Long Overdue Championship Weekend Sports Chowdah Update- Nevermore! Patriots Rally Past Ravens, Advance to AFC Title Games; Kung Fu Gripping, Red Sox Sign Pablo Sandoval; Pedro, Big Unit Biggio and Smoltz Heading to Cooperstown; B's Blank Blueshirts; Rondo Heads to Dallas

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS- Heading into the playoffs, the Patriots weren't looking particularly sharp. After thrashing the Miami Dolphins in weeks 15- avenging their season-opening loss and New England won the division in convincing fashion. However, the Patriots barely bested the Jets in the Meadowlands in Week 16 thanks to a 17-16 win over New York and fell to Buffalo by a 17-6 final after starting most of their second-stringers.

After a first round bye, the Patriots were set to host Baltimore after the Ravens upended the AFC North champion Steelers in the first round. This would be the fourth time since the 2009 season that the Ravens and Patriots met in the playoffs, with Baltimore winning two out of the first three matchups.



Early on, it looked as though it appeared the Ravens would add to their all-time playoff lead against the Patriots. Ravens QB Joe Flacco took their first two possessions and marched down the field for two quick TDs to take a 14-0 lead while the Ravens defense held New England to a couple of three-and-outs in the first quarter.

However, late in the first the Patriots put together a good-looking drive that included a 40 yard completion from Brady to Gronkowski and was capped by a 4 yard TD run by Brady on 3rd and goal. New England got on the board with 48 seconds left in the first and it was now a 14-7 game.

Despite increased pressure on the pocket from the Ravens defense, a fired-up Tom Brady managed to find the end zone late in the 2nd quarter on a 15 yard completion to Danny Amendola- with the WR fighting for key extra yardage to get into the end zone to tie the game at 14-14 after Stephen Gostkowski's point-after. However, almost as soon as the momentum was swinging the Patriots way, the Ravens came up with a key pick at mid-field with just over a minute to go in the half. Joe Flacco and company made the most of that thanks to a pass-interference call against Patriots CB Darelle Revis. With only 10 seconds to go, the Ravens quieted the crowd at Foxborough with an 11 yard TD pass from Flacco to TE Owen Daniels to put Baltimore back on top, 21-14.

In the second half, the Ravens managed to get a pass-interference call on 4th and 6 to set them up inside the New England red zone- altho they were pushed further back to the 16. However, Flacco connected with RB Justin Fosett for a 16 yard TD reception and give Baltimore a 28-14 lead and giving New England a bigger hole to climb out of. However, that's exactly what Brady and company did, with the Patriots QB connecting with Gronkowski on a five yard TD pass to make it a 21-28 game with 6:48 to go in the 3rd. After holding the Ravens to a 3 and out, Baltimore was forced to punt and the Patriots were able to start from their own 30.

What happened next could undoubtedly be considered the highlight of the game. After moving the ball to midfield on two quick plays, Brady quickly lateralled the ball to WR Julian Edelman. Edelman then threw the ball to a wide open follow WR Danny Amendola for a 51 yard TD pass to tie the game at 28-28.

On Baltimore's next possession, DB Devin McCourty picked off Flacco at the Ravens 37, giving New England a short field that they were unable to capitalize on. On the Ravens' next possession, they managed to march down the field pretty efficiently, including converting on a 4th and 1 along the way- but were shut out of the end zone, forced to settle for a FG with 10:17 left in the 4th quarter. With the Ravens back on top by a 31-28 score, New England couldn't afford any more three and outs.

Starting on their own 26 yard line with 10:10 remaining in regulation, the Patriots offense managed to get big chunks of yards while burning off some of the clock. With 5:13 left in the game, the Patriots took their first lead of the day on a perfectly thrown 23 yard TD pass from Brady to WR Brandon LaFell, putting the Patriots on top 35-31. Flacco once again put together a solid drive, getting to midfield in time for the 2 minute warning. However, with 1:38 left, Flacco went long from the Patriots 36 yard line only to be picked off in the end zone by Patriots SS Duron Harmon. The Ravens still had a timeout left, which prevented New England from simply kneeling down three times in the victory formation and running out the clock, so Ryan Allen had to punt. The Ravens got the ball back on midfield with just 4 seconds left, giving Baltimore just enough time for a hail-mary pass that the Patriots managed to bat out of the end zone.

