Another VA Whistleblower Comes Forward- This Time in Florida

As more and more VA Centers throughout the country find themselves coming under scrutiny for mismanagement and intentionally delaying and withholding treatment from veterans, another whistleblower has come forward.

A detective in the VA's police department [yes- the VA has its own police department- NANESB!] has come forward with allegations of abuse and drug dealing on the grounds of the Miami Veterans Affairs center.

Fiore, a criminal investigator for the VA police department in South Florida, contacted CBS4 News hoping to shed light on what he considers a culture of cover-ups and bureaucratic neglect. Among his charges: Drug dealing on the hospital grounds is a daily occurrence.

“Anything from your standard prescription drugs like OxyContin, Vicodin, Percocet, and of course marijuana, cocaine, heroin, I’ve come across them all,” he explained.

Even inside the hospital, he says he was stopped from doing his job – investigating reports of missing drugs from the VA pharmacy. When the amount of a particular drug inside the pharmacy doesn’t match the amount that the pharmacy is supposed to have, a report, known as a “discrepancy report” is generated. Normally it was his job to investigate the reports to determine if they were the result of harmless mistakes or criminal activity. But all that changed, he said, about two years ago.

“I was instructed that I was to stop conducting investigations pertaining to controlled substance discrepancies,” he recalled.

He said he was personally told to stop investigating them by the hospital’s chief of staff, Dr. Vincent DeGennaro.

“I have no idea why,” he said. “He’s the chief of staff he doesn’t have to tell me why.”

Referring to drug dealing on the hospital grounds, Fiore said, “It’s been a problem for a while, for a very long while.” But administrators refuse to address it.

Fiore said the dealing usually takes place near the front entrance to the hospital, where patients and other gather to smoke. Patients will sometimes sell portions of the prescriptions they just filled. Other individuals will bring illegal drugs onto the grounds to sell. He said he has seen individuals in the drug treatment program time their smoke breaks so they can do downstairs and meet their dealers.

The VA police, who are all sworn federal law enforcement officers, can do little to stop it. The handful of VA police officers who patrol the hospital grounds are easy to spot since they are always in uniform and are well-known to patients.

“The patients know us, they see us every day,” Fiore said. “So I had brought up a plan to bring in somebody from a different facility where these patients don’t know them and basically go undercover into this [drug rehab] program or into this area at least and try to give us some good leads, so we can try to eliminate or reduce the amount of drugs that are coming in there.”

He said it wasn’t simply a matter of trying to make arrests. He said his goal was “to protect the patients.”

Fiore said he even found someone with undercover experience who was ready to do it. He said he presented his plans to his superiors, but never heard back from them.

“I’m still waiting,” he said. “And it’s been a couple of years now.”

Fiore said another reason drug dealing became a problem was the lack of working surveillance cameras inside and around the hospital. The lack of security cameras was an issue the Inspector General raised in its report earlier this year into Cutter’s death. They said the cameras had not been working for at least six months prior to Cutter’s overdose.

In fact, Fiore said, the cameras have not worked for at least four years. In 2010 he was assigned the responsibility of conducting a “vulnerability assessment” of the VA facilities in South Florida. He noted the problem with the cameras back then. As a result of his report, he said the Miami VA was allocated money to improve security. He said he believes the amount was somewhere between $2.5 million and $3.5 million.

But he doesn’t know what happened to the money.

“I can tell you it wasn’t spent on cameras or any of the other recommendations that were made in that assessment,” he said, “because they still have yet to be corrected.”

Fiore said that he's also seen marks and bruises on elderly patients in the VA Center that are consistent with abuse- something he claims the hospital prefers to deal with administratively rather than as a criminal matter. There is also the matter of theft of items ranging from computers to medical equipment inside the facility.

A four year veteran of the Marine Corps, Fiore reportedly came forward after the recent death of one of the VA Center's patients- a 27 year old Operation Iraqi Freedom veteran named Nicholas Cutter who was being treated at the VA drug rehab center. Cutter died from a cocaine overdose inside the center, but Fiore wasn't told about the circumstances behind Cutter's death until two days after the fact. Fiore said that although drug overdoses are to be investigated as a criminal matter, materiel from Cutter's room had already been cleaned out despite the fact that it was supposed to be treated as a crime scene.

Meanwhile, President Obama gave a terse press conference from the White House this week in which he claimed he didn't know about the myriad VA Scandals until reading media reports about it this month. Obama then expressed outrage before defending VA Secretary Shinseki's tenure and flying off to a $35,000 per plate fundraiser for Senator Dick Durbin on Friday.

Happy National Pin Up Day From Not Another New England Sports Blog!

While some people mark April 22nd down as Earth Day on their calendars, I always thought the attention paid to a holiday whose founding father was a murderous hippie and encourages stifling economic growth in favor of some touchey-feeley platitudes about Mother Earth would be better spent on some sort of observance of National Pin-Up Day.

National Pin-Up Day would be a bit like President's Day in that the holiday doesn't honor just one person. Much like President's Day is meant to coincide with Abraham Lincoln and George Washington's respective birthdays, April 22nd would be an ideal date for National Pin-Up Day since it falls on the late Bettie Page's birthday and is also within a few days of blonde bombshell Jayne Mansfield's date of birth [Just think of all the crazy blowout prices auto dealers could have in honor of Pin-Up Day weekend- NANESB!].

Astute readers of this blog will notice that this statuesque camera-wielding blonde is not quite as busty as Jayne Mansfield, yet too fair-headed to be the infamous Bettie Page. The tall, leggy blonde is actually none other than model-turned-photographer Bunny Yeager. Born Linnea Elanor Yeager in the Pittsburgh area in 1930, Yeager moved to Miami and became a sought-after model in the early 1950s.

Thinking ahead to a career after modeling, Yeager began taking photography courses. On her first attempt, some pictures Yeager shot of model friend Maria Stinger were accepted by a men's magazine.

As it turned out, Stinger was just the beginning. In 1954, Yeager first met Bettie Page- who was already known as one of the less inhibited models for Irving Klaw's New York-based Movie Star News- and the two would collaborate on what would become some iconic photo shoots despite Yeager being financially strapped and barely able to afford Page's services as a model at the time.

The sensual Tennessee brunette was photographed by Yeager posing with live [but most likely sedated- NANESB!] cheetahs in a leopard-print bikini at a Boca Raton, FL safari park. Another shoot took place at Miami's Funland amusement park with a bikini-clad Page posing in bumper cars, on the merry go round or in front of concession stands. The Funland and Safari park photos shot by Yeager show a rapport between photographer and model that is hard to duplicate. Yeager must've knew she had something special going in her work with Bettie Page since she also had the foresight to take a number of behind-the-scenes pictures of her and Page at the safari park.

Page wasn't the only famous client that Yeager worked with Swiss model and actress Ursula Andress- the original Bond Girl- for promotional photography and artwork for 1962's Dr. No, the first big screen adaptation of Ian Fleming's James Bond. Andress later remarked that she owed her career to the white bikini she wore in the movie and modeled for Yeager.

At age 84, Yeager is still alive and well and living in Miami. As recently as a year ago, Yeager expressed a passing interest in photographing child-actress-turned-train-wreck Lindsay Lohan [if anyone could pull that off, I bet it would be Yeager- NANESB!]. In 2011, the Schuster galleries of Miami and Berlin became the official representative for Yeager's photographic works and has hosted a number of exhibits featureing her work with Bettie Page and others.

GOP Makes Gains in Florida, California Special Elections

In a race that was touted as the first electoral challenge to President Obama's signature healthcare law since it's been implemented, Democrat and former Florida gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink lost to Republican attorney David Jolly in a special election to fill the congressional seat in Florida's 13th Congressional district that was left vacant by the death of longtime GOP incumbent Bill Young.

Although 0bamacare wasn't the core issue in the Tampa, FL-area district, both Sink and Jolly made clear their respective stances on 0bamacare during their campaign. While acknowledging the flawed 0bamacare rollout and trouble-plagued healthcare.gov website, Sink stated that the Affordable Care Act was flawed and that she was favor of 'fixing' the law. Jolly, however, said he was in favor of a full repeal of the law if elected.

The race to replace the late Rep. Bill Young was considered a tossup, and was cast as a political bellwether, and a testing ground for each party's messaging strategy -- which revolves in part around the Affordable Care Act.

Jolly's election night headquarters in Clearwater Beach erupted into loud cheers as it became clear he was the winner. In his victory speech, Jolly simultaneously struck a conciliatory tone and expressed gratitude for his mentor, Young, and Young's family. Jolly was introduced by former "Price is Right" game show host Bob Barker, via video. Young's two adult sons were also onstage with Jolly, and he embraced them at the end of his speech.

