Boston University is picked to come in second place this year … after Boston College!

Argh!

Last night I was admitted into Boston University’s Online Master of Science in Health Communication program!

I’m going back to BU, baby!

That got me to thinking of other images from civil unrest past.

Boston in 1770:

Engraving by Paul Revere

Harpers Ferry, Virginia in 1859:

Illustration from Harper's Weekly

Birmingham, Alabama in 1963:

Photograph by Bill Hudson

Kent State University in 1970:

Photograph by John Filo

Tiananmen Square in 1989:

Photograph by Jeff Widener

Los Angeles in 1992:

Screenshot from KTLA

Seattle in 1999:

Photography by Steve Kaiser

Key quote:

With Gonzalez reportedly having agreed to a seven-year, $154 million extension to his contract, the Red Sox have invested $296 million in a span of four days. The additions of Gonzalez and Crawford, two stars in their prime, should set the team up as contenders for years to come.

Red Sox Nation just got an early Christmas present …

Now that’s called diversifying! They own the Sox, Fenway Park, 80 percent of NESN, 50 percent of NASCAR’s Roush Fenway Racing, and now a British football club?

Here are the top ten:

1 New York
2 London
3 Tokyo
4 Paris
5 Hong Kong
6 Chicago
7 Los Angeles
8 Singapore
9 Sydney
10 Seoul

Boston is number 19.

The two teams playing are Sporting Clube de Portugal from the Portuguese Liga and Celtic FC of the Scottish Premier League.

So which team do you think Bostonians will root for – “Sporting” or “Celtic”?

Those poor Portuguese …

I haven’t been there in years, since sometime in college, but I heard there’s a whole expansion set to open in 2012. That’ll be something.

The “Nomar” in question (if there are even multiple “Nomars” out there?) is former Sox shortstop Nomar Garciaparra, who of course was a member of the historic 2004 World Series team – up until the trade deadline in July.

I was in Boston that weekend, and although I didn’t write about it at the time, I did take this photo:

August 01, 2004. The day after Nomar was traded to the Cubs.
Ironic, eh? 'Keep the Faith.'

Anyway, immediately after I heard the news today I got to thinking about retiring his jersey, number five. Rocco had it last season, but now he’s retired, too. So it’s free.

But the Red Sox official policy on retiring uniform numbers is based on the following criteria:

Election to the National Baseball Hall of Fame
At least 10 years played with the Red Sox

He’s a six-time All-Star and was the 1997 American League Rookie of the Year, so the Hall of Fame shouldn’t be a problem, we’ll have to wait five years but that’s no problem.

The second part – problem.

Nomar was only with the Sox from August of 1996 to the aforementioned July of 2004 – nine years.

Hmm.

Guess we do have five years to change that rule …

Photo by Andy Ryan/MIT

When I was at BU one of my buddies was at MIT and the Media Lab. It always sounded like a geek playground. I went over there once, in about 1996 or 1997, to see Bran Ferren speak. Genius.

I wonder how many people in that auditorium are millionaires now?

Anyway, for more on the building (and the lab) check out the Wall Street Journal: “MIT Unveils New Digital Sandbox.”