Sports Chowdah Update- Napoli Ever After, Texas 1 Win Away From Word Series; Ain't Over 'Til the Fat Lady Lansings;

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

WORLD SERIES: Well damn- it looks like I owe you not one, not two but three World Series updated.

Saturday night's game brought the World Series to Arlington, TX for the second time in two seasons. It was a pretty one-sided blowout with the 16-7 Cardinals win being more reminiscent of the final for a Cowboys-Rams game. However, the contest was noteworthy in that Cards 1st baseman Albert Pujols put himself in some very distinguished company (i.e. Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson) by becoming the third ever player to belt 3 home runs in a World Series game. Pujols went 5-6 with 6 RBI on the night in the St Louis rout.

The following night, however, Rangers starter Derek Holland would go 8 and ⅓ shutout innings allowing just two hits (both of them off of Lance Berkman who was in the DH role) while a 1st inning RBI double from Josh Hamilton would be all the run support Holland needed- altho' he would get more insurance in the form of a 3-run Mike Napoli blast off of Cards reliever Mitchell Boggs in the bottom of the 6th. Texas would go on to win by the 4-0 final on Sunday.

For Game 5 on Monday night, the Cards would get out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second, thanks to a Yadier Molina RBI single and Skip Schumaker groundout with a runner on 3rd.

Texas would cut the lead in half with a solo homer from 1B Mitch Moreland and another one from that 3B Adrian Beltre hit from his knees off starter Chris Carpenter to knot the game at 2-2. Then, in the bottom of the 8th with the bases loaded and 1 out, C Mike Napoli scalded a double to deep center field where it bounced off the wall and drove in two more runs for Texas.

Neftali Feliz would then come on in the top of the 9th and after the leadoff batter, got Pujols to stroke out and cut down Allen Craig as he attempted to steal 2nd base. Matt Holliday was walked and Lance Berkman struck out to end the game and give Texas the 3-2 World Series lead.

The World Series heads back to St Louis on Wednesday night, although the forecast calls for extended rain showers throughout the day, so this must-win game for the Cardinals might be postponed for another day.

OTHER MLB NEWS: The Philadelphia Phillies have declined to pick up the 2012 options on starter Roy Oswalt and closer Brad Lidge. Both pitchers are coming off of an injury plagued 2011 season. Although both are free agents, Phillies brass hasn't ruled out either one of them returning under a new, renegotiated contract.

RED SOX: Boston GM Ben Cherington announced that starter John Lackey will miss the 2012 season after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his elbow. Lackey was 12-12 with a 6.41 ERA this season- the second year into his 5 year, $85 million contract.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: The Toronto Blue Jays issued a statement in which they announced they "would not grant permission for lateral moves", a reversal of the previous policy where the organization permitted any employee from talking to any organization about any job.

The announcement came amid speculation that manager John Farrell was being sought after by the Red Sox as a replacement for Terry Francona. Farrell spent four years as Boston's pitching coach and led the Blue Jays to an 81-81 record his first season as Toronto manager.

CHICAGO CUBS: Theo Epstein was officially introduced by the Cubs as their newest president of Baseball Operations on Tuesday.



NCAA FOOTBALL: Man oh man....what is it with Michigan State and these dramatic finishes?

With about 4 seconds to go in regulation against the #4 ranked Wisconsin Badgers, Michigan State Spartans QB Kirk Cousins heaved a Hail Mary Pass from mid field and after caroming off the facemask of Spartans WR BJ Cunningham found its way into the arms of Spartans WR Keith Nichol, who managed to break the plane of the goal line for the 37-31 Spartans win.

The win vaults the Spartans from #15 to #9 in the AP Top 25 poll.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: Meanwhile, Boston College's futile quest for a win against a FBS opponent continued after falling 14-30 to Virginia Tech in Blacksburg on Saturday. The BC Eagles will next face Maryland at College Park, MD at 3:00 PM ET.

UMass, whis is the only team the Eagles have managed to beat this season, was defeated by the UNH Wildcats by a 27-71 final in the Colonial Clash at Gilette Stadium in Foxborough, Ma on Saturday. This could be a preview of 'home' games once the UMass Minutemen join the MAC starting in 2012.

