Trade Deadline Sports Chowdah Update- So Long Jon, Lester, Lackey Dealt at Trade Deadline; The Price is Right

RED SOX- Never mind remaining members of the 2004 or 2007 World Series team on the Boston Roster- after the July 31st trade deadline, the 2014 iteration of the Boston Red Sox is now quite unrecognizable from last season's World Series champions.

After getting out to a 4-0 start immediately after the All Star break- including a sweep of the resurgent Kansas City Royals- the Red Sox fleetingly looked like contenders in the AL East. However, after a convincing 14-1 win against the Toronto Blue Jays last week, the Red Sox lost eight of their last nine games- all of them within the AL East. On Saturday, the Red Sox traded starter Jon Lester to San Francisco for minor league pitchers Heath Hembree and Edwin Escobar. Following that, Boston sent Felix Doubront to the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later.

But the Peavy and Doubront transactions were mere appetizers to the main course for Thursday. The first big deal of the MLB non-waiver trade deadline had the Red Sox dealing ace pitcher Jon Lester and OF Jonny Gomes to the Oakland A's for outfielder Yoenis Cespedes [.256, 17 HR and 67 RBI] and Oakland's competitive balance pick in the 2015 MLB draft. The trade sends Boston's homegrown ace to Oakland as what is essentially a rental for the AL West leader's pennant run and raises questions to where Lester will end up at the end of the season when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. Currently, the A's [who have a number of former Red Sox players and prospects on their roster before this transaction even took place- NANESB!] lead the AL West over the Angels by two games and have the best record in the big leagues at 66-41. Earlier in the week, there were reports that the Mariners, Pirates, Orioles and Cardinals were in talks with Boston to acquire Lester, all of them given even more credence when Lester was scratched from Wednesday night's game against the Blue Jays and Brandon Workman made the start in his place.

However, the wheeling and dealing by Cherrington wasn't done yet. After the Lester deal was announced, starter John Lackey and minor league pitcher Corey Littrell were sent to the St Louis Cardinals- their opponent in the 2004 and 2013 World Series- for right-handed starter Joe Kelly [2-2; 4.37 ERA] and outfielder Allen Craig [.237, 7 HR and 44 RBI].

Following that up, the Red Sox sent relief pitcher Andrew Miller to Baltimore in return for minor league pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez and SS Stephen Drew was sent to the Yankees in return for infielder Kelly Johnson, who is currently on the DL but is expected to play at 3rd while Bogaerts may end up moving back to shortstop.

The Miller and Drew transactions surprised me not so much that they departed, but that Cherrington was willing to trade within the division- although Johnson represents a slight upgrade offensively from Drew. With Jeter playing the rest of the season (his final season, no less) at shortstop for the Yankees, Drew is expected to play second after the Yankees after the Bronx Bombers designated 2B Brian Roberts for assignment.

Interestingly, Drew won't even have to leave Boston right away- just use the visitor's clubhouse at Fenway for this weekend's upcoming series between the Yankees and Red Sox. Game 1 gets underway on Friday night and will have former Red Sox reliever Chris Capuano [1-1; 4.30 ERA] going up against PawSox callup Anthony Ranaudo, who is making his MLB debut for Boston. Ranaudo has spent the entire 2014 season in Pawtucket and has a 12-4 record and 2.41 ERA with the PawSox. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 ET and the game will be televised on NESN as well as the MLB network in some markets.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Not to be outdone by the A's acquisition of Jon Lester, the Detroit Tigers acquired Tampa Bay Rays starter David Price in a 3-way deal that was announced with less than 40 minutes to go before the trade deadline.

In return for getting David Price, the Tigers sent OF Austin Jackson to Seattle and left handed pitcher Drew Smyly and minor league infielder Willy Adames to Tampa Bay. Seattle sends 2B Nick Franklin to Tampa to complete the deal.

The acquisition of Price gives Detroit no fewer than three Cy Young winners in their starting rotation with Price, Verlander and Max Scherzer. Since Price isn't a free agent until after the 2015 season, this also gives Detroit some flexibility with Scherzer, who becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season.

Well Rested Sports Chowdah Update- Lester Looking Sharp After Having Start Pushed Back; Laser Show Here To Stay; K-Rod to Charm City;

Elise Amendola-AP

RED SOX- After being shut out by the white-hot Rays on Monday night, the Red Sox saw their lead in the AL East whittled down to merely half a game heading into Tuesday night's contest.

Jon Lester- who was originally slated to start the Sunday night game against the Yankees- had his start pushed back two nights so he could get some additional rest. After opening up the game with a 1-2-3 inning, Lester gave up a leadoff homer to Will Meyers to give the Rays the early 1-0 lead in the top of the second. The Red Sox came back with a run of their own in the bottom of the 2nd thanks to a Mike Carp single after Rays starter Roberto Hernandez gave up singles to Ortiz and Napoli to start off the inning (although Big Papi was thrown out trying to advance to third), tying the game at 1-1. The Red Sox would take the lead in the bottom of the 3rd with runners on first and third and Big Papi at the plate. Pedroia would steal second and Rays catcher Jose Molina's throw hit Pedroia, allowing Victorino to score and giving Boston a 2-1 lead.

The Red Sox would pad their lead with a Pedroia sac fly in the bottom of the 5th to make it 3-1, which is just as well, since Evan Longoria blasted a solo homer to lead off the top of the 6th for the Rays to once again make it a one-run game. However, Boston would get some run support in the bottom of the 8th with two outs and two on when Stephen Drew hit an RBI single followed by a Jose Iglesias single that managed to clang off the gloves of Rays 3B Evan Longoria and SS Yuniel Escobar as two more runs came in for the Sox to give them a 6-2 lead [Even though it was officially scored a 2-RBI single, Iglesias alertly moved to third on the throw home which rolled to the dugout- NANESB!].

Koji Uehara came out in the top of the 9th and had a 1-2-3 inning to preserve the Boston win, and one night after being shut out by the Rays, the Olde Towne Team goes on to win by a 6-2 final. Lester goes 6⅓ innings, allowing 7 hits and two earn runs while striking out 8. Jose Iglesias went 1-4 with 2 RBI and Dustin Pedroia was 0-2 with 1 RBI on Tuesday night. The win by the Red Sox snaps a 6 game winning streak for Tampa Bay that carried over from the All Star where the Rays leapfrogged past the Yankees and Baltimore for 2nd place in the AL East.

