Banner Edition of Stanley Cup of Sports Chowdah- Sox Dismiss Francona After September Fade; AL East Out in 1st Round; Stanley Cup Champs Raise Banner

RED SOX: I recieved the bad news via Red Sox radio network affiliate WTSJ-AM followed up by the nail in the coffin down in Tampa Bay on XM Radio as I moved further into the northern New England wilderness.

With a postseason berth on the line in the Red Sox regular season finale, Boston found themselves tied with Tampa Bay and playing a do-or-die game against the stubborn Baltimore Orioles last week.

Things got off to a promising start with a Dustin Pedroia RBI single in the top of the 3rd, but Jon Lester would give up a 2 run homer to O's SS JJ Hardy in the bottom frame of inning number 3 to give Baltimore a 2-1 lead.

The Red Sox would then manage to knot the game up in the top of the 4th in a most curious manner. Marco Scutaro would get on board with a 1-out double, and Carl Crawford would move Scutaro to 3rd. Scutaro would then be awarded home plate to tie the game up when O's starter Alfredo Simon balked.

Simon would then go on to give up a solo homer to Dustin Pedroia to give the Red Sox a 3-2 lead, but after handing things off to Papelbon in the bottom of the 9th, the O's would manage to tie the game up on a 2-out RBI goround rule double to OF Nolan Reimond and then win on a Ronald Andino walk-off RBI single for the 4-3 final.

While all this was transpiring in Baltimore, down in Tampa Bay, the Rays had managed to come all the way back from a 7-0 defecit to the New York Yankees for a 6-run bottom of the 8th and a 2-out, 2-strike solo homer in the bottom of the 9th to tie the game at 7-7 to force extra innings where they'd ultimately win on a Evan Longoria walkoff solo home run, effectively shutting the door on the last remaining playoff opportunity for the Red Sox.

The loss and elimination caps a historically awful 7-20 September for Boston where they had a 9 game lead in the AL Wild Card heading into Labor Day weekend, only to see that lead diminish in the final weeks.

The collapse in the final month led to the dismissal of manager Terry Francona less than 48 hours later and began fuelling reports that the Chicago Cubs are interested in GM Theo Epstein's services.

Since Francona was manager of the Red Sox when they won the only two World Series titles in my life- and most other New Englanders lives, I am of the possibly biased opinion that Francona's dismissal (espcially with no apparent replacement waiting in the wings) was a hasty and poorly thought out move by the front office. Not just for sentimental reasons either, but consider how much more challenging it will be to lure and retain free agents thanks to this front office turmoil.

But then again, with recent New England sports history as a guide, I'd like to think that adversity not only builds charachter but also championsips. Think back to the painful end of the 2003 ALCS against the Yankees and how the 2004 season ended. The 2006 Red Sox never even got a whiff of the playoffs, falling out of serious contention in August that year- and they followed it up with their 2nd World Series title in 3 years. More recently (albeit another sport), consider the agonizing end of the 2009-2010 Boston Bruins playoff run, where after taking a 3-0 lead against Philadelphia in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals only to have Philly come charging back and score the winning goal on a power play after a too many men on the ice penalty against Boston. The following season, the Flyers barely slowed the Bruins down on their championship run; Boston's 4-game sweep being noteworthy in that it was the only round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the Bruins that DIDN'T go to 7 games.

But we'll have the whole offseason for finger-pointing, arbitrary comparisons, speculation and recriminations. In the meantime, there's still some baseball to be played.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: As bad as the Red Sox September implosion was, the Atlanta Braves suffered a comprable agonizing late season fate [it MUST be a Boston thing, even tho' one of them hasn't called Boston home for 58 years- NANESB!] losing out on the NL Wild Card to St Louis after a 13 inning loss to the Philadelphia Phillies while the Cardinals pounded the Astros 8-0 on the September 28 regular season finale. So the last game of the regular season was indeed of great interest, but had just about the worst possible outcome as far as the AL was concerned.

Also worth noting that the defending World Series Champion San Francisco Giants failed to make the playoffs, with the Arizona Diamondbacks getting the NL West pennant.

ALDS: But just like that, there are no representatives of the AL East remaining in the postseason thanks to the bats of a couple of former Red Sox. Adrian Beltre belted 3 solo homers in the Texas Rangers 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Rays on Tuedsay to eliminate Tampa after winning the series 3 games to 1.

The Detroit Tigers made things a bit interesting after the Yankees forced a deciding Game 5 in the Bronx. Former Red Sox and Indians catcher Victor Martinez would drive in the winning run off of CC Sabathia in the top of the 5th with a 2-out RBI single. Interesingly, Sabathia was the Yankees 4th starter of the game when he came on in the 5th inning.

Midseason trade acquisition Doug Fister got the win for Detroit, going 5 innings and allowing 5 hits and an earned run in his start. Both Fister and the Detroit bullpen were able to wriggle out of some bases loaded situations in Detroit's 3-2 victory in Game 5.

The conclusion of the ALDS now sets up a Detroit/Texas ALCS that will get underway in Arlington, TX on Saturday at 8:05 ET with Justin Verlander getting the start for Los Tigres and CJ Wilson on the mound for Texas.

NLDS: Lest we forget, there's also a pair of deciding Game 5's today on TBS. At 5:05 ET, the Milwaukee Brewers will host the Arizona Diamondbacks for game 5 of their ALDS series while over in Philly, the NL East winning Philadelphia Phillies will host the squirrely St Louis Cardinals for their Game 5. No firm schedule for the NLCS has been set, pending the outcome of both Game 5s today.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX: The White Sox have announced that former 3rd baseman and Nolan Ryan punching bag Robin Ventura has been named as the club's new manager, replacing Ozzie Guillen who departed for Florida at the end of the season.


NHL: The Boston Bruins 2011-2012 season got underway with an emotionally-charged pregame ceremony in which the Stanley Cup was hoisted one last time and Bruins from the 2010-2011 and 1971-1972 championship teams together raised the latest Championship banner.

Although Boston got out to the early 1-0 lead, the game itself was a touch anticlimatic. The B's would score on their first power play thanks to Brad Marchand (with assists from Tyler Seguin and Joe Corvo). However, the Flyers would come right back and tie the game up with a power play tally of their own off the stick of Claude Giroux (with assists from Chirs Pronger and Jaromir Jagr) before taking a 2-1 lead at Jacob Varicek goal with 3 seconds left in the first.



That would actually be the final, as Nathan Horton caught Flyers G Ilya Bryzgalov out of position in the 3rd period only to have the blade of Philly defender Kimmo Timonen's stick get between Horton and the wide open net (above).

The Flyers would go on to win by the 2-1 final, with Boston travelling to Tampa Bay on Saturday to face off against the Lightning. The puck drops at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on the NHL network.

OTHER NHL NEWS: The venue for the 2012 Winter Classic has been announced, with Philadelphia's Citizen's Bank Ballpark hosting a game between the 'home' team Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers. This will be the Rangers first appearence in the NHL's annual New Year's Day game played outdoors, while it will be the second go-round for the Flyers.

NFL: After Week 3's setback against the Buffalo Bills, the Patriots capped off their quickie 1-game road trip to the West Coast with a flawless 31-19 win over the Oakland Raiders.


Perhaps the higlight was Tackle Vince Wilfork's 2nd Interception in 3 weeks (also, 2nd career interception) in the the quarter with New England up by a 31-13 margin.

The 3-1 Patriots will next play against the 2-2 New York Jets at Foxboro on Sunday with a 4:15 kickoff. The Jets are coming off a 34-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens from lat Sunday night.

OTHER PATRIOTS NEWS: The Patriots released RB Eric Kettani from their practice squad after being activiated by the US Navy. Kettani reported for duty aboard the US Navy frigate USS Klakring on Friday. Head coach Bill Belichick said that the Patriots decided to cut him rather than retain him as the most feasable option of bringing him back once Kettani's completed his obligations with the Navy.

OTHER NFL NEWS: Are you ready for some football? Well, too bad, because ESPN isn't.

