Sports, Ticket Sales - Ace Ticket is now offering highly-collectible and authentic Boston Celtics 2008 Postseason tickets. The tickets are all of the season ticket variety and are in excellent to mint condition. These tickets make the perfect souvenir for what was an unforgettable season for the Boston Celtics. Tickets will be sold on an individual and strip basis. You can purchase a set of Finals only tickets as well as a full playoff strip. (more)

Sports - During an interview with Dennis and Callahan on WEEI Friday, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling announced that he will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery on Monday. The former Sox ace missed significant playing time after the 2004 season due to an ankle injury, and has nursed shoulder problems since then.  Before this season, Dr. Craig Morgan (who performed surgery on Shilling’s shoulder in 1995 and 1999) advised that Schil’s career could be in jeopardy if he did not have offseason surgery. Instead, Schilling and the team opted to try a rehabilitation plan that would have a better chance of allowing him to pitch this year. This plan was not successful, and Schilling faces season, if not career-ending surgery.  Schilling was quoted as saying that there is a “pretty good chance I have thrown my last pitch forever”. The change of plan comes from MRI results, the increasing amount of pain, as well as decreasing physical abilities. Schilling has been able to throw off of flat ground, but has been unable to throw off of the mound without severe pain. The procedure Monday is focused on alleviating that pain. During an MRI in January, Schil was not able to hold his arm over his head long enough to finish the procedure. He has mentioned having issues with things as simple as turning a doorknob. “If you use a scale of 1-10 and 10 is pitching in the big leagues, I’m at about 3 right now,” Said Schilling. “I’m going in to make it not hurt anymore.”

Concerts, Ticket Sales - The summer is just starting to heat up and so are the names set to tour at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, MA. Over the next four months all types of musical genres will hit the stage and rock large crowds of all ages. Make sure to check out the concert lineup and grab tickets to see your favorite artists while they are still available! June shows: 6/22 – Stevie Wonder – The man still knows how to rock. 6/24 & 6/25– Dave Mathews Band – DMB Summer 08’ tour hits the East Coast 6/28 & 6/30 – Pearl Jam – The group is ready to hit the stage and rock out. July shows: 7/12 – John Mayer – Acoustic rock with a sensual blend. 7/16 – Projekt Revolution Tour featuring Likin Park and Busta Rhymes – Going to be crazy! 7/18 – 311 with special guest Snoop Dogg – Two old school artists teaming up to put of a crazy live show. 7/19 – Steve Miller Band – They’re back on tour and ready to entertain. 7/22 – Stained with Three Doors Down and Hinder – Three great rock bands that put on amazing live shows. 7/23 – Warped Tour – It’s the warped tour, enough said! 7/26 – Rock the Bells International Festival – Many groups coming together to put on a full days worth of music and fun. 7/31 – The Police and Elvis Costello – If you missed them last year at Fenway, make sure you get out this summer because it may be their last tour! August shows: 8/2 – Maroon 5 with the Counting Crows – A great combination of modern rock. 8/3 – Boston and Styx – Classic rock at its finest! 8/5 – Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival: Slipknot and Disturbed – Another all day even that will be fill of mosh-pits and mayhem. 8/6 – Jack Johnson – Another great acoustic artist that always performs well live. 8/7 – Jonas Brothers – Like OMG, they are back in Massachusetts! 8/8 – O.A.R – Ready to hit the stage and rock out for again. 8/13 – Radiohead – One of the most anticipated shows of the summer! 8/15 – Rod Stewart – Still puts on a great live show for lots of faithful fans. 8/16 – The Allman Brothers – These guys have been rockin’ for decades and its not about to stop. 8/17 – Toby Keith – A little country never hurt anyone, especially a great live performer. 8/19 – Journey – Don’t stop believing! 8/22 – Crue Fest featuring Motley Crue – An all day all night festival of hard rock. 8/23 – Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kid Rock – Two artists who certainly know how to put on a show team up to rock out. September shows: 9/4 & 9/6 – Jimmy Buffett – The parrot heads already have their calendars marked for this one. 9/13 – Rascal Flatts and Taylor Swift – Two amazing country artists playing at the same show, it’s like two for the price of one! The line up is set, the artists are booked and the only thing left for you to do is make sure you have your tickets to these great shows hitting the Comcast Center stage. Hurry before it’s too late! Comcast Center Tickets.

