Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Peverly Collapses on Stars Bench, Rushed to Hospital; Bruins Have Fruitful Road Trip In Florida; Buyer Be-Ware, NFL Free Agency Begins

DALLAS STARS- Former Boston Bruins forward Rich Peverley collapsed on the Dallas Stars bench in the first period of Monday night's game against the Columbus Blue Jackets before being rushed to a local hospital with what doctors are calling a 'cardiac event'.

Shortly after Columbus took a 1-0 lead thanks for former Bruin, there was a commotion by the Dallas bench as Stars head coach Lindy Ruff called for medics to tend to the fallen Peverley. There was several moments of confusion among the broadcasters and the crowd as they attempted to identify the downed player and the reason medics were tending to him [I heard the Stars play-by-play live on the radio; the arena was as quiet as a mausoleum after Peverley had collapsed- NANESB!].

After Peverley was rushed to UT Southwestern Hospitals, the officials conferred and it was announced that the game would be suspended with the makeup date to be announced later.

On Wednesday, after the forward briefly addressed the media, it was announced that Peverley would miss the remainder of the season after undergoing a heart procedure this upcoming weekend. When he first arrived in Dallas after the trade with Boston, team doctors were reportedly aware of Peverley's atrial fibrillation- a common heart condition- and gave him the option of a less invasive procedure or surgery that could cost him several months of playing time. After missing the first game of the regular season, Peverley opted for the less invasive procedure and played in 60 consecutive games before complaining of discomfort last week. After missing a game, Peverley played in two more games prior to his Monday night collapse.

OTHER STARS NEWS- Although Dallas is largely in control of their own destiny when it comes to securing one of the remaining Western Conference playoff berths, the Stars were having problems with injuries to their starting players even before Peverly's cardiac event on Monday night. After a pregame ceremony on Saturday night against the Minnesota Wild in which Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach were on hand, the Dallas Stars retired Mike Modano's #9 jersey.

With the game tied at 3-3 with just over six and a half minutes to go in regulation, goalie Kari Lehtonen was knocked out of the game after a collision with Minnesota's Erik Haula in which Lehtonen hit his head on the crossbar of the goal. Fresh off the trade from Florida, former Bruins netminder Tim Thomas came into the game- complete with pads still in Florida Panthers colors- and turned aside all six shots he faced as Erik Cole put Dallas up for good with a breakaway goal with just under 5 minutes to go in regulation, giving Dallas the 4-3 win.

On Monday, it was confirmed that Lehtonen suffered a concussion from the Haula hit, making Tim Thomas the Stars starting goalie within days of his arrival. Between coming in with 6 minutes to go in regulation and Monday night's postponed game after the Peverley scare, Tuesday night marked the first start (and complete game) for Tim Thomas when the Stars travelled to St Louis to take on the Blues. The goalie matchup seemed a little reminiscent of the Northeast Division anytime between 2006 and 2012, with ex-Sabre Ryan Miller getting the start for St Louis.

St Louis got out to a 1-0 lead in the first after Alex Pietrangelo beat Thomas with about 7 minutes to go in the first. With the game tied at 2-2, the contest headed to overtime and Jamie Benn broke the deadlock to give Dallas the OT win with 1:18 to go. Tuesday night's loss was also notable in that it was the Blue's first loss since acquiring Ryan Miller from Buffalo earlier this month.

BOSTON BRUINS- You know it's been a pretty crazy week if I'm giving the Bruins second billing to a team from the Lone Star state on a blog called Not Another New England Sports Blog!

And it's been an eventful week for the Boston Bruins- particularly their 2-0 road trip through Florida over the weekend. After coming from behind to force overtime, the Bruins eventually came out on top against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night after Reilly Smith got the only goal of a 7-round shootout.

On Sunday, the Bruins managed to down the Florida Panthers by a 5-2 final, setting up a key game in Montreal where the Bruins were hoping to get their first win against the Habs this season while continuing their win streak and pulling to within a point of the Penguins.



I'll be honest...Wednesday night's game wasn't everything I thought it would be. It was so much better!

After a scoreless first period, Carl Sodeberg put the Bruins on the board just 93 seconds into the second period. A Patrice Bergeron tally around the halfway point of the period would give Boston a 2-0 lead while Milan Lucic beat Peter Budaj with less than 90 seconds to go in the 2nd to give Boston a 3-0 lead.

There have been instances when such a seemingly commanding lead fosters a sense of complacency which in turn leads to sloppy play and squandering once-considerable leads. That wasn't happening on Wendesday. Just 23 seconds into the 3rd, the most hated man in Montreal- Zdeno Chara- gave Boston an insurmountable 4-0 lead. Although David Desharnais would get a tally for Montreal and ruin Tukka Rask's shutout bid, the Bruins would go on to win by a 4-1 final at the Bell Centre on Wednesday night.

