State of the Sports Chowdah Update- Mile High Clubbed, Broncos Stifle Pats in AFC Title Game; Take it Outside, NHL Kicks Off Stadium Series; Vonn-ed Farewell, Downhill Skiier Lindsey Vonn to Miss Sochi Games

Doug Pensinger- Getty Images

NFL- After trailing 24-0 at the half of their first meeting, trailing by 10 points against Denver at Mile high during halftime if the AFC Championship game might not have seemed so daunting at the half for New England- at least on paper.

However, outside of a 47 yard Gostkowski FG with just under 3 minutes to go in the half the Broncos managed to shut out New England. Even more worrying for the Patriots was the loss of CB Aqib Talib early in the game, which seemed to open up Peyton Manning's air attack even more.

Denver started the scoring late in the first quarter with a 27 yard Prater FG to make it 3-0. The Broncos then capped a 7-minute, 93 yard drive in the 2nd quarter with a rushing TD from TE Jacob Tamme to take a 10-0 lead with just under 8 minutes to go in the 2nd quarter. Inside of the two minute warning, the Patriots defense managed to keep to Broncos out of the end zone, but Denver got another 3 points thanks to a 35 yard Prater FG to make it 13-3 at the half.

After halftime, Denver added to their lead with another time-consuming drive that shaved more than 7 minutes off the clock and took the Broncos 80 yards. The drive was capped with a 3 yard completion from Manning to Demaryius Thomas for another Broncos TD to make it a 20-3 lead.

In fact, New England wouldn't manage to find the end zone until the 4th quarter and only after the Broncos had managed to tack another 3 points on to make it a 23-3 game. With just under 9 and a half minutes to go in regulation, Brady found Julian Edelman for a 7 yard TD reception and make it a 23-10 game.

On their next drive, the Broncos would get as far as the New England 36 and seemingly put the game out of reach thanks to a 54 yard Prater FG, giving Denver a 26-10 lead with 7 minutes to go.

The Patriots would get the ball back on their own 20 and Brady would cap the drive by making a 5 yard TD run himself but the subsequent two point conversion attempt failed, leaving it a 10 point game with just over 3 minutes left. All Denver really needed to do is get a few first downs and run out the clock- and that's exactly what happened as the Patriots burned their remaining timeouts to try and preserve the clock.

The win propels the Broncos to their first Super Bowl since the 1998 season (and Peyton Manning's first since 2006). Manning went 32-43 and threw for 400 yards on the day while Brady went 24-38 with 277 yards and one passing and one rushing TD. Although the Pats mostly kept Knowshown Moreno in check, but that made little difference as Manning's air attack seemed to open up even more after Talib's early departure.

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP- The Broncos would have to wait a little while to find out who they'd be playing at the Meadowlands in Super Bowl XLVIII. As it turned out, the NFC title game between Western division rivals Seattle and San Francisco would be much more competitive than the earlier AFC Championship game.

With Seattle taking a 20-17 lead on a TD pass from Russell Wilson to Jermaine Kearse earlt in the 4th, there was still plenty of time for the 49ers to come back- even when the Seahawks added to their lead with a 47 yard FG to make it a 23-17 game with just under four minutes to go.

The game-deciding drive got underway when the 49ers started out from their own 22 with just over 3 and a half minutes remaining. After moving the ball downfield and getting inside the Seattle Red Zone, Seahawks All Pro cornerback Richard Sherman tipped Colin Kaepernick's pass attempt to teammate Malcom Smith to clinch the game with 22 seconds left.

Of course, the actual game seemed to pale in comparison to Sherman's postgame interview with FOX Sports' Erin Andrews where he ripped Michael Crabtree as a 'sorry' receiver [it apparently was one of the few times Kaepernick attempted to throw to a receiver covered by Crabtree that day- NANESB!].

The win sets up a Big Game matchup between teams from two cities that- as others have pointed out- have recently legalized marijuana, lending new significance to the phrase Super Bowl.

Kickoff for Superbowl XLVIII is scheduled for Sunday, Feb 2nd at 6:30 PM ET from the Meadowlands in E. Rutherford, NJ and the game will be televised on FOX.

Elise Amendola

NHL- It's been a busy week for the Boston Bruins- a week in which good things come in sixes, apparently.

Over the weekend, they travelled to Philly where they beat the Flyers by a 6-1 final before heading to Uniondale, NY on Monday night and beat the Islanders by a 6-3 final. Tuesday night marked the Bruins return to the Garden as well as a homecoming of sorts for former Bruin and Catamount and 2011 Vezina and Conn Smythe trophy winner Tim Thomas, who resumed his NHL career earlier this year with the Florida Panthers.

The Bruins jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first thanks for goals by Milan Lucic and Zdeno Chara before doubling their lead in the second with another Lucic tally and a power play goal by Reilly Smith to make it 4-0. The Panthers were able to get on the board in the closing seconds of the 2nd period thanks to a Bard Boyes tally. Four minutes into the 3rd period, the Panthers were able to cut the Boston lead in half thanks to a Dmitri Kulikov goal, making it a 4-2 game. However, that would be as close as the Panthers would get as Shawn Thornton and David Krejci would score for Boston to put the B's up 6-2.

Things got kind of testy towards the end of the game when Tim Thomas delivered a stick to defenseman Carl Soderberg's head in the closing seconds of the game. Thomas was given a high-sticking minor with only a few seconds to go when the game was already decided and Boston goes on the cruise to a 6-2 win over Florida.

This sets up an Original 6 matchup for Thursday night with the Bruins hosting the Montreal Canadiens at the Garden. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN and the NHL Network.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- For the 2013-2014 season, the New Year's Day Winter Classic didn't end with the Red Wings vs Maple Leafs game from the Big House in Michigan.

On Saturday night, the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings faced off in Dodgers Stadium for the first-ever warm weather outdoor regular season NHL game. The host LA Kings ultimately fell to their Orange County rivals by a 3-0 final.

But the outdoor games didn't end in the city of Angels. The very next day on the other side of the country, the New York Rangers began what would be the first of two games [interestingly one 'home' and one 'away'- NANESB!] at Yankee stadium. On Sunday afternoon, the Blueshirts were trailing the Devils 3-1 in the first period when they managed to score six unanswered goals on Martin Brodeur. On Wednesday night, the Rangers took on the Islanders as the 'away' team and broke a 1-1 deadlock in the 3rd with a go-ahead goal from Dan Carcillo in the 3rd to help the Rangers win and sweep the series at Yankee stadium.

There remains two more outdoor for the NHL this season- a Feb 1st matchup at Chicago's Soldier Field that pits the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks against the Pittsburgh Penguins and a March 2nd all-Canada contest between the Vancouver Canucks and Ottawa Senators at the BC Palace Stadium in Vancouver, BC.

SI Photo
WINTER OLYMPICS- Downhill Skier Lindsey Vonn announced that she will not be competing in the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, saying that an earlier right knee injury she suffered is taking longer than she anticipated to heal. Instead, the 2010 Gold Medalist will travel to Sochi as a correspondent for NBC and a spokesman said earlier this month that she is expected to undergo surgery.

Vonn took gold Gold in the downhill event at the 2010 Winter games in Vancouver as well as a Bronze in the Super G event. Lindsey also has gold medals in Super G and downhill from the 2009 Alpine World Skiing Championships in Val d'Isère, France.

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Win Comes Down to Shot of Jagr; Red Sox Face New-Look Jays For First Time

Boston Bruins photo

NHL- Seeing the marquee players slated to appear, one could almost be forgiven for mistaking Thursday night's game between the Bruins and Devils at the Garden as some sort of alumni or old-timers exhibition contest.

The weeknight matchup featured two rivals who had clashed with each other numerous times in their respective Hall of Fame careers. Wearing the familiar #68- although in a slightly different black and gold uniform- RW Jaromir Jagr made his Boston Bruins debut after being acquired from Dallas a day before the NHL trade deadline. Between the pipes for the visiting Devils was Martin Brodeur, another future Hall of Famer and product of the 1990 NHL Draft. By contrast, Brodeur spent his entire career with the New Jersey Devils while Jagr is on his 3rd team in two seasons. Having both broken into the NHL more than 20 years ago, these two had no doubt faced each other countless times and the seemingly timeless matchup between the winger and netminder would factor into the final score of a game played 23 years after they were first drafted.

