By David Scott
Boston Sports Media

• Let’s give Green Boxer, Stan Grossfeld, a little credit for this week’s, ahem, “look”, at softballer Jenny Finch: the guy gives good photo. Stan the Man was clearly enamored with Finch, and the front-of-section mega photo showed – in an athletic-way – exactly why Finch is her sport’s torch-bearer. The accompanying copy was pedestrian, but with legs like Finch’s, pedestrian copy only allows for more careful body appreciation time. . .The gender equity shot (and story) of Andy Roddick on Thursday was equally pedestrian – or so we’ll assume. We never made it past the jump. And we’ll bet we’re not alone on that one.

• Even a talk radio basher like Shots can admit that the “Whiner Line” is reason to switch over the car radio at 5:50 p.m. or so, every day. But the background of giggling gargantuans and the intrusive banter makes the proposition a bit less appealing. As a prime example, take yesterday’s Peter Gammons “Butch Slap” of Michael Felger Underwood on WEEI 850 AM during “The Big No.” Felgie-Undie didn’t bow down to the de facto Commish the way everyone else does, so it became a bit of a ‘bit,’ if you will. But the humor of the incident was lost after about the fifth whiner. . . Nice work, by the way, by F-U with his Tom Brady “get” this week. Think how much bigger that would have been if it had been for one of the local TV stations – which is exactly why he should be TV full-time. Or at least use his versatility at ESPN.com – he brings more to the table than Michael Smith-Skwar.

• We hope valued reader, Charlie Pierce, appreciates the pull and sway of Scott’s Shots, who some may say “single-handedly defeated the Gold moniker” for his beloved Marquetters. (Some may say that – just not anyone you know.) Herewith, another submission of more acceptable names for the Internet voting which will ensue: The Marquette Downs (as in: “Mark it Down – another win for Crean’s Crew”); Marquette-ettes; Warriors* (*With No Offense To Whoever That Offends); which leads to the simpler, Asterisks; Mar and Par Kettles; Marquette? Butter.; and lastly, in honor of the aforementioned scribe and alumnus, The Piercing Charlies.

• The Scott’s Shots Traveling Caravan (piloted by Captain Percy the Dog) will be pulling into Amherst this weekend for a dual purpose: The Annual Gorman Extravaganza and a highly anticipated lax rematch between the 12-2 UMass Gorillas and the 7-5 Syracuse Orange. It seems when the two teams last met toward the end of the regular season, there was some bad blood spilt. It’ll be like the olden days on the Hill behind Boyden – just without the kegs. Or strange men in bathrobes.

• Dan Le Batard of the Miami Herald (and 790 AM The Ticket in Miami) stirred the pot quite a bit this week with his column suggesting race may have played a part in the selection of Steve Nash over Shaq for NBA MVP. The story just wouldn’t die, which is to be expected whenever a major, national columnist “plays the race card” to such a degree. It got people talking, but as is frequently the case, people get so uncomfortable talking about such things that the discussion gets stuck in neutral. These things are all about timing and the simple fact was that it has been a slow news cycle since the steroids scandal plateaued after the Congressional Hearings. If it had been an NFL Week or even deeper in the NBA playoffs, the discussion would have been limited, most likely, to Miami and Phoenix only.

• ESPN.com’s freshman Senior Writer Michael Smith wasted space and time with Wednesday’s plea to allow Ron Artest back into the playoffs. The column might have been fitting at the end of the regular season – MAYBE. But it was completely out of place and preposterous at this juncture of the playoffs. But it was only half as preposterous as Smith’s lead, where he compared his proposed reduction of the sentence to when his “Momma returned my Nintendo joysticks after two weeks instead of three,” after Smith had been a “bad boy.” Might be time for Momma to take away Mikey’s laptop for a while, too. He remains the most peculiar hire at ESPN.com

• Scoop Jackson, meanwhile, gave me all I had to read about Lebron James leaving his representation and going with his own crew (or ‘cru’). It was here, at ESPN.com on Page 2 Scoop was given the space and despite not a whole lot of direct quoting (Scoop’s “cloak” which he has used effectively for years), the story got us inside the inner circle and developed some of the LBJ Inc. characters. Interesting read, for sure.

