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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Easter of Eden Sports Chowdah Update- Bruins Clip Wings to Even Series at 1-1; Red Sox Rally Late Against Baltimore on Sunday Night

BOSTON BRUINS- After stunning the home crowd at TD Garden on Friday night with a late goal in the 3rd period to take a 1-0 win over Boston, the Red Wings were looking to bring the series back to Motown by going up a commanding 2-0 lead over Boston.

Unlike Game 1, the Bruins didn't have to wait long to get on the board- Justin Florek caught Wings netminder Jimmy Howard out of position and he found the back of the net 7 and a half minutes to go in the first period. This had the distinction of not only being Florek's first NHL goal, but the Bruins first tally of the series.

About two minutes later, the Bruins would have a 5 on 3 man advantage for about 20 seconds with Detroit's Jakub Kindl being sent to the bin for interference at the 8:15 mark and Danny DeKeyser getting two for slashing at the 9:54 mark. Although Boston wasn't able to take advantage of the brief 2-man advantage, Reilly Smith put Boston up 2-0 with a power play goal 10:35 into the first period.



However, with 6:40 to go in the second, Detroit cut the lead in half on a goal that ricocheted in and was credited to Luke Glendening, making it a 2-1 game. However, Boston got the two goal cushion back in the final 1:45 of the second period on a Milan Lucic goal. In the opening two and a half minutes of the 3rd, Detroit's Kyle Quincey was given two minutes for roughing and Zdeno Chara would give the Bruins a 4-1 lead thanks to a power play goal 2:27 into the third.

The Bruins go on to win Sunday's Game 2 by a 4-1 final, sending the series over to Detroit knotted up at a game each. Tukka Rask stopped 34 of the 35 shots he faced while Jimmy Howard stopped 25 of 29 shots faced. The Bruins were also 2 for 4 on the power play on Sunday afternoon.


Game 3 is set to take place from Joe Louis Arena on Tuesday night with a scheduled start time of 7:30 ET. The game will be televised on NESN, NBC Sports and TSN.

OTHER STANLEY CUP PLAYOFF NEWS- The defending Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks will have to do without the services of Defenseman Brent Seabrook, who received a suspension from the NHL after a hit on St Louis Blues captain David Backes on Saturday.

Video of the game shows Seabrook targeted Backes' head and at least one skate was off the ice when the Blackhawks defender was setting up for the hit, which came with the Blackhawks leading by a score of 3-2 with less than 5 minutes to go in regulation during Game 2. Seabrook was given a game misconduct and the Hawks were assessed a 5 minute charging penalty. In the dying seconds of regulation, the Blues also pulled Ryan Miller from the net for an additional attacker and that strategy bore fruit when Vladimir Tarasenko beat Corey Crawford with 7 seconds to go in the game, forcing OT in which Barrett Jackman would score the game winner 5:50 into the first OT to give the Blues a 2-0 series lead.

RED SOX- Coming into this weekend's series against Baltimore, the Red Sox were looking to climb out of the AL East basement- even though all of the teams were separated by no more than 2 and a half games on Friday. The series got off to a rough start when the O's manhandled Lackey on Friday night and Baltimore cruised to an 8-4 win over Boston.

On Saturday, Big Papi broke a 1-1 deadlock in the bottom of the 4th with a solo homer. Brock Holt, who was only called up from Pawtucket on Friday, gave the Red Sox some insurance in the bottom of the 7th when he belted a 1-out triple with Mike Carp on first to make it 3-1. Jonathan Herrera then grounded into a fielder's choice, sending Holt home and making it a 4-1 game before Koji Uehara came out of the pen and despite walking Matt Weiters to lead off the 9th, got the next three batters to strike out swinging, ending the ballgame.

Sunday night's nationally televised game on ESPN also marked the 1-year anniversary of the first Red Sox home game after the Boston Marathon bombings, and there was a pregame ceremony to honor the marathon runners, first responders and medical personnel from that fateful day.