Just a minute and 20 seconds into the second period, Brad Marchand's centering pass went off Jagr's skate and got past Brodeur to put Boston up 1-0. The goal, credited to Jagr, wasn't pretty but it would end up being the difference in Thursday night's contest as Tukka Rask turned aside all 40 shots he faced- including a dozen in the 3rd period. Brodeur would turn aside 25 of 26 shots he faced and both teams went 0-1 on the power play.

The Bruins will head into Montreal riding a 3-game winning streak on Saturday and hope to take the lead in the Northeast division- the Canadiens are currently up by a point in the standings. The puck drops at 7:00 ET and will be televised on NESN, CBC and the NHL Network.

Canadian Press, Nathan Denette

MLB- After taking two out of three from the Yankees in the Bronx to start off the regular season, the Red Sox headed north for another AL East matchup- this time it was the new-look Toronto Blue Jays. This would mark Boston manager John Farrell's first appearence in Toronto since he was acquired by Boston in the offseason, and not surprisingly he was booed by the home crowd for much of the evening.

That didn't stop the Red Sox from grabbing an early lead, however. With one away in the second, Jays starter Josh Johnson gave up back to back singles to Victorino and Bradley before hitting Jose Iglesias with a pitch to load the bases. Ellsbury would single and drive in a run before Daniel Nava grounded into a double play to end the inning.

In the bottom of the 2nd, Jays outfielder Rajai Davis singled off of Sox starter Felix Doubront before moving to third on a Colby Rasmus double. Mark DeRosa would then bring Davis home on a sac fly to tie the game up at 1-1 before Doubront got Maicer Izturis to ground out and end the inning.

With one away in the top of the 4th, the inning was kept alive thanks to a pair of Emilio Bonifacio errors on ground balls by Victorino and Bradley. Although hhe came on defensively for a few innings, Farrell pulled Iglesias for Pedro Ciriaco in the top of the 4th and he was immediately rewarded with an RBI single to give Boston a 2-1 lead. Boston would take a 4-1 lead in the top of the 5th thanks to a 2-run homer from Mike Napoli. However, in the bottom of the 5th the Jays cut into Boston's lead with a Mark DeRosa solo homer to lead off the inning, followed by a Maicer Izturis single and Jose Reyes bringing him home on an RBI double. However, Reyes was thrown out at third trying unsuccessfully to stretch it out into a triple. With the bases clear, Doubront would allow a single to Emilio Bonifacio before getting the next two batters out.

Doubront would allow a leadoff double to JP Arenciba before Koji Uehara came on in relief and got the first three batters he faced out in the bottom of the 6th. In the top of the 7th, Jays reliever Brett Cecil would come on in relief of Johnson and work his way out of a jam with runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out by striking out Victorino, Bradley and Ciriaco. With one away in the bottom of the 7th, the Jays would tie the game up after Junichi Tazawa gave up a 1-out solo homer to Reyes after coming on in relief of Uehara. After striking out Emilio Bonifacio for the second out, Tazawa than allowed a triple off the bat of Melky Cabrera but managed to extinguish the threat after getting Edwin Encarnacion to line out to center.

With one out in the top of the 8th, Esmil Rogers came out of the bullpen in relief of Cecil and Johnny Gomes would hit for Daniel Nava. Gomes would work a walk from Rogers before advancing to third on a Dustin Pedroia double and coming home on a Victornio groundout. Jarrod Saltalamacchia would strike out to end the inning.

Andrew Bailey would come out of the Sox bullpen in the bottom of the 8th and get out of a jam with two on and only one out by getting Adam Lind and Izturus to fly out while in the top of the 9th, the Red Sox got a little bit of insurance thanks to Will Middlebrooks hitting a solo homer to lead off the inning to make it 6-4 Boston.

The Blue Jays had one last chance in the bottom of the 9th after Joel Hanrahan got the first two batters he face out. With the Jays down to their last strike, Melky Cabrera was able to get on base with a walk and bring the potential tying run up into the batters box, but Encarnacion grounded out to second to end the ballgame and preserve the Red Sox win. The win comes despite the fact that the Red Sox left 15 runners on base and were 2 for 19 with runners in scoring position- only slightly better than Toronto's 0 for 10 in the same situation Friday night.

For Saturday's game, Red Sox starter John Lackey is scheduled to get his first start in nearly a year and a half. He will face the Jay's J.A. Happ in a day game from the Rogers Centre with a first pitch of 1:07 PM ET. The game will be televised on NESN.

Hot Dogging Sports Chowdah Update- Food Flight at the Garden as B's, Devils Head to Shootout; St Louis' Stan 'The Man' Musial Passes Awat at 92; Reports Link A-Rod to Miami Pharmacy Selling HGH

AP Photo/Charles Krupa

NHL- The Bruins continued their torrid start to the shortened 2013 season thanks to a 4-2 win over the Islanders on Friday night followed by a quick trip to the Tarheel state where they came away with a 5-3 win over the Hurricanes on Monday night [with Khudobin making his first start of the season- NANESB!].

On Tuesday night, the Bruins returned to the Garden for a tilt with the Atlantic conference-leading New Jersey Devils.

The Devils were off to a similarly impressive start to the season and got on the board about midway through the second after a shot from David Clarkson evaded Tukka Rask and found the back of the net on a New Jersey power play. Clarkson's tally was actually the first power play goal allowed by the Bruins this season and on the other end of the ice, Johan Hedberg was playing well enough for me to think the Bruins would be handed their first shutout and regulation loss this season.

Sometimes I don't mind being wrong, though. With a little over four minutes remaining in regulation, Nathan Horton beat Hedberg to tie things up at 1-1 and force overtime where the Bruins were looking at a worst-case scenario of garner one point. But after a scoreless overtime, the game headed to a shootout and that's where things started to get weird.

Jared Wickerham, Getty Images

You see, right when Tyler Seguin was getting ready to shoot for Boston's first shot, some fucking mouthbreathing idiot in the stands took it upon him (or her) self to chuck a friggin' hotdog onto the ice. Seguin's shot was good, but it was nullified due to the flying weenie. Hedberg reportedly didn't see it until after Seguin had scored, but the officials ruled it no good and Seguin had to try again. And it went in...again.

However, it was a short-lived lead in the shootout when Ilya Kovalchuk put one past Rask on the Devils' first attempt of the shootout. Honestly, it would be awhile before anybody else would score- four straight attempts by each team were turned aside or missed then net altogether- but Brad Marchand put the B's up in the shootout and Rask got his pads on a Marek Zidlicky shot to give the Bruins the win. The Bruins are now 5-0-1 on the season and all alone on top of the Eastern conference at 11 points. The next Bruins game will be their first Northeast conference matchup of the season as they host the 2-3-1 Buffalo Sabres at the Garden on Thursday night. The game will be televised on NESN and the puck drops at 7:00 ET.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The Montreal Canadiens have reached an agreement with defenseman and holdout P.K. Subban. The 23 year old defenseman and restricted free agent was in the final year of a $2M entry-level contract last season. The two year deal is reportedly worth $5.75 million and will have Subban playing for next to nothing during this abbreviated season while getting the majority of his money during the 2013-2014 season.

MLB- St Louis Cardinals Hall of Famer Stan 'the man' Musial passed away on January 19th at the age of 92. Born in southwetern Pennsylvania, Musial actually broke into the Cardinals organization in the late 1930s as an outfielder but was eventually converted to an outfielder before his first full Major League season in 1942.

The Cardinals won two World Series titles between 1942 and 1945- including an unusual all-St Louis World Series against the AL's St Louis Browns in 1944. However, with World War II raging, Musial was drafted in 1944 and entered active duty service with the Navy at the beginning of 1945, assigned to ship repair duties out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. With the war over, Musial was honorably discharged in 1946 and batting .388 with the Cardinals by the time May 1946 rolled around. His first season back since being drafted in WWII, the Cardinals would go on to beat the Boston Red Sox 4 games to three in the 1946 World Series.

Over his 21 year career, Musial accumulated 475 home runs with a total of 1,951 RBI along with 3,630 hits and a batting average of .331. Musial was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, getting into Cooperstown in 1969. Between 1963 and 1966, Musial was a vice president of the Cardinals and was a general manager during their 1967 World Series championship season. However, Musial felt that life in the front office wasn't for him and went into the restaurant business.