Country singer Hank Williams Jr and ESPN have parted ways when the network dropped Williams Monday Night Football intro after the musician made comments on FOX and Friends comparing President Obama and Speaker of the House John Boehner playing golf to Adolf Hitler and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu getting together on the links. ESPN announced that the intro for next week's Monday Night Football game between the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears would feature a video montage narrated by former Lions Hall of Fame RB Barry Sanders.

The ESPN Network has been very protective of President Obama, very publicly reprimanding former PGA golfer Paul Azinger for sending out a tweet mocking President Obama's record on creating jobs.

Interestingly, the ESPN networks had nothing to say when on-air personality Kenny Mayne sent out a tweet expressing a desire to ram a vehicle that was displaying Sarah Palin bumper stickers.

NCAA FOOTBALL: A couple of bad weeks strung together ads up to a bad season, and as far as the two FBS teams in New England are concerned, that's exactly what the 2011 season is shaping up to be. It's not looking too much better as UConn and Boston College both find themselves going up against ranked conference opponents on Saturday.

The Boston College Eagles are now 1-4 (0-2 in the ACC) after dropping Saturday's home game to the Wake Forest Demon Deacons by a 27-19 final. I'm a little less optimistic about their chances on the road against #8 Clemson this Saturday at 3 PM ET.

UConn isn't doing too much better in the Big East, although they have more than one win to their name so far this season. Last week, they lost to the Western Michigan Broncos of the MAC by a 38-31 final. This Saturday finds them going up against the #16 West Virginia Mountianeers in Morgantown, WV at noon Saturday.

Down to the Wire Sports Chowdah- Lavranway or the Highway in Baltimore; Buffalo Shuffles Off to 3-0 Start After Upsetting Pats

RED SOX: After dropping two out of three at Yankee stadium (their sole win in that series being decided by a Jacoby Ellsbury 3-run homer in the 14th inning late Sunday night) the Red Sox headed headed down to Baltimore for the final series of the regular season. Only the way the Red Sox had been playing in September, it could very well end up being their season finale altogether. Monday night was pretty gruesome, with the Tampa Bay Rays closing the gap, the O's roughing up Beckett and Saltalamacchia leaving the game after taking a foul ball off the throat.

Tuesday night saw ex-O Eric Bedard get the start against his former team, only lasting 3 and ⅓ innings against a persistent Baltimore offense. However, the Red Sox were even rougher on O's starter Zach Britton. In the top of the 3rd, Jacoby Ellsbury let his bat do the arguing for him in the AL MVP discussion, belting a 2-run homer to take a 2-1 lead. However, in the top of the 5th, with Big Pappi and Adrian Gonzalez on base, Red Sox rookie catcher Ryan Lavarnway would increase the lead with a 3-run shot to make it 5-1 Boston- his first big league home run. As sizeable a lead as theat turned out to be, the Red Sox would need even more as Baltimore would counter with a 2 run homer off the bat of catcher Matt Wieters to make it a 2-run game.

In the top of the 6th, Carl Crawford's 1-out triple was followed by a homer off the bat of Marco Scutaro to increase the lead to 7-3 in favor of Boston. Baltimore would respond with a solo homer off the bat of Adam Jones in the bottom of the 6th to make it 7-4.

Leading off the 8th, Lavarnway would double his career homerun total with a solo shot to make it 8-4. After 3 and ⅔ innings, Alfredo Aceves was replaced by Daniel Bard on the mound to face Baltimore. The O's managed to get two runs with two away in the bottom of the 8th to once again make it a two-run game with Boston now leading 8-6.

Things would get even more tense in the bottom of the 9th when Papelbon came on to close out the game and gave up a single to JJ Hardy. Hardy would make his way to 2nd on a Markakis groundout and then to 3rd on a Vlad Guerrero single, reaching home on a Matt Weiters bunt that Lavarnway threw to 1st for the out. Papelbon would then get JJ Hardy to ground out to end the ballgame by the final of 8-7.

It was a win they would need, too, as the Tampa Bay Rays managed to hold off a late rally by the Yankees to preserve the tie for the AL Wild Card (the Angels were eliminated from contention on Monday night).

Wednesday's game- the final of the regular season- will have Jon Lester (15-9; 3.49 ERA) going up against Alfredo Simon (4-9; 4.85 ERA). The Red Sox need a win to at least force a 1-game playoff with the Rays on Thursday- Tampa is going up against a Yankees team that's already clinched the AL East and aside from determining who makes the playoff roster doesn't have alot to play for.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: According to gossip site TMZ.com, Red Sox starter John Lackey and his wife are filing for divorce. Court papers were reportedly filed in Texas last month citing 'conflict of personalities'.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: Over in the National League, the Wild Card there hasn't been determined either. The St Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves are deadlocked for the NL Wild Card with one game remaining for each team (Atlanta has the Phillies while St Louis has the Astros). If the deadlock in the standings remains unbroken by tomorrow night, then there will be a 1-game playoff in St. Louis on Thursday night.

Reportedly, if a one game playoff is required for the AL or NL Wild card, the game will be televised on TBS. First pitch would be 4:07 PM ET in Tampa for the Red Sox and Rays and 8:07 PM ET in St. Louis for Braves/Cardinals.

WHITE SOX: White Sox Manager Ozzie Guillen was released from his duties by the White Sox this week. There had been speculation that Guillen wasnt long for the organization as well as rumors that he was interested in becoming the manager of the Florida Marlins. This seemed to be confirmed by Guillen himself via twitter as he informed followers about his arrival in Miami.


NFL: For the first time since 2003, the Buffalo Bills have managed to defeat the New England Patriots. Although the Patriots managed to get out to a 21-0 lead early in the 2nd quarter, the Bills managed to whittle that down to 21-10 by halftime. Buffalo would come back to tie the game at 24-24 early in the 4th before taking the lead when CB Drayton Florence ran back a Brady INT for a quick 6 on New Engalnd's following possession.

The Patriots would then take nearly 7 minutes to march down the field, tying the game up on a 6 yard pass from Brady to Welker on 4th and goal with 3:25 left in the 4th. However, that would be enough time for Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick to engineer an 80-yard drive that sputtered at the one, but all that was needed was a chip shot FG from Bills kicker Rian Lindell as time expired to give Buffalo the 34-31 win.

So heading into week 4, Buffalo stands alone atop the AFC East (Sunday's meeting was the Bills 1st matchup of the season against an division opponent). As a measure of consolation, the Jets would go on to lose against the Oakland Raiders that afternoon as well.

Speaking of Oakland, the Patriots will travel to the East Bay to take on the Raiders this Sunday. The game will be televised on CBS and kicks off at 4:15 PM ET, 1:15 PM PT.

NBA: With players not reporting to training camp at the usual time due to the lockout, the NBA has postponed training camp indefinitely and cancelled 43 preseason games. Meetings between the league and player's association ended without a collective bargaining agreement last week, putting the preseason games and possibly the start of the regular season in doubt.

Cup Half Empty Edition of Sports Chowdah- Pats Withstand Late Charge; O No! Sox Swoon Against Baltimore; Mo Sets Record; Star Sets on Modano's Career

NFL: Well now- the home opener was almost as gratifying as the season opener in Miami. The San Diego Chargers managed to keep Tom Brady to under 500 yards on Sunday, but not by much.

After a pre-game ceremony honoring the late Myra Kraft, New England was able to march the ball down the field for a TD on their opening posession. San Diego quarterback Phillip Rivers was able to answer in kind on the Chargers second posession.

With things knotted up at 7-7 early in the 2nd, New England was once again able to drive deep into Chargers territory, although the San Diego defense would hold them to a Gostkowski FG to make it 10-7 New England. On the following posession, the Chargers started out on their own 39 yard line and managed to move all the way down to the goal line, but were unable to punch it in, turning the ball over on 4th and 1. That set up a situation eerily reminiscent of Monday night's game in Miami where Brady connected with Welker, although this time around it was a pickup of a mere 12 yards. That would be the beginning of a 10 play, 5 minute and 99 ½ yard drive culminating in a 10 yard pass from Brady to TE Rob Gronkowski to put the Patriots up 17-7.

What happened on San Diego's next posession when they had moved the ball down to the New England 29 yard line was undoubtedly the highlight of the game for many.