Meanwhile, national Republican groups swiftly got to work casting Jolly's victory as a blow to ObamaCare and those who support it.

“Tonight, one of Nancy Pelosi’s most prized candidates was ultimately brought down because of her unwavering support for ObamaCare, and that should be a loud warning for other Democrats running coast to coast," said National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore. "Pinellas County voters have made the right choice; David will be a dedicated and thoughtful representative for them in Congress.”

The electoral victory comes despite Jolly trailing in early voting to Sink and Libertarian candidate Lucas Overbay getting nearly 5% of the vote. Although the Pinellas County congressional district was home to the longest-serving Republican in the House of Representatives, the district narrowly went to Obama in the 2012 Presidential election. With nearly 100% of the vote counted on Tuesday's special election, Jolly had 48.5% of the vote while Sink had 46.7%. Both parties had sent out

While pundits are cautioning against using the FL13 race as a bellweather for the 2014 midterms, this is the first chance either the Democrats or Republicans had to use Obamacare as an election issue in a competitive district since key provisions of the law went into effect.

Meanwhile in California, Republican Kevin Faulconer was sworn in as the mayor of San Diego. Faulconer, a former city councilman, garnered 43% of the vote in a special election in November 2013 to replace disgraced Democrat mayor Bob Filner. This set up a runoff between Faulconer and fellow city councilman, Democrat David Alvarez last month. Despite money coming in from big name donors, gains by Democrats in 2012 an endorsement from President Obama and campaigning across the border in Tijuana, Mexico by Alvarez, Alvarez lost to Faulconer by nearly 10 points in the runoff.

Federal Prosecutors Will Seek Death Penalty Against Surviving Boston Marathon Bomber

The Department of Justice announced on Thursday that it will seek the death sentence against Dzhokar Tsarnaev in his upcoming trial for his role in the Patriot's Day bombing of the Boston Marathon finish line.

Federal prosecutors on Thursday announced they will seek the death penalty against 20-year-old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in the Boston Marathon bombing, instantly raising the stakes in what could be one of the most wrenching trials the city has ever seen.

Attorney General Eric Holder's decision to press for Tsarnaev's execution was widely expected. The twin blasts killed three people and wounded more than 260 others, and 17 of the 30 federal charges against him — including using a weapon of mass destruction to kill — carry the possibility of the death penalty.

"The nature of the conduct at issue and the resultant harm compel this decision," Holder said in a statement.

Tsarnaev has pleaded not guilty. A trial date has not been set.

According to local, state and federal investigators, 19 year old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and his 26 year old brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev planted two bombs fashioned from pressure cookers and loaded with ball bearings and set them a few hundred feet apart at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Patriots Day last year- April 15th. Three people were killed in the blasts and more than 200 were injured by flying shrapnel and the two brothers were seen on surveillance cameras from nearby businesses arriving at the finish line with backpacks and leaving without them shortly before the blasts. During the manhunt after the bombings, the two brothers shot and killed an MIT Campus police officer in an ambush, carjacked a motorist and led police on a wild chase that culminated in a firefight in Watertown, MA. During the shootout, an MBTA Transit police officer was wounded and Tamerlan was run over by his own brother in a bid to escape. The younger Tsarnaev brother initially appeared to have evaded the dragnet, but a Watertown homeowner spotted blood on a tarp covering a boat in his backyard and immediately called police. After a shootout and tense standoff, officers from the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team and Massachusetts State Police Special Tactical Operations (STOP) surrounded the boat and took a wounded Dzhokhar Tsarnaev into custody.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev was also thought to be a suspect in a triple homicide in Waltham, MA in September 2011. A friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev- Ibragim Todashev- implicated himself and the older Tsarnaev brother in a statement to the FBI and Massachusetts State Police at his Florida condo. Law enforcement sources then claimed that a previously cooperative Tosahev eventually became belligerent and attempted to stab one of the agents before being fatally shot.

The two brothers originally hailed from Chechnya- a volatile, Islamic majority region in the south of Russia that has been fighting against Russian troops in a bid to break away from the Kremlin. Islamic Chechen fighters have been fighting in Afghanistan as well as the recent conflicts in Libya and Syria while Chechen terrorists are said to be behind a series of suicide attacks on buses and train stations in the Russian city of Volgograd last month that killed more than 30 people.

Today's Train of Thought- Geeps and Juice, August 16th 2013

Today's train of thought takes us to the Sunshine State and upon closer examination seems to involve things that are immediately evocative of Florida, such as orange juice, water and things coming down to Florida after having spent much of their lives in the northeastern USA.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Barney Rebel caught CSX GP39-2s #4303 and #4301 trundling across the Manatee River in Bradenton, FL in February 2008 with a cut of general freight and refrigerator cars for Tropicana's Bradenton plant bringing up the rear. On one side of the lowered drawbridge is the older wooden pilings for the trestle while further back and on the other side is the newer, concrete portion of the former Seaboard Air Line span.

Bradenton is also the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates- although many other teams make their home in the Grapefruit league in nearby towns. Meanwhile the Manatee River does in fact boast a manatee population, although depending on the time of the year, they're usually found further upstream.

The white refrigerated boxcars towards the very rear of the train are part of the Tropicana fleet. For 40 years, the company has been shipping juice and concentrate some 1200 miles from the Bradenton area to New Jersey [with unit trains to Cincinnati also eventually added- NANESB!].

The two units actually started out life on Pennsylvania's Reading railroad in the mid 1970s, and while the line was folded into Conrail by 1976, the Reading's fleet of GP39-2s were sent to the Delaware & Hudson along with a handful of former Lehigh Valley GP38-2s in addition to being awarded trackage rights to Buffalo, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Washington DC. CSX predecessor Chessie System had apparently financed the Reading's purchase of the GP39-2s and when their lease came up shortly after the Canadian Pacific purchase of the D&H in the early 1990s, the former Reading units were turned over to CSX where they traversed the system in a motley assortment of colors ranging from Reading green to Guilford charcoal grey to D&H's classic 'Lightning Stripe' scheme before eventually being repainted into CSX colors.

After nearly 20 years of service, the former Reading units seem to generally congregate around the Tampa, FL area hauling aggregates, orange juice, phosphate or general freight. I would make the 'Northeast-retiree-moves-down-to-Florida' comparison, but it isn't analogous- the former Reading GP39-2s are still working on a daily basis [plus its entirely possible that CSX may end up selling them to an out-of-state shortline or regional- NANESB!].

Friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Person of Interest in 2011 Waltham Triple Homicide Shot and Killed by FBI

A friend of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was shot killed by FBI agents at an apartment complex near Orlando, FL last month.

The shooting happened inside an Orlando apartment complex as an FBI agent and Massachusetts State Police detectives were questioning Ibragim Todashev about his friendship with Tsarnaev.

Law enforcement sources said the two Chechen immigrants once trained together at a Boston area gym. But evidence also suggests a criminal connection, involvement in a grisly triple murder that occurred in September 2011, in Waltham, Massachusetts.

Three men, including one who trained at the same gym, were found with their throats cut, their bodies had been covered with marijuana and thousands of dollars in cash. No one has been charged.

But sources say during questioning Tuesday night, Todashev implicated himself and Tamerlan Tsarnaev in the killings. As investigators pushed at him towards a confession, he snapped, reported Orr.

Law enforcement officials say the 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter made a move that threatened the investigators. The FBI agent, who suffered cuts in the altercation, shot and killed Todashev.

The FBI became interested in him after phone records suggested a connection to Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Over several weeks agents kept tabs on Todashev and questioned him a handful of times. The FBI found nothing connecting Todashev to the Boston attacks.

Todashev, who lived in the u.s. for the past several years, was arrested two weeks ago on an aggravated battery charge. But now investigators want to find out if he had any connections at all to anything worse, including radical extremists overseas.

Earlier, CBS News senior correspondent John Miller reported that Todashev was a mixed-martial-arts fighter. Fighting was at least one interest that Todashev shared with Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was once a boxer.

Miller also reported that Todashev had been to Chechnya before and was scheduled to return to Chechnya this week but canceled his flight.

While Todashev wasn't considered a suspect in the April 15th bombing of the Boston Marathon finish line, authorities believed that both Todashev and the older Tsarnaev brother were involved in the September 2011 triple slaying of Raphael Teken, Brendan Mess and Erik Weissman at their Waltham, MA apartment.

