By David Scott
Boston Sports Media Watch

First and foremost, our thoughts and best wishes go out to Jon Lester and his family.

All this other stuff, in the next several hundred words is just meant as distraction from crap like Lester’s diagnosis and whatever it is that reminds you about life’s inherent unfairness.

. . . We start with a bit of a look, and some key links, to an episode of Foxboro Fireworks, ignited by a Herald scribe and a Globe rabble-rouser.

After that, we go a bit further south on 95 and 495 and 140 and find our selves up close and personal with the mythic Tiger.

• Strange days indeed within Patriots Nation, as Bill Belichick dodged the dogged questions of John Tomase, Alan Greenberg and Ron Borges during a brief teleconference on Friday afternoon. The audio is linked by the Pats here at the team’s website (RealPlayer audio file). The transcript provided at Patriots.com does not quite match the audio (which is troubling on a few levels). Fortunately, Tomase was able to transcribe the odd ending to the teleconference at his paper’s “Point After” blog.

The entire episode can likely be swept under the rug and passed off as “technical difficulties” by PR man (and teleconference moderator) Stacey James. But wouldn’t you have loved to see the smoke rising from the Belichick chimney during the Branch offensive launched by the ink-stained wretches? This is not the kind of holdout that Team Belichick can be tolerating and BB just HAS to know this.

The fact that Borges is involved is no surprise whatsoever to anyone who pays attention to these things. For better or worse, he is a “part” of that beat in many ways, and he is deeply entrenched in this one, almost like no other Borges production of the past.

. . . Newbie NBCSports.com’s Tom Curran was able to get his new employer a bit of immediate buzz with his reportage on the grievance-filing portion of the story. Already justifying the move from print to Web, Curran could be on the verge of a breakout, national season.

• Shots Field Trip to the DeutscheBank Championship in Norton at the TPC

The tournament caps daily attendance at 25,000 people, but puts no cap on the relentless pursuit of Tiger Woods by approximately 24,927 of those paying (and non-paying) visitors to the great woods near Great Woods.

With an admittedly lackluster field – Vijay Singh is the second-best name and then it’s a 30-way tie for third – the still-evolving Boston stop on the PGA tour is, for all intents and purposes, COMPLETELY and UTTERLY about watching one, single golfer, performing at the tournament that benefits his foundation.

Without Tiger Woods, this stop gets lost in a Labor Day filled with sad sports news for the Olde Towne Team.

With Tiger Woods, we are treated to a nice alternative to the horrible, daily news, emerging from Fenway. And not just any alternative, a Legend-in-Our-Midst kind of option.

Ali. Jordan. Woods.

And if you think that’s hype, you haven’t been paying attention.

. . .Shots brought in contraband of the worst kind – the cell phone – but it went un-detected and, responsibly kept on vibrate, did not disturb one single solitary soul. (Verizon service is sketchy all over TPC, in fact.)

I didn’t see one sign or read anywhere about the cell phone ban, so I wasn’t necessarily just trying to be difficult and take a stand for some petty cause. But I still would have tried to sneak it in if that became necessary – everyone else was doing business on the course, shouldn’t I have been able to, as well?

. . . Next year’s field promises to be better when the Deutsche becomes part of the new FedEx Cup configuration. It will also go form a USA/ABC-televised event to a Golf Channel/NBC production.

. . . We were treated to some wonderful Blacker Family (of the Sudbury-cum-Hudson Blackers) Golf Hour on the 11th green. Family golf stories were flying in along with lofted shots on the Par-3, and for a first-time Blacker Gallery member such as Shots, the experience was quite engrossing. Things did, however, get a bid odd when the bleach-blonde, flexible, Camillo Villegas threesome passed through and Cousin Amy was found gleefully skipping away from her near-brush with the cutey Colombian.

. . . How damn far has David Duval fallen in the golf world? He looked like a deadman walking from the practice range throughout the course. Wasn’t he just unbelievable a mere moment ago?

. . . A quick peek into the MGA Golf Museum was well worth the diversion, as was the table-full of IMG food we bumped into. The yogurt parfait and muffin hit the spot nicely. Thanks IMG!

. . . The IMG people basically commandeer the MGA offices during the Tour’s stop and use it for an operations base. The logistics of the event are monumental for lesser groups, but simply part of the job for IMG and its partners. The shuttle buses run smoothly, fans are given freedom to roam and the overall assault of marketing and sponsorship is pretty much kept in check.

. . . A table for the ages was set beneath the WTKK-FM big top hard by the 18th green. Going from left to right on your radio dial, was the seated, headsetted, Jackie MacMullan, Barnicle and Babbling Bob Lobel. We had to rush by on our way to the free grub, but we’re actually going to give the benefit of the doubt that it was probably pretty enjoyable radio.

. . . Jackie Mack started out walking the course with Tiger “inside the ropes” and we caught her close on Tiger’s tail at 5 and 6. By the time we caught up with Tiger at 11, Jackie Mack was no longer in view. I’m guessing after the first three or so, you kind of see what the whole scene is about. We’ll look forward to Mighty Mack’s take on the Tiger, likely in Saturday’s Globe.

. . . The ABC TV golf cart drivers are by far the biggest a-holes on the cart paths. Generally, the food carts (the golf cart flat beds) are the most courteous and sometimes, when they creep along real slow, you can snag a stray water of piece of fruit.

. . . The Deutsche Hospitality tent was plush and comfy with fist-sized shrimp (I exaggerate) and a seared ahi tuna at lunch that knocked my socks off.

The lunch also afforded us the opportunity to meet up with some of Deutsche’s in-house bloggers Rohini Pragasam and John Tracey, who kindly directed me to some footage of Divot the Clown, “one of the world’s greatest golfing clowns.”

Not to be confused with the world’s greatest clowning golfer, Bill Murray.

. . . Spotted by Shots on-course, but not together: NESN’s Hazel Mae, M.L. Carr and Tiger’s Mom.

Okay, Wilbon – which one are you kicking out of that Hot Tub?

David Scott writes from a seaside shanty on the shores of Hull, Mass. And can be reached at shotsATbostonsportsmedDOTcom