A power outage and a few other obstacles had me running behind this morning, but here’s the top stories from this morning. There was more quality then usual this morning, so there are 15 links, plus two bonus ones:

After 30 years, Michaels still believes - Chad Finn has Al Michaels recalling his broadcast of the 1980 U.S. Hockey win over the Soviet Union. Finn also says that the Boston media is making more out of Mike Milbury’s “Eurotrash” comment than the Vancouver media is. Big surprise there.

Documentary offers new view of Bird - Bill Doyle takes a peek at the new HBO Magic/Bird Documentary.

Cavs run away from Celtics in second half - Julian Benbow has the Celtics once again falling short down the stretch.

Where adjustments happen - Paul Flannery says that the Cavs made second-half adjustments last night, while the Celtics didn’t.

Celtics follow path of least resistance to defeat - Steve Bulpett says that the Celtics simply backed down and stopped being aggressive.

Rondo inching toward the elite - Sherrod Blakely’s notebook has LeBron James talking about how far Rajon Rondo has come in his career.

To Powe, there was no question about it - Benbow’s notebook says that the former Celtics had last night circle on his calendar for while.

Matt Cassel, Logan Mankins Highlight Patriots’ Brilliant 2005 Draft Class - Jeff Howe approves of the 2005 draft.

Scott Pioli tuned in - Karen Guregian has the former Patriots VP of Player Personnel talking about his club, and his old club.

Alabama product may fit TE-happy Patriots - Ian Rapoport has prospect Colin Peek saying that he’ll “translate seamlessly into Bill Belichick’s system.”

Mike Cameron used to center stage - Gordon Edes says that replacing Jacoby Ellsbury in centerfield is nothing for the man who once replaced Ken Griffey Jr at the same position.

Sox tell pitchers: ‘If it hurts, tell us’ - Daniel Barbarisi has the Red Sox hoping their pitchers won’t hesitate to tell them when something is wrong.

Fabled Fenway moves south - ESPNBoston with a quick look at the plans for the Red Sox new spring training facility scheduled to open in 2012.

Sox counting on thievery - The Red Sox place a great value on not making outs, Peter Abraham looks at how they allow Jacoby Ellsbury to run despite their own leanings against the stolen base.

Victor Martinez: Stats dish out truth - John Tomase has the Red Sox catcher feeling that he doesn’t have to prove himself behind the plate.

Bonus Links:

Over on Patriots Daily, Chris Warner has a  Q&A With Rutgers OL Kevin Haslam.

Also check out my Metro column from earlier in the week – Is perception reality for the 2010 Sox?.

WEEI’s Big Show had one of their better programs yesterday, and it was because they actually had a couple of guests. Harry Sinden was one guest (as noted by commenter mandb97) and the other was Tom E. Curran calling from the combine in Indy.

Curran expanded on his post from Wednesday dispelling the notion that the Patriots are cheap, and warning about the comments from former players like Asante Samuel. He noted that Samuel and others complain about how the Patriots move on from players that have done so much for them. Curran observed that  in the last two offseasons, the Eagles have said goodbye to franchise stalwarts Brian Dawkins and Brian Westbrook, yet you’re not going to hear a peep from Samuel, because he got his money – money which may well have contributed to the Eagles having to release those two players who had done so much for the franchise over the past decade.

 So what was the deal with 98.5 this morning talking about evening host Damon Amendolara receiving incessant texts from a producer at a rival station? It was strongly hinted that the station was WEEI and the show was the Big Show.

Interesting note from Mike Reiss this morning about the media contingent covering the Patriots at the combine out in Indy. He notes that while most teams have one or two reporters covering them, the Patriots have at least 12 reporters from various outlets covering their every move. He links to a piece in the Kansas City Star where a reporter noted how popular Scott Pioli was yesterday among the Boston media group, and that Pioli seemed slightly irritated at all the negative talk aimed at the Patriots supposed decline.

The passing of former Patriots fullback Mosi Tatupu touched many people yesterday, and that is reflected in the selected links below.

Beloved Mosi Tatupu left indelible imprint - Today is Ron Borges at his best, paying tribute to a player from another generation.

Tatupu earned a special place in hearts of Patriots fans - Jim Donaldson also has a fine tribute to Tatupu.

Passing of Mosi Tatupu a chance to catch up with retired Patriots reporter Carlo Imelio - Scott Cohen talks to the former “dean” of pro football writers in New England about the passing of Tatupu.

Tatupu connected with fans, teammates - Mike Reiss talks to another legendary Patriots writer, Ron Hobson, formerly of the Quincy Patriot Ledger about his memories of the fullback.

Pats’ philosophy: Spread the wealth - Tom E. Curran dispels the notion that the Patriots are “Cheap” and “don’t pay” their players.

Cavs pose threat to Celtics - Jim Fenton notes that much has changed since the Celtics opening night win over the Cavs.

Kendrick Perkins has big task - Mark Murphy has the Celtics center getting ready to face Shaq tonight.

Pestered by flu bug - Frank Dell’Apa’s notebook has Marquis Daniels and Paul Pierce questionable for tonight.

With Sox’ success comes higher expectations - Daniel Barbarisi has John Henry, Tom Werner and Larry Lucchino talking about the success they’ve had since taking over the Red Sox.

Shoulder got to be a grind - Amalie Benjamin has J.D. Drew talking about his offseason shoulder surgery, and how the injury impacted him at the end of last season. (And as BSMW reader Kevin pointed out, Congrats to Benjamin for writing the first “J.D. Drew is going to be REALLY healthy this year” column of the spring.)

Also check out Chris Warner’s Q&A With Utah DE Koa Misi over on Patriots Daily.

The Seahawks franchise their kicker? Why do all these teams violate the spirit of the franchise tag so egregiously?