The win is Boston's 6th in a row and puts the Bruins within one point of Pittsburgh for the top spot in the Eastern conference while Montreal goes on to lose their third straight game after coming off a west coast road trip where they went 1-4. Rask turned aside 35 of 36 shots faced while Budaj allowed 4 goals on 32 shots. Neither team scored on the power play tonight, with Boston having two opportunities and Montreal having three.

The Bruins head back to Boston for their first home game since March 6th when they will face off against the Phoenix Coyotes at TD Banknorth Garden. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN and the NHL Network.

NFL- The NFL Free Agency period has begun and already there have been a few significant moves.

Wide receiver Golden Tate has left the defending Superbowl Champion Seattle Seahawks after agreeing to a 5 year, $31 million contract with the Detroit Lions. The deal took place after media reports indicated that Tate would be open to a 'hometown discount' with the Seahawks.

Other departures include both former Cowboys DE DeMarcus Ware and former Patriots cornerback Aquib Talib were signed by the Denver Broncos, the team announced on Wednesday.

No Jackets Required Sports Chowdah Update- Boston College Cruises in Las Cruces; Check Your Jackets- Bruins Need OT to Get Past Columbus

NCAA FOOTBALL- Saturday's matchup between the Boston College Eagles and New Mexico State Aggies was a little unusual on a couple of different levels. For starters, unless it's Notre Dame or one of the Military academies, it's a quite unusual for Boston College to be playing an out of conference game this late in the season.

Also, like the Military academies or Notre Dame, Saturday's opponent was independent- along with the University of Idaho Vandals, the NMSU Aggies football program was abruptly 'orphaned' when the Western Athletic Conference pulled out of football altogether at the end of the 2012 season. This left both Idaho and NMSU without a conference as other WAC members such as Nevada, Fresno State, Hawaii, Utah State and San Jose State had jumped ship to the Mountain West conference and Louisiana Tech to Conference USA in recent years.

The fact that Saturday's game in Las Cruces, NM was officiated by a Sun Belt Conference officiating crew seemed to provide an indicator of the NMSU Aggies eventual new home. Coming into the Veteran's Day weekend game, the Aggies had won exactly one game- a 34-29 over FCS Abilene Christian on Octbober 26th while the Eagles were still giddy from their win over Virginia Tech at Chestnut Hill the week before.

That giddiness and overconfidence led to some sloppy early on in the game, however. After the Boston College defense forged the Aggies to go three and out on their first possession, the Eagle's David Dudeck fumbles the Aggie's punt, giving NMSU the ball at the Eagles' 29. After holding the Aggies on 3rd and 7, NMSU got on the board first with a 43 yard FG to make it 3-0.

Starting on their own 25, the Eagles would manage to tie the score up on their next possession when Nate Freese split the uprights from 51 yards. Boston College would then take the a 6-3 lead on their next possession when Freese connected on a 39 yarder.

The Eagles got their first TD of the day when QB Chase Rettig connected with TE Mike Naples for a 69 yard catch and run late in the first to make it 13-3.

However, the Aggies began chipping away at the Boston College lead with their first possession of the 2nd quarter, which was capped by a 14 yard TD pass from QB Andrew McDonald to WR Austin Franklin to make it a 3 point game at 13-10.

With under 4 minutes to go in the first half, Boston College took a 10 point lead on a 6 yard TD pass from Rettig to WR Harrison Jackson, but a game NMSU offense was able to move the ball 75 yards down the field in less than three minutes and hit paydirt with 30 seconds left in the half thanks to a 6 yard Xavier Hall TD run to once again make it a 3 point lead.

The second half started out looking as though it would be all Boston College with Chase Rettig connecting with WR Alex Amidon for a 30 yard TD pass to make it a 27-17 game. But the Eagles defense would have a hard time bottling up RB Xavier Hall as he ran for 42 yards before the Aggies once again closed to within 3 points thanks to another McDonald TD pass- this time to WR Jerrell Brown.

In the early going of the 4th quarter, Boston College managed to stop the NMSU in the Eagles' 12 yard line and limit the Aggies drive to a game-tying FG. The tie didn't long as Myles Willis returned the Aggies punt 98 yards to give Boston College the lead back, making it a 34-27 contest.

However, NMSU would manage to knot the game back up less than 2 minutes thanks to a 48 yard TD pass from McDonald to Franklin. With 5:33 left in the game, the Aggies special teams managed to pin the Eagles inside their own 3 yard line before the field got a little bit shorter thanks to a 5 yard penalty against NMSU and then an 80 yard TD run from RB Andre Williams to give Boston College the lead for good.

For good measure, Eagles LB Steven Daniels would pick off McDonald at mid-field and once again, Andre Williams would run for the TD to put Boston College up by a 48-34.

Although it was too close to comfort for awhile, Boston College goes on to win by a 48-34 final. This is Boston College's first road win since November 25th, 2011 when the Eagles beat Miami 24-17. Chase Rettig went 17 for 25 with 230 yards and 3 TD passes while Andre Williams had 30 carries for 295 yards- a BC record- as well as two late, pivotal touchdowns in the 4th quarter to put the Eagles up for good.