Jake Peavy took to the mound on Sunday night and gave up three quick runs to Baltimore in the top of the first- a Nelson Cruz solo homer, a Matt Weiters RBI single and a JJ Hardy RBI sac fly. Meanwhile, Ubaldo Jiminez confounded the Red Sox bats through the first five innings as the O's added to their lead thanks to a 2-out David Lough ground rule double with 2 runners on that made it 4-0 in the 5th while outfielder Adam Jones hit an RBI single with two away in the top of the 6th. That was enough to chase Peavy from the mound and Chris Capuano came in from the bullpen to retire Weiters and prevent any further damage.

However, things were looking promising in the bottom of the 6th after David Ortiz got on board with a 1-out single, followed by Mike Napoli drawing a walk. Johnny Gomes then took a 2-2 Jiminez offering and planted it into the Monster Seats to put the Red Sox on the board and cut the O's lead to 5-3. Zach Britton came out of the Baltimore bullpen to relieve Jiminez and got the next two batters out. Capuano would get the Baltimore batters he faced out in order to give the Red Sox batters another chance in the bottom of the 7th.

After Pierzynski struck out to lead off the inning, Brock Holt singled and then made it to second when O's SS Ryan Flaherty dropped the ball when transferring it from his glove to his hand while attempting the double play on a Grady Sizemore ground ball- something the Red Sox admittedly caught a break on. Dustin Pedroia then singled to load the bases up before Big Papi beat the shift Baltimore had employed against him all night and hit an RBI single to make it a 1-run game. With Evan Meek coming out of the bullpen to relive Britton, Mike Napoli hit a ground ball to 3rd, but instead of trying to get the easy out at first or third, O's 3B Jonathan Schoop attempted to throw home and erase the runner there, but the throw was wide and his error tied the game. Gomes then fouled out and Danielv Nava struck out to end the Boston threat, but the game was tied 5-5.

Baltimore had a credible threat going in the top of the 9th thanks to a leadoff double from Adam Jones, who advanced to 3rd on a Weiters groundout. However, 2B Lombrardozzi would ground out to Andrew Miller and Jones couldn't advance. With two away, Mujica came out of the Boston bullpen in relief of Miller and got outfielder David Lough to strike out on four pitches to end the inning and strand Jones 90 feet away from home.

For the bottom of the 9th, Brian Matusz came out of the pen and got Grady Sizemore to strike out to start off the inning. Dustin Pedroia then belted a fly ball that was just a few inches short of a homer that caromed off the Green Monster in deep left center field [thanks to some fan interference- NANESB!]. After the umpires huddled and the play was reviewed in New York, the call was upheld and instead of a walkoff solo homer, Pedroia was at second with one away. Pedroia then advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch by Matusz with Big Papi in the batter's box. After falling behind 3-0 to Ortiz, O's manager Buck Showalter had Matusz intentionally walk Big Papi before bringing Darren O'Day out of the pen. O'Day struck Mike Napoli in the kneecap with a pitch to load up the bases and John Farrell decided to have Mike Capr pinch-hit for Jonny Gomes.



For a second, it looked as though Carp would end the game with a liner to shallow left field, but O's outfielder David Lough tracked it down for out number two. As Pedroia was returning to 3rd base, Lough made a way offline throw towards home that rattled around the backstop and seizing the opportunity, Pedroia ran home for the game-winning run. The Red Sox come all the way back from being shut out 5-0 to win Sunday night's game with two outs in the bottom of the 9th.

Tomorrow being Patriot's Day, the Red Sox and Baltimore will get underway especially early- 11:05 AM ET- and the game will be televised on NESN. Wei-Yin Chen [2-1; 4.76 ERA] will go up against Clay Buchholz [0-1; 5.51 ERA] to wrap up the 4-game series against the birds. As it turns out, Thursday's contest against Chicago was the last time they'll face an opponent that doesn't call the AL East home until early May. After the Baltimore series, the Yankees will come into town for a 3-game series before Boston head to Toronto for a 3-game series next weekend. On April 29th, the Red Sox will host the Tampa Bay Rays- the first time the two teams have met this season- before hosting Oakland on May 2nd.

