Centennial Sports Chowdah- Beckett Rebounds in Red Sox Home Opener; B's Open Up Playoffs By Working OT; Razorback's Edge- Arkansas Fires Petrino

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BOSTON RED SOX- After a forgettable 1-5 start in Detroit and Toronto, the Red Sox returned to Boston on Friday for not just any ordinary opening day, but to christen the 100th season of Red Sox baseball in Fenway Park.

Fenway is the oldest active ballpark in the major leagues and was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places last month.



With pregame ceremonies that included the national anthem as sung by the Boston Pops, a flyover of F16s from the Vermont Air National Guard as well as cermonial first pitches being tossed out by recently-retired Red Sox Tim Wakefield and Jason Varitek, the game against the Tampa Bay Rays got underway from Boston on a beautiful Friday afternoon.

Last Month, Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine announced that Josh Beckett would be the starter for the Red Sox for their Friday the 13th home opener. Six days prior, Beckett had allowed 5 home runs in a 10-0 loss to the Detroit Tigers on the second game of the season.

Although Beckett would allow an RBI double off of Rays 2B Jeff Keppinger in the top of the second for the game's first run, he would get plenty of support in the bottom of the third when the Red Sox got on board thanks to an Adrian Gonzalez RBI single after Rays starter David Price struck Sox catcher Kelly Shoppach with a pitch to lead off the inning. 3B Kevin Youkilis would bring in another run on a sac-fly and David Ortiz would get an RBI single off of Price to make it a 3-1 Red Sox lead. In the bottom of the 4th, Kelly Shoppach would add on another run with a 1-out double to make it 4-1.



After giving up the run to Keppinger, Beckett would pitch 6 shutout innings and the Red Sox would explode for 8 runs off the Rays bullpen in the bottom of the 8th to make it 12-1. While Mark Melancon would allow a solo homer off the bat of Ben Zobrist, he would close out the game and seal Boston's 12-2 win.

In eight innings of work, Beckett would allow five hits, one walk, one earned run and strike out one batter. Kelly Schoppach would go 3-4 with 2 RBI on the day while 3B Kevin Youkilis would go 2 for 4 with 3 RBI. Center Fielder Jacoby Ellsbury had to leave the game in the bottom of the 4th after sliding into second base attempting to break up a double play. Ellsbury was examined at Mass General, although the team still hasn't announced the full extent of Ellsbury's injuries or whether or not he's expected to return anytime soon. Ryan Sweeney came in for the injured Ellsbury and went 1 for 3 with 2 RBI.

Saturday's game will get underway at 4:05 ET and will feature Clay Buccholz. Tampa Bay is expected to send Jeremy Hellicson onto the mound. The game will be televised on NESN tomorrow afternoon.

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BOSTON BRUINS- The Bruins defense of their Stanley Cup title got underway on Thursday night in the Garden when they hosted the #7 seed Washington Capitols. Heading into the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Caps held a 3-1 advantage over Boston in the regular season.

The scoring summary on this one was mercifully brief. After a scoreless regulation, Chris Kelly scored the game-winner for Boston 1:18 into OT.



Prior to Kelly's shot on goal, Washington goaltender Braden Holtby had turned aside 29 shots while Tim Thomas turned aside all 17 shots that he faced. During the regular season, Holtby was 4-2 in the 6 games he started in. The Caps didn't capitalize on their two power plays while the Bruins went 0-3 with the man advantage.

A rather bizarre incident took place shortly after Kelly's game-winner. As the Bruins were still celebrating the win on the ice, some fans pushing against the plexiglass panel in front of their rinkside seats had managed to dislodge it.



The large pane of glass then hit C David Krejci on the head as it fell, sending him to the ice. Fortunately, Krejci was still wearing his helmet an although he still had a sore neck on Friday, he was expected to appear in game 2 on Saturday.

Game two will be televised on NBC on Saturday from Boston with a 3:00 PM faceoff.



NCAA FOOTBALL- Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Bobby Petrino has been fired by the school's administration after lying about a motorcycle accident he and his mistress- 25 year old Jessica Dorrell- were involved in earlier this month.

