Pole Dancing Sports Chowdah Update- South Africa's 'Blade Runner' Accused of Killing Girlfriend; Bruins Manitoba Up in Winnipeg; Boston College Wins Record 4th Straight Beanpot; Danica Patrick Sitting Pretty For Daytona 500

NASCAR- Danica Patrick made history over the weekend by becoming the first woman to win the Daytona 500 pole on Sunday with a 196.434 MPH lap [and thus provided me with a contrived opportunity to post some swimsuit pictures of Patrick- NANESB!]. The closest anyone came to knocking Patrick off the pole was 4 time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, who quipped that at least he was the fastest guy on the track that day.

Prior to her 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series debut, Patrick became the first woman to win a major IndyCar race after she won the Japan IndyCar 300 series in 2008.

The Daytona 500- the first race of the Sprint Cup ciruit- will get underway on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 PM ET.

TRACK AND FIELD- In all honesty I didn't pay much attention to the track and field events during the 2012 London Olympics due to a combination of being distracted by the volleyball event and my disappointment that neither bouncy Aussie hurdler Michelle Jenneke or smoldering Greek fascist fangirl Voula Papachristos.

But I did hear about South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius- dubbed the 'Blade Runner' due to his prosthetic legs. Pistorius, a double amputee, was the first amputee runner to compete in the Olympic games and was the flag bearer for the South African team during the closing ceremonies. His limbs during the competition were carbon fiber prosthetics, leaving some to claim he had an unfair advantage over able-bodied atheletes.

On Valentine's Day, Pistorius was arrested by police for the shooting death of his girlfriend in their suburban Pretoria home. The Olympian allegedly fired a handgun at his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp through a closed bathroom door after a heated argument. Pistorius' lawyer insist that the shooting of Steemkamp was accidental.

The shooting death has shocked South Africans and many around the world who idolized Pistorius for overcoming adversity to become a sports champion, competing in the London Olympics last year in track besides being a Paralympian. Steenkamp, 29, was a model and law graduate who made her debut on a South African reality TV program that was broadcast on Saturday, two days after her death.

Nel said the couple had had a shouting match and Steenkamp fled to the bathroom, down a seven-yard passage from the bedroom, and locked herself in. He said the 26-year-old Pistorius got up from bed and had to put on his prosthetic legs to reach the toilet door.

Nel told the court the door was broken open after the shots were fired. Pistorius' lawyer insisted there was no evidence to substantiate a murder charge.

South African media also report that police found a bloodied cricket bat in Pistorius' home and were running tests to determine whose blood it might have been.

 

Canadian Press, Trevor Hagan

NHL- After a 2-game losing streak, including an overtime loss against the Rangers at home and their second regulation loss against Buffalo, the Boston Bruins travelled to Manitoba for the first time this season.

After the Jets got out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a Alex Burmistrov tally early in the second period, Tyler Seguin knotted things up at 1-1 midway through the second period. Winnipeg briefly took a 2-1 lead late in the 2nd on an even-strength Evander Kane goal, but with just 2 seconds remaining in the period, Danny Paille evened the score at 2-2.

The Bruins got off to a good start in the 3rd after Brad Marchand drew a tripping penalty on Ron Hainsley just 9 seconds in- after the game, Marchand said he thought he should've been awarded a penalty shot. With the man advantage, it was marchand himself who scored the go-ahead goal for the Bruins 25 seconds later. However, instead of pressing their advantage the Bruins ended up defending a late onslaught from the Jets with Tukka Rask turning aside 10 shots (out of a total of 24 that he faced) successfully to preserve the 3-2 win for Boston.

The Bruins will continue their 5-game road trip on Thursday at Tampa Bay, but on Monday the team made an intermediate stop in western Connecticut before continuing to Florida.

Monday, Presidents Day, was the Bruins’ day to do what they could to lift spirits in Newtown — bringing the Stanley Cup with them for an earlier session from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Head coach Claude Julien — fresh off a plane from Winnipeg that got the team in to Boston around 3:30 a.m. — came to town along with players Chris Bourque, Andrew Ference, Hamilton, Adam McQuaid, Daniel Paille, Rich Peverley and Tyler Seguin.

All wore black Bruins jerseys made specially for the occasion, with green Sandy Hook School ribbons over the right breast. They were to be donated to Newtown after the event.

