Posted by Teddy Panos, Sun Staff

Hey Gang! Apologies for going M.I.A. the past couple of weeks…been a bit hectic in Panos-land and will continue to be through Easter. Thankfully, Chaz and Dave have come aboard the blog bus and are keeping the content fresh and interesting. I promise to get back to a more prolific posting schedule next week so we can resume our daily arguments. In the meantime, here are a few quick nuggets for you to comment on:

***Bravo to the Red Sox for banding together and watching out for their staff. Players often get a bad rap for being out of touch with the common folk, so it was nice to see a team of guys that “gets it.”

***I’m not hearing or reading as many of those “yeah, but wait till they go on the road against the iron of the west” radio call-ins and articles about the Celtics. NOW are the non-believers prepared to admit the NBA championship goes through Boston in ’08?

***I’ve read the Pacman to the Patriots rumor on two different sites. Much like the Randy Moss rumors last year, I’m starting to get the sense that where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Coincidentally, I’d written my “the Patriots have lost their way” column before the “Rainmaker” stories began breaking. Unlike my A-Rod over Lowell piece, this most recent one drew more “you’re right” remarks in person than the “you’re an idiot” taunts I heard about A-Rod. Could it be that the “no questions asked” love affair with New England’s football entry is beginning to sour?

***Nice going on the SunBlog Madness pool gang. As I write this we already have 50-entires, by far the largest private pool in the entire Media News Group family of papers. In fact, we have more than 2 ½ times all the others combined! Way to represent, Lowell and the surrounding communities!