The remainder of the Eagles schedule has them playing against ACC teams, hosting the NC State Wolfpack at Chestnut Hill on Saturday Nov 16th. The season wraps up on Nov 30th at Syracuse's Carrier Dome against the Orangemen- who joined the ACC this season after jumping ship from the Big East last season.

NFL- No Patriots last week, but they'll come out of the bye week for their only Monday night game of the season- a road game against the 6-3 Carolina Panthers slated to kick off at 8:40 ET on ESPN.


NHL- Although it took overtime on Thursday night, the Bruins kept a 4-game winning streak going thanks to an unassisted Milan Lucic tally in OT against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Both teams were shut out on the power play with Boston going 0-1 and Columbus going 0-4. Tukka Rask had the night off and former Coyotes netminder Chad Johnson was between the pipes for the B's, stopping 32 of 34 shots faced while Sergei Bobrovsky turned aside 28 of the 31 shots he faced.

The Bruins will look to continue their winning streak against the Ottawa Senators on Friday night from the Scotiabank Centre.

Late Drama Sports Chowdah Update- Big Papi Adds to His October Legend With Clutch Grand Slam; Brady Being Brady- Patriots Top Undefeated Saints In Final Seconds; Bruins Shed Jackets

Yowza! What a Sunday! Looked as though I'd be trying to sugar-coat two high-profile, nationally televised New England losses today, but I don't mind being wrong. Turned out today was EXACTLY the kind of day I had longed to blog about when I started up NANESB! four years ago. Instead of writing for the umpteenth time how much I LOVE this time of year, I'll do my best to let Sunday's events speak for themselves.

Charlie Riedel- AP

RED SOX- On Saturday, the ALCS opened up with the AL Central champions holding the Red Sox to zero hits through 8⅓ innings in Game 1. Detroit starter Anibal Sanchez went 6 innings, striking out 12 and walking 6 batters before the bullpen took over with a 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI single by Jhonny Peralta off of Jon Lester. Daniel Nava broke up the Tiger's no-hit bid with one away in the bottom of the 9th and the Red Sox put pinch-runner Quentin Berry, who stole second with two away to give Boston a runner in scoring position, but after a lengthy battle between Tigers closer and Red Sox rookie Xander Bogarts, the Boston shortstop flew out to end the game and give Detroit the 1-0 win.

Sunday's Game was starting to look like more of the same as Tigers starter Max Scherzer picked up where Sanchez and the Detroit bullpen had left off. This was the pitching matchup alot of baseball fans wanted earlier in the regular season with Scherzer going up against Clay Buchholz. The Tigers got out to an early 1-0 lead thanks to an RBI single off the bat of Alex Avila.

If you thought a 1-0 lead was insurmountable while being no-hit, then imagine how daunting a 5-0 lead would be. The Red Sox didn't have to imagine as Miguel Cabrera added to Detroit's lead in the top of the 6th with a 1-out solo homer, followed by a Prince Fielder double, an RBI from Victor Martinez and a 2 run homer from Aivla to give the Tigers a seemingly insurmountable 5-0 lead- all before Boston got their first hit of the night.

Shane Victorino broke up the Scherzer's no-hit bid with two away in the bottom of the 6th and one batter later, Dustin Pedroia ended the shutout with an RBI wall ball double that brought Victorino home before Big Papi struck out to end the inning.

After Buchholz allowed the four runs in the 6th, the Red Sox bullpen did a good job of keeping the Tigers hitless. Still, the Red Sox found themselves six outs away from heading to Detroit down 0-2 and facing a resurgent Justin Verlander in Game 3. After Drew led off the inning with a groundout, Will Middlebrooks doubled and Ellsbury followed that up with a walk. Victorino struck out swinging, but Pedroia singled to load up the bases with 2 away.

With David Ortiz coming to the plate, Tigers manager decided to go to closer Joaquin Benoit for a four out save. On the very first pitch Ortiz saw from Benoit, this happened:



Tigers outfielder came close to running Big Papi's grand slam down, but he hit the bullpen wall while running full tilt, tumbling into the Red Sox bullpen and needed a moment to shake it off. After the Detroit starters and bullpen notched more than 30 strikeouts against Boston hitters in the first two games of the ALCS, David Ortiz tied the game with one swing of his bat to make it a 5-5 contest.

Koji Uehara came on in the top of the 9th and retired the Tigers batters in order, bringing on reliever Rick Porcello. Johnny Gomes led off with an infield single and advanced to second when former teammate Jose Iglesias' throw got by Prince Fielder. Meanwhile, Jarrod Saltalamacchia battled with Porcello, staying alive after Prince Fielder attempted to catch a foul ball in the seats on the first base side only to have it clang off his glove.

A wild pitch from Porcello allowed Gomes to head to third and after working the count to 3-1, Saltalamacchia ended the ballgame in dramatic fashion.



Saltalamacchia's RBI single drives in the winning run and ties the series up at 1-1. Koji Uehara gets the win and Porcello is hung with the loss. The series resumes at Detroit's Comerica Park on Tuesday night- John Lackey is scheduled to get the start against Justin Verlander. First pitch is scheduled for 4:07 ET on Tuesday and the game will be televised on ESPN.