UConnhad the weekend off, but plays Wednesday night against Pitt at 8 PM ET. The game will be televised on ESPN.

NBA: Speaking of UMass, Basketball hall of famer and UMass alumni Julius Erving is putting up his championship rings and MVP trophies up for auction after being sued for $200,000 by a Georgia bank.

Erving purchased an Atlanta-area golf course in 2006 and moved to the area a few years later. Using a Gwinnett county home as collateral, Erving secured a $1 million loan from Georgia Primary Bank in 2009. In 2010, the line of credit was reduced to $750,000 and the maturity date was extended to July 24th. However, the bank is suing Erving over the outstanding balance.

Among the items up for auction include his 1974 and 1976 championship ring from the ABA as well as a 1983 championship ring with the Philadelphia 76ers and 1980-81 NBA MVP trophy.

NHL: And just as quickly as Boston's offense showed up against Toronto, it seemed to abandon them as they hosted the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

Coming off a 4-3 shootout win against New Jersey, the Bruins hosted Joe Thornton for career game #1001, but it was Essex, MA native and former BC Eagle Benn Ferriero that would put the Sharks up on top after Tyler Seguin had managed to knot the contest up at 2-2 in the 3rd.

Ferriero managed to bury a rebound past Thomas late in the 3rd to make it a 3-2 contest before a Patrick Marleau empty-netter in the final minute would ice the 4-2 win for San Jose.

Interestingly, while Thornton was playing career game #1000 in New Jersey, Ferriero was being called up from the Worcester Ice Cats of the AHL for his NHL debut.

To mark the occasion of Thornton's return, the Bruins played a video tribute at the garden in the 1st period congratulating the San Jose center on the career milestone.

Sports Chowdah w/Sugar On Top- Sooners Pound Puppies; Cry TimberWolf!; Soggy Classic; B's Skid Stopped by Leafs; Pats Go (1st Round) Bye Bye

NCAA HOOPS: I blame myself- almost as soon as I pointed out UConn's record breaking performance in women's hoops, they lose on the road to the #8 ranked Stanford Cardinals by a 71-59 final last week. I blame myself for jinxing them and take full responsibility- my apologies.

Still, it will be interesting to see if any men's or women's team can come close to threatening the UConn Women's record and Stanford might end up usurping Tennessee as the lady Huskies main rival.


NCAA FOOTBALL: Let's face it- it simply hasn't been that good a week for UConn on the hardwood or gridiron. The men's hoops (currently ranked #8) lost to Notre Dame on Tuesday night.

But out in the desert on the first night of 2011, the UConn football team demonstrated that mammals were capable of oviparity when the Huskies went out and laid an egg against the Oklahoma Sooners in the second half of the Fiesta Bowl.

Three years after getting blown out by another Big East team (West Virginia) and four years after Boise State's shocking upset over the Sooners in the very same Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma started strong and finished strong against the UConn Huskies, taking a 20-10 lead into halftime.

Oklahoma got out the the early 14-0 lead when UConn CB Dwayne Gratz intercepted Sooners QB Landry Jones and returned it 46 yards for paydirt. Dave Teggart would follow that up with a 37 yard FG towards the end of the first half.

As tenacious as UConn was in the first half, they were pretty much completely absent (aside from a 95 yard kickoff return from Robbie Frey) in the second as the Sooners got two pick-6s from Huskies QB Zach Frasier for the 48-20 Sooners win.