Musial was also an avid harmonica player and released an album of tracks that came with an instructional booklet. Musial also has a number of plaques and statues in his honor both around the new Busch Stadium and the Missouri state capitol building in Jefferson City, MO. In February 2011, Musial was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedon by President Obama at a ceremony in the White House. Stan Musial is survived by his son and three daughters- his wife of 71 years Lilian passed away in May 2012.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Yankees infielder Alex Rodriguez name has come up in another PED investigation as a south Florida alternative newspaper published a report claiming MLB's highest-paid athlete shows up on a client list of a Miami-area pharmacy that sells steroids and Human Growth Hormone to a number of pro and college players.

The names are all included in an extraordinary batch of records from Biogenesis, an anti-aging clinic tucked into a two-story office building just a hard line drive's distance from the UM campus. They were given to New Times by an employee who worked at Biogenesis before it closed last month and its owner abruptly disappeared. The records are clear in describing the firm's real business: selling performance-enhancing drugs, from human growth hormone (HGH) to testosterone to anabolic steroids. Interviews with six customers and two former employees corroborate the tale told by the patient files, the payment records, and the handwritten notebooks kept by the clinic's chief, 49-year-old Anthony Bosch.

Bosch's history with steroids also adds credence to the paperwork. The son of a prominent Coral Gables physician named Pedro Publio Bosch, he was connected with banned substances when slugger Manny Ramirez was suspended for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy in 2009. At the time, MLB confirmed the Drug Enforcement Administration was probing the father and son for allegedly providing Ramirez with HCG, a compound often used at the tail end of steroid cycles.

If the Miami New Times report can be confirmed, the Yankees could be able to invalidate the remainder of their contract with Rodriguez. There was a flurry of rumors that A-Rod might be dealt from the Yankees to the Marlins last season- in addition to all the speculation over whether or not Rodriguez plays for the Yankees again, I have to wonder if the Marlins were a potential destination because of the proximity of the clinic in Miami.

RED SOX- Outfielder Ryan Kalish underwent successful surgery on his right shoulder this week. Kalish missed 10 games with soreness and inflammation in September last year. There is no exact timetable for his return, but Kalish is expcted to miss all of spring training.

Sports Chowdah Update- Quick Work For LA As They Win Stanley Cup; Cain And Able; Marlins Flounder After Late Sox Rally; Thunder Interrupts Heat Wave

Alan Diaz- AP Photo

RED SOX- After being swept by the white-hot Washington Nationals at home over the weekend, the Red Sox hit the road for Miami where their woes looked like they weren't going away anytime soon after Beckett was touched up for 4 runs against his former team in the Marlins 4-1 win on Monday.

The loss was followed up on Tuesday night by a strong outing by Clay Buchholz where he gave up one run and struck out nine in seven innings of work, outduelling Mark Buehrle in a 2-1 Boston win.

Wednesday night's game was the rubber match of the series, with Felix Doubront getting the start against Miami's Ricky Nolasco. The Red Sox got on the board when Mike Aviles grounded out with Scott Podsednik coming home from third in the top of the 3rd inning before Big Papi added to the lead with a 1-out solo homer in the top of the 4th to make it 2-0 Boston. This was followed up by an Adrian Gonzalez RBI single and aBig Papi sac-fly in the top of the 6th to make it 4-0.

Doubront was doing well on the mound for Boston, hurling 5 and ⅔ innings of no-hit baseball before giving up a solo home run to SS Jose Reyes in the bottom of the 6th to give the Marlins their first run of the game.

Miami would then cut the Red Sox lead in half with an RBI groundout from Justin Ruggiano in the bottom of the seventh to make it 4-2. However, that's as close as the Marlins would get. In the top of the 8th, Pedroia, Gonzalez, Ortiz, Saltalamacchia and Punto would each get RBIs- with all but Salty's coming on singles [Salty had a sac-fly while Punto managed to drive in two runs w/his single- NANESB!] to make it a 10-2 ballgame, which would be the final from Miami.

Doubront had his best outing of the season, going 7 innings while allowing two runs on three hits and a walk while striking out 9. Vincente Padilla, Andrew Miller and Matt Albers came on to close things out for Boston once the game was blown wide open in the top of the 8th.

Thursday is a travel day for the Red Sox as they return to the Windy City, this time taking the El all the way up to the Addison stop on the North side where former Red Sox GM and the Chicago Cubs will play host to them at Wrigley Field- the second oldest ballpark in use in the majors. The last time the Red Sox played a regular season game in Wrigley was not that long ago- 2005. Prior to that, the last time the Red Sox played in Wrigley was the 1918 World Series- their only title for 86 years.

While the Red Sox have struggled mightily just to remain right around 500 this season, the Cubs have the worst record in the majors right now at 21-41, more than a dozen games out of first place in the NL Central.

Jeff Samardzija [5-4; 3.96 ERA] is scheduled to get the start for the Cubbies while the Red Sox starter hasn't been announced as of Wednesday night. The game is scheduled to get underway at 2:20 PM ET (1:20 Central) from Wrigley and the game will be televised on NESN and the MLB Network.



OTHER MLB NEWS- Matt Cain pitched the first-ever perfect game in the 122-year history of the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday night. This would be the 22nd perfect game in the history of the big leagues, but already the second of the 2012 season [The ChiSox's Phillip Humber retired all 27 Mariners batters he faced in a road game at SafeCo field in late April- NANESB!].

Cain threw a grand total of 125 pitches on Wednesday night against the visiting Houston Astros- 86 of them for strikes- while San Francisco's batters chased Astros starter J.A. Happ from the mound after he allowed eight runs in three and ⅓ innings. Cain's bid for perfection was preserved thanks in large part to a diving catch by outfielder Gregor Blanco in the top of the 7th, robbing Jordan Schafer of a base hit. The 10-0 win over the Astros was almost an afterthought as Giants 3B Brandon Crawford fielded pinch-hitter Jasn Castro's ground ball and threw to first for the final out.

The last time there was two perfect games in the same season was in 2010 when Oakland's Dallas Braden threw a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays on Mother's Day and Philly's Roy Halliday retired 27 straight Marlins less than 3 weeks later. A few days after Halliday's perfect game, Detroit's Armando Galaraga was denied perfection against the Cleveland Indians with two away in the bottom of the 9th by a blown call by first base umpire Jim Joyce, who later admitted to blowing the call and apologizing to Galaraga.

This is the first no-hitter for the Giants since July 2009 when Jonathan Sanchez no-hit the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park. Interestingly, this is not the firt time the Astros have been no-hit by the Giants; Juan Marichal no-hit the Astros on June 15, 1963.

Cain's perfect game came after Seattle Mariners starter Kevin Millwood and five relievers combined for a no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers at SafeCo during the series opener. This is the 5th no-hitter of the 2012 season, the first time since 1917 that there have been five or more no-hitters before mid-June.



STANLEY CUP FINALs- After the 8-seeded Los Angeles Kings lost back-to-back games against the New Jersey Devils, the seed of doubt had been planted as to whether or not they could close the deal in the Stanley Cup finals.

It seemed understandable- prior to the two losses, the Kings had amassed an impressive 9-game road winning streak in the Stanley Cup playoffs, quickly dispatching the Vancouver Canucks and St Louis Blues- the top two teams in the Western Conference. Although they jumped out to a quick 3-0 series lead over the Devils, New Jersey managed to avoid the sweep. The longer the Devils lingered, the more questions there were about LA's ability to close them out and speculation over the series coming down to a 7th game.

But to get to game 7, the Devils would have to win game 6. Los Angeles decided to banish any talk of the series heading to a game 7 in the first when they got out to a 3-0 lead thanks to power play goals from Dustin Brown, Jeff Carter and Trevor Lewis.

Carter would make it a 4-0 game with an even stregth tally that got past Brodeur early in the second while New Jersey's Adam Henrique got the Devils on the board with a tally late in the period. However, by that point, the Kings already smelled the blood in the water, and just in case the 4-1 lead wasn't enough, teh Kings tallied two empty-net goals in the 3rd from Trevor Lewis and Matt Greene to win by a final of 6-1 and bring the Stanley Cup to Los Angeles.

