One Giant Cup of Sports Chowdah Update- The Constant Bumgarner, Giants Ace Comes Out of Bullpen to Cinch World Series; Brady's Bunches, Patriots QB throws 5 TDs Against Chicago; Hokies Smoked, Boston College Becomes Bowl-Eligible With Win in Blacksburg;

WORLD SERIES- Those of us who wanted a Game 7 in the 2014 World Series weren't disappointed.

Game 7 was made possible by the Royals lighting up Giants starter Jake Peavy early in Game Six on Wednesday, cruising to an easy 10-0 win and tying up the series at 3 games apiece.

For Game 7, the Giants got out to an early 2-0 lead off of Kansas City starter Jeremy Guthrie thanks to a pair of RBI sac flies- one off the bat of Michael Morse and Brandon Crawford. However, the Royals got those two runs back in the bottom of the second and managed to chase San Francisco starter Tim Hudson after 1⅔ innings when Alex Gordon hit an RBI double and then advanced to third before coming home on an Omar Enfante sac-fly.

In the top of the 4th, Giants 3B Pablo Sandoval led off with an infield single, followed by a Hunter Pence single and a Brandon Belt fly ball to left field that advanced Sandoval to third. By this point, Royals manager Ned Yost pulled Guthrie and brought Kelvin Herrera in from the bullpen. Morse singled, which brought Sandoval in from 3rd before Herrera struck out Brandon Crawford and got Juan Perez to ground out and end the inning.

Nursing a 1-run lead, Giants manager Bruce Bochy brought in starter Madison Bumgarner from out of the bullpen. Although dominant against the Royals earlier in the series, Bumgarner immediately gave up a single to Omar Enfante followed by an Alcides Escobar sac bunt to move Enfante into scoring position, but that was followed by fly ball off the bat of Nori Aoki to left that LF Juan Perez managed to run down for the second out. Bumgarner then managed to get Lorenzo Cain to strike out and end the bottom of the 5th.

Instead of going to the bullpen, Bochy went with Bumgarner into the 9th inning, with the Giants starter getting better as the innings progressed. In the bottom of the 9th, he got Eric Hosmer and Billy Butler to go down quietly for the first two outs. Alex Gordon stepped into the batter's box and hit a line drive into left center that was misplayed by Gregor Blanco which rolled all the way to the wall. Gordon beat the throw to third and brought the increasingly demoralized crowd at Kauffman Stadium back to life with the tying run 90 feet away. However, Bumgarner got Salavor Perez to pop up to 3rd to clinch San Fransico's third World Series title since 2010.

For his two commanding starts and the Game 7 relief appearance, Madison Bumgarner was named the MVP of the 2014 World Series. On Friday, the City of San Francisco held their third World Series parade in less than five years.

NFL- After struggling just to outlast the Jets on Thursday night last week, the Patriots made it look easy against the Chicago Bears last Sunday when Tom Brady threw for 5 TD passes at Gillette Stadium.

New England had a 31-7 lead in the final minute of the first half when Bears QB Jay Cutler fumbled deep in Bears territory and Rod Ninkovitch recovered and ran it back for a TD with 55 seconds left in the half.

Brady would then connect with Gronkowski for a 46 yard TD reception to make it 45-7 on the Patriot's opening possession of the second half. The Patriots would cruise to an easy 51-23 win over Chicago thanks to 3 TD passes from Brady to Gronk, along with TD passes to Tim Wright and Brandon LaFell. Brady went 30-35 with 354 yards on the day to go with the 5 TDs on the day. Gronk caught 9 passes for 149 yards and the 3 TDs while Gostkowski made all three of his FG attempts.

This Sunday's game is a marquee matchup between two first-ballot Hall of Fame QBs when the Patriots will host the Denver Broncos and QB Peyton Manning at Gillette this weekend. Kickoff is scheduled for 4:25 ET and the game will be televised on ESPN.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL- As good a day as Brady had last week, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger had an even better one, with 6 TDs and 522 yards, going 40-49 in the Steeler's 51-34 win over the Indianapolis Colts. The performance set a Steelers franchise record and was an exclamation point on Big Ben's 100th career win.

NCAA FOOTBALL- The Boston College Eagles are now bowl-eligible after a road win in Blacksburg, VA against Virginia Tech. Although the Hokies got out to an early lead in the first, the Eagles took a 14-10 lead into halftime.

After the half, the Eagles extended their lead to 23-10, but Virginia Tech made it a 23-17 game early in the 4th quarter and took a one point lead on a pass from QB Michael Brewer to TE Bucky Hodges to give the Hokies a 24-23 lead.

With just over five minutes to go in regulation, Alex Howell gave Boston College the lead once again thanks to a 44 yard FG attempt. After the Eagles defense held the Hokies to a 3 and out on the following possession, the Eagles started to pull away thanks to a 57 yard TD run from QB Tyler Murphy to make it 33-24 Boston College. The Hokies would close the gap to 31-33 thanks to another driver from Brewer that was capped with a 5 yard TD pass with 1:09 to go, but the following onsides kick was recovered by the Eagles, which allowed them to simply take a knee and run out the clock.

Murphy went 8 for 15 with 110 yards and two TDs passing and 122 yards rushing with another TD. Charlie Callinan and Marcus Outlow each had TD receptions on Saturday as well.

This would be Boston College's second win in a row after beating Wake Forest on the road last Saturday by a 23-17 final. Next Saturday, Boston College will host the Louisville Cardinals at Chestnut Hill. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:25 PM ET and the game will be televised on ESPN 2.

NHL- After blowing a 3rd period lead to the Minnesota Wild at home, the Boston Bruins hit the road for a quick trip against the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night, getting past Buffalo 3-2 in OT thanks to a Brad Marchand tally just 1:20 into OT.

On Saturday night, the B's returned home to host the Ottawa Senators for the first time this season. Marchand would open up the scoring on Saturday night, giving Boston a 1-0 lead a little over a minute into the contest. Mark Stone got the equalizer for Ottawa with about 30 seconds to go in the first period, giving the Bruins a 3-1 lead.

The second period was all about Matt Fraser as he had two tallies less than 90 seconds apart to give Boston a 3-1 lead. Heading into the 3rd, the Bruins would add tack on some more insurance when Seidenberg got an unassisted goal just over two minutes into the period. Ottawa would get on the board once again with a Mika Zibanejad goal with about five minutes left to go, but that would be it for the Sens.

Tukks Rask turned aside 27 of 29 shots faced on Saturday as the Bruins went on to win by a 4-2 final in their first meeting with Ottawa.

The Bruins homestand continues on Tuesday when the B's will host the 4-2-3 Florida Panthers at the Garden. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NESN

In Soviet Russia, Sports Chowdah Updates YOU- USA Leads Medal Count in Sochi; Team Canada/USA to Duke it Out On The Ice; Topless Lebanese Skiier in Hot Water; Bruins Shut Down Sens Before Olympic Break; BC Takes The Fifth in Beanpot; Syracuse Falls to Boston College

I swear, I'm not boycotting the Olympics- although a casual glance of this blog since the Winter games got underway in Sochi might lead one to that conclusion. On the other hand, Wyatt Earp of Support Your Local Gunfighter is keeping track of the compelling human-interest stories concerning the athletes competing in Sochi.

