First the good news: the Boston Bruins beat the New York Islanders in their preseason debut, 3-1. The bad news is it was a rather chippy game for an exhibition and Islanders enforcer Kip Brennan took down hulking Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara in a fight. Not that I’m going out on a limb, because last season was pretty much the same deal, but I’m afraid the result of the brawl is more indicative of your 2007-08 Boston Bruins that the result of the game.

Just shut up before Rush Limbaugh weighs in

In an interview with HBO’s “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” Donovan McNabb said that black quarterbacks are more harshly criticized than their white counterparts. While there is no doubt, given the lack of African-Americans in the coaching and front office ranks, that the NFL still has a long way to go in racial progress, it’s hard not to take McNabb’s words with a grain of salt because A) he plays in Philadelphia, where everyone from Mike Schmidt to Santa Claus gets ripped, and B) he is easily the whiniest athlete in pro sports today.