Quickie Sports Chowdah Update- May the Schwartz Be With You, Blues Down Blackhawks in 3OT; Lester Pitches Gem on South Side

John K Kim- Chicago Tribune

MLB- After stumbling out of the gate early by being swept by the Brewers and dropping 3 out of four to the Yankees in the Bronx, the defending World Series Champion Red Sox were hoping to get back into the things by stringing together a few road wins against the White Sox. The opening game of the series didn't go their way when Chicago got a walkoff win in the bottom of the 9th thanks to a costly Xander Bogaerts throwing error, but on Wednesday night the Red Sox persevered in 14 innings [but only after Chicago sent an infielder onto the pitcher's mound, as some critics rightfully point out- NANESB!].

The win set up a Thursday evening rubber game, and with both teams having burned through their respective bullpens earlier that morning, they each needed quality outings from their starter to take them deep into the game. The two starters- Lester and Sale- had each taken shutouts into the top of the 6th inning, the only difference was that Lester was throwing a perfect game while Sale has allowed a few base hits and his pitch count was much higher. However, in the top of the 6th, Lester was finally able to get some run support thanks to a solo homer by Xander Boagerts to deep left. However, in the bottom of the 6th, Lester's bid for a perfect game fell by the wayside when he gave up a 1-out single to Tyler Flowers. Fresh off his pitching debut, White Sox 2B Leury Garcia then hit a ground-rule double to right field to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with only one out. Adam Eaton tied the game and got Chicago on the board with an infield hit to make it 1-1. However, Lester struck out Semien and got Viciedo to fly out to end the White Sox threat.

In the bottom of the 7th, Adam Dunn led off with a single and after Lester retired Paul Konerko and Alexi Ramirez, Alejandro de Aza hit a double to shallow right that Nava had a hard time corralling. Dunn decided to keep running to home plate, but he was gunned down by Pedroia's relay throw for the 3rd out of the inning.

In the 8th, Ronald Belasario came out of the White Sox bullpen to relieve Sale and led off by walking Jackie Bradley Jr. However, Belasario would then get Dustin Pedroia to hit into a double play ball and get Xander Bogaerts to strike out. Lester, still on the mound in the bottom of the 8th, led off the inning by giving up a single to Tyler Flowers, who then advanced to second on a Garcia sac-bunt. After striking out Eaton, Semien got on board with a swinging bunt and Flowers advanced to third, representing the go-ahead run for Chicago. But Lester got Dylan Viciedo to strike out and end the White Sox threat.

Big Papi led off the top of the 9th and grounded out, but Napoli hit a 1-out single to get on base. This was followed by a pinch-hit single from Mike Carp to give Boston 2 runners on base. David Ross would then take an 0-2 offering and belt a double into right field, driving Napoli home for the tie-breaking run and putting Carp on 3rd. After intentionally walking Nava, the White Sox pulled Belasario and had Scott Downs come out of the pen while Farrell had Grady Sizemore pinch-run for Carp. Jonathan Herrera then pinch-hit for Ryan Roberts and laid down a bunt that he beat out to first, allowing Sizemore to score and give Boston a little bit of insurance heading into the 9th. Jackie Bradley Jr ended the inning by hitting into an unusual double play where he lined out to short and Ross was caught off the bag at 3rd.

Still, the Red Sox re-took the lead heading into the bottom of the 9th and brought Junichi Tazawa out of the pen to close things out. Tazawa got Dunn and Konerko out but allowed a single to Alexei Ramierz [making it 16 games in a row he's hit in, breaking a club record set by Frank Thomas- NANESB]. However, Tazawa got pinch hitter Jose Abreu to ground out, ending the ballgame and giving the Red Sox a 3-1 win and taking two out of three from the Southsiders.

On Friday, the Red Sox will return home to Fenway to face off against Baltimore. John Lackey [2-1; 3.86 ERA] gets the start against Chris Tillman [1-1; 0.84 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and the MLB Network.


STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS- The 2013-14 Stanley Cup Playoffs are underway (although the Bruins aren't in action until Friday night) and already we've got a series out in the Midwest that's raising some eyebrows.



