Sports Chowdah Update- Fifty 28 Shades of Gray, Patriots Romp at Indy; Bruins Shake the Blues at the Garden; Hurricane Warnings and High Tides, Mississipi State Falls to Alabama while Florida State Surges against Miami

NFL- November has proven to be a pretty good month for New England so far, with the Patriots bookending their bye week with convincing wins over division leaders.

The first weekend in November has the Patriots hosting Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, and the outcome was far less dramatic than the last time Denver came to Foxborough. This time around, the team with the big first half lead managed to hang on to it as New England rolled to a 43-21 win against the Broncos.

Coming out of the bye week, New England faced an equally important test against another AFC division leader as the Patriots travelled to Indianapolis to take on Peyton Manning's former team, the Colts.

Right off the bat, congratulations to those of you who happened to start RB Jonas Gray on your fantasy team on Sunday. RB Jonas Gray out of Notre Dame, who had moved from the practice squad to the starting roster less than a month ago, opened the scoring with a 4 yard TD run in the first to give New England the early 7-0 lead. The Colts quickly came back with a drive of their own that put them in the Patriot's red zone, but they had to settle for a chip shot FG off the leg of Adam Vinatieri to make it 7-3.

Late in the second quarter, Gray found the end zone once again to put the Patriots up on top 14-3 before Andrew Luck led a quick counterattack to put the Colts within 4 points after hitting paydirt on a 10 yard reception by WR Hakeem Nicks with 55 seconds to go in the first half, making it a 14-10 New England lead.

However, during the opening drive of the second half the Patriots started pulling away, thanks to the first Pats TD of the night to someone NOT named Jonas Gray when Brady found TE Tim Wright for a short TD pass to go up 21-10. On the following possession, the Colts would only get as far as the Patriots 35 yards line, but they were able to convert that to points thanks to a successfully 53 yard FG attempt by ex-Patriot Vinatieri. With 3:30 to go in the third, the Patriots made it a 28-13 game thanks once again to Jonas Gray who successfully punched it in from the 2 yard line.

The Colts showed some signs of life late in the 3rd when they made their way down to the Patriots 4 yard line before the game clock flipped over to the 4th quarter. Luck connected with OT Anthony Costanzo to make it a one score game with the Patriots now leading 20-28. However, not only did the Patriots manage to score another TD thanks to an 80 yard drive capped by yet another Gray TD, but they were able to bleed nearly 5 minutes off the clock, putting New England up 35-20 with just under 9 minutes to go in the game. With the clock ticking, Andrew Luck and the Colts offense were pressured to go for it on a 4th and 12 at midfield, but Luck threw the ball incomplete, giving the Patriots an even shorter field to work with and less than 7 minutes to go in the game. The Patriots essentially put the game away on a 26 yard reception and TD from Brady to Gronkowski where he was shedding tacklers like a maple sheds its leaves this time of year- this comes AFTER destroying former teammate and Colts safety Sergio Brown by blocking him into an NBC camera trolley along the sideline.

New England goes on to an pretty easy-looking 42-20 win on Sunday Night Football and will next host the Detroit Lions [who, interestingly, aren't playing on thanksgiving- NANESB!]. Interestingly, this may be the first time ever that the Patriots and Lions have ever played each other when both teams were leading their respective divisions.

OTHER PATRIOTS NEWS- After being released by the Pittsburgh Steelers on Tuesday, free agent RB and former Patriot LeGarrette Blount signed a two year deal with New England on Thursday. Blount was released by the Steelers less than 24 hours after the Steelers 27-24 Monday Night Football win over the Tennessee Titans after complaining about getting no carries in the game.

Although some sportswriters believed the Pats had their eyes toward the future when bringing Blount back [Ridley is currently on the DL and Shane Vereen is a free agent at the end of the season- NANESB!] that became more apparent when Jonas Gray missed practice on Friday. Something similar happened last month when CB Darrelle Revis missed practice last month, but he ultimately ended up playing in the Oct 26th win against the Bears.