The series continues Wednesday night at Fenway with Felix Doubront [7-3; 3.76 ERA] taking the mound against Tampa Bay's David Price [4-5; 4.03 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 7:10 ET and for the second time since Sunday, the game will be nationally televised on ESPN while the MLB Network and NESN will carry Thursday night's season finale.

Elise Amendola-AP

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- It's official.

Prior to last night's game, the Red Sox announced last night that Dustin Pedroia has signed an 8 year, $100 million contract extension that would keep the hard-charging second baseman in a Red Sox uniform through 2021. Peroia's current contract would have expired at the end of the 2014 season. The former Sun Devil was named AL Rookie of the Year in 2007 and AL MVP in 2008 in addition to two gold gloves and being selected to the All Star game twice.

Currently, Pedroia is batting .306 with 6 homers, 58 RBI and 14 stolen bases. Throughout his career, Pedroia has a .303 batting average with 96 homers and 116 stolen bases.

ELSEWHERE IN THE AL EAST- The Baltimore Orioles took a big step towards addressing one of their (few) weaknesses on Tuesday by acquiring Milwaukee Brewers closed Francisco Rodriguez in exchange for infielder Nick Delmonico from the Frederick Keys- Baltimore's Carolina League affiliate.

Rodriguez- aka "K-Rod"- is 1-1 with 1.09 ERA and has had 10 saves for the Brewers this season. K-Rod has been with Milwaukee since 2011

PITTSBURGH PIRATES- The resurgent Pirates got a scare in the 9th inning of Monday when closer and NL Saves leader Jason Grilli left the 9th inning of their game against the Washington Nationals. While the injury may not be as severe as the Pirates organization had feared, Grilli was put on the 15 DL with a strained right forearm on Wednesday.

On Monday night's game, Grilli allowed a leadoff walk to Washington's Adam La Roche in a 6-3 contest. This was followed up by a Jason Werth homer that made it a 1-run game. With one away, the Nationals Denard Span doubled off of Grilli before the Bucs closer got Nats catcher Wilson Ramos to strike out and was then pulled from the game. Vin Mazzaro then came on for Grilli and managed to get the final out, preserving the Bucs 6-5 win on Monday night.

After missing the playoffs for more than 20 straight years, the Pittsburgh Pirates have gotten off to a strong start both this season and in 2012. However, the second half of the Bucs 2012 campaign saw them gradually fade from playoff contention by Labor Day. Fans are hoping to avoid a repeat of last season's swoon in the Steel City. Currently, the Pirates are only a game and a half behind the St Louis Cardinals for the lead in the NL Central.

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.

Sports Chowdah Update- Going Going Gone(zo)- Red Sox, Dodgers Make Blockbuster Post Deadline Trade; Colon Blow- A's Starter Suspended 50 Games; Tour De Farce- Armstrong Stripped of All 7 Tour Titles

RED SOX- The Boston Red Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers completed a massive nine-player trade over the weekend that sent Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Adrian Gonzalez and Nick Punto to Southern California as well as $11 million in cash. In return, the Dodgers sent first baseman James Loney, minor leaguers Alan Webster and Ivan DeJesus to Beantown as well as two players to be named later.

The trade- reportedly the largest in Dodgers history- has triggered hyperbolic comparisons from Boston sportswriters who claim the transaction is on the scope of sending Babe Ruth to New York [personally, I think its more along the scale of the 2004 trade that sent Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs in exchange for Boston getting Orlando Cabrera from Montreal and Doug Mientkiewicz from Minnesota. Not quote as big money, but even more moving parts to potentially complicate the deal- NANESB!] .

Beckett was reportedly shopped around by Boston about 48 hours prior to the trade deadline last month. Although the Braves and Rangers had reportedly expressed an interest, no deal was reached by the trade deadline and if the front office still intended to move Beckett, it was assumed such a move would take place in the upcoming offseason. Just three games out of first place in the NL West and flush with cash from a new ownership group that includes NBA legend Magic Johnson, the Dodgers decided not to wait for November to try and swing a massive deal. Despite sending more than $11 million in cash to LA, the Red Sox are expected to save more than $260 million in salary after being free from Beckett, Gonzalez and Crawford's sizable contracts. The Los Angeles Times points out that the Dodgers payroll for 2013 will be $100 million more than it was on opening day this year.

A number of other Red Sox fans had pointed out that manager Bobby Valentine seemed largely unaware of the August transaction, despite its unprecedented scope. That in and of itself seems to point out that he most likely won't be back for the 2013 season.

Steven Senne/AP Photo

OTHER RED SOX NEWS: With all this taking place, the Red Sox still had a 4-game series against the Kansas City Royals at Fenway to contend with over the weekend.

After taking two out of the first three home games against KC, Daisuke Matsuzaka would return to the mound for his first start since going back on the DL in early July.

Matsuzaka, who had never gone more than 6 innings this season, started off by allowing an unearned run in the top of the 1st before getting out of the inning. Jacoby Ellsbury tied the ballgame up at 1-1 with a 2-out solo homer in the bottom of the first. Cody Ross would then break the deadlock with a 2-RBI wall-ball base hit in the bottom of the 3rd- it had come close to landing in the stands, but the umpires ruled it had stayed within the park. It remained a 3-1 game until the bottom of the 6th when Cody Ross and new acquisition James Loney each had RBI base hits to make it a 5-1 game. Matsuzaka and the bullpen did not squander the run support they got, either. Daisuke went 7 complete innings allowing 5 hits and the unearned run while striking out six. With Alfredo Aceves serving a 3-game suspension, Clay Mortenson, Vincente Padilla and Andrew Bailey closed out the game for the Red Sox.

Monday's Day game was the last before the Red Sox embark on their west coast Road Trip. Things kick off in Orange County on Tuesday night when Clay Buchholz [11-4; 4.47 ERA] gets the start against the Angel's Jared Weaver [16-3; 2.74 ERA]. First pitch is at 7:05 ET Pacific Time and 10:05 ET and the game will be televised on NESN and Fox Sports West.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS- The Los Angeles Dodgers were shut out by the Colorado Rockies by a 10-0 final in Josh Beckett's debut in Dodger blue. Beckett went 5 and ⅔ innings allowing three earned runs on 7 hits and 3 walks at Coors Field before the Dodgers bullpen imploded- giving up 7 runs in the bottom of the 8th inning.