WINTER OLYMPICS- Despite the highly publicized gaffes such as reporters checking into hotels still under construction and a technical miscue during the opening ceremonies, the Winter Olympiad at Sochi got off and running last week.

US Snowboarder Sage Kostenburg won the first gold medal of the games in the men's slopestyle event back on Feb 8th. Well beyond the halfway point of the 2014 Sochi games, Team USA currently leads the overall medal count with 23 (7 gold, 5 silver and 11 bronze). Both Russia and the Netherlands trail the USA in the medal count by one while Norway has the most gold medals with a grand total of nine.

Of most interest to me is the Team USA Men's hockey- which got off to a stellar start with a 7-1 thumping of Slovakia on Feb 12th for their Olympic debut. On Saturday, the USA needed a controversial disallowed goal and OT to get past a heavily favored Russia team, with St Louis Blue Center TJ Oshie becoming something of a cult hero with his game-winning shootout goal to give Team USA the 3-2 win.

On Wednesday, Dustin Brown got the game-winning goal for Team USA as they cruised past the Czech Republic by a 5-2 final while host Russia was eliminated from medal contention by Finland in a 3-1 loss. Team Canada got by a very game Latvia, winning 2-1 to set up a semifinal contest with Team USA on Friday. The winner of the USA/Canada men's game will go on to face the winner of the Sweden/Finland men's semifinal game for the gold.

For those of you who can't wait until Friday for some good ol' USA-on-Canada puck action, the women's hockey gold medal game will feature the USA taking on Canada on Thursday at 12:00 ET for all the marbles. The game will be televised on NBC and streamed on the NBC Olympics website.

ELSEWHERE IN THE OLYMPICS- Lebanese downhill skier Jackie Chamoun has reportedly raised the ire of politicians in Beirut after topless pictures of her were circulating online. Lebanon's interim Sports Minister reportedly called upon the Lebanese Olympic Committee to launch an inquiry and 'take the required steps to avoid harming Lebanon's international reputation'.

Chamoun has her defenders both inside and beyond Lebanon's borders, and after condemnation from Islamic clerics and demand for a parliamentary inquiry, social-media savvy Lebanese took to twitter and Facebook- sometimes posting pictures of them topless or seminude- using the hashtag #StripForJackie.

NHL- Of course, all these NHL All-Stars mean that there's no NHL for nearly 3 weeks. In fact, we're still nearly a week away from the resumption of NHL play- and that is a single game between the Buffalo Sabres and Carolina Hurricanes that was postponed earlier in the year due to a blizzard before being rescheduled to Feb 25th.

Thanks to the Olympic break, the Boston Bruins have a grand total of five games in the month of February- including a Feb 26th matchup against the Sabres at the First Niagara Centre. After a quick 1-game road trip to St Louis, the Bruins returned home to the Garden to face off against the Ottawa Senators for the final game before the Olympic break. The B's jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first thanks to goals from Patrice Bergeron and Chris Kelly- and they never looked back, adding on to their lead with goals from Bobby Ryan, Jarome Iginla, Carl Soderburg, Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic to cruise to a 7-2 victory.

Although the Bruins head into the 3-week long break leading the Atlantic Division, they're still 5 points behind the Penguins for the Eastern Conference lead.

While we still have to wait for a whole week for the next Bruins game, the good news is that it will be televised nationally on NBC Sports Network on Feb 26th with the puck scheduled to drop at 7:30 ET.

NCAA HOCKEY- For the fifth straight year, the Boston College Eagles are the Beanpot champions, having defeated Northeastern during the Beanpot Finals on Feb 10th.

Although Boston College got out to a 1-0 lead, Northeastern managed to tie the contest back up at 1-1 in the closing minutes of the second period. However, BC senior forward Patrick Brown would get what would prove to be the game winning goal with just under 5 minutes to go in regulation before the Eagles added on with an empty netter from Junior Johnny Gaudreau with less than two minutes to go in the game and another tally from Brown.

The 5-straight titles for BC is the first since the 1999-2000 season when the BU Terriers had won their 6th straight. Boston College came into the 2/10 Beanpot final ranked the #1 program in the USA according to a USCHO poll.

NCAA HOOPS- As awesome as a fifth straight Beanpot title for the men's hockey program might've been, the BC Eagles made headlines on Wednesday night when they toppled previously undefeated Syracuse in OT at the Carrier Dome. Sophomore Olivier Hanlon led BC with 20 points and three assists.

The Eagles went on a 29-12 run in the second half to take a 46-42 lead and Junior Lonnie Jackson had 10 points, making three out of his four free throws in OT to help BC go on to their 62-59 win. The win by Boston College means that the Wichita State Shockers are now the sole undefeated Division I men's basketball program in the nation.

Boston Strong SportsChowdah Update: Lackey's Back....ey, Houston Runs into Texas-Sized Problems at Fenway; Senators Veto Bruins Chances At Clinching Northeast Division Title; Celtics Avoid First Round Sweep;

Marty Schwalm- AP Photo

RED SOX- After a promising start to the series, the Red Sox came into Sunday afternoon hoping to close out a 4-game sweep of the visiting Houston Astros. Sunday afternoon's game was also noteworthy because it was the first start for John Lackey since leaving the 5th inning of a game against the Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre on April 6th. Since then, the Sox have shuffled the lineup using either Alfredo Aceves or Allen Webster as the fifth starter.

But with both Aceves and Webster sent down to Pawtucket, there would be no shuffling and Lackey would make only his second start since 2011 on Sunday. Although Lackey struggled somewhat out of the gate- allowing a 2-out RBI single from Ronny Cedeno for Houston to take the early lead- the Red Sox tied things up at 1-1 thanks to a Big Papi RBI single in the bottom of the first, although the Sox would leave the bases loaded to end the inning.

However, in the bottom of the 4th and with two away, SS Stephen Drew cleared the bases with an RBI triple to break the deadlock and give Boston a 3-1 advantage. That would actually be all the Red Sox would need for the day, but Dustin Pedroia and Mike Carp each had RBI doubles to give Boston a 5-1 lead.

Lackey struggled a bit in the 6th, allowing 3 straight singles with only one away, but the Astros were unable to capitalize after Lackey got the next two batters out. In the bottom of the 7th, Big Papi added to the Boston lead with an RBI double. From there, the Red Sox would cruise to a 6-1 win over Houston, sweeping the four game series at Fenway. Boston has now won 7 out of  their last 10 games and have already tied the club record for wins in April with a total of 18. They have a chance to surpass that high water mark on Tuesday night when they start a six game road trip with three apiece in Toronto and Texas.

Jon Lester [4-0; 2.27 ERA] will get the start on Tuesday night at the Rogers Centre against the Blue Jays Brandon Morrow [0-2; 5.27 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for the somewhat random time of 7:07 ET and the game will be broadcast on NESN and Rogers Sports Net.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- Red Sox reliever Joel Hanrahan will return to the Red Sox lineup on Tuesday. Hanrahan last appeared in the 9th inning of the April 13th home game against Tampa Bay and was relieved by Koji Uehara after walking the first two batters he faced.

Hanrahan has reportedly lost out to Andrew Bailey as the Sox closer. Currently Hanrahan is 0-1 with 3 saves and an ERA of 11.57 on the season.