In addition to the appearance in Newtown, the Bruins will honor Sandy Hook Elementary School Vice Principal Natalie Green Hammond at their game against the Montreal Canadiens March 3 at the TD Garden. Green Hammond, a lifelong Bruins fan, will drop the ceremonial first puck.

The Bruins played floor hockey with dozens of kids, signed autographs, took photos with kids and their parents and even ended the day by donning blue and gold Newtown High School Nighthawks jerseys for more photos. All around the room, people smiled a lot.

“I know that when the tragedy hit — I’m not going to lie — I cried like everybody else,” Julien said. “When you look at the faith and the strength of this town and how they bonded and support each other, that’s amazing.”

Ference, a Bruins defenseman who is the father of a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old, said that “everything that happened here ... hits close to home. ... It’s not that hard to imagine it happening to you. ... So it’s an opportunity as a sports team in New England where we can come down and obviously make a lot of kids happy and a lot of parents happy.

“So how do you not come down?” he said.

Asked what he hoped kids might get out of the visit, Ference said, “Hopefully, they’re just having fun. ... I just want the kids to have a good day and smile and have fun and hopefully have some good memories of today.”

The appearence, which was closed to the general public, also featured Bruins alumni Bobby Sweeney and Tommy Songin conducting hockey clinics along with the Bruins Youth Hockey Development team.

NCAA HOCKEY- The Boston College Eagles won their 4th consecutive Beanpot title- a first in the 61 year history of the Boston area collegiate tournament.

The final game featured the 17-7-2 Boston College Eagles against the Northeastern Huskies, who are currently dwelling in the Hockey East basement. Eagles Sophmore Johnny Gaudreau led the scoring with two goals and an assist while Senior Steven Whitney notched the game winner in Boston College's 6-3 win over the Northeastern Huskies last week.

Meanwhile, Harvard topped Boston university by a 7-4 final in a high-scoring Beanpot consolation game. The win was the Harvard Crimson's first win in nearly a month

Cupid's Quickie Cuppa Sports Chowdah- Extra Helping From the Beanpot For BC; B's Rally Against Hungry Predators; C's Hold Off Charging Bulls

NCAA HOCKEY: Not surprisingly, Monday night's Beanpot tournament had implications beyond the 60th annual Boston-are hockey tournament.

After Harvard's 3-1 win over Northeastern in the consolation game, the main event got underway with the #2 BU Terriers and #3 BC Eagles facing off in the title game for the 21st time in the tournament's history- and by #2 and #3, I mean nationally ranked. The NCAA released their hockey rankings on Monday and while BU slipped from #1 to #2, Boston College moved up from #5.

BC Junior Pat Mullane got the Eagles on the board in the first with a power play tally at the 8:54 mark.

Five minutes into the second period, the Terriers had just killed off another penalty when Sophmore Garrett Noonan beat BC goalie Parker Noonan to tie the contest up at 1-1. But the Eagles would retake the lead on a power play goal from Junior Chris Kreider about 3 minutes later. Shortly after the Eagle's go-ahead goal, Terrier's captain Chris Connolly was assessed a 10-minute misconduct penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Although Boston College seemingly had the momentum heading into the 3rd period, the Terrier's Noonan notched his second goal of the night 7 and a half minutes into the 3rd period to tie the contest up at 2-2, cashing in on a 5 on 3 power play.

The winner of the 60th annual Beanpot wouldn't be decided in the 3rd, so the contest headed to OT, which turned out to be a back and forth affair, although neither team seemed able to capitalize on the scoring chances made available. Things looked as though they were heading for a 2nd OT when BC Sophmore Bill Arnold ripped one past Terriers netminder Kieran Millan with 6.4 seconds left to give the Eagles the sudden-death OT win.

Millan allowed 3 of the 44 shots he faced in while Milner faced 42 and allowed 2 in Monday night's game.

Boston College head Jerry York coach credits the win to a visit from former Red Sox manager Terry Francona the day after their dismantling of Northeastern in the first round of this year's Beanpot. According to York, Francona discussed how players like 2B Dustin Pedroia everyone in the locker room to be better teammates and take advantage of built-up energy.

This is Boston College's 3rd consecutive Beanpot title and 17th overall in tournament history. Each team now has 6 regular-season games remaining on their schedule.


NHL: After a humiliating 6-0 loss to the Buffalo Sabres on the road, the Bruins returned home to face the Nashville Predators on Saturday afternoon. Patrice Bergeron got the B's on the board with a shorthanded goal in the first to give Boston the 1-0 lead.

