Sports Chowdah Update- Yaroslavl Crash Probe Continues, Two Survivors in Coma; NFL Season Opens up With Pack Attack; Woe Canada, Sox Drop 3 to Toronto

RUSSIA: Officials probing the plane crash site along the banks of the Volga river in Yaroslavl Russia have recovered the flight data recorder from the downed Yak-42 aircraft that was carrying members of the team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team of Russia's KHL.

The team was enroute to the Belorussian capital of Minsk for their season opener against Minsk Dinamo when the plane went down on Wednesday. Russian investigators from the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee have recovered the black box, but caution that the device had gotten wet after being submerged after the crash. Even with the damaged black box, officals said they had been able to recover some data.

So far it is known that the plane's engines were running at the time of impact and that the crash took place on a clear day. The runway at Yaroslavl's Tunoshna airport was about three times longer than necessary for a Yak-42 to reach takeoff speeds, but investigators are looking at insufficient takeoff speed as one of the factors. Early reports claimed that the doomed flight was overloaded and struggling to reach altitude shortly after takeoff before clipping a nearby communications antennae.

Officials allowed Tunoshna airport to reopen on Thursday, but planes were prohibited from purchasing local fuel as investigators haven't ruled out the possibility that low-grade fuel led to the crash.


In Minsk, a requiem mass was held on Thursday at the arena where the KHL season opener was slated to take place.



The deceased include the following:

Lokomotiv Players and Personnel:
Vitaly Anikeyenko
Yury Bakhvalov
Aleksandr Belyayev
Mikhail Balandin
Aleksandr Vasyunov
Josef Vasicek
Aleksandr Vyukhin
Robert Dietrich
Pavol Demitra
Andrei Zimin
Marat Kalimulin
Aleksandr Karpovtsev
Aleksandr Kalyanin
Andrei Kiryukhin
Nikita Klyukin
Igor Korolyov
Nikolai Krivonosov
Yevgeny Kunnov
Vyacheslav Kuznetsov
Stefan Liv
Jan Marek
Brad McCrimmon
Sergey Ostapchuk
Vladimir Piskunov
Karel Rachunek
Evgeny Sidorov
Karlis Skrastins
Ruslan Saley
Pavel Snurnitsyn
Daniil Sobchenko
Ivan Tkachenko
Pavel Trakhanov
Igor Urychev
Gennady Churilov
Maksim Shuvalov
Artyom Yarchuk

Flight Crew
Andrey Solontsev
Igor Zhevelov
Sergei Zhuravlev
Vladimir Matyushkin
Yelena Sarmatova
Nadezhda Maksumova
Yelena Shavina

There are two survivors of the plane crash include player Alexander Galimov and flight engineer Alexander Sizov. Both of them were airlifted to Moscow for further treatment, with Galimov sustaining burns on more than 80% of his body.

The KHL plans on resuming play on Tuesday, September 13. Officials from the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl organization say they intend to rebuild after Wednesday's tragedy and claimed to have already received calls from former players offering to come back and skate for the club once again. The KHL will fund the roster for Lokomotiv under the league's current option.

RED SOX: The Red Sox continued to limp through September, dropping the final two games of their 4-game series in Toronto.

Tim Wakefield's quixotic quest for elusive win #200 continues as the bullpen squandered an 8-5 lead on Wednesday night, with Toronto coming back in the 8th inning to score 5 runs before going on to win by a 11-10 final.

On Thursday, Andrew Miller allowed 5 earned runs and 8 hits and two walks in 5 innings of work against the Blue Jays. Toronto's Ricky Romero went 6 and ⅔ innings giving up 5 hits, 3 earned runs and three walks, striking out 7 for the win.

So far, the Red Sox have only won two games in the month of September and now 3B Kevin Youkilis was not posted in the lineup for this weekend's series at Tampa Bay. There was no immediate word on why Youkilis wasn't in the Friday night lineup.

Friday night's game at Tropicana Field will feature Wade Davis (9-8; 4.5 ERA) going up against John Lackey (12-11; 6.11 ERA). First pitch is at 7:10 PM and the game will be televised on NESN.



NFL: Are you ready for some football? So was I, as it turns out.