Todashev was granted permanent legal status to the USA in February, despite a 2010 arrest for assault after a traffic accident. Last month, Todashev was arrested at gunpoint in Florida after allegedly beating up a man in a parking lot.

Hot For Teacher- Florida English Teacher Dismissed Over Swimsuit Photos

Officials in Martin County, FL reportedly pressured a high school English teacher into resigning her position last month once they learned she had modeled for some photo shoots in very skimpy swimwear.

Demo Photography Image

MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. -- A Martin County High School teacher who had planned to resign at the end of the school year said she was asked to leave a month early.

Olivia Sprauer taught English at Martin County High School.

Sprauer said she was called into the principal's office on April 29 and was shown a photo that had been sent to the principal.

Sprauer confirmed it was one of her modeling photos.

Sprauer said the principal asked for her resignation and was escorted off campus.

A statement released from the Martin County School District confirmed Sprauer no longer works for the district.

Martin County, which is situated to the south of Palm Beach County, is home to just over 125,000 people according to the most recent Census.

Sprauer, who modeled under the name Victoria Valentine James, still maintains an online portfolio of some of her work at the Model Mayhem website.

I gotta say that while I may have some misgivings if she were one of my kid's teachers, I also don't think this should've cost Sprauer her job- even if it meant firing her a month before she was supposed to leave anyway. My only thought might be that there was even more NSFW images out there that haven't been as widely circulated that the administration was made aware of.

Also, when attractive female teachers make headlines, it usually is because they've been discovered sleeping with one of their underage pupils. I suppose all involved should be glad that's not the case this time around.

This isn't the first controversy involving scantily clad teachers in the area. In 2008, high school teacher and divorced mother of three Tiffany Shepherd took on a job as a 'bikini mate' on a charter fishing boat in nearby St Lucie county. She was fired by the school district shortly after taking the bikini mate job, although school officials say the dismissal was from a long string of written reprimands and unexplained absences from Shepherd.

Within months of her dismissal by school officials, Shepherd said she had to take up appearing in adult films to help pay the bills. In 2010, Shepherd was arrested on misdemeanor charges of filing a false police report in nearby Okeechobee county.

Nuts! Truckload of Nutella Stolen in Germany

Why stop at maple syrup? Thieves in the central German town of Bad Hersfeld made off with more than five tons of Nutella earlier this week. The popular chocolate-hazelnut spread was stolen from a tractor-trailer on Monday by an unknown number of thieves.

Police said Monday an unknown number of culprits made off with 5 metric tons (5.5 tons) of "Nutella" chocolate-hazelnut spread from a parked trailer in the central German town of Bad Hersfeld over the weekend.

The gooey loot is worth an estimated 16,000 euros ($20,710).

Officials declined to speculate whether this was a well-orchestrated theft or simple joyriding, although a truckload of energy drinks was stolen from a truck in the same town in the last month.

UPDATE- 4/11 - Seemingly determined to prove that Nutella isn't the only yummy contraband sought after by cargo thieves, the Florida Highway Patrol arrested a man who is accused of stealing a truck hauling $75,000 worth of Campbell's Soup from a central Florida truckstop that was destined for a Publix supermarket distribution facility.

That's right- the soup flew the coop and the split pea and ham was on the lam. The fact that the big rig was equipped with GPS enabled officers to track down the purloined broth with relative ease after following it for about 30 miles.

With food prices on the rise internationally, food being shipped to market is becoming as equally popular as electronics, consumer goods and pharmaceuticals but it can be harder to trace. Worldwide cargo theft is becoming a widespread problem [and also the premise for the reality show Big Rig Bounty Hunters on the History Channel- NANESB!]. Even before the July 2012 theft of C$20 million worth of maple syrup at a Quebec warehouse launched a thousand groan-worthy, breakfast-centered puns, cargo theft was on the increase in Canada's Maritime provinces, with the trailers or loads eventually resurfacing in Montreal.

On the US side of the border, the FBI suspects Armenian gangs based in southern California of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of meat and dairy products by showing up at warehouses throughout the west with fake manifests and affixing the names of other trucking companies to their vehicles. Aside from electronics, cigarettes or pharmaceuticals, other targets for cargo thieves and organized crime throughout the USA apparently include tomatoes, Alaskan King Crab and walnuts.

Spring Is In The Air Sports Chowdah Update- B's Snap Losing Streak; Sox Prospect Westmoreland Calls It a Career

Fred Chartrand- Canadian Press

BOSTON BRUINS- After a two game losing streak [which DOES add up in a shortened season- NANESB!] which included losses to Pittsburgh and Winnipeg, the Bruins continued their swing through Canada with another stopover in the Canadian capital for a tilt against the Ottawa Senators.

The last time the Bruins were in Ottawa, they fell into an early 2-0 hole. On Thursday, the Senators once again got on the board first when Kaspars Daugavins beat Anton Khudobin about five minutes into the second period (but not doing that wird toe-of-the-stick-thing he tends to do). Danny Paille got the Bruins on the board with less than two minutes to go in the second.

The game remained deadlocked into the third period when with Dennis Seidenberg got the go-ahead goal for Boston with 1:04 in regulation, deflating the crowd at the Scotiabank Center and snapping Boston's two game losing streak.

Anton Khudobin got the start in net and turned aside 27 of 28 shots on goal on Thursday night. The win keeps Boston within two points of the Canadiens in the Northeast Division. Boston's road trip continues on Saturday night in Toronto- the puck drops at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on the NHL Network.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The NHL Board of Governors approved a realignment that will move the Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets to the Eastern Conference and will send the Winnipeg Jets to the Western conference. The Columbus Blue Jackets, Carolina Hurricanes and Washington Capitals will join the New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins in one division while four of the Original 6 teams- including the Bruins- will be in a single division that will also include Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Florida and Ottawa.

The Dallas Stars, Minnesota Wild and Colorado Avalanche will remain in the Western Conference but will end up playing in the same conference as St Louis, Nashville, Chicago and Winnipeg to accomodate primarily Central Time zone starts.

RED SOX- Red Sox outfield prospect Ryan Westmoreland has announced his retirement from Baseball earlier this month. The 22 year old Rhode Island native underwent brain surgery in 2010 to correct an abnormal growth of blood vessels near his brain stem, and had a similar surgery done last summer.

In 2009, Westmoreland had a .296 batting average and 7 home runs in 60 games with the Lowell Spinners- the Red Sox Single A affiliate in the New York Penn League. Westmoreland passed up a scholarship to Vanderbilt after bein selected by the Red Sox in the 5th round of the 2008 draft.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- The Red Sox were shut out by the Blue Jays in Grapefruit League action on Friday in Dunedin, FL. Adam Loewen came home on a Drew Sutton fielding error and that would be all the Jays needed as Toronto won by a final of 1-0. Alfredo Aceves started for Boston and walked two batters and striking out five over five innings in the loss and the Jays Esmil Rogers came on in the 9th for a 1-2-3 save.

On Saturday, the Sox return to Fort Myers to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates at 1:35 PM ET. The game will be televised on NESN.

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC- Alas, a final in the WBC was not in the cards for Team USA as they ran into the Dominican Republic buzzsaw in the second round. After a promising 7-1 win over Puerto Rico, the USA was nursing a 1-0 lead over the Dominicans thanks to a bases loaded walk in the 1st. In the 2nd inning, Hanley Ramirez tied the game up for the Dominicans with a solo homer off of R.A. Dickey. The game would remain deadlocked at 1-1 until the 9th when Atlanta's Craig Kimbrel came off the bench and was facing pinch hitter Erick Aybar with Nelson Cruz on 3rd base with one out when Aybar singled to break the tie and put the Dominicans on top. Jose Reyes then plated Aybar with an RBI single to give the Dominicans some insurance with a 3-1 lead and Fernando Rodney had a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th to close out the win for the Dominican Republic.

The loss set the stage for a USA/Puerto Rico rematch in what would be an elimination game. Puerto Rico would jump out to and early 1-0 lead over the USA in the top of the first thanks to an RBI single from former Red Sox infielder Mike Aviles while Puerto Rico starter Nelson Figuero threw six shutout innings. Meanwhile, Andy Gonzalez appeared to blow the game open for Puerto Rico with 2-RBI double with two away in the 6th inning. However, by the bottom of the 8th it looked as though Puerto Rico was going to let the lead slip away with a 4-2 lead when Ben Zobrist drew a 2 out bases loaded walk to make it a 1-run game. However, JC Romero came on in relief for Puerto Rico and got the next batter to ground out to first to end the threat and then having a 1-2-3 bottom of the 9th inning to close out the win and send the USA packing from the tournament.

