Thank you to those who took part in the live chat during our 6:30 show. It was a shot in the arm to us to respond to  your questions and comments live. Keep them coming. Stay tuned for our next live chat show.

I have been accused of being on the Patriot payroll, which I am not. Having said that, the Hall at Patriot Place is a must for any Patriot fan. You can spend four or five hours in this place easily. Admission is cheap.

You can call up plays and have Bill Belichik break them down. I was told Bill spent two 14 hour days taping the segments. It is great stuff. There is also interactive kiosks that allow you to touch a players name on the screen and then you can read about the player, check his stats or roll highlights. You need to check this place out.

Joe Hags informed us that on his flight back it was sold out except for one open seat. That seat belonged to Rob Bradford. He missed his flight. Fortunately, Rob made it for the 10pm show.

Tonight at 6:30 our Papelbon segment featured Jonathan,  Javey Lopez, David Pauley and Justin Masterson. Yours truly served as the host which is dream of mine. I even got to use a stupid cheezy voice.

I asked questions about Cinco and the other three had to write their answer down on a large poster board. Cinco would then give the correct answer.

I must admit, after we taped this at Fenway I had my reservations. I thought we bombed. We were in a rush to get it done and that never helps. Pap and the fellas came out at 3:20 as Moose the camera guy was setting things up.Then Pap told us they had to stretch at 3:40. We had twenty minues to get this down. I did not have a good feeling. Then there was the talented pitching coach John Farrell standing behind and watching his guys try to be funny. I am not sure if he was smiling or not. I was afraid to look. I was thinking he probably did not want his guys doing a game show at this point and time.

I felt better when Tim Wakefield, that night’s starter, stopped to watch and have some laughs.

We were very disorganized and even ran out of questions. We had to react on the fly. I messed up and had to record  a few takes. I thought the best question was,"What was Cinco Ocho’s last job?" The answer was a ham glazer. Only Pap could have been a ham glazer. I thought that was the only funny segment.

Wednesday night at 6:30 Dan will return to Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight after five year absense..okay maybe it was four. The reason Dan has not been on was because we were presented by the Boston Herald. That sponsorship no longer exists so we welcome all Globies…or is it Boston.comers? Yes, Tony Mazz will be back on as well.

Be sure to tune in because we will re-run a five year old clip of Dan taking Greg to the woodshed about Jose Offerman. It will be a must see.

Great to see "Dauber" on our 6:30 show. Brian Daubach had a stretch with the Red Sox between 1999-2002 ( he would return in 2004 for half a season) when he was Mr. Clutch. You always rooted for this guy. Brian, who was the hitting coach for the Nashua Pride this season, is setting his sights on coaching in the big leagues some day. Of course, who have heard him on WEEI and you will also see more of him on Sports Tonight.

It was old home week for Dauber and Kevin Miller, our fearless leader here at Sports Tonight. Like the Belleville Basher, Kevin is also from Belleville,IL.. Kevin was two or so years behind Brian and knew who Brian was but Dauber had never heard of Kevin. These two chatted it up for an hour before the show. It went something like… "Did you know Bitsy McGilicuddy?" "Yep, my second cousin-Fred the mailman’s daughter dated her brother." This is when I had to leave the room. Oh yes, Jimmy Connors is the third most famous Belleville resident.

If you heard an alarm during the 6:30 show the problem was not in your set. The fire alarm went off during our Dick’s Hall of Fame segment…we still have not found the fire. Actually, the alarm wasn’t that loud. It was a bit faint. Then I was told the studio is sound proof so the alarm is hard to hear. Great, if the place is actually  burning down to the two talking heads go up  in flames.

During the 6:30 Felger said "Carpe DIem, seize the day". Star on the rise producer, Nate Long said sarcasticlly, "thanks for telling me Felger." Nate felt everyone knows what carpe diem means. There was no need to explain and therefore was a waste of valuable Mohegan Sun Sports Tonight air time. Grand honcho producer, Kevin Miller disagreed. There was a heated debate for about fifteen minutes on this topic. So, the crew was polled and 50% percent of them did not know what the term meant. Advantage Felger. I was wrong. I thought everyone knew what that meant. But, then I realized the only reason I know the defination is because I saw Dead Poets Society.

