Dan Kennedy doesn't think Lobel has provided enough proof for his serious allegation against Manny Ramirez (that Ramirez took a dive in an at-bat against Mariano Rivera to protest a huge fine for knocking down the team traveling secretary).

Meanwhile, Dan Shaughnessy admits he reads blogs, in a column in which the CHB airs out his perpetual grievance against Ramirez without ever actually saying Lobel is right. Neat Shanky trick.

Jeff Louderbeck isn't buying Lobel's version, either:

... Like many members of the Boston sports media, Lobel has little credibility. Much like Dan Shaughnessy does with his written words, Lobel stirs the pot with his mouth, speaking before thinking. In fact, Lobel's words have already been dismissed by one of the few credible Boston media members, Gordon Edes of the Boston Globe. According to Edes' 3:46 p.m. post on the Extra Bases blog, Ramirez' fine was wildly overstated. ...

Which makes one wonder why Shaughnessy felt compelled to lead with Lobel's version.

Jimmy: If McCormick is fine with it, we should also be fine with it.

Red wonders if we're really seeing a sudden personality change or some management propaganda to set us all up for them not re-signing Manny when his contract's up.

'Course, what do they know down there in ma's basement? The Real Sports Writer, a.k.a. CHB, DEMANDS ACTION NOW; his only question is: Firing squad or hangman?

After a day of pretending to be happy, the true CHB is back, with a column reminding us that it's all downhill from here, that Boston teams used to really, really suck, that kids today just can't appreciate how badly those teams used to suck back in the last century and that Bill Belichick sure sucks.

Meanwhile, Seth Gitell wonders why no special Celtics section in the Globe today.

Shaughnessy's hoping against hope, now that the royalties on his Curse books are dwindling down.

That would be, of course, Dan Shaughnessy, who, on the possible eve of the first Celtics championship in ages, feels compelled to bring up two decades of Celtics failures, from Len Bias dropping dead from cocaine to Bill Walton breaking his foot. It's surprising he didn't mention Rick Pitino (UPDATE: He did mention Pitino, my faith in his ability to leave no depressing stone unturned is restored).

Through the miracle of the Interwebs, Don lets you watch Bob Ryan's and Dan Shaughnessy's takes on last night's Celtics/Lakers game. His conclusion:

... I wish Danny boy would take a buy-out and start writing for the NY Post or something. Moron.

Boston Sports Media Watch holds the vote.

The Outraged Liberal, a Cleveland native, couldn't get past the fifth paragraph in Shaughnessy's column today because it's so riddled with factual errors about his birthplace.

A couple days ago, Rob expressed disgust with the way Dan Shaughnessy compared Kevin Garnett to Alex Rodriguez. He e-mailed Shaughnessy to let him know. Shaughnessy responded:

sorry -- no time for fanboy rants.

shaughnessy

Which Rob also analyzes, concluding:

... Who else wants to start a collection/bake sale to raise enough money to get Carl Everett back here and pay him to kick Shaughnessy in the nads?

Could Bob Ryan be blogging about this Curse Boy train wreck of a column when he writes the following?

Have we no institutional memory? People are beginning to act as if something odd is going on in the Celtics-Hawks series, as if we've never seen this before.

If so, that would be so cool.