Adrain Gonzalez is presently batting .250 for LA with 4 RBIs and a homer in three games with the Dodgers.

OTHER DODGERS NEWS- Hall of Fame Broadcaster Vin Scully announced that he would be returning to the Dodgers broadcast booth for a 64th season starting in 2013.

Scully had stated that the recent trade with the Red Sox that brought Beckett, Crawford and Gonzalez to LA had revitalized the organization as well as himself and demonstrated that the new ownership group was serious about bringing another World Series to LA.

The venerable play-by-play man was in the booth for a number of baseball milestones, including Henry Aaron's 715th career home run in 1974, Don Larsen's perfect game in the 1956 World Series and a walk-off homer from a hobbled Kirk Gibson in Game 1 on the 1988 World Series.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Oakland A's starter Bartolo Colon received a 50 game suspension from MLB after testing positive for banned substance- reportedly synthetic testosterone.

Colon- a 15 year veteran- admitted to violating the MLB substance abuse policy and will reportedly not appeal the suspension, which would carry over into next season if he were to continue playing in the MLB.

In 24 starts with Oakland this season, Colon has a 10-9 record and 3.43 ERA. Since 2008, Colon has started for the Red Sox, A's, Yankees and White Sox. The suspension comes after another Bay Area ball player- San Francisco's Melky Cabrera- also tested positive for a substance prohibited by MLB.

BC sophomore Courtney Castle gets in a dig during the Eagle's match against Fordham at this weekend's Boston College Invitational. BC Eagles photo via Twitter

NCAA WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL- The NCAA's volleyball season got underway this weekend in Chestnut Hill with the 2012 Boston College Invitational.

To kick off the 2012 campaign, the Eagles played host to Texas Tech, Fordham, Siena and SUNY Binghamton on Friday and Saturday.

The lady Eagles got off to an 2-0 start on Friday when they swept the Binghamton Bearcats 3 sets to none.

Siena Junior Taylor Akana- named the MAAC Conference's Offensive Player of the Year in 2011 and Preseason Player of the year for 2012. Siena Saints photo

The Siena Saints and captain Taylor Akana presented a little more of a challenge to BC as the Eagles dropped the opening set 25-19, but the BC would rebound and win the next three consecutive sets by totals of 25-14, 25-18 and 25-20. Katty Workman led the Eagles with 12 kills while outside hitter Courtney Castle had 11 for BC. Over on the Siena side of the net, Taylor Akana and Rachel Stoklosa led the Saints with 11 each on the losing effort.

On Saturday, the Eagles went .500 on the court, sweeping Fordham 3 sets to none, but then dropping the match against the Texas Tech Red Raiders after taking a 2-0 lead.

With a 3-1 record, the BC Volleyball team will next head out to the west coast for the USC Tournament where they'll take on the host Trojans as well as Northern Iowa and Mississippi State.

CYCLING- Seven time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong will reportedly be stripped of his titles after announcing he would no longer fight an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.

The announcement from Armstrong means that the USADA will recommend Armstrong be banned from all International Cycling Union (UCI) sanctioned events and that he be stripped of all titles dating back to 1998. The decision was made even though Armstrong had passed hundreds of tests administered during that timeframe.

Iron Horse Roundup for July 2012- Genesee & Wyoming to Purchase Rail America For $1.39 Billion; Mill Closure May Be Catalyst for Apache Shutdown; Sails on Rails- America's Cup Yachts Take Cross Country Train Ride

Apache C424 #98 is seen leading six green & white ALCos southbound out of Holbrook, AZ with 60 loads of coal for the Catalyst Paper mill in Snowflake in May 2011. Drew Mitchem photo.

APACHE- Eastern Arizona's Apache Railroad may be on borrowed time as its parent company and primary shipper announced that it plans to shut down the massive paper mill in Snowflake, AZ this fall.

Citing lowering demand for newsprint and increased fuel prices, Richmond, BC-based Catalyst Papers issued a statement on Monday announcing that they would be permanently closing the Snowflake mill by September 30, 2012.

"Pink slips" are expected to be in the hands of workers by 4 p.m. this afternoon, according to plant officials.

They have also told state officials that if they could get their hands on enough raw wood fiber, perhaps as part of the 4FRI initiative, they could convert back from recycled to fresh paper. That conversion, they have said, would cost around $30 million, which they are apparently not willing to invest on their own.

"This is horrible," said State Senator Sylvia Allen (R-Snowflake) Monday night. "That's around 380 direct jobs, but with truck drivers, rail and other ancillary jobs, it could mean 1,000 jobs.

Handling inbound shipments of coal for the mill's power plant and outbound shipments of paper products, the Apache remains popular with rail enthusiasts for their curious choice of operating exclusively with ALCo locomotives when the manufacturer closed its doors in 1968.

Decked out in Rail America livery, Toledo, Peoria & Western GP38-2 #3821 leads an EMD endcab switcher across the Illinois River in August 2007. The bridge is owned by Genesee & Wyoming's Tazewell and Peoria Railroad. Craig McGregor photo

GENESEE AND WYOMING- In a move that would consolidate the two largest shortline operators in North America, Genesee & Wyoming has reportedly reached an agreement with Fortress Investment Group [NYSE- FIG] to purchase shortline holding company Rail America for $1.39 Billion.

The transaction would give Connecticut-based Genesee & Wyoming control of 111 lines total, pending regulatory approval from the Surface Transportation Board. Genesee & Wyoming reported that they would incorporate the existing Rail America lines into the GWR corporate structure and operations.

Genesee & Wyoming said the deal would diversify its customer and commodity bases, increase its total revenue by nearly two-thirds, to about $1.4 billion, and double its North American revenue to about $1.1 billion. Following the transaction, Genesee will have 111 railroads.

RailAmerica shareholders will receive $27.50 a share, an 11% premium over Friday's closing price.

Shares of Rail America [NYSE- RA] have seen an 83% increase in value since the beginning of 2012 while Genesee & Wyoming shares are down 7% over the same period of time. GWR attributes that in part on a decline in the demand for coal- a commodity many of of its subsidiaries haul.