Shea Weber would then tie the contest up at 1-1 with a power play goal in the 2nd period before a wild 3rd period that saw Boston re-take the lead on a Danny Paille goal before Thomas allowed two goals [including one to Mr Carrie Underwood- NANESB!]and Nashville to take the 3-2 lead with just under 3:30 to go in regulation.

However, with 1:07 left in regulation and Boston on the power play, Milan Lucic would beat Nashville goaltender Pekka Rinne to force OT. After a scoreless OT, Tim Thomas stopped every shot he faced in the shootout and Tyler Seguin and Patrice Bergeron would score for Boston in the shootout, handing the Predators their second OT loss in their last three games.

Tim Thomas stopped 19 of 22 shots faced while Pekka Rinne allowed 3 shots in on the 41 he faced. The Predators converted 1 of their 3 power play opportunities while the Bruins were 1 in 4 for their power play.

Boston will next take on the NY Rangers at the TD Banknorth Garden Tuesday night. Surprisingly, this matchup between the top two teams in the Eastern Conference won't be nationally televised on NBC Sports or the NHL network, but will only be available locally on NESN in New England and the MSG network in Boston. The puck drops at 7 PM ET.

OTHER NHL NEWS: The teams and venue for the NHL's next Winter Classic have been made official. The Detroit Red Wings will host the Toronto Maple Leafs at the University of Michigan's Big House in Ann Arbor, MI on New Year's Day 2013. The Original 6 matchup will be the first time a Canadian franchise has participated in the newly-established New Year's day tradition [altho' the concept stemmed from an outdoor game between Edmonton and Montreal in 2003 that was well-recieved- NANESB!]

This would not be the first outdoor hockey game at Ann Arbor's Big House. In December 2010, the Michigan Wolverines shut out cross-state rivals Michigan State by a final of 5-0 in what was called The Big Chill at the Big House.


NBA: In a nationally televised game on Sunday afternoon, the Boston Celtics managed to hold off the Eastern conference leading Chicago Bulls at home. Rajon Rondo largely carried the C's while recording a triple-double, 32 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds in the 95-91 win over Chicago.

The well-rested Celtics are now 15-12 and won't see any action until Wednesday when they host the hapless Detroit Pistons. The game tips off at 7:30 and will be televised on CSNE.

MLB- The Houston Astros have reached a 1 year, $1.15 million deal with former Red Sox SS Jed Lowrie, avoiding arbitration. Lowrie was traded to the Astros in December along with Kyle Weiland in exchange for reliever Mark Melancon.

The Red Sox and DH David Ortiz avoided arbitration with the slugger agreeing to a 1-year $14.75 million contract this weekend.

Luck O'The Irish Sports Chowdah Update- B's Working Overtime; C;s Pick Up the Pace; Madness Begins; NFL Lockout Looming?

It's been awhile since I've done one of these, huh? Well, not too surprisingly, events elsewhere had caught my undivided attention and no matter how much I love my teams, I didn't give sports that high a priority in the grand scheme of things. NHL: Coming off their come-from-behind shootout win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday with Tukka Rask 'twixt the pipes, the Bruins travelled to Music City on Thursday night to take on the Nashville Predators.

The Bruins got on the board first with a tally from Tyler Seguin in the first, but Nashville (presently 3rd in the Central Division and on the outside looking in for the 8th and final playoff spot for the Western conference) would come right back to tie it thanks to a Sergei Kostitsyn before taking a 2-1 lead on a Colin Wilson tally early in the 2nd. A David Krejci goal made it a 2-2 game heading to the 2nd intermission and Patrice Bergeron was able to get one past Preds netminder Pekka Renne not even 2 minutes into the 3rd to make it a 3-2 Boston lead.

However, Boston would be unable to hold onto the lead and at around the 10 minute mark, David Legwand was able to beat Tukka Rask to tie the game up at 3 and force overtime. At the 3 minute mark in OT, Nashville would get the power play on a holding minor on Steve Kampfer, where Shea Weber would capitalize and get the game winning tally in sudden death OT. The 4-3 OT win means that Nashville manages to stay within 1 point of the Calgary Flames and 2 points of the Dallas Stars and Chicago Blackhawks (both Dallas and Calgary won tonight as well).