ELSEWHERE IN THE AFC EAST- Sunday afternoon's game between the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets has been postponed and is rescheduled to be played at Detroit's Ford Field on Monday night. Over the last few days, the Buffalo area had been hit by a series of winter storms with accumulation up to six feet in many areas.

Initially, the Bills were optimistic that they could get the stadium ready in time for Sunday's game and were offering fans $10 and hour and free game tickets to assist in shoveling out the stadium. However, the snowfall clogged the surrounding highways to the point where some players were arriving at Ralph Wilson stadium via snowmobile and the forecast is calling for even more snowfall between now and Sunday.

Kickoff is scheduled for Monday at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised locally in both the Buffalo and New York City markets on CBS.

NHL- After a pretty disappointing week that saw the Olde Towne Team lose big to Original Six rivals Montreal and Toronto, the Bruins seemed like they found their rhythm once again after returning to the Garden and doubling up the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 over the weekend.

The win in Tuesday night's home game against the visiting Blues was made all the more strange by the fact that the Blues outshot Boston by nearly a 2:1 margin- 33-17, but Tukka Rask was able to record the shutout while Patrice Bergeron scored in the first and Torey Krug scored in the 3rd [both even-handed- NANESB!] to make it a 2-0 Bruins win.

Boston will travel to Columbus for a 1-game road trip on Friday before retuning home to the Garden on Saturday to host the Canadiens. That game will get underway at 4:00 and will be televised on both NESN, CBC and the NHL Network.

NCAA FOOTBALL- And then there was only one- at least in the "Power Five" conferences.

The Alabama Crimson Tide shook things up in the BCS and put themselves back in the championship hunt after beating the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Tuscaloosa, AL by a 25-20 final on Saturday. Both 'Bama and Mississippi State now sport similar 9-1 records, with Bama holding the edge thanks to their head-to-head record against Mississippi State. The win propels the Crimson Tide to #2 in the Nation while Mississippi State falls to number four.

This weekend, Alabama has a fairly easy contest against FCS Western Carolina at Tuscaloosa before the Iron Bowl against Auburn at the end of the month while the rest of Mississippi State's games are against the SEC with Vanderbilt this weekend and the rivalry game at Ole Miss at the end of the month at Oxford, MS. There is also the matter of the SEC championship game- since Bama and Mississippi State are both in the SEC East division, one of them would go on to face the leader of the SEC west [which could be either Georgia or Missouri if the standings hold up over the next two weeks- NANESB!].

ELSEWHERE IN THE NCAA- Despite trailing most of the game against in-state rival Miami, the Florida State Seminoles pulled out a late win to continue their undefeated season. The 'Noles pulled ahead for good with just over 4 minutes to go in the 4th quarter when Freshman RB Dalvin Cook ran 26 yards for the go-ahead TD. FSU holds in to its top ranking by going on to beat Miami by a 30-26 final.

Florida State will finish off their regular season hosting Boston College, followed by the Florida Gators for Rivalry week and a showdown with #18 Georgia Tech for the ACC Title Game on Dec 6th.

ELSEWHERE IN THE ACC- After getting out to a 13-3 lead over the Louisville Cardinals, the Boston College Eagles gave up five unanswered touchdowns to Louisville and would go on to lose by a 38-19 final in Chestnut Hill two weeks ago. After a week off, the Eagles now face a monumental challenge when they travel to Tallahassee to take on #1 Florida State this weekend. The Eagles regular season wraps up with a Rivalry Week contest against Syracuse at Chestnut Hill on Nov 29th.

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.

Sports Chowdah W/ A Side of Triptothan Update: No 11th Heaven For Bruins; BC Rocks Miami Like a Hurricane; The Longhorn Goobye

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

NCAA FOOTBALL: Boston College closed out the regular season on Friday with a trip to Miami to take on the struggling (altho' not as badly as the Eagles) Hurricanes.