PATRIOTS- Fenway Park wasn't the only Massachusetts venue that was home to some late heroics.

New England was coming off of their first loss of the season with the rather daunting task of taking on the undefeated New Orleans Saints at Foxboro. Thanks to a Gostkowski FG and two Stevan Ridley rushing TDs, the Patriots got out to a 17-7 lead in the first half of Sunday's game. But the Saints started to chip away in the 3rd quarter, tying the game at 17-17 on their second possession of the second half. The Pats managed to briefly re-take the lead thanks to a 54 yard Gostkowski FG with 1:36 to go in the 4th.

Drew Brees was then picked off by Kyle Arrington on the Saints first possession of the 4th quarter. The Patriots would get as far as the New Orleans 4 yard line but ultimately have to settle for a FG to make it 23-17.

The Saints then got the ball back and took 5 minutes off the clock with an 81 yard scoring drive that had Saints QB Drew Brees hit paydirt on 3rd and 20 from the Patriots 34 yard line with three and a half to go in regulation. The Patriots would get the ball back but promptly turn it over on 4th and 6 after an incomplete pass from Brady. The Saints then added to their lead to make it 27-23 thanks to a 39 yard Garrett Hartley FG with 2:24 left in the game.

With 2:16 to go, the Patriots would get the ball back on their own 20, but would be picked off on a long pass to the Saints 30. All New Orleans needed was a first down to seal the ballgame, but ended up going three and out. With a rapidly emptying Gillette Stadium, New England got the ball back with 1:13 to go and nothing less than a TD would do it for the Patriots. Yet Brady put together an improbable drive- including two big completions to WR Austin Collie. With no timeouts and the two minute warning long gone, Brady spiked the ball after a big 4th and 4 completion to Collie, setting up 2nd and 10 at the Saints 17 yard line. Theoretically, that would give Brady time for two attempts, but all he'd need is one after finding Kenbrell Thompkins in the corner of the end zone with 5 seconds left on the clock.

What was left of the crowd went wild and the PAT made it a 30-27 Patriots lead with less than 5 seconds left. New England still needed to kick off- Darren Sproles fielded the punt but fumbled. Even though New Orleans recovered, it was a moot point as time expired.

One week after their disappointing loss to Cincinnati, New England rallies late to beat the undefeated Saints on Sunday in what would be Act 1 of a fast-paced Sunday in which New England prevailed late.

Next Sunday, the Pats will travel to the Meadowlands to take on the Jets. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 PM ET and the game will be televised on CBS.

Interestingly, the New Orleans loss whittles down the total number of undefeated teams in the NFL to two- both of them in the AFC West; the Denver Broncos and Kansas City Chiefs.

BOSTON BRUINS- The Bruins rallied late in Ohio's capital on Sunday afternoon after falling behind 1-0 to the Blue Jackets. Boston would score three unanswered goals starting with Chris Kelly in the 2nd followed by Loui Eriksson less than a minute into the 3rd and an empty netter from Milan Lucic with less than 30 seconds to go in the 3rd.

Just because the Red Sox and Tigers have Monday off for a travel day doesn't mean there's no Detroit vs Boston action on Monday. For the second time this young season, the Bruins will host the Detroit Red Wings at TD Banknorth Garden. The puck for this Original 6 matchup drops at 1:00 PM on Monday and the game will be televised on NESN and the NHL Network for viewers in Canada.

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- The Devil Padres and Mr Webster; Tyler Seguin's seeing Stars as Iginla saga comes Full Circle in the Hub

AP Photo/Winslow Townson

RED SOX- The Red Sox wrapped up their interleague series with San Diego with a 4th of July day game on Thursday. Having won the first two, Boston was looking for the sweep against the Padres and things were looking good early when Ellsbury and Victorino opened up the bottom half of the first with back to back base hits. Pedroia brought them home with a 2-RBI double to left, but Big Papi grounded out and Mike Napoli hit into a double play to end the early threat.

Brandon Snyder added to Boston's lead with 1-out a solo homer in the bottom of the second. Rookie Red Sox starter Allen Webster struggled mightily in the top of the third after starting off with a walk to former teammate Pedro Ciriaco, hitting Logan Forsyth with a pitch followed by a single to Will Venable. However, he managed to get out of the jam with two fly balls- which included a Chase Headly sac fly to bring home the Padres' first run of the game- and ended the inning by getting DH Mark Kotsay to ground out.

Webster would have a much easier 4th inning, getting the first two batters he faced to fly out before getting ciriaco to ground out to short. In the bottom half of the frame, Mike Napoli led off the inning with a single before Gomes and Snyder lined out. Ryan Lavarnway singled with two away and that brought up Iglesias who belted a long fly ball that ultimately ended up rattling around the right field corner by the Pesky Pole and was ruled a ground rule double. Iglesias and the runners on base initially thought that was a triple and both Lavarnway and Napoli crossed the plate, but after the umps conferred, it was ruled a ground-rule double and one of the runs was taken off the board with Iglesias at second and Lavarnway at third instead of in the dugout, making it 4-1 before Victorino flied out to end the inning.

