[youtube width=”480″ height=”295″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra2ms0e1IQs[/youtube]

After playing 15 years in the NFL with the San Diego Chargers and New England Patriots, Rodney Harrison will be trading his football uniform in for a suit and microphone with NBC.

I had the opportunity and privilege to play in this league for a long time, but today, I am very proud and very excited to announce my retirement from the NFL. … All in all, I’ve done everything I could possibly do on the field. I feel like I have nothing else to prove.”

During the conference call with reporters, Harrison said that there were teams interested in his services for this year but he decided that family was the most important thing to him at this point. By working for NBC on their Sunday night telecasts, he will have plenty of time to spend with his family.

He also spoke about the “huge mistake” he made when he was suspended for HGH use.

“I had so much pride about trying to do things right,” he said. “I made such a huge mistake in that situation and disappointed so many people, including myself. When I made that mistake, I wanted other guys and kids to learn from that.”

Harrison won two Super Bowls in his career with the Patriots. He finishes with 1,205 tackles, 30.5 sacks, 34 interceptions and 2 touchdowns.

Audio: Harrison announces retirement [Reiss’ Pieces]

The University of Delaware.

According to a report in the Wilmington News Journal, Elena DelleDonne will announce today that she is planning to play basketball for the Delaware Blue Hens.

She will have four years of eligibility left.

It was just about one year ago when DelleDonne left the campus of the UConn Huskies after saying she was burnt out from playing basketball. After she spent some time thinking, she decided to enroll at Delaware and join the Blue Hens volleyball team.

She had a good season playing volleyball that saw her be named to the Colonial Athletic Association’s All-Rookie Team. Meanwhile, the UConn Huskies went on to finish the season 39-0 without her and win the NCAA title.

DelleDonne to play hoops for Blue Hens [Wilmington News Journal]

Just a quick note to say that I will be taking a break from the site for today and tomorrow as I will be in North Carolina for my cousin’s wedding. This means that the site will most likely not get updated although I will have my laptop with me and will try to do quick updates if i can. I will be back in Connecticut on Sunday morning.

The NBA held it’s annual NBA Draft Lottery tonight and it was the Los Angeles Clippers who won the right to the #1 overall pick in the draft that will most likely be Blake Griffin from Oklahoma.

The Sacramento Kings had the most ping pong balls this year but ended up with the 4th pick in the draft while the Washington Wizards, who had the second most, fell to the 5th spot in the draft. The Memphis Grizzlies moved up to 2nd and Oklahoma City Thunder will pick 3rd.

Here is how the NBA Draft Lottery went tonight:

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UConn Huskies fans with Comcast can rejoice now!

Here is a press release detailing the announcement by ESPNU and Comcast about ESPNU being added to Comcast’s Digital Choice lineup and ESPN360 being added to Comcast.net in time for the 2009 college football season.

BRISTOL, CT AND PHILADELPHIA, PA (May 19, 2009) – Disney and ESPN Media Networks and Comcast Corporation today announced an agreement to add ESPNU to its Digital Classic level of service and ESPN360.com to Comcast.net. Comcast will launch ESPNU in a majority of its cable systems in time for the start of the college football season. This includes Comcast’s southern systems which will enjoy coverage of ESPNU’s new Saturday game-of-the-week Southeastern Conference (SEC) package. Comcast will also make ESPN360.com available to its high-speed Internet customers for no additional charge through Comcast.net, which reaches 17 million unique users per month, also in time for this year’s college football season.

With this agreement, ESPNU will have more than 46 million subscribers and ESPN360.com will be available to nearly 41 million homes, a majority of broadband homes in America.

“ESPNU and ESPN360.com have been growing in popularity due to the dynamic live-event programming we’ve been adding to them, and we are thrilled Comcast will offer them to their huge fan base,” said David C. Preschlack, executive vice president, Disney and ESPN Media Networks. “This agreement is a tremendous step forward in serving fans – both on television and online — while growing our collective multi-platform businesses.”

“Comcast continues to be the place for sports fans to turn to for all the college, professional and high school sports action they want – on television, online and on demand,” said Matt Bond, executive vice president, content acquisition for Comcast Cable. “ESPNU and ESPN360.com will add to the thousands of live sports events that fans already watch on Comcast today.”

ESPNU provides college sports fans with more than 550 live events annually and televises some of the top Division I conferences in the nation, including: the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Conference USA, MAC, Mountain West, SEC, Sun Belt and WAC. The network also has a wide-ranging, long-term agreement with the NCAA that includes extensive coverage of 22 NCAA Championships, including sports from each of the three collegiate seasons.

ESPN360.com is ESPN’s 24/7 broadband sports network which offers more than 3,500 live, global sports events annually. ESPN360.com has grown to more than 41 million subscribers and is available nationwide. It has more than tripled its distribution in just two years. ESPN360.com is available at no additional charge through Comcast.net to Comcast High-Speed Internet customers. In addition, ESPN360.com is also available at no cost to approximately 18 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via computers connected to on-campus educational networks and on-base military networks (those with “.edu” and “.mil” domains).

With ESPN360.com, Comcast.net customers will be able to catch sports action online all day and all night. Comcast.net offers extensive content with more than 130,000 videos from providers such as ABC News, CBS News, Fox Sports, Disney, E!, G4, The Weather Channel, CelebTV, and others. Comcast.net is one of the Web’s most visited and deeply engaging sites; 293 MM visits from more than 17.1 MM monthly unique visitors, consuming 4.3 billion page views (source: comScore, March 2009).

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When Jamelle Elliott left the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team to take the head coaching job at the University of Cincinnati, she left a void in Geno Auriemma’s coaching staff.

Instead of hiring someone that has ties to the UConn program, Auriemma has decided to go outside of the program as he has announced that he has hired Marisa Moseley from the University of Minnesota.

“Marisa is an outstanding young coach who will be a perfect fit here at UConn,” Auriemma said. “She has outstanding people skills, and her experiences at Minnesota have prepared her well for the challenges she will face at Connecticut.

“Marisa will be a terrific coach on the floor as well as an excellent recruiter. I’m thrilled to have her on our staff, and our players will be as well.”

Like Elliott did, Moseley will work with the post players. She graduated from Boston University in 2004.

Auriemma Picks Minnesota’s Marisa Moseley To Replace Elliott [Hartford Courant]

According to a report in the Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, free agent defensive lineman Jason Taylor will re-sign with the Miami Dolphins instead of possibly signing a deal with the New England Patriots.

Taylor spent last season with the Washington Redskins and had spent his entire career before that with the Dolphins.

Many people thought the chance to play with Tom Brady and the Patriots would have been enough to get him to come north. But Taylor’s always been a family man and had wanted to stay close to his family.

Now he’ll get that chance.

Jason Taylor to re-sign with Miami Dolphins today [Sun-Sentinel]

Taylor chooses family [The Point After]

After making their first SNL Digital Short “Dick in a Box“, the geniuses that are Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake have reunited to make “Mother Lover” just in time for Mother’s Day. This video may be NSFW just to warn you.

In other non-related Manny Ramirez baseball news which seems to be everywhere today, the Boston Red Sox announced that they have activated Rocco Baldelli from the 15-day disabled list.

To make room on the 25-man roster, the Red Sox optioned Jonathan Van Every to Pawtucket.

Baldelli is in the starting lineup tonight playing center field and batting 7th. By the way, Julio “E-6” Lugo is leading off.