Assessing bottom line in Boston

First, John Henry bought the team that Dodgers owner Frank McCourt wanted.

Then the Boston Red Sox owner bought Frank and Jamie McCourt’s old house, a $16-million estate in Brookline, Mass.

Now Henry wants to tear down the house.

The Boston Herald reported that Henry’s representatives have taken the first step toward obtaining a demolition permit, filing paperwork at Brookline Town Hall.

Among the reaction by Herald readers online to Henry’s plan to demolish the 13,000-square-foot main house and a 5,000-square-foot guesthouse on an adjacent lot he owns:

“John, you need to build a modern Fenway Park on Frank Court’s [sic] former home property,” and “Anyone else tired of trying to put your 2007 rear ends in seats built for . . . 1912??”

Trivia time

What NHL player did the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recently refer to as the blue-haired blue-liner?

This stinks

Some NHL players are sweating it out in the new Reebok jerseys that are supposed to repel moisture.

It seems that the new sweaters are effective not only at repelling melted ice, but the perspiration inside the players’ jerseys as well.

“It’s very good that the water doesn’t stick on it, but the sweat all goes into our gear,” Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury told the Post-Gazette. “Sometimes, it gets really wet.”

By the end of the second period or start of the third, defenseman Mark Eaton told the paper, “your skates are sloshing around and you have to change your gloves” because they’re soaked.

And here’s a bit of inside information: There might not be a worse stench in all of sports than the inside of a pair of hockey gloves or skates that have been repeatedly soaked in sweat. Those things don’t go in the wash.

Veteran left winger Gary Roberts was none too impressed.

“My hands are soaked, my feet are soaked,” he said. “I feel like it’s May, in the playoffs, I’m sweating so much.”

Ten ways to talk football

Books and seminars for women who would like to know more about football are nothing new, but never has one sounded so much like an article in Cosmopolitan.

If more women learn to talk knowledgeably, “Putting on the Blitz” author Suzanna Gagnier said, “This will blow men away and add dimensions to Super Bowl conversations that no man has experienced ever before.

“Men will be astounded and pleased when their loved ones are screaming at their sides, appropriately criticizing referees for bad technical calls and decisions.”

Please, somebody blow the whistle.

Poetry in motion

Sparks center Jessica Moore will be among a group including actors and artists who will read poems and other inspired words at a fundraiser Thursday to benefit the Los Angeles Public Library.

The event, known as the Young Literati Annual Toast: The Stars Wax Poetic, starts at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Ace Gallery in Beverly Hills.

“I’m reading one of my favorite poems, Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken,’ ” Moore said.

No, no, no, it’s not about the Sparks and the WNBA playoffs.

“To not travel the road everybody does means following your own passions,” Moore said.

Trivia answer

Detroit Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios, 45.

And finally

From Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle, on the lost weekend of the San Diego Padres, who lost center fielder Mike Cameron to injury Sunday when left fielder Milton Bradley stepped on his hand -- and then lost Bradley to a season-ending knee injury an inning later when Manager Bud Black spun him down to prevent him from confronting an umpire:

“So you think you had a rough weekend because you drank too much ouzo at the Greek tavern, lost half your paycheck at the card room and got caught lying to your significant other about all of the above. You still had nothing on the San Diego Padres’ weekend.”

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robyn.norwood@latimes.com