Although they made an appearence in the 1992-93 Stanley Cup Finals, the Kings would lose to the Montreal Canadiens that year. This is the first Stanley Cup for the LA Kings francise, which joined the NHL the same year as the Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, St Louis Blues and Minnesota North Stars (now the Dallas Stars).

The presentation of Lord Stanley's Cup capped off an impressive 16-4 postseason run for the Kings who had to duke it out with the San Jose Sharks on the final day of the regular season to determine the playoff seeding between the two. The Kings lost in a shootout and fell all the way down to the 8th and final playoff spot in April, earning a first round matchup with the Presidents Cup winning Vancouver Canucks. Far from being a hapless and outclassed #8 seed, the Kings proved to be a buzzsaw that cut through the Western Conference teams facing them, including a clean sweep of the St Louis Blues.

For the second straight season, the goaltender from the winning team was awarded the Conn Smythe trophy. Jonathan Quick seemed like a no-brainer for the NHL's equivalent of the MVP award, garner a .946 save percentage and 1.41 goals against average on top of three shutouts in the playoffs. Quick faced all of 18 shots in Game 6, turning aside 17. Last season, Boston Bruins goalie Tim Thomas won the Conn Smythe and Vezina trophies as well as the Stanley Cup. This season, Quick is already a finalist in the voting for the Vezina winner and few would be surprised if he landed the hardware with the phenomenal postseason he's had.

A parade and rally sponsored by owner Phil Anschultz's AEG in the Kings honor is scheduled to take place in Downtown LA on Thursday.

NBA- Here's something I never thought I'd be saying back in 2008: "Go Oklahoma City!".

I seemed to have underestimated the disdain in which the Miami Heat is viewed by hoops fans from pretty much everywhere outside of South Beach- although my view of them has admittedly been slanted by having the Celtics lose to them in an arduous 7-game Eastern Conference final.

Perhaps the most surreal thing about this season's NBA finals matchup is that I actually find myself in the same boat as LA Lakers fans. Apparently a number of them are rooting for the Thunder based on a lingering fondness for Derek Fisher while I'm not the least bit interested in seeing Miami win another NBA title.

As far as that goes, things got off swimmingly in Game 1 from Oklahoma City Tuesday night when the Thunder overcame an early defecit to win by a 105-94 final. Kevin Durant led the scoring for Oklahoma City with 36 points to go with 8 rebounds and 4 assists. The Thunder's Russel Westbrook was no slouch, coming up with 27 points and 11 assists and 8 rebounds while LeBron James led in scoring for the Heat with a 30 point night.

Oklahoma City is off to a 1-0 series lead in the NBA finals. Game 2 is set to take place from OKC's Chesapeake Energy Arena at 9:00 ET and will be televised on ABC.

Sports Chowder Update for June 10- National Catastrophe at Fenway; The Devil Zone, NJ Stays Alive in Cup Final; The Heat is On- Miami Surges Past C's in Game 7

Jim Rogash/Getty Images

RED SOX- Damn those Beltway insiders!

The Boston Red Sox capped a rather forgettable week by getting swept by the first place Washington Nationals over the weekend. On Friday night, Nats phenom Stephen Strasburg struck out 13 batters in six innings of work while 19 year old rookie Bryce Harper went 3 for 5 with a homer and 3 RBI in Boston's 7-4 loss to the Nats.

Saturday saw the return of Daisuke Matsuzaka to the Red Sox lineup after an extensive trip through the Red Sox minor-league system as part of his rehab. Dice-K went 5 innings, allowing four earned runs and five hits and a walk while striking out 8 but was outdueled by Washington's Gio Gonzalez who went 6 and ⅓ innings and allowing two earned runs on three hits (including Saltalamacchia's 2-run homer) in the Nationals' 4-2 win.

Sunday's game saw the Nationals rally from a 2-1 defecit to briefly take a 3-2 lead on a 2-RBI double in the top of the 7th before the game was tied back up at 3-3 thanks to a Scott Podsednik RBI groundout in the bottom of the 7th. However, after Alfredo Aceves walked Bryce Harper in the top of the 9th, Nats outfielder Roger Bernadina belted a 2-out RBI double to give Washington the 4-3 lead, which they held on to after Tyler Clippard managed to get the last 3 outs of the game.

Having been no less than 2 and a half games out of the AL East lead last week, the Red Sox have fallen back to dead last and are now 6 games behind in the AL East standings. Earlier this week, Boston had dropped two out of three games against Baltimore at Fenway. For Monday, the Red Sox will head down to Miami to take on the Marlins. Josh Beckett [4-6; 4.04 ERA] will get the start against his former team while the Marlins send Josh Johnson [3-4; 4.56 ERA] to the mound. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN and gets underway at 7:10 ET.



ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Although they ended up losing the weekend series to the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Seattle Mariners managed to no-hit the Dodgers despite going through six pitchers to do so.

Kevin Millwood threw six hitless innings before leaving with a groin injury on Friday night at SafeCo. That brought reliever Charlie Furbush out of the pen for ⅔ of an inning. Stephen Prior, who came on after Furbush and threw all of ⅓ an inning and faced just one batter was credited with the win. Lucas Luetge then came on for ⅔ of an inning. This was followed up by Brandon League and Tom Wilhelmsen, who got all three outs in the bottom of the 9th to preserve the 1-0 win (Seattle's only run came in the bottom of the 7th when Kyle Seagar brought Ichiro Suzuki home with an RBI single.

The combined no-no was the first of its kind this season and fourth no-hitter of the 2012 baseball season and already the second no-hitter this month. On April 21st, the Mariners themselves were on the other end of White Sox starter Philip Humber's perfect game.

Interestingly, this is not the first time six MLB pitchers were credited with a no-hitter. A June 2003 interleague game between the Houston Astros and New York Yankees unfolded in a similar manner when then-Astros starter Roy Oswalt left the game early with Pete Munro, Kirk Sarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner combining to no-hit the Yankees in the Bronx.

NCAA FOOTBALL- Authorities in Alabama have identifies a suspect in the fatal shooting of three people at a party near the Auburn campus over the weekend. Two of the deceased have been identified as former football players- Edward Christian and Ladarious Phillips- as well as 20 year old Demario Pitts. Three others were wounded by gunfire at the party. Christian had previously quit the team due to a back injury.

Police are looking for 22 year old Desmonte Leonard of Montgomery, AL who is accused of opening fire at the apartment complex to party took place in and starting a fight with partygoers over a woman. Leonard could be facing three counts of capital murder.

Paul Bereswill/Getty Images

STANLEY CUP FINALS- After falling into an 0-3 hole in the Stanley Cup finals, the New Jersey Devils are within a game of tying up the series at 3-3 after their 2-1 win over the LA Kings on Saturday.

The Devils got on the board late in the first with a Zach Parise power play tally [right when the announcer was talking about the King's near-flawless penalty killing in the postseason- isn't it always that way? NANESB!]. It was an uncharecteristically sloppy goal that Kings netminder Jonathan Quick coughed up after attempting to clear the puck, but it put the Devils on the board .

Justin Williams got the Kings on the board and tied things up at 1-1 early in the second, but about five minutes later, the Devils re-took the lead on a tip-in from Bryce Salvador. Despite outshooting the Devils 9-3 in the 3rd period, Broduer turned aside every shot he faced and the Devils hung on to win by a 2-1 final, forcing a Game 6 on Monday night.

So with the Devils a win away from tying the Cup Final and the King a win away from Clinching it, Game 6 will get underway from Staples Center on Monday night at 8:00 ET; 5:00 Pacific time- the game will be televised on NBC and the CBC.

NBA- The Boston Celtics season- and in all likelyhood, the Big 3 era- has come to an end with their Game 7 loss to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference finals on Saturday night.

The Miami Heat surged late and pulled away from the Celtics late in the 4th quarter, outscoring the Celtics 28-15 to pull away for good and clinch the Eastern Conference title with the 101-88 win at South Beach. Lebron James led the scoring with 31 points 12 rebounds and two assists. On the Celtics side of the ball, Rajon Rondo led the way with 22 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists.

The win sets up an appointment with the Oklahoma City Thunder who came from behind to best to San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals last week. This would be the second year in a row the Heat have advanced to the NBA Finals- last year they lost to the Dallas Mavericks 4 games to 2.