After a prolonged, contentious and highly public feud between the NFL players association and owners, the 2011 NFL season got underway Thursday night in a contest that pitted the previous two Superbowl champions against each other.

In a little noticed move immediately after President Obama's groundbreaking jobs speech, the NFL had scheduled their season opener for Thursday night in Lambeau Field, pitting the New Orleans Saints against the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. Packers QB Aaron Rogers went 27 of 35 attempts with 312 yards and 3 TDs in Green Bay's 42-34 win at Lambeau.

New Orleans QB Drew Brees actually had the better night statistically (32-49, 419 yards and 3 TDs) but the Packer's D was able to limit a number of New Orleans drives deep into their territory to field goal attempts.

OTHER NFL NEWS- INDIANAPOLIS: Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning underwent neck surgery, his third such procedure in 19 months and will miss the season opener at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

Doctors and team officials from the Colts have been very ambiguous about a timetable for Manning's return. Some of the less optimistic (but still unconfirmed) reports claim he could miss the entire season.

Manning hasn't missed a start in 14 seasons, starting in 227 consecutive games for Indianapolis.

Veteran QB Kerry Collins, who most recently saw action with Indy's AFC South foe Tenessee Titans, will be starting for the Colts while Manning is out.

OTHER NFL NEWS- CHICAGO- The NFL has no plans to sanction or fine Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs for wearing cleats and gloves adorned with the colors of the US flag. Although technically a uniform violation, the league said that players could wear customized shoes and gloves for Week 1.

NCAA Football: Possible future conference-mates Oklahoma State and Arizona met at Stillwater, OK Thursday night. The 9th ranked Cowboys (2-0) handeled the Wildcats (1-1) fairly easily, winning by a 37-14 final.

Games on tap for Friday night include Arizona state vs #21 Missouri and Louisville hosting Florida International Univ.

ELSEWHERE IN THE BIG 12: After SEC presidents and chancellors welcomed a possible move to the SEC conference by Texas A&M, the move faces a roadblock in the form of Baylor university.

Bayolr is threatening to sue if the Aggies depart the Big 12 and the SEC must reportedly obtain waivers from each school before any such move, according to an e-mail from Big 12 commisioner Dan Beebe. One SEC chancellor said that Texas A&M must resolve any pending legal disputes within the Big 12 before becoming the 13th team in the SEC.

Most Fowl Sports Chowdah Update- Ducks Covered; Seahawks Win in Seismic Upset; Eagles Lay an Egg; Penguins Sink Late

AP Photo

NCAA FOOTBALL: The BCS Championship game got underway at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, AZ on Monday night with two undefeateds- #1 Auburn and #2 Oregon- going head to head. The Oregon Ducks had a 12-0 record for the regular season while the Tigers went 13-0 (they played South Carolina in the SEC Championship game last month whereas the Pac 10 has no Championship game)

After opening the game with offensive drives for each side ending in a turnover or simply sputtering out mid-filed, the first quarter went by with neither team scoring- although Oregon was inside the red zone and would have to settle for a FG to start off the 2nd period.

Auburn would take the lead on their next drive, when Heisman winner Cam Newton connected with WR Kodi Burns for a 35 yard TD play to make it a 7-3 game.

Oregon came right back when Ducks QB Darron Thomas connected with WR Jeff Maehl for an 81 yard yard gain to set Oregon up at the Auburn 12. Thomas then connected with RB LaMicheal James for an 8 yard TD run on 3rd and 6 and successfully completed a 2 point conversion to take an 11-7 lead.

Later on in the 2nd, Auburn would manage to pin the Ducks deep in their own territory after a kickoff, which led to LaMicheal James being tackled in his own end zone for a safety, cutting the Auburn deficit to 11-9. With less than two minutes to go until halftime, the Tigers would then go on to take the lead on a 30 yard completion to WR Emory Blake to make it a 16-11 Auburn lead.

Surprisingly, the only scoring in the 3rd quarter was a 28 yard Wes Byrum FG to extend Auburn's lead to 19-11. While Auburn seemingly dominated time of possession in the 2nd half, Oregon was able to put together a quick drive of just over 2 minutes (after getting good field position recovering an Auburn fumble) and score a TD on 2 yard play LaMichael James while Maehl managed to bring in the pass on the 2 point attempt to tie the game up at 19-19.

