Sports Chowdah Update for September 6- Sox Jay-Walk Away In Toronto; North by Northwest- BC Drops Season Opener in Chestnut Hill; Coming Soon- PAC 14?

9/7 UPDATE: At least 40 people are feared dead after a Russian jet carrying players from the KHL hockey club Lokomotiv Yaroslavl crashed while taking off from the Yaroslavl airport Wednesday. The team was flying to Minsk, Belarus for their KHL season opener against Minsk Dinamo on Thursday.

A spokesman from the Russian Emergency ministry said that the Yak-42 crashed shortly after takeoff from the city of Yaroslavl some 150 miles north of Moscow. Authorities haven't determined a cause of the crash yet.

Lokomotiv had won three previous championships, the most recent being in 2003. Their 2011-2012 roster includes former NHL-ers Ruslan Salei, Pavol Demetria and Josef Vasicek as well as Canadian head coach Brad McCrimmon.


RED SOX: Determined to prove that the outcome of the late August series against Boston in Arlington, TX was a fluke, the Texas Rangers came into Boston and took two out of three from the Sox before the Olde Towne Team was slated to head north to Toronto for a 4-game series that began on Labor Day in the Rogers Centre.

Monday's game seemingly ripped the heart out of the Sox, with Josh Beckett leaving the scoreless game in the 4th inning due to an ankle sprain. While the bullpen stepped up tremendously- including 3 ⅔ innings from Alfredo Aceves- the Jays were throwing shutout baseball behind starter Henderson Alvarez. The game would remain scoreless until the bottom of the 11th inning when Dan Wheeler gave up a 2-out walkoff solo homer to Jays 3B Brett Lawrie for the 1-0 Toronto win.

Tuesday was a slightly different story with Jon Lester getting plenty of run support early and often while striking out 11 Jays batters and allowing just 3 hits and one walk in 7 complete innings of work. The Sox jumped all over Toronto starter Luis Perez for 4 runs in the top of the first and seemingly never let up afterwards. After just 2 and ⅔ innings, the Red Sox jumped out to an 8-0 lead and chased Perez from the mound. SS Marco Scutaro went 4-5 with 4 RBI and Big Papi went 4-6 with 2 RBI on the night. The Red Sox win this one going away by a final of 14-0.

Prior to Tuesday night, the Red Sox had only won one out of their last 5 games, putting them two and a half games behind the Yankees for 1st in the AL East. After a lengthy rain delay on Tuesday night, the Yankees beat Baltimore by a 5-3 final in Yankee Stadium to keep the gap at two and a half games

Wednesday night's game will have Tim Wakefield (6-6; 4.95 ERA) going up against Brandon Morrow (9-10; 4.78 ERA). Wakefield, as you may recall, is stuck on career win #199 and has been on a Groundhog Day-esque quest for #200 for the last month or so.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: While He's expected to miss a start for the Sox, an MRI on Josh Beckett's ankle found no serious damage. Beckett returned to Boston on Tuesday to have his ankle examined by team doctors.

Right-handed rookie Kyle Weiland (8-10; 3.58 ERA with AAA Pawtucket this season) is expected to get the start on Saturday against the Rays in Beckett's place.

PAW SOX: The Pawtucket Red Sox clinched their first playoff berth in three seasons and their first IL-North division title since 2003 with a 12-7 win over the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees on Saturday night. They then closed out the regular season at McCoy Stadium with a 7-3 victory over the Rochester Red Wings.

The Paw Sox will travel to Allentown, PA to take on the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs for Game 1 of the first round of the IL playoffs.

EVEN MORE RED SOX NEWS: Perhaps looking to close their budget shortfall, Hall of Famer and Red Sox slugger Ted Williams will be featured on a postage stamp to be issued by the US Postal Service next year.

The set of stamps will also feature Larry Doby, Willie Stargell and Joe DiMaggio and be denominated in the 'Forver' rate (i.e. it would cost 44 ¢ at the time of issue, but could still be used if there were any rate increases). Ted Williams was the last hitter to have a single-season batting average above .400- hitting .406 in 1941- and although he missed several seasons while serving as a Marine Corps pilot in WWII and the Korean War, Williams was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1966.