Keep in mind that UConn still hasn't scored an offensive touchdown since the 4th quarter of their Nov 27th game against the Cincinnati Bearcats. So that didn't really bode well for a UConn team that made it to a BCS game on the basis of tie-breakers and Big East rivals screwing the proverbial pooch. While they no doubt had their moments, by and large UConn had this 'not-quite-ready-for-prime-time' feel to their lackluster performance in the Fiesta Bowl.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: As lacking as UConn's performance in the Fiesta Bowl might've been, imagine a whole conference faring worse than the Huskies did as a team on New Year's Day. You don't have to, since there was the Big Ten's woeful results from the various Bowl games on New Year's Day:

Ticket City Bowl:
Northwestern 38- Texas Tech 45

Outback Bowl:
Florida 37- Penn State 24

Capital One Bowl:
#15 Alabama 49- #7 Michigan State 7

Gator Bowl
#21 Mississippi State 52- Michigan 14

Rose Bowl
#4 Wisconsin 19- #3 Texas Christian 21

Actually, the Outback Bowl was a little closer than the score would indicate if not for a late Penn State drive that ended in an interception being run back for a TD with just over a minute remaining in the 4th. As you might suspect, the Rose Bowl actually made for some fine viewing even for those who didn't have a stake in the outcome. Still, that's 0-4 in one day for the Big 10.


ORANGE BOWL: The Orange Bowl on Monday night featured a matchup between #5 Stanford and #12 Virginia Tech amid speculation this could be head coach Jim Harbaugh's last game as a number of NFL teams expressed an interest in his services.

In the first half, things didn't quite seem to be going the Cardinals way, with a missed PAT by kicker Nate Whittaker (one of two missed on the night), a fluky play that would've resulted in a safety no matter what and Hokies QB Tyrod Taylor making an 11 yard TD pass when it looked for all the world like he was being chased backwards and out of bounds. Still, the Cardinals would head into the locker room at the half with a 13-12 lead after Virginia Tech got a FG with 7 seconds remaining in the half.

But that would be the last time the Hokies would find the end zone or uprights. Stanford would score 27 unanswered points to take down Virginia Tech by a final of 40-12.

SUGAR BOWL: Ladies and gentlemen, there's been a Big 10 sighting! The 2011 Sugar Bowl pitted #6 Ohio State against #8 Arkansas on Tuesday night, and the Buckeyes fared much better than the rest of the Big 10 on New Year's Day. Granted that's not saying much....

Although the Buckeyes got out to a pretty commanding 28-10 lead at halftime, the Razorbacks held them to just 3 points in the 2nd half as Arkansas clawed back to make it a 26-31 game in the 4th. After attempting to bleed the clock late in the 4th, the Buckeyes decided to punt on 4th and 3 from their own 38 yard line. However, the punt was blocked, giving the Razorbacks the ball with good field position and very little time.

The first pass attempt from Arkansas' Ryan Mallet was incomplete- the second was picked off and the Buckeyes absolutely dodged a bullet there. Ohio State hangs on to win by the final of 31-26.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: Here are some finals from what some would refer to as the 'lesser' Bowl games [not me, tho'- NANESB!] prior to New Year's Day:

December 30:
Music City Bowl:
North Carolina 30- Tennessee 27 (2 OT)

Holiday Bowl
#17 Nebraska 7- Washington 19

December 31:
Meineke Bowl
South Florida 31- Clemson 26

Sun Bowl
Notre Dame 33- Miami (FL) 17

Liberty Bowl
Central Florida 10- Georgia 6

Chick-Fil-A Bowl
#19 South Carolina 17- #23 Florida State 26

NFL: Not that much to report as far as the Pats are concerned. Some of the starters got some rest on Sunday's 38-7 rout of the Miami Dolphins in South Florida, sweeping the season series. This is the 8th straight win for New England and also the 8th straight game where they scored more than 30 points, finishing with a 14-2 regular season record.

Now all that's left is to wait and see who New England gets after Wild Card weekend.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: Speaking of- here's the Wild Card weekend schedule:

Saturday- 1/8
New Orleans Saints @ Seattle Seahawks- 4:30 PM ET
NY Jets @ Indianapolis Colts- 8:00 PM ET

Sunday- 1/9
Baltimore Ravens @ Kansas City Chiefs- 1:00 PM ET
Green Bay Packers @ Philadelphia Eagles- 4:30 PM ET

NBA: Well....while I was watching all this football, it seemed to escape my attention that Rajon Rondo is back. He had a fairly low-key return in Sunday night's 93-79 win over the Toronto Raptors with 8 assists, a rebound and 4 points (8? Maybe not that low-key, then).