San Diego's Jesus Guzman smacked a two out RBI single to cut the Red Sox lead in half in the top of the fifth. In the bottom of the frame, the Red Sox chased Stults off the bump and looked as though they were poised to chase themselves out of a scoring opportunity. Pedroia led off the inning with a single, and after getting Big Papi to fly out to center the Padres pulled Stults for reliever Tyson Ross. Pedroia was immediately gunned down after attempting to steal second to make it two out and nobody on for the Sox in a 2-run ballgame, but Napoli would hit a booming fly ball that would one hop off the wall in deep center and ricochet into the Red Sox bullpen for a ground rule double. Napoli would then come home on Gomes' single to make it 5-2 before Snyder struck out to end the inning.

In the top of the 6th, Webster would allow a 1-out single before getting Ciriaco to ground into a double play and end the inning. The Red Sox would then chase Ross off the mound with a 2-out bases loaded single from Big Papi to make it 7-2 Boston, and the Sox would add to that with a leadoff solo homer from Jacoby Ellsbury in the top of the 8th inning to go on and win by an 8-2 final.

Webster would go six complete innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits while walking four and striking out four in his first big league win. Dustin Pedroia went 2-4 with two RBI's while Ellsbury and Snyder each had solo homers for the Sox. Jesus Guzman led San Diego's bats by going 3-3 with an RBI. The Boston win- coupled with a Pittsburgh Pirates loss on the 4th of July- gives the Red Sox a record of 54-34, best in the majors. The Independence Day win is also Boston's 8th win in their last nine games.

While the Padres move on to the nation's capital to play the Nationals, the Red Sox will travel to the west coast for a weekend series against the Angels in Orange County. Felix Doubront [4-3; 4.22 ERA] is scheduled to get the start against the Halo's CJ Wilson [8-5; 3.63 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 10:05 ET, 7:05 PT and the game will be televised on NESN.

BOSTON BRUINS- The Bruins opened up the first day of what was expected to be a busy free agency period by sending Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverly and prospect Ryan Button to Dallas for Loui Eriksson and prospects Joe Morrow, Reilly Smith and Matt Fraser.

The Bruins have also lost Nathan Horton to free agency after the Columbus Blue Jackets signed the 6"2' RW to a 7 year deal worth more than $37 million. Horton still requires some shoulder surgery this offseason, and the earliest he's expected to return would be December.

And in a continuation of the Jarome Iginla saga, the Bruins reached a one year $7 million deal with the RW. Reports from the regular season had Iginla going to Boston at the trade deadline, but the Calgary winger reportedly invoked his contract's no-trade clause and opted to go to Pittsburgh at the last moment. The snub took on even greater significance when the Bruins and Penguins met in the Eastern Conference finals- Milan Lucic was quoted as saying Iginla's snub 'lit a fire' under the Bruins in their four game sweep of the Pens.

Sports Chowdah Fit For A King- Mr. Gronkowski Goes To Washington; Royal Flush- Kings Quickly Find Themselves Blanked; O Romeo, O Romeo; MVP on PEDs?

For awhile, the cheerleaders for the 4-8 Redskins had something to cheer about in Sunday's close contest with the New England Patriots. Scott Cunningham/Getty Images

NFL: The New England patriots managed to win their 5th game in a row on Sunday, holding off the Washington Redskins late in the 4th quarter at FedEx field in Landover, MD.

New England would take a 34-27 lead late in the 3rd on a Brady to Welker TD catch and run. After Redskins CB Josh Wilson picked off Brady in the end zone late in the 4th, the Redskins started out on their own 20 for their final possession, managing to march down inside Patriots 10 yard line on 10 plays in the span of 4 and a half minutes. However, just when the Redskins looked like they were going to punch it in the tie the contest up at 34-34, Washington QB Rex Grossman was picked off by LB Jerod Mayo with 22 seconds remaining in the 4th quarter, bringing Brady and the offense out to take a knee and preserve the 34-27 win.

Brady went 22-37 with 357 yards, 3 TDs and the late pick while the Redskins' Grossman was 19-32 with 2 TDs and an interception.


Rob Gronkowski had 6 catches for 160 yards and 2 TDs while Wes Welker caught 7 for 86 yards and 1 TD. Perhaps somewhat alarmingly, the Patriots allowed 463 total yards to the NFC East cellar-dwelling Redskins on Sunday, an clear indication they need to start getting their proverbial shit together ahead of Sunday's game at Mile High in Denver.


In a development that has no doubt shifted attention from why exactly the Bruins benched Tyler Seguin in Winnipeg last week, Tom Brady and offensive coordinator got into a shouting match over the late pick, although both parties insist that's behind them and they're focused on the Denver game coming up this weekend during separate press conference earlier this week.