In a wild first period that saw a total of five goals, the Blackhawks jumped out to a 3-2 lead over St Louis and after a scoreless 2nd period, Jaden Schwartz managed to tie the contest back up for St Louis and force OT with a goal with just 1:45 remaining in regulation.

Excpet not only did Schwartz force OT, there were two scoreless overtimes before things were resolved in triple overtime when Alexander Steen beat Cory Crawford to end the game and win Game 1 of the series for St Louis by a 4-3 final. Crawford faced 52 shots on goal for the Blackhawks while Miller faced 42 for St Louis [a busy night in regulation for Tukka Rask, some might say- NANESB!].

Meanwhile, Game 1 of the Bruins series against Detroit is set to start on Friday night. This is Detroit's 23rd consecutive year of playing in the NHL postseason. Puck will drop at 7:00 ET and the game will be televised on NBC Sports, NESN and TSN.

Ash Wednesday Sports Chowdah Update- Goalies From 2011 Stanley Cup Finals Highlight Netminder-Heavy NHL Trade Deadline

BOSTON BRUINS- Despite a lackluster start after the Olympic break, the Boston Bruins have been on a tear lately, winning three in a row after two consecutive losses coming out of the NHL's hiatus for the Sochi games.

After downing the New York Rangers by a 6-3 final at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night, the Bruins returned to the Garden on Tuesday where they faced off against former teammate Tim Thomas- possibly for the last time with the March 6th NHL trade deadline looming. Thanks to a hat trick from David Krejci, the Bruins would go on to win by a 4-1 final.

While there was some activity from the Bruins around the trade deadline, it paled in comparison to some of the other moves that day [more on that later- NANESB!]. Boston obtained young defenseman Andrej Meszaros from the Philadelphia Flyers for a third round pick on the 2014 draft that will automatically shifts to a second round pick should the Bruins advance to the Eastern Conference Finals this year. The Bruins also acquired former Oilers defenseman Corey Potter off of waivers. Potter had 3 goals and an assist in 33 games with Edmonton during the strike-shortened NHL season and hadn't played in the NHL since then.

On Thursday night, the Bruins got a degree of revenge on Washington when Tukka Rask turned aside all 16 shots he faced and the Bruins would go on to win 3-0 thanks to goals by Gregory Campbell and Loui Eriksson in the second and some insurance from Brad Marchand with about 90 seconds to go in the 3rd as he cored an empty-netter. After beating Boston by a 4-2 final on Saturday, the Bruins get some revenge and outshoot the Caps 42-16.

The Bruins will next head on down to the Sunshine State to take on the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Puck is scheduled to drop at 7:00 PM and the game will be televised on NESN.





ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL- The outdoor games for the NHL- better known as the Stadium Series- have wrapped up for the season. The month of March kicked off with the defending Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins at a snow Soldier Field in Chicago for a nationally televised night game. Patrick Sharp broke the scoreless deadlock and put Chicago on the board first with a goal with 4:25 to go in the first while Jonathan Toews and Kris Versteeg added to the Hawks lead to make it 3-0 in the second. Pittburgh got on the board with a James Neal goal early in the 3rd, but Chicago would add two more- including another Toews goal to make it a 5-1 game.

Meanwhile, in Vancouver the following day, the Senators faced off against the Canucks [dressed as the pre-NHL Millionaires- NANESB!] for the outdoor Heritage Classic at the BC Palace. Although the host Canucks got out to a fairly quick 2-0 lead thanks to tallies by Jason Garrison and Zack Kassian, the Senators would go on to score four unanswered goals and best the struggling Canucks by a 4-2 final in what would turn out to be Roberto Luongo's final game in a Vancouver uniform.

FLORIDA PANTHERS- Which brought us to the tantalizing possibility that the two opposing goalies from the 2011 Stanley Cup Final would be teammates. On Wednesday, it was announced that the Florida Panthers had traded netminder prospect Jakob Markstrom and forward Shawn Matthais to Vancouver for Roberto Luongo and forward Steven Anthony. Although Luongo made his NHL debut with the New York Islanders in 1999, the following season he was traded to the Florida Panthers after they drafted Rick DiPietro as their goalie of the future.