The game looked like it was heading for OT when Auburn got the ball back, but freshman Micheal Dyer turned what looked like a short pickup into a 37 yard gain after being tackled by an Oregon defender- but without his knees or elbows hitting the ground. The play happened right in front of the Tiger's bench and his teammates exhorted him to keep running. The play wasn't blown dead until after Dyer's scramble and a video review showed that he was not down by contact after the first hit. From the Oregon 17, Dyer got the ball again and rumbled down to the Oregon 1 yard line (the play was initially ruled a TD before a review showed him down at the 1) with 16 seconds left.

After an attempted rush by Cam Newton, the Tigers decided to play it safe and brought in Wes Byrum for a FG attempt from the 19 yard line with only 2 seconds left in regulation. Byrum's kick was good and the Auburn Tigers win the BCS championship on the final play of the game for a 22-19 final. This was a surprisingly low-scoring game given how potent both offenses were in the regular season.

Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: 'Now Fenway' I'm sure you're saying 'Enough about this silly BCS Championship game- what about the REAL important Bowl games? Like the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl?'

Actually, the Sunday Night Bowl game at San Francisco's AT&T Park would mark the first time the BC Eagles played a ranked opponent since week 6 when they went up against #16 Florida State......and lost by a 24-19 final.

Things got off to a pretty good start for the Eagles after they managed to stop the Wolfpack drive mid-field. Although they went 3 and out for their first offensive possession, they managed to force a fumble from Nevada QB Colin Kaepernick, which Eagle's RB Andre Williams ran back 30 yards for a TD to give the Eagles the early 7-0 lead.

However, Nevada would get the equalizer on the next posession and take a 14-7 lead on a 72 yard punt return with three minutes to go in the first. The only scoring in the 2nd quarter was a 32 yard Andy Martinez FG to put Nevada up 17-7 heading into halftime.

The second half would turn out to be nothing but duelling FG's, with BC's defense successfully keeping the Wolfpack out of the end zone, but their own offense really unable to get it going. This included another Wolfpack interception- this time BC Linebacker Luke Kuechly returned 31 yards to the Nevada 6 yard line. However, Boston College was unable to find the end zone from there and had to settle for a FG to make it 17-10.

Nevada would get another FG from Martinez to extended their lead to 20-10. With 5 minutes left in regulation, BC would get the ball back on their own 34 yard line and march down the Nevada 18 before attempting another FG to make it a 13-20. After forcing the Wolfpack to go 3 and out on the next possession, Eagles QB Chase Rettig would be picked off at mid-field to put the game away for Nevada.

The Wolfpack win by the final of 20-13, and Boston College's defense did well just to keep it a one-score game for most of the second half. In all honesty, the only time I was optimistic about BC getting points on the board was when Nevada had the ball.

The loss marks Boston College's 3rd straight bowl loss (and 2nd straight in San Francisco).

OTHER NCAA FINALS:
Jan 6th- GoDaddy.com Bowl:
Middle Tennessee 21- Miami (Ohio) 35

Jan 7th- Cotton Bowl:
LSU 41- Texas A&M 24

Jan 8th- BBVA Compass Bowl:
Pittsburgh 27- Kentucky 10

NFL: Boy- that Micheal Vick really screwed the pooch, huh? I bet that last pass will dog him all offseason!

Wild card weekend was marked by a slate of games that actually turned out to be pretty good, the last of which featured the Philadelphia Eagles hosting the Green Bay Packers.

Remember how well the Packers played New England without Aaron Rodgers? It should probably come as no surprise that they got out to the early lead at Lincoln Financial Field and held on to that for most of the game- taking a 21-20 lead into the 4th quarter. However, Micheal Vick was able to rally the Eagles offense and made it a 16-21 game with just over 4 minutes to go in the game. Aaron Rodgers was sacked on 3rd down during the next Green Bay possession, forcing the Pack to punt.

Eagles QB Micheal Vick then marched the Eagles down as far as the Packers 27 yard line before he threw the game and season-ending interception to seal the game by a final of 21-16.