We're at the flex-schedule portion of the NFL season, where they can slot a Sunday afternoon game into the Sunday Night Football slot on NBC if they feel the matchup would've been a bigger draw. With that in mind, I'm a little surprised that the Patriots and Broncos weren't bumped up to the prime-time Sunday night matchup [NBC had opted to stick with the originally scheduled Chargers vs Ravens game, which while decent, isn't as compelling as Brady and Tebow going head-to-head for the 1st time- even if you aren't a Broncos or Pats fan- NANESB!].

The game will kick off at 4:15 PM ET, 1:15 PM Pacific on CBS.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: With the Broncos come-from-behind performance against the Chicago Bears, I'm honestly a little surprised there isn't more buzz nationwide for this upcoming New England/Denver game.

After taking a 10-0 lead early in the 4th quarter thanks to a 57 yard Robbie Gould FG, the Bears would then go on to give up a TD and a 59-yard Matt Prater FG in the last two minutes and eight seconds of regulation to knot the contest up at 10-10 and force OT. Although the Bears would get the ball first in the OT, RB Marion Barber would fumble on the Broncos 38 yard line.

QB Tim Tebow would move the ball as far as the bears 34 yard line before kicker Matt Prater would split the uprights with a 51 yard FG to give Denver the 13-10 win in OT, good for their 6th straight and the AFC West lead.

KANSAS CITY: Former Patriots defensive coordinator and Cleveland Brown head coach Romeo Crennell has been named interim head coach of the Kansas City after the Chiefs fired head coach Todd Haley. Crennell had been the Chiefs defensive coordinator this season.
AP Photo
NCAA FOOTBALL: With nothing on the line other than bragging rights or pride, the NCAA regular season wrapped up on Saturday with the 112th Army-Navy game. Typically the teams meet in Philadelphia, but this season the game was played at FedEx Field in Landover, MD.

This year's game had a much more brisk pace to it and both offenses seemed to click, unlike in recent years where it was either a lopsided blowout or a defensive slog that could decided by a pivotal turnover or goal-line stand. Although Navy got out to a 14-0 lead before Army got on the board thanks to a 34 yard TD run by Black Knights QB Trent Steelman with 4 and a half minutes to go before the half before tying the contest up at 14-14 with 55 seconds to go in the half.

However, after tying the contest up in the 3rd at 21-21, Navy began to pull away with a pair of FG's in the 4th that were the difference makers. Although much closer than the previous couple of Army-Navy games, the end result is still the same. Navy goes on to win the Army-Navy game for the 10th year in a row by a final of 27-21. A side note of interest is that this is the last game before Navy QB Alexander Teich goes on to Navy SEAL training.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAAF: Coming off an impressive 5-game win streak, including upending the #5 Oklahoma Sooners, Baylor Bears QB Robert Griffin III was awarded the Heisman trophy this weekend. Griffin beat out early favorite Andrew Luck from Stanford for the honor. The 6ft 2 Junior had 3,998 yards and 36 TDs for the Bears this season, good enough for a 9-3 record and an invite to the Alamo Bowl where they will face the Washington Huskies on 12/29.

FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP SUBDIVISION: Maine's Warren Smith threw for 2 TDs and 229 yards on Saturday against Georgia Southern in Statesboro, GA, but was picked off in the Black Bears 35-23 loss to Georgia Southern in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.

This sets up a semifinal where Georgia Southern faces North Dakota State while Sam Houston State will face Montana to see who advances to the FCS title game in Frisco, TX on January 7th.

NHL: After snapping a 2-game losing streak in Columbus in a contest that saw Zdeno Chara leave with a lower body injury and Claude Julien pull Thomas for Rask after falling behind 2-0, the Bruins managed to go on and win (thanks in no small part to Joe Corvo) by a 5-3 final before returning to the garden to face the Los Angeles Kings Tuesday night.

The Kings, with issues of their own, had fired head coach Terry Murray and were coming into Boston riding a 4 game losing streak.

Tuesday night's game was mostly Tukka Rask and Brad Marchand. Rich Peverly got the B's on the board in the 1st, beating Kings goali Jonathan Quick with 6:32 to go in the opening period before Marchand would thoughtfully add two more of his own- one in the 2nd and one in the 3rd- while Tukka Rask would stop all 41 shots he faced. Neither team converted on the power play and Quick would allow in 3 goals on 22 shots faced on the night.

So after losing two in a row, the Bruins have a modest 2-game win streak that they'll hoping they can add on to when they hit the road in Ottawa on Wednesday night.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: Zdeno Chara is listed as day-to-day and may be out until Christmas with some sort of left knee injury. He's reportedly not travelling with the team to Ottawa, but is listed as day-to-day.

Center Zach Hammill was called up from the Providence Bruins on an emergency basis and was put into the 4th line, netting an assist in Tuesday night's shutout of LA.