330 lb Defensive Tackle Vince Wilfork got a paw on a Rivers pass and managed to bring it in, rumbling back for nearly 30 yards before being brought down (altho' 10 yards would be brought back on a penatly after the INT). And as a Patriots fan, do you know what the best part was? There was more to Wilfork's INT and runback than the novelty of seeing one of the big linemen running like the chuckwagon was on the other end of the field and he just happened to have the ball. Nope- thanks to two very quick strikes from Brady with 9 seconds left in the half, New England was able to move to within FG range. And as time expired in the 1st half, Gostkowski nailed a 47 yards FG attempt to put San Diego up 20-7. So as novel as Wilfork's INT and return was, the pivotal thing was that the Patriots got points off of his efforts.

After a scoreless 3rd quarter, the Chargers pulled to within a touchdown after Rivers connected with TE Vincent Jackson to make it a 20-14 game. After moving the ball to midfield on the ensuing posession, the Pats failed to convert on 4th and 4, handing the ball back to San Diego mid-field. Three plays into the San Diego drive, the Chargers coughed up the ball on a Mike Tolbert fumble at the Pats 39 yard line.

Brady would then connect with Deion Branch and Wes Welker to move the ball to the San Diego 17 before connecting with Gronkowski again for a 17 yard TD reception. Danny Woodhead would then go on to make good on a 2 point conversion to put New England up 28-14.

The Chargers would then start off from their own 20 and march downfield to find paydirt on a 3 minute drive where Rivers connected with Vincent Jackson on a 26 yard pass to make it 21-28 New England and to bring San Digo to within a TD.

Not merely content to let the clock run out on a long, sustained drive, the Patriots started off from their own 20 and handed off to the Law Offices of Ben Jarvus Green Ellis more than once as well as a 29 yard connection between Brady and Gronkowski to put the ball on the Chargers 24. After a short run from Green-Ellis and a Chargers penatly, the running back of many names (all of them his) would go on to find the end zone from the Chargers 16 to make it a 35-21 game.

And that is the final the Patriots in their 2011 home opener by. Tom Brady went 31-40 with 423 yards and 3 TDs and was sacked twice while on the other end of the ball, Phillip Rivers went 29-40 with 378 yards, 2 TDs, 2 sacks and 2 INTs. Deion Branch had the most yardage for a New England reciever (10 catches for 172 yards), while Rob Gronkowski hauled in 4 catches for 86 yards and two TDs.

Next week, the 2-0 Patriots will travel to Orchard Park, NY to take on the 2-0 Buffalo Bills who are coming off a dramatic 4th quarter win against the Oakland Raiders at their home opener in Orachard Park last weekend.

Currently, three out of the four teams in the AFC East are off to a 2-0 start this season, as the NY Jets manhandled the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

MLB: The way the Red Sox have been playing in September, I almost want to go on forever about the Patriots first two games.

After Beckett's strong start on Friday night, the Red Sox dropped two straight to the Tampa Bay Rays to close out the season series, with Tampa closing the gap in the Wild Card chase. The gap narrowed even further when the Red Sox split a doubleheader on Monday between the Baltimore Orioles (Boston won game 2 by a 18-9 margin) before the offense squandered a number of offensive opportunities and the bullpen imploded, including Papelbon coming on early only to give up a bases-loaded double in the top of the 8th in Tuesday night's 7-5 loss to the O's.

Wednesday night's game will close out the regular season at Fenway with Beckett (13-5; 2.50 ERA) going up against Baltimore's Tommy Hunter (4-4; 4.81 ERA) with first pitch at 7:10 ET.



ELSEWHERE IN MLB: The Yankees pursuit of the AL East pennant was almost an afterthought on Monday when Mariano Rivera closed out a 6-4 win over the Minnesota Twins for career save #602. That save put him past former San Diego Padres and Milwaukee Brewers closer Trevor Hoffman for all-time saves. In 2010, Hoffman became the first MLB closer to reach the 600 saves mark, closing out a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on September 8, 2010. Rivera's save against the Twins on Monday in the Bronx is the 43rd of the season.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Where have you gone, Steve Aponavicius? As bad as September has been for the Red Sox, at least they've won a few games. However, I cannot say the same about the Boston College Eagles, who were trailing late against Duke University at Chestnut Hill 20-19 on Saturday afternoon. With 2:32 left in regulation, the Eagles managed to drive down the field all the way to the Duke 5 yard line where they failed to convert on a 3rd and 1. With 47 seconds left, the field goal unit came on for a chip shot FG attempt- bascically a point after attempt- which subsequently bounced off the upright, giving the Blue Devils the ball back to run out the clock for their first win of the season.

This sets up an intra-state meeting with the 2-0 UMass Minutement in Chestnut Hill on Saturday. The Minutemen are coming off a 36-21 road win against Rhode Island on Saturday.

NHL: The puck drops on the Boston Bruins preseason Wednesday night north of the border. The Ottawa Senators host the defending Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins at Scotiabank Center at 7:30 PM ET.

OTHER NHL NEWS: After 21 years in the NHL, former Dallas Stars C Mike Modano has called it a career. With 561 career goals and 1374 points, the Michigan native was the highest scoring American born player in the NHL. Modano was the last active member of the Minnesota North Stars to play in the NHL- the team moved to Dallas in 1993 and won the Stanley Cup with Dallas in 1999.


Modano married singer/songwriter Willa Ford in 2006 and opened up a resturaunt in Dallas with former teammate Brett Hull in 2008. In 2010, Modano played briefly for the Detroit Red Wings- for the first time, departing the Stars/North Stars organization.

Cup Half Full of Sports Chowdah for September 16- Beckett's Performance Offers Ray of Hope; Cyclones Move Into Connecticut

RED SOX: After Wakefield's 200th career win earlier this week, the Red Sox continued to struggle- splitting their 2-game series against Toronto and dropping this weekend's series opener against the Rays on Thursday night.

With Red Sox nation teetering on the brink of all-out panic (OK- slight exaggeration) Friday night's game marked Beckett's first start since leaving early in the September 5th game against the Toronto Blue Jays with a sprained right ankle.

Friday night's game also left them without Youkilis in the lineup, after Terry Francona announced that the hobbled third baseman would be sitting out Friday night's game- and possible Saturday's as well. Youkilis had been sidelined with a sore hip and sports hernia earlier this month.

While not a must-win game just yet, the Red Sox had only won a grand total of three games in the month of September and the Rays had gained considerable ground on them in the Wild Card standings last week. All this bad news seemed to be compounded when with a runner on in the top of the 1st, Rays 3B Evan Longoria launched a 2 run shot to immediately put Tampa Bay up 2-0. However, Boston would come right back in the bottom of the first with the equalizers in the form of a pair of RBI singles (one from Pedroia and one from Big Papi) off of Rays starter James Shields to tie things up at 2-2.

In the top of the 3rd, the Rays would once again pull ahead thanks to Longoria, this time in the form of a less dramatic RBI single. However, in the Red Sox half of the frame, Big Papi would once again knot the contest up thanks to an RBI double, leaving things at 3-3.

Acquired at the trade deadline from Kansas City and filling in for Youkilis at the hot corner, Mike Aviles couldn't have picked a better time for his first home run as a member of the Red Sox in the bottom of the 4th inning. Aviles' solo homer hit the first 'O' in the middle of the Sports Authority sign to give the Red Sox the 4-3 lead.

And that was all the offense either team could muster. Beckett would go 6 innings, striking out 6 and walking one while Aceves and Bard would hold the lead for Papelbon to come on in the top of the 9th. Although the first two outs came pretty easily, Papelbon gave up a 2-out single to OF BJ Upton, bringing up Evan Longoria as the possible go-ahead run. After the Rays 3B fouled off a couple of offerings, Papelbon managed to strike him out to preserve the 4-3 win

The Red Sox needed this one on a couple of different levels- obvious implications about the AL East and Wild Card aside, Boston's bullpen needed to demonstrate that they could hold a lead in a close ballgame against a capable offense in a meaningful game.