My bad on Papelbon pitching well on Sunday. I meant to say Saturday when he was in the groove as opposed to Sunday when he was tagged for two runs. I hate to give Felgy ammunition.

I cannot believe how the Papelbon Dirty Dancing video has taken the internet world by storm. We received 8,000 more hits today than usual. Even Deadspin picked it up. Cinco Ocho has to do Dancing with the Stars.

You know you are old when during the commerial break you are talking about how expensive pre-shcool is. That was my discussion with Meter. Our sons are in the same pre-school class. Of course, I drop my son off and Meter has his Nanny do the drop off. Oh yeah, he is working then.

Felger has it in for my guy Wakefield. He has pitched well in the playoffs at times. I admit, he has struggled more often than not. But, you never know if a knuckleballer is going to pitch well in the playoffs or not. He has to be on the playoff roster.

A round of applause for our studio technical coordinator Jeff Garcia. With our new format this guy is moving cameras and cables around the studio at record pace. The guy is smooth under pressure.

That’s all I got for now.

What you saw tonight with Jonathan Papelbon-The High School Years-was five months in the making.

In May Rob Bradford, then of the Boston Herald currently of WEEI.COM, told me that Sheila Papelbon (Jonathan’s mom) had a video tape of her son and the rest of his high school teamates in heels, dresses and wigs at high school rally. We later learned the tape also showed Pap playing the role of Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing with his best friend then and now playing the role of Jennifer Grey.

As soon as Rob told me about it, I knew we HAD TO HAVE IT! So, the always helpful Rob Bradford gave me Sheila Papelbon’s number.

Now, Jonathan speaks highly of his mother who played division one softball in the SEC. Once, I spoke with her I knew why. She is as much fun as he is, if not more. She is also a great practical joker with her sons often being the victims. Furthermore, thanks to the dish, she and her husband Jon, rarely miss a Cinco Ocho appearance on Sports Tonight.

I told her of a plan that was cooked up during a high level meeting with CSN photographer, Bill "Moose" Messina. She loved it and was all in. During her next trip to Boston she would stop by the studio and bring in the tape so we could make a copy. In the age of You Tube, it is understandable that she did not want the tape to end up in the wrong hands. 

Zo just sreamed at me. "How can you think that play was dirty?" he yelled. Last night on the Patriots Post Game Show I agreed with Zolak and Gresh that it was a clean play. Felger came in the office today screaming that the rule has to be changed. He feels even if a player is blocked and then hits the QB below the knee it should still be a penalty. So, I decided to watch the play one more time.

Now, I saw the play real time and thought it was a clean hit because I felt Sammy Morris pushed Pollard into Brady. Then I saw the replay in the booth and Gresh and Zo both said clean hit. I chose not to challenge my two experts and agreed.

But, today at CSN I saw a replay angle I did not see in the broadcast booth. I saw that Morris did hold Pollard down but it was Pollard who dove for Brady’s legs. He did so under his own power. He was not pushed. He went after Brady’s knees period. 

I realize many will not see it the way I saw it. One of our producers ( TV term for overworked and under paid) Koon Lam agreed with me. Another producer, Nate Long of the St. John, VIrgin Island Longs, felt it was clean. The argument between these two got so heated I thought I was going to have take them both out at the knees.

When two veteran, highly respected football scribes like Felger and Curran get together you would think their off air conversation would be about oh say….FOOTBALL!

Not the case. Before the show and during commercials the discussion was, "is fish oil good for you?" Curran had been to the gym before coming in to do the show. He sat at my desk with a row pills in front that would give the idea he was on his deathbed. No need to be concerned, they were vitamins. One of the pills was a fish oil pill. Tom did not look so good when had to swallow it. Felger of course thought Curran was nuts. Then Curran explained that fish oil pills are healthy and can help you keep your weight down. Now, Felger has been on the bowl of salad diet nightly. I give him credit. He has been very disciplined. But, when Felgy heard about the miracle weight loss pill known as fish oil it was as if he discovered the fountain of youth.

