Why can't NESN get a show like this?

Loving "Globe 10.0" with Bob Ryan.

Can Globe readers get a refund?

A few quick observations on a Saturday morning.

• Someone at the Boston Globe had a good idea for selling a few more copies of the Saturday edition: plug a Joan Vennochi column on page one. But that's a trick you can only pull once unless you actually run a Vennochi column inside. (Apologies for the unreadable page-one teaser, but trust me. It says "Point of View: Joan Vennochi.")

• New York Times columnist Gail Collins makes some semi-amusing fun of folks who can't handle the switchover to digital TV. It would have been more amusing, though, if she could figure it out herself. "How could the Republicans not be worried about this?" she writes. "A disproportionate number of the endangered TV viewers are senior citizens. Bill O'Reilly's entire audience is in danger!" Uh, Gail? O'Reilly's entire audience has cable and won't be affected by this — a fact you seemed to grasp earlier in the column, but I guess not.

• Bob Ryan's got a great lede this morning: "Jason Varitek wanted to test the waters. He's lucky he didn't drown." Personally, I'm glad Varitek is coming back, though I'm more than a little puzzled by the games-started incentive his contract calls for in 2010. If Tek starts more than 80 games in 2010, then the Red Sox will have a serious problem. Secondarily, it puts Terry Francona in the position of costing Varitek money. Not good.

What happens to the Globe and NESN?

No doubt many folks at the Boston Globe are breathing a sigh of relief at the news that its corporate parent, the New York Times Co., plans to unload its 17.5 percent stake in the Red Sox. The conflicts of interest have been many — not over game stories, but over various Red Sox business ventures the Globe has had to cover over the years.

But hold on. I thought the main reason the Times Co. made this investment was because of the Sox' 80 percent ownership of New England Sports Network. Globe sportswriters have been all over NESN, and some — especially Bob Ryan — have been quite good.

I imagine NESN would still want Globe people on the air. But doesn't this mean the end of Globe exclusivity? I suppose NESN and the Globe could sign some sort of agreement, but that's not the same as ownership.

Among other things, it strikes me that Sean McAdam, formerly of the Providence Journal and now of the Boston Herald, is an accomplished on-air performer, and would fit right in at NESN.

More: Adam Reilly wonders the same thing that I did when I first read the story: Is the Globe really worth just $20 million? I think it's a typo. This suggests the Globe is worth $120 million. Of course, that's shocking enough, given that the Times Co. bought the Globe for $1.1 billion back in 1993.

Second-best Celtics team ever? (II)

Media Nation reader J.V. notes that Bob Ryan wasn't exactly predicting glory last August, when it looked to him like the Celtics were going to throw three superstars and a bunch of not-very-warm bodies out there every night. Ryan wrote:

Unless it really is going to be a three-on-three NBA, the Celtics will be forced to place two additional players on the floor, and not just occasionally, but for every one of the 48 minutes.

That concerns me. That concerns me because what I am about to say is nonnegotiable: What's left on the Celtics' roster is by far the worst collection of proven talent in the NBA.

Be sure to watch the video, too, in which Charlie Pierce agrees with Ryan. Hey, it wasn't that dumb when they said it. I guess.

Second-best Celtics team ever?

That's what Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan says in today's tour de force: his ranking of the top 10 Celtics teams of all time. He places this year's winners right behind the fabulous 1985-'86 team.

Ryan's list is sure to be controversial. Given that the Celtics have won 17 championships, it seems odd that he'd pick three losers among his top 10 — including the 1972-'73 squad, his only entry from the Dave Cowens era. Also, even at my advanced age, I'll have to take his word for it on the great Bill Russell teams.

But this, kids, is why it's important that papers like the Globe retain some institutional memory as they desperately seek to downsize their way to profitability. No one else in Boston could have written this piece. Good thing Ryan didn't take the buyout.