Meanwhile, the Yankees lost in Toronto, making it a 3 ½ game division lead for the Bronx Bombers in the AL East while the Angels lost to Baltimore, so Anaheim fails to gain any ground on Tampa Bay in the Wild Card standings.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: The Detroit Tigers have won their first division title since 1987 on Friday night with a 3-1 road win against the Oakland A's. The Tigers advanced to the World Series in 2006 after clinching the Wild Card only to lose to the St Louis Cardinals. The Tigers become the first team in either the AL or NL to clinch a division title int he 2011 season.

NCAA FOOTBALL: The UConn Huskies lost their second game in a row, this time to the undefeated Iowa State Cyclones. The Cyclones went ahead by a score of 24-20 at around the 9 minute mark of the 4th quarter and managed to run the clock out to go 3-0. UConn is now 1-2 and will travel to Buffalo next week to take on the Bulls (currently 1-1) at 6PM ET.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NCAA: #4 Boise State dispatched the Toledo Rockets of the Mid America conference pretty easily by a 40-15 final on Friday night while #3 LSU took down #25 Mississippi State on Thursday.

BIG EAST: According to reports in the New York Times, two schools from the Big East are in talks with the Atlantic Coast Conference about a possible move there. Syracuse, a founding member of the Big East, and Pittsburgh were reportedly in discussions with ACC officials earlier this month.

Up All Night Sports Chowdah Update: Sweet 16- Sox Score Late, But Not Often; Ain't that a Kick in the Head? Japan Rallies Late

RED SOX: It took awhile, but the Red Sox managed to push a run across home plate in Tampa Bay on Sunday night's Monday mornings game at Tampa Bay to win their first series coming out of the all-star break.

The last time Josh Beckett started at Tropicana field, all eyes in Boston were elsewhere watching the Bruins in Vancouver for Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final. They missed a gem, too, with Beckett allowing one hit in a complete game shutout of the Rays.

Of course, Beckett had some run support last time around. On Sunday night, he allowed one hit over eight shutout innings and striking out six. Tampa's Jeff Neimann had similar sucess against Boston batters, allowing two hits, two walks and striking out 10 batters, so it was no surprise that the game would head to extra innings.

Frustratingly, the Red Sox left the bases loaded in the top of the 9th and 11th innings while Tampa was able to get a couple of speedy leadoff runners on in extra innings, only to leave them stranded as well.

Heading into the top of the 16th inning, it looked as though it would amount to nothing more than another blow opportunity as Josh Reddick led off the inning with a walk and got as far as third after Varitek got him over to second on a sac bunt and then to 3rd after Marco Scutaro reached on what was ruled a single. However, Ellsbury flew out to shallow left- to shallow to bring home Reddick.

With 2 away, Dustin Pedroia finally managed to beak the scoreless deadlock with an RBI single to right field before Adrian Gonzalez gave the ball a ride to deep right for the 3rd and final out. Papelbon came on for a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth sixteenth to nail down the 1-0 win. Alfredo Aceves went 3 innings and struck out two (although he hit back to back batters in the bottom of the 15th) for the win.

Monday night's game is set to get underway at Camden Yards and will have Tim Wakefield (5-3; 4.74 ERA) starting against Baltimore's Brad Bergesen (1-6; 5.65 ERA) at 7:05 PM ET.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS:David Ortiz will begin a 3-game suspension on Monday night after last week's whiff-tastic brawl with Baltimore pitcher Kevin Gregg at Fenway Park. Both Ortiz and Gregg were initially suspended for four games, but each of them had one game shaved off after their appeals and will begin their respective suspensions on Monday in time for the 3-game series between Baltimore and Boston.

Carl Crawford is expected to return from the DL for Monday night's game against the O's as well.


WORLD CUP: Japan rallied late twice against Team USA- including a goal in the 117th minute by Homare Sawa in Sunday's World Cup final on Sunday in Frankfurt, Germany to force the match to be settled by penalty kicks.

Japan goaltender Ayumi Kaihori made in impressive quasi-bicycle kick-save on the first penalty shot she faced and a two handed save on the next, Team USA missed on Cali Lloyd's attempt- altho Abby Wambach was able to bury her attempt. However, Saki Kumagi was able to beat hope-solo for the tournament-deciding shot and the win to the Japanese.

Tournaments like these aren't always about what country 'deserves' the championship, but in light of recent events in Japan, I'd say Japan certainly could use a transcendent, unifying moment like this to boost their morale after the 1-2 punch dealt by mother nature and Marie Curie in March

M-O-O-N, That Spells Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Cap 4-Game Sweep of O's; Jeter Becomes Baseball's Latest Mr 3000, USA Women Advance to World Cup Final

Parting contestants on Sox Appeal will recieve these 2011 American League All-Star Jerseys from Russel Athletic- AP Photo

RED SOX: Boston headed into the All Star break with a 1-game lead over the Yankees after finishing up a sweep of the Baltimore Orioles in a 4-game series that could be described as confrontational.

A source of concern given his last couple of starts, John Lackey threw 6⅔ innings of shutout baseball on Saturday's 4-0 win against Baltimore. Sunday's game wasn't quite the same story, with PawSox callup Kyle Weiland only lasting 4 innings and giving up 6 runs in the top of the 2nd. The Sox were able to surge ahead and win by an 8-6 final for the final game of the first half.

Although the Red Sox have yet to play a game in the second half, they made some headlines today when MLB handed down four game suspensions to both David Ortiz and Kevin Gregg for their brawl (or attempted brawl) Friday night. The league also handed down one game suspensions to O's Pitcher Mike Gonzalez and manager Buck Showalter after the pitcher threw at Ortiz on Sunday's game. Jarrod Saltalamacchia and John Lackey also recieved fines for their role when the benches cleared Friday night.

No word yet on whether Gregg or Ortiz plan on appealing their suspensions.

On a side note, the Red Sox have yet to play an inning in the second half of the 2011 season, but have already gained an additional half game on the Yankees after the Blue Jays thumped the Bronx Bombers by a 16-7 final at the Rogers Centre Thursday night. MLB network is reporting that this is the most number of runs scored in Blue Jays history without hitting a home run.


ALL STAR GAME: The All Star festitivities in Phoenix got underway with the Yankee's Robinson Cano besting Boston's Adiran Gonzalez in the Home Run Derby on Monday.

On Tuesday night, Gonzalez would provide the AL with their only run on the evening with a solo shot off of Philly's Cliff Lee in the top of the 4th inning to briefly put the AL on top 1-0. Beckett never made his scheduled appearence after being scratched from the midsummer classic after experienceing lingering soreness in his knee.

The NL would take the lead for good in the bottom of the 4th thanks to a 3-run shot off the bat of Milwaukee's Prince Fielder (who could very well have out Brian Wilson-ed Brian Wilson in the facial hair category). The NL would go on to win by a final of 5-1 and secure home field advantage for the World Series this year.


ELSEWHERE IN MLB: Between the weather and the matchup against Tampa Bay, I was having my doubts whether or not it would happen before the All-Star break, but Yankees captain Derek Jeter had reached the 3000 hit milestone. Firday night's game in the Bronx was rained out and wouldn't be made up until September and there was some doubts that the weather would hold for Saturday's game. However, the weather cooperated and Jeter was batting leadoff, getting hit #2999 in the bottom of the first.

Hit #3000 would come in the form of a game-tying solo homer in the bottom of the 3rd, making Jeter the first Yankees player to reach the 3000 hits milestone [kind of surprising, given the Hall of Famers that have put on pinstripes in the past- NANESB!]. Jeter went 5 for 5 with 2 RBI on the day in New York's 5-4 win over Tampa.

Heading into the All-Star Break, the Yankees captain surpassed the late Roberto Clemente for career hits and is closing in on Detroit's Al Kaline and his mark of 3007.

A rather disturbing side note to all this (which the NY media is treating as rather whimsical) is that the fan who caught Jeter's 3000th hit ball might have the IRS after him now that the Yankees have lavished luxury box seats and autographed memorobilia on him in exchange for the ball.

Yankees fan Christian Lopez, a 23 year old Verizon salesman from Highland Mills, NY was willing to return the ball to the team for free, but the Yankees decided to treat him and his family to luxury box seats for the remaining home games this season as well as autographed bats, balls and jerseys- all with an estimated value in excess of $30,000. While the Jeter ball would've easily fetched six figures on the open market, some say the IRS may view the seats given to Lopez as income, citing contestants on The Price is Right being taxed for some of their prizes as precedent [which makes no sense- there's some reasonable expectation you could walk away from a game show with thousands of dollars. No so much an afternoon at the ballpark. Trust me- NANESB!]