As a rule, the US Postal Service doesn't issue stamps depicting an individual until a decade after their death. An exception to the rule is made for former US Presidents.

OTHER MLB NEWS: Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg made his first MLB start in over a year on Tuesday night, going 5 scoreless innings and allowing just two hits in a 7-3 loss to the LA Dodgers in the Nation's Capitol. The Nats rookie left mid-season in 2010 with shoulder problems and had Tommy John surgery in the offseason.

Strasburg began his rehab assignments with the Class A affiliate Hagerstown Suns in the South Atlantic League in August and allowed just one hit in six shutout innings with the AA affiliate Harrisburg Senators of the Eastern League.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: In a surprise move, the New England Patriots cut safety Brandon Merriweather. The two-time pro bowler will likely be replaced by Josh Barrett or Sergio Brown. RB Sammy Morris, WR Brandon Tate, DT Ty Warren and TE Alge Crumpler were among the 15 players released by the Pats at the end of preseason.

Warren was picked up by the Denver Broncos while Merriweather was signed by the Chicago Bears.

The NFL regular season starts Thursday night with the Defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers hosting the New Orleans Saints. New England's season doesn't begin in earnest until Monday night, where they travel to Miami to take on the Dolphins in Game one of a Monday Night Football doubleheader.


OTHER NFL NEWS: NFL Hall of fame Defensive End Lee Roy Selmon passed away from a stroke on Sunday, September 4th at the age of 56. Selmon was born and raised in Eastern Oklahoma and played for the Oklahoma University Sooners with his two brothers in College.

In 1976, Selmon was the first-ever draft pick for the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and remained with the team until his 1984 retirement, notching 742 tackles and 78.5 career sacks.

After his playing days, Selmon remained in Florida and participated in a number of charities and started up a chain of sports bars in the Tampa area.

BOSTON COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Well- that could've gone better. Although both teams headed into the lockers at the half toed 10-10, The Northwestern Wildcats would come back out and get two TDs to put them up 24-10.

Boston College would pull to within a touchdown after Andre Williams capped an 80 yard BC drive with a 1-yard TD run, but that would be it for the offense. Andre Williams would have 22 carries for 106 yards and 2 TDs while Eagles QB went 24-44 with 351 yards and an interception.

The Wildcats' QU Kain Colter would go 17-24 with 197 yards and one TD, but no turnovers either. The Wildcats would also get TDs from RB Mike Trumpy and Adonis Smith in Northwestern's 24-17 win.

The Eagles will next travel to Orlando, FL to take on the University of Central Florida Knighs at 8 PM ET.

UCONN FOOTBALL: To nobody's surprise, the UConn Huskies rather handily defeated the Fordham Rams in their E. Hartford home opener by a 35-3 final. This sets up a meeting in Nashville with Vanerbilt on Saturday wit a 7:30 ET kickoff.

OTHER NCAA NEWS: The Texas A&M Aggies are expected to officially announce that they will be moving to the SEC beginning in 2012. The move would make the Aggies the third school in 15 months to depart the Big 12, with Colorado going to the Pac 12 (formerly Pac 10) and Nebraska going to the Big 10.

Oilman and Oklahoma State booster T Boone Pickens the demise of the Big 12 conference within a few years, claiming that Oklahoma State and Oklahoma might be departing for what's now the Pac-12 conference. Oklahoma university officials in Norman, OK are expected to make a decision on whether or not to remain in the Big 12 conference in the next couple of weeks.

Former Jayhawks coach Don Fambrough with teammate Marvin Small at Reunion in 2008. Photo- Nick Krug

ELSEWHERE IN THE BIG 12: Former University of Kansas Jayhawk player and coach Don Fambrough died after sustaining injuries from a fall while working on his Lawrence, KS home.

Frambrough played for the Texas Longhorns for two seasons before joining the US Army Air Corps in WWII. After serving in the military, one of his Army buddies coaxed him to go to Kansas after the war. There he was on the first Jayhawk team to be invited to a Bowl game- the 1947 Sugar Bowl where they lost to Georgia Tech 24-10.