While in Florida, Luongo set a franchise record for save percentage and shutouts [.931 and 7, respectively- NANESB!] during the 2003-2004 season. Two years later, Luongo set a Panthers record for career and single-season wins before being traded to Vancouver in June 2006. Despite several Vezina trophy nominations, Luongo's tenure in Vancouver will most likely be remembered with his remarks about Bruins goalie Tim Thomas Tim Thomas and 'pumping his tires'. Boston would go on to win the Stanley Cup after beating Vancouver at home in a decisive Game 7 that season.

Alas- it apparently wasn't meant to be, for the irony would've been too much for the hockey gods. Instead, within hours of the Luongo deal, Thomas was traded to the Dallas Stars for their backup goaltender, Dan Ellis. Thomas reportedly waived his no-trade clause and is widely expected to back up starting Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen.

ST LOUIS BLUES- There was plenty of wheeling and dealing that didn't involve the starting goalies from the 2011 Stanley Cup finals, however. The slumping Buffalo Sabres were widely expected to unload starting goalie Ryan Miller as the season went on- a month ago it was a question of whether or not he'd be traded from Buffalo before or after the Olympic break.

As it turned out, it was after. On Saturday, the Buffalo Sabres announced that both Ryan Miller and center Steve Ott were traded to the St Louis Blues in exchange for goalie Jaroslav Halak, forward Chris Stewart, prospect William Carrier, a 2015 first round draft pick and a conditional 2016 3rd round draft pick. Miller and Ott make the dramatic transition from one of the worst teams in the NHL to a bona-fide Stanley Cup contender.

On Sunday night, Miller made his debut with the St Louis Blues in Glendale, AZ as the Blues took on the Phoenix Coyotes. Although the Coyotes jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, the Blue scored four unanswered goals in the 3rd period to come away with the 4-2 win. Since then, the Blues have won two more games- a 4-2 home win against the Tampa Bay Lightning and 2-1 road win over the Nashville Predators- to give them a 3-0 record with Miller between the pipes.

SPRING TRAINING- Big Papi finally got off the schnide and broke an 0-8 slump on Friday as the Red Sox hosted the Atlanta Braves at Boston's Spring Training facility in Fort Meyers.

David Ortiz had a 4th inning double and Felix Doubront threw four shutout innings, allowing two hits while striking out three. The Red Sox broke a 1-1 tie with a 3-run uprising against RHP Cody Martin in the bottom of the 7th was enough to give Boston the 4-1 win- only their second win since the start of Spring Training.

Saturday's schedule will lead to all sorts of confusion as they play the Orioles at home AND in Baltimore's Spring Training Facility in split-squad action. The game at the O's park in Sarasota, FL gets underway at 1:05 PM ET while the second split squad game between Baltimore and Boston gets underway at 7:05 PM ET from Fort Meyers.


SPORTS ILLUSTRATED- In the closest thing we have to pin-ups these days, Sports Illustrated is out on the newsstands. Last year, it featured a fur and bikini-clad Kate Upton on the cover in Antarctica, but a photo shoot from this year's SI features the model defying gravity seven miles above the earth on a 727-200F meant to simulate weightlessness that astronauts would have to deal with in space [even in normal gravity, Upton's rack seems to defy the laws of physics, so a bikini-clad Kate Upton in zero-G probably goes above and beyond 'poetry in motion'- NANESB!].

According to a behind-the-scenes article, the weightlessness only lasts 30 seconds, but the company flying the plane can repeat these half-minute weightless intervals 11 times over a 90 minute timeframe. The aircraft hosting the shoot uses dedicated airspace off of Florida's west coast between 24,000 and 35,000 feet.

