Author Archives: ianbethune

Adidas & Wizards Guard John Wall Announce Long-Term Partnership

PORTLAND, Ore. (January 9, 2013) – adidas today announced a long‐term partnership with basketball superstar John Wall of the Washington Wizards.

Adidas “I’ve enjoyed my time with Reebok and I’m grateful for everything we accomplished the last few years,” said Wall. “Now, I’m excited to return to the court soon and begin my new partnership with adidas. They’ve changed the game with new technology and style and I can’t wait to be a part of it.”

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, Wall has career averages of 16.3 points, 8.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals. In his rookie campaign, Wall became the third youngest player ever to record a triple‐double and earned 2011 Rookie Game MVP honors at the NBA All‐Star Weekend Rookie Challenge. At the University of Kentucky, Wall’s dynamic play as a freshman earned him SEC Player of the Year honors and helped lead the Wildcats to the NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.

“John Wall is a great talent and his quickness, superior athleticism and personality make him one of the most exciting young players in the game,” said Lawrence Norman, adidas vice president of global basketball. “We’re excited to partner with John to continue to develop new innovative products and grow our brand and business.”

Wall is the latest addition to the adidas basketball roster which includes 2010 NBA MVP Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls, three‐time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard of the Los Angeles Lakers and two‐time NBA MVP and four‐time NBA Champion Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs. He joins several recent adidas partners to earn NBA All‐Rookie team honors including Ricky Rubio of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Kenneth Faried of the Denver Nuggets, Iman Shumpert of the New York Knicks, Brandon Knight of the Detroit Pistons and MarShon Brooks of the New Jersey Nets.

Other adidas athletes include WNBA star Candace Parker, FIFA World Player of the Year Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona and 2011 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Von Miller of the Denver Broncos.

Wall will be featured in a variety of upcoming adidas marketing initiatives and will play a role in the development of basketball footwear and apparel.

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New Category For The Site

While the primary focus of the site is the Boston Red Sox, UConn Huskies and New England Patriots, you do know that we dabble in some other subjects on here as well.

And even with the addition of a new category, footwear, we plan to keep our focus on those three things while having some fun with the footwear category.

Everyone is always fascinated with what shoes players are wearing in all the different sports. So I thought to myself, I see these press releases all the time about new shoes for the different sports so why not add it to the site.

Basically the plan for this section is to post the press releases from the various athletic shoe manufacturers along with the pictures of the shows. We'll also look for releases from the various shoe stores as well about the different shoes.

Plus we all love when athletes do commercials. So we'll add videos of the athletes promoting the shoes as well. And we'll even go back and post some retro commercials.

For now though, we won't be featuring them on the home page just yet. You'll be able to find them in the other topics section (footwear) for now.

As I said above, the focus on the site is those three main subjects. This is more for fun right now.

Down the line, if it works out, I hope to be able to spin this category off into it's own site.

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2013 Oscars Nominations

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has released the nominees for the 2013 Academy Awards affectionately known as The Oscars.

Oscars Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2012 will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013, at the Dolby Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network beginning at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET.

"Lincoln" leads the way 12 nominations including best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay and acting nods for stars Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. "Life of Pi" came in second with 11 nominations

For a full look at the 2013 Academy Awards nominations, click on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

Actor in a Leading Role

Bradley Cooper – Silver Linings Playbook
Daniel Day-Lewis – Lincoln
Hugh Jackman – Les Misérables
Joaquin Phoenix – The Master
Denzel Washington – Flight

Actor in a Supporting Role

Alan Arkin – Argo
Robert De Niro – Silver Linings Playbook
Philip Seymour Hoffman – The Master
Tommy Lee Jones – Lincoln
Christoph Waltz – Django Unchained

Actress in a Leading Role

Jessica Chastain – Zero Dark Thirty
Jennifer Lawrence – Silver Linings Playbook
Emmanuelle Riva – Amour
Quvenzhané Wallis – Beasts of the Southern Wild
Naomi Watts – The Impossible

Actress in a Supporting Role

Amy Adams – The Master
Sally Field – Lincoln
Anne Hathaway – Les Misérables
Helen Hunt – The Sessions
Jacki Weaver – Silver Linings Playbook

Animated Feature Film

Brave – Mark Andrews and Brenda Chapman
Frankenweenie – Tim Burton
ParaNorman – Sam Fell and Chris Butler
The Pirates! Band of Misfits – Peter Lord
Wreck-It Ralph – Rich Moore