These two were yacking so much about this stuff I thought I had been transfered to The View.

Fish oil?! No thanks. Just have a piece of fish instead of a hamburger and the weight will fall off.

See what I have to put up with?

Talk to you Monday.

I hate it when people try to be funny and tonight I hate myself. I violated my own rule. Never TRY to be funny. If it happens naturally, great. Other than that..skip it.

Tonight Felger hung me out to try when I made a joke about his weather talk. I said he will have the five day forecast and we will send him down to cover the storms in Florida.    Crickets. Come on…help me out with a fake TV laugh.

One of our camera photogs (short for photograher..TV term) Barry Alley says that I have the best TV laugh around. This is a fake laugh so someone who has said something that is not funny doesn’t feel like a fool. Of course, no one was there to help me tonight. That’s it - I am done with my TV laugh. If I don’t get a chuckle to bail me out…I refuse to bail out anyone.

Yes, my joke that Tony Romo should put Simpson on the back of his jersey bombed. Late Edition producer, Nate Long, said the material was fine but the delivery was not.  Since it was at the end of the show maybe I got lucky and  you switched over to McCain.

Joe Haggerty was in tonight. I asked you at 6:30 if you liked Gresh’s red shirt. So, I will ask you tonight, "do you like Joe’s sideburns?" The jury is still out for me. Not sure. I think he may be trying to hard for the Elvis or Johnny Cash look. There might be a Dwight Yoakam influence there as well.

The Gresh monster loves his new red shirt. He always sports the large garb when appearing on Sports Tonight. What do you think? Let us know if the Red works the Gresh. Lady’s comments are especially welcome.

Hey, Tanguay’s Take makes the big time! You know you have made it when you get your own elevator (TV term).

An elevator is a promotional graphic that rises up from the bottom of the screen and tonight you saw me looking smooth with the coat tossed over my shoulder. I have know idea when that picture was taken. I hate it. I never walk around with my jacket over my shoulder. It looks like a bad graduation picture. If I were you I would think that Tanguay guy was a jerk because of that picture. Of course, I am too lazy to go bug the internet geeks to change it.

Old age is setting in with PAPA Tanguay. I called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim the California Angels. Is Gene Mauch still the manager?

Producer man Jim thought it was a good show tonight. What did you think? Let us know.

Talk to you after the Late Edition.

Tough night last night during the Late Edition at 10pm. At the end of the show I announced that Greg and his lovely and very patient wife, Shannon welcomed a healthy baby boy, Cole into this world. I then said "mother and DAUGHTER are doing fine." It’s on tape and because of this Cole Dickerson will hate me for the rest of his life. His old man will be sure to show him at every birthday how I called him a girl when he was two days old.

Mother and son are doing fine. Greg is bouncing of the walls and no doubt will be a wonderful playmate for Cole. Btw…Cole is a great name don’t you think?

Felger is the king of stirring it up. Tonight he said Daisuke’s outing this afternoon was horrible. And then he pulled the old put words in our mouths routine at 10pm. He said I used the word"encouraging" when describing Daisuke’s outing. I did not say that. For an outing in which Daisuke struggled, I said that it was not a a terrible performance. I am glad Felger got me ticked for the 10pm. Sometimes that’s what it takes to keep me awake so I can drive home. Being the PAPA of Comcast SportNet the Late Edition for me is the Late Late really Late Edition. So on that note, I am going home and going to  bed. RIght after I stop by the 24 hour CVS to buy Pampers, soap and shampoo. See what you have to look forward to Greg?

If you want to eat a lot of great southern cooking and just hang out head to Charleston, SC. Grits with diced ham and scallions covered melted blue cheese…need I say more?