The Patriots would only lead for just over five minutes, but it was all they'd need as they go on to win by a 35-31 final in what many are already calling an instant classic.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL PLAYOFFS- The New England Patriots will be facing the Indianapolis Colts and starting QB Andrew Luck in the AFC championship game this weekend at Foxborough. As rusty as the Patriots looked in the first quarter, the Broncos looked almost as bad for their entire game after their first round bye. Denver Broncos QB Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos fell to his former team, losing by a 24-13 final at Denver. So demoralizing was the loss that the Broncos fired head coach John Fox within days and many are openly speculating that this may be the end of QB Peyton Manning's career, if not his tenure with the Broncos.

Meanwhile, in what was dubbed 'Ice Bowl II', the Cowboys made their first postseason visit to Lambeau Field in Green Bay, WI since the 1967 NFL Championship Game. While the temperatures were much more mild than in 1967, like the original title game the Packers ultimately prevailed- although what looked like a 32 yard completion from Cowboys QB Tony Romo to receiver Dez Bryant on 4th and 2 that would've put the ball on the Green Bay 1 yard line was overturned after challenged by Green Bay. The Packers would go on to win by a 26-21 final and will face the Seattle Seahawks in the Pacific Northwest for the NFC title next week. Seattle beat NFC South champions Carolina by a 35-17 final.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- With the end of the regular season, a number of new coaching vacancies and hirings have been announced. On Friday, the Chicago Bears announced that recently-dismissed Denver head coach John Fox would be their new head coach. Meanwhile, former Jets head coach Rex Ryan will be staying within the AFC East as the Buffalo Bills named him their new head coach after Doug Marrone opted out of his contract.

The biggest news came earlier this month when- after weeks of speculation- San Francisco 49ers and head coach Jim Harbuagh parted ways at the end of the regular season. By December 30th, the University of Michigan announced Harbaugh as their head coach, replacing Brady Hoke after a disappointing 2014 campaign.

RED SOX- The Red Sox have been letting no grass grow under their feet in the offseason. After signing Koji Uehara to a two year contract extension, Boston signed free agent 3rd baseman Pablo Sandoval to a five year, $100 million contract. During his 2014 championship run with the San Francisco Giants, Sandoval batted .279 with 16 homers and 73 RBI. The same week as the massive Sandoval deal was announced, Boston announced that one-time prospect Hanley Ramirez was signed to a 4 year deal worth an estimated $80 million.

Another former Red Sox farmhand returning home is Justin Masterson, who Boston signed to a one year contract worth just over $9 million in December. The Red Sox also ended up trading OF Yoenis Cespedes, RHP Alex Wilson and a prospect to the Tigers for starting pitcher Rick Porcello who was 15-13 with a 3.43 ERA with Detroit last year. Within a day of the Porcello deal, the Red Sox also sent starters Rubby De LaRosa and Allen Webster to Arizona in exchange for pitcher Wade Miley.

De LaRosa and Webster weren't the only Red Sox to make their way to the NL West- shortly before Christmas, the Red Sox announced that they had sent 3B Will Middlebrooks to the San Diego Padres in exchange for C Ryan Hanigan.

BASEBALL HALL OF FAME- The 2015 Baseball Hall of Fame inductees have been announced and Red Sox fans can expect a familiar face among the honorees.