Sports - Three days after firing the General Manager Bill Bavasi, the 25-47 Seattle Mariners fired coach John McLaren. The ’08 Seattle squad’s payroll of $117 million has not translated to success on the field.  Despite signing Eric Bedard and Carlos Silva, as well as re-signing Richie Sexson, and the presence of former MVP Ichiro Suzuki; the team has underachieved. Just two weeks ago coach McLaren’s profanity-laden postgame tirade made headlines as he railed against team’s level of play. Bavasi’s vacancy will be filled by associate GM Lee Pelekoudas. McLaren’s spot will be filled by Jim Riggleman. Riggleman racked up a 486-598 record during the 90′s as skipper of the San Diego Padres and Chicago Cubs. The M’s will look to end their current losing streak on Friday against the Braves.

Sports - Fans attending the Friday June 20 Red Sox vs Cardinals game will be in for a special treat. The Red Sox will continue the already days long celebration for the Boston Celtics’ 17th NBA Championship. The Celtics were honored in Boston today with a rolling rally attracting thousands of fans throughout the region. At Friday night’s game, Celtics captain and star Paul Pierce will be throwing out the first pitch. The Red Sox will also wear their alternate Green Jersey. The Red Sox wore this same jersey in 2007 to honor the passing of Celtics legend Red Auerbach. There will also be a pre-game ceremony to honor the Boston Celtics. If you are going to the game, get their early. If you don’t have tickets, get them now! Red Sox Tickets 6-20-08

Sports - Former Minnesota Golden Gopher Blake Wheeler has agreed to sign with the Boston Bruins. Selected 5th overall by the Phoenix Coyotes in 2004, he opted instead to forgo the NHL and his high school senior year to play in the USHL. Wheeler went on to have 3 outstanding seasons with Minnesota, including an acrobatic winning goal against North Dakota in the 2007 WHCA championship game (a goal that was a Sportcenter favorite for weeks). While the B’s cannot officially sign Wheeler until July 1st, both parties have agreed on the terms of the deal. Wheeler will be reporting to Boston’s prospect camp in Wilmington on July 8th.

Sports - Whenever J.D. Drew returns to Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love shows him anything but affection. Eleven years ago, it was Drew who refused to sign with the Phillies after they drafted him second overall in the 1997 amateur draft and ever since then the boos have been loud and come often whenever he’s in town. Wednesday afternoon, Drew proved that they don’t bother him at all going 4-5 at the plate with a homerun, four RBI’s and scoring two runs of his own to lift the Boston Red Sox past the Philadelphia Phillies 7-4 at Citizens Bank Park in front of another sold out crowd of 45,187. “They’re not going to forget, I know that much,” Drew said. “It’s always one of those situations where you go out there and battle and you’re going to hear things that you don’t normally hear at other parks. It makes it fun.” The four hits on the afternoon tied a career high for Drew who fell just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle and continues to excel in the absence of David Ortiz. Since Ortiz was sidelined May 31st, Drew is batting .441 (26-59) with nine home runs and 22 RBI’s in the month of June. “It’s just a matter if keeping it simple,” Drew said. “When things fall into place, you put your swings on the ball and hopefully good things happen. I’ve hit a lot balls away from where people are standing so that is always nice.” Aside from Drew’s big day, the Sox also received three hits and two runs from 2B Dustin Pedroia. Hitting out of the 4 spot in the lineup, Mike Lowell belted his 11th homer of the year and Sean Casey, who has hit safely in the last 7 games he’s started, added two hits as well. Boston’s 2 through 5 hitters in the battling order combined to go 10-18 on the day with two home runs, five RBI’s and scored four runs. Justin Masterson tossed five innings and allowed two runs on four hits. The effort was good enough to help him pick up the win, he is now 4-1 on the season with a 3.00 ERA. On in relief in the 7th inning, Craig Hansen got himself into a little trouble allowing a lead off single to E Bruntlett. Brunlett stole second, and then Hansen issued a walk to Carlos Ruiz. A wild pitch would move the runners up to 2nd and 3rd base without any outs. Pedro Feliz would rip a single to center field to knock in both runs to cut into the Red Sox lead. Hansen was relieved by Manny Delcarmen who came in and issued a walk to Jimmy Rollins. After the base on balls Delcarmen was flawless, retiring the next six batters he faced to preserve the Sox lead. Jonathan Papelbon came in to pitch a 1-2-3 9th inning to record his 21st save on the season. The Sox are off today and return home for two exciting interleague play series. This weekend Boston welcomes the St. Louis Cardinals back to Fenway Park for the first time since the 2004 World Series match up. Following the series, the Arizona Diamondbacks will be in town for three games which will conclude the interleague play schedule for the 2008 season. When the Red Sox return home on Friday night they will honor the World Champion Boston Celtics during the pre-game ceremonies. Tickets for the upcoming homestand are still available!