FIFA WOMEN'S WORLD CUP- What did I miss? Just about everything, it turns out. The USA Women's team has been doing quite well in the FIFA Women's World Cup in Germany this week (minus vuvuzelas, hopefully). The USA's Alex Kreiger helped the USA advance past Brazil in the quarterfinals in the penalty shot phase of the game to break a 2-2 deadlock on Saturday.

On Wednesday, they knocked out France in the semifinals by a 3-1 final. The win earns them a trip to the finals where they take on Japan for the title, after the Japanese team downed Sweden- also by a 3-1 margin- to advance.

Stanley Cup of Sports Chowdah- THE WAIT IS OVAH, LORD STANLEY'S CUP HEADS BACK TO THE HUB!! Beckett's 1-Hit Wonder; LeBron LeGone in 6 Game NBA Final

	The Standells - Dirty Water .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

STANLEY CUP FINAL- GAME 7: The best kind of game there is! Although with Vancouver being undefeated at home in the Stanley Cup finals, many prognosticators had already given the cup to the Canucks. I was confident about the Bruins chances on Wednesday night thanks to a very unconventional indicator that worked out pretty well in Boston's favor when a certain Boston team was playing a clinching game.

After Boston tied the series and forced a decisive Game 7 with a 5-2 win at Boston's TD Banknorth Garden on Monday night, the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks would go at it one more time on Wednesday night to see who would bring home the Stanley Cup.

The Bruins got out to the early lead late in the first with a goal from center Patrice Bergeron, and never looked back from there. Brad Marchand would get an even strength goal at just over 12 minutes into the second period before Bergeron tallied a shorthanded goal to make it a 3-0 Boston lead.

Marchand finished off the scoring with an empty-netter late in the 3rd after Vancouver pulled goaltender Roberto Luongo for an extra attacker with just under 3 minutes to go in regulation to put the game away by a 4-0 final.

Bruins goalie and former Vermont Catamount Tim Thomas turned away all 37 shots faced in Game 7, while Vanucks netminder Roberto Luongo gave up 3 goals in his evening's work. The shuout comes despite the Canucks outshooting the Bruins by a 37-20 margin.

Thomas, who started his NHL career with the now-defunct Quebec Nordiques, was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup finals and is considered a favorite for the Vezina Trophy (the NHL's best goaltender) for the 2010-2011 season. The Game 7 win was his 4th-ever career playoff shutout.



43 year old winger Mark Recchi also took the occasion of hoisting the Stanley Cup to announce his retirement after Game 7. Recchi had earlier indicated that he would like to go out on top as a finale to his 22 year NHL career. Recchi was acquired by the Bruins in a March 2009 trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning and re-joined the club by agreeing to a series of 1-year contracts. Recchi had 3 goals and 4 assists in the Stanley Cup Finals this year.

While Nathan Horton wasn't cleared to play, he travelled with the team to Vancouver and was in uniform for the presentation of the Stanley Cup by NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.

Sgt. D A Dorken of Canadian Forces Afghanistan showing his love for the Bruins circa 2007

[On a personal note, I cannot tell you how happy I am for the Bruins players, head coach Claude Julien, President Cam Neely and Bruins fans and alumni on both sides of the border who have been waiting nearly 40 years for this. Do any of you remember Ray Bourque being traded to Colorado for one last crack at a championship? It was absolutely the right call, but a damn shame he had to leave Boston to go out a winner. How about the Joe Thornton trade? Or the epic collapse against Philly last year? Fuhgeddaboutit- that shit is old news now!- NANESB!]

The win itself and the ceremonies afterward were a thing of beauty, but what happened outside wasn't.

Vancouver Sun- Photos

Unfortunately, almost as soon as the game was decided, Vancouver fans decided to express their displeasure with the outcome of Game 7 by torching cars, smashing shop windows, looting and clashing with police.

Riot police fired rubber bullets and flash bombs in downtown Vancouver Wednesday night to try to disperse angry rioters who set cars on fire and taunted police officers after the Canucks' 4-0 Stanley Cup final loss to the Boston Bruins.

Police declared the downtown fan zone area near the CBC building and the central post office a riot zone. Anyone not leaving the West Georgia Street area immediately could be arrested, they warned.

Police were using batons and also turned police dogs on the rioters, slowly pushing the crowd back along Georgia Street from Hamilton Street to Cambie Street.

Officers in riot gear were also trying to disperse a smaller crowd on Granville Street, about six blocks from the original riot scene.

Two police cars were set on fire in a parking lot on Cambie Street near one of the areas where police were being confronted by a few dozen people among the hundreds present who were throwing debris at officers.

There was a riot in the city of Vancouver during June 1994 under similar circumstances when the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final to the New York Rangers.



RED SOX- While all eyes were seemingly on Vancouver tonight, Red Sox Bruins nation missed Josh Beckett throwing one hell of a gem down in Tampa tonight.

Josh Beckett threw a complete game one-hit shutout against Tampa Bay at Tropicana field on Wednesday night, allowing only a hit to Rays SS Reid Brignac. Run support came late for Beckett in the form of a Kevin Youkilis 3-run bomb that plated Dustin Pedroia and Adrian Gonzalez. Beckett was pretty efficient on the night, throwing all of 97 pitches in his 9 innings of work, striking out 6 and walking none.

On Tuesday night, Rays starter James Shields went the distance in a complete game of his own, shutting out the Sox by a 4-0 margin, interrupting Boston's 9-game win streak. Thursday's rubber game will have Clay Buchholz [5-3; 3.59 ERA] up against David Price [7-5; 3.51 ERA]. First pitch is at 7:10 ET and the game will be televised on both NESN and the MLB network.



NBA: I'm a few days behind on this, but congratulations to the NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks, who stunned the Miami Heat with their win Sunday by a 105-95 margin to win the NBA Finals by a 4-2 margin. Dallas stunned the basketball world by sweeping the LA Lakers early in the playoffs and then dispatching the Oklahoma City Thunder in fairly short order.

Although he got off to a slow first half in Game 6, Mavs Forward Dirk Nowitzki would go on to be named NBA Finals MVP.

April Fool's Sports Chowdah- Manny Walks Away For Good; Sox Snap Back in Home Opener; B's Finish Regular Season w/Weekend Split; C's Fall to 3rd Place

MLB- While waiting for the first Red Sox win of the 2011 season, it was announced that Tampa Bay slugger Manny Ramierez had tested positive for a performance enchancing drug, the second such offense in just under two years. Rather than face the 100 game suspension that a second offense would've brought him, Manny abruptly announced his retirement from baseball on Friday.

After being traded from the LA Dodgers to the Chicago White Sox last season, Manny signed a 1-year, $2 million contract with the Tampa Bay Rays this offseason. Manny had one hit, 4 strikeouts and an RBI in 17 plate appearences with the Rays in the very young regular season.

Jim Rogash- Getty Images

RED SOX- Apparently playing Cowboys Rangers and Indians was a bit much for Boston, hence the singularly unimpressive 0-6 start on the season. Honestly, I wasn't even going to do a sports-related update until the Red Sox won their first game series [I was blissfully unaware that I'd have to wait a full week, though- NANESB!] However, things looked like they were starting to turn around on the home opener Friday night when the Red Sox had a come from behind 9-6 win against the Yankees thanks in large part to Dustin Pedroia going 3-5 with 3 RBI. The Yankees won convincingly on Saturday, which set up the rubber game on Sunday and Josh Beckett vs CC Sabathia on the mound.

Beckett was just about flawless, dealing 10 strikeouts, two hits and a walk over 8 shutout innings. At times, run support seemed incredibly difficult to come by, with the Sox leaving a total of 16 runners on base. Throughout much of the night, Boston was clinging to a 1-0 lead after a bases-loaded Mike Cameron single drove in the game's first run in the bottom of the 3rd. However, Marco Polo Scutaro gave the Sox some insurance in the bottom of the 7th with a bases loaded 2-RBI double off of Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain that plated Big Papi and JD Drew to make it a 3-0 Red Sox lead. Big Papi would drive in Youkilis with an RBI double in the bottom of the 8th to make it 4-0 and Papelbon would close it out with a 1-2-3 9th inning, catching Mark Texiera looking at strike 3 to end the ballgame and give the Sox their first series win of the season some 48 hours after winning their first game.

