Snake

By Gary Dzen, Boston.com Staff Sixers coach Doug Collins made it clear in his postgame news conference that he isn't content to just force a Game 7 in Boston. "I want more," said Collins. "I'm willing to get greedy. We want more. We've fought, we've worked hard, we've gone through a lot as a team. Our mindset is, I don't want to go into it with 'No matter what happens, we'll be OK' I want to win it. " Collins said he would tell his team to be confident and to go for broke in Game 7, which is Saturday night at TD Garden.

By Gary Dzen, Boston.com Staff Sixers coach Doug Collins made it clear in his postgame news conference that he isn't content to just force a Game 7 in Boston. "I want more," said Collins. "I'm willing to get greedy. We want more. We've fought, we've worked hard, we've gone through a lot as a team. Our mindset is, I don't want to go into it with 'No matter what happens, we'll be OK' I want to win it. " Collins said he would tell his team to be confident and to go for broke in Game 7, which is Saturday night at TD Garden.

A high school running back in Arkansas wants to slither through defenses, not have a snake slither inside his helmet. Gravette High School senior Darrick Strzelecki said he felt something odd in his helmet during practice Tuesday, but thought it was only a tangled lock of hair or sweat beading up as the team worked on extra points. "I kept hitting, and it just kept bothering me," Strzelecki told the Benton County Daily Record (http://bit.ly/rbzFdu). During a break about 15 minutes into practice, Strzelecki took off his helmet and initially believed his teammates were...

A friend of mine posted the following on Facebook:   What is proper business etiquette when your bra explodes in a business meeting? Yesterday, I was wearing one of the convertible strap bras with a camisole and a cardigan. As I was emphatically making my drafting point to the 3 men in the room with me, SPROING! My strap gives, and shoots out the front of my camisole. 3 pairs of eyes shifted to my chest - morbid curiosity as to why black snake-like things are shooting out of my shirt got the better of them.

A six-foot boa constrictor that crashed a funeral a few months ago has been nursed back to health and is ready to be adopted. Forgotten Friend Reptile Sanctuary tells The Patriot-News of Harrisburg that the snake, Cocoa, is now healthy enough for a new home. Animal welfare workers took Cocoa into custody in May after people attending a memorial service at Hershey Cemetery spotted her. Police believe Cocoa's owner dumped the snake after being unable to care for her. The Patriot-News report ( http://bit.ly/o7o7eV)

The MBTA has been snake-free since Penelope, a nearly 3-foot boa who slipped away from her owner, was famously corralled early last year. And T officials intend to keep it that way. The MBTA on Monday rejected a request from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to "affix removable but realistic rubber snakes to the poles and straps" of subway cars for a campaign against the use of snakeskin. The state's chief transportation safety officer warned that the poles and straps must be kept clear, in case of emergency.

A friend of mine posted the following on Facebook:   What is proper business etiquette when your bra explodes in a business meeting? Yesterday, I was wearing one of the convertible strap bras with a camisole and a cardigan. As I was emphatically making my drafting point to the 3 men in the room with me, SPROING! My strap gives, and shoots out the front of my camisole. 3 pairs of eyes shifted to my chest - morbid curiosity as to why black snake-like things are shooting out of my shirt got the better of them.

Though his teeth appeared healthy during his regular checkup yesterday, 11-year-old Tom Riddle was not given a candy reward. He did not even get a Spider-Man Band-Aid for lying still while his blood was drawn. But the handful of zookeepers whose job it was to restrain the 12-foot-long patient rewarded him instead with peace and quiet, the perfect treat for a well-fed anaconda. It had been three years since the last time the snake, a resident of Franklin Park Zoo, had a checkup.

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. - Kristen Hart's search for a cold-blooded killer came to an end at a perfect hideout - thick scrub brush, dense trees, and shade. She crouched with three scouts and whispered. "Do you see her?" asked Hart, a research ecologist for the US Geological Survey. "Yeah, she's in there," answered Thomas Selby, a wildlife biologist. "I think she knows we're here," said Brian Smith, another biologist. Within seconds, the 16 1/2-foot Burmese python uncoiled and tried to slither off. What happened next is a drama that plays out every week or so, as...

NEW YORK — A highly venomous Egyptian cobra that disappeared at the Bronx Zoo was found yesterday after nearly a week on the lam, zoo officials said. The approximately 24-inch snake was found coiled in a dark corner of the zoo’s reptile house, about 200 feet from where it had escaped from a holding cage. It was in a space described by officials as a labyrinth of pipes and equipment. “As you can imagine, we are delighted to report that the snake has been found alive and well,’’ said the zoo’s director, Jim Breheny.

