While the NFL lockout is officially over, there are a ton of veteran players without a team, draft picks that need to be signed and training camp battles that need to ensue. What this makes for is an extremely busy time in the world of football.

It's also a busy time for NESN.com's Jeff Howe. But Howe dropped by NESN Daily to discuss the new collective bargaining agreement that the owners and players were able to hammer out, as well as to take a look at what kind of shape the Patriots are in as training camp and free agency finally get set to begin.

Howe thinks that the Patriots are in good shape as of right now, and that any lingering bitterness between the players and owners should decrease as we move forward and football activities resume.

To hear what else Howe had to say, including what minor tweaks the Patriots could look to make to their roster, check out the video above.

It took the government more than two and a half years to build a case against Roger Clemens, and now a mistrial has been declared less than two full days into testimony.

Is something more stunning even fathomable?

Wait, it gets better. There is a chance, according to legal types who are chiming in around the country, that there will not be any chance for a new trial. So Roger Clemens, who walked free on Thursday, may never be tried for lying to Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs. He may never be tried for the cotton balls and needles stained with his DNA and steroids that the prosecution talked so much about in its opening statement. He may never be tried for evidence the government spent years gathering –- evidence it did not have against Barry Bonds. He may never have to listen to former teammate and friend Andy Pettitte testify against him.

Our NESN legal analyst, Harry Manion, called Clemens a "very lucky Texan," and told me that's exactly what he believes will happen.

What a victory that would be.

Manion explained how the double jeopardy clause comes into play in this case like this.

"Case law says if a mistrial is caused by prosecutorial misconduct, that triggers the double jeopardy clause," he said. "Because he was at jeopardy when the jury sat, this may well be violative of his double jeopardy rights. If the judge finds it was prosecutorial misconduct, you can't try him again.

"You blew it. You lose."

The prosecution will have to argue that the inclusion of the Andy Pettitte's wife's affidavit -– read by Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., in a video shown to the jury Thursday –- was inadvertent. Judge Walton had already clearly stated that Laura Pettitte's statements were not admissible in the trial. That will be no easy task, according to Manion.

"When all of this is shaken and baked," Manion said, "I think this very serious judge is going to say, 'Dismissed Mr. Clemens. You're a free man. Stay in touch. See you later.'"

It is difficult to fathom how the prosecution could have made a mistake of this magnitude in a case shining in an enormous national spotlight. For a judge to admonish that a first-year law student wouldn't make such a mistake sums it up. And now, whether you were for or against the time, manpower and money spent investigating Roger Clemens, the lasting story will be that it was the government's own missteps that resulted in all of that time, manpower and money going to waste.

Prepare yourself. Another bombshell could be coming on Sept. 2, when a hearing will be held to determine whether or not to hold a new trial.

NHMS Executive Vice President and General Manager Jerry Gappens joined Jade McCarthy on NESN Daily to talk about the upcoming season.

Check out portions of the interview in the video above.

  John Lackey struggled again against the Blue Jays on Monday, surrendering seven runs over just 2 1/3 innings. It may have been the worst start of his career, but NESN's Peter Gammons thinks Lackey is still a key component of the Red Sox' future.

Following the Sox' 9-7 loss to Toronto, Gammons stressed how important it is that the Sox get Lackey turned around.

Tom Caron also noted that Lackey isn't one to complain about an ailing elbow, so it's certainly in the Red Sox' hands to determine if there is something medically wrong with the struggling right-hander.

To hear what else Gammons and Caron had to say, as well as who David Ortiz selected to replace Mark Teixeira in the Home Run Derby, check out the video above from NESN Daily.

Despite his 10 wins, Jon Lester will not be making the trip to Arizona to participate in this season's All-Star Game, which the left-hander admits he is disappointed about.

Lester said after the selections were announced on Sunday that he would have liked to have gone, but he's also looking forward to the break.