Production Design

Anna Karenina – Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Dan Hennah, Ra Vincent and Simon Bright
Les Misérables – Eve Stewart and Anna Lynch-Robinson
Life of Pi – David Gropman and Anna Pinnock
Lincoln – Rick Carter and Jim Erickson

Cinematography

Anna Karenina – Seamus McGarvey
Django Unchained – Robert Richardson
Life of Pi – Claudio Miranda
Lincoln – Janusz Kamiński
Skyfall – Roger Deakins

Costume Design

Anna Karenina – Jacqueline Durran
Les Misérables – Paco Delgado
Lincoln – Joanna Johnston
Mirror Mirror – Eiko Ishioka
Snow White and the Huntsman – Colleen Atwood

Directing

Michael Haneke – Amour
Ang Lee – Life of Pi
David O. Russell – Silver Linings Playbook
Steven Spielberg – Lincoln
Benh Zeitlin – Beasts of the Southern Wild

Documentary (Feature)

5 Broken Cameras – Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi
The Gatekeepers
How to Survive a Plague
The Invisible War
Searching for Sugar Man

Documentary (Short Subject)

Inocente – Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine
Kings Point – Sari Gilman and Jedd Wider
Mondays at Racine – Cynthia Wade and Robin Honan
Open Heart – Kief Davidson and Cori Shepherd Stern
Redemption – Jon Alpert and Matthew O'Neill

Film Editing

Argo – William Goldenberg
Life of Pi – Tim Squyres
Lincoln – Michael Kahn
Silver Linings Playbook – Jay Cassidy and Crispin Struthers
Zero Dark Thirty – Dylan Tichenor and William Goldenberg

Foreign Language Film

Amour (Austria)
Kon-Tiki (Norway)
No (Chile)
A Royal Affair (Denmark)
War Witch (Canada)

Makeup and Hairstyling

Hitchcock – Howard Berger, Peter Montagna and Martin Samuel
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Peter Swords King, Rick Findlater and Tami Lane
Les Misérables – Lisa Westcott and Julie Dartnell

Music (Original Score)

Anna Karenina – Dario Marianelli
Argo – Alexandre Desplat
Life of Pi – Mychael Danna
Lincoln – John Williams
Skyfall – Thomas Newman

Music Original Song

Before My Time" from Chasing Ice – J. Ralph
"Everybody Needs a Best Friend" from Ted – Walter Murphy and Seth MacFarlane
"Pi's Lullaby" from Life of Pi – Mychael Danna and Bombay Jayashri
"Skyfall" from Skyfall – Adele Adkins and Paul Epworth
"Suddenly" from Les Misérables – Claude-Michel Schönberg, Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil

Best Picture

Amour
Argo
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Django Unchained
Life of Pi
Lincoln
Les Misérables
Silver Linings Playbook
Zero Dark Thirty

Short Film (Animated)

Adam and Dog – Minkyu Lee
Fresh Guacamole – PES
Head over Heels – Timothy Reckart and Fodhla Cronin O'Reilly
The Longest Daycare – David Silverman
Paperman – John Kahrs

Short Film (Live Action)

Asad – Bryan Buckley and Mino Jarjoura
Buzkashi Boys – Sam French and Ariel Nasr
Curfew – Shawn Christensen
Death of a Shadow (Dood Van Een Schaduw) – Tom Van Avermaet and Ellen De Waele
Henry – Yan England

Sound Editing

Argo – Erik Aadahl and Ethan Van der Ryn
Django Unchained – Wylie Stateman
Life of Pi – Eugene Gearty and Philip Stockton
Skyfall – Per Hallberg and Karen Baker Landers
Zero Dark Thirty – Paul N. J. Ottosson

Sound Mixing

Argo – John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Jose Antonio Garcia
Les Misérables – Andy Nelson, Mark Paterson and Simon Hayes
Life of Pi – Ron Bartlett, D. M. Hemphill and Drew Kunin
Lincoln – Andy Nelson, Gary Rydstrom and Ronald Judkins
Skyfall – Scott Millan, Greg P. Russell and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Joe Letteri, Eric Saindon, David Clayton and R. Christopher White
Life of Pi – Bill Westenhofer, Guillaume Rocheron, Erik-Jan De Boer and Donald R. Elliott
Marvel's The Avengers – Janek Sirrs, Jeff White, Guy Williams and Dan Sudick
Prometheus – Richard Stammers, Trevor Wood, Charley Henley and Martin Hill
Snow White and the Huntsman – Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Philip Brennan, Neil Corbould and Michael Dawson

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

Argo – Chris Terrio
Beasts of the Southern Wild – Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin
Life of Pi – David Magee
Lincoln – Tony Kushner
Silver Linings Playbook – David O. Russell

Writing (Original Screenplay)

Amour – Michael Haneke
Django Unchained – Quentin Tarantino
Flight – John Gatins
Moonrise Kingdom – Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola
Zero Dark Thirty – Mark Boal

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Paw Prints – The Daily UConn Roundup – 1/10

UConn Huskies Daily Roundup

Paw Prints is our daily look at the happenings for the UConn Huskies football, men's basketball and women's basketball teams as well as the other sports the student-athletes engage in. We will do our best to bring you the links from all of the media that covers the Huskies on a daily basis. As always, links can be found by clicking on the read more button below if you're on the home page.