New England Central SD40-2 #721 is seen leading the northbound 'America's Cup Express' over the Winooski River in N. Duxbury, VT on July 12, 2012. Kevin Burkholder photo

NEW ENGLAND CENTRAL- The America's Cup is coming to Vermont!

Actually, that's only partly true- the America's Cup came and went from the Green Mountain state, only it was in a form that hardly anybody would recognize.



The America's Cup tournament is a yacht racing tournament that pits some of the most innovative vessel designs against teams from around the world, and for the first time in the history of the Cup, the bulk of the equipment was moved across the country via freight train. Reportedly, organizers had considered loading up all the equipment and sending it via the Panama Canal to San Francisco where the America's Cup 2012-2013 World Series is set to get underway on August 21 but decided sending the containers and support equipment to the City by the Bay by rail was more cost effective and fuel efficient.

After finishing up the final event of the 2011-2012 World Tour in Newport, RI most of the yachts and support equipment made their way to Quonset, RI where they were loaded into containers, then placed onto COFC cars and assembled into a 1.5 mile long train by Seaview Transportation before being handed off to the Providence & Worcester on July 9th.

From there, the train was handed off to the New England Central where it made its way north through the western reaches of Masachusetts and New Hampshire before heading northwest through Vermont. The train- dubbed the America's Cup Express- was supposed to hand off its 121 car train to the Canadian National at St. Alban's, VT. However, the trip didn't go quite as smoothly as hoped.

It was supposed to be a 10-day trip until a container shifted Tuesday causing a one-day delay and then crew scheduling problems Wednesday led to a second day on a siding in New Hampshire. Thursday, it finally got underway again.

From St. Albans, the train continues to Montreal on the Canadian National before heading southwest to Chicago where the massive consist was handed off to the Union Pacific. The UP handled it the rest of the way to San Francisco, where it arrived on July 24th and was offloaded at Pier 80.

San Francisco Bay Railroad ALCo S2 #23 seen switching container well cars at the final destination of the America's Cup Express, Pier 80 in San Francisco, CA. Ron Close photo

Despite the America's Cup Express setback in New Hampshire, those involved in the sails-on-rails move remained enthusiastic about the move.

“It is a great example of a freight train as an alternative to trucking if railroads cooperate,” Vermont Transportation Secretary Brian Searles said. “It is pretty exciting it is coming through Vermont,” he said, noting he hoped to be able to see it pass by Montpelier. Freight trains of more than 100 cars are pretty rare sights these days, he said.

The special freight train turned out to be the preferred option to not only trucking but the more likely option of chartering a freighter and sailing the load through the Panama Canal and up to San Francisco, explained Eric Moffett, president of Seaview Transportation Co. in North Kingston, R.I. Moffett worked with several railroads, including the New England Central Railroad, which runs through Vermont, to put together the travel package.

“It is exciting,” Moffett said, because the special train will show the competitiveness of rail transport to a world audience — the international teams associated with the America’s Cup

Moffett of Seaview Transportation likened the train to the circus trains of another era that contained everything the entertainers needed for their shows. The setup for each America’s Cup regatta includes machine shops, broadcasting facilities, and team gear tents, Moffett said.

Christopher Parker, executive director of the Vermont Rail Action Network, noted the importance of freight to the future of rail as well as roads in Vermont.

“While this is an unusual move, it illustrates how much of the freight in Vermont is moving through en-route to or from other parts of New England,” Parker said.

While in San Francisco, the America's Cup World Series will get underway the week of August 21st through the 26th and resume beginning the week of October 2nd.

A trio of Wheeling & Lake Erie SD40-2s in charge of a stone train in Rochester, OH at sunset.Cody Zamostny photo

WHEELING & LAKE ERIE- Officials from the Wheeling & Lake Erie were on hand for the grand opening of a 10 acre National Lime and Stone site in Martins Ferry, OH that would see 60-car unit stone trains offloaded and used for construction and drilling pads for natural gas exploration in the nearby Utica and Marcellus Shales.

He said the operation begins when the limestone is mined, processed and crushed at Carey Quarry, which employs about 30 people.

The stone is loaded into 60-car unit trains. The Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad transports trains to the Martins Ferry facility. It is unloaded at the site for use in various projects such as contractors, asphalt and concrete production, Ohio Department of Transportation projects, commercial and residential projects, the Utica Shale pads and roads and the general public.

[National Lime & Stone's] DiBerardino noted afterward that they have been in operation in the site for about a month. The company will hire several employees to manage the site and load and unload the stone.

In addition to hauling coal, grain, steel coils, salt, coke, lumber and scrap metal the W&LE has been kept busy hauling frac sand and pipe for natural gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shales.

The W&LE remains one of the relatively few independently operated regional railroads in the United States.

Olympic & Trade Deadline Countdown Sports Chowdah Update- Mike Steps Up as Red Sox Rally in Texas; Phillies Heavily Invested in Cole; UK to Deploy More Troops For Olympic Security

AP Photo/LM Otero

RED SOX- After coming out of the All-Star break with a 5-2 record, including taking 3 out of 4 from the AL Central leading the White Sox, the Red Sox were in for a letdown during the weekend when Toronto swept the 3-game series at Fenway Park where both Jon Lester and Josh Beckett were roughhed up by the Blue Jays.

Things weren't going to get easier with this weeks road trip to Texas and the Bronx. Monday night's game didn't hold alot promise when the Rangers countered a Jarrod Saltalamacchia solo homer with a 4-run bottom of the 3rd and 5 run bottom of the 6th off of Felix Doubront and the Sox bullpen to open up a series with a 9-1 Rangers win.

Coming into Tuesday night's game, the Red Sox were hoping to break a 4-game slide in which they were outscored 37-12. However, Tuesday night's game didn't feature much in the way of offense.

Manager Bobby Valentine decided not to start, putting Kelly Shoppach into the game at catcher. Shoppach got the Sox on the board first after driving in OF Cody Ross home from first with an RBI double off of Rangers starter Martin Perez to make it 1-0 Boston.

However, as Monday night's nationally televised game had demonstrated, a 1-0 lead doesn't last very long in Arlington, TX. After Elvis Andrus hit a 1-out double off of Clay Buchholz in the top of the 6th, he advanced to 3rd on a wild pitch before coming home on a Josh Hamilton groundout to knot the contest up at 1-1.