Pitchers Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson and John Smoltz were first-ballot hall of famers while former Houston Astros 2B Craig Biggio made it to Cooperstown after his 3rd year of eligibility. Martinez, who has an ERA of 2.93 over his 17 year MLB career, has played for the Dodgers, Expos, Red Sox, Mets and Phillies. However, Martinez's career highlights (and lowlights) were in Boston. During the 1999 ALDS, Martinez came into the game in the 4th inning against the Indians and threw five no-hit innings of relief. The 2004 World Series was one of only two World Series appearances for Pedro- he threw a shutout in Game 3 at Busch Stadium against the Cardinals and even drew a walk in one of his at-bats.

Martinez was an 8 time All Star and has three Cy Young trophies to his name and led the AL in strikeout in 1999, 2000 and 2002.

The lanky Randy Johnson- dubbed "Big Unit"- had a slightly longer career, breaking into the bigs with the Expos in 1988 before playing nearly a decade with the Seattle Mariners. After a single season with the Astros, Johnson then signed with the newly-formed Arizona Diamondbacks in their second season and is best known for his performance in the 2001 World Series where he was credited with three wins in the dramatic 7-game series against the Yankees. In the deciding game 7, then-manager Bob Brenly pulled Curt Schilling in the 8th with one away before bringing in Miguel Batista to get out one batter [who happened to be Derek Jeter- NANESB!] and having Johnson- who started Game 6- come in to pitch relief. Johnson got all four batters he faced out and was credited with the win after Mariano Rivera loaded the bases and Luis Gonzales hit a single past a drawn-in Derek Jeter in the bottom of the 9th.

BOSTON BRUINS- Let's face it- it's been a pretty rough couple of weeks for the Bruins, but not too long after the calendar flipped over to 2015, something seems to be clicking for the B's.



On Thursday night, Tukka Rask turned aside all 30 shots he faced while Boston got goals from Bergeron in the first, Krejci in the second and Eriksson in the 3rd to get by the Rangers 3-0 in a nationally televised contest. The win puts the Bruins back in the playoff picture with about a week to go until the NHL's All Star break.

The win over the Rangers is the Bruin's 5th straight (this includes two shutouts) and Boston hopes to keep the momentum going on Saturday when they travel to Columbus to take on the Blue Jackets. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

2014 NHL WINTER CLASSIC- The 2015 NHL Winter Classic has come and gone- taking place at Nationals Park in Washington DC on New Years day with the Capitals hosting the Blackhawks.



The Capitals got out to a pretty quick 2-0 lead with tallies by Eric Fehr and Alex Ovechkin, but thanks to goals by Patrick Sharp and Brandon Saad, the Blackhawks were able to tie the contest up at 2-2 in the second. It looked as though the contest would be headed to overtime, but a late penalty on the Blackhawks led to a Caps power play and with 12 seconds left in regulation, Troy Brouwer was able to give Washington a 3-2 lead with a late goal on the man advantage. The Capitals would hang on to win in the remaining 11 seconds of regulation by a final of 3-2.

According to ESPN.com and TSN's Bob McKenzie, Boston is reportedly the front-runner to host the 2016 Winter Classic. Fenway Park was the host for the 2010 Winter Classic where the Bruins hosted the Flyers. However, there has been no official word from the NHL and other venues such as Denver or the Twin Cities are also reportedly under consideration. An announcement from the league is expected by February.

NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL- Regrettably, I missed most of the Volleyball season- although I was able to catch some of the finals back in December.

The Brigham Young Cougars women's volleyball team holds the distinction of becoming the first NCAA women's volleyball program to advance to the finals after upending #14 Nebraska and #2 Texas. However the Lady Cougars were swept by defending champions Penn State. This would be the Nittany Lions 2nd consecutive women's volleyball title, giving Penn State an NCAA record total of seven volleyball titles and their sixth in the last eight years.

BYU fell in three sets (21-25, 24-26 and 14-25) to the Nittany Lions at Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Center. Nittany Lion juniors Megan Courtney and Aiyana Whitney led the offense with 11 kills each while senior Nia Grant had nine kills to her credit.

