John Edward Thomas Moynahan, son of Tom Brady and Bridget Moynahan, has made his long awaited debut. John and his mom grace the cover of this week’s OK Magazine.

Bridget was reportedly paid $100,000 for the photos.

Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet. NASCAR and Budweiser. Things you know that go together.

Since 1998, Budweiser has been the official beer of NASCAR. Starting in 2008, Coors Light will become the official beer of NASCAR. To me that just doesn’t sound right.

The Coors Brewing Company deal with NASCAR allows them to use the NASCAR logo in advertising and promotions. It also calls for a name change for the Bud Pole, which goes to person who qualifies first at each race. Coors Light Pole doesn’t sound right at all.

Coors Light had been the sponsor of the #40 car driven by David Stremme and owned by Chip Gnassi. Coors Light decided to end that sponsorship costing Stremme his ride.

“The company has a proven track record as a strong brand marketer, and we’re looking forward to a mutually beneficial partnership that excites our fans and helps bring NASCAR to new levels of popularity,” Steve Phelps, NASCAR’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement.

It’s going to be hard to get all the NASCAR fans to switch beers. It’s bad enough they can’t root for the Bud #8 car anymore and now they have listen to people pitch Coors Light instead of Budweiser.

According to the Associated Press Manny Ramirez will return to the Boston Red Sox line up tonight after a 24-game absence. Ramirez, who was out with a strained oblique, will bat 2nd for only the 6th time in his career.

Red Sox manager Terry Francona says that move will get Ramirez an extra at bat during the game.

Ramirez is hitting .292 with 20 HRs and 86 RBI. It is expected that he will be replaced after two or three at bats by Jacoby Ellsbury.

Ramirez was injured batting against the Yankees in New York on August 28th . In his absence the Red Sox AL East lead went from a seven-game lead over the second-place Yankees to two games. In the 24 games without him they were 12-12.

In other big pre-game news, it was announced that first baseman Kevin Youkilis will return tomorrow. Youkilis has missed 7 games since being hit on the wrist on Spetember 15th by the Yankees Chien-Ming Wang.

One week left to decide to the American League East title. The Red Sox find themselves in the driver’s seat with a two game edge over the Yankees with 6 to play.

So are the Sox going to hold onto the lead or are they going to fold like a house of cards?

In 1978, the Sox took over first place on May 24^th and by July 17^th led Milwaukee by 8.5 games and the Yanks were 14 games behind. They still had a 9 game lead over New York as late as August 13^th before they collapsed under the weight of injuries and mounting pressure by the Yankees. They actually fell behind New York by 3.5 games on September 16th. Down the stretch of the final week or so the team won numerous games while the Yankees struggled to hold on to the division. As you know the teams ended up tied and met in a one game playoff to decide who won the AL East.

This year the Sox largest advantage over the nearest competition was 10 games, they had a 14.5 game over the Yankees who had fallen down the standings and at one point looked done. While the Yanks had continued to produce runs the starting pitching was awful.

But slowly the Yankees righted the ship and showed the rest of the league why you can never ever count them out.

At the all-star break on July 9th the Red Sox held a 9.5 game lead over the New Yorker’s who were battling just to stay at .500 for the season.

Red Sox 53-34 .609

Yankees 43-43 .500 9.5

Funny thing is for as much as the average Red Sox fan wants to say they have blown the division lead the fact of the matter is that they Sox have played at a .562 clip since the break. Right now there are only 5 teams out of 30 who are ABOVE .562 for the season. Only the Indians, Angels, Red Sox, Yankees and Diamondbacks have done it and Arizona is barely holding on to stay above that percentage.

The Yankees are the team who made this a race, playing a sizzling .671 since mid-July. I don’t think anyone, even the Yankees themselves, ever imagined they could keep up this pace for two and half months.

Difference since break

Yankees 47-23 .671

Red Sox 39-30 .562 7.5

They have won 47 of the 70 games in the second half after winning only 43 of 86 prior to the break.

Currently the Sox are in first place, exactly where they have been since April 18^th. So who does that put the pressure on? The team that is in front or the one that is doing the chasing?

Current 9/24

Red Sox 92-64 .590

Yankees 90-66 .577 2.0

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The site may look funny for a little bit as my theme is not compatible with the new wordpress. So please bear with me.

After defeating their rivals the North Carolina A&T Aggies 27-22 on Saturday night, North Carolina Central Eagles players ran out to midfield and stomped on the Aggies logo. Aggies players took exception to this and a good ol’ brawl ensued.

It took about to two minutes to break the whole mess up and pepper spray had to be used to quell the brawl.

The two teams had not played since 2005 and it was the first time the bitter rivals played as Division 1-AA teams. The storied rivalry between the two schools dates back to 1924.

For more pictures of this, click here.

The Result

The Patriots rout the Bills 38-7 behind some great runs by Laurence Maroney and some incredible passes by Tom Brady. After looking out of synch in the first quarter the Patriots regrouped and went on to annihilate Buffalo getting 27 first downs to the Bills 12 (three of those came in the final two minutes) and out gaining them in every category.

With the convincing win over their AFC East rival the Pats have now beaten Buffalo 13 of the last 14 times they have played and 7 consecutive times in Foxboro.

The Pats go to 3-0 with all the wins against AFC teams and 2-0 in the division. The Bills drop to 0-3 all against AFC teams and are now 0-1 in the division.