The lefty also noted that the Yankees usually take care of business when it cames to the All-Star voting.

To hear Lester's complete reaction and to catch a glimpse of his stats so far this season, check out the video above from NESN Daily.

It seems like it was yesterday that the Bruins were skating around Rogers Arena with the Stanley Cup high above their heads. But the B's development camp is set to get underway soon, as the team hopes to groom its next batch of Stanley Cup champions.

This year's first-round pick Dougie Hamilton headlines the 24 players who will be in attendance. Others who will be skating at the development camp include David Warsofsky, Jared Knight and Ryan Spooner.

The camp will take place Thursday, July 7 through Monday, July 11 at Ristuccia Memorial Arena in Wilmington, Mass.

To check out more details about the camp, as well as get an update on Tomas Kaberle's free-agency status, check out the video above from NESN Daily.

 With the NBA's current collective bargaining agreement set to expire at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, the NBA players and owners still have a wide gap to close in order to avoid a potential work stoppage.

The Boston Globe's Gary Washburn stopped by NESN Daily to discuss the current status of the NBA and the potential for a lockout. Washburn said that despite a great NBA Finals and season filled with intriguing storylines, there is a lot of money and pride involved, and the player aren't going to back down.

Washburn said that situation doesn't look good.

To hear what else he had to say about a potential NBA lockout, check out the video above.

Bruins first-round draft pick Dougie Hamilton has an immense amount of potential. But unlike last year's first-round pick Tyler Seguin, who made the Bruins roster immediately, Hamilton could be more of a work in progress.

B's general manager Peter Chiarelli said that Hamilton is about a year away. He said that he is still a bit skinny and needs to get stronger.

Hamilton's OHL coach, Marty Williamson, echoed Chiarelli's sentiments and said that Hamilton needs to obtain more man strength, which could eventually be make him unstoppable at times.

Williamson said that Hamilton is a complete defenseman who sees the ice really well. He also praised Hamilton's character.

To hear what else Chiarelli and Williamson think Hamilton needs to focus on in his development and what they expect from him going forward, check out the video above from NESN Daily.

"You're saying Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, you're not saying Game 6," he said. "This is what every kid dreams about."

The stakes Wednesday night could not have been higher. The pressure cooker of Rogers Arena could not have been greater. Thomas and the Bruins were entering enemy territory –- a place where the team had not won a single game in the series. What was on Thomas' mind?  Childhood dreams.

It is at the heart of that "it" quality that championship teams possess.  And now you can count the Bruins among them. Yes, they execute. They focus and deliver when it matters most. Sometimes they do it in a dominating fashion, like a 4-0 shutout. But through it all, they have fun.

Shawn Thorton was quoted in The Boston Globe on the morning of the day the Bruins broke the team's 39-year drought, saying, "Pressure's five kids, no job. This is Game 7. This is fun, right?  We get to play a game for a living. Just enjoy it."

Enjoy it, these Bruins will.

Zdeno Chara's elated yelp and ear-to-ear grin as he hoisted the Cup high above his towering figure said it all.

The history is lengthy. The 2010-11 Bruins add their names to the record books with the sixth championship in franchise history. They become the first team in league history to win three Game 7's in a single postseason. They are only the fourth road team to win Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final.

But as Chara handed Lord Stanley's chalice off to Mark Recchi, who raised it above his head for the third time in his career, the elation only grew. And as the Bruins passed the Cup from one player to another, that elation travelled more than 3,000 miles from Rogers Arena to Causeway Street, Boston and beyond.

The "it" quality this Bruins team captured, and their ability to have fun on the game's greatest stage, in turn fulfills the childhood dream of millions of Bruins fans. Tonight, next week, and for years to come, it won't just be Tim Thomas reminiscing about playing in a Game 7 as a kid. Millions will join him. And a new generation of children will take to the driveway, the ice rink or the pond with their own dream.  Maybe some day, like this day, their dream will come true again.