However, it would be the Dominican Republic who advanced to the finals defeated the Netherlands in the opening games of the semifinals at san Francisco's AT&T Park. The Dominicans beat the Dutch by a 4-1 final in the semifinals while the final game was a rematch against Puerto Rico- Dominican Starter Samuel Deduno pitched five shutout innings and would get some early run support thanks to a 2-RBI double from Edwin Encarnacion in the first inning. It would be all the Dominicans needed as the Dominican Republic goes undefeated throughout the tournament to win their first World Baseball Classic Championship. Interestingly, this is also the first-ever WBC final that didn't feature Japan- the Japanese team had won the first two WBC titles, besting Cuba in 2006 and South Korea in 2009.

Spring Forward Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Veto Senators in Shootout; Hockey Game Breaks Out, USA Advances at WBC;

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC- After a fairly unremarkable start, Pool D in the 2013 World Baseball Classic was the one everybody was talking about thanks to a game winning grand slam and an honest-to-goodness bench clearing brawl.

After having alrady lost their opening game to Mexico, team USA found themselves deadlocked 2-2 with a game Italy in the top of the second inning of game 2 in pool play in Phoenix on Saturday night. With the bases loaded, two out and David Wright in the batter's box with a 1-2 count, this happened-



Wright's grand slam would turn out to be the game-winner as Team USA got by Italy for a 6-2 final for their first win of the tournament.

But what had everybody talking was what happened between Team Canada and Mexico earlier on Saturday. With Canada already up 9-3, catcher Chris Robinson decided to bunt for a base hit in the 9th inning. Taking umbrage to the percieved breach of baseball ettiquite, infliedler Luis Cruz told pitcher Arnold Leon to hit the next batter.

After throwing two piches at Canada outfielder Rene Tosoni, Leon finally managed to hit him. Instead of taking his base, Tosoni charged the mound which led to this-


Yes- players from the country that apparently worships at the altar of soccer decided to pick a fight with players from a nation that has produced countless hockey players and- more recently- a good number of mixed martial arts fighters. Unlike most baseball brawls, there was actually some punching and tackling taking place. Red Sox reliver Alfredo Aceves was seen exchanging blows with Canada outfilder Tyson Gillies before being wrestled to the ground.

The fight spilled over into the stands as well, with Mexican fans throwing full water bottles at Team Canada's dugout- one of them hitting pitching coach Denis Boucher in the face before infielder Cale Iorg angrily threw the water bottle back into the crowd. A number of fights broke out in the highly partisan and pro-Mexico crowd of 19,581 and police came on to the field to restore order as announcements were made in English and Spanish that anybody caught throwing items on the field would be ejected.

A total of seven players- Mexico's Arnold Leon, Oliver Perez, Eduardo Arredondo, Andrew Albers and Alfredo Aceves and Canada's Pete Orr, Rene Tosoni and Jay Johnson- were ejected, although WBC officials said they were unlikely to face any additional discipline aside from the ejection. As for the percieved slight against Mexico that sparked the entire brawl, Canada wasn't simply trying to be sore winnera when they ran up the score. Since total points can factor in a a tiebreaker in the World Baseball classic and Canada had already given up 14 runs in their loss to Italy in the first game of the WBC. The win and the run differential were needed to give them a puncher's chance [no pun intended- NANESB!] of advancing out of the first round.

However, on Sunday, Canada faced a Team USA with some momentum on their side. It was win or go home for both the USA and Canada and our neighbors to the north had an early 2-0 lead when Canada outfielder Michael Suanders belted a 2 run homer into the right field seats off of USA starter Derek Holland. Team USA pulled even thanks to some a leadoff walk and some small ball starting off with a bunt by outfielder ben Zobrist that led to a throwing error from Canada 3B Taylor Green with two on- a sac fly off the bat of outfielder Adam Jones tied the contest up at 2-2.

With runners on the corners and two out for Team Canada in the bottom of the 6th, outfilder Adam Loewen drove in a run giving Team Canada the lead back. But in the top of the 8th, Jones drove in a pair of runs to make it 4-3, giving the USA their first lead of the game. Red Sox outfielder Shane Victorino would add to that total and make it a 5-3 lead after bringing Jones home with an RBI single. In the bottom of the 8th and with the bases loaded for Team Canada and only one out, Adam Loewen brought a runner home with his groundout to first to make it a 1-run game, but Tim Smith grounded out to Brandon Phillips to end the Canadian rally.

After a leadoff double from the USA's Brandon Philips and an RBI single Jonathan LuCroy, The Royals' Eric Hosmer put the game out of reach for Team USA with a 2 out bases clearing double with two away in the top of the 9th inning

Team USA goes on to win by a final of 9-4, eliminating Canada from the tournament and moving on to the second round of the tournament at Miami where they will take on Puerto Rico on Tuesday night. The first pitch is scheduled for 8:00 ET and the game will be televised on the MLB network.

GRAPEFRUIT LEAGUE- Boston's Clay Buchholz looks like he can't wait for the regular season to begin as he's now 2-0 in Spring Training. Buchholz pitched four shutout innings allowing three hits and a strikeout while Mike Napoli went 2-3 with an RBI in Boston's 5-3 win over Toronto at Dunedin, FL on Tuesday. Currently the Red Sox have a 9-9 record in Spring training.

The Red Sox will have Wednesday off and return to Fort Myers (but not to Fenway South) to take on the Minnesota Twins on Thursday at 1:05 ET.

Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand

NHL- After an impressive 3-0 home win against the Philadelphia Flyers- the first meeting between the two teams this shortened season- the Bruins hit the road once again, starting off with a Monday night contest against Ottawa from Canada's capital- one of only two games in the NHL on Monday.

The Bruins fell into an early 2-0 hole after allowing goals from Guillaume Latendresse and Kyle Turris in the first, but managed to get on the board thanks to a Shawn Thornton tally in the closing minutes of the first. Boston then managed to tie the game at the 8:53 mark of the second perior thanks to a Danny Paille tally, but after a scoreless 3rd period, both teams garnered a point as they headed for OT. However, nothing was decided in the OT [Rask turned aside 12 shots in the 3rd and overtime- NANESB!] so the game went to a shootout. Even though it was unsuccessful, Kaspars Daugavins was likely the most memorable attempt from the shootout.



However, Dravid Krejci would score on his next attempt and the Bruins would go on to win by a 3-2 final in the shootout and get to within one point of Montreal.

However, there will be no rest for the black and gold as they travel from Ottawa to Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins for the first time this season on Tuesday night. The game will be televised on the NBC Sports network (formerly Versus) and this clash of Eastern Conference titans will get underway at 7:30 ET/

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Snap Losing Streak; World Baseball Classic Underway

(AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

A two game losing streak and an inability to maintain a 3rd period lead was some cause for concern among the B's faithful, but the Bruins looked like they got some of their mojo back on Thursday night at home against Toronto.

After a 4-3 regulation loss to Montreal on Sunday and on Tuesday, Boston let a 3-0 lead over Washington evaporate in the first meeting between the two teams since the first round of last season's Stanley Cup playoffs. The Caps scored three unanswered goals to force OT and RW Eric Fehr scored 37 seconds into OT to give Washington the win.

On Thursday night, the Bruins faced off against the Maple Leafs, and although recent history was on the Bruins' side, one had to wonder if the Leafs sensed any blood in the water. Tied at 1-1 early in the second, the Bruins padded their lead late in the period with tallies form Tyler Seguin and David Krejci to give Boston a 3-1 lead.

But with less than five minutes to go, the Leafs made it a 1-goal game thanks to a goal from Jay McClement and late in the 3rd, Toronto pulled goalie Ben Scrivens for an extra attacker. However, the crowd at TD Garden heaved a collective sigh of relief when Tyler Seguin scored an empty-netter to make it a 4-2 Boston lead with 15 seconds left.

With the win, Boston snaps a two game losing streak and remains just a point behind Montreal in the Northeast standings. Rask had Thursday night off and it was Khudobin who had the win for the B's, stopping 25 of 27 shots faced. Both teams went 0-2 on the power play on Thursday as well.

The Bruins' next game will be on Saturday afternoon against the Philadelphia Flyers- the first meeting between the two teams this season. Puck drops at 1:00 ET and the game will be televised on the NHL Network.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS- LW Chris Bourque has been reassigned to the providence Bruins after clearing waivers this week. Bourque was waived by the B's after posting a minus 6 rating in 18 games played. The Bruins also recalled RW Jordan Caron from Providence on Friday. In 44 games with the 'Pruins' this season, Caron has had 10 goals and 5 assists.