EVERGLADES NATIONAL PARK, Fla. - Kristen Hart's search for a cold-blooded killer came to an end at a perfect hideout - thick scrub brush, dense trees, and shade. She crouched with three scouts and whispered. "Do you see her?" asked Hart, a research ecologist for the US Geological Survey. "Yeah, she's in there," answered Thomas Selby, a wildlife biologist. "I think she knows we're here," said Brian Smith, another biologist. Within seconds, the 16 1/2-foot Burmese python uncoiled and tried to slither off. What happened next is a drama that plays out every week or so, as state and...

The MBTA has been snake-free since Penelope, a nearly 3-foot boa who slipped away from her owner, was famously corralled early last year. And T officials intend to keep it that way. The MBTA on Monday rejected a request from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to "affix removable but realistic rubber snakes to the poles and straps" of subway cars for a campaign against the use of snakeskin. The state's chief transportation safety officer warned that the poles and straps must be kept clear, in case of emergency.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is seeking permission to decorate a Boston-area train car with rubber snakes, said Ingrid Newkirk, president of the animal rights group. Newkirk said the stunt is intended to raise awareness about the cruel treatment of the reptiles in snakeskin factories. "It's very hard for people to empathize with reptiles," she said. "But if they have [snakeskin] bags, I imagine they haven't ever thought how the animal became that accessory.

Though his teeth appeared healthy during his regular checkup yesterday, 11-year-old Tom Riddle was not given a candy reward. He did not even get a Spider-Man Band-Aid for lying still while his blood was drawn. But the handful of zookeepers whose job it was to restrain the 12-foot-long patient rewarded him instead with peace and quiet, the perfect treat for a well-fed anaconda. It had been three years since the last time the snake, a resident of Franklin Park Zoo, had a checkup.

Hoses weren't the only things uncoiling at this blaze. Austrian firefighters answering an alarm found something their training didn't prepare them for — a trove of highly venomous snakes. Fire department spokesman Franz Resperger says 85 fire fighters beat a hasty retreat from a burning barn east of Vienna after a neighbor told them to watch out for the reptiles kept by the owner inside. The blaze was finally quenched Tuesday after an expert summoned to the scene captured seven snakes, including an Indian cobra and two Australian taipans — all packing potent...

Malaysian authorities have rescued some 450 endangered cobras and tortoises headed for cooking pots in Thailand. Celescoriano Razond, Malaysia's wildlife deputy enforcement director, says officials confiscated 302 Asiatic cobra, 145 tortoises and a macaque monkey Thursday from a house in northern Kedah state, near the Thai border. He says two men have been arrested and could be charged for being in possession of protected wildlife, which carries a penalty of up to five years in jail and a fine.

A man has discovered that a boa constrictor is not a willing camping companion after his 5-foot-long pet escaped as they vacationed in southeast Michigan. The man alerted officials that the snake slithered out of his pop-up camper June 9 at Addison Oaks County Park. Oakland County Parks and Recreation executive officer Dan Stencil tells the Oakland Press of Pontiac that the snake is young and doesn’t pose a threat to humans — “just small animals and so on.’’ Stencil says the man has been cited for violating park rules.

The driver of a garbage truck found a 6-foot Burmese python on its roof after he emptied a trash bin into the truck at a Cincinnati fast-food restaurant. Hamilton County sheriff’s spokesman Steve Barnett says deputies who were summoned around 11 a.m. Thursday arrived to find the snake on the ground with its tail wrapped around a broom belonging to the driver. A deputy lifted the snake into a cardboard box using the broom. Barnett says in a statement that the python appeared sluggish at first but revived once inside the box. Animal welfare workers took away the snake.

The Transportation Security Administration says a man tried to board a flight from Miami to Brazil with nylon bags filled with exotic snakes and tortoises hidden in his pants. TSA spokesman Jonathon Allen says the man was stopped after passing through a body scanner at Miami International Airport last Thursday. Security officials spotted the nylon bags filled with seven snakes and three tortoises stuffed inside the man's pants. The South Florida Sun Sentinel ( http://sunsent.nl/p9xoel)

Police say an Arizona man stole several baby albino boa constrictors at a pet store by stuffing them in his shorts. Eric Fiegel was arrested Tuesday after police reviewed surveillance footage from Predator's Reptile Center in Mesa. They say a July 30 video shows the 22-year-old man entering the store, removing several snakes from their cage and placing them in the pocket of his shorts before exiting the store without paying. Police say Fiegel then traveled to another pet store and traded several of the snakes for $175 and a large reptile tank.