Steven Senne- AP

NHL- The rest of the NHL was waiting for the Bruins to finish up their regular season on Sunday evening in a matchup against Ottawa that was originally scheduled for Patriot's Day, but was postponed due to security concerns in the wake of the Boston Marathon bomings.

Despite the Bruins clawing back to tie Sunday's game at 2-2 in the 3rd period, the Senators scored two unanswered goals to give them a 4-2 lead and the win in the regular season finale. Coming into the game, it was already established that both teams would be in the Stanley Cup playoffs, it was just a matter of determining who they would face. With either a regulation win or overtime loss, the B's would have been facing either the NY Rangers or NY Islanders in the first round.

Instead, the Bruins finish up one point behind Montreal in the Northeastern division standings and fourth overall in the eastern conference- behind Pittsburgh, Montreal and Washington [despite having more points than the Capitals- NANESB!].

Either way, there was at least a 66% chance that the Bruins would be facing another Original 6 team for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The regulation loss on Sunday earns them a series with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Game one of the first round series between the Leafs and B's is set to take place on Wednesday night at 7:00 PM ET with the game being televised on NESN and the CBC.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The complete first round matchups of the Stanley Cup playoffs will look a little like this:

Los Angeles Kings @ St Louis Blues- Game 1 starts on 4/30 at 8:00 ET

Minnesota Wild @ Chicago Blackhawks- Game 1 starts on 4/30 at 8:00 ET

Detroit Red Wings @ Anaheim Ducks- Game 1 starts on 4/30 at 10:30 ET

Toronto Maple Leafs @ Boston Bruins- Game 1 starts on 5/1 at 7:00 ET

NY Islanders @ Pittsburgh Penguins- Game 1 starts on 5/1 at 7:30 ET

San Jose Sharks @ Vancouver Canucks- Game 1 starts on 5/1 at 10:30 ET

Ottawa Senators @ Montreal Canadiens- Game 1 starts on 5/2 at 7:00 ET

NY Rangers @ Washington Capitals- Game 1 starts on 5/2 at 7:30 ET

NBA- Well, it took overtime, but the Boston Celtics managed to avoid a first round sweep at the hands of the New York Knicks on Sunday.

After taking the first three games of the series, the Knicks had managed to erase a 20-point deficit in the 3rd quarter at the Garden on Sunday afternoon to tie the game up at 84-84. Jason Terry- who was 7-10 in FGs and had 18 points on the night- helped Boston pull ahead with a crucial 3 pointer with about 50 seconds to go in OT.

The Celtics would go on to win by a final of 97-90 in OT, avoiding an embarrassing sweep at home at the hands of their Atlantic Division rivals. Despite going 9-20, Paul Piece led the scoring for the Celtics with 29 points while Jeff Green went 9-22 with 26 points on the night.

Game 5 is set to take place Wednesday night with a start of 7:00 and will be televised on TNT.

The Show Must Go On Sports Chowdah Update- Tribe Tribe Again, Red Sox Road Trip Start Off Road Trip With Win In Cleveland; Garden Spot Bruins Game Postoponed, Celtics Game Cancelled in Wake of Marathon Bombing;

This was something I meant to wrap up on Monday, but as you can imagine, events of that day understandably put any update on the back burner. Sports are an integral part of Boston's social fabric and whoever placed those bombs along the Marathon route clearly took that into account long ago when they were selecting their target. I also want to take this opportunity to thank those of you who were asking about the well-being myself and my family and friends- everybody is OK [some even joking that they knew I was safe since a marathon route was the last place on earth anybody would expect to find me- NANESB!].

For the time being, I'll be posting any developments on the Marathon bombing as a seperate matter- and there have been a number of developments since Monday night.

Mark Duncan- AP Photo

MLB- Monday's deadly marathon bombing took place within 45 minutes of the conclusion of the Red Sox game on Patriot's Day- the Rays were reportedly already on their way to the airport and the Red Sox were still in the clubhouse when the bombs went off along Boyleston Ave.

Security was stepped up at ballparks across the league on Monday night, including LA's Dodger Stadium for Jackie Robinson Night, and by Tuesday, MLB and many teams were showing their support for the city of Boston in the deadly bombing.

The archi-rival Yankees played Red Sox favorite Sweet Caroline in their stadium as solidarity to the Boston bombing twitter.com/IBAF_Baseball/…
— IBAF (@IBAF_Baseball) April 17, 2013

Most notably, the arch-rival New York Yankees flew a banner on their stadium with dual Red Sox and Yankees insignias that read "We Stand United"". Fans also were sporting Boston jackets and handmade signs showing their support for the people of Boston, and in the 8th inning, Yankees fans sang along to Neil Diamond's 'Sweet Caroline' as it was played over the PA system- a Fenway tradition. Throughout the night, the scene was repeated in Milwaukee, Atlanta, Chicago, Oakland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Miami- the Brewers reportedly added the extra touch of including the Cheers theme song.

RED SOX- The weekend series at Fenway against Tampa Bay included Friday's game getting postponed due to rain, Clay Buchholz taking a no-hitter into the 8th inning on Sunday and blowing a 2-1 lead in the top of the 9th only to win thanks of a walk off Napoli RBI-double in the bottom of the 9th on Patriots Day.

On Monday afternoon- in the immediate aftermath of the deadly Maraton bombing- the Red Sox left town to play their first game against a team outside the AL East this season. Appropriately enough, the matchup featured a familiar face- former Red Sox manager and ESPN analyst Terry Francona, who was announced as the Cleveland Indians new manager in the offseason.

The pitching matchup featured Ubaldo Jiminez against Felix Doubront and the Red Sox pounced on Jiminez early as the bases were loaded up with one out before allowing a bases loaded walk to David Ross, and then a sac fly to Pedro Ciricaco, an RBI single to Jacoby Ellsbury, a walk to Victorino to re-load the bases, a bases loaded walk. Cody Allen came in to relieve Jiminez and immediately gave up a bases-clearing double to Mike Napoli. Although Middlebrooks struck out to end the inning, the Red sox jumped out to a 7-0 lead.

Doubront was starting to struggle in the fifth inning, allowing a run to come home on a passed ball as well as a sac-fly in the bottom of the 2nd. Although his pitch count was close to 100, he managed to get out of the inning and was able to turn it over to the bullpen, which was able to preserve the five run lead. The Red Sox win their first non AL-East contest of the season by a 7-2 final and Doubront stayed in the game long enough to earn the W.

Interesting side note, this is the second night in a row that the Red Sox players all wore the #42 in honor of Jackie Robinson. The Red Sox wore them to mark the occasion in their Patriots Day game against the Rays. Since Cleveland had Monday night off, they observed Jackie Robinson night on Tuesday.

For Wednesday night, former Red Sox starter Justin Masterson [3-0; 0.41 ERA] will go up against Alfredo Aceves [0-0; 6.75 ERA]. First pitch is at 4:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN.


NHL- Coming into Monday night, the Bruins were riding a two game skid [against the Islanders and Hurricanes- teams I thought they'd have a better showing against] and were scheduled for a pivotal tilt against the Ottawa Senators when the bombs along the Boston Marathon route struck.