Yankees starter CC Sabathia lasted 5⅔ innings, allowing 9 hits and one earned run while allowing 4 walks and striking out 4. New York will next take on the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles [even if it's only April, how often do I get to say that? -NANESB!] at Yankee stadium on Tuesday while the Red Sox will play host to the 1-8 Tampa Bay Rays Monday night at Fenway. NHL: The Boston Bruins finished off the regular season with a split of their final two games. On Saturday, Daniel Paille, Nathan Horton and Rich Peverly all scored for the Bruins and Tim Thomas stopped 31 of 32 shots faced to keep his save percentage at .938- surpassing Dominik Hasek's .937 from the 1998-1999 season.

The Bruins would skate to a 3-1 win over the Hapless-but-occasionally-feisty Sentators and Sens fired head coach Cory Clouston for missing the postseason in two out of the last three seasons.

With not much to play for on Sunday, the Bruins fell to the Devils by a 3-2 final at the Prudential Center in Newark on Sunday. Tukka Rask got the start in net, allowing 3 goals on 32 shots faced for the regular season finale. Rich Peverly and Chris Kelly accounted for the B's two goals in the regular season finale, and incidentally Sunday's game turned out to be the final for Jaques Lemaire as Devils head coach.

So the Bruins wrap up the regular season with a 46-25-11 record and 103 points- good for 3rd overall in the Eastern conference. The Bruins will match up with the Canadiens in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs starting Thrusday of this week.

It's also worth noting that a week prior to the Saturday win, Micheal Ryder's go-ahead penalty shot against the Atlanta Thrashers helped Boston secure the Northeastern Division titleELSEWHERE IN THE NHL/STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS: The First round matchups for the Stanley Cup playoffs are as follows:

#1 Washington Capitals vs #8 NY Rangers- series begins on Wednesday, April 13- 7:30 ET

#2 Philadelphia Flyers vs #7 Buffalo Sabres- Thrusday, April 14- 7:30 ET

#3 Boston Bruins vs #6 Montreal Canadiens- Thursday April 14, 7 PM ET

#4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs #5 Tampa Bay Lightning- Wednesday April 13, 7 PM ET

WESTERN CONFERENCE-

#1 Vancouver Canucks vs #8 Chicago Blackhawks, Wednesday April 13, 10:00 PM ET

#2 San Jose Sharks vs #7 Los Angeles Kings, Thursday April 14, 10:00 PM ET

#3 Red Wings vs #6 Phoenix Coyotes, Wednesday April 13, 7 PM ET

#4 Anaheim Ducks vs #5 Nashville Predators, Wednesday April 13, 10:30 PM ET

NCAA HOCKEY-None of the New England schools that made it to the NCAA Men's hockey finals advanced past the second round. Defending Champion Boston College was upended by Colorado College by a 4-8 final in the first round and Merrimack lost to Notre Dame by a 4-3 final. UNH and Yale both advanced to the second round only for the Wildcats to fall to the Fighting Irish.

Yale, on the other hand lost to eventual Champion Minnesota-Duluth in the 2nd round. UMD would go on to beat Notre Dame in the semifinals and face the Michigan Wolverines in the final. The UMD Bulldogs would win in OT by a final of 3-2 for their first ever NCAA Men's Hockey title.

NCAA HOOPS- After squeaking by Kentucky by a 56-55 margin, the UConn Huskies earned a showdown with Butler last week. The Huskies handled the Butler Bulldogs fairly easily by a 53-41 final last week for their first NCAA men's title since 2004.

The UConn women's team lost in the semifinals last week by a 72-63 final to Notre Dame- the Irish women's team would then go on to lose to Texas A&M by a 76-70 final in the women's championship game. Texas A&M also bested frequent UConn nemesis Stamford on their way to the women's final as well

NBA: After a pretty good week in which the C's were able to beat the Pistons, Wizards and 76ers (while losing to the Bulls) the Miami heat sent a message with the 100-77 win over Boston in South Florida on Sunday. The loss pushes Boston down to 3rd place in the Eastern conference; 1 game behind Miami and 5 games behind Chicago.

The C's will take on the Washington Wizards in the Nation's Capital on Monday night before finishing out the regular season at home against the Knicks on Wednesday night.

Sports Chowdah Update- C's Rally in the Knick of Time; Boston B-Devils Jersey; Madness Marches On; Manny Returns; NHL Dishes Suspension to Cooke

MLB: For those of you keeping track (which I'll admit I've been doing a piss poor job of) tonight's Sox-Rays game marked Manny Ramierez's first appearance at Ft. Meyer's City of Palms Park as a Tampa Bay Ray. The former Indians, Red Sox and Dodgers slugger went 1 for 1 with two walks and scored a run on Tuesday while on the mound, 2010 AL Cy Young winner David Price outlasted John Lackey, who gave up 5 runs over 5 ⅓ innings and was hung with his first loss of the Spring training for a 2-1 record, with the Rays winning 7-4. The Red Sox have tomorrow off and will next face the Florida Marlins at Jupiter, FL on Thursday with first pitch at 1:05 ET. OTHER RED SOX NEWS: The agent for 1B Adrian Gonzalez, John Boggs, has said that his client and the Red Sox are close to agreeing on a seven year contract extension for the former San Diego infielder. In his final year with the Padres, Gonzalez hit 31 home runs and had a .298 BA while playing half his games in the very pitcher friendly PetCo Park. NHL: After Saturday's disappointing 5-2 loss to the Maple Leafs in Toronto, the Bruins would head home and take on the struggling New Jersey Devils. Although the Bruins came into March riding an impressive 6-game road winning streak, the B's would then go on to win only two of their next eight contests (although they would garner a point or two for losses taking place in OT or the shootout- and curiously, they have yet to relinquish 1st place in the division this month). Tuesday night's game looked as though it would be more of the same when the Devil's Ilya Kovalchuck scored first to give New Jersey the 1-0 lead. Shawn Thronton would get the equalizer at the with just over four and a half minutes remaining in the first period. In the 2nd period, Zdeno Chara would put the B's up for good with a power play goal (the Bruins went 1 for 5 with the man advantage on Tuesday night) while Milan Lucic would score for Boston in the 3rd and Mark Recchi would get an empty-netter as the exclamation point in the Bruin's 4-1 win over New Jersey. Zdeno Chara came up big, for lack of a better term, coming up with the game winning goal and 2 assists on Tuesday night. Tim Thomas stopped 30 shots, not allowing a goal after Kovalchuck's power play goal in the 1st period. The win all but finishes off whatever postseason aspirations the Devils might've had to begin with. The Bruins next game will be on Thursday at home against Montreal. The 2nd place Canadiens are coming off of being shut out 2-0 by the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night. OTHER NHL NEWS: The NHL has decided to hand down a suspension to enforcer Matt Cooke for not only the final 10 games of the regular season, but also the first round of the playoffs after his elbow to the head against the Ranger's Ryan McDonagh on Sunday. Dennis Savard had his 2009-2010 season ended by a concussion after taking an elbow to the head from the Penguins cheap shot artist. NBA: Like the Bruins, over the last several games the Celtics have been looking like a playoff bound team by virtue of racking up the wins earlier in the season that didn't threaten to do much once they arrived there. After starting out their most recent road trip with a 93-77 loss to the Houston Rockets on Friday, the C's managed to bounce back with an 89-85 win over the New Orleans Hornets before heading to Madison Square Garden to wrap up their 3 game raod trip against the Knicks. Now, most of the time the Knicks are a punchline or laughingstock who's only claim to fame is having Spike Lee mouth off at the visiting players. Now although the recently made headlines by acquiring Carmello Anthony in a trade from Denver, the were at one game over .500 coming into Monday night's game against Boston. By halftime on Monday night's game, it looked as though Boston's March woes would continue, as the Knickerbockers headed into halftime with a fairly commanding 51-37 lead over the visitors. However, the Celtics would mount a spirited comeback in the 2nd half of what some would consider a possible playoff preview, with their defense holding the Knicks to just 35 points in the 2nd half, with Rajon Rondo putting Boston in the lead for good after hitting a jumper with just over 3 minutes left in regulation. Shortly after making the shot, Rajon and Carmello Anthony collided while 'Melo was attempting to steal a pass, resulting in a gash above Anthony's eye. Rondo came up with the ball and passed to Big Baby for a layup that but Boston up 90-86. Pierce nailed a jumper to make it a 6 point game before Ray Allen's dunk made it 94-86 with 40 seconds left in regulation before following ti up with two successful free throws. Kevin Garnett led the scoring for Boston with 24 points along with 11 rebounds on Monday night, followed by Paul Pierce's 21 points and 6 rebounds. The C's still are in first place for the Atlantic conference, although now they are a half point behind the Chicago Bulls for1st overall in the Eastern Conference. Interestingly, despite the .500 record and 3 game skid, the Knicks are still very much in the playoff hunt. The Celtics will return home on Wednesday night to take on the Memphis Grizzlies at 7:30 PM ET. NCAA HOCKEY: While everybody from the leader of the free world on down is keeping track of their March Madness brackets, just a reminder that the NCAA Men's Hockey Tournament gets underway this Friday. The schedule is as follows: Friday, March 25 3 p.m., East Region: Minnesota-Duluth vs. Union (Bridgeport, CT), ESPNU 5:30 p.m., West Region: Michigan vs. Nebraska-Omaha (St. Louis, MO), ESPN3 6:30 p.m., East Region: No. 1 Yale vs. Air Force (Bridgeport, CT), ESPNU 9 p.m., West Region: No. 1 Boston College vs. Colorado College (St. Louis, MO), ESPNU Saturday, March 26 1:30 p.m., Midwest Region: No.1 North Dakota vs. Rensselaer (Green Bay, WI), ESPN3 4 p.m., Northeast Region: No. 1 Miami vs. New Hampshire (Manchester, NH), ESPNU 5 p.m., Midwest Region: Denver vs. Western Michigan (Green Bay, WI), ESPN3 7:30 p.m., Northeast Region: Merrimack vs. Notre Dame (Manchester, NH), ESPN3 NCAA HOOPS: Perhaps to nobody's surprise, Kansas had sent to BU Terriers packing in the first round last week, while UConn- the sole remaining New England team in the tournament now- bested the Cincinnati Bearcats by 30 points. This sets up a match against the San Diego State Aztecs (who need double OT to get past Temple this weekend) at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA on Thursday night at 7:15 PM ET, 4:15 PM Pacific.