NCAA FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP- With the Rose Bowl and Sugar Bowl serving as a playoff for the first ever NCAA FBS Championship playoff, the Oregon Ducks made quick work of the Florida State Seminoles on New Year's Day [with Ducks fans and players mocking QB Jameis Winston by chanting "Noooo means Noooo!" to the tune of the Seminoles fight song after the game- NANESB!] after beating FSU by a 59-20 final. The loss was Florida State's first in 29 games- including last year's NCAA Championship game, which was the last under the old system.

Later on that day, the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans would determine who the Ducks faced in the NCAA title game. This one turned out to be much closer, with the Ohio State Buckeyes prevailing over Alabama by a 42-35 final. This set up a Jan 12th meeting between the Ducks and Buckeyes at AT&T stadium in Arlington, TX for all the marbles [for the first time ever, no less- NANESB!]. Early in the matchup that featured Heisman-winning QB Marcus Mariotta against the Buckeye's 3rd string quarterback was going Oregon's way early on, with the Ducks getting out to an early 7-0 lead before Ohio State seemed to find their footing and go on to win by a 42-20 thanks in large part to Ezekiel Elliot's 4TD and 246 yard performance.

NCAA FCS CHAMPIONSHIP- After holding off a late rally by Illinois State, the North Dakota State Bison have won their fourth straight FCS title last weekend. The NDSU Bison were trailing the Redbirds 27-23 late before re-taking the lead on a 5 yard rushing TD from Carson Wentz to give North Dakota State a 29-27 lead. Just to make the final minute of regulation more interesting, the point after attempt was successfully blocked by the Redbirds.

With less than a minute to go, Illinois State was able to put together a drive that got them to midfield, but with just 8 seconds left, Redbirds QB Tre Robertson threw an interception to seal the win for the Bisons.

NBA- It's the end of the era for the Boston Celtics as the last of the Big Three from the 2008 Championship team was traded away to the Dallas Mavericks. In return for Rondo, Dallas will send Brandan Wright, Jae Crowder and Jameer Nelson to the C's and Boston will also receive a conditional first round pick in the 2015 draft and a second round pick in the 2016 draft.

Rondo, who had spent his entire NBA career in a Celtics uniform prior to the December 18th trade, returned to the Garden on January 2nd and had a season best 29 points as the Mavericks cruised to a 119-101 win over the Celtics.

Ash Wednesday Sports Chowdah Update- Gary Carter, 1954-2012; Wakefield Announces Retirement; B's No Longer Singing Blues, C's Thunderstuck

MLB- Hall of Fame Catcher Gary Carter passed away last week at a W. Palm Beach, FL hospice last week at the age of 57. Carter, who bookended his 19 year big league career with the Montreal Expos [now the Washington Nationals- NANESB!], was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. Although Carter both started and finished his career with the Expos, the 11 time All Star also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and most memorably was the New York Mets catcher during their improbable 1986 come-from-behind World Series win over the Boston Red Sox.

Carter, sometimes known as 'Kid' for his ebullient demeanor, had a career batting average of .262 with 324 HR and 1225 RBI. He began his MLB career with the Expos in 1974 and endeared himself to the primarily French speaking Quebecois fans when he attempted to learn the language [some 30 years before Rosetta Stone was even invented, no less!- NANESB] taking lessons from batboy and Montreal native Daniel Plamondon.

Carter returned to Montreal in 1992 for what would be his final season. Eleven years later, the Expos retired Carter's #8 the same year he was voted into the Baseball hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Since retiring from his playing days, Carter had been active in coaching and philanthropy in Florida. Interetingly, when the Expos moved to Washington D.C. in 2005, banners bearing Carter's number along with the retired numbers of other Expos players Andre Dawson, Rusty Staub and Tim Raines were moved across town and hung in the rafters of the Bell Centre, home arena for the Montreal Canadiens.