The deadly attack resulted in the Bruins to postponing that important Monday night contest- the game is now scheduled for night of April 28th at the garden. Wednesday night's home game against the Buffalo Sabres is still slated to take place as scheduled with the puck dropping at 4:30- the game will be televised on NBC Sports Network.

Nobody's April Fool Sports Chowdah Update- CC Ya Later, Lester and Red Sox Best Yankees on Opening Day; Bruins Order Shot of Jagr-Meister at Trade Deadline

(AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

RED SOX- I'm not gonna lie to you- I freakin' LOVE this time of the year, especially since I was denied the overlap of MLB and NHL last October.

With Spring Training over and done with, it was time for the Boston Red Sox to start playing some games that actually counted on Monday. The Red Sox would start off their regular season in the Bronx against the archrival New York Yankees. With Curtis Granderson, Mark Texiera, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter all on the DL, this would be a dramatically different opening day lineup the Yankees were fielding from a season ago and the first time the Red Sox would face the Yankees without Jeter in the lineup since 2001.

Between the free agents that Boston signed in the offseason and in-house prospects that stood out in Spring Taining, there were plenty of new faces in the Red Sox lineup on opening day was well. But a familiar face was on the bump for the BoSox as Jon Lester took on New York starter CC Sabathia for the opening day pitching matchup.

The Sox got to Sabathia pretty early, starting with a 1-out walk to Jarros Saltalamacchia in the top of the 2nd. Johnny Gomes then reached on what was ruled a single that was deflected off the glove of 3B Jayson Nix before Spring Training standout OF Jackie Bradley Jr drew a walk from Sabathia to load the bases. SS Jose Iglesias, who drew all kinds of attention in Fort Myers during 2012 Spring training, drove in the first run of the season for Boston with a single to shortstop that plated Saltalamacchia to make it 1-0 Boston. Ellsbury grounded into a forceout, erasing Gomes at home and bringing up OF Shane Victorino with two away. On a 1-1 pitch, the Flyin' Hawaiian singled to left field, plating Bradley and Iglesias to give Boston a 3-0 lead. Then 2B Dustin Pedroia singled to right field, bringing home Ellsbury to make it 4-0 Boston.

The Yankees would cut into the Red Sox lead in the bottom of the 4th inning when Yankees C Francisco Cervelli belted a bases loaded 2-out 2-RBI single to left before Lester retired Brett Gardner to get out of the inning.

While David Phelps replaced Sabathia for the Bronx Bombers in the top of the 6th, Koji Uehara came on in relief of Lester in the bottom of the 6th and retired all three batters he faced. In the top of the 7th, Phelps walked 3B Will Middlebrooks and Jarrod Saltalamacchia to start off the inning. With one away and Middlebrooks advancing to third, Yankees manager Joe Girardi pulled Phelps for Boone Logan. Bradley would then hit a ball that ricocheted off of Logan to Yankees 2B Robinson Cano for an RBI groundout that plated Middlebrooks to make it 5-2 Boston.

Things got a little tense in the bottom of the 7th when Andrew Miller came in for Uehara and immediately gave up walks to the first two batters he faced, but he came back to get Andrew Nunez to strike out looking and Robinson Cano to strike out swinging before Andrew Bailey came on to relieve Miller. Miller would then get former Red Sox infielder Kevin Youkilis- the only batter he'd face- to strike out swinging.

After the Sox were retired in order in the top of the 8th, Junichi Tazawa would come on in relief of Miller and although he would allow a 1-out single off the bat of Travis Hafner, the inning would end when OF Ichiro Suzuki would ground into a double-play.

Boston would blow the game wide open in the top of the 9th inning when Joba Chamberlain came on. After Middlebrooks struck out to start the inning, he allowed a walk to Saltalamacchia, a single off the bat of Gomes and another walk to Bradley to load up the bases for the Sox. Ellsbury would then hit a ground ball to first that was bobbled by Cano (who had shifted towards first base) bringing home Saltalamacchia and- thanks to some agressive baseruinning- Gomes. Victorino woul single and bring home Bradley to make it 8-2 Boston before Perdroia grounded out to end the inning.

Joel Hanrahan would come on in the bottom of the 9th and have a 1-2-3 inning, giving the Red Sox the 8-2 win on opening day, their first opening day win since 2010. Although Lester only went 5 innings, he allowed five hits and two earned runs while striking out seven batters and walking two. Shane Victorino went 2 for 6 with 3 RBI while Jacoby Ellsbury went 3 for 6 with two RBI and Jackie Bradley Jr went to Applebee's in Times Square with his family after reaching base on three walks as well as adding to the Red Sox lead with an RBI groundout

Tuesday is an off day, but the series will resume on Wednesday with Clay Buchholz getting the start against New York's Hideki Kuroda. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM ET and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- After the Houston Astros made their AL West debut to open up the 2013 season on Easter Sunday with an 8-2 win against the Texas Rangers at home, Rangers starter Yu Darvish came within one out of pitching a perfect game against the Astros on Tuesday night.

With two away in the bottom of the 9th, Darvish allowed had a single off the bat of Astros SS Marwin Gonzalez through his legs to center field. After allowing the single, Rangers manager Ron Washington pulled Darvish for reliever Michael Kirkman who allowed a single to 2B Jose Altuve before pinch hitter JD Martinez struck out to end the ballgame.

Darvish had a career high 14 strikeouts in 111 pitches at Minute Maid park Tuesday- the most by a Rangers starter since Nolan Ryan in July 1991.

NHL- After missing out on the Iginla sweepstakes (despite persistent rumors to the contrary) the Boston Bruins acquired Jaromir Jagr from the Dallas stars in a trade the day before the NHL's trade deadline. The Bruins will be Jagr's third team in two seasons, including Philadelphia last year.

The 41 year old winger has led Dallas in scoring during the lockout-shortened season with 14 goals and 12 assists in and is expected to join the team in time for Thursday night's tilt against the New Jersey Devils. The Czechoslovavian-born player first came into the NHL during the 1990-91 season with Pittsburgh.

AP Photo/Elise Amendola

OTHER BRUINS NEWS- After last week's collapse against the Canadiens, the Bruins split a weekend 2 game road trip where they lost to the Flyers on Saturday but on Sunday night, Anton Khudobin turned aside all 26 shots he faced in Boston's 2-0 shutout of the Buffalo Sabres.

On Tuesday night, Khudobin was between the pipes once again when the Bruins returned to TD Garden for another Northeastern conference matchup, this time against the Ottawa Senators.

The Sens got on the board early in the first with a tally from Colin Greening before David Krejci got the equalizer less than a minute later and Tyler Seguin put Boston up 2-1. The second period, while scoreless, wasn't uneventful as Patrice Bergeron left the game after a collision with Greening. The Bruins had no comment on Bergeron's condition- the center suffered two concussions earlier in his career with the Bruins.

Early in the 3rd period, the Sens got a game-tying goal thanks to Andre Benoit to even things up at 2-2 before Boston re-took the lead midway through the third thanks to a Nathan Horton tally. With 34 seconds left in regulation, the Bruins no doubt had a feeling of deja vu from last week's letdown against the Habs when Johnny Boychuck was called for interference after the Sens pulled Lehner, giving them a 6 on 4 advantage for the remainder of regulation. However, Khudobin and the B's were able to withstand the late flurry of offense and the Bruins held on to win by a 3-2 final. The win puts Boston within a point of Montreal for 1st place in the Northeast division.