Sports - As the final seconds ticked down on the clock during Game 6 of the 2008 NBA Finals, cries of “SEVEN-TEEN, SEVEN-TEEN” rained down from the TD Banknorth Garden. The Boston Celtics had done it; they’d beaten the Los Angeles Lakers 131-92 to capture their first title in 22 years and in doing so secured themselves a spot in history with some of the all-time great Celtics teams that were able to hang championship banners from the old Boston Garden rafters. There will be a new banner hanging in Boston very shortly, and it may be the most meaningful one of all. In the most dramatic turnaround in NBA history, the same Celtics club that was only able to win 24 games last season persevered to rise to the elite status that many are never fortunate enough to experience. Boston fans had long awaited for their teams return to glory and after last nights 48 minutes of dominating play, there is no question that the Boston Celtics are once again the best team in the NBA. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen can now join the long list of Celtics greats to have been able to win a championship ring with the NBA’s most successful franchise. “It means so much more because these are the guys, the Havliceks, the Bill Russells, the Cousys,” Pierce said. “These guys started what’s going on with those banners. They don’t hang up any other banners but championship ones… And now I’m a part of it.” A big part of it. Pierce was named the Finals MVP, a well deserved honor awarded to the Celtics captain and leader. During the series he averaged 21.8 points, 6.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game. Something that you won’t see in any box score is the job he did defending the regular season MVP, Kobe Bryant. On the series, Bryant was held to a 40.5% shooting percentage from the field which was well below his playoff average of 48% from the floor. It’s almost unfair to call Tuesday nights match up “Game 6″ because it wasn’t a game at all. The Celtics coasted to a 39 point victory, which set a new NBA record for largest margin of victory in a clinching title game. The previous record had been a 33 point margin in Boston’s 129-96 win in Game 5 of the 1965 NBA finals vs., you guessed it, the Los Angeles Lakers. Every member on the team was able to contribute in the victory which made it that much sweeter. Boston’s bench picked up 39 points shooting 57% (12-21) and every member that checked into the game scored at least 2 points in the win. The starters weren’t so bad themselves. Garnett led the way with a huge night scoring 26 points and grabbing 14 boards in 36 minutes of play. Allen also dropped 26 points, nailing 7 of 9 three point shots he attempted. Rajon Rondo stepped up in the clutch scoring 21 points, hauling down 7 rebounds, dishing out 8 assists while collecting 6 steals for a very well rounded line. Over the course of the game, Boston just continued to build on their lead. After the first quarter they led by 4 points, 24-20. They outscored LA 34-15 in the second quarter to increase their halftime lead to a commanding 58-35 margin. A 31-25 scoring advantage in the third quarter put the C’s ahead 89-60 entering the fourth quarter and Boston continued to bring the heat, exploding for 42 points in the final 12 minutes of play to round out the scoring at 131-92. Some Celtics legends were even on hand to witness the one sided victory including Bill Russell, John Havlicek, Jo-Jo White, Tommy Heinsohn and Bill Walton. GM Danny Ainge sat courtside to marvel at the team he helped create with a few brilliant off-season trades and signings. And somewhere, Red Auerbach watched as well, most likely with a victory cigar in his mouth, lighting up to the NBA’s greatest franchise ever. The Celtics victory also prevented Lakers head coach Phil Jackson from surpassing Auerbach in the wins column for total championships as a head coach. The two are still knotted at nine a piece. Celtics coach Doc Rivers was nothing but smiles late in the game and Pierce made sure to let him know just how much he cares by dumping a cooler of red Gatorade over his head with very little time remaining on the clock, to symbolize that the game was over and they had done it, together. Early on in the season Rivers had called a team meeting and used an African word, ubuntu, which translates to “I am, because we are” in English, as the Celtics’ unifying team motto. Last night was UBUNTU at its finest. There will be no more question marks surrounding the careers of Pierce, Garnett and Allen. They three proved they have what it takes to win it all, and now they have rings to prove it. During the post-game celebration, Garnett hugged Russell in the center of the court, an exchange that will become just another part of the organizations rich history. “I got my own. I got my own,” Garnett said. “I hope we made you proud.” “You sure did,” Russell said. Congratulations Boston Celtics, you are the champions of the NBA, and your city could not be more proud of you. With last nights victory, Boston’s 22 year quest for Green 17 is now complete and so begins a new journey… the road to repeat… Green 18!