Getty images

On Monday night's game at the Garden, they got some unexpectedly stiff competiton from the Minnesota Timberwolves as Kevin Love had 24 points for the visiting T'Wolves. After trailing at halftime 47-43, Paul Pierce scored 15 of his 23 points in the 3rd quarter to help close what was once a double-digit gap before the C's went ahead and held on to win by the final on 96-93.

Interestingly, the Celtics have never lost to the Timberwolves since the acquisition of Kevin Garnett in 2007 (KG is still on the disabled list however, and did not play against his former team).

The C's have a tough one coming up Wednesday night at the garden as they'll play host to the San Antionio Spurs as they come to Beantown with the NBA's best record.



NHL: After back-to-back shootout losses against Atlanta and Buffalo (where they at least got a point for their trouble) the Bruins went north of the border to take on the Maple Leafs.

Tim Thomas had the night off and the elusive Tukka Rask got the start between the pipes for the B's instead. Although Toronto got on the board first with a Mikhail Grabovski goal, Rask turned aside 36 shots on goal- many of them coming from former Bruins teammate Phil Kessel.

Nathaniel Horton and Marc Savard would score in the second to put the Bruins up for good by a final of 2-1, snapping their 2-game slide.

The B's will next take on the Minnesota Wild at the Garden on Thursday night, 7 PM ET.

Justin K. Aller/ Getty

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: The 2011 Winter Classic belatedly got underway Saturday night between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals amid intermittent rain showers at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, PA.

The original start time of 1 PM Eastern was pushed back to 8 PM ET [might this be a sign of things to come for future Winter Classics? -NANESB!] in the hopes that the rain would clear by then. But it was a very wet Winter Classic indeed as the Penguins got out to a 1-0 lead on a Evgeni Malkin goal in the 2nd. However, the Caps would come right back with a power play goal from Mike Knuble and follow that one up with a tally from Caps RW Eric Fehr to take the 2-1 lead in the second. Fehr would provide Washington with some insurance in the 3rd with another tally to make it 3-1 Washington- the final score.

Washington's Semyon Varlamov turned aside 32 of the 33 shots he faced while Pens netminder Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 of 32 shots faced.

IIHF WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Jeez- I had no idea that these were underway until Monday night when the Maple Leafs announcers were updating the score of the USA/Canada game.....which alas, the USA lost 4-1. This means that the host USA will play Sweden in the Bronze medal game on Wednesday afternoon while Canada will take on Russia in the Gold medal game at Buffalo's HSBC Arena on Wednesday night.

MLB: Free agent and former Red Sox and Mariners 3B Adrian Beltre and the Texas Rangers have reached a preliminary agreement on a six-year, $96 million contract pending a physical late on Tuesday.

Pre Holiday Sports Chowdah- Peyton's Misplaced; Recchi-ng Ball Hits NHL Milestone; BC, UConn Can Go Bowling; C's Oversee Net Losses

NFL: Wow....I've been meaning to get caught up on this for awhile now.

So...did any of you see that Colts/Pats game on Sunday? And with less than a minute to go in the 4th, Peyton Manning was all 'I think I'll put us in position for the game tying field goal or even get a game winning TD' and James Sanders was like all 'Nuh-uh!' and 'Yoink!' when he intercepted Manning's 1st and 10 pass attempt at the Pats 6 yard line?

Yeah- that was pretty awesome.

You know what else was awesome? When Danny Woodhead scrambled for that 36 yard TD run to make it a 28-14 New England lead towards the end of the third quarter. Seriously, thank you Jets for giving up on the diminutive RB and cutting him loose at the start of the season.

Anywhoo, granted that this is old news, but I thought worth re-visiting by virtue of the outcome. The Pats led by as much as 21-7 until the closing seconds of the first half and 31-14 early in the 4th quarter. However, New England would watch its once sizable lead evaporate when Peyton Manning put together two TD drives, each clocking in at about two and a half minutes and working on what could very well have been a 3rd touchdown drive were it not for Pat's safety James Sanders timely interception at the New England 6 yard line.