Fambrough also coached the Jayhawks from 1971 to 1982 where he amassed a record of 37-48-5 record and remained active with the program after his coaching days, often delivering firey anti-Missouri pep talks before the annual 'Border War' games against Mizzou.

Fambrough was 88.

ELIZABETH TAYLOR; 1932-2011

Cleopatra demands Mr Bubble!

Actress Elizabeth Taylor passed away at the Cedar Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Wednesday. She was 79 and had been reportedly suffering from congestive heart failure for the last few years.

Born to American parents in London, Taylor started her film career early in life, most notably depicting a plucky teenager in 1944's National Velvet who trains an unwanted horse to compete in England's Grand National Steeplechase.

In the postwar years, Taylor made the transition to more mainstream, adult roles fairly smoothly and by 1960 had won an Oscar for her portrayal of a promiscuous bachelorette in Manhattan (even though she was unimpressed with the role) and signed a $1 million contract for Cleopatra, making her the highest paid actress in Hollywood at the time (she would reportedly double her salary to $2 million by working overtime on the set).

In 1967, Taylor would win a second Oscar for her role in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe?, portraying the belligerent and alcoholic wife of a New England college professor. Taylor's box office appeal would fade by the 1970s, however, and she married a grand total of 8 times with 4 children.

Besides the divorces and treatment for alcoholism, she was seen in her later years making cameos on The Simpsons and the soap opera General Hospital while launching a line of jewelry available through Christie's and fundraising for AIDS research.

Actress, Pin-Up Jane Russell Passes Away

Jane Russell, the statuesque brunette who starred in films along with Marylin Monroe, Bob Hope and Frank Sinatra, passed away in her Santa Maria, CA home from a respiratory illness at the age of 89 on Monday.

Russell was born in Bemidji, MN in 1921 before her family moved to Southern California in the 1930s. Her breakthrough role came in 1943 in the Howard Hughes-directed The Outlaw in which she's involved in a love triangle between Billy the Kid and Doc Holliday. The Motion Picture Production Code, however, took exception to the lengths in which the film highlighted Russell's cleavage and aside from a limited release in 1943, The Outlaw wouldn't see the light of day until 1946.

However, promotional photos for the yet-to-be-released film featuring a buxom Russell on a haystack garnered her popularity as a pin-up with servicemen during WWII. Bob Hope even introduced her as 'The two and only, Jane Russell" on one of his radio broadcasts.

With the release of The Outlaw being delayed by the MPPC, the movie-going public was actually introduced to Russell in March 1946 after the release of the drama Young Widow in which she played a young journalist who's husband was killed in WWII.

Russell's best-known role was co-starring with Marilyn Monroe in the 1953 film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and the latter portion of the movie features Russell impersonating her platinum blonde co-star [h/t Althouse].
The Howard Hawks directed film was a huge critical and box office success at the time. Russell famously appeared with Monroe at Hollywood's Mann Chinese Theater where both of their handprints are still encased in cement on the sidewalk in front of the theater's entrance.
After 1957, Russell only appeared in five more motion pictures before retiring to the central California coast. She was a practicing Christian who hosted bible studies and was active with the Republican party in the 1950s, attending Dwight D Eisenhower's inauguration. Adopting three children of her own, Russell founded the World Adoption International Fund in 1955.

Last Living American WWI Veteran Passes Away at 110

(Martinsburg Journal News.net)

Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last surviving American World War I Veteran, passed away at his Charles Town, WV farmhouse on Monday at the age of 110.

Buckles was 16 when he enlisted, lying about his age to an Army recruiter in Oklahoma in 1917 and worked as an ambulance driver until the armistice. After the war, he was assigned to a POW escort company that was tasked with repatriating prisoners with their home country.

At the outbreak of WWII, Buckles was working as a civilian with a shipping company in the Philippines when he was captured as a prisoner of war and spent three years at the Los Banos POW camp on the island of Luzon. Interestingly, last week marked the 66th anniversary of the US Raid on Los Banos.

After the war, Buckles married and moved to a farm in West Virginia. He continued to work on the farm until he turned 106. Buckles also served as honorary chairman of the National WWI Memorial foundation.

