggerty has the Hagg Bag II.
Over in the right hand column of the site, I’ve added a new section entitled “Hot Links.” I’m going to try this out for a little while, but what it will be is links that I come across during the course of the day. Many times I get a link or two that are interesting, but I can’t put together an entire post on on them. This way, I can get the links up on the site, and they will be have a short description with them, and so there will be fresh content to click on throughout the day. I think there will also be a “daily digest” of these links posted on the main blog here.
Boston Sports Media Watch 
Any news on the Patriots layoffs reported at Profootballtalk.com? I bet it’s related to the lukewarm results of Kraftville.
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Like him or loathe him, Bill Simmons’ latest column–‘One final toss for The Dooze’–is heart-rending. Think ‘Marley & Me’ in the form of typed words. It’s a worthwhile read.
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I thought “Marley & Me” was already in the form of typed words.
The title of Simmons’ column should be “Dooze and Me and Me and More Me and a Little Bit of Me”.
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Simmons is a d*&%&%bag.
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Haven’t given Simmons OR Shank a click in going on 3 years. Plan to keep it that way.
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If you don’t appreciate Simmons’ article about his dog then you’ve probably got some serious lack of soul. It’s a very good article and hey, everyone has the right to be close minded but anyone who’s had a dog and actually liked it will appreciate it.
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Thanks. That was what I was trying to get across in the first place.
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Agreed. I haven’t read him in quite some time either. The sad thing is the guy can really write well when he wants to. Nevertheless, I had to read the dog article, and it was truly touching and very well done. I’ll now go back to not reading him, but I certainly knew that whatever talent is in there had to come out in a eulogy to his beloved pet.
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Even a chimp with a typewriter will churn out something worth reading occassionally. Why should I reward HMSG’s utter mediocrity and laziness with clicks? It’s how he is rated by his employer.
Besides, it’s been done before, but much better, less lazy writers. Try Mark Levin’s “Rescuing Sprite”.
Oh, and Lance? I’ve got a soul (though I doubt simmons does)and several dogs. I won’t click on Simmons (or ESPN) even for money.
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My chimp has been at it for over six years. So far, nothing. What the hell?
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WOW…and this is coming from someone who for the most part, HATES THE SPORTS MEDIA…..I’m surprised to hear all the venom towards Bill Simmions….I almost always enjoy his columns. Are you kidding me?….compared to Shank Shaughnessy, John “I make up stories” Tomase, Ron “I plagiarize stories” Borges and the rest of the local clowns?……whatever, to each his own
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Simmons is pretty good when he sticks to sports (I didn’t read the dog article but I’m sure it’s touching–how could it not be? Who doesn’t love dogs???).
But Simmons really loses me with all of the pop culture talk in his columns. I often find myself skipping over entire paragraphs just to get back to the sports portions of his articles.
I also don’t really respect his knowledge of sports outside of the NBA, about which he clearly knows his stuff. I’d never question any of his NBA opinions, but on the other sports I find his knowledge level a bit wanting.
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