In 2010, Carter began his stint as head coach of the NCAA Div II Palm Beach Atlantic Univeristy Sailfish. It was in May 2011 that Carter recieved news he had an inoperable brain tumor. In January, Carter's daughter Kimmy Bloemers announced that another MRI had shown additional tumors. Although suffering from multiple inoperable tumors, Carter was able to attend the Sailfish home opener at the beginning of this month.

Although the Expos have been absent for nearly 7 years, the Montreal Canadiens paid tribute to Carter at Sunday's home game against the New Jersey Devils by wearing #8 Carter jerseys during the pregame warmups and donning throwback Expos hats before the start of the anthems.


RED SOX- Boston's versatile and durable knuckleballer Tim Wakefield called it a career in an announcement from Florida on Friday.

Drafted as a first baseman in 1988 by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Wakefield developed his knuckleball while with the Salem Buccaneers of the Carolina League. He was called up to Pittsburgh in 1992 and even won Games 3 and 6 of the 1992 NLCS (both starts against Billerica, MA native Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves).

He struggled the following season and was released by Pittsburgh in 1995 during the lockout. The Red Sox picked him up a few days later and he saw service in Pawtucket and then Boston, filling in for an ailing Roger Clemens.

In 2003, the season ended in extra innings of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium when the Yankee's Aaron Boone launched a solo homer off of Wakefield. The following season, in a rematch with the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS, Wakefield would get a measure of revenge in Game 5 at Fenway when he pitched three shutout innings in long relief. Despite some tense moments and passed balls with Varitek (who wasn't Wakefield's normal catcher despite being on the team almost as long as the knuckleballer), Wakefield got credit for the win that night thanks to a walk-off bloop single from DH David Ortiz.

On July 24, 2011, Time Wakefield recorded career win #199 against the Seattle Mariners. Thanks to an unfortunate series of lackluster starts on his part or the bullpen imploding in close games, the knuckleballer was stuck at #199 for more than 7 weeks.

After a series of events reminiscent of Groundhog Day, Wakefield earned career win #200 on September 14, 2011 during an 18-6 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Wakefield's milestone- the first pitcher in Boston's 111-year history to notch career win #200 in a Red Sox uniform- was undoubtedly the highlight of a September that was marred by a collapse that saw the Red Sox eliminated from postseason contention in the final game of the regular season.

At the end of the 2011 season, Wakefield was 6 wins shy of breaking the Red Sox team record of 192 wins (tied by Roger Clemens and Cy Young).

Wakefield made his announcement from the Spring Training facility in Ft. Meyers, FL

Standing in left field, with a replica Green Monster looming behind him, Wakefield said retirement was “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” which was saying something considering nothing in baseball ever came easy to him. “There is nothing that I want more than for this team to win, and it’s hard sometimes to take yourself out of the decision process,” Wakefield said, eyes watering and voice shaking. “But in my heart, I feel that by retiring I’m giving them a better chance to do that.”

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- The 45-year old Wakefield's announcement comes at the same time as a great deal of uncertainty over the status of veteran Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek.

Although Varitek recieved a minor-league offer from the Red Sox, his options right now appear to be either serve as a backup to Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Kelly Shoppach [who the Sox reacquired via free-agency in December- NANESB!] or join fellow catcher Jorge Posada in retirement.

After coming up through the Seattle Mariners minor-league system, Varitek and former Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe were acquired from Seattle in exchange for Heath Slocombe in 1997. Varitek had been Boston's starting catcher since the late 1990s.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- In a move to free up money for free agents, the New York Yankees have sent starting pitcher AJ Burnett and $20 million in cash to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for RHP Diego Moreno [2-4 with a 3.21 ERA with the AA Altoona Curve last year] and OF Exicardo Cayones who split time between the Gulf Coast League and State College of the New York-Penn League last season.

The trade greatly benefits the Pirates- who have not finished above .500 for 19 consecutive seasons. However, some Red Sox fans have expressed a preference that struggling Boston starter John Lackey would have been dealt to the Pirates in a similar transaction to free up additional funds to pursue a trade with Roy Oswalt without going over the salary cap.