Sports - The Boston Celtics are home for good and hope that tonight’s Game 6 match up against the Los Angeles Lakers will be their last of the season. A win would mean the return to glory in capturing the franchises 17th NBA title, a quest they have been on for 22 years. While Boston sits one win away from making history, the Lakers hope to extend the series to a Game 7 which would be Thursday night in Boston and will also try to make history in becoming the first team to overcome a 3-1 series deficit to win a title. The story of the Finals so far has been the leadership of Celtics veteran guard Paul Pierce. Pierce is averaging 22.8 points a game in the finals as well as 5.6 assists. Those numbers have lifted the play of some of his teammates including Rajon Rondo who had a 16 assist effort in the Celtics Game 2 victory. Leon Powe also had a break out Game 2 performance netting 21 points in only 15 minutes of action. Besides elevating his teammates play, Pierce has done an excellent job of shutting down the NBA’s best player and MVP in Kobe Bryant. In the 15 playoff games leading up to the Finals, Bryant averaged 31.9 points a game. In the Finals, Pierce is holding Bryant to 26.4 points a night and about 7 of those points are coming from the free throw line each game. On the series, Bryant is shooting 42% from the field, which is considerably down from his first three playoff series against the West in which he shot 169 of 332 from the floor, good for 51%. Pierce’s presence can certainly be felt. “We’re one up, with two games to go at home,” said Pierce, who dropped 38 points in Game 5. “It still feels like we have the advantage, and I do feel like we’re the better team.” Boston hopes to see Ray Allen stay hot from behind the arc. The sharpshooter has connected on 15 of 33 shots from 3-point land in the Finals, a 45% clip. The Celtics were without starting center Kendrick Perkins in the Game 5 loss in LA due to a shoulder injury he suffered earlier in the series. His presence was missed as the Lakers were able to capitalize multiple times on second chance points in the paints. He will be a game time decision tonight but his team is hoping he’s ready to go. “Perk is a physical guy,” said teammate Kevin Garnett. “He plays the post better than anybody in this league. That’s what he does. When you lose a key guy, you’re losing something.” Garnett himself is still looking for a breakout game in the Finals and what a better time to have the performance than in a potential championship clincher. Versus L.A., KG is averaging only 16.6 points a night compared to the 21.1 he had been averaging in the three playoff series against the Eastern  Conference teams (ATL, CLE, DET). He called his Game 5 performance “disgusting” and vowed that Game 6 would be a different story as he and the rest of the Celtics are excited to return home. “It’s going to be like coming into the Amazon, into the jungle,” he said. “I look forward to coming home and playing.” The entire city of Boston is fired up for tonight’s Game 6 match up. For the first time in over 20 years a local team has the chance to capture a league title in their hometown. The 04′ and 07′ Red Sox won the World Series on the road, and with the rotating Super Bowl locations the Patriots weren’t even close to New England for their three titles in 01′, 03′ and 04′. Tonight has the potential to be something amazing. Hopefully, Boston is the city where amazing happens and the Celtics long quest for Green 17 becomes a reality. With a win tonight the Celtics will get their 17th banner in game 6 on 6/17.

Sports - In a match up that featured the division leaders of the AL & NL East, Ryan Howard’s two home run display lifted the Philadelphia Phillies past the Boston Red Sox 8-2 Monday night at Citizens Bank Park in front of a sold out crowd of 45,026 fans. The multi-home run game was Howard’s third of the season and 15th of his young career. Bartolo Colon only lasted four innings on the mound for the Red Sox and was pulled from the game after experiencing back stiffness. Colon allowed four runs on six hits and believes he may have injured his back while batting. “I think I did it on a swing,” Colon said through a translator. “We’ll find out more tomorrow, but I think I’ll make my next start.” For the Phillies, starting pitcher Cole Hamels tossed seven innings of solid baseball allowing two runs on seven hits while striking out five in his outing. The win improves his record on the season to (7-4) and in convinced that this is not the last time he will be seeing Boston. “I believe we’re destined to play each other in the World Series,” Hamels said. “We can compete with them any day of the week.” Besides back-to-back home runs by Dustin Pedroia and J.D. Drew in the 5th inning, the Sox were never really able to get anything going against Hamels and the Phillies. The 24-year old was in control the entire outing and was very tough once he was ahead in the count. “He’s not the type of guy you want to fall behind,” Red Sox manager Terry Francona said. “He’s terrific.” On in relief, Mike Timlin allowed four runs on four hits in only 2/3 innings of work for Boston. The appearance raises his ERA to 7.06 on the season and makes one wonder if it is only a matter of time before the Red Sox decide to cut ties with the veteran. At 42 years old, Timlin has been in MLB for 21 years and just does not have the same kind of stuff he used to. With pitchers Dice-K Matsuzaka and Clay Buchholtz almost ready to return to the club, the issue of roster spots will arise and Timlin’s spot will certainly be one that they consider to replace. Tonight the Sox look to bounce back into the winning column as they send Jon Lester to the hill. Lester, 5-3 on the season, will be up against veteran southpaw Jamie Moyer who boasts a 7-3 record. Many moons ago (1996), Moyer pitched for the Red Sox before being dealt away to Seattle in a trade that brought Darren Bragg to Boston. Since being traded, Moyer has gone onto win 171 more games. Another great call by former GM Dan Duquette. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05pm EST.