The game seemed almost secondary to developments within the Miami program- it was decided that even if the Hurricanes were bowl-eligible that they would not accept any invitations due to an ongoing investigation and possible NCAA sanctions regarding former booster and Ponzi scheme mastermind Nevin Shapiro and the uncertainty on the status of football head coach Al Golden.

And I gotta say, despite getting out to the 14-10 halftime lead, Miami played like a team with other things on their mind in the 2nd half. Boston College got had the 1st possession of the 2nd half and after starting off on their own 20 yard line, managed to march down 80 yards in 3 minutes and 7 seconds to take a 17-14 lead on a 32 yard completion from QB Chase Rettig to TE Chris Pantale.

To open up the 4th quarter, the Eagles would get some much-needed insurance when BC linebacker Luke Kuechly picked off 'Canes QB Jackory Harris for a 45 yard return to the end zone to make it a 24-14 Boston College lead. The defense would then seal the deal by shutting down Miami's offense thanks in no small part to a number of takeaways. Harris would then go on to throw two more picks in the 4th quarter before Miami settled a late FG to make it a 24-17 game with 21 seconds left. The Hurricanes would attempt the onside kick, but it would go out of bounds to end the game and wrap up both the Eagles and Canes respective seasons.

Chase Rettig went 13-17 with 196 yards and 2 TDs while TE Chirs Pantale had 4 catches for 79 yards and 2 TDs. Miami's Jacory Harris went 23-39 with 245 yards, a TD and 4 interceptions on the day, three of them coming in the 4th quarter.

I wish I could take credit for this quote, but an anonymous netizen who was clearly paying attention to the game said that The Canes and Jacory Harris were making Boston College look like a top tier SEC team.

Boston College finished the 2011 campaign with a 4-8 record while the Miami Hurricanes wrap things up with a 6-6 record. Apparently wanting to send the crowd home happy in Miami, it was announced that Al Golden received an 8-year contract extension with the Hurricanes with about 12 minutes remaining in the game.

I gotta say, as disappointed as I've been with Boston College this year, it was still very gratifying to seem them beat the Hurricanes and win two out of their last three. I keep thinking back to that Freese FG attempt from point-blank range that clanged off the upright against Duke in week 3 and how much different this season could've been if the kick was good. Don't get me wrong, there were a number of other issues, but that seemed to be a backbreaker way too early for BC.

This would be the first time since 1999 (back when the Eagles were still in the Big East) that the BC Eagles were ineligible for a Bowl game, so that streak comes to an end this season.

For 2012, the BC Eagles are tentatively scheduled to have Army, Northwestern, Notre Dame and Maine as non-conference opponents, although an official, finalized schedule has yet to come out.

TEXAS: Thursday night marked the end of an era in the Lone Star state when the Texas Longhorns and Texas A&M Aggies faced off for the last time in the foreseeable future thanks to the Aggies moving to the SEC starting next season. The rivalry's apparent finale was broadcast live on ESPN from Kyle stadium in College Station, TX.

The Aggies/Longhorns Rivalry dates back to 1894 and the two football teams have met each other in 118 total games since then.

A&M got out to the early 10-0 lead in the first quarter while the Longhorns were unable to get a 1st down until about 8 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

The Longhorns headed into the locker room down 16-7 at the half, but started out strong in the 2nd half, with Longhorns CB Carrington Byndom picking off a pass from Aggies QB Ryan Tannehill to close within two points. Although the Aggies would keep the Longhorns out of the end zone on their next possession, they managed to take the 17-16 lead on a chip shot 25 yard FG. Texas would then pad their lead on a short TD run from RB Cody Johnson to make it 24-16 Longhorns.