Seriously- even tho' Manning almost managed to dig himself the early hole with those two earlier interceptions, did anybody think that the Colts would jusr roll over like spayed cocker spaniel? Me neither...

New England hangs on to win by the final of 31-28- not pretty or the strongest of finishes, but certainly effective. Brady went 19-25 with 186 passing yards and two TDs. Danny Woodhead had 7 carries for 69 yards and the TD while Brandon Merriweather, Devin McCourty, and of course James Sanders, each had interceptions on the day.

The Pats will travel next to Ford Field to take on the Detroit Tigers on Thanksgiving Day at 12:30 PM ET, 9:30 AM Pacific

Joel Auerbach/Getty

Coming off of a brief 2-game skid in which they lost in overtime at home to the LA Kings over the weekend and were downed by the Tampa Bay Lightning 3-1 on Monday night, the Boston Bruins would continue their swing through the sunshine state in the hopes of halting their losing streak- or at least having Mark Recchi score his 1500th career point- while visiting the Florida Panthers Wednesday night.

Hmm...How about both?

After falling behind 1-0 late in the 2nd, the Bruins responded by scoring a shorthanded goal from Brad Marchand only 8 seconds into the third period to tie the game up at 1-1. Just under 3 minutes later, Recchi got the go ahead tally on an even strength goal as well as an insurance goal that came on a Bruins power play with 4 minutes remaining in the 3rd. Bruins win by the final of 3-1. Tim Thomas now has an 11-1-1 record after stopping 31 shots faced and Mark Recchi now becomes the 13th player to reach the 1500 point mark.

The Bruins will next take on the Carolina Hurricanes at noon Eastern on Friday, Nov. 26.

NCAA FOOTBALL: After dropping five straight, including four against ACC opponent, who would'vc thought the Boston College Eagles would be bowl-eligible?

But that's exactly what happened after BC's 17-13 win over Virginia on Saturday, although with one game remaining against Syracuse this season, it begs the question of whether or not BC will even get an invite.

Speaking of Syracuse, that's exactly who the UConn Huskies had as their opponent at an away game inside the Carrier Dome on Saturday night. With the 23-6 win, Connecticut is now bowl-eligilbe as well, with a 6-4 record. The Huskies will take on the Cincinnati Bearcats at home on noon Saturday before closing out regular season play on the road against the South Florida Bulls the following weekend.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: Two different ballparks were put to use in the offseason by the NCAA as football venues. Wrigley Field hosted it's first football game in nearly 40 years when the Wrigleyville Classic between Northwestern and Illinois. Less than 36 hours before kickoff, Big 10 officials announced that due to the tight confines of the East end zone up against a brick wall, plays would only be run towards the west end zone (Wrigley's 3rd base dugout). The only time there was any action in the West End zone was when Northwestern safety Brian Peters returned an interception 59 yards to the forbidden end zone in Northwestern's 27-48 loss to Illinois.

Halfway across the country, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish beat down the US Army Black Knights in the Bronx in a game that was primarily noteworthy for being the first NCAA football game in the new Yankee stadium. The 27-3 win for the Irish means that they are now bowl-eligible after garnering a 6-5 record while Army came into Yankee stadiun already bowl-eligible after their 45-28 win over Kent State on Nov. 13.

NBA: After losing two fairly close games to a Kevin Durant-less Oklahoma City Thunder and the Toronto Raptors, The C's won back-to-back games starting with a 99-76 blowout of the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of Wednesday's mathchup against the Nets was how well Shaq was playing (9-10 with 25 points and 7 of 13 from the free throw line) after losing Rajon Rondo to a hamstring injury while losing Delonte West to a broken right wrist in the 89-83 win over New Jersey.

The C's next game will be at home against the Toronto Raptors on Friday night

Fall Back Sports Chowdah Update- Pats Dog Pounded; OT Has B's Blue in the Face; C's Doing OK on Road Trip; BC Sees the Wake Forest for the Trees

NFL: Wow.....that sure sucked. A week after beating the Minnesota Vikings at Foxboro, the Pats travelled to Cleveland to take on the 2-5 Browns.