Ash Wednesday Sports Chowdah Update- Gary Carter, 1954-2012; Wakefield Announces Retirement; B's No Longer Singing Blues, C's Thunderstuck

MLB- Hall of Fame Catcher Gary Carter passed away last week at a W. Palm Beach, FL hospice last week at the age of 57. Carter, who bookended his 19 year big league career with the Montreal Expos [now the Washington Nationals- NANESB!], was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2003. Although Carter both started and finished his career with the Expos, the 11 time All Star also played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants and most memorably was the New York Mets catcher during their improbable 1986 come-from-behind World Series win over the Boston Red Sox.

Carter, sometimes known as 'Kid' for his ebullient demeanor, had a career batting average of .262 with 324 HR and 1225 RBI. He began his MLB career with the Expos in 1974 and endeared himself to the primarily French speaking Quebecois fans when he attempted to learn the language [some 30 years before Rosetta Stone was even invented, no less!- NANESB] taking lessons from batboy and Montreal native Daniel Plamondon.

Carter returned to Montreal in 1992 for what would be his final season. Eleven years later, the Expos retired Carter's #8 the same year he was voted into the Baseball hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Since retiring from his playing days, Carter had been active in coaching and philanthropy in Florida. Interetingly, when the Expos moved to Washington D.C. in 2005, banners bearing Carter's number along with the retired numbers of other Expos players Andre Dawson, Rusty Staub and Tim Raines were moved across town and hung in the rafters of the Bell Centre, home arena for the Montreal Canadiens.

In 2010, Carter began his stint as head coach of the NCAA Div II Palm Beach Atlantic Univeristy Sailfish. It was in May 2011 that Carter recieved news he had an inoperable brain tumor. In January, Carter's daughter Kimmy Bloemers announced that another MRI had shown additional tumors. Although suffering from multiple inoperable tumors, Carter was able to attend the Sailfish home opener at the beginning of this month.

Although the Expos have been absent for nearly 7 years, the Montreal Canadiens paid tribute to Carter at Sunday's home game against the New Jersey Devils by wearing #8 Carter jerseys during the pregame warmups and donning throwback Expos hats before the start of the anthems.


RED SOX- Boston's versatile and durable knuckleballer Tim Wakefield called it a career in an announcement from Florida on Friday.

Drafted as a first baseman in 1988 by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Wakefield developed his knuckleball while with the Salem Buccaneers of the Carolina League. He was called up to Pittsburgh in 1992 and even won Games 3 and 6 of the 1992 NLCS (both starts against Billerica, MA native Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves).

He struggled the following season and was released by Pittsburgh in 1995 during the lockout. The Red Sox picked him up a few days later and he saw service in Pawtucket and then Boston, filling in for an ailing Roger Clemens.

In 2003, the season ended in extra innings of Game 7 of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium when the Yankee's Aaron Boone launched a solo homer off of Wakefield. The following season, in a rematch with the Yankees in the 2004 ALCS, Wakefield would get a measure of revenge in Game 5 at Fenway when he pitched three shutout innings in long relief. Despite some tense moments and passed balls with Varitek (who wasn't Wakefield's normal catcher despite being on the team almost as long as the knuckleballer), Wakefield got credit for the win that night thanks to a walk-off bloop single from DH David Ortiz.

On July 24, 2011, Time Wakefield recorded career win #199 against the Seattle Mariners. Thanks to an unfortunate series of lackluster starts on his part or the bullpen imploding in close games, the knuckleballer was stuck at #199 for more than 7 weeks.

After a series of events reminiscent of Groundhog Day, Wakefield earned career win #200 on September 14, 2011 during an 18-6 rout of the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Wakefield's milestone- the first pitcher in Boston's 111-year history to notch career win #200 in a Red Sox uniform- was undoubtedly the highlight of a September that was marred by a collapse that saw the Red Sox eliminated from postseason contention in the final game of the regular season.

At the end of the 2011 season, Wakefield was 6 wins shy of breaking the Red Sox team record of 192 wins (tied by Roger Clemens and Cy Young).

Wakefield made his announcement from the Spring Training facility in Ft. Meyers, FL

Standing in left field, with a replica Green Monster looming behind him, Wakefield said retirement was “the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” which was saying something considering nothing in baseball ever came easy to him. “There is nothing that I want more than for this team to win, and it’s hard sometimes to take yourself out of the decision process,” Wakefield said, eyes watering and voice shaking. “But in my heart, I feel that by retiring I’m giving them a better chance to do that.”