But after kicking a 32 yard FG in the 4th, the Aggies would come back late to take the lead on a 16 yard completion from Tannehill to WR Jeff Fuller to make it a 25-24 Aggies lead. But with 1:48 remaining Case McCoy was able to march the Longhorns down the field and into Aggie territory, including a mad 25 yard scramble from 1st and 10 on the Aggies 48. Well within FG range, the Longhorns allowed the clock to go down to 3 seconds before bringing on Justin Tucker to kick a 40 yard FG, which sealed to 27-25 Longhorns win.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA FOOTBALL: Pretty busy black Friday out there as far as College football went.

Despite a sloppy 1st half in Baton Rouge, the top ranked LSU Tigers came back strong in the 2nd half, blowing the #3 rated Arkansas Razorbacks out of they Bayou by a 41-17 final going on to win by a 41-17 final. Undefeated LSU will next face the #13 Georgia Bulldogs in the SEC Championship game on December 3rd.

The #8 Houston Cougars handled Tulsa pretty easily on the road 48-16 to remain undefeated heading into next weekend's Conference USA Championship game, which they will host. The undefeated Cougars will likely face either Southern Mississippi or Marshall for the title game.

Other 'rivalry' games on Friday included the West Virginia Mountaineers rallying past the Pitt Panthers, scoring 14 unanswered points in the second half to win by a 21-20 final.

NHL: After rallying past a Buffalo Sabres team determined to assert their physical presence in a shootout Wednesday night to extend their winning streak to 10 in a row, the Boston Bruins played host to the Detroit Red Wings on black Friday.

Elsa/Getty Images

Once again, the Bruins rallied from behind to tie the game on an unassisted goal from Patrice Bergeron to tie the contest up at 2-2 and force OT. After the scoreless OT, Pavel Datsyuk and Todd Bertuzzi managed to get the puck past Tukka Rask in the OT while Nathan Horton had the lone shootout goal for Boston.

All good things must come to an end and the Red Wings snap the Bruins winning streak with their 3-2 shootout win, although Boston does get the one point for forcing the contest to overtime. This is actually the B's first shootout loss of the 2011-12 season, so at

For the first time in 16 years, the Bruins will host the Winnipeg Jets at the Garden on Saturday night. Back in November 1995, the Bruins managed to beat the Jets in regulation by a 5-4 final (and would actually sweep the season series with a 5-3 road win against Winnipeg a month later). The 9-9-4 Jets are coming off of a 3-1 at Carolina and the game gets under way at 7PM ET and will be broadcast on NESN and CBC.

NBA: Reports are circulating as of late Friday night that owners and the NBA players association have tentatively agreed to a new labor deal that would allow the regular NBA season to resume on Christmas Day.

Salty Sports Chowdah Update- Sox Royal Pains in Midwest; Things Get Uggla; Pats Keelhaul Bucs; Some Goodwill, Danica Leaving IndyCar?

RED SOX: After finishing their road trip with a whimper by dropping 2 out of 3 games to the Mariners, the Red Sox travelled home for a quick 3-game series against Tampa Bay (again, dropping two out of three) before heading to the heartland for a 4-game series in Kansas City.

Not unlike his start against Seattle, game one got off to a little bit of a choppy start with Josh Beckett on the mound as he gave up a leadoff double in the top of the 1st to 3B Alex Gordon. Gordon was brought home thanks to a sac bunt that moved him to third and a Billy Butler sac-fly to put KC in front 1-0.

The Sox got the equalizer in the top of the 2nd when Jason Varitek drove home Josh Reddick with an RBI single, although he was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double. The Red Sox then took the lead on a 2-RBI single from Dustin Pedroia in the 3rd before KC got it right back with a 2-run Alex Gordon homer in the bottom half of the inning. Pedroia would come to bat with Ellsbury on 2nd and two away in the top of the 5th and get what would be the game winning RBI with a single (that like Varitek, he was thrown out trying to stretch into a double).