ELSEWHERE ON WILD CARD WEEKEND: As surprising as the Philly's early exit from the postseason may be, the biggest stunner of the weekend came early.

In a literally seismic upset, the 7-9 Seattle Seahawks defeated the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints on Saturday afternoon at the Emerald City's notoriously loud Qwest Field. The Seahawks headed into the 4th quarter with a 14 point lead, but the Saints almost immediately started eating into it with a Juluis Jones TD pass to make it a 27-34 game. New Orleans' Garrett Hartley would then boot a FG on the Saints next possession to narrow the deficit to 34-30 with the Seahawks still clinging to the lead.

With 4 minutes 20 seconds to go in regulation and both offenses seemingly running out of momentum, the Seahawks would've been satisfied just to keep the drive going long enough to bleed out the clock. Of course, Buffalo Bills cast-aside Marshawn Lynch finding a hole and rushing 67 yards for a Seahawks TD doesn't hurt, either. That made it a 41-30 game, giving the Seahawks insurance for when the Saints came right back and scored a TD 36-41 (the 2 point attempt failed). However, the Seahawks would recover the onside kick and the Hawks took a knee, ending the defending Super Bowl champions bid to repeat one game in.

Many observers also noted that Saturday's game at Qwest field was likely Matt Hasselbeck's last home game as the Seahawks QB. Hasselbeck went 22-35, with 272 yards, 4 TDs and a lone interception on Saturday.

AFC: Well now....looks like it's going to be a pair of divisional rematches on the AFC side.

On Saturday night, the defending AFC champions were bounced out of the playoffs early at their home field by the New York Jets. Trailing the Colts 10-7 heading into the 4th, the Jets took the lead on a short LaDanian Thomlinson TD run to go on top 14-10. Indy would take a one point lead thanks to two Adam Vinatieri FG's (one from the 32 and 50 yard line), making it a 16-14 game.

However, the Jets had a kicking game left that compensated for what it lacked in distance with timing. Impeccable timing at that. Jets kicker Nick Folk nailed a 32 point FG as time expired for a 17-14 Jets win, meaning the Jets will travel to Foxboro to take on a well-rested Patriots next weekend.

The Baltimore/Kansas City game was kind of a one-sided beatdown, with the Ravens coming away from that one with a 30-7 win over the Chiefs.

So this upcoming slate of NFL games will look something like this:

Saturday- 1/15:
Baltimore @ Pittsburgh, 4:30 PM ET/1:30PT
Green Bay @ Atlanta, 8PM ET/5PT

Sunday- 1/16:
Seattle @ Chicago, 1PM ET/ 10 AM PT
Ny Jets @ New England, 4:30 PM ET/ 1:30 PT

NHL: Ever get that feeling of Deja Vu? Like when the Pittsburgh Penguins take a seemingly insurmountable lead against Boston into the 3rd period and manage to choke that away? I've been known to get that feeling once in awhile myself.

Last night was no different when the B's fell into the 2-0 hole in the 2nd after Tukka Rask gave up goals from Micheal Rupp and Kris Letang.

But while others were watching the BCS game on Monday night (namely me) the Bruins mounted a furious comeback in which they scored 4 unanswered goals in the 3rd period- a power play goal from Zdeno Chara, followe 12 seconds later by the game-tying goal from Brad Marchand. The tie-breaker came with just over a minute left in regulation- a power play goal off the stick of Mark Recchi and Greg Campbell added some insurance with an empty netter as the final 10 seconds of regulation were ticking away.

Monday night's win snaps a 2-game losing streak in which the B's lost to Minnesota on Thrusday and at Montreal in OT over the weekend.

The Bruins will next take on the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night at the Garden and will face the Flyers on Thursday evening.

NBA: No come from behind win for the C's on Monday night as they lost to the Houston Rockets by a 108-102 final on Monday Night. This is their 2nd loss in a row after a weekend 79-90 loss to the Chicago Bulls. The C's next game will be on Wednesday night against the Sacramento Kings and will head into the weekend with a home game against the Charlotte Bobcats.