OTHER NHL NEWS: Rival Canadian Telecom providers Bell [TSX: BCE/NYSE: BCE] and Rogers Communications [TSX: RCI-A' RCI-B/NYSE: RCI] have paired up to purchase a 75% stake in the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Ontario Teachers’ Pension Fund have sold their majority stake in Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment to Rogers Sportsnet and Bell Canada for a whopping $1.3 billion. The partnership is an awkward one as Bell and Rogers are competitors in communications. Bell also owns a small part of the Montreal Canadiens on top of it all.

The recent lack of activity from Wayne Gretzky's loquacious (and hot) daughter's twitter account led to speculation that the Great One was forming a group to purchase the OTPPF's stake of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment and was trying to pre-empt any social-media meltdowns that would end up reflecting poorly on #99.

PITTSBURGH: Penguins star Center Sidney Crosby will reportedly miss additional time due to what's described as 'concussion-like symptoms'. Crosby hasn't seen ice-time since last weeks 3-1 home loss to the Bruins and reports are circulating that he may be out indefinitely.

NCAA HOOPS: With 9.4 seconds left to go in Saturday's #8Xavier/Cincinnati game, a melee followed when Xavier senior guard Tu Halloway taunted the Cincinnati bench. That led to a bench clearing brawl in which players from both teams punched, kicked, elbowed and stomped each other, some of them coming away with open gashes on their faces.

Each team has suspended 4 players and some are questioning the future of the crosstown rivalry.

SYRACUSE: A New York state prosecutor who interviewed two of assistant coach Bernie Fine's accusers says he found the men to be credible, but no action could be taken because the statute of limitations had passed. Two former ballboys for the Orangemen have accused Fine of molelsting them over an ongoing period and have recently filed suit against the University

MLB: National League MVP Ryan Braun has tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and could face a fine and 50-game suspension if the initial findings are upheld, ESPN reports.

Braun is disputing the findings through arbitration and a spokesman said that 'Highly unusual cirumstances' surrounding his case will eventually prove his innocence.

Sports Chowdah Update for 11/18- B's Smoking Jackets in Shootout; Jets Can't Buck Downward Spriral Against Broncos; Got Woody? Oklahoma State Doesn't

NHL: After a frenzied 4-3 win over the New Jersey Devils earlier this week, the Bruins were set to continue their torrid November by closing out their homestand with a home game against the struggling Columbus Blue Jackets.

This one turned out to be a pretty light-scoring affair, with a scoreless first period. Early in the 2nd period, Blue Jackets C Derek MacKenzie got Columbus on the board with a power-play goal while a little over 2 minuets later, Adam McQuaid got one past Curtis Sanford on an even strength goal to make it 1-1.

Of course, a scoreless 3rd period means overtime, and the scoreless overtime means a shootout! Tukka Rask stopped two out of three shots faced while Sanford allowed goals from David Krejci and Rich Peverly. Rask made the game clinching save on a shot from the Jackets' Antoine Vermette to end the shootout and send Boston to its 7th consecutive win, sweeping the 5 game homestand.

Rask had 30 saves on 31 shots faced while Columbus' Sanford stopped 26 of 27 faced. The Bruins had only one power play opportunity which they didn't capitalize on, while the Jackets went 1 for 2 with the man advantage. While the Bruins had won an earlier shootout on Oct. 15th at Chicago, this is the first shootout win for Tukka Rask on the season.

The defending Stanley Cup Champions (who are starting to play like it) will next travel to Long Island where they will take on the 5-8-3 New York Islanders on Saturday Night. The puck drops at 7PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: Quebec's director of criminal prosecutions announced that they had declined to pursue charges against Boston Bruins captain Zdneo Chara over a March 2011 on-ice hit against Montreal's Max Pacioretty that sent him into stanchion and left him with two fractured vertebrae.

Chara had received a game misconduct penalty, but no further sanction from the NHL in the last 8 months since the hit.

NFL: Last week's Thursday night all-AFC West game was of some interest simply because it was the first Thursday night game since the season opener between the Packers and the Saints at Lambeau Field[for some reason, I also dug the ad that showed a Jets fan making his way to his favorite watering hole after being crowded and jostled on a subway car while (presumably) thousands of miles away, a Broncos fan was finishing up at a ranch and making HIS way through the a remote, rutted high plains dirt road in an old Suburban before arriving at his respective tavern (which appeared to be the only structure around for miles) to watch the same game as the Jets fan- NANESB!].

As a New England fan, this week's Thursday night game was of some interest because it featured the Denver Broncos taking on the Patriot's next closest division rival, the New York Jets. The game from Sports Authority Field at Mile High got off to a slow start, with each team trading field goals and heading into the half tied at 3-3.

The Jets would then come out and score a TD on their first possession of the 2nd half to take a 10-3 lead. However, the Broncos would come right back to tie things up at 10-10 after Broncos CB Andre Goodman intercepted a Mark Sanchez pass and returned it 26 yards for the pick-6. The Jets would re-take the lead early in the 4th quarter after a 45 yard Nick Folk FG attempt was good to make things 13-10. With 5:54 remaining in regulation, the Broncos got the ball back on their own 4 yard line, starting QB Tim Tebow ended up calling his number plenty, with five carries for 37 yards (as well as a pass to Dante Rosario and a run by Lance Ball) to set up 3rd and 4 from the Jets 20 yard line with a minute and 6 seconds remaining in the game, setting up this:

With that, the Broncos took the late 17-13 lead over the Jets. Mark Sanchez would get the ball out as far as the Denver 44 yard line before the clock ran out.