Scoring Plays

1^st Quarter

NE – Gostkowski 24 yard FG – 3-0 Patriots

BUF – Lynch 8 yard TD run – kick good- 7-3 Bills

2^nd Quarter

NE – Brady 8 yard TD pass to Watson – kick good – 10-7 Patriots

NE – Brady 3 yard TD pass to Moss – kick good – 17-7 Patriots

3^rd Quarter

NE – Brady 4 yard TD pass to Gaffney – kick good – 24-7 Patriots

NE – Morris 4 yard TD run – kick good – 31-7 Patriots

4^th Quarter

NE – Brady 45 yard TD pass to Moss – kick good – 38-7 Patriots

Offensive Player of the Game

Laurence Maroney had 19 carries for 103 yards. His long was a 19-yard run.

Defensive Player of the Game

Ellis Hobbs who had a sack, a forced fumble that lead to a FG, broke up a long pass attempt with a nice play and added 3 tackles. Plus for good measure on special teams he had a 33-yard kick off return.

Turning Point(s) of the Game

The Patriots kept Buffalo pinned at the their own 1 yard line in 2^nd quarter. After a 29-yard punt return (on a 75-yard punt) by Wes Welker they had ball at the Bills 47. It was the second time the Pats started a drive in Buffalo territory. They would score when Brady threw a TD pass to Ben Watson to reclaim the lead, 10-7.

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If I were the GM or manager of the Boston Red Sox these are the guys I’d take for the American League Division Series. Factoring that everyone is healthy here is my 25-man roster:

Infielders (6)

Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Julio Lugo, Mike Lowell, Alex Cora, Eric Hinske

Outfielders (5)

Manny Ramirez, Coco Crisp, Jacoby Ellsbury, JD Drew, Bobby Kielty

Catchers (2)

Jason Varitek, Doug Mirabelli

DH (1)

David Ortiz

Pitchers (11)

Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Tim Wakefield, Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima, Eric Gagne, Mike Timlin, Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez, Clay Buchholz

I’d go with 4 starters it’s a short best of five series and you’re only going to use three of them so Wakefield could come out of the bullpen as your long guy and there’s no need for Jon Lester. I’d also drop Julian Tavarez and Kyle Snyder in the first round and take Buchholz who could give you a boost with a solid inning here or there in the round and Ellsbury. I think if you’re lucky enough to advance to the best of seven ALCS then you add Lester and Tavarez and drop Buchholz and a position player.

Red Sox and Yankees. Yankees and Red Sox. Intertwined together in history much like Grant and Lee, Lincoln and Douglas, Kennedy and Nixon, Kerry and Fonda and chocolate and peanut butter.

Like ‘em, love ‘em, hate ‘em, despise ‘em.

There are many rivalries that illicit the same emotions. Cardinals-Cubs, Duke-North Carolina, UConn-Tennessee, USC-UCLA, Cowboys-Redskins, Celtics-Lakers. But it seems for whatever reasons the Sox and the Yanks draw more attention, especially over the last several seasons.

When both teams are even the rivalry tends to run hotter then a Louisiana fish boil. When one peaks over the other it isn’t just as much fun for either side.

As a Red Sox fan since I was 7 I just can’t bring myself to root for the Yankees unless for some reason it will be to the Red Sox benefit. Childish? Oh sure it is. But do you think I’m the only one?

I remember as far back as 1976 rooting for the Royals in the ALCS and the Reds in the World Series because as an 11-year-old I didn’t want to see the Yankees win. I don’t know if I was more heartbroken when Yaz flew out to Cesar Geronimo to end the ’75 Series or when Chris Chambliss hit the pennant winning home run in ’76 to send New York to the World Series against Cincinnati.

I remember rooting for the Dodgers in ’77 and ’78 after the Yankees beat the Sox in the playoff game and then won the pennant. And again in ’81. Hell I’m an American League guy except when it comes to the pinstripes. In 1995 I was so happy when Ken Griffey Jr. scored to beat them. In ’96 I pulled for the Braves and took Jim Leyritz name in vain, in 1998 I pulled for the Padres, in ’99 it was the Braves after the Yankees took out the Sox in the ALCS, in 2000 the Mets. All losing causes.

In 2001 I finally could smile as the Diamondbacks behind the pitching of Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson and a timely hit by Luis Gonzalez proved that Mariano Rivera was human and the run was stopped.

2003 brought more heartbreak as Aaron Freaking Boone took Tim Wakefield deep into the Bronx night, but some young gun named Josh Beckett shut them down and the Marlins were victorious in the Fall Classic.

2004 was a dream. Down three zip and Millar yapping about don’t count us out. Dave Roberts steals a base, David Ortiz was magical, Schilling was a warrior and Derek Lowe, Johnny Damon, Keith Foulke and so many others were on the top of their games. I still get emotional watching Edgar Renteria’s bounce out to Foulke and the ensuing celebration. Sometimes I wonder if it actually happened.

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In just seven hours, history will be made in Cambridge at Harvard Stadium. For the first time in the 104-year history of the stadium, a National Historic Landmark, will host a football game at night as the Harvard Crimson host the Brown Bears.

“Harvard football is something special as it is. But the blood was flowing a little more,” defensive lineman Brad Bagdis said after the team’s first night practice. “The stadium, it’s different. There’s just something completely different about playing under the lights.”

Brown played the first Ivy League game under the lights last year when it played Princeton on ESPNU for Friday night football. This year they will help Harvard christen the lights on their field.

The lights were added to the historic stadium to allow for night time intramurals and practice. Other sports who play at the stadium are making use of the lights as well.

Harvard officials are expecting a crowd of around 15-18,000. Normally crowds of this size for a Crimson football game are only seen for The Game (Harvard-Yale).

For many of the players, this will bring them back to their high school days, where most of the games are played under the lights. Plus there’s nothing like a full day of tailgating before a big game.