Khudobin faced a career high 47 shots on goal, stopping 45 while Lehner turned aside 47 of 50 shots faced on Tuesday night. Both teams went 0-3 on the power play as well.

The Bruins will next take on the New Jersey Devils at the Garden on Thursday night. Puck drops at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on the NHL Network.

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

Fred Chartrand- Canadian Press

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand

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

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



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

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

Split 'P' Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Vault Past Sens in OT; Napoli Makes Spring Training Debut for Red Sox

AP Photo/David Goldman

RED SOX- Mike Napoli went 1-2 with an RBI single and a run scored his spring training debut for the Red Sox on Friday night. Starting with the first pitch, Napoli deftly fielded a bunt from Pittsburgh's Darren Ford and raced him to the bag for the first out.

Dustin Pedroia led Red Sox batters by going 2-2 with 2 RBI against a split Pittsburgh Pirates squad in Ft Myers and Jon Lester threw three shutout innings in Boston's 5-2 win. The win gives the Red Sox a 4-4 record in Grapefruit League action. For Saturday's action, the Red Sox won't even be leaving Ft Myers as they'll trek about six miles across town to take on the Minnesota Twins at Hammond Stadium at 1:05 PM ET. Saturday also marks Clay Buchholz's Spring Training debut- he'll be starting against Minnesota prospect Kyle Gibson who will also be making his Grapefruit league debut.

BOSTON BRUINS- The Bruins took another step towards reclaiming first place in the Northeast division with an OT win against the Ottawa Sentaors on Thursday night. Nathan Horton got the Bruins on the board early with a tally in the 2nd period, but Ottawa's Jim O'Brien managed to tie the game up at 1-1 thanks to a power play goal late in the second.

With no deciding goal in the 3rd period, the game headed to OT with both Boston and Ottawa getting a point each. After the bruins had successfully killing a penalty that carried over into OT, this happened-

After a lengthy video review, Bergeron's OT goal was upheld and the Bruins were 2-1 winners, vaulting them past the Senators and within one point of Montreal in the standings. Tukka Rask stopped 30 of 31 shots faced while Ottawa's Robin Lehner turned aside 44 of 46 shots faced in the losing effort.

The Bruins will have a busy weekend coming up with a daytime tilt against the Tampa Bay Lightning at the Garden at 1:00 ET and then Boston will host Montreal on Sunday night at 7:30 ET. Saturday's game will be televised on NESN while Sunday's contest will be aired on the NBC Sports Network.

Opening Day Sports Chowdah Update- Marlins Christen New Stadium; Sox Drop Season Opener in 1st Game of Valentine Era; Bruins Clinch #2 Spot in East

Believe it or not, there's a ballpark in there somewhere.

MLB- The defending World Series Champion St Louis Cardinals spoiled the opening game in the Miami Marlins new ballpark on Wednesday night.

Before a sellout crowd of 36,601, Cardinals starter Kyle Lohse had an early lead to work with a 2-RBI single from 3B David Freese in the 1st and another RBI single from SS Rafael Furcal in the 2nd inning to put the Cards up 3-0.

Lohse carried a no-hitter through 6 innings before Miami SS Jose Reyes led off the bottom of the 7th inning with a single to right field. The Marlins got on the board thanks to a John Buck RBI double, but that would be all Miami would get as the Cardinals would go on to win 4-1 in Miami's new park, their first regular season win without slugger Albert Pujols since losing him to free agency in the offseason.


RED SOX- The opening game stateside for the American League got underway on Thursday afternoon at Comerica Park in a pitcher's duel between Boston's Jon Lester and Detroit's Justin Verlander.

Although Lester allowed four leadoff singles, he threw 6 shutout innings against the Tigers before Tigers catcher Alex Avila drove in Jhonny Peralta with an RBI double in the bottom of the 7th. Detroit would then take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the 8th on a Prince Fielder sac fly.

Tigers closer Jose Valverde came on to close out the game but immediately gave up a leadoff single to Dustin Pedroia and moving to third on an Adrian Gonzalez single. Gonzalez was pulled for pinch-runner Darnell McDonald. The Red Sox then got on the board when David Ortiz drove home Pedroia on a sac fly to center field. After Youkilis struck out for the second out in the 9th, McDonald stole second base before Ryan Sweeney belted a triple deep to the right-field corner, driving in the tying run before Cody Ross grounded out to shortstop to end the inning.

With offseason acquisiton Andrew Bailey going on the DL for thumb surgery right at the end of Spring Training, the Red Sox bullpen was left in a state of flux. Mark Melancon came on in the bottom of the 9th for the Sox, and after getting the first out, gave up singles to Peralta and Avila before being pulled for Alfredo Aceves. Aceves hit the first batter he faced, sending Ramon Santiago to first an loading the bases. Austin Jackson then drove an Aceves offering past a diving Nick Punto for a walkoff single and 3-2 Tigers win at the season opener in Comerica Park.

In the wake of the turbulent offseason, Red Sox Nation took the news of the opening day loss in stride.



With the Rays, Yankees and Orioles not getting started until Friday and the Blue Jays winning on Thursday, the loss leaves the Red Sox in the AL East basement to start off the regular season. Jon Lester went 7 innings allowing 6 hits and 1 earned run while last year's Cy Young winner Justin Verlander went 8 shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out 7. Depsite the blown save, Valverde is credited with the win and Melancon gets the loss.

The two teams have Friday off, but will go back at it on Saturday, with Josh Beckett getting the start against Doug Fister. The game will get underway at 4:05 ET and will air on FOX.

ELSEWHERE IN THE AL EAST- It took 16 innings, but thanks to a blown save in the top of the 9th by Chris Perez and a 3-run homer by Jays catcher JP Arencibia in the top of the 16th, the Blue Jays won the longest opening day game in MLB history by a 7-4 final. The win, coupled with the Red Sox loss and Baltimore, Tampa Bay and the Yankees being idle puts the Jays into first place in the AL East.



NCAA HOOPS- Kentucky's 67-59 win over the Kansas Jayhawks in the NCAA title game for their 8th NCAA title was almost an afterthough as University of Kentucky Students rioted. At least one person was shot and there were a number of arson fires [including couches for some reason- NANESB!] in the Lexington, KY area immediately after the Monday night title game.

With the Jayhawks focused on Anthony Davis, Sophmore Doron Lamb had 22 points for the Wildcats in the Championship game. The win is the first NCAA title for former UMASS coach John Calipari.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAA HOOPS- In the NIT tournament, the UMASS Minutemen lost out to eventual champions Stanford in the semifinals by a 64-74 margin. The Stanford Cardinals would then go on to topple the Minnesota Golden Gophers by a 75-51 final in the NIT title game.


NHL- After a New York road trip that saw wins against the Rangers and Islanders followed by a home loss against the Penguins, the Bruins embarked on their final road game of the regular season up in Ottawa. Goalie Anton Khudobin was called up from Providence to make his Boston debut [but not his NHL debut- he had a couple of apprearences with Minnesota in 2009 and 2010- NANESB!]- a thumb injury last month prevented him from arriving in Boston, leaving the B's to pull Marty Turco- presently 2-2- from Austria after Tukka Rask was injured.