The Broncos win this one by a final of 17-14, knocking the Jets down to 3rd place in the AFC East. The Patriots will close out week 11 with a Monday night game against the Kansas City Chiefs from Foxborough, MA.



NCAA HOOPS: Duke Blue Devils head coach Mike Krzyzewski this week surpassed his mentor and former Army head coach Bob Knight to become the winningest Division I Men's Basketball coach of all time.

'Coach K' secured career coaching win #903 this week when Duke University beat Michigan State by a 74-69 final at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. Krzyzewski has been Duke's head coach since 1980, leading them to four NCAA titles.

OKLAHOMA STATE: Oklahoma State women's basketball head coach Kurt Budke and assistant coach Miranda Serna were killed in a plane crash on a recruiting trip to Arkansas. The single-engine plane was owned and piloted by Bransetter- he and his wife were also killed in the plane crash.

Budke and Serna had been with Oklahoma State since 2005. The NTSB is investigating the cause of the crash.

SYRACUSE: Just weeks after the Penn State child molestation scandal shocked the college sports world, a former Syracuse Orangemen ballboy is accusing assistant coach Bernie Fine of molesting him and his stepbrother over a span of several years starting in 1984.

Bobby Davis and Mike Lange allege that they were molested by Fine at Syracuse practice facilities and on road trips. Fine denies the charges by the two men, who are now 39 and 45 respectively.

The Syracuse chancellor said that they were contacted in 2005 about allegations he had previously reported to police regarding Fine. The University claims that it conducted it's own internal investigation and that people the accuser said would support his claims denied any knowledge of wrongdoing on Fine's part. Syracuse police declined to pursue the case because the statute of limitations had expired.

NCAA FOOTBALL: A little like the NFL, although most of the action is typically supposed to take place over the weekend, we were treated to some pretty good televised games throughout the week.

BIG 12: Undoubtedly the biggest shock from this week's slate of weeknight games came on Friday Night with Iowa State upending the Oklahoma State Cowboys bid for a perfect season before the December 3rd Bedlam game against the Sooners.

The game took place in Ames, IA and had the Cyclones trailing 17-7 at the half, only to fall even further behind after the Cowboys scored on their first possession of the 2nd half to make it 24-7. From there, however, the Cyclones would go on to score 17 unanswered points, tying the contest up at 24-24 with 6 minutes left in the 4th on a 7 yard Jared Barnett pass to Albert Gary for the game-tying TD, forcing overtime.

For the first OT, the Cyclones and Cowboys traded TDs, while Oklahoma State's Brandon Weeden was picked off to start off the 2nd OT. With the short field, Iowa State's backup RB Jeff Woody rushed for the game-winning TD to give the underdog Cyclones the 37-31 win against #2 (and previously undefeated) Oklahoma State.

Depending on what happens to the #5 Sooners, who travel to #25 Baylor this weekend, the December 3rd Bedlam game could very well determine the Big 12 title.

ACC: After falling behind early to the North Carolina Tarheels, #9 Virginia Tech managed to put up 24 points in the 2nd and 3rd quarter before having to hold off a late rally from the Tarheels in the 4th.

The Tarheels would score 2 TDs in the 4th, including a Bryn Renner pass to WR Erik Highsmith. After scoring a TD to make it a 24-21 game, the Tarheels attempted an onside kick that they did recover, but it didn't travel the required 10 yards, so Virginia Tech got the ball back and pretty much ran out the clock.

The win, coupled with a Virginia loss to #23 Florida State this weekend, would give the Hokies the ACC Coastal Division title.

MAC: Pretty good game on Tuesday night between Ball State and Northern Illinois. The NIU Huskies fell behind early by a 14-0 margin, but were able to come back and win by a 41-38 final. Meanwhile, the Ohio Bobcats got by the Bowling Green Red Falcons on a Field Goal as time expired to win by a 29-28 final. Both the Bobcats and Huskies are sporting identical 8-3 records, although NIU has the better in-conference record of 5-1.

PENN STATE: Another curious wrinkle in the Penn State child molestation scandal surfaced when former Nittany Lions head coach Joe Paterno transferred full ownership of his home to his wife for $1 months before the allegations of former coordinator Jerry Sandusky molesting young boys at Penn State facilites and elsewhere.

Some observers interpret this as Paterno attempting to shield himself from civil suits stemming from Sandusky's actions. However, since Paterno is also well into his 80s and this could've been seen as a fairly benign manuever as part of an estate tax shelter of some sort were it not for the timing.

Paterno's son Scott also announced on Friday that the 84 year old former Penn State coach was also diagnosed with treatable lung cancer.