RED SOX- The Red Sox now have a 7-7 record in Spring Training after splitting a "home and away" series with the Minnesota Twins Thursday and Friday night [really- it's more like a 7 mile drive across Ft Myers, FL- NANESB!]. After a 12-5 win over the Twins at 'Fenway South' on Thursday, the Twins blanked Boston thanks to three shutout innings from Mike Pelfrey.

Ryan Dempster went 3⅔ innings and allowed 2 runs on five hits in the losing effort.

The Red Sox will host the Baltimore Orioles at Fenway South on Saturday night. Baltimore's Dylan Bundy will make his spring training debut while Felix Doubront will start for the Red Sox. First pitch is at 7:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Well, the good news is that Red Sox pitching prospect Drake Britton managed to hit 111 MPH on the radar gun in Florida. The bad news was that it was during a police chase outside of Ft Myers.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Red Sox lefthander Drake Britton was clocked going 111 mph early on Saturday morning, according to police, and was arrested on multiple charges that included suspicion of drunk driving.

The team released a statement saying: “This is a matter that the Red Sox take very seriously, and it is being addressed. The club will not make further comment on this matter."

Britton, 23, was optioned to Double A Portland on Monday. A Fort Myers television station, WFTX, reported his arrest that night. Britton had been scheduled to pitch against the Yankees on Sunday but did not.

Britton was driving a black Silverado pickup truck at more than twice the posted 45 mph speed limit, according to a report by the Lee County Sheriff's Office.

Police said that Britton eluded police in pursuit by swerving between vehicles before leaving the road and driving down an incline and eventually knocking over a barbed-wire fence. Police said Britton then tried to drive through a wooded area.

Britton was charged with DUI, DUI property damage and reckless driving. Police noted that he had slurred speech, bloodshot watery eyes and a strong odor of alcohol at the time he was finally stopped.

Britton represents the second DUI arrest in Red Sox spring training since 2012 when reliever Bobby Jenks was arrested for DUI, destruction of property and leaving the scene of an accident.

WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC- With the USA off to a disappointing start, the early favorite in the WBC's Pool D might actually turn out the be Italy. Yes- the Italians got off on the right foot in Arizona as they topped Mexico 6-5 on Thursday night and simply steamrolled Team Canada on Friday by a 14-4 final. Since the total number of points helps determine who advances in the WBC, those 14 runs have Team Italy sitting pretty at the moment.

Meanwhile, Team USA got off to a lackluster start after a 5-2 loss to Mexico on Friday. With Mexico already leading 2-0, former Red Sox 1B Adrian Gonzalez belted a 2-run homer off of knuckleballer RA Dickie in the third inning, giving Mexico a 4 run lead that Team USA could barely chip into.

Team Mexico starter Yovanni Gallardo pitched 3⅓ shutout innings for the win andSergio Romo closed out the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Team USA will take on undefeated Italy on Saturday from Chase Field at 9:00 PM ET in what is a must-win game if the hope to advance. The contest will be televised on the MLB network.

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update for February 23rd, 2013

AP Photo/Mike Carlson

NHL- Something rather curious happened during the Bruins fairly lengthy hiatus this week. While they've played exactly one game since Sunday, Montreal has won three out of their last four contests and the Ottawa Sentaors have won four straight during the same timeframe. The lengthy interval between games for Boston combined with the good week that both Ottawa and Montreal have had mean that the Bruins have slipped into 3rd place in the Northeast Division - despite winning two consecutive contests.

The most recent win for the Bruins came on Thursday night against a team they were supposed to face off against during winter storm Nemo earlier this month- the Tampa Bay Lightning. That contest was supposed to take place on April 25th, but because of the blizzard-related state of emergency in Boston, it was postponed until April 25th, 2012.

However, the first Bruins-Lightning game of the 2013 season took place in Tampa, FL instead. Boston jumped out to a 2-0 lead vs Tampa Bay thanks to goals from Nathan Horton and Patrice Bergeron before the Lightning's Steven Stamkos put Tampa Bay on the board. The Lightning would tie the contest up at 2-2 on a Cory Conacher goal in the second. However a few minutes later, the Bruins would take the lead for good on a Brad Marchand goal. Nathan Horton would give Boston some additional insurance with a goal in the 3rd to give Boston the 4-2 win.

Tukka Rask stopped 24 of 26 shots faced on Thursday night while Anders Lindback stopped 22 shots on a similar number faced by by Rask.

The Bruins swing through the Sunshine State continues on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 ET with a matchup against the Flordida Panthers. This game will be televised on both NESN and the NHL network in select markets.

NASCAR- At least 28 people were injured at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday during a massive collision on the final lap of NASCAR's junior cirucit Nationwide Series.

Saturday's wreck happened after driver Regan Smith, who was leading the race, attempted to block another driver as they were nearing the checkered flag and hit the other car, a report on NASCAR.com said.

The crash sent driver Kyle Larson's car airborne and ripped out its engine, although he climbed out of the wreckage afterward unhurt.

"I was getting pushed from behind, it felt like," Larson told ESPN after the crash.

"By the time my spotter said, 'Lift,' or to go low, I believe, it was too late and I was in the wreck. Then I felt like it was slowing down, and it looked like I could see the ground, and had some flames in the cockpit. Luckily, I was all right and could get out of the car quick," he added.

The injured were carried away on stretchers from the chaotic scene in the stands. They were taken to Halifax Health Medical Center and Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center in Daytona Beach.

The crash involved 10 vehicles and some of the spectators undergoing medical tratment at Daytona include a 14 year old.

WINTER OLYMPICS- Less than a week after the US Luge team's practice sleds went missing from the back of a truck, a Pennsylvania man who discovered the sleds by the side of the road contacted State Police about his discovery.

A representative from the USA Luge team had reportedly lost the sleds after failing to secure them to the truck properly during a recruiting trip to eastern Pennsylvania. The man, identified as Mike Miller from Moore Township, PA, had heard about the missing sleds in media reports and turned them over to the Pennsylvania State Police on Friday.

FBI Raids Florida Office of Democrat Donor Linked to Sen Menendez

Federal agents raided the West Palm Beach, FL office of an eye doctor and Democrat donor Wednesday morning who has been known to travel with New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez to the Dominican Republic for parties with prostitutes.



In addition to the fact that the arrest of one of Sen Menendez's unpaid interns was a country sex offender who was in the country illegally was delayed until after the 2012 elections, the New Jersey Democrat also allegedly didn't pay some of the prostitutes hired to entertain him and Dr. Solomon Melgen at Melgen's Dominican villa.

Now, allegations that Sen. Menendez and Dr Melgen used the services of underage prostitutes that federal agents have deemed credible have surfaced, reportedly prompting Wednesday's raid.

Stringing up crime scene tape and using a locksmith, the FBI on Tuesday and Wednesday raided the West Palm Beach business of an eye doctor suspected of providing free trips and even underage Dominican Republic prostitutes to U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez — who has denied what he calls the “fallacious allegations.”

Agents hauled away boxes and bags of evidence from the medical-office complex of Dr. Salomon Melgen, a contributor to Menendez and other prominent politicians, to start hauling away potential evidence in several vans.

On Wednesday, the FBI agents were joined by an inspector from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, indicating the search-and-seizure raid has ties to a possible Medicare fraud inquiry. Melgen has also been the subject of a parallel federal investigation into his relationship with Menendez, D-N.J., who was first accused of improprieties in the conservative Daily Caller website.

Melgen also owns a private CL-600 Challenger plane through one of his West Palm Beach-based companies, records show, and frequently flies between South Florida and Casa de Campo in the Dominican Republic, where he is from.

Menendez has flown on the plane at least once, when he was chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2009 to 2011, when the Melgens contributed about $60,400 to the group.

Melgen was first linked to Menendez just before the November elections, when the Daily Caller website interviewed two alleged prostitutes who said they had relations with the New Jersey Democrat at Melgen’s Dominican Republic mansion in Casa de Campo.

After the election, the news died down.

But then, days before Menendez was about to start leading the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as chairman, reporters started receiving a 58-page dossier of emails between a Miami FBI agent and a tipster who claimed that some of the prostitutes had been underage.

Despite news of the prostitution scandal just days before the election, Sen. Menendez was re-elected by a substantial margin. For his part, Menendez denies any wrongdoing and fellow Democrats questioned the credibility of the Daily Caller.

The age of consent in the Dominican Republic, like most states in the USA, is eighteen.

One aspect of the story that's been overlooked in light of the underage prostitute allegations is that despite having an outstanding IRS lein of more than $11 million, Dr Melgen was able to donate more than $60,000 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee between 2009 and 2011 when menendez was chair and still has the private jet and Dominican villa.