After making 34 saves (and stopping all 3 shootout shots faced) on Tuedsay against the Blue Jackets, Rask made 27 saves on Thursday night while Nashville's Pekka Renne stopped 35 of 38 shots faced on the night.

The Bruins have gone 5-2-3 in their last 10 games and 1-2-3 since their 6 game winning streak was snapped earlier this month. Their next game will take place in Toronto against the Leafs and will be televised on NESN and CBC's Hockey Night in Canada (and presumably the NHL network in the USA by extension) at 7PM Eastern time. I have to say, I'm supremely disappointed in the Nashville Predators (AKA Mr. Carrie Underwood's team) and their management for not following through on my concept of casting a wide net of aspiring hottie country music starlets in order to lure marginally talented and competent bloggers to Nashville. I mean if that was in fact the means with which they were attracting NHL talent to the Music City, it would stand to reason that bloggers with way too much time on their hands would be next, right?

OTHER NHL NEWS: The league had decided not to suspend Zdeno Chara after a hit against Max Pacioretty left the Montreal winger with a concussion and fractured vertebrae. NHL senior vice president of operations Colin Campbell- who usually hands down supplemental punishments for controversial hits like Chara's- had to recuse himself from any decision because his son Gregory Campbell and Chara are teammates. NHL executive Mike Murphy had decided not to suspend or fine Chara after reviewing video of the hit- Chara was given a major penalty and game misconduct in the 4-1 loss to Montreal last week.

MLB: Red Sox pitchers Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima have been in contact with their families back in Japan since last week's massive earthquake and deadly tsunamis. Their immediate families are with them in the states, while Matsuzaka's parents presently reside in the Tokyo area, some 200 miles south of the epicenter from last week's quake. Most of Hideki Okajima's family lives in the southern Kyodo reigon of Japan.

The two pitchers appeared in a videotaped appeal for donations towards the relief efforts in Japan that will be made via the Red Sox foundation. Along with Matsuzaka and Okajima, pitchers Junichi Tazawa and Itsuki Shoda collected donations from fans arriving at the home plate entrance of City of Palms park before the Monday night game against the NY Yankees.

NBA: The Celtics have hit something of a rough patch over the last week or so, dropping three out of their last 5 including games against the Clippers, Nets and 76ers. However, they were able to pick up a W at the Garden in Wednesday night's game against the Indiana Pacers. Acquired from the Oklahoma City Thunder, F Jeff Green came off the bench for Boston with 19 points and 3 rebounds, while Paul Pierce led the scoring for the starters with 20 points.

Although they trailed in the first quarter, the Celtics managed to get by the Pacers by a final of 90-82. Their next game is on Friday night at Houston- the game gets underway at 8:30 ET

NFL: You know what? Back when they were still playing, I thought any talk of a lockout was outlandish and farfetched. I mean surely the owners, league and players wouldn't be so tone-deaf to think that in this epoch of soaring food or fuel costs, record home foreclosures and high unemployment that some highly publicized melodrama between multimillionaires and billionaires would capture the public's attention or sympathy, would they?

Well- turns out I was wrong. Now it's too early to write off the 2011 season entirely, but all indications are that players and management are still miles apart when it comes to any sort of labor agreement.

NCAA HOOPS: OK, so my bracket-fu ranges from weak to nonexistent.

With that said, New England will be represented by a couple of teams as March Madness gets underway. To hardly anybody's surprise, the UConn Huskies handled Bucknell pretty easily, winning by a final of 81-52 on Thursday. The win sets up a meeting with another Big East team- the Cincinnati Bearcats on Saturday the 19th.

The BU Terriers will have something of an uphill battle on Friday when they're scheduled to take on the #1 seed Kansas Jayhawks at the BOK Center in Oklahoma City at 6:50 PM ET

Hot and Cold Sports Chowdah Update- Black and Bleu at the Garden; Lakers Drain Celtics; Stirring the Beanpot

Two Boston sports institutions going up against arch rivals in the regular season, but with buzz- both before and after- more reminiscent of the postseason.

Did I already mention how fortunate I consider myself to be a New England sports fan at this point in history?

The undercard

NHL: If there was only one B's game to be nationally broadcast this whole season, Wednesday night's home game against arch rival Montreal would've been the one.
Apparently last week's game against Dallas was just a warm-up. Nothing like some Original 6 brawling- and not just figuratively- to get the blood going, huh?