Championship Chowdah Update- Train Rex Averted in Steel City; Green Bay Sends Bears Packing; Wizards Solve C's; B's Clear Avalanche

NFL: Screw the conference championship games, Tom Brady had surgery on his right foot this week! The surgery, performed on Thursday by team physician George Theodore, involved inserting a screw into Brady's problematic right foot. If all goes well, Brady's recovery timetable should be around three months or so, in time training camp in late July or early August.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: Oh yea- it also happened to be Championship Sunday this weekend, so without any further ado:

AFC: I'd be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying the final few minutes of the AFC Championship game, even if it was alot closer then it should've been.

The Pittsburgh Steelers took a 24-3 lead into halftime for the AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh on Sunday evening. It didn't look like it for awhile in the 4th quarter, but that was all the Steelers would need to get by the Jets- despite New York scoring 16 unanswered points in the second half (their first 3 came with only 9 seconds to go before halftime).

The Jets made it a 5 point game with just over 3 minutes to go in regulation, capping off a 4 and a half minute drive with a short pass from QB Mark Sanchez to WR Jerricho Cotchery to make it a 24-19 game. The Steelers would get the ball back with just under 3 minutes remaining- meaning that if the Jets could force a 3 and out, they would have enough time for a 2 minute drill. Roethlisberger managed to get the Steelers as far as the Jets 40 yard line at the two minute warning, bringing up and important 3rd and 6 in which Big Ben made a 14 yard completion to Antonio Brown, sending all sorts of headgear flying off of Rex Ryan before crashing to earth as the Steelers simply took a knee and iced the game from there.

NFC: Well....these guys probably had a heart attack. I mean.....well....a bigger one than usual:

I came in a little late on this one- by the time I tuned in, Cutler was already on the bench [let the speculation abound- NANESB!] and the Packers were up 14-0.

Things would get interesting when Bears backup QB Todd Collins was benched in favor of Caleb Hanie late in the 3rd, which paid dividends right away when the Bears started a TD drive from their own 33 to cut the Packers lead in half. However, pinned deep in their own territory, Haine would be picked off by Packers nose tackle BJ Raji, who rumbled into the end zone to put the Packers up 21-7. The Bears would strike again on a quick drive where Hanie connected with WR Earl Bennett for a 35 yard TD reception to once again make it a 1-score game with just under 5 minutes in regulation left.

Chicago's defense forced a fairly quick 3 and out from the Packers, giving the Bears the ball back with just under 3 minutes in regulation on their own 29. However, Green Bay would put the game away when Hanie was picked off by Packers CB Sam Shields deep in Green Bay territory ith 37 seconds remaining.

Green Bay wins the first postseason meeting of the Bears and Packers since the outbreak of WWII by a final of 21-14. Although Caled Hanie acquitted himself reasonably well (13-20, 153 yards, 1 TD but two costly interceptions), Aaron Rodgers is the quarterback that will be going to north Texas for the Superbowl. The Packers QB was 17-30 with 244 yards on the day and two INTs.

This means Superbowl XLV will feature a matchup between two vintage NFL clubs (Packers go as far back as 1919 while the Steelers date to '33). Superbowl XLI is scheduled to kick off from Cowboys Stadium at 6:30PM ET on Saturday, Feb 6th on FOX.

NBA: The Celtics had their 5 game winning streak come to a halt on Saturday night in Washington DC. Wizards rookie John Wall banked in a pivotal 3 pointer in the games final minute to help beat Boston by an 85-83 final.

The Celtics had finished up a homestand where they managed to beat the Kings, Bobcats, Magic, Pistons and wrapped up a 110-86 win over the Utah Jazz the night before travelling to Washington. They will next take on the Cleveland Cavaliers at home on Tuesday night.

NHL: After completing the home/road sweep against the Carolina Hurricanes, the Boston Bruins had one more home game (where they lost to the Sabres on Thursday night) before their road trip out West got underway.

The change of scenery apparently did them some good as they came away 6-2 winners in Saturday night's game at Denver's Pepsi Center against the Colorado Avalanche. Although Colorado's Paul Stasny scored first, Milan Lucic and Brad Marchand had two goals each (Mark Recchi and Patrice Bergeron would have goals as well). Tim Thomas stopped 32 of 34 shots faced on the night while the Avs pulled goalie Craig Anderson before the start of the 3rd.

The Bruins will next travel to the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Monday night to take on the LA Kings. Puck drops at 10:30 ET, 7:30 PT.

MLB: There's a 2004 Red Sox reunion of sorts taking place in the AL East, although not at Fenway Park. Johnny Damon and Manny Ramirez have each agreed to separate one year deals with the Tampa Bay Rays this past week. SI.com reported that Damon's contract was worth $5.25 million with incentives while Manny's was in the neighborhood of $2 million. Both deals are pending a physical.

The Rays had lost Carl Crawford and Matt Garza to free agency earlier in the offseason.

Week Off Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Split Czech; Braves Chopped Out of Playoff Picture; Pats Family Tree Gets Familiar Branch

NHL: The puck dropped on the 2010-2011 Bruins regular season in Prague this weekend with a two game series against the Phoenix Coyotes. After losing the opener by a 5-2 margin, Tim Thomas made an impressive regular season debut and 2010 first round draft pick Tyler Seguin scored his first NHL goal on Sunday's game in the Czech capital. Thomas stopped all 29 shots he faced while Milan Lucic and Nathan Horton got the Bruins out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd period before Seguin's goal sealed the 3-0 win over Phoenix.

