This time of the season, it goes without saying, victories are hard to come by. The Bruins turned in an effort Saturday that probably would have earned them a blowout victory two months ago, but instead got a hard-fought shootout win that they came 67 seconds away from losing in regulation. Given the way the previous 15 games had been (7-7-1) and the fact that they were coming off their worst loss of the season Wednesday in Buffalo, the B's needed two points any way they could get them, and they took the ice Saturday looking like a team that didn't want to get embarrassed. They dominated play and had the puck in the Nashville zone for the vast majority of regulation, yet with just over a minute left, they had their goalie pulled, desperately ...

Judging by the last week one could have surmised that this offseason was one long party for Cody Ross. For starters, Monday he watched the ABC show "The Bachelor" at his home with the actual Bachelor, Ben Flajnik. "He's a buddy of mine," Ross said from his Arizona home. "He's a big baseball fan. He came out of the game one time and he was just on The Bachelorette, just one of those guys. This guy comes out to the game and I'm thinking, 'That guy looks familiar.' I'm thinking, 'Who is this guy? Did I go to school with him? Does he own a restaurant I've been to?' So he comes over and then I realized, 'You're on The Bachelorette!'' It's kind of weird how it all came about. He was just another guy on The Bachelorette, but ...

Because he asked, here’s what I would suggest Bill Belichick do with the Patriots this spring when he is building his roster for a run at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans. 1. Go long for Tom Brady This offense needs one thing and it needs it badly -- a deep threat. The Patriots had that with Randy Moss and they thought they had that with Chad Ochocinco (soon to be Gigantic Johnson on July 4 -- or so he says on Twitter). But Brady never clicked with Ocho and it showed, only one touchdown pass to No. 85 and it came in Week 15 on a broken coverage and was just 35 yards. Sure, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez were amazing over the middle and powerful with the ball in their hands. And obviously, Wes Welker had another outstanding season as ...

As the trade deadline approached in 2011, the Red Sox felt their hands, to a degree, were tied. Ditto 2010. In both seasons, the team wanted to make midseason upgrades. But the players they wanted to acquire -- names like Carlos Beltran of the Mets in 2011, and Jake Westbrook and Kerry Wood of the Indians in 2010 -- had more money due to them than the Sox’ budget would permit. In order to allow a deal to happen, the Red Sox would need a subsidy from the teams that were trading them. And that, in turn, meant that the prospect cost of a deal would be steeper. Somewhere, between the financial cost of a deal and the prospect cost, the Sox were unable to find the necessary match to make the deals they wanted to reinforce their club. In 2009, ...