I heard a sports radio host yesterday declare that he was “very very disappointed” in the David Patten signing by the Patriots. He called it a “real reach” for the team.

Does this person really think that Patten is being counted on to be a major contributor next season? I wouldn’t be shocked if he doesn’t even make the team. He’s here to participate in offseason workouts, mentor young receivers like Julian Edelman, Brandon Tate and Isaiah Stanback. He gets the benefit of the NFL facilities, and can go to camp with the team. If he doesn’t make the team, he’ll at least likely play in the preseason and get his name out there as perhaps a guy who can still play.

The Patriots will still be looking to upgrade the receiver position this offseason, either by free agency, draft or trade.

It’s not a great time for quality Boston sports writing and talk. The Red Sox are just getting going, so all we’ve got are the usual spring training profiles, any Patriots article these days is bound to be laced with snark and doom, the Celtics are just coming off a West coast road trip where most of the writers didn’t go with them, and the Bruins are off until after the Olympics.

Here’s what we find this morning:

Set up to go long? - I went back and forth on this Albert Breer piece about the Patriots applying the franchise tag to Vince Wilfork. Breer is a top-notch football reporter and writer, but  has the annoying habit of sometimes talking down to his readers. There is a little of that in here. I like the overall points he’s trying to make, but his manner is a bit off-putting -  spare everyone the “He’s got 7.003 million reasons not to complain.’’

Tag ordeal might have happy ending - Karen Guregian has a more optimistic view of the situation.

Randolph armed, ready for NFL - Jennifer Toland with a nice piece on Holy Cross QB Dominic Randolph, who has gotten plenty of looks from NFL scouts, and who many feel has a good shot at landing with an NFL team.

Patriots Have No 2007 Draft Regrets Thanks to Randy Moss and Wes Welker - continuing his series, Jeff Howe takes a pick-by-pick look at the 2007 draft for the Patriots. Judging by the number of clicks the first two part of this installment have gotten, Howe is doing a good job looking at the Patriots draft record without the hysterics used by others in town.

Bird-Magic documentary on HBO is a winner - Jim Fenton gives his take on the new HBO documentary Magic & Bird: A Courtship of Rivals which screened last night at TD Garden.

Kid stuff high on Doc Rivers’ list - Mark Murphy has a really good feature on how Doc Rivers and his wife balance out keeping up with their four children, plus another that they have guardianship over, while living in two different states.

Celtics’ (re)starting 5 - Steve Bulpett tells us the keys to the stretch run for the Celtics.

The Celtics prepare to add Nate Robinson to the mix - A. Sherrod Blakely with a look at Nate Robinson getting set for his Celtics debut tonight.

Crossroads moment for Ortiz: Past and future loom over slugger - More and more I’m coming to the realization that if I just want to read one baseball writer in town, it’s Alex Speier. There were at least six or seven articles on Ortiz in the morning papers, and Speier has the best and most informative. Again.

Cameron gets the star treatment; Beltre talks about the Fenway turf - Daniel Barbarisi’s extensive Red Sox Journal covers a number of topics from camp yesterday.

As per usual, we’ve pretty much stayed away from Olympic coverage here on BSMW, but the United States Olympic hockey team pulled a huge upset in the non-medal round of competition last night, stunning Team Canada 5-3.

The game was broadcast on MSNBC, which left a lot of people looking for it, and others looking for an HD version. Wondering why it was put on that secondary outlet rather than on NBC? A couple of reasons come to mind, first, putting it on MSNBC allowed the network to keep commercial breaks at a minimum, keeping the broadcast focused on the ice. Second, while this game was hugely attractive to sports fans, the casual observer of the Olympics probably wouldn’t sit through the entire broadcast, rather, they would be more likely to watch several events over the same time period, such as skating, skiing or whatever. Putting those events on NBC allows the network to keep their attention on their main channel, while knowing that more hard-core sports fans are going to find MSNBC, and appreciate the network sticking with the whole game there.

Stirring win vs. the iron of the sport - Bob Ryan looks at “one phenomenal game of hockey.” One tiny quibble - Bob, do you have to resort to statements like “He was bleepin’ great.” That’s Ordway-esque.

US steel - Kevin Paul Dupont has the game story in the Globe.

What Sox pitchers are working on this spring - Alex Speier looks at the Red Sox top 11 pitchers and what each of them will be trying to improve on during spring training.

Pedroia thinks Sox will rock - Sean McAdam has the Red Sox second baseman feeling that the team’s offense will be better than people think.

Sox will be Hall monitors - Nick Cafardo with a profile of new Red Sox utilityman Bill Hall, who hit 35 homers playing shortstop with the Brewers in 2006.

Contract year or not, same old Beckett - Daniel Barbarisi says Josh Beckett will not allow the final year of his contract to be turned into a public circus.

Reaching into (traveling) bag of tricks - Gary Washburn has the Celtics feeling like they’re heading in the right direction, especially on the defensive end, with Kevin Garnett looking closer to his pre-surgery form than at any point this season.

Nate Robinson improves - Steve Bulpett’s notebook has the Celtics new guard set to join them in time for a game against his old team tomorrow night.

Deficit in Denver too great for C’s - Jessica Camerato reflects on the Celtics loss in Denver, and the previous games on their West coast swing.

Patriots Got Job Done in 2008 Draft With Jerod Mayo Pick - Jeff Howe reviews the Patriots’ 2008 draft, pick-by-pick.

A quick check of sports radio this morning had 98.5′s Toucher and Rich talking Red Sox spring training with Dan Roche in Ft Myers, and Olympics with Shira Springer (Front page Globe story on Bode Miller this morning) in Vancouver, while WEEI’s Dennis and Callahan were all Tiger in the times I listened.