Daniel Bard would come on in the 8th and Papelbon would close out the game in the 9th to preserve the 4-3 Boston lead. The 7 innings thrown by Beckett puts him at 10-5 while Papelbon's save was his 29th of the season.

On Friday night, KC got out to the early 1-0 lead on an RBI sac fly hit by Alex Gordon off of Andrew Miller, but that's all Miller and the bullpen would allow as they managed to tie the game up on a Darnell McDonald RBI triple before taking the lead on a Jacoby Ellsbury sac fly in the top of the 4th.

In the top of the 5th and with two out and two away, catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia belted a 3-run homer to give the Red Sox plenty of insurance at 5-1. The Sox would get two more to make it a 7-1 final. Miller gets the win after giving up a run and 3 hits in 5 and ⅓ innings of work while Alfredo Aceves worked 3 and ⅔ scoreless innings allowing one hit and striking out 3 to preserve the 7-1 lead.

Boston takes the first two in KC, setting up a matchup tomorrow between Tim Wakefield (6-5; 4.90 ERA) who has gone winless in his last four starts and Kansas City's Felipe Paulino (1-9; 4.30 ERA).

OTHER SOX NEWS:: David Ortiz is expected to miss up to a week with bursitis in his right heel. He was scratched from the lineup right before the start of the day/night doubleheader with Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Ryan Lavarnaway was called up from Pawtucket and replaced Big Papi in the lineup on Thursday night's game at DH, going 0-4.

Kevin Youkilis was placed on the DL this week as well with back problems and is also expected to miss a week.



ELSEWHERE IN MLB- MINNESOTA: On Monday night's game against Detroit in Comerica park, Minnesota slugger Jim Thome managed to belt career home runs #599 and #600 as the Twins out dueled the Tigers by a 9-6 final. On the landmark knight for the veteran slugger, Thome went 3-4 with 5 RBI, accounting for most of the Twin's offensive output that evening.

Thome's 3-run shot off of Daniel Schelerth in the top of the 7th made him the 8th major leaguer to enter the 600 Home Run club.

ATLANTA: Braves 2B Dan Uggla's hitting streak stopped at 33 games over the weekend. The Chicago Cunbs kept the red hot Uggla hitless for the first time in a month. Uggla's hit streak in July/August stopped just shy of the 1949 hit streak mark set by Red Sox outfielder Dom DiMaggio (or more recently, Benito Santiago's 34-game hit streak with the San Diego Padres in 1987). Uggla's hit streak now stand as the longest in Braves history, surpassing outfielder Rico Carty's 31-game hit streak in 1970.

CHICAGO CUBS: Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano (9-7; 4.82 ERA) abruptly announced his retirement after getting shelled by the Braves a week ago. Zambrano didn't even last 5 innings and gave up 8 earned runs as well as a career worst 5 homers. Zambrano was ejected after throwing inside on consecutive pitches to Atlanta 3B Chipper Jones.

Within days, the Cubs placed Zambrano on the disqualified list when it became clear he wasn't going to walk back his comments about retiring. The Players Association is protesting the actions the Cubs have taken against the hotheaded hurler in an effort to reduce any sanctions or fines that might be forthcoming.

After the Zambrano fiasco, the Cubs also announced that General manager Jim Hendry was terminated on Friday afternoon. Curiously, owner Tom Ricketts claimed he reached the decision on July 22 and told Hendry that day, but for whatever reason both parties didn't make any public announcement until nearly 3 weeks later- after the July 31st non-waiver trade deadline as well as the August 15 deadline to sign this year's draft picks.


NFL: QB Tom Brady went 11 for 19 including two TD passes in Thursday night's preseason game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady worked for the first half and connected with TE Aaron Hernandez for a 16 yard TD pass and then WR Chad Ochocinco for TD pass #2. Ben Jarvus Green Ellis had two rushing TDs of his own, including one to close out the first half in New England's 31-14 preseason win over Tampa Bay.