Desert Storm Commanding General Norman Schwarzkopf Passes Away At Age 78

Retired General H. Norman Schwarzkopf passed away from complications from pneumonia in Tampa, FL on Thursday at the age of 78.

Nicknamed 'stormin Norman', Schwarzkopf was a 1956 graduate of West Point, served two tours in Vietnam and was named commander of the US Central Command facilities at McDill AFB in Tampa, FL.

In 1990, when Saddam Hussein's forces invaded Kuwait, Schwarzkopf convinced Saudi monarch King Fahd to allow the Arabian peninsula to be used as a staging area for American troops to counterattack and drive Iraqi forces from occupied Kuwait. In addition to US, French and British forces Schwarzkopf also commanded an array of Arab troops from Egypt, Qatar, Syria and the United Arab Emirates. After a months-long buildup, operation Desert Storm was launched in January 1991. As the arab armies thrust into Kuwait, British and French forces- along with the US 101st Airborne Division, the 24th Infantry Division, 1st Armored Division and 3rd Armored Cavalry regiment- swept across the Saudi-Iraq border west of Kuwait, flanking Saddam's forces and decimating Iraqi armor and infantry as airstrikes continually bombarded Baghdad.

The results were devestating for Iraq's military, with as many as 35,000 killed by coalition forces while allied losses were fewer than 500. However, with Saddam's forces in disarray and full retreat into Baghdad, there was finishing thrust into the Iraqi capital by US and coalition forces at the time because the objective had been to remove Iraqi forces from Kuwait [I know for a fact there was a giant road sign in English and Arabic measuring the distance to Basra and Baghdad displayed in a motor pool in Ft Stewart, GA in the late 1990s- NANESB!].

Schwarzkopf retired from the Army the following year and wrote a biography called 'It Doesn't Take A Hero'. He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth and recieved honors from France, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Belgium, Qatar and Bahrain. Aside from a brief stint as an NBC military commentator, the retired general mostly avoided politics and the spotlight, occasionaly acting as a spokesman for National Prostate Cancer Awareness and serving on the Nature Conservancy board of governors.

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update/Reminder- Bowl Season Kicks off This Weekend.

It's been nearly a week since the Bowl schedule was released, but I've fallen behind on that and couple of other things.

Even though I have no strong rooting interest in this year's slate of Bowl games, here is the complete game and TV schedule. Pretty much all games aside fromt he Cotton Bowl and Sun Bowl will be televised on the ESPN family of networks.

Gildan New Mexico - Nevada vs. Arizona

University Stadium, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Saturday, December 15, 1:00 p.m., ESPN

Famous Idaho Potato - Toledo vs. Utah State

Bronco Stadium, Boise, Idaho

Saturday, December 15, 4:30 p.m., ESPN

S.D. County Credit Union Poinsettia - BYU vs. San Diego State

Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California

Thursday, December 20, 8:00 p.m., ESPN

Beef 'O' Brady's St. Petersburg - UCF vs. Ball State

Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida

Friday, December 21, 7:30 p.m., ESPN

R+L Carriers New Orleans - East Carolina vs. Louisiana-Lafayette

Mercedes-Benz Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

Saturday, December 22, 12:00 p.m., ESPN

MAACO Las Vegas - Washington vs. Boise State

Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas, Nevada

Saturday, December 22, 3:30 p.m., ESPN

Sheraton Hawaii - Fresno State vs. SMU

Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii

Monday, December 24, 8:00 p.m., ESPN

Little Caesars Pizza - Western Kentucky vs. Central Michigan

Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan

Wednesday, December 26, 7:30 p.m., ESPN

Military Bowl Presented By Northrop Grumman - San Jose State vs. Bowling Green

RFK Stadium, Washington, D.C.

Thursday, December 27, 3:00 p.m., ESPN

Belk - Cincinnati vs. Duke

Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, North Carolina

Thursday, December 27, 6:30 p.m., ESPN

Bridgepoint Education Holiday - Baylor vs. UCLA

Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, California

Thursday, December 27, 9:45 p.m., ESPN

AdvoCare V100 Independence - Ohio vs. Louisiana-Monroe

Independence Stadium, Shreveport, Louisiana

Friday, December 28, 2:00 p.m., ESPN

Russell Athletic - Rutgers vs. Virginia Tech

Florida Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Friday, December 28, 5:30 p.m., ESPN

Meineke Car Care of Texas - Minnesota vs. Texas Tech

Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas

Friday, December 28, 9:00 p.m., ESPN

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces - Rice vs. Air Force

Amon G. Carter Stadium, Fort Worth, Texas

Saturday, December 29, 11:45 a.m., ESPN

New Era Pinstripe - West Virginia vs. Syracuse

Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York

Saturday, December 29, 3:15 p.m., ESPN

Kraft Fight Hunger - Navy vs. Arizona State

AT&T Park, San Francisco, California

Saturday, December 29, 4:00 p.m., ESPN2

Valero Alamo - Texas vs. Oregon State

Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas

Saturday, December 29, 6:45 p.m., ESPN

Buffalo Wild Wings - TCU vs. Michigan State

Sun Devil Stadium, Tempe, Arizona

Saturday, December 29, 10:15 p.m., ESPN

Franklin American Mortgage Music City - North Carolina State vs. Vanderbilt

LP Field, Nashville, Tennessee

Monday, December 31, 12:00 p.m., ESPN

Hyundai Sun - USC vs. Georgia Tech

Sun Bowl, El Paso, Texas

Monday, December 31, 2:00 p.m., CBS

AutoZone Liberty - Iowa State vs. Tulsa

Liberty Bowl, Memphis, Tennessee

Monday, December 31, 3:30 p.m., ESPN

Chick-fil-A - LSU vs. Clemson

Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia

Monday, December 31, 7:30 p.m., ESPN

TaxSlayer.com Gator - Mississippi State vs. Northwestern

Everbank Field, Jacksonville, Florida

Tuesday, January 1, 12:00 p.m., ESPN2

Heart of Dallas - Purdue vs. Oklahoma State

Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas

Tuesday, January 1, 12:00 p.m., ESPNU

Outback - South Carolina vs. Michigan

Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida

Tuesday, January 1, 1:00 p.m., ESPN

Capital One - Georgia vs. Nebraska

Florida Citrus Bowl, Orlando, Florida

Tuesday, January 1, 1:00 p.m., ABC

Rose Bowl Game presented by Vizio - Wisconsin vs. Stanford

Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California

Tuesday, January 1, 5:00 p.m., ESPN

Discover Orange - Northern Illinois vs. Florida State

Sun Life Stadium, Miami, Florida

Tuesday, January 1, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

Allstate Sugar - Louisville vs. Florida

Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana

Wednesday, January 2, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

Tostitos Fiesta - Oregon vs. Kansas State

University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona

Thursday, January 3, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

AT&T Cotton - Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma

Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, Texas

Friday, January 4, 8:00 p.m., FOX

BBVA Compass - Pittsburgh vs. Ole Miss

Legion Field, Birmingham, Alabama

Saturday, January 5, 1:00 p.m., ESPN

GoDaddy.com - Kent State vs. Arkansas State

Ladd-Peebles Stadium, Mobile, Alabama

Sunday, January 6, 9:00 p.m., ESPN

Discover BCS National Championship - Notre Dame vs. Alabama

Sun Life Stadium, Miami, Florida

Monday, January 7, 8:30 p.m., ESPN

[Hat tip- Austin Chang]

It's also worth noting that the NCAA Women's volleyball championship between Texas and Oregon will also take place on Saturday night at the Yum!/KFC Arena in Louisville, KY at 7:00 PM ET

Pre-Emptive Shennanigans? Military Voters Purged From Rolls in Florida; Aircraft Carrying Absentee Ballots Crashes in Afghanistan

With the 2012 Presidential campaign winding down, a number of incidents concerning active-duty members of the United States Military attempting to vote via absentee ballot have come to light.

According to an October 26th Associated report, a cargo plane crashed while on approach to Shindad Air Force Base in Afghanistan on October 19th. The plane was carrying an estimated 4700 pounds of mail at the time, and military investigators believe that this likely included a number of absentee ballots on board. The plane was reportedly carrying inbound mail and the ballots on board had yet to be filled out. All the mail on board was destined for a single APO Zip code and the plane was a civilian aircraft from a company that had been contracted to fly in supplies and mail to the base.

Over in Florida, active-duty military voters from the Tampa area were startled to learn that they had been purged from the roll of registered voters while they were deployed overseas. Valrico resident and Navy Captain Peter Kehrig, who has been abroad for five years tells 10 News he feels cheated by a system that removed him from the rolls.