MLB: The Red Sox and Hideki Okajima have agreed to a one year $1.75 contract, returning to Boston for a fifth straight season. Although he struggled for much of the 2010 season, Oki had a 1.30 ERA in 13 innings of work in his final 15 appearences.

Sports Chowdah on a Roll- Crawford Lands Deal w/Sox; B's Set Islanders Adrift; C's Get By 76ers on KG Move; Army/Navy Set to Clash; Feller in Hospice

This has been one of those weeks that I simply gotta savor as a New England sports fan, and the biggest news being made so far is by a team that won't play a regular season game for another five months.

RED SOX: Good Lord- Why stop with Adrian Gonzalez?

Wondering of the Red Sox had any more tricks up their sleeve for the MLB Winter Meetings in Orlando, I headed off to bed assuming that Carl Crawford and the Angels were close to a terms on a contract. Then I woke up this morning to learn that free agent outfielder Carl Crawford signed a huge deal with the Red Sox.


The former Tampa Bay left fielder and the Red Sox had reportedly agreed to a preliminary deal for 7 years and reportedly worth $142 million. Crawford had a .307 BA last year while driving in 90 runs (and scoring another 110 himself) with 19 home runs and 47 stolen bases.

With 8 stolen bases and a .324 batting average against Boston, I would've been reasonably satisfied if Crawford was on his way out to the West Coast to face a team the Red Sox only face a few times in the regular season. Thanks to Theo playing it close to the vest, I wasn't even aware of the Red Sox and the extent of their interest in the speedy outfielder. Apparently this caught the rest of the league as well as the sports media off guard.

OTHER MLB NEWS: 92 year old Hall of Fame pitcher and former Cleveland Indian Bob Feller has been moved from the Cleveland Clinic to a hospice in the Cleveland area. Feller made his debut with the Indians in July 1936 and joined the US Navy the day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. After serving on the USS Alabama until 1944, Feller rejoined the Indians in 1945.

Feller retired in 1956 with 266 career wins, a career ERA of 3.25 and a total of 2,581 strikeouts. Six years later, Feller was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first year of eligibility and in 1995 the Bob Feller Museum opened up in the Hall of Famer's hometown of Van Meter, IA. Earlier this year, Feller was diagnosed with leukemia.

NFL: The Indianapolis Colts travelled to Nashville, TN to take on the struggling Tennessee Titans for this week's Thursday night game. The injury-depleted Colts had dropped three straight games against the Patriots, Chargers and Cowboys coming into the Thursday game, leading to all sorts of questions about the health of QB Peyton Manning as well as Indy's dimming playoff prospects with their 6-6 record.

The Titans were worse off, coming into Thursday night's game losing five in a row and roiled by injuries and very public infighting between QB Vince Young (now on the DL) and coach Jeff Fischer.

After going 25-35 with 319 yards and 2 TDs, including a 46 yard TD pass to WR Reggie Wayne, Manning demonstrated that the Colts weren't quite finished for the season in Indy's 30-28 win (it wasn't quite that close, as Titans QB Kerry Collins managed to find the end zone for a 3rd time as regulation expired). Presently, the Colts are a half game behind the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC South while the loss pretty much stuck a dagger in the Titan's season.

NHL: Sad to say, I completely missed Thursday night's Bruins home win against the NY Islanders- although I understand there was a Tukka Rask sighting.

The Bruins held off a 2nd period surge from the Islanders where they were outshot 17-9, but still managed to get a shorthanded goal off the stick of Brad Marchand and held on to a 2-1 lead heading to the second intermission.

In the 3rd, Micheal Ryder got what would prove to be the game-winner on a power play goal with about 5 minutes remaining, and while the Islanders would come right back to make it a 1-goal game less than 2 minutes later, Milan Lucic and Patrice Bergeron would put the game out of reach with two empty-netters of their own with less than two minutes left in the 3rd to give Boston the 5-2 win over the Islanders.

Tukka Rask and Rick DePietro each faced 35 shots on the night, with Rask stopping 33 (but not a penalty shot from Frans Nielsen, incidentally) and Lucic had two goals on the night.