With Montreal starting to close the gap in the Northeast division, the folks over at VS network thought Wendesday night's game was important enough to be boradcast on their network coast-to-coast (even though they were just carrying the TSN feed).

And man oh man was I glad I was able to tune in.

A good chunk of the first period seemed to feature the Bruins spending a disproportionate amount of time in Montreal's end of the ice, but with Montreal getting the better shots on goal (however infrequent). My perceptions changed somewhat after the 13 minute mark in the 1st when Brad Marchand and Dennis Seidenberg each scored 22 seconds apart (Seidenberg's tally coming off of a high bounce that the Montreal defener tried to corrall by swatting at with a stick). So Boston heads into the 1st intermission with a 2-0 lead.

Now on most nights, you'd be in pretty good shape if you could manage to get two by Montreal's Carey Price- especially if your own backstop is shutting them out. Not so on Wednesday night. The following video clips say it much better than I could-


For those of you who want to jump straight into the fisticuffs, hockeyfights.com was thoughtful enough to archive the melee towards the very end of the 3rd.


Most teams have every reason to expect to come out on top in a contest where they get six past Tim Thomas, but not Wednesday night. Both teams combined for 14 goals and 182 penalty minutes- nearly twice what was assessed in last week's game vs Dallas. As you can see from the video evidence, it's no exaggeration when I say that Boston absolutely beat the Habs down by a final of 8-5. The brawl at the end was simply the exclamation point.

The save percentages of both Price and Thomas also took a beating, with the Montreal backstop stopping 26 of 34 shots faces and Thomas stopping 27 of 33 shots faced. Micheal Ryder had two goals (one of them on the power play) and Milan Lucic had two goals (one of them shorthanded) and an assist on the night while Marchand, Seidenberg, Nathan Horton and Adam McQuaid also had tallies for the B's.

The win gives Boston a little bit more breathing room against the Canadiens (still the next closest team in the Northeast standings), and the Bruins lead over Montreal in the Division standings after Thursday night was 3 points after Montreal lost in a shootout to the NY Islanders but still got the 1 point.

The original 6 mania will continue this weekend when the Bruins have a home-and-away series against the Detroit Red Wings, with the first half taking place in the TD Banknorth Garden on Friday night at 7PM ET and be broadcast on NESN and the NHL Network.

The second half of the weekend series will take place at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Sunday afternoon, 12:30 PM ET- this game will be nationally televised on Comcast's NBC network.

OTHER BRUINS NEWS: Marc Savard is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a concussion. Savard had been sidelined with another concussion after being hit by former teammate Matt Hunwick in the Jan 22nd game against Colorado.
ELSEWHERE IN THE NHL: Eureka! I think the Nashville Predators have devised one of the most devious and effective methods of luring NHL talent to Music City- it's even more effective than the Underpants gnomes' business model!

Phase one would be to send out fetching starlets along the lines of Carrie Underwood to romance forwards like....oh...I dunno....Mike Fisher. Then, after the wedding, honeymoon, and a few atrocious seasons in the division's basement playing in the Canadian capital, you're hot, popular and musically talented spouse gets it in your head that perhaps you would be better off elsewhere- maybe somewhere closer to where she spends a good deal of the year. Like....oh...say Nashville, TN. And since your team is dead last in the conference, and Nashville happens to have a team that's doing pretty good this season (trailing the Red Wings by 5 points for #2 in the Central divison and 5th overall in the Western conference) it sounds like to good a deal to pass up.

Well played, Predators.....well played. [Now all that's left is to convince them that Nashville is in dire need of lazy, talentless bloggers and I'm sure a stampede of country music starlets will be stampeeding a path to my doorway- NANESB!]

The Predators acquired Mike Fisher in a trade that will send a 1st round draft pick and a conditional pick to Ottawa. Fischer was tied for the lead in scoring for the Sens with 14 goals and 10 assists in 55 games this season, and the Predators are hoping he'll be ready in time for Friday night's game against Colorado.


NBA: I have to confess, I was intentionally holding off on doing another sports update until after Thursday night's Lakers/Celtics game- a move that didn't pay off despite getting off to a promising start.

Most noteworthy was Ray Allen surpassing Reggie Miller to become the NBA's all time career leader in 3 pointers, with 2,561 on Thursday night (see above). After hat, it was kinda downhill for the C's.