In public statements, Petrino said that he was alone at the time of the accident but an Arkansas State Police accident report released a few days later contradicted his version of events and the married 50 year old coach admitted to having an affair with Dorrell.

"Just a few more questions about the accident, coach..."
"Go away! Leave me alone!"

Cellphone records indicate that Petrino and Dorrell exchanged 4300 texts and more than 300 phone calls over a 7-month span.

Petrino also reportedly gave Dorrell a $20,000 'gift' which she used to purchase a new Acura. On Petrino's reccomendation, Dorrell was offered a position as student development coordinator with the football program last month, but after being hired she has since been suspended by the University. The 2008 graduate and four time letter winner with the Razorbacks volleyball program was also engaged to marry the director of swimming operations for Arkansas.

I have to say that the only entity I really feel bad for in all of this is the Razorbacks volleyball program- seems as though the only reason people are even tangentially interested in the topic is because of somebody who hasn't played with them for nearly 4 years.

NBA- After back-to-back wins in which they bested the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks earlier this week, the Celtics pretty much laid an egg against the Toronto Raptors, losing by a 79-84 final on Friday Night. However, they still remain 3 games up on both the 76ers and Knicks for first place in the Atlantic Division.

On Saturday night, the Celtics will travel to New Jersey to take on the 22-38 Nets. Tip off starts at 7:30 and the game will be televised on CSNE.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Turkey Sports Chowdah Recap- BC End Regular Season w/Orange Crush; Huskies BCS Bound? Pats Lion Down on the Job; B's Thrashed; Land that Shaq Forgot

NCAA FOOTBALL: Holy crap, where to start?

Boston College finished up its regular season with a road trip to the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY to renew their rivalry with the Syracuse Orangemen. This would be the first meeting between the Orangemen and Eagles football since Boston College left the Big East in 2004. And BC would have to get it done without RB Montel Harris, who underwent surgery on his left knee after last week's game against Virginia.

Stepping in to fill the void was freshman tailback Andre Williams, who's increased playing time saw him net 185 yards on 42 carries and BC's only TD on the day. The Eagles carried a 6-0 shutout into halftime thanks to two Nate Freese FG's from inside the 30 yard line before Syracuse briefly took a 7-6 lead in the 3rd quarter.

BC would go on to take the lead for good on the following possession which started from their own 22 and culminated with Williams TD run from inside the Syracuse red zone after shaving 4 and a half minutes off the game clock. Freese would add a FG to round out the Eagles scoring and LB Matt Herzlich intercepted Ryan Nassib's pass on the following Syracuse possession with 1:28 remaining to ice BC's 16-7 win over the Orangemen.

Both Boston College and Syracuse finish the 2010 regular season with identical 7-5 records, with the Eagles winning their last five straight- including four against ACC opponents. Saturday was a fairly quiet day for Eagles QB Chase Rettig, going 11-19 with 110 yards and rushing for 13 more.

It was looking pretty bad with all of BC's losses coming in 5 consecutive weeks, but the Eagles were able to persevere and finish strong, and hopefully this will be rewarded with an invitation to their 11th straight bowl game.

ELSEWHERE IN THE ACC: The University of Miami fired head football coach Randy Shannon after the Hurricane's 23-20 OT loss to the University of South Florida. The Hurricanes had lost two straight and like BC and Syracuse, finished with a record of 7-5.

*The ACC Championship game will kick off at 7:45 PM Saturday night at Charlotte, NC. #21 Ranked Florida State will take on #15 Virginia Tech for the conference title and a BCS berth.

BIG EAST: My my....the plot thickens in the Nutmeg state.

With a 7-4 record after easily handling defending Big East Champions Cincinnati on Saturday night, the UConn Huskies may be heading to a BCS bowl with at least a share of the Big East title.

Although it got as close as 24-17 at one point in the 4th, the Huskies led the whole night in their 38-17 win over the Bearcats. RB Jordan Todman had 31 carries for 175 yards and 3TDs while Huskies QB Zach Frazier went 11-24 with 121 yards, a touchdown and an INT and DT Kendall Reyes ran back a Zach Collaros interception 70+ yards (it was initially run back all the way, but a blocking penalty nullified the TD and gave UConn the ball on the Bearcats 15).