I did catch the pretty awesome Tuesday night game against the Buffalo Sabres, including the extra 50 seconds of sudden death overtime after Mark Recchi scored the game-winning goal [seen at the 4:55 mark below].

Recchi's shot came in and out of the net so quickly, it's possible the officials assumed it had simply hit a crossbar, but it was reviewed during the next stoppage of play, which came some 49 seconds later. Recchi's power-play goal was made official and the Bruins won by a final of 3-2 in OT. Tim Thomas stopped 28 of 30 shots faced while Ryan Miller blocked 33 of 36 shots on the night.

The Bruins will next play host to the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday Night at the Garden. The puck drops at 7PM ET, 4PM Pacific.

NBA: Well, much like tonight's Bruins game, I wasn't able to catch any of tonight's C's game either [TWO nationally televised Celtics games back to back? What are the odds!?- NANESB]. Looks like this one peaked late, though.

If the embedded video isn't working, you're missing Kevin Garnett bank in an alley-oop pass with only 1.4 seconds left in regulation to give the Celtics the 102-101 win over the 76ers for their 9th straight win on Thursday night.

I DID catch most of Wednesday Night's home game against the Denver Nuggets. They didn't bother playing Carmello Anthony, even though he appeared to be healthy, which no doubt fuelled more speculation that a trade from Denver was imminent.

The C's were up by as much as 19 in the first half, but the Mello-less Nuggets managed to chip away into the Boston lead, coming within one point of them before heading into the half trailing 52-59.

In the second half, Boston really began to pull away and win by a final of 105-89 and Denver head coach George Karl is still looking for career win #1,000.

The Celtics' road trip continues into the weekend with a swing through Charlotte, NC against the Bobcats on Saturday night- also at 7PM Eastern.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Well, we're down to one last regular season game this weekend, and that's the Army/Navy game at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia this Saturday at 2:30 PM ET. Interestingly, both teams head into Saturday's game already accepting invitations to Bowl Games. The Army Black Knights have a 6-5 record and will be taking on the Southern Methodist Mustangs in the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl in Ft. Worth, TX on December 30 while the Navy Midshipmen sport an 8-3 record and will go up against the San Diego State Aztecs in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl on December 23rd.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: Florida head coach Urban Meyer, citing family concerns, announced his resignation on Wednesday afternoon. This comes after a fairly disappointing 7-5 season fir the Florida Gators. Meyer was hospitalized with chest pains after last year's SEC championship game against Alabama, but eventually decided to stay on through the 2010 season. There had been speculation that Florida was interested in Mississippi State head coach Dan Mullen, but Mullen said he had no immediate plans to leave Mississippi State.

ACC: Nebraska's athletic director has denied reports that head coach Bo Pelini is a candidate to fill the coaching vacancy for the Miami Hurricanes. He told a Lincoln, NE newspaper that he neither gave Pelini permission to interview with Miami, nor had Pelini sought permission.

BOWL SCHEDULE: And here is the lineup of Bowl games for the next few weeks-

12/18
NEW MEXICO BOWL, Albuquerque, NM- BYU Cougars vs UTEP Miners; 2PM ET ESPN

HUMANITARIAN BOWL, Boise, ID- Northern Illinois Huskies vs Fresno State Buldogs; 5:30 PM ET ESPN

NEW ORLEANS BOWL, New Orleans, LA- Ohio Bobcats vs Troy Trojans; 9PM ET, ESPN

12/21
BEEF O'BRADY BOWL, St. Petersburgh, FL- Southern Mississippi Golden Eagles vs Louisville Cardinals; 8PM ET, ESPN


12/22
MAACO BOWL, Las Vegas, NV- #20 Utah Utes vs #10 Boise St. Broncos; 8PM ET, ESPN


12/23
POINSETTIA BOWL, San Diego, CA- San Diego St. Aztecs vs Navy Midshipmen; 8PM ET, ESPN


12/24
HAWAII BOWL, Honolulu, HI- #24 Hawaii Warriors vs Tulsa Golden Hurricanes; 8PM ET, ESPN

12/26
LITTLE CAESAR'S BOWL, Detroit, MI- Toledo Rockets vs Florida Int'l Golden Panthers; 8:30 PM ET, ESPN