Although Boston took a 53-45 lead into halftime, Kobe Bryant scored 20 of his 23 points in the second half as LA rallied to come from behind after trailing by as many as 15 points in 1st. Pau Gasol had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Lakers while the only player in green on Thursday to score more than 15 points was Ray Allen- with 20.

The lack of offense in the 2nd paved the way for a 92-86 Lakers win at the Garden. This is Boston's 2nd loss in a row after losing 94-89 at Charlotte on Monday night. The Celtics will next host the Miami Heat on Sunday afternoon at the Garden, 1 PM ET on ABC. The C's and the Heat are tied for first place overall in the Eastern conference.

NCAA HOCKEY: The 2011 Beanpot got underway on Monday, with Northeastern making their presence felt in a 4-0 thumping of Harvard in the opening game.

This was immediately followed by the BC Eagles getting by the BU Terriers in OT thanks to Eagle's Junior Tommy Cross scoring the game winner 3:17 into the extra period.

The games Monday set up a BC/Northeastern final for the 2011 Beanpot on Valentine's Day.

AHL HOCKEY: Following the lead of the NHL and the Syracuse Crunch, the Connecticut Whale (formerly the Hartford Wolfpack- the NY Ranger's AHL affiliate) has set up an outdoor rink at UConn's Rentschler Field in E. Hartford, CT. The rink will be used for outdoor junior and high school games as well as a Whalers/Bruins alumni game leading up to the Feb 19th game where the Whale will host the Providence Bruins.

OTHER AHL NEWS: A Connecticut judge has ordered an East Hartford man to apologize and 10 days of community service after he tackled and punched Pucky, the Whale mascot.

MLB: Never mind that rodent in Pennsylvania! Truck Day was this week, which means that Spring was right around the corner. The 'official' Red Sox truck (which, unsurprisingly, has a corporate sponsor) carrying the team's equipment left Fenway for Ft, Meyers, FL on Tuesday.


NCAA FOOTBALL: This video of UConn reserve quarterback Johnny McEntee has been circulating around the web. Heavily edited showboating or an appeal to get more playing time- what's your call?

Sports Chowdah Recap for Feb 3-9; Lassiez Les Bon Temps Roulet, Saints Win In 1st SB Showing; Original Sux, B's Skid Ends After 10th Straigh Loss

No doubt most of you had caught the big game with the week worth of hype and media frenzy leading up to it. And it no doubt lived up to its hype the other day as Boston College held off a late rally by the BC Terriers to win the Beanpot 4-3.

While I'm thinking about it, that damn poll is STILL up. -->
(Scott Boehm/Getty Images)

Oh yes....there was some sort of football game on Sunday, too. I actually had to work for a few hours during Super Bowl Sunday, but I caught alot of the pivotal plays later on in the game (as well as some of the ads being hyped).

Indianapolis came into the game as 5 point favorites according to the oddsmakers and not surprisingly, the Saints fell into an early 10-0 hole in the first quarter before kicking two field goals to make it a 10-6 game at halftime. Something tells me I didn't miss much by not seeing the halftime show. Now, granted I missed much of the third quarter, but I tuned in just in time to catch Jeremy Shockey haul in Drew Brees' short TD pass, the 2-point conversion attempt that was ruled incomplete and then reviewed by the officials and ruled a completion to put the Saints up 24-17. And wouldn't you know it- with the Colts driving, the man who had picked off Brett Favre to force overtime in the game that ultimately sent New Orleans to the Superbowl came through again when DB Tracy Porter picked off Peyton Manning and ran some 74 yards untouched to put the Saints up 31-17, which would be the final score.

So many clutch players for the Saints- a purportedly washed-up Jeremy Shockey hauling in the go-ahead TD, Tracy Porter making that pick 6 when Indy was putting together another long, methoidcal drive, Garret Hartley coming on mid-season to replace veteran kicker John Carney and making three FGs on three attempts; the closest of which was from 44 yards. But Drew Brees was 32-39 for 288 yards, 2 TDs and zero turnovers to garner the Super Bowl XLIV MVP award.

Congratulations, Crescent City. Put away those paper bags- you've got the best team in the NFl.

[I don't feel quite as bad about that beatdown the administered to New England back in November now- NANESB!]