• Hadn’t Boston Sports Guy vowed he’d never be involved with a subscription fee for access to his content? The new daddy’s (Mazel Tov, Sim) chat from Wednesday was an “ESPN Premium Insider” feature, and last we checked that was a subscription service. Hmmmmm, seems to be a disconnect here, doesn’t there?

Kid’s gotta eat, we suppose. Right, Ty?

• On Monday night, with Eric Frede tossing softballs, the new head coach of the Minutemen, Travis Ford, called the state university, “The University of UMass.” I can’t make that up. Is it too late to get Lappas back?. . . I better stop the UMass Bashing right here and now: it could cost me dearly in the Beers Bequeathed department this weekend. Thorr still loves me – I just know it! . . One last thing, though, Ford’s ceremonial first pitch landed in Turners Falls somewhere. Or maybe at the Montague Inn. Couldn’t Mike “Stoney” Stone have tutored the guy in the Mullins parking lot before Ford motored up The Pike? . . . So, one last time, for all you Pioneer Valley Scott’s Shots loyalists: we’ll be at Rafters from sixish to at least 10ish on Saturday eve. Pregame for Sunday’s 1 p.m. tilt will either be at Twister’s or Time Out. Oh, wait – check that: better make it Mike’s Westview. Save the Drake, people. Save the Drake. If you can’t find us, ask around: the Gorman clan doesn’t travel quietly, even on a Lacrosse Weekend.

• Listen, I don’t want this to become a love-in for WUMB 91.9 FM, but the station just delivers so constantly, it’s truly an unappreciated treasure in our community – non-sports division.

Last night, it was a Peter Simons giving a Bob Marley tribute during “Private Collection” with a fascinating guest, the Marley historian, Roger Steffens. It was good, informative talk followed by great, intuitive music. It got the hippie in me all revved up. . . And while we’re spreading the love, man, how about checking out these two blogs that bumped into us this week: The first is the wayward ramblings of the fella doing http://tlbr.blogspot.com/. We’re referencing it as “Tilber” and recommending it highly. I admit, I know the guy and have a fondness for his style, but even if I didn’t I’d recognize its charm and appeal.

The second is getting a lot of run because of the Boom Goes the Dynamite kid (Google him if you haven’t already), but the main page of “Caffeine and Irony” is fairly amusing as well. Check it out at: http://caffeine.worldmagblog.com/caffeine/

• I got Tiger OS for Mac this week. . . pause, let that sink in. . . and I don’t even know how many RAM I have or what CPU I’m using. But it works. And I’ve got “widgets” that tell me weather and flight schedules on my “dashboard.”

I’m such a Mac Geek Wannabe, it’s embarrassing.

And while I’m at it, can someone give me the Cliff’s Notes on Smart Mailboxes? How do I use ‘em and do they save time?

• I think we’re going to have to start calling this “Scott’s Robots” if we keep up all this Techy Babble.

• You know that allowing me back into Amherst city limits with this much bitterness and pent up anger at the system could result in serious ramifications for the pizza supply at Antonio’s this weekend. Not to mention the Coors Light, or if Boyden Legend, Jim Patulak is roaming about, the Miller Lite. You’ll all fondly recall when Scott’s Shots spent time on Patulak’s grounds crew on Spring for a vintage “Maroon and White” piece titled, simply, “Patulak’s Pals.” Pure freakin’ gold that was. Too bad I peaked at 20.

• Boom, goes the dynamite. Indeed.

David Scott writes from a seaside shanty on the shores of Hull, Mass. and can be reached at shots@bostonsportsmedia.com