Boston's next game isn't until Saturday where the NJ Devils will host them at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

MLB: And then there was one......well one division series remaining. After the Yankees finished off a sweep of the Twins on Saturday while the Reds were eliminated by the Phillies Sunday night. The Braves managed to stay alive in the NLDS matchup with the Giants and the series headed to Atlanta with the series tied 1-1 after Rick Ankiel splashed a solo homer into McCovey cove in the 11th inning to cap off the Braves Friday night win.

However, the Giants were able to take advantage of Atlanta miscues as the series went back to Turner Field tied 1-1. Perhaps most the most agonizing for moments for Braves faithful came after an Erick Hinske pinch-hit 2-run homer briefly put the Beaves up 2-1. In the top of the 9th, Aubrey Huff drove on, bringing home Travis Ishikawa to tie the contest up at 2-2. Giants Catcher Buster Posey scalded what looked like sharply hit groundout to 2nd base to end the inning, but in a moment eerily reminiscent of Bill Buckner, it went right under Brooks Conrad's glove and into center field to put the Giants up for good 3-2.

Monday night's game at Turner Field turned out to be Bobby Cox's last as Braves manager, as the Giants held on to a 1-run lead even when Giant's closer Brian Wilson allowed back-to-back walks to Rick Ankiel and Erick Hinske with one away. The Londonderry, NH born pitcher then managed to get Melky Cabrera to ground out into a double-play. San Francisco wins the Division series 3 games to 1 and Game 4 by a final score of 3-2.

ELSEWHERE: Game 5 of the ALCS Between the Rangers and Rays is set to take place tonight in Tampa/St. Pete at 8PM ET. The series is tied at 2 games each and Cliff Lee is expected to get the start against David Price. Curiously, the home team has yet to win in this series.

NFL: For those of us wondering 'Who's Brady gonna throw to now that Moss is gone?', wonder no more as the Patriots announced that they reacquired WR Deion Branch from the Seattle Seahawks last night (See!? Pats news even during the bye week!). The Seahwaks will get a future draft pick from New England in exchange for Branch and acquired a WR from another AFC East team, Marshawn Lynch, last week. Superbowl XXXVIII MVP Branch reportedly practised with New England on Tuesday. New England takes on the Baltimore Ravens this Sunday.

Oh yes....there was some sort of Monday night contest involving Randy Moss and the NY Jets on the air, too. Man....I tuned in for that right after the Braves/Giants game....what a snooze-fest until the late 3rd quarter. Rain rain rain, Vikings 3 and out, rain rain rain Jet's field goal....lather, rinse, repeat....you get the idea. So fast forward to the third quarter where Brett Favre manages to get the Vikings on the board with a 3rd and 17 completion to Randy Moss for career TD #500 and became the first QB to eclipse the 70,000 yards mark....and parhaps more importantly make it an interesting game at 12-7. Brett Farve came up short [or insert your own Farve-centric joke- NANESB!] after a late interception sealed the win for the Jets, their 4th in a row, by a final of 29-20.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Boston College had their bye a few weeks ago, but they've been playing like they still have had every weekend off since then. This past weekend, it was a 44-17 loss to North Carolina state, which makes them 0-2 against ACC opponents. After averaging 10 points in their last three games, I'm not very optimistic about their chances against #16 Florida State at Talahassee on Saturday afternoon

To the South (or is it north, since both were away games?), UConn squandered a 24-17 halftime lead and were shut out by the Rutgers Scarlet Knights for the entire 2nd half to lose by a final of 27-24 on a Friday night game. The Huskies have a bye this weekend and will travel to Louisville on Oct. 23rd for another Big East matchup.

Scrappy Division 1AA UMass had the weekend off, but will be playing another FCS/Colonial Conference team that not only acquited itself against a FBS/Division 1A team (Virginia), but actually won- the Richmond Spiders. Since their close game against the Wolverines, the Minutemen have gone 2-0 and has an overall record of 4-1 (second only to 6-0 Delaware in the CAA).

Quicke Cuppa Sports Chowdah Update- Phil In The Blanks, Doc Holliday Throws No-No in NLDS Game 1; Pats Gather No More Moss

AP Photo

And there we were watching history with the sound off.

Long story short, I get together with some friends at the friendly neighborhood cantina for some Sam Adams and so I can show them the pricey and tax-free goodies I picked up while I was in New Hampshire last month. There's a flat screen over the bar that's showing the NFL network, and almost as an afterthought I ask the bartender if they can change it to the Reds/Phillies game. The barkeep obliged and we tuned in just in time to see Shane Victorino steal third and come home on a Chase Utley sac-fly in the bottom of the first.

By the time the bottom of the second rolls around, it's pretty clear that Cincinnati's Edinson Volquez isn't long for this game as he put two runners on with two away and facing his counterpart, Roy Halliday. The Philly starter helped out his own cause with the lumber when he hit an RBI single to shallow left to make it a 2-0 game. Volquez then walked Jimmy Rollins to put the Philly ace at 2nd and load them up once again. Shane Victorino then hit a 2-RBI single in which a jacket-wearing Halliday scored from 2nd before Reds manager Dusty Baker decided to pull Volquez for Travis Wood.

For those of us at the cantina who no longer had a dog in the fight, our attention began to turn to the more mundane such as the pricey shit I purchased in New Hampshire (did I mention it was tax-free) and vacation pictures that came out alot better than I thought. With the sound off, none of us gave the game on the TV much thought....until I happened to look up and see that TBS was flashing a graphic that pointed out the last time a postseason starter threw 7 no-hit innings was the Red Sox's Jim Longborg in Game 2 of the 1967 World Series against St. Louis. We figured that they wouldn't bother pointing that out unless Halliday was throwing a no-no.

Sure enough he was. The only runner he allowed was Reds outfielder Jay Bruce with a 5th inning walk. Halliday successfully continued mowing 'em down into the 9th, where he faced Reds 2B Brandon Phillips. Phillips chopped an 0-2 offering in front of home plate and sprinted towards first as Philly C Carlos Ruiz tore off his mask and deftly plucked the ball up from next to the bat laying down on the infield and managed to throw to 1B Ryan Howard in time for the final out of the game.

This marks the first postseason no-hitter since October 1956 when Don Larsen threw a perfect game for the Yankees against the then Brooklyn Dodgers in the '56 World Series.

OTHER MLB PLAYOFF GAMES: DJ Kitty was unable to weave his magic for Game 1 down in Tampa Bay. Cliff Lee got out of some early jams against the Rays and the Rangers win game one of that series 5-1.

The Yankees came from behind to win the first playoff game at Target Field in Minnesota by a 6-4 score.

Game one of the Division series between the San Francisco Giants and Atlanta Braves get underway tomorrow night at 9:35PM Eastern time.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: Not surprisingly, there's been some managerial shakeups with the end of the regular season upon us. Ken Macha's been dismissed as Brewer's manager while the Pittsburgh Pirates fired manager John Russel after 3 seasons. In New York, Mets GM Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel were fired on Monday.

NFL: The biggest bit of sports news before Roy Halliday got Brandon Phillips to ground out in the 9th inning was the departure of WR Randy Moss from New England. The mercurial wide receiver departed for the Minnesota Vikings on Wednesday in exchange for their 3rd round draft pick in the 2011 NFL Draft. So now he's the Viking's problem.

Moss was likely dissatisfied with his current contract status (a 3 year deal that would've finished up at the end of the year) while Brady, Banta-Cain and Gostowski among others received contract extensions. This in turn lead to all sorts of speculation about his future in New England and reportedly some loud exchanges with teammates and coaching staff. On the Minnesota end of the deal, Brett Farve was reportedly lobbying the Viking management to put in an offer for Moss.

Randy Moss is expected to start in time for the Monday Night game against the NY Jets and will return to Foxboro with the Vikings on Halloween [I used to scoff at the notion that the NFL is scripted, but nowadays, I sometimes pause- NANESB!].

Personally, I'm not glad to see him go, but if he doesn't want to stay then why bother forcing the issue. The Krafts managed to get a few relatively drama-free years from Moss, which was a few more than I anticipated when the trade from Oakland was announced in 2007.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: The Buffalo Bills traded RB Marshawn Lynch to the Seattle Seahawks for a pair of undisclosed draft picks earlier this week.