Game 1 between the Heat and the Thunder is set to take place Tuesday night at 9:00 ET in Oklahoma City and will be televised on ABC.

Sports Chowdah Update- Jersey Chore, Devils Fall Into 0-2 Stanley Cup Hole; Jays-ed & Confused, Toronto Touches Up Bard; Heat Wilt In the Garden

BOSTON CELTICS- After putting the Miami Heat in a big hole early in Game Four on Sunday night, the Celtics managed to squander an 18 point lead against the visiting Miami Heat in the 4th quarter at the Garden.

However, for all the talk of offensive prowess and superstars like LeBron James, the turning point in Sunday night's game [and possibly the series- NANESB!] came courtesey of somebody who had exactly zero points on the night. With the contest tied at 89-89 at the end of the 4th and heading to OT.

Although the Celtics managed to take a 1-point lead, but not before Paul Pierce had fouled out of the game less than a minute into OT. One of the biggest plays in OT for Boston came not from Rondo or Garnett, but Mickael Pietrus who had a grand total of zero points on Sunday night. With less than two minutes to go and the C's desperately clinging to a 92-91 lead, Pietrus came up with two huge offensive rebounds to keep the clock going and retain posession for the C's after two missed shots. Then, with Miami heading back up the court, Pietrus drew the sixth foul of the evening on LeBron James- the first time LeBron fouled out of a game as a member of the Miami Heat.

With less than 25 seconds to go in OT, the C's made it a two point game when Rajon Rondo went 1 for 2 from the free throw line to make it 93-91. On the Heat's next possession, Dwayne Wade let loose from outside the line with a shot that looked like it was going to make it and give Miami the lead as time expired, but it ultimately clanged off the rim.

The Celtics didn't win this one so much as survive it. Paul Pierce had 23 points on the night along with 6 rebounds before lgetting tossed out of the game in OT. Rajon Rondo had 15 points and 15 assists while Mickael Pietrus had the two pivotal offensive rebounds in OT.

The win is Boston's second in a row in the Eastern Conference Finals and sends the series back to South Beach knotted up at 2 games apiece. Although the Heat could do little to stop Rajon Rondo, who had an NBA playoff-best 44 points in Game 2, Miami was ultimately victorious in that contest. So far, each team is undefeated in their home arena in the Eastern Conference finals.

With the series knotted at 2 games each, this basically becomes a best-of-3 series. Game 5 will get underway from South Beach on Tuesday night with a tipoff time of 8:30 ET on ESPN.

The winner of the Miami-Boston series will take on the winner of the San Antonio-Oklahoma City series out west. Like the Eastern Conference, the Western Conference finals are also knotted up at 2-2.



STANLEY CUP FINALS- Two games at Newark's Prudential Center, two overtimes but despite the best efforts of New Jersey's veteran goaltender Martin Brodeur, the Los Angeles Kings are seperated from Lord Stanley's cup by all of two wins.

After an Anze Kopitar tally broke a 1-1 deadlock in OT of Game 1, the Devils found themselves trailing again for most of Game 2 on Saturday night after an unassisted Drew Doughty goal in the first before Ryan Carter knotted the contest up at 1-1 with a goal early in the 3rd. Nothing was resolved in the rest of regulation, so like the series opener Game 2 went to OT. Also like Game 1, the deadlock was broken by the Kings in overtime after Jeff Carter figured out how to get one by Brodeur with 6:18 remaining in OT.

With the Kings two wins away from clinching the Stanley Cup Champioship, the series heads out to the West Coast beginning Monday. The puck drops at 8:00 ET, 5:00 PT at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The game will be televised on NBC Sports Network and the CBC.

BOSTON BRUINS- Goalie Tim Thomas announced that he plans on taking next season off. The late-blooming netminder said in a message on his facebook page "At the age of 38, I believe it is time to put my time and energies into those areas and relationships that I have neglected, That is why at this time I feel the most important thing I can do in my life is to reconnect with the three F's. Friends, Family, and Faith".

Thomas reportedly told Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli that he was considering taking a year off on Friday. However, Thomas left open the possibility of a return to the NHL and expressed an interest in trying out for the US Olympic team in the 2014 Winter games. Had Thomas simply announced that he was retiring, the Bruins would've been responsible for a $5 million annual cap hit. Instead, Thomas is due $3 million for the 2012-2013 season although he had waived his no-trade clause back in 2010.

Although Thomas' plans to miss the 2012-13 season to take a sabbatical come to a surprise as some, the Bruins would still be in pretty good shape as far as goaltending is concerned. The Bruins still have Tukka Rask [although he becomes a restricted free agent in July- NANESB!] as well as Anton Khudobin as their top two goalies.



MLB- For the first time in their 51 year history, the New York Mets have a no-hiter to their name. The Mets milestone was reached on Friday night when starter Johan Santana threw a complete game no hitter against the St Louis Cardinals in their 8-0 shutout of the defending World Series champions. Santana threw a career high 134 pitches in the franchise's first ever no-hitter. Former Met Carlos Beltran, appeared to break up the no-hit bid in the top of the 6th with a liner over 3rd base, but it was immediately ruled foul by the 3rd base umpire- despite the fact that it kicked up some chalk.

Left fielder Mike Baxter preserved Johan's no-no bid at great personal expense, crashing into a wall while successfully chasing down a Yadier Molina fly ball [As of Sunday, Baxter was on the 15 day DL with a displaced right collarbone- NANESB!]. Mets catcher Josh Thole caught a foul tip off the bat of 2011 World Series MVP David Freese on a 3-2 count to complete the game.

With the Mets no-hitter in the books, this leaves the San Diego Padres as the only MLB franchise that doesn't have a no-hitter to their name.

OTHER METS NEWS- Noted misogynist and HBO talk show host Bill Maher announced on Sunday that he recently became a minority shareholder of the team. After being sued by one of the trustees for victims of embezzler Bernie Madoff last year, the Mets ownership decided to raise funds by The Mets management selling an undiclosed number of limited partner shares for $20 million each. Although Maher declined to say how much he paid for his share if the Mets, but the sale reportedly took place around the same time as the limited partner shares were made available.

RED SOX- Although the weekend got off to a promising start for the Red Sox, Sunday ended with a fizzle for the Sox as Daniel Bard got touched up for five runs in 1⅓ innings, including a 3 run homer by Jose Bautista. Boston would go on to win by a final of 5-1, with Boston's only run coming in the top of the 5th thanks to a Kelly Shoppach solo homer. Boston won the first two games of the weekend series thanks to strong outings by Clay Buchholz and Felix Doubront. However, Boston lost Subday afternoon's game by a 5-1 final.

The Sox return to Fenway on Tuesday to take on the Orioles, who were knocked out of first place by Tampa Bay over the weekend [after the weekend, Boston and Toronto are tied for last place in the AL East, although both teams are only 3 games out of 1st place- NANESB]. Jon Lester [3-4; 4.79 ERA] is scheduled to get the start against Baltimore's Jason Hammel [6-2; 3.06 ERA] on Tuesday night at 7:10 PM. The game will be televised on NESN.

OTHER BLUE JAYS NEWS- Blue Jays 3B Brett Lawrie left a food court at a popular Toronto mall seconds before a gunman opened fire on patrons, killing one and wounding several others.

Lawrie was one of the first to break the news on Twitter on Saturday evening. He had gone to the mall with a friend shortly after the Blue Jays lost to the Boston Red Sox in a Saturday afternoon game.

''Pretty sure someone just let off a round bullets in eaton center mall ... Wow just sprinted out of the mall ... through traffic,'' Lawrie tweeted. ''People sprinting up the stairs right from where we just were ... Wow wow wow.''

He later tweeted that he was ''Rattled right now.''

On Sunday, Lawrie said he felt lucky because he left the food court 10 seconds before the shooting.

''It was instant panic,'' Lawrie said before Sunday's game against the Red Sox. ''It was as if you stepped on an ant hill and then everyone just flooded out of the place. ... I just got out of there as fast as possible. I was the first person out of there.''

Lawrie said he wanted to get the news out fast.

''I just thought I'd give it out there just to anybody that could have been in the mall or anybody that needed to get there ASAP, I thought I could give them a good piece of information,'' he said.

Lawrie, a Canadian, said he never thought something like that could happen at the Eaton Centre, a Toronto landmark that is popular with tourists.