BOSTON BRUINS- Two streaks came to an end at St Louis' Scottrade Center on Wednesday night.

After a hard-fought shootout win against Montreal that left the Bruins banged up last week, the Bruins then dropped a road game against the Jets before getting shut out by the Minnesota Wild 2-0 on Sunday.

The St Louis Blues, on the other hand, had managed to snag at least one point in 21 straight home games at the Scottrade Center. However, things got off to a frenetic start in the 1st period with the Bruins getting off to a 2-0 start thanks to goals from Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic before Blues RWs Chris Stewart and Ryan Reaves would each get a goal to knot the contest up at 2-2. With 40 seconds to go in the opening period, Chris Kelly put the Bruins back on top before the game headed to its first intermission.

After a scoreless 2nd period, Marchand would give Boston a little bit more breathing room with another tally midway through the 3rd to give Boston the 4-2 lead and ultimately the win. Tim Thomas stopped 30 of 32 shots faced while St Louis' Brain Elliott allowed 4 goals on 19 shots faced.

All six goals scored on Wednesday night were even-strength, with each team only getting one power-play opportunity.

The win snaps a two-game losing streak that felt alot longer than it really was owing to the three day layoff after Sunday's shutout.

The Bruins road trip will bring them back to the Northeast conference where they will face the Buffalo Sabres on Friday. This will be Boston's first game at the First Niagara Center since getting run out of the building after an embarassing and lopsided 6-0 shutout. The game gets underway at 7:30 ET and will be televised on both NESN and MSG networks.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: The Boston Bruins called up Forward Carter Camper from their AHL affiliate in Providence this week. The former Miami of Ohio Redhawk and Hobey Baker Award finalist had 14 goals, 24 assists and 38 points in 53 games played with the Providence Bruins this season.

BOSTON CELTICS- The Celtics head into the NBA's All Star Break losing five straight games, including the first 4 games of their 5-game road trip.

On Wednesday night, the C's fell to the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder by a 104-119 final. Although Boston came up short on the road, head coach Doc Rivers and Forward Paul Piece said in postgame comments that their ability to rally may pay dividends in the second half of the abbreviated NBA season.

It's also worth noting that current Atlantic Division leader- the Philadelphia 76ers- has also been suffering through a 5-game skid heading into the All Star Break as well.

At Long Last, Opening Day is Here

After what seems like an eternity, that glorious day (where even the Pittsburgh Pirates or Kansas City Royals sport a perfect record) has arrived. With the bunting draped, the aroma of peanuts and popcorn wafting through the stands, kids of all ages playing hooky, and distant voices relaying the goings on at the ballpark on a crackling AM signal to listeners hundreds of miles away, America's pasttime gets underway with joy and anticipation- tempered by a cautious optimism- in the hearts of fans everywhere.

Now it seems as though there's nothing left to do but sit back and enjoy this most wonderful time of year.

Photo- Steve Stewart/MLB Blogs

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.

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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


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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1/10

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

Election Day Chowdah Update- Giant Wait Over; No Doubting Thomas; Moss on the Move Again

WORLD SERIES: A month after barely squeaking past his former team to win the NL West pennant, Bruce Bochy's San Francisco Giants are World Series Champions.

Unlike Game 1, The Cliff Lee-Tim Lincecum matchup on Monday night had both starters carrying a shutout into the 7th inning. In the top of the inning, Lee gave up back to back singles to Cody Ross and Juan Uribe but appeared to be working his way out of the two on/nobody out jam he found himself in after Aubrey Huff sac-bunted to move the runners over and Pat Burrell struck out. However, Edgar Renteria belted a 2-0 Lee offering into the stands at left center field to make it a 3-0 San Francisco lead.