Don't let their record fool you, though. Prior to their bye week on Halloween, the Browns ran roughshod over the defending Superbowl Champion New Orleans Saints by a final of 30-17.

On Sunday, it wasn't even that close. Former Hawaii QB Colt McCoy made the most of his NFL debut, and if McCoy didn't make the dog pound forget about former Cleveland Browns #1 draft pick Brady Quinn, RB Peyton Hillis would.

Hillis and a 6th round draft pick in the 2011 draft were acquired by Cleveland from the Denver Broncos in exchange for Quinn. On Sunday, Hillis had 29 carries, 184 yards and a pair of TD's while Colt McCoy went 14 for 19 and 174 yards while rushing for 20 more and a TD.

On the Pats side of the ball, Tom Brady was 19-36 with 224 yards and two TDs, both of them to TE Aaron Hernandez, for the only Pats scoring on the day.

The Browns win this one handily by a score of 34-14 and leave the Pats scratching their heads wondering what the hell went wrong before facing the Steelers at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field for NBC's Sunday night game. The Steelers held on to win their Monday night contest against the Cincinnati Bengals by a 27-21 final.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: You had to figure it was only a matter of time, but after Sunday night's 45-7 loss to Green Bay at Lambeau Field, the Dallas Cowboys fired head coach Wade Phillips. With a 1-7 record, this marks the first time that a Dallas head coach was dismissed midseason. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett will take over head coaching duties on an interim basis.

NHL: The Bruins caught their first whiff of overtime on Saturday night when they hosted the St. Louis Blues. The Blues led 1-0 on a Vladmir Sobotka goal in the first and that's the way the score would remain until 7 minutes into the 3rd quarter. This was thanks in large part to the play of St. Louis goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who (with a little help from the posts) stopped 33 of 34 shots faced, with the Bruin's only tally coming from Gregory Campbell in the third.

Tuuka Rask, for his part, would not allow another goal in regulation or OT and stopped 34 of 35 shots faced overall. However, the Blues would go on to win the shootout by a 2-1 margin (Tyler Seguin was the only B's tally in the shootout), giving St. Louis the 2-1 win, so Boston at least gets a point from Saturday's game.

The Bruins will travel to Pittsburgh's brand-new Consol Energy Center for Wednesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For the love of God, He's 83! Don't drop him!

NCAA FOOTBALL: Normally, I'm not that dedicated a follower of Big Ten football, but I couldn't let Saturday's game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and Northwestern Wildcats at State College, PA pass without comment.

The Lions rallied from a 21-7 halftime deficit to score four unanswered TD's in the second half for the come from behind for the 35-21 win. The win is the 3rd in a row for Penn State and gives them a 6-3 record (3-2 in the Big 10) and most importantly, gives Penn State head coach Joe Paterno career win #400- the first ever NCAA football coach to reach that milestone.

[Congrats to JoePa for a milestone that nobody else will ever come close to- NANESB!]

ACC: After snapping their losing streak in a home game against the Clemson Tigers, the Boston College Eagles made it back to back wins in the ACC when they travelled to Winston-Salem, NC to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Eagles QB Chase Rettig went 14-16 for 133 yards, but the MVP Saturday was undoubtedly RB Montel Harris, who had 36 carries for 183 yards and 3 TD's on the day for Boston College's 23-13 win over Wake Forest.

The BC Eagles head back to the Tarheel State for another road game, this time in Durham, NC against the Duke Blue Devils.

NBA: The Celtics winning streak of five games was snapped on Monday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX with the Mavericks getting the go ahead jumper from Dirk Nowitzki with less than 20 seconds left in regulation for the 89-87 win over Boston.

Even with the loss, Boston's 6-2 record is still good enough for 1st place in the Atlantic division. The Celtics will travel next to Miami to take on the Heat Thursday night on a game that will be broadcast on TNT at 8PM Eastern, 5 Pacific.