Khudobin got some offensive support early thanks to a Benoit Pouliot goal in the first and a rare Greg Zanon goal for Boston (his 3rd of the season) to build up a 2-0 advantage. Jason Spezza cut the Senators defecit in half late in the second. Boston would make it a 2 goal game once again with a Milan Lucic tally to make it a 3-1 Boston lead late in the 3rd, and that would be the final.

Khudobin stopped 44 of 45 shots faced while Ottawa's Ben Bishop would allow 3 goals on 27 shots faced. Both teams were 0-3 on the power play on Thursday Night.

For the regular season finale, the Bruins will host the Buffalo Sabres at the Garden on Saturday at 4:00 PM. After a late-season resurgence, the Sabres were eliminated from the playoffs with their Thursday night loss to Philadelphia. The game will be televised on NESN.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The Washington Capitals secured the 8th and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a 4-2 win over the Florida Panthers. Both Winnipeg and Buffalo were eliminated with the Washington win and Buffalo loss to Philly and a Winnipeg loss to the Islanders.

Out west, the playoff situation is a little tighter as the Los Angels Kings and San Jose Sharks jockey for position in the Pacific Division with a home and away series between the two teams to wrap up the regular season. The two teams are tied at 94 points on the season after the Sharks beat the kings 6-5 in a shootout in LA on Thursday night. The tie-breaker will take place in San Jose on Saturday night at 10:30 ET. With the Avalanche, Stars and Flames eliminated, the Phoenix Coyotes have wrapped up the 8th and final Western conference playoff spot.

NBA- Despite losing two games in a row, the Boston Celtics remain atop the Atlantic divison. On Wednesday, the Spurs managed to hold off the Celtics for an 87-86 win on Wednesday while the C's lost to the Bulls in the Windy City by an 86-93 final.

The Celtics will head on to Indianapolis to take on the Pacers Saturday night before returning to the Garden to take on the 76ers on Sunday.


NCAA HOCKEY- The Boston College Eagles punched their ticket to the NCAA Men's Hockey finals in a convincing fashion with a 6-1 win over the Minnesota Golden Gophers on Thursday night. After taking a 1-0 lead for the first, the Eagles exploded for 3 more goals from Kevin Hayes, Chris Kreider and Paul Carey in the 3rd to build up a 4-0 lead. Minnesota's lone goal came early in the 3rd, but Boston College responded with two more unanswered tallies for the 6-1 final.

The Eagles will face the Ferris State Bulldogs in the Finals on Saturday at 7:00 PM ET. The small Western Minnesota school got past Schenechtady, NY's Union College by a 3-1 final on Thursday. This is the first trip to the Frozen Four for both Ferris State and Union.

Petrino's reported mistress Jessica Dorrell in her Razorback volleyball days

NCAA FOOTBALL- University of Arkansas head coach Bobby Petrino has been placed on administative leave by the University after an accident report from the Arkansas State Police contradicted his earlier public statements after he crashed his motorcycle over the weekend.

In public statements, the married 50 year old Petrino stated that he was alone when the crash took place in Madison county. However, the Arkansas State Police accident reports names 25 year old Jessica Dorrell as a passenger on Petrino's motorcycle. After the police report was made public, Petrino admitted to having a 'previous inappropriate relationship' with Dorrell.

A 2008 Arkansas graduate, Dorrell was a four time letter winner in the Razorbacks volleyball program and handled fundraising duties for the Razorback Foundation. Just last week, she was named student development coordinator for the football program, co-ordinating on campus recruitment and eligibility issues for incoming players. Dorell also has a fiancee who's the director of swimming operations for the Razorbacks [altho the Arkansas Razorbacks swimming & diving team page currently lists Megan Haskins as the director- NANESB].

Petrino arrived in Arkansas from the NFL after quitting in the final month of the Atlanta Falcons 2007 NFL season. The Razorback football program has had winning seasons for three of the last four years and have been invited to the Liberty, Sugar and Cotton Bowls under Petrino.

Quickie Weekday Sports Chowdah Update: Welcome to Seidenberg; Cleveland Nearly Rocks C's Again; Tigers Crown A Prince; 74 Dead in Egyptian Soccer Riot

BRUINS: The second half of the Bruins 2011-2012 campaign got underway at the Garden Tuesday night when they played host to the Ottawa Senators Tuesday night.

Despite a 3-game losing streak heading into the All-Star break, the Senators had closed to within a few points of the Bruins in the Northeastern conference standings, raising the stakes for the B's home game against a divisional opponent.

This was also Tim Thomas' first start in net since opting out of a team visit to the White House before the All-Star break- Tukka Rask was between the pipes for their 5-3 loss to the Washington Capitals in the last game before the All-Star break.

Former Senator Zdeno Chara looked every bit the Fastest Shot winner from the All Star skills competition when he drilled the puck past goalie Craig Anderson and into the back of the net all the way from the blue line to give Boston the 1-0 lead on a power play goal at the 8:02 mark in the first.

The Senators' Colin Greening would get the equalizer with 1:20 remaining in the first to send both teams into their locker rooms with the game tied 1-1 at the 1st intermission.

The Bruins would have some chances early in the second, but fail to capitalize. As the period went on, the Senators were successfully able to pressure the Bruins and keep the puck on the B's end of the ice. This resulted in the Sens taking a 3-1 lead on goals from Erik Karlsson and Kyle Turris before the Bruins were able to make it a 1-goal game thanks to a Milan Lucic goal in the final minute of the 2nd period.

A little over 2 minutes into the 3rd, Brad Marchand would get the game-tying goal to make it 3-3 on another Boston power play. Then, not to be outdone by Chara's early goal from the blueline, 7 minutes into the 3rd Dennis Seidenberg shot the puck towards the Ottawa net from center ice. While it lacked Chara's velocity, it seemed to have the movement of a Tim Wakefield knuckleball and got by Craig Anderson to make it 4-3 Boston.

Lucic had a glorious opportunity to pad the Boston lead at a little over 10 minutes into the 3rd period, but Anderson was able to get a glove on Lucic's breakaway shot from near point-blank range [perhaps if Lucic had attempted the shot from center ice or the blue line....just sayin' -NANESB!].

Boston hangs on to win their first game afer the All-Star break by a 4-3 final, putting some distance between themselves and 2nd place Ottawa in the process. Tim Thomas had 30 saves on 33 shots faced while Craig Anderson allowed 4 goals out of the 30 shots he faced. There were no power-play opportunities for the Senators, meaning all of their goal Tuesday night were even-strength. The Bruins, however, scored twice on their 4 power play opportunities Tuesday night.

The B's will next play host to the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night. The game gets underway at 7:00 PM ET and will be televised on the NHL Network/

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: The Montreal Gazette has retracted a column in which writer Jack Todd accused the Bruins goalie of being motivated by racism in his decision to opt out of the White House luncheon for the team.

“What’s worse, you know Thomas would not have done this with the liberal Democrat Bill Clinton in the White House,” Todd wrote. “Truth is, he felt free to dis Barack Obama, because Obama is black.”