Toronto police identified the slain man as Ahmed Hassan and believe the shooting is gang-related. Although shootings have been on the rise in recent years north of the border, they are still relatively rare in Canada and Toronto prides itself on being one of the safest metropolitan areas in North America. Although the gunman wasn't publicly identified, a Toronto police spokesman said that between video survaillence footage, eyewitness accounts and the deceased's gang affiliation, they know the identity of the shooter.

Rainy Day Sports Chowdah Update- Tiger in the Tank, Sox Scuff Up Verlander Thanks to Feliz Nava-dad; 'Doc' Hits DL in Philly; Devils Egged Onto Cup Final

After dropping two out of three against the Tampa Bay Rays at home over the weekend- including a gut wrenching 4-3 loss on Sunday in which the Rays went ahead in the top of the 9th on a 2-run homer by Sean Rodriguez- the Red Sox played host to the team that swept Boston to start off the regular season.

Monday's 7-4 win over the Tigers came at a price for the Red Sox as Dustin Pedroia left the game with a jammed thumb. Although Pedroia sat out Tuesday's game while hoping to avoid a longer stint on the DL.

Jim Rogash/Getty Images

With Cy Young winner Justin Verlander on the bump against Boston on Tuesday night, runs against Detroit figured to be as valuable as the missing paintings from the 1990 Gardner Museum Heist, but Mike Aviles got the Sox on the board with an RBI groundout in the bottom of the 2nd inning.

Meanwhile, Daniel Bard put a few runners on base but was managing to pitch four innings of shutout baseball but had a grand total of one run for support until the bottom of the fourth. After allowing singles by Youkilis, Aviles and Podsednik, Verlander got Nick Punto [filling in for Pedroia on Tuesday] to pop up for the second out of the inning. With two away, into the batter's box stepped Daniel Nava. Verlander managed to get a 3-2 count on the left fielder, but Nava sent a 100 MPH Verlander offering into left field, clearing the bases with a clutch 3-RBI double.

As it turned out, the Sox would need every bit of run support. In the top of the 5th, the Tigers got on the board thanks to a solo home run from Jhonny Peralta to make it 4-1. In the bottom of the 5th, Big Papi drove home Adrian Gonzalez to once again make it a 4-run game but got thrown out at third after trying to stretch a double into a triple on the throw home.

Prince Fielder would account for the rest of Detroit's offense that night with a solo homer and an RBI single while Big Papi would hit a solo homer to once again widen the gap for Boston. Boston goes on to win by a final of 6-3, with Daniel Bard going 5⅓ innings with Hill, Atchison, Miller, Padilla coming in out of the bullpen and Alfredo Aceves notching his 12th save of the season after closing out the 9th. The game was halted by a rain delay of about 40 minutes in the bottom of the 8th- no word whether or not 1/32nd Cherokee Elizabeth Warren triggered the delay with an authentic Native American rain dance. Verlander was pulled after 6 innings, allowing 10 hits and 5 runs while striking out 7.

The win puts the Red Sox above .500 for the first time this season. While it may not sound impressive, Boston is actually all of 3 and ½ games out of first place in the AL East with Tampa Bay and Baltimore tied for first place. Game three of the four game series against Detroit gets underway at 7:10 PM ET on Wednesday. Jon Lester [3-4; 4.72 ERA] gets the start against Detroit's Drew Smyly [2-1; 3.14 ERA] for game 3 which will be televised on NESN.

OTHER MLB NEWS- Philadelhpia Phillies ace Roy Halliday is expected to miss anywhere from 6-8 weeks, landing on the 15-day DL with a right shoulder injury. Through 11 starts, Halliday is 4-5 with a 3.98 ERA.

In a seperate development, former Phillies and Astros starter Roy Oswalt signed a 1 year $5 million minor-league deal with the Texas Rangers. Last season, Oswalt went 9-10 with an ERA of 3.69 for Philadelphia although he spent some time on the DL with a bad back. Pending a physical, Oswalt is expected to start for the Ranger's AAA affiliate in Round Rock, TX.

NHL- After breezing through the Vancouver Canucks, St Louis Blue and Phoenix Coyotes, the Los Angeles Kings are heading to the Stanley Cup finals for the first time since the 1993 season. The Kings will play the New Jersey Devils, who won their last Stanley Cup championship in 2003 against another Southern California team- the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The Devils bested the New York Rangers 4-2 in the Eastern conference finals while the Kings bested the Phoenix Coyotes 4 games to 1 in the Western Conference finals.

Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals is set to take place Wednesday night at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on Wednesday night and will be televised at 8:00 PM ET (5:00 Pacific) on NBC and CBC.

NBA- While the Stanley Cup finals get underway, the NBA Conferences finals got underway over the memorial day weekend. The Miami Heat currently hold a 1-0 edge after a 93-79 win over the Celtics at South Beach on Monday night. Game 2 is set to take place Wednesday night at 8:30 ET and will be televised on ESPN.

Over in the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs took a 2-0 series lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder with a 120-111 on Tuesday night.

Leap Year & Then Some Sports Chowdah Update: O Captain My Captain- 'Tek Bids Farewell; The Devils- Owned; Saints Dogged w/Bounty Charges

RED SOX- After weeks of speculation and reports from the media, Red Sox captain Jason Varitek announced his retirement at a new conference in Ft. Meyers, FL on Thursday. The announcement comes less than two weeks after knuckleballer Tim Wakefield announced his retirement after 17 years with the Red Sox organization.



A graduate of Georgia Tech [where he and teammate Nomar Garciaparra won the 1994 College World Series- NANESB!], Varitek was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in 1994. After spending time in the Cape Cod League and the independent Northern League during the lockout, Varitek agreed to terms with the Mariners and entered their minor league system in 1995. Within two years, both 'Tek and teammate and starting pitcher Derek Lowe were traded by Seattle to Boston for releiver Heath Sloclumb. 'Tek made his big league debut in September 1997, collecting a single in his one and only at-bat that year and would go on to earn the starting spot at catcher from Scott Hatteberg in 1998.



For the Boston faithful, the most memorable Varitek moment was undoubtedly the July 24th 2004 fight between him and Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez. With the Yankees leading in the 3rd inning and an errant Bronson Arroyo pitch sailing up and hitting Rodriguez on the elbow, the Yankees infielder had some choice words for Arroyo while heading off to first base. Deciding he should stop talking and take his base, 'Tek reportedly told A-rod "We don't thrown at .260 hitters" before the two came to blows, with Rodriguez shoving the Red Sox catcher while getting 'Teks mit in his face. This cleared the benches, with DH David Ortiz nearly coming to blows with Yankees reliever Tanyon Sturtze as he was trying to pull teammate Gabe Kapler out of Sturtze's headlock.

After warnings were issued, a back-and-forth game resumed with the Red Sox coming behind to win 11-10 in the bottom of the 9th thanks to a walk off homer from 3B Bill Mueller. The game was viewed a turning point in the season that saw the Red Sox win their first World Series title since 1918, and the fight in turn was seen as a pivotal turning point in that game.



I'm usually loathe to quote the Boston Globe's Dan Shaugnnessey [AKA the Curly Haired Boyfriend- NANESB!] but I think he nails it with this quote.

We have the iconic photo of Jason Varitek smashing his catcher’s mitt into the face of Alex Rodriguez. Try to find a saloon in Greater Boston that does not have this photo somewhere behind the bar.

It is the image of defiance.

It’s a memory of stepping up for yourself and for your team. It’s a Red Sox captain saying “no more’’ to the bully of eight-plus decades.

It makes Jason Varitek immortal.

Also making Varitek immortal is the fact that he is the only catcher in the history of Major League Baseball to have caught four no-hitters.


This includes the following-
Hideo Nomo on April 4th, 2001 at Baltimore
Derek Lowe on April 27, 2002 vs Tampa Bay
Clay Buchholz on September 1, 2007 vs Baltimore
Jon Lester on May 19, 2008 vs Kansas City

After being the first catcher behind the plate for four no-hitters, Varitek's cather's gear was sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown on May 20th, 2008.

Interestingly, 'Tek is also one of two players to have ever played in a championship game for the Little League World Series, the College World Series and the MLB World Series [former Marlin's pitcher and Arizona alum Ed Vosberg was the other- NANESB!].

