Spent last night at the Fleet Center, watching BU maintain its death grip on the Beanpot by outlasting BC 3-2, making it the third 3-2 game they've played this season, and the first the good guys have actually won. Just to give you some perspective on BU's domination of this event, there are three things you should know:

* This is BU's 9th title in the last 10 years.
* BU played in its 19th title game in the last 20 years last night.
* In the 51 year history of the Beanpot, BU has appeared in 42 championship games.

If the ESPYs had an award for Least Flow in a Game, last night would be a finalist. Not a highlight reel game for either club, unless you're Sean Fields, who walked away with the goaltending and MVP trophies.

Coolest thing: the new video ad boards around the balcony level of the Fleet Center. Very cool, especially by being able to add motion to ads (such as Harvard-Pilgrim's logo stick-figures doing the wave, or the Flonase bottle that shoots... other Flonase bottles).

Next coolest thing: Seeing Jon Couture on the big screen over center ice, and him not knowing it until Meg whacked him on the arm.

Third coolest thing: Watching BC's team stand on the ice and watch all the Terriers taking away hardware. There wasn't even a runner-up trophy presentation. I think there used to be.

Least cool thing: The 20 minutes we spent just sitting in the parking garage before having to back up and join another line of traffic to have any movement at all. That and the $21 we spent to park there.

In other news, another episode of American Idol is on tonight, and to give you even more of what you've not been asking for, here's a preview.

Of the 8 semi-finalists tonight, I can honestly say I've not heard of five of them. Hadas, Jacob, Jennifer, Rebecca, and Candace are as familiar to me after a month of the show as any five 18 to 24 year-olds picked randomly off the street. At least once site that hopefully pays more attention mentions Candace as being one to watch, but I really can't place her. Then again, she is from Toledo, so perhaps I've just repressed her.

That leaves three who made a name for themselves early on. The first is Clay, who was notable during auditions because his voice completely does not match his look, which is about as dorky as it comes. Simon and even Randy were all over his image during auditions, and at least by his photos here I don't know how much change he's going to undergo. Hopefully not much, just to stick it to 'em.

Second, we have Kimberly, who had to do a duet with Frenchie during the group performance phase of the audition because (according to them) the other girls didn't want to have to compete with their voices. And Kimberly does have a big voice. It'll be interesting to see if she tries to overpower people tonight or showcase some hidden range.

Finally, there's Ruben. He's already been pigeon-holed into the Luther Vandross category, and does have that sort of style, though he brings in a little more jazz and gospel. Ruben almost always wears jeans and a backwards baseball cap, so it'll be interesting to see him dress up. He's also probably the largest guy they've had on the show, which is cool. Nice to see someone more like my own body type getting some air time where slight, almost sexless pin-ups often rule.

Tonight should be a pretty clear indication of what will rule: sound or style. It could be that the ones I don't know are quite good and will be able to score in both categories, but I'd be surprised.