Florida State Law requires county supervisor of elections offices to perform regular "maintenance" on its voter rolls to eliminate voters who have been convicted of felonies, moved out of the county, or may have died.

Voters who miss two consecutive general elections (2010 and 2008, for instance) are mailed a letter to their residence warning them they will be removed from the rolls. But since the post office only forwards mail for six months, Kehrig never got it.

Meanwhile, a couple from Palm Beach County, FL but stationed at Camp Lejune in North Carolina said they had yet to recieve their absentee ballot from the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections. When reached for comment, an official with the Supervisor of elections told a local TV station they were 'working on it' but declined to elaborate.

According to a recent Military Times poll, Republican nominee Mitt Romney enjoyed support from active duty and reservist members of the United States Military by a 66% margin compared to 26% for President Obama.

During the 2000 Presidential Campaign, lawyers for the Gore campaign fought to get absentee ballots from overseas disqualified from the recount as many of them were from soldiers, Marines, sailors and Airmen stationed overseas who had voted in support of Bush.

More recently, elections officials in Illinois and New York state had failed to mail off absentee ballots in time for the 2010 mid-term elections in violation of the 2009 MOVE act.

[Hat tip: Wyatt Earp]

Today's Train of Thought- Pour Some Sugar on Me, September 16 2012

Today's Train of Thought takes us to south-central Florida and provides us a glimpse at America's only sugarcane hauling railroad- the South Central Florida Express.

While sugar can be extracted from beets growing in more moderate climates in the Northern Plains, Midwest and Rocky Mountain regions, cane sugar is grown in relatively few places throughout the United States- Texas, Puerto Rico, Louisiana, Hawaii and Florida. A 2008 University of Minnesota study determined that the state of Florida led the United States in total sugarcane production and refining with 433,000 acres harvested and 7 mills.

This includes the mill in Clewiston, FL- reportedly the largest in the nation. Both the cane fields and refining facilities, operated by US Sugar corporation, are large enough to require two seperate railroads to bring in the cane and haul the finished product out to interchange with the CSX to the east and Florida East Coast to the east.

Besides US Sugar's 'in-house' 119-mile sugarcane hauling line- which is treated as a seperate entity by US Sugar- there's the South Central Florida Express which started up in 1990 with the purchase of nearly 90 miles of former CSX [nee Atlantic Coast Line] track west of Lake Okeechobee. The initial purchase was actually made by Lukens Steel [now ArcelorMittal] subsidiary Brandywine Valley, but was sold to US Sugar corporation in 1994. In 1998, South Central Florida Express and the Florida East Coast entered into a haulage agreement that would let the SCXF use the FEC's Lake Harbor-Ft Pierce 'K Branch'. In 1999, the line was awarded honors from Railway Age magazine as Shortline/Regional of the Year.

Besides sugar and sugar byproducts, the South Central Florida express also hauls fertilzer, farm equipment, lumber and machinery to various other customers along the line.

Here, railpictures.net contributor Christopher Blaszczyk caught South Central Florida Express' Ft. Pierce Turn trundling past the cane fields as well as a discarded pile of tied and across the State Route 835 crossing outside of Clewiston, FL. SCXF GP11 #9030 is in charge of the short 5-car train in February 2010.

The future of US Sugar in south central Florida has been up in the air in 2008 after then governor Charlie Crist announced to great fanfare a land-purchase deal from the Clewiston-based company. An estimated 180,000 acres of land used for growing sugar would be transferred to the state as part of an ongoing Everglades wetland restoration project. However, by 2010 that estimate had been sharply revised downward to less than 75,000 acres amid funding shortfalls and a worsening economy.

Hurricane Isaac Makes Landfall in Louisiana Ahead of Katrina Anniversary

Michael DeMocker, The Times-Picayune photo

Evacuation orders were lifted along much of the Gulf coast on Thursday after the considerably weaker but slower-moving Hurricane Issac moved inland in the run-up to the seven year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina making landfall.

There was some concern about the possible impact on New Orleans, which is still recovering from Katrina some 7 years later, but the Big Easy was spared a direct hit from Isaac as the storm made landfall twice, coming ashore southeast of New Orleans in Plaquemines Parish for the second time. The storm continued north from there, continually losing strength as it made its way into Arkansas.

While pumps and levees in the Crescent City held up during the city's latest brush with Isaac, suburban and rural areas just outside of New Orleans were hit with flooding as rain from the slow-moving storm overwhelmed neaby bayous.

Earlier in the week, a strengthening Isaac had sideswiped Haiti and the Dominican Republic and forecasters put the hurricane on a trajectory to hit the Florida Gulf Coast around the same time as the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL. Governors Bobby Jindal or Louisiana, Phil Bryant of Mississippi and Robert Bentley of Alabama had pre-emptively declared States of Emergency in the coastal regions of their respective states ahead of Isaac's arrival. The three governors- all Republicans- also cancelled their scheduled visits to the GOP convention to attend to the neccesary disaster prepeartions and cleanup.

Although Isaac was relatively mild compared to other hurricanes that came ashore from the Gulf Coast in recent years, the Cat 1 hurricane still caused widespread problems- particularly in Louisiana. As many as 820,000 residents were without electricity on Thursday- some 39% of the state's population.

Sports Chowdah Update- Flawless in Seattle; Sox on Target After Rough Week; Byrd Lands in Beantown; Capital Idea- B's Force Game 7 in the Garden; Torres Gets 25 Game Suspension

MLB- On Saturday afternoon at Seattle's SafeCo Field, White Sox starting pitcher Phillip Humber threw a perfect game against the Mariners in Chicago's 4-0 win over Seattle.

With just 96 pitches, Humber retired every Mariners batter he faced and became the third White Sox pitcher to throw a perfect game in the club's history. Mariners pinch-hitter Brendan Ryan has strike three called on a checked swing with 2 away in the bottom of the 9th, but the ball got away from White Sox catcher AJ Pierzynski and Ryan had to be thrown out on his way to 1st base.

Prior to Humber's outing on Saturday, the most recent perfect game for the White Sox was thrown by Mark Buehrle in July 2010 at US Cellular Field against the Tampa Bay Rays. The White Sox first recorded perfect game came almost 90 years ago to the day from Humber's start in Seattle- the Detroit Tigers went 27 up and 27 down against the ChiSox's Charlie Robinson at Tigers Stadium on April 30, 1922.

Humber's perfect game is also the 21st of baseball's modern era and the third to take place since I started up this blog. Oakland's Dallas Braden tossed a no-hitter on Mother's Day 2010 and the Phillie's Roy Halliday thew one on the road against the Florida Marlins less than 3 weeks later [so my humble little blog has been around for 1/7th of all the perfect games in MLB history- neat! NANESB!]

The first pick of the New York Mets in the 2004 MLB draft, Humber went to the Minnesota Twins as part of the Johan Santana trade in 2008 that sent the Texas native to the Twin Cities and 2-time Cy Young winner to Queens. Ironically, the New York Mets remain one of two MLB franchises whose pitching staff have not thrown a no-hitter. Humber would remain in the AL Central, spending 2010 with the Kansas City Royals before signing with the White Sox in 2011. Humber's previous start saw him go 5 and ⅓ innings against the Baltimore Orioles at home, giving up 6 hits, 3 walks and an earned run in a 10-4 loss against the O's on April 16.

RED SOX- Perhaps the best thing about Humber's perfect game was that it diverted attention away from the Red Sox's catastrophic outing at Fenway after the bullpen somehow managed to blow a 9-0 lead against the Yankees. Although Felix Doubront went 6 complete innings and allowed one earned run on four hits, things almost immediately took a turn for the worse when Vincente Padilla came out of the bullpen and gave up 5 earned runs in ⅓ of an inning....and it only got worse from there, with the Yankees scoring 14 unanswered runs to go on and win by a 15-9 final.

The Red Sox had already lost the series opener on Friday in a 6-2 game in which the only highlight seemed to be the unexpectedly hostile reaction to a videotaped message from President Obama playing on the jumbotron between innings. Mother nature apparently intervene on behalf of the Red Sox on Earth Day when the only thing preventing another beatdown from the Yankees was a Noreaster moving through the region, causing Sunday night's nationally televised game to be postponed.

Bard was scheduled to start on Sunday night against New York's CC Sabathia, but was temporarily moved to the bullpen and Jon Lester was named the starter for Monday night's road game against the Minnesota Twins.