After dropping a head-scratching 10 games in a row, the Bruins have been on a two-game mini win streak of late and it looks like we have Tukka Rask to thank for that. After shutting out the Canadiens 3-0 at Montreal on Super Bowl Sunday, Rask had 43 saves and was the shootout winner against the Buffalo Sabres at HSBC arena Tuesday Night. Danny Paille had both goals for the Bruins in regulation (both coming in the 1st period) while Derek Roy and Tyler Myers maaged to tie the game for Buffalo. Sabres netminder Ryan Miller faced 34 shots and gave up shootout goals to Marco Sturm and David Krejci, while Rask only gave up the one shootout goal to Jason Pominville to give the Bruins the 3-2 win. The Bruins will travel to Tampa to take on the Lightning Thursday Night.

The Celtics, on the other hand, are on a mini 2 game slide after losing to Orlando and on the road to New Orleans. Perhaps the highlight of Wednesday night's game was when coach Doc Rivers quipped that residents of the Big Easy might've mistaken Louisiana native Glen 'Big Baby' Davis for a Mardi Gras float when he went to see the Saints victory parade on Tuesday. Actually, no 'perhaps' about it, since the Hornets would go on to beat the Celtics 93-85. This was the last game before the All-Star break this weekend in Dallas. Kevin Garnett has been named a starter while Rajon Rondo and Paul Pierce were also selected. After the break, the C's will travel to California's Capital to take on the Sacramento Kings.

Oh yes....and Truck Day is Friday!

Not Another New England Sports Blog! is unable to confirm at this time reports circulating that Lisa Kelly will in fact be responsible for moving the Red Sox equipment from Yawkey Way to Ft. Meyers.

Come to think of it, the last trucks I saw around Fenway were setting up for the broadcast of the 2010 NHL Winter Classic.

Also on Friday are the opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Sports Chowdah Recap for January 27th - Febuary 2nd: LA Downs Boston, LA Downs Boston AGAIN, DAMMIT! BC & BU to Meet in Beanpot Final, Truck Day Looms

NHL Poll still Up- Probably would've been better off putting it up a month ago, but the poll asking visitors about next years Winter Classic is still open, so visitors are free to put in their 2 cents worth.

After winning a grand total of two games since the 2010 Winter Classic, the Bruins woes continued into February, where they were beaten by the Capitals 4-1 on Tuesday night. The win marks 11 consecutive for Washington- a franchise record- while the Bruins have dropped 8 in a row and are 1-7-2 in their last 10 games.

Curious phenomenon took place over the weekend. On Saturday, the Bruins hosted the Los Angeles Kings at the TD Banknorth Garden in a contest where Boston lost 2-3 in the shootout to the Kings. Then, 24 hours later, the Lakers came to the Garden and went ahead 90-89 with 7.3 seconds left in regulation to beat the Celtics.

The Bruins look to stop their 8-game freefall Thursday night while hosting Montreal (who is now 3 points ahead of them in the standings). Despite the skid, the B's are within 3 points of Les Habitants in the Northeastern division, while Ottawa's been riding a franchise-best 10 game win streak to pull within 3 points of the Division leading Sabres this week.

NBA: The Celtics, on the other hand, managed to snap a 3 game losing streak with a 99-88 win over an Agent Zero-less Wizards Monday and added to that with a 102-107 win over Miami Wednesday. Rajon Rondo was 6 for 13 with 22 points and Ray Allen was 7 for 15 with 23 points against Miami. The Celtics will next host the hapless New Jersey Nets on Firday night.

(metromix.com)

NFL: OK- show of hands.....how many people tuned in for the Pro Bowl? Even if I wasn't working, it's not as though I would've seen such NFL luminaries as Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger playing. The AFC topped the NFC 41-34 and Houston's Matt Schaub threw for 189 yards, two touchdowns, completed 13 of his 17 pass attempts was was named Pro Bowl MVP. San Diego WR Vincent Jackson caught a 48 yeard TD pass from David Gerrard and had 122 yards total Sunday.

NCAA Mens Hockey: Boston College beat Harvard 6-0 in the Beanpot semifinal Monday night while the Boston University Terriers had a tougher time against Northeastern, clinging to a 2-1 lead despite a 6 on 4 onslaught from the Huskies in the final 1:28 of regulation for the win. This sets up a BC/BU Beanpot final on Monday, Febuary 8.

MLB: Just a reminder that truck day will be Feb. 12th, 2010.

The Red Sox have signed journeyman pitcher Joe Nelson and catcher Gustavo Molina to minor-league contracts that include an invitation to spring training. Nelson was 3-0 with a 4.02 ERA in 40.1 innings of work for Tampa Bay last year.