[Wow! That's highly original and groundbreaking! Accusing somebody who doesn't like President Obama's policies of raaaaacism- I don't think I've heard of somebody doing that since....whaat time is it? I guess...noon-ish NANESB!]

Perhaps I wasn't paying attention, but last I heard not even Thomas' harshest critics in the USA decided to venture down that particular path of cheap-shottery. Memo to petulant, Vietnam-era draft-dodger Jack Todd- giving President Barack Hussein Obama a pass on his numerous and collossal fuck-ups simply because of his skin color is about as racist as planting a burning cross in somebody's yard [only not as overtly racist- NANESB!].

The Montreal Gazette eventually pulled that one sentence from Todd's column after determining Todd offered zero evidence to back up such an incendiary claim [of course, that never stopped a progressive journalist before. Or perhaps I'm being paranoid; I mean it's not like there's a history of liberal journalists getting together to coordinate how to present progressive politicians and policies in the best possible light while colluding on how best to assail conservatives or anything- NANESB!].

CELTICS: The Boston Celtics are now a .500 team after Tuesday night's road win over the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Although unlike their collapse at the Garden on Sunday where they allowed 12 unanswered points towards the end of the 4th quarter, the C's managed to survive another late rally from the Cavs. In the 4th quarter on Tuesday night, Cleveland managed to trim a 22 point deficit to just 2 points- although Boston would hang on to win by a final of 93-90.

Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass had 13 points each [with Bass coming off the bench with and getting 6 rebounds as well- NANESB!] while Paul Pierce had 20 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists on the night.

After Tuesday night's game, the C's will travel home to take on the 7-15 Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. Game gets underway at 7:30 PM ET and will be televised on Comcast Sports New England.

RED SOX: The Red Sox have signed free-agent pitchers Vincente Padilla and John Maine to minor league contracts.

Padilla most recently pitched in the Los Angeles Dodgers bullpen and had a 4.15 ERA with 5 holds in 2011. Maine's most recent MLB experience was with the 2010 Mets where he went 9-9 with a 4.35 ERA. In 2011 he signed a minor league deal with the Colorado Rockies and went 1-3 with a 7.43 ERA in 11 starts while playing for the Rockie's AAA affiiate in Colorado Springs.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB: The Detroit Tigers have signed one of the marquee free agents of the offseason. Former Milwaukee Brewers 1B Prince Fielder has finalized a 9-year $214 million contract with the Tigers and was introduced in a press conference this week.

During the Brewers 2011 campaign, Fielder batted .299 with 38 home runs and 120 RBI. A number of teams, including the Marlins, Rangers and Nationals, considered themselves in the running to sign the power-hitting son of 1B/DH Cecil Fielder, who's big league career spanned the mid-1980s to late 1990s and included six seasons in Detroit.

SOCCER: More than 70 people were reported dead in a riot that broke out after a soccer game in Port Said, Egypt.

Fans of the home Al-Masry club swarmed the field after their upset 3-1 win over the top-ranked Egytian team, Al-Ahly. A melee broke out where Al-Masry fans began throwing rocks and sticks at the players and fans of the Al-Alhy club, Many of the dead were said to have been caught up in the ensuing stampeded as Al-Alhy fans made their way towards the exit.

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- B's Beat Senators By a Landslide; McCourt-ing Disaster? LA Dodgers Up For Sale

NHL: Despite an awful October and falling behind early to the white-hot Senators early, the Boston Bruins were able to rally and snap Ottawa's 6-game win streak on Tuesday night at the Garden.

Nick Foligno got the Sens on the board about 5 minutes into the 1st before Milan Lucic evened things up for Boston with a power play goal two minutes later. However, about 15 seconds later, a shot from Ottawa's Stephane DeCosta found its way past Thomas and into the back of the net to give the Sens the 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

The Bruins would go on to tie up the contest at 2-2 when Patrice Bergeron beat Sens netminder Craig Angerson just over 4 minutes into the 2nd period before taking a 3-2 lead with 2 minutes remaining in the 2nd on a Chris Kelly even strength tally.

Ottawa would knot things up at 3-3 however thanks to Jared Cowan's goal 5 minutes into the 3rd before the B's would take the lead (for good) on a Johnny Boychuk tally about 90 seconds later. From there, the Bruins would get some insurance in the form of a Danny Paille tally 7:18 into the 3rd.

So the Bruins turn the page on a crappy October by stopping the streaking Sens with a 5-3 final at the Garden on Tuesday. The B's actually outshot the Sens by a 41-26 margin, with Thomas turning aside 23 of the shots he faced. Boston also was able to convert one of their five power play opportunities while the Sens were held scoreless with the extra attacker on the ice.

The Bruins next game will be against the Toronto Maple Leafs at Toronto on Saturday night. The puck drops at 7 PM ET and the game will be televised on both NESN and CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.



MLB: Just days after the final out in Game 7 of the 2011 World Series, St Louis Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa announced his retirement. The surprise announcement ends a 16 year managerial stint with the Cardinals that saw at least six NL Central Pennants, three National League pennants and two World Series titles.

LaRussa's 33 year managerial career also saw him managing the Oakland Athletics to a Worls Series title during the 1989 'earthquake series' against the San Francisco Giants. Between his time with the White Sox, A's and Cardinals, LaRussa has 2728 career wins to his credit.

Random thought: Would that be ironic if Terry Francona ended up replacing LaRussa as the Cards manager?

RED SOX: The Red Sox conducted two separate interviews for the managerial opening left by Francona's departure. On Monday, the Red Sox interviewed Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin. On Wednesday, the Red Sox interviewed current Brewers hitting coach (and former Red Sox 3rd base coach from 2004-05) Dale Sveum. Sveum has some postseason experience as manager, dating back to 2008 when the Brewers fired Ned Yost with 12 games remaining in the regular season.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: 1B Adrian Gonzalez, 2B Dustin Pedroia and CF Jacoby Ellsbury became the first trio of Red Sox to win Golden Glove awards in 32 years. The winners were announced by Rawlings on Tuesday night.

In 1979, outfielders Right fielder Dwight Evans, Center Fielder Fred Lynn and Shortstop Rick Burleson each won the Golden Glove award while with the BoSox.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS: The Dodgers and MLB announced they had entered into an agreement for a court-supervised sale of the franchise. Reportedly the interested parties include Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Pittsburgh Penguins co-owner Ron Burkle as well as a number of Asian investors.

Even if a buyer is quickly found, it could take anywhere from 6 months to a year and a half for MLB to approve the transaction.

Yet Another All Star Sports Chowdah Update: Wheeler and Dealing- Busy B's Snap Skid; BC Helps Themselves to Another Beanpot; Little Rhody's Home Plate

NHL: The Boston Bruins acquired defenseman Tomas Kaberle from Toronto on Thursday in exchange for prospect Joe Colborne and a pair of draft picks (1st round in 2011 and 2nd round in 2012). This comes around the same time Boston sent RW Blake Wheeler and defenseman Marc Stuart to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for C Rich Peverly and defenseman Boris Valabik.

On the ice, there was bound to be something of a letdown after that Montreal game last week- and that was evident when the Bruins went on a 3 game skid, getting swept in the home & away series against the Red Wings and losing to before beating the Islanders 6-3 at Nassau County Colosseum on Thursday night. Not a bad way to start off your 6-game, 2-nation road trip, right?