Boston drew first blood with an RBI Sac-fly from 1B Adrian Gonzalez in the 1st followed by a 2-run homer from C Jarrod Saltalamacchia off of Twins starter Jason Marquis in the top of the 2nd inning. However, the Twins would come roaring back in the bottom of the 4th with a 2-out 2-RBI double by OF Ryan Doumit followed by a 2 run homer by 3B Danny Valencia to make it 4-3 Twins. Minnesota would seemingly get an insurance run as SS Jamie Carrol grounded into a double play with a runner on 3rd to make it 5-3.

However, not only did Boston's Cody Ross come up with the equalizer in the form of a 2-run homer in the top of the 7th, Ross also produced the game's go-ahead run with a solo homer in the top of the 9th off of Twins closer Matt Capps. In the bottom of the 9th, Alfredo Aceves allowed a 1-out single to outfielder Chris Parmalee, but got the next two batters out to preserve the 6-5 win and break the Red Sox 5-game losing streak in which they were outscored by a combined 46-17 against the Rays, Rangers and Yankees.

The series against the Twins resumes on Tuesday night when Josh Beckett [1-2; 5.03 ERA] takes the mound against Minnesota's Nick Blackburn [0-1; 5.56 ERA] at Target Field. The game gets udnerway at 8:10 ET and will be televised on NESN.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- The Red Sox have acquired outfielder Marlon Byrd from the Chicago Cubs on Saturday in exchange for cash, RHP Micheal Bowden and a player to be named later. Despite a paltry .070 batting average with the Cubs, Byrd went 1 for 4 in his Red Sox debut on Monday night, getting a single off of Marquis in the top of the 7th.
The move comes as CF Jacoby Ellsbury is expected to miss nearly 6 weeks after suffering a partially dislocated shoulder while trying to break up a double play against Tampa Bay last week. CF Jason Repko also landed on the DL with a partially seperated shoulder after making a diving catch in center field during Friday's game against the Yankees. The Red Sox also called up 1B Lars Anderson from Pawtucket on Monday.

MORE RED SOX NEWS- Former Red Sox starting pitcher Derek Lowe had his 2004 World Series ring as well as a gold World Series trophy stolen along with women's jewelry and shoes from his Florida home this week, the Ft Meyers News-Press reported. The total value of the stolen items is estimated to be around $90K
Lowe, who is now starting for the Cleveland Indians, was on the mound for the deciding Game 4 of the 2004 World Series against the St Louis Cardinals in Busch Stadium, which the Red Sox won by a 3-0 final. Lowe also has the unique disctinction of being recorded as the winning pitcher in the deciding games of the ALDS, ALCS and World Series.

Although he departed for the Los Angeles Dodgers as a free agent the following season, Derek Lowe returned to applause at Fenway during the 2005 home opener to recieve his championship ring. After three seasons with the Atlanta Braves, Lowe was traded to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for minor leaguer Chris Jones at the end of the 2011 season.

BUT WAIT- THERE'S MORE RED SOX NEWS!- Daisuke Matsuzaka went 4 innings for the Red Sox High-A League Salem Red Sox on Monday night, allowing 3 earned runs on 6 hits (including two homers) while striking out 3 batters. This is Matsuzaka's first start since undergoing Tommy John surgery in June 2011. Matsuzaka could see as many as 5 starts in Boston's farm system during his monthlong rehab assignement.

Although he made a bullpen appearence in Monday night's game against Minnesota, the Red Sox insist Bard will be their 5th starter for the forseeable future. However, Aaron Cook is doing well as a starter in AAA Pawtucket and the Red Sox may call him up to the parent club sometime this season. Depending on how well the rest of Dice-K's starts go, the Red Sox may have some felxibility with Cook or Matsuzaka.

YES, EVEN MORE RED SOX NEWS- Former Red Sox second baseman and current NESN color commentator Jerry Remy missed Monday night's game in Minnesota due to an unspecified ailment. According to NESN and Remy's own twitter feed, Rem-dawg hopes to be back in the booth in time for Tuesday night's game at Target Field.

BOSTON BRUINS- Let's face is- Saturday just wasn't a good day at all for anything related to Boston sports. While the Red Sox were managing to blow a seemingly insurmountable 9-0 lead at the Fens, across town the Washington Capitals managed to break a 3-3 deadlock late in the 3rd at the Garden. Troy Brower was able to get the puck past Tim Thomas on a Caps power play with less than 90 seconds to go in the 3rd to put Washington up 4-3 and give Washington the 3-2 series lead.

So the Bruins headed into DC's Verizon Center facing elimination in a must-win game on Sunday afternoon that was televised on NBC as the part two of an early game doubleheader. Game 1 on Sunday featured the Phildelphia Flyers eliminating the Pittsburgh Penguins by a 5-1 final.

The Bruins got on the board early after Rich Peverly tipped in an Andrew Ference slapshot past Braden Holtby to give Boston the 1-0 lead just under 6 minutes into the first. Just under 4 minutes later, the Caps would get the equalizer from Mike Green before the B's retook the lead on a David Krejci power play goal with just over 3 and a half minutes in the 1st to make it 2-1 and Boston's 2nd PP tally in as many games.

With less than a minute remaining in the second period, the Caps managed to knot the contest back up on a Jason Chimera goal- the only scoring in the 2nd period. With about 8 minutes remaining in regulation, Tyler Seguin forced a turnover in the B's end of the ice and was able to get a shot off towards Braden Holtby. Although Holtby stopped the shot on goal, he didn't corrall the puck and after lazily drifting by the sticks of Milan Lucic and David Krecji, Andrew Ference was able to bang the puck through traffic and past Holtby for the 3-2 Boston lead.

However, with under 5 minutes remaining, Alexander Ovechkin was able to get one past Tim Thomas right off a faceoff in the Bruins own end to tie the game up and force OT [seems as though there's alot of that going around the NHL this postseason- NANESB!].

Three and a half minutes into the OT, Milan Lucic managed to snag the puck at the blue line and fed it to an open Tyler Seguin, who fired the puck past Holtby for the game-winner. This was Seguin's first goal of the series, and he was also credited with the assist on Ference's 3rd period goal.

Tim Thomas stopped 36 of 39 shots faced while on the other end of the rink, Braden Holtby turned aside 27 of 31 shots faced. The B's were 1-4 in power play opportunities while the Caps went 0-4 with the man advantage on Sunday Afternoon. The deciding Game 7 will take place Wednesday night at the Gardeen with a 7:30 ET faceoff and will be televised on the NBC Sports network and CBC.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The NHL has suspended Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Raffi Torres 25 games after his hit on Marian Hossa in Game 3 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals between the Coyotes and Chicago Blackhawks. Torres left his skates to deliver a hit on Hossa that left him sprawled on the ice; Hossa would be carted off on a stretcher after the hit.

Hossa visited teammates on Monday at Chicago's United Center, although a timetable on his return is uncertain. Meanwhile in a statement released through the NHL Players association this week, Torres weighed a possible appeal of NHL head disciplinarian Brendan Shannahan's decision. Shanahan reportedly factored in Torres' prior history of hits on opponents away from the puck into his punishment, and Torres is basically finished for the year no matter how far into the playoffs the Coyotes advance. If Phoenix is eliminated in the second round, then the remainder of Torres' supension reportedly carries over into the 2012-13 season.

The Coyotes shut out the Blackhawks 4-0 on Monday night to win the series 4 games to 2. Interestingly, that was the only game in the Phoenix-Chicago series that didn't head to OT. Although the exact schedule has yet to be determined, the Coyotes will draw the Nashville Predators in the Western Conference Semifinals.

WESTERN CONFERENCE- With the Phoenix-Chicago series wrapping up on Monday, the Western conference matchups are set. #8 seeded Los Angeles finished off the President's Trophy winning Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night, winning on the road and selaing the series win with a Jarrett Stoll goal in OT to win the game 2-1 and the series 4-1. The Kings will advance to play the #2 seeded St Louis Blues, who took care of the San Jose Sharks- also by a 4 games to 1 margin.

The earliest playoff series to wrap up was the Nashville-Detroit series, which the Predators bounced Detroit out by a 4-1 margin.

EASTERN CONFERENCE- The only series in the Eastern conference that has finished up is the Philly-Pittsburgh series, which the Flyers wrapped up earlier on Sunday by a 4-2 margin after roaring out to a 3-0 series lead. The NY Rangers won at Scotiabank Center in Ottawa by a 3-2 final to force a deciding Game 7 at Madison Square Garden on Thursday. Florida holds a 3-2 lead over the New Jersey Devils and can wrap things up on Tuesday night with road win at Newark's Prudential Center, although the series will return to Sunrise, FL for a Game 7 if needed.