The Detroit Tigers and starting pitcher Justin Verlander have agreed to terms on a 5-year $80 million contract, the Associated Press reports. Both parties had agreed to bypass arbitration.

Saturday Night Cuppa Sports Chowdah- WIld Card Weekend Pretty Tame So Far, Rangers Corral B's, Hockey On Yawkey Revisited

The NFL postseason got underway this afternoon with the Cincinnati Bengals hosting the NY Jets. In a performance that was only moderately better than last week's, the Bengals got off to the early 7-0 lead, but ultimately lost to New York 24-14. This puts Cincinnati's postseason winless streak at 19 years.

Another January NFL winless streak was snapped in the late game. The Dallas Cowboys have won their first postseason game since 1996, thrashing the Philadelphia Eagles 34-14 Saturday night. I would like to take this opportunity to offer my congratulations to the Cowboys fans- just remember that the New England Patriots have won three Superbowls and the Pittsburgh Steelers have won two since Dallas last notched a postseason win.

Already without Patrice Bergeron (fractured thumb) and Marc Savard (partially torn right knee ligament), the Bruins fell to the Rangers 3-1 at the Garden Saturday afternoon. Dennis Wideman was the only Bruin to score and this was the last B's home game before embarking on their west coast road trip where they will take on the Anaheim Ducks Wednesday night. While I'm not thrilled about the loss to NY, I'm just glad they got through the game without having another starter go on the DL. The team announced that they expect Savard to miss at least 3-4 weeks.
(Barry Chin/Boston Globe)


Just because the 2010 Winter Classic is over doesn't mean they're done playing hockey at Fenway. The Boston College Eagles and Boston University Terriers faced off in the shadow of the Green Monster Friday night on the same ice that the Bruins and Flyers played on a week prior. The Terriers got out to a quick 1-0 lead and held off the Eagles to win 3-2. The men's game was a nightcap to an earlier Women's game where Northeastern fell to the UNH Wildcats 5-3.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman rejected a proposal from Massachusetts State Speaker of the House Robert DeLeo on making Boston the permanent home of the League's New Years Day outdoor Winter Classic Games. In a reply to DeLeo (D-Winthrop), the commissioner wrote:

“. . . The dictates of fairness require the league to share the Winter Classic experience with other cities. One truly special attribute of the Winter Classic is its uniqueness, and we intend to preserve that precious resource on behalf of our clubs, our business partners and our fans.”

[snip]

"Based on its outstanding performance as our host city in 2010, Boston is - and will be - considered in an extremely favorable light when Winter Classic sites and participants are being considered in the years to come...”

Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing the Winter Classic held in Fenway every year...but I don't think you'd have to look too far to see traces of bias on my part. I thought it was pretty presumptuous of DeLeo to suggest the NHL commit to Boston and nowhere else for one of its marquee events, but I'll chalk up the request as 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained'. Having said that, I think the next best thing would be to make an outdoor NCAA Hockey tournament at Fenway a regular feature. Perhaps set up the rink around this time of year and invite teams from the CCHA or WCHA (i.e. North Dakota, Michigan, Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Minnesota) and have them play a rotation of 'host' teams from Hockey East or have the first round of the Beanpot played with Fenway as the venue. Just a though, as I'm not sure how willing the Red Sox are to have a rink in the park every year.

Reports are circulating that USC head coach Pete Carrol may be the next Seattle Seahawks head coach. If true, this would be troublesome for USC on a few different levels. Frequently in the BCS conversation every year, the Trojans finished with a 9-4 record- all four of those losses coming against Pac 10 opponents.- and had to settle for an appearance at the Emerald Bowl [which they beat Boston College....I know- NANESB!]. There's also the matter of USC losing receiver Damian Williams and tailback Joe McKnight to the NFL draft. McKnight also sat out the Emerald Bowl due to an ongoing NCAA investigation regarding his use of a Land Rover owned by a Santa Monica businessman.


Elsewhere: Reuters is reporting that two members of Togo's Soccer delegation were killed and a third was seriously wounded and airlifted to Johannesburg after the national team's bus was sprayed with gunfire in an ambush by insurgents in Angola. Togolese officials identified the slain men as media-relations officer Stanislas Ocloo and assistant coach Amele Abalo. Backup goaltender Kodjovi Obilale was evacuated to South Africa. The team was leaving their practice facility in a convoy when attacked.