Rest in Peace and thank you for your service, Mr. Buckles.

2nd Helping of West Coast Sports Chowdah: C's Clip LA's Other Team, 'Lucic! I'm Home'- B's Triumph in Vancouver; Hall of Famer Snider Passes Away

NHL- As far as the Bruins are concerned, I'm liking the road trip out west.

The B's came into Vancouver on Saturday night winners of 3 in a row. Of course, two of those wins were tallied against dysfunctional team like the NY Islanders or Ottawa Senators. Calgary was a much better test which they managed to pass, but on Saturday they were up against the league-leading Canucks.

The night before, Vancouver native Milan Lucic was honored by a local junior hockey club. The following night, he ends up scoring the game-winning goal for the B's against the NHL team with the best record.

Vancouver got on the board first with a tally from C Manny Malhotra in the 1st period before Boston would get the equalizer off the stick of Nathan Horton midway through the 2nd.

With dozens of friends and relatives watching in the stands, Lucic scored the go-ahead goal with 4:38 remaining in regulation and with just under two minutes remaining, Patrice Bergeron gave the B's some insurance with an empty netter after the Canucks pulled Roberto Luongo for the extra attacker.

This makes it four wins in a row and the 2nd consecutive game where Boston has won 3-1. Tim Thomas stopped 27 of 28 shots faced while Roberto Luongo faced 24 shots, stopping 22.

The Bruins next game is on Sunday night at Edmonton- puck drops at 5PM Pacific, 8PM Eastern.

NBA- After Thursday's 85-79 loss to a Carmello Anthony-less Denver Nuggets, the western road trip hasn't been as kind to the Celtics as it has the Bruins, but the C's managed to wrap up all of Saturday's NBA action with a win at staples Center against the Clippers.

Kendrick Perkins was sent to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for F Jeff Green and C Nenad Ksrtic and the Clipper's 1st round pick in the 2012 NBA draft. Saturday night would mark the Boston debut of the two new acquisitions. Despite the sluggish and lethargic 1st half where Boston was trailing 47-40, the C's would come right back and make a game of it.

Paul Pierce led the scoring for Boston with 24 points while Ray Allen had 22, Kevin Garnett had 16 and Glen 'Big Baby' Davis came off the bench for 10. Krstic started with 9 points and 6 rebounds while Green came off the bench for 7 points and one rebound in Saturday's 99-92 win over the Clippers- G Randy Foye had a 32-point night in the losing effort for the Clippers.

The C's next game will be on Monday night against the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City at 9PM Eastern- 7PM Mountain time.

MLB: Hall of Fame Brooklyn Dodgers outfielder Duke Snider passed away at a Southern California Convalescent hospital, according to a statement from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, which released a statement on behalf of Snider's family. According to Snider's family, he had been ill for several months and was being cared for at an Escondido, CA convalescent hospital.

Snider batted a career .295 and hit 407 homeruns in a career that started in 1947 with the Brookly Dodgers and saw him win an elusive World Series Title with 'dem bums' and play his home games in Los Angeles when the Dodgers moved across the country. He finished his career in 1964 with the San Francisco Giants.

Snider retired to an avocado farm in Fallbrook, CA after his playing career. In the 1990s, he faced legal troubles because he failed to report revenue from signing autographs, appearances and memorabilia sales to the IRS.

The Dodgers retired Snider's number in 1980, the same year he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

ELSEWHERE: The Red Sox will kick off Spring Training with a 'home and away' series against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday (while, curiously enough, never leaving the city of Ft. Meyers, FL). Opening pitch is 7PM Eastern Time.

Federal Judge, 9 Year Old Girl Killed in Tuscon Shooting Spree Laid to Rest

Security was tight for the funeral services of US District Judge John Roll in Tuscon as Arizona Senators John McCain and John Kyl, Governor Jan Brewer and former Vice President Dan Quayle were among those in attendance at the services on Friday.

