The only people who retire younger than MBTA employees are professional athletes.

After their sports careers wind down, athletes find interesting ways to spend their time. If Curt Schilling’s recent surgery doesn’t fix his shoulder, perhaps he’ll go into video games full-time. Some athletes, like Roger Clemens, spend their golden years in court.

But perhaps our favorite retired athlete is now former Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughn, who just purchased two affordable housing complexes in Boston.

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As renters, we’ve felt pretty comfortable as the foreclosure crisis has spread. We continue to write our check to the landlord every month, then watch news reports about families losing their homes with a mix of shock and relief.

Those poor people. Better them than us, though.

At least, that’s what we thought. A new report shows that New England’s renters have been affected by the mortgage crisis as much (if not more so) than single-family homeowners.

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Yesterday afternoon, we reported that the Herald mistakenly ran a satirical story as part of a straight news item. Some of you have left comments assailing the paper for lazy journalism. While somebody dropped the ball on that piece, we have to point out that our favorite tabloid is doing a stellar job on a series about shady mortgage middleman Dwight Jenkins.

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Last month, Boston’s zoning board voted unanimously to prohibit more than four undergraduate students from living in a single apartment. The proposal faced criticism from students who argued that the law discriminated against them.

Now a lawyer is leading the charge against the proposal.

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A couple of years ago, I happily signed a lease for a studio apartment in the Back Bay. Sure, it was in a basement, but I could walk to work and to Newbury Street. After years of commuting in from Brookline and Brighton, I’d made it into the city.

Then the rats came.

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I only spent only one year of my college career in a dorm, and in that time I had three roommates. The first was a friend of mine from high school who liked to lock me out of the room when her boyfriend stopped by. The second liked to hook up with her guy friend when I was still in the room. The third spent all of her time in her boyfriend’s single. She was my favorite.

But never during those nine months of tumult did I ever wish I lived with a guy.

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Keeping large groups of students from living in an apartment is all the rage. Earlier this month, Boston City Councilor Mike Ross’ four-student limit was unanimously approved by the Boston Zoning Commission. The fad has apparently spread across the Charles.

The Cambridge City Council decided to look into changing local zoning laws. Then immediately regretted it.

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Yesterday afternoon, the Boston Zoning Commission unanimously approved a proposal that will limit the number of undergrads that can live in an apartment to four. It was all due to the hard work of our MySpace Top Friend, City Councilor Mike Ross. He attended yesterday’s epic meeting but says he doesn’t remember the kid in the orange shirt and Uggs…which still disturbs us.

But he does remember a student who was wearing a loincloth.

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Our MySpace friend and multi-media mogul City Councilor Mike Ross has succeeded in his bid to limit the number of undergraduate students in a single apartment to four. A large crowd gathered at today’s Boston Zoning Commission hearing about the measure, which was approved in a 9-0 vote. And it appears that some of the affected students don’t quite understand how to dress for a high-profile meeting.

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