Now here's where it gets a little strange- although #23 West Virginia thrashed the Pitt Panthers by a 35-10 final and have a better record than UConn at the moment, UConn holds the tiebreaker over both Pitt and #23 West Virginia. Whether or not UConn can get at least a share of the Big East's BCS berth will come down to whether or not they can win their remaining regular season game, a road game against the 7-4 South Florida Bulls (keep in mind USF just came off a win against Miami (FL) in OT on Saturday).

Kickoff will be at 8PM ET at Tampa on Saturday night.

OTHER BIG EAST NEWS: The Texas Christian board of directors announced that they have accepted an invitation that will send the Horned Frogs to the Big East conference effective July 1, 2012. TCU had been with the Mountain West conference since the 2005 season.

ELSEWHERE IN NCAAF: Huge upset in Reno, NV where the #19 Ranked Nevada Wolfpack bested the #3 ranked Boise State Broncos in overtime on Friday night, handing the Broncos their first loss since the 2008 Poinsettia Bowl. After taking a 24-7 lead into halftime, it appeared as though the Broncos were just toying with Nevada, seemingly able to put the game out of reach at any given moment.

While Nevada was able to come back and tie up the game at 24-24 in the 4th quarter, the Broncos pulled ahead on a Kellen Moore pass to Doug Martin for 79 yards that put Boise State up 31-24 with just over 5 minutes to go.

Nevada would respond with a 4 and a half minute drive from their own 21 and managed to tie the game at 31-31 with 17 seconds left in regulation. Incredibly, with only 9 seconds left in regulation and starting out on their own 38, Broncos QB Kellen Moore made a 53 yard completion to WR Titus Young setting up a go-ahead 26 yard Field Goal attempt by Kyle Brotzman with 2 seconds left in the 4th.

Inexplicably, Brotzman's kick missed, sending the game to OT, where one would assume he'd have the chance to redeem himself. However, with Boise getting the 1st possession of OT, he would end up missing from the 29 yard line as well while Nevada's Anthony Martinez would boot the game winning FG on the Wolfpack's only possession in OT.

The 34-31 OT win puts the Wolfpack at #17 in the BCS standings and drops Boise state to #11.

NFL: For the first time since 2002, the New England Patriots wound up playing on Thanksgiving Day against the Detroit Lions at Ford Field.

The Patriots actually headed into halftime in this one trailing 17-10 and would actually go on to trail 24-17 in the 3rd before Brady connected with Deion Branch for 79 yards and a TD to tie everything up at 24-24.

The 4th quarter was all New England, though, with Brady connecting with Wes Welker and Branch (again) for a pair of TDs and Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis rushing for one inside the Lions 5 to put the game away and give the Pats a 45-24 win.

Branch had 3 receptions for 119 yards and two TDs while Welker had 8 catches for 90 yards and two TDs of his own. As far as the running game was concerned, the law offices of Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis had 12 carries for 59 yards and 2 TDs and Brady went 21-27 for 341 yards and 4 TD passes.

On the defensive side of the ball, CB Devin McCourty had two INTs and the kicking game was perfect with Shayne Graham making his only field goal attempt to the day,

This is starting to feel a little like a bye week, with the Pats having played 3 days before most of the other teams and having until Monday, December 6 for their next game. The Pats will host the Jets at Foxboro for their final Monday Night football appearance of the 2010 season. Interestingly, the Jets also played on Thanksgiving, easily dispatching the Cincinnati Bengals by a 26-10 margin for the late game on Thanksgiving.

NBA: The Celtics managed to bounce back from a narrow loss to the Toronto Raptors on Friday night, this time manging to down the Raptors 110-101 on a busy night from 'old timers' Kevin Garnett (26 points, 11 rebounds) and Shaquille O'Neal (16 points) for their third win in a row.

Their next game will be against the Cavs at Cleveland on Tuesday night.

OTHER CELITCS NEWS: D'OH!

You may not be the only one thrown off by the C's light schedule over the weekend. None other than Shaquille O'Neal missed a scheduled practice on Monday after forgetting the start time. Glen Davis took his spot among the starting players though.

