I know I'm not a sports columnist, but I've got to give some props to our national championship-winning men's hockey team. I also have to come clean and admit I wasn't a big hockey fan until I watched the game last Saturday-a game that a lot of hockey experts are calling 'the greatest collegiate hockey game ever played.'

It may be hard enough for Brookline residents and restaurant patrons to look at the high prices listed next to their entrees, but if University of Massachusetts-Boston senior Andrew Ghobrial has his way, diners will also have to cringe at their meals' calorie counts. Ghobrial wants to force restaurants to list how many calories are in every menu item, a proposal that is both costly and useless in its goal of fighting obesity.

In an effort to improve relations with Cuba, President Barack Obama loosened travel restrictions Tuesday, allowing American citizens with relatives in Cuba to visit and send money freely to the island nation.

Last week, I got to interview Ruben Studdard for his traveling production of 'Ain't Misbehavin.'' The interview was at the Citi Performing Arts Center, where I assumed the show would be held. When I entered the reception area I saw a man holding a white trash bag full of takeout Thai food.

When the economy stumbles and jobs vanish, America goes back to school. College admissions rates spike, particularly for older students, as Americans look to improve their credentials. Meanwhile, high school students and undergraduates look to continue their own educations and to ride out the storm.

Everybody loves a parade, but is it really appropriate to be spending lavishly on something fun, but entirely useless, on the same day that the administration is talking about cutting something as academically vital as the ResNet labs?

For the first time this year, Boston University students are finally banding together to stand up for a cause they believe in. Unfortunately, the BU Student Union is showing that it is too timid to throw its support behind the needs of the student body in the face of a proposed elimination of residence hall computer labs.

In the wake of the weekend's Amazon.com scandal, in which books dealing with homosexuality were mysteriously deleted from ratings, marked as 'adult' and rendered unsearchable, online social networking sites like Twitter and LiveJournal have exploded with reactions ranging from speculations, petitions and propositions to boycott the Seattle-based web retailer.

Think back to the first Disney movie you ever watched. Was it 'The Little Mermaid'? 'Beauty and the Beast'? 'The Fly'? Chances are, the main character was some sort of hideously anthropomorphized monster that was supposed to pass as 'lovable.'

In advance of Tuesday's victory parade, I wanted to extend my hearty congratulations to the Boston University men's hockey team for their stunning national championship win on Saturday night.

As lawmakers on Beacon Hill deliberate over Gov. Deval Patrick's 19-cent gas tax increase proposal, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority is painting a doomsday public transportation scenario if it doesn't receive a bailout from the government in the form of this tax.

Americans are a spend-happy bunch. We're raised from day one with commercials telling us to buy (roughly in order) new bibs, faster toy trucks, new duds, faster real trucks and new bibs.