The next preseason game for New England will be at Ford Field against the Detroit Tigers on Sat. Aug 27th. at 8PM ET.

NCAA FOOTBALL: One time Miami Hurricanes booster and convicted money launderer Nevin Shapiro made good on a jailhouse threat to disclose to the NCAA and the press improper benefits he gave to Hurricanes players while they were still with the university including cash, merchandise and parties on a yacht he owned that featured prostitutes.

Shapiro pleaded guilty to securities fraud and money laundering in September 2010 and was sentenced to a 20 year sentence in June. In a jailhouse interview, Shapiro detailed how he used funds from an ongoing Ponzi scheme going as far back as 2002 to finance donations to the University of Miami football and men's basketball programs in addition to giving out cash and favors to Hurricanes players.

The NCAA has notified University of Miami administrators that it's considering invoking a 'willful violators' clause to circumvent a 4 year statute of limitations on any investigation into the Miami athletic program. Traditionally, the NCAA’s bylaws would only allow it to sanction the Hurricanes for infractions that occurred during the four years prior to receiving a letter of inquiry from investigators. For example, if Miami received a letter of inquiry for a case on Sept. 1, 2011, the NCAA could only sanction the school for applicable violations dating back to Sept. 1, 2007. But the clause – reserved for “a pattern of willful violations” – can spin a probe back to the earliest applicable infractions.

Applied to the Shapiro allegations, it means the NCAA could reach as far back to early 2002, when the booster said he began funneling benefits to Hurricanes players. And if the probe stretched back to 2002, it would overlap with Miami’s two-year probationary period from the baseball program, which was leveled from February 2003 to February 2005. That could potentially tag the Hurricanes athletic program with a “repeat violator” label and make the school further susceptible to the NCAA’s so-called death penalty.

Only one Division one NCAA football program has been given the 'death penalty' before- the Southern Methodist University Mustangs in 1988. The NCAA banned the football team from taking the field in the 1987 season, and although away games were technically permitted the following season, SMU administrators decided it wasn't feasible to field a team for seven scheduled Away games that were already scheduled.

In 2003, the Miami Hurricanes baseball program was on probation from the NCAA for violations during the 1998-1999 seasons. If Shapiro's claims are true and the timeline match up, then he was funneling money to Miami players before the university even started probation.

NCAA HOOPS: Wow- if this is a 'Goodwill tour', I'd hate to see what the Georgetown Hoyas Malice Tour to China would look like.

The video above is from an altercation on Friday in Beijing between the Hoyas basketball team and the Shanghai Bayi Rockets- a squad that reportedly has ties to China's People's Liberation Army. The bench-clearing brawl erupted with less than 10 minutes to go in the game and the crowd threw plastic water bottles at the Hoyas as they left the court.



MOTORSPORTS: ESPN is reporting that Indy Car driver Danica Patrick is expected to announce a full-time move to NASCAR beginning next season. While the full details and terms of her contract have yet to be finalized, Patrick is expected to race primarily in the Nationwide series (something she's already appeared in) and make appearences in select Sprint Cup races.

Hugo Chavez Reportedly in Critical Condition in Cuban Hospital

Miami's Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald is reporting that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez remains hospitalized in critical condition at a Cuban hospital and may be suffering from prostate cancer.

according to the report in El Nuevo Herald, Chávez finds himself in "critical condition, not grave, but critical, in a complicated situation."

The Miami newspaper cited U.S. intelligence officials who wished to remain anonymous.

Chávez silence has led to chatter and speculation in Venezuela that the socialist leader is actually suffering from prostate cancer. Intelligence officials could not confirm a diagnosis of prostate cancer but Chávez family did go to Cuba in the last 72 hours, according to wire service EFE.

Chávez daughter Rosinés and his mother Marisabel Rodríguez "urgently" left the country and headed to Cuba in a Venezuelan air force plane.