Roll, 63, was heralded as a stern-but-fair jurist who had been pressing for more courts and judges to handle the increased federal caseload brought on by illegal immigration in the region. Roll was on his way back from church on Saturday and some accounts said he wanted to personally thank Congresswoman Giffords for addressing the issue of the shortage of judges and courthouses in Arizona.

The day before, 9 year old Christina-Taylor Green was laid to rest at a funeral in St Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Tuscon. The roughly 1700 mourners in attendance passed under the National 9/11 flag- a tattered patchwork of fabric that was pulled from the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers in the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001- Christina-Taylor's date of birth. She was also featured in a 2002 book called Faces of Hope: Babies Born on 9/11, which shows photos of babies from all 50 states that were born on 9/11/01.

She had just been elected to student council earlier in the school year [And I wouldn't be surprised if she was taken to Gifford's town hall event that day so she could see representative government in action for herself- NANESB]. Green also loved ballet, gymnastics and baseball, and she was the only girl on her team. Her father John is a scout for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Baseball Hall of Famers Ryne Sandberg and Pat Gillick were in attendance at the funeral.

Christina-Taylor was aware of the significance of her date of birth and said she thought of herself as something good that came from that terrible day. Although horrifically cut down before she could pursue her dreams of public service, she was able to find a way to help others even in death. In an interview on CNN, John Green said that Christina was an organ donor and that the family had already received word from the organ donor network that Christina's organs saved the life of a little girl in Boston.

Major Richard Winters, Real Life Commander of Easy Company, Passes Away at 92

Major Richard "Dick" Winters, the Pennsylvania native and WWII Commander who's story was recounted in the Band of Brothers book and miniseries passed away in Campbelltown, PA at the age of 92. Winters passed away on Jan 2nd and had been suffering from Parkinson's disease for some time. He was buried in a small, private ceremony on Saturday.

Throughout WWII, Winters was the commander of Easy Company, 506th regiment of the 101st Airborne Division which had fought their way through Western Europe on D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge, the liberation of the Dachau Concentration Camp and Hitler's 'Eagles Nest' Alpine retreat.

After the war, Winters led a relatively quiet life and worked in the agricultural feed business. In the 1990s, Winters was approached by historian Stephen Ambrose who was hoping to chronicle the story of Easy Company's slog through Western Europe for future generations. Ten years ago, Ambrose's Band of Brothers was made into an HBO miniseries produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks. Winters was gracious about his new found notoriety, but never entirely comfortable with it. He shied away of any description of himself as a hero, but was quick to add that he 'served in the company of heroes'.

I found out about Winter's passing from Philly blogger Wyatt Earp the other day. A little over a month ago, Wyatt also mentioned that a 9 year old in Western Pennsylvania has begun selling green wristbands marked 'HANG TOUGH' (similar to the Lance Armstrong/LIVE STRONG bracelets) in order to raise funds for building a monument to Major Winters in St. Marie du-Mont, France.

LESLIE NIELSEN: 1926-2010

"Laurence Olivier of Spoofs" Passes Away in his Sleep at Ft. Lauderdale Home.

Nielsen, best known for his portrayal of bumbling detective Frank Drebin in the Naked Gun series of movies (as well as the short-lived Police Squad! TV series) was born in Regina, Saskatchewan and would go on to enlist in the Royal Canadian Air Force before becoming a disc jockey.

From there, he managed to land a number of roles in Toronto and New York, and starred in 'serious' films and TV shows like Hawaii 5-0, The Poseidon Adventure and Alfred Hitchcock Presents before leaving his mark in the disaster film parody Airplane! in 1980. Like his later work in the Naked Gun series, Nielsen's specialty seemed to be portraying a serious, stoic individual that was oblivious to the absurdity taking place around him.

Frostbite Falls in Mourning as Rocky & Bullwinkle Creator Passes Away

Alexander Anderson Jr, the creator of the Rocky & Bullwinkle and Dudley Do-Right cartoons, passed away at age 90 in his Carmel, CA home on Tuesday.

Anderson was the nephew of Paul Terry, whose Terrytoons included Mighty Mouse and were distributed in theaters. After working with his uncle, Anderson and his longtime friend Jay Ward got together and began producing cartoons for the emerging television market in the late 1940s.