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Women's Basketball links

UConn avoids back to back over and over [carl adamec – sny.com]

In Washington, Jefferson stars for UConn [carl adamec – sny.com]

Auriemma Praises Carla Berube [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Tuck May Also Miss Marquette [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Tuck Remains Questionable For Saturday’s Game At Marquette [rich elliott – ct post]

Huskies Set Team Record By Attempting 41 3-Pointers Vs. Hoyas [rich elliott – ct post]

Turnovers An Issue For Huskies Against Georgetown [rich elliott – ct post]

Freshmen deliver for Huskies [jim fuller – new haven register]

Foul disparity displeasing Auriemma [jim fuller – new haven register]

2012 USA Men's and Women's Olympic Teams Share USA Basketball's 2012 Team of the Year Award [uconnhuskies.com]

UConn recovers nicely after loss to Notre Dame [ct post]

UConn's streak of 707 games without consecutive losses truly amazing [ct post]

UConn Women Hold Off Hoyas, 75-48 [hartford courant]

Huskies resume winning ways with victory over Georgetown [new haven register]

UConn Men's Basketball links

Notre Dame’s Brey Looks Forward to Epic Match of Guards [dom amore – hartford courant]

A few links and words from Mike Brey [neill ostrout – journal inquirer]

Daniels, Huskies Hit The Boards [uconnhuskies.com]

New Rebounding Strategy Pays Off For UConn [hartford courant]

Three Points from Tuesday's win over DePaul [new haven register]

UConn Football links

Big East well-represented for Senior Bowl [andrea adelson – espn.com]

Other UConn related links

UConn Student-Athletes Read At The Waddell Elementary School [uconnhuskies.com]

W. Tennis. UConn Women's Tennis Signs Two Outstanding Student-Athletes For 2013-14 [uconnhuskies.com]

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Video: UConn Women Rebound With 75-48 Win Over Hoyas

Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma reacts to a call in the second half against Georgetown at McDonough Gymnasium Wednesday night.

Not every game the UConn Huskies women's basketball team plays is going to be pretty. But this win was down right ugly.

In a game that saw almost as many turnovers as Georgetown Hoyas points, UConn bounced back from their loss on Saturday with a 75-48 win in front of a crowd of 2,387 at McDonough Arena in Washington, DC on Wednesday night.

The Huskies improve to 13-1 and pick up their first Big East win of the season (1-1). The Hoyas fall to 10-5 (1-1).

Kelly Faris led the way for UConn with 15 points and also had four rebounds, four assists and five steals. Stefanie Dolson added 13 points, five rebounds and a team-high five assists while Bria Hartley added 12 points.

After a poor start to the game, Breanna Stewart finished strongly as she picked up a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Moriah Jefferson had a nice game off the bench with nine points and a team-high seven steals.

Georgetown was led by Sugar Rogers who had 23 points and nine rebounds. Andrea White and Sydney Wilson both chipped in with nine points a piece.

Given the way UConn lost on Saturday, you would have expected them to come out like a well oiled machine like they normally do after a loss. That was far from the case as they played sloppily at times committing 19 tunrovers. Of course Georgetown wasn't much better with 26 turnovers.

When you look at the box score of those who saw significant time in the game, only Jefferson from UConn and Vanessa Moore and White from Georgetown didn't commit a turnover.

I was definitely impressed by how Stewart bounced back though after the slow start. This is going to happen to her as she goes through the growing pains. But each time she gets down, she comes back stronger and this can only help the Huskies going forward.

UConn will stay on the road as they head to Milwaukee, WI on Saturday afternoon for another Big East matchup with the Marquette Golden Eagles. Tip is scheduled for 4 p.m.

UConn Huskies @ Georgetown Hoyas 1.9.13 box score

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photo credit: cloe poisson – hartford courant (no. 5 in gallery)

Final 2012 Blogpoll Top 25

Here is the final BlogPoll Top 25 for 2012 in college football. If you're curious to see how I voted, you can check out my 2012 BlogPoll top 25 final ballot. You can also checkout the weekly analysis of the BlogPoll Top 25.