On Firday night, the B's travelled to the Canadian capital to take on the Mr Carrie Underwood-less Ottawa Senators, with somewhat predictable results. No Tim Thomas in net for the games against the Islanders and Senators- giving Tukka Rask back to back wins.

Bobby Butler got the Sens out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd, but Boston came right back with four goals- 2 from Brad Marchand, one from Dennis Seidenberg and one from Nathan Horton to put them up for good and give them the 4-2 win over the struggling Sens on Friday.
The Bruins next game will be on Tuesday night, 9 PM ET against at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary against the Flames.

NCAA HOCKEY: Just like round one of the Beanpot, Boston College would ultimately prevail, but it would require OT to do so.

This was a wild one at the Garden on Monday night, with Northeastern tallying the game-tying goal with 1:46 to go in the 3rd to make it a 6-6 game. 6 minutes into the OT, BC's Jimmy Hayes scored to give the Eagles the 7-6 OT win, good for Boston College's 16th Beanpot title.

NBA: To hardly anybody's surprise, the C's easily handled the NJ Nets in their last game before the All Star break on Wednesday. Paul Pierce had an impressive 31 points in the 94-80 win over the Nets, leaving the Celtics and Miami Heat in a virtual tie headed into the All Star break.

Rajon Rondo, Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen spent the weekend in Los Angeles for the 60th NBA All Star game (which the West downed the East by a final of 148-143). The rest of the team will make their way out for the West Coast in time for Tuesday night's game against the Golden State Warriors.

MLB: OK....so most of you I'm sure are no doubt looking around and can't help but feel that the world is going to hell in a handbasket.

But fear not! Pitchers and catchers have reported to their respctive MLB training camps in Florida and Arizona, and with the rest of the team to follow, that can only mean Spring Training is around the corner!

There? See...that should put all those riots in the Middle East into perspective.

RED SOX: A Rhode Island state representative has submitted legislation that would authorize the Rhode Island DMV to issue Boston Red Sox liscence plates.

Representative Brian Kennedy (D- Hopkinton) has once again submitted legislation that would allow the liscense plates to bear the trademark Red Sox logo. Similar legislation was stalled in the RI State general assembly over concerns that the funds raised ($40 on top of the normal registration fees) were being directed out-of-state. However, in 2009 the General Assembly approved of special New England Patriots plates with the teams logo, with the proceeds going to Rhode Island chapters of charitable organizations like Meals on Wheels.

[hat tip: Providence Journal]

Steely Sports Chowdah Update- Pats Steel the Show in Pittsburgh; Sens Oust B's; BC Bests the Blue Devil They Know

NFL: What loss in Cleveland?

You had a feeling that New England would bounce back in some way shape or form from their embarrassing 34-14 loss to the Browns, but to be honest, I didn't think it would be this quickly, this convincingly and against such a quality opponent [That's not to say I wasn't confident they'd win, I just thought the might outlast Pittsburgh and hang on to win by 3 or 4 points- NANESB!].

Tom Brady connected with TE and 2nd round 2010 draft pick Rob Gronkowski not one, not two, but three touchdown passes on Sunday night while the shaggy QB even managed to rush for one of his own. As an added bonus, the Pats D (and Pittsburgh O, now that I think about it) managed to keep the Steelers out of the end zone until the beginning of the 4th quarter.

New England was able to get a TD on their opening possession of the game and followed that up with a FG from freshly-signed kicker Shayne Graham. Aside from a 76-yard, five and a half minute drive that resulted in a FG, the Steelers hardly seemed able to move the ball in the first half. This was compounded by a number of dropped passes inside the end zone that would've brought Pittsburgh within striking distance. The Patriots ended up taking a 10-3 lead into halftime.

To start off the 2nd half, the Pats would march the ball 78 yards down the field for a TD to make it 17-3. After both teams went three-and-out on their subsequent possessions, the Steelers were able to sustain a long drive that started at their own 33 thanks to a pass interference penalty against Pats Safety Brandon Merriweather where the Steelers were able to move inside the New England 10 yard line- but that's as close as they would get after Pittsburgh's receiver's dropped short passes from QB Ben Rothlisberger. To make matters worse, Steelers kicker Jeff Reed would miss a FG from point-blank range and New England would march the ball back down for another TD (where Brady himself ran it in from the Steeler's 3) to make it a 23-3 game (although Graham would miss the point-after attempt).

Pittsburgh would put together a 71-yard drive of their own culminating in a TD to open up the 4th quarter, but on their next possession Rothlisberger would be picked off by Pats safety James Sanders, who would run it back 32 yards ro make it a 29-10 New England lead, and although Pittsburgh wasn't done scoring in the 4th, it was too little, too late. New England wins this one by a final of 39-26- and it wasn't even that close- to give them a 7-2 record.

Brady was outstanding, going 30-43 with 350 passing yards and 3 TD passes as well as a TD run of his own. Rob Gronkowski would have 5 receptions for 72 yards, including his 3 TD receptions. Deion Branch would get 7 receptions for 71 yards and Wes Welker 8 receptions for 89 yards. Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis had 18 carries for 87 yards on top of another 36 yards receiving on 4 receptions. In other words, firing on all cylinders. On top of that, the New England D was able to sack Rothlisberger 5 times on Sunday night.

Next week, the Patriots will host the Indianapolis Colts in Foxboro at 4:15 ET/1:15 PT.

NHL: Tim Thomas' unbeaten streak ended at 8 consecutive games on Saturday night at the the Garden. Sens goaltender Brian Elliot turned aside all 31 shots faced while Erik Karlsson and Daniel Alfredsson notched the only goals of the night in Ottawa's 2-0 win over Boston.

The loss gives Boston an 8-5-1 record as the Sens move past them for 2nd place in the division. The Bruins will next host the New Jersey Devils at the Garden on Monday night at 7 PM.

NCAA FOOTBALL: Try as they might to give away Saturday's game, the Duke Blue Devils weren't taking up Boston College on their generosity. Not 100%, at least.

Taking a 21-9 lead into the the start of the 4th quarter and looking for more, Boston College was knocking on the door inside Duke's 10 yard line. However, RB Montel Harris would fumble the ball at the Duke 5 and Blue Devils LB August Campbell would run it back 95 yards to make it a 21-16 contest.

With just under 5 minutes to go in the game and starting at their own 37, the Blue Devils were able to march it down as close as the 2 yard line, but BC was able to stop them on 4th and goal with 49 seconds left in the game to hang on and win by the 21-16 final.

Eagles QB Chase Rettig was 12-24 with 230 yards and two TDs while fumble notwithstanding, Montel Harris had a rushing TD of his own while racking up 109 yards on 23 carries.

BC's record is now 5-5 and they'll host the Virginia Cavaliers on Chestnut Hill next Saturday.

NBA: I was only marginally aware that the Celtics were playing on Saturday night, but they seemed to have survived a scare from the Memphis Grizzlies to go on and beat them 116-110 in OT. Kinda surprising Saturday's game was that close, given the way they jumped all over the Heat on Thursday.

The C's are idle until Wednesday night when they host the Washington Wizards at the Garden.