NHL: The Bruins have managed to lose two in a row and three out of four to Southeast Division opponents. After getting shut out at home 3-0 to the Carolina Hurricanes, the Bruins travelled to Atlanta Sunday where they were downed 4-1 by the home team. Tukka Rask stopped 22 of 26 shots faced and Blake Wheeler had the only goal for Boston (with assists from Ryder and Lucic) midway through the 2nd period.

For their next game, the Bruins will be travelling to Philly to take on the 15-6-4 Flyers on Wednesday night.

MLB: Victor Martinez and the Detroit Tigers have reached a 4 year $50 million deal- pending a physical- while the Red Sox declined salary arbitration with Jason Varitek. The Red Sox are likely interested in retaining Tek's services, hoping he could mentor Jarrod Saltalamacchia who was picked up from the Texas Rangers at the trade deadline in 2010. By not offering salary arbitration to the veteran catcher, the Sox are likely attempting to retain his services under reworked contract.

Sports Chowdah Recap- Yankees Bounce Back in Rubber Game; B's Rattle Rested Sabres; BC Eagles Soar to NCAA Finals; C's Handle Raptors

Given the busy past 48 hours throughout New England sports-dom, it's probably best if I get down to brass tacks.

MLB: John Lackey went 6 complete innings with 2 walks, three strikeouts and no earned runs in his Wednesday debut for the Red Sox. David Ortiz, fresh off a profanity laced tirade at Tuesday night's press conference had his first hit- a 2-out RBI single that drove in Dustin Pedroia in the 3rd inning for what turned out to be the Red Sox only run of the evening to give Boston the early 1-0 lead. Nick Siwsher would tie the game with an RBI single that drove in Posada in the 7th.

The game would go to extras, where Curtis Granderson would hit a solo homer off of Jonathan Papelbon and padded their lead on a Mark Teixera RBI groundout with a 3-1 lead before Mariano Rivera would close out the game for the Yankees 3-1 win.

Boston goes on a Midwest road trip, starting tomorrow night at Kansas City. Tim Wakefield will start against Kyle Davies in Friday night.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: Boof Bonser got knocked around in his start for AAA Pawtucket, giving up 3 runs on 76 pitches in 4 and 1/3rd innings against the Rochester Red Wings (Minnesota's AAA affiliate). Bonser, who was previously on the DL due to a groin strain, threw up to 94 MPH in hisstart.

NBA: Fresh off their embarrassing loss the the Knicks, the Celtics went north of the border where they took on the Toronto Raptors. Rajon Rondo led the scoring for Boston with 21 points followed by Paul Pierce with his 20. Tornoto's Hedo Turkoglu left after- literally- knocking heads with Tony Allen late in the first. Micheal Finley came off the bench for Boston and was good for 14 points and 6 rebounds after nearly not starting when he strained his back handling his luggage at the team's hotel.

The Celtics beat Toronto 115-104 and will take on the Washington Wizards at the Garden on Friday night

NHL: After Monday night's overtime loss to the Capitals, the Bruins headed home to host the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night. The Sabres got on the board early with a Derek Roy tally in the 1st, but Miroslav Satan would tie the game up with a little over 2 minutes remaining in the 2nd while Dennis Wideman and Mark Recchi would score in the 3rd (Recchi's goal late in the 3rd was initially credited to Zdeno Chara). It's probably worth noting that Patrick Lalime started in goal for Buffalo instead of Ryan Miller. Tukka Rask stopped 32 of 31 shots faced.

Thursday's win moved Boston up to 6th place after Montreal's loss to Carolina- both are tied with 87 points, with the Bruins getting the tie-breaker. The Bruins will host the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday at the Garden.

NCAA Frozen Four: The finals are now set, with Wisconsin's 8-1 win over Cinderella Rochester Institute of Technology. Boston College handled the Miami of Ohio Redhawks in a 7-1 rout Thursday night, including 3 goals scored in just over a minute and a half in the 3rd period.

The Frozen Four set an indoor hockey record with a crowd of 35,954 present on hand for each game at Ford Field in Detroit, MI. The Saturday matchup between the BC Eagles and Wisconsin Badgers will be a rematch of the 2006 NCAA Finals.