Things got a little interesting in the bottom of the 8th when Padilla came out of the Sox bullpen in relief of Buccholz. Although Padilla struck out the first batter he faced, he then allowed a single to Elvis Andrus. Although Padilla got Josh Hamilton to strike out, a costly throwing error by Padilla put Andrus on third. Padilla than struck Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre in the helmet, giving Texas runners on first and third with two away [Yorvit Torrealba pinch-ran for Beltre while he underwent examination by the Rangers medical staff- NANESB!]. However, the inning ended for Texas on a Michael Young groundout to short.

In the top of the 9th, Rangers manager Ron Washington made the curious move of putting in closer Joe Nathan in a non-save situation. Although Nathan got the first two batters out, he walked Daniel Nava and Jarrod Saltalamacchia, who was batting for Kelly Shoppach. Previously, Nathan had walked only five batters in 38⅓ innings of work this season. The Red Sox made those walks count when Mike Aviles hit a bloop RBI single to make it 2-1 Boston. Jacoby Ellsbury then hit a ball to deep center field for the 3rd out of the inning.

Alfredo Aceves came on for the bottom of the 9th and got two quick outs before walking Mike Napoli. However, the game ended when Adrian Gonzalez caught a pop foul in along the 1st base line, snapping Boston's 4 game skid. Despite the lopsided losses experienced by the Red Sox since Friday, this was very much a pitchers duel with solid outings by both Buccholz and Perez. Vincente Padilla was credited with the win and now has a 4-0 record.

Wednesday night's game will wrap up the 3-game series at Arlington and has Josh Beckett [5-8; 4.53 ERA] going up against the Rangers Derek Holland [6-5; 4.84 ERA]. The game gets underway at 8:05 ET and will be televised on NESN.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS- The Red Sox have traded infielder Brent Lillibridge to the Cleveland Indians in exchange for minor-league pitcher Jose De La Torre. Lillibridge came to Boston last month in part of the deal that sent Kevin Youkilis to the White Sox. Used primarily as a late inning defensive replacement, Lillibridge has appeared in 16 games for the Red Sox and was batting .125.

Between the Indians AA affiliate Akron Aeros and the AAA Columbus Clippers of the International League, De La Torre has an 8-1 record and a 2.91 ERA this season.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- The Seattle Mariners traded outfielder Ichiro Suzuki to the Yankees after the All Star outfielder waived his no-trade clause on Monday. In exchange for Ichiro, who has played for the Mariners since 2001 when he first came to the major leagues from his native Japan, Seattle recieves pitching prospects DJ Mitchell and Danny Farquahr.

The trade was prompted in part by a season ending injury to Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner after undergoing elbow surgery this month.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS- The Dodgers have reportedly acquired Miami Marlins infielder Hanley Ramierez and reliever Randy Choate in exchange for starter Nathan Eovaldi and pitching prospect Scott McGough.

The slumping Dodgers, who are now 2 and a half games behind the San Francisco Giants in the NL West standings, are hoping that the All Star shortstop can shake up LA's stagnant offense. Ramierez has been batting .246 with 14 homers and 48 RBI with Miami this season. Earlier this week, the Marlins had dealt starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez [5-7; 3.94 ERA] to the Detroit Tigers.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES- After weeks of reportedly shopping ace Cole Hammels before next week's MLB tade deadline, the starting pitcher and the Phillies have reportedly agreed to a long term contract extension.

The six year deal is worth $144 million and includes a limited no-trade provision. The struggling Phillies remain in last place this season, but Hammels currently enjoys a record of 11-4 with a 3.23 ERA.

HOUSTON ASTROS- The Astros sent starting pitcher Wandy Rodriguez to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night in exchange for left-handed pitchers Rudy Owens and Cotton Cain as well as outfielder Robbie Grossman- all three from the Pirates AAA affiliate in Indianapolis.

The Pirates will also reportedly get $17.7 million in cash to offset Rodriguez's annual salary which could top $30 million this year with incentives.

Rodriguez currently has a 7-9 record with an ERA of 3.79. The long-suffering Pirates, who haven't appeared in the postseason since 1992, are in the somewhat unusual position of being buyers this season as they're currently only a game and a half out of 1st place in the NL Central.

Last week, the Astros acquired closer Fransisco Cordero and outfielder Ben Fransisco in a 10-player deal with the Toronto Blue Jays. Besides the two major leaguers, Houston gets prospects Asher Wojciechowski, Joe Musgrove, David Rollins, Carlos Perez and a player to be named later.

Toronto gets lefty JA Happ, righty David Carpenter and reliever Brandon Lyon from the Astros in that deal.

Karen Warren Houston Chronicle photo

OTHER ASTROS NEWS- Houston announcer and Ford C Frick award winner Milo Hamilton announced that this would be his last year calling games for the Astros.

Born in 1927 in the small town of Fairfield, IA, Hamilton first started broadcasting with the Armed Forces Radio when he joined the US Navy during WWII. Like former president Ronald Reagan, Hamilton also briefly called football and basketball games for the Iowa Hawkeyes. Hamilton got his start calling MLB games for the St Louis Browns in 1953, their final year in St Louis before they moved to Baltimore. For the next few years, Hamilton bounced around landing work with the Cardinals, Cubs and White Sox before joining the Atlanta Braves when they moved to Fulton County stadium from Milwaukee in the 1966 season.

As a broadcaster, Hamilton is best known for this call:


Amazingly, of the three broadcasters calling the game for Henry Arron's 715th HR on that April 1974 evening, two of them are still calling games in 2012- Hamilton and the Dodger's Vin Scully. NBC Sports and former Red Sox broadcaster Curt Gowdy passed away in 2006.

Hamilton returned to the Cubs in 1980 but was fired by the Cubs parent company Tribune Company after expressing a preference for Harry Caray. Hamilton made mention of bad blood between him and Caray dating back to their days in St Louis in his 2006 autobiography.

After suffering a mild heart attack in 2007, Hamilton announced that he wouldn't be travelling for the Astros road games- although he reportedly was on hand for the opening of the new Busch Stadium in St Louis as well as the Mets' Citi Field and Nationals Park.

TRACK AND FIELD- A 19 year old Aussie hurdler became an almost overnight internet sensation when video of her warming up at the IAAF World U-20 Championships in Barcelona Spain earlier this month went viral.