Varitek retires with a career batting average of .256 with 193 home runs and 757 RBI. In addition to the two World Series titles with Boston, he also won a gold glove and silver slugger in 2005 and was named to the MLB all-star game three times. His 11 postseason home runs are the most for any catcher in MLB.

Even as 'Tek's abilities as a catcher were in decline, he still was valuable in his experience behind the plate and coaxing consistent starts from Boston's younger and inexperienced starters when they were struggling. Like Wakefield's departure, the end of the Varitek era in Boston leaves a huge hole for Saltalamacchia to fill.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- The Red Sox will open up their Grapefruit League tilt with a doubleheader against the Northeastern Huskies at 2:35 PM ET and a nightcap against the Boston College Eagles at 7:05 PM ET. The latter game will be televised on NESN.

OTHER MLB NEWS- The league announced that they were expanding the playoff format to allow two additional teams from both the AL and NL to vie for a postseason berth via a single elimination game. This means that 10 of the 30 MLB teams could get into the playoffs- still fewer than any other professional league. The new system will take effect starting this season and is the first significant change to the playoff format since 1995.


BOSTON BRUINS- After remaining fairly quiet at the trade deadline [the Bruins did pick up veteran Brian Rolston- once part of the Ray Bourque trade- from the Islanders and BC alum Mike Mattau from the Devils system on Feb 27th- NANESB!], the Bruins returned home earlier this week only to be shut out by Ottawa's sophmore goaltender Robin Lehner in a 1-0 game Tuesday night.

On Thursday night, the Bruins hosted the Devils at the Garden, wrapping up the regular season series with New Jersey. The B's got out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first with goals from David Krejci and Tyler Seguin. The Bruins would have an excellent opportunity to make it 3-0 when Krejci had a shorthanded breakaway eight and a half minutes into the first, but the Devil's Brodeur.

The Devils would not only get on the board, but take the lead in the second with goals from Zach Parise, Patrik Elias and David Clarkson to go up 3-2.

Early in the 3rd, however, David Krejci would get the equalizer from a tough angle to knot things up at 3-3 and eventually send the contest into OT. With two minutes to go in OT, Krejci gave Boston the go-ahead goal good for his second career hat trick and the 4-3 Boston win [altho' New Jersey gets a point for heading into overtime- NANESB!].

Brodeur made 21 saves on 25 shots faced while Tim Thomas stopped 28 of 31 shots faced. Both teams were 0-3 on power play opportunities.

The Bruins will be busy this weekend taking on the Islanders Saturday afternoon before travelling to Madison Square Garden on Sunday to take on the NY Rangers. Saturday afternoon's game gets underway at 1:00 ET and will be televised on NESN while Sunday's game will start at 12:30 and will be broadcast on NBC.

OTHER NHL NEWS- The Toronto Maple Leafs have fired head coach Ron Wilson on Friday, tapping Randy Carlyle as his replacement. Carlyle takes over with 18 games remaining for Toronto in the 2011-2012 camapaign.

The Maple Leafs were 4-9-1 in the month of February, losing six straight before Wilson was fired.

NCAA HOCKEY- #1 Boston College secured at least a share of the regular season title with a 5-1 win over the Vermont Catamounts Friday night.

Senior Barry Alalmedia scored twice and junior netminder Parker Milner made 29 saves for the Eagles in the next-to-last game of the regular season. The Eagles face off against the Catamounts on Saturday night at 7 PM for the regular seaosn finale two points ahead of archrival BU.

NFL- After reportedly being warned the the NFL against such action, defensive players and coaches from the New Orleans Saints maintained a 'bounty' program where players awarded themselves cash prizes for knocking out and injuring opposing players. Former Vikings QB Brett Favre and Cardinals QB Kurt Warner were reportedly among the targets with payouts doubling or tripling in the playoffs according to a report from NFL security.

Defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, the Saints and the players involved are likely to face fines or suspension and the organization may end up forefeiting a draft pick, according to an AP report.

The Washington Post is also reporting that the Redskins maintained a bounty system with defensive players while Williams was assistant coach in Washington in the mid 2000s.

NBA- The second half of the abbreviated NBA season is off to a much better star for the Celtics on Friday night as they won their third straight game since coming out of the All Star break.

Firday night's 107-94 win over the New Jersey Nets puts them above .500 once again. They have Saturday off, but will take on the New York Knicks at the TD Banknorth Garden on Sunday at 1:00 PM ET- the game will be televised on ABC.

Quickie Weeknight Cuppa Sports Chowdah For Jan 19th- The Devils You Know; Gift Raptors- C's Snap 5-Game Skid

AP Photo

NHL- The Bruins seemed to have been in something of a funk, going 3-3 over the last two weeks.

Although they managed a 3-2 shootout win over the Florida Panthers on Monday night, they travelled to Tampa Bay where they dropped Tuesday night's contest to the struggling Lightning by a 5-3 final.

For Thursday night, they travelled back up the coast to take on the New Jersey Devils at Newark's Prudential Center. Coming into the Thursday night game, the Devils got the bad news that they would be without the services of defenseman Henrik Tallinder, who is expected to miss in the neighborhood of 6-8 weeks with a blood clot in his left leg.

As for Boston, Brad Marchand was eligible to play after finishing up his 5-game suspension for clipping Vancouver's Sami Salo during the January 7th home game against the Canucks.

After a first period that seemed to have the Bruins scrambling, the Devils drew first blood on a Pietr Sykora tally to put them up 1-0 with less than 90 seconds to go in the first.

After getting shut out in the second period, the Bruins started their comeback early in the 3rd, getting on board to tie the game at 1-1 thanks to a goal from Andrew Ference just 3 minutes into the 3rd stanza. Boston would then take the lead on a power play goal from Nathan Horton at the 7:10 mark and add to their lead 35 seconds later thanks to an even-strength tally from Gregory Campbell. With less than a minute to go, Chris Kelly made it 4-1 game thanks to an empty net goal after Martin Brodeur was pulled for the extra attacker.

Tim Thomas stopped 30 of 31 shots faced while Martin Brodeur allowed 3 goals on 24 shots faced. Both the Devils and the Bruins had exactly one power play apiece, with Boston capitalizing on their only opportunity in the 3rd.

The Bruins will next face the NY Rangers for the first time this season. The Rangers are one point ahead of the Bruins in the Eastern Conference standings and Saturday afternoon's contest at the TD Garden will be televised on the NHL Network. The puck is scheduled to drop at 1:00 ET.

OTHER NHL NEWS- Bruins Captain Zdeno Chara and Ottawa Sentaros RW Daniel Alfresson were named the two captains in the NHL's upcoming All Star game at Ottawa's Scotiabank Place on January 29. Both captains will set rosters for the skills competition and the game itself in a January 26 draft.

Tyler Seguin and Tim Thomas have also been named to this year's all star game.

NBA- The Boston Celtics losing streak is over after a convincing 23 point win over the [even MORE] struggling Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.

After taking a 44-38 lead at the half, the Celtics simply continued pouring it on over the hapless Raptors in the second half, with the defense limiting them to 17 points in the 3rd and 18 points in the 4th.

Rajon Rondo led the scoring on the night for the C's with 21 points along with 3 rebounds and two assists.

New acquisiton Brandon Bass came off the bench and had 9 rebounds and 13 points in a pretty productive night for Boston.

Boston gets off the schnide and wins by a 96-73 final on Wednesday night. On Firday night, they will take on the Phoenix suns at the Garden with a 7:30 tipoff. The game will be televised on CSNE.

NFL: Ahead of this weekend's AFC Championship game between, the St Louis Rams announced that they will be playing the New England Patriots at London's Wembley Stadium on October 28, 2012. The Rams will reportedly be travelling to England for the next three seasons.

This would not be the first trip to London for the Patriots. They ventured across the pond for an October 25, 2009 game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers winning that one handily by a 35-7 margin.

Bowl After Bowl of Sports Chowdah- Pats Become 49ers East After Huge Rally; Bruins Give Devils Their Due to Start 2012; Sox Close Deal on Bailey

Getty Images

NFL- After coming from behind against Miami on Christmas Eve, the Patriots wrapped up the regular season in Foxboro against Buffalo on Sunday.