Several months ago, Milan Lucic came into our NESN Daily studio. It was prior to the start of the playoffs but late enough in the season that the team had developed its personality, chemistry, whichever word you choose to best describe that "it" quality. 

Among the topics I asked Lucic about: an old-school Bruins jacket. It was making its way around the locker room, awarded to the player of the game by his teammates every night. Lucic laughed when I asked about it, but enjoyed talking about it. That jacket clearly brought out one of the high points of this team. Their camaraderie.  

It is, of course, not so much the jacket itself but what it symbolizes. Players from Lucic, to Tim Thomas, to Nathan Horton and now, Rich Peverley have called the jacket "his own" for a night. That distinction is only earned when a teammate passes the jacket along to the team's standout player of the game. It is far from a complicated process, but, it has become a tradition — and it speaks volumes.

Tuesday night, that jacket hung in Nathan Horton's locker. It wasn't the first time. He's worn it the postgame podium with pride — netting two Game 7 winners in overtime will do that. 

Tuesday, we all know, was different. An Aaron Rome hit in the first period hushed the Garden crowd and probably just about half of New England in their living rooms. Horton, who is home and recovering, will not return for the remainder of the Final. 

But Thursday night, for a crucial Game 4 in which the Bruins looked to level the series, Horton was there. Given the concussion he is recovering from, his presence enough is telling. That he hand-delivered the jacket to the player who had taken his place on the top line and scored twice?

Rich Peverley put it like this: "It means a lot, coming from Nathan. He's a big part of our team. Just to see him was important to all of us."

If a picture is worth a thousand words, imagine the scrapbook you could create with the photos of that old jacket — making its way from locker to locker, up to the podium on the back of the player of the night. 

It's the type of story that weaves itself into a tale for the ages over time. One you'll tell your children and grandchildren; one that will be passed down through the generations. What a chance these Bruins have earned themselves for that tale to go down in history.

Say what you want about the series — the bad blood, the physical play on the ice, the stellar showcase by some and lackluster performance by others. When it’s all said and done, the tradition of that jacket just might say it all. 

Photo from TwitPic/@Erk_The_Jerk

The Stanley Cup Final might have just picked up a notch. It wasn't just that the Bruins won Game 3, it was how they did it.

The B's exploded offensively, handing the Canucks an 8-1 defeat, in which tempers were flaring throughout.

Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi both made it a point to taunt Alexandre Burrows and Maxim Lapierre, respectively, for their antics earlier in the series, Shawn Thornton and Aaron Rome were both kicked out of the game for separate incidents and Dennis Seidenberg dropped the mitts.

It's safe to say, the series is in full swing.

To check out some of the mayhem from Game 3, as well as hear Claude Julien's and Shawn Thornton's reactions after the game, check out the video above from NESN Daily.

The Bruins are inviting fans out to the TD Garden on Monday afternoon to send the team off as they depart for Vancouver. After the team's slimmest-margin-of-victory win against the Lightning on Friday night, I'm not sure the cheering has ceased. You only need to turn your head, log online or flip on the television to know this team is going somewhere that no other Bruins team has gone in 21 years.

The Stanley Cup Final.

Four wins this time of year may seem like an eternity away, but as the Bruins have aptly pointed out in recent weeks, the majority of their counterparts are sitting at home wishing they had a chance like the one the B's are staring at. Prior to Game 7 against the Lightning, the Bruins sounded like a team that was having fun — a team that is enjoying the ride. From the head coach on down, this team sounded as relaxed as it has sounded throughout the playoffs. Going into a do-or-die Game 7, that's saying something.
 