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- The 45-year old Wakefield's announcement comes at the same time as a great deal of uncertainty over the status of veteran Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek.

Although Varitek recieved a minor-league offer from the Red Sox, his options right now appear to be either serve as a backup to Jarrod Saltalamacchia or Kelly Shoppach [who the Sox reacquired via free-agency in December- NANESB!] or join fellow catcher Jorge Posada in retirement.

After coming up through the Seattle Mariners minor-league system, Varitek and former Red Sox pitcher Derek Lowe were acquired from Seattle in exchange for Heath Slocombe in 1997. Varitek had been Boston's starting catcher since the late 1990s.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- In a move to free up money for free agents, the New York Yankees have sent starting pitcher AJ Burnett and $20 million in cash to the Pittsburgh Pirates in exchange for RHP Diego Moreno [2-4 with a 3.21 ERA with the AA Altoona Curve last year] and OF Exicardo Cayones who split time between the Gulf Coast League and State College of the New York-Penn League last season.

The trade greatly benefits the Pirates- who have not finished above .500 for 19 consecutive seasons. However, some Red Sox fans have expressed a preference that struggling Boston starter John Lackey would have been dealt to the Pirates in a similar transaction to free up additional funds to pursue a trade with Roy Oswalt without going over the salary cap.


BOSTON BRUINS- Two streaks came to an end at St Louis' Scottrade Center on Wednesday night.

After a hard-fought shootout win against Montreal that left the Bruins banged up last week, the Bruins then dropped a road game against the Jets before getting shut out by the Minnesota Wild 2-0 on Sunday.

The St Louis Blues, on the other hand, had managed to snag at least one point in 21 straight home games at the Scottrade Center. However, things got off to a frenetic start in the 1st period with the Bruins getting off to a 2-0 start thanks to goals from Brad Marchand and Milan Lucic before Blues RWs Chris Stewart and Ryan Reaves would each get a goal to knot the contest up at 2-2. With 40 seconds to go in the opening period, Chris Kelly put the Bruins back on top before the game headed to its first intermission.

After a scoreless 2nd period, Marchand would give Boston a little bit more breathing room with another tally midway through the 3rd to give Boston the 4-2 lead and ultimately the win. Tim Thomas stopped 30 of 32 shots faced while St Louis' Brain Elliott allowed 4 goals on 19 shots faced.

All six goals scored on Wednesday night were even-strength, with each team only getting one power-play opportunity.

The win snaps a two-game losing streak that felt alot longer than it really was owing to the three day layoff after Sunday's shutout.

The Bruins road trip will bring them back to the Northeast conference where they will face the Buffalo Sabres on Friday. This will be Boston's first game at the First Niagara Center since getting run out of the building after an embarassing and lopsided 6-0 shutout. The game gets underway at 7:30 ET and will be televised on both NESN and MSG networks.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: The Boston Bruins called up Forward Carter Camper from their AHL affiliate in Providence this week. The former Miami of Ohio Redhawk and Hobey Baker Award finalist had 14 goals, 24 assists and 38 points in 53 games played with the Providence Bruins this season.

BOSTON CELTICS- The Celtics head into the NBA's All Star Break losing five straight games, including the first 4 games of their 5-game road trip.

On Wednesday night, the C's fell to the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder by a 104-119 final. Although Boston came up short on the road, head coach Doc Rivers and Forward Paul Piece said in postgame comments that their ability to rally may pay dividends in the second half of the abbreviated NBA season.

It's also worth noting that current Atlantic Division leader- the Philadelphia 76ers- has also been suffering through a 5-game skid heading into the All Star Break as well.

Fall Back Sports Chowdah Update- Pats Dog Pounded; OT Has B's Blue in the Face; C's Doing OK on Road Trip; BC Sees the Wake Forest for the Trees

NFL: Wow.....that sure sucked. A week after beating the Minnesota Vikings at Foxboro, the Pats travelled to Cleveland to take on the 2-5 Browns.