Texas would get a run back in the bottom of the 7th with solo homer off the bat of Nelson Cruz, but Lincecum and closer Brian Wilson would shut them down to give San Francisco the 3-1 win, giving the Giants the World Series win, 4 games to 1 over the Rangers.

The San Francisco Giants had made three prior appearances in the World Series; 1962, 1989 [the earthquake series- NANESB!] and 2002- all of them losing efforts. This is the first World Series title for the baseball Giants since 1954, 4 years before the Giants and Dodgers moved out to the West Coast.

Monday night's win snapped the longest World Series drought (56 years) in the National League outside of the Windy City.

Sparky Anderson: 1934-2010

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: Former Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds manager Sparky Anderson has passed away at his Thousand Oaks, CA home on Thursday. With 1331 wins as Tiger's manager, Anderson was the all time leader in wins for Detroit and was at the helm from 1979 through 1995. Anderson also was manager for 'The Big Red Machine' in Cincinnati for their back to back World Series wins in 1975-76 and elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2000.


NHL: The pessimist in me knows that Tim Thomas' white-hot start in net is too good to last, but I didn't think it would be this good to start off with.

Despite allowing more than one goal for the first time this season, the veteran keeper's streak continued through Wednesday night at Buffalo's HSCB Arena. And of course, lots of offense helps as well....and that's exactly what Thomas got.

The Bruins opened up the scoring with a shorthanded goal from Brad Marchand three and a half minutes into the first and was followed up with another shorthanded tally from Patrice Bergeron and an even-strength one from Blake Wheeler to make it a 3-0 game before the end of the 1st.

Michael Ryder made it a 4-0 game about 2 minutes into the 2nd before Buffalo got on the board with a power-play goal from Drew Stafford. Buffalo managed to cut the Bruins lead in half with an even-strength, unassisted Andrej Sekera goal in the third before Milan Lucic tallies an empty-netter for the 5-2 win.

The win brings Boston's record to 7-2-0, one point behind Montreal for first in the Northeast division. The Bruins will travel to Washington DC to take on the Caps on Friday night next.

NBA: You know, I hate to say it, but apparently Kevin Garnett is kind of a dick. Yeah, I know the NBA never had the reputation of being the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen in the first place, but good God, man....

After Tuesday night's 109-86 win at Detroit [between KG and Barney Frank, the Bay State seems to have cornered the market on sore winners this month- NANESB!] the C's travelled back to the Garden to host the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night. The Bucks forced overtime, where Paul Pierce was kept busy with 12 points and breaking the 20,000 career points milestone in Boston's 105-102 OT win. Pierce has 28 points altogether along with making all 11 free throws, getting 5 rebounds on the night and a pivotal steal late in the game.

The Celtics will next host the Chicago Bulls on Friday night- the game will be broadcast on ESPN at 8PM Eastern time.

NFL: Well, Randy Moss is on his third team in less than a month. The Tennessee Titans claimed the WR off of waivers after being cut by the Minnesota Vikings earlier this week. The Vikings acquired Moss from New England in October in exchange for a 3rd round draft pick.

Sports Chowdah Update- Scarin' Haren; Miller Time at Cooperstown; Rays-ing The Prospect of Another No-No

RED SOX: Well, Jon Lester had a gem at SafeCo squandered Saturday and Okajima came in on Sunday and turned a 2-1 lead against the Mariners into a 4-2 deficit, meaning the best Boston could manage against a team that was 20 games out of first place was a split of a 4 game series.

From there, the Sox travelled to Southern California to take on the Angels. Monday night's starter for the Halos was scheduled to be Joel Piñeiro, but the big news from Sunday's trade had a direct impact on Monday's start. After acquiring starter Dan Haren from the Arizona Diamondbacks Sunday, he was announced as the starter for Monday's game against the Red Sox going up against Clay Buchholz.