Results for Week 15

#	School	Points/blog	SD	Delta
1	Alabama Crimson Tide (35)	24.32	3.89	1
2	Oregon Ducks	23.57	0.89	1
3	Texas A&M Aggies	20.41	3.54	7
4	Georgia Bulldogs	20.35	3.71	2
5	Stanford Cardinal	20.30	1.86	2
6	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	20.11	4.09	-5
7	Ohio St. Buckeyes (1)	18.08	7.82	1
8	South Carolina Gamecocks	16.70	3.39	3
9	Florida Gators	15.32	3.21	-5
10	Florida St. Seminoles	15.27	3.47	3
11	Clemson Tigers	14.92	3.29	3
12	Kansas St. Wildcats	14.78	3.27	-7
13	Louisville Cardinals	14.05	3.08	7
14	LSU Tigers	12.27	3.19	-5
15	Oklahoma Sooners	10.35	2.52	-3
16	Utah State Aggies	8.27	2.97	2
17	Boise St. Broncos	7.68	3.79	2
18	Northwestern Wildcats	7.19	3.12	3
19	Oregon St. Beavers	5.27	3.72	-4
20	San Jose St. Spartans	5.05	3.27	4
21	Texas Longhorns	4.68	3.36	6
22	Northern Illinois Huskies	3.97	3.26	-6
23	Vanderbilt Commodores	2.73	3.25	5
24	Nebraska Cornhuskers	2.73	3.54	-2
25	Baylor Bears	1.81	3.32	5
Others Receiving Votes: Cincinnati Bearcats \| Michigan Wolverines \| Oklahoma St. Cowboys \| Tulsa Golden Hurricane \| UCLA Bruins \| Colorado Buffaloes \| Arizona Wildcats \| Washington St. Cougars \| Arkansas St. Red Wolves \| Washington Huskies \| Arizona St. Sun Devils \| Utah Utes \| California Golden Bears \| USC Trojans \| Wisconsin Badgers \| Illinois Fighting Illini \| Penn St. Nittany Lions \| Western Michigan Broncos \| Central Michigan Chippewas \| Iowa Hawkeyes \| Michigan St. Spartans \| Kent St. Golden Flashes \| Syracuse Orange \| Central Florida Knights \| BYU Cougars \| Mississippi St. Bulldogs \| Louisiana Tech Bulldogs \| Rutgers Scarlet Knights \| Mississippi Rebels
Updated: Jan 9, 2013 10:03 AM EST

SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Rankings 2012

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Whale Sign Shayne Wiebe to AHL Contract

HARTFORD, January 9, 2013: Connecticut Whale general manager Jim Schoenfeld announced today that the Whale has signed forward Shayne Wiebe to an American Hockey League contract.

Connecticut Whale Wiebe had been with the Whale on a Professional Tryout (PTO) agreement since coming up from the Greenville Road Warriors of the ECHL November 17. In 14 AHL games this year, the 6-0, 190-pound rookie has two assists, two penalty minutes and 21 shots on goal. In 12 ECHL games with Greenville, Wiebe has notched seven goals and five assists for 12 points, along with 10 PIM.

A 22-year-old native of Brandon, Manitoba, Wiebe played 12 games with the AHL’s St. John’s IceCaps last season (0-4-4, 2 PIM) before finishing the year with the University of New Brunswick (5-7-12, 24 PIM in 11 GP). Prior to turning pro, he played four full seasons in the Western Hockey League with the Kamloops Blazers and Brandon Wheat Kings. Wiebe’s first pro action was one game with the Whale in 2010-11, following the conclusion of his WHL season with Brandon.

The Whale’s next action is this Saturday night, January 12, when they play the first of back-to-back games in Hershey against the Bears. Faceoff is 7:00 PM at the Giant Center, and all of the action can be heard live on “The Rock” 106.9 WCCC-FM. Fans can also listen on-line at www.ctwhale.com, and video streaming is available at www.ahllive.com). The next home game for the Whale is Wednesday, January 23, a 7:00 battle with the Adirondack Phantoms.

Whale tickets start as low as $10 each ($12 each when tickets are purchased on the day of the game), at the Public Power Ticket Office at the XL Center, through TicketMaster Charge-by-Phone at 1-800-745-3000 and on-line at www.ticketmaster.com.