Don't let their record fool you, though. Prior to their bye week on Halloween, the Browns ran roughshod over the defending Superbowl Champion New Orleans Saints by a final of 30-17.

On Sunday, it wasn't even that close. Former Hawaii QB Colt McCoy made the most of his NFL debut, and if McCoy didn't make the dog pound forget about former Cleveland Browns #1 draft pick Brady Quinn, RB Peyton Hillis would.

Hillis and a 6th round draft pick in the 2011 draft were acquired by Cleveland from the Denver Broncos in exchange for Quinn. On Sunday, Hillis had 29 carries, 184 yards and a pair of TD's while Colt McCoy went 14 for 19 and 174 yards while rushing for 20 more and a TD.

On the Pats side of the ball, Tom Brady was 19-36 with 224 yards and two TDs, both of them to TE Aaron Hernandez, for the only Pats scoring on the day.

The Browns win this one handily by a score of 34-14 and leave the Pats scratching their heads wondering what the hell went wrong before facing the Steelers at Pittsburgh's Heinz Field for NBC's Sunday night game. The Steelers held on to win their Monday night contest against the Cincinnati Bengals by a 27-21 final.

ELSEWHERE IN THE NFL: You had to figure it was only a matter of time, but after Sunday night's 45-7 loss to Green Bay at Lambeau Field, the Dallas Cowboys fired head coach Wade Phillips. With a 1-7 record, this marks the first time that a Dallas head coach was dismissed midseason. Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett will take over head coaching duties on an interim basis.

NHL: The Bruins caught their first whiff of overtime on Saturday night when they hosted the St. Louis Blues. The Blues led 1-0 on a Vladmir Sobotka goal in the first and that's the way the score would remain until 7 minutes into the 3rd quarter. This was thanks in large part to the play of St. Louis goaltender Jaroslav Halak, who (with a little help from the posts) stopped 33 of 34 shots faced, with the Bruin's only tally coming from Gregory Campbell in the third.

Tuuka Rask, for his part, would not allow another goal in regulation or OT and stopped 34 of 35 shots faced overall. However, the Blues would go on to win the shootout by a 2-1 margin (Tyler Seguin was the only B's tally in the shootout), giving St. Louis the 2-1 win, so Boston at least gets a point from Saturday's game.

The Bruins will travel to Pittsburgh's brand-new Consol Energy Center for Wednesday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

For the love of God, He's 83! Don't drop him!

NCAA FOOTBALL: Normally, I'm not that dedicated a follower of Big Ten football, but I couldn't let Saturday's game between the Penn State Nittany Lions and Northwestern Wildcats at State College, PA pass without comment.

The Lions rallied from a 21-7 halftime deficit to score four unanswered TD's in the second half for the come from behind for the 35-21 win. The win is the 3rd in a row for Penn State and gives them a 6-3 record (3-2 in the Big 10) and most importantly, gives Penn State head coach Joe Paterno career win #400- the first ever NCAA football coach to reach that milestone.

[Congrats to JoePa for a milestone that nobody else will ever come close to- NANESB!]

ACC: After snapping their losing streak in a home game against the Clemson Tigers, the Boston College Eagles made it back to back wins in the ACC when they travelled to Winston-Salem, NC to take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Eagles QB Chase Rettig went 14-16 for 133 yards, but the MVP Saturday was undoubtedly RB Montel Harris, who had 36 carries for 183 yards and 3 TD's on the day for Boston College's 23-13 win over Wake Forest.

The BC Eagles head back to the Tarheel State for another road game, this time in Durham, NC against the Duke Blue Devils.

NBA: The Celtics winning streak of five games was snapped on Monday night at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, TX with the Mavericks getting the go ahead jumper from Dirk Nowitzki with less than 20 seconds left in regulation for the 89-87 win over Boston.

Even with the loss, Boston's 6-2 record is still good enough for 1st place in the Atlantic division. The Celtics will travel next to Miami to take on the Heat Thursday night on a game that will be broadcast on TNT at 8PM Eastern, 5 Pacific.