12/27
INDEPENDENCE BOWL, Shreveport, LA- Air Force Falcons vs Georgia Tech Yellowjackets; 5PM ET, ESPN2

12/28
CHAMPS SPORTS BOWL, Orlando, FL- #22 West Virginia Mountaineers vs NC State Wolfpack; 6:30 PM ET, ESPN

INSIGHT BOWL, Tempe, AZ- #14 Missouri Tigers vs Iowa Hawkeyes; 10PM ET, ESPN

12/29
MILITARY BOWL, Washington DC- East Carolina Pirates vs Maryland Terrapins; 2:30PM ET, ESPN

TEXAS BOWL, Houston, TX- Illinois Illini vs Baylor Bears; 6PM ET, ESPN

VALERO ALAMO BOWL, San Antonio, TX- #16 Oklahoma St Cowbowys vs Arizona Wildcats; 9:15PM ET, ESPN

12/30
BELL ARMED FORCES BOWL, Ft. Worth, TX- Army Black Knights vs SMU Mustangs; 12:00PM ET, ESPN

NEW ERA PINSTRIPE BOWL, New York, NY- Kansas State Wildcats vs Syracuse Orangemen; 3:30PM ET, ESPN

MUSIC CITY BOWL, Nashville, TN- North Carolina Tarheels vs Tennessee Volunteers; 6:40PM ET, ESPN

HOLIDAY BOWL, San Diego, CA- #17 Nebraska Corhuskers vs Washington Huskies; 10:00PM ET, ESPN

12/31
MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL, Charlotte, NC- USF Bulls vs Clemson Tigers- 12:00PM ET, ESPN

SUN BOWL, El Paso, TX- Miami Hurricanes vs Notre Dame Fighting Irish; 2PM ET, CBS

LIBERTY BOWL, Memphis, TN- Georgia Bulldogs vs UCF Golden Knights; 3:30 PM ET, ESPN

CHICK FIL A BOWL, Atlanta, GA- #19 South Carolina Gamecocks vs #23 FSU Seminoles; 7:30 PM ET, ESPN

1/1
TICKET CITY BOWL, Dallas, TX- Northwestern Wildcats vs Texas Tech Red Raiders; 11:59AM ET, ESPNU

OUTBACK BOWL, Tampa, FL- Florida Gators vs Penn St Nittany Lions; 1PM ET, ESPN/ABC

CAPITAL ONE BOWL, Orlando, FL- #15 Alabama Crimson Tide vs #7 Michigan State Spartans; 1 PM ET, ESPN/ABC

GATOR BOWL, Jacksonville, FL- #21 Mississippi State Bulldogs vs Michigan Wolverines; 1:30PM ET, ESPN2

ROSE BOWL, Pasadena, CA- #4 Wisconsin Badgers vs #3 TCU Horned Frogs; 5PM ET, ESPN/ABC

FIESTA BOWL, Tempe, AZ- #25 UConn Huskies vs #9 Oklahoma Sooners; 8:30PM ET, ESPN

1/3
ORANGE BOWL, Miami Gardens, FL- #5 Stanford Cardinals vs #12 Virginia Tech Hokies; 8:30 PM ET, ESPN

1/4
SUGAR BOWL, New Orleans, LA- #6 Ohio State Buckeyes vs #8 Arkansas Razorbacks; 8:30PM ET, ESPN

1/6
GODADDY.COM BOWL, Mobile, AL- Middle Tenn St. Blue Raiders vs Miami (OH) Redhawks; 8PM ET, ESPN

1/7
COTTON BOWL, Arlington, TX- #11 LSU Tigers vs #18 Texas A&M Aggies; 8PM ET, FOX

1/8
BBVA COMPASS BOWL, Birmingham, AL- Pitt Panthers vs Kentucky Wildcats; 12PM ET, ESPN

1/9
KRAFT FIGHT HUNGER BOWL, San Francisco, CA- BC Eagles vs #13 Nevada Wolfpack; 9PM ET, ESPN

1/10

BCS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME, Glendale, AZ- #1 Auburn Tigers vs #2 Oregon Ducks; 8:30PM ET, ESPN

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