The Bruins have erased a lot of heartbreak with their Game 7 victories. They overcame an 0-2 deficit against the hated Canadiens, and when they couldn't oust them in Game 6, they did in seven. They battled against a Lightning team with even greater offensive firepower; a team Tim Thomas shut out in a 1-0 win Friday night. Dwayne Roloson did everything — everything — in his power to maintain that perfect record in elimination games. And it was a classy move by Thomas to credit Roloson's play in a postgame interview on Versus. But these Bruins refused to be denied, fired shots and kept the pressure on. In the end, David Krejci sliced through Tampa's 1-3-1 defense, and the Bruins prevailed.
 
There is little question that Claude Julien's bunch has learned from the lessons along the way. Many of those lessons have come this year. Jack Edwards told me Sunday night that this Bruins team seems almost incapable of having its back broken — of having its belief suspended or broken down. He referenced Mark Recchi's outspoken belief in his team, even when they were Montreal-bound in a two-game hole. The veteran has logged years on the ice and won championships. He knows what it takes to play for a Cup — and to win one.
 
But, some of the lessons date back further. Team owner Jeremy Jacobs touched on it Sunday, referencing "life experiences we've taken to heart and we've grown with."

By the time the Bruins eliminated the Flyers by way of the sweep in the Eastern Conference semifinals, the redemption music has long since been playing. It even seemed they were groaning at the tune in Philadelphia — because they too heard it all the way down 95 and the Jersey Turnpike. That series was all but over after Game 2, when Thomas' 52-save performance stonewalled the Flyers and broke their belief. Consider it retribution for a historic turnaround in last year's conference semifinals. That collapse was not easily forgotten around these parts, nor was it glossed over in the Bruins' locker room. A bitter taste had to be washed away, but more than that, it had to become a lesson.

As humans, we often learn the greatest lessons not from successes, but from mistakes and missteps. It has been said "failures are fingerposts on the road to achievement." These Bruins have lived that. Now, they stand at the doorway of the game's ultimate achievement.

As their play-by-play voice told me, "these Bruins have learned from virtually every difficult situation they've been in." That lesson in particular stands to serve this team well. Standing before them, the Canucks present the Bruins their most difficult challenge yet. The outcome may not be certain, but one thing is: These Bruins have proven they deserve our belief in them.

The Vancouver Canucks enter the Stanley Cup Final as the favorites to bring home the most illustrious trophy in sports. And while NESN's Jack Edwards picked the Canucks to defeat the Bruins in the Stanley Cup on an episode of The Instigators prior to the start of the playoffs, he's having a hard time going against the hometown team.

Edwards said that while his head is saying the Canucks, his head has been wrong plenty of times before, and that he hopes the Bruins can find a way to pull off the upset.

Edwards also said that he would choose Tim Thomas over Roberto Luongo in the battle between two of the game's top goaltenders.

To hear what else Edwards had to say about the Bruins' season to this point, as well as what he expects to see in the Stanley Cup Final, check out the video above from NESN Daily.

It's been a long time since the Bruins have captivated the city of Boston like they have this postseason. But the team now stands four wins shy of their first Stanley Cup victory since 1972, and players, fans and even the owner of the team couldn't be happier.

Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs discussed his pride in the Bruins organization on Sunday, stating that the Bruins have learned from their experiences and have evolved into the team that they are now. He said that this Bruins team shares a common bond, which began 100 games ago when the B's started their season in Prague.

Chris Kelly and Milan Lucic are two players that have noticed the buzz swirling around the Bruins throughout the city of Boston, and they are relishing every minute of it.

To hear what else Jacobs, Lucic and Kelly had to say, as well as what head coach Claude Julien had to say about Jeremy Jacobs' pride in the team, check out the video above.

The Bruins know that they didn't play their best in Game 5 on Monday, even though it was good enough for a 3-1 win. In fact, the Bruins have struggled for a majority of the last five periods dating back to their Game 3 collapse in Tampa Bay.

But the B's are aware of all this, which is why they intend to play Game 6 on Wednesday as if they are on the brink of elimination themselves — not the Lightning.