Season tickets for the Whale’s 2012-13 AHL season are also available. For information on season seats, and all of the Whale’s many ticketing options, visit www.ctwhale.com, or call the CT Whale ticket office at (860) 548-2000 to talk with an account executive today.

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BBWAA Elects No One to 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame Class

For the first time since 1996 and eighth time in history, the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) has elected no one to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

National Baseball Hall of Fame There were 37 players on the ballot with 569 ballots cast. They needed to receive 75% of the vote to get in.

Craig Biggio came the closest with 68.2% (338). Jack Morris, in his 14th year on the ballot, was the next closest with 67.7% (385).

One time Boston Red Sox farm hand and Connecticut native Jeff Bagwell was third in the voting with 59.6% (339).

Other players with Red Sox ties on the ballot were Lee Smith (272 votes, 47.8%), Curt Schilling (221, 38.8%) and Roger Clemens (214, 37.6%).

In order to stay on the ballot, the players needed to receive at least five percent of the votes. There was 19 players who didn't receive the required five percent.

Atlanta Braves great, Dale Murphy, in his final year of the ballot only received 106 votes (18.6%). His only chance of induction will come through the Veteran's Committee.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will take place on July 28th where umpire Hank O’Day, New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert and 19th-century player Deacon White will be inducted. Paul Hagen, the J.G. Taylor Spink Award winner for baseball writing, and the late Tom Cheek, the Ford C. Frick Award winner for broadcasting will also be honored over the weekend.

For a full look at the voting totals, please click on the continue button below if you're on the home page.

Name	Votes (Pct.)	Yrs on ballot
Craig Biggio	388 (68.2%)	1
Jack Morris	385 (67.7%)	14
Jeff Bagwell	339 (59.6%)	3
Mike Piazza	329 (57.8%)	1
Tim Raines	297 (52.2%)	6
Lee Smith	272 (47.8%)	11
Curt Schilling	221 (38.8%)	1
Roger Clemens	214 (37.6%)	1
Barry Bonds	206 (36.2%)	1
Edgar Martinez	204 (35.9%)	4
Alan Trammell	191 (33.6%)	12
Larry Walker	123 (21.6%)	3
Fred McGriff	118 (20.7%)	4
Dale Murphy	106 (18.6%)	15
Mark McGwire	96 (16.9%)	7
Don Mattingly	75 (13.2%)	13
Sammy Sosa	71 (12.5%)	1
Rafael Palmeiro	50 (8.8%)	3
Bernie Williams	19 (3.3%)	2
Kenny Lofton	18 (3.2%)	1
Sandy Alomar Jr.	16 (2.8%)	1
Julio Franco	6 (1.1%)	1
David Wells	5 (0.9%)	1
Steve Finley	4 (0.7%)	1
Shawn Green	2 (0.4%)	1
Aaron Sele	1 (0.2%)	1
Jeff Cirillo	0 (0%)	1
Royce Clayton	0 (0%)	1
Jeff Conine	0 (0%)	1
Roberto Hernandez	0 (0%)	1
Ryan Klesko	0 (0%)	1
Jose Mesa	0 (0%)	1
Reggie Sanders	0 (0%)	1
Mike Stanton	0 (0%)	1
Todd Walker	0 (0%)	1
Rondell White	0 (0%)	1
Woody Williams	0 (0%)	1

No longer on ballot

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Paw Prints – The Daily UConn Roundup – 1/9

UConn Huskies Daily Roundup

Thank you for stopping by and making SOX & Dawgs your home for UConn Huskies news.

It's game day for the UConn Huskies women's basketball team as they are in Washington, DC to take on the Georgetown Hoyas. Tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be televised locally in Connecticut on SNY. The game is also available online for a fee at SNYUConn.com. You can also listen on the IMG/UConn Radio Network.

To open the links up in a new tab or window, use Control+click

UConn Women's Basketball links

Mosqueda-Lewis ready for another shot [carl adamec – snyuconn.com]

Notebook: UConn women at full strength [carl adamec – sny.com]

Mosqueda-Lewis: Pain Leads To Gain [john altavilla – hartford courant]

Stokes Goes Through Full Practice Today At Gampel [rich elliott – ct post]

Kiah Stokes eager for return to court [jim fuller – new haven register]

Morgan Tuck won't play tonight [jim fuller – new haven register]

Women back at it in Washington [lee lewis – republican-american]

Women's Hoops Takes On Georgetown on Wednesday at 7:30 [uconnhuskies.com]

Diana Taurasi Announced As 2012 USA Basketball Female Athlete Of The Year [uconnhuskies.com]

Maya Moore’s Olympic ring sold at mall store [atlanta journal-constitution]