Seemingly determined to make those who picked the Bills over New England look foolish- at least for the first quarter, Buffalo jumped out to a quick 21-0 lead. However, the following three quarters were all New England as the Patrots scored 49 (yes...49- that's not a typo!) unanswered points.

Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis had two rushing TD's while Rob Gronkowski had caught two TD passes. Brady also completed a 39 yard TD pass and run to TE Aaron Hernandez. Gostkowski had two FG's and Danny Woodjead successfully completed a 2-point conversion during the Patriots rally before it was capped off with an exclamation point when Safety Sterling Moore intercepted a Ryan Fitzpatrick Pass late in the 4th and ran it back for a TD to make it 49-21 New England.

Brady went 23 of 35 on the afternoon with 338 yards, 3 TDs and a pick while Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick went 29-46 with 307 yards and 4 interceptions. Interstingly, Punter Zoltan Mesko had only two punts on the day, with one of them landing inside the 20 yard line.

The win earns the Patriots a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

NFL PLAYOFFS- Other teams getting a first rund bye in the Baltimore Ravens as well as the San Franciso 49ers and Green Bay Packers over in the NFC.

This weekend's schedule has the AFC South champion Houston Texans hosing the Cincinnati bengals on Saturday afternoon at 4:30 ET while the Detroit Lions head down to the Superdome to take on the New Orleans Saints at 8PM ET.

On Sunday, the Atlanta Falcons will travel to North Jersey to take on the New York Giants at 1:00 PM ET while the Steelers at Broncos will wrap up the weekend at 4:30PM ET.

NCAA FOOTBALL- Don't have alot of time to get too in-depth over most of these bowl games, but I was pleased to see that many of them actually lived up to their billing...almost from Day One.

12/20: Beef 'O'Brady's Bowl

Marshall 20, FIU 10

12/21: San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl

TCU 31, Louisiana Tech 24

12/22: MAACO Bowl

Boise State 56, Arizona State 24

12/24: Hawaii Bowl

Southern Miss 24, Nevada 17

12/26: Independence Bowl

Missouri 41, North Carolina 24

12/27: Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl

Purdue 37, Western Michigan 32

12/27: Belk Bowl

North Carolina State 31, Louisville 24

12/28: Military Bowl

Toledo 42, Air Force 41

12/28: Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl

Texas 21, Cal 10

12/29: Champs Sports Bowl

Florida State 18, Notre Dame 14

12/29: Alamo Bowl

Baylor 67, Washington 56

12/30: Armed Forces Bowl

Brigham Young University 24, Tulsa 21

12/30: Music City Bowl

Mississippi State 23, Wake Forest 17

12/30: Insight Bowl

Oklahoma 31, Iowa 14

12/31: Meinke Car Care Bowl

Texas A&M 33, Northwestern 22

12/31: Sun Bowl

Georgia Tech 27, Utah 30 (OT)

12/31: Fight Hunger Bowl

UCLA 14, Illinois 20

12/31: Liberty Bowl

Cincinnati 31, Vanderbilt 24

12/31: Chik-Fil-A Bowl

Virginia 24, Auburn 43

1/2: Ticket City Bowl

Houston 30, Penn State 14

1/2: Gator Bowl

Ohio State 14, Florida 24

1/2: Capital One Bowl

Nebraska 13, South Carolina 30

1/2: Outback Bowl

Michigan State 33, Georgia 30 (3OT)

1/2: Rose Bowl

Wisconsin 38, Oregon 45

1/2: Fiesta Bowl

Stanford 38, Oklahoma State 41 (OT)

1/3: Sugar Bowl

Michigan 23, Virginia Tech 20 (OT)

1/4: Orange Bowl

West Virginia 70, Clemson 33

There's actually no bowl games tonight, but Friday night's game will be the Cotton Bowl, which will pit #7 Arkansas against #11 Kansas State at 8:00 PM ET airing on FOX.

A couple of side notes- West Virginia's 70-33 pounding of Clemson set a bowl scoring record while Mountaineer QB Geno Smith's six TD passes were also a NCAA Bowl record, suprassing Baylor's 67 points against the Washington Huskies last week in the Alamo Bowl.


NHL: After ending the calendar year of 2011 with a whimper in a 4-2 road loss to the Dallas Stars on New Year's Eve, the Bruins had a few days off before their next game against the New Jersey Devils, where they came back with a vengance.

A little like Sunday's Buffalo/New England game, the Devils got on the board first with a David Clarkson power play tally, but the Bruins came roaring back with a total of six unanswered goals from Campbell, Horton, Krejci, Thornton and a pair from Patrice Bergeron [I gotta admit, one of Bergeron's tallies was so beautifully done, I felt compelled to diagram it for a co-worker who missed it- NANESB!]. Tim Thomas stopped 30 of 31 shots faced while Martin Brodeur turned aside 21 of 26 shots faced.

On Thursday night, the Bruins returned home for the first time since 2011 to take on the Calgary Flames. The Flames were coming into the Garden without forward Rene Bourque, who was given a 5-game suspension by the NHL after delivering an elbow to the head of Washington's Nicklas Backstrom during Calgary's 3-1 loss to the Capitals on Tuesday.

Thursday night's game turned out to be even more lopsided than Wednesday's. The Bruins jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first period and kept adding to it from there. The Bruins would go on to thump Calgary by a 9-0 final, with Nathan Horton and Patrice Bergeron getting a pair of goals along with tallies from Chris Kelly, David Krejci, Tyler Seguin, Danny Paille and Nathan Horton.

Tukka Rask got the start in net and stopped all 25 shots faced while Leland Irving and Miikka Kiprusoff each faced 21 shots, with Irving giving up 6 goals before being pulled for Kiprusoff. Despite the offensive output, the Bruins had only two power play opportunities, with David Krejci getting the lone power play goal.

The convincing win against Calgary is the last game before this weekend's Stanley Cup finals rematch where the Bruins will host the Vancouver Canucks. The game gets underway at 1PM ET and will be broadcast on the NHL Network.


ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The New York Rangers came back from a 2-0 defecit to beat the Philadelphia Flyers by a 3-2 final at Citizens Bank Ballpark in Philadelphia on Monday. Early in the 3rd, the Rangers Brad Richardson notched to go-ahead goal while goalie Henrik Lunqvist stopped a penalty shot from Danny Briere later on in the 3rd, preserving the Rangers 3-2 win.

OTHER NHL NEWS- Police in Philadelphia and New Jersey are investigating an assault of two Rangers fans at Philadelphia's landmark Gino's Steaks that was videotaped shortly after the game on Monday.

New York Rangers fan Neal Auricchio Jr, 30, received the brutal beating from three Philadelphia Flyers fans after the game on Monday night.

The former Marine, who has worked as a policeman in Woodbridge, New Jersey, for four years, went to hospital with concussion after the attack.

Police claim Flyers fans, in orange, paid a man cleaning vehicle windows to spray a Rangers fan with a liquid, reported NBC New York.

The first hit was made by a man with a #28 Claude Giroux Flyers shirt on a man with a #24 Ryan Callahan Rangers shirt, whose identity is unknown.

Then the Rangers fan tried to fight back but was quickly pushed to the ground and two other Flyers fans joined in the attack, the video shows.
Mr Auricchio got a Purple Heart medal for his service in Iraq and even returned there for a second time after he was shot in the leg, reported NBC New York.
Police are still looking for the men in the fight and posted the video on YouTube to help catch them.

One of the alleged assailants reportedly took to Facebook to take credit for the beating but quickly backtracked.

MLB- The Red Sox acquired closer Andrew Bailey and outfielder Ryan Sweeney from the Oakland A's in exchange for outfielder Josh Reddick and prospects Raul Alcantara and Miles Head.

Bailey went 0-4 with 24 saves, a 3.24 ERA and 41 strikeouts for the A's in 42 appearences in 2011. In 2009, Bailey won Rookie of the Year honors in the AL. Interetingly, Bailey has three saves in four appearences at Fenway.

The acquisiton settles speculation over whether or not the Red Sox would attempt to fill in the closer vacancy left with Papelbon's departure via free agency or within the Red Sox system.

NCAA HOCKEY- Fenway Park is getting set up as an outdoor hockey venue that will host an NCAA doubleheader on Saturday. Game one will have the UMass Minutemen take on the Vermont Catamounts while game two will feature the New Hampshire Wildcats against the Maine Black Bears at 7:30 PM.

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

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