NESN's Barry Pederson is a bit skepticial given how the team played in their last two periods at the St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa. But he noted that the Bruins and Lightning have each struggled at points throughout the series. However, he said that with Tim Thomas and a hungry Bruins team, anything is possible.

Johnny Boychuk, who left Game 5 after a hit from Steve Downie, is expected to play. He said that the Bruins need to make sure they're ready to play, and that one of the keys will be to limit the amount of odd-man rushes that the Tampa Bay offense receives.

To hear what else Pederson and Boychuk had to say about Wednesday's Game 6 matchup, check out the video above from NESN Daily.

The Bruins blew a three-goal lead in Game 4 on Saturday, but it certainly isn’t the first time in these playoffs that the B’s have had to bounce back after a difficult loss.

The Bruins fell to the Montreal Canadiens in the first two games of the first round at home, but were able to rebound to win the series in seven games. Earlier this series, the Bruins were forced to bounce back after a deflating Game 1 loss to the Lightning at the Garden.

Bruins head coach Claude Julien says that the Bruins are mentally prepared for Monday’s Game 5 showdown, and that the team has put Saturday’s loss behind them. He said that they must go out, play with the same intensity and execute the way they did in the first period of Saturday’s game.

To hear what else Julien had to say, as well as what NESN’s Jack Edwards expects from the Bruins going forward, check out the video above from NESN Daily.

In the wake of Tyler Seguin's offensive onslaught in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final, there are some wondering why the 19-year-old wasn't inserted into the playoff lineup sooner.

While NESN's Jack Edwards understands the decision to keep the rookie out prior to needing him because of Patrice Bergeron's injury, he says that Seguin has showed a willingness to step up, take a hit and essentially accept more responsibility over the last two games.

Lyndon Byers echoed Edwards' sentiments on NESN Daily, and said he expects more of the same from Seguin throughout the rest of the B's series with the Lightning.

To hear what else Edwards and Byers had to say about Seguin's role the rest of the way, as well as how they think head coach Claude Julien will approach Bergeron's potential return to the lineup, check out the video above.

The Bruins face a very important Game 2 in the Eastern Conference final on Tuesday night against the Lightning, and the B’s have to hope they can have a better first period than in Game 1.

NESN Bruins analyst Barry Pederson was on NESN Daily on Monday night to talk about what the Bruins need to do differently on Tuesday to help ensure that they bounce back from a 5-2 loss in Game 1.

He says that the Bruins will have to be more prepared mentally when they take the ice on Tuesday, as it was the stretch in which they gave up three goals in a matter of minutes on Saturday that did the B’s in.

To see the entire interview, see the video above.

Former Bruin Lyndon Byers has always been a bold guy, and on Sunday, he made a bold statement by guaranteeing that the Bruins will win Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final on Tuesday.

Byers said the Bruins "pulled a dud" in Game 1, but that they can definitely bounce back. He said that Claude Julien has to make a change on the power play, though, in order for them to do so.

LB also talked about the importance of the Bruins staying physical throughout the series.

To hear what else he had to say on NESN Daily, check out the video above.

The Bruins showed a lot of frustration at the end of their 5-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final, but there has been no sense of panic in the B's locker room in the wake of the defeat.

Bruins head coach Claude Julien, whose postseason record with the Bruins now stands at 25-18, said that the loss was really about the Bruins' mistakes. He also said that they need to make improvements before Tuesday's Game 2, and that they are open to whatever the right solution may be.

It's unclear whether Patrice Bergeron will be part of that solution. His status is still uncertain for Game 2, and Julien said that the star center will not play unless he is at 100 percent.

NESN's Andy Brickley said the Bruins never got into an offensive rhythm in Game 1, and that Bergeron's absence had a domino effect on the rest of the team. He did stress, however, that the Bruins' shortcomings in Game 1 are correctable.

To hear what else Julien and the Bruins had to say about the Game 1 loss on NESN Daily, as well as what Andy Brickley thinks the Bruins need to improve, check out the video above.