Michelle Jenneke's warm-ups by the starting gate caught the attention of the camera crew and announcers covering the event in Barcelona.

Somebody thoughtfully dubbed questionable 1980s synth-pop music [and this is coming from somebody who likes some of they synth-pop music from the 80s- NANESB!] over the energetic Sheila's pre-race dance and warm-up routine. The full video can be seen here [full disclosure, it's kind of an earworm and not the good kind NANESB!]

Unfortunately, Jenneke's newfound fans worldwide won't be seeing her in the 2012 Summer games in London, since she did not qualify. I suspect that with a body and warm-up dance like Jeneke's, she'd have a devoted internet following even if she fell flat on her face right out of the starting gate. However, Jenneke isn't just another pretty face- the bouncy Aussie took gold in the 100m hurdles in Barcelona and five seconds of searching yielded this video of Jenneke winning silver at the 2010 Youth Games in Singapore.

Althought not set to music, the 2010 video shows a Jenneke as enthusiastic and bouncy as the 2012 version while her success so far in international competition means fans can aren't being unrealistic when they expect to see more of her at the 2016 games in Rio.

OTHER TRACK AND FIELD NEWS- 23 year old Greek Triple Jumper Voula Papachristou has been barred from the upcoming Olympic games in London when she sent out a tweet about African immigrants in Greece.

The message on the microblogging and social netorking site that got her in trouble was dated Sunday and read "So many Africans in #Greece at least West Nile mosquitoes will eat homemade food"

Tweeting under the handle @papaxristoutj, Papachristou also linked to websites and videos linked to the formerly-fringe Golden Dawn Party who hold 18 seats in the Greek Parliament. Those messages have since been deleted.

Although Papachristou had apologized via Facebook and Twitter, the Greek Olympic committee announced that she will not be joining the team for "statements contrary to the values and ideas of the Olympic movement".

Personally, while I think what Papachristou said was stupid and childish, I don't think that should prevent her from competing in the Summer Olympics. I suspect what she said publicly is rather tame compared to whats being said both publicly and privately in Arabic about Israeli athletes [or Israeli soldiers, or Israeli civilians, or Israeli schoolchildren, or Israeli grannies...you get the idea- NANESB!].

There's also the opportunity for a sort of Jesse Owens moment here. Now that the world has known what Papachristou has said about Africans, just think of the schadenfreude for spectators if and when she loses her event to a competitor from Kenya or Ethiopia. But it's all hypothetical now.

British soldiers walking past a sign welcoming visitors to the 2012 Olympics. Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters Photo

SUMMER OLYMPICS- The British Home Secretary has ordered as many as 3500 additional troops deployed to London to bolster security for the games after the CEO of the private firm contracted to conduct security for the Summer Olympiad in London admitted that they were unable to recruit enough qualified personnel before a parliamentary inquiry last week.

With 675,000 employees, the Crawley-based private security firm G4s [LSE: GFS] provides security guards and montiors for CCTV and alarms as well as cash and armoured vans for its 'Cash logistics' division. The company also runs adult and juevenile detention facilities and does prisoner transport via government contracts.

Amid some reports that G4S guards cheated on written exams regarding the operation of X-Ray devices, local officials in Liverpool said that they were replacing G4S security personnel with 500 local security guards to provide security for upcoming Olympic soccer matches in St James Park.

Although a major shareholder of the comapny has backed embattled CEO Nick Buckles, the fiasco has hurt the reputation of G4S which in turn may make it more difficult for them to secure contracts in the future.

The Daily Telegraph is reporting that an additional 1200 British soldiers are on standby, ready to deploy on 48 hours notice. No word on whether or not Katrina Hodge is among the soldiers currently assigned to any security detail at the London Games.

OTHER OLYMPIC NEWS- Fans hoping to see bikini clad contestants in the Beach Volleyball event at the Summer Games may be in for a letdown as tournament organizers allowed participants to wear shorts and long sleeve tops in the event of inclement weather.

According to a statement from the FIVB press director, clothing worn by players must be of consistent length, color, style, manufacturer and display the same sponsors. Should the temperature drop below 15 degrees celcius during the event, long sleeves and pants are authorized.

This may become an issue since the weather in the weeks leading up to the ceremony have been overcast, rainy and grey- apparently meeting the criteria required for wearing shorts and long sleeves during the event. However, with a few days to go before the Olympic opening ceremonies, the weather in London has warmed up considerably this week.

Interestingly, the beach volleyball event will take place inland- in the Horse Guards Parade located in the Whitehall section of London, to be specific. A 15,000 seat temporary stadium has been erected on the grounds- just blocks from 10 Downing Street.

BOSTON BRUINS-Bruins RW Nathan Horton has been cleared for contact and should be ready to return to the ice in time for the beginning of the Bruins training camp.

GM Peter Chiarelli told reporters that the winger had been cleared for contact by the team's medical staff. Through 45 games, Horton had 17 goals and 15 assists last season before sustaining a concussion in a collision ith Philadelphia's Tom Sestito back in January.

Photo/Joe Howell

NASHVILLE PREDATORS- The Nashville Predators signed defenseman Shea Weber to a 14 year $110 million contract extension on Wedensday, making it the most lucrative contract in the history of the Nashville franchise and the 2nd largest in the NHL.

The Philadelphia Flyers had expressed an interest in the 27 year old All Star and were willing to offer him a comprable contract, but Weber was preortedly more interested in remaining in Nashville.

Weber had 19 goals and 30 assists in the 2012 season, including two goals and an assist during the postseason series against Detroit and Phoenix.

COLUMBUS BLUE JACKETS- The Columbus Blue Jackets dealt forward Rick Nash to the NY Rangers in exchange for forwards Brandon Dubinski and Artem Ansimov along with defenseman Tim Erixon.

Although Columbus had never advanced deep intot he Stanley Cup playoff, Nash remained a prolific scorer for them, making his NHL debut with them back in 2002. In his nine season with the Blue Jackets, he has accumulated 289 goals and 258 assists with 30 goals and 29 assists in the 2011 season.