Cuba's state media website, Cubadebate, released photos on June 17 that showed Chávez posing with Fidel and Raul Castro in his hospital room. Chávez smiled for the camera in a track suit, while a frail-looking Fidel clutched Chávez arm.

Before the report that Chávez was in critical condition, his brother sought to reassure Venezuela that he was recovering well.

The questions over Chavez's long term health have led to speculation about possible successors to the presidency and criticism from opposition groups over the Chavez junta governing from abroad.

A notoriously long-winded public speaker, Chavez had been remarkably quiet this month. Chavez hadn't been seen in public since June 9th and was last heard from in a phone interview with Venezuela's state TV on June 12th. A regular user of Twitter, Chavez's account was dormant for 19 days before activity resumed.

Chavez considers Cuban dictator Fidel Castro the ideological predecessor to his regional 'Bolivar revolution' and counts Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Ecuador's Rafael Correa among his leftist allies in the region.

Epic FAA-IL 5th Air Traffic Controller in Less than 1 Month Suspended or Fired For Sleeping on the Job

The FAA said that an air traffic controller had fallen asleep at the job early Saturday Morning at a facility in Miami, the fifth such incident in approximately three weeks.

The incident occurred at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center during the midnight shift early Saturday morning, two days before the FAA is expected to conduct meetings on air traffic control safety and professionalism, the FAA reported. According to a preliminary review of air traffic tapes, the controller did not miss any calls from aircraft and there was no operational impact, the agency said in a statement. The incident was reported to a manager by another controller, the FAA said. There were 12 controllers and two managers on duty.

The Miami incident came a few days after two air traffic controllers were caught dozing off on the job in two separate instances- one in Seattle's Boeing Field and the other at Reno-Tahoe international in Reno, NV. In the Nevada incident, a medical flight was attempting to contact Air Traffic Control, but the plane was able to land safely in clear weather without guidance from the tower.

The head of the FAA's air traffic organization, Hank Krakowski, resigned last week in the wake of similar incidents of air traffic controllers napping on the job. The FAA terminated a controller who was caught napping at McGhee Tyson International Airport in Nashville, TN back on Feb 19th and an American Airlines and United flight landed at northern Virginia's Reagan International Airport across the Potomac from Washington D.C in the early morning hours of Mar. 23rd without any aid from the tower because the controller there was reportedly asleep.

Incidentally, the FAA appears to be looking to train and hire more air traffic controllers at this time.

Amused Obama: Tea Party Protestors 'Should Be Thanking Me'

Whether it's spending Christmas in a spacious Oahu villa or speaking to donors at a $30,000 a head fundraiser in singer Gloria Estefan's Miami Beach mansion, let it not be said that Obama's ever lost his touch with the common man.

"We cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans, just like I promised we would on the campaign," Obama said.
“So I've been a little amused over the last couple of days where people have been having these rallies, about taxes. You would think they would be saying, "Thank you!" That's what you'd think!

Really? 95% of working Americans? Of course, now that I think about it, there's been alot less of those since President Obama was sworn in. Assuming I took what the president had to say at face value (which would be a fool's errand), I'd have to wonder how much of this wonderful, fantabulous 95% savings would be negated by various fees, mandates and stealth taxes in 0bamacare and other legislation that's waiting in the wings. Plus I have a hard time imagining that the words 'Thank you!' were the first things on the minds of the ongoing parade of motorists dropping their completed tax forms at the mailboxes adjacent to post office that was the venue for last week's Tea Party protest.

Like I predicted last fall, instead of holding off on their job-killing legislative agenda, it looks as though this Administration and Congress and their enablers in the media are establishing the narrative that the high nationwide unemployment rate is part of the 'new normal' and that we're in the midst of a 'jobless recovery'.

Well, like the man said, I guess we should be thanking President Obama. Thank you for this 'Jobless Recovery' and new normal of 9%+ unemployment rate, Mr. President!

Guess we don't know how good we have it. Exactly who should we thank for that?