The Angels got on the board early with a solo homer off of Buccholz by Bobby Abreu in the bottom of the first. The Sox came right back in the top of the second with a leadoff triple by Adrian Beltre, who was immediately brough home by fresh-off-the-DL Victor Martinez on an RBI single. Haren would give up a double to SS Jed Lowrie, but Lowrie and Martinez would be stranded as he worked out of that jam to end the inning.

Not to be outdone, Buchholz worked out of a bases-loaded, nobody out jam in the bottom of the 2nd by getting the next two batters to pop out in the infield and a Erik Aybar flyball to left field.

Big Papi would belt a solo homer with two away in the top of the 3rd to put the Sox up 2-1, and that's the way the score would remain. However, in the top of the 5th, Dan Haren was struck by a Kevin Youkilis line-drive with two out and had to leave to the game. Haren was relieved by Francisco Rodriguez (not that one) and retired the next four batters he faced.

Buccholz would go 7 innings, throw 114 pitches and give up five hits, a walk, seven strikeouts and just the one run off of Abreu. In the top of the 8th, Kevin Youkilis would hit a 1-out single and successfully steal second before David Ortiz would get his 2nd home run ofthe evening to make it 4-1 Red Sox; some insurance that would turn out to be much needed.

Scott Atchison would relieve Buccholz in the 8th, but give up a 2 run homer to Hideki Matsui to make it a one-run game. Not taking any chances, Francona made the decision to bring in Papelbon from the bullpen. Paps rewarded this decision by getting Alberto Callaspo to ground out to end the inning.

The Angels' Mike Kohn would come on in the top of the 9th and log just a single out, instead allowing a walk to Mike Cameron, getting Erc Patterson to pop out to first and giving up a single to Marco Scuatro after a particularly long and tenacious at-bat. This set up a booming 2-RBI double by JD Drew for even more insurance before Rich Thompson would come on and retire the next two batters for Anaheim.

Working with a 6-3 lead, Papelbon came on in the bottom of the 9th and gave up a leadoff single to C Mike Napoli, but would retire the next three batters for his 23rd save of the year.

Boston snaps their 2-game skid Monday night in Orange County by a final of 6-3 with Buccholz getting the win (11-5; 2.71 ERA) and Haren getting hung with the loss in his Angels debut.

Haren appeared to make some post-game comments by his new locker sporting a bandage and saying that his arm was sore, swollen and bruised but otherwise fine. Haren is expected to be re-examined on Tuesday.

Tomorrow night's game will have John Lackey (9-5; 4.36 ERA) facing his former team and batterymate Jared Weaver (9-6; 3.22 ERA)
ELSEWHERE: While the Angels-Red Sox game was getting underway, the fifth no-hitter of the season was wrapping up in St. Petersburg, FL. The Ray's Matt Garza went the distance against Detroit, striking out 6 and walking just one runner in 9 innings to give Tampa Bay it's first no-hitter in franchise history. The Rays had already been on the other end of some no-hitters this season, including Dallas Braden's perfect game on Mother's Day at Oakland. The Tiger's Max Scherzer had a no-hit bid going into the bottom ob the 6th as well, but loaded up the bases on two walks and Carl Crawford being awarded 1st on catcher's interference before giving up a grand-slam to DH Matt Joyce to put the Rays up 4-0.

Tampa Bay would win by the final of 5-0. Graza's successful no-hit bid means the only two teams remaining in MLB that have never thrown a no-hitter are the New York Mets and San Diego Padres.

HALL OF FAME : Former outfielder Andre Dawson, manager Whitey Herzog, Umpire Doug Harvey and current Giants broadcaster John Miller were enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on Sunday. Dawson, who was enshrined as a Montreal Expo (and likely the last player to achieve that) had career batting average of .279 and 438 home runs in his 21 year career. Dawson had this to say in his speech:

“I didn’t play this game with this in mind but I’m living proof that if you love this game, the game will love you back.

San Francisco Giants and ESPN Broadcaster John Miller was awarded the Hall of Fame's Ford C Frick Award at Cooperstown on Sunday as well.