Sports Chowdah Update- Felix the Cat; Yankees Rivera Out for Season; Cole Minders- Philly Starter Gets 5 Game Suspension

RED SOX- Heading into Thursday night's series opener at Fenway against the Cleveland Indians, the Red Sox had won exactly two games since the April 28th pitchers duel between Jon Lester and White Sox starter Jake Peavy- including an excruciating 17 inning affair at Fenway that saw the O's cap a sweep of the BoSox and Baltimore infielder Chris Davis get the win over Red Sox outfielder Darnell McDonald last Sunday. Yes- by the time the 17th inning rolled around, both Boston and Baltimore had depleted their bullpens and were using position players; the first time two teams had put a position player on the mound since George Sisler of the St Louis Browns went up against Detroit's Ty Cobb on the final day of the 1925 season.

Although the road trip to Kansas City got off to a promising start, the Red Sox dropped the next two games at Kauffman Stadium and then dropped the opening game against the Tribe after returning to Fenway. Beckett went up against former Red Sox starter Derek Lowe and lasted all of 2⅓ innings as the Indians teed off against him for 7 earned runs before he was pulled. Turns out the Tribe didn't even need Danielle Peck as a distraction for Beckett's most recent start

NOT a factor in Thursday night's fiasco against the Indians

Instead, it was Beckett's golf game was at the fore when after being scratched from the lineup with a sore lat muscle in his back. Yet, on his day off, Beckett was able to get in a game of golf- sore back and all. Beckett stood by his golf game, insisting that what he did on his day off was his business.

After good start by Clay Buccholz where he went 6⅓ innings and allowed 3 earned runs on 8 hits and 3 walks, the Red Sox managed to hang on for the 7-5 win on Friday night. Saturday's game saw Felix Doubront go up against Zach MacAllister and was a much more brisk and lower scoring affair than Friday's game. The Red Sox got on the board in the bottom of the third on RBI doubles from Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz. Mike Aviles would bring in another runner with an RBI sac fly to make it 3-0 Boston in the bottom of the 4th. Indians 2B Jason Kipnis would put the Tribe on the board in the top of the 6th to make it a 3-1 game, but the Red Sox would make it a 3-run game once again thanks to a booming solo homer that cleared Landsdowne St off the bat of Cody Ross.
Alfredo Aceves would come out of the bullpen for a 1-2-3 ninth inning and preserve the Red Sox win- their first back to back wins since their torrid 6-1 road trip at the end of April.

The Red Sox try for the win of the 4-game series on Sunday afternoon with Cleveland starter and former Red Sox product Justin Masterson [1-2; 4.89 ERA] will go up against Daniel Bard [2-4; 4.83 ERA]. First pitch is scheduled for 1:35 PM ET and the game will be televised on NESN.

OTHER RED SOX NEWS<- The Red Sox have acquired outfielder Scott Podsednik from the Philadelphia Phillies for cash considerations on Friday. A member of the 2005 World Series Champion White Sox, Podsednik was a non-roster invitee to the Phillies spring training. After spring trainin, Podsednik was assigned to the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs where he's been batting .203 with six stolen bases so far. The transaction will have the sppedy outfielder sent to Pawtucket first and reportedly includes an opt out provision if Podsednik isn't called up by this time in June.

OTHER MLB NEWS- New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera is out for the season after tearing an ACL during batting practice before the Yankees hosted the Kansas City Royals last week. Rivera was carted off the field and is scheduled to undergo surgery and has been taking blood thinners for a recently discovered blood clot in his right leg.

ELSEWHERE IN MLB- Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Cole Hamels has recieved a 5 game suspension from MLB for throwing at Washington Nationals rookie Bryce Harper. Hamels admitted to intentionally throwing at Harper during the May 6th game inside the Beltway. Harper got a measure of revenge by stealing home in the Nationals 9-3 loss to Philadelphia that night.

Hamels is scheduled to return to the mound on Sunday at Citizens Bank ballpark on Sunday night against the San Diego Padres and starter Jeff Suppan. Interestingly, Harper survived Hamels' plunking only to risk injury at him own hand a few days later after throwing a fit in the visitor's dugout in Cincinnati. After going 0-5 against the Reds, Harper slammed his bat against the wall before it shattered, with part of it catching him right below the eye. This resulted in a gash that required 10 stitches and he was sporting a bandage for Saturday night's game against the Reds.

Big Heapin' Bowl Of Sports Chowdah- The Seminole Works of Bobby Bowden; Washington Bullets Revisited? Devil in the Details- Satan to Sign w/Bruins

(AP/Phil Coale)
[OK- sorry about the lengthy delays in the sports updates. I've been gone for over a week, and when I did come back I was under the weather for a few more days. Plus, I was so pleased with the outcome of the 2010 Winter Classic that I felt it deserved its own separate post. But- NANESB!]

Bobby Bowden's coaching career finished on a pretty dad-gum good note Friday as the Florida State Seminoles beat the West Virginia Mountaineers 33-21 in the Gator Bowl at Jacksonville, FL. Bowden finished with a career 389-129-4 record and his 33rd consecutive season at Tallahassee with a winning record (7-6). Even the Mountaineers fans, recalling his 1970-1975 coaching stint at Morgantown, tacked a 'We [heart] U Bobby!' banner to the wall. Jimbo Fisher is set to take over as head coach at Florida State starting next season.


(John Woike/Hartford Courant)
The UConn Huskies capped off a turbulent season Saturday with a dominating 20-7 win over the South Carolina Gamecocks at the Papajohns Bowl in Birmingham, AL. Andre Dixon rushed for 126 yards and was named Bowl MVP. Teammates brought out jersey #6- that of slain cornerback Jasper Howard- during the postgame awards. The Huskies are now 3-1 in bowl games since graduating from Division 1AA (the Atlantic 10/Colonial Athletic Association to be specific).