Not to totally gross you out….but during a visit to the doctor’s office with some skinny camera thing stuck up my nose and down the back of my throat, my doctor said, "I like my job." I tried to say without choking to death, "so do I." That’s why coming back from vacation is never a big deal. I am one of the few that looks forward to coming to work after vacation. It’s not as if I don’t like the time off or spending time with the fam, it’s just that when it is over I am ready to get back at it. Lucky me.

Felger and I were just talking. Sometimes we feel that we act like Regis and Kelly. You figure out who is who. Either way, it’s not a compliment. Just don’t call me Gelman. Ya know, when they interview some big star they alternate questions. I feel Felgy and I have been doing too much of that. We have to stop being so polite and say what we think instead of making sure the guest feels  at home. Oh my god! Am I becoming Dickerson?!

You may or may not have noticed at home but I said that James Sanders was in his third year when, as our lower third graphic showed you, he is in his fourth. Of course Gresh and Salk were NO HELP when I said thirty seconds before the show "This Sanders third year right?" Of course, those two turkeys said absolutely. Still, I should have looked it up to be sure before the show. This may seem minor to you, but mistakes like these drive me &*%# nuts.

By the way, a lower third graphic is a TV term for the name or fact seen on the bottom of the screen pertaining to the player that is speaking.

I will let you in on a little secret. Our C-block was taped tonight because of studio logistics. In other words, the set could not be moved during commercials if we did it live. Yes, Gresh did stumble when he said, "your polls results,"" at the end of the segment. He almost stopped and wanted to do the segment over. It was our third take and one of the cardinal rules in the bizz is do not stop talking when you are close to finishing a segment. If you do, the technical crew will beat you silly. Yes, they would have pounded on 6′5" 300 pounds of Gresh Flesh.

Yes, I almost said something stupid like, "Byrd will play the birds," when looking ahead to Paul Byrds’s Sox debut versus againt the  Blue Jays. I am glad I didn’t.

Why do I speak like I am eighty years old? Tonight on the Late Edition I said "Hold the phone," meaning hold your horses or wait a minute. This is something by late great parents would say. I am one of the oldest guys around here and every time I say something like "Hold the phone," or make a Dick Van Dyke Show or I Love Lucy reference the twenty somethings around here look at me like I should be taken to the home.

Dickerson was back tonight and he always make me say something I don’t want to. For example i did not want to be critical of Rodney Harrison tonight. But, Greg said that Rodney was close to his form of 2004. Come on, not even Rodney would agree with that. Because of injury and time there is no way Rodney can be the player he was in 2004. He was awesome in 04. Steve DeOssie even said that Rodney had lost a step but because of Rodney’s brain power he can anticipate what the offense is going to do. Of course, Greg is trying to make it out that I said Rodney is over the hill. He is not over the hill, he is just not the guy he was in 2004.

I would love to see John Lynch with the Patriots. He and Rodney can still hurt people. Can you imagine going over the middle and getting crushed by both of them? Sanders and Merriweather can learn a ton from those two veterans.

Am I the only person that thinks that Michael Phelps and Mike Vrabel could be twins if Vrabs dropped 100 pounds?

Sergio Garcia is headed for Greg Normanville. When asked if he was disappointed about losing the his lead and the PGA championship to Paddy Harrington he got snippy at reporters and said it was a positive experience.Lighten up Sergio. There was nothing positive about your performance at the PGA. You had a a chance and you blew it. Take some advice…admit the obvious and move on. Besides, there is no reason to snap at the golf media. These reporters are easy to work with. IT’S GOLF! Spend a day in the Red Sox club house and you will treat the media better. Now, Norman was not known to bark at the media. His post tournament press conferences were like a trip to the psych couch.

Time to pat myself on the back…which I enjoy doing greatly. I told you last year in spring training that the Red Sox were going to win the World Series and they did. I told you this year during spring training that the Sox would not repeat and they won’t. OK, before you e-mail in all of my incorrect predictions I admit I am wrong much more than I am right. To be serious, it is obvious this Sox team does not have the magic. It’s all Angels baby.