Other Bowl Finals:
12/30 Roady's Humanitarian Bowl- Boise, ID: Bowling Green 42- Idaho 43

12/30 Pacific Life Holiday Bowl- San Diego, CA: Arizona 0- Nebraska 33

12/31 Bell Armed Forces Bowl- Ft Worth, TX: Houston 20- Air Force 47

12/31 Sun Bowl- El Paso, TX: Oklahoma 31- Stanford 27

12/31 Texas Bowl- Houston, TX: Navy 35- Missouri 13

12/31 Insight Bowl- Tempe, AZ: Minnesota 13- Iowa State 14

12/31 Chick-Fil-A Bowl- Atlanta, GA: Virgina Tech 37- Tennessee 14

1/1 Outback Bowl- Tampa, FL: Northwestern 35- Auburn 38 [OT]

1/1 Capital One Bowl- Orlando, FL: Penn State 19- Louisiana State 17

1/1 Rose Bowl- Pasadena, CA: Ohio State 26- Oregon 17

1/1 Sugar Bowl- New Orleans, LA: Florida 51- Cincinnati 24

1/2 International Bowl- Toronto, ON: South Florida 27- Northern Illinois 3

1/2 Cotton Bowl- Arlington, TX: Oklahoma State 7- Mississippi 21

1/2 Auto Zone Liberty Bowl- Memphis, TN: Arkansas 20- East Carolina 17 [OT]

1/2 Alamo Bowl- San Antonio, TX: Texas Tech 41- Michigan State 31

NHL News- The Boston Bruins have agreed to a one year deal with free agent winger Miroslav Satan. The sinisterly-named Slovak (pronounced SHUH-tan) was seen on the ice with his new team at their practice facility in Wilmington, MA on Saturday. Satan had previously played with the Sabres, Islanders and Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. The contract is for 1 year and $700,000.

NBA News- The New York Post is reporting that Washington Wizards teammates Gilbert Arenas and Javaris Crittenton pulled guns on each other in a locker-room dispute over an unpaid gambling debt. The Wizards announced last week that Arenas admitted to bringing weapons to the team's facility and that they were turned over to team security. The team and NBA security say they're investigating the matter further. Washington DC has the strictest gun-control laws in the nation that make hardly any provisions for the carry and transport of firearms.

The Celtics returned from their forgettable west coast road trip and snapped their three-game losing streak Saturday night with a home win over the Toronto Raptors- despite having three of their starters sit out the game with injuries. Paul Pierce missed his fifth straight game following a series of relatively minor surgical procedures to clear up an infection in his right knee. Kevin Garnett was out for the second game night in a row due to a sore right knee and Rajon Rondo sat out Saturday's game with a sore right hamstring. Ray Allen had 23 points and Rasheed Wallace had 16 in the 103-96 Boston win.

Today's Train of Thought: Warren's Got Himself A New Toy- Nov 3rd, 2009

In light of today's announcement from Berkshire-Hathaway, I thought Today's Train of Thought should focus on the BNSF. Here, a quartet of GE's led by C44-9W #5081 is photographed by railpictures.net contributor Joe Blackwell winding through the Abo Canyon on the former Santa Fe Clovis Subbdivision near Abo, NM with a lengthy cut of JB Hunt trailers in September 2009.

Sports Chowdah Recap for Oct 17-18: Tragedy in Storrs; Extra Extra! Yanks Take 2-0 ALCS Lead After 13; Snow Contest @ Gillette; Winning Convincing-Lee

(File Photo/AP)
JASPER HOWARD: 1989-2009

University of Connecticut cornerback Jasper Howard was stabbed in an altercation near the UConn Student union at 12:30AM Sunday morning. Howard was airlifted from Windham Community Memorial Hospital to St. Francis where was pronounced dead.

The Hartford Courant has more on this.

Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images
The Philadelphia Phillies took a 2-1 lead in the NLCS at Citizen's Bank ballpark Sunday Night on the strength of Cliff Lee's eight shutout innings, winning by a final of 11-0. Lee gave up only three hits in his outing while Dodgers starter Hideki Kuroda lasted only 1 and 1/3rd innings, giving up 6 runs. Ryan Howard was 1 for for with 3 RBI and a run scored while Jason Werth has a 2 run homer and Shane Victorino a 3-run homer. Game 4 will be Monday night with Joe Blanton on the bump for the Phils and Randy Wolf starting for the Dodgers.

It took 13 innings to decide a winner at Yankee stadium on Saturday night (early Sunday, east coast time) but a leadoff solo home run by Alex Rodriguez in the bottom of the 11th off of Brian Fuentes when the Yankees were down by a run extended another cold and occasionally rainy game in the Bronx. More costly errors for the Angels, as Maicer Izturus' throwing error with runners on in the bottom of the 13th, allowing Jerry Hairston Jr. to score the go ahead run.

(Elsa/Getty Images)

To say it wasn't even close in Foxboro on Sunday would be something of an understatement. New England effortlessly rolled over the hapless Tennesee Titans/Houston Oilers 59-0 in the driving Global Warming.....I mean....Climate Change....damn! I mean snow at Gillette Stadium today. Apparently there hasn't been this one-sided a beatdown since the Bicentennial, when the then-L.A. Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons by the same score in 1976. Tom Brady was 29 for 34 with 380 yards and six touchdowns. Just out of curiosity, where was this offense for the 2nd half of last week's game in Denver? Or overtime? Curiously, after facing a bunch of then-undefeated teams (Atlanta, the Jets, Baltimore and Denver), New England winds up with two winless opponents (Tennessee and Tampa Bay) for consecutive weeks.

The New York Jets lost in overtime to the Buffalo Bills at the Meadowlands in E. Rutherford, NJ, 16-13. Joe Namath was 10 of 29 for 119 yards with five turnovers after taking a 13-3 lead today.....wait. Did I say Joe Namath? I did it again....I keep getting him and Mark Sanchez mixed up for some reason. Mark Sanchez was 10 for 29, with 119 yards and five interceptions today. [Five? Wait- that's as many interceptions from Mark Sanchez all day as touchdowns from Tom Brady had in the 2nd quarter- NANESB!]. This brings the Jets record to 3-3, with a 1-2 record within the AFC East.

Boston College running back Montel Harris rushed for 264 yards and 5 TDs as the Eagles beat the North Carolina State Wolfpack 52-20 in former Eagle's coach Tom O'Briens return to Chestnut Hill. Harris broke the school's records for touchdowns in a single game and yardage in a single game; the previous best was 253 in 1972 by Phil Bennet [Yes, I had to look that up- NANESB!]. The Eagles are now 5-2 and take on the 4-2 Fighting Irish next week at South Bend.

Phoenix's Ilya Bryzgalov stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced for a 4-1 Coyotes win over the Boston Bruins at Glendale, AZ Saturday night. The Bruins also have traded RW Chuck Kobasew to the Minnesota Wild in exchange for RWs Craig Weller and Alexander Fallstrom on